Loners – CB Celbuski / Karl Moline (Marvel Comics 2008).
I have a total soft spot for ‘b-list’ superheroes. I always have. I honestly have no idea why that might be, but I do. So when ‘The Loners’ (originally called ‘Excelsior’) appeared in Runaways years ago I was hooked from the start. Darkhawk, Ricochet, a member of Power Pack? I’m there. This is a pretty decent miniseries that sadly left lots of room for a follow up series that will likely never happen due to poor sales. The overall theme of an ‘NA’ style group for former teen superheroes is an interesting concept that Celbuski nails. Most of the cast of the book had been a part of some of the biggest events in the Marvel Universe (Secret Wars I & II, Infinity Gauntlet, etc), but were overall laughable (the “good” Green Goblin) or forgettable (Turbo of New Warriors), so the idea of feeling somewhat disenchanted to no longer being a hero is really humanizing in some regards. The art took me some time to get used to, it’s a bit sketchy in parts and the colors are sometimes blotchy for lack of a better word, but as the second issue rolls along it seems to really fit. Overall I really enjoyed the book and it works as a nice sidestep to their appearance in Runaways & really left me wishing CB & Moline could have got a shot at another 6 issues with the characters.
3/5
1.2.11
The Fighter – Mark Wahlberg / Christian Bale – Dir. David O. Russell
As someone that grew up, sometimes against my will, on the “Rocky” franchise, the thought of a movie about boxing made me nervous. The cast set was great, the director has a great track record & the overall story of the movie is intriguing, but I was afraid of the “montage” heaviness that sports films have had since Sly made his classic fight film. My fears were gone within 20 minutes of the film. The acting is superb, especially Bale, whom we’ve come to expect nothing less from (ok, Terminator: Salvation was shitty) & even Wahlberg, who I think comes off really phony in a number of movies makes for some really moving scenes. He’s got great chemistry with Amy Adams, which adds to the scenes between them, but they don’t hammer in a romantic element into the film just for the hell of it. The only downside of the film, and please understand it’s very minor, is that at the end of the film is does kinda become a ‘boxing movie’. The fight scene at the end is really going to appeal to the people that set out for a boxing movie, but after 1 ½ hours of drama, it was somewhat of a letdown to lose the interactions of the stellar cast for a, well done, yet formulaic climactic fight scene.
4/5
