Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Onslaught of the Octomen

I swear I fought these octomen in Mega Man 2. I will say, the inside of the octomen's palace was pretty awesome. Even though nothing really happened here, aside from Aquaman destroying the entire city of octomen, I liked it quite a bit. In fact, the designs throughout the episode were a lot of fun and the villains were a lot more interesting than some of the other "alien invader types." What I don't understand is why Aquaman couldn't just telepathically control the octomen.

For the Love of Pete (Parker) Heres Another Terrible Glimpse of the Lizard

What in the world is Sony thinking? I guess they aren't ready reveal the Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man just yet, so rather than giving fans a decent image to pick apart we are left with terrible glimpses from marketing tie-ins, this time the culprit being Mega Blocks. The worst part of all of this is that the Mega Blocks image gives us the best look so far and all I can say is the Lizard looks ridiculous.

See Lois Lane as Wonder Woman, Again

Not wanting that cancelled pilot Wonder Woman costume to go to waste,the character of Wonder Woman was somehow worked into the series Harry's Law. I honestly don't really care to know any more about that show, but the first images of Smallville's Lois Lane (Erica Durance in real life) have surfaced.

Counting Down the Most Anticipated Superhero Shows of 2012 (11-19)

Although the sun is setting on 2011, one of the most prolific years ever for superhero shows, 2012 aims to raise the bar even higher. Not only are massive amounts of new shows planned for the upcoming year, but the A-listers are being tapped. While Wolverine and Superman, both originally planned for 2012 releases, scurried off to less crowded pastures, 2012 still promises to be plenty busy. And though any superhero show may at least offer a hint of promise, I can't be super excited for all of them. Here is the ranking of my anticipation for announced shows planned to debut in the upcoming year:

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Microscopic Monsters

Thank the maker, Black Manta and his Manta Men were back!

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Vassa, Queen of the Mermen

Evil mermen, robot whales, the return of Mera! I must be in heaven. Mera got swallowed by a whale Jonah style unleashing the wrath of Aquaman. After sending a few waves of sharks to their death against the whale rays, Aquaman ripped apart one of the robots by hand. Electric eels took care of another and another one he rammed with a real whale. Funny how a flesh whale tore apart one made of steel. After defeating Vassa, "Princess of Whales" Aquaman just let her go home even though she vowed to return. Maybe Aquaman deserves some of the trouble he gets if he is dumb enough to allow his enemies to regroup and try again.

Spotlight on Captain Cold

Since 1957 Captain Cold has attempted to put the Scarlet Speedster on ice. Despite his Captain's rank, Cold has never reached the levels of popularity or recognition of the Batman's civilian foe Mr. Freeze - for whom he is frequently mistaken.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Deadly Drillers

If for nothing else, you have to give Aqualad credit. He could have gone the lazy way and called himself "Aquaboy," but he classed it up a bit with the lad suffix, which begs the question, "Is there an Aqualass?" Google says no, but there is an Aquagirl. Anyways, believe it or not, there are actually two Aqualads. The first and best known was named Garth. In the comics, Garth began as a sidekick and then like Robin came into his own taking on a new hero codename, Tempest. He eventually died. The second Aqualad, just recently introduced, was named Jackson. Jackson happened to be the son of none other than Aquaman's nemesis Black Manta and yet he too thought "lad" was a fitting moniker.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Ice Dragon

The episode opened like something off the SyFy network with an underwater ice dragon battling some sort of sharktopus. After getting trapped in ice with A-Lad, Aquaman proved its not what you can do, but who you know, when he recruited some saw faced fish and a hammer head shark to bust him out. Eventually Aquaman tricked the dragon into trapping itself inside an iceberg and he was perfectly content shipping the dragon off to the arctic for someone else to deal with.

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Episode Count: 0119
Series Count: (09 of 36)

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Crimson Monster from the Pink Pool

I will refrain from making the joke I want to about this episode's title, but you have to admit, it is a bit of an odd choice. The monster itself however has a pretty amazing design. Most of the creatures in these cartoons are pushovers, but that thing was serious business. After being batted around a bit, Aquaman summoned an octopus to create a smoke screen which had the side effect of turning the monster blue and neutralizing his acidic spray. That was lucky. At that point he began essentially just a punching bag for fish. A-Man hauled the beast back to its pink hole but the octopus ink was so potent the hole was also neutralized, whatever that means.

Retrospective 2011 - Part 4

Batman: Year One 

I have already said a lot about Batman: Year One, so to sum it up, it was pretty good. Great actually, right up there with Batman: Under the Red Hood. I feel it did the source material, one of my favorite graphic novels, justice. Its just a shame that the story goes by so fast... Hopefully The Long Halloween is in the pipeline as it would make an amazing follow-up. As far as the DC releases in 2011, they were overall pretty impressive. Both Year One and All Star Superman were top tier quality releases and along with Emerald Knights, all three 2011 releases were solid - perhaps the best year of the batch so far.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Volcanic Monster

Things got out of control quickly when a simple underwater volcano not only erupted but spat out a flaming magma monster. At first it was a little frustrating that Aquaman kept splashing the monster with water. After all, the dude was already submerged in the ocean. I didn't think one extra splash would do much damage, but eventually Aquaman summoned his legions to bury the creature in a rock slide. Then the Monarch of the Seas called it a day and left the beast to die. At least he was able to save Tusky, TWICE.

Amazing Visual History of the Batsuit

This visual guide of 35 Batmen from ScreenRant.com really is amazing and must be seen. From Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27 up to his forthcoming appearance in Batman: Earth One, this captures most of the highlights. It is kind of a shame the silver accented Batman and Robin suit, Jason Todd as Batman, or Damian Wayne as Batman were not included - but its still awesome. Were there any other important designs missed?

[Via: Screen Rant]

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - War of the Water Worlds

Mera the Queen of Atlantis appeared in the early Aquaman comics in the 60's and the two would tie the knot in an underwater sea-stravaganza in the 70s. Not only were Aquaman and his fishy bride the first of the high profile comic characters to get married, but A-Man was also the first to sire a son (that lucky shark), Aquababy. 

Onscreen History of Icicle

One of the original "cool guys," Icicle was introduced in 1947's  All-American Comics #90 and frequently squared off against the Justice Society of America. 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Sea Raiders

In this adventure some space robots put a giant vacuum tube in the ocean to collect sea creatures. Tusky thought it would be a good idea to play in the tube and he got sucked up. Der!

Without Further Ado... The OFFICIAL Dark Knight Rises Trailer 2

Click HERE for trailer 2 for The Dark Knight Rises. Between this and the prologue leaked earlier, its been a good day for Batman. We are in for a real treat come summer 2012. View the embedded trailer below!

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Fiery Invaders

And here we go, alien invaders. These particular invaders decided to conquer Earth by boiling the ocean. In a rush to stop them, Aquaman left his seahorse behind. Apparently he could swim faster than the seahorse. But the logic didn't stop there. Aquaman recruited his fishy friends to spray water on the burning ocean... um, how does that work exactly? 

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Return of Nepto

Even though the episode is titled the Return of Nepto, don't worry about continuity issues. This isn't like the Return of Brainiac SNAFU where episodes aired out of order. This is Nepto's one and only appearance and his return is a plot element, not referencing a previous onscreen appearance.

Another Ghost Rider Trailer Scorches up the Web

No, the trailer does not mae this movie look good at all and I would be incredibly surprised if it was a moneymaker, but Ghost Rider sure makes for a good looking trailer, the picture above notwithstanding.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Rampaging Reptile-Men

Now that we had switched to the underwater venue, I sort of assumed the alien invasion plots were a thing of the past. You know what they say, never assume.

Retrospective 2011 - Part 3

While May ushered in the summer season, things really got out of control in June and July with the release of two more Marvel movies, one from DC, the third Transformers, a direct to video movie tie in and a new live action series. 

X-Men: First Class

After X2, the X-Men franchise had been on the downward slide until X-Men: First Class attempted to reinvigorate the franchise. Even though some of the most popular mutants could not fit into the movie while maintaining series continuity, First Class still delivered an excellent story by adding depth to the characters of Magneto and Xavier. Perhaps due to ill will against previous X-Men films or because of the absence of Wolverine, the film failed to crack $150 million in the US. Still, good reviews and home video sales may be enough to ensure X-Men's second class get their deserved screen time in a sequel.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Menace of the Black Manta

Not bad. There were a lot of things to like here. First of all, I enjoyed Aquaman's supporting cast. Not only do you get the main hero, but a sidekick with Aqualad (who Aquaman creepily calls "Tadpole"), a superpet with Tusky the Walrus, rideable seahorses Storm and Imp (and Mera's pink horse), and of course the undersea redhead bombshell Mera who even provided a Botticelli Birth of Venus homage as she emerged from giant sea clam. [/wolf whistle] Maybe I just have a thing for fish. Aquaman on the other hand didn't seem to appreciate her very much as he just rode of at the end leaving her behind. Not very chivalrous. I think she could do better (wink wink).

Grainy Leaked Batman Prologue Still Looks Amazing

The prologue to the 2012 Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises has predictably leaked but I will do my darndest to leep it posted below. The footage featured a "Darth Bane" in an action sequence that will look incredible when not being viewed via shaky phone camera.

Another Hot Ghost Rider Poster, Excited Yet?

I think its been well established that Ghost Rider is visually impressive. Take this poster for example. It looks pretty awesome. But according to early word on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the non-sequel, non-reboot that no one demanded for old Flamehead is another dud. Is anyone surprised? Yes, vomiting and urinating fire may look cool, but only for 30 seconds and that would be a pretty short movie. Its the other 89 and a half minutes that just can't seem to measure up. Can't wait for the unrated extended edition.

Onscreen Histories of Fire and Ice

 

While most of DC's ice powered characters gravitated toward villainy, Tora Olafsdotter chose the virtuous path of heroism. Ice first appeared in Justice League International #12 in 1988 becoming quick friends with teammate Fire. Fire was originally introduced in the 1979 comic Super Friends #25 based on the cartoon series as a character called Green Fury. Fire was introduced in the main DC continuity in 1986's Infinity, Inc. #32.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Aquaman

It is amazing that Aquaman was the first DC hero, after Superman, to get his own animated series. I guess it makes sense that because Superman had pretty much fought every space alien / land beast imaginable and the sea was the next logical frontier.

GI Joe 2 Trailer Promises Another Fun Romp

I will go on record and say the GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is better than all three Transformers movies. While it was not a perfect movie, it was a lot of fun- especially the final act with the underwater sequences and the showdown between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Speaking of the ninjas, the first GI Joe also featured an epic flashback within a flashback of the two rivals. Needless to say, I am looking forward to GI Joe 2: Retaliation (coming June 29, 2012) and this trailer hasn't let me down.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Adventures of Superboy Recap

Alas, Superboy. I knew thee only too briefly. I have to say that overall the series was a letdown. Without Krypto, The Adventures of Superboy is pretty comparable to the lower tier of the New Superman Adventures episodes. The Superdog elevated the series a notch or two, but the series really suffered from a lack of villains. Sure, there were invading aliens a plenty, but hardly any characters I would classify as supervillains, and no recurring baddies. I did notice that even though Lana herself wasn't a great character, the episodes in which she appeared tended to be the better ones. So even if we never got to see the Insect Queen, at least LL worked out as a good luck charm.

Dark Knight Rises Poster Teases a Broken Bat

Even though the "look at my back" is a serious poster cliche this one remains effective as it places focus not on Bane's back but on the remains of Batman's broken cowl.

Spider-Man Poster Propogates a Web of Deceit

I like the look of the new poster for next Summer's The Amazing Spider-Man, its the words I have a problem with. Thus far, all signs have indicated that a more appropriate tag line for the film would be The Retold Story. They keep trying to convince people that even though its a reboot, there is some deep dark story that just got skipped in the previous franchise and somehow this movie fits into that continuity. Lies!

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Great Kryptonite Caper

This was a fun little caper and a nice way to end the series. It makes me wonder if Lana having a kryptonite necklace was an idea that sprang from the comics because of course that notion would be a huge plot point throughout the first few seasons of Smallville. By the way, nice fashion sense Lana. Does that thing get heavy?

Retrospective 2011 - Part 2

 The second quarter of the year really heated up in May when Thor ushered in the Summer blockbuster season.

Thor

While not the gigantic hit that Iron Man was, Thor still performed exceptionally well around the world, especially considering the heavy fantasy element that has not always done well when coupled with superheroes. More importantly, Thor was a good movie that told a good story while respecting the source material. With Thor, Marvel proved they could build their in-continuity franchise. Thor got the summer off to a good start and was one of my favorites for the year. The gem earned a sequel to come in late 2013.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Monster Molecule

Even time travel couldn't save this dud. Superboy had to go to the future to get a really big molecule.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Space Refugees

Alien refugees left their growth ray unattended and xenophobic troublemakers turned the ray to full blast. Bad move. There were trees exploding everywhere.

Onscreen History of Killer Frost

 

The frigid femme fatale Killer Frost first appeared in the pages of 1978's Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #3.

Jokers Run Wild in the Third Gotham City Impostors Short

I am not sure I get it, but the shorts so far have been a lot of fun. I hope they all make it to DC Nation.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - The Trap of the Super Spacemen

I will admit this was much improved over the past few segments. Although it still required a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief, at least the plot was coherent. On the other hand we encountered yet another race that wanted to invade earth. Yawn. Anyways, at least they implemented a power stealing machine giving one of their race Superboy's powers. Too bad he still got taken down by Krypto.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Double Trouble, Double Doom

In a classic case of act first, ask questions later, Superboy beat the snot out of a flying saucer which turned out to be some space police. To be fair, the ship did have giant rotating blades and was cutting the tops off of mountains. Suffice it to say, Superboy ended up catching the crooks who had set off to slice up a solid gold planet.

Another DC Nation Short Reveals Gotham City Impostors

The DC Nation promotion (viewable here) aired during the premier of Green Lantern: The Animated Series hinted at some of the content that will be aired in the months to come. Along with glances of Plastic Man the Doom Patrol, Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, Clay Batman, Teen Titans, Blue Beetle, and Lego Batman, some images looked like a previously released trailer for the upcoming game Gotham City Impostors.Now, a second trailer for the game has been released and it can be confirmed that those images were from the game trailers.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - King Superboy

You know Clark, flying out of your dad's store window may give you away. But onto bigger issues. So, this is the second time in the past few episodes that a star just appeared and started causing problems. Last time it was the rogue star, this time it was a "small sun." Now, if a small sun really appeared, it would be a pretty big deal. A small sun could still be quite enormous; luckily Superboy was able to just shatter it with a punch. Look, I am no astronomer, but aren't suns made of gas? I don't think a punch would work, nor could a sun shatter.

Retrospective 2011 - Part 1

Although 2011 may have started slow, by the end of February things were starting to heat up as one of the most action packed superhero summers was just on the horizon.

The Cape 

From January until March the glorious failure of a show, The Cape displayed the adventures of the caped hero and his circus friends as they took on the villainous Chess. I will go on record and say this show was not all bad. Though it was most definitely bad, and ridiculously over the top, there were some moments of entertainment. In particular, the episode Dice with a precognitive master of probabilities was a lot of fun. On the other hand, a villain with a split personality would have been just cliche, except in this show both personalities were evil. That's just odd as was the interaction between the shows hero and his son whom he stalked. In the end, the show aired just 9 episodes on TV with the finale only getting aired on the Internet. In fact, the entire series is available online and as long as you know what you are getting into its worth checking out.

Green Hornet 

Green Hornet hoped to reinvent the aging hero for hip young crowds and though there was some decent action, the style over substance film failed to win over the masses falling just short of the $100 million domestic mark. The Hornet's lackluster performance set the stage for other green clad heroes to fall short in their quests to bring home the green.

All Star Superman 

Oozing reverence for the Man of Steel, February's All Star Superman was one of the year's highlights even edging out Batman: Year One as DC's best animated movie of the year. Although some fan favorite scenes from the graphic novel didn't make the cut, but what did make it into this film was the novel's ability to give Superman humanity. Its not just what Superman can do, but what he inspires in others that places him at the top of the pantheon of heroes. And in the end, even Lex Luthor learned that lesson. All Star Superman is the quintessential Superman story, and the best Superman show in at least 30 years.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Superboy Meets Mighty Lad

What do you mean Mighty Lad wasn't really from Krypton! I can't believe it. But he really was an alien!? and he had actual gadgets to give him superpowers... and he rigged disasters to get glory from the saves...? I would think most people would be pretty impressed that he could fly and wouldn't really care how he did it. Even Booster Gold is a hero. Oh well, at least Superboy didn't have to endure the competition.

Crisis of Infinite Episodes - Forget Me Not, Superdog

Enter season three. Superboy and Krypto got totally pwned by a kryptonite asteroid which apparently has amnesia inducing powers on Kryptonian dogs. He decided to terrorize a carnival, then decided to rescue a random man and his son in the woods. Randomness ensued. Turns out the man's life's work was a giant ENIAC style computer that tapped nuclear energy "at the source," and was stored outdoors in the woods. The assailant got revenge by throwing a rock at ENIAC, making it explode which caused an underground explosion of uranium. Superboy hugged the explosion which restored Krypto's memory.

Is This Really Spidey's Lizard? Yikes!

Our Russian comrades have leaked a clear first alleged look the Lizard from next Summer's Amazing Spider-Man. Hopefully this is a delayed image from a communist era Spider-Man fan film, because I think this looks ridonculous. Sadly, our friends at PEZ make us think it may be all too legit. (Too legit to quit, hey hey. )