Gibberish

I know few believe me in my claims that Morrison is the Anti-Christ of DC. I don't know how he claimed so much power, but I know he is using it to destroy the Batman universe.

My brilliant masterpiece of pinpointing everything wrong and a direct prediction of his evil is coming, and all I want to say is -

THE END IS NIGH.

Following that will be my billowing screams of "I told you so," but we'll wait for that.

Three years at max, unless they want even more money.

At least I can drink away my anger by that time as I'll be of age.

fffffuckk...

I lost track of the days - Under the Hood is out now, yes?!?!??!
I'm freaking out, I just realized today is past the 16th when I saw a mini animation of it...

omigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigod

Sooo, that means I have to go find it somewhere...

Yeah

So, life has been hectic which is why my posts went from 3 or 4 a week to 1 every 3 weeks.
I hate it.

I HAVE been thinking about more to add on here and actually spending a lot of time wrapped around that, but you don't get that info yet.

I just wanted to share how recently I discovered just how deep in the pits of the surreality of Gotham I am.

Today I handed someone a comic to read. THey had randomly picked up one of the many I have from the library which was Cataclysm. I finished it this morning, and must admit I wasn't impressed. So when I saw someone pick it up I panicked and said: "I have some better comics for you to read if you would like!" way more excited than I should be to show of my comics.

So we go back to my room where my meager shelf of Batman TPB's are and I pull for them The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, since one of my other friends had it as their first Batman comic and could follow along fair enough.

And then comes the climax - I had to explain who Tim Drake was.

Regardless, when I read this it was my first introduction to actual Tim and had to do some research of my own. But I did have to give a full history of the Robins.
Including Nightwing.
Which was a FUCKING PAIN

But I did get to realize something - I am so far from Earth about Batman that I consider Robin lore to be separate from Batman...

THis could be due to the fact of:
a) Bruce is dead
b) Dick is Batman
c) Dick has made a name for himself out of the shadow of the Bat
d) there have been 5 (or so) Robins


This image is by eiko-chan and I have no right in using it but I do like sharing her art - I am a huge muthafuckin fan of her DC stuff and if DC had any smarts they'd get her a job. All I's sayin...
+ her actual website, check it out!

From TNBA

The New Batman Adventures was a great series, even if terribly short.

I recently watched the episode "Knight Time," although technically a STAS episode, and it reminded me of when I was reading comics between RIP and Battle for the Cowl:
-Batman is missing
-Gotham is being picked into pieces by villains
-Tim Drake (Robin) is left to defend the city while everyone else is busy

However in Grant-Morrison-Free-Land then, Superman steps in and is takin numbers!



Although I really dislike Superman, I loved this episode. It seems very likely that Clark would cover for Batman and would do a good job. Hell, being indestructible actually keeps up the Batman lore and scares even Bane, preventing a back-break.

So in real-life-ish while I was reading comics, watching Tim go through the motions as Robin pretending Batman is still alive, I knew something was missing, that the story was kind of half-empty. My childhood prepared me for a time of missing Batman, and I was waiting for his appropriate fill in.



In other news, I've been noticing on deviantArt that people are already preparing for Dick's return as Nightwing and coming up with new costume ideas for him.

*sigh* I guess I should face that it will be happening. I love Dick Grayson, but I'm not sure I love him as Batman. The idea is spectacular - a jolly Bat and a brooding Robin - but I'm not very impressed by what I've read so far.






It's just so, idk, half-assed.
It convinced me to stop putting hope in Morrison and giving him money!

Yeah yeah, the art is pretty. Jim Lee's is pretty too but that does NOT mean that All-Star Batman & Robin was a joy!

Ah Promos

Sorry, I do try to keep this strictly Batman related but I thought this might be possibly acceptable..

I was just relaxing thinking of upcoming comic book movies and I thought about ways the ads could get us to watch Captain America, aside from the fact that it will probably be kick ass despite the tired actor choice. (I would have preferred a fresh face is all)


"Anyone who doesn't see Captain America is NOT American!"

Noooooez

Burt Ward became Jason Todd once...
What had happened was that Robin found Catwoman to be a better partner. something like that..

Holy Crucial Moment, Batman!

I don't think so, Robin!

In case you haven't seen something quite like this one yet. It's fun.



What's your favorite?

I Feel So Betrayed

Wow, it's been awhile.

Recently, I found the solution to not missing anything in the Batman realm.
1) stop caring
2) subscriptions

Eff all my geeky friends.

Sure, maybe they thought I already knew and I'm flattered, but seriously?! Not cool!!


by Dustin Nguyen- http://duss005.deviantart.com/

The Circles We Go through

As a person involved with Batman since the age of about 3 to now 19, I have experienced his world through many different mediums. Well, 3: the shows, the movies, the comics.

And seriously - no one ever writes their own shit.
Just when I think I've found something completely original, I find it copied from OR repeated by someone else.
EDIT: Some salutes are nice, and give a feel of community around the mediums of Batman, where as others are just a shame

So here is an ongoing list of where I find repetition. I'll try to keep them as short, as connected, and accurate as possible to which came first



BATMAN TAS-BATMAN FOREVER-BATMAN RIP
In "The Lost Episode," Riddler pops a brain ban thing on Batman to control his mind and take his memories, a similar ending plot to RIP. However, Batman's mind is so fucking badass that he destroys the machine, as seen in both. Also in "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne," Dr. Hugo Strange uses mind reading machines to discover Batman's identity. This also occurs in Batman Forever by the Riddler. Although neither of these last alterations to the plot are very dramatic.. lol.



A DEATH IN THE FAMILY-BATMAN TAS
Also in "The Lost Episode," Batman hacks at Ivy's leaf monster thing with an axe, and the animation merely shows him repetitively hitting something on the ground with a long object in the shadows, very similar outline to Jason Todd's death by Joker


BATMAN TAS-BATMAN BEGINS-THE RESURRECTION OF RA'S AL GHUL-BATMAN AND SON-BATMAN RIP-UNDER THE HOOD
"The Demon's Quest" story arch revolves around Ra's Al Ghul and Batman's fist meeting. Although Ra's is not used as a training reference as in Batman Begins, they have their sword fight, and Ra's plans on destroying civilization for it to restart. Ra's abducts a Robin in a way to get him to join in The Resurrection.. while in the episode he abducts Robin to get Batman to join, although I think he's trying with anyone who will listen.

In "Off Balance," the League of Shadows (BTAS calls them Society of Shadows) has ninjas, and plan on setting off a sonic drill thing off in Gotham. This time it is lead by Talia as well as her father such as in Batman and Son, Batman RIP, and I am sure others. The episode also features Vertigo, who comes up in Under the Hood while Jason and Bruce are fighting, similar animation and similar effects.


BATMAN TAS-THE DARK KNIGHT-BATMAN FOREVER-UNDER THE HOOD-YEAR ONE
In "Blind As A Bat," Bruce becomes temporarily blinded and is set up with a radar system to see. Batman uses similar vision in both Batman Forever and The Dark Knight, however I don't remember why he REALLY needed it in the later other than the fact that it looked pretty fuckin awesome. Actually, I don't think they needed it in Batman Forever either.

On the discussion of that fight scene - go read Year One, Batman takes out SWAT without being quite the douche.
"Blind as a Bat" also introduces technology of different cloaking for airships in which Jason Todd references to Robin I think in Under the Hood about how cool the BatPlane is because it sends out a noise-cancellation signal.


BATMAN TAS-THE DARK KNIGHT
I guess Bullock is supposed to be the traitor cop in TDK, although that's not a fair depiction. The same for Montoya and other traitor cop. Considering these were the good cops in TAS and the movies decided to ruin that? I'm hurt. Wounded, even!


BATMAN TAS-BATMAN CACOPHONY
"Joker's Wild" - a casino opens up using Joker's name, he gets pissed and breaks out to destroy it
Cacophony - Maxie/Zeus opens a casino or something using Joker's name, Joker is broken out by Cacophony, and Joker kilss a bunch of kids to get the word out. Kinda similar, or at least idea wise.



BATMAN TAS-BATMAN BEGINS
"Dreams in Darkness" - Scarecrow is going to poison the water supply with his fear toxin by using the river underneath Arkham
Batman Begins - Scarecrow is going to poison the water supply with his fear toxin by using the water pipes underneath Arkham, and Ra's Al Ghul funds it.

Can you see why I was really not impressed with Batman Begins? It took them an entire movie to do what A CHILDREN'S SHOW did in probably 2 episodes' time (if you include back story time)



BATMAN TAS-HUSH
In "Almost Got 'Em" Ivy recalls her Halloween scandal of burning pumpkins, in which the art was similar to when Scarecrow was screaming the "Hush Little Baby" lullaby. VERY short segment, but the colorings are similar and reminded me of such


DARK KNIGHT RETURNS-DARK VICTORY-BATMAN TAS-HUSH-NIGHTWING MONTHLY
"Judgement Day" Harvey decides to fight against Two-Face and develops a 3rd personality. A Nightwing monthly arch in 2009 copied this idea sort of where Dent heard of Two-Face's plan to kill Dent's former love and signed Nightwing up to defend her. This seems to happen a lot; I believe also in Dark Victory something like this occurs, as well as Hush, DKR, and in Arkham Asylum Harvey develops even more personalities by urges of the staff so he could have more decisions in his life than death or life.



HAUNTED KNIGHT-BATMAN TAS
In "Mad As A Hatter," Mad Hatter throws an Alice in Wonderland themed trap. It's complicated, I dont want to go into the whole story, and it's not supremely interesting unless you're crazy about Wonderland lore. Anyway, he kidnaps a pretty girl to make her the Alice form the book. In Haunted Knight, (the book is kinda just a bunch of mini segments) Mad Hatter kidnaps Gordon's niece on Halloween to make her pretty little Alice in his Wonderland party at this big house with a bunch of other abducted kids. Yeah, not big, and there's not much you can do with a guy with so little range when he is the only villain of a story.


THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES-ALL COMICS INCLUDING JASON TODD
Haha, alright, I didn't have a comic to pinpoint this on, but "Sins of the Father" episode set up Tim Drake's character to be mostly Jason Todd. Which would be all fine and dandy except for the fools of us that started reading current Batman stories wondering why Tim Drake is acting like such a nerd and this Red hood character seems so familiar. Trust me, it was very hard to connect The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul's Robin (my first interaction with actual Tim Drake) as being the same Robin from TNBA. VERY hard. It's been a year of rehab to understand he is a totally different character and that I made some very bad assumptions.


TNBA-NIGHTWING MONTHLY
In the first half of the 2000s decade, an issue of Nightwing had a mini fun story about Nightwing interrupting Catwoman pulling off a diamond heist where they end up working together and they have QUITE the flirtation, which she uses wanting to make Bruce jealous and Nightwing laughs his head off. Very similar situation in the episode "You Scratch My Back" as an introduction to Nightwing.


TNBA-BATMAN 3
"Over the Edge" lol. This is how I WANT them to do the next batman movie, have Bane be hired to break Batman's back and all that. Hey, if you're gonna pull from past storylines, do it right!



DARK KNIGHT RETURNS-TNBA-GOTHAM KNIGHT
An episode called "Legends of the Dark Knight" does a little salute to DKR by kids telling stories of what they think Batman is, and one kid tells a mini part of DKR and they animate in a similar style. Gotham Knight tries to profit on this by having 3 kids tell a story about it too, but they don't actually salute anyone but themselves which is what made the original episode win awards. Meh. Okay, okay; I know that Gotham Knight was made to make money, which failed because I just rented it from Blockbusters and never returned it and paid like a 4 dollar fine, but I LIKED IT. Back off!!! haha


THE LONG HALLOWEEN-TNBA
In "Chemistry," Poison Ivy's pretty monster thingy seduces Bruce and gets him to propose, while in Halloween, well, Ivy does the same thing except it's Catwoman who saves him and Ivy is the actual one who seduces Bruce. I mean, that's kinda what Ivy does. Both stories are short, and not very interesting parts in a good legacy.

I Most Agree With This One

Browsing around for the Creative Powers post, I found this -
(click here for the original with pictures!!!!)


"Comics and Hollywood: A Love Story..."

I was quoted recently as saying that the Cartoon Network's Justice League is "...a kid's show. And a poor one at that...". What I meant was there's very little food for thought in your average episode. The beauty of Batman/Superman: The Animated Series is that they were aimed at kids, but designed so that adults could enjoy them too. The stories had meat on their bones. That's just not so with Justice League. JL seems more geared towards the short-attention span crowd. It certainly moves at a faster pace. Most cartoons do that nowadays. Watch the early episodes of The Simpsons and then watch a current one. There's a noticeable change in pacing, style, and overall storytelling techniques. What a difference a decade makes. I suppose this change in style is not so unusual. As a matter of fact, I've seen it all too often. In the comic industry right now, the average reader fits into the 18-34 years old demographic. Young kids used to be the prime audience, but things change. It's the "chicken and the egg" paradox: "Did comics get serious because kids stopped reading, or did kids stop reading because comics got too serious?" It's a mystery for the ages. One universal truth is that comic books have always reflected the times. The post-Depression era "Golden Age"; again with the "Silver Age" in the 60s; then again with "Crisis" in the late 80s, and now most recently post-9/11. The Ultimates, The Authority, and a no-nonsense Captain America, those are all the current buzz-worthy books. I find it truly wonderful that Cap has come full circle. He, like Superman, embodies everything about super-heroism and the American spirit. He's a man out of time, and it's fitting that he adapts so well with the changing culture in our "real world"......

(for the full original with pictures!!!!)
(click above link to continue)

To Be Creative Requires Creativity

I've been watching JLU lately; someday, super heroes with creative powers will be creative with them.

Vixen, the woman who can interpret different animal powers, was growing on me. She's charming, smart, loyal, and spunky. Sure, there's the stereotypical MoTown hot black chick but whatever, I was tired of watching Hawkgirl's "I don't do womanly things" attitude. There's a couple thousand different animals out there in the world, at least a hundred with usable capabilities.

So what does she use? I've seen 5 episodes with her: elephant, cheetah, spider, panther (yeah, they're not real - I mean she just uses some large cat, idk what it is) and donkey.

Sounds alright in list form, until you realize she's using these powers for little less than 5 seconds, and uses elephant and cheetah about 2 or 3 times PER EPISODE. I mean, come on!! Have fun with the damn power you have!



Next we have Green Lantern; I'll take Crazy-Steve-All-Star-Batman's point of view in that Big Green doesn't use the best of his abilities. There's a situation - GL will use: a) a ball of green forcefield, b) a giant green hand, or c) a huge light of green that can do something. SOOO boring. Sure, they can be effective, but again, have some fun with your powers! I bet Green Lanterns of other sectors are more interesting...



Last we have Superman.
(I'll save my overall Superman rant for later times when I can commit to them more, and try to keep this "objective.")

Under Supes' cape we have: speed, strength, laser eyes, freeze breath, near invincibility, flying, breathing in space/underwater
Of these, he uses stength and flying. Yeah, sure, he uses speed. SOMETIMES. Maybe it's the animator's fault, but I expect speed to look fast, like in Dragonball Z or Matrix, you know? He goes generically fast, but no faster than Nightwing when he is supposed to be comparable to Flash... Not buyin it.

He reserves his "cool" powers for 3 episode story archs or very VERY dire situations, but rarely when simple laser vision fixes everything in a jiffy but he prefers to be beaten to pieces and either go "Oh yeah, I can shoot lasers!!" or jump up and say "Naw, naw, I can still throw a punch"



I want Batman to have your powers, so he can just walk up to you and be like "Really? Fuck you for not saving the world 3 million times faster than you have been."

(Yeah, I know Batman gets the Green Lantern Ring at one point but I haven't read the actual situation yet, and the picture I've seen just makes it look like he's from All Star or some Morrison damnation)

Questions I got from formspring!!! (yeah yeah, not all Batman related)

What was your favorite TV show as a child?

EASY - Power Rangers or Batman The Animated Series. or Sailor Moon. or Dragonball Z. or Pokemon. or Tenchi. or Freakazoid. or Gargoyles. or Cowboy Bebop.

wow, tv in my childhood rocked!
what happened?


do you think you like Batman more than me?

somewhat likely if you're the average person, but I am becoming quite partial to Nightwing and Tim Drake.
maybe I'm just tired of the dark - I've been holding onto ol' Bats for a little under 15 years now


When did you get into Batman, and what is it about the stories that appeals to you?

I was introduced to Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne ehhh... when I was about 5? Maybe a bit earlier. Batman: The Animated Series was a show that continued on the feel of the 2 Michael Keaton Batman movies but appropriate for kids, even though it attracted an "older age group" than intended because the writers were really fantastic.

It might be that I appreciate a good mystery. Almost every comic deals with not just the action and mystery, but the concept of insanity, what makes a person be deemed insane, how they are treated, and how close we all are to crossing that fine line. They also touch on strengths - the personal strengths and weaknesses that differ between individuals and how those affect a situation. The cause and effect in the stories is very appealing and usually done well.

Overal I guess it also comes down to that I relate to the character. Isn't that what fiction is usually all about? haha.


How would you describe your personality?

a little bit of this, a little bit of that. geeky. but trained to appear otherwise if chosen to. haha


would you say you are a Ninja-Geek (that being a geek that can hide the geekiness)?

I feel very complimented right now
although I am not very ninja in the true sense of the word


What's your favorite sport?

Badminton or Quidditch


Cuidado! el hombre con el sombrero rojo es muy peligroso!

ermmm... i took Japanese. REAALLY don't know Spanish. my guess?
"my friend, what a red sombrero!!"
(since this I have actually translated it. no idea what this actually means in the sense of importance)

Death in the Family

I think Jason Todd never had a chance.

He was not adopted with love into the family, he had no defining skills before Batman, and.. oh hell.. his last name is Todd. "Tod" in German means death. I feel like that was written in preparation for his short life.

I dunno. It was just a shame.

Damien was included recently with the intent of another death, but considering Bruce STILL has not recovered from the loss of Jason it wouldn't be very good. Just more and more morose Batman.

Because there's not enough of that.

My Disputes with Morrison; The Continuous List

the obvious - RIP followed by the Return. kill him or not, just effing choose

Alfred reads Artemis Fowl? okay, I understand he would be interested in the storyline, but I mean I read them around the age of 11. I expect Alfred's reading level to be above 5th grade.

I like ninjas as much as the next person, but MAN are you obsessed!

ugh eff. I turned the page - manbat ninjas. those look STUPID

wait. with swords? go fuck yourself. why the hell do they need swords?!

you turned Talia Al Ghul into Billie Jean but actually with his kid. but still, a crazy bitch none the less clinging on to "that night you and I shared." obnoxious clingy single mom. no wonder he did not stay with you, even not including the whole father-in-law-trying-to-kill-him thing

right alright, Tim doing a John Smith/Pocahontas reference towards Damien. okay, it was funny. I guess. *_*

reeeallly? Batman screams "Patience is a virtue" when he loses his temper? wtf! almost as bad as Batman's previous fight against punk music...

sometimes you can't make a story that's cohesive within the time frame it's made, so instead you make a parallel-ish future world that's slightly plausible but you later write something that destroys that future you set up. CHOOSE what you want to do, MAKE UP YOUR MIND and don't make bold statements like this that fuck you up in the long run.

these twists. and the concepts. they're not very twisty. like, I'm not all "ohmygodIdidntseethatcoming" or anything. or even interesting enough mysteries that I'm truly dying to find out. it's just there. maybe there were once, but it doesn't seem so anymore

you almost had me accepting you - that RIP was part of a 5 volume story arc that by the end you will fix what you've done, that you are bringing Damien to an important character and retaining Dick Grayson's legacy - but then you decided that the Batman you are using is the SAME one in Frank Miller's All Star Batman? No. No, BAD Grant! Why not choose the Batman from Miller's The Dark Knight Returns? You leave me hurt. Wounded, even.

Quick Comment

I have put in a lot of thought into batman 3 previously (this is not fully developed), but I just thought of a possible plot that was set up without even their knowledge

in Batman Begins they made it very apparent that Alfred had a strong tie to the family and in particular to Martha Wayne. somehow will they be pulling the RIP plot of the Black Glove?

now that Batman is on the run, it's possible for someone to find Bruce's identity and use it against him. it probably wont go into too much Black Glove detail, but they MIGHT pull part of it.

maybe not this movie, but perhaps in the next.

idk. just a thought.

now that i've written it, this sounds more like a 4am idea (which it was) than a logical idea..