Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014 film)

Beginning as a video game that was loosely based on a Grant Morrison comic, the Batman: Arkham series has become a force all its own. The series has sold millions of copies and remains a healthy outlier in an industry that is notoriously poor to comic books. When it was announced that an animated film was in the works and was to be set in this universe, there was a palpable level of excitement from most fans of the series. When it was announced that the film would star The Suicide Squad, my personal level of excitement grew to insane levels.

THE UNADAPTED: X-Factor

The "X-Men" sub-genre of books within the Marvel Universe tend to be very different from one another. There are various teams, agencies and allegiances and too many characters to name here. Within so many of those X-books the idea of change remains a fitting constant. All of these titles have seen massive shifts in tone, characters and concept. This edition of The Unadapted will look at one of those teams that's had relatively little in the way of exposure outside of the page.

Howard the Duck (1986 film)

Right off the bat, there's no way to address the timing of this particular write-up without discussing the ending of the recently released Guardians of the Galaxy film. So either proceed knowing that we'll be getting into spoiler territory or leave now.

THE UNADAPTED: Starman

Promotional ad for Starman #0

Starman is a character that dates back to the Golden Age of Comics. For those who didn't bother with the link, the Golden Age was a time from about 1938 to 1950 when superhero comic books were churned out like crazy and comic publishing became a big business. Many of DC's sizeable stable of characters were created in this period. Among them was Ted Knight AKA Starman, a science-hero from the 1940's who had a baton that enabled him to fly and shoot energy beams. It was powered by star-light, hence the name. The character was a member of JSA and All Star Squadron where he was often overshadowed by his teammates and rarely got a chance to shine (Ha! Puns). The character languished until he was revived in a post-Zero Hour series in the mid-90's created by James Robinson and Tony Harris.