THE BEST OF 2016 - The Best COMICS Of The Year

THE BEST COMICS OF 2016:

- 2016 was another fantastic year for comics as a medium. DC got a huge shot in the arm with their Rebirth relaunch, giving new life to flailing franchises like Superman, Green Lantern, and The Flash. Marvel continued to put out some of the industry's most vital books - most notably the must-read Ms. Marvel. And Image continued to be a veritable factory for great comics, producing so many great new books that it could be hard to keep track. Meanwhile, other publishers like Dark Horse, Valiant, Boom, and Aftershock stepped up with great titles as well. I often found myself overwhelmed with how much good stuff there was to read in any given week. Plus, in the digital age, it's possible to binge-read newly-discovered comics with the touch of a button. This year, I continued to make my way through Garth Ennis' The Boys, among others. 

But let's get to it. The great fun of being a comics fan is being part of such a smart and passionate community of readers. I love hearing what others are reading, and by the same token, it's always fun to tell non-fans about great comics I've read in an effort to get them hooked - whether they're interested in superhero books, or all the other kinds of storytelling that comics do so well. Liked Stranger Things? Then check out Paper Girls asap. A fan of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? Then you had better give SP creator Bryan Lee O'Malley's new book Snot Girl a look. Dig superheroes but want a new spin on old favorites? Then hurry up and read Black Hammer - an awesomely unique deconstruction of classic hero archetypes. There's something for everyone below - so get to reading.


DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2016:

1.) Paper Girls

- No surprise here - Paper Girls was nearly my top comics pick in 2015, and that was after only a handful of issues had been released. Now with over a year's worth of stories under its belt, Paper Girls is officially the best comic book going - a twisty, heartfelt, nostalgic sci-fi adventure from one of the best writers alive, Brian K. Vaughan. So what is Paper Girls? To say too much would be to spoil things, so I'll just say that it's an 80's-set series about a group of plucky paper delivery-girls who see their ordinary suburban lives interrupted by some seriously insane sci-fi weirdness. Time travel may or may not be involved. Basically, Paper Girls does Stranger Things one better, because it tells a story through a lense of 80's nostalgia, but what's more, the entire theme of the book is contrasting the relative innocence of being a kid in the 80's to the world-weary existential dread of being an adult in 2016. Brian K Vaughan is tackling some big themes here, but he's also just telling an awesome sci-fi story, with plenty of jaw-dropping cliffhangers, lots of humor, and numerous holy-$%^& moments. The writer of Y: The Last Man and Saga does it again (and, also, the phenomenal art by the great Cliff Chiang doesn't hurt). You must read this one. 

2.) Black Hammer

- Jeff Lemire has been one of my favorite writers for several years now. I became a fan via his seminal series Sweet Tooth, and have followed him through other great books like Trillium, Animal Man, and the still-ongoing (and still great) Descender. Black Hammer is yet another new classic from Lemire. It's his take on superhero deconstruction - think Watchmen - but Lemire gives us a fresh spin on a subgenre that's been done to death, producing a series that's gotten better with each issue. Essentially, this is a series about several classic superhero archetypes who get banished from their superhero universe and are mysteriously stranded on a farm in a much more ordinary, mundane universe. They try to live normal lives, while also trying to figure out what happened to them. But the real brilliance comes as Lemire slowly reveals the backstories of each character, giving each seemingly stock character unexpected layers. Again, I don't want to reveal too much. But this one has been one of 2016's must-read books, and it's just ramping up. Jump onboard now.

3.) Ms. Marvel

- How powerful is Ms. Marvel? So powerful that, I'll admit, this book and this character have changed the way I think about Muslims. Superheroes are a powerful archetype, and reading the monthly adventures of a smart, funny, geeky, progressive Muslim superhero has made me more aware of bigotry towards American Muslims and more aware of a need to recognize our commonalities and embrace our differences. Writer G. Willow Wilson doesn't pretend that Islam is infallible. Kamala Khan stuggles with aspects of her religion just as I do with mine. But that is what's so brilliant about this book - it reinforces the idea that we're all in this together. We all have to reconcile problematic aspects of our inherited culture. But we are all, ultimately, stronger together. Ms. Marvel is a fun, smart, action-packed comic book. But more so than that, it's downright inspiring. And isn't that what superheroes should be?

4.) Kill or Be Killed

- On the other end of the spectrum is the latest grim n' gritty piece of pulp-noir from one of my favorite writers, Ed Brubaker. Earlier this year, Brubaker wrapped up both his old-Hollywood mystery The Fade Out and his spy thriller Velvet. But his newest project is one of his most exciting in a while - a pitch-black supernatural crime series about a guy who makes a Faustian pact with an evil spirit: kill or be killed. Of course, this bargain opens up a Pandora's Box of moral and practical questions - the book is still in relative infancy, so who knows how things will play out. But I can't wait to find out.

5.) Snot Girl

- The first-ever ongoing comic series from the creator of Scott Pilgrim initially seemed like a real head-scratcher. A comic about a self-absorbed fashion blogger? What? And what was with the title? Snot Girl - really?! Well, I am here to say that I have fallen for Snot Girl. You've just got to go with it, and trust in Bryan Lee O'Malley to steer you right. There's a lot more to Snot Girl than meets-the-eye. It's a pulp mystery, a sly social satire, and a relationship drama all rolled into one. 

6.) Superman

- Many of you guys probably know that I'm a pretty hardcore Superman fan. I've been reading Superman comics since I was a kid, so one of the great joys of DC's Rebirth reboot has been the revitalization of the Superman family of books. Post-Rebirth, Superman is now a bit older and more experienced - once again married to Lois Lane, and the father of a young super-powered son named John. A welcome change of pace from the more recent version who was younger and dating Wonder Woman, this feels like the more classic version of Supes that I grew up with, with the added twist of him now being a father to a superhero-in-training. Of course, all that would mean nothing without great creative teams, and the great thing is that all the Superman book are now in good hands. The standout book though has undoubtedly been Superman, penned by the ever-reliable, often great Peter Tomasi. Tomasi has really done great things with the new father-son dynamic - for example, sending Superman and son on a time-travel adventure to a lost island, in a story that paid moving tribute to the late great Darwyn Cooke and his signature story, New Frontier. Tomasi also penned the first-ever meeting between John and Damian Wayne, the son of Batman - and it was an instant-classic origin story for the new generation of Super Sons. If you're at all a Superman fan, check out the current Tomasi run.

7.) Descender

-Like sprawling sci-fi space epics? Then pick up Descender. Another book by Jeff Lemire, the second year of Descender brilliantly fleshed out the book's mythology, giving us new and compelling backstory on several key characters. The book details a far-future in which humans and other alien species travel the universe looking to hunt and destroy any and all remaining robots - who are now thought to be a danger to all life. One kid-like robot, Tim-21, now finds himself on the run from all manner of dangers. Lemire is spinning a truly epic yarn here, and the incredibly evocative art from Dustin Nguyen adds to the book's sci-fi atmosphere.

8.) The Walking Dead

- It's now time for my annual reminder that, while The Walking Dead TV series may be seriously slumping, Robert Kirkman's comic book remains a can't-miss page turner that delivers great serialized storytelling month-in, month out. In fact, one of the main reasons why I can't bring myself to drop the show is because I remain perpetually curious how the show will adapt some of the comics' epic storylines. This year, for example, Rick Grimes and co. found themselves wrapped up in a war with one of The Walking Dead's most intriguing groups of adversaries yet - the Whisperers - a zombie-worshipping cult who take on the appearance of Walkers. Kirkman remains one of the best storytellers in the biz, doling out crazy cliffhangers and twists like nobody's business. It still baffles me why the show struggles so much when the comic often feels so effortlessly readable. In any case, The Walking Dead remains a must-read. 

9.) Southern Bastards

-My pick for the Best Comic of 2015 drops several notches this year, mainly because it's come out so infrequently. Writer Jason Aaron is everywhere these days, penning Dr. Strange and Star Wars for Marvel, plus other perpetually-delayed books like The Goddamned for Image. Here's hoping that Aaron can focus on Southern Bastards in 2017, because it really is his magnum opus - a pulpy, generation-spanning epic about southern justice. When issues did come out this year, there was a compelling shift in focus to Roberta Tubb, daughter of the series' original protagonist - now returned home to avenger her dad. There's been some amazing build-up to Roberta's inevitable confrontation with the series' big bad, Coach Boss. So please, give us a lot more Southern Bastards in 2017.

10.) The Flash

- The Flash, for decades, was consistently among the best books DC Comics put out. Writers like Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Geoff Johns all contributed to that long run of quality - so it was shame when the book became nearly unreadable in the New 52 era. But, good news: The Flash is back! The rebooted Rebirth version of Flash quickly righted past wrongs, with new writer Joshua Williamson doing great work - making Barry Allen, finally, as compelling in the comics as he is on TV. Williamson has introduced new villains, brought back some classics, and put character first. He's incorporated some elements of the TV show without being slavishly devoted to it. (It's no surprise that Williamson is becoming a go-to writer for DC, now penning their first big post-Rebirth event, JLA vs. Suicide Squad, which is off to a killer start). Also, the art on The Flash by Carmine Di Giandomenico has been awesome - as kinetic and energetic as you could hope for in a Flash comic.

THE NEXT BEST:

11.) Saga

- Saga has become ever-so-slightly stagnant of late, but never count Brian K. Vaughan out. There is a clear long-game at work here, and Saga still managed to deliver its share of huge moments in 2016. This is, still, one of *the* must-read ongoing series of the last few years.

12.) Batman

- Batman was one of the few DC franchises that was doing just fine pre-Rebirth, and in fact, one of the few downsides of the reboot was the end of Scott Snyder's modern-classic run on the title. But luckily, Batman came back strong with writer Tom King at the helm. In several short months, King has done great stuff with the Dark Knight - introducing a new pair of super-powered vigilantes to Gotham, and telling the best Bane story in years. 

13.) Green Arrow

- Green Arrow kept the same writer post-Rebirth as pre-Rebirth, but it still feels like a whole new book. Writer Ben Percy has brought the character back to his most beloved incarnation - the bearded, liberal-minded, hard-luck vigilante who fights for the little guy and romances Black Canary. Classic Green Arrow is back.

14.) Silver Surfer

- One of my favorite books of the last few years, Dan Slott's whimsical take on the Surfer is elevated to pure cosmic awesomeness by the unmatched art of Mike Allred. Anyone who likes quirky, big-hearted sci-fi like Dr. Who needs to read this book. 

15.) Captain America: Steve Rogers

- No comic book moment made mainstream waves in 2016 more so than Captain America's shocking proclamation of "Hail Hydra" in the first issue of Nick Spencer's new take on Cap. But the moment was more than just a gimmick - Spencer has been telling a super-fun, super-compelling long-form Cap epic - and I still can't even begin to predict where it's going.

16.) Doom Patrol

-One of the most compelling stories in comics in 2016 was the start of a new DC Comics imprint - Young Animal - spearheaded by My Chemical Romance frontman (and comic book writer) Gerard Way. Way sought to put a mind-bending, mature-readers spin on some of DC's weirder properties, and he's off to a strong start. The line's flagship book, Doom Patrol, has so far been a highlight - a delightfully trippy return for DC's strangest superhero team.

17.) Faith 

- In 2016, I got aboard the Faith hype train. If you haven't heard, Faith is one of the breakout comics characters of the last year - a plus-sized, geeky superhero who is as much a fan-girl as she is a defender of justice. Written with heart, humor, and humanity by Jody Houser, Faith is a refreshingly unique take on superheroes - and a book that is emblematic of the genre's ever-expanding, increasingly-diverse audience. 

18.) Lazarus

- Another longtime favorite that got moved down a few notches due to infrequent issues in 2016, Lazarus remains one of the best ongoing books there is. A futuristic Game of Thrones that feels increasingly relevant as we enter the Trump age (cough, vomit, gag), Lazarus is still one to watch in 2017 as it turns a major narrative corner, and the longtime build towards protagonist Forever Carlyle realizing her true nature picks up steam. Writer Greg Rucka is one of the best in the biz, so I'm still psyched for this one going into the new year. 

19.) Invincible 

- Robert Kirkman announced this year that his long-running superhero saga will come to an end in 2017. This makes me sad, as Invincible has been a favorite for years now. It's a superhero story not beholden to corporate mandates to keep the status quo in place, which has always allowed Kirkman to go nuts with both plot and tone.

20.) New Super-Man

- One of the surprise standouts of Rebirth, New Super-Man is a humor and heart-filled telling of China's not-quite-Superman - the cocky, too-cool-for-school teen, Kenan Kong. Even better: the bumbling Bat-Man of China. 

21.) Tales From the Darkside

- The story goes that writer Joe Hill (of Locke & Key fame) had developed a new TV version of 80's horror anthology Tales From the Darkside. That reboot eventually got scrapped, but Hill's scripts found a second life in comic book form. So yeah - we comic readers got a new horror anthology from the Locke & Key team. Predictably, it was great.

22.) Wonder Woman

- Greg Rucka has a long history of writing great stories about kickass women, and so it was no surprise that his return to Wonder Woman meant that the character, post-Rebirth, is now enjoying a creative high-point. If Rucka's writing it, I'm there - and in advance of the upcoming movie, Rucka has given the big-screen version a very, very tough act to follow. And, sidenote: the art from both Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott - amazing.

23.) Green Lanterns

- Yet another DC franchise with new life post-Rebirth. Green Lanterns has been a highlight - a return to the epic stories and core mythology of the Geoff Johns era, but with new protagonists Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz - an odd-couple pairing that, under the stewardship of writer Sam Humphries, has produced two of DC's most likable new characters.

24.) Cave Carson Has a Magnetic Eye

- Another success story from Gerard Way's Young Animal imprint at DC, this one hit my geeky buttons, as I'm a total sucker for weird stories about obscure DC characters. This book puts a postmodern spin on DC D-lister Cave Carson, re-imagining him as a down-on-his-luck, past-his-prime family man whose superheroic spelunking cost him his family and his sanity.

25.) Darth Vader 

- I sort of hit peak Star Wars this year. Marvel began putting out so many Star Wars books that it became a bit too much, and the stories began to get stale and repetitive. But the one book that never lost steam was Darth Vader - in part because writer Kieron Gillen didn't just rely on established stories and characters - he created new ones. Notably, Gillen gave us Dr. Aphra - a breakout new character now so popular with fans that she's got her own spin-off book. A morally bankrupt con-artist with evil-droid versions of C3PO and R2D2? Hells yeah. 


SPECIAL MENTIONS:

DC Rebirth #1

- I've mentioned Rebirth a lot, so it's only fair that I give a shout-out to the one-shot special that kicked off the whole shebang. Geoff Johns was largely absent from comic books this year, his attention largely devoted to movies and TV. But Johns did give us DC's single most important issue of the year Rebirth #1 - and it was one hell of a comic book. Rebirth was an expertly-constructed love letter to DC - an acknowledgement that things had strayed off-course, and that crucial elements of the DCU (legacy, for one) were conspicuously absent in the previous era of the New 52. With one fell swoop, Johns planted the seeds for DC's return to greatness - the long-hoped-for return of legacy characters like Wally West, the re-setting of characters like Green Arrow back to their most iconic incarnations, and the restoration of a sense of history to DC Comics. Rebirth was the kind of comic that comic fans love - a lovingly-crafted bridge between present, past, and future.

Locke & Key: Small World

- I've also got to give a quick shout-out to one of 2016's late-arriving treats - a new installment of Locke & Key. Small world was only a quick, one-off return to Joe Hill's series - one of the best of the last decade. But it served as both a reminder of that series' greatness and as a prelude to more Locke & Key stories still to come. 

Dark Knight: A True Batman Story

- Paul Dini has arguably done more to shape Batman in the last thirty year than anyone else. As co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series, he was responsible for perhaps the definitive take on the Dark Knight. But here, in this one-off, autobiographical graphic novel, Dini turns his focus inward and tells us a tale of his own darkest night - when, while working on the show, he was mugged and beaten in a cowardly act of criminality. Dini movingly tells of how he drew on his fantastical stories - on the legend of the Batman - to get him through this tough time. And the result is one of the most powerful works of graphic fiction I've read in a long while.  

WRITERS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Brian K. Vaughan (Paper Girls, Saga)
2.) Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer, Descender)
3.) Greg Rucka (Wonder Woman, Lazarus)
4.) G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel)
5.) Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible)
6.) Peter Tomasi (Superman)
7.) Joshua Williamson (The Flash, JLA vs. Suicide Squad)
8.) Sam Humphries (Green Lanterns)
9.) Bryan Lee O'Malley (Snot Girl)
10.) Tom King (Batman)

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls) 
2.) Jason Fabok (Justice League, JLA vs. Suicide Squad)
3.) Mark Brooks (Han Solo)
4.) Phil Jiminez (DC Rebirth, Superwoman)
5.) Carmine Di Giandomenico (The Flash)
6.) Liam Sharp (Wonder Woman)
7.) Dustin Nguyen (Descender)
8.) Mike Allred (Silver Surfer)
9.) Nick Derington (Doom Patrol) 
10.) Leslie Hung (Snot Girl)

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE Tries So Hard to Be an Event That It Forgets to Be a Movie

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE Review:

- Batman vs. Superman. For decades, this has been a conflict, a contrast, that has captivated the imagination of comic book fans. It's light vs. dark, fear vs. hope. Gotham vs. Metropolis. An ordinary man with an extraordinarily nightmarish childhood vs. a superpowered alien who grew up with a Rockwellian, idyllic upbringing. A rich city playboy vs. a country boy journalist. Vigilante vs. Hero. And yet ... two men who are, ultimately, two sides of the same coin. Two men who believe in truth and justice. Two men who live by a moral code. Two men who never give up. Two men who fight the same battle. There is rich thematic territory to explore in pitting Batman vs. Superman. And over the years, many a comic book and animated adventure has mined that iconic relationship in order to produce memorable stories.

But BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE ... well, it has almost zero interest in any of those things. From watching this movie, from listening to interviews with director Zach Snyder - what's clear is that the bedrock upon which this movie was created is the fight between Batman and Superman in Frank Miller's seminal 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. Snyder is an acolyte of Miller's work - he adapted 300, after all - and he seems to be a fan of that period of comics deconstruction (he also adapted that *other* big superhero deconstruction of the mid-80's, Watchmen). But increasingly, it feels like Snyder's affection for Miller and Moore is mostly just surface level. He likes the "kewl-factor" of those comics, but doesn't seem to get the context, the themes, or the subtext. As a pre-teen, I devoured those books. The shock factor of seeing R-rated interpretations of iconic superheroes blew my mind. But even then, I recognized what Moore and Miller were going for. They were subverting decades of superhero mythology - deconstructing aspects of superheroes that readers took for granted and placing them in the context of the politics of the 1980's. In The Dark Knight Returns, the "American Way" that Superman had long stood for had become corrupt and fascist, and Superman became a mere tool of that nightmare-America's government. Batman - now a grizzled, zero-%$&%'s-giving anarchist - comes out of retirement to fight the system. Ultimately, Batman and Superman throw down. And it's a fight for the ages. We actively root for Batman to win - it's his story, after all. And we smile and grin as the wily vigilante pulls out every trick in the book to humble the god-like Kal-El. But in BATMAN V SUPERMAN, Snyder takes that iconic battle and replicates it devoid of context. There's no real clash of ideologies here. There's no real thematic contrast between our heroes or what they represent. This Batman wants to hunt and kill Superman because he deems him (however misguidedly) responsible for the destruction and the resulting casualties that took place in Man of Steel. He views Superman as too much of a potential threat to let live. But even as he grits his teeth and decides to slay Superman, this Batman mows down people left and right while careening in the Batmobile through the streets of Gotham. This Batman brandishes a gun throughout what seems like half of the time he's onscreen in costume. This Batman kills (or as Snyder deemed it in an interview, he "manslaughters."). So where then, is the contrast?

In BATMAN V SUPERMAN, Gotham is indistinguishable from Metropolis. Both could essentially just be called Snyderville - perpetually dark, gloomy, and grey - lacking in any real personality or distinguishing characteristics. The movie is set 18 months after the events of Man of Steel - and we are told that - aside from some vocal pundits and protesters - people generally seem to have come around to the idea of Superman. I mean, there's a giant statue of him in Metropolis. But we are never really shown a Superman who is a man of the people. Most of the people we actually see in this movie - save for Lois Lane - seem to actively hate him. And Superman's personality seems to reflect that. Rather than serve as an optimistic contrast to Bruce Wayne's glumness, this film's Clark Kent can go toe to toe with Bruce when it comes to brooding. Snyder and his writers seem to actively not want to show a Superman being Superman. Aside from one moment of (misguided?) heroism in the film's final act, this Superman at times feels more like the fascist version from The Dark Knight Returns. Not for any real thematic reason - just because that's the version, I guess, that Snyder thinks is cool. Or at least, most palatable to his particular sensibilities.

It's funny, because in a world where multiple versions of DC Comics characters litter the pop-cultural landscape, the flaws of these movies often highlight the strengths of the other versions of the characters that are out there. When Superman Returns came out, its retread version of Lex Luthor - yet another spin on the sleazy used-car-salesman of the Donner films - made Smallville's tortured businessman version of Lex seem definitive in comparison. By the same token, BATMAN V SUPERMAN's dour Man of Steel makes the still-finding-its-groove Supergirl TV show seem to sparkle in comparison. Whatever flaws it may have, Supergirl overflows with palpable affection for its lead character and what she (and in turn, her iconic cousin) represent. There's no questioning that the show has an abundance of superheroic heart.

And where then is the beating heart of BATMAN V SUPERMAN ...? It's very, very hard to find. In retrospect, the relative lack of anything that could pass for real human emotion in this film makes Snyder's first DC movie, Man of Steel, start to look even better in comparison. I liked Man of Steel a lot. I graded it highly. It had fantastic action, a strong cast, and a pretty solidly-conveyed thematic through-line. It was Clark Kent's journey towards embracing the Superman identity after being confronted with his Kryptonian past. Simple, easy - and the foundation of a pretty damn good piece of sci-fi superhero pulp. But where Man of Steel took Clark on a pretty understandable character arc and plot trajectory, BATMAN V SUPERMAN jumps around with wild abandon - playing very fast and loose with things like character motivations, plot, and theme.

You can almost see the various hands reaching through the screen trying to mold this movie into something that fits their vision. You can imagine Snyder essentially working backwards from the big Batman/Superman smackdown, setting up a loosely-related collage of scenes meant to add some kind of mythic gravity to the heroes' first encounter. You can see screenwriter Chris Terrio (Argo) - brought in late in the game to polish things up - trying to somehow turn Snyder's comic book pulp into high-minded political-thriller allegory. And you can see the DC and Warner Bros brain-trust giddily - but awkwardly - shoehorning in all sorts of setup for future DC movie installments. This is "Dawn of Justice" - and so we get little glimpses of the rest of the DC pantheon, almost entirely unrelated to the actual plot of this movie - meant to prime us for what is to come in the years ahead.

The result is a movie that, for much of its running time, feels like an unwieldy mess. The first hour or so of the film is edited together so strangely - it almost feels like no one could agree how the movie should open, and so we're just left with no real opening. I won't spoil anything, but I'll just say that the movie begins with a truncated flashback to Batman's iconic origin story, followed by an extended revisit of the end of Man of Steel from Bruce Wayne's perspective, quickly followed by an extended scene of Lois Lane in Africa ... and then a bunch of other stuff before we ever see either Batman or Superman in costume. It's sort of shocking how all-over-the-place the movie is right out of the gate, and how long it takes to find any sort of real footing.

But what quickly becomes apparent is how thin most of the characters' motivations are in the movie. I talked a bit about the relative incoherence of Batman's decision to try to kill Superman (with a kryptonite spear, no less). But that incoherence extends to the entire fight between Superman and Batman. Look, comic book fans have long grown used to the trope of two heroes coming to blows without exactly having great reason to go at it. But here, it just feels like two action figures have been moved into place. In theory, Lex Luther is supposed to be the Machiavellian master manipulator of the confrontation. But Jesse Eisenberg's Lex never really makes any sense in this movie. His Lex is a jittery, half-insane madman on a perpetual sugar high. And what, exactly, he's trying to do and why is pretty vague - frustratingly so.

The thing is, BATMAN V SUPERMAN constantly fumbles the ball both on a macro and micro level. There are big picture issues - like how the big Batman/Superman fight begins on a nonsensical note and ends on an eye-rolling silly and sudden one. But there are *tons* of smaller issues that elicit WTF moments throughout the film. After Batman and Superman have called a truce, Lois Lane disposes of Batman's kryptonite spear by ... throwing it in a random abandoned building's flooded basement. Then, finding that casually-tossed-aside Ultimate Weapon becomes a major plot point in the movie's final act. "Hey, remember that all-powerful super-weapon that you tossed in a random building - now, if we don't find it, the world ends!" Is that really what this movie boils down to? Similarly, you know how I mentioned the film's odd, occasional inclination to become some sort of political thriller? Those moments pretty much all fall flat, and they add up to a whole lot of nothing. For example, the movie introduces the idea that Lex Luthor's anti-Superman plot is actually backed by the US government - but then never really resolves that notion or wraps it up in any meaningful way. There's also a pretty baffling sort-of dream sequence where Superman has a vision of his dead father, that seems to exist just because they wanted to squeeze Kevin Costner in here. It's a real head-scratcher as to why this scene happens when it does, and what it is exactly.

But hey, this is BATMAN V SUPERMAN - none of this stuff really matters if the movie gives us big moments of heroism that reinforce why these characters are icons - right? Well, for some reason the film continually undermines itself in this regard. There's a mind-blowingly strange sequence, for example, where Batman chases down criminals to a much-discussed secret boat (yep) that may be carrying a clandestine shipment of kryptonite. As Batman catches up with the boat, he's intercepted by Superman (this is the first time they meet), and Batman does his whole "do you bleed?" line. Superman quickly flies away, Batman stands around muttering, and then, well, that's it. What about those nefarious criminals and their kryptonite-carrying boat? Who cares! In this movie, Batman and Superman would rather trade lame taunts than fight crime, apparently. There's another moment in the movie that seems poised to be pretty great. Superman is called to testify before a Senate Committee to defend himself and his role in the destruction he caused in Man of Steel (the movie is very hung up on the ending of Man of Steel - I mean, sure, some critics didn't like it, but let's move on). But Superman is clearly going to give some great speech here, right? Some movie-defining Big Moment where Superman says earnestly that, my god, he may be an alien by birth, but he was raised to be an American - and really, he's just here to help. Or something. But in a moment that seems to literally embody the movie being pulled apart at the seams by the various parties involved in its conception, that potential Big Moment is interrupted by a giant explosion, and we're back to more brooding and people hating on Superman. And to make matters worse, the explosion is another part of Lex's weird master plan that never quite makes sense - unless you just go with the idea that he's actually insane - basically The Joker - and that nothing he does makes sense and is just intended to cause chaos (but is that really Lex Luthor?).

Eisenberg goes for it with his Lex. I can't really fault him for going big and over-the-top, because that's essentially what the script demands of him. But it does sort of irk me that this is now yet another big-screen Luthor who does not at all resemble the best and most iconic versions from the comics and animated series. The irony, of course, is that the DC Comics version of Lex that was a villain to Superman but a semi-respected businessman to the public - a guy who once ran for and won the DC Universe presidency - feels shockingly plausible and relevant today in the age of Trump. But worry not, there's no real sense of the zeitgeist being reflected in this movie (the movie's sensibility is much more rooted in the Frank Miller 80's and X-TREME 90's). More importantly, there's no real sense here that this is a Lex Luthor who could plausibly be Superman's greatest enemy. He's a Lex who is so brazenly a criminal that there's no endgame for him here except to end up dead or in jail. Lex has one really good moment in this movie where he threatens Lois and forces Superman to act to save her. It's a classic villain scene. Lex vs. Superman. It's too bad that we don't get more of that - or that we don't get a true clash of philosophies between Lex and Clark. What makes Lex a great villain in other mediums is that he's convinced that Superman is actually an existential affront to humanity. Here, Lex does a lot of semi-incoherent babbling - but there are no real shades of grey to him. He's just criminally insane. He's a Batman villain more so than a Superman one - a guy who should probably be locked up in Arkham Asylum. But ultimately, Lex is pretty marginalized in this movie. He's more background noise than anything else, and it's never exactly clear to what extent a.) it's his influence that's directly influencing Batman's decisions here, and b.) to what extent Lex himself is being manipulated by outside forces.

So yeah, there are a lot of "outside forces" in this movie. If you've read up on any of the pre-release hype pieces or if you're a big DC Comics fan, then it's pretty clear as to who the Big Bad is that BATMAN V SUPERMAN hamfistedly alludes to throughout its running time. But to what end? It's a pretty big game-changer if we're to believe that Batman and/or Lex are being expressly controlled and manipulated throughout the film by this other villain. But we never really know for sure. What we do know is that Batman has a few hallucinatory, seemingly prophetic dreams throughout the film - dreams that seem completely random and tangential to the plot, except to slightly reinforce Bruce's paranoia about Superman being dangerous. But is Bruce being in some way mind-controlled? Is Lex? Unclear. So what these sequences amount to is one crazy, Zach Snyder-at-his-Snyderiest actionfest, in which a machine gun toting Batman shoots his way through a horde of alien invaders like he's suddenly found himself in a sci-fi version of The Raid. Oh, and in the dream, Superman is evil. Presumably it's all portents of things to come in Justice League. But it also feels like Snyder got a little too caught up in the presumed kewlness of OMG YOU GUYS IT'S BATMAN BEING LIKE THE PUNISHER, BUT WITH ALIENS. BUT JUST KIDDING IT'S ALL A DREAM. OR IS IT? Suffice it to say, too much of this movie feels like a corporate-mandated ad for Justice League and the other DCU movies. I mean, Marvel has perfected the post-credits "wait, there's one more thing!" tease. But when your entire movie feels like a tease, well, that's not so good. This is especially true in the sort-of-lame previews of other Justice Leaguers like The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. We see hints of them in action via ... computer files stolen from Lex Luthor. Seeing Wonder Woman point and click on computer files is not exactly the most dramatic way to introduce us to The Flash or Aquaman. And it's not helped by the fact that both of the aforementioned characters are super bro'd-out looking - like what would happen if Image Comics re-imagined the characters circa 1997. It's all pretty underwhelming.

So what works in the movie? There are moments. There are definitely moments. In all honesty, there are some really good things about the whole Batman side of the movie that could bode well for a future Affleck-centric Bat-film. For one thing, Affleck is pretty darn good as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. My biggest fear about Affleck - that he was just too genial and bro-next-door seeming to be the Bat - was mostly erased here. Voice modulation and the best-looking live action Bat-suit ever help make him look and sound like, well, Batman. And as Bruce Wayne, Affleck feels sort of like the more old-school playboy-adventurer guy from 70's and 80's comics, and I dig that. Best of all, the new version of Alfred - played to droll perfection by Jeremy Irons - is great. Irons and Affleck have a fantastic chemistry, and probably my favorite, most geek-out-worthy moments in the movie are some of their exchanges. Batman also gets to really be Batman here in a way he never was in the Nolan movies. He's a detective. He does cool martial arts and fights like he does in the Arkham videogames. He grapples from building to building. He can move his neck. All the surface-level Batman stuff, Snyder gets pretty much right. It sounds simple - but so many Batman movies have sucked so hard in that regard that seeing a Batman who really moves and looks like Batman is a big sigh of relief. Of course, my enthusiasm for this Batman was somewhat dampened by him being written to be an emotionally unstable crazy person, who one minute decides to kill Superman and the next decides they're BFF's - whose main weapon seems to be guns (dude - no!), and who kills (sorry, "manslaughters") on a whim. But the point is, the ingredients are there for a pretty good Batman movie to come out of this - *provided* we get some better writing for the character.

I'll mention the score here, too. I love Hans Zimmer's themes from Man of Steel, and everytime they get play here I feel like the material becomes slightly elevated. Zimmer's Superman theme just brings an instant sense of gravitas to the table. I think the score here is overall pretty strong and adds a lot.

I also think the last hour of the movie really picks up the pace and starts to find more of a groove - and it delivers some fairly epic superhero brawls. Once we get Batman, Superman, and Gal Godot's Wonder Woman all in action together, taking on Doomsday, the movie devolves into sheer comic book spectacle - and this is where Snyder feels most at home. Though the Doomsday brawl has some really stupid and nonsensical beats to it, it's undeniably fun and has the look of some sort of Alex Ross painting brought to life. Even just seeing Wonder Woman in action and being awesome is cool, in and of itself. This was a *long* time coming, so it's no surprise that Wonder Woman's big entrance is a huge audience applause moment - it's a collective realization of "it's about damn time!" Wonder Woman doesn't do much other than fight and look cool in this film, but she's kickass enough to leave you anticipating what a WW movie might be like with Gal Gadot in the lead.

The thing is, there are these isolated moments of coolness in the movie. Although this film makes me question his storytelling a bit, I will still defend Snyder as a guy who can do really great, mythic, stylized imagery. And certain shots in the film are really powerful and really cool. But they are cool in a very out-of-context way - these aren't moments that ultimately add up to anything, or that feel dramatically earned. In our packed theater, people applauded when Batman kicked ass, when Wonder Woman debuted, when Doomsday hulked-out and began his rampage. But it felt like applauding things that we already had a pre-attachment to - applause from mere recognition. When I reflected back and thought about what the sum total of those scenes was, I kept coming up empty. Everything that was satisfying in the moment was satisfying only on a purely surface level. There was no substance here. When the movie tries to have substance - when Holly Hunter's senator talks about her stance on Superman, when Lex rambles about pop-philosophy stuff about gods and man, when Batman pontificates about whether he's a hero or criminal  - it all feels random, largely meaningless, and, often, mildly pretentious. At the same time, there just isn't a story here that works as a cohesive whole. What we get feels like a greatest-hits mash-up of stories like The Dark Knight Returns, The Death of Superman, Injustice, and a few others - except without the original works' emotional or thematic resonance.

What you're left with is a feeling of apathy towards whatever comes next. With Man of Steel, the tone worked okay given that it was an origin story -  I interpreted that film's greyscale darkness as depicting a pre-Superman world. It was a journey towards the light. But the darkness - both visually and tonally - of BATMAN V SUPERMAN is so relentless that it left me thinking: "Really? *This* is what the new DC cinematic universe is going to be like?" The weird thing is that the storylines and characters that this movie hints at for Justice League are some of the most out-there and cosmic in DC's library. On the Marvel side, we've seen movies like Guardians of the Galaxy full-on embrace the cosmic loopiness that Jack Kirby brought to the company's cannon. Will DC/Warner dare to do the same? Or will be forced to endure "extreme," pseudo-edgy versions of Jack Kirby's New Gods? It's hard to imagine how it will all work. But I do worry about a world in which all of DC's cinematic characters have an inherent sameness. I mean, if Batman and Superman - two polar opposites - can be made into mirror-image grim-dark avengers, then what hope does the rest of the DC Universe have?

Ultimately, BATMAN V SUPERMAN feels like a movie that desperately wants to be important. Not in terms of theme - but in terms of being an unmissable flag-planting for DC/WB - a stake in the ground laying all the cards on the table for what is to come in DC's answer to the Marvel movie empire. Many cards are laid out - no question there. A flag has definitely been planted, for good or ill. But what they forgot to do was make a good movie - and as a card-carrying, life-long DC fanboy, well - that's a damn shame.

My Grade: C