The new Superman movie has been out for some time now and most folks who want to see it probably have and those who want to comment on it probably have. I shied away from Man of Steel as a topic simply because everyone has had their opinion but the questions I want to pose here are at somewhat an odd angle. If you know me, you’re not surprised. Still, there will be spoilers so, if you haven’t seen the film and don’t want to be spoiled, avoid the rest of the column.

I’ve written here and there that the character of Superman needs to be re-examined and re-invented every so often if it is to remain relevant to it time. I think I read the director (Zack Snyder) and/or its writer (David S. Goyer) and/or its producer (Christopher Nolan) say something to the effect that this was their intention. This wasn’t going to be a “comic book” Superman but examine him as if the character was new. Actually, I’m fine with that as an idea. I think any version of Superman still needs to be recognizable as Superman. I would have preferred they kept the red trunks but that’s not necessary to be true to the character.

If Superman is being invented for this time, what does this version of the Man of Steel say about our time?

It is, by design, a dark film. Superman’s costume itself runs dark – the blue could almost be black, the red “S” in his chest shield is more of a crimson. Not only does Superman not have red trunks, there is nothing yellow or gold in the costume. Nothing bright. And yet Superman claims that the sigil on his chest actually means “hope” in Kryptonian. Is this a hopeful film?

Pa Kent, as played by Kevin Costner, is morally ambivalent. He’s afraid that if normal humans know what Clark can do, they’ll reject him. When a young Clark saves a bus full of fellow students from drowning after the bus goes off a bridge, Pa Kent reprimands Clark who asks, “Was I just supposed to let them die?” Pa Kent’s reply is “Maybe.”

Pa later dies, not of a heart attack, but in a twister. Clark could have saved him but that would have meant revealing his true nature. Pa silently and sternly forbids it. And dies. The difference from previous versions is that then Pa dies of a heart attack; there’s nothing Clark could have done. In the Richard Donner film he says, “I have all this power and I couldn’t save him.” In Man of Steel, Clark could have and didn’t. I think that’s significant. The Donner version brings out the humanity in the superhuman and shows his limitations. In MoS, the fact that Clark obeys his father and lets him die when he could have saved him says to me that he has accepted his father’s paranoia. Ultimately, Jonathan Kent is wrong; Superman is accepted by humans, but only after killing a fellow Kryptonian.

That’s perhaps the most controversial element of the new movie. Superman winds up killing General Zod. Snaps his neck. Zod had said he wouldn’t stop killing humans and was in fact about to incinerate a small group of them with his heat vision. Superman begs him to stop but he won’t. So Kal-El kills Zod.

Are we supposed to view this as a no-win situation, to say Superman had no other choice? Does that make it acceptable? Superman immediately feels horrible but was there really no other way? Are meant to agree, to empathize, in this era of “acceptable collateral damage”? Or should Superman be better than that? He was in the past; does this make Superman more realistic? Is that what we want? Is that what we need? Is that who we are?

I was talking recently with Mary’s friend Sherry (a lovely person) and her ten year old grandson, Gavin Simpson. He had seen Man of Steel and I was curious about his reaction; ten years old is the prime time for becoming a Superman fan.

Gavin has seen the other Superman films and knows about the comics but this would be his Superman – the one he sees on the big screen when it first comes out. He liked it but he didn’t love it; he said that the fight scenes at the end went on too long (I agree). He also felt that Henry Cavill, the guy playing Kal-El, didn’t project enough of Superman’s essential goodness. That’s an interesting point.

Most tellingly, when I asked Gavin about Superman killing Zod, he didn’t care for it. When I asked him why, he was clear and firm: “Superheroes don’t kill.”

These days, evidently they do, including the first, brightest, and the most iconic. It makes everything more realistic. It makes Man of Steel the Superman for our time, according to those who made the film.

Does it?

MONDAY MORNING: Mindy Newell

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

BAD TIGER STUDIO debuted recently as a new force in Pulp and Comics, fitting the bill for just what All Pulp covers!  With this first interview of Company Partner C. William Russette, All Pulp begins a series spotlighting Bad Tiger Creators discussing characters, plans, and more to come from this new, but already popular company in Comics and Pulp Fiction

ALL PULP BAD TIGER INTERVIEW #1
C. WILLIAM RUSSETTE

ALL PULP:  Tell us about yourself, your personal background, and how you got into writing/art/etc.

CWR; My name is C. William Russette I currently pay the rent working retail. I have an incredibly supportive wife and a fantastic son who digs my art. I have been drawing since I could hold a crayon as so many artists claim. Far as I recall it was the truth for me. I didn’t get interested in writing until I started playing role playing games and the plots provided just weren’t interesting enough for me to run my players through. Basically I always fancied myself an artist but never pushed that too hard. Writing was all dabbling too until I was in the army and took a correspondence course. That and trying to impress my future wife got me to start taking my writing seriously. I wrote some comic book scripts and short stories. Tommy roped me into the first of many web projects and his health has been on the decline ever since. I have been published in both comic book format and prose; most recently in Pro Se Presents.

AP: What is your role at Bad Tiger?

CWR: I am the co-Founder along with Justin Ditzler. That’s my biggest hat. I am also the plotter-scripter-penciller-inker of the OPERATOR ZERO comic. I recruited all of our talent from past associations be it writing or art. I also wear an editors hat but that’s pretty loose.

AP: In our modern society, some would say that there’s nothing new or original anymore.  What makes Bad Tiger stand out?

CWR: I don’t care for that idea. By that reasoning no one has done anything new or original since Macedonia four thousand years ago. Plots and themes can be retreaded and slapped together with different characters in different places and times. I think it really depends on how you present the story. How well was it written? Was it executed properly? What will make Bad Tiger material stand out is that no one has our unique viewpoints or the way we process everything we absorb. I’ll let my peers answer for themselves but I grew up reading a lot of fiction from comic books to fantasy-adventure and devouring films like Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian and especially the Ray Harryhausen works. So add to that a fondness for Pulp (that I was unaware of until it was brought to my attention.) and dump trucks of Robert E. Howard, Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver and there is a healthy eclectic mix that my creative engine can chew up, lace with adrenalin and spit out what I call my kinda stories. BTS is my stories done my way. It’s something that I have been wanting to do for some time and I’ve assembled a gang of like minded individuals to share their wares.

AP: What are your inspirations, influences for the work you do?

CWR: There are many so I’ll just scrape off the icing. For art I will say Mike Mignola, John Byrne and Walt Simonson are top of the heap. I am still learning to ink but Gary Martin and Shawn Martinbrough jump to mind. For writing it is really all over the place. Warren Ellis, Jim Shooter, Clive Barker, Stephen King, James Clavell (Shogun is still my favorite novel), R. A. Salvatore, Bruce Lee, Robert Ludlam, Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison to name a few. Are we doing movies? 13 Assassins, The Crow, Gladiator, The Avengers and cartoons like Alladin, Akira and Transformers G1. Toshiro Mifune, Jeff Goldblum, Jack Nicholson and Donnie Yen. For music its mostly 80’s rock and metal. For it all I need the high water mark, a direct line or an adrenaline shot to get the juices flowing. Oh, and coffee.

AP: What do you think appeals to the public about heroic/genre fiction and/or comic strips?  Why will people come to Bad Tiger?

CWR: I think there are a number of reasons why people like heroic fiction. I think there is a certain thrill to living vicariously through the characters that you’re absorbing. I know I do that. I think there is a certain level of escapism that feeds a down-time need during troubled times in your life. You want to forget the rent, the war, the homework or the job. Maybe reading about a domino masked ex-sailor that stands up against the unjust and lands a mighty jaw-breaking right cross is just the ticket to lower your blood pressure. The creators that I have roped into presenting their varied super-charged crime-breaking, airship-flying, sword swinging, mask wearing, machine gun unloading stories will deliver the super charged pulp, genre tales that much of the comic book industry just doesn’t deliver. Heck, we even have a comedic strip in Junior’s World by Frank Dawson Jr. Its all under one roof and great things are coming down the pipe. I assure you.

AP: Any closing thoughts?

CWR: I’ve gone on long enough but I will say that I am having a great time working with these guys and creating along side them the stories that we all love to read. Watch this Bad Tiger as he claws his way to the top!

 Bad Tiger Studio- http://www.badtigerstudio.com

Cover Art: Darwyn Cooke

It was teased yesterday, but now IDW has released an official press release about the upcoming graphic noel adaptation of Donald Westlake’s Parker novel, Slayground by Eisner Award winning creator, Darwyn Cooke.

Official Release:

Darwyn Cooke’s Newest Adaptation Coming In December

San Diego, CA (July 20, 2013) – Darwyn Cooke’s acclaimed Parker series from IDW continues to expand with the classic Slayground. In this newest graphic novel, Parker is put to the test against crooked cops and sleazy gangsters after a heist goes south and he finds himself trapped in an amusement park closed for the winter, and embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse… a game that slowly starts to favor the mouse.

“A boarded up amusement park was an inspired setting for Parker,” said writer/artist Darwyn Cooke, “and Westlake made the most of it. A great story that I’m enjoying the hell out of adapting.”

Based on the influential novels by Richard Stark, AKA, Donald Westlake, Parker is a coldly calculating master criminal, one with a very rigid code. The IDW adaptations by Darwyn Cooke of The Hunter and The Outfit have received multiple Eisner and Harvey awards. The Score, released last year, is nominated for an Eisner Award at this week’s San Diego Comic-Con International. Slayground will be the fourth Parker adaptation in the popular and much lauded series.

Darwyn Cooke’s distinct style has made him a premier writer and artist in the comic book industry. A former animator, Cooke entered mainstream comics in 2000 with his critical hit Batman: Ego for DC Comics.

Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, was the acclaimed author of the Parker series. He was a three-time Edgar Award winner, as well as being named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, that prestigious societies highest honor.

New Airship 27 Marketing Director, Michael Vance

Well known writer/editor Michael Vance joins Airship 27 Productions staff as new Marketing Director.

Official Release:

Michael Vance has been named Marketing Director for Airship 27 publishing.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have such a talented, experienced writer/editor joining our editorial staff,” declared Managing Editor Ron Fortier enthusiastically. “Michael Vance is one of the most respected pros in the literary community, and having him aboard brings that wealth of knowledge and creativity to Airship 27 Productions. Michael’s contributions are clearly going to allow Airship 27 to fly to new heights. Count on it.”

Vance’s magazine work has been published in seven countries in magazines including Starlog, Jack & Jill and Star Trek, The Next Generation. He briefly ghosted an internationally syndicated comic strip, and his own strip, Holiday Out that was reprinted as a comic book. Vance also wrote comic book titles including Straw Men, Angel of Death, The Adventures of Captain Nemo, Holiday Out and Bloodtide. He is listed in two reference works, the Who’s Who of American Comic Books and Comic Book Superstars.

His thirty short stories about a fictional town called “Light’s End” were published in more than a dozen magazines, and have been recorded by legendary actor William (Murder She Wrote) Windom.

Vance’s published novels include Forbidden Adventure: The History of the American Comics Group, Weird Horror Tales, Weird Horror Tales: The Feasting, Weird Horror Tales: Light End, and Global Star (with Mel Fox and R. A. Jones).

Vance’s weekly comics review column, Suspended Animation, was continuously published for more than twenty years and read by approximately 4,000,000 readers annually.

In his career, he worked in newspapers for twenty-two years as an editor, writer and advertising manager, creating three successful newspaper magazines. He also worked as an advertising copy writer, journalist, historian, graphic designer, in public relations, and as a grant writer. Vance also created the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection housed in the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Paula Valley, Oklahoma, and was a keynote speaker at the Uncanny Adventures of Ookie Cartoonists exhibit at the Oklahoma Historical Museum in Oklahoma City.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS –
Begun in 2004 by comic book creators, Ron Fortier and Rob Davis, Airship 27 Productions is one of the leading companies of the New Pulp Movement; a concentrated effort to keep alive the classic pulp literature of the 30s and 40s while producing newer pulp themed titles by today’s brightest writers and artists. Today the company has over sixty titles, both novels and anthologies, in their ever expanding catalog and all their new titles are available digitally via Amazon’s Kindle. Employing their artistic sensibilities from their experiences in comics, Fortier and Davis has consistently produced the best looking new pulp books on the market today.

The company’s dirigible logo is emblematic of Ron and Rob’s high flying goals; to produce the finest quality books that are always fun to read, again and again.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULPS FOR A NEW GENERATION !
(http://robmdavis.com/Airship27Hangar/index.airshipHangar.html)

If you’ve never read Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon (celebrating 10 years in print) then you’re missing out. But there’s hope. This weekend you can download an ebook copy of Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell in the format of your choice. Just click this link and you’ll be on your way to a fun, pulpy adventure.

You can thank us later.

You can learn more about Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon here and here.

Eisner-Award winning writer/artist Darwyn Cooke brings Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground to stores in December for IDW. The cover was released in time for San Diego Comic Con. More details as they are released.

Learn more about Richard Stark’s Parker here.

 In its second episode, PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST brings you Pulp Author/Magazine Editor/Ezine Editor/All Around Pop Culture Fan Lee Houston, Jr.! Host Tommy Hancock puts Lee front and center to discuss Lee’s latest book, HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE-CATCH A RISING STAR!  Listen as they discuss Hugh’s origins (As well as Lee’s) and just why this book became Hugh’s first full length adventure!  A mix of science fiction wonder and 1950s style Private Eye Tale, CATCH A RISING STAR is a great first full length work of a character that definitely has a fan following (not to mention the following his sometimes client/sidekick/resident alien ape Big Louie has!).  Listen in as Pro Se Presents HUGH MONN Creator and Author LEE HOUSTON, JR.!

http://prosepodcast.libsyn.com/pro-se-presents-the-podcast-episode-2-lee-houston-jr-and-hugh-monn-private-detective-catch-a-rising-star