recent viewing; Justice League: Gods and Monsters

Justice League: Gods and Monsters was the latest release in the DC Universe Animated Original movies. It has brought Bruce Timm back into the fold after he took some time off from the franchise.

This is not your father's Justice League. It is Bruce Timm's League. One of the things that pulled him back was the opportunity to do something different. Very different. This goes beyond the usual "Elseworlds" or alternate universe ideas that have come before. We don't get skewed Bruce Waynes or alternate Clark Kents here. We get a clean slate.

Superman is the son of Zod, not the son of Jor El. He is raised in a harsh life of Mexican migrant workers, and he is Hernan Guerra, not Clark Kent. Batman is Kirk Langstrom - known in main DC continuity as the Man-Bat. Here, he is a biologically created vampire. Wonder Woman is Bekka, a lesser known New Gods character, who has exiled herself to Earth.

The Justice League operate outside of the law, with compliance from the US government. But as a mystery unfolds and the League are framed for multiple murders, the government and League alliance breaks down. The League races to find the true villain, before the violence escalates out of control.

recent reads; Batman:Haunted Knight and Superman: Kryptonite

New Year Reading Goal; make a dent reading the graphic novels & collected trades I've been acquiring over the past few years (largely thanks to sales.)

Batman: Haunted Knight

Collects three stories of the Dark Knight, all centered on Halloween. Yesterday was a rainy & windy day and these tales were a perfect match for the mood. The first story has Batman tangling with the Scarecrow. The second story, Batman is taking on The Mad Hatter and trying to save Gordon's daughter from the villain. The third story brings in Penguin, Joker and Scarecrow, but they are not what they seem - they are spirits and the story is a Halloween & Batman take on A Christmas Carol.

Superman: Kryptonite

Darwyn Cooke does good DC work. He's very renowned for his work on a semi-historical take of the Justice League in The New Frontier (which also was adapted as an animated movie.)

Here, Cooke tackles a revamp of Superman's discovery of his weakness to kryptonite. (Cooke only did the writing on this one, art is by Tim Sale - who also did the art on Batman: Haunted Knight.) Though the story setting is modern (cell phones) there is a retro feel throughout, and it winds back the clock to Superman's early superheroing. A mobster is opening a casino in Metropolis, and he brings with him a large green stone. Lex Luthor bides his time, testing Superman and waiting to take out his criminal rival.

There is nice layering here with Superman, his life as Clark, his relationship with Lois Lane and his relationship with his adoptive parents, the Kents.

Again, my highest compliment to any DC story is a desire to see it animated. I wouldn't mind seeing either Batman: Haunted Knight or Superman: Kryptonite adapted to animation. They're enjoyable reads.

recent reads; digital graphic novels

I read through a lot of digital comics this weekend. Much easier than reading prose when multitasking, a.k.a. minding kids.

Gotham by Gaslight (A Tale of the Batman)

Not steampunk, but a Victorian take on a late 19th century Gotham with a prowling Batman, Jack the Ripper and art by Mike Mignola. Who could say no? It was good, though I guessed who was the Ripper fairly early on. Good twist with Bruce Wayne nearly at the gallows for the crimes, which did make for a suspenseful moment - perhaps in this alternate world Bruce/Batman would turn out to be a mad murderer? You'll need to read this one to see for yourself.

The Tower Chronicles: (Volume1) Geisthawk

John Tower, investigator/mercenary for hire when you have a supernatural problem. The art by Simon Bisley is excellent. All manners of creatures pop up along the way; vengeful ghosts, vampires, kobolds, demons. Tower also has a history with a secret society, The Brotherhood of the Rose, who weave their unwelcome threads along his immortal history. I am looking forward to reading the second series.

Buck Rogers, Volume 1 Future Shock

This was fun. This Buck Rogers ends up in a future where men are meat and intelligent animals, "The Pack, threaten mankind. All the while he must also discover who he is and what to make of himself in the new world. Lots of pulpy fun here. Flight suits, spaceships, atomzier pistols., etc.

Buck Rogers, Volume 2 Brave New World

The fact that I kept going onto Volume 2 immediately should tell you that I did indeed enjoy Volume 1.

This followup had even more space opera derring-do. Instead of one enemy, Buck goes from breathless adventure to breathless adventure. He saves the world from underground mutants, air pirates, and rogue robots on the moon.

I don't know what became of this series. Volume 2 ends on a cliffhanger with the promise Rogers will be back. Of course, that was back in 2010. I can't even find these listed at Comixology for sale anymore. I don't know if something fell through with the rights. (There is a new, retro Buck Rogers now from Hermes Press with art by Howard Chaykin.) Too bad. I would have continued with the Dynamite storyline it if it kept going.

Trinity (Superman / Batman / Wonder Woman)

A stand-alone tale of the famous trio's first team-up. In this story, Batman and Superman know each other, but Wonder Woman is a new arrival. A mystery villain recruits a rogue amazon and frees Bizarro from the Antarctic ice (where Luthor put his failed experiment for safekeeping.) The hand is soon revealed to be Ra's al Ghul. He is on yet another mission to purge the world of the evil elements of mankind.

In addition to a decent villainous plot and heroes interplay, I appreciated that there wasn't a cliche "battle of heroes over a misunderstanding." When Wonder Woman first confronts Superman, thinking he is guilty of a crime committed by Bizarro, she uses diplomacy (appropriately enough) before any fisticuffs. Wonder Woman and Batman almost come to blows, but Superman keeps the peace. In other words, this is indeed a team, no "versus" here.

The one negative here was implication of Ra's al Ghul as a rapist. He threatens such on Wonder Woman and invades Themyscira making comments about Amazon "breeding stock." It seemed a bit ignoble of the character - but I'm not well-versed in the character's comic history, either.

Again, my highest compliment would be to see this one animated as a movie by DC/WB. I think it would be a fun one.

Overall, a good batch of stuff, I am happy to report.

recent read; Enemies & Allies

Superman & Batman, set in the late 1950s/early 1960s Cold War. Batman and Superman, fighting crime in their separate manners, find themselves drawn together as defense contractor Lex Luthor sets evil plans in motion. Luthor wants government contracts & power, and is willing to push the superpower nations to the brink of nuclear annihilation to get what he wants. With a nod or two toward Dr. No, he sets up a Caribbean base of operations.

Luthor's co-conspirator in the Soviet Union is trying to establish his own race of supermen from exploited workers who are excavating the site of a meteorite impact. The radiation from the strange, green element cause mutations, which General Ceridov hopes to transmute into a Soviet eugenics program to compete with the American Superman.

This novel was a lot of fun. The characterizations are spot on. Lots of nice period touches without going overboard. Balanced explorations of Bruce Wayne & Clark Kent and their alter egos. Lois Lane is feisty as ever.

I'd love to see this adapted as a DC Universe Animated Original Movie - which is really the highest compliment I can give it.

Batman on the beach

I spent the past four & a half days at the beach with my family and in-laws. Not as relaxing as it could have been - the nine month old is extremely screechy. No exaggeration - you could put your head next to the p.a. column at a Judas Priest concert and have the same effect on your hearing. I kept thinking we'd be asked to leave our inn.

Anyway, I knew with the two children (even with grandparents for babysitting) I wouldn't get much reading done, but I brought the Kindle, anyway.

I was smart in also bringing Batman: Year One with me. Graphic novels are faster, easier reads. I chose this one because I had it on recommendation, and it will be the next story adapted for the DC Universe Animated movies.



It was a very good story. I enjoyed it a lot. I could have done without the reinvention of Selina Kyle (Catwoman) as a bored prostitute, but what is a Frank Miller story without pimps and hookers? ;) The rest though, is stellar as Jim Gordon, Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne fight amidst a sea of crime and corruption. Not even a super-villain here. The mob and corrupt police force are enough. Good storytelling moments. I especially liked a crooked cop's recounting of encountering Batman as something mythical, while the illustrations show exactly what happened and how the (Bat)man was becoming a legend by exaggeration and fear.

So, I managed to read that in its entirety. Also gave in this year and grabbed a hardcover of Tim Willock's The Religion - very same book and discount bookstore I debated about last year. Couldn't pass it up this time. I'll find the shelf space for it. I hope it is as good as some say it is.

We had wireless but I mostly lurked from my iPhone. Between this week & my Facebook 'vacation' last month, I'm getting the bigger picture and remembering/realizing just how much darn noise there is on the Web. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten wonderful information and made plenty of friends, I don't damn the medium. But, I really need to cut back on my web time. I just have too many other pokers in the fires of my life right now.

I'll still follow my blog roll and post here, but I am thinking of cutting way back on Facebook and newsites. Surprisingly, perhaps not Twitter because that is designed to be a fast fix - but it's plenty noisy, too, so that might go.

Besides, with Google+ ramping up, there might be a great nomadic social network migration again. Might as well ramp down for a bit.

Super in-joke!

This weekend, I noticed in the t.v. guide that Superman was finally appearing on Batman: the Brave & the Bold, in the episode, "Battle of the Super-heroes!". So, we made it a point to watch the episode.

My first thought was, "Wow, they're really going for the corny, old-school Superman".

Then things got real crazy.

And really funny.

Funny, that is, if you are aware of Superdickery.com.

That site collects all the crazy out-of-context Superman comic covers over the years that make you scratch your head. Superman being cruel, Lois trying to get Superman to marry her, etc.

In the episode, Jimmy Olsen even starts to say, "Superman sure is being a d..." before he gets cut off.

It’s all funny, but start with Galleries - “Examples of Superdickery” & “Confounding Covers”.

Some of these covers were directly lifted for the episode.

Just a few I spotted;

Super 1

Super 2

Super 3

And, I believe there were also a few Dark Knight Returns visuals when Superman battled Batman (Batman had armor on), but I didn't get to verify that.