New DCU

The New DCU: Thoughts, Concerns and Hopes

So, for those of you who aren't as wired into the comic book world as I am, DC Comics announced that it will be relaunch some regular and launching some new books, all with #1 come September. This is a big deal when it comes to two comics that have almost 1000 issue series such as Action and Detective Comics. DC stated that they wanted to refresh concepts for the 21st century and make their characters more accessible, as well as celebrate the diversity of our world. Well, fan reaction, to be mild has been mixed. Many are concerned about continuity, whether the stories and characters they love have been erased from existence. Others are concerned that characters of prominence seem to be missing from solicitations and book descriptions. Also, while DC stated their commitment to diversity, many have, rightly so, pointed out that their first image of the Justice League, was 5 white guys, one african-american male hero and one white female hero. Not quite really diverse. And as for the diversity about characters, it isn’t that much different than it was before, and perhaps a tad worse, especially when it comes down to the diversity of creators, gender, racial and sexuality wise. I, however, am hopeful.

Why? Well I would direct you to article on Newsarama that addressed the accessibility and the ‘relaunch’ nature, by comparing to Doctor Who and discussing how DC’s goal is make the concepts behind the characters to be simple and easy to jump on. Link: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/write-or-wrong-68-dcnu-doctor-who-110614.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Newsaramasite+%28Newsarama.com%29&utm_content=Twitter

And, you know what, that’s smart. They are telling comic book shops they can return the 1st 3 issues if people don’t buy, and they are accessing new readers (also with the news deals with bookstores like Barnes & Nobles and being able to download them on he same day they new in stores) - but my friend Michele is excited about buying a Wonder Woman #1. She wants to read good stories about characters she knows of and likes from other mediums, and be able to get in on the ground floor. So, I think on that level it works.

Today, and for the last couple DC is saying that continuity is not being rebooting, but it simply means compressed. Much like Doctor Who since 2005, you don’t have to watched the old show to catch on. Hell, you didn’t have to watch seasons 1-4 to jump onto 5. Which means big and more recent events like Identity Crisis will exist but Panic in the Sky from the 90‘s might not. And i think, in a few instance it’ll more like the Star Trek movie, where some things with be ‘rebooted’ or changed to help things make sense. Maybe make characters younger, or in the case of Babs Gordon, walking, and maybe some more embarrassing stories or confusing timelines (I’m looking at you Hawkman) will be streamlined.

I think what, in light of those comments, concerns me the most is the possibility of some characters not existing, not so much that they won’t have books. I think there will be a wave 2 in early 2012 with Batman Inc. Books like the JSA and Outsiders will be included, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a pulp book like Doc Savage, maybe doing something with the Red Circle, and maybe doing something with some of the older Titans/Infinity Inc characters. However, while the possibilities are there for Ryan Choi to be alive and a supporting character in Fury of Firestorm, the question of whether Speedy or Connor Hawke exists if Green Arrow is younger is of concern. If Superman is the first Super Hero, do the JSA exist, or only some of them, or were they something else than what we knew. Are some of the legacy characters that are cult favorites, be wiped away in order to stream line continuity? That is a big question for a lot of fans.

And about diversity, there is a very good argument that DC is very diverse and can be very diverse, but editorial has to challenge creators to use and utilize those diverse characters in compelling and real ways. Instead of four books with all of the male Robins, why not have one with Cass Cain and Steph Brown, or the Outsiders, which has been one of the most diverse books, with one of the first African-American superheroes, Black Lightning, who has 2 daughters (one of whom is gay) both who are superheroes.

Again, I’m excited. I trust many of these creators. I think, however, letting fans know there will be a wave 2, and address some of fan;s fears about the futures of characters like Wally West and Donna Troy, would be helpful- but I’m sure they want to focus on Sept. and not have fans waiting for next January. And I would encourage DC to look to bloggers like NerdyBird at http://www.thenerdybird.com/ and DCWomenKickingAss at http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/ -have real concerns about the diversity of creators and diversity of characters. NeryBird wrote a great piece about Oracle vs. Batgirl and Gail Simone and her did an interview that was fantastic. But people love their characters, and when DC says they are about diversity and there isn’t a whole lot of change in terms of diversity when it comes to the solicits, well it’s understandable that fans are concerned. And fans, I have faith in these creators, and I understand the want to not be shackled by continuity. To be free to do new and creative things with their characters. I’m ok with compression and I’m ok with streamlining of their history. I’m ok with new books that don’t highlight my favorite characters. But what I would like is for these characters to still exist or possibly could exist. I would like that commitment to diversity to be real, both in characters and in creators.

And as for what’s next, I think there will be wave 2. Maybe in October and maybe in early 2012 along with Batman: Inc. Look for #1’s of books such as JSA, Outsiders,a 2nd Flash book called Speed Force, a pulp book aka Doc Savage or Spirit, something to do with the Marvel Family, something with some of the women of Gotham such as Huntress, Steph Brown and Cass Cain, Batman Beyond and either Superman or JL Beyond, a new Zatana and Xombi, and maybe a 2nd JSA book for Power Girl or some other characters.

Also remember this. Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, the Blue Beetle, the Question, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters...all of these characters were that were created by other comic book companies that were acquired by DC. And while most of the focus was that converging of the multi-verse, especially 5 earths into one earth with one history. But while it created many, many headaches with characters like Hawkman, but it made characters from Fawcett, Charlton and Quality comics part of the DC Universe. And now, the relaunch/reboot will take characters like the THUNDER agents, Milestone characters like Static, bringing back Vertigo characters, and Wildstorm characters into the DCU. And while I don’t know the status of the Red Circle characters, if they have those licenses still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in a Wave 2.

Diversity: Not An Old Wooden Ship

Diversity in Comics

I recently joined twitter and have been very much delving into that world. What I enjoy about twitter is that for the most part, depending on whom you follow, you can get the thoughts, jokes and comments from real writers, actors, and other individuals in certain industries. As a comic book fan, I of course follow many comic book creators, as well as many of the intelligent people who tweet and respond to those creators. Recently, I engaged in conversations with the Marvel V.P. Tom Brevoort, and two bloggers @dcwomenkicknass and @SonofBaldwin about the issue of Diversity in comics. Both of them posted on their blogs about these issues here:http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/5359835068/muchmore and here:http://sonofbaldwin.blogspot.com/search/label/comic%20books . Both of these bloggers have and can speak more eloquently about the issues of race, gender and sexual diversity in comics that I can.

However, as a white heterosexual male who is a comic fan and grew up in a middle to upper middle class neighborhood outside DC, I wanted to chime in as what most comic book creators (people who work and write for Marvel and DC) might see their audience to be.

I love comic books. I love classic comic book characters. My top five DC and Marvel characters are all name recognizable characters. However, when I was in high school, I read Morrison’s JLA. And I remember thinking to myself, why the hell is Steel on this team and not Captain Marvel? To me, Captain Marvel is an A-List character and Steel is a weird combination of Iron Man, War Machine and Superman. And then, I read Steel in Morrison’s JLA and he instantly became a favorite of mine.

He made the character unique and real and human.

He wasn’t a stereotype or even their to represent all black males (which the character once said himself) he was there to fulfill a role because that is what the JLA needed and that is what the writer thought was best. And Morrison wrote the hell out of him. At the same time Priest was writing the Black Panther, which I was catching onto and was then seen in the Avengers, who Busiek at the time referred to as the #4 after the ‘Big 3’ of Cap, Thor and Iron Man. And between how the character was written and grew betwee

n Busiek and Priest, I couldn’t agree more. That hooked me on other Priest books like the Crew and I started to develop a love of characters that provided a li

ttle more diversity than I had originally thought needed in the comic book world. At the same time, personally, my eyes were opened to how I benefited from diversity. I was going to college, rooming with a Haitian-American from Long Island who loved Dragonball Z, working for a gay man, and meeting people from around the country. And then I traveled abroad to Belgium where I met young people from all over Europe as well as other places, and started traveling a lot. However, what that brings me to is that our world is diverse. Comic book readers are diverse. And I think it would surprise many comic book fans and creators how much fans enjoy true, real and well-written diversity.

I’ve said before that I really started to like the Black Panther in high school. It was a great book written and drawn by a great team. It was engaging, intelligent and action packed. Priest made the Panther into a unique character that wasn’t an ‘African Batman’. And when they brought the book back under Reggie Hudlin, in my mind, it didn’t measure up to Priest’s run. And that, I think gets to the heart of issues of ‘diversity’ in comics. All characters can be and have been poorly written. ‘Minority’ characters in particular have suffered that in huge ways. But Brubaker writes a great Falcon, and Bendis a great Cage and so on. There have been great comic book writers who are not ‘minorities’ who have written greatly diverse characters and treated that’s character diversity not as the defining characteristic about that character but as a contributing characteristic to that character. Black Lightning is African-American, he is also a teacher, a divorced husband who stills get along with his wife, a super-hero and a father. These are all parts of a whole character. And what comics needs are good, well written whole characters.

I understand that when the ‘classic’ characters were being created, they were mostly white with certain aliens filling out the ‘minority’ spots on these teams. And when diversity was added, many characters were written very stereotypically. Even female characters on these teams who are ‘classics’ have been and often are written stereotypically. However, I feel since I have been reading comics, creators who have written comic better, including ‘diversity’ characters.

However, what I do not understand is the choices by creators and editors not utilize the wealth of diverse characters that they could use. Why do we have to Hank and Jan and deal with their craziness where Bill Foster would fulfill the role of giant scientist and would offer a new and different voice as would Rita DeMara. They have the same powers, with new histories, new perspectives and new voices. Have Ollie Queen be the Green Arrow in the main comic, but

have Connor Hawke in either Birds of Prey or on the Justice League with other 2^nd and 3^rd generation heroes right now. Steve Rogers dies, why would Marvel consider and even weave in Josiah X from the Crew into the book or have Casper Kole be in the New Avengers as a NYPD officer on the team. Tom Brevoort stated that an all Black Avengers would be contrived. And while I understand the point that it could seem contrived or paying lip service to have a minority book, the concept of super hero teams in general could be considered contrived, especially teams like the Young Avengers (which of all Avengers teams is probably the most diverse!) However thinking upon it, I have a hard time that a good writer couldn’t come up with a reason that the Black Panther (a classic Avenger) couldn’t call together a team composed mostly of ‘diverse’ super heroes such as the Falcon, Photon/Pulsar, Firebird, Mantis, White Tiger (Kasper Cole), Madame Web (Julia Carpenter), Black Knight, Goliath (Bill Foster’s nephew Tom). These are no more Avengers than the New Avengers are today, and if you needed a Cap, Iron Man or Thor, you could throw in War Machine or Battlestar for good measure. I just feel that perhaps creators and editors feel more comfortable with characters who at first glance they feel they and their readers can immediately relate to. I think they also feel that their readers are mostly white males who don’t enjoy reading about characters who are not like them, and they may feel that they don’t want to mess up a character who is 'not like them' by portraying them in a way that might be uncharacteristic of that character.

At the end of the day, what I am saying, is that as a white, male, heterosexual, I enjoy diversity. I enjoy the diversity of life, food, opinions, sayings, culture, and comics. Secret Warriors took over for Checkmate as my spy comic. Batman Inc. is my conspiracy book and Avengers are my team book. I love the Guardians of the Galaxy as much as I love Green Lantern. I think the people in charge of comics are overtly concerned with ‘watering-down’ their product with too many variations on a rift. And economically speaking, I can understand that issue. However, I feel that should be a challenge and not an edict to back down from realities of the life. The world is diverse. Comic readers are diverse. Comic books and their characters should be diverse as well. Could it be confusing to have two Green Arrows or two Flashes, one in their own book and one in a team book – Yes? However, Green Lanterns and Batmen seem to make it work, because they are written by good writers who understand how to make the characters unique and different. Couldn’t we have a Barry book with Wally in the JLA? A New Avengers that maybe took the idea of ‘street-level’ characters to a new, unique and real place by including real ‘street-level’ characters? I like Ms. Marvel, but she is not street-level.

At the end of the day, comic book fans want well written stories that matter. We always want to see our favorite characters but the way they become our favorites is by being well written. I’m sure comic book companies will always be concerned about the sustainability of a comic, but I refuse to believe that your classic comic books couldn’t have a little more balance and diversity when it comes to gender, race, culture and sexuality. Should it be lip-service or inclusion just for the sake?... no. But Morrison made Steel work on the JLA. Birds of Prey is an amazing book and Black Canary led Meltzer's JLA. Static Shock was a hugely popular TV show. John Stewart was the GL of a kid's cartoon. So why don't we have a diverse character on the new Avengers book?

Summer Event Fever Part 1 - Fear Itself

Summer Event Fever Part 1

In the next few installments I will be discussing the Spring/Summer Events from both DC and Marvel Comics including Age of X (soon!) Flashpoint and War of the Green Lanterns, just to name of few. But today, the Fear Itself prologue came out today, called Book of the Skull. From what has been told, Fear Itself, came from the want of Marvel to do a mini-event like Age of X, or Sinestro Corps War from DC between Captain America and Thor, capitalizing on their respective summer movies. However, it sprang out of there, and Thor’s writer Matt Fraction took controls with Cap’s writer Ed Brubaker taking the idea from the original story pitch involving a WWII story with the Red Skull plan for power never coming to fruition thanks to Captain America, Bucky and Namor. In the present, the current Baron Zemo helps Sin, the original Red Skull’s daughter and current Red Skull to find a artifact from that adventure in order to find exactly what the original Skull brought to Earth during WWII. It turns out it was a hammer, a hammer connected to an ancient Asgardian who turns out to be Odin’s dirty secret (Odin being Thor’s father and the king of the Asgardian Gods.) and who is alluded to be the actual All-Father of the Asgardians. He is called the Serpent and is the Asgardian God of Fear. It seems the Serpent gives the new Red Skull a hammer, and will bestow 8 hammers on other super powered beings (some heroes and some villains) to take over the world. From what we know the cover to Fear Itself #2 - it looks like Absorbing Man and the Grey Gargoyle (two Avengers and Thor villains) will get hammers as well as the Juggernaut (who has battled pretty much everyone, especially the X-Men). The Questions is who else could be the Worthy - those who receive hammers?

First let’s examine three factors: a.) the first set of teasers by Marvel for the event, b.) the 2nd set of teasers that dealt with the Worthy and c.) what books are tying in to the event as well as miniseries.

The first set of teasers included- Spider-Man in front a set of TV’s talking about the real world factors that make us afraid, Steve Rogers as Captain America in front of a shattered shield, Odin standing atop of a defeated Thor, the Hulk standing remorseful after slaughtering the earth’s heroes, Cyclops dressed up as Magneto and Iron Man looking on the military in stark war suits.

The second set of teasers- three sets of heroes/villains standing around different types of hammers much like Thor’s. The Grey Gargoyle, Iron Man and Bucky Barnes as Captain America around one, Storm, Dracula and Sin the Red Skull around another, a depowered Hercules, Juggernaut and a young Loki around a third, Giant-Man, Ms. Marvel and the Absorbing Man around a fourth, and the Hulk, Thing and Colossus around a fifth.

The books tying-in and the mini series: Invincible Iron Man has I.M. dealing with the Grey Gargoyle in Paris, Iron Man 2.0 has War Machine teaming up with Iron Fist and the Immortal Weapons (the champions of the seven cities of Heaven- mystical kung-fu warriors), Avengers seem to be up against the Serpent, the Secret Avengers seeing the war from Steve Rogers perspective as the general of earth’s forces, Herc with a de-powered Hercules fighting against an army of villains, and Journey into Mystery with a young Loki using his mischief powers to a.) not become his older self and b.) create an Asgardian black ops team in the war and the new Alpha Flight series where the team is declared outlaws by Canada, Thunderbolts dealing with the Juggernaut, Avengers Academy most likely battling the Absorbing Man and a Spider-Girl issue. The Minis will deal with Spider-Man in a fear crazy NYC, Black Widow in Paris, Homefront featuring Speedball in Stamford where he was party to the accidental deaths of over 600 people and the Agents of Atlas going to Europe, Youth in Revolt counting about the marshalizing of former Initiative members and other young heroes from teams like the Young Allies, Fearsome Four with She-Hulk, Nighthawk, Frankestein’s Monster, Howard the Duck versus the Man-Thing, a Dracula one-shot, and a Deadpool mini and a digital mini about the Worthy.

So from that here are my picks after the Red Skull, Absorbing Man, Juggernaut and Grey Gargoyle:

1. A Hulk Character- sure the Juggernaut has faced the Hulk, but Marvel has made it a point to make sure the Hulks are included in the Fear Itself preview images -so I would not be surprised to see a Hulk character- maybe Red She-Hulk or a Hulk supporting character like the Brood Queen as one of the chosen.
2. An X-Men Character / Mutant - again the Juggernaut is rumored to attack Utopia (man he loves islands -1st Thunderbolts, now Utopia) - but I would not be surprised to see another mutant - maybe Magneto, maybe Archangel or Gambit, maybe a villain like Exodus or a former X-Man like Forge. I’d bet a lot on one of these characters.
3. A Hickman Character : Someone from a Hickman book: FF, Secret Warriors or S.H.I.E.L.D. - the obvious list is son of Ares, Phobos- the 12 year Alex who was part of one of Nick Fury’s caterpillar teams who was recently killed by the Gorgon. I’d also wouldn’t be surprised if maybe Newton or Da Vinci from S.H.I.E.L.D. to show or even a villain from the four cities from the FF.
4. A Spider-Man villain - it would make sense even if Spidey is not one of the bigger characters in the event (Marvel has basically said that) it would still be not unsurprising to find someone like the Rhino would fit perfectly in a fear based group of villains. The Lizard as well.
5. Another Captain America villain - the prologue as Baron Zemo(though pretty pissed at Sin) and other villains in Sin’s entourage have been Crossbones (who has new powers) and a new Master Man. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them as part of the worthy.
6. An Iron Man villain - even though it seems like Iron Man like Spidey are taking a back seat to Thor, Bucky as Cap and Steve Rogers - I still would be surprised not see a villain becoming one of the Worthy.

However, Marvel has said that heroes will become seduces the by the power of the Serpent in hammers, and many have suggested characters like Bucky who once was the Winter Soldier, would be an ideal choice as well as many other powerful heroes. Also heroes like the Punisher who instills Fear or Daredevil, the man without fear would also make sense. In the end, I’m very excited for this event - while it hasn’t been a Marvel event that has been building for a while unlike many of the Bendis events, it still looks to be a very exciting event.

Comic Book Super-Hero Movies of 2011

As we begin 2011 we have a lot of Comic Book Super-Hero movies in store. There are going to be other comic book inspired and based movies, Cowboys and Aliens being one many are looking forward to, but today, I want to spend some time on the Super-Hero movies that actually come from real comic books unlike NBC’s the Cape.

Before we start our list, the Super-Hero ‘Show’ that is making headlines based both on injuries and bad reviews is Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, the Broadway play based on Spider-Man with music from half of U2. It has gotten horrible reviews, from regular theatre critics and comic critics alike, and any and all interviews with Bono, the Edge, the producers, directors, ect... all denote that they understand next to nothing about the character of Spider-Man and about comic books. They think that comics are kinda cool but don’t understand why people love them, but what they are doing only makes it cooler. Anyways, the musical is radioactive which

will be part of my next post about the comic book super-hero movies of 2012, which is a Spider-Man reboot. At the end of the day, if Glenn Beck things it was great, it probably sucked.

So to our first movie! The Green Hornet. Actually not a comic book first, but a radio serial in the same vein as the Lone Range and the Shadow. It then became a com

ic book in the 1940’s -

about a newspaper publisher, Brit Reid, who with his chauffeur who becomes his sidekick. Most famously was the television show in the 60’s which was as the same time as the Batman TV show which they cross over with. Also a famous part of it is Bruce Lee played the part of Kato. The Green Hornet has never been a favorite of mine, basically a hold over of a classic masked pulp vigilante which has been done many times (my personal favorite variation of this is the Question)- and while I hav

e not seen the new Green Hornet movie, based on the reviews and the trailers, it seems the movie tries to blend comedy with action with super-heroics. But at the end of the day, Green Hornet was always kind of a pale Batman blended with the pulp genre -and so the movie comes off as comics trying to be cool super-heroics but be funny at the same time. But Green Hornet was never a funny character- Spider-Man was for sure, someone always cracking wise. There is one on every team - the Thing, Hawkeye, Plastic Man, ect... - but making a character that isn’t supposed to be funny and trying to make him funny is a hard thing to do and I’m not sure if they did.

2nd! The Mighty Thor- Release date late May! This. Looks. Awesome. While the actor playing Thor -Chris Hemsworth - is somewhat unknown, the rest of the cast - Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, ect... is very well established. Also, with Kenneth Branagh at the helm, and from how the trailer looks, blending the mythical world of Asgard with the established movie continuity of previous Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies, and will play a part in the future Captain America and Avengers movies. It looks like it is striking the best of the real world with the world of myth - fully embracing the myth but also making it very realistic- Thor’s armor is not super-heroish but mostly viking with a touch of super-heroics. The movie gives the idea of the Norse Gods not as Gods, but extra-dimensional aliens that the myths of the Norse Gods are based upon and therefore linked but separate from the history of Earth. At the end of the day, it is a great director, look, and actors and part of Marvel’s connected movies that will be overlapping and lead to the Avengers movie. Iron Man was great, IM 2 and Incredible Hulk were, Cap(we’ll get to) and Avengers is been put in the hands of TV, movie and comic book genius Joss Whedon.

3rd! X-Men: First Class - release date early June! Yeah... This seems weird. It is an Origins movie much like

the very not-good Wolverine Origins. This seems to be the story of how Magneto and Professor X first came together to train young mutants and how they eventually split apart. It is set in the nebulous period of 1960’s-1970’s - making very obvious the parallel to the Civil Rights movement and the comparisons of Prof. X to MLK and Magneto to Malcolm X. Not

only does it seem to have the characters pictured here (it seems like Dr. Moira MacTaggert -human geneticist and Emma Frost- telepath) are part of the teaching staff with the rest of the st

udents (Beast and Mystique, seen in the ‘later’ X-Men movies -along with characters such Havok (who is supposed to Cyclops’ younger brother might maybe older in this movie) and Angel Salvadore and Darwin seems to be the class. However, Kevin Bacon as evil mutant mogul Sebastian Shaw, Oliver Platt as Mr. Sinister, immortal mutant geneticist, and other characters such demonic Azazel - the plot is very hard to discern. The big concern I have is that much like X3 it seems to have too many mutants for their own good. Sure- the early workings of the X-Men, the division of Prof. X and Magneto, the Hellfire Club as a powerful third option all seem very cool, but 2 more ‘bad guys’ plus mutants that seem out of place and just there to get certain actors or cause they seem cool is a bad idea. And while matt Vaugh, of Kick-Ass fame, is a good director, and actors who are good- word about being rushed and too many actors again seems to a big problem. and while X-Men is a Marvel Comics property, before Marvel Studios- which is doing the Avengers properties discussed before,

X-Men properties such as Wolverine, ect.. is owned by Fox and Spider-Man is owned by Sony, so they do not have the direct control that they would like about many of these properties or the directions of the movies.

4th! Green Lantern - release date late June! Many people have felt that the trailer was a.) underwhelming and b.) that the costume/uniform is too CGI’d - especially the mask. And Yes to all. But I still have faith. Sure, it’s probably

because I love the character and am excited to have a movie made! However, I faith that DC has righted the course after

Superman Returns (which really wasn’t that bad but also not great) and with Ryan Reynolds who is a good actor and director of Casino Royale and GoldenEye -two great Bond movies. However, Martin also directed movies like Zorro movies and Edge of Darkness which are mediocre at best. But I feel that much like Iron Man, the creators of the comic books like Geoff Johns and script with people who actually write comic books like Marc Guggenheim

are good signs. Plus I feel that the trailer was trying not to make the movie too sci-fi (let’s face it Iron Man wasn’t really sci-fi at all---it’s stuff people could see happening and Thor is mythology not sci-fi) for the casual fans. But yes, the costume/uniform is very CGI’d but the only real issue I have is with the mask and the fact they are showing his actual eyes - which i think fans have reacted poorly too. Hopefully they do the white pupils and make the mask actually a mask like in the comic

books.

5th! Captain America: The First Avenger- release in July! Yes a mouthful and yes the trailer is premiering during the Super Bowl. While I was not crazy about Chris Evans, the Human Torch of FF fame and a whole host of not other great movies. However, I faith in Marvel studios - even Iron Man 2 and the Incredible Hulk (reboot) were at the very least good and entertaining movies. And i feel that the idea of having it mainly in WWII - setting up the Bucky-Cap relationship, the villains of the Red Skull, Arnim Zola and others- and having it be the last movie before the Avengers movie..which makes sense since in reality the finding of Captain America is what cemented the Avengers as a team. I think th

is will be an easier read after the movie comes out!

So in the end, this year (and next year- which I will be writing about in the future) - should be a good year for comic book movies. Marvel Studios has a good and firm grip on the direction of their movies -Thor to Captain America to the Avengers and sequels after that as well as possible Black Panther and Ant-Man movies that would most likely tie in and DC -owned by Warner Brothers- seems to be serious about making good and more movies about their properties- with Johns in a lead role in developing these projects - and with the third Nolan Batman film, Snyder on Superman with Nolan producing and Green Lantern - with Flash in development and rumors of Wonder Woman, Shazam and Aquaman movies in development- the only real concern I have is with Marvel properties that aren’t being developed by Marvel Studios (DC properties only are developed by DC -their big problem with tv stuff) - for example X-Men: First Class - or the Spider-Man reboot or another Wolverine movie (though that one should be good) -or another Ghost Rider!

Superhero Cartoons

2010-2011 seems to be shaping up to be a good year from the Superhero cartoons. In 2009-2010 we had the end of 3 Marvel cartoons- 2 ok and one good. We had the end to Spectacular Spider-Man and Iron Man: the Armored Adventures as well as Wolverine and the X-Men. The two cartoons that have continued are Super-Hero Squad- a very kid friendly Marvel show including all types of Marvel characters- mostly the Avengers with occasional other characters, Batman: the Brave and the Bold- also somewhat kid-ish but still somewhat adult catered show. While I have not watched a lot of either, the one thing that has stood out, especially about the Brave and the Bold is the number of characters- especially current and diverse characters that they have used in show. Their Blue Beetle is the current one, the hispanic Jamie Reyes, their Atom is the Japanese Ryan Choi, their Firestorm is Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch, and they have used Guy Gardner - a very unused GL and representing the Ginger population.

Currently for 2011 there are two animated series out with two more to appear in the fall of 2011. The two airing at this point is Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Young Justice. The two to air is Green Lantern and Ultimate Spider-Man both hoping to capitalize on the movies to debut in the near future (more on comic book movies later).

The first, the Avengers cartoon. Awe-some. I’ve been Avengers fan since I was a kid (my father gave me his other Avengers comics and frankly I’ve been following the book since I was a kid). It in a very smart fashion, had about 10-15 micro episodes leading up to the season premier which introduced most of the main characters. The team is Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Panther. At least one if not more of the micro episodes were

about one if not more of

these characters. Since the series started two or three episodes have been really devoted to a character- those characters were

BP, Cap and Hawkeye. What also has worked for them is the blending of classic Avenger stories (the original

team coming together, the Hulk leaving and coming back, Black Panther as the orphan prince, finding Cap) as well as the more current stories (Skrull secret invasion, the Kree-Skrull war and the Raft Prison Breakout) and all the Avengers characters that they have introduced and keep introducing - Black Widow was part of Hawkeye’s storyline and Wonder Man made sense for the Masters of Evil - but Mockingbird, Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel - with many more possibly coming. This is very similar to Wolverine and the X-Men - a great cartoon which blende

d many X-Men storylines- Magneto and Genosha, Dark Phoenix, Hellfire Club, Mr. Sinister-Apocalypse-Archangel as well as Days of the Future Past and Bishops’s future. This also went full tilt on plot and characters (but including characters for characters sake) - both of these cartoons don’t spend too much time on explaining who is who and lets the audience understand that some characters are there simply to move the plot along and those same characters which fans love to see but don’t necessarily need over explanation. So I’m very happy and very excited about one of my favorite comic books being done so well in cartoon form and really putting plot first as opposed to having 10-12 episodes about characters. I’m looking forward to the second half of the season.

Our next is Young Justice. The idea of this show is this an alternate earth which actually makes up one of the earth’s in the DC’s multiverse. This is an earth where Superman has only been around for just ten years, and the first generation of

sidekicks have come into their own. Instead of the sidekicks forming to become the Teen Titans, here the

writers have combined characters from different eras on the banner of the 3rd generation pre-Teen Titans team and given it a different spin. Here we have the 1st generation of sidekicks -the first Robin, Kid Flash and Speedy with the current Superboy

, Aqualad and Miss Martian in world where the JLA is 16 members strong ( The Big 7 of Supers, Bats, WW, Flash- Barry Allen, GL- Hal Jordan, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, with Hawkman and woman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, GL-John Stewart, Captain Atom, Red Tornado and Zatara) and Young Justice is there super hero training as well as espionage force. Batman is their general, Red Tornado is their camp counselor, Black Canary is their trainer and Captain Marvel hangs out with them. Along with possible conspiracy issues as well as different origins for Miss Martian as Martian Manhunter’s ‘niece’ and an archer character named Artemis who takes the place of Speedy when he decides not stay a ‘sidekick’ and become a hero on his own as Red Arrow. This has a lot of potential focusing on sidekicks is kid friendly but it also appeals to comic fans due to the different characters and possibilities for the show. Also promised are major shake ups and ‘deaths’ and considering in comic books we have had the deaths of Robins, Flashes, and Aqualads before it is a good possibility.

The two shows that are set to debut in the fall are, as stated before, Ultimate Spider-Man and Green Lantern. I think that excitement over another Spider-Man cartoon- even though based on the comic Ultimate Spider-Man and Brian Bendis is supposed to have a large hand in the creative process, I think with the questions over why a re-boot of the movies so soon after the last franchise and the seeming

ludicrousness of the musical

seems to have sapped out the energy

and excitement of most fans. The Green Lantern series, however, being all CGI and having the same creative minds behind the Justice League, Batman, Superman and Batman Beyond series, as well as the recent outcropping of DC original animated movies (more on those later too!) has a lot of fans excited. Also, the incorporating of the Red Lanterns from the current comics, connected to and taking advantage of the movie, but having the look of the comics and seemingly to focus on Hal Jordan and Kilowog. The questions for fans is a.) will it be connected to the animated universe of the shows I mentioned- JL, Bats, Supes and how to the GL’s of those shows - John Stewart and Kyle Rayner - may or may not play

in. And will the cartoon include earth GL’s or interact with the Young Justice series that has both John and Hal as GL’s of the JLA?

At the end of the day, it’s nice that their is a Marvel and DC show aimed more at kids and a Marvel and a DC show that are aimed at both new viewers (kids) and more ‘adult’ -and I use that term loosely - fans of the comics.

Spider-Armor?

Spider-Man has one of the best costumes ever. Ever. Over the years it has changed, most famously and in fact well done is the black and white spider costume that then became the villain/anti-hero Venom (more on him later

). Any ways over the years, Spider-Man has armored up for one reason or the other and two very recently.

The First Spider-Armor: Basically for some reason Spider-Man was hurt very badly, and off screen cobbled together some sort of armor platting. This didn’t last long for wide variety of reasons, mainly because Spider-Man (in either costume) screams

sleekness, quickness and agility, and something that looks like a spider detailed boiled plate does not.

The Electro Padding: A one time

only costume that Spidey created to face off against Electro---it actually makes sense and seems to just be a similarly colored reinforced costume against an enemy who can shoot electric bolts

at you. It

honestly makes sense, so much so it’s kinda interesting that no one has featured it since then. I guess it’s mostly cause Spider-Man usually finds villains when our

patrolling and usually just webs up his fists and hit Electro (by the way there was a great moment in the first arc of New Avengers when

Luke Cage got his fist webbed up to beat up Electro only for Electro to pass out) - but still is makes a lot of sense.

The Iron-Spider: This was part of story-line where Peter worked for Ton Stark and they designed a Iron Man

colored Spider Armor for Spidey. It borders on cool and kind weird - the colors are very not Spidey but it does say slick and

kinda pays homage to the black and white costume. However, the weird spider legs on the back are, well, weird. And all of the high tech stuff is very un-Spidey- he’s the character who has to sow is own costume back together because he’s b

arely able to make rent. It did lead up to the part of Civil War where Spidey revealed his secret i.d. to the world and then lead into ‘magically’ ret-conning his marriage to MJ. As far as powers go, it increased his strength, could go invisible, and he had m

ental control of the legs which could also fire energy bolts. (As fate would have it the armor would later used by the clone of deceased character named MVP who was given spider powers. Originally there was 3 but two have died leaving only one, calling himself the Scarlet Spider the moniker used by the original Spider-Man clone.)

The Spider-Tron: This is a recent costume change, where Peter in his new job as part of a high tech think tank,

and after receiving a beating by the new Hobgoblin, uses his resources to put together a black costume with

a lighted eyes and spider design (which can be red or green)- the only thing we know this can do is that it can go invisible. Many have suspected that it is no coincidence this is after Disney bought Tron

and did limited edition Tron covers to a bunch of Marvel books.

The New Spider-Armor: The newest to debut, no one has any idea about the armor. It seems to be some evolution of the Tron Armor, and recent Amazing Spider-Man covers seems he might join the Fantastic Four (who is due to loose

a founding member) as well go up against a new Venom who is a black-ops spy hero and a newly decked out Scorpion. It gives the allure of being sleek, but I don’t like the yellow or the metal helmet thing.

At the end of the day, I only like these armors as something that Spidey could use but shouldn’t be a permanent fixture in the book- the classic red and blue should be his main suit, with any spider armor being something he can use if needed.