Folks…I have always loved the work of Judd Winick…from his Real World days to his cartoonist efforts to his campaign to enlighten us all on AIDS and HIV for his late friend Pedro Zamora. He found love on Real World and decided to work to educate us all…and in that, his works got him to DC…a comic writer…an inspiration to me.
I have been a fan of his books, and rarely miss his work at DC. He resurrected Jason Todd, and as similar to Bucky, many didn’t take to well to the Superboy punch…but now his Lost Days books are explaining why Todd is Todd…and I love that he returned to DCU to remind Bruce of his ‘failure’ as a father, to make him feel the pinch of losing Dick, and now Todd…and to show that even these tragedies, didn’t lead to Batman killing Joker. Winick even took a crack at Battle for the Cowl books, and even when writing Batman, Nightwing etc…he along with Tony Daniel and Grant Morrison or Fabien Nicieza somewhat show flashes of Jeph Loeb’s amazing Dark Knight essences. Todd has grown into Red Hood and I was always a fan since his return…sad to say Grant and other writers aren’t the ones to handle him…only Winick handles Tood with great care and effort. Fitting that he wrote this film…
The Movie –
I love how ‘Death in the Family’ played off and sick of fans to vote Robin dead than alive but alas, this film kickstarts with a bang, literally, and doesn’t beat around the bush…the inception of Joker’s hostage is different than to what the book depicted but a riveting scene opens us…to tragedy. The appearance of Red Hood, voiced by the fan-loved Jensen Ackles, makes me ill that I haven’t seen him on-screen as a villain, as his voice commanded the fear and anonymity that Hood desired. This was a brilliant casting choice…perfect. The Greenwood Batman and Maggio Joker also played well and made me forget about Conroy-Hamill for a brief hour. Hood’s ferocity was what made the film amazing thus far. Enter Nightwing, Amazo and what was one of the best fight scenes on animation thus far, rivalling the epic Wonder Woman anime…I loved this to the bone…Nightwing was elegant as a circus boy, but I was sad that Patrick Harris left Flash to voice Dick, as Dick lacked the broody, dark attitude that made him Nightwing, and more importantly in the books, that made him leave out Robin…this voice didn’t match the broody Dick I wanted…Nightwing should have been more pissy at Bruce rather than vice versa…this depiction of Nightwing was not pleasing to me.
Nonetheless, the animation was spot on, with a lovely score of sound, and again I remain pissed that DC wont follow up with a Knightfall arc as yet, and show Bane and Azrael, to make us fanboys giddy…While Joker wasn’t close to Hamill’s, this Joker was brutally wicked, and I loved him…as was impressionable and evil Black Mask…good jobs on such comic-loved villains…again, why was Nightwing being so damn WALLY WEST??? I digress…
The sarcastic, condescending gun-toting Todd was outstanding, as were the chase scenes in this film. It felt good deciphering the voice clip as it happened realtime, as I bested Bruce who did it in-cave. The flashbacks of Joker’s origins as well as Todd’s early days may have been altered but did fit in well to this film…very well indeed. This movie was one that would do brilliantly well if done on screen via CHRIS NOLAN. The gangster vibe and action as well as fighting rocked…hard. It was nice to see Star Wars and X-Men rub off on some antagonists as well in their mannerisms in combat…Friendships, loyalty, trust and Family are all tested here…in a great way…and it works so well in this film. The Nolan Influence was present in doses I must add, especially with this Joker version. The Al-Ghul plan was well plotted indeed…comic-influenced and nicely scripted. Still, I found the lack of Gordon a bit sad considering Gotham was being torn apart. Red Hood in turn amassed an awesome plot. The face under the red hood was poor though, as I expected a bit more scarred and damaged…but this was a point to be overlooked as it proved minor.
The final fight proved to be on par with Anakin and Obiwan but umm…why would Todd call Bruce’s name out loud with Joker in the closet? The crippled friend reference was ultimate joy. The end was well put together and remarkably done…but the vague final destination of Hood kinda put me off…but overall, amazing cast and dialogue, good directing and well…a kickass plot by Winick shows how well he handles this cast, whether on screen or in the books…I give this a
9 outta 10!!!