Vaughan on Anonymity

This passage from the latest story arc of Brian K. Vaughan's Ex Machina, one of my favorite comics, resonated for me based on some of the dialogue we've had about anonymous web posting. New York City Mayor Mitchell Hundred, a former superhero, has decided not to fight a post-9/11 KKK demonstration planned in Central Park. Depuy Mayor Wylie argues the decision. Warning: adult language.



Wylie: You're honestly letting those monsters come here? In their fucking masks? Do you have any idea what the op-eds are going to say?

Hundred (reading from a piece of paper): "Anonymity is a shield from the tyrrany of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the bill of rights: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation at the hand of an intolerant society."

Wylie: What the hell is that?

Hundred: Something I carried with me back in my Great Machine days. It's from an old Supreme Court case that said you don't have to sign your name when attacking a politician. I used to think it also justified me wearing a disguise while I lamely attempted to fight crime.

Wylie: What does that have to do with those bigots? You were a hero!

Hundred: No, I was an idiot. I rationalized hiding my identity as a way to protect the people I loved... but deep down, I was just embarrassed by my own incompetence. If you want to talk unpopular individuals living in intolerant societies, look at Martin Luther King. Did he ever wear a fucking disguise? He risked his career, his family, his life, because he knew that Americans don't give a shit about people who aren't brave enough to stand behind their opinions. So yeah, let's give the Klan the right to put on their stupid dunce caps and hide their hayseed mugs. Let's give spoiled anarchist kids the right to cover their faces with bandanas so mommy and daddy won't recognize them on CNN. Let's give the extremist assholes who protest the peace negotiations outside the UN the right to cower behind their keffiyehs. Anonymity is the fastest, most efficient way to let the rest of us know that you and your beliefs are worthless.

In brief...

A bunch of small things, none of which require a full blog entry.

G minus G.

I'm pretty sure Garfield Minus Garfield isn't very funny to me any more. There are too many moments that I recognize from my own life. Poor bipolar Jon. Maybe I'll get to a point when I can laugh my fool ass off at it again, but for now it's too close to a somewhat painful home.

Arena Football.

As I type this, the Philadelphia Soul (my team now that my old team went out of business) is leading the San Jose Saber Cats 44-27 in Arena Bowl XXII. If you're a sports fan and you've never been to an Arena League game, I highly recommend it. It's high-speed, high-scoring, high-skill, rock and roll football. I was in the house when the Albany Firebirds won the Arena Bowl in 2000, and it was one of the best sports experiences of my life. As a bonus, the Arena Bowl is in New Orleans this year.

Now it's 46-27. The Soul have "PHL" in big letters on the fronts of their jerseys.

The Dark Knight.

Overall, Dark Knight is magnificent. Go see it; it's an Iron Man / Spider-Man 2 / X-Men 2 level superhero movie. Heath Ledger is more amazing than you've heard he is.

No big spoilers here, but I had a couple significant beefs with the film. 1) There was no effort whatsoever to make Gotham not look like Chicago. Too many exteriors of the city features wide-open boulevards in a city that had been clearly designed in the previous film as cramped and claustrophobic--you know, like Gotham City. 2) The movie is about 20 minutes too long, in my humble opinion. In retrospect, the subplot with the Asian gangster ended up having much less of an impact on the story than it looked like it was going to, and could have been seriously compressed. Something needed to go; my attention was getting tired in the final act, and a good screenplay trim would have taken care of it.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

This is a love it or hate it movie. I loved it. It looks like all of the cool stuff from Pan's Labyrinth all the time. The first time I saw it I thought the story was thin; the second time I changed my mind. The story isn't thin, the visuals are so dominating that everything else is thin by comparison. Even if you hate the story and the characters, it's just beautiful to watch, and the most delightfully imaginative movie I've seen since The Fellowship of the Ring.

Getting my first manicure and pedicure

was awesome. I will do it again. I probably won't get color on my toenails again unless I go with James Bond.

I would kill James Bond

for his place in Hell's Kitchen. Kill him dead.

James Ricks

came to see Henry IV, Part 2 last night. I was surprised by how thrilled I was to see him. You go, James Ricks. You are awesome. I hope my Hamlet cast and his Richard III cast can find a way to hang together. With those two scripts, we're going to need to lighten things up after rehearsal. It's going to be a great fall for Shakespearean tragedy in Richmond.

Wall-e

I can't believe I still haven't seen it. Liz is going to kick my ass.

Iron Man Trailer Is UP!

http://www.ironmanmovie.com/

Dude.

Seriously.



EDIT: I just watched it a second time and it almost made me cry with its pure awesomeness.

Iron Man Movie Updates

New main page from the official Iron Man movie site. And a new image.

From Marvel.com's Iron Man movie site, a shot of the cast.


Left to right: Terence Howard as James Rhodes, Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. (See, you can tell that Stane is evil by the way he's steepling his fingers. Evil fingers.)


Reportedly also in the cast are Hillary Swank as an unknown character and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Ultimates fans, go crazy. I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity to say that this is a hell of a cast for a comic book movie. You'd expect these names for a gritty crime thriller or period piece or something.


Marvel's site also has a really fun conversation between Downey and director Jon Favreau.


I am so jazzed about this that I'm adding an "Iron Man" label to my blog.

Cool Iron Man Pic by Ron Lim

From www.boblayton.com. This is the post-Silver Centurion armor, my favorite design ever.

Memorial Day Sale at Velocity Comics!

Re-posted from Velocity Comics' email nesletter. Sounds like Monday is a great day to buy comics! I'm gonna dig me out a bunch of old Iron Man back issues!

Keep some time open on Memorial Day (Monday 5/28), we're having a big blowout sale! Opening at 10AM, closing early at 4PM, here's what's going on:

10AM-12Noon: Early bird blowout! All items off the rack a whopping 30% off! (items on hold retain price)

12Noon-2PM: Great savings persist! 20% off all rack items!

2PM-4PM: There's still time! 10% off all rack items.

ALL DAY LONG: All back issues in the boxes $1.00 each! *Pricier books (less than $25.00) will follow the hour-to-hour savings! *All discounted manga in back section knocked down to $1.00 per book! *Probably more sale stuff will pop up!

Please repost this if you're inclined, we're trying to get the word out!

Thanks,

PKG

Velocity Comics

"Iron Man" Teaser Poster

Yeah, apparently this is old news, as in July 2006 old, but I didn't find it until yesterday. And I like to share.

Iron Man Revealed!

For a few months now, we've known about the ridiculously appropriate casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man. Who else but Downey to play a neurotic, smarmy, sex-addicted, alcoholic, obsessive billionaire genius? Tony Stark is my favorite superhero because he can so easily turn unlikeable, and Downey is the perfect actor for the part.

Now (thanks to Jeff Cole, who sent me the links) we have images of the armor being used in the movie, and it's totally megacool. Check it:

This is the Mark I armor, the first design. In the comics, it was built out of junk and spare parts to keep Tony's injured heart beating and help him escape a Vietnamese military camp. I'm surprised at how faithful this design is to the original comic.


This is the Mark III design, the current model, and the one we should be seeing the most of in the film. It's nearly identical to the suit he's wearing in continuity today.

I am so very pleased.

On Captain America's Death and the State of the Marvel Union

It seems Steve Rogers really is dead as of Captain America #25. I had hopes that it was all a ruse, but Civil War: the Confession pretty much wrapped up that loose end for me.

While I don't for a second believe this is a permanent thing, it's ironic that Marvel has brought back the un-resurrectables, Gwen Stacy and Bucky Barnes (very poorly and surprisingly well, respectively), in recent years only to have the ubiquitous Captain America killed so suddenly. If there was any doubt that Disassembled, House of M and Civil War changed everything in the Marvel Universe, it's gone now.

Cap's dead. Tony Stark is in charge of SHIELD and commands every registered superhero in America. The Avengers are nationwide. Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the rest of Cap's hand-picked "New" Avengers are on the run. There are now only 198 mutants in the world.

Complain about Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada all you want, but as a writer I know what makes for good storytelling: high stakes. The Marvel Universe has a level of urgency and uncertainty now that it hasn't seen, well, ever really. In some ways, it's starting to resemble the WildStorm universe a bit, which I wholeheartedly approve of.

I still have suspicions that Steve Rogers is going to be somehow revived, and that he will take Tony Stark's place as Iron Man. This little gem of an image has been floating around the web for a few weeks...

The Andrew Hamm:PMRM Blog Chooses a Candidate!

Those who followed this blog over the past year know, of course, that I'm a fairly politically engaged person. The more the campaigns begin, the more disgusted I am by the idealogical idolators on both sides. To quote Homer Simpson: "How many times do I have to tell you: Democracy doesn't work!"

Having decided that General Zod may be a bit extreme for me to back, I'm going slightly more moderate with my support for... Doctor Doom.



Far from being a Beltway insider, Doctor Doom isn't even American; he's an evil dictator from Latveria, a fictional country in central Europe. This is just the kind of fresh insight we need in Washington as America moves into a new phase of technological world influence.

I'm convinced that Victor von Doom is the man America needs, and my wholehearted support of his candidacy has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that one of his robots is in my office right now with orders to vaporise my spleen if I write anything other than wholehearted support.

Vote Doom in 2008! Doctor Doom for America!

Andrew's Top Ten Superhero Movies

I've been geeking it out bigtime lately, with the December releases of Superman Returns and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut inspiring quite a lot of comic movie viewing. I thought "Why not create a pompous and self-satisfying list of Superhero Movies?" So here it is. This is my Top Ten, and it does not purport to be anything deeper than that. So read, enjoy, and discuss.

Here were my rules: the movies in question needed to be either based on comic books, have comic books based on them, or be unquestionably comic-inspired. Note that I haven't yet seen V for Vendetta, though it's sitting on my DVD shelf (thanks, Ichabod).

10. Darkman. Sam Raimi kicks off the list with this masterful, over-the-top Liam Neeson vehicle. Yes, long before Kinsey and Schindler's List, Neeson played Doctor Peyton Westlake, whose face and feelings were stolen by evil gangsters. Unable to feel pain, fueled by adrenaline, and prone to serious furniture-chewing, Darkman followed the original Batman film, faring much better than Judge Dredd in trying to establish a new superhero franchise (two made-for-cable movies starring The Mummy's Arnold Vosloo followed). Awesome visuals, a great new superhero character, Larry Drake and Frances McDormand, and one of the great chase scenes of all time (a helicopter chased by a guy swinging from a rope behind it). But it's Neeson's unashamed super-overacting that makes this film work; a masterpiece of melodramatic voice-acting necessitated by a series of face-obscuring masks. Take that, Shatner! If you're a fan of Spider-Man, see this one as soon as you can; it presages director Raimi's best mainstream work.

9. The Incredibles. Pixar's animated classic was a massive Fantastic Four ripoff, there's no doubt about it, but it's such a great film that I can't find it in my heart to take offense. How this film can be so family-friendly while simultaneously sophisticated is a marvel, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; it's directed by Brad Bird, who directed The Iron Giant, one of animation's best films ever. Believe it or not, The Incredibles covers more than a few of the same issues as adult works like Watchmen, Kingdom Come, and Squadron Supreme, and serves as a fairly good primer to the world of reading modern comics. All four principals are excellently developed, as is the villain, and Edna Mode (voiced by Bird) is one of my favorite film characters ever. The voice acting is topnotch, and Bird's combination of retro design and storytelling is part of what makes him one of the best directors in the history of animated film.

8. Daredevil: the Director's Cut. I think Karen and I were the only two people who even liked this film. Not liked, loved. I'm no big Ben Affleck fan, but I found this film to be superb, full of drama and pathos, and loaded with great acting performances. I love the visual style of the film, I love the score to pieces, and the representation of Daredevil's sonar-sense is one of my favorite movie effects of all time. Affleck's performance is more than credible, and Colin Farrell personifies Bullseye's brilliant mania. Jennifer Garner is strong as Elektra (at least this time). The soundtrack rocks (introducing us all to Evanescence) and is perfectly in line with the tone of the movie. The director's cut DVD is superior to the theatrical release, returning a cut subplot, fleshing out some characters, and making Elektra a bit less of a ho. It's possible that my love for this film is due to my having very limited knowledge of Daredevil; I've read very little.

7. Hellboy. Guillermo Del Toro is quite the Hollywood hero right now with Pan's Labyrinth, but I could have told you he's a visual storytelling genius years ago. There are visuals in this movie that will haunt me for the rest of my life; Kroenen in particular is one of the most viscerally disturbing things I've ever seen. Del Toro gets Hellboy's lunchpail approach to paranormal investigation just right; casting Ron Perlman as H.B. is nothing short of genius (Bruce Campbell would have been pretty funny, though). The movie deviates substantially from Mignola's comic, and answers questions Mignola still hasn't addressed in print form, but it was all done with his input, so it's all good. Del Toro has a great grasp on the look and feel of Hellboy, and it all comes out as a hell of a fun movie, the perfect mix of goofy and gory, frightening and fantastic. Also, anything with Jeffrey Tambor in it rules.

6. Spider-Man. I'm a huge fan of James Cameron, and was crushed when he gave up on this project, but now it's impossible to imagine anyone but Sam Raimi directing this. The Spider-Man franchise has become the unquestioned gold standard for modern superhero movies. Raimi builds the entire film around the inextricable links between the Peter Parker's personal life and hero life, just as Sten Lee did the original comic and Brian Michael Bendis does with Ultimate Spider-Man. Raimi gets it, the central issue that the Spider-Man mythos is much more about the man than the mask. We can all identify with Peter Parker, the awkward lonely outsider who feels unworthy to even ask the girl he desperately loves out on a date. Spider-Man makes the viewers feel like they should be heroes in their own lives, that power of any kind carries responsibility to use it for the betterment of all. The stupid plastic Green Goblin mask is more than compensated for by the upside-down-kiss-in-the-rain scene.

5. Batman Begins. Finally, we have a director who wants to tell a Batman story, not manipulate Batman into looking like something they want (Bat-Scissorhands? Rubber nipples? Come on, guys.). Finally, we have a Batman who has the physical and emotional presence to be plausible as Batman and Bruce Wayne, something neither Keaton, Kilmer, or Clooney could do. And finally, we have a story that understands the central truth of Batman, that (unlike Spidey) Batman is his real identity and Bruce Wayne is the mask. Christopher Nolan weaves a powerful origin story, one that justifies Batman's superhuman skill and drive while leaving very human vulnerabilities. Christian Bale is the perfect Batman, strong and confident, stoic and devilishly determined, but still a badly damaged child at his core. Using character templates from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One is a stroke of genius. Batman is DC's antihero hero, and he should be closer to the Punisher than Captain America. When Batman roars, "Do I look like a cop?" we think he just might let Flass drop, and we're a bit disturbed by how much we wanted him to. Perfect.

4. The Matrix. Here's the choice that you're going to scream about. Make no mistake, The Matrix is the most influential sci-fi movie since Star Wars. Look at nearly every single action movie since its 1999 release (including many of the films on this list) and you will see filmmakers finding ways to justify their heroes having mad martial arts skills. Look at the same movies and you'll see wire work, CGI, and camera moves taken straight from the Wachowski brothers' masterpiece. That would be enough to put The Matrix high on this list, but what makes this film stand out is the essential nature of all the whiz-bang. Like Star Wars, The Matrix is a story that would be impossible to tell effectively without every ounce of technology and choreography it used. It's that rarest of the rare: massive effects technology being used purely in service to story. The fact that it's whiz-bang amazing is almost secondary, or rather the effects are whiz-bang because it's a whiz-bang effects story. The characters and the acting are flat in places, though I want to go on record as saying I really like Keanu Revves' performance in all three films. But the film's cyberspace-superhero imagery is like nothing before, and no one has come close since.

3. X-Men 2. Bryan Singer channels Chris Claremont, then leaves us hanging. Not that I didn't love Superman Returns, but I sure would have liked to see Singer's Phoenix story, especially since the X-Men 3 Phoenix effect had absolutely no visual similarity to the one established in this film. But this story is awesome, epic and complex, full of twists and turns and unlikely alliances, and loaded with great action (something Singer isn't always great at). Singer knows something a lot of other comic book movie-makers don't: how to tell a story with a lot of characters. While Wolverine is unequivocally the star of all three X-Men films, the second has interesting storylines for all of the primary and secondary characters. And he even has the sense to get Cyclops, a chronically static character since the 1960s, out of the way for a while.

2. Superman: the Movie. Richard Donner's messianic ode set the stage for all the other films on this list. Come on, Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder? A complete delight, and a very tough act for Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth to follow. Bosworth, in particular, was just doomed from the start. Some aspects of it look quite dated today--not the effects; I'm completely captivated by the flying, the heat vision, and the Kryptonian technology. But the cinematography and dialogue style are very 1977. All of this film's failures, and there are more than a few, are more than canceled out by John Williams' score, perhaps the most perfect fit in movie history. Only Superman could have that theme. The Salkinds have a long and storied history of creating B-movies, and they pretty much destroyed this franchise immediately after beginning it, but what a beginning.

1. Spider-Man 2. Simply the best of the best, just a magnificent film in every way imaginable. Sam Raimi appears on this list three times, and just seems to get better with every film. But this is the superhero magnum opus to date. No comics character has ever had his dual identities so dramatically tied together, and no superhero movie has ever dealt so touchingly with the personal consequences of having superpowers. As great as the first Spider-Man film is, this one is a huge step forward in every way, from supercool action to the delicate simplicity of a girl-next-door crush. Spider-Man 2 is a perfect movie. Fantastic acting from all of the leads, a great screenplay, and wonderful effects. The scene with the New York subway riders passing the unconscious Spidey back through the car is iconic, a moment of connection between the superhuman and the supremely human. Spider-Man 2 makes us look at the heroes in our lives and the hero in our own hearts.

Honorable mentions, either really good superhero films or great films that just aren't genre-specific enough:

Mystery Men. An unbelievably funny movie, only missing the list because I just couldn't bump anything. Thanks to Chris Anthony of Shakespeare Festival L.A. for reminding me of this gem.

Robocop. Better than a lot of the movies on this list, but more pure sci-fi than superhero film. Boy, Paul Verhoeven would be a great director for The Punisher or Deadpool.

Superman II. Both versions are great. Donner's is more pure, but I kind of miss the Lester comedy. Kneel before Zod!

Batman. Michael Keaton is just terrible casting. So, I still insist, is Jack Nicholson, who's too little Joker and too much "Just Jack."

Batman Returns. A very strong film, probably #11 or 12 on this list. Too many characters, though, and I get tired of every Tim Burton film looking and feeling like every other one. (Except Big Fish and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.)

X-Men. Singer wisely treats the X-Men's story more like sci-fi and less like a comic book. He juggles all the characters far better in the second film.

X-Men 3. Phoenix is terrifying, and the action is among superhero movies' best ever. Could have used about 20 minutes more character development.

Aliens. If Ellen Ripley isn't a superhero, no one is. Game over, man.

Superman Returns. A very good movie, and a welcome return. But Superman having a child out of wedlock betrays a serious lack of character comprehension on Bryan Singer's part.

Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms. The launch of a new series of straight-to-DVD Hellboy movies bodes well for the series.

So that's-a my book. Pretty good, eh Steve?

Let the complaining and arguing begin!

The Best Thing I've Read All Year: "Pride of Baghdad"

Fans of graphic fiction, go out and get yourself Pride of Baghdad, the new graphic novel by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon. It's the most affecting piece of comic art I've read in a very long time.

Pride tells the story, based on real events, of a small group of lions who were freed from the Baghdad zoo by U.S. bombs. The four lions, unexpectedly liberated, find themselves roaming the war-torn streets of Baghdad. It is an amazing piece of work, one of those rare times in graphic fiction where writer meets artist in a perfect union, both of them combining to create a story no one else could have told nearly as well. With only cameo appearances by human characters, it is a unique piece of work, expertly creating characters that are accessible to human readers but still unmistakeably leonine in their behavior.

Please, if at all possible, buy it from a comics store, not a book store. This is one of those pieces that's going to be on "Best Graphic Novels of All Time" lists. It's also one of the only times a comic has made me cry.

Why You Should Read "Watchmen"

(I just posted this over at HCRealms, in response to the question "Why should I read Watchmen," and thought it should go here too. I haven't written about comics in a long time, after all...)

Watchmen is one of a very small handful of pieces of comic art that undeniably deserves discussion as one of the great works of 20th Century literature. Watchmen is in a very small handful of works such as Maus, The Dark Knight Returns, the Wolverine limited series, and Squadron Supreme (which deals with similar issues in a more pure-comic way) that rise above the rest.

Watchmen is that rare combination of "incredibly important" and "fun as hell to read." The only thing more awesome than reading it the first time is reading it the second time--which you will want to do the moment you turn the last page the first time.

I strongly disagree with those who suggest skipping the interstitial sections. They are essential. Watchmen shouldn't be read in one sitting; in fact, it shouldn't be read more than one chapter as a time. Read a chapter, read the interstitial material after the chapter, then take a break and do something else before moving on.

It's fun to see just how much of today's comics are essentially re-telling Watchmen over and over again. As much as I enjoy Warren Ellis, pretty much all of his pet themes come from Alan Moore, and from Watchmen in particular. Brian Michael Bendis' dialogue owes much to the conversational tone of Watchmen's un-powered superheroes. Nothing clarifies modern comic storytelling like reading Watchmen.

It's the superhero Lord of the Rings, and everything since is The Belgariad and Sword of Shanarra--pretty good books, but not exactly Tolkien.

It will change the way you look at the possibilities of what comic art can do. Watchmen is the ultimate example of how comics can do things that novels and movies can't even touch. No comic story I have ever seen mines the possibilities of comic storytelling a tenth as much as Watchmen. Every panel contributes; every word is carefully chosen; every page is essential.

It will remind you about everything you ever loved about comics. It's just effing great. Some people don't like it. I have no idea why. Watchmen is the ultimate funnybook. Drop what you're reading and start reading it now.

All Things Loud and Stupid

Man, watching NFL games on Fox is just wonderful fodder for blogs every Sunday. Heck, the commercials alone are gold. Here are a few thoughts:

1) This year, Fox is blaring the national feed commercials at least 25% louder than the game broadcast. It's making me wish my radio simulcast wasn't so far out of sync; I can't stand having to turn the volume down every time they take a commercial break. Please, Fox: have mercy on my ears.

2) I am so incredibly sick of the "Iron Man" truck commercials. Aside from the fact that I hate the song "Iron Man" (largely because it has nothing to do with Tony Stark, Iron Man, my favorite comic book character of all time), I really don't need the same commercial every break, sometimes twice.

3) The Nissan Titan Heisman trophy commercial is almost as dumb as the football robot. Aside from the moronic image of buffaloes, cowboys, Trojans, hornets, a tornado, and what I'm assuming is a dump-truck-sized bouncing buckeye assaulting Manhattan streets, the Heisman is an individual award. Show me the individual candidates charging through the streets, not emblems of their teams.

4) Put the emblems of the teams in the National Championship commercial instead of the guys in uniform climbing giant ladders into the sky to reach pointlessly toward a giant crystal football suspended in mid-air. Seriously: almost as dumb as the robot. Very very close.

5) "Army Strong" is an infinitely better slogan than "An Army of One." As my father once said, " 'An Army of One.' To hell with all the other guys."

6) Tony Siragusa is incredibly stupid and may be the single most annoying and worthless sideline reporter of all time.

7) Even if the Redskins get the rest of their team together into contender quality, the secondary is so embarassingly bad that the team stands no chance.

At 1:36 PM, the Fox feed is so messed up that the picture is squashed into the top half of the screen and the bottom half is a bunch of flashing blue/black/white digital static. I know the weather on the East Coast is really bad, but can our technology really not compensate for rain? Ooh, now it's red!

Seriously, I think the flashing screen is giving me a migraine. Maybe I'll just turn on the radio.

At 1:39, it's green.

Whoa, now it's gone entirely.