Anime, Cartoons, Comics! Plight Vol. 2, No. 8: GOLDEN CRISIS
Welcome to my 4th instalment of Plight! Ah, remember back when I did the first one, the only anime I had ever tried to get into was Naruto and a bit of SAO? Seems like forever ago. Now I'm watching more than I can keep track of! Anyway, let's get to it!
FEATURED COMIC: FINAL CRISIS
Ah, Final Crisis. One of the very first comic book events I read at the same time it came out, and the first hardcover collection I bought. Not only that, but this event has Grant Morrison madness in full swing. It starts simple enough: Someone murdered Orion, a New God. A murder mystery, sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Not even close. This is a New God we are talking about, and beings from all over the DCU get involved to find out what caused what the Guardians have classified as Deicide. The leads point to the mysterious Dark Side club, where kids have missing kids have ended up. Not only that, but behind the scenes, villains have been gathered under a mysterious figure calle Libra, and as a show of power, the Martian Manhunter is killed in cold blood flames as high beings that monitor the Multiversal Orrery watch and exile one of their own.
This all happens in the first issue, too.
Quickly, the scope widens as heroes are targeted one by one. While investigating Orion's corpse, Batman is captured by a mind-controlled Alpha Lantern, but not before Batman discovers her ruse. Superman is harmed via an attack on Lois Lane, and Wonder Woman is dragged away as one of the Furies by an evil Mary Marvel. As the heroes fall, the entire world falls under Anti-Life, and the mastermind, Darkseid, awakens.
A resistance is formed. Superman joins Supermen from other multiverses. Barry Allen comes back to life. The bullet that killed Orion was shot backward through time. Universes collide. Entire worlds are destroyed. Villains betray themselves. Hal Jordan is judged. Heroes fall. A war is fought in an epic scale. The Spectre Judges. Superman travels to the future for a solution. Humanity falls.
And amidst the chaos, hope is born from the sacrifice of one man. But this is not just any man. A promise is broken, as Batman sacrifices himself to end Darkseid.
Humanity might have fallen, but they the world hasn't given up. Superman returns to the body of his fallen friend, and lets out his rage on the armies of Darkseid. Supermen from all the universes band together to stop Darkseid. Death itself brings an end to Darkseid as it is outrun by the Flash family. And in the end, a single musical note from the mouth of the Kryptonian is the only thing able to cancel the frequency of the anti-life.
I did mention this was Grant Morrison at his most insane, didn't I?
The fall of the Bat. The rebirth of the Flash. The Dawn of a New Age. But the fire...it burns forever.
This all ties in nicely with Batman RIP (what happens in between is later explained in some later Batman and Detective Comics issues). Many things spin out of it, like Flash: Rebirth, Dick Grayson as Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne...and oh so many more things...
FEATURED CARTOON: AVENGERS - EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES
EMH is one of those "gone too soon" series that Marvel produced. Seriously, it's the dream Avengers cartoon. It has a large amount of the classic roster with some recent faces, successfully adapts several comic book storylines, and manages to be fun for all ages, not just kids. Hell, long time comic book fans will get a kick out of all the small details in this series. We get the Kree-Skrull War, the rise of Ultron, the Winter Soldier, the Guardians of the Galaxy, The Vision, Red Hulk, Secret Invasion, freaking Galactus! So many great things were done in this show, even the New Avengers popped up for an episode! All I've got to say is, if you like Marvel, seriously give this show a chance. It is indeed excellent, and it's a definitely a complete shame that it was cancelled.
And come on, that theme is freaking amazing.
FEATURED ANIME: GOLDEN TIME
I've been wanting to feature this one for a while, but I figured I'd wait for it to end before I did. That said, worry not! I will not be spoiling major things from it here. Golden Time is the story of Tada Banri, a guy who loses his memory after an accident. Instead of trying to remember what happened, he decides to start a new life, and moves to a different place and a far away college. So starts the new life of this new Tada Banri. Along the way he makes new friends, with the first one being a guy named Mitsuo. Thing is, right after he meets him, Mitsuo's girlfriend-but-not-really-it's-actually-complicated-and-she's-stalking-him-and-stuff Kaga Koko arrives, and downright smacks this new friend. Point is, this girl is crazy for him, and he's not. So where does Banri fit into this? Along the way Banri actually starts to become friends with Koko, and begins to understand her. Not only that, but as Koko starts to give up on Mitsuo, feelings these two start growing closer and closer.
I won't say much more, not for lack of stuff to say, but because I don't want to spoil the ride. Let's just say, it has great, believable characters; great animation, and an engaging story that'll have your heart going up and down.
There is so much stuff I didn't mention about it, but that's on purpose, I want you guys to find it all out for yourselves once you give it a chance! Hell, I didn't even mention Linda, Oka, 2D-kun, or any of the other great characters! I'll just leave you with this piece of weirdness:
The featured header file (Photoshop 5)
The main Plight header file (Photoshop 5)
And now that I'm finished writing this, I'll take a small break, but I intend on updating it with some thought on the new anime season.