I'm posting on my own domain now, thanks to Wordpress.
http://the-view-from-the-bottom.com/
It has all my posts over there. See you there!
Thursday, August 09, 2012
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
How can DC top Marvel in the movie business? Part deux.
I'm not going to include the aforementioned Justice League movie in this article or the films that need to happen prior. Simply because I already did. Boom.
But I have been thinking about that 33 Marvel films vs 18 DC flicks bit and how those 8 or 9 flicks still wouldn't be enough to even the odds for DC. So who else has the uniqueness and characteristics for a movie/franchise?
Green Arrow is an obvious choice. He has mainstream credit via Smallville and Justice League Unlimited. Sure, that shitty Arrow show is going to tarnish that a little, but he offers up something I don't feel any other character really has in the DC stable - a life story. Oliver Queen's life can be tracked from origin to death and everything in between. Marriage, infidelity, regret, divorce illegitimate offspring, bankruptcy, fatherhood - the list is endless. As is the action. The amount of movies you could spawn from a man falling off a boat is staggering. In my opinion, more than you could ever get out Batman. This is all without even going into the epicness of Roy Harper, Mia Dearden, Connor Hawke and most importantly - Dinah Lance aka The Black Canary.
Yep, if DC has a 'James Bond' franchise in its stable. It's Oliver Queen, The Green Arrow.
The Question immediately became one of my favourite characters after his first appearance in Justice League Unlimited. I just love his cool paranoid-nutjob-eccentric charm.
The Question's real name is Vic Sage, an investigative reporter who comes across a spray/formula that disguises is face with a skin-like mask, making his face completely blank.
I can see said charm translate well into something along the lines of Chinatown come Sunset Boulevard come Sin City. You know, that classic film-noir approach with the narration and classic who-done-it story building to a massive left field conspiracy.
It could also be the live action debut of a certain Renee Montoya.
Deadman - Ghost sans love story, but with plenty more revenge. And possessing of people.
In his travels he could also meet The Spectre, Phantom Stranger or any number of the more spiritual members of the DC Universe.
Booster Gold. Self-centered, time traveling jerk. Sounds like action/comedy to me.
The guy basically travels back in time with a 25th century suit that gives him super powers to become a super hero and soak up the adulation and money. Along the way he learns what it actually means to be a hero.
Also has a robot friend. Skeets. A floating R2-D2 that you can understand.
Captain Marvel. One for the kids here.
Billy Batson is a kid who is bestowed the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury. All he has to do is say SHAZAM!
By the way, check it out -
Solomon
Hercules
Atlas
Zeus
Atlas
Mercury
Mind blown. But anyway, Captain Marvel would be a great kids movie with the occasional adult joke thrown in.
The Crimson Avenger. 1930/40's crime fighting. The only one we've been offered so far is is Captain America, which was pretty much WW2 + super hero = Sam Jackson in New York with confused Steve Rogers.
Crimson Avenger however is deeper. A tale about a newspaper publisher who attends a costume party that gets crashed by robbers (lets go with the mob though) taking advantage of the panic raised by Orson Welles famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. During the robbery, Crimson's lady friend is shot and dies in his arms. Her last words? "Qui Vindicet Ibit" The Avenger will come. He decides to avenge her death, wearing the outfit in remembrance of their final moments together.
Que angry tale of revenge vs the mob. Preferably with members of the cast of The Godfather playing members of the mob. Please.
Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Joker graphic novel is nothing short of amazing. It deserves to be adapted into a film.
I really don't think it's too soon for another Joker on screen either, but I understand if people would want to wait for this one.
But the wait would be so worth it. Imagine Scarface but with The Joker.
The Legion of Superheroes, preferably with the title just shortened to The Legion, could be DC's answer to Star Wars. Set in the 31st century, this team of teens/early 20's heroes join together to hold up the ideals of Superman.
These movies along with the 8 or 9 from the previous article would put DC on top in terms of quantity (and if made right, quality) of films.
That's all for today.
But I have been thinking about that 33 Marvel films vs 18 DC flicks bit and how those 8 or 9 flicks still wouldn't be enough to even the odds for DC. So who else has the uniqueness and characteristics for a movie/franchise?
Yep, if DC has a 'James Bond' franchise in its stable. It's Oliver Queen, The Green Arrow.
The Question's real name is Vic Sage, an investigative reporter who comes across a spray/formula that disguises is face with a skin-like mask, making his face completely blank.
I can see said charm translate well into something along the lines of Chinatown come Sunset Boulevard come Sin City. You know, that classic film-noir approach with the narration and classic who-done-it story building to a massive left field conspiracy.
It could also be the live action debut of a certain Renee Montoya.
Deadman - Ghost sans love story, but with plenty more revenge. And possessing of people.
In his travels he could also meet The Spectre, Phantom Stranger or any number of the more spiritual members of the DC Universe.
Booster Gold. Self-centered, time traveling jerk. Sounds like action/comedy to me.
The guy basically travels back in time with a 25th century suit that gives him super powers to become a super hero and soak up the adulation and money. Along the way he learns what it actually means to be a hero.
Also has a robot friend. Skeets. A floating R2-D2 that you can understand.
Billy Batson is a kid who is bestowed the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury. All he has to do is say SHAZAM!
By the way, check it out -
Solomon
Hercules
Atlas
Zeus
Atlas
Mercury
Mind blown. But anyway, Captain Marvel would be a great kids movie with the occasional adult joke thrown in.
The Crimson Avenger. 1930/40's crime fighting. The only one we've been offered so far is is Captain America, which was pretty much WW2 + super hero = Sam Jackson in New York with confused Steve Rogers.
Crimson Avenger however is deeper. A tale about a newspaper publisher who attends a costume party that gets crashed by robbers (lets go with the mob though) taking advantage of the panic raised by Orson Welles famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. During the robbery, Crimson's lady friend is shot and dies in his arms. Her last words? "Qui Vindicet Ibit" The Avenger will come. He decides to avenge her death, wearing the outfit in remembrance of their final moments together.
Que angry tale of revenge vs the mob. Preferably with members of the cast of The Godfather playing members of the mob. Please.
Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Joker graphic novel is nothing short of amazing. It deserves to be adapted into a film.
I really don't think it's too soon for another Joker on screen either, but I understand if people would want to wait for this one.
But the wait would be so worth it. Imagine Scarface but with The Joker.
The Legion of Superheroes, preferably with the title just shortened to The Legion, could be DC's answer to Star Wars. Set in the 31st century, this team of teens/early 20's heroes join together to hold up the ideals of Superman.
These movies along with the 8 or 9 from the previous article would put DC on top in terms of quantity (and if made right, quality) of films.
That's all for today.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
How can DC top Marvel in the movie business?
Batman aside, Marvel have the lion's share of success in the movie business. Of course, this hasn't always been the case, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that the comics-on-film era didn't REALLY kick off until X-Men was released in 2000 and the only major comic based films of any success were the Batman films.
But then X-Men came out and the game changed. Fortunately for Marvel, it changed for the better.
Here are the lists. Since the year 2000 right up until 2014.
By the way, I'm including movie rights owned by other companies in these lists, as I am mainly pointing out the differences in the big two comic book companies and I'm only including summer blockbuster types. Man-Thing doesn't count...
2000
X-Men
Nada.
2001
Nada for both.
2002
Blade 2Spider-Man
Road to Perdition
2003
Daredevil
X-Men 2
Hulk
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
2004
The Punisher
Spider-Man 2
Blade: Trinity
Catwoman
2005
Elektra
Fantastic Four
Batman Begins
Constantine
V for Vendetta
A History of Violence
2006
X-Men: The Last Stand
Superman Returns
2007
Ghost Rider
Spider-Man 3
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Stardust
2008
Ironman
The Incredible Hulk
Punisher: Warzone
The Dark Knight
The Spirit
2009
X-men Origins: Wolverine
Watchmen
2010
Ironman 2
Kick-Ass
The Losers
Red
Jonah Hex
2011
Thor
X-Men: First Class
Captain America
Green Lantern
2012
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
The Avengers
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Dark Knight Rises
2013
Ironman 3
The Wolverine
Thor: The Dark World
Man of Steel
2014
Captain America: The Winter SoldierThe Amazing Spider-Man 2
Guardians of the Galaxy
Nada.
Totals
33
18
Yeah. The Fucking Avengers.
Easily the best movie of the year, if not the decade. But also a major problem for DC. Why? Well, they're in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. See, everyone wants a Justice League movie but if they make one, then everyone else is just going to say it's a cheap knock-off of The Avengers.
So what's a DC to do?
Compete.
Look at Marvel's 'movieverse', mightily disappointed and say "is that the best you could do?"
Because while The Avengers kicked all sorts of ass, the build up was far from perfect.
Ironman was great, a perfect introduction to a larger world.
The Incredible Hulk was good in comparison to the Eric Bana film but a lot of that was down to Ed Norton. Looking back, it felt like obligatory chapter in the build up to The Avengers, there was no real character development. I think Hulk's niche was then found in the team environment.
Ironman 2 was its predecessor but with more Avengers build up. Again, little to no character development and the villain was essentially the same. It's pretty, but not great.
Thor, I thought, was the best of the lot. It's build up to The Avengers was very subtle, allowing perfect character development without losing it's blockbuster feel.
Captain America was OK. That's all. They wasted a good 5 minutes on that stupid song and tried to cram a character defining friendship and romance along with a series of other cameos and homages into one film. The story really would have benefited from spreading it out along two movies.
The build up is where DC can surpass Marvel in the race for cinematic superiority.
If they take what they've learned from the success of The Dark Knight Trilogy, the failures of Superman Returns and Green Lantern and the take on the willingness to experiment like Marvel's treatment of Thor, they will create the perfect film franchise.
First thing first. The villain of the piece...
It's my opinion that there is only one villain capable of making modern viewers believe that seven of the worlds finest heroes must come together to defeat him.
Darkseid.
He's big, bad, has a whole world's worth of army to bring to Earth to conquer it. He also has some mainstream exposure through Smallville and the Justice League cartoon.
The only gripe is this: isn't he just a little too similar to Thanos? What with the Boomtubes and the like?
The original roster of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen as The Flash, Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter is near perfect. Aquaman, however, could be too much of a joke to the mainstream to be considered for a project of this nature. Though the idea of Darkseid's effect on several different civilizations is intriguing.
The Justice League cartoon roster is no doubt the most known to the mainstream, swapping out Aquaman for Hawkgirl, Barry Allen for Wally West as The Flash and Hal Jordan for John Stewart as Green Lantern.
Hawkgirl is one alien too many for what the story would entail, so she's gotta go also, I think it's too soon for other Green Lanterns to be involved in movies just yet. So this roster too proves imperfect.
While this is the current roster and potentially the most relatable to our old friend AMG, it's probably the worst for the story that needs to be told. Cyborg is too unknown and the aforementioned gripes with Aquaman have to be acknowledged.
So who do we go with?
Obviously the 'Big Three.' Their inclusion was never in doubt.
Hal Jordan's Green Lantern. Purely because it's too much to be explaining different Green Lanterns and what-not while trying to orchestrate a story about global invasion and domination. Also, an established Green Lantern would be able to provide the back story to Darkseid by briefing the team.
Wally West as The Flash. No matter which incarnation of The Flash, he is always the heart and conscience of The Justice League, but while Barry Allen is a down-to-earth honest nice guy, Wally West has a quick wit, perfect for the occasional bout of comic relief.
Aquaman. While I really wanted to put Green Arrow here, it would be too Avenger-y to have an archer in the team. Aquaman, specifically an amalgamation of Arther Curry and Orin depictions, would be a daring move for DC. But with the right stewardship, it would really give Darkseid's invasion a global threat.
The Martian Manhunter. The one with the wisdom to bring the team together. He would, in a round-about fashion, represent us. An outsider, witnessing the peril in this world and recognizing the need for heroes to do something about it.
So we have the roster, we have the villain, how does DC compete with The Avengers?
Eight films. In this order.
A Flash origin film, with Barry Allen and Wally West both gaining their powers in the same incident, but with Barry Allen becoming The Flash and holding Wally West back on account of him being a teenager.
A Batman film. A reboot with a pre-established bat-family of Nightwing, Batgirl and introducing Tim Drake as Robin.
A Green Lantern sequel pitting the corps against Darkseid and losing, resulting in Hal Jordan needing to beat Darkseid to Earth.
A Wonder Woman film. Both an origin and a tie in to the Justice League film. Her villains would be the Female Furies. She would drive the Furies away from Themyscira and follow them, recognizing the world of man needs her help.
A Flash sequel depicting Barry Allen going against Darksied's minions with Wally West forcing himself into the frame as Kid Flash. Barry Allen would be killed at the end with Wally being captured.
A Batman sequel pitting the Bat-family against Desaad and Darkseid's army. The battle forces the family into hiding as Darkseid takes over the world.
A Superman film, a sequel to Man of Steel. Superman vs Darkseid. With Superman losing both physically and spiritually. At the end a mysterious green figure arrives on the conquered Earth.
The Justice League. The green figure is the Martian Manhunter. He seeks out Batman and explains that he's been watching from Mars, another victim of Darkseid's army, revealed to be the white martians. He says that individually, they can't defeat Darkseid but together, they can be the most powerful force in the universe. Manhunter and Batman find Wally, captured, holding Barry Allen's uniform. Manhunter tells him he must take up the mantle. Wally asks why. Batman says "vengeance."
Manhunter says he and Flash will locate the rest, but tells Batman he must find the Kryptonian.
Batman finds Superman. There's no action. It's like De Niro and Pacino in Heat. Batman convinces Kal-El to come back into the world to fight Darkside.
They then meet up on a bridge with Flash and Manhunter who have met up with Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Manhunter says there's one more. Aquaman turns up and they go to fight Darkseid.
Or you know, something to that effect.
But the point is it must be character driven, like The Dark Knight Trilogy but without losing focus of the action.
DC can't compete with Marvel in terms of originality and pioneering in the movie business. They've already lost that battle. The best they can hope for is to one-up everything Marvel does.
'Til next time!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Aurora
I've been trying to ignore this. But, you know, even half a world away I just can't.
It breaks my heart. Really. We live in a world where role models barely exist anymore.
Sports stars are money hungry cheating fucks who, for the most part, do nothing for the world.
Musicians we thrust into the spotlight beat their women or go about dressing like common whores.
Actors parade themselves in gossip mags, taking naked photos of themselves, again, beat their women, cheat on their husbands or wives.
Basically, true heroism, a reason to put someone on a pedestal, it barely exists anymore.
I'm not saying that they're all like that, but when you can make generalizations like that, it usually means there's enough to warrant a generalization.
All we have, more importantly, all our children have to look up to are these people on a silver screen. Wondrous beings in capes and cowls, more powerful than locomotives, capable of saving entire worlds, with the inner strength to overcome so much personal turmoil and be so incorruptibly good despite their flaws that we find ourselves wishing they were real.
Then it was tainted. Violated. By some sick fuck who watched his victims pour into a cinema for a midnight screening of one of these rare sources of hope for this world. Then he calmly walked out, grabbed some guns from his car, came back and fired.
He called himself The Joker.
To quote the good men of the greatest example of hope to be put forth, in my humble opinion, ever -
"The Joker cannot win. The world isn't beyond saving. There are good people here, people ready to believe in good. But some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
He was a coward with a gun and hope will be lost. But that's the beauty of Batman. He's a symbol that we don't have to be afraid of scum like him. He's incorruptible, everlasting. Batman has no limits, he'll come, he'll save us. Because that's what needs to happen.
People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and decide that the world doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.
The system is broken. But broken wings mend in time and the night is always darkest before the dawn.
I promise you, the dawn is coming. But if the forces of evil should rise again, to cast a shadow on the heart of this world, call him. He gave us a signal."
Please watch a movie with a hero who gives you hope tonight.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Why and how The Dark Knight Rises let me down
Uhh... so you know when I said that The Dark Knight Rises was "going to be THE movie of the year, if not the decade, if
not all time. It screams too much of awesomeness for it not to be."
Yeah, I was wrong. Way wrong.
I've seen it three times now, just to be sure. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a worthwhile viewing experience. But there were several things that just stopped it from being anything more than just that - an OK movie that let me down.
Still here? Ok. Here goes -
1. Bad characterization.
Yeah, it was pretty bad. Not broad in it's delivery though, it's not like every character was off-key, infact, majority of them weren't bad at all. But the most important three were - Bruce Wayne, Alfred and Talia Al Ghul
First off, Bruce Wayne would never give up being Batman. NEVER. Especially not because someone he loves is killed in cold blood (that of course being the reason he came to be The Dark Knight in the first place). It would just piss him off more. And The Dark Knight Returns doesn't count, it's not canon. But even then, there was still a primal urge, need and want to be Batman after he'd given it away.
Also, while ever there's crime, there's Bruce Wayne in a cape and cowl. And as Mayor Garcia states in The Dark Knight Rises "while no city is WITHOUT crime" meaning Gotham still had a criminal element for eight years. Organized or not, crime brings out the Batman.
Alfred. I can understand Alfred's hesitating to follow Bruce in his re-donning of the cape and cowl, infact, he brings up a lot of good points. But he'd never leave. It just wouldn't happen.
Talia Al Ghul is so vital to the Batman mythos. The fact that they just used her as a convenient plot twist is just disrespectful. It also stopped her from having any sort of characterization at all. And leads us to point two.
2. Bad writing.
There's a few things in this net. First off, trying to fit the two greatest love interests in The Batman story into one movie. Talia and Selina. Neither of them worked. Trying to put them both into the same movie is the combination failure, but as a result, they both failed individually too.
Let's start with Talia. First off, she was in like 10 minutes of the film all up, 15 maximum. With around 5 of them being with Bruce Wayne/Batman. How can you build a believable romance in that much time? You can't. Not possible. Believe me, I've tried. Also, how are we supposed to believe Bruce fell ass over tit for this dame when right up until literally 10 seconds before they kiss he's pining over Rachel, a love interest they built up (barely) over two films by the way, and flirting up a storm with Selina Kyle.
Selina's romance story doesn't suffer from the same time constraint as Talia, but at the same time, they don't spend enough time together for the viewer to actually believe that they'd mack a little before sneaking away to spend the rest of their life away under the guise of Bats flying off into a nuclear blast.
Secondly, continuity. Both within the film and with tying it to the whole trilogy. Ok, by within the film I mean the bit Bane takes Bruce to that prison and we endure that boring as fuck second act. Until literally a scene or two BEFORE Bruce escapes said prison, which I'm assuming is in around the same part of the world as The League of Shadows HQ, otherwise known as somewhere in Asia, someone mentions that the nuke's gonna blow in 18 hours or so. Then Bruce escapes and gets back to America. With no money. Then he manages to get into a cut-off-from-the-rest-of-the-world-by-the-military Gotham to get "back into the game." How? He had no money, so it's not like he could pay off the people guarding the one access into the city to let him by. Nor could he swim across because it's winter. Think about it.
In regards to the whole trilogy. It's one line that bugs me. In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne explains to John Blake that the idea behind Batman was that anyone could be him and that the mask was to protect the people he cared about. Now watch this -
That's right, the idea behind Batman was to be "something elemental, something terrifying" and "incorruptible, everlasting." Also, Alfred was the one who said that the persona (mask) was to protect people he cared about, namely himself, Bruce didn't really think about it either way.
Also, where's the suffering of Gotham and it's people? In No Man's Land, one of the stories The Dark Knight Rises is heavily based on, there's a heavy focus on Gotham and it's people. It's really what makes No Man's Land a great story, they are suffering and you can actually see where Batman is making things better. In the movie, it just feels like Batman's working to save some buildings and his core group of allies. The people of Gotham aren't represented at all and it just takes away from everything and makes it feel pointless.
3. Robin.
Ugh... that bit literally made me sick to the stomach.
But seriously, either you have Robin in the movie or you don't. If you do, then it's Dick Grayson. If you're continuing the series, he goes on to become Nightwing and Jason Todd takes up the mantle and gets horribly beaten to death by The Joker. Then Tim Drake.
THOSE are the only three names you associate with Robin. Why not Damian Wayne? Too much. Too many Robins, but this is a whole other story.
Back to the point. Have Robin if you want Robin, don't make him a metaphor for a hero being anyone and not needing a mask or whatever.
4. The second act.
I understand the need for it, but Christ it was boring. That's all I really have to say about it.
So that's why The Dark Knight Rises wasn't a great movie in my opinion. I know most other people love it and sure, visually it's stunning. But it deserved more. We deserved more. When I think back over the development and the making of this movie, it doesn't surprise me that it turned out this way. Why? Man Of Steel. Literally halfway through the development of The Dark Knight Rises, they announced Man Of Steel and said that its story was conceived by Goyer and Nolan while they were working on the story for The Dark Knight Rises. Now that's a sign of one of two things, either they were bored with the story of Batman and switched to something shinier OR they were stuck on the story of Batman and had to shelve it for a little while. Both are bad omens, if you aren't firing through the story to the point where it's just telling itself, then it's probably not good enough. And it shows.
That's all for now. In the next few days I'll write my ideas for where to go when they reboot Batman in a couple of years time.
Adios.
Yeah, I was wrong. Way wrong.
I've seen it three times now, just to be sure. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a worthwhile viewing experience. But there were several things that just stopped it from being anything more than just that - an OK movie that let me down.
Still here? Ok. Here goes -
1. Bad characterization.
Yeah, it was pretty bad. Not broad in it's delivery though, it's not like every character was off-key, infact, majority of them weren't bad at all. But the most important three were - Bruce Wayne, Alfred and Talia Al Ghul
First off, Bruce Wayne would never give up being Batman. NEVER. Especially not because someone he loves is killed in cold blood (that of course being the reason he came to be The Dark Knight in the first place). It would just piss him off more. And The Dark Knight Returns doesn't count, it's not canon. But even then, there was still a primal urge, need and want to be Batman after he'd given it away.
Also, while ever there's crime, there's Bruce Wayne in a cape and cowl. And as Mayor Garcia states in The Dark Knight Rises "while no city is WITHOUT crime" meaning Gotham still had a criminal element for eight years. Organized or not, crime brings out the Batman.
Alfred. I can understand Alfred's hesitating to follow Bruce in his re-donning of the cape and cowl, infact, he brings up a lot of good points. But he'd never leave. It just wouldn't happen.
Talia Al Ghul is so vital to the Batman mythos. The fact that they just used her as a convenient plot twist is just disrespectful. It also stopped her from having any sort of characterization at all. And leads us to point two.
2. Bad writing.
There's a few things in this net. First off, trying to fit the two greatest love interests in The Batman story into one movie. Talia and Selina. Neither of them worked. Trying to put them both into the same movie is the combination failure, but as a result, they both failed individually too.
Let's start with Talia. First off, she was in like 10 minutes of the film all up, 15 maximum. With around 5 of them being with Bruce Wayne/Batman. How can you build a believable romance in that much time? You can't. Not possible. Believe me, I've tried. Also, how are we supposed to believe Bruce fell ass over tit for this dame when right up until literally 10 seconds before they kiss he's pining over Rachel, a love interest they built up (barely) over two films by the way, and flirting up a storm with Selina Kyle.
Selina's romance story doesn't suffer from the same time constraint as Talia, but at the same time, they don't spend enough time together for the viewer to actually believe that they'd mack a little before sneaking away to spend the rest of their life away under the guise of Bats flying off into a nuclear blast.
Secondly, continuity. Both within the film and with tying it to the whole trilogy. Ok, by within the film I mean the bit Bane takes Bruce to that prison and we endure that boring as fuck second act. Until literally a scene or two BEFORE Bruce escapes said prison, which I'm assuming is in around the same part of the world as The League of Shadows HQ, otherwise known as somewhere in Asia, someone mentions that the nuke's gonna blow in 18 hours or so. Then Bruce escapes and gets back to America. With no money. Then he manages to get into a cut-off-from-the-rest-of-the-world-by-the-military Gotham to get "back into the game." How? He had no money, so it's not like he could pay off the people guarding the one access into the city to let him by. Nor could he swim across because it's winter. Think about it.
In regards to the whole trilogy. It's one line that bugs me. In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne explains to John Blake that the idea behind Batman was that anyone could be him and that the mask was to protect the people he cared about. Now watch this -
That's right, the idea behind Batman was to be "something elemental, something terrifying" and "incorruptible, everlasting." Also, Alfred was the one who said that the persona (mask) was to protect people he cared about, namely himself, Bruce didn't really think about it either way.
Also, where's the suffering of Gotham and it's people? In No Man's Land, one of the stories The Dark Knight Rises is heavily based on, there's a heavy focus on Gotham and it's people. It's really what makes No Man's Land a great story, they are suffering and you can actually see where Batman is making things better. In the movie, it just feels like Batman's working to save some buildings and his core group of allies. The people of Gotham aren't represented at all and it just takes away from everything and makes it feel pointless.
3. Robin.
Ugh... that bit literally made me sick to the stomach.
But seriously, either you have Robin in the movie or you don't. If you do, then it's Dick Grayson. If you're continuing the series, he goes on to become Nightwing and Jason Todd takes up the mantle and gets horribly beaten to death by The Joker. Then Tim Drake.
THOSE are the only three names you associate with Robin. Why not Damian Wayne? Too much. Too many Robins, but this is a whole other story.
Back to the point. Have Robin if you want Robin, don't make him a metaphor for a hero being anyone and not needing a mask or whatever.
4. The second act.
I understand the need for it, but Christ it was boring. That's all I really have to say about it.
So that's why The Dark Knight Rises wasn't a great movie in my opinion. I know most other people love it and sure, visually it's stunning. But it deserved more. We deserved more. When I think back over the development and the making of this movie, it doesn't surprise me that it turned out this way. Why? Man Of Steel. Literally halfway through the development of The Dark Knight Rises, they announced Man Of Steel and said that its story was conceived by Goyer and Nolan while they were working on the story for The Dark Knight Rises. Now that's a sign of one of two things, either they were bored with the story of Batman and switched to something shinier OR they were stuck on the story of Batman and had to shelve it for a little while. Both are bad omens, if you aren't firing through the story to the point where it's just telling itself, then it's probably not good enough. And it shows.
That's all for now. In the next few days I'll write my ideas for where to go when they reboot Batman in a couple of years time.
Adios.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
How to make comics more accessible to new readers
I'm going out on a limb here and saying everyone's gone out and bought a comic book, right? Right. For young kids they're a great intro to reading and the characters are good strong moral role models. But as an adult or teenager it's daunting.
Let's look at the average adult or teen who has gone to see a movie, let's say, The Amazing Spider-man, and has come out thinking -
"Fuck yes, that was awesome, I need more Spider-man in my life."
- Random Movie-Goer.
Just for the record, I'm not a big Spidey fan. No idea why, but to me he's just... meh.
But I digress, so this person comes out of the cinema thinking mentioned thoughts and decides to go pick up a Spiderman comic. He or she picks up Ultimate Comics: Spider-man because he or she heard somewhere that all the current Marvel movies were more or less based on this line of books. Then, he or she get's it home and opens it and reads all about... Miles Morales? Huh? He or she flips through at a frantic pace, maybe this is just a joke, surely Peter Parker is going to pop out of the loo or whatever and put his tights on, right? Wrong.
See he or she has picked up something in the Ultimate Universe. Peter Parker isn't Spider-man in that universe. Miles is. I mean, sure, Peter Parker WAS Spidey in the Ultimate Universe. But not anymore. I'm all for somebody taking over the mantle for a little bit, ala Jean-Paul Valley subbing for Bruce Wayne in the Knightfall Saga (more on that later). But we're currently talking about two realities. One where Peter Parker is alive and Spider-man and another where Peter Parker has been killed off and Miles Morales is Spider-man.
Now when it's spelled out like that, it's kinda simple. Two worlds, two Spideys. But to a new-comer, and I'm speaking from experience here, it's a major mind-fuck. A mind-fuck that will make new readers sigh and think,
"This is too hard, I give up."
Step 1 - One world. Or "universe" or whatever. Just have one. There's no need for two. Or three. Or infinite. Just one.
Imagine how easy it would be for Random Movie-Goer (known as RMG henceforth) to walk out of the movie, go to the comic store and see the Spider-man section and think,
"Ok, Spider-man, Peter Parker, here it is."
Easy. No stopping and thinking,
"Wait... who's this black kid wearing Spidey's kit? And what the fuck does Ultimate mean?"
New reader.
Next week RMG is going to go watch The Dark Knight Rises. Again, he or she walks out thinking he or she wants more Batman in his life. He or she goes back to their local comic book store and looks and sees a range of Batman books - Year One, Long Halloween, Knightfall, No Man's Land, Hush, etc. He or she thinks,
"Great, loads of books, clearly I'll start with Year One. But then what?"
Origin books, like Year One, they sort of have the right idea. They define the starting point. Like Back to the Future Part One.
But where to next? What's Batman's Part Two? Two Towers? Empire Strikes Back?
There isn't one. Not really. Which makes it really confusing when you pick up The Long Halloween, which is set "early" in Batman's career, and Batman and The Joker already seem to have history.
Look at the greatest movie trilogies.
Star Wars - A New Hope -> The Empire Strikes Back -> Return of the Jedi.
The Godfather - Part One -> Part Two -> Part Three
Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring -> Two Towers -> Return of the King
Back to the Future - Part One -> Part Two -> Part Three
They all have a continuity. You need to watch The Godfather Part One to understand why the characters are who they are in Part Two and onwards into Part Three.
Why can't comic characters take that model? Take Year One as a starting point, Part One. Then let's make The Long Halloween Part Three. All we need is a Part Two to tie the two together. Something about The Joker poisoning Gotham's reservoir and an intro to whatever other characters are introduced in The Long Halloween. We would then have this series -
Year One -> "Part Two" -> The Long Halloween -> Dark Victory.
Step 2 - Continuity. Streamline it. Make all the books a biography of each character. Obviously it would take a lot of work to do. For now, give everything a blurb or something stating when in Batman's career the story takes place. For example, "'Part Two' takes place between the events of Year One and The Long Halloween." While eventually tying up all the loose ends through graphic novels or regular release comics.
How easy would it be for RMG to walk into a comic store, look at what is essentially Batman's biography and think,
"Right, I can go back and check out his history and start from the beginning or I can just jump on here."
Easy. Now you've got another new reader.
The Avengers is officially the third highest grossing film of all time. US$1.3 BILLION. That's not a bunch of nerds going to see it over and over... well... some of it is. But it's also a series of good movies building up to the crescendo. The team up. I think we can all agree here that it was fucking epic. We know now that Marvel aren't going to make another Avengers until they complete their "Phase 2" of movies, too. At that time, the same thing will probably happen with Avengers 2, because it's been so long in the making. The anticipation will be so high it's torturous. And the marketing. Oh, how the marketing will make it that much worse!
Why not do that with comics?
I mean, does there really need to be a monthly team up of The Avengers or The Justice League? Sure, there's comic events every year, a range of them in fact and most of them are awesome. The Night of Owls rocked my shit. But is it really bringing in more readers? Also, less to the point, but is having a monthly book of these team ups KEEPING readers?
No and maybe not.
Why not scrap the team up books until something big enough happens that requires it?
Firstly, it would generate the same sort of tortuous anticipation amongst current readers. Secondly, add some marketing in there (maybe cinema advertising before comic-based movies?) you could turn it into an event. A real event. Something that RMG's are going to talk about. Example -
RMG 1: "Apparently there's a Justice League book coming out."
RMG 2: "Justice League?"
RMG 1: "Yeah, you know, Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman and such? They're teaming up, haven't you seen the ads?"
RMG 2: "That sounds awesome!"
Create buzz, have the books make a statement. Make it so non-readers can't not be curious.
Step 3 - Scrub monthly team up books and turn them into big events. Not necessarily annually either, once every 2, 3 even as much as 5 years. Build to it. Look to the Marvel movies as the perfect example. It will build up anticipation and generate new readers. And for the love of christ -
ADVERTISE ON THE MAINSTREAM!
And that's how you make comics more accessible to new readers.
Step 1 - Only have one universe.
Step 2 - Build each character's life like a biography.
Step 3 - Make the team ups massive events.
Step 4 - Advertise on the mainstream.
They finally got it right.
I saw the trailer for the new Superman flick from the brains of the lads who brainstormed The Dark Knight Trilogy and directed by the kid who made 300. It's nothing short of awesome.
The real deal should be released next week with The Dark Knight Rises. Can't wait.
'Til next time!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
What's in a re-brand?
There's still a lot of useless anger and discontent being spread around by some of my fellow Bluebirds supporters about this whole blue-to-red kit change debacle. So, obviously, it's my duty to put their mind at ease and let them know that they're being a bunch of sooky bitches.
For those of you who don't know, a few months ago plans were leaked that Cardiff City FC were going to re-brand from its traditional blue kit to a red kit for home games. Also, the badge was to change to incorporate a big ass welsh dragon. This would come with a much needed 100 million pound investment (more on that later). There was a big uproar amongst fans and the plan was scrapped by the Malaysian owners and the investment was said to be all but dropped as well.
This led to a cooling amongst the fans. Many of us obviously thought about it and realized it wasn't that big of a deal and the idea was brought back into play and ultimately implemented.
Now, Cardiff a few years back were in bad shape. I mean, real bad shape. They were apparently hours away from going into administration and needed a massive cash boost, stat. A huge debt to the Langston Corporation is most of the reason why. Around 20-30 million pounds at the time, now it's believed to be lower, around 10-15 million.
Then my boys Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Dato Chan Tien Ghee turned up and, to quote Cameron Poe, saved the fuckin' day.
So, cut to 2012 and this big 100 million pound cash investment is to pay off that debt, enhance the club's training facilities and buy more players. Because we have like... 22. Of which, 11 are worthy of being in the first team. All we have to do is swallow some pride and play in red. Which is apparently a big fuckin' deal.
I say, why is it?
I mean, we aren't the first club to re-brand when in dire straights.
I can feel a collective turn of heads at that statement. It's true.
Let's rewind back to 1961, Leeds United were in financial trouble and were one loss away from relegation into the old Division 3 (in modern standards, essentially League One). Along comes a manager by the name of Don Revie. Guess what the first thing he does is? Change the kit from a blue and yellow number to an all white strip, inspired by the great Real Madrid.
"Though (Revie's) decision effectively jettisoned forty years of United's history, astonishingly little was made of it at the time. The replacement colours were to be all white, in quite deliberate imitation of the famous all white of the finest team in the world, Real Madrid. To re-profile a club so efficiently on such a whim demonstrated the man's flair and vision, drawing a line under the failures of the past."
- Bagchi and Rogerson.
Don Revie's Leeds United went on to win two League Championships, two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups (a precursor to the UEFA Cup/Europa League), one Division Two Championship, one FA Cup, one League Cup and one Charity Shield in his 13 year reign as manager.
Let's go back even further. 1902. A club in heavy debt by the name of Newton Heath LYR Football Club are served a winding up order. Four men, found by the team captain Harry Stafford, agreed to invest 500 pounds each to save the club. Under the new ownership something happened. They changed their hit from green and yellow to a lovely red shirt with white shorts and black socks and on April 24, 1902, Manchester United was born. One of the most successful clubs in the world.
Juventus are the most successful Italian club of all time, winning 52 official titles since.
Established in 1886, Arsenal FC
played in a burgundy shirt.
In 1933, however, Arsenal went from playing in burgundy to the red with white sleeves kit we know today. They have won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups.
So, as you can see, some of the most successful teams in history have gone through what Cardiff City are going through now. Oh, wait, I forgot one.
1899. A club was formed and named Riverside FC. In 1907, they changed their name to Cardiff City FC and adopted a blue and white kit. They became the mighty Bluebirds. Boom.
As for that pesky badge change? Get over it. Badges change. Here's some examples.
Arsenal FC
Stoke City
Everton
Ajax
Real Madrid
Chelsea
In summary, there's no reason why Cardiff City fans should be up in arms about the kit change. Some of the most successful teams in the sports history have done it and gone onto achieve all their legendary achievements. Why don't we all try to look on the more positive side of this instead of being whiney little shits? The club is still the club. Walk into its HQ and all the same achievements will be there. The 1927 FA Cup win, beating Real Madrid at Ninian Park in 1971, the 2008 FA Cup final and last years great, great Carling Cup run to the final, not to mention the final itself, where we took Liverpool to penalties and showed the world who we really are. We displayed so much passion and heart and true determination. That's us. Cardiff. Wales.
So please, for the love of Christ -
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