The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told (1988) Overview/Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Kind of. This week's episode of The Orville was a real tear jerker of an episode so I'm recovering from that hour and a bit of awesomeness. But I'm not here to talk about that episode. Today I am taking a look at the book that was my first experience with Batman comics from the '30s through to the early '80s, and my first realization that Batman had been around as a comic book character far longer than I initially thought, The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Volume 1, published in 1988. So, let's get into it.

The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told is that book that made me a hardcore Batman comic book fan. As I've mentioned before in other blog posts over the years, I first encountered Batman in 1992 when YTV began airing reruns of the 1966 TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Not long after that Batman Returns starring Michael Keaton came out in theatres and Batman: The Animated Series debuted on Fox Kids in the United States and on Global TV here in Canada. It wasn't until 1993 when I discovered that Batman was in comic books too with The Batman Adventures #7 and Batman #493. But, I didn't realize that Batman had been a comic book character alot longer than he had been a TV character or a movie character. 

I got The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told for my birthday in 1997. Being a huge Batman fan thanks to the comics that I had plus reruns of Batman (1966), my taped off of PBS VHS of Batman: The Movie (1966), and my VHS copy of Batman Forever (1995), as soon as I took the wrapping off the book I was thrilled because Batman was on the cover. But when I opened it I got a thrill. Artwork that looked like the comic book animation used in the opening titles of the 1966 TV show, titles that looked similar to the opening title card of said TV show, and insane stories going all the way back to 1939, 58 years before I held that book in my hands for the first time. Of course Elvis Christmas music was playing because it was Christmastime and my dad was allowed to start playing Christmas music on my birthday.

 I got the Warner Books edition, rather than the DC Comics edition, but I think the only difference between the two is the Warner Books logo rather than the DC Comics logo. So what are the stories in this book? Let's check them out shall we?

The first story appeared in issues 31 and 32 of Detective Comics from 1939, the earliest Batman stories in this collection. "Batman Versus the Vampire" is about Batman facing off against the Mad Monk in an attempt to rescue his fiance, Julie Madison, from the Vampire's clutches. This story is pivotal because it not only introduced us to Julie for the first time, but it also introduced the Batarang and the Bat Gyro (precursor to the Batplane). Early on Batman didn't always appear on the covers of Detective Comics like he would later on. I always thought this story was weird because I was seeing Batman's earliest design for the first time and he was the only familiar character to me as Commissioner Gordon doesn't appear, and neither Robin or Alfred had been created yet. So that was interesting.

Up next was the only solo Batman story from Batman #1 (1940) as Robin would appear in the other stories in the issue. This was also my first introduction to Hugo Strange in the main comics as he'd been killed off many years before, which I came to find out later in this book. It was also the only time I saw Batman use a gun on the Batplane. 

The next story, "Knights of Knavery" from Batman #25 (1944) was the first supervillain story in this book and had none other than the Joker and the Penguin in it. It was also the first story to have Robin in the book as well. What surprised me was that Robin was wearing the costume worn on the TV show, not the one Tim Drake was currently wearing in the comics and that Dick Grayson wore in Batman: The Animated Series. Oh and seeing Batman without the yellow oval around the bat symbol on his chest was strange too as this was before the oval was removed in the comics, and before I'd seen any episodes of The New Batman Adventures. 

My favourite story in this book is "1001 Umbrellas of the Penguin" and it's from the Batman newspaper strip that was being published in the 1940s. In it the Penguin's aunt, Miranda, comes for a visit and because she's unaware that he's a criminal, Batman and Robin are forced to pretend they're his friends until she leaves and they can arrest him. I think this is the first time that we find out that the Penguin's real name is Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. It was for me because I didn't remember that detail from Batman Returns. This whole story is ridiculous and fun and I love it.

Batman #47 (1948) is next and it tells "The Origin of Batman". This was my first big encounter with Batman's origin in the comics, as the then modern comics weren't delving into it too deeply and it wasn't the focus of Batman Forever either. It was also my introduction to Joe Chill and the fact that Batman revealed his secret identity to Chill to prove to him his reason for accusing him of murdering Thomas and Martha Wayne, who also had names that I didn't know up to this point. 

Next is "The Birth of Batplane II" from Batman #61 (1950). There's not much to say about this story except that it's the first major appearance of the Batcave in this book as previous stories were from before the Batcave had officially debuted.

"Operation: Escape" is a fun Robin solo story from Star-Spangled Comics #124 (1952). Again, I don't have much else to say about it as it's merely a Robin story from an anthology comic. Batman isn't in the book at all and Robin drives the Batmobile on his own. I liked that because I remember the episode of the 1966 TV series where Robin got his driver's license.

Catwoman makes her debut in this book in "The Jungle Cat Queen" from Detective Comics #211 (1954). Seeing these earlier comic book versions of characters I'd come to know from the various TV shows, movies, and comic books that I'd seen and read was an interesting experience for me. Especially with Catwoman because of her and Batman's attraction for one another that is VERY apparent across the movies, TV shows and comic books. In fact that's one thing that has carried over from one incarnation to another. 

"The First Batman" from Detective Comics #235 (1956) gives much more depth to the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne than even "The Origin of Batman" did, with the introduction of the man who hired Joe Chill to murder the Waynes after Thomas had put him in jail many years earlier. It was also the debut of Thomas Wayne's "Batman" costume that he wore for Halloween, similar to how Barbara Gordon would wear a "Batgirl" costume for a costume party later on. It also served as inspiration for Bruce to design the Batsuit as it had several similar elements to the costume that his dad wears in this issue.

"The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team" from World's Finest Comics #94 (1958) is the first time I realized that Batman and Superman knew each other. Yes, I'd seen them together on subscription pages in various Star Trek comics published by DC, and I had The Batman Adventures #25 where they team up in the universe of Batman: The Animated Series, but I didn't KNOW that they knew each other in the main DC Universe. They were always separate worlds to me because of the DC Universe having been created as individual parts which were then brought together for events like Zero Hour and books like Justice League of America and JLA. So this was cool to me.

"Robin Dies at Dawn" from Batman #156 (1963) was a story I enjoyed alot as it showed Batman's more fragile side in the face of the stress test he underwent...that involved the death of Robin for some reason. It was also Alfred's debut in this book oddly enough, and my introduction to Ace, the Bat-Hound, as well as his only appearance in any issue collected in this book. This story came out a year before Julius Schwartz, Carmine Infantino, Gardner Fox, and Joe Giella came up with the "New Look" Batman, which cut out Ace, Batwoman, Bat-Girl, and Bat-Mite and reintroduced the detective element that had been missing from the comics for sometime. 

"The Blockbuster Invasion of Gotham City" from Detective Comics #345 (1965) is the "New Look" Batman and the closest this book comes to having an issue published during the time of the TV series. In fact, whenever I read this story I imagine hearing Adam West, Burt Ward, and Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon) say the dialogue in the story, and imagining that William Dozier is speaking the narration. The 1966 TV show was my introduction to Batman so anytime I read a comic from that era, be it during the time of the TV show or before it, that's the version I'm going to go with in my mind.

"Ghost of the Killer Skies" from Detective Comics #404 (1970) is an important story for me because it was the first story I read that was written and drawn by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. This was my introduction to that legendary comic book duo, though being 11 years old at the time I didn't know how important they would be. Though I do remember Denny's name since he was the editor of the Batman books during Knightfall in the mid '90s, which is when I got into the comics. 

"Half an Evil" from Batman #234 (1971) is the only other Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams story included in this book. Denny writes one other story but Neal doesn't have any other stories that he did the art for in this book. I was familiar with Two-Face before I read this story because not only was he in Batman Forever and I remember seeing his self-titled debut episode from Batman: The Animated Series, but he was in a Commissioner Gordon story in Batman Chronicles #8 (1997), which I got not all that long before I got this book. 

"Man-Bat Over Vegas" from Detective Comics #429 (1972) is a sort of Man-Bat story where Kirk Langstrom's wife, Francine turns into a giant, Man-Bat type Bat and terrorizes Las Vegas for some unknown reason. Frank Robbins does the art and the writing for this story. His art style REALLY stands out from all the other ones represented in this book. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. 

"The Batman Nobody Knows" from Batman #250 (1973) is one of two stories reprinted in this book that was adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated Series in it's later form, The New Batman Adventures, around the time that I got this book actually. The episode is called "Legends of the Dark Knight". It's just Bruce Wayne listening to kids speculating about what Batman is and what he looks like. The gag is that when Bruce puts on the Batsuit, the kids don't believe that he's actually Batman and think he's just put on a Halloween costume. Which is funny to me. 

"Deathmask" from Detective Comics #437 (1973) is the only story in this book with art by Jim Aparo, who was one of the artists who were on the Batman books in the '90s when I started reading them. It's also the first time where the playboy identity for Bruce Wayne appears in this book. There isn't a whole lot to talk about because these stories aren't all that long at this point. Mainly because Detective Comics was still sort of an anthology book with stories featuring characters like the Elongated Man, Hawkman, and Manhunter, and Batman had backup stories featuring Robin or Batgirl at this point. Not to mention this issue doesn't have a villain that is recognizable to me from movies, TV, or modern comics. 

The same goes for "Death Flies the Haunted Sky" from Detective Comics #442 (1974). There is a reference to Detective Comics #404, which I mentioned earlier, but that's the only notable thing about this issue. 

"There is No Hope in Crime Alley" from Detective Comics #457 (1976) is the other story in this book that was adapted into an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. The episode was "Appointment in Crime Alley" which was season 1, episode 12. This story was also the debut of Leslie Thompkins, a woman who looked after Bruce following the murder of his parents in Crime Alley. After Crisis On Infinite Earths Leslie became a valuable member of the Bat Family, and their personal doctor. In this story though she doesn't even know that Batman is Bruce Wayne, the child she helped following the death of his parents. This is definitely one of Denny O'Neil's best Batman stories. I might write a review of this issue on it's own someday.

"Death Strikes at Midnight and Three" from DC Special Series #15 (1978) is unique because the story is made up of text mostly, with few images to add to the story. Which is interesting for a comic book, as it's usually the other way around. This is another Denny O'Neil written story and his work is usually pretty good.

"The Deadshot Ricochet" from Detective Comics #474 (1978) is part of Steve Engelhart and Marshall Rogers's famous run on the Batman mythos and where many of the elements seen in Batman: The Animated Series come from. Deadshot was a one off character who appeared in 1950 and then wasn't seen again until this story a whole 28 years after his initial debut. Which isn't uncommon with DC villains in the Silver Age. In fact, the Riddler, Two-Face, Scarecrow and a few others disappeared during the '50s and '60s only to reappear in the '70s and '80s, with the Riddler reappearing in the '60s, during the "New Look" era. This was also the only appearance of Silver St. Cloud, one of Batman's major love interests during this time. Julie Madison is also mentioned in this issue though she hasn't been seen since the '40s. Here we have a more introspective Batman, who has many mixed emotions about his role as Batman and the facade he puts on in public as Bruce Wayne. Especially when it comes to having a serious relationship. This is another issue I might do a separate review of at some point.

Next up we have "Bat-Mite's New York Adventure" from Detective Comics #482 (1979) by Bob Rozakis, with art by Michael Golden. Bat-Mite is a character who has appeared sporadically in the comics since the '50s, but has only appeared in The New Adventures of Batman (1977) and in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008-2011), and so this was my first encounter with the character. It's also interesting because Bat-Mite isn't harassing Batman or any members of the Bat Family. Instead he's harassing the writers and artists at DC Comics so they'll make a comic book about him. The funniest part of this story is at the end when Bat-Mite is about to leave he threatens to come back and bring Mxyzptlk with him if they don't do the book. I love that.

"A Caper a Day Keeps the Batman at Bay" from Batman #312 (1979) by Len Wein and art by Walt Simonson and Dick Giordano is another fantastic Batman story. The villain is the Calendar Man, who commits crimes according to the day of the week. What's interesting about this story is that Batman is pretty quippy in it. Which he kind of was in Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams's run in the early '70s, but the writers since then had gotten away from that for the most part by this time. For example. When Batman shows up during one of Calendar Man's break-ins Batman says, "It's about time punk! I was getting tired of waiting out here!", Calendar Man says, "Who--?!?", Batman replies, "Do I really have to answer that?", Calendar Man says," You might as well Batman--since it's the last thing you're ever going to say! Thursday, you'll recall, was named for the Norse god of thunder----So I've armed myself with the Hammer of Thor!" and Batman replies, "You could arm yourself with a nuclear warhead--but it still wouldn't help you!" Which sounds REALLY weird coming from Batman in the comics, particularly at this point in his publication history, but it does sound like something Kevin Conroy's Batman would say in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. So this is the material the show's writers were pulling from for the series. Which is pretty cool.

"To Kill a Legend" from Detective Comics #500 (1981) is another interesting look at the murder of the Waynes, only this time it's on another Earth. The Phantom Stranger, a character I'm only familiar with because of this story, sends Batman and Robin to another Earth so that they can prevent the murder of the Waynes and save that Earth's Bruce Wayne from having to suffer from their loss and be forced to make a promise. However on this Earth Krypton doesn't exist, which means there's no Superman to inspire heroes on Earth. Also there aren't any fictional heroes like Robin Hood, Zorro, Odysseus, Gilgamesh or Hercules on this Earth either. Which means that Batman might have to exist to jumpstart the JSA and other heroes. But while the Waynes are saved by Batman and Robin of Earth-1, this unspecified Earth's Bruce Wayne ends up becoming Batman out of gratitude for the figure who saved the lives of his parents. Which is pretty cool.

And finally we have "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne" from The Brave and the Bold #197 (1983). This story is set on Earth-2 and everybody but Batman, Robin, Batwoman, Superman, and Wonder Woman has retired, with the JSA having disbanded at some point prior to the beginning of this story. In this story Batman teams up with Catwoman to fight the Scarecrow after he causes Batman to hallucinate the disappearance of everyone close to him, even though they're all still there. During the course of the story Batman and Catwoman reveal their origins to each other, and Batman reveals his secret identity to her for the first time. Of course, we've already met Helena Wayne, Bruce and Selina's daughter, who became the Huntress and journeyed to Earth-1 numerous times to assist Batman with cases there. 

This was my first exposure to so many Batman writers and artists and their incredible stories. Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Sheldon Moldoff, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella, Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams, Steve Engelhart, Marshall Rogers, and Len Wein, plus so many more were all introduced to me through their Batman stories in this book, which is why it remains in my collection to this day. And I have the memories of reading this book over and over again, experiencing the many Batman stories included between it's two covers. 

Overall The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Volume 1 is still my favourite anniversary collection of Batman stories ever. This came out just prior to Batman's 50th anniversary and at the time Tim Burton's movie was about to come out and all we had were the two movie serials, the 1966 TV series, the 1966 movie, Filmation's two cartoon series from 1968 and 1977, and Batman and Robin's appearances on the various Super Friends cartoon series and yet there was still so much to come with new stories and new characters waiting to be created, proving that Batman would never disappear from pop culture. And he's still with us today.

Alright my friends that's it for me for today. I will be back for tomorrow's episode review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Until then have a wonderful night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Superman & Lois Season 2 (2022) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! How's your week going so far? Mine's been pretty good. So, we're at the end of the second season of Superman & Lois, which is one of the best superhero shows on TV right now, so I decided to come and talk about it because I have alot of thoughts. There will be spoilers for the season so if you're watching the show and aren't caught up on the season, or were waiting for the season to be finished before watching it, then don't read this review until you've finished the season. Now, let's get into it.

Superman is probably one of the hardest characters to write for. Mainly because he's so powerful that it's hard to come up with a threat for him to struggle with instead of taking it out with one punch. This is a problem that the movies and TV shows have had since the '70s and '80s when the Christopher Reeve movies were coming out. It's because of that difficulty that I am amazed at how well this season turned out. But I think that's because the writers focused on the characters rather than on Superman's abilities. Which is key.

When the season started and it looked like they were going in the Death of Superman/Doomsday route I was concerned because the show hadn't been renewed for a third season yet and killing Superman off in this season made sense if the series was going to be canceled. But that shifted very quickly into Bizarro territory, which is something we haven't really seen since Smallville and even then it wasn't full on Bizarro, if I remember correctly. And the crazy thing is they didn't go Kryptonian or Luthor for the villain this season. They went with a more recent version of the villain Parasite, Alexandra Allston (Ally on the show), who is from Greg Rucka's run on The Adventures of Superman in 2004. Which is interesting given how much the TV shows and movies love using Lex Luthor, General Zod, and Doomsday as the villains.

Speaking of Ally, I spent the entire season trying to figure out where I've seen the actress who plays her, Rya Kihlstedt, before. I looked her up on Wikipedia and she played Alice Ribbons, one of the four criminals in Home Alone 3 (1997). She's 25 years older than she was in that movie, but every time she smiled is when I had the feeling that I'd seen her play a bad guy before. 

I kinda felt that Jonathan's storyline fizzled out once he and Candace reveal to Lois and Sam their involvement with the X-Kryptonite. It felt like it was leading up to something major linked to Ally, but that went away very quickly and it feels unfinished to me. Maybe something to be picked up next season?

I liked Jordan's storyline for the most part. I say the most part because this is the stuff that felt the most like a CW show this season. It was fine but there were times where the writers wrote Sarah like they were writing Lana Lang from Smallville. Mind you there were also moments where they were writing Lana like Lana from Smallville, but I'll get into that a little bit more later. I also like that Sarah also had her own storyline that had nothing to do with Jordan. It made her feel more like an actual character, which is hard to come by in superhero shows like this. Normally the love interest is pushed to the side. Especially if she's/he's/they're not one of the leads.

Speaking of Lana, she was written fairly well this season. Except for those first couple of episodes after Clark revealed that he's Superman to her. Those lines were very shades of Lana from Smallville and it felt a bit odd coming from Emmanuelle Chriqui's Lana, who has been one of my favourite characters on the show so far. I did like the her becoming mayor storyline and I felt it kinda held back the sting of the marital problems storyline they had going on between her and Kyle this season. That sort of thing is so cliched, particularly for a CW show, not to mention a CW comic book based show, that it kind of fell flat for me. Aside from the whole cheating on Lana thing, Kyle was actually pretty good this season.

Finally, after two seasons the season finale finally made it clear that Superman & Lois takes place on an Earth that is separate from Earth Prime, where the rest of the Arrowverse takes place, and that Superman is the only hero on that Earth. Which explains why the Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, and the Legends didn't show up to lend a hand when Superman was on Bizarro World or when Ally had stripped him of his powers. Because those events definitely needed the other heroes to show up. Setting it on a separate Earth, as they had originally done with Supergirl, makes it easier for the writers be creative with solutions to the problems that Superman has, without writing a conceit into scripts as to why Barry or Kara don't just show up to help save the day. So I like that because I've felt that Warner Bros. has relied too heavily on the shared universe aspect of the DC Universe for these shows and movies. I did enjoy seeing David Ramsay show up as Diggle for two minutes at the end of the finale to talk to John Henry Irons.

Speaking of John Henry Irons, he and his daughter Nat were great this season. I wasn't sure about how Nat would fit in with everyone on the show, but I enjoyed watching her adjust to life on a new Earth, with people that resemble her mom and the person who killed her mom. This show's version of John Henry Irons is becoming one of my favourite characters in any DC Comics based show and his comic book counterpart, John Henry Irons/Steel is a great character in the comics.

Overall this season was amazing. Aside from a few issues I had with how Lana and Sarah were written in a couple of episodes, this was a solid season of television. A bit more dramatic than season 1 but it wasn't too over the top like it would've been on any other CW DC Comics based show, so I'm happy. If you enjoyed the first season but haven't watched this season yet, or just aren't caught up on it yet, I highly recommend watching it. It's a great Superman show and the best CW DC show.

That my friends is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for a look at the 1988 trade paperback collection, The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. So until then have a wonderful afternoon and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

Only Murders in the Building Season 2, Episodes 1 and 2 (2022) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! Welcome back to the Arconia. I'm here to review the season premiere of season 2 of Only Murders in the Building. I don't have much else to see for a preamble, so let's get into the review. It's going to be a spoiler free review, so if you watch the show and haven't watched the first two episodes of season 2 yet, that's okay because this review won't spoil them for you. Let's get into it.

I discovered the show five minutes before I watched the first three episodes of season 1. I really enjoyed the first season and with the cliffhanger it had, I was really excited for season 2 to start. It's finally here and I was so glad that the first two episodes dropped on the same day. The season premiere opens right where the season 1 finale left off, with our podcasting trio reeling from the events of season 1. 

I love how seamlessly the first season flowed right into season 2. These days with shows that end a season with a big cliffhanger, the writers do everything they can to wrap the cliffhanger up in the opening few minutes of the season premiere before quickly moving on to the new season's storyline. Not this show though. The cliffhanger of season 1 where the trio is arrested for the murder of the Arconia's residential board president, Bunny Folger, starts the mystery that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel are going to solve for season 2 of their podcast which is also called "Only Murders in the Building". Whoever killed Bunny wants to frame our trio. Which means it's somebody who doesn't like them/wants revenge on them (possibly), and who has easy access to all three of their apartments.

Unlike last season where I immediately ruled out Jan as a suspect, every single character aside from the lead characters, and Detective Williams, is on my list of suspects. Including the new character, Alice, played by Cara Delevingne, and Amy Schumer, simply because she's on the show and is waaaaay too interested in Charles and Oliver. 

The returning cast is amazing as ever. The chemistry between Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez is even better this season than it was in season 1. I was afraid that season 2 is where the writers wouldn't know what to do with the main characters following the season 1 cliffhanger, and that Martin, Short, and Gomez would phone it in. But they don't. They're funny, engaging and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I can't wait for next week's episode. I'm a little edgy about having Amy Schumer on the show because I'm not a fan of her brand of humour, so I'm hoping she won't be a recurring role this season.

Overall this was a solid opening to the second season of Only Murders in the Building. I've been waiting eight months for the season to start and it was well worth the wait. If you haven't watched these two episodes yet, or even the first season, I highly recommend this show. It's funny, it's thrilling, and it's just alot of fun.

That my friends is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of season 2 of Superman & Lois as the season finale is airing tonight. So until then have a wonderful rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Detective Pikachu (2019) Movie Review

 Hey everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was pretty good. Yesterday was a little crazy because my parents and I went to church for the first time since before the pandemic hit, because they had an outdoor service so we felt that was safe for us to go to. Today I'm here to talk about the 2019 video game mystery movie, Detective Pikachu, starring Justice Smith as Tim and Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu. There will be spoilers, so if you have not seen this movie yet, then please go do that before reading this review, if you plan on watching it anyway. Let's get into it.

When this movie was announced in 2017 or 2018 I was both hesitant and excited for it to come out. Excited because it was a live action Pokemon movie. Hesitant because it's an adaptation of a video game franchise, with Ryan Reynolds voicing the character. Video game movies have not fared well over the years, and I wasn't expecting this to do any better. This was also before Sonic the Hedgehog came out in 2020, so studios weren't great at listening to the audience's criticism when it came to video game movies either. 

Detective Pikachu is a good movie but it's not a great movie. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was very good and I enjoyed watching it, but I found the movie to be very predictable and the mystery easy to solve. Particularly when it came to who the villain of the movie is. Which I'll talk about shortly. I did enjoy the characters and the world they built in this movie is incredible. I just found it to be too easy for a movie of this scope. As an audience member it should've been as hard for me to figure everything out as it was for Tim, Lucy, Pikachu and Psyduck to. It wasn't because I was about three steps ahead of the main characters the whole movie. Which isn't a bad thing because sometimes it creates some great tension as you wait for the characters to catch up to where you are in the story. In this case it was more like, "huh uh you could see that a mile away" without even trying. Before I get into the cast as a whole, I do want to talk about the two things that I figured out right away in this movie.

I figured out almost immediately that somehow Harry, Tim's father, was fused with his Pokemon partner, Pikachu and that's why he was able to talk to Tim beyond the usual "Pika pika" that we get from Pikachu in the Anime. Not to mention the amnesia thing was also a dead giveaway. 

As soon as Howard Clifford (Bill Nighy) appeared on screen, I knew immediately that Roger (Chris Geere), while a privileged dirtbag, wasn't the villain, Howard was. And unfortunately his motives are VERY flimsy. And it's also unfortunate that Howard is in a wheelchair due to some illness that he wishes to escape from, hence why he transferred his consciousness into Mewtwo at the end of the movie. I really did not want to have to talk about this in a Pokemon movie, but I guess I have to.

Making the disabled person be the villain is misrepresenting people with disabilities. Plain and simple. We are not villains to be feared and maligned. Nor are we helpless victims of circumstance or difficult to get along with or people to be pitied because we can't walk or have to adapt the way we do things. So please stop portraying us as such in movies and on TV. ESPECIALLY on TV. This is the second movie that I've reviewed this year where disabled people were misrepresented or portrayed poorly by able bodied people. The other one was Cheaper by the Dozen (2022). As a disabled person this bugs me to no end. I will never get "political" on this blog because I am here to review the things I enjoy and even some things that I don't. But, I will always talk about disability on here because I am disabled. 

Despite my problems with this movie, I did enjoy watching it and it is a good movie. The cast in this movie is phenomenal. I'm not a Deadpool fan, but I've loved Ryan Reynolds in everything I've seen him in, even in movies that weren't great like Green Lantern (2011). Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, and Bill Nighy are all fans of Pokemon, which makes this movie more fun because they accept the premise of the franchise and put everything they can into their roles to make the world believable for that general audience that might not get Pokemon. And it makes the world more believable in the transition from animation to live action for those of us who grew up with the Anime.

The only cast members that I'm familiar with, even a little, are Ryan Reynolds, Ken Watanabe, and Bill Nighy. Nighy played Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Watanabe has been in two movies that I've seen, Batman Begins (2005) and Godzilla (2014), and Ryan Reynolds is Ryan Reynolds and has been in many things that I've seen over the years. 

Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton are brand new to me and they worked pretty well for me. As Tim, Justice brings the emotional weight to the movie that it would've been lacking if this movie had just been another Ash/Pikachu adventure or if someone else had played Tim. As Lucy, Kathryn doesn't have a whole lot to do. We don't see very much of her until the final act and what we do get is wrapped up rather quickly so that the focus remains on Tim and Pikachu. But I still enjoyed the character and I liked her chemistry with Justice. If the movie ever gets a sequel, which from the sounds of it, it's not going to, I hope the writers give Lucy more to do because Kathryn did an amazing job in the role even with as little as she got to do.

Visually, the movie is a bit darker than what Pokemon generally is portrayed as in both the video games and the Anime, but in this case it works. Sort of. It works for a live action Pokemon movie made in the mid to late 2010s and it works for watching it on Blu-ray in 2022. However, it doesn't work, at least for me, within the context of the world of Pokemon itself. The world of Pokemon has always been portrayed as bright and cheerful in both the Anime and the video games, be it the main series or the spin-offs and side games. Including the game this movie is based on, Detective Pikachu (2016/2018). But like I said, it was a movie made in the mid to late 2010s and pretty much every movie was visually dark. Even ones that didn't need to be.

Overall this movie was a fun watch even though I had some problems with it. I don't regret watching it and I don't hate it. My problems with it are my problems, so if you don't find them to be problems that's okay. I also think that for me personally, as a video game movie, Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) works better. But that's because that movie didn't shy away from the fact that it's a movie based on a video game, while this movie kind of did. Detective Pikachu feels more like a Corporate Hollywood franchise film that happens to have Pokemon fans in the cast. Whereas Sonic feels like a movie the directors, producers, and writers wanted to make and put every care and effort into producing the movie, as we saw with the change from the original design they had for Sonic in the movie to the version we got in the final version of the movie. I do recommend watching Detective Pikachu though. It was a fun watch.

Alright folks that's going to be it for me for today. I have lots of posts coming your way this week. I'll have my review of the season 2 premiere of Only Murders in the Building out sometime tomorrow afternoon, after I've watched it, on Wednesday I'll be doing my Superman & Lois season 2 review, Thursday I'll be talking about the 1988 trade paperback collection The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, and then Friday will be my Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 9 review. So until then have a wonderful rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1x08, "The Elysian Kingdom" (2022) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! It's Friday. Which means it's time for another Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode review. This week I'm reviewing episode 8, "The Elysian Kingdom". So let's get right into it shall we?

This is probably the most fun episode of the series so far. It's also the episode that is most like two Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. It has elements from the season 5 episode, "Imaginary Friend" and the season 7 episode, "Masks". But it was just a fun episode overall.

I loved how different each of the characters were when they were being the characters from Doctor M'Benga's book. Seeing Anson Mount playing a snivelling underling is pretty hilarious and a bit refreshing given that he normally plays leaders. Also, seeing Ortegas as a badass chief of security was exactly what I've wanted all season. Plus, seeing her fight with a sword was pretty fun too.

I'm not giving major spoilers in this review because this is one episode that I want you to see for yourselves if you haven't watched it already. I do like that they teamed M'Benga up to with Hemmer in this episode. They actually worked quite well together. 

The regular Enterprise sets looked absolutely amazing with the added jungle/forest foliage hanging in the corridors and places like Sickbay. And seeing M'Benga sit in the captain's chair as his throne (he's the king from the story afterall) was pretty awesome. 

One thing I'm a little concerned about is whether the writers took M'Benga's only interesting storyline by wrapping up everything up with his daughter, Rukiya. I get that there's only two episodes left in the season, but we still have season 2 coming up and hopefully seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 as well. What are they gonna do that's as personal for M'Benga as trying to help his daughter? And what's going to take him out of the chief medical officer's position long enough for Dr. Piper (from the second TOS pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before") and then Dr. McCoy to fill it? I guess we'll find out in future seasons.

That's all I want to say about this week's episode. It's lots of fun and I never once checked out while I was watching it. Yes, it was ridiculous, but sometimes ridiculous is necessary in an episode of Star Trek and I am so happy that the people behind the scenes of Strange New Worlds recognize and acknowledge that. Especially these days.

And that my friends is it for me for today. I will be back sometime this weekend with the weekly geek news segment so until then have a wonderful rest of the day, if you can, and I will talk to you later. Take care.

Wizard's First Rule (1994) Book Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Today I'm here for a book review. I don't do book reviews quite as often as I would like to just because it takes time to read and oftentimes my reading time is limited to just before I go to bed at night or when I'm sitting outside in the morning before it gets to hot, so I don't get a whole lot read during those times. So I do book reviews when I'm able to. Today's book review is of Wizard's First Rule, the first book in the The Sword of Truth series by the late Terry Goodkind, published in 1994. I don't think I'm going to include spoilers, but I might. It's a 28 year old book though so it doesn't matter THAT much if I include spoilers. Let's get into it.

I first read Wizard's First Rule sometime between June 2006 and September 2007. I don't remember exactly when except that it was after my high school graduation in June 2006 and my first day of college in September 2007. Brad lent me the hardcover along with the hardcover of the second book in the series, Stone of Tears, and I read both of them fairly quickly despite them being relatively thick books. I enjoyed them but didn't end up continuing with the series as I wanted to read some of my Star Wars novels before I started college and wouldn't have much time to read for relaxation since I'd be reading alot for school. 

What I like most about this book in particular and this series overall (what I've read of it so far) is that there are twists and turns, but very few of those twists and turns are political in nature. While politics is at the very heart of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, it does make the story pretty complicated since there are so many characters and it's hard to keep track of their allegiances throughout the series. With The Sword of Truth, particularly Wizard's First Rule, the politics is kept in the background and there are far fewer characters to keep track of. The only time politics really figures into the story is when Richard and Kahlan are with the Mud People, and when Richard's brother Michael is involved. 

So if you're not familiar with this book, Wizard's First Rule is about a man named Richard Cypher, a Woods Guide, who meets Kahlan Amnell, who turns out to be a powerful magical woman, known as the Mother Confessor. Her power is to make people confess to their crimes and enslaving the men. Kahlan is attempting to prevent the evil sorcerer, Darken Rahl from taking over the world. With the help of his friend Zedd, who is a Wizard of the First Order, Richard becomes the Seeker and takes the Sword of Truth in order to stop Rahl. 

There's obviously more to the book than that, but that's the basic plot. I'm not a huge fan of Sword & Sorcery Fantasy novels. Mostly because the magic in them tend to be way more complicated than it needs to be and the genre can get pretty repetitive at times. But this book feels more personal in terms of the characters. When you break it down the book is about three people: Richard, Kahlan, and Darken Rahl. That's it. In some ways it's sort of about Zedd as well, but he's missing from a good chunk of the story. And while Rahl is only in a few scenes, particularly early on, his presence is felt by all the characters and so the story is as much about him as it is about Richard and Kahlan stopping him. Particularly with the twist that comes at the end of the book.

I think my favourite characters in this book are Zedd and Kahlan. Zedd is just alot of fun, because he very much likes to test Richard in the same way Yoda tested Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. I love Kahlan though because she's a very powerful person but she wishes she wasn't so she could have a normal life. Which isn't something very many characters with extraordinary powers experience. Kahlan is different though because her powers isolate her from everyone, even from having a family of her own. So she believes anyway. I won't give away the ending, but something does happen at the end of the book that allows her to be with Richard. 

The book does feel overly long. Because of how episodic it is, there are probably parts that could be cut out to make the story flow a little bit better without ruining the plot, such as the time that Richard and Kahlan are in Westland, and the time they're with the Mud People could've been trimmed down a bit. And maybe the Rachel subplot could've been shortened a little bit too. But that's just my personal preference. 

Overall this is a pretty decent book. The Sword of Truth series continued until Terry Goodkind's death in 2020, through various sequels and prequels. Wizard's First Rule is still in print today so I would recommend reading it if you're into Sword & Sorcery Fantasy. 

That my friends is going to be it for me for today. I will be back tomorrow for my review of this week's episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which oddly enough has a Fantasy feel to it thanks to an unknown lifeform messing with the crew using the storybook that M'Benga has been reading to his daughter. It looks like a really fun episode, so I will see you for that review tomorrow. Until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) TV Show Review [Spoilers]

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Wednesday morning. Today I'm here to talk about Obi-Wan Kenobi. The series is over, so I will be doing a full spoiler review of the series. So if you haven't completed the show yet, please do so before reading this review. Let's get into it.

This was the only Disney+ Star Wars show that I was excited for following The Mandalorian. I wasn't excited for The Book of Boba Fett or The Bad Batch and I have no plans to watch Andor either. But to see Ewan MacGregor back as Obi-Wan, and Hayden Christensen back as Darth Vader was something I was absolutely excited for. But we got far more than that.

Before I get into specific things that I liked about this show, I do have to say that I'm impressed that they didn't try to do more than the story allowed them to do like what's happened with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and some of the Marvel Disney+ shows. With many of those stories, six to eight episodes wasn't enough because the writers crammed so much story into the shows that you couldn't possibly wrap everything up in such a short time, but with this show? The story was so simple without too many plot threads that I thought it wrapped up quite nicely.

Matching Obi-Wan with Leia was a stroke of genius. As I mentioned in my review of the first episode, neither the movies nor the Expanded Universe, Legends or Canon, have ever explained why Leia went to Tatooine to get Obi-Wan in A New Hope though the novelization of Return of the Jedi did attempt to explain it in a vague way, there were no details given. This show though gives a much better explanation which is really cool.

Darth Vader is a freaky dude. One of the reasons The Empire Strikes Back was my least favourite Star Wars movie when I was a kid was because of how scary Vader is in that movie. Yeah, compared to this show, Vader is a pussycat in The Empire Strikes Back. Every time he walked on screen, I was like, "everyone is screwed". And I think that's because in this show Vader is more of a loose cannon than he would end up becoming in the Original Trilogy. Which is interesting to see. In a way, this Vader is what people thought we were going to get in the Prequel Trilogy back in 1997 before the trailers for The Phantom Menace came out. 

I find it interesting that how Obi-Wan split Vader's mask and damaged his breathing apparatus in the finale is similar to how it's been done in games like The Force Unleashed (2008) and in other shows like Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018) as well as in comics. It looked really cool, and also REALLY scary to hear his voice half in the mask and half out of it. But that moment where Obi-Wan finally realizes that Anakin was truly gone, and had been replaced with Darth Vader is one of the saddest moments in the series. It's why Obi-Wan told Luke in Return of the Jedi that Vader was, "more machine now than man, twisted and evil". It's also sad that only Luke and Padme could see that Anakin was still there. And you can tell because that's when Obi-Wan calls him Darth, as he did twice in A New Hope. 

I also love how many cameos were in this show. Aside from Obi-Wan, Vader, and Leia, you had Luke, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Bail Organa and Breha Organa, R2-D2 and C-3PO, Clone Troopers, Jawas, the Emperor, and Qui-Gon Jinn. Yes, my friends, Qui-Gon Jinn, played by Liam Neeson, made his live action return after 23 years at the end of the show's finale. What I liked about him appearing is that he was leading Obi-Wan into the future. And he also did it with a hint of reprimand, because as Qui-Gon said, "I've always been here, you just couldn't see me" implying that Obi-Wan's guilt over what happened with Anakin clouded his ability to learn Yoda's methods for communicating with those who have gone into the Force. Which is very powerful.

Reva got a much better ending than I feared she'd get. I was concerned about having her in here as nothing more than a way to get Obi-Wan to Vader. But she isn't. She has her own story and I am glad we have her and that she wasn't killed. There's potential to explore the character more in other shows, or even other seasons of Obi-Wan Kenobi if they end up making a second season. Moses Ingram did an amazing job as the character.

There were lots of other cool little easter eggs in the show too. Like Quinlan Vos, who was created for the comics back in the 2000s and later referenced in Revenge of the Sith, and the kid that Haja (Kumail Nanjiani) helped escape from Daiyu in Part II was named Corran, a reference to Rogue Squadron pilot, and Jedi Knight, Corran Horn from the Legends continuity.

I do wish we had gotten to see more of The Path though. It's basically a prelude to the Rebel Alliance, similar to the Rebel networks we saw in Rebels. That storyline just kind of ended abruptly with Obi-Wan departing the ship to lure the Empire away from them and Leia. But this is an Obi-Wan show, not Star Wars: The Path. Which I would totally watch if those particular characters came back.

I really enjoyed Obi-Wan Kenobi. It and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are the reasons I come back to both Star Wars and Star Trek. They do prequels right. They're also really good stories too. I hope it gets a second season, but if not, I'm thrilled with what we got. 

That's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow with another post. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to talk about yet, but I have a couple of ideas. So until then have a great afternoon and I will talk to you all later. Take care. 

The VHS Corner: Animorphs: The Invasion Series (1999)

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Tuesday. Welcome back to the VHS Corner. Today I'm going to be talking about Animorphs and it's North American home video release history. I only had the first tape when I was a kid, so that's the tape I'm going to be focusing on the most in this post. So without further ado, let's get into it, because, "It's all in your hands. Hold on. Hold back darkness. Gotta take a stand. It's all in your hands". Yes, I just typed out the chorus of the TV show's original theme song. Let's get into it.

Based on the popular book series by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, Animorphs was produced by Scholastic Productions and Protocol Entertainment and aired on Nickelodeon in the United States from 1998 until 2000 and on Global and YTV here in Canada from 1998 until 1999. I watched it on Thursday nights on YTV and on Sunday mornings on Global, before my mom, brother, sister and I went to church (my dad worked weekends at the time). Global had all of the reruns while YTV aired the new episodes. I started watching the series near the end of the first season, and my first episode was "The Release", the final episode before the three part season 1 finale/season 2 premiere, "Face-Off". Which I watched on YTV. During the months between seasons, I mostly watched the show on Global as I caught up on the previous episodes that I had missed. And then I saw the six remaining episodes and that was it. The series was over. However it would live on.

Columbia TriStar Home Video (now known as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) released four volumes on VHS with each volume containing three episodes for a total of twelve episodes on home video. These four volumes were the only physical media releases that the Animorphs TV series ever got. Now the show is on iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon Video, spread out into three volumes. The show was apparently also on Netflix, but I don't know if that was just in the U.S. or if that includes Canada as well. Wikipedia, the fansite, Hirac Delest, and Seerowpedia (the Animorphs Wiki) don't give a release date for the tapes, but I would put the release of the first tape in early 1999 because Godzilla and The Mask of Zorro were both out on home video as per the previews shown in the opening of the first volume, Ghostbusters (1984) was about to be re-released on VHS (and released on DVD for the first time if I remember correctly), and the preview for Animorphs: The Invasion Series Part 2 - Nowhere to Run said that the tape was going to be released in April of 1999. Plus the promo for the book series at the beginning of the previews show the covers up to Book #29 The Sickness and Megamorphs #3 Elfangor's Secret, which came out in the April/May 1999 time frame. And the copyright info on the back covers of Volumes 3 and 4 both say 1999, so they were probably May and June respectively, or both out in May or whatever the case is. Let's get into the tapes themselves shall we?

 The Invasion Begins is the first volume of the series and it's the tape that I had when I was a kid. I watched this tape all the time. As mentioned above there were previews for the Animorphs books, Godzilla (1998) and The Mask of Zorro (1998) on VHS and DVD, the 1999 VHS re-release of Ghostbusters (1984), and the April 1999 VHS release of Animorphs: The Invasion Series Part 2 - Nowhere to Run at the beginning of the tape. After that is a special message from Jake (Shawn Ashmore) who basically gives the background for the series, which is basically the opening narration for Book #1 The Invasion, and then it goes into the three episodes contained on the tape, "My Name is Jake Part 1", "My Name is Jake Part 2", and "The Underground", which are based on Book #1 The Invasion, before showing more footage of Shawn Ashmore as Jake, relating how he felt about morphing, becoming the leader of the Animorphs, and finding out that his brother, Tom, was a Controller. It's similar to the live action bookends that the Teddy Ruxpin VHS tapes had in 1987. 

This tape was the first time I saw "My Name is Jake Part 1". I say that because for whatever reason Global and YTV never aired it in reruns as they tended not to run the pilot episode of kids shows, though "A Moon Star is Born" the pilot episode of the DIC English dub of Sailor Moon did get rerun by Global AND by YTV. It was a rare occurrence. Anyway, I saw it for the first time on this tape and I enjoyed it. These first three episodes aren't as goofy as subsequent episodes would be. They're also very atmospheric compared to the rest of the series. Let's go onto the rest of the tapes.

 I only owned the first tape in the series, so I don't have anything to say about the openings for these other tapes since they aren't on YouTube. Cassie is in the bookend footage for Nowhere to Run. This tape skipped episode 4, "On the Run" and just included episode 5, "Between Friends" which is based on Book #2 The Visitor, episode 6, "The Message" which is based on Book #4 The Message and episode 11, "The Reaction" which is based on Book #12 The Reaction. All interesting episodes. 

I think Marco (Boris Cabrera) is in the bookend footage for tape #3 The Enemy Among Us. I can't confirm it because the footage isn't on YouTube or the Internet Archive, or anywhere. But I think the idea is, whoever is on the front cover of the VHS release opens and closes the tape. The episodes on this tape are episode 12, "The Stranger", which is based on Book #7 The Stranger, episode 14, "The Leader Part 1" and episode 15, "The Leader Part 2" which are based on Book #5 The Predator. 

The final tape in the series, The Legacy Survives, has both Rachel and Tobias on the front cover. I remember seeing the bookends for this tape on YouTube a long time ago, and I know that Rachel (Brooke Nevin) opens the tape, but if I remember correctly both she and Tobias (Christopher Ralph) close the tape together. The episodes on this tape are episode 9, "The Capture Part 1" and episode 10, "The Capture Part 2" which are based on Book #6 The Capture, and episode 17, "Not My Problem" which shares plot elements with Megamorphs #4 Back to Before, which was published in April 2000, a full 15 months after the TV episode originally aired. 

And that my friends is it for Animorphs on VHS. Just a quick post since I only had the first tape in the series and with there only being four of them, there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. But I decided to talk about them anyway because I owned the first volume when I was a kid and I watched it quite often. Especially after 2002 when the series was no longer on TV and I had the TV/VCR combo set in my bedroom.

That's all for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of Obi-Wan Kenobi and then who knows what I'm going to be posting on Thursday. I guess we'll see. In the meantime have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Series Books for Kids and Teens: An Overview in Four Parts, Part 1: The Stratemeyer Syndicate

Hey everyone! Surprise! I'm back. This post isn't going to be long but I had something I wanted to talk about quickly, so here I am. Back in November 2020, I started a series of posts called Series Books for Kids and Teens: An Overview in Four Parts. I only got the first part out, and decided to revive the series. However, part one was done over on The Review Basement and it would take alot of work to rewrite it and bring it over here to Josh's Geek Cave. So, instead I'm going to link the original Review Basement post and then do the other three posts. Part 1 deals with the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which published The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, The Bobbsey Twins and many others. Part 2 is going to focus on Scholastic which published Goosebumps, The Babysitters Club, and Animorphs (among others). Part 3 will focus on other teen books by publishers such as Berkley Jam, Bantam Skylark, Grosset & Dunlap and many others. Part 4 will focus on the TV show and movie adaptations of these books. So, without further ado, here's the link to part 1. Enjoy.

https://reviewbasement.blogspot.com/2020/11/series-books-for-kids-and-teens.html 

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Movie Review

 Hey everyone! How were your weekends? Mine was pretty great. So today I'm gonna be reviewing the 2020 film, Sonic the Hedgehog. I've been wanting to see this movie since it was in theatres two years ago, but of course, I wasn't able to see it in theatres, and I didn't get it on Blu-ray or DVD when it came out. But it was one of the DVDs that my friend Katie gave me last weekend, and I decided it was going on my list of reviews to get to once I'd reviewed Ghostbusters: Afterlife. So here we are. Now this movie is two years old so there might be spoilers in this review, so if you haven't seen this movie yet and planned on watching, then go do so then come back and read this review. Let's get into it.

Growing up I was a Nintendo kid, and nobody I knew had a Sega Genesis, so I never played any of the Sonic games. My introduction to the character was Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1994), which was the Saturday Morning Cartoon action type animated series, and then Sonic Underground (1999). I've also read several of the Free Comic Book Day issues that Archie Comics put out when they had the comic book license. So my experience with Sonic is different from what many of you may have experienced over the years. Yet, I found myself enjoying the movie as much as I would've if I'd played any of the games. Maybe even more so. 

The plot is pretty simple. Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and Tom (James Marsden) have to get to San Francisco so Sonic can recover his power rings, while being chased by Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who wants to dissect Sonic to discover the source of his powers. Pretty standard stuff. But it works because they didn't try anything fancy with it and they didn't make it overly long either. Which is appreciated.

I love the cast in this movie too. James Marsden played Cyclops in the original X-Men trilogy in the 2000s and returned in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and played Lois Lane's fiance in Superman Returns (2006). He's also been in a few other movies I've seen. I'm not very familiar with Ben Schwartz's work though. I've never seen Parks and Recreation (2009-2015) or any of his other movies or TV shows, but he was really good as the voice of Sonic. And of course Jim Carrey was playing Jim Carrey when he was playing Dr. Robotnik. Just like he did in 1994 and 1995 when he played Ace Ventura, the Mask, and the Riddler. Which is awesome.

I also like how the movie did away with some of the tropes that these movies have while keeping others. For example at no point in the movie do Tom and Sonic have a falling out, which leads Sonic right into the hands of Robotnik. That got really tired in movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks and other movies similar to this. 

I do wish there was more about Sonic's background at the beginning of the movie especially because I haven't played the games and the cartoons had different backstories for him, and we did get a little bit here, but as someone who isn't all that familiar with Sonic as a character a little bit more would've been nice. That's just me though. It was also a bold move to tease Tails in a mid credits scene at the end of the movie. Good thing this movie got a sequel because Power Rangers teased Tommy back in 2017 and that movie didn't get a sequel. Just sayin'.

Overall this was a pretty good movie. It's better than I feared it would be and more entertaining than I thought it would be given I'm not a big Sonic fan like other people are. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend you give it a watch. It's a pretty easy watch even if you're not a Sonic fan. 

Alrighty that is going to be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for this week's VHS Corner post, then Wednesday the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi drops so I'll have my review for the entire show after I've watched the finale. So until then have a wonderful evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.

Josh's Geek News - Barbie Movie, DC Comics, Doctor Who, and More

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. For a Sunday anyway. So, I'm going to try an experiment today. I've never done this before because I've never been a news guy when it comes to Geekdom. Mostly because so much of it ends up being rumours or false information. Plus I barely have enough time in my day to read and watch the stuff that I like to read and watch. But, I thought I'd give this a shot and see if this will work for me, and for you, my readers. My buddy Aaron helped me compile these articles for this post, so let's get into it.

The first piece of news that I want to talk about is that Tim Drake is finally getting his own solo title again after 11 years. It's called Tim Drake: Robin, and the first issue is set to come out in September. According to the article on the DC Comics website, it's a spin-off of the Tim Drake Pride Special which came out earlier this month, as well as the Batman: Urban Legends series. Which I think is really cool as, 29 years ago the first Robin solo monthly ongoing series debuted in the wake of Jean Paul Valley taking on the Batman mantle following Bruce Wayne's defeat at the hands of Bane during Knightfall. I don't have much else to say about that since I'm not reading alot of current comics. I still think it's cool though.

So apparently Neil Patrick Harris has joined the cast of Doctor Who for Russell T. Davies's upcoming season of the long running Sci-Fi series. The article Aaron sent me doesn't say much more than that, but I thought I would mention it anyway even though I'm not watching Doctor Who currently. 

I am a fan of Boom! Studios's Power Rangers comics. I started reading Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in 2016 when the single issues were coming out and Kyle Higgins was the writer on the book. I ended up falling off the book after issue #16 (I had all of them in singles up to that point), and have been trying to catch up in trade paperback and the occasional single issue, but it's difficult. Especially with the pandemic and everything going on with that. I mention this because Eleonora Carlini, who was the artist on Go Go Power Rangers for issues 13-20 and the one shot, Go Go Power Rangers: Forever Rangers, is returning for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #100. From what I can tell, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was split up into Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers with Go Go Power Rangers being discontinued in 2020, but now the two books are being melded back into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for issue 100. This is why I don't like trying to collect modern comics. It gets to be too complicated. 

Anyway, Eleonora Carlini is returning for the 100th issue. Now, I haven't seen her work on Go Go Power Rangers because I actually only got the first issue of that series back in 2017 and decided I would try to pick it up in trade, which then ended up not happening and I just never picked that series up again. But I do like it when an artist returns to a particular book. Particularly when it's one they're most known for. It'd be like if Adrian Alphona returned to Runaways at Marvel, if Marvel was still doing an Runaways book still, which they're not. So that's cool.

There's one other piece of comic book news that I want to talk about. With the Sandman TV series dropping on Netflix in August, DC is putting out a free Sandman comic which is basically a guide to the comic book series for anyone who is interested in getting into the book before the TV show starts. Personally, I don't care because I'm not interested in the TV show, or the character of Sandman, but I know alot of people are and I'm sure people will be curious about the Netflix series. The article about it that I read on Bleeding Cool revealed the book's cover, which I included above this section.

So next up is kind of news, but also, kind of not. Aaron sent me an article about the Barbie movie that's coming out next year. Earlier this week it was announced that Ryan Gosling was cast as Ken, opposite Margot Robbie's Barbie. I don't have much interest in it, mainly because I'm not a fan of Barbie. I played with Barbie dolls when I was a kid, because my sister wanted me to play with them with her, but I haven't seen any of the animated movies the character is in and I haven't followed the evolution of the character apart from what I've seen in commercials on TV. This movie isn't being made for me, it's being made for the fans of the character and I'm fine with that.

It is also my sad duty to report the news that Tim Sale, the artist behind Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: Haunted Knight, and Superman For All Seasons which were all written by Jeph Loeb. According to the news articles I've seen, Sale had been battling an unknown illness at the time of his death. I'm more familiar with Sale's work from images of comic book panels online and in videos on YouTube than I am with the books he's done, but I really like it. Especially in Superman For All Seasons. 

It was also announced this week that HBO has put a sequel series to Game of Thrones which centers on Jon Snow, into development. There aren't any writers or producers attached to the series yet. But it's being reported that Kit Harington will return to the role should the series go forward. I've never watched Game of Thrones, which ran on HBO for 8 seasons from 2011 to 2019. But I have read all five books of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin that the series is based on, so while the sequel series isn't for me, I think it's cool because I've read the books.

The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has signed a deal with Marvel Studios and Disney+ to produce a Wonder Man TV series. Andrew Guest, who worked as a consulting producer on Hawkeye, will serve as head writer and executive producer alongside Cretton. I'm not a big Marvel fan, like I love Spider-Man, the original Runaways, some X-Men books and I'm excited to read the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel runs, but I don't naturally gravitate towards Marvel Comics in general. So I have no idea who Wonder Man is. The article that Aaron sent me, explains who he is, but only up until the '80s. Which makes me think the character has no story to tell after the '80s. 

Finally, Taika Waititi and Kathleen Kennedy told Total Film magazine, as reported on by Variety, that Waititi's upcoming Star Wars movie, which has no release date as of yet, will be about brand new characters. Which is a fine line to walk when it comes to the Star Wars franchise because as we saw with the Sequel Trilogy it can be difficult to create new characters that audiences will embrace  

That my friends is all I wanted to talk about today. Aaron sent me tons of articles, but I will save them for next week's post. Yes, it'll be late, but I'm only doing this once a week, so I have to really pick and choose what I write about. If you like this segment, please let me know and I'll keep doing it. Generally, I'm looking to do these posts on Saturdays but I can also do them on Sundays if Saturdays don't work out. Until then have a wonderful evening, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Take care and I will talk to you all soon.

Tim Sale's Death: https://www.superherohype.com/comics/515715-legendary-comic-book-artist-tim-sale-passes-away-at-66 

Disney+ Wonder Man Series: https://www.superherohype.com/tv/515716-disney-lines-up-a-creative-team-for-marvels-wonder-man-series

Game of Thrones Jon Snow Sequel Series: https://www.superherohype.com/tv/515743-hbo-is-developing-a-jon-snow-game-of-thrones-sequel-series

Taika Waititi's Star Wars Movie: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/taika-waititi-star-wars-movie-new-characters-1235294929/?fbclid=IwAR0GGPMRWuya8TYLOpYPqs0dZuAqY9vvIJIqwjgEhy0wUPSDXAXdOSk8eqI

Barbie Movie: https://www.vulture.com/2022/06/barbie-movie-2023-cast-release-date-details.html

Free Sandman Primer Comic: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/free-sandman-special-editions-in-comic-shops-when-netflix-show-drops/

Neil Patrick Harris Cast on Doctor Who: https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/neil-patrick-harris-joins-doctor-who

Eleonora Carlini Returns to Power Rangers Comic: https://comic-watch.com/news/news-watch-acclaimed-artist-eleonora-carlini-returns-to-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-for-milestone-issue

Tim Drake Gets New Solo Comic: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2022/06/16/tim-drake%E2%80%99s-story-continues-in-new-series-%E2%80%98tim-drake-robin%E2%80%99