IDW’s charming and educational series reaches its conclusion in this clever issue.

The new series, Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors #1, has an animated style that lends itself to the middle-school narrator and general audience-friendly premise. It could actually serve as a good template for Warner Bros. if they want to develop their recent Godzilla franchise into an animated form, much like what Universal did with Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.

Writer Greg Rucka (Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, Lazarus) and artist Leandro Fernández (Wolverine: Coyote Crossing, The Discipline) return to the world of immortal mercenaries found in The Old Guard from Image Comics.

batinthesun is no stranger to the fan film community. Founders Aaron and Sean Shoenke have spent two decades gaining a vast audience who appreciates the wide range of Marvel and DC-themed films, both their serious entries like City of Scars and their comedic series like The Waiting Room. Based in Los Angeles, their access to the entertainment industry has given them the tools that has allowed their work to shine. The production value is top-notch. The character suits authentic. And a familiar face pops up every now and then.

The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.


Writer/director Hisonni Johnson made a splash in 2013 when he premiered Grayson: Earth One, an online pilot that centered on a gritty version of Nightwing. It asks the question, “What if Dick Grayson was never adopted by Bruce Wayne but, instead, fended for himself on the streets of Gotham and Blüdhaven?” Since then, it has won top prizes at Dragon Con, Phoenix Comic Con, and recently at the GeekFest Film Fest.

Now, there’s Episode -- or, technically, Episode 1.5, since the story is now branching out and finding other Robins in Gotham and what their lives would be like if they never encountered the Batman. So, in honor of the Dynamic Duo, let’s look at both episodes!

The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.


Director Vincent Tran has gained momentum this past year thanks to his very successful Supergirl fan film, Girl of Steel. (You can read my review here). His modern interpretations of DC characters strips off the colorful costumes and replaces them with logical and emotional motivation. The same trend continues in his newest film, a spinoff set in the same Tran-verse of DC continuity that promises even better stories.

“You can’t do serious comic book films!”

“You cannot do dark superheroes!”

“No one’s ever made an old television series into a movie!”

Executive Producer Michael E. Uslan remembers well the indignant howls. During the 1980s, every studio executive in Hollywood slammed their doors in his face. They refused to hear his pitch for a comic book movie aimed at adults. None of them believed that a summer blockbuster could be based on a character that the editor of DC Comics at the time referred to as “dead as a dodo.”

That all changed on June 23, 1989.

The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.

For the first FFOW! of 2014, let’s look at one of the first big fan films to hit the web this year, Vincent Tran’s Girl of Steel.

Ron Randall’s Trekker stars Mercy St. Clair, a government-sanctioned bounty hunter or “trekker,” in the grimy futuristic city of New Gelaph. Her targets are wanted fugitives and terrorists -- wanted dead or alive, that is. Her assignments come from her police lieutenant uncle, Alex St. Clair. The New Gelaph force is a cesspool of corruption at many levels, which makes Mercy’s work a necessity.

The FFOW! series takes a look at that vast library created by the proud and the passionate: fan films. Whether the budget and talent is astronomical or amateur, FFOW! celebrates the filmmakers whose love of comics, books, movies, video games, and TV shows inspires them to join the great conversation with their own homemade masterpieces.


Batman will appear in Superman’s next big-screen adventure, you say? Does that mean everyone in Gotham gets a brand new origin story? If you can’t wait until 2015, whet your appetite with a new, full-length origin starring the Caped Crusader’s most infamous villain.