Matt’s Week in Dork! (11/11/12-11/17/12)

    As my job takes up more of my time and energy during this season, I’ve done little of note this week, other than passing out early most nights.  A little reading, and not much else.  Other than, of course, the movies.


Skyfall:  The newest adventure of James Bond take our hero to the brink of death and back again, making him question the very nature of what he does and those to whom he owes allegiance.  The movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but I didn’t need or expect it to.  It’s a solid, enjoyable entry in the venerable series, and Daniel Craig continues to put in the best performance as Bond since Connery.  It continues to be mostly gadget free, with dirty fist fights and occasional gunplay.  And dang, but Naomie Harris was gorgeous.

Armitage: Dual Matrix:  The English dub on this is all kinds of deep hurting.  Juliette Lewis is as hard to listen to.  And the other usual suspects of English dubbing are as awful as always (holy crap the little kid is just dreadful).  Switching to the Japanese is suggested.  As far as the movie and its story go, meh.  Pretty typical anime with all the usual character designs running through all the expected hoops.  I’ve seen worse, but that doesn’t mean it’s good.

Faceless:  Helmut Berger is the effete plastic surgeon.  Brigitte Lahaie is his murderous companion.  Lots of stuff about plastic surgery and kidnapping young women.  Lots of bad dubbing and worse Chris Mitchum.  Will the blood and flesh of young women fix the face of Berger’s crazy acid-face sister?  Who cares.  The music is killer, and the editing even more abrasive.  And why does a maggot covered, severed head make the sound of someone opening a bag of chips?  I’m pretty sure they don’t make a sound at all.  And I’m quite sure that if they did, that wouldn’t be it.  This is probably the best Jess Franco film I’ve seen.  It’s OK.

Dr. No:  Sean Connery is a charming bastard in this, the first of the venerable James Bond franchise.  While not the first actor to play Bond, he certainly made his mark on the character and became the gold standard by whom all future actors would (and will) be judged.  Bond travels to an exotic location, beds several exotic women, drives some stylish cars, wears some stylish suits, kills with brutality, and looks good doing it.  The sets and designs are fantastic.

Tobor the Great:  Science!  The whole movie keeps making you think it’s going to turn into a ‘robot rampage’ film, but being made in the 50s, when science could still be used for good in film, it never does.  It does have some of those dastardly communists looking to snatch the secret of telepathic robot control.  Nothing really amazing here, but it’s a fun bit of Science! fiction of that era.  The robot (Tobor…you see, it’s robot spelled backward) is cool.

Bad Inclination:  Well, the name kind of sums it up.  It’s a bad inclination to keep seeking out these movies.  I know that, but I do it anyway.  It’s an attempt at homage to the 70s gore/murder films of the Italian ‘masters.’  As such, it’s fair.  But it also points out how that genre/style of film was limited and rather silly.  A few moderately attractive starlets get murdered.  Lots of amazingly awkward dubbing with very, very weird vocabulary.  A few twists, but none very interesting.

Witchery:  “Witches and rainbows and s#!t.”  When the acting titans Linda Blair and David Hasselhoff come together, the cosmic energies they release can only produce works of amazing amazingness.  Lots of amazing actors, from the hideous old lady who seems to suffer a stroke every time she speaks, to the slow-talking kid, to the kind of drunk, slurry Catherine Hickland.  Hasselhoff’s creepy pressure on his virgin girlfriend to give it up…pure class.  A half hour in, and I was checking my watch.  Anything gonna happen?  Anybody gonna notice the slow kid wandered off?  Or that the pregnant woman is going into fits?  No.  ‘Cause that might mean something would happen.  Where did they dig up all these hideous actors?  When Hasselhoff is too good for a movie, which he is, you know it’s a turd.  Was this a TV movie?  I guess not, as there is eventually some nudity.  Maybe Canadian TV?  Whatever the case, by an hour in, I was just begging it to stop.

"My bay-bay!"

Steel Dawn: “You don’t make me puke.”  Zen Master Patrick Swayze and blonde beauty Brion James battle evil after the fall of Man.  This low budget crap is still oddly charming for all its hack imitation of better films.  You won’t mistake this for The Road Warrior, but if you’re in the mood for one of the countless retreads that came after it, this one is better than many.

Blades of Glory:  “The night is a very dark time for me.”  Yes.  It’s as stupid as the previews made it look.  It’s also pretty darned funny.  It embraces the weirdness and silliness of competitive figure skating, then mixes in the usual antics of modern comedy.  Is it going on the list of great comedies?  No.  But good for a laugh or two none the less.

Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen:  Back to Earth, the Doctor and Peri run afoul of diamond thieves and Cybermen.  As usual with Doctor Who, several excellent character actors show up and Peri gets menaced.  Some of the Doctor’s past comes back to haunt him.  There are a lot of interesting ideas in this one, and some odd characters (those two hoodlum slaves trying to get into Cyber-Control; what was up with them?).  Lytton, once an agent of the Daleks is an interesting character, with a lot of implied adventures in his past.  A good story, and Colin Baker seems much more comfortable in his role.

Men Who Stare at Goats:  “I find drinking helps.”  A story of war, the US military, and a bunch of madmen.  Jedi warriors, warrior monks, superheroes.  A journalist, a crack-pot ex-military guy, a desert full of people with itchy trigger fingers, and a story so crazy it might be true…sort of.  It’s a lot of fun.  But it’s all very, very weird.

    I started watching Magic City, which is kind of like Boardwalk Empire meets Mad Men in late 50s Miami.  I like stars Jeffery Dean Morgan and Olga Kurylenko, but unlike both previously mentioned shows, I did not feel immediately transported to another time and place.  And sadly, much of the rest of the cast, especially the brooding sons, do nothing to keep me interested.  The show sure does have a lot of nudity.  But at the end of the day, Miami just doesn’t interest me, even Miami of the late 50s.

    And I hammered through a couple more disks of Farscape.  I remember being more bummed at the loss of one of the key characters when it was first on.  But with this viewing of the show, I found her less interesting.  More a bunch of unrealized story potentials.  The rest of the show, though.  Dang it’s crazy.

    Friday night Lisa hosted another meeting of her graphic novel group.  This time we read Invincible (a collection of the first 13 issues).  It was fun hearing other people talk about how surprised they were by the betrayal and tonal shift of the comic.  What feels like a standard, easy-going superhero comic turns into a much more complex, much darker comic, where not everyone is what they seem.

    On Saturday, I finally got around to reading some more comics.  Brad passed off a bunch to me, some of which are less than thrilling.  X-Men Legacy #1 was first up.  I feel like there’s a cool concept with Prof. X’s son being some kind of tormented super-being.  But the dialog is crap, which sinks the whole thing.

    Next up was Iron Man #1.  First thing to know is, I don’t give two shakes about Iron Man.  He’s not a character I’ve ever found interesting in comics or movies, really.  On top of that, Brad, who is generally a Marvel fan didn’t sing the praises of this issue.  So, it was something of a surprise to enjoy it, if only mildly.  I think Tony Stark is conceptually an interesting character, and Extremis a potentially cool threat.  And unlike Brad, I thought the art was actually pretty good.  Not amazing, but good.  As always with Marvel and DC books, this has the status quo hanging around its neck, so any really good ideas will never be taken to the places story demands.  Eventually everything that happens will be made moot and returned to the bland base-line.

    Another one of those characters I don’t care much about is Thor, yet I ended up liking the Thor movie best of the new Marvel films, and I’ve recently read several excellent Thor comics.  I’m kind of amazed at how much I’ve been liking Thor recently.  And this new issue, Thor: God of Thunder #1 is very intriguing.  A story progressing in three eras, from Earth’s past, across the universe of today, and into the deep future of Asgard.  I like the art.  I like the writing.  And I’m very interested in seeing what happens next.

    I’ve been putting together a soundtrack for a story I’m working on again (one I love, but is very, very hard).  So, I’ve been listening to a bunch of stuff.  Really hooked on Regina Spektor and the Hanna score, among others.  I’ve found that listening to music of various types can keep me focused or refocused on the writing.

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (11/4/12-11/10/12)

    I’ve been doing a lot of reading, writing, and odds & ends research this week.  I’m also getting very antsy about the fact that I haven’t hosted a game night in a long time.  All the more antsy because several people have been on my case about it lately.  I’ve got to look at doing one soon.  But with the season upon us, schedules are not on our side.  Anyway, to the movies, etc.


Farscape Season 2:  Scorpius makes for a heck of a lot better villain to overshadow our heroes’ lives.  And this season ramps up the horror and villainy.  But it also cranks up the wild heroics and completely bugnuts daring do.  And what’s wrong with John?  How often do you have a show where your central lead may have gone completely insane?  The show doesn’t always avoid cliché, though it often turns it on its head.  And these first couple seasons do pull some punches (some) as they find ways around dramatically changing or removing characters.  But that’s not to say things don’t change or evolve.  But the return of Scorpius and the fall of Crais does signal a change in more than just the face of villainy, but the very heart of the show.  Season one was kind of disjointed, the writers clearly not having a handle on either the direction the show would take, or on who the characters essentially were.  By the end, things had started to coalesce.  With season two it is clear that the characters are more understood and that there is a more directed vision behind the scenes.  The characters begin driving the stories to a much greater degree, as opposed to stumbling into them (not that they don’t stumble into a lot).

The Ninth Gate:  Though it bares little resemblance to the book upon which it is based (The Club Dumas), this movie about a book detective and a mysterious satanic text is a cool caper film, steeped in European style.  It’s very strange how this movie has grown on me, after being severely disappointed in it upon first viewing.  Now it’s a staple, semi-annual viewing.  Great score, awesome look, and good performances, especially from a lot of the supporting cast.

Missile to the Moon:  Not at all one of the better 50s rocket ship adventure movies.  A couple of interesting twists can’t make up for its otherwise repetitive story.  But, the rock creatures on the surface of the Moon are cool.  I really like them.  Otherwise, meh.  Easily skipped.

Werewolf: The Beast Among Us:  Hey, you know what sucks?  It feels like the screenplay was based off someone’s D&D game, with all the cliché characters and bad high school ‘cool’ dialog.  The werewolf hunting team even starts out at the inn.  Yup.  The inn.  They try to crank up the gore, but that doesn’t make it more interesting.  This movie gets suckier and suckier as it sucks its way through Suck Town.   (Suck Town is a small hamlet just outside of Milwaukie, Wisconsin.  It was founded in the late 1700s by fur trappers from France).  The movie has a couple twists and turns, but none are especially unexpected.

Soldier:  Perhaps not the most subtle film, this is still a cool sci-fi flick with a great stone-faced performance from Kurt Russell.  He does more with his eyes in this movie than Marlon Brando did with all his mugging and sweating in any ten films.  The story is simple, the action good but not especially inspired, and the music keeps sounding like cribbed parts of the Aliens score.  Yet, I can’t help but enjoy this movie from start to finish.  And it’s got a great cast of ‘that guy’ actors, which I always enjoy.

The Amazing Spider-Man:  Gah.  OK, I’m not a fan of the first three movies.  1 was OK, 2 was a bit better, and 3 was appalling.  And doing a remake/reboot of a franchise within a decade of the first seems…I don’t know.  Stupid, certainly.  Unnecessary.  Weird.  Lots of other adjectives.  There’s nothing new here.  It’s just another boring origin story like every other (and like we’ve already seen with this character).  It has a better cast, but they’re mostly unused.  Campbell Scott?  What, two lines and gone?  Bah.  Andrew Garfield makes me want to bash him with a hammer almost every time he speaks, and while I’ve liked Emma Stone in pretty much everything else I’ve seen her in, I couldn’t stand her in this.  Their relationship is almost as awkward and chemistry-free as those two in the Star Wars prequels.  Rhys Ifans is phoning in his villainous role, as are many others.  The CG sucks almost as bad as in the previous three films.  And Spiderman is such a relentless, annoying dick that I don’t want him to succeed at any point.  Frankly, I’d rather the reptile scientist win at the end of the day.  Skip this.  Watch some other comic based movie instead.  Was it as bad as the third movie?  No.  But it wasn’t good.

Fascination:  A creepy blonde dude screws over some bad folk and goes on the run.  Finding a beautiful home with two beautiful women sets him up for some of the usual Jean Rollin style goings on, with naked women everywhere, threats of violence, odd behavior, and beautiful location shooting.  It has pretty good technical level for Rollin and a somewhat coherent plot (if thin).  And this is probably the best appearance of his frequent collaborator, Brigitte Lahaie.  Her walking around with the scythe; that’s some iconic imagery, that’s what that is.

Films of Fury:  I could have dealt without the animated narration bit.  This very surface documentary is really more of a highlight reel.  It gives you but a taste of a much, much larger subject, and consequently doesn’t go anywhere near as deep as I would have liked.  Still, it does make me hungry to watch a bunch of the movies it shows clips of.  If you’re just getting into martial arts movies, it’s a nice brief intro lesson.

The Secret of Sweet Sixteen:  “Satan has no sense of humor!”  Euro sleaze!  I love the look of these movies.  Technically, they’re generally awful, with bad editing, horrible dubbing, and stupid stories.  But beyond the obvious charms of pretty women taking their clothes off, the glimpse back in time they provide is fascinating.  Cars, fashion, and just the general look of European cities of that era.  The voice work in this one is especially dreadful, but delightfully so.  The disk also features Looking Good.  Holy crap.  Holy crap.  Seriously.  Holy crap.  I imagine this is what Italian TV looks like to this day.  This is just an exercise video, made kind of awesome by the horrible voice over and ridiculously overt sexuality (even for exercise videos).  Euro sex kitten Laura Gemser sits in a chair reading a book while a bunch of stripper/dancers cavort about in what looks like a high school gym, while awful 80s music drones on.  The moves look like something porn performers would do for warm-ups.  And dude!  They do the robot!  It’s excruciating.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox:  “That’s just weak song writing.  You wrote a bad song, Petey.” Wes Anderson turns his weird eye to stop motion animation in this tale of animals pulling a heist on some evil farmers.  Weird characters, strange situations, and all the awkward pauses you expect from his live action work translates perfectly to the world of Roald Dahl.  It’s funny, cute, clever, and all the things that can be great about family friendly entertainment.  I find it interesting that it does such a good job of showing what it’s like to be a man these days; confused by what society expects and what genetic demands; wanting to be important, even if only to the ones he loves, but with little in the way of obvious outlets for excellence.

    With a powerful hunger for some more space opera, I figured I should get back into watching Farscape.  I left off at the beginning of season 2, which is really where it starts getting awesome (not that season 1 wasn’t good).  This is the kind of shameless, balls out, over the top, crazy idea, insane situation science fiction that is so danged rare on TV and almost non-existent on the big screen.  The show is so strange, pushing any kind of boundary or expectation, taking the characters through ringer after ringer.  At times it almost feels like a science fiction Simpsons, not because it’s funny (though it often is), but because I find myself scratching my head and thinking “how the heck did they ever come up with this stuff.”  The chain of people who had to say “yes” in order for this to appear on screen is amazing.  I cranked through season 2 and got a few episodes into season 3.  Now, if I can just get co-Dork Brad to watch this show.  Alas.

    I also read Philip Reeve’s book, A Web of Air.  It’s the second book in the Fever Crumb trilogy, which is a prequel to his fantastic four book series now called ‘Predator Cities’ (formerly ‘Hungry Cities;’ was it changed to avoid confusion with Hunger Games?  I don’t know).

    I’ve also been playing around with the roleplaying game Diaspora.  The original reason for starting game nights was to eventually assemble a solid group of players for a regular roleplaying game.  As schedules and other things became an issue, that kind of evaporated.  But it’s still in the back of my head.  And man, I’d love to give Diaspora a go.  But it’s definitely a game I’d need the right players for, as it’s very, very group driven.  The whole group works to design the setting, and the various relationships between characters and societies.  But it could be just the thing for my space opera sweet tooth.  Diaspora, Ars Magica, Star Trek, Call of Cthulhu, and Middle Earth.  Those are the things I’m really itching to run right now.  But each poses different problems.  And trying to get a group together that can meet with anything like the frequency and regularity I want will likely continue to be a major problem.

-Matt

Matt’s Week in Dork! (9/23/12-9/29/12)

    On Sunday, Brad, Ben, and I took a trip to a favorite Dork spot (seen in that stupid sequence…well, one of those stupid sequences…of Transformers 2) the Udvar Hazy.  Seeing the Discovery was nice, a shuttle that’s actually been to space and back.  A good start to a Week in Dork.

    And on Friday night, Lisa hosted anther meeting of the Justice League of Extraordinary Book Club.  This time ‘round our book was Get Jiro, and the reception was fairly tepid.  Not that it’s bad, but it’s certainly the weakest and least meaty book we’ve consumed.  Good food, good folk, and good conversation.  Another lovely evening.  The consensus seems to be that the book had potential, but was greatly lacking in depth.  The food-nerd stuff was great, but far, far too brief.  If the setting and many of the players were more fully realized, and more of the food culture was explored, this could be a very fun read.  As it is…Meh.

Dredd:  I can’t tell you how glad I was that this film didn’t disappoint.  It’s R-rated violence, over the top action, and some danged brutal human behavior.  No Rob Schnider to suck things up.  This is the Judge Dredd film I’d been waiting for.  No, the plot isn’t complex.  No, there’s no discussion of the human condition.  Yes, Dredd teaches Anderson how to kill, and yes, she does it pretty well.  Heads explode, people get skinned, lots and lots of people get blown all to crap.  And Dredd dispenses a whole pile of justice on some murdering, drug dealing scum.

Lee Miller: Through the Mirror:  A model and photographer, a contemporary of Picasso and Man Ray, Miller stands as a complicated figure.  Women like this fascinate me, as they defied expectations and helped to break molds in an era where it seemed that anyone could be anything with enough will, luck, and skill.  Troubled youth, interesting associations, haunting beauty.  There’s an alien quality, a distance to the woman herself.  And then there is her work.  Though I would never actually want to live in any time previous to now (and frankly, now is a bit too early), there is a part of me that would really like to spend a couple years traveling through the social circles of the 20s and 30s, Paris, Cairo, New York, the artists, writers, explorers, and scientists.  There is a movie in this woman’s life, especially her days with the troops in WWII.  It’s also interesting to see her son, trying to understand his mother and an old friend remembering the dear departed.

The Devil Hunter:  Rule of thumb: if you have to ask yourself, “is this racist?” the answer is almost certainly, “yes.”  Appallingly dreadful movie.  Digitized nudity?  What, are we in Japan?

Voodoo Black Exorcist:  Is everyone in this movie in blackface?  In spite of a kind of awesome opening credit sequence, not unlike that of Soylent Green, this is (shocking, I know) a super crappy movie out the worst movie industry on Earth (not true, it’s not the Philippines), Italy.  Racist, exploitative, poorly filmed.  Yup.  It’s Italian.  This movie has the editing equivalent of Touretts.  I’ll admit, I kind of like the insane, over the top music that plays during the red saturated flashbacks to happier, pre-Voodoo murder days.  I’d like to use that music for something better.  The voiceover work is amazing.

The Yesterday Machine:  Some swingin’ 60s jazz accompanies the groovy doings of a bunch of heppcats.  A story out of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, though nowhere near as well crafted.  This could have made a great Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode.  While fairly entertaining in its own right, I think Mike or Joel and the Bots could have had a field day.  And then, Nazis!!!

Robot & Frank:  A quiet, near-future tale about a daft old man getting saddled with an infinitely patient medical robot, this movie is fairly light hearted and mellow.  Frank reminds me of myself, if I had a career that would afford me to live as he does, with all his eccentricities and cantankerousness.  The robot is a must.  Seriously, when is this gonna happen, because I’m sick of living in a robot-free house.  Aging, the remnants of our past, the nature of life.  And robots.

Dracula’s Fiancée:  Possibly the first Jean Rollin film I’ve seen that looks like it was edited by someone who knew what they were doing.  It’s also one of his most dialog heavy.  But again, I love that in 2002, he’s still making the kind of films he made in the 70s, polished though this is.  Though his subject is usually the undead of some kind, the movies are more surreal fantasy than horror.  Of the films I’ve seen to date, this is probably Rollin’s best.  I don’t want to say most coherent, because that would be a big lie.  And Brigitte Lahaie (still looking pretty good) rides in on a horse.  How awesome is that?

Hysteria:  “Steady as she goes Mrs. Parsons!  Steady as she goes.”  I don’t think it’s legal to make a movie in the UK about stuffy, uptight old world England without casting Jonathan Price.  The horrors of Victorian medicine and psychology give way to science and the realization that woman can experience sexual pleasure.  This movie is so amazingly British, looking at the whole Upstairs, Downstairs world with a wink and a nudge.  It’s all very charming.

    And of course, some more Charlie’s Angels, more Magnum, and more Battlestar Galactica.  All good fun in their own way.  We’re getting close to the point where Battlestar starts getting really brutal and where the first of the more long term cast starts to buy it.

    I’ve been enjoying a bunch of Simpsons and Futurama comics lately, so I thought, ‘why not?’ and grabbed the one-shot (I assume) Ralph Wiggum issue.  Ugh.  Ralph is often the surreal, stupid cherry on top of a good joke, but a whole comic devoted to him kind of feels like kicking an especially stupid dog.  Most of it isn’t funny, and most of it doesn’t feel true to the show at all; like the writers just didn’t get Ralph.  The final story, Ralph the Role Model is the best, and the only one that really captures the character.  Overall, not very good.

    The Li’l Homer one-shot was much better.  This one feels like it was written by fans of the show, who get the show.  Tales of Homer when he was a young boy, dealing with his awful dad and life in general.  Nothing amazing, but it’s fun.  I like Bongo Comics’ attempted retro stuff.  Adding the extra stuff, like the Li’l Homer cardboard puppet.  There’s a gimmicky 60s/70s vibe to it.

    At my local comic shop, I found Gangsta Rap Posse, as super-small press, ultra-offensive comic about an NWA-type rap group that doesn’t take to getting dissed by other rappers.  They swear a lot, drink a lot, and shoot a lot.  And they do like their ho’s.

    Issue 2 of Gangsta Rap Posse is more of the same, with more of the much abused agent, Saul, who seems to be kind of a badass with a van.  If you didn’t get your copy of “GRP Gangbangs Mrs. Mayor,” you need to read this.  It’s offensive, disgusting, and adults only.  As Brad said, it’s kind of the comic version of Body Count’s song ‘KKK Bitch.’

    I finally got back to Winter Soldier with issue 9.  I’m thinking more and more I should wait until this comes out in trade to read it.  Reading only a handful of pages at a time is frustrating to say the least.  It’s not amazing, but it’s a good read.  Just too many ads, to few pages.

    “Ragemoor’s will be done!”  The final issue of Ragemoor is the spiraling cacophony of mayhem and madness you probably expect from this twisted series.  Lovecraft filtered through Hammer Horror and drawn by the…distinct?…Richard Corben.  I may have to get this in trade when it comes out.  I still don’t quite know how I’ve become something of a Corben fan in the last couple years.

    I finally read the Clive Barker novella Cabal, which I’ve been meaning to read since first seeing Nightbreed all those many years ago.  I know Barker wrote and directed the film, but I was still surprised how slavishly the film followed the story, up until the final act (and even then, it was pretty close).  It was OK.  Because of how close the movie was to the story, there wasn’t a heck of a lot more to learn, not much more depth to backgrounds or history.  It is the set-up for something pretty grand, that I’m fairly certain Barker never revisited.  My primary complaint is his description of sex, which is just awkward especially when it comes to the vocabulary used.  It’s not the acts being depicted, but how they’re done and how often they don’t really fit with the story.  Distractions.

    Issue 0 of Justice League dealt with surprising topics.  The origin of Shazam (I guess they’re not calling him Captain Marvel now), a bit of Pandora, and…a Question.  It also ties into the 0 issue of The Phantom Stranger.  They’ve changed Billy Batson’s origin, I think.  Granted, my Captain Marvel/Shazam knowledge is limited almost exclusively to the 40s serial.

    Green Lantern Corps’ issue 0 reminds me why Guy Gardner is pretty much the lamest Lantern.  He’s just a jerk.  One of those mad at the world punks I always hate in books and movies.  Still the whole ‘almost a cop’ thing makes sense for someone gifted with a ring.

    Talon didn’t interest me from the start, but issue 0 hints at what could, in the right hands, be an interesting story.  But I’m not holding my breath.  What kind of stories will it feature?  A superhero Fugitive?  I do like the Court of Owls as villains, and this helps keep them in the picture.  Time will tell.  But I won’t be reading it anytime soon, to find out.

    Nightwing issue 0 looks into Dick Grayson’s evolution into Robyn.  But who cares.  No, it’s not bad or anything.  But yawn.

    Issue 0 of Catwoman is certainly less repugnant than issue 1, which just left me feeling kind of dirty.  I still don’t care much for it.  She seems a bit daft and weak, which is not at all how I imagine Batman’s ultimate femme fatale.  Strength, mystery, subtlety, and sexiness are Catwoman’s methods, but this version bashes a few heads, gets tossed around, and looks like she’s trying out for a manga, with her HUGE eyes that make her look a bit…Dim?  High?  Crazy?

    Wow.  I’ve got no frickn’ clue what the heck is going on in the whole Green Lantern side of the DC Universe.  I read a bit of the early Geoff Johns rebirth of Hal Jordan stuff, and it seemed pretty good.  But I didn’t keep up with it and now I’m totally lost.  Blackest Night?  Sinestro Corpsmen?  Zamarons?  I got no idea.  It’s a rainbow of insanity.

    Unlike the first several issues of her regular series, Diana (Wonder Woman to be) seems like she has some personality in this look back to her youth.  I guess the story is interesting enough.  But it would have been better if the regular comic were like this at all.  Reading this issue, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how 90s and pseudo-Goth the regular series is, which couldn’t be much further from what I’d want a Wonder Woman comic to be.  She’s a goddess, for crying out loud.  Why is her comic about brooding and moping?

    Taking place on Krypton, Supergirl issue 0 is the story of Superman’s uncle, a scientist like Superman’s dad, attempting to save his city with a power field and his daughter with a rocket.  I find the various portrayals of Krypton to be fascinating, be it in the movies, the cartoons, or the comics.  It makes you wonder, why didn’t the Lanterns do something about it?  Whatever the case, I can’t say the story is especially interesting.  It echoes Superman’s origin a bit too much.

    I’m still surprised that Batwoman of all characters has turned out to be one of the more interesting I’ve checked out from DC’s New 52.  Issue 0 is pretty good, going into Kate Kane’s ugly, ugly past and pretty grim personal life.  And it deals with her training, and her complicated relationship with her dad.  Batwoman really seems to be on the extremely dark side of the scale, perhaps even more so than Batman.  It’s interesting that the art and look of the comic is more fanciful than most, but the content feels more ‘real world.’  Christopher Nolan’s version of Batman’s Rogues Gallery seem more in line with her than with Bats himself.  Like when I read the first trade of this series, I’m just curious where they’re planning to take things, and how interwoven it will be with the rest.  I feel like it should be, especially with some of the weirder, fringe/horror elements, like Swamp Thing.

-Matt