Flash Finale, Supergirl Pilot and Torchwood (SBU Podcast)

The official podcast of Christian Geek Central! 

(http://www.christiangeekcentral.com)

Flash Finale, Supergirl Pilot and more Torchwood! Plus our return to the book of Hebrews!

Avengers: Age Of Ultron Review (SBU Podcast)

The official podcast of Christian Geek Central! 
(http://www.christiangeekcentral.com)

A review of Avengers: Age Of Ultron and a look at the question "Is Bad Language Really Bad?"!

Birdman Review (SBU Podcast)

A review of Birdman and why Geeks should consider the spiritual disciplines!

Birdman Review

Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis Review (SBU Podcast)

A review of Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis, some "Trek Talk", and why Christian Geeks should think about animal sacrifice!

Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis - CGC Uncut Review

Dr. Who and DC Movies! (SBU Podcast)

Part 2 of David Arington's thoughts on Dr. Who Season 1 and a conversation about the latest DC Movie News!

Do YOU crave a "rescuer"? My Thoughts On "The Flash" Premiere! - (Inside Paeter's Brain)

Gotham, Agents Of SHIELD and Game Emulation Part 3 (SBU Podcast)

Some thoughts on the "Gotham" tv series premiere, the Agents Of SHIELD season premiere and the conclusion of our look at game emulation and abandonware. Plus, a "Summer Of Free" Aftershock!

Stractics Download Link-  http://www.spiritblade.net/downloads/Stractics_Rules_and_Printouts.rtf

Batman: Assault On Arkham and The Giver (SBU Podcast)

Reviews of Batman: Assault On Arkham and The Giver!

Son Of Batman Review (SBU Podcast)

Free Marvel Anime and a review of "Son Of Batman"!

X-Men: Days Of Future Past Review (SBU Podcast)

A review of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, ComicKate's review of the Superior Spiderman comic book series, a conversation about Paper and pencil RPGs and a boatload of listener feedback!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review (SBU Podcast)

A review of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and a comparison between Jesus and the angels in the book of Hebrews!

Thor: The Dark World Review and Strangers And Aliens Interview (SBU Podcast)

A review of "Thor: The Dark World" and a conversation with the hosts of the Strangers And Aliens podcast! 

The Wolverine Review and ComicCon 2013 (SBU Podcast)

A review of "The Wolverine", a retro review of "The Princess Bride" and discussion of ComicCon 2013! Plus, part two of our look at The Old Testament Law and whether or not it is binding to us today.

The Wolverine (Movie Review)

I sat down to watch The Wolverine not expecting a great movie. The trailers I had seen featured action sequences obviously filmed in front of green screen, giving the impression that this movie didn't have the budget it needed to tell a truly great superhero story. (Okay, Wolverine/Logan is an anti-hero, but you know what I mean.) Still, I knew this movie was highly anticipated by many geeks, so I carved out the time and sat in the theater to see what would come of this second attempt at a Wolverine solo movie. I was surprised by what I got. In some ways good, and in some ways bad.

The Wrath Of God Has Been Neutered

Relativism strikes another blow to pop culture in "Countdown To Mystery" from DC comics.
I love the Spectre. One of my favorite character concepts. The Wrath of God bonded to a human soul. John Ostrander's run with Tom Mandrake doing artwork was a critical success, but since they stepped down, the character has gone downhill. First with the J.M. Dematteis "Spectre the Friendly Ghost" series, where the character suddenly became the "Spirit of Redemption", going on all sorts of touchy feely journeys with people who "really aren't so bad after all."
Now don't get me wrong. I'm all about redemption. I know my own heart, and I'm certainly deserving of some wrath. But there are people in this world who are completely given over to evil and they will never seek redemption.
Granted, we don't want to be judgmental and pretend we know who those people are, but history has demonstrated that plenty of people go their graves cursing everyone around them and having no remorse for the horrific evils they've committed. They may not be in the majority, but they definitely exist.
And what's more, if you're writing a work of fiction, you objectively know what your character's "spiritual condition" is. So the Spectre is the perfect opportunity to write stories that remind us that there really is such a thing as evil and there really is such a thing as justice. There was a time when ANY superhero book could be looked at for clear examples of good, evil and justice. But as American pop-spirituality infects entertainment media, we run increasingly short on stories that handle these ethical realities with clear definition or distinction.
In Countdown to Mystery, a book partially showcasing the Spectre, we see a cruel, remorseless murderer kill someone in cold blood with a smile on his face. The Spectre shows up and kills the murderer. But instead of going to hell or facing ANY real form of punishment other than the brief discomfort of death, he just hangs around. Why? Because he's an atheist, and so he has "nowhere to go".
Okay, fine. But the grounding of the Spectre, as a character, is based on the absolute, monotheistic concepts of the Bible, or at least the Old Testament. The Spectre is supposed to be unstoppable. But now, some sick jerk who has no value for human life can look at the Spectre and essentially pout, "I don't believe in you. Go away!" and get off the hook?
Why even bother writing stories about the Spectre anyway if it's that easy to avoid justice?
Anyway, I'm a DC fan, a Spectre fan and so far the rest of the story and art are compelling enough to continue reading. However I can't avoid a sigh every now and then...

Is Superman A Christian?

I saw an interesting photo-shopped version of a well-known painting of Jesus, where the photo-shopper inserted Superman into the picture so that Jesus was hugging him and welcoming him to heaven. So, is Superman a believer in Christ?

Well, let's start out by saying this is a pretty dumb question. Superman is obviously fictional. Jesus didn't die to pay for Superman's sins. Jesus doesn't love Superman either. Superman is fictional.

But through the years, even in the hands of various writers, Clark Kent was clearly raised in a "Christian" environment. (For one example you can read the trade paperback "A Superman For All Seasons".) And although the issue number doesn't come to mind, I distinctly remember Martha Kent commenting that she and Jonathan had raised Clark using the Bible as a moral center-point.

But more than any of that, I'll tell you what I liked about that picture. We think of Superman as being the ultimate representation of ourselves. Morally upright, self-sacrificing and most of all... powerful. An invincible man that can level mountains. And while this alteration of another painting may have been done as a joke, I look at it and as a hugely geeky Christian think, "If Superman WERE a real person, even HE would be relieved to be supported and welcomed by the INFINITELY powerful and loving arms of Jesus." No matter how strong anyone may be, in the end we ALL need Jesus.

Superman/Doomsday (DVD Review)

Partially master-minded by Bruce Timm, the man who brought us all things "DC Animated" since the 90's "Batman: The Animated Series", this film should have been better than it was.


The animation was not much better (if at all) than the Justice League or Superman animated tv shows, and I've enjoyed multi-episode story arcs from both shows more than I enjoyed this film. Although the aim was to re-tell the classic story of Superman's death and return, the script strayed too far from the source material to bring any of the magic of the comic book to life.


Now, I'm a reasonable comic book fan. The cast of characters in the comic book story was FAR too big to include here. And they must have felt they didn't have time to do the "Reign of the Supermen" story. In it's place, we have a pretty uncreative story of Lex Luthor creating a clone of Superman to do his bidding in the absence of the real McCoy. But even a nod to the Eradicator by using his Superman costume for the clone would have been nice.


Instead we have a ho-hum fight with Doomsday (and this is due largely to mediocre animation), an odd mix of Lois KIND OF knowing Superman is Clark and at the same time not, and an "evil Superman" plot that feels like a real disappointment compared to the original story concept. With great animation coming from the line of Marvel animated movies, this offering from DC falls incredibly short. I purchased it only because no Blockbuster in my city is carrying it. Good for them.


Despite all of these failures, I really loved this DVD. The reason? The special features! Namely the documentary about the creation of the original comic book storyline. I thought I knew the hows and whys of DC's choice to kill Superman, but I didn't know the half of it. Here's a hint. "Lois and Clark" the TV show, actually gets the credit for killing Superman, even though he was killed in the comics before the first episode aired!! Curious how it came about? I couldn't believe it myself!


The documentary runs about an hour and kept me glued to my seat as the writers and editors of DC (at the time of the "death" story arc) all returned to tell the amazing tale. Some of the writers even get choked up as they talk about the "Death Of Superman" story, and I'll admit, I wiped away a couple tears as well while I was reminded of the great drama that grabbed us from the comic pages in the fall of 1992. The documentary also does a great job of taking you back in time to when the events unfolded on the news and in mainstream newspapers and magazines. This documentary alone makes the purchase valid for me.


Also included is an exciting preview for DC's next animated feature, "Justice League: The New Frontier". This project looks MUCH more promising in terms of animation quality. This mini-documentary on the making of New Frontier may be included on that project's DVD, but it's still very enjoyable to watch.


In terms of Relevance, watching the "Death" documentary with another comic fan may allow opportunity to discuss the definition of heroism, or to draw comparisons to Christ.


The Movie-
Quality: 6.0
Relevance:5.0

Special Features-
Quality: 8.0
Relevance:7.0

Doctor Strange (Movie Review)

Although I'm not a huge Marvel Comics fan, I am a huge superhero fan, and so it was only a matter of time before I picked up a copy of Marvel's latest animated feature film, "Doctor Strange".
Like it's three predecessors, the animation in this film was fantastic, and the visual design remarkable. After watching this film, I felt a strong desire to play some more "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" and to swap Doctor Strange into my team. The score was a great compliment and the musical "theme" during the opening credits felt very appropriate, if slightly derivative of Danny Elfman. The voice acting was also very well and done.
The weaker point for this film, in my opinion, is the amount of time spent on the origin of Doctor Strange. The film is essentially just his origin story, and not until the very end do we see a glimpse of the real power that we know Strange has in the comics. So if you're looking for a Doc Strange film where he's really cutting loose and behaving like the "Sorcerer Supreme", you'll want to wait for a sequel and just rent this one. That said, there is still a lot of great magic happening through Strange and the large supporting cast of mystics.
In terms of Relevance, there's not a whole lot in this film that will spark meaningful coffee house conversation, although you might find some opportunity to discuss eastern philosophy or relativism after watching the movie with someone. As Strange is being trained, one of the lessons he must learn implies that reality is directly linked to perception. A very relativistic concept.
In the end, I almost wish I had rented instead of bought, but I was also a little sleepy while I watched it, and was interrupted a few times while viewing. I may have a better appreciation for it after watching it again in a few months. But for now:
Quality: 8.0/10
Relevance: 6.5/10