Superman: Red Son (4k Blu-ray Review)
March 16th, 2020 by Gregg Senko
In 2003, DC Comics did a total 180 with the world’s most popular superhero. The mega publisher released a three-issue mini-series titled Superman: Red Son. The Mark Millar-written tale (also known for his work on Kick-ass) could be construed as a “what if” in the sense that instead of Kal-El landing in Kansas after the destruction of Krypton, his escape pod crashed in the Soviet Union. Clark Kent is a name you won’t see in this story. Superman, however, is a name you’ll hear as he serves under USSR communist leader Josef Stalin in DC’s latest animated feature, Superman: Red Son directed by Sam Liu.
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Back in 1989, a startup comic book publisher known as Valiant had arrived on the scene. The company made it a point to offer up characters a little more complex than your average super hero as these newly developed personalities had allegiances and demeanors that were not always so clear cut. Some of their more premier characters and successful titles include X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and one in particular known as Bloodshot. The story of Bloodshot featured an expert soldier maimed by war and reclaimed by science only to build a better soldier. With a repeatedly wiped memory and the ability to take a ridiculously inhuman beating, Bloodshot has become the first Valiant character to hit the big screen.
Debuting in February under DC’s Black Label (for readers age 17 and older), comic book writer/creator Joe Hill proudly released his latest effort, Plunge. Hill is best known as the mastermind behind the best-selling Locke & Key series, which is now a popular Netflix series. Plunge offers up a very different feel from its mainstream predecessor, though there is no less suspense in this nautical adventure. At two issues in, things are ramping up in this superbly paced story.
February is a cold, cold month here on the north coast. Most people are hunkered down somewhere indoors, save for your skiers and other winter sport aficionados. It is certainly a little out of the norm to see any kind of outdoor gatherings, let alone a festival. Wait, festival? Here? In Cleveland? Uh, yeah. The Brite Winter Festival entered its 11th consecutive year and is dotted with various food trucks, ice carving demos, and of course the highlight of the event, the music.
Last week, Nashville-based indie rock band Coin presented the world with their third album, titled Dreamland. The band’s first outing, a self-title record, was a largely upbeat, go-after-it-and-get-it feel accompanied with a couple tunes which occasionally slowed the pace. The second album, How Will You Know if You Never Try, featured an array of songs that seemed to have matured from its predecessor. That is not a negative connotation by any means as they were two, for the most part, different sounding records that validated the Coin’s multi-faceted persona. With the close of February comes Dreamland, the band’s first album in nearly three years.
With Free Comic Book Day a little over a month away, comic book publishers are busy promoting their titles that will be released on the fan-favorite, unofficial holiday. Until then, there is still plenty to get excited over, especially from the good folks over at Marvel who always have a slew of new titles up their sleeve. With a new series released this week, free titles on the horizon and an old face getting his own series this spring, there is indeed plenty to prepare for, Bub. Snikt!
Directed by Adrianna Maggs, who is best known for her writing on TV series like Frontier and Saving Hope, the film Goalie takes audiences behind the scenes of late NHL goalie Terry Sawchuk. Sawchuk’s career took place from 1949 to 1970 where he was a seven-time all star and four-time Vezina Trophy winner (best goalie). In that span, he amassed 103 shutouts and 445 wins eventually supplanting him in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Still, his accolades on the ice were never medicine for his off-ice struggles. Maggs guides us through Sawchuk’s tragic story.
Technically he never left, but the black-clad Sith Lord has had two ongoing monthly series from Marvel in recent memory with this being the third. The most recent was the 25-issue series that was absolutely brilliant from start to finish (and one I hated to see come to an end). While that prior series took place during the tale end of Order 66, the new series picks up during the events of The Empire Strikes Back when he and Luke faced off in person for the first time.
DC Comics has made a concerted effort to release some top tier programming on their streaming DC Universe platform. Amidst their growing library of shows include Doom Patrol, Teen Titans, both of which are live action, and the insanely fun Harley Quinn cartoon. Within that list of title is the king of the green, defender of the bayou, Swamp Thing. The live action series debuted in 2019 and was unfortunately cancelled after one season, largely due to budget issues. To put it plainly, the show got too expensive. Swamp Thing comes out on Blu-ray this Tuesday, February 11th, and I had a chance to check out ahead of time. Let’s take a look how the ten-episode, two-disc series looks.
I do long for the days of Robert Venditti writing X-O Manowar. I also miss the ongoing Vader series dearly. Alas, all good things must come to an end, but fear not! Each year the comic book industry provides new surprises as well as continuity of greatness. In addition, it is important to mention the case of two landmark achievements in 2019. Both the series Detective Comics and Marvel Comics each reached their 1,000th issue this year and both were done very differently. The former was a collection of short Batman stories, while the latter was a massive collection of one-page stories ranging from Daredevil to Darth Vader. Personally, I found nothing to be gained by a story contained on a single page, but to each their own. Enough talk, onto the awards!
Happy Holiday, folks! This time of year means the WSB staff opens the floodgates on their top 10’s. While I didn’t experience the treasure trove of films in the theater this year I had hoped for (by quality, not amount), the list of quality Blu-rays was lengthy, but alas, narrow it to ten we must. I did finally experience what WSB-founder Blu-ray Brian has been stating for some time now about Disney Blu-rays. While I absolutely loved Captain Marvel as a film, the audio on its Blu-ray release was incredibly mundane and severely disappointing. Shame on you, Disney. Off the list it went. Rest assured, however, there were plenty of titles clamoring to make our lists and while Captain Marvel on disc was left in the dust, there is more than enough entertainment to fill out ten impressive releases.
“It will be a day-long remembered.” While Darth Vader can be quoted as saying that, I want to borrow it for the recent release of the latest Star Wars game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from EA. When attending Star Wars Celebration this past April in Chicago, I had the privilege of attending the live panel discussing the game. It is, after all, Star Wars, so it’s going to have that massive attention right there. On top of that, fans of the franchise have wanted a solo player game for ages. The last Star Wars title I can remember that fit the bill was Force Unleashed II and that was nearly a decade ago. Games like the recent Battlefront and Battlefront II had single-player scenarios, but those titles are online multi-players more than anything. Ask, and you shall receive, though, as we now have the solo Star Wars game we have been after. Now that it has been out slightly over a week, here’s a look at Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
A few months ago I wrote about Fitz & the Tantrum’s new album and how I discovered this impending release after seeing them live this past summer. The band that had opened for them was a group out of Nashville called Coin. I was already an established Fitz fan, but Coin was previously an unknown ensemble to me. That evening certainly changed a few things in my musical world.
DC has been releasing one-shot issues of various villains throughout 2019, each a single tale dedicated to one baddie. All going under the heading Year of the Villain, we have thus far been graced with issues covering the Riddler, Black Adam, Sinestro, Black Mask and Lex Luthor. The latest addition to this doom-dealing lineup is none other than the most popular DC villain, the Joker. Hot on the heels of the successful motion picture of everyone’s favorite clown (sorry, Pennywise), we go back to the ink and paper roots for Batman’s arch nemesis.
It’s been a week since I’ve had a chance to digest All the Feels, the latest release from Fitz and the Tantrums, which is the band’s fourth studio album. I’ve been a mild fan of them for the better part of five years now and finally got to see them live this past summer when I definitely got the Fitz fever. Without question, they put on one of my favorite performances I have had the privilege to experience in person. Their energy is infectious, but does this latest recording bring that same positive punch?
At the end of July, Dark Horse Comics released issue #1 of a mini-series that made its debut with little fanfare. Manor Black came out on July 31st and holds this aura of a small independent film in the sense that it may not have widespread notoriety, but it serves up one very engaging story. Written by Cullen Bunn (Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe) and Brian Hurtt (The Damned), and its eerie visual tone courtesy of Tyler Crook (Harrow County), the four-issue tale is currently halfway through its release, but what is Manor Black all about?
When I think of a drive-in movie theater, I used to often associate the image with the 1950’s and 60’s. Perhaps I’d mentally throw in a scene of a young couple watching The Blob while the young varsity jacket-wearing student would try and steal a kiss from his date. Such establishments serve as significant nostalgia for many in the U.S. The truth is, many of these have long since closed, going the way of the dodo. Heck, you’d have a better chance of finding a waitress on roller skates today than you would a drive-in movie theater.
