Only a true fan could have made this film and director Steven Spielberg completely indulges himself in the world of Tintin and Herge. He often keeps the shot wide or medium which lets the audience view and admire the beautifully animated landscapes and locations. Spielberg must have known the weight of expectation on his shoulders when making the movie, and he never diverts from Herge’s original M.O; adventure, mystery and thrilling action. If you’ve read our interview with Tintinologist Michael Farr, then you’ll know Herge (back in the day) named Spielberg as the man to bring Tintin to the big screen, and it’s done with a huge amount of love and passion.

The Adventures of Tintin is surely the pinnacle of motion capture, and Spielberg treats the technology like an over-excited child with a super 8 camera and a toy set; he fluidly moves the action across scenes and locations and the action set pieces are pure spectacle. In a scene in which Captain Haddock recounts the story of the Unicorn, Spielberg cuts the action between Haddock recounting the story and the actual events in the past. The frame whizzes around at high speeds and cuts effortlessly between both locations, it’s stunning, and the action sequences on board the Unicorn are truly magical, I was in effing awe.

Screenwriters Moffat, Wright and Cornish have freely taken story points from across the Tintin volumes and have created a patchwork quilt of a script, which perfectly matches up to any Herge story. The cast all fill their roles well, and the animators have done a great job re-creating the characters on screen. When it comes to Tintin himself, considering that Herge’s drawings of the boy hero lacked any great amount of detail surrounding his facial features, I thought he looked pretty good in the film. Pegg and Frost also shine as Thompson and Thomson, and Andy Serkis is brilliant barging his way across the scene as Captain Haddock (even if his accent does sometimes drop).

The Adventures of Tintin starts not with a shot of the hero himself, but brilliantly begins with a shot of his creator Herge drawing a portrait of Tintin in a busy market square. The film is littered with little in jokes and trivia, and I will need to see the film again to catch them all. Tintin is pure old school fun, full off adventure, mystery and action. I already know when I will be seeing the film again upon its release, and I cannot wait.

Will Pond.

Batman Live is defiantly more Batman Forever than Batman Begins (fun fact: I stole this line from Joe Innes, don’t tell him!) so don’t go expecting any broodiness or soul searching, and no murky brown colour scheme; Batman Live is bright and loud, the stage is vibrant and full of movement, particularly helped by a large animated screen behind the performers (one of the stars of the show). The acting is completely hammy and over the top, I didn’t think anyone could ever be as plucky as the guy who played Robin is; also, look out for the faces that Batman makes in the shows final bows, looking tough dude.

Batman Live contains a vast array of entertainment from acrobatics and trapeze to dance and high flying action sequences, and although this is all very entertaining I did feel the performance was limited to just the stage and a small amount of space surrounding it, which sometimes made the action feel quite distant in such a large venue. Screens relaying the show live (like in music gigs) or bringing some of the performance out into the audience would have helped here and made some parts even more thrilling. The show has a high technical standard; all scenes ran fast one into the other, with actors appearing from behind the back curtain, up through hidden trap doors and even down from the ceiling.

Batman Live bears no resemblance to either of Christopher Nolan’s films, and I did hear some disappointed comments being thrown around as everyone left, but if the production team had gone in a ‘Nolan’ direction, half of the audience at the I attended would have been too young to even get in! It’s an awful marketing phrase, but Batman Live really is family fun, the show has some great acrobatics and lots of inventive ideas. The production has just embarked on a world tour, so go and see it when it comes to a city near you… and if you don’t have a child to take then steal one.

Will Pond.

The art is the driving force behind this adventure, dizzying and dazzling while keeping the reader fixed in another world. In fact I sometimes felt overwhelmed by some of the visual effects and distracted from a fairly simple story. If I have a problem it’s that this installment felt like Batman Inc just showing off another weapon in their arsenal.

By #6, Grant Morrison had convinced me that the operation was fully established and expanding by the second. I was impressed. But one of the biggest appeals of Morrison’s Batman has been watching the risks he is willing to take with the character. With no real challenge or depth a series can become as formulaic as a 3D CGI cartoon. However this is all very unlikely given the journey we’ve been on to get here.

I believe in Grant Morrison. You can’t argue with someone who writes villainous dialogue like, ‘Die, Batman! Die, Batman! Die, Batman! Die!’ Overall this was an enjoyable escapade, if a little light. It was fun to see Barbara and Bruce fighting side by side again and the reference to the return of an old flame was a great note to pause the series on. I might not be buzzing over the new 52 but this title will keep me coming back for many months to come.

Joe Read.

The cast is great; Chris Evans somehow manages to dominate the screen equally as the muscle bound super soldier and as the small, physically weak kid from Brooklyn. Stepping into the role can’t have been an easy task, but to his credit Evans keeps it simple and plays Cap’ just how he should be, his performance is engaging and the CGI used to reduce his body at the beginning is amazing. Hugo Weaving is always a complete pleasure to watch, and here is no different; it’s obvious he is having loads of fun playing Schmidt/The Red Skull. The accent is very ‘German’ and his mere presence on screen creates an ominous mood of tension and dread. Also, Tommy Lee Jones and Toby Jones are great.

The film does slightly loose its way somewhere in the second act, a completely miss-timed montage cuts through what could have been a nice scene of Cap’ and his team working together, and we would have been able to see Cap’ and Bucky together in the battlefield a little bit more. Also, the film’s final scene does really feel like a post credits sequence bumped up to the main feature to make way for The Avengers trailer, which by the way, looks awesome sauce.

Early in his career director Joe Johnston worked at Industrial Light & Magic on features that included Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and he has brought all of that blockbuster flare to Captain America. Johnston also directed the film adaptation of The Rocketeer in the early 1990’s, which Joe Innes loves (YEP – Ed)… Worth a mention! One of the best moments in the film is strangely enough during the credits. In the final few names; Ed Brubaker, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon all get a thank-you, among others. It’s great to see the filmmakers giving the comic writers and creators their dues.

Go and see Captain America: The First Avenger, and that’s an order soldier!

Will Pond.

To say Kevin O’Neill’s artwork contains a fair amount of sexual imagery would be an understatement; hardly a frame goes by without a quick nipple slip or worse. This is then equally reflected in Moore’s writing; who else would have made the 3 principle members of the League a love triangle? Both of the creators also take full advantage of the late 1960’s setting; the book is vibrant and full of colour, the detail in the panels is exceptional and sometimes it feels as if O’Neill’s landscapes stretch off into infinity. In the books out of body conclusion, I almost had to check that nothing had slipped into my own drink, O’Neill warps and distorts the usually geometric panels and basically displays an out of body experience as one long acid trip, it’s nuts!

Moore nicely sets up a number of different narrative strands which slowly come together as the plot progresses. I particularly liked Carter from Get Carter tracking down the satanic sect at the same time as the League, played completely for laughs with a hammy Michael Caine-esque cockney accent. The characters have moved on and developed in the 59 years since we last met them, Mina is now very different from the Victorian prude of the first two volumes, her hair has been cut short and the skirt she wears really leaves nothing to the imagination.

In the book’s final few pages, a particular character (I’m not giving anything away here!) walks through a wall next to platform ten in London’s King’s Cross Station, could this possibly mean there will be a bespectacled new member in the League’s next incarnation? Although as ace as this does sound, I can only imagine how JK Rowling would feel about it… and what Alan Moore would do with Harry’s magic wand!

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969 is released on 28/07/2011

Will Pond.

When? Whenever!

The Red Wing is the newest creator owned project by fan favourite Johnathan Hickman, and involves a load of high concept time travelling! Cadets from the 23rd century prepare to follow in their father’s footsteps as fighter pilots in a war across time in The Red Wing squadron.

Flying TAC (Temporal attack craft) pilots sneak up on enemies by flying through space in a different time period, before jumping back through time to attack or retreat, it’s all rather clever really! This produces some excellent chase/dogfight scenes as the scenery changes constantly when the pilots attempt to outmanoeuvre each other through both space and time. We fly with dinosaurs in the Tithonian Age and even dogfight over roman amphitheatres.

The dialogue is as slick as the flying, and the narrative contains backstory that feels necessary to the plot rather than forced expositional flashbacks. The characters too are very convincing.

The artwork is spaceship-tastic and makes everything feel like the best bits of every science fiction film all squeezed together into something that becomes it’s own animal entirely. It’s like George Lucas, H.G Wells, Stan Winston and James Cameron sat down together and decided to write a comic called The Red Wing.

Overall it feels like a film of epic proportions, the first few pages would make the best five minute introduction to a film ever. This is a triumphant introduction to a hopefully incredible four part story, Jonathan Hickman makes Dr. Emmet Brown proud.

John Paul de Quay.

Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #6

After one wild ride it seems a shame to end my coverage of the Death of Spider-Man on a low point. But here it is all the same. After much confusion the Ultimate Avengers and New Ultimates finally team up to take on Gregory Stark and save the world but what should be a bombastic climax completely underwhelms.

I can best compare this series to the bus from Speed. While racing along it can deliver all the thrills and laughs the audience want but if the pace slows down for whatever reason, the weaknesses of the writing becomes so obvious that the whole thing blows up. Or in this case just looks stupid. So once again the attempts to pull drama from characters that haven’t been fleshed out enough, such as the new Black Widow, fall limp. What seemed like an amoral satire tries to grow a conscience at the last minute. I understand that it needed to get in line with the other Ultimate titles in time for the reboot but the way it happens here feels too forced. I wish I didn’t have to resort to clichés but I can’t help that ‘too little, too late’ sums up this issue perfectly.

Bring us the next Superior. Bring us the next Kick-Ass 2. We need to be reminded that Mark Millar is a writer who can push boundaries and still take the time to develop his characters and stories. Otherwise I’ll go and pull out my back issues of Superman: Red Son.

Joe Read.

Our narrator Mertens comes to Cuba attracted by the romantic image of the revolution, looking to document this vital time in Cuba’s history and hopefully meet Castro himself. He reminisces at the book’s beginning over advice he has received; that a journalist must always be impartial to the events he’s reporting on. All too quickly though, he becomes caught up in the zeitgeist of change and eventually Mertens finds himself an old man in a foreign country, sitting at a kitchen table recounting collected memories and stories directly to the reader. Castro works best when the action regularly cuts between Castro and the effects of his regime on Mertens, his family, and old comrades from the revolution; Kleist creates a well formed and interesting group of characters who we see from the first days of the uprising to their eventual struggle in the new Cuban society.

Kleist’s artwork is expressive yet simple, black pencil scratchings against white pages. Kleist often only draws the most essential details to create a frame and I was amazed by how much could be conveyed with so little detail, whilst on other pages he creates exciting gun fights and battles.

Kleist uses Castro’s tall frame to his advantage and his figure dominates the book, whether its when talking to people in a group or looming large over a page like a communist statue. Kleist uses the frame and speech bubbles in interesting and inventive ways, in one encounter between Castro and then Vice President Richard Nixon there is literally a tear down the middle of the frame dividing them, in other frames Kleist crafts speech bubbles into the shapes of baseball bats evoking the power words can hold or literally wraps the words around Castro’s frame.

There is a surprising and welcome stream of humour running through Castro, I had to double take when I thought I saw Michael Corleone in the corner of a frame (I was right, he was there!) and I couldn’t help but laugh at the UN Ambassadors gossiping behind Castro’s back like teenagers at school. Also, I bet Kleist must have chuckled to himself as he shaded in the Adidas logo on Castro’s track suit in the book’s epilogue.

I really didn’t know that much about Castro past the beard and cigar before reading this book and now I do… which is nice! Kleist guides the reader through Castro’s life without bombarding them with information; his book is full of life and excitement, and really works best when we see the effects of Castro’s actions on the country and society he rules. Kleist’s book is a valuable insight into a significant time in history and one off the 21st century’s most imposing figures. Viva la Cuba!

‘Castro’ is published by Self Made Hero, who are awesome… Find this, and them HERE

Will Pond.

The pictures in this thing are crazy, it’s like falling into someone else’s head and having a look around. There are certain ideas and themes that are recurring throughout the book that seemingly give a picture of the artist’s psyche, including lots of amps, guitars and vampire groupies. The fact the artist is in a band is evident, and he plays around with the desire of rock n’ roll excess regardless of the trappings, to quote Fight Club; “We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” At first glance, some of the images may seem arbitrary, but look hard and you’ll find an incredibly clear focus of expression.

Even though this isn’t sequential art, the world of the illustrations is consistent. The characters and landscapes recur like being lost inside a twisted Wonderland, like an adult version of Where’s Wally. There’s a lot on the page to find, and an incredible amount you don’t see at first glance. He plays with optical illusion and paints doubt over everything he puts on the page, so you often can’t be completely sure of what you’re seeing. There’s some text in both English and French, which is often explicit, I had my French flatmate translate some of it… which was interesting.

Big Mother #1 is published by Nobrow, and just like everything else they put out, it smells great. It’s an oversized A3 size thing, which was really cool to see. I really feel like when I’m reading the same kind of things over and over I begin to stagnate, and this was some kind of tonic. it’s an absolute treat to dip in to, a real experience. Go get it… HERE

Joe Innes

Firstly, to get it out of the way, the art isn’t pretty. It isn’t one of those books you go ‘ooh, what a beautiful panel’ to, in fact, the images are quite depressing. Everything feels incredibly dark and dreary, like the pages are weighed down by too much ink. If it was down to the art, Fear Itself would’ve won, but it wasn’t… so it didn’t.

I guess I’m not much of an Andy Kubert fan, and he certainly hasn’t been given time to be able to do his best work. There’s a few images that are certainly awesome sauce, but I think it’s more down to what happens rather than the aesthetics. Seeing Barry Allen all burnt and messed up, covered in bandages is cool, as is seeing the Flashpoint Superman SPOILER all weak and miserable. Not only has he been cut off from the sun, but it also looks like he’s been listening to loads of Morrissey.

So, cool stuff happens, and I think Flashpoint is beginning to live up to what it promised. Before this issue, a lot of the interesting moments were happening in the tie-ins, leaving the main book as all set up. Now, it seems we’re through that and the story has started to kick off, Flash is getting the team together and looking at setting things right. One thing that I really like about Flashpoint is where it could go, because it could do anything. I guess the same could be true for Fear Itself, but I don’t think so, not with the knowledge of the DCnU. For all the hype, Fear Itself just seems like the good guys vs the bad guys (not that I haven’t been enjoying it, it’s just not as interesting).

I guess it comes down to what you want from a story, do you want something familiar or something a bit different? Both these events are really entertaining, and shit’s been hitting the fan in both, but in my mind the shittiest fan is located in Flashpoint. Please read this as a positive thing, I realise having a review with a conclusion like ‘it’s got the shittiest fan’ may seem negative, but I’m just trying to mix things up a bit yeah?

Joe Innes.