One thing from rereading old comics:

Bruce Wayne really is a TERRIBLE father figure, isn't he?

I mean, he's not quite Charles Xavier level bad, but really, at some point the Justice League probably should have taken those kids away from him. I'm just saying!

Fans Are Sometimes More Interesting Than Comics

I find the planned protest of DC's reboot interesting.

Personally, I'm of the "wait and see" opinion regarding the reboot, (It probably helps that I already know GL isn't changing much, and my other favorite character was probably going to be in limbo anyway.) But I like to see what gets fans motivated. And it'll be interesting to see how it turns out, what it'll look like, and what (if any) effect it'll have.

Damn You Burt Ward! (not really)

So it's official. I went through back issues and everything and I officially do not hate Dick Grayson anymore.

I'm even actually finding the waves of melodramatic angst kind of...endearing?

It's possibly because I keep hearing all of his dialogue in Burt Ward's voice (I will stop watching this show eventually! Honestly!) and Burt Ward was adorable back then.

It's probably also Cyclops's fault. Back when I was only a DC girl, it was one thing, but after years of splitting my affection between DC and Marvel and my utter joy at Cyclops's wangsty teenaged monologues, well... apparently I've developed a taste for seeing uptight pretty boys whine.

Actually, if you want a real embarrassing admission, I think he might be my favorite of the bat clan*. Because he's ridiculous, and wears stupid clothes, and spends way too much time angsting about not being Batman, failing Batman, not being a good Batman, and so on...

(* At least until I change my mind again. But I always did like the ones that I can mock. :-P)

Also, he spent a period of time dressed in a blue and yellow Elvis costume and actually thought that looked okay. None of these are news to me, but apparently the reasons I've always hated him as a character are the reasons I kind of love him now. And possibly always have.

God damnit, self-awareness sucks.

Because I am always wrong...

Less than a week after I posted about how I saw the GI Joe movie and wasn't really expecting a sequel, there comes out with news of a sequel.

God will never allow me to be right. About ANYTHING. :-P

That said, I'm totally in.

Heh

Okay, can I just say?

Somehow Superman's costume doesn't look any less stupid without the red underwear. Good to know.

:-)

I just thought of a weird question, that I feel like I SHOULD know the answer to but can't quite remember:

Does Aquaman function in fresh water as well as the ocean?

I'm not sure why I don't know this, but I don't, so hopefully one of you guys paid more attention and can fill a gal in.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-nah!

So anyway, it might have happened that courtesy of a certain comic book convention, I now have episodes of the 1960s Batman tv show to enjoy.

I might have just watched the first episode. It might just have been awesome, if somewhat poor quality as it was clearly taped off the television, but beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, I am noticing many more things watching this as an adult. Even though I've only made it through the first two episodes:

1) For such a light hearted show, Batman mentions his dead parents a lot.

2) I finally found a version of Dick Grayson I can actually stand.

2b) In fact, I like him so much that I kind of want to give the comics version (non-Batman version, even!) another chance!

2c) God, I won't know what to do with myself if I stop hating Nightwing!

2d) To be honest, I'd probably just keep making fun of him.

3) 1960s Riddler is kind of creepy

4) The Batman movie wasn't a fluke. Robin is the one who always figures out the Riddler's clues, to the point where Batman, as soon as he realizes there's a joke on the other end, just HANDS the phone to Robin.

5) I like how the Riddler's plan amounted to: 1) Drug Batman, 2) Kidnap Robin, 3) Dress female henchman up as Robin, 4) ...., 5) PROFIT!

5b) Burt Ward actually does a surprisingly good job playing a woman playing himself. His mannerisms and body language are noticeably different.

6) It's fun to see that villains suing superheroes is an idea that was gold even back in the sixties.

6b) As a note, I watched this with a colleague from work, and we started arguing back and forth about whether Batman CAN actually be subject to a lawsuit.

7) Aunt Harriet DOES have a purpose! She's Dick Grayson's aunt. I guess she didn't go into the whole circus thing, but it'd be awesome if she suddenly revealed a talent for acrobatics in a later ep!

8) Batman spends a lot of time lying to her about his and Dick's activities.

9) The Batusi is even awesomer in context.

10) Alfred is awesome, shock!

11) Dick Grayson is probably my favorite character. Damnit, I don't know how to DEAL with this.

New Cap Trailer

At Newsarama!

...Dude. This movie will be awesome!

You know what I miss?

Mummies.

There's something innately creepy awesome about Mummies. It's the whole timeless ancient horror thing.

Also, the brain being pulled out through the nose thing. I have issues pertaining to noses.

But really, any sort of wrapped, recently wakened up ancient dead guy is good. Especially if they're in space. Or fighting robots. <3

Bad Movies?

Are they still going to have a Thundercats movie? It just occurred to me that I haven't heard anything about it in a while. Granted, what I had heard was DREADFUL sounding, but sometimes you just need a dreadful movie.

Speaking of, I finally saw GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra, like I'd meant to ages ago. It was, indeed, endearingly dreadful. I didn't understand the suits at all. The acting was mid-range to terrible. (But Channing Tatum is indeed pretty, so there's that.)

It probably helped that I had only the vaguest memories of the 80s cartoon and never read the comics. So instead of having adaptation-rage, I could just enjoy the terribleness of the movie on its own merits. It's always nice to see Christopher Eccleston having fun with a role.

I gotta admit, I'm not really anticipating a sequel. :-)

No post today

My computer has decided it hates me, so I'm dealing with that tonight. This may end in a fight to the death.

Wish me luck, I think I can take him.

Triumphant Return!

So anyway, I had a blast at the convention. I didn't pick up any good gossip, unfortunately, but then I'm not very good at that.

I did get to see Adam West and Burt Ward's panel though and that was awesome. Also Bruce Campbell!

I also discovered that I did not actually hallucinate the existence of "Doctor Mordrid", a terrible movie (or tv movie) that I remember from my childhood. I now have a copy!

So basically my Philadelphia voyage was a success! Yay!

Yay

So anyway, this post is late because I saw Green Lantern. It was awesome. More on this later. :-)

So, I made it to Philadelphia! No con yet, but that'll be for tomorrow. Also for tomorrow: Green Lantern.

So anyone who's seen it yet, how is it? Will I like it?

So um...

I'm actually without a post today. I'm not really sure why. I just am. Work is fun, friend is visiting, and convention starts tomorrow (though technically I'm gonna miss the first day.)

I'm looking forward to all the comic events, but am not finding much blog-worthy. (I'm HIGHLY skeptical of the idea that they might reboot the Clark-Lois marriage. Not that I doubt that they'd be silly enough to decide to. I just doubt that the results will be any better than Spider-Man's retconned marriage.

I'd like to think Clark wouldn't make such a silly deal though.)

So yeah. No post. Gonna goof off instead.

So anyway, I might have forgotten to mention, but this weekend, my ex-roommate and I are going to the comic convention in Philadelphia! I'm going to miss most of Friday, due to work/travel, but that's still Saturday and Sunday that I'll get to enjoy!

I haven't been to a convention in ages, yay for me!

An Epilogue to a Rant

Still sad about the whole DCU putting JSA to rest thing. But I am happy to know that they're not being retconned out, and will be used individually.

I hope my favorite shows up somewhere!

But I still am going to miss the books. I hope they bring it/them back soon!

Ooo

No post today, but this poster looks really cool.

I can't wait for this movie. :-)

*bounce*

I don't know if I mentioned, but I'm really really excited about Green Lantern Corps. Mostly for John and Guy being partners.

It's always been interesting to me that despite having read a LOT of Green Lantern comics I can't really recall a lot of times that John and Guy have interacted, just the two of them. They've always seemed to orbit around Hal, simultaneously mentor Kyle, or do their own thing. When they split off, it tends to be one with Hal, one with Kyle. But almost never together.

I'm really looking forward to this. :-) They've got a lot in common after all (if nothing else, playing second fiddle to Hal Jordan's ego ought to make for good bonding). They've both gone through some really weird, mind-shaking experiences. And I'm pretty sure Hal's stolen both of their girlfriends at one point. :-P

So yeah, this should be a lot of fun. :-)

I was just watching the 1960s Batman movie again and I've decided sharks are vastly underused in comics today.

Sharks are awesome, man. Teeth. Fins. Menace. Nothing beats a shark! And yet, they're too often passed up for the "cooler" badguys like gorillas, dinosaurs and robots!

I love those too, but sharks also deserve some support.

Support our sharks!

Okay, I AM Nervous About THIS:

They haven't announced anything about the Justice Society.

This makes me very nervous. I love the Justice Society.

I know there are some proponents of having an Earth-2/Earth-1 split again, but that's never worked for me. In my opinion, that completely loses what the Justice Society brings to the table in a modern DCU. An Earth-2 Justice Society is just another alternate universe Justice League, I think. We have PLENTY of alternate universe Justice League of Americas.

But what the Justice Society of America brings to the current DCU is so much more than that. The Justice Society brings history to the table. One of the weaker elements of superhero franchises is that, when not careful, you end up reading and thinking "Can these people do NOTHING without calling Superman/Batman/Miscellaneous Superhero A? How passive are these people? What did they DO before they showed up?"

The Justice Society shows that heroism is timeless. That even before our current guys decided to put on silly spandex, people were still going out there and doing what needs to be done. When you have the Justice Society and the Justice League in the same universe, you get the sense that no matter what era you're looking at, you'll probably find people ready to fight for what's right. The teams become a sample rather than something exclusive.

The Justice Society also brings a sense of perspective. These are the people that the current generation grew up idolizing. These are the heroes' heroes. It humanizes our current heroes too, because it shows that they too have people that they admire and want to follow. It means something for example that, for all that Batman gets really pissy about metahuman activity in Gotham City, he doesn't (to my knowledge anyway) try to pull that shit on Alan Scott.

The Justice Society brings a sense of wider community. The Justice League doesn't have a monopoly on heroism. You don't need to be on the A-list to save people. Groups like the Justice Society, the Teen Titans, and so on, show that there's more to DCU heroism than just the big names, and that they're all doing their own part, banding together and fighting for common causes. Heroism is bigger than just the Justice League.

The Justice Society fills a niche. One thing I've always liked about the modern DCU is how the teams don't really feel redundant. The Justice Society of America had its comic throughout the 2000s, just like the Justice League, but they handled different threats. The Justice League tended to handle the huge threats, the massive invasions, the grandscale things. The Justice Society tended to handle things a bit more street level. The Justice Society encountered magic more often, elder gods, misbehaving genies and the like. Of course sometimes the Justice League had something a bit more low key and the Justice Society had the big dramatic stuff, but in general, each had their role to play. And dude, the crossovers always meant something awesome was going to go down.

The Justice Society shows us that heroism doesn't die with age, or when someone younger comes around. Okay, granted, none of the JSA guys are really as old as they ought to be, but Jay, Ted, Alan, hell even Ma Hunkle show us that the drive to be a hero doesn't fade with time. Heck, Ma Hunkle's the best example since unlike the guys, she IS aging normally and really isn't physically capable of going out with her frying pan and whacking some sense into people. But she still finds her own way to help. Just because her capabilities have changed doesn't mean she has to go off and retire. The Justice Society shows us that there are some heroes that will still continue to act like heroes until they die.

The Justice Society brings a sense of generation. Not all of the team are old fogeys after all. There are children (i.e. Jade, Obsidian, Hourman), proteges grown into their own (i.e. Sand), there are people who were just inspired to take the name of folk they never personally knew and keep their legacy going (i.e. Mr. Terrific or Dr. Mid-Nite.) And this gives us much more fascinating group dynamics in the sense that we have generational gap conflict (young people struggling to prove themselves, old people learning to adapt), family conflict (would YOU want to be on the same team as your dad?), social progression and developing challenges (Consider: Jay, Alan, Ted predate Civil Rights, the Feminist Movement and the Sexual Revolution. Meanwhile, challenges faced by Mr. Terrific today are not the same as challenges faced by say Amazing Man in All Star Squadron.) The Justice Society can explore all of these elements and much much more in a way that the Justice League simply can't.

I'm not against the idea of an Earth-2 Justice Society (period heroism is fun!) but I am against the idea of removing the Justice Society from its place in modern, Earth-1 history. It brings so much more to the table than being yet another superteam, and I think the DCU would be far blander without them.

Miscellaneous Note

Been rewatching Babylon 5 on Netflix. Now I remember why I always have high hopes when JMS writes a comic. Because when the man is on, he is ON.

I forgot how much I love this show.

...really?

Okay, as fascinating as I find the weird publication stuff about John Carter of Mars...

I'm mostly preoccupied by the fact that DISNEY is producing the movie. (Other folk probably knew this already, but I somehow missed THAT factoid.) If I wasn't already sure that it was going to suck on account of freaking GAMBIT playing John Carter of Mars (I don't think he's a bad actor, but MAN that's a mismatch on so many levels!) that would not raise my hopes.

I mean, granted, Disney has produced decent films. But the fact that Disney's name is attached so prominently doesn't give me high hopes.

I'm definitely going to check out the Marvel series (and the Dynamite one) though. :-)

Well I have a new appreciation:

So um, suddenly I have a brand new appreciation for my blog if only because last night, just as I was posting that post, I suddenly get to a page that says my blog is deleted!

Scary!

Obviously it was restored, or you wouldn't be reading this, but MAN. I was so upset when it happened! I'm far fonder of this blog and its five years of collected ludicrous babbling than I ever thought!

I'm glad to be back!

More reactions to spoilers!

Aw I've got mixed feelings about this one..

On one hand, I'm happy to see Bruce Wayne back where he belongs. Because really, it's only right. But I'm going to miss actually liking Dick Grayson. Batman!Dick Grayson is the only version of the character I've actually been able to stand. And I'm especially going to miss Damian and Dick together. I don't think Bruce and Damian will vibe nearly as well, mostly because I can't see Bruce putting up with Damian's attitude, and that makes me sad.

I think in my ideal DCU, someone else takes over Robin (I have no idea who at this point. I kind of think Tim's moved past it, and certainly he doesn't need to be co-headlining, considering he starred in a Batman-less Robin comic for like fifteen years. Maybe Steph? She might be free now?) and Damian goes off to sidekick for Nightwing as "Blue jay" or something slightly less stupid sounding.

Tangentially, I'm a tad disappointed that Barbara is going to be Batgirl again. It's the name. I know she originated it, but to me "Batgirl" always implies a subordinance to Batman. And much as I legit love Kate Kane, I don't like that "Batwoman" sounds like it outranks "Batgirl." It's irrational but there you go.

That said, I'm holding off judgment, because I'm sure I'll enjoy Barbara as a more field-active superhero again, and I've liked heroes with stupider names that I've gotten past (ahh, little Sandy Hawkins, I love you).

So mostly, I'm interested in seeing what's going on, but like any fan, I'm also whining about what I'll miss. The usual. :-)

(However, all the Green Lantern stuff sounds awesome, so there ya go. :-P)

So?

So has anyone seen X-Men First Class yet? How is it? I was a bit leery because of the trailer, but apparently the critics like it. I'm also leery of an X-Men line-up without a Cyclops, but that's just me being a biased fangirl and isn't actually an obstacle to me watching the movie.

(Besides, I'm sure the fact that Xavier is actually sympathetic/likeable will be more of a mind-breaker for me.)

I've heard a few questionable things about half-naked women, but well, I'm a comic fan so that's not really a deal breaker. :-P

But movies are expensive, so I always like to get opinions from people whose taste I actually trust. So, did you guys like it?

Why I'm not allowed to write comics #315

You know what crossover couple I want to see most if DC and Marvel ever do another of those team up books?

J. Jonah Jameson and Amanda Waller.

Thank about it. It'd be awesome.

An idea that entertains me:

Superhero versions of celebrity gameshows.

I'm not thinking like the one where they throw the celebrities in the jungle and make them do stupid shit for our amusement (though I suppose that would be fun too), but like Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Celebrity Mole, Celebrity Apprentice and all that.

It'd be fun to see superheroes doing that kind of thing (for charity of course!).

It might just be that I have an interest in the intersection of famous superheroing and celebrity. But I think it's more because it increases the likelihood of Guy Gardner calling Hal Jordan an asshole on national television. That sort of thing always amuses me. :-)

Another Titleless Post

I'll say one thing: cynicism about the DCU reboot aside (mostly: I think it'll be fun, but probably won't last), one thing makes me very very happy.

Guy Gardner's on the JLI cover.

I'm hoping that they won't be resorting to his old brain damaged characterization. He's developed a lot since those days, and I'd like to see them keep that. It's Jurgens writing, and I generally like his Guy, so I'm optimistic.

I hope Sandy Hawkins is in the reboot somewhere. I like having my favorites accounted for. :-)

Y'Know, Heart Didn't Actually Suck...

Okay, so, for reasons I don't really want to go into, recently I found myself watching Captain Planet episodes. Well. One. Still. But I realized two things:

1. The kids were much more effective with their powers separately than Captain Planet was. Especially given that a teaspoon of toxic waste could send the guy into a coma. I always wondered why they didn't just borrow from Professor Xavier's book and train to be ring bearing X-Men.

2. Heart actually didn't suck as a power. I mean, granted, the NAME is awful. But heart pretty much encompassed everything from animal control to telepathy. He was their one man communication system, and while he lacked the destructive powers of the other, he could totally encourage a nice stampede. Need to calm down a crowd? He could do that too. The other guys were one-trick wonders, but he had like four different powers easy under his umbrella.

And actually, it's funny, but it's the one power you never really tend to see Captain Planet use that often. (Granted, perhaps it's just the episode I saw.) That's how you know it's good. Because he's an awful hero. :-P

But it really made me feel sorry for that poor South American kid. Tons of bad press just because his power has a stupid name. :-(