Month: October 2011

You Call this Archaeology? Part 3 The Last Crusade

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

I’ve said that Raiders of the Lost Ark is a perfect adventure movie, a movie that will never be surpassed. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade equals it. I honestly cannot say which film I like better, usually it is the one I last saw. Unlike Temple of Doom, which tried to top it predecessor with a darker tone, slapstick and shocks, the Last Crusade aims for lighter tone and is a more character based experience. Raiders and even Temple are movies about what Indiana Jones does, The Last Crusade is a movie about who Indiana Jones is and why.

The first two films open with the ending of Indiana’s previous adventure that leads into his next one. It gives him a sense of continuous motion, that he is always on an adventure and this is just the one we happen to get to see. They were both great scenes and perfectly laid out the focus of the rest of the movie, either Indy’s rivalry with Belloq in Raiders or Anything goes in Temple. In Last Crusade we do not get the end of Indy’s previous adventure, at least not at first. Instead, it is an almost too perfect origin story for all of the famous Indiana Jones traits. How did he come to wield a bullwhip, fear snakes and wear the hat? It is all shown right there. The most important part of the scene is what is conspicuously not shown, Indy’s father. By making the short scene with his father part of their intentional Indiana Jones origin, it tries to show him as important an aspect of the character as any of the other things shown during the opening. But if Henry Jones, Sr. is vital to Indy’s story, where has he been for the first two movies? That is the question that Last Crusade asks and answers.

The action in Last Crusade is if anything less amazing or fantastic than Raiders of the Lost Ark, let alone Temple of Doom. That is not to say it is lacking, but it is more mundane. And like the rest of the movies it is still excellently shot. There is clearly a lessened focus on making the action shocking and more on making it fun. The lighter tone comes through in Last Crusade’s focus on humor. Even the big action scenes are laced with humor. Humor that comes naturally from the characters, not forced slapstick. The early escape and chase scenes are not quite as well done as Raiders’ big car chase, but they are as close as I’ve ever seen. The big showdown with the Nazi’s and their tanks near the end is possibly my favorite scene from any movie. It is all that is great about the Indiana Jones series compounded into twenty perfect minutes.

Where the last movie faltered badly, Indy’s companions, the Last Crusade shines even above the first. It brings back Sallah and Brody and gives them more time to define themselves. Ilsa is probably the best of Indiana’s love interests, being both a believable romantic interest and the closest any of the later movies gets to a Belloq replacement. While her knowledge doesn’t match Indy’s like Belloq’s did, she shows herself to be tolerably competent in the field and much more personally dangerous to Indy. All that dances around what truly elevates Last Crusade above most films. The presence of a star to rival Harrison Ford.

Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr. makes The Last Crusade. The damaged, nearly broken relationship between the Doctors Jones is what drives the film, and the elder one had to match Ford on screen and Connery absolutely does. In every other situation Indiana Jones is the man. He is the that everyone looks to to solve their problems. He is often exasperated and tired, but he is never at a loss. He always has an idea if not a plan. Around his father he reverts to Junior. To his father he is still a child, always a child. Indy’s actions in this movie are to prove his manhood to his father, to earn his respect. To earn his recognition. All he wants is to earn his father’s notice.

Henry Jones, Sr. is blinded by his quest enough to not even realize how close he is to losing his son. Even through their trip to Berlin he barely acknowledges his son. It is best seen in the motorcycle chase, with Indy’s proud smile being stopped by his father’s disapproving stare, except when he takes down one via joust. That earns him a brief smile. It is all about the grail to him. Until the tank scene, that is. Until he truly sees Indy in action as Indy he is always Junior to his father. During that scene, his truly realizes how capable his son is. When he thinks Indy has gone over the cliff he is finally forced to realize how broken their relationship is. It all culminates at the end when his father finally calls him Indiana, an admission that he is a man.


What makes Crusade so good is that every thing feels so natural. From Jones, Sr. constant casual dismissal of his son to Brody’s complete inability to function in the real world to the marvelous, kinetic and funny action scenes. Much of the slapstick in Temple felt forced and out of place, constantly testing the viewers sense of disbelief. The lighter tone of Crusade makes it fit with much more fluidity. It is the family film version, both in that it is about the Jones family and that it is meant for families. The Last Crusade can’t match Raiders of the Lost ark in straight adventure. If it tried it could never feel like more than a pale imitation. So instead it makes a different experience. While Raiders was a somewhat humorous adventure movie, the Last Crusade goes full on adventure/comedy. The humor is no longer a pleasant side effect of Harrison Ford being so charismatic, but it is given weight equal, or at least much closer to equal, to the action. The adjustment of that balance makes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a different experience but an equal one to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

You Call This Archaeology? Part 2 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Welcome back to my week long re-watch of the best series of films to ever be released in American Cinemas, in my humble opinion at least.  Today I’m reviewing what in my opinion is the weakest of the Indiana Jones movies, though even at that is a mostly enjoyable 2 hour adventure.

Raiders of the Lost ArK gets almost everything right, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom messes it all up. Still, it is a hard movie to hate. The problem is that it is impossible not to compare it to the rest of the series and it cannot hold up to that comparison. To Lucas and Spielberg’s credit and the movie’s detriment, they didn’t simply rehash Raiders. Temple of Doom is darker and despite being built around some supposedly cut Raiders’ set pieces more ambitious than the first movie. Unfortunately, its reach was beyond its grasp.

The first and biggest problem with Temple of Doom is its attempts to top Raiders of the Lost ArK. The attempts to make this one bigger pushes it beyond the limits of believability, both in the narrative itself and in the special effects. Indy’s feats were on the outer cusp of believability in Raiders, possible if improbable. With Temple possible is thrown right out of the window. Part of that is the tone of the film sung to the viewer in the opening musical number. Anything goes. (If you don’t enjoy the musical number this is definitely the wrong movie for you.) That holds throughout the movie. Anything goes in terms of what Indy is capable of. Have Indy jump out of a falling airplane on an inflatable life raft into a waterfall? Sure, why not. Anything goes. Too bad the special effects couldn’t quite make it believable. Indy’s greatest strength is in his humanity. That his adventures, while exotic and amazing, are within his abilities. The situations do not have to be even remotely believable. The magic stones and Indian murder cults are not this movie’s problems. Its biggest flaw is that often I do not believe that Indy could do what he is doing. Which is not that frequent, but it happens. Like the crash scene I mentioned already. He occasionally gets pushed out beyond his capabilities by the movies attempt to top Raiders. And while Raiders has the face melting scene, Temple of Doom is filled with effects that have aged poorly.

Anything goes with the tone as well. The villains are more visibly villainous, probably because no one need to be told how evil Nazi’s are. There are murders from the opening minutes. Not death by ancient trap, but actual murders. This movie is notably and intentionally darker than the rest of the series. It is right there in the title Temple of Doom. It is about Indiana Jones breaking up a child slavery ring. While it is darker, it is also goofier. Indy’s two sidekicks are wholly comic relief. Short Round is mostly enjoyable as Indy’s young double, though it has uncomfortable racist overtones. Willy Scott is a crime against the rest of this film. Marian was capable, if in over her head. Willy is completely out of place and wholly unlikable. She undermines the movies attempts to set up a central family dynamic among the three protagonists. She is even more of a child than Short Round. By the end of the film, the viewer is supposed to believe that they have grown together into a believable family unit, but the relationship between Indy and Willy never feels real. Indy and Short Round, however, become a very believable father/son duo. The setting and subject are much darker than the rest of the series, but it is counter by increasingly jokey and forced humor. Nowhere is the divide more visible than in the dinner scene at Pankot. While Indiana tries to get to the bottom of the rumors of the stolen stone and the rise of the Thuggee cult, Willy and Short Round face a farcical array of disgusting looking food. One side of the table is dark and mysterious, the other if filled with bad gross out jokes. Anything goes, no matter how schizophrenic it makes the experience.

While there are failures in tone and effect, they do not overwhelm the quality of the adventure. The opening scene in Shanghai is nearly perfect; from the song and dance routine to the chaotic shoot out to the car chase, it is a scene worthy of the best of the series. Once they get into the Temple, the movie picks up. Indy’s forcible induction into the Thuggee cult, through the Black sleep of Kali (reminiscent of Hot Potting from Rider Haggard’s She, though less murderous), lays it on a bit strong. It manages to continue the tone of being both startlingly dark and laughably silly at the same time. Telling, perhaps, is that Indy is saved by Short Round, not Willy. There is no chemistry between Indy and Willy; I can easily believe that the thought of sending her to her death wouldn’t snap him out of it. However, when Short Round arrives he does manage to snap Indy out of it. Those two have a connection that Willy doesn’t share.

The last half hour of Temple is a whirlwind that, aside from some badly aged special effects, is on par with Raiders. The freeing of the slave children is Indy at his put upon finest. From then on the film gets away from the purely dark and purely silly and is purely fun. The mine-cart chase sequence and the iconic confrontation on the bridge are both excellent scenes. They are bigger in scope than anything in the previous movie, but that doesn’t work to their advantage.

In all Temple of Doom is a flawed film. Indy is not quite the same character as he is in the rest of the series. He is more cynical and seems greedier. It feels as though Ford is playing Han Solo instead of Indiana Jones. The combination of the poorly conceived sidekicks, more Willy than Short Round, and the badly aged special effect keep this film from matching the rest of the series. As a simple adventure movie, it is fine. Slightly too dark for kids and slightly too silly for adults, but a reasonably pleasant ride for all that. Unfortunately, it is hard to view this movie without comparing it to its predecessor and sequels. In that light, it simply cannot hold up. Being the weakest film in an excellent series is the worst one can say about Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, but that is enough to get it damned in most circles.

You Call This Archaeology? Part 1: Raiders of the Lost Ark

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Raiders of the Lost Ark

I usually try to keep a sizable variety of post topics here. Yeah, last week I had three posts about comic books, but that was mostly an anomaly. This week I had several posts planned. My usual quick post about what video game I’ve been playing, my book reviews for last month and maybe something about how stupid Mizzou going to the SEC would be were all ready to go. Sometime late last week, however, I decided, “screw that, I’m going to write about Indiana Jones.” Why you may, but probably didn’t, ask? Because it is almost my birthday, and around my birthday I like to watch some of my favorite movies. The Indiana Jones movies are some of my best-loved movies, and are frequently watched around my place. So, this week I am going to review all four Indy movies. Starting today with my thoughts on Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Spoilers: I like Raiders a whole lot.)

Raiders of the Lost Ark is a perfect adventure movie. There is no film in the genre that can touch it. It is terse and action packed, fun but not stupid. This first one is particularly focused, with some but little of the slapstick humor that would come later. It is the only film in the series with a believable love story. While Indy visits large portions of the globe, it is tightly plotted and steams from start to finish without ever losing momentum. In short, it is everything an adventure movie should be.

Much of lure for this film, and the whole series, lies in its hero. Indiana Jones is the possibly the greatest character to ever appear on screen. He is simultaneously larger than life and believably human. Indy does amazing things, like out run a giant boulder and hijack trucks filled with Nazis single-handedly, but doing so is visibly difficult for him. His feats are a struggle, they leave him physically drained and damaged. He doesn’t win because he is smarter, though he often is. He doesn’t win because he is stronger, though he sometimes is. Indy wins because he perseveres. He will not, cannot quit. It is primarily his struggles that make him appealing. The other part of his appeal is Harrison Ford. Indiana Jones is nowhere close to a wholly original character. He is a throwback to pulp heroes like Doc Savage and Allen Quartermain (I don’t think Quartermain actually counts as a pulp hero, but the intent is the same.) There is even a dash of Superman in there with his mild mannered Dr. Jones who, with a change of hats, becomes the unstoppable Indiana. Ford infuses Indy with a perfect roguish charm, alternately exasperated and amused by what he encounters. There is not movie star from the last 30 years that has charisma like Ford. Even when he is sleepwalking through a movie, he is still eminently watchable. Raiders of the Lost Arc, and the rest of the Indiana Jones films, feature Harrison Ford at his best.

The part of this movie that shines above the rest is in its villain. Rene Belloq is the only true rival Indiana Jones faces in any of his movies. Belloq claims that he and Indy are alike, but that is far from true. Their goals and their skills are similar, but their methods and outlooks are wholly different. Belloq is cynical, he is ruthless. As long as he achieves his goal there is no deal he won’t make or break. Indy is an idealist, he has limits. A big visible difference is in whom they ally themselves with. Indy has friends, from Marian to Sallah to Jock with his plane at the beginning. Belloq has tools that he uses to achieve his goals. There is no trust between Belloq and the Nazis, just like there is none between him and the Hovitos (?) at the beginning. He has constructed his relationship with them to last as long as it is convenient. Indy has to rely on his partners, and sometimes they let him down.

The conflict between Indiana Jones and Belloq is established wonderfully in the opening scene. We see Indy do all the work to find the idol, but Belloq comes in with an army and takes it from him. “Dr. Jones. Again we see that there is nothing you can possess that I cannot take away” is likely Belloq’s most famous line. That right there is the conflict that drives the movie. The Nazi’s are but window dressing, not important other than to have someone to fight. Belloq is whom Indy is truly at war with. Over everything. Belloq tries to seduce Marian not because he is attracted to her, or at least not only for that, but because she is with Indy. Belloq employs an army of Nazi’s to find the ark, using his expertise, of course. Indy digs with a small crew right under his nose to get it first. Note how Indy gets down and dirty to help with the actual digging; Belloq seems to believe that he is above that.

Their rivalry drives the movie to its conclusion, when Belloq opens the arc. There we see Belloq’s true cynicism and Indy’s romanticism. Unlike the Nazis, Belloq believes in the Ark’s power, but he doesn’t fully believe in it. He thinks he can control it, that he can master it. Indy does believe in the power of the Ark and knows the dangers it represents. He is romantic enough to believe in the mystical power of ancient artifacts, and wary enough to believe that power poses a threat. Belloq believes he is untouchable and that is his downfall.

There is no real point in going over the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nearly every scene is iconic, from the rolling boulder in the opening temple to the melting faces at the end. My personal favorite is the whole truck hijacking scene. It is perfect. The whole movie is nearly perfect. This is the gold standard for adventure movies.

NFL Week 5 Picks

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I guess I was right about last week being an easy week to pick. I went 13-3. I missed the KC/Min game, but that one was a complete toss-up. I expected the Eagles to rebound after a couple of tough losses, but they blew it. And while I expected Buffalo to falter sooner or later, I didn’t think the Bengals had enough bite to beat them. Other than those three I was on the money.

Fantasy Football took a turn for the better last week as well. I won in 2 of my leagues and tied in the other. Which was the first FF tie I’ve ever seen; it occurred mostly because that leagues scoring system it straight up stupid. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

This week coming up looks like one to give me fits. Lots of good teams playing good teams and bad teams playing bad teams. Some games that look interesting to me are Oakland at Houston, Kansas City as Indianapolis and the Monday Night game Chicago at Detroit. The Raider and Texans both have pretensions of being playoff teams. The Raiders especially need this game, and with Andre Johnson out I think they win it. Did the Chiefs turn a corner last week or did they beat a woeful Vikings team? The Colts have given two good teams a run the last couple week, I think they take the Chiefs at home. Even without Manning they can’t lose them all. Chicago really needs to beat Detroit to keep from falling into a big hole. Detroit has tried to give the last two games away. I don’t think Detroit has another comeback in them this week, but I’m not sure they’ll need it.

Philadelphia at Buffalo: Philadelphia
Kansas City at Indianapolis: Indianapolis
Arizona at Minnesota: Minnesota
Seattle at New York G: New York G
Tennessee at Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh
New Orleans at Carolina: New Orleans
Cincinnati at Jacksonville: Jacksonville
Oakland at Houston: Oakland
Tampa Bay at San Francisco: San Francisco
San Diego at Denver: San Diego
New York J at New England: New England
Green Bay at Atlanta: Green Bay
Chicago at Detroit: Detroit

Last Week: 13-3

Season 44-20

JSA Re-read Part 1

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This is the first entry in a new weekly — hopefully — series I am writing about the Geoff Johns/David Goyer (later just Johns, who is the writer of focus here) JSA, which is hands down my favorite comic series. This series is the reason I went from someone who liked superhero movies and had read some X-Men comics long, long ago to a someone who actually buys and reads comic books. JSA is not a book that would normally be considered a good series for new readers. It is the reason I am never convinced that that continuity is the reason comic sales are in a prolonged funk. (I’d finger general awareness and physical accessibility.) JSA is not just a book with some reliance on continuity, it is a book steeped in it; it revels in it. JSA is about history, it is a book looking back at and remembering the past. That the JSA was dropped, at least temporarily, in the re-launch makes sense. The series focuses on the legacy of a world with superheroes and DC seems intent on jettisoning that, for better or worse. Without history, there is no Justice Society.

Despite the title’s reliance on history, JSA was still a new reader friendly series. Each arc, if not each issue, is comprehensible to people who have never read the book before. That is impressive especially with the fact that most recognizable character in the series is probably Hawkman. Maybe Captain Marvel or Black Canary, I’m not sure which one is best known. C-list characters at best no matter how you look at it. Much of this is thanks to the writing team. While he is certainly never subtle, Johns (I’ll credit him since he has done this on more books than this. Goyer certainly contributed as well) has a knack for distilling characters down to a core idea that drives all their stories. Not that the characters are one note; it gives them a central, relatable theme. As he does this for each of the numerous characters, he also does it for the team as a whole. And the theme of JSA is legacy. They are a team built on remembering the past, on how that past affects the future. They are about carrying on an ideal and a specific legacy; it is about the importance and dangers of following in the footsteps of parents/mentors/teachers.

Before we got to the run proper, there are the first 5 issues of the series to deal with. Because while Goyer was on to start the book, his co-writer is James Robinson for the first arc rather than Geoff Johns. Robinson was at the time closing in on the end of his wonderful Starman series and was at the time a superstar. Since Goyer was co-writing, I am going to cover it. It is part of the run; it sets up much of what comes later, even though it isn’t Johns work. That being said, I am not going to give it quite the same level of focus that I do the later issues. So let’s begin with JSA issues 1-5
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DC’s New 52 Final Thoughts

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Now that I’ve read and reviewed all 52 of DC’s New 52 comics, I feel the need to look back at my original predictions about all these books. Reading them all wasn’t an ordeal as some places on the internet are trying to make it seem. They are comic books for Christ sakes; they are quick, easily digested entertainment. But I did pay for all of those things, so I am going to get my fair share out of blogging out of them. Also, I am going to decide which titles I will continue to purchase and which I will gladly never have to look at again. To finish, I am going to rank all 52 from best to worst.

When I first looked at these books, I had not yet decided to buy the whole lot for the first month as some sort of crazy experiment. Plus, all the cool internet people were doing it and I wanted to be cool. So I rated the books on whether I was: excited for them, which meant I expected them to be great, intrigued by them, which meant they sound like they could be good but I wasn’t quite sold, dubious about them, which meant I thought there was some nugget if interest to be found but doubted it would be worth it, or that I would pass on them, which meant I saw little reason for that book to exist. So how did my initial predictions fare, at least with the first issue? Let’s see.

The Justice League.


For the Justice League books, I was Excited for Justice League, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. All three were pretty much what I expected, though Justice League was slower than I had hoped.

I called Justice League International, Fury of Firestorm, The Flash, and DCU Presents Intriguing. Flash was much better than I had hoped, while Fury of Firestorm was disappointing. I had hoped Gail Simone would tone down the darkness that she has used to great effect in books like Secret Six, but that was not the case. The jury is still out on DCU Presents since its anthological nature has yet to be shown. And JLI was a decent superhero book.

The only book I called Dubious was Mr. Terrific, and that was about right. There was a glimmer of some quality in it, but I’m not sure Eric Wallace can polish it into a quality series. And the artist changed to the fluid Gianluca Gugliotta, who I like a lot.

I was set to Pass on Green Arrow, Savage Hawkman and Captain Atom. While I didn’t think they were outright terrible, that would have been the correct choice on Green Arrow and Hawkman. Captain Atom was one of the surprises of the month, delivering some of the best art and a solid start to the series.

So as a whole, I was spot on for this portion of the re-launch. Except for Captain Atom, which it turns out was just short of great.

The Dark

I was probably most interested in this group. I was Excited for Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Frankenstein and Demon Knights and all of them were great. Those four books are worth the re-launch on their own.

I was Intrigued by Justice League Dark and that seems spot on too. The seeds are here for something great, but the first issue wasn’t quite there.

I was dubious on Resurrection Man and even then, it disappointed. It just wasn’t very good at all.

And a Pass for I, Vampire, which was way off. This book was nearly as good as the top four in this group. The Twilight fake-out cover fooled me.

Except for I, Vampire, I had this set called. It was easily the best group of books DC put out, and probably the most likely to get cancelled.

The Edge

I was not looking forward to this set of books, and I was probably the most wrong about it. One title got an Intriguing, All Star Western, and it turned out to be really great.

I handed out a lot of Dubious guesses. Stormwatch, Blackhawks, Men of War, OMAC, Suicide Squad and Voodoo all got that designation. Men of War, Blackhawks and Stormwatch all lived up, or down, to that. Though Stormwatch should get better. I ended up liking OMAC and Voodoo much more than I expected. Both were good to very good. Suicide Squad was one of the worst books of the re-launch and I should have given it a pass. I do not know why I didn’t.

I called for a Pass on both Deathstroke and Grifter and only Grifter really deserved it. That book was a mess. Deathstroke was a good Deathstroke comic. I have no interest in reading more, but fans of the character should be reasonably pleased.

I underrated this group. With OMAC, Voodoo and All Star Western, and maybe Stormwatch, there were some high quality books here.

Young Justice

Like with The Edge, I wasn’t very big on any of the Young Justice books in my predictions, either. The only book I even called Intriguing was Blue Beetle, and that was possibly a little high. It was okay, not great.

Static Shock, Legion Lost and Legion of Superheroes all seemed Dubious to me. Static turned out to be pretty good, so I had it pegged a little low, but both of the Legion titles turned out pretty sour.

I said Pass on Hawk and Dove and that was absolutely right. I called for my one fan boyish Uber Pass on Teen Titans and that turned out to be too harsh. Tough to be fair, DC’s Teen Titans promotional art was terrible. In the end, it was an okay book.

Except for Teen Titans, I was close on this set. I didn’t think it would be very good, and it wasn’t.

Batman

The Batman group is I think the biggest group of books in the re-launch, and I spread my predictions around pretty well. Only two Exciteds, Batman and Batgirl. Batman lived up to that, Batgirl did not.

I was Intrigued by Nightwing, Batwoman and Batman & Robin. Nightwing and Batman & Robin are both solid second tier books, but Batwoman was one of the best of the relaunch. I should have been excited for it.

Predictions of Dubious on Birds of Prey, Batwing and Red Hood and the Outlaws. I was right on Red Hood, over on Batwing and under on Birds of Prey, but for those two I wasn’t far off.

Passes for Batman: the Dark Knight, Catwoman, and Detective Comics. Right on all three, they were terrible.

I think I had a good handle on the much-unchanged Bat books. I think Batgirl will get better, so I don’t feel bad about that one.

Superman.

I had one entry for each on the four Superman family books, and I was only right on one of them. I was Excited for Action Comics, and it was great. I thought Superman was Intriguing, but it turned out to be a slog. Since I wasn’t sure on the direction of Supergirl it got a Dubious, but it turned out to be pretty good. A Pass for Superboy, which I was all set to just ignore, but was another great surprise. I had predicted the art would look good, but I didn’t expect the writing to be as solid as it was.

So I guess I didn’t have a very good read on this family of books.

Green Lantern

I was Excited for Green Lantern Corps, and it was good. Tomasi writes a great Guy. I had been slipping on Green Lantern, calling it only Intriguing, but it was a return to form for Geoff Johns on the title.

I was Dubious about both The New Guardians and Red Lanterns, which looks pretty correct so far. Neither are travesties, but neither are they actually good.

It was easy to get a read on the Green Lantern books since they changed so little in the re-launch. I had their number.

Conclusion

I think the re-launch turned out better than I had expected. Some books I thought might be good weren’t, but more books I thought would be terrible turned out to be pretty good. My biggest disappointments were writers Gail Simone, Paul Cornell and Peter Milligan. Other than Demon Knights, none of their six combined series lived up to my expectations. I’m not writing them off, but all three have done better work and I fully expect all three to do better work in subsequent issue. They all simply stumbled a bit out of the blocks. My biggest surprise was Scott Lobdell. Sure, there is much furor around Red Hood, but his other two books had better starts than I expected.

So what am I going to keep buying? My budget won’t allow me to buy more than about 15 o these, even with the discount they give with dcbservice. So I’ve bolded 18 in my top to bottom rankings that I at least intend to keep purchasing. Not the first 18, though certainly many of them, because even though some series had a good start and are certainly going to continue to be good I am just not that interested in the subject. Or because I’d rather support a less popular good series that a more popular very good one. DC isn’t going to stop publishing Batman. I don’t have to worry about seeing more good Batman stories made. But Frankenstein or Demon Knights? Those aren’t like to last much more than a year, no matter how popular they are.

Top to bottom rankings

  1. Action Comics
  2. Animal Man
  3. Wonder Woman
  4. Batwoman
  5. All Star Western
  6. The Flash
  7. Batman
  8. Aquaman
  9. Frankenstein
  10. Swamp Thing
  11. Green Lantern Corps
  12. Green Lantern
  13. Superboy
  14. OMAC
  15. Justice League
  16. Demon Knights
  17. Supergirl
  18. Batman & Robin
  19. Justice League Dark
  20. Nightwing
  21. I, Vampire
  22. Voodoo
  23. Captain Atom
  24. Justice League International
  25. Static Shock
  26. Deathstroke
  27. Batgirl
  28. Blue Beetle
  29. Fury of Firestorm
  30. Mr. Terrific
  31. Stormwatch
  32. Birds of Prey
  33. DCU Presents Deadman
  34. Superman
  35. Red Hood and the Outlaws
  36. Teen Titans
  37. Red Lanterns
  38. Men of War
  39. Green Arrow
  40. Savage Hawkman
  41. Green Lantern: The New Guardians
  42. Resurrection Man
  43. Grifter
  44. Legion of Superheroes
  45. Legion Lost
  46. Batwing
  47. Batman: The Dark Knight
  48. Blackhawks
  49. Catwoman
  50. Detective Comics
  51. Hawk and Dove
  52. Suicide Squad

Tap, Tap, Tapping away!

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Still playing my DS all the time? Damn straight. After I positively devoured Kirby Mass Attack, I expected to get to jump right into the second of the three DS games I am anticipating this fall, Solatorobo. Unfortunately, for some reason Amazon did not ship the game until Thursday, though it was released on Tuesday. No big deal, but I don’t pay for Amazon Prime to get my pre-ordered games a week after they come out. (Actually, I don’t pay for Amazon Prime at all, but that is beside the point) During the interminable wait, I had to play something, so I broke out Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero, a game I picked up out of a bargain bin, probably during one of GameStop’s “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” sales.

I am enjoying it much more than I expected. There is no escaping the fact that this is primarily a kid’s game, what with the childish graphics — by which I do not mean 2D, but that the sprites are large, simple and big headed — and complete lack of difficulty, but there is enough substance under the candy coated exterior to keep me playing. Elebits is a rather clever mix of Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda tied around an annoying central mechanic. I cannot fathom why the game is built around tapping the DS’s bottom screen constantly, over and over and over. In order to power special skills and various contraptions around the game world, the player must collect charge. This is done by tapping on little creatures, the titular Elebits, which pop out from under rocks and out of trees. It isn’t hard, but it is tedious. It is like a Zelda game that is half collecting Rupees that try to run away from you. This stupidity drags the first hour or two of the game to an anti-fun halt.

The rest of the game has been fun. Easy but enjoyable nonetheless. Despite not having actual dungeons, Elebits plays like a Zelda game. That is a huge compliment. The biggest difference is that instead of finding new tools and magical items, the player finds Omega Elebits. These Omegas function identically to Zelda’s tools, with each one having a unique puzzle-solving ability. The Fire Omega, for instance, can spew fire clearing away path-blocking brush and the Ice Omega can create ice platform to let the player cross rivers. To further add to the Pokemon-ness is the fact that the player can evolve most of the Omegas, provided you feed them enough charge, that is.

You will be constantly interrupted from your pleasantly easy Zelda-clone to poke at the little Elebits on the bottom screen. The emphasis on charging does lessen as the game goes on. Your collection tank gets bigger, evolved Omegas cost less to use and the game start providing you with more high charge creatures to capture. Still, front-loading tedium is never a way to hook players. I put Elebits down when Solatorobo arrived in the mail, but one I finish that, and probably Professor Layton 4, I will be back to take on the last third of Elebits.

Rating the Relaunch, Part 2

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I guess it’s time for my take on the second half the DC relaunch.  While this set didn’t have the same number of standout books, I think the overall quality was about the same as the first 2 weeks.

All-Star Western. Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. Art by Moritat.
Gray and Palmiotti have quietly put out some of the best work to come from DC Comics over the last five years. Among others (Power Girl, the underrated Freedom Fighters) their biggest success has been Jonah Hex. With the re-launch they stick with that character, but the focus of the series changes. Hex is now in Gotham City and part of a continuing story instead of a done-in-one. It works wonderfully. Hex is teamed with Gotham psychologist Amadeus Arkham (founder of the famous asylum) to solve a series of Jack the Ripper-esque murders. Jonah and the Doctor couldn’t be more different, but they are also both outsiders in Gotham City. The reveal of the truth of the situation at the end is perfectly horrifying.
While the writing team sets up a terrific western murder mystery, the art is the star of this book. Moritat’s clean lines somehow establish the grimy-ness of a burgeoning late 19th century city. He really succeeds at making Gotham as much of a character as Jonah Hex or Dr. Arkham. The great art combined with writing that is more than simply adequate but actually very good makes All-Star Western one of the best books of the month.
9/10

Aquaman. Writer Geoff Johns. Art by Ivan Reis & Joe Prado
Geoff Johns is the master at distilling a character to a simple, relatable idea. His take on Aquaman is compelling. He uses the real life perception of Aquaman, that he’s a lame, stupid superhero, to his advantage when setting up the hero. John’s Aquaman is hero in two worlds, neither of which appreciates him. He may be king of Atlantis, but due to his above water heritage, they see him as an outsider, while the population on the surface doesn’t believe in his undersea tales or ridicules him for them. Aquaman is clearly affected by his reputation, but he is not discouraged by it. He is a hero.
While Johns might lay it on a bit thick with the reputation stuff, the writing is mostly crisp. Interesting, though likely a bit gory new villains, some sort of anglerfish men, are introduced and Aquaman’s history and situations is deftly weaved into the story. Ivan Reis’s art is perfectly fitting and up to his usual high quality. The few flashback panels are especially good, though that is probably as much the colorist as anybody. Still, this issue is a fine first issue, a perfect establishment of who and what Aquaman is.
8/10

Batman. Writer Scott Snyder. Art by Greg Capullo & Jonathon Glapion.
Snyder, fresh off an excellent run on Detective Comics, writes a very good, not quite great, new Batman. There are many clever touches here, like a facial recognition contact lens and Dick Grayson masquerading as the Joker to help stop a riot in Arkham, but there isn’t much that’s not standard Batman stuff. A new rich rival, a new mysterious villain and requisite appearances but pretty much the whole supporting cast. It is perfect for someone who only knows Batman from the movies to jump on. I do love the return of Harvey Bullock and that Snyder wrote Commissioner Gordon as Columbo.
Capullo’s art is a big surprise, in a good way. I didn’t expect much, but I hadn’t actually had much experience with him. I shouldn’t have worried. His art has personality, it has character. Everyone is distinct and recognizable. It is just really nice. This is a very good book.
8/10

Batman: The Dark Knight. Writer/Co-Plotter Paul Jenkins. Artist/Co-Plotter David Finch.
Finch draws Batman extra brawny and everything very detailed. Aside from the faces, his art is solid. The writing and plotting, though, leave a lot to be desired. Bruce Wayne gives a speech at a fundraiser, and then tries to quell a riot at Arkham Asylum. This is standard Batman stuff. In fact, most of it happened in the much better Batman. There is tons of narration about the nature of fear that is overwrought and just plain bad. Overwrought pretty well describes the whole comic, art and writing. Except for the last page “shocker” that reveals the worst possible take on Two-Face, that is just stupid. Still, this isn’t an outright terrible comic, but there are definitely better Batman comics out right now, like Batman or Batman and Robin. This is slightly better than Detective Comics, but not a lot.
3/10

Blackhawks. Writer Mike Costa. Finishes by Ken Lashley. Layouts by Graham Nolan.
For a comic that I had no expectations about, this still manages to disappoint. Not that it is especially bad, but it could have and should have been much better. The idea here is basically a DC Universe G.I. Joe team. The characters, whose personalities are only hinted at in this issue, could develop into an interesting team. The problems crop up with some just stupid bits of plotting. Like a covert ops team painting their logo on their plane, then being in trouble when someone spots it. Why put it on there at all? The art is inconsistent, never actually good but it does veer into awful for a while. It looks rushed and sloppy. This is a bad first issue of a comic that could be very good.
3/10

Birds of Prey. Writer Duane Swierczynski. Artist Jesus Saiz.
This has potential. Saiz’s art is clean and reasonably detailed that very effectively tells the story. The story is a bit of a muddle, like coming in on the third act of an action movie. The situation is broad enough that it is easy to get behind the heroes, despite accusations of murder and other crimes. But who their anatomists are isn’t really clear, nor is the connection between the characters or far that matter who our heroes are. I know Black Canary from previous comics, and this establishes her as a martial arts superhero, but the rest and all of Starling, the other lead, is a blank. This issue does set up a mystery that could and should be interesting, but it is clumsy. Not a bad start, but not the cleanest one.
6/10

Blue Beetle. Writer Tony Bedard. Art by Ig Guara and Roy Rose.
Some may complain about the retelling the origin of a character that has only been around for 5 years, but it is clear that the reason for doing it is to remove allusions to the crossover Infinite Crisis as well as to have a nice multimedia friendly origin. For the most part, this book works. The art is solid, though nothing to get excited over. The writing has some strange bits, like an editor’s note that says translated from Spanglish when it isn’t, but the story is a solid one. The only really troublesome change is that they turned the Reach, the villains who sent the scarab to Earth, from somewhat ambiguous assimilators to evil conquerors. Still, it is hard to escape the fact that if you’ve read the last series you’ve read a better version of this story. That doesn’t mean that this is a bad version, simply a mediocre one.
6/10

Captain Atom. Written by J.T. Krul. Art by Freddie Williams II.
This is a book where the art stars. Williams renders Captain Atom as a bright figure of reality on an almost impressionistic, dark background. In the end our protagonist, even though he is a completely unreal flying blue man seems more real than the world around him. It is really good, stunning work. The writing by J.T. Krul, who hasn’t written much that is good and plenty that is terrible, is also solid. There are certainly flaws — how did there get to be a volcano in New York? Is anyone even remotely intrigued by the cliffhanger? — but it is mostly solid superhero stuff. Captain Atom is not just a man losing his humanity but also a man whose self is actively deteriorated. It is an interesting hook.
7/10

Catwoman. Written by Judd Winick. Art by Guillem March.
From cover to cover, this book made me feel dirty, like some cheap cable soft-core porn. It is literally impossible to separate the plot of the book from all the T&A because it pervades all parts of this comic. While a trashy romance take on Catwoman is not an inherently bad idea, here it is not done with much skill or class. Winick does nothing to make Catwoman in interesting character. All we learn of her from this issue is that she uses her sexuality to solve her problems, even when it doesn’t make sense for any reason other than the artist wants to draw some boobs. March has a unique style to his art and while his work here isn’t terrible, it absolutely exacerbates the voyeuristic felling the whole comic has. I really, really did not care for this.
3/10

DCU Presents: Deadman. Written by Paul Jenkins. Art by Bernard Chang.
Another competent but unremarkable comic. Chang provides nice, clean art. Nothing to get excited about, but also nothing to complain about. The story is an effective explanation of who Deadman is that quickly and intelligently remakes his origin. He is no longer searching for his killer, but trying to balance some sort of Karmic scales because in life he was a douche. It is a good hook for a hero, but one that can never end because when it does, Deadman dies. Strangely, Deadman is a getting a big push in the new DC Universe, with a spot on a Justice League team, a supporting role in another book and a 5 (or 6) issue story in what is supposed to be an anthology title. I think wasn’t a good idea to start this title with such a long story about a character, but it doesn’t seem to be a bad story.
6/10

The Fury of Firestorm. Written by Gail Simone and Ethan Van Scriver. Art by Yildiray Cinar.
This is a complete re-imagining of the Firestorm concept. Now Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch are high school students that through the use of some sort of SUPER SCIENCE capsule become Firestorm. It opens with a disturbingly violent set of murders, something that continues to happen throughout the book. Then we get to our heroes. Simone and Van Scriver set up our heroes as complete opposites with about as much subtlety as a hammer. But the hammer is a tool they clearly know how to use, so it doesn’t come off too bad. The art never rises above middling, with some rough pages of Ronnie playing football offsetting the nice pages after they become Firestorms. The concept seems good, much better than the mess that the characters were in in the previous continuity. My only substantial complaint is the level of violence that this book treats so casually. The Fury of Firestorm isn’t great, but it certainly is interesting.
7/10

The Flash. Story and Art by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.
I had some trepidation with artists taking over writing duties on this title, but luckily, my fears were unfounded. Maybe it’s just because it is currently fresher in my mind than Batwoman, but I’m calling this the best-looking book coming out of DC. This is a nearly perfect melding of story and art. There are several pages that are just jaw droopingly awesome. The story itself is nothing special, though it sadly has a somewhat uncommon tone. This is a traditional superhero book. It is about the Flash solving a crime. There is little blood and only one possible death. It is refreshingly straightforward and heroic. We actually get to see the protagonist hang out with some supporting cast. While I would guess Barry’s reunion with Iris West is inevitable, I like Patty Spivot. While she appeared some in the previous Flash series, this one issue made me like her. And Iris comes off as a wonderfully pushy Lois Lane type. Even the previously personality free Barry Allen is interesting. If the creative team can maintain this level of artistry and keep the story moving this could be the best book of re-launch.
9/10

Green Lantern Corps. Written by Peter Tomasi. Art by Fernando Pasarin.
I have to admit that I was inclined to like this book before I read it. Tomasi’s previous Green Lantern Corps run was a favorite of mine, and I have an unhealthy affection for Guy Gardner. While trying to be as unbiased as possibly, I still think this is a really good comic book. It effectively establishes the two heroes, Guy and John Stewart, showing their problems fitting in on Earth now that they are superhero space cops. Then they pop back into space just in time to investigate some something that is killing Green Lantern. This book isn’t great and it isn’t flashy, but it works. The art is the best sort of realism that manages to make the crazy aliens look just as real as the actual people do. Plus, I crack up every time I see that panel of Guy almost crying when they tell him he can’t coach football.
8/10

Green Lantern: The New Guardians. Written by Tony Bedard. Art by Tyler Kirkham.
Tony Bedard has an interesting story he’s setting up here, but he doesn’t do a very good job of it in this first issue. There is a pointless retelling of Kyle‘s, the fourth Green Lantern, origin that glosses over why the guardians would give the ring to him. The rest of the issue isn’t particularly bad, but underwhelming. The art does it no favors. Kirkham’s art is like a watered down Jim Lee, only now with anime hair. The whole style is dull and off-putting. The art and writing together add up to a kind of bad comic book that at least has the promise of a decent hook.
4/10

I, Vampire. Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov. Art by Andrea Sorrentino.
The cover does this book no favors, but inside it is pretty decent. A vampire guy and his vampire lover debate whether they should try to take over a world that is filled with superhero’s that will absolutely kill them. Then on starts a war on humanity and the other tries to stop it. Some of the dialogue is over the top ridiculous, but for the most part, it works. The art fits the mood of the book perfectly, with everything being dark and foggy. It does make it hard to differentiate some characters, but it looks really good. I’m not sure how far this book can go when the end point is already known. There is no way these vampires have a chance against Superman and the rest of the superheroes. I do appreciate the bait and switch of the Twilight looking cover and inside real, murderous vampires.
7/10

Justice League Dark. Written by Peter Milligan. Art by Mikel Janin.
While the title is dumb, this is a good concept, a Justice League team set up to deal entirely with magical threats. This first issue illustrates both how the Johns/Lee Justice League could have introduced all the characters in the first issue and why it didn’t. The whole of the eventual team appears in this book, but assuming you don’t have any previous knowledge of them this book does little to clue you in. And most of these characters aren’t even close to household names. Sure, John Constantine had a movie and Zatanna has been in a lot of DC cartoons, but the rest are mostly unknowns outside of rapid comic book fandom. Still, the book gets all the players on the board and tells a reasonably coherent story. Plus, Mikel Janin’s art is really, really good. It does look a little stiff and posed occasionally, but with the excellent coloring, the art on Justice League Dark definitely helps set the creepy tone of the book. This is by no means a perfect book, but it is one with potential.
7/10

Legion of Superheroes. Written by Paul Levitz. Art by Francis Portela.
As I said with Legion Lost, the Legion of Superheroes has a reputation for being impenetrable. And in this re-launch that has held true. This is a book more dependant on what came before than any other book that DC published this month. Unfortunately, it does almost nothing to let the reader know what that was. It’s not that the story is particularly hard to follow, it is just that this isn’t chapter 1, it is more like chapter 12. It is easy enough to follow the plot, but there are relationships that drive the story that are only hinted at. Portela’s art is fine, aside from the occasional wonky face, but as a new start, this issue is a mess. I can’t imagine this gaining the Legion any fans, but I assume it won’t lose them any either.
4/10

Nightwing. Written by Kyle Higgins. Art by Eddy Barrows.
Dick Grayson returns to his old identity, and it is like he never left. I really enjoyed this. It shows where Dick has been and where he is now while hinting at where he is trying to go. This feels like a continuation of the old Nightwing series, and that is a very good thing. His long running series (nearly 15 years) was often very good superheroics that actually benefited from starring Batman that wasn’t Batman, as that freed it up to tell stories with a greater feeling of danger. Kyle Higgins seems to write in the mold of Chuck Dixon, and while that rarely produces great comics, it usually produces very good ones. Eddy Barrows art is mostly good, giving Dick a great sense of motion and an acrobatic style. This is an upper end good book.
7/10

Red Hood and The Outlaws. Written by Scott Lobdell. Art by Kenneth Rocafort.
I am going to give Lobdell a pass on Starfire in this issue. As she is written it is damn close to vile, but I am willing to believe that it is not intentional, that there is an explanation. Fiction is predicated on things not being what they seem. I hope that is the case here. Other than that, this is a decent trashy buddy comic. The Red Hood and Arsenal are both losers, but together they make a decent team. Rocafort’s funky page layouts and oddly chiseled looking characters are strangely compelling to me. And the colorist Blond really nails it. I want to see more of this art. But for that, this book needs to be better. Lobdell hit Superboy out of the park; I hope he can right this ship. There is trashy fun to be had here, if there is a decent explanation for Starfire.
5/10

Savage Hawkman. Written by Tony Daniel. Art by Philip Tan.
This is a hard issue to judge. It isn’t good, but I’m not sure it is terrible. Tan’s art is very good on some pages but confusing and sloppy on others. The new set up is interesting, but this issue doesn’t tell us much about Hawkman. Daniel describing him as an alien Indiana Jones sounds great, but that doesn’t really come across in this issue. The dialogue is the best I’ve seen from Daniel, but honestly, that is almost an insult.  Much of the premise is still vague or unclear and the villain is the most uninteresting sort of rage murder monster.  I could see this developing into a pretty good action comic, but after one issue it is a mess.
4/10

 

 

Supergirl. Written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson. Art by Mahmud Asrar.
If this comic had been a little meatier, I would be lauding it as one of the great successes of the relaunch, up there with The Flash and Aquaman. Unfortunately, it is a little light. Asrar’s art is clean and crisp, avoiding the blatantly sexual posing that pervades cape comics while simultaneously making Supergirl seem like a confused, scared girl and a powerhouse. The story is an intelligent take on the way Jeph Loeb portrayed Supergirl only a few years ago. Her unfamiliarity with humanity emphasizes Superman’s Earthly upbringing. She is clearly lost. But there just isn’t much to this issue aside from Supergirl crashing to Earth and waking up. She then fights some guys in mechs, which looks nice but doesn’t really accomplish anything. Not a bad start, but a slow one.
7/10

Superman. Written by George Perez. Art by George Perez and Jesus Merino.
This is one dense comic. Perez packs 25 pages with more word balloons and narration boxes than any other 3 comics. That in and of itself is neither good nor bad, it all comes down to the merit of all those words. For the first half of the comic it is pretty good. A touched cramped, there is a lot of information being thrown at the reader trying to set up Superman’s new status quo, but nice a meaty in comparison to something like Supergirl. Then there is the second half, where Superman’s fight with a fire monster is obscured by both the T.V. coverage and Clark’s own newspaper story. The newspaper take on the fight is really unnecessary and is easily the comics biggest fault. It is both badly written and redundant with the visuals and the T.V. take, which is actually integral to the story. The art is hard to fault. Perez is a legendary artist and Merino manages to smooth over some of the excess detail. This is a comic that needs to breathe; it needs to pack less information in the space provided. Its density makes it ponderous. Still, it is not a terrible start for the new Superman.
6/10

Teen Titans. Written by Scott Lobdell. Art by Brett Booth and Norm Raphmund.
Teen Titans is much better than I expected. The writing is reasonably crisp, and the plot is much more upbeat and fun than the solicitations made it seem. While all the characters are rebooted, although for Red Robin I think it is just his Teen Titans past that is gone, but none seem to have been greatly damaged by the change. They seem young and reckless, which is probably how they should feel. Booth’s art is not quite the albatross around the neck of this book that I though it would be. It still isn’t very good, his style makes everything looks elongated and weird, but it isn’t as early Image terrible as some of his stuff looks. This is a reasonably decent comic. Not great by any means, and with Booth’s art not good as far as I’m concerned, but not terrible.
5/10

Wonder Woman. Written by Brian Azzarello. Art by Cliff Chiang.
Chiang is the king of drawing. This book is up there with The Flash and Batwoman as the best looking of the re-launch. If only for the art this is one of the better books of the month. Fortunately, Azzarello also sets up a nice story. His Diana is powerful, but not cold. There are the seeds of a great dynamic between her and Zola, the woman she is protecting from the anger of at least one of the Gods. The modernized version of the Greek Pantheon in this book are visually more interesting than they have been, but it seems a little tired after reading Incredible Hercules. Wonder Woman is set up as the intercessor between men and gods, having to protect a pregnant woman from the capricious immortals. I am a sucker for modern mythology stories, and this is among the best I have read.
9/10

Voodoo. Written by Ron Marz. Art by Sami Basri.
I was kind of dreading reading this, but I ended up liking it a lot. Like Supergirl, it is sparse, especially on details about its title character, but this comic sets up its mystery better than most of the mystery-ish books of the re-launch. It is impossible to ignore that this book is set mostly in a strip club. While there is a flimsy story pretext for this, it mostly seems to be there because the Wildstorm Voodoo was also a stripper. The combination of Basri’s clean art and Marz matter of fact treatment of the subject help this book to not feel exploitative. Still, this is 20 pages of the worst secret agent ever and his partner watching a stripper that they believe is a shape-changing alien. They have a theory about her, and part of it is confirmed. This issue leaves it up in the air if its protagonist is a monster or not and it actually feels like a mystery worth pursuing.
7/10

NFL Predictions Week 4

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I am very angry with myself. Just before I posted last week’s NFL predictions, I changed my pick in the Pats/Bills game. Sure, I can’t prove it, but my first instinct was that the Bills would win. Then I remembered that the Bills never beat the Patriots, got cold feet and changed it. Also, I changed my pick in the Panthers/Jaguars game at the same time for good measure. That will teach me not to trust my gut. I would have had a great week instead a kinda good one.

Fantasy Football continues to be a disaster for me this year. Fortunately, Fantasy Football is a stupid game played only by morons so I don’t care. Also, I don’t want any grapes anyway, they look sour.

There aren’t quite as many tough games to pick this week. (Which probably means I’ll miss more) We might find out if Pitt or Houston is actually any good, or the same for Cleveland and Tennessee. Will a Missouri team win a game this week? Will Vick play? There are plenty of questions, as always, but I am more confident this week. Likely not a good sign, that.

Bears over Panthers 34-27.
Bills over Bengals 27-17.
Titans over Browns. 23-14.
Lions over Cowboys 30-22.
Vikings over Chiefs 24-13.
Redskins over Rams. 24-14.
Eagles over 49ers. 31-20.
Saints over Jaguars 30-24.
Houston over Steelers 27-20.
Giants over Cardinals. 28-23.
Falcons over Seahawks. 24-10.
Packers over Broncos. 27-17.
Patriots over Raiders 35-24
Chargers over Dolphins 21-20
Ravens over Jets. 20-17
Buccaneers over Colts 20-14

 

Last week: 11-5

Season: 31-17