Supergirl Set to Debut on CBS (Fall TV Preview)

Image from Entertainment Weekly

Well folks, it looks like DC Comics and Warner Brothers have finally gotten their crap together. Sort of. After years of promising fans TV and movie adaptations, we're finally getting a flood of product, most of it on TV, and most of it quite good. They're not doing it as cleanly as Marvel Comics, having already created multiple continuities rather than one shared live-action universe. But thanks largely to Greg Berlanti (the guy behind Brothers and Sisters, of all things), we have The Flash, (Green) Arrow, The Atom, Firestorm, Black Canary and now Supergirl. Given that Berlanti was behind Green Lantern, a movie I liked, but which was nearly universally panned by fandom (what did you guys want it to be anyway?), I think we're lucky someone at WB had faith in him!

As with The Flash, Supergirl has costume choices that are head-scratchers (Why the blue in the S? Why a different S from the movie Superman?). As with the 1984 movie and the original comic, Supergirl has heavy doses of borderline sexism in the story elements, at least as presented in the trailer. But it looks like it has potential. It looks like it's being given an honest attempt at putting Kara Zor-El on the screen and making it believable. And if Berlanti's previous efforts are any indication, we can probably expect further elements from the comics to show up in ways that reflect the real world and the heritage of the character. I expect for a cat named Streaky and a horse named Comet to figure in eventually, but without the eye-rolling corniness of the 50s and 60s.

I still have no idea why WB/DC have decided upon multiple media universes for these characters, and only hope that Supergirl ties in either with the other TV shows, or with the universe established in Man of Steel. With Gotham already complicating things by being its own thing, it would be silly to make Supergirl come up it's own stand-alone world (CBS and the CW are owned by the same folks, after all). Unless they're setting up a multiverse event? Then, count me in!

 

The Flash is Likely Coming to Television (Again)

Grant Gustin, cast to play The Flash, image from Huffington Post.

I'm not sure I can figure out what DC Comics is up to. As a long-time fan, I've watched with jealousy while Marvel Comics fans have reaped most of the rewards, with their ultra-successful string of superhero movies. After failures (Daredevil, Electra, The Punisher), middling successes (The Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider), and mid-sized hits (The X-Men series), and blockbusters (Spider-Man, two series) Marvel's own production house has had the Midas touch with everything from Iron Man through The Avengers, and on to even more sequels.

Meanwhile, DC fans had to be happy with various versions of Superman on the small screen (Superboy, Lois & Clark, Smallville) and big screen to varying degrees of success, and two successful Batman movie series. Most everything else has been a flop or at least didn't land in the public I liked Green Lantern and Superman Returns, I would seem to be in the distinct minority. Even Man of Steel, which made 2/3 of a billion dollars, was seen my many as a "disappointment," leaving many DC fans in the doldrums. Recently, that's changed with Arrow, oddly another DC Universe similar to, but different from Smallville, this time centered around the Green Arrow character. Like Smallville, Arrow is showcasing other DC heroes. But this time, one of them is getting a spinoff.

Last time The Flash came to TV (1990), he was John Wesley-Shipp.

consciousness as a "DC Comics" success story. Even though

I've been a Flash fan as long as I've been a comics fan. He was always my favorite, probably because of his wacky "rogues gallery," and the fantastical, bizarre situations he'd find himself in. Even as a kid, I'd seek out back-issues, as far back as I could afford. When a customer on my paper route volunteered that she'd sell me her son's old 60s Flash comics, it was like winning the lottery for me. So, a TV adaptation of my favorite hero is quite exciting. It's been done before, of course, in 1990, in a fun but quirky one-season run (pun intended). But I'm hoping that they do it right, and manage to work the Arrow/Flash universe into the Man of Steel/Batman universe. Otherwise, a future Justice League could be very confusing for consumers. Though I'm sure there are a few Smallville fans who are a bit confused by the new Arrow universe anyway.

[Excerpt]

'The Flash': Grant Gustin Cast As Barry Allen For 'Arrow' And Potential Spin-Off

"Glee's" Grant Gustin has been cast as Barry Allen (AKA The Flash) on "Arrow," The CW announced Friday. He'll appear in episodes 208, 209 and 220 of "Arrow" Season 2, and if the character is well-received, headline the proposed Flash spinoff. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Blast from the Past: Up, Up and Away! It's Superman!

Man of Steel--the latest live-action version of Superman has been out for about a month and made over about $620 million worldwide. Oddly, some movie geeks think that's a lackluster performance. It also got some mediocre professional reviews, but has been generally loved by the public, so go figure. One thing it did is cast a huge shadow over every previous version of Supes, and there have been a lot of them. The Metropolis of Man of Steel for example, is so enormous that even though there is more destruction than has ever happened outside of an atomic bomb blast, 95% of it was left standing! It sort of made Superman II's destruction scenes look puny by comparison.

But as a long-time comics fan, particularly DC Comics and Superman, I'm notoriously easy to please, and like just about any version, cheesy or not. Here is a sampling of each edition I was able to find.

1. Superman (1948) - Movie serial starring Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill
2. Adventures of Superman (1952-1958) - Syndicated TV series, starring George Reeves

3. Superman: The Movie (1978) - Movie starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder
4. Superman II (1980) - Movie starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder



5. Superman III (1983) - Mostly bad movie starring Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor
6. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) - Horrible, cheap movie starring Christopher Reeve



7. Adventures of Superboy (1988-1992) - Syndicated TV Series where Clark is Superboy for (somehow) several years), starring Gerard Christopher, who replaced John Haymes Newton
8. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997) - ABC TV series, starring Dean Cain and Terri Hatcher



9. Smallville (2001-2011) - WB/CW TV series, where Superboy stays a teenaged boy for way, way too long
10. Superman Returns (2006) - Quasi-sequel to Superman II, ignoring III and IV (wisely), and pleasing nobody except me, who kinda liked it




And that brings us up to the present, with Man of Steel, but since it's a month old, I can still put it on Blast from the Past, I guess. Any excuse to feature the incredible Henry Cavill. Sigh. . .



And yes, I'm aware that all of this would have made more sense a month ago. But it's been a weird couple of weeks folks! Hope you liked it, and hope you have a great week. Happy Monday!

Hate Group Using DC Comics' Superman for Publicity

The image NOMBlog is using to promote their brand.
Are you paying attention DC?

Ugh. I'll admit that when I heard that there was a boycott afoot over a proposed writer for a Superman comic, I was torn. First, I'm a DC Comics fan from way back when comics cost 20 cents, so the character is more than just another superhero to me. Second, I'm gay, and this writer dude Orson Scott Card is profoundly, loudly and proudly anti-gay. So, while I have some issues with interfering with an individual's career over his personal views, I also feel a personal connection to the character he's writing, and am appalled that he's going to be writing it.

But the issue is a little more clear when you realize that this isn't one guy's personal views. Card is on the board of the National Organization for Marriage, a hate group that exists not--as they purport--to "protect" marriage, but to thwart equal rights for gay people. One need not follow NOM's writings for long to suss out that "marriage" is only part of their agenda. Their championing of the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay policy, their campaigns against domestic partnerships and civil unions, and many other issues illustrate clearly that NOM is an anti-gay organization, first and foremost. So, to my mind, Card isn't just some poor schmuck with an opinion.

DC Comics, for their part, has pretty much to this point stood by their man. And I get that. They don't want interest groups combing through each writer's and artist's pasts for something to object to. I get that. But I'm also one of many gay former kids for whom DC Comics and Superman played a large part in our growing up. And a lot of us still read comics. And how much can DC or parent company Warner Bros. want their flagship character to be used by a hate group? Because that is what NOM is doing with Superman.

[Excerpt]

ConservativeHQ: Buy A Comic Book To Stand For Marriage

. . .Orson Scott Card, a talented science fiction writer, is part of a team of writers and artists assembled by DC Comics to create an “Adventures of Superman” comic series ahead of the release of the summer Superman film Man of Steel.* Card is also a believer in the Biblical definition of marriage who has the courage to say so. . .

Source: NOMBlog (If you have a strong stomach, click through, and read some of their postings, but be warned. . .the comments sections are poisonous.)

DC's Green Lantern of Earth Two is Gay

"Coming out" in the DC Universe apparently causes
a great deal of pain! Image from Rolling Stone.

My first thought about DC Comics' Earth Two version of Green Lantern being gay was: "But, isn't he like 100?" Yes, he would be. But this is a re-boot of Earth Two, which follows the umpteenth reboot of the DC Universe. My comics obsession culminated in the first reboot, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which came about because of some tangled history, and the progressing age of some characters. Since then, there has been a string of other reboots, which I couldn't hope to untangle.

The original Green Lantern. Image from (I'm not
kidding, but it is appropriate) Green Lantern
Butts Forever!

Which makes the gay revelation of Alan Scott, the new Earth Two's Green Lantern kind of a letdown. Sure, he's a character who first appeared in 1940. A character whose son (in earlier continuity) was an early gay comics character. But this isn't the same guy, he just shares a name. And he was second-string, even in his heyday. It's cool that DC was willing to do it, and I'm sure they won't get much blowback, except for those who already screech about anything concerning "the gay." And hey, at least it wasn't The Creeper or Brother Power, The Geek!

[Excerpt]

Green Lantern comes out as gay in DC Comics' 'Earth Two'


When DC Comics relaunched its fictional world from scratch last fall, some aspects of the DC mythos temporarily fell by the wayside, such as the notion of parallel worlds featuring different versions of the company's iconic heroes. . .

Read more at: Rolling Stone

Lynda Carter, the Real Wonder Woman Gives Advice to Her Successor

There will never be an actress playing Wonder Woman, even if the character lives on for three hundred years, who isn't compared to Lynda Carter. Lynda Carter quite simply embodied and became the character. It doesn't matter that the 70s ABC/CBS Wonder Woman series vacillated between the original 40s World War II version of the character, and a "new" 70s take. It doesn't matter that the show was hopelessly rooted in the loosely plotted and languidly filmed 70s TV drama style. Lynda was it. She was  Wonder Woman.

Carter may not have started out as a trained actress. But she quickly learned on the job, and by the finish of the (too short) run of The New, Original Wonder Woman or whatever its official title finally became, she'd become an icon. She is the yardstick by which all future super heroines will be measured.

[Excerpt]

Wonder of a Woman

Lynda Carter is celebrating Pride with a new CD, a round of tour dates and by sharing a few memories from her Wonder-ful life with us.



Image from source, MetroSource



Interviewing original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter was a childhood dream come true! We found her to be funny, thoughtful and humble as we discussed Pride parades, re-inventing songs and everyone’s favorite star-spangled gal. . .

Read more at: MetroSource

So, It Looks Like They Screwed Up Wonder Woman

Source: TVGuide

As I've documented here many times, I'm a big fan of DC Comics from way back, and I've been frustrated with Warner Brothers' (the owner of DC) relative inability to do anything decent with most of their super heroes and other comic book properties. Sure they've struck gold with the rebooted Batman/Dark Knight franchise, and pleased a few people (like me) with Superman Returns. But with rare exceptions, they can't seem to get their shit together.

Take Wonder Woman for example. She's the most famous super heroine, and third or fourth most well known super hero period. But outside of some animated adventures (as part of a team), or the campy 70s drama series with Lynda Carter, they've done nothing with her of note. For many years, they've been working on a movie treatment, and basically gotten nowhere. And now, finally, she's being brought back, again on television.  The initial reports sounded dicey at best (Not only will Palicki play the star-spangled crimefighter, who's now based in L.A., but she'll also play her alter-ego, billionaire CEO Diana Themyscira and Diana's mousy assistant Diana Prince.), but the first "reveal" of the new Wonder Woman costume has me rolling my eyes even harder.


The new costume is a sort of melding of the current umpteenth incarnation of the comic book Wonder Woman, and her more traditional, well known one. You know, the bustier and panties. Look, I get that Wondy's original garb is potentially a little silly for a realistic depiction, though Lynda Carter did a pretty credible job. The original show's weakness was the time period in which it was set, and the style of tv dramas at the time. But they got  it mostly right. Move that same setup into the present day, with the modern, more complex storytelling of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer or TrueBlood, and you'd really have something. This new, David Kelly take? I do not have high hopes.


[Excerpt]
Wonder Woman First Look of Adrianne Palicki in Costume

Anyone who doubted that Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki could fill Wonder Woman's bustier and boots can now judge for themselves. . .

Read more at: TV Guide

Apropos of Nothing: Rob Liefeld's Top 40 Worst Drawings

If you haven't noticed by the tone and nature of my recent posts, I'm finding the "all Egypt, all the time" news cycle a bit out of my wheel house. I'm sorry. I know that it's important. I know people are dying, and brave people are. . .doing. . .stuff. I'm trying to get interested. I'm trying to understand and appreciate it, but zzzzzzzzz-z-z-z-z-z-z!!!!  I'm sorry, I dozed off again. It just doesn't have the pop, nor the sizzle.

Anatomically gifted. . .
or cursed? From Progressive Boink

I know, I'm part of the problem. But since I can't find news items that raise my interest, I've been trolling the internets for frivolity. And hoo-boy did I find some. As I've said a bee-jillion times here, I'm a comics fan from way back, but more of a DC than a Marvel fan. So, I had no idea who Rob Liefeld really was, other than a vague recognition of his name. Somehow (probably after my last post on the new Superman movie), I stumbled upon this hysterical post.

Liefeld is apparently a prolific and very successful creator from comics' past and present. He's a writer and an artist, a legend to some. And he's drawn some spectacularly bad artwork. Maybe some good stuff too, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. But the writer of this excerpted piece below just cracks me up. I'd never want to be critiqued by someone of such wicked wit. But it's a blast to read!

[Excerpt]

The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings



. . .And then, there's Rob Liefeld. You know how people draw comics? Rob doesn't do that. He had his own Levi's commercial directed by Spike Lee in the 90s. He had best-selling comic books. He was a revolutionary and helped co-found Image Comics when all the hot artists ditched their classic gigs (like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and, uh, Guardians of the Galaxy) for creator-owned projects. But he doesn't "draw" comics. Oh God, no.



Just... ugh, just let me show you. . .

Read more at: Progressive Boink

Blast from the Past: Live Action Superheroes on TV!

This week, I almost did a "classic political ads" theme for Blast from the Past. But, geeze, I'm a little tired of political ads, aren't you? I mean here in Nevada, we're being absolutely bombarded with them.  I already early voted, enough!  We know, Harry Reid is evil according to Sharron Angle, and vice-versa. Anyway, I was stuck for a theme.  Last week, I did Saturday morning cartoons. So this time, how about live-action superheroes? They were always a favorite of mine, but you may have forgotten a couple of these. . .








1. Automan - How's this one for obscure? Obviously inspired by Tron, this one didn't last too long, probably because the pretty girl didn't have much to do. But with Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Chuck Wagner, I didn't even notice there was a girl. Ahem.
2. The Amazing Spider-Man - This 70s version of Spider-Man was low-budget, and you just can't do much with Spidey on a low-budget. The leotard just looked ridiculous. The webs were worse.
3. Wonder Woman - The classic Lynda Carter show's first season had this very comic-book flavored intro, obviously inspired by Batman. They kept tweaking it, and disco-fying it when they moved the series into the 70s from the 40s.
4. Batman - No live-action TV superhero retrospective would be complete without this one.
5. The Incredible Hulk - This show ran for most of its existence sandwiched between Wonder Woman and The Dukes of Hazzard. It was better than either, though maybe not as fun.
6. The Greatest American Hero - This theme worked for describing the hapless hero's cluelessness, and also as a love song for a guy who doesn't feel worthy. Loved the show too.
7. The Flash - I really liked this show. Too bad it only got a season. There's a movie in the works, though!
8. Shazam! - They couldn't call the show Captain Marvel due to legal reasons, and they changed Cap's back-story too much, but I never missed an episode! It was basically a ham-fisted "lesson of the week" after school special kind of show, with a superhero. If they ever do a Shazam! movie--and do it right--it will be awesome.

Happy Monday everybody!

Wonder Woman Set for a TV Reboot?

Image from source, TV Squad

I've lamented many times in this space that DC Comics heroes have gotten short shrift in comparison to their Marvel Comics rivals. Why? DC Comics has got Warner Brothers as owners for God's sake! They can't all be morons at WB, right?  Still, after many years (and even after having Buffy the Vampire Slayer demigod Joss Whedon at one time attached), Wonder Woman has been moribund in development hell.  Now, it looks like they've pulled Wondy out of mothballs, and plunked her into TV Land again. 

The problem is, the 70s ABC/CBS TV series version of Wonder Woman was so iconic--even if it doesn't exactly hold up in the two-thousandsees--that it will be hard to eclipse.  Lynda Carter very simply was Wonder Woman.  There may not be any actress to appear at any time that more perfectly captured a character.  She was the right age, the right height, the right boobage. She could be tough and innocent at the same time. It was the kind of casting that most producers could only dream of.  But the 70s Wonder Woman suffers from 70s-itis. 



In the days of Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, Mannix and Hawaii Five-0, action-dramas were thinly plotted, and formulaic.  You'd watch meandering tracking shots of characters driving along a shoreline, closing the car door, wandering up the beach, spying a suspect, and then lightly interrogating them. A scene that would last three minutes now, in a modern show, would go on and on and on.  There was an "a" and possibly a "b" story, but no nuance, no character development, no momentum. But Lynda Carter turned an initially 2-D performance into a fully realized character. Lynda Carter was--and still is--Wonder Woman.

Any modern actress is going to have a very tall legend to live up to.  I have no doubt that today's writers can produce a better written and plotted show. But I have significant doubts that anyone can fill Lynda Carter's boots. And bustier.

[Excerpt]

David E. Kelley to Bring Back 'Wonder Woman'

Right now you could be forgiven for thinking that there are no new ideas in the world of TV. Hot on the heels of news that networks in search of hits are revisiting such classics as 'The Munsters,' comes news that David E. Kelley ('Ally McBeal') is dusting off Wonder Woman's star-spangled shorts for Warner Bros. Television. . .

Read more at: TV Squad

Super-Heroes Vs. the Westboro Baptist Church

Image from source, Comics Alliance

Hahahahaha! Bra-vo! Hilariously perfect. I'm sure that the hideous Rev. Fred Phelps already fancies himself as god's own superhero on earth, but we all know he's a villain. Not a supervillain, more like one of the campy B-celebrity villains from the old Batman show from the 60s. Only less scary, and more ridiculous.  Thanks to my friend Katie for the tip, via Facebook.

[Excerpt]

Super Heroes vs. the Westboro Baptist Church

. . .Unbeknownst to the dastardly fanatics of the Westboro Baptist Church, the good folks of San Diego's Comic-Con were prepared for their arrival with their own special brand of superhuman counter protesting chanting "WHAT DO WE WANT" "GAY SEX" "WHEN DO WE WANT IT" "NOW!" while brandishing ironic (and some sincere) signs. Simply stated: The eclectic assembly of nerdom's finest stood and delivered. . .





Read more at: Comics Alliance

Wonder Woman Gets a New Look

Image from EW

I'm a comics fan from way back, and while I haven't really kept current, I'm sure that one thing remains true: major changes to major characters are rarely ever permanent.  Wonder Woman may be in need of a makeover, but this is hardly her first.

Originally Wondy wore a costume similar to the one we're familiar with, a bustier, tiara, bracelets, a golden lasso, and star-spangled bottoms.  But the original bottoms were a skort thing, and it didn't last.  The tiara would change shape, ditto the bracelets. Her boots would get kind of floppy, turn into laced sandals, back to boots, sometimes with heels, sometimes not. She'd always be recognizable as Wonder Woman, but could sometimes look like she was wearing granny panties, and sometimes look like she ought to be working a pole down at The Itchy Kitty.

The eagle on her busier changed a lot, usually looking like a mutant chicken, sometimes not even distinguishable as a bird.  For copyright reasons, the bird was replaced with a WW symbol that was great for logos, but got kind of distorted on her boobage.  Different artists would do different things, like putting a bird head on the point of the W, or drawing extra stuff on it.  Her belt was especially problematic, as it was a "girdle" of one of the goddesses, but it morphed from an ugly white thing to an ugly yellow thing, It would eventually become metal, with ridiculously large, lethal-looking points.  Far worse were the Wonder-britches. Long after abandoning the skort and later the bicycle shorts, horny artists would get it down to a thong or loincloth. And Wondy's boobs changed shape and size so often, she could rival Pam Anderson.

Image from WUSA9

So now, they've put Wonder Woman into a more sensible outfit. And I'm sure it will change here and there a lot, until she inevitably gets back into the more familiar one again.  They've also gone the "reboot" route, wrecking the timeline, and thus every single crossover she's had with other characters.  That'll tick off fans as much as it pleases them, until they put it all back the way it was.  Given the price of comics these days, I'm really glad I don't collect them any more. I'll make one further prediction:  if the Wonder Woman movie ever gets made, she's going to look a whole lot more like Lynda Carter than this current version.

[Excerpt]

Wonder Woman gets a new costume. We're unsure about the jacket.



I have a confession to make: I’m a shameless geek for new superhero outfits. At least once per decade, every iconic comic book hero will get a new look, usually to signal a massive storyline shakeup, a new creative team, and/or a desperate bid for cultural relevance. Witness electro-Superman, Invisible Woman post-stripperobics, and The Scarlet Spider (a.k.a., Spider-Man for the Torn Hoodie crowd.) The new outfits never last long, but they do provide an intriguing, time capsule-ready look at the fashion (and the silliness) of their cultural moment. So no matter what you think about the new Wonder Woman outfit, we can all agree that this costume change proves definitively that 2010 is cooler than 1968. . .

Read more at: Entertainment Weekly

A Flash Movie Soon?

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

Oh, please, oh please. . .! I've said many times in this space that I'm a long-time DC Comics fan, and I'm jealous of Marvel Comics' success on the silver screen.  Sure, the 2000s edition of the Batman franchise is going strong, but Batman was never a personal favorite, and his movies don't much do it for me either. I like my super heroes to have super powers.  And DC has a wealth of powered heroes, with Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Captain Marvel (Shazam!), and The Flash (not to mention lesser-knowns like The Metal Men, Firestorm, and many more).

All of those mentioned have had either cartoons, live-action TV series or movies made about them, and all have had trouble getting to the big screen. Of the list, only Superman managed a recent movie, after many years of false starts and tons of money wasted. And they still ended up with a film--though it impressed me--that didn't please audiences. How a major movie studio like Warner Brothers (which owns DC) could be so stymied by super heroes as source material will always baffle me. There is such a dense mythology to draw from, sometimes up to 70 years of stories.  C'mon, DC, get it together!  I know (or at least hope) you can do it!

[Excerpt]

Flash Movie Soon?

With the buzz over current DC projects like Green Lantern, Batman 3, and the Superman reboot, I know I speak for most of my fellow nerdians when I say I can’t wait to see what’s next. Well, Geoff Johns already told us to expect some news on the movie front here, and thanks to his Tweet, we get a clue as to what the news may be:


The goal is: SOON - but we’ll see! @kidflash3000 when are they going to make a flash movie I’ve been anticipating that for years


SOON!!!!!

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Movies I Can't Wait to See: Iron Man 2

I may be mainly a DC Comics fan, but Marvel's Iron Man was one of the best super hero movies ever filmed. And yeah, I'm including The Dark Knight. I hope part 2 can live up to the hype. Please, please, please. . .

Does Spider-Man Really Need a Reboot?

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

What the heck is so difficult about making superhero movies? There are countless stories told over spans of forty to seventy years in some cases, and still the movie studios seem clueless. For every good superhero movie, there are several bad ones. For every strong first movie, there are strings of bad sequels. For every one that gets to the screen, there are countless discarded treatments, and more cancelled concepts.

Marvel Comics--much to this DC Comics fan's chagrin--seemed to be on a roll. They had critical and/or popular success with X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Iron Man. Some were middling or failures, like The Hulk, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Electra, Wolverine, and the many versions of The Punisher. But when it comes to bringing product to the screen, Marvel has been riding high.

DC hasn't fared as well. They've struck popular and critical gold with Batman lately (particularly with The Dark Knight), but not much else. They utterly failed with Catwoman. Didn't do so well with Constantine. I guess Watchmen did all right, but I didn't much care for it. But this isn't exactly their top-shelf stuff, excepting Batman. Where are the long promised Shazam!, The Metal Men, Wonder Woman, Superman vs. Batman, Justice League of America, Plastic Man and The Flash?

Superman Returns came out in 2006, continuing the basic storyline of Superman: The Movie and Superman II. I loved it, but am in the minority. The lukewarm response has parked the franchise in purgatory, with rumors of a "reboot." A reboot takes the same or similar characters, and starts over, with a different cast, different continuity and usually different people behind the scenes. It can re-energize a franchise (see Batman) or can make little difference (The Incredible Hulk). And it runs the risk of alienating fans of the previous franchise. The time to reboot Superman would have been before the last movie, if they were going to do it.

Now comes word of a Spider-Man reboot. Why? This franchise has all come out in the last 10 years. The cast is still in an age range that works. The third movie underwhelmed, but for reasons that had nothing to do with the creative team (other than the writer). The problem with Spider-Man 3 is the same one that plagued the Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer/George Clooney Batman series: just too damned much. Too many characters, particularly, villains thrown into one big movie blender. Rather than a reboot, a simple paring back would have sufficed.

The strange thing about rebooting Spider-Man is that there has been a recent attempt to tie together these Marvel movies into the same universe with little cameos at the end. Doesn't making a whole new version kind of screw that up? For some interesting reading, Google around (or Wikipedia around) for some behind the scenes stuff about the making of some of these movies. Here's one to get you started, for the Superman series. It's stunning how many talented people can have so many stupid ideas. How hard can it really be to make a good superhero movie?

[Excerpt]

Spider-Man Movies Get The Reboot

Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012. Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises. . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Disney Buys Marvel Comics

DC Comics, always my favorite, has been owned by Warner Brothers for years and years. This hasn't really hurt the comics aspect as far as I know. And it allowed them to use their characters across Warner's other properties. But I believe it hurt them in the live-action movies and television realm. Many, many proposed theatrical adaptations, such as Superman and Batman (together), Wonder Woman and The Justice League have languished for years. Superman Returns was in development hell forever, and was dubbed a failure mostly because of the up-front cost of all the false starts.

Now, Marvel Comics, home of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men will have to deal with the plusses and minuses of being owned by a giant media company. And it comes at a time when Marvel has been doing quite well with their adaptations, though fans have dissed many of them. From my point of view, since Disney already has extensive experience turning established characters into huge event movies, it's probably a good thing. But I really don't care, I'm a DC guy. Heh.

[Excerpt]

Disney to Acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion!

A huge announcement this morning - Disney is going to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion!

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Jennifer Love Hewitt Wants to Play Wonder Woman?

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

I like Jennifer Love Hewitt just fine, I suppose. Heart Breakers was hilarious, and Ghost Whisperer is a nice time-filler on a Friday night. But Wonder Woman? I don't see it. Sure, she has the right hair color, and can certainly fill the bustier. But she seems a bit petite to be an Amazon, don'tcha think? Unfortunately, as cheesy as her 70s show was, every actress in contention for the role will suffer in comparison to Lynda Carter. She just was Wonder Woman.

[Excerpt]

Jennifer Love Hewitt as Wonder Woman?
No, thank you.

Jennifer Love Hewitt has announced that she would love to play Wonder Woman in a live action adaptation of the comic, cartoon, and cult ‘70’s television show. . .

Read more (with video) at: Bam! Kapow!

DC Comics to Join Marvel With Full Movie Slate?

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

I got a little too excited when I first read the headline for the article excerpted below. For years (and several times here on the blog) I have lamented that the movie treatments for DC Comics heroes have been sparse. Sure, Batman gets lots of box office love, and Superman didn't do badly at all, despite what you've heard. But several of the big DC projects have been stuck in development hell, much to the consternation of this ageing comic book fan.

But the article below doesn't cheer me too much. Several of the projects are titles I was never a fan of, and others (like The Flash and Shazam!) are as nebulous as ever. What baffles me is that DC's movie studio is frakkin' Warner Brothers. Why is it so difficult to take these established characters with thousands of pages, and several decades worth of stories, and put them into decent movies? The Marvel Comics-based Iron Man was a smash, and that is one of the least believable (and not relatively well known) heroes they could have picked! I hope these movies come to pass, and are successful, to stop Warner from being so timid.

[Excerpt]

Watch Out Marvel! DC Is Coming!

DC Comics’ movie adaptations are a force to be reckoned with…

If you thought the Marvel movie lineup for the next 4 years was impressive, wait’ll you get a load of DC.

Scheduled for release are:
The Losers, which begins filming this week in Puerto Rico;
Jonah Hex, which recently wrapped;
Green Lantern, which now stars Ryan Reynolds;
Red, starring Bruce Willis (and recently added Morgan Freeman). . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

New Superman Movie to be Forced by Legal Decision?

This afternoon, I was listening to The Thom Hartmann Show on the radio, as usual. One of his topics was copyright law, which he argued--as a writer who holds many copyrights--that the laws as they stand are fairly ridiculous. Walt Disney is long dead, but the Disney companies still own the copyright to everything he did, and apparently will in perpetuity. Likewise, the creators of Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster are both dead.

Long, long ago, National Periodical Publications kinda screwed the creators, giving them piddly chump change for the character. Along the way, there have been many lawsuits, and both men ended up with a little--but not a lot--better deal. NPP became DC Comics, which got bought by Warner Brothers, which is now Time-Warner. Siegel's heirs have since won more, and that's where I start to wonder if the copyright law makes much sense. Will the heirs' heirs also get royalties from Superman?

How tangential a character still pays? Superboy? Supergirl? SuperFly? Anyway, all of this seems to be forcing DC/Warner's hand as it pertains to a new Superman movie. Which could be great for fans. Or terrible, if they rush a picture out just to satisfy the lawsuit. Great Caesar's ghost!

[Excerpt]

Another Court Decision Regarding Superman And The Siegel Family

You’d be surprised what this means for you.

CBR is reporting that there’s been another ruling in the ongoing court battle between DC Comics and the heirs of Jerry Siegel. Fortunately, they were also kind enough to have their writer Brian Cronin, also a lawyer, explain exactly what it all means. . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Where's My DC Comics Super Hero Movie?

Yeah, yeah, I know, The Dark Knight. Color me underwhelmed. I tried to like it. I wanted to like it. Everybody said I would like it. But it was just meh for me. I'm in the minority, I am aware. But Batman always seemed like one of the most unlikely, unrealistic superheroes out there. He's got no super powers. OK, that makes him more realistic, but not in the world of super heroics.

For years, we have been promised a variety of DC Comics superhero movies. But outside of the current reimagined Batman series, and the rebooted (soon to be rebooted again?) Superman series, we haven't seen much. Catwoman simply doesn't count. She's a villain, and the movie sucked. So forget her. Watchmen? Fine, you've got me there, but that movie was based on a niche graphic novel, not an established hero or group. Marvel churns out countless successful (commercially at least) hero movies. Why not my old favorite DC heroes?

On the drawing boards for years, and allegedly "coming soon" are Wonder Woman, Shazam! (The Original Captain Marvel), Firestorm: The Nuclear Man, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and The Justice League of America. But there is precious little information about them, and I wonder if they'll ever be made.

Superman Returns was treated like a bomb, even though it wasn't. I think Brandon Routh did an admirable job in the role, and I hope they keep him around for a sequel, a JLA movie, or a "Brave and the Bold/World's Finest" team-up with Batman. But those two characters seem to be the only major DC heroes that Warner Brothers seems to have faith in.

I understand that Wonder Woman will always have Lynda Carter to live up to, even though her 70s show doesn't hold up well to modern times. And I get that characters like Plastic Man, Green Lantern and Firestorm would require immense CGI to even come close to the comic book personas. And I know that The Flash couldn't muster enough interest to secure a second season of TV back in the 90s. But, DC, you are letting Marvel walk all over you. There has to be a way to deliver the same Bam! Boom! Pow! of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Iron Man with DC heroes. I'm waiting. And at (as of a half-hour ago) 43, I'm not getting any younger!