Off The Cuff - Edition 5
Off the Cuff - Edition 5
By Eric Barrett
Comics, Cartoons, and all things related
* I think it’s only appropriate that this column starts out with a moment of silence for Christopher Reeve….….
In many ways Superman is person we all strive to be. Brave, strong, courageous and dedicated. Ironically, Reeve got a chance to actually become a superman of sorts when he became injured in a horse riding accident. Out of that tragedy, he inspired countless people to fight no matter what the odds. He will be missed. RIP 1952-2004.
* Well I’m sure a lot of you have heard by now that there will be a Wolverine movie. Hugh Jackman is expected to fill the roll of Wolverine as he did in the two X-Men movies.
Now as much as I dislike the X-men and think that Wolverine is overexposed, I still can’t wait! What can I say, I like the character.
* The first place I head when I go to my local comic book store is the bargain bin. I have my choice of the $1.00 bin (each book even comes with it’s own bag!), the $0.50 bin, and the $0.25 bin. I’m an equal opportunity guy so I shop from all 3. Frankly there isn’t a difference in quality among the bins; I guess it’s sorted by demand. Or possibly by the whims of mystical elves. At any rate, I love looking through the bins.
You see, I used to collect comic books back when I was younger…okay so I’m still young but you know what I mean! And looking through the bins is one of the ways to walk down memory lane. I can often find books that complete parts of series I had collected. Or more often parts of series I wished I had collected at the time.
So this week’s lucky winner was about a dozen issues of Dr. Strange. Now these books aren’t interesting enough for me to pick them up at cover price, but for $0.25/issue. Heck yeah!
* From November 1 - December 5, Cartoon Network will run 67 episodes of Teen Titans. 67 episodes! That’s more than 2 episodes a day. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?!
* I have a confession to make. I’m hesitant to do it because I’ve bad-mouthed this thing on more than one occasion. But I try to be fair and admit when I’m wrong, so here goes: I like Smallville. There, I said it, and I feel better…okay not really. But I do like Smallville again, I think.
You see, while traveling I caught the season premiere of Smallville. Now normally I would have found something else to do or watch, but being in a hotel with only 12 channels limits your options a bit. So I watched the episode and was pleased. I loved the first season, but during season 2 Smallville got away from telling a story about Superman and instead began to focus on Clark’s relationships. In essence it became a teen drama. Now that’s okay if I’m watching Dawson’s Creek (which I don’t actually watch by the way) but I want a story about Superman!
So hopefully with the new season it will show some more promise. It’s always been well written with good acting, but hopefully it will move away from being a teen drama. Or at least not every week!
* Incidentally, when did Smallville become soft-core port?
* I’ve been looking forward to the Tomb of Dracula miniseries for a while now. And finally I got around to reading it. I have to say, that I’m digging it right now. I’ve always been a Blade fan and a vampire story fan, so what could be better?
It did seem a little on the short side - but that’s okay. This is a mini I’m definitely looking forward to finishing.
* While I’m on the topic of minis (that’s miniseries, not mini skirts), Sabertooth is another one I’ve been interested in getting. I’m not a huge Sabertooth fan, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway; after all it’s only 5 books.
Now that I’ve read it, I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed. I liked the artwork, but the first issue seemed pretty slow to me. I basically feel like I didn’t get a whole lot for my $3.00. I’ll give it another issue to see what I think - maybe I’ll change my mind.
* Another Superman item. This is not only a moving testament to Christopher Reeve, but also one of the best ‘defenses’ of Superman that I’ve ever read. Check it out, you won’t be sorry.
* Can you imagine the repair bill on Titans Tower? It seems like every episode of Teen Titans has the building being destroyed or damaged.
* That last item makes me wonder: How do they afford the repair bill? Does Bruce Wayne bankroll the Teen Titans? Do they have some secret fund? Do they rent out the tower for parties? Maybe they are a non-profit group!
* I’ve been reading a lot of older comic books recently. Not so old as in ‘classic’, but old as in 10 years or so. Y’know, the stuff from the bargain bins I mentioned earlier. Well it seems like the older books take longer to read. I’m not sure of this, but it seems that way. Maybe it’s just the set of books I’ve been reading. Or maybe, and more likely, it’s the style of the books I’m reading.
It seems to me that newer books have a lot more full page or 1/2 page panels. Now I like this approach visually, at least most of the time. But bigger panels usually mean less action and less dialogue. Whereas the older books it wasn’t uncommon to see 6 - 8 panels per page, with each panel having dialogue.
Maybe it’s just the books, but I think it would be interesting to take a bit more of a ’scientific approach’ and see what the real scoop is.
* Okay I couldn’t resist, one comment about Batman…but hey, it’s about “The Batman” and not the War Games arc. Count your blessings! It’s extremely difficult to animate a true martial arts fight. The moves are complex and often times subtle. It’s much easier just to show a punch ‘landing’ then show how the opponents parried, and attacked. Heck, it’s hard enough to do a good fight scene in a live action movie. That’s why The Batman deserves so much credit for their animation. They have some of the best fight sequences I’ve ever seen in any animated show.
* Of course in another venue this show’s fight sequences deserve a rating of 5 halibuts out of 5.
* And now for the Awards portion of our column:
Samurai Jack won an Emmy for ‘Best Cartoon Program’. It’s a shame that the show is cancelled. Truly one of the most brilliantly designed and scripted and animated cartoons.
This concludes the Awards portion of our column
* I have a bunch more for you guys, but I think I’ll have to cap it right here for this week. If you want, stop in at the forum and let me know what your mind.
* Actually I take that back, one more tribute to Christopher Reeve. I’ll just let it speak for itself… Just scroll down to the bottom of the page to view it (I don’t know how long it will stay there, but it’s worth the mention).
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October 11, 2004
Off The Cuff #4
Off the Cuff - Edition 4
By Eric Barrett
Comics, Cartoons, and all things related
* I thought I’d lead off with a bit about the Bat family. No, not the ones that eat bugs the one’s that protect Gotham City. As I was reading Robin #128 it dawned on me just how cool it would be to be a member of the Bat family. Sure this isn’t the first time I’ve had this thought, but it doesn’t make it any less cool!
The two coolest aspects of being in the Family: Uber-detective skills and the ability to disappear without a trace.
* I loved the contrast of Superman and Mr. Majestic sitting in an empty diner sipping coffee: two all-powerful (or very close to it) beings just having a relaxed conversation, despite the tension around them.
As they say in the Guinness commercials: Brilliant!
* It was irritating, on the other hand, that Majestic defines ‘conservatism’ as militant, aggressive, arrogant and condescending behavior. And ‘liberal wishy-washy’ types as those that use judgement, reason, follow the rule of law, and are generally seen as the ‘good guys’. Sigh.
* One problem that shows like Dragonball and YuYu Hakusho have is what I refer to as ‘exponential growth’. In each of these shows you have an initial great storyline. This usually involves the hero training and overcoming some fantastic obstacles. Usually the villain is superstrong, and the odds are stacked against our hero. Eventually through training the hero overcomes the odds and wins. (Yay for us!) So what’s the problem? Well you can only do this story line so many times before the whole concept becomes ridiculous. This was DBZ’s problem. The show had established Cell as the greatest and most powerful villain, eclipsing Freeza. So when Gohan defeats him they have to come up with a villain that is even stronger so the show can continue. This cycle repeats itself over and over (or else it wouldn’t be called a cycle). See, exponential growth.
Now this would be okay, but you can only increase the power levels so much before the viewer/reader says, ‘wait a second.’ And if you can’t change the dynamics of this cycle the show will absolutely jump the shark and you end up with a truly awful cartoon like Dragonball GT. You find yourself wishing for the thrill of the old show. And before you know it you are writing a column complaining about it.
* One thing that drives me nuts about the Bat family is that they use their real names when talking over their headsets. Sure they also use their code names, but that only makes it worse. What happens if someone can pick up on the signal? Codes can be broken and radio waves intercepted. Heck, even if a villain took out a member and listened to the radio they could figure it out. When they hear Oracle say, “Bruce” and watch Batman respond…
This might not be as big of a deal if Batman didn’t go to such lengths to obscure his identity and even his existence.
* She-Hulk # 6: I love the subtle humor in this book. One of this issue’s amusing incidents involves the capture of Electro, Tiger Shark, Sandman (my personal favorite) and Eightball. I wish all battles ended this way!
And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you should go pick up an issue. You’ll thank me for it later.
* Don’t you love how easy it is to hack into computers in the comic book world? Just press a few buttons and BAM! You’re hacked into someone’s mainframe. Need to create a virus; well you can in 10 seconds or less. Sometimes I don’t know what’s more unrealistic…superpowers or computer programming ability.
* Speaking of computers, everyone must have super-fast machines. Have you ever noticed how quickly things are uploaded and downloaded from computers? I wish my computer were even half that fast!
* So by now everyone’s probably seen the pictures of “The Thing” from the upcoming movie. Some have said they like it, other’s not so much. I fall into the later group. To me the ideal Thing was from the mid-90’s TV show. Nice and rocky and light orange, just the way he should be. The movie Thing is more lumpy or possibly crusty. He’s also a dirty orange color. It’s not the Thing I picture in my mind’s eye.
However, this movies interpretation of The Thing is interesting because it gets directly to the heart of the name. I could never understand why The Thing was so horrified by his looks. Sure he wasn’t going to win any beauty contests - but compared to other superheroes (Nightcrawler, Hellboy, Spawn, etc…) he wasn’t that bad looking. But the movie version makes him truly horrifying and I can see why he’s concerned about his looks.
The movie Thing has an added dimension to his character that I think was lacking from other versions. Well done.
* Does this mean I’ve changed my mind and like the new look of Thing? No.
* One of the things that I like best about War Games is that Batman himself is showing signs of the strain and stress of the situation. Very few stories do you get to see Batman look as if he might crack. Now I don’t want to see this side of Batman all the time, but sometimes it’s a nice change.
*A little toy news? With the resurgence of TMNT it’s funny to see new Turtle action figures. It doesn’t seem like that long ago I was asking for TMNT figures.
* Hmmm. A little bit of extra Batman stuff this time too. Well I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the odds of getting another column filled with Bats is very likely. Hey, this is what happens when I get into a cross-over!
Only one more act to go though!
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