Review: Legends of the Dark Knight: Alan Davis Hardcover

Unlike most of DC’s other hardcover volumes focusing on a single artist’s Batman work, “Legends of the Dark Knight: Alan Davis" (Volume 1?) actually includes a continuous run of Detective Comics stories  (#569-575) with the same creative team, as writer Mike W. Barr and inker Paul Neary join penciller Davis for most of the book.

Barr and Davis’s stories are an entertaining throwback to the “superhero” Batman in the months just preceding (and then briefly concurrent with) the constant Miller-angst that reigns til this day. Batman smiles, cracks jokes, and frequently calls Robin “chum.”  Alan Davis’s art is crisp, clean, almost but not quite veering into cartoony. He homages the giant prop Sprang era quite a bit, but he can do grim as well, as seen in one panel where Batman backhands the Joker in a burst of anger.

The first few stories feature Catwoman (in her purple dress with green cape outfit) and the Joker. Next up is a Scarecrow story that seems to have been the inspiration for one of the later Timm animated episodes featuring the villain, in which he removes people’s fears rather than creating or exploiting them.  An over-confident grinning Batman is as unnerving as the grim look you normally see, especially when he plays chicken with a couple of trucks.

The highlight of the volume, is the anniversary issue of Detective Comics #572, reprinted in its entirety even though it includes non Davis art, where Batman teams with fellow detectives Slam Bradley, Elongated Man  and even Sherlock Holmes (featuring guest art by Carmine Infantino, Terry Beatty and ER Cruz) in a story that focuses on a century-spanning mystery book.

Following that is a Mad Hatter story with a tragic ending that leads directly into the next issue. This issue “…My Beginning and My Probable End” is billed as “the new origin of the Batman” which signals the changes in Batman’s history, as his origin is retold with echoes of Year One and the upcoming Year Two, the first chapter of which is also reprinted here (subsequent chapters are penciled by Todd McFarlane and are not included in the volume), and ends Davis’ Detective run. I believe this is also the first appearance of Dr Leslie Thompkins and her clinic, vs. the pre-Crisis version of her as en elderly lady still living in Crime Alley.

That leads to another observation about the uniqueness of this volume – that is, it’s place in Batman’s history, as it straddles the time period between pre-Crisis Earth 1 Batman and post-Crisis/Year One Batman. This is most evidenced here by the prominent inclusion of circus acrobat Jason Todd, as established back in 1983. By the end of the run, there is allusion to the new Jason Todd origin that was established in the “Batman: The New Adventures” era that followed “Batman: Year One” in Batman, but that’s inconsistent with how Jason is portrayed throughout the book. This version of Jason would less likely have been voted to be killed by readers, as he actually seemed like a genuine kid who was thrilled to be at Batman’s side and eager to be a worthy partner.

The collection concludes with the Year Two sequel, Full Circle, originally a standalone graphic novel, and a short story from the Batman Gotham Knights black & white back-ups that features characters from the original Barr/Davis run.

All told, this is one of the more satisfying, straightforward volumes of artist-centric Batman volumes. It takes place during a transitory period in Batman history, but that makes it no less enjoyable for fans of old-fashioned superhero Batman fun that combines the tongue-in-cheek sensibilities of the 60s with the burgeoning seriousness of the 80s, with beautiful art to carry the reader along.  The art reproduction is also consistent throughout the volume. Not sure why this is called Volume 1 though, as I believe this includes all of Davis’ Batman work. Highly recommended.

You can also read this review at the Collected Editions blog.

USA Today runs weekly Superman comic online

As a tie-in to it's great new weekly comics experiment, "Wednesday Comics," DC Comics has partnered with USA Today to feature its lead strip, Superman, as a weekly online installment. Start here to begin the story. As of this writing, they're up to week 3.

"Wednesday Comics," a 12-week series, pays homage to the Golden Age of the Sunday newspaper's comics section. It is a 16-page weekly that unfolds to a 28" x 20" tabloid-sized, full-color spread, with each strip on its own 14" x 20" page. Each week find new stories on traditional DC superheroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and the Teen Titans, classic characters such as Adam Strange, Kamandi and Sgt. Rock, and quirkier heroes like Deadman, Metamorpho, the Metal Men and the Demon (here teamed with Catwoman).

At $3.99 an issue, it's bit expensive for a weekly book and not every strip works, but it's a great experiment that spotlights lots of character and creators, and throws in a bit of nostalgia. It's too early to tell which stories will ultimately turn out the best, and no one knows if and how the stories will be collected, but between the weekly fold-out newsprint and the online weekly Superman strip, it's a great time to be fan of DC Comics and is wide universe of characters.

Read more about the concept behind "Wednesday Comics" here.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Earlier this week, an expanded trailer for Watchmen debuted during Spike TV's Scream Awards, and showed up online shortly thereafter in regular and HD versions (in HD, you can see Dr. Manhattan's junk about 19 seconds in when he and the Silk Spectre appear on the moon). Coinciding with the new trailer was the release of this new poster featuring an image from the end of the trailer and the beginning of the book, the event that kicks off the story.

Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen was published by DC Comics in 12 monthly installments in 1986, and is considered the greatest graphic novel ever by most critics, and in fact is on Time's list of Top 100 Novels. Many, including Alan Moore, who hates all adaptations of his work, consider the book unfilmable, but based on the trailer and other images that have been released so far, it seems pretty close. Anticipation has been building since the release of the first trailer in front of The Dark Knight over the summer. Sales of the book have exploded since then, and this new footage will likely sell even more. The book is prominently displayed in all bookstores -- not just comic shops, so awareness is pretty high.

Barring complications due to the lawsuit between Fox and Warner Bros. over the movie, Watchmen opens in theatres on March 6, 2009.

Up Up and Go Away!?

(Spoilers ahead for previous and upcoming Smallville episodes)

On Thursday, September 18, Smallville returns for its eighth season. Let that sink in for a second. A show about the teenage Superman is starting its eighth year. And he’s still not Superman. And I thought I was a procrastinator.

When we last left Clark at the end of the seventh season, he had defeated Brainiac (for now), who still had cousin Kara (aka Supergirl) trapped in the past on Krypton, and was at the Arctic fortress, where Lex finally discovered what he had apparently been too blind to see all along – Clark was a strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Then the fortress collapsed on them. End of season. And with a cliffhanger like that, it certainly couldn’t be the end of the show. But it was an ending. For some.

When the show returns this Thursday, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), the show’s best character and central antagonist, will be gone, or "missing" as the show explains. Clark is missing too, but we know he’ll be back, thanks to the efforts of the proto-Justice League – Green Arrow (now a regular), Black Canary (in her second appearance) and Aquaman (in his 3rd or 4th, I lost track). At this point, previous team members Flash/Impulse and Cyborg, are nowhere to be found, their absence perhaps to be explained in the opener. Lana is also gone, having explained to Clark at the end of last season she had to move on so he could embrace his destiny (whatever, I’m just glad she’s gone). Kara is still on Krypton and won’t be back as a regular, though she will be back for at least one episode to wrap up her storyline. Lana, too will be back for a few episodes around mid-season.

This season will find Clark working at the Daily Planet with his
partner/competitor Lois Lane and cub reporter/photographer Jimmy Olsen. That’s right, it’s Lois and Clark, 2.0.

So, that leaves us with Lois, Jimmy and Chloe (Allison Mack), the only main character who does not have a comic book counterpart. As such, she’s good to have around because you’re never sure what’s going to happen to her. Everyone knows that ultimately, Lois, Jimmy, Lana and Lex are safe because they have comic book-established adult lives to still get to. So far the show has lost Pete Ross, who left Smallville (and briefly returned in last season’s worst episode), Jonathan Kent (who died, as he has in several—though not all – versions of the character), Martha Kent (who as a Senator, has left for Washington, D.C. in a complete departure for the character), and Lionel Luthor, Lex’s father, another character created just for the show, who gave viewers a glimpse of what a fully mature Lex Luthor would become, who was killed by Lex, expressly for that purpose – so he could replace him.

So what’s coming up this season, eight years after Clark has first learned that he’s an alien with super powers? Well, still not Superman, though he’s getting much closer (one would hope, wouldn’t one?) This season will find Clark working at the Daily Planet with his partner/competitor Lois Lane (Erica Durance) and cub reporter/photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore). That’s right, it’s Lois and Clark, 2.0.

But, obviously, it’s not exactly the same as the 1993-97 series. First, he’s STILL not Superman. Plus, Chloe’s still around, though his parents are not. Also, a few new regulars debut. As mentioned, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), who appeared only once last season, is now a regular. And there are two new characters to replace Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex – Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman), Lex’s replacement as the head of his company, and Davis Bloome (Sam Witwer), a paramedic who catches Chloe’s eye and is destined to become Doomsday, he character who killed Superman in he comics. How exactly that happens is anybody’s guess, as this is a complete departure from anything that’s come before in the comics.

Chloe, who was arrested by the FBI at the end of last season, just as Jimmy proposed to her, will no longer be at the Daily Planet, instead, picking up where Lana left off, running the Isis foundation, dedicated to helping so-called "meteor freaks," even as she learns to embrace her own inner freak. She will distance herself from Clark, realizing she has been too much of an enabler, hoping that leaving him to his own devices will help him embrace his destiny (there’s that phrase again, get used to it this season). One of the first she will encounter is Plastique, a character from the comics (a Firestorm villain, of all things) who can explode.

This season is the first without original executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who instituted the "no flights, no tights" rule of the show, meaning we would never see Clark fly or put on the famous red and blue costume. According to the new showrunners, “The only thing that we are saying is that we can absolutely confirm that there is no tights, so that's pretty much all we can say on that.”

He will also learn the value of a dual identity as he begins to separate "Clark Kent" from the super-powered savior he is beginning to accept that he is. In the past Green Arrow was telling him to use his gifts to make a difference. This season, the roles are reversed, as Clark recognized what he needs to do, just as Green Arrow is having his doubts.

Helping Clark along in his journey is an appearance by comic super-team, the Legion of Superheroes, a team of young heroes from the 31st century who banded together to emulate their past hero, Superman. This episode is written by comics writer Geoff Johns, who has done a LOT of work with the Legion recently, most notably in the current "Legion of Three Worlds," which I wrote about recently. The Martian Manhunter and Brainiac are also expected to make return appearances this season.

I just read that they have a clip show scheduled (now THAT’s a bad sign) and a production break when the network will decide whether or not to bring the show back for another season, so that if this is indeed the last season, they can close it out appropriately. I really do hope that it is, because there has never been a TV series where I more looked forward to the final episode. While all descriptions and interviews suggest that Clark’s indecision will end this season, he’s at least two seasons too late. I want this show to close strong and look forward to the final iconic shot of him in costume, revealing it as he tears away is Clark Kent clothes and taking off to save the day.

There has never been a TV series where I more looked forward to the final episode.

While I will likely continue to watch this show for as long as it; on, I really hope that this is the final season. Lex was the best character on the show, and without him and without Clark actually becoming Superman, the show seems to have little reason to exist. He has been in this limbo state for far too long at his point that it’s even hard to recognize him as a hero. That he’s met almost all of his JLA teammates and faced off against his major enemies – Luthor, Brainiac, Doomsday – and still has not dedicated his life to "Truth, Justice and the American Way" is increasingly frustrating. Meeting the Legion HAS to be the final kick in the ass that he needs.

At least one more appearance by Lex and some way of somehow making everybody forget that Superman looks just like Clark can make this season and series go out on a high note. Short of introducing Batman or Darkseid, I really can’t think of what's left. Bring back Mom Kent for an episode to kick him in the butt, kill off Chloe as the last straw and put him in the costume. If it does continue, get rid of everybody except Lois, Clark and Jimmy, bring back Lex and rename the show Superman. Then go nuts with comic book stuff.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Part 2 - TV and Comics)

Continuing my summary of what I was doing all summer when I wasn't blogging...

As for TV, summertime no longer means reruns. While the networks primarily ran game shows and reality shows (so easily skippable), cable as usual offered great options, though I only followed a few. I watched the premiere episodes of Swingtown and the The Middleman, but didn’t feel compelled to stick with them. As for returning shows, the second season of Mad Men has been fantastic so far, and Monk continues to be a fun diversion, though not quite compelling.

The one new show I added was Jurassic Fight Club from the History Channel, an hour-long documentary series that features paleontologists theorizing how different types of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures battled throughout the world, based on bones and other archaeological evidence, The climax of each episode is a 15-minute re-enactment of the battle in glorious CGI, and it’s pretty brutal stuff. The show became a little repetitive though and while I’m still recording it, I’m not quite as fascinated as I once was. The novelty’s worn off a bit.

But now, it’s post-Labor Day and the new TV season is about to begin. First up is the final season of The Shield, which premiered this past week. The network shows are all back thought September and October, and I’ll hopefully write about the new fall season soon enough – including a preview of what is likely (hopefully?) the final season of Smallville.

Comics

I’ve done a pretty good job of not buying new comics for the past several months after the disappointment of Countdown and the new Justice League book, among other things. My plan to wait for trade is mostly in full effect (not helped of course my this new tendency to put almost everything in hardcover first, making that wait even longer – over a year in some cases). But this summer, DC, or more accurately writers Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns sucked me back in with their summer event, Final Crisis and some related spin-offs.

Final Crisis is about "the day evil wins" and involves a new version of Jack Kirby’s New Gods as envisioned by Grant Morrison in his typical off-kilter fashion. The first issue begins with the death of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, and the return of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash, who was killed back in 1986 in Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC’s first major summer event. So far, it’s been a little hard to follow but I trust Morrison to pull it of in the end.

A little more straightforward is a pair of spin-offs written by Geoff Johns – Rogues' Revenge, about a banded together group of Flash villains and Legion of Three Worlds, which involves a whole bunch of characters, including several continuity challenging versions of the 30th (or 31st) Century’s Legion of Superheroes, as well as Superman and Superboy Prime, one of the villains from 2006’s Infinite Crisis ,who was first introduced around the first aforementioned Crisis, though he was a good guy at the time. The story promises to impact future storylines in books featuring Superman, Flash and Green Lantern, as well as the Legion. With art by the incomparable George Perez (also of the again aforementioned 1986 Crisis), this appears to be just a fun book.

Final Crisis, Rogue’s Revenge and maybe even Legion of Three Worlds (at least one speedster is likely to make a comeback in this story) all provide the prelude to the return of Barry Allen in the Flash: Rebirth, also by Johns, coming later this year. This is another book that I will have a hard time waiting for the collection. Just about everything else coming though, I can wait.

One of these days I may REALLY quit.

We’ll see...

New Hellboy II promos include animated Mignola preview

From Collider.com comes all kinds of new promotional videos for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, opening July 11, the coolest of which is an animated prolgue by comics writer/artist and Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola.

If nothing else, the movie looks pretty cool. The first one was a lot of fun, and there's no reason to expect this one won't be too, though it will be quickly be overshadowwed by Dark Knight, opening only a week later, which you may have seen mentioned a time or two on this site.

Review: "Iron Man" may be the best superhero movie EVER!

I feel like a traitor, but Iron Man may be the best superhero ever made. I am loyal to the DC comics heroes, Superman and Batman. And at Marvel, only Spider-Man holds any serious sway with me. In over 30 years of reading comics, I’m not sure if I’ve ever even read an "Iron Man" solo comic, but none of that matters – Iron Man is a fantastic superhero movie, a fantastic movie, period, regardless of genre. It’s been said that Marvel heroes are more easily translatable to the big screen than the DC heroes. Iron Man is proof positive of this.

A lot of the credit has to go to Robert Downey Jr. I may not have ever been an Iron Man fan, but I’ve always loved this actor. News of his casting as Tony Stark was almost as thrilling to me as hearing Christian Bale was going to be Bruce Wayne. The rest of the cast is great too – Terrence Howard as military liaison James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Gwyneth Paltrow as loyal assistant Pepper Potts and Jeff Bridges as business partner-turned-nemesis Obadiah Stane. With a running time of just over two hours, not once did this film drag. Not a single frame was wasted, not a single scene went on too long, nor did any performance mar the film (unlike, say Katie Holmes in the otherwise excellently cast and acted Batman Begins, a mistake rectified in the sequel). There are plenty of Easter eggs for comics fans (even though, I don’t read the "Iron Man" comics, I’m familiar enough with the world to have picked up on most of them, though I’m sure I may have missed a few).

The reason this movie works for audiences beyond fanboys though is the overall realism of the film. Though there’s plenty of CGI and questionable science in the film, it doesn’t require any more suspension of disbelief than most action/adventure films, and certainly a lot less than most superhero movies. That’s because the source material is based more on reality than any of the other heroes. Though updated for the times, the origin from the comics holds up very well in the live-action adaptation. The film establishes early on Stark’s scientific and engineering expertise, so watching him, design, test, and perfect his armor in a series of vignettes is one of the best parts of the movie – a showcase of fantastic special effects, sight gags and one-liners that grounds the movie more than, say, Peter Parker finding out that he can climb walls and shoot sticky stuff out of his wrist (not that I’m knocking Spider-Man at all – I loved the movie, but still…)

What’s a good superhero movie without a good super-villain? Those looking for a more comics-accurate portrayal of Lex Luthor need look no further than Bridge’s Stane, a greedy businessman looking to eliminate his super-powered obstacle with his own super suit. Jeff Bridges is great in this movie and teaches a new lesson – never trust a man bearing New York City take-out pizza. I’ve never had much of an opinion of Paltrow one way or another, regarding either her acting or her looks, but here she more than holds her own with the great Downey and Bridges, and looks great doing it. Howard doesn’t have a lot to do, but like Samuel L. Jackson in the Phantom Menace, you know he’s going to have more to do in the inevitable sequels (one of those Easter eggs I mentioned earlier). Regardless, he’s great as both a loyal friend and solider.

But Downey carries this movie. He’s in just about every frame of this movie and never does he fail to impress, bringing his well-known personal history into the role. He’s by himself for most of the middle of the movie during the design/test/perfect scenes I mentioned, but he’s still talking almost non-stop to his mechanical assistants, those with and without voices of their own. We see him as an immoral playboy, prisoner of war, brilliant eccentric (he’s based on Howard Hughes), naïve businessman and crusading superhero, and he pulls all of them off.

Every review I’ve read of this movie has been overwhelmingly positive, noting that only the conclusion is a little cliche and too effects-driven. While I won’t say the finale is completely original, it is by no means underwhelming – yes, it’s a battle of two guys in armored suits, but unlike Transformers, you’re still caught up in the movie, knowing there’s two guys in there, not just effects (even though that’s pretty much what it is), and it not drawn out too long. It’s a short, intense, action-packed final a battle that keeps you engaged and amazed throughout.

And, very importantly, if you are a Marvel comics fan, you HAVE to wait until after the credits end for a very short scene that will soon prove that Marvel was absolutely right to take control of their characters’ movies, the next of which is The Incredible Hulk, which had a trailer in front of Iron Man.

You don't have to be a comic fan to enjoy this movie, and if you are – especially a Marvel Comics fan – you will be very, very happy with this movie.

Marvel Comics set to adapt Stephen King's "The Stand"

During an NPR interview promoting the second comic mini-series based on his Dark Tower saga (the first issue came out earlier this month), author Stephen King announced that Marvel Comics will also adapt one of his earliest and most popular novels, The Stand.

Marvel hasn't officially announced it yet, so writer, artist, length and due date are still unknown. The first Dark Tower mini-series, Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born, was one of 2007's top selling comics, both in its serial form and in the hardback collection. The second series is called Dark Tower: The Long Road Home.

During the 17+ minute interview, he talks about adapting his work into comics, and he also mentions that one of the favorite comics he has discovered is Y: The Last Man.

Strangely enough, in addition to working on another novel, he is actually working on a musical with John Mellencamp.

I started reading the uncut version of The Stand when it came out in 1990, but it was so huge I never got through it. I lent it to someone and never got it back. I am currently reading King's 2006 novel, Cell, the first King book I have read in years. I also read his monthly column in Entertainment Weekly.

Watchmen movie character shots

Watchmen, the movie based on the groundbreaking comic series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, opens in theatres in exactly one year. In recognition of the date, director Zack Snyder revealed 4 new photos on his production blog featuring the movie's characters, looking fairly faithful to their comic versions. Here's a shot of the Comedian:

Iron Man Super Bowl spot

"Wanted" Super Bowl Spot

Wanted, the movie based on the Mark Millar/J.G. Jones comic mini-series, open on June 27. The moive is spotlighted in a Super Bowl ad you can see here.

New Captain America interviewed on "Good Morning America"

In Marvel Comics last week, a new gun-toting Captain America replaced the slain Steve Rogers, his former sidekick, and once-thought-dead Bucky Barnes. He answered a few questions for Good Morning America. See the interview here.

Ealier last week, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada also promoted the new Cap on The Colbert Report.

"New Frontier "comic special to Join DVD release

As if the release of Justice League: The New Frontier as a direct-to-DVD animated movie of February 26 weren't cool enough, creator Darwyn Cooke is releasing a 48-page Justice League: New Frontier special a week later, featuring three untold tales set during the time period of the orignal story. As Cooke told Newsarama:

The special will be a special in that old school way. It will have a small connecting story and the conceit is that these are untold events that the government classified back in the early sixties. There are three stories in the special. The main story is something I call Chapter X, and it is the story behind the big Batman/Superman fight hoax referred to in New Frontier. In the book we only deal with that event as a squib in a magazine article along with on shot of them brawling. This 22 page story will tell about what leads up to the two fighting, and how they choose to resolve it. A host of our Frontier cast are in this story, from King Faraday and the Suicide Squad through to Wonder Woman and Hourman. We also get to meet the New Frontier Alfred .... J. Bone and I are tackling Wonder Woman, Black Canary and old school chauvinism in an New Frontier parody along the lines of the old Kurtzman/Wood Mad satires. The director of the NFDVD is a talented young man named David Bullock. He and I are tackling a short that features Robin and Kid Flash up against Red saboteurs.

An animated adaptation of one of the best comic stories in years, and now a comic follow-up. Comics CAN still be good! For more inforamtion on DC's New Frontier-related offerings, click here.

Justice League: New Frontier will premiere at the WonderCon in San Francisco on Feburary 22-24, and arrive in stories on Feburary 26. The New Frontier comic special hits shops on March 5.

And Your Bird Can Sing

Smallville is back with new episodes starting January 31, feauring the return of Brainiac (James Marsters). Even better, the following week, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) comes back, and he's bringing a friend:
That's right: The Black Canary, complete with sonic scream. Here's how the episode, called "Siren", is described:

While secretly working for Oliver (guest-star Justin Hartley), Chloe (Allison Mack) intercepts one of Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) project files, but she is attacked by the Black Canary (guest-star Alaina Huffman), a mystery woman with a subsonic cry. Dinah Lance, Black Canary's alter ego, is a conservative talk show host who is working at the Daily Planet and clashes with Lois (Erica Durance). Lex convinces the Black Canary that the Green Arrow and his team are terrorists so she launches an attack on the Green Arrow and Clark (Tom Welling). Meanwhile, Lois discovers Oliver's secret.

Yay fishnets!

"Iron Man," "Hulk" movie crossovers hint at future Avengers film

This summer's movie season will see both Iron Man (May 2) and The Incredible Hulk (June 13). While both movies have different writers and directors, they are part of the same shared Marvel universe. And both movies are dropping hints about that shared universe and the eventual Avengers movie it will lead to.

Unlike Warners Bros's handling of DC characters, both individually and in a Justice League film, Marvel is looking to launch solo movies starring Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk before teaming them up in the same movie with the same actors.

The seeds for the Avengers movie will appear in both 2008 Marvel movies. First up, Samuel L. Jackson will be appearing in Iron Man as Col. Nick Fury. In Marvel's Ultimates series, Nick Fury formed that particular version of the Avengers -- and Fury, as drawn by Bryan Hitch, looks just like Samuel L. Jackson, as you can see here.

Next, in The Incredible Hulk, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) aka Iron Man, will share a scene with General Ross, played by William Hurt, confirmed this week at Sundance by Hurt himself:

"I don't know how it'll work," Hurt admitted, saying it was a thrill to appear as General Thaddeus Ross during Downey's scene. "I know it's weird [to work with a character from another movie], and to know it's a device. We did something; I don't know what that's going to be like [to watch]."

Hurt seems pretty psyched about the upcoming movie, and notes that it is a separate film from Ang Lee's failed attempt at the depicting the big, green, gamma guy. Iron Man director Jon Favreau is just as excited at the idea of the shared movie universe, and may even want to direct the big team-up movie:

In the case of Marvel they’re pretty clear on wanting to do it with the actors who’ve established the roles or to not do it at all. That’s what they’ve said to me. I think it’s a good idea if you use the characters established in the other franchises that then come together for an event. I don’t think they would do it like they’re doing ‘Justice League’ where it’s a whole different set of actors and a whole different take on the world.”

Sounds promising, but let's how these two movies do this year before we get too carried away. With the writer's strike putting the JLA movie on hold, it could -- and should? -- be a long while before we see a super-ghero team-up movie from any shared universe.

Holy Crap! Bat-Mite's Back -- and he's in continuity!

Writer Grant Morrison has returned Bat-Mite to the pages of Batman, in issue #672. Of course, like Batman himself, he has been updated for the times....



I picked the wrong day to quit comics...

You wouldn't Like Him when He's Angry

If there was any doubt that the new Incredible Hulk movie, due June 13 and starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth and William Hurt, was goingto be taking more cures from the 70s TV show than the 2003 movie, look no further than this photo of norton as Bruce Banner in a remarkkably familiar looking machine. here's how Universal describes the non-sequel The Incredible Hulk:

"The Incredible Hulk" kicks off an all-new, explosive and action-packed epic of one of the most popular superheroes of all time. In this new beginning, scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) desperately hunts for a cure to the gamma radiation that poisoned his cells and unleashes the unbridled force of rage within him: The Hulk. Living in the shadows--cut off from a life he knew and the woman he loves, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler)--Banner struggles to avoid the obsessive pursuit of his nemesis, General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), and the military machinery that seeks to capture him and brutally exploit his power. As all three grapple with the secrets that led to The Hulk's creation, they are confronted with a monstrous new adversary known as The Abomination (Tim Roth), whose destructive strength exceeds even The Hulk's own. And on June 13, 2008, one scientist must make an agonizing final choice: accept a peaceful life as Bruce Banner or find heroism in the creature he holds inside--"The Incredible Hulk."

Here's hoping it's better than the Ang Lee-directed travesty.

Spider-Marriage No More

I haven't been reading mainstream Spidey comics for awhile now. In fact, I stopped reading right around the time writer J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) started taking the book too far into the supernatural (Dr. Strange should not be a regular in a Spidey book). After several years of revitializing the title, JMS this week wrapped up his 6+ year run on Amazing Spider-Man with an editorially driven story called "One More Day" that ended with a twist that fans knew was coming, but were outraged nonetheless -- in a deal wth the Marvel version of the devil, Mephisto, Peter and his wife of 20 years (real time -in the 1987 Spidey annual on the left) erased their marriage in order to save the life of old, dying Aunt May. And apparently that's exactly what happened -- some yet-to-be pinpointed moment in the past was changed so that Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson never got married. It apparently has also undone the recent public unmasking of Spider-Man from the recently completed Civil War storyline and took awy the organic web-shooters he had recntly developed to keep him more in line with his movie counterpart. Not to mention probably every other Spidey story JMS wrote. And Civil War, and tons of other stories from the last 20 years, including some non-Spidey title ones.

Why? Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada (who also drew the 4-part storyline) has been complaining for a long time now how bad an idea the marriage was -- that the appeal of Spidey as a character was in his being single and struggling in his personal life, not married to a former super-model/actress. So he got his wish, and while there are many who may agree that the marriage was not a good idea, virtually nobody is happy with the way Marvel chose to end it, including apparently JMS himself, who wanted to have his name removed from the last two parts of the story.

With the conclusion of this story. Marvel will be launching "Brand New Day" in the three-times-a-month Amazing Spider-Man, now the only mainstream Spidey title (as opposed to the Ultimate and Marvel Adventures versions, where it should be noted, he has never been married), which will explore the new status quo with new crators who promise to bring a sense of old school fun back to Spider-Man. How successful this "reboot" turns out to be is still to be determined, but regardless of this new status quo, how they got there is what has fans up in arms -- Spidey made a deal with the devil?! Save his old, decrepit aunt who already said she was ready to die by undoing his marriage?! This is an incredibly stupid idea that puts DC's continuinty-punch (don't ask) storytelling to shame.

Does that mean I'll never buy a Spider-Man or Marvel comic again? Of course not. I'm just joining the throngs of angry readers who recognize that this was a bad story idea that betrays the core concept of the character as a quick easy, deus ex machina fix to restore that core concept of the character.

Lazy storytelling, and another justification for my not buying monthly (or weekly, or thrice-monthly) comics anymore. Boo Marvel! Boo Quesada!

Hellboy 2 trailer

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The Dark Knight Trailer

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the latest trailer for The Dark Knight, the Batman Begins sequel opening in July 2008. The trailer features Heath Ledger's Joker prominently. No Nicholson impressions here. Getting psyched....