My Mitchell-sense is tingling, if you know what I mean!

ANI-MOVIES, *Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay

Set in the same universe of animated films as part of DC Universe's post-Flashpoint franchise, this is the first movie to introduce the Suicide Squad to that continuity. There was one of them set in the Batman: Arkham video game timeline, but Hell To Pay features the first time alot of these characters have been part of the "New 52" reboot, which works as alot of the characters from Assault On Arkjam were killed off in that storyline. One thing that separates this from the other films, it's the first "villains only" comic book movie!

Amanda Waller collects Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Copperhead, Captain Boomerang, Bronze Tiger, and Killer Frost as Task Force X(super villains forced to do covert-ops for the U.S. government)to find a special card. Sent out incognito in a Winnebago, they track down the last known owner of the card, Steel Maxium, a male stripper who previously held the title of Dr. Fate, but was fired by letting a pair of bad girls make off with the card. The card itself is a "get out of Hell" card that allows its bearer a free pass to Heaven when they die, which was stolen by ex-Female Fury Knockout, and Scandal Savage working for her immortal father Vandal. The deadly duo then abducts Professor Pig to surgically implant the card inside Vandal's chest. Meanwhile, another baddie brigade made of Professor Zoom, Silver Banshee, and Blockbuster are also after the card, Zoom especially because he's still aching from the massive migraine that Flashpoint Batman gave him when he shot him in the head. The final clash has alot of villains biting the dust, and only one of them actually getting to use the card in the end.

This film seriously cleared the decks of DC villains, even more than Batman: Bad Blood did! Even though there's still numerous other bad guys to fill the quote for future DC Universe entries, but a good portion of who normally make up the Secret Society/Legion of Doom got flatlined in this. The animation is up the normal specs of quality, but considering this entry was Rated-R, the gore factor was jacked up to about 9.1, plus a bunch more swearing. Hell To Pay was said to have more of a Grindhouse vibe to it, which DC did a way better job with DC Showcase: The Spectre. The dub is passable with Christian Slater doing a bang-up job as Deadshot, and Tara Strong returning as Harley Quinn. Batman: Assault On Arkham was a better adaptation of Suicide Squad if your looking for something of them in animation, but this one is still worth a watch.

Cosplay is not consent. WELL, NOT WITH THAT ATTITUDE!

MISC. MANGA, *Dragon Crown

Based on the sword and sorcery side-scrolling RPG fantasy Atlus video game, Street Fighter arist Yuztan put together this 2-volume manga series released in English by Udon Entertainment. It takes the idea of the game, and translates it into a series of missions featuring the playable characters.

A group of heroes consisting of by name: Fighter, Amazon, Sorceress, Elf, Wizard, and Dwarf all decide to band together and use their skills in the service of the noble local prince. These include rescue missions, treasure hunts, and monster fighting. The strange part is that like in the game, you can only use four characters at a time, so they show the remaining two characters at the end of each chapter in a short SD strip hanging out at the local tavern waiting for their teammates to return. This leads ultimately to quest for a mystical artifact known as the Dragon Crown which gives its user the power to control any dragon, with which to take over the kingdom.

Yuztan does an exceptional job showing the outrageous fan service-filled features of the characters, especially the Red Sonja-like Amazon and voluptuous Sorceress. Even if you've never played the game, this manga is enjoyable to fans of Dungeons and Dragons or old school action titles like Golden Axe.

Cap's new "shield".

J. Jonah Jameson wants SPOILERS!

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Karas

Like most up-and-coming American comic book creators, they seriously want to get their title turned into a genuine anime series, as in actually being made in Japan and produced for the Japanese market. So Dark Horse Comics really bagged a biggie when their one-shot comic Karas was adapted into a 6-episode OVA series. The original comic written by Phil Amara(Spyboy)received moderate success in 2004, and then became a full-on superhero anime by Tatsunoko Production, who already have a history of superhero anime like Speed Racer, Gatchaman Casshern, and Teknoman. So they mixed on some flawless cel-shaded animation to create this "Batman meets The Crow" hybrid!

In modern day Japan, sections of Tokyo major city have their own guardian spirit known as a Karas guarding it. Each Karas makes a contract with a cat-like spirit called Yurine who all share a similar appearance(except in hair color), however Eko, the Karas of Shinjuku, rebels and takes over his city. Three years later, Eko has amassed a mafia of demonic "mikura" to control Shinjuku, but a new Yurine is born and contracts the comatose ex-Yakuza swordsman Otoha to be the new Karas to take Eko down. Along with this, we see how the lives of common people effected by the supernatural happenings going on, including a special two-man police investigation unit, a hapless mascot girl, and the local yokai who try to survive in the ensuing chaos. Most notable is the outcasted mikura Nue who seeks to free his brother from Eko's control, but both brothers are part Eko's scheme to separate Shinjuku into its own kingdom. When the mikuru start branching out all over the city, Otoha reemerges as Karas to fight the Eko, along with a female Karas from another part of Tokyo. Each Karas takes on the appearance of a crow-like samurai with the ability to turn into a miniature saber jet, or a juiced-up Batmobile, so the final battle between this trio of Karas makes for an incredible showdown.

The OVA series was release in English by Manga Entertainment, but as two separate compilation films, Karas: The Prophecy and Karas: The Revelation, which was probably a bit confusing for anyone who picked up one of these titles on their own without knowing it was part of a series. Karas obtained enough popularity in Japan to include the actual Karas character in Capcom Vs. Tatsunoko, but its release in America didn't have as much lasting power, slightly due to a serious lack of exposition involving the nature of these supernatural beings and how their existence is interwoven with the common human world. The dub is exceptional with Jay Hernandez and Mathew Lillard, plus Piper Perabo and Cree Summer both voicing Yurine with Summer replacing Perabo for the second film. The anime has been released in America as two DVD volumes, and a 2-disc DVD set, but so far no English Blu-Ray has been made available outside of the U.K.