Book: Our Gods Wear Spandex

The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes By Christopher Knowles and illustrations by Joseph Michael Linsner

This is a book that tries to unite all comic book superheroes into a common theme; in this case, that they are all derived from occult origins. This is an unusual idea, but I’m willing to read if presented clearly and coherently. The first chapter is background, but does it with a slight bias from the author – do fans refer to the ‘Chromium Age’ for the dark times of comics in the mid-to-late 1990s? Knowles talks about Image and Acclaim ‘pushing a sort of crack-cocain version of superheroes’, and blames Rob Liefeld who ‘developed a garish vocabulary of visual gimmicks calculated to excite gullible fans.’ So much for impartiality …

The second chapter is titled ‘Kingdom Come’, which indicates the next piece of bias: ‘In 1996, two creators decided they had had enough. One was Alex Ross, an astonishingly talented painter.’ His art makes ‘all other superhero comics look ugly and cynical by comparison.’ If that wasn’t enough, there is ‘His 1996 epic miniseries Kingdom Come’ and ‘Kingdom Come marked the end of the Chromium Age’ to indicate the fact that Alex Ross is the new messiah in the world of comic books. He also makes strange leaps: ‘It is probably no coincidence that two other pivotal creators, Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, began their careers writing for Captain Marvel’s British counterpart, Marvelman.’ – erm, excuse me? He even blames The Dark Knight Returns as the catalyst for Liefeld and his ‘mob of conspirators’. His interpretation can be off, such as saying that the recent Formerly Known As The Justice League only parodied D-list characters because ‘Superman and Batman must be treated with the utmost solemnity.’

The essential tenet of the book is the symbolism of superheroes is from the pagan age, via secret cults of the late 19th century (Theosophists, Rosicrosians, Golden Dawn, etc.). Knowles provides a condensed history of well-known myths that are pertinent, plus some history before the creation of comic books, which is actually interesting. He talks abut secret society stuff (e.g. Freemasonry), the Victorian occult explosion, and occult superstars (Aleister Crowley and Harry Houdini). He also talks about the authors of the time (Conan Doyle, Verne, Wells, Stoker), the pulps (Tarzan, The Shadow, Doc Savage, etc.), and the pulp authors (Burroughs, Rohmer, Lovecraft, Howard, etc.) who all provided the inspiration that were the soup of early comic books.

The next section provides a brief overview of the start of comics and the early characters with their occult links (Mandrake the Magician, Doctor Occult), as well as the return of odd commentaries, such as the word krypton comes from the Greek ‘kryptos’, meaning hidden or secret, and the Latin translation is ‘occult’ – well, there’s obviously a basis for a book there … The rest of the book is dedicated to splitting the pantheon of comic book heroes into broad categories that are based on occult origins – The Magic Men, Messiahs, Science Heroes, Golems (apparently Batman, Daredevil, Hulk and Punisher), The Amazons, The Brotherhood (i.e. all teams), and Wizards. I’m not convinced but it’s an interesting grouping method.

The book finishes with discussion of creators and their ties to the occult: Kirby, Englehart, Moore, Gaiman, Morrison, Mignola. But he leaves his hero worship for Alex Ross again – ‘By age 12, he was already more talented than most of the nineties hacks whose work wounded him so deeply.’ – plus the limitless and slightly embarrassing praise for Kingdom Come. I know that authors have a point of view, which must be a driving force behind the writing of their books, but it would be preferable if it didn’t overpower the thesis. As I said, I don’t think that all comic book heroes have their origins in the occult (which seems far too restricting in my opinion), but I did enjoy Knowles’ attempt to classify them in this way; the background stuff was an interesting read (Knowles’ prose is perfunctory but unpolished) and thesis is put forward in an easy to understand fashion. Shame about the Liefeld hating/Ross praising, though.

Journalists Are Stupid And Lazy (Number 753)

It's hard to be a fan of superhero comic books sometimes.

For example, the Associated Press release (which you can see here at Newsarama) – about the appearance of Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Captain Britain and MI:13 #1 – was picked up (and reported in an identical fashion) by the British press: The Sun, The Mirror, The Mail, The Telegraph, The Metro, The London Paper. This is mostly done for comedy effect of juxtaposition – the papers don't like Gordon Brown at the moment, so they can laugh at someone suggesting that he is a good guy.

Some of the items are more embarrassing than others (The Mail is the only one to stoop so low to use the 'Kerpow!' subhead) but, unfortunately, you get used to that when it comes to dealing with how comic books are treated in the mainstream, especially the press. The worst was the following bit from the (free) London Paper, which is a subsidiary of The Sun.


It should be pointed out that the 'Watercooler Moment' is a regular item that is supposed to be a 'funny' look at a piece of news. I know that a journo isn't going to actually read a comic, but to completely the wrong end of the stick from a short Associated Press piece is something else. 'plays a superhero'? 'cartoon strip'? 'renamed Captain Britain'?

Dear London Paper Twat

Gordon Brown isn't an actual superhero in the comic book you haven't read, and he hasn't had his name changed Captain Britain because there is another character (the star of the actual book, with his name in the title) who already has that name. Please don't be so fucking stupid and try to remember that your job is supposed to be concerned with facts. Oh, and by the way, jokes relating to Dad's Army, which was first shown 40 years ago, are considered extremely dated.

Yours sincerely
Brigadier Photosynthesis Molybdenum Jones (Mrs)

It's just so depressing sometimes …

The Greatest Character Ever

I've been re-reading Alan Davis' Excalibur again, after the ClanDestine mini-series crossed over with it. In doing so, I saw the greatest character that doesn't appear in a regular series of his own:


Captain Britain as Iron Fist – what would he be called? Captain Iron Age UK? I was never good with names – perfect design, perfect concept. Why didn't Brubaker and Fraction pick up on this in their Immortal Iron Fist stories?

This comes from Excalibur 50, where dimensions are intersecting at the same point in space (the lighthouse that was Excalibur's headquarters).

I demand the further adventures of Captain Kung Fu Britain. And so should you.

FreakAngels

Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s free webcomic, FreakAngels, is six pages of full-colour sequential art on a weekly basis that has been going on for the last few months. Completely free. That’s impressive. It will be collected into hard-copy form eventually, but it will still remain free online. God bless Warren Ellis and his continual desire to plough his own furrow and do things differently from the norm.

It has a great start from the opening intro: ’23 years ago, twelve strange children were born in England at exactly the same moment. 6 years ago, the world ended. This is he story of what happened next.’ The story is about these disaffected youths, who have the ability to talk to each other telepathically over distance, and their history and the effect of one of their number who did his own thing.

Because it is Ellis, it is about the characters and their interactions with each other and ‘normal’ people, with the occasional piece of telekinesis to remind you that it’s a piece of British sci-fi. And because it is Ellis, it has fun dialogue: ‘I refuse to share a mind with people who were raised by the fucking television!’ It’s very enjoyable, and it’s enjoying taking it’s time – Ellis has said that it will be ‘many hundred pages’.

He is working with Duffield, an artist who describes himself accurately as an artist with a style that is a ‘Japanese/European hybrid’. It’s detailed but loose and expressive, and importantly all the characters look different and the setting feels real.

The only problem I have is the loading/scrolling of an online webcomic – I guess I’m an old man – but I like the feel of paper, being able to flip back and forth with ease, not having to wait for the file to download. This means I will pick up the publication when it comes out, but I will enjoy the story on its weekly schedule until then. Respect to Ellis for doing it, and respect to Duffield for producing quality art on a weekly basis.

TV: Thoughts On Heroes Season Two (So Far)

Much was made of the apology from Heroes creator Tim Kring for the troubles with the early episodes of season two – although I tried to avoid the discussions because I didn’t want the show spoiled – so I thought I’d talk about my reactions to the first five episodes that have been shown on BBC2 here in the UK.

The show does suffer from what Kring admits – slowness. In a classic case of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, it was decided that because people liked the slow build of season one, they’d want exactly the same thing again. Alan Moore said something along the lines of: you don’t give people what they want, you give them what they don’t know they need. Trying to guess what the audience wants is a fool’s game. In this case, trying to replicate the mechanics of the first season simply won’t work – the story has been done, you can’t go back. And, even if you do the first storyline again (have a group of people come together who don’t know each other to fight a threat that will kill millions of people), you should at least set up what the threat is, something that hasn’t happened in the first five episodes …

As season 2 starts, our heroes our displaced. Matt Parkman survives getting shot in the chest at the end of season 1 (although DL Hawkins wasn’t so lucky), and he and Suresh are looking after Molly. The Bennets are in California, hiding themselves away in case The Company finds them. Hiro is in 17th century Japan (and his father is killed, as the start of this season’s mystery – don’t worry, they get another member of the original Star Trek cast, Nichelle Nichols, to be in the series: she’s Micah’s grandmother), Sylar survives being stabbed in the chest with a samurai sword with ‘eight surgeries’, and Peter (looking pumped – Milo Ventimiglia worked out during the break) is suffering the worst: he’s stuck in an embarrassing version of Ireland. He has amnesia – shame he will remember this part, with the bad Irish accents (all different; the girl sounds like she’s doing a Northern Irish accent, even though Cork is on the other side of the island and a different country) and the fantasy blarney (Irish people don’t live in huge loft apartments where there’s enough room to have a bed and a kitchen and massive windows and a huge space to paint on canvas).

The other strand of the mystery of this season is The Company, which Suresh and Bennet are planning to bring down. Suresh is brought into the Company by the character of Bob, played by the ever-watchable Stephen Tobolowsky. The only thing is, all I can think of when I see him (especially after the turning the spoon into gold scene) is the character of Tom Jones from X-Factor vol.1 #41 and other comics, a mutant who can turn other metals into gold, a character created in a Marvel competition if memory serves. This makes me laugh.

Apart from the awfulness of the Oirishness, there are other things that don’t work so well. The Herrera twins from Honduras, with their plague/cure symmetry (although they always seem to manage to split them apart every episode with an implausible plot device in order to show the killing and curing), are quite dull, their story has gone on too long without anything happening, and it was downright silly having them meet Sylar in the middle of nowhere. Micah’s cousin, Monica, with her muscle mimicry (this was after the Echo character created by David Mack in Daredevil, wasn’t it?) is just a little naff for some reason – it may sound cool but it seems ridiculous on screen. And some of the scenes with her have been painful – not her fault, but the fault of the creator. Kring writes some of the most appalling dialogue and bad scenes in the entire show, and his episodes klunk along in an embarrassing fashion. Then there is the ropey CGI when they show Noah Bennet and the Haitian walking in Russia when it is plainly obvious that they are in a sound studio in California in front of a green screen.

When the positives and negatives are combined, the show just about breaks even. It’s enough to keep me interested but not enough to get me excited, in the way the first season did. There is huge potential in the show and I’m still delighted that a show that is comic books in television form is doing so well, but I just want them to do a decent job and deliver the goods. Here’s hoping the rest of season 2 is worth the wait.

Minutemen: Because Everybody Else Will Do The Same

There is no need for me to post this image of the Minutemen from the Watchmen film (from AICN via Blog@Newsarama), because everyone will be doing the same and commenting on it. However, the very fact that this image exists is something for celebrating (for everyone apart from Alan Moore, perhaps).

This is a true-to-the-book photograph of the original superheroes in the graphic novel – quite extraordinary. My first impression? It looks like a recovered photo of a comic con costume parade from before comic cons existed. I guess that's the idea – they are supposed to look disturbingly geeky and silly – but the reality of the photograph is even more excrutiating than I expected. It's just so damned odd seeing this image as a reality – Hooded Justice looks even weirder than in the book – but I can't bring myself to mock it (even the ridiculous Mothman). It just makes me laugh to look at it, but in a good way. Bring on the film.

Thoughts on the Top 100 Runs

Comics Should Be Good had a vote recently to work out people’s favourite runs of comics defined by a single creator over an extended period (among other rules). Greg has posted his thoughts on the list, which weirdly echoed my own thoughts, so I thought I’d share a few musings on the matter.

The idea itself is a lot of fun, sparking the debate that good lists do. Greg picks on a few interesting points, the most interesting (and the one I agree with) being that comics that are still ongoing should have been excluded from the vote because they aren’t finished and could go bad. That would have cut out a lot of voting, what with people’s short attention span, but it would have made the final result more interesting. He also notes that DC has the purer ideal of a ‘run’ because they seem to let the creator work rather than Marvel, who were always more about hot artists and the character as king.

Greg and I have similar tastes when it comes to comic books; he’s almost like an American version of me (only more prolific and a better blogger). Like him, I don’t particularly like comics before the mid-1970s and think that modern comics are more enjoyable than ever. His personal selection of top runs is a more intriguing and well-reasoned list, and I can see the parallels in our comic book reading evolution and tastes going through it – Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol and Animal Man, Peter Milligan’s Shade The Changing Man, James Robinson’s Starman, John Ostrander’s The Spectre and Suicide Squad, Matt Wagner’s Grendel, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, even Alan Moore and Alan Davis on Captain Britain (a personal dream team of mine, and a run that started my connection with both the Cap as a character and Davis as an artist – and I would have put his Excalibur run on my list) all suggest somebody interested in story and who got the comic book bug in the 1980s like myself. I would disagree with his downgrading of Preacher just because of dropping a fat pope on the descendant of Christ, but Hitman is still worthy of a high place on his list. And I think his love of Moon Knight is strange (as suggested by the fact that the Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz run didn’t place, perhaps?), but we all have our idiosyncrasies …

So, here is the top 100 comic runs as voted by people reading Comics Should Be Good, and a few thoughts on some of the entries.

1. Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Worthy of its place at the top of the list, and appropriate for internet-specific voters. An amazing collection of stories by one writer and it had an amazing effect on comic books in the public eye.

2. Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin
I grew up reading and loving the X-Men of the Claremont era and this is the best of the run, so it is understandable why it would be so high.

3. Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Like Greg, I’m not a big fan of Kirby (should we start a club?) nor Stan Lee’s over-the-top writing, but I am aware of the impact it has had. I just don’t want to read it.

4. Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
I was as surprised as Greg by this being so high. I’ve got nothing but huge respect for Born Again but the whole run doesn’t have the same place in my heart. I think this is here more for the impact Miller had on comics rather than the run itself.

5. Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch
It’s Alan Moore. No more need be said.

6. Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
See my heretical remarks about Lee & Kirby Fantastic Four and apply same here.

7. Starman by James Robinson
This was my introduction to the world of DC heroes and its history, something I’d never really cared about before. This is, along with Sandman so far, is one of the truer definitions of a ‘run’, having a beginning, a middle and end. Very happy to see it so high on the list.

8. Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
My only big discrepancy with Greg – I think this deserves its place on the list because it was great from start to finish and it was the wonderfully warped vision of a writer, in harmony with his artist.

9. Justice League by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis
In a world of its own, almost separate from the rest of the top ten. Funny and moving, supported by great art and making the best of not having the big DC heroes because they weren’t allowed them.

10. X-Men by Grant Morrison
As Greg says, E is for Extinction was a superb X-Men story that the rest of the run, while great, never quite matched. Morrison’s other big mainstream work, JLA, deserves to be higher than this though.

11. Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez
Haven’t read this, and I have no great desire to.

12. JLA by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter
Even though I really disliked Porter’s art, the stories in this run are huge and fantastic widescreen comics using DC’s huge names in really good comics.

13. Y: The Last Man by Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra
I haven’t read the last trade so I can’t comic but the rest are really good so Vaughan would have to make a complete hash of the ending to stop it from earning its place on the list.

14. Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison and Richard Case
Proving that weirdness and superheroes are a perfect match, this is a sublime vision of the surreal but in a good way. Idea after idea after wonderfully mad idea leave you in a giddy delight, but the stories are more than just oddness of oddness’ sake.

15. Thor by Walt Simonson
Walt Simonson blew my mind with these comic books, apart from just making me interested in Thor in the first place. This is a really good run of comic books and should be read by anybody who wants to know how to reinvent a character while staying true to the history.

16. Fantastic Four by John Byrne
Despite his later problems, Byrne created some great stories here and rejuvenated the Fantastic Four in a way that few creators (such as Simonson, Waid & Ringo) have have done.

17. Captain America by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
I have just started reading this, so I can’t comment, but the first trade is really, really good. Also, it’s not over, so shouldn’t count.

18. Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday
My love of Ellis is bordering on the disturbing, so obviously I’m happy about this, but I think Transmetropolitan should be higher. However, this is an excellent run – a fascinating look at the world of superheroes via a slightly skewed perspective.

19. The Incredible Hulk by Peter David
I have this run and have to concur that it’s an amazing collection of bizarre superhero comics with many different artists and different story roads for the central character.

20. Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev
The most modern of completed runs that deserves its place via a great story and great art in a perfect marriage. The perfect vehicle for the talents of the creator in a mainstream universe, but bringing the cool indie vibe to proceedings. Really good stuff.

21. Animal Man by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog
Another mind-blowing set of comics from Morrison – I remember babbling to my non-comic-reading friends about the story where Animal Man meeting his author in a comic book.

22. Fables by Bill Willingham
Even though this should be disallowed by the fact of currently ongoing, I can’t hold a grudge against such a charmingly enjoyable series. The brilliant idea of fairy tale characters in modern Manhattan is matched by the execution and continued entertainment that Willingham has wrung.

23. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
Quite possibly Ellis’ masterpiece, although he still has plenty of vinegar left in him to produce more great work. But definitely a superb run of comic books.

24. The Punisher by Garth Ennis
Who would have thought that Garth Ennis would reinvigorate the character of the Punisher in such an amazing fashion? Personally, I thought the later issues of his first run lost the magic, and I haven’t really read the Max series, but, it’s Ennis, so it’s automatically good.

25. Cerebus by Dave Sim and Gerhard
I think High Society and Church and State are amazing reads (I stopped around the midway mark, as Sim was getting a little too odd for my tastes), and it deserves its place on this list for the achievement of completing 300 issues of a black and white comics about an aardvark.

26. Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley
I read the first dozen issues but, as I am not a big Spidey fan, I gave up and haven’t gone back. I’m sure this is a damned fine read – perhaps I’ll check it out from my library.

27. Invisibles by Grant Morrison
Ah, the divisive Invisibles. Pure Grant Morrison weirdness and anarchy, straight from brainpan to your eyes. An amazing collection of comics, but not one of my personal favourites from the God of Comics.

28. Suicide Squad by John Ostrander
It’s hard to believe that this actually existed at all, let alone for the 60 issues (and a mini-series) of supervillian/thriller/espionage entertainment in the DC universe. But it did, and a firm favourite of the comic blogger and deservedly so.

29. The Legion of Super-Heroes by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
I have read the Great Darkness Saga and wasn’t particularly impressed, which probably earns me enemies. I did enjoy the ‘5 Years Later’ run from Giffen, if that makes up for it, even if it is an uneven run in its own right.

30. Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Still unfinished, thus earning disqualification, but it is definitely something that will have staying power, due to the special magic Busiek produces when writing this comic. Along with Animal Man and JLA, this is one of those runs of comics I like but don’t enjoy the art.

31. Bone by Jeff Smith
Absolutely charming and enchanting. Buy the big book collection and make yourself very happy.

32. The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch
A more apposite run for the modern comic book run I can’t think of, with flashy, stylistic writing from Millar, low on subtlety, high on bombast, plus Hitch’s best widescreen art.

33. Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona
The first ‘season’ of this series is an absolute delight and perfect in almost every way. I will be sacrilegious and say that, by the end of his run on the second season, I was getting very bored and uninterested in their adventures, and could scarcely believe that Vaughan was still writing it. It hasn’t got better with the advent of Joss Whedon. Still, there’s always the first 18 issues …

34. Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr
See previous comic-history-hating remarks about Fantastic Four and Dr Strange – honestly, I do really love comics, please believe me.

35. Love and Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers
A comic of which I am aware of its greatness but haven’t read and have no desire to either. Alan David Doane will probably shake his head and sigh at this remark, but I must do what I must do.

36. Marvelman/Miracleman by Alan Moore, Gary Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Beckum, and John Totleben
Let’s face it – anything by Moore that isn’t one of those Images series he did for money (Voodoo, Violator vs Badrock, etc.) is worthy of inclusion on this list. This rocked my world when I first read it, and it hasn’t dimmed in appreciation since.

37. Hitman by Garth Ennis and John McCrea
Not only is this a consistently entertaining collection of comics about an Irish hitman in Gotham City, but there are some brilliant individual stories and issues in it as well (the most famous being the Superman one). God bless DC for publishing the comics in the first place, even if they are a little slack in printing the trades subsequently. Poignant, hilarious, violent, mocking and tender.

38. Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
Well written and beautifully drawn, but great? I’m not so sure, and this comes from a fan of the X-Men, Whedon and Cassaday. And, not finished yet.

39. Flash by Mark Waid
Waid’s Flash was so much fun and, more importantly, extremely personal to the author that the love shone through. Some good artists (my favourite being Ringo) made it a very good run, although I’m not sure it was quite as good when Brian Augustyn came on as joint writer, or after the Morrison/Millar run.

40. Promethea by Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III
I’m still trying to work out whether I liked this or not, especially after the last issue. When on form, it was brilliant; when it wasn’t, it was a lesson in tarot magic. You decide.

41. The Avengers by Kurt Busiek
I had these comics and, apart from an Ultron story, the strange hero Triathlon, and the chaos magic updating of Scarlet Witch, I can’t remember very much about them, especially as I traded them in for some trades. Your mileage may vary.

41. Howard the Duck by Steve Gerber
Never read it, so no comment.

43. Daredevil by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
I commented above on how great a story this was, but this is not a ‘run’. It’s a trade paperback. If this was allowed, why isn’t Watchmen in? Very silly having this on the list.

44. The Legion of Super-Heroes by Keith Giffen, Tom Bierbaum, and Mary Bierbaum
As mentioned before, I really enjoyed this. I think I had sample one or two issues of LSH before this (and liked the idea of an entire team of different superpowered teens) but this stuff made me love the concept, even if I didn’t know half the history they were referring to. This developed my Giffen habit, leading to Ambush Bug, Heckler, Vext, etc., and for that I thank it.

45. The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake
This is another example of why DC is such a great place for creators trying things – this wouldn’t have lasted at Marvel. This is a complete story from a cohesive creative team that made something special out of a character that is literally a deus ex machina. I must reread my issues of this again soon.

46. The Spirit by Will Eisner
Revealing my lack of comic book history, I have never read any of these books. That’s why I’m not on one of those cool group blogs or have a blog that anybody reads.

47. Deadpool by Joe Kelly
A really good run of parody and fourth-wall breaking comics, with early art from Ed McGuinness and Pete Woods. Includes the great issue which puts Deadpool in an old Spider-Man comic. This was so good it made me buy Steampunk (bleurgh) and M-Rex.

48. JSA by Geoff Johns
Well, at least I can say I’ve tried this before stating that I don’t like it. Can’t see the fascination

49. Detective Comics by Steve Englehart, Walt Simonson, and Marshall Rogers
No comment means not read.

50. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World
No comment means not read

51. Hellboy by Mike Mignola
Is a collection of mini-series a run, technically? Whatever, it is still an impressive achievement for a (non-superhero) creator-owned series to do so well and have such an influence that it becomes a good film. Mignola ploughs his own furrow and brings old folklore to life with a big red monster.

52. All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Not. A. Run. A very enjoyable effectively mini-series – Morrison and Quitely create delightful comic books together – that makes even a hard-hearted cynic smile with comic book joy.

53. Nexus by Mike Baron and Steve Rude
Another comic book I’ve tried but not liked, despite it being well liked.

54. Green Lantern by Geoff Johns
No comment means not read

55. Amazing Spider-Man by Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr
No comment means not read

56. The Flash by Geoff Johns
No comment means not read

56. Supreme by Alan Moore
I think that only Alan Moore could create a modern comic book that allowed him to recreate old Superman stories AND do it well. It might have suffered from Image art of the time but the writing and the love shone through. Also, only Moore could make me buy comics from Rob Liefeld.

58. The Avengers by Roger Stern
No comment means not read

59. Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams
Message comics in the DC universe by the sharp and passionate writing of O’Neil and the elegant anatomy and design skills of Neal Adams. Yes, it is dated but that doesn’t stop it from being a good run of comic books.

60. The Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
To invent a new term and style of comics – ‘widescreen’ comics – is no small achievement. The quality, mentalness and fun of the actual issues themselves only add to this. But 12 issues do not make a run, otherwise Watchmen would be number one on the list.

61. Iron Man by Bob Layton and David Michelinie
No comment means not read

62. 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
Sorry to repeat myself, but this isn’t a run YET. It is an excellent run of comics so far – Risso is a perfect artist for this book and Azzarello has worked a marvellous high concept into an absorbing series – but how will it finish?

62. Fantastic Four by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo
A magical combination of two artists perfectly suited to a book. So good they had to bring them back.

64. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
The rules of this list seem to be less defined than if I had been running it. A collection of mini-series and a – what do you call The Black Dossier? This do not make a ‘run’ but it goes back to my comment about anything from Moore ending up on the list. Not that I disagree …

65. Detective/Batman by Alan Grant, John Wagner, and Norm Breyfogle
No comment means not read

66. New Mutants by Chris Claremont, Bob McLeod, and Bill Sienkiewicz
This is the only Claremont work that should be artist separated – the Sienkiewicz run is superlative, mind-blowing, dazzling comic books whereas the McLeod stuff is pedestrian by comparison. And it was never the same again, which shows how definitive it was. A very favourite run.

67. Shade, the Changing Man by Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo
See my previous comments about the mad genius of this great run. Only Vertigo and Peter Milligan could create this. Personally, I wish it had stopped at the 50th issue, because the later issues weren’t as good. However, it might be my favourite Milligan work.

68. Top Ten by Alan Moore and Gene Ha
Technically a run? No. Great concept (the superhero police of a city full of people with superpowers), fantastic writing, fantastic art – I wish there was more. The Forty-Niners and Smax intensify this feeling.

69. X-Factor by Peter David
I like these comics but I wouldn’t have had it on a list of favourites. Funny stuff with B-list mutants – is that a fair assessment?

70. Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming
I’m still buying the individual issues as they come out, which shows that (a) it’s not a run, and (b) I really enjoy this great mix of police and the concept of the superhero. Good writing and moody art make for a very individual comic book.

71. Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri, and Rick Leonardi
Among my personal favourites of stories, not because of any special qualities, rather that these were the issues I buying as my hobby became hardcore. I still like Silvestri’s art even now, when I shouldn’t.

71. Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith
Long enough to be a run? Probably not – if we just had all the Claremont comics as one run, it would have left more room for other stuff on this list.

73. Black Panther by Christopher Priest
The best comic to come out of Marvel Knights. Priest made the Black Panther a fascinating and brilliant character, matched by the greatest supporting character in Everett K Ross. Great artists, great stories that made you think, and extremely funny – it was criminal (as always with comics written by Priest that kept cancelled) that it was cancelled but at least it left behind a great, great run of comics.

74. Excalibur by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis
I’ve recently re-read these, after being sparked by the recent ClanDestine mini-series. Davis’ art is magnificent, as always, and the other artists suffer in comparison. The Claremont stuff is disturbingly over-written, but sufficiently entertaining to help you ignore it. The more cohesive run is the Davis-written issues, bringing together a reason for the team, tidying up Claremont’s plotlines, and just damn good comics.

74. Gotham Central by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Kano
This is a great set of comics based on a genius idea – the stories of the police department who have to work in the shadow of the Batman – matched with two of the best writers of crime-based comic books in the business and the moody and realistic art of firstly Lark and Kano.

76. Concrete by Paul Chadwick
No comment means not read

77. Superman by John Byrne
I actually had all the Byrne written & drawn issues but got rid of them in a purge, which goes to show how much of an impact they had on me.

78. Wildcats by Joe Casey, Sean Phillips, Dustin Nguyen, and Duncan Rouleau
I haven’t read the Philips-drawn issues, but I did get version 3.0, which was really good post-something or other superheroes. Casey really tried to do something interesting with the concept, for which he should be respected.

79. Invincible by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley
Very enjoyable superheroics. Shouldn’t be on the list because of the fact that it’s still ongoing, but we should let that slide due to the fact that this is a delightfully charming superhero comic book of the sort that you thought people don’t make anymore, and it's from Image, making the success and popularity even more deserved.

80. Lucifer by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, and Ryan Kelly
I have read a couple of the trades, which I thought were very good, but it never caught my attention and I haven’t sought out the rest of the story.

81. Sleeper by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
Very good noir superhero espionage comics. Very deserving.

81. X-Force/X-Statix by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred
I tried this when it came out but I have no desire to re-read them, and might join my Trimming the Collection list.

83. StormWatch by Warren Ellis, Tom Raney, Oscar Jimenez, and Bryan Hitch
Did Wildstorm knew what it was doing when it let Ellis free on StormWatch? I’m very glad they did – this was a very enjoyable run of modern style comic books with some nice playing around with the tropes of superheroes.

83. Thor by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Never read them and don’t want to.

85. Groo by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier
Never read them and don’t want to, with no offence to the creators involved.

86. Warlock by Jim Starlin
No comment means not read

86. The Avengers by Roy Thomas
No comment means not read

88. Doctor Strange by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
See previous comments regarding old Lee and Ditko comics, comic-book-hating Commie that I am.

89. Captain America by Mark Gruenwald
My hazy memory of my comic book reading recalls the 350th issue of this book, written by Gruenwald and drawn by Kieron Dwyer, and quite liking it. I don’t know if that counts for much, but it means I don’t begrudge its place on the list.

90. Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont and John Romita, Jr
All Claremont X-Men is my favourite, so splitting up by artists doesn’t mean anything – they always had good artists on the mutant books.

91. Green Arrow by Mike Grell
No comment means not read

92. Nextwave by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
This should be disqualified from the voting, only having 12 issues, but it is one of the most enjoyable (short) runs of pure explodo joy and fun comics in recent years. Letting Ellis do whatever he wanted with C-list superheroes was an idea of genius, and Immonen’s art was magnificent.

93. Alias by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos
This deserves to be higher up the list – has any other book done so well, been so consistently well drawn and well written, and introduced a new character (in the form of Jessica Jones) into the Marvel universe in recent years? Taken on its own, it is a great story, even if Jones continues to exist in the New Avengers, and is the modern Marvel equivalent of what Vertigo allowed Morrison, Milligan, Gaiman et al. to do 20 years ago.

93. Hellblazer by Garth Ennis, Will Simpson, and Steve Dillon
It was this stretch of comics that got me on the Ennis train and I’ve never looked back. I started with the Dillon-drawn issues and even I could see this was a match made in heaven. My favourite interpretation of John Constantine.

95. Lone Wolf & Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima
No comment means not read

96. The Question by Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan
I actually own these issues and recommend them highly (although probably not as much as Greg Rucka would). Intelligent writing and moody art and no sound effects on the well-choreographed fights – really rather good in all respects.

97. Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai
Technically, this would be disqualified because it is still ongoing after 20 years of Stan Sakai writing and drawing the adventures of the rabbit samurai, but I don’t care – this is one of the greatest runs in comic books, made even more impressive that it isn’t about superheroes, is in black and white, and is anthropomorphic. With that many handicaps, it is amazing that is still exists, let alone the fact that it is quite simply amazing on all levels.

97. Grendel by Matt Wagner
The early stories about Hunter Rose, which were also drawn by Wagner, are very good comics indeed. I haven’t read much of the other stuff in between, but Wagner created a fascinating character and world for Grendel so I would be tempted to read this via the library.

99. Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
No comment means not read

100. Plastic Man by Jack Cole
No comment means not read

100. Master of Kung-Fu by Doug Moench
No comment means not read

100. Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware
No comment means not read

The only major addition to the list (as mentioned in runs outside the top 100) would be Zenith, by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell. The pop star son of superheroes who wants nothing more than have fun and sleep around, this was a series that opened my eyes to what superhero comics could do. That it was in the middle of 2000AD was even more amazing. One of the best things Morrison has written, it was cool and modern and current but was suffused with a love for superheroes and their history. Absolutely wonderful. And, with the letter Z, is the perfect way to end this list and post.

Comic Book Movies: (EW) Simply The Best?

In anticipation of the release of Iron Man, Entertainment Weekly provided a selection of the best comic book movies here. The list, seemingly in no particular order, is as follows:

Batman Begins and Batman Returns
X2: X-Men United
Akira
From Hell
American Splendor
V for Vendetta
Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2
Superman II
Oldboy
Blade II
A History of Violence
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
Hellboy
Ghost World
Persepolis
Ghost in the Shell

For once, this is a list that is actually rather good; I only have a few complaints (naturally), which I am compelled to reveal.

Firstly, the positives: resounding yes to Spider-Man 2 (with special honorary status to the first film) and X2: X-Men United, hell yes on the non-superhero front to Oldboy and A History of Violence. Respect to Blade II (although there should be a special mention of the opening scene of Blade where he attacks the vampire rave club with the blood showers – the rest of the film isn’t as good), and I’ll accept Hellboy for everything about it being so right without it being a particularly great film.

Now, to my qualms. Although Batman Returns is a good film, I don’t think it deserves to be in the category of ‘best’ – I can’t help but think that it is remembered for Michelle Pfeifer in a catsuit more than anything else (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

From Hell should be in a separate category because, although technically a film adapted from a comic book, the film itself is a normal (if well-made and interesting) police procedural based around some of the ideas and characters in the book but without actually being like the book at all. I enjoy the film (apart from Heather Graham and her accent) but it’s like saying that South Park is an adaptation of the New Testament because it has Jesus in it …

In a similar vein, V for Vendetta is an enjoyable film but not in the upper echelons of comic book films, and it loses points by completely missing the point of the source material, which is really rather important.

Personally, I wouldn’t have any of the Superman films in the list – III and IV are awful, the first one had the ridiculous ending and the second one was just silly (yes, it was) – but I could be biased by the fact that I don’t like them.

I haven’t seen American Splendor, Lone Wolf and Cub or Persepolis, so I won’t comment (how very noble of me) so I will console myself with pointing out the glaring omission: Sin City – a more faithful adaptation it is impossible to have and it is also a damn good movie in its own right. Not only has it stopped Frank Miller going near an actual comic book, but its green screen approach has allowed the Watchmen movie (however awful it may actually be) to be made, and we even get to see a translation to the silver screen of Will Eisner's The Spirit. But then perhaps they left it off the list to spark debate – or because it committed the faux pas of having a stripper, in the form of Jessica Alba, not actually stripping because of her no-nudity clause …

Comic Book Commentary: Animated Wolvie Is Not Legendary

I don’t usually comment on the many, many press releases that end up on CBR or Newsarama. There’s simply not enough time in the day to even look at them, let alone develop a reaction to them AND write about it. However, a certain number of key words that cross the threshold of my interest will cause me to read about something that somebody wants to pimp.

In this instance, the combination of ‘animated’, ‘X-Men’ and ‘Wolverine’ were enough on a quiet day to click on this link that appeared in my Google Reader. It is for a new animated series from Marvel, called Wolverine and the X-Men. The name alone makes my inner fanboy twitch with righteous (yet impotent) indignation. You see, Wolverine is one of the X-Men; that’s how he started out, before he got all famous and guest-starred in other people’s books, or everybody swooned over Hugh Jackman. He’s part of the team – do we have Robin and the Teen Titans, or Captain America and the Avengers, or something equally stupid that I can’t think of right now? (Batman and the Outsiders doesn’t count – he created the team and he was famous before them.)

But it gets worse, with this line from the press release:

‘the most legendary of all X-Men, Wolverine’

Oh dearie me, no. No, no, no. Now, I was a big X-fan growing up, and obviously I liked the short, hairy Canuck as much as the next fanboy, but Wolverine is not the most legendary X-Men of all. You can try to persuade me all you like, but you won't change my mind. I know he’s got the claws and the healing factor, and he’s been around a long time, but that does not equal ‘legendary’, not by a Longshot (that was an in-joke for X-Men fans). I can understand why the makers want to make him the lead and the draw for a new series – he was, is and will always be the coolest mofo on the mutant team – but, please, tone down the ridiculous hyperbole. I know, it’s just a press release, but we should have standards, you know what I mean? And let's not get into how he's so not a leader …

Anyway, the trailer itself seems to be an X-fan’s wet dream – it seems that there is going to be an entire series based around the Days of Future Past concept, and trying to prevent it. Look at all the people and stories that turn up – you have Wolverine in his yellow costume (and a reference to Weapon X), as well as Emma Frost (in diamond form), the furry Beast, Iceman. There’s Rogue, Gambit, Angel (the feathered version), Wolfsbane, Domino, Maverick, even Morrison’s Dust. On the flip side, there’s Magneto, Polaris, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mystique (and did I see Vertigo from the Marauders in there?). We have Genosha and the Sentinels, and there’s even room for Mojo and Spiral for crying out loud. And is that Forge with the goatee at the end? Talk about a kitchen sink mentality; no wonder they’re going to need an entire series … which it is unlikely I will ever get to see, except possibly via YouTube, seeing as all those lovely superhero cartoons don’t make it onto terrestrial or free-to-air digital channels.

To sum up: Wolverine should not be the star or the leader of an X-Men cartoon. However, my inner teenage X-fanboy really wants to see it. I am so conflicted …

Comic Book Awesomeness: I Trust Captain Britain

I tend to use this site as a catalogue of the things I have read/seen, in the form of me reviewing them. However, there are other types of post that interrupt the discussion of my entertainment consumption.

This is one of those posts.

Because, when I saw the preview pages of Captain Britain and MI:13 #1 over at CBR, I had to post this particular page on my blog due to its utter awesomeness:


That, my friends, is pure poetry in motion: Captain Britain punching a Skrull's head off.

To repeat:
Captain Britain. Punching. A Skrull's Head. Clean Off.

God bless you, Paul Cornell, for writing such a scene, and God bless you, Leonard Kirk, for drawing it so beautifully.

I confess to still being worried for this title, even before it comes out in May, but an image like that should make people sit up and notice. No excessive talking for Captain Britain and team – this is how we deal with alien invasions in the UK. I've already pre-ordered my issue; have you?

Film Review: The Invincible Iron Man DVD

Just to show how up to date and topical I am not, here are my thoughts on the made-for-DVD cartoon film of Iron Man in the week in which the much-hyped Iron Man film reaches our screens. I would say this is irony, but that would be an awful pun …

Tony Stark is trying to raise an ancient Chinese city from beneath the ground; when he goes to investigate the kidnapping of his friend, Jim ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, by the terrorist group the Jade Dragons, he is injured and is saved by a local doctor and Rhodey’s army medic training, leaving him with a piece of shrapnel in his heart. He is forced to create a weapon to destroy the city, but he makes a suit of technological armour and they flee the encampment. Meanwhile, the reason behind the city is revealed to be the return of the Mandarin, a long-dead rule of the city, and four elementals are woke to recover his rings to return him to power.

Having been framed by his father, head of Stark Enterprises, to make it look like he and Rhodey were selling weapons to the Jade Dragons, he goes to his secret office to reveal that he has been making lots of different Iron Man armours before the one in China. He takes one to fight the Elementals, which he is able to defeat, before returning to the city to stop the Mandarin, who will rise in spirit via the vessel of Li Mei, one of the Jade Dragons who befriended Tony during his capture. Tony fights off an army of terracotta warriors (which are no doubt legally different to the Xi’an Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang-di) and then a huge dragon, before confronting Li Mei, now possessed by the spirit of Mandarin and devoid of any clothes, necessitating a lot of swirling smoke and shadows to hide any hint of nudity. Rather than actually fighting or making a conscious choice in the final process, Tony doesn’t do anything apart from ask Li Mei not to be bad – a spectacularly uninteresting climax to a story. Back in the US, he buys up all available shares in Stark Enterprises so that he can have complete control and make up with his father after their friction earlier, because father–son relationships are so important.

If my slightly sarcastic tone hasn’t come through, I should state that I didn’t particularly enjoy this. I’m not slavish to the origins, but why change so much of Iron Man’s for this? Not only forcing it to tie into the story of the Mandarin plot just to be part of the narrative, but also having Tony already making lots of armour rather than having to come up with it to save his life – surely that was one of the great parts of the origin? The need for the father–son friction just seemed so cheap and melodramatic (in the comics, Tony’s parents have been dead for some time in his life, and this need for boardroom family tussles came off as really bland), and the denouement in which he plays no real part (much like Indiana Jones doesn’t do anything at the end of Raiders) seemed weak. Even the action aspect didn’t really liven things up – animation should be the perfect medium for Iron Man but the fight scenes were rather dull. It just seems that the makers of the film didn’t really get the point of the character – surely somebody could have pointed that out at some stage? I really hope the live-action Iron Man film does it better …

Rating: DA

Comics: Do Your Bit For The CBLDF

The solicitations are up for Image comics in July, but there is only one book to point out, as reinforced by Scott Dunbier's post about it:

LIBERTY COMICS: A CBLDF BENEFIT BOOK (ONE-SHOT)

Quoteth the blurb:

DEFEND YOUR LIBERTY!
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Image Comics defend your freedom of speech with LIBERTY COMICS, an all-new 32-page, full color comic book crammed cover-to-cover with work by many of today’s top creative talents. This mature readers anthology is printed in a high quality format and features all-new stories of THE BOYS and CRIMINAL as well as all-new creations from some of your favorite artists. All proceeds benefit the CBLDF and their efforts to protect your creative rights!

Or, to put it in the more immediate terms of Scott's post:

Stories by:
Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips provide a CRIMINAL tale
Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson bring us THE BOYS
Mark Millar & John Paul Leon give us their take on DRACULA
Darwyn Cooke delivers something entirely new
Mark Evanier & Sergio Aragones take us on a tour of the CBLDF

Additional material by:
Arthur Adams, J. Bone, and Rick Vietch (The return of BRAT PACK!)

A great line-up and all for a good cause, to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. There is really no excuse not to buy it, so make sure your local comic book shop orders you a copy and comes out on 23 July 2008 for $3.99 of the weak Yankee dollar. Be entertained and feel a contented glow from being charitable; you know it makes sense.

(Just in case you are confused – it is only one book but it has two covers, as shown here. Don't want you to get the wrong idea.)

Film Review: Doctor Strange DVD

Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme

The Master of the Mystic Arts seems like an idea that is great for animation – the cartoonists will be able to bring to life the ethereal quality of magic as envisaged by Steve Ditko and make it even more tangible, the stuff of dreams made real. However, the filmmakers seemed to have completely missed this quite important point at the heart of Doctor Strange and jazzed things up by having all the mystical folk fight with swords.

In one of the extras on the DVD, about the origins of Doctor Strange (with some nice stuff from Stan Lee and Steve Engelhart), the screenwriter for the film (Greg Johnson) talks about the process and the characters. In doing so, he reveals the extent to which he does not understand the idea behind the Sorcerer Supreme – he talks about making the other mystics having their own identifiable form of using magic, which them makes them just like the X-Men. He actually uses that analogy. And this is the guy who wrote the film, someone who admits that he read ‘most’ of the books – he obviously is not a fan of Stephen Strange and he is obviously not a fan of magic, because magic is continually downplayed throughout the film. I can only imagine what Neilalien thought about it …

The film is basically a reworking of the origin story, with the tweak of giving Stephen Strange a younger sister who he couldn’t help when she started having aneurysms as some unnecessary backstory. But the film gets it mostly right, with Strange an arrogant surgeon who loses the gift of his hands in a car crash, loses his money in an effort to heal them, and ending up in the monastery of the Ancient One in Tibet, where he eventually learns magic. All the while, Dormammu is trying to break into this dimension …

The animation style has a nice fluidity and anatomy, and magic is creatively illustrated when it is used. Strange looks good, except his hair and clothing goes a little too far into the zone of ‘New Romantic’ when he accepts his magical abilities. It would have been nice to have had the cloak, even in an updated format, but they decided against that, as well as many other classics of the Strange mythology, such as chanting (I would have liked to hear ‘By the crimson bands of Cytorrak’) and the use of magical incantations that you would expect of the Sorcerer Supreme. Having him fight Mordo with swords seems very silly when they can do bloody magic …

The film is quite enjoyable, despite the deviation from the comic book (why do the creators say how much they like the original stuff, then change it?) – I’m not saying that the film should be the books but at least be on the same page about what the concept is – and tells the story in an entertaining fashion. Just don’t expect anything too dazzling.

Rating: VID

Looks Like We Got Ourselves A Reader

Dave of YACB recently wrote of having too many comics to read and not enough time – he has three short boxes of floppies he hasn’t read yet, not to mention the trades and manga waiting to be perused. I can’t remember where he said it, but I’m sure that Augie (of Pipeline fame) has said something similar, having boxes of comics and trades to read.

Firstly, this makes me think they have too much money and an obsessive need to own everything (I’m joking). How can they afford to buy so many comic books that they can’t even get around to reading them? Unless they are still working late in order to pay for all of them – comics are expensive.

The second thought that hits me is ‘How do you stop yourselves?’ This is because I devour my comics when I buy them (no literally, that would be hideous) – I don’t get to the comic shop every week, so I have a pile waiting for me when I get there, and I can’t wait to start reading them. I LOVE new comics – all those new stories waiting for me to absorb, I have to slow down my reading in case the speed of it sets the pages alight.

This could be to do with me – I do read fairly quickly (not as quickly as Clandestine Chum Greg or writer/broadcaster/renaissance media man Andrew Collins, who seem to be able to blink at a book and be enough to read it) and always have; I once went to a speed-reading class in order to get through the many scientific articles required for the post-graduate student to stay on top of his field and write a thesis, and was told that I was already moving my eye across the page twice as fast as the average reader.

In fact, I never have enough to read, comics or otherwise. I’m lucky in the respect that my commute to work allows me about two hours of pleasure reading a day, where I read trades and novels; the only thing that can’t keep up is my wallet, so thank goodness for libraries. I would love to be able to buy more comics but realise that it is an expensive hobby (I get about 15–20 books a month, not including a trade here or there) and that I have limited funds and storage space: the loft already contains approximately 6000 comics and trades. So, for somebody to have piles of reading material that they have bought just sitting there, teasing them with the joy of their untold narratives, just boggles my mind …

The only thing that I can compare with this is the stack of video tapes (and now recordings on my PVR) of films off the television that I want to watch but haven’t yet done so – I have a huge taste and appetite for cinema, but I know that I can’t inflict all of that upon my long-suffering girlfriend. And at least I didn’t pay for them; although, saying that, I do have a large DVD collection as well …

Talking of books and films – the news is official: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be split into two films. I can see the logic in needing two films to fit everything from the book into cinematic form, but I don’t like the fact that it is just a money-making decision on the part of the studio. It was with other films (Kill Bill and the Death Proof/Planet Terror split in this country – interestingly both Miramax) and I can see no sufficiently good excuse for it in this case. There is a lot to get through in the final book of the series, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be judiciously pruned to make a 3-hour film, which would be more satisfying.

To add insult to injury, they’ve got David Heyman filming them as well – as I’ve said before, he did a good if unexciting job on The Order of the Phoenix, and I believe the final film needed somebody to make it really special (I would have loved Alfonso Cuarón, based on The Prisoner of Azkaban, but would have been equally happy with the suggestion of Guillermo Del Toro that had been rumoured).

Honestly, it’s enough to make a man wait for the DVD …

Buffy + Babe = Bad?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a show I really enjoyed, even the later shows with whiny Buffy, and I was delighted when Joss Whedon brought the next season in the series to comics, running it like a television show with different writers but him running it. This new comic series has been enjoyable, finding its feet as it straddles the transition from a television programme to a comic book format, and I look forward to each new issue.

So it was a little unusual to hear rumours that issue 12 was going to be something on the level of Captain America being shot (Rich Johnston was incorrectly predicting the specifics back in February). What could be happening in Buffy that would be so huge?

As everyone now knows, the big ‘shock’ was the reveal of Buffy having sex with Satsu, one of the new Slayers, whose ‘true love’ kiss revived Buffy in an early issue and whose infatuation with Buffy was the basis of the previous issue. My first response was, ‘Really? Is this the big thing they’ve been pimping?’ I’m either getting old or I’m extremely cynical, but I didn’t think it warranted the build up, or the reaction (the story was picked up in newspapers and television websites (via Blog@Newsarama), there was the blog response, and there was even an interview with Joss to discuss it).

The ‘hot girl-on-girl action’ (to quote Hot Fuzz) is a plot twist, an unexpected one, but it’s part of the storyline. I don’t know about you, but I kind of expect to have interesting plot twists in the comic books I read; it’s one of the reasons I do it. The turn of events has previous form, in the character of Willow being in a heterosexual relationship before her lesbian relationship with Tara, even if this time it seems like they are repeating themselves. (It’s interesting to note that there was no build up for the first Tara–Willow kiss on the show, in the excellent The Body episode, compared with the ‘Check out this comic!’ approach for the book.) And Buffy has always had unusual relationships (such as screwing Spike in season six [I love alliteration]), so jumping in the sack with a hot Asian babe who loves her isn’t completely outside the realms of possibility.

I disagree with Greg’s extreme interpretation of these events in his review (PS, you’re not a moron, Greg), although I can understand his viewpoint – I genuinely believe that this event can create an interesting chain reaction that will affect the characters and the way they interact, and I believe that this was done for a good story reason. I can’t imagine it would have happened on the television show if it was still on our screen – Sarah Michelle Gellar would have nixed that one straight away – but that is one of the reasons why the comic is a great medium for the Buffy concept, allowing Joss to take it in new directions. I don’t think it was done for titillation purposes (we don’t see the titillation, for a start) and I have confidence in the storytelling capabilities of the creators to take the book into narratively interesting directions.

I shall leave you with the best response to the whole kerfuffle, from Chris Sims’ review: ‘Hot damn! Vaginas!’

Original Origins

Power Pack have been sneaking an effectively ongoing series in the form of eight mini-series since 2005 (teaming up with X-Men, the Avengers, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four and Iron Man in the process). And now they have announced the next mini-series – Power Pack: Day One, in which they reveal their origin.

This series has one goal (and I quote): ‘Establishing a new continuity for the Pack’. And this got me thinking – why is this needed? Surely the Pack have one of the best origins around? Clean and simple – a family of kids are given special powers by an alien who crash-landed. It doesn’t need updating or revising. It doesn’t need a JM Straczynski reimagining so that they are linked to some alien elemental totem or something.

I understand that these comics aren’t anything to do with the original series, but it still seems a strange thing to do. I loved the original stories – the magical little niche Louise Simonson and June Brigman (then Jon Bogdanove) created for Alex, Julie, Jack and Katie Powers when they are given their powers by a dying Kymelian, as well as his old spaceship (powers and a spaceship? A child’s dream!), was utterly charming but also intelligent and mature. It doesn’t need an updating.

But then, should the Power Pack be exempt from the re-evaluation of origins that is almost de rigeur for all other super heroes? How many times have the origins of Superman or Batman or Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four been revisited? All writers search for an extra story nugget to wring out of the origin tale (some more than others; I’m looking at you, Batman) but shouldn’t there be some that are off limits? I don’t think this is my proprietary nature towards the Pack talking – all I’m saying is that why do they feel the need to improve on a classic? Leave the Powers to their first perfect story with Whitey.

Who Watches The Watchmen Costumes?

Late to the party as ever, a few comments on the first images from Watchmen the film. There have been many comments (my favourite reaction was Kevin’s, the most thoughtful from Mike) about promotional images for a film that is still over a year away.

The aspect I think that has been missed is that the characters were never going to reflect the book – ever since the cast was announced, it was apparent that the filmmakers were going young, something which was always going to affect the costume designs (digression: John Cassaday and Adam Hughes were brought in to update the designs).

These actors aren’t going to be aged or fattened up, so the premise of the story is going to be skewed in its timeline: the original characters had a distance in years from their crime-fighting careers, which themselves were not short, giving an extra dimension to their adventures when they have been retired by the Keene Act. The characters in these images are far too young; they look as if they have undergone nothing more intense than puberty.

The film is never going to be the book and to expect otherwise is rather naïve. I love the book – I reread it again recently, just because I enjoy doing so every year or so, still finding new things to admire and wanting to get to the end – but I know that the film will be a different beast, solely interested in the plot but using the surface attributes to dress it up. So, yes, the costumes look odd and they look like they’ve missed the point (the Comedian and Rorshach are the exceptions) but then the whole film will look odd, and we should get used to it. Nonetheless, I’ll still be there on opening weekend, regardless of the cosmetic changes necessary to get one of my favourite comic books on the silver screen.