10 June 2010: DC Comics updates

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Fellow genre entertainment fans, in the past month or two, I’ve been catching up on comic books and graphic novels. As I’ve noted to new enthusiast David I.S., most, but not all, of the titles I pick up monthly involve costumed superheroes.

On Saturday, 1 May 2010, Janice and I drove to New England Comics and Newbury Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts, for the annual Free Comic Book day. Although weekly comics are supposedly endangered (along with all print publications), I was
pleased to see many younger readers.

Since I’ve been following Batman for years in various media, it comes as no surprise that the “Batfamily” is the largest portion of my print subscriptions. Dick Grayson, formerly Robin and Nightwing, has acquitted himself well in the cape and cowl while his mentor Bruce Wayne tries to find his way back to the present after being lost in time (not unlike Steve Rogers/Captain America over at Marvel). While Grant Morrison’s metatextual take on Batman has been interesting, I’m looking forward to Wayne’s eventual return.

In the meantime, Batman & Robin and Streets of Gotham have focused on the team of Grayson as the caped crusader and Wayne’s bratty son Damien as sidekick Robin. Other former Robins include the vengeful Jason Todd as Red Hood, detective Tim Drake as Red Robin, and Stephanie Brown (formerly Spoiler) as the latest Batgirl. I’ve been enjoying all of these books lately. Some DC Comics stories, such as Kevin Smith’s Widening Gyre and the Eurocentric Batman in Barcelona, are out of continuity (fictional history/news) and explore other facets of the Dark Knight’s career.

Batman and the Brave and the Bold is tied into the current campy Cartoon Network
television series, while the latest Superman/Batman Annual delves into the dark possible future of Batman Beyond. On the other hand, First Wave goes into the past, putting Batman alongside pulp contemporaries Doc Savage and The Spirit.

Batgirl isn’t the only female member of Gotham City’s vigilante community. I’ve been reading the bad girls trying to be good in Gotham City Sirens and am looking forward to the revived Birds of Prey. The magician Zatanna, who made a faithful cameo in this past season of Smallville, will join Wonder Woman as one of the few superheroines to have her own title in a market dominated by male metahumans — and readers.

Unfortunately, the teams that I’ve followed, such as the Justice League and Titans, have dipped in quality in the wake of last year’s Final Crisis crossover event. I haven’t kept up with the large ensembles of Justice Society or Legion of Superheroes, although Green
Lantern Hal Jordan has gotten lots of attention in Darkest Night/Brightest Day, First Flight, and an upcoming cartoon and live-action movie.

Hal Jordan’s pal Oliver Queen/Green Arrow hasn’t fared as well, with his marriage to Dinah Lance/Black Canary (see Birds of Prey) on the rocks, his granddaughter slain, and adoptive son Roy Harper/Arsenal maimed by villains. I’ve been a fan of Ollie ever since Mike Grell’s Longbow Hunters in the 1980s, so it pains me to see the “Arrow family” disbanded.

While I appreciate efforts to bring Ollie back to being an urban hunter and crimefighter, I think the character has been dragged through enough suffering and “reimaginings” lately, even without the ill-advised SuperMax flick on hold. Even Justin Hartley’s surprisingly good portrayal of Ollie in Smallville has been marred by similar attempts to strip away his daredevil sense of humor.

In related media, I look forward to the Brave and the Bold videogame, the Justice League multiplayer online game, and DC Adventures for the D20 Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Ed. tabletop role-playing game. On the small screen, there’s the direct-to-video Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and Batman: Year One (plus a Green Arrow short), and the upcoming Young Justice and Green Lantern cartoons.

I’ve fallen behind in reading and blogging again, partly because of business travel to San Francisco and Chicago, but I hope to post soon about Marvel Comics releases, summer television and movies, my trips, and various games!

21 May 2010: Robin Hood movie review

After the Citrix Synergy conference in San Francisco ended, I went to Cartoon Art Museum, which had exhibits on Beetle Bailey, Batman, and the art of Ed Hannigan. I later went to the Metreon shopping mall across from Yerba Buena Gardens for a falafel dinner, the “Hollywood Legends” costume exhibit, and the latest Robin Hood movie. Director Ridley Scott and lead actor Russell Crowe do a better job with the legendary English hero than Kevin Costner’s Prince of Thieves, even if the newer film contains almost as many anachronisms.

Scott conflates events including the Norman Conquest of Britain, King Richard the Lionhearted’s return from the Third Crusade and eventual demise, and his brother John’s reluctance to sign the Magna Carta. Robin Hood also shows tactics used in the battles of Crecy and Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War, yet it barely mentions the Saxon-Norman tension common to many versions of the legend, certainly since Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.

As with Prince of Thieves (of which I’m not a big fan), castle defenses in the latest Robin Hood are breached with explosives, accents are intermittent, and the villains are underdeveloped stereotypes. The landing craft of the devious French troops is even a visual allusion to D Day, during which English and U.S. troops invaded the coast of Nazi-occupied France during World War II, not the other way around! In many ways, the battles and father-son drama make this movie more of a sequel to Kingdom of
Heaven than about Robin Hood.

On the other hand, I was glad to see Robin depicted as a yeoman archer, and his supporting cast of brawny Little John, lighthearted Will Scarlet, the bard Alan a Dale, and chubby Friar Tuck was all in place. After some earlier controversy regarding the casting of Maid Marian, I liked Cate Blanchett in the role, which was made more substantial reflecting a modern feminist view of the late addition to Robin Hood‘s tales.

The sheriff of Nottingham, once the same person as the vigilante in an early version of the script, is reduced to a supporting role to the supposedly craven King John. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of wealth redistribution or swashbuckling in this version of Robin Hood.

I did like the cues to England’s Celtic and Roman history no doubt nods to Scott and Crowe’s successful collaboration in the equally ahistorical but atmospheric Gladiator. Like stories of King Arthur, the outlaw who robs from the rich to give to the poor around Nottinghamshire and Sherwood Forest has proven to be inspirational, reflective of the present, and resilient for centuries.

My favorite versions of Robin Hood are the classic 1930s Errol Flynn movie, the 1975 British television series, the 1980s neoPagan-flavored Robin of Sherwood, and the Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman film released in the shadow of the Costner debacle. Yes, there’s also the Disney cartoon, Sean Connery in Robin and Marian,
Mel Brook’s Men in Tights, and the recent BBC series, but I find myself going back to the Howard Pyle book (including one edition illustrated by Green Arrow artist Mike Grell).

I’d give the latest Robin Hood movie, which was rated PG-13 for violence, a 7 out of
10, a B-, or three stars.

Coming soon: San Francisco sightseeing and genre television updates!

10 May 2010: Iron Man 2 review

On Friday, 7 May 2010, Janice and I met Ken G. and his colleague Bill B. to screen Iron Man 2 at the IMAX theater at Jordan’s Furniture in Natick, Massachusetts. We liked the superhero sequel, which had much of the action and witty dialogue of its predecessor and continued building to an eventual Avengers movie.

Disney/Marvel's Iron Man 2 — Man of Iron

Robert Downey Jr. brought the same charisma and internal conflict to Tony Stark/Iron Man that he had to the first movie and to Guy Ritchie’s recent Sherlock
Holmes. Gwyneth Paltrow returned as his “gal Friday” Pepper Potts, and Jon Favreau (who plays chauffeur Happy Hogan) juggled the development of multiple characters better than many sequel directors.

They were joined by newcomers including Scarlett Johansson as Natalia Romanov and Don Cheadle (replacing Terence Howard) as Lt.Col. James Rhodes/War Machine, plus Samuel L. Jackson returning as Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. As usual, Stan “the Man” Lee had a brief cameo. I had worried that an enlarged cast and multiple villains would bog down the plot, but Favreau managed to keep the story moving, and the script had a lot of humor to balance the pyrotechnics.

Mickey Rourke played Ivan Vanko, a composite of the comic book villains Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo, Viggo Mortensen’s tough guy in Eastern Promises, and his own comebacks in The Wrestler and Sin City. While Vanko is a mix of brains and brawn, Sam Rockwell’s military industrialist Justin Hammer (channeling Gary Oldman’s Zorg in The Fifth Element) tries to match Stark’s ego. I also just watched Rockwell in the more quiet science fiction film Moon, which harkened back to 2001: A Space
Odyssey and Outland.

Without giving away any “spoilers,” the plot of Iron Man 2 follows closely after the origin story. Billionaire industrialist Tony Stark has revealed his identity as the armored vigilante, increasing his fame and ego but also endangering everything he has built by drawing out new rivals.

I liked how the movie portrayed next-generation human-computer interfaces, the role (or lack thereof) of security technology and its social implications, and the use of the World’s Fair grounds in Flushing, Queens, near where I once lived.

Iron Man 2‘s cinematography was pretty good, with the excellent costumes again inspired by Adi Granov’s designs. The chase and fight scenes could have been a bit clearer, though. I understand that setting them at night, in water, or at high speeds
makes the transitions between actors and computer-generated images smoother, but on the large IMAX screen, my eyes didn’t always know where to track. Several
critics have also complained about the movie’s pacing, militarism, and snarky
tone.

On the other hand, as a longtime fan of comic book superheroes, I was pleased to see several “Easter eggs,” or clues to the larger Marvel universe. Favreau stayed true to the history and spirit of the source material. Kenneth Branagh’s Thor will be next, in early 2011. Overall, I’d give Iron Man 2, which was rated PG-13 for language and violence, an 8 out of 10, a B+, or three stars.

The strong box office for Iron Man 2 marked the beginning of the summer movie season. Let’s hope that it’s a good one! I’ll probably see Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood or the video game adaptation Prince of Persia: Sands of Time next.

Coming soon: Travel, genre television, games, and comics!

>>2010 movies

-“Daybreakers” (vampires) ***/B

-“The Secret of Kells” (animated) ***/A-

-“How to Train Your Dragon” (fantasy comedy)
***/B+

-“Clash of the Titans” (fantasy remake) ***/B

-“Iron Man 2” (superheroes) ***/B+

21 April 2010: Byron’s visit — food, games, and fun

Friends, I hope that you had a good weekend. Byron V.O., a former member of the Boston-area social/role-playing groups, visited from St. Louis this past weekend. He arrived on Friday, 16 April 2010, and Thomas K.Y. met us for a late dinner at Bertucci’s in Needham, Massachusetts.

Our conversations throughout the weekend focused on work and travel, family and
relationships, history and politics, and of course, genre entertainment and gaming. The next day, Byron and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts for the “Secrets of Tomb 10A” exhibit of ancient Egyptian artifacts, which Janice and I had first seen a month ago. We grabbed lunch at Qdoba before catching a commuter rail train back in time for a Pathfinder: “Holy Steel” teleconferencing session.

Beruk A. and Thomas joined us for burgers at Wild Willy’s, and Dexter V.H. in Brooklyn and Robert A.S. in North Carolina called in at various points in the evening. Their Player Characters reunited in the city of Hesolin in my “Vanished Lands” fantasy campaign setting. The heroes compared notes after their mission to the distant empire of Khemet (New Kingdom Egypt) and began considering strategy for the ongoing war against the dreaded ghost fleet.

We also talked about starting a new adventuring party that would have ties to previous teams, such as the “Dragonslayers” and “Holy Steel.” Fellow Game Master Brian W. stopped by to chat with Byron, a former cohort in the “Seekers of Lore” and “Broken Chains.” The face-to-face group has been playing one-shots and miniseries in a variety of genres and rules systems since we wrapped up a Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition game, and I’m preparing to run my “Vortex” space opera, but our schedule will be disrupted in the coming months because of travel.

After a few hours’ sleep, Byron and I drove out to the Minado sushi buffet in Natick, Mass., for brunch with Thomas and Paul J. While we were disappointed that half of our gang didn’t show up, we had a good meal. Thomas went to screen superhero satire Kick–Ass, while Byron and I saw the remake of Clash of the Titans at the AMC Framingham multiplex.

The sword-and-sandals fantasy movie was fairly entertaining, if not particularly
faithful to Greek mythology or even its predecessor. The computer-generated
monsters paid homage to Ray Harryhausen‘s stop-motion masterpieces, and the
humor and action were well-balanced. I’d give Clash of the Titans, which was rated PG-13 for violence, three stars, a solid B, or a 7 out of 10.

Paul and Thomas came for Janice’s soup and homemade rolls at dinner, and we resumed our “Holy Steel” logistics discussion on Sunday night. Dexter wasn’t able
to log in, but Beruk did. I was disappointed that more of the local group didn’t attend, but it worked out fine. The next day, I drove Byron to Logan Airport after lunch at Acapulco’s Mexican restaurant. Speaking of food (again), I enjoyed lunch today with some co-workers at Bison County on Waltham’s Moody Street.

Coming soon: Catching up on SFTV and the crowded calendar!

11 February 2010: Snow, food, sports, and movies

Friends, I hope you’ve had a good week, despite the recent snowstorms that buried the Mid-Atlantic. New England was spared this time around, but winter is far from over for us. Work has kept me busy, as I deal with managing assignments, training on TT’s new intranet, and telecommuting. Janice and I hope to plan some vacation travel, but we may wait to see the results of our tax returns and must juggle conferences and family.

On Sunday, 31 January 2010, we went to the annual “Death by Chocolate” event at the Crowne Plaza (formerly a Sheraton) hotel in Newton, Massachusetts. As always, it was fun to sample the sweets offered by the competitors. We’ve also recently had good meals at Four Burgers in Harvard Square, Cambridge, and Minerva Indian restaurant and the British Beer Company in Norwood.

With my office soon to move from Needham to Newton, I hope to take advantage of its current proximity to home with staff lunches from/at Farm Grill, a Greek eatery; Mexican restaurants Acapulcos or Tu y Yo; and a pub such as Mick Morgans or Johnny’s Biltmore Café. My commute will get a bit longer in March, but I hope to avoid the traffic on Route 95/128, the inner beltway around Boston, by taking local roads.

In the past few weeks, former co-workers Ken G. and Brian F. and fellow blogger Thomas K.Y. had hoped to get together for genre movies, meals, or other outings, but gamer and family birthdays, rescheduled role-playing sessions, and the usual scheduling challenges prevented that. Still, I may belatedly screen James Cameron’s Avatar and the remake of The Wolf Man sometime soon. But first, there’s Valentine’s Day weekend!

I’m not a big fan of professional sports, but two events have drawn my attention: the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. I enjoyed the close football championship game but found this year’s commercials to be lackluster. I was most interested in the movie previews.

The remake of Clash of the Titans continues the recent trend of sword-and-sandals flicks (the bloody Spartacus is Starz’s TV entry), and Prince of Persia looks like the video games that inspired it rather than real-world folklore. Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood seems more focused on medieval battles than on the traditional legend of a swashbuckling highwayman.

Tim Burton’s surreal style should be a good fit for his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, and I’m cautiously optimistic about M. Night Shaymalan’s take on Nickelodeon’s excellent fantasy anime Last Airbender.

I’m more interested in two films that won’t get as wide release: the animated Secret of Kells and the French steampunk Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec, from the director of The Fifth Element. Speaking of fantasy and steampunk, as part of the face-to-face gaming group’s period of one-shots and miniseries, I’ve been running my “Gaslight Grimoire” campaign using a stripped-down version of the D20 rules set. I’ll try to post more on that and recent genre television soon!