TITLE: Nightwing #19
AUTHOR: Kyle Higgins
PENCILLER: Brett Booth
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASED: April 17, 2013

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Pre-New 52 Nightwing was one of my absolute favorite characters. But these days? Not so much. Not only has the novelty of his red costume worn off, but this Dick Grayson feels like he’s been robbed of so much of his depth and intrigue. He feels like just another one of Batman’s stringers, as opposed to a man who decided to forge his own path. While he’s moved to a new city, this is hardly a fresh start for our hero.

After learning that Tony Zucco, the man who murdered his parents, is still alive and in Chicago, Dick Grayson relocates to the Windy City. But in the DC Universe, Chicago has a strict “no capes” policy. This means Nightwing is as much an outlaw as the criminals he’s pursuing. As our hero works to track down Zucco, a masked villain called the Prankster wreaks havoc, and is undoubtedly on a collision course with the former Boy Wonder.

I’ve had it out for Brett Booth for a couple of years now. I’m completely and utterly sour on the direction he helped take Teen Titans in when the reboot happened. It’s going to take a long time for me to forgive him for the mess that is Red Robin’s costume. He does alright this issue despite having to draw Dick with the red costume. The opening sequence with him running from the police across the rooftops is fairly reminiscent of the way Justice League #1 opened. But I do have a question: In the shot you see on the right here, why are Nightwing’s legs wide open like that? This issue dedicates a two-page spread to our hero assuming a position that’s often seen in the adult film industry. He’s supposed to be jumping across a rooftop, right? That hardly seems aerodynamic…

The Prankster we see here is a revamp of a classic Superman villain. The last time we saw him, he was a game show host-looking Joker knocking off with a green suit and a goatee. This Prankster is much more menacing, with a black and yellow outfit, a long coat, and a mask not dissimilar to the white ones we’ve seen the Court of Owls wear. His pranks are cruel, but he apparently has a sense of social justice about him. He could prove to be an interesting friend or foe for Nightwing.

As a Chicago native, I’m not sure what I expected this issue to be from a “Hey, that’s where I live!” standpoint. The Willis Tower (remember, it’s not the Sears Tower anymore) is prominently on display, and some of the architecture looks vaguely familiar. But the art doesn’t scream Chicago. I wonder if this is how New Yorkers feel when they read Spider-Man or Daredevil…

Since the reboot, I’ve actually come close to dropping Nightwing from my pull list a couple of times. It’s not necessarily Kyle Higgins’ fault. With the New 52, he company forced ALL its characters to drop some of their baggage, but as such they also lost a lot of the depth and backstory that made them interesting. I wasn’t enamored with Dick coming back to the circus either. We’ve seen that story a bunch of times. I was hoping Nightwing #19 would start the character down a path that would freshen him up a bit. But despite its strong points, I’m not sure this issue gave us that.

Front page image/image 1 from comicbook.com. Image 2 from darkknightnews.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

J.J. Abrams, director of both Star Trek Into Darkness and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, recently spoke to Playboy about the differences between the two iconic sci-fi franchises, and his decision to direct the next Star Wars film.

On Star Trek Into Darkness: “I learned so much doing the first Star Trek—a movie. I’d never done any kind of space adventure before or anything on that scale. We knew the second one had to be bigger and not just for bigger’s sake. It was where the story was taking us. We got really cool glimpses of the Enterprise in the first movie. This time we get to see areas of the ship nobody’s seen before. And the villain is more complex now. In our first film Eric Bana plays a wonderfully angry Romulan dude, pissed off and full of vengeance. In this one, the bad guy is still brutal and fierce, but he’s got a much more interesting and active story. We have to grapple with many layers of his character. He’s essentially a space terrorist, and Benedict Cumberbatch, whom people know from BBC’s Sherlock, is kick ass in the role. Kirk and the rest of the crew are figuring out how the hell to get an upper hand with this guy. The darkness is real in this movie, and it’s incredibly challenging and terrifying, and it can certainly be lethal. You need that edge, partly because Star Trek has been so relentlessly parodied over the years.”

On the decision to direct Star Wars: Episode VII: “The worlds are vastly different. Honestly, that was why I passed on Star Wars to begin with. I couldn’t imagine doing both. But when I said that my loyalty was to Star Trek I was literally working on finishing this cut. I couldn’t even entertain another thought. It was like being on the most beautiful beach in the world and someone saying, “There’s this amazing mountain over here. Come take a look.” I couldn’t balance the two, so I passed on Star Wars. I was near the light at the end of the tunnel with my work on Star Trek. I felt I needed a bit of a breather, actually. But then Kathleen Kennedy [the new Lucasfilm head who oversees Star Wars] called again. I’ve known her for years. We had a great conversation, and the idea of working with her on this suddenly went from being theoretical and easy to deny to being a real, tangible, thrilling possibility. In the end it was my wife, Katie, who said if it was something that really interested me, I had to consider it.”

On the differences between Trek and Wars: ”As with anything, because these are very different worlds, they shouldn’t feel the same aesthetically…But again, I don’t apply aesthetics first and fit a movie into that aesthetic. If I had come into Star Trek with those eyes, I would probably have been paralyzed. The advantage here is that we still have George Lucas with us to go to and ask questions and get his feedback on things, which I certainly will do. With Star Trek it was harder because I wasn’t a Star Trek fan; I didn’t have the same emotional feeling, and I didn’t have Gene Roddenberry to go to. But I came to understand the world of Star Trek, and I appreciated what fans felt and believed about this universe and this franchise.”

On the possibility of a third Star Trek film: “I would say it’s a possibility. We’re trying to figure out the next step. But it’s like anything: It all begins with the story.”

Source: ComingSoon.net
Image 1 from salon.com. Image 2 from ew.com.
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TITLE: Oblivion
STARRING: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
DIRECTOR: Joseph Kosinski
STUDIOS: Universal, Radical Studios, Chernin Entertainment, Relativity Media, Ironhead Studios, Truenorth Productions
RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 125 min
RELEASED: April 19, 2013

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part-Time Ninja

One of my earliest motivations to see the new film, Oblivion, was to discover why the future looked like the inside of an Apple store. After watching the movie I have to wonder if Microsoft kicked in a nice chunk of change to finance it, but that’s just my opinion. Either way, this was a film I wasn’t expecting much from. But I walked out of the theater pleasantly surprised.

Sixty years after a war with an alien race, Earth has been devastated due to the moon being blown up, and nuclear weapons have left the world an irradiated wasteland. Humanity is leaving a Earth for the moon of Titan in a massive spaceship. In the meantime, Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), are responsible for maintaining a fleet of drones that hunt down the remnants of the alien army and protect the machines sucking up the ocean for starship fuel. The aliens send out a signal that summons an old NASA spacecraft filled with human survivors, including a woman that Jack continually dreams about (Olga Kurylenko). His quest to discover what his connection is to the mysterious woman and her past will reveal there is more to Jack’s life than what he has been told.

The first thing most moviegoers seem to think when they see this movie is that it’s very beautiful. Director Joseph Kosinski, whose most recent film TRON: Legacy, has a knack for settings, visual effects and cinematography. He certainly brings his talents to bear on this film. The settings all have their own unique beauty to them: The sleek and cold tower that Jack lives in, the idyllic cabin by the lake that he thinks of as home, and the bombed out ruins of Earth filled with stark reminders of what once was. They paint a very vivid portrait of this post-apocalyptic future. The action scenes are exciting and well choreographed, and they don’t feel incredibly extraneous or thrown in for the sake of having more action.

The story is a mixed bag for me. I like the way it progresses. It doesn’t get bogged down by too many scenes with needless exposition ,and Cruise has enough charisma to interest the audience in his journey to rediscover his humanity. At the same time, the rest of the characters are pretty one-dimensional compared to Jack. They’re just there to develop the character of Jack instead of being their own individuals for the audience to care about. However, I did enjoy Andrea Risebourough’s performance and what she was able to do with the material. But the rest of the cast is wasted in their roles. I’m 90 percent sure Morgan Freeman took his part role solely because it called on him to go crazy with a pair of machine guns.

Oblivion wasn’t a film I was really excited to see. But while it’s not going to be remembered as an exceptional science fiction film, it is a gorgeous and entertaining movie, and a great way to warm up for the summer movie season.

RATING: 8/10

Front page image from contactmusic.com. Images 1 and 2 from rottentomatoes.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Thoughts From Raw:

- Hey long time fans: Remember after Wrestlemania XX when the Undertaker would appear on Smackdown, and Michael Cole would hype it up as a “rare television appearance,” even though he showed up almost every week? It’s rather surreal that we’ve now reached the point where it actually is rare to see him on television, especially in a wrestling capacity. But tonight we got to see it, and indeed it was a rare treat. It’s also pretty rare that we saw the dead man lose (Daniel Bryan took the fall, but ‘Taker’s name was in the loss column nonetheless). I don’t think that’s happened for at least a few years. That’s a heck of a notch on the Shield’s belt.

- By the way, seeing the fans hold up cell phones as the Undertaker walks to the ring is no where near as cool as back in the ’90s when they held up lighters. These kids today with their newfangled phones…

- WWE.com put an article up today speculating about a fourth member being added to the Shield. Personally, I’m hoping the group stays a triad. Considering this group is supposed to be stealthy and quick-striking, I think it’s best to keep it small. Three is a nice round number. The original incarnation of the n.W.o comes to mind.

- So at this point, can we assume the Shield is going to play some kind of role in the John Cena/Ryback match at Extreme Rules? They’re essentially half the basis for the entire feud. What if we did a lumberjack match where Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns got to beat the crap out of both of them? Come to think of it, that would probably be more entertaining than the actual match we’ll get…

- WWE made good use of Mick Foley this week. Whenever a heel needs a spare good guy to cut a “Look what you’ve become!” promo, Foley’s always a good guy to call. Incidentally, I picked up For All Mankind: The Life and Career of Mick Foley this past week. It’s a good buy, particularly if you dig wrestling documentaries like I do.

- Defeating William Regal in England was probably one of the only sure fire ways for Fandango to gain even a sliver of his heat back. The fans booed him for a solid second or two when he got the three count. That was a cool little moment when Jericho busted out a little of his Dancing With The Stars repertoire. I’m surprised it took this long to reference that. You’d think that could have been the jumping off point for the whole program.

- News broke this week about the divas getting their own reality show on E!, which might be interesting. Natalya, the Bella Twins and the Funkadactyls will star, along with two developmental divas. Though I can honestly say I have no real desire to see Brie and Nikki Bella on my television longer than necessary, a behind-the-scenes view of the business from a woman’s perspective might be interesting. “Smart” fans know that John Cena is actually dating Nikki Bella, Daniel Bryan is dating Brie (Or is it the other way around?), and Tyson Kidd dates Natalya. I’m wondering if any of these real-life relationships will make air. Lord knows Tyson Kidd needs all the screen time he can get.

- “Ziggly Puff.” Was that a Pokemon reference on Monday Night Raw? Kudos for that one AJ.

- So yeah, AJ won the diva battle royal, and is now the number one contender for the oh so prestigious Diva’s Championship. Wow, what a surprise. She’s the only diva left with any kind of presence out there, with Natalya being the one exception. The problem with WWE continuously talking about how AJ and Kaitlyn used to be good friends, is that the majority of that stuff was on C-list shows like NXT. And their relationship wasn’t exactly deep, was it? Granted, I think they’re friends in real life. But on screen they were just sort of put together as the two divas on the undercard. That doesn’t necessarily make for an entertaining angle about former friends.

- Here’s hoping Rosa Mendes is okay, as she was sent home from WWE’s European tour today. I swear, WWE can still do great things with her if they just give her the ball…

- So is “crazy” R-Truth officially a thing of the past? We’re back to that cheesy “What’s up” song? Well that sucks. You know what also sucks? Antonio Cesaro’s yodeling gimmick. But you know what sucks even more than that? Cesaro having to job to Truth.

Images from WWE.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This week, Bryan Singer tweeted the first photo of Halle Berry from the X-Men: Days of the Future Past set.

Singer gave fans a look at Storm’s new look for the film with the caption: “Storm Watch.”

The movie is Halle Berry’s fourth X-Men film. She last appeared in the franchise in 2006′s X-Men: The Last Stand. It is her second X-Men film with Singer.

X-Men: Days of the Future Past comes out July 18, 2014.

Source: Newsarama
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This weekend, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb tweeted a brand new image of Jamie Foxx as Electro, with the caption: ”Day 52. My name is Max.”

In the Marvel Universe, the supervillain Electro’s real name is Maxwell Dillon. Dillon was an electrical engineer who acquired super powers after a freak accident while repairing a power line. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the character has been menacing Spider-Man since his debut in 1964. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 marks his first appearance in a feature film.

This weekend we also got our first look at Harry Osborn, as Dane DeHaan tweeted the first official photo of his character. In the Marvel Universe, Harry is the son of Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin. Though initially a friend of Peter Parker’s, he eventually becomes the Green Goblin himself. The character was played by James Franco in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films.

Set for release on May 2, 2014, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 also stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Shailene Woodley, Paul Giamatti, Chris Cooper and Sally Field.

Source and Images: SuperheroHype.com
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TITLE: Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 1: The Red Shadow
AUTHOR: Rick Remender
PENCILLER: John Cassaday, Olivier Coipel.
COLLECTS: Uncanny Avengers #1-5
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: Marvel
PRICE: $22.99
RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2013

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

John Cassaday. If you’re a comic book buff, that’s really all you need to know about Uncanny Avengers: The Red Shadow. Sure, it’s got a fairly interesting story about humans and mutant heroes coming together after the events of Avengers vs. X-Men. But from a fanboy perspective, or at least my fanboy perspective, this book is all about John Cassaday getting to draw Marvel’s big guns again.

We open the book at Charles Xavier’s funeral. As the X-Men and the rest of the mutant community mourn the loss of their greatest visionary, Captain America laments not doing more to help mutants. He and Thor approach Alex Summers, Cyclops’ brother and the hero known as Havoc, about leading a team comprised of both Avengers and X-Men as a public display of unity. Meanwhile, Red Skull mysteriously returns from the grave and does the unthinkable: He desecrates Xavier’s grave, and then grafts a portion of Xavier’s brain on to his own, effectively giving himself telepathic powers. He uses these new powers to incite human-on-mutant violence, bringing the two races further apart than ever. Caught in the line of fire are Rogue and the Scarlet Witch, two women who most certainly do not get along.

I once read a reviewer describe Cassaday’s portrayal of Marvel’s characters “instantly iconic.” That really hits it on the head as far as I’m concerned. Something about the way he draws these characters seems to cut to their very essence. Whether it’s that southern toughness of Rogue, the mythic grandeur of Thor, or the terrifying mercilessness of Red Skull, it’s all on display here. I was particularly a fan of his Scarlet Witch. Her shame in what she’s done to the mutant race is displayed in a brilliant, and to an extent subtle way. Her scenes with Rogue are particularly well done. It’s a bit odd to see him draw Captain America in his movie style garb, as opposed to his more traditional look. But that’s a nitpick.

This isn’t to speak ill of Oliver Coipel’s work of course. His scene between Cap and Scarlet in the training room is very well done, as is the moment with Rogue and Havok in the elevator. He does a great job of quieting the story down before he and Rick Remender really stick the ending. But simply put, Cassaday’s the star here.

From a story standpoint, this book has a nice “united we stand” feel to it. There’s an obvious real world metaphor happening here, especially when Alex makes his speech at the end about how “we are all human” and refers to “the m word” as being too divisive. Remender actually caught some flack for that one IT’s not the most moving stuff you’ll ever see in a superhero comic, but it’s effective. You certainly have to admire the intentions behind it.

My favorite scene in the book is in issue four, when Red Skull uses his telepathy to show Cap his vision of America’s golden age (basically the ’50s)/ We then see his vision of America today: “Violent monsters doused in antibiotics to offset their diet of sugary sweet drink and mounds of carcinogenic cow flesh! This is what you fight for!” In a book about unity and overcoming differences, you really can’t ask for a better antagonist than Red Skull.

In issue #5, the Wasp, Wonder Man and Sunfire are added to the roster, which feels a bit abrupt considering none of them were seen or mentioned in the book until that point. The pros and cons of having them on the team have yet to reveal themselves, though I’m sure it’ll be at least somewhat interesting.

I’m not entirely convinced Uncanny Avengers has a long life in front of it, considering how quickly a series can come and go in this day and age. But Remender, Cassaday and Coipel lay a nice foundation here, and give us some compelling comic book drama. Long time Marvel Universe fans will likely enjoy what they see here.

RATING: 7.5/10

Front page image from cdn.com. Image 2 from insidepulse.com. Image 3 from xmensupreme.blogspot.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This week, several news outlets reported that Disney and Lucasfilm revealed at CinemaCon in Las Vegas that beginning in 2015, a new Star Wars film will be released every year.

This announcement more or less confirms the previous speculation about standalone Star Wars films being in the works. Reportedly, films based around Yoda, Boba Fett, and a young Han Solo are all being developed.

Regardless, Star Wars: Episode VII will be the first in line, as it is scheduled for a 2015 release.

Source: Newsarama
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Two names from the cast of Grey’s Anatomy will be visiting the DC Universe this year, in DC Entertainment’s next animated movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Justin Chambers, who plays Dr. Alex Karev on Grey’s, will play the Flash/Barry Allen. Kevin McKidd, who plays Owen Hunt, will voice Batman/Thomas Wayne.

Nathan Fillion will reprise his role as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, having previously played the role in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and Justice League: Doom.

Ron Perlman joins the cast as Deathstroke/Slade Wilson. Kevin Conroy and Dana Delany will also reprise their roles as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Lois Lane, whom they voiced on “DC animated universe” shows like Justice League: Unlimited.

Also in the cast are Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman, Michael B. Jordan as Cyborg, Cary Elwes as Aquaman, C. Thomas Howell as Reverse Flash, and Danny Huston as General Sam Lane.

The movies is based on the Flashpoint event comic by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert, in which the Flash finds himself in an alternate reality. Wonder Woman and the Amazons are at war with Aquaman and Atlantis, and the superhero community is at odds on how to handle the war. Together with this new universe’s Batman and Cyborg, Flash must work to put things right before the changes become permanent.

Directed by Jay Olivia, the film comes out on DVD and Blu-ray July 30.

Source and Image: Newsarama
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Wow. Who’d have thought? Fandango is apparently WWE’s newest breakout star. He won his Wrestlemania match with Chris Jericho, fans were singing his entrance theme at Raw the next night, and Stone Cold Steve Austin boldly predicted on Twitter that he’ll be Intercontinental Champion within six to eight months.

Obviously this is all a very pleasant surprise, considering a lot of fans were rolling their eyes at this character at first. So what’s the secret to Fandango’s success? There’s obviously a lot that factors into it. But in the end it all comes down to one thing: Curtis Hussey.

The man behind Fandango has actually been a WWE contracted wrestler since 2008, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it unless you’ve followed the company’s farm system, and later NXT. Wrestling as Johnny Curtis, Hussey won the big competition on the show’s fourth season, and was to have wrestled alongside R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Titles. For whatever reason, that never happened.  He eventually popped up on Smackdown, and in his first match was squashed by Mark Henry in less than a minute. He ended up back on NXT, anxiously awaiting an opportunity.

But cream always rises to the top, as they say. Hussey’s charisma, which was clearly visible at least as far back as his NXT days, likely made him a natural choice to play Fandango. When he speaks in that ludicrously throaty “Fahn-dahn-gooooo” voice, I believe it. And I believe it because he believes it. Fans were right to be skeptical about this character, because in the wrong hands it could have been terrible. But Hussey’s portrayal, combined with WWE having just the right idea about how big and bold to make things, has thus far proven to be quite effective.

So…shall we dance?

Thoughts From Raw:

- So it looks like Ryback is officially a heel. I suppose that’s as good a move as any. Obviously John Cena isn’t going to be changing his babyface tune any time soon. And as he needs some heel challengers anyway, a move to the dark side might help Ryback get some more experience under his belt, which will be good if and when he does have to take that top spot some day. That being said, that pre-tape promo was pretty long for my taste. Heck, Cena even brought that up during his promo at the end, where he really tore into Ryback. In any event, I’m interested to see what kind of match these two have at Extreme Rules. It could really go either way in terms of quality.

- That spot where Sheamus put the Big Show on his shoulders was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in a wrestling ring. How is Sheamus’ spine still intact? That spot deserves to be on highlight reels for months. Come to think of it, Show spent a decent amount of time in the air this week, didn’t he? He took that second rope DDT from Randy Orton, and then got pretty high for the RKO. Show takes a decent amount of flack from fans for being slow in the ring, but never discount how well he gets around for such a huge man.

- Hey, how about that? We get more than one Undertaker match this year! That’s a hell of a treat to look forward to next week.

- So if Triple H and Brock Lesnar are going to have an “old school” cage match at Extreme Rules, does that mean we get the old school blue bars back?

- So Kofi Kingston wins the United States Title from Antonio Cesaro. Why? So he can drop it to a different midcard heel? That’s exactly what happened when he took the Intercontinental belt earlier this year, isn’t it? Kofi’s held both the US and IC title so many times (three and four respectively), there’s not really any new ground to cover, is there? So the question isn’t really about what Kofi’s going to do with the US Title, but who the next champion is going to be.

- King’s right. That title does look good on Dolph Ziggler. And yet, even with the title he’s jobbing to everyone. *sigh*

- The Prime Time Players just can’t get a win. They deserve it so much, but they just can’t get one.

 Front page image, image 1 and image 3 from wwe.com. Image 2 from allwrestlingsuperstars.com.
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