Part of the cast was on hand at the Disney Expo thingy this weekend, where they showed four minutes of footage from the upcoming Avengers movie. I haven’t been able to find a video of it online, but here is a good description of it, as well as an article about the event.

I’m excited for the movie, mainly because it’s being written and directed by Joss Whedon. I don’t think it’s a secret that I love just about everything he’s done and it feels like there hasn’t been much output from other than a few issues of Buffy season eight, since Dollhouse went off the air. That would be because he’s been busy prepping a major tentpole motion picture. I think it has the potential to be fantastic. In his one previous big screen work Serenity, he delivered exciting action sequences that furthered the plot,while not losing sight of the characters, while also giving them strong emotional arcs and some really fun dialog. That is exactly what I want out of the Avengers.

I havent seen any of the movies introducing the individual team members, except the first Iron Man. Which I quite enjoyed. I think it’s a shame that the core of the team has been established and cast already, I would have liked some Whedon regulars in the cast. As it is the closest we’ve got to a Whedon connection is Cobie Smulders, whose How I Met Your Mother castmate Neil Patrick Harris starred in Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. At least as far as we know. Maybe he’ll find places for Nathan Fillion, Amber Benson, James Marsters, Summer Glau, Alyson Hannigan, Adam Baldwin, and Felicia Day. Yeah, that’s a super team I would get behind.

(the poster is most definitely not an official poster, but it the best of the fan made ones I saw.  I could not find an artist to credit it to.  If anyone knows, leave it in the comments and I’ll include it.)

On the Day Batman’s Parents Died

A poem by me

On the day Batman’s parents died

It was Christmas

It was New Year’s Eve

It was Halloween

It was Bruce’s birthday

They went to the movies (it was Zorro)

They went to the opera

They went to the ballet

They went to the movies (it was not Zorro)

Little Bruce’s mother scolded him

Little Bruce told his father he hated him

His father hit his mother

His mother told his father she was pregnant again

Bruce pretended to be the Lone Ranger

Bruce’s mother read to him from Alice in Wonderland

Bruce’s father dressed up like a bat

Bruce’s butler stayed home with a cold

A black cat crossed their path

A clown juggled for pennies

A crow died

A criminal got away

There was a full moon

There was no moon

It was everyday

It was the only day

This was inspired by the fact that every Batman comic I’ve read  or movie or tv show I’ve seen, has set every flashback to Bruce Wayne’s childhood on the day his parents were murdered.  Of course each one contradicts the last.  But why not?  It all happened.  It is the only day that matters.

I picked this book up at the event I attended last week.  I have been very eager to read it for several reasons.  The first being that Niffengger is one of my favorite authors.  Second, this is her first comic, and as you know if you read this blog, I love comics!  Lastly, it is about books and the role they play in in a person’s life.  And I love books too, of all kinds, pure prose, illustrated, memoir, essays, fantasy, humor, children’s, ebooks, and countless others.

The Night Bookmobile is unlike Niffenegger’s two previously published graphic pieces.  The Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress were both stories told in brief poetic sentences accompanied by equally dreamlike, evocative illustrations.  The Night Bookmoblie is different to the point that if you did not know who the author of each was and put them next to each other, you probably would not guess they were done by the same person.

The story shares the magic realism themes of the other two, but is told in a far more straight forward manner, and the art is much more precise and grounded.  I don’t consider that a bad thing, I think this is the strongest of her three graphic works.  The other two are lovely to look at, and to muse on the narrative, but the Night Bookmobile pulls you into the story in a way the other two don’t.

The story is that of a young women who while on a late night walk, after a fight with her boyfriend, stumbles upon an RV calling itself the Night Bookmoblie.  She steps inside to discover it is bigger than it appeared and is filled with books.  But they are not just any books, these are every book she has read over the course of her life.  Not just books she owns, but everything she had ever borrowed from a library or friend, everything read for school, or read and discarded.  The Bookmoblie also has a catalog of every magazine, newspaper, pamphlet, road sign or cereal box she ever read as well.  It’s not mentioned, but I am sure it also has a database of every email and webpage also.  The discovery changes the way she reads, always aware that she is adding to the library each time she opens the book.  She becomes obsessed with finding the  Bookmobile again.

The art is incredibly detailed and true to life.  It compliments the story perfectly.  One particular panel, a close up of the a shelf of books in the Bookmoblie was particularly compelling.  She recreates the spines of a collection of children’s books with nearly impossible accuracy, it is clear it was done by hand and it is a wonder to behold.  I was drawn to examine each one and felt the same tingles of recognition when I spotted one I had read as a child that the protagonist was experiencing.

The story was originally published as a prose story for an anthology.  She later interpreted it into a comic for the UK’s  the Guardian.  I think it is especially suited to the medium, since the imagery is so vivid.  The book was published by Abrams, with as much attention to detail and artistry as the material deserves.  If you can’t tell by now, I really liked it and highly recommend picking it up

Buffy season 8 came to an end last month, with issue 40.  I have some thoughts on both the final issue, and the series as a whole.  I plan on going into detail about the plot, so anyone who has not read the whole thing, and is wary of spoilers, should not read beyond the jump.

Buffy the TV show meant a lot to me.  I connected to it from the moment it came on the air, and for the entire seven years it was on the air, I looked forward to every new episode.  I think I only missed seeing two episodes the night they aired, that whole time.  It is the reason I follow every project Joss Whedon works on with great interest.  Somewhere around season two, I became an unabashed fangirl, and haven’t looked back since.  And it’s fair to say my own writing has been heavily influenced by it.  In that I think a hero (or even more so, a heroine) should not be infallible, that they can make mistakes and fall down, and still remain a hero.

So when it was announced that Joss would be resuming the series as a comic, I was thrilled.  I could not wait for my friends to return, and find out what he had in store for them next.  The first twenty issues or so were pretty spectacular, beautiful art, and brilliantly written.  Having Joss write many, and oversee the rest, assured that the tone of the show carried over to the comics, and that the characters felt true to how they had been previously portrayed.  Those issues did a really good job bringing the audience up to speed with what the Scooby gang had been doing since the end of the series.  And also establishing new characters to root for, such as Renee and Satsu.

Spoilers from here on.  You have been warned, don’t whine to me if you read something you don’t want to.

Some of the highlights of the first half for me were: Xander growing into the role of strategic leader to the slayer army.  A great bit of growth, but not one that felt unnatural for him.  Buffy getting into a relationship with Satsu.  A move that brought a lot publicity and controversy.  A lot of people declared that it was totally out of character for Buffy to suddenly become a lesbian.  But I think those people were missing the point.  It wasn’t played as Buffy discovering a new sexual identity, but rather as her experimenting within the one she already had established.  And I thought it was very nicely portrayed.  I also quite enjoyed the return of Dracula.  A character that actually was more well rounded and interesting in the comics, than in his single episode of the series.  Another stand out was the arc Brian K. Vaughan wrote, focusing on Faith.  I felt it really got inside her head, and moved me.  And I am not even that into Faith as a character.  I did love the Fray cross over, and its implications for Willow.  And the issue about the Buffy stand in, was sublime.  And those gorgeous Jo Chen covers!  I want all of them framed on my wall.

The second half of the season however had some flaws.  The plot seemed to peter out, and go in circles.  First the slayers had to give up their power, to keep Twilight from finding them.  Then they needed to get it back to win the battle with the Twilight led army.  Then Buffy was inadvertently leaching the power from all the other slayers, and turning into to uber slayer.  Then they all had to band together to get rid of the source of magic in the world.  It just felt convoluted, and I lost interest in the major plot.

Then there was the fact that they brought back Oz, one of my favorite characters, and one that had been gone since season four.  I was really excited when I heard he was coming back.  However it turns out that Oz is such a stoic character, that without Seth Green’s subtle performance, he feels pretty flat on the page.  It didn’t help that one of his defining traits was his deep connection with Willow, but so much had happened in their lives, and they had changed so much in the intervening years, that that simpatico had all but vanished.  I’m not saying I expected them to rush back into each-other’s arms, that would have rung false.  But there wasn’t really any moments of shared history between them, that I can recall.  Without that, his presence felt pretty incidental.  Like he was only there, because Joss knew that the fans wanted that, and not because it served the story.  Really, how much difference did Oz’s band of wolves make to the battle?

And there were some out of character moments in the back half.  One that stuck out particularly for me, was an issue where Buffy is pulled back to her life circa season one.  There is a moment when Cordelia says something mean to Willow, and Buffy jokes to Willow something along the lines of “One day she will be dead.”

I know Buffy and Cordy weren’t bff’s, but they were friends.  For her to be so glib about Cordy’s untimely, and ignominious death, really rubbed me the wrong way.

And Xander getting into a relationship with Dawn feels off to me as well.  I’m not one of the faction of Buffy fans that dislikes Dawn.  Being a little sister myself, I usually felt pretty sympathetic to her.  So it’s not that I hate anything that has to do with Dawn.  It’s just that while Dawn had long had an on-off crush on Xander, his feeling toward her, always seemed to be brotherly.  To have that morph into a romance, feels kinda squicky to me.  I know that he isn’t her brother, and they aren’t genetically related, and she is not a child anymore, but it still feels weird.  And there is also a part of me that feels like Xander is just using her as a more obtainable Buffy substitute.  One that would return his feelings.

(That being said, I applaud his calling Buffy out on her only showing interest in him, after he is taken by someone close to her)

Which brings me to the biggest WTF, of the series for me.  Having Twilight turn out to be Angel, was a very unexpected and shocking reveal.  Definitely a jaw dropper.  But the reasons that were given for him going there, just don’t work to me.  We have seen time and again that he is not the type to chase a destiny, with no regard for what it would do to the world.  In fact we saw him twice sacrifice things that would benefit him and his possible future with Buffy, because it would mean that innocents would suffer.  So to have him go to extremes, and become essentially a supervillian, so that he and Buffy can create a new universe, which just happens to mean the current universe will be destroyed, along with everyone in it.  That feels so out of character!

Even after it was revealed that he was manipulated, by primal powers, or something, (did I mention I had a hard time following this?) I still didn’t buy that he would go along with it.  And I’m saying this as someone who isn’t a huge Angel fan.  He is probably somewhere around twenty on my list of Buffyverse characters that I care about.  Nevertheless, the Angel that had been established since his exit from the Buffy series, is one that has a lot of priorities beyond Buffy.  His team, his son, the thousands of innocent lives that he feels responsible for.  I just don’t believe he would under any circumstances, decide to throw them over, because he has been told he has a greater purpose.

I’m not going to even go into the sex in the sky thing.  In my opinion, that was the least of that story arc’s problems.

Alright, so I just complained an awful lot.  I feel bad for unleashing that,  because I think there was a lot to like over the forty issues.  Just less in the last twenty.  The writing just wasn’t as tight in the back half.

It was not by all bad.  I liked the idea of public opinion tipping in favor of the vampires.  And Harmony becoming a reality tv star was a really fun idea.  And Spike’s return, in a completely unexplained dirigible, crewed by giant spacebugs!  That is a random plot element I can absolutely get behind.

Here’s the thing, despite the issues I had with the last half of the season, I thought the final issue was really good.   I like what it sets up for season nine.  And I am still super happy that there will be a season nine.

I like that the slayer army is no more.  While it was a cool concept, it quickly became unweildy, and drew focus from our central characters.  I am looking forward to seeing how Buffy handles once again being a free agent, after having been a general.  And I am eager to see how she deals with the many very powerful girls who feel betrayed by her.  Though I’m not quite sure why they feel like she wronged them, since they still have all they’re power.  It’s the rest of the magic community that she stole something from.  (Are there still demons?  Or did Clem and Lorne go poof, along with the egg?)

I do think that she made the right choice, and did what she had to, to keep the world from going boom.  But nobody else is going to get that, since they weren’t forced to make the decision.  Spike was right about that.

Speaking of Blondie Bear, I’m glad he is once again a regular part of her life.  Playing the part of supporter and truth teller.  I’m even okay if they don’t end up in a romantic relationship again.  In fact if they do, I think it needs to be taken slowly, after events are not so raw.  And it isn’t just a reaction to what happened.

Giles being dead, I mean.  That hurt.  For several days after I read that scene, the words “Giles is dead,” would interrupt my train of thought.  I love Giles!  I don’t want him to be dead.  However I don’t see Joss bringing him back to life.  Because Joss is mean and likes to make me cry.  And he likes to make Buffy cry too, and this is going to keep her in a shakey place for quite a while.  (One thing that really does bug me about Giles being dead, other than you know dead Giles, is that it means that when Buffy returns to an audiovisual medium.  I do believe it will someday.  It means that Anthony Head won’t be in it.  Unless Joss does something Jossy, and he is).

As for Willow, I am really interested to see what happens with her.  On the one hand, yay!  No more annoying Kennedy!  On the other, dear god!  She is going down a dark path!  It really looks like she is going to do something dangerous and destructive to get her magic back.  And what did she mean that she broke up with Kennedy, because there was someone else, that she will never see again?  For a minute there I thought she was referring to Giles, since she used to have a crush on him.  Then I thought she might mean her snake lady teacher, who is also cut off from her now.  But I actually think she meant Tara.  I think some part of her always believed that if she got enough power, she would be able to bring her back.  And I think we will have to deal with the fact that she decided that it was better for the world to burn, than to lose her magic.  Honestly I don’t know if there is any way to bring her back from this.  Except maybe actually bringing Tara back (although it couldn’t be through her actions).  That might be the only thing that would make her let go of the bitterness, that is eating her alive.  So yikes, Willow!  Just embrace the computer nerd, you were awesome  pre-magic too, sweetheart.

Alright, if anyone managed to make it through this novella of a post, I would be interested in hearing what you thought about season eight, the last issue, and what you want to see in season nine.

Well blogger/TV critic Jace Lacob, has had a look at the script, and it is worse than I had imagined.  You can see his summary here, but it does not bode well at all.  Some things that stick out for me as not just inconsistent to the character, but really bad writing in general are: that Diana is given three identities.  One is Wonder Woman, crime fighter.  Another is as Diana Themyscira, the CEO of an international corporation, who collects transforming aircraft (the hell?).  And finally  as Diana Prince, a mousy assistant.  I don’t get this conceit at all.  It is traditional for super-hero’s to have a super-hero identity, and a separate civilian identity (in fact in the comics she does sort of have three, wonder woman, Diana Prince, and the Princess of the Amazons.  But the princess/wonder woman identities are publicly acknowledged as the same).  But why have two civilian identities?  with two separate residences?  Especially when at least one of the identities, the CEO, sounds to be very recognizable as a public figure.  What is the point of the third identity?  This just makes the character sound a bit psycho.

Anaother red flag, that this is not a Wonder Woman I want to watch is this that as the CEO, she has  in her employ a gaggle of “nerds” whose function seems to be to make sexual inneundo about her.  For example when she instructs them to bone up on something, one replies the he would, “Bone you up right now, boss.”  That she tolerates this is makes her not just unbelievable as Wonder Woman, but as a successful business woman, as well.

Lacob says it best here, about what sounds likely to be one of the worst scenes to ever be filmed;

In the script’s most painful sequence, Diana is subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and forced to give testimony about the events in Hollywood. She ends up filibustering about everything under the sun for several pages: the politics of the LAPD (name checking ex-police chiefs Daryl Gates and William Bratton), the economy, stimulus funds, pharmaceutical companies, Roger Clemens, the FDA and the FCC, and how networks will air commercials about erectile dysfunction but not for condoms. It’s clearly meant to be a showcase scene for the actress playing Diana, a calculated bid at awards and social relevance. Congratulations, David E. Kelley, the transformation of Wonder Woman from superhero to personal mouthpiece is now complete. Adding further insult to injury: real-life California Senator Dianne Feinstein is described as giving Diana a thumbs-up.

Pages of rambling about anything that crosses Kelley’s mind, is the big triumphant moment?  In a show about a super-hero?  What?

And apparently the episode ends with her weeping over her romantic woes!  DO NOT WANT!

Yeah it sounds horrible, and I do not get what NBC was thinking.  Are Harry’s Law, and the Cape doing that well?

Anyway here are the original concept sketches for Wonder Woman, way back in the forties.

Yes, she is wearing a bustier, but she was a warrior damnit!

And just because I think it’s awesome, here is Project Runway’s Chris March as Wonder Woman.

You should be able to click on the following image to be taken to the first page of the Ten Doctors on Rich’s website.  If you are anything like me, you will spend the next few days reading the whole thing.

In the Marvel universe Luke is the hero known as Power Man.  In Alias, while he is still Power Man, he mainly plays the part of Jess’ occasional ally, and hookup.

I’ll let Florence put it in her words, whom she would cast.

Luke Cage= Tyr from Andromeda. My favorite gorgeous deadpan Nietzschian must return to the screen. I’m sure the actor could portray some genuine emotion in his relationship with Jessica, but his default badassitude would be perfect.

I could not agree more.  The The actor in question, is Keith Hamilton Cobb.   He definitely can play a total badass, and he can smolder to boot.   And he has the superhero physique, as well.   This pick is so good, that I am not offering any alternative.  Though I would love to hear anyone else’s suggestion, in the comments

And she would have no problem portraying the Jess’ youthful exuberance, in flashbacks to her more innocent Jewel days. (Just noticed I cast an actress named Jewel to play a character code named Jewel, that is imaginative of me).  I have not seen her in many roles outside the “verse” , so I don’t know what kind of a range she has, but she endeared herself to me so much as Kaylee, that I want to see her carry a series, even if I’m not entirely certain she can pull off Jessica acerbic wit. (Although she did manage to make Simon to feel like a moron, more than once).

My next two choices on the other hand, would have no problem with that aspect of the character.

Caroline Dhavernas, was the lead on another series that was cancelled far too early.  If Firefly’s run was short, then Caroline’s show Wonderfalls’, was microscopic.  Only three episodes ever aired on network television.  Luckily around twelve episodes of this quirky, funny, and often touching but not cloying, show were filmed, and they were released on DVD.  (Coincidentally Jewel Staite guest starred on a few episodes).

As the main character Jaye, Caroline displayed a talent for the biting, yet deadpan delivery, which is just how Jessica sounds in my head.  While Jaye was just naturally antisocial, rather than having become so due to a trauma, I have confidence that Caroline could convey that she was covering up a deep secret.  She is about to debut in the cast of Shonda Rhymes’ new show Off the Map, which is one of the reasons I plan to watch it, but if that show doesnt take off, or even if it does, she would be perfect in the part of Jessica.

Like the my other picks, I am shocked that my final choice has not had a bigger career.  She is incredibly talented.  Alicia Witt has been working steadily since she was fourteen years-old, yet she is not a household name.  She has been in projects as varied as the family drama Friday Night Lights, the sitcom Cybill, and the scifi epic Dune.

She is probably closer to the age that Jessica is meant to be in the comic, than the other two.  (Though who knows if the network, would want a heroine as old as, [gasp!] thirty-five).  And since she  has been in the business for so long, she could probably relate to Jess’ loss of innocence, and idealism, about her chosen profession.  Despite no longer being a twenty-something ingenue, she is absolutely stunning.  Which I’m sure would help grease the wheels of casting.  Plus she too is a master of the dead pan delivery.

Here is quick side by side of each.  Got a favorite among them?  Or your own pick?

So those are my top picks.  Any ideas about who should be the supporting cast?  Anyone out there scream Luke Cage to you?  Or Miss Marvel?

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/10/wonder-woman-tv-show.html

It does not say how far into development they have gotten, or which network will likely air it.  It does say that they have chosen David E. Kelley to be showrunner.  This seems like a bad fit to me.  Kelley has had success in the past, creating such shows as, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope, The Practice, and Picket Fences, none of which have much in common with Wonder Woman.  I don’t know what the plans they have in store for the show, but I would think it would have to be an action drama to some extent, and Kelley doesn’t have much experience with action.  I am not much of a Kelley fan, I have not been able to stick with one of his shows for much more than a season or two.  In my experience, he tends run out of character driven stories pretty quickly, and then relies on increasingly  absurd plot twists, and controversial stunts, just for the sake of controversy.  His characters are usually very quirky, and as the series progress they seem to lose any humanity that makes them relatable, devolving into a walking mass of unusual ticks.  This does not bode well for his Wonder Woman, as though she has gone through many different characterizations over the course of her sixty plus years of being published, she has never come across to me as either quirky, or neurotic (another Kelley main stay).  I guess we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

To start off with it, it is seemingly impossible to film.  The story is long, taking ten years, and seventy-five issues to tell, not including spin offs, and follow ups.  Trying to compress that into a single, or even several two hour movies, would be very difficult.  Beyond that, it is a story that jumps around in time, and space, and worlds (Faerie, other planets, heaven, hell, and most often dreams).  It often requires a strong background in history, mythology, religion, and DC comics, to fully understand.  And it sports a cast of characters that number in the hundreds, many of whom are important, to the tale as a whole, and absolutely essential to their small part of the story.  In short it is a story that has already been told, in the best way it could be.

Still in the right hands it could be done.  There could be someone out there, talented enough to simplfy that complex narrative into something satisfying, that still holds the charm and beauty of the original.  And we would all still have the comics for when we wanted the real thing.

The bigger issue in my mind, is how integral to the story, the art is.  Not just because, it being a comic, all the action is drawn, but because of how the various artists chose to interpret it.  The artist usually changed every time a new story arc started.  Which meant the characters often looked different each time you saw them.  Which gave the reader a fresh perspective on them.  Many of the characters appearance changed according to whom they were speaking to, or where they were, at any given time.  Which could get very confusing, if it was attempted on film.

The main reason I don’t want it filmed, is because I love it so much.  Anything short of brilliant would be heartbreaking.  And there is so much potential for failure.  I have often said if it was made into a movie, I’d boycott it , just to spare myself the agony of seeing what was done with something I hold so dear.  That is a lie, though.  I would absolutely see it.

Partly because I want to support, Neil Gaiman and all the artists that worked on it, by paying for a ticket, and hoping a little of the money gets back to them, after the theater, the studio, the director, the cast and crew, all get their cut.  Mainly, on the off chance, that somehow it turns out like that other beloved franchise, that people claimed was utterly unfilmable, Lord of the Rings.  Even though those films were not a direct page by page adaptation of the books, most fans agree that Peter Jackson got it right nevertheless.  And it caused many people to buy and read the books, that likely would not have otherwise.  If the Sandman movie did the same for the comics, more the better.

No, I could not resist seeing it.  Although I am totally one of those assholes, who would complain loudly afterward, if it was bad.  Actually, I doubt I could wait until the end, I would likely  jump to my feet, screaming “No! No! No!” the second the credits read, “and Jennifer Lopez* as Death.” And I would keep screaming the whole two hours, or until I was asked to leave.  I’m not proud of it, but it would happen.

I am also the type of person who loves coming up with fantasy casts, for movies that haven’t been made yet.  I seriously once stayed up most of the night, coming up with the ideal cast for a production of Pride and Prejudice, as done by a mix of humans and Muppets.

Which brings me to the point of this long winded post.  I have decided to do a series of posts, in which I pretend that by some twist of fate, I am a bigwig, hotshot casting director, who has been tasked with putting together the cast for the hypothetical Sandmam movie.  I will do individual  posts for each of the major characters, and subsequent posts will have two or three of minor characters lumped together.  We will see how far I get, before running out of steam.  I will try to avoid divulging too many details of the character’s fates, for anyone reading who has not yet read Sandman, but still may.  And if you like comics at all, I suggest giving it a try.

My pick for the person to play Morpheous, will be coming either later today or tomorrow.  I will choose my directer right now.  The only director I think could do the project justice, would actually be the combined forces of Guillermo del Toro, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and Alfonso Cuaron.

*I actually don’t universally hate Jennifer Lopez.  She was very good in Out of Sight.  She just should under no circumstances be cast as Death.

(Via io9.)

I don’t really know where this came from, but I think it’s way more interesting than the official trailer, personally.

I have known about and avoiding this manga sequel from TokyoPop to the classic Jim Henson movie the Labyrinth, for a few years now.  The Labyrinth is one of those special movies that I have watched many times since I was a child, and treasure as much now as then.  So when, around  five years ago I stumbled across the listing on Amazon for the first volume, I was taken aback.  I could not help but be worried that the people producing this series would miss the charm and wonder of the original.  I did not even want to take the chance that it would disappoint, so I left it alone.  I am not sure what made me check if the library had them now, but I am glad I did.  No, author Jake T. Forbes has not quite created a story as brilliant as the movie.  He has crafted a narrative that pays homage to the original, while cutting it’s own path through the Labyrinth. This time it is Toby, whom you may remember as the baby that heroine Sarah had to rescue from the Goblin King, who is the teenage hero. He finds himself pulled into the Labyrinth and makes friends both new to the audience as well as familiar ones.  His adventures in the first volume while not boring, do feel a little like a retread. However  it is as the story progresses and we learn of King Jareth’s designs for Toby and his motives and also as we get a broader view of the world he inhabits that I found my self truly invested in the story.  Volume 3 took the plot in a direction I was not expecting, and of course left us with quite the cliffhanger.  There is one more volume  in the works however it looks like the books have been released at least two years apart and number three  just came out last May, so I will be waiting for the conclusion for a while.  I especially appreciated that the author planted references to other Jim Henson fantasy works, such as the Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock and the Story Teller.  Jim Henson’s work from the Muppets and beyond, was my very first fandom and it is still my most favorite.  Sorry Joss, I love you too!  I am really glad my fears for this project were completely unfounded.  If I have a small complaint, it is that the creatures that were created just for the manga don’t look like they were created by the same person who created the creatures for the film.  And of course they weren’t, Brian Froud designed the firies, Ludo, and Hoggle for the film, while Chris Lie is the artist on the manga.  It also would be nice if the series was in color, but then it would take even longer to be published.  The series has it’s own website and forums at goblin.net.

I adore Julie Taymor and her entirely unique twisted dynamic view, so I can’t wait to see this show. They have cast Evan Rachel Wood as Mary Jane. I loved her as a young lesbian on ‘Once and Again’, and I thought she did a decent job in Julie Taymor’s ‘Across the Universe’.  No casting for Peter Parker yet, but they’re supposed to start rehearsing in the fall and debut in January 2010.

Invincible #55

Florence: Invincible this week focused on one of my favorite characters, Allen the Alien.

Marty: You don’t think it was also about the dad?

Florence: I DO think it was also about the dad, but the dad isn’t one of my favorite characters. Honestly, I’d forgotten why Allen was extra-strong, why he was in the same place as Invincible’s dad, but I didn’t have any problem going along for the ride. I wasn’t that caught up in the central fight of the story, but I just enjoyed seeing Allen again, and there was an interesting revelation about the Viltrumites that seems like it will advance the over-all story.

Marty: That’s what I’m talking about. FINALLY we’re getting back to the main story. It’s been at least four issues now since we saw Allen or the father. This issue was almost good enough to make up for all the time we had to put up with side-stories and such, but the fight scene did seem to go on forever.

Florence: What did you think of the new lion guy?

Marty: I think he’s actually a tie-in from something. I’m not sure what.

Florence: Something else in image?

Marty: *looking it up* Battle Beast actually just appeared before in issue 19, I don’t think he’s a tie-in from anything else. So never mind. Anyway, yeah, I’ve thought Allen was one of my favorite characters since he was very first introduced. He was pretty bad-ass in this issue. He’s totally invincible now!

Florence: haha…

Marty: There was also a page at the end of the issue with the dad’s face pretty close up, and he had blood all over his mustache. I feel like that was some kind of weird nod to an obscure fetish or something.

Ender’s Game #2

Marty: I felt like this second issue was not nearly as strong as the first. They are really glossing over what were, in my recollection, my favorite parts of the book. Basically Ender’s introduction to all the games at battle school, and then of course his learning about the battle room, which they really only get to at the end of the issue. So maybe we’ll learn more about that (with Ender) in issue #3. I did realize after reading this issue that with only five issues total, they’re really going to have to cram the story in.

Florence: I thought they were too heavy handed about Ender’s importance, and all the behind-the-scenes manipulations that went into bringing him into battle school. It’s possible that I’m being more forgiving to the book, I was much younger when I read it, and remember really loving it, but at the time it felt much more from the point of view of Ender. We weren’t privy to information outside of his knowledge, and we were really immersed in his experience, which made the revelation at the end of the book a very emotional shock.

Marty: I had a similar impression, but I’m really not remembering 100%. I think they right away go into the perspective of the instructor in this second issue, and I don’t remember that from the book at all.

Florence: I remember hearing lots of rumors about an Ender’s game movie a few years ago, and I always felt very protective of the story, and skeptical that they would do it right.

Marty: I’m pretty sure it’s still in the making. I hear something new about it every few years. IMDB has it listed as still in pre-production.

Florence: I have to say, I do really like the art of this comic (especially the color). And, in a way, I’m glad they’re doing it as a miniseries, rather than trying to stretch out the story into a much longer arc. It’s definitely a story that has a beginning and an end.

Marty: The coloring of the comic really reminds me of Orson Scott Card’s run on Ultimate Iron Man. I wonder if the artists are the same. (Looks like it’s the same artist, Pascal Ferry, who did Ultimate Iron Man II, 2008.)

Marty: I feel I should say something about what a bastard Orson Scott Card has turned out to be.

Florence: He’s listed as the creative director, and executive director, but not the script writer for the comic.

Marty: His politics are what damn him.

Florence: …his eagerness to apply his whacked-out religious beliefs to social commentary on his blog.

Marty: I’m still interested in reading the rest of these, and will probably continue to pick them up.

Now, I feel dumb for admitting this, but I’ve have to admit… I don’t know where the Kermit photo I clipped is from. When does Kermit dress up as batman? Was it in Sesame Street? I did some youtube searching, and I can’t seem to find it. Anyone know?

Back when I was looking for this stuff, I discovered the official watchmen movie site hosts a feature/page they call The Gunga Diner, that looks to basically just aggregate all the Watchmen parody stuff it can find. It’s cool, but what I don’t like is that there are a lot of entries that don’t cite their sources. Maybe they just had the stuff emailed to them, but the Watchmen Peanuts sketch they host can easily be found to have originated from Evan “Doc” Shaner’s DeviantArt account. (Looks like it wasn’t a totally original idea, as Jeff Parker did something similar a while back.) Likewise the Lil’ Watchmen comic Gungan Diner hosts can be found (with quite a bit more digging necessary) over at the Silver Rage Archive/TOC.

An image that Gunga Diner doesn’t actually have listed is this awesome Jay Ward’s The Watchmen sketch by Jay Fosgitt, AKA, Four Panel Hero. (Jay Ward created Rocky and Bullwinkle.)

KO Fight Club, who I have linked to before, because it is a board gaming webcomic, has a whole page devoted to how they parody Watchmen (and another page about why).

Here’s a cool illustration of Watchmen Watches.

The Watchmen Movie site also hosts a page that links to a bunch of Watchmen fan films. I haven’t really watched them all yet, so I don’t know if that page is better about sourcing its material.

And finally, if you haven’t seen it already, the Mad Magazine folks made a seven page Watchmen Parody (PDF format) in their signature style. It was apparently distributed at San Diego Comic Con earlier this year.

Originally found by Rurik on Bam! Kapow!, where you can find some other fan films. (Not as many, of course, as you can find on youtube, where there are literally hundreds.)

Someone calling himself Vic DiGital said it took him about a day to create this awesome mashup. (Link via my new favorite blog, Topless Robot.)

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

The comic was called “an inspired thing to do” by original Garfield creator Jim Davis in an interview with the Washington Post. Enjoy.

Much to my surprise, when I cracked open the TPB, I discovered that this is the comic that tells the first part of the story from the movie! I looked for some sign that the trade was simply a movie tie in, but I didn’t see any. I’m sure I could probably dig online here and find some indication of whether this book was published before or after the script for the movie, but it probably doesn’t matter. It tells Iron Man’s “origin story”, so it’s a natural choice to base a movie after.

I quickly finished the comic, and now I’ll give you my impressions. (Note: SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Differences and similarities to the movie:

1. Difference: Comic is set in Vietnam, movie is set in Iraq Afghanistan.
2. Difference: In the comic book, Tony Stark is selling the military tiny but powerful transistors when he is wounded and captured. In the movie it’s missiles.
3. Similarity: Tony Stark is wounded and has shrapnel in or around his heart. In the movie his humvee is attacked, in the comic he walks through a trip-mine.
4. Difference: In the movie, the leader of the terrorists is “Raza” (although Mike speculated that it might have been a character called The Mandarin, who is Iron Man’s archenemy in the comic books. Mandarin’s source of power is his 10 Rings, and in the movie we see Raza fiddle with his ring rather prominently, and also his terrorist group is called the Ten Rings). In the book, the leader of the “bad guys” is someone named Wong-Chu. I have no idea if Wong-Chu is a returning character.
5. Both: In both the book and movie, Stark is helped to create his first iron suit by a Dr. Yinsen. In the comic, Stark recognizes Yinsen as a great physicist. In the movie, Yinsen recognizes Stark (as a celebrity inventor), Stark doesn’t recognize Yinsen at all.
6. Difference: In the movie, Stark has to have a magnet recessed into his chest to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart. In the comic the device that saves him is somehow just part of the armor.
7. Similarity: In both comic and movie Yinsen sacrifices himself to give Tony extra seconds for his iron suit to be ready for action. In the comic, this is a completely selfless and heroic act. In the movie, he runs recklessly down a hallway, shooting way above the terrorists heads, fully intending to get himself killed so he can join his family (who are all already dead).
8. Both: In the comic, one of the “features” of this suit of iron is that it has suction cups strong enough to hold it to the ceiling. Ridiculous. Also, in the book he uses this ability to hide from rather than fight his captors (although then on the very next page he is fighting them, so I don’t really know why–maybe just so he could stick to the ceiling like spider man).
9. Difference: In the movie, Iron Man mock 1 has flame throwers. In the comic, he has a miniature buzz saw in his index finger, a magnetic repulsor ray, and can squirt a thin stream of flammable oil.
10. Similarity: He uses these (flame throwers/flammable oil) to blow up an enemy ammo dump.
11. Difference: In the comic, this is not an ammo dump made up of Stark Industries products.

First of all, I already knew before reading it that the book was set in Vietnam rather than Iraq Afghanistan. It makes a kind of sense to change it though. There are many parallels between the two “conflicts”, and since the movie is supposed to be set in the present, Iraq Afghanistan is a logical choice.

Finally, there is no mention of Obadiah Stane in this issue. It is just bad luck that Tony Stark falls into the terrorist’s hands in the beginning. Oddly enough, however, also contained in this collection is issue #200, which does contain Obadiah Stane, and also his transformation into Iron-Monger. I read that story too, but it’s a less literal translation from the comic. Just about the only similarities are the fact that Stane based the blueprints for his suit on stolen blueprints from an old Stark suit, and then made major modifications to it. There is a big battle, one in which Obadiah makes liberal use of hostages to keep Iron Man at bey, and then when none of that works, actually kills himself rather than allow Tony Stark the happiness of “winning” the battle.

There you have it. I’m sure there are other more detailed analysis out there, but I’m by no means an Iron Man expert. This is pretty interesting stuff. These older comics are written in a very over the top style that is pretty fun, but I can imagine getting sick of it rather quickly. I’ll definitely be reading more Iron Man, but I may stick to small doses for now.

It’s already available for pre-order from amazon, (including a super-deluxe hardcover edition for four-times the price), and they list the release date to be July 16th.

I found information about this all over the place (when I started looking), but the best article was at Comic Book Resources, as it has a lot more details and includes some sweet art from the collection.