[Guest blogger Mitch reviews Hook, and claims it is good. I am clearly going to have to watch it again and pay more attention.]
Hook was on TV on Easter Sunday – I'm sure some programmer at TNT is patting himself on the back for his own cleverness in playing a movie about Peter Pan's return to Neverland on a Christian holiday that celebrates Christ's resurrection. Congratulations on your ironic commentary dude. Guess what? You're still a programmer at TNT.
Here's what Roger Ebert had to say about the Steven Spielberg directed film when it came out in 1991:
"The crucial failure in Hook is its inability to re-imagine the material, to find something new, fresh or urgent to do with the Peter Pan myth. Lacking that, Spielberg should simply have remade the original story, straight, for this generation. The lack of creativity in the screenplay is dramatized in the sword fighting sequences between Hook and Peter, which are endless and not particularly well-choreographed. They do not convince me that either Williams or Hoffman is much of a fencer. Has any Hollywood director ever given thought to bringing in a Hong Kong expert like King Hu to do second-unit work on the swordfights? The cheapest Asian martial arts movie has infinitely more excitement in its sword sequences than the repetitive lunge-and-shuffle that goes on here."
Movies like The Matrix and Kill Bill would of course prove Ebert right about implanting the kung-fu sword fighting, but his request for it here, in a Peter Pan movie, proves that he is missing at least part of the point. I like parts of Hook very much and I disagree with Ebert on the re-imaging thing. I could go the rest of my life without seeing another tepid stage production of the Peter Pan musical, with its always fake-looking wire flying, singing, etc. There are hiccups in this film, sure, but there is merit.
It's a compelling idea: that Peter Pan has grown up and must embrace his inner child to be a better father. His relationship with Tinkerbell is revised – we learn that she has always been in love with him – and in one really interesting scene she kind of seduces him. I remember this scene freaking me out as a kid, because the situation felt so wrong and adult for two such innocent characters, which was the point. Also, the scene where Hook wins over Peter's son by having him smashing clocks seemed to express Barrie's whole point of Neverland. The Lost Boys and pirates there are people frozen in time, who would rather live in a fantasy world than deal with real world problems.
Then there is Dustin Hoffman – one of my favorite actors – in an unusually hammy role. Captain Hook's eccentric self-esteem issues and his interactions with Bob Hoskins intelligently update a one-note villain into a strangely compelling character. Hook's mood shift during his suicide monologue displays Hoffman's strong comic timing: "I'm going to kill myself Smee. Don't try to stop me. Seriously, Smee. Don't try to stop me. Try to stop me, Smee. Please, try to stop me."
I also think this movie is the perfect use of Robin Williams' abilities. His silliness is restrained at the beginning and, once he rediscovers himself, he gets to go nuts at the end. Unlike his patented "crazy" roles, like in Aladdin and The Fisher King, or his overly solemn roles, Good Will Hunting and Insomnia, Williams plays a straight man for much of the movie. I've always thought his matter-of-fact manner when he whips out the checkbook on the pirate ship was very funny.
Unfortunately, Williams plays straight man to dozens of untalented kids, who Spielberg often employs as heartstring-tuggers. These kids live in what appears to be the Ewok village, eat blue and yellow Play-Doh and play basketball on skateboards, which must be what Spielberg thinks every kid wants more than anything. Also weird is how Peter doesn't remember his past, even after seeing a stage play about it and even though his adopted mother is named Wendy, who lives in a house that looks EXACTLY LIKE the scenic design of the play. Also, as one review pointed out, Captain Hook's magnificent pirate ship NEVER LEAVES THE DOCK.
Anyway — it was nice to celebrate the not-so-miraculous return of the almighty Pan last Sunday. Amen.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Free Form Comments
Say whatever you want to in the comments to this post -- random, off topic thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, recommendations, criticisms (which can be anonymous), surveys, introductions if you have never commented before, personal news, self-promotion, requests to be added to the blog roll and so on. If a week goes by and I have failed to add you to the blog roll TELL ME TO DO IT AGAIN, and KEEP TELLING ME UNTIL IT GETS DONE. I can be lazy about updating the non-post parts of this site. Remember these comments can be directed at all the readers, not just me.
ALSO. You can use this space to re-ask me questions you asked me before that I failed to answer because I was too busy (but now might not be). That is often the reason I fail to get back to people, and on a blog, after a few days, the comments thread dies and I just kind of forget about it. Let's use this space to fix that, because it does need to be fixed; I look like a jackass sometimes, leaving people hanging. I will TRY to respond to any questions here.
AND you can use this space to comment on posts that are old enough that no one is reading the comments threads anymore. For example, if you thought of a great quote for the great quote commonplace book, but now no one is reading that, you could put it here.You do not have to have a blogger account or gmail account to post a comment -- you can write a comment, write your name at the bottom of your comment like an e mail, and then post using the "anonymous" option.
WRITING FOR THIS BLOG. If you think your free form comment here might be better as its own post, but you do not want it to be public yet, email it to me. My email address is available on my blogger profile page. If I think it will work on this site, your post will be published here with your name in the title of the post. You can propose what you will, I am always looking for reviews of games, tv, movies, music and books.
If you think what you have to say -- new topic or comment on an existing topic -- would be better to hear than to read, use the CALL ME button on the toolbar on the right.
ALSO. You can use this space to re-ask me questions you asked me before that I failed to answer because I was too busy (but now might not be). That is often the reason I fail to get back to people, and on a blog, after a few days, the comments thread dies and I just kind of forget about it. Let's use this space to fix that, because it does need to be fixed; I look like a jackass sometimes, leaving people hanging. I will TRY to respond to any questions here.
AND you can use this space to comment on posts that are old enough that no one is reading the comments threads anymore. For example, if you thought of a great quote for the great quote commonplace book, but now no one is reading that, you could put it here.You do not have to have a blogger account or gmail account to post a comment -- you can write a comment, write your name at the bottom of your comment like an e mail, and then post using the "anonymous" option.
WRITING FOR THIS BLOG. If you think your free form comment here might be better as its own post, but you do not want it to be public yet, email it to me. My email address is available on my blogger profile page. If I think it will work on this site, your post will be published here with your name in the title of the post. You can propose what you will, I am always looking for reviews of games, tv, movies, music and books.
If you think what you have to say -- new topic or comment on an existing topic -- would be better to hear than to read, use the CALL ME button on the toolbar on the right.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Jason Powell on Classic X-Men #21, part a (UXM #115)
[This post is part of a series of posts looking issue by issue at Claremont's X-Men. For more in this series see the tool bar on the right.]
“Visions of Death”
More characters from the Adams run, Sauron and Ka-Zar, show up here, in a story that is actually split down the middle. The first half is the X-Men vs. Sauron, while the second half is part one of a the “Sun God” two-parter. The unorthodox construction may also be a nod to Adams, who experimented a bit with non-chronological storytelling when he segued from his Sauron story to his Savage Land story back in the ‘60s.
The two-page spread on Pages 2 and 3, with Wolverine attacking Sauron, is a true widescreen visual treat. From there, the entire first half of the comic demonstrates Byrne’s talent for fight choreography, with Cyclops and Banshee in particular getting some good licks in. Cyclops blasting a hypnotized Wolverine with his eye beams is fun too.
Another hypnotic villain so hot on the heels of Mesmero from only four issues ago feels repetitive. To be fair, it’s not Claremont and Byrne’s fault that two of the X-Men’s Silver Age villains were both hypnotists; still, as time goes by, we’ll see that Claremont really enjoys his mind-control plots.
The second-half of the comic is laden with some fairly tangled exposition to set up next issue’s big fight. It’s more tangled than it needs to be, when the essential plot is not too complicated: a villain called Garokk (aka The Petrified Man, aka the “Sun God”) and his priestess, Zaladane, has built a temple over the “geothermal heat-sink that warms the savage land.” If the temple is not destroyed, the Antarctic winters surrounding the area will close in and destroy the Savage Land for good. Ka-Zar needs the X-Men’s help to defeat Garokk and destroy the temple. Fairly simple really, but there is a lot of extraneous material in the exposition for some reason.
There’s a good bit at the end in which Cyclops refuses Ka-Zar’s request, with Wolverine becoming enraged that – as with their first Magneto fight in Uncanny #104 – Cyclops is making the X-Men look like cowards. Again, Claremont is looking at every scene in context of everything he’s written up until now – finding parallels among earlier stories and mining them for use in fun character bits like this one.
Before the X-Men change their mind about helping out, there is a panel of the X-Men leaving the village of the Fall People, and Colossus saying goodbye to a native girl named Nereel. Her reply: “Farewell, my Colossus! I will cherish you always!” This brief bit was never expanded upon in any later issue of Uncanny. However, the b-story of this issue of Classic will at last fill in the gap as to what went on between these two, and X-Men Annual #12 (published only a few months later but not to be covered by this series until quite a ways later, sorry) will present a rather touching epilogue.
[Just a few things I noted: The splash page you mention above as "wide-screen" does seem very modern doesn't it? There is a shift in visual tone here more connected to the X-Men I grew up on than what came before.
The Sun God is wearing jeans, right? That is some goofy stuff.]
“Visions of Death”
More characters from the Adams run, Sauron and Ka-Zar, show up here, in a story that is actually split down the middle. The first half is the X-Men vs. Sauron, while the second half is part one of a the “Sun God” two-parter. The unorthodox construction may also be a nod to Adams, who experimented a bit with non-chronological storytelling when he segued from his Sauron story to his Savage Land story back in the ‘60s.
The two-page spread on Pages 2 and 3, with Wolverine attacking Sauron, is a true widescreen visual treat. From there, the entire first half of the comic demonstrates Byrne’s talent for fight choreography, with Cyclops and Banshee in particular getting some good licks in. Cyclops blasting a hypnotized Wolverine with his eye beams is fun too.
Another hypnotic villain so hot on the heels of Mesmero from only four issues ago feels repetitive. To be fair, it’s not Claremont and Byrne’s fault that two of the X-Men’s Silver Age villains were both hypnotists; still, as time goes by, we’ll see that Claremont really enjoys his mind-control plots.
The second-half of the comic is laden with some fairly tangled exposition to set up next issue’s big fight. It’s more tangled than it needs to be, when the essential plot is not too complicated: a villain called Garokk (aka The Petrified Man, aka the “Sun God”) and his priestess, Zaladane, has built a temple over the “geothermal heat-sink that warms the savage land.” If the temple is not destroyed, the Antarctic winters surrounding the area will close in and destroy the Savage Land for good. Ka-Zar needs the X-Men’s help to defeat Garokk and destroy the temple. Fairly simple really, but there is a lot of extraneous material in the exposition for some reason.
There’s a good bit at the end in which Cyclops refuses Ka-Zar’s request, with Wolverine becoming enraged that – as with their first Magneto fight in Uncanny #104 – Cyclops is making the X-Men look like cowards. Again, Claremont is looking at every scene in context of everything he’s written up until now – finding parallels among earlier stories and mining them for use in fun character bits like this one.
Before the X-Men change their mind about helping out, there is a panel of the X-Men leaving the village of the Fall People, and Colossus saying goodbye to a native girl named Nereel. Her reply: “Farewell, my Colossus! I will cherish you always!” This brief bit was never expanded upon in any later issue of Uncanny. However, the b-story of this issue of Classic will at last fill in the gap as to what went on between these two, and X-Men Annual #12 (published only a few months later but not to be covered by this series until quite a ways later, sorry) will present a rather touching epilogue.
[Just a few things I noted: The splash page you mention above as "wide-screen" does seem very modern doesn't it? There is a shift in visual tone here more connected to the X-Men I grew up on than what came before.
The Sun God is wearing jeans, right? That is some goofy stuff.]
Monday, March 31, 2008
Scott91777 on the Giffen-Dematteis-McGuire Justice League: The Roster
[Guest blogger Scott joins us here with a look at the classic JL. Scott's title, below, reminds me of the Oscar Wilde line about life -- far too important to be taken seriously.]
JLI: A not-so-serious book that should be taken more seriously
This will, hopefully, be the first in a series of blogs examining the classic Giffen-Dematteis-MaGuire run on the Justice League from the late 80s. It seems that lately DC has been doing everything in their power to undo what was great about this book (killing Blue Beetle, making Max Lord Truly evil before killing him) and make it almost as though it never existed. I definitely feel that it's a book that should be treated with a bit more respect than that. Too many superhero books these days tend to take themselves too seriously; the grim and gritty era only gave birth to the Alex Ross inspired era of overly revered versions of 'iconic characters' (in case you're wondering who Ross considers 'Iconic'... pretty much any comic character created before 1985) not to mention the era of the super-mega-crossover. Looking back at this series, it is a breath of fresh air to see a superhero book that didn't take itself so damned seriously. Giffen-Dematteiss-MaGuire managed to produce a series that was fun, funny and, at the same time, a pretty solid good-old-fashioned superhero team book.
First of all, a bit of context is necessary here. This series was first published in 1987, in the wake of both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Comics had entered the Grim and Gritty era and, while this series was not necessarily a reaction to or deconstruction of that movement (the way that, say, much of Grant Morrison's work at the time was), it, undoubtedly, had a certain indirect influence on the way the series was about to take shape.
Before I get into the actual issues of the series, I thought I'd give a bit of background on how this League came to be and examine it's roster. I want to talk about why I think various past members were omitted and why these characters were chosen. These are mostly just my opinions and educated guesses so if anyone happens to have any inside info or differing opinions; I'm completely open.
First of all, DC's premiere super-team had been languishing for some time prior to this re-launch. An attempt to revitalize the team by moving them to Detroit (?!) and replacing the more well known roster with third string and newly created heroes only served to further this decline. The DC crossover Legends resulted in the dissolution of the old league and the formation of this one. On a larger scale, Legends was very much intended as a fresh start for the DCU as a whole. Massive revisions to classic characters were going on across the board (mainly as a result of Crisis on Infinite Earths rendering most of the old continuity nil).
The only one of "The Big Three" to make the cut here was Batman. Post-Crisis a lot of DC characters were undergoing reboots. The easiest one to figure out is Wonder Woman. As part of her reboot (one that has since been retconned out of existence) there was no Wonder Woman prior to The Crisis On Infinite Earths. As a result, the character went from being a veteran to being a rookie at this point (and I'm not even sure that she had been reintroduced to continuity). Next: Superman. Same issue really: he was in the process of a pretty extensive reimagining at the hands of John Byrne. Besides, in a post-DKR world no one was really quite sure how to treat the relationship between him and Batman or how that might play out on a team.
As for the other usual suspects? Well, the Barry Allen Flash was dead and the former Kid Flash (Wally West), who had taken his place, was being launched into his own series; perhaps the editors felt the character needed time to grow and develop a following. Green Arrow was being reimagined as a more 'realistic' vigilante by Mike Grell at this time and just wouldn't have fit into the JL; I think the Atom was living in some microscopic universe while Aquaman was undergoing a reboot as well (and perhaps the DC offices felt it was best to remove the taint he might leave from his Detroit-era leadership). The Hal Jordan Green Lantern? Well, I'm not quite sure but I have a few ideas I'll cover when I get to Guy Gardner.
So who made the cut?
Well, there were a few that made sense...Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Canary were all veteran leaguers and logical choices:
Batman- while he was about to be retooled a bit by Miller in Batman: Year One, his reboot was significantly less extensive than the other big two. His origin story is one of the most simple in the history of comics; as a result, he would have remained the most unchanged of 'The Big Three'
Martian Manhunter- Another veteran of the League. Also, Manhunter had never been that successful as a solo character but he always seemed to work as part of the League; maybe he was kept in to appease fans of the character since JL books were the only place you were guaranteed to find him.
Black Canary- I think she was mainly chosen for 2 reasons: 1. She was a League stalwart and 2. The League needed a female member and they couldn't use Wonder Woman; Black Canary would replace Wonder Woman in the League's post-crisis origin story. What's interesting is that it's almost as though the Black Canary we see here and the Black Canary appearing over in Grell's Green Arrow are pretty much two different characters existing in two separate continuities (I think Grell has basically said that was how he viewed it).
Now, the unlikely supsects:
Mister Miracle- Actually, a more logical choice than you might think. The Justice League had always been a good place to put characters who weren't strong enough to carry their own series yet still had a pretty steady fan following (i.e. Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Elongated Man). Miracle fits the bill. He actually makes sense as someone the other leaguers would have chosen for the team: He's a veteran hero who, as the son of Highfather, is one of the New Gods and, as a result, potentially quite powerful and deserving of a higher profile in the DCU.
Blue Beetle- from a business perspective, Blue Beetle makes perfect sense. Just a few years earlier DC had acquired the Charleston characters and had enough hope for their success that they had Alan Moore retool his original proposal for them into Watchmen so that DC would still have the characters in a usable condition when it was all over. Since Beetle had been the first of the characters introduced into the DCU (his first DC appearance was in the first issue of Crisis On Infinite Earths), I think DC felt he had the best potential for success and had even given him his own series that had launched prior to the Justice League. As a result, his inclusion in the League was to create a greater visibility for the character and, maybe, draw readers over to his solo series.
Captain Marvel- I think his inclusion was similar to Beetle's. Since acquiring the character, DC never quite managed to get him to take off and, like Beetle, he had just been re-introduced/introduced to the main DC continuity in his own series (before the Crisis, Captain Marvel's adventures had been confined to Earth-S). Besides, while he wasn't the most popular character in 1987 he was a classic Golden Age hero and, thus, a sensible choice for the league. I think his inclusion might also be another good reason to keep Superman out of the league; his presence would have rendered Cap redundant (I was also just reminded by my friend Shaun that Captain Marvel was only leased to the team for a few issues).
Dr. Fate- This one is a bit tougher than the rest. I know that he had 'assembled' this league in the Legends mini-series much the way Dr. Strange used to 'assemble' the Defenders (pretty appropriate considering this motley assortment of characters) or, if you will, the same way Raven brought together The 'New' Teen Titans a few years earlier. Also, Fate is a classic Golden Age character and founding member of The Justice Society so he kind of makes sense as a means to forge a connection between the two.
Guy Gardner- Ok, seriously, no idea. None. The only thing I can think of is that it sidestepped any controversy regarding John Stewart Vs Hal Jordan. However, this was perhaps the most important choice for the team since his character would be incredibly important as to the shape that the series was about to take, pretty much from the first page.
Dr. Light II- I won't say much for now since, as I'll get to in later blogs, Dr. Light is pretty much here to help move the plot along and was not 'chosen' for the league the way all the others were.
I think it's also worth noting that the roster represents a smattering of characters from the newly integrated DCU which had previously existed on separate 'Earths' before The Crisis: Martian Manhunter (Earth 1) Dr. Fate (Earth Two) Blue Beetle (Earth 4... I think), Captain Marvel (Earth S). Throw in Mister Miracle from Kirby's Fourth World and you've got a pretty good cross-section.
Over the course of these blogs, I will examine how Giffen and Co. took these lemonds and made lemonade and actually managed to shape the development of some pretty important characters here including Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and even Batman.
JLI: A not-so-serious book that should be taken more seriously
This will, hopefully, be the first in a series of blogs examining the classic Giffen-Dematteis-MaGuire run on the Justice League from the late 80s. It seems that lately DC has been doing everything in their power to undo what was great about this book (killing Blue Beetle, making Max Lord Truly evil before killing him) and make it almost as though it never existed. I definitely feel that it's a book that should be treated with a bit more respect than that. Too many superhero books these days tend to take themselves too seriously; the grim and gritty era only gave birth to the Alex Ross inspired era of overly revered versions of 'iconic characters' (in case you're wondering who Ross considers 'Iconic'... pretty much any comic character created before 1985) not to mention the era of the super-mega-crossover. Looking back at this series, it is a breath of fresh air to see a superhero book that didn't take itself so damned seriously. Giffen-Dematteiss-MaGuire managed to produce a series that was fun, funny and, at the same time, a pretty solid good-old-fashioned superhero team book.
First of all, a bit of context is necessary here. This series was first published in 1987, in the wake of both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Comics had entered the Grim and Gritty era and, while this series was not necessarily a reaction to or deconstruction of that movement (the way that, say, much of Grant Morrison's work at the time was), it, undoubtedly, had a certain indirect influence on the way the series was about to take shape.
Before I get into the actual issues of the series, I thought I'd give a bit of background on how this League came to be and examine it's roster. I want to talk about why I think various past members were omitted and why these characters were chosen. These are mostly just my opinions and educated guesses so if anyone happens to have any inside info or differing opinions; I'm completely open.
First of all, DC's premiere super-team had been languishing for some time prior to this re-launch. An attempt to revitalize the team by moving them to Detroit (?!) and replacing the more well known roster with third string and newly created heroes only served to further this decline. The DC crossover Legends resulted in the dissolution of the old league and the formation of this one. On a larger scale, Legends was very much intended as a fresh start for the DCU as a whole. Massive revisions to classic characters were going on across the board (mainly as a result of Crisis on Infinite Earths rendering most of the old continuity nil).
The only one of "The Big Three" to make the cut here was Batman. Post-Crisis a lot of DC characters were undergoing reboots. The easiest one to figure out is Wonder Woman. As part of her reboot (one that has since been retconned out of existence) there was no Wonder Woman prior to The Crisis On Infinite Earths. As a result, the character went from being a veteran to being a rookie at this point (and I'm not even sure that she had been reintroduced to continuity). Next: Superman. Same issue really: he was in the process of a pretty extensive reimagining at the hands of John Byrne. Besides, in a post-DKR world no one was really quite sure how to treat the relationship between him and Batman or how that might play out on a team.
As for the other usual suspects? Well, the Barry Allen Flash was dead and the former Kid Flash (Wally West), who had taken his place, was being launched into his own series; perhaps the editors felt the character needed time to grow and develop a following. Green Arrow was being reimagined as a more 'realistic' vigilante by Mike Grell at this time and just wouldn't have fit into the JL; I think the Atom was living in some microscopic universe while Aquaman was undergoing a reboot as well (and perhaps the DC offices felt it was best to remove the taint he might leave from his Detroit-era leadership). The Hal Jordan Green Lantern? Well, I'm not quite sure but I have a few ideas I'll cover when I get to Guy Gardner.
So who made the cut?
Well, there were a few that made sense...Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Canary were all veteran leaguers and logical choices:
Batman- while he was about to be retooled a bit by Miller in Batman: Year One, his reboot was significantly less extensive than the other big two. His origin story is one of the most simple in the history of comics; as a result, he would have remained the most unchanged of 'The Big Three'
Martian Manhunter- Another veteran of the League. Also, Manhunter had never been that successful as a solo character but he always seemed to work as part of the League; maybe he was kept in to appease fans of the character since JL books were the only place you were guaranteed to find him.
Black Canary- I think she was mainly chosen for 2 reasons: 1. She was a League stalwart and 2. The League needed a female member and they couldn't use Wonder Woman; Black Canary would replace Wonder Woman in the League's post-crisis origin story. What's interesting is that it's almost as though the Black Canary we see here and the Black Canary appearing over in Grell's Green Arrow are pretty much two different characters existing in two separate continuities (I think Grell has basically said that was how he viewed it).
Now, the unlikely supsects:
Mister Miracle- Actually, a more logical choice than you might think. The Justice League had always been a good place to put characters who weren't strong enough to carry their own series yet still had a pretty steady fan following (i.e. Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Elongated Man). Miracle fits the bill. He actually makes sense as someone the other leaguers would have chosen for the team: He's a veteran hero who, as the son of Highfather, is one of the New Gods and, as a result, potentially quite powerful and deserving of a higher profile in the DCU.
Blue Beetle- from a business perspective, Blue Beetle makes perfect sense. Just a few years earlier DC had acquired the Charleston characters and had enough hope for their success that they had Alan Moore retool his original proposal for them into Watchmen so that DC would still have the characters in a usable condition when it was all over. Since Beetle had been the first of the characters introduced into the DCU (his first DC appearance was in the first issue of Crisis On Infinite Earths), I think DC felt he had the best potential for success and had even given him his own series that had launched prior to the Justice League. As a result, his inclusion in the League was to create a greater visibility for the character and, maybe, draw readers over to his solo series.
Captain Marvel- I think his inclusion was similar to Beetle's. Since acquiring the character, DC never quite managed to get him to take off and, like Beetle, he had just been re-introduced/introduced to the main DC continuity in his own series (before the Crisis, Captain Marvel's adventures had been confined to Earth-S). Besides, while he wasn't the most popular character in 1987 he was a classic Golden Age hero and, thus, a sensible choice for the league. I think his inclusion might also be another good reason to keep Superman out of the league; his presence would have rendered Cap redundant (I was also just reminded by my friend Shaun that Captain Marvel was only leased to the team for a few issues).
Dr. Fate- This one is a bit tougher than the rest. I know that he had 'assembled' this league in the Legends mini-series much the way Dr. Strange used to 'assemble' the Defenders (pretty appropriate considering this motley assortment of characters) or, if you will, the same way Raven brought together The 'New' Teen Titans a few years earlier. Also, Fate is a classic Golden Age character and founding member of The Justice Society so he kind of makes sense as a means to forge a connection between the two.
Guy Gardner- Ok, seriously, no idea. None. The only thing I can think of is that it sidestepped any controversy regarding John Stewart Vs Hal Jordan. However, this was perhaps the most important choice for the team since his character would be incredibly important as to the shape that the series was about to take, pretty much from the first page.
Dr. Light II- I won't say much for now since, as I'll get to in later blogs, Dr. Light is pretty much here to help move the plot along and was not 'chosen' for the league the way all the others were.
I think it's also worth noting that the roster represents a smattering of characters from the newly integrated DCU which had previously existed on separate 'Earths' before The Crisis: Martian Manhunter (Earth 1) Dr. Fate (Earth Two) Blue Beetle (Earth 4... I think), Captain Marvel (Earth S). Throw in Mister Miracle from Kirby's Fourth World and you've got a pretty good cross-section.
Over the course of these blogs, I will examine how Giffen and Co. took these lemonds and made lemonade and actually managed to shape the development of some pretty important characters here including Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and even Batman.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Nietzsche Family Circus
I think Neil pointed this out to be a long time ago, but I thought of it again when the Garfield thing came up, and thought I would link to it. This site pairs a random Nietzsche quote with a random Family Circus image. The results are funnier than you would expect.
http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/
http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/
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