It’s here! It’s finally here! The seminal 50th issue of my favorite comic book series out now is here and wow, does it ever make good on its promise and hype! If the allusions to the first issue with Carl on the cover isn’t enough, we’re also given a wonderful variant that features all of the gang fighting the Gov and his crew… as superheroes! They’re bulky, they’re muscle bound and they have powers! Rick has a super fist, Michonne has a light saber, and Tyreese punches the head off of roamers with ease and giant fists.
The Walking Dead #51
Carl is reading “Elsewhere.” Carl… is reading “Elsewhere”! A book he loves about a grief stricken young girl that lost her entire family too early, who becomes a woman too fast and longs for a time that was simpler and more innocent. You just… I don’t know, you have to love it, don’t you? Damn you Kirkman and your demented genius for making such a correlation.
Birds of Prey: The Complete Series (2002) (DVD)
I can imagine that if there were a commentary for the “Birds of Prey” DVD set, it would begin with “Well… it seemed like a good idea at the time.” And in theory, it does seem like a great concept. After the success of “Smallville” the (then) WB Network tapped the well by digging in to the Batman universe. What with the new franchise being developed how do you work around DC’s ridiculously strict guidelines of not including the same character in more than two property? You make stuff up, and work with what you have. “Birds of Prey” is based on the successful comic book series where Gotham’s girls team up to take on crime. The problem was that audiences just didn’t care for these characters, and what was worse was that well… it sucked. I saw the entire series on the WB Network when it first premiered and I couldn’t stand how awful it was.
Roger Dodger (2002)
See kids, this here’s what we call a thinking piece. It’s verbose, intelligent, evenly paced, and all kinds of brilliant, which is why I’m glad it never got in to the hands of a commercial director, because with tweaking it could have been a very cheesy rip off of “Alfie” in the vein of “Hitch.” “Roger Dodger” is a character study about a womanizer whose principles are always of use to the aspiring lover of all women, while the individual is so sleazy and manipulative that he may soon find himself alone and without a person to love be they a wife or any other family near him. Though Dylan Kidd does demonize the man who approaches women with such disrespect, he also explores that the character Roger isn’t truly a lost cause to society.
Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) (Two-Disc Special Edition)
So it’s finally here, the long awaited mid-quel to “Batman Begins” that leads right in to “The Dark Knight.” While Warner is taking a fantastic approach to this mid-quel by enlisting a host of top notch cutting edge animators and keeping true to the dark adult nature of the movies, even casting the one and only Kevin Conroy to voice Batman yet again (and he doesn’t miss a beat), “Gotham Knight” feels more like a template of which Christopher Nolan could expand upon should he decide to continue the series after “The Dark Knight.” There are only so many rogues who can be justified on screen with realism, but “Gotham Knight” provides us with some famous villains who could excel with a big screen treatment under the right people.
Spaced: The Complete Series (DVD)
Hey nineties brats, do you remember the running man? You know what I’m talking about, that dance that’s a mixture of running in place and the moonwalk sans the motion? Well, that’s what I was doing when I received this from Warner. The running man. I thought I’d forgotten how to, but apparently not. “Spaced” finally comes to DVD in the US bringing with it a slew of extras, and some of the funniest comedy in a sitcom that took many years to get to the states.
Our Top 10 Minority Superheroes
Whether “Hancock” ends up as a fantastic attempt at creating a franchise around an original hero, or just a pure messy product of a big star known for hits like “Wild Wild West” and… ugh… “Men in Black” will be irrelevant in the end. Because even after the receipts have been counted, the message is loud and clear. “Hancock” is a try for a superhero that’s anything other than Caucasian. In a season of comic book movies where all the major men in tights are white, “Hancock” seems to be Will Smith’s own Superman. It’s his superhero.
And that inspired this new list. Our top 10 Minority Superheroes. Most of whom could make for some interesting movies. Oddly enough I had a tough time finding great minority superheroes, wouldn’t you know it? I could have opted for more Asian choices but they’re already quite prominent in comics and pop culture with the same glut of stereotypes, but with much more accessibility. Hispanic and African American Superheroes, though? The pot strains it thin, but I was up for the challenge.