Arrow Season 3 in Review

Another season of TV's Arrow has come and gone. Despite the mostly flawless Daredevil by Netflix still fresh in the mind, DC made a valiant effort of saturating public TV with their continuing hit Arrow and the debuts of The Flash, Gotham, iZombie, and apparently short lived Constantine. With the future looking even braver and bolder (forgive the ref) for DC on the small screen with Legends of Tomorrow (Can't call it Justice League) and Supergirl (OMG a black Jimmy Olsen, please chill out Klansman), I guess I can be grateful Mad Men is ending because I don't know how I can possibly watch this much TV, but I'm here to account on the archery skill of Arrow: S3. Compared to it's second season, there was quite a bit to be desired, but overall Ollie and company did not "FAIL THIS CITY"!

Seven Sexy Things about 70's Batman

Dames, demons, and Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town. That's 1978, baby. Camp is dead. Frank Miller (big fan of Springsteen too) studying under the master sensei, Denny O'Neil. Batman is in his prime thanks to combining Clint Eastwood, James Bond, and Indiana Jones (predating 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark) into the Dark Knight Detective. And here's how O'Neil, Adams, Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Marshal Rogers, Jim Aparo, Bob Haney, and company did it!

Two Blonde Dudes

I might have said something about finishing my dark heart of the soul analysis of Twin Peaks as a reworking of Peter Pan, but that shit be dark and depressing, and I got a little weekend getaway in Kyoto planned, so I felt more emotionally comfortable blogging about two white bread characters. Just be grateful I didn't have the time to include other blondes like Barry Allen (now a brunet on the CW), John Constantine (dyed thanks to NBC), or Animal Man

The Brave, the Bold, and the Blonde gender bender await after the jump!

Against the Death Penalty

Social Crusader and Sci-Fi Adventurer

How do you make Superman relatable? 

 

If you answered one of the following below than you may have gotten a closer representation of the American icon after viewing last year’s Man of Steel than the one I believe in.

            Chris Cornell background music brooder

            Budweiser beer drinker

            Getting called “dick spaz” as an adolescent

            Letting Dances with Wolves become Dances with Twister

            Jesus (Gotta hit the audience on the head with that one multiple times. Subtlety is lost on Snyder)

            Smile only once in costume

            Snap the villain’s neck (A little at odds with the whole “He’s really Jesus” thing, no?

            Snap the villain’s neck

            Snap the villain’s neck

                   Neck. Snap.

An Honest Stand; Marvel Masterworks: The Black Panther Vol. 1

“HE IS NOT A SYMBOLIC CHRIST! FORGET ABOUT TURNING HIS FLESH AND BLOOD INTO SOME ESOTERIC ALLUSION TO THE PERSECUTION OF CONTEMPORARY MAN… THE FLAMES WHICH CONSUME THE CROSS AND HIS BODY PROVE HIS HUMANITY”—From “A Cross Burning Darkly Blackening the Night!” in Jungle Action #21, May 1976. 

The KKK Can't Take My Baby Away

If Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams helped pave the way for Frank Miller, then Don McGregor, Billy Graham and the rest of the talent behind “Panther’s Rage” and “The Panther Vs. The Klan” set the bar for the much admired literary writers of the Brit Invasion almost a decade later to pursue. There’s no reason why these 18 comics should not be mentioned in the same breath as Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, or Sandman.

Beat on the Bat: 4 Scenes from Batman Begins Part1

Without a doubt The Dark Knight trilogy stands alongside Back to the Future in terms of each film in the series being one of my personal favorites by continuing to astonish me in most aspects of production while never losing my interest during each viewing. Batman Begins is a well of detailed and engrossing character study. Never before was Bruce Wayne treated as sympathetic or heroic in any of the past Burton or Schumacher Batman films as he clearly is in the 2005 reboot. Nolan and crew got it right. No Bat nipples, black ooze spewing Penguin, Alfred letting Vicki into the Batcave, or Batman taking lives! They made sure to keep the focus on Bruce Wayne. As a result they created a great film. Sure it's a great superhero flick, but it didn't really on gimmicks.

I remember purchasing a trade paperback of an assortment of Bat tales at a mall bookstore a couple of years after the film debuted and the elderly cashier woman mentioned that although she never read Batman comics, she quite enjoyed the Batman Begins. So join me as a recollect some of my favorite scenes. I hope they were some of Doris' too. Continue on after the break.

Watching the Detectives: Beware the Batman Ep2 "Secrets"

Ready for 6 Degrees of Batman? So last week was “Watching the Detective”, an unsubtle pun on the Elvis Costello song and Batman being the World’s Greatest Detective, but since Jim Gordon will play a larger role than last week’s 3 sec sound bite in the series, I might as well succumb to the change. Watching the Detectives is a 2007 direct to video film starring Batman Begins’ Cillian “Scarecrow” Murphy. Lucy Lui’s character can be seen as the magic pixie dream girl who, according to film critic Nathan Rabin after seeing Elizabeth Town, is “that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” While I think Lucy Lui’s character in Watching the Detectives gives off that vibe, she’s also into playing mental S&M with the film’s male protagonist. Objectifying women kinda ties in with this week's episode. Another couple of degrees; Kristen Dunst from Elizabeth Town starred in the equally awful Spider-Man 3 with the actor who played the most annoying character in That 70s alongside Kurtwood Smith, voice of Jim Gordon. Smith also played a baddie in Robocop, and the title character, Peter Weller, went on to voice Batman in animated version of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

For a significant amount of less name dropping join in after the break.