Review: Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

The Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles miniseries is one of my favorite comic books of all time, so you can imagine how loudly I yelled when news of an animated adaptation hit the Internet.

And though it deviates from the comics in some substantial ways (for instance, the idea of Batman and the Turtles coming from different dimensions is completely dispensed with), Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a prime example of a fun romp. It’s heavy on memorable fight scenes, colorful transformations, and some gentle ribbing on both the franchises, and a great crossover that allows both Batman and the Turtles to shine in equal measure. Just don’t expect the “versus” to last very long.

When an experimental generator is stolen, Batgirl (Rachel Bloom) has a very strange account of events – how enemy ninjas invaded the laboratory, and fought four “lizard-men.” Batman (Troy Baker) vows to stop them from stealing more equipment, and soon discovers that the enemy ninjas are led by the masked, bladed Shredder (Andrew Kishino). He also encounters four mutant Turtles who are attempting to stop Shredder, brothers Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo (Eric Bauza, Darren Criss, Baron Vaughn and Kyle Mooney). And after some initial misunderstandings, the two families join forces.

And thanks to Robin (Ben Giroux), they soon get a picture of what Shredder is planning to do – he’s joined forces with the malevolent Ra’s al Ghul, and is building a machine that could potentially mutate all of Gotham. But first, they’re going to mutate the residents of Arkham Asylum, unleashing a terrifying band of mutants who might just be able to take down Batman and the Turtles. And even if the heroes survive the encounter, they still have two armies of evil ninja waiting to cause mass mayhem.

There isn’t a lot of actual “versus” in Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (they get over their antagonism pretty fast), but this little crossover knows why you’re here – to see Batman hang out with everybody’s favorite mutant reptiles, combining the dark brooding seriousness of Gotham with the lighter but still action-packed Turtle aesthetic. Batman’s world brings some darkness to the Turtles (mutated Harley Quinn is strangely nightmarish), while the Turtles bring some fun to Batman (Michelangelo dressing up in Batman’s cowl and riding his T-Rex).

And, of course, to see awesome fight scenes such as Shredder going toe-to-toe with Batman, which is a fight that you probably never knew you needed desperately to see. In fact, the movie is packed with such action – dodging Mr. Freeze’s blasts of ice, a frenzied vehicular battle against the Foot Clan, attacks from mutated ninja, and of course some nasty battles in Arkham. They’re not bloodless either – we get shuriken in the head, broken teeth, and quite a few people are killed in rather messy ways, ranging from arrows to explosions.

And of course, the movie seems very aware of how awesome this team-up is, and never hesitates to trot out the stuff that will make your inner eight-year-old cheer (the long chase involving the Turtle Van and a certain giant mutant). Perhaps the biggest stumble is the decision to have Batman and the Turtles as natives of the same universe, rather than from parallel Earths – it’s hard to believe that people in the far-off land of New York would think that Batman, one of the greatest superheroes of all time and a well-documented presence, is just an urban legend.

The voice acting is pretty strong here, especially for Batman, the Turtles, Ra’s al Ghul and Robin. The characters are also given a fair amount of fleshing out, considering the action-heavy storyline. They’re all familiar forms of the characters we know and love (Raphael is a rebel who clashes with Leonardo over how to treat bad guys, Batman is a brooding loner, Michelangelo is the fun-loving one who squees over cool stuff), but we have some nice moments such as Leonardo struggling through a nightmare of his brothers’ gruesome deaths, and his feelings of guilt.

For anyone familiar with either franchise – or both, preferably – Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fun rollercoaster ride of mildly bloody action, awesome battles, and the best crossover team-up that every geek has ever wanted to see. It has a few adaptational flaws, but taken on its own merits, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

My Amazon review – click and vote if you like it.

When a comic book series runs for a hundred issues — plus a lot of accompanying miniseries, side-series and specials — you can expect there to be a number of plot threads that need to be tied up.

And some of those plot threads are wrapped up — or at least twisted in a new direction — in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series,” which provides individual adventures for each of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And like the Turtles themselves, the stories provide plenty of variety — the artwork ranges from rough-hewn to exquisitely atmospheric, and the tales dip into everything from family drama to bloody angsty action.

In Donatello’s tale, the genius Turtle reconnects with his ex-friend Harold Lilja, over a new project. Donnie wants to create a device that can effectively predict the future, allowing him to keep his brothers and friends from suffering. But his work attracts the attention of someone far more dangerous than Harold: Metalhead, his robotic doppelgänger, who has his own reasons for seeing the project come to fruition. But can Donatello trust him?

In Michelangelo’s story, the Turtles have brought a number of orphaned children to the Foot Clan, hoping that Splinter will take them in. He agrees — on the condition that they are trained as the next generation of Foot ninja. While his brothers reluctantly agree, a horrified Michelangelo can’t accept this situation, and openly rebels against his father in order to save the children.

In Leonardo’s tale, the Turtles are spending some quiet time in the countryside at April’s family farm, trying to manage astral travel. A troubled Leo goes on a walk in the woods to be alone with his thoughts, only to run into an old enemy — Koya the hawk mutant, who still wants to kill him for crippling her wings. But his fight with Koya takes an unexpected turn, and the Turtle brothers encounter an old enemy who might become a valuable ally.

And finally, Raphael takes a solitary walk after some roughhousing with Casey, only to be captured by Agent Bishop and the Earth Protection Force. For any mutant unlucky enough to be caught, that’s a death sentence. In danger of being murdered and dissected, Raphael must harness all the rage and pain of two lifetimes to escape his enemies — as well as the grief he still feels over the loss of his very first friend.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series” takes the opportunity to further some subplots in the series (Harold Lillja, Metalhead, Koya, Mikey’s strained relationship with the increasingly cruel Splinter) while also laying out groundwork for future storylines (Raphael’s torment at Bishop’s hands, forming a tenuous alliance with a former foe). Basically, anyone who follows the IDW comic books — and why wouldn’t you? — will see its many intertwined subplots leaping forward.

It also is a very emotionally charged collection. The Donatello issue is perhaps the weakest simply because it has less of that raw emotion that suffuses the others, though Donatello’s loneliness without normal friends is palpable. Raphael’s story is a raw ball of pain, blood and sorrow, including the wrenching sight of his hysterical, confused panic when he first mutated. Mikey’s story is taut with simmering anger and a fierce protectiveness. And Leo’s is more subdued, but it reflects both his troubled spirit and his deep love for his brothers.

It also has some very good art here. Brahm Revel’s rough-hewn, sketchy artwork takes some getting used to, but he does do a good job conveying emotions and Metalhead’s form. Michael Dialynas’s art has a lot of splashes of color and expressive faces, and Ben Bishop’s style is grounded, stocky and splattered with blood and broken glass. And Sophie Campbell’s art is absolutely divine — I particularly loved the montage of the Turtles spending time with one another at the farm, at peace and happy.

For those who are lucky enough to read the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro Series” is a must read, both for the stories and for the chance to catch up with our favorite anthropomorphic turtles.

Review: Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle 2)

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

When we last checked in on them, the misfit Aurora Legion Squad 312 was on the run, knowing the horrifying truth – the gestalt organism known as the Ra’haam is about to consume the galaxy, and Aurora might be the only way of stopping it. Also, they lost one of their number to the Ra’haam, meaning that that person is effectively dead. And they’ve been framed for mass murder.

So yes, it is technically possible for things to get worse, but it would take careful consideration and a lot of effort. Well, guess what: in Aurora Burning, the second book of the Aurora Cycle, things manage to get worse. Authors Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff keep things humming along with plenty of crackling action and the occasional twist and turn, but the romantic subplot just doesn’t click with me.

Squad 312 are barely surviving – they’re being hunted by just about everybody for the massive bounty on their heads, and Auri accidentally destroys the Longbow with her newfound powers. So they have no vehicle, very little money, and they’re being empathically tracked by Kal’s vicious sister Saedii. But then they receive a coded message that leads to a secret cache of mystery packages, and a secret ship. An incredibly ugly, rust-encrusted run-down ship, but that’s better than nothing.

But this ship is pretty baffling, because it was somehow perfectly set up for the team’s specific needs… eight years before. And somehow they knew Cat was not going to be on the team. And all the packages have odd items whose functions aren’t immediately apparent. Oh, the mystery deepens.

However, their first effort – getting back to the ship where Auri slept for two hundred years – brings them into the hands of the Syldrathi Unbroken, and then into a conflict with the Ra’haam-led Terran forces. With an all-out war brewing, the squad finds themselves divided like never before, with new and shocking secrets coming out on every side. Worst of all, the only hope for the galaxy is in very, very wrong hands.

The first two-thirds of Aurora Burning feels like a fairly standard middle novel, further exploring Kaufman and Kristoff’s universe, but the third part feels like a massive buildup to the climactic third volume. The Ra’haam and the GIA are still important threats, but this time the conflict with the Syldrathi Unbroken takes center stage for most of the plot, only to tie back into the Ra’haam plot near the end. There are some genuinely surprising twists thrown into the mix – some all the more surprising because the entire novel is told in alternating first-person perspective – which upend how you have seen the characters you thought you knew, and explanations for things that were previously unknown.

My biggest problem with the novel is much the same one I had with Aurora Rising: the romantic relationship between Auri and Kal just doesn’t click with me. It’s clearly meant to be the emotional core of the story, but it felt artificial compared to the other personal relationships that the crew exhibits, and it will probably rub readers the wrong way if they’re not into compelled insta-love.

But it does expand on the characters we thought we knew – Kal, Zila, Scar and Tyler – giving us new information that explains how they became who they are, and then develops them further. One will learn how to feel things, one will be trapped with an enemy he’ll start to understand, and one will lose what he loves most. Fin doesn’t really have any earthshattering revelations, but he is a thoroughly likable little guy – he struggles mightily with his disability, uncomplaining and determined to keep his squad safe, while sometimes ogling a few of his squadmates.

As I mentioned before, Kaufman and Kristoff tell the story in alternating perspectives, and they do a pretty good job reflecting the different personalities – the sexy, irreverent Scar, serious and dutiful Tyler, emotionally repressed Zila, and the quirky bisexual Fin. There’s a considerable amount of comedy woven into the first half of the novel (Scar leading Kal around on a leash), but things grow grimmer as the squad is dragged into the midst of a brewing war, and Aurora becomes enmeshed in the aeons-old battle against the Ra’haam.

One warning, though: it has a cliffhanger. A big cliffhanger. You have been warned.

Aurora Burning feels like a slow-burn middle-novel in this trilogy, but it also has some riveting twists and powerful character development. And yes, it will leave you craving whatever comes next.

A good sci-fi day

On By E. A. SolinasIn ruminationsLeave a comment

Today is a good day for sci-fi… or at least a good day for me, as I acquire sci-fi books.

Specially, I’ve just gotten the new Aurora Cycle book, Aurora Burning, and I am dying to see what happens in it. Aurora Rising is an excellent book and everybody who sees this should go get it. It’s not devoid of issues – for instance, I really didn’t gel with the relationship between Aurora and Kal; it never felt real or natural to me the way the other budding relationships did. But I loved the sci-fi mystery at the heart of it, and the eventual revelation of what is really going on. There’s romance, there’s action, there’s comedy, there’s tragedy… and so I really want to see what happens next.

And then there’s Murderbot. Murderbot is the central character of four novellas that have been written over the last few years by author Martha Wells, about a self-hacking robot who loves soap operas. It’s a prime example of how a character/perspective/writing style can save a story from being depressing or grim, and I defy you to read these stories and not fall completely in love with Murderbot.

So I’ve got some reading to do. Toodles.

Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1: Change is Constant

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

In 2011, IDW Comics made a very exciting announcement: they would be publishing a brand new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, completely separate from the series that had been published before.

And I have to say, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1: Change is Constant is a promising launch for this new series. While the basic story of four ninjutsu-practicing anthropomorphic reptiles (tutored by a wise old rat) is there, Tom Waltz and Kevin Eastman (yes, the guy who co-created the Turtles) add some new elements to the franchise even as they remix some stuff from previous iterations.

Every night, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo – search for their missing brother Raphael, and fight off the street gangs of the mutant cat Old Hob with their father Splinter. However, the Turtles are beginning to lose heart, and Donatello is convinced that their father’s quest for Raphael is motivated by guilt at losing one of his sons, and that Raphael is probably dead.

He’s wrong, of course. Elsewhere in New York, Raphael wanders the streets as a shunned vagrant, unaware that his brothers even exist, and rooting through trash for basic sustenance. Then he stumbles across a man beating his teenage son Casey Jones, and rushes in to the rescue. He and Casey strike up an instant rapport, but their nightly excursion takes them into a dangerous confrontation with Old Hob’s gang.

And through flashbacks, we see how the Turtles came to be what they are – as adorable little lab experiments at Baxter Stockman’s genetics lab, and given their Renaissance names by an intern named April O’Neil. But something sinister is afoot at StockGen, and the four Turtles – plus Splinter, who is smarter than any ordinary rat – are swept up in a bizarre attack that transforms them forever. Shockingly, it involves glowing green goo.

As a start for a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, Change is Constant is a good pretty good launchpad. It throws the audience right into the action and quickly establishes where the central four characters are and what they’re doing – which is particularly important when one of the Turtles has been separated from his brothers for his entire mutant life and doesn’t even know about his family. Why yes, it is really wrenching to see poor Raphael wandering the streets alone, looking like he’s about to cry.

And it smoothly introduces new versions of classic characters (April O’Neil, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman) as well as a handful of new ones, particularly the vicious mutant cat Old Hob. The story unfolds both in the present and the past, and by doing so, Waltz and Eastman weave in a number of moments that either make you go “Oh, so that explains it” (such as why Old Hob hates Splinter and the Turtles so much) or lays groundwork for future plot developments. The latter includes a rather mysterious line of Splinter’s about how he is the Turtles’ father and sensei “as before.” Stay tuned.

It also does a pretty good establishing the Turtles’ personalities, rather than just relying on readers’ familiarity. Leonardo is the dutiful, filial one who does sword practice in his spare time, Donatello is a pragmatist and has a rather antagonistic relationship with Leonardo because of it, Michelangelo is the easygoing and peacemaking one, and Raphael is the lonely brawler who lights up when he makes his first friend.

Dan Duncan provides some decent artwork here – the art style is rough but decent, and character designs are lanky and weedy and, in the case of the Turtles and Hob, pretty muscled. The only flaw is that… well, for some reason he makes the Turtles’ eyes completely white… when their masks are off. They look possessed.

But despite the eyes of the demon disciples, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1: Change is Constant is a pretty solid start to an excellent comic book series, whether for newcomers or longtime fans who can spot all the references.

Enjoy this review? Please leave a vote on my review at https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1ZQEH5PCP3ZE8?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp

Free books + three things that go together

On By E. A. SolinasIn recommendationsLeave a comment

I like books. I like free things. I like Cory Doctorow.

So it’s probably a good thing that those three things go together: Cory Doctorow writes books, and some of them are legally available for free on the Internet. Not all of them, but certainly enough for you to get your toes extremely wet… maybe even your ankles… and experience a decent sampling of his oeuvre.

For instance, his website https://craphound.com has the books Little Brother and its sequel Homeland, Pirate Cinema, Down And Out In the Magic Kingdom, Eastern Standard Tribe, Makers, With A Little Help, For The Win, A Place So Foreign, The Rapture of the Nerds, Someone Comes To Town Someone Leaves Town and Overclocked free to download in a few different formats.

I would recommend downloading and reading these various books, leaving your viewpoints on Amazon and Goodreads (and please, for the sake of my sanity, do more than just say “I liked it” or some other one-sentence “review” that doesn’t elaborate on anything), and – if you enjoy Doctorow’s work and you have the spare money to do so – buying them to support him. Because that’s what we should do when an author challenges the copyright fascists and their flawed logic.

Confession time: I do not like Stanley Kubrick

On By E. A. SolinasIn ruminations1 Comment

There are certain directors that you are pretty much required to like, professionally speaking. Steven Spielberg. Alfred Hitchcock. Martin Scorsese. Akira Kurosawa. Ingmar Bergman. Fritz Lang. And, of course, Stanley Kubrick.

I don’t like Stanley Kubrick.

Let me make it clear that I am not saying that his body of work is artistically deficient. Sure, 2001: A Space Odyssey moved slower than a stoned snail, and probably is best watched when you’re on psychedelics. But I fully acknowledge that it is a masterpiece of cinema that still holds up pretty well today (even though we’re almost two decades past 2001, and we still don’t have spaceships), it’s iconic, and the shot compositions are absolutely masterful.

Or take The Shining. Again, so iconic that they basically remade it for The Simpsons (one of my favorite episodes of all time) and just about any part of it is instantly recognizable, and an objectively great horror movie with beautiful cinematography, direction and atmosphere. I really don’t like the fact that there is a lot of subtle disrespect towards the original novel, but that’s not a judgement of the movie’s quality itself.

I have seen other Kubrick movies, by the way, such as Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, Eyes Wide Shut, A Clockwork Orange, and so on. These movies are also iconic (except Eyes Wide Shut, which has some flaws that others have expounded upon), each in their own way, and also objectively good (again, opinions divide upon Eyes Wide Shut).

So let it be known that I do not think that Stanley Kubrick was a bad director. Nor do I dislike him personally – I honestly don’t know much about his personal life.

But I don’t like his work.

It took me a long time to wrangle out why I feel the way I do, and I think it comes down to empathy with the characters. Kubrick’s characters always feel very cold to me – there’s no moment where my empathy snaps into place and I feel identification or strong core emotion from them. Even if I intellectually know that I should feel for a character, I just don’t. I feel like I’m watching extremely talented mannequins being moved around.

(Except maybe Shelley Duvall, who I understand was tortured by Kubrick during the making of The Shining… but that knowledge doesn’t exactly make for enjoyable viewing either)

Compare, for instance, to one of my favorite movies, Psycho. I personally feel a very strong connection to both of the sisters in the movie – for instance, Hitchcock conveys Marion Crane’s sadness, her desperation, her almost savage glee when she thinks of the rich man’s anger, her twitchy palpable fear when she believes the cop is following her, and her sad determination when she decides to give the money back. People just think of her iconic shower scene, but Marion Crane is a character that I think we can all identify with to some degree. Even if we wouldn’t actually choose to steal a giant heap of money, I think we all know we would be very tempted, and we would feel the same loathing towards a sexual-harassing rich jerk, and we would be afraid if we committed a crime that we were pretty clearly going to get caught for.

And I find that I feel that way about the majority of Hitchcock’s movies. I feel a warmth and a connection to the characters in The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rear Window, Rebecca, To Catch A Thief, Notorious, Frenzy, Spellbound, Strangers on a Train, both The Man Who Knew Too Much movies, Family Plot… hell, I felt more personally less cold towards the characters from Rope, and the main characters of that movie were literal murderers who strangled a man just to prove that they were superior humans.

Steven Spielberg is also a master of creating characters that you feel an immediate and strong connection to, even if they themselves are very different from you. Peter Jackson is also very good at this in his Tolkien movies, and so are many other well-known directors. They don’t always produce the same bond with the audience – a Quentin Tarantino character is going to connect with you in a very different way than a Spielberg character – but there is something almost palpable there to pull the viewer in and make them feel.

And with Kubrick… I don’t feel that. His movies are like mathematical equations to me – perfect in their correctness, but without a certain artistic soul. They feel cold. I watch them and I don’t feel empathetically connected to the characters, and thus I feel removed from the story.

And I’m not saying that you have to be super-invested in the characters and their inner lives to enjoy a film. I am capable of appreciating the mechanics of a book, movie or video game, and I can appreciate a character being presented this way or that way for artistic rather than emotional reasons. In fact, I wish the latter would happen more often, with characters developed in a way that makes them more interesting and compelling rather than just exploring the director’s personal issues.

But to me, watching a Kubrick movie is like trying to free-climb a tower made out of smooth, polished diamond. I am tackling an objectively lovely and masterful piece of work, but I am also slipping off the side and unable to get a grip on it.

To reiterate, I have no professional or personal hatred for Stanley Kubrick. I know the attitude of the current day is that if you dislike something, you are expressing hatred and obviously a terrible toxic person. This is idiotic. Watching Stanley Kubrick movies is simply not a pleasurable experience for me the way watching a Spielberg, Hitchcock or Kurosawa movie is.

And that’s okay.

It’s also okay if you enjoy Kubrick’s movies, if you feel deeply invested in what happens in them, and you feel fulfilled when the credits roll. I’m not saying that, because I dislike his work, that is the “correct” way to feel and that people who like his work are wrong to. That’s just the way that I feel, the way that I experience one artist’s work.

Review: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

Percy Jackson may have averted a war between the most powerful of the Olympian gods, saving the Western world in the process. But something more dangerous is on the horizon, something old and dark and terrible.

And that power starts pushing its way to Camp Half-Blood in the second book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Sea of Monsters. Author Rick Riordan’s writing style is still snarky and fast-paced, and it feels feels a little more polished than in The Lightning Thief – especially since he weaves together a good portion of The Odyssey into his own adventure, but with the modern twist he’s so talented at creating.

For several months, Percy has been attending a prep school, where his only friend is a large, strong but childlike homeless boy named Tyson. But after an attack by monsters, Percy and Tyson are forced to flee with Annabeth back to Camp Half-blood. They soon learn that Thalia’s magic tree has been poisoned, meaning that the barrier protecting the camp is slowly disintegrating. To make matters worse, Chiron has been replaced by Tantalus, who hates the kids and takes a particular dislike to Percy, and Tyson is revealed to be a young Cyclops and also Percy’s half-brother.

But then a dream from Grover tips Percy and Annabeth off to the one thing that can save the camp – the Golden Fleece. Unfortunately, Grover is currently located in the Sea of Monsters – the Bermuda Triangle – and is in danger of being molested by a Cyclops who wants to marry and/or eat him. Unfortunately, Tantalus sends the brutish Clarisse to retrieve the Fleece, and forbids any other campers from going on a quest to find it, on pain of being eaten by harpies.

Shocking spoiler alert: Percy, Annabeth and Tyson decide to go on a quest to save Grover from death (or worse). But they soon discover that satyr-eating Cyclopes aren’t the only threat that lurks in the Sea of Monsters – ancient horrors are lurking, waiting to consume (or transform) the young heroes. Worst of all, an old enemy is also lurking in the Sea – and he wants the Golden Fleece as well.

There’s a hefty chunk of The Odyssey in the DNA of The Sea of Monsters – we have a visit to Circe (whose magical routine has changed a little… but not much), Scylla and Charybdis, and a visit to a Cyclops. However, the core of the story is Riordan’s own, and he creates a lot of stuff for this story that is very much in his own style (such as a Confederate ironclad crewed by zombies), and which works pretty seamlessly with any Homeric homages.

Riordan’s writing is a little more polished in this book, integrating the weirdly mythological with the modern world a little more smoothly (the Gray Sisters and their taxi). And he knows his mythology, as evidenced by the inclusion of Tantalus and his seething hatred of all kids, who is mostly used as an obstacle… and a source of laughs, since his mere presence repels all food and drink.

He also builds up a real sense of darkness and impending disaster, starting with the truly nasty monsters that roam through the Bermuda Triangle area… and building up to to the return of a familiar character, who is planning to use the Fleece for extremely evil reasons. But don’t worry, there’s still a wild, lighthearted side to these monstrous encounters. Let’s just say that centaurs know how to party. And pirates need vitamins.

Riordan also introduces or expands a few characters in the cast beyond just Percy and Annabeth. The most significant addition is Tyson, a kind and gentle boy who is mocked and ostracized by most other kids, especially since he often seems like he has a mental disability. This also leads to some good development for Percy, who struggles with feelings of both love and shame for his awkward, monstrous, childlike sibling – something that many siblings of disabled children sometimes feel. Clarisse also receives some development, since we see her uncertainty and the reason she’s so gung-ho to always succeed.

Rick Riordan was pretty entertaining in The Lightning Thief, but he seems to have hit his stride in The Sea of Monsters. The characters are deeper, the fantastical exploits more intricate, and the threat of the Big Bad substantially more present. And the story ain’t over yet.

Review: Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants

On By E. A. SolinasIn reviewsLeave a comment

Batman fights a Godzilla-sized Killer Croc… in a giant Batman-themed mech suit.

If your head did not just explode from the sheer awesomeness of that idea, then I am sorry, my friend – there is just no help for you. Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, the third and final film in the Batman Unlimited series, proves that they saved the best for last. The script is tighter and cleverer than in the previous movies, and the action gets literally supersized in Pacific-Rim-style brawls.

After several months in exile in Antarctica, the Penguin (Dana Snyder) convinces his antisocial roommate Mr. Freeze (Oded Fehr) to return them to Gotham in over to take it over. Their plan: break into Arkham Asylum to free Bane (Carlos Alazraqui), Killer Croc (John DiMaggio), Clayface (Dave B. Mitchell) and Chemo, then combine the essences of three of them into a super-growth potion that will make Killer Croc and Chemo into kaiju-sized monsters. In case you’re wondering why they would want to do that, Killer Croc has somehow gained the ability to spew ice, which causes a small ice age to fall over Gotham.

Batman (Roger Craig Smith) immediately takes on these foes alongside his newest Robin Damien (Lucien Dodge), Nightwing (Will Friedle), Green Arrow (Chris Diamantopoulos) and the Flash (Charlie Schlatter). However, things quickly spiral out of control when Penguin betrays Freeze, and causes Clayface and Bane to also grow to gargantuan proportions. So there’s only one thing that the Caped Crusader can do: run back to Wayne Enterprises and get the building-sized, fully-functional battle mech suit that can punch out these giant monsters. Green Arrow has one too.

I may be slightly biased in the favor of Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, because I happen to think that Pacific Rim is a modern masterpiece. Mecha punching giant monsters makes me happy. What can I say? And there’s definitely a similar vibe to this film, with an emphasis on giant monstrous supervillains being repeatedly punched through buildings by Batman and Green Arrow’s giant mechanical fists. Also, toxic chemicals, snow and lava are spraying everywhere, so it’s not just punching.

It’s also probably the most complicated of the Batman Unlimited movies – in addition to the four kaiju-sized supervillains, there are also two main villains who are planning to betray each other. It’s abundantly clear that Freeze and Penguin aren’t going to be friendly for long, which further complicates a tale that already had plenty of stuff going on. There are some things that are a little zany (a penguin operating lab machinery), but they oddly seem to fit the over-the-top tone of the film.

The voice actors all do pretty good jobs, including Oded Fehr’s turn as the antisocial, perpetually-frustrated Mr. Freeze. The movie also works in a subplot for Damien, who is upset and feeling inadequate because he humiliated himself during a fight with the Joker. He doesn’t really resemble the arrogant brat from the comics… at all… but he is a fairly likable Robin.

And in addition, to the villains who actually do stuff in the movie, there are also some cameos by characters such as Cheetah, Mad Hatter, Hush, Two-Face, and most notably Troy Baker’s Joker, who is there just to be cranky because Penguin isn’t including him in the plan. Admittedly, it would be wonderful to see a kaiju-sized Joker rampaging through Gotham, but it never happens.

Also, there’s a henchpenguin named Buzz, who is hands-down the best character in the movie.

Batman Unlimited: Monsters vs. Mechs gives us exactly what the title suggests – if the thought of Batman piloting a Jaeger-style mech gives you a thrill, then this little animated movie might just be your speed. At the very least, it’s a fun way for the kids to spend an hour or so.

A problem with the Inheritance series

On By E. A. SolinasIn ruminations4 Comments

I’ve been thinking about Christopher Paolini and the Inheritance series lately, and about the large quantities of virtual ink spilled over the years because of it. The series has a lot of problems with it – the derivative world-building, the Gary Stu protagonist, the clumsy insertion of the author’s views about things like vegetarianism, the screwed-up morality, the wildly unrealistic depictions of battle, and so on and so forth.

But I think a lot of the problems stem from the one thing: the author was growing up as he wrote the series.

In case you are unaware of this series, Christopher Paolini was a teenager when he wrote the book Eragon. He was initially self-published, but was almost immediately picked up by Knopf and became a bestselling author. Now, I am not saying that a young person cannot be a good writer. It doesn’t happen very often, as I’ve seen firsthand, but it can happen.

The problem is that if you read the Inheritance series, it becomes obvious that certain parts of Paolini’s beliefs, thoughts and behavior were… not set in stone. As a child, you more or less align with what your parents think and believe. When you’re a teenager, and sometimes even when you’re a twentysomething, you are figuring out what you think, how you see the world, and what you believe is right. Sometimes it ultimately aligns with what your parents think, and sometimes it doesn’t. The point is, those decisions and how you work them out are a part of growing up.

Take religion. The second book, Eldest, is extremely anti-religion, depicting the atheist elves as rational, intelligent and superior in every way, and the religious dwarves as overemotional unintelligent inferiors. Sort of like how many a douchebag atheist likes to depict the world, rather than how it actually is.

And then, at the beginning of the third book… he also features a chapter devoted to cannibalistic religious rituals that honestly feel like anti-Catholic propaganda by someone who doesn’t actually know anything about the religion.

And then… later in the book… Eragon encounters a god. It doesn’t make much of an impression, oddly.

And then in the fourth book, he sort of goes, “I dunno, maybe there are gods, but I’m so awesome and have so much power that I don’t need gods for anything, and obviously they don’t care about anyone anyway.” Which is really a very stupid and illogical perspective, especially written by a mere weak fleshy meatbag like the rest of us, but it demonstrates an evolution of thought over the course of the entire series and the better part of a decade. The perspective, which at least admits the possibility of gods, here is not the same as it was in Eldest. And while this conversation shows no deep or consistent theological musings, he still demonstrates more thought than he showed in Eldest, where the depth of his theological examinations was “LOL religious people suk and atheists are awesome.” At least he was answering points that actually sounded real, and didn’t do it in a condemnatory or bigoted manner.

Here’s another: vegetarianism. We return to Eldest once again, in which Eragon becomes a vegetarian when spending time with the Mary Sue elves. Because they’re elves, and everything they do, think and believe is absolutely perfect, and so on and so forth. This is depicted as the only moral way to live, and that animals should not suffer for human (or elf) consumption (despite Arya wearing leather clothes. Oops). I’m not going to get into a debate about the morality of eating animals, I’m just saying that this is what he presents as the unwavering moral thing to do.

And then… in Inheritance, Eragon starts being tempted by meat, and eventually he decides hey, if he’s offered meat socially, he’ll have a little, and that moderation is an acceptable way to live. After that, he starts eating meat again.

Again, it shows a change in perspective over several years, and it demonstrates that Paolini’s perspective wasn’t a particularly solid one. I’m not saying people older than their teens and early twenties can’t change their opinions or perspectives – far from it. I am saying that the time when Paolini wrote these books was a period when a person is still figuring themselves and their perspectives out.

And there are other things in the series that would point to the naiveté of youth and a lack of personal experience. For instance, the condemnation of the king levying taxes in the first book. Not excessive taxes, like in the Robin Hood folklore – just the fact that taxes exist at all. It’s very much a child’s understanding of how the world works, and it doesn’t do the book any favors to include such a childish perspective.

Simply put, Paolini was growing up and figuring himself out as he wrote these books. He would have been better served by waiting a decade before publishing anything.

For a comparison, let’s take George Lucas. When Lucas made the original Star Wars, he was considered a young bright star on the rise. But he was in his early thirties by then. He was a man. He had grown up completely. Hence why there isn’t a massive shift in perspectives over the course of the original trilogy. There are changes, such as the identity of Luke’s father, but those are more due to Lucas changing the story as he wrote it, rather than some kind of shift in the way he saw the world.

Anyway, since he has hopefully settled down in his opinions and viewpoints, I am going to give adult Paolini a chance to impress me with his new science fiction novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. As long as there are no screeds against meat or religion, anyway.