Author: TheDanielWhoWrites

Avatar (2): The Way of Water (2022)

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Movie Reactions/ReviewsLeave a comment

December 16, 2022

So, I went with a friend to the Air & Space Museum in Chantilly Virginia. I hadn’t been there in over a decade, and I’d never seen a movie there. It was an interesting experience as my friend will attest, haha. There were some technical difficulties that were eventually fixed. And we watched the first little chunk of it not in 3D because of that. But it was great the rest of the time. though our seats were, uh, a smidge close to the rather massive screen, so, there’s that. But even so, it was still enjoyable. But I certainly want to see it again with a proper view.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since the first Avatar movie. This was the second of 5 parts. If this does well, James Cameron will go through with the other movies. I, for one, hope that they get made because I missed Pandora and the Na’vi culture.

It starts with a little catch up of what’s happened since the last movie and then dives (pun not intended but welcomed) straight into things. It is a 3 hour movie, but honestly it didn’t feel like it. Even with the couple interruptions. Perhaps since it’s been so long since we’ve been in this world that I just enjoyed sitting in it all. But also I think the story was well-paced. Maybe a couple droplets of slow scenes, but the beauty of the visuals really made me not care about the length of the movie.

There are a few plots to follow and I enjoyed them all. I felt for the characters and the situations they were put through, both good and bad. The kids pull on the heart-strings, as do the animals.

The acting was, of course, fantastic. It was nice to see most of the cast return, you know, other than the various deaths in the first movie. But everyone just slipped back into their roles. I do regret not rewatching the first one again before watching this but I just forgot to.

And of course, the visuals. The 3D aspect certainly enhanced the viewing. They already looked amazing, but man, I had forgotten how great 3D can be when done in a movie that warrants it. I would definitely suggest seeing it in 3D. The colors and VFX just pop and look so real. The creature designs for this movie were brilliant as before. So many animals I would love to interact with. And since this movie was water-based, there were just so very many animals to see and with the visuals of underwater views, it just all flowed into one another to make visual glory.

The main plot was a bit straightforward, but every moment of it was deserved I think. I loved meeting the new characters and the adventures that were had. This movie could certainly be watched on its own and stand alone nicely. But, since it is just part of a larger story, there are threads that will be explored in the next movies. And I am certainly hoping to be able to see what comes of them.

There are some times during this all where you just get caught up in everything going on and you can’t help but feel for characters and there were a couple moments where I teared up. The scenes were brilliantly acted.

I really enjoyed this movie, and I really hope that it’ll do well enough that the other sequels will be made. Though I suppose Avatar 3 was filmed at the same time as this one (in 2017) so it’s probably almost done. And apparently a lot of Avatar 4 has been filmed already. So, we’ll see.

Mid-credit scenes: No

End-credit scenes: No

But, the way it ends, you will want the next movie asap.

December 7, 2022

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Comic Collection PhotosLeave a comment

Monkey Prince sure is getting around. A new arc starts in Poison Ivy. The next one-shot of Dark Crisis is here. The next issue for Quick Stops dropped. MTG’s next issue arrived. So excited for GARGOYLES!!! This is the last issue of Damage Control. I do wonder if the Punisher and Daredevil comic will crossover because it seems like they are essentially doing that in the Daredevil issues but not the Punisher issues. This is also the last issue of The Variants. I think this arc of Captain Marvel is ending with this issue. I’m very excited about X-Men Red’s story currently. And I know that the Immortal X-Men story will be leading to Sinister’s plans crashing into his own event next month. Steve has to deal with Bucky’s choice. This Thanos story is exciting because I didn’t know it would be a two-title crossover with the Thor comics, but it says at the end that this story will continue in the next Thor issue. We’ve been waiting on this plot-line for a while now. Here is Moon Girl’s next run starting. And also Miles’ next run. Hidden Empire is continuing, although, I’m still unsure about if the reading order includes the other Star Wars titles or just the HE title, so I’m delaying my reading of this event till I’ve caught up on a couple volumes of the other titles I generally get as tpb’s. The next issues of the End of the Spider-verse, the Secret Invasion miniseries event and the Avengers Assemble event all dropped. And the Dark Web event has started.

Covers to follow.

The A cover of this issue had so many characters I love on it that I had to get another copy of it. Plus the colors look great. And of course I had to get this variant with all those huge villains on the right.

Both top and bottom halves of this cover are great. Now, I may be totally wrong in this, but starting here, most of the issues of this event have that web background. I know that they don’t all connect since all 3 issues of each little limited series sized title has the same web background. But, I’m unsure if the backgrounds connect into 3 webs of characters. I’ve ordered two of each for almost this whole event, so, we’ll see? Hopefully I’m correct!

For the Avengers Assemble event they have connecting covers based in a particular decade. It does confuse me because the Avengers Assemble issue 1 itself didn’t have a connecting variant but this Avengers issue (which is issue 2 of the event) does start out with a connecting cover. I guess I’ll have to wait until next time to see if that connecting cover connects to this one. It’s just a weird choice to have every other issue in this event connect but not the first.

Miles having a connecting cover set for his new run is cool. Though I do feel like I should stop connecting Spider-verse themed cover sets after this since I feel like there are new ones very frequently. But we’ll see!

Two obviously gorgeous Peach Momoko covers.

And here are these two MAGNIFICENT David Nakayama covers. Ivy and Spawn (It’s Spawn’s 30th anniversary this year so almost every major publisher’s comics have been having Spawn on some of their comic’s variants over the past few months) look great here. And when David posted the art for Gargoyles and the upcoming Darkwing Duck comics, and that he was the main cover artist, I was blown away! I mean look at this!! Also, I did try to get some more variants for this issue because so many of them were amazing, but of course, most were exclusives.

I mean, LOOK AT THAT!!!

November 30, 2022

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Comic Collection PhotosLeave a comment

Posting this late and haven’t started on reading this pile yet. I will today.

I’m very excited for Nahiri’s comic! I know a bit about her history and her relation to Sorin and Ugin. I had forgotten that Dark Horse was taking over The High Republic Adventures title, so when I saw the comic pop up when I set my list to include Dark Horse comics for a different comic I was getting, I was like oh yeah! Vader will meet the Techno Union leader again. Interested in seeing what happens with Clea and Stephen. This Planet Hulk stand-alone story is intriguing being set 1000 years in the future. Finally the Avengers Assemble event is beginning! We got Wildstorm’s 30th Anniversary special. And of course the next DC Holiday issue. And then there are the annuals for Detective Comics, Batgirls, Nightwing. Nubia got a special for the anniversary of her creation. Blue Beetle has a miniseries.Coming from that one-shot a couple weeks ago we have the JSA getting a new run. And of course, the return of Kal-El special! Though its very poorly timed since the end of this special leads into JL 75 from a few months ago, DC either timed out the Dark Crisis too early or these other titles that happened before JL 75 had delays.

Covers to follow.

I totally forgot that this was a wraparound cover, so I have another added to my list. I would like this as a poster too.

This month has Marvel doing a bunch of homage covers to classic covers. This is based on Avengers #4 from the 1963 run (I think. if not someone let me know which cover it’s based on!).

Another David Nakayama cover, love that yellow theme.

I just loved this the moment I saw it. The colors and shapes are all fantastic!

This is the A cover for Vader 29 by Razzah. I was very happy to see this artist become the A cover artist for a bit since I really like their covers and a lot of the time they are tough to get. The other cover is of course, the last of the Revelations themed covers by Taurin Clarke. This means that I should have a complete set post for those covers after the post for this past week.

Completed Variant Sets 2 – December 1, 2022

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Comic Collection Photos, Photos of Comic Variant SetsLeave a comment

Just one set for this post. Been waiting for this set to be complete for a while. Yes the covers don’t exactly line up, I don’t really understand how printing messes that up with it was all created from one image by one artist, but eh, you get the gist. This is a Jim Lee styled design by Dan Mora for the DCeased: War of the Undead Gods arc of the DCeased series. It’s paying homage to Chris Claremont’s X-Men #1 from October 1, 1991. Specifically, Jim Lee’s variant cover E, the triple gatefold cover showing the full art.

I did buy a copy of it a few years ago, though I can’t find the photo now, if I do find it or if I take a new one of that comic unfolded, I’ll upload it here.

November 23, 2022

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Comic Collection PhotosLeave a comment

First off, this day was Doctor Who’s 59th Anniversary. So, Happy 59th to any Whovians!

More X-titles to read. Matt and Electra are getting read for war. I’m very excited for Defenders (of course). Yoda has his first title! This is the last ASM issue before Dark Web starts (And there’s still no word on which even comes first chronologically, Dark Web of End of the Spider-Verse). I think this is the last Avengers Forever issue before the Avengers Assemble event starts. Star Wars has a big issue covering all the titles (of this time period). This should be before the Hidden Empire issue from last week, so I may just swap my reading order when I get to them. It’s unclear. The next issue of Hitomi. Punchline’s next issue. Tim Drake has an impostor problem. The next Dark Crisis one-shot came. The penultimate issue of Young Justice Targets was this week. and the next issue in the Kal-El Returns event dropped.

Covers and variants to follow.

The next post I make should be of the next cover set.

There was an issue from 2020 that had this same design. I enjoyed it back then, so I thought I’d get another copy of this one now. Though I don’t think I got another issue of that one from 2020, so, I’ll have to order one online. It’s just a great use of the cover space.

Another fun Momoko variant.

Oh hey, it’s another cover with Rose on it.

This is a great cover by Jenny Frison.

I don’t know why I love this character design so much, but I try to get variants with her on them.

These are the last 90’s themed DC variants. I think the Robin one is my favorite, though I LOVE that they added in the Paul Dini Harley design in the corner box.

November 16, 2022

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Comic Collection PhotosLeave a comment

Before I start this pile I will finally be able to catch up on all the X-titles I’ve had on pause. This is the penultimate issue of this Shang-Chi miniseries (before the next one starts in January. I’m still confused as to why they keep doing this instead of just having one Shang-Chi title that is ongoing.). Thunderbolts is busy. The Wakanda run is intriguing. I guess there’s a Murderworld miniseries happening, I thought this was a one-shot (I mean it is, but the miniseries is a few one-shots). Blade got a one-shot around that Vampire arc that got started in Avengers and things were left unfinished I suppose. The next issues of Peach Momoko’s Demon Wars dropped. I’m really enjoying She-Hulk’s story and mystery. Here’s Gold Goblin! Iron Man has a new run starting off with the legacy issue #650! Bucky has a one-shot special that takes place during the current Capt arc. The Hidden Empire event in the Star Wars comics has begun. Q’ira is making her big moves. This Black Adam maxiseries is enjoyable. I like getting to know the characters. Punchline dips into Catwoman’s comic. Nightwing is creeping to its 100th issue! We’re halfway through the DCeased title. We got the next issue of the Harley Animated tie-in series. And finally, two Dark Crisis tie-in’s that end and lead into the next one-shot of the event.

Covers to follow.

I’m excited for this connecting cover set! I feel like it will look amazing put together.

Love this old photograph styled design.

Another fun Nightwing cover! The next one isn’t really the same theme, but it’s right before 100, so I thought it would just make sense to included it next month.

And here it is!! The last Jim Lee homage cover for DCeased. I will make a complete set post for these after these two posts.

Ah, I didn’t notice this image wasn’t exactly in focus, eh, that’s ok. This is an homage to the final issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the issue 12 cover.

This is an Artgerm variant that I really liked a lot.

These are the variants for the Demon Wars issue. Momoko’s variant is striking with the spider facing the reader. The Dragotta variant uses the shadows, leaves and branches very well. And i always enjoy Gurihiru variants. They’re quite fun and whimsical.

Of course, the next Bartel cover. I can’t wait to see these all together!

Dang, this one is slightly unfocused too. This is what i get when I decide to not use the light. But yeah, this is another Dauterman cover with multiple versions of a character throughout their existence.

These are the next two Revelations variant covers. Another set I can’t wait to see together!

Here are the next 90’s themed DC variants! I think my favorite is the Catwoman one.

November 2022 Late Issues 2

On By TheDanielWhoWritesIn Comic Collection PhotosLeave a comment

This Special Edition of DWM was an unexpected issue. I have always wondered what DW figures there were that I hadn’t seen before. I assume there will be other issues of this that catch up to present-ish day. This guide goes from the beginning to when the time of the TV movie. The Deadpool 1 issue and the Star Wars 29 issue are variants that were a week or so late. The Deadpool is by David Nakayama as Wade making his own Hellfire Gala cover like Nakayama’s other variants. And the Star Wars one is the Revelations variant that is in s movie poster style. There are four other variants to come. This Black Panther Unconquered issue is a one-shot.