Posts Tagged ‘ DC ’

He may have enormous willpower, a square jaw, and the ability to bed two of the DCU’s most independent women at the same time – but, boy, is Hal Jordan a douche. You need proof? Alright – the top 10 reasons that Hal is a douche.

1. He fakes injury to get attention from a pretty woman – that he’s supposed to love.

2. He chops the hands off friends when they won’t give him what he wants (sure, sure, yellow fear monster, blah, blah – no, he’s just a douche).

3. He doesn’t like women – even Zatanna – fighting for him, but he’s more than willing to hide behind her while he gets his ring to work. Wait a minute. Power rings can be fiddled with? What, do they have a dial or something?

4. Rather than ask somebody, Hal would rather violate someone’s mind…to find out where to get a stamp. Or he could just head to a post office.

5. Sinestro hates Hal for a reason. Because he’s a douche.

6. Late to the party, Wonder Woman? Then cut the cake. Because that’s woman’s work, and I’m hungry dammit. I don’t care if you’re Wonder Woman – WOMAN’S. WORK.

7. Protect the Guardians of the Universe? No way! Hal doesn’t just hide behind them, he uses them as a shield. No wonder they hate him.

8. Hal has no respect for other people’s property. The douche.

9. Hal steals his (not actually) dead colleague’s girl – and he starts to move in pretty damn quick. “I know Guy Gardner’s only been dead for a few hours, but of course I’ll hold you, pretty broken-English gyspsy lady”…

…because she makes him feel good. Just like Guy did. I mean, okay, so this scene is a few weeks later, but still – what a douchebag. This is why Guy Gardner hates Hal – and who can blame him?

10. Sometimes, you don’t need to explain why Hal’s a douche. He does it for you.

And a special bonus reason that Hal’s a douche: because even when he knows he should pity his old lover, Carol Ferris, he doesn’t. He handles her ‘the old fashioned way’.

Hal Jordan: douche.

(Front page header image by Jim Oakley)

(When I was looking for images for this post, I came across a similar tumblr post from a couple of weeks ago and used most of the images from there; credit where credit’s due!)

You know when a band reforms after a few years ‘pursuing solo projects’, then it turns out that maybe they split up because they had nothing new to offer and we might have been better off with them not getting back together?

That’s kind of how I feel about Gail Simone’s return to Birds of Prey. It’s not bad, exactly, but there doesn’t feel like there’s anything new here. Oracle reassembles Huntress, Black Canary and Lady Blackhawk when she starts receiving blackmail material on all of them and adds Dove and the newly-resurrected Hawk to the team too. While they’re protecting the Penguin the group run afoul of a new antagonist, White Canary, with ties to one team member’s past. Meanwhile Oracle must deal with the return of two of Simone’s earlier creations, Creote and Savant.

Oh, and Lady Shiva shows up too.

There’s a lot going on in the six issues collected here – too much. Hawk and Dove’s presence feels like an edict from above given their exposure in Blackest Night and Brightest Day, but their presence doesn’t really add anything in this arc and they don’t get much to do – well, aside for Dove providing the Penguin somebody else to lust over (and don’t get me started on his dream sequence).

Simone also falls back on the old narrative box trick, with each issue largely narrated by one character – usually Black Canary – but it doesn’t quite work. It’s not bad on the scale of James Robinson’s Justice League of America narration, but it’s distracting and interrupts the flow of the story somewhat.

The book also suffers from choppy pacing as the action switches between wherever the on-the-ground team is and wherever Oracle happens to be. Once the team splits up and we get three separate story threads, it feels even more disjointed. Plot-wise there’s a little bit of a disconnect too; while we get a good feel for the White Canary (even if I can’t really remember the events that lead to her grudge), throwing the Penguin into the mix is superfluous at best. While Savant’s motivation in the plot is clear, the fact that he is instrumental in exposing Black Canary’s civilian ID and life is pretty much ignored once the details are out in the open – although I suppose that may be followed up on later in the run.

And then there’s, Black Canary. Traditionally one of DC’s strongest characters (outside of some really bad decisions when it comes to Green Arrow), Dinah is presented here as someone almost in awe of the newly introduced White Canary’s Machiavellian ways. Yes, her identity is exposed, and yes, her once-almost-adopted-daughter Sin is imperiled, but it feels like Dinah just caves to the White Canary’s demands without even thinking about other options. It doesn’t feel like her.

You may notice I mentioned this being Simone’s return to the book, and not artist Ed Benes. That’s because he manages to turn in only one complete issue here, sharing the art duties on three more with Adriana Melo before moving on completely. Melo then shares the art with Alvin Lee for the final two issues of the volume. While the three have similar enough art styles for this not to be too jarring, the inconsistencies are still apparent and it’s frustrating for the reader.

Just in case it feels I’ve been overly harsh here, let me add that I do enjoy Huntress and Lady Blackhawk. Huntress especially has a few good scenes in the final issue of the book, while Zinda continues to be a joy in every scene.

I don’t know; maybe I just enjoyed Simone’s original run on the book so much that I expected to love this wholeheartedly, especially given her recent excellent work on the much stronger Secret Six – but this just felt like a ‘miss’ to me. I’ll pick up the next trade just to see how her run finishes – and I’m still looking forward to her new controversial Batgirl book – but I honestly don’t think I can recommend this to anyone but diehard fans of BoP.

Probably shouldn’t have called this series of posts ‘recommended reading’, eh?

You thought that Stephanie ‘she worked better as Spoiler’ Brown was the biggest loser in the DCnU reshuffle? Pfft.

Warning: Rampant speculation based on unsubstantiated information

Ladies and gentlemen: presenting Kyle Rayner.

“Kyle?” I hear you say, “Don’t be ridiculous! He’s leading the multi-colored My Little Pony lanterns in that Green Lantern: The New Guardians book!”

Well, yes, that’s true – but think about it.

Kyle’s first on-panel girlfriend was Alex DeWitt, whose murder and subsequent stuffing into a refrigerator by Major Force shortly after Kyle became GL kicked off an entire movement.

An understandably quite upset Kyle moved to New York, joined the New Titans and hooked up with resident Darkstar-at-the-time, Donna Troy, who was all lovey dovey, mended his broken heart and looked like Wonder Woman which, let’s face it, is not a bad thing.

Now though, it seems possible – even likely – that Donna Troy won’t exist in the DCnU. After all, Wonder Woman’s new on the scene, and Donna has been at various times been explained as her sidekick or her mirrored clone-type sistery thing who was forced to live multiple lives over and over and over, being killed each time by Dark Angel and John Byrne. Is that the kind of continuity you want dragging around? Hell no.

So Donna’s gone. On the bright side, that means Kyle never got dumped by her off-panel when the Wonder Woman office and John Byrne decided they wanted her back. On the downside, it also means that she never helped him get over his guilt over Alex’s death (and the death of that ex-GL alien girl he spent the night with before she killed herself whose name I forget). And, oh yes, he never dated a caring, sexy woman who looks exactly like Wonder Woman.

Moving on.

After swanning around single for a while, Kyle got together with Jade, the daughter of Alan Scott, Earth’s first GL. Jade, of course, is the green-skinned former supermodel with powers derived from Alan’s encounter with the Starheart. Much sexyshowertime ensued.

But wait.

Superman is being sold as Earth’s first Superman, suggesting that in the DCnU, there was no Justice Society of America – and no Alan Scott Green Lantern. No Alan Scott GL, no Starheart influencing Jade or her brother Obsidian, and no reason for her and Kyle to meet – if she was even born.

No Jade, no sexyshowertimefor Kyle.

Again, there’s some brightside for Kyle here: Jade never cheats on him while he’s off finding himself, and then doesn’t die in space only to return as a space zombie before being reborn properly. But, once again, a wise man once said ‘better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’.

Then again, I don’t think Tennyson knew about Black Lanterns.

Anyway, that’s two of his four on-panel relationships gone, just like that. Hopefully fellow Lantern Soranik Natu is probably still intact continuity-wise.

Of course, now that Kyle’s off hanging out with the Rainbow Corps and Love Lantern Fatality, who knows how long that’ll last?

So, I present to you Kyle Rayner, the true loser of the DCnU. Yes, he does get to keep refrigerator girl Alex and daughter-of-Sinestro Soranik in his romantic rolodex (worst potential father-in-law ever) – but he loses Donna Troy, Wonder Woman lookalike, and Jade, green sexyshowertimeloving supermodel.

Show me someone harder hit where it hurts by the not-a-reboot…

Everyone else posted it yesterday, so why not?

The image below was released by Toon Tumblers to promote their SDCC exclusive, and appears to feature the newly rebooted Justice League membership in it’s entirety.

For those keeping a checklist, in addition to the big seven of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and MartiaCyborg, it looks like Deadman, Atom, Element Woman (a new Flashpoint character who looks a lot like Metamorpho, so I assume she found the Orb of Ra before Rex Mason), Green Arrow, Hawkman, Mera, and, er…Power Girl?

Well, no, that’s not Power Girl. And according to Geoff Johns, she isn’t blonde – her hair is definitely light though, so maybe…white?

Zealot would certainly make sense – the Wildstorm characters are integrating fully with the DCU, and Lee has an affinity with her since he created her originally. So yes, let’s say Zealot until we hear further.

It’s a largely traditional line-up with a few curve balls thrown in – and all those curves belong to women.

Wait that came out wrong.

Anyway, there you are – and I have to say, now that I’ve got a good look at the full segmented redesigns of Superman, Green Lantern, Batman and Flash costumes, man they look dumb.

It’s been a while since I’ve done this – but there sure seem to be a lot of trades around. And Flashpoint books, of course…

Batman: Knight And Squire TP – I admit, I didn’t quite warm to writer Paul Cornell’s run on Action Comics (which everyone else seemed to love), or to this when I saw the previews. That said, there’s been plenty of good word of mouth on this mini, and who am I to pass up the British versions of Batman and Robin? I’ll be picking this up at some point.

Flashpoint Green Arrow Industries #1 (One Shot), Flashpoint Hal Jordan #1 (Of 3), Flashpoint Project Superman #1 (Of 3), Flashpoint The Canterbury Cricket #1 (One Shot) – By and large I’ve been incredibly impressed with the Flashpoint tie-ins. None of them seem to be necessary to understanding the main story, but they’re certainly well-thought out and contribute to a greater view of the Flashpoint world. Against all odds, this is shaping up to be an excellent crossover.

Red Robin Hit List TP – I can’t recommend this title enough; along with Batgirl, it’s been a ray of light amongst DC’s last few years worth of books. Great characterization, great writing and art, and a great development of Tim into his own man. If there’s any two characters I’m going to miss when the DCnU rolls around, it’s him and Steph. I know that Tim’s still going to be Red Robin, but it seems he’s not going to be my Red Robin.

Dungeons And Dragons Volume 1 Shadowplague HC – Collecting the first arc of the new series, this is another book I can’t recommend highly enough. John Rogers has crafted a fast-moving, funny, and exciting story here with plenty of nods to the classic game to keep fans happy, whilst also being accessible to newbies. Andrea DiVito’s art is pretty damn good too. Seriously, if you like fun comics, this is for you. If you don’t – well then, I don’t even want to know you.

Drums #2 (Of 4) – The series started strongly, with what looks like a mass suicide, a zombie witness that only the lead FBI agent saw, and a whole heap of voodoo. Dark and ever so slightly horror-tinged, this is yet another strong mini from Image.

Marineman #6 – Speaking of strong minis from Image, I think a lot of people overlooked Ian Churchill’s labor of love due to his new almost animated-like art style, and due to the fact that the hero looks like an Aquaman rip-off. They’ve missed a fun romp. I’ve had huge issues with the pacing, but all in all this has been very enjoyable. Wouldn’t mind seeing a second series (assuming this is the last issue of this one, which I think it is…).

Skullkickers #8 – Like D&D, this series has been a surprise. Another great fun book, if slightly more slapstick and less polished than Rogers’ entry into the genre. Even so, I’d recommend this too.

Witch Doctor #1 (Of 4) – Worth a look if only because the tag line of ‘House meets Fringe‘ has me intrigued. It’s also the first non-Kirkman book from Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint. There’s a preview here.

Amazing Spider-Man #664 – It’s be easy to tread water as Spider-Island is coming up, but Dan Slott’s not content to do that – instead he’s throwing us what would seem to be a capper on the long-gestating Mr Negative/Anti-Venom storyline. Negative’s one of the better characters introduced during BND, so I hope he makes it out of this intact.

Daredevil Reborn HC and Daredevil Yellow TP – Two DD books hit, and although I’ve heard almost nothing positive about Reborn, I highly recommend Yellow. It was the first of the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale ‘color’ collaborations when they moved to Marvel, and is a nostalgic look back at the man without fear’s early days. Sale’s art is beautiful, and there’s something about it that reigns Loeb’s more bombastic side in. It’s a touching book, and one of only a few that I own in both original issues and trades. Take a look if you’ve never read it.

FF #5 – Still treading water; Hickman’s admittedly intricate plotting is no excuse for the slow as molasses pace that this book has been in since way before the relaunch. Plodding and ponderous, this is a poor excuse for a book that should be about high adventure meeting SCIENCE! in the most exciting way possible. And yet I’m still buying it. Shut up.

Incredible Hulk And The Human Torch From The Marvel Vault #1 (One Shot) – I haven’t been picking these Vault books up but will probably get it once the trade hits. This one has Steve Ditko art, though, so I may make the exception

Incredible Hulks Annual #1 – The third part of a crossover between Spider-Man, Deadpool and Hulk, where the three have been thrown to an alternate world and forced to confront their dopplegangers. In Spider-Man, the alt-Peter was the world’s primary super-hero who needed to feed off the powers of alternate Peters, for Deadpool his alternate was basically Dr Doom (much to his disgust), and for Hulk – well, we’ll see. This has been really enjoyable; a nice surprise.

And the pick of the week….

She-Hulks Hunt For The Intelligencia TP – Collecting the She-Hulks mini (that was curtailed down from an ongoing, which was a travesty) – Harrison Wilcox and Ryan Stegman brought their A-game here. The book is funny and sweet, yet manages to be what a book involving Hulks should be (ie, there’s a lot of hitting). As much as I like Jen Walters, I’ve grown quite attached to the so-called ‘Savage’ She-Hulk, Lyra – and having them play off one another is a treat. Another one that I’d recommend wholeheartedly.

I’ve been quite open about enjoying the majority of the Flashpoint stuff that DC has been putting out (although the Flashpoint: Reverse Flash one-shot read like a left-over Rogues spotlight issue from The Flash book, and didn’t even make sense in terms of the current story since Barry Allen’s mother is alive in the Flashpoint world), but I feel compelled to point out something that cropped up in another book this week.

The first page of Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance does a quick recap of the year running up to the start of the story:

See? Something’s amiss. A closer look:

Aren’t we missing something?

Like, I don’t know, Wales and Scotland? (Not sure Grant Morrison will be too happy with that…)

Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are also missing, but I can understand that if the Amazons chose only to conquer the main island. But honestly, between editors, artists and writers, shouldn’t someone have caught this?

Unless of course in the Flashpoint world there is no Wales, or Scotland. Yeah, that’s the ticket. If DC gave out No Prizes, I’d be all over that…

Gene Colan has passed away, aged 84.

Obviously, I didn’t know the man personally but he was one hell of a comic artist – and his covers especially could be incredibly dynamic.

Thoughts with his family and friends.

Here’s a gallery of 50 of Colan covers that I’m a fan of (although I didn’t include any of his Western stuff here)

On Wednesday I had a big post ready to go all about DC’s resetting the clock (kind of) which was much more timely than this one, and then wordpress ate it.

Thanks a bunch.

As it is, everyone in the comicsphere has already blogged about it so I don’t really see the point. The bottom line for me is that I’m looking forward to it, and I’m more interested in the DCU than I have been in a long time. Honestly, I’m much more interested in it than I am in Marvel at the moment, which seems to be stuck in a real rut (although obviously I’m still reading Spider-Man, Avengers Academy and against my better judgment, FF).

So, yes, looking forward to it, and I’m really getting into Flashpoint too.

I am wondering about Flashpoint, though: I originally thought that Flashpoint’s divergence from the main DCU was going to be as a result of Professor Zoom’s playing around with the past and changing one or two key things – but that seems unlikely to be the case now.

If you look at what we know so far, there are several things that have changed:

1) Barry Allen’s mother wasn’t murdered, and Barry never became the Flash.

2) Thomas Wayne attacked the robber, resulting in Bruce dying instead of him.

3) Abin Sur didn’t crash during his mission to transport Atrocitus (and, naturally, there’s some kind of Flashpoint prophecy that Atrocitus knows about) and continued as GL of sector 2814.

4) Superman’s rocket crashed into Metropolis, destroying (or at least heavily damaging) the city – twenty years ago.

5) Jay Garrick wasn’t the Flash when the Justice Society operated and they ‘fell’ as a result.

It’s this fourth one that interests me the most; this is a good what, five or ten years later than the previous timeline for Superman crashing into the Earth (and presumably therefore explains why Earth’s rotation was different enough that it hit Metropolis instead of Kansas). Assuming this sticks, it also explains why he’s younger in the newer DCU come September.

Assuming that Krypton was destroyed at the same time as in the regular DCU, the only explanation is that the rocket took longer to get to Earth – but this, along with points (2) and (3) above would appear to be things outside of Professor Zoom’s sphere of influence.

So I’ve been thinking about paradoxes, and the Speed Force. And the fact that so far, Barry Allen is the only person who remembers the world as it was. And that Jay Garrick didn’t become the Flash. And that Thomas Wayne maybe moved faster against the thief. And that Superman’s rocket maybe moved slower. And that Abin Sur maybe…well, maybe he did something that had some kind of speed connection.

And that Barry Allen, in Flashpoint #2 tried – rather unsuccessfully from the look of it, but I suspect positive results will show up early next issue – to forcibly attract the Speed Force to him.

And I wonder: can Barry’s tampering with the Speed Force inadvertently have caused all these changes in history? Is Barry himself responsible for the state of the world of Flashpoint? Or, given the appearance of Zoom’s costume in Barry’s ring (nyuk nyuk), is Barry even Barry?

Not to reference a seminal Mark Waid story or anything…

Things to mull over, anyway.

Also worth mulling over, this page from Justice League of America #0 a few years ago (as noted over at Bob Mitchell in the 21st Century).

I don’t think this Jim Lee – pencilled-page was ever followed up on. I find it hard to believe that seeds for this could have been planted in Brad Meltzer’s run almost 5 years ago, but apparently Dan Didio had planned something similar to the current revamp after Final Crisis, and it is apparently definitely not a straight reboot so maybe there was something planned that this page referred to.

In any case, fun, fun, fun.

Now, what are the odds on my favorite fictional couple still being married come September?

Probably slim – but at least they won’t have made a deal with the devil…

Assuming that Wednesday actually is new comics day (even after five years in the US I still get confused as to which holidays delay shipments and which don’t), there’s a bunch of stuff that looks interesting to me tomorrow. There’s also Fear Itself.

Flashpoint #2 (Of 5) – Against my better judgment I’ve been sucked into this mini, especially with all this speculating about what happens after Flashpoint. Of course in reality, chances are nothing major will happen after it except maybe having another world to play with in specials or something, so bravo, DC marketing. Bravo.

Flashpoint Minis: Abin Sur The Green Lantern #1, Batman Knight Of Vengeance #1, Secret Seven #1, The World Of Flashpoint #1 – Yeesh, four of the 372 tie-ins to Flashpoint also drop this week. I’m not sure I’ll be getting any (I may pick up the inevitable HC collections as I did for Blackest Night), but to my surprise some of these really do pique my interest. Will I be strong enough to hold off? Possibly.

Planetary Batman Deluxe HC – I won’t be picking this up, as I picked it up first time around, but I do remember it being a pretty good one-shot, with the Planetary team running up against multiple versions of Batman through his publishing history (ie, Dark Knight Returns Batman, camp 60s Batman, etc). I do question the price point of this, though, at $23 for a HC of what was originally a $5 or $6 book when it first came out. Sure, it has Warren Ellis’s script as well, but that’s pretty steep for a 96 page book.

Halcyon #5 (Of 5) – Marc Guggenheim’s underrated superhero story from Image has been surprisingly satisfying, if a little predictable at times. Essentially, all violence has been eliminated by unknown means, putting most heroes out of a job (and villains too for that matter). Only one hero is determined to uncover the reason though it will cost him his life – and the remaining heroes stand against him. Good stuff that I’d recommend picking up in trade if you can.

Amazing Spider-Man #663 – I think I’m an issue behind on this at the moment, but this is almost always my most looked-forward to read these days, and I think that’s recommendation enough.

Astonishing X-Men #39 – So much for running the book as minis. I wish the alternating creative teams luck (and I’m a big fan of Christos Gage’s work), because this book has felt pointless for quite some time now.

Avengers Academy #14.1 – And speaking of Christos Gage…this should be a good jump on point as it’s part of this silly ‘Point One’ initiative, so check out the best team book you’re not reading.

Captain Britain Volume 1 Birth Of A Legend HC – Collecting Captain Britain’s early Marvel UK appearances, these strips are definitely a mixed bag. Many were originally in black and white and suffered as a result of being, well, not very good – but having reread them recently, I can say they have a certain charm.

Marvel Zombies Christmas Carol #1 (Of 5) – I have no words. Shouldn’t this have died a death some time ago at this point?

Osborn Evil Incarcerated TP - I’ve heard a lot of good things about this mini, so I may give it a shot if only because I hope that it manages to effectively book-end Dark Reign and set Osborn’s direction for the future (although I won’t object to him being off the table for a few years).

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 – Many people were fans of the first run of this series, so I feel obliged to point out that it’s back. Me, though, I decided not to pick it up as I’m sick of secret histories and I am not a huge fan of this particular writer’s style.

Thor Thunderstrike TP – Okay, this isn’t for everyone. Collecting some key issues in the development of Thunderstrike (the mortal, very 90s Thor stand-in who eventually spun off in his own series), this features Thor’s merging with Eric Masterson, the later ‘death’ of Thor and Masterson’s debut as a familiar looking hero, the return of Thor and Masterson’s assumption of his own identity. Each part of the trade was actually separated by a few years of publishing, so I expect this to be a bit disjointed – but I heartily recommend it for anyone who feels a little nostalgic for fun, uncomplicated heroics.

And the pick of the week…

Turf #5 (of 5) – Jonathon Ross and Tommy Lee Edward’s mini has been tortuously late in coming out; at 18 months for 5 issues it’s not in Planetary‘s ballpark, but it feels close. That said, this is a great, great comic that screams ‘high concept’. A mix of prohibition New York gangsters, vampires, and aliens, with a sprawling cast, this shouldn’t work but it does – thanks largely to great character work by first-time writer Ross and razor sharp dialogue. Ross has a few more series coming out soon with a number of high profile artists (including, according to a DM he sent me a few months back, a classic horror artist) – and if this is the standard of the work he’s going to put out, the more the merrier. Great, great stuff. Get the trade – you won’t regret it.

There’s a rumor (and as it’s a rumor started by Rich Johnston over at Bleeding Cool, I’d say there may be a grain of truth in it) that, come September after Flashpoint ends in August, DC will relaunch and renumber all of it’s line.

All of it.

While I think that seems highly unlikely (if only because of (a) fan backlash, and (b) Grant Morrison’s busy with Batman, Inc for another year or so) it’s pretty obvious that something is happening in September. This got me thinking about Zero Hour – not that I ever really need an excuse to think about that – and Zero Month that followed, where each book in the regular DCU had a #0 issue which set up the status quo and served as a handy jumping on point for each series, tweaking origins and setting up new storylines.

I’d imagine something similar is in the works for September; a line wide renumbering – relaunching some books (probably including Flash and Green Lantern, absent from two months of solicits by that point), launching some new books (probably hold overs from the Flashpoint world), and redefining and refocusing others – before resuming regular numbering in October.

A few months ago I’d have bet that Flashpoint would be followed by a Point One event, but Marvel beat them to the punch with that (and the more I think about it the more that seems to be Marvel once again going nyah-nyah-nyah to DC), so I don’t know – maybe a simple #1 again for everyone?

That feels right – then something else occurred to me.

DC is still embroiled in a lawsuit with the heirs of Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel over ownership of the flagship character – and even without that there are some public domain issues coming up. So imagine a situation where the current Superman was lost to DC somehow in the next few years…luckily there may be a replacement lined up ready.

This Superman, from all appearances, crashed into Metropolis, not Smallville, and was raised very differently. Thanks to the differences between the Flashpoint world and the regular DCU, Krypton may not even be mentioned as a part of this origin.

This is all speculation of course, but it would be handy to have another character running around capable of inheriting the Superman name that didn’t have an origin directly derived from the regular Superman should things go south with the lawsuit – if only as a threat that DC could use to say ‘look, we don’t need Superman anyway’…

I know. I’m as surprised as you are.

They’re really playing down Blake Lively’s role in this whilst playing up the sci-fi aspects, and that extra $9M for SFX looks to be money well spent.

A couple of glimpses here that we haven’t seen before; first up – hey, that’s not the Green Lantern Corps logo…

Secondly, we get what I think is the first look at the Guardians, complete with semi-transparent skull –

- and they look a little familiar to me.

But that may just be me. All in all, I think the trailer’s pretty good – certainly a huge step up from the first effort – and I’m now at ‘cautiously optimistic’ regarding this. I’m still not sold on Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, but pretty much everything else looks good.

…well, more hope than the first trailer did, anyway. Granted there is a crapload of CGI in here, but this footage seems to be wisely ignoring the more jokey aspects of what we saw last time, not to mention Blake Lively.

I still feel uncomfortably like I’m watching cutscenes from an XBox game, but what the hell, what did I think it was going to look like?

Deadline has posted a letter from the late Joanne Siegel to Jeffrey Bewkes, Chairman of Warner Bros, which she composed shortly before her death last month.

The letter in full:

December 10, 2010

Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Time Warner Inc.

Dear Jeff,

I am Joanne Siegel widow of Jerry Siegel, creator of Superboy and co-creator of Superman with Joe Shuster. It has always been my policy to be in touch with the Chairmen of the Board of your company going back to when Steve Ross formed Warner Communications.

Steve Ross knew how to take care of large vexing problems. He paid the price, whatever it was, then went on, and the company prospered. He was gracious and friendly when my late husband Jerry and I met him at a stockholders meeting after he sent Jerry, Joe, my daughter Laura and me company stock. He also phoned me to say if we needed anything I should just pick up the phone and call him. He said if he could not be reached for some reason, one of the top officers in the company, Deane Johnson, would handle things personally. Laura and I believe if Steve were alive our copyright ownership matter would have been successfully resolved long ago.

Jerry Levin was also reachable and thoughtful. He sent my husband and later me, cases of grapefruit at the holiday season. He remembered Jerry’s birthday with a Superman sculpture. When my Jerry passed away, Jerry Levin told Laura and me that we are part of the Time Warner family, part of its history. Unfortunately he retired before our rights issues were resolved. He had given his attorneys too much power so that negotiations were unsatisfactory and a settlement was impossible. Dick Parsons, on the other hand, was not friendly and, under him, the attorneys hired by the company were arrogant and pro-litigation.

Now you are Chairman and CEO. Because we are in litigation I held off writing to you. I now believe had we had contact early on, things might not have gone so far off track.

My daughter Laura and I, as well as the Shuster estate, have done nothing more than exercise our rights under the Copyright Act. Yet, your company has chosen to sue us and our long-time attorney for protecting our rights.

On December 1st I turned 93. I am old enough to be your mother. I have grown grandchildren. Unfortunately I am not in the best of health. My cardiologist provided a letter to your attorneys informing them that I suffer from a serious heart condition and that forcing me to go through yet another stressful deposition could put me in danger of a heart attack or stroke. I am also on medications that have side effects which force me to stay close to home and restrooms. Nonetheless your attorneys are forcing me to endure a second deposition even though I have already undergone a deposition for a full day in this matter. As clearly they would be covering the same ground, their intention is to harass me.

My dear daughter Laura too has painful medical conditions including multiple sclerosis, arthritis, glaucoma, spine disorders, and fibromyalgia. She has already had her deposition taken twice by your attorneys while in pain. Her doctors have given written statements saying she should not be subjected to a third deposition, yet your attorneys are insisting on re-taking her deposition in an effort to harass her as well.

So I ask you to please consider – do these mean spirited tactics meet with your approval? Do you really think the families of Superman’s creators should be treated this way?

As you know, DC and Warner Bros. have profited enormously from 72 years of exploiting Jerry and Joe’s wonderful creation. Superman is now a billion dollar franchise and has been DC’s flagship property for all this time.

As for this letter, the purpose is three-fold:

To protest harassment of us that will gain you nothing but bad blood and a continued fight.

To protest harassment of our attorney by falsely accusing him of improper conduct in an attempt to deprive us of legal counsel.

To make you aware that in reality this is a business matter and that continuing with litigation for many more years will only benefit your attorneys.

This is not just another case. The public and press are interested in Superman and us and are aware of our and your litigations.

The solution to saving time, trouble, and expense is a change of viewpoint. Laura and I are legally owed our share of Superman profits since 1999. By paying the owed bill in full, as you pay other business bills, it would be handled as a business matter, instead of a lawsuit going into its 5th year.

Even though you will no doubt pass this letter on to your attorneys, the final decision is yours. Your image as well as the company’s reputation rests on a respectable and acceptable outcome, and I hope you will get personally involved to insure this matter is handled properly.

The courtesy of a friendly and meaningful reply from you will be most appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joanne Siegel

While I’m in two minds on the issue of who owns what as regards to Superman, Superboy, et al, I agree with Mrs Siegel’s point: if Warner Bros had simply paid to resolve this issue years ago, they would have saved themselves a lot of lawyers fees and – more importantly – have retained the goodwill of the creative community.

With the release of this letter, and the points made regarding Mrs Siegel’s (and her daughter’s) health, and the multiple depositions that she made as Warner Bros’ lawyers’ requests – in spite of letter advising against this from her cardiologist – I think that any remaining public opinion in favor of Warner Bros is rapidly in danger of vanishing.

It’s time to cut your losses, Warner Bros. Pay the estates of Siegel and Shuster enough money to make the lawsuit go away. Yes, it opens the door to other lawsuits, and yes, it will be costly – but how much more costly will continuing to protest be?

In the best case, you win, pay millions, and have proved yourselves a company of jackals. In worst case, you lose, pay millions, and have proved yourselves a company of jackals, and have lost the rights to one of your premiere properties.

Time to put up and shut up, I think.

It sounds like Zack Snyder has found his Lois Lane – and she’s Amy Adams.

I have no problem at all with this casting as Adams is pretty damn cute and, more importantly, can do drama and comedy with equal aplomb. She’s a great choice – and I know that some people will complain that she’s a redhead and so would be better as Lana Lang, but let’s face it: hair color only matters to geeks like us.

Although part of me would like to see Amy Adams as the Insect Queen.

In any case; great choice. My next Superman-related question, though, is how long Zack Snyder is going to be linked with Nolan’s Superman given the critical and financial drubbing that SuckerPunch took over the weekend…

This…I would have heard about this if it was real, right?

Right?

Via

EW has the first photo of Adrianne Palicki in costume as Wonder Woman from the new pilot.
(Now clickable in hires thanks to Bleeding Cool)

Now, I like Palicki, and I think she has the acting chops to pull this off – but I’m not too sold on the costume here. Maybe it’s one of those things where I have to see it in motion.

If you add a leather jacket it looks kind of familiar (well, with some extra pants detail)…

…and possibly just in time to be out of sync with the comics again.

That said, it could have been a lot worse…

Edit: Actually, you know, this costume is really growing on me.

I had connection issues yesterday, but back up and running today. To say its a slow week comics-wise is an understatement, but luckily Marvel comes to the rescue with a bunch of trades…

Red Robin #21 – If there’s two comics I can usually rely on to enjoy each month, it;s this and Batgirl - but I was let down for the first time by last week’s issue of Batgirl, and last issue’s Teen Titans crossover felt forced – so don’t fail me now, Fabian Nicieza!

Age of Heroes TP – The four issue anthology series is collected; honestly, I’ve always enjoyed anthologies and I usually pick these up as they come out. I didn’t get this as it was at the time I was dropping virtually everything, but it has a great list of creators – including Dan Slott, Kurt Busiek, Paul Cornell and more on the writing, and Chris Samnee and Leonard Kirk on the art; for that alone it’s worth picking up if you can get it discounted – but at the full $20 retail it’s a rip-off.

Amazing Spider-Man #656 – Spidey dons another new outfit (this one looks to be bulletproof) to confront his newest villain Massacre. Presumably that’s not the Superman villain of the same name. The solicits are teasing that Spider-Man may kill him but c’mon…

Astonishing X-Men Xenogenesis HC - Warren Ellis teams with Kaare Andrews for the final (I think) part of his run on the book. If it’s of the same caliber as his previous two volumes, you couldn’t pay me to read it.

Avengers Academy #11 – This book continues to impress me; tight storytelling that moves along quickly. No dilly-dallying here. Apparently Korvac’s back this issue – Gage isn’t messing around when he brings out the big guns.

Fear Itself Book Of The Skull #1 – The big Marvel event of the year kicks off…and that’s all I have to say about it, really. This will be the first Marvel event I don’t pick up as it happens in the past 25-plus years, sadly.

Ruse #1 (Of 4) – This Marvel relaunch of a Crossgen property makes a little more sense than Sigil does, with original writer Mark Waid returning to the original characters involved in the series first run – may be worth checking out.

Thor The Lost Gods TP – You know, I understand the principle behind this being collected, what with the Thor movie upcoming and all, but it may have made more sense if it had happened when JMS had Thor running around trying to find the Asgardians in mortal form. Why? Because this was basically exactly the same thing but ten years earlier. Set during the time Thor was lost to the Heroes Reborn universe, Sif and the Warriors Three take on his role as star of the retitled Journey Into Mystery trying to awaken the gods who are living as mortals unaware of their true nature. Oddly, as when the current volume of Thor was recently renumbered to #600 didn’t include the renumbering of Thor into this version of JiM, they won’t be included when the current Thor is renamed once again as Journey Into Mystery with #622. Meaning these aren’t just Lost Gods, they’re Lost Issues. Did I just blow your mind? I thought so!

Thunderstrike #4 (Of 5) – Yes, it’s old school, and yes, the redesign is laughable – but that’s kind of the point. The titular hero is getting another, more acceptable redesign shortly. I have no doubt he’ll either vanish into comic limbo or get killed in a one panel crossover cameo, but for now at least I’m really enjoying the new Thunderstrike.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #3 – Marvel seems to have taken a cue from the 80s and 90s and used the annuals to tell little crossover stories this year, none of which will ever be referenced again. This time out, it’s the start of a three part crossover with Steve Rogers, Super Soldier (who’s getting an annual even though he doesn’t have a series) as they go into the Negative Zone or something.

Pick of the Week

Captain America The Captain TP – I mentioned this a while back; I love this storyline. Basically chronicling the dual narratives of the new Cap (John Walker) adapting to his role and the original Cap (Steve Rogers) in his new costumed identity, this is some of Mark Gruenwald’s best work on Cap. I’m not sure it will be to a new reader’s tastes, but for me you can’t beat it. The 18-month storyline paved the way for the later trend of replacing title characters (which was especially big at DC, with Superman, Batman and Green Lantern all spending some time with someone else ‘under the mask’, as it were, a few years later), proving that once again Gru was ahead of his time.

It’s a pitifully small week for me – and even smaller when you consider that I’m not getting half the stuff I;m talking about. In fact, all in, it looks like I’m picking up two comics, maybe three. Last week was one so I didn’t bother going to the store. I guess if that’s four I could make the trip…

Superboy #5 – I said I’d stick around until the book got derailed by this Doomsday thing, and I will. Unfortunately the book has not lived up to its early promise in the slightest for me; paper-thin characterizations, plot twists I feel I can see coming a mile off, and Conner blundering around forgetting everything he’s learned the past few years. It’s at times like this I miss Kesel, Grummet, Hawaii, Dubbilex, Tana Moon, Rex and Roxy, and the other Krypto (remember him?). Maybe not the fade and the leather jacket…

Skullkickers Volume 1 1000 Opas And A Dead Body TP – I picked up the single issues of this but wanted to recommend it anyway as I’ve been singing it’s praises since day one – this collects the first arc for the bargain price of $10 and it’s a steal at that. Great hyper-kinetic fantasy fun with our nameless troublemaking ‘heroes’.

Girl Comics TP – The (in my opinion) badly-titled collection of the three issue anthology of comics by female creators finally hits the trades. While I want to support it, at $15 retail for a three issue collection, I’ll be honest: I’m probably not going to. See you in the back issue boxes at the next con.

New Mutants Fall Of The New Mutants HC – I love the original New Mutants, and enjoyed the hell out of the book’s first arc. The Siege and Necrosha thing derailed it for a bit, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the book before it gets derailed again by Age of X and a new direction after that. I’ll probably wait for the softcover trade though.

Sigil #1 (Of 4) – Marvel’s Crossgen quasi-relaunch kicks off; I wasn’t optimistic about it when it was announced, I’m not optimistic about it now. But I’ll at least flick through the book even if I don’t pick it up.

Venom #1 – The world needs a Venom solo book like it needs a Flash Thompson solo book. And yet here we are. Cynicism aside, I like the concept and limits on the new Venom (20 missions and 2 days), and I did enjoy the Spidey .1 issue that was basically Venom #0 so this is one I may, may pick up.

Pick of the week

Batgirl #19 – This is an easy one; any week with a new issue of Batgirl, it stands a pretty good chance of being the best thing out that week. Now that DC has shifted Red Robin to another week, that chance has increased – I guess they realized that a week can only hold so much awesome. Seriously, Bryan Q Miller has quietly crafted a great run on an incredible book here. There isn’t another superhero book out there that makes me smile quite so consistently as this. Pick it up.

The Chris Nolan-led, Zack Snyder-directed Superman movie reboot has landed it’s Jonathan and Martha Kent – Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

Kevin Costner I understand in a Field of Dreams, down-home, kind of way (and it’s not like he’s doing much else these days aside from trying to save the world) -but Diane Lane?

Not the Ma Kent from the period I first remember reading (I probably read some pre-Crisis stuff too, but Ma was largely absent)…

..or even the current version of her and Pa.

No, this is a Martha and Jonathan Kent who are a bit younger. A bit less homely. A bit sexier.

Just like the Superman: Birthright Kents – which is apparently one of the sources for the movie…

Interesting casting.

I’m a day late with the pull list this week on account of not being around on the internet yesterday. Once I put away the snark, there’s actually only one regular comic that I’m interested in this week, so chances are I’ll skip the store visit this week. In fact, the vast majority of things I’m actually interested in this week are trades and not comics. How depressing.

Hexed TP – Probably not related to the BBC series Hex, which is a shame because the lead from the first season was quite attractive. She was also fake royalty in Human Target, but I don’t hold that against her. Wait, I completely lost my train of thought there, didn’t I?

Batman Time And The Batman HC – If you ask me, $20 is a bit steep for a collection of Batman #700-703, but the issues were actually pretty good and Amazon has a discount as usual – so if you’re a fan of Grant Morrison’s Batman, this is pretty good. Even so, the ‘untold tale’ between R.I.P. and Final Crisis would have made more sense if it had appeared then…

Billy Batson And The Magic Of SHAZAM Mr Mind Over Matter TP – One of DC’s more fun kids books, this is definitely worth picking up if you have young children you’re trying to get into comics. Recommended!

Giant-Size Atom #1 – I wasn’t picking up Adventure Comics when it was running the Atom back-up, so I probably won’t pick this conclusion up (it doesn’t collect the ones already printed, right?). What I will say, though, is this: great title for a book. Heh.

Hellblazer Volume 1 Original Sins TP – Okay, I need someone to tell me if this is a good first read for Hellblazer. I mean, I know its being used as the start of a new print run of collections, but is it any good? Anyone?

Wildcats Version 3.0 Year Two TP – Collecting the second (duh) and final year of Joe Casey’s much respected run on the once-flagship Wildstorm book. I actually think the entire run passed me by; I have all of the first run but bailed about halfway through the second. Maybe it’s time to pick this up…

Angel After The Fall Volume 1 HC (Premiere Edition) – I’m speechless. $100 retail for the complete 17 issues of the ‘After the Fall’ storyline? Let me save you a bunch of money: it’s terrible. Messy art, boringly plotted, and suffering from the same ‘hey we don’t have a budget, let’s throw everything we can in there’ attitude that derailed the Buffy series. Depressingly, after an Amazon discount, it’s less than I paid for the issues as they came out. Don’t make my mistake. Run, run!

Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms Volume 1 TP – Collecting the first 8 issues of DC’s old series from 1989. If I remember rightly, this was a pretty fun comic but nothing special. It does have early Rag Morales art, though – but you can probably find these in the back issue bins for cheaper than this.

Star Trek Captain’s Log Volume 1 TP – Captains Pike, Sulu, Harriman and Jellico? Wow. They really broke out the A-list characters for this one (no offense, Sulu fans).

5 Ronin #1 (Of 5) – I’ll be honest, I don’t get it. Is this some kind of alternate universe thing with a bunch of Marvel heroes re-imagined in feudal Japan? What’s the point?

Annihilators #1 (Of 4) – I won’t be picking this up since I’m waiting on the trade, but it seems like this is Abnett and Lanning’s swansong on the cosmic side of the MU for now; and possibly the swansong of the cosmic side itself. It’s been a fun few years since Annihilation kicked off, guys. See you in the funny pages.

Avengers Academy #10 – Glad I jumped back on the singles for this; really entertaining comic.

Captain America And Falcon #1 – First in a series of one-shots spotlighting Cap and his allies. Seems there’s a big push to get Captain America trades on the shelves for the summer. You’d think there was a movie coming out or something.

And the pick of the week – a trade this time out…

Thanos Imperative HC – This will be arriving this week for me – been looking forward to the culmination of the last year or so of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m kind of irked that I spoiled the ending for myself, but this is definitely my pick of the week!