DC This Week Round-Up – Fusion and Fan-Mail
Justice League: The Atom Project #6 cover, via DC Comics.
Ray: Tying in with the events of 'We Are Yesterday', the finish to this sci-fi adventure delivers some great action. Captain Atom has been captured by Inferno – but there's a stowaway on board in the form of Ryan Choi, who has infiltrated the enemy base to try to free his subject/friend. As Ray Palmer and Mr. Terrific plan how to infiltrate, Ryan and Nathaniel Adam come up with an unconventional plan to get past the control collar and take the fight back to the villain. Overall, this series was a pretty intriguing look at what having cosmic-level powers suddenly does to a person's mind, and while I'm not sure what the plans are for Captain Atom are after this, it does feel like this series has a lot more compassion for him than most do. There's very little trace of the militaristic asshole we usually see when he's in the lead in a role. Intriguing series that did some fun things with the science side of the DCU. Teen Titans Go! #4 cover, via DC Comics. Teen Titans Go! #4 – Sholly Fisch, Writer; Agnes Garbowska, Artist; Sylvana Brys, Colorist Ray – 8/10
Ray: Sholly Fisch is back on writing duty this month, and that means this issue should be even wackier than the average. After a fight with Blackfire ends prematurely, the Titans decide to answer some fan mail. The only problem is, the letters are all addressed to the Justice League instead. And after getting bored with that, they find a box containing a surprise gift and open it. It's Amazo, the killer robot who adapts all the powers of the Justice League to attack them. He gets the Titan powers instead – and while he proves to be a formidable foe, he soon gets bored with fighting and becomes more interested in dancing, pizza parties, and bad jokes – just like a Titan. There are constant shifts in tone and story this issue, almost frantically so, which makes it feel very much like a cartoon in comic form. It's a fun issue, although as always, the Titans' humor is very much an acquired taste.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
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Montreal Gazette
a day ago
- Montreal Gazette
Brownstein: Montreal producer takes deep dive in documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster
By The documentary begins intriguingly enough: 'Where do you want to go in the ocean? What is the most known site in the ocean? It's clearly the Titanic.' The speaker is well-heeled, maverick American inventor Stockton Rush, whose mission it was to take paying passengers 3,800 metres into the Atlantic Ocean in his mini-sub to scope the ruins of the Titanic luxury liner that sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after striking an iceberg 600 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 passengers died in that disaster. Five died, including Rush, when his submersible the Titan imploded on its way down to the Titanic wreck on June 18, 2023. The documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster takes a deep and disturbing plunge into the apparent arrogance of Titan mastermind Rush, the co-founder and CEO of the OceanGate undersea exploration company. The doc, co-produced by Montreal GalaFilm boss Arnie Gelbart and directed and co-scripted by acclaimed British director Pamela Gordon, begins streaming Friday on CBC Gem. It will also be broadcast on CBC Television June 20. The production team has done a thorough job in bringing this tragedy into fuller focus, aided and abetted by insightful interviews, rare footage of the Titan's final voyage and other failed dives plus access to the U.S. Coast Guard's investigation. Experts interviewed had misgivings about the Titan's structure, particularly its carbon-fibre hull, even if Rush had pulled off some dives prior to its final descent. There were other ominous warning signs, like seeping water damage and cracking engine sounds. Mutters one skeptic: 'Everyone stepping on board the Titan was risking their life.' The feeling was that Rush was 'hell-bent' on taking the Titan to dangerous new lows under the ocean, someone seeking to 'democratize deep-sea exploration.' Rush was an engineer who initially dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But when it became apparent he was never going to make it to 'Jupiter or Mars,' he turned his sights in the opposite direction. He concluded that would require a 'special sub.' Rush had the money, vision and drive to do so. He was a patrician whose roots went way back, with two of his ancestors having signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence. History, as is often the case, repeats itself here. How's this for cruel irony? Rush's wife's great-great-grandparents, owners of the fabled Macy's department-store chain, perished on the Titanic. They were rumoured to have been the richest passengers aboard. Christine Dawood is understandably livid. Among the five who died aboard the imploded Titan were her billionaire British-Pakistani husband, Shahzada, 48, and son Suleman, 19. She blames 'ego and arrogance' for their deaths. Gelbart has long been consumed by the Titanic and Titan. He brings to the documentary a wealth of factoids about both as well as Rush's participation. 'Rush had done some 88 dives prior to his last, but not all successful ones,' Gelbart says in a phone interview. 'It went down successfully only six times.' Gelbart had been involved since 2017 when Rush had come up with a working model of the Titan, which he had initially tested in the Bahamas. Then ensued a lot of correspondence with Rush, who was to move to his company's home in Everett, Wash. before heading to his last base in St. John's. 'He was looking for publicity, and I first wanted to make an Imax film, The Return to Titanic. What he was building for us was a remote camera that would go inside the hold of the Titanic, full of cars and furniture and other stuff that no one had seen since 1912.' Gelbart's project was initially to be a four-part series, retelling the Titanic story but using Rush's submersible to examine what was left of it, including its interior. 'We were looking for a Hollywood celebrity for the project,' Gelbart says. 'I would have liked to go down there myself, but because it was something like $250,000 a seat, it was not feasible. Instead, we included that price in our budget for a celebrity, someone to tell the Titanic story by being next to it.' Amid all the experimenting, failed testing and rebuilding of the original Titan, Gelbart stayed in touch with Rush. 'He was a great salesman and really believed in the Titan. As an engineer, he could talk the talk. We trusted him. We didn't think he was creating something that was fatally flawed. He explained the technology, but what do I know about carbon fibre? 'He moved his operation to St. John's for a number of reasons, one of which was so he wouldn't need to certify it in Canada. But on the downside was the weather there. And with water freezing, then thawing on the Titan lining outside, this could have created damage. In the final report of the U.S. Coast Guard, we heard this could have been one of the mitigating factors in the disaster.' That official report has yet to be released. Why? 'When (U.S. president Donald) Trump took over this year, he fired the head of the U.S. Coast Guard. So they're not allowed to release it until they get a new head.' Gelbart was shocked like most everyone else upon learning of the implosion. 'But 24 hours later, we had the commission from the BBC, Discovery U.S.A. and the CBC to make this documentary. It was such a whirlwind turnaround for a story that much of the world had been watching and waiting for news about what happened to the Titan and its occupants, until the fate was learned.' Gelbart's GalaFilm has more than 120 film and TV credits and has won dozens of awards, including multiple Gémeaux/Geminis and one Prime Time Emmy Award for the Cirque du Soleil series Fire Within. 'But this was the first time in my life I was involved with anything as well-known as this one.'
Geek Dad
3 days ago
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Green Lantern #3: Hunger in the Dark
Absolute Green Lantern #3 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: Al Ewing has turned Green Lantern into a full-fledged horror story, and like every horror story, it has some classic inspirations. Fans of Stephen King will obviously see the influence from Under the Dome here, as the mysterious alien judge Alan Scott has created a green energy field over part of the city – trapping Jo Mullein, Hal Jordan, John Stewart – and John's friend Todd Rice, who enters the story this issue. While the story jumps back and forth in time, we see more this issue of the earlier segment, as the crew tries to figure out the strange new world they find themselves trapped in. It's John who takes the lead here, with his strategic mind discovering that the field reacts a certain way to metal – or anything it perceives as metal – and starts trying to break it down. But this attracts Abin Sur's attention, and the inscrutable alien proceeds to cast his judgement over John. Lockdown. Via DC Comics. We know from the earlier issues that the power will wind up vested with two of these characters – Jo with the Green Lantern ring, and Hal with the Black Hand. What we didn't know until now is that those powers are diametrically opposed, with the Black Hand trying to consume the green automatically – and anyone it's attached to. This is the first take on Green Lantern that portrays these powers not as superpowers, but as something terrifying and bizarre, that would be beyond the average person's ability to comprehend. Al Ewing has worked a lot with cosmic powers before, and his books are often deeply haunting, but part of the credit here goes to the great Jahnoy Lindsay. Their art is deeply unsettling in places, creating a sense of just how powerful these elements are. This is the most mysterious of the Absolute line so far, and it has me incredibly intrigued by what comes next. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
3 days ago
- Geek Dad
Review – Secret Six #4: Cats and Shots
Secret Six #4 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: So far, most of Secret Six has been dedicated to the story of the trio of young heroes who were ripped apart by Absolute Power – Jon Kent, Jay Nakamura, and Nia Nal. But now they're separated, with Nia captured by Checkmate along with Deadshot and Black Alice, and Jay using his intangibility to stay one step ahead of them and infiltrate the base where they're being taken. As for Jon, he made the tricky decision to escape with Catman last issue – and now the two unlikely allies have to make their way back to their friends. The main threat at the start of the issue is Jeanette, probably the most obscure member of the Secret Six but a character Maines obviously likes. She's a banshee, whose inhuman form is like something out of a horror movie. And her wail has a lot more to it than just sound – it's essentially a pained song of grief about her horrific execution centuries ago. Close shave. Via DC Comics. But the heart of this issue is between Catman and the young Superman, as they try to stay under the radar and get back to the base before it's too late. Catman's always been a great character ever since Gail Simone got her hands on him way back when, and his snarky, gruff nature makes him a perfect fit for Jon's more optimistic personality. We knew that there was some sort of nasty falling-out with his mate Deadshot before this series began, and the issue finally lets us in on that secret – and people who felt there might be something more going on between these two than we thought will be very happy to read this issue. Catman's been one of the DCU's more UTR queer characters for a while, although he did have a great Pride story in one of the previous anthologies. Overall, this title hits on the same thing that made the first Secret Six run work so well – the oddball mix of personalities. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
