New Caffeinated Comics!

The animated version of "The Dark Knight Returns" is so good we have to wonder why Frank Miller isn't. Steven Brown and Dave Gonzales are back to talk about the rise and fall of comic geniuses. Plus, Mike Drucker checks in on Skype to offer his opinion.


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KnightFall DC Animated film idea

Now that "The Dark Knight Returns" has finally been animated in to two films, the next logical choice for Batman is Knightfall. This 90's mega series was DC's Bat answer to the Death of Superman. And like that story it was extremely popular and ran too long.

A single animated film like "Superman/Doomsday" would truncate the story too much losing key elements of the saga. Jamal Igle thinks it should be done as 3 films and is currently running a Facebook thread on that hypothesis. here's how it can be done in 2:

Knightfall 1:
Cold open. Batman fights Biis in the snowcapped mountains and is aided by Azreal. They defeat him but Azreal demonstrates his power and mental instability. He collapses in Batman's arms.

Bane breaks open Arkham Asylum (with Dark Knight Rises Bane is an "A" lister known to the general public and doesn't need a long Vengeance of Bane setup). Batman gets the call in the Batcave and tells Azreal to stay behind. He and Robin got out into the madness of Gotham.

The second act is pure fights. Mad Hatter. Killer Croc, two-Face and finally Joker and Scarecrow.  Batman arrives alone to the Batcave and is beaten by Bane. (in a deviation Jean Paul could be in the cave and unable to help. This gives him the motivation for revenge). Bane tosses Bruce's body into the center of town.

The city gets worse. Robin, knowing that the city needs a Batman, convinces Azreal to put on the suit. He's only supposed to show his face but his conditioning leads him right to Bane. This fight is more brutal and ends in Azreal's victory. The hero won but it leaves with an unsettling tone.

Knightfall 2:
It's three months later. Azreal is now an armored batman, working alone. Robin is blocked from the Batcave.

Bruce is slowly healing, relearning martial arts. No magical healing properties, just a slow recovery like in Dark Knight Rises.

Azreal fights Joker. He kills one of Joker's henchmen. (rather than the 'd' lister Abattoir)

Bruce meets Azreal on the rooftops and asks for the return of the mantle (no reason to have two confrontations in the Batcave). Azreal, still with blood on his hands, refuses and batman chases him acrossthe city. We have teh bridge sequence, Azreal losing more and more of his mind to St. Dumas.

We end in the Batcave. Bruce beats Azreal by his wits and his connection to the darkness. There is only one Batman.

This version loses Bane's henchmen, Shondra Kinsloving and even Nightwing but keeps the overall story intact. A good guide for this cleaner version is Denny O'Neil's prose novelization of Knightfall.

Make sense?

The Adventures of Cryman

Introducing Ben's first superhero; Cryman.

His origin: "He gets made fun of by bad guys and he cries and the water washes them away so no one wants to make fun of him anymore."

Original powers, a tragic origin and a positive message about bullying. Not bad for a 5 year old. Now let's work on the costume design.

Caffeinated Comics 2

This should prove we're serious.

The second podcast of "Caffeinated Comics" is up now! This episode, steven Brown, and Jon Clarke welcome Dave Gonzales to the studio to talk batman. We'll discuss where he's going now that Nolan has finished his films and Grant Morrison is wrapping up his six year comic run. Then we'll get very sidetracked talking Tim Burton. Plus, a visit from the host of "The Bat Signal" podcast, Jeff Sussman! All in one hour and all for free.


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The Hobbit Review

I saw "An Unexpected Journey" at the midnight preview. Only fell asleep twice.

Here's the full review. 

Caffeinated Comics 1

Here is the first podcast I've done in three years. In that time I got better equipment, moved four states and started hanging out at my local comic store. The store that sponsors this show. If you're a regular reader of this blog (which in the last couple of years has become impossible) you'll find the exact same opinions, jokes and self doubt that's been a signature of this blog, now in audio form.

Listen above or subscribe on itunes. 

The Dark Knight Rises Review

It's up at Chimera.

I can't decide if I'm still blown away or need to see it again right now.

Amazing Spider-Man review

Over at Chimera Comics.

It's good but I still found the reboot unnecessary.

Avengers Review

Of course I wrote one. And I gave it to Chimera's Comics.

They have it here.

It was crazy good.

Fantastic Four: Season One Review

I love Chimera's Comics. So much that when they asked me to write a review of the new Fantastic Four hardcover, I sent it right to them without linking it here. That mistake is now corrected.

Here it is.

Christmas is a Time For Trailers

Dark Knight Rises. here it is. Have no idea what it's about.. Except football. And awesome.



The Hobbit don't care it's coming out six months a later. It's putting out a trailer today and making you love it.



There you go. Two trailers at Christmas that make you hate the fact that it's Christmas. And not next summer. Or next Christmas.

2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Good lineup this year, including:

Guns n' Roses
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Beastie Boys
Donovan
Faces

Somehow I care less than years past. Maybe it's Eddie Trunks' tirades against the place. Maybe it's the fact that my second trip there was so underwhelming. Or maybe it's the fact that the bands I grew up with are now being entered proves that I am so very old.

Full article.

Doctor Who Christmas Prequel

All I want for Christmas is to watch this uninterrupted.



Direct link.

The Muppets

The Muppets is seeing the person you loved with all your heart doing the exact thing that made you fall in love with them in the first place.

Jason Segal managed to tap into the core insight of his generation. One that said, "I love the Muppets and I wish they would do something good." As the film rolls out that generation smiles in the realization that their dreams have come true precisely the way they dreamed.

It doesn't matter that the Muppets weren't actually forgotten. Their viral videos have hits in the millions and NBC aired a new Christmas special in 2009. Because the message of this film isn't, "the Muppets haven't done anything in a long time". It's "the Muppets haven't been BIG in a long time". And this movie corrects that injustice.

It also doesn't matter that the plot basically recycles the one in 2002's A Very Muppet Christmas. Or that Walter, the new Muppet is slightly bland. This movie is about the small moments, the characters and the tone. And the tone is spot on. It's hilarious, touching, poignant, manic, everything that made "The Muppet Show" one of the greatest series ever.

It's not the same as "The Muppet Show". It never will be now that the main creators, not just Henson but Frank Oz, Richard Hunt and to a lesser extent Jerry Nelson, have all moved on. But it can still be every good. Take a look at Cartoon Network's new "Looney Tunes" series. They'll never capture the magic of that era again, but they can do something modern, sharp and true to the characters. In short, something worth watching.

The movie's already done very well, coming in only behind the new Twilight. This puts the franchise back in Disney's focus, one distracted by PIXAR and Marvel. But I don't know what they'll do with it. This movie is all about bringing the Muppets back but doesn't give us any clue what to do with them next. At the very least Disney should finally release the long delayed season 4 and 5 dvds and the original Muppet films on Blu-Ray.

Whatever they do, I want more 80's Robot.

Beavis and Butthead

I spent approximately 38% of my college years staying up all night drinking warm 40s of Budweiser and watching Beavis and Butthead with Howie Weingarten. And I didn't realize how much I missed it.

Mike Judge brought the show back last night after a 14 haitus. In that time he created King of The Hill and made three great cult films. Now he brings everything he learned from his other projects.

I watched some of the old episodes in preparation. They're still as funny as they were in the 90's but crude, choppy and with jokes that only work on one level. Judge has made this run even better. The two short episodes last night were painful, hilarious and true. The animation is clean and slick, the satire working more subtly but still filled with the two biggest idiots in the world slowly killing themselves (which explains why MTV picked up Jackass right after B&B ended).

And thankfully, the commentary segments are back, long discarded from Netflix and dvds. The best jokes are once again saved for videos no one has ever seen and, because that's the network MTV is now, reality shows get a central focus. They couldn't be more deserving.

When I first saw this show, I had no job, lived in my parents basement, and had one friend near my house. Now I have my own house, my own family, no job and all my friends on Facebook. I am no less into this show. And yes, after all these years I like Butthead but I love Beavis.

One complaint for the record; putting it on against It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (and a great one at that)? Way to fight over the same demographic, MTV.

Zombies Vs. Vampires

Halloween is right around the corner (Monday but if you doing anything about it, it's Saturday) and that means lots of monster movies on AMC, centered around new episodes of The Walking Dead. It's as good as season one and considering the shape of our economy, just as well timed.

Zombie movies always do well in terrible economies. The backdrop of the collapse of society resonates with people at their core. The modern zombie era began with George Romero's Night of the Living Dead in 1968, a year of complete unrest. Even the Beatles didn't get along. But in 1978 was his sequel, Dawn of the Dead. That film, still considered the high watermark of the genre came out amongst gas lines, inflation and a weakening Jimmy Carter.

Conversely, vampire movies do well in good economies. When people don't have to worry about the world turning against them, they worry about the outcast; a sinister creature who will lure you alone to your death. Despite Bela Lugosi's turn during the Depression, Christopher Lee enjoyed a run as Dracula in the post war bliss of the 1950's, Fright Night and the Lost Boys found success in the Reagan era, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer ran under Clinton.

What's happening right now is we're seeing a resurgence of both at once. Yes, things are that fucked up. The zombies are easy to explain; this country has been in a sorry state since the tech bubble burst in 2000 and has been slowly sinking ever since. Everyone I know has at least a plan in their head of what to do when they'll lose their jobs, an inevitability these days. The end of their world is only a "come into my office" away.

Yet vampires have survived thanks solely to demographics; they're all aimed at teenagers. The Lost Boys pioneered the idea of sexy teenage vampires. Buffy carried it over into a post 911 world and Twilight since has owned the entire genre, getting skinnier and more topless with each installment. Teenagers don't care about the economy; they care only about themselves as turbulent hormones and emotional states cloud everything else (which also explains my terrible high school grades).

People have said zombies are about gore, vampires are about sex. But I believe it goes deeper than that. Zombies are about the world, vampires are about the self. Which are you afraid of?

Cracked.com of all places corroborates with most of these theories, albeit for different reasons. So I can still be original.

Thoughts on the Star Wars Blu-Ray

The worst thing that could have happened to The Phantom Menace was The Matrix coming out one month earlier.

The worst thing that could have happened to Attack of the Clones was Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring coming out six months earlier.

The worst thing that could have happened to Revenge of the Sith was George Lucas coming out with more movies.

Batman: Year One Blu-Ray

In my sophomore year of high school I rediscovered Batman. I spent December of 1987 in bed with pneumonia and a copy of The Dark Knight Returns. When I got out I found the final issue of Year One in a comic store. Batman, ten years after Adam West reruns after kindergarten, became my favorite character again. It's a story I haven't gone a year without reading.

And now Bruce Timm has made a movie of it. Not simply using inspiration the way Nolan made Batman Begins but a full-on shot for shot, line for line adaptation. And it works exceptionally well. Where many adaptations have simply captured the moments of the book (Watchmen, the early Harry Potter films) Timm captures the spirit of the book.

In many ways, Year One is the peak of Frank Miller's work. It's a crime noir, a genre Miller would rarely leave. But where Daredevil showed broad sketches and archetypes and Sin City would devolve into outlandish characatures, Year One is balanced, down to earth yet exciting. The movie captures that balance eloquently.

Using the comic as storyboards, it's initially disconcerting in motion. David Mazzuchelli is a genius in finding the right moment for each panel, usually the result of action rather than action itself. Seeing this much violence felt wrong but looking back at the book, every single moment in the movie is a a direct adaptation. It's both faithful and heightens the excitement.

Part of what made Year One so revolutionary is that it spends as much time on Jim Gordon as batman. The film spends even more, removing most of Batman's interior monologue while keeping Gordon's intact. And performing him is the perfectly cast Bryan Cranston.

I'm a huge fan of Cranston and Breaking Bad because I am human. According to Comic Book Resources, Cranston initially passed on Year One, claiming he didn't want to do animation. It was only after recognizing the quality of the writing that he signed on. And he brings every bit of commitment and intensity from his series onto the movie. You can't believe this is the performance of of an actor not used to voice work. In every way, this is Cranston's show.

I've seen criticism online of Ben McKenzie's performance of Batman but I like it. This is not Batman at the peak of powers with a full utility belt, Batcave and teen sidekick. This is a young man trying to find out who he is without the confidence or gravitas Kevin Conroy brings to the part. It;s just right.

With each direct to video movie Bruce Timm releases (usually 3 a year) it's getting harder and harder to rank them. But no matter how many films the DC team will produce, Batman: Year One will always stand out.

And the Catwoman short is pretty awesome.

Tele Project

Anyone who knew me in the 90's remembers this guitar:



It was the only electric guitar I owned until 2002. It was beautiful, it sounded amazing and it weighed 11 pounds. Every guitarist that picked up exhaled quickly. In retrospect I was so hyper in my youth I needed a heavy guitar to keep me on the stage. But over the years it was way too much. Once I got a Les Paul (a freaking Les Paul) I put it down for the lighter guitar (the lighter guitar being a freaking Les Paul!).

I did love the Tele though and with this being such a strong guitar I couldn't justify another. On 2007 I added a Strat (first shown here):



But it wasn't quite the same. I kept dreaming about a blond, banged up, snarly sounding Tele, like Keith Richards or Bruce Springsteen. Then early this summer, I saw a listing for a Tele on thegearpage.net. Blonde, light, with an American body and Mexican neck for $500. I pulled the trigger and after a frustrating two weeks where the guitar went to Astoria and reshipped to Chicago, I received it. And it wasn't right. The neck was chunky and sat high, the strings buzzed and the neck pickup was thuddy. A pro setup and new strings helped a little but gigging with it didn't get me to love it. So I went to work.

After a fret polish at the shop, the old neck went on. It felt great; a new body with a vintage neck that was broken in by my own hand. But it still sat too high. I measured the neck pocket. It was 1/2 an inch when it should have been 5/8". I don't know why I was feeling so adventurous but I went to Home Depot and bought a router. After a morning practicing on spare wood, I slowly and methodically erased 1/8" of wood from the neck pocket. The neck went back in and felt more natural. I put the non locking tuners from my Strat on the headstock (light and simple is the key to this guitar) and the whole thing felt great. But didn't sound so great.

Many players hate the lipstick tube neck pickup. Now I know why. While I always loved the look, the sound is dead and thuddy. It had to go. I researched a ton aftermarket lipstick tubes but a couple of recommendations put me straight. I needed a humbucker in there.

The PAF clones were an early idea but I eventually settled on a used TV Jones. And it was the right call. The neck setting just glistened and in the middle position; magic.

I ordered a humbucker pickguard but it didn't fit the smaller TV Jones. So I went back to the single coil guard and routed. And routed. And routed. It's not the prettiest cut but this guitar wasn't designed to be pretty. It was designed to be badass. I don't know what the bridge pickup is but it sounds great so it stays.

I'm slowly relicing the body by keeping it out of its case and near the cement foundation of the house. I'd like to minimize that 20 year gap between the neck and body.

After all that work, I now own this:



Ii sounds amazing. Strong, alive, bold and comfortable. Everything I want a guitar to be. I always wanted to build my own Tele. And this is as close as I could without carving the wood myself. I couldn't sell it if I wanted to. But I'll never want to.

iPad pedalboard

Last year I bought a Line 6 Pod HD500. I was playing in a band 30 miles away and sick of hauling a Marshall stack every week. It worked well but I couldn't get past the fact that I was playing a digital simulator. I also felt trapped in the presets as I had to sync it to a desktop to make any real changes.

That Christmas Renee got me Amplitube for IPad. It was a good practice tool but again limiting. I also lost the adapter somewhere in NY and never used the app again.

Digitech has taken this idea a step further and integrated the iPad right into a pedalboard.



This concept, while cool, doesn't seem to have a huge benefit. The board is still huge and needs an adapter to run but now it contains an expensive iPad. At a gig I'd rather have the iPad on a music stand to look up lyrics or, better yet, at home where it can't get damaged or swiped. If the it was much smaller and lighter and could be powered by the iPad's internal battery you'd really have something. As it is, it looks like Digitech made this board not because of any need for guitarists, but because they could.