http://brittneywilliamsportfolio.carbonmade.com/
http://the-orange-one.deviantart.com/
http://anotherbrittneywilliams.tumblr.com/
See you all real soon!
Max Eber
Staff Writer/The Doctor
max@sub-cultured.com
Twitter: @maxlikescomics
So, Variety announced today that Gal Gadot has been cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming “Man of Steel” sequel, that will also feature Ben Affleck’s debut as Batman.
This has been confirmed by director Zack Snyder, who said “Not only is Gal an amazing actress, but she also has that magical quality that makes her perfect for the role.”
Look, I’m just gonna jump right into my reactions, if you don’t mind.
THE GOOD:
Well, obviously, WONDER WOMAN IS GOING TO APPEAR ON THE BIG SCREEN, FINALLY. And, the casting of an Israeli actress is pretty awesome, it’s great to see a non-white woman get to show some Wonder.
I know a lot of people were reacting with “WHO?” when Gal’s name came up, but I think that’s a plus. Even Lynda Carter herself once advised Hollywood to “cast an unknown.” I like having an actress without anything iconic to compare her role as Wonder Woman to.
THE BAD:
Wonder Woman is making it on screen, yes, but as a supporting role in a movie primarily focused on Superman and Batman. She’s not even being mentioned in the tentative title while the two boys are. It reeks of sticking her in the movie to appease audiences without having to do the “risky” thing and give her a solo origin movie because, everyone knows, female-fronted action movies with well-established characters are doomed to fail.
Oh, by the way, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” has made $297 million in two weeks and broke a Thanksgiving weekend record previously held by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
Also, there’s the big question of Zack Snyder being at the helm again. Snyder’s record with female characters isn’t necessarily great. The man made “Sucker Punch” for crying out loud and defended it as “empowering,” proving that he has the most tenuous, superficial, male-gaze friendly grasp on the concept of female empowerment possible.
THE EH, MAYBE:
While I’m all about Gadot’s casting, I’m seriously hoping she plans to put on some muscle before filming begins. I don’t think it’s impossible, look at the transformations of Seth Rogen and Chris Pratt for roles in action movies. Wonder Woman is first and foremost a warrior, and I don’t care what nationality or color your actress for the role is, if she doesn’t have notable muscle tone, I can’t buy her as an Amazon.
Really, this is just all knee-jerk reactions to the news. We won’t know anything for awhile, and I’m waiting until we see the first leaked set pictures, promo images and trailers before I really decide on anything. And the truth is, I’m probably not going to flock to theaters for this, no matter how much I want my Wonder Woman fix. I still want her in a solo film, giving her the spotlight and letting her show the world the wonder that she truly is.
Ashly is an IHO Geek writer and is trying to be rational about this casting news. You can try to ruffle her feathers on Twitter @newageamazon.
First, most of people are aware by now of DC Comics’ big Batwoman debacle this week with its Eisner award winning writer/artist JH Williams III and co-writer W. Haden Blackman both deciding to leave after issue #26 and since said announcement their run is now being cut even shorter.
It has to be said outright; editorial driving away all of it’s A+ talent (and lesser talents but still talent nonetheless) over excessive editorial interference and last minute edicts and bans over the past two years has gotten ridiculous. Since the reboot over twenty artists and writers have burned bridges and left DC Comics due to poor treatment, last minute changes and editorial impeding storytelling. Writer Gail Simone was fired via email and is only back writing Batgirl (an abysmal book in tone and content, the worst writing of her career) because fans had a massive outcry. Add in Dan Didio and Co’s ongoing feud with Batgirl fans over nonsensical edicts barring former Batgirls Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain from canon (a blessing in disguise) and non-canon alternate universe books (seemingly purely out of spite), the decimated state of the Batman family of heroes, the Flash family (care for the Flash title which actually is a terrific book) and so on. So many issues all over the board it is hard to list them all. Above all; the entire DC canon since the reboot, instead of being simpler and easier to understand as intended or touted to being, is a complete and utter mess. Look no further than Superboy’s new time-travel laden origin for an example of the awful and unnecessarily complicated choices DC has made.
Yes they are a company and they aim to make money; but all this dirty laundry and negative press regarding how people are treated there in an industry meant to entertain is leaving overall a negative image of the company and discourages aspiring writers (like myself) and artists to want to work there.
Literally any other company in any other field whose problems concerning the higher ups and that much information being revealed at how difficult and negative everything is working with them, would be toast. Diane Nelson either has a complete laissez-faire attitude, is completely ignorant of her editorial staff and what happens when they open their mouths on twitter, Facebook and at conventions, or is just another loose screw in the entire system. Which is disappointing since we need more women Presidents of companies. However, just because she’s a woman does not mean she is doing a good job. Their inability to really grasp or launch a movie universe franchise, their slow dismantling of Vertigo, the lack of attention to girls as a consumer base, ignoring kids and tweens as consumers in general outside of toys and Lego and DC’s extreme fear of Wonder Woman are just a few problems that plague DC Entertainment outside of their comic line. The cracks are everywhere.
As for DC the editorial staff might as well write all their books themselves if they won’t let anyone tell the story the way they really want to and force so many last minute edicts and moves ultimately chasing everyone away from the sandbox. Many of these edicts appear purely out of spite; for instance at Baltimore Comic Con this past Saturday (the 7th) Dan Didio has just in response to the barring of Batwoman from being married additionally revealed Mera and Aquaman were never married either. Which if you read the newer comics there are many references to her being the Queen of Atlantis as Arthur is King so I don’t know what is going on there. If it is a joke, it’s a stupid low blow. If it’s true then I am left rather speechless.
The only thing consistent about DC Comics is that editorial hates marriages. And they hate marriages because it supposedly “ruins drama”. This is false; characters being married under good writers should never be an issue in keeping superhero narratives fun and exciting. You also don’t need their lives to be a constant drag. That’s not why I read superheroes, but perhaps I am not who they want reading their comics. It’s really not hard. To say otherwise means you are a poor writer or lack creativity.
This is where I shut down and thank the stars, stripes and Wonder Woman’s invisible jet that DC fans are better at handling DC’s characters than their own company. Because where in the reality of DC Comics is negative and grim and full of just awful over in fan-made works there is nothing but mostly love and overall, understanding of the characters.
This is where I happily bring to you Brittney Williams’ concept ‘The Daily Planet Files’ and it is the Superman adaptation you never knew you even wanted.
Fan-work like Brittney Williams has’ The Daily Planet Files’ Superman concept and upcoming one-shot “manga-esque” comic is literally lifeblood for me in its brilliance. For those jaded and sad by all the negativity from DC and miss Superman that is a 100% accurate and true to form. This is Superman done right.
A personal fan project for the character designer and recent story trainee at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Brittney is doing this for herself and it just so happens to be absolutely a pitch perfect rendition of Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and all their colleagues at The Daily Planet. Take a look for yourself:
And that’s just a taste. A word about the series from Brittney’s deviantart (where you can see super HQ big versions of these images) regarding her Superman concepts and the project:
It all began as I was nonchalantly channel surfing one day in early April, and I happened upon Superman the Animated series. Immediately I was thrown back into the early 90’s when I was a kid, and afternoons were spent playing outside then running into the house at 3 to watch Superman. I started to remember how much I actually used to love Superman and I was suddenly inspired to draw.
As some of you may have noticed Lois, Jimmy, and Clark vary a bit with each drawing in my gallery. That phenomenon is due to me never being quite satisfied with their designs. In each drawing I play with different influences, shapes, and styles, but at the same time, I try to stay true to the characters and how I would want to draw them as an artist.
It is actually really cool to see the progression she mentions if you look through her gallery; Clark goes from being super broad and vertical to being a bit more gentle, burly and having a bit of a slouch. The oafish “country boy”. They all get slightly cartoonier and manga-esque. Jimmy is the most obvious in progression if you look through her archive; he goes from chipmunk-y buck toothed duck haired Jimmy to a scruffy hipster with a sparse mustache to then a scrappy greaser-type with a patchy goatee and in another display of art evolution recent pictures feature him a bit more clean shaven and the return of the bowtie to his punkier style. It’s really really cool and it’s amazing how well Brittney gets these characters and yet it be fresh and new.
More from Brittney:
Eventually a story idea began forming in my head. I wanted to draw a little comic, purely for my personal entertainment, but alas the Internet is a dangerous thing. This is where The Daily Planet Files comes into existence. Just a short story about Clark Kent being the protector of the city he loves, and how I perceive the world his family and friends live in, my interpretation. Being one a little too obsessed with manga/anime I instantly knew it would be drawn in my strange shonen inspired style. I’ve always loved Osamu Tezuka, Akira Toriyama, Go Nagai- but yet I digress.
She has posted teasers of pages from the one-shot on her tumblr and I urge everyone to go check it out; some are much too big to put on here it just doesn’t serve them any justice.
In some ways it is disappointing that people like Brittney are not actually in charge or put at the helm of a project or could take her project to DC and it actually become a huge money-making franchise. The want I have for this as an ongoing or a graphic novel series or an animated TV-show (or all of the above) of this is just massive. And it would be popular. Just look at it. You know it would be!
I wish DC would wise-up. Because at the end of the day I love their characters but hate the company. If I had to choose, these days I will always go towards fan-media full of love and admiration for the characters than their own official stories and media dictated by a stale and bitter editorial who are overall stuck in an unfortunate state of absolute disconnect and poor taste.
http://brittneywilliamsportfolio.carbonmade.com/
http://the-orange-one.deviantart.com/
http://anotherbrittneywilliams.tumblr.com/
See you next time!
Max Eber
Staff Writer/The Doctor
max@ihogeek.com
Twitter: @maxlikescomics
Wow, that is a mouthful of a title.
Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox is the latest animated endeavor from DC Entertainment based on the Geoff Johns penned 2011 story Flashpoint set to release on July 30th. By good fortune and luck, I was able to watch it two weeks early (many thanks to the friend who “acquired” it), so how well did it adapt the story?
For those of you unfamiliar with Flashpoint, it is the precursor to the relaunch of the DC New52 Universe and sets the event in motion. As you might expect, this is a Flash-centric story with Barry Allen waking up in an altered timeline after changing time and saving his mother from Professor Zoom (or Reverse Flash, whatever you prefer). No good deed comes without consequences, as the ripples of this change result in a war between Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Without access to the Speed Force or his powers, thanks to a crafty Professor Zoom, Barry re-enacts the moment that gave him his powers in the first place in a dangerous attempt to right the universe.
It’s a well known fact that comic adaptations will leave things out here and there, and in some portions, Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox did this wonderfully, while in others erred. For example, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. The base story remained the same: they were going to be married for “convenience” and then something happened that turned them against each other forever, but part of this sub plot is completely missing. Wonder Woman is also much more cutthroat and merciless, a change that was pretty amazing in my opinion. I won’t spoil anything for you in regards to the rest of the changes, in the hopes that you will check out the movie for yourself.
A much larger problem for me was the art behind the animation, agreeing with a fellow viewer about the lack of proper proportions and terrible mouths on the characters. Then, the second I curled my lip in distaste, the Flash would run and it was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. Thankfully, I found ways to distract myself from staring at the characters’ lips and Aquaman’s grotesquely small head, namely by listening to the spot on star studded voice cast which included Cary Elwes, Nathan Fillion, Steve Blum, Justin Chambers, Kevin Conroy and more.
Those who loved the tie-ins rather than the main storyline will find plenty to love about the movie, as there are plenty of nods to characters that appeared because of Barry’s timeline tampering, including a 2 second appearance of the Canterbury Cricket. There’s even some fan service for those of us who loved Young Justice!
Overall, Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox is fun. You feel every one of those 75 minutes, but at least half of them fly by without you noticing. Let me know what you thought about it once you pick up your copy!! By the way, Amazon so far has it for the cheapest.
WARNING: the following contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for the Man of Steel film, as well as for All Star Superman. If you do not wish to be spoiled, I suggest you stop reading NOW. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
In the past few weeks I have spent more time than I care to admit debating with friends and colleagues regarding the recent Man of Steel film. I know many people who enjoyed the film and found it to be an excellent representation of Superman. I know others who enjoyed the film but didn’t think it was really a SUPERMAN movie. And I know people who flat out hated it.
No matter what, there’s pretty much one huge point of controversy. If you haven’t seen the film and have remained unspoiled to this point, this is your last chance to get out of here, FYI.
In Man of Steel, Superman kills Zod by snapping his neck.
There’s been a ton of debate over this issue, from comic and non-comic fans alike. Because this is a huge issue: Superman KILLS. And because of the timing of the scene, we don’t see him really struggle after the fact. It’s death to Zod, kiss Lois, end of story.
People have defended this choice, and defended it well and have pointed out that we will probably see Superman’s struggle with this choice in the inevitable sequel. Others, like myself, feel betrayed by this action: Superman killing is a huge deal. And, for me, part of it is that it happens in a Zack Snyder film, and Snyder is known for his tendency to pretty much fetishize violence.
My argument is that Snyder doesn’t understand Superman.
Here’s the question though: who DOES?
I know so many people, in and out of comic book fan circles, who don’t get the appeal of Superman, who discard him because of his status as “The Big Blue Boy Scout.” And yet at the same time, in comics, we see him (like many other characters) portrayed in completely different ways by every writer who approaches him. Who does get Superman at this point? Who is Superman, what is his place in our modern mythology?
Because let’s face it, Superman have moved beyond just “comic book character.” There are people who can tell you the basics of his story without having ever read a comic, seen a Superman movie, etc. Alien, comes to Earth, poses as reporter, has super powers, weak against rocks. Superman has entered our collective cultural mythology, he stands for something. Hell, in Morrison’s All Star Superman, Kal-El is even reinvented as a classic mythological sun god, right down to the sacrificial death to save us all (and hope of rebirth in the end).
Superman is hope. Superman is humanity at our best. Superman is RAISED by humanity at our best, the Kents find him, raise him, realize their boy has superpowers and embrace the fact (this is done wonderfully in Waid’s Superman: Birthright where Martha Kent is an alien enthusiast, embracing her son’s differences and learning everything she can about them). He sees the good that humanity is capable of and he wants to help us rise to that level.
Maybe this is what makes Superman so difficult to connect with. I say this for two reasons: the first being that we have become so cynical that it seems like we are constantly surrounded by humanity at its worst. The constant stream of information we’re offered in our daily lives is always full of updates on death tolls, environmental disasters, new wars breaking out, old conflicts continuing, etc. It’s hard to believe in something like Superman when we seem to always be confronted with humanity’s darker nature (this is actually why I think many people find it easier to connect with the character of Batman: if Superman has hope for humanity at it’s best, Batman is too aware of humanity at its worst. Superman inspires, Batman protects, Wonder Woman loves.).
The second point is the question of what exactly IS humanity at our best? For many people, Superman being able to kill Zod IS humanity at our best, being able to kill one to save billions. In other cases, the idea of humanity at our best is the idea that redemption is possible for almost everyone, and even the worst deserve that chance. Look at how Superman is handled by Snyder, as well as Miller and Millar, versus Waid and Morrison. Superman, like pretty much any character, acts as a reflection of our own psyche, and when we differ so much on what is Right and Wrong, the character becomes difficult to define.
So where DOES Superman fit in this day and age? I choose to believe that his ideal form is the one that we’re shown as leading us to the better, rising us above. We often mistake “darkness” for “complexity” in a character. Superman doesn’t need to be dark, in fact that rings false to me because Superman IS THE SUN.
But that’s me. That’s my take. Yours is assuredly different. This is why we tell stories. Or something.
Ashly is an IHO Geek contributing writer who will confess to having reread ‘Supergods’ a ridiculous number of times. Tell her how wrong she is on Twitter @newageamazon
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a successful Superman movie! Aside from arguing the merits of the movie itself Man of Steel has broken June movie records. What does that mean? It means that the sequel has already been green lit and a Justice League movie is that much closer to becoming a reality. But you don’t want to hear about all of that. You came here to read about Man of Steel.
I’m going to be honest, I went into Man of Steel with almost zero expectations, after the semi disappointment that was Superman Returns and the debacle that was Green Lantern (Which I don’t blame on Ryan Reynolds, but that is subject that is best discussed in another article.) I was more than a little soured on the whole prospect of DC Films. I don’t count Chris Nolan’s Batman movies as a part of the DC movie universe because that Batman couldn’t exist with Superheroes like Green Lantern and Superman, so I’m not going to count those films.
Man of Steel is the first DC Comics film in my opinion that has successfully brought a character like Superman into the pop culture consciousness. Now don’t get me wrong we all know Superman, but most people think of the character as out of date or with morals that are too lofty to be relatable. In Man of Steel, I think we see for the first time a Superman that still holds on to those choices and morals but is fully realized. An extraordinary being dealing with his own need to be human, it deals with the need to be a part of the human condition but not being able to be understood by humanity. In my opinion each of the Superman movies has been a reflection of the national mentality at the time of creation. So while the main criticism for Man of Steel seems to be it is too “dark” or “realistic” I would argue that the word being looked for is modern. It is a retelling of the Superman mythos that while paying homage to past films and comic history does not follow it religiously, which I think is a good thing.
Part of the reason I was able to buy into this movie so well is due to Henry Cavill’s great performance as the Man of Steel himself. He was at times stoic, playful, sarcastic, and played the quiet strength of Superman well. Here is an important thing to note though, this is a Superman movie, not a Clark Kent movie. Just like Iron Man 3 was more accurately Tony Stark 3 or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2, Man of Steel chose to focus on Clark/Kal’El as Superman. While there were many great moments with Diane Lane and Cavill, the true strength of the character in this film was focused on Superman. I am hoping in the sequel which we all know is coming that we will see Cavill get to play Clark Kent a little more often since his turn in shows like the Tudors have shown his ability to play both comedy and drama.
But let’s get to my favorite part Amy Adams as Lois Lane. I’m going to fanboy for a moment here, I was so excited when she was announced. Amy Adams is one of my favorite actresses and I think she played Lois to a “t”, not the Lois that we have gotten recently in even the pre-New 52 comics but a Lois Lane that holds her own, she suits up, she kicks ass, and she is a great investigative journalist. These are all the things that she should be and is. I can’t wait to see more of her character in the sequel.
And last but not least here are the caveats, the problems, the shortfalls, and missteps that I felt existed in the movie. While I understand the narrative choices of the flashbacks I felt like some of them were misplaced or entirely unnecessary within the confines of the “Superman” story the movie was trying to tell. Laurence Fishburne felt underused as Perry White, and character development in general fell short. Also, while I enjoyed Michael Shannon as Zod, I missed Terence Stamp, The “Kneel before Zod” line was so iconic I couldn’t help but miss it a little bit.
Overall I loved the movie, it helped that I went in thinking two things “Expect nothing” and thanks to my fellow staff writer Tushar, “Infinite Worlds in the DC universe”. This movie exceeded my expectations, helped me fall in love with Superman again, and gave me hope for a fully realized DC movie universe.
What did you think? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook, or Twitter.
UPDATE: It was recently pointed out to me that I mistakenly identified the Actress Diane Lane as Diane Keaton, probably because my mind was somewhere up in the clouds while writing this article.
Samuel Smith
Staff Writer
samuel@ihogeek.com
@samwasbornanerd