Review: iZombie Season Finale (Spoilers)

The CW’s iZombie wrapped up its first season in a satisfactory manner. I greatly enjoyed iZombie’s freshman season. Even though I missed a couple episodes, the show was still accessible. I am not all that familiar with Vertigo series so I do not know how faithful the show was to the comic. In any case, here’s my review of the season finale. Beware spoilers at your own peril.

 Blaine’s brain delivery service plot came to an end as Major had his vengeance in glorious action movie fashion. Well, Liv helped. In doing so, Major’s two major arcs of being in the dark about Liv and the zombies and his quest to help the missing children came to an end.  Of all the characters on iZombie, Major undergoes the most character development over the course the series. He goes from unknowing ex-fiance helpless to help those around him to knowing about zombies, gaining independence from Liv, and being the catalyst for Blaine’s downfall.  Meanwhile, Blaine escapes apparently ‘cured’.

In addition to ending Blaine’s stint as the Big Bad of the show, the first season ends with several subplots and major plotlines on the horizon.  What will Blaine do next? Major most likely will be a person of interest as far as police are concerned. What will Max Rager do next and is it safe to say that company will be next season’s Big Bad? There’s the status of the cure and how it will affect those cured. What will happen to Liv’s brother? Oh, let us not forget all zombies out there that Blaine’s little enterprise was helping to keep under control. Will show still be a quirky supernatural police procedural with a touch of Dollhouse thrown.

All in all, iZombie’s first season ended on a high-note. If you have not seen the show, I heartily recommend it.

Review: FCBD Divergence

In advance of DC’s June publishing initiative, DC released original 8-page stories highlighting what they have in store for readers. Among those stories was this year’s Free Comic Book Day offering, Divergence. Divergence contains stories from the creative teams of Batman, Superman, and Justice League.  So what follows is not only a review but also whether the 8-page story fulfilled its intended purpose to convince to read/buy that title. Note: I currently do not read Batman, Superman, and Justice League.

I have not read a single issue of the acclaimed run of Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and Danny Miki on Batman. So the story ‘The Rookie’ was a pleasant treat. The art was detailed and told the story well while bringing back memories of the pair’s work on Spawn years ago. The Rookie debuts the new Batman and the set-up reminds me of the original Robocop in tone except instead of a cyborg the new Batman wears a suit of armor reminiscent of Iron Man. While I enjoyed the story, I am still on the fence on whether or not I would add Batman to my list of titles. I am weary of what seems to be a recent trend of replacing Bruce in the cowl. Furthermore, the new Batman goes beyond Azrael’s version in my eyes. Maybe I’ll pick up the trades.

Meanwhile, I loved the new direction and creative team of Superman. John Romita Jr’s art shines. While I have never read Gene Luan Yang’s work before there’s promise. The story itself, Exposed,  does a great job of exploring in mere eight pages Superman’s new status quo. I’m a big fan of Golden Age Superman so Supes operating at that power level will be a treat.  A depowered Superman whose identity is public knowledge and is on the run in the world of social media, which Exposed illustrates wonderfully, makes for exciting comics.  That said, solicitations state that Superman titles will kick off with the ‘Truth’ arc. I don’t want to follow every Superman title so whether or not I buy the title Superman depends on how independent the individual titles are. The trades are a definite.

Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s Justice League story, The Darkseid War Prologue Two: The Other Amazon is an origin story full of myth and prophecy while building towards the comics equivalent of summer blockbuster in the Darkseid War. While I felt the art was a tad muddled at times, The Other Amazon serves as an example of how to do an eight-pager right.  Yep, eight-page stories do not get better than this! The Darkseid War should be an epic for the ages. When John’s Justice League came out I decided that I would read it in trade paperback form.  Whether or not I change my mind depends on whether any copies of the single issue are available at my local comics shop.