Everyone loves a Joker

The Dark Knight (2008)

Heath Ledger died a tragic and untimely death, but that is not what earns an actor an Oscar. An actor earns an Oscar through their skill distracting an audience from their day-to-day lives, as well as the social and political timing of their role. No actor ever earned an award without a good script, a solid director, and quality source material. Understanding these concepts we can conjecture that Ledger might possibly be in the running for a posthumous Oscar. If we add in the squealing fan vote, it's possible that he might pull off an Oscar for presenting us with an iconic a pulp villain.

Christopher Nolanhas learned from the success of his previous film, Batman Begins, that epic violence, a dark brooding hero, gritty police officers, and an operatic musical score will draw in box office cash. The Dark Knight cashes in on these cinematic conventions in excess. In a scene where we the audience would expect a car crash, we are shown a truck crash. Where we would expect bank robbers to 'rat' on their accomplices, the accomplices are murdered. Where we would expect a building to explode, we are shown a citywide apocalypse. Where we would expect a man, we are shown the epitome of chaos and destruction in a purple suit.

Occasionally in movies and literature a supporting character will out shine the main character, the director or writer does not plan for it but it happens. Darth Vader is iconic, while Luke Skywalker kissed his sister. Harrison Ford was the Fugitive, but Tommy Lee Jones was in the sequel. John Conner may be the man destined to save the world, but the Terminator is the name of the franchise. In The Dark Knight we see the return of Christian Bale and Gary Oldman but the audience is there to see a dead man in white face paint. The audience wants to root for the iconic villain, but his actions make them pause in their seats. His behavior is abhorrent to modern American standards, for he is clearly a terrorist destroying our way of life. But he is the focal point of the movie; one cannot watch the movie without focusing on his behavior.

Nolan buries the audience in foibles and situations about the lengths a man will go to achieve his goals. We are shown an honest man pushed beyond the limits of sanity, as he watches loved ones die. We are shown a man with noble goals who questions his actions, and we see a man who pushes others beyond their emotional limits because it amuses him to do so. In the present day our evening news is beleaguered with stories of men who went over the line in the course of achieving what they perceive to be justice, or an honest profit. Ledger was presented with a character ripped from the headlines, and painted in garish colors to turn the evening news into a palatable caricature so that it might amuse you the audience. Ledger embraced his role with a zeal that the Batman franchise has never been graced with. His transformation is complete; He disappears into his purple suit and hides in plain sight as a man without a past. The audience and the Batman are left guessing as to what the Jokers agenda truly is.


The secret to the creation of a good story is to have an origin, a conflict, and a resolution. Similarly, a good comedian knows when the joke has scored with the audience, and they know when exit the stage. Perhaps the Joker is the greatest comedian ever, because he left the stage before we had even heard the joke.

Starman Omnibus Volume 1

In 1994 a once great, albeit obscure super hero from World War II passed along his legacy to his son David, much to the delight of his other son Jack who wanted nothing to do with “that ridiculous costume”. Before David or Jack knew what was happening, David had been murdered by the son of his father’s arch enemy The Mist, and Jack was fighting for his life. When The Mist threatened his father Jack stood his ground and the light of Starman lit the skies over Opal City once more.

Starman is a tale of nostalgia and family that broke fresh ground for DC Comics, turning stories in a new direction that would change the literary fate of Superman, Batman, and the entire stable of capes and costumes. Jack Knight is a poster child for Generation X sporting tattoos, a rebellious streak, and wearing a black leather jacket instead of a costume.

Writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris created a character and a city who are one in the same. Opal City is a city of art deco rooftops, hidden treasures in back alleys, and dark secrets hidden for decades. Jack Knight is a mixture of antique dealing curiosities, and hidden depths of maturity buried under snide comments.

Robinson always wondered what Super Heroes talked about when they were working together. Did they talk about music, or movies, or maybe even a recent purchase of carpeting for their secret lair? Robinson set out to write a super hero story that made sense to him. He wanted to create a hero that you could run into in a coffee shop and talk about the weather with. To Robinson, it did not make sense for someone like Jack to run around in spandex like his father did. Jack admires the work his father did and when the family business is thrust upon him, he follows in the steps of Sinatra. He did it, his way.

Starman was a turning point for DC comics, Jack debuted in the 90’s during an era of comics when foil covers and alternative printings saturated the shelves. While one universe was facing a plague to end all mutant life, another was having time rewritten by a hero gone mad. Comic fans barely noticed a young man in a bowling shirt and leather jacket quietly sneak onto the stands. Jack brought with him a great weapon, nostalgia. Jacks’ pithy quips and commentary on Cole Porter, Woody Allen films and James Cagney surprised many readers. In an age of large caliber firearms and the strength to move planets Jack reminded readers that heroes worry about being on time to dinner with their father, or if he would survive this battle with Shakedown so that he could put a final bid in on a collection of Fenton glassware. Jack brought an edge of reluctant maturity to comic books, reminding the adults who grew up reading Spiderman that they could still find a hero to relate to.

Starman Omnibus Volume 1 presents the series in the order that it was released in, unlike DC comics’ previous collection of the series. Robinson wrote the entire run on Starman, and occasionally included issues set in different eras. Stand alone stories of other heroes who bore the name Starman. DC Comics collected all of these “Times Past” stories in a single volume, removing them from the order Robinson had originally intended them to be released in, obscuring the relevancy of their stories to the overall story arc. Also, much like a DVD directors commentary track Robinson has included his notes to the series, including his thoughts and influences on writing the series.

In this modern era of obscure plotlines from the 1970’s returning to threaten the heroes of today, it seems fitting that Jack Knight and his obscure commentary return. Once again the skies of Opal City are lit by Starman.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

It has been 20 years since cinema audiences have seen new adventures of Indiana Jones on the big screen. 20 years of overly CGI, government conspiracies, and a never ending stream of copycat pretenders to the throne of pulp action adventure. Over 20 years a lot of things can change, cinema technology, stadium style seating, popcorn prices, ticket prices, political climate changes, and even characters archetypes can change.

20 years ago we saw our hero riding into the sunset with his mentor, his Egyptian sidekick, and his father. It was his last crusade, his penultimate adventure, and we never expected to see him again. We resigned ourselves to a world of reruns, copycats, and propaganda laden stories about national treasure hunters. Deep down inside the cinema goers of America craved a man in a fedora fighting the evil foreign power from a forgotten day, saving the day, getting the girl, and teaching us about a long lost holy relic.

Over the past 20 years American movie goers have seen things their forefathers and foremothers could never have predicted. Things in the media, in the cinema and on our doorstep have affected our concepts of entertainment and changed our outlook on life. But after all of that deep down inside we want to see Indiana Jones battle an evil long defeated foe and save our world for all that we hold to be good and wholesome.

Over the past 20 years, Indiana Jones has aged, grown old, and lost his goose stepping foe to the passage of time. His world has grown and changed as ours did, but are we the American movie going audience ready for that? When we first met Dr. Jones he was in an archeological race against Nazi Germany, a foe that many today consider to be the ultimate evil. When we last saw Indiana, he had just defeated that same foe in a race for what many consider to be the ultimate prize; the cup of Christ, the Christian key to life everlasting, what many would call, cinema gold.

Indiana Jones is not timeless, our hero has aged, his foe is gone, and has been replaced with a new foe. A foe that the present movie generation knows to be all too real, a foe not cinematic and exciting because it is too close to home, and a foe that we all remember being afraid of. In the 1980’s Americans were terrified of the threat of Nuclear War with Soviet Russia, but fear of the Nazis party was a thing for our grandparents, a foe who had already been defeated. A foe safely relegated to the cinema, a foe we could easily poke fun at, a foe that did not make us quiver in the back of our mind as we remembered a very real threat on the evening news.

In 20 years when Dr. Jones films his final crusade against the Communists in Cuba our children will laugh at his quips and daring do and remember fondly their first introduction to their hero, in the classic film The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Where they saw Indiana Jones defeat an evil foe that predated the enemy on the evening news and found a holy relic from a people that time had forgotten.

When I was 7 years old, I saw Indiana Jones on the big screen defeat an ancient foe with a smile on his face and a girl on his arm. Now I am 34, and Indiana Jones has defeated an ancient foe with a smile on his face and a girl on his arm. All is well in the world.

Nancy Who

Time and Space are infinite, if you accept this then the odds of a single woman from South Croydon England encountering a Time Lord once is astronomical. Sarah Jane Smith has met multiple versions of the same Time Lord at numerous occasions. The only odds more astronomical then this are the chances of that same character getting a second chance at her own spin off Sci-Fi television show 27 years after her first chance at a spin off was shot down by studio executives.

Sarah Jane Smith first appeared in 1973, when she and the third incarnation of the Doctor foiled a Sontaran warlords plans. Ms. Smith proved to be quite a handful for the adventurous Time Lord, and she became a staple on the television show for two more years. But BBC executives weren’t done with the intrepid investigative reporter, not by a long shot. When Christmas rolled around, Sarah Jane and K-9 the robot dog appeared in K-9 and Company. The first attempt at a Doctor Who spin off series only lasted one episode, as the new studio head at the BBC did not wish to continue the series. Sarah Jane and her robot companion K-9 would only resurface in radio dramas, and Doctor Who Magazine stories.

Well you can’t keep a good reporter from getting her story, especially when she is the focus of the story. Sarah Jane appeared in the second season of Doctor Who, revealing subtle hints of a matured school girl crush on the wild haired Time Lord. This time when the Doctor said good bye to Sarah Jane, he left her a new and updated version of K-9, and the future potential for her own series. But with Torchwood already dealing with alien menaces, Sarah Jane felt that her future lay upon a different path.

Sarah Jane set up shop and went to help in her own fashion, with compassion or with stubborn determination, which ever was needed. Because a hero always needs compatriots to explain the plot to, or to save from certain death, Sarah Jane had to develop some friends. Enter Maria, Thomas, and Luke, two neighborhood kids, and a boy built by an alien race known as The Bane to further their own ends.

The Sarah Jane Adventures recently premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel, in an early 8pm time slot during their Friday night lineup. The series is directed towards elementary school aged Sci-Fi fans, and has more of a light hearted feel to it than its parent series Doctor Who has ever shown. In this era of bleak Sci-Fi focused on genocidal aliens, catastrophic stellar anomalies, and time destroying masterminds I welcome this investigative journalist back to television. The BBC has announced plans to produce 24 new episodes of this series after season one is complete, welcome back to the time war Sarah Jane. Welcome back.

Fear Itself

Justice League - The New Frontier (2008)

Fear comes in many shapes and forms. There is fear of the dark, fear of change, fear of an enemy, and fear of the unknown. After World War 2 America became a nation of fear, and it was led there by a Senator named Joseph McCarthy. Senator McCarthy came forward and claimed he could protect Americans from what they feared, and Americans gladly handed the reigns of power over to him. Americans trusted McCarthy to protect them, and to ferret out the enemies from within their midst.

Fear is a powerful weapon, and everyone faces it differently. When the man of steel was faced with fear, he succumbed to it and pledged his blind loyalty to the Government in order to better protect its citizens. When the amazing Amazon was confronted with fear, she taught victims to over come their fears, and made others fear her when she refused to bow to the government’s desires. When an Air Force pilot felt the engine of his plane sputter and die under enemy gunfire, he pulled his ejection seat and leapt blindly into enemy territory unafraid of what would happen to him.

Justice League, The New Frontieris an animated adaptation of the DC Comics graphic novel The New Frontierby artist and writer Darwin Cooke. The story is set in the DC Comics universe during the Cold War, when America was at a turning point in its cultural identity. The House Un-American Activities Commission sought out communists, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, Super Heroes went into hiding, and Ferris Aircraft led the charge into space.

Unbeknownst to the world, not only America is at a turning point; it is humanity that is at a turning point. An unimaginable evil known only as The Center has awakened from centuries long slumber in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. The Center is a beast that predates the dinosaurs, a beast with a life span so long, that it has only just now noticed the apes crawling on the surface of the planet. And The Center has declared that the human race is too dangerous to be allowed to continue as a species.

Blind to the threat it faces the American government covers up any occurrence that they cannot explain or control. Costumed super heroes are hunted down and captured in an effort to use their abilities to further the cause of America. Ferris Aircraft pushes it’s test pilot to the edge to land on Mars, and if necessary combat any hostile life forms found there. All the while The Center grows in power and slowly plots the destruction of humanity.

This is the second direct to DVD cartoon released by Warner Brothers with a PG-13 rating. Heroes die, monsters are blown into bloody pieces, and the story contains adult themes such as rape, death, and lynch mobs. Producers are now aware that adults enjoy super hero stories without them being sanitized for children, fast food collaborations and t-shirt sales. Perhaps this movie represents the dawn of a new age of super hero cartoons; an age where stories of power rings and shape shifting aliens can be of quality.

Fear is a powerful weapon, but its hold over a populous is tenuous at best. When one person stands before others and declares their willingness to fight an enemy, others will follow. When that one person is struck down, they become a rallying point, and even more flock to their cause. When that fear is overcome, enemies realize that they were fighting for the same cause all along put aside their differences and fight their mutual enemy. Sometimes, all it takes is one person of integrity to put aside fear and lead the charge into a bright new world of tomorrow.

Comic Book Reviews - February 4, 2008

DC Comics

Checkmate #20
I missed this issue two months ago, but my guy was able to secure a copy for me.
This was the conclusion of a storyline called “Fall of the Wall”, I hate missing conclusion issues. Dr. Amanda Waller has been a player in the DC Universe for decades now, she’s been in charge of The Suicide Squad, or Task Force X, and this was her final issue as a member of the UN sponsored Checkmate team. Political machinations abound, as Waller’s secret nanite project is revealed. I’m glad I finally got my hands on this issue.

Checkmate #22
The second part of the French Resistance historical story. Good storytelling, I enjoyed this little side trip before the next plot arch starts. I wish that DC would do more with the extensive history of Non Meta Human characters that they’ve developed over the years.

Teen Titans, Year One, #1
A modern day retelling of the first adventure of the Teen Titans; complete with instant message technology and flat screen monitors. The Titans debuted in the silver age of comics, as an all-teen sidekicks team. Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wondergirl.
This miniseries starts off with a bang, as Batman goes off the deep end and backhands Robin across the face. Something is wrong with the adult heroes, the time is right for teen heroes to save the day!

Justice League of America, #17
The United States Government has passed a law declaring that all super villains (active and inactive) are to be rounded up and shipped off world to a detention facility in deep space. Needless to say, the villains aren’t taking this well. There is also a backup story with the Vixen. I’m glad to see backup stories reappearing in DC comics it’s a nice nostalgia piece that I’d like them to do more of.

Green Lantern, #26
The Sinestro War clean up begins. I’m glad to see the previous storyline continue, and have consequences for the future. It really bugs me when a story ends neatly without logical repercussions.

Green Lantern Corps, #20
Classic Green Lantern and Superman foe Mongul returns, with a yellow ring. This spells serious trouble for any DC character. Also Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner move to the planet Oa, and Guy wants to open a new bar for the Lantern Corps. Which could be more trouble then Mongul.

Green Lantern, #27
The Lanterns are now authorized to use lethal force, but this does not mean they have the ability to murder their foes in cold blood. The Alpha Lanterns debut as peace keepers inside the Lantern Corps. No one likes it when Internal Affairs shows up on a police drama, and these are intergalactic police.

Action Comics, #861
The 31st century adventures of Superman continue, and most of the suns in the galaxy have shifted to the red spectrum, with more shifting every day. And then things get worse.

Batman, #673
Grant Morrison flashes back to Batman’s struggle with the man who killed his parents, as Batman meets Joe Chill for the first time. Morrison’s work is good, but I’d like to see a real Batman story come out of his run. No more disjointed jumps between continuity and flashback please.


Dark Horse Comics

The End League, #1
A new post apocalypse super hero world to explore. This League is made of characters that are each a tribute to an era of comic book history. They struggle to feed the survivors of an apocalypse, accidentally caused by their most powerful member. While he struggles with the secret guilt of what he allowed to happen.

BRPD 1946 #1
Mignola starts a new chapter in the Hellboy Universe, it’s 1946 and Professor Broom sifts through Nazi mystical paraphernalia looking for clues to the identity of his red skinned adoptive son.
These next two issues are the subject of quite the argument in the industry. The artist Alex Ross and the writer J. Michael Stracynski both had the same idea, at the same time, they are not happy with each other.

Dynamite Comics

Project Super Powers #0
An old retired hero from World War two has to deal with the consequences of his actions during and after the war. He betrayed his fellow heroes in an attempt to save the world, and it’s time to pay the piper.
Alex Ross needs to do more for a series then concept sketches and covers to really be able to put his name on the book. This was not a good issue at all, a rather bland story with a pretty cover.

Marvel Comics

The Twelve, #1
In the final days of the war in Europe the Allied heroes stormed Hitler’s Bunker, and 12 of them were never seen again. JMS has worked his project into existing Marvel Comics continuity, with well developed dialogue, good character concepts and what is shaping up to be an interesting read. I highly encourage comic fans to pick up this series.

Captain America, #34
This issue will take a great deal of time to discuss, watch this space for further updates.

Image Comics

Fell #9
Warren Ellis’s great comics experiment continues. Ellis said that he wanted to write “The Law and Order” of comic books. He explained that the series is always on television no matter what time of day it is, and any episode can be watched exclusive of the rest of the series. So that is what he has done with this police detective tale, all for $1.99 per issue. Considering that a standard format comic book costs $2.99 these days, and that Fell issue 1 went through 9 printings, I think his experiment is working.

Avatar Press

Black Summer #5
The team encounters their upgraded replacements, much blood, many bullets, and next issue is the end of this story. I expect a collected edition to be released within 6 months. A very good series, Ellis excels at writing mature super hero stories.

Reporting to you live from Grover’s Mill New Jersey.

Cloverfield(2008)

There is something about a movie with a giant monster in it that appeals to the ten year old in all of us. The fascination with dinosaurs never quite seems to leave us no matter how old we get. JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost,loves Godzillamovies, and wanted to make an American giant monster. I suppose he felt he couldn’t use King Kongbecause of Peter Jackson’srecent film, so he created one of his own.

The first trailer for Cloverfield barely showed the audience anything, but we knew a giant monster was in Manhattan. The later trailers were just as secretive, but we knew that the movie would be shown to us in a first person perspective, through the use of a hand held camera. The reviews for Cloverfield mostly read about the audience getting motion sickness, and a lot of people have compared it to “The Blair Witch Project”due to uses of similar camera techniques. Like all giant monster films, Cloverfield has a message under the footsteps of the giant beastie. It’s a simple message that many members of our modern society have failed to grasp. “Put away your camera phone, there are more important things to do.”

This is a Godzillamovie for the self-absorbed camera phone using MySpace generation. The first half hour of the movie is nothing but twenty something drama, and a game of MySpace rumor mill. The only way to kill this sort of behavior is with explosions, a giant monster and the flying head of the Statue of Liberty landing in the middle of the street. But sadly, this sort of behavior can’t be stopped by flying landmarks the panicked crowds simply stop running in terror to take cell phone photos of the decapitated symbol of liberty. So Abrams upped the ante, by using cinematography inspired by news footage from September 11, 2001. Nothing like a building crumbling into dust and flooding the streets with debris to make people forget their camera phones.

The monster isn’t clearly visible until the last quarter of the movie, the camera operator Hudson “Hud” (heads up display, cute joke there) focuses his attention on his three friends who escaped death with him. We the audience are subjected to Hud’s rotten sense of humor as the foursome hunkers down for safety, until Hud’s bud remembers that the girl he treated badly earlier in the picture, that he actually is in love with, is right in the path of the monster. Yes folks, they head right into the waiting tentacles of death to rescue her. We then get to see a quaint tribute to FDNY, some looters, and a street level view of the US armed forces attacking the beast as it rips down buildings.

The monster is CGI, the sets are not, and debris falls with the proper weight and crashing affects. The special affects worked nicely to show us the death rattle of the Big Apple. The storyline, what there is of it, holds true, and the characters have believable reactions to the situations they are placed in. The best part of this movie is that the monster’s origin is not explained. I watched the credits until the end, humanity never finds out why this beast is destroying everything in its path. I left the cinema feeling satisfied that I had seen a giant monster destroy New York City, and with a sense that the Red Sox, Yankees rivalry was ended for all time. Luckily for me, no one in the theatre threw up in his or her popcorn bucket.

The movie had trailers for Iron Man, Hellboy2, and the new Star Trek movie. Which were worth the price of a matinee ticket by themselves.