“Comic book characters defy stereotypes”

“POW! Take that, racism. And – WHACK! – take that, homophobia. And – THOOM! KER-THWACK! KRUMMMMM! – take that, gender stereotyping, cultural bias and religious intolerance.”

Rundown of racially/sexually diverse characters at Marvel and DC, including the “already vanished without a trace in the U.S.” Spider-Man India.

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“Superheroes aren’t gay”

“Superheroes aren’t gay, but guardians of the innocent as well as advocates of peace. They fight to set the wrong things right in the name of justice. They will not stop until evil is rooted out– and all will be good in the world.”

I don’t think this person has really thought through what he was trying to say. I think he was trying to get across that superheroic responsibilities are the primary identifiable characteristic of superheroes, not their sexual preferences. But that contrast I quoted above — “heroes aren’t gay, they’re good people who fight for right” — well, that’s just unfortunate.

Now, you folks do realize that the official novelization for Snakes on a Plane is currently out in stores?

Here’s a peek inside:

Both of those images are totally stolen from the Amazon page for this item…the larger version of the second photo above reveals that the author was also responsible for the novelizations of all three Final Destination flicks.

Nothing but five-star reviews for the book so far. A sample:

“Heart stopping action with snakes, and a plane! This is book had a life changing effect on me. I learned to love mother natures little helpers, but not if they are on a plane. You have to get the mother freakings snakes off the plane.”

Yes, it’s big print/wide margins ahoy (EDIT: I’ve since had a second look, and the margins aren’t as wide as I remembered them being – my mistake!), but the only thing better than living in a world that allows the production of a movie called Snakes on a Plane is a world that allows for a novelization of said movie.

Just out of curiosity, I Googled up my first mention of Snakes on a Plane on this site, which was September 9th of last year. That’s only a couple weeks after this weblog post which the Wikipedia article singles out as one of the prime instigators of Snakes on a Plane-mania. So hopefully this puts me in the category of “early adopter!”

For more info, may I suggest Snakes on a Blog?

Now don’t get me wrong…I love John Williams’ score for the original Superman movie. I bought the two-record set when I was a kid (or I got it for Christmas, more likely), and I’ve since bought the expanded CD release. I honestly don’t know if there’s a piece of music that more says “Superman” than Williams’ theme.

However, something about the use of that music in Superman Returns slightly rubbed me the wrong way, and at the time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why that would be. I was fine with the theme playing over the opening credits, because that was a particularly fun sequence, and it was nice to hear it booming through theatre speakers again.

But during the action of the film itself, whenever the theme played, it just seemed slightly…out of place. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on the movie, I think my particular issue is that Williams’ heroic, bombastic, and more innocent theme seemed at odds with the more somber and reflective story that Superman Returns presented. Even during the more traditional superheroic scenes, it felt a little tacked on: “See, Superman’s being a hero, you can tell by our use of the Williams theme! Look how heroic he is!”

To be fair, the Williams theme did occasionally pop up here and there throughout the new film’s soundtrack with a more downbeat arrangement, which I thought was quite effective and fit nicely with the overall tone of the movie.

Again, and let me emphasize this, it’s a very minor nitpick. I’m not fuming over this like someone on the DC Forums: “How dare they sully the greatness of the John Williams theme by attaching it to this travesty” — you know, like that. It was just a thought that occurred to me, and thought I’d share it with you kind and understanding folks.

I think I really need to see this movie again to more fully pin down my thoughts and feelings about this flick. I’m sure it’ll be out on DVD in six months (or less), so maybe I’ll revisit it then.

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In the meantime, let’s make fun of people:

Here’s a quote from an Amazon review of Superman Returns: The Official Movie Guide:

“Boring and misinforming

“This is among the worst movie tie in books ever. To put it mildly, the script looks awful, the film photos speak volumes of how cheap Singer made the movie, and how stupid DC Comics is for letting Warners call all the shots in the film making process.

“MAKE MINE MARVEL.”

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This isn’t Superman Returns, but I haven’t yet met my quota for mentions of the “Death of Superman” storyline lately, so I thought I’d quote from some of Amazon.com’s reviews for said book:

“Much worse than the myths perpetuated by Dan Brown with his now infamous allegedly factual-based novel DA VINCI CODE did for the profanity of creating myths behind the myths alleged to Christ and Mary of Magdala — DC Comics did with their primary Legendary comic book charachter by all of these damned revisions that they made in the debacle of their period for having the desperate crud to gain sales – all in the spirit of the American way for the Almighty Dollar.
What’s next? Superman happen to be Gay?! And Jimmy Olsen is Clark Kent’s boyfriend! Might as well revise Supes into SUPERGAY then. Sheeez –!”

“Wow. This book is so so. Now one there is no story no plot no twist.It seem that this bookis all action no story and citter chat that has nothing to do with this comic. i meen realy if super man is the mane carecter shy are all the other super heroes in this.I meen doomsday fights him whith pne hand in a steel shackle. when they all attack him at wonce then the shackle breek. i meen who the hell would free his other hand when he is already kicking there ass. they dont even tell you how he came to be or why he wuz in chains. if you are looking for only action this is for you”

“I can’t believe someone could write a 200 page comic book about nothing. I should have expected this when the first 4 pages showed a punching arm. JUST A PICTURE OF AN ARM FOR FOUR FREAKING PAGES. […] ‘doomsday comes out of nowhere and fights superman to the death’. There…. 1 sentence describes the whole 200 pages.”

“I prefer Lobo as an S-Villain. He is a bounty hunter,he has a space Harly he rides on and he has some great one liners. Plus he at least has an attitude.”

“This book was very obviously a marketing scheme to get sales up. I mean, did anyone actually expect Superman to stay dead? I think not.”

Um, as someone who was selling the “Death of Superman” comics at the time…yes, some people definitely expected him to stay dead.

Anyway, just so I’m not Mr. Negativepants, here are some positive reviews for the book:

“Man, This book does the best in explaining the fall of Superman, Domesday, the JLA. Just buy it even if you have the least simple intrest in Superman, still just buy it!!!!!!”

“I have read this book and it is one of the best superman books I have ever read. Doomsday should get stuffed.”

“This book is one of the best books I read so far I mean the pictures the story and the way they presented it was just great and I would recommend this book to whoever collects comic books to let it be a part of your collection”

“I hope they keep writing more stories like this one, just don’t kill him again…I don’t think I could handle it again.”

Well said.

“Superman Fans who have NOT seen SR”

“Let’s here it from those superfans who are abstaining from 2.5 hours of torture. […] Count me as one; and I don’t plan to see this thing except on boring Saturday on TV.

“It’s extremely gratifying that this hugely expensive movie is going to get waxed at the box office. It, and WB, totally deserve it.

“For decades now WB (and DC) has been presenting us with horrendous portrayals of Superman which have only been VERY marginally popular. Now they expected the big relaunch of Superman on screen to be gigantic; even though they are offering yet another variant of the NON-SUPERMAN, in this case a ludicrously airbrushed, angsty, tepid chick flick.

“They could get away with doing Superman wrong on the margins; comic books, stupid tv shows. . .but the chickens have come home to roost when they expect this to work on a big audience. The word is out; most Americans (and people overseas) knows this movie for the insulting and manipulative trash that it is and word of mouth isn’t going to carry the day as this baby sinks like the titanic (the ship not the movie).

“Long live Superman, and death to all the imposters who keep blood sucking his name! Here’s to NO SEQUELS to this mentally arrested ‘vision.’ I’d rather wait another 20 years for a real Superman movie, then spend the next decade with the great character wallowing in this crapola.

“The writing was on the wall for this stinker a long time ago.”

A few posts later….

“[Another DC Forum poster], me, and few others had voiced REPEATEDLY well in advancce of movie’s opening and reviews the obvious problems with the movie:

“a) Byran Thinger: a shallow, boring, pretentious director
b) Casting and Costume
c) Total misunderstanding of Superman and his context and thus inabilty to convey power and be exciting
c) Calling it out as a chick flick which feels the need to couch Superman in mindnumbing triteness of boyfriends coming home, live in lovers, lilbastards, high-school romance worse than Anakin and Amidala, superman butchered in a hospital as the great battle, etc

“WB won’t say, but this movie is a disapointment. It cost upward of 300mil; and of course it did relatively okay at the BO; that was guaranteed with a character like Superman. But they don’t like spending all that time and effort for minimal returns.”

“Thinger.” Charming.

WHOOOOOSH!

I’ve been thinking more about Superman Returns and my reaction to it. It may have seemed fairly ambiguous, but I thought I was pretty clear about liking the film. I wanted more super-action, more stuff like Superman rescuing the plane, less stuff like Supes pining for Lois…but I still enjoyed the film for what it was.

And the more I think about it, the more I’ve come to appreciate the film for the story it does present.

I described this movie as being “very adult” — like it’s a relationship movie, only with one of the people in the relationship occasionally donning tights and fighting crime. Without getting too much into spoilers, Superman’s character growth from dwelling too much on his past, to the eventual literal rejection of his own heritage in favor of the world and relationships he does have, is a good story for the character. If approached from that angle, rather than with the usual expectations of summer blockbusters/punch-’em ups, the experience for the moviegoer should be much more rewarding.

So don’t pay too much mind to my minor, minor nitpicks…it’s a good, solid film, that may be just a tad on the draggy side in parts, but overall very watchable and enjoyable. And, as I said, beautiful.

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Kid Chris was at the store again on Saturday, and he mentioned to me then that if one were to look closely at the new Superman costume, you’d see that the texture of the costume is comprised of little itsy-bitsy “S” shields. (You can kinda see it in this trailer.)

I kind of like the idea, though not exactly what’s described there, of Superman wearing a fractal costume, where the closer you look, the more “S” shields you see. Neat.

Speaking of costumes, here’s hoping that, with the 3-D “S” on the chest in Supes Returns, Clark wears lots of loosely-fit shirts over his fightin’ togs.

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A comment I made to Employee Nathan on Sunday: the only way that the eventual “return to life” of the X-Men’s Phoenix could be less of a surprise is if the character were called “The Returner.”

“The Returner returns in this issue!”

“Wow, who could ever have predicted such an unexpected event?”

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OH DEAR SWEET GOD:

This is Star Comics #13 from 1938…I was paging through one of our store copies of the Photojournal Guides, trying to track down something for a customer, when I happened upon the above cover. It was only a little bitty image in the book, but thankfully Comics.org had a larger image.

That’s pure, unadulterated nightmare fuel, friends.

Lex and Supes share a moment.

I’ve been trying to think about how to explain my reaction to this film. On one hand, Superman Returns is a very beautifully-presented film. The framing, the colors, the sound, the special effects…all nearly flawless.

On the other hand…well, it’s like this is a superhero movie that wasn’t directed as a superhero movie. It’s all very low key and slowly paced, and even the action sequences have a subdued feel to them. I was speaking about the film with a customer of mine on Saturday, who also had a similar reaction to the film, and he described the general feel as “mopey.” Many characters, standing around being sad at each other over strained and/or broken relationships…it’s a unique and interesting take on the Superman character, but it can’t help but add an extra coat of depression on the flick.

This all makes it sound I disliked the film, I realize, but that certainly isn’t true. I quite enjoyed it, appreciated the slower pace in contrast to the manic music-video editing we usually get in action movies…but it left me wishing we had more Super-stuff going on.

Okay, SPOILERS from here until the bullet hits Supes’ eye…BIG SPOILERS, so skip ahead to the next pic if you want to remain blissfully ignorant.

• The opening credit sequence is in the style of the original films…a nice touch, but as the credits began I was a’feared that the credits would run as long as they did in those films…you know, the full three or four days it took to run through every single person who worked on the film or knew someone who worked on the film. However, the credits went by at a pretty snappy pace…almost too snappy, as some of the credits came and went before you even had a chance to read them. But that’s okay, as it got us through them right quick.
• Brandon Routh filled the Superman/Clark roles nicely…maintained a quiet dignity (for the most part…see below) as Superman, and managed to channel his inner Christopher Reeve for the necessary moments of likeable cornballness (like reminding folks about the safety of air travel). Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor took a while for me to warm to, and Kate Bosworth did well for herself as a tough, go-getting, yet sensitive and conflicted, Lois.
• Nice to see a photo of Glenn Ford as the character of Jonathan Kent on Ma Kent’s mantlepiece.
• The destruction of Lex’s model railroad and its surrounding model town reminded me, in a strange sort of way, of the miniature special effects work used in the earthquake/flooding sequences from the ’70s Superman movie. (EDIT: Just read Peter David’s review where he makes the same observation. I’m not a copycat, I swear!)
• Okay, the plane/shuttle rescue sequence is top-notch. Exciting, visually captivating, suspenseful…I wish there was more of this sort of thing throughout the film.
• Parker Posey is cute as a button in this movie. Just sayin’.
• Anyone else reminded of John Glover’s Lionel Luthor character on Smallville with Lex’s wig choice during the museum escapade?
• The bit with Lois’ son Jason looking up at Clark and at Superman’s image on the TV, and making the connection that his mom never could, was cute and very subtly played.
• Speaking of Jason…if you didn’t realize who his father was before even entering the theatre, the very unsubtle foreshadowing via the continual emphasis on his physical weakness was clearly setting us up for the ironic reveal.
• Who felt the “creepy” needle point at “high” during Superman’s X-ray vision super-voyeurism at Lois’ house? Dude, she’s your ex, quit stalking her.
• Another good Easter egg…one of the black and white cell phone pics of Superman have him in the pose from the cover of Action Comics #1.
• As Superman was flying with Lois over the city, I had a very, very brief moment of fear that we’d be getting a reprise of the “Can You Read My Mind?” Margot Kidder “song.”
• So, as established in this film and in Superman II, the very second Superman loses his powers, he completely loses all dignity and any ability to put up a fight whatsoever. Okay, he was outnumbered, and he was in pain from the Kryptonite, but it was uncomfortable and unpleasant to watch Supes clawing his way though the mud to escape his tormentors. Surely he could have put up more of a fight than that!
• Good circular aspect to the story…Supes left Earth to find what was left of Krypton, only to face the rise of a new Krypton on his adopted homeworld. And regarding Superman’s pose as he’s falling back to Earth after removing said Kryptonian landmass…Christ figure much?
• I should point out that there were quite a few “quiet beauty” shots in the film: Lois reaching for the floating pen during the few moments of weightlessness during the plane rescue; Superman floating above the Earth, listening to everything; Supes’ aforementioned long fall.
• I also was amused at Lex’s ultimate ironic fate in the film, where he finally gets the “beachfront property” he’d been pursuing in the original film and this latest installment.

In conclusion…good film, even if not quite what I was expecting. My criticisms are minor, and I’d expect that, now that I know the kind of film I’m getting, I’d enjoy the film more during a second viewing.

An additional note: prior to the film’s start, I looked around at the other folks sitting in the theatre. It was a varied group, covering a wide spectrum of ages and ethnicities, united by the fact that 1) they were all interested in Superman, and 2) they probably haven’t read a Superman comic in years, if at all.

from Cosmo and the Big Bang #1 (September 1994) by Robert Spong

Yes, I did have the above thought at one point during my working week at the shop. Hey, at least the guy had a breath mint.

Anyway, I didn’t say anything about Wednesday’s new comic releases because, well, I was pretty sick of comics by the time the day was done. “What, sick of comics, can such a thing be true?” Yes, indeedy, it certainly can be, especially when you have a ton of comics and other merchandise being cranked out 1) in time for the holiday weekend, and 2) in time for the Superman Returns release, that you have to unpack and count.

DC’s big release this week is Brave New World, the $1 80-page one-shot containing prologues for a handful of forthcoming series, as well as hints from the “surprise” character at the end of the book regarding whatever the next DC Universe crossover brouhaha is going to involve. Not big hints, really, just the usual “something miserable is coming that flying men in tights will have to punch” cryptic warnings that usually come this far ahead of the crossover series in question.

As for the actual contents of the previews…well, you can see 2 Guys Buying Comics for an overview of the stories. (I don’t necessarily agree with that review, but it’s fun to read and that’s good enough for me.) Ultimately, I don’t think this comic has really changed the interest in the titles that I had prior to reading Brave New World…the comics I was looking forward to I’m still looking forward to, and the ones that I was indifferent or one the fence about…well, no change there, either.

Oh, hell, I was going to be lazy and stick 2 Guys with the burden of the BNU overview, but I guess I’m going to have to do one anyway:

• The All-New Atom – Gail Simone’s superhero funnybooks for DC have been pretty solid, and this series appears to be more of the same. Just good ol’ fashioned superhero action.
• The Trials of Shazam! – I do like the Captain Marvel comics, and read every one that comes out (I even read that godforsaken Shazam: The New Beginning mini), so I’ll be buying this, too. DC’s been ballyhooing Howard Porter’s new painted artstyle for this series, and, well, it’s okay, I guess. Doesn’t blow my skirt up or anything, but does make this Shazam! series at least visually different from previous attempts. And I am curious as to what they’re planning on doing with the Shazam family.
• The Creeper – Doesn’t do anything for me. Sorry. Went in my eyes, and apparently went right back out my ears, leaving no impact on me whatsoever.
• OMAC – As also noted in the 2 Guys review, after Infinite Crisis, I don’t think I need to see another OMAC again as long as I live. I wasn’t planning on reading this series, and the preview didn’t change my mind. I do like seeing the evolution of the OMAC concept toward Jack Kirby’s original concept.
• Martian Manhunter – Was on the fence, still mostly on the fence after reading the story. I’m probably going to get it, if only because I happen to like the Martain Manhunter character, and his visual redesign is interesting. Aside from that redesign, however, nothing in that preview really grabbed my interest. I’ll give the first issue a try, at least. Geez, I’m waffling on this.
• Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters – I was planning on buying this solely because of the character of Uncle Sam. The superheroic Sam is really one of my favorite comic book concepts. Fortunately the comic itself doesn’t look too bad…some sharp dialogue, some dark and moody art…the new Phantom Lady is perhaps a little too breastacular, but one could argue that’s in the tradition of the character. Um, not that I’m arguing that.
• And then there’s the epilogue with the “surprise” reveal…I keep putting “surprise” in quotes because the promo image for this comic featured a silhouette of the character in question, and, as Employee Nathan noted to me recently, DC has had a habit recently of using silhouettes to disguise characters that really don’t do much to disguise them. Oh, and on Wednesday at the shop, a certain Mr. McSpoiler Revealypants went and flipped to the last page of the comic, showed it to me and said “Oh, look, it’s [character name]” — good thing I’d already looked at the end and seen the exact nature of the return, which was a surprise, or I would have been pissed.

Wow, totally wasn’t planning on doing that. Let me quickly cover the remaining points I intended to address in this post:

1. Superman Returns is getting plenty of thumbs-ups from our customers…at least one has seen it three times already, and several have seen it twice. I’m getting a lot of “have you seen it yet” questions, with no explanation of what “it” is…it’s assumed that I know what they mean. And I say “Yes, I have seen The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep rulz! W00t!”

Also, I’ve had a handful of folks looking for Superman comics…that’s a good sign. Let’s hope it keeps up.

2. Just noticed that Tim O’Neil‘s sidebar link to my site reads “Swamp Thing Sucks And Is Stupid.” I think he’s getting back at me for my “Silver Surfer Is Stupid” post. (And before anyone reads anything into this…I like Tim’s site, the text on that link to my site made me laugh, and I know he’s only ribbing me. So there. Besides, Tim ain’t saying anything about Swampy there that pal Dorian hasn’t already said to me.)

3. Congrats to both pal Ian and pal Tom for reaching their two year weblogging anniversaries. I made those two everything they are today…

…broke, with too many comics.

Yeah, I know, all you folks are busy with the Superman Returns-seein’, but I was busy with pouring through the new issue of Diamond Previews, and these…are my results:

(Previous installments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16)

p. 141 – Joss Whedon Is My Master Now T-Shirt: “The fellow who did a couple reasonably entertaining TV shows and a handful of fair-to-middling movies is my master now” didn’t fit, I guess. Oh, relax, I’m only teasing. Though I have to wonder if Mr. Whedon gets a little embarrassed when he sees folks wearing this shirt.

p. 151 – Shadowhawk #15: The entirety of the description of this issue’s contents: “Eddie gets laid. Finally.” Okay, I’m hardly a fan of the comic, but that is kinda funny…particularly with the faux romance comic cover.

p. 178-9 – Astonishing X-Men Wolverine Mask Prop Replica:

And that is why Hugh Jackman didn’t wear the comic book Wolverine costume in the X-Men movies.

p. 202 – The Vault of Michael Allred #1:

“It’s unlikely that any publication has ever provided this amount of detail and insight into the career of an artist.”

Ahem.

p. 223 – Soulfire #10: Final issue. Relaunching with a “Volume 2” and, presumably, a new #1 issue. Color me surprised. (See also the dozen or so Fathom #1s from the same folks.)

p. 254 – Classic Battlestar Galactica #1: Yes, you read that right. A comic based on the original 1970s Battlestar Galactica TV series will be running concurrently with a comic based on the current Sci-Fi Channel series. You know what that means, don’t you?

EARTH-1 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA VERSUS EARTH-2 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!*

Earth-2 Adama versus Earth-1 Adama…to the death! (E-2 Adama has the advantage, with his healthy coat and strong teeth, thanks to Alpo!)

Will Earth-2 Boomer face changed attitudes from his shipmates when they find out his Earth-1 counterpart is actually a Cylon?

Will Earth-2 Starbuck put the moves on Earth-1 Starbuck? (Of course he will…it’s Starbuck.)

p. 296 – Whoops…they put a Grimjack picture to illustrate the ad for the new Jon Sable reprint. Just thought I’d point that out.

p. 380 – Infinite Crisis mass market paperback: A prose retelling of DC’s recent reality-altering mini-series. Given how successful the Crisis on Infinite Earths novelization was (short review: blech), I’m fully calling “no way” on coherently explaining the events of the series to someone who hasn’t read the comics (in the unlikely circumstance that someone who hasn’t read the comics actually picks it up).

Don’t get me wrong…I’m still getting it. Yeah, I don’t know why, either. I’m just a sucker for these things, I guess.

p. 428 – Monty Python Series Plush Holy Grail:

“This is the Holy Grail. It is your sacred task to seek and purchase this Grail. That is your purpose, the quest to buy this Holy Grail. (NOTE: Quester/purchaser must be valiant and pure of spirit, otherwise, after purchase, said purchase may turn into a grail-shaped 9″ plush.”)

p. 432 – V for Vendetta 7-Inch Action Figure: I’m of mixed feelings about the movie, but a V action figure? Fantastic.

p. 450 – Alien Kubricks: Space Jockey Box Set: Okay, this is pretty neat…I remember being fascinated with this critter from the original Alien movie, and the toy is tempting. I find myself amused, though, that the essentially immobilized Jockey was given a moveable arm:

And I think that hand is holding a control of some kind, but I prefer to think it’s a gun. Oh, if only that were true.

p. 482 – Kurt Cobain 2006 Shooter Set:

I realize that’s what you call this kind of glassware, but honestly, hearing a Kurt Cobain anything described as a “shooter” makes me wince a little.

p. 482 – Insane Clown Posse Steering Wheel Cover: “If only I had a way to identify myself as a person of class and taste. Wait, what’s this…?”

* Yes, I know there’s an irony of a sort referring to the different BGs with a term that includes the word “Earth,” since, you know, that’s the mysterious planet the characters are seeking in both series, and, um…okay, I’ll stop now.