SUDDENLY I AM NINE YEARS OLD AGAIN or AWESOME!

I like DC Direct.  I like Mego.  I like the current wave of Mattel action figures.  My absolute favorite DC line of toys EVER was the Super Powers collection.

And I just found some commercials.

I placed the videos below the cut, because I like you.  I found a site years ago that had some great info on the line, including the original pitches and what could have been.  Check that out HERE

Continue reading SUDDENLY I AM NINE YEARS OLD AGAIN or AWESOME!

I WAS AFRAID OF THIS

A friend of mine from Live Journal (Hey, DJ!) posted this on her journal and as the title of this post suggests I was afraid of something like this.

Like the recent Batman sequel — which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far — Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

Yeah, because a dark and brooding Superman is exactly what we need.

Don’t get me wrong.  I loved Dark Knight.  I thought it was a fantastic movie and just what the Batman franchise needed.  My hope was that the execs at Warner Bros. would see that the movie worked because it fit that particular character and and that Iron Man worked because it was right for that character and  that the same would go for Watchmen and that they would say, “Maybe we should do the same for Superman, but make it fit that character.”  My fear was that they would look at the money pouring in from Dark Knight and go, “Hey, it was dark and made money.  Let’s make them all dark and brooding because that must be why it was successful.”

Sigh.

Now it’s all up in the air and I don’t know what is going to happen.  Maybe this approach will end up working.  I was against a full reboot because I liked Routh in the role.  I have multiple issues with Superman Returnsand most of those involved a kid that was about so tall and was chucking pianos about three quarters into the flick.  So I liked Routh and I liked Spacey, but the story left me with problems and I was torn about the reboot.

This reminds me of that period between 1998 and 2004 when all kinds of messed up announcements were coming down the pike and everything looked freaking horrible.  Anyone besides me remember that?  When John Peters was talking about a Superman that would be “bad to know” and Krypton wasn’t going to blow up?  What Warners produces could be great or it could be terrible.  I really have no idea. 

At the end of the day all I want is a Superman film that ends and I not only want to immediately see again but also one that has me going, “That was so freaking cool!”

Only time will tell I guess.

More to follow…

I JUST DON’T CARE: JOE SHUSTER, WHITNEY ELLSWORTH AND ABORTIONS

Well, that’s not quite true.  I do care as in I am a part time student of comic book history, but at the end of the day this is one of those things I don’t think I can get all riled up about.

What I’m talking about is some information that has come to light because of the recent litigation between DC and the Siegels.  Some correspondence between DC and Joe Shuster saw daylight for the first time in decades and holy crap there are some nasty things said in those bits of business.  Here’s an example, thanks to Jeff Trexler over at Newsarama:

[W]hy it is necessary to shade Lois’ breasts and the underside of her tummy with vertical pen-lines we can’t understand. She looks pregnant. Murray suggests that you arrange for her to have an abortion or the baby and get it over with so that her figure can return to something a little more like the tasty dish she is supposed to be.

And the more esoteric…

…which looked like you have apparently dressed her out of a Montgomery Ward catalogue. [Jack Liebowitz] suggests Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar as likelier spots for dress-research.

Apparently Whitney Ellsworth, high muck-a-muck that eventually had a lot to do with the Adventures of Superman television series also believed that Superman looked a bit…well..gay.

From one perspective this is great stuff and will go far, no doubt, in fueling the hatred some feel about how DC treated Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and for the most part I understand that sort of righteous indignation because Siegel and Shuster were dealt a raw deal.  Kind if like the way I feel about Bob Kane and his shafting of Bill Finger when it comes to the creation of Batman, but different.

The thing is that while I think the editors and higher-ups at DC were a bit rough on Jerry and Joe through this correspondence I really can’t bring myself to think of them as evil men.  Looking at it now their comments can be considered very offensive and frankly they are offensive, but it’s easy to look now from our modern and “thoroughly enlightened” perspectives and say, “Grr…evil men…abortion…gay,” and stand on the high peak of moral superiority casting a nasty glare towards the past.

The thing is I just can’t care as much as I maybe should.  To me there are more pressing concerns and add that to the fact that I go through life with the assumption that things were bad back then for just about everyone and there you go.  It’s easy to say that that sort of thing is awful but it is just as easy to say that that’s just the way it was and that we should consider the whole picture and not use current thinking in judging the past.  And because I just don’t want to have that sort of internal struggle right now I just can’t bring myself to get all angry about these recently released documents.

Catch me in a few days when I’ve had some rest.  Then maybe I’ll care.  Right now I find it interesting, a little funny in the way I find offensive humor to be funny and that’s just about it.

More to follow…

UPDATE or THE SUPERMAN FESTIVAL IS TEMPORARILY POSTPONED.

And I really didn’t want to postpone it either, but that’s how it worked out.

I had a plan.  I really did.  I was going to spend the end of July writing all of the posts ahead of time so I could just crank them out daily.  I forgot one simple thing, though.

Back to school.

My day job is that of a department manager at a big box office supply store.  We take care of business as opposed to simply saying that that was easy.  This time of year is busy for us because the area schools are getting ready to start up again.  Add to that Georgia’s Tax Free Holiday and I am one tired human being.

So if you were looking forward to the Reign of the Supermen stuff I am sorry.  It’s coming, just not in the next week or so.  I really want to have everything done before I transform and roll out.

Sorry.  My bad.

Oh!  Thanks to the people who have been leaving comments.  I really appreciate it.  James is one of my buddies from the Superman Homepage who writes bang up reviews of the old Superman radio series and some kick ass retro reviews as well.  BrianR is someone I don’t think I have spoken to online but seems like a good egg and has a neat blog called Comics In Crisis, which I greatly enjoyed and need to add to my blog roll.  And my boy Fiduch is a Live Journal friend, so seeing him comment was neat too.

Oh yeah.  Some guy named Shag keeps commenting too.

Just kidding.  Shag’s a very good friend of mine.

So there you have it.  Stuff is coming.  It’s just delayed.  I feel bad but unfortunately this blog is something that sometimes has to be put off when time is tight.

More to follow…