Justice League: Gods & Monsters -- A Review

Finally, our long-awaited review of Justice League: Gods and Monsters, the 2015 direct-to-video animated superhero film ... also known as the reason we returned to SDCC 2015. You know, because the film was having its world premiere there!

Now, we already posted a pre-review on July 11. This is the "more complete review" that was promised. And we deliver on our promises ... no matter how long it takes us to do so. If you want to get our take on the flick, it starts just after the break. Oh, and there will be spoilers.

Black Widow cosplay

So for this year's San Diego Comic Con, we originally had decided we were not going to cosplay. As SDCC drew closer I realized that I really wanted to do something. So I recalled a scene or two with Black Widow where she had clothing just like I had in my closet. So I decided to research Black Widow in the movies and see what I could find. The pictures below show you what I found. Please note I did not buy anything at all to make these outfits. Well except the arrow necklace that I decided I wanted to purchase as special piece for the outfits - I actually had an arrow pin that I could have mocked up but I decided to splurge a little. Everything else is my own and from my closet.

You can’t see it in her photo but she does have purple shoelaces in her shoes.

Who has purple shoelaces laying around??

It appears that I may actually be Black Widow in my secret life.

Fan Mail

No, we don't have any fan mail. This Fan Mail is a new box subscription service that I joined during SDCC this year. It is geared towards the woman nerd/geek/fan and run by two amazing women, Rose and Jenny. You can learn all about them and their box here.

I received my first box during SDCC and I just recently received my second box from them in August. Brainwise and I already subscribe to LootCrate and we love them but I keep asking them to do a Female Superhero box but nothing yet. Then Fan Mail came along and not only is it geared to female characters, it is geared to females overall (jewelry, clothing items for females, etc). I couldn't pass it up.

So without further ado, here are the contents of the two boxes I have received from Fan Mail after the break.

The July 2015 Comic Block is Here!

About two weeks ago, we mentioned that we had added another subscription box to our list. We have a three-month subscription to @NerdBlock's Comic Block. Each Comic Block is supposed to come with three cool comics and some other cool stuff. Well, our first box -- the July 2015 Comic Block -- arrived on Friday, so it's time to start talking about it.

Why? Because we opened it!

Let's see what's what in here, shall we?

Comic Block by Nerd Block

OK. So, we have a bunch of posts in the hopper (SDCC summaries, a few movie reviews, a Loot Crate unboxing, etc.), but we haven't actually published anything here since July 13 when we said goodbye to SDCC 2015.

That makes us very bad bloggers.

Farewell Nerdhalla

Batman and Vicki Vale dangle from a flimsy stone precipice in Batman 1989

San Diego Comic-Con 2015 is now in the past. Dangrdafne and I will have a post-con write-up later this week. For now, we are trying to hang onto those good Nerdhalla vibes. We already miss everyone intensely, but we have a few more days in San Diego. And we will catch a show with Dangrdafne's childhood friend before we head back east.

Oh! But first, we'll visit the local comic shop ... again.

Justice League: Gods & Monsters -- A Pre-Review

Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman ... but not Diana, Kal-El, or Bruce!

In what has become a tradition for Dangrdafne and me, Friday night at SDCC was spent watching the world premiere of a direct-to-video film from DC Comics. We have previously seen Batman: Year One (2011), The Flashpoint Paradox (2013), and Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014). This year, we were treated to Justice League: Gods and Monsters which features the return of Bruce Timm to the animated universe he launched with Batman: The Animated Series in the 90s.

But this Justice League -- and, indeed, the world surround them -- are much different than what we've seen from previous Timm productions. It would be easy to say that this grayer version of the Justice League is simply in keeping with DC's current trend of seemingly trying to make their heroes darker and edgier. And there is plenty of evidence to support that claim: This animated film is more violent than previous DC fare, the main characters run full bore across the line to anti-hero, and there is almost a nihilistic tone that can be pulled from parts of the story. However, I would like to offer that there is much more to this film than can be gleaned from the surface.

And I'll post those thoughts in a more complete review at a later date. It's quite late on the West coast now, and I need to get some sleep so I can attack the con once again in the morning. (I did say this post was a pre-review).


But, before I go, here is a quote from tonight's movie and two bits of news came that out in the panel following the movie presentation:

• "Go! Make the universe feel your might!" ~Zod
• DC and Bruce Timm's team are planning a web series to follow the Gods and Monsters movie.
• Next year's DC movie offering will be an animated adaptation of -- wait for it -- THE KILLING JOKE!