The weight of expectation

I don't tend to do movie reviews

I do however like to have a little moan when something that should be great turns out to be no more than mere trash

Take, for example, Green Lantern, or Watchmen...

and now, also Prometheus

Up until last week, I expected virtually nothing from it at all, I refused to be a sucker for the long, built up hype and viral campaigns, I hadn't bothered to tune into each newly released trailer as they hit the webnets

but the anticipation seemed to be growing around me, I could feel it, almost taste it in the air

I'll admit, having seen the trailer at the flicks, I was intrigued, and then last friday my social networks were filling up with talk of the film, and having already agreed to see it that night with a tribe of non-apologetic geeks, my height of excitement peaked

until I watched the film.

it was flawed. I shan't bother going into its flaws here, suffice to say, it was not what it promised to be, and neither was it what anyone really hoped for.

and now my summer is buckling under the weight of expectation

crushed by the disappointment of Prometheus, I wait with dread for the Dark Knight to Rise...

again, I've acted to avoid too many trailers and tidbits of gossip that have sufficiently proliferated the internet, and yet my own curiosity has occasionally got the better of me

but this isn't The Dark Knight following the modestly performing Batman Begins, even after the tragic loss of Heath Ledger, I don't think that expectations for the sequel were set too high until the film unexpectedly snowballed into critical acclaim and a widespread regard that it is now a benchmark for movies (not even just superhero movies) to measure against

and this leads us to where we are now, Avengers has cleaned up at the box office, Prometheus has shattered dreams, and now the final piece of Christopher Nolan's trilogy must take up the weight of expectation that is being put upon it, not just by geeks and comic book fans, but by... well, pretty much everyone.

women in refrigerators

so lets continue from that cliff-hanger ending

as i am sure you are all desperate to know what happens next!

y'see, i didn't even realise at the time the comics were published that Kyle Rayner's significant other ended up sharing space with Green Lantern's milk and sandwich ham, and i had no clue that her bizarre death actually served as a springboard for a movement that focussed on the humiliating, severe or just plain old tragic circumstances that see so many female comic book characters suffering.

the Women in Refrigerator movement saw a list produced of superheriones and female supporting cast members that had been "either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator", those on the list of particular relevance to my own reading habits and my own blogging include Barbara Gordon's Batgirl (who was paralised and tortured at the hands of The Joker), Donna Troy (who seems to get a pretty bum deal everytime there is a universe wide shake-up) and other DC heriones such as Wonder Woman, Huntress, Black Canary, Jade, Starfire and Zattana seem to have been abused, raped and stripped of powers between them all.

and there is also the saga of Gwen Stacy, Spiderman's squeeze that met an unfortunate end when Spidey's attempt to save here ended in the worst possible way.

I love that Gail Simone (who went on to write, among other comic books, Wonder Woman, Action Comics and Birds Of Prey) got her knickers in a twist in such a huge, attention grabbing way, and i love that the whole premise of the argument is based on a hacked up female that has been rammed into a fridge.

Some of the points are entirely valid, and some points are irrelevant to me, but i can't help but feel, particularly wth the case in point Kyle Rayner, that for the sake of the story, and to properly convey the desired effect, those closest to the hero will suffer.

Perhaps i have missed the point slightly, and i will agree that there are a sizeable number of instances where female characters seem to miss out on all the luck, but losing parents at a young age or even losing your parents, your home planet and the entire race you belonged to are still gonna be pretty tough on the guys too.

promises, promises

we in England have been promised an Indian Summer all week, it finally decided to arrive today.

most people pray that our country's pitiful amount of sunshine will actually land on their day off, but i tend to be quite the opposite.

whilst other people may relish the chance to laze about in the sun on their day off, i actually see it as an inconvenience, for whilst we are supposedly living in the future and so much of our lives depends on keeping our social networks up-to-date, i would much rather break away from the computer when the sun is shining, which means that remix-work or writing or blog-posts will likely go AWOL whilst i seek to spend my few hours away from housework out in the garden or on the sun-drenched streets.

owning your own home becomes such an enormous burden, waking up on a beautiful day to find that this unseasonal warmth means the bedclothes need changing, and of course the bedroom needs sweeping, and clothes need putting away, and the washing up too, not to mention the fact that i want to finish a remix that needs to be submitted today, when all i should really be doing in basking in the sun like a teenage mutant vitamin D obsessed turtle.

so with housework done, i proceed to prepare for our unseasonable Barbeque, it will be the first of october on saturday, today, on wednesday, just three days prior to that traditionally autumnal month, we are experiencing heatwaves and planning for BBQs, just a shame that the sun still seems to set at some time just after 7pm.

so i google some vegetarian BBQ recipes, head off to the Co-Op down the road to pick up a couple of ingredients, and then later, with my dishes ready to marinate and a couple of sailor jerry and cokes down myself, i proceeded to make room in my fridge for the influx of beer that i expect.

jars of olives and capers are repositioned, and tubs of philly are moved.

which reminds me....

didn't i say i was gonna post up some ol' draft blog posts...

last week i had gone looking into Forbidden Planet for a couple of back issues of some DC comics (that i never managed to find), particularly the DC Retro-Active line of comics, featuring stories by writers and artist from the '70's, '80's and '90's.

i was looking out for the 80's era Superman issue, anything featuring Batman, and the '90's era Green Lantern.

y'see, i liked Kyle Rayner, of course i liked Hal, but i was also quite into this new age of comic books that seemed to be occurring around me and the new blood in superhero talent that seemed to be taking over from some of the old guard.

of course it was all a marketing ploy back then and given time the status quo would be restored (hmmmmmmmmm) and of course, the new Green Lanterns and Green Arrows and whatever else would be usurped by their predecessors given time , but i didn't realise that then.

anyways, much like most plotting for modern day comic books, i have no idea where i thought i was going with this, but i do know that i told you guys that i was intending to shed light on some almost forgotten blog-posts, and y-know what, as fate would have it, the oldest of those posts actually does pertain to circa '90's Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, and a rather unfortunate predicament his girlfriend found herself in..



see....

this is almost practically relevant to my BBQ preparations.

i had to find room in our fridge for all the chicken and other marinated meat that were likely to turn up.

and yeah, a bad guy stuffed Kyle Rayner's girlfriend in a fridge.

i might explain further tomorrow if the sun isn't shining.

otherwise you'll have to wait.........

we're going through changes

so, as of this week, everything changed.

except some of it didn't.

not that i'd know too much about it, having just finished reading Battle For The Cowl and still not having touched Blackest Night and Brightest Day yet, let alone Flashpoint.

yeah, i'm talking about comics!


not only was the 31st of August 2011 an important day in my household, being the first anniversary of getting the keys to the house and going in and cleaning everything before settling down for a pizza and a night on an air mattress, it was also the day that followers of the DC universe may or may not have been waiting for, as the comics company swiped away a whole bunch of history and began re-numbering issues from #1, starting with JLA #1, ahead of 51 other other titles that shall be following shortly

i won't be clamouring to pick up a whole barrage of number 1 issues, to be honest, i doubt i'll actually buy any, there won't be much on offer to me as a comic book fan other than the chance to get slightly obsessive and delve back into the addictive world of buying monthly issues of comics, that i left behind some 11 or 12 years ago (not counting a slight blip buying the english reprints that got me hooked on Grant Morrison's run on Batman)

if there are stories worth reading that evolve from this 'new universe' than i shall consider stumping up for the collected trade paperbacks to find out why Superman doesn't wear his red pants anymore, why oh why can Barbara Gordon walk again and will Green lantern devise anymore crotch-mounted artillery?


these are comics tho, and i wonder how long it'll really be until the real reasoning behind a new universe is revealed, or how long until whatever changes are made are reversed, or rewritten, or forgotten or maybe just borrowed from in the next big shake up that will inevitably follow at some point or another.

but if i'm losing you... perhaps hear this guy out and see just why these changes are so important...

too soon for another Green Lantern blog post?

in fact, is it too soon to just lazily knock up another video embed as a blog post?

aaaah, maybe i'll write something tomorrow...

it's not easy being green

argh

that was disapointing

not only was Green Lantern disapointing, it was also rather frustrating as a result of it being rather boring and rather convoluted

i shall not bother attempting to critique and review the film too much, i just want to express how frustrating it is that DC had a chance to make a popular character just as recognisable and accepted amongst movie audiences and popular culture as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman already are

to be quite honest, it was a rather sloppy and uneven attempt at film-making, let alone setting up of a decent superhero origin story... it plunged straight into a rather baffling intergalactic speil that is supposedly the premise of the film, and it is mostly down-hill all the way from there

i was forgiving of the slow-ish start, i realise you gotta set these things up slow and build up the excitement, but sadly the pacing was off horrendously, with a smattering of action scenes dispersed amongst a lot of mostly boring filler that seemed to be of very little consequence

i personally thought the inclusion of the Green Lantern Corps would be a step too far for the film, but they were in fact drastically under-used and it seems that perhaps we had been mis-sold exactly what this film was gonna be.

as the film unfolded before me i wondered what it was that i was getting into, and it seemed to almost hark back to nostalgic sense of superhero film, keeping it simple with the set-up, the training and then the pay-off, but it stretches itself too far, then doesn't try hard enough, getting it wrong and slipping up again and again

and it suffers hugely for its complete lacking of virtually any humour - there is nothing to keep you interested as the story meanders along and considering that Ryan Reynolds should have been having a real romp as Hal Jordan, i am sad to report that he falls flat on his face, displaying no charisma at all

the rather obvious setting up of a sequel is checked off as we go, something that is pretty much a given in most comic-to-screen situations, but when you consider that they were likely drafting up a plan of a trilogy, i just don't understand how they could have dropped the ball on this one whilst Marvel are making merry at the box office and doing a pretty bloody good job of it

c'mon DC, i keep sticking up for you, but give me a little more to put my faith in than CGI characters and concepts that are barely explained and Van Wilder in a rubbish looking suit.

in brightest day.....

ooooh, i actually get to see Green Lantern tonight

my girlfriend is still moaning that it looks shit, and to be honest i don't hold much hope for it either

but i'm more than willing to give it a chance and pray that they haven't done anything too terrible to it

so i thought i'd post up a couple of the Green Lantern vids that have been knocking around



first up is a congratulatory video, where a whole bunch of other superheroes are celebrating Hal Jordan's silver screen debut, but the atmosphere changes when Hawkman tries push his own movie script





and the next, i guess, must echo some of the sentiments of non-comic book readers and non-geeks around the world as DC choose to attempt launching a franchise with a hero other than Superman and Batman





and i may even consider blessing you with my own opinions, if i can really be bothered....

green lantern's gatling crotch

so, DC comics caused quite a hubbub last week didn't they?

now, i can hardly admit to being over-qualified and up-to-date on everything comics, heck, i'm still stuck languishing somewhere in post-Final Crisis and pre-Blackest Night 2009, but this thing right here is the god-damn internet, so why shouldn't i channel the news via my own blog and spout out my own opinion??!


for anyone that may have had this news bypass them, DC comics are re-setting themselves, apparently pretty much re-setting everything (although the confirmed facts are almost non-existent), what we do know is that there will be 52 comic book titles that will be relaunched (and renumbered, starting with 50 #1s) and rebooted in september.

and it seems that there will be changes, with a lot of talk about how these comics will take us back into the earlier years of the superheroes careers, with an emphasis being on foregoing decades of convoluted continuity in favour for easier 'jump-on' stories that are much friendlier to newcomers

which, doesn't seem a bad idea, by any means, the general consensus is that DC fear they are not capitalising on movie adaptions and big screen heriocs by having such muddled histories that the casual reader can't or won't get to grips with

recieving the most attention so far is the re-booted Justice League America, which has already had an artwork reveal that sheds only a little light and raises more questions.

the talk of the town is that character costumes and origins may be tweaked and redeveloped if neccesary, and indeed, in the JLA we appear to have a much (much much) younger looking Superman and a re-jigged costume causing quite a stir, infact the whole team do certainly appear younger than they have in comics of late, it seems nobody is still really sure what's goin on with Wonder Woman and Green Lantern is overcompensating with his (ahem) thought-made-form armoury.

i've got a lot more i want to say on this subject, more opinion and speculation basically, but i shall return tomorrow to do that rather than leave you with a hugely lengthy blog

but before you hear what i have to say, let me give you Hitler's take on the whole debacle.

kurt cobain on steroids

as a fan of DC, i will admit that Thor was wonderfully entertaining, next up as Marvel Studios build up to Avengers is their Captain America movie later this summer, aswell as a look at the X-men's origins in X-men, First Class

as a fan of DC, i can't say that i am pinning too much of my hopes on Green Lantern as he faces up to this threat from Marvel alone (well, actually he'll be backed up by a bunch of CGI aliens, which may actually be part of the problem)

but as ever, we have the wonderful return of the 'I'm a Marvel, I'm a DC' videos that really seem to get under the skin of the entire situation

out of context

its another out of context comic book panel

credit where it's due:

i found it here via Bam Kapow

in blackest night...

D.I.Y has changed alot, before it was merely putting up afew shelves or any other household maintenance while trying not to injure yourself in the process

but the digital age has brought with it wider possibilties for people to Do It Theirselves, using computers i am creating music from my bedroom without a band, i also favour photoshop for messing around with a little visual manipulation for messing around with artwork and pictures

but the following is one of the most amazing feats of D.I.Y i have seen, a fan made trailer for a non existent Green Lantern movie!!



The skill and creativeness that must have went into that is staggering and it all comes off with such a polished sheen that it could easily be mistaken for a real studio effort, everything was just so right about it

the likelyhood of a real Green Lantern film has been bouncing around for a while although nothing seems to be set in stone just yet, and even tho Green Lantern is hardly recognised outside of geekier circles the same could have been said for Iron Man prior to his big screen debut not so long ago

and if it does make it out their and make the big bucks, i'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more Green Lantern sequals and Green Lantern Corps spin-offs