Tagged: Batman

Random Video: 1960s Batman Does ‘The Dark Knight’

  • News
  • June 25, 2008

When I posted a link to a recent interview with Adam West on the current Batman film franchise, I had no idea that it would generate such a polarized discussion of the campy 1960s series that made West a household name among comics fans.

In the interest of meeting both sides somewhere in the middle, I hereby submit the following video — featuring a mash-up of the trailer for the upcoming Dark Knight film with clips from the ’60s-era Batman television series.

Can’t we all just get along?

 

 

‘Dark Knight’ Gamerpics and Theme Free on Xbox LIVE

  • News
  • June 25, 2008

I woke up this morning depressed that there’s no videogame based on The Dark Knight coming out around the time of the movie. Luckily, the hope that they’re taking extra time to make a good movie-based game sometime down the road gave me the energy to turn on my system.

Joy!

I turned on my system to find that Warner Bros. marketing executives decided to distribute free Xbox gamerpics and themes to promote the upcoming Batman Begins sequel.

For the unitiated, gamerpics are pictures attached to your Xbox online profile to represent you when playing other gamers. Themes are basically customizable desktop graphics for your game system. On the Xbox LIVE service, there’s a wide selection of both, some for free, some for a price.

Recent superhero themes were based on the Iron Man movie-based game, The Incredible Hulk movie and The Incredible Hulk movie-based game. In an unusual reversal, non-U.S. fans got exclusive Hulk ones that left their American opponents jealous.

Don’t worry PlayStation 3 fans, according to some leaked photos available around the ‘Net, you’ll see a similar system sometime this year.

Marvel Gets Smart, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • June 24, 2008

As I begin to type this, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, there are only 211 days left before someone else lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Potomac. I tell you this, not because it has anything to do with what follows, but to perhaps lend a note of cheer to your hour.

Now then:

I didn’t stay through all of the Iron Man flick’s end credits, but I should have because my friend Ken Pisani told me that Samuel L. Jackson has a brief scene in which, in the persona of Nick Fury, he reveals to Robert Downey’s Tony Stark that he represents an organization called, in acronym-crazed Sixties fashion, S.H.I.E.L.D. Dissected, that meant Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law Enforcement Division when the organization first appeared in 1965. It was later changed to stand for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, which was probably more au courant, but is no less a mouthful.

It is a nifty coincidence, but no more than a coincidence, that S.H.I.E.L.D. makes a big screen appearance at about the time as another espionage-themed entertainment with roots in the spy-mad decade of peace and love, Get Smart, gets into the malls.

It is not a coincidence that the current tv promos for another popcorn movie, The Incredible Hulk, tells us that Marvel has done it again, thus making a solid connection between theaters and comic shops. So, we don’t go to the multiplex to see a superhero movie, we go to see a Marvel superhero movie. This is called “branding” and it means, as I understand it, the identification of a group of products as a single, collective entity. You, fashionista that you are, don’t buy a suit, you buy a Brooks Brothers suit because the Brooks Brothers label guarantees a certain level of quality and a certain approach to the creation of clothing. (And aren’t you a bit young to be dressing so conservatively?)

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Adam West Discusses Current ‘Dark Knight’ Franchise

  • News
  • June 20, 2008

While I’m not a big fan of the way this conversation was framed, it’s worth noting that the crew at ComicBookMovie.com recently chatted with actor Adam West, the Batman of the campy 1960s television series, about the current state of the character’s TV and movie franchise.

Sure, it’s no surprise to anyone that West views Batman Begins and its upcoming sequel, The Dark Knight, as a far darker, grittier take on the character he portrayed in the groovy TV series and subsequent (even more campy) film, Batman: The Movie, but his take on the original series provides some interesting food for thought.

"It was silly and funny. With the villains, especially, it was almost Shakespearian because of the bizarre costuming and makeup," he recalls. "In those days we didn’t rely on special effects as much so everyone was challenged to use their imaginations."

West also provides an update of sorts as to the state of the TV series availability on DVD:

"They only thing I’ve heard is that for some time they’ve been trying to cut a deal as far as ownership and return — basically who gets what slice of the pie. When that is worked out, then I guess you’ll be able to get it."

The full chat (which is actually pretty sparse and framed sort of, well… rudely) is available over at ComicBookMovie.com.

Review: This Week in ‘Trinity’ – Part 3

trinity3-6010381It’s time we talked about Kurt Busiek.

He’s the brain behind this weekly operation and, in case you’re new to comics, he’s one hell of a writer. And there’s one particular quality that sets him apart.

His comics matter.

I don’t mean this in the sense that he does event comics (although Trinity certainly qualifies as such). What distinguishes a Kurt Busiek comic book has always been that he immediately instills the material with a sense of importance.

His big projects, like Marvels and Astro City, are perfect examples, but even in his post-Infinite Crisis take on Aquaman Busiek quickly remade that book into one that had to be read, and had to be taken seriously.

I say all this because, for a few reasons, I don’t get that sense from Trinity. So far, DC’s latest weekly series does not feel important. So far, it doesn’t matter. 

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The Weekly Haul: Reviews for June 19, 2008

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  • June 19, 2008

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Not a great week for comics. A few good eggs, but a whole lot of blah hit the shelves this week. So it goes.

In other news, I’ll be in Charlotte at Heroes Con this weekend, so if you make it there, give me a shout. Or, if you’re the creator of one of the books I just called "blah," you can punch me in the face.

Book of the Week: RASL #2 — As usual, the only complaint with Jeff Smith is that he and deadlines are like oil and fire. And yes, oil and fire is worse than oil and water. Trust me.

This issue was supposed to come out last month, but it’s here now and it’s a dandy of an issue. I’m a fan of Bone and Shazam!, but without pause I’d call RASL his best work yet.

The dimension-hopping lead’s troubles continue as he learns an organization of some sort has caught onto his little exploits and is in hot pursuit. Smith throws in a lot of sci fi, but with his unwavering command of the medium he never lets the story out of noir territory.

This is the most serious and adult story Smith has done, which is certainly of note, but I find more interesting his experimentations with story structure. He’s pushing himself to new levels, and we get to enjoy the ride (stop-and-go as it is).

Runner Up:

X-Factor #32 — This issue doesn’t have that usual snap-crackle-and-pop of Peter David’s dialogues and monologues, but that’s by design as we see the fallout of Arcade’s near-complete destruction of Mutant Town.

It’s one big exhalation of an issue, with Madrox crumbling mentally (as ever) and the team rallying (sort of). David uses the moment to make a big paradigm shift with the team and the series, set up brilliantly with a series of reverses involving government stooge Val Cooper.

Really, though, the big draw is David’s intro update on his family. Those always kill me. Someone pay him to write a third person memoir, please!

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New Website, Two-Face Clip From ‘The Dark Knight’

  • News
  • June 19, 2008

With just under a month until The Dark Knight hits theaters, it’s not surprising to see more viral marketing for the film popping up around the ‘Net. Previously, we ran down the long list of other Dark Knight online marketing campaigns, but this one has a special treat for Batman fans.

For example, feel free to surf over to the recently launched website for Gotham City Pizzeria. Along with reading up on the pizzeria’s history, you can also read their pledge to customers that includes a few elements you don’t normally find in a pizzeria chain — including a pledge to "support Batman."

I know this is controversial, but sometimes you have to take a stand. One day, when we were first expanding to lots of neighborhoods in Gotham, I picked up the day’s receipts from our shop in East End. The street lamps were out, and the sidewalk was deserted. Two thugs approached me and demanded money. I was too slow – and one of them pulled out a shotgun. Suddenly, they were gone. I looked up, and Batman had snatched them in his arms and was giving them a little dose of Gotham City Justice. From that moment on, we put special emphasis on making the streets around our locations safe – and business skyrocketed. Batman is an inspiration to all of us who want to take control of our own lives and fight back against the criminals of Gotham City. GCP supports Batman.

Oh, and pay close attention to the cursor when you drift over the letters "HA" in "GOTHAM" … Notice anything? Click on "HA" to view a clip from the film that provides your first look at Harvey Dent, a.k.a. Two-Face.

Why so serious, indeed?

 

 (via SHH)

Comic Reality Bytes, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • June 19, 2008

2658_4_001-5598695Samuel Keith Larsen recently popped me a question on my message board that I found interesting:

“Remember back in the Death Of Captain Marvel, where Rick Jones asked the Avengers why they haven’t discovered a cure for cancer? To this day, given all the magic and super-science, there hasn’t been any good answer for why cancer hasn’t been cured in the Marvel Universe. If you were asked to write a story dealing with that topic, how would you answer the question?”

Well, I’d note that Captain Marvel was dead but seems to be feeling better these days. Same with Bucky. However, that’s beside the point – and the question being asked.

As I answered the question on my board, if I was approached to write a story such as Sam described, I’d probably not cure cancer but use the story to explore the problems with curing cancer and why finding a cure is so difficult. The question asks really about continuity – if Mr. Fantastic is so freakin’ smart, why can’t he cure cancer? Or AIDS? It begs the issue of consistency.

For me, there is a larger issue and it gets back to the basic purpose of storytelling – all storytelling, to a greater or lesser degree. As the rector at my church, the (sometimes) Reverend Phillip Wilson, has often put it, stories are the atoms of our society. We use them to tell, share, compare, illustrate, defend, and maintain our lives, our experiences, who we are as individuals, as communities, even as a nation.

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Review: ‘The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told’

This summer is a big one for Batman’s deadliest foe, the Joker, with the deceased Heath Ledger giving an apparently mesmerizing take on the clown prince of crime in [[[The Dark Knight]]].

And just in time comes the latest printing from DC of The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told ($19.99), which offers some of the character’s legendary moments from his debut in 1940 in Batman #1 to last year’s macabre Christmas tale from Paul Dini.

First, lets dispense with the hyperbole of the title. There are some great Joker moments here, but several of the character’s biggest aren’t included. There’s nothing from [[[The Killing Joke]]],[[[ A Death in the Family]]] or [[[Dark Knight Returns]]], for example.

More than anything, this is a great primer on the Joker, charting his characterizations over his six-plus decades of existence as he became quite likely the most recognizable evil-doer in comics.

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Happy Birthday: Two-Face

  • News
  • June 12, 2008

twoface-6656997Harvey Dent was young, charismatic, idealistic, and driven—at 26 he was the youngest District Attorney Gotham City had ever had, and the press dubbed him “Apollo” for his good lucks and his meteoric rise.

Dent’s idealism was also flexible enough that he recognized the good Batman did, even if the Dark Night Detective didn’t always follow the rules. The two wound up becoming staunch allies, even friends, and their passions for justice actually complemented each other.
 

Until, one June 12th, Dent reached the high point of his career—prosecuting Sal “Boss” Maroni for murder. Unbeknownst to Dent, his own assistant Vernon Field worked for Maroni, and when Maroni was forced to take the stand Field handed him an antacid bottle filled with sulfuric acid. Dent got up to cross-examine Maroni, displaying his key evidence—Maroni’s good luck charm, a two-headed coin he always carried, which he had carelessly left at the scene of the crime.

Maroni then hurled the acid—Batman tried to intervene but only managed to deflect the attack so Dent caught the acid on the left side of his face and on his left hand instead of across his entire face. The attack did not kill him, as Maroni had planned, but did leave Dent permanently disfigured—in mind as well as body.

The horribly scarred D.A. snapped and turned to a life of crime and violence himself, scarring one side of Maroni’s coin and flipping it to determine his actions whenever presented with a choice between good and evil. And thus Two-Face, one of Batmnan’s most dangerous villains, was born.

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