Thursday, April 28, 2011

Wonder Woman: not a class act?

Of course I can't find the link that I was going to comment on.  There was another item about the Wonder Woman pilot in the news recently regarding the costume.  There were some words from David E. Kelley about a scene in the pilot where Diana is driving and gets cut off by some guy, then gets pissed off and chases him down and yells at him.  And I remember thinking, "That just doesn't seem like something Wonder Woman should do."

I have yet to read an actual solo Wonder Woman comic, so maybe I'm off the mark, but I always thought she was something of a dignified class act.

Or maybe she really is a little uncouth and I never noticed?

Click to en-biggen.

Wonder Woman shows up every now and then on "Hark, a Vagrant," a web comic of delightful randomness.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Booster Gold on Smallville: A Review!

I don't post reviews here often enough.  But over the weekend was the event that was "Booster Gold Shows Up On Smallville."  There was much rejoicing.  My non-comics best friend came over.  I wore my Booster Gold t-shirt.  We made a night of it.  Becuase how else are we ever going to see B-list (okay, C-list) superheroes in live action, if not for Smallville?

I've always taken Smallville for what it is: a coming-of-age soap opera with all its trappings.  I never really was a fan of it until I got roped into it by my friend, who faithfully watched the show from its beginning.  I just couldn't reconcile the differences with continuity (the first example being how young Clark's parents are, the second being all these random superheroes originating in Smallville.)  Anyway, when Smallville became the C-List Cameo Show a few seasons ago, and I heard the name "Maxwell Lord" uttered by my friend, I got drafted in.  After giving her a DC Universe education, that is.

Geoff Johns wrote last week's Booster Gold episode, which instilled a little bit of confidence in me that one of my all-time favorite characters would be handled well.  He did, after all, write a great run on Booster's solo book, which I rank as some of my favorite comic stories.

Well, I can't say I was overwhelmed by this episode, but I was just happy to see Booster Gold in live action.

The Visuals:  I'm a nitpicker, and though the costume was shiny in the right places, it was lacking in others.  This being Smallville, it was of course, leather, so I can forgive that, becuase every superhero costume on Smallville is leather.  But I don't like fake abs.  And no shiny gold pants = sadness.  But it was a design I could live with.

Except for the awkward hanging crotch protector thingy.  I honestly can't live with that.

I'm a big nitpicker for hair, I will admit to that.  And Booster's hair was all wrong: it was just frosted blonde on the top, not all blonde, so the back of his head was brown.  And his hair was just too short.  For one of the DCU's most amazingest hair-dos, you've got to try harder to do it justice.

The Acting: Eric Martsolf played Booster more like his "52" incarnation: cocky, brash, self-promoting, and kind of a jerk.  But a jerk with a heart of gold!  I kind of prefer the screws-up-all-the-time-despite-hist-best-efforts Booster, but Martsolf played the ham quite well, and both my friend and I were entertained.  And thanks to Geoff Johns, in the end of the episode we got to hear Booster talk about his insecurities, which I think is a big part of the character.

The Writing: Okay, I'm not a big Jaime Reyes fan.  Not only did he start out as the replacement to Ted Kord, but I don't like the whole prisoner-of-the-scarab schtick.  That's just too angsty for me, and it always seems like Jaime would fit better in the Marvel universe than the DC one.  I prefer the plucky, industrious, corporate inventor Ted Kord Blue Beetle.  Sorry, I just ain't letting go of Ted.

That being said, I actually liked Jaime Reyes here, which is saying a lot.  He worked in the context of the Smallville universe: Geoff Johns, proving he is a master of things that make you go "awww, poor kid," (or known by the high-falutin' term, "character identification") shows Jaime being picked on by his peers involving a can of shaken soda, and just when you think things are looking up, a lovely girl comes over and hands him her can.  Which then explodes in his face, proving the girl was in on it.  Ouch.

Then the scarab escapes from Kord Industries and bonds with him, and things go downhill from there.  Jaime comes to Booster for help, and in typical Booster fashion he brushes him off.  Jaime (this time fully enclosed within the scarab armor and unable to control it) comes back to assassinate Booster.  The resulting climax highlights both Jaime's need to control the scarab, and Booster's realization that he's a failure of a superhero.  All of this plays out under the watchful eye of Clark Kent, who previously gave Booster his pearls of wisdom about a suit not making you a superhero, and Booster tells this to Jaime, and Jaime regains control of the suit.  He then decides he'll keep the scarab and go on to fight evil with it.  (Leading right into the Blue Beetle solo TV series...perhaps...)  They seemed to depower Booster a bit, and though I kept yelling at the TV to "Use your force field, Booster!  Use your force field!" he never did, so all he had on hand were his wrist blasters and Legion flight ring.

Right before the climax, my mother wandered into the room and after the usual questions, "Who's that guy?" which of course prompted the most cogent explanation of Booster Gold to date from myself: "It's Booster Gold, Ma.  I like him because he's shiny!  Look, I have his shirt!"  And then we had to field all the Smallville-related questions about why there's the S-symbol but no one calls Clark Kent "Superman" and how come he's wearing a red leather jacket instead of a cape, and is that blonde girl supposed to be Lois Lane?  Momma Liss = John Q. Public's view of superheroes.  And kind of a vocal one.  Anyway, she liked Jaime.  "Oh, that poor kid!" was the verdict on Jaime.

There's also the typical intrigue of "is Booster good or isn't he?!  Is he trying to take Clark's place?!" that is another staple of Smallville cameo episodes.  The same was true of Ted Kord: "who is this guy working for?"

By the way.

I forgot to mention Ted Kord was in this episode.

EXCITEMENT!

I think I was more excited to see Ted Kord than I was Booster Gold.  For one, the casting was dead on.  Tell me this guy doesn't look like Ted:

Go ahead: tell me this guy doesn't look like Ted Kord and I will HIT you.

Not only that, but he seemed EXACTLY like the Ted Kord from Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  Which made me insanely happy for some reason, to see that B:TB&TB is having an influence on someone as mighty as Geoff Johns.  Hopes that it might be renewed anyone?  Maybe?  Please?  For those not familiar with Blue Beetle's appearances on B:TB&TB, he's quite a bit more serious than the Ted of the Bwa-ha-ha JLI days, and he's intelligent, dedicated, competent, and shown as the genius industrialist that he is.  Which is one aspect of his character that often falls by the wayside: people forget he invented a whole ton of gadgets.  Just like Batman.  Only better.  Like a gravity-defying airship that'll beat out a pansy Bat-Plane anyday.

There were no silly bwa-ha-ha moments here at all, becuase not only is Smallville is a pretty dark universe, but in this incarnation, Ted and Booster don't know each other.

I know, right?!  It's like...sacrilege!  But if they had known each other, then Ted would've vouched for Booster's reputation, and the plot would've flown right out the window.  But Ted was here, he had a sizable role, and that made me happy, and he was onscreen enough for me to annoy my friend by shouting, "OMG IT'S TED KORD!" about every thirty seconds or so.  And the best part is: Ted didn't die.  No one did.  See?  Good stories can be written where all the characters live!

Everything tied up rather nicely, with Booster taking on a mentorship role to Jaime (much like in the comics) and Ted and Booster had a chance to meet each other.  Diehard Smallville fans (like my friend) were excited becuase it was the first episode where Clark used a telephone booth to change into his "costume," such as it is.  I can't say I was that excited about that, only becuase I can't believe that there are phone booths in big cities anymore, but I like the nostalgia it evinces.

The verdict: It made me happy.  It made my friend happy.  We ended the night watching the Booster Gold episode from Justice League Unlimited to make up for the lack of Skeets in the episode.  Skeet's voice could be heard on Booster's little earpiece, but we didn't see him, and he wasn't sarcastic enough.  No problem, though: JLU cartoon to the rescue!

Momma Liss's verdict: "This isn't Superman!"  Truer words were never said.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Booster Gold by "enolianslave" on DeviantArt

Because I just saw the Booster Gold episode of Smallville, and it's been a while since he's shown up here.  And becuase I love Skeets:

booster by *enolianslave on deviantART

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

It's takes a little guts....

...to go meta.  Not "meta" like "meta gene."  "Meta" like "meta-textual."  Especially when you say something like this:


And so Giffen and DeMatteis's run on Booster Gold comes to a close.  There's some odd banter on the Scans Daily page for this issue which bears reading.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Crocheted Manhunter

Okay, beat this for cuteness:

Oh yeah, and Batman.

A crocheted plush Martian Manhunter, made by an acquaintance of Mikeyb79 on DeviantArt.  So adorable!!!  I love his face.  You can find pictures of other crocheted Justice Leaguers on Mikeyb79's profle on DeviantArt.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Martian Manhunter redesign by Joel Ojeda


I found this somewhat randomly online.  Some think the Martian Manhunter's costume is begging to be redesigned.  And yet I never seem to find a redesign I fully like.  This is an interesting take, especially noteworthy becuase it jettisons the red chest straps in a pretty unique way.  I could actually get used to parts of this design.  It's hard to tell because it's rather dark, but it looks like his cape is blue on the outside, and lined with red, which I find rather interesting as well.  I could do without J'onn's tribal tattoos and claw-like fingernails, but on the whole, it's one of the few redesigns that I almost like.

What do you all think?

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Never pass up an opportunity to poke fun at Batman...


He has a little megaphone!  :D

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Three costumes for Wonder Woman

Or so the president of NBC says.  So she'll have the ugly light blue pleather thing, the rodeo queen star-bedazzled redesign, and the Lynda Carter original.

Also, he says that the redesigned costume wasn't becuase of fan feedback.

“There was an initial outcry about the long pants – you know, skintight pants as opposed to those little shorts [worn by Lynda Carter in the original TV series],” Greenblatt concedes to TVLine.com. “But the shorts were always planned. They are actually used in the final confrontation when she beats Veronica Cale (played by Elizabeth Hurley).”

Why are TV executives (or movie executives, for that matter) so cocksure about the changes you've made to an idea you don't own, and which has been around for seventy-plus years?

“We haven’t made any changes from what was planned,” the NBC boss reiterates. “But it’s always good to hear the feedback. I’d rather have people really passionately engaged in conversation, even if they hate something, than be kind of bored.”

Sure...I welcome your feedback, John Q. Public, but I'm not going to listen to you!  Get angry about what we're doing!  That means you'll TUNE IN!  Muahahahahaha!

No, I'm not jaded at all.  Not in the least.

You can read a more professional run-down of the latest Wonder Woman news here.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Unknown Star Wars comic art

Wow, it's been nearly a week since I posted.  Time is getting away from me!

I love me some painted comics art with a Golden Age flair.  It's not DC, but it's so pretty I couldn't pass it up.  I'm a big Star Wars fan, but I never got into reading the comics (mostly becuase I'm one of those purists who just likes the original series.)  Unfortunately, the blog where I found this doesn't tell me who painted it or where it's from.

But, hey, enjoy some pretty art.  I'm a sucker for sarcastic loner space captains.  Hmm...maybe I should find some Vril Dox comics to read...

Monday, April 4, 2011

Green Lantern movie Wonder-con footage...

Did anyone get a gander at the exclusive scenes shown to Wonder-Con viewers?

I can't embed it, but if you go here, and click on "Wonder-con Footage," you'll see a four-minute clip from the upcoming Green Lantern movie.

I can't help feeling more and more that the approach to this movie is completely wrong.  It's just too steeped in Chris Nolan Batman-esque tones, complete with Hal Jordan imitating RAWRI'MBATMANVOICE in the last lines of the clip.

I could live with that, though, if Hal Jordan still had white gloves.

But there's one line that I find ridiculous:

Tomar Re is sent to greet Hal Jordan as he arrives on Oa, and suddenly Hal's (ugly, misshapen) mask disappears.  (Apparently Hal has no input into the appearance of his uniform, either.)

Hal looks puzzled, to which Tomar Re explains, "Your mask will appear when protection of your identity is required."

Hollywood-ese translation:

Ryan Reynolds wanted more face time.

*sigh*