Hey, check out my briefs

Between trips out of town and the resulting backlog at work, posting here at GCP has been even spottier than usual — but that doesn't mean I haven't been around! Here are some of the things that have been in the back of my mind recently:

No, I haven't seen it yet. I know, I know — but it hasn't been because of a lack of desire, that's for sure (especially after I saw Church's and Sims' spoiler-free reviews). I tried to see it yesterday, but tickets had already sold out for the next two showings so I'm planning to try again this afternoon. But you know what's the worst part, worse than the anticipation or trying to avoid the inevitable spoilers? Here it is: My mom has already seen The Dark Knight.

My mom.

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Speaking of lame, what's up with Christian Bale? It's never right to assault anybody, but your mother and sister?! I'm hoping — probably foolishly — that the allegations somehow turn out to be false, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, my selfish fanboy soul hopes this doesn't end up reflecting badly on the movie. Stupid Christian Bale.

Edit to Add: Thankfully, the whole thing doesn't seem to be as bad as the media reports first made it sound. Bale denies the allegations, the cops don't seem too stressed about it, and even his mother and sister seem to be downplaying the so-called incident. It's also important to note the definition of "assault" is different in England and in this case basically seems to mean he angrily hollered at people. Under that definition, I'd be considered a repeat offender. All in all, it seems to be no big deal — just the sort of thing that happens within families every Thanksgiving. It actually bothers me more that Fox seems to be the only ones following up on this story.

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Speaking of movies, after seeing the trailer for the Watchmen movie, I'm getting more and more (cautiously) optimistic about the final product. I'm still a little worried about what's going to go into the movie and what's going to have to come out, but as long as the core concepts are included I think it'll turn out alright. So far it looks pretty good, and while Nite Owl is a little more buff than I expected, Dr. Manhattan is damn near perfect.

Also, this picture of the original Minutemen is pretty fantastic:

That's kind of what you would expect costumes in the 40s to look like, right? Sorta homemade and goofy looking. I appreciate that someone is paying attention to little details like that, instead of just going for wall-to-wall "WaTChmEn RUleZ!!"

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So, I haven't read any Spider-Man books regularly for a while now (the clones did it to me), but I might have to pick this one up when it comes out in August just for the Adi Granov cover alone:

Positive reviews keep floating around, so this may be what gets me to finally give the post-Brand New Day Spidey a chance. Or not. We'll have to wait to see if Amazing Spider-Man Family #1 is any good or just a bunch of crap wrapped in a really beautiful cover.

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As I mentioned at the beginning of this ramble, I've been out of town a lot lately and I'll be traveling again late next week (helloooo, Veracruz! Home of some of the best coffee ever as well as soul-crushing humidity).

Of course, that's also the same time the mighty Bahlactus will be hosting the first round of his latest Friday Night Fights bout, so I'm either going to be really, really early with my entry or I'm going to be experimenting with the scheduling function on Blogger. Either way, prepare for potential weirdness! I've been a longtime FNF participant and I've always appreciated how much work Bahlactus obviously puts into it, so I'm not about to miss one now — especially since the Big B hints that this might be the final fight.

If that's the case, I hope you'll join me in a proper salute.

The Pull List (5-29-08): That's a whole lotta Morrison

Holy crap! Three different books by Grant Morrison coming out in the same week, along with some of my favorite ongoing titles?! Let's just say that if my weekly comic budget was a diet, I'd be stuffing my face with cupcakes and spare ribs ... delicious, delicious spare ribs.

Who else is hungry? To the list!

It's no secret Grant Morrison is one of my favorite writers, so when he's the source of three fairly significant titles coming out at the same time, it's kind of a big deal. Big enough that the only way I can wrap my mind around it is to squeeze All Star Superman #11, Batman #677 and Final Crisis #1 into one big lump of weirdo goodness.

All Star Superman has been a consistently strong title, re-energizing Superman with plenty of Morrison's hyper-modern, out-there concepts while fondly touching on iconic characters, locations and scenarios. There is nothing about AS Superman that doesn't feel as if it's solidly two minutes in the future, but at the same time it is nicely familiar and exceptionally inviting. A lot of the credit for that goes to the characterization of Superman himself, who is portrayed as the ideal hero who, essentially, is just trying to be the best person he can be. I have no idea if Morrison will revisit his version of Superman once this storyline ends with the next issue, but if not, at least I'll be able to reread and enjoy what will be considered a landmark Superman story.

As if that weren't enough, Morrison is also the writer for Batman #677 (part of the Batman R.I.P. story) and Final Crisis #1. Morrison writes an interesting Batman, and more importantly an interesting Bruce Wayne, so I'm curious to see where he takes things. Final Crisis is supposed to be the definitive wrap-up to the whole Infinite Crisis-52-Countdown thing, but really sounds more like it ties into his excellent (and mind-bending) Seven Soldiers "mega-series." Personally, that sounds A-OK to me and makes me care more about a story I might have chosen to ignore instead.


The rest ...

Giant-size Astonishing X-Men #1: The finale to Joss Whedon's big ol' X-Men in Space story.

Blue Beetle #27: Another issue written by pinch-hitters while the title transitions to a new, permanent creative team in July. Also — more Traci Thirteen.

Daredevil #107: Great crime-noir driven stuff every month about Marvel's mopiest superhero. It's the start of a new storyline, so try jumping on if you haven't already.

Immortal Iron Fist #15: Not only has the regular storyline been a fantastic blend of mystic kung-fu, superhero scenery chewing and sinister political machinations (not to mention a super-sumo named Fat Cobra), but the occasional looks at the Iron Fists of the past have been a highlight of this series. It's a clever way at deepening the legend of the Iron Fist and helps give Danny Rand an honest-to-God legacy; it also gives us titles like, "The Story of the Iron Fist Bei Bang-Wen — The Perfect Strategy Mind and his Miraculous Travels to the Dark Continent, and What Mysteries of the World and of the Self that He Learned There (1827-1860)."


Trading up ...
(Titles I either am, or will be, picking up in trade)

Fables #73

Green Lantern #31

Thor #9


Maybe ...

Firebreather #1

Zombie Tales #1

Beyond #1


Recommended ...

Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 2: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven (hardcover)

Jack Kirby's OMAC: One Man Army Corps (hardcover)

The Nearly Complete Essential Hembeck Archives Omnibus (trade paperback)

Cover Up: Batman: Year 100 #3

I had fun doing this last week, so I'm doing it again! I'm even considering making it a regular feature, so let me know what you think.

Now, Paul Pope has a drawing style that's like a thumb print or Barry White's voice — it's easily recognizable and there's no way it could be mistaken for anyone else. His work is, simply, unique.

In 2006 I was already a fan of Pope's squiggly, sketchy and kinetic work (it reminds me of watching someone hyperactively fidget around a room, occasionally stopping to breathe heavily on the edge of the couch), but I wouldn't have been sure it would be a good fit for something like Batman.

But then Batman: Year 100 came out and it kicked my skepticism right in the ass, starting with the covers for this four-issue mini-series.

Click for larger size!

All them are good, but my favorite is the cover to Batman:Year 100 #3. So dark it almost takes a second to register Batman sitting in the middle of it, the cover blends Pope's near-future cyberpunk aesthetic with the "man in the shadows" imagery we've all come to associate with our favorite Dark Knight. There's some grit to it, and a definite sense of speed and urgency and danger — even though all you see is Batman on his motorcycle, you can tell he's being chased.

I also like the tinge of red on the string of out-of-focus lights in the background, giving the subtle impression of a line of cop cars in the distance (we can thank colorist Jose Villarrubia for that). And the long arcs of electricity streaming off and away from the Bat-cycle also give it an undeniable energy.

This cover says a lot with a little, and that says plenty about Pope's skill with detail and tight, highly focused scenes. (Oh, and one more thing: That logo designed by RINZEN rocks my world. It's wildly stylized and almost looks like a graffiti tag, but also gives a nod to the spread-wing designs of the old Detective Comics and 1960s TV show logos. Pretty cool.)

What do you think?

Friday Night Fights: Batman and the sweet science!

Speaking of experiments, let's see what Batman's been cooking up in the lab:


Dr. Batman: Taking suckas to school since 1939!


Bahlactus could split the atom, but he'd rather split some skulls.

Following a link? Read more of Great Caesar's Post here!

Panel from Batman: Black and White #2
Jan Strnad, writer; Richard Corben, artist

WTF Wednesday: Now The Joker can park anywhere

If you think things between the U.S. and Iran have been tense lately, you should've seen what the diplomatic situation was like in 1988.

Click to Superham it!

But I hear the embassy parties were epic.

Panel from Batman #428
Jim Starlin, writer; Jim Aparo, artist

Third time still a charm?

If you follow this sort of thing, you probably already know DC's plans to launch yet another weekly series once Countdown wraps up. This time around the series (which will be called Trinity) will focus on the Big Three, namely Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Shorter backup stories will also be featured.

This is all well and good, and frankly sounds more interesting than Countdown ever did, but I have to ask: Do we really need another weekly series?

Personally speaking, I'm not sure I could afford committing to a weekly, in terms of either money or interest. Plus, Countdown was weaker than 52, which isn't exactly inspiring. What happens when you take a concept and make a copy of a copy of a copy? And will this really stand on its own (as it's being touted), or will it just end up another way to tie in the overblown "events" DC (and Marvel) are so fond of nowadays?

I don't know about you, but for me the idea of another "big" weekly book is a lot less charming the third time around.

Why I was slightly late to work today

This episode of Scooby-Doo really should count as a valid excuse, right?

Friday Night Fights: Where's my money, Deadshot?!?

Before Deadshot became one of the DC Universe's resident bad-asses, he was just another punk for Batman to whale on. In this case Floyd Lawton has earned the wrath of the Dark Knight by threatening his right-hand man Alfred and Alfred's newly discovered daughter, Julia.

Bad move, Floyd.

Panels from Batman #369

Batman shakes off the lucky hit, and proceeds to lead Deadshot on a classic game of cat-and-Bat. At this point in the character's history, Deadshot still had a thing for trick shots and this personality quirk saves Batman's bacon at least a couple of times — long enough for him to strike back ... with irony.

After Julia pulls a gun in an ill-conceived attempt at revenge, Batman uses a batarang to pull off his own trick shot, hitting Julia's gun and forcing her to squeeze off a shot — right into Deadshot!

And Batman's just getting started.


At least Deadshot is man enough to hang tough and ...

Damn! It is hard out here for a crime-fighter! After this Deadshot not only gave Batman the information he wanted, he also gave him $20.


We all know Bahlactus ain't no punk!

Following a link? Read more of the Post here.

Oh, Robin ...

Is that your solution to everything?