Designated Sidekick

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Things have been slow on the DS front as things have not been slow on the real life front (Don’t ask about my word count. It frightens small publishers).

Comic Review 1: Robin/Spoiler.

I’ve just read the Robin/Spoiler special in all its awesometastic awesomeness.  Steph’s diary notes are squee worthy. A totally awesome combo would be Spoiler + Blue Beetle as a team up.  The Jaime Reyes and Steph Brown combo would be awesome.

I love Steph going “Tim Drake Wayne” in her diary. That’s awesome. Also, this version of Robin is much more the Robin I grew to like in the main DCverse.  BabyBatcontrolfreakTitanRobin doesn’t resonate with me as a Tim Drake that fits into the larger DCverse.

Blue Beetle 27

On the Blue Beetle Foreshadowing Hammer of Doom, could the end two pages of Blue Beetle #27 please, please not be a foreshadow? Not just for the sake of the characters, but for the sake of the sales and story writing quality of the title?

BATMAN:WIP and Trinity (1 to 4)

Meanwhile, DC Universe hits the almost but not possible combination punch with Trinity AND Batman RIP. I read both. I paid money for both. Side by side, they suck.  Side by side they are two of the worse comics series to experience back to back.

ndividually, I’m finding myself quite fond of Trinity, and Batman:RETCON IN PROGRESS is very cleverly shaking the foundations of the DC established known continuity.

Here’s the problem though - on the right hand, Batman is a mythic level centre piece of a year long arc.  On the other hand, it’s the end of the Batman as we know it *handclap* it’s the end of the Batverse as we know it *handclap* and the two storylines are on the shelves at the same time.

That makes them both suck.  It’s not even the MuliWolverine syndrome (Sixteen Skrulls and counting). It’s two totally divergent stories in allegedly the same continuity.  Together, they’re fail.  Separated by a year or two, they’d both be key parts of the DCverse.  Right now, you can’t take either as serious contributions to the mythos,

Batman:WIP Theory: Given the number of times the DC universe has been hit with time rifts, weirdness and reality mergers, I think the events listed in Batman#677 did happen - but happened on Earth n+1 rather than the main timeline.  This time crisis/infinite crisis  sort of thing should have resonant impact on key players like Batman.

Oh, and if Jezebel Jade is the villain and/or cops a fridging, DC needs to hire writers. Actual writers, not story recyclers.

Trinity: I couldn’t stop laughing at the open serious seriousness visions - and thinking “Oh hey, it’s baby from that time when Dick Grayson humped the TimeStream back in inFinite Crisis”. I think the Tarot card metaphor is straining at the edges by #4, unless they start putting together a full deck of DC cards. That has merchandise and mythos approval.

Booster Gold #10:

Good comic, and ouch ending. Oh man. Oh man. That part of the arc ain’t over though, because there’s just something that says things turn out in an unexpected way.

Rightio, that’s the monthly wrap up.  I’m going to run silent for a little while whilst on tour for my day job, and whilst I set to planning what to do next with the DS column.  Suggestions and ideas would be most welcome.

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Image via Wikipedia

Can we have a case for the fourth wall? It seemed to have died in that episode. (cf:Batman (aside to camera) “And that’s why there was no case” *winks at camera*)

I’m in mixed feelings.  I’m on record as wanting the case more than Steph’s return. Partly because, well, I didn’t want to retcon Batman from “Worlds Greatest Detective” to “World’s Second Rate Detective”.  Let me tell you about the time Batman couldn’t prove that his nearest and closest medical ally smuggled his former Robin out from under his Batnose.  Let me tell you about the way he bought Leslie’s alibi about killing Steph without question. Let me show you the way that Batman would totally not worry about another sidekick comeback from the grave.  Let me show the way the as fabulous as it is to see Stephanie Brown back in the canon, back in the mask, and back from exile, it makes Batman look seriously… not Batman.  C’mon, they didn’t even check the corpse? WTF? For serious?  Batman is allegedly so paranoid and meticulous he’ll do weird isolation chamber meditation, but totally forgot to check the body in the box belonged to someone who had the wherewithal to break into the Batcave and steal one of the big secret game plans to trigger War Games?

Flipside, I have many many reasons to feel happy at seeing Spoiler back. I just have a large number of reasons to feel that the tidying up of a plot point before BATMAN: RIP (Retcon In Progress) was handled in a quite weird manner.  So, yay! Spoiler! and WTF Batman?

I would like to see two things from the Batfranchise though…

1. Tim’s relationship with Bruce become strained over “Oh, I suspected but forgot to mention it” particularly in light of Batman 676.  Please tell me that someone at DC has a Batfreakingplan to write about this (or kill off Batman before it’s resolv…. oh yeah, BatmanRIP. Crud)
2. Steph back in the franchise. Let’s not make this a one shot “There you go G-W people. Now STFU”.  DC, invest a bit in Steph’s return.  Run with it, make something of it.  Give Spoiler fans a reason to spend more money with you

Speaking of the crossover arc of doom. I’m giving Batman:RIPtide a three issue margin of error.  If they break out the fridge on Bruce’s girlfriend, then Steph or no Steph, I can’t keep giving money to a company that’s creatively bankrupt in the hero motivation department.

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Cheryl Lynn discussing squirrels…

How can a species with no fear survive for so long?

Power Rings.

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Luke Cage Movie in 2009: R-rated?

Movie promises to be “brutual enough for an R-rating” [source, io9 quoting Comic Book Movies quoting Marvel Source Avi Arad.

Whereupon lies the problem - an R rating has been seen as the signature death knell for a blockbuster movie.  For example, the hideous editing done to DieHard4.0 in order to secure the coveted MA15 category.  Or the Terminator 4 proposed PG to MA15 rating… or the ratings of Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk, Punisher and Batman.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that comic book films are automagically destined for the MA to PG level of rating. I just don’t feel comfortable that the first shot Luke Cage has at the silver screen will be in a smaller niche than was presented to the rest of the Marvel franchise.  Like it or not, Cage’s take will be judged against the PG-13 movies to determine “if audiences are ready for a black lead character in a comic book film”.

In fact, only the third Punisher film looks close enough to the money to be R-rated.  Wolverine was toned down to a PG13 from a possible R rating, and if there’s one Canadian killing machine that would be well suited to non stop violence brutuality fest that’s worthy of an R rating… it’s Wolverine.

PG13 Wolverine versus R Rated Cage.  Sales figures determine who lives for a sequel

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Advertising and its Connection to Violence and Abuse, Special issue of Journal of Advertising,
Edited by Nora J. Rifon, Marla Royne and Les Carlson; Deadline 31 Mar 2009

A spate of recent highly visible advertising campaigns using violent themes, imagery, and acts elicited heightened scrutiny after the 2007 Superbowl. There are a growing number of highly successful video games with violence at their core such as Grand Theft Auto, World of Warcraft, and Halo to name a few, that receive advertising support. There are also a growing number of advertising-based Internet games offered and freely accessible to even young children. Indeed, the success of entertainment vehicles is highly dependent on advertising support systems. The recent intermingling of advertising and entertainment content points to the pivotal role of advertising for defining cultural norms and influencing behaviors of violence, abuse to others and self, and neglect.

Journal of Advertising is one of the A level marketing journals, and they’re traditionally USA-centric in appproach. So, I’d like this call for paper to get a little more attention from outside the marketing academics mailing lists.   There’s a need for voices that aren’t from the usual suspects list (and I say that because on any gioven topic in marketing, we can name the ten most likely authors to respond to a special issue call for papers) and views that aren’t just white male middle class academics* on topics such as the Dehumanization in advertising, Stereotyping and degradation, Symbolic consumption of violence and New media, gaming and violence consumption as a contributor to active and passive child abuse.
Submission deadline: March 31, 2009.
*If anyone needs a WMMC marketing academic to provide the academy firepower as second or third author on a paper, I’m open to collaborations. It is what I do for a day job.