The Daily P.O.P. has a posting on the Avengers wherein he lists the original members but he forgot the Hulk. I couldn’t include the images I culled in my correctionary reply so I’m posting them here;
He also asked what my favorite Avengers team was. This one, when John Buscema started drawing it and I started haunting the spinner racks for them every month.
Superman and Batman invented the 3D printer in 1964!
Superman/Batman invent the 3D printer in 1964!
Courtesy of SHOWCASE presents World’s Finest Volume 3.
(SPOILERS! Don’t go below the symbol if you haven’t seen it!)
All the key points are there, well, most of them. Jor-el, Lara and the birth of Kal-el, Krypton (and yes, it blows up real good, for those of you that heard that it didn’t), Earth (of course), Jonathan, Martha and Clark Kent, Smallville, Metropolis, Lois Lane, Perry White, big fights, massive property damage, x-ray and heat vision. The ones that aren’t are not things I’ve ever thought of as deal breakers in a Superman movie. What’s missing from this list? Things and characters you’ve seen in every other Superman film but not this one? Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, glasses on Clark Kent (until the last scenes, that is), the split-personality relationship between Clark, Superman and Lois, the Fortress of Solitude (ice pillar palace or cliff face with giant yellow door, which, unfortunately, never made a cinematic appearance, I miss that giant yellow door and airplane marker key!) and Kryptonite. I didn’t miss them, especially Luthor and Olsen (although there was a rumor that the female intern that was trapped in the street that Perry and Steve Lombard were trying to rescue was Jenny Olsen, I didn’t stay for the credit roll since I had to pee and stop my ears from bleeding from the IMAX soundtrack.
To get this film made, and to get an audience in sufficient numbers to jump-start the DC Comics film franchise beyond periodic Batman trilogies, changes had to be made from the previous attempts and from the comics, I knew that going in, I was prepared for them and, thanks to the Internet I was aware of a lot of them years ago. Things like the suit – I accept that, the no red trunks thing, no real problem here. Perry White is black, who cares? Not me. Pete Ross is white again. (He was black in Smallville, he was created as white, blond and fit in the comics, now he’s white and fat in Man of Steel, but really, he’s a fourth tier character so he’s lucky to be in there in any form!) Therefore I was feeling pretty good about my level of acceptance of the differences between the Man of Steel with whom I grew up and the newest cinematic offering. Until the last, climactic scene of the movie. More on that later when I spoil the ending.
(This paragraph has little or nothing to do with Man of Steel so skip it if your are only interested in movie bits.) My film (TV really) Superman is and always will be George Reeves of The Adventures of Superman. I encountered that show at an impressionable age and George Reeves will always be Clark Kent/Superman in my mind. And I place Kent before Superman because I actually prefer Reeves Clark any other actor’s version. He played Kent as a hard edged investigative journalist who just happened to strip off in alleyways towards the end of each episode to justify the name of the show! The first season of that series is a great example of action, adventure, mystery and a little more terror than you would have expected in a kid’s series from the mid 50s. Each episode was like a mini serial adventure with thrills and chills galore. Then the sponsors made them tone it down and become a truly bland kid’s show. Christopher Reeve was the best actor to embody the classic comic Superman. He looked like a good Clark but I thought he went too far with the timidity. But that scene in his first film in Lois’ apartment, when Clark straightens up and let’s his voice go deep – that’s the best transition I’ve seen. But there was too much Otis/Luthor foolishness in those films for them to supplant the first season of the George Reeves TV series for me. My comic book Superman is the Curt Swan drawn version from the early 60s and 70s written by many authors and edited by Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz. Comics made for kids, but I was a kid then so it worked for me. Since then there have been many reboots and gradual revisions in the character, some of which I followed, some that were too extreme for me, nevertheless my lifetime of haunting comic shops have allowed me to be aware of them even if I didn’t read and collect them. I mention this, for those who have read this paragraph, to establish a basis for my comments on the new movie.
The production design for the Krypton scenes was unlike anything I’ve seen before. Instead of the sterile ice planet of the Richard Donner/Chris Reeve films we get an H. R. Giger look on a worn-out desolate planet with 4 winged critters as private transport. Kryptonian display devices consist of an exaggerated version of those toys made of tightly packed pins or nails that push up or down to make a fist or other things you press into them. Interesting but it makes for a dull, monochromatic planet. And it begs the question, why is the Kryptonian suit for Clark in red, yellow and blue when every other Kryptonian from Jor-el to Zod dressed in blacks, grays or browns?
The movie is not at all linear in it’s storytelling. It jumps back and forth from adult Clark to young Clark, which is fine, I found it easy to follow. But the camera work in many of the scenes is unnecessarily jerky. It sorely needed a steadicam. Perhaps Snyder did this to make a fantasy film seem more realistic but all he did was give me headache!
Henry Cavill makes an excellent Superman with a spectacular physique and a face that matches the comics better than many of his predecessors. His Clark Kent demonstrates the conflicted feelings presented by his fear of using his extraordinary abilities, instilled in him by Jonathan Kent, played by Kevin Costner. The two younger actors, Cooper Timberline and Dylan Sprayberry, who play Clark are also adept at playing the isolated, frightened boy. Amy Adams is a very good Lois Lane. (A few words here about the digital image in films these days. The image is so clear, sharp and detailed I, for one, find myself getting distracted from the movie by seeing all the pores, moles, folds and imperfections in the extreme close-ups on the actor’s faces. Laurence Fishburne’s face looks like it’s made of concrete!) All of the actors do well in their roles. Of them all I was only disappointed in Jonathan Kent and that was in the writing of the character. I thought they made him too stern and paranoid towards the eventual fate of his adopted son. That would have been mollified with a scene or two of he and Clark enjoying one another’s company.
What makes for a successful film these days are long, violent fight scenes and massive property damage. Man of Steel has those in abundance, possibly more than we saw in The Avengers. While watching the Metropolis scenes I kept thinking of the massive death toll in all those collapsed buildings. Another blog told me what was bothering me about all that implied death, in The Avengers we were shown scenes of the super heroes acting to save innocent bystanders in addition to fighting the enemy. In the Metropolis fight scenes I don’t recall seeing Superman try to save anyone. That is counter to the basic principles of the character. In the final fight scene between Superman and Zod, Superman does act to save a family but in doing that he violates another basic principle, he kills Zod, by breaking his neck. There is a precedent for this in the comics, there was a story line where Superman had to kill Zod and some other Kryptonian villains, but that was in the 90s, I believe, not my Superman. The classic Superman always finds other ways to defeat the villain rather than killing. (Of course that was when Superman, and comics in general, were a disposable, cheap entertainment medium for children. Comics today are neither, they exist as springboards for movies (if they aren’t, they want to be) and have been aimed at an adult audience for decades.)
So, not a perfect Superman film, in my considered opinion, but, I think it went less astray from the Superman of the comics than did Superman Returns several years ago. The changes in the suit for Man of Steel are more acceptable to me than than those in Superman Returns. I don’t like the killing of Zod and the lack of concern for bystanders in Man of Steel but since the killing happened in the comics I find it better than the Peeping Tom use of x-ray vision and the illegitimate son in Superman Returns.
When it comes out on DVD I’ll buy it, if only to rewatch it without having to stick my fingers in my ears during the battle scenes!
Addendum, a couple of days later;
I’ve read several reviews of the film and I’d like to pass on links to two. The first is from writer Mark Waid, the second is by Steven Padnick at the TOR Books site.
I can sympathize with both in some measure. I don’t hate the movie as Mr. Padnick does but had this film caught me at a different point in my life I would have. I’m more cynical now (if you know me you might find that hard to believe) and I realize the people behind this film were only interested in making money, and it did that. Our society has become much darker, violent and unpleasant than when I was first becoming the Superman fan that I still am. To reach the youth market these days you’ve got to be dark, destructive and willing to kill.
Now if you will excuse me I’m going to go to my bookshelves and read my SHOWCASE editions of the 60s Superman and John Byrne’s Man of Steel series.
Last weekend we went to the 2nd annual Steampunk Empire Symposium in Cincinnati OH. After enjoying ourselves last October at Pandoracon, arranged by more or less the same folks, we decided to get further involved in Steampunk.
My wife’s outfit on Friday. Pretty much the same as at Pandoracon, this was before we went shopping in the dealers room.
My Friday outfit just after shopping in the dealers room.
Our outfits Saturday, after shopping in the dealers room!
Last weekend Barbara and I went to Blue Ash, OH (a suburb of Cincinnati, OH) for the first Pandoracon. The theme was Doctor Who and Steampunk.
There was the usual SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) panel.
And there were plenty of Steampunk costumes all over the convention all weekend.
I like the weapons, made from scratch and those altered from things like Nerf guns.
And there were guests. This is Jason Carter who played Ranger Marcus Cole on Babylon 5;
This is Travis Richey, who played Inspector Spacetime on the NBC sitcom Community and is playing a “very” similar character on An Untitled Web Series About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time.
There was a Doctor Who photo shoot for all those costumed as the Doctor or other Who-related costumes.
And the Tardis was there for other photo ops. Barbara and I did a bit in the way of steampunk costuming. She created her hats from scratch, I pretty much grabbed what I thought might work out of my closet and bought some other items in the dealers room.
The Dealers Room.
And the costume contest.
And while the votes were tallied, they danced.
All in all very enjoyable. It was the first convention we’ve been to as just attendees in a long time. Next I will try and get a table to do caricatures.
The trailer for the new season of Dr. Who has hit the internet. Here’s the first look at Ben Browder’s guest appearance on the wild west episode!
John Carter has finally reached the multiplex theaters of the world to the resounding boos of the critics and, hopefully, the ka-ching of the box office cash registers. As I write this, on Sunday afternoon of the opening weekend, the IMDB site is reporting receipts of $30.6 million U.S., $101.2 million world-wide balanced against a reported cost of more than $300 million including marketing costs. (The director, Andrew Stanton, has been stating in interviews that it cost $150 million to make as opposed to the $250 million figure.) So much for the “business” facts, or rumors. I’ve been waiting (not really anxiously, because I do not believe that a book being made into a movie is the best fate for said work) to see what a film version of “A Princess of Mars” would be like for 49 years.
In 1963 I bought the first of the Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a Ballantine paperback. This was my first look at John Carter and Dejah Thoris by Robert Abbett.
Since then I’ve been buying the series again whenever a new cover artist was assigned so I’ve seen many different interpretations of the characters and the equipment of Barsoom (the inhabitants name for their planet).
One of my main concerns with this film was would I like their designs – and I did. Most important are the Green martians, the Tharks and Warhoons (tribes of Green Martians). Their choice was to go tall and lean which reflects, but doesn’t copy Michael Whelan’s visualizations, one of the best of all the Mars cover artists.
The Red Martians are described in the books as having red skin like that of Native Americans. The film has their skins as suntan red with henna tattoos which works okay considering the current fad for tattoos.
The writers, Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon, have pulled apart the first three books in the Mars series and refitted pieces into one film which worked for me. I know that there have to be changes made from page to film and all I ask of movie makers is to accurately reflect the source material. I don’t demand that everything be the same in both; it can’t and work as a film as it did as a book. Especially a book that was written in 1911!
Taylor Kitsch does a good job as John Carter, giving a convincing portrayal of a Victorian era Southern gentleman without turning it into a caricature. Lynn Colliins is a beautiful Dejah Thoris that has been given much more to do in the film than simply be a Princess to be rescued as she was in the novels.
The Earthly sequences that lead up to Carter’s transposition to Mars has been retooled and expanded from the book. There are recurring flashback scenes to Carter’s lost family on Earth that are new elements that I found a little odd as I saw them as unnecessary but my wife saw a rationale for them.
My wife and I really enjoyed the film and when it’s released on DVD I will buy it. We had to see it in 3D which I try my best to avoid but no theater in this area was showing a 2D print. I found the 3D to be a distraction in the beginning and after I got used to it I didn’t think it added anything to my enjoyment. I hope it stays in the theaters long enough to make enough cash to justify another installment.
Most years I try to photograph the Christmas tree after I get all the ornaments and lights put up and the ornaments never show up well. This year I shot them as they were laid out on a table before sticking them into the obscuring tree.
We have a very eclectic collection of ornaments from both our childhoods and comic book and Star Trek items I’ve been collecting for decades.
I started with these ceramic DC super heroes I found while working at Caveat Emptor in Bloomington, IN during the late 70s.
These are some small plastic gnomes and elves I’ve had since I was a child in the late 50s.
Long after the 70s super hero ornaments became much easier to find.
Since Hallmark started issuing the Star Trek ships we’ve been adding those, if we like the ship, we don’t have them all. Unfortunately I bought new light strings last year and the sockets no longer match the ships so they don’t light up this year.
My wife is a Marvin Martian fan and we got this tree topper when the WB stores were still open in Circle Center Mall.
Saturday, October 8th, I spent a great day at the Kokomo Comic Convention.
The Kokomo folks provide great space for the artist alley, lots of room behind the tables for banners and other displays. They also treat us very well during the course of the day with volunteers coming by regularly asking if we need anything.
This is Shawn D. Hilton, front man for the Kokomo Con. I got some photos of him off his Facebook page and used them to do this, my first zombie con sketch (actually my first zombie drawing anywhere!). (I don’t “get” zombies and their huge fan base, but other artists at cons have told me I’m missing out not drawing them.) Shawn wasn’t aware I was doing this piece but I asked him before I started how he felt about zombies. His reply was something like, “I’m fine with zombies, I love zombies.” I put the sketch into the charity auction benefiting the Kokomo Humane Society where I heard that Shawn bought it to keep it from other hands.
The guest of honor was “World Famous Cartoonist Art Baltazar.” Artie is an exclusive DC Comics artist responsible, along with Franco, “The Tiny Titans” which is a kid’s comic and wonderfully serves a market section of the comic world that I think is grossly ignored. The comics profession is jumping through all sorts of hoops with events and relaunches trying to get new readers into comics. You get new readers by starting them in comics as soon as they can ask for things! They need comics that parents can read to them. Comics that have entertaining, fun, clear drawings that the kids can enjoy even without a grownup to read to them.
This is a drawing I did as a gift to Artie in appreciation for his highly entertaining AW YEAH podcast he does with Franco and John Siuntres. Within that podcast Artie expounds on his obsession with TV talk show hostess Wendy Williams.
It took awhile for the attendees to decide they wanted my caricatures so I only had time to do these, but that allowed me time to do the drawings shown above so that’s okay.
This young man wanted to be an original X-Man with water powers.
This young lady initially wanted to be drawn as Amy Pond from Dr. Who but I told her to convey that I’d have to straighten her lovely curly hair and put her in a mini-skirt. She liked the mini-skirt idea but not the hair change so she opted for River Song, in a mini-skirt. Which I was happy to do.
This was another first, doing zombie drawings of another artist’s characters. I was positioned across the side aisle from Rodney Fyke, who has a comic book he writes and draws, “Peanut, Puddin’ n’ Jelly” which are the name of these three characters. For reasons that escape me (see zombie comment above) he wanted to see his guys as zombies and after seeing my Shawn drawing he asked me to do it. It was fun! Thanks Rodney!
The last subject was a young girl who wanted to be drawn as a cheerleader in her school colors.
Great convention Shawn & Co. I look forward to next year!
Last weekend I was at the Nashville Comic and Horror Convention.
It turned out to be more oriented toward horror, which isn’t my preferred genré so I only did a few paid drawings.
I did a couple of character sketches while I watched zombies shuffle past my table.
Silver Aged 