Republicofcinema
Simon FitzGerald
Blogger, Reviewer, Purveyor of opinions at Republic of Cinema
Ireland,IE
Ireland,IE
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #3 "Revival" Part 3 Written by Brian Michael Bendis Art by David Marquez Marvel Comics When Peter Parker told Mary-Jane Watson that he was Spider-Man, MJ took it really well. They talked for ages in Peter's bedroom and found joy in having a shared secret and the trust that sharing that secret implied.
Guardians Of The Galaxy #15 Written by: Brian Michael Bendis Art by: Nick Bradshaw Marvel Comics The final page of the main story in Issue 14 of Guardians Of The Galaxy was a splash page of Captain Marvel in space that looked better than anything else in the issue had.
Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #2 Written by: Brian Michael Bendis Art by: David Marquez Marvel Comics One of the big differences between the Ultimate Universe and the 616 Universe is that in the Ultimate Universe, dead means dead.
Nova 18: Dia De Los Muertos Written by Gerry Duggan Art by David Baldeon The most enjoyable issue of Original Sin so far was an issue that wasn't technically even part of the main series. Issue #0 of Original Sin, told a story of Sam Alexander and Uatu The Watcher.
Forever Evil #7 Art by: Richard Friend, David Finch Variant cover by: Gary Frank, Ethan Van Sciver Forever Evil 7 has finally hit the shelves, after being delayed from its original release date of March 26th. Two months is a hell of a delay for any book, and it feels even worse for the finale of a series like Forever Evil.
Being an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. can't be easy. You have to dedicate yourself to a greater good. You have to dedicate yourself to the people around you. You have to fight against those who would bring harm to the world. You have to fight against those who would use new technologies for their own ends.
Free Comic Book Day: Guardians Of The Galaxy Written by: Brian Michael Bendis The Free Comic Book Day issue of any title has more work to do than any regular issue of that title. It needs to be accessible for the new readers that it hopes to bring in.
Guardians Of The Galaxy #15 Written by: Brian Michael Bendis Art by: Nick Bradshaw Marvel Comics The final page of the main story in Issue 14 of Guardians Of The Galaxy was a splash page of Captain Marvel in space that looked better than anything else in the issue had.
The most shocking thing about Men In Black 3 is how old it makes you feel. Will Smith's Agent J feels the need to repeatedly tell us that he's been doing the job for the last fourteen years and that he's an expert at the job now.
You can say what you like about the new Ultimate Spiderman, Miles Morales. But one thing that he has going for him right out of the gate is that his name adheres to the classic Marvel tradition of alliteration in much the same way as Marvel mainstays Bruce Banner, Scott Summers, Reed Richards, Sue Storm and even the dear departed Peter Parker do.
The cover art for Batman: Earth One has been released over the past week. The book, which was initially due for release in 2010 now has a scheduled release date of mid-2012 and now almost a year after its proposed release date, we finally get to see....the cover
Whenever I open up a collected edition of a comic book these days, the first thing that I read is the Introduction. And not just because it's at the very start of the book.
If You Film It They Will Come No matter what your opinion is on the validity of Global Warming, you can't deny that recycling is big business these days. Everywhere you look, more and more homes and businesses are separating cardboard and glass, paper and plastic.
Written By Michael Bacall Starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle and Ice Cube Playing more as an exercise in wish fulfilment than as an straight up remake, 21 Jump Street is a surprisingly smart, surprisingly funny action movie that gives Jonah Hill another moment in the sun after his success with Moneyball.
In the first issue of the rebooted Justice League, we're introduced (to varying degrees) to four of the yet-to-be World's Greatest Heroes. We meet Green Lantern, Vic Stone, Batman and Superman. The origin story takes place "five years ago", five years in the past of what is presumably the ongoing current present time of the New DCU.
The Nerd Identity Tori Amos released a song in 1994 called "Cornflake Girl" in which she contends that womankind can be classed as two distinct groups. She identifies the two groups as "Cornflake Girls" and "Raisin Girls". The idea comes from the distribution of flakes and raisins within certain breakfast cereals.
Conventional When I went to the Wizard World convention in Long Beach in LA in 2005, one of the first things that I did was to make sure that I knew where the convention was being held and what the quickest, easiest route to the convention centre was.
Our Last Best Hope Two months ago, I had never seen an episode of Babylon 5. I had heard of it, and I was a fan of a lot of the comic book writings of the Babylon 5 creator, J. Michael Straczynski but I had no desire whatsoever to watch the show.
Writer: Mark Waid Pencils and colors: Javier Rodriguez Published by: Marvel Comics The latest two-issue arc of Daredevil feels like The Second Age of Daredevil and also like a perfect jumping on point. The Bullseye saga has ended and now we are at what feels like the start of a brand new age, this time based around the race-hate group, the Serpent Society.
There's a song by Scottish band Del Amitri in which the chorus is "Nothing Ever happens, nothing happens at all. The needle returns to the start of the song and we all sing along like before".
A Day Behind It's with no small amount of eagerness and curiosity that I await the finale of Lost which is airing in America on the 23rd of May this year. For the past five and a half years, I've followed the events that have been happening on and off the island.
Stargate Odyssey In November of last year, Roland Emmerich announced that he was working on a TV spin-off to his latest disaster movie, 2012. The proposed spin off series is to be called 2013 and will follow on from the events of the movie, following a group of survivors to an island off the coast of Africa, where presumably the survivors will find a pile of unused Lost scripts.
Writer: Mark Waid Artist: Matteo Scalera Colorist: Val Staples Publisher: Marvel Comics Have I told you lately that I love Yu? Eleven issues in to Indestructible Hulk, and there have now been more issues of the book that weren't penciled by Yu than issues that were.
Written by Mark Waid Art by Andre Lima Araujo Colors by Frank D'Armata Published by MarvelNOW!
Jason Segal's Marshall Erickson is the heart and soul of the show. Marshall loves Lily without question or doubt and is never afraid to show that. There's no other woman in the world for Marshall, and even when he tries to fantasize about other women, he has to kill off Fantasy Lily before Fantasy Marshall can be with another Fantasy Woman.
We're almost at the half way point for 2013 now. Already, the days are starting to get shorter and we're closer to next Christmas than we are to last Christmas.
With the first issue of Flashpoint, Geoff Johns probably has more to do than in any other issue that follows it during the course of the event this summer.
Issue: The Flash #12: "Case Two: The Road To Flashpoint, Part 4″ Release Date: May 11, 2011 Writer: Geoff Johns Art: Scott Kolins and Francis Manapul Publisher: DC Comics One of the things that I always loved about Mark Waid's run on The Flash was his ability to combine very personal story lines with huge scientific concepts and make them blend together seamlessly.
Issue: The Flash #11: "Case Two: The Road To Flashpoint, Part 3″ Release Date: April 27, 2011 Writer: Geoff Johns Art: Scott Kolins Colors: Michael Atiyeh Letters: Sal Cipriano Publisher: DC Comics The first thing that struck me when I read The Flash #11, the third issue of "The Road to Flashpoint", was how much I suddenly missed the art of Francis Manapul who has done the bulk of the art for this series of The Flash.
Issue: The Flash #9: "Case Two: The Road To Flashpoint, Part 2″ Release Date: April 13, 2011 Writer: Geoff Johns Art: Francis Manapul Colors: Brian Buccellatto Letters: Sal Cipriano Cover A: Francis Manapul (Colors: Brian Buccellatto) Cover B: Ed Benes and Rob Hunter w/ Buccaellato Publisher: DC Comics Considering the fact that The Flash is a comic book about a guy who can move really fast, it's taken a hell of a long time for The Flash #10, the second part of "The Road to Flashpoint", to hit...
I've been looking forward to the Easter Weekend for quite a while now. But not because of any religious reasons. It's primarily to do with the fact that in Ireland, the Easter weekend means that you get a four day weekend.
There's an unwritten rule that when you go to a concert, you don't wear a t-shirt with the name of the band you're going to see or an image of the band on the t-shirt. It somehow lacks class and seems like a bit of a desperate cry for attention.
Once upon a time, in a pub not too far away, I asked a friend of mine a question. I asked him to try to decide who would win in a war of words between Aaron Sorkin and Joss Whedon.
Issue: The Flash #9: "Case Two: The Road To Flashpoint" Release Date: February 9, 2011 Writer: Geoff Johns Art: Francis Manapul Colors: Brian Buccellatto Letters: Sal Cipriano Cover A: Francis Manapul (Colors: Brian Buccellatto) Cover B: Tyler Kirkham, Batt, and Nei Ruffino Publisher: DC Comics With the release of the first issue of the new The Flash ongoing series in April of last year, DC Comics gave us our first glimpse of this year's big summer event, Flashpoint.
It was upwards of twenty degrees in the scorching sunshine in Dublin last weekend, but the hottest place to be was in the D4 Hotel in Ballsbridge for ArcadeCon. ArcadeCon stands apart from other conventions in that it's not catering to any one group of people.
One of the basic laws of physics is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I'm convinced that this was one of the driving forces behind the development of the Star Trek prequel series Enterprise and, in particular, behind the casting of Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer.
Growing up, there were words that I was taught in school and taught by my parents, and there were words that I just picked up on very quickly. I learned which words were "good" words and which ones were the "bad" words that I wasn't allowed to say, but human nature being what it is, not being allowed to say those words just made me want to say them even more.
They say that knowledge is power, and to a certain degree I do agree with that sentiment but in certain circumstances, knowledge can lead to spoilers.
It's been said that stuff you own expands to fill the space provided. Well, not exactly that, but that's the clean version. This is an all-ages website after all! It's a pretty true statement though, and it applies to a lot of things in life like cutlery, furniture, waist lines and in particular, comic books.
Issue: Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Book Two Release Date: November 17, 2010 Writer: Bill Willingham Artists: Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Bryan Talbot, Lan Medina, Linda Medley, Craig Hamilton, P. Craig Russell Cover: James Jean Publisher: Vertigo Comics The second Fables Deluxe Edition manages to fit a lot in to one volume.
Joseph Michael Straczynski once gave an interview in which he said that he'd crawl naked through broken glass and monkey vomit for the chance to write Superman.
I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve. When all is said and done, it's a day like any other. Today becomes tomorrow and we all go on with our lives. There are probably a few more hangovers around the world than there are on a standard day and a lot of people have made half-hearted promises that they know they won't keep.
Issue: Dollhouse: Epitaphs #4 Release Date: September 14, 2011 Writer: Andrew Chambliss, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon Pencils: Cliff Richards Inks: Andy Owens Colors: Michelle Madsen Cover A: Phil Noto Cover B: Stephanie Hans Publisher: Dark Horse Comics The fourth issue of Dollhouse: Epitaphs is, again, an issue of two halves.
One of my favourite openings of any comic book is the opening to the last issue of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. It's pretty much just Spider-Man swinging through the high reaches of the New York skyline while he tells us how much he loves living in New York.
Issue: Dollhouse: Epitaphs #5 Release Date: November 9, 2011 Writer: Andrew Chambliss, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon Pencils: Cliff Richards Inks: Andy Owens Colors: Michelle Madsen Cover A: Phil Noto Cover B: Frank Stockton Publisher: Dark Horse Comics I suppose it had to happen eventually, but here at the end of a great mini-series, prequel-itis finally gets the better of us.
Whenever a comic book version of a movie or television property is released, you inevitably hear about how much fun it is to be able to work on a comic book and not have to worry about the constraints of a budget or about realistic special effects.
Written by Mark Waid Art by Chris Samnee Published by Marvel Comics If I ever die, and I'm not planning to, I want to die in a comic book, because it rarely ever seems to stick. Though, it has to be said that every once in a while surviving a comic book death might actually be a fate worse than.
Written by: Mark Waid Art by: Chris Samnee Colors by: Javier Rodriguez Published by: Marvel Comics Introducing The Silver Surfer and a Persuasion Alien in to the street-level world of the current run of Daredevil might seem at first like a strange decision or possibly even a bad decision.
Terry Moore has been writing and illustrating comics pretty consistently since 1993 when he first released the Strangers In Paradise miniseries. The miniseries eventually became one hundred and six issues and ended its run in 2007.
Issue: Dollhouse: Epitaphs #2 Release Date: August 10, 2011 Writer: Andrew Chambliss, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon Pencils: Cliff Richards Inks: Andy Owens Colors: Michelle Madsen Cover A: Phil Noto Cover B: Massimo Carnevale Publisher: Dark Horse Comics We know from the "Epitaph" episodes of the Dollhouse TV show that Alpha managed to evolve and escape his more homocidey tendencies, but the Epitaphs comic series gives us a glimpse of the early days of the evolved Alpha and the struggle...
Issue: Dollhouse: Epitaphs #3 Release Date: September 14, 2011 Writer: Andrew Chambliss, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon Pencils: Cliff Richards Inks: Andy Owens Colors: Michelle Madsen Cover A: Phil Noto Cover B: Rebekeh Issacs Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Issue 3 of Dollhouse: Epitaphs brings us one step closer to the inevitable appearance of Echo and shows us more of Alpha's journey to the shepherd of lost minds that we see in the second episode of Epitaphs.
Sometimes you're waiting so long for a thing to happen that you start to convince yourself that it never will. That's the way I was feeling about the launch of the new Justice League book, and the start of the roll out of the New 52.
Review: Director: Sophie Barthes Writer: Sophie Barthes Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Emily Watson, Katheryn Winnick Rated: PG-13 This article contains spoilers for Cold Souls, Barney's Version, and The Adjustment Bureau. I've never seen Paul Giamatti give a bad performance in a movie.
Album: The Music of Battlestar Galactica For Solo Piano Volume One and Volume Two Composer: Bear McCreary Performed by: Joohyun Park Label: BSX Records Release Date: September 13, 2011 Ever since the reimagined Battlestar Galactica hit the airwaves as a full series, the music of Bear McCreary has been a huge part of the show, and for some people it's become as big a part of the show as anything else that appeared on screen.
Through all of the advertising and marketing of the Captain America movie, I managed to escape relatively unspoiled. I watched the teasers and the trailers as they appeared online or in front of movies in the cinema; I liked looking at the costume designs to see how them comic book character would be translated to a movie format.
Issue: Dracula: The Company of Monsters #11 Release Date: June 22, 2011 Author: Kurt Busiek, Daryl Gregory Artist: Scott Godlewski Colors: Stephen Downer Letters: Johnny Lowe Cover: Ron Salas (Colors: Nick Filardi) Publisher: BOOM!
Issue: Dracula: The Company of Monsters #11 Release Date: July 27, 2011 Author: Kurt Busiek, Daryl Gregory Artist: Scott Godlewski Colors: Stephen Downer Letters: Johnny Lowe Cover: Ron Salas (Colors: Nick Filardi) Publisher: BOOM! Studios And now for the conclusion... OK, I'm not going to lie.
"Everything will change in a Flash". That's what they told us in the months leading up to the Flashpoint event, and it seems that this time, it wasn't hype or hyperbole. Everything is going to change, and it's gonna happen pretty damn quickly.
One of the first things I wondered about the "World of Flashpoint" was whether it was spread to the entire DC Universe. Abin Sur's Flashpoint answered that question for me quite well. This is a Green Lantern book, but it's not the Green Lantern mythos that we know. Well... not quite.
Issue: Dracula: The Company of Monsters #10 Release Date: June 1, 2011 Author: Kurt Busiek, Daryl Gregory Artist: Damian Couceiro Colors: Stephen Downer Letters: Johnny Lowe Cover: Ron Salas (Colors: Nick Filardi) Publisher: BOOM! Studios Dracula: The Company of Monsters #10 opens in the same here-and-now that we saw in issue #9.