Must-Read Comic: The Nice House On The Lake (DC Comics, 2021)

 James Tynion IV is re-vitalizing comic books. He’s not alone, of course; others, like Joe Hill, Gail Simone, and Brian Michael Bendis are telling compelling stories. 

But at age 33, Tynion IV is special. 

He’s breathed new life into the Batman legend, and his “Something Is Killing The Children,” was nominated for an Eisner Award as Best New Series in 2020.

Admittedly, it’s too early to declare his newest title, “The Nice House On The Lake,” a success. But, based on reader anticipation (it had over 100,000 pre-orders) the quality of issue #1 (just released), and the art of Alvaro Martinez’s Bueno, the potential for this horror series is tremendous. 

Perhaps — sooner than later, maybe — we’ll be discussing the work of Tynion IV with the same enthusiasm we have for Moore, Byrne, Miller, and Kirby.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Joe Walsh -- the legendary rock guitarist, not the less-than-legendary former congressman -- wrote the song "Decades," in the early 1990s. His song was a reflection on each decade of the 20th century, with highlights about the good and the bad that happened in each. 

His comment on the 1980s? "The 80s were a waste of time." Period. He called it and moved on. 

He was right. 

The 1980s, in the US of A at least, was a decade of greed and selfishness. "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good," said Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. And an entire generation ate that shit up. We wanted to look good, feel good, and have more tomorrow than we had today. Truth became less important than  acquisition. And we talked ourselves into believing that was OK because, well . . . that perspective allowed us to focus on getting more stuff. 

Wonder Woman 1984 is commentary on that lifestyle. The movie points out the obsession we had way-back-when with how we look, what we have, and how we're willing to embrace dishonesty to achieve our desires. WW84 is a morality play that teaches us the quest to achieve our greatest wish typically harms other people. And when that wish is finally fulfilled it often comes at a great cost to who we are as individuals and as a society. 

That's the best part of Wonder Woman 1984.

The movie has a lot of problems that can't be ignored: the special effects are campy and the plot is thin. The greatest blunder, in my opinion, was in the presentation of Maxwell Lord. The movie character Maxwell Lord bears no resemblance to the DC comic Maxwell Lord. While that inconsistency can be frustrating to fanboys, in this case the movie version of Lord is simply over-the-top goofy. 

That hurts the movie because he's too big a loser to be taken seriously. 

Gal Godat is fine as the super-heroine, and Chris Pine lends a lot to the movie. But it's Kristen Wiig who is the breakout star of this flick. She has to show tremendous range to make her Barbara Minerva work, and she pulls it off well. 

The movie answers the long asked question: "Can Wonder woman fly?" And, there's a fun mid-credit scene you'll want to stick around for.