But I kinda got what I should have. The ongoing problem, as I’ve stated before, with these crossovers is that they are always severely limited by a TV budget and that sadly rears its ugly head in the final part of what has been an otherwise stellar crossover event.

Hell, the fact that four shows can interweave a narrative on consecutive nights in the week is accomplishment enough but when it came to the big punch up at the end, it kind of fizzles out.

Logically, I knew it would but in my heart I secretly wanted this to turn into an Avengers moment. Which leads me to wonder how the CW expects to get away with letting Kara can call them ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’. Kiiiiiinda Marvel’s schtick, DC. Stay in your lane.

But for what it was, it was awe-inspiring to see the S-shield, lightning bolt, green quiver and assorted other gimmicks, weapons and powers stand shoulder to shoulder. It’s the kind of thing I watch Super Sentai and Kamen Rider for, the big-ass group shot and, oddly, that’s what this fight reminds me of. Just a mindless brawl with the assembled heroes to satisfy those who care about that sort of thing.

What these shows really excel at during crossovers are character moments and humour and this certainly delivers in spades. The ensemble cats of Legends had been relatively quiet in the preceding episodes but here they get the spotlight for some genuinely funny bits.

Like Steel debuting his goofy costume that makes no sense in terms of his power set and is just there to reference the comics!

Or that sly Superman Returns nod we all hoped would be in there!

If there’s one genuine misstep for me, it’s the resolution for Diggle and Cisco in terms of the Flashpoint Fuckery. I don’t feel it’s really earned. Cisco’s especially because he’s with the Legends when he fucks with time and we all know that the Legends get a mulligan on any time shenanigans. But like the shows said: it’s illegal to hate Barry Allen.

But when’s all said and done, we got a Justice League on TV that doesn’t look terrible and with a diverse and dynamic roster who are all genuinely likeable so I can only clap my hands at this momentous miniseries for bringing us something that is very much in the spirit of DC Comics.

We get the promise that this certainly won’t be the last time these characters interacts and that’s a great thing because the more this group of shows manage to one-up the movies, the more money will be thrown at them and that can only be a good thing.

I don’t think that’s hyperbole because while this episode is pulling double duty as the penultimate episode of the crossover and as Arrow’s 100th episode; it pulls it off with aplomb. It’s very much an episode of two halves though so I’ll kick off with the B-plot that continues tying into the Heroes vs. Aliens plot.

While Oliver and Company (nice little reference there, Cisco!) are missing, Team Arrow, and Cisco, rushes to find them by chasing down a piece of tech they need that was recently stolen by one Laura Washington. Not a character I recognise but has more than a passing resemblance to Cyborgirl —  a villainous distaff counterpart to the Teen Titan, Cyborg.

Something they make a big deal out of is Wild Dog’s aversion to metas and aliens, which I find odd because Ragman is essentially a meta though it could be argued he’s just enhanced by the mystical rags soooo… I dunno, it’s resolved by the end of the episode but I figured it was worth mentioning as character growth for Rene.

The most interesting part of the episode is with Ollie, Sara, Thea, Diggle and Ray; all of whom are trapped in a shared hallucination, a seeming perfect world for them. It’s all very For The Man Who Has Everything, a seminal Superman story from Alan Moore, and I love it! It’s so much like that story that I expected the Black Mercy to be involved, much like it was on the Supergirl episode that also homaged that story.

It’s interesting how each person’s ideal life is adapted into this shared dream. Ollie and Thea obviously want their family back (nicely foreshadowed by Ollie’s speech to Barry last episode) but Ollie and Sara also want Laurel back. Ray is engaged to Felicity, who is helping Diggle who is The Hood.

That was an odd branching path until I really thought about it and Diggle wants to be punished/redeemed for what he did to his brother and who does he know that pisses and moans and acts like a grumpy edgelord all the time because he makes piss-poor decisions? Ollie as Green Arrow. It’s funny in it’s own little way.

Flash Fa—Wait, am I allowed to do this for non-Flash shows? Screw it! Arrow Admin: Tommy Merlyn is mentioned explicitly as being absent because he’s a doctor in Chicago. This is a reference to the scheduling conflict Colin Donnell had filming Chicago Med.

Just like For The Man Who Has Everything, eventually our heroes have to break out and it’s a lot less breaking the world and more breaking hearts. There is a nice bit of catharsis for our heroes though, as they face down the projections of those responsible for their traumas and deal with them each in a darkly ironic fashion.

Ollie has Deathstroke, Sara has Darhk, Thea and Merlyn, Diggle and a Ghost representing his brother and Ray with a Deathstroke soldier like the one who killed his fiancée, Anna.

They escape on a stolen Dominator fighter and are picked up by the Waverider and ends on a menacing shot of the Dominator mothership on a direct course with Earth.

This episode is fascinating from a character perspective and does a decent job of continuing the crossover plot line so I’m pretty happy with it but be sure to come back tomorrow as Legends of Tomorrow tags in for the final part of Invasion!

All-Star Team-Up is what I’ve been waiting for since Ray’s introduction, getting himself and our boy Barry on screen for some serious Science Bromance! Unfortunately, we don’t quite get that but it’s still a fantastic episode!

I’ll get the Iris BS out of the way first. She knows Eddie is lying to her and spends the rest of the episode pissing and moaning about it, EVEN AFTER Barry gives her a perfectly good reason as to Eddie’s recent behaviour but still gives him an ultimatum and storms off. Now, I’m not saying that her opinion or concern is invalid, I’m just pissed that we’re wasting time with her when there is an ALL-STAR TEAM-UP going on! Oy vey.

Felicity heralds the arrival of The Atom to STAR Labs, Ray getting up and grinning like the massive dork that he is. You know the writers couldn’t resist the chance to make Superman puns for Brandon Routh’s first appearance on the show. While Ray and Barry don’t spend a lot of time chumming it up, Cisco is immediately smitten with Ray’s suit, less so with his name choice. Brandon Routh is just a delight to watch as Ray so he’s a welcome light in an ever darkening arc.

The bad guy du jour is Brie Larvan, who gets the shortest end of the stick with little-to-no character development or motivation apart from being fired. Again, I think the Iris scenes could have been cut in favour of more time with the Bug-Eyed Bandit. Emily Kinney (The Walking Dead’s Beth) does a passable job with what little she’s given, even being on par with Felicity’s hacking skills.

Flash Fact: In the comics, the Bug-Eyed Bandit is one of The Atom’s rogues but is actually a male named Bertram Larvan.

Tina McGee makes a return and has one of the funnier moments of the episode with Harrison Wells.

Stinger (heh) has Barry and Joe bringing Cisco and Caitlin in on their investigation of Wells and while Caitlin is adamant that Wells couldn’t be the Reverse-Flash, Cisco reveals that he’s been having visions of Wells killing him (which we’ve been seeing throughout the episode). Wait, WHAT? How is that a thing? Those events never happened in this timeline so how can he have memories of them? Is Barry and Wells’ presence futzing with time? Hmmm, guess we’ll have to see what explanation they come up with…
All-Star Team-Up isn’t the best team-up The Flash has had but it’s certainly entertaining and continues the Wells investigation to it’s natural end. Everyone is in on it and Wells, seemingly, has no idea. Join me next week when we find out Who is Harrison Wells?

I have never read an issue of Dylan Dog. Not because it’s bad, I’ve just never heard of it. Or to be more precise, no-one has ever recommended it to me. I have a good comic book store I frequent in Dublin and they have a great selection but these damn books are expessive so unless I recognise something about it or was given a thumbs up by a friend, it doesn’t even register on my radar.

Tiziano Sclavi’s comic may not be on my list but I have a soft spot for Brandon Routh and that means I’m suddenly interested in this film. The former Clark Kent plays the title character, a human detective who is the number 1 choice for un-dead problems. That’s right folks it’s Vampires, Zombies and Werewolves, oh my!

Helming this film is… Kevin Munroe? Nope, I haven’t heard of him either. According to his IMDB page the only other previous film he directed was TMNT. If our resident Turtoligist, Colin Hill, could leave a comment at the bottom of the page as to his skills it would be greatly appreciated.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, apart from Routh, I have no idea what we’re getting ourselves in for. So lets take a look at the trailer.

Are you ready? Lets do this!

– Party Posse

I have been to many clubs in my life. In different countries. But never, not once, have I been to one that looks like the clubs we see in movies. Every movie club ever either looks like a strip club or an empty warehouse. And they never look fun either!

I would not be caught dead (or un-dead for that matter) in a dump like this. Look at it. You’d be more likely to catch rabies than get laid. You might even get rabies from getting laid.

It’s a pet peeve. The club thing, not the rabies.

– Dumb And Dumber

I’ve spoken before how sometimes the comedy side-kick in a film can get really annoying if it’s mugged to death. Hamming up every line and being overly goofy are trademarks of this profession. Sam Huntington looks like he could end up down the same road judging by this trailer but he’s not half as bad as these two.

I don’t know who they are. They’re probably only in the film about 5 minutes in total but the flashes of them I see here make me want to gouge out their eyes and then my own.

I understand this film isn’t taking it self too seriously (or at all) but these sort of doofuses, doofi if you will, can really kill scenes. Besides, dead or not, they’re medical professionals! Stop giggling like teenagers!

– Colour/Color

I have no problem with this scene really, it’s a joke about zombie arms and it’s OK.

Two weird issues though.
1) Is it me or does Routh’s voice seem really badly dubbed through this whole trailer?
2) What is up with the colour pallette they’re using here?

Blech. It’s a nightmare colour spectrum.

– Check Out The Guns On That Guy

Gun owners, is this normal?

Big Brandon gurning as he muscles the gun open. Is it normally that tough to do?

Either way, Routh having some throw downs with a bunch of monsters is something I’m looking forward to seeing.

– For The Ladies

As if the Thor and Captain America trailers weren’t enough.

Gratuitous man nipples.

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Overall… this looks a mess. I have a sneaky feeling the Dylan Dog franchise would have done a whole lot better if it was made into a TV series instead. As it is? I doubt this will get good reviews. It might end up a fun watch, there is enough ridiculousness going on here to give a giggle I’m sure. It’s just a shame that this trailer inspires nothing in me. With the volume of heavy hitters out this summer, this Dog will most likely be left out in the yard.