Category Archives: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, TV

The Walking Dead…

One of the most popular shows on TV these past few years has been The Walking Dead.  Airing on AMC, the show -for those few who don’t bother watching television and/or have lived inside a very deep cave these past years (Trump is the elected President…sorry to have to scare you with that bit of news!)- the show is about a group of people who have banded together after a zombie apocalypse and try to survive.

The show was based on a comic book of the same name…

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…which back in the day and well before the TV show started I happened to like quite a bit.

Anyway, now in its seventh season, The Walking Dead TV show, according to this article by Charlie Mason for tvvine.com, has hit a four year ratings low.  Mr. Mason explores the “whys” in his article:

6 Possible Reasons The Walking Dead Hit A Four Year Ratings Low

As I mentioned above, I was a big fan of the comic book.  Would it surprise you if I said I haven’t watched even one full episode of the TV show?  I’ve caught bits and pieces (no pun intended) of the show here and there, and I admit it interests me to read about it (just as I pointed out the above article) but I have no interest at all in spending time with the TV show.

Why?

I think one of the 6 reasons Mr. Mason listed in the above article applies quite a bit to me and my feelings for the comic book series, though I will take that and expand on it some in a moment, and it in turn clouded my interest in seeing the show.  To wit, Mr. Mason’s reason #6 why viewership of the show might be down is:

6 | It’s depressing as hell

The Walking Dead worked for me as a comic book because it was an at times relentlessly bleak look at a post-apocalyptic world.  It was also ballsy as hell, willing to kill beloved and not so beloved characters with startling impunity.

However, the comic book series reached a point where it started to, IMHO, lose considerable steam.  Its possible that at that time creator/writer Robert Kirkman was involved in the TV version’s genesis and therefore was a little distracted (the timing is roughly right).

Anyway, our band of survivors made their way to a fortress prison and realized this was a perfect place for them to hunker down.  They cleaned out the zombies within the prison and thanks to the heavy fences they were indeed safe from the zombies outside.

The comic book series, IMHO, at that point started to sputter.  In many ways Mr. Kirkman had written himself into a corner: With our survivors really safe, we had one issue of the comic book after another devoted to them interacting and, without that sense of danger, things grew…dull.

I recall at the time I wasn’t the only person who felt this.  If memory serves, there were letters within the book itself noting things were a little too placid, and I recall Mr. Kirkman responding to some of those concerns by saying things would turn.

They did.

What happened in the comic book was that all hell broke loose and, in one single page, I lost all interest in the book.  Look below at your own peril…

Image result for the walking dead comic death of lori

This was the death of Lori Grimes and her newborn child as she was running from the antagonists du jour as the prison situation went belly up.

When I reached that page of the book, I quite literally put the book down and never bought another issue of The Walking Dead.

Killing off a character like Lori Grimes and their newborn child within the grim context of The Walking Dead wasn’t what bothered me.  Many other interesting/likeable characters had met their ends before and given what the series was about, killing Lori Grimes and her child was something that was possible.

But the way it was presented?  A full page, blood splattered panel like that one?

I felt like Mr. Kirkman and the comic’s artist decided they’d really show all those people who thought the series was going “soft” what-for.

So they did.

They did it in a way that, to my eyes, was incredibly, awfully, unforgivably, sadistic and cruel.

Again, killing Lori Grimes and her newborn was something a series as grim and bleak as The Walking Dead could most certainly do.

But did they have to do it this way?  Did they have to be so nasty about it?

That was the point, for me, that The Walking Dead had simply gone a step too far and I couldn’t continue with it.  Clearly I wasn’t in any sort of majority here for the series, and the TV show, continue to this day.

But perhaps the most recent events (I’ll not spoil them) have created in others the feeling I had when I saw the above page.  Perhaps there comes a time when a enjoyable -yet bleak- series takes things one step too far and its a step many are unwilling to follow.

Then again, maybe the show will rebound and come back stronger than ever.  As with so many things, we’ll see.

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, General

Zeppelins

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Indulge me here for a moment…

Waaaaaaay back in 1984 there appeared a “new” and, at that time, most restored version of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 movie Metropolis.  While some didn’t like the use of then popular music to accompany the colorized film, I was blown away…

So much so that I started working on what would be my first complete and eventually published (though nearly ten years later and in graphic novel form) story The Dark Fringe.

When I first produced this book, steampunk didn’t exist except in the works of Jules Verne and when he wrote his science fiction, it was just that.  Along with my head-spinning amazement at Metropolis, I was also intrigued with the original Tim Burton directed Batman movie.  It came out a few years later and introduced what would eventually be termed “retrofuturistic” fiction.

Not to toot my own horn, but when The Dark Fringe was finally released back in the mid-1990’s, it was among the first books to combine the 1940’s look of a film noir mystery with a retrofuturistic ideal (1982’s Blade Runner clearly merged sci-fi with film noir, but it wasn’t “retrofuturistic” in nature).  In effect, I was trying to create a work that melded The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon or Kiss Me Deadly with a setting that shared technologies like those found in the forward thinking of 1927’s Metropolis.  And one of the instructions I kept giving John Kissee, the incredibly talented penciller of that series, was to always show a zeppelin or two in the sky.  I was -and remain- crazy about zeppelins and this was, along with the clunky computers and villains with metal hands, a short-hand way of telling people this setting, while clearly looking old and featuring technologies that were for the most part older (I did have him design computers for the book as if they were second cousins to the old radios of the 1940’s) was a reality divorced from any “real” past.

While I haven’t pursued the world of The Dark Fringe for a while now (who knows, I may circle back to it eventually), I remain intrigued with zeppelins.

Which is why when I was on reddit this morning I was delighted to find this photograph:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s a zeppelin flying over one of the Pyramids at Giza, circa 1931.  Seeing the picture intrigued me and reminded me there are a wealth of fascinating photographs of zeppelins out there.  A quick google search revealed the following beauties:

First, the Graf Zeppelin over Montevideo, circa 1930…

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Over Buenos Aires…

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A few others:

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And of course there’s this one, perhaps the most iconic photograph(s) involving the best known -and for all the wrong reasons- zeppelin ever.  In 1937 the German airship The Hindenburg was on its way to land in New York…

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It horrifically exploded while attempting to dock.  This tragedy ended the era of the zeppelins…

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This photograph, which shows the Hindenburg already hitting the ground and half gone, is also quite iconic:

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What was intriguing was finding some other photographs of this tragedy which I hadn’t seen.  Such as this one, which takes place seconds before the first, most iconic image above:

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And this…

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And this…

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And, the end…

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A Hindenburg movie was made in 1975 (I don’t recommend it) and the legend of the Hindenburg, and questions about what exactly happened to it, remain to this day although many feel the glue used to put the airship’s out shell together was the likely chief culprit in this tragedy.

Anyway, nothing much to add to this.  Zeppelins were a fascinating part of a fascinating era.  The idea of lazily flying on a zeppelin across the ocean has, to me anyway, a romantic appeal.  Perhaps one day we may again see something like them in the air and used for actual tourism instead of for sporting events.

Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Original art…

The thing about collecting something is that its value, should that be what interests you about it, is determined solely by the demand/desire others have in the item.

When I was younger and just getting into comic books, comic book legend Jack Kirby’s career was, sadly, on the decline.  If you don’t recognize the name, you certainly recognize many of his creations or co-creations: Just about every superhero character present in the enormously successful Marvel films.

Captain America?  Co-created by Mr. Kirby

Hulk?  Ditto

Iron Man?  Co-created/co-designed by Mr. Kirby

Thor?  Kirby

Ant-Man?  Kirby (though his cinema incarnation has a longer path involving many more creators over the years)

Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Galactus?  Kirby either created or co-created most of the characters.

And so on, and so on.

But as I said above, when I was first getting into comics in the 1970’s Jack Kirby’s star was on the decline.  Hell, it was worse than that.  There were many who derided Mr. Kirby’s then new work as being nothing short of terrible.  Quite the turnaround considering the 1960’s were arguable Jack Kirby’s biggest, most popular creative decade.

Even more sad is the fact that when Mr. Kirby passed away in 1994, he was engaged in a years long legal fight with Marvel Comics to get back the artwork he was certain they were holding from him.

This comic book artwork was considered worthless back when he made it.  In fact, almost every one of the artists working on comic books for the first thirty plus years of the industry viewed their artwork as disposable and many of these pieces were indeed thrown away.

Which is why classic original artwork, especially any by Jack Kirby from the first decade of Marvel Comics, is so very hot today.  Check this story out, involving the original Jack Kirby artwork for the cover of Thor #159 (the article linked to below mislabels the cover as belonging to issue #158), which was valued at £5000 and wound up selling at auction for a whopping £44,000:

Thor comic cover which hung on girl’s bedroom wall for 30 years sold for £44,000

Amazing, no?

Here’s what the Kirby illustrated cover looked like on the actual 1968 comic book:

And here’s the original cover artwork…

The most amazing thing about all this to me is it proves how hot Jack Kirby’s artwork is these days.  IMHO, while this is a pretty damn good cover, it is hardly one of Mr. Kirby’s better or best known works, yet it still merits a truckload of cash!

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, General

To all artists out there…

Found this fascinating article by Brian Ashcraft over at Kotaku concerning a manga artist who has developed a great work desk:

One Manga Artist’s Quest For The Best Work Desk

When one works for many hours at a desk, even if you aren’t necessarily a manga artist, getting “comfortable” should be a paramount issue.

I’m intrigued by the efforts of Yoshikadu Hamada in figuring out his work station.

I just wish I was more “hands on” to create such a station!

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Movies

Madeleine Lebeau and Darwyn Cooke, RIP

As 2016 churns on, one thing that seems to mark this year as so very different than others is the amount of passings we’ve experienced so far.  While in any given year “big named” people pass, it seems we’ve seen more than our share of late.

As the headline indicates, two individuals have passed.  One I’m very familiar with and the other is an incredible curiosity, at least to me.

Casablanca actress Madeleine Lebeau, 92, passes away

While not the “biggest” star within what many consider one of the all-time best films ever made, Actress Madeleine Lebeau, the last surviving cast member of that famous film, nontheless made an indelible mark, particularly in this scene…

Ms. Lebeau has an interesting smaller story within the larger Casablanca plot and her tearful “Vive La France” at the end of the song was reportedly a very genuine reaction.  One who isn’t familiar with Casablanca can be forgiven for not knowing the movie was made and released in 1942 and while World War II raged.  Many of the actors who participated in this film, including Ms. Lebeau, faced harrowing experiences not unlike what was presented in the movie and therefore the lines between reality and fiction blurred for them.  In the case of Ms. Lebeau, she had already faced difficulties fleeing from war torn Europe and getting to the United States, not unlike her character in the movie who was desperate to flee the Nazi presence.

Rest in peace, Ms. Lebeau.

A couple of days ago it was announced via facebook and by his family that comic book and animation artist/writer Darwyn Cooke was receiving palliative care for his cancer.  While the term may not be familiar to many, palliative care refers to care given to those who have serious illnesses and it’s focus is to provide relief from the symptoms and stress and improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.  In most cases, palliative care is synonymous with “end of life” care.  In the case of Mr. Cooke, this was sadly the case as the day after the family announcement and on May 14th it was announced Mr. Cooke had passed away.

I really, really liked the work of Mr. Cooke.  His artwork was deceptively simple looking yet had a great 1950’s pop vibe to it.  Here are just some example of his work:

While perhaps best known for his work on the various Batman animated series and for his DC superhero work (The New Frontier in particular is quite fabulous) a few of his last projects involved graphic novel versions of Richard Stark’s “Parker” series (the last image above is from that).  In the end Mr. Cooke made four graphic novel adaptations, including The Hunter (the first Parker book which has been filmed as Point Blank with Lee Marvin, Payback with Mel Gibson, and Parker with Jason Stratham and Jennifer Lopez), The Outfit (filmed with the same name with Robert Duvall in the title role), The Score, and Slayground.

I haven’t checked out the last two graphic novels as of yet.  Looks like it’s something to add to my reading list.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Cooke.

Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Corrosive Knights, a look back and forward

Yesterday I presented the cover to what will be Book #6 in the Corrosive Knights series.  I’m still doing revisions on the book but feel we are quickly approaching its eventual release.

With that in mind, I wanted to re-present a post I originally wrote on November 5, 2015 regarding the Corrosive Knights series in general (you can read the original post here).

As this is a re-presentation, I’ve taken the liberty of going over it and cleaning it up a bit.  I suppose this could serve as a FAQ of sorts and maybe I’ll post it as such on my ertorre.com website.

******

The scope of the story in the Corrosive Knights series is incredibly large, taking place over the course of some 20,000 plus years.  Readers are offered individual and for the most part contained stories which, nonetheless, eventually form a march larger story.

While there have been plenty of stories out there featuring flashbacks and flash-forwards, I think its safe to say no book series -at least none that I’m aware of!- features entire novels that take place in sometimes vastly different times, past and the future, while (hopefully!) logically building up to that larger tale.

The five Corrosive Knights books plus the one I’m currently working on have been/will be released -and ideally should be read- in this order:

Corrosive Knights Covers

I say “ideally” but I’m not being entirely honest: The the first three books of the series,Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon could be read in any order.  They feature unique characters and take place in vastly different times while presenting a very complete story and therefore one could read them in any order they choose.

However, by the time you reach Nox, Ghost of the Argus, and the still unnamed Book #6, the continuity established in these first three novels kicks in and, while I think the later books could be enjoyed on their own, I HIGHLY recommend you read books 1, 2, and 3 before venturing into the ones that follow.

Now, if I were to tell the Corrosive Knights story in chronological order, i.e. each book’s main story occurring “one after the other” (and ignoring whatever flashback elements are presented within said novels), the story order would go like this:

Corrosive Knights in Chronological Order

That’s right: The book I’m currently working on, #6 of the Corrosive Knights series, actually takes place before the events of The Last Flight of the Argus and Ghost of the Argus.  In fact, they take place a few hundred years before those books!  Yet I would absolutely NOT recommend anyone read that book when it is released in a few short months before already reading the rest of the series and, in particular, The Last Flight of the Argus and Ghost of the Argus.

Why?

Because the events of those two books in particular fill in story concepts which have a big payoff in Book #6 and propels the reader into the Corrosive Knights series finale, which will be Book #7.

Fear not, thought.  There will be an epilogue to the series, a Book #8, which will wrap certain things up that weren’t/aren’t wrapped up in Book #7.  Book #8 will also offer what I hope is a great long view of the heroes we’ve followed for so long while focusing on one in particular.  To further screw with your head, I’ve already finished the first draft of Book #8 but only have a chapter or so written (along with a general idea of the story) of Book #7.

Not only is my series presented in a quirky temporal way, so too it would appear is my creative output!

*******

So there you have it.  I thank you for your patience in waiting for the release of each new book in this series.  If I could somehow magically speed up time and get them done faster, trust me I would.

But the books have a habit of taking their time in getting done, not unlike a slow cooked meal.  I refuse to “hurry” things up to the point where I’m releasing a work I know I could “do better” with.

Book #6 in the series is close to being done and when it is, you’ll be the first to know.

 

Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Corrosive Knights, a 4/1/16 update

I could go full “April Fool’s Day” and joke about my latest novel, #6 in the Corrosive Knights series, being all ready to go…but I won’t.

I will say this: I’m at roughly 3/4ths of the way through the “corrections” stage of the latest draft and am furiously working on some of the bigger story reveals which occur in this part of the book.

Corrosive Knights series

With a book that is suspenseful (albeit in a sci-fi setting) one of the things one has to work the hardest on is making these big reveals not only sensible in the context of the book but also -if you’ve done your job right!- they should be like a mind-bending body blow to the readers.

Two days ago I tackled the novel’s first really big reveal and felt I did a damn good job cleaning it up.  In that case, I wrote two such reveals in previous drafts and merged them into one this time around.  This happens more than I’d like when I write my novels.  I may write a certain revelatory scene and then, later in the book, realize it may make more sense at that point and, sometimes even without realizing it, I may write the reveal/scene again but make it work in the new context/placement.  I usually catch these repeated passages when I’m deep into the rewriting/polishing stages of the book.

Yesterday I hit another point in the novel wherein I realized I needed to add some logical explanation to something and, just like that, a new surprise/reveal came to me.  Whenever this happens, I can’t help but shake my head and smile.  It’s like this new “revelation” should have been there all along but, as it happens, I didn’t even consider it until the later stages of cleaning the novel up.

Still, better late than never!

Now for the (somewhat) bad news: I was really, really hoping that by today I’d be done with the latest revisions and moving on to printing this revised draft and going into the next reading/revising stage.  Obviously I’m not there yet and a combination of factors “helped” in this delay.

I don’t want to dwell on excuses but the reality is life has a frustrating habit of throwing curve balls and sometimes you just don’t have the time you wish to work.  Beyond that and as should be obvious by what I’ve written above, I’m in an especially delicate point of the book that requires a great deal of focus and thought.  When I’m at the “reveal” stages which are especially crucial in a novel, I tend to ssssllllloooooowwww down to make certain everything “works”.

It is my fervent hope that by next week I’ll finish this current draft and start up the next one.  Will it be the last?  While I hope so I think I’ll still need one more beyond that next one.  This upcoming draft will likely be focused on making sure any lingering story issues are resolved and the next one will make sure all grammatical/spelling issues are fixed.

Will the book be available by May?  Again, I really hope so.  I’m getting to that point I always reach with my novels where I want to “get it over with” and move on to a new book.

Regardless, even if I can’t quite get this novel out by May, it will be damned close to being ready and released.  If I can’t have it completed by May, then it will probably/likely be June.  It certainly will not be released much later than that!

Keep your fingers crossed!

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Movies

Superheroes and fascism…

Interesting article from i09 written by Charlie Jane Anders regarding the upcoming Batman v. Superman and Captain America: Civil War films and how they appear to share the same general storyline (I noted this before as well), ie that the heroes have to account for the destruction they wrought in the previous movie(s).

Interestingly, the similarities only grow: We have a “true blue” patriot type character in Superman/Captain America fighting against a corporate billionaire/genius (in armor!) in Batman/Iron Man.  All deal in some way with the concept of Superheroes representing a new form of fascism, at least according to Mr. Anders.

Anyway, the article’s link follows:

This year’s biggest superhero movies are all about America’s descent into fascism

While for most comic book heroes exist firmly in the realm of fantasy and wish-fulfillment, it is my belief we’ve gradually moved to the point where writers and audiences have taken a “realistic” view of what it means to have Superheroes.

One is tempted to say this began in the late 1960’s, particularly with the then hard-hitting Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories which, among others, addressed issues of drug abuse…

Religion…

And, in the very first story done by the duo, racial equality/racism…

However, there has always been a sub-context of exploring the “reality” of superheroes in society.  Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, et al in the early through the 1960’s established a relatively new view of superheroes via Marvel Comics by creating a somewhat cohesive universe where characters interacted and, at times, engaged in almost soap opera level loves.

However, one need not look too hard to see the first “real” interactions between Superheroes and society.  The following images, presented in the very first Superman story which appeared in Action Comics #1 and were written and illustrated by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, featured among other scenes the following:

Yup, that’s a wife beater getting his just desserts.  Then there was this, also from that very first Superman story:

In the above scene, Superman forces himself into the Governor’s home and, eventually bedroom to get the man to call off an execution of an innocent woman!

After this start, however, comic book superheroes would take a step back from harsh realism and vigilante escapades…

and featured less “heavy” themes and more garish, “fun” adventures.  It was at this time that comic books became viewed as “children’s” literature, though there was always those who tried to move the art form back into a more adult realm.

With the 2013 release of the Superman movie Man of Steel, something else changed.  The mass destruction presented at the end of the film was jarring to many viewers and director Zach Snyder appeared to make no effort to minimize the potential loss of human life in that movie’s climax.

While many were troubled by this, the fact is the Marvel movies, particularly the two Avengers films and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, also featured a startling level of large city-wide destruction, though they did make an effort to explain away/minimize/excuse the potential loss of human life.

It would appear, however, the destruction presented in Man of Steel not only made the makers of that film feel the need to address the topic but it also did the same for the makers of the Marvel/Disney films.  Both Batman v. Superman and Captain America: Civil War appear to at the very least have similar concepts behind them: The idea that the destruction wrought by our heroes needs to be addressed and the heroes take different views on how to address them and ultimately clash.

As with so many things, there’s evolution of concept here.  For now, this is where the creators of movies seem to want to go.  In a few years, superhero movies might become passe and we might have new topics which engage the public.  Or perhaps the more joyful “all ages” and/or campy superhero will re-emerge to the forefront  (One can see some of this, especially the more joyful superhero, in The Flash TV series).

Regardless, for better or worse and for this summer film goers will deal with the destruction superheroes create and their impact on society…and fascism.

Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Movies

Na-na-na-na-na-na-Na…Batman!

Over on Empireonline.com Batman v. Superman is the subject of scrutiny and some new photographs of the movie are presented along with some choice lines from the people behind the production…

Exclusive new Batman v Superman Pics Debut in Empire

Found within the article is this comment by producer Charles Roven regarding our beloved Bat-Crusader:

“[Batman] is not giving people a chance,  He is more than a vigilante. He has become not only the cop, if you will, he has also become the jury and executioner.”

Over on io9.com this quote produced the following alarmed reaction:

Waitaminute, Is Batman a Murderer in Batman v Superman?

James Whitbrook, the author of that piece, does note “this could just be a turn of phrase from Roven rather than something to be taken literally” while also noting “it’s a rare occasion indeed that you could describe Batman, a character known for a strict code of no killing that has been fostered for years in the comics and in other adaptations, as an “executioner”.”

I’m rather amused by the many and varied reactions people have towards the still a couple of months away release of Batman v Superman.

There is of course a very vocal contingent of people who have already thrown their hands in the air and declared the movie to be a complete disaster…even though like me they’ve seen only a few minutes at most of the film via the various previews/trailers.

To some degree I understand the sentiment.  There are those who feel they’ve sampled enough of director Zach Snyder’s work -and especially the movie this one is a sequel to, Man of Steel– and therefore feel whatever he produces will fall along the same “terrible” (in their opinion) lines.  At least with Mr. Snyder you have a track record to consider and, therefore, it is understandable one feels based on it the next film might fall along the same lines.

However, I also feel those criticizing the not-yet-released movie are also echoing many decades’ worth of Marvel vs. DC talk.  Just as people have their favorite sports teams -and “favorite” rivals whom they cannot stand- there has been a Marvel vs. DC competition going on for nearly as long as I can remember following comic books.

I know people, for example, who don’t care for and wouldn’t buy any comic books featuring DC characters.  The product, they would argue, is inferior to that of Marvel.  Likewise there were those who never could get into the Marvel characters and therefore would only follow DC comic books.

When the Richard Donner directed Superman film came out in 1978, it essentially showed the studios that a superhero film could be made successfully.  Unfortunately, the roadmap wasn’t followed very well and a slew of inferior superhero movies (many of them Marvel heroes, both on TV and in theaters) appeared.  Worse, Richard Donner was fired before completing Superman II and the hybrid Lester Dent co-directed film that made it to theaters, while a success, was nonetheless viewed over time as an inferior product.  The less said about the terrible Superman III and IV the better.

So that first “wave” of Superhero films died, in my opinion, with the 1987 release of Superman IV.  In 1989, a mere two years later, Tim Burton would hit solid gold with the release of the Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson Batman film.  It was a wild, though in my opinion not altogether successful, merging of superhero concepts into film.  We had darkness, we had a “serious” take on the genre, but we also, especially in the film’s second half, had the camp.  In many ways Batman was a darker (natch) version of Richard Donner’s Superman in that it took many disparate elements from the Batman mythos and crammed them all together in one feature film.

The film’s wild success meant sequels, and Tim Burton, unlike Richard Donner, returned for the, IMHO, inferior Batman Returns.  While retaining the same visual delight, the film was alive, again IMHO, only in the parts featuring Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman.  Otherwise, it was a confused dud.

Subsequent Batman films, 1995’s Batman Forever and 1997’s Batman and Robin, were directed by Joel Schumacher and leaned much heavier on camp.  While I felt both films were essentially on par with each other (ie one wasn’t significantly worse or better than the other), by the time Batman and Robin appeared in theaters, movie and comic book fans had enough of this type of Batman.  As with the first wave of superhero films, the second wave ended with a movie audiences -those that actually saw the product- hated.

So we had a period of time with relatively few superhero films.  The genre appeared shot.

And then came what I consider the third major superhero wave.  It started with two successes, the 2000 feature X-Men (which Richard Donner executive produced) and the Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man (2002), along with a misfire in 2003’s Ang Lee directed Hulk. (And I haven’t even gotten into the Blade movies!)

The ball, however, was rolling.

In 2005 appeared the Christopher Nolan directed Batman Begins followed by 2008’s Robert Downey Jr. starring Iron Man.  Each of these films shared more subtle (not quite as campy) humor and were remarkably down to earth, excepting when the superheroic stuff happened, versus some of the films that came beforehand.  They nonetheless delivered spectacle while trying to place their heroes in a “real” earth setting (or as “real” as one can get considering).

While DC movies did relatively well, the Warner Brother’s focus turned almost exclusively toward Batman in films (there would be plenty of TV shows in and around these times, something DC has mined much more successfully, so far, than Marvel) while the Marvel films, cleverly, began building an intricate weave of tidbits pointing to future stories.  Marvel films (I’m not including the Fox produced films here) got audiences excited for the possibility of seeing more Marvel heroes appear, and boy oh boy did they deliver on that promise.

So here we are, deep into this third superhero age, and Marvel films are arguably more successful than DC films while DC TV shows are arguably more successful than the Marvel produced ones.  In each case, however, competition is building.  Marvel is trying mightily (ahem) to build up their TV presence, both on the networks and on Netflix.  Similarly, DC is expanding their TV presence while with the impending release of both Batman v Superman and the upcoming Suicide Squad looking to take on Marvel in the theaters.

Which leads me, after a fashion, all the way back to the criticism of Batman v Superman and specifically the line attributed to the movie’s producer.

I don’t know if BvS will be a good movie but based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m optimistic.  I say that even though I’m not a particularly big fan of director Zach Snyder nor screenwriter David S. Goyer.  David S. Goyer, in particular and to my mind, has been involved in too damn many DC hero films and I’d like to see others producing the screenplays.  As much as I love Richard Donner’s Superman, I suspect if he had directed every DC related film from that point on I’d be clamoring for other directors’ visions as well.

Having said all that, will the Batman of BvS be the character all audiences want to see?

I doubt it.

Batman’s first appearance was in Detective Comics #27 published waaaaay back in 1939.  Superman’s first appearance was in Action Comics #1 published waaaaay back in 1938.

Since then we’ve had literally hundreds if not thousands of individual authors and artists takes on the characters.  Some have been consistent, others have been very different.  In the end, I suspect it is impossible to distill either character into something that makes sense to everyone, given each of them have a 75 plus year history.

Is Batman a murderer in this new BvS movie?  I suspect the line uttered by the movie’s producer didn’t literally mean Batman was “executing” bad guys but rather he was pointing out this Batman is hard as nails and doesn’t tolerate crime/criminals.

And if that’s the case, it is in keeping with one of the myriad versions of Batman which has appeared on screen since shortly after the character’s first comic book appearance in 1939.

Of course, I’m only guessing here, as are all those who are bemoaning what a complete piece of shit this film will undoubtedly be…once its released in two months time and they finally get a chance to, you know, actually see it.

For all I know, they might be right and my optimism might be misplaced.

We’ll find out in March, won’t we?