It's Official.

Recently Lego Released a really cool new game, Lego DC Super Heroes.

What? Never heard of it?

Of course you haven't because it's not in fact called that it's Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes. The Game is probably awesome don't get me wrong. No Lego mashup game has been less. But it makes me sad, because it's now official, the DC Superheroes are now Batman's sidekicks, at least in marketing. 

I have gotten so sick in the recent years about DC and Warner's inability or unwillingness to market any of their heroes except batman, it started bad last year when the big re boot of DC The New 52 happened and Batman was left untouched (save for the removal of a few support characters). Really DC you thought nothing at all was wrong with Batman's status quo these days? Of course not the character is in those movies by that Nolan guy that print money for us right now. Feh. 


Honestly, Batman has not worked for me as a character for a while now, but that aside, it just burns me that They have so little faith in a game of DC Superheroes under any name other than Batman. And don't give me that "they already had a Batman Game" line. DC Superheroes as a name can sell, there are many cartoons with the characters and the kids love 'em. Plus even if the name recognition isn't there. Anyone when they saw a Lego version of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and yes Batman it will excite. But did DC, WB, or Lego  have faith? 

No the made the DC Universe Batman's sidekicks. 

Rant over.  

In a Perfect World This Would Exist.

This been making the rounds, but this Mangaesque re-imagining of Wonder Woman. That artist Ben Caldwell submitted to DC comics looks great. And I wish I and my niece could be reading it.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?333339-ww-manga-blah-blah&p=11646885#post11646885 

Art By Ben Caldwell Wonder Woman is the property of DC Comics

Wonder Woman Movies.

I was reading recently, most likely on DC Women Kicking Ass, that Warner Bros. once again has plans for a Wonder Woman movie. Now I've never been a big fan of Wonder Woman, but she's one of the great heroes that should be a no brainer to make a movie based upon. However Wonder Woman continues to elude, filmmakers. Part of it is the sexism of the industry, with people still believing that female led action movies don't sell. But recently I read another reason, in a quote from writer director Joss Whedon, who was once connected as a writer to an aborted Wonder Woman movie. He also Knows a thing or two about the Superheroes. In this interview Whedon had to say this to add....

"She has no city,'' Whedon says, ticking off a list of problems he had with the character when Silver hired him to write and direct a Wonder Woman film five years ago. ''She has no great rogues' gallery [of returning villains]. And she's distant from people in a way that makes it hard to create identification. Spider-Man is a nerd. Batman is in pain. But Wonder Woman is from an era where superheroes were supposed to be like Greek gods. She's above us and different from us. That makes it hard to make her emotionally relevant. I tried, and some people think I succeeded, but none of them were the people I worked for.''

Now that is interesting, as a reader who grew up with Wonder Woman, I never gave this much thought. but her lore is missing a lot of the "stuff" of the common superhero movie. This is a big problem, as audiences of super hero movies do crave definitely two of the things Whedon Mentioned. The relatabileness and the villain. But this, I don't think matters as much now because last year the answer came.

THOR.

The Character of Thor has many if not all of the problems (albeit Loki is semi Iconic amongst the Marvel Zombies) that Whedon points out exist for a Wonder Woman movie, save of course the sexism thing. And it did wonderfully. Director Kenneth Branagh took care of this by basically making it a warring gods movie. I believe that the same can be done with Wonder Woman, using the Mythology of the character. I'm no screenwriter but here's my attempt at a mini treatment for a Wonder Woman Movie.*

Prologue: In the ancient world a group of trans dimensional beings came to be worshipped on earth as gods. The god Ares in a bid for the hearts of man attempts to send the ancient world into the abyss of endless war. But there are those who resist the Amazons, led by the goddess Athena. they rise up against Ares, but are defeated, through trickery and retreat to the island of Themeschyra. Man falls to Ares (the middle ages). But in the age of enlightenment, the world of man begins to free it's self from Ares' pull. Until the twentieth, century. Meanwhile on Themeschyra, the Amazon queen Hippolyte under the guidance of Athena, creates from clay a future champion for the worlds of Amazon and Man, Diana.

Act I: Diana is now a young adult. We see her train, and her life in general. Being the only child for millennia Diana is a bit a spoilt brat (the charming type) and a trouble maker. She is especially troublesome to  her retainer, trainer and friend Artemis. This is where we get to see Diana as a human she endears herself to the audience. Meanwhile Air force captain Steve Trevor, crashes on Themescyra. Trevor finds the city of the Amazons and is taken prisoner,Diana after griping that she gets no "real duties" is assigned to guard him. Diana befriends him, and eventually the Amazons give him more liberty. Meanwhile, the amazons see the armourment of Trevor's F-16 and deduct that man is once again at war. We then find out that ares is making deals with  millitary leaders. At Themeschyra the Amazon's oracle, discovers that Ares is on the move. Hyppolite decides that the Amazons, need to send an Emissary to man's world. They hold a competition to choose the hero. Diana is banned from participating, but does so anyway in disguise. Diana wins, and much to Hyppolite's dismay Diana is sent out into mans world as Wonder Woman.

Act II: Here we have Diana getting used to man's world, in the guise of Diana Prince. Steve Trevor would be her guide through the world. this is where we can get some good humour from culture shock. As well as some genuine horror of how harsh Man's World Can be.  Upon seeing crime, Diana uses her abilities to stop it, and begins a career as a sort of Wonder Woman. As Diana of Themescyra she tries to convince the powers that be that Ares is trying to send the world back into war again. The General under Arers' sway. Diana is saddened by her failure, and will not go back to Themescyria in shame. So she continues as Wonder Woman, in which she discovers Ares' influence on military policy, thus she begins working her way up the food chain, with the aide of Trevor and his friend officer Etta Candy. They eventually uncover the general's plot to take over the US for Ares.

Act: III The General enacts his coup. And Ares immediately betrays him taking mind control over the general's soldiers, and sets them on a path of destruction. Wonder Woman takes them on, and sends Trevor to attempt to get the help of the Amazons. We Get much Super human action as Wonder Woman Single handedly takes on an army. Using the lasso of truth to take the soldiers out of mind control, she gradually gets a fighting force of men and women. Meanwhile Trevor, arrives at Themescyra and compels the Amazons to join the battle. They are resistant to get into the affairs of man, but Hypollite cannot bear to see her daughter stand alone. Thus she calls upon the aid of Athena, who makes a portal to man's world  in which the Amazons can join the battle. Back in DC Diana and her reclaimed army have turned the tide, when Ares opens a portal in which supernatural reinforcements come. The tide is turning once again in Ares' favour when the portal from Themescyra opens, and an army of Amazons come forth. Diana takes command of the Amazons and the fighting is fierce, until the Amazon's and reclaimed forces prevail. Ares' begins to escape but Diana stops him and takes him on in single combat. Diana fights well and Ares is a felled. At this point Athena intercedes, proud of man, and Amazon rising up against Ares. She banishes Ares. The Amazons Return to Themescyra, leaving Diana as their ambassador. In the final scene. Diana meets Trevor and Candy outside of the UN socially, until a police chase happens by, provoking Wonder Woman into Action.

The end.

Now that wasn't necessarily great, and it has a few holes and lacks characterization. But I think you can see what I'm saying, if me, a low level indie comic creator can come up with this a good screenwriter should have no problem at all. 
* More of an outline but "mini Treatment" sounds cooler. 

Ray Bradbury RIP.

Author, Writer, and Futurist Ray Bradbury passed away last night (06/052012) aged 91. He was a giant in the realm of science fiction, and one of the last positive futurists. May he rest in peace and his works never die.

David

The Obligatory Post About Watchmen.

As everyone in the comics world knows.  DC will be launching it's controversial series' Before Watchmen, the prequels to the legendary award winning comics series (sorry hipsters Watchmen is not a graphic novel it is a twelve issue limited series. It is a closed story but there was no authorial intent to be a graphic novel) tomorrow. And there will be no review of it at all on this site because I do not plan to read it. I just don't care, I read Watchmen for the first time last year, don't know why, my dad got it back when it came out, but I digress, and I don't need any more Watchmen.

The comic is a great story about a group of aging superheroes in a world where being a costumed hero is illegal. One is killed and the story is about the unraveling of that mystery. But the story is only really the platform upon which the tale unfolds, the real meat of it is the reflections of the characters from when they where heroes. And on top of that it is a masterpiece of comics formalism, a tale meant to be a comic that only works as a comic (sorry Mr Snyder) but enough of that, there are many who've written about Watchmen that have said everything that I have to say, most likely better, so I'll let you seek them out.

Like any Great book, I was left fulfilled by my Watchmen experience. and so I'm not really interested, DC definitely has the rights (however dubious) to make this series, and they have some great artists and writers on it so it will be of the highest quality. But like I said I'm good on Watchmen.

But one reason that has nothing to do with my deciding to not read Before Watchmen is Alan Moore. Many Many and did I mention Many, comics fans are united in supposed solidarity (bet you half of em buy it) behind the wronged Alan Moore, who naturally is griping about this whole thing. His main complaint is that he's been cheated out of his intellectual property, his second is that it's creatively wrong, to use his characters for the new series'. Now his first point I have sympathies for, Moore's deal with DC basically (as I have heard it) was that if Watchmen ever went out of print, the rights to the series would go back to Moore and artist Dave Gibbons*. This I'm sure was done because DC didn't think that the series would end up being so huge as it was not DC's practice to give up copyrights to anyone. Needless to say it was a big hit and weather, by demand, or a serious dick move Watchmen has never left print. Now this is a fair point, Moore and Gibbons where promised certain concessions that many believe where never delivered, DC has made Many millions off of Watchmen, and they still would make many more even if Alan Moore and Gibbons where to own the rights. And I believe they ethically should have them. It's his Second argument that it is wrong to use his characters in any sequel material, that bugs me.

First, many don't know this, but there was always meant to be more Watchmen, it was even originally mean to be written by the original authors Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but time, bad blood and the books renown have conspired to make more Watchmen impossible, until now. But the big sticking point to me is the way Moore tries to make an ethical debate out of other people using his characters when his entire career has been built upon the foundation of doing just that. Many of Moore's greatest works are post modern takes on classic literary characters, notably The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lost Girls and oh Yes Watchmen. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is about characters from many Victorian novels later on life becoming a super team. And Watchmen (it's most religious fans don't like it when we bring this up) started out as a big series involving the characters DC had just bought from Charlton comics. The story goes that when DC saw that Moore was "playing for keeps" with the characters, DC had him make them into thinly veiled Captain Ersatz'. But the final straw with Moore's complaints for me is the existence of the graphic novel lost Girls.  Lost Girls, is an erotic/pornographic, book that features Alice, Wendy and  Dorthy of Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Oz fame respectively. Now I've got no problem with erotica or porn not my taste but an author can do what he wants. My problem is I'm Pretty sure Carroll, Barrie and Baum would not be amused buy this. But Moore views it as perfectly fine because they're dead, and the characters are public domain. So turning memorable children's characters into porn is fine even though one could tell the original authors most likely would not care for it, is okay, but for the legal copyright holder  making series' based on Moore's work that will mostly likely be in keeping to the tone and character of the original is wrong? I'm sorry Alan Moore, looking at you're body of work, you don't get to have the high ground here.




* Now Moore was no rookie at the time he wrote Watchmen working most if not all his career with publisher owned material. I have a hard time believing that Moore actually trusted DC comics to give the rights to Watchmen to him ever! Screwing the talent has and will always be company policy at the big two.

Are You Reading Rachel Rising?

If not you should be.

Rachel Rising is the new series by indie comic artist Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) it is a story of a woman named Rachel who wakes up one day in her own grave, what follows is her attempt to figure out what's going on, we then find out that her home town has many chilling secrets. I would love to tell more, but to discuss the plot at all is too inviting to spoilers. But lets just say this horror comic "has it" Horror comics have long been problematic because in a comic, as opposed to a film you only have one sense to work with, and as opposed to  a novel you don't have the luxury of Drawn out prose. Moore uses this limitation as the books strength, using mood and atmosphere as his agents of fright. murky shadows and deep texture, give the work an eerie moon lit feel, even in the daytime scenes. And a story about death and what may come after makes for a great read. It is the only comic that I have to get every month. The cartooning in Rachel Rising is everything that we've come to expect from Moore well drawn women, great expressiveness, and a stunning attention to detail. But I find that his work has been evolving in a much more fluid way, the expressiveness of line and texture being a bit of a departure from his style of the past. It's a bit looser and freer allowing the image to be read  quite well, in other words Terry Moore makes it look easy. It amazes me Rachel Rising makes Strangers in Paradise and Echo seem like "warm up" and I found both of those series' remarkable. So do yourself a favour and check out  Rachel Rising.

Image copyright 2011-12 Terry Moore