Batman comes to McDonald's

So, this month (August, 2015), DC’s Batman has arrived at the clown house. (No, not the RNC, the other clown house.)

With your Happy Meal toy, you can acquire a very cool Batman action figure or mini-car (The “Boy” toy if Batman Unlimited, while the “Girl ” toy is Monster High). 

As usual the Batman toys are actually pretty cool, offering us two Batman figures, a Joker and (my personal favorite DC villain) Solomon Grundy. There are also a pair of Batmobiles, a Jokermobile, and a Joker on a trike. all very cool stuff. 

Each of the toys move in some fashion (instructions and a coupon for some other related toy from the toy store are included, as well as the ability to go online and play a Batman Unlimited game of some sort) are included in the packaging.

All-in-all, a very nice set. We are glad that DC still issues fast-food toys of their characters but we are especially disappointed that Marvel no longer seems to issue toys. this is something that we’ve noticed has occurred ever since Disney has taken over the house that Jack built, and we don't know if it has more to do with Disney attempting to shy away from the “Your food made my kid fat” claim, or that the execs at the top don't think that Happy Meal toys are appropriate their new re-imagined(adult) superheroes.

Whatever the thought process, we certainly hope that they change their minds, as we totally love these superhero toy types. Needless to say, we are still glad the DC hasn't reached that stage as of yet, and look forward to more superhero-based toys in the future.

Unit 5 has landed in Comicbook Stores

September 11^th 2001 it wasn’t just the U.S., but all of the citizens of world that experienced an ominous day. However, it also became the turning point in the fight against global terror. Founded by the United States Government and born out of the personal tragedies of five extraordinary individuals each of whom suffered personal losses due to the 9/11 attacks and all of whom have deep ties to the Ground Zero attacks. Now these five have joined together to fight global terror and are collectively known as Unit 5. These five extraordinary individuals now work for the U.S. Government.

With a cast of characters that is as diverse professionally as they are ethnically, there is something for everyone. Like most great heroes, these characters were born out of tragedy. It was the intense tragedy of the terror attacks on 9/11 that form the real-life backstory which has enabled many fans of the book to form a deep, personal connection to the storyline and characters. As we first join the story we meet each of the members of the team Drift, Tech, Ollie, Box, Brain, as well as their (non-costumed) leader, Dom Dugan. We are brought up to speed by a couple of reporters before jumping right into the story where Drift and Tech take down a terrorist before joining up with the rest of their team, and then going out to engage with a terrorist cell.

Unit 5 is published by Red Anvil (The Mighty Titan, and the upcoming Cyberines). The book was created and written by Skip Winter, President of Link Marketing (which owns the property itself). The book itself is wonderfully illustrated by Red Anvil co-Publisher, Joe Martino (Shadowflame, The Mighty Titan), whose layout, design, and illustrations add a deeper dimension to the story. While the root of the story (the 9/11 attack) gives no small amount of depth to the tale, the characters themselves are something of cyphers — which is only to be expected in the first issue of a team book — but which we forward to improving as the series progresses.

All-in-all, this is a fine initial effort, and we do recommend the title to folks who are interested in supporting well-made, creator-owned, indie comics. 

The rest of the Guardians...

Apparently, sometime during the release of the film Guardians of the Galaxy Subway Restaurants was having a tie-in promotion with the film, and I began writing a post of it on my personal blog, only I never finished it, The franchise was offering bags that they were distributing with their kid’s meals. Here are some of those bags.

My review of the New Fantastic Four Film

For reasons that defy explanation, Examiner.com pulled my review of the new FF film, and in spite of the fact that I made the (unfathomable) edits they requested, the publishing tool simply wouldn't allow me to save the edited version so I could republish it. As I'm now awaiting the editorial staff to get back to me as to what the actual problem is and how to fix it, I'm simply going to re-post my review here.

Fantastic Four: “PG-13” (1 Hour 46 Minutes)
Starring: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell
Directed by: Joshua Trask

OK, kids, this film purports to be Marvel Comic’s Fantastic Four, only (sadly) is isn’t the iconic fantastic quartet of heroes that we met in 1961 as created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, nor is it the characters we saw in any of the various TV cartoons we’ve seen over the year, nor the live-action characters who appeared in the first two Fox films. Oh, Hell, these aren’t even the folks who appeared in the “lost” Roger Corman film that was made in 1994. No, these are the cinematic versions of the “Modernized re-imagining” of Marvel's long-running Fantastic Four comic book franchise that were created by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, and Adam Kubert which debuted in print early 2004, and were a part of the company’s Ultimate Universe imprint.

So what we’ve wound up here is not so much the Fantastic Four, but “an incredible simulation” (as it were). So while these characters may bear a superficial resemblance to their comicbook Marvel Universe counterparts, they differ widely in many (many) aspects (the most obvious respect is that — as bad as you may have felt any of the other films (yes, including the Corman film) — this one is far, far worse. Beyond that, the origin of the team’s powers is different (the original team shot themselves into space and acquired their powers due to exposure to Cosmic radiation, while this one transports themselves into an alternate dimension) and this team is much younger (read: Millennials).
The story (such that it is) revolves around four youngsters who teleport themselves to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in “shocking” ways, granting them powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, irrevocably altering their lives. Then the four (including Victor Von Doom, who is no longer the ruler of a European nation, but just a (slightly) older scientist on the team must now come together as a team (save for Doom), learn to harness their new abilities, and then work together to save Earth from well, Doom, who has now become their sworn enemy.
Zzzzzzzzzz.

Sorry kids our problem with this incarnation is well, it simply isn’t the FF. further, the film takes itself so seriously that everything is done ponderously slow, and with great weight, so as to show you how serious the film takes itself. Gone is the human, family element of connectivity that we saw in the comicbooks, animated cartoons, and on-screen for the past 54 years, The feet-of-clay every-man-turned-hero that imbued the various series featuring these characters, gone is the playful frenemy bi-play between Johnny (The Human Torch) Storm and Ben (The Thing) Grimm. All of it tossed aside to rush yet a new reboot of these characters to the screen.

Hey, Hollywoodland, I have a if you are going to pay a boat-load of money to adapt something that has not only been around for over half a century, but has been pretty successful during that run, perhaps you should stop screwing with the core formula and simply give us what already works. Better yet, just throw in the towel, and give the rights to make Marvel films back to Marvel, because they know how to make good superhero films. So, having said all of that, go see the film if you must (better yet, save the 10 bucks, wait until it hits cable, and then watch it for free, don’t even bother to rent it from Redbox, because it isn’t even worth that rental fee. To be sure, we are huge fans of Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan and while they did well, they were far more talented than the script, or the film itself. Mores the pity.
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Robert J. Sodaro has been reviewing comicbooks for some 30 years. During that time, his reviews and articles have appeared in numerous print publications, as well as on the web.