Welcoming the latest DC Comics reboot

DC Comics' revived Justice League — First look at DC Comics reboot

DC Comics announced today that it will be rebooting its universe with 52 titles with Issue No. 1 in September, after the current “Flashpoint” summer crossover, in which the Flash deals with an alternate reality (one of many parallels).

While this may get some attention in the mainstream news media, it’s too soon to tell whether this will be good or bad for DC’s iconic characters or the comics industry in general. I’ve noted before how superhero stories have been fodder for popular movies, even as print sales decline. DC’s announcement that digital versions of its comics will be available on the same Wednesdays as individual issues is a strong attempt to address this decline.

I also doubt that this will have the same long-lasting effect as Crisis on Infinite Earths, which reset DC’s timelines in the mid-1980s, just as I was returning to comic books and graphic novels as a young adult. Marvel Comics tends to reboot individual characters (see One More Day for Spider-Man) or teams (such as the Avengers Reborn) rather than its entire continuity at once.

The reason for such reboots is simple: Fans want their favorite characters, such as Batman or Captain America, to be relatively unaging, while real-world and fictional events (such as the maturing of sidekicks) pile up around them. To bring in younger or more casual readers, a periodic housecleaning makes sense.

In “comic book time,” how long has Superman or Wolverine been a costumed vigilante? Is Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or Damien Wayne the youngster in the Robin costume? Which president is considering the Mutant/Metahuman Registration Act?

I don’t mind clearing the cobwebs around continuity, as long as it leads to fresh looks at characters without changing their core concepts (most superheroes don’t kill) or to mere rehashing of well-known or recent stories. “Nerd rage” will focus on Jim Lee’s costume redesigns, the economics of renumbering issues, and the impermanence of any historical revisions. I prefer to wait and see how drastic DC’s reboot will be.

On a related superheroic note, I watched the latest episode of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the direct-to-video Thor: Tales of Asgard this past weekend. The animated feature focused on a young god of thunder, and was a decent parallel/companion piece to the live-action film.

Thor review

Thor movie poster 2011 — The Mighty Thor

On Saturday, 7 May 2011, Janice and I met Josh C. & Sara F. and Josh’s brother Jeff at the Showcase Cinemas at Legacy Place in Dedham, Massachusetts. We screened Thor and found the latest comic-book movie adaptation to be entertaining.

If you’re looking for a faithful approach to Norse mythology, this isn’t the place. On the other hand, Marvel/Disney and Paramount are fairly respectful of the characters and imagery of Jack Kirby, Walt Simonson, and artist Oliver Copiel and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Stracyznski.

Director Kenneth Branagh, who is better known for his excellent Shakespearean films Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet, deftly gets strong performances from his cast and focuses on the human drama amid the mythic action.

Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth (who played James T. Kirk’s father in the Star Trek reboot) is bulked-up and charismatic as the god of thunder, who’s easily the equal in power or personality of anyone else in Marvel’s superhero pantheon. Tom Hiddleston, Branagh’s co-star in the moody Wallander, is appropriately scheming as Thor’s foster brother Loki, and Anthony Hopkins lends gravitas as Odin.

Other Asgardians include Renee Russo as Thor’s mother Frigga, Ray Stevenson as the portly Volstagg of the Warriors Three, and Jamie Alexander as female warrior Sif. All stand with Thor as he learns humility after being exiled to Midgard (Earth). Despite some early complaints about the colorblind casting of Idris Elba as Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost, and Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, it didn’t bother me as “racebending” in other movies has.

Genre veteran Natalie Portman is fine as astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster (originally a nurse in the comics), and Kat Dennings lends some comic relief as her snarky colleague Darcy Lewis. Since the trailers showed SHIELD’s Agent Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, it should come as no surprise that Thor continues laying the path started by Iron Man toward an Avengers cinematic teamup.

Thor‘s script, which had several screenwriters, is serviceable and has a good amount of humor. The soundtrack could have been more operatic, but the fight scenes are well choreographed, especially in an early battle with frost giants in Jotunheim. The nine realms of Norse lore are described as worlds joined by an extradimensional tree, with Asgardian science being sufficiently advanced so as to be indistinguishable by humans from magic, directly quoting Arthur C. Clarke.

In fact, the massive sets and potentially goofy costumes were closer to their comic book roots than most recent superhero movies have been. I prefer such faithfulness and hope that DC/Warner Brothers’ similarly cosmic Green Lantern also handles cosmic drama well. Thor‘s 3-D effect, which was added in postproduction, didn’t add much to the visual experience and even made tracking movement more difficult.

Despite only decent initial box-office returns in the U.S. (compared with Iron Man or The Dark Knight), I hope that Thor continues the trend of successful superhero flicks. Overall, I’d give Thor, which is rated PG for violence, an 8 out of 10, a solid “B,” or three out of five stars.

After the movie, we had lunch at Whole Foods’ extensive salad bar. Janice and I then went to Free Comic Book Day at New England Comics and Newbury Comics in Norwood, Mass. Because we went to the shops after the movie, many of the free issues had already been snapped up. Still, I want a new generation of readers to discover the medium and hobby.

Spring cleaning 2011

For the past few weekends, Janice and I have been busy with spring cleaning. We started going through our books, videos, and appliances partly because our annual lease-renewal letter was late, and we feared that we might have to scramble to move. Although Janice’s commute by train is long, we didn’t relish the idea of looking for another affordable, spacious, and conveniently located apartment closer to Boston on relatively short notice.

Fortunately, we were able to renew our duplex‘s lease for another year in Needham, Mass., despite some nagging problems such overflowing gutters, needed repainting, and poor insulation. At least we finally have hot water! We then shifted our attention to cleaning for an upcoming visit by my brother.

So far, we’ve recycled or donated our desktop computer and an obsolete printer, old bicycles, a vacuum cleaner, VHS tapes, and numerous books and DVD cases. I’ve also been selling some of my role-playing games, including much of my Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 and Fourth Edition collections. I’ve been running Pathfinder and FATE 3e Starblazer Adventures anyway, and am even considering the rules-light FATE 3e Legends of Anglerre for my “Vanished Lands” fantasy campaign.

Of course, nature abhors a vacuum, so I have to restrain myself when visiting comic and game shops. I’ve also been trading HeroClix miniatures with people in the local groups, so I have a lot of cataloging to do. Even after thinning out our shelves and the much-heralded advent of gaming PDFs and e-readers, I’m still attached to bookcases full of science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, science, history, and classic literature.

If I had to move, I’d want space equivalent to the full basement that I’ve used for hosting sessions and storing boxes of comics and magazines. Janice isn’t a pack rat like me, balancing my obsessive-compulsiveness with asceticism. We still have to deal with our CRT television and bulky entertainment unit, a computer desk, and other odds and ends. My department at work is also shifting cubicles.

The belated arrival of spring weather has allowed us to clear up the yard and try restaurants such as Jake & Joe’s, a new sports bar in Norwood, and Crazy Dough’s, a pizzeria in Harvard Square’s Garage. I also had a home-cooked Chinese dinner with Thomas K.Y. and Kai Yin last week, and we watched the Sita Sings the Blues, a fun combination of Hindu mythology, 1920s music, Flash animation, and modern feminism.

Coming soon: More about retro-clone games, comics and genre TV reassessment, movies, and houseguests!

Where have I been?

Readers of my blogs may have noticed that there’s a six-month gap in posts, from September 2010 to February 2011. What happened?

Fortunately, it was nothing catastrophic. I had become frustrated with how text and images appeared on my Yahoo 360 and MySpace blogs, and I had gotten busier with work and various games.

At TT, I moved from an associate site editor position to associate managing editor within the Data Center and Virtualization Media Group. I’ve had the opportunity to work with more people and learn new skills. I’ve been juggling some of my old responsibilities of editing and calendaring business information technology articles for online with new ones at the e-publications and special projects unit.

Janice recently changed technical writing jobs and now works in Cambridge, in the same building where her employer was when we moved to Massachusetts more than 10 years ago! She’s getting used to the longer commute by train, and I’m getting back to cooking dinners.

After going to San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, and London last summer, Janice and I took fewer trips, visiting her family in Upstate New York for Thanksgiving and mine in Virginia for Christmas. We did, however, host several college friends, including Steve M.R. and his young family, Stuart C.G., David I.S. at New Year’s, and Erik B.L. and family a few weeks ago.

Janice and I also went to concerts, local attractions like the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum, and regular seasonal festivals, such as the King Richard’s Faire, Phantom Gourmet Food Festival, New England Comic-Con, and Super MegaFest. While I enjoy celebrating Halloween, we didn’t have a big party this past autumn.

Unfortunately, I spent most of January recovering from bronchitis and dealing with several snowstorms. Most of the movies I’ve seen in the theaters lately were not big winners at the box office or the Oscars, but I enjoyed espionage drama The American; fantasies Legend of the Guardians, Harry Potter [7] and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, and The Chronicles of Narnia [3]: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; as well as belated cyberpunk sequel Tron Legacy.

French animated film The Illusionist was good, coming close to last year’s favorites of The Secret of Kells and How to Train Your Dragon (I may eventually repost reviews of these). Thanks to movie channels on cable television, I’ll gradually catch up with other flicks, but I haven’t yet had time for a Netflix subscription.

Speaking of genre TV, the current season marks a changing of the guard. I’ve enjoyed the latest wave of shows loosely based on comic book superheroes, including The Cape, No Ordinary Family, and the surprisingly long-lived Smallville, but they’ll probably all be gone soon. Animation has fared somewhat better, with Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Young Justice as more serious successors to the campy fun of Batman and the Brave and the Bold and Marvel’s Super Hero Squad. I’ll review direct-to-video releases separately.

As SyFy’s Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary cycled out of their midseason schedules, I’ve been watching the V remake, Fringe, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Sym-Bionic Titan to get my speculative fiction fix. Doctor Who has been going strong after the lead character’s latest regeneration, and I look forward to more Torchwood and the excellent BBC/PBS modernized Sherlock.

Speaking of fictional sleuths, Psych, Castle, and White Collar have been successful in their niche, even as the more action-oriented Chuck, Human Target, and Undercovers have struggled for ratings. I’m glad that caper show Leverage has hung on (and provided inspiration for a good tabletop role-playing game).

In a somewhat more adult direction, Spartacus: Blood and Sand/Gods of the Arena, Pillars of the Earth, and Camelot have satisfied any yearnings for swords, sandals, and sex better than Legend of the Seeker and Robin Hood did. Being Human has replaced the late Reaper and Eastwick as my supernatural melodrama of choice. I plan to blog in more detail on these and upcoming shows, current comic books, and my “Vanished Lands” and “Vortex” campaigns more regularly. What are you reading, watching, or playing?

Holiday update 2007

: Holiday 2007

As I prepare to move my blog from MySpace and Yahoo, here’ s a look back at one of my first posts (note that some of the links may be broken):

Friends, I hope that your holidays have been happy thus far. Instead of sending out the usual annual update letter, I hope that people are reading this blog.

The week before Christmas was busy, even though Janice and I had finished most of our gift shopping. Working on two issues simultaneously to get most of this week off kept CW‘s copy desk humming. On Saturday, 22 December 2007, we went to the local dump and post office, and I got my car inspected (which went more quickly and was cheaper than the previous week’s repairs).

We also had a Chinese-American buffet lunch at the Hunan New Taste, stopped by the Walpole Mall and the Big Y supermarket, and picked up my subscription at the New England Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts.

On Sunday, we stayed in because of the latest snowfall and caught up on television. What are your favorite holiday specials? Mine include classics such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and various versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Janice’s include A Garfield Christmas, Bill ‘n’ Opus: A Wish for Wings That Work, and Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas.

Of course, numerous Rankin-Bass cartoons and stop-motion specials have marked the holiday for generations, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. More recently, we have A Muppet Family Christmas and Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Robbie the Reindeer, and Shrek the Halls.

I also had a quip-filled City of Heroes (CoH) virtual session with David I.S. and company, and Janice baked in preparation for seeing her folks. We plan to have a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve, since we’ll both be working that day.

We drove to Upstate New York on Monday, Dec. 24, first to Janice’s parents’ home. Like my parents, Marvin and Linda M. live atop a hill on five acres in the country. Unlike my family, they have numerous pets and a steep, icy driveway. Janice’s middle sister Shelly was already there with her husband Melvin W. and children Rebecca, Laura, and David.

I checked out photographs of friends on teenager Becky’s Clie handheld device, played chess with tween Laura, and played pool with 9-year-old David and his father. Shelly told us about her missionary work in inner-city Utica, and after a tasty lasagne dinner, we drove down to Janice’s youngest sister’s home, where we were staying.

We joined Melinda and Gary L. and their children Amanda and Joshua for Christmas Eve. I helped keep the kids occupied while the other adults finished wrapping a pile of presents. Amanda demonstrated her recent violin lessons, and I talked with 6-year-old Josh about various superheroes. Their cat Chocolate kept us company as we slept.

On Christmas morning, unwrapping continued, as the Manwillers and Wrights reconvened at the Lewis home, which has the most open space. Among other things, we got DVDs and an electric snow shovel. We had a ham luncheon, followed by Laura and 8-year-old Amanda playing with animal toys and David and Joshua playing with action figures and videogames. Becky is old enough to participate in most adult conversations.

Thanks to Gary’s PlayStation 2 and Xbox, I played an off-road racing videogame with Melvin, as well as Justice League Heroes with Josh. Although I don’t have the money or time to add console systems to my crowded tabletop (pen-and-paper, dice-and-pizza) role-playing, teleconferencing, and CoH PC gaming schedule, it was nice to try them out once in a while. Josh also demonstrated Spider-Man and Star Wars Lego II for us. (Lego Batman and Indiana Jones games are coming!)

I telephoned my family in Virginia, but I still missed being with my parents, brother Peter, sister-in-law Kelly, and nieces Ava and Lili. I hope to see them sometime in spring of 2008. But first, we’ll be at Dexter V.H.’s latest wedding in New York City in just over a week!

We returned to the Boston area on Wednesday afternoon after taking out the Lewises and Janice’s mother to lunch at Applebee’s. On Thursday, I caught up on e-mail and prepared for various games, including last night’s D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: Holy Steel” teleconferencing team and tomorrow’s D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands: the Broken Chains” holiday makeup fantasy session. I’ve got to work today.

Of course, no year’s end blog post would be complete without a set of “best of” lists. IGN.com has a pretty good rundown of movies, genre television, and comics, but here’s my abbreviated version for 2007:

–Favorite movies: Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Ratatouille

–Favorite SFTV shows: Avatar: the Last Airbender, Doctor Who, and Pushing Daisies (Fellow blogger Ken G. has also noted the untimely demise of the underrated time-travel drama Journeyman, but at least Pushing Daisies and Reaper got picked up.)

–Favorite comic books: Captain America, Detective Comics, and The Spirit

–Favorite musical singles (and videos): “Gone Gone Gone” (Robert Plant and Alison Kraus), “Rehab” (Amy Winehouse), “Umbrella” (Rihanna)

–Favorite RPG releases: D20 Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed.: Ultimate Power, A Practical Guide to Monsters (Dungeons & Dragons 3.5/4e), D20 Star Wars: Saga Edition

What were your faves? I look forward to blogging about such entertainment and more in the coming year, and may it bring good health and prosperity for all!