For The Love of Comics

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The last time that some pictures of Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face from The Dark Knight appeared, the lawyers from Warner Brothers sent out letters demanding they be taken down. Hopefully they’ll enjoy the free publicity now that the movie is almost out.

These pictures also add some context to the previously released pictures of Joker dressed as a nurse. I had assumed that he was sneaking in to get someone; now we know that he was trying to get at Dent/Two-Face.

Edit: Sorry, kids. I was hoping that Warner Brothers would see the promotional value in these pictures being left out, or that they had actually been leaked by someone involved that was authorized to do such leaking, but I just got a (actually rather polite) letter from their lawyers asking me to take the pictures down.

I apologize if you came looking for the pictures and will now leave disappointed, but please believe me that judging from these pictures, they have done an excellent job in transforming Eckhart into Two-Face.

Go see The Dark Knight on July 18, 2008.

Technorati Tags: Batman, The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent, Two-Face, Joker, Pictures, Aaron Eckhart

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Just a few things I’ve missed this week…

In an interview with VH1 posted this past Wednesday, Joss Whedon revealed two things about the Buffy The Vampire Slayer. First, Oz will be back in an arc after the current “Fray” arc. Second, he already has plans for a “Season Nine”.

Project Rooftop has announced the finalists for the Superman: Man of Style redesign contest, and some of these designs are very cool.

DC has released some screenshots and concept art from their (supposedly) upcoming DCU Online MMORPG on the game’s MySpace Page, which is the source for our Joker picture to the right. If the game ever comes out, I’ll be upgrading my computer to play.

iTunes now carries episodes of Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Superman - The Fleischer Cartoons, SuperFriends, the George Reeves Superman series, and the Aquaman cartoon that I never knew existed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like all the episodes are available for some of these series, but it’s still a good start. I may have to check out that Aquaman series when I need something to mock.

Hasbro will be debuting 5-minute G.I. Joe: Resolute webisodes written by Warren Ellis “early next year”. The PG-13 shorts are reported to be more violent with real consequences and “major characters may die”. Knowing Ellis, I bet Dusty kills everyone and feeds them to Sandstorm. Yes, ladies and gentleman, that was an obscure reference to a 1980’s cartoon. I’m that damn geeky.

Technorati Tags: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon, Oz, DC, DCU Online, iTunes, Batman Beyond, Batman, Superman, Superfriends, Aquaman, Hasbro, GI Joe, Warren Ellis

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After a very very VERY slow start, Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley’s Trinity seems to finally kicking into gear. The past five issues have mainly been a set-up arc, establishing what Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman each stand for and their relationships with - and how they relate to - each other. We’ve also briefly been introduced to (for lack of a better term) the trinity of evil - Despero, Morgan Le Fay and the mysterious Enigma - who may or may not have a connection to Riddler.

Unfortunately, the splitting of issues between the main story and backup stories means that this opening arc, which should have taken only two issues, took five issues to complete. In this issue, Busiek seems to finally have decided that he’s established what he needs to have established and has set up the heroes to delve into this whole “Trinity” thing, but many people, like Mike Haynes of Panels of Awesome, have already written the series off and dropped it from their pull lists.

I’m glad that Busiek is ready to move on and I somewhat enjoyed this issue, but there was one page that stood out to me as a pretty big flaw and perhaps another symptom of what’s been wrong with the series so far.

While I totally get what Busiek is trying to say and it’s a somewhat valid point, I’m not sure that this was the time or place to make that point. It required pulling us out of the story and making Diana seem (to me) somewhat out of character.

And, really, I suspect that may be exactly the problem with Trinity. Busiek has made story secondary to what he wants to do with the series, and that’s bad writing. I obviously don’t have the skills to do any better, but I know better can be done - I see it every day.

I’m still in it for the long haul, but I may end up being the only one if this series - and Busiek’s writing - doesn’t come together soon.

Technorati Tags: Trinity, DC, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Morgan Le Fay, Despero, Enigma, Mark Bagley, Kurt Busiek

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This starts with a rumor that I totally missed - Comic Book Movies reported last month that Warner Brothers may be considering a reboot of the Superman franchise based on how well Incredible Hulk performed at the box office. I would think that Warner Brothers would give more weight to how well Batman Begins performed as a franchise reboot, but perhaps WB realizes that neither Superman nor anyone else can be as cool as Batman.

Regardless, fast forward to last week, where Mark Millar was quoted in an interview with the Daily Record in the UK as saying he may be working on that Superman reboot:

“Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century.

“I’ve been planning this my entire life. I’ve got my director and producer set up, and it’ll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think.

“The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost Û200million, but in 2011 we’re hoping to restart it.

“Sadly I can’t say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas.

“But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime’s dream.”

… shortly thereafter, in a post to his messsage board:

“… In the interests of clarity (because I’m sure this will be picked up somewhere) a very well known American action director heard about my love of Superman, approached my and asked me to team up with he and his producer to make a pitch for this. We’ve been talking for several weeks now and, if this is going to happen, we’ll know by Christmas. He has huge pull at WB so fingers crossed. But this is nothing more than a huge US name pulling me into his fold and making me part of a package.”

The next day, he backed down a little more:

“Again, I can only stress that isn’t news, lads. It isn’t an offer from WB or anyone. It’s just a big name action director who got in touch and asked me to join he and a producer we both know well to pitch for it. This guy is a big deal at WB so there’s a little hope. But this ain’t a news item until it happens. And it’s not even close to happening yet.”

So what’s the story; is this a legitimate possibility that Millar doesn’t want to jinx, or was he just talking out of his ass again?

Technorati Tags: Movies, Superman, Reboot, Mark Millar, Warner Brothers

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A new viral game kicked off today resulting in a new poster being released. If you don’t really care about the path taken, feel free to skip to the end of this post. Otherwise, read on!

Those who received phones from the Joker in one of the previous games received a text message today:

Wake up, clown! You have *one hour* to reply to be a part of today’s fun. /operator

Through past experience, it was quickly surmised that “/operator” referred to http://whysoserious.com/operator. Those that replied received:

Good. Do not reply again. I’ll be in touch…

…and once the deadline passed:

Work together, clowns. Your code-word: XXXXXXXX. Your partner: XXX-XXX-XXXX. Do NOT call until told to. Do not publicize this number.

Wait for a call - you will receive one or more code words. Relay these words to your partner.

You’re the first in the chain. Call your partner and relay your code-word NOW.

Once the relays were completed, chains dropped on the /operator page and we were shown five words.

All of the words can be followed by the word “house”. Enter this into the box at the bottom and we’re given a new game, “Punkdrop”.

I’m not going to lie to you here, I never could get the hang of this one - I had to wait for someone else to do it to get to the end of this thing, but I’m told that if you hit one of these punk thing, a light appears next to another one. Hit that dummy, and the light moves to another, and so on. If you can pull that off three times in a row, you’re taken to the final page, Stupid Bats”, where you receive a new poster featuring a defaced photo of Batman with scrawled messages all around.

Could that be the end of the Dark Knight viral, or will we get a bit more?

Technorati Tags: Movies, The Dark Knight, Batman, Joker, Why So Serious, Phones, Operator, Punk Drop, Stupid Bats, Poster, Viral Campaign

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Why So Serious, the main page for pretty much the entire Dark Knight Viral campaign, has been updated with the Joker’s to-do list as a creative way to recap the campaign up until this point. Each crossed off item has a date of completion and links to the corresponding page. The only things left on the list are “Be good to my guests”, “Gather all my fans”, and “Leave a big mark”.

The page also features souvenirs from all of the games so far, including a slice of cake, bowling shoes, and a defaced portrait of President Lincoln.

Technorati Tags: Movies, Batman, The Dark Knight, Viral Campaign, Joker, Why So Serious, To-Do List, Checklist

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When a scientist receives a vision of an apocalyptic future, he decides that the only way to avoid that future is by ensuring that every child with powers becomes a superhero. To make this happen, he kills the parents of each of these children, giving them the tragic past that motivates the to lead a life of service.

Twenty-three years later, the superheroes find out.

This is the premise of Image’s Kill All Parents one-shot by Mark Andrew Smith and Marcelo Dichiara, and a very interesting premise it is - intriguing me more than enough to pick up a book by a creative team that I wasn’t familiar with from a publisher that is very hit-or-miss for me.

In the execution…. I’d say Smith and Dichiara pulled it off. My biggest complaint is that I wish there was more to the story, that it had been spread out over a three- or four-issue miniseries instead of just a one-shot, and that’s really not a bad complaint to have. Always leave them wanting more, and all that wot.

Those who have been reading this blog for any length of time will know that I don’t focus alot on art, mainly because I realize that I don’t have a great eye for it, so all I can say is that while the art is not mind-blowing, it is very solid and fits the story incredibly well.

The writing is also quite solid. I can foresee complaints about the book being full of cliches and stereotypical characters, but I suspect that those are quite intentional and are actually the entire point - the overwhelming majority of superheroes have one common element in their origin - the loss of an important parental figure early in their lives. In fact, the book has a bit of fun with those stereotypes, including references to one heroes’ tendency to be bad luck to his girlfriends and another’s “old ‘Hurl The Remorseless Villain Into The Sun Trick”.

In all, I’d say this was a fun examination of what would it be like if all the superheroes were a result of a vast government conspiracy. I’ll be sure to check out Smith and Dichiara’s next projects, hopefully they will be just as fun.

Technorati Tags: Comics, Image, Kill All Parents, Mark Andrew Smith, Marchelo Dichiara, Government Conspiracies, Superheroes

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I just found out that Aspen Comics founder and highly popular artist Michael Turner succumbed to cancer last night. And no, jokers, it was not foot cancer. Turner has been battling chondrosarcoma since 2000, losing his right hip, a large portion of his pelvis, and many pounds of bone. The cancer has been in and out of remission since then and, apparently, the most recent complications were just too much for him.

These complications were either fairly sudden or I haven’t been paying nearly enough attention to news and current events, since I thought the cancer was in remission and possibly beaten.

Here is Editorial Director Vince Hernandez’ announcement on the Aspen message boards:

Hello all,

Unfortunately it’s with great sadness that I must inform everyone that Michael Turner tragically passed away last night, June 27th at approximately 10:42 pm in Santa Monica, Ca. Turner had been dealing with recent health complications arisen in the past few weeks. More details concerning Turner’s passing, and services, will be given shortly.

Anyone wishing to send their condolences to Michael Turner’s family is encouraged to send to:

Aspen MLT, Inc.
C/O Michael Turner
5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 111
Culver City, CA, 90230

Aspen also encourages anyone wishing to make a charitable donation to please send to Michael Turner’s requested charities:

The American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

Or

The Make-A-Wish Foundation
http://www.wish.org/help?s_kwcid=make%20a%20wish|917760391

Official Contact: Vince Hernandez

I’ve never been a huge fan of Turner’s artwork, but his popularity is undeniable and his enthusiasm for life is legendary. The world is a little less colorful without him.

Technorati Tags: Michael Turner, Cancer, Aspen Comics

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Updating from the Ha Ha Times portion of my last post - the geniuses on the Superhero Hype Boards have figured out “the clue”!

enaxor in IRC ran the grid of letters through a simple substitution cipher…

A B C B D E F G E H F I
D G J J G K E L M J N E
M J G E N O G E J G A B
P K E C G N N G D E B Q
E N O G E Q B M D N O E
R B D K E N B E N O G E
D H S O N E B Q E G T A
O E A H D A C G K E Q H
U G E C G N N G D E R B
D K E N B E Q H P K E B
M N E R O G D G E N B E
S B E Q D B F E O G D G

which became (ie, A=C, B=O, C=L, etc)

color-me-imp
ressed-just-
use-the-seco
nd-letter-of
-the-fourth-
word-to-the-
right-of-eac
h-circled-fi
ve-letter-wo
rd-to-find-o
ut-where-to-
go-from-here

“color me impressed just use the second letter of the fourth word to the right of each circled five letter word to find out where to go from here”

look for the red circled words… on the hahahatimes… then follow the instructions…

…to find http://whysoserious.com/redballoons.

Clicking on the clowns’ noses will inflate the balloons. Inflating the nose changes the color of the eyes. Getting all the clowns’ noses blue at the same time gets you a ticket to a new site,
http://whysoserious.com/redballoons/ineptlackeys.htm, with a new message from The Joker.

Looks like Mr. J has decided to flex some muscle.

Technorati Tags: Movies, Batman, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, Gotham City, Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Two-Face, Harvey Dent, Joker, Ha Ha Times

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I’ve been hardcore slacking on the blog front lately. I’m sorry about that. I’d like to give you a great excuse about how life has just been insane and busy and all that, and it is, but I also hit a slump that I couldn’t get out of and the longer I’ve slacked, the harder it’s become to stop slacking and get back to some serious posting. I’ll try to do better in the future.

Luckily, I’ve come across alot of news on my favorite subject - The Dark Knight - including a review, a new poster, and a viral update!

In the first bit of news, some lucky sumbitch has already seen the movie and submitted a review to Ain’t It Cool News! Tim Bisley, the author of the review, gives us a loose breakdown of the plot, thus there are obviously some spoilers, reaffirms that the movie is - at heart - the story of Harvey Dent, makes comparisons to films like Heat and Greek tragedies, and calls for a posthumous Oscar nod for Ledger.

You can, of course, head over to AICN to read the review, but I’ll quote it here for my fellow lazy bums:

Hi Harry and the rest of the crew,

Just after watching The Dark Knight. I see no reviews are online so I
thought Id send you my review.

Ive kept this review as spoiler free as possible as I dont want to
ruin anything like someone did recently with another Christian Bale
movie!!!

Ill start by saying that I was a fan of Batman Begins and am a huge
admirer of Christopher Nolan’s body of work. I had my faults with BB
mainly to do with how they shot and edited the fight sequences but
felt it was a great start to a much larger story and I jumped with joy
when Gordan pulled out the Joker card at the end.

The Dark Knight opens with a bank heist sequence that highlights how
the joker is always one step ahead of the criminals he is working with
and the police who are after him. Numerous men break into a bank
controlled by the mob wearing clown masks and comment on how The Joker
has put the whole thing together. This is the catalyst for which the
rest of the events in this movie takes place.

The heist does not go to plan well at least not for all the gang. Its
a great set up and payoff and a unique way of introducing the ace in
TDK’S whole or in this case its Joker.

Heath Ledgers performance of the joker is truly one for the books. A
man of no remorse or morals who simply wants to see things burn. There
is no back story or establishing the character. He is fully formed. He
does have some dialogue scenes that reveal a bit of his background.
Lets just say he has some issues with his father and that smile of his
is rooted in a gesture of love. He is far from a caricature and has
depth . He realises that without Batman he would not be. The Joker is
almost more of a terrorist than criminal. He is not motivated by
money. He wants to see people suffer. Its a damn shame that this was
Heath Ledger’s final major performance as it shows a whole different
side to him as a performer and I now know that he was endlessly
talented. To watch him walk away from an exploding hospital dressed as
a nurse is probably my favourite moment Ive seen on film so far this
year. Also look out for when he makes a pencil disappear such a cool
moment! Best supporting Oscar anyone?

Gotham is still engulfed by crime. Falcone’s reign as the head of the
mob is over and that seat has been filled by Salvatore Maroni played
by Eric Roberts. What becomes clear is that there are also numerous
other gangs within Gotham. Its no longer just one syndicate. They are
all in some way in cohoots but the arrival of Batman has made it
harder for them to operate.

Batman has inspired the city officials particularly Harvey Dent. The
DA for Gotham city. This is really his story. The rise and fall of the
white knight. He is Bruce Wayne’s hope for Gotham City. A hero who
doesn’t have to wear a mask. A man who can inspire hope in the masses.
If BB was about fear then TDK is about hope and is relevant in today’s
times. Harvey Dent is a good honest man who is willing to bear the
weight of bringing down all the criminals on his shoulders and what
that means for his own life and those he loves. In terms of his
transition to Two Face all I will say is that everything online that
Ive seen is fake. The moment we first see him in hospital when Harvey
Dent asks Gordan what his nickname used to be in Internal Affairs and
Gordan says Harvey Two Face and Harvey turns to him . Such a clever
way of establishing the character. Even down to his double sided coin.
Lets just say Aaron Eckhart puts Tommy Lee Jones to friggin shame!

The film feels more like a crime drama in a grand city scape than a
typical comic book movie. It feels like Heat except Batman is Al
Pacino and The Joker is Robert De Niro and just like in that film we
have a great scene between Heath Ledger and Christian Bale across a
table. There is also an element of a Greek Tragedy.. There is a vast
sense of morality at play within the film.

Dent is trying to bring down the criminals and wants to bring them in
under a RICO charge. To do this he needs Batman’s help as he has to
bring in the man who takes care of all their money. A glorified
accountant as Rachel Dawes puts it.Think Al Capones accountant in the
Untouchables. So Batman ventures to Hong Kong. It adds to the idea
that this is very much set in the real world and its not just Gotham
that Batman can access.

This all happens within the first third of the film. The run time is
two and a half hours. It doesn’t feel that long as there is so much
going on within the film. Ive always felt Christopher Nolan was able
to handle pacing unlike many movies that are over two hours these
days. This is also his first entirely linear film and he proves
himself to be a gifted storyteller and a master of utilising film as a
visual medium. He fills each frame with so much scope and detail. You
can tell he is enjoying himself with the amount of money he is being
allowed to play with and wants to better himself and the franchise.
Although this movie doesn’t feel like an instalment in a franchise.
The best thing I can think of for comparison is The Godfather Part 2.

There is no sign of the Batcave in this film. Although Alfred does
make mention of it saying how he looks forward to it being finished.
Bruce now lives in a pretty sweet penthouse apartment and his new
batcave is in an underground layer in the docks. Bruce and Lucious Fox
have been working on the suit and toys although to my surprise the
Batpod was in BB and nobody spotted it. It’ll put a smile on your face
when it makes its introduction.

Christian Bale owns this role. He is Bruce Wayne and he is Batman. He
is also a third character in some regards as there are almost two
sides to Bruce Wayne. The public figure, a playboy billionaire who
knows how to spend his money and the Bruce Wayne behind closed doors
who only Alfred and Rachel get to see. A man covered in bruises and
wounds who desperately wants be free of Batman but is compelled to
make a difference as no one else can. He can play the villain to be
the hero as he does.

The second third focuses on the capturing of The Joker. The city is
living in fear as he makes threats on national television that he
always follows through with. You simple have no idea what he will do
next. There appears to be no reason to his madness although that
proves to not be the case.

I don’t really want to give away anymore. I will say there is death
but not in the way some of the fan boys who have watched the trailer
are thinking. There is a prestige moment within the film that is a
true Chris Nolan moment. The scarecrow is in the film but has a very
minor role.

Just go see it on opening day in a room full of fans. Ill be doing the
same and have no doubt Ill enjoy it even more the second time round.

Enjoy.

Tim Bisley

Damn, this sounds like an awesome movie! I wish I had more geek friends around Orlando so that we could buy out a showing for this thing.

In our next bit of Dark Knight news, Comic Book Movie has released a new poster! Click the image below for a larger copy.

Finally, there’s a new edition of The HaHa Times!

Circled letters have been decoded to give us the following message:

page 1 - Herrings are red
page 2 - Corpses are blue
page 3 - You’re on the right track
page 4 - But you don’t have the clue

To my knowledge, “the clue” has yet to be found.

Technorati Tags: Movies, Batman, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, Gotham City, Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Two-Face, Harvey Dent, Joker, Ha Ha Times

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