Tagged: DC

Review: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’

Since his debut in [[[Batman: The Animated Series]]], Warner Animation has seen to it Batman gets freshened every now and then.  Animators swoop in, streamline the look and adjust the stories as time and tastes change.  The most recent Batman series was perhaps the worst as it veered further and further away from its comic book source material so we suddenly had a Rastafarian Joker who knew martial arts. That incarnation has been mercifully retired and in its place we have [[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]].

As the title suggests, this is a Batman team-up show and owes much to the title where Batman co-starred with other characters for over 125 issues. The designs puff up the Caped Crusader so he looks as if Carmine Infantino or Mike Sekowsky was doing the model sheets.

Fortunately, the resemblance to the 1960s more or less ends there as the storytelling is quick and adventurous.  This is a well-adjusted Batman who recognizes his place in the super-hero firmament.  For example, in the debut episode, which airs on the Cartoon Network this coming Friday night, he specifically asks Blue Beetle along on a mission to check him out.

(more…)

The Last Word, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • November 3, 2008

Norman Mingo’s iconic image of Alfred E. Neuman was first used by Mad Magazine back in 1956 as comment upon the Eisenhower / Stevenson election or, more to the point, in parody of the typical Time magazine cover of its time. Mingo’s Alf is still in use to this day; as is the struggle between the donkey and elephant also depicted on that cover.

We’ve had presidents and presidential elections in comics since the staple was first applied to cheap newsprint. Recently we’ve had Lex Luthor as president in the DC universe, and Stephen Colbert running for the same job in the Marvel universe. The president is one of the most important of the American icons, perhaps even moreso than Alfred E. Neuman.

Tomorrow is Election Day, and you will be asked to pick from at least two clear and distinctive voices. Whichever candidate wins, his impact on our future will be immense. Your voice is needed. As an American citizen, voting is your highest obligation.

I don’t care who you vote for (well, actually, I do, but that’s not the point right now), as long as you make your voice heard. You might think your state is already committed to one candidate or another. History shows us you are wrong. You might think your one vote doesn’t matter. History shows us you are wrong.

Even if your candidate has no chance of winning, make your voice heard. For example, let’s say you are a Libertarian interested in voting for Bob Barr. You probably think he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. You would probably be right. But if the Libertarian Party gets noticeable support at the polls, even 5% of the popular vote in your state, we will have taken a significant step towards freeing ourselves from the two party system that severely limits our choice and our future.

You might think all of the candidates are idiots; that none of them deserves your support. Fine. Make your voice heard. Vote for the person you think best represents your point of view, even if that’s a write-in. You might think Bun E. Carlos would be the best person for the job (he’s my #2 choice); fine. Make your voice heard. (more…)

Purple Haze, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • November 1, 2008

Originally, I wasn’t supposed to have a column.

Mike Gold wanted to have regular writers contributing during the week, Monday through Friday. He had the list of people he wanted to include – comics veterans like John Ostrander, Denny O’Neil and Michael Davis, plus popular blogger Elayne Riggs – and he wanted a soapbox for himself.

Me? I’m the publicist. I’m supposed to draw attention to the product, not to myself. The best publicist is the one you don’t see.

However, I’m also a team player. And an egomaniac. So, when the website started, and we didn’t always have a lot of content, I started to write. I wrote short essays that could get thrown up on the site when we were short on material. I’ve only been reading comics for 50 years, so there was always something on my mind.

One day, Mike said that, since I seemed to be writing regularly, perhaps my writing should have a name and a regular time slot. And so was born Brilliant Disguise, named for one of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, from one of the more depressing Bruce Springsteen albums. It’s about love and loss, and the lies we tell ourselves so we can take care of each other through the tough times. How appropriate. (more…)

You’ll Believe a Routh Can Fly

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  • November 1, 2008

brandon-routh2-7562218If there’s one thing that’s certain about Superman, it’s that you can never count him out of a fight. Same goes for Brandon Routh, who played the Man of Steel in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns a few years back. Despite doing mediocre business (which, when it comes to Supes, is terrible business), the WB is still planning on resuming the franchise, albeit with a totally new direction and creative team. But Routh, as it turns out, might not be part of the cleaning house equation. The actor tells Web site IESB.net that he’s still involved, as far as he knows.

Says Routh: "[The] most recent conversation I had was with Paul [Levitz, President of DC Comics] when I was in New York and we talked about what … Warner Bros. were thinking and what the situation was and obviously, thankfully, he is still wanting me to be a part of it and I certainly want to be a part of it."

The story is corroborated by Latino Review‘s report earlier this month stating Levitz’s continued interest in Routh as Superman.

The most recent Kent, other than TV’s Tom Welling, says that he’s unaware of any story details other than what he reads in the media. Given that, he’s not exactly thrilled with the idea of a "dark Superman."

"I don’t think the character necessarily has to be darker," says Routh. "I think he is kind of dark in a sense, emotional dark, in Superman Returns, and the movie as a whole was slightly dark, they could have had more prowess in it I suppose, and I think that’s one thing that can be done in the sequel, so I don’t know how much darker you want to make it necessarily. You make the stakes higher, you make the villain darker, I think that’s a way to do it. But I don’t think Superman himself needs to be darker. He definitely has to struggle, how does Superman be a part of the world? And does he have to make sacrifices to be a part of that world? To fit in and what purpose does he really play in the world? Those are all kind of dark places to explore. But, I don’t think Superman should ever be dark and brooding, that’s not [his] nature. And that’s [not] what people [want] to see."

As for a villain for the next chapter, Routh has an idea: Brainiac.

"I think it would certainly be interesting, I think there are a lot of things you could do with Brainiac," Routh muses. "He’s been given a lot of power and a lot of different abilities over the years in the comics, as far as I understand. I know that DC is working on a Brainiac storyline that they are excited about and I think combining the two and have that flow between the comics and the movie would be a nice thing. I honestly think there are a lot of interesting things you can do with Brainiac. Controlling people, controlling technology, a lot of cool things."

It’s a widely shared sentiment that a Brainiac driven Superman film has a lot of potential. Combine Routh’s desire to see the green-skinned villain in the sequel and his indication that DC’s also on board, plus with original director Richard Donner’s plea to give Geoff Johns a shot at the screenplay, and you can bet that Mark Millar’s locked himself away in a dungeon taking the pen and eraser to his planned eight-hour Superman epic.

Routh also talks a bit about another upcoming comic book film he’s working on. He’ll be playing Dylan Dog in Dead of Night, an adaptation of Tiziano Sclavi’s Dylan Dog. According to Routh, filming should start soon.

"Well, I think we are actually going to make it now (laughing)," says Routh. "I’ve never said that before, but I will now, all the paperwork is being finalized finally and  we are looking really strong for a January, mid-January start I believe, in New Orleans. And, [director] Kevin [Munroe] and I are looking at the script again and he’s got his draft and I am excited about it."

Crisis on Infinite Mortal Kombat

  • News
  • October 30, 2008

We’ve seen a lot of cool gameplay footage showing the combat, villainous fatalities, and heroic brutalities for Midway’s upcoming Mortal Kombat Versus DC Universe. But we’ve only heard scattered reports about the story, which was massaged by comic writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. Well an official trailer has been released.

It bears a striking similarity to DC Comics’ Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. Mysterious force is causing two universes to merge. Champions and villains team-up to protect their reality but try to figure out what is going on. But really, is there any other way to do an inter-company crossover without the corny ‘pretending they’ve lived in the same universe all along’ route? “I’ve heard of you. Surprised we haven’t crossed paths before.”

Superman addresses the power difference problem some fans questioned. After getting kicked by Scorpion he mutters distastefully, “Magic.”

Also a nice sequence showing Superman laying the smack down on Chinese thunder god Raiden. Best watch your mouth Thor, unless you want some of that.

‘Torso’ Grows Legs

  • News
  • October 29, 2008

3652-1-9925674Bill Mechanic, the former chairman of 20th Century Fox and now founder of independent production company Pandemonium, told Collider that the long planned adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis’ Torso is heading into production soon.

"Torso is moving right towards the starting gate," Mechanic tells the site. "We’ve got a screenplay and we’re waiting for Paramount to decide when to make it."

He also confirms what many have heard: David Fincher will direct the feature.

"I’m hoping we’re shooting in March or April … [so] it should be [Fincher’s next project]," says Mechanic.

And while he has a ton of faith in the project, he does admit that there will be departures from the source material, much in the way that the movie Fight Club broke off from the novel.

"Torso the movie, which may not be called Torso the movie at the end of the day … makes the book better reading because it doesn’t follow [the book] literally," Mechanic says.

Though he’s known today for revitalizing The Avengers, killing all the mutants in House of M and making Skrulls a threat again in Secret Invasion, Brian Bendis’ roots as a comics creator go back to his days at Caliber Comics. He published a string of noir crime comics with Caliber, including Fire (1993), A.K.A. Goldfish (1994) and Flaxen (1995). His most known early works are Jinx (1996), which is the namesake of his Web site JinxWorld, and the comic in question, Torso (1998). It may be hard to believe with top artists Leinil Yu and others illustrating his work, but Bendis actually illustrated a large part of his early work, including Torso. Bendis also co-wrote the novel alongside Marc Andreyko (DC’s Manhunter).

Torso is a historical fiction limited series published by Image Comics. The story focuses on the "Torso Murderer," an actual serial killer in the 1930’s who left behind only the torsos of his victims, making them very difficult to identify for police without DNA testing. The investigator on the case and protagonist of Torso is Eliot Ness, Cleveland Chief of police and one-time head of the Untouchables, the police task force that enforced Prohibition and went after crime lord Al Capone.

Though no official casting has been made, Mechanic did tell Collider that "a lot of things being written [online] about [the film] are probably true." Jake Gyllenhaal and Matt Damon are the two actors long rumored for Torso, so perhaps they’ll be the guys to star in the feature.

Review: ‘Captain Action’ #1

I know way too much about comics. Far more than is healthy. But there are, understandably, a few characters here and there that I either know very little about, either because I never really came across them or I did but found them terribly uninteresting and so dismissed them, soon forgetting what I had learned.

[[[Captain Action]]] happens to be such a character. I remembered he first appeared in the 1960s, wore a costume that resembled a futuristic police officer’s with a chest symbol that reminded me to recycle, and was based on an action figure. And that was it. I remembered nothing else. So when I was asked to review the first issue of the new Captain Action series, on sale today, I thought “Perfect. I can truly look at this as a first-time fan and objectively judge if this would be interesting to someone who has no previous knowledge of the character.”

I read it and found it to be a strange mix of too much information at once and not enough.

We begin with a [[[Superman]]]-like character called Savior. His narration explains who he is and reveals that he secretly blew up a place called A.C.T.I.O.N. Directorate. On page two, we find out that half of what we just read is a lie. This is not Savior, but a person disguised as Savior. This is our hero, Captain Action, who crashes into a statue of his father and proceeds to unleash a massive information dump on the readers in a very awkward monologue.

Apparently, there was once a hero called Captain Action (the original guy from the 1960s). The shape-shifter we’ve just met is his son, the new Captain Action, who has the ability to look like other people and copy their abilities, but only for a short time. Exactly how long he can disguise himself and how long afterward he has to wait before he mimics someone again is not made clear.

The new Captain Action wanted nothing to do with the life of a super-hero, despite his powers, but now feels forced to act since his father was killed by a group of super-heroes that an organization called A.C.T.I.O.N. had “created” to defend the Earth. What “created” means is not fully explained. The new Captain Action informs us that these heroes, Savior included, were somehow turned into sleeper agents, thus why they went rogue later. Exactly how they became sleeper agents is not explained, though a group called Red Crawl is blamed. Apparently, Red Crawl was defeated long ago and everyone believed they were dead, except for the original Captain Action. Now they’re back and causing trouble.

(more…)

Neil Gaiman Talks ‘Coraline’

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  • October 28, 2008

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline has been turned into an animated film by Henry Selick and the popular author spoke with Premiere about the film, which opens in February. Much of the material is familiar to connoisseurs of the man’s career but he did fill in some gaps.

He discussed how he had the book sent to the director 18 months prior to publication. “That’s true. I mean, Henry didn’t even get the final draft. But the moment I finished it, I gave it to my agent, the redoubtable Jon Levin at CAA, and I said… ‘Well, I want it with Henry Selick and I quite like it with Tim Burton, ’cause I love The Nightmare Before Christmas, and they were the two people who did that, and I think, if it’s gonna be a film, it should be something like that.’ And I don’t know if it ever made it through the ranks to actually land on Tim Burton’s desk and get read, [but] it was really a moot point, because by the end of the week, Henry had read it, said that he wanted to do it, and had put the mechanisms in place. You know, the contract negotiations had already started.”

Gaiman was very pleased with Selick’s fidelity to the source material but clearly things had to be modified between print and screen. “He wrote a first draft that was incredibly faithful,” Gaiman said. “And I think I actually wound up saying to him, ‘Look, I think it’s a bit too faithful,’ because it didn’t feel like a movie, it felt like you were just reading the book. And I sort of encouraged him to expand it into a film a bit more. And the next one he rather nervously added a character and added events, but now the script read like a movie script. And then it was just a matter of him having another six years to find a studio that would give him the money to make the ultimate stop-motion movie.”

He remained uninvolved in the production but remained curious. “I’d go about my life and then I’d sit up one day and think, You know I haven’t seen anything for three or four months now, and I’d phone Henry and I’d say, ‘Have you got anything for me to see?’ And he’d say, ‘Yeah, I’ll get you off a DVD.’ And I’d get a DVD with another 10 minutes of footage on it! [laughs] What’s actually been fun is, because they’re pretty much shooting it exactly in order, the DVDs have been getting scarier and scarier. They started off [and I thought], ‘Well this is rather sweet and rather friendly,’ and the last one that I got I could actually say, ‘No, this is scary, this is really scary.’

Gaiman also addressed the long-delayed film version of his Death: The High Cost of Living. “Well, I think the latest is that we’re all waiting to see what happens to New Line. Death is a very odd thing because, unlike Coraline or Anansi Boys, which I’m doing for Warners, or The Graveyard Book or any of those kinds of things, I don’t own and control the rights to Death. I’m attached to it, I’ve written a script for it, I’m meant to be directing it… but I don’t control it, and for reasons having to do with corporate relationships between DC Comics and Warner Brothers, it has to be done by a Warner Brothers company, and then you have to find a Warner Brothers studio within Warner Brothers that will be a good fit for that film, and of course New Line was a really good fit for that film, and it remains to be seen right now what New Line is when the dust is settled and whether there is a New Line or not.”
 

‘Secret Invasion’ #8 to be a Week Late

  • News
  • October 28, 2008

Marvel has issued a release indicating the final issue of Secret Invasion will now be in store the first week of December, a week later than anticipated.

“The additional pages in #8 did both Leinil and the schedule in,” explained Executive Editor Tom Brevoort in a press release. “Anybody who pored over the artwork from #7 a week ago can easily see how he and Mark Morales have been putting their all (and then some) into every page and every panel, and that effort has finally caught up with us. Hopefully, retailers and fans will forgive us these extra two weeks as we make sure that everything is in the shape it should be in for the extra-sized climax—and from there, it’ll be smooth sailing straight into Dark Reign.”

David Gabriel, Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Sales, said in the release, “In speaking with retailers, Marvel decided it was more important to preserve the creative integrity of the series, rather than rush out the final issue. This not only creates a stronger product for our loyal readers, but also for our retailer partners, whose support helped make Secret Invasion a huge success.”

A mammoth event like this shipping late is no surprise and keeps the creative team intact as opposed to DC’s Final Crisis that recently announced the final issue will be illustred by Doug Mahnke and not J.G. Jones. (more…)

‘Mad About the Movies Directors’ Cut’ Coming Tomorrow

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

Mad Artist Tom Richmond wrote on his blog about a new Mad book, due out tomorrow.

He wrote, “Back in 1998 Mad published MAD About the Movies, a collection of movie spoofs from over the years. It was in part to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Warner Bros. (WB owns DC Comics which in turn owns MAD) and all the movies in the book were Warner Bros. films.

“10 years later Mad is coming out with a new version of the book featuring parodies of films from other studios as well as some from WB. MAD About the Movies: Director’s Cut weighs in at a whopping 400 pages and contains not only 60 movie parodies from films of the last 60 plus years, but other goodies as well. Here’s a short list of some of the included parodies:

•    Gone with the Wind
•    Bonnie and Clyde
•    A Clockwork Orange
•    Brokeback Mountain
•    Spider-Man
•    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
•    The Lord of the Rings (all three films!)

“Obviously there are both black and white and color pages in the book. I was told I have several parodies in it myself, although I don’t have a full list. I’m pretty excited about being in the book, as it will be the first book I really have a presence in. My parody of “Traffic” was in Mad About the Oscars, but I believe that is my only contribution to a Mad book.

“The book is part of an exclusive agreement with Barnes and Noble, so that is the only place you’ll be able to get a copy. It’s dirt cheap at only $9.98 for an online price.
“I have not as yet seen a copy, so I have no idea what kind of stock it’s printed on. It’s listed as a “hardcover” but at less than $10.00 I think that might be a mistake. Still this would make a great stocking stuffer. It’s supposed to be released tomorrow, according to the Barnes and Noble website.”

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