No joke – we are back and we’re stopped binging on DAREDEVIL long enough to talk about the show with ol’ Horn Head himself. Charlie Cox shares what it was like putting this season together and how he thinks fans will feel when they finish. Plus ROGUE is back for a new season. Cole Hauser and new cast member Ashley Greene talk how this series is changing yet again.
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Every Monday my Facebook feed is filled with people kvetching about Vinyl, the new HBO series created by Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winters. Every criticism I see is valid (the pace is slow, the characters and the situations in which they find themselves are unbelievable), but I still kind of like it.
If you haven’t watched, you should know that Vinyl is about a record company struggling through the changes in music and culture in the early mid-1970s. I moved to New York full time a few years later, so perhaps some of the reason I like it is that it reminds me of my lost youth.
Bobby Cannavale plays Richie Finestra, the head of the company, a drug addict with no moral code (is that redundant?) who uses people in his pursuit of money and more drugs. We are supposed to believe that his love of rock’n’roll redeems him.
I love Cannavale. I love most of the actors in the series, with special shout-outs to Olivia Wilde, Ray Romano and Juno Temple. My problem with the series is that all of the characters are horrible human beings. I would not like any of them if I actually met them. Even Wilde’s character, Finestra’s wife who is struggling to break out of her housewife prison and be an artist like she was before her marriage (hanging out with Andy Warhol), just seems to me to be someone who has coasted on her beauty her entire life, now forced to adjust to middle age.
Richie is especially vile. If he wasn’t played by such a charismatic actor, I think we would all realize what a poser he is. He wants to go to the Mercer Arts Center and listen to the New York Dolls? He wants to sign a punk band? He’s an opportunist. I mean, that is almost his job description.
All of this was brought home to me when I saw CBGB, currently on Netflix. This movie covers the same era in the New York music scene, but from the perspective of Hilly Kristal (Alan Rickman), the man who started CBGBs, the punk club on the Bowery. There is a fictional record company guy, Nicky Gant, played by Bradley Whitford, who may be similar to Richie but who is clearly seen as contemptible by everyone else.
CBGB isn’t perfect movie but, unlike Vinyl, it’s fun. And you know one of the things that makes it fun? Comics!
Comics were a huge part of the punk scene. For one thing, some people credit Punk Magazine with giving the scene its name. (Note: some people do not. This is a pointless argument. Who cares?) I’ve written before about how important I think Punk was (and still is). This movie agrees with me, giving John Holmstrom and Legs McNeil prominent roles. It’s clear that the creative people on the scene at CBGBs did not take themselves as seriously as the people on Vinyl. They love comics, too.
There is also a large, deep cast, with talented actors (Alan Rickman, Malin Ackerman, Donal Logue, Rupert Grint, Estelle Harris, Stana Katic, Freddie Rodriguez, just for starters) playing all sorts of people, some real, some fictional. Unlike in Vinyl, the female characters are defined by more than just their sexual availability (although most have sexual appetites because, like the male characters, they are humans). They are musicians and producers and journalists and business managers and fans. I’m not going to say that the punk scene was devoid of sexism (because it certainly was not), but this movie certainly sees it as an improvement over the rest of the world at the time. And, in some ways, it was.
In general, I’m happy to see my memories validated, because I won’t be truly satisfied until all entertainment acknowledges my importance.
• • • • •
And Another Thing: If you’re going to this year’s MoCCA Fest in New York this weekend, stroll down to the Medialia Gallery at 335 West 38th Street and check out the exhibit, “From Panel to Panel: Our Voices,” featuring comic art from women and their allies, including Regine Sawyer, Sara Wooley, Kenya Danino and lots, lots more.
Round 2 of the Mix March Madness 2014 Webcomics Tournamentâ soon to become April Armageddonâ starts here! Voting lasts until Midnight EDT on Saturday, April 2!
Congratulations to everyone who made it through Round 1! We’re down to 64 webcomics after a last minute tiebreaker, and we’re raising more money for the Hero Initiative. Let’s get on with the show!
Here are the updated brackets. As usual, we’re dividing the candidates into four divisions. This year’s divisions are Anderson, Obadiah, Ryan, and Trimpe…
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As usual, we’re letting you support your favorite strips by paying for additional votes, with your money going to charity. Simply click on the Donate button below, and during checkout, click on “Which comic are you donating for?” and tell us who you’re voting for. The price is 20â a vote, with a minimum of five votes purchased at a time, split any way you want. All proceeds from paid votes will go to the Hero Initiative, an organization that helps comic book creators in need. At the close of the round, we’ll add the paid votes to the totals and announce the winners who move on to the brackets. (And yes, your donations to Hero are tax deductible.)
Remember, voting ends at midnight Eastern Time on Saturday night, April 2nd– no fooling! Good luck to everyone!
This is what happens when Maddy gets to interview the cast of one of her favorite shows and ask them about their fandoms! Part one of Maddy’s interview with the creators & cast of iZombie!
What is wrong with you people? Yesterday, I heard that CBS might not renew Supergirl for a second year, which generally happens to a television show because not many people are watching it and so I ask again, what is wrong with you? Itâs not like youâve got anything better to do with your Monday evenings! I could tell you that as this is being typed, in a few hours, Supergirl will deliver to your screens a first. (Well, actually a second, but weâll get to that.) But you wonât read this until four days from now â unless youâre too busy to read it! â and by then what Iâm about to reveal will be history. The way you young people reckon time, ancient history.
Well, fudge. Iâll reveal it anyway. The current episode of CBSâs Maid of Might entertainment will feature a crossover! The Flash, hero of another show, will visit Supergirl and… theyâll do some pretty darn interesting stuff, I bet. Probably catch a villain or two, maybe more. Now, of course, such events arenât exactly boggling in tv these days. Just recently, the cops of Law and Order SVU, set in Manhattan, visited the
Chicago cops and… caught a bad guy. Both SVU and Chicago PD have the same producer, Dick Wolf, and appear on the same network, NBC, so although the crossover was a big deal it wasnât that big a deal. And it had happened before and may happen again.
But The Flash and Supergirl? Hereâs what makes this a socks-knocker: the shows appear on different networks! Those of you who read comics â there are still some people who read, arenât there? â may be aware that comics publishingâs two Giant Gorillas, Marvel and DC, have been staging print intercompany crossovers beginning, I think, with Superman vs Spider-Man in 1976. There have been others since â Iâm not sure how many, but some. Thatâs print, an ancient technology of which you may have heard. But television? Count the palling up of Supergirl and the Flash as revolutionary.
Or maybe not. Way back, characters from two lawyer shows, The Practice, broadcast on ABC, and Foxâs Ally McBeal, met on each otherâs turf. Both programs were created by David E. Kelley, so maybe the stunt wasnât earth-shaking, but it was unprecedented. And it set a precedent which I, at least, will witness at eight tonight. You? Well, you donât seem much interested in watching Supergirl. You certainly donât watch it enough to keep it on the air. Is whatâs on C-SPAN really all that enthralling?
So Batman vs. Superman happened. It was a thing. I saw it. But instead of talking about the movie, I’m going to talk about how Batman inadvertently introduced me to my latest obsession.
So last week, I felt bored and restless. Despite the TV episodes backing up on my Hulu account and the ever-growing stack of books and comics, I just wasn’t interested. Finally, after several minutes of staring at my wall, I remembered that I had activated a new skill for my Echo. The Amazon Echo (because I am assuming you don’t know) is a voice-activated speaker that comes with skills rather than apps and mostly wants to assist you with buying more things from Amazon. Still, some of the features are really great and it’s the closest I’ll get to the computer on the Enterprise. My only real wish was that the activation word changed from “Alexa” to “Computer” so I can really go full-on Trekkie.
Ok, the skill I decided to finally try was the voice-powered choose-your-own-adventure game called The Wayne Investigation. Yup, it is exactly like it sounds. You get to catch the killer of Thomas and Martha Wayne! That is, if you are one of the few people who owns an Amazon Echo. This was released as a promotion for BvS, but it was honestly more fun than the film itself. I relaxed on my bed and tried a number of the options. Even after catching the bad guy Joe Chill himself, I kept trying other scenarios. The writing was so well-done and intriguing.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed playing this story. It was a relaxing time but held my interest, despite being one of the most played out stories in comics. (It ties with Uncle Ben dying as totally overdone.) This is more amazing when I consider I have never liked audio books or listening to podcasts and news reports. I think that the difference is that this was created with the medium in mind.
Admittedly, the game stayed with me over the next few days. So when I caught a 24-hour bug that came with a killer headache, I thought about how nice it was to listen to a story created for the auditory senses. That’s when I finally listened to a friend of mine and gave the podcast Welcome to Nightvale a shot.
It’s a radio show that provides community news and updates for the fictional town of Nightvale. Stylized like a serialized radio show on acid; the mix of sci-fi, horror, and sarcasm script a haunting and engrossing tale. And it is the only thing I’ve listened to in the past week. I kept putting off writing this column because I needed to hear what happened next.
It is an engrossing tale in the simplest of ways, with twists coming out of every turn almost because they can. It is almost all told from the perspective of the radio host Cecil, who provides his own commentary on the unusual and bizarre rules of this crazy town. I’ve almost come to care more about the political dealings of this fictional town than reality, but that could be that the fiction makes more sense at this point. Nightvale has been running since 2012, so I still have plenty of episodes to binge.
Ok, so writing about audio stories on a comics site is a little weird. Comics is most definitely a visual medium. I recognize that I’m preaching the exact opposite of what we usually write about. However, sometimes a change is a good thing. The comic-born (and killed) Waynes went audio, and joined the weird and bizarre stories of Nightvale, which might one day grace the pages of a comic floppy.
So if you ever feel the need for a change in medium, listen to that need. Literally.
Our erstwhile editor-in-chief decided, at the last possible minute, to take the day off. Off of what, we don’t know. But we believe he’s at his laboratory coming up with a way to reboot himself. Why not? Everybody else is doing it!
Unfortunately, this is akin to how Bizarro got his start. Rebooting Mike into Bizarro 2016 seems… highly logical.
He’ll probably write another review or something in a couple of days. His ego can’t handle prolonged invisibility.
Burbank, CA, March 29, 2016 â The classic beloved animated tale The Iron Giantàreturns to home screens when The Iron Giant: Signature Editionàis released for the first time on Blu-ray on September 6.àAlso available onàSeptember 6 will be an Ultimate Collectors Edition. àThe 1999 film directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible â Ghost Protocol, Tomorrowland) has been fully remastered and enhanced with two all-new scenes.
When The Iron Giant arrived in theaters, it was hailed as an âÂÂinstant classicâ (Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal).àâÂÂImagine E.T.as a towering metal man, thatâÂÂs the appeal of this enchanting animated featureâ (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).àAnd the world soon learned another âÂÂgiantâ had arrived as well: filmmaker Brad Bird, who made his stunning directorial debut with this film and has gone on to win two Oscarsî, as well as worldwide acclaim for his work on both animated and live-action features.
Winner of nine Annie Awards, The Iron GiantÃÂ is the tale of an unlikely friendship between a rebellious boy named Hogarth (voiced by Eli Marienthal) and a giant robot, voiced by a then little-known actor named Vin Diesel.ÃÂ The voice cast also included Jennifer Aniston and Harry Connick Jr.
The film was produced by Allison Abbate and Des McAnuff from a screen story by Brad Bird and screenplay written by Tim McCanlies and Brad Bird.àAdapted from poet Ted Hughesâ book, The Iron Man, The Iron Giantàwas first released in the summer of 1999 by Warner Bros.
âÂÂWe’re tremendously gratified by the ever-growing status of The Iron Giant,àwhich was a labor of love for those of us who made it,â said director Brad Bird.àâÂÂIt seems like a perfect time to give the filmâÂÂs large and expanding fan-base the deluxe Blu-ray they’ve long been asking for.”
The Iron Giant: Signature Edition will be available to own on Blu-ray for $14.97 SRP and contains both the Signature Edition of the film and the original theatrical version in high definition.àThe disc will also include the new documentary,The GiantâÂÂs Dream, a definitive look at the making of The Iron Giant.
The Iron Giant: Signature Editionàwill also be available as an Ultimate Collectors Edition for $74.99 SRP.àThe Ultimate Collectors Edition will include the Signature Edition and the original theatrical version in both high definition and standard definition, âÂÂThe GiantâÂÂs Dreamâ documentary, a hardcover art book on The Iron Giant,àcollectible Mondo art cards, a 4-inch plastic articulated Iron Giant statue, and a letter from director Brad Bird.
Fans can also own The Iron Giant: Signature EditionÃÂ via purchase from digital retailers.
BLU-RAY and ULTIMATE COLLECTORS EDITION ELEMENTS
The Iron Giant: Signature Edition Blu-ray disc contains the following special features:
The GiantâÂÂs Dream is the dramatic story about a rare moment in movie history that allowed a first-time director to make one of the worldâÂÂs greatest animated films, âÂÂThe Iron Giant.â Using stylized animatics, archival footage, original concept art, and revealing interviews, The GiantâÂÂs Dream charts the incredible ups and downs, industry firsts, and amazing history behind this iconic film, and its rebel director, Brad Bird.
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This past weekend was WonderCon out in LA. DC made many announcements about itâÂÂs upcoming Rebirth, some of which we already had some idea about. Now we were given information on creative teams, like Scott Snyder heading up All-Star Batman with rotating artists including Sean Murphy and Paul Pope, and James Tynion IV taking the reigns on the soon to be back-numbered Detective Comics. One of the other Bat family announcements was that they will soon be revealing the JokerâÂÂs name.
Why?
The short answer is that Batman found out his name when he asked that question on the Möbius chair in Justice League #42 (42, the answer to the ultimate question of life. Coincidence?). The long answer is a combination of figuring out how to handle a decades old franchise coupled with changes in audience expectations.
Now, I know what you might be thinking. DonâÂÂt we already know the JokerâÂÂs name? Many comic historians will tell you that the Joker is Jerry Robinson. Some out there may still argue his name is Bill Finger or even Bob Kane. Or maybe it was Conrad Veidt?
His name has changed many times over the years. Dick Sprang, Carmine Infantino, Denny OâÂÂNeil (Hi Denny!), Neal Adams, and many others. Personally, I liked when the Joker was both Marshall Rogers and Steve Englehart. Maybe sharing two minds helped to fuel his insanity. In more recent years, he’s gone by Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Grant Morrison, Dave McKean, Tony Daniel, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and many other names.
There are some purists out there who will tell you that no, the Joker only has one name. TheyâÂÂll argue with you that his one true name is Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, or Heath Ledger. Some new Joker worshippers are even claiming that his real name has been Jared Leto all along. Perhaps weâÂÂll find out soon enough.
Now that IâÂÂve had my fun, IâÂÂll address the long answer to that question (kind of the sort of thing the Joker does, isnâÂÂt it?) of why we are finding out the JokerâÂÂs name. The real answer is weâÂÂve changed a lot as a society. Part of that is entertainment is different. Oddly enough, in the disposable age where we create more garbage than ever, the one thing we wonâÂÂt discard is a story.
Way back in May of 1939 when Batman debuted, back when the United States was only comprised of the continental 48, comics were not intended to be reprinted the way they are today. Audiences were not expected to stick around either. No one imagined that a nine-year old reading Batman would still follow that character for decades to come. All of that came later. Television was the same way. People used to just pump out television programs and if an episode was rushed and turned out to be pretty bad, who cares! People will forget by next week. Who would ever see it again?
Now thatâÂÂs all changed. WeâÂÂve gone back and weâÂÂve read many of those stories. WeâÂÂve tried to make continuity out of stories that were never intended to have any originally because we demand that the world makes sense. We even demand that the Joker makes sense. Part of making the Joker make sense is giving him a name.
Personally, I have less than no interest in the JokerâÂÂs name. Just tell me a good story with the character. ThatâÂÂs not the point of the Joker. Audiences want it though. Or we think they do. In the age of the Internet, people want to know everything about the things they like. Many people âÂÂkeep upâ with comics by reading wiki entries of storylines at this point. Maybe itâÂÂll sell a few comics too.
In defense of the decision to reveal the JokerâÂÂs name, audiences do appreciate an immersive world and I do appreciate that and I even enjoy that myself. Escapism is easier in a fully fleshed out world that we can imagine. When imaginary worlds leave out pieces of information like that, it can be harder to be immersed in that world. Plus, selling a few comics isnâÂÂt and shouldnâÂÂt be a bad thing. Having issues of comics sell big in this market helps to allow the wiggle room to try more experimental comics or to keep a critically acclaimed comic that might not be selling as well afloat for a few more months.
Either way, weâÂÂre finding out his name whether we like it or not. I could have sworn Tim Burton already told us his name was Jack. I donâÂÂt see why Burton would lie to us.
ItâÂÂs easy to kick a studio while theyâÂÂre down, and a little of that seems to be happening with the reactions to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros. has struggled mightily in bringing their heroes to the screen in recent years (recent decades if we donâÂÂt count Christopher NolanâÂÂs work) and thereâÂÂs an attempt to pile on. If Batman v Superman were a Marvel Studios film I suspect it would be getting more positive coverage as people dug to find the good things and used them to redeem the things that donâÂÂt work; instead people are endlessly picking at the numerous mistakes. DonâÂÂt get confused, Batman v Superman is an awful movie and Zack Snyder should be stopped at all costs but in the hands of literally any other director I could believe there was a salvageable property here and thereâÂÂs time to right this ship.
Superman as depicted in Batman v Superman isnâÂÂt fun to watch, nor does he feel faithful to the character. IâÂÂll be honest: I stopped reading comics on a weekly basis in the winter of 2012 and I havenâÂÂt been keeping up since then, so maybe Superman has become an extremely violent, petulant baby in that timeâ but I sort of doubt it. The Superman in this film is terrifying to consider. HeâÂÂs quick to anger and never particularly nice to anyone that isnâÂÂt Lois Lane; more like Miracleman than Superman. The only never ending battle on display in this film is the one Warner Bros. fights for Superman to appear cool, but theyâÂÂve succeeded in creating a character that would only seem cool to an edgy teenager or the 90s comics industry. I donâÂÂt know if IâÂÂm supposed to be rooting for Batman or Superman when they come to blows, but IâÂÂm almost certainly not supposed to be thinking Lex Luthor is right about everythingâ and yet thatâÂÂs just where I was for 80% of this movie.
The non-Superman characters were mostly pretty good. Ben Affleck should release a video where he makes it very clear heâÂÂs addressing all the people who doubted he could be a credible Batman, drop the mic, and then walk away. HeâÂÂs a great Batman; IâÂÂm ready to put him in the upper echelon with Bale and Keaton (and Kilmer but letâÂÂs not get sidetracked) after seeing this movie. HeâÂÂs believable physically, and he captures that kind of arrogant paranoia that I think Batman should embody. The scenes with Wonder Woman in costume are a giddy rush, and they represent her so well in the fight scenes without any clunky exposition or holding anybodyâÂÂs hand. We all know who Wonder Woman is, weâÂÂve been alive in the world. The scenes before she puts on the costume are less good; they kind of play her like an off-brand Selina Kyle, but they might have been going for an air of mystery and were betrayed by the PR team. Jesse Eisenberg has the most off-beat take of any established character, and while there isnâÂÂt a strong comic book foundation to what heâÂÂs doing, it does feel like what a billionaire megalomaniacal industrialist would look like in the modern start-up culture and heâÂÂs so unsettlingly creepy that IâÂÂm going to give him a pass.
I generally find Zack SnyderâÂÂs work to be unappealing visually, and Batman v Superman is no exception. Things are too slick, slow motion is used too much, only a handful of scenes take place in daylight. Gotham City and Metropolis look the same because thereâÂÂs no room for points of contrast. I suppose GothamâÂÂs abandoned docks are supposed to feel seedy and give the city a dilapidated edge but Metropolis has a crashed alien ship taking up a huge part of their downtown so thereâÂÂs no contrast there. The contrast between Superman and Batman should be reflected in every part of their environment and instead everything takes place on the same dreary streets and rooftops.
The common refrain after seeing a movie like this is that it âÂÂdestroys their childhoodâ of the viewer, and thatâÂÂs always nonsense. No one from Warner is going to break down my door and set any of my trade paperbacks on fire or draw a bunch of bloodstains in the margins or anything like that. However, superhero movies are trading on nostalgia. If they canâÂÂt get a dyed in the wool DC Comics person like me to feel a connection to this film (and if you go back and read paragraph three of this review I desperately want to feel this connection) then I canâÂÂt imagine who does. TheyâÂÂve made a misanthropic film, an ugly film, and worst of all they made a Zack Snyder film.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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