Month: April 2017

M Night Shyamalan’s Glass

I’m really, really torn at the news the M Night Shyamalan’s next fild is to be Glass, a direct sequel to Unbreakable.

For me, Shyamalan is the perfect example of the law of diminishing returns.

I saw Sixth Sense and thoroughly enjoyed it – yes, I saw the twist coming and, in the weeks following, accidentally ruined the twist for three of my friends by assuming they’d already seen it.

I watched and loved Unbreakable – both Samuel L Jackson and Bruce Willis were superb and the understated superhero elements worked perfectly.

Signs was okay although an alien race that was basically allergic to water not realising the Earth was pretty much covered in the stuff let the whole thing down.

The Village bored the crap out of me (apart from Bryce Dallas Howard who was great) and the reveal was just so disappointing.

Lady In The Water I remember next to nothing about apart from the dreadful CGI grass dogs – was there something about a murder?

But it was The Happening that killed my interest in Shyamalan’s work. It was just terrible and it was at that point that I said to Mrs Earth-Prime that I’d given up on the man’s films and I’ve seen nothing by him since.

Now, though, news of an Unbreakable sequel has me interested. Is it going to be a return to form? Or just another downward step? With a release date the best part of two years in the future, I guess we’ll wait and see.

War of The Gods Annotations Continue

Into the home stretch, now.

Finished the notes on issue #3 of the main series, as well as all the crossovers between #2 and #3. Only things left are three crossover issues between #3 and #4, then the final issue of War of The Gods itself, then a possible epilogue.

I’m thinking of doing something else as well, that I tried with Blackest Night – a timeline and/or character map showing how the various crossover issues dovetail with the main series.

Still, one thing at a time, eh?

New Dark Matter Titles

DC have revealed that after the forthcoming Dark Nights: Metal event, there’s going to be a new family of titles under the Dark Matter heading. Over at Newsarama, there’s some preview art and descriptions of the series and here’s my level of interest:

THE SILENCER
· Debuting in September
· Written by Dan Abnett with art by John Romita Jr.
· Honor Guest was the world’s deadliest assassin, until she traded it all for a chance at a “normal” life in the suburbs, free from the constant death and destruction. But as her former life comes back to haunt her, Honor must strip away her suburban persona and protect her family as THE SILENCER.

Not for me, I think – the whole deadly super assassin thing just doesn’t appeal.

SIDEWAYS
· Debuting in September
· Written by Dan DiDio and Justin Jordan with art by Kenneth Rocafort
· Forever changed by the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL, a teenager struggles to live through high school as he comes in contact with Dark Matter and gains the power to teleport through the Dark Dimension. But each leap brings the new hero one step closer to succumbing to the allure of his new power and its dark origins.

Definitely not – every comic I’ve read that’s been written by Dan DiDio has, frankly, been awful (I’m looking at you, Phantom Stranger, in particular) so that’s enough for me to bow out.

IMMORTAL MEN
· Debuting in October
· Written by James Tynion IV with art by Jim Lee
· Born at the dawn of time, five siblings find that with eternal life comes eternal war. As the forces of destruction march into the modern world, they operate from the shadows, recruiting the elite against the foes who seek to bring about Armageddon. They are humankind’s hope sprung eternal….they are the IMMORTAL MEN.

This sounds interesting to me although we’ll probably get four issues with “art by Jim Lee” before a fill-in artist has to take over!

DAMAGE
· Debuting in October
· Written by Robert Venditti with art by Tony S. Daniel
· Ethan Avery only wanted to serve his country, but promises of becoming the ultimate weapon leave the new recruit living a nightmare. Cursed with the ability to unleash an unstoppable monster for one hour at a time, Ethan only wants to live out his life in peace. But if he can tame the monster inside, it might just be able to do more good for the country than Ethan ever expected.

It’s a possible – I like Venditti’s writing and Daniel’s art but there’s only so many pennies to go around.

NEW CHALLENGERS
· Debuting in December
· Written by Scott Snyder with art by Andy Kubert
· Characters live on borrowed time, running from death toward the greatest mysteries, wonders and terrors of the universe! It’s a new cast, new mission, but in conversation with the history and greatness of the original Challengers of the Unknown. The story starts with Challengers Mountain returning after having been missing for years, and only gets wilder from there…

This is the other definite for me – I like the writer and the artist and the concept sounds intriguing.