Monthly Archives: August 2013

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The Outsider Revealed! – Justice League #23 Review

5/5 – Perfection from Johns, Reis & Prado
First off, I would like to welcome all the new readers who discovered our site from Bleeding Cool and New Earth 2 linking to our Who Is The Outsider? post.
I woke up early like a kid on Christmas morning and rushed to my iPad to buy Justice League #23. After putting out my Outsider/Alfred post, the suspense of waiting to have my suspicions confirmed was killing me. I had the feeling we’d be getting answers this issue and did we!
Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Rod Reis knock the art in this issue out of the park. I think this is best I’ve ever seen out of this art team. Every panel on every page is expertly rendered. If there’s any complaint about the art here, it’s that not enough comics from Marvel and DC look this good.
I’d like to warn you all that I am going SPOILER CRAZY from here on out, so if you haven’t read Justice League #23 yet, perhaps now would be a good time to close this window and come back when you have. Cool?
The Spoiler is giving you a warning!
Justice League #23 reveals The Outsider’s identity as the Alfred Pennyworth of Earth-3. I had the feeling that we would get that reveal either in this issue or in Forever Evil #1. Needless to say, I was very excited to read confirmation for my theory on The Outsider’s identity.
Alfred works for Owlman, the evil Batman counterpart from Earth-3. Some people have speculated that Earth-3 Owlman and the Owlman that appeared in Scott Snyder’s Court of Owls are one and the same, but that does not appear to be the case. While they do have costumes very similar to each other, going by how he addresses Alfred, it sounds like the Earth-3 Owlman has been trapped on Earth-3 alongside the rest of the Crime Syndicate all this time.
Geoff Johns is a writer who loves the Silver Age. He’s the man who made Hal Jordan and Barry Allen relevant again. Because of that, I am insanely excited to see his take on the Crime Syndicate of America. I’ve had a thing for the Crime Syndicate since I first encountered them the first time I read Crisis on Infinite Earths. I have always loved evil versions of heroes. It’s a concept that doesn’t get old to me. Grant Morrison perfected the Crime Syndicate in his Earth-2 graphic novel, and I’m looking forward to Geoff Johns taking them to the next level. The amount of thought that Johns has already put into these new versions of these characters is great. Power Ring being a coward is so clever, yet I’m surprised no one ever thought of that before. Superwoman’s golden lasso being made out of barbed wire makes her appear like even more of a sadist that when Grant Morrison wrote her.
Power Ring is no Hal Jordan.
Has Cyborg ever been treated as brutally as he was in his takeover by The Grid? This panel makes Magneto ripping Wolverine’s adamantium out look like a spa exfoliation treatment. I’m really hoping that Vic having his cyborg half ripped from him means we’re going to get a slimmed down redesign of Cyborg in the near future.
My other favorite scene in the book is when Atomica reveals herself as the traitor. The way that Reis and Prado draw the expression on her face when she’s revealing the truth to Vic is just classic.
Everything you need to know about the character is revealed right there in that panel. She’s not the guilt-ridden wet blanket that she’s been portraying herself as in the previous parts of Trinity War. She played both leagues. Somehow she even managed to hide it from J’onn. I really like that Johns hid her duplicity as The Outsider’s inside woman in the league by having her cover being she was a secret agent spying on the Justice League for the Justice League of America. Looking back on it though, it makes so much sense. The Outsider bragged about having a mole in the Justice League of America and the Justice League. It should have been obvious that the mole would be the one person who has access to both leagues.
I wonder if the outing of Atomica means we’ll see the return of Ray Palmer to the DCU. I certainly hope so.
It’s funny, Justice League #23 had much bigger reveals than Marvel’s Age of Ultron #10, but DC didn’t feel the need to wrap Justice League #23 in a black polybag. The end of the Trinity War succeeded where Age of Ultron failed. Age of Ultron’s lackluster tenth issue made me less excited for the Marvel events that immediately followed. But after reading Justice League #23, I am psyched for Forever Evil and Villains Month! Bring on the bad guys!

 

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Who Is The Outsider?

Since his first appearance leading The Secret Society of Super-Villains, fans have guessed at the identity of The Outsider. I have my own theory about The Outsider’s true identity, which I will reveal now.

the outsider
I believe that The Outsider is the Alfred Pennyworth from The Crime Syndicate of America’s Earth-3.

Here are my reasons for believing this is so.

The original Silver Age Outsider was Alfred Pennyworth.
 
The character The Outsider goes back to the 1960s. In 1964’s Detective Comics #328, Batman’s butler Alfred is killed when a boulder crushes him. Shortly thereafter, a mysterious criminal mastermind named The Outsider begins working in Gotham. In Detective Comics #356, it is revealed that a mad scientist brought Alfred back to life using a machine that also made Alfred evil and gave me the worst case of eczema ever.
Side effects of regeneration machine include skin irritation and insanity.
At the end of the issue, Batman punches The Outsider onto the machine, activating it. This restores Alfred back to his usual happy, not-dead, not-evil self.
The New 52 Outsider looks like Alfred Pennyworth.
 
More than any other DC character, The Outsider looks like Alfred Pennyworth. Remove the color from the panel below and you’d be hard pressed to say if this was Alfred or The Outsider.
The Outsider knows where Batman lives.
 
Justice League of America #5 gives us many clues to the Outsider’s identity, as you’ll see in the panels below. After The Outsider kills Catwoman, he announces he’s going to drop her body at Batman’s doorstep. Signalman asks, “You have Batman’s home address?” The Outsider responds, “Yes. Ha. I do.”

 

 
The Outsider knows The Joker.

 

“If The Joker could see me now.” It almost sounds like a throwaway line, so I wouldn’t be surprised if most readers glossed over that panel as they read Justice League of America #5. But Geoff Johns is too good a writer to put that line in for no reason.
I think that line gives us a glimpse to the origin of both The Outsider’s stark white skin and his tic where he says “Ha.” in between lines of dialogue. Perhaps at some point on Earth 3, Alfred fell into a vat of the same acid that made The Joker.

The Outsider has a deep knowledge of all-things Batman.

He calls Catwoman Selina.

He has a map of the Batcave.
He knows everything there is to know about The Scarecrow.
The Outsider watched his world die.

 

This has been the clue most cited by people who think the New 52 Outsider and The Outsider from Flashpoint are one and the same. The Flashpoint universe in no more, perhaps The Outsider is the only survivor of it. But The Outsider from the Flashpoint universe looked nothing like Alfred. He was an Indian man named Michael Desai. Michael Desai and the current Outsider share little in common other than a love of well-tailored suits.
Michael Desai, The Outsider of Flashpoint

I think the world that the New 52 version of The Outsider watched die was not the world of Flashpoint, but rather the Earth that is home to the Crime Syndicate of America. In Earth 2 #1, it is revealed that Apokolips attacked Earth 2 and the main New 52 Earth at the same time. The main New 52 Earth’s heroes fought off Darkseid and his hordes before they could do much damage. Earth 2 didn’t get off as lucky, losing both Gotham, Metropolis and other cities, as well as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman before the might of Apokolips. There’s a chance Earth 3 fared even worse.

On Earth 3, characters who are heroes on the main Earth are villains. The Justice League is the Crime Syndicate. Perhaps self-interest got in the way of the villains of Earth 3 being able to work with one another to fight back the hordes of Apokolips. I think this Outsider made his way through a boom tube from Earth 3 to the New 52 Earth, and has been plotting for a way to bring the Crime Syndicate of America over to the New 52 Earth since then. I strongly believe that Pandora’s Box, the focus of the Trinity War crossover, will be the key to bringing the Crime Syndicate of America to the main Earth.What if this scene that Madame Xanadu sees in her vision in Justice League #22 isn’t a vision of the future, but a glimpse into Earth 3’s past or present? Instead of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, what if that’s Ultraman, Superwoman and Owlman?

The Crime Syndicate of America plays a huge role in Forever Evil.
 
Right after Trinity War concludes, the DC Universe will be thrust into Forever Evil. It is revealed in the promotional image below that the Crime Syndicate of America will be major players in this event. This makes me more firmly believe that the evil Alfred Pennyworth of Earth-3 is their herald on the main Earth, setting things up for the Crime Syndicate to take over. By settings things into motion for the Justice League to square off against the Justice League of America in Trinity War works in the Crime Syndicate’s favor. Divide, conquer, and pick up the pieces.
“Forever Evil” is also the translation of the Latin phrase “Aeternus Malum” from the Secret Society’s communicator coins, the face of which looks a lot like Death Storm from the Crime Syndicate of America.
With only one week to go before Trinity War concludes in Justice League #23 and two weeks before Forever Evil #1, I believe The Outsider true identity will be revealed very shortly, and that he will be revealed as the Alfred Pennyworth of Earth 3!
UPDATE! Two pages from the Justice League: Trinity War Director’s Cut #1 give more credence to my theory that The Outsider is the Alfred from The Crime Syndicate’s Earth!
Justice League: Trinity War Director’s Cut #1 is a reprint of Justice League #22, but featuring Ivan Reis’s artwork in penciled form. In the back of the issue is Geoff Johns’s full script for Justice League #22.
During Madame Xanadu’s horrific vision, Johns specifically calls for Reis to draw Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman in sillouette, and then refers to them as SUPERMAN-LIKE FIGURE, BATMAN-LIKE FIGURE and WONDER WOMAN-LIKE FIGURE. If these were the actual Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, there would be no need for him to refer to them in that way.
But it’s later in the script that he get the closest thing to definitive confirmation I feel like we’re going to get until it’s revealed in-story. Geoff Johns refers to The Outsider as Leader/Alfred. That’s right. It’s right there in the script. The leader of the Secret Society is Alfred. 
I’m surprised DC would let that LEADER/ALFRED line go to print. I can only speculate that the inclusion of this was an oversight by the team who put this script book together, as it is a HUGE reveal!
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GI Joe: Retaliation – Review

5/5 – COBRAAAAAAAAAAAA!

When I first saw the trailer for GI Joe: Retaliation, with its ninjas swinging from mountaintops, I thought “Man, this looks awesome,” immediately followed by “Man, I bet this is going to suck.” It’s a lesson that has been beaten into me by the previous GI Joe movie, the Transformers franchise. There are enough cool looking action scenes to cobble together a trailer that makes me want to see what ends up being a tremendously awful movie.

Despite feeling that I really should know better, I still wanted to see GI Joe: Retaliation. I missed it in the theater, but I caught it on Blu-ray recently.

I wish I saw it in the theater. It’s awesome. If you were a fan of the GI Joe cartoon and comic from the 1980s, you will love this movie. It is so evocative of the cartoon that I half-expected to hear Cold Slither on the movie’s soundtrack.

Dear Michael Bay: GI Joe: Retaliation is how you make a movie based on a 1980s franchise and not be accused of ruining people’s childhoods.

The movie was awesome from the moment I popped the disc in. When it loads, you choose your side, GI Joe or Cobra. Depending on which side you choose, you’ll see different clips and graphics on the menu screens. I thought it was a cool touch. Also, Cobraaaaaaaaaa!

In the behind the scenes special features included on the Blu-ray, it’s made clear why this GI Joe movie is so much better than the previous one. The main reason is director Jon Chu. He’s such a fan of the 1980s franchise and it comes through in the film. He pays a lot of fan service, but it’s not hollow. He’s putting this stuff in there because he’s a fan himself. I’m really hoping Chu sticks around for the next movie. Also, the producers wanted to ground it more in reality. Gone are the crazy super soldier suits and sci-fi vehicles. There’s still some cool tech in this movie, like Roadblock’s click-in, click-out arsenal, but overall, the weapons and vehicles in this movie seem much more grounded in real world technology.

As a fan of the TV show Friday Night Lights, I was super-excited when I realized that Lady Jaye was played by Adrianne Palicki, aka Tyra Collette. Seeing her kick ass in GI Joe: Retaliation made me wish that her Wonder Woman pilot had been picked up.

Hey! Wasn’t Scarlet the red head?

After realizing that Tyra was Lady Jaye, it struck me that quite a few notable Dillon graduates have gone on to the military, as both Riggins and Landry were in Battleship.

If there’s any disappointment to be had with GI Joe: Retaliation, it’s the casting of Rza as The Blind Master. I haven’t seen acting this wooden since Hayden Christensen in Star Wars: Episode II. His line delivery was beyond comical. He sounds like a guy imitating a Kung Fu movie. On the one hand, in the behind the scenes special features, he clearly comes across as a true fan of the Joes, and must have been crazy excited to be part of this movie. He even notes that The Blind Master has only appeared in the comics, never on the cartoon, so he was the first to give voice to him. But that voice is terrible! It sounds like a 10-year old voicing Doctor Doom. I couldn’t help but laugh every time he was saying his lines. Seriously, it was ridiculous.

The coolest to come out of Rza’s casting as The Blind Master?
Rza action figure!

DO NOT PASS JINX IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS!

Remember the original Jinx action figure that had red nail polish so you knew she was a girl ninja?
 

When GI Joe: Retaliation was delayed, I heard it was because of Channing Tatum being a much bigger star now than he was when the first movie was released. The producers realized that Tatum was arguably now the biggest star in the movie, and was being killed off very early on. The delay, as I heard, came from them rewriting, shooting new scenes and editing the movie so that Tatum lived. But then when I watched the movie, fully expecting Tatum’s Duke to survive, he totally bit it. So what’s up? Anyone know the real reason the movie was delayed from the theater for so long?

Who ordered the stripping soldiers? Because here they are!

I was kind of bummed when Cobra Commander kicked Destro out of the band. Not cool CC.

When Roadblock and Firefly faced off against each other, I thought, “Wait, isn’t Roadblock supposed to be the one with the Cajun accent?” And then I thought, “Wait, what exactly is Firefly’s accent? Is that southern? Australian? South Australian?” I liked that in a special feature on the Blu-Ray, they addressed the mystery of Firefly’s odd accent.

If you were a fan of the GI Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon from the 1980s and like your action movies to be fun, I think you’ll enjoy GI Joe: Retaliation.

Yo Joe!
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Keep Calm and Carry On

NYCC 2013 tickets go on sale today at the Midtown Comics downtown location at 12 noon. Spurred on by the quick sell-out on New York Comic Con’s website and the high price tickets are commanding on eBay, people started camping out for tickets yesterday evening, lest they miss out. Depending on which comment you believe on the Midtown Comics Facebook page, there are 50-200 people camping out for tickets in the alleyway next to the store. This alleyway greatly stinks of the refuse of the nearby fast food joints.

Fittingly, the first person in line was dressed like sewer-dweller Casey Jones.
Did I mention it rained last night?

This is foolishness. But this is what happens when people panic.

There is no need to panic. Keep calm and carry on.

Midtown Comics announced on its Facebook page that it would have plenty of New York Comic Con tickets, and that there was no need to camp out. Also, starting Friday, Midtown Comics will be just one of many stores that will be selling NYCC tickets. The full list can be found here. The downtown store, through a special promotion with NYCC is selling them one day early.

One interesting note about the retailer list: Midtown Comics is the only store where you can buy a 4-Day pass, anywhere. If you are interested in a 4-Day pass, I recommend hitting up a Midtown Comics location early. But by early, I mean sometime today or tomorrow. And if you’re camping out for a 3-Day pass, why? Seriously, why? Why not just stroll into one of the many stores selling 3-Day passes Monday to pick one up instead? Sleep in your beds comics fans, not in wet, smelly alleyways.

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Shag – Review

2/5 – The horniest bunch of white folks you will ever see

A recent vacation with a group of friends in the Outer Banks led to me watching Shag. They love the movie and have watched it many times, usually when on similar beach vacations to this one.

I had never heard of the movie. Have you? If you’re not in this group of girls who made a deal with me that if I watched Shag, they would watch The Princess Bride, I’m guessing the answer is no. Also, what’s up with people not having seen The Princess Bride?

Shag is neither the story of Scooby Doo’s partner in mystery solving, nor is about Mr. Boombastic. Rather, it’s about a group of girls in the 1960s who head away for a wild beach weekend before one of them gets married.

Mr. Lover Lover is nowhere to be found in Shag.

From the onset, it seemed obvious that Shag owes its existence to the success of Dirty Dancing. Shag was released just two years after Dirty Dancing. It’s set in the 60s. A shy girl discovers joy and love through dance. There are elaborate dance numbers. Sure, it doesn’t take place at a Catskills country club, but I’m guessing that Dirty Dancing’s runaway success led to Shag getting the green light.

There are four girls in the Shag crew. The main girl is Carson, but my favorite of the four is Pudge, her “fat” friend. As one of the girls watching the movie with me pointed out, “The only thing pudgy about her is her tits!” That’s not why she’s my favorite. She’s the underdog of the crew. Carson has the fiance at home and the new guy pining after her. Melaina, played by Bridget Fonda, has the “looks” and the hope of being a Hollywood star. I put looks in quotes for a reason. Melaina is supposed to be the hot one, but Pudge and Carson are easily cuter (and saner) than she is. Luanne rounds out the crew. There’s not much to say about Luanne, because she’s the classic stick in the mud. Every time she was giving someone a lecture, all I could think was “Can we get back to Pudge, please?” Pudge rules.

FACT: Ivan Rodriguez loves Shag.
That’s why he insists on being called Pudge, the best character in Shag.

Shag is one of those two-star movies that is especially fun to watch in a large group. People heckled the movie with jokes (myself included), and it was great, because I didn’t have to worry about missing anything, because there isn’t much there. Please don’t take this as me not enjoying Shag though. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, but more for my friends’ on-the-spot live Rifftraxing of the movie than for what was on the screen. That said, “Y’all is the horniest bunch of white folks I ever seen.” may be my new favorite line of dialogue in all of cinema and I would definitely watch this movie again with the same group of friends.

As far as I know, my friends have yet to watch The Princess Bride. Maybe next year.

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CONTEST! WIN Zombie Massacre on DVD!

Exciting news! Tuesday Night Movies is now on Twitter!

To celebrate, we’ve partnered up with eOne to give away three DVDs of their new movie, Zombie Massacre!

There will be three winners! Winners will be announced on Tuesday night, August 20th. And if you can’t wait to win, you can buy Zombie Massacre right now on Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00D3XMNUQ.

Entering is easy and there are multiple ways to enter. Simply use the RaffleCopter form below.

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