Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Review: Batman '66 #21


This issue features an excellent story by Jeff Parker featuring the Manga villain Lord Death Man. Parker's effort this time around is top notch, and deals with The Penguin's attempt at smuggling flower seeds to Japan leading to Batman and Batgirl (Robin has to take time off to recover from Pengy's vertigo umbrella) travelling to Japan to encounter the fabled villain.  Highlights of the script include the Penguin's death trap that opens the story, Batman and Batgirl fighting ninja, and a spooky trek through Death Man's cave. Add to Parker's clever script excellent artwork by Sandy Jarrell, and you have one of the best issues of this series in too long of a time.  This issue earns a solid A.

Monday, March 16, 2015

New Popeye movie loses director

It has been reported  Genndy Tartakovsky is off the developing Popeye CGI film. In all likelihood, the entire project, if not dead, is stalled indefinitely. The test footage that was released a few months ago looked promising, but overall I thought it was too much Tex Avery and not enough Max Fleischer.
Add to that the concept of an "origin movie" where Popeye and Olive were to be portrayed as teenagers (hence the lack of a pipe and tattoos for Popeye) left me feeling this was not the right direction to go.  I would like to see an animated Popeye movie, but with a more conventional premise and preferably with hand drawn animation with perhaps 3-dimensional sets in the style of the Fleischer two-reelers.