Batman: Year One Movie

Just recently I was able to watch Batman: Year One, the animated movie that was released in 2011. It is based on the story arc of the same name, written by Frank Miller in 1987, that appears in Batman #404-407.

It stars...well, it stars Batman, but the man voicing Batman is Benjamin McKenzie.  It was very different from Kevin Conroy's, but I liked it. Bryan Cranston (Walter White from Breaking Bad) voiced Lieutenant James Gordon and Eliza Dushka voiced Selina Kyle.

Many aspects of the film were true to the original story. Such as Selina Kyle being some dominatrix and her little prostitute chic pal, Holly Robinson. You can also see similarities between Year One and the Batman Begins film; including the awesome device that summons all the bats around to aid in Batman's escape and the appearance of Detective Flass as Gordon's partner. In fact, they tried to follow the original story so well, that even some of the more over-the-top events were included. Such as Bruce Wayne kicking straight through the trunk of a (not-so-small) tree.

The panels from the '87 comic in all its absurdity.

Now, if you remember, in Kickboxer Van Damme took weeks (might have been months) to kick through a pretty small tree as he's training to win the big fight with Tong Po. Bruce Wayne, however, does a side kick and went right through a tree that was at least 6 times the thickness than that of Van Damme's. That would mean that if it was possible for him to do that, Batman could put a foot-shaped hole clean through your chest.

Check out that twig.

Bruce Wayne demonstrates real Van Damage.

I think one of the best things about the story is how it shows Batman's practicality. By this, I mean it shows how he achieves his dramatics. For example, there's one fantastic scene where Batman crashes a dinner party with Gotham's most corrupt politicians in attendance. You see him outside rigging up a light that will shine directly in their eyes from behind him. You then see him cut the power outside and throw a smoke grenade through the window which lands on the dinner table. Next thing, BOOM, an explosion blows a hole in the outside wall of the dining room and in he walks. Blinded by the light shining in, those corrupt dummies now see a terrifying silhouette and hear a haunting voice telling them that they've had their fun but "From this moment on, none of you are safe."

Damn.

When this comes walking through a hole it just blew into your house, I'd say that's about all she wrote for you.

Now I can go on and on about the good parts of the movie and completely 'nerd out' for the next hour, but the best thing for all of you to do is just check it out yourselves. The voice acting was great, the story stayed as true to the original as you could probably get and the animation is superb. If you have Netflix, go ahead and put that bad boy in your queue. Whether you enjoyed the original Frank Miller story or not, I'm sure you'll still find it to be a good watch.

Bruce Wayne Was Here.

-Danny

Quality Time With Gotham City Impostors

This past weekend I got to sit down and take a bit more time with Gotham City Impostors. I love shooter games but I'm actually terrible at them. I thought that maybe since it was a game that was based on the world of Batman that it would give me the edge I need. I was wrong. But the game is fantastic and is available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. It takes the fun of playing Call of Duty multiplayer and the elements of Batman and his enemies and creates an online shooter that could be enjoyed by both non-comic book fans and die-hard fans alike.

You don't buy a physical copy of the game. It's an online download that only costs you about $15 in Microsoft points. You play as a member of one of the two rival gangs: the Bats and the Jokerz. Just like Call of Duty, the more you play, the more points you rack up for unlockable items. These items include weapons, weapon mods, loadout and character customizations, calling cards, ability to join gangs......I'm sure I'm missing a couple of things, but you get the idea. They want you to play, but you’re still rewarded for doing so. I do hope to see downloadable map packs in the future like in COD.

The fun you get and the price you pay is a no-brainer; and the animated opening sequence is hilarious. You’ll most definitely appreciate the great ideas, great artwork and the great concept of being a vigilante in Gotham without playing by the rules. Or Batman’s code of ethics, for that matter. Gotham City Impostors is a very fun game that's picking up a lot of momentum and can only snowball into something bigger and better. The best part for me, is that since it's so new, I still have a pretty good chance to be playing against others who are at the same level of 'suck' that I'm still at.

Check it out: www.gothamcityimpostors.com

See you online
-Danny

Comic Book Men: Episode 1

Gods of the View Askewniverse.

I was finally able to make it through the first episode of Comic Book Men. Luckily, AMC had it posted on their site and I was able to check it out in its entirety. As I said in my last post, it was extremely difficult getting passed Bryan Johnson. If there is only one negative thing that I could say about the entire show, it would be that man hands down. Bryan has this personality that reminds you of every jackass in middle school and high school that gave you a hard time. His relentless onslaught of insults toward Ming completely draws your attention away from the point of the show and for a split second you think you're watching Real World.

Come on, man. We're comic book men ourselves. Why did you make me hate your guts?

The show stars Walt Flanagan, who runs the store, and his guys Michael Zapcic and Ming Chen who are also employees. Bryan just floats around annoying people and reading comics for free. Kevin Smith only appeared whenever it cut to the recording a session for their podcast, Smodcast. Honestly, Kevin Smith is the best thing about the show. He's witty and actually a pretty funny guy.

The episode began with, as I mentioned in my previous post, the girlish giggling from Bryan about Dick Grayson's name being, well, Dick. After a few minutes it cuts to the guys doing their podcast and asking random questions like who's your favorite comic book lady or whether or not you'd give up everything to be a superhero with super powers. Typical nerd talk which I enjoy and questions that I ask others myself.

We then go back to the store, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, where we meet the first seller who walks in with an original Bob Kane Batman and Robin drawing. It was apparently done by Kane when the previous owner of the drawing walked up to him and asked for a quick sketch. It was done on the back of what appears to be some press release for an art show or exhibit. What I didn't really buy was the fake 'nervousness' about removing the back of the frame to find that out. The current owner never bothered to look and Walt suggested that the drawing could possibly have been done on the back of another sketch of a brand new character that Kane was working on. Because Kane would really have parted with such a thing. No, that irresponsibility can only be accomplished by Apple whenever they try to keep their new iPhone a secret. So the seller realizes that the drawing is worth quite a bit of money and walks out. Probably, giddy at the thought that he now has his children's college tuition under his arm.

Other sellers that came in that included: a guy with a 6 Million Dollar Man doll that was really just the $185 Man doll, a goth-ish(?) lady with a Chucky doll that you could probably find at Spencer Gifts now on clearance for $2. The best one by far was a complete dork that walked in with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist that contained an Australian Dawn of the Dead poster and British Dawn of the Dead lobby cards. You know, like in the movies when you have to guard a briefcase with $10,000,000 in it.

Only his contained more than $9,999,700 less than that.

This power tool had the testicular fortitude to ask $1,000 for everything. Walt calls in Rob Bruce, an expert in film memorabilia and collectibles, and he successfully castrates this guy by saying everything together, in reality, is really worth under $300. Of course, Handcuff Dude didn't like that one bit and kicked rocks.

The last seller of the show came in with issue #10 of The Tomb of Dracula (first appearance of Blade) and a fantastic Jack Kirby Thor poster. Walt offered $160 for both. The guy decided to keep the comic but sold the Thor poster for 75 bucks.

Throughout this whole ordeal, the show cuts back and forth between podcast talks and Mike, Ming and Bryan's flea market sales. Walt challenges the three to sell as much of the overstock they can at the Collingsworth flea market and whoever makes the most money gets a weekend off. This little segment is what made me hate Bryan's face. It was insult upon insult toward Ming of course and at one point he started taking plates that were on Ming's flea market table and throwing them on the ground, breaking them. I have no idea what this man's goal was, but he certainly achieved Douchebag Supreme status. Especially since he did talk some pretty rude smack about the patrons of the Collingsworth flea market. What I don't understand is that Bryan is okay during the podcast, but is a Grade A asshat on the show. I'm confused. Conflicted. But anyway, at the end of the day, Ming outsold the other two.

Whilst powering up his wizard staff and shouting the ancient  incantation into the sky, all looked on in awe as the mighty magician annihilated a perfectly good television show idea with his unrivaled skills in Dickjitsu.

So there it is. All the events of episode 1 in a nutshell. Was I looking forward to the show? Yes. Did I end up enjoying it? No. It's not that I don't like the idea, because everyone that knows Mike and I would tell you that a show about comic book guys is something we'd be all over. I disliked it for three reasons, really:

• One being the mistake of Bryan being in it.
• Two, the comic book store 'life' wasn't really depicted in a way that I thought it would be. Meaning, we were wanting more time spent showing how the business is run, how the comic market currently is, and other info about the actual comic book business and the store itself.
• And three, it's because everyone on the show besides Kevin Smith can't act like a camera's not in their face. Everything about it is unnatural; from the facial expressions and dialogue right down to body language. Because of this, I'm thinking that every element in the show is completely set up.

I'm still going to watch episode 2 as well as the whole season entirely; hoping to see if it grows and changes for the better. So keep in touch and we'll see how the following episodes grab us.

-Danny

Comic Book Men: 1st Update

The Naked Bear strives to talk about topics that we are informed and educated on in some way or another. We believe that's the only way to speak out about anything. However, right now, I am here to give you a quick update on my thoughts on Comic Book Men so far after barely watching ten minutes of the season premier.

I really struggled with those 7-9 minutes; mostly because I couldn't get passed the immaturity of Bryan Johnson. You know, the guy with the wizard beard? The show completely lost me when he started giggling when Dick's (Grayson) name was mentioned when chatting about his origin and how/why he came to be the first Robin.

So quite honestly, the show hasn't really hooked me in and I would assume that would be the intent for the opening scene of the season premier. I've heard really poor reviews so far but as usual I want to form my own personal opinion. I'll update everyone again when I gather the strength to make it through the Dick-ish laughter.

-Danny

GOTHAM CITY IMPOSTORS

A downloadable shooter? Thats 15 bucks? At first glance i would pass on that like whitney. But this game had something special...a Batman logo.
     So after the download of this games demo i fell in love. By no means wil GCI be a contender for the CODs and Battlefield franchises,but its nice to have as a change of pace.
This game really does capture the anarchy of a gotham without Batman.(according to Das Internet,GCI occurs while Bats is off in "Arkham City")

THE GOOD:

AMAZING WEAPONS
HUGE LEVELS WITH MASSIVE VERTICALITY
CUSTOMIZABLE COSTUMES

THE BAD:

NONDEDICATED SERVERS
NO SPLITSCREEN

With new DLC coming out in March,which by the way is free,this game seems poised to move to a Portal-esque level of popularity. From a level in crime alley outside the Monarch Theatre to a riddler paintjob for your gun, GCI is pure fanboy favorite.

Thought of the day: Doctor Octopus should not have been able to defeat the Hulk

In 1992, there was a six-issue run in Spider-Man called Revenge of the Sinister Six. I loved this particular run. I enjoyed the story and artwork by Erik Larsen. There's just one thing that I thought was bogus which I'll explain in a sec.

It started in Spider-Man #18

To keep the synopsis short, Doc Ock comes back for some more mayhem, ditching his old tentacle harness for some new super long, super powerful adamantium arms. When fully extended, these things take up so much room that they can practically fill up an empty wearhouse. So yea, they are pretty awesome.

Seriously?

Now, he has a run-in with the Hulk and he completely and totally beats the snot out of him. This is where I call shenanigans.

See what I mean? Shenanigans.

Octopus' arms may have been indestructible, but this is the Hulk, boys and girls. From what we have seen Hulk be able to withstand, there's no way that Ock could have had the upper hand. The green machine went toe-to-toe with the likes of Sentry (defeated), Iron Man's Hulk Buster armor (defeated), Abomination (defeated) and countless others that have unbelievable powers.

That's why the Hulk is perfect. The angrier you make him, the stronger he becomes.

'Nuff said.

The Amazing Spider-Man

A few months ago, Mike and I were discussing the upcoming superhero movies that will be released in the near and distant future. As it turns out, the one movie he and I were the least excited about was The Amazing Spider-Man. It's directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans and it scheduled for a July 3, 2012 release. I'm not saying that we think it'll be bad because that would be a narrow-minded, ignorant opinion about something that we haven't even seen yet; and we're not one of those guys. It also isn't that we think the cast or story/plot is awful because once again, we don't even know. It isn't even that we don't like Spider-Man, because we most certainly do. It's just that we don't care.

It seems just like yesterday that we saw Tobey Maguire flexing his ridiculously ripped physique in front of a mirror and web-slinging through the streets of downtown New York that yet another origin story (in our humble opinion) is unnecessary so soon. And let's face it, being the Sam Raimi fans that we are, we unfortunately left the movie theater sick to our stomachs after watching Spider-Man 3. It's kind of like when a girlfriend takes a dump on your hopes, dreams and heart (which is exactly how we felt when the movie was over). You don't really come out of that relationship eager to jump right into another very soon. So there's just something about The Amazing Spider-Man that doesn't leave us nearly as excited as The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises.

Maybe it's the anime hair.

Or his Spider-Sneakers.

On thing is for certain, however. The newest trailer did leave me wanting a bit more. I like that we heard some witty remarks that Spider-Man is known for and that we got a better idea of what The Lizard will look like. I am hoping for greatness to come out of this new Spidey flick and I am also eager to hear what others have to say. Feel free to comment or send us a message and tell us how you feel about it. 

Summer 2012 can't come soon enough.

-Danny

A Tribute To Guile

Just recently, it has come to my attention that Guile's stage song is the most motivating pump-up song that you can listen to and it really does go with everything. An internet meme that has been around for years now, I have found what looks to be thousands of video clips that shows how perfectly his theme goes with any action taken by anyone on the planet. I bet you didn't know that what you are doing right now, this second, is going to the music. If you think I'm lying, just search youtube and you'll see what I mean.

Bringing to light this fact, lets look back and see just how badass Guile really is. Look at him. 

From the flattop haircut, down to his blood-stained military boots, there aren't too many experiences that can be as manly and patriotic than kicking international ass with American flags tattooed on 48-inch biceps. The only other thing on Earth that can do that is being John McClane and killing every terrorist barefoot in Nakatomi Plaza while wearing a muscle shirt and smoking cigarettes.



Then there are his special moves: the Flash Kick and the Sonic Boom.

With the Flash Kick, Guile does a backflip and kicks you squarely in the face. While normal dudes who call themselves badasses just throw punch after punch in an ungraceful fashion, Guile decides that you're so unworthy and hold so little testosterone that he just gives you a boot to the dome while looking damn good doing it.

And he doesn't even have to look at your sorry mug while doing it; instead checking out the gorgeous women behind him watching the fight.

Then there's the Sonic Boom. Mother of God. A sonic boom is the unbelievably loud sound made by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Guile can do this by whipping his arms forward fast enough to send one into your already broken face. While yelling at you.

Fact: You've just been made Guile's bitch.

Then there's his motivation: Revenge. Bison was responsible for the death of his best friend, Charlie, so naturally he's out for blood. Damn near every good American action movie is based on revenge for the wrongdoing of the hero's relative, friend, etc. Forget the white picket fence, barbeques and baseball games. You're living the American  dream with every punch and kick you land on your opponent while playing as Guile.



So this is my tribute to Guile. One of the characters that represents the mighty U.S. of A in the Street Fighter universe. If you enjoy 'charge' moves in a fighting game, his specials can surely be used with unforgiving, merciless fury. And if you don't, well then...

-Danny