Author: Robert Greenberger

Cleopatra in Space Book Four: The Golden Lion
By Mike Maihack
Scholastic Graphix, 204 pages, $22.99

Mike Maihack has been receiving glowing notices with every release in his Cleopatra in Space series of graphic novels from Graphix. When the first was released in 2014, I was highly critical of it since it had no bearing on the historic Cleopatra. I found the second outing better but still not as great as others thought.

For some reason, the third book, Secret of the Time Tablets came out last year and we missed it. As a result, I approached book four, The Golden Lion with some trepidation. Graphix has a bad habit of releasing subsequent volumes in a series without a recap and given the year between releases, this is unforgivable.

We open some time after the events in book three and clearly, things went badly since Cleopatra did something she shouldn’t have and this time her classmate Zaid died as a result. One would think she would be learning her lesson but instead, we see her training hard, punishing herself for whatever went sideways. However, the moment she is summoned, and told of the fabled Golden Lion being located, she foolishly heads to an alien world ill-prepared and alone meaning she has learned nothing.

This makes her less likable and undermines the light tone and fast pace of this book. Maihack is a talented artist who can move thins along nicely although there are entire sequences that are bloated so when we need to open up others, such as some of her later confrontations with a bounty hunter, everything is crammed and hard to figure out what’s going on. Some art direction would have helped immensely.

The Golden Lion is a shooting star with a long tail that is part legend and part of another prophecy that seems to involve Cleopatra, who is clearly not the Egyptian queen-to-be, but instead some other person. Anyway, evidence now points to a moon orbiting a world Cada’Duun. Since this star is considered a source of immeasurable energy, getting to control it before evil forces get to it becomes a priority.

But Cleopatra races ahead of everyone, landing on the frigid world completely unprepared for the cold and how it saps the life from her equipment. Thankfully, before she can freeze to death, her frequent companion Antony turns up, there for secret reasons of his own. Together they discover the underground (and warm) civilization that apparently speaks in algebraic equations. Antony can speak it while Cleopatra can only cuddle with her new pet, a snow otter named Mihos.

Of course a new agent, Ophois, has been dispatched to get the Golden Lion first and a confrontation with our plucky (and empty-headed) heroine is coming. There are agendas, schemes, and plans whirling in the background of this series. We’re four books in and clearly it’ll be four more before anything gets resolved. As a result, this is more an episode than a graphic novel and for the price, it should be far more self-contained. But Maihack isn’t entirely to blame for this since Graphix does this with most of their series which is a disservice to their young, enthusiastic readership.

Nnewts: The battle for Amphibopolis
By Doug TenNapel
215 pages, Scholastic Graphix, $19.99/$9.99

Doug TenNapel concludes his most ambitious work yet, the fanciful, energetic world of the Nnewts in this final volume, As with every other series from Scholastic’s Graphix imprint, it provides no synopsis so one hopes readers can keep track of the sprawling story with volumes coming a year apart.

And that’s the biggest concern with this book aimed at 8-12 year olds: it is so large and complex a tale, with so many characters, and a complicated mythology and internal logic that on the surface it’s a confusing mess of kinetic energy.

As introduced in Escape of the Lizzarks, we are introduced to the residents of Nnewtown and its wide assortment of characters. They are being threatened and it falls to young Herk to embark on a journey to save everyone.  The Rise of Herk raised the stakes as the Snake Lord is back and is the Big Bad.

Now, the players are in position for the finale as we find Herk slowly turning into a Lizzark and abandoning his Nnewt friends. His siblings, Sissy and Zerk, have also been corrupted by evil and the Lizzark army is still threatening Amphibopolis with total destruction. Along with the action, we get Orion, the god of creation, arriving and dealing with the jealous Anthigar, the Snake Lord. Things grow in scale and get very cosmic and metaphysical before the dust clears and peace is, of course, restored to the people.

Peel away the slapstick, the running, jumping, mythmaking, and other noise, and this is a story about family. Herk was separated from his family at the outset and here, he cannot complete his quest without the help of his siblings. He makes a huge sacrifice but it’s a knowing one, with appropriate consequences as a result. Launa, robbed of mobility and confined to wheelchair, also is an excellent role model for readers as she does not let her handicap define or restrict her so her arc is a satisfying one.

TenNapel has a good handle on page design and pacing, ably assisted by Katherine Garner’s superb colors. His dialogue is also age appropriate with enough silly stuff to amuse the younger end of his readership while introducing strong themes for all. If anything, I wish his frenetic storytelling would slow down a bit for more character but he has a winning formula so who am I to complain.

If you’ve enjoyed any of his other work, this is sure to satisfy.

Fun
By Paolo Bacilieri
SelfMadeHero/Abrams, 296 pages, $24.95

Life is never perfectly sequential, with one event cleanly leading to another. There are interruptions, asides, flashbacks, diversions, and the like. In some ways, it is not dissimilar to the crossword with its black spots, horizontal and vertical intersections, and clues that are either easy or confoundingly complex.

Turned into a graphic novel, it would resemble something close to Paolo Bacilieri’s Fun. The work is his American debut although the 52-year old creator from Milan has a large European following. This ambitious work is an interesting but flawed volume for all the reasons above.

Ostensibly about Professor Pippo Quester, an Italian celebrity novelist, and his work-in-progress, a history of the crossword puzzle, it is about so much more. The linear and most “American” aspects of the work are all the sections about Quester and his meticulous tracing of the crossword, introduced in the New York World, in 1913 and how it quickly spread around the globe by World War II. Along the way, we get snapshots of the key creators of the daily puzzles from its inventor, Arthur Wynne, through the Italian Giorgio Sisini.

When Quester seeks someone to do additional research, he turns to his former colleague, Zeno Porno, a Disney comics writer. Apparently Zeno is a recurring player in Bacilieri’s work and is seen as the artist’s alter ego. Either way, he seems a sad, almost pathetic figure, who is also never seen actually working. It is through Zeno we get many tangential anecdotes and stories that spin off from the book’s axis. One such digression focuses on Spider-Man foe Hammerhead (properly crediting it to Gerry Conway and John Romita) and leaves you (and Quester) confused. Some of these are done in color while the remainder of the book is in black and white—make of that what you will.

Things turn tragic, though, when young Mafalda Citicillo stalks the pair and shoots them. As Quester recovers, Zeno tracks her down once she’s out of prison to ask the big question: why? Her response sends him close-reading one of Quester’s previous novels in search of answers that do not come easily. In fact, once the reader is told the answer, it is almost immediately undermined leaving readers to wonder where the truth lay.

Originally published as two volumes – Fun and More Fun – they are presented to American readers on one thick volume which makes for a more satisfying experience. Bacilieri worked on this between 2009 and 2014 based on his occasional signature and the artwork itself is exquisite, detailed illustrations that bring different eras and locales to life. His pages are filled with things to look at and while I can quibble with some of the word balloon placement, the page design and storytelling is varied and never dull.

We’re more accustomed to stories with a clear beginning, middle, and ending so some of the narrative ambiguity undercuts the novel’s strength but there is still plenty to like here. I suspect the core story, on its own, would not have been anywhere near as interesting.

I fondly recall the purity of Lego, refusing to license media properties, preferring to keep their toys pristine and unique. Eventually, the opportunity for expanding their line was too tempting and they introduce first one, then another, and now a flood of media properties to their toys allowing you build everything from the Batcave to the Black Pearl. It was only a matter of time before they migrated from the playroom to the computer screen in a series of games that morphed into direct-to-DVD features. And now we have a whole subset of children’s films featuring the Lego version of popular heroes and villains.

One reason this explosion has been sustained is that the producers and writers have been freed to go wild, tongues firmly in cheeks, offering kinetic mayhem for the younger viewers and tons of pop culture references for the parents forced to endure repeated viewings. No doubt inspired by the Zucker Brothers’ Airplane!, these films apparently are a delight.

I wouldn’t know because until recently, I have never really paid attention to one. When The Lego Batman Movie landed on my doorstep, I was intrigued because the 2017 release was a well-reviewed, box office success. Parents of the tiny tot brigade told me it was really fun so I indulged.

I watched and was largely entertained in this film from writers Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern and John Whittington, and director Chris McKay. The main reason is that it focused on the less desirable parts of Batman’s persona amped up in a way to make it appear truly unpleasant. We open with Batman (Will Arnett) single-handedly saving Gotham City (again) from a mob go costumed criminals led by the Joker (Zach Galifianakis). Once the adulation fades away, he returns to Wayne Manor on Wayne Island (where’d that come from?) alone. After eating by himself, he watches Jerry Maguire, one of a ton of relationship films he uses to mask his pain.  His isolation from friends, family, and foes is magnified here, even refusing to acknowledge having any connection with his polar opposite, the Clown Prince of Crime, telling him, “I don’t ‘ship.”

Alone and lonely, he finds himself pushed and shoved into interacting with others by Alfred (Ralph Finnes) at Commissioner Gordon’s retirement party, where daughter Barbara (Rosario Dawson) is introduced as the new police chief. Bruce is so smitten with her that he absently agrees to adopt an orphan, Dick Grayson (Michael Cera).

Meanwhile, the Joker apparently wanted to be imprisoned as part of his latest mad scheme to destroy Gotham and make Batman notice him. For reason that don’t really make a lot of sense, Batman decides the Joker and his ilk, need to go to the Phantom Zone and he brings along his youthful ward, now dressed as Robin despite a lack of training. There, he sees the JLA (complete with the Kenner-only heroes) having a party without him, cementing the sense of isolation.

The Joker goes to the Zone where he recruits Voldemort, the Eye of Sauron, the Daleks, King Kong, the Gremlins, a faux-Godzilla, and others to help him wreck Earth. He does, Batman pays a price for his distance, recognizes he can’t possibly do his job alone and grudgingly comes to accept he needs allies; more he needs family. Alfred is hilariously attired in the Batman outfit from the 1960s and Babs debuts as Batgirl for the climactic battle.

The themes owe tons to the comics but the continuity is an illogical thing unto itself, undermining the connections to the source material and possibly creating a confusing entry point for future comics readers. Name a Batmobile, and you will see it somewhere in this film. Heck, even the reviled Bat-Shark Repellent becomes a plot device. I laughed out loud at the secret password to enter the Batcave and the Fortress of Solitude’s door chime.

For the adults and comic aficionados, though, the film is chockablock full of references, both verbal and visual, to tons of comic lore including references to every film, cartoon, and comic incarnation of the Dark Knight.

There are so many villains, gadgets, vehicles, and the like that it can be a bit overwhelming, no doubt demanding repeated watching just to identify everyone and everything. As a result, a topnotch vocal cast – Jenny Slate, Hector Elizondo, Mariah Carey, Eddie Izzard, Seth Green, Billy Dee Williams (once more as Harvey Dent), Conan O’Brien, Zoë Kravitz, Kate Micucci, Channing Tatum, Ellie Kemper,  Jonah Hill, Adam DeVine, and even Brent Musberger — is mostly wasted since they barely do anything other than grunt or say something innocuous. I do appreciate Siri being cast as the Batcomputer, though.

The Combo Pack comes with the Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD code along with a handful of special features. Notably, there are four short shorts that are more silly than entertaining, four deleted scenes that were thankfully left unused, and six featurettes that cover aspects of the Lego world and film production.

We’ve seen one man versus an army and a man who wants to retire only to be dragged back to the fight. It’s a staple of storytelling and modern cinema so it all comes to down the execution. In fall 2014, audiences were introduced to the latest character in this celebrated model: John Wick. A surprise hit for Lionsgate, it was fairly quickly decided to make a sequel, hoping to turn this into a series which can be a challenge when the main character just wants to be left alone.

In January, Wick’s return came with John Wick Chapter 2 which offered more of the same high-octane stunts, fights, shooting, punching, and martial arts. With a stoic performance from Keanu Reeves we find ourselves rooting for the antihero as the relentless pace is sustained over two hours.

Out now from Lionsgate Home Entertainment, the film can be seen on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD. Any way you watch it, screenwriter Derek Kolstad and director Chad Stahelski raise the stakes and expand Wick’s world. And for me, it is this expanded look at the world of contract killers that is the most interesting aspect.

There are rules and codes these men follow and for Stahelski, this means honoring the influential spaghetti Westerns, notably The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Point Blank, Le Cercle Rouge, and The Killer. Wick is a man in mourning for his dead wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan) and he wants out of the business. In the first installment, he does this by slaughtering men in a single night, earning his freedom. However, there’s still the matter of his stolen car and here we open four days later as he arrives to retrieve it from the Russian mob, now led by Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare), Viggo’s brother, Iosef’s uncle.

We also learn that to accomplish his impossible task, he received help from Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), a powerful Italian crime lord, who shows up to call in his marker. When Wick refuses, Santino blows up his house, forcing Wick back to work, which is to kill Santino’s sister, Gianna D’Antonio (Claudia Gerini), so he can assume control of the New York arm of his family’s criminal operation.

And we’re off.

By far, my favorite parts of the story are set in the Continental, the Old World, old school hotel run by Winston (Ian McShane), a neutral hub for the underworld. When Wick arrives to be tailored and equipped it is a lovely satire of such a locale. There are rules and codes of conduct that are so timeless that we see switchboard operators and pneumatic tubes do the back office work.

There are some interesting characters opposing Wick along the way, notably Common’s Cassian, Gianna’s bodyguard, and Ruby Rose as the mute Ares, Santino’s enforcer. In both cases, I wish we had more with them beyond the endless fights. As with all such films, Wick and his opponents are incredibly accurate until the choreography says they’re not, amping up the implausibility of the action, which is required otherwise the film would be one-third the length.

After defeating them, there is $7 million contract on Wick’s life (up from the first film’s $2 million) and it feels like everyone in Manhattan is a freelance assassin as everyone hunts him. Clearly his rep as the Boogeyman scares off none of them. His reprieve comes in the unlikely form of the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), who has his own underground homeless world to rule.

Clearly, plenty has been established to sustain Wick’s exploits for several more films although the urge to top the previous effort may push the series to ridiculous lengths and one hopes Kolstad, Stahelski, and Reeves temper that.

The Blu-ray edition’s 1080p high definition 16×9 Widescreen 2.40:1 is terrific, letting you follow the action in the gloom of night or fluorescent brightness of the subway system. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is an equal match making for a good home experience.

There are plenty of special features starting with Deleted Scenes, including one with John Leguizamo, that should have been retained. “RetroWick: Exploring the Unexpected Success of John Wick” looks at how surprised everyone was when the first film clicked with audiences around the world;  “Training John Wick”; “WICK-vizzed”; “Friends, Confidantes: The Keanu/Chad Partnership”, which can also be heard with the film’s Audio Commentary; “As Above, So Below: The Underworld of John Wick” Fear”; “Car Fu Ride-Along”; “Chamber Deck: Evolution of a Fight Scene”; “Wick’s Toolbox”; “Kill Count”;, and my favorite, the Dog Wick Short, a trailer for a spin-off that has to be seen.

What a great time to be a grandparent (or so I’m told). There are now plenty of books, games, clothing, and video to encourage girls to be strong and independent. DC Comics offers up their Super Hero Girls line and this week they have released their second animated feature, DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games, a 77-minute romp.

Writer Shea Fontana improves on the first offering with a story set at the Intergalactic Games where Earth’s powered women take on the vile challengers from Korugar Academy. To prepare for the competition Academy teacher Doc Magnus (Phil LaMarr) is building battlebots and supervising Batgirl (Mae Whitman) and Bumblebee (Teala Dunn) as they build their own. Principal Waller (Yvette Nicole Brown) is not amused nor is she happy that Magnus’ bots seem to have free will but were not programmed with any morality, a theme that plays out across the 77-minute fast-paced story.

Lena Luthor (Romi Dames) steals the robots for her own use, complicating matters when everyone assembles for the games. On one side we have the likes of Platinum, Batgirl, Bumblebee, Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Supergirl (Anais Fairweather), Starfire (Hynden Walch), and the Flash (Josh Keaton) Under headmaster Sinestro’s (Tom Kenny) command are Starfire’s sister Blackfire (Hynden Walch), Lobo (Tom Kenny), Maxima, Mongal (Julianne Grossman), and Bleez (Stephanie Sheh). There’s also Granny Goodness’ (April Stewart) Female Furies team including Lashina (Jessica DiCicco), Mad Harriet (Misty Lee), and Stompa (April Stewart).

Additionally, Hawkgirl (Nika Futterman), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Katana (Stephanie Sheh), Lady Shiva (Tania Gunadi), Big Barda (Big Barda (Misty Lee ), Star Sapphire (Jessica DiCicco), Frost (Danica McKellar), Poison Ivy (Tara Strong) , Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), and Harley Quinn (Tara Strong) play parts large and small.

So, right there, teens and adults more familiar with the comics than the target audience will love the characters plucked from throughout the DC Universe continuity. There are plenty of other little asides such as Steve Trevor’s Capes & Cowls Café.

Thankfully, it’s not just mindless action before, during, and after the competition. Fontana nicely weaves in all the inter-person drama one would expect when mixing all these characters together. Everyone does not get along nor are things overly simplified for the young viewer.

The standard DVD looks and sounds just fine. The feature comes with several extras including Fifth Harmony song “That’s My Girl” and seven short cartoons: “New Beginnings”, “Hero of the Month: Supergirl”, “Batgirl vs. Supergirl”, “Quinn-tessential Harley”, “Doubles Trouble”, “Franken-Ivy”, and  “Dude, Where’s My Invisible Jet?”

Given how incredibly popular Wolverine has been since his introduction in comics forty years ago, it’s always been a little odd that he has not fared well on the silver screen. While he’s been one of the strongest elements in all the X-Men films to date, his solo offerings — X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine – have not exactly worked. Hugh Jackman has said he had one solo film left in him so the challenge for Director James Mangold was making this one good.

Thankfully, Logan, was more than good. It was a thrilling experience on screen and now on home video. The movie, out now from 20^th Century Home Entertainment, works on multiple levels but is a fitting finale for Jackman’s portrayal of the canucklehead. Where the others were solo stories with lots of extra characters around, this is more of a buddy film with the first half focusing on the relationship between Logan and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the second half with his sort of daughter Laura (Dafne Keen).

We leap ahead to 2029, a world where mutants haven’t been born in twenty-five years, and where most of the existing ones are already dead. Xavier is dying, both from old age, and metal disease that has turned his psionic abilities into deadly force that has to be treated medicinally. He’s squirreled away in an abandoned Mexican refinery, watched over by Caliban (Stephen Merchant). Logan, the adamantium covering his bones, is slowly poisoning him so he’s finally aging and his healing factor is not what it used to be. To support his drinking and Xavier’s drugs, he drives a limo in a world that has seen better days but has not yet slipped into total dystopia.

There meager existence is upended when Logan is approached by Gabriela Lopez (Elizabeth Rodriguez), toting a young girl with her. She is on the run from Transigen where she worked as a nurse and the girl was raised in captivity. She appeals for Logan’s help but he wants nothing to do with her, no longer a noble figure but a broken hero. However, things change when Transigen’s enforcer Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) warns Logan off and Lopez is soon dead.

Pierce is out for the girl, Logan, and Xavier so the chase is on. The buddy film is merged with a road race as Logan tries to keep them safe while slowly learning that Laura and the others were raised from mutant DNA experiments, making her his genetic daughter, altering his view of things.

Several of the children have escaped and gone to Eden, a mountain retreat, reportedly revealed through an X-Men comic so Laura convinces Logan to bring her there but along the way, they are stopped by a clone of Logan, dubbed X-24, and there is death and destruction in their wake.

Mangold paints a bleak portrait of a world without heroes and a man without a future. There’s a sense of hopelessness that pervades the story and it takes a youth to awaken the hero within. The writing gives everyone plenty to do and other than a stop at a farmhouse for dinner, the pacing is excellent.

Jackman and Stewart play off one another exceedingly well, a familiarity born from their previous work together. They bicker like the tired old men they are. As a result, the real revelation in this film is Keen, who is expressively silent during the first two-thirds of the film. When she speaks, though, it changes their dynamic and adds a new layer.

Interestingly, the combo pack comes with two Blu-ray discs – the film itself and Logan Noir, a black and white version that is chilling in its own way. The film can also be found on the DVD and the Digital HD code.

The AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1 is superb, sharp, and near perfect. Coupled with Logan’s DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix, you have an excellent home viewing experience.

The special features include a handful of Deleted Scenes (7:45) with optional commentary by Mangold. Of these, only one could have made the film better. There is a multipart Making Logan (1:16:05) that breaks down the film from its origins in Old Man Logan and the X-23 storylines in comics to the casting process (Deen’s screen test is well worth a look) to production. Finally, there is a strong Audio Commentary by Mangold (which is repeated for Logan Noir).

If this is truly Jackman’s farewell to the character, he couldn’t have asked for a better story to share with his audience.

The trailer for Get Out intrigued me but ultimately I chose not to see it in the theater because it seemed a bit more of a thriller than I desired. But then lots of people I knew were recommending it, as were the critics. I was impressed by the 99% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score so when the opportunity came to review the film on disc, I decided to give it a shot.

I have never seen anything Jordan Peele has done but appreciate his work here as both writer and director. The film’s first two-thirds are very strong as everything appears idyllically normal with a loving, upper crust family welcoming the daughter’s boyfriend for a weekend visit. But, in many, many subtle ways, there’s also something very unnerving just below the surface. The house too perfect (despite the “black mold” in the basement), the dad just a tad too accommodating, and the maid a might too subservient.

Increasingly, things feel “off” and you get an unsettling feeling without fully knowing what is happening. Is it supernatural in nature? Is it white supremacy gone off the deep end? You get the clues slowly and by the time you figure it out, the film goes off the rails and devolves into standard horror fare, undercutting and spoiling the marvelous tone Peele established.

The movie stars Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington, a well-balanced, loving black boyfriend to Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). She has not told her parents, Dean (Bradley Whtiford) and Missy (Catherine Keener), that she has been dating a black man, which at first feels remarkably modern but is actually the first warning sign. The first real sign that not everything is right comes with the arrival of Rose’s brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones).

At the party the following day, the various friends seem particularly taken with Chris, who grins and bares it, while people recreate that uneasy feeling I first got when I watched Mandingo, checking him out. And that’s when the racist themes really get an airing in a nice variety of exchanges. But what about the maid Georgina (Betty Gabriel) and the handyman Walter (Marcus Henderson)? They’re the only other black people on hand and neither one seems welcoming; in fact, it’s the opposite. That raises new questions.

Chris shares his concerns with his pal, TSA Agent Rod Williams (Lil Rel Howery), so when he disappears for two days and can’t be reached, Rod goes into detective mode. Unfortunately, his concerns are laughed at by Detective Latoya (Erika Alexander). This in itself is a reflection of how black issues can be overlooked by authorities, even black ones,

The performances are well-mannered and downright creepy at times with high marks to Kaluuya and Williams, who get the most to do with their characters. Peele makes us uncomfortable with the very normalcy of the race relations along with the class structure on display. He doesn’t get showy…until that final third.

We then have the usual assortment of over-the-top blood and mess, predictable thrills, and an anticipated climax. What’s interesting about the film’s end comes with the Special Features which offers up a vastly differently final scene that changes the tone and the optional commentary from Peele explains his choices. While I’m reviewing this as a straight thriller, others have viewed it as a satire but it doesn’t entirely work on that level given the horror undercurrents driving the characters and issues of race.

The film is out now from Universal Home Entertainment in a variety of packages including the Blu-ray, DVD< Digital HD Combo Pack. The high definition transfer is crisp, clear, and colorful with an excellent audio track,

Along with the alternate ending, there are a score of deleted scenes including seven different versions of the actual end scene, showcasing Howery’s adlib skills. A few of the other scenes would have helped the film and again, these come with optional Peele thoughts. There is the far more perfunctory Unveiling the Horror of Get Out: Behind the Scenes and an engaging Q&A Discussion with Peele & Cast, hosted by Chance the Rapper. Finally, there’s an okay Feature Commentary from Peele.

It’s hard to imagine Vixen as a member of the DC Universe for over 35 years now, an early victim of the DC Implosion before arriving as a guest-star in Action Comics. She’s been a constant presence if not a major one, but was exactly in the range of secondary characters ripe for development for television since her powers were not entirely special effects-laden.

Interestingly, she was brought to The CW through their CW Seed website, a way to expand the Arrowverse with original content. In 2015, there were six short animated episodes that performed well enough that a second season arrived last October. The dozen episodes have now been edited into a 78-minute feature, Vixen the Movie, out now from Warner Home Entertainment.

The series is only kinda sort of close to the source material as we learn of Mari Jiwe McCabe’s (Megalyn Echikunwoke) upbringing in the African land of Zambesi, but raised in Detroit by her foster father Chuck Neil Flynn). The series opens with Mari wanting to learn the truth about her birth parents and the origins of the Tantu Totem necklace she was given by her birth mother. People are now after it and she discovers it imbues her with animal powers, bringing her to the attention of Flash (Grant Gustin) and Green Arrow (Stephen Amell). She rejects their offers of help and instead turns to college professor Macalester (Sean Patrick Thomas) for answers, leading her back to Africa and a confrontation with Kuasa (Anika Noni Rose), the sister she didn’t know she had, and one who wants Mari dead so she can possess the totem.

The second season went way beyond the comics and introduced the notion that there were five powerful totems – air, earth, water, fire, and spirit. The fire jewel has been found and comes into the possession of Benatu Eshu (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), a general who has been seeking any one of the jewels for years. He appears too powerful for Vixen until she digs deep and finds a way to persevere. Along the way, she demonstrates how comfortable she has gotten with her powers by aiding Flash, Firestorm (Franz Drameh/Victor Garber), Atom (Brandon Routh), and Black Canary (Katie Cassidy) during an attack from Weather Wizard.

The animated story suffers from the same weakness of its live-action colleagues, an inability to effectively write team action or proper use of powers. In this case, Eshu uses fire much as Heat Wave does, as some sort of force rather than something that burns. The dialogue has the same snap to it, though, which is welcome.

The animation is adequate if a little stiff and angular in character design while the live-action actors needed far better direction for their animated counterparts. Thankfully, Echikunwoke does a far superior job, which earned her a guest spot on Arrow last year and would be most welcome back for a third season or another live-action appearance.

The movie comes on a Blu-ray with Digital HD code. The lone special feature is “Vixen: Spirit Animal” which has comics historian and ComicMix contributor Alan Kistler, series executive producer Marc Guggenheim, Victor Garber, and Carlos Valdes weigh in on how her magical background fills a gap between the super-hero and the vigilante in the Arrowverse. Not much about her comic book origins are ever discussed, though. Additionally, there are two episodes from Justice League Unlimited included – “Hunter’s Moon” and “Grudge Match”.

Warner Home Entertainment is commemorating Wonder Woman’s 75th Anniversary leading up to the June 2 release of Patty Jenkins’ feature film. Joining in on the fun is this week’s rerelease of 2009’s animated film, directed by Lauren Montgomery.

This new edition, out as a Combo Pack with Bu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD, comes with just one new extra (the old ones remain): What Makes a Wonder Woman with a nice assortment of people chatting about her cultural significance, including Jenkins, Montgomery, Phil Jimenez, William Moulton Marston biographer Jill Lepore, and a few others for good measure.

Here’s our original review, which remains unchanged:

The DC Universe series of animated features got off to a rocky start with the Superman vs. Doomsday offering but has gotten steadily better.  New Frontier was pretty amazing and now they offer up Wonder Woman, which may be the closest we get to a feature about the Amazon Princess for quite some time.

And I’m pretty okay with that, given how good this direct-to-DVD offering is.  It’s not perfect, but it’s entertaining and a great introduction to the character. If you’ve been following the interviews we’ve been posting here at ComicMix, you know that it comes from the usual suspects behind the animated DCU along with a very strong voice cast.

The movie posits that Wonder Woman exists in a world of her own and there are no references to the greater DCU, allowing you to dwell on the mythological background that spawned the character.  Created by William Moulton Marston, his grasp of the Greek mythology he predicated the character on was shaky at best and frankly, it wasn’t until the George Perez-driven version of 1987 before anyone explored the Greek gods and their role in the Amazons’ world.

This is an extended origin story hewing fairly closely to the familiar canonical tale although there are several different interpretations of characters and events to make this another flavor of the origin.

We get to learn of the Amazons and how they arrived on Themyscira and how their queen, Hippolyta, longed for a child, fashioning one from clay and given life by the gods she worshipped.  Life in paradise was fine for some, not for others but the island also served as a prison for Zeus’ son Ares, god of war.  His scheme for freedom coincides with the accidental arrival of Steve Trevor, an Air Force pilot and the decision to hold a contest to allow the winner the right to bring the man back to his world.

The look of the island and its inhabitants is nicely designed and many of the familiar characters are given more personality and wit than their comic book templates.  Steve Trevor, voiced by Nathan Fillion, has more charm and unique characteristics than in any previous interpretation and makes you understand what Wonder Woman eventually sees in him.

Once Diana wins the contest and takes Steve back to “man’s world”, the story begins developing logic problems which are never resolved (or even explored in the accompanying commentary).  She’s given the invisible robot plane with no explanation or training in its use and then they go to America.  The Air Force doesn’t seem remotely interested in his whereabouts so he’s never debriefed but remains free to use their equipment.  He then says that Ares, now freed, is leaving a trail of destruction and a pattern will form and he can be followed, a logical point but never followed through.

Instead, Ares finds an ancient cult that remains active, and uses them to gain access to Tartarus where Hades aids his cause.  Let me say that the look and handling of Hades wildly varies form the comics but works perfectly here and I applaud the design.

Ares, now more powerful, summons an army from…somewhere…and launches his campaign of war against mankind from Washington D.C. which, from his point of view, makes no sense. He makes a pretty speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial which also makes little sense.  But it does kick off the climactic fight which is well handled throughout.  The arrival of the Amazons, though, makes it appear the Potomac River is as large as an ocean and is a little too reminiscent of moments from Troy and Lord of the Rings.

While the story doesn’t hang together as well as one would like, it also is filled with deft little moments and great bits of dialogue so kudos to WW scribe Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic for the overall story and Jelenic’s script.  The voice cast, led by Keri Russell, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, and Fillion, is also strong, letting the animated people feel more than two-dimensional.

The score is a generic animation score and in that regard is like wallpaper but could have done more.

The disc comes with a 10-minute background to their next offering, the just announced Green Lantern feature due in July.  There are other background features to several other DCU animated projects and trailers for related product from Warner Home Video. The commentary from the production team could have been more focused but does provide some interesting insight into what made it to a storyboard and what made it to the final cut.   The two-disc set comes with several Justice League episodes as does the Blu-ray.