Author: TheDanielWhoWrites

Wish (2023)

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November 18, 2023 (Advanced Screening) –

This was a delightful movie. It certainly was a fine way for Disney to celebrate its 100th Anniversary. There were a few obvious references to the past both in the art style, the character designs, and other little things, and I enjoyed that.

The story was based on the wishing star idea. And I would assume also the song used in Pinocchio, When you wish upon a star. From the trailer you can pretty much get the story. I liked the characters, if this had been a longer movie with a bit more depth, I would have had more character development for the side characters. But I had fun with this.

The music was lovely, the main song is the star (no pun intended, but appreciated, haha) of the songs that were in the movie. It’s certainly heard the most. Some of the other songs were a bit on the nose, but they were enjoyable. There was one more but I’ll get to that later.

I loved the animation combination. Seeing the classic Disney watercolor style and the CG together worked well for me. I know some aren’t a fan of when art styles are so different from one another in one feature, but I liked how they looked and worked off of each other.

It was a movie about hope and believing on oneself. I certainly would suggest it as a quick 90 minute burst of Disney appreciation.

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Mid-Credit Scene: No, but the throughout the entire credits, there are golden line drawings of many Disney animated movies from the past century. It was a joy to see the characters that I’ve grown up with just saying hello for a moment.

End-Credit Scene: Yes. There is a short scene at the end that gives a wink to the song that inspired all this. And it is quite a lovely rendition. They it all ends with the full Disney 100 logo that it usually at the beginning. It was a wonderful way to end the movie.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

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November 16, 2023

Well, that was certainly a ride! I forgot how long the movie was and half way through I was like oh there’s still half a movie left! And I was happy about it.

The acting was, of course, fantastic. Everyone played their roles brilliantly. I felt every moment of emotion.

The story was well planned out I thought, though as it’s coming from a novel like it’s predecessor, that makes sense. The first act is as expected, the second was intriguing, the third made sense.

The music was a very important part of this and it was all amazing. I loved it all throughout the movie. The reprisal was nice too, I do enjoy that song.

There were a couple twists and turns, though I expected more. And I thought THE turn would happen sooner, but that’s fine. I certainly would enjoy seeing more of this story.

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Mid-Credit Scene: Nope. Though there is a sound bite at the end of the movie before the credits that was a nice call-back.

End-Credit Scene: Nope

November 8, 2023

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Always down for a What If? issue. Even though I am horrifically behind on High Republic everything, I love that we’re getting these titles returning for each of the era’s of the High Republic. I am excited for Apocalypse’s return. The Gang War event has started, though I think I will wait for the collected edition for this event. I will still get the issues of titles that I already get that are part of this event, but I won’t read the tie-ins till it’s all done. A new arc in Batman started I guess. I am so curious about what’s going on in Shazam, I can’t wait to get here. But it’s basically the same with all the DC titles.

Posters this week!

And two more new movie reactions next week!

Artgerm doing what he does best. And Stefano Caselli did a fantastic job drawing this Apocalypse cover and Jesus Aburtov colored it brilliantly.

Of course Nakayama made this wonderful cover. And then Otto Schmidt did this gorgeous cover.

Here are the posters that came this week. Two will be gifts and I’ll keep the Gang War one.

November 1, 2023

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Yup. Same.

This week was so light! Mainly because it’s a 5-Wednesday month. But still, it was nice. That’s also why I could get all those DWM issues and the total was still lower than I expected.

I am always excited when we get anything involving Jeff, the Landshark. I still am not even near this Venom issue, haha, well, any of these, but yeah. I am very excited to get to Spider-Boy’s title. Since I’m so behind, I’ve been avoiding anything in current comics as much as possible, so I don’t know anything about him beyond what I know from a few issues back. Yelena getting a new run is always great. The Ultimate Universe returning is cool, I would have been fine with it staying gone beyond the few characters from there we’ve see since it’s destruction, but eh, it’s comics. The Gotham War end with this issue. Supergirl got a special, the Aquaman sequel got a special tie-in issue, and The Return of Superman celebrated it’s 30th Anniversary with a special. And of course another issue of SWI.

The next Ross cover for Stephen.

These aren’t related other than the obvious theme. I want to get to this Natasha arc!! And there’s another JTC negative space variant.

The next Andolfo and Danino covers! Love them both!

Jen Bartel continuing to be amazing.

This special had a variant like this for each of the characters that rose up to replace Superman after Doomsday killed him and of course I chose Conner since his was my (tied for) first comic.

November 2023 Late Issues

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Many DWM issues since I needed to get them out of the box and this month is relatively light. And I couldn’t remember if I had a facsimile issue of that Batman issue, so I got it. The two bagged issues each came with a double sided poster portraying promo posters for important serials for each Doctor. Those are below.

This is just a special comic issue for the Doom’s Day event in the DW comics and Big Finish.

The Marvels (2023)

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November 9, 2023 – Well. That was a fantastic ride!

As anyone who actually reads my blog or knows me could guess, Kamala Khan is my favorite marvel character. And thus, I had lofty expectations for this. Though, I also knew that I would enjoy this movie regardless of any negatives. for an hour forty-five minute long movie, it went by surprisingly slowly. I was worried that it would go by too fast.

I loved seeing Carol and Monica and Kamala interact. I liked that their stories from each of their previous appearances coalesced into this narrative. For me, it felt like it worked. I know that some may see that as forced, but I think each story naturally flowed. Though I would have liked to have had some special focusing on Monica set after she got her powers and before this to get more from her character development. But I knew enough that it worked.

Seeing what Carol has been up to was nice, and getting some loose threads tied up from why she had a been back to earth till before Infinity War was good. We learn a bit more about her adventures, though I would have liked more, either from her talking about things, or some montage. But I assume we’ll get more from her as time goes on.

Iman again did a wonderful job as Kamala. I loved every moment of her being on-screen. Her energy is just so perfect. Her emotions are well-portrayed. I can’t wait to see more from her in the future. Seeing her on the big screen was just the best feeling. Even from when we were told we’d be getting Kamala in the MCU, and knowing she’d be in the movies eventually, it was just an utter joy to see her up there.

This movie did have a lot to do, I admit that. I mean this movie had to act as a continuation of one movie and 2.5 shows. I do think there was a bit of a disconnect between Secret Invasion and this, but like with the Marvel Television produced shows of old and the Marvel Studios movies, production for shows and movies are just so differently timed that I assume they didn’t have much communication between the two. I didn’t mind it much, but it did feel weird that there was really no referring to that.

The plot was pretty straightforward, there’s a problem and the three of them are thrown together and they solve it together. but there were some narratives that were threaded through that that I had been wondering about, so it was good that we had some stories finally being told.

The action was great. Watching it in IMAX 3D was fun. I’m glad I chose that for the first viewing. I’m typing this while waiting for my next showing to start in normal IMAX. The power switching was a fun function for them to learn do deal with as seen in the trailers.

The emotions for the characters when things got tense were well-portrayed. I felt the joy, sorrow, awkwardness etc. I think all the actors did amazing jobs in this movie. I still wish there was more time for character development.

I am so happy that this movie exists, I can’t wait for everything to come with all these characters.

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The end of the movie: The final scene of the movie really was like a mid-credit scene, and I’m very happy about that and how they did it.

Mid-credit Scene: Yes. Very much yes. A previous of things to come indeed. Unfortunately, I was a bit spoiled from seeing a rumor online about one aspect of this, but I was still very happy.

End-Credit Scene: Not really, but there is an end-credit sound. So, no need to stay throughout the credits if you don’t want to.

October 25, 2023

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Another week with SO MANY ISSUES. I wasn’t sure if I could fit them all on the bed! The light didn’t even reach the top that well, though it was darker outside when I took these unfortunately.

I enjoyed what I’ve read of this Green Arrow run, so I am excited to get to this issue. The cover of this Flash issue is certainly a hook for me. This is the last Tales of the Titans issue. Oh, I forgot that Alan Scott’s issue 1 was this week, I said that Jay Garrick’s issue 1 was the last of the issue one’s for these Gold Age titles, nope. Amazons Attack seems interesting. I like that we got a Hallow’s Eve special. And there just seems to still be much chaos for the mutants in all their titles. Captain Marvel started a new run, I’m excited for it, and I love the new costume. And this is the penultimate issue for this run (microseries) of Ms. Marvel, which I of course wish were a longer series. I don’t like these short runs for characters that have been happening. I like a decently long lasting run that has been planned out, especially when it involves my favorite character, though maybe there will be a new one after The Marvels debuts in two weeks.

I really like this Negaduck cover. One can see why. This Wonder Woman cover is just wonderful, the reflection on the gauntlets are gorgeous. I can’t remember if this Maul cover was going to be a gift or for myself, haha. I had to get this Chopper variant, he’s utter chaos, and I love him. This Werneck cover is lovely, the colors are beautiful. The next Nakayama cover for Gargoyles is of course great. Jenny Frison just continues to make brilliant covers. And Nakayama gave us a wraparound cover which I love.

I mean look at that! Such fun. Also, Thor would be the winner. Haha.

Woot for legacy covers! I just love them. And hey, they’re both green!

Barendsssss! Yeah, I’ll have to stop getting them all, haha. But these are just so good. Also, the Flash and Marvel Zombies covers look very similar funnily enough, large grey characters and a red (or red looking) hero.

I probably will get these foil covers slabbed since they’re just so nice.

Two more Romita duo covers. These, I certainly will get slabbed, I would hope to get JR Jr. to sign these, but most likely they’ll just be raw.

Hey look, two more joyful Leirix covers!

Love these so much! I’m happy that Jen Bartel got to design Carol’s new costume. And here’s another wonderful negative space cover. And that last one is another windowshades cover! I almost missed it since it doesn’t look like the others.

I mean. LOOK.

Love these so much! The homages are wonderful and that Momoko cover is such fun!

Okay. I mean. JUST LOOK. Christian Ward does such dynamic art. This Mr. Bones cover is just so simple and brilliant. The static of him and the dynamic movement of the smoke are perfect. Slabbing that indeed. And I didn’t think I had anything from this artist, but I certainly do, Carla Cohen does AMAZING work. This depiction of Kara is utterly perfect. I would love to meet her and get it signed one day. Just amazing (Yes, it’s worth two amazing’s).

October 18, 2023

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Yup, you guessed it, still behind.

I’m intrigued by the current story in Scarlet Witch. We got another Halloween themed special from Marvel with another Crypt of Shadows one-shot. She-Hulk got a new run. I think this Catwoman issue is the final issue for the Gotham War event. This is Superman’s 850th issue, I actually forgot that, I may have to get another copy. I’m wondering how Swamp Thing and City Boy are going to interact. And I think this is the last Golden Age issue 1 we have with Jay Garrick. I think more than half of this pile were variants. I may need to watch out for that, haha.

Again, these Barends covers for this Ghost Rider run are just so good. And here’s the next New Champions variant. I really like the colors and contrast of both riders.

I just really like the cover for that Avengers Inc. The Hulk cover is just another fun out of the frame design. This CotV A cover is here just because it has Bishop and Cable on the cover. They were my favorite characters from the 90’s animated series.

So many fantastic covers for this new run!

I love that Jen Bartel is continuing to be the artist for the main covers, and I like that they are in a different format than the previous covers, though I would have bee happy if she continued with that design format. I almost missed that that next variant was an Andolfo cover, it’s just a fun cover. I think I have other covers by Rian Gonzales, so this hooked me. And of course another Leirix cover. There are 4 Leirix covers in these piles!

I love this Sirens’ cover, I wish it were a foil variant though! Another Andolfo cover for Gargoyles. And a Rahzzah cover!

It was a double Nakayama week with these two.

So many covers from artists I love. This was a pricey trip to the comic book store for me, haha. Taurin doing a great job with Cyborg. In-Hyuk Lee continuing with these City Boy covers. There’s the second Leirix cover with Hawkgirl. Look at that amazing JL vs Godzilla vs Kong cover by Mattina. Look at it. There were two amazing gatefold covers that were late for this issue, I can’t wait to get them! And of course there’s another legacy themed cover for Nightwing.

These were both variants I got just for the covers as I don’t subscribe to this title.

Of course another Barends cover. And I love when we get these type of foil emblem covers!

Speaking of foil, here’s the last foil cover of these Golden Age covers.

October 11, 2023

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Even though I’m SO behind, it would be my luck that by the time I get to this pile, I won’t have Spider-Man India 4. We’ll see! ASM looks intriguing. Guardians also seems chaotic. This is the venom issue where Natasha gets a particular suit. I always love seeing Capt and Wolverine together. X-Men Red seems ominous. Captain Marvel gets a miniseries, which I don’t know when it takes place but eh. Superior Spider-Man is back! I’m excited for the Image and IDW issues of this week. And of course, the DC issues are going places. Oh and here is the first issue of the Batman: City of Madness Black Label miniseries.

I got this A Haunted Girl issue for the variant cover, but I also read it and I was hooked, so I’ll be getting the volume when it comes out next year. I really liked this Superman Lost cover. It’s just a nice duality.

These are the New Champions covers I liked. The Rian cover just for the colors and highlights. and the Betsy Cola cover for Magneto is just a great color scheme.

There were so many variants for this issue. Most of them are exclusives or incentives. I have some of them coming at some point after NYCC this weekend.

I love these variants! The Monica Rambeau cover is a legacy cover. And the other one is of course one based on The Marvels which I’m very excited for next month.

Here’s the next foil cover of the golden age issue one’s.