Author: comicgeek76

In my last post here, I showed off some of the “funny” pictures I make using action figures, Lego and other toys. Today I’d like to show you some of the new ones I made and also show you some of the more “serious” toy photography that I’ve been getting into. But let’s start off with the funny stuff!

I got a new Spider-Man minifigure that came with a magazine and I found my old Lego pirate figures around the same time. Add some Duplo and Playmobil palm trees and a beach background and the joke is made.

I bought the Marvel Legends Squirrel Girl and Punisher figures that came with these bikes and put Din Djarin and Cara Dune on them. I think little Grogu looks great in that basket. And a Mandalorian riding a Vespa scooter is just funny.

I bought the Lego Avengers helicarrier for the holidays and it came with a Nick Fury figure. Then I realised that both Nick Fury and Mace Windu are protrayed by Samuel L. Jackson and this joke came to mind. Yoda’s way of talking just makes it extra funny.

A friend of mine came to visit a while ago and saw that I was building a Lego set. He told me that some Chinese company was selling a minifigure of Adolf Hitler and I couldn’t believe it. I ordered the set with that figure, because I thought there had to be a good joke in there and here’s the result. The combination of one of the most horrible people that ever lived with something sweet and innocent like Fabuland is just too funny.

I got a great deal on this MOTU Classics Peekablue figure and her “revealing” outfit just called for a comment by our ladies man, Conan.

We actually got some snow here in january, so little Grogu made a snowman. The knight’s helmet and bloody spear show that he’s really growing into the Mandalorian way.

I love watching the First Dates show on TV and it inspired me to make this picture. Lion-O is a cat, Battle Cat is a cat and Voltron is made up out of five cats. Yeah, this date is going to be a success!

My cousin is an avid Warhammer player and minifigure painter and he made that custom little Skeletor figure. I immediately thought that there was a joke to be made with it and this is the result. Once again it is Squirrel Girl’s scooter that looks so funny with Skeletor riding it.

I have a couple of the Masters of the Universe Origins figures and I like how you can exchange several body parts. And you can also combine them with Mattel’s Masters of the WWE Universe figures. So I took off Macho Man’s armor and put the extra He-Man head on him, that came with my Battle Armor He-Man. I had that Village People song in my head the whole time.

And now for the more “serious” stuff: Next to funny pictures with word balloons and captions, I also became interested in toy photography in general. At first I just used my phone and expirimented with smoke effects.

• 

After that I asked a friend of mine, who does a lot of concert photography, to come over with his camera and that resulted in some pretty cool pictures.

• 

Eventually I started using a camera myself and that really improved the quality of the photo’s. Here’s some of the pictures I took in my sister’s backyard last winter:

And some more in the spring…..

I also started experimenting with fireworks and smoke effects again and started using printed backgrounds. That resulted in some pretty cool pictures too:

To finish off this post, here’s a couple of the latest photo’s I’ve taken. I think you can tell that the quality is still improving and I’m still experimenting with certain effects, like rain for instance.

As you can tell by the last picture, I’ve also mastered the art of removing wires from photo’s, so there will be more jumping and flying figures in future pictures. Until next time!

Hi everybody. Or at least hi to everyone who has stuck around, because it’s been really quiet here for a long time. Why? Well, mostly because work and my personal situation kept me very busy and I just didn’t have the time or energy to update this blog. But now things have calmed down a bit and I’ve been stuck at home more, thanks to the corona virus, so I decided to write something again. I hope you’ll like it 🙂

Next to collecting comic books, I also collect action figures and Lego. Mostly Star Wars stuff, but also characters and vehicles from other franchises. And besides displaying them, I also like to make funny pictures with them. Or at least I try to be funny. So today I’m going to show you some of the pictures I made. I haven’t included some of the older ones, because not all of them were very funny and the quality wasn’t great either. The ones down here are the ones I like best and I personally think they’re getting funnier as I go along. So please keep scrolling down, because the best ones are at the bottom.

Here’s an old one. Lucy replaced Emmet with Admiral Ackbar. The admiral may be handsome by Mon Calamari standards, but this sure wasn’t good for poor Emmet’s self esteem.

And here’s another oldie. Everyone has stepped on a Lego brick barefoot at some point in their life and we all know that it hurts like h***

I actually did a couple of these, based on Gandalf telling the Balrog that he couldn’t pass, but I thought this was the funniest one.

This one is pretty corny, but I could just hear K2-SO saying it to Sam 🙂

This idea came up after watching Clerks, where they had a discussion about all the innocent workers that died when the Death Star was blown up. Luckily it wasn’t Mario and Luigi.

At the hight of the Pokémon Go craze, I was also watching The Walking Dead. And that’s how I got this idea.

This “rocket” came with a set from another brick brand and somehow this was the first thing that came to my mind….

These little Lego trolls were a gift from a friend and reminded me of Yoda with their big ears and green skin. And there’s Wonder Woman again!

I had a lot of Masters of the Universe figures as a kid, but I never had Snout Spout. But When I got this Mega Construx He-Man figure, my Fabuland Elephant was the first one I thought of.

Like Snout Spout, I also never had a Mekaneck figure. So when I finally got this little figurine, I had to do a joke with him and my Mega Construx He-Man.

Every Christmas I have action figures visiting my nativity scene. This one’s an awkward meeting between the son of Odin and the son of God.

In the Netherlands we have a coconut filled chocolate bar called Bounty. So this one was a pretty corny joke featuring one of my favorite Star Wars characters.

Like most Star Wars fans, I also love Indiana Jones movies. That’s why I got this Indy figure a while ago and after that the joke was easily made, with my vintage Falcon in the background.

This one is so politically incorrect, that I didn’t post it on Instagram. Star Was has made huge steps in featuring more strong female characters in their movies and shows and Leia in her “slave girl” outfit just sets everything back 40 years. And to make things worse, it’s her own brother that is holding the “leash”.

The vintage Kenner Chewbacca was one of my favorite figures as a kid. So when I finally got hold of one again and held him next to my modern Chewie, this joke came to mind.

At the start of the corona crisis, people couldn’t go to the barber or hairdresser. Ans that’s how I came up with this one. This is also the first time that I printed a background and used Tonka figures and vehicles to complete the picture. They combine really well with vintage Star Wars figures.

I love those old Tonka and Galoob vans, but next to the Millennium Falcon they really don’t look like much.

Here I used a background of a forest and put two Ewoks in the picture, to create the impression that this was the forest moon of Endor. The rescue workers are Fisher Price Adventure People and the ambulance and gurney are from Playmobil.

Drunken times at the Mos Eisley cantina. Of course we never saw Bossk at the cantina in the movies, but somehow I thought he’d fit right in. Here I used Tonka, Fisher Price and Playmobil figures and vehicles again.

Of course I had to do one with Han and Chewie as well. I love how the drunken astronaut is going home on his bicycle.

I found all my old Playmobil toys in the attic and loved these droids. I had forgotten how much the GE5P droids look like R2D2, but in contrast to Artoo they do have arms….

This idea came up after watching the Solo movie again. What if Han hadn’t won the Falcon? I guess they’d go out and buy a van. I think Han and Chewie look great in the Fisher Price van and the background turned out pretty good as well.

This is one of my personal favorites. I can just see Vader taking his kids on vacation in that van, with Luke and Leia bothering him all the way there. And Kit Fisto helping out a lady in her bathing suit with her canoe is a nice touch in the background.

I still have my R.O.B. from back in the day and it I love it, but it really is the most useless accessory ever.

This is basically the same joke I did before with Chewbacca. Of course I’m poking fun at the overly muscular Power of the Force 2 figures and I made things worse by putting those two ladies next to POTF2 Luke.

As soon as I got my second Wampa, this was one of the first jokes that came to mind. That microphone stand and bass guitar are actually from a figure of Motorhead’s Lemmy. By the way, the whole crowd is made up of female Star Wars characters and some Fisher Price and Tonka women.

I had this old wrestling ring lying around and remembered how I used to have my Masters of the Universe figures wrestle in it. And my vintage Wampa would be one of the wrestlers as well. That’s how I came up with this one. Of course Luke doesn’t like Wampa’s after his experience on Hoth. There’s some familiar faces in the crowd as well, including the A-Team’s B.A.

This Hangrees Chew-Kaka was a Christmas gift from my sister and nephew last year and comes with his own toilet bowl. I filled the bowl up with chocolate pudding and even spilled some on the floor next to it. And the guys from Robot Chicken often joke about Dengar having toilet paper wrapped around his head, so that’s how this joke came up.

I used to hide this Super7 Mr. Spock ReAction figure among my vintage Kenner Star Wars figures, just to see if anyone would notice him. Eventually I turned that into a joke as well. And let’s be honest, that Chief Chirpa figure looks pretty creepy.

I never payed attention to it as a kid, but in the original trilogy Leia was practically the only woman and Lando practically the only African-American. Looking back at that as an adult, it’s actually pretty sily. Luckily Star Wars characters have become more diverse through the years, but I still used Tonka and Fisher Price figures to make fun of this fact.

It’s not just the Mandalorian’s creed, it’s also where they’re going. And apparently Mandalorians also use GPS on their iPhones.

This one’s so corny, but I got a lot of cool reactions to it. I just painted a Mando face on a mango. Of course the Lego Razor Crest is not in scale with the figures, but I won it on Instagram and thought it would make a nice background piece.

And here’s the last one I did. I was glad to see Carl Weathers as Greef Carga in the Mandolorian and when I saw this Apollo Creed figure on Super7’s website, I ordered it just to make this joke. And of course it’s a cool figure anyway.

Like I said, I made a lot more, but some are not as good and are just outdated. I hope you’ll like these and I will be making new ones all the time, so you can expect another one of these posts in the future.

cheers, Ralph

Most people who read this blog will know that I mostly read superhero comics, published by the “big two”. But there are certainly exceptions to that. I’ve also read a lot of non-superhero books, published by Image and Vertigo. And on this very blog I have dedicated posts to books like Lumberjanes (https://comicgeek76.com/2018/07/24/why-you-should-read-lumberjanes-too/) and Jeff Smith’s Bone (https://comicgeek76.com/2018/05/24/why-jeff-smiths-bone-is-awesome/), because I really love those books. They are more light hearted and also suitable for younger readers, which makes for a whole different reading experience. And that’s why I’d like to talk about a couple of Raina Telgemeier’s books today.

These last few weeks have been pretty intense for us geeks. With Avengers Endgame in theaters, the final season of Game of Thrones on TV and Marvel’s War of the Realms event running through their comics, there was a lot of excitement going on. So this past weekend I decided to take it easy and spend some time reading something less thrilling and violent. Someone suggested Raina Telgemeier’s Smile graphic novel to me a while ago, so I finally sat down and read it.

Smile is a autobiographical story about Raina’s early teens, where she knocked her two front teeth out, when she fell down while she was running. The story takes you through all the dental surgery, braces and prostheses, while Raina is dealing with all the regular stuff that a girl her age has to deal with. School, boys, siblings, insecurities etc. And constantly having work done on your teeth and wearing braces all the time sure doesn’t make it easier. Even though I’m a guy and never had to wear braces as a kid, I could still relate to a lot of the things that were going on in the book.

The second book I read was Sisters. It’s once again an autobiographical book, but this one focusses on Raina’s relationship with her little sister, Amara. The book constantly switches between flashbacks, from when Raina and Amara were younger, to a road trip with their mom and little brother in an old van. I grew up with a sister who is 5 years older myself, so there definitely were some moments I could relate to. There is a bunch of really funny stuff in there that actually had me laughing out loud and the ending is just beautiful.

So while I was at it, I started reading Drama as well the next day. Drama is a fictional story about Callie, who is involved with a theater production at her school. Because she’s not a very good singer herself, she becomes part of the stage crew and hangs out with the other kids that are working on the production. Like in Smile, you see Callie go through all the usual stuff that a girl in her early teens go through, but there’s also a lot of nice character development with the supporting cast. About halfway through the story, I kind of got the impression that the story wasn’t really going anywhere, but then the ending made it all worthwhile again.

And finally I read Ghosts as well. Ghosts is the story of Cat (Catrina), who moves to the coastal town of Bahía de la Luna with her family, because her little sister, Maya, has cystic fibrosis and the air, that blows in from the sea, will be good for her. Not only is Cat having trouble getting used to her new home town and the people living there, but the town also appears to be visited by ghosts on a regular basis. This makes for some very funny, but also very touching situations and I had a great time reading this book.

So there you have it. I read all four books in one weekend and I have to admit that I’ve become a fan of Miss Telgemeier’s work. The stories are fun and touching and I really like her artwork. The books are published by Scholastic and are definitely suited for young readers, but you can certainly enjoy them as an adult as well. I did anyway and I can’t wait for her new book, Guts, to come out in september.

Before I start this week’s blog entry, I must warn you that there will be spoilers here, so if you haven’t seen Endgame yet, please go see it first and then come back to read this blog 😁

So I went and saw Endgame a second time this week, because I promised a couple of friends I’d see it with them as well and also because I just wanted to see it again really bad. Someone told me recently that I was too positive about the stuff I talk about in this blog, but this blog isn’t about reviews. It’s just a way to vent my thoughts and feelings about things I like, so yes, most of it is very positive. And this week’s edition is no different, because I absolutely LOVED Endgame 😎

I’ve been reading Marvel comics since I was a kid and it’s always been “my thing”, more than anything else. So when Marvel Studios started their MCU 11 years ago, I was really excited. I’ve seen all these movies in theaters and some of them even more than once. And after last year’s Infinity War, I thought things couldn’t get any bigger or better than that, but I was wrong. Endgame is by far the biggest and most epic superhero movie ever.

The whole universe that was created in 22 Marvel Studios movies came full circle in Endgame. Everything was tied together, all the characters were there and the adventure, that started with the first Iron Man movie, came to an end in an absolute emotional rollercoaster of a film. I have no problem with admitting that I shed a few tears during some scenes. And that really proves that we’ve all grown to love the movie versions of these characters as well, next to their comic book counterparts.

Of course we’ve gotten used to big Hollywood movies about comic book superheroes these days. But a three hour long epic like this, with so many characters, that ties 11 years of movies together? That has never been done in any movie genre. And the best part for me was that I had no clue what was going to happen, because it wasn’t really based on a comic book story anymore. The MCU has really become an entity on it’s own, with it’s own continuity and it’s own stories and it’s no longer just “movies based on comics”.

And now it’s time for the spoiler part! This movie was an actual ending to a story. The story of the original 6 Avengers and their journey to saving the universe, even if it means that they had to sacrifice themselves. The deaths of Iron Man and Black Widow were sad, but they served the story and both sacrificed themselves for the greater good. And Captain America was the biggest hero of this movie in my opinion. How he stood his ground against Thanos, with no chance of beating him and his army, was classic Steve Rogers stuff. I saw the movie for the first time on it’s opening night and people in the theater cheered when Cap picked up Mjolnir. And when Thor went “I knew it” I had goosebumps all over. But when the portals started opening and all our fallen heroes returned, I couldn’t help but cry a little. Especially when Spider-Man walked up to Iron Man and Tony hugged Peter. That was such a beautiful moment. And the battle that followed was just amazing. There was so much going on that I could hardly keep up. Which is also one of the reasons I just had to see it again this week. The epilogue was also done very well and makes you wonder what’s in store for the future. We may not be seeing Tony, Steve or Natasha in an Avengers movie anymore, but we have a lot of great “new” characters like Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Wasp, Dr Strange and Spider-Man, so I guess they’ll be taking over as the new core group of Avengers as soon as the next big threat turns up.

The bar has been set very high with this film. Not only for Marvel themselves, but also for the compitition. With the way the DCEU is going, they won’t be reaching this level of movies anytime soon. One of the reasons this movie is so awesome, is because they invested 11 years and 22 movies to get there. That’s why it has such an impact. You know and love these characters and they were able to do some amazing time traveling stuff, because there are so many awesome moments to go back to. I’ve always loved that about Marvel and DC comics. That all these stories take place in this big shared universe. And this was the first time that something like that happened in a series of movies. So much respect to the Russo brothers, because they actually pulled it off in a great way.

I guess that sums up my feelings about Endgame. As you might know, I’m also a big Star Wars fan, but I was more excited about this movie then I was when Episode VII came out. Those comic books that I’ve been reading all my life have become one of the biggest movie franchises ever and they just released one the most awesome movies I have ever seen. And now I can’t wait to see what Marvel Studios has planned for the Fantastic Four and X-Men in the MCU!

Yesterday I watched episode 2 of the final season of Game of Thrones with a bunch of my friends and we had a really good time. And we’re quite a mixed bunch of people. Some are geeks, some are not. Some have read the novels, some have not. But we all love the show and look forward to each new episode. And that’s what I would like to talk to you about this week. How did a show like GOT reach such a broad audience?

As you probably know, the Game of Thrones TV series is based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. And back when I was young (80’s/90’s), fantasy novels had the same readers as comic books: nerds, geeks, social outcasts and weirdo’s. That may sound crude to younger people who are reading this, but that’s really how it was back then. “Cool” people didn’t read that kind of stuff and nobody wanted to make a TV show based on that kind of material. But now Game of Thrones is one of the most succesful TV shows ever.

How did this climate change so much? I think it has a lot to do with how the movie industry changed in the years before, starting in the early 2000’s. It was around this time that Hollywood realized that they should keep their movies closer to the source material. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings is a good example of this, but also superhero movies like X-Men, Spider-Man and Batman Begins. Before that, a lot of these stories and characters were changed a lot to appeal to a bigger audience. But that just made it bad. Die-hard fans didn’t like the movie adaptations of their favorite (comic)books and the mainstream crowd didn’t like it either, because the best parts were often taken out. But since the early 2000’s, fantasy and superhero stories suddenly became cool, even for people who had never read a book in their lives.

So that pretty much explains why HBO decided to do a TV show on George R.R. Martin’s popular series of novels. But how did it get as big as it is now? I guess that’s not just because of the fantasy setting (I consider it more Sword and Sorcery, but that’s a topic for another day). It’s also a lot of the adult content that makes it more appealing to a wider audience. They get away with so much sex, violence, swearing, nudity and even incest, rape and torture, because it’s “just fantasy”. But it’s stuf like that that gets people talking about it. Combine that with all the politics and some really well written characters and you’ve got a hit on your hands. Nowadays you’re the oddball at a party if you’ve never seen GOT, while that used to be the other way around.

Of course there are still a lot of people out there who don’t “get it” or won’t even watch it, because it’s a “fantasy show”. I get that a lot at work, where hardly anybody watches it. But it’s still cool to see that so many different people are enjoying a show like that. The folks I watch it with every week are mostly people I know from the bar where we all hang out on weekends. Ages range from mid twenties to early forties (me), we all have different lifestyles and hobbies and enjoy different music, but we all love Game of Thrones. So I hope we’re gonna get some spin-off shows or we’ll have to find something else to do on monday night 😉

The title of this entry is an endless discussion among comic book readers. And even though I’m from the “old school” and grew up reading printed comic books, I also regularly read digital comics. Both formats have their pros and cons and today I’d like to give you my two cents on the matter.

Like I said, I grew up reading printed comic books. My mom bought me my first Defenders comic (a Dutch translation) back in 1984 and that was it. I was hooked! I pretty much bought every Marvel and DC comic that was published in Dutch and switched to the original American versions in high school. But like most people, I also had a period in my life when I didn’t read a lot of comics. And when I got back into it about 10 years ago, the comic book world had changed.

The first thing I noticed was that practically every book out there got published as a collected edition, in a nice trade paperback format. But it was around this same time that I discovered digital comics. I tried reading a couple on my computer and phone and really liked how good the artwork looked on a digital screen and how bright the colors were. So eventually I bought an iPad, just to read digital comics on, because it’s almost the same size as a comic book.

Reading digital comics has a bunch of advantages over paper books. You don’t have to drive to the comic book store to get them or wait for the delivery guy and pay for shipping when you buy them on-line. You also don’t need to sit close to a lamp when you read at night and you don’t have to make sure that you just washed your hands, so that you don’t get greasy finger prints on your pages. And when you’re traveling, you only need to bring a device to read them on in stead of packing a whole stack of books. But of course there are downsides to it as well.

Like I said, I’m an old school guy. I love going to the comic book store and bringing home a fresh stack of comics and trades. I just love the smell and feeling of new books and you’re not just buying something for your entertainment, you’re also adding to your collection. You physically own every book that you buy and if you’re lucky, certain books may even increase in value. Of course you’ll need to invest in bags, boards and boxes to store them and your collection is going to take up space, but it’s really your posession and not just a file on a computer, phone or tablet.

I’ve always been more of a reader than a collector. I take really good care of my comic books and still own every single one I ever bought. But a lot of the books that I bought as a kid were Dutch translations and those really don’t increase in value. And apart from a couple of books that are on my pull list, I mostly read trade paperbacks these days. Of course I have a bunch of books that have increased in value, but those are just books that I bought when they came out. I’m not into collecting as an investment, because I’ve never sold a single book anyway. And I guess that’s why digital comics appeal to me as well. I don’t care about collectible value, I just love reading!

The problem that most people have with digital comics, is that you pay for a file that you can download on your device. But how is that any different than downloading a video game? And it’s not that you’re only renting it. Every single digital comic and collected edition that I’ve bought these last ten years is downloaded onto my iPad. I just turn it on, open the comiXology app and there they all are. And I don’t even need apps from individual publishers anymore, now that I’ve synced my Marvel and comiXology accounts. All the publishers are there! And the range of comics that are available through comiXology’s website is pretty impressive. I’ve actually discovered new titles through their recommendations.

I’ve talked to fellow comic book readers about this. Some really hate digital comics and would never pay for something they don’t really own. Others have one of those digital subscription services, where you get acces to a library of hundreds of comics, for a monthly fee. I guess I’m kinda stuck in the middle here. I love visiting the comic book store, but I just can’t make it there every week. So when Marvel recently did their Avengers: No Road Home weekly series, I was glad to be able to read those digitally, as soon as they were released. And the same goes for the current War of the Realms crossover and all it’s tie-ins. In cases like that, I love the immediate availability of digital comics. But in the end I’ll probably still be reading most of my books in printed form.

Hello everybody. Long time readers of my blog may remember the piece I wrote about Conan’s return to Marvel Comics in may of last year. For those who missed it: https://wordpress.com/posts/comicgeek76.com 😁

Last year I talked about how it was such a big deal to me, because Conan always felt like more than a licensed property for Marvel. Conan was actually part of the Marvel Universe in the 70’s and 80’s and interacted with their superheroes on several occasions. And he was featured on tons of promotional material like he was one of their own creations. That all changed when Marvel lost the license and Dark Horse picked it up eventually.

 

When Marvel announced Conan’s return to their “house of ideas” last year, I got very exited. Are they going to treat it like just another lisenced property, like they’re doing with Star Wars, or are they going to have our favorite Cimmerian interact with their own heroes again? Well, now we know, because Avengers: No Road Home is up to issue 7 and the last two issues featured non other than everyone’s favorite sword and sorcery hero: Conan! 😃

 

No Road Home is a new weekly limited series and kind of a sequel to last year’s No Surrender series. I won’t give any spoilers here for those who aren’t reading it yet, but it’s really good and features some fan favorites like Hercules, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Spectrum, The Hulk and Rocket Raccoon. And as of issue 6, Conan joins the gang, after Wanda ends up in the Hyborian Age.

Once again, I won’t spoil things any further, but issue 7 ends with a cliffhanger involving Conan, so I can’t wait for issue 8. It’s just so much fun to see Conan interacting with the Avengers. Marvel is doing a great job releasing new Conan comics and re-releasing old material, but this actual involvement in the Marvel Universe is exactly what I was hoping for 😊

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve been reading and collecting comic books for almost my entire life and I’m a huge fan of the superhero genre. But lately I can’t seem to finish reading that last stack of trade paperbacks I have lying around, because there are just so many great movies, animated films and TV shows coming out, featuring comic book superheroes. Today I’d like to talk to you about some of my recent favorites. And there may be spoilers ahead, so you have been warned!

Captain Marvel

The first movie I’d like to talk about is Captain Marvel. My friend and I went to see it last thursday, on it’s opening night, and I really liked it. It’s not an epic tale like Infinity War was, but it’s a nice origin movie for new fans to get to know Carol Danvers and sets up the character for the upcoming Endgame movie, which premieres in a couple of weeks. I liked Brie Larson as Carol, Samuel L. Jackson was brilliant as always and seeing Monica Rambeau as a kid was a nice touch as well. And you just have to love Goose the Flerken. Please ignore all the crazy reviews and politics surrounding this movie on the internet and just go and see it, people. It’s a fun superhero movie and you really should see it before watching Avengers: Endgame.

The Umbrella Academy

In my last entry I talked about Netflix’s Titans show and how it related to the comic books. And that’s how it’s always been. Most of the time I will at least have read some of the comics featuring the superhero characters that appear in a movie or show. But this was not the case with The Umbrella Academy. I knew about the comic book and that it was written by the singer from My Chemical Romance, but I just never got around to reading it. So I went in “clean” and really loved the show. This is definitely one of the best shows I’ve seen on Netflix thus far. The story, the characters, the casting and even the soundtrack are really good. Please give it a try, folks. You won’t be disappointed! I actually liked it so much, that I am currently reading the comic book series as well, on my iPad, using the Dark Horse comics app.

Reign of the Supermen

I actually remember when Superman died in the early 90’s. It was a really big deal back then, so last year’s The Death of Superman animated movie took me back to those times, because it was done so well. And like in the comics, it is now followed by Reign of the Supermen, featuring 4 alternate versions of the man of steel, who are trying to pick up the mantle. Like with most DC animated movies, the animation and voice acting is spot on and I really enjoyed it. Marvel may be doing a better job with big screen, live action adaptations of their comic books, but DC definitely has the upper hand as far as animation is concerned.

Punisher season 2

Those of you who’ve read my entry about my top ten comic book heroes wil know that the Punisher is one of my all time favorite characters. So I was really excited when he got his own Netflix show, after appearing in Daredevil’s. However, I didn’t like the first season that much. I know his origin story had to be told, but to me the focus was too much on Frank’s military past. Now season 2 is out and it’s a lot more like the comic books. From the brutal violence to his relationship with the few friends and allies that he has; it feels a lot more like the Frank Castle we’ve come to know and love from the comic books.

Upcoming stuff

Unfortunately we don’t have DC’s streaming service here in Europe, so I still haven’t seen Young Justice season 3 and Doom Patrol season 1. I hope Netflix Europe will pick both up soon, like they did with Titans and the previous Young Justice seasons, because I’m really looking forward to watching both. And the next few months are going to be very busy if you like superhero movies. Shazam, Hellboy and Avengers: Endgame all hit theaters next month and Dark Phoenix and Spider-Man: Far From Home are coming up in june and july. That’s just crazy, but also pretty awesome if you think about it. These are great times to be a comic book and superhero fan. I’m just glad I stopped watching all those CW shows, because otherwise I wouldn’t get around to reading actual comics anymore 😉

Since we don’t have DC’s streaming service in Europe, I was glad that Netflix picked up the Titans show over here. And while I was stuck at home for two days with stomach flu, I got to binge-watch all eleven episodes. There’s going to be a lot of spoilers here, so if you haven’t seen the show yet, it might be a good idea to come back later, after you’ve seen it.

I was really looking forward to this show, because Marv Wolfman and George Perez’ New Teen Titans was one of my favorite comics, growing up in the 80’s. But I was also a little cautious. I used to watch the DC/CW shows like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, but eventually got bored with all of them. The Titans trailer promised a more dark and adult approach, so I had high hopes that it would turn out good.

And I was pleasantly surprised! The show was even better than I expected. Of course there were also things I didn’t like, which I’ll talk about in a moment, but overall I had a great time watching this. It didn’t feel like a high school soap opera, like a lot of the CW shows do. It was dark and gritty and that took a bit of getting used to, because the New Teen Titans comic was always pretty bright and colorful, even though they touched upon some pretty dark subjects. It was Raven, Dick, Kory and Gar and even though some of them looked a bit different and had different origins, they were all very recognisable.

Next to the four main characters, we also got to see Donna Troy (formerly known as Wonder Girl), Jason Todd (the second Robin), Hawk and Dove and even the Doom Patrol. I thought it was a shame that Donna wasn’t part of the main “team”, but I was very happy to see her turn up in episode 8 and she kicked ass! Hawk and Dove actually had two entire episodes focussed on them and I loved how they were portrayed. And Minka Kelly looked gorgeous as Dawn. The Doom Patrol episode wasn’t only a great way to introduce Beast Boy, but was also one of the most fun episodes of the season and a great introduction to the characters, because they’re going to get their own series soon.

The two main stories were pretty much Rachel (Raven)’s struggle with the evil inside her and the coming of her father, Trigon, and Dick’s decision to stop being Robin and be his own man. Those were also two of the main subjects in the comics, back in the day, so I liked how they adapted that in the series. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t finish the Trigon story line at the end of this season, but I guess we’ll just have to wait until the next one.

So for the most part I really liked this season. It felt more like Netflix’s Marvel shows and surprisingly enough it fit the characters pretty well. But that doesn’t mean that it was all good. I didn’t like how they set up the Kory Anders character. Her story, with the memory loss and coming to earth to kill Raven, didn’t really make sense. And Dick escaping from his “dark side” felt kind of weird too. You’d expect that from Jason, who later becomes Red Hood, but Dick was never that dark and violent in the comics. And of course I missed Cyborg and Kid Flash. I know Cyborg will be in the upcoming Doom Patrol spin-off and Wally West is already in The Flash, but they were founding members in the comic and it felt weird not having them around. But the thing that bothered me most, is how they ended the season. They had this big build-up with Trigon arriving on earth in episode 10 and then the last episode is all about Dick and Batman. That really was a bummer.

But like I said, I really enjoyed this show a lot more than the CW shows. And I’m really looking forward to the second season. Especially since we got a little teaser featuring Superboy and Krypto in the post credits scene. With Netflix cancelling all their Marvel shows, I hope we’ll get more of these quality DC shows in the future.

Today I’d like to talk to you about the show that’s been keeping me from reading that stack of trade paperbacks that I’ve had lying around for a while now. Hell, it even has me falling behind on the The Walking Dead TV show! I’m talking about Mobile Suit Gundam – Iron-blooded Orphans.

Most of you geeks and nerds out there have probably at least heard of Gundam. I mean, the franchise has been around for almost 40 years now and has spawned some amazing animated movies and TV shows, manga comics, novels and video games. And their model kits are some of the coolest “toys” to ever come from Japan. In contrast to a lot of the other giant robot series out there, Gundam has always been aimed at an older audience and has always featured adult themes, which showed the hardships of modern warfare. This is also the case with Iron-blooded Orphans, but somehow this particular series has really captivated me more than before.

I’ve watched a couple of the older series and movies through the years and have always liked Gundam, but I never really got into it that much. And I guess that goes for anime in general. When a lot of the classic anime movies were released in Europe in the early to mid nineties, I watched a whole bunch of them, but I’ve always been more into American comic books and cartoons. So when the first season of Iron-blooded Orphans was released in 2015, I didn’t think much of it. A second season was released in 2016 and ran until april of last year. But I only discovered it recently, because of a youtube video that I accidentally stumbled upon. And now I’m so glad that I did.

The series followes a group of teenagers and children, working for a company called CGS on Mars, that treats them very poorly and even abuses them. After they are attacked and their leader leaves them to fend for themselves, one of them manages to awaken an old Gundam Mobile Suit and uses it to defeat their enemy. After that, they start their own mercenary company called Tekkedan and their first job is to escort a young noble woman and freedom fighter to earth. And that’s where the adventure starts.

You can’t help but grow to love the characters in this series. Orga, Mikazuki, Atra, Biscuit, Shino, Akihiro, Naze, Lafter and the others will all grow on you with every passing episode. As with every war story, people will die, and I won’t give any spoilers here for those who haven’t watched it yet, but I felt genuinely sad when some characters died. The story of these kids, who are often referred to as “space rats” or “human debris”, is so sad and yet so beautiful, that they really grow on you.

Of course Gundam wouldn’t be Gundam without some awesome mecha battles as well. Especially Mikazuki and his Barbatos mobile suit are so awesome. The animation on these fight scenes is simply brilliant. Seeing these giant “robots” battle each other is always cool, but it’s even better when you know that they are piloted by these characters that you’ve grown to love. I actually found myself cheering for Mikazuki, Akihiro or Shino when they were kicking some bad guy’s ass. That just makes it all the more fun.

Besides the great story, characters and animation, the music in this show is also awesome. The first part of season one has Man On A Mission’s Raise Your Flag as an opening theme and this just fits the show so well. It really embodies the fighting spirit of the young Tekkedan crew as they battle all the odds that are stacked against them. And Misia’s Orphans No Namida is the end tune for most of season one and is just the perfect soundtrack for the entire series. Later the start and end tunes change, like Spyair’s Rage of Dust, but they’re all really good tracks. I found myself looking for a lot of these songs and artists on spotify and actually playing them in my car. They’re just hard to sing along to, because my Japanese isn’t very good 😉

After finishing season two, I went back to watching Netflix’s Voltron series. I’ve been trying to catch up with that, because the last season is starting next month. And I really love that show too, but after watching Iron-blooded Orphans, Voltron really feels like a show for kids again. Comparing the two is like comparing Toy Story to Saving Private Ryan. It’s just a completely different thing, even though both have an anime style and both are shows about giant robots.

So there it is, my two cents about this awesome series, which is another great chapter in the long lasting saga of Gundam. Anybody who is into anime or giant robots should definitely give this show a try. Even people who aren’t into anime or animated shows in general should give this a try, because it’s just so damn good. As far as I’m concerned, this was better than a lot of the live action movies and TV shows that I’ve seen recently. I just read an article about the stuff that Bandai has planned for the Gundam franchise for 2019 and it all looks very promising, but I doubt that they’ll be able to top this.