Brother J at PopCultureShock recently posted a comparison of interior art from the original Alan Moore/Brian Bolland one-shot Batman: The Killing Joke
The $17.99 hardcover edition was recolored by Bolland himself, and the result is a very different atmosphere for the classic tale:
The post also contains another page-to-page comparison that’s certainly worth checking out.
The superhero, and I don’t mean sandwich, has been a staple of the popular culture since well before the Depression-into-wartime beginnings of Superman and Batman. Those characters’ nascent comic-book adventures of 1938-1939 served primarily to focus a popular fascination with superhuman struggles against extravagant menaces – but similarly conceived protagonists had existed all along in ancient mythology and mass-market popular fiction. And how better to explain the superior heroic intellect of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Seabury Quinn’s phantom-fighting Jules de Grandin, or the beyond-normal escapades of Robin Hood and the Scarlet Pimpernel?
People need heroes, he said – if I may adapt a thought from Mike Gold’s recent Hope Versus Fear commentary at ComicMix. Such characters spur the imagination to assume hope in the face of fearful real-world circumstances, even if their activities and abilities (and allegorical antagonists) seem patently outside the realm of possibility. And the spiritual generosity of superheroism is such that people are willing to fork over either hard-earned cash or Daddy’s Money to experience the fantasy: Hence the proliferation of super-hero comic books in the immediate backdraft and long-term vapor-trails of Superman and Batman, and hence those characters’ fairly prompt leap into motion pictures during the 1940s.
Many people regard the superhero movie phenomenon as a fairly recent development, traceable as “far back” as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man breakthrough of 2002, or maybe to the perceived “antiquity” of Richard Donner’s Superman pictures of 1978-1980. Not by a long shot.
Nor are the inevitable superhero parodies – as seen in David Zucker’s collaborative production of Superhero Movie, due March 28 – any particular innovation. Just as there is something awe-inspiring about some guy in long-john tights, hurdling buildings or piercing the veil with a blast of X-ray vision, there also is something innately ridiculous about such a spectacle. Even some of the earlier superhero films, such as Columbia Pictures’ Batman serials of the 1940s, emerged as unwitting parodies despite (or because of) their more earnest aims.
The formal parodies are a rarer breed. Zucker had proved himself a capable spoofer with 1980’s Airplane! – a well-received lampoon of the large-ensemble disaster-movie genre – much as Mel Brooks had parodied such genres as the Western epic and the Gothic horror film (1974’s Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein) to pleasing effect. Both artists were springing from the influence of Harvey Kurtzman’s Mad magazine of the mid-century, with its recurring demonstration that a parody must harbor an affectionate understanding of the story it intends to spoof.
The finalists for the Glyph Comics Awards have just been named, with a not overly surprising lot of contenders. There are, however, quite a few great comics and creators who make the list.
For a complete rundown of nominees, a full slate is available at Pop Culture Shock. Here are the "story of the year" contenders:
Hunter’s Moon, James L. White, writer, Dalibor Talajic and Sebastian Cardoso, artists
Nat Turner: Revolution, Kyle Baker, writer and artist
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, James Sturm, writer, Rich Tommaso, artist
Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, Percy Carey, writer, Ronald Wimberly, artist
Welcome to Tranquility, Gail Simone, writer, Neil Googe, artist
I haven’t read Satchel Paige yet, but my pick without much trepidation would be Sentences. It’s the best, most honest book about the dark side of hip-hop that’s ever been written. I interviewed Carey when the book first came out, and that’s available right here.
The only big surprise to me was that Agent 355 from Y: The Last Man didn’t make the cut for best female character.
Raymond Leblanc, who helped create a worldwide phenomenon from the comic book series Tintin, died on Friday, according to an article in the Economic Times. He was 92.
The Belgian publisher helped create the Tintin Journal, which ended up bringing the characters of cartoonist Herge to audiences in several continents. From the article:
A resistance fighter during the Second World War, Leblanc convinced Tintin’s artistic creator Georges Remi to launch a periodical for the young. Herge had encountered difficulty publishing his work during the war.
The iconic boy reporter character had first appeared in 1929, with 12 books already under Herge’s name, but the association with Leblanc saw Tintin become the hero of a fortnightly magazine born in 1946 to immediate success.
Leblanc’s simultaneous creation of the Lombard publishing house, aimed at readers "from seven to 77," met rapid growth as Tintin’s success expanded.
A translated interview with Leblanc given not long ago is available at Forbidden Planet, and gives an incredible insight into Leblanc and his career in comics. Here’s a small sample, detailing the beginnings of the Tintin legacy:
“Why not publish an illustrated magazine for young people?”, one of my partners asked at a certain point. We thought this was an interesting idea, and started looking for a name. We ended up eventually with Tintin, after Hergé’s comic book hero. Literally everyone knew that character at that moment. The question however was, where was Hergé? Nobody knew where he was. During the war he had worked for Le Soir, a paper that was controlled by the Germans, and so he had been branded a collaborator. My associate André Sinave went to look for him, and was able to find him.
Now we only had to find enough money to start up the magazine. Our plan was a bold one, especially since Hergé was being prosecuted at that point. His first reaction was “This is impossible”. Nevertheless, we presented him a five year contract. “And we as resistance men will do everything within our powers to return your civil rights to you.” You have to remember that Hergé wasn’t even allowed to ride a bicycle at that time. Hergé hesitated for a long time and consulted with his good friend Edgar Pierre Jacobs. In the end he agreed. I think because he had liked us from the moment we met. I had thought before that Hergé was quite an old man, since I had read the adventures of Tintin since 1929. He turned out to be only a few years older than myself.
The Amazons of Paradise Island lived in peace for hundreds of years, safe from men and their cruelty. But their queen Hippolyta was not completely happy. She longed for a child of her own.
Shaping clay from the island into the statue of a little girl, Hippolyta begged the gods to grant her request and bring the statue to life. The gods took pity upon their beloved servant and the statue became a little girl who leaped into the arms of her “mother.” Hippolyta was overjoyed.
She named the girl Diana and raised her as her daughter and heir. Years later, when Captain Steve Trevor crashed on Paradise Island, Diana fell in love with him and saved his life. Trevor informed the Amazons of the war going on in the world beyond, and the goddess Aphrodite decreed that an Amazon should go forth and battle the Nazis on Paradise Island’s behalf. Hippolyta held a contest to select their champion and Diana secretly entered and won.
She journeyed to the outside world and became known as Wonder Woman. Since then Princess Diana has been a force for good throughout the world.
Basking in his well-deserved glory for Justice League: New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke teases us a bit on his next turn at DC’s core heroes, plus:
— Transformers’ bad guys get a turn
— Jericho peters out
— Comic Fans take center stage next season on the SciFi Channel
— We solve one trivia question and toss out another that is worth an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant — and you win by e-mailing us at: podcast [at] comicmix.com
Spring is here, so relax and Press The Button!
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or RSS!
Audiences love superhero movies. They also love zombie movies. What if… What if Marvel Studios decided to greenlight Marvel Zombies: The Movie?
Sadly, this is not reality. But Ojala Productions created a fan made, not-for-profit trailer for the popular comic book that gives us a peak and what could be. Similar to Batman: Dead End, the famous internet short where the Dark Knight squared off against Joker, an Alien and a Predator, Marvel Zombies was filmed as a calling card to show studios Ojala Productions’ capabilities.
Click here to see the trailer. Warning: graphic portrayals of violence and gore
Even if you’re the sort of comics fan who only dips a toe in the murky waters of industry news, it’s hard not to get soaked by the Merry Marvel Marketing Machine these days — especially when it comes to the InterWebs.
What’s surprising, however, is that the crew over at Marvel.com is providing some genuinely interesting and/or fun content every now and then, and not just treating their website as a place to post press releases. (Although the constant barrage of "Who Do You Trust" promos is starting to make my teeth hurt.) If you can wade through all of the Skrull hype, there are some decent interviews and fun features to be found at the "House of Ideas" online HQ — and this one, a list of 10 series that Marvel’s "Secret Cabal" would like to revive, is one of them.
9. DAZZLER
Previous Runs: DAZZLER (1981-1985)
Learn More … here
Why It Should Be Brought Back: "Does this really need any explanation? Enchantress! Doom! Galactus! Roller Skates! A movie!!! Who else in the Marvel U has had a biopic? No one! Canceled right when it was getting good—and after being trained by the X-Men…and defeating them—the exploits of Alison Blaire were carried on in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN until she ran off to settle down. But this songbird is a free spirit and she must fly. Her powers have never properly been used to their greatest extent, nor has Marvel’s only diva been given her real chance to—pun alert—shine. I know why this caged bird sings…she needs her ongoing series!!!" –Secret Cabal member RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #130 Dazzler makes her star-studded debut, aiding the X-Men against the Hellfire Club.
Even though I’m not eagerly anticipating a Dazzler revival, I admire the tenacity, RunawayJ. Here’s hoping you get your wish.
It’s Women’s History Month, and time to confess that I’m inordinately interested in the daily lives of the Amazons. Not the historical/mythological Greek Amazons (although I’m somewhat fascinated at the idea of required semi-mastectomies to improve one’s archery prowess), but the DC Comics Amazons who live on Paradise Island, birthplace of Wonder Woman. In my opinion, DC has never handled the Amazons in a believable way. I suspect that’s because Wonder Woman was not consistently written nor drawn by women.
Women, left to their own devices, will develop their own language and customs, much like twins or the Amish. I know. I went to a girls’ boarding school for four years, then lived in a women’s dorm off and on when I went to a co-ed college. With some adjustments for the differences between life in classical Greece and the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I can imagine what Paradise Island would really be like.
In Wonder Woman stories, we often see certain groups of Amazons. The Queen has her court of advisors. The army trains to be ready for the frequent attacks from Man’s World. The priestesses perform the rituals demanded by the gods. Doctors heal. Librarians study. Although we don’t see them, I assume there are also cooks, seamstresses, architects and engineers, cobblers and clowns and musicians.
At my school, we had girls who were interested in all kinds of things. With no boys, there was very little jockeying for male approval (although there was a boys’ school with the same faculty and administration, where girls in the upper forms often had classes). There were athletes and scholars, actresses and musicians, rebels, writers, gossips, manipulators and nerds. But, unlike the Amazons we see on Paradise Island, sometimes these roles could all be found in one girl.
There were groups of girls who were friends, who perhaps shared an interest in riding horses or choir or drugs. However, these were not cliques in the sense we see them in popular movies. It was easy for a nerd to be friends with a jock, to find some common interest they both shared, whether it was Asian history or the Grateful Dead.
MovieMarketingMadness has posted the latest in a series of messages delivered to people who offered up their e-mail addresses on IBelieveInHarveyDent.com, one of several websites involved in the impressive viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight.
Along with thanking supporters for their, well… support, the message also hints at some looming unrest in Gotham, citing "been sporadic reports of rallies being broken up by police" and questioning whether this could indicate "bias on the part of the men in blue" or a "backlash against Harvey Dent because of his campaign to stop corruption?"
All is not well in Gotham, it seems. The message continues:
It’s been great to see the response from all of you! We knew that citizens of Gotham would rally behind Harvey Dent and you have! (It was inspiring to see some of you on TV!) Gotham citizens have come out to meet the Dentmobiles, many of them using the Dentmobiles as an opportunity to meet up with other Harvey Dent supporters in their neighborhoods and build this grassroots campaign.
The momentum is building!
It certainly is…
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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