May my birthday wishes cross the vibrational plane and find the many Supermen of the 52 Earths.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Quick Post: Apparently today is Superman's 73rd anniversary/ birthday
Happy Birthday/ Publishing anniversary to Superman!
May my birthday wishes cross the vibrational plane and find the many Supermen of the 52 Earths.
May my birthday wishes cross the vibrational plane and find the many Supermen of the 52 Earths.
High School Prom: twice as old now as we were when it happened
So I was listening to the latest episode of This American Life, and the topic this week was that annual rite of passage for every non-home schooled kid in America, the prom. And it occurred to me, I do not believe I have ever burdened you people with the story of MY prom. We haven't covered this, right?
Its a rite of passage for everyone, and I don't just mean those who attended. Not going to prom is part of that process as well, whether it was your statement about your priorities or your inability to land a date. We aren't judging.
My high school only had a Senior Prom at the time I attended the school, no Junior Prom. While I was a cynical little monster, this was counterbalanced by a mom who had just really enjoyed the living hell out of her high school experience in a way that I found utterly baffling. Many nights did I sit through a battery of questions about why I wasn't jazzed about pep rallies, couldn't identify the homecoming queen, and had no idea if there was sock-hop going on that Friday. And weren't there kids at a soda fountain somewhere dancing to records? She'd gone to high school and that's what they did, I was told.
I did not want to tell my parents that my peers were waiting for someone's parents to go out of town so they could throw parties and drink their parents booze, and that it wasn't a huge shock that, yes, we all knew exactly who used drugs at the school, and that was way, way more common than "cruising the drag" (not that we had a drag...).
Its a rite of passage for everyone, and I don't just mean those who attended. Not going to prom is part of that process as well, whether it was your statement about your priorities or your inability to land a date. We aren't judging.
My high school only had a Senior Prom at the time I attended the school, no Junior Prom. While I was a cynical little monster, this was counterbalanced by a mom who had just really enjoyed the living hell out of her high school experience in a way that I found utterly baffling. Many nights did I sit through a battery of questions about why I wasn't jazzed about pep rallies, couldn't identify the homecoming queen, and had no idea if there was sock-hop going on that Friday. And weren't there kids at a soda fountain somewhere dancing to records? She'd gone to high school and that's what they did, I was told.
I did not want to tell my parents that my peers were waiting for someone's parents to go out of town so they could throw parties and drink their parents booze, and that it wasn't a huge shock that, yes, we all knew exactly who used drugs at the school, and that was way, way more common than "cruising the drag" (not that we had a drag...).
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl #63
Supergirl #63
Written by JAMES PEATY
Art by BERNARD CHANG
Cover by AMY REEDER & RICHARD FRIEND
I'm reviewing this mostly because I'm trying to build a bit of strategerie around my Super-blogging and less because jumping in and talking about a minor storyline a few issues in is a great idea. So, bear with me and I'll keep it short.
I have been on extensive record about my dissatisfaction with the early days of the Supergirl series. Somehow DC had read "being a teenager is hard and emotional" as "we should really make Supergirl an unsympathetic sociopath". There is likely a place and a time for a story about a young teenaged superhero who matches that description, and I might even read it, but I prefer my Kara Zor-El a whole lot sunnier. So... if you haven't checked in with Supergirl in a long time, that's more or less what we've got these days.
Written by JAMES PEATY
Art by BERNARD CHANG
Cover by AMY REEDER & RICHARD FRIEND
I'm reviewing this mostly because I'm trying to build a bit of strategerie around my Super-blogging and less because jumping in and talking about a minor storyline a few issues in is a great idea. So, bear with me and I'll keep it short.
I have been on extensive record about my dissatisfaction with the early days of the Supergirl series. Somehow DC had read "being a teenager is hard and emotional" as "we should really make Supergirl an unsympathetic sociopath". There is likely a place and a time for a story about a young teenaged superhero who matches that description, and I might even read it, but I prefer my Kara Zor-El a whole lot sunnier. So... if you haven't checked in with Supergirl in a long time, that's more or less what we've got these days.
Signal Watch Reads: Action Comics #900 part 3
Wow, this is taking up a lot more ink than expected. I'll try to be brief. This is part 3 of a 3 part discussion of Action Comics #900. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 before checking out the final part below.
With a whopping 96 page count for Action 900, and because its an anniversary issue, DC included several back-up features from folks of varying prominenence in the entertainment industry, including Lost maestro Damon Lindelof, Dark Knight scribe David Goyer, DCE CCO Geoof Johns, and Superman: The Movie director Mr. Richard Donner.
With a whopping 96 page count for Action 900, and because its an anniversary issue, DC included several back-up features from folks of varying prominenence in the entertainment industry, including Lost maestro Damon Lindelof, Dark Knight scribe David Goyer, DCE CCO Geoof Johns, and Superman: The Movie director Mr. Richard Donner.
Signal Watch Reads: Action Comics #900 part 2
In Part 1 of this review, I talked a bit about why I was so excited about Action hitting its 900th issue. In pretty short order it became clear that a 9 page story (more specifically one or two panels of that nine page story) was causing all kinds of controversy thanks to political talking point hyperbole and an apparent unwillingness to actually read or acknowledge the content of the story. So, I did my part to talk about all that.
But I would like to talk about the actual story content of Action Comics #900.
Action Comics #900
Written by PAUL CORNELL, RICHARD DONNER, DAVID GOYER, DAMON LINDELOF and more
Art by PETE WOODS, JESUS MERINO and more
Cover by DAVID FINCH; 1:5 Variant cover A by ADAM HUGHES; 1:5 Variant cover B by ALEX ROSS
The issue is 96 pages, most of which is made up of a mix of a grand finale of the past several issues of Action and wrapping up the previously mentioned Reign of Doomsday storyline.
In all the hubbub surrounding Superman's legal status, one thing that clearly got lost is that Paul Cornell wrote some really great, character defining stuff for Lex Luthor during his run, some of the most definitive work on the character in a while, and it all comes to a head in Action #900.
But I would like to talk about the actual story content of Action Comics #900.
Action Comics #900
Written by PAUL CORNELL, RICHARD DONNER, DAVID GOYER, DAMON LINDELOF and more
Art by PETE WOODS, JESUS MERINO and more
Cover by DAVID FINCH; 1:5 Variant cover A by ADAM HUGHES; 1:5 Variant cover B by ALEX ROSS
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| 900 issues and we have no idea how he hides the cape inside his dress shirt |
In all the hubbub surrounding Superman's legal status, one thing that clearly got lost is that Paul Cornell wrote some really great, character defining stuff for Lex Luthor during his run, some of the most definitive work on the character in a while, and it all comes to a head in Action #900.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Today is my 11th Anniversary of being married - eat it Kate and Bill Windsor
11 years ago I squeezed into a rented tux, repeated back some words that were said to me, and was never more sure of a decision as Jamie came down in the aisle.
Some wedding trivia.
-my first words after the ceremony were to quote the Simpsons to Doug: "You see this ring? It means I own her and she's my property!" I'm not sure he got the reference, but he seemed amused
-the grooms' cake was carrot cake. I love carrot cake. I also was running a 100 degree fever the day of cake tasting and just blurted "I don't need to taste anything. Carrot is fine."
-Jamie could not drink at the time due to one medical issue or other, so we had faux champagne. I was tragically sober through the whole affair.
-Jamie may have been wearing slippers through the entire evening. I don't know if she ever had on actual shoes.
-Jason got drunk and chased peacocks about the property while wearing a tux, and nobody thought to record this
-Dug was be-kilted in McBride tartan
-I was a little too excited that I got to hit the dance floor and do "the robot" at my own wedding
-Jamie and I didn't actually see much of each other during the reception. We didn't have a formal sit-down, so we were circulating aside from the cake cutting, first dance, etc...
-I never actually saw the car we rode out in until the pictures as I got soap bubbles in my eye running to the car
-We had a lovely night at the Driskill where we ate dinner in the bathroom so as not to muss the bed
-In the morning, we had no ride home and I was too cheap to spring for a cab, so Dug came and got us
-Our wedding song.
-Jamie had rejected literally a hundred songs before she settled on this one. I had wanted Al Green's "L-O-V-E". It was said the song was perhaps too fast for a first dance.
Happy 11th, Jamie. Sorry I was in Abilene. Here's to 111 more years of being married to the swellest of swell dames.
Yes, they printed that short story in which Superman says he's giving up his US citizenship
Sigh.
You can't explain this without giving away the whole thing, so... spoilers ahead.
I was going to cover this in my Part 2 of my Action Comics #900 review, but it seems the media is going coo-coo over this one.
No doubt, DC could have been handled better, but its also the sort of thing that you kind of have to expect will be taken absolutely the wrong way as certain parties re-purpose the one panel for their own means. And that's too bad.
The upshot is that Superman realizes that he can't actually act on a global scale without being seen as an agent of the US government intruding on foreign soil. In 2011, with a readership no longer comprised mostly of 13 year-olds with a mystical belief that America = Magic, this move actually makes more sense than Superman just buzzing into any airspace he likes and with no expectation of an international incident bubbling up (by the way, they have played up the "international incident caused by Superman's appearance" angle on numerous occasions).
The story is basically: Superman hears that there are pro-democracy protests going on in Tehran, so he hops over to Iran and stands with the protestors (literally stands and takes no action as any action could go wrong or be taken as the start of hostilities). For anyone actually reading the paper in our world, unsurprisingly the Iranian government of Superman's world declares Superman's appearance to be undue meddling from the West, and the visit causes an international incident.
With a mix of satisfaction that he did achieve his goal of supporting pro-democracy protesters and concern regarding how his appearance is being used on the international stage, Superman comes to an unhappy decision regarding his stated citizenship.
Mindful of what he thinks he should be doing versus what he thinks will happen if he did this again, he has to tell the US Government "look, you guys are great, but I'm not going to be responsible for starting a war and I need to help people all over this rock you call Earth." Its not about turning one's back on America, its about a modicum of self-awareness when one is a super-being who sneezes off nuclear weapons.
I've been asked before it bothers me that in Superman Returns the only mention of Truth, Justice and the American Way was shortened to "Truth... Justice... All that stuff". And I've always said that it doesn't really bother me one way or another. The entire catchphrase was added during a particularly jingoistic era, and when you consider Superman as a globe-trotting, occasionally space-faring alien for whom borders and local politics are at best an inconvenience, I think it makes sense he likes the American Way, but he can't necessarily be as efficient as possible if he's having to show his Visa every time he crosses a border.
And so this is a bit different from dropping The American Way from the Superman's motto. While I get what people decide they want to say "The American Way" means (and they aren't necessarily wrong*), that's not what the story is talking about. Its about whether or not rolling a nuclear missile draped in the Stars and Stripes into Tienanmen Square is or is not going to cause the US some political grief. Or, in fact, if Superman need really be beholden to the US State Department or any US service.
Mostly, I don't think DC was wrong to define Superman's citizenship, or a lack thereof. It wasn't a slam on the US or US policy. By even trying to answer the question, in a lot of ways, the 9 page story was a bit of fan-wank. These are the sorts of questions that keep comic geeks awake at night. "If there was a catastrophe in North Korea, would Superman risk war between the US and North Korea to go in and help people? Should he be beholden to Homeland Security travel warnings?" That's the question the Superman of the story was addressing. Frankly, its the sort of anarchic thing Superman might have done in his earliest, most-free-wheeling days when we didn't think of Superman as Dad/ The World's Oldest Boyscout and/ or the writers weren't worried about being called on the mat by Estes Kefauver trying to drum up some political drama.
I am guessing, however, that certain outlets are having kittens today about a couple of panels in a Superman comic. Which is kind of hilarious. Their beloved Superhero (whose comic, I assure you, they will not have read) has turned his back on America!
By the way, these sorts of little homily stories show up all the time as filler in issues with extended page counts. Likely, the story won't get mentioned again anywhere else. And, no, I didn't think that the story was particularly necessary, and if they were going to do it, it could have been handled much, much better.
Funny thing is: I think if you heard Batman didn't recognize borders in his quest for justice, you'd say "right on, man. That guy is a BADASS. Rock'n'roll!" Little harder to do that with Superman (one of his co-creators, by the way, was Canadian, so chew on that for a while).
*we can discuss whether the US has a divine destiny or is particularly magically blessed some other time
You can't explain this without giving away the whole thing, so... spoilers ahead.
I was going to cover this in my Part 2 of my Action Comics #900 review, but it seems the media is going coo-coo over this one.
No doubt, DC could have been handled better, but its also the sort of thing that you kind of have to expect will be taken absolutely the wrong way as certain parties re-purpose the one panel for their own means. And that's too bad.
The upshot is that Superman realizes that he can't actually act on a global scale without being seen as an agent of the US government intruding on foreign soil. In 2011, with a readership no longer comprised mostly of 13 year-olds with a mystical belief that America = Magic, this move actually makes more sense than Superman just buzzing into any airspace he likes and with no expectation of an international incident bubbling up (by the way, they have played up the "international incident caused by Superman's appearance" angle on numerous occasions).
The story is basically: Superman hears that there are pro-democracy protests going on in Tehran, so he hops over to Iran and stands with the protestors (literally stands and takes no action as any action could go wrong or be taken as the start of hostilities). For anyone actually reading the paper in our world, unsurprisingly the Iranian government of Superman's world declares Superman's appearance to be undue meddling from the West, and the visit causes an international incident.
With a mix of satisfaction that he did achieve his goal of supporting pro-democracy protesters and concern regarding how his appearance is being used on the international stage, Superman comes to an unhappy decision regarding his stated citizenship.
Mindful of what he thinks he should be doing versus what he thinks will happen if he did this again, he has to tell the US Government "look, you guys are great, but I'm not going to be responsible for starting a war and I need to help people all over this rock you call Earth." Its not about turning one's back on America, its about a modicum of self-awareness when one is a super-being who sneezes off nuclear weapons.
I've been asked before it bothers me that in Superman Returns the only mention of Truth, Justice and the American Way was shortened to "Truth... Justice... All that stuff". And I've always said that it doesn't really bother me one way or another. The entire catchphrase was added during a particularly jingoistic era, and when you consider Superman as a globe-trotting, occasionally space-faring alien for whom borders and local politics are at best an inconvenience, I think it makes sense he likes the American Way, but he can't necessarily be as efficient as possible if he's having to show his Visa every time he crosses a border.
And so this is a bit different from dropping The American Way from the Superman's motto. While I get what people decide they want to say "The American Way" means (and they aren't necessarily wrong*), that's not what the story is talking about. Its about whether or not rolling a nuclear missile draped in the Stars and Stripes into Tienanmen Square is or is not going to cause the US some political grief. Or, in fact, if Superman need really be beholden to the US State Department or any US service.
Mostly, I don't think DC was wrong to define Superman's citizenship, or a lack thereof. It wasn't a slam on the US or US policy. By even trying to answer the question, in a lot of ways, the 9 page story was a bit of fan-wank. These are the sorts of questions that keep comic geeks awake at night. "If there was a catastrophe in North Korea, would Superman risk war between the US and North Korea to go in and help people? Should he be beholden to Homeland Security travel warnings?" That's the question the Superman of the story was addressing. Frankly, its the sort of anarchic thing Superman might have done in his earliest, most-free-wheeling days when we didn't think of Superman as Dad/ The World's Oldest Boyscout and/ or the writers weren't worried about being called on the mat by Estes Kefauver trying to drum up some political drama.
I am guessing, however, that certain outlets are having kittens today about a couple of panels in a Superman comic. Which is kind of hilarious. Their beloved Superhero (whose comic, I assure you, they will not have read) has turned his back on America!
By the way, these sorts of little homily stories show up all the time as filler in issues with extended page counts. Likely, the story won't get mentioned again anywhere else. And, no, I didn't think that the story was particularly necessary, and if they were going to do it, it could have been handled much, much better.
Funny thing is: I think if you heard Batman didn't recognize borders in his quest for justice, you'd say "right on, man. That guy is a BADASS. Rock'n'roll!" Little harder to do that with Superman (one of his co-creators, by the way, was Canadian, so chew on that for a while).
*we can discuss whether the US has a divine destiny or is particularly magically blessed some other time
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Signal Watch Reads: Action Comics #900 part 1
Wow. 900 issues.
I have a few other anniversary issues of Action Comics. 800, 700, 600, 500 and 400. 300 is actually an amazing comic, but I've only ever read the story in reprints.
Its mostly true that Action has mostly been a monthly comic over the duration of its printing life, but it's not true that Action has run 900 issues over 900 months. There was a year or two in there where Action Comics was released as a weekly comic with a Superman lead feature and then back-ups featuring Green Lantern and other heroes. There have been stunts where Action wasn't released for a month or two, which I believe occurred during the Death of Superman event back in the early 1990's, and in the mid-00's, Action went hopelessly off production schedule for a while and just didn't come out for a few months around 2007.
I have a few other anniversary issues of Action Comics. 800, 700, 600, 500 and 400. 300 is actually an amazing comic, but I've only ever read the story in reprints.
Its mostly true that Action has mostly been a monthly comic over the duration of its printing life, but it's not true that Action has run 900 issues over 900 months. There was a year or two in there where Action Comics was released as a weekly comic with a Superman lead feature and then back-ups featuring Green Lantern and other heroes. There have been stunts where Action wasn't released for a month or two, which I believe occurred during the Death of Superman event back in the early 1990's, and in the mid-00's, Action went hopelessly off production schedule for a while and just didn't come out for a few months around 2007.
Two Signal Watch Invitations: Green Lantern-a-thon and POTA-thon
Although not a frame of the new Superman movie has been shot, I have already promised myself that prior to the release of the movie, I will host a SUPER-MARATHON. At this marathon, we will watch the following:
Frankly, and this may surprise some, I own quite a bit of Superman media. I haven't run the numbers, but I figure if I added up all the cartoons, movies, live TV shows, etc... I've got on hand, we could go for about a straight month without pausing (not really, but we could last for a few days). So, you know, I'm trying to be merciful.
Anyway, I plan to watch all the stuff in the list, sleep, and then go see the new Superman.
Its Not Easy Getting Green
But prior to this, we have the Green Lantern movie coming up. And so I am considering a Green Lantern-mini-marathon
So, coming soon (once I clear this with Jamie), I will put out a schedule and the drill will be that you can come by and join me in the marathon if you're here in town, coming and going as you see fit.
APES FEST
I will also be looking into a possible Ape-a-Thon prior to the release of this year's Planet of the Apes sequel. I now have 10 hours of Apes movies on Blu-Ray, and its hard to see me NOT watching all of the Apes movies back-to-back in a 10 hour stretch of pure primate-madness.
But I am also considering a 2-part Apes-a-Thon.
Part 1: All five original Planet of the Apes movies and the cartoon, if I can secure it.
Part 2: APE FESTAPALOOZA: an appreciation of primates in movies
This is actually a preliminary list
If you want to participate in any part of the Marathons, let me know!
- The first installment of the Kirk Alyn-starring Superman serial
- The first episodes of the George Reeves Superman TV show - aka: The Adventures of Superman (also known as Superman and the Mole Men)
- An episode of the 80's Superman cartoon
- An episode of Lois and Clark
- The pilot movie for Superman: The Animated Series
- Superman: The Movie
- Superman II
- Superman III
- Superman IV (yes. Superman IV)
- Superman Returns
Frankly, and this may surprise some, I own quite a bit of Superman media. I haven't run the numbers, but I figure if I added up all the cartoons, movies, live TV shows, etc... I've got on hand, we could go for about a straight month without pausing (not really, but we could last for a few days). So, you know, I'm trying to be merciful.
Anyway, I plan to watch all the stuff in the list, sleep, and then go see the new Superman.
Its Not Easy Getting Green
But prior to this, we have the Green Lantern movie coming up. And so I am considering a Green Lantern-mini-marathon
- the Superman: The Animated Series Green Lantern episode introducing Green Lanterns and Sinestro
- an episode of Superfriends retelling the Green Lantern origin
- key Green Lantern-centric episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited
- Green Lantern: First Flight from Warner Animation
- Green Lantern: Emerald Knights from Warner Animation
- I will also try to secure a copy of the little-seen Justice League live action pilot featuring a dopey Guy Gardner/ Kyle Rayner hybrid
So, coming soon (once I clear this with Jamie), I will put out a schedule and the drill will be that you can come by and join me in the marathon if you're here in town, coming and going as you see fit.
APES FEST
I will also be looking into a possible Ape-a-Thon prior to the release of this year's Planet of the Apes sequel. I now have 10 hours of Apes movies on Blu-Ray, and its hard to see me NOT watching all of the Apes movies back-to-back in a 10 hour stretch of pure primate-madness.
But I am also considering a 2-part Apes-a-Thon.
Part 1: All five original Planet of the Apes movies and the cartoon, if I can secure it.
Part 2: APE FESTAPALOOZA: an appreciation of primates in movies
This is actually a preliminary list
- Any Which Way But Loose
- King Kong (the original and/ or the 1970's version)
- Might Joe Young
- Gorillas in the Mist
- Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan
If you want to participate in any part of the Marathons, let me know!
Monday, April 25, 2011
No Post Tuesday
Upside for me is that The Dug is here. Downside is that there's no post tonight. Tough noogies, kids.
I dunno. I feel bad for the lack of content. Here's Gloria Grahame.
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| The man you can blame who has kept me from blogging. |
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