Achtung Baby!

Japanese Culture and Nabokov meet the DC Universe

from the FINAL CRISIS: SKETCHBOOK

Of course Grant Morrison would create a character called "Shy Crazy Lolita Canary" who is part of "Japan's number one pop culture heroes, the Super Young Team" (Final Crisis #2). Nabokov via Japanese Culture say hello to the DC Universe.

Extinction

The progress of an artist is continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.
T.S. Eliot

+ X-Men Reload: Remember When...?
+ E is for Extinction
+ Living Colour - Cult Of Personality (live)

(secret) Invasion

+Eisley: Invasion (live in Austin, TX, 4/2/08)
+ Eisley: Blackened Crown (live in Austin, TX, 4/2/08)
+ The Skrulls Take Manhattan
+ What is Secret Invasion?

Wylie Maercklein

"I, Kal-El of Krypton, being of sound mind...."

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #10

"Grant Morrison stories have a way of leaving your mind shattered in pieces. Everything he’s done in this series has been a fabulous trip down memory lane of what makes Superman, well, super. So what Superman does in this issue, knowing he is dying will… well, blow your mind."
+ PopCultureShock

"It should come as no surprise that All-Star Superman #10 is an incredible read; after all, every erratically released installment of the series has proven stellar in its own unique way. But seriously, this is starting to get ridiculous."
+ IGN

"Much like the rest of this series, this issue shows off the greatness and the scientist that is Superman"
+ Weekly Comic Book Review

"Grant Morrison sums up the entire Lois Lane/Superman relationship in a single page"
+ Kevin Reviews His Weekly Singles #02

Smile! Why So Serious?

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION comes out tomorrow.

Director Christopher Nolan has mentioned that The Killing Joke will serve as an influence for the version of the Joker that will appear in The Dark Knight. The late Heath Ledger, who will appear in the film as the Joker, stated in an interview that he was given a copy of The Killing Joke as reference for the role.[via]

+ The Origin of The Joker
+ Daily P.O.P. "Be sure to check it out and see why it is looked upon as the definitive Joker story and one of the most important Batman stories of the last 25 years… wait… it’s been 20 years!?"
+ Bob Dylan: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry - alternate take

/a tuesday miscellany/

/ J. Wood: The Constant & Non-Local Brain Games (icon via)

/ Are Lost's New Time-Travel Physics Junk Science? Maybe Not..

/ The Constant is now DarkUFO readers` favorite episode..

/ SXSW 2008 filtered by your taste: the SXSW Group page @ Last.fm

/ There's a SXSW Baby iphone version. I'm looking for anything SXSW & iphone related. Share a link, please.

/ Austin Stateman's SXSW 2008 page

/ SXSW Breakout App of 2008: What Will it Be?

/ FABLES: 1,001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL comes out in paperback this week.

/ Members of Arcade Fire performing "A Change Is Gonna Come" at a Barrack Obama Rally in Ohio

/ Going global with Mario Kart Wii

/ Super Smash Bros. Brawl  -  Opening Cinematic

/ Heroes Video Podcast Series

/ Lego Batman Trailer

/ Kirby: King of Comics!

/ JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER SPECIAL comes out tomorrow. JL: New Frontier (Dafna's review), Comics Worth Reading Review ( "There must be crazier things to do than trying to adapt a critically acclaimed — as well as beloved — 400+ page graphic novel into a 75-minute animated film, but I can’t think of any. But that’s exactly what has been done with  Justice League: The New Frontier.." )

/ Unitard Meditations/American Apparel

/ DC Comics is proud to present 30 Essential Graphic Novels

/ Dave McKean Graveyard Book cover sketches in - above, the one liked

/ Roy Orbison - She's a Mystery to Me

/ Elbow - Grounds For Divorce on Jonathan Ross

Marvel + NYC

iFanboy Episode 59 - Super Cities: "with the trusty Marvel Comics Guide to New York City in tow, iFanboy takes to the streets to visit the famous Marvel Comics landmarks of New York City."

Being that I rode the Staten Island Ferry quite a bit last year, this show caught my attention.

+ Cat Power: New York, New York @ Later... with Jools Holland

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns & 1986

Vowing upon his parent's death to rid the city of the criminal element, the Batman has,
over the years, fought crime in its many macabre forms ...
For the last ten years no one has seen or heard from him ...
That is, until now ...

from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, published by DC Comics from February to June 1986.

Curiosities of the year when this series came out......

// February 21 - Nintendo releases the Famicom Disk System in Japan.

// Some Billboard #1 hits

How Will I Know - Whitney Houston
These Dreams - Heart
Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
Kiss - Prince
Addicted to Love - Robert Palmer
Live to Tell - Madonna

// Top grossing films

   1. Top Gun
   2. Crocodile Dundee
   3. Platoon
   4. The Karate Kid, Part II 
   5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

// Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

// THE BOURNE SUPREMACY was a bestseller.

// 1986 Prices - Gas: $0.93/gal, Stamps:$0.22/ea

+ Comic Books as Literature: The Dark Knight Returns

+ Whoa, someone who actually liked DK2.

+ For those who don't know: Frank Miller is still writing Batman Comics ( to be more precise "The God Damned Batman!"). With covers like this one.

 

Sources: Wikipedia 1986, Time Magazine, Billboard.

Videogames vs Comic Books

+ Is the Cultural Trajectory of Videogames Doomed to Parallel That of Comic Books?

You and me see how we are

Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

+ Oasis - Talk Tonight - Electric Version

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio

"Girls are not a game. Not one that you can win."
Y: THE LAST MAN #60

[ Gavin Friday - The Last Song I'll Ever Sing ]

+ GOOD-BYE TO Y : BRIAN K VAUGHAN, 1 - 2
+ GOOD-BYE TO Y: PIA GUERRA
+ Caruso talks Y: The Last Man trilogy
+ Brian K. Vaughan talks 'Lost'

Today I realized that all three comic book series whose endings I've really lamented, "Sandman", "Preacher" and now "Y: The Last Man", were all published by Vertigo.

[ Hold On To Your Friends ]

[ Morrissey - Hold On To Your Friends (live) ]

+ "DC: New Frontier" Hi-Res Front/Back DVD Art: "I'm not going to lie, there's something extremely gratifying in seeing Wonder Woman forefront and center, without her bust or ass being accentuated to draw in nerd dollars."

King Of The Castle

Of course Brian K. Vaughan would write the best "Lost - Missing Pieces" (so far).

+ The Police - King Of Pain (live)

Sympathy for Daredevil

+ Daredevil Omnibus Companion Gets Over 100 Extra Pages!
+ The List: DD
[  Sandra Bernhard: Sympathy For The Devil  ]

Lucifer Morningstar was a Bad Angel

I move from dreamer to dreamer, from dream to dream, hunting for what I need. Slipping and sliding and flickering through dreams; and the dreamers will wake and wonder why this dream seemed different, wonder how real their lives can truly be.
SANDMAN #22

[ Rufus Wainwright: Evil Angel ]

When I was fifteen I was looking through half priced comics at an old (mysterious in a Stephen King sort of way) bookstore when I found and bought the issue seen here. Having been brought up in a religious home I was freaked out by having a comic with Satan himself. Never mind the daemons doing it and other terrors contained within. So I had to hide it. I figured, when I'm older maybe this story will make sense and back I went to X-Men and Batman comics. No more of these "Suggested for Mature Readers" comics for me since I was afraid of getting in trouble for having them. This meant that for a few years I had no idea how this story began or how it ended. My resolution to wait until I was older didn't last long because I was fascinated by Dream, Death and the whole family and when I was on a vacation trip ( a year later and away from adult supervision) I bought the newest issue I could find ( part 1 of the "Brief Lives" storyline) and started reading it monthly. And the rest is history. The rest being me insisting that my two favorite High School teachers would read and recognize how good Sandman was. I don't think I got them to read Sandman but I did get Mrs. Hotard to read "The Dark Knight Returns". A great victory in my eyes. One day she's teaching us "The Stranger", the next I'm teaching her about Frank Miller's brilliant Post-Modern Regan Era Anxiety filtering of the myth of Batman.

Powells:"The first book I read was Season of Mists, which remains my favorite for reasons both sentimental and aesthetic. Kwitney notes that this is one of the more popular volumes, largely for its accessible and compelling storyline. This is also the first story in which the Endless appear in their entirety, and the first time Morpheus begins to regret the decisions he has made in the past. Confronted with his own cruelty, Morpheus journeys to Hell to free the lover he'd confined there, only to be handed the key to the realm by Lucifer, who has decided to retire. "

"Would the Lord of hell destroy his realm? Would the Lord of hell ever free the souls held in torment? Would the Lord of hell expel the never-born? Would the Lord of hell abandon the war with heaven?"

"The Lord of hell will do what he damn well likes."
SANDMAN #23

[ Booth And The Bad Angel: Dance Of The Bad Angels ]

Previously....... [ Absolutely ]

+ Dave McKean Links

Black Dress

from 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso

[ Depeche Mode - Dressed In Black ]
[ Gavin Friday - Little Black Dress ]

Kissing My Love

Art: Will Eisner

[ Fiona Apple: Kissing My Love (live) ]

+ Screening at the Austin Film Festival this Friday and Sunday:  Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist

Batman Beats Wolverine

+ WWC: Pictures from the floor

+ R.E.M. | Academy Fight Song
+ Flaming Lips | Fight Test
+ Minus the Bear | Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!

Amused by...A Miscellany

// Eisley - Invasion Video

// Tales of Earthsea

+ Trailer

[ Tamiya Terashima - Ihen ~ Ryuu - from Gedo Senki (Tales From Earthsea) Original Soundtrack ]

I was a little disappointed because the film is a little slow and there weren't enough dragons and magic to my liking. Still, even a disappointing Studio Ghibli film is better than half the stuff out there.

 "Licensing problems are in the way of a North American release of Gedo Senki, with the Sci-Fi Channel, which released the miniseries Legend of Earthsea in 2004, currently holding the rights to the property. Under the current situation, the film cannot be released earlier than 2009, when Sci-Fi's rights expire" { source }

// Broken English

+ Trailer
+ 'Broken English' Unscripted - Parker Posey and Drea De Matteo

I'm going to see this next week.

[ Tegan & Sara vs. Mylo - Walking with a Ghost in Paris ]

// Ninja Gaiden Sigma

+ Trailer
Chapter 2 is visually stunning.

// Xbox 360 Achievements

"Wait around at the beginning of the game on the couch with Jenny. After you make out and wait a few seconds, the achievement will unlock, you can then get up and leave." /via

"Teabagger achievement" This is a viral achievement. You must kill and tea-bag someone who already has this achievement. Tea-bagging is standing on their face and pressing the left-thumbstick(crouch) thus making the ball-to-face connection. Repeat as desired for massive damage to the teabagged player's ego. Try not to get killed whilst teabagging as this will invetably lead to a fierce teabagging retaliation. The devs started with this achievement, so that's how the fever got started. /via

// Comics

+ All-Star Batgirl

+ BATMAN #666, "Numbers of the Beast."

+ Rumor: Heroes Game To Be Unveiled at Comic-Con

+ Bring It Home

+  BIG-SCREEN WATCHMEN's FIRST CASTINGS
+  ‘Stardust’ Sword-Fighting Clip
+  First Look: ‘Beowulf’

Flash Shoes

+ dc comics x a bathing ape bapestas released

America + Robot

+ NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS
+ The Rude Awakening of Optimus Prime never gets old

..the Hero....

"The Villain is the Hero in his own story" - JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10

Foo Fighters - My Hero (live)

Tina Turner -  We don't need another Hero (live)

+ 50th Anniversary Countdown: "The Legion was the very first super-powered super-team of the Silver Age, debuting in April 1958. It predates the Justice League of America (1960), the Avengers (1961), the Fantastic Four (1961), and the X-Men (1963)..."

Agent 355 can @&$! you up

After watching "Grindhouse" I just want to throw it out there: For the "Y The Last Man" Movie - Tracie Thoms for the role of Agent 355 would be a great idea.

"Agent 355 is Yorick's intelligent, tough-as-nails bodyguard that works for a mysterious US government agency. Her real name has never been revealed."

+ Sample of Agent 355 at work in the comics

+ Tracie Thoms & Zoe Bell: Whatever-However from the "Death Proof" soundtrack.

52 #48

[ Depeche Mode - A Question Of Time (live) ]

Green Lantern # 8

+ Tom Waits - All The World Is Green  @ Song, by Toad

Milton Caniff collected

+ COMPLETE TERRY AND THE PIRATES from IDW

"Celebrating the centennial of Milton Caniff ’s birth, IDW Publishing will publish a fully authorized six-book series collecting the entirety of Caniff ’s groundbreaking newspaper adventure strip Terry and the Pirates."

Some scans from this out of print book. My local library had it when I was a kid and I made copies.

Comics, TV, Writers, etc.

Jeph Loeb used to be a producer on Lost but he moved over to Heroes. Best Comic (in my opinion): The Long Halloween.

Brian K. Vaughan writes the comics Y The Last Man and Runaways among  many others. He joined the writing staff for Lost last year. Best Comic: Ex Machina.

Joss Whedon used to do the Buffy TV show. He's taking over Brian's Runaways comic. Best Comic: The Astonishing X-men.

All 3 of them are going to write arcs of the Buffy Season 8 comic book.

Recommended Reading

+ Vertigo Makes Complete First Issue Classics Available for Free

DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING
AMERICAN VIRGIN
DMZ
PREACHER
100 BULLETS
Y: THE LAST MAN
FABLES

 

Excelsior!

+ Stan Lee turns 84

+ Stan Lee's appearance in the simspons

+ The amazing Steve Ditko

//Woman

Y: THE LAST MAN #52

[ Neneh Cherry - Woman ]

is he a Fable?

It's FABLES' first-ever special Christmas issue

+ Nick Cave - God is in the House (live) video

+ Rayman 'Xmas' trailer

[ Sexy Finger Champs - I had sex underneath the Christmas Tree ]

Lady Stardust

art: Stardust

[ David Bowie - Lady Stardust (at The Beep) ]

Preacher

I can't really put it in one sentence because although on one hand Preacher is about faith and yes it is also about, I suppose, the search for God, the search for faith and the manipulation and the abuse committed by figures in whom I suppose people have faith.
Garth Ennis



SCIFI WIRE: Mark Steven Johnson, who has just signed a deal with HBO to adapt the popular Vertigo comic Preacher into an hour-long series, told SCI FI Wire that he plans to turn each issue of the comic into a single episode, which will be as close to the original source material as possible.

+ Vertigo Preacher Library [  FREE 1st Issue! ]

+ Wikipedia: Preacher

Miller's The Spirit

[via Lying In The Gutters]

+ Thom Yorke - Street Spirit

said

Grant Morrison, obviously Capt. Jean-Luc Picard's Happier Twin

"I'd like to have them all released as a boxed set of issues that you can shuffle around and also as individual miniseries plus bookends in a sumptuous Absolute collection printed using the finest intelligent inks from Mars and Venus on paper so smooth and so sexy that one touch is like fortnight's worth of non-stop latex sex."
said Mr.Grant Morrison on the subject of his Seven Soldiers series.

"The King is basically Michael Myers with a big plastic head."
said Chepo on the subject of the Burger King Sneak King game ( Already reviewed by IGN with the headline “Sneak King Review: Call off the restraining order, I’m loving it.” )

"If Luna Darko plays 4 days every week, I will be one happy Xbox."
said my Xbox 360 on the subject of my playing habits.

Absolutely

My absolute trinity is complete.

+ Emmylou Harris - Mr. Sandman
+ La Concorde - Here Comes The Knight
+ Phantom Planet - Watching The Detectives  

Sandman [Dreams] Absolute

Tori Amos - Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (live)

I was reading this story about how the Absolute Edition of Sandman is due early at comic book stores, so I decided to check Amazon and they already have it in stock! Hot damn.

+ CrankyGeeks with special guest Neil
+ TALKING TO NEIL GAIMAN
+ Neil Gaiman's busy year / Neil Gaiman reads"The Day the Saucers Came"
+ Sandman annotations
+ First images of Absolute Sandman
+ Another book I'm looking forwards to this month is FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL

ugly balls

Found on the back of Booster Gold #16
+ Top 7 World’s Most Valuable Comic Books

Miller on This I Belive

+ Frank Miller on “This I Believe” on NPR

+ Absolute Dark Knight Review

People Magazine: The Superhero Edition

I would read People if it actually looked like this..

by Chepo

the 80's are back

Transformers: The Movie – 20th Anniversary Special Edition | Venom | TMNT| Voltron: Defender of the Universe Vol 1 |  She-Ra | Scarface: Scarred for Life | Ultimate Ghost 'N Goblins

Who asked for this? : Disney planning Adventures in Babysitting remake

effed f4

I ran into this dream casting from Wizard magazine in 1996. Zach Morris as the Human Torch? Brando as Galactus? Ha.

Dr. Doom - General Grievous style


+ Comicon Video Blogs

Technorati Profile

With cover art by the sensational...

The Escapists #2 - When James Jean and The Escapist ( yes, That one ) collide.

Things that cheered me this week

// Veronica Mars Season 1 rocked my socks off

// Lilly Allen made my car's stereo happy 
+ "Oh My God " cover

// The Venture Brothers delivered a classic episode
+ Clip from last Sunday's Episode
+ The Venture Bros.: "Hate Floats" Review
+ The Monarch's homage to Scared Straight

// Fiona performed a PERFECT live rendition of "I Know" last night at the backyard. Was that Quentin Tarantino backstage?
+ Fiona Apple, I Know (extract)  Victoria Apollo Theatre, London

// The All New Atom #1 was sprinkled with random quotes. Great first issue. Based on ideas and concepts by Grant Morrison. 

+ Dial B for Blog reviews Superman Returns

you feel like being Batman, go for it

Lewis Black on costumes - "If you wake up next tuesday and you feel like being Batman, go for it."

+ Lewis Black on harry potter camp

..the hot girl in the glasses

from the JACK OF FABLES #1 commentary found in Fables # 50

Fables # 50 is just a magical joy to read. I think it was the best issue by far. Bill Willingham and the rest of the creative team really outdid themselves with this one.

+ James Jean on the Fables 50 cover
+ Coming in October: FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL
+ Being    a    guide    to    the     various characters in Fables
+ MAGIC, MAGIC EVERYWHERE: BILL WILLINGHAM Q&A

Looking for stylish prescription
glasses? We have many styles of designer
glasses in a variety of glasses
frames. If you are seeking value, we have cheap
glasses as well at GlassesCrafters.com. 

get your Superman going on

Recommended books if you want to get your Superman fever going in anticipation of the film.

+ doctorpop review - Showcase Presents Superman - You know all those "Superman is a dick" sites with the funny covers and everything? This is the start of that period. This is wild, crazy, insane, hard to believe stuff, and the thing about it is that this isn't a greatest hits collection. This isn't a "holy wow look at all the fucked up Superman stories that got published" collection. This is a chronological, complete, non-cherry-picked collection of the stuff that came out, and man, LSD wasn't even available yet. These guys were on bennies and booze or nothing at all.

+ Return of the Boy Scout - Superman songs

Crayon Butchery

Marvel Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E #5 Crayon Butchery Variant

This comes out today. A comic book you can color yourself. If you don't like this you are clearly a communist.
 

Stewie Griffin wants to kill

+ a preview of this month's Family Guy Volume 1: 100 Ways to Kill Lois by Stewie Griffin

Miller + Dark Knight + Absolutely

I enjoyed Absolute Watchmen, but I'm going to Love Absolute Dark Knight Returns.

+ Frank Miller: I Stole From The Best!
+ Previously...[ Watching the Absolute editions ]

"Sex! Terrorism! Politics!"

+ Get Moore....For Free

+ Alan Moore + BBC

+ Natalie Raps

+ Random Fact: Any of the "100 Bullets" books would make a great movie.

"Batman kicks Al Qaeda's ass"

" Miller proudly announced the title of his next Batman book, which he will write, draw and ink. Holy Terror, Batman! is no joke. And Miller doesn't hold back on the true purpose of the book, calling it "a piece of propoganda," where 'Batman kicks al Qaeda's ass. "

+ WonderCon '06: Holy Terror, Batman!

+ FRANK MILLER VIDEO INTERVIEW ABOUT HOLY TERROR

jean hearts logan/ logan hearts jean

first thing I thought about when I saw this movie still from X3 was this old comic book cover.

"Science - it's Cruel, but it's Clever!"

+ Jack B. Quick's Amazing World of Science! by Alan Moore and Kevin Nowlan

+ Eisner Tribute - Independent Spirit

+ Why Did I Quit Comics?

"healing America by beating people up"

I just like the tag line.

+ “People get kicked. Things explode. What more do you need to know?” @
+ Cover for nextwave# 3 - " The Story: ATTENTION SCUM!! It’s a special issue of NEXTWAVE. The characters learn the values of compassion, kindness and 5-megaton nuclear weapons! KABOOOOMM!!!! Forget about compassion and kindness, NEXTWAVE #3 has dirty cops, giant deranged robots, enormous guns and schoolchildren! Pulitzer Prize, HERE WE COME!!! 32 PGS./Parental Advisor "  (marvel catalog)

neil's mirrormask on dvd

Best DVD cover of 2006? The disc will be available February 7th. 

"Absolute Sandman starts in 2006; there was no announcement of price or extras yet, but DC will be recoloring the early issues of the Sandman series to match the higher production values of the later issues, as well as touching up the lettering in some issues where reversed lettering dropped out a bit. This is part of a plan to do every Sandman story in the Absolute format. Concurrent with the publication of Absolute Sandman, DC will not be keeping the current hardcovers edition collections of the series in print." - DC News from the RRP Meeting 

+ Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere
+ Neil Gaiman's A Short Film About John Bolton

Maximum & Illustrated

The book buying wishlisting continues.. "MAXIMUM FANTASTIC FOUR". I'll probably just wait for the X-men or Spider-Man version.
+ Publishers Weekly: Mosely, Marvel Team Up To offer Maximum Fantastic Four
+ Now on paperback: Men of Tomorrow. 

Dubious Moments in Marvel History Number 10:

Watching the Absolute editions

The release of WATCHMEN: THE ABSOLUTE EDITION and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes have to be one of the worse double whammy of expensive book acquisition desires in a while

+ WATCHMEN: AN ORAL HISTORY
+ Who'd Watch These Watchmen?
+ Readers Top Rated All time 100 Novels: A close race between Lolita and Watchmen for 3rd place.
+ Coming soon: DC UNIVERSE: THE STORIES OF ALAN MOORE TP
+ Eternal Dreaming - Sandman: The Absolute Edition news...

" I heard that they are definitely doing is an Absolute Sandman. Because frankly, the first twenty odd issues of Sandman (in particular, but there’s more running through) were colored for a process that hasn’t been used for twenty years on that old paper stock. And now the paper stock is amazing, the print process is amazing and we’re still using the colors which look worse and worse with every printing. That’s not satisfactory. We’ve always known we needed to recolor the first two graphic novels and maybe the first couple issues of Dream Country. Steve Oliff took over on Sandman 19 and 20 and made it beautiful but at that point it was a computerized process. We’ve always wanted to recolor those and that I think, is incentive enough. The question is how are we going to do it and what will the Absolute Sandman be? For example, I don’t know whether the physical mechanics of book production will actually allow for a two thousand page book. A complete Sandman book would probably look like something encyclopedia sized. On the other hand, it would be a really cool object. And you could kill somebody if you hit them with it. "

two great reads

Frank Miller - ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #2

The last page of issue #1 was a promise to this great issue. The crazy nuts year two batman internal monologues vs scared as hell Robin = superb. I laughed out oud twice when reading this, so rare these days ( these things used to be called "funny books" right? ) Overwhelming feature: It was a FUN read ( I'm looking at you Bendis, you bald bastard, you think reading "Daredevil" is fun?)

Brian K. Vaughan - EX MACHINA VOL. 2: TAG

BRILLIANT!! Sometimes it reminds me of "Lost" b/c of the awesome use of flashbacks. I actually read past this book into the next storyline "Fact vs. Fiction!" which was even better. 

Kids + Comics

Kids these days....PeterDavid.net - Steve the Spider-Man fan

"Do you read Spider-Man comics?"

He looked at me oddly and said, "No."

"Why not?"

"I watch the movies," he said.  "And I play the video game.  I beat Doc Ock," he added proudly.

FF4

art: James Jean

OUCH! Yet not as bad as the truly unwatchable Elektra.

+ "dot comics" of Fantastic Four # 1
+ Doctor Doom
+ The Beat: "Both the LA Times and Wired  have lengthy stories detailing the film's torturous progress to the screen"

Fantastic Four Sell Out

The Fantastic Four, brought to you by KOOL-AID® Invisible™, Mountain Dew Code Red, X-Box, Pepsi, Arnette, Dell, Samsung, Fox, Activision, Wal-Mart, et al. Mind you, this is one still of a 123 minute movie. No telling what brand of sun screen Dr. Doom has in his office. And I thought the Batman Diet Coke commercial was bad.

"...the first origin didn't make a whole lot of sense if you looked at it too closely. Why would a scientist bring his girlfriend and her teenaged brother on an unauthorized, highly dangerous space flight? "
+ Unstable Molecules: The True Story of the Real People Who Inspired the Fantastic Four - Review, Another Review

+ Fantastic Four Monopoly Game

Batman Book Group

You've seen Batman Begins and you may be interested in reading some Batman books. Some suggestions: Year One ( a good number of the best bits of the film come from this book ) , The Long Halloween ( more on this book here ) , The Killing Joke ( could this be cultivated into a potential sequel? ) and The Dark Knight Returns (bovs!)

Other fun books: The Complete History , Cover To Cover: The Greatest Comic Book Covers of the Dark Knight. Related: Alumnus shares Batman obsession, collection with University students

+ IGN: The 25 Greatest Batman Graphic Novels
+ The History of the Modern Batman
+ Batman Sequel Rumblings Afoot
+ DVD Times - 24th October 2005 Batman Begins DVD

Just a Batman cover I like...

Previously... [ Batman Begins New Trailer ] , [ Development Hell & Batman ]

+  Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent : "Dr. Wertham does accuse Superman of being a fascist, Batman and Robin of being a homosexual fantasy of a man and a boy living together, and Wonder Woman of being just plain kinky.."