Let’s face it, if you’re anything like us, you’ve barely got enough time in between blogging about how much you hate/love the iPad, Blackest Night, Deadpool Corps, Jim and Pam’s baby, and downloading torrents of movies you wouldn’t pay 10 bucks to see in a crowded theater, to see ALL the great stuff floating out on the interwebs. How about a brief smattering of recent awesome things we noticed.
Batman with a lightsaber, killing a shark. Kudos to Nerdcore on this gem.
How the world would end… and we wouldn’t want it any other way. Kudos to Ctrl-Alt-Del for this piece of awesome.
This guy, singing improv tunes to random people who come in and say hello on chat-roulette.
Taping a television comedy in front of a live audience isn’t a new concept, but the cast of THE BIG BANG THEORY thrive on it plus DC tells comic stores to sit on BLACKEST NIGHT and we won’t see GLEE until when?
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Here are some of the things we didn’t get to on Monday, bullet-pointed for your reading pleasure:
Alan Moore weighs in on Blackest Night in an otherwise interesting interview about the revival of Miracle/Marvelman, with predictable results and a huge fan backlash (as seen on the CBR Forums): “They didn’t need some upstart from England to come over there and tell them how to do comics. They’d got plenty of
ideas of their own. But these days, I increasingly get a sense of the
comics industry going through my trashcan like raccoons in the dead of
the night.”
Yes, he’s back from the recycling bin! It’s Cheeks, the Toy Wonder as a newly forged Black Lantern! Now we know why Ambush Bug #6 has been delayed, it had to tie in with Blackest Night…
…okay, maybe not.
Still, the art from Thom Zahler, the big galoot behind Love And Capes, is still important, because it’s helping John Ostrander regain his sight.
At the 2009 Chicago Comicon, Comix4Sight has joined forced with Wizard Entertainment to hold a charity auction the evening of Saturday, August 8th. The goal is to raise sufficient funds to help cover the costs of John Ostrander’s
treatments in his battle against glaucoma, and it is John’s expressed wish that should we raise funds
above his needs, that excess money is to be donated to The Hero Initiative to help them continue their great works aiding comic creators in their times of need.
Artwork is still coming in for the auction, and we’ll be showing you stuff prior to the auction. Don’t forget this Batman/Hawkman piece by Andy and Joe Kubert, Gonzo Davros by Roger Langridge, writer/artist of The Muppet Show comics from BOOM! Studios, and Captain America by Neal Adams. Now we add Zahler’s piece to the auction.
While they had nothing quite as surprising to announce as the Marvelman announcement yesterday, the DC Universe panel at SDCC had some interesting tidbits come out of it. The highlights, as per CBR’s liveblog:
DC has finally acquired the rights to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. This has been a long time project for Dan DiDio.
Geoff Johns will be writing a Flash ongoing after Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: Flash conclude.
Sterling Gates, of Supergirl fame, will be writing a Kid Flash ongoing series to accompany Johns’ main title.
James Robinson starts his Justice League of America run with issue 38, a Blackest Night tie-in. His line-up will include Mon-El in a new, Superman-inspired costume, Dick Grayson/Batman, and Donna Troy.
An upcoming issue of Booster Gold will guest-star G4 TV personality Blair Butler.
Deathstroke will become the leader of the Titans later this year(?!).
A Wonder Woman letter-writing campaign, unfettered love for Metapmorpho, and more at CBR.
The care and attention to detail given the direct-to-DVD animated films based on DC Comics’ properties is evident. As a result, watching Green Lantern: First Flight is a visual treat. Following the others in this line, it is entirely on its own and disconnected from any other video so casual watchers will not be burdened with tremendous amounts of continuity.
In fact, the script for this feature, premiering tonight at the San Diego Comic-Con and going on sale Tuesday, does a nice job of encapsulating the necessary backstory for the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. The film moves along at a nice pace and with most of it taking place off planet, the animators have a terrific time designing locales, aliens, and interpreting the GLC from comics for the screen. I can quibble and say that I wish the original Gil Kane design for Hal Jordan’s costume were used or that Abin Sur resembled his comic book counterpart but it’s all minor.
The story is a fresh take on Hal Jordan inheriting the power ring and joining the Corps. As adapted from the 1990s version, Sinestro shows up to act as his trainer and reveals his corruption, forcing the student to fight the teacher. On the other hand, in the comics, Sinestro (voiced nicely by Victor Garber) was so manic about instilling order; he first blurred and then stepped over the line between protector and dictator. In this film, Sinestro is just corrupt and dismissive of the Guardians.
The Guardians suffer in translation. Originally, they all appeared identical, based on Israel’s David Ben-Gurion, so they could act in concert. Here, they are more distinctive to the point of looking goofy. They used to be mostly omniscient but here are weak and flawed, annoyed that a flawed human received the great Abin Sur’s ring, forgetting the ring’s programming to seek out the most appropriate candidate. These living power batteries are mishandled and their influence diminished.
Perhaps the biggest change between the comics and the film is that the yellow power that Sinestro adopts is not taken from Parallax, the embodiment of fear, but is some unexplained substance that rivals the green energy the Guardians used for their Corps. It just exists and is nowhere near as dramatically compelling. Screenwriter Alan Burnett usually doesn’t make errors like this and it’s a shame it hurts the film’s impact.
Hal, who was very nicely handled in [[[New Frontier]]], is less an imposing figure here, despite Christopher Meloni’s solid voice work. He questions the Guardians, bonds with his fellow corpsmen, and does heroic work but doesn’t resonate as a hero or as the Greatest Green Lantern of them all. As a result, the film is nowhere near as powerful as it should be.
The two-disc DVD comes complete with feature trailers on the previous animated released along with an intriguing sneak peek at the next offering, September’s [[[Superman & Batman: Public Enemies]]]. A short featurette on [[[Blackest Night]]] is a nice teaser for the comic books. The second disc comes with a short chat with Geoff Johns about Green Lantern along with Johns and others talking about Sinestro and the Guardians. The GL-themed episode of [[[Duck Dodgers]]] is included along with a two-part [[[JL Unlimited]]] animated adventure.
Overall, it’s a nice package and worth a look but the lack of a strong lead character and stereotypical villain posturing robs the story of the potential power.
Here’s a four minute preview of the movie, via MTV SplashPage:
It’s #followfriday on Twitter, and these are some of the comics folks you should be following if you aren’t already doing so…
Warren Ellis – If you’ve ever read anything by him, especially The Authority, Planetary, or Transmetropolitan, it probably won’t surprise you
to learn how angry he can get on his Twitter. What will surprise you—and
probably make you laugh–is how flowery his language can get when he’s on a
tirade. Oh, and he also has a lot of really interesting links to share and
interesting insights on the medium to discuss. Besides, who else do you know
that’ll greet you every morning with “Good morning, sinners?” http://www.twitter.com/WarrenEllis
Ben Templesmith – Possibly the handsomest man in comics, Ben
Templesmith is the Australian-born artist behind Fell (with Warren Ellis) and
several Steve Niles projects, most famously 30 Days Of Night. His Twitter feed
is chock-full of goodies, including insights as to the life of a professional
artist, many interesting links, and a healthy dose of political opinion, if
that’s your thing. He’s still one of the friendliest folks around, too—almost
seven thousand followers, and he’ll often still take the time to answer a quick
question from you here and there. http://www.twitter.com/Templesmith
Bryan Lee O’Malley – The mastermind behind the Scott Pilgrim
series hates just about everything on the Internet and doesn’t mind saying so.
That said, following him is really the best way to get news about the upcoming
Edgar Wright-helmed movie adaptation. Basically, if BLO doesn’t say it, it’s
not official—regardless of what Matt Fraction (www.twitter.com/MattFraction)
might suggest. http://www.twitter.com/Radiomaru
Brian Michael Bendis – His Twitter feed might be the only
thing the New Avengers scribe has written in the last five years that didn’t
somehow involve Luke Cage or Spider-Woman. What it does include is Bendis’s
take on just about everything going on in the comic book world, along with
reposted links to just about everything Bendis-related going on in the world.
As an added bonus, you’ll get a new appreciation for comic book editors once
you see how bad his grammar and punctuation is. http://www.twitter.com/BRIANMBENDIS
Gail Simone — If Twitter gave out a prize for “crazy
mysterious,” this Wonder Woman writer would surely win it several times over.
Until recently, apart from the occasional fake flamewar with Mark Waid (http://www.twitter.com/MarkWaid),
she mostly appeared, gave an assignment—for example, “TODAY’S ASSIGNMENT:Fictional convention panels that SHOULD
exist, but never, EVER EVER EVER will” or “Today’s Assignment: Tweets as sent by participants during epic comic
stories. What did they twitter to friends as it all went down?” —and then vanish
again until the next time. Now, she tweets more regularly, if only to tease Geoff
Johns about Blackest Night. http://www.twitter.com/GailSimone
ComicMix — Okay, seriously, if you’re not
reading our Twitter feed, what the heck are you waiting for? http://www.twitter.com/ComicMix
These days, it seems like there are zombies no matter where you turn.
Whether you’re driving near Austin, browsing your local bookstore or approaching celebrities in airports, they’re shambling towards you. Groups like Zombie Squad have helped to bring the impending zombie crisis… I mean, the public fascination with zombies… into focus for a good cause, by holding “zombie walks” for charity and blood drives. So it is not very hard to believe that people might be concerned about marauding zombie hordes.
The question then becomes: If marauding zombie hordes descend on major US cities, what will we do? Zombie evacuation planning has become a recent favorite party activity around the world. Friends will get together and decide where to go and how to get there, who to take and who to leave behind. Some companies are cashing in on these preparations by offering missile silos converted into homes, and there are several sites like zombietools.net that have a more hands-on approach to the Zombie Apocalypse.
Still, if zombies are shambling soon to a neighborhood near you, how do you know? Well, if you live in Boston, check the Boston PD’s Twitter feed. Recently, the department made internet history when they tweeted that they would inform the public if there were a zombie attack. This got me thinking: would anyone else?
The major event in DC Comics in 2008 is Final Crisis, written by Grant Morrison. Unlike many summer crossovers, Final Crisis is not its own event so much as the third story of a trilogy (the first two stories being the crossovers The Crisis On Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis).
The opening premise is that all of the New Gods (celestial beings who inhabit a higher dimension) recently seemed to die, except for Darkseid, leader of the evil New Gods. Darkseid has found a way to survive through human hosts, his power fueled by the faith of his new followers under the prophet Libra. Determined to become ruler of reality, he has been resurrecting his sinister forces (an ability Kirby established decades ago) by placing their life-forces in new bodies as well. And since he has now learned the powerful "Anti-Life Equation", a prize he has sought for centuries, he is able to destroy free will in any who hear the equation, thus creating a new army of slaves.
So evil god-like forces have been freely walking among us and because the super-heroes didn’t realize it, they’ve been vulnerable to sneak attacks and manipulations. In short order, John Stewart, Hal Jordan, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman were all removed from the game board in one way or another.
But this is a Morrison story so that means there are usually layers to be peeled away. There are other things going on as a result of Darkseid now attempting to break the universe down to serve his will. There is, of course, the matter of the Multiversal Monitors, beings charged with maintaining the structure of the multiverse, one of whom is also living among us as a mortal man, unaware of his true nature. And there is the return of Barry Allen, the second Flash, a hero who became energy and merged with the universe even while saving it during the first Crisis over twenty years ago. Barry’s sacrifice saved the universe during that story and in DC Universe #0, it’s implied that the universe itself has brought him back so that he can save it again. It’s also possible he is here as a reactionary force to Libra, who is his opposite number in the sense that this a villain who also seemingly died years while merging with the cosmos.
And Libra and Barry are not the only dead men to show up in this story.
, 
Here are some of the things we didn’t get to on Monday, bullet-pointed for your reading pleasure:
Yes, he’s back from the recycling bin! It’s Cheeks, the Toy Wonder as a newly forged Black Lantern! Now we know why Ambush Bug #6 has been delayed, it had to tie in with Blackest Night…
While they had nothing quite as surprising to announce as the Marvelman announcement yesterday, the DC Universe panel at SDCC had some interesting tidbits come out of it. The highlights, 
The care and attention to detail given the direct-to-DVD animated films based on DC Comics’ properties is evident. As a result, watching 
is a visual treat. Following the others in this line, it is entirely on its own and disconnected from any other video so casual watchers will not be burdened with tremendous amounts of continuity.
It’s #followfriday on Twitter, and these are some of the comics folks you should be following if you aren’t already doing so…
These days, it seems like there are zombies no matter where you turn.
