Ron Rowe

Lakeland, Florida, UNITED STATES


Joined June 10th 2008

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The Dark Knight

August 6th 2008 11:50
In all the talk about the awesomeness of The Dark Knight, there are a few things that have been overlooked. So, instead of posting another glowing review of the latest bat-film, I'm dropping a few observations that have been overlooked by many. WARNING: this review contains some SPOILERS.

In the opening minutes of the film, we get a cameo appearance by The Scarecrow. Very cool. It was nice to see a sense of continuity and a real feeling for the film's bat-universe.

I thought all the talk about Heath Ledger winning an award were just sympathy for the recently departed, but man was he good. Awesome, creepy delivery. He certainly is deserving of consideration.

What is the deal with Christian Bale's Batman voice? Did he not watch the animated series? Every bat-fan everywhere agrees that Kevin Conroy's voice acting on the animated Batman was the definitve version. I'm not saying he had to try to copy it exactly, but... he should have tried to copy it... exactly. His nasal angry whispery voice was odd and almost comical. One of the few detractions from the film.

Just how did Jim Gordon fake his own death? He was shot in front of 2.000 witnesses. His body was in plain sight and checked by at least one of his fellow officers. For that mater, what did they do with the 'body'? Didn't his wife have to identify him?

Why didn't the Joker kill the police officers that he replaced in the commissioner's funeral procession? He's a homicidal nut who killed like a kajillion policemen during the course of the film, but these guys he ties up, gags, and blindfolds. The only reason I could think of for the blindfold was so Bruce Wayne could use his Batman voice and they wouldn't see him without the mask. Very thoughtful of Mr. J.

No Harley Quinn?

How great was the Two-Face makeup? Isn't there an Academy Award for that sort of thing, too? Whoever did that is tops on my short list for that award.

Did it seem like they were deliberate in not showing much of Jim Gordon's daughter? The son & wife were prominently shown, but the daughter seemed hidden most of the time. Hmmmmm.... Are we thinking of featuring a certain female relative of Jim Gordon at some point in the future?

I agree that the cell phone spy deal was wrong, but don't you think that Lucious picked a funny time to get on his high horse about it?

Rachel went kablooie! Surprising and well done.

The ending... I'm not convinced that was the only course of action. Couldn't they blame the deaths on, say, the joker? Or one of his men? Maybe one of his men who was killed so he couldn't defend himself? It was good drama, but I'm just not buying it. I'm just saying...

Still, great movie. So dark & powerful. It felt like one and a half movies. There was a huge finale, they caught the badguy, everything was good, and then... another 45 minutes of mayhem.

One final note. It was nice that the Batman caught the Joker without him falling to his death. Too often in movies they kill the villain rather that capturing him. Very nice touch, but all the more shame that the Joker will not be appearing in any sequels. But maybe his deranged girlfriend Harley? Please?
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Hawkeye vs. Green Arrow

July 29th 2008 20:41
Each is the top archer in his respective comic book universe. Each has a long history and cool trick arrows, but which is the better character?
Green Arrow

Origin: Green Arrow – Oliver Queen was a wealthy young man who fell overboard on a cruise and found himself alone on an island, ala Robinson Crusoe. In order to survive, he develops his archery skills, eventually encountering a band of pirates, defeating them, and returning to civilization as a superhero.
Hawkeye

Hawkeye - Young Clint Barton ran away from home & joined the circus, where he was trained by not one, but two super-villains. After a brief foray into the dark side, he decides to become a hero.
Winner: Green Arrow. Both started out with pretty hokey stories. I’m giving this one to GA just because his came 20 years before Hawkeye’s.

Arsenal: Both have similar quivers filled with explosive arrows, glue arrows, stun arrows, bolo arrows, etc. Hawkeye’s one-time-only-ace-in-the-hole arrow is a pure vibranium arrow, given to him by the Black Panther. Green Arrow’s one-time-only-ace-in-the-hole arrow is a fake uranium arrow.
Winner: Point to Hawkeye, because to my knowledge, he has never used a boxing glove arrow or a fake uranium arrow.
The old "Fake Uranium Arrow

Supporting Cast: Green Arrow is married to super-hottie Black Canary. His ex-side kick turned junkie turned superhero turned government agent turned superhero again currently goes by the name Red Arrow. His new sidekick is an HIV positive teenage girl. His son is brain dead and missing. His baby’s momma is long gone. His other baby’s momma is another super-hottie Japanese archer named Shado.
Hawkeye’s got a dead wife and a wolf-boy. Whatever happened to the wolf-boy?
Winner: Green Arrow’s got this one locked up.

Notches on the bedpost: Green Arrow gets his share. He has fathered at least two children and is currently married to Black Canary.
Hawkeye is the Scott Baio of the Marvel Universe. Just in the last year or so (in elastic comics time), he has bedded Mockingbird, Moonstone, the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, and Echo.
Winner: Hawkeye

Secret Identity: Green Arrow is really Oliver Queen, sometimes millionaire, sometimes poor man, sometimes mayor. He is always in the public light, but nobody notices that Queen and Green Arrow are the only two people on the planet that have the same impossibly quaffed goatee.
Although he does wear a mask, Hawkeye really doesn’t go out of his way to hide his identity. You wouldn’t hide it either if you were the guy that slept with Mockingbird, Moonstone, the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, and Echo in the last year. Clint Barton doesn’t seem to have any visible means of support when he is not on the Avenger’s payroll.
Winner: Hawkeye. Not that he has the greatest secret identity, just that the goatee factor takes GA out of the running.

Costume: Green arrow wears a modernized Robin Hood costume. Hawkeye wears a purple circus costume; sometimes it has a skirt. When he was Goliath, he dressed like a gay S&M master.
Does this costume make me look fat?

Winner: GA by a landslide. To be fair, Hawkeye’s current Ronin costume is cool, but it was not a factor because of the whole ‘not-Hawkeye anymore’ thing. Which brings us to…

Replacement: When Green Arrow died, he was replaced by his son, Conner, who conveniently popped up around the time of his death. When Hawkeye died, he was replaced by Kate, a rich teenage girl.
Winner: Hawkeye. While I did like Conner, he’s currently brain dead and missing, while Kate is still up and kicking.

Death: Hawkeye died saving the Earth from an alien invasion. Green Arrow died saving nobody from anything. He was just too stubborn to let Superman save him & the city at the cost of Green Arrow’s hand.
Winner: Hawkeye, easily.

Resurrection: Hawkeye was brought back to life by a former ally-turned-enemy-turned-ally again wracked with guilt and possessing the power to warp reality. Green Arrow, on the other hand, was brought back to life by a former ally-turned-enemy-turned-ally again wracked with guilt and possessing the power to warp reality.
Winner: Gotta call this one a tie.

Close one. This really could have gone either way. But the final tally is 3.5 for Green Arrow and 4.5 for Hawkeye.
The Winner!


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The Summer of Comic Book Films

July 23rd 2008 19:14
I cannot remember a year with so many comic-related films gracing the big screen. While the results so far are a mixed bag, we’ve already seen Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hancock, Hellboy II, and The Dark Knight. Every comic fan must have found something to like in there. And although the summer movie season is starting to wind down, we’ve got Clone Wars next month, Punisher: War Zone in September, and Watchmen coming next March. Clone Wars has the benefit of lower expectations, War Zone has to be better than either of the previous film adaptations, and Watchmen is drawing from some of the best source material ever to appear in a comic.
Coming soon to a theater near you


Animated Direct-to-DVD superhero fare is heating up as well with Batman: Gotham Knight already out and Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, and Next Avengers on the horizon.

Even though DC can’t seem to get much going , things should continue at a good pace in the next few years. Marvel’s ambitious slate of comic movies includes Thor, Captain America, Iron Man II, Ant Man (I don’t know why), and The Avengers in the coming three years.
The next great movie hero?
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A Call to Arms!

July 17th 2008 16:36
The Chicago Tribune is hosting a tournament to determine the best superhero ever & the Comic Geek Nation needs to speak out. The field has already been narrowed from 32 down to the elite 8. Superman and Wonder Woman are going head to head, with Superman holding an early lead. This is as it should be. The Spider-Man vs. Green Lantern matchup should swing (get it?, ‘swing’?) Spider-Man’s way.

The other two matchups have given me pause. The space-faring Silver Surfer is up against Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, Buffy has fought her way into the top 8 superheroes of all time by beating… brace yourselves… Thor and Batman! Handily


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Batman: Gotham Knight Review

July 15th 2008 17:03


I was ready to love this movie. It was touted as a bridge between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Animated shorts bridging the gap between movies worked wonderfully for The Matrix, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Star Wars, so why not Batman? Three reasons: execution, execution, execution


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Final Crisis Requiem Summary

July 12th 2008 22:41
The death (for now) of J'onn J'onz


Summary: Martian Manhunter is dead. Everybody is sad. Green Lantern is mad. J'onn's death wasn't as clean and easy (easy for the bad guys, not for him) as it appeared in Final Crisis #1. That's it. Really. Oh, he also telepathically reached out to 5 heroes (Superman, Batman, Black Canary, Gypsy, and Green Lantern to mentally force them to write the history of Mars. Why he never bothered to do it on his own, I'm not sure


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Secret Invasion #4 hit the shelves this week. This issue was a little less explosive than the previous three, but still solid.

We finally see what happened to Mr. Fantastic after he was splattered all over the exam room. He’s being tortured/experimented on by the Skrull on a space ship in orbit around Earth, the same ship that Agent Brand snuck aboard in SI:WDYT (You can read about it here
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With not one but TWO Avengers Secret Invasions tie-ins this week, what have we learned?
1) Hank Pym, the real non-Skrull Hank Pym, is kind of a jerk. We also now know when & how he was replaced.
2) Janet Pym is a lush and kind of a jerk. Safe to say that she's not a Skrull


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Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? is on the stands now. The bigger question, I think, is what have we learned?


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Recent Comments

Comment by Ron Rowe
on Watchmen trailer looks cool

July 18th 2008 14:43
I am so entirely excited about this move. The early stills they released had me a little worried; the characters looked a little too super-heroic. But everything about that trailer rocks.

Comment by Ron Rowe
on Batman: Gotham Knight

July 18th 2008 11:28
I think you're right on about the DVD. Kevin Conroy is the definitive voice of the Batman. It was kind of strange hearing that voice come out of what appeared to be a prepubescent Japanese boy, though.
Here's hoping that we'll both be singing the praises of the newest bat-movie after tonight.

For me, it's a toss-up. I think Joel Shumaker is most deserving, but those old wounds have healed.

Micheal Moore is a buffoon, but if you punch him in the face he'll just make a long, uninteresting documentary about it (and blame it on the Bush Administration).

I think I'll go with Bryan Singer for turning the greatest superhero of all-time into a creepy stalker dead-beat dad who rehashes his own dialogue.