DC owes their TV success to Buffy

DC has had a pretty good success with their super hero TV shows in spite of underwhelming showings in the box office.   How do they hit that teen-twenty-something market so effectively?  Well they recreate Buffy in every show. 

Buffy had her Scooby team.   Every successful DC show has replicated this formula.  It might not be obvious unless you watch the shows back to back to back though.  After watching Smallville, Arrow, and The Flash, you can turn on Supergirl and wonder, "who is the character that is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

"Oh, they just have a team dynamic and this is true of every show," you might say. Yes, to a degree.  All of these shoes have the same characters mapped out.  Hacker/science (admittedly, almost all of the Flash characters fall under this heading), comic relief, wise mentor, not quite good/evil character, and somewhere along the line another super friend to come to help when chips are down.  This is exactly the Buffy formula, I think it might be the first time this formula is used on TV.  It is a slight tweak to the actual Scooby gang (from Scooby-do). 

Other pieces of the formula include Monster of the week with big bad theme throughout season.  Special circumstance that creates all the evil they are to fight/most villains have a common background/origin. 

It really is a can't miss formula and only becomes obvious when you have three shows on one network using it at the same time under the banner of an expanded universe.

If you like the DC shows and have not seen Buffy, I suggest that you check it out.  While the DC shows are arguably good, Buffy was great (for the most part) and really pretty revolutionary in some episodes. 



The Girl Who Owned a City-NCCW

This is the graphic novel presentation of the YA novel The Girl Who Owned a City. 

The world has been decimated by a plague that has wiped out anyone that has gone through puberty.  All that are left are children.  Some of them are smart enough to scavange, while others are dying of starvation.  Gangs form up using numbers to make up for smarts and to take things from those that are able to scavenge. 

Lisa Nelson is fed up.  She decides if no one else is going to grow up and be responsible, it will have to be her.  She is going to take responsiblity and help those who can't help themselves, but to do so, she is going to have to protect herselves from the gangs. 

This was a pretty interesting graphic novel.  I am not sure if it is the full story of the novel or just the first of a series as it has resolution, but a greater threat was revealed in the pages and her confrontation with that was not explored in this volume.  I was drawn to it as a fan of the show Jeremiah from Showtime about 10yrs ago.  Where Jeramiah looks at things 10-15yrs later, TGWOAC looks at the immediate aftermath. 

I loved the artwork in this book, all the characters where distinctive.  The writing was crisp and the story didn't drag.  Overall it was a fun read, but falls more on the YA side of things.  My oldest also read it and liked it okay.  As the lead character is approx. her age, I thought she would like it a bit more than she did.  Check this one out.
 

Super-Spoiler Free Movie Review

I like Rainn Wilson and I like super hero movies, so this movie looked right up my aisle.  I was not disappointed. 

Story-Frank is a sad sack type of character whose wife/world leaves him for her drug dealing boss.  This spurs Frank into action to become the Crimson Bolt. 

Acting- The acting was done well.  What would you expectect from the all star cast they have lined up in this movie. 

Overall- this movie is a very dark comedy and will not be for everyone.  It is kind of like Kick Ass in concept but the execution of Super is much different.  It is also very different thematically.  While Kick Ass was entertaining (at least hit girl was), Super is trying to do more than just entertain and I think it succeeds wildly.  This one will eventually reach cult status. 

The Walking Dead Vol. 1- NCCD

Huge fan of the Walking Dead TV show here, but for some weird reason, I have never read the comics.  Maybe it is because they started at a point in my life when I wasn’t really reading many comics.  Anyways, I saw the TPB of the first six issues at the library and couldn’t wait to dive in.  Fans of the show, it is quite a bit different.  I won’t ruin it for you, but people don’t die in the same order as they do in the series.  Kirkman does a really good job with pacing in the story and it reads pretty quickly.  The art is good and suits itself to the story very well. 

In other news, Marvel has announced that buying any paper comic will grant you an e copy of the book as well.  This is to be done with special codes and the magic of the internet.  You will have to have the marvel app to get the books and these apps are available for ios and Android.  There isn’t an app for unjailbroken kindle fires as of yet, but I am sure that there will be by the launch date in 06/12.

Hearts and Minds- NCCW

As always I encourage everyone to post comic book content on Wednesdays.

I was able to pick up the hardcover trade of G.I. Joe: Hearts and Minds when Borders was in their final throws for about $3 after tax.  Yes true believers, for the price of a single issue, I got the hardcover trade.  As of writing Amazon has an edition for $10.

This book was penned by Max Brooks.  Yes, that Max Brooks.  It covers different members of Cobra and Joe singularly.  I think each issue of the comic was split in two and covered two characters.  It goes into the character's motivations or back stories that leads to them being either Joe or Cobra.

I thought it was a pretty good book.  It is very light on dialogue and really narrative in general.  Brooks put a lot of faith in his artist to convey what he wanted and I think it worked.  It looks into why a person would become a terrorist, what drives them.  You aren't going to see Duke or Cobra Commander.  This book takes a look at some of the characters that you wouldn't get to know otherwise.  One of the stories is even dedicated to random faceless Cobra troopers.

If you like G.I. Joe, you should enjoy this book, but I don't think it is a prerequisite.  You could go into this book just knowing that Cobra is a terrorist organization and Joe is an elite group of the military and fare pretty well.  It is appropriate for anyone that can actually read it.  Give it a shot.  

X-Men Forever-NCCW

Have you ever wondered what would have happened had Chris Claremont not left the X-Men when he did?  Claremont is arguably the most awesome X-Men writer on one of the best runs of the comic, with some of the greatest story lines.  I am talking Phoenix, Dark Phoenix, and Days Future Past here.  This guy shaped the X-Men.  So what happens if he picks up the book where he left off?  The answer to that is kind of  X-Men Forever.

I say kind of because Claremont's tale is obviously influenced by the twenty years of story line that came after.  Not that he is following the same story, but that he is reacting to what other writers did with the characters.  It is a pretty big challenge if you think about it.  He had to reinvent the team that he had already reinvented and then left for twenty years.  In the meantime, they had been reinvented about twice every year and had writers that did great things and writers that messed stuff up (Grant Morrison).  I mean there were retcons on retcons.  The X Universe is a hot mess.  X-Men Forever was not a retcon but an alternate timeline, so it gets to ignore all that crap, but has to be different from it.

The story in Vol. 1 was okay with a very surprising death.  It is hard to make sense of what you are reading and rewind and start again at the fall of Asteroid M.  It seems like he wanted  to tie in all of his story lines as we have references to the Phoenix and the Morlocks.  I will probably check out Vol. 2 in the future.  

Miss Martian-NCCW

After reading that issue of Teen Titans, Miss Martian has been on my mind a lot.  What is it with green girls that attract a guy.  Miss Martian has the added advantage of having red hair.  Sure Miss Martian is actually a white martian parading around in green face, but hopefully that gets retconned.

Spiderman is Dead, Long Live Spiderman-NCCW

I originally had something else planned for today, but how can I pass up the news that Ultimate Spiderman, hot on the heals of Peter Parker getting killed off, is making a new character Spiderman. 

Miles Morales will apparently slide into Peter Parker's still warm costume. It looks as though, Miles will be mentored by MJ and and Aunt May and will deal with the same theme of "with great power, comes great responsibility."  Not sure where the power comes from, but maybe Spiderman is like the Flash (no not Flash Thompson, the DC character) and he is powered by a force that is passed down through the ages.  I will call said force the Spider-Force.  Eventually we will have multiple Spidermen and they will be able to travel in time by shooting webbing at a treadmill. 

The Ultimate line has a tendency to re-imagine their characters as minorities.  Granted the Marvel universe is a very Eurocentric type place.  Minority characters seldom take the starring roles and the Ultimate Universe is trying to change that by changing popular, established characters.  I tend to think this is the wrong way to do it (once with Nick Fury was neat), but, unfortunately, I do not make creative decisions at Marvel.  Miles Morales is half black/half hispanic.  From comments by the artists about, black and/or gay characters one day not turning heads, I think he will most likely be gay as well.  What it comes down to is, will the readers relate to the new Spiderman.  Well, they have the half black/half hispanic, gay, marvel comics reading community sured up. 

It makes me miss my original minority Spiderman, though.  Bring back Spiderman 2099.  Miguel rocks!

Teen Titans-The Hunt for Raven NCCW

Confession time:  Before this, I had never read a Teen Titans book.  I had watched the Teen Titans Go! cartoon and enjoyed the heck out of it, but had never picked up the comic that inspired it.  I say inspired, because based on The Hunt for Raven, they are pretty different.  I think Go is based on the team from the 80's. 

The Hunt for Raven was written by Felicia Henderson and illustrated by Joe Bennett. The artwork is pretty standard with some great individual pieces scattered throughout.  The writing suffers from super team writing.  It is hard to tell a story that includes a cast as large as the titans in 32 page issues and make it flow.  This is especially true when you are trying to make the team book about everyone on the team and while not necessarily giving them all equal time, making sure each character gets some developmental nugget.  The story comes across as rushed.

As a new reader, this issue is mostly accessable.  It starts on a crisis of leadership from some previous issue with Cassie being the reluctant leader.  There were some characters that I wasn't familiar with and I don't think I was properly introduced.  Anyway, the team doesn't seem like much of a team, almost like they are trying to pull together and develop the bonds that make them a team. 

Overall, it was an okay book, but I wouldn't recommend starting off here.  There is def. some character history going on in these pages. 

One More Day- NCCW

Some stories are just polarizing.  One More Day is that kind of story.  How can you change who Spiderman is?  He is inevitably shaped by his relationships with those around him.  Ben gave him his responibility.  May gives him compassion, Harry gives him purpose,  Gwen gave him love, and MJ gives him soul.  Most of those people are already dead.  What will Peter do, when he has to choose between the last two of these relationships. 

I will come out and say that I thought it was a good story and was very well executed.  I think a lot of people were upset by what it would do to Spiderman continuity.  This is a legitimate concern but not one that i found well founded.  It would be like complaining about Age of Apocalypse changing continuity.  In this, I mean, I don't think the change was meant to be permanent (at least relashionship wise).  While Peter and MJ had been having their problems, I think this story was conceived of as a way of making them stronger and not tearing them apart.  It was also a way to counteract the events of Civil War. 

Taken on its own, the story is excellent.  Peter feels responsible for Aunt May being shot.  He feels that his decisions have put his whole family in danger.  He is willing to do anything to give Aunt May a way to survive, but the clock is ticking.  Mephisto offers a trade; Aunt May's health for Pete and MJ's marriage.  Both have to consent and they have 24 hours (one more day) to decide.  What follows is some very emotional Spider-man.

I have yet to read brand new day to see the results of their decision, but their are hints that the fallout from One More Day will not remain permanent.  Mephisto acknowledges that what the characters had was special and it is foreshadowed that they will eventually be back together.  One of the larger consequences was that it seems that MJ was pregenant.  So, will may Parker never be born?  Will we never have Spidergirl?

Love it or hate it, the production value and writing are above average on this arc.  It deals with the marriage problems and allows MJ to be reintroduced as less of a downer type character or the decision to be reversed with their relationship renewed.  I am not a monthly reader of Spiderman, so my opinions may not count for much, and I have not really ever been that big of a fan of MJ.  Gwen Stacey all the way for me.  If Mephisto really wanted to split them up, all he had to do was resurect ole Gwen.

Overall, it is a must read for Spiderfans.  You may hate ever word on the page, but it is now a pivitol story in the Spiderverse.   

How We Read Comics

In the past few weeks I have gone over various technological developments that change the way we consume media.  With the tablet computing, it would look like comic books are not far from being revolutionized themselves.  Add to this the announcment last week that DC will be rebooting/renumbering its entire universe, in no small part to transition to a digital format, and it looks like a sure thing.  I don't think it is though.
Comics started out as cheap entertainment.  In the 40's, when the comic book market first took off, they were throw away entertainment.  People that worked on them were so ashamed of what they were doing that they didn't even put their names on their work.  They didn't want credit for what they were doing.  Comic book publishers would steal ideas and talent from each other and when something sold they would do it to death. 
Somewhere along the line, comic books became collector's items.  People would save and take care of the comics they had and would collect whole runs.  They slowly moved from drug stores and news stands into specialized shops.  In 1988 the stock market had a mini crash.  The value of collector's items like baseball cards and comic books did not take a hit.  This started the investment age of the 90's, when the price shot up dramatically, artists where superstars, and every comic had five chromium collector's covers.  Publishers were throwing money at artists and writers to pump out more material and most of it was total crap.  The market nosedived. 
In todays market, comics aren't so much for kids as kids can no longer afford the cover price.  Strong competition from manga books (produced cheaper and faster) have also hurt the industry.  While comic book movies have increased interest in the characters, publishers have failed to see any long term gains in readership.  Comic books stores generally are struggling.
Digital distribution sounds like the answer to comic book publishers.  People can read them on their tablet devises in full color with beautiful resolution.  Print costs go way down, even if they are still releasing a limited number of paper books.  Their may be an initial surge, but the publishers are forgetting that comic books have a collectability factor.  While very few fans are under the delusion that their collection is worth anything (at all!), they still remain collectable.  Downloading takes that away a lot, cloud collections will remove it completely. 
The comic book world will hemorage from this, few titles will be left standing as the quality control on most titles has been dismal and this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  The publishers have been trying to shake up stagnant sales for years and quality never seems to be the answer they come up with.  The tablet while perfect for actual reading of comics is also perfect for animation and why have pictures sitting still on a page when  you can have them running around. 

The tablet and same day digital will not fix the ailing comic book publishing industry.  It may bring upon its death.  Comic books are no longer cheap entertainment and the industry no longer wants them to be collectables, it is sad to say, but if they have to stand on their own as quality entertainment, most titles are going to fall short.  When you read them on what are essentially mini computer/TVs they have to compete with other forms of more interactive media.  It will be interesting to see what the future holds. 

X-Men First Class, Why I am Leary



Fake First Class

 No, it isn't because the last two installments of the X-universe have been sub par and the first two only really par, trying to force more movie into the movie than they could possibly hold.  No, I am leary because the story isn't cannon.  I have heard the arguement that comics discard cannon at will and that no one really knows what is cannon anymore.  While that is somewhat true it is also a lie. 

Origin stories are generally well established and not ignored or rewritten (unless there Crisis is in the title somewhere).  People who read comics that tell an alternate universe version or retelling of a story, usually understand what is being undone and sometimes they even get why.  Movie audiences who, by the number of comics marvel sells every month, are not buying comics, may not know the "real" or "going" history of the characters.  The movie then becomes the established origin and the comics, in order to sell to the newly interested movie goers, have to change so that the new readers won't get confused.  We saw it when the original X-Men came out and all of a sudden Wolverine's claws started popping out at a different spot and all the costumes got changed (that happened to be one of the times that I threw down comics vowing never to read them again).

real first class

The Wolverine movie was an especially hard slap in the face.  Marvel had done the Wolverine Origin specifically so it wouldn't be done in movie form first.  The Origins story was excellent and lead into a history of both Wolverine and Sabretooth.  Then the Wolverine movie comes out and covers this awesome work, poorly, with a 5 minute montage.  The name of the movie by the way was X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  It could have been excused if the movie would have just been the origin of how he joined the X-Men, but that was done in the first movie and this was just a vehicle to introduce about a million additional mutants.

Let me put it to you this way.  Say they remade Superman (I know, a stretch).  In this remake they decided that Lex Luthor was also from Krypton and that no one knew Lana Lang so they made Lois his high school sweet heart.   It completely changes the story. 

Well, X-Men: First Class doesn't involve the first class as was written.  Although 20 some odd years younger than Superman, the X-Men origin is firmly grounded in the psyche of the comic reader.  Why do screen writers think that they need to rewrite this.  If you are going to rewrite the origin, why would you do it with seemingly random characters from all over the X-Men continuity.  Why not just make up mutants specifically for the movie.  Why not tell the classic stories in a way that does them honor. 

Yes, I am sceptical of first class.  It is getting positive reviews, but I don't know that these reviewers read comics.  It being a good movie is completely different than it being a good comic book movie based on a franchise that I grew up with and love.  I am not asking for a recreation of the source material, I only want it shown respect.  Stop irresponsibly milking my youth for money. 

Free Comic Day-Wendsday New Comic Content

Saturday was Free Comic Book day.  For me, it was a dreary, rainy day.  I live near a place called Newbury Comics, actually several such places.  So my first stop was in one of these locations.  These stores apparently started as comic stores before coming record stores and then becoming novelty stores.  Their comic selection is very small and the clerks are kind of hipsters that look down on people that buy comics.  That might be why the store had available exactly one free comic book day title, An Archie title called Pep Comics.  They also had $1 grab bags.  I feel dirty as I purchased a couple of grab bags for my girls and got my issue of Pep Comics.  Not satisfied, I maid the trek to, while not the nearest, the easiest to get to comic shop.  Bedrock Comics in Framingham, MA is an awesome little shop.  No bells or whistles, just lots of comics.  He actually bags miniseries or storylines together and you can buy the whole run at once.  Needless to say, he had a full run of Free Comics and had some other give aways as well.  I picked up the pixie miniseries for $4 and got my oldest a copy of supergirl and he let my girls pick out a few free issues.  They even got stickers.   

These are our free issues.

Purchased comics, that is pixie 1-4 at the bottom

She read every free comic we got that night. 

She actually really enjoyed the Pep Comic, think we may have a betty and Veronica fan in the making. 

Predators (2010)

There are plot holes and there are plot holes.  Predators makes that abundantly clear.  You might be asking yourself why I would watch a predators movie for plot.  Well, the comics and novels have done a lot to develop the actual Predator society and give it depth.  I guess I was just hoping to see that translate to the screen. 

Overall it was a popcorn action movie that isn't great but is okay.  It retreads other predator movies and loses a lot for lack of originality.  The predator storyline is pretty standard, so you have to tell a good human story and that is where this movie falls short.  

Plot-  The predators are watching you.  Right now, they have nothing better to do.  They are very patient when it comes to picking their prey as they are able to watch battle after battle in order to pick the best of the best soldiers.  The also get a guy about to executed, so he has only been in prison for the last 10 or so years.  Once picked they are dropped onto a jungle planet and hunted.  They run into Lawrence Fishburne and he is crazy and tries to kill them.  That dude that kissed Halle Barry that one time and was in Splice thinks that he can fly a predator ship and their is a big fight where he uses fire to hide his body heat signature. 

Acting-  Nothing wrong with the acting.  Everyone including Topher Grace did a pretty good job.  Funny note,  Danny Trejo had heard that the script had someone described as looking like Danny Trejo, so he called up the casting director and said that he looked like Danny Trejo. 

Foor plot hole people- The final fight with the fire masking the human from predator heat vision.  Nope, wouldn't happen.  A fire is much hotter than a human, so the human would be silouetting himself against the flames for people to see.  They also find humans and remains on the planet.  seeing as how Earth has been scoped out for quite a long time, or maybe they just read the killer from San Quentine's file, it would stand to reason that the poeple selected before them, were better than they were.  Fishbourne's character survives by hiding in the only shelter on the planet.  Must be really hard to find there.  What kind of ending was that?  Either it was a set up for Predatorses or they stopped the movie half way.  It would be like stopping a WWII movie at the storming of the beaches. 

Star Wars-New Comic Content Wednesday

Today is Star Wars Day-May the 4th be with you.  Saturday is Free Comic book day and Dark Horse is giving out a Clone Wars comic as one of their offerings.  Here is a look at some of the pretty covers of Dark Horses other Star Wars comics. 

Underoos- A to Z challenge

I loved these as a kid.  As a man, I am just an overgrown kid right.  Thankfully over the past couple of years, I have noticed that they have comic book themed underwear for Adults.  I have never stopped wearing comic book t-shirts, but now I can put together a full underoo adult set.  In theory, this should drive geek girls wild.  Geek girls, let me know. 



All Hallows Eve

I wasn’t expecting to dress up this year but boredom got the best of me.  You see, we were going to meet up with another family and go trick or treating.  I start getting the kids ready for a 6pm departure at about 4:30pm.  It doesn’t take that long to get them ready contrary to what every Sunday morning church departure has taught me.  At 5:30pm we make the call to see if the other family is ready and they tell us 6:30.

 

I had an hour surrounded by face paint and an imagination.  The easiest thing, I think, is a zombie.  15 minutes later, I am done with make up and bored again.  In my mind, I associate Black Lantern’s with zombies.  Not a huge leap and I wonder what the black lantern symbol is.  I check it out on google and my first thought is that I could draw that pretty easily.  So 20 minutes later I am standing there with a black lantern symbol on the chest of my black leather jacket. 

Of course no one knew that I was a black lantern.  I did get compliments on my face paint though.  One person asked what the symbol on my chest was but didn’t know what a black lantern was and probably didn’t know what a green lantern was either. 

"The blackest night falls from the skies,
The darkness grows, as all light dies,
We crave your hearts and your demise,
By my black hand— the dead shall rise!" –Black Lantern Creed

365 Days of Comics

Image via Wikipedia

Dom over at 365 Days of Comics has a plan.  No not like the plan the cylons had, a real plan.  His plan is to write a daily article reviewing some aspect of comic.  This is ambitious.  Not only does he have to write a daily post, he has to read 365 comic books and come up with creative ways to approach them. 

Dom says:  “365 Days of Comics was created because I wanted to share what comic books I am reading with others. Plus, I wanted to challenge myself to make a quality post daily. Yep, 365 days of comics! I hope my opinions on the good, the bad, and the Deadpool's face ugly can be helpful to others looking for something new to read.”

This is a noble cause.  I recommend you go over and read some or all of his posts.  Leave some comments for him to encourage him in his writing.  He reads and reviews a variety of titles from a variety of companies. 

Dom also gives a rundown on his sidebar of his current favorite writers, artists, and titles.  You can trust him because he is critically reading a truck load (or at least large box) of comics this year. 

Comics Quiz

Cover of Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile

Quiz time again.  This week, we have a comics quiz.  This is the comic book form of comics and not the flesh and blood joke tellers.  Rules are simple, answer in the comments and no cheating.

1.  This character is the kid sister of X-men's Colosus.
2.  This is the secret identity of a version of Supergirl that wasn't superman's cousin.
3.  Bone was a comic illustrated and written by him.
4.  This "angelic" character was introduced in Spawn before she got her own limited series. 
5.  Although he penned Jeremiah and Babylon 5, this writer started out in comics.
6.  This is the creative team behind Fables.

Winner gets a SciFi Media "no prize" in their inbox. 

Kick Ass Vol.1 review

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I just finished volume 1 of the comic.  I am going to say that it was pretty good.  Not your normal superhero book in the slightest.  That might be because no one really has superpowers.  They are all a bunch of geeky Batmans.  Well, without the money. 

This comic is so not for kids.  It is totally completely violent, in the most violent of ways.  It so put the graphic into graphic novel.  There are also some adult situations and imagery that kids might not need to see.  Actually, I was reading this on the train and found myself having to cover some of the art from potentially prying eyes of other commuters. 

The story was pretty good.  The idea isn't completely original, but is very fresh.  The book knows what inspires it and other geeks and references that material.  In a way it almost seemed like a giant in joke. 

Overall it was pretty good and I recommend it, just not for kids.