Top 5 Superhero Soldiers/Warriors

It’s Memorial Day in the US right now, and while that’s not something we have in the UK until November 11 and the nearest Sunday to it, it still seems like an opportune moment to reflect on the great warriors and soldiers that have gone on to protect innocent lives through alternate means.  I think that having an ex-soldier don a costume and become a superhero adds a nice bit of depth and the potential for a rich backstory, especially when their military background is not that of a gleaming war hero, like Kate Kane (Batwoman).  But let’s face it, everyone loves a good old war hero, someone that can say they’ve put their life on the line to protect their country and it’s citizens, soldiers are people that anyone in their right mind will have nothing but respect for.  It, quite frankly, shouldn’t (and doesn’t as far as I’m concerned) matter if you support war, if you’re against the invasion of a particular country or questioning the reasons why a country is at war with another, the men and women that serve in armed forces are not the ones that make the decisions, they’re the ones that step up and risk their lives on a daily basis in service of us.  That, to me, is as brave as it gets and they deserve every bit of love and respect you can give.  Anyway, that’s not exactly why I’m here, although I felt it worth saying let’s get on with some comics talk!

5. Nethaniel Adam (Captain Atom)

The first of three Captains I’ll be looking at today, Captain Atom is the very epitome of loyalty to his country and superiors.  A Captain in the US Air Force, Adam agreed to become a test subject for the military where he was seemingly disintegrated and soon reformed to become Captain Atom.  His powers make him one of the powerhouses of the DC universe, arguably up there in the same sort of league as Superman.  Once the military realised they had a genuine superhero of their own creation, who was still unwaveringly loyal to them, they sent him undercover to infiltrate the Justice League and spy on them.

What’s great about Captain Atom is that while he was more than happy to carry out his orders, go out and act like the big hero but constantly report back on the internal goings on of the JL, the constant exposure to the heroes of the League, their respect for him and the feelings he had when he was saving people from things only the league could handle led him to question his original mission.  Internal and external conflict had been a staple of his series, unsure as to where his loyalties lay and even unsure where they should lie, especially once he’d been with the League long enough that many of them had become real, close friends to him.  Regardless, he showed true courage and loyalty to go in for the experiment in the first place, seeing it as the ultimate way to serve his country and the hero inside of him won out when he put his powers to good use.

4. John Stewart (Green Lantern)

John Stewart is an ex-marine from the US Marine Corps, which is near enough as hardcore as it gets.  You know he’s seen more than his fair share of violence and atrocities and I don’t think there is a single person that can go and do something like that and come away from it the same person.  More importantly, though, you’ve got to be pretty fearless to take on a role like that, one that’ll have you in some seriously dangerous situations so it’s no surprise he was selected to join the illustrious Green Lantern Corps.

Having finished his duties with the Marine Corps, John moved on to a life of architecture which heavily influences his extremely intricate and detailed constructs.  Everything has working, moving pieces which make watching his battles incredibly interesting.  While John Stewart is not necessarily a Green Lantern I immediately jump to as a favourite, his war time heroics and dedication to protecting innocent lives cannot be questioned, and for that he earns a huge amount of respect.

3. Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)

So this is a character that, up until recently, I knew very little about but have decided to get a little more educated on.  Any character that can create such a positive buzz in so many ways is always going to be worthy of a look in, and while I’m still no where near as familiar with Captain Marvel as I’d like to be, I’m getting there slowly but surely and everything I’ve seen so far has been very cool.

Beginning her career in saving lives and being a hero, Carol Danvers was a Major in the United States Air Force she was exposed to an explosion and her genetic code was mixed with that of the current Captain Marvel, making her a Kree/human hybrid.  This is where she took on the mantle of Ms. Marvel.  It wouldn’t be until 2012 that Carol would take on the title “Captain Marvel” but thanks to her increased appearances over the past decade, I think it’s fair to say that Carol has become to Marvel what Wonder Woman is to DC, the lead female hero but one who is not so much defined by her gender as she is by her heroics.  As it should be.  Her status within the Marvel Universe is represented by her ever growing and extremely vocal and loyal fan base, a group I’m most likely going to be joining fully very soon.

2. Steve Rogers (Captain America)

The third and final Captain of the piece, Captain America is a pure, out and out war hero.  His induction into the US Army during World War II thanks to the super soldier serum is where it all kicked off for Cap, he was created in 1941 to be the ultimate patriot fighting off the evil Nazis.  He is a little different to the rest of the list in that all of our other heroes have been war heroes/veterans before becoming a superhero, whereas Cap was brought into both worlds simultaneously, being augmented with the serum to become the ultimate soldier and also becoming a symbol of hope for his fellow soldiers.

Once he’d been awakened from his icy nap, Cap stuck to his strong sense of loyalty to his country and held on to a very strong sense of morals.  I know that he obviously doesn’t hold anything like the same level of power, but to me he is Marvel’s Superman with his patriotism, his strong sense of morality and a very pure ethical code.  He has an incredible sense of honour and his concern always lies with the people.  Another thing that brings him very in line with Supes is his unwillingness (in recent times anyway) to kill, there’s always got to be another way to save people from themselves and pull people off a dark path, alternatively he’d rather have people locked away than killed.

That’s not to say he hasn’t, he was trained as a soldier in a truly horrific war, fought against an enemy capable of unspeakable evil so killing as a necessity is not an alien concept to him.  He is a true hero, not just an American hero, but one every single person in the world can look to and aspire to be.  Not the whole super soldier, superhero thing, but his attitude, ethics and morality, he is a shining beacon of bravery and hope in an increasingly grim and depressed world.

1. Diana Prince (Wonder Woman

While not strictly a soldier, Diana was born into and brought up in an all female warrior society, so even from a young age she was a ridiculously skilled fighter both in hand to hand and with sword and shield.  Hell, in her current New 52 series she is the god of war!  You don’t get to a position like that by asking for it, she has had to prove her abilities time and time again and while she sometimes has a bit of a problem keeping her emotions and rage in check, Wonder Woman is well known as a very compassionate woman.  She has great love in her and I think that helps keep her grounded when things start heating up.

Fiercly loyal to her friends and allies, but really not one to cross or piss off unless you’re stupid or suicidal.  Even as a natural born warrior, she has proven herself a more than capable leader to her people, the Amazonians, and has been a key ambassador between Themyscira and the wider world, but particularly America.  She’s also been shown to be a great mentor to both Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark, more than happy to pass on anything she can to help them become the heroes she knows they can be.  Diana was always going to be my number one choice on this list, being a long time favourite character of mine and one of the most badass warriors in fiction.  All hail the god of war!

And so that’s a wrap on another Top 5 list, thank you for stopping by.  Not sure what else will be up this week, going to have to see how it goes as I have a fairly busy week at work with all late shifts until Friday but I’m hoping to get something out on Wednesday.  No promises though.

Weekly Update 25/05/2014

Can’t believe we’re almost at the end of May already, time is flying by me way too quickly.  This was a pretty fun week, got some plotting and scripting done for the first online comic I’m going to be posting in a couple of months or so, picking up a graphics tablet in a few days to get cracking on colouring.  There are two or three different comics I’d like to get up on the old internet, all are going to be short stories essentially testing the water with regards to my story telling abilities before I consider something a little more ambitious.  I’ll have more details by mid June I reckon so keep an eye, it’ll all be discussed on here first.

Went to see Godzilla yesterday, which is why I’m doing this today, thought I’d put out a few brief points.  Firstly, the King of the Monsters himself looked and sounded absolutely incredible.  I’m a huge Godzilla fan and have been since as long as I can remember, my fandom of ‘Zilla predates my love of any superhero so this was always a big deal movie, and it delivered in most areas.  There were a few niggling issues with it, it did seriously lack any impactful women or “minorities”.  The main heroes were both white men, the main shot caller (and idiot, but that’s a little beside the point) was a white male and the most fleshed out character and arguably most important character was only in it for the first ten minutes or so, and that was the heroes mother/wife.

The human parts on the whole were more of a hinderance than anything, and the funny thing is if these scenes were played out in any other film it would have most likely been ok, they weren’t inherently bad in my opinion, but the issue was they got in the way of Godzilla fighting big ass monsters.  That’s what I wanted, and when he was on screen I genuinely couldn’t be happier I thought his characterisation, his motives, appearance and sheer power were all spot on.  It was genuinely exciting, there just wasn’t enough of him.  But I came away from it satisfied, it was what I’d consider a “proper” Godzilla movie for the most part so it gets a pass from me and I look forward to the sequel.

Nice bit of news from the gaming world caught my attention this week, that being the upcoming release of Metro: Redux for the Xbox One.  The retail package will contain a fully reworked and optimised Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light, running on a brand new engine made for next gen, reworked gameplay and multiple playstyles available to cater for everyone.  The real kicker is that even with all the work going into this both games will come packaged together for a cool £34.99 RRP.  It’s looking like a meatier upgrade than Tomb Raider received, you’re getting two already good games and it’s coming out at a lower, albeit slightly lower, price point.  Oh, and it comes with all the DLC too.  Since it’s due to arrive sometime in the summer I think this’ll make a nice summer drought beater.

Over the past week I’ve managed to get myself into watching a new (for me) TV show too, one that airs almost every night and has me in stitches throughout, that’s be the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.  I’d been flicking through loads of YouTube videos recently, checking out some of the things he does with his guests and some of his monologues at the start of each show and have loved it all, so I did a bit of digging and found out it airs over here on CNBC (Virgin channel 613) at about 11 at night.  Needless to say, it’s now on series link and has become my regular go to show for dinner time.  If you’ve not seen anything from the show before, check out some of the lip sync battles for starters, they are hilarious.  In fact, here, have one now.

Moving on to comics, the one thing I have taken away from this week is that I will most likely be dropping DC’s Worlds’ Finest title from my pull ist when the new Earth 2 weekly kicks off shortly.  It’s been said that while this is running, Helena (The Huntress) and Karen (Power Girl) are going to be involved so their original title will have a “change in format”.  Basically, they’re going to be making it another Batman and Superman book.  I’m sorry, but I don’t need more of them right now, and if all that’s being said at the moment is true it’ll be stories about the original Earth 2 Batman and Superman that have been dead since it started, they’ll be stories that’ll have absolutely no impact what so ever and frankly, I don’t care enough.  I also find it a little disappointing that DC are taking a title led by two of my favourites and two strong, independant female heroes and replacing them with two guys that already have their fingers in so many books.  Yawn.  Hopefully it’ll be a temporary thing, then I’ll quite happily pick it back up if those two return after the weekly is done.  We shall see.

It was a hefty week of buying comics this week, thanks largely to getting lumped with a 10 day straight run at work without a day off, meaning I couldn’t get in to get my books until Thursday afternoon, so all in all I think over the last couple of days I must have read a good 20 or so issues from various series so to be completely honest, I’m not going to go too much into it now.  What I will say, the standouts for me were ASM #2, Batgirl #31, Harley Quinn #6 and Forever Evil #7.  On the point of the latter, it’s good to finally have that series over and done with now, DC have managed to drag their heels on it so much it’s impacted the main Justice League book too and prevented me from reading the 0 issue of Justice League United.  The ending left a little to be desired, but I’m putting that down to it being put back, and therefore anticipated, so much.

Going to keep it short and sweet here and to be quite honest, I’m probably not going to get my Top 5 out until tomorrow as I have a stack of things I need to do this evening.  It’s my own fault, I started playing Diablo III earlier and then it was suddenly evening and I’d completed the Belial chapter (2 maybe?) on Nightmare with my Demonhunter who is now at level 45.  I think, I’m actually kind of hazy on it already.  Anyway, I’ll definitely be back tomorrow for Top 5, don’t know which one I’m going to use yet but regardless it’ll be tomorrow.  See ya!

Why I’d Like A Ms. Marvel Movie

Title says it all really, today I’m exploring why I’d like to see Marvel/Disney bring out a full blown, stand alone Ms. Marvel movie.  As regular readers and friends will know, I’m a big DC fan, much more so than I am a Marvel fan.  That’s not to say I don’t like Marvel, far from it in fact and my appreciation of the House of Ideas is increasing all the time, but I’d say roughly 80% of my pull list is made up of DC titles.  Realistically my knowledge (proper knowledge as oppossed to passing knowledge) of Marvel is pretty much just Spider-Man right now, I’m beginning a bit of a delve into Captain America and will start reading some Thor stuff, but outside of Spidey it’s all pretty much an unknown.  So why is it so important to me to get a Ms. Marvel film then?

First and foremost, and this has been said a lot already so I’m not going to get too into this point, but I think it’s still worth touching on anyway, there is a massive gap in the market for female led superhero movies.  This isn’t “agenda pushing” or whatever bullshit the silencers generally spout, it’s a simple fact.  There is a genuinely huge female contigent to our geeky corner of the world, those who lap up the superhero movies, buy comic books and play video games, and while the industry is moving towards a more female friendly environment we’re still getting a tonne of stuff that seems to be aimed more at the typical 18-30 men.  Let’s take a quick look at the movie side from the big two and their respective movie studios, from 2008 onwards.  Marvel, since then, has released a grand total of 11 movies (if I’m remembered right) of which 0 have been female led.  Yes, Black Widow has popped up in a few and was pretty much a co-lead in The Winter Soldier, but that was still a Captain America movie.

A small step in the right direction

Now, again since 2008, DC have released 5 movies.  Can you guess how many were female led?  Yup, none.  It shows that while things have moved on a little, it’s nowhere near enough and this is an issue that needs to be addressed, make no mistake.  And this needs to be a film marketed at everyone, don’t just make it a superhero film selling sex appeal to get all the lads in again.

I genuinely believe Marvel will be the first to break this mould, let’s face it they have been the trailblazers for superhero movies since Iron Man hit, they’ve shown how to build a coherent movie universe that ties together and make it appeal to the comic fans and the masses.  It’s no small feat, and if their track record is anything to go by they will absolutely be the first to put out a solo female superhero movie.

So, given my poor knowledge of heroes outside of Spidey with some passing knowledge of Cap and Thor, why am I looking to Ms. Marvel to get this ball rolling?  Well, regardless of what I’m reading each month in singles and whatever trades I’m picking up when I can, I still keep up to date with news and trends within comic books, it’s good to keep your ear to the ground.  Keeping up to date with as much as possible often leads to a good idea of what may be coming to things I am reading, it’s also good to take in as many opinions on things as possible and for someone pretty much looking on the Marvel universe from the outside in, it gives me a good idea of where I might want to go next.

Ms. Marvel is a big hit.  She has a very dedicated fanbase, known as the Carol Corps, and even people that maybe haven’t been too interested in the past have been picking up and enjoying Captain Marvel.  She’s a character with enough gravitas to lead her own movie, and given the right actress it wouldn’t be too difficult to transfer that to the big screen.  And this is where we roll right back around to Marvel Studios and how they’ve handled their movie universe so far, their casting has been absolutely spot on.  Even if some hardcore Marvel readers might disagree, for an outsider to the wider MU like myself all the movies have been as much fun as they are largely down to the awesome casting choices.  So Marvel have a character that their readers love, the ability to cast this character absolutely perfectly and begin to plug this gap in the movie market.

Show ’em how it’s done, Marvel!

If Marvel can put out a successful Ms. Marvel movie, which I see no reason why they couldn’t considering her popularity and their ability to put out consistently high quality superhero movies, this opens the door for something that should have been done a long, long time ago.  Wonder Woman.  We know full well that DC/WB have been pushing to get Batman and Superman on screen together so hard because of Marvel’s success, and the same goes for their recently announced Justice League movie.  They want to get their own shared movie universe off the ground, and having seen how well it’s all gone for Marvel they know people want it, they can see how it should be done and are beginning their own execution.  That doesn’t mean to say their movies need to be of the same sort of tone, but the framework is there for everyone to see.

A successful solo female superhero from Marvel will immediately put the pressure on DC to emulate this, it may even result in some of the more obscure/less popular characters to be brought out to try and compete.  This is my real agenda here.  I want Marvel to put out a great Ms. Marvel movie because I want to see some of my favourite DC characters brought to the big screen.  Give me an epic, badass spectacle of a Wonder Woman movie, give me a high octane Supergirl movie and give me a lower budget, street level Birds of Prey movie.  Yes, I’d go and see Ms. Marvel at the cinema and much like all the other Marvel movies, I’d more than likely enjoy the hell out of it and it would probably encourage me even more to get reading some of her comics, but for me it would be more about opening the door, showing DC how it’s done (again) and pushing them into getting their act together.

Granted, it would no doubt still be a good five or six years until they actually followed suit, but better late than never I guess.

Top 5 Comic Book Artists

It’s Sunday and that can mean only one thing, it’s time for me to run through another Top 5 list of something geeky.  Well, ok technically at the time of writing this it’s very early Monday morning but since I have slept yet I’m still counting it as Sunday.  Today I’m looking at something that seems to be horribly under-appreciated in comics, art.  Specifically, those that create it.  It genuinely baffles me how so many comic reviews I read online skip over the art side of the books or just touch on it slightly.  Comic books are a visual medium, sure they’re telling a story (or sometimes, just trying to) but the word to art ratio in a comic is usually pretty heavily leaning on the art side.  Unless you’re reading an old Frank Miller book.  I tell you though, this is going to be a really tough one to put into an order of preference…

Let’s get my favourite artist run started then.  Remember, personal preference, yeah?  This is not factual in any way, these are just my favourites.

 

5. Humberto Ramos

Currently on the Spider team of artists, providing some beautiful art to go along with Dan Slott’s masterful story crafting, Ramos has quite a cartoony style which is very pleasing on the eye and suits nice, bright and vibrant colours.  His art leaps off the pages, his line work is tight and his characters are all very consistent.  From what I’ve seen around the web Ramos is quite a divisive artist within the Spider fandom, for me he’s my favourite Spider-Man artist, I think his style suits a book like Spider-Man that needs the bright colour palette and can sometimes verge on the silly and cartoonish.  It’s the nature of Spider-Man, I appreciate all the deadly serious stories that have come in the past don’t worry, but he’s always been an all ages character and I think you need an artist on board that can appeal to all ages.  Ramos fits that bill perfectly, an art style that is impressive enough for adults to enjoy but pops out enough for kids to get pulled in.  Oh, and his early work on Impulse was absolutely awesome!

4. Stjepan Sejic

Sejic is the powerhouse artist of Top Cow at the moment, working on interiors for multiple titles and doing covers and variants for almost every series that is released through the studio/publisher.  He has a very distinctive art style, originated from his computer generated art which allowed him much more freedom to build complex character designs as he didn’t have to redraw every chink in someones armour every panel.  These days all his art is digitally drawn and painted, so while the characters may have lost a little bit of detail his art is still beautiful to look at.  Since he does his own colouring on top of the initial drawings, the vision he has from the beginning sticks throughout so everything is very consistent.  He also has a wonderful knack for absolutely nailing facial expressions, he’s an artist that can pull of a series of panels that have zero dialogue in but you still know exactly what the characters are thinking, it’s a hell of a talent to have and Top Cow will be in a sticky situation if either DC or Marvel offer him enough money to work for them.  I for one would love to see him work on a Green Lantern related book, with all the travelling around the universe it would allow Sejic so much wiggle room with new environments and a vast array of species.  For a good idea of how good Sejic’s art is, go and look for a book called Ravine, then purchase said book.  It’s well worth it.

3. Kenneth Rocafort

My first exposure to Rocafort was once again over at Top Cow, which is somewhat of a launchpad for many of the best artists in the industry right now.  The book in question was Madame Mirage, a book not tied into the Top Cow universe which told a really great story but it was the art that fully pulled me in here.  Rocafort has a great talent for drawing people, which I know sounds kind of daft, but if we ignore the widely disliked and very recent New Teen Titans cover he’s normally got a good grasp on body proportions and shape, getting curves in all the right places and twists and bends looking very realistic.  Not that I necessarily want super realistic art in comics, but it’s good when artist show they understand how the human body works (you listening Liefeld?  You bloody should be).  His distinctive and stylised artwork has taken him onto quite a few books with DC over the years, many of which I’ve followed him on to because I just can’t get enough.

2. Greg Capullo

The Bat has never looked as good as he does right now, thanks largely to this man right here.  Capullo has left his mark on so many books I’ve loved, from Spawn to Haunt and over to Batman with much in between.  I can’t over state how much I enjoy Capullo’s art, if it wasn’t for my love of number 1’s art then damn right Capullo would be there.  His attention to detail on every single panel is amazing, every issue of Batman has required a second read through to make sure I’ve not missed something going on in the background.  Well, mostly that, partly just because I want to look through the beautiful art again.  Even if you’re unsure about the direction of the current Batman series (not sure why you would be but some people are very strange, you see) then just grab what you can for Capullo’s art, his work on the overgrown and ruined Gotham in the currently ongoing Zero Year is phenomenal to look at.  It’s so good it makes my very eyes feel unworthy for having seen it.

And finally, drum roll if you will…

1. Michael Turner

Another artist I first came across from Top Cow released comics (see the pattern well and truly formed here?) my first experience of Turner art came from Top Cow’s flagship series, Witchblade.  His incredibly distinctive art style, sharp and detailed line work and fantastic facial work left me scrambling for more.  Michael Turner’s work has been a constant source of enjoyment, and is work that I hunt for the most out of any artist.  He’s the one that left the biggest impression on me, the artist that really got me into comics the way I am now and his work resonates through the years in so many other artists work.  It’s funny how many of my favourite artists, some of those represented on this list and many that didn’t quite make my top 5 mention Turner as a key inspiration to them.  I think this applies to both their style of art and the sheer bloody mindedness of the man.  As many will know, Michael Turner was tragically lost back in 2008 to complications with bone cancer at the far too young age of 37, but even going through the illness he did, even with the complications he had to deal with he continued working almost right up to his death.  His sheer determination and skill was proven time and again, pulling away from a sccuessful career at Top Cow to land plenty of work with the Big Two while also setting up his own publishing company, Aspen.  An artist that will continue to inspire for many years to come I’m sure.

Right, in between stopping for coffees and cigarettes this has taken me near enough two hours, it is now quarter to 2 in the morning and I have work tomorrow, so I better get me some sleep or suffer for it at work.  Ok, a fair portion of that was staring at an incredible amount of stunning art, trying to decide what to use in the post, but still I’m tired and going to bed now.  I may well have another post for you guys tomorrow or Tuesday, taking a look at some of the cool stuff DC Collectibles has coming out throughout this year.  Thanks for taking the time out to check this out, hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed something like the simply gorgeous weather we were treated to in the UK.  Have a good one!

Good to be back

Well I ended up taking a bit of a hiatus on the old blog front, although in all honesty I’ve been gone longer than I originally intended, maybe should have mentioned I would be taking a little time off too so sorry about that.  I’ve had a bit of catching up to get on with, I’ve been falling behind on my pull lists each week thanks largely to continually buying too many trades on top off regular comics.  It’s a lesson I just can’t seem to learn, no matter how many times I make this mistake.  Well I’m all up to date now thankfully, so that’s one thing off my mind.

I’ve been retraining myself in some very basic art techniques too, I’ve got a couple of really fun stories I want to tell and rather than trying to find someone to do my art while I’m in the position of being unable to offer any compensation for said work I figured I’d just go ahead and do it all myself.  Thankfully, the stories I’m looking to tell don’t require anything extraordinary in the art department so I should be able to get by.  I’m debating whether or not to force myself into fully getting my head around photoshop (or similar software) for colouring purposes or if I could get away with putting the comics out in black and white.  I’m fairly confident that at least one of those books would work quite well in black and white, but one of them is frankly so comical and goofy I think it really needs the colour.  I should probably stop referring to them as books too, since I’ll be putting them all out online.

It’s not really just productivity that’s held me back from getting posts done though.  Being totally upfront, I got started on Smallville a little while a go and, well, I’ve finished it now.  It took me around three and a half months to burn through all 218 episodes, considering that there were several days in there where I didn’t watch an episode it puts into context how ridiculous that is.  It’s funny what drove me with it too, the first four or so season I just wanted all the whiney teenage crap over and done with.  I really can’t stand it, everything was over romanticised and angsty but I had a feeling that it would be a case of “short term pain long term gain”.  Turned out I was right.

From season five, things started to move in the right direction, although not quite as quickly as I’d like.  By season six things were picking up considerably, we had a great supporting cast of regular civilians and some really great shoutouts to the wider DC universe.  The final four season brought this show into a whole new genre almost, with appearances from some of my all time favourite characcters, Clark working at the Daily Planet, learning to shake off his conifdent persona and become a bumbling, clumsy nerd again and finally fully comitting to the one woman Clark should be with: Lois Lane.  I’m sorry New 52, Wonder Woman is not where he should be heading, it’s Lois and Clark.  Clark and Lois.  Whatever, they are the ultimate pairing.

Anyway, one thing that really impressed me from the series was the JSA, mostly Hawkman if I’m being honest.  Don’t get me wrong, it was great seeing Stargirl (and well played on getting an actress that looks almost identical to Courtney in the comics!) and Dr Fate was absolutely amazing but Hawkman stole it from that team.  The fact they didn’t bullshit their way around anything, he was proper died-and-reborn-again Carter that could bloody well fly and had a big ass mace.  And he was played by Michael Shanks!  He was seriously tanked out for that show and put on a completely different voice to what I’m used to.  I should point I’m a huge Stargate fan, which is why I was so excited by this.

More importantly, it was a series that ran for a whopping 10 seasons, as I said totalling up to 218 episodes and while it faltered on occassion, taking some creative liberties with characters that I didn’t really agree on (Darkseid, mostly) it was a thoroughly entertaining show.  It could have done with less back sliding to Lana Lang, she got pretty annoying eventually but on the whole I really anjoyed watching.  And, also very important, as a Superman fan it had a very satisfying ending, it wrapped nicely with no loose threads and had the 1978 Superman theme to go along with Clark blasting off in his famous red and blue.  But now I’m done with it, and this seasons TV has pretty much wrapped now I can get back on to things like this again.

I’d be remiss to come back to this so soon after the announcement and not mention the revealed Batsuit and Batmobile…

Personally, I think the new suit looks absolutely badass, Ben Affleck looks like a freaking tank of a man and the batmobile looks like a nice, modern take on the classic Tim Burton era Batmobile.  Or Burtonmobile.  Burtmobile?  Anyway, I do have one slight concern with the movie though, while the suit looks awesome and quite a bit more rooted in comics that previous outings, the suit looks to be taking a lot of inspiration from The Dark Knight Returns, a book that has been mentioned on numerous occassions by film makers and onlookers.  This worries me because I consider myself more of a Super Family fan than a Bat Family fan, and from the stand point of a Superman fan the fight between Supes and Bats in TDKR was, frankly, bullshit.  I get that how powerful a character is in comics lies very much in the hands of the writer, but Miller totally cocked up with Superman in that book (bitch all you like, I’m not criticising Miller, just his wrong take on Superman).  For those that have seen Man of Steel, you’ll remember how stupidly powerful he was, yeah?  How in the good god damn hell is Batman, young or old, going to take on Superman?  Especially when you consider that Snyder and co have already said they really don’t want to fall into the old Kryptonite trap with this series.

On a totally different note, I got a very cool package through from the folks over at Star Action Figures the other day, my new Kotobukiya ArtFX+ Supergirl statue.  Based on the New 52 costume design, the mini statue stands just a little taller than the DC Collectibles New 52 action figures, but oh man is this thing pretty.  The sculpting and paint job is absolutely phenomenal, with a really nice metallic blue paint used on the Kryptonian “armour”.  How about a look, and less talk eh?

I’m really impressed with this statue, although at £35 (at least) a pop I can’t see myself taking the dive on too many of these at all, especially with the generally very high quality figures DC Collectibles are coming out with at around £18 a figure.  I couldn’t resist this one though, I’d seen the previews a little while a go both on DC’s website and on the pre-order section of Star Action Figures, so I at least had the chance to plan ahead for this one.  It’s sitting very proudly on my bookshelf at the moment but I am going to need to sort out a dedicated space for this kind of thing soon.

One last quick thing to make note of before I head off, almost forgot this one, but after six years of growing my hair to the point where I can now sit on it (seriously) I’ve decided to take the rather drastic measure of shaving it all off and going bald.  When, as near to bald as electric clippers will take it.  It’s not all just for the sake of getting a haior cut though, I’m making it a sponsored charity job, with all the money raised going to Macmillan Cancer Support, and the hair being donated to a really nice little charity called Little Princesses, where they will make wigs for children going through hair loss from cancer treatment.  Both of these things are a really good cause, and while I don’t really like asking people for things I can’t begin to explain how much it would mean to me if anyone could donate and if people could spread the word.  Head on over here to check out the Just Giving page I’ve set up to collect donations.

Right then, I think that will do for today, I’ll be back on tomorrow to continue the regular Sunday post of Top 5 something, I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend and you’re getting the same glorious weather we got here in Birmingham, I’m loving it!

Later!