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| BrendanMcKillip.com brendan mckillip's daily journal |
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daily journal
DC Icons It's the cover artwork for Jim Lee's new book, ICONS: The DC Comics & WildStorm Art of Jim Lee. I always enjoy Lee's artwork; especially his pencils, which I find have more depth and texture then when his work has been inked and colored.  But when did Batman become the focal point of the DC Big Three? When an artist is representing the DC Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, Superman always - always - gets the choice position. Is it a reflection of Batman's raised marketing value post The Dark Knight movie? Maybe. But as a Batman fan I don't care. I like seeing him out front and center. posted by Brendan | 4:30 PM | permanent link
Batman by Ted Naifeh I'm totally digging Ted Naifeh's sketches of Batman and related characters. Not sure if he's trying to audition for DC in a plan for them to throw a Batman story his way, but I enjoy the perks of getting to see how he sees the character.  Labels: art, Batman, Comics, DC posted by Brendan | 7:21 PM | permanent link
Happy 75th Birthday, DC Comics 75 years ago today, on January 11, 1935, New Fun #1 went on sale. The comic was published by the company that would come to call themselves DC Comics and provide its readers some memorable characters and stories.  I'm just glad they've hung around this long to publish fun and innovative stories starring some of the most interesting characters in literature. posted by Brendan | 8:04 AM | permanent link
Google Does ComicCon ComicCon, the annual orgy of all things pop culture, started today in San Diego and Google is getting in on the action. This is today�s Google logo, designed by Jim Lee and starring the heroes of DC Comics:  Google also released a bunch of new iGoogle themes drawing inspiration from comics. Everything from Batman to Ziggy, with some alternative comics and manga thrown in for good measure. I tried out the Pearls Before Swine theme for my iGoogle page, but I just can't get into that sort of embellishment on my personalized pages. I already have plenty of content on these pages � news, weather, email, quotes of the day � I don't need a bunch of images crowding things up. It's neat idea. Just not for me. Here's a real close look at the Jim Lee-design logo posted by Brendan | 6:42 PM | permanent link
Good Stuff The first four minutes of Green Lantern: First Flight, which debuts on DVD in about a week. One more DC DVD I plan to add to my collection. Labels: Animation, DC, Green Lantern posted by Brendan | 9:10 AM | permanent link
Green Lantern - The (Fake) Movie Somebody spent a lot of time to make Nathan Fillion the star of an imaginary Green Lantern film I think Fillion is a great actor, but I don't know if grabs me as the Hal Jordan type. Labels: DC, Green Lantern posted by Brendan | 9:57 AM | permanent link
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies I am loving the work Warner Brother Animation has been doing with DC Comics characters. Last summer's Batman: Gotham Knights was great, the Wonder Woman film that was released earlier this year looks fantastic and is still high on my list of most wanted DVDs, and I'm anxious to get a closer look at Green Lantern: First Flight when it drops this summer. This fall another animated film will be released - Superman/Batman: Public Enemies I own the comics that Public Enemies is based on, so I know the story already. But it's a story that I think would make a great animated action flick. The trailer - which has been yanked from US websites and can only be found on Russian sites right now - sure appears to supporting that belief. I want to own this. posted by Brendan | 5:17 PM | permanent link
5 Things I Think I don�t know what the San Francisco Giant marketing team was thinking when they rolled this slogan out, but it sure is a doozey.  Even a week a later, every time I read �Play with balls of fire� I shake my head and laugh.  Knowing that I have a long road ahead of me, I�ve already started telling Heather that I want to buy a motorcycle. Even though I figure that I won�t have time to really ride and enjoy a motorcycle for about ten years, I need to start working my argument now in order to wear her down enough that I could pull the trigger on that sort of purchase in the next seven or eight years. (Economy and college tuition willing) I need to figure out if the Can-Am is cool or totally dorky in case I want to work it into my argument. The more I look at it the more I'm coming down on the side of totally dorky.  Before  After  A few years ago Get Fuzzy was the popular strip, even won a Reuben Award in 2002, but now it feels like Conley keeps re-hashing the same jokes over and over � usually dragging them on (badly) for days. Even when you think he might be trying something different, like last week when he started the story with the ghost hunters; it only ended up as way to bring the terminally un-funny Manc back into the strip for some more tired bad accent jokes. And this week we're back to monkey jokes. Move on or get off the page. Don't turn into Garfield. Labels: 5 Things I Think, comic strips, DC, Fun, Sports posted by Brendan | 1:26 PM | permanent link
5 Things I Think I love seeing these quality direct-to-DVD animated movies from DC comics, but this rash of new releases has got me thinking. When Warner Brothers Animation announced this deal back 2006, one of the three original projects was Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. The other two project were produced (Superman/Doomsday and The Final Frontier), but still no Judas Contract. The Judas Contract is one of the all-time great DC Comics stories. What happened to that project? It looks like everyone is reading/linking/sharing it, and for good reason � he makes some interesting and insightful observations. We are in the middle of a media delivery revolution on scale with the invention of the movable type printing press and no one really knows how this digital revolution will ultimately impact the newspapers. How else do you explain the need for Chicago Tribune movie critic Michael Phillips to write a commentary arguing why parents shouldn�t take their children to see the Watchmen. Just because a movie has a guy dressed up in a goofy custom swinging from buildings doesn�t mean it�s exactly kid-friendly.  It�s so small that I think young kids will easily lose it, plus the controls are now contained in a tiny little touch bar on the headphone cord. Instead of the uber-intuitive touch-wheel, Shuffle users have to adapt to the morse code-like tappings to control the music. Plus, Apple dropped all the cool colors that the second generation iPod Shuffle came in. Those colors were one of the things that Ian and Emma thought were do great about the Shuffle. Labels: 5 Things I Think, Animation, Apple, DC, Family, food, iPod, News posted by Brendan | 6:13 PM | permanent link
Watchmen Stuff For the most part I have been ignoring all the build up to the Watchmen movie release today. I've been quietly re-reading the book at home and waiting for the reviews to roll in. Don't know if it was done to capitalize on or mock the hype surrounding the opening of the Watchmen movie, but all week PVP has been doing a parody of the Watchmen called Ombudsmen using syndicated newspaper comic strip characters. I thought the concept was clever and well executed; especially how Scott Kurtz adapted the main storyline to fit his parody. His casting was also spot-on. It�s a funny read. Worth your time.  As for the film - the reviews for the film have been mixed. The Chicago Tribune�s Michael Phillips hated it. The Chicago Sun-Times� Roger Ebert loved it. Everyone else seems to falling into one of those two camps. Personally, I am ambivalent to the movie. I love the book immensely. It�s one of my top five favorite comics and I�ve always shared Watchmen writer Alan Moore�s assertion that the book cannot be made into a movie. Plus, I was less than enthralled with Watchmen director Zack Synder�s uninspired film interpretation of Frank Miller�s 300. None the less, it would be interesting to see for myself how things turned out. Labels: comic strips, Comics, DC, movies posted by Brendan | 4:31 PM | permanent link
Comic Book Movie News I�m always a little wary of announcements that comic book properties are being adapted into films � especially when the comics in question are superhero books. It�s not much a stretch to take something like History of Violence or Road to Perdition and translate that compelling story to film that will be accepted and generally appreciated. Make your story about a grown man dressing up like a bat and film makers can start flaying all about. Sometimes the result is an an enjoyable film, other times were left with a train wreck of cinema. Luckily, the quality and sophistication of films based on superhero comics seems to be trending in the right direction. More solid storytelling and less train wreck. Hopefully that will continue. Of all the new projects announced by Warner Brother (DC Comics) and Marvel, these are the ones that I are grabbing my initial interest  GREEN LANTERN (release: December 17, 2010) � Green Lantern has always been one of my favorite DC heroes. There will be a direct to DVD animated film starring GL later this year that I am anxious to see, but a live-action flick could be a lot of fun also. I really believe that depending on how Warner Brothers decides to handle Green Lantern in his feature film debut, GL could be Warner�s Iron Man � a character driven sci-fi adventure with a broad appeal. SUICIDE SQUAD (no release set) � WB announced that they�re developing a script based on this DC Comics series that would bring together villains and fallen-heroes for Government-sanctioned missions so dangerous that it may kill them, but that�s it so far. Why I like the idea of this film being made is that it would probably compel DC Comics to start release collections of John Ostrander�s excellent run of the series. (They haven't done that to date) I really don�t care if the movie is any good if the end result is I can pick up some quality comics.Damn. 9 movies. Again, you have to admire Marvel�s ambitious approach to adapting their stable of characters to the silver screen. They lock up Sam Jackson because they plan on creating all of these movies and wanting to build some continuity of character across properties. I really wish DC Comics/WB could pull together a comprehensive plan like that. Labels: Comics, DC, iron man, movies posted by Brendan | 10:30 PM | permanent link
What's In Oklahoma? I've never had much of an interest in visiting Oklahoma. Until now.  Nine years ago Kevin Stark convinced the Pauls Valley City Council that not only did the town needed a tourist attraction, but that the perfect attraction would be a toy and action figure museum. Wired has a nice little photo essay about it all. It's really more of a huge, massive collection than a museum. But its cool none the less. I mean, check out the DC heroes display  Maybe I'll have to find my way to Pauls Valley City, OK some time soon. posted by Brendan | 4:54 PM | permanent link
LEGO Batgirl Ian owns all of the LEGO Star Wars video games and he got LEGO Indiana Jones game this summer (my favorite to date). However, this fall LEGO Batman hits store shelves and I'm already thinking that we have to get this for our new Wii. If not for the huge gallery of characters the creators have crammed into the game, then at least for LEGO Batgirl.  How cool is that. LEGO Batgirl is the tops. Labels: Batman, DC, Indiana Jones, Star Wars posted by Brendan | 10:58 PM | permanent link
Batman: The Brave and The Bold Preview It's the weekend of Comic-Con in San Diego, so there is new comic related stuff all over the place. This preview of the Batman: The Brave and The Bold looks fantastic. The new series is set to debut on Cartoon Network this November. Batman: The Brave and The Bold is going to be Batman and another super-powered guest star each week in a story that is all about action, action, and more action. Looks like great fun to me. posted by Brendan | 9:00 PM | permanent link
DC on iTunes  Look whose on iTunes now - the heroes of the DC Universe.iTunes is now selling episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Super Friends, Batman Beyond, Aquaman, The Fleischer Studio Superman cartoons, and the live-action The Adventures of Superman TV show starring George Reeves. I already own three of those five series (Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, and The Fleischer Superman toons) and owe some of the Super Friends stuff. So I won't be dropping any money there. However, I enjoyed Batman Beyond when it originally aired, so I wouldn't mind watching another episode or two of that series. Plus, I'm interested in sampling some of the Aquaman series; just to see what it is like. posted by Brendan | 8:10 AM | permanent link
Batman Notices Everything One of the things that I think is so great about Batman - he notices everything  [via] Labels: Batman, Comics, DC, oddities posted by Brendan | 1:38 PM | permanent link
Reviews, Reviews, Reviews Once, it was my intention to write a review of something every Friday. In my head I put together a loose writing schedule that went something along the lines of Monday - sports, Wednesday - family stuff, and Friday � reviews. Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekends were freebie days; times when I could just post goofy photos or previews of comics or movies that I found interesting. I haven�t kept to that schedule as well as I would have liked, but I am always trying to recalibrate my habits to fit that sort of writing regiment in. So let�s play a little catch-up on the reviews (on a Monday no less) with a scatter shot of capsule comments on some of the movies and books I have experienced over the last month or so.  Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street � Knowing almost nothing about the stage production, earlier film versions, or even the story, my interest in seeing this film sprung solely from two names: Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Separately these two create wonderful work. Together, the film art is extraordinary.I enjoyed the songs and lyrics considerably, and the performances were all top notch (with the exception of Helena Bonham Carter, who didn�t seem to have the same singing chops of the other actors). I thought Depp did exceptionally well with his singing. He successfully reinvented himself as an actor who portrayed his character through song, in contrast to Ms. Carter, who appeared more like an actor who would sing from time to time. There is a big difference when you are performing in a musical, and Depp nails it. As is customary with a Burton film, the production design � the sets, the costumes, the make-up � was pitch perfect in creating the creepy world of Sweeny Todd. Highly recommended if you don�t mind a lot of singing in your movies. - - - - - - - The Fifth Elephant, by Terry Pratchett � For Christmas, my mom gave me this book and gave Heather Hogfather, also by Pratchett. Both books are from his Discworld series of fantasy/humor novels. Apparently my mother had read a novel by Pratchett and really enjoyed it. I don�t know if either of the books she gave to us was the one she read, but no matter. A few years back I had read Good Omens, a collaborative effort between Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett about the bungling of Armageddon, so I had someone what of an idea of what to expect. True to form, The Fifth Elephant is dense with British humor � which means I either laugh heartily at the jokes or feel stupid for not understanding the jokes. (Sometimes I think British humor can be too subtle for its own good.) It took a while for me to find the groove of the narrative and the many characters and subplots, but once Pratchett stopped jumping around from location to location, storyline to storyline and spent more than 20 contiguous pages focusing on the main plot and characters, the book settled down for me and was quite entertaining. I particularly liked the main character, Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. He is equal parts introspective idealist and bruising realist, which makes any scene he appears in crackle with anticipation of how he will respond. Terry Pratchett said of the character, �He fears he may be a bad person because he knows what he thinks rather than just what he says and does. He chokes off those little reactions and impulses, but he knows what they are. So he tries to act like a good person, often in situations where the map is unclear�, which I think gets to the root of the character�s appeal for me. Unfortunately Pratchett has written 36 Discworld novels (which this book is number 24) and Commander Vines only appears as the main character in 6 of those books (not counting The Fifth Elephant). On the other hand, maybe that�s a good thing. Instead of hunting down thirty-five other books to read, I�d only have to find six other ones if I wanted to explore more of Vines� adventures. - - - - - -  3:10 to Yuma � Just saw this movie this past weekend. It popped up for Heather in the library reserve lottery. We might have to wait a bit to see films when we reserve them through our library, but it sure makes things more fun. We never know when the movies in our queue will sudden become ready for pick-up.3:10 to Yuma is a solid old fashioned Western movie; light on action overall, but with a slow-cooking morality play story that delivers the big shoot-out to close the movie out. Christian Bale is good, Russell Crowe is good � hell, all of the performances were top notch in this film. The more I contemplate the film, the more I consider it one I might like to add to my home collection of DVDs. Highly recommended - - - - - - Superman / Batman: Saga of the Super Sons, by Bob Haney (writer) and Dick Dillin (artist) � Bob Haney wrote almost every sort of comic story imaginable during his time at DC Comics, and is credited with creating the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, Metamorpho, and few other the publisher�s lasting characters. He is known for his fantastically warped story ideas (Batman dies and the Atom shrinks down to enter Batman�s brain and reanimate him) and his bizarre dialogue. By far his grooviest creation was Bruce Wayne, Jr. and Clark Kent, Jr. � the Super Sons. They were Batman�s and Superman�s sons (we never learn or see who their mothers are) who wanted to strike out and make a name for themselves outside of their famous fathers� shadows.  The stories are quintessential Haney with everything from Superman flying faster than the speed of light to create a parallel version of the existing world so Bruce Jr. and Clark Jr. can practice being superheroes in a controlled environment, to Bruce Jr. and Clark Jr. imprisoning their famous fathers on the charge of being heroes simply because their dads crave the public�s attention, to Superman faking his own death so he convince Clark Jr. that he shouldn�t give up the �family business� of superhero-ing. The man could not write a boring story.All through-out the stories we are treated to classic Haney dialogue and over-the-top late-1960�s slang while Bruce Jr. and Clark Jr. travel across America on Bruce Jr.�s orange motorcycle. It�s one goofy, warped story after another and it�s pure bliss. Saga of the Super Sons was great fun to read, but I don�t think it would appeal to anyone who wasn�t already a comic book fan and didn�t enjoyed some kitschy/campy super heroics in the same vein of the 1960�s Batman T.V. show. - - - - - - Enchanted � we reserved it from the library because both Emma and Ian asked Heather to, but in the end I think Heather and I enjoyed this film more than the kids did. The story is thin, but the performances from the leads are earnest and fun. Disney shows that they aren�t afraid to poke fun at themselves, even creating parody Disney songs that are as strong as any they have created in the past.  Amy Adams wonderfully creates the live-action personification of a Disney princess. The bubbly personality, wide-eyed innocence, helium-stretched voice � she delivers them all. Plus, the makers of the film loaded up the movie with subtle riffs on scenes from previous Disney movies. So for a movie trivia buff, the film is a treasure hunt to find the little references to Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and more.The kids didn�t necessarily get all the jokes, but they enjoyed the story and the music. Heather and I enjoyed it as well. Enchanted is a quality family movie that doesn�t insult the intelligence of the adults (or kids) watching it. - - - - - - The Red Blot � A couple months ago I got another Shadow 2-for book - two novels in one book. The first story is The Red Blot. A mysterious criminal mastermind seems to have found a way to allude not only the New York City police, but the Shadow as well, as he stages crimes progressively more daring then the previous one. His calling card is a piece of paper with a red blot of ink on it. The story isn�t anything particularly new to the Shadow mythology. I�ve read similar sorts of plot setups. What made this one unique is that Walter Gibson was able to keep me fooled on the identify of the Red Blot until the end. Besides stopping the bad guy, there were two mysteries to the story: who was the mole within the police department tipping off the Red Blot and who was the Red Blot. It was painfully obvious that the police mole was Detective Hembroke, who from the very beginning of the story has the stink of a character being set up for a fall later on, but Grant successfully provided enough misdirection and red herrings to keep the identity of the Red Blot hidden until the very end. I appreciated that. It made reading this Shadow story just a little more enjoyable. Labels: Books, Comics, DC, movies, Pulps, Review posted by Brendan | 11:21 PM | permanent link
Corporate Synergy The May 26 issue of Sports Illustrated will feature a cover drawn by Mark Bagley, with Karl Story on inks and color from Alex Sinclair.  The cover promotes Tom Verducci�s article exploring the topsy-turvy 2008 MLB season. Both DC Comics and Sports Illustrated are owned by Time Warner posted by Brendan | 9:40 PM | permanent link
Cliff Chang's Vision of the DC Universe About ten years ago comic artist Cliff Chang worked up some characters sheets for an idea he had for a new comic. Basically a mix of DC, anime, and kaiju, Chang imagined a world where a group of Japanese heroes took inspiration from their Western counterparts and created their own crime-fighting alter egos. His new version of the Flash is a little too Speed Racer/Racer X for me, but I love his idea for Superman � a giant robot controlled by a young boy via his wristwatch.  I have always loved Chang�s work. While I doubt this project will ever be produced now, it sure would have been fun to see what the finished product might have been.Labels: Comics, DC, Illustration posted by Brendan | 9:23 PM | permanent link
Batman Gotham Knight Trailer So much coolness. posted by Brendan | 2:30 PM | permanent link
Batman: The Brave and the Bold I think it�s safe to say that you just can�t keep DC characters from having animated TV shows. No sooner does The Batman and Legion of Super Heroes close shop then Cartoon Network announces that Batman: The Brave and the Bold will be joining their Friday night lineup. The new series, whose guest stars include Green Arrow, Blue Beetle, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and many others, will be �equal doses of comedy and high stakes� according to CN. Episodes will be thirty minutes long.  I'm looking forward to it. posted by Brendan | 10:12 PM | permanent link
Superheroes Meet Classical Art Photoshop jockies take a turn at blending superheroes into classical pieces of art. It�s mostly Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man, but some other characters show up as well. My two favorites:   Labels: Batman, Comics, DC, Illustration posted by Brendan | 9:45 PM | permanent link
New Johnny DC Titles  I missed this announcement when it was made back at Wizard World Chicago, but DC is revamping their Johnny DC line and bringing in some new super hero themed comics that should be as fun as the non-superhero stuff in this kid-friendly line.They will be debuting a Super Friends series that is based on the new Mattel series of toys. The toys are essentially a Rescue Hero riff of DC Heroes. A little late to this toy game in my opinoin - Rescue Heroes were big money about four years ago (Marvel are cashed in with their own hero knock-offs back then) and don�t seem to around much anymore, but I must admit Batman with big old chunky feet and hands with a goofy-ass smile plastered on his face does seem like a lot of fun. The comic book is using the toy designs for its character designs, and then will be spinning simple stories about doing good and helping others aimed at the three to five year-old audience that the toys target. It�s all about cross-product synergy.  One of the other series debuting under the Johnny DC banner will be Bill Batson and the Magic of Shazam. What�s so exciting about this title is prescense of creator Mike Kunkel. From what I can tell Kunkel will be both writing and drawing the new Shazam title. His Herobear and the Kid was a wonder mix of childhood wonder and magic, so I understand DC�s excitement in being able to sign him up for this series.Being a huge fan of Captain Marvel, I will be interested in checking this title out. Probably won�t pick it up regularly, but Kunkel working on the Big Red Cheese is too good to pass up. Plus, his previews on his blog are interesting. There will also be a new Teen Titan comic called Tiny Titans by Art Baltazar, the creator of Patrick the Wolf Boy. Although I�m not too interested in that book, I�ve only ever read exceptional things about Patrick the Wolf Boy. The title has been on my long list of books to try and read at some time for at least the last six or seven years. From my limited knowledge of Baltazar�s work, I�m pretty sure he will also create a really fun title for younger readers. These books might be geared towards readers that are younger than Ian, and Emma and Zoe haven�t shown much interest in super hero comics, but I love to see these sorts of efforts from DC to make sure they are publishing a diverse line of books that offers something for all age groups. posted by Brendan | 4:56 PM | permanent link
DC: New Frontier Trailer Darwyn Cooke is favorite comic book creator of mine. I've loved the work he's done with Batman, I am enjoying his take on The Spirit, and I thought DC: New Frontier was fantastic. From the looks of this trailer for next spring's DVD release of Justice League: New Frontier - the animated adaptation of Cooke's comic - I think I'm really going to enjoy that project as well. posted by Brendan | 9:43 AM | permanent link |
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