Batman

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)

2009-10-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Directed by … Sam Liu
Written by … Stan Berkowitz
Adapted from the Graphic Novel by … Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness

Executive Produced by … Bruce Timm, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan and Sam Register
Produced by … Michael Goguen, Alan Burnett and Bobbie Page
Voice Casting and Direction by … Andrea Romano
Storyboards by … Jay Oliva
Editing by … Margaret Hou
Original Music Composed by … Christopher Drake

Kevin Conroy ... Batman / Bruce Wayne (voice)
Tim Daly ... Superman (voice)
Clancy Brown ... Lex Luthor (voice)
Xander Berkeley ... Captain Atom (voice)
Corey Burton ... Captain Marvel (voice)
Ricardo Chavira ... Major Force (voice)
Allison Mack ... Power Girl (voice)
John C. McGinley ... Metallo (voice)
CCH Pounder ... Amanda Waller (voice)
LeVar Burton ... Black Lightning (voice)
Calvin Tran ... Hiro Okamura / Toyman (voice)
Mark Jonathan Davis ... Newscaster / Additional Voices (voice)
Brian George ... Gorilla Grodd / Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer Hale ... Starfire / Killer Frost (voice)
Alan Oppenheimer ... Alfred Pennyworth (voice)
Andrea Romano ... Giganta / Computer / Additional Voices (voice)
Bruce W. Timm ... Mongul (voice)

Labeled as outlaws of the United States Government, Batman and Superman fight to save the world and clear their names.

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In comics, partnerships flicker…team ups occur…crossovers come and go…

But one duo, the pinnacle…stands mythic above all others.

For when the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight join forces, you can bet it’s going to be the stuff of legends.

And as far as the DC Universe’s Animated Line (to date) is concerned, it hasn’t gotten quite as legendary as director Sam Liu’s “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.”

Adapted from the kick ass Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuiness graphic novel, “Public Enemies” is an action packed romp through damn near the gamut of the DCU…weaving a story of politically charged vendetta, brutally bombastic combat and a who’s who laundry list of appearances, both hero and villain, in a struggle against evil that takes a national turn.

With America thrown into economic and civil upheaval, she becomes desperate enough to turn to the most unlikely of leaders with the election of Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) into the Oval Office.

Using his silver tongue and an outreach program to make super heroes and metahumans become agents of the US Government, Luthor faces his first major crisis as President with the foreboding approach of an enormous Kryptonite meteor…heading directly for Earth.

However it’s a direr situation that the world knows. Fueled by his unquenchable obsession with destroying Superman (Tim Daly), Lex uses his refusal to comply with the current administration as a means of discrediting him in the eyes of the public…and said obsession has taken over, distracting the President from saving the planet.

Now dubbed a social outcast with a billion dollar bounty on his head, the Kryptonian powerhouse must turn to the only ally he’s got left…Batman (Kevin Conroy) to help clear his name, stop the meteor and end Luthor’s reign once…and for all.

Working with such a massively scaled story and a bunch of material to cover, “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” already has a lot to live up to. It’s unfortunately anorexic 67 minute (67 MINUTE!?) runtime doesn’t do the source material any favors. Thankfully, the project still has Bruce Timm in its corner.

Despite an almost unavoidably predictable story, the film trims off the fat and succeeds as well as it does thanks in most part to its wonderful pacing. It maintains the intrigue of the comic and most of its important story beats (save one which is sorely lacking…I’ll get to it in a moment) while creating an incredible forward momentum that doesn’t ease up…that refuses to let go of the audience.

If only ALL Comic Book films could be more this way.

Aside from the intriguing bit where it’s speculated that John Corben…a.k.a. Metallo…is potentially the lowlife mugger that gunned down Bruce Wayne’s parents, most of what made the book so great is kept intact…much appreciated.

Although that funky kiss between Lex and MetaHuman Affairs official Amanda Waller is just as shockingly ‘yuck’ here as it was in the book.

But much like the book, the cameos…oh man…they just keep on coming!

Power Girl, Silver Banshee, Katana, Starfire, Gorilla Grodd, Mr. Freeze, Captain Marvel, Bane, Giganta, Black Manta, Captain Atom, Hawkman, Mongul, Nightshade…it’s almost endless; reminiscent of what made the latter seasons of “Justice League: Unlimited” such a fanboy dream!

And most fortunately (or unfortunately for some) the comic book’s goofiest plot device is still very much alive. 13 year old Hiro…a Japanese answer to Superman’s old enemy Toyman (only he works with our heroes rather than against them) and his crazy-as-hell skyscraper tall Half Superman/Half Batman robot!

To quote Batman himself upon seeing the behemoth machine…

“Wow.”

Still it’s comics, what do you expect?

The cast is yet another solid assembly for DC. As one of the fortunate who started at the beginning with seeing “On Leather Wings” on FOX Primetime and grew up on “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Superman: The Animated Series,” it was such a pleasure not only to have the now iconic Kevin Conroy back in the cape and cowl…but they went all the way back past “Justice League” voice actor George Newbern to the OG animated Supes…Tim Daly! Hearing these two men together again brought back fond memories of the “World’s Finest” movie…truly, those voices, for me, define both Bats and Big Blue, as they do for an entire generation of us fans. My childhood came to life again with this project.

Not only that…we even got Clancy Brown as Luthor again! So awesome…

The supports are filled with a well constructed collection of character actors…including “Star Trek: The Next Generations” LeVar Burton as Black Lightning, “Smallville”s Alison Mack as Power Girl…Ricardo Chivara as Major Force and even John C. McGinley in a small cameo as Metallo.

Just a tremendous cast, one of their best so far.

The art direction and animation is polished and makes a lovely companion to the graphic novel, fusing the animation stylings of the Timmverse with McGuiness’ exaggerated cartoony artwork in a seamless fashion. The palette is a wonderfully bold mix…light-hued purple nights and royal blue skied days…the backgrounds in Washington, Japan, Metropolis…all exquisite work. It’s more pristine, personally, then other efforts like “Justice League: New Frontier.”

It’s all primary colors and bold heroics here and it benefits the adaptation nicely.

Accompanied with Christopher Drake’s dynamic yet less present score (to mimic the fact that the two most powerful men in the DCU have to go under the radar, I assume), “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” is a film that I’m personally of two minds about…

On the one hand, if you look deep enough, the film can be see as a message to never lose faith or sight of your goals in the face of evil or adversity…to always trust in yourself and do what you feel is right despite having the rest of the world oppose you.

But on the other, I see it as a perfect example of what makes Superman and Batman simultaneously the great myths that they are.

The Greeks have their Gods…The Catholics have their Saints…The Druids have their Deities.

And we have our Comic Book Superheroes.

Consider this…we’ve all seen images and the like of young children, playing within the rubble of some war-torn providence on the other side of the world.

They know nothing of the freedoms and luxuries you and I take for granted.

They don’t deal with the oddities and absurdities that get shoved down our throats every single day…they don’t care about who’s going to win the next “Dancing with the Stars” or how much money the next “Twilight” movie’s going to make.

“The Hills”

Jon and Kate Gosselin

Bill O’Reilly

Miley Cyrus

“Gossip Girl”

Barack Obama

Despite any sort of good intentions, they could honestly care less.

But…have you noticed…in many of those same images, those same children can be seen in t-shirts…adorned with an iconic ‘S Shield’…or an equally symbolic Black-Winged Bat over a field of yellow.

Truly, more than anything else…Superman and Batman are universal, reaching all corners of the globe.

In a time where people are more concerned with voting for the next American Idol than they are of voting for the next President and Nobel Peace Prizes seem less like awards and more like trinkets won in a raffle…

The purist and truest ‘icons’ and ‘idols’ America has to offer…are a Kryptonian Moses sent down the sea of tranquility to become the ultimate immigrant and savior of all mankind…and a man broken by violence, having the two most important things in his life torn from him who rose from the ashes of tragedy to have vengeance clad in the blackness of winged night.

From the isolation of the Great Depression to the bleakness of World War II…from the constant conflicts between culture and counter-culture to the increasing threats of terrorism, both at home and abroad…The Man of Steel and The Dark Knight have been through it all…and they have never once wavered in their morals, their beliefs of what is right and what is wrong…

They are a contemporary example of goodness, 70+ years in the making to date, that we can all look up to.

Superman and Batman represent to the world that despite all the hardship and chaos, we must always hold onto the hope that out there waits good men ready to act on a moments notice to protect us and shelter us from evil.

Believing that goodness exists in the world is a need we all have…and these two pillars of heroism, despite being a fictional representation, are clearly a respected one.

I’ve never been known for having a real man to look up to, thanks to own falling out and disappointment with my father.

Batman and Superman where the answer to that problem for me.

Icons that not only deserve my respect…but have earned it with courageousness and bravery in the face of unbelievable odds, both in their adventures and even in the real world.

“Public Enemies” is a fitting tribute to the Man of Tomorrow and the Caped Crusader.

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9/10

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=321072&page=33

Warner Bros. Creates DC Entertainment!

2009-09-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Source:Warner Bros.
September 9, 2009

Warner Bros. has officially announced the restructuring of DC Comics into a new company:

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.

DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment's theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.

Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years' experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment's dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.' resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material. Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio's interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division. (An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)

Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE. This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC's business operations.

In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive. Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media. Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry's creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment's goal of maximizing the value of DC properties. Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.

Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.

"DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company's efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties," said Meyer. "Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We're also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we'll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business."

"It's no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters," said Horn. "While we've had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrity and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win."

"Based on the great success we've had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I've long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.' businesses with this great body of characters and stories," said Robinov. "The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group. There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series. Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics."

"The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort," said Nelson. "DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC's unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life."

"After so many roles at DC, it's exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage," said Levitz. "It's a new golden age for comics and DC's great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time."

DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment's corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.

Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:

-- "Human Target" is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.

-- "Midnight Mass" is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.

-- "Jonah Hex," Warner Bros. Pictures' supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

-- "The Losers," Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures' action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.

-- "The Green Lantern," Warner Bros. Pictures' next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.

-- "Lobo," based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

-- Warner Premiere's direct-to-platform DVD animated release of "Green Lantern: First Flight" debuted July 28.

-- Warner Bros. Animation currently produces "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," which airs on Cartoon Network.

-- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released "Batman: Arkham Asylum" on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006. Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category. Under Nelson's leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio's mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.

Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio's signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis. In this post, Nelson's primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand's launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.

At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including "The Matrix Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions," "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," "Happy Feet," "Polar Express" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," among others.

Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.

Nelson came to the Studio from Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications.

DC Comics storms the film world. 'Flash,' 'Green Lantern' among adaptations in works.

2009-07-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

By Borys Kit
July 19, 2009, 08:30 PM ET

In the comics universe, where characters are endlessly reborn and reoutfitted, a motto from the 1980s -- "DC Comics is on the move" -- could just as well apply to the current, hyperactive state of the publisher as it relates to Hollywood.

A year after "The Dark Knight" became a worldwide phenomenon, there are more DC Comics adaptations in the works than at any other point since the company was acquired by Warner Bros. in 1969.

Among the projects on front burners:

-- "The Losers," an action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, begins principal photography this week in Puerto Rico.

-- "Jonah Hex," a supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

-- "The Green Lantern," Warners' next big superhero tentpole, is set to star Ryan Reynolds after a long search.

-- Fox has picked up the TV series "Human Target," starring Mark Valley, for the fall.

-- And, in a rare example of a film project that has ventured off the Warners reservation, DC has set up "Red," a spy thriller to star Bruce Willis, at Summit.

"One of the things that has differentiated us for most of the last 20 years is the depth of our library and the depth of the creative material that we've put out and the opportunities that creates for other media," DC Comics president Paul Levitz said.

Still, when "Dark Knight" invaded theaters last summer, critics of DC and Warners complained there didn't appear to be a grand strategy in place to exploit DC properties.

In contrast, DC arch-rival Marvel moved quickly in the wake of its successful "Iron Man" to stake out a series of release dates for a slew of movies, branding them as part of one big Marvel universe leading to "The Avengers," which arrives in 2012.

But DC and Warners have taken a different approach, arguing that DC has a wider breadth of books than other comics companies. They insist their situation isn't comparable to Marvel, which already has licensed out to other studios a number of its biggest titles: Spider-Man is housed at Sony, and X-Men and Fantastic Four are at Fox.

With fewer marquee superheroes, Marvel works like an animation studio: It only develops select projects and makes most of what it develops, while DC is managing a much larger portfolio.

Still, in the wake of "Dark Knight," DC and Warners have made strategic moves in the superhero realm, including centralizing the way DC's titles and characters are developed. In the past, Warners optioned a property, paying DC a fee comparable to what a property could command on the open market. But while the projects ostensibly were being developed under one roof, many were spread out over a host of producers, each with different visions for how to approach each adaptation.

To bring competing approaches into sync, Levitz and DC's Los Angeles-based film exec Gregory Noveck have overseen a reorganization of the development slate. While Warners execs still drive the creative side, DC now has more input, making it an actual participant in the shaping of material.

"The creative process is by and large a true partnership," Noveck said. "They'll ask us a ton of questions, and we'll give a ton of answers. We will talk back and forth. We'll discuss writers and talent, but ultimately it's their decision."

This past fall, Warners quietly hired three of DC's biggest writers -- Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman -- to act as consultants and writers for its superhero line of movies. The move involved taking back the reins on projects being handled by such producers as Charles Roven ("The Flash") and Akiva Goldsman ("Teen Titans").

Some agents and scribes grumbled about being forced to work with the consultants, never mind that Johns started his career as a assistant to "Superman" director Richard Donner or that Wolfman has worked in animation since the 1980s.

The moves have begun to pay off. Johns worked up a new treatment for a "Flash" script, being written by Dan Mazeau; Johns will act in a producer capacity on the project, which has not attached a director.

The projects Morrison and Wolfman are working on are in the early stages at Warners, whose execs declined to comment.

The process involves one writer taking point, though the trio do collaborate on projects, reading one another's materials while hashing out a story that will be at once accessible to nonfans yet still adhere to each character's long history. The writers also work in tandem with producers, writers and the Warners execs overseeing the projects, showing them treatments and providing notes on scripts.

Meanwhile, other superhero projects are moving forward at Warners.

The studio is taking pitches on sci-fi hero Adam Strange and the underwater-breathing hero "Aquaman," to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way shingle.

Also in the pipeline: "Bizarro Superman" being written by "Galaxy Quest" scribes David Howard and Robert Gordon; a sequel to "Constantine," with Goldsman and Erwin Stoff producing; two concurrent Green Arrow projects, an origin story and a prison-set one titled "Super Max"; and "Shazam," which was set up at New Line but has moved to Warners, with Pete Segal attached to direct.

Unsung in the lineup is Warners' line of straight-to-DVD animated movies released via Warner Premiere. "Green Lantern: First Flight," the latest entry, will premiere at this week's Comic-Con and has a July 28 street date.

These movies, produced on budgets in the $3.5 million range, apparently overperformed their targets. "First Flight" is the fifth straight-to-DVD title, with "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" in production for a Sept. 29 release.

In the home entertainmentarena, DC has overshadowed Marvel, with 2007's "Superman-Doomsday" generating $9.4 million in revenue and last year's "Batman: Gotham Knight," taking advantage of the tidal wave of support for the Christopher Nolan movie, generating $8 million, according to tracking site The-Numbers.com. "Wonder Woman," released in March, already has chalked up $4.4 million. Marvel's top seller, "Ultimate Avengers 2," has pulled in $7.7 million.

Not that all the stars in the DC firmament are aligned yet.

Warners and DC still haven't figured out how to translate "Wonder Woman" to the big screen. In part, that failure reflects the difficulties DC has had turning out a popular Wonder Women comic. Morrison, during a recent Q&A with Clive Barker at Los Angeles' Meltdown Comics, admitted he didn't have a complete handle on the character when he was writing the comic "Final Crisis."

Also, ever since Bryan Singer's 2006's "Superman Returns," a new Superman has been in limbo.

"Our hope is to develop a Superman property and to try again," Warner Bros. Entertainment president Alan Horn said in April. "What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us."

On the Batman front, a sequel to "Dark Knight" also is quite a way off. Nolan is open to doing a third installment, but his next movie is "Inception," an original script he penned and is shooting for Warners.

All that has put a damper on any movie about the Justice League, whose roster includes the above-mentioned heroes as well as myriad others including Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. DC would like to present some of the main heroes in their own movies before they are brought together for one big outing, so "League" currently is inactive.

On top of that, there could be another change in how Warners approaches the DC characters, with studio chiefs debating whether to put the operation under one super-exec.

To bring the next generation of superheroes to the screen, DC and Warners might yet have to unleash their own super powers.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...e4b64a53d2e876

Who Is Jonah Hex?

2009-07-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

Author: Robert Reineke
July 19, 2009

As I write this, we’re a little over a year away from the big screen debut of DC Comics’ western hero Jonah Hex in the film JONAH HEX.

Although the character has been around for 35 years, his profile is certainly not on the level of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Or even Flash and Green Lantern.

So, a short look at the character and the history of western heroes at DC Comics leading up to his creation.

“TWO-FISTED JUSTICE”

Western heroes or western themed heroes had been around comics since near the beginning. DC sported the modern day western hero Vigilante in 1941. World War II kept most of the attention in the meantime, with the heroes of DC mostly dealing with modern menaces, Nazis, Japanese, and gangsters in addition to the more colorful adversaries. But, once World War II ended, readers wanted to move on to other things besides recent horrors and the historical west rose sharply in popularity.

For many the end of the Golden Age is marked by the unannounced change in ALL-STAR COMICS , featuring the JSA, to ALL-STAR WESTERN in 1951. There wasn’t necessarily a style change. Instead of clean cut, square jawed superheroes, we now had clean cut, square jawed western heroes like The Trigger Twins, Nighthawk, frontiersman Tomahawk who would hold a solo book until 1970, Strong Bow, Pow Wow Smith, Johnny Thunder, and more, illustrated by the likes of Alex Toth, Carmine Infantino, and Gil Kane. All basically of the same tone that you would find in your average John Wayne film of the 1940s. And even the other superheroes of the time would find themselves in a quasi-western from time to time, ala “Batman – Indian Chief” from the period.

This however proved to be a fairly short lived era, giving over to tales of the space race and the Silver Age in very short order. And while it would be a disservice to dispute the craftsmanship of the stories, it’s hard to detect any real lasting impact from this era, unlike DC’s contemporary science fiction titles. Part of that may be that even from the start, they were slightly anachronistic. In the movies, audiences were getting a more complicated view of the west on a regular basis with THE SEARCHERS and Anthony Mann’s westerns. That was further cemented in the 1960s with the rise of the spaghetti western. Clearly, if DC was going to revisit the genre, something new was in order.

“WILL HE SAVE THE WEST OR RUIN IT?”

The period of the late 1960s to the early 1970s was an interesting one for DC. Their clean cut, square jawed heroes had gone from right in tune with the times to out of date in less than a decade. And they were finally in danger of being passed by Marvel which was clearly the company on the rise and most in tune with the times.

Carmine Infantino was promoted to the top of the company. And many non-traditional features were created during this period. The mystical Deadman was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino and quickly passed over to newcomer Neal Adams. Horror anthologies came back and out of them arose Swamp Thing. Kirby and Ditko came over to DC and The Creeper, Hawk and Dove, The New Gods, The Demon, Kamandi, and O.M.A.C. appeared. Batman became darker. Wonder Woman was depowered and became more Emma Peel than superhero. Green Lantern and Green Arrow debated the issues of the times. Enemy Ace fought a war with great skill, but openly wondered about the dehumanizing effects of war and why innocents must suffer for it. And a new style of western hero was created, in step with the times.

But it wasn’t Jonah Hex, yet. Debuting in 1968, Barthomew Alouysius Lash, Bat Lash, was a far departure from the stoic archetype that had previously defined the western genre in comics. Bat Lash, under the guidance of Sergio Aragones, Denny O’Neil, and Nick Cardy, was much more interested in womanizing, fast talking, enjoying the finer things in life, and, ostensibly, hated violence. Harkening to the flower children of the period, he even sported a flower in his hat. Although, certainly similar to television’s MAVERICK, Bat Lash had his own charms and perhaps accidentally dished out his own sense of justice. Bat Lash was a critical success and a success in Europe, but he only appeared in 9 issues total before being cancelled due to low sales. It’s hard to say why Bat Lash didn’t catch on. Perhaps it was due to the contradiction that although he hated violence he was quite good at it, not quite nailing the flower child ethos of the time. Perhaps it was the lack of a strong story hook, trouble found Bat Lash he didn’t particularly go out of his way seeking trouble, that didn’t ring true. Perhaps the obvious intelligence of Bat Lash left some of the troubles he got into hard to swallow. Perhaps it just was the fickleness of readership.

Still, even though Bat Lash might not have been a sales success, but he had a small cult following and was a critical success. That was apparently enough to attempt more western features and All Star Western was revived in 1970 featuring Pow Wow Smith, El Diablo, historical figures, and the feature Outlaw which started out as a falsely accused hero and soon morphed into a Billy the Kid feature. Outlaw didn’t have much success, although it certainly was an indication that DC would be prepared to showcase a hero that didn’t necessarily wear a white hat. And, with issue #10 of All-Star Western in February-March 1972, a man wearing a gray hat entered the town of Paradise Springs.

“HE HAD NO FRIENDS, THIS JONAH HEX, BUT HE DID HAVE TWO COMPANIONS. ONE WAS DEATH ITSELF… THE OTHER… THE ACRID SMELL OF GUNSMOKE.”

“Welcome to Paradise” by John Albano and Tony DeZuñiga was Jonah Hex’s introduction to comic books, and even today it reads like an archetypical Jonah Hex tale. Really, as a tale it’s a great example of storytelling. Let’s take a closer look at it.

The story opens with Jonah Hex, the scarred side of his face hidden in shadow until it’s dramatic reveal halfway through the story, dragging a couple of dead outlaws into the town of Paradise. Clearly, Jonah Hex wasn’t some sort of square jawed, “bring them in alive”, upholder of law and order, but more a practical dealer of frontier justice. That’s further cemented when Jonah Hex immediately sets out to get paid for his services, $100 a head. He quickly learns that three more of the outlaw raiders he was hired to bring down are in the saloon across the street and immediately takes the offensive, something he comments that they should have done when they had the drop on him.

Unlike your standard white hat cowboy, Jonah Hex doesn’t boldly walk in the bring them in, but instead sneaks around to the back of the saloon, climbs in a second story window, threatens a dance hall girl to keep quiet, and then ambushes the outlaws from the second floor. Two of the outlaws go down quickly with the third escaping when Jonah gets tangled up with a boy. Neither apologize for the incident. And Jonah figures that the third outlaw will lead him back to the gang leader anyways. So, after punching out the stable owner, who’s mistreating Jonah’s horse, Jonah sets out to track down the rest of the gang.

We’re then treated to Jonah Hex becoming an almost supernatural force as he tracks down the gang in the night, revealing his scarred face for maximum impact, and ultimately chasing the gang leader to a farm. The gang leader manages to take the woman farm owner hostage, although Jonah doesn’t think much of it, when the boy he tangled with earlier shows up and talks Jonah into saving his mother. Jonah, reluctantly, tosses aside his gun belt, but when the gang leader turns to ride away, he gets a thrown knife in his back that Jonah was concealing. Again, Jonah Hex violates tradition by not even taking down the head bad guy face to face.

Right there, you’d have a badass anti-hero. But, Albano throws in yet another curve to further define Jonah Hex. After saving the widow and her son, Jonah gets invited back by the son for his mother’s apple dumplings, supposedly the best around. And, Jonah considers settling down. He pays off the pretty widow’s back taxes with his bounty and enquires about purchasing a place where he could settle down.

And the town elders have none of it, quickly informing Jonah Hex that there’s not a place for sale in the whole territory. They’ve no place for a man of, and marked by, violence like Jonah Hex. Turns out that he’s not invited for apple dumplings either, as the widow takes a pot shot at him with a rifle on the way out to her farmhouse and informs him that he’s not welcome and a bad influence on her son. A last encounter with the son, who really does like Jonah but clearly there’s no place for Jonah in this town, and Jonah informs him that he hates him “like poison!”. “Welcome to Paradise” indeed. With the very first story, John Albano informs us that there’s not going to be a fairy tale happy ending for Jonah Hex.

Jonah Hex was apparently an immediate hit. And ALL-STAR WESTERN apparently recognized it as it became WEIRD WESTERN with issue #12. Jonah Hex would headline the magazine for all but one issue through issue #38, at which point he graduated to his own self titled book.

John Albano’s Jonah Hex was more a mythic figure than a man. He specialized in dealing out justice, often ironic justice that fit into the WEIRD WESTERN title theme. He was lonely, had an unexplained past full of violence, had some sympathy to women, children, and animals and was otherwise ruthless and unsentimental. And many of the villains he faced tended to be very depraved, when Albano wasn’t treading in moral grays.

John Albano created the character, but only ended up writing 10 stories, interrupted by one Arnold Drake story, before leaving the character. There’s no definitive explanation for why Albano left, but most explanations center around money and ownership. There’s a particular rumor that Clint Eastwood was interested in purchasing the rights for adaptation and DC didn’t want to fork over compensation to Albano. Perhaps true, perhaps not, although it’s worth noting that 1975’s THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES features an ex-Confederate soldier haunted by his past. In any event, Michael Fleisher was hired to take over Jonah Hex and he would stay with Jonah Hex throughout the 1970s and through the late 1980s.

Fleisher’s run was different than Albano’s in that Fleisher embraced the serial storytelling conventions of the time and slowly fleshed out Hex as a character. We learned about Jonah Hex’s past and Quentin Turnbull was introduced to serve as the first recurring villain for Jonah to overcome. A recurring villain with a strong link to Jonah’s past, Turnbull blames Hex for the death of Turnbull’s son Jeb. To add to the story complexity, Jonah blames himself for the death of Jeb. Jonah Hex became less an archetype of old school justice being carried out and more of a flawed human being. Fleisher still carried over the main themes and they were consistent with Albano’s stories, but there’s clearly a difference in approach. Fleisher most set his mark on Jonah Hex by having Jonah marry immigrant Mei Ling and fathering a son, Jason, before Jonah’s past catches up with him and it’s clear that he can’t settle down and have a normal family life as Mei Ling leaves him. Violence has, literally, marked Jonah Hex and there’s no escaping it. A theme Clint Eastwood’s UNFORGIVEN would get to a decade and a half later. Fleisher also added the Mexican bandit El Papagayo to the mix who would be a continuing adversary. Most of these things worked as Jonah Hex graduated to his own title which had a successful 92 issue run. Fleisher even gives an end to Jonah Hex in a late 1970s special, shot at the turn of the century and, gruesomely, stuffed for display as a relic of his era.

Jonah Hex was clearly the most successful western character of that period, with his western adventures appearing on a regular schedule from 1972 until 1985. He seemed to be the springboard for a small western universe with Bat Lash and El Diablo along with new creations Scalphunter and Cinnamon. Sales must have been pretty solid for awhile. So, why was he a hit and others not?

In many ways, Jonah Hex combines some of the elements that make Wolverine and Batman successful. You just have to look at Hex to see that he’s had a traumatic past. And his stories involve escaping from one tight situation after another and eventually delivering a rather unique brand of justice. Tenacity is also a hallmark of Jonah Hex, as he also has Wolverine’s “you can hurt me, but you can’t kill me” characteristic. Jonah Hex, more than most, is a terrific example of the outsider. A person that wants to fit in, but circumstance, prejudice, and his own characters flaws prevent it. And, at long last, Jonah Hex was a character that finally had come up to date with the modern conception of the west. Not one of pure white hats, but a more complicated and tougher place. Jonah Hex would be right at home in THE SEARCHERS or THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. He wasn’t so much a revisionist western hero, but someone who could combine the old fashioned virtues of fast gunplay and quick thinking with deeper character moments.

“ONCE UPON A TIME...IN THE WEST?!?”

If one were to pinpoint a low point in the modern popularity of the western, the mid-1980s is as likely a time as any. Jonah Hex’s sales were headed down and the time came to either cancel the series or try something different. And, Michael Fleisher decided that he’d rather try something different.

So, taking a page out of MAD MAX, Jonah Hex was whisked to a post-apocalyptic future, given a leather outfit, a pair of laser pistols, and let loose to take care of a new generation of varmints. Lasting a brief 18 issues under the writing of Fleisher, and the art of Mark Texeira and Keith Giffen, it’s a chapter best left forgotten. And after an impressive 15 year run, Jonah Hex took an absence from comics starting in 1987.

“TWO GUN MOJO”

Jonah Hex didn’t sit on the shelf long, before being given another chance. In the early 1990s, DC Comics launched the Vertigo label which was open to more adult interpretation of characters. And Clint Eastwood had a significant hit with the revisionist western UNFORGIVEN. The circumstances were right for a re-launch.

In August 1993, Vertigo released JONAH HEX: TWO GUN MOJO written by Joe “Bubba Ho-Tep” Lansdale and drawn by Tim Truman. This incarnation took the title of Weird Western tales literally, pitting Jonah Hex against a strange circus of freaks and zombies, basically branching out from the ranks of straight western into a horror western hybrid. Although, Jonah Hex’s solutions to problems didn’t change all that much, a bullet to the brain works against the living and the undead. Atmospheric, dark, violent, and funny, TWO GUN MOJO turned out to be a modest hit prompting a sequel.

In 1995, JONAH HEX: RIDERS OF THE WORM AND SUCH was released. This time Jonah Hex found himself up against a Cthulhu type menace and half worm/half human gunfighters in the form of the “Autumn Brothers”. Again the same strengths of the first series were in abundance. Unfortunately, there was a completely unexpected turn of events.

The “Autumn Brothers” were clearly an homage to rock and roll’s Winter Brothers. And they didn’t take the homage with any sort of good natured sense of humor, but turned around and sued DC Comics for use of their public image. The lawsuit took several years to run it’s course with several setbacks to DC along the way, but in the end a significant precedent was established. Comic books weren’t just a way of selling action figures and other merchandise, but a legitimate art form entitled to all the protections of parody, satire, etc. afforded to all other art forms. It’s obvious, but the Jonah Hex case was the first to make it part of law.

However, while DC Comics may have ultimately won, it clearly took the momentum away from the Lansdale / Truman team. JONAH HEX: SHADOWS WEST was published in 1999, dealing with Jonah Hex involved with spirit people and then Jonah disappeared from regular comics again for another seven years.

It’s also worth noting that courtesy of Joe Lansdale, Jonah Hex had his biggest exposure outside of comic books in this period. Jonah Hex basically took over one episode of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, “Showdown”, where he took down the son of Ra’s al Ghul in the old west.

“A FACEFUL OF VIOLENCE”

In 2006, Jonah Hex was relaunched. Perhaps due to the mild boom in westerns with OPEN RANGE and 3:10 TO YUMA coming out in the same time frame, perhaps as a reaction to all the superhero books that were flooding the stands. Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti took their turn in a critically acclaimed, if sales challenged, run. Gray and Palmiotti avoided the serial chronological storytelling of Fleisher to tell stories that could take place anywhere during the life of Jonah Hex and were usually resolved in one issue. Often told from many different perspectives and portraying Jonah Hex in different lights, although usually facing off against depraved s.o.b.s who deserve the rough justice that Jonah Hex is going to deliver. Probably with a dose of irony.

By eschewing continuing serials, the current run has embraced a variety of artists that really have few other outlets for drawing western themed comics. Luke Ross drew most of the first year, using a slick realistic style that had Jonah Hex visually modeled on Clint Eastwood. Phil Noto mostly followed Luke Ross. And, with the “Origins” story arc, European artist Jordi Bernet became the semi-regular artist on the book and has graced us with a distinct style, slightly remiscent of Joe Kubert, but 100% fantastic and eschewing splash pages in favor of old fashioned storytelling. Guest artists still appear and it’s worth seeking out the issues illustrated by Darwyn Cooke and J.H. Williams III.

Although the book isn’t really interesting in serial storytelling, it has added to the world of Jonah Hex. Bat Lash and El Diablo have been regular guest stars. And Gray and Palmiotti have added the heavily scarred and traumatized Tallulah Black to the cast, as an homage to the grindhouse film THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE. Quentin Tarantino also mined similar territory in using Daryl Hannah in KILL BILL in a similar homage. Currently, the book is in the middle of a six part storyline and building towards its 50th issue, with a graphic novel in the works to tie into the movie.

SUGGESTED READING

If any of the above piques your interest, the following collections are available from DC Comics and still in print: Jonah Hex: Guns of Vengeance, Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex Vol. 1, Showcase Presents: Bat Lash, Jonah Hex: Origins, Jonah Hex: Only the Good Die Young Vol. 4, Jonah Hex: Luck Runs Out and Jonah Hex: Face Full of Violence.

TDK: Happy 1st Anniversary!

2009-07-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Author: Sean Gerber
July 18, 2009

Hard to believe that an entire year has already passed since THE DARK KNIGHT was released and subsequently took over the pop culture landscape. I guess time really does fly, or in this case, it glides on a memory cloth cape. I’m well aware that one year isn’t really that long of a time period, especially compared to BATMAN’s 20th anniversary last month, but it really doesn’t feel quite like a year has gone by despite the fact that we’re in the middle of another Batman-less summer movie season.

A large part of the reason why this anniversary came so fast is because TDK has really never left. It’s been in front of us (fans and the mainstream) for the majority of the past year via its phenomenal box office run, the Oscar buzz, the appearances on numerous lists of nominees from various critics and awards bodies, the January re-release in IMAX, the controversy over the Oscar snubs, all of Heath Ledger’s accolades including his Oscar victory, and even the hype for TDK’s debut on HBO. The mainstream fever over the film has only just started to fade over the past couple months.

For those of us who religiously followed the development of TDK from start to finish, the year after a Batman film can seem much shorter than the year leading up to a Batman film, as the eager anticipation for the film’s release that slowed time down to a perceived crawl disappears (to later be replaced by anticipation for the next Batman film -- that’s where you come in, Mr. Nolan…BANG!). In addition, the viral marketing, trailers, set reports, interviews, etc. provided all of us with vivid memories of the buildup to and release of the film. Of course it doesn’t feel like a year has passed when we can remember the first time we saw that image of Heath Ledger as The Joker (which was actually over two years ago) or our experience at whatever midnight screening we attended like it all happened yesterday.

My own personal TDK anniversary was actually this past Wednesday, July 15 since I was lucky enough to literally buy my way into one of the early viral screenings. During a brief nostalgia trip, I found myself still possessing very clear memories of being the first in line at the Universal City screening, about 10 hours ahead of show time. I can still feel the intense anticipation that had been building not only since BATMAN BEGINS, but since I last saw The Joker in a live-action film in B89.

I decided that there was no better way to commemorate this little anniversary than to watch the film yet again. It was my 30th viewing of the film and I know that because I’m a big enough nerd to have actually kept an accurate count. One year later and on the 30th viewing, THE DARK KNIGHT still takes me on the same emotional and visceral journey that it did the first time except it seems to actually be getting better with each screening. I don’t have an IMAX screen in my house, but I don’t need one. No matter how many times I’ve seen the film, I still feel that same “woosh” of emotion come over me when Commissioner Gordon delivers his speech and the words “THE DARK KNIGHT” appear on the end credits. I shake my head at how great that feeling is and how remarkable it is that it hasn’t gone away.

THE DARK KNIGHT, through its buildup, release, phenomenal run at the box office and on the awards circuit, and (obviously) the film itself, has been one of the true landmark experiences in my own Batman fandom. Actually, I’d have to say it’s been the peak of my long-time relationship with the Batman character and his world of story. As if being a great film that transcended its genre weren’t enough, TDK has been a unique, exciting, emotional experience on the screen and off of it in so many ways through so many avenues. For that, I am forever grateful to anyone and everyone who helped make this film a reality.

Happy first anniversary to THE DARK KNIGHT and to all those who made it what it has been and will continue to be.

Time glides.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT - Tricia Helfer

2009-07-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2009

Battlestar Galactica’s visually stunning centerpiece shifts to another space-based destination as the voice of Boodikka in GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, the next DC Universe animated original PG-13 movie coming to DVD on July 28, 2009.

Helfer expands her voiceover career with her first feature-length film role as Boodikka, the most prominent female member of the Green Lantern Corps. Helfer joins Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber and Michael Madsen as the core quartet of voices in the film, supported by fine performances from Juliet Landau, John Larroquette, Kurtwood Smith and a host of others.

* On voicing Boodikka: "Boodikka’s a fighter, a protector. She is very honorable in that she does what she thinks is right, even if some things go against the grain. She’s certainly not an evil character per se, but she does things that she thinks are good for society. She’s not really sexy in terms of her personality, so she’s not trying to reel Hal in – that relationship is more like comrades. So I wanted to play Boodikka both strong and sweet."

* On how much did she knew about Green Lantern/the GL mythos: "I did a little research, but not too much.

I grew up without a television on a farm in the middle of nowhere, so I really didn’t see hardly any movies or TV series, and no cartoons. So I kind of have to go into things with a really blank slate, an open mind, and I think sometimes that’s good actually for voices because you don’t go in with anything really preconceived. I never feel like I have to fit a certain (type) because I’ve seen this character played that way before. I can read the script and go in feeling with my own gut instinct. And then (she laughs) you have a nice room full of people that tell you if you’re messing up or to try it different way."

Check out these three new images:

Ryan Reynolds Lands Green Lantern!

2009-07-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

Source:The Hollywood Reporter, Variety
July 10, 2009

Warner Bros. Pictures has hired X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Proposal star Ryan Reynolds to play the title role in the anticipated Green Lantern, scheduled for a June 17, 2011 release.

Based on the DC Comics hero, the action-adventure will be directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye) and produced by Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti. Berlanti wrote the script with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green.

The Hollywood trades say that Reynolds and his camp entered negotiations for the part Friday, after the studio held two rounds of screen tests, along with actors Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto. Justin Timberlake also did a screen test. The studio had holding options on the actors, but, except for Reynolds, those expired Monday. Reynolds' option would have expired end of day Friday.

Production is expected to begin in January.

The "Green Lantern" was created in 1940 by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell. Introduced in 1959, Hal Jordan is a second-generation test pilot, an ordinary man who was given the power ring and battery (lantern) by a dying alien named Abin Sur. When Abin Sur's spaceship crashed on Earth, the alien used his ring to seek out an individual to take his place as Green Lantern: someone who was "utterly honest and born without fear."

Reynolds recently starred in Fox's "Wolverine," in which he played Wade Wilson/Deadpool. The character is now being developed for a spin-off to which Reynolds is attached. He also played Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity.

The actor will next star in Buried, a dark indie drama that will begin filming shortly in Barcelona with Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes. Reynolds will play a civilian contractor who is kidnapped in Iraq and awakes in a coffin, struggling against time to coordinate a rescue even though he doesn't know where he's buried in the desert.

Brown, Conroy, And Daly Confirmed For Upcoming "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies"

2009-07-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

July 04, 2009

The World's Finest has received confirmation on the lead roles in the upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies direct-to-video animated feature.

A representative for Warner Bros. Animation has confirmed for The World's Finest that Clancy Brown, Kevin Conroy, and Tim Daly will be reunited in the upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies direct-to-video animated feature, scheduled to hit Blu-ray and DVD in September 2009. All three actors will be reprising familiar roles.

Kevin Conroy is cast as Batman, Tim Daly as Superman and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor in the upcoming direct-to-video animated feature based off the initial six-part "Public Enemies" storyline from the Superman/Batman comic book. All three actors have played these respective roles before, most notably in Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series.

Allison Mack, CCH Pounder, and John C. McGinley also have roles in the animated feature.

An official announcement on the upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies direct-to-video animated feature, scheduled to hit Blu-ray and DVD in September 2009, is expected next week. Stay tuned for further updates.

http://worldsfinestonline.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=482

Writer Jeph Loeb On The Upcoming "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" Animated Feature

2009-07-03T11:41:00.001-07:00

July 03, 2009 by James Harvey

Jeph Loeb sits down with The World's Finest for an exclusive Q & A on the upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies direct-to-video animated feature.

The World's Finest caught up with famed comic and television writer Jeph Loeb for a quick Q & A to share his thoughts on the upcoming direct-to-video Superman/Batman: Public Enemies animated feature. The animated feature adapts the six-issue story arc of the same name, originally written by Loeb, from the Superman/Batman comic series currently published by DC Comics. The story features Superman and Batman facing off against Lex Luthor, now President of the United States.

The World's Finest: Any thoughts on seeing one of your stories being adapted into an animated feature? Were you surprised by the announcement?

Jeph Loeb: I got a call from DC asking if I wanted to write the script, which caught me totally off guard because I had no idea they were thinking about this series. I love the Justice League: The New Frontier DVD both in terms of look and how faithful they were to the story. My schedule wouldn't allow it, so all I could do was hope for the best. And from what I've seen it's better than the best!

WF: Have you been consulted about this project? Are there any moments you'd like to make sure appear in the animated movie, and do you think they'll stick close to the source material?

JL: I didn't have anything to do with it. I know the people involved and they are all first rate, top of their game in animation. I did some commentary that is on the DVD. I hope that's not too embarrassing!

WF: Is there another Superman/Batman arc of yours you would like to see adapted?

JL: Sure! All of them! I'd love to see them adapt the next arc, Supergirl, and do it in Mike Turner's style. That's what makes these DVD's so unique is that they have been following the designs of the specific artists. The “McGuinness” look to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies just rocks!

WF: Do you plan to check out Superman/Batman: Public Enemies when it hits shelves?

JL: On the shelves?! I'm hoping for an advance copy (laughs)! I've downloaded the trailer and play it all the time.

WF: There have been rumors that your other work, specifically Batman: The Long Halloween, may be adapted into animation at some point. Any details on that? Any thoughts?

JL: Haven't heard a thing, but they keep secrets really well over there. Batman: The Long Halloween is certainly one of my favorite stories, and I was incredibly flattered how much has been used in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

WF: To wrap this up, can you give fans a quick update on what you're up to right now, including current comic and entertainment work? What can we expect from you down the line?

JL: In movies and television there are a few huge announcements which I can't really talk about at this time, but very soon. I am going back to television on a new series that is going to be huge!

In comics, my plate is very full. I've got the monthly Hulk book, featuring the all-new, all-deadly Red Hulk, with my Superman/Batman partner Ed McGuinness. Also, we're finishing up Ultimatum with David Finch, which will both reinvent and reinvigorate the Ultimate Universe at Marvel and lead toward Brian Bendis' new Ultimate Spider-Man, Mark Millar's Ultimate Avengers, and my own New Ultimates with Frank Cho. It's going to be a very big year!

The World's Finest would like to thank Jeph Loeb for his participation!

A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies will debut Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 on DVD and Blu-ray disc. Click here to view the official press release for the upcoming direct-to-video Supermna/Batman: Public Enemies animated feature release.

Stay tuned for further Superman/Batman: Public Enemies updates coming soon!

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT World Premiere at Comic Con on July 23, 2009!

2009-07-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

July 1, 2009

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, the highly-anticipated fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies, will have its world premiere at Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday, July 23, 2009.

More than 4,000 fans will have the opportunity to see GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT on the big screen five days before the latest DC Universe film is distributed on DVD and Blu-Ray� Hi-Def. The film will premiere in the San Diego Convention Center�s Ballroom 20 at 8:00 p.m.

A panel comprised of filmmakers and voice cast will be presented on the following day, Friday, July 24. Details on that panel and its participants will be announced next week.

Acclaimed actor Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) fills the lead voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. Meloni is joined by fellow Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic) as the villainous Sinestro, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as the voice of Boodikka, and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) as Kilowog. The cast also includes Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), John Larroquette (Night Court), Kurtwood Smith (That �70s Show), and David Lander (Laverne & Shirley).

Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT is helmed by heralded director Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Superman Doomsday) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman).

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.

A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the illuminated hero�s first-ever full-length animated film is set for release by Warner Home Video on July 28, 2009. GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT will be available as a special edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray� Hi-Def, as well as single disc DVD.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT comes to DVD on July 28, 2009. Visit the official site at GREENLANTERNDVD.COM.

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES Coming in September '09

2009-06-29T05:25:00.000-07:00

June 29, 2009

Warner Home Video sent the following press release announcing their next animated DCU film: SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES...

BURBANK, CA (June 29, 2008) – The World’s Greatest Super Heroes become America’s most wanted criminals – and are hunted by friends and foes alike – in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the sixth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies. A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the full-length animated film will be distributed by Warner Home Video on September 29, 2009. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies will be available as a Special Edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def for $24.98 (SRP) and $29.99 (SRP), respectively, as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP) and On Demand. Order due date for all versions is August 25, 2009. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is based on the popular Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness comic series/graphic novel. Animation legend Bruce Timm (Superman Doomsday, Green Lantern) is executive producer. Michael Goguen (Justice League: The New Frontier) is supervising producer. Sam Liu (The Batman) is directing a script written by Stan Berkowitz (Justice League: The New Frontier).

In the film, United States President Lex Luthor uses the oncoming trajectory of a Kryptonite asteroid to frame Superman and declare a $1 billion bounty on the heads of the Man of Steel and his “partner in crime,” Batman. Heroes and villains alike launch a relentless pursuit of Superman and Batman, who must unite – and recruit help – to stave off the action-packed onslaught, stop the asteroid, and uncover Luthor’s devious plot to take command of far more than North America.

The movie reunites the lead voices of Superman, Batman and Lex Luthor from the landmark Superman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Animated Series. Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy, and Clancy Brown reprise their roles as Superman, Batman and Lex Luthor, respectively.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies - 2 Disc Special Edition version will have more than three hours of incredible bonus features, including:

* Featurettes

* "The Blackest Night: Inside the DC Comics Event" - Behind-the-scenes of BLACKEST NIGHT, the epic DC Super Hero event in which the dead shall rise.

* "A Test of Minds" - Superman and Batman featurette with Jeph Loeb, giving viewers a fresh and revitalized look at the team-up of Superman and Batman working together despite their often competitive and challenging relationship.

* "Dinner with DC: With Special Guest Kevin Conroy" - Reprising his role from Batman: The Animated Series, Kevin Conroy joins the crew for dinner to discuss their creative approach and what the Superman/Batman team-up means. The evening will be hosted by Voice Director Andrea Romano, Producer Bruce Timm and DC’s Gregory Noveck

* Extended Sneak Peak at Next DCU Film

* Digital Copy Download

* Widescreen (1.78:1)

* Two Episodes of Justice League Unlimited hand-picked by animation legend Bruce Timm.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Blu-Ray versions will have more than three-and-a-half hours of bonus materials, including all the great extras from the 2-disc Special Edition as well as two additional episodes of Justice League Unlimited and two episodes from Justice League, both personally selected by fan-favorite Bruce Timm.

“Warner Premiere is excited to continue this successful partnership with DC Comics, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video to present feature-length PG-13 animated original films with the filmmaking and celebrity voice starpower of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,” said Matt Bierman, Senior Vice President Production, Warner Premiere.

“Based on the past success of Superman Doomsday and Batman Gotham Knight, we know the pairing of The Man of Steel and The Dark Knight – pitted against both their DC Super Hero colleagues and the entire rogue’s gallery of DC villains – will offer fans the level of entertainment normally reserved for the big, summer blockbuster films,” said Amit Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Partner Brands.

“This is the ultimate film for DC animation lovers featuring not only the cornerstone characters of comic book and Saturday morning heroes, but also returns the seminal voices of those characters – Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy and Clancy Brown – in a story that explores the Superman/Batman dynamic and allows Lex Luthor to shine in ultimate villainy,” said Gregory Noveck, Senior VP Creative Affairs, DC Comics.

Got some images to share as well...

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES will be distributed by Warner Home Video on September 29, 2009.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT: Executive Producer Bruce Timm

2009-06-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

Animation legend Bruce Timm puts the spotlight on character designer Jose Lopez and screenwriter Alan Burnett for their other-worldly creations on GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies from Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation.

Timm, the executive producer on GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT,, has been the driving creative force behind many of Warner Bros. Animation’s modern-day successes, elevating DC Comics’ canon of super heroes to new heights of animated popularity and introducing generations of new fans to the characters via landmark television series and made-for-DVD films. The latter task includes the creation of the current series of DC Universe animated original movies, which have drawn critical acclaim and further whetted the public’s appetite for comic book entertainment with the release of and Wonder Woman.

Here's a few blurbs from Bruce Timm...

* On Jose Lopez's character design: "This is a total science fiction film – we spend maybe 10 minutes on Earth at the beginning of the movie and then the rest of it all takes place in outer space and in several different alien environments. So while we did base the initial, broad strokes design on pre-existing comics characters, we still needed armies of Green Lanterns and tons of aliens. Jose designed virtually all of them – literally hundreds of unique alien species for all of these different polyglot worlds. And they are all really cool. I mean, some of the designs are really out there. Sometimes they’d hand me his designs and I’d say, “Wow, what am I even looking at? That’s a sentient being? You’ve got to be kidding me.” It’s funny because both Lauren and I encouraged him to think way outside the box. And he did – maybe further than we even imagined. Jose came up with some really weird, bizarre life forms and they’re all good."

* On working with writer Alan Burnett: "Alan is the quiet man of Warner Bros. Animation and, to a degree, I feel bad because he doesn’t really get enough credit for all that he has done over the years – going all the way to Batman: The Animated Series and all these shows he's worked on since. He actually kind of prefers to stay in the background and just do his job and not get in front of the cameras and go to conventions and speak in front of crowds. He doesn't enjoy that aspect of it. He’s never been about tooting his own horn, but he’s always been the rock on our projects. Alan is the stabilizer. I think it was Glen Murakami who referred to Alan as the glue that binds everything together. And it's true. He’s a really solid professional. He knows all the ins and outs of story construction and character dynamics and then all of the extras that a good writer knows to plus out a story. At the same time, he likes to push himself to do things that he hasn’t done before and explore different avenues of story lines. He's got a sense of humor that sometimes comes out in really odd, unique ways. On BTAS, he would go down story lines and even I would be saying, “Wow, you really want to do THAT in a children's cartoon?” He’s funny that way – he likes to upset the apple cart and take chances. So Alan is really solid and dependable and at the same time he’s also very experimental. It’s like the best of both worlds. That makes him the perfect collaborator on these films."

* On director Lauren Montgomery: "Lauren did such a great job on Wonder Woman, she was immediately my first choice for Green Lantern. I thought she might be a little burned out after the massive Wonder Woman project, but to my immense relief and gratefulness, she was eager to do it."

Nolan and BATMAN 3: FAR From a Done Deal?

2009-06-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
June 16, 2009
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When I got the chance to visit with David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan a year ago, one of the things I heard them tell us media folk was that they had to lobby and “convince” Chris Nolan to do THE DARK KNIGHT and they’d probably have to do the same thing for there to be a Nolan-helmed BATMAN 3.

Maybe the sale-job on Chris for a third BATMAN is going to be a really tough one this time.

Despite the fact that BOF has had some unofficial assurances that Chris would indeed return and direct a third BATMAN, industry scuttlebutt says – and has been saying – differently.

I’ve been told that while they desperately want another Chris Nolan BATMAN, Warner Bros. does have a shortlist of directors (Zack Snyder's reps told BOF that he wasn't interested) they’d consider and ultimately turn to if (and when) Nolan’s done with The Caped Crusader. And frankly, it certainly wouldn’t be prudent of them not to have such a list.

Several (and unrelated) industry friends of BOF have been telling me over the last year that it’s far from a given that Chris will do another one. And alarmingly, this one’s starting to pick up steam.

Case it point, a report I received from an old friend of the site overnight via email. This cat works in the business behind the camera and has proved to me long ago to be legit. With that said, this again is what I term “Industry Scuttlebutt,” so keep that in mind. Also, if any of my friends at Warner Bros. or reps of Mr. Nolan want to refute the following, you’ve got an open forum here. Anyway, according to our source…

* The death of Heath Ledger in January of 2008 rocked Mr. Nolan hard. So hard that Chris was convinced that TDK was going to be it for him and Batman on film.

* The Joker was going to return in BATMAN 3.

* “You are correct in reporting that he is developing story ideas with [Jonathan Nolan] and David Goyer, but it will be until AT LEAST 2012 before we see the Caped Crusader back [in theaters]. And that is only an EARLY ESTIMATE at best right now. They are even saying it might not be until 2013.”

* Basically, the BATMAN film franchise is back to square one. As far as a story or a BATMAN 3, “Right now, there is none,” says our guy.

Now, there was some other stuff that was off the record (mainly to protect our guy's identity), but really, it doesn’t affect the jest of this story. The bottom line here is that we may be a ways away from a BATMAN 3 -- with or without Chris Nolan.

Look, I want Mr. Nolan to return as much as anyone else and have TONS of respect for him, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, David Goyer, Jonathan Nolan, and the rest of the folks who’ve given us the BEST two BATMAN films ever. But if Chris is done, then he’s done and I’m sure as hell not going to begrudge the guy. Despite the fact that I am a “Batman Fan” first and foremost, I’ve also grown to be a big Chris Nolan fan as well. BUT…

As a Batman fan, I certainly hope that Warner Bros. has a contingent plan in place – and one much better than the one they had back in the early 90s.

Despite the bummer vibe that permeates this report, let me remind you of the positives. One, Warner Bros. has not officially announced that Chris is done and the search is underway for a new Bat-director. Secondly, Nolan himself has admitted to “musing” with David Goyer about the storyline of a third film. And finally, the same industry scuttlebutt that produced today’s story also says that Chris’ deal with WB for INCEPTION included at least a handshake agreement for BATMAN 3.

Keep those fingers crossed Bat-Fans!

Writer reveals Green Lantern movie's progress and a few hints

2009-06-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

Screenwriter Marc Guggenheim told SCI FI Wire exclusively that he has just completed a new draft of a proposed live-action Green Lantern movie, based on a script by him, Michael Green and Greg Berlanti.

"In fact, I'm ... delivering another draft today," Guggenheim (TV's Flash Forward) said in an exclusive interview on Friday. "So it continues to move forward."

The film is expected to be directed by Martin Campbell, who stepped in for Berlanti, and is slated to begin production at Australia's Fox Studios in Sydney this summer for a release on June 17, 2011.

Guggenheim confirmed that his script will focus on Hal Jordan, based on the Silver Age DC Comics incarnation of the superhero, and how he became a member of the Green Lantern Corps.

Beyond that, Guggenheim remained tight-lipped. "You know I really can't [say anything]," he said. "I've sworn a blood oath of secrecy in relation to the project. But, you know, the thing I can tell you is that it is a very loving and respectful approach."

Guggenheim added: "The goal here is to do the best cinematic representation of the Green Lantern character. You know, there's no desire on anyone's part to completely change the character and just call this other character Green Lantern and try to ... draft off the name recognition. This is all about 'How do we bring the best version of this character to the silver screen?'"

As for the movie's source material, Guggenheim said, "We've drawn heavily from ... a lot of different sources in terms of the comic books. ... The character ... is several decades old, so ... we've really had an incredible amount of source material to cherry-pick from."

As for casting of the iconic character, rumors have centered on such of-the-moment actors as The Hangover's Bradley Cooper and Star Trek's Chris Pine. None are true, Guggenheim said.

"They're all false," he said. "I mean, they're all false insofar as we haven't chosen anyone yet. They're still in the negotiations, you know? There's a lot of names being talked about, and there's a lot of people being met, and a lot of ... actors reading the script. But if you read online [that] Pauly Shore's been cast as Hal Jordan, I can guarantee you we have not cast anyone." That last rumor was a joke. We think.

As for the process, Guggenheim said, "It remains a lot of fun. It's such a great character, it's been a really great project so far."

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT: Voice Director Andrea Romano

2009-06-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Jett
June 10, 2009
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Andrea Romano knows how to pick ‘em.

For GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, Romano – arguably the best known casting/dialogue director on the animation scene for more than 25 years – has brought together a pair of voiceover novices in the lead roles, along with assorted veterans of feature film and primetime television.

As usual, the mix works perfectly.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT is the fifth DC Universe animated original film in the ongoing series, and Romano has been the voice behind the voices in each successful instance. This particular production was a bi-coastal affair, starting with a New York recording in late June 2008 of Christopher Meloni (LAW & ORDER) and Victor Garber (MILK, TITANTIC) as hero Hal Jordan and villain Sinestro, respectively. Neither Meloni nor Garber had ever recorded for animation, nor had they worked together, and yet Romano had the two actors perform their lines opposite each other in the same studio – which added a new degree of difficulty for both director and actors

Back in Burbank, Romano selected Tricia Helfer (BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA) and animation rookie Michael Madsen (RESVOIR DOGS) to complete the primary quartet of voices. The remainder of the cast did their voice work at the Warner Bros. Ranch, as well, and that crowd included Juliet Landau (BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), John Larroquette (NIGHT COURTt), Kurtwood Smith (THAT 70s SHOW), Larry Drake (DARKMAN), William Schallert (THE PATTY DUKE SHOW), Olivia d’Abo (THE WONDER YEARS), David Lander (LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY) and veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen.

Romano has been one of the driving forces in animation voiceovers for more than a quarter century, her credit list reading like the honor roll for the Saturday morning cartoon Hall of Fame. From dramatic (BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES) to silly (ANIMANIACS), contemporary (THE BOONDOCKS) to timeless (SMURFS), Romano has set the standard for matching actor to character with absolute savvy. Along the way, she has become a household name to legions of animation fans.

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has listed her name 20 times among their annual nominations, Romano taking home six of those Emmy Awards – and promptly attiring those statuettes in Barbie clothes. It’s a Romano tradition.

Somewhere between recordings for new DC Universe films and her weekly chores at the helm of sessions for Batman: The Brave and the Bold, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Boondocks, Romano found a few moments to discuss the casting and performances of the voices withinGL:FF.

Here's a few blurbs from Romano...

* On casting Meloni as Hal Jordan: "Given the age range and the character type, and the fact that he is a very good actor, I thought Christopher Meloni would be the right voice. His voice has a nice strength and honesty to it, and his acting is really wonderful. This is a role that requires the character to come off as very smart, but he also gets duped when he probably should’ve have seen it coming. That’s a tough tightrope to walk, but I found Christopher so incredibly believable. Every note in his acting was true, and real, and organic, and believable. He had not done much voiceover, if any, but he learned so fast that he sprang forth fully formed. He had it down. I don't think he ever had a technical problem."

* On casting Garber as Sinestro: "I had met Victor a few times and I met him again at Diedrich Bader's surprise birthday party. We spoke about him coming to work for me again, and this time his schedule worked out. Sinestro needed to be elegant. There are many, many different Green Lanterns – some females, some male, some alien, some looking more human. They’re all different. This particular Green Lantern – Sinestro – is a bad guy. But we, as audience members, are not supposed to know that he’s a bad guy in this particular film. So I needed someone who could seem egotistical and strong, but not tip us off that he’s got an ulterior motive all the way through the piece. Victor hit every note perfectly. There was a musicality to his delivery. You don’t even have to tell someone like Victor Garber to do that – he just naturally finds the vocal music and brings it to the character."

* On casting Madsen as Kilowog: "Kilowog is an alien Green Lantern, and we really wanted a voice with texture and character and some edges to it; a voice that sounded gruff and big and strong, but also smart. I did not want someone who sounded like a big dopey guy. For years and years, I wanted to hire Michael Madsen and this was just the perfect marriage of role, actor and availability. It’s a lot about availability, and Michael is a great example. He hadn’t done any animated roles before Green Lantern, and yet when I finally got him in the room, we found out how much he had wanted to do it and, now, how much he loves doing voiceover work. He loves this whole world of animation, and characters like Batman and Superman. You need an actor who has an enthusiasm for the project, for the role, and for the process – and Michael was there, in the moment, he understood, and wanted to do more takes than we needed. That is very generous and brought some really beautiful texture. I love those raspy, deep, dark voices – that sound that tells you that there’s been some life experience there, whether it’s been smoking cigarettes or drinking booze or just living. I don’t think I’m the only person that responds to that kind of voice with character. That’s a voice that's lived."

* On Helfer as Boodikka: "We really needed Boodikka to be smart, sexy and strong. Tricia Helfer was interested and available and we were lucky to get her. She is such a very nice person, and such a good actress – especially for this kind of piece. She really understands it. She’s big in the Sci-Fi world, and she gets it. She plays this character so that you never know what twists are coming. You think it’s very straightforward and then something happens and you’re surprised because she never tips it off ahead of time. She was spot on with her performance and I loved working with her. She was just a joy."

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT comes to DVD on July 28, 2009. Visit the official site at GREENLANTERNDVD.COM.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT: Madsen Talks "Kilowog"

2009-06-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Jett
June 4, 2009
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Perennial movie tough guy Michael Madsen (below with Andrea Romano) provides the voice of Kilowog, the enforcer with a heart, in GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, the next DC Universe animated original PG-13 movie coming to DVD on July 28, 2009.

Madsen has been cast as the heavy throughout his busy career, gaining widespread acclaim as Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. His lengthy list of credits include roles in films like The Natural, Thelma & Louise, both volumes of Kill Bill, Wyatt Earp, Free Willy, Die Another Day, and Donnie Brasco. He drew rave reviews for the hit cable television series Tilt as poker player Don “The Matador” Everest.

In GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, Madsen brings to animated life the brawny alien character Kilowog, trainer of all Green Lantern recruits.

Here are a few blurbs from Madsen about voicing Kilowog and GL:FF…

* On portraying Kilowog: “I liked the idea that Kilowog was forceful, yet has a gentle nature. I’m often thought of as playing villainous characters in movies. Everyone forgets that I was the father in Free Willy – they only like to remember that I cut off a policeman’s ear in Reservoir Dogs. There’s me in the middle somewhere and I think that’s kind of like Kilowog, He’s dangerous, yet he has a heart. That’s what attracted me to the part. Also, I was quite humbled by being asked to play Kilowog in the first place. I don’t often get asked to voice animated characters, and I’ve always wanted to do something like that – it’s great fun for me.”

"I don’t want to go off here into another planet, but when I was younger, I read a biography of James Cagney and he said that if you ever play a dark character, you need to find something noble within that guy; and if you ever play someone who’s very noble, you need to find something dark within him. Otherwise, your character’s going to be one-dimensional. I knew exactly what he was talking about, even though I was probably about 14, and it’s always stuck with me. Having a character with duality always appeals to me – I never like to do something straight down the road."

* On the term poozer: “I’ve heard that it’s closely associated with somewhat of a bungler or a misfit or someone who’s annoying … to put it mildly (laughs).”

* On this voice-action job compared to others: "I used to think when you came in to do a voice, you had to make up something with your voice. For this film, I was just myself. I brought my Michael into it. It was a lot easier and it made more sense, and that made the entire experience more natural and I was a little bit more comfortable than I have been in past sessions. For the video game recordings, they always want the tough guy, and there’s nothing fun about it. It’s just one-dimensional. This was work, and I appreciate that. I take acting seriously, and I had a good time working on this film."

* On which comic book character he'd like to play: "I’ve always thought I’d make a great Batman. Batman needs to have a light side and a dark side. I think I’d bring a duality."

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT comes to DVD on July 28, 2009. Visit the official site at GREENLANTERNDVD.COM.

Burnett Talks GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT

2009-05-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
May 27, 2009
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Four-time Emmy Award winner Alan Burnett departs from a 17-year stint in The Batcave to establish intergalactic justice as the screenwriter for GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT -- the next DC Universe animated original PG-13 movie coming to DVD on July 28, 2009.

Burnett’s stellar talents have merited four Emmy Awards, three Annie Awards and two Humanitas Prizes. His work within the Batman realm includes as a series producer on BATMAN AND SUPERMAN and BATMAN BEYOND, and most recently as supervising producer and story editor for Warner Bros. Animation’s award-winning series The Batman. He has remained active in crafting the words behind numerous DC Comics projects, both animated and in comic book form. In the direct-to-DVD arena, Burnett co-produced and co-wrote the animated feature film BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM, was supervising producer and writer for BATMAN: MYSTERY OF THE BATWOMAN, and served as producer on the feature-length BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER. He also served as movie story editor and the writer of the anchoring segment of the DC Universe animated original movie, BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT.

Here are a few blurbs from Burnett about GL:FF…

* On why/how he got involved with the project: “They had been going through some ideas for Green Lantern stories and none of them were quite working out and I came up with this notion that I thought would be interesting. So, I just pitched it to them in one line. ‘Have you ever done Green Lantern as TRAINING DAY?” with the idea of the Denzel Washington role being Sinestro. They said, ‘That sounds pretty good – start writing.’ And that’s how it began.”

* On GL:FF being a “police story”: “We’re treating all the sectors of the universe as precincts and there's, I believe, about 3,600 Green Lanterns – one for every precinct. Hal Jordan covers our section. The story is essentially Hal Jordan’s first day on the beat as a cop and he's partnered with Sinestro. He's seeing the universe for the first time, and we get to look at the universe through his eyes. It’s a bizarre place, but it's also pretty recognizable.”

* Any message in the film?: “I suppose it's the old ‘Don’t judge a book’ thing. Appearances are deceiving. Those who you think might be your greatest friend can be your greatest enemy, and those you might think are of no use to you could be the most important person in your life.”

* On Green Lantern: “Green Lantern is sort of a unique super hero. When you’re writing his powers, they do seem a bit odd – at times, they’re very sci-fi and at other times very magical. It's like that old saying about the technology being so advanced that it looks like magic. He has a ring that allows him to construct anything he can imagine. One of the tricks to writing about those powers is that, when you come up with something he does with the ring, the audience is expecting to be amazed, but also – and this is odd to say about a comics/science fiction story – they need it to be in context, and it needs to be believable. Hal is also a very colorful character and he’s in the middle of this big soap opera in space. It’s a very involving backdrop that opens the door to telling a million stories with him. He also has one of the great costumes – that great Silver Age suit from the 1950s. He was one of the few, and maybe he was the first flying character, who didn't have a cape. So he has this sleek outfit and it’s very striking.”

* On Sinestro: “We play Sinestro as sort of the bad half of Hal Jordan. As I was writing them, I figured they were pretty close. They both have distaste for authority. But Sinestro is the dark side of the Green Lanterns – he wants absolute control, while Hal Jordan is more about serving the people. The other thing about Sinestro is that he doesn't think of himself as a villain. He has a plan which he thinks is going to benefit everyone, but unfortunately what this plan does is give him absolute power. And, of course, absolute power corrupts absolutely – and you can see that it's corrupting him even as he tries to wield it.”

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT comes to DVD on July 28, 2009. Visit the official site at GREENLANTERNDVD.COM.

Director Talks GL: FIRST FLIGHT

2009-05-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
May 14, 2009
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Fresh off her triumphant solo directorial debut of WONDER WOMAN, Lauren Montgomery shifts gears from Amazons and mythology to intergalactic intrigue as the director of GREEN LANTNERN: FIRST FLIGHT, the fifth in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies.

Montgomery has been a central force within the DC Universe animated original movies, directing one-third of the series’ initial film, SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY, and wowing critics and fans alike with her solo directorial debut at the helm of WONDER WOMAN. With GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, Montgomery takes the next step in her burgeoning career, directing the initial full-length story to feature the DC Comics super hero and an entire universe of fascinating characters. She is once again teamed with executive producer Bruce Timm, this time working from an Alan Burnett script that focuses on Hal Jordan’s recruitment to the Green Lantern Corps and his discovery of a secret conspiracy that threatens its philosophies, traditions and hierarchy.

Here are a few blurbs from director Lauren Montgomery about the upcoming animated film, GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT...

On how much of a origin story we will see: "As we had already done the origin story a few movies back in JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER, we really didn't want to spend a whole lot of time telling that same story over again. So [Hal Jordan's] origin story is over and done before the opening credits."

On the story being told in this film: "[GL: FIRST FLIGHT] more of an overall Green Lantern Corps story and Hal's existence within that group. And it’s not Hal on Earth being a super hero – we’re in space for virtually the entire movie, so Alan gave us multiple backgrounds and scene settings so we could explore the galaxy. That made it even more interesting – seeing and exploring different alien locales and lifestyles. Being away from Earth is incredibly liberating in terms of design possibilities."

On her favorite scene in the movie: "We have a scene about 17 minutes into the movie when Hal and Sinestro go into this establishment looking for a killer, and even though you’ve already seen some of the alien Green Lanterns, this is the first time you get an eyeful of the alien characters that Jose Lopez designed. The place is packed with all these really cool aliens, and they’re all so crazy looking. But you know their personalities immediately. It’s a very tense, cool scene and you really get to see how different that world is from Earth. That’s the defining scene from the movie that lets you know you’re not in Kansas anymore."

Lauren Montgomery focused on the big picture, but she take the time to do the character design on
Boodikka (voiced by Tricia Helfer) for the all-new DC Universe animated original movie.

Director Lauren Montgomery said character designer Jose Lopez
“ran wild” in creating a galaxy of new creatures.

It’s Hal Jordan to the rescue in GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT,
the all-new DC Universe animated original movie!

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT will be available on July 28, 2009. Visit the official site at GREENLANTERNMOVIE.COM.

Kevin Smith Returns To Batman!

2009-05-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
May 13, 2009
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Kevin Smith is returning to Batman in comics!

According to EW.COM, Smith will write new Batman miniseries called THE WIDENING GYRE -- in which Smith is also creating a new hero for the DC Universe. Here’s what KS had to say about the project:

“THE WIDENING GYRE is a 12-issue Batman mini-series split into two volumes, with a half year break between each. Issues one through six (Book I) will ship monthly. Then, the story goes on hold for six months. Then, issues seven through 12 (Book II) will once again ship monthly. Yes, I built in the break to insure we don't run into my usual problems with lateness. But I'm trying to improve, folks: first six scripts and first issue's art -- by CACOPHANY artist Walt Flanagan -- were already done before we took this public. But here's the kicker: three weeks after the last issue of THE WIDENING GYRE , we'll launch a solo series featuring the new character, which I'll be writing bi-monthly.”

Cool! Let’s just hope that Smith’s Batman in THE WIDENING GYRE is Bruce Wayne, the REAL Batman.

For the full story -- including the other big comic book project Smith is working on -- visit ET.COM.

Sinestro Voice Actor Victor Garber Talks GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT

2009-05-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
May 7, 2009
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From Academy Award blockbusters Titanic and Milk to Emmy-nominated performances in Alias and Will & Grace to Tony Award nods for a lengthy list of leading roles on Broadway, Victor Garber has achieved acting greatness regardless of the format.

Now add animation to his list of successes.

In his animation debut, Garber masterfully crafts the voice for the calculating, villainous Sinestro in GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, the fifth in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies. Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation are set to release the all-new film – as a special edition 2-disc DVD, a Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def edition, as well as single disc DVD – on July 28, 2009, as distributed by Warner Home Video. The action-packed movie will also be available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download day and date, July 28, 2009.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.

The Canadian-born Garber first captured national attention in his 1973 big screen debut as Jesus in Godspell. Garber’s film credits include TITANTIC, MILK and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, while his television career boasts six Emmy Award nominations spread over four different series, miniseries and movies. He earned a Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series for his portrayal of Sydney Bristow’s mysterious father in ALIAS.

The toast of Broadway for more than three decades, Garber has four Tony Award nominations for a career of performances that range from the Devil in "Damn Yankees!" to originating the role of John Wilkes Booth in Stephen Sondheim’s "Assassins."

Though Garber has recorded books on tape and done some narration for television, GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT represents his first-ever voiceover performance for animation. It is an ear-catching performance that captures Sinestro’s true sinister nature. Garber stole a few moments during his New York-based Green Lantern: First Flight recording sessions to chat about his first-ever animation experience, his hero-posturing co-star, Simon Cowell’s attitude, and the directing tornado that is Andrea Romano.

Here's a bit from Garbrer about playing the evil Sinestro:

* “Having played the ultimate villain as The Devil many years ago in ‘Damn Yankees!,’ I found Sinestro was just kind of a modification of that character."

* “The thing about villains is that they all think they’re doing the right thing, and Sinestro believes that what he’s doing is for the better, that it’s going to improve the universe. The scariest part about a villain is that you know, at any cost, human life or super-powered life, they will do whatever it takes to achieve their goal. They believe in their cause, and Sinestro fits that mold.”

Remember, GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT will be released on July 28, 2009.

THE BRAVE & THE BOLD: May 2009 Schedule

2009-05-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
April 30, 2009
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Warner Bros. and The Cartoon Network informed BOF that the next episode of BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD -- "The Night of the Huntress" -- will now air on May 8, 2009. Here's the full schedule for May '09:

Friday, May 8th: "Night of the Huntress!"

Friday, May 15th: "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!"

Friday, May 22nd: "The Color of Revenge!"

Friday, May 29th: "Legends of the Dark Mite!"

Make sure to keep up with B:TBATB right here on BOF!

Animated "Green Lantern: First Flight" Release Pushed Back; New Artwork Released

2009-04-29T21:05:00.001-07:00

April 29, 2009 by Zach Demeter

Warner Home Video has issued a press release, focusing on the newly announced one-week delay of the title, and the cover art for the one-disc edition of for the upcoming home video release of the direct-to-video animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT GETS NEW STREET DATE;
FIFTH DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE ARRIVES JULY 28, 2009 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO

BURBANK, CA, (April 28, 2008) – The street date for Green Lantern: First Flight, the fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies, has shifted to July 28, 2009. A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the illuminated hero’s first-ever full-length animated film will be distributed by Warner Home Video. Green Lantern: First Flight will be available as a special edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def for $24.98 (SRP) and $29.99 (SRP), respectively, as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP).

Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) leads the cast as the voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. The cast includes Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs). Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, Green Lantern: First Flight is directed by Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Superman Doomsday) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman).

Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.

Green Lantern: First Flight. - 2 Disc DVD Special Edition and Blu-Ray versions include more than three hours of incredible bonus features as well as a Digital Copy Download.

About Warner Premiere:
Warner Premiere is Warner Bros. Entertainment’s new direct-to-consumer production company focused on the development, production and marketing of feature-length content, as well as short form digital content for the growing home entertainment market. Warner Premiere is committed to being at the creative forefront in the evolution of quality product in the direct-to-DVD business and the digital space, creating material that exemplifies the commitment to story, production and brand equity for which Warner Bros. is known.

About Warner Home Video:
With operations in 90 international territories Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

About DC Comics:
DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC Super Heroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics’ Web site is located at www.dccomics.com.

Green Lantern and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.(s09)

About Warner Bros. Animation:
Warner Bros. Animation has been producing award-winning original animation since 1930, when it released its first cartoon, “Sinkin' in the Bathtub.” Since then, Warner Bros. Animation’s characters have set the standard for innovative, quality animation. Producing for network and cable television, online, home entertainment and feature films both domestically and internationally, Warner Bros. Animation is highly respected for its creative and technical excellence, as well as maintaining the studio’s rich cartoon heritage. Warner Bros. Animation also oversees the creative use of, and production of animated programming based on classic animated characters from the Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics libraries. Warner Bros. Animation is one of the most honored animation studios in history, garnering a grand total of six Academy Awards®, 35 Emmy® Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, an Environmental Media Award, a Parents’ Choice Award, a Humanitas Award, two Prism Awards and 20 Annie Awards (honoring excellence in animation).

A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the direct-to-video Green Lantern: First Flight animated feature will debut Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 on DVD and Blu-ray disc. Stay tuned for further Green Lantern: First Flight updates.

Bale Talks BATMAN 3

2009-04-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Jett
April 28, 2009
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Batman himself, Christian Bale, discusses Heath Ledger's Oscar win, THE DARK KNIGHT's Oscar snub, and BATMAN 3 with TOTALFILM.COM. Here are a few excerpts:

* "Heath winning Best Supporting Actor was fantastic. I had dinner with his family a couple of nights before the awards and liked very much they were the people who were picking it up for him. Of course I was really delighted that it did go that way."

* "I’m not surprised by THE DARK KNIGHT not getting more Oscars though. I’m not really surprised by anything to do with awards. Hey listen, awards or not it’s a wonderful movie. Chris Nolan did such a fantastic job of it and you look back at the history of the Oscars –- some of the best movies never got shit!"

* "Will we do a third movie? It's got to be the right story. You can't make something like THE DARK KNIGHT and then come out with something disappointing. I would like it if people say, 'You'll never make a good third movie.' I say, 'OK, let's make a third movie in that case, let's prove them wrong.' But that's just me. The fact is, I have to! I've signed up! Chris doesn't. So I'm in a bit of a fix if he says he doesn't want to!"

Don't worry Christian, I think you'll end up doing that contractually obligated BATMAN 3 with Chris Nolan as your director! AND...

Since Christian will be doing press for his two upcoming films -- TERMINATOR SALVATION and PUBLIC ENEMIES -- expect more BATMAN 3 talk from CB this Summer.

REVIEW: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER? (PARTS 1 AND 2)

2009-04-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

(BEWARE OF SPOILERS)

It´s not that often that a Batman story is more touching than it is dark, or gritty, or violent. But Neil Gaiman´s and Andy Kubert´s “Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader” is more of a heartfelt tribute to the character than the umpteenth “Batman is a freak and Gotham is a hellhole” story. It´s also a very surreal story, where Batman seems to be witnessing his own funeral, while a number of different characters he´s crossed paths with throughout the years tell very different versions of how he died.

As the stories are told, Gaiman takes us through all incarnations of Batman, from golden age to the Adam West show to The Killing Joke, and so forth. Andy Kubert does a great job of mixing up different styles of the big artists who made their mark on the mythos. It´s all different, and yet it all feels true to the character.

A common theme emerges from all the stories. It annoys me to no end how some fanboys pick a certain take on the character and become tremendously anal about this or that one being the “true” Batman, when in fact the multitude of potential interpretations and versions of the bat-verse is a big part of what has made him relevant more than 70 years after his creation. Gaiman acknowledges that there´s a myth, a legend of Batman that´s bigger and more lasting than any specific notions on how to portray him.

The one thing that never changes is that Batman has a destiny. And this is where we get to the revelation that the dark knight is having a near death experience – the hallucinatory nature of the experience explains the shapeshifting, surreal nature of the whole thing. And this is what his “real” death would be like. As Gaiman points out, this is the only way it can end for Batman. He dies for his mission, whether it´s saving Gotham, rescuing a baby, being killed by one of his enemies, etc. It´s the only thing that can happen, not only because he´s human and mortal, but because that´s the only way to stop him. Batman can´t quit, can´t give up. If he ever attempted to leave it all behind him, it would just devour his soul or come back to bite him hard in the ass, as it happened in The Dark Knight Returns, Mask Of The Phantasm and The Dark Knight, among other stories.

But, as Gaiman also points out, Batman never truly, really dies. For his legend is also bigger than the man himself. As long as his stories are told and his fans enjoy them, Batman goes on, for he´s not only a fun and interesting character, but also, much as his life is driven by tragedy and a frustrated will to correct it, he´s an inspiration, for his partners, the policemen, even maybe to some of his enemies. And most of all, to us. In his goodbye, Bruce Wayne gets to be a kid again, and he says goodbye to the world of Batman the same way a fan would, savoring the wonder of it as a child at heart.

As a fan of Neil Gaiman´s work, I´ve long waited to see him do a big story with the character – the satirical short story he did with Simon Bisley for “Batman – Black and White” is fun, but this talent and this character deserved more when put together. And they got it.

GRADE: A

"BIAS AND BACKLASH: A Look at the Anti-Comic Movie Sentiment" (Part 1 of 4)

2009-04-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

Author: Mark Hughes
April 20, 2009
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Although recent years have seen the release of numerous comic book genre films of high quality, a stigma remains attached to the genre in the minds of many people. Also, despite widespread attendance at and enjoyment of these films, overall perceptions of the source material – print comic books – has not changed beyond the negative stereotypes of the medium, not to mention the negative stereotypes of comic book readers.

Let's consider first where the bias and stereotype regarding comic books comes from. Part of the problem is due to the historical fact that comic book readers have mostly tended to be young. While it's true that in recent decades, the average age of a comic book reader has risen, and comic books are now marketed more toward young-adults rather than readers in their earlier teens and younger, the fact is that for most of the history of comic books in the U.S., readership tended to be on the younger end of the spectrum. The earlier decades are also the time when so many of the most popular existing characters and comics were in fact invented.

The association in the public mind between young readers and superhero comics created the broader cultural impression that these were books for immature readers. Despite my appreciation for earlier comics, and the fact that there were indeed plenty that were very good in quality and that appealed to mature readers as well as to kids, the truth is that most of the earlier comics (and again, I'm really speaking in broad terms primarily about superhero comics that became the publicly perceived "face" of the medium) lacked the same degree of sophistication and appeal to older sensibilities that arose in later decades.

That this was largely due to the industry rationally seeking to appeal to their biggest segment of readers is quite understandable, and it's unfair to label something "unsophisticated" simply because its appeal is designed toward youths. However, these books were created by adults with the same bias and preconceptions about kid’s sensibilities that society as a whole held about kids and comic books.

The themes and stories declined in originality and sophistication to an extent, driven by the attempt to sanitize the medium and to directly appeal to much younger readers based on adult biases about those readers' sophistication. This overtook much of the best earlier work in superhero comics, and helped reinforce the public bias against the medium. And of course, readership eventually started a serious decline. By the time of the revival of the medium with much more serious, dramatic fare in the 1960's and 1970's, it was too late – public bias and stereotypes had sank in and grown roots.

The industry and fans had no options for seriously contesting the misperceptions that lead to this dismissive attitude. And sadly, the early history of comic book films did nothing much to help alleviate the stigma, and in fact largely reinforced it up until the arrival of the 21st Century. Only a few films from the 1970's through the 1990's ever stood out as exceptions to the norm, with each one or two good films usually surrounded by a flood of lower quality fare that typically lacked the same degree of seriousness, respect, and appeal to more mature audiences. Let's turn now to the role the comic book film genre has played in all of this.

The history of comic book films has been mixed. After beginning with short serials in the earliest years, the first feature-length comic book film was 1951's SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN. The next attempt was 15 years later, when the BATMAN television show was adapted to the big screen. Whatever lack of seriousness and commitment to dramatic storytelling existed in these earliest films was at least partly due to the fact that the comic books of this time (the 1950s and 1960s) often refused to treat the characters with the same degree of respect and seriousness that existed in previous and subsequent years.

The modern era of comic book films was kicked off with 1978's SUPERMAN. The epic scale, large budget, and overall high quality of the film introduced Hollywood to the reality that these films could be very profitable, and that the comics represented a potentially lucrative source of material from which to draw upon. Sadly, after the first two Superman films, the quality took a nose-dive in terms of both quality and profitability. Other early and mid-80s attempts to bring other comic books to the screen likewise failed, due to poor quality and a lack of respect for the material. The 1989 film BATMAN revived the hopes of comic book fans, with the introduction of a serious, darker-themed film that convincingly erased the memory of the campy 1960s TV show and established Batman as a modern pop-culture icon.

The subsequent BATMAN sequels at first still retained most of the more positive lessons, but unfortunately suffered some hiccups. 1992's BATMAN RETURNS was a more macabre film than the first movie, and while still successful at the box office it didn't meet expectations. The studio then sought to lighten the franchise. This lead to BATMAN FOREVER, which was indeed more family-friendly and a sometimes slightly campy portrayal, but still overall faithful to the source material and one of the more profitable and popular Batman films. So the studio moved toward even lighter fare and additional camp in 1997's BATMAN & ROBIN. The film was modestly profitable and certainly still had roots in certain eras in the comic book's history, but it was a critical failure and not profitable enough to give anyone faith in further film attempts at that time.

Having seen two of the biggest, most popular and recognizable comic book heroes sink after a few films, the lesson might have been taken away that comic book films simply could not sustain either quality or audiences. The 1990s also saw a few other entries that further enhanced this theory about the unreliability of the comic book genre, a recurrence of what happened in the 1980s. Hollywood had the impression that comic book films were a fad, so they treated them as a fad, attempting to cash in quickly by tossing out a number of low-quality productions.

A few films helped keep alive the sense among some in Hollywood that the right application of quality and production values could still produce comic book films capable of being both critically and monetarily successful. 1994's THE CROW and 1999's BLADE were in the best traditions of 1989's BATMAN, in their dark and brooding feel and even in some production values. And notice again that this is another aspect of the 1980s phenomenon reoccurring – toward the end of the decade comes a film (or films) that rise above the otherwise increasingly bad quality.

"BIAS AND BACKLASH: A Look at the Anti-Comic Movie Sentiment" (Part 2 of 4)

2009-04-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

Author: Mark Hughes
April 21, 2009
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Someone somewhere in Hollywood seems to have grasped that the supposed "fad" aspect was a self-made situation, and that the drop in critical and box office success not just of the broad array of comic book films but even within the more popular franchises (Superman and Batman) was due to the same Hollywood reaction to the perception of a fad. They started to see that successful films depended upon recognizing material that contained the most interesting characters and stories, and to seek out creative filmmakers who could recognize these popular aspects of the material and respectfully adapt it to the screen. Once the message sank in, a golden age of comic book films was ushered in.

The coming of Marvel’s Spider-Man to the big screen was a huge event, since this was a character on par with Superman and Batman in terms of being hugely popular already with mainstream audiences. It was very important in establishing the modern comic book film era, to have a new franchise entry who was at once so recognizable and popular, to kick off a renewed interest and growing near-obsession with the genre among the mainstream film-going audience. The SPIDER-MAN films received critical acclaim, not to mention absurdly high box office receipts. We also had the emergence of the X-MEN films. These, too, were films that gained critical acceptance and were popular with audiences.

Once studios embraced the genre as sustainable, they also embraced a forward-looking mindset as well. Building franchises, and taking the time and energy to do it right, became important. This in turn required an even deeper and more serious look at the genre, at the source material, and at the proper creative teams to lead the charge. What had to happen, and what I think was in fact inevitable once this new mindset became widely understood and accepted in Hollywood, was to take the genre to a new level. The SPIDER-MAN films had indeed revived the genre and fueled the modern rise of comic book films. However, it was still rooted in the pre-existing model of adaptation of the material, and built upon the foundation laid by SUPERMAN back in ‘78.

Now, Hollywood had reached the point where something significant had to come along to reshape the genre in a way that transcended not the source material itself – since the material was steeped in deep dramatic themes and strong characterizations – but rather that transcended the existing perception of the source material by mainstream audiences and critics.

The first shot across the bow of popular misconceptions about comic book films was BATMAN BEGINS. While not actually bringing about such a complete rethinking, it laid the groundwork. It accomplished this in a way that few expected, and that few perhaps realize: The introduction of the illusion of realism. By placing the characters in a world that seemed plausible and seemed to mirror our own, it made the characters immediately more accessible. It challenged the existing popular impression that comic books can't possibly say much of relevance to our lives and our world because they are so far removed from that world.

A new way of conceptualizing the comic book film had emerged, albeit still in its primal stage. And we had this introduction of an new paradigm while the genre was still rising in popularity based upon strengthening the original foundations. Still, traditional sentiments about comic book films had not been completely erased yet. The foundation existed, but what was necessary was to build upon it. The year 2008 was the milestone in the fundamental shift of the genre. That shift began with IRON MAN. The film had strong similarities to BATMAN BEGINS and represents the first film of this new framework to realize the opportunity to utilize the fantastical in a way that breaks with previous tradition.

Another entry into the superhero genre is notable here. While not based upon a comic book, HANCOCK in fact adopted the new conceptual framework rising in the comic book genre of films. The film imagines a character essentially embodying the most fantastical powers of a superhero (flight, invulnerability, super-strength), but asks what this would look like in the real world, and how the public would really react.

A film now arrived that removed any doubt that a fundamental shift in the genre was occuring: The sequel to BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT. The film was already having an impact several months before its release, generating Oscar buzz the year before it appeared in theaters. Advance talk of box office records began to reach hysterical – and, as it turns out, prophetic – proportions. It swept into theaters like a hurricane, exceeding all expectations and wiping away most of the previous conceptual framework for the film genre.

THE DARK KNIGHT fundamentally transcended common perceptions of the genre – perceptions, though, that were already in flux and shifting toward the new conception of the genre. Among the many reasons that audiences and critics responded so phenomenally to the film, one reason in particular is most relevant to this discussion: the grounding of the film in that illusionary realism, not just in how it literally attempted to build a world with imagery and limitations that audiences recognized, but in characters who were grounded in a seeming realism in their emotions, their reactions, their entire persona. Once audiences envisioned these characters as real people, then the actions and motives of those characters also became more real.

There was not only a realization that the genre was now here to stay as a dominant box office force, but also that a new type of film had emerged from the genre to set a standard that would guide most future big comic book films. By the end of 2008, eyes were turning to watch the next film on the horizon that seemed about to reinforce the framework introduced by THE DARK KNIGHT, and to test the real viability of how far the boundaries of the genre could be pushed.

That film, of course, was...

"BIAS AND BACKLASH: A Look at the Anti-Comic Movie Sentiment" (Part 3 of 4)

2009-04-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

Author: Mark Hughes
April 22, 2009
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Some people thought WATCHMEN would be a test of how much audiences could really be "trusted" to embrace deeper thinking, serious comic book films that fully examined the psyche of the masked hero. I think this is a mistaken expectation, however. WATCHMEN was based on a supposedly “un-filmable” comic book, without any characters immediately recognizable to mainstream audiences, and filled with themes and violence that truly pushed the boundaries of the genre as people understood them. This was a test of whether the new framework could sustain perhaps the most difficult of adaptations – unknown characters in an "unfilmable" story likely to garner an R-rating for the graphic nature of its content.

These changes in comic book films signify something more important than most people seem to realize. The film industry has undergone precisely the sort of reassessment of their perception of the comic book medium that is needed among the general public. Studios have at last realized that comic books are an actual source of good literature, and the industry no longer treats the medium as first and foremost something for young kids (and within the context of the studios' perceptions of kids' sophistication).

The significance of this change must be understood – at last, one of the largest mediums in our world, a mainstay of entertainment and culture, experienced a shift in their concept of the comic book film. Where the mainstream news media had failed for decades to appreciate comic books or to promote the medium as a legitimate artistic outlet and source for adults, the film industry was now onboard.

With critics and news articles discussing the ways in which THE DARK KNIGHT and IRON MAN had redefined the comic book film genre, with Oscar buzz building for Batman's film, and with eyes turning toward the future in anticipation of WATCHMEN, the sense that the film genre had at last become a permanent and now serious fixture in the film industry was undeniable. There was a lot more news coverage than usual related to the genre. The message was spreading that these films were to be taken seriously.

WATCHMEN hit theaters in March of 2009, amid a wave of anticipation. Mixed with that anticipation, however, was a quietly growing backlash just waiting for the opportunity to unleash itself. WATCHMEN was, I believe, another triumph for the genre. It was very faithful to the source material, it was obviously a labor of love for the filmmaker, it introduced thought-provoking themes, and it maintained the maturity and depth of the comics while being another solid entry in the new framework of the genre.

Whatever mistakes the film made, the final result is a film that should be seen as the important step for comic book films that it is – probably the best possible follow-up to THE DARK KNIGHT in terms of what it represented for the genre, what it proved about the strength of the new framework even in the midst of relative "disappointment", and the degree of controversy over its content and its message. While the film severely underperformed compared to expectations, it can hardly be said that the film didn't meet some "objective" standards of success for a March-released R-rated film about unknown characters played by unknown actors and full of graphic violence and explicit sex. It had a big opening weekend, it looks likely to finish with about $200 million in total box office (not to mention the likely success on DVD as well), and domestically it topped $100 million. Films that are unpopular "duds" don't pull in $200 million, however much that figure is obviously far below expectations.

With all of the talk about the rise of comic book films and their evolution into serious filmmaking, there arose a panic among some critics. Although it took about a week for the negative sentiments to really gel into a single narrative about the film, once that happened most critics and members of the press got in line. The reality of films based on comic books becoming Oscar-contending works, evoking emotional responses from audiences, containing mature narratives, and existing within contexts familiar to viewers was all too much for a significant segment of film critics to bear. And it suggested something equally unacceptable for them – if these films were capable of attaining such lofty places in filmdom while remaining "faithful" to their source material, that demands a rethinking of comic books as legitimate art as well.

Within the film critics' community, the segment engaging in this backlash didn't just begin with WATCHMEN – it started in fact with THE DARK KNIGHT, and then from there grew larger until "Watchmen" saw the more overt expressions of outright bias. That bias was also on display at times in reviews of THE DARK KNIGHT, where some critics lashed out not only at the film itself, but also at the comic book genre and comic book fans themselves. Insulting stereotypes of fans, mocking the artistic merit of the source material, and from that perspective hammering the film was the common face of negative critical reception for THE DARK KNIGHT.

This band of critics were lonely in June of 2008, outnumbered almost 16 to 1 by their colleagues who liked or loved the film. In 2009, however, they were in a majority. They were again insulting, condescending, and dismissive of the film genre, sending the message, "Enough is enough, it's time to stop treating comic book films as serious art." The backlash even had a retroactive effect. A few articles crept up suggesting that the "hysteria" over THE DARK KNIGHT was misguided, that reactions were overstated, and that Oscar talk was hyperbole. The old bias rears its ugly head, reminding us that however much the mindless throngs filling theater seats might approve and see these films as having deeper meaning and important themes, in the end that is simply a reaction of teaming masses ill equipped to judge true artistic merit.

"BIAS AND BACKLASH: A Look at the Anti-Comic Movie Sentiment" (Part 4 of 4)

2009-04-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

Author: Mark Hughes
April 23, 2009
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In the aftermath of this backlash, we can see other people now feeling more at ease expressing hostility toward the treatment of comic book films as a serious and respectable genre. On the April 10, 2009 episode of “Bill Maher's Real Time,” Maher interviewed Ron Howard. Their final exchange involved Ron Howard stating that he was once offered the chance to direct a Batman film, but turned it down. Maher's response was typical of the bias against the genre:

Maher: "Good for you. Those are comic book movies. And they're all alike... no... yeah, but they're all alike. I hate it when someone says CATWOMAN was a piece of shit, and SPIDER-MAN is genius. It's the same goddamn story. I'd much rather watch CATWOMAN 'cause I get to look at Hale Berry the whole movie... they're all for children.”

So Maher maligned not just the genre in general, but also the source material and the fans. He refers to fans of these films as "children", implying an immaturity on the part of anyone who feels these films have more artistic merit. Maher is a man who often expresses very thoughtful, well-reasoned, and bold viewpoints when such things are least appreciated. He has made a career of challenging common mainstream misperceptions about issues and about the people associated with those issues (his defense of marijuana users as more than just stereotypical "potheads," for example).

Like the film critics, Maher was demonstrating that otherwise intelligent, open-minded people, usually capable of appreciating artistic merit or other complex but unpopular concepts, can and frequently are still influenced by common mistaken perceptions and biases that continue to exist for no other reason than that they have been around so long. Maher, then, symbolizes the true roadblock to ultimate success in overcoming the stigma and stereotypes that revolve around comic books and their films: the backlash against the genre is effective because it taps into a pre-existing bias and is merely reminding us of it.

The backlash succeeds not only by reminding society of a traditional bias, but also by subtly playing into fear. What the critics have done is to say, "These comic books are made for children! You aren't a child, are you? Is your concept of art the same as a child's preferences?" This is why the backlash has been effective – it passed from the critics to more mainstream media voices, and it plays upon people's self-esteem.

Some commentaries asked whether WATCHMEN had perhaps killed the comic book genre single-handedly. This ridiculous notion obviously ignored the fact that the previous years had seen the genre take over of the box office. That WATCHMEN became the second-highest-grossing film in history and broke the one-billion-dollar threshold globally (not to mention getting eight Academy Award nominations) just a few months ago didn't seem to affect the gloom-and-doom talk regarding WATCHMEN sinking the future of the genre with it's $200 million-plus "genre-killing" run.

Luckily, the film industry isn't buying it. Despite the backlash, studios are moving ahead with long-term planning and serious thought about how best to produce strong, dramatic comic book films. The studios have become the biggest champions of advancing the cause of high-quality, serious genre films. They have embraced the changed perceptions about the source material and how best to adapt it, and are now our biggest allies in the cause of changing perceptions of the genre. This, then, is one of the key elements previously lacking in the attempt to redefine comic book films and public perceptions of comics. A large, powerful industry, able to reach the public with the the strongest possible medium to effect a change in attitudes and drive a popular culture trend.

While we are not yet experiencing a broad change in coverage and perceptions, the situation today is far different from what existed in the aftermath of SUPERMAN in ’78 and BATMAN in ’89 and the change has the potential to expand into something larger. If the film industry continues to reject the backlash and to contribute films that build upon the modern success of the genre, then I think that the backlash will (like most backlashes) be short-lived. In the coming years, the backlash will be overtaken by popular sentiment driven by the simple fact of the legitimate artistic merit of these films. As respect for the film genre is established, respect for the comic book medium will grow, and we will overcome much of the stigma attached to the medium. However, it won't translate into increased sales and readership of print comic books for many years to come.

Comic books are a print medium, and print material is experiencing a severe decline that is irreversible. The cause is the Internet and portable media devices. This is why I believe that comic books will inevitably have to transition to a primarily online medium, with trade paperbacks as the only remaining printed version of comic books. When comic books make the transition, they will face tough obstacles: the overwhelming amount of choices available online; competing for attention against video, audio, and other much more interactive media and downloads; and the likely inevitable need to modify the format of the comic book medium online to incorporate things like "motion comics" and CGI, in order to modernize the comic books to fit into the electronic media age.

My fear is that these factors will combine to either end the sustainability of comic books, or force changes in formatting until they evolve so much that they aren't recognizable as their original medium. How far would comic books have to evolve before they crossed over into a form of animated cartoons, for example? These are serious questions to consider. That the industry cannot survive merely in print form will be impossible to ignore in coming years. The transition into electronic media is inevitable, as is the need to transition toward formats that differ from today's format. And the long-term fate of the comic book medium will inevitably impact the future of comic book films as well.

If the comic book medium fails to translate effectively into electronic media, this means a loss of future material to influence the film genre. If comic books evolve into a new structure dissimilar to the original format, this will alter the makeup of fans (for example, broader internationalization of the fanbase, or a structure more akin to animation perhaps unintentionally creating a movement toward growing a growing youth fanbase harkening back to the earliest days of the medium) and have an effect on how the films are made.

It's somewhat bittersweet that the long-term survival and eventual acceptance of the comic book film genre as a dramatic art form begins at the same time that the long-term future of comic books is in question. While certainly the companies will expand into electronic media and find new ways to deliver the material, the medium will be forced to change and may cease to clearly resemble the medium in its current form. I believe the comic book films will become the dominant representation of the comic book art form in decades to come, and the one most likely to enjoy widespread critical and public acceptance, while the original comic book medium evolves into a brand new medium during its transition into electronic media.

BOF contributor Mark Hughes is a screenwriter living in Maryland.
He is an avid film fan and a longtime collector and reader of comics.

Animated "Green Lantern: First Flight" Release Pushed Forward; New Image Released

2009-04-06T23:37:00.000-07:00

April 06, 2009 by Zach Demeter

Warner Home Video has issued a press release and a new image for the upcoming home video release of the direct-to-video animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight.

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT GETS NEW STREET DATE;
FIFTH DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE ARRIVES JULY 21, 2009 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO

BURBANK, CA, (April 6, 2008) – The street date for Green Lantern: First Flight, the fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies, has shifted to July 21, 2009. A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the illuminated hero’s first-ever full-length animated film will be distributed by Warner Home Video. Green Lantern: First Flight will be available as a special edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def for $24.98 (SRP) and $29.99 (SRP), respectively, as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). Order due date is June 16, 2009.

Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) leads the cast as the voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. The cast includes Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs). Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, Green Lantern: First Flight is directed by Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Superman Doomsday) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman).

Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.

Green Lantern: First Flight - 2 Disc Special Edition and Blu-Ray versions include more than three hours of incredible bonus features as well as a Digital Copy Download.

About Warner Premiere:
Warner Premiere is Warner Bros. Entertainment’s new direct-to-consumer production company focused on the development, production and marketing of feature-length content, as well as short form digital content for the growing home entertainment market. Warner Premiere is committed to being at the creative forefront in the evolution of quality product in the direct-to-DVD business and the digital space, creating material that exemplifies the commitment to story, production and brand equity for which Warner Bros. is known.

About Warner Home Video:
With operations in 90 international territories Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

About DC Comics:
DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC Super Heroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics’ Web site is located at www.dccomics.com.

GREEN LANTERN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics. (s09)

About Warner Bros. Animation:
Warner Bros. Animation has been producing award-winning original animation since 1930, when it released its first cartoon, “Sinkin' in the Bathtub.” Since then, Warner Bros. Animation’s characters have set the standard for innovative, quality animation. Producing for network and cable television, online, home entertainment and feature films both domestically and internationally, Warner Bros. Animation is highly respected for its creative and technical excellence, as well as maintaining the studio’s rich cartoon heritage. Warner Bros. Animation also oversees the creative use of, and production of animated programming based on classic animated characters from the Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics libraries.

A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the direct-to-video Green Lantern: First Flight animated feature will debut Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 on DVD and Blu-ray disc. Stay tuned for further Green Lantern: First Flight updates.

The Soul’s Midnight Struggle -- Why Batman Works

2009-04-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D.

When my youngest son first viewed Spider-Man, his little wheels began to turn as he made plans to cause the screen fiction to become fact when he “got older.” It took a lot of convincing on my part to persuade him that what he sought to do, in his feverish, mad-scientist dreams, he could not. Spider-Man was fun, we both agreed, and he represented many noble qualities: self-sacrifice, courage, perseverance, etc., but I had to help him see that he was also impossible. As boys turn into men, they soon discover that no one is coming from Krypton to save them, people cannot run at near the speed of light, or stretch their arms around a skyscraper, or force-push their enemies using mind power. As much as many of us would like it, people simply are not imbued with super-powers.

That is why I still like Batman -- Batman is possible. Okay, highly unlikely, but still possible.

His latest incarnation, Batman Begins, is perhaps the best to ever hit the screen. The reasons Batman Begins resonates so well with certain audiences are because the film is not afraid to make bold (and biblical) claims about the world, or struggle with the dual natures of his humanity. But perhaps Batman’s most potent allure lies in the fact that while he is young, rich, smart, and highly trained -- he is not super-human. Batman is just a man.

The Biblical World of Batman Begins

No one, perhaps, has said it more eloquently than G.K Chesterton: “Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin -- a fact as practical as potatoes. Whether or not man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was not doubt at any rate that he wanted washing.”

While films like Spider-Man, The Incredibles, and the forthcoming Fantastic Four posit an essentially good world that needs to be saved from an anomalous, encroaching evil, Batman Begins is blunt. The world is not a good place -- it is seething with sin. Even when admitting that there are some people trying to do the right thing, as did Bruce Wayne’s philanthropist father, it was twisted by his home town, Gotham City, into evil. Before I am set upon by people who think this view too bleak and pessimistic, it must be noted that this view is no stranger to the Scriptures.

Our world is described in the Bible as “a crooked and perverse generation” where no one “does good” (Phil. 2:15; Rom. 3:12). The people who inhabit it are enslaved to sin (Rom.6:6). Our struggle is described as “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). But make no mistake -- these are forces that control those they have enslaved.

Gotham City is sin writ large. The niceties of “civilization” have been stripped away and what viewers see is raw motive. Like Abraham contending with God over Sodom, we are seeking at least some righteous to warrant the saving of the city. Enter the flawed hero -- Batman.

Batman and the Struggle of Humanity

Batman is one of the best comic-book representatives of the duality of human nature. There is a large part of Bruce Wayne who wants to do what is good -- an expression of the image of God in all humanity. But there is another part that simply wishes to use crushing power to eradicate evil -- operating outside the law -- an expression of the sin nature. Even in his dark pursuit he evokes the sympathy due a victim. As a young boy, Bruce was forced to stand in an alley and watch as his parents were brutally gunned down by a common thief. Bruce wants vengeance -- and, unlike most of us, he has both the means and the will to pursue it.

Upon his parents’ death, Bruce inherits Wayne Enterprises -- a mega-corporation -- instantly making him a billionaire. Unsatisfied by wealth, Bruce seeks to understand the criminal mind so that he can best defeat it. Along with brains, he needs brawn, so Bruce treks around the world being trained in the martial arts. He is given an opportunity to join the elite League of Shadows -- a vigilante organization sworn to eradicate evil. Initially drawn to the League, Bruce discovers that it is nothing more than the flip side of the criminals it seeks to stop. The League, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, lacks justice and compassion -- traits, Bruce notes, that should separate those who bear the sword from the wicked they pursue.

The internal struggle Bruce faces is externalized in Batman. He wants to do good, to give the citizens of Gotham City hope for relief from the rampant criminality that besets them. On the other hand, Batman does not merely want to stop villains; he wants to see them suffer. Sometimes his sins are of omission. As he tells one particularly bad man, “I won’t kill you. But that doesn’t mean I have to save you.” That many in the audience find his methods viscerally satisfying says a lot about our own spiritual struggles.

Identity in Humanity

Despite the gadgets, the money, and the costume -- under all of it is merely a man, grappling with his own demons, trying to make sense of the world. Few people are like Bruce Wayne in resources, but many of us are like Bruce Wayne in introspection. We see a world devastated by sin. If we are even the least bit spiritually sensitive, we recognize that something has gone horribly wrong with the world that needs to be put right. In whatever comparatively small ways we can, we try to do good.

Batman represents that part of humanity struggling in the flesh to fix the world. But even here Batman’s creator, Bob Kane (and, later, Frank Miller even more so), gets it right. Batman can’t do it. Fans of the comic book series understand that Batman tries to be an immovable object pressed upon by the irresistible forces of evil that overrun Gotham -- a microcosm of our world. There is no false sense of ultimate triumph. No sooner is one catastrophe averted than another arises. The one mood that pervades the Batman universe is weariness. And that bone-tired feeling of being a step away from a final blow is something that all of us, at one time or another, have felt.

We resonate with Batman, because he is us.

What are Christians to Make of Batman Begins?

Batman is not the answer, he is the expositor. In a bigger-than-life arena, he explores and exposes what many of us expect is true about the world. What Christians know is that the world does not need a superhero, it needs a Savior.

Films like Batman Begins provide Christians with excellent opportunities to talk about the fallen nature of the world, and of ourselves. We can talk about the seductive call of vengeance that we feel, even when the wrongs we suffer are minor. We can discuss the darkness that pervades our planet; all the while we are unveiling God’s plan to redeem us and it. We were made for something better. That belief is the only reason we are able to recognize our twisted world for what it is -- temporary.

Batman Begins may be fiction -- but it points to important facts. In that way, the bleakness of much of the movie is more useful than the artificially upbeat tone of other super-hero films. Instead of standing on the sidelines, waiting for a kindly mutant to save us, Christians can take part in bringing light to dark places. And ultimately we need not be satisfied with occasional victories, because we know that one day good will truly triumph, and evil will utterly wither away.

The Allure of The Dark Knight: Speaking a Troubled Truth to an Anxious Audience

2009-04-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D.

The Dark Knight has brought in more money at the box office in its first eight days of release than its predecessor, Batman Begins, did it its entire domestic run. Some point to actor Heath Ledger’s untimely death as a factor, others to his Oscar-nomination-worthy performance as The Joker. Both certainly play a role. Either might get fans into seats at least once, but neither can explain the multiple viewings that blockbuster films of this caliber must attract to post the kind of numbers that The Dark Knight boasts: top opening night of all time, top weekend of all time, top weekly box office of all time – which it accomplished in six, not seven, days, and fastest film to $300 million, cutting the time to the record from sixteen days to only ten.

So what drives audiences to repeat viewings of a film that is, by any standard, a dark film set in a dystopian world with, at best, an ambiguous ending? I would like to argue that The Dark Knight is resonating with film audiences because it has tapped into a collective moral angst about the condition of our culture, and the schizophrenic attitudes many have about what it takes to set things right. In line with our culture of narcissism, regardless of what the mirror shows, we enjoy looking at ourselves. The Dark Knight reflects our culture’s troubling truths: our downward slide into nihilism, the impossibility of continuing to draw from a moral well without replenishing it, and the difficulty of wanting heroes while inhabiting a post-heroic age. The world of The Dark Knight looks both grim and familiar – it is our own, writ large.

Sliding Toward Nihilism

Gotham City has never been the poster child for the model American metropolis. There are good reasons why Batman operates there instead of, say, Des Moines. But even in its underworld there was always an odd sense of orderliness. The job of the crooks was to commit crime. The police had a duty to catch them. There was planning and execution. Even among thieves there was occasionally muted cooperation and a warped code of “honor.” This was a world, for better or worse, that operated under rules.

The Dark Knight introduces The Joker as the harbinger of a new immoral order. He describes himself to District Attorney Harvey Dent as a kind of force of nature: “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I am a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. I just do things.” But moments later, he reveals his true identity, “Introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fear.”

The crimes committed in The Dark Knight -- murder, kidnapping, bank robbery, and terrorism -- are not otherworldly; they are the evening news. The Dark Knight merely consolidates them in a single city; creating a recognizable microcosm of crime. But unlike crimes of the past, where someone might do something evil to obtain something good – for example, rob someone to get money – The Joker simply revels in lawlessness. He is an icon for the random attacks against innocents by strangers and the senseless drive-by shootings that have recently plagued our nation. We live in a world that no longer makes sense. We see in The Dark Knight a fictional expression of our own world gone mad.

Under interrogation, The Joker rejects the idea that his is some alien ideology. Providing his analysis of the bastions of rules and laws – the police department – The Joker explains, “You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve.”

The important question to ask is whether The Joker is right.

An Inconvenient Morality

The Dark Knight does not provide any easy answers. The optimistic viewer will find plenty of examples of people trying to do the right thing, engaging in self-sacrifice, and taking time to examine themselves before acting. But the film balances these with otherwise upright citizens who will try to engage in blackmail if they think they can get away with it, who will shoot an innocent man on orders of The Joker in response to the fear of what The Joker might do if they don’t, who will violate the law and terrorize a person in police custody to get the information they need to prevent another crime, who will democratically vote to slaughter a boatload of prisoners, who will deliver an innocent man to death to save a relative, who will violate the rights of millions of people in order to capture a dangerous man, and who will openly lie to the citizens to maintain their faith in the system.

Is this imagery unfair?

We live in an era in which, for the majority among us, truth and morality do not matter. In 2002, researcher George Barna revealed some startling statistics about public morality. What Barna discovered in his study was that only 4% of all teenagers believe in moral absolutes. And only 9% of Christian teens believe in moral absolutes. Startlingly, only 32% of Christian adults believe in moral absolutes. Study after study shows us to be a nation of liars and opportunists. When people say that there are no moral absolutes, they reveal something about their character. Rules apply when convenient, and can be discarded when the cost of following them appears to exceed the temporal benefits of adhering.

Of course, living in a chaotic world of moral anarchy presents many dangers. The quickest way to expose the false nature of nihilists is make them victims of crime. Lie to them, steal from them, and like everyone else they will cry, “Foul!” But in a culture taught that morality is subjective and relative, and that truth is nothing more than a social construct, how often can we go to our collective historical moral well and expect to find anything there to draw from? How can a culture that abandons morality replenish that well? And once we draw too deeply, exhausting the reserves created by our forebears, who will be there to champion our cause?

Seeking Heroes in a Post-Heroic Culture

Batman, as currently conceived, is the only help in the time of post-moral need. Bruce Wayne admits to his butler, Alfred, and his former girlfriend, Rachel Dawes, that Batman is an unusual sort of hero. Wayne recognizes that a vigilante hero might be the only thing standing between Gotham and bedlam for now, but that kind of order cannot be maintained. Trying to do right, while engaging in illegal activities, is a tightrope act. Gotham City needs a moral leader who can do the right thing while living his life out in the open (what used to be called “character”) -- a man like Harvey Dent.

The connection between these two strangely complimentary heroes reveals the ultimate agenda of The Joker. Motivated by chaos and anarchy, The Joker sets his sights on destroying all bastions of morality, public or private. As he continues to ratchet up the price that needs to be paid for following the rules, Dent begins to crack. Ultimately, as all followers of the comic book story (or viewers of the pre-Christopher Nolan films) know, Dent is overwhelmed, and is transformed into the villain Two Face.

Batman is not a public figure, but his rule-based morality is a constant challenge to The Joker’s ascendant immorality. The Joker wants to break Batman, even at the cost of his own life. In response to the Joker, Batman says that he only has one rule (it is implied that he tries very hard not to kill people), and The Joker replies that this is the one that Batman will have to violate in order to save one of his friends. When Batman acts virtuously in the face of immense temptation to do otherwise, The Joker accuses him of a “misplaced sense of self-righteousness.” In the end, Batman is forced to take upon himself the sins of another, and perform the services of a scapegoat, an outcast, in order to save the city that rejects him.

Thomas de Zengotita, in his book Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It, argues that we are in the age of the twilight of the heroes. In a relativistic world, heroes begin to look arrogant. As de Zengotita notes, “Who do they think they are?” If everyone is “special” in his or her own way, why should anyone be “more special” than anyone else? Why should any other person’s morality trump my morality? What makes the great thinkers' thoughts so “great” anyway? One way to assure their death is, at every turn, to try to chop them down to size. To de Zengotita, this represents an attractive outcome. He believes that local heroes will come to replace great heroes. What he fails to understand, and what philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue understood completely, is that it is the culture’s stories of great heroes that inspire the actions of others. Take that inspiration away and the world is likely to look very different in a few short years.

In an early scene, a copycat Batman questions the right of the genuine article to fight crime while denying others the right to do the same. Batman has been successful in cleaning up the streets of Gotham. But when The Joker demands that the Batman be unmasked or else many people will die, in a heartbeat the citizens who have thrived under the Batman’s protection are screaming for his arrest. Heroes traditionally embody a sense of ideals that people, even if they cannot emulate them perfectly, still value. But in a relativistic world we find ourselves paradoxically wanting a hero, while simultaneously rejecting the morality that makes heroes possible.

Inexplicable Shock

In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis described our current predicament well: “And all the time – such is the great tragi-comedy of our situation – we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible...In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”

The Dark Knight does our culture a great favor. It uses a popular media format, fictional film, to magnify our culture and reveal its unsettling end. The Joker is a type of Nietzschean Superman – a person whose word is law, and the undoing of all other laws. To those who would reject the notion of The Joker as the natural end state of moral relativism, what objection could be raised? Without any transcendent morality to which a culture can call upon to judge actions, we would be bereft of any means of calling those who would do evil into account. We would lack the vocabulary to even call their deeds evil.

But like Scrooge, visiting his own grave with the ghost of Christmas future, our culture's end is not yet etched in stone. The Dark Knight provides for us a cautionary tale, but not one entirely without hope. It is possible for our culture to tumble into anarchy and chaos. We can even choose to act surprised when it does. But no amount of exclamation will save us. The message of The Dark Knight is that each of us needs to respond to the challenge to be the kind of person who is committed to discovering the right thing, and then doing it – not furtively in the darkness – but fully in the light of day.

Marc T. Newman, PhD., is the president of MovieMinistry.com, an organization that provides sermon and teaching illustrations, Bible studies and discussion cards, drawn from popular film, and helps the Church use movies to reach out to others and connect with people. Requests for media interviews, or reprints of this article, can be made to marc@movieministry.com

Political lessons from ‘The Dark Knight’

2009-04-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

08/06/08
Posted under Youth

By Niña Terol
Contributor

IN his piece on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight for Time, Richard Corliss writes, “Nolan has a… subversive agenda. He wants viewers to stick their hands down the rat hole of evil and see if they get bitten. With little humor to break the tension, The Dark Knight is beyond dark. It’s as black — and teeming and toxic — as the mind of The Joker.”

Having watched the film twice, first on Imax and next on a regular theater, I can’t help but agree that The Joker is a better reference for the film than its real protagonist, Batman. Spawned right from the center of Limbo, with all the qualities we find loathsome, pitiful, and yet terrifying, The Joker is a reminder of everything we don’t want human beings to become. Quoting Corliss again, the late Heath Ledger’s Joker “observes no rules, pursues no grand scheme; he’s the terrorist as improv artist.”

But I’d take it a few notches further and say that The Joker is the film’s “inverted social conscience,” the dreaded, deadly disease that makes society work together to find a cure. It is he who asks the hard questions; he who challenges the taken-for-granted assumptions; he that pushes humanity to see how low they would really sink — or how far they could really rise. He is the ultimate “necessary evil” that forces us to see just what we’re really made of. A composite of everything that is wrong, perverse, and twisted in our society, it is he who nonetheless shows us our true potentials for greatness.

It just goes to show that, in the movies — as well as in politics and the rest of real life — there’s a lot we can learn from the bad guys. We cannot simply turn our eyes away from them, or pretend they’re not there, or believe that they will simply go away. They will not– for they are here to stay. But instead of ignoring them because they’re such “bad examples,” we should study them, dissect them — even if we don’t understand them — and see how we can stop the rest of the world from joining their ranks.

Crooks (trapos included) do have a purpose. They’re there to show us what can happen if we let ourselves slide too deeply.

Which brings us to Lesson # 2: Harvey Dent.

Gotham’s fearless, charismatic new district attorney is the ultimate tragedy of human potential. He starts out as everyone’s hero, Gotham’s “White Knight” who has come to save the day, except that when he collides with the dark forces we find that his foundation was too weak to stand against the very forces that ultimately subsumed him. This is what happens when we depend on one person to be our Messiah. People are people — even in this age of celebrities, icons, and “modern-day heroes” — and they will slip, or slide, or sink (sometimes very, very low). When we pin all our hopes on just one person — or one entity or one ideal — the results can be tragic. The solution is to empower everyone to be the source of the solution, which, ironically is what The Joker attempted to do in the hospital and ferry scenes — regardless of his twisted definition of the “solution”.

Lesson #3: When push comes to shove, trust people to do the right thing.

Speaking of the ferry scene, another point the movie made very well was that everyone, even the lowest scoundrels of society, has some emergency button of goodness within them that they can access and activate even at the most desperate times of their lives. Just give them a compelling reason and just enough time (but not too much) to think through their decision, and people will almost always gravitate toward the good. I’m no expert in human behavior and so I cannot vouch for this as truth, but I believe that when we put our faith in people — and they know how important their choices will be for everyone else on board — they will do their best to make the right decision. It won’t be easy, but it’s possible, even outside of Hollywood.

Lesson #4: Sometimes, the “right thing” (or person) is difficult to understand, or even recognize.

How will you know that you’ve done the right thing? How will you know that you’ve chosen the right person? You won’t — not at the onset, or not always. Because, sometimes, the person whom you thought was the answer will leave you disappointed and asking more painful questions. If Harvey Dent had lived and had been allowed to unleash the fullness of his newfound glory upon Gotham, what would have happened? We don’t know for sure, but we do know that we cannot allow something like that to happen here. We cannot allow ourselves to be bought by the winning smile, the boy-next-door look, or the Messianic pronouncements. Even when looking at one’s track record (as in Harvey Dent’s case), we have to go over every detail very, very carefully.

Conversely, we also cannot simply discount the “dark horse” as a nuisance entity or a subversive force that must be stopped. It’s possible for the totally misunderstood rebel to be exactly what we need. Sometimes, collective understanding arrives so slowly that we are not able to recognize a hero when we see one. So we cannot trust our gut or our intellect alone. When looking at people, we need to understand the context of their actions, and also the context of the decisions we need to make. In Gotham, as in real life, nothing is truly black or white.

Lesson #5: Sometimes, we need to live with lies in order to find our truth.

Nobody understood this better than Batman himself. He has had to perpetuate a lie in order to allow justice to prevail, even allowing Two-Face to be seen as the Knight in Shining Armor that everyone needed him to be. Sometimes, we need to live with a lie in order for truth, justice, and goodness to prevail — so that the delicate threads that weave our social fabric do not disintegrate and explode into chaos.

The challenge is discerning which lies we need and which ones we should never entertain.

(Niña Terol is Team RP’s vice chairperson for internal affairs. She sometimes imagines herself to be Rachel Dawes—without the tragic ending. She wrote this article originally for the Young Public Servants website).

source: http://blogs.inquirer.net/philippineelections/2008/08/06/political-lessons-from-%E2%80%98the-dark-knight%E2%80%99/

Pine Talks GREEN LANTERN Rumors

2009-04-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
April 2, 2009

My friends over at MTV's SPLASH PAGE have nabbed an exclusive with potential Hal Jordan Chris Pine. No, I had a meeting with [casting director] Pam Dixon and [executive producer] Donald De Line, but a meeting was all it was. I have not been offered squat. I do not have the part and haven’t read a script.”

For the full story, click on the link provided. But before we end, I've GOT to quote Mr. Pine once more. He says the following in regards to comicbookdom, "I'm not a big comic book fan...there’s not a particular superhero or comic book character that I’d like to play."

*GASP!*

Before all you comic book/Green Lantern geeks trip out (and metaphorically "pound" this guy into submission on your fave message board), let's all remember that the late and great Heath Ledger once said something similar. And his turn as The Joker turned out OK, didn't it.

Not saying that I'm a "Chris Pine MUST be Hal Jordan!" dude -- I'm actually a Sam Worthington man myself -- but I simply wanted to point that out and remind folks how asinine fans can be at times. Anyway, I AM looking forward to me some GREEN LANTERN on film!

GREEN LANTERN hits theaters in December of 2010!

SOURCE: MTV's SPLASH PAGE.

Caine Speaks!

2009-04-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

AUTHOR: Jett
DATE: April 1, 2009

The great Sir Michael Caine -- who portrays Alfred Pennyworth in the current Chris Nolan BATMAN film series -- had a few Bat-related things to say of late. Check this out…

On Heath Ledger winning an Oscar:

“I'm so pleased. I thought that it was very important for his family as well. I was a big fan of his from the first time that I met him. I was absolutely stunned by the way that he did it and the energy that went into [playing The Joker].”

On Christian Bale’s TERMINATOR meltdown:

“That stunned me, because he's not like that at all. I would never have imagined Christian doing that. It's completely out of character. “[But], I outdid Christian by about 30 minutes [on the set of THE LAST VALLEY] and with more language than he knew!”

Caine also says that he expects to do a third BATMAN as soon as director Chris Nolan is ready -- though he joked, “I hope I'm still alive [by then]!

Sir Michael also speculated on a possible villain -- The Riddler. While Nolan may well decided on using the character, keep in mind that Caine knows about the next Bat-Villain as you and me.

In other words, he's guessing and/or responding to the rumors just like you and -- well -- not me. ;)

For the full story, visit PEOPLE.COM.

Batman's "New Era?" Bring It On!

2009-03-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Author: Cary Ashby
March 27, 2009

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can listen to BOF's "New Era of Batman" roundtable podcast HERE. We've got all opinions covered on this one, so don't think it's all one-sided. One can also find an opposing view to this op-ed (authored by me -- full disclaimer) RIGHT HERE. - "Jett"

Before I started ranting on “Batman‘s New Era,” let me establish a few things…

1) Most importantly, I'm no "Bat-Sheep," as Jett puts it. I have no problem saying DC has made knuckleheaded editorial decisions. (Superman Blue and Red, anyone?) When I see some of those poor choices, I just want to smack myself in the head -- mentally, at least -- and then want to do the same thing to the writers and editors. ("Help us, Denny O'Neil, you're our only hope!”)

2) I'm also not willing to follow DC around blindly simply because I can't freakin' afford it! If I'm going to lay down my hard-earned cash for some comics, I want to make sure I get my money's worth. In other words, if it goes in my collection it's because I truly WANT it in my collection and will be re-reading those issues on occasion. When I returned to collecting comics in the late 80s (after leaving when I get royally irritated about Jason Todd, basically an obnoxious version of Dick Grayson, being Robin), I promised I'd be very selective about what BATMAN releases I would buy. And I still stick to those guns. 'Cause let's face it, some of the stuff released since the '89 film has been forgettable, well, you know….

3) Bruce Wayne IS the Batman. Always will be (but apparently not starting in June) and will be again. How can you not put BW and The Dark Knight together in the same thought? They are inseparable. I stopped watching BATMAN BEYOND because I realized I didn't like somebody besides BW being The Bat. The best part of KNIGHTFALL? Knowing Bruce would be driven to return as Batman and then see him putting a hurtin' on AzBats, who had soiled what Batman stood for, to reclaim The Mantle of the Bat.

4) I'm all for trying to keep long-time characters fresh. Sometimes that involves making controversial or unpopular writing decisions. In other words, writers have to take storytelling chances. Some work well and some fail miserably.

5) At the end of the day, I want to read (or watch) a memorable, fun comic book adventure.

6) SO...I'm down with this "New Era of Batman."

GRANTed (pun intended), I’m as event-fatigued as the next guy. I’m sick and tired of DC having a Crisis after Crisis. Enough already! Grant Morrison shouldn't have given us two (!) ways for Batman to "die." He should have chosen one and stuck with it and made it flow between the end of “Batman: R.I.P.” and FINAL CRISIS. Instead, we're left confused…very confused. As frustrated and disappointed as I am with the way the continuity between “R.I.P.” and FINAL CRISIS was mishandled, I’m not willing to be a fair weather fan and give up comics because the original Batman is no longer The Dark Knight. (Although I do see why that might be the case.)

Why, you ask? I have faith DC and the talented pool of Batman family writers can spin some good yarns out this Batman-is-gone scenario. It should be a heckuva ride. After all, I’ve referred to myself as a diehard Batman fan for too long to jump ship now.

Without further adieu, here are my thoughts and predictions on the new era of Batman…

THE NEW BATMAN
As I wrote for my paper's column in mid-November, I have no doubt Dick Grayson (aka Nightwing) will be the new Batman. He’s been groomed to take over for Bruce Wayne ever since he became the first Robin. And frankly, like Marvel’s Captain America, I’d love for DC to take a long time with Dick in the cowl and truly try to make a go of it. That would make for interesting story possibilities. What better way to get fans anxious about the original's return than by having them wonder when, or even if, Bruce is returning to the cowl?

BATMAN AND ROBIN
First of all, it’s about time we had a series focused on The Dynamic Duo. Yes, this is a roll-your-eyes way of DC getting readers to buy more titles, but the post-Bruce Wayne world is the best time to debut this title.

My heart wants to see the new Dynamic Duo being Dick and Robin III (Tim Drake), but my instinct is telling me Robin might be Damian, Bruce’s biological son. I just don’t see Dick wanting his partner to be someone both people haven’t been able to trust. Why would Tim suddenly giving up his Robin identity? Morrison gave a lot of clues to Damian being Robin not only throughout his BATMAN run, but also in his extensive interview with blog.wired.com. Having Damian as Robin would be extremely disappointing, especially considering how great the interactions have been between Dick and Tim and how much time other writers have taken to develop their brotherly relationship. The tweaked Robin costume and Morrison using B&R (and BATMAN #666) to probably keep his "Batman & Son" storyline going is further evidence Robin could be the brat, er, Damian. (Drat!)

Morrison’s “David Lynch directs the Batman TV show” pitch makes me nervous, but I’m usually that way with him -- or utterly confused. How ‘bout some linear narratives for a change, huh, Grant? I hope he approaches B&R with the same respect and novelty he did ALL-STAR SUPERMAN. Regardless, it should be an intriguing approach to the Dynamic Duo.

DETECTIVE
I’m all for Batwoman getting her time in the spotlight. She was way too underused in 52. Why introduce a character with ties to DC’s past and not do much of anything with her? Let’s face it: Batwoman’s time in this title could be an audition for her own series.

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS
I might not pick up this title much past its first issue or storyline, but if it’s anything like the Webisodes of “Gotham Girls,” we’re in for a treat. Besides, Dini’s run on DETECTIVE COMICS was stellar, if not (dare I say it?) an instant classic. SIRENS could be the villainous answer to BIRDS OF PREY, but probably will be much more interesting, at least under Dini’s more than capable pen.

RED ROBIN
All evidence points to Jason Todd being Red Robin. The second Robin has had an annoying habit of taking up other people’s identities since he was resurrected. So it makes sense for him to bear the name of the middle-aged, alternative Dick Grayson in KINGDOM COME and the duds that JT wore in COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #7. But wait -- Dan Didio, in an IGN video interview about Batman’s future, said Tim doesn’t believe Bruce is dead, so could Robin III become Red Robin? Maybe Tim gives up being Robin to search for Bruce as a civilian.

OK, I admit it: It's a toss-up between Jason Todd and Tim Drake. My vote is for JT to be Red Robin, keep Tim as Robin and Damian as the unwanted intruder.

Here's to deep pockets, discerning, skeptical minds, a lot of fun, and some great reading during this “New Era of Batman” -- however long it lasts.

Batman's "New Era" Begins in June

2009-03-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 24, 2009

As you all know, I’m not too thrilled with all this -- this “New Era” for Batman. Regardless, it’s happening and it starts in June. Here are Batman in Comic’s June solicitations from DC….

BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
* Written by Grant Morrison
* Art and cover by Frank Quitely
* On sale June 3rd
* Reviewed on BOF by Jett
"Batman Reborn" begins here! With the reunited team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, WE3, New X-Men), this first issue kicks off a 3-part story arc that can't be missed! The new Dynamic Duo hit the streets with a bang in their new flying Batmobile as they face off against an assemblage of villains called the Circus of Strange. They also tackle their first mission investigating a child who’s been abducted by the mysterious Domino Killer. But will everything go smoothly? And who exactly are the new Batman and Robin? The newest era of The Dark Knight begins here! Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Frank Quitely), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by JG Jones). For every 250 copies of the Standard Edition, retailers may order one copy of the Sketch Variant Edition (with a cover by Frank Quitely), which is a sketch version of the Standard Edition.

BATMAN #687
* Written by Judd Winick
* Art by Ed Benes & Rob Hunter
* Cover by Tony Daniel & Sandu Florea
* On sale June 10th
* Reviewed on BOF by Paul Casey
In this special epilogue to BATTLE FOR THE COWL, new BATMAN writer Judd Winick rejoins the Bat Family! This 40-page issue explores the final moments of the Battle for the Cowl as the new Batman learns that winning the Cowl comes at a high price! Witness the new Batman taking to the streets of Gotham City for the first time! Putting a new man inside the Bat-suit was the easy part – now the fun begins! Guest-starring Superman and Wonder Woman, this issue is a must-read for any Batman fan. Form for more information.

DETECTIVE COMICS #854
* Written by Greg Rucka
* Art by JH Williams and Cully Hamner
* Cover by JH Williams
* On sale June 24th
* Reviewed on BOF by John Bierly
“Elegy” part 1 of 4! A new era in the history of DETECTIVE COMICS begins as Batwoman is unleashed on Gotham City! Marked by the blood-red bat, Kate Kane is a soldier fighting her own private war – one that began years ago and haunts her every waking moment. With a script by Greg Rucka and breath-taking art by JH Williams III, you've never seen anything like this! Featuring the debut of a new co-feature starring The Question written by Rucka! Odds against you? Alone and nowhere to turn? Willing to fight, but you don't know how? When you're searching everywhere for an answer, sometimes all you need to do is ask the right Question. Renee Montoya again dons the faceless mask to help those in need, all the while searching for her own answers in this new adventure with art by Cully Hamner.

RED ROBIN #1
Written by Christopher Yost
* Art by Ramon Bachs
* Cover by Francis Manapul
* On sale June 10th
* Reviewed on BOF by Ryan Hoss
Writer Chris Yost and artist by Ramon Bachs kick off a brand-new ongoing series right here with “The Grail” part 1 of 4! Following the aftermath of BATTLE FOR THE COWL, a new Batman watches over Gotham City. But not everyone is ready to give up on the old one. Someone believes that Bruce Wayne may still be alive…and that someone is Red Robin. But who is wearing the Red Robin costume, and why is he traveling the globe looking for a dead man? Whoever he is, he's not alone in his search!

BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #1
* Written by Paul Dini and Marc Andreyko
* Art by Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs and Georges Jeanty & Karl Story
* Cover by Dustin Nguyen
* On sale June 17th
* Reviewed on BOF by John Bierly
An all-new Batman series by the DETECTIVE COMICS creative team of Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen! As a new Batman rises on the streets of Gotham City, the heroes, villains and citizens take notice. How will the police feel about this new Batman, and can he control the crime in Gotham the way the old Batman did? This new series also features a regular ongoing co-feature starring Manhunter written by Marc Andreyko and illustrated by Georges Jeanty! Kate Spencer lost a friend during the chaos of BATTLE FOR THE COWL, and now she wants payback. As usual, she’ll use any

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1
* Written by Paul Dini
* Art and cover by Guillem March
* On sale June 24th
* Reviewed on BOF by Stephanie Carmichael
This all-new series features the bad girls of Gotham City! Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are tired of playing by other people's rules regardless of which side of the law they're on. These tough ladies have a new agenda that's all their own, and they'll use any means necessary to pursue it. But can they get along and work as a team? And who will get hurt along the way? DETECTIVE COMICS and STREETS OF GOTHAM writer Paul Dini kicks off this brand-new ongoing series with amazing artwork by Guillem March.

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #30
* Written by Andrew Kreisberg
* Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
* Cover by Stephan Roux
* On sale June 10th
* Reviewed on BOF by John Bierly
“Bad Cop” part 2 of 2! Facing the rogue Gotham City police officer who was “created” by The Joker – Commissioner Gordon and Batman receive desperate help from an unusual source: young Barbara Gordon!

THE OUTSIDERS #19
* Written by Peter J. Tomasi
* Art and cover by Lee Garbett & Trevor Scott
* On sale June 17th
* Reviewed on BOF by Paul Casey
“The Deep” part 5 of 6! With half of the Outsiders captured and the remaining members on the run, things have reached a boiling point for Alfred’s new squad! And to make matters worse, Deathstroke the Terminator discovers he may have found a way to increase his amazing powers. Meanwhile, the search for the mysterious meteorite – and its strange connection to the Insiders – continues!

I will admit that I will be reading BATMAN & ROBIN as I will be reviewing it for BOF. In fact, BOF will be covering and reviewing Batman in comics during this "New Era." I'm also intrigued a tad by this RED ROBIN to be honest.

I guess we'll see where all this goes.

"It's all part of...the plan?"

BATMAN 3 Announcement Rumors "Not true"

2009-03-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 23, 2009

Over the last couple of weeks, BOF has heard whispers from very good sources that Warner Bros. might be planning on officially announcing BATMAN 3 as well as the return of director Chris Nolan. When was this to take place? Well, in late July as Comic Con International 2009 commences in San Diego.

After hearing this scuttlebutt from several trusted insiders, I proceded to pose the question to Warner Bros. As well as Chris Nolan representatives. Warner Bros. tells BOF that this particular rumor is “not true,” while Nolan representatives had not responded by the time this story went online.

Between now and July, could Warner Bros. decide to make an announcement? Sure. But I believe that they would have responded with a “No commment” if it were a possibility. Since THE DARK KNIGHT was announced a year after BATMAN BEGINS in July of 2006, it's certainly looking more and more as if BATMAN 3 is going to be a 2012 release.

Anyway, BOF highly recommends fans NOT to expect a B3 announcement come CCI San Diego time and prepare yourself for a three year wait before the next BATMAN hits theaters.

No More R-Rated Comic Book Films From WB

2009-03-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 23, 2009

According to a report over on IESB.NET, Warner Bros. is mandating that superhero/comic book films -- as well as “tentpoles” -- are to be PG-13. Apparently, the R-rated WATCHMEN‘s box office -- or lack thereof -- is behind this decision.

WATCHMEN took in $55 million (domestic) opening weekend and has fallen sharply since. Based on that, I get it -- WB wants these sort of films to available to a larger audience. But I don’t know what they were expecting here -- it’s WATCHMEN for crissakes! But I get it.

Now don’t worry, I don’t think that the fine folks in Burbank are demanding that all DC-based films go the route of FANTASTIC 4, OK. Hell, THE DARK KNIGHT was pretty damn dark and it was rated PG-13 -- and it made a BILLION DOLLARS! Just don’t expect the upcoming GREEN LANTERN, WONDER WOMAN, and BATMAN 3 to include F-bombs, sex, and bloody/gory violence. And frankly, I have zero desire to see an R-rated BATMAN, GL, or WW anyway.

Now on the other hand, if a film of this genre demands an R-rating to tell the story properly, I’d hope WB wouldn’t put the ‘ol kibosh on it. This mandate does reek a bit of “Well, it’s a comic book film -- they’re for kids,” which certainly isn’t cool.

Overall, I’ve got no problem with this. For the full story, visit IESB.NET.

Crash Test Dummies: Superman's Song

2009-03-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

tarzan wasn't a ladies' man
He'd just come along and scoop 'em up under his arm
Like that, quick as a cat in the jungle
But clark kent, now there was a real gent
He would not be caught sittin' around in no
Junglescape, dumb as an ape doing nothing

Superman never made any money
For saving the world from solomon grundy
And sometimes i despair the world will never see
Another man like him

Hey bob, supe had a straight job
Even though he could have smashed through any bank
In the united states, he had the strength, but he would not
Folks said his family were all dead
Their planet crumbled but superman, he forced himself
To carry on, forget krypton, and keep going

Superman never made any money
For saving the world from solomon grundy
And sometimes i despair the world will never see
Another man like him

Tarzan was king of the jungle and lord over all the apes
But he could hardly string together four words: "i tarzan, you jane."

Sometimes when supe was stopping crimes
I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back
On man, join tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city, and kept on changing clothes
In dirty old phonebooths till his work was through
And nothing to do but go on home

Superman never made any money
For saving the world from solomon grundy
And sometimes i despair the world will never see
Another man like him
(2x)

The Ballad of Barry Allen

2009-03-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

Performed by Jim's Big Ego
from the album, "They're Everywhere!"

I've got time to think about the beauty of the thousand variations of the beating of a wing of a hummingbird suspended in the aspic of the world moving slower than molasses as I'm off to catch the girl who is falling off the bridge
and I'm there before she knows it
I'll be gone before she sees me
with my hand around her waist
I pull her back to safety
by the time she knows what's happened
there'll be someone else who needs me
because time keeps dragging on
and on
and on
and on
(time keeps dragging on)
I've got time to think about my past as I dodge between the bullets how my life was so exciting before I got this way and how long ago it was now I never can explain by the clock that's on the tower or the one that's in my brain
and I'm there before you know it
I'll be gone before you see me
and I'd like to get to know you
but you're talking much too slowly
and I know you'd want to thank me
but I never stick around
because time keeps dragging on
and on
and on
and on
and on
And you say the time goes rushing by
but it seems so slow to me
and you see a blur around you fly
but it takes too long
it seems so slow to me
(time keeps dragging on)
How I wish I'd never gone into my lab to experiment that night before lightning flashed around me
and time changed speed
now I have to try to be so patient and wait for calamity to strike
because when things change in an instant
it's almost fast enough for me
and I'll be there before you know it
I'll be gone before you see me
and do you think you can imagine
anything so lonely
and I know you'd really like me
but I never stick around
because time keeps dragging on
and on
and on
and on
and on
And you say the time goes rushing by
but it seems so slow to me
complain I'm gone before you blink your eye
but it takes too long
it seems so slow
And you say the time goes rushing by
but it seems so slow to me
and I want to be there while you laugh or cry
but it takes too long
it seems so slow to me
(time keeps dragging on)
and on
and on

Hal Jordan Cast?

2009-03-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 21, 2009

UPDATE: Per MANIA.COM, no offer has gone out to actor Chris Pine to play Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. Says the site, "One source told us the producers of the film are "not even close to making an offer" for the lead role. The reason? The casting director on the film hadn't even signed on until late last week, the same day that the offer supposedly went to Pine. In fact, the casting director plans an exhaustive search which may result in a star, an up-and-comer or a complete unknown landing the job."

As I said last week, one of the other names being thrown around is that of Aussie thesp Sam Worthington who stars with Christian Bale in this Summer's TERMINATOR SALVATION. However, Mania says that agents everywhere are pushing their clients who meet the model for the producer's take of Hal Jordan.

The previous GL casting report is below...

According to both LATINO REVIEW and IESB.NET, Chris Pine (STAR TREK) is either the front-runner to play Hal Jordan in the upcoming GREEN LANTERN film, or has already been offered the part.

On the other hand, the website COLLIDER.COM claims it's BS. “At least according to my source, and mine is the same one that said Anton Yelchin wasn’t in the running either. Trust me, the person I’m speaking with would know. While Latino Review and IESB have definitely broken a lot of casting stories, this is not going to be one of them.”

Well obviously, someone is going to be wrong here. Anyway...

BOF was told yesterday that industry scuttlebutt has TERMINATOR SALVATION star Sam Worthington was in the mix. Honestly, I'd prefer this casting over Chris Pine – but that's just me.

Hal Jordan?
Sam Worthington (up) & Chris Pine (down)

Regardless, filming for GREEN LANTERN is slated to commence filming in September, so casting the title role is definitely going to go down soon.

Director Matthies Talks UNDER THE HOOD

2009-03-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Jett
March 20, 2009

The fun doesn’t end for WATCHMEN fans as Warner Premiere’s WATCHMEN: Tales of the Black Freighter arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, March 24th. Included in the release is co-producer/director Eric Matthies’ all-new take on UNDER THE HOOD, the Hollis Mason/Nite Owl autobiography from the original WATCHMEN graphic novel.

One of the more cutting-edge creators of DVD content in the industry, Matthies, along with partners Tricia Todd and Josh Oreck, has been responsible for acclaimed ancillary materials for such landmark DVD releases as THE MATRIX, 300 and SPIDER-MAN. He has helped elevate DVD extra content to a new art form, and UNDER THE HOOD is a prime example.

Along with co-producer Wesley Coller and writer Hans Rodionoff, Matthies created the perfect vehicle for bringing Hollis Mason’s tell-all autobiography, Under the Hood, to life. As the subject of a story revisited 10 years later in the fictional “The Culpepper Minute” TV news magazine, Under the Hood expands beyond what was originally limited to words on a page and a few single-frame images. The chronicle of the events in Mason’s life that led to him to become the masked avenger Nite Owl – including the formation of the Minutemen – now plays as a feature that allows the characters (Mason, the original Sally Spectre, The Comedian, Moloch the Mystic) to add even greater depth to the tale.

Carla Gugino, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan appear as their characters from the theatrical Watchmen film in this live-action documentary-style special. Produced in association with Legendary Pictures, UNDER THE HOOD is executive produced by Zack Snyder, Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, Deborah Snyder, Thomas Tull and Wesley Coller.

Matthies took a few moments this week to discuss the origins, direction and incidentals of UNDER THE HOOD. The following is a transcript of the Q&A.

What made the news magazine format work for Under the Hood

ERIC MATTHIES: “We needed a concept that would not require a leap of faith, and that would not just be a book on tape. The news magazine format really allowed us to expand in so many ways. First, we were able to incorporate Larry Culpeper, and have him represent an outside voice speaking about both the memoir and the world in which it was taking place. And by having Culpeper revisit the story 10 years later, we were able to cover two different time periods and give the original piece greater perspective within the WATCHMEN movie. It also gave us the chance to explore more of the characters through interviews -- like Wally Weaver and Laurence Schexnayder -- and delve more into the background of their characters. This was an idea that worked on so many levels.”

As Zack said to Hans, “When in doubt, go back to the source material and you really can’t go wrong.” And he’s right.

Did changing the format from first-person narrative to a new magazine perspective work for or against the original content?

ERIC MATTHIES: “One of the ways we stayed true to UNDER THE HOOD was simply to have Stephen McHattie answer the interview questions pretty much the way Hollis had written them, combined with some of his own improv on what Hollis would say. And then we were able to fill in the gaps with other interviews.”

How did the cast react to these in-character interviews -- especially Stephen McHattie as Hollis Mason?

ERIC MATTHIES: “Stephen McHattie was great -- he really got it and was able to really bring something special to that material. It was obvious that he had read UNDER THE HOOD, and I think it was fun for him to be able to put some life behind those lines.”

“It’s a testament to each individual – they’re all fantastic actors with a great understanding of their character, regardless of the size of the role -- and to Zack (Snyder), who gave them a three-ring binder of resource material and back story. So when we came along and gave these actors the opportunity to bring even more depth to these characters through this ancillary content, they all jumped in and really embraced what we were trying to do. And they all had their different approaches, which made it even better. Carla (Gugino) was amazing -- she and I probably had the most dialogue about the project. Rob LaBelle and Matt Frewer were great, too. We even got to introduce Malcolm Long and he alludes to how he’d love to interview one of these masked heroes. They seemed to really appreciate the opportunity to play with these characters.”

Was it difficult shooting UNDER THE HOOD during the filming of WATCHMEN?

ERIC MATTHIES: “The planning started pretty much day and date with production, and we started shooting in late November knowing that there would be a couple of things we’d have to pick up later. The tricky part of UNDER THE HOOD was balancing the shoot schedule with the film, and coordinating shoots on certain sets or areas of sets in combination with which actors were available, in coordination with hair and make-up and costumes, because everything had to match with the different time periods. So a lot of things needed to come together and, yes, we had to change our plans a few times, but everyone really pitched in. It was complicated, but a lot of fun. It’s an honor and a challenge when you get handed the responsibility of something like this -- working with a crew this talented -- and part of that thrill is that you really have to raise your game every day. So for me, that was great.”

What were the specifics you were seeking to convey behind the TV commercials within the program?

ERIC MATTHIES: “Originally we talked about showing three Veidt ads, and the one we used was actually the one we made as a sample for the fan contest. Discussing it with Wes Coller, Debbie, Zack and the producers, we wanted commercials that would help anchor the piece in something familiar to the audience for that time period. We had obstacles – a lot of what we found and loved was either not available or not licensable. But I like the commercials we used -- the Seiko commercial is a nice nod to the watches in the film.”

“Our researcher Anna Obropta really deserves a lot of the credit – she really knocked herself out. Those are actual commercials -- we just redid the voiceovers. Anna was responsible for getting us the commercials, plus all of this amazing stock footage -- everything from the old New York street footage to the McCarthy hearings. She and a team of lawyers worked hard to clear to use what we used.”

Do you have a favorite scene within UNDER THE HOOD?

ERIC MATTHIES: “I really had a lot of fun going back to recreate the footage from the 1930s of Mothman and Silhouette and those characters, having them in costume on the New York streets fighting crime – and shooting it on 16mm with an old Bolex hand-crank camera. We mixed that footage with interviews we shot on high-def, which we treated in post-production. It gave the film a nice texture.”

Do you believe you achieved your initial goals with the final result of UNDER THE HOOD?

ERIC MATTHIES: “The goal was to make ancillary material that complemented the film, and I think we achieved that. The wonderful thing in the graphic novel is that UTH gives you all the background and psychology and philosophy of the masked adventurers and the impact they had prior to Dr. Manhattan. But there was no way Zack could include every bit of that information. It was a great responsibility to make something that they didn’t have to shoe-horn into the movie.”

“The production team on the feature was so fantastic -- especially because I don’t think they completely understood what we were up to at first. It took a little convincing. But they all did amazing work on our behalf. When we first shot with Hooded Justice, that was a thrill to walk out onto the New York Street set. I’d shot on that set before, but now it was my set. To have Michael Wilkinson’s team doing their costume magic to help our production, and to have prop master Jimmy Chow making things like holsters for us -- it was amazing to have all the resources of this giant movie afforded our little 40-min piece. I want to thank them all -- they were very gracious about everything, they were so attentive to details, and I appreciate that they wanted to elevate our production value so it would fit into this amazing world they had already created.

And then there was Zack and Debbie Snyder and Wes Coller, Lloyd (Levin) and Larry (Gordon) -- they all gave me the confidence to run with it and do what we did as well as we did. It was a huge responsibility and a tremendous honor, and I’m proud of what we achieved with UNDER THE HOOD.

Green Lantern to Start Filming in September

2009-03-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

Source:Production Weekly
March 18, 2009

Warner Bros. Pictures is scheduled to begin filming The Green Lantern in mid-September in Australia, reports Production Weekly.

To be directed by Martin Campbell, the comic book adaptation is targeted for a December 17, 2010 release.

The "Green Lantern" was created in 1940 by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell. Hal Jordan introduced in 1959, a second-generation test pilot, is an ordinary man who was given the power ring and battery (lantern) by a dying alien named Abin Sur. When Abin Sur's spaceship crashed on Earth, the alien used his ring to seek out an individual to take his place as Green Lantern: someone who was "utterly honest and born without fear."

"Why So Serious" Wins At SxSW!

2009-03-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Jett
March 16, 2009

How cool was all the viral stuff for THE DARK KNIGHT?

As for me, I LOVED that stuff! From the first reveal of Heath Ledger as The Joker to the “I Believe In Harvey Dent” marches all over the U.S., not one second of it I didn’t look forward to as a fan and cover as “press” for BOF.

Hell, I even marched on behalf of Harvey Dent in both Houston and Austin!

Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know that 42 Entertainment's “Why So Serious” viral campaign won top prize at the SXSW Interactive Awards!

“Why So Serious,” of course, was launched to promote THE DARK KNIGHT and attracted nearly 10 million players in over 17 countries!

It is one of the most successful ARG’s (Alternate Reality Game) to date.

From BOF to 42 Entertainment, “Well done!”

And by the way, y'all had me at “Why So Serious?”

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES Going Animated PG-13!

2009-03-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 16, 2009

According to AICN, the Jeph Loeb-written "Public Enemies" storyline from SUPERMAN/BATMAN comic book is getting the PG-13 animated film treatment from WB/DC.

AICN says the movie is already in production and has the synopsis as well:

"United States President Lex Luthor uses the oncoming trajectory of a kryptonite asteroid to frame Superman and declare a $1 billion bounty on the heads of The Man of Steel and his “partner in crime” Batman. Super heroes and super villains alike launch a relentless pursuit of Superman and Batman, who must unite – and recruit super help – to stave off the action-packed onslaught, stop the asteroid, and uncover Luthor’s devious plot to take command of far more than North America."

Nice! Not a big fan of Batman teaming up with superpowered beings, but I love these animated films and I'm really looking forward to this one! To prep, I guess I should go buy and READ THE COMIC it's based on.

BATMAN IN COMICS: BOF's mad as hell and ain't going to take it anymore!

2009-03-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 14, 2009

The first time, it took ‘em 30 years to run me off. This time though, they must have upped their game, ‘cause they’ve made me wave the white flat after only 4 years.

“Thanks” DC.

*rolls eyes*

After watching a recent interview with DC’s Dan DiDio and Mike Marts discussing what they have in store for Batman in comics (CLICK HERE to view) -- this so-called “New Era for Batman” -- I’m sad to say that I have absolutely ZERO interest in any of these future endeavors.

Why?

BECAUSE “BATMAN” HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS!

Sure, there’s going to be a guy (Dick Grayson I presume?) in a Bat-Suit fighting crime in Gotham City. But unless it’s Bruce Wayne in a Bat-Suit fighting crime in Gotham City, it’s NOT Batman.

It’s like they say, it don’t matter how much perfume you spray on a piece of crap, it’s STILL a piece of crap.

Bruce Wayne is Batman, Batman is Bruce Wayne. Remove that element from the character, and you don’t have THE character.

And DC has to know this, right? Really, there’s just no way (*crosses fingers*) they think that you can stick anyone in the suit -- Dick Grayson included -- and it’s Batman. And that’s what makes this all the more maddening is because it’s nothing more than a gimmick -- a stunt to get people talking and angry (duh!) and buying more comics.

I guess DC figures that all of the Bat-sheep will simply fall in line and buy “Battle For the Cowl,” this BATMAN & ROBIN by Grant Morrison, this DETECTIVE starring Batwoman -- and ALL of this other Bat-Garbage and wait. The Bat-sheep’ll just bend over and scream “Thank you sir, may I have another” buy and read this drivel, and wait for Bruce Wayne’s inevitable return. Then when he DOES return, the Bat-sheep will laugh a laugh of relief and say, “Whew! You really had us going there DC!” And the fine Bat-Folk at DC will -- and probably have been -- laugh a laugh of “Ha! We really had those Bat-sheep going!”

Is Grant Morrison the tail that wags the dog at DC?

Well you know what? I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!

And YOU -- you “Bat-Sheep” -- should be too.

Check out these results of a recent "Bat-Poll":

Yeah, I know this isn't a scientific poll, but the results pretty-much echo the feedback I'm getting from fans via email. I think it's pretty telling that 32% don't read the Batman comics and 27% have stopped reading because of FINAL CRISIS and BATMAN, R.I.P.. On the other hand, only 17% seem to like what's going on while 23% are going to keep reading -- despite not liking the state of the Bat-Comics.

Before y'all even do it, spare me with the “It’s all about the story…being creative…and the ride” stuff, OK? This is the sort of mentality that’s allowing DC to do this BS to all of us Batman fans. When people write in to me and tell me, "Give it a chance" or "Enjoy the ride," all you’re really saying is “Thank you sir, may I have another.”

Think about that when your paying for that next Bat-Comic, OK?

The thing is though, DC’s is getting too cute for their own britches. I guess they didn’t learn anything when previous gimmicks like KNIGHTFALL, UNDER THE RED HOOD, CONTAGION, CATACLYSM, and “Whatever BIG Stunt Crossover” drove longtime fans away -- like me -- back in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Do they NOT think fans will simply accept good storylines in the monthlies that DON’T have to crossover into the other titles and NOT come off as superhero soap operas? Like the BEST Batman comic book of late -- Paul Dini's run on DETECTIVE.

Apparently not.

I have a new crusade and I haven’t been this fired up since I walked out of BATMAN & ROBIN back in June of ‘97.

I’d like for DC Comics to realize that they can have their cake and eat it too. If they feel the need to do all this crazy-ass crossover/stunt/gimmicky stuff, cool. BUT, how about a regular -- and QUALITY -- title or two that isn’t mixed up in all that soap opera-ish insanity? How about more miniseries like Matt Wagner’s BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN and BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK? Or the classic THE LONG HALLOWEEN from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale? Hell, or even more of stuff like the recent BATMAN: CACOPHANY from Kevin Smith?

DC, trust me, you’re alienating A LOT of you longtime, loyal fans. And BOF is now banging the drum on their behalf of them -- and mine.

Think…think about this: Bruce Wayne’s now a caveman in the comics.

*shakes head*

Bale Batman No More?

2009-03-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 10, 2009

Boy, THIS has really caught fire. I actually heard being reported as fact on the radio this morning.

Anyway, here’s what was reported: “Sam Worthington, the Aussie actor about to shoot into the stratosphere with his performance in ‘Terminator Salvation,’ is being tipped as the next Batman. That could mean replacing Bale, his ‘Terminator’ co-star and ‘The Dark Knight’ lead, whose profile was damaged after his infamous ‘me, me, me’ meltdown on the set, which recently hit the internet.”

*cough* BS! *cough*

I can report today that that report is nothing more unsubstantial speculation and is…

100% NOT TRUE.

Personally, I blew this off and barley mentioned it on BOF. But like I said, it didn’t go away, so I was forced to look into it.

And I did.

And it’s BS…officially.

Donald DeLine on the Green Lantern Movie

2009-03-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Source:Edward Douglas
March 8, 2009

Producer Donald DeLine has been a player in Hollywood for more than two decades, and he's going to be very busy the next couple weeks, as he releases two high-profile R-Rated comedies, I Love You, Man (out March 20) with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, and Observe and Report (out April 10) with Seth Rogen. Uncoincidentally, both movies are playing at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, on March 13 and March 16 respectively.

Having had a chance to talk to the producer earlier today, Superhero Hype just had to ask him about his long-in-development movie based on the DC Comics character Green Lantern, which just had its release date set for December 17, 2010.

We were especially curious about how they were planning on incorporating all the mythology surrounding the character in a way that would satisfy the hundreds of thousands of comic book fans who've been waiting a long time for this movie. "Our story is the Hal Jordan origin story, but creating the character of Hal Jordan that is a real character that will resonate with the fanbase is what we need to do. You have to make him credible and somebody to care about and tell a good story, and I think if we do that, we'll be okay."

"It's going to be a series of big stakes and big action, but it absolutely has a sense of humor," he replied when asked about the humor quotient of the movie. "I think people accept real life, even with really serious situations, with humor as part of that situation, as we experience in life, you have to have that. That's how people cope, so they've done it so well in these other movies. I think that people are absolutely ready. It doesn't have to fall on one side of the fence vs. the other."

Lastly, we asked him to address the rumors about them deliberately going younger with Hal Jordan, something that came out of the bogus stories about Anton Yelchin auditioning, but De Line denied the intention to cast younger. "Not really, late '20s, early '30s."

Review - WATCHMEN: THE COMPLETE MOTION COMIC

2009-03-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 8, 2009

TITLE: WATCHMEN: THE COMPLETE MOTION COMIC
RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2009
OFFICIAL SITE: WATCHMENMOVIE.COM
OWN IT: BLU-RAY | DVD | ON DEMAND OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Watched any great books lately? Now you can. The most celebrated graphic novel of all time that broke the conventional mold continues to break new ground WATCHMEN illustrator Dave Gibbons oversees this digital version of the graphic novel that adds limited motion, voice and sound to the books strikingly drawn panels. All 12 chapters of the story are here nearly 5 hours spanning everything from the mysterious demise of the Comedian to the crisscrossed destinies of loosely allied superheroes to their fateful impact on the world. Be in the know. Be watching. With WATCHMEN: THE COMPLETE MOTION COMIC.
TRAILER:

What do you get when you cross a comic book with a audio book with a DVD/Blu-ray?

A “Motion Comic!”

I recently received a copies of WATCHMEN: THE COMPLETE MOTION COMIC -- on DVD and Blu-ray -- for reviewing purposes here on BOF. Now I knew of this “Motion Comic” format, because some of the BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE stories were given the treatment not long ago. But honestly, I only saw short previews and didn’t pay it much attention. This time, I had to pay attention because I had to review it. Consequently, I sat through all five hours -- that’s right five -- of WATCHMEN: THE COMPLETE MOTION COMIC.

And I was completely enthralled.

Honest to goodness, I popped in the Blu-ray version around 3 in the afternoon on a Saturday, and watched it chapter for chapter in one sitting.

It’s that good.

Here’s what to and not to expect…

There’s only a narrator (Tom Stechschulte), so don’t anticipate that each character has their own voice actor. And Stechschulte does a really nice job anyway.

This is not an animated film, though it is “animated” at times. That doesn’t mean that someone was created for the DVD, they simply used panels from the graphic novel and made them move at appropriate times.

If you’re worried about parts of WATCHMEN being nixed for time purposes, don’t sweat it. The entire graphic novel is here.

I was tremendously impressed with WATCHMEN: THE COMPLETE MOTION COMIC. I recommend it for not only folks who’ve read the graphic novel (many times) like me, as well as those new to WATCHMEN.

Remember in elementary school when you’d have “reading time?” Your teacher would read a book to the class while showing you the pictures? Well, this is kinda like that except, uh, it’s for adults and R-rated.

WATCHMEN Does OK Opening Weekend

2009-03-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

Author: Jett
March 8, 2009

WATCHMEN did OK at the box office its opening weekend.

It’s figured that the film will take in about $55.7 million its first three days, according to Warner Bros.

"Our expectations were met," said Dan Fellman, the studio's president of domestic theatrical distribution. The film was released in 3,611 theaters, a record for an R-rated release.

For comparison, Zack Snyder’s 300 took in $71 million its first weekend two years ago -- a record for a March opening.

SOURCE: REUTERS.COM.

TDK Finally Done In Theaters

2009-03-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Posted by: Jett
March 8, 2009

In comes WATCHMEN, out goes THE DARK KNIGHT.

Warner Bros. finally pulled the plug on TDK at theaters. As of March 5, 2009, TDK had racked in $533.3 million domestically and is the #1 superhero/comic book movie of all time.

According to BOXOFFICEMOJO.COM, TDK is also the most attended film since THE PHANTOM MENACE back in 1999. Adjusted, it’s #27 all-time at the box office and #2 unadjusted.

Worldwide, TDK is only the fourth film in history to cross the $1 billion mark.

A box office and critical success, TDK was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 2 -- including "Best Supporting Actor" for Heath Ledger as The Joker.

2012 For BATMAN 3?

2009-03-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

Author: Jett
March 6, 2009

Based on conversations with industry insiders as well as the apparent schedule for INCEPTION (preproduction, shooting, and postproduction), it’s starting to look like BATMAN 3 is going to end up being a Summer 2012 release.

Firstly, let’s take a quick look at a little Nolan history.

We know now that the script for THE DARK KNIGHT was finished before the end of 2005 -- about a half a year after BATMAN BEGINS was in theaters. Nolan worked on THE PRESTIGE during the latter part of 2005 on into 2006, with the film ultimately being released in October 2006. In July of 2006 while the director was still working on THE PRESTIGE, Warner Bros. officially announced that Chris would helm TDK, it would be released in the Summer of 2008, and that Heath Ledger had been cast as The Joker. Once THE PRESTIGE hit theaters in Fall of ‘06, there was then a six month gap before filming began on TDK.

Right now, INCEPTION is in preproduction. From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, filming will take place from mid-2009 and finish late in the year. Nolan and co. will most likely be involved with post for most of the first half of 2010, readying the film for it’s mid-July release.

It looks as if there will be no way that BATMAN 3 can go through pre, filming, and post during the second half of 2010 and the first part of 2011 and be ready for a Summer ‘11 release.

Doing the math, the timeframe between THE DARK KNIGHT to INCEPTION is nine months later than it was between BATMAN BEGINS to THE PRESTIGE -- that’s nearly a year folks. Thus it appears that BATMAN 3 will come four years after TDK.

I know a four year gap is a bummer, but cheer up -- at least we know a Nolan-directed BATMAN 3 is coming!

(And that’s more than we could say back in ‘97 after BATMAN AND ROBIN.)

Who Watches The Watching-Men?

2009-03-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

Author: Mark Hughes
March 6, 2009

This isn't a review of the new Zack Snyder film WATCHMEN This is a review of the reviews, or more to the point a review of a particular type of review that has been cropping up lately in what I believe to be a backlash against the rise in prominence of comic-based films.

Fans of comics know of course that the medium is rich with deeply examined characters within complex, dramatic stories. Complex issues and characterization are frequent hallmarks of a vast array of comic books and graphic novels. Only in recent decades has the medium gained attention as literature for adults, this despite of course many more decades of terrific storytelling and examination of social issues and characterization. But the modern acceptance and occasional acclaim for comic books (most often actually directed at the more adult-sounding term "graphic novels") has been a welcome transition for those of us who have long known the literary value and artistic merit of the medium.

It was perhaps inevitable that as mainstream acceptance of the medium grew, it would propel the printed pages into an ever more successful film genre. The rise of the comic-based film genre as a modern powerhouse at the box office and as a treasure trove full of potential material for future films has, thankfully, attracted increasingly talented filmmakers and performers to these projects. Now, we have just seen the first Academy Award season in which a comic-based film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, and was a top contender for both Best Picture and Best Director nominations.

Comic-based films have officially "arrived" as serious, dramatic works recognizable as great artistic achievements. The future looks very bright, indeed, as studios such as Warner Bros. give careful consideration and serious thought not to just churning out big-budget summer popcorn films featuring these characters, but rather the creation of powerful films capable of gaining nominations and awards for the artistry on display in the work.

Apparently some people are having second thoughts about the advisability of all of this. Namely, a bunch of film critics. It seems that they are disturbed by the notion that suddenly the literary "poor relations" have grown too big for their britches, and that this whole ascendance of comic-based films into the realm of higher-art is not such a good thing after all. So we are seeing with "Watchmen" a sort of buyers remorse from this particular batch of film critics, who are sounding the alarm as they imagine the hordes of masked barbarians storming the gates of the faux-Ivory Towers of pseudo-intellectualism.

I suspect there is a sense of guilt at the root of it all. The critics, in their inflated sense of self-importance, no doubt feel that they accidentally helped legitimize the comic-based film genre in the first place. Widespread critical acclaim for films such as IRON MAN and THE DARK KNIGHT, and some of the early acclaim for WATCHMEN, has spread the notion that this lowbrow, immature pop-culture kitch rises to the level of true art – heaven forbid! That the recent Academy Award season featured much discussion and debate about THE DARK KNIGHT as an Oscar-contender likely sent this batch of film critics into hysterics.

The teaming masses flocked to these films, declared them masterpieces, and had the gall to even rally behind the Oscar-worthiness of the films. Only the power of intellectual critical acclaim could have given the commoners this mistaken sense of a voice in the thoughtful determination of what is or is not serious art, right? So it is of course their solemn duty to undo the damage their powerful expressions of opinion have wrought.

Now these defenders of high-art rush forward to stem the tide, to put the comic-based genre, it's fans, and the mainstream masses in their place. WATCHMEN has become a rallying point, and they've taken out the big guns.

It isn't enough to just denounce the film – that would not be a strong enough statement. No, what is necessary is to make it perfectly clear that it is not merely this particular film, but rather the entire genre and its source material, that are utterly unworthy of serious consideration as art. Even that, however, is apparently not enough, for they have decided it's time to also try to knock all of these comic book fans down a notch or two as well. Time to force back the clock to the time prior to mainstream acceptance of the medium and of its fans as more than just immature little boys who can't talk to girls. Time, in fact, to perhaps literally call them just that – as at least one reviewer explicitly did in mocking those who would watch WATCHMEN in the first place.

By insulting the fans of this material, by dismissing the literary source, and by acting annoyed that the consideration of these films as true art has "gone too far", these reviewers are trying to humble audiences into embarrassed and submissive silence.

The backlash against the genre does not really have to successful stymie the box office power of the films, notice – it merely has to remind audiences that this is all a bunch of mindless fluff suited more for kids, with the warning: "Hey, popcorn flicks are fun, sure, but don't get any delusions of grandeur about this pop-culture crap as serious art." It is the removal of expectations, an attempt to prevent audiences from assessing the merits of the film and reaching conclusions – remember, the goal isn't just to alter those conclusions, it's just as important to alter the audiences' notion that they have any collective right to participate in determinations about what constitutes real art.

So even if fans and audiences feel insulted by this messaging, it has still had its needed impact – reduce expectations, and get across the point that notions of art and literature are the realm of a "better" class of people. This part, then, is easy enough for these reviewers. It is not, however, the main goal.

The real target audience for these reviews is a combination of other film critics and of Hollywood itself. The message to this audience is that these are films taken from comic books, with people wearing masks and underwear, where silly action and special effects cannot ultimately disguise pretense toward being something it's not – high art and serious literature. In other words, stop being fooled by the pomp and circumstance. Make your fun and flashy films, and we'll review them and even smile and wink and encourage the lowbrow viewers to stop by for a fun night – but don't try to pass this stuff off as worthy of serious consideration, and don't nominate this pop-culture kitch for serious awards.

Some of their brethren will no doubt fail to get the message, or will get it but return it to sender. Roger Ebert is one such reviewer, someone who doesn't care what are the origins of a film -- if it is great, then he will call it great. He has long been one of the critics who most recognized the ongoing renaissance in comic-based films, and who early on stated his belief that THE DARK KNIGHT could get -- and would deserve -- a nomination for Best Picture. But his popularity and status is so strong, that the currently incited group of critics can't openly complain and attack the likes of Roger Ebert, lest their own critical voices be rather quickly dismissed and lose whatever weight they might have (even if only in their own minds) in shaping public and industry opinion and standards.

I am not objecting to criticisms of WATCHMEN or of other comic-based films. What I'm objecting to is criticism of this movie and other comic-based films when that criticism is rooted in the fact that they ARE comic-based. That is precisely the sort of knee-jerk hack writing that is being passed off as legitimate critical journalism right now, in a backlash launched by a segment of film critics who fancy themselves the gatekeepers of high culture and intellectualism in film. I'm also not being anti-intellectual here, either. My disdain is directed at pseudo-intellectuals, and those pseudo-intellectuals who pose as definers of true artistic merit.

Those who disliked WATCHMEN or THE DARK KNIGHT for serious, intelligently articulated reasons are quite different from those currently flailing about to discredit comic books as an acceptable literary genre and to insult and degrade comic book fans as childish losers trying to pretend toward intellectualism as a cover for an inability to score dates. These are not the arguments of high-minded critics, but rather petty outbursts from small-minded people alarmed at what they perceive as an existential threat to their self-perceived status as intellectual superiors.

I hope that some of the other film critics speak out openly about this, and take their wrongheaded peers to task for that sort of behavior. I also hope that Zack Snyder, Chris Nolan, and/or some other filmmaker involved with this genre speaks out publicly to the fans and to mainstream audiences as well, to defend the integrity of these films and of the source material, as well as publicly shaming that small segment of film critics for such inexcusable remarks parading around as serious film analysis. But most of all, I hope fans and audiences in general simply ignore these critics and see through the transparent attempts to degrade an art form and a film genre that are more than worthy of consideration as fine literature, dramatic filmmaking, and high art.

Film Review: WATCHMEN

2009-03-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

Author: Jett Man
March 3, 2009

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: "A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, WATCHMEN is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock--which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union--moves closer to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the outlawed but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion--a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers--Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the Watchmen?
RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2009
DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder
OFFICIAL SITE: WATCHMENMOVIE.COM

Before you continue reading my review of WATCHMEN, please indulge me a brief personal story.

I can remember distinctly my introduction to the graphic novel WATCHMEN. While in college, I kept the fact that a was a comic book fan a secret -- it wasn’t “cool” to read them back then. Since I wouldn’t be caught dead in a comic shop, I’d go to a book store at my local mall and read them right off the rack.

That’s how I kept up with Batman in comics back in the 80s.

It was at this bookstore that I discovered the “graphic novel.” Being a Batman fan, I stumbled upon this book featuring Batman titled THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. As I read it, I can remember thinking…

“Why is Batman old?”

“Why is Robin a girl?”

“Why is Batman and Superman fighting?”

“What in the hell are Ronald Reagan and David Letterman doing in this story?”

Anyway…

Like TDKR, I also discovered WATCHMEN at this bookstore. I can clearly recall picking it out because of the “DC” logo. But upon flipping through it, I discovered a bunch of superheroes that I’d never before encountered. As I read it, I can remember thinking…

“If this is a DC comic, where’s Batman and Superman?”

“Why is Richard Nixon still president in the 1980s?”

“Cursing, sex, and blood…in a comic book?!”

“Who is this big blue dude running around naked?”

After reading both THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and WATCHMEN, I began to question myself. Why exactly wasn’t I buying comics anymore?

This DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and WATCHMEN. Not only were they good, but they were written for grownups…and me.

A year or so later, I saw BATMAN (1989) and it was over. To hell with peer pressure! I like comic books, I am a geek, and I’m damn proud of it!

And now, some 20 years later, comic books and the films that are based on them are “cool.” Hell, we’ve even had an actor (the late Heath Ledger) win an Oscar for playing a comic book character (The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT). Comic book movie are now an established form of film here to stay.

As comic book movie legend Michael Uslan told me recently, the Golden Age of comic book movies is upon us.

I’ve been excited to see a WATCHMEN film for several years. As I’m sure you all know, this project was in development hell for years.

I first started following it when director Darren Aronofsky was still attached and it was over at Paramount. Then Darren left and Paul Greengrass was set to direct. Next thing you know, the thing went into turnaround.

Eventually, WATCHMEN found it’s way home to Warner Bros. who put director Zack Snyder (300) on it, and here we are.

WATCHMEN is a film that comic book fans should be very proud of. It further proves that the genre has come a LONG way since the days of STEEL, CATWOMAN, and BATMAN AND ROBIN. BUT…

I’ve got to wonder how this film is going to resonate with a mainstream audience. More on that in a a bit.

Any worries that WATCHMEN wouldn’t be faithful to the graphic novel can be put to rest. Amazingly, the filmmakers were able to incorporate the core theme and message of the book into an almost three hour film. Honestly, Zack Snyder has absolutely nailed it as far being loyal to the comic book. It’s almost like he went out of his way to install images and scenes into the film exactly as they appear in the source material. I’ve got to tip my hat to Snyder and company because I did not think WATCHMEN the book could be turned into WATCHMEN the film.

Alan Moore will be pleased!

Um, probably not.

Are there things from the book omitted? Sure, and that’s to be expected when any book is adapted to film.

Did Synder and the writers make some changes? Yep. I’m sure that this will come off as blasphemy to some, but sometimes changes that filmmakers make can be viewed as improvements to the comics on which they’re based.

Like The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT…

The organic web shooters in SPIDER-MAN…

And making changes to the end of WATCHMEN.

I thought the change (which I won’t reveal) made was actually better. Trust me, it has the same effect and serves the same purpose as the squid in the book.

As far as performances, not a bad one to be had. I particular enjoyed Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl II -- who is the “hero” of the film if there is one. Malin Akerman made for a good Silk Spectre II -- and she’s smoking hot. Mathew Goode as Ozymandia made me hate him -- and I think you were supposed to. I thought Billy Crudup was fine as Dr. Manhattan -- although he’s blue, naked, and CGI for the most part. Jeffery Dean Morgan as The Comedian, what an A-hole -- and that’s a good thing! And…

Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach…

Wow.

This guy simply owned the role -- that’s about all I can say. Of all the Watchmen in the film (Yes, they are referred to by that name), Haley’s portrayal of Rorschach/Walter Kovacs was by far the closest to being exactly like his comic book counterpart. Yet, he brought some humanity to the character that I frankly missed when reading the book. In my opinion, Haley’s Rorschach ranks right up there with the great performances in comic book movie history -- Christopher Reeve's Superman, Christian Bale’s Batman, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to name a few.

A couple other positives I took away from WATCHMEN. The cinematography and look of the film -- this alternate 1985 New York City -- was outstanding. Also, I thought the very 1980s-sounding score from Tyler Bates meshed well the story and the setting. And on a related note, the film certainly had a nice soundtrack with each song included being appropriate to the events of WATCHMEN.

Negatives? Yep, I’ve got a few.

I expected the film to be violent and needed to be at times. Case in point, The Comedian’s murder that opens the movie. With that said, I thought there were some very violent and bloody scenes that Snyder didn’t have use. It seems to me that these brutal images were incorporated for shock value -- simply to say “Look how bloody and gross a ‘comic book movie’ can be!”

Previously I mentioned that it appeared as if Snyder went the extra mile to tremendously loyal to the comic. While that’s certainly a good thing, I felt it was overdone a bit as well. The film’s dialogue being ripped word for word from the graphic novel was annoying at times. Ditto for recreating classic panels from the book as visuals in the film.

Other nitpick is Snyder’s overuse at times of slow motion. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. I wish he had limited the use of the effect to the times it worked the best -- like Nite Owl and Silk Spectre taking on inmates while breaking Rorschach out of prison.

And isn’t Dr. Manhattan the only superpowered being in WATCHMEN? Then how in the heck can Ozymandias, Rorschach and the other human Watchmen do things that would require some sort of superhuman ability?

Oh well.

Earlier, I said that I do indeed wonder how people who have never read WATCHMEN -- the “mainstream” if you will -- will take to this film. As someone who has read the book several times, the movie’s complicated storyline was easy to follow. Will it be too much for those unfamiliar with the book?

Will the fact that it is a very different type of comic book film than previously seen -- THE DARK KNIGHT included -- turn off those folks? Let’s face it, the Watchmen are certainly not the Fantastic 4.

On the other hand, maybe these non-fans will embrace this movie and make it a success. And in turn, studios will be willing to take more chances on other comic book movies that are similar to WATCHMEN, further expanding the genre.

Here’s hoping the Golden Age of comic book movies becomes even more golden in the future.

JETT'S GRADE: A-

Why Watch the Watchmen?

2009-03-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

What makes this comic book cult sensation so special? And why should you uninitiated see the film?

If you live in Los Angeles, or any major metropolitan city, and you've driven down any street lately, you've probably felt the presence of a big, blue, bald man with glowing white eyes peering down at you from a wall or billboard. If not him, then perhaps you've seen a guy in a vaguely Batman-like costume, or a woman in sleek, skin-tight latex and thigh-high boots. No, these aren't the latest fashion trends lighting up Hollywood (although you never know). They're part of the marketing push for "Watchmen," the first major superhero movie to come charging into theaters since last summer's "The Dark Knight" (we'll just forget about the "The Spirit," shall we?). Images of the movie's six main characters are everywhere, the trailers are ubiquitous online and in theaters, and the fanboy universe is about to go supernova. So what exactly is all the caped commotion about?

In 1986 a comic book was published that forever changed the nature of the medium. Titled "Watchmen," the 12-issue series was written by famed comics scribe Alan Moore, illustrated by artist Dave Gibbons, and colored by John Higgins. The impact of "Watchmen" was immediate on a commercial level; it was an instant best-seller and even briefly lifted its publisher, DC Comics, above its eternal competitor, Marvel, in the two companies' never-ending battle for market dominance. But more importantly, on a cultural level, the effects of "Watchmen" are still being felt today throughout the comic book world and, by association, the film, television and even literary realms as well.

Along with, arguably, Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" (issued around the same time), "Watchmen" took the comic book medium to an entirely new level of sophistication, maturity and dramatic potential. Moore and Gibbons brought the story to the page in groundbreaking new ways, while the narrative itself was a rich mélange of action, sci-fi, mystery, politics, social satire and philosophy, steeped in symbolism, subtext and allegory. "Watchmen" took the very idea of the superhero and became, as author Bradford Wright wrote in his study "Comic Book Nation," "Moore's obituary for the concept of heroes in general and superheroes in particular."

Now, 23 years after its initial publication, and almost as long since the idea of a film version of the story was first developed, "Watchmen" is coming to the screen. The project's long struggle to get there is almost as complex and dramatic a tale as the actual book, and for many years "Watchmen" was close to being deemed one of those "unfilmable" projects that would never see the light of day. Now, at last, it's here, under the guidance of "300" director Zack Snyder. And for many comic book fans, March 6, the film's release date, is a day they never thought they'd see. But for the rest of the world, the question is: Why watch the Watchmen?

Origin Story

"Watchmen" emerged out of Moore's desire to take a series of superheroes from the defunct Charlton Comics line, which went out of business in 1986 after a 40-year run and sold its characters to DC, and resurrect them in a new story that would begin with the death of one of them and portray the rest in a fashion that had not been seen in superhero comics to that point. Eventually abandoning the idea of using previously existing characters such as the Peacemaker and the Question, Moore came up with his own set of heroes. They looked and sounded enough like pop culture icons such as Batman and Captain America to strike a chord with readers, but were also deeper, more dysfunctional and in many ways more twisted than just about any so-called "superhero" that had appeared in comic books before.

Thus were born Nite Owl, the Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and the unforgettable Rorschach, six "heroes" in various stages of retirement, personal crisis or mental instability. The world of "Watchmen" is a parallel to our own, set in a 1980s in which Richard Nixon is still president (term limits having been lifted on the Oval Office), the Cold War is reaching a boiling point, and there's a level of dread and anxiety permeating every facet of everyday life. Masked crime fighters, while once a part of this world and influential in the outcome of historical events such as the Vietnam War, have fallen out of favor and are either dead, retired or officially working for the government, with legislation passed in 1977 to outlaw them entirely.

Only one of our six main characters, Dr. Manhattan, is a true superbeing, having been transformed by a lab accident into a highly evolved entity of immense power and energy. Ozymandias, now operating a vast and hugely successful business empire under his real name, Adrian Veidt, is considered the smartest man in the world and has evolved in his own way. The others have relied on a mix of strength, ferocity, fighting skill, technical prowess and intelligence to make their mark, but all four are feeling the effects of age, loneliness and loss of purpose in a world that has rejected them.

The time of the superheroes has indeed passed in Moore's story, and at the worst possible moment. Tension between the United States and Soviet Union, mostly over the presence of Dr. Manhattan as a U.S. operative/weapon, has led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear war. Meanwhile, someone is out to either murder or discredit the superheroes. The story begins with the killing of the Comedian, which the psychopathic Rorschach, who still works outside the law, sets out to investigate. What he and some of the others discover is a plot to not only get the heroes out of the way, but also to alter the course of human history entirely.

Heroes or Villains?

When Moore wrote "Watchmen" in the mid-'80s, the Cold War was still raging, but with nowhere near the intensity he establishes in his book. Yet Ronald Reagan had come into office a few years earlier, blustering about the "Evil Empire" and decimating the country's welfare system in exchange for a massive increase in defense spending. His Justice Department launched an invasive and punitive "war on drugs" that opened the gates for even more abandonment of civil liberties.

This world of cowboy diplomacy, might over right, and moral absolutes was the one Moore wanted to comment on. "Watchmen" rejected the idea of a superior morality or authority. Moore made sure his superheroes were as flawed as the rest of us: Nite Owl suffers from impotency and can barely squeeze his sagging frame into his costume; Silk Spectre drinks and smokes too much and is promiscuous at a young age; the brutish Comedian is a rapist; and even the above-it-all Dr. Manhattan thumbs his nose at the world the minute he gets some bad publicity.

In a number of crucial scenes, Moore makes the argument that we cannot, as a race, depend solely and unconditionally on individuals or bodies of authority to make the world a safer or better place. Moore's United States has already handed power over to Nixon in possible perpetuity, while the tactics of the Comedian and Rorschach come straight from the vicious playbook of Dick Cheney, making them nearly as bad as the evildoers they are attempting to eradicate. Even the ultimate plan that's revealed at the climax of the story, while ostensibly idealistic, comes at a horrifying cost and carries its own odor of fascism. The best laid plans are subject to the whims of human frailty, superpowers or not.

"You've Changed Things"

It is for all the reasons above, and many others, that the vast viewing audience out there not necessarily familiar with the book's Grail-like status should nonetheless flock to see "Watchmen." While its characters are not iconic like Batman or Superman, they're all recognizably human, even the godlike Dr. Manhattan. The intertwining of ideas and themes is almost overwhelming, as is the parade of surreal, slightly psychedelic visuals. The complex narrative is rich with details, character moments, flashbacks and mind-blowing set pieces, not to mention explicit, plentiful sex, violence and bloodshed.

Even the story's alternate Cold War setting feels both timeless and just as relevant as ever. If anything, the world is more uneasy than it was back in the '80s, with the threats of terrorism, environmental disaster and economic collapse casting deep shadows across the globe. The idea that we shouldn't place all our hopes on the shoulders of one person, or a handful of individuals, also seems timely; with tens of millions looking to a new president to lift us out of our current mess, we might just need a reminder than he's a man, not a superhero, and just as capable of failure as the rest of us. Even the most idealistic leader can be corrupted and the most promising initiatives distorted, a point driven home quite eloquently in "Watchmen."

In other words, this is a superhero movie unlike any other you've ever seen, written and directed for an adult audience. I can report confidently for the die-hard fans that, while there are some changes along the way (most notably in the climax), the film version of "Watchmen" is so faithful to the book that, for most of its 160 minutes, it seems to have leapt straight off the page. For everyone else, this is about as far away from silly junk like "Batman and Robin," "Spider-Man 3" and "Fantastic Four" as this genre of movie can get, and its long path to the screen in this pristine form mirrors the long evolution of comic books as well.

It was "Watchmen," after all, that introduced the concept of the flawed, dysfunctional superhero, leading to massive changes in the comic book industry. The books got darker and more complex, while the heroes got more recognizably human. This has finally filtered down to the movies, as evidenced by the depth of "The Dark Knight," the character shadings of "Iron Man" and even the misfired ambition of "Hancock." While "Watchmen" paved the way 20 years ago for those films to eventually emerge, their success has in turn opened the way for "Watchmen" to make its way on-screen. So why watch the Watchmen? For many of the same reasons you watch any movie: It's got action, mystery, fights, sex, love, special effects, a great story. But it's also got something else that we're seeing for possibly the first time in this genre, front and center: ideas.

Green Lantern: First Flight - Behind the Scenes Video

2009-03-02T23:19:00.000-08:00

GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT Animated Film Announced

2009-02-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Posted by: Jett
February 28, 2009

From a press release:

BURBANK, CA, (February 27, 2008) – The fabric of intergalactic justice is threatened – until Hal Jordan arrives for his initial mission – in the animated Green Lantern: First Flight, the fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies. A co-production of Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the illuminated hero’s first-ever full-length animated film is set for release by Warner Home Video on July 28, 2009. Green Lantern: First Flight will be available as a special edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def for $29.98 (SRP) and $34.99 (SRP), respectively, as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). Order due date for all versions is June 23, 2009.

Acclaimed actor Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) fills the lead voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. Meloni is joined by fellow Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic) as the villainous Sinestro, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as the voice of Boodikka, and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) as Kilowog.

Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, Green Lantern: First Flight is helmed by heralded director Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Superman Doomsday) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman).

Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.

Apart from this animated release, Warner Bros. Pictures is currently in pre-production on a new GREEN LANTERN theatrical motion picture, to be directed by Martin Campbell, bringing the popular DC Comics super hero to the big screen for the first time.

WB Release Partial '09/'10 Slate -- Where's BATMAN 3?

2009-02-25T17:10:00.000-08:00

Author: Jett
February 25, 2009

Take a deep breath…

Stop with the panic-stricken emails…

And RELAX.

A Chris Nolan-directed BATMAN 3 is coming.

As you may -- or may not -- know, Warner Bros. has made public a slew of release dates for several of their upcoming films (including dates for GREEN LANTERN and JONAH HEX -- CLICK HERE for that story). Speaking of Chris Nolan, his next project -- INCEPTION -- is set to hit theaters on July 16, 2010.

Chris Nolan's next project is INCEPTION for Warner Bros.,
scheduled for release 7/16/10

Not given a release date at this time was BATMAN 3, which is believed to be Summer 2011 flick. Right now, the only film that Warner Bros. has officially on the schedule for Summer 2011 is the last HARRY POTTER film on July 15th 2011. Warner has said previously that they would like to get next TERMINATOR film out during the Summer of ‘11 as well.

So where does that leave BATMAN 3?

Well, it could hit theaters in June of 2011. Remember, every Bat-Film sans THE DARK KNIGHT was a June release. On other hand, perhaps there will be a four year gap this time between films with B3 being released Summer 2012. I figure we’ll know once the film is “officially” announced.

Regardless, BATMAN 3 IS on its way…

With director Chris Nolan and co. in tow.

So RELAX.

Green Lantern & Jonah Hex Release Dates

2009-02-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

Source:erc BoxOffice
February 24, 2009

Today, Warner Bros. announced the official release date for Green Lantern: December 17, 2010. One of the crown jewels of DC Comics, this will no doubt light up the box office over the holiday season, and marks a changing of the guard for superhero movies. Usually, men-in-spandex drop into theatres during the summer months, but with Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Green Hornet all set for summer 2010, DC wisely chose to corner the holiday market instead. Currently, the film is scheduled to debut the same weekend as Sony's big screen adaptation of the Smurfs. Blue vs. Green. I'm putting my money on green and guessing that blue will find another date that is a lot more smurfy.

Director Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who!) saddles up Jonah Hex--a western based on the DC comic book character--which rides into theatres 8/6/10. Josh Brolin is set for the title role, while John Malkovich will co-star.

EXCLUSIVE: Comic Book Creators Respond To 2009 Oscars

2009-02-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

Published by Rick Marshall on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 1:50 pm.

It’s no secret that movies based on comic books had a big presence at this year’s Academy Awards. From “Wolverine” star Hugh Jackman kicking off the Oscars with a comics-friendly musical note to one of the final awards going to deceased “Dark Knight” star Heath Ledger for his portrayal of The Joker, there was a lot for comics fans to like about this year’s Oscars.

While much of the comics-savvy masses were happy just to be recognized by the Academy, the final tally of awards did leave some fans wondering whether the night should be viewed as a snub for the genre or the first step toward greater respect for comic books as a medium. In order to get some perspective on what the night meant to the comics industry, I asked various comic book creators to offer up their thoughts on the Oscar results and what to take from the night’s nominees and winners.

MTV: What do you think about the sheer number of comic book movies nominated for Academy Awards this year?

JEPH LOEB (writer, “Hulk,” “The Ultimates;” former writer/producer, “Smallville,” “Lost,” “Heroes”): It’s fantastic to see the worldwide recognition of what those of us who are geeks already know: comics are exciting emotional stories with amazing visuals — like any great film!

PETER DAVID (writer, “X-Factor,” “The Incredible Hulk,” numerous “Star Trek” novels): There should have been more. It’s nothing short of criminal that “Dark Knight” wasn’t nominated for best film. Nor was Iron Man nominated for much beyond a handful of technical awards. Supporting for “Tropic Thunder” was fine, but where was Downey’s nomination for best actor?

BEN TEMPLESMITH (co-creator/artist, “Fell,” “30 Days of Night,” “Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse”): Well, it’s a great thing on the face of it. Most, though, were for the more technical-side Oscars, as along with Sci-fi, comic-based movies rarely get put up for the more glamorous sections, like the actual acting awards.

I think the number making it in, along with the box office success shows Hollywood the relationship with comics isn’t perhaps over yet. There’s still money to be made and a certain validity to it, provided things are treated with a level of maturity and sophistication. So long as there are more of “Dark Knight,” “300″ and “Iron Man,” and less of “Catwoman”… well, it’s a good problem to have. I still don’t think the comics industry as a whole is capitalizing on its new relationships with Hollywood nearly effectively enough, though.

FILIP SABLIK (publisher, Top Cow Productions, “Wanted”): We were pretty excited to see “Wanted” nominated for two awards. And of course, “Iron Man” and “Dark Knight” both deserved their nominations and accolades. It’s been a great year for comics and movies, let’s hope for an even better year in 2009!

DARICK ROBERTSON (co-creator/artist “Transmetropolitan,” “The Boys”): I’m enthusiastic that audiences and critics are finally getting in on the secret we comic nerds have known for years: That comics have great stories with great characters that will appeal to a wide audience, if presented faithfully in a serious manner, instead of being played for laughs or dumbed down as if only for kids to enjoy. It’s exciting to see good material and sincere performances be embraced by the public.

“Iron Man” and “Dark Knight” weren’t simply good comic book movies, they were just good movies with comic book characters in them. The award nominations and huge box office sales tells me that the hard road that the more challenging writers and artists have taken in comics to shake things up were the right roads. It would have been easy to keep pumping out formulaic pictures, but instead, fans of the genre have infiltrated Hollywood and let their inner geeks shine, and the results were Oscar-worthy movies. How encouraging and rewarding.

ROBERT KIRKMAN (co-creator, “The Walking Dead,” “Invincible”): I think it’s great — and also a testament to how versatile “comic book movies” can be. I haven’t seen “Slumdog Millionaire” yet… but I saw “Dark Knight” on opening night and I’d wager there’s a ton of people out there who thought it was a better movie. I think the time is coming that a movie originating from a comic can win best picture.

DAVID ATCHISON (writer, “The Warriors,” “O.C.T.”): The number of nominations reflects an increase in the quality of comic book films. There was a time when they were thought to be schlocky, fan-service pieces. While they’re not all high-art films, it’s nice to know there are a few with production elements worthy of Oscar consideration. Those are the films that will push the Comic Book Film movement to genre level like Westerns or Crime Films.

MTV: What do you think about the final result of the Academy Awards? Were comic book movies snubbed, or was this just the first step toward more recognition for movies based on comics?

ROBERT KIRKMAN: The whole ceremony this year seemed to be an apology that comedy and action movies are largely ignored by the academy… maybe that’s a sign of change. Ledger’s nomination was a given–but Downey Jr. being nominated for “Tropic Thunder” was a big surprise to me. I do think it’s ridiculous that Christopher Nolan wasn’t even nominated for best director.

DARICK ROBERTSON: A complete shut-out would have been worse. I think Heath Ledger winning for his role as The Joker was a giant validation for the whole film, and for the growth of comics as a mainstream art form. I believe Nolan should have gotten the best directors nod, at least a nomination, as that performance from Ledger was due in part to his direction, and “The Dark Knight” as a whole was amazing. Nolan will just have to comfort himself knowing that he made the greatest, blockbusting Batman film ever.

BEN TEMPLESMITH: I think with Heath winning for his portrayal of the Joker, you could never consider it a snub. Far from it. I think those performances and circumstances are rare though. He had buzz on that practically before he’d finished the film. I doubt Oscar wins for big superhero films will drive their sales much as they already have that mass market male demographic sort of sewn up. The ultimate “recognition” comic book properties need is the box office takings for the studio execs to make their decisions. That’s what Hollywood understands. That’s what will keep the relationship alive. I just want good stories turned into good movies. If that happens around half the time, well, I’ll take what I can get!

PETER DAVID: I think comic book films have joined the same ghettoizing that you typically see accorded comedies, thrillers, animation and with rare exception major tentpole films. Let’s face it, the two best films of last year were “Wall-E” and “The Dark Knight” with “Iron Man” right up there. We’ve already had more recognition for movies based on comics: Look at the attention paid to “History of Violence” or “Road to Perdition.” Unfortunately movies based on comic book action properties are persistently ignored because of the same biases that keep most such films out of the running for major recognition.

DAVID ATCHISON: It was a step in the right direction. Personally, I think “Dark Knight” deserved a nomination for Best Film if only because the box office numbers show audiences thought it was one of the better films of 08. Overall, comic book films did okay for the categories they were nominated in. If the production value of the films keep getting better it’s only a matter of time before the Academy recognizes them.

FILIP SABLIK: It’s the first big step. Let’s revel in the success, which is a ton of nominations and Heath Ledger actually winning for his work in “The Dark Knight”. That is tremendous. A comic book film won in one of the “big” prime time categories, not just for technical achievements or special effects.

JEPH LOEB: It’s all a process. Nobody thought a Western could win best picture until “Unforgiven.” Besides, we all know that “Dark Knight” should have won!

Legendary Confirms B3 In The Works And... (Does WB Have A Bat-Director Backup Plan?)

2009-02-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Author: Jett
February 24, 2009

This I can 100% guarantee: There’s going to be another BATMAN. In part due to a recent revelation on Legendary Pictures' website.

This I can almost guarantee: It will be made by the same creative team that have us BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT -- director Chris Nolan included, of course.

But there is a caveat that I learned about a while back and am now ready to reveal what it is. More on that in a bit….

Via writer Alex Litel’s , Legendary Pictures has -- or had -- BATMAN 3 listed as one of it’s upcoming projects. Here’s the screenshot:

If you can’t read the description of BATMAN 3, it says the following:

“A sequel to one of the highest grossing movies ever made, this blockbuster will continue the franchise’s reinvention of superhero cinema and aims to be a pop culture event.”

With THE DARK KNIGHT having pulled in $1 Billion worldwide at the box office and gosh knows how much more on DVD and Blu-ray, there’s simply no way in hell there isn’t going to be another BATMAN.

Now recently, BOF finally went public with some info (click here for that story) that I’ve been sitting on since the Fall as I wanted to hear the same or similar thing from other -- and unrelated -- sources. Anyway, that info was that when director Chris Nolan came to an agreement to helm INCEPTION for Warner Bros., there is at least some sort of understanding between him and the studio that he’ll do a third BATMAN -- though his reps won't confirm or deny it.

Of course, there’s been no “official” confirmation of this and there probably won’t be for a while. The bottom line here is that if Chris wasn't coming back, we'd know by now.

BUT, even though Warner Bros. is on the record as wanting to give Chris all the time and space he needed to decided if another BATMAN was in him, there be a contingent plan…just in case.

Industry scuttlebutt of late spat out an interesting name of a director that Warner Bros. might have been eyeing to take over the Bat-franchise if Chris Nolan decided he was done with Gotham City. And apparently, this particular director is interested in Batman on film -- at least an adaptation of a classic graphic novel starring The Dark Knight. Based on his past -- and upcoming work -- the guy knows how bring comics to film.

With that said, I believe -- and wholeheartedly want -- Chris Nolan bring us one more BATMAN. But what about AFTER BATMAN 3? Would you be keen on Zack Snyder taking over the franchise?

Just something to -- ahem -- “watch” for down the line.

Heath Ledger Wins the Oscar!!

2009-02-22T21:50:00.000-08:00

Source:Superhero Hype!
February 22, 2009

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have just awarded Heath Ledger the award for Best Supporting Actor for his amazing performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight! Ledger's family accepted the award on his behalf.

Richard King just received the Oscar for Best Sound Editing for The Dark Knight as well.

GREEN LANTERN is next DCU Animated Feature

2009-02-22T21:21:00.000-08:00

The 'Wonder Woman' DVD landed on our doorstep this weekend. We watched the movie and it's a great flick, but that's not what we're here to write about today.

Included as an extra on the DVD is the exclusive first look at DC Universe's upcoming 'Green Lantern' animated movie!

We were surprised to see this, since we hadn't even heard about the film before. Color us even more surprised when it's revealed that the film is due out later this year.

The first six minutes of the ten minute feature focuses on bringing the uninitiated up to speed with who and what the Green Lantern is, in terms of the history of the comics as well as the character.

But then producer Bruce Timm, director Lauren Montgomery and voice director Andrea Romano begin to take us behind the scenes of the movie, introducing the cast along with artwork from the production.

So who's voicing Hal Jordan in the movie?

None other than Christopher Meloni of 'Law & Order: SVU' fame.

The story follows Hal's acquisition of the ring and his journey into the Corps where he meets his mentor (and soon-to-be nemesis) Sinestro, played by Victor Garber of 'Alias'.

The film looks to be heavy science fiction featuring space faring adventure rather than Earthbound action. In fact it looks as if dozens of GL Corps members will appear, with Kilowog, Boodikka and Ch'p figuring prominently.

Michael Madsen ('Kill Bill') voices Kilowog while Tricia Helfer ('Battlestar Galactic') plays Boodikka.

No actual animation from the film is revealed, but the preview does show lots of design drawings, story boards and animatics, some of which we present below.

The "first look" closes with the declaration that 'Green Lantern' will be on DVD and Blu-Ray Summer 2009!

Review: WONDER WOMAN

2009-02-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell of the movie
of that Woman skilled in all ways of contending,
and her wanderlust, borne for years on end
after she was formed of clay and given life
on the proud shores of Themyscira.
She saw the towers of Man's World
and learned the minds of many distant men,
and weathered much oafish wooing
for her valiant heart, while she fought only
for her Sisters, to defeat the God of War.
But not only by will nor valor will she save them,
but through the might of her thews and the skill
of the doughty animators of Warner Brothers
who have given her life and brought Wonder to
screen to set hearts racing for beauty
and the lust of battle.

For those Philistines among you who slept through The Odyssey in high school, I'll give the modern English translation: the new Wonder Woman direct-to-video animated movie Kicks Ass. Hard. It is a gloriously exhilarating, operatic spectacle that sets a new and impossibly high standard for direct-to-video movies and superhero cartoons alike.

Wonder Woman begins with a bang, kicking us straight onto a battlefield in ancient Greece where the God of War Ares (voiced by Alfred Molina) and his forces battle against Queen Hippolyta (Virginia Madsen) and her warrior Amazon sisters. These scenes set the tone for the rest of the movie, with pulse-pounding action sequences that quickly and efficiently communicate a lot of information about the characters and the story. When Ares is finally defeated, the gods of Olympus task the Amazons to keep Ares imprisoned for the good of humanity, gifting them with eternal life and youth on the hidden island paradise of Themyscira, where they sequester themselves from Man's World for centuries. The only new life on the island comes when Queen Hippolyta forms a child of clay, naming the girl Diana after the figure is given life in a scene of surprising power. This youngest Amazon (Keri Russell) grows up to a coltish, independent woman that chafes at the boundaries keeping the Amazons as imprisoned as Ares. When a dogfight over Themyscira brings Col. Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) to the island, events are soon set in motion that will result in Diana leaving Themyscira to return Trevor to current-day Man's World and try to avert worldwide armageddon.

The easiest thing to focus on in Wonder Woman are the wonderful action sequences. Between Marvel's Hulk Vs. and Wonder Woman, it is a glorious time to be a fan of more mature action animation. We are treated to a great variety of creatively staged action sequences: the intimate, small-scale training duel between Artemis (Rosario Dawson) and Diana, the almost comical fight between Diana and a group of would-be muggers, the subsequent beatdown between Diana and Ares' thuggish son Deimos, the thrilling dogfight sequence that puts Trevor on Themyscira, and the massive, cast-of-thousands battles between armies of Amazons and nightmarish mythical monsters. The climactic battle scene is simply marvelous, set in an extremely familiar, real-world setting that gives the property damage real emotional weight, with the setting of one scene in particular adding a subtle but palpable emotional poignancy. Make no mistake, though: Wonder Woman pulls no punches in its powerfully kinetic battles. The battles are much more violent than any we've seen before, with an early cut of the movie earning an R-rating and the final cut still on the high-end of a PG-13. However, one of the things that Wonder Woman really gets right is the warrior culture of the Amazons that can glorify martial prowess without slipping into bloodthirst for its own sake, and that balancing act in the writing is probably why the violence in the movie never feels gratuitious or unnecessary. This is simply a different playing field than the ones we've been subconsciously conditioned to accept through the restrictions of Saturday morning cartoons.

No matter how great the action sequences are, they would be simple exercises in pointless violence without a good story, and Wonder Woman excels at this as well. It's story is a perfect fit for the DTV's 75-minute run time, especially compared to something like the excellent but maddeningly abridged Justice League: The New Frontier. The story carries zero excess weight, keeping things moving without ever dragging or getting sidetracked into boring digressions. It also does an excellent job at injecting just the right amount of humor into the movie, keeping the movie from getting overly dramatic or sinking into excessively dark mythical mud. The animation is sumptuous from start to finish, and would easily earn kudos on technical merit alone. The most nitpicky fans might complain that some elements aren't explained (like the invisible jet), but that would be like eating the finest gourmet meal you've ever had and complaining that that the silverware wasn't shiny enough. Even if the criticisms are factually true, they're also also completely irrelevant and seem to entirely miss the point of the exercise.

The characters of Wonder Woman are vividly realized through their story arcs, their character animation, and their absolutely pitch-perfect voice acting performances. The fans who expressed concern at Keri Russell's casting as Diana may rest easy: her spirited performance is perfect for the role, giving Diana a youthful free spirit that's backed by a steely, indomitable determination. She also gets a perfect foil in Steve Trevor, decidedly not the mansel in distress of the Lynda Carter TV show whose only function was to screw up and get rescued by Wonder Woman. Trevor is a chauvinist pig with a heart of gold who can definitely hold his own against Diana, and the nimbly written role seems tailor made for Nathan Fillion's wonderful performance. Steve and Diana are a pair right out of the finest film romantic comedies, and the movie does an excellent job of integrating their battle of the sexes into the larger narrative. Among the supporting characters, Alfred Molina's deliciously evil Ares proves that it really is more fun to be the bad guy, while Rosario Dawson as the Amazon's Amazon Artemis channels the entertaining macho swagger of Toshiro Mifune in his many samurai roles.

It is common for pop culture analysts to claim that superheroes are our modern-day myths. The claim may have some vague truth on the surface, but most superhero stories simply can't withstand that kind of scrutiny, collapsing quickly under that heavy metaphorical burden. Until now. In the end, Wonder Woman comes off as less of a superhero story and more like a modern-era fairy tale, tapping into the same deep, poetic vein plumbed by other pop culture works from Star Wars to The Matrix to the best of the Disney animated features. If there is a criticism to be leveled at Wonder Woman, it is only that it inadvertently makes all its predecessors look so bad by comparison, despite their considerable strengths, and that it sets a high-water mark that will be incredibly difficult for its successors to top.

The Dark Knight Breaks the $1 Billion Mark

2009-02-21T06:22:00.000-08:00

Source:Variety
February 21, 2009

The Dark Knight has become the fourth film to take in more than $1 billion in worldwide box office.

Warner Bros. Pictures made the announcement Friday afternoon, saying that the combined domestic and international gross had totaled $1,001,082,160 to date -- about $533 million domestically and $567 million overseas.

The Dark Knight had been about $4 million short of the 10-figure mark when Warner Bros. re-released it into IMAX screens on Jan. 23, the day after its eight Oscar nominations were announced. Grosses from Ecuador also helped nudge the film over the mark, a spokeswoman said.

Only Titanic ($1.842 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion) have topped the billion-dollar worldwide mark previously.

"Knight" also is the second-highest domestic grosser of all time, trailing only Titanic.

Zack Snyder says WATCHMEN DVD will be 3 hours 25 minutes

2009-02-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

I’m at the press junket for “Watchmen” and I just spoke to director Zack Snyder. I’ll have exact quotes posted in the next few hours, but I wanted to get this up asap.

While the theatrical release of “Watchmen” is about 2 hours 36 minutes, Zack just told me the DVD/Blu-ray will have two versions to appease the fans that wanted more.

There will be a director’s cut on the DVD that will be 3 hours 10 minutes and another cut with “Tales of the Black Freighter” that will be 3 hours 25 minutes!

He also told me what deleted scenes to expect and I’ll have those exact quotes in the next few hours. Look for an update soon.

UPDATE: Here's exactly what Zack said...and I just posted 9 movie clips from "Watchmen" so click on the link to check them out!

Collider: What is the final running time on the DVD and what can fans look forward to?

Zack: The final running time without the Black Freighter is 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Collider: When you say the Black Freighter, so you’re going to put in some of the animated bits?

Zack: No. The Black Freighter version of the movie, which we call the final cut or the ultimate cut – it has a marketed name that I don’t know exactly what it is. That version of the movie, because when we were up there we physically shot the in’s and out’s, scenes at the newsstand that go into the movie. There’s like scenes where our characters pass the newsstand and then we pick up action at the newsstand and it gets us into the Black Freighter….with shots that go into it and it comes to life and you follow the Black Freighter story and then come back into the movie. That version of the movie is the director’s cut with the Black Freighter intercut. That version sort of traces the structure of the Black Freighter that's integrated into the comic book… So that version is the 3 hour and 25 minute version. So you have all those in’s and out’s…but the director’s cut includes the Hollis death stuff, that’s just a lot more connective tissue…it’s hard for me to even remember exactly what’s in it. But it’s just a lot more.

Collider: So let me ask you, is there footage that isn’t going in this director’s cut that’s sitting on the sidelines…or is this really everything?

Zack: It’s really pretty much everything. The 3 hour version is pretty much everything. There was very little that we shot that I didn’t like or use.

BATMAN 3 Update

2009-02-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

Posted by: Jett
February 17. 2009

This time around, BOF is -- and has been -- *ahem* cautious. Anyway…

Yesterday, BOF finally chimed in and reported that the great Chris Nolan’s deal with Warner Bros. for INCEPTION, included at least a handshake agreement for him to helm another BATMAN.

One of my fave sites -- MTV’s SPLASH PAGE -- picked up the story and contacted Chris’ reps. Here’s what they had to say:

“He is doing INCEPTION next. We haven’t announced any deal or anything on the next BATMAN as that is all speculation.”

Not a denial, is it? Moving on…

Another one of the sites I frequent daily -- IGN -- is now reporting that Chris is the only screenwriter attached to BATMAN 3. Here’s their report:

“Studios and guild members are required to submit work lists to the guilds of the projects that they are on….[Warner Bros’ work list] was submitted last week listing Christopher Nolan as the sole screenwriter on BATMAN 3.”

Two thing here. It pretty much confirms that Chris and co. have been working on the next Bat-Flick. And secondly, despite the fact that David Goyer (who deserves his DUE for bringing Batman back to film!) and Jonah Nolan aren’t listed, do you really think they are not involved?

For more, visit MTV and IGN for the full story.

REVIEW: BATMAN #686

2009-02-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

REVIEW: BATMAN #686
Author: Jett Man
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

FROM DC COMICS: "Best-selling author Neil Gaiman and superstar artist Andy Kubert join forces for a special 2-part BATMAN event!
'Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader' is a captivating and mysterious tale the likes of which Batman and friends have never experienced before. Delving into the realms of life, death and the afterlife, Gaiman leaves no stone unturned as he explores every facet and era of Bruce Wayne's life."

I have no idea what the purpose of this 2-parter “What Ever Happened To The Caped Crusader” is all about…I really don’t.

It looks to me as if this is some sort of “Goodbye” to the Golden and Silver Age Batman -- though it’s pretty clear (*I think*) that this isn’t “in-continuity, if you will So I’m thinking that this is DC’s way of bridging the gap between the “BATMAN, R.I.P.”/FINAL CRISIS fiasco, to this upcoming “BATTLE FOR THE COWL” miniseries. Ultimately followed by the “return” of the Bruce Wayne Batman in the DCU/Batman monthlies.

Whatever.

Why exactly is he “gone” in the first place? Oh yeah, he's been "Omega Sanctioned."

*sigh*

Look, I’ve really enjoyed Grant Morrison’s run on BATMAN -- ‘til the “ending” of “R.I.P.” I didn’t read a page of FINAL CRISIS, but I do know that Batman was “Omega Sanctioned” into pre-historic times thanks to the aforementioned Mr. Morrison.

Does this “WEHTTCC” have anything to do with “R.I.P.?” Probably -- which sucks to be honest.

The bottom line here is that you have a gathering of the “Batman Family” -- good and bad -- to remember The Dark Knight. We’re treated to two eulogies for The Batman -- one by Selina Kyle and the other by Alfred. And we learn that…

Selina turned away a mortally injured Batman...?

Alfred orchestrated The Batman’s Gotham adventures...?

*rolls eyes*

Right now, I don’t know what to make of this story, as it appears to have little -- if anything -- to do with Batman and the current state of the DCU. “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader,” to me, appears to be nothing more than a one-off designed to kill time between the end of “R.I.P.” and the ultimate return of Bruce Wayne as Batman and the “status quo.”

Now that’s not a knock on Mr. Gaiman’s writing and story as well as Any Kubert’s artwork, as both do a very fine job here. But let’s call a spade a spade here: This is a one-off that would probably be better suited for a graphic novel -- not in the Batman monthlies.

It comes off as filler, killing time, etc. And if it ISN’T, then something’s wrong.

Perhaps I need to wait and see how things play out in Part 2, but right now, I don’t think so.

Nolan On Board BATMAN 3?

2009-02-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

Author: Jett
February 16, 2009

According to three separate BOF sources, director Christopher Nolan’s recent deal with Warner Bros. for the film INCEPTION, at least includes an agreement between the studio and the acclaimed director to helm his second sequel to BATMAN BEGINS.

BOF was told last Fall that two of the Batman writing trio -- David Goyer and Jonah Nolan -- had already inked deals with Warner Bros. for a third BATMAN. At the time, it was believed that Chris Nolan had not signed on for BATMAN 3 but was “close” to doing so.

Recent reports online certain seem to jibe with this as industry scuttlebutt says that the script for BATMAN 3 is already being written (BOF via IESB.NET - 1-30-09). BOF has been told by several movie biz folks that Goyer, Jonah Nolan, and Chris Nolan have come up with a story/treatment and it is now in the hands of J-Nol for the first screenwriting pass -- very similar to what occurred for THE DARK KNIGHT.

Again, this appears to be inline with what even Chris Nolan himself has said. During the TDK BD Live event in December, the director said that he and Goyer had been “musing” and acknowledged that there was a story there that they wanted to tell (BOF - 12/19/08).

No official announcement of Nolan’s involvement with a third BATMAN was made with last week’s INCEPTION press release, and BOF does not expect one any time soon. I will say that the timeline for BATMAN 3 looks to bee very similar to that of THE DARK KNIGHT and the announcement for TDK came in July of 2006 on the eve of Comic Con in San Diego

I still would take this report with a grain of salt -- albeit a very small one. Until it's officially announced in the trades that Chris has signed on for BATMAN 3, all bets are off.

The Dark Knight: where I stand

2009-02-15T07:10:00.000-08:00

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I've been reading over the comments from my last post.

My fascination with The Dark Knight is, primarily, structural. I have not encountered an American movie -- much less an American movie designed to be a gigantic blockbuster -- that is structured as ingeniously and compellingly as this one. I've simply never seen anything like it, and after several viewings it still continues to flabbergast.

I've worked on a handful of these types of movies, and let me tell you: they're hard -- they're really hard. There are so many issues for the writer to address: the protagonist must be active, the villain's plot must make sense, there must be a romantic interest, there must be due attention paid to the history of the character and the rules of the genre, they must be both fantastic and grounded at the same time, all these balls must be kept in the air and these concerns must mesh in a straightforward, compelling, swift, action-packed cinematic narrative, consistent in tone and true to its source material. I haven't seen one -- not one -- that has managed to get everything in and do everything right. None of the Superman movies do it, none of the previous WB Batman movies do it, none of the Spider-Man movies do it, neither of the Fantastic Four movies do it, and, as [info]jacksonpublick has noted, none of the Bond movies -- after more than 20 tries -- do it either. (Iron Man comes close -- really close.) But The Dark Knight not only does a better job than any other movie based on its source material -- and by that I mean "superhero comics" -- it does it with a radically ambitious screenplay that challenges any number of conventions and brings a new, added weight to its subject.

As such, I tend to let issues such as "Batman's growly voice" fall to the wayside as I try to figure out just how the hell the Nolans built this hugely compelling cinematic narrative.

Since I'm going to mostly refrain from nit-picking in my analysis, here's where I stand on most of the issues brought up by the Dark Knight discontents:

1. Batman's "growly voice" does sound a little silly.

2. I do not think Batman is a passive character. In fact, I don't consider Batman to be much of a character at all. Bruce Wayne is the protagonist of The Dark Knight, he is an active protagonist in every sense of the word I can think of, and "the Batman" is a costume he puts on when he goes out to fight crime. This sounds like hair-splitting but I think is a key to understanding the success of the narrative and the world Nolan is building.

3. I did want to see more of Two-Face, because I like Two-Face, but I don't feel like his story is rushed or tacked-on. Visually, it feels like a pretty big gimme to ask the audience to behold the unspeakable horror of a guy with half a face, only to then kill him off forty-five minutes later, but dramatically I have no complaints, and as we move forward I'll make my case for that.

4. The Joker's plans are complicated and slightly fanciful, but gee whiz, compared to what? Compared to the Penguin's army of rocket-laden penguins in Batman Returns? Compared to Poison Ivy's plot to team up with Mr. Freeze to freeze Gotham City (using a giant telescope) in order for plants to take over in Batman and Robin? Compared to Ras Al Ghul's plot to microwave Gotham's water supply with his magic microwave-gun in Batman Begins? If you ask me, the Joker's ability to wire a hospital with explosives in The Dark Knight on short notice is a model of logic and circumspection compared to, say, Lex Luthor's plot to build a new continent in Superman Returns.

5. Ditto Bruce Wayne's sonar-cell-phone device. As a fantastic gadget, it has the icy breath of the plausible compared to some of the things Batman's lugged around over his decades of public service. The fantastic elements of The Dark Knight, I feel, are the screenplay's nods to convention and the source material -- Batman without at least one moment of "now, wait a minute" would hardly feel like Batman.

6. The action scenes: I see that some people find them incoherent. Sorry, I don't agree. I don't know what else to say about it -- I have not had trouble following the action in The Dark Knight, not the first time and not when I've watched it since.

7. To some people, The Dark Knight contains some sort of a political message. If one is intended, I can't make head or tail of it. The Dark Knight deals with a lot of real-life civic issues, but it remains a drama, not a treatise. If I was supposed to vote for John McCain or something because of watching this movie, well, then I guess it's a failure.

The Dark Knight part 2

2009-02-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

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At the end of Act I, Bruce Wayne, in his Batman persona, has snatched Mob banker Lau from Hong Kong and delivered him to Jim Gordon. He's done his job, justice has prevailed, the cops and the lawyers are united against the forces of the underworld and everything in perfect in Batworld.

But of course, it's not -- Lau's capture is only the beginning. Bruce, in his desire to upset the status quo and rewrite the rules of (out)law and (dis)order in Gotham City creates a wildly unstable new environment, and by the end of Act II, Bruce will be forced to abandon his Batman persona and sacrifice himself, yet again, for the city he loves -- that is, until Harvey Dent steals his thunder and turns, in the public eye, from White Knight to Dark Knight.

So: Lau is in custody, questioned by Rachel, with Harvey and Jim lurking in the background. This one thing right here, small as it seems, indicates for me how The Dark Knight earns its place at the top of the "superhero movie" pyramid: the Nolans figured out a way to get Jim Gordon, Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes, Bruce's love interest and apex of the movie's romantic triangle, into the plot in a way that feels seamless and organic. Go through the list of superhero movies and list the number of love interests wholly peripheral to the story and you'll see the coup that the Nolans achieve here. Generally, the love interest exists outside of the protagonist's superhero world, which is why they end up as damsels in distress. Here, Rachel is part of Bruce's natural world of interests (she is a law enforcer, after all, she's almost Harvey Dent her own self -- and hey, wouldn't it have been awesome if it was Rachel instead of Harvey who ended up becoming Two-Face?) and works closely -- and professionally -- with his allies Jim and Harvey. Rachel manages to get what she needs from Lau in record time, sending him to jail -- but whose jail? Again, Jim and Harvey clash over issues of trust -- can anyone be trusted in Gotham City? It seems that the gangsters of Act I have a greater sense of trust and loyalty than the law-enforcement officers -- again, they are the establishment in Gotham. The fact that all the cops in Gotham are dirty means that the gangsters control the police department as well as the underworld. Harvey, Rachel and Jim (and their weapon, Bruce) are all alone in the city. When Batman acts to rid Gotham of gangsters, he's stages an assault on the very fabric of the city.

But Harvey is keen to pick up Batman's baton, and proceeds to use Lau's confession to round up, literally, every single gangster in Gotham City. (There was a commenter the other day who said that we never see how Harvey got his reputation as Gotham's White Knight -- well, we see him punch out a gangster on the witness stand, then arrest every gangster in the city -- how much more of a crusader could he be?

As Jim arrests Maroni, The Chechen and their goons, the crimelords come to see that the Joker is correct -- the Batman must be eliminated, at any cost. And so a Joker-led operation goes into effect -- the crimelords turn their resources over to a madman to expedite their agenda. "Kill the Batman" is not the end of the Joker's plan, but they don't know that.

Harvey meets up with the Mayor, to justify his crazy scheme to arrest every gangster in the city. It turns out, Harvey knows that his grand gesture is baseless and doomed to failure, but has a long-term political goal. And so he demonstrates that he is willing to appear to be foolish in order to achieve something bigger -- a notion which will echo throughout the rest of the narrative.

Harvey's meeting with the mayor is met with the Joker's first response to Bruce's plan of cleaning up Gotham as the dead "Hockey Pads" Batman appears outside the Mayor's window.

(Incidentally, where did the Joker get "Hockey Pads?" Was he still in police custody, or had he been freed on bail, and thence out into the world in his hockey pads again? Have these vigilantes no respect for the law, even after they're beaten up by Batman?)

Bruce, up until now under the impression that he had set everything straight in Gotham City, learns the news about Hockey Pads as he's getting ready for his party for Harvey Dent -- his ceremonial passing of the baton from Dark Knight to White Knight. "This is how crazy Batman's made Gotham" says the Joker, again, mixing lies with truth in order to elicit a response. Batman hasn't made Gotham crazy, he's cleaned up its streets in the space of a weekend. But, in so doing, he's created the crime vacuum that allows the Joker to flourish. Now, you'll notice that the Joker's plan has subtly changed from the meeting at the restaurant. His stated goal then was to "kill the Batman," but now he only wants to force Batman to reveal his identity. This might seem like a de-escalation, but it points to the Joker's larger goal, one that won't be fully revealed until the end of the narrative -- namely, that the Joker doesn't have a goal, doesn't have an endgame -- he wants only to have more and more chaos, murder and insanity in Gotham. Killing Batman solves the problems of the gangsters, but the Joker's vision of crime is much broader, and doesn't include the crimelords notions of respectability. Killing the Batman would restore Gotham to its status quo, but revealing the Batman would undermine everything in the city. This is why the Joker in The Dark Knight is such a great villain for Batman to go up against -- there is, literally, nothing Batman can do against him that does not further his agenda, even killing him.

(The Joker's videotape of his torture of Hockey Pads contains images of animal carcasses hanging from the ceiling. This is a visual nod to painter Francis Bacon, and the only link I can find back to the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman, who defaced every painting in the Gotham Museum of Art -- except for the Bacon.)

The party for Harvey begins. Bruce's plan is to ensure Harvey's security the same way he's ensured his own -- with tons of cash. Acknowledging who Harvey is inside, Bruce recognizes him as Daytime Batman and now seeks to turn him into exactly that. And, just so we know that his motives aren't entirely civic-minded, we learn that his plan to turn Harvey into Daytime Batman involves stealing Rachel away from him. That is, he's says "You want to be Batman? Great, be Batman -- oh, and by the way, that means you can't have a wife."

Meanwhile, the Joker's plan to unmask Batman proceeds apace. He kills, at once, the police commissioner and the judge trying the "all gangsters in Gotham" case, and will soon try to kill Harvey. This is good planning on the Joker's part -- by killing the judge and the commissioner, he both applies pressure on Batman to unmask and ensures that all the gangsters will go free -- no one will step forward to replace the judge -- and the crimelords can then reclaim their place as Gotham's true power base.

Back at the party, Harvey, feeling perhaps secure in his future, now that he's gotten the security of Bruce Wayne's rich friends, proposes to Rachel. Rachel, however, cannot accept -- she still loves Bruce on some level, even though his heart is something she can never really have, just as "justice" is something Bruce can never really have, it is only something he can endlessly pursue.

Suddenly, the Joker shows up at the party, in a rare moment of straightforwardness -- he wants to kill Harvey Dent, and so he shows up where Harvey Dent is to kill him. No brilliantly devious double-crossing scheme, just storming the penthouse and demanding the goods. Bruce responds by abducting Harvey and stashing him someplace safe (just like Bruce, in a crisis, to assume he knows what's best for everyone) and then heading off to his Bat-closet to prepare himself for his first confrontation with the Joker. (On the way he disarms a guy with a shotgun, then takes apart the gun without looking at it, a neat echo of a similar beat with Harvey in the courtroom.) The Joker menaces Rachel out in the living room, telling her the second version of his "scars" story. We will, of course, never know how the Joker got his scars, he most likely has an endless supply of stories to tell people. Wherever the Joker came from, whatever formed his psyche, however he came to his world-view, he is infinitely scarier if we're left in the dark. We can feel compassion for -- and even root for -- other Batman villains. Ras-Al-Ghul, the Penguin, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, we can disapprove of their crimes but we can still kind of see why they are as they are. This is what has always made the Joker the most interesting and deathless Batman villain, the reason why, back in 1989, when people saw that Jack Nicholson was playing the Joker, everyone said "Well now -- that I have to see." Everyone understands that the Joker elicits a stronger response than any other Batman villain, even though they may not understand immediately why. (Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out that the Joker got his scars because his father offended a monarch.) Batman appears just in time to rescue Rachel from the Joker's threats, although he must dive out a window and make a rather improbable skydive to do so.

Across town at the MCU, Jim and one of his detectives, Stephens, rue their reversal of fortune -- in nothing flat, they have cleaned up the streets of Gotham and then, just as quickly, lost all the ground they had gained. The moment Stephens announces they've lost, Harvey, last seen being stuffed into a closet in Bruce's apartment, shows up, brass balls in place, to take Lau to court, as scheduled. (We don't know how long Harvey had to wait in the closet before the Joker gave up and went home -- a rare instance of a question unanswered in The Dark Knight. Once Bruce dives out the window to save Rachel, what does he do? Put her in a cab and walk back to his underground lair? Call Alfred on his cell phone and tell him to pick him up around the corner?)

Back at the lair, Bruce discusses the situation with Alfred, who provides some perspective on the whole Joker situation with his story about being a soldier in Rangoon. Alfred reminds Bruce that he created this situation when he decided to upset the status quo, and that if he's thinking of giving into the Joker's demands he'll just make everything worse. "We just need to figure out what he's after" says the World's Greatest Detective, proving that he is completely unequipped to deal with the Joker -- Bruce is a man of relentless, probing intelligence, and the Joker, he will eventually learn, isn't after anything that Bruce can understand.

That night, Batman stands atop a building with, apparently, some kind of sophisticated listening device. He picks up a piece of information and swoops down to discover a murder scene. Two men, named Harvey and Dent, have been killed -- somehow -- by the Joker, or his men in any case, for the sole purpose of the Joker issuing a threat against the life of the Mayor.

Batman shows up at the scene and proceeds to perform a little sophisticated detective work, which I can kind of follow in theory but which ultimately stretched my credulity. With only a shattered bullet inside a brick, Bruce is able to procure and set up -- by himself -- a ballistics lab in his lair to test and analyze different shattered-bullet patterns (I think). Just in the nick of time, this process provides him with exactly the piece of information he needs to get to his next place -- the address of the man who shot the gun that put the bullet in the brick. (Who, it turns out, is not the Joker, but one of his minions -- about whom we will learn more later.

In the middle of the "detective" sequence is another scene between Fox and Reese -- Reese has discovered that Bruce is Batman, and wants to blackmail him. Fox reminds him that Bruce is, after all, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world -- and a little crazy to boot -- which is enough to get Reese to back down. For now.

Now, we have a smashing set piece set around the funeral for Commissioner Loeb. The Dark Knight is like a miniature film festival -- so far, we've seen a heist sequence, a fight sequence, a caper sequence, a detective sequence and now a suspense sequence, all executed near the top of their respective genres. Every fifteen minutes or so, The Dark Knight unfurls a set-piece that would be the climax of an ordinary movie -- the fact that it manages all this and has a complex, involving plot revolving around serious issues continues to astound. The logic of the sequence, for the record, is: Loeb's funeral is being held in the streets of Gotham, Bruce arrives at the address of the guy whose fingerprint he got off the shattered bullet, finds a bunch of guys gagged and bound. The gagged and bound guys turn out to be the funeral's honor guard, and the honor guard down in the street turns out to be the Joker and some of his followers. The Joker's plan is to shoot the Mayor during the 21-gun salute, and, just to complicate things, he has rigged a timer to open the window-shade of the room where the real honor guard is gagged and bound, to attract the attention of the police snipers ringing the streets. That strikes me as a little too much planning on the Joker's part, but then again the Joker is not trying to trap Bruce, or anyone else, with his window-shade gag -- rather, he wants to draw attention to the window itself, so that the police snipers are looking the wrong way when he turns to shoot the Mayor. Which he does, although Gordon blocks the shot and appears to be shot dead.

Chaos erupts in the street, and Harvey, Daylight Batman, corners one of the Joker's men in an ambulance. The guy, who is clearly out of his mind, tells Harvey that Rachel is the Joker's next target, which presses Harvey's buttons and sends him over the edge -- almost. Again, the Joker's plan is not just to put the crimelords back in power, but to force the few good people in Gotham to turn evil. Somewhere along the way, he's assembled an army of crazy people, ready to do his bidding (apparently he's spent some time in Arkham).

Stephens and Ramirez go to tell Gordon's wife (Barbara, says the IMDb, although she looks a little too old to be this Barbara) about Jim's death, and she responds by shouting out into the night, to the Batman she knows is listening, "You brought this craziness on us!" Bruce, filled with guilt and now towering anger, goes to find Maroni and, in the gangland tradition, breaks his legs to get information. Maroni, however, knows nothing about the Joker, even though he has hired him to restore the status quo.

(Does the Joker have a home? His suit, although custom made, is filthy and ragged, and there is a sense of history about him -- the makeup, the scars -- that feels lived-in and precise. Has he been living on the street, in abandoned buildings? If you add up all the things we know about the Joker -- including the fact that he lies as easily as he breathes -- does it add up to a real person? I submit that while the Joker is indeed a fanciful creation, he feels more plausible -- and more frightening -- than Hannibal Lecter, Hollywood's last great boogeyman creation.)

Harvey, in the midst of interrogating the Joker's goon, calls Rachel and orders her to get someplace safe. Rachel, knowing that Bruce is Batman, says that the only safe place in town is Bruce's penthouse. (Although the Joker seemed to be able to get in pretty easily during the party, which should still be uppermost in Rachel's mind, since she got thrown out a window there.) Harvey, not knowing about Bruce's torch for Rachel, pushes her into his apartment. He's taking one more step from White Knight to Dark Knight, fulfilling the action begun by Bruce earlier. And, just as Batman interrogated Maroni and went a little too far, Harvey does the same with the Joker's goon, in his own style. Batman stops him before he kills the goon, not knowing that Harvey is merely playing a psychological trick on the assassin. Batman tells Harvey that the city can't afford to have Harvey be a vigilante, it would ruin everything. Harvey must be the face of "good" Gotham, while Batman must remain masked -- this is the balance that must be struck to deal with criminals like the Joker.

Bruce gets home and finds Rachel there, and tells her that he's going to turn himself in, "I've seen what I'd have to become to stop men like [the Joker]." He asks again for Rachel's love, and Rachel gives it to him, even though they both know that if Bruce turns himself in they could never be together.

Bruce goes to his lair and puts away all his bat-stuff, preparing to give himself in. The dream is over, Bruce must give up his dream of justice in order to placate a madman. Essentially, he will sacrifice himself in order to save Harvey, even though it will mean undoing everything he, Gordon and Harvey have done.

He goes downtown to turn himself in -- the movie's not even half over! -- but Harvey turns the tables on him, steals his thunder and fulfills his wish at the same time. Bruce wanted to turn Harvey into Batman, and poof! Harvey is now Batman. Under pressure from "the people" of Gotham, Harvey announces that he is The Batman and puts himself under arrest. Not only does he steal the thunder from Bruce, he steals the act climax as well, and very nearly steals the rest of the plot of the movie. Act III will trace Harvey's journey from Batman to Two-Face, as Bruce will become increasingly helpless to recover the ground he has lost through his actions.

The Dark Knight part 3

2009-02-15T07:03:00.001-08:00

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At the end of Act II, Bruce Wayne was ready to reveal himself to be Batman, only to have his decision yoinked away from him by Harvey Dent. At the beginning of Act III, Bruce is forced to continue on as Batman in order to capture the Joker, the key representative of the new breed of criminal class Bruce has created by trying to clean up Gotham. Although there is some question as to whether Bruce's heart is really into giving up Batman -- which Rachel will address later in Act III.

At the top of Act III, Rachel goes to see Alfred. She's angry about Bruce's decision to let Harvey take the fall for Batman's vigilante crimes, so angry that she has apparently decided to give up Bruce forever and marry Harvey (although we don't know that quite yet). Rachel is, it seems, the only true-blue force of good in The Dark Knight. The other good guys understand that it's sometimes necessary to lie to defeat evil, but Rachel cannot let a lie stand. Alfred argues that Bruce is actually more than a hero for his actions -- he's already sacrificed his life to fight crime in a mask, now he's willing to give up the mask as well, to let Harvey take Batman from him. At this point, Harvey is really more Batman than Bruce.

Rachel goes downtown to see Harvey as he's being loaded into a SWAT van to be taken to the county lockup. They have something of a goodbye scene (appropriately enough, as we will see), where Harvey winks to Rachel that he knows what he's doing and everything will be all right.

Before we continue, behold the structure of Act III of The Dark Knight. It begins with a smashing chase scene, then moves straight into an extended multi-threaded suspense sequence, which culminates in the death of one character and the transformation of another. It delivers the narrative low-point for the protagonist, then kind of goes on for another ten minutes or so. This odd little post-climactic interlude between Act III and Act IV, a little mini-act of itself, maps out Harvey's transition from Harvey to Two-Face and includes the end of the Joker's relationship with the "establishment" (hint: the split is not amicable) and his nurturing of Harvey's transition from white knight to villain. During this interlude, Bruce acts as a superhero without putting on his mask (unless you count behaving as a dim-witted billionaire playboy a mask), and the Joker destroys a hospital in order to cover up the disappearance of Harvey.

Now then: Harvey's transfer to the county lockup has generated a lot of confusion among fans of The Dark Knight, so let's see if we can sort out what exactly happens here. The plan appears to be Harvey's: he knows he's not Batman, and the SWAT folk seem to understand that he's not Batman (Harvey's awfully open about it when he talks to Rachel), and, as we will find out, Jim Gordon is the non-talking SWAT guy driving the van next to the chatty SWAT guy. (Chatty SWAT Guy is so engaging, such a good distraction, that I had to learn that Jim was driving the van from -- horrors -- the internet.) So it's Harvey's plan to set himself up as bait to draw out the Joker, but Jim -- unbeknownst to Harvey -- is driving his van. (Jim, like Bruce, understands that, for justice to prevail, it sometimes must wear a mask.)

So Harvey's plan is: claim to be Batman, which will get him arrested, which will then get himself transferred to the county lockup, which will lure the Joker out of the shadows, which will then prompt the real Batman to come forward to arrest the Joker, and poof! Justice will be prevail in Gotham and everyone's problems will be solved. Jim's plan is auxilliary to Harvey's, and is this: capitalizing on his "death" in Act II, go under cover as a SWAT guy and be on hand to arrest the Joker when he makes his attack and Batman captures him. Harvey does not know about Jim's plan, although Jim must know about Harvey's, but I see no indication that Batman knows about either -- as far as he knows, Harvey is still sacrificing himself for the good of the city.

Now: what is the Joker's plan? The Joker's plan, we will learn, is: attack the SWAT caravan, knowing full well that Harvey is not the Batman, but knowing that by attacking the caravan he will draw out Batman. His plan then is either: get Batman to kill him, or to get himself captured by Batman and then arrested by the police (although not by Jim, who the Joker thinks is dead). "Could you please just give me a minute?" he asks Jim politely as he prepares to "put a smile" on Batman's face -- he's perfectly okay with getting captured, but he wants to know who Batman is first. Not out of any kind of Caeser-Romero-Joker-style desire to "unmask Batman," but because when Batman is unmasked, the fabric holding Gotham City together will unravel.

(Although I sometimes wonder about this. Mid-way through Batman and Robin, Batman participates in a celebrity charity auction, bidding an extraordinary amount of money for a date with Poison Ivy. I got the feeling while watching that movie that the Joker of Dark Knight could hold a press conference, announce that Batman is Bruce Wayne, and the people of Gotham would just look kind of embarrassed and say "Um, yeah, we had all figured that out already. Thanks anyway." The idea that the people of Gotham know that Bruce is Batman and let him run around punching criminals anyway is one that has yet to be explored in the Batman mythos.)

Harvey, who has spent the last two acts of The Dark Knight becoming Batman, now looks visibly relieved to announce that it was all a ruse -- like a bad dream. Harvey, like Hockey Pads, is not, and cannot be, the "real" Batman. Batman may have begun as a symbol, but The Dark Knight insists that only one man can truly be Batman.

The Joker is taken to the MCU, where the second half of his plan comes to light. And as long as we're here, let's work this through as well. The Joker, sensing that Harvey is not the Batman, attacks Harvey's convoy knowing that it will lead to his capture. He knows that attacking the SWAT convoy will land him in the MCU (or get him killed, which is okay with him too), so he has contrived to have one of his crazy minions locked up with him. (The minion, let's call him Phone Minion, has killed a policeman, thus guaranteeing his delivery to the MCU rather than some other police department.) Then, the Joker's only plan is to be taken to the phone-call place within the MCU and call Phone Minion from there, which will blow up Phone Minion and destroy the MCU, which will allow him to free Lau, the Mob banker, thus re-gaining the status quo for Maroni and the other crimelords -- or so they think. In order to keep the police distracted, he has also contrived to have Wuertz and Ramirez kidnap Harvey and Rachel and deliver them to a pair of abandoned warehouses, where they are wired up to a whole bunch of oil drums. The Joker most likely does not know that Jim is alive, and he seems surprised that Batman shows up to interrogate him, but that's okay -- he'll get what he wants anyway. He doesn't need Batman to show up to interrogate him, he knows that Batman is around somewhere and will try to rescue either Harvey or Rachel, and that one of them will die. Although it does turn out handy for the Joker that the Batman does show up, as it gives the two of them some valuable face-time with each other. (Hey -- I notice that SAG has nominated Heath Ledger for Best Supporting actor for his performance in The Dark Knight, even though his role is clearly a lead. They did the same thing with Dev Patel for Slumdog Millionaire. What's up with that, SAG?)

But before all that happens, we spend a little time with Jim Gordon, the latest addition to the Masked Justice fraternity and, until recently, dead. Jim is given a promotion to Commissioner by the Mayor, then checks in with his wife and son (but not his daughter, who will, of course, one day go a little overboard in trying to get his attention). He goes to interrogate the Joker about the sudden disappearance of Harvey and Rachel (The Joker turns his argument back on him -- Harvey and Rachel were abducted by Jim's people, not the Joker's), then, having had his little narrative moment in the sun, turns the story back over to Batman for his big scene.

"There's no going back, you've changed things" says the Joker to Batman. By deciding to take out the Mob, by upsetting the status quo, Bruce has created a far more unstable environment. The Joker also hints at his ultimate endgame -- he doesn't want Batman dead, and never did, despite what he told the mobsters back in Act I. He needs Batman alive to provide a dramatic contrast that will make him, the Joker, more powerful. "You have nothing to do with all your strength," he laughs -- if Batman kills the Joker, he's admitting that he's a failure and that his notions of justice are a fraud. Lecter-like, he tries to get inside Batman's mind, warning him that, despite the support of the police, there will come a time when Gotham won't need him -- especially if he does his job well -- and will cast him out. He tells Batman where Rachel and Harvey are being held, forcing Bruce to make a choice between the two. Harvey is the public face of good in Gotham, he's Daytime Batman, but Rachel is Bruce's ticket out of Batworld altogether. Under pressure, Bruce doesn't think and chooses to save Rachel over Harvey, not realizing that the Joker has given him bad information -- he's mixed lies with truth to confuse him, and succeeded.

(Again: the Joker does not need Batman in the interrogation room to fulfill this part of his plan -- the Harvey-Rachel crisis will empty out the MCU just as easily, allowing him to make his phone call and get to Lau.)

So Bruce, thinking he's being selfish and saving Rachel, instead saves Harvey (half-way) while Rachel gets blown to bits. The next morning, Alfred reads a note Rachel gave to him to give to Bruce. It's a "Dear Bruce" letter, telling him that she's chosen to marry Harvey after all. Rejecting one Batman, she's chosen another. Bruce may be the "real Batman," but Harvey can be Batman without a mask -- or at least that was the case when Rachel wrote the letter. Further, Rachel seems to understand that there will never be a time when Bruce cannot be Batman. The note doesn't explicate, but she could mean two things here: either she means that there will never be a time when Gotham doesn't need Batman, or else she means that Bruce will always find an excuse to keep being Batman. I'm inclined to think the latter, since Bruce's non-confession at the end of Act II is what prompted Rachel to write the letter in the first place.

Alfred is about to deliver this letter to Bruce when Bruce, at his narrative low-point, mentions that he acted to save Rachel because he believes that Rachel had decided to choose himself over Harvey. Alfred then decides not to hand over the letter after all -- another lie to serve a greater good, something especially poignant as Rachel would have felt bitterly betrayed by the action.

The action-packed entre-acte begins, almost a prologue to Act IV: Jim goes to see Harvey in the hospital. Harvey, in his agony, has refused medical treatment for his horrible, horrifying wounds, and vows revenge on Jim, who he feels is partly responsible for the death of Rachel.

It's not an entirely bad day for Jim, though -- no sooner does he get condemned by Harvey than he gets saved by Maroni, who turns up outside Harvey's hosptial room, repentant, wanting to turn in the Joker. It's as though Maroni, being a man of honor, after all, wants to make amends for his role in all this mess. He knows that he's upset the status quo too, and he addresses Jim as an equal in the world of crime -- almost a kind of business partner, which is how the Mob felt about the police in any case.

Across town, the Joker meets up with the Chechen. Maroni is supposed to be there as well, but we know that he's across town giving the Joker up to Jim. The Joker now has Lau and half of all the Mob's money -- he should now be the crime boss of all Gotham. Which makes it all the more shocking when he burns the money -- and Lau -- and then kills the Chechen. The Joker, we learn, has no endgame. There's no point where he's going to say "Okay, I'm done, good job." For the Joker, the whole point of his enterprise is that it goes on and on and on. This is a radically new concept in superhero movies, where the "bad-guy plot" always culminates in some bizarre, colorful, impossible scheme that the hero has to foil. How can Batman foil the Joker's bad-guy plot when he doesn't have one?

([info]thevoiceoffate informs me that the Joker is, in fact, burning all the Mob's money -- the idea that he's only burning half is a joke -- yes, he's only burning his half, but the fire will then proceed to burn the rest.)

Meanwhile, the Coleman Reese plot plays itself out. Reese, who knows Bruce is the Batman, has seen enough destruction that he's going to abandon his blackmail plot to expose Bruce for free on live television. While Jim takes his men to wherever Maroni told him to go (I'm assuming the boat with the burning pile of money, although we never see them arrive), the Joker sets another plot into motion: he heads over to the hospital where Harvey is, turns him evil, then blows up the hospital to cover Harvey's escape. The Reese aspect of his plan is mere happenstance -- the Joker was going to blow up the hospital in any case, to get Harvey out.

In any case, the Joker calls into the TV show where Reese is and puts a price on Reese's head. He doesn't particularly care about whether Reese lives or dies, but Reese's TV appearance gives him a chance to stage a massive diversion as the city goes crazy.

He goes to Harvey's room, and, in spite of being responsible for killing his girlfriend and sending the city Harvey loves into chaos, the Joker is able to convince Harvey that Batman -- and the police who back him up -- are the real villains in this story.

Which, well, he has a point, although he stretches the truth when he tells Harvey that Batman and Jim are "schemers" while he's a mere "dog chasing cars." Batman and Jim have plans, it's true, and so did Harvey once, but the real difference between them and the Joker is that their plans have ideal outcomes, whereas the Joker's plans just go on and on forever. This, for me, is a signature aspect of the Joker character presented in The Dark Knight, a criminal with no goal, just a perpetuation of anarchy. The fault in Batman and Jim, says the Joker, is that they're all about control, whereas he's an "agent of chaos." That's as close as the Joker comes to a statement of purpose in The Dark Knight, especially when he backs up his point by talking about the everyday barbarity of society, the way that society is completely tolerant of death and destruction, as long as it happens to the right people. To seal the deal in Harvey's mind, the Joker happily includes his own probable death into Harvey's notion of justice.

The Joker's plan, Jim's plan and Bruce's plan all come crashing together, literally, as Bruce heads into traffic to stop a Gothamite from killing Reese. It's interesting and compelling to see Bruce act as a superhero without a mask, and it reinforces the extent to which Bruce has turned his life over to that mask -- his daytime persona is more of a mask than his actual mask is.

Bruce's bold decision to step out unmasked is dramatic, but again, he has played into the Joker's hand, heading to save the wrong person as the Joker blows up Harvey's hospital and makes off with a busload of hostages (the same bus as from the heist prologue?). Despite Bruce's sacrifices and best attempts, the city is now in dramatically worse shape than before, in a state of emergency in fact, and the day isn't yet over.