Underneath the Mask

Weekly Comic Round-Up

2007-10-18T12:03:00.000-04:00

Every week (roughly) Aaron goes to the Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio and spends far more money than his wife would prefer. He then comes back here and writes about the comics he reads that he thought were noteworthy. This isn't everything he picks up, just the things that he feels merit discussion - either for being really good, or for having something really wrong with them.

Death of the New Gods 1
Ok, I know that this takes away all of my geek cred, but I have to say it. I have never been that amazed with Jack Kirby.

I know. I know. Send in the hounds.

In all fairness, I admire his work. Kirby is to comic books what Orson Welles was to cinema. He revolutionized ways of doing things, and took the bare bones laid by those who came before him and redefined how things would be done forever after him.

But that doesn’t change the fact that since he redefined things, some folks have done it better. There are plenty of artists who I think are better, and certainly there are superior writers. So, with that said and upfront, let’s just start off by saying I’ve never been that impressed with the New Gods. In fact, the only reason I even looked at this book was because it ties in to Countdown, even if it doesn’t do so explicitly.

Man, I almost passed on a really good thing. The action is tightly paced, and the art is really crisp and clean. A device is used to show who is narrating each section with a small symbol placed in the narration boxes, and it works really well.

Case in point? I have absolutely nothing invested in any of the three gods who died this issue. But each death hit me.

And Darkseid getting one-step ahead of Metron? Priceless.

Captain America 31
Bucky is still my personal pick to be the new Captain America. But they’re sure doing their level best to make it hard for him. Having been captured in the last issue by the Red Skull and Dr. Faustus (remember, the guy who brainwashed Sharon Carter into shooting Steve Rogers, and to convince a huge percentage of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to quit?), they’re doing their best to break Bucky, by convincing him that Steve Rogers abandoned him.

The fantasies they create are interesting, though a bit unsubtle. And I don’t really understand why it is that the last one worked on Bucky when the others didn’t. (If it did at all – that’s still left to some debate, depending on whether or not next month’s issue opens up with a dead Agent 13.)

Meanwhile, Tony Stark is having a really bad month. We’ll see more of his bad month in the other books on the round-up, but having to deal with a S.H.I.E.L.D. organization he can’t rely on, and a Falcon and Black Widow who were stunned by a rogue Agent 13, to say nothing of the looming threat of the Red Skull, makes for a rough time for Iron Man.

Brubecker is quickly becoming my favorite Cap author, and that’s not an easy task to accomplish.

In other Captain America news, I picked up Captain America: The Chosen 3 this week as well. Just… don’t. And if they make that guy the new Captain America, I may be as done with Cap as I will be with Spider-Man once One More Day is finished.

(And yes, I know that the idea of using a perfectly new hero to replace the dead/missing/retired icon has worked well in comics before. I still really dig Kyle Rayner, Steel and Connor Kent. But Knightfall would’ve made me happier if Dick Grayson had become Batman, and I’m going to be really upset if the new Cap is a random soldier.)

Booster Gold 3
A comic book where a hero has disgraced himself in order to be able to save the timestream, but who will never be able to get the credit for it, is not what people would expect to be among the more “fun” titles out there today.

People would be wrong.

Booster, Rip and Skeets continue to bounce through time to make reality come together as it’s supposed to. And along the way (in this issue alone), Booster gets drunk alongside Jonah Hex, saved the doctor who will deliver Johnathan Kent’s father, deals with his ancestor Daniel and the double issue of discovering that the Supernova suit was stolen and the fact that he needs to get Daniel together with his future wife, and meets Barry Allen and Wally West – when Wally was still Kid Flash.

This book may be the best title published today. It’s fun, it’s fast-paced, the action is good, and it turns a character who had been little more than a joke into a major part of the DCU.

If you’re not reading this title, close your computer, walk or drive to your nearest comic book store, and pick up all three issues.

Now.

Marvel Zombies 2 1
I am so very, very, very torn about this book.

Why? Well, because on the one hand, I want to like it. And it had moments that I found absolutely perfect. The Galactus/Marvel zombies finding Ego, the Living Planet? That was so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye.

And there were other parts of it I enjoyed too. I liked the idea that Janet Van Dyne’s zombie head, now in control of her hunger, was still a part of the leading council. I liked the idea that, even after the zombie decimation, humans and mutants would still have differing opinions on how life should go on. It even worked for me that Cortez’s son would want to usurp T’Challa.

But the plot holes… dear god, the plot holes. If all it took was a week or so of the zombies not feeding for them to get back in control of themselves, then why did the zombie FF not regain control while they were trapped in the Baxter Building?

And of all the minds who are with the Galactus zombies, would it really be Peter Parker who first noticed that the hunger became less terrible with time? Really? Heck, if anything, I would think it would be Wolverine, with his heightened awareness of his body.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ll keep reading it. But I was really hoping for better from this series, and Issue 1 isn’t as promising as I’d have liked.

Birds of Prey 111
Another one-off issue, but one that I think hit the nail on the head a little better than last month’s. (Not that there was anything wrong with the Helena issue, it just wasn’t quite as amazing.) Barbara needs to get to a localized Intranet to recover information about her identity from when the Watchtower was destroyed. Unfortunately, the Calculator had the same idea, and so both of them have infiltrated a convention taking place at the company’s HQ.

At the convention, Oracle and the Calculator end up bumping into one another while each is trying to get to the intranet, and so they both decide to distract the other by going to lunch together. There’s some cute flirtation between the two, and then they go back to their attempts to hack the intranet.

As these things must, a fight develops, though due to clever writing about a supervillain’s blind spots, despite the fact that Oracle breaks the Calculator’s leg, he doesn’t believe that Barbara is Oracle. The way that Misfit and the Huntress send the cavalry in when Barbara gets in trouble is nothing short of brilliant either.

Booster Gold may be my favorite ongoing title at the moment, but it’s a close contest with Birds of Prey.

A few books which don’t deserve an entire write-up, but are worth picking up if you get the chance. Penance 2 continues on just as strongly as the first issue did, with Robbie going after the Robot Master, for one reason and one reason only. He wants to get Nitro. And the secret of the numbers he’s been writing? They’re revealed. This issue would be another part of Tony Stark’s bad day. In all fairness, this book does deserve a full write-up, but I didn’t want to spoil any part of it. Meanwhile, Justice League 14 continues the battle between the Injustice Gang (or Legion of Doom, if we want to be honest) and the League, and does so wonderfully. I only had two complaints with it – the first being that things are happening so fast that they lack some of the attention they deserve. A new Shaggy Man? Grodd trying to break Geo-Force? Kryptonite paint? They’re all great ideas, and I just would have liked them to get a little more attention. My second complaint, and this is minor, is that in the splash page where Luthor shows Superman and Black Lightning the captured League is a bit too overtly sexualized in how it shows the captured heroines. Trust me, I know that superheroines in bondage is a common nerd fantasy, and has been ever since the early days of Wonder Woman. But I don’t need to be beat over the head with it. Finally, Mighty Avengers 5 manages to earn a little bit of respect from me in how Ares’ handles Ultron. The problem is how flawed other elements of the comic were. Frankly, Ultron shouldn’t be able to stand up to a pissed-off Sentry. “Power of a thousand exploding suns”, remember? Going to be going toe-to-toe with the Hulk in a week or so. And Ultron just killed his wife (maybe). Ultron should’ve been pulped. And I still think that the thought balloons seem more reflective of an editorial voice than that of the character they’re attached to.

So, that’s what I found noteworthy this week in comics. And if you’re not reading over there already, keep up with the developments in the world of superhero film and television at Superheroflix.

New Captain America

2007-10-11T15:05:00.000-04:00

Marvel has revealed pictures of the new Captain America, with a costume designed by Alex Ross.

No word yet on who it'll be, but Marvel has said it will not be Steve Rogers in the costume.

I kind of dig the costume, but don't see why it was needed. Much like Ben Riley's Spider-Man costume it's a decent moderinizing without dishonoring the original, but was it needed? No.

Weekly Comic Round-Up

2007-10-11T13:46:00.000-04:00

Every week (roughly) Aaron goes to the Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio and spends far more money than his wife would prefer. He then comes back here and writes about the comics he reads that he thought were noteworthy. This isn't everything he picks up, just the things that he feels merit discussion - either for being really good, or for having something really wrong with them.

Green Arrow and Black Canary 1
Hey! Look! Connor and Dinah together on the cover! And a caption that this is not the team we expected. I guess that means that Dinah really did kill Ollie on their wedding night last issue.

Sure it is.

Needless to say, Dinah isn’t taking the fact that she killed her husband well. She’s become overtly violent and aggressive, with Connor, Hal and just about everyone else in the DCU telling her to deal with it. Dinah, on the other hand, is convinced that it was a fake Oliver, and that he’s still alive and out there.

And of course, it’s Batman who is suspicious enough to believe that Dinah might be right. An autopsy reveals that Bruce was correct – how shocking. And as the issue closes, we see who has the real Oliver Queen captive.

Pardon me, but what the hell? There are more plot holes in this then I can even begin to deal with. Let’s start with the fact that they did DNA testing on Ollie’s corpse. That should’ve revealed the truth – most shapeshifters don’t get to that level of duplication. But an autopsy performed by Batman and Dr. Mid-Nite will reveal it. Right.

Then there’s the question of how it took place? Dinah should’ve realized it wasn’t actually Ollie long before he came after her with a knife.

And finally, Dinah is among the ten best martial artists in the DCU. Oliver Queen doesn’t even come close (though his son might). She should have been able to disarm and disable the fake Oliver without jamming an arrow through his neck.

They really need to work to pull this out of the nose-dive they’re currently in. I want to like this book – I love Green Arrow and Black Canary. But this is just lame.

Green Lantern 24
The Sinestro War continues. As the Sinestro Corps comes to Earth, they send the Cyborg and the Manhunters to take out the JLA, as we saw last week in the Cyborg’s own comic. Meanwhile, Superboy Prime leads the Sinestros to attack earth proper.

And Parallax goes after Hal Jordan’s family. Hal flies off to the rescue, and is absorbed by Parallax, but then Kyle and Hal work together to burst free.

Ganthet and his Smurfette arrive and contain Parallax in the lanterns of Kyle, Hal, John Stewart and Guy Gardner – because humans have shown themselves to be especially capable at confronting their fears.

Really? Because, to my knowledge, the only two Lanterns to be possessed by Parallax were Kyle and Hal. That’s not exactly the criteria I’d choose for who to keep it captured.

Kyle does reclaim the mantle of (a) Green Lantern though, which is cool. I prefer him as a Lantern to being the receptacle for Ion. Besides, Ion is going to the Daxamite GL – which is going to be a necessity with Superboy Prime leading the Sinestro Corps.

It was a fun read, but moments that should have been meaningful were rushed.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 24
“One More Day” continues, and now Peter is off to Dr. Strange to attempt to save May’s life. Despite being told by Stephen that May’s death is inevitable, and there is nothing that can be done, Peter insists. And so Strange uses magic to let Peter ask everyone he can think of to help his Aunt. They all refuse.

(Which makes no sense. We have seen that the technology is there to clone a person. We have also seen that the technology exists to transfer someone’s brain into a clone. If anyone has earned this procedure, it’s Peter.)

Peter, being foolhardy, then sneaks magic from behind Strange’s back to go back in time to prevent the shooting from happening. Because the knowledge of Latin from chemistry and biology is enough to use one of Dr. Strange’s artifacts, of course. It doesn’t work, needless to say.

Strange finally counsels Peter to go and be with his Aunt in her dying moments, rather than spending what time she has left rushing around to try to rescue her. Peter agrees, and as he wanders away, he remembers Strange saying that Peter couldn’t change what was meant to be. At which point a little girl shows up and says “But I can.”

Right.

The little girl is probably Mephisto. But even if Pete does go back in time, how does it matter? It has long-since been established that time-travel doesn’t let you change the past, it just creates an alternate reality.

I’ve seen spoilers for the end of “One More Day.” They anger me. But it seems like not only am I going to be mad about the results, I’m not going to be real happy with the journey.

JMS won me back to Spider-Man after the horror that was “The Clone Saga” and “Maximum Carnage.” But now he may have pushed me away from the web-slinger even harder.

Black Adam: The Dark Age 3
Adam’s quest continues, and wow has it been fun so far. Faust points out what the rest of us noticed, but that Adam had missed. Isis was missing a finger bone, and without that bone, the Lazarus Pit was unable to repair her. But Faust has said that he can bring her back if all of her amulet can be reclaimed.

Using the magic in her bones, Adam is now able to transform once again. So he begins his quest to regain the amulet pieces. The first piece is guarded by Hawkman.

It was a fun little fight, but why on Earth did it last? Adam is able to go toe-to-toe with Superman and Captain Marvel. Hawkman is a tough fighter with wings and a cool mace. The first punch Adam threw that connected should have removed Carter’s head.

Still, this is a minor quibble. The book has been excellent so far, and continues to be so. If you’re not reading it, you really need to.

A few books which don’t deserve an entire write-up, but are worth picking up if you get the chance. Countdown 29 continues again, and after a really strong week for Countdown and it’s crossovers, this week was kind of blah. First, it depended on the events of the upcoming Lord Havok cross-over, and that hasn’t come out. Secondly, the bits with Mary Marvel/Eclipso, The Karate Kid/Triplicate Lass, Holly Robinson and Jimmy Olsen were all a bit flat. And they really lose points for letting the Jokester be Monitored. He had a lot of potential that I wanted to see explored. And if they weren’t going to explore it, then the Crime Syndicate cross-over shouldn’t have been his origin. In Superman 668, Bruce and Clark are looking for the mysterious Third Kryptonian. (Of course, it’s more than that now. There’s Clark and Kara, but there’s also Karen (Power Girl), Krypto, Christopher, and also Zod and company.) The search was kind of uninteresting. Not bad, but uninteresting. But what was worth reading was the interaction between Christopher and Robin. Finally, New Avengers 35 features the team losing it’s first member as a death occurs fighting Zodiac. And then Night Thrasher disbands the team. It could’ve been interesting, but after five issues, I don’t feel like I know these characters. And by now, I should.

And if you’re not reading over there already, keep up with the developments in the world of superhero film and television over at Superheroflix.

Weekly Comic Round-Up

2007-10-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

News dump from SuperheroFlix

2007-10-02T22:31:00.000-04:00

So, like I said, I'm now working on getting news and stories up at SuperheroFlix. And it's been keeping me busy.

Here are just a few of the stories the site has put up over the last few days:

Heroes Re-cap for Episode 2.02: 'Lizards'
Writers of Transformers Revealed as Rewriters for Watchmen
Jonathan Jackson Battles The Seeker in The Dark Is Rising
Composer Ilan Eshkeri Re-teaming with Director Matthew Vaughn for Thor
James Wong Writing and Directing Dragon Ball Z Live-Action Film
Digital Production Supervisor Jeff White on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Incredible Hulk Storyline and Spoilers
Watch 4 Clips from Episode 2 of Bionic Woman!
Johnny Dynamite Television Series in the Works
Visual-Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar on Transformers 2
James Purefoy to Play the Lead Role in Solomon Kane
Underdog Paws Its Way to DVD and Blu-ray Disc December 18
Steven Moffat Is Writing Tintin
Full Cast List Revealed for Justice League: The New Frontier
CONTEST: Win Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer on DVD!
EXCLUSIVE: Eva Mendes Is Dating The Spirit
Malin Akerman Leaks a Little Watchmen Info
Carlos Mencia to Bring Beaner Man to the Big Screen!
Creators of Watchmen Consult with Author of The Physics of Superheroes

And I'm going to be writing reviews for the site as well.

Now, I didn't contribute all of those stories (not even close actually), but wow, it's a lot to keep up with. It's been tremendous fun, but it's a lot of work.

I'll be back on Thursday with the round-up.

Crickets chirping...

2007-10-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

Hey gang, I just wanted to let everyone know that things are going to slow down over here for a bit. I'll still be doing my round-ups here, and will still be talking about anything that is superhero related without being related to film or television which crosses my mind.

Why will I no longer be talking film or television?

Well, because I'm going to be busy working over at Superheroflix. Superheroflix is a spin-off genre site from MovieWeb, and one that has decided to bring me on-board working with them.

It's a tremendously exciting opportunity, and one I'm looking forward to. But it's not the place to talk about how excited I was to see Black Adam rip one of the Four Hoursemen into shreds in this weeks Countdown, (Hypothetically. To best of my knowledge, we will never see Black Adam engaging in violence against the Hoursemen in the pages of Countdown.), so I'll still be putting stuff over here.

I'll probably also, once I get used to things, put links to breaking news from Superheroflix over here as well.

Just wanted to keep everyone informed.

Weekly comic round-up

2007-09-27T10:42:00.000-04:00

Listen! Up in the sky!

2007-09-26T11:50:00.000-04:00

So, a while back we talked about old-time radio plays of superheroes. Well, three weeks of listening to them haven’t diminished my enthusiasm in the slightest. But there’s one little problem… they’re old.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing at all wrong with old stories. But it does remove the heroes from our frame of reference - Superman was a different character in the 1940’s then he is today. His relationships with Lex, Lois, Perry, etc. have all changed dramatically in the intervening sixty years, and the modern day listener can be somewhat confused when listening.

Fortunately, a great group of fans has come to the rescue.

The great people at Pendant Audio have been recording audio dramas for several years now. They started off with fan dramas, the first one being Star Trek, and then they moved into superhero audio shows, Superman: The Last Son of Krypton first, than Batman: The Ace of Detectives, Wonder Woman: Champion of Themyscira and Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton.

They’re good stories, grounded in modern continuity, with a remarkably good group of voice actors working on them - all the more remarkable because they’re fans across the internet and not professionals. The different superheroes are also intertwined (no worries, they will provide you with a list of the stories and what order they should be listened).

I’m up to “issue” 6 of Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, and loving it so far. They’re not perfect, but they are a lot of fun.

4 masks out of 5

Review: Hero (a novel)

2007-09-24T07:42:00.000-04:00

Perry Moore is several things. He is a producer, having produced The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He is a director, having worked with Sissy Spacek on the upcoming Lake City. He is an author, having recently published the novel Hero. And he is also openly gay.

It is a sad truth that the vast majority of characters in superhero comics are white, anglo-saxon, protestant men who are straight. This has been changing as time goes by, but not nearly as rapidly as it should be to have our heroes reflect our population.

Moore tackles that in this novel, as we follow the story of Thom - a young man who is the son of Major Might. His father was an unpowered hero, in the vein of Batman, until the fateful day that he "failed" to stop a world-eating alien menance from destroying a large chunk of the city. (He stopped the monster from eating the planet, but people weren't interested in this detail.) This failure also crippled his father's hand, and the combined failure and injury led to his father's retirement. Thom grew up in a house where one didn't mention superheroes and one certainly didn't mention the superpowered ones. Thom's mother left them both when Thom was younger, leaving Thom alone with his dad. Thom's father is also a homophobe.

This leads Thom to a problem. See, he has superpowers. And he's gay.

Hero is about Thom gaining acceptance and finding his place in the world. Both with his family, his teammates, and the world at large. It's the quest of a young man who knows that he wants to make the world a better place, even if he isn't quite sure how he's going to accomplish that.

Moore creates a fascinating cast of characters; Thom, his father, his rival and possibly friend Goran, the members of the League including Uberman, Justice and Warrior Woman, and his teammates - among them, Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone ill, Ruth, the octagenarian precog, Golden Boy, kid-speedster, and Scarlett, the flaming pizza-delivery girl. Every character we meet has secrets, many just as deep as the ones which Thom keeps.

The novel focuses on themes of loss and sacrifice, and the toll that keeping secrets can take. Ultimately, all works out for the best, but not until each and every dark secret has been laid bare.

If I have any complaints about the novel, it would be the extent to which Thom's homosexuality is rejected by the world at large. Not being gay myself, I will admit that I can't know exactly what level of prejudice homosexuals encounter on a daily basis - but in Moore's novel it seems that either you are homosexual, or you reject it violently. The only person who seems able to accept Thom's sexual orientation without it being an issue, or being gay themselves, is Ruth.

Still, this is a minor quibble. While I thought the message was a bit heavy-handed, it doesn't distract from what is otherwise a great read. Thom is likable and engaging, while still possessing human frailties that the audience can identify with. I have seen some reviewers describe this as a "young-adult" novel, or a novel "aimed at gay teens, struggling with accepting their sexuality". And they're not mistaken - the novel certainly is that. But the novel is also a story about heroism and being a human being struggling to find love and acceptance, which is something which any reader can identify with.

4 and a half masks out of 5

Guilty superhero pleasures

2007-09-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

Guilty pleasures. We all have them. For some of us, it’s that extra Snickers bar at lunch-time. For others, it’s staying up that hour beyond when you should go to bed while playing World of Warcraft. Others have far less innocent guilty pleasures, but in all cases we do something that we know we shouldn’t, just because we enjoy it.

A recent discussion reminded me of one of my own guilty pleasures, the short-lived Birds of Prey series from the WB. Not the excellent comic book, but the television show loosely (ok – really loosely) based on it. It was a weird blend of elements from the Batman mythology. Barbara Gordon was paralyzed, a result of being shot by the Joker. She used to be Batgirl. Batman has left Gotham (which probably had as much to do with copyright issues as anything else), and Oracle guides the Huntress (in this version, a metahuman and the daughter of Catwoman) and later on Dinah (a blonde teenaged girl with psychic abilities – very vaguely supposed to sugges Black Canary) as they try to stop metahuman crime in Gotham city.

The show wasn’t good – I won’t lie about that. Some of the choices made were nothing short of idiotic, and there were acting moments that made me cringe. But it wasn’t as terrible as some people tried to say it was. And I think that a lot of science-fiction/superhero television shows need a full season to find their groove – which Birds of Prey never got.

(Don’t believe me? Watch some of the first few episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It wasn’t good. Had it not been for rabid Trekkies who were just happy to have any form of Trek on TV again, it wouldn’t have lasted long enough to get good.)

Anyhow, this made me think of some other superhero related shows (most of which are now available on DVD) which fit into the category of “guilty pleasures.” So, here’s a list of a few of my favorite guilty pleasures, which I sneak a peak at whenever the SciFi channel runs a marthon of them.

1. Birds of Prey - Already discussed above.

2. The Crow: Stairway to Heaven - Wisely the creators of this show chose to make this film a re-imagining of the film, rather than a sequel. (Yeah, I’m looking at you Highlander.) Marc Dacastos made an excellent Eric Draven, and the show managed to make a compelling case for the fact that Eric was trying to reunite with Shelly, but giving it enough story to last as a series.

3. Swamp Thing - Dick Durock may be the only man who can say that the superhero he played has appeared in multiple films and tv series, and has always been played by him. This is all the more remarkable considering the strikingly different tones of the two films, with the series edging more towards the first. Roughly half of the episodes of the show had little or nothing to do with the Swamp Thing, instead exploring another mysterious happening, but they were almost all watchable.

4. Robocop: The Series - The RoboCop movies are dark and gritty, with an extremely high bodycount. They’re awesome movies, but clearly meant for an adult audience. The series tried to shift the focus to a young adult/teen audience, and made Murphy’s aresenal less lethal. It also gave him a Virtual Reality-based ally. I prefer the films, and the later RoboCop: Prime Directive mini-series, but this is a much family-friendlier RoboCop, and one that I can watch an episode or two of any time.

5. The Greatest American Hero - It was goofy and featured a hero who never was able to get control of his powers. The premise was ridiculous – surely with all that the suit was able to do, the aliens could have made the instruction manual a part of the suit itself. But it was also a lot of fun. And the costume remains one of the more distinctive superhero costumes in existence. Stand the Greatest American Hero (never actually given a superhero name in the show, incidentally) next to Mr. Fantastic, Daredevil and V, and the average person on the street will identify only one of them. The show also gets points in my book for being goofy and making fun of superheroes, but doing so with the kind of gentleness that shows a love for the subject.

So, what are your guilty pleasures?

Weekly Comics Round-Up

2007-09-20T12:40:00.000-04:00

Every week (roughly) Aaron goes to the Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio and spends far more money than his wife would prefer. He then comes back here and writes about the comics he reads that he thought were noteworthy. This isn't everything he picks up, just the things that he feels merit discussion - either for being really good, or for having something really wrong with them.

Countdown to Mystery 1
This book focuses on three of the major players in the mystic community of the DCU – the helmet of Dr. Fate, Eclipso and the Spectre. The rules of magic in the DCU have, after all, been rewritten following Infinite Crisis and the death of Nabu – something we also see this week in the pages of Countdown and Shadowpact. Though even with Nabu being dead, there must always be a Doctor Fate – and the helmet of fate finds a new Dr. Kent Nelson. This Nelson is a drunk, who has lost his wife and child and practice due to his own stupidity and depression. Nonetheless, he puts the helmet on when he finds it in the dumpster he was dumped in. The helmet fills him in on the history of the helmet, as well as reminding him of his own past – just in time for him to be attacked by a hell hound. He transforms into Dr. Fate and takes the hound out, and is then confronted by the beast’s master.

Meanwhile, the Spectre kills a serial killer – whose ghost then decides to follow the Spectre as he is drawn to another crisis. It’s a short story, all of two or so pages, but I imagine it’ll get picked up in later issues.

Finally we come to Eclipso. Jean Loring finds Plastic Man, and taunts him as they battle, eventually (probably) turning Eel O’Brian to the Dark Side. It’s an interesting little story, though I don’t really approve of Plas being so casually used. I think the character has a lot more inner strength then they let us see here. The issue ends with a flashback to Eclipso being drawn to Apokolips – where Darkseid tells us that he was the creator of the Black Diamonds. Interesting if true, and it means that Eclipso will no doubt be pulled into the ongoing murders of the New Gods.

A nice solid issue.

Captain America 30
The Winter Soldier has found the Red Skull in the body of Lushkin, and proceeds to beat the crap out of Crossbones and Syn while the Skull watches. Once the Skull finds out what he needed to know about Bucky, he uses an old Russian failsafe to shut him down – which leads to him torturing Bucky, probably in an effort to re-brainwash him.

As for the other folks who were a part of Steve’s life, we begin to see storylines come together as the Black Widow goes to find the Falcon and Agent 13 at Stark’s behest. Stark has begun to uncover Faustus’ involvement in S.H.I.E.L.D., and Natasha is there to check Sharon out. Of course, Sharon has an unexpected surprise as she finds a final “gift” left to her by Steve, which makes her perfectly receptive to another one of Faustus’ commands – one which bodes ill for the Falcon and the Black Widow.

Stark is on his way to the rescue in time for next issue, but before he leaves we get to see a final letter to Tony from Steve – one where Steve says that Captain America is bigger than he is, and that Tony shouldn’t let that die.

Personally, I’d still rather see Clint Barton take over the role, but it looks like Bucky may be wearing the mask of Captain America in a short time – provided the Skull doesn’t take him over first.

Penance: Relentless 1
I wasn’t thrilled with the last solo issue they gave Penance. I really like Robby Baldwin, and have ever since the first issue of Speedball. I felt like they didn’t quite know what to do with him following the transformation into Penance in the pages of Civil War. This issue, however, gets it.

Quite simply, Robby has lost it. He’s suffering from PTSD, and it has made him reckless, and obsessed with numbers. As one doctor observing him notes, the neurons in his brain were actually burned out by the stress, and so Robby is re-inventing himself. I have no clue what the deal with the numbers is, but I’m digging watching him throw off his handlers, and flummoxing the normally smooth Moonstone.

The big mystery of this issue, however, isn’t what the number patterns mean. It’s what Robby wants to get back from "the Leader of Latveria" – presumbaly Doom, but who can say?

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax 1
Kyle Rayner is possessed by Parallax. This is, clearly, a bad thing. There are any number of reasons why this is bad – as a symbol, Rayner represents the idea that the Corps will survive any disaster, he’s an amazingly creative artist which Parallax can now use against the Corps, and it means that Ion has lost his host (although he has since been rescued).

This issue lets us see how this is going on inside of Kyle’s head. He’s imprisoned in his own mind, and can see what Parallax is doing through him through a window in his mother’s house. Parallax comes in to taunt him, which leads to a fight – in which Kyle reinvents himself as a Green Lantern once again.

It’s really well done, and a nice reminder of the fact that Kyle has the will to be a Lantern, despite not being selected in a conventional manner. Kyle often gets the short-stick when compared to other Lanterns, but he has

World War Hulk 4
There isn’t a single thing bad about this issue. We begin with a battle between the possessed Dr. Strange and the Hulk. It seems the good doctor has drank the essence of a demon which fills him with rage and power. Enough power to hurt the Hulk, but enough rage to nearly kill a group of innocents – the same group of innocents who the Hulk saves. This is enough of a shock to Strange that the Hulk manages to defeat him, and is able to add Strange to the group of Illuminati who are no implanted with the same control discs the Hulk and his warbound once wore. While the Hulk puts them through the same trials he was put through, we see a flashback between the Sentry and Iron Man, as Tony tries to convince Robert that he needs to be the one to take out the Hulk – something which Robert fears to do, lest he lose control and the Void takes over once more. The issue ends with the Hulk signalling that the Illuminati in the arena must kill one another, which seems to be the trigger that Robert needs to decide that the Sentry must come into action.

It’s exquisitely put together, with great writing and amazing artwork. What amazes me, however, is how effective the scenes of ordinary humans watching and cheering the gladiator match are. Even more significant are the testimonials of Tom Foster and the others who believe (possibly correctly) that the Hulk is in the right here.

I still resent Planet Hulk for it’s length and annoyingness. But with how good World War Hulk has been, I’m beginning to forgive them for it.

A few books which don’t deserve an entire write-up, but are worth picking up if you get the chance. In Green Arrow and Black Canary: Wedding Special we have a generally fun issue, with nice characterization (if occasionally painted with too broad of strokes). My only complaints would be that it was generally predictable – even the wedding being crashed by villains. The ending irritated me, however. Dinah is better than that. Birds of Prey 116 is a good read, and lots of fun as we watch the Huntress chatting with Barbara via uplink while trying to stop a group of kids who are in danger of bombing the city because of being “fans” of the Aromic Skull. It was good, but ultimately unimportant as it did nothing to further any character’s story. Good filler, but filler nonetheless.

This particular week’s issue of Countdown was ok – but nothing terribly exciting happened. Stories are progressing as they should, but no major event happened this particular week. What I did find interesting was the new ad that DC is running to tease Final Crisis. The groupings in this double-page spread include A) The Trickster, holding a flute (presumably Piper’s) speaking with DeSaad and the Penguin. B) The Kingdom Come version of Superman standing besides the Cyborg Hank Henshaw, with a man who appears to be a version of the “back from the dead” Superman (long hair, and in all-black costume. His back is to us, but he wears a black cape with a silver “S” shield. C) The Joker whispering something into Catwoman’s ear, while the Martian Manhunter stands behind them both. D) A far too-excited Mary Marvel standing between Eclipso (Jean Lorring) and Granny Goodness, and finally E) Luthor, in the silver-age purple jumpsuit, wailing on the ground with blood on his hands. Interesting teases about what the future may hold.

Superheroes can talk like a pirate too!

2007-09-19T14:27:00.000-04:00

Arrgh! I ‘most forgot that this day be Talk Like A Pirate Day! Well, lubbers, mayhap this be the place for superheroes, but t’day, the pirates be takin’ over! This blog been raided! And so, we be takin’ a look at some pirates what been superheroes or villains!

Psycho Pirate (DC Comics)
Arrrgh! This lubber be no kind of pirate a’tall! He has this magic mask, see, what makes him change how folks be feelin’. Ain’t got no right to the name of pirate, he don’t! I care not that he be one of the few men what know all 'bout the Crisis! He be a lubber through and through, and ne'er be a pirate any day of his life!

Captain Mako (City of Villains)
Shiver me timbers! This man look like he come straight from Davey Jone’s locker! A mutant who be a bit too much like a shark for me tastes, a life as a pirate was all that he could look forward ta, until Lord Recluse brought him into Arachnos.

Corsair and the Starjammers (Marvel Comics)
Pirates in space they be, and let not the fact that most folk consider ‘em heroes sway ye – they be pirates at heart. Aye, their cap’n be the pa to Cyclops of the X-Men, but they be pirates no less.

The Black Pirate (DC Comics)
Jon Valor be a working man’s pirate, he be. Sailed with a letter of mark from the King, he did, ‘til the curse’d day he been wrongly hanged for killin’ his own boy. Swore an oath, he did, that no body what died in that town would rest ‘till he been proved not a guilty man. A ghost he became, and haunted that town ‘till he met wit Jack Knight, the Starman, finally to be laid ta rest.

Ocean Master (DC Comics – Pre-Crisis)
Aquaman’s half-brother he be. Born wit no powers of his own, he grew ta be an angry man. Went to the sea, he did, and a pirate he was in th’ modern day, using machines ta make hisself a match for his brother.

Bionic Woman: An early review

2007-09-19T11:05:00.000-04:00

We are still in the midst of a superheroic renaissance in film and television. It more or less started with Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman and The Flash on CBS in 1990. (Coincidentally, both were scored by Danny Elfman) This renaissance has continued on to the present. We’ve been treated to countless excellent animated shows. We’ve had some truly excellent superhero films, and we’ve even had live-action television series such as Lois & Clark, Smallville and Heroes, just to name a few.

It’s a good time to be a geek. And television producers are seeing the success that can be had with the superhumans – especially when the shows are treated with respect and given good writing and casting. This is even outside of licensed characters, as shown in the success of shows like Buffy, the 4400, Heroes, Medium and Supernatural.

So, with Hollywood’s trend to re-create anything that was good and remake it, it was inevitable that someone would start to look at past superhuman characters and series and re-invent them for the new millennium.

This fall television series we get one of the more promising ones – Bionic Woman, starring Michelle Ryan, who some of us were lucky enough to see on the excellent BBC mini-series Jekyll. Right now, you can download the pilot of Bionic Woman off of Amazon.com – and even have it download straight to your TiVo if you are so set-up.

Last night there was a significant lack of anything worth watching on tv, and I have a standing promise to my wife that I will take Tuesday nights off from playing City of Heroes, so we decided to give Bionic Woman a try.

The series is a complete re-imagining of the character, with little connection to the original series. (Most notably, due to licensing issues, there is no mention at all of Steve Austin – the Six Million Dollar Man. Jamie’s implants are also a lot more expensive due to inflation, she is told that there is roughly 50 million dollars of property installed inside of her.)

Bartender Jaime Sommers gets the bionics from her super-scientist boyfriend Will after a car accident nearly kills them both. After acquiring these abilities, Jaime is drawn into a world of espionage and super-soldiers, in which she encounters the original Bionic Woman, Sarah Corvus. Sarah was a “failed experiment” that had theoretically been killed years ago. Sarah is also the one driving the truck that nearly killed Jaime. We are also introduced to other characters who will define the series including the heads of the program, Jaime’s kid sister who she is a surrogate parent for, the scientist who originated the bionic process and is now in jail (and who just happens to be Will’s father), and a madman who is working with Sarah Corvus and releases the imprisoned scientist before the episode’s end.

It’s a lot of plot points to cram into a one-hour episode, and truthfully, the show does it with a little less elegance than I’d have preferred. I realize that a pilot episode has to show off enough of the plot for the season to convince execs to make it, but it felt a little ham-handed. Some elements could have been introduced later – Will’s father is mentioned early in the episode as the originator of the process – meaning that the scenes of him in the jail, and his release could have been saved for a later episode. And some of the elements felt really predictable to anyone who has been immersed in the genre. To use a term from superhero role-playing games, Jaime’s sister is clearly a Dependent NPC, worth an extra 25 character points. There’s also a scene where Jaime is mugged right after acquiring her bionics – a scene I called as soon as she left the bar and entered the alley.

It’s not perfect, but the pilot does show that a lot of thought has been given to the course of the series – or at least the first season. The acting is generally good, though a little stiff in some places, and the characters are interesting enough as a sketch – we’ll have to wait for the rest of the season to see if they’re fully fleshed out.

It struck me as being interesting enough to have earned a “Let’s give it a few episodes” reaction. After all, if we look at the first few episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Trek: Next Generation, they’re similarly rough. It takes genre shows a few episodes to find their groove – and I think that Bionic Woman has the potential to be one of the really good ones.

Weekly comics round-up

2007-09-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

Every week (roughly) Aaron goes to the Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio and spends far more money than his wife would prefer. He then comes back here and writes about the comics he reads that he thought were noteworthy. This isn't everything he picks up, just the things that he feels merit discussion - either for being really good, or for having something really wrong with them. This week was slightly delayed due to family celebrations for Rosh Hasshana.

New Avengers 34
So... the big secret about which one of the New Avengers is actually a Skrull? The answer is...

No one!

Actually, I more or less expected this. I figured that it was too easy a cop-out. Besides, we all know that the Skrull is over in the Mighty Avengers. Who are about to have Deathlok fired at them by the Hood.

This of course leads to the New Avengers being heroic and going to rescue - only to discover that New York City is being attacked by swarms of symbiotes.

No. I'm not kidding. And no, I'm not thrilled about this. After all, we know how much I love the symbiotes.

What made this issue really fun though was how they proved that no one was a Skrull. Dr. Strange used a spell which showed each person as they idealized themself. Some of these were no surprise - Jessica Jones really wants to be a superhero, Luke Cage really liked the Power Man look, Logan wants to be a samurai, Stephen Strange wishes he'd never had to give up being a surgeon, and Iron Fist is happy to be Iron Fist. But there were three that struck me as very revealing, if not strange.

The first was that Echo sees herself as a female Daredevil. Daredevil got her started, and they do oddly mirror each other, so that one isn't that odd.

Slightly odder, but no great surprise, is that Clint Barton sees himself as Captain America. Now, I know that, somehow, Steve Rogers will be back. And if he isn't, than the Winter Soldier will eventually take over the role. But I think that Clint Barton is possibly the most fitting successor to Steve Rogers of them all.

The really weird one was that Peter Parker saw himself as being 15-years old - before he became Spider-Man. Seeing as how much pain being Spidey has brought into his life, I'm not shocked by this one, but it was neat seeing it on the page.

Booster Gold 2
It stunned me last month by how much I enjoyed the first issue of Booster Gold.

But surely, I thought, It can't stay this good.

I was wrong. This issue feels like all of the best parts of the comics of the late eighties/early nineties, but with a modern sensibility. In his effort to pro-actively prevent continuity warping by an unknown enemy, Booster must go back to a time before Hal Jordan got his power ring, when Sinestro has been sent to Earth (by Supernova) with the warning that someone on Earth is going to become the Greatest of all Green Lanterns, a title that belonged to Sinestro before Hal.

In a twist, this is possibly going to be Guy Gardner, who according to modern continuity was equally worthy, but Hal was closer when Abin Sur died. Booster's task is to prevent this meeting from taking place.

But we all know that Booster can't beat Sinestro. So how does he keep the meeting from happening? By appealing to Sinestro's vanity and talking about how big of a fan of Sinestro's he is. It was hillarious.

Additionally, we get a reminder that Booster isn't going to play Rip Hunter's game without being able to save Ted Kord. We also get a flashback (and one of only a very few in DC continuity) to Dan Garret. The capstone to this issue, however, was watching as Supernova prepares to hire Jonah Hex to take out Booster.

I am now looking forward to issue 3, but I am starting to believe this title is going to remain top-notch.

Thor 3
Thor was led to believe that the other Asgardians still lived, though in most cases, hidden within mortal beings. And so, Thor begins his quest to find them, which leads him to New Orleans. Where he will find Hemidal, but not before being forced to deal with the city.

A New Orleans that was devastated by a hurricane, which Thor might have been able to do something about, had he not been dead. A New Orleans that should have been saved by other heroes, but wasn't. (And herein lies the problem with letting real-world tragedies come into comics - why didn't Superman save those trapped inside the World Trade Towers? Why couldn't Storm stop Hurricane Katrina? But I digress.)

It is in this frame of mind that Thor is approached by Iron Man. The same Iron Man who could have done something to stop this tragedy. The same Iron Man who was once Thor's brother-in-arms, but who led heroes against heroes, including taking down the single mortal man Thor admired most. The same Iron Man who cloned Thor, and whose clone is responsible for the death of Bill Foster. And now this Iron Man threatens Thor with the issue involving registration.

I would like to say it was an epic fight. It wasn't. Thor wailed on Iron Man. When Iron Man mentioned that Thor seemed more powerful, Thor replied "No. The difference is that in this time and this place I am holding nothing back." After the battle, once Thor has destroyed Stark's armor, Thor gives Tony Stark this statement: "Give your orders and ultimatums to those who choose to obey, or are too cowardly to fight, not to me. Or learn again the difference between a god of thunder and a mortal man in a metal suit."

It. Was. Awesome.

Trials of Shazam 8
Speaking of the differences between mortals and gods...
Freddy's quest to become the new Captain Marvel has been a thoroughly good time, right from the start. We've gotten to see as the gods who make up the power of Shazam have hidden themselves in the modern world. The rules of magic, after all, have been re-written.

In the new Magical Atlas of the DC Universe, Atlas still holds up the world. But not by physically hoisting it on his shoulders. Instead, Atlas is plugged into a computer that monitors everything, and makes a million little adjustments every moment to how the world is going, which prevents disaster after disaster. Not the real big things, those are beyond his realm, but the million little things that could butterfly effect into the end of the world.

When Freddy arrives, however, Atlas has been killed (or at least severely injured). He takes over for a bit, but it is too much for him. Captain Marvel arrives to take over, but lets them know that he can only remain away from the Rock of Eternity for 24 hours. So they must find a new god to take Atlas' place. They end up with Apollo, who is working as a doctor. He has a job, and a life, and doesn't want to go back to being a god, but is given little choice. So, he gives Freddy his trial to earn the "A" from Shazam. They will fight, if Freddy wins, he gets Apollo's power, and Apollo will take the place of Atlas. If Freddy fails, he dies, and Apollo goes back to his life.

Good times, and brilliant artwork.

Ultimate Spider-Man 113
It's funny that Bendis is at his absolute best when we see little of Spider-Man. It's true, however, and this issue reminds of it as we see into the mind of Norman Osborn.

Osborn is, needless to say, a little pissed off. He's been denied by Nick Fury, and been stripped of everything. His money, his influence, his work and his son.

And so he escapes. Not only does he escape, but he releases the others trapped by SHIELD. Doctor Octopus picks a fight with him, but then Electro fries Doc Ock, which I found oddly satisfying.

But then we see the masterstroke of the Goblin. Norman calls on someone who owes him a favor, and is given some money and clothing befitting a man of Osborn's station. And then Osborn gets himself booked on National TV, where he tells of how SHIELD stole his work, experimented on him, and kidnapped him.

Peter Parker was thoroughly shocked, obviously, when he saw the news report.

I miss Bagley's art, but this book remains a must-read.

Black Adam 2
I don't want Black Adam to become a hero. But he is a fascinating villain. His willpower is astounding - he almost makes Hal Jordan seem wishy-washy.

Isis' resurrection is a failure. There is magic in her amulet that is missing, and so Adam must seatch elsewhere. He does so, but not before a battle with a Yeti that involves the most amazing combat-application of someone else's intestines I have ever seen.

He comes to Fate's tower, where he encounters the trapped Felix Faust. The whole time, he is trying every word he can think of in order to remember how to transform, but to no avail. Faust offers to help both with Isis' resurrection, and with a temporary transformation for Adam using the magic in her bones. Adam can transform, by saying her name, but each transformation leeches some magic from her bones, and will eventually cause them to disintegrate.

I know this will end in tragedy, but it's like a Greek play. You know how badly things must end, and you know it is due to the hubris of the main character. But it remains fascinating, and you can't look away.

If you're not reading this title, and have any interest at all in the Marvel family, then go out and get it. Now.

Two books who don't deserve an entire write-up but are worth picking up if you get the chance. In Green Lantern 23, the Sinestro Corps war continues. Some good explorations of the power of the yellow rings, and what this war will mean to the Guardians in the future. Also worth checking out is the JLA Wedding Special. The Bachelor/Bachelorette parties are meaningless, though kind of fun. But this has the formation of the new Legion of Doom, complete with their own Hall of Doom (since the JLA now has the Hall of Justice back in-continuity, it only makes sense for the villains to get one.) It also has a nice flashback to Justice League of America 1 where Clark, Diana and Bruce examine possible members, with Luthor, the Cheetah and the Joker doing the same thing in almost an exact panel-by-panel mirror.

It was a good week for comics.

Superheroic Radio Plays

2007-09-12T15:38:00.000-04:00

We've gotten fairly maudlin on here of late, so let's shift gears, shall we? Now, we all know that superheroes are primarily creatures of visual media. Superheroes mainly exist, and thrive, in the brightly colored pages of comic books.

Other superheroes have successfully (sometimes) made the transition to film and television, and we've discussed many of these endeavors, both good and bad, here on this blog.

But imagine, if you will, superheroes you never got to see - but instead only heard?

Ridiculous, you say, but I tell you it's true. Batman, Superman, the Blue Beetle, the Green Hornet and the Shadow all had lengthy careers in radio.

I've spent the last few days at work amusing myself by listening to old episodes of these radio dramas on my iPod. And I thought you, my gentle readers, might enjoy them as well. There are many places to find these old recordings, including through iTunes, but here is a link to get you started.

Botar's Old Time Radio
On this site, you will find archives for many heroes, including the Blue Beetle, Captain Midnight, The Green Hornet, The Shadow and Superman.

But wait! There's more! Modern-day superheroes have made the same endeavor. The winner of Season One of Who Wants to be a Superhero?, Feedback, has his own radio play.

One last exploration of superheroes through the auditory media is the Kingdom Come Audiobook. I can't provide you a link to it (and in fact, haven't been able to find a copy of it on CD for my own purposes), but if you can locate it, it's a blast.

Remembering again

2007-09-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

Reposted from 9.11.06
When I started this blog, one of the first things I wrote about what was what makes a superhero. For a blog that is going to be about Superheroes, I figured that was the place to start. Today, it occurs to me that I ignored a key part of that definition. The hero. What makes a hero

A hero isn’t a hero because of their abilities. It isn’t the strength of one’s arms, or the speed of one’s legs, or the amazing devices one can build, or any paranormal power that makes someone a hero. A hero is someone who recognizes that there is a problem in the world, and who does their utmost to correct it. You don’t have to be a costumed crime-fighter to be a hero. You don’t have to fight monsters, dragons or demons. You don’t need to be sent on a quest by the gods, and you don’t have to struggle against a curse.

You can be the teacher who stays long hours in an inner-city school to make sure that those students get the education that might make the difference in their lives. You can be the fireman who rushed into a burning building to save just one more person caught inside. You can be a musician who speaks truth to power through your words and music, expressing ideas that are unpopular but true. You can be the young soldier who signed up for their tour of duty following a national tragedy. You can be the entertainer who put aside their own feelings of pain and hurt to perform for people in desperate need of a distraction.

You can be a parent.
A friend.
A mentor.
A colleague.

In the words of Edmond Dantes, Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout “Do your worst, for I will do mine!”

That’s what it takes to be a hero. The willingness to shout back into the storm. The ability to see a problem, and the willingness to do something about it, no matter the cost to yourself.

Today, I salute those heroes whose sacrifice began six years ago, and continues to this day. The passengers of Flight 93. The workers in the towers and the Pentagon. The rescue workers who tried to save them. The soldiers who fight in their memory.

I do not approve of the choices made by the current administration. I feel that they’ve squandered much, in terms of international goodwill, and in terms of the lives of our young people. But regardless of how one feels about our government, whether you believe they’ve done everything right, everything wrong, or something in-between, the people of this nation have shown countless acts of heroism since that day. And it is to them that I dedicate this entry.

A Marvelous Weekly Comic Round-Up

2007-09-10T10:02:00.000-04:00

Hulk 110
Is the Hulk a monster, or a hero?

It’s a question that has never been definitively answered in Marvel Comics, and rightly so, I think. But I never thought I’d see it pushed to quite this level. Genius kid, Amadeus Cho, puts forth the argument that Banner’s brain sees the world in numbers, the same way that he does. For that reason, the Hulk has nearly always avoided killing, except when brainless or in the most extreme circumstances.

This is Cho’s argument for why the Hulk won’t go through with making the Illuminati fight to the death against one another.

I’m not sure I buy it, and I’m not sure that it was needed, really. I was willing to accept that the Hulk had caused a minimal loss of life simply as a convention of comic books. Still, it made an interesting argument, and one I look forward to seeing how it plays out in the conclusion of World War Hulk. What I do wonder though is why we needed a new, and really annoying, character to fill the role of Cho. I’d have preferred to see these arguments put forward by an existing member of the Marvel Universe. Now, it’s true that most of the “big brains” of the Marvel Universe are a part of the Illuminati, but not all of them. How hard would it have been for Rick Jones and, in a surprise move, the Leader, to put forth the same observation? Still, a fun issue, with a lot riding on the edge of “Will the Hulk kill or not?”

Amazing Spider-Man 544
“One More Day” is here, as Peter makes a last ditch effort to save Aunt May’s life. A doctor who feels that he owes Spider-Man something has made it possible for May to stay in the hospital, so long as there is some way to pay for it. “Insurance would be good. A bottomless checkbook would be better.”

Which leads Mr. Parker to pay a visit to Tony Stark, a man who has a bottomless checkbook. The physical fight between Iron Man and Spidey is short, and ultimately not the important part of their confrontation. Instead, we get to see Peter crack into Tony’s “whatever we do is justified” armor, and ultimately this forces Tony to send Jarvis over with a check for 2 million dollars, to take care of his “cousin.”

Sadly, medical care may only be enough to keep May comfortable until her final hour, which sends Peter off to find someone who can help. In the circles he travels in, death is routinely cheated. Why can’t May be saved as well?

JMS is a great writer, and takes what might be a cliché in other author’s hands into a deeply moving story. I think that May is not going to make it through this, and while that saddens me, I think I’m ok with it too. Just so long as we don’t see the Clone of Aunt May with spider-powers two years down the road. Let her death mean something, in the way that the unmasking has, and I’ll remain interested.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? The Defuser, that's who!

2007-09-06T22:58:00.001-04:00

I'll try not to gloat, I'm just happy that I got it right.

Go Defuser!

Now, I want to see the Defuser/Feedback team-up comic.

Real-life superheroes

2007-09-06T08:47:00.000-04:00

Due to Labor Day, comics have been delayed a day, so the round-up won’t be going up until tomorrow. In the meantime, I thought I’d talk about real-life superheroes.

Now, I’m not talking about the contestants on Who Wants to be a Superhero? (which has its’ finale tonight. The Defuser for the win!), though they’re awesome in their own right. But they’re creating a fictional superhero character, a new superhero for film, television and comics. And that’s admirable, certainly. Heck, I want to be one of them someday.

I’m not talking about the actors who portray Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four or any other pre-existing superhero character, although that’s a nice accomplishment too.

And I’m not talking about the real-life “costumed heroes” either. Individuals like Fantastica, Superbarrio or Metrowoman do amazing things, and I find them deeply inspirational. But they’re not what I mean either.

No, I’m referring to people who endure the impossible. People who fight for what’s right, even when no one would expect them to. The everyday heroes, who don’t often get the attention they deserve.

I’ve got two examples – the first is a new initiative by the ACLU. The ACLU have recently made their own forays into comic books – comics which celebrate everyday heroes who fight for civil liberties. These comics are going to be available online and through viral marketing campaigns. I think it’s a nice idea for how to get people to think about civil liberties.

The other example is on a more personal note. My wife now stays home with our two daughters, and I know it’s a struggle for her. Our eldest daughter, while a delight and a joy in many ways, is also difficult and challenging to deal with. She wrote this yesterday, and it brought tears to my eyes – both because of seeing the pain my wife suffers through, and seeing the love she has for my daughters.

I know my wife is not the only person who fights this “never-ending battle,” she is simply the one I know best. But so now I wish to publicly applaud her and all the other real-life superheroes.

Five superhero films no one should ever watch

2007-09-04T17:32:00.000-04:00

Ever, ever, ever.

This weekend, some friends and I got together to watch movies. We had three genres, and the group picked the best and the worst in each. One of the genres was "superhero," and the consensus of the group (though not one I personally agree with) was that X-Men was the best, and that Superman IV was the worst (which I do agree with, mostly.)

But it occurred to me that, while The Quest for Peace is pretty much only watchable with either a lot of alcohol, or good friends to mock it with, there are lots of other terrible superhero films. So, here are five of the worst offenders, in chronological order.

The Batman (1943)
I don’t quite know where to begin with my critique of this movie. There are so many wonderful things about it, really, that I’m not sure which to start with.

Perhaps it’s the racial epithets Batman uses to describe our Japanese villain – I mean, really, don’t we all want to see the Dark Knight call someone “a filthy Jap”? Of course, there’s also the fact that this Japanese villain is played by a very Caucasian looking man. We’re not even talking Max Von Sydow as Ming level here, but just a clearly white man. Of special note, there’s Robin’s afro – a classic look, and one which I can’t figure out why they never included in the comics. This coordinates beautifully with the baggy tights which both Batman and Robin sport.

But really, the thing that I find most remarkable about this serial is the fact that, in an effort to end every episode with a cliffhanger, Batman and Robin each seem incapable of fighting off a single thug each. Really, why is this? I can forgive special effects of this era being primitive, and I’m even willing to grant them license for the racial epithets in light of the U.S. preparing to enter the war. But fist-fighting hasn’t evolved all that much in the past 60 years. Simple combat choreography should have been manageable, even then. If you want to inflict a racist, bad-looking Batman on us, so be it. But couldn’t he at least be competent?

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
In the late eighties, we were obsessed with worrying about a possible nuclear war. It only makes sense that someone would ask “Wouldn’t it be nice if Superman could take care of this for us?” And that’s what the makers of this film did. But oh boy, did they do a terrible job of it.

First off, it was about the preachiest movie I’ve ever seen. There are nuns in Catholic schools who could learn something about trying to make you feel guilty from this film – if you felt like torturing them in order for them to learn. But even getting past that, it’s just bad. Neither Hackman nor Reeves can save this one, though Reeves is really trying to. He delivers the worst line I’ve ever heard and makes them sound… well, like he means them. Hackman’s performance is phoned in completely, and the movie can’t even be consistent with its’ own rules (Nuclear Man enters a volcano to make it erupt – but he gets depowered without sunlight. And Luthor cuts through Superman’s hair with bolt cutters.)

Which really is what the worst part of the film is – the Nuclear Man. Who is created wearing a cape. Who has a mullet. Whose Lee-Press-On-Nails-of-Doom are what cripple Superman. And who forces us to endure one national monument after another be used to illustrate “Ooh, he’s a bad guy.” And Mark Pillow (yes, that’s his name) doesn’t even get to deliver his own lines! His voice is Gene Hackman’s.

I appreciate the fact that they tried to give Superman a supervillain to fight, but just say no to Nuclear Man.

The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)/The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)
(I know I’m cheating by including both of these together – bear with me. That's how they're packaged if you buy them - which you should not, but I did.) Lou Ferigno wore a false nose and a wig, in addition to being painted green, in order to play the Incredible Hulk. This only added to how ridiculous he looked – but somehow it worked. And the series was entertaining, in a 1970’s kind of way, probably due to the incredible acting skills of Bill Bixby.

I remember watching re-runs as a kid on Saturday mornings, and really digging them. So when they announced made-for-tv movies with the Hulk returning, I was ecstatic and forced my parents to let me watch them. I owe my parents a lot.

Every single part of these movies was deplorable. The “ninja-costume” Daredevil. Thor, the ancient Viking warrior (not god) who is summoned by (but not transformed into by) Donald Blake. Bill Bixby with a beard. John Rhys-Davis as the Kingpin. It’s just a lot of pain. The even more remarkable thing is that each of these were intended to also be pilots for a Thor or Daredevil series. Obviously, these never came to be.

They were followed up with The Death of the Incredible Hulk, which was a decent enough film, except for the very ending. (Because a fall from a helicopter is enough to kill the Hulk. Really.) A Resurrection of the Incredible Hulk was promised, but never came to be, largely because Bill Bixby passed away before it could become a reality. Of course, frighteningly, these might have been used as pilots for a She-Hulk or Iron Man series.

Ang Lee’s Hulk wasn’t good, but it was a lot better than these two turkeys. Gamma bomb them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

Captain America (1990)
(singing) When Captain America (in his rubber costume complete with artificial ears) throws his mighty (made of hard, ridged plastic) shield…

We cringe. A lot. The costume was atrocious, right up there with the bat-nipples from Batman & Robin. The shield looked like a toy, not the mightiest weapon available to the U.S. A heat gun could’ve destroyed it – so much for an unbreakable shield.

For reasons that will never be known to me, they also decided that the Red Skull shouldn’t be a German Nazi. Instead, he’s an Italian fascist. And his face doesn’t actually look like a skull – it just looks oogie. When Captain America re-awakens in the modern era, the Skull has disguised his appearance by painting the red flesh colored. So, he looks marginally less oogie.

And once more, we’re treated to an incompetent superhero. This movie is only 17 years old. I know for a fact that there were movies made before this film that had good fight-scenes. But “the Living Legend,” the pinnacle of human achievement, the most highly trained warrior produced by the US army – he fights like a drunken seventh-grader.

Catwoman (2004)
Do you remember seeing Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar or Michelle Pfeiffer playing Catwoman? They did so in the 1960’s television series and movie, and then in Batman Returns. Each of them was sexy, cunning and dangerous, and played a marvelous rendition of Selina Kyle.

I remember when they announced that the woman responsible for wasting the role of Storm (and she did) was going to be playing Catwoman in her own feature film. And I thought, Well, this is a waste. Why didn’t they do this ten years ago when Michelle Pfeiffer could have starred in the role? Then they further announced that she wasn’t going to be Selina Kyle, she was going to be Prudence Price. Ok, I thought, well at least this atrocity won’t be connected to the character of Selina Kyle. She’s just some other crazy cat-lady.

And then I saw the preview images from the film. There was a reasonable costume for her to wear, which she began off in. And then there was this one. To which I could only think to myself, Well, I have now seen the only thing in this movie that could possibly be worth seeing – namely a mostly-nude Halle Berry.

Little did I realize how right I was. That image was the only thing worth seeing. Save yourself, and look at the screen-shots, but avoid this film.

So, which terrible superhero films are among your favorite (or most hated?)

Weekly Comic Round-Up

2007-08-30T19:15:00.000-04:00

Who are the members of Gyrich's team? Trauma, from the pages of this comic, the Bronze Tiger, who no longer can handle working under War Machine, the Constrictor, who has been offered a full pardon and a chance to become a hero - something he apparently wanted, the Scarlet Spiders, who are three people wearing the "Iron Spider" armor Stark made for Peter Parker, and Mutant 0. Who is Mutant 0? She's off the record, the 199th of the 198. And has all sorts of rules about what she does and doesn't do during the team's missions. Honestly, I've no idea who she is. I have some theories, but nothing with any strength behind them.

The team manages the rescue, but not before Trauma gets beaten up by the Hulk. See, apparently Trauma is an Omega class threat, with his ability to transform into whatever his opponent fears. Having trained under Mirage, he has some control over his power. Mirage, of course, looks at this as an opportunity for him to help people with their fears, but Gyrich wants no part of that. So, Trauma tries to hold off the Hulk while the team escapes, transforming first into the Abomination, then Juggernaut, than David Banner, and finally into Bruce Banner. This is when the Hulk really focuses on him, and suddenly Trauma can't change form. Why? Because the Hulk says (and at the moment, I believe him) "I'm not afraid of anything." Right now, as consumed with rage and vengeance as he is, I think he's telling the truth. And that's a scary thought for the Marvel Universe.

Countdown 35
This wasn’t the best week of Countdown for me, which I really was kind of bummed about. Why? Well because Sean McKeever wrote it, and I know the guy. He was even at my comic store signing comics this week.

I think it was just an issue of it being a little too scattered, and that the characters I like most in Countdown didn’t get a lot of screen time in this issue.

In summary, Donna Troy and Jason Todd continue their trip through the Palmerverse to find Ray Palmer, and now have actually found him in the clutches of Queen Belthera, who turns him into an insectoid and makes the Monitor turn on Donna and Jason. Meanwhile, Zatanna shows Mary why she’s one of the world’s greatest sorcerers, while Mary is a very powerful novice. Mr. Action, or Jimmy Olsen to most of us, gets kicked off the JLA due to being unable to demonstrate any abilities – a consequence of them only activating if he is legitimately in danger, which he never was against the JLA. Oh, and there was something going on with Athena’s disciples all fighting, and a continuation of Karate Kid’s fight.

All in all? Kind of a “meh” issue.

World War Hulk/X-Men 3
The final issue of this mini-series has arrived, and for all that I enjoyed it, it seemed a bit pointless. We were treated to more scenes of the Hulk taking one member of the X-Men after another. Each of which was amusing in its’ own way, but none of which seemed all that important over-all. No one was too seriously injured, no damage was done to the Hulk, and Xavier remains with the X-Men instead of being dragged off by the Hulk to suffer with other Illuminati.

Why? Well because despite the fact that Xavier was willing to go with the Hulk from the beginning (because even though he wasn’t there when they decided to send the Hulk to Planet Hulk, he couldn’t honestly say he knows he’d have opposed the plan), his students aren’t willing to abandon him. Why? Because being a mutant means watching people get killed just for being different, and as mutants they’ve suffered as much as the Hulk has.
I’m not quite sure why the Hulk agrees, but he basically tells Xavier “You already live in hell, I don’t need to do anything to you.” Eh, whatever. I guess it’s just to keep the X-Men from needing to be in the climax to World War Hulk.

We also get to see the Juggernaut back to full power, and back to being a villain, maybe. Cyttorak tells him that he was weakened because he was denying what he is – an engine of destruction. He didn’t come there to fight the Hulk, he came to save Xavier, and that’s not what the Juggernaut is. But sadly, we didn’t get to see much of the fight between them, since the Hulk basically uses Akido to get rid of the Juggernaut long enough to have his confrontation with Xavier. I am glad to see them returning the Juggernaut to villain status – I’m getting tired of making all the cool villains into heroes.

Teen Titans 50
Bart Allen was killed by the Rogues over in the pages of The Flash, and now the Titans finally get around to having a funeral for the former Impulse/Kid Flash. Touching ceremony, and pretty much what I expected from it. There were two nice flashback scenes involving the different Kid Flashes – one about Bart flying the Batplan, and one involving Wally remembering Barry showing confidence in him. Nice moments both.

After the funeral, Megan (Miss Martian) makes a terrible faux pas, impersonating Bart. She was trying to do it to lighten spirits and remind people of Bart, but it was obviously taken the wrong way. Later that night, Tim and Cassie meet at the memorial which now sports two statues – one for Bart and one for Connor. There was another moment of romance between Tim and Cassie, which I am now beginning to think is her just trying desperately to not think of Connor. There moment is interrupted by the Flash running up to them to warn them that “They’re back.” Is this Flash Bart? Or is it Wally? It’s left uncertain.

As for who’s back? Well, it’s the future versions of the Titans after they’ve taken over for the JLA, seen not too long ago. Connor as Superman, Cassie as Wonder Woman, and Tim as Batman. During the course of the issue, we also get to see these future versions taking out the current members of the JLA. It will be interesting to see how this pans out next issue – I look forward to a really nasty fight.

Sadly, as good as I found the issue, it was a bit too much for one issue – even an extra-large one. And unfortunately, despite all the momentous events, the moment that I will never forget from this issue was that of Ravager leading Kid Devil to the pool so they could go skinny-dipping. She is really growing on me, though I want her to hook up with Robin and end the abomination that is Tim and Cassie.

Sharing superheroes with my kids...

2007-08-29T19:01:00.000-04:00

McDonald’s recently had Legion of Superheroes figures as the toy inside their happy meal. I’ll admit to being a big enough geek that when I ordered for my daughter, and the cashier asked “Toy for a boy or a girl?” I would answer, “Boy.” Why? Because I wanted the toy, dangit.

(And because why should there be a distinction that superheroes are for boys and teddy bears are for girls? My daughter has little interest in stuffed animals beyond her beloved Puppy and Dinosaur. But she’s as rough and tumble as they come, and loves it when Daddy flies her, or blasts her off into Outer Space.)

Well, despite the fact that I wasn’t fooling my wife in the slightest, I did turn each toy over to my daughter as we opened her Happy Meals. “Look what you got! A superhero!” My daughter, being intelligent, and an amazing mimic, would reply “A superhero!”

She now actually recognizes superheroes. Not by name, she couldn’t tell you the difference between Superman and Batman. But she can look at the bright costume and (sometimes) cape, and decide that someone is a superhero. (She’s also decided that any sufficiently ugly figure is a monster.) Just the other day I was on my laptop playing City of Heroes when she crawled onto the couch and looked at the screen, no doubt expecting to see “Balls!”

(I spend far too much time playing puzzle games, and she loves watching the colored balls move around the screen.)

Well, there were no balls for her to look at, but there was a blue-and-yellow figure, flying through the air, zapping bad guys with bolts of lightning. “A superhero!” she screamed in delight.

This gives me a dilemma. My wife and I have decided to keep violent television and movies away from her until she’s old enough to discern the difference between “television” and “reality”, and when she’s old enough to understand the idea that violence isn’t a good thing, and when we see it, it’s because the hero is stopping a bad person from doing a bad thing. But how do I let my daughter learn more about superheroes without the violence?

I suppose I could rustle up old Challenge of the Superfriends and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends videos on YouTube…

Ten graphic novels for the starting superhero reader

2007-08-28T20:38:00.000-04:00

This entry marks the 100th post to this blog, and as a result, I thought I’d do something a little special. Most of you who read this are already dedicated comic book readers, but I do get a fair bit of traffic from random google searches and blog browsing services. Some of these readers may be getting into comics for the first time, or returning after a long hiatus. And so, I thought I’d run down my personal choices for the top ten collections to introduce a person to superheroes.

As always, my lists are arbitrary, based on nothing more than my own personal likes and dislikes. And also, as always, I feel the need to explain a bit about my criteria. To begin with, these aren’t necessarily my ten favorite graphic novels – just the ones I think provide the best introduction to superhero comics. I also limited myself to superheroes (or darn close to them in some cases). There is some amazing stuff going on in comics that has nothing to do with superheroes, including my all-time favorite graphic novel, Maus, but that’s outside the realm of this blog. This list also isn’t meant to be in order of importance – most of these are equally excellent as each other, and I honestly don’t know that I could rank one above the other. Therefore, I listed them alphabetically.

Astro City: Life in the Big City (Kurt Busiek)

Busiek created something remarkable with Astro City – a comic world that feels like it has the same depth and richness of the DCU or Marvel Universe, with characters that seem familiar even as we meet them for the first time. Just as remarkably, the characters he created are evocative of characters we remember from other publishers and fifty years of comic history, but remain unique and interesting in their own right. Samaritan reminds of Superman without ripping him off. Winged Victory bears a striking similarity to Wonder Woman, but has her own fascinating story, and the same can be said of Jack-In-The-Box, Crackerjack, The Confessor, the Silver Agent and others.

What makes Astro City even better is the fact that it doesn’t have the same focus that we see in most superhero comics. Astro City, as often as not, is about the normal people who inhabit the same world as the heroes. And when it is about the heroes, it isn’t about their heroic exploits, so much as it is about their daily lives. Life in the Big City starts off with the best Superman story that isn’t about Superman ever written, as we see what a typical day is like for the World’s Greatest Hero.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Frank Miller)

Many people have projected the superheroes of the late twentieth century into their near future, imagining what life would be for the superheroes of yore in a new generation, but none have done it as well as Frank Miller did with The Dark Knight Returns.

The transformation of Bruce Wayne into a recluse, and then back into Batman remains gripping, engaging, and visually brilliant. Miller gives us a dark vision of the future, and one that is firmly mired in the politics of the late 1980’s, but that doesn’t take away from the power of this story.

Without The Dark Knight Returns, it’s difficult to imagine Batman Beyond or Kingdom Come ever having been written. The power of this story can even be seen in how elements from this story have worked themselves into modern continuity – Green Arrow’s sacrifice (or not) of his arm, and Luthor as world leader. This comic really marked the beginning of the transformation of Batman from being one of many vigilante detective/martial artists into the driven, darker persona we are all now familiar with.

Batman: Year One (Frank Miller)

Not content to just write the end of the Batman story, Frank Miller went ahead and re-wrote the beginning of it too with Batman: Year One.

Wisely, this comic focuses as much on Detective Jim Gordon as it does on Bruce Wayne. As a reader, we can be thrilled with the exploits of the superhuman, but we can’t ever really understand them. What we can understand are the reactions of the ordinary humans around them.

Additionally, Year One is one of the most beautiful comics ever put together. Year One’s impact can be seen elsewhere in the recent Batman Begins, where Gary Oldman portrayed not Commissioner Gordon, but instead Detective Gordon.

Marvel Superheroes: Secret Wars (Jim Shooter)

The first major twelve-part mini-series that crossed into all aspects of that universe’s comics, the first Secret Wars comic is such a perfect slice of comics in the eighties that it can’t be ignored.

Featuring the best, and most well known heroes and villains of Marvel at the time, it was the first time we got to see Captain America and the Avengers fighting alongside Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. And they were fighting against the best in Marvel’s supervillains as well (with a few notable exceptions, such as the Red Skull).

Secret Wars reverberated throughout all of Marvel, and its aftershocks are still felt today. Remember that it was in Secret Wars that the alien costume that would eventually become Venom was introduced. It spawned a (far less interesting) sequel, and when Marvel was looking for a mini-series to introduce opposite Infinite Crisis, they even used the Secret War name again.

Beyond all of this, it’s also just a good fun read – and the kind of comic we rarely see anymore.

Starman: Sins of the Father (James Robinson)

Jack Knight was exactly what I wanted from my 90’s superheroes. At least, of the ones who identified themselves as such. You know, the whole “we’re not going to wear tights, because that’s ridiculous” movement.

The reason he stood head and shoulders above the rest is that he was unquestioningly a superhero (to the reader at least, he questioned it himself a lot). Sins of the Father did something that we almost never see in a comic – it killed Starman in the first issue of his comic.

Sins of the Father was a great example of how to tell a “darker” storyline without going into the “grim n’ gritty” movement, where sometimes it’s hard to tell who we’re supposed to consider the hero. And it spawned a great series that only got better as it went on. I regret the fact that Jack retired as Starman, and passed his cosmic rod onto Stargirl, but as a father myself, I understand and applaud his choice. You'll want to read the whole thing, once you get through this volume.

Superman: The Man of Steel (John Byrne)

Before Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman had become truly ludicrous in power. He could fly nearly at the speed of light, was able to push planets around with his bare hands, and nothing that wasn’t magical or made of kryptonite could so much as scratch him.

The list of his secondary powers went on and on – not just heat vision, x-ray vision, microscopic hearing, ultrasonic hearing and super-breath, but also super-mesmerism and whatever other odd power the authors felt he needed. (The cellophane “S” from Superman II is almost understandable in this context.)

In the aftermath of Crisis, the editors at DC wisely decided to tone Superman down a bit, and they gave that job to John Byrne.

The Man of Steel isn’t the most elegant comic ever written, it has a lot of re-introductions to take care of. But it does so in a fairly admirable and entertaining way. And a lot of what we now think of as “cannon” for Superman and company originates in these pages. Byrne gave us Lois, the daughter of an army general and a very competent investigative reporter. He gave us Lex Luthor as a wealthy industrialist – both of which have been incorporated into every incarnation of Superman created since; the animated series, Smallville, Lois and Clark, and Superman Returns. The Man of Steel redefined Superman for a generation, and therefore is really a must read.

Supreme: The Story of the Year (Alan Moore)

I mentioned this is my Top Ten Superman Pastiches list, but it merits being mentioned again. Supreme: The Story of the Year is a loving deconstruction of the Superman mythos – complete with touching on how heroes get re-invented every generation, and all the trappings of the Silver Age.

But Moore doesn’t do this as a scathing commentary on the era, nor does he do it to make fun of the characters or genre. While I think that Astro City Vol. 1, Issue 1 is the best single issue of a Superman comic that isn’t actually about Superman, I think that this is my favorite Superman graphic novel without actually being about Superman.

It also does the best job of explaining why comic continuity can be such a mess to the novice reader that I’ve ever seen. On top of that, it’s illustrated wonderfully – very evocative of the style of Marvel and DC in the 1980’s, but on the higher quality paper and coloring techniques of the modern era.

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga (John Byrne & Chris Claremont)

Jean Grey’s tragic tale is as big a part of comic book history, and as important of a single event as the shooting of Bruce Wayne’s parents, or the rocketing of baby Kal-El to Earth, or the bite of a spider on Peter Parker’s young hand. It has become, unfortunately, muddled with ret-con after ret-con, new incarnations of the Phoenix-force, and the three thousand, four hundred and eighty-three resurrections of Jean Grey.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the original tale is about as good of a story as you’ll find anywhere. The battle in the Hellfire Club is a great warm-up battle for the X-Men (and one that would have future impact on the X-Men, especially Wolverine), and the battle on the dark side of the moon against the Shi’ar Imperial Guard is a superpowered slugfest that has rarely been matched.

Just as significant, this story was the one that really cemented the strength of the bond between Jean Grey and Scott Summers – the best romance in comics in my opinion.

Ultimately, I wish that they had left Jean dead at the end of the Phoenix Saga. Her rebirth, again, opened the floodgates wide for superheroes returning from the grave. The great truisms of superhero death, Bucky and Captain Mar-Vel, have even now been violated. Fortunately, you can read this comic without worrying about the future resurrection after resurrection.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1 (Brian Michael Bendis)
By the early years of this millennium, Spider-Man’s life and continuity had become, frankly, a mess. Somewhere between Carnage and clones, I swore off Spider-Man comics. The continuity was ugly, and I felt like I no longer knew these characters.

I still occasionally saw Spidey in other titles I picked up, and vaguely missed him, but he was out of my life. I had been abused one-too-many times, and it was time for me to move on. But then Marvel created Ultimate Spider-Man. Written by a (then) up-and-coming writer by the name of Brian Michael Bendis, Ultimate Spider-Man featured a sixteen-year old Peter Parker in the modern era, facing re-imaginations of Spider-Man’s classic foes. The Green Goblin no longer relied on gadgets – Norman Osborn transformed into a giant green creature capable of throwing fire from his hands. The early romances of Peter Parker’s life were largely ignored in favor of immediately focusing on MJ. And Nick Fury looked like Samuel L. Jackson instead of Clint Eastwood

“A publicity stunt,” people said. “It’ll never last.” “It won’t be any good.”

Were they ever wrong. The rest of the Ultimate continuity has gotten a little messy, and I can’t say I fully approve of all the changes they’ve made, but Ultimate Spider-Man has remained one of the best comics on the market. Even my favorite titles tend to have ups and downs, but there hasn’t been a single issue of USM that I haven’t enjoyed reading.

Watchmen (Alan Moore)

No list of great comic book graphic novels would be complete without including Watchmen. Alan Moore’s masterpiece has been analyzed more than any other comic collection, and sparked more debate and discussion as well.

Superhero comics changed forever after the publication of Watchmen, as people began looking at their heroes as beings who had feets of clay. Finding true heroism in Watchmen takes a lot of digging, and for the most part, the heroes fail. But they make the world a better place – at a price.

It was also the first time we saw our heroes behaving in ways that were really ugly. The Comedian rapes the Silk Spectre, Rorshach is a certifiable sociopath, and Nite-Owl has let himself go and now has a beer-gut.

Oddly enough, I don’t really like Watchmen. I consider it important to comics, and well-written, but I blame it for much of what I now find unpleasant in superhero comics. Still, if you’re going to read modern comics, then Watchmen is an important thing to read. The trends in modern comics originate here.

That's my list, and I hope you enjoyed it. So, what do you think I missed? (Other than Crisis on Infinite Earths). Let me know, and thanks for sticking with me through the last hundred posts. Here's looking to another hundred!

Superheroes and advertising

2007-08-27T14:34:00.000-04:00

“After spending an entire night fighting Venom, the Hobgoblin and Doctor Octopus, there’s only one thing that makes me feel like a human being again – and that’s new Mountain Dew: Extreme.” – Peter Parker

A ridiculous idea you say? Well, it is, but why do we think that really? We make fun of heroes like Captain Amazing and Booster Gold for product endorsements, or wearing an advertising patch on their costume – but if superheroes actually existed in this world, why wouldn’t they do that?

The responsible thing, some would say, would be for heroes to let any money made off their image go to a charity. That’s what Superman does in the DCU, after all. Money made from the sale of Captain America merchandise no doubt goes to the Federal Government in the Marvel Universe. But what, I ask, is so wrong about a hero being paid for the work they do?

Fighting crime is a tough gig, and it can make holding a regular job really hard. So, doesn’t it make some sense to let heroes earn their living by doing what they do? After all, real-world heroes, firefighters, police officers, soldiers and teachers get paid to help society. It wouldn’t even require that the hero give up their identity to the public, so long as there was a trusted individual or corporation who could collect their earnings and distribute them. The Avengers could certainly act as a clearing house to take in the money and then provide it to their members, as could the Justice League.

Heck, in the Marvel Universe, Reed Richards funds the Fantastic Four through a combination of merchandise and patent-sales. And no one ever criticizes him for it. The Wasp uses her status as an Avenger raise attention to her designs, and even models them as superhero costumes, and no one hires Jennifer Walters as an attorney without being very aware that she is the Savage She-Hulk.

So, if a hero wants to take an endorsement deal from Nike, why not let them?

Especially since we're perfectly comfortable using them for advertising in the real-world. And they don't even see a cut of the profits.

Top ten non-superpowered superheroes

2007-08-24T19:24:00.000-04:00

A short-time ago we discussed the various pastiches of Superman overthe years. And while I stand by the statement I made there, that in many universes the World’s Greatest Superhero (tm) is a flying strongman in a cape, what is almost as interesting is that the second place character is usually a person with no superpowers at all.

Below you’ll find my take on the top ten non-superpowered superheroes. But before we get into this list deeply, there are going to be some notable absences, so let me explain them off the bat.

1) I didn’t include any sidekicks/spin-off heroes, no matter how noteworthy they are in their own right (though Nightwing really almost forced me to break this rule). This means we won’t see Robin, Speedy or Bucky on this list.

2) I also didn’t include superheroes who have superpowers, even if they proved themselves as heroes without their powers. So, despite the fact that Dinah Lance is just as competent a hero as Green Arrow, Huntress or Oracle without her sonic scream, she didn’t make the list. Neither did Storm.

3) “Borderline” superpowered heroes didn’t make the list either, even when it pained me to leave them off. As a result, you won’t see Hawkeye (who has superhumanly good eyesight), Moon Knight (who sometimes is written as having supernatural power due toKhonshu), or Wildcat (with his mystical nine lives) despite the fact that these characters are usually considered non-powered.

4) I didn’t include any primarily gun-wielding heroes. While many of the folks on this list do stretch my definition of a superhero in that they have killed, guns really serve no purpose other than “Make the other person dead.” I also think of soldiers and super-spies as a different breed than cape & mask heroes, so Nick Fury, the Punisher and any of the Old West supers didn’t make the cut for this list.

5) Finally, while most “normal human” superheroes do use high-tech gadgets of some sort, if they are entirely (or even mostly) dependent on a gadget for their superheroic acts, they didn’t make the list. WhileTony Stark and Hal Jordan may be ordinary humans, their equipment disqualifies them from this list. Sometimes this was a hard choice to make, and several of my favorite “normal human” heroes got cut as aresult (I’m looking at you, Blue Beetle and Night Thrasher).

But enough with the rules, let’s bring on the heroes!

10) Nighthawk (Supreme Power, Marvel Comics)
Kyle Richmond watched his parents be cut down as a result of a racial-inspired hate crime. Using his father’s investments to build a successful corporation, Richmond has trained himself in martial arts and investigation to hunt down those who commit crimes against African-Americans as Nighthawk.

Why he made the cut: The original version of Nighthawk was little more than a copy of DC’s Batman, but the Supreme Power version of the character has enough differences to make him notable in his own right. Nighthawk has all the paranoia about superhumans that Batman does, but adds in a healthy issue of race-relation paranoia.

Why he’s number 10: As interesting as they’ve made him in Supreme Power, it’s hard to ignore the fact that he is really an almost direct copy of someone much higher on this list.

9) The Confessor II (Astro City, Wildstorm Comics)
Wearing an all black costume with a large white cross on his chest, the Confessor protects Astro City by night. The Confessor focuses on“ordinary” crime – and is the one stopping the city from being looted while Samaritan fights off the alien invasion.

Why he made the cut: The original Confessor was a Roman-Catholic priest turned vampire, whose costume was made in part to harm him enough thathe would avoid the temptation of drinking blood. He later recruited a sidekick – Altar Boy, who became the Confessor after the original gave his life fighting off an alien invasion. Altar Boy had no superpowers of his own, which makes the present Confessor more like the characters he emulated. Astro City features a number of other non-superpowered heroes, including the ever-lovable Crackerjack, but the Confessor has a more prominent position in the universe.

Why he’s number 9: As good as the former Altar Boy’s story is, the Confessor was far more interesting as a vampire. As a normal human, the new Confessor has a neat look, but really has little terribly original about him.

8) Yeoman (Wild Cards novels)

Daniel Brennan was a US Army Captain who made the enmity of a high-ranking traitor in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Framed for murder, Brennan fled the country. While in exile he studied Zen Archery and martial arts. He returned to the United States to track down his foe, ending up in New York City, the haven for Aces and Jokers. Having no superhuman powers, he nevertheless became well known as the Ace ofSpades killer and battled many superpowered Aces and Jokers, even helping end the Swarm invasion.

Why he made the cut: Yeoman is nearly unique in the Wild Cards universe in being a vigilante who wasn’t touched by the Wild Card virus. TheWild Cards novels are a deadlier place than most comics, making Brennan’s life that much harder.

Why he’s number 8: Firstly, Brennan is a killer – something he doesn’t hide from. It’s also impossible not to look at him and see a mesh of the Punisher and Green Arrow. As fascinating as I find him, he is more unique due to his setting than anything noteworthy about the character himself.

7) Citizen V/Baron Helmut Zemo (Thunderbolts, Marvel Comics)

The original leader of the Thunderbolts, Baron Zemo masqueraded as Citizen V. Using high technology, martial arts, sword-fighting skills, and a natural sense of leadership, Citizen V was the perfect disguise– invoking the memory of Captain America without copying him.

Why he made the cut: It took him longer than the rest of the Thunderbolts, but Zemo did eventually evolve into a hero. His look was astounding, and fit well with the idea of a normal human leading a team of superheroes – something which was the case with most teams of Avengers. What was even more interesting, to my way of thinking, was that it took banishment from earth for Zemo to begin to be a hero. Since then, he has ruled the world, given up god-like power, been betrayed, and allowed all of it to happen. Zemo’s evolution remains fascinating, and I can’t wait to see what happens next to Helmut.

Why he’s number 7: Zemo pushes against most of the rules of this list, honestly. While he may be one of my favorites, and I might even have made a Citizen V costume one summer, he is a former villain, and may in fact still be one now. He has killed, and will probably do so again. He also was the possessor of not one, but two Moonstones, pushing him in the "had superpowers" category. They didn’t define him, the way that Iron Man’s armor or Green Lantern’s power ring do, but it pushed the borders of how I defined this list. So, despite my intense love of the character, I really couldn't justify putting him any higher on the list.

6) The Spirit (Will Eisner, now DC Comics)
Denny Colt, with the blessing of the police commissioner (an old friend), fights crime as the masked hero – the Spirit. The Spirit’s adventures ranged from noir detective work, to horror stories, to comedy– sometimes more than once in a single issue. With no superhuman powers, the Spirit is nonetheless a competent hand-to-hand fighter and detective.

Why he made the cut: The Spirit paved the way for the non-powered detective/martial artist we’ve come to see so often in comic books. On top of that, he was created by Wil Eisner – which in and of itself makes him notable.

Why he’s number 6: Despite the legacy the Spirit can claim, it doesn’t change the fact that to the layperson, he’s barely known. It hurt to put characters whose origins can be traced directly to him higher on the list, but the Spirit just isn’t well-enough known to the public to justify putting him higher. With a movie coming out, and a regular series of comics through DC, that may change, but for now, he leads the back of the pack.

5) The Question (DC Comics)
Charles Victor Szasz was trained by Richard Dragon, the greatest martial artist in the DCU in martial arts and philosophy. An investigative reporter by day, he uses his identity as the Question to resolve problems that “Vic Sage” can’t touch. After Vic succumbed to cancer, former Gotham Detective Renee Montoya takes up the mantle of the Question.

Why he/she made the cut: There are a few reasons that the Question stands out among the detective/martial artists who inhabit comics. One is their distinct look – there is something massively unsettling about the appearance of a person with no face. The Vic Sage Question also had a rather memorable run on Justice League: Unlimited, which has helped bring the character to the mind of many. He was always a favorite of mine, but the JLU appearance did a lot to strengthen that. And being voiced by Jeffery Combs did nothing to hurt either. Their appearances in 52 and Countdown have also brought the Questions to the forefront of the DCU. The Question is also the basis for Rorschach from Watchmen, who is one of the most endearing sociopathic heroes in all of comics.

Why they’re number 5: The Question is one of my all-time favorite heroes, but even with the recent surge of attention, they are still second or third-tier characters. That might change a bit with Renee Montoya, especially with her relationship with Batwoman, but at the moment the Question remains in the middle of the pack.

4) The Green Hornet (Various)

Newspaper publisher Britt Reid, grand-nephew to the Lone Ranger, masquerades as the Green Hornet – a vigilante who is considered a crime boss by police and criminals alike. This deception allows Reid to discover much about his enemies. Armed with this knowledge, his loyal companion Kato, and the amazing Black Beauty, the Green Hornet is a threat to criminals everywhere.

Why he made the cut: The Green Hornet loaned so much of his mythology to future heroes that it really is remarkable. But what is even more amazing is how much remains unique to him – not the least of which being his status as crime boss. (Marvel’s Shroud doesn’t do it half as well.) His gadgets are second to none, and he even has a memorable bit of theme music – even if it was written by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Why he’s number 4: It is absolutely no knock against the Hornet himself that he only made it to number four on the list. It really comes down to the fact that the three people ahead of him on the list are just that much more notable. Starting with one who has stolen his color…

3) Green Arrow (DC Comics)

Millionaire playboy Olliver Queen was stranded on a desert island by a crime boss. His own survival instinct plus a lifelong fascination with archery saved him from a grisly fate, and when he returned to civilization, he decided to use his new identity to protect the “little guy” as the Emerald Archer, Green Arrow.

Why he made the cut: Green Arrow is one of the more notable “normal human” heroes in comics today, and his fame is only growing. In addition to comics and cartoons, Green Arrow has also been included in the Smallville mythology, and is even going to have a movie made about him (probably). Though he started as a Batman knock-off, he has grown to be a champion of liberal causes, and has started the legacy for numerous other heroes, including the current Speedy, Mia Derden and the former Speedy, RoyHarper, who is now a member of the Justice League as Red Arrow. He has also developed a rivalry with Deathstroke – the single deadliest assassin in the DCU. And on top of all that, he just proposed to theBlack Canary, Dinah Lance.

Why he’s number 3: As amazing as Ollie is, and how rapid his ascent has been, he still remains just out of reach of the top-tier of superheroes. To comic fans, few characters are as beloved as Olliver Queen is today, but he still lacks the name recognition of Spider-Man, Superman or the top two spots on this list.

2) Batman (DC Comics)

His parents gunned down at a young age, Bruce Wayne swore that he would never allow what happened to him to happen to anyone else. Heir to a vast empire of wealth, Bruce travelled across the world, honing his mind and body to become the ultimate weapon against crime. Already a brilliant detective, martial artist, tactician and scientist, Bruce crafted a disguise to strike terror into the hearts of criminals. He has had many allies in this war against crime, but deep inside, Bruce remains a loner. Still, no hero is as feared as the Batman is.

Why he made the cut: Because he’s the Batman, that’s why. Few superheroes have the recognition as an icon that he does. Bruce Wayne represents the ultimate in what a human can strive for, and is one ofthe “Big Three” of the DCU. Batman has out fought everyone, and has contingency plan after contingency plan for future battles. He has trained several Robins, one of whom, Dick Grayson. has become such an important hero in DC Comics that he honestly deserves a place on this list himself. He has inspired numerous other heroes, including the Huntress and two different Batgirls. His arsenal is nearly as well known as his origin story, and he has been the subject of more movies and television shows than any other superhero. No list of “human” superheroes would be complete without him.

Why he’s number 2: This will be probably the most contentious placement on this list, because for many Batman is what people think of as the non-powered superhero. I struggled between placing him in the number one or number two slot, and ultimately went with who I chose as the winner because of what that character represents. Batman is, at heart, a story about vengeance. Bruce’s mission has grown beyond that, but that’s where its’ roots are. Batman also inspires fear above anything else, and I wanted the number one position to belong to a hero who inspires hope in all those around him, even after his death.

1) Captain America (Marvel Comics)
Despite being a patriot, Steve Rogers was deemed unfit for duty during the Second World War due to his scrawny physique. Offered an opportunity to take part in a secret Super-Soldier program, Steve Rogers was transformed to the peak of human ability and trained by the army. Armed with an unbreakable shield, and possessing unmatched leadership and tactical skills, Steve became Captain America. Frozen in ice for years and released in the modern day, Captain America is still regarded by nearly all in the Marvel Universe as the ultimate expression of what a hero should be, even as he struggles to find his place in modern-day America.

Why he made the cut: In the Marvel Universe, no one is a greater hero than Cap. Cap has led several incarnations of the Avengers, leading gods, mutants, aliens and robots despite having no powers of his own. He has stood toe-to-toe with the likes of the Hulk, Thanos and Ultron, and come out on top. His sidekicks have become potent heroes in their own right, and other nations have champions who are clearly inspired by Captain America, such as Union Jack and the Red Guardian.

Why he’s number 1: Cap isn’t just an unpowered superhero, he is a leader of superheroes. Cap inspires hope and loyalty in those around him and is one of the few who are worthy of wielding Thor’s enchanted hammer, Mjolnir. No matter how jaded or bitter a hero is, when they work alongside Cap, even the likes of Wolverine, Spider-Man and Luke Cage find ways to be members of a team. When Captain America opposed the Registration Act, he gave legitimacy to the cause. Without Cap, those who refused to register would have been despised by all. But with Captain America leading the resistance, it made people think about why heroes might oppose the law, even in the wake of Stamford. After being assassinated, Steve Rogers has continued to inspire heroism in his memory. He may not be as well known as Batman, and may have even lost to him in Marvel vs. DC several years ago, but Captain America is the single largest symbol of hope to the Marvel Universe, and for that reason, he is my pick for number one.

So, what do you think? Who do you think deserves a place on this list but didn’t get one? Where would you have moved people around on the list? I’d love to hear.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? Season 2, Episode 5

2007-08-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

Thursday night has rolled around, and that means it's time for another episode of Who Wants to be a Superhero?

What does that mean to me? Well, it means that I sit here with my Diet Coke, my microwave popcorn and my laptop and eagerly watch the goings-on. As the episode begins, the heroes wax philosophically about their missing companions. Hyper-Strike was the only one to mention what everyone else must be considering - those that are left have doubled their chances of being the winner.

The heroes awake to find that Dr. Dark is causing power outages through the city. Stan leads them to his hideout where they find that they each need to crawl through a drain-pipe to a fuse box, and each power down a fuse. Each of the Parthenon, Whip-snap, Hygena and Hyper-Strike each struggle to deal with the rats, snakes and spiders in the lair, but make it through. Then finally the Defuser enters, with a minute left to go, and the bulky police officer gets stuck in the drain pipe, as we cut to commercial.

The commercial gives me time to consider that I would be in so much trouble here. I am extremely frightened by snakes, spiders and rats. This season has really hit the contestants hard in dealing with their real fears - I wonder how well I'd do.

We come back, and the Defuser does make it through and gets the fuse, with a whole six seconds to spare. Stan rewards them for their success by giving them a night on the town - which, of course is the real challenge. While at the Mexican restaurant, the heroes are approached by fans - each deals well with the children. But then the check arives, and they realize none of them have any money. So, they work their bill off by waiting tables. Very funny.

Stan meets them back at the lair and starts to reveal Dark's plans, but then Dark tells Stan about the dark secrets each hero has in their past - reminiscent of the same scene involving the Dark Enforcer last season. But before any secrets are revealed, another commercial.

It's interesting, as the episode progresses, I try to predict who's leaving. Whip-snap, Hygena and Parthenon all had a lot of problems with the tunnel. Hyper-strike, on the other hand, mentioned that he didn't even look around, which seems like a way of avoiding his fears - something Stan eliminated Mr. Mitzvah for.

Now we get to the secrets. Whip-snap had taken her friend's keys to visit a crush. Hygena likes to practice erotic dancing for her husband. Hyper-strike failed a stunt, and in return got fired from a show. Parthenon has an interest in pirates, which Dr. Dark says is evidence of an interest in the dark side. And the Defuser didn't graduate high school on time. Stan had pretty much ignored each "flaw" Dark had exposed, but then we break to commercial as Dark waves a martini glass and shaker at the Defuser. Could the Defuser share a weakness with Tony Stark?

This commercial gives me time to reflect on another issue I might have if I were to audition for the show next season - I certainly have skelletons buried in my closet I'd like to see remain there. What might my friends or relations reveal about me for Stan to critically examine?

It seems the Defuser has embarassing drinking stories, despite not normally drinking, where he destroyed a bathroom while drunk. But of course, who among us doesn't have stories of that ilk?

And then, it's time for the mission reports before the next elimination. I can't help but wonder if the Defuser's criticisms will be the final nail in his coffin here. The mission reports show that the Defuser and Hyper-strike are the strongest, Hygena underperforms in missions, Whip-snap overreacts emotionally, and that over half of the team thinks Whip-snap is the least heroic of the team. Hyper-strike comes clean to Whip-snap about why he wrote that, but I can't help but think that of the "over half", meaning three of the five, Whip-snap might have written that about herself.

And as we go to commercial, Stan tells us it's time for another elimination. At GenCon, Feedback, Major Victory and Fat Momma each mentioned how hard the eliminations are. Each of them want to win, obviously, and each person who leaves brings them closer to that goal. But the heroes also grow close as a team, and each elimination means someone they care for, someone they consider a fellow hero, has to give up their dream - at least for now. I can only imagine how rough it must be.

Stan had criticisms for each hero, but praised Hyper-strike for his honesty with Whip-snap. He also called the Defuser out on giving away parts of his weaponry to the fans at the restaurant, something that the Defuser seemed really shocked by.

The nominations to go home tonight? The Defuser. Whip-snap. Hygena. (Which was pretty much what I expected.)

I think that it's going to be Whip-snap who leaves tonight. But we have one more commercial to sit through before I'll know.

And the result...?

"The person leaving the lair tonight is... Whip-snap."

I will miss her, but I can't say I'm surprised. The journey has been good for her, but she didn't yet have the strength to win. She is a hero, and she will continue to grow after this show. I'm tempted to go to Feedback's after-show, but think it can wait for now. I'd rather judge the heroes based on their performance in the show then in how they feel afterwards.

Weekly comic round-up

2007-08-23T08:15:00.000-04:00

Astonishing X-Men 22

When Josh Whedon took over this comic, I about lost my mind with excitement. And he had a good run for awhile there, but I’m losing interest as this goes on. The character moments are great, but the plot is kind of lacking. Examples are the bedroom discussion between Kitty and Peter, the confrontation between Emma and Danger (as Emma correctly predicts that Danger is unable to overcome her programming to actually kill someone – though I’m fairly certain the Danger Room had an override to allow it to use lethal force), and the “final” act of leadership from Cyclops as he sacrifices himself piloting the ship to give the team the diversion they need.

Of course, Cyclops isn’t dead. For all the craziness that Marvel is willing to do right now to shake up their universe, they wouldn’t have Scott Summers die in such an off-hand manner.

But while the character moments are great, and I’m loving them, even –shudder- the romance between Scott and Emma, the plot? I can barely follow it, and don’t care enough to go back and re-read the issues to put the plot back together. This bodes ill for the future of the book.

Superman 666

Superman has fairly consistently been well-written, but rarely worth commenting on of late. I’ve enjoyed almost every issue of the different titles, but none of them have been anything all that special. But this issue begged for the attention.

Why? Because it was written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Walt Simonson?

Nope.

Because it featured the Phantom Stranger and Zatanna?

Nope.

Because we got to see Superman’s darker side shining through?

Nope.

It begged for attention because it was issue 666 – the number of the Beast, and DC went for the obvious and had it focus on a Kryptonian demon.

Don’t get me wrong, it was actually fairly entertaining. And in a black humor kind of way, it was fun watching Superman lay waste to all the things which must have annoyed him. He is, after all, one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Being forced to hold back, instead of lashing out at all those things we would lash out at if we had his power must be endlessly frustration.

But it would have been nice if DC could have avoided the obvious.

Thunderbolts 116

After a disappointing month for the Thunderbolts, this issue once again has renewed my interest in the comic. I think a large part of my problem with the direction of the comic is that, under Osborn, and with individuals like Venom and Bullseye on the team, the Thunderbolts really are supervillains pretending to be superheroes – like they were at the beginning. However, that only remains interesting for so long. The brilliant part of the Thunderbolts under Busiek was watching the villains really become heroes.

We lost sight of that for awhile, but with Songbird temporarily leading the team, we’re seeing it again. I found the use of Venom as a potential cannibal to be really fascinating – both Songbird’s use of it, and Gargan’s reaction. Gargan obviously has a very different relationship with the symbiote, or at least he wants to. As I’ve said before, the idea of Venom as a hero bothers me a lot, but done in the context of the Thunderbolts, with someone other than Brock being the symbiote’s partner, it could be interesting to read about.

But the real star of Thunderbolts right now has to be Robby Baldwin. Once (and possibly future) Speedball, Penance has really become something. He’s a loose cannon to the extreme, and by all accounts, is nearly Hulk-level in power. Moonstone is crazy if she actually thinks Osborn can control him, and if there’s one thing I know about Moonstone it’s that she’s not crazy. Osborn, on the other hand, really is. So, it’s possible that Karla is playing him.

(And as a side-note, I’d really like to see Karla re-encounter Hawkeye. It’ll be fun if the Thunderbolts are ever sent after the New Avengers.)

Finally, this issue introduced a new unregistered superhuman combatant, who objects to the registration act, wants to summon the Thunderbolts, and is a powerful telekinetic. Based on the level of power, and the desire to see the Thunderbolts, I almost think that it’s Vance Astro behind the mask of Mindwave. My hesitation in predicting this is based on the level of violence displayed to the police officers in the station – Justice is many things, but not a killer. And even if none of those officers die, they were pretty severely banged up. But it would make sense for Justice to want to draw out the Thunderbolts to check in on Speedball. Anyone else have any ideas who might be behind that mask? I’d love to hear them.

Birds of Prey 109

I can’t even begin to describe how excellent Birds of Prey is. On the one hand, the writing of the characters is top-notch and the action is exciting and well-drawn. The comic balances superheroism and the personal lives of the characters just about perfectly (occasionally focusing on one or the other, but never for so long that the other suffers for it). The cast is made up of a great group of characters, and the relationships between them are rich and fully defined without being needlessly complex. And the comic frequently includes moments of genuine humor, without being a “silly book” like She-Hulk.

And on the other hand? It’s a comic about women superheroes that manages to offer up everything we would like to see in any comic, without pandering to either hard-line feminists or male chauvinist pigs. Women can read this comic and see superheroines acting like superheroines instead of being relegated to supporting roles. Men can read this comic and not feel guilty for their gender.

This issue illustrates all of these points. We get to see great character interaction between Barbara and Dinah, as they discuss Oliver Queen’s past history with them, and other women in the DCU, and what it means that he has proposed to Dinah. Barbara walks the delicate line of trying to warn her friend, but still being supportive, and it feels absolutely real to me. On the humorous side, we watch as Sin teaches Barda how to play Pokemon, and convinces her that it is really a game for warriors. Then we get to watch as an innocent fight between Scandal and Knockout leads to Knockout charging after Barda for a rematch – during which she is caught by one of those responsible for the killings of the New Gods.

Action. Character development. Tie-ins to the major plot points of the DCU. And all of this in a comic that writes female characters as genuine characters.

My only regret is that I held off on picking this title up until a friend of mine started loaning me the graphic novels of the earlier parts of the series.

Amazing Spider-Man 543

I know that JMS is leaving this book, and for that I am truly sorry. It was on the strength of his writing right before Civil War that I was pulled back into the adventures of the 616-Peter Parker. And here in the Back in Black storyline, he has continued to remind me of why I used to love this character, before he jumped the shark with Carnage and Clones.

Spider-Man may not be the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe, but among the street-level heroes, he’s pretty much the cream of the crop. And JMS knows and respects that. Spider-Man is an absolute terror when fighting normal humans, and is capable of pushing himself to deal with much more powerful foes. But Peter Parker is an intensely vulnerable human, especially where his family is concerned.

It fits with Peter’s life for the emergency transfusion he gave Aunt May to not only not help her, but to be considered proof that the poor old Jane Doe is being poisoned by her niece. And watching desperation push Peter into committing nine felonies in a row was a fascinating descent. Of course, he’s probably guilty of more crimes than those, among them breaking into a maximum security facility, assault and battery, and menacing.

Still, I understand Peter’s crisis. For one of the first times, any illegal actions he’s taking aren’t based on “what must be done” to fight the bad-guy, but instead based on his own self-interest. (There’s an incident with a golden notebook from Secret Wars II, but that’s hardly worth mentioning, especially considering how much Peter tortured himself over it.) He also threatened a man with death, and it was fairly clear he wasn’t kidding.

“One More Day” starts next month. Poor Peter is going to go through hell, and I’m going to watch it with a perversely sadistic sense of glee. Heroes are defined by how they deal with the impossible situation. For what it’s worth, I think Peter is a true hero, and will come through this showing that. This will be a testament to his heroism, not the beginning of his fall. Or at least, that’s my prediction.

Stan Lee - Superhero? Or Supervillain?

2007-08-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

Stan Lee has an interesting legacy. The man has been responsible for some of the best in superheroics, and some of the worst.

On the one hand, he has been the creative force behind (at least in part) Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk and the Mighty Thor. He created a remarkable take on the DC icons with the Just Imagine... series. Because of his influence on the course of Marvel Comics, he has been given a cameo role in most of the movies made starring Marvel Superheroes (including an appearance in all three Spider-Man and X-Men movies, plus Daredevil, Hulk and Fantastic Four, and even in Kevin Smith's Mallrats.) And, of course, he's responsible for my current favorite obsession - Who Wants to be a Superhero?

On the other hand, he has been responsible for Pamela Anderson's Stripperella, The 7th Portal, Lightspeed and this. Yeah, that's right - Paris Hilton as a superhero.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. On one hand, a little part of my brain is amused at the idea - although I'm a little ashamed to admit it. But most of my brain just screams "No Stan! Don't! Don't ruin your legacy like this!"

It's silly of course. Even disasters like turning Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, Hugh Heffner and Ringo Starr won't be able to erase what superheroics owe to Stan Lee. Before him, superheroes were nearly perfect - and flaws that they had usually limited their superheroism only. Before Stan, we didn't see superheroes who had real problems and real character flaws. Without Stan Lee, there would never have been a Dark Knight Returns, or any of the other comics where we see our heroes deconstructed. And nothing he does now, no matter how foolish, will ever really erase that.

But really, Mr. Lee, Paris Hilton? If you're that desperate for people to turn into superheroes, I know that Levity, Nitro G, Cell Phone Girl, Monkey Woman, The Iron Enforcer, Lemuria, Major Victory, Ty'Veculis, Mr. Mitzvah, Ms. Limelight, Batsura, Mindset and the Braid would all be happy to offer themselves up as models.

(And I could easily be persuaded to do the same.)

Meeting some superheroes

2007-08-19T18:36:00.000-04:00

So, this past weekend, my wife and I decided to visit GenCon Indy. I'm a big-time gamer, and due to my eldest daughter being ill, we didn't get to spend the whole weekend at Origins a few months back. So, we day-tripped to GenCon on Saturday.

And I'm really glad that I did. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in months. I got to talk with the folks at Eden Studios, who I've had the good fortune to volunteer for in the past, and even been able to playtest the City of Heroes RPG. But without a doubt, the highlight of the trip?

I was able to meet, shake hands with, and in some cases get autographs and merchandise from Major Victory, Fat Momma, and Feedback - the top three finalists from the first season of Who Wants to be a Superhero?

First up, we got to talk to Major Victory. Major Victory was incredibly gracious and friendly, and emphasized how grateful he was to be able to come to events like the con and meet with the fans. I ordered a t-shirt from him (they were out of stock of my size), and he looked at my daugher, Mira, who was sleeping in a sling on my chest, and without my asking, took an art sheet of the mock-up for the Major Victory comic, signed it for her, instructing her to listen to her parents.

Fat Momma wasn't at the booth when we first showed up - she had left to go and spend time at the babysitting facilites provided at the con. I was highly impressed by that - it really shows how important kids are to her. Between the Major Victory t-shirt, and the money I wanted to spend to get Feedback's autograph, I was tapped out for cash, so I couldn't buy any merchandise. But still, she handed us a coloring sheet to take home to our older daughter.

Finally, I got to meet Feedback. Matthew was just an incredibly generous and friendly guy. He was making jokes with the other signees at the booth, taking extra time to pose for pictures, and spending time to actually get to know - at least in passing - the people who came to meet with him.

During the show, it became obvious that he was "one of us," a comic-book fanboy living the dream. And meeting him, it became even more obvious. My wife introduced me as "the resident geek in the family" to which he said that in his eyes, geeks meant "one of us." I didn't want to take up too much of his time (not due to him trying to make us leave, but because I could see the line building behind us), so I wasn't able to talk to him as long as I'd have liked. I did, however, get the chance to share my story with him about how comics have changed my life. During the show, Feedback shared with Stan Lee how comics gave him a role-model when his father passed away. In my case, comics gave me my love of learning. I learned to read due to the Incredible Hulk, and having a family friend read them to me, then chase me around his comic store saying "Hulk Smash Puny Human!"

Me, Feedback and Mira

Like I said, I didn't have the chance to talk to him as long as I'd have liked, but Feedback invited me to come back and talk to him again later. Sadly, I didn't have the time to take him up on the offer, but I hope to encounter him again.

Meeting the three of them re-strengthed my determination to audition if there's a Season 3. And a bonus feature of the weekend was I got to talk to the fine folks at Journeymen Leather about having them help me with my costume.

A short round-up

2007-08-16T06:17:00.001-04:00

Every week (roughly) Aaron talks about the comics he reads that he thought were noteworthy. This isn't everything he picks up, just the things that he feels merit discussion - either for being really good, or for having something really wrong with them.

Ultimate Spider-Man 112
Bagley has left us, but Ultimate Spider-Man soldiers on. Fortunately, for me at least, the priority is on the writing, not the art – and Bendis is still at the helm of this ship, something which shows in the plot, pacing and characterization of this issue.

A brief battle with the shocker makes both Peter and Kitty (sporting a new costume) late for class - a class where they get assigned the dreaded Baby Project.

(You know the one, where you have to take care of a faux baby. In my day, it was an egg. Nowadays, it’s usually a doll, sometimes with sensors.)

Even worse, Kitty and Peter get assigned together, much to MJ’s annoyance. Being MJ, of course she tells them to just do the project. Of course, tension will further develop around this project; there’s really no way it could be avoided. And Bendis will make it interesting, engaging, and embarrassing for Peter.

But that’s not what makes this issue noteworthy. What is noteworthy is that Norman Osborn is back. Initially prepared to make a deal with Nick Fury, only to be told that Fury isn’t around, Osborn later breaks free. We don’t get to see anything in this issue, but the cover of this issue as well as next month’s promises a massive battle between the Spider and the Goblin once more.

Booster Gold 1 I’ve never been the biggest Booster Gold fan. I’ve never disliked him, per se, but he’s just never impressed me. Maybe it’s because it’s hard for me to sympathize with his life, or why he wanted to be a superhero. I became marginally more interested in him during 52, especially after he “died” – and then the revelation about who Supernova was. This left me interested enough that I decided to pick up Booster Gold 1, and I’m glad I did.

Booster wants to join the JLA again, and when he calls them in the midst of a battle against the Royal Flush Gang, the reaction among the league is mixed. Many of them dislike Booster and his glory-hunting. But Batman and Superman are both able to point out actions where Booster did the right thing, despite the personal cost. So, the League gives him a week to prove himself without being a glory-hound. And Booster manages it.

Just in time to be told that Rip Hunter wants him to save the timeline. And in order to do that, Booster must keep anyone from ever taking him seriously. No one must ever know of the good that he’s done. And so, right at the moment when the League offers him membership, Booster has to act like a boob.

It impressed me, honestly. I can’t imagine making myself look like a fool to the people I most respect – even if it is for the greater good. Of course, Booster tells Rip that there’s a catch – if he’s going to do this, he wants Ted Kord (the Blue Beetle) brought back. Booster knows it’s possible, and that’s his condition. Based on the preview, it looks like he just may get his wish.

Throwing a wrench into all this is the future of Supernova, Booster’s ancestor, and how he may now be dealing with a version of Sinestro.

-sigh- Fine. They’ve got me. When does Issue 2 come out?

Justice League of America 12
This is possibly one of the best issues of JLA I have ever read. Ever. And I had to double-check that Brian Michael Bendis didn’t write it, because it follows what he does best. We want to see our heroes engaged in epic battles, no question. But if we don’t care about them, it means nothing. So what better way to explore who they really are than by examining how each member of the League (other than the Big Three) handle Monitor duty.

And it was great. We really got a good look inside of the heads of Black Lightning, Black Canary, Red Tornado, Red Arrow, Hawkgirl and Geo-Force. We got to see previews of upcoming issues the league will have to face - Geo-Force and his involvement with Deathstroke and how the Big Three are trying to use him as a double-agent; the inner struggles being faced by Vixen with the loss of her powers (almost) and Red Tornado and the loss of his humanity (almost); and the budding relationship between Roy Harper and Kendra Saunders. Superhero romances are rarely smooth, and these two have serious emotional commitments that will make things even worse than normal. The only real question is who will kill them first; Cheshire or Hawkman?

The not-terribly-unusual framing device for the issue was a nice touch, as we watch J’onn J’onzz and Arthur watching the league. These two have always been outsiders, and the League means more to them to probably any other hero. But what I found most impressive in this issue was letting Black Canary show why she deserves to be the League Chairperson. Dinah has been getting more and more respect in the DCU over the last several years, in the pages of JLA, JSA, Birds of Prey, her own title and Green Arrow, and I can only say “About time.”

It’ll be sad to see Meltzer leave this book, but the issue was about as solid an ending as I’ve ever seen.

It's time for some Feedback!

2007-08-15T12:40:00.001-04:00

Who Wants to be a Superhero? promised it's winner immortality, in the form of a Sci-Fi Channel original movie, and a Dark Horse comic book written by Stan Lee.

Last month, Dark Horse and Stan Lee delivered on their prize to the winner - Feedback, played by Matthew Atherton. It wasn't the best comic I've ever read, but it wasn't bad either.

Next Saturday, August 25th, the Sci-Fi Channel does their part. The movie Mega-Snake will feature an appearance by Feedback.

Yes, Feedback gets to fight a giant snake in a Sci-Fi Channel Original movie - known by all for their class, sophistication and quality.

This is going to be a guilty pleasure. And my TiVo will have to record it for me at a later showing - because there's no way on Earth I'm missing the amazing Jekyll on BBCAmerica for this.

I'm a dedicated fan, so won't miss it. But I'm not giving up quality in order to see it.

A Villainous Comic-Round Up

2007-08-14T07:55:00.000-04:00

It's a week of heroic villains and villainous heroes. Quite an odd week, really.

Black Adam 1
It's no secret that I've always liked the Marvel family - Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, CM3 and Black Adam too. I was quite happy when Adam became a hero, of sorts, through the Justice Society and the flashback to Egypt. I enjoyed his stint as a hero in 52, and was bummed when it was put to an end with the death of Isis and Osiris. So, with him having his own comic, I had no choice but to pick it up.

Overall? Not a disappointment. I knew going into it that we weren't going to see Black Adam in his superpowered form, since he gave his powers up in 52, and Mary has them at the present in Countdown. But I was thrilled at the intensity of this issue. Adam's disfigurement at the hands of his followers, his desperate struggle to get Isis' remains, and then her resurrection all had a great speed and emotional depth.

Countdown 38
It's not the best comic I'm reading. It's a little disjointed, and a little uneven. There isn't enough time to focus on each story, and it doesn't flow real well from week to week. But this might be the comic I had the most fun with this week. Why?

We got to see Batwoman and the Question working together to catch the Trickster and Piper.

We got to watch an epic computer battle between the Calculator and Oracle, tying into the mystery of Karate Kid.

We got to find out more about Mary Marvel's new powers, how she deals with it, and that it's connected to Eclipso.

With this much good, plus Jimmy Olsen and his involvement with the Titans, and then Darkseid and his plot to remove the New Gods, I could handle the lack of coherency and just enjoy the moments.

New Avengers 33
I feel this book has gotten unfair criticism. I dig the stories, and the characters a lot, even if some think the New Avengers are an unfit superteam. But I think the storytelling has been very tight, and the characterization has been dead on. I'm already a little tired of the mystery of "Who's the Skrull?" and the suspicion it's causing. I also kind of doubt that any of them are Skrulls, despite their paranoia about such in the wake of discovering that Elektra was a Skrull.

The highlight of this issue, without a doubt, would be the flashback to Captain America training the Avengers. I like the fact that Hawkeye has been shown to be a devastatingly effective hand-to-hand fighter. It's something we've always known, but has often been ignored. I'm also very interested in seeing who this new crime boss is.

Green Lantern 22
I am a big, big Green Lantern fan. Always have been - at least, ever since the mid-90's with the introduction of Kyle Rayner. And as mentioned earlier, I really dug the first issue of The Sinestro Corps. I've also always dug the Cyborg (the Superman villain one, Hank Henshaw). So, needless to say, this issue was just about perfect for me. Finding out that Hank Henshaw's motivation is actually to find a being powerful enough to kill him (such as the Anti-Monitor) was awesome, and honestly, something I should have seen coming. It's also kind of nice to see the connection between Parallax and the Cyborg - since it was by the Cyborg's actions that Parallax was able to possess Hal Jordan. The battle between the two Corps was also just as epic and amazing as it should have been. And the cliffhanger ending, with Hal facing Lyssa Drak?

Where's the next issue already?

Hulk 109
The character of Amadeus Cho, frankly, bores the heck out of me. I don't need to see the world's smartest teenage genius. For one thing, there are enough people in the Marvel Universe who claim to be the world's smartest man - we don't need another. Further, we don't need it to be an irritating teenager - we had that done with Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation (no offense meant to Wil Wheton, it wasn't his fault).

But despite that, I really enjoyed this issue. Because it focused on, what for me, will make the difference between whether the Hulk is a hero or not. Does he kill?

So far, the Hulk has never directly, intentionally killed anyone - although he has tried. He certainly hasn't done so while Banner was in charge. This issue brings that conflict to a head, in the discussions between Cho and Rick Jones, in the interactions between the Hulk's human allies and his Warbound, and finally in Cho's discovery of the Illuminati fitted with the Gladiator discs.

Marvel has shown themselves willing to make brave choices that change their landscape. The Registration Act. The unmasking of Peter Parker. The death of Captain America. This could be another one - determining once and for all whether the Hulk belongs on the roster of Earth's heroes or not. I have no doubt he'll keep his own comic either way. I have no doubt he will continue to do things which, overall, help mankind. But if he crosses this line he will remove himself from the status of "superhero", at least in my mind - which is something I will grieve for. I'm not saying that if Marvel does make him kill someone I'll hate him, or the company, or anything along those lines. It just means that they will have forever altered their continuity, and the five year old kid inside me who used to love the Hulk, and get chased around a comic book store by the owner, a friend of the family, who would shout "Hulk smash puny human!", will shed a tear or two.

Separated at birth? Shazam and Thor

2007-08-13T08:47:00.000-04:00

Imagine, if you will, that it is Summer 2008. You’re in the movie theatre, eagerly anticipating viewing The Dark Knight. You’re so excited that you only half pay attention to a trailer.

In this trailer, we see a crowded city street, bustling with human activity. It is a warm summer day, bright and cloudless. Without warning, a band of creatures that can only be described as demons swarm out of the sky and begin attacking. Despite it being a cloudless sky, there is a sudden crack of thunder and lightning, and a powerfully built figure appears, throwing himself into battle with the demons.

Cool! You think to yourself. A trailer for the new Shazam! movie. You are, after all, a discriminating viewer of comic-book related films – you must be, you read this blog – and know that despite the fact that the character is named Captain Marvel, DC/Time Warner/AOL aren’t allowed to use that name in the publicity materials.

But wait just one moment. As the action solidifies, you realize that the hero on-screen doesn’t have raven-black hair – he has long, flowing, golden locks. He isn’t wearing red, except for on his cape. And in his hands is a large stone hammer.

That’s right kids – it’s not a trailer for Shazam! at all. It’s a trailer for The Mighty Thor, directed by Mathew Vaughn.

Now, superhero films are hot right now – even with the disappointing results of Spider-Man 3 and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. And I’m sure that developing a film for Thor is simply a case of “Who’s next?” after handling Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Iron Man and the Punisher. But the coincidence of announcing it so shortly after Shazam has been announced just strikes me as a little convenient.

I mean, it’s not like there are any similarities between Thor and Captain Marvel. One is a god, the other gets his power from seven gods. They both have an alter-ego that involves changing form into a significantly weaker body (a child and a crippled doctor). Their transformation involves thunder and lightning each. And they need a focus for that transformation (Thor/Donald Blake’s hammer/cane and Billy Batson’s magic word). They both have an older, more powerful figure who guides them (Odin, the wizard Shazam).

Hmmm. Ok, maybe they are similar.

In any case, I’m actually excited about both properties – at least potentially. If nothing else, I imagine they’ll be better than SuperMAX.

Flash! Ah-ah! He'll save every one of us!

2007-08-10T20:12:00.001-04:00

Flash Gordon has always been one of the earliest superheroes, but he had been many other things as well. He has been a scientific genius. He has been a muscle-headed football player. He has been in television, serials and movies. He has been portrayed by Buster Crabbe, Steve Holland and Sam Jones. He has been immortalized in the vocals of Freddy Mercury.

And in roughly one hour, he will star in a new series on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Eric Jones, last noted for playing Whitney, the football playing boyfriend of Lana Lang on the CW's Smallville, will be taking over the role in the new series. It's a contemporary take on the classic character - there is no rocketship, Dale Arden is not a damsel in distress, and Ming has dropped "The Merciless" from his name. Even the Queen soundtrack is being updated for the new millenium.

And hey, it follows Dr. Who - a natural timeslot for the show. BBC updated one classic hero of science-fiction into a contemporary, non-hokey masterpiece. If Jones is half as good as Flash as Christopher Ecclestone and David Tenant have been as the Doctor, we're in for some good television.

Semi-weekly comics round-up

2007-08-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

Amazing Spider-Man 542
Back in Black has always been about how far Peter can be pushed, and how far over the edge he’s willing to go. This issue capped that for me beautifully. His battle against the Kingpin was everything it should have been – intense and scary and personal. It wasn’t about Spider-Man and the Kingpin. It was about a superpowered Peter Parker going after the man who tried to kill his Aunt and wife.

Spider-Man really should be scary. For one thing, he’s a humanoid spider. That’s just scary and creepy. Most of us are scared of spiders – and there’s a good reason for that. A small spider can kill a man. Peter Parker is a 6’ tall spider, with a human’s reasoning. (And a smart human at that.) He also holds back most of the time, because he really doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

Wilson Fisk realized what kind of enemy Spider-Man can actually be in this issue. And I loved every bleeding second of it.

Teen Titans 49
I haven’t been reading Amazons Attack, and I really don’t feel like I’m missing much. This issue confirmed that for me.

The Titans, with the assistance of Supergirl and Wonder-Girl had to fight the Amazons while trying to rescue Cassie’s mother. The US military was involved too. I thought it was all a bit pointless, honestly. An attack against the Man’s World by the Amazons could be really interesting – doing it in the midst of Countdown was a waste of a good story idea.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even mention this comic in my abbreviated round-up, except for one thing.

Earlier in the new run of Teen Titans, Robin and Wonder-Girl has a brief hint at a romance forming between them. Cassie firmly pulled away from this. Both Cassie and Tim are seriously grieving the death of Connor (as am I, to tell the truth), but this issue ends with an impassioned plea for Wonder-Girl to remain with the Titans, and a big kiss between the two. I can understand that grief can bring people together – but it just feels too soon to me. Connor was Tim’s best friend. Connor was the one that Cassie lost her virginity to. Neither one should be moving on this quickly. And if (though I think when) Connor returns, this will end poorly for all three.

The Mighty Avengers 4
I’ve had issues with the Mighty Avengers – a fact which deeply disturbs me. I like the Avengers. I like Bendis as a writer. But the tone of this book has consistently felt off, something all the more disappointing since the New Avengers is going so well. I think it might be the thought balloons. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen those in comics, so that might be part of it. But I think it’s more the fact that the thought balloons seem to be editorial – the opinions and snide comments of the author – and not really appropriate to the character they are coming from.

I’m also not digging “Fembot Ultron”, for any number of factors. The idea that this thing was built out of Tony Stark is disturbing, and pointless, since it would affect continuity in every other comic being published by Marvel at the moment. It won’t last. The idea that Ultron would model its body after Janet Van Dyne is perhaps appropriate. But why make her bustier and run around mostly naked? It’s sexuality in comics for the sake of sexuality – something all the more pointless because Janet is already a sexual character.

The actual plot of this issue is hardly worth mentioning as well. Ultron is controlling the Iron Man armors as part of its plot to destroy humanity. And to neutralize the Sentry, who potentially is the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe that routinely lives on earth, it personally and nastily goes after his wife. I want to care, but I just don't.

Green Arrow: Year One 2
I wasn’t thrilled about Issue 1 of this comic, and I still remain, at least mostly, unimpressed. The story is slightly more engaging, perhaps because of a stronger narrative voice for Ollie, something that made the latest run of Green Arrow very enjoyable. But it still feels a bit pointless and trite.

So far he's managed to learn to make a bow, keep warm, find bodies - oh, and alert the killers who use this island as a hideout to his presence. Not good.

I want to read this and feel like I’m seeing the evolution from spoiled rich fop into a hero. But I don’t. At most I feel like I’m seeing how he became a survivor. It did the job well enough for me to grab Issue 3 next month, but I’m still not loving this series. If I didn’t like Ollie so much, I suspect that I’d be ready to drop the comic as of now.

World War Hulk 3
A few posts back, I raved about how great World War Hulk has been. While some of the comics in the run have been less than fabulous (Gamma Force, anyone?), as a whole it still doesn’t disappoint. World War Hulk 2 continues the breakneck pace set with the first issue, and remains just as fun as ever. General Ross comes after the Hulk with the full US Military at his command, right up to using adamantium bullets. Dr. Strange continued to try to get into the Hulk’s head, and we got to really get an idea of how angry Bruce/the Hulk is. Interestingly enough, I’m beginning to think that this really is a merged personality of Bruce and the Hulk, despite never being claimed as such. Either that, or Banner has retreated into his own mind, and doesn’t ever want to really come back out.

Interestingly, I find myself approving of the Hulk’s use of the gladiatorial control discs on Earth’s heroes – especially those responsible for his banishment. I know I loathed Planet Hulk, and I still do, but considering what happened to Bruce, I think the punishment is only fitting. Now, I’m not quite sure what’s up with the potion Strange drank, and his conversion into “Strange Smash”, but I think this is only going to lead to more intense physical pain for the Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme.

New Warriors 3
I’ve always liked comics about teen superheroes finding their place in a world of established legends. While there have been a few that never drew me in (mainly anything tied to the X-Men), as a whole, if it was about teenage heroes dealing with teenage issues while saving the world, I was there. Teen Titans, Young Avengers, Young Justice, New Warriors – I was always there.

I’m not sure why this is, exactly. Maybe it’s because it was as a teen that my love for superheroes solidified (since I was able to regularly afford comics and keep up with storylines). Maybe it’s because superheroics really are an adolescent fantasy. It’s easier to cope with the idea of figuring out how one is a superhero if one doesn’t have a family to take care of. Or maybe it’s just because the figuring out how to be a hero is more interesting than already being one.

In any case, I love my teenage superheroes. But I’m really not caring for this run of New Warriors at all. It almost feels like it’s trying too hard to be “urban”. It’s also just so dark – and I don’t care for that at all. Furthermore, it just feels a little weird. Dwayne is a manipulative jerk, but he does ultimately care about folks. This doesn’t feel like that – it feels like it’s about ego. Both Thrasher’s, and the egos of those on the team. Jubilee was totally nailed by the accusation of what this was about, even if she didn’t admit it. And Logan’s talk with her reinforced it. I suspect we will see disagreement between Jubilee and Thrash over the direction of the team. And soon.

Now, what I’d really like to see would be for Penance and the Thunderbolts to be assigned to take out the Warriors. But more likely, we’ll see the Initiative sent after them in return for their vandalism of SHIELD. Or at least someone will see it. It may not be me. As with some other books this round up, they’ve got me for a few more issues, but I’m close to dropping this book already.

I actually did enjoy some comics these past two weeks, believe it or not. But with the exception of Amazing Spider-Man and World War Hulk, it seemed more pressing to talk about the disappointments than the ones that delivered.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? Me! Me!

2007-08-02T20:59:00.000-04:00

But sadly, it's not to be. At least not this season.

(My wife was very pregnant at the time of auditions. I thought it would be irresponsible and not very heroic at all to go do a reality-TV show when my second daughter could be born any day.)

But we'll gripe about that later. Hopefully there'll be a Season 3.

In the meantime, as I type this, Episode 2 of Season 2 is just airing. (At least in the Eastern Time Zone). And I have to say, I'm digging it just as much as I ended up digging Season 1. Even if I was skeptical at first.

We have an odd group of heroes this time around - more ethnicities, and oddly, more "super-normals", those heroes who have no powers but are highly skilled humans. And of course, as with last season, the heroes aren't being tested for athletic ability, or the use of their powers, but on acting like a hero. I was amazed that they missed the people in need after last season's challenges.

Anyhow, I'm currently predicting that we will see The Defuser as the winner of the show. Of course, last season I chose Monkey-Woman, and she didn't make it nearly as far as I'd have liked. But he's shown some really admirable leadership qualities so far, and I think that will take him far.

More after tonight's episode. Excelsior!

Smallville: A good time to be a Kryptonian

2007-08-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

So, it seems like this season is going to be the season of guest stars for Smallville. We have Justin Heartly returning in his role as Olliver Queen, along with other members of the Justice League (some returning, and possibly some we haven't seen before.

Poor Tom Welling gets to play double-duty, at least for part of the season, as we know that Bizarro will be back for at least two episodes. And we'll have a new visitor from Krypton in the form of Laura Vandervoot.

But what I'm most excited about? Two cameos for former Kryptonians.

Dean Cain, who was Superman/Clark Kent in Lois and Clark has been confirmed as a guest star. I won't reveal any spoilers about his character here, but details can be found over at KryptonSite.

Just as interesting, however, is that Helen Slater, who formerly played Kara Zor-El in the all-too forgetable Supergirl movie, will very possibly be playing a recurring cameo role on Smallville.

Add in more appearances by the John Jones, the Manhunter from Mars, and one almost wonders when we'll actually see any of Clark, Chloe, Lana, Lex or Lionel.

The Dark Knight can be such a tease...

2007-07-28T06:37:00.001-04:00

Consider this me doing my part for the viral marketing campaign surrounding a movie about a certain lunatic.

Click on me. Ha Ha ha haha hA ha HA ha Ha hA.

Of man and superman...

2007-07-24T18:02:00.000-04:00

And here's part two of the countdown.

5) Hyperion (Marvel Comics - Supreme Power version)
Mark Milton is the sole survivor of an alien race, rocketed to Earth and given over to the custody of the United States government. As the child grew, his powers grew as well, and the young Mark found himself possessed of unearthly strength, the power to fly, enhanced senses, atomic vision and superhuman speed. The arrival of Mark's rocket sparked other superhumans - in some cases granting powers to normal humans, in other cases re-awakening long dormant powers. Leading many of them as the head of the Squadron Supreme, Mark Milton is no doubt the most powerful being on Earth.

Why he's number 5: First, please excuse me for the fact that I'm talking about the Supreme Power version of Hyperion, but using a picture of the old-school Hyperion. I just like the visual better. Hyperion is a very straightforward pasting of Superman, right down to the aliterative name. (Yes, Clark and Kent start with different letters, but they're the same sound.) His origin differs once he gets here, but the infant that would become Hyperion could very well have been Kal-El. It again comes down to attitude - Hyperion sees himself as a hero, but he is far more brutal than Clark would ever allow himself to be. Part of that comes from the fact that Hyperion never had the chance to be human - something that defines Clark.

4) Samaritan (Homage Comics)
The man who calls himself Asa Martin in his daily job at the Astro City Current is, in fact, Samaritan. A displaced traveler from the future, sent to save our time-line from mirroring his own, Samaritan commands Empyrean Flame, and is the leader of the Astro City Honor Guard.

Why he's number 4: Samaritan shares a lot with Superman both in level of power and in attitude - something which rockets him ahead of those on part one of this list. It's in his origin story and more significantly, ability to be "human" that makes him really different. Samaritan does share that "last survivor" aspect with Superman, but he's a time-traveller instead of being from another world. Samaritan also started as a normal human and then became superhuman, something that wasn't the case with Clark. But Samaritan lacks any semblance of a normal life. He has a job and co-workers, but none of them are really friends. He doesn't date, or go to parties. Even his assumed name, "Asa Martin" is an anagram of his code-name.

3) Statesman (City of Heroes computer game/Image Comics)
Marcus Cole received his powers by drinking from the Well of Zeus, at the same time as his one-time best friend, Stephen Ricter did. Ricter became the menacing ruler of Arachnos, Lord Recluse, while Marcus became the world's greatest hero, Statesman. Leading several generations of heroes through the Freedom Phalanx, Statesman has been a steadfast protector of mankind from threats both native to Earth, and from far beyond.

Why he's number 3: Statesman is actually a pretty straight-forward alternate version of Superman. World's greatest hero, superstrong, invulnerable, and even wearing a similar color scheme. (Actually, one of only a few on this list who shares colors with the last son of Krypton.) He also shares the fact that it was his presence in that universe that prompted other heroes to come forth. Where he's mostly different from Superman is that his role in the universe *must* be downplayed in order to make players of the game feel important enough. He also lacks an achilles heel like Superman does.

2) Icon (Milestone Comics)

An alien starliner malfunctioned and exploded, jettisoning a life-pod in the middle of a cotton field in the American South. The life-pod made its passenger mimic the first-life form who found it, in this case, a slave woman. The alien is still with us, disguised as his own descendant and using his superhuman power to perform quiet acts of charity, until one night when a teen girl, Raquel, sees him use his powers. Raquel persuaded Augustus to become a superhero named Icon, with herself as his sidekick.

Why he's number 2: Icon's creators dismissed seeing him as "the black Superman," but it's hard to deny the similarities. Icon's race may still be out there waiting for him, but he's had no more contact with them then Kal-El has. The idea that the life-pod altered the alien to resemble humanity is a carry-over from Superman's origin as well, at least in some versions, and most "possible futures" show that Clark either doesn't age, or does so very slowly. There are only two reasons why he doesn't actually take the number one spot: The first, obvious one is that he's black - something which cannot help but color his perception of humanity. The second one is a bit more subjective, but in my mind is significant, and that is the fact that he has met Superman, in-continuity (at least for him). It's harder for me to say "you're another version of Superman" when the character has met the man.

1) Supreme (Image Comics - Alan Moore version)

Supreme is really Ethan Crane, a mild-mannered artist for Dazzle Comics, who received his powers as a result of a childhood exposure to a meteorite composed of pure Supermium, a meta-element that can alter reality. When not saving the world as the archetypal superhero, Crane illustrates the adventures of Omniman, a Supreme-like character undergoing a re-launch with a change of writers.

Why he's number 1: Once Alan Moore got his hands on this character, Supreme became what the others on this list only flirt with - a method of discussing the role of Superman in comics and within it's universe. Through the meta-narrative, Supreme illustrates the changes that have come in a character with sixty years of history. Supreme has a supporting cast that is as closely a mirror of Superman's as he is of the man himself. Moore also used the cliches which are a part of Superman's mythos without his customary irony - and he himself has said that Supreme is, in part, an apology for the deconstruction of comics that he has been blamed/credited for. I adore V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Miracleman, The Killing Joke, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and others, but if I could only have one Alan Moore graphic novel on a desert island? It'd be Supreme: The Story of the Year.

So, there's my top ten. Who do you think I missed? Who do you think belongs elsewhere on the list? I'd love to hear.

Will the real Son of Zor-El please stand up?

2007-07-23T19:53:00.000-04:00

It's really kind of funny, actually. The creators of superheroes have shown themselves to be phenomenally creative in what abilities our champions (and their foes) can possess. Hard sound constructs? Check. Molecular manipulation? Sure thing. Probability alteration? No problem. Telekinetic hair? Uhhhh.... sure.

So why is it that our greatest heroes tend to be flying strongmen?

Superman has lots of other powers, sure. But he's essentially a guy who flies around and is massively strong and tough. And he's not alone.

(And no, I'm not referring to the fact that with as many other Kryptonians running around as there are, it seems like the only people who died when Krypton blew up are Jor-El and Lara.)

But let's run down my top ten pastiches of the Man of Steel. Note that this list is based on nothing more than my own subjective rankings, and I might change it at any moment. I also intentionally left off of the list characters directly related to Superman; this includes other Kryptonians (Supergirl), clones (Superboy, the Cyborg Hank Henshaw), those inspired by Superman (Steel), other alien races that are almost Kryptonians (Mon-El), and alternate universe versions of Superman (Ultraman).

All of these characters are super-strong, fly, and are near invulnerable. But they each have some significant differences as well.

10) Mighty Mouse
Singing his trademark song, "Here I come to save the day!", Mike Mouse becomes the super-powered Mighty Mouse! Flying to rescue Pearl Pureheart, there is little that can slow down this marvelous rodent.

Why he's number 10: Because, well, he's a mouse. He's also the least developed character on the list - his cartoons rarely dealt with Mike Mouse's life, and no specific vulnerabilities were ever discussed.

9) Apollo (Wildstorm)
Bio-engineered member of a little known Stormwatch team, the man known as Apollo is able to channel solar energy through his body to devastating effect. Both as a member of Stormwatch, and then later with the Authority, Apollo has shown himself ready, willing, and able, to be an effective warrior against evil.

Why he's number 9: There are a number of major differences between Apollo and the Man of Steel (though none quite so glaring as being a flying rodent). To begin, he is visually the most distinct from the Man of Steel. Secondly, Apollo is a homosexual man, married to the Midnighter. Third, he maintains no secret identity. Superman knows the importance of being Clark Kent, but Apollo is always Apollo. Finally, Apollo is willing to kill. He's clearly cast in Superman's mold, but the mold was pretty well warped.

8) Captain Marvel (DC Comics)

When Billy Batson invokes the name of the wizard Shazam, he is granted the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Courage of Achilles, the Power of Zeus, the Stamina of Atlas and the Speed of Mercury, becoming Captain Marvel, the world's mightiest mortal. The protector of the Rock of Eternity, where the Seven Deadly Sins are imprisoned and Fawcett City, Billy is joined by his sister, Mary, and their friend Freddy, who become Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel, Jr., respectively.

Why he's number 8: The similarities between him and Superman were great enough that Fawcett was sued by Timely comics, and lost the ownership of the character, so you'd think he'd be higher. But really the Marvels are amazingly distinct. Firstly, their powers are magical in nature, where Superman is highly tied to science - so much so that he is vulnerable to magic. Secondly, and they are unique on this list in this, those who possess the power of Shazam are ordinary humans most of the time. The relationship between the Marvels and Black Adam is also unlike anything in the Superman mythos. I like Marvel more than any of the others here, including Superman himself sometimes, but he's really very little like Superman. He also doesn't get the respect he deserves from the people of his comic universe - all of those higher ranked on the list are usually regarded as the "greatest hero of all" or darn close. While Marvel probably is, the people of the DCU don't see him that way.

7) Mr. Majestic (Wildstorm)
Majestros is an alien warlord who has come to Earth, where he has become the single greatest hero on the planet. His strength, invulnerability and other powers are so awesome and varied that his name has led to an entire classification of superhumans. Whether in his native world, on Earth, or even transported to another dimension, Majestic is a force to be reckoned with.

Why he's number 7: Majestic was specifically created to mirror Superman - so much so that when Majestic was transported to the DCU, many people believed him to be Superman with a change of costume. Beyond strength, speed, invulnerability and flight, Majestic is also an absolute genius. But his attitude couldn't be more different than the Man of Steels. Majestic is a warlord, first and foremost. He fights pre-emptively, and is not above killing if it is needed. He answers to no authority beyond his own, unlike Superman who takes the laws and morality of humanity to heart. He also is Majestic all the time, except for a short time when he did live as a human - at Superman's own suggestion! He would rank lower, but Majestic is considered the mightiest hero of his Earth, and as such, he fits Superman's role for the Wildstorm Universe.

6) The Sentry (Marvel Comics)
Robert Reynolds possesses the power of a thousand exploding suns. (What that means precisely is up for debate). He is one of the Earth's greatest heroes (sometimes), and the Golden Guardian of Good is now a prime member of the Avengers. Though suffering from a troubled past, and an immeasurably fierce arch-foe in The Void, Bob is one of Earth's mightiest champions.

Why he's number 6: The Sentry may, in theory, be Marvel's Superman, but Clark would take one look at Robert and say "We need to get you assistance." The Sentry actually almost approaches the pre-Crisis Superman in terms of his powers and abilities - especially in their vagueness. No one seems quite willing to precisely define Robert's powers - this is even more true when you consider that the Void is a part of him as well. And here's where he differs most from Superman - The Sentry is his own worst villain. And even when not in battle with the Void, Robert suffers crippling self-doubt. Clark may occasionally wonder if he's doing the right thing, but inaction is never an option for him.

So, there's numbers 10-6. We'll handle the Top 5 in a later post. Stay tuned!

Partial weekly comics update

2007-07-19T17:38:00.000-04:00

I said I wasn't going back to my old weekly comics updates, and I'm not. I'm only going to highlight a few of the books I read each week - mainly those that I think you really shouldn't miss. Today we'll hit the Marvel comics of note from my pull this week. Tomorrow or Monday I'll throw out the DC comics of note (of which there aren't quite as many).

World War Hulk 2
The wild ride that has been World War Hulk continues as the Hulk and his warbound take on first the Avengers and then the Fantastic Four. (Complete with a wholly unsuccessful attempt by Reed Richards to emulate the Sentry, who apparently is able to calm the Hulk just by being near him.) Following this failure, the Earth's heroes try to convince the actual Sentry to help, with no immediate sign of how he will react. Rick Jones arrives to talk sense into the Hulk, only to have Dr. Strange use the moment as an attempt to magically force the Hulk to give up. Talk about bad timing. And at the end, we have the re-appearance of an old, old foe of the Hulk - though one who I honestly don't know what he expects to accomplish.

Hulk v. X-Men 2
Somedays the X-Men are just dumb. This whole issue was one great fight after another - but the X-Men should have just let Xavier be responsible and turn himself over to the Hulk. Scott, Hank and Emma especially should have known better. It was interesting to see the Juggernaut again, though I must confess that I am completely lost about how he became a part of Excalibur, or why Cytorak is messing with him. A shame, really, because a fully-powered Juggernaut against this vicious, intelligent, and stronger than ever Hulk would've been a phenomenal tussle. A personal favorite moment? Watching the Hulk beat Logan down as the insignificant creature he is.

Ultimate Spider-Man 111
I am not an art person. I've mentioned this before, but wonderful art in a comic won't make up for bad writing. Wonderful writing, on the other hand, will usually trump bad art in my eyes. (Case in point - I find the art in Watchmen and Miracleman both to be rather atrocious. Yet I love both of these comics.) So, the fact that this is Bagley's final issue of USM shouldn't bother me.

But it does. 111 issues (not counting annuals, and specials). That's a lot of comics. Bendis and Bagley are Ultimate Spider-Man, at least to my eyes.

The good news? Their one-hundred eleventh issue? As good as their first. So we don't end with a sense of "at least THAT's over".
The bad news? Their one-hundred eleventh issue? As good as their first. Which means they probably had more in them.

There's a "Spider-Man versus the Spot" story in here, but really, it's secondary. This issue is all about Peter and Aunt May, and what his being Spider-Man means. I didn't read Amazing Spider-Man when this was revealed in the 616 universe, so I can't compare, but I can say that this is exactly what I wanted. Humor in places. Tense moments in others. Moments of hurt that make sense on both sides. But above it all, two people who clearly love one another trying to come to terms with what this issue means.

Do you remember being surprised?

2007-07-17T18:55:00.000-04:00

Well, let me turn on my laptop and cellular modem and log onto www.spoilitfortherestofus.com.
-The Great Luke Ski, In the Line Again

There are days when I really hate the internet.

Oh yeah, without it, I wouldn't be writing these words for you to read. Not unless I had a 'zine. (remember those?) And I'd be lost without my e-mail, and the other blogs I read, and forums, not to mention online games like City of Heroes.

But before the internet it was a lot easier to keep a secret.

Do you remember reading in the Star Wars forums about the fact that Vader was Luke's father? Or how about that fascinating discussion on http://www.kane.com/ where we were able to disect why Rosebud was a sled?

The internet has made it too easy to find spoilers.

Now, I like cutting edge news as much as the next person. Hell, I just reposted advance pictures of the Joker from The Dark Knight. But sometimes I miss that sense of surprise.

The death of Captain America was a cool comic to read. So was the unmasking of Peter Parker in Civil War/Amazing Spider-Man. But long before I had those colored pages in my hand, I already knew all about the stories. And I picked them up the day they hit the stands.

I remember being shocked at the final page of Thunderbolts 1. Discovering that the heroes I had been fond of since seeing them in the pages of Incredible Hulk, and spending an entire issue starting to really like, were actually the Masters of Evil was amazing. It was amazing that it remained a secret at the time, what with Wizard of Comics, and the Internet really beginning to become a vehicle for transmitting information. Now it would have been out on a million forums days after Busiek wrote the scene.

Earlier today, my wife told me that spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were already around, and that she literally stumbled across them. I'm avoiding that site. I want to read the book on Saturday and see how it all ends. And I feel the same way about my comics.

This blog will never become a spoiler site. I'm happy to discuss what's already available in print, but I want to preserve some of that mystery and wonder for those of you who anticipate what you will find on the next page.

So, I ask you again, do you remember being surprised? Wasn't it nice?

One really bad day...

2007-07-16T19:01:00.001-04:00

Submitted for your comment.

I found this picture (along with others) while browsing Comics 2 Film, where they were submitted to LatinoReview.com by Kavalier 149.

I'm digging it.

A brief question about logic

2007-07-16T18:44:00.000-04:00

War is hell. (In logic terms, All A is B.)
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. (In logic terms, all B is C.)
If I remember college logic correctly, these statements can be re-read. "All wars are equal to hell," and "No hells have a fury like a woman scorned."
This statement could be re-written thusly, "War hath no fury like a woman scorned." (All A is C.)

I'm going to add my own tweak on this statement.

"War hath no fury like the Hulk when he has been scorned."

Time to wake up, boys and girls. World War Hulk has come to the Marvel Universe.

Now, I make no secret about the fact that I adore the Hulk, but really, really hated the Planet Hulk storyline. It just seemed like a less-interesting rehash of the Hulk banished to the Crossroads of Eternity. Furthermore, I didn't think that Marvel needed another mega-crossover so shortly on the heels of Civil War.

I will now confess. I was wrong.

World War Hulk has been a wild ride already, and shows no signs of slowing down. From tearing Black Bolt and the Inhumans apart, to his assault on the X-Mansion (and just what will Charles Xavier's answer be, anyhow?), to his showdown with Iron Man in New York City, and the evacuation which was a part of it, WWH has knocked my socks off.

It has it's flaws, of course. The continuity between it and the other aspects of the 616 Universe (the Initiative, the X-Men's Endangered Species storyline, the Inhuman's Silent War, just to name a few) has been... let's be generous and say "less than consistent."

But it's been fun. Which is kind of astonishing, considering it's about the Hulk coming back to Earth at the head of an interstellar fleet to quite literally SMASH the planet. Maybe it's because Civil War was so depressing, turning hero against hero and turning the Marvel Universe on its head. Having the Hulk as a central figure for the Marvel-verse to focus on makes for something much cleaner. Even with the fact that, as always, painting the Hulk as a villain isn't entirely fair. All he wanted, ever, was to be left alone. That never happened while he was on Earth. Then they banished him to space, which generally sucked. But he made a life to be happy about there. And then there was the bomb.

Now, I don't know if the bomb was actually planned by any, or all, of the Illuminati. It seems out of character for most of them. And the truth will out over the next several months.

But the bomb killed the Hulk's wife and child. And finally, he had enough. Mankind clearly wasn't capable of leaving him alone.

So he would make them.

I feel bad for the Hulk, as I always have. I feel bad for those caught in his path, again, as I always have. I want to see him stopped, obviously. But a part of me doesn't.

This is why I read comics people.

Year One...

2007-07-15T14:37:00.001-04:00

All right, let's start off with the fact that I am an absolute sucker for these stories. Batman: Year One is one of my favorite comic series of all time, followed only shortly by Justice League: Year One.

I like seeing how the heroes I love became who they are. It's what made Ultimate Spider-Man so interesting to me. We all knew Peter Parker in the 616 universe, and how he became Spider-Man. That story was told. But Spidey is fascinating, in part, because of watching the everyman that is Parker become a hero. A fresh take on it was kind of nice.

And I'll admit, I am one of the folks who will usually give any new hero/new comic in the Marvel/DC Universe at least a one-issue try. (Much to my wife's chagrin.)

(We'll ignore that with the fluid time flow of most comics, it is sometimes hard to tell if we've moved beyond a character's year one anyhow.)

Which brings us to this week's Green Arrow: Year One #1. And all I can say is...

I don't want to feel that way. I like Green Arrow, quite a bit - even if I do think he's solidly in the middle of the pack as far as superheroes go. I really enjoyed the "One Year Later" storyline with Olliver becoming mayor of Star City, and his subsequent proposal to Dinah. (Oh, who are we kidding? They may dither about, but she's going to say "yes".)

In that story, they even did a kind of "mini Year One" with his training on the island alongside Connor and Mia. And that was a heck of a cool storyline, I thought.

But this just kind of fell flat on me. Maybe the later issues will do it better for me, but this felt like they were just going through the motions. Yes, Ollie was a worthless dilletente. He liked archery. He was betrayed and left on an island.

We know this part.

But I wanted something more engaging. We knew that Bruce Wayne had his parents killed, went and trained obsessively, came back to Gotham and got the crap kicked out of him, and then decided on the Bat imagery. But even knowing all of that, Miller made Year One incredibly fresh and new.

I felt like I could have told you the dialogue and the imagery that was going to be on each subsequent page. Nowhere was I surprised, or intrigued, or even saying "Oh, that's a neat twist."

I'll give #2 and #3 a try. But if they don't get a LOT better, then I don't see myself making it to the end.

Superheroes aren't for kids anymore?

2007-07-13T10:55:00.000-04:00

Let me begin by saying that I haven’t actually seen Transformers yet.

But Transformers is only the latest in a long line of movies that raise the question of “Who is this movie for, exactly?”

Superman Returns, Spider-Man (1, 2 and 3), Batman Begins, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - the list goes on an on. All of these are movies that I watched and enjoyed. All of them are films that, as a fan of the genre (Ok, sure, Star Wars isn’t a comic-book movie. But if the Jedi aren’t superheroes, they’re certainly close cousins.) I deeply enjoyed. They were high-action, reasonably well acted and had incredible special effects.

1978’s Superman directed by Richard Donner may have made you believe that a man can fly, but Superman Returns made the orphan from Krypton believable as a near-god.

Until, of course, it didn’t, and we saw Kal-El stomped into the dirt by Lex Luthor’s goons.

And here is where I stop and wonder, “Who are these forms of entertainment for?”

As an adult fan, I can appreciate the darker, more violent, and more realistic storylines. The brutality of the fights in Spider-Man show what a superhero fight would really be like. The devastation and mistrust in Marvel’s Civil War make total sense to me.

But as a parent… I worry. My love for Star Wars, superheroes, the Transformers, and even G.I. Joe were formed as a child. And I don’t know that films in this genre which routinely get a PG-13 rating are going to do the same thing for the new generation of kids. More importantly, I don’t know that they should.

I saw Transformers: The Movie when I was nine. But I wouldn’t want a nine-year old seeing Michael Bay’s Transformers. I want to go see it, sure. But there’s a world of difference between seeing an animated Cybertron eaten by Unicron and watching giant robots smash realistic automobiles with people still inside of them.

I don’t know what the answer is, mind you. As an adult fan, I want these “more mature” genre films to be made. What held my interest at twelve may not do so at thirty. But I want a Superman movie I can share with my daughters. I want to be able to take my kids to a time long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away and let them thrill at the desperate struggles of the Rebel Alliance.

This isn’t about strict adherence to the originals. I don’t want that. Make the spider which bites Peter Parker a genetically modified spider created by Oscorp instead of a radioactive spider. Change the membership of the X-Men. Redesign the Autobots and Decepticons to reflect modern vehicles. That’s fine. Strive for storylines that will engage the original fans of the properties, now adults. But can’t we still have something that the kids of today can enjoy?

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I need to accept that Transformers, and Star Wars, and Spider-Man and Superman and Batman and all the others aren’t for our kids. They were ours as kids, and they’ll remain ours – passing away to obscurity as we grow older and die. And fifteen years from now, some bright director will remake Pokemon for the twenty-somethings of the year 2020. And it will be dark and gritty, and inappropriate for their kids, who will have their own new mythology created for them.

But I kinda hope not.

Emotions really do rule the universe

2007-07-12T19:47:00.000-04:00

Last week we got the first issue of Sinestro Corps. Now, aside from an incredibly goofy title, this comic has the potential to be the biggest thing to hit the DCU.

Not "the biggest thing since Infinite Crisis," or "the biggest thing since Crisis on Infinite Earths," or "the biggest thing since Wonder Woman gave up the invisible jet."

The. Biggest. Thing.

Why? Well, for one, there's the rogues gallery that Sinestro has assembled. Not the "Sinestro Corps" themselves, not really. They're mostly forgetable, and some of them are downright dumb. A cosmic sniper? A feral woman/cannibal? Or my favorite, a sentient virus? There's no excuse for that other than a "counterpoint to Mogo".

(Mogo, for those of you who have lives, is the Green Lantern who is a planet.)

No, I'm talking about the real villains here. Not the ones designed to fight off hordes of nameless Lantern Corps members, but the true villains.

Superboy Prime - Anyone remember him? You know, the guy who is responsible for the "blips" in continuity as he hit the cosmic barrier between worlds? The guy who killed several of the Teen Titans, including my personal favorite Superboy - Connor Kent (right after he finally made a connection with Wonder Girl). And not incidentally - the guy who has the powers of a Pre-Crisis Superman. A Superman who pushes planets out of orbit casually. A Superman who can fly around the Earth until he goes back in time. A Superman who just so happens to be completely psychotic. Oh, and Kryptonite from our reality? Doesn't bother him.

The Cyborg Superman - Hank Henshaw, one of very few who has ever managed to walk on the other side of the Source. The man who destroyed Coast City, which led to Hal Jordan being possessed by Parallax (who we'll get back to later).

Parallax - The yellow impurity itself, the creature which forced Hal Jordan to become one of the greatest villains in the DCU. Now in the body of Kyle Rayner, with the Ion Entity pushed out of him.

Amon Sur - The son of the Green Lantern who gave Hal Jordan the ring.

Sinestro himself, the Green Lantern gone bad. Once their greatest star, now their worst enemy. I can't help but think that Sinestro and Anakin Skywalker would've had a lot to talk about.

And all of them in service to the Anti-Monitor - the force behind the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.

I always thought that the greatest weakness of Crisis was its inconsistency. It theoretically tied into Oa, but not really. And if it did, why weren't the Lanterns a bigger part of the story?

But now we see everything come full circle.

What is even more interesting is the role of the Zamorans, the Guardians female counterparts, and the creators of the Star Sapphire. As we have now seen, the purple energy of the Star Sapphire represents the emotional energy of love. The yellow energy used by the Sinestro Corps is the energy of fear, and the green of the lanterns is willpower. But there are more colors to be seen and used as well.

Also of note is the revelation that Ion isn't just a code name, but is actually the name of the creature which lived inside of the Lantern and later in Kyle Rayner. We've already seen that Parallax is the embodiment of the Yellow Energy, and that presumably Ion is the same thing for the Green Energy. Which means somewhere, there is an embodiment for all of the other color/emotions out there.

It could be a very colorful, and exciting, time in the DCU.

We're back!

2007-07-12T19:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the abcense. But like the big guy alongside me, I'm back and ready to take the comics world by storm.

Of course, Bruce only gets to attack the entire Marvel Universe. I, on the other hand, will be bouncing over to DC where exciting things are going on with Countdown, the Sinestro Corps and many other issues, going to the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the future Marvel Universe where Spider-Girl is currently tangling with Carnage, who we all know how much I love, and even to some other, more unusual comic book realms.

Now, there will be some changes around here. The weekly comic-round ups are probably not coming back. Or if they do, it'll be without pictures. It just took too much time to track down all the cover images. But I promise not to vanish again for an entire year.

Because it’s important to be nuanced when you’re a psychopath

2006-09-12T23:41:00.000-04:00

So, Heath Ledger is going to be the Joker, facing off against Christian Bale’s Dark Knight.

I’m still not sure if I think it’s the best casting choice, but I’m no longer convinced it’ll be a nightmare.

Why? Because of the following.

He adds "It's going to be more nuanced and dark and more along the lines of a Clockwork Orange kind of feel. Which is, I think, what the comic book was after: less about his laugh and more about his eyes."

He’s absolutely right. It is about the eyes. They are, after all, windows to the soul.

The Joker isn’t scary because of what he does, believe it or not. There are other villains who have just as impressive of a body count, or even higher. Heck, the villain in the DC Universe with the highest body count of human beings may very well be Mongul and the Cyborg, Hank Henshaw.

(And no, the Anti-Monitor doesn’t count. Erasing universes is an entirely different matter than killing folks.)

The Joker is scary because of why he does what he does. The Joker is scary because he is an absolute psychotic. He does not share a world with anyone else. His worldview is unique to himself.

It’s all the more important if you take the Killing Joke version of his origin. The Joker’s insanity is all the more terrifying because of the fact that he was just an ordinary person who had One. Really. Bad. Day.

In my last post, I talked about what makes a hero. And the Killing Joke shows us just what kind of a hero Jim Gordon is. It takes a hero to not break when being a cop in the city of Gotham. It takes a hero to withstand what the Joker put him through and not break to his level. Batman couldn’t manage it. Jim Gordon did. I know that I couldn’t. If someone did to Cordelia, or the sibling on the way, what the Joker did to Barbara Gordon, I would want that person’s lungs in my hands.

Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker is significant to the mythos of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. But the casting of Gary Oldman as Gordon is just as important. I hope that Nolan and company realize that. There’s no way for the events of Killing Joke to play out in the movie in a natural, organic way, but I want to see the importance of Gordon to Gotham City.

Must we really wait until 2008?

Remembering

2006-09-11T23:10:00.000-04:00

When I started this blog, one of the first things I wrote about what was what makes a superhero. For a blog that is going to be about Superheroes, I figured that was the place to start.

Today, it occurs to me that I ignored a key part of that definition.

The hero. What makes a hero?

A hero isn’t a hero because of their abilities. It isn’t the strength of one’s arms, or the speed of one’s legs, or the amazing devices one can build, or any paranormal power that makes someone a hero.

A hero is someone who recognizes that there is a problem in the world, and who does their utmost to correct it.

You don’t have to be a costumed crime-fighter to be a hero. You don’t have to fight monsters, dragons or demons. You don’t need to be sent on a quest by the gods, and you don’t have to struggle against a curse.

You can be the teacher who stays long hours in an inner-city school to make sure that those students get the education that might make the difference in their lives.

You can be the fireman who rushed into a burning building to save just one more person caught inside.

You can be a musician who speaks truth to power through your words and music, expressing ideas that are unpopular but true.

You can be the young soldier who signed up for their tour of duty following a national tragedy.

You can be the entertainer who put aside their own feelings of pain and hurt to perform for people in desperate need of a distraction.

You can be a parent. A friend. A mentor. A colleague.

In the words of Edmond Dantes,

Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout “Do your worst, for I will do mine!”

That’s what it takes to be a hero. The willingness to shout back into the storm. The ability to see a problem, and the willingness to do something about it, no matter the cost to yourself.

Today, I salute those heroes whose sacrifice began five years ago, and continues to this day. The passengers of Flight 93. The workers in the towers and the Pentagon. The rescue workers who tried to save them. The soldiers who fight in their memory.

I do not approve of the choices made by the current administration. I feel that they’ve squandered much, in terms of international goodwill, and in terms of the lives of our young people. But regardless of how one feels about our government, whether you believe they’ve done everything right, everything wrong, or something in-between, the people of this nation have shown countless acts of heroism since that day. And it is to them that I dedicate this entry.

I am such an addict...

2006-08-17T21:19:00.000-04:00

Here we are. Thursday night again, and time for another episode of Who Wants To Be a Superhero? We've lost six, with five to go. (Rotiart doesn't count. And it's arguable whether or not the Iron Enforcer does.)

I'm still picking Creature to win. But we shall see. We'll definitely lose one, but might lose two.

I'm actually a bit nervous that Creature is going now, based on not seeing her in the later challenge during the commercials for this week.

Ah well. There are others.

Of course, I'm still sad that we lost Monkey Woman. She was fun, and really "got it." And she climbed into a frickin' tree for her costume change. That really counts for something.

Oddly enough, I find myself wondering how to use this show in an RPG. My current Witchcraft campaign would be completely inappropriate, of course. But I could really see making a campaign, or at least an adventure, out of the premise of this show.

And I really want to audition for the show if they do another season. But I'm beginning to realize I would be eliminated far too easily. I don't think I live my life anywhere close to as "heroically" as I should. And heck, if they eliminated ~~Mary~~ Monkey Woman for being an actress, I would be utterly sunk.

In other news, I absolutely know what I would choose to do for my hero now. I would be Renaissance Man, armed with rapier, and following the principles of Leonardo da Vinci. da Vinci believed that the "renaissance man" would study all things. He would be a scholar, statesman and athlete. Renaissance Man would therefore do these things. He would be like Batman, a trained normal man, who used his advanced skills to fight crime. And on that note, I just recieved my Advanced Actor Combatant certificate from the Society for American Fight Directors. That'd help with superheroic activities, right?

Live update: Creature left. We'll probably see one more after their prison visit. I won't keep updating throughout the episode, so, without seeing the episode yet, I'm going to predict that we lose Lemuria. She's just too nasty.

So, does one put salt on their undead vigilantes?

2006-08-11T22:37:00.000-04:00

Oh, wait. That isn't what they mean when they say eating crow.

Thank goodness.

In any case, it is time for me to do a bit of that. I started this blog way back in March of this year. And shortly thereafter, in one of my first blog posts, I had some unpleasant things to say about Who Wants To Be a Superhero?

I imagined that it was going to be a disaster. I contemplated submitting an audition tape anyhow, but I really thought there was going to be nothing good to come from it. Nothing at all.

And now, I find myself absolutely loving it.

Why? Because it is brilliantly put together. Absolutely brilliant. I scoffed at the idea of "super-hero challenges," but that was before I realized how well done they would be.

Stan Lee and company have found ways to test the character of these contestants, and to see if they're really willing and able to act like superheroes. And so far, they've done a great job of it.

I was sad to see Monkey Woman go. She may've been an actress, but it was obvious that she really cared about the competition and being a superhero. Besides, she earned points with me for climbing into a tree to change into costume.

Iron Enforcer may've been a plant. Who cares? It's been wonderful to watch.

My prediction for a winner? Hard to say. Major Victory seems the obvious choice, despite being a bit of a joke. Lemuria is going to shoot herself in the foot with her ambition. Big Momma is just not the right type for this thing. Feedback is a possibility, but something about him rubs me the wrong way.

As a result, my prediction is that the winner of this year's competition will be Creature.

And if they do a Season Two? I am so auditioning.

(It's taken me a little longer than expected to get caught up on comics. I buy a lot of comics in a month. When I pick them up all at once, it can take a bit. I'll have the round-up sometime this weekend.)

The geek equivilant of the recently found Tennessee Williams plays

2006-08-07T21:20:00.000-04:00

Jack "The King" Kirby. Stan "The Man" Lee. Two of the greats of comic book history.

We owe Superman to two boys from Cleveland, Siegel and Shuster. Batman wouldn't exist without Bob Kane and Bill Finger. But Stan Lee and Jack Kirby shaped the Marvel Universe as we know it.

As a team, they created The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, and, of course, the Fantastic Four.

In 1970, Jack Kirby resigned from Marvel to create New Gods for DC comics. He turned in the pencils for Fantastic Four 102 along with the resignation letter. Some of that artwork appeared as flashbacks in Fantastic Four 108, but the original story was lost.

Lee apparently doesn't remember the original story, but a plot summary was available in Marvel's files. Lee is going to write a new story to go along with the pencils. Marvel is in talks to have the pencils inked by Joe Sinnott, a veteran inkist and longtime Kirby collaborator.

At the San Diego Comic-Con, Joe Quesada announced that Marvel is going to release the last Fantastic Four collaboration by Lee and Kirby this spring. Apparently Marvel has paid top dollar to the Kirby estate for the rights to the artwork.

I find this to be tremendously exiciting.

As my plastic surgeon always said, if you've gotta go, go with a smile!

2006-08-06T09:22:00.000-04:00

So, Nolan, Bale and company have made the announcement; the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins will be titled The Dark Knight. The title is notable in that it doesn't include the name Batman, which may be the first time we've had a superhero movie that didn't include the name of the hero in the title. It will feature the villain we were teased with at the end of Begins, the greatest of Batman's foes, the Joker.

And the Joker will be played by none other than Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger, star of such diverse movies as Ten Things I Hate About You, A Knight's Tale, The Patriot, The Brothers Grimm, and Brokeback Mountain.

I've been a fan of Mr. Ledger ever since Ten Things I Hate About You. My wife's ~~obsession~~ interest in him began even earlier, with the short-lived television series Roar. I think he's a good actor, but does he have the chops to pull off the Joker?

But for some reason, I'm having trouble accepting it. Possibly because of the age issue. Heath Ledger is several years younger than Christian Bale, and for some reason, the Joker has always just seemed older than Batman to me.

(And sure, this could just because Cesar Romero was older than Adam West, and Jack Nicholson is older than Michael Keaton. I'm willing to accept possible reasons for the bias.)

I'm not dismissing it out of hand, mind you. But he's got some big shoes to fill.

The Joker I grew up with was Cesar Romero. Cesar Romero, goofy and ridiculous. He never even shaved off his mustache for the role, instead choosing to put the pancake makeup over the mustache. The Batman television show was camp, pure and simple, but it was such fun camp.

And, of course, all of the villains were top-notch all the way. Cesar Romero as the Joker, Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, not to mention the series of Catwomen, each of whom was excellent in their own way.

(I know that many people are hardline Lee Meriweather fans. And that's ok. But to this day, Eartha Kitt is the perfect Catwoman in my mind. Better than Michelle Pfeiffer. And worlds above Halle Berry.)

I don't want to see Ledger portray that vision of the Joker. Romero's Joker was a product of its time, its genre, and the Batman comics that existed in that era. Revisiting them now would be a terrible mistake, I believe. But I'd be lying if I said that I won't be thinking of Romero when I see Ledger.

Then, of course, there's Jack Nicholson. Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker made number seven in my Top Ten Movie Villains list. (Romero wasn't eligible, even with the Batman movie, I consider those four to be television villains, not film villains.) He would've ranked even higher if the presence of Jack Nicholson hadn't overshadowed the role of the Joker. Nicholson's Joker was psychotic and scary, but at the same time goofy and fun.

I like Nicholson's Joker. But I hope that Ledger's Joker has a thoroughly different take. I also hope that we either get no origin story at all for the Joker, or we get the Red Hood origin, as seen so wonderfully in Batman: The Killing Joke. Burton's Batman followed the same theme, with Napier being thrown into the chemicals due to Batman's interference with the crime, but it wasn't quite the same.

For one thing, Napier was already a psychotic thug, whereas the hapless comic of Killing Joke was just an ordinary guy who had a Really. Bad. Day.

I don't know what the plot of The Dark Knight is going to be. I don't know how it's going to come off. And I'm not sure that Ledger is going to be able to hang with Nicholson and Romero. I didn't have this apprehension about Spacey replacing Hackman as the Joker, but I'm just not sure if Ledger is in the same weight class as Kevin Spacey. But, we shall see.

One month...

2006-08-06T07:41:00.000-04:00

I guess one month qualifies as a "short hiatus", right?

I've probably made at least half my readers forget about me, and for that I apologize. But things have been crazy here, what with adjusting to the new job, and all sorts of other drama.

Regardless, I'm back.

As far as the comic round-ups go, catching up is going to be terrifyingly long. So, what I'm going to do is just start with this week's comics, and as I post a title, I'll catch up with the earlier issues I've skipped. So, when I write about the issue of 52 that's coming out this week (which should be Week 14), I'll cover 52 Weeks 8-14. When the most current Amazing Spider-Man comes out, I'll cover both (or all three, not sure) issues of that. And so on.

I've also got thoughts and ideas about The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger, Who Wants to be a Superhero, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Heroes and more.

So, we're back. More here tomorrow.

Short hiatus

2006-07-06T09:12:00.000-04:00

Hey gang,

As mentioned earlier, I'm about to start a new job. This job will be significantly better paying, which is a Good Thing.

The bad news is that there's a transition period where money has become tight. Really tight.

In retrospect, I should not have gone to Origins last weekend.

So, I will probably not be able to pick up my comics for a few weeks.

Once I start buying comics again, I'll catch up on the round-ups.

Superman Returns (spoiler free)

2006-06-28T09:18:00.000-04:00

Well, last night he did do that, no question. After watching Superman Returns last night, I can clearly see how this was as a Superman for a new generation. There will be tons of kids and teenagers and twenty-somethings who will see this movie and have Superman redefined in a shape and form that works for them. And that's really something worth celebrating.

Singer wrote and directed a fabulous movie. It is beautifully shot, the action sequences are top-notch and all of the interpersonal relationships are 100% believable. Singer included many subtle and gentle nods to the Donner movies, both in quotes, subtle references (that can be missed without harming Returns ability to stand on its own), and using the classic title sequence zoom with the John Williams Superman theme music. There are also some iconic images in the film, including a photograph by Jimmy Olsen that captures the scene from the cover of Action Comics #1.

James Marsden is at the best I've ever seen him as Richard White, the new man in Lois's life. He's Perry's nephew, generous, giving and heroic. In many ways, my complaints about how Cyclops was portrayed in the three X-Men movies are made that much worse by his role here. Richard White is the hero I wanted Scott Summers to be. Frank Langella makes an entirely believable Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen, played by Sam Huntington is at the same time the annoying cub reporter/photographer we know and love and a legitimate friend and co-worker to Clark and Lois.

Of the three principals, Bosworth is the weakest as Lois Lane. Not because she lacks the spark and fire that Lois needs to possess, because she does. That spark has been slightly redirected into her duties as a mother, and I was fine with that. There is a moment in the film where you see Lois leaving a risky situation that would have been out of character for Lois on her own, but the decision "I don't want to endanger my son" makes that choice believable.

No, my problem with Bosworth focuses entirely on her age. Kate Bosworth is no older than 24, and she looks exactly that young. Lois was already a successful reporter six (or more) years ago, when Superman first appeared in Metropolis. And it was nearly impossible for me to believe that Kate Bosworth was in college ten years ago. She plays the character well, and is quite possibly the most attractive of the live-action Lois Lanes, but her age was a difficult hurdle for me to overcome.

Spacey was, unsurprisingly, brilliant. His Luthor has more in common with the manic, mad-scientist, "Greatest criminal mind of our age" Luthor that was evident in the sixties and seventies, and portrayed by Gene Hackman, than the ruthless businessman Luthor that modern audiences (and especially fans of Smallville and the Animated Series) have grown accustomed to. However, Spacey actually manages to take elements from both visions of Luthor and bring them together. Where Hackman seemed somewhat goofy, Spacey portrays a Luthor that is clearly a psychotic, out only for himself, and willing to discard the lives of anyone who gets in his way. The moments you find yourself laughing at him are the same ones you will look back on as proof positive that the man is dangerously insane.

Really, this was a masterful performance on Spacey's part and if genre films were seen as legitimate by the Academy, I could easily see a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Spacey from this film.

Finally, we come to the Man of Steel himself, Brandon Routh. Somehow, Routh's portrayal is the hardest for me to analyze. Why? Because he isn't Christopher Reeve. And I don't mean this in a "I watched Christopher Reeve, I liked Christopher Reeve, Christopher Reeve was a hero of mine. And you sir, are no Christopher Reeve." kind of way. Because Routh was good, both as Superman and as Clark Kent. Superman was strong and kind, Clark was bumbling but good hearted. Both were dead on.

But Superman is special among superheroes. He doesn't wear a mask. Superman's face is Superman's face. And Christopher Reeve will probably always be the face I see when I think of the face of Superman. Oddly enough, I didn't have that problem with Tom Welling, Dean Caine or Gerard Christopher, probably because it was television and not the Silver Screen.

Or the problem might actually be that Routh does resemble Reeve, but has slight differences that add up. They are small and hard to put my finger on which means that he just felt slightly off, like a room where the walls aren't at 90 degree angles. I think that for those who don't immediately see Reeve's face when Superman comes to mind, Routh will easily become the new face of Kal-El, and he is a worthy choice.

And now we come to the problem with this review. It is easy to discuss the things I liked about this movie, and much harder to discuss my problems without divulging spoilers. So, I will try to touch upon them gently.

The first, which I can discuss, is the level of brutality in the violence of the movie. It is easy to believe that no one was actually hurt in the first two Superman movies. The action was cinematic and comic-book, and actual pain and injury and death are implied, not seen. The violence in this film is a bit more realistic. There is unquestioning proof that people die, and there is a scene where Superman is beaten that is just painful to watch.

Somehow, it is easier for me to watch Superman thrown across the city and impacted into a building and being hurt from that then the beating he takes in this film. The beating he takes is too human, too real for me to be comfortable watching Superman take.

The second element is the one I can't really talk about. There is a central theme to this movie that involves the relationships between characters that is well-done and realistic, but I just don't know if I can accept it as a part of the Superman mythos. All of the characters involved handle the situation in realistic, believable fashions, and none of the actions they take seem out of character, but it raises uncomfortably moral issues, moral issues that I just don't know that I can bring into my vision of who Superman is.

Overall, it is an incredible movie, and one I will both see again and purchase on DVD. But I'm not yet sure if I liked it.

You will believe that a man can fly.

2006-06-27T09:53:00.000-04:00

In 1978, there was a movie directed by Richard Donner, which starred a relatively unknown actor by the name of Christopher Reeve. Despite being the star, Reeve's name did not appear first in the credits or even in early promotional material. There were two actors of much bigger note who took a role in this film. The first, was Marlon Brando, who played the father to Reeve's character. The second was Gene Hackman, who played Reeve's nemesis.

This movie told the story of an orphan who managed to find his place in the world, stand up to the face of evil, and in all likelihood, get the girl.

This movie was titled Superman, and it was one of the first movies that I was taken to (even if I was too young to remember it). It spawned several sequels, the first of which was excellent, and the other two which were... indifferent.

The last film in the series, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was generally deemed a dismal failure, and the series appeared to be dead. Later on Christopher Reeve suffered a serious accident which caused him to be paralyzed from the neck down. Sadly, Mr. Reeve died of complications from his paralysis before a cure could be found, but Christopher did a great deal to raise awareness and fund research into finding cures for paralysis.

Since that time, the orphan from the planet Krypton has been absent from the Silver Screen. He has made appearances in the animated DC Universe, first in his own show, then later with the Justice League. And there have been several television shows, each focusing on a different part of his life.

Today, Superman Returns.

The movie has a limited release tonight, with 10:00 p.m. and midnight screenings. The film has it's general release tomorrow.

I will be at the Arena Grand theatre in Columbus, Ohio tonight at 10:00, along with my wife and two good friends, eagerly waiting to see an icon and hero once more dominate the screen.

Marlon Brando is still there as the father. Gene Hackman has been replaced by the equally gifted Kevin Spacy. The familiar music from composer John Williams will be heard once more. And while no one will ever replace Christopher Reeve as Superman in my eyes. But I have high hopes for Mr. Routh, and I hope that after this movie is released, a new generation of children will have a face for the Man of Steel. I hope that he can inspire kids in a way that Wolverine and Batman just can't. The X-Men and Batman and Spider-Man are all heroes, no question. But Superman reaches out to the best and the brightest in each of us.

There will be a spoiler-free review here tomorrow.

Ever so slightly off-topic

2006-06-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

Last year, as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) I wrote a novel. It wasn't brilliant, but it was pretty decent. Or so I'd like to think, based on the ~~lies~~ encouragment of my friends and family. The novel was a superhero novel, sort of, entitled Children of the Sleeper: The Awakening. I see it as a trilogy, and intend to write a sequel soon. I also intend to finish editing it and sending it to a publisher.

I've decided to start another novel. Not a sequel to CotS Book One, but something new.

I was playing with the Enter the Zombie sourcebook for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten roleplaying game, and hit upon an idea for a vampire hunter.

This hunter stuck himself in my head, and doesn't want to leave, so I'm writing a novel about him.

It's going to be a little darker than CotS. If CotS was PG-13, this is going to be rated R. I'm also writing it in first person, rather than the third-person-but-in-one-character's-head view
that I used for CotS. (And that I use for most of my character naratives in gaming.)

I'm not doing it for NaNoWriMo, which means I have to motivate myself to work on it. This might be somewhat difficult, since I'll be leaving Mindleaders sometime before July 10th so that I can start working for the state, giving me less time during the day to ~~waste~~ write.

So, for anyone who is interested, I'm posting it to my LiveJournal as I go along, just like I did for CotS. In an effort to keep first publication rights managed, the posts are friends only, so if you don't have a LJ, or I don't have you friended, let me know. Or, if you'd prefer, you can ask me to mail it to you when it's done.

Weekly Comic Round-Up (plus some notes)

2006-06-21T17:59:00.000-04:00

So, I'm not doing real good at keeping this thing updated other than the Weekly Round-Ups, am I?

Well, in my defense, I'm trying to find a new job. I celebrated my birthday last week and my wife's birthday yesterday. I've also been driving between Columbus and Cincinnati in order to finally finish my skills tests in all eight of the weapons offered by the Society of American Fight Directors.

So, things have been busy.

But I know, I know. No excuses. You want me to make with the comic books!

52 Week Seven
Well, I said that Booster was eventually going to be smacked with a clue by four. I just didn't expect it to be quite this harsh. Or this sudden. Ralph tore him apart, as did the actor who played Booster's last supervillain.

Note to any future superheroes: If you're going to go to Metropolis to "replace" Superman, you have very big shoes to fill. If you fail in any way, shape or form, it will go very badly for you. If you are exposed as a fraud, it will go very, very badly for you. Booster managed to find this out within this issue.

We also got a glimpse of the future Batwoman, Kathy Kane. She and Montoya still have... let's just call them issues, shall we?

And Adam Strange, Animal Man and Starfire are still Lost in Space.

I repeat, I really like the fact that they're giving each story more time within the issue, and then letting the story drop for a week or two, as opposed to giving us two or three pages from each key story within 52.

Astonishing X-Men 15
Joss cheated. This isn't a new comic. This is a flashback to Uncanny X-Men 129, the first appearance of the Hellfire Club.

Ok, that's neither true nor fair, but he really did a wonderful job of evoking that sense. Especially the final panel with Kitty in the sewers. And the Hellfire club just did a wonderful job of taking the X-Men apart. I particularly liked watching Cassandra turn Wolverine into a little boy, and turning Henry McCoy into a literal beast.

The fight between Shaw and Colossus confused me, deeply. Surely Colossus remembers fighting Shaw? Piotyr isn't stupid, and his reaction to fighting the Black King shouldn't be to simply "hit him harder."

Still, another excellent issue from Whedon and company.

Captain America 19
The Skull now has Luskin wearing the mask? Oh, that's a damn shame. Poor Luskin. I don't think he gets to keep his body for much longer.

Lots of wonderful action in this book. Watching Cap, Union Jack and Spitfire take out the Master Man and his goons was just lots of fun. It pales next to the fun that was watching Cap and Union Jack get chewed out by MI-5, right up until Sharon showed up, but it was still fun.

I laughed to see Union Jack and Sharon get so close to stumbling across the Winter Soldier, especially since they were where they were because Cap and Spitfire wanted to be the ones to find Bucky.

I'm still not thrilled with the dark visuals in the comic. I understand that it makes Cap live in a grittier world, one where a well-placed gunshot can mean death, but I find it difficult to read. Maybe I'm just too used to brightly colored comics.

Giant-Size Hulk 1
The Giant-Sized Hulk comic has three different stories, of varrying quality. The first was an untold tale of The Champions.

(Seriously, did anyone ever really think this was a good idea? A superteam made of Ghost Rider, Angel, Iceman, Hercules, Nightstar and the Black Widow? It's like a lame version of the Defenders, who suffered from being inferior Avengers themselves.)

That said, the story was really good. It had the Hulk trying to save a life, and being attacked simply because he was there. The story of the Hulk's life, encapsulated right there. It also had some really good and humerous writing. I particularly liked Angel's reaction to being told to stop the Hulk, and Iceman's mocking of how the Hulk names his foes. "It's Angel, not Wing-Man. Ghost Rider, not Flame Head. And Iceman not... oh, wait." There was also a fun nod to Marvel's elastic continuity, with the confusion on Hercules's part about who the President is. "President Clinton? I thought it was President Carter."

The second story was just an internal confrontation between Banner and Hulk on Planet Hulk. We all know how I feel about Planet Hulk, so let's just leave it at that. Banner wants Hulk to leave, to go to the abandoned planet that Reed and the others tried to get him to in the first place. Hulk doesn't want to go. I agree with Reed.

The third story... well, the third story was something special indeed. It was a reprint of Peter David's excellent Hulk: The End. I hate to go into it here, because it deserves more space. Essentially, it deals with how Banner and the Hulk react to being the last things alive on Earth, following the final nuclear war. It's an absolutely chilling story. Go and read it, either here or the original printing if you can find it.

The Flash 1
So, following Infinite Crisis, this is the state of affairs for speedsters in the DCU:

Jay Garrick is still the Flash. His powers are typical metahuman abilities, making him superfast, but lacking the connection to the Speed Force.

The Speed Force is apparently gone. Gone, vanished, missing, not being tapped into by anyone.

And for some reason, Bart Allen returned from the Speed Force four years older, and with no superpowers. This has to be incredibly hard for him, since Bart was born and raised with his superspeed. He has no perspective of what it means to not have these abilities. It also means that he is four years older than Tim Drake, and Bart's other close friend, Conner Kent, is now dead.

We also meet two new characters. The first is Valerie Perez, an intern at STAR labs, investigating both Bart Allen and the disappearance of the Speed Force. She reminds me a great deal of Amanda Pay's Tina McGee from the television show. Not terribly surprising, since the creators of the series are involved with the comic now. We also get Bart's roommate, "The Griffin", who is trying to teach Bart how to party.

Of course, the Speed Force isn't actually gone. Bart now seems to have the Speed Force contained within himself. Interesting. They've definitely got me sticking around for more of this.

Justice 6
The Injustice Gang has taken the JLA apart. And it's even worse than simply defeting them. Because now everyone thinks the bad guys are heroes, because they're willing to use their powers to "help" mankind, while the JLA never did. (In a meaningful sense anyhow).

It's going to be a hard fight back. And the JLA is in trouble. The Atom was attacked in his hospital bed by Giganta, and remains injured. Hal was banished far into space, and has now converted himself to a series of electronic impulses inside of the ring. Batman was in the cave, controlled by Poison Ivy, and only has control of himself because of Wonder Woman's lasso. Wonder Woman herself is now scarred across her face.

And Superman just got thrown into the sun by Captain Marvel. At his own request.

With all of this going on, the fact that the Hawks have found that the Toyman is building an army of Braniacs is almost incidental.

It's only a so-so series in terms of story. But man it's pretty. And it's nice to see an adult version of the Superfriends, which is what Justice really is.

Last Planet Standing 4
Pass the popcorn, it's time to watch the end of the world.

Seriously, when things are so bad that the Avengers have to play clean up while the F5 call for the Silver Surfer, you know that it's time to ask yourself "Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?"

So, Reed finally figures out that Galactus isn't trying to simply eat the Earth. Oh no, he's going to create a new Big Bang. The disaster gets to the point where even the Revengers throw their hands in to help. After all, it's their world too.

Massive acts of heroism occur, of course. J2 manages to flip over tons of debris that threaten himself, Spider-Girl and numerous survivors. American Dream chanels Cap and gives the rallying speech to Spider-Girl, and the Vision tears himself apart in his effort to get through Galactus's force field.

But the real triumphant moment comes from the fight between Waverider and the Silver Surfer. The Surfer once more shows that he was the original of Galactus's heralds, and carries the experience to go with that power. He absorbs the power of Waverider, and heads to Earth to take Galactus on.

Only one more issue? I find this somewhat sad. But man, this has been one heck of a ride.

The New Avengers 20
I have to say, I was disapointed by this issue.

We've had great build-up to Civil War in other issues of this comic, as well as other books in the Marvel Universe. The character of Michael was intriguing, and his arrival at Genosha was spectacular.

But this just left me feeling flat. Xorn tried to send all the power of the depowered mutants into Magneto. Who didn't seem to want the power, while he was writing his memoirs.

Incidentally, as cool as it was in the movies, I didn't appreciate the repetition of the idea of "my human name" as opposed to "my real name." It worked in the film to encapsulate a deeper idea. In the comics, it just felt too simplistic.

And then the S.H.I.E.L.D. psi-agent blows up his head, the power dissapates, Magneto is captured, and Michael is left trying to figure out what to do.

It just was less than I'd grown to expect from this title. I suspect they got forced into a quick ending because of Civil War.

Shadowpact 2
So, I'd really like to learn more about this gang of murderous psychopaths. They interest the heck out of me. And I'm glad that someone commented on how similar they are to the members of the Shadowpact.

The individual battles were relatively uninspired. We now know that each member of this coven is more powerful then their corresponding member of the Shadowpact. Which means, of course, that in order for the Shadowpact to win they'll have to do something other than fight their direct opposites.

This, of course, will happen and the Shadowpact will save the day. The Blood Barrier will come down, and the Phantom Stranger will make sense of everything. I understand all of this.

What I'm interested in is finding out more about these people and why they are doing what they're doing. I've loved watching how they handle the hostages, and honestly am surprised we haven't seen more of it within comics.

Superman Returns Prequel 3
There was a fabulous series out awhile back called Lex Luthor: The Man of Steel.

Anyone else read it? Anyone?

I had some real serious flashbacks to that miniseries while reading this issue of the Prequel. The first issue of the prequel involved Krypton, and the second issue was all about Martha Kent.

This issue was about Luthor. Lex Luthor. Self made man. The most brilliant criminal mind of our age.

It's interesting watching as Singer tries to make Spacey's Luthor resemble the one we've grown used to from comics, Lois & Clark, the animated series and Smallville, but at the same time honor the Hackman portrayal from Superman: The Movie.

I think it works, but the only way to really know will be to see Superman Returns next week.

This issue is just about Luthor's release from jail, and the bitterness that can creep into a man's heart after five years. Spacey has a lot to draw from here. I can't wait to see how it translates to the big screen.

Swamp Thing 28
You're breaking my heart here guys.

I used to really, really like Swamp Thing.

The last twenty issues of the first series are still some of my favorite comics of all time.

So why am I left cold by the way the series is going? Is it that we took too long reconciling the Swamp Thing with Alec's mind and personality? Is it that it took too long to bring Abby and Tefe back?

Or maybe it's just the lack of interesting opposition. The Toad King just isn't exciting. He isn't epic enough.

Yeah, we now have the bits and pieces of the Floronic Man, now remolded into Woodrue. But... eh. I'm just not excited. And I want to be.

I'll give it another month. Let's see what happens when the Swamp Thing, Woodrue and the Toad King all end up in the same place. But if something exciting doesn't happen, I'm afraid that I'm finished with the series for awhile.

The Ultimates 2 11
Rarely does a comic book cover so accurately convey what the issue is about.

Oh, sure, it's a teaser. All we really see here is Cap's shield, Iron Man's armor and Thor's hammer. But those images together symbolize the Avengers. (Or in this case the Ultimates. Whatever.)

But the beatdown has ended. The Ultimates are ready to fight back. And fight back they shall.

Stark docks with his space station, and we'll see a new Iron Man armor next issue. Excellent.

Cap, Wasp, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are all ready to fight.

Loki is enjoying the mischief, but largely unable to directly act. The Black Widow has been taken out due to Stark's cleverness. The Ultron robots are under Pym's control, but they're inactive at the moment. Plus we can expect them to rebel against Pym.

But there are two really important things to note. Things that are very, very bad for our bad guys.

Thor is no longer in his cell. He may not have his belt or hammer, but he's free. Expect him to reclaim his powers in the next issue.

But most importantly of all. Bruce Banner has returned, and as we near the issue's end he deliberately endangers himself. The final page of this issue has a very angry Hulk ready to wreck havock.

It's a bad day to be a bad guy. That's all I'm saying. Remember, these are the Ultimates, not the Avengers. Bad things are about to happen.

I can't wait.

Just a heads up: Next week I will be attending the Origins game convention in Columbus, Ohio. As such, the weekly recap may not go up on Thursday.

Weekly Comic Round-Up

2006-06-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

It was a good week for comic books. I think I legitimately enjoyed every book on the pull list this time around, which isn't always the case. Of course, there were some big goings-on in the books this week.

You might also note that I have two issues of Superman Returns: The Prequel in the round-up this week. That would be because I didn't notice them at my local comic store last week. I didn't have much time to browse when I went in last week, so I didn't notice anything that isn't a part of my normal pull.

52 Week Six
They're going for a much more focused approach with 52 lately, and I think that's a Good Thing. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of really pressing storylines going on in the book, and I want to know about all of them. But I think I'd prefer getting six pages of three different storylines than three pages of six different storylines.

But that could just be me.

Anyhow, this week in the "missing year" focuses on Booster Gold and his continuing quest for fame and fortune, as well as showing the beginning of the Freedom of Powers Act that Hal was dealing with over in Green Lantern. Interesting to see Black Adam involving himself here. I commented before on the issue of diversity in superheroes, and this weeks' 52 ties into that; why should superheroes be focused in the United States?

Answer: They shouldn't.

Extra special bonus points for the fact that it really looks like the Tangent universe Green Lantern is a part of this international superteam.

We also get more about the disappearance of the "mad scientists", which is an intriguing little storyline. And we get to see Booster visit Rip Hunter and discover that time is broken.

-blinks- Time is what?

Eep.

Civil War 2
So, I said before that Infinite Crisis worked for me, but struck me as largely being un-needed. Civil War is firing on all cylinders. We're going to watch as every single one of Marvel's superhero teams are torn apart at their seams. (Other than maybe, maybe the X-Men). The New Avengers, obviously, are the most torn apart by the Registration Act, what with Iron Man and Captain America championing the respective sides, but we can already see how the Richards/Storm family is being assaulted as well.

The Young Avengers were in the midst of being captured and taken until they were rescued by Captain America and the underground. There are some surprising faces in this group. We could predict that Daredevil and Luke Cage would side with Cap on this one, but is that Cable I see there? Really? And this is all being aided by Nick Fury?

Lots of good action going on here, with really nice artwork. I liked the suspense of the Young Avengers capture until you realized who was on the S.H.I.E.L.D. transport with them.

Oh, and finally there was a minor announcement made by a supporting cast member of the Marvel Universe.

(Yes, I'm being deliberately coy. I've got a lot of thoughts percolating in my head regarding the future of young Mr. Parker, and I don't feel like cramming them into this particular post.)

Green Arrow 63
Not quite as exciting as last issue, but then, really, how could it compare? Deathstroke turns himself in, somewhat to Ollie's disapointment. It's actually kind of disturbing to see that Ollie hoped that Slade would try to flee and be seriously injured, if not maimed. This of course pales in the disturbance of Ollie's assistant inquiring about the source of Ollie's wealth.

I find it scary to think that Ollie would've been involved in a business deal that shady.

It was also good to see Brick again. Brick, protector of the downtrodden. Bizarre, but acceptable.

And it looks like Luthor's metahuman-creating drugs are still around in the One Year later setting. Luthor may become disgraced again during 52 but it looks like his evil will linger. As it should.

Green Lantern Corps 1
I'm beginning to realize something about my love for the Green Lanterns. And that is: I don't like the Green Lantern Corps. I don't think I ever have.

I like Green Lantern as an idea. I've liked each of the Green Lanterns of Earth, in their own different ways. Hal, Alan, Kyle, Guy, John, even Jenny, they each made interesting and compelling characters. But the whole make-up of the Corps? I just don't find it that interesting.

Maybe it's the overlap of powers. Maybe it's the fact that, as a human being, I identify most with the humans, and want the humans to take center stage, but they really shouldn't. I'm not sure why, but I'm just not that into the Corps.

John Stewart seems to be going off the edge. Guy is angry. Salek is having problems making her ring work against yellow again, and Killowog is the voice of reason and understanding. But none of it is really resonating with me.

I want to keep liking Green Lantern. But I'm having trouble getting into Kyle over in Ion, I'm having problems with Hal in Green Lantern and so far, Green Lantern Corps isn't doing it for me either. Sadness.

Spider-Girl 99
It's time for an exciting new feature here on Underneath the Mask. We've had Predictions I make here which will be proven totally wrong in the future! for a little while now. But now, for the first time, we have the I was right! feature!

So, why am I not excited about it? Oh, because it means that May Parker got herself impaled. Bummer.

The other reason would be that I actually wanted to see the battle between May and the Hobgoblin. Kaine and the Scriers were a side-note I didn't really feel like exploring.

Still, this was a very solid issue. Good development of May's supporting cast, especially with the going-away party for Moose, and the continuation of Courtney's suspicion of May. Normie and Brenda will finally get married, assuming Norman survives next issue. And it's good to see that Peter is going to go back into action. I had sworn off Peter Parker Spider-Man anywhere other than the Ultimates for quite awhile, but his role in New Avengers and then seeing what JMS has done with him has made me start to really appreciate Mr. Parker. If Spider-Girl 100 is really going to be the last issue of the book, at least for awhile, then I'm glad we'll see Peter Parker in the webs one more time (and in a continuity where the world doesn't know his identity).

Superman 653
Big. Badda. Boom.

Metropolis is going to be shattered apart by Luthor and his Kryptonian ship.

I suspect that they're going to break back away from the Superman Returns storyline here, because I suspect that Luthor isn't making a battleship in the movie, but I'd be happy to be wrong.

Not a lot to say about this issue, honestly. It's good, believe me. But it's a lot of action, both physical and psychological between Luthor and Superman. And it is wonderful to watch Superman push Luthor's buttons. Absolutely wonderful.

Special notice should go to Jimmy, both for heroism and stupidity, when he tries to protect Superman from the Kryptonite beam. I applaud the heroism, but Jimmy should know by now that there is incredible heat associated with that kind of blast. He should also know that Kryptonite radiation is dangerous to anyone, not just Kryptonians. It just works faster on Kryptonians. But it is the reason that Luthor died the first time around. And Jimmy should know that.

Superman Returns Prequel 1
We've seen this story before. Several times. We've read it in any number of retellings of the Superman mythos. We've seen in it animation, on Lois & Clark and in Superman with Christopher Reeves.

Who cares? It's worth seeing it again.

Singer retells the story in a fashion that is remarkably close to the version we saw in Donner's movie, and the art is clearly based on Brando. But it's beautifully done.

It also includes key statements and elements that are an essential part of who Kal-El/Clark will become, especially his statement about the responsibility of his power, and the neccessity of restraint with his powers.

Nothing new here. But still a beautiful comic, and worth including in any collection.

Superman Returns Prequel 2
The second part of the prequel is much more moving than the first. We know the story of Jor-El and how he sends away the child, but the story of Martha and Jonathan Kent is often overlooked.

John Byrne made them a big deal with the post-Crisis Superman relaunch, and this was picked up by the creators of Lois and Clark. Obviously, Smallville has continued to include Martha and Jonathan as major story elements. But despite this, when one thinks of the Superman supporting cast, one usually thinks of Lois, Perry and Jimmy. (Or Lois, Lana and Chloe if you're a Smallville fan.)

It's nice to see the story of Superman through Martha's eyes. It's even nicer to see how this woman deals with the disappearance of Superman. Superman Returns is going to focus on how the world deals with the departure of the Man of Steel. It will also, undoubtedly, focus on how Lois deals with the departure of the man she loved. But this comic gets to deal with the loss of Martha Kent's only son.

Thunderbolts 103
Having the Thunderbolts track down the rogue supervillains while the Avengers get the resisting superheroes may make a lot of sense. After all the Thunderbolts are "reformed" supervillains, and sending them after the resistant superheroes would really send a weird message.

Doesn't change the fact that I really was looking forward to seeing it.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows, and this issue is clearly indicative of that. The tension between Zemo and Iron Man was absolutely tangible, even through the pages of a comic.

Now, the fun factor of watching the Thunderbolts take apart the old Beetle armors was quite high. That said, I'm tired of seeing Abe be the punching bag of the team. Abe is possibly my favorite member of the T-Bolts, and he doesn't deserve this abuse. The man created the first Beelte armor while he was a mechanic. No advanced degrees, no theft of Stark technology, just his own inborn ability and know-how. He deserves more credit then he gets.

And who was surprised to see that Zemo is actually up to something more devious? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

Ultimate X-Men 71
Two different storylines at work here, so we'll tackle them separately. The first is the straightforward battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood at the High School dance. Nothing really of note here, other than the fact that the Magician is really showing himself to be a dangerous glory-hound. Powerful. Attention-starved. Dangerous as hell.

I'm glad, though unsurprised, that the X-Men won. It'll be nice to have them be in the favorable side of public opinion again - this will be a Good Thing for the ongoing romance between Peter Parker and Kitty. And it was nice to see them follow-up with Kurt's discomfort with Piotyr's homosexuality. This is something that shouldn't be ignored, I think.

But Phoenix... hmmm. I wasn't a big fan of the "Phoenix is just an alternate personality of Jean" element in X-Men III: The Last Stand. When they pulled that out here, I was less than thrilled. But I think I can get behind the idea that the Church of the Shi'ar are willing to lie to her about really being Phoenix, and letting her think that she's crazy, while in truth she really does have the Phoenix-force within her.

Now, we just need to figure out what those frickin' goblins around her are...

One more week down. We'll talk some more about the Civil War aftermath and Peter Parker revealing to the world that he's Spider-Man later, I promise.

With the removal of a single mask, everything changes.

2006-06-14T20:32:00.000-04:00

There will be more about this tomorrow in the Weekly Comic Round-Up. But as I have said repeatedly, but most specifically last week, if Marvel doesn't wimp out, everything changes.

Everything.

This is big. Really big. Big enough that it even made Yahoo! News.

Spider-Man. Unmasked.

Wow.

When Darth Vader uttered the fateful line, "Luke, I am your father." I wasn't old enough for it to really impact me. But I can only imagine that fans of Star Wars felt then the way I feel right now.

For as long as I can remember, Spider-Man's secret identity has been sacred. Sacred. That was always my biggest single problem with the Spider-Man movies; Peter took off his mask far too easily.

But now? Spider-Man unmasked.

I'm honestly at a loss for words.

More tomorrow.

Look! Up in the Sky!

2006-06-14T14:15:00.000-04:00

Just a brief note here. I saw the Superman documentary on A&E Monday night.

I rather enjoyed it. There wasn't anything world-shapingly changing for me about it, but it was a nice retrospective of where the Man of Steel has been, where he comes from, and where he's going.

What was funny for me was that I didn't realize how strongly Christopher Reeve resonated for me as Superman. I don't know that anyone else will ever take his place in my heart. The documentary really reminded me of that.

It also reminded me of how much I hated Doomsday. I'm not opposed to the idea of a storyline involving the death of Superman. (Ok, well, I am. But I'm willing to put that aside.) But it was dumb to have a mindless, fairly uninspired monster do it.

Braniac. Darkseid. Luthor. Zod. Maybe Mxypitlix, Metallo or Bizarro. These are the only people who should get the honor of destroying the Man of Steel. If you're going to do a Death of Superman story, then it should involve these characters.

Doomsday would've been marginally acceptable if he had been created by one of the first five names I listed. But as a random Kryptonian beastie who happened to come to Earth? Lame.

Anyhow, I digress. The documentary was good. Very watchable, lots of good interviews, including a nice one with Stan Lee. The DVD apparently has an additional thirty minutes of footage beyond what A&E showed, which makes me want to at least rent it.

Check it out. You won't be disapointed.

Weekly Comic Round-Up

2006-06-12T09:16:00.000-04:00

Another week, another batch of comic books. Actually, a surprisingly light week. Only five comics in total. And all but one of them are limited series. Well, in theory. Ion is a 12-issue series, and as such will last a year, and so will 52. How long Civil War is going to last is anyone's guess.

Also, my apologies about the delay. Every time I tried to upload this on Wednesday or Thursday, Blogger was being a pain in my butt. Then this weekend was full of stage combat classes and driving to and from Cincinnati.

Today? Today I am back at work, and trying not to think about it being my birthday.

52 Week Five
What a week full of teasing. John Henry Irons is wearing the Steel armor again, with no real explanation of what happened last year. Alan Scott doesn't have any good explanation for why the Zeta Beam tore people apart the way it did. And there isn't any real sign of where the Zeta Beam sent Starfire, Animal Man, Adam Strange and the others.

We also don't get anything new with the Question, which is deeply disturbing to me. I really quite like the Question, and want to see more of him. In fact, I like him enough that I briefly created a homage to him in City of Heroes, a female martial-artist who wore a suit and fedora with a full face mask named Miss Teree.

Not much more in the way of Booster Gold's redemption either, and no progress on the mystery of the Superboy cult, or why Sue Dibny's grave was defaced.

Don't get me wrong, it's a decent issue. But I want more. More I tell you!

Civil War Frontline 1
Civil War has done a nice job of illustrating how the heroes have been dealing with the Registration Act. But what about the average person on the street? How do they handle it?

Frontline gives us a window into that. Focusing on the reporters of the Marvel Universe (616-variety), we get to watch as they cover Stamford, the Registration Act, and undoubtedly the fallout that will occur.

It's a personal story, managed with the same kind of style and grace that Kurt Busiek did so well in Astro City. Of particular note would be the discussion between Spider-Man and the reporter. Obviously, this must before the events of Amazing Spider-Man 532, since it is still about Peter struggling with the issue of what would happen if he were to unmask. It was a nice window into the mind of Peter Parker, and even handled with a bit of humor.

Finally, Frontline lets us know who was the sole survivor of the Stamford incident. But with everything that awaited Robby once he regained consciousness, namely the knowledge that all of his friends were dead, that they were responsible for hundreds of innocent deaths, that his Speedball powers were gone, possibly never to return, and that he was now under arrest from S.H.I.E.L.D., I suspect he's beginning to wish that he had died along with the others.

Ion 2
I was strongly opposed to the storyline where Hal Jordan went insane, killed a bunch of Green Lanterns and then destroyed Oa. Yes, we know that "Power corrupts," and no one has more power, at least in theory, than a Green Lantern. But it was still a bad story.

For that reason, the new storyline involving Ion isn't doing it for me. At all. You see, I like Kyle Rayner. He's a neat character, and a damn fine Green Lantern. He's also a Green Lantern that we can relate to. Hal Jordan was a hero before he became GL, but Kyle was a guy who went out to bars too much and couldn't keep a steady relationship or job. The ring changed his life, and he has become a hero.

So, when Hal came back, obviously they had to do something to get rid of Kyle. It actually started earlier than that, once the Justice League cartoon used John Stewart instead of Kyle, and the comics were forced to follow track. And apparently shunting Kyle off into space, letting him work directly for the Guardians who he frickin' brought back wasn't good enough.

Speaking of this, don't you think it's a little nuts for the Guardians to not allow other Lanterns to deal with Kyle? They have first-hand evidence of what happens when a Lantern goes rogue.

JSA 86
Ghost stories. The Gentleman Ghost is absolutely a character out of a campfire story. A man who is made a Highwayman by the spirits of the dead, who when he dies continues on as a spectral thief? Absolutely a campfire story.

He's also a great supervillain in his own right, especially since there are so many mysteries about him, and about which members of the JSA are able to affect him. Power Girl seems to be able to physically interact with him, which is odd if she is actually Kryptonian. But Stargirl goes right through the Ghost. And Ma Hunkel can wallop him.

Contradiction after contradiction.

I mourn for the passing of Jade. It's nice that she's able to help Allen fight the Ghost, but I miss her, and was still hoping that she might reunite with Kyle someday. Well, I was until her death anyhow.

Last Planet Standing 3
I said earlier that it looks like they're sending the MC2 Universe off with a bang, and this issue certainly agrees with that assessment. Dominas isn't fooling around here, as we see with his taking out of Uatu on the first page of the comic. His battle against the Fantastic Family is short and brutal, and the tidal wave he unleashes against Manahatten is epic.

The universe can be full of irony, which is why I'm not suprised that Reed's weapon didn't get a chance to work. Heh. In two weeks, we get to see two different versions of Reed Richards create two different cosmically powered weapons to use against two different versions of Galactus, which are both ineffective, for two different reasons.

I'm suspecting that relegating the Avengers to the sideline is going to prove to have been a mistake. Two more issues and one month. And then we get to see if Galactus can be stopped, or if the MC2 Universe has made it's last stand.

So, it's a few days late but here are last weeks comics. I'll try to get this week done on time.

The Many Faces of Superheroes

2006-06-05T11:34:00.000-04:00

Aside from being superheroes, what do Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Henry Pym, Bruce Banner, Donald Blake, Peter Parker, Scott Summers, Logan, Bobby Drake, Warren Worthington III, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Carter Hall, Arthur Curry, Eel O'Brien, Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Jim Corrigan, Ted Knight, Wesley Dodds and Kent Nelson all have in common?

They're all white, heterosexual males.

They're also among the most prominent and well known superheroes in both the Marvel and DC Universe.

It took a long time before comic book publishers really started to make their characters more ethnically diverse, and at first the attempts to broaden the pool were little more than racial stereotypes.

There were heroines right from the beginning, of course. But the female heroes were drastically outnumbered by the male ones. In the Fantastic Four, we had one female character to counter three men.

The Avengers only had a single female member in their original line-up, and the average person on the street would be hard-pressed to name a superheroine from the DC Universe, other than Wonder Woman, who isn't simply a female counterpart to a better known male hero.

The female characters also were rarely as strong or tough or offensively capable as their male teammates. Sue Storm originally was only able to turn invisible, with her force fields coming later. The Wasp was able to shrink and fly, both useful, but hardly on power with the power of Thor, Iron Man or Giant-Man.

Marvel's X-Men were one of the first places we got to see some diversity in race. The "New X-Men" included heroes from Russia, Germany, Japan and Kenya, and brought in Japanese, Native American and African heroes, who were more than packages of stereotypical behavior. And the numbers grew from there. But for every Storm or Cyborg, we were forced to endure a Black Lightning or Afro-wearing Power Man.

Even today, there is a disproportionate number of white, heterosexual, Christian men in our superheroes. The number of characters who break this mold is slowly growing, but it's a slow process.

Following Infinite Crisis, DC has made a real strong push at diversifying their character base. In the wake of the crisis, Firestorm has become a black man (this actually occurred before Infinite Crisis, but not long before), the Blue Beetle scarab has gone to a Hispanic boy, the Spectre has merged with an African-American Gotham policeman, and the new Batwoman, Kathy Kane, has been announced to be a lesbian.

This last item has attracted an undue amount of attention and controversy in my opinion. The simple fact is that there is a sizable homosexual population in the world, and it was ridiculous that there were so few superheroes in the GLBT community. In the mainstream Marvel and DC Universe, it's difficult to think of a single well-known gay superhero. Northstar just doesn't cut it by himself. Marvel's Ultimate continuity has opened it up a bit more, by making that version of Piotyr Rasputin a homosexual man.

Now, Kathy Kane has the potential to be nothing more than an exploitative way to sell comics with the promise of "hawt lesbian grrlz doin' it". But I have faith in DC's ability to make her an interesting character, who serves as a legitimate member of the superhero community. Sadly, we're another seven weeks away from her debut in 52: Week Eleven, so I guess we'll have to wait until then to judge.

My final thought on it is that comic books are no longer solely aimed at white, heterosexual boys, and the heroes who appear in comic books should be reflective of the population of the world as it really is. I don't suddenly want to see all new heroes be "ethnically diverse", but I'd like to see more heroes cut from that cloth. I'd be annoyed to see characters created simply for the sake of "We need another Hispanic superhero," but there is always room for new superheroes, from any race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Weekly Comic Round-Up (One day later)

2006-06-02T09:45:00.000-04:00

You know, to tie into One Year Later.

Or not. Just because of the holiday, really.

So, let's make with the superheroes, shall we?

52: Week Four
(I decided to label the comic this way, the pure numeral description was bugging me.)
The missing year continues to be filled in, and we have a couple of distinct storylines we're following here. This issue only touches on the Booster Gold story, as he has a fight with Bea (Fire) about whether or not he'll go into space to help find the other heroes. He's too busy working on his own fame and fortune, and when called on it, uses the standard defense of "I've given up enough. It's my turn now." Poor Booster, someone is going to hit him really hard with a clue-by-four soon.

John Henry Irons (Steel) is trying to give up being Steel, but something weird is going on with Steel refusing to let go. This issue just teased us with it, I suspect next week will be more informative.

Plot number three involves the Challengers of the Unknown and their attempt to find the missing heroes, the ones who were battling near the Rann-Thanagar conflict. They find a Zeta beam with the heroes, who come back at the end. Sort of. Several heroes are severely wounded, it looks like Atom Smasher and Wildcat are physically merged, and Hawkgirl is giant-sized. Yikes.

But the main plot this issue goes back to the Question and Detective Montoya. The Question has her on stakeout, and the two end up fighting a monster underneath Gotham. They really are writing the Question to be very similar to his JLU incarnation. Yay!

Finally, the mystery over the Superboy cult deepens, as Dibny goes through a strange baptism-esque ritual, and loses his wedding ring in the process. I am deeply puzzled by this sequence.

Action Comics 839
Two major things happen in this issue. The first is that we get more of an explanation of Clark's power loss. We get the recap of the end of Infinite Crisis (for those who didn't read the crossover, I presume), and the description of the year without his powers, and how that affected Clark mentally.

We also get a nice little description in his mind about what it's like to be Superman. It really touched on some of the issues of "What makes Superman the hero that he is?"

The other major event is the subtle touches that are bringing the comic to more closely resemble the movie. We discover that the Kryptonian artifact Lex has been trying to get is a Kryptonian ship, which causes crystals to sprout through Metropolis, much like we've seen in the trailers for Superman Returns.

They also do some work to change his look to more resemble the film. The colors of the costume seemed just a little darker, and they raised up the shield on his chest, giving it the same 3D look that Brandon Routh sports.

Oh, incidentally, Superman finishes defeating the villlains from last issue. Like that was ever in doubt.

Amazing Spider-Man 532
I've said it before, if they don't wimp out, Civil War will change Marvel Comics forever. Forever. This issue takes place during Civil War 1. It's after the Stamford incident, and right about the time that the Registration Act is about to pass. The issue begins with Peter talking to Aunt May and MJ about the act, and what it will mean.

After the clean-up at Stamford, Stark meets with the President, who asks him straight up: Are you Iron Man? And Stark tells him. Tony then asks Peter if Peter is really going to stand with him, and that if he is, that means unmasking. Peter, obviously, is troubled by this. And so to Aunt May and MJ he goes.

MJ raises some important points. If Peter stands by Tony, will he then have to help take down heroes who refuse to unmask? Will the heroes be forced to name names? And would Tony reveal Peter's name to the government if Peter refuses to unmask?

Then we get to a moment that just about made me cry, as Aunt May talks about why she was angry when she found out that Peter was Spider-Man. Because she was mad that the world would think bad of her nephew, like people do think of Spider-Man. MJ and Aunt May tell Peter to unmask, and that they will stand beside them.

Morning comes, and Peter is getting close to running out. He just doesn't think he can do it, not after all the work he has done hiding his identity. And then May comes into the room, with a version of his original costume which she made. She mentions the key phrase to Peter's life, "With great power comes great responsibility." And so Peter goes to the press conference with Tony.

The issue ends with Spider-Man addressing the crowd, prepared to make an announcement. It is going to be a long month waiting for this resolution.

If they don't wimp out... wow.

Incredible Hulk 95
I'm not going to make you suffer through any more rants about how much I hate Planet Hulk. I'm just not going to make you deal with it.

The Silver Surfer went through a portal to get to this planet that weakened him, and made him vulnerable to the disks that the Empire implants in everyone to enforce obedience. The Hulk and his gladiators fight the Surfer, and destroy his disk. Hulk and crew have won their freedom, but before they can be freed, they need to kill a girl who is tied to one of the gladiators.

They refuse, but before the Emperor can kill them, the Surfer destroys the disks of everyone on the planet, and then the Surfer, the Hulk and the gladiators tear down society.

The Surfer offers to take the Hulk back to Earth, but Hulk refuses, saying he finally found a world where he fits in. So the Surfer leaves, and we get more Planet Hulk to look forward to. Yay.

Lucifer 74
Have you ever imagined what it must be like to be God? I mean really thought about it? If you weren't able to be detached from it all, how could you possibly manage? How incredibly lonely it must be, and there would be no peers, no one to talk to that understood.

Lucifer has left, and Elaine is now in this position. So she handles it the only way you can, by becoming detached. By leaving her life behind.

But first, a goodbye. And so Elaine arranges a girls night out. Jill, Maziken, Mona, Spera, Rachel. All of them for one last night. A chance to say "Goodbye."

Elaine also changes her mother's memory, and brings her brother back, to give her mother a happy ending.

Incredibly moving, and incredibly touching. DC's Vertigo imprint is about this stuff. Not just monsters and breasts and violence and magic and gore. Vertigo allows these things, but that's not what it's for. The Vertigo titles, at their best, explore what the world is about.

Spectre 1
We meet the new Spectre, Crispus Allen, a cop who was killed by Jim Corrigan. No, not the original Jim Corrigan. When the Spectre approaches him to be his new host, Crispus refuses. He spends a year wandering the Earth as a ghost, and then the Spectre returns to offer again. This time, Crispus accepts.

Crispus isn't sure about the Spectre, and doesn't really approve of his method of dispensing justice. Too ironic, not swift enough is his take on it. Maybe he'll be able to affect that.

The continuity is a bit confusing, however. The story starts in the aftermath of Infinite Crisis, since Allen saw the Spectre destroying people over Gotham. But Crispus doesn't merge with the Spectre for a year. So this should be concurrent with One Year Later. But it doesn't have the logo on it, and during the year, Allen watches Bruce Wayne as Batman. But Batman was absent from Gotham during the missing year. So I'm a bit confused.

It's not a bad book, but I'm not sure if it's good either.

Ultimate Extinction 5
This would have made such a great action movie. We get to watch as the Ultimates and the X-Men fight against the Moon Dragon clones, in an incredible action sequence.

Then there is Jean and Xavier using the Vision and Cerebro to channel the human mind against Gah Lak Tus. Gah Lak Tus can't handle humanities dreams, thoughts and feelings, so Xavier and Jean make that a weapon against it. A beautiful, subtle, moment as Jean pleads to mankind. She speaks of thoughts as weapons, of using your thoughts like a bullet, like a fist, or like fire. Go Phoenix.

But most importantly, we discover the secret behind Reed Richards ultimate weapon. He opens a gate into a baby Universe, a new one, right before its Big Bang. He drops a nuke in there, and then channels the energy of that Big Bang towards Gah Lak Tus. It doesn't destroy Gah Lak Tus, but it destroys 20% of it, which between that and the mental assault, are enough to scare the Destroyer off.

But at what a cost...

Ultimate Fantastic Four 30
There is so much good here. So much good.

Apparently when they were in the N-Zone, Johnny picked up a parasite, which is slowly eating him. And if it breaks free, it'll eat the Earth. Obviously, this is a problem. Incidentally, there is a lot of Earth-eating going on in comics right now.

No one seems able to help either. Reed tries every doctor on Earth, and no one has any solutions. He even tries to get the "Frightful Four" to help, but they refuse, even when Reed tells them that he alone has argued against their extermination. He was even working on transporting them back to their planet.

Of course, there is one person Reed has not talked to yet. The monarch of Latveria. With a heavy heart, Reed and company go to meet with Doom.

Doom now has Johnny and Sue's mother working for him. This is scary. Doom is also wearing the armor and cloak that make him resemble the 616 Doom more. This is a Good Thing. I love Doom when he's handled correctly.

Professor Storm doesn't share Reed's opinions of the Frightful Four, and so with the FF in Latveria, he moves to exterminate the zombies. The last image we see is the zombies noticing the extermination squad, and zombie-Sue saying "Boys, it's time we made our move."

The good side is that the Zombie FF shouldn't be as able to destroy Earth as quickly as zombie Sentinel did. But this still spells serious trouble for the Ultimate Universe.

Ultimate Spider-Man 95
It makes me very sad each week as I post covers. Inevitably, there is one or two covers I cannot find the cover art for, and so I am forced to show the entire cover, with logo, issue number and barcode.

But I digress. Bendis once more delivers a great multi-tiered story. Peter's personal life continues to be disasterous. As a result of Genosha, everyone knows that Spider-Man is involved with Kitty Pryde, which means that Peter Parker can't be, not unless they want to reveal his identity.

It also means that MJ knows about Peter's new relationship, and that of course makes for happiness and light between Peter and MJ. MJ is obviously upset, and asks all those questions that no one wants to be asked by their ex, especially not their ex they still have feelings for.

And clearly Peter has feelings for MJ still. He broke up with her for her protection, not because he didn't want her. It's interesting that Kitty Pryde has taken on the Black-Cat role for the Ultimate version of Peter. (Not precisely, of course, since Kitty does care about the Peter Parker side to Spider-Man.)

If this wasn't enough for Spider-Man to deal with, and obviously it isn't, there are vampires in New York. Vampires. Ben Urich has interviewed a vampire's victim, and then went missing. When Peter goes to investigate, he ends up in the middle of a fight between an unrevealed vampire, the vampire's victim, who is now a vampire herself, and Morbius. Morbius isn't identified by name, but clearly it's him.

Well, we turned this week into another spooky week. Zombies, vampires, and world-eating monsters. What a week.

Memorial Day Interference

2006-05-31T18:11:00.000-04:00

Hey gang,

Comic books were delayed due to a lack of shipping over the Memorial Day holliday. As such, I can't get my new comics until tomorrow, which in turn means that the Round-Up is going to go up on Friday.

Sorry to disapoint. I'll try to get something interesting here tomorrow.

Rest in peace, Mr. Toth

2006-05-30T08:59:00.000-04:00

A while back, I mentioned that Alex Toth had been hospitalized.

Well, sadly, Alex Toth passed away this Saturday.

Mr. Toth died at his drawing table, still working.

I think I'm going to stop on the way home and buy one of the Challenge of the Superfriends DVD boxed sets tonight, and watch one of those in memorial.

Sorry, I don't have anything funny or inspiring today. I saw X-Men: The Last Stand again last night, and I find it better on a second viewing, although it still has some plot point issues that don't work for me. And I still think Ratner doesn't have the subtle touch that Singer does, and which this movie demanded. But it's actually pretty decent.

More tomorrow.