Freak Comics

Apparently I took the only decent photos of the Tumbler in Chicago because I’ve gotten quite a reaction. I made it to the home page of digg early Tuesday afternoon, my site went down for a while and of course, the thieves came out to play.
Left and right people started snatching my pictures and posting them to their own blogs… some of whom hot linked (that was dealt with swiftly and harshly)… others showed the pics and gave me credit (that counts as fair use and is the right way to do it as far as I’m concerned), and still others decided to pass them off as their own.

Two of my favorites are these jerks:
http://batman-dark-knight.moviechronicles.com/2007-06/batmobile-spotted-in-new-york/
Here I left a comment that is awaiting moderation and will most likely never see the light of day:
“I’m not sure who told you those came from New York, but I took them and they’re from Chicago (Last time I checked NY doesn’t have an elevated train).
If you’re going to steal my pictures, you should at least get your facts strait.”

http://savvygeek.com/2007/06/19/batmobile-tumbler-sighted-in-new-york/#comment-186
Here my comments made it through, but will most likely be deleted:
“Hi, thanks for stealing my photos jerk. The pictures were taken yesterday in chicago. You’re a douche bag.”

My second comment was just a link back to my original article.
It was fun getting those pictures and rushing them on to the internet. It’s also fun getting a big reaction and getting some recognition. Although it’s maddening and sad that people will steal my stuff and pass it off as their own, It’s also rather entertaining… especially the misinformation that these pictures were taken in New York. I can only imagine that the sub-par bloggers involved in spreading this false info saw the pictures and arbitrarily assumed that since they were taken in a big city, they must have been from New York. Perhaps said bloggers are from rural locations and are too stupid to search their sources before stealing and making glaring mistakes.
Idiots.

Update: The bloggers of both articles have decided to give me credit now.

Here are some pictures I managed to snap today. I have an excellent view of the set of The Dark Knight from my office.

This first one is of the back of the Batsignal. Plastic protects it from evil. The Tumbler is parked inside of this parking garage.

Here’s the Batsignal again… this time wit a random set hand in front of it.

Here we see some fake street lights… why are street lights going to be on a roof? Weird. Maybe they’ll be moving these to the street level portion of the set.

Here’s a building with a worker on top. I believe they’ll be filming from this roof for some long shots.

Here’s the same building with a worker on a crane in front of it.

Here’s another building with the same crane and worker. It’s right next to the one above. Both this and the one above are across the street from the building where the Tumbler is parked.

Update: I didn’t realize it the first time around, but everything in the first two photos on top of the roof is fake. This was being filmed on top of a parking garage… and parking garages don’t have duct work. I watched them tear it all down today. Interestingly the bat signal’s glass was smashed out. I wonder if someone smashed it, or if this is part of the movie… very interesting (didn’t have my camera on me today or I would have snapped a pic).

Speaking of Batman’s ride, it seems that he’ll be cruising on what they’re calling the Pod (I will be calling it the bPod), which is just a unique motorcycle.
I’m really undecided on this thing… it looks pretty cool, but seeing Christian Bale’s stunt man zipping down the street with his cape flapping in the wind should look nothing short of ridiculous. I have a lot of faith in this movie, so I’m going to keep my hopes high that Christopher Nolan knows what he’s doing and that the bPod won’t ruin an awesome sequel.

Check out this video of the bpod. I’m terribly sorry, but I couldn’t find a better video of this thing. If you watch this, you’ll have to put up with crappy MSN, an annoying commercial before hand, and even worse: Al Roker… yikes!!

It’s no secret that The Dark Knight has been filming in chicago, I posted some photos of the Gotham National Bank a couple of months ago. Today I found out that the Batmobile was in town, so I grabbed a camera and headed to Randolph and Wells and there it was. Check out the photos below (click for larger images).

Update: I seriously need to stop calling this movie “Batman Dark Knight Returns” when it’s clearly called “The Dark Knight”. My apologies to anyone who bothers to read my blog!

Update 2: Thanks to Bobby McPresscott’s zealous plea for correction, I have adjusted my mistake once again. The movie is called The Dark Knight.

Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert were made for each other.
Although I wasn’t particularly thrilled with some of the story developments, I’m now over the whole “Batman has a kid” shock, and have moved past Bruce Wayne’s adoption of Tim.
Issue #665, The Black Casebook, is setting up for what seems to be a very interesting story. Bruce Wayne explains to Alfred that one night he met three versions of himself in what he had thought to be a vision:
“A killer Batman with a gun, a bestial Batman on strength-enhancing drugs and the third sold his soul to the Devil and destroyed Gotham.”
There was a long period of time when I had stopped reading comic books. I have no idea if Batman faced these three versions of himself in a past story. At any rate, it really does not affect this story. Batman ends up going after the “bestial” version of himself, but is stopped by some dirty cops just as he is about to discover the brute’s identity.
This is a story worth checking out, it’s reminiscent of the 80’s, but in a good way.
By the way, Damian isn’t dead (are you surprised?) and it seems he will be making a somewhat fitting return in issue #666… of course!

After Supergirl #16 I thought the tides were changing. I truly thought DC had turned this boat around and started making amends for bad writing with good writing. Obviously I was convinced too soon. While issue #17 was nowhere near as horrendous as previous issues, it still managed to be incredibly confusing. Last I knew, Superman had been trapped in the Phantom Zone. Now he’s trying to protect the city while wearing a bulky metal suit. The suit seems to protect him from the Phantom invasion, even though they’re supposedly coming through him (the “Curse of El”) but it also gives him powers because the Earth’s Sun is now Red instead of Yellow (Kryptonians garner their powers from our yellow Sun). I’m not really sure how the sun turned red, but I assume it was from Father Box (which Kara threw in to the Sun two issues ago).

This comic contained elements that were strikingly similar to many of the early issues, namely Supergirl fighting her fellow comrades. When Supergirl first started out each issue featured Kara battling her way through various super hero teams such as the Teen Titans. She would also square off against individuals such as Superboy and Powergirl… and even herself.
In this issue, Supergirl battles Wonder Girl and Robin (separately). Granted they are possessed by Phantoms from the Phantom Zone (as i much of the Earth’s population), but it resembled the previous fights none-the-less.
The issue concludes with Supergirl coming face to face with Supergirl… again. This time the new Supergirl looks like the Supergirl of olden days and claims that Kara is an impostor. I can hardly believe that DC is allowing yet another S-Girl vs. S-Girl comic. This is absurd, and whoever controls the previews that show up at the end of the comic admits this with the simple tag-line “Next in issue #18: The Final Supergirl vs. Supergirl story!” Yeah right… I’ll believe that when I see it.

The only positive thing I have to say about this comic is that Ale Garza did a good job with the art. Supergirl’s look is highly controversial, and although Garza kept the same costume (there’s nothing he can do about that of course), he managed to portray her as younger… closer to her age (16 years old), rather than the sex symbol she has become. Good job Garza!

I don’t usually like reviewing a comic that’s been out for several weeks. I feel like I’m late to the party… as though I’ve delayed my article for so long that people just won’t care when it finally does show up.
All Star Batman and Robin #5 doesn’t count though. I feel totally justified in delaying my review, since DC seems to feel totally justified in their delay of this issue. My first reaction when I saw this comic sitting in my pile was that of awe… I could hardly believe that it was still in production. After flipping to the DC Nation page I was even more shocked to find that there are plans for a 6th issue!
My second reaction was that of near trepidation… now that I had this comic, I’d actually have to read it, not a comforting thought. Issues 1-4 of All Star Batman and Robin had been nothing but an incredibly manic Batman trying his best to frighten the crap out of young Dick Grayson. Those four issues amounted to a heaping pile of unimaginative dribble… a retelling of a story told too many times.

After forcing myself to read issue #5, I can say in all honesty that it not only kept me entertained, but had me looking forward to the upcoming sixth issue. Although it didn’t forgive the transgressions of it’s predecessors, it did manage to transition away from a boring story in to something promising. Just in time too. I had lost all faith in Frank Miller prior to this issue.

This issue opens with a meeting between legends… Superman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) and Plastic Man… the Justice League. There they discuss how to handle the Batman situation. Although I’m not sure how to feel about Wonder Woman’s overcharged hatred of men, I do love the fact that the Justice League is now hunting down Batman in order to sort him out.
Previous to this issue I wasn’t too happy with Miller’s take on the Dark Knight; he comes off as an impetuous psychopath. He swoops down upon his victims from rooftops, cackling like a madman on crack. I’m sure many people feel that Miller is messing with the legends, warping them to fit his own tale. After this issue I disagree. I believe he’s just enhancing their oddities. Let’s not forget, this is an “All Star” book. While All Star writers are no doubt constrained by a few choice rules (Wayne’s parents must remain dead) it seems to me that they are allowed to take a few liberties with their interpretation of the characters, much like an artist is allowed to put his own spin on the work he produces.
We already know Batman is nearly insane, Frank Miller is just emphasizing that point.

As for Jim Lee’s art, it’s flawless as usual. While Jim Lee isn’t my all-time favorite artist, I do love his dramatic flare and attention to detail. He seems to be a perfect fit for DC Comics characters.

All praise aside, this book as a whole is not what I hoped it would be. I’ve read much better stories by Frank Miller. A comic book shouldn’t have to salvage itself after the 4th issue… especially one that claims to be created by “All Stars”.

After the events of Marvel’s Civil War, Tony Stark was appointed as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Initiative was implemented, meaning that each state has a super hero group assigned to protect it.

Although I was extremely bored with Civil War, I’m really enjoying most of the Initiative titles. The Mighty Avengers, however is not one of those titles. There is so much potential in this comic, but it’s completely hampered by bad dialog and bad story telling.
There are thought balloons on nearly every page that feel like cheap throw backs to the early days of Spider-Man. This wouldn’t be all bad, but the thoughts the characters have are usually one liners or single words that don’t serve to drive the story forward. Instead it slows the pacing down and takes the reader out of the moment.
And then there’s the way the story is unfolding: an action sequence that has spanned the last two issues broken up by bursts of mini flashbacks telling how the Mighty Avengers were assembled. This would be fine if the flashbacks actually had a point other than telling how the team was assembled, because honestly, who cares? This could be summed up in a few panels, instead it’s filled up several pages of both issues. I’m bored with this series already and really don’t care that Ultron appears to have been posing as Iron Man but now looks exactly like his ex-wife, Wasp, and is menacing the Mighty Avengers… in the nude.

I don’t care if Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho are supposed to be good writers, this comic sucks.

Punisher War Journal is hands down one of my favorite comic books. Frank Castle (AKA The Punisher) is a sociopath and this comic does an excellent job showcasing his insanity. Of course you might call that insanity a mere skewed sense of justice… but when that skewed sense involves killing bad guys, that crosses the line in to the realm of psychosis. I love the fact that the other heroes hate the Punisher and consider him a villain even though he’s on their side.
It’s also fun to see just how obsessed Castle is with Captain America.

Currently the Punisher has trekked to the Mexican border in order to investigate and infiltrate a band of Neo-Nazis lead by Hate Monger, a vile white supremacist who believes the answer to illegal immigrants is death. He believes himself to be the protector of America… the protector of the “White Race”. Meanwhile this group has been using a costume similar to Captain America’s, and the Punisher is incredibly angry about it.

War Journal is very well written and was one of the more interesting Civil War tie-ins. I’m not all that thrilled with the art. Often times the backgrounds seem to be made with photographs. I’d rather a more traditional comic book art form, something along the lines of Jim Lee, however it really doesn’t take away from the sheer cool factor of the comic. If you’re not reading it, now is the time to pick it up. Try to start with issue #6. Don’t worry too much about not knowing the entire back story, Marvel does a great job catching their readers up to speed by printing a synopsis on the first page.