I went to see both of these movies last night.  We started to watch a third, but Bunny started getting a migraine.  The good news is she's feeling all better today. ;) Now, on with the movies. :)

The Dark Knight was first at bat (HA! I kill me, not).  I knew they were going for a darker Batman, but I had no idea how serious they were.  I was totally caught off guard by some of the places this movie went.  It was dark, it was dirty and it was good.  Heath Ledger delivered an amazing Joker unlike none you've ever seen before.  I was on the edge of my seat holding tightly to the arm rests.  There was a grown man sitting near me doing a lot of "OMG"ing and other such exclamations that took away from my viewing pleasure, but I couldn't really fault the guy.  They movie had that effect of people.  Unfortunately for me he was a bit more vocal that other and just off to my left.  All in all a very good movie with a rather sad ending, but fitting.  No disappointments here.  The Dark Knight earned every ounce of it's PG-13 rating, and I'm sure it was teetering on the verge of becoming a rated R movie.  This Batman movie might not be suited for the younger young ones, but I'll leave that decision in your capable hands. ;) If you haven't seen it yet, it is well worth the price of admission.

Next up at bat (not funny at all this time, go figger) is Wall-E.  Wall-E was everything folks had lead me to believe, but with a little more dialog than I expected.  They way people were talking I was expecting a handful of words during the whole movie, but there was a bit more than that.  Still I was not disappointed.  Wall-E was fun, lovable and left you with a few things to think about.  The health and wellbeing of the earth was the moral of the day, and it was tackled quite well, poking plenty of fun at us silly humans.  It took me so long to see this movie that I would suggest waiting for it to come out on DVD for the simple fact that I'm sure that time is right around the corner.  With that being said, it was worth the price of admission, but it was shown in a tiny little theater due to its being on the border heading out the door.  Sill, well worth watching and good fun for the whole family. :mrgreen:

I'm pretty excited about this comic. It's been in development for probably two years now, but I only got an artist on board in February. Richie is pulling off some great work. He has the aesthetic I wanted for the story down pat, and he's just as invested in it as I am. That's a rare gift for a writer, to have a freelance artist who isn't just in it for the money but loves the story and wants to see it because it's beautiful.

Radio Girl's basic premise is that, in 1994, the world's most famous teen superhero vanishes without a trace. She reappears in 2006 without having aged a day. Reconnecting with her parents and with her old allies, she must uncover the mystery of her disappearance, her purpose, and the meaning of her dreams, which are full of dreadful imagery culled straight from the plague years of Europe. During my research for the book, one character in particular caught my eye: Doctor Beak.

Doctor Beak is the colloquial name for the plague doctor, a name of obvious provenance. Look at that mask! The streets of a plague city were filled with them, physicians walking around in these beak masks with their empty eyes. They were designed, after a fashion, to protect doctors from the disease. The beak was filled with strong-smelling salts and herbs to keep the bad airs out, the plagues cause was not known for certain.

But it's an evocative image, and I was struck with the purpose: the ward off death. These men tried to be signs of life in a time of death, and only succeeded in being strange, terrifying portents of the plague-stricken cities. With that in mind, they seemed the perfect template for, well...these guys.

This is what Richie came up with when I sent him the image. This proves the man is either absolutely insane, or a certified genius. That cliche aside, I'm very happy with this design and with the overall direction of Richie's work.

For a series meant also to deal with the confrontation of childhood and maturity, and the popular culture for kids of the early 1990's, he's successfuly given the entire project a very animation-y texture.

I hope to continue cataloging our progress as we march towards our first finished issue, which will hopefully be done by early September.

I used to read comics when I was a kid. First stuff like the Beano and Dandy and later 2000AD. Being into all things SciFi I thought the later was really cool, but at some point, for some reason, like watching Dr Who, I grew out of it.

Then when I was 21 someone I was working with told me about something called "a graphic novel" which was, so I heard, a kind of grown-up version of a comic book. The particular book under discussion was Dark Knight Returns about the return to cape-dom of a middle-aged Batman. I borrowed it from my enthusiast friend and did enjoy it but I remember thinking that whilst it wasn't for kids it was still more adolescent than adult, like action movies and heavy metal. (I suspect if I re-read it now I'd be kinder to it. At 21 I was still too young to enjoy things that others might have  thought of as childish.)

I don't think I picked up another graphic novel until after I'd become a Buffy fan. It was from other fans recommendations that I bought Watchmen. Of course when I saw that it had big stretches of actual text in it I gave up on it.

What can I say? I'm lazy.

But then a few days ago I noticed that there was a trailer online for an upcoming Watchmen movie. I didn't watch it, instead I pulled out my copy of the book and started to read. I couldn't put it down and I finished it a couple of days later. And this is my review. I make no attempt to summarize the plot, nor to avoid spoilers. If you've not done so already, I strongly encourage you to read it.

So ok, I get it now. Because I read the Dark Knight, I've read various Buffy-related comics (mostly the origin one and season 8), and even the two League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ones and whilst they are all to varying degrees enjoyable, I never really got the whole "comic books as an artform" thing. Until now.

Watchmen really is on a different level from those other books. I think it's because of the depth of it, the layers of story and the sheer density of concept. That and extraordinary visuals. Take for example the iconic cover-art image (above) and see how that's used and developed on the very first page. This kind of thing -- starting on a small detail and pulling back and back until a fuller picture (literally and thematically) is revealed -- is done throughout the book. It's no wonder people want to make this into a movie. It's like a pre-drawn storyboard for itself.

But it's so much more than that. It has great, intriguing characters. I guess most people like Rorshach - who's morally ambiguous, possibly mentally unstable but badass in a way that fiction can't quite resist. Personally I was quite drawn to Nite Owl. I liked that he was shy, fumbling, quiet man when out of costume and yet is so confident and competent with it. I love when he serves coffee and plays music for the victims of a building fire he rescues. Dr Manhattan, who is key to the entire plot, is fascinating too. He is to all intents and purposes an alien, even though his origins are human, and successfully communicating an alien point of view is something that's done all too rarely, but it's done beautifully here with the scenes on Mars in particular.

I think the thing I like most about Watchmen is the layering of different story elements in a way that complements or contrasts, but always adds to the overall thematic message. Take for example the sections with the excerpts from the fictional comic ("Tales from the Black Freighter"). I can think of a couple of moments where you go from an entirely different scene and we get the last line of dialogue from that scene, over a panel showing the kid reading the comic, the newsvendor talking about the events in the wider world, some background activity, perhaps the ongoing drama of the lesbian taxi-driver's breakup, leading into a panel showing horrific scenes from "Tales" where a sailor is trying to reach his home on a raft made from the dead bodies of his comrades. When I first read this I stopped and not only thought how well done it was but wondered whether I've ever seen a movie or TV program intermingle so many different elements so successfully in such a short space of time. Then I wondered if it's even possible and that's why we need this artform.

Who knows? It's very possible I just haven't seen the right movies!

It's noteworthy that this was written/drawn in the mid 1980s and whilst it didn't feel dated it was "of its time" in the sense that one of the major themes is the ever present threat of nuclear war. I don't have a problem with that, because I lived through that age and remember well that sense of impending doom bubbling beneath the surface. It was there in popular culture if nothing else. A younger reader might perhaps, not get those references immediately.

If it has a weakness I think it's the ending. I'm not quite sure that I buy into the idea that a fake alien accidental one-off invasion would unite the world. At least I'm not sure for how long it would. There was also some stuff with an attempted rape that I was a little uncomfortable with at best. But that wasn't a huge part of the story.

So overall it definitely deserves its high praise. 9/10

P.S. I have now watch the trailer and they seemed to have included all the main elelments that I'd expect. They've made the characters younger by at least a decade but that's Hollywood I guess. Supposedly this is one of those unfilmable books but I'm not sure about that. I guess people have said that because a) it's long, b) it's got complicated effects scenes in it and c) it's perhaps too adult to get a rating that will sell enough tickets. Well a) anything can be condensed - work out what the heart of the story is and make sure you tell that, b) CGI has come along way since 1986 and c) as has what you can get away with in a 15 (Dark Knight is a 12a!) plus some of the violence can be toned down without losing the tone.

It's all a question of how good the movie makers are. We'll see I guess.

I can't actually believe it's been 15 years since we last had an actual Ambush Comic on the shelves. Barring a few minor cameos the last comic fully dedicated to Irwin Schwab was 1992's Ambush Bug: Nothing Special. The best thing about this new mini, is that Giffen & co. have picked up exactly where things were left. Same supporting cast (Cheeks! Argh!yle! Jonni DC), same relentless punning and bad gags, same irreverence for the DCU at large (the best joke involves literal women-in-refidgerators, and gives DC editorial a rightly deserved kick to the balls).

Giffen's art is relatively unchanged - slightly looser perhaps, which might in part be due to the fact that he's spent the last decade doing breakdowns for other artists. But it's a joy to see him on full art duties, and the Bug brings out the best in him. Also Robert Loren Fleming is back on dialogue. Where did he go? Do you think he left comics in pursuit of *shudder* artistic credibility? Well this should put the kibosh on that...

It's refreshing to read a funny superhero comic really. There should be more actual humour comics on the stands alongside all the faux-grit and posturing (I miss The Heckler). The wonderful Bizarro anthologies proved there was plenty of mileage in different takes on the super-comic. Evan Dorkin should be doing a Metal Men comic right now for example. So Ambush Bug: Year None is refreshingly funny stuff, and the perfect tonic to the increasingly rapey-stabby DCU.

For sure Ambush Bug is probably going to leave newbie readers, or people unfamiliar with the DCU, a little non-plussed. But y'know, so what. That's not me, so there. So from me this comic gets an undeniable:

Thanks guys!

And so another Warren Ellis mini-series comes to an end...

I kind of enjoyed the first couple of issues of this. I'm a sucker fore lovingly detailed ultra-violence, and Ellis is always happy to oblige in that department. That said, it went nowhere fast. Starting with the murder of the US President it failed to deliver on anything other than big explosions and the usual techy info-dumps.

Ellis is one of the most frustrating big gun writers; he is capable of well written sci-fi comics like 'Desolation Jones', and extremely enjoyable superhero comics such as NextWAVE (probably the best Marvel comic of the decade) or trashy fun like Thunderbolts. Yet he's also lazy, half-baked and uncommitted. He regularly keeps readers waiting for absurdly long periods of time between issues, and his series drop off the radar with alarming regularity. Plus, he's guilty of some of the most aggravating 'writing-for-trade' habits in the industry, regularly stretching prologue scenes into entire issues.

So Black Summer trawled along for seven issues looking pretty, saying nothing particularly new or interesting about the genre, despite it's posturing. Ryp does his best Darrow approximation, but lacks the storytelling capabilities of the latter. Sometimes the hyper-detailed panels looked confusing and cluttered, and strangely flat. Oh sure it's always nice to see carnage depicted in such loving detail, but it got tedious fast. For such an 'epic' story it all felt strangely small. So I'm afraid this gets a big:

We braved the San Francisco weather and headed to The Travel Immunization Clinic to get a TB test for a whopping $35.00. I had to have a TB test in order to get a job with a school. The administration is always worried that teachers are carriers, when it's a commonly known fact that it's the children that are little petri dishes of infection and sickness waiting to be unleashed upon the faculty population because Little Timmy didn't stay home from school like he should have. From there it was off to a coffee shop to play some Unspeakable Words and drink coffee. An oatmeal raisin cookie managed to find it's way onto our table somehow. Must be because I ordered it. Two games later it was time to head to Whole Paycheck and buy some groceries.

On the way out of Whole Foods, our old lady grocery cart that we purchased from The Container Store lost one of it's main wheels. Near disaster of spilled groceries narrowly avoided, we used a paper clip and a twist tie to fix the wheel and made it half-way home before the tire of one of the smaller front wheels popped off. I think we overloaded the cart and exceeded it's weight limit. Fortunately, we were close to home and brought the cart in on it's back two wheels.

Dinner was a salad and and grilled cheese with the last online of episode of Wipeout (there will be another next week). Online Tetris battles followed the food, and Elli won all challenges, leaving my scores in the dust. If only we had the TV and the XBOX here with us, then I could show her...

Following my humiliating defeat we both surfed the web for 2 hours (oh, dear! where does the time go?!) before realizing that we just spent 2 hours surfing the web. A bowl of popcorn and two episodes of Kim Possible was our answer to the web surfing time lost. Then it was reading time (Powers, vol. 2, issues 14-16 by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming for me and The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner for her). Lights out sometime after midnight in preparation for an outing to the ocean on Saturday.

Kim Possible. Still waiting for the complete series to come to DVD...

At the time, I thought it was pretty awesome.  'Look at all the muscles!' I thought.  'Look at all the detail!  I even added his necklace!' Hehehe.  Since then I would say I have improved in leaps and bounds.  I have studied anatomy, poses, composition, etc. in order to further my abilities.  I'm even considering the possibility of going professional one day.

For now, however, I will leave it as a hobby.  This blog will sometimes be used as a place to post WIPs (Works in Progress), as well as final pieces I am pretty proud of.  I will keep this updated with lots of fun stuff for you to look at, as well as read.  Someday, people may come here just for the pretty pictures--maybe when I get better though ;-P

So, for the title of this post: deviantART is my main art headquarters.  It is a website where you can make your own online art gallery pretty much.  It's really fun and really addicting, because there are tons of things to do on there, like look at other amazing art, chat in the forums, or browse the latest news in the world of art and beyond.  Check out the homepage: deviantart.com  as well as my own site: backalleyscrapper.deviantart.com

As an example of how I have improved over the two years, here is a piece I will show you to close this post.  Gradient is my newest superhero, a mutant with the power to control five different elements.  Enjoy:

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I know, I know, I promised this yesterday. Sorry, I got side-tracked. First I started reading comics and then my house-mate Kevin and I took a field-trip to Anchor Grill for pie and ice cream. Shut-up, it was awesome. But I'm here now, so let's talk about those comics you should be reading. I think I've got a good little selection here for you. In terms of an introduction Id just like to say that I don't really read "alternative" comics. Nope, I like my comics full of superheroes, villains, monsters and spaceships. You know...cool stuff.  If I can't have fun reading them I don't see the point in spending money on them. So let's at some books about kids, french space-wars and characters you know and love...

I'm not going to be writing too much about each of this books. The idea that my descriptions could have more words than are in the comics themselves is somewhat laughable. Plenty of pretty pictures though!

First up is a book called "Kick-Ass," written by Mark Millar and drawn by John Romita Jr. I'm a really big fan of Millar's work so hell be showing up later too. I thought Civil War was an amazing Watchmen-lite reboot for the Marvel Universe and it got me pretty excited about comics again. This book is about a kid who reads too many comics and decides to try this super-hero thing out himself. Of course he fumbles a lot but the thing that sets this apart from being kind of a run-of-the-mill story is the writing and the incredibly over-the-top violent situations this kid gets himself into. The cover above is from issue #3. Go out and buy these before it gets turned into a movie.

Next up is another Millar book called "1985." Presently we are on issue #3, and it's proving to be a pretty great story. The basic premise is that a kid who reads too many comics (I sense a theme in Millar's work) begins to notice a few of the villains from his books inhabiting a house in the woods. Before you know it, our world is under attack by villains and being saved by heroes from 80's era of Marvel. This book started out pretty slow but has gotten much better by this third issue. I was initially keeping with it hoping that this better-than-average book would take off because I love the concept. Well, it finally did. A couple of the villain attacks on civilians in this one are almost disturbing, particularly The Mole's. It's definitely worth reading.

OK, I promise this is the last Millar book I'll be mentioning. I really only follow two writers closely, Millar and Mignola (he'll come up later), so bear with me. This here is the wrap-around cover from the new "Old Man Logan" story-arc that started with "Wolverine" #66. I don't tend to read "Wolverine" but this story sounded to hard to resist. If this description doesn't sound awesome to you, you've got a screw loose: So, Wolverine is older and living in a Mad-Max style post-apocalyptic America which is run by super-villains. Wait, there's more! Take that concept and that make Wolverine and Hawkeye do a "Smokey and the Bandit" style cross-country drive through the villain-run America and now you've got "Old Man Logan." It's awesome!!!

I am extremely excited about this book. Marvel has started publishing English versions of comics previously release by French comic publisher Soleil. In recent years comic books have become noticably shorter and less wordy. It's so incredibly frustrating to buy a comic and finish it in 10-minutes. I love the art of comics, but good art can't save a weak story. I'm happy to report that I still haven't finished the first issue of "Universal War One" but I can already tell you I'm loving it. It's in space, it's wordy, the art is beautiful and so far it involves a giant black mass that's a bajillion times bigger than our sun. Oh and it gets a "Mature Content." Buy this, I want Marvel to do more of Soleil's comics in the futures.

The final Marvel book today is the "Captain America: White" #0. Marvel does some interesting things with origins in their "Color" series and I'm excited to see what they do with the Cap and Bucky. I love Captain America stories that take place during WW2 (which the upcoming movie will too, yessss!) so I'm already completely infatuated with this book. This book is a preview/prologue for the series which I believe will be officially starting during the winter. Go out and get this, this promises to be a great story.

Two new story-arcs from the Mignola camp too. Whether from a longtime love of the comics or being newly introduced through the films, most people know who Hellboy is these days. If you've only seen the movies, I would highly suggest going to any book or comic store and picking up some Trade Paperbacks of old Hellboys. The films aren't bad, in fact I like them a whole lot, but they've never quite matched the wit and epic web that is the Hellboy Universe. Hellboy has just started his "Crooked Man" story arc and you should be reading it.

B.P.R.D. has also started a new arc entitled "The Warning." For those of you unfamiliar, B.P.R.D. is the organization that Hellboy started his career with. In the comics, unlike the movie where it was everyone, Hellboy left the organization to go off wandering. The wonderful thing about the book, as well as his own solo book "The Drowning," is that Abe Sapien is almost an entirely different character than what they've done with him in the movies. I'd say its the only this that frustrates me about the movies. Abe Sapien, while an intellectual, is way more of a bad-ass and leader in the comics. I've always been sorely disappointed that they turned him into a mincing little polly for the movies. That's why you should read this, Abe Sapien is an amazing character. Also, the fish-bowl-head character, Johann Kraus is also a lot better. Seth Macfarlane came perilously close to ruining that character for me.

OK, nerd time is over! Go buy some comics at one of these places.

Love,

John

So yeah, The Dark Knight is ………… Pretty F”£king Awesome. I mean I love the Tim Burton Version of Batman, Joel can suck a big one for this efforts but Chris Nolan has save the summer for me with this movie. After the good but not great Indy film and Iron Man being good but I know the sequel going to be good and other films like The Hulk and Hancock just been ok.

I remember a review years ago for Blade Two and Aintitcool calling the movie a blow job of a film. The Dark Knight and I am sorry if people under 16 read this review, Is the full blown monkey dance with Dita Von Tesse (If you do not find her hot there is something wrong with you) of a movie.

I am not going to write anything about the plot because you just have to see the film. Most people know the bad guy is the Joker and Harvey Dent in the movie and so on.

Anyway why is The Dark Knight so good because it a crime film not a superhero movie. I will just to explain myself. The idea of Batman was he was a detective in some respects but it the movies by Burton he did a little bit but most of the time he waited until the moment he can just fight them to be honest.

In Nolan version Batman follow a case and build it up to bring the person to justice and if he has to hunt them down he will. He want to criminal world to do it time. Nolan uses the idea of Batman as a detective so he can create a crime thriller.

It hard to review this film in words to be honest because I do not want to spoil anything about the plot to be honest.

So I will talk about the actors and the performances they gave in this film.

Christian Bale is great in this movie, I like how Nolan play up the idea of the rich playboy when Wayne is out with the public but privately with Alfred he jokes and tell him how he feels. As Batman is great as well, He just fit the part, He knows how to work all the sides to the Wayne/Batman Character.

Sir Michael Caine is great as Alfred, He also play the part to great affect. Alfred is funny, insightful and a good listener. It show Alfred to be a father figure to Bruce, he might be the hired help but he is much more to Bruce and The Batman.

At this point you guessing I am going to say everyone is great and they are. It seem Film Makers have got it right with casting people in Comic Books films, they just do not have to look good but they got to act the part as well.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (My future wife I hope lol) is a good replacement for Mrs Cruise. I felt in Batman Begins I could not believe Katie Holmes to be a lawyer or in fact a assistant D.A because it was Katie Holmes from Dawson Creek. I know that sound cruel but it how I felt at the time. Ms Gyllenhaal look the part as a lawyer and love interest to both Wayne and Dent. She feel to bring more emotion to the role than Mrs Cruise.

Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent (Later Two Face) is one of the best thing in the movie to be honest. He going to be over shadow by Heath and that understandable but I can not take everything away from his performance. Dent is a the bright light of Gotham and Batman see this and believe him to be the true hero of Gotham. Eckhart give the character warm and make you believe that he want to change the City for the better, he got some issues with Gordon. When he become Two Face, Eckhart gives a stunning performace in my opition, it dark and edge and angry and switch personally with great effect. Eckhart is great (that all I can say because again you just got to see the film)

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox is a good as well, He is Batman Q to be honest, creating new suits and weapons and gadgets, Freeman play him straight down the line. A friend to Bruce who can make a good joke but at the same time warns Bruce about getting too much power.

Gary Oldman as Gordon is soild as per usual, (I love Gary Oldman, he been in some of favourite films like Leon) Gordon is the moral point of the film to be honest, he a good cop who trust Batman to the end of the world and know he the hero of Gotham if no one wants to know. Gordon in a weird way is the sane member of the good guys. Dent will stop at nothing to get the job done as the D.A and Batman is on the same page but uses different methods to get the job done. Gordon has a family and a life he wants to protect so he go along with plans but remember he has people who love him and he does not want them to get hurt.

Anyway Here the big one

Heath Ledger as The Joker. What can I say about him, Ledger is the best actor in the film and I am going to say this better than Jack in the Burton version and the best performance ever of a comic book character to the point where I forgot The Joker was a comic book character and just thought of him as a psycho in the same respects as Alex in Clockwork Orange or Patrick Bateman in America Psycho. The Joker is a anti-hero and I know that sound strange because he a bad guy but The Joker is so twisted and got balls of steel (Just watch the meeting scene in the movie and you see why). Joker want to cause chaos and mayhem and take over the city and is always one step ahead it seem. He the polar opposite to Batman. Put it this way, It not hype because Ledger die at the start of the year.

He is the best actor in the movie and the best actor as a comic book character. Him and Eckhart create two characters which just adds a whole new dimension to the Batman series of movies.

Anyway, just see the film, it great, I am going to see it on IMAX at some moment in London. Nolan, Nolan, Goyer, Bale, Ledger and everyone else who make or starred in this movie has make a great movie because this is not just a superhero movie. It a great crime thriller and character study which happen to have Heroes and villains in it from the DC universe.

Please take note writers of the next Superman movie.

First we have Superman, the man of steel is a sure fire win if you want to move your items in quick time, as he does move at the speed of light. But there may be a few downsides, especially if you have anything with krypton in it or louis lane is around, he will probably end up breaking it all.

Next we have Mr. Geek himself Spiderman, I am abit precautious to ask him to move my personal belongings, due to the simple fact that he is not very strong. But maybe he won't have to lift up anything, he could use his webs to swing them to the location, just be a bit precautious that webs are not very strong either and may snap.

Finally we have The Hulk if you're looking to relocate your house completely then this is your guy, he could lift the whole house up in one scoop and then place it wherever you want it, the only downside I see with the Hulk is you have to make him angry veeeeeerry angry. Just do not make him to mad otherwise you will end up getting a lot more than just a house move.

So this is my evaluation on the top three, do let me know your thoughts and opinions on each and maybe you have your own choice and reasons, whether its Indiana Jones, Rambo or the Iron Man.

Aww, who am I kidding? I always loved the jokercopter.

Especially in the first issue of Grant's new run. Now I don't know if it was included as a direction in the panel description, but there's something so Outer Church about the blank, *eyeless* goggles the pilot wears. I couldn't help wondering, 'Who is that guy? Where did the Joker get him from?' But it wasn't in some wanky, anally retentive comics fan kinda way, it was more, uh...*fearful* is probably the right word. The dude was just plain creepy and his anonymity made the whole thing that little bit more delicious. Ditto the copter itself. No backstory. No explanation. Just like in the old days. We're expected to just take the thing at face value. It's the Joker, he has special supervillain vehicles: nuff said. But this is the post-DKR age and everything needs a rationalisation, doesn't it? Providing a mature readers-style take on this shit has become so important over the last decade or so and it's got to the point where things have come full circle. In this reader's estimation, mystery has, once again, become the most important ingredient in any good superbook. Modern comics readers/stories are so overburdened by the weight of our need to justify and apologise for all the sumptuous, childish conceits (spandex, superhorses, Robins, etc.) that flooded the superstories of yesteryear, that in the end the only antidote for this exhausted trend has to be ? cranked up to the power of n.

Hmm, you know what, now I look at it I can't help thinking I'm beginning at the end. The argument I've just put forth is really the last word on jokercopters, and I'm about to completely contradict myself by positing a whole bunch of reasons why weird vehicles actually make perfect sense as an integral part of the batverse, and how they can be reinterpreted through a modern lense. Ah, but that's why I now post on a blog as opposed to Barbelith, you see? Because it's okay to be inconsistent here in the shifting lands of dread Dormammu.

The inspiration for this post can be found in Zom's 'Rogues piece where he concludes that the Riddler is a showman and a megalomaniac, and in a conversation we had last Saturday about how the bat baddies are all super-rich. That's right, comic-brunts, we finally figured out what these weirdos do with all that cash they nick. (Sure, it's easy to dismiss the Joker(etc)'s bank robbing past as nothing more than an ignorable stepping stone to their latter day incarnations as scary mentalists, but I say keep it all in there! Make it work, unimagocock! The thievery really happened and it's all about reinforcing these guy's weird, terrifying agendas. We don't focus on the grand larceny now because we have a clearer handle on what the crazies are about, and that stuff just isn't as interesting as the Joker shooting Barbara Gordon in the spine and sending Gordon on a mindfucking ghost train ride. But, I ask you, where did the bloody money come from? Heists, that's where. All that boring, boring low grade criminality funds the technicolour fantasies these weirdos nurture. And that definitely includes Riddlermobiles.)

So, yeah, these guys are setting themselves up as microcosmic rogue states or aggressive mini *brands* (their modern equivalent). The Joker's a purple and green playing card flagged, temporary autonomous zone of madness and death, occassionally invading, colonising and recuperating its surrounding territories - indeed, from time to time making moves on entire continents - like some kind of leering, pint sized Rome or Nazi Germany. Some of the Rogues are probably billionaires, and, inspite of all that insane cackling, they can afford it.

'Reaching', you say? Well, if I can come to that conclusion, then so can the Penguin. Batman's Rogues are comic book Bransons, obsessed with their own image, and, I'd argue, they're more vulnerable to the notion of branding than just about anyone else. Superheroes/villains practically invented the idea, so why today are the Joker and co so often denied the latitude we afford the Caped Crusader? Why do we say yes to the Batmobile but no to the Jokercopter? Superman's 'S' is as pure a corporate sigil as the golden arches, and he's a goody. Imagine if you're Mr Freeze and you've been driven mad by your own self-regard? What happens then? Ice-cars, that's what. No, the bat-villain has better reasons than most for reiterating himself across vans, bikes and spaceships, especially because his arch nemesis is the king of bloody branding himself. Batman's had more mobiles than there are Maccydees and his enemies are in direct competition with him on every level, and that includes who's got the best gyro-copter.
I want to make it clear that I'm not making a case for some weak arse bat-writer to work this idea into his stories in a literal fashion, or to have the Penguin brag about how he's set to be 'bigger than Wallmart!' Urrgh. No thanks. All I'm attempting to underline is that in the DCU there's a culture of this kind of thing that historically the batbaddie would be expected to partake of, or so long reputation!

Riddler, Two Face and the rest are new money and they want to boast about who they are, how the fuck much they're earning and, well, if they spawn copycat gangs and all that, then they've gotta keep their look fresh. Part of their power in intelligent, fun, modern comic books is their influence and their ability to set trends. The best sports cars complete with reason-wrenching, question mark reality tacks is an essential part of their mystique. Where would the Batman's ultimate Moriarty, Mr. E. Nigma, be without a gorgeous, bepuzzled, green and black UFO to wow the crowds upon his escape? It's possible that there's a whole raft of crapper superbikes out there crowding out the city streets - the automotive equivalent of the Green Vulture, the 'home-made supervillain' we saw in part one of RIP. The traffic cops are probably beside themselves - so only the most ingenious vehicles, particularly the seaworthy or airborne ones, survive for long before they end up as just another freaky porsche cluttering the GCPD's stolen/dangerous motor pool.

These things should never be overused, however. The whole point is that Two Face pulling up in his customised BMW should be impressive, audacious and not a little scary. Fans are always moaning about bollocks like 'How does Batman get around traffic jams in that thing?', so when his opposites make an appearance in their motors, we should always feel it's the ballsiest, most flagrant statement they can make, and just like their villainous owners the vehicles should always have the air of the trans-possible about them. The Riddler's car bends, unfolds, unlocks and reshapes like some weird, intricate, mechanical puzzle around the tightest roadblock, Two Face's cruiser will inevitably be described by some eye-witnesses as a fucked up old jalopy but by others as the slickest sports car imaginable, Black Mask drives a light nullifying hearse, and as for the jokercopter, the tech of that, if we zoom in real close, should rival Galactus's sink suit in the weirdness stakes - intricately latticed Joker faces wheeling around as moving parts, smirking rivets and dead, pale, robot faced steersman, and for every copter that works, there should be 10 that blew up or flooded the garage with smiley gas. And did you ever hear the story about the chap working for the GCPD crime lab who went mad dissecting one of these things? You might bump into him next time you're in Arkham, mumbling to himself in his cell:

"It's moving! Infested! It's ALIVE! ALIVE!"

The Rogues are just as inventive as the Dark Knight, and often more terrifying and incomprehensible - their choice of vehicles should reflect this. Seriously, if there's anything that's missing from the conception of superhero's/supervillain's transportation, it's the 'super' bit, and this is the best part of all to play with. The reader's inability to understand exactly what's going on inside these crazies' heads should extend not just to the whys and the wherefores of their vehicles, it should also encompass the purpose and potentialities of same - their magical powers. If it did, I'm convinced they wouldn't be hit by a wave of incredulity when these bizarre motors revved into the panel so much as a massive dose of the 'whooahs!'. The jokercopter should feel as spooky and supernatural as its owner.

We've talked about the mysterious source of these vehicles, so what of their creators? It's been suggested before that there's a massive industry out there keeping them on the roads - mad inventors and superscientists who make a more than healthy living out of them. But, just like in DKR, I personally enjoy the notion that the bigger baddies have their own, dedicated mechanics working under them. I suppose it's the difference between a small time director who has the studio choose his technicians, etc. for him and the Peter Jacksons. Imagine the strange, hideous/beautiful idiot-savant tinkering away beneath the bonnet in Two Face's lair; or the deformed, owl-faced go-to guy the Penguin employs; the luridly graffitied, haunted garage from which the Joker's latest toys emerge... There's a whole story in this aspect alone, quite apart from the point at which these mutant machines are roadworthy. The vehicle's creators would have their own twisted reasons for facillitating the Rogue's evil schemes, apart from the obvious financial benefits, but whatever their motivations, they're all, importantly, artists. Sure, the vehicles they build deal death by the dozen, but nevertheless they still form a significant contribution to Gotham's aesthetic landscape.

I always resented the way Tim Burton's cityscape reeked of film set, but I'm not sure I want it replaced by Nolan's vision either. I'm looking for something inbetween. A plausible urban environment, but one where giant, elevated typewriters and the green, red and purple lights of jokercopters sometimes feature on the horizon. I don't see why the mise-en-scene can't accommodate both the everyday and the bizzare. Indeed, as a batfan I insist that it does. If the citizens of Metropolis are wowed by aerial fireworks and concussions ringing overhead, then Gothamites have their own brand of superfight, peculiar to their gothic metropolis, of which to be proud. One which might be less heavy on the shrinking rays and the heat beams, but is just as impressive. Once seen, who can forget the gleaming red and black blur of Batman's downtown car chases, or the night the Joker laced the petrol stations with laughing gas capable of warping steel and iron, and the way Mum's Ford lurched from dependable car about town to leering, cackling death machine straight out of Steven King's Christine, or the Penguin's latest eagleplane roosting on one of the Twin Towers, its golden headlight eyes scanning the city below for its prey? The high-tec wizardry of the Gotham superscene should produce automotive spectacle easily on a par with anything Superman's backyard can throw up. And even though this stuff might sound crazy - the stuff of Batman cartoons, not Detective Comics - I think an economical sprinkling of far-out machinery would not only reinvigorate the city as an idea, a distinct environment in reader's minds, but it also perfectly aligns with a forgotten tonality that, as I've argued before, continues to inform the batverse. The words of Arthur C. Clarke seem apposite here:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology would appear to us as magic."

If it doesn't freak us out, and have people questioning its plausibility, then the jokercopter has failed us.

Just as the rational lines of Batman's rigid moral certainty are occasionally assailed by a plague of toxic-coloured psychoses masquerading as supervillains, then so, from time to time, should Gotham's streets be hijacked by their vehicular extensions - a kind of lethal, sanity challenging detournement that erects a flaming pink question mark over the grey edifices of the commuter's workaday week. Perhaps this is why Gotham's one of the most notorious, transformative cities in the United States - because the impossible lies just around the corner, raising the level of aspiration.

And so ends another little sortie into the realm of the bat-glum. The Mindless Ones: charting, week by week, the possibilities of a batverse the rest of 'em said was washed up in 1969.

OUR TIME WILL COME AGAIN.

Thor is supposed to be coming out slightly later in the year. According to Wikipedia Stan Lee made Thor shortly after creating the Hulk in the hopes of making a stronger super hero seeing as how he was a god instead of a human. I think it’s cooler when super heroes actually have skills versus brute strength though:).

Captain America is coming out in 2011. Now by adding the Hulk, let’s think, what do all 4 of these super heroes have in common? They’re all members of the Avengers. I’m positive that will be Marvel’s response to the Watchmen. This also makes a lot of sense seeing as how the list of new Avengers includes Spiderman and Wolverine. I mean Wolverine is getting his own movie with a date set for May 1, 2009. It’s going to be a very big build-up before Avengers which I’m betting will make it more popular than the Dark Knight. But that’s just me.

Anyways I'd just like to thank you guys for making today have more than 100 views! :D

Now, part of me looks at this trailer and thinks, "Wow... that is almost picture perfect!" Another part thinks that the last thing Watchmen is about are pretty pictures. This is a trailer, yes, which has one purpose: to get people excited and put asses in seats. But Zack Snyder strikes me as a director enamoured with glossy, stylised images - and that sort of thing tends to detract from the humanity of the characters. And one of the major points of Watchmen is that the superheroes in it (excepting Dr Manhattan, although that would make for a longer discussion) are utterly human. And the book is about ideas, not about wowing the audience with cool visuals.

Having said that, I like much of the casting. I like that Snyder didn't go for the superstars (although I do think that Adrian Veidt could easily have been played by a good-looking star, since he is pretty much one of the biggest celebrities in the world he inhabits). I like the visual metaphor of the clockwork in the trailer. And I find the CGI representation of Doc Manhattan strangely affecting, especially in that shot where you've got three of them.

What worries me, though, is what I've heard about the ending. If it's true... well, there's one way of pretty much ruining Watchmen, and that's by screwing with one or two elements of the ending. I just hope that they will be able to resist killing the 'bad guy'.

Oh, and one last thing...

Just because I love him. Here's a pic of Transmetal Cheetor!

by Mark Millar, Art by J. G. Jones
collects the mini-series that run from 2003 to 2004 for six issues

At its heart it's an unrealized DC Elseworld where the villains won and made everyone forget they did. All the superheroes are dead and the villains rule secretly from the shadows. But not everyone is content with this situation. This backstory is mixed with the revenge story of your everyday guy who is basically a loser and hates everything around him, all the people, himself, the world in general and so on, but doesn't do anything about it.

And this guy gets the means to fight back. He becomes the perfect killer. There's a little bit of story, basically he helps one group of villains triumph over another group of villains, but this is just a vehicle for getting revenge on everything. At the end, when he breaks the fourth wall and tells the readers how pathetic they are, he only reveals how pathetic he is. Instead of growing up, he becomes just another sort of loser.

Mind you, this is just how I'm reading the comic. Hyped up by some parts of the comic audience as the second coming, it's a typical Millar comic, high on action, low on empathic characters and overall devoid of anything meaningful. It looks good on the outside, but it's hollow on the inside. And I'm left wondering why so many people praise a comic whose main character is an asshole, whose main story is about empowering said asshole and whose finish is said asshole telling the reader something to the effect of I'm fucking you in the ass. But some people must like being abused, or they wouldn't like this comic so much.

Rating: 2/5

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