CultureGeek

ComicGeek: The Walking Dead

THE WALKING DEAD
through No. 48

Quite possibly THE WALKING DEAD is the most gut-wrenching comic book out on the market, or perhaps in comic history. Honestly, I have a hard time calling it a "comic" book. The very word belies the agony these characters go through.

As of the most recent issue, there have been 39 characters significant enough for us to be aware of them, from the infant daughter of Rick and Lori to the evil Governor.

Of those, 26 have died. In some of the most gruesome manners possible. The worst thing that can happen to you in a zombie apocalypse is being bitten/turned or eaten, right? Writer Robert Kirkman has attacked that as the mere starting point for human misery. Our protagonist, Rick, has gone from small-town cop to battle-weary leader and occasionally cold-blooded murderer throughout the series. Like antiheroes? Meet Rick.

Here's the thing about THE WALKING DEAD: most of the true horror visited among our characters doesn't come from the zombies. It comes from the lawless lives the survivors lead, and the lengths to which they will go for survival in a world with no civilization left.

As Rick says in Issue 24, it is as though the survivors themselves are the Walking Dead, not the zombies outside.

I began reading this black-and-white series because my comic guy recommended it to me, and I was immediately hooked. To be honest, I thought it started to pall once our gang holed up in a mostly-empty prison and got into a mini-war with Woodbury, the town led by the sadistic, dictatorial Governor.

But the last few issues have broken us out of the rut, and in the most horrible manners I can imagine.

SPOILER! SPOILER! While I expect character deaths in this series - and honestly, we've had so many characters it's hard for me to remember who's dying in front of me - I never once expected them to knock off Lori, our protagonist's wife.

Seriously, the last image of Issue 47 is of a gun held to Lori's head. Ruh roh, I thought. This guy will kill ANYBODY. But in the first few frames of Issue 48, we find out it was a ruse - just playacting, in case they needed to trick their way past the bad guys. I thought that was a bit of cheating from a series that never cheats.

But I should have known better. It was misdirection from the misdirection, as in the final pages, Lori is shot dead by the Woodbury army. While carrying her newborn baby daughter. Who also is killed. Before the eyes of her horrified husband.

People, you don't get much more sadistic than that. Unless you go to the Wikipedia page for this series and read the matter-of-fact synopsis, well-written and clearly defined. Want to know exactly what Michonne did to the Governor as revenge for raping her? Um, you probably don't, but there it is.

It's hard to recommend THE WALKING DEAD, because only those with extremely strong stomachs who don't mind reading comics while cringing in pain should apply. But when I open the bag from my pull list, it's the first issue I grab.

Just not while I'm eating.

ComicGeek: Free Comic Book Day!

Who needs Grand Theft Auto? We've got much better mayhem in store this weekend.

This Saturday, comic shops around the world and here in the metro-east are giving away free comic books in the annual giveaway bonanza sponsored by the major comics publishers. Pow! Crash!

C'mon, the first taste is free…

• Hometown Comics and Games will host author (and former police officer) Shane Moore, who will sign his fantasy novel "A Prisoner's Welcome" beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday. Moore will talk about the writing life and the plans to adapt his novel into a graphic novel.

Spider-Man also will be present, with plenty of giveaways and more than 2,000 free comics to visitors. Hometown Comics and Games is located in downtown Edwardsville at 110 E. Vandalia and can be found online here.

• At Heroic Adventures, visitors will get the chance to win a $300 statue of Thor – that's the superhero, not the Norse god. They're giving away 2,500 gift bags, each containing about $75 worth of merchandise, as well as offering 35-40 titles of free comic books.

It's worth noting, too, that the new card set from Magic: The Gathering premieres Friday night at their weekly Magic games. Again, I say: Who needs Liberty City? Heroic Adventures is located at 2131 S. State Route 157 in Edwardsviille.

• The Fantasy Shop in Fairview Heights also will offer the free comic books all day Saturday. And speaking of "free," manager Scott Samson also offers a free podcast on all things comics titled ComicDorksCast. This is not to be confused with CultureGeek, who does not have the intellectual or technological skills for a podcast.

That's just the events on the Illinois side of the river. Check out Free Comic Book Day for shops near you and more events. It's no-kidding, for-real free, no pressure to buy anything more – though sales will be taking place at most shops - and you can bring the kids to pick out their own.

As for me, you can bet CultureGeek Jr. and I will be dropping by a comic shop on Saturday. Which one? I plead the Fifth.

ComicGeek: Buffy Season 8

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, Nos. 9-12
Dark Horse Comics

It's hard to say how I feel about Buffy's comic turn. From the beginning, I loved it in spite of myself. It was quintessential Joss Whedon writing, the characters speaking and acting just like the old days. They almost seemed to have recovered the rapport of Best of Buffy, and at first Buffy seemed to have shed the poor-little-me that nearly killed the series for me in her post-death life.

Only in the Whedonverse does "post-death life" make sense.

It's still good. Of course it is, Brian K. Vaughan is no slouch and Joss himself is back for the occasional issue. But a few things are driving me crazier than a Renfield with no flies:

• Willow's "big reveal" that she feels guilty about Tara. That she chose Buffy's life over Tara's and got Tara killed. Um, what? We were there for all that, folks, and pretty much Warren Mears got Tara killed, by shooting her while trying to shoot Buffy. Willow went evil, killed people, nearly destroyed the world and wore some absolutely dreadful sweaters, but the one thing she feels guilty about is the one thing she DIDN'T do? Joss, please try harder.

• The resurgence of Buffy as the whiny superhero bugs me, and it's Joss doing it. Buffy's self-involvement is legendary, but of course she's the Chosen One, so a little self-involvement is expected. The problem is, heroes don't whine. You'd think having a private army of 500 Slayers would take the onus off being the Chosen One, but Buffy's still giving us lines like, "They all leave, even my friends, sooner or later everybody realizes there's something wrong, something wrong with me, or around me, or..."

Ow! Joss, that hurt! There's a reason we hated Season Seven, yanno. We like superpowered Buffy in her tough armor and leading the fight as she always has. Whiny, neurotic Buffy fell into the Hellmouth. Leave her there.

• Dawn. The problem with Dawn has been the same since her arc was resolved at the end of Season Five: what to do with the MacGuffin after the fight is over? Once everyone stopped fighting over Dawn, she was just a whiny teenager with "I Am a Potential Hostage" stamped on her forehead.

Comics have not found a use for Dawn, so she's been magically "blown up" to giant size and stuck in the barn. I'm sure there is a point to this besides some admittedly cool visuals of the lounging lady giant in the Scottish castle. But it's up to issue 12 now and there seems to be no actual resolution.

Here's a hint, Joss: Dawn was the Key, and even if she wasn't, some folks have managed to serve the forces of righteousness quite well without superpowers. Exhibit A: Xander Harris. So shrink her back down and give her a job, or kill her. Or both. We know you can do it. You're JOSS.

• And here it is: Buffy has a one-night (so far) stand. With Satsu. A woman.

I went round and round about this, because I honestly like the idea of a bisexual or lesbian heroine. Heaven knows there are few enough of them in comics, fewer still that aren't written like the fantasies of fifteen-year-old boys. This plot twist made headlines in the industry, but most reviewers shrugged it off as, "Well, Joss has done it before."

Yes. And honestly, that's what bugs me about it. We've already been here, with Willow. A girl who is entirely heterosexual without the slightest indication of bisexuality, until Joss suddenly wrote in a girlfriend. He pulled it off with taste and dignity, because he's Joss. But it always struck me as a bit of a retcon, because Willow never had the slightest hint of being interested in girls before - and she was friends with BUFFY. And Cordelia. Fairly hot women, or so I've been told.

Then Willow was completely lesbian. She had no interest in men at all. Again, something I might have found more realistic if we hadn't seen her have fully-developed, loving and even sexual relationships with Xander and Oz. (Okay, with Oz. She and Xander never knocked boots. But the implication is they did a lot more than hold hands.) I always would have liked this plot twist if pre-Tara Willow* had gradually shown interest in the occasional girl - and don't say Joss doesn't plan that far ahead, because he was foreshadowing Buffy's Season-Five death in Season Three. And I would have preferred that Willow became bisexual, thereby expanding her character and still maintaining some continuity.

All that set aside. Here we are again. Buffy, who was somewhat weirded out by Willow's coming-out and never indicated the slightest interest in any woman, suddenly falls into bed with Satsu. Who is a very nice, sweet girl, but I have reread these issues several times and I still don't see a reason for Buffy's attraction. Especially given the, you know, heterosexuality. Even Satsui comments, "I know you didn't just turn gay all of a sudden." It's a fair question, and of course it devolves into Buffy's Insta-Insecurity instead of addressing the question.

Hey, the rest of that scene is hilarious. It's quintessential Whedonverse, and Xander... well, let's just say I could HEAR Nicholas Brendan saying those lines, okay? Imagine my surprise that the issue was written by Drew Goddard, not Joss.

But a retcon is still a retcon, and nobody's going to mistake it for anything else. The cynical comics reviewers say it's a ploy to drive up readership for the comic, much as they said about Willow's conversion during the series. I'm not that cynical, mostly because I know Joss isn't living and dying with this comic as he was, say, a certain space western well-beloved by us all. (Browncoats forever!)

There's plenty to love about Season 8. It has the right feel, the right art - Georges Jeanty perfectly captures the characters, to the point where we recognize even one-shot guest stars - and Joss hasn't lost a bit of his touch. But I hope for more from it than rehashing the old stuff over and over.

So. Who wants to take bets on how Satsu dies?

* And don't bring up Wishverse Willow. Alternate reality, doesn't count. Also, the whole evil=bisexual thing I found to be rather skeevy. Most bisexuals are not, after all, evil.

ComicGeek: Superman Created By...

In 1938, two penniless comic artists sold a story to National Comics for $130. Whaddya know, it spurred the greatest superhero of all time: Superman.

They were Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and they were fired by National Comics when they later insisted on keeping their rights to Superboy, having learned their lesson about the fine print of copyright. National then acted like a bully on the playground, taking their names off both superheroes.

In 1948, the courts gave them back the rights to Superboy, but the Superman settlement got them all of $94,000, even though Big Blue was making National millions even then. Back then, copyright was only for 28 years, with one renewal possible. After the 28 years elapsed, they sued again, but National Comics - which had become DC - won. That was 1974.

A year later, newspapers did reports on Siegel and Shuster, the creators of Superman, living in near-poverty. Warner Bros., which was about to make the first Christopher Reeve movie, granted them each a $20,000-per-year pension, citing it a "moral obligation." They also put Siegel and Shuster's names back on all Superman material. But a cut of the ongoing empire that is Superman? A say in how the Boy Scout is used or misused by his various writers? Nah.

After 75 years, the courts ruled last week that Siegel's heirs deserve a say in what happens to Superman. (Shuster's family didn't file in time, but may get a retroactive ruling.) Time Warner keeps the international rights, but Siegel's estate gets joint copyright. That means Warner/DC may owe the estate some back pay - hmm, SUPERMAN RETURNS took in $200 million alone. That one'll be in the courts for a while

But even more interestingly, the Siegel family could license someone other than DC Comics to create Superman stuff. Finally, a Superman-Spiderman crossover?*

The ruling means the families will get to sign off on future Superman-derived works after 2013, which may complicate MAN OF STEEL, the twice-delayed sequel to SUPERMAN RETURNS, and the planned JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA movie.**

Comic artist Neal Adams said it best about the 1970s ruling: "Others made millions while Superman's creators lived in near-poverty. Jerry was a clerk and Joe was a legally blind man who lived in his brother's apartment, slept on a cot and worked as a messenger.... The battle took months and the settlement was meager, but it let the men live the remaining years of their lives with dignity. You know what they cared about most? They cared about having their names, once again, associated with their character, Superman! Why? Because it was what they were as people. They were their work."

And that, my friends, is the essence of copyright. There is a frequent grumble when these things arise that art, once, released, belongs to the world and no one can claim ownership of an idea. I can't debate the philosophy of it. But I can imagine how Jerry Siegel felt watching the "musical" Superman, or even SUPERMAN IV, knowing that he had no control over what corporate interests did with his beloved character.

Now most authors and artists know to watch the bottom line and keep control of their characters. They know better than to sign away their best work for a meager paycheck. Right? Right? On the other hand, there's no one more desperate than a new writer, and no one more callous and calculating than an entertainment conglomerate.

If nothing else, the men who created a character so compelling he has dominated our national imagination for 70 years deserve their just kudos, and their families a fair share.

* Okayfine, so they've done the crossover from time to time when DC and Marvel remembered how to play nice and share. Besides, we all know Superman would wipe up Gotham/Metropolis/New York with Spidey's leotard.
** Good. The last few news items I've seen arising from the JLA movie horrify me. They were going to let an Australian supermodel stick figure play Wonder Woman, and they were NOT going to use Brandon Routh or Christian Bale. Are they kidding me?

ComicGeek: Locke & Key

Blame the Comic Book Guy for this one. There I was, with a gargantuan stack on the counter, realizing that I must hie my butt to the shop more often or cut something from my reading list. Naturally, he votes for the latter. And yet, he suggests I try this new book, its second issue out this week.

Now, the last thing I need is to add something to my list. I've already cut JUSTICE LEAGUE and JACK OF FABLES. But then he tells me LOCKE & KEY is written by none other than Joe Hill, whose first novel absolutely captivated me.

(You might know him as Stephen King's son. He's tried hard to escape that notice.)

LOCKE & KEY is a six-part miniseries from IDW Publishing that will grab you by the heart and squeeze. The first three pages so floored me that I stopped, put down my sandwich, and returned to read from the beginning again. I haven't done that since I picked up THE WALKING DEAD for the first time.

It follows three children and their mother, who survive a hideous crime and flee to Keyhouse, a New England mansion with strange doors. Like one that turns you into a ghost when you step through, if you're not careful.

We follow Tyler, a teenager whose standard-issue Chip On His Shoulder suddenly becomes a crushing boulder before our eyes. Tyler is as real a human being as any you've met - and you've met him several times in your life, notably in high school.

Sounds like family-drama premise No. 8, right? Not so much. Sure, every other horror movie follows a family trying to start a new life in a house that happens to be supernaturally spooky in some way. But those movies/books/comics don't have Joe Hill behind the pen. Hill had established himself as a strong name in horror before Variety outed him as King's progeny.

It's not Hill's first time in comic-land, either. He did a little work with Spidey and some independent stuff for GRAVE TALES. Now he's in talks with Vertigo, which should be fun. Especially given the darkness and potential tragedy of LOCKE & KEY.

It's hard to tell you more without ruining the shock of it. Artist Gabriel Rodriguez does a good job, and portrays the creepiness well. I've only seen the first issue, but it's fair to say LOCKE & KEY - and brooding Tyler - will soon fatten my pull list.

ComicGeek: Long Road to Midnight

Fans of Stephen King and his Dark Tower series will be able to ring in the new book next week at a local comic shop.

King's Dark Tower comic series is part of Marvel's ongoing effort to bring in noted fiction authors as comic writers. King, Orson Scott Card, Laurell K. Hamilton and others familiar to the New York Times bestseller lists are penning a different kind of story, and it's raking in the dough for Marvel. An expansion on the original book series, it differs from Hamilton's Anita Blake effort in that it's not a comic reissue of the same story.*

The next arc in the story is DARK TOWER: THE LONG ROAD HOME, penned by the great Peter David, and it hits bookstores on March 4.

Participating comic stores will hold midnight releaese parties, and two of them are right here in the metro-east:

WHERE: Hometown Comics and Games, 110 E. Vandalia, Edwardsville
WHEN: 9 p.m.-midnight March 4
EVENTS: Trivia contest, food, guaranteed first-printing issue, 20 percent discount for party attendees
CONTACT: 618-655-0707

WHERE: Twilight Gaming and Comics, 3760 Green Mount Crossing Drive, Shiloh
WHEN: 9 p.m.-midnight
EVENTS: King movies all evening, trivia, attendance prizes, food, drawing for limited editions
CONTACT: 618-622-0085

What's the big deal? Twilight Gaming and Comics reports that when the first Dark Tower series premiered, 150 people showed up at midnight. The only thing close to it, they said, was when Superman died. That was like a Harry Potter premiere: 600 copies sold out in 12 minutes, even with a limit of one copy per person.

If you don't live in the area, you can still find a local shop among the 80 participating. St. Louis residents: there are shops in Ballwin and St. Charles on the list, but not Fantasy Shop or Star Clipper.

* Latest news is that Hamilton will write a prequel to the Anita series titled FIRST DEATH, which will stand apart from the comic miniseries.

ComicGeek: President Colbert

There is more to life than the Colbert Report, but you'd never know it from CultureGeek's Tivo. How can I possibly write another tedious review of cop-show reruns when Joe "Marvel" Quesada is visiting Colbert?

A little background: When Captain America died, Colbert ran a hilarious version of "The Word" about justice in comic-land. Catching Quesada's eye, the head of Marvel Comics presented Colbert with the shield of Captain America, supposedly due to Cap's will. The shield now hangs on the wall of Colbert's studio.

Now, of course, there is a new Captain America (Bucky Barnes) making his debut in this week's CAPTAIN AMERICA. Quesada himself came to the show to break the news to Colbert that he would not be the new superhero. Colbert, that is, not Quesada. Colbert was devastated as only the sillyman can be, and Quesada consoled him.

QUESADA: But you can keep the shield! You can. Steve did bequeath that to you. And besides, you've got your presidential campaign, right?
AUDIENCE: *groans*
COLBERT: But my presidential campaign is over! They knocked me off the ballot!
QUESADA: Not in the Marvel universe. You're still running for president in the Marvel universe.
COLBERT: What?
QUESADA: You're one of our candidates.
COLBERT: In the Marvel universe, I'm still a presidential candidate?
AUDIENCE: *cheers*

Potential running mates were discussed: Iron Man, the Hulk (Colbert Smash!), Quesada himself. Who, I might add, was seen wearing a Wrist Strong band.

QUESADA: It writes itself!
COLBERT: It better write itself, cause I don't have any writers.
QUESADA: I've noticed.

Stay tuned! Stephen Colbert as president, and not even in Bizarro World?* Hey, he can't do worse than President Lex Luthor.

* Yes, I know Bizarro was DC, not Marvel. Shush.

ComicGeek: Wonder Woman's Greatest Hits

WONDER WOMAN: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD
Trade collection, DC Comics

If you want a history of the Amazon princess, this is your introduction. This collection from DC Comics includes the "best" stories of Wonder Woman's history, beginning from her debut in Sensation Comics in 1942 and ending with the excellent "She's a Wonder" series in 2001.

In her introduction, actress Lynda Carter says when she was cast as Wonder Woman in 1974, the only female character "running around totally free and having her own adventures" was Lassie. As silly as it was, the TV show represented a sea change in heroines - one that comics still had trouble embracing.

I've often said that if Superman is the absolute of justice, and Batman is the absolute of vengeance, Wonder Woman is the balance between them. She has The Boy Scout's sense of right and wrong, but a bit of the grit that the Dark Knight carries with him. Witness her actions in "Sacrifice," when she realizes the only way to release a bespelled Superman from doing the bidding of evil is to kill the evil-doer. It costs her the friendship of both Superman and Batman for a time, but she would do it again, without hesitation.

That's not in this collection.

Then there's the brilliant JUSTICE LEAGUE reboot of a few years ago, the Issue Zero that time-hopped about the history of the big three. It showed Wonder Woman and Batman reacting to the death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday, a future Superman and Wonder Woman mourning the inevitable loss of their mortal friend...

That's not in this collection.

Remember a few years ago, when Alex Ross did those ginormous comic books on each of the biggies? You'll remember because they're about twice as tall as a regular comic book and wouldn't fit in our handy storage boxes. Sort of a "day in the life" of each character, and the artwork in Wonder Woman's is absolutely astounding, luminescent as only Ross can do it, showing a Wonder Woman who doesn't make the patriotic underwear look silly, throwing off a burqua to protect abused women and flying in the face of evil everywhere.

That's not in this collection.

You get the point. Okay, it's a great collection for history. I got to see how Wonder Woman first joined us on this mortal coil, about her relationship with Steve Trevor, her battles with various evil-doers.

You'll get to see the unintentionally hilarious "Villainy Incorporated!" in which evildoers control hot women by placing a device called a Venus Girdle on them. Make your own jokes. Hey, Wonder Woman is rendered helpless if she is chained by a man. Who said comics were just for kids?

Watch the Gorilla rival Wonder Woman for Steve's affections! After all, Steve's just so compelling a milquetoast, even for nonhumans! And the so-sad story of the terminally ill actress who tries to become Wonder Woman in her final months.

Okay, I'm mocking the Goddess, and I shouldn't. I love Wonder Woman. Every woman loves Wonder Woman, because she's one of the few heroines who has successfully blended being truly kick-butt with truly feminine. No one can argue for the masculinization of Wonder Woman (save the oddly androgynous cover art), not with the glorified swimsuit she always wears.*

I suppose that's why the early comics (and by "early," I mean until 1988) simultaneously amuse and horrify me. Sometimes I'm amazed comics survived so long, and then I remember that's my 21st-century adult self thinking, not a kid of 1956. Comics, more than most media, reflect the times in a harsh light, and if Wonder Woman was a tad silly back then, well, that's what the world thought of women. Even Amazon warriors.

Aside from the historical perspective, however, it's all worth it for the final segment, "She's a Wonder" by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning. It's Lois Lane, following Wonder Woman about her chores for a day. We see Diana in her office, at the JLA Watchtower, speaking to the United Nations and President Lex Luthor, holding a dying child in Africa and shooting pool with Lois at the end of the day in jeans and a T-shirt.

It's ironic that Lois would be chosen as our viewpoint on Diana, as she is the closest thing Lois has ever had to a rival for Superman's affections. Yes, Clark and Diana have gotten together in various realities - TRIAD, anyone? - but can you imagine a more difficult rival for Lois?

This segment alone does more to present a full picture of the Amazon Princess than all the rest combined. In all, this collection more of a timeline of comic style, in terms of art and content, than a true picture of Wonder Woman's history. It's probably only worth your $20 if you're a true-blue Wonder Woman fan, but still a good read - and an easy introduction to the Amazon Princess. Even if we don't get a movie.

* I've always thought it was unfair that the boys get spandex and/or full-body armor, but Wonder Woman has to kick butt in a strapless swimsuit and high-heeled boots. Good thing she's an immortal superpower, because she needs all her strength just to keep that shirt up.

Batman vs. Superman: Gotcha Last

Geeks everywhere shouted in glee at a most inappropriate moment: when Will Smith is moving across the dilapidated remains of Times Square in the postapocalyptic I AM LEGEND.

There on a billboard is a movie poster showing the iconic symbols of Batman and Superman intertwined, with a release date of 2009. Of course, the scene takes place in 2012, but that's three years after the world ended.

Fans leaped online to speculate that this was a sneaky way of announcing the long-fabled team-up of Batman and Superman, whose histories have been intertwined through the ages in comics. And yet other media have been hesitant to let the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel join up. SMALLVILLE was skating that way several seasons ago, with a character clearly designed to be Bruce Wayne... but then they went a whooole other direction and promptly killed him off.

Will we live long enough to see the Dynamic Duo? Is DC planning to have them join forces in the near future? Before the world ends?

Sorry to report, it's just a gag. Director Francis Lawrence (a href="http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/12/03/batman-vs-superman-coming-in-2009-but-will-we-live-to-see-it/">confirmed in interviews that it was just screenwriter Akiva Goldman's idea of fun, not an announcement of a coming feature.

We should probably be happy about this, because while Goldman once wrote a failed Batman-Superman script, he also wrote BATMAN & ROBIN. Unknown if he was responsible for I AM LEGEND's ending. Back in 2002, Wolfgang Peterson was announced as the director for a Bat vs. Supe movie, which went nowhere after Peterson split to make TROY.

SUPERMAN RETURNS was a bit of a disappointment to fans and critics and while it made its money, it was scarcely the juggernaut the world expected. I personally have faith; it's Bryan Singer at the helm, and while the first X-Men movie was rather disappointing, the second one blew me out of the water. (The third, alas, was victim to the departures of Singer and James Marsden to the Boy Scout, and counts as one of the great missed opportunities of this decade in the realm of film.)

Now it seems there may not be a second Superman movie. It's been put on indefinite hold. Meanwhile, BATMAN BEGINS was a huge success and buzz for its sequel, THE DARK KNIGHT, is rising faster than a Batplane. Meanwhile, a Justice League movie is in preproduction, which is slated for 2009 with director George Miller.

(Amazingly, the casting debate in fandom actually includes recasting the big boys. What, they don't think they can get Christian Bale and Brandon Routh on the same set? I'd pay my eight bucks to see that. In fact, I think it's an astoundingly stupid move to recast these two. But they've already cast a stick-thin Australian supermodel as Wonder Woman, so what does that tell you?*)

But then again, this is the franchise that let SUPERMAN IV happen, that decided to kill Batman** in the comics and had to be talked out of killing ALL their major heroes in the latest Crisis on Infinite Crossovers. Tell me again why I call myself a fan?

* Upcoming rant: stick-thin women who've never lifted a barbell hired to play physically powerful heroines.
** Yes, I'm still bitter and hoping they change their minds.

ComicGeek: Ow, that hurt

Courtesy of the brilliant author Diane Duane, I give you the Green Lantern Head Injury Project.

Okay, so some people do have too much time on their hands. So what? I dare you to set this on superfast and watch Green Lantern get conked AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. It appeals to the silly slapstick in my heart that still laughs every time the Coyote goes over the cliff, usually pausing in mid-air with a little sign that reads, "Oh no. Not again."*

Comedy through repetition. Isn't that really the basis of all running gags?

Real content coming soon, I promise.

* The Coyote should never have spoken. Once he spoke, the magic was lost.