Author: Bert Ehrmann

Dangerous Universe has been Bert’s web playground since 1998 when personal web sites were a rarity rather than the norm.

For Sale: My Collection of Image Comics

CategoriesUncategorizedPosted on

The 1990s were a very interesting time for those of us who collected comic books. Back then, comics weren’t nearly as mainstream as they are today. In fact, kids were the ones who were supposed to be buying the comics and any kid who kept purchasing them into their teens was looked upon with pity or downright scorn for doing so.

I was one of those pitied and teased teens who would hit the local drug stores and supermarkets each week looking for new comics. And, on the first Sunday of the month, would visit the local flea market hoping to load-up on older titles too.

Click here to continue reading this column on Image Comics.

The Dark Knight Rises Movie Review

CategoriesUncategorizedPosted on

Grade C: I haven’t been a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s Batman film series. I felt that Batman Begins (2005) took too long to get going and that if The Dark Knight (2008) were about 45 minutes shorter I’d have considered it a masterpiece. But those 45 minutes…

And while I didn’t enjoy the Nolan Batman films as much as I had some of the more recent Marvel superhero movies, or even Batman (1989), I did enjoy the two Nolan Batman films enough to see the latest The Dark Knight Rises opening night.

Unfortunately, I liked The Dark Knight Rises even less than the other two Nolan Batman outings.

It seems to me that a movie that advertises itself as featuring Batman would feature said character. And while Batman is certainly a presence at the end of the movie and in an amazing chase scene at the middle, the character feels mostly absent from The Dark Knight Rises. We instead get a haggard and beaten Howard Hughes-esque Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Gotham cop trying to do good John Blake (Joseph Gorden-Levitt) in his place for much of the movie.

I think what gets me so much about not having Batman around is just how good the movie is when he’s in it; from the above mentioned chase scene, to Batman vs. Bane (twice!) or even the complicated relationship Batman has with Selena Kyle/Catwoman. When Batman is around The Dark Knight Rises is interesting and fun. When he’s not the movie is like a long drink of molasses.

Batman Begins – 2.5/4 Stars
The Dark Knight – 3/4 Stars