Wednesday 28 November 2012

The White Council

There's a big old gallery of pictures from the forthcoming Hobbit film over here, full of scenes from the film, behind the scenes and promotional stills.

I recently re-read the book for the first time since I was a boy and was surprised by how much I'd forgotten about: Beorn had completely slipped my mind, for example. While the original story may be a little thin, Peter Jackson and co are obviously embellishing it to fill out three films, including dealing with some details that are either briefly mentioned in the book or are only revealed in the "making of" books that Tolkien's son Christopher produced.

One of those details which I'm really looking forward to seeing is the White Council:


And hopefully - though probably not in the first film - we'll get to see the attack on Dol Guldur.

I'm really looking forward to these films!

Tuesday 27 November 2012

What With Christmas Coming Up And All...

Sad to say, even the forthcoming Yuletide won't be enough to make me part with my hard-earned for this little beauty:


Paul Levitz and Taschen are re-releasing Levitz's huge 75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Myth-Making as five smaller volumes, each with more art than the original sections that constituted the big book.

It looks to be a lovely looking thing, as well - I've seen a few Taschen art books and they're usually very well put together - but while the first volume is available for pre-ordering now, it's on the site for £35. That's £175 for all five books which is waaaaaaaaaaay more money than I could spend right now.

Still, something to save up for, eh?

Monday 26 November 2012

Who Was Who Is Who #48

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got an Ultra Man's chance.

TSUNAMI - an enemy of the All Star Squadron, it's unlikely that we'll see her in the new DCU at any point soon, if only because of her ties to World War II.

Monday 19 November 2012

Who Was Who Is Who #47

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Tobias Whale's chance.

TIM TRENCH - a private investigator linked with Wonder Woman, I don't think even that association will be enough to get him back in the DCU.

Thursday 15 November 2012

When Did Steel Die?

Last year I did a series of posts looking back at the much maligned Detroit years of the Justice League of America, running from their formation to their less than heroic end and also including their few appearances since that series finished.

I guess with Vibe being in the news at the moment, there's some interest in the JL Detroit; coincidentally or not, Todd recently posted a question on the last storyline of the original League:
I have a question for you. As you said, at the end of issue #260 Commander Steel turns off Steel's life support and Steel dies. That would be confirmed by the flat line shown but i've read web sites (Inluding DC's) that states that Steel didn't actually die until Justice League of America #38 when Despero returns to earth and finds Steel's body in the chamber and rips it to pieces. Justice League #260 indicates that he died once the life support is shut of but Justice League #38 indicates that Steel didn't die until Despero took him out of the machine and ripped his body apart indicating that Steel was just comatose the whole time but still alive. What gives? Which is it?
I knew the issues Todd was referring to so figured I'd go back to them and see what they say.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Earth 2 #9


From the solicitations:

As a new story arc begins, DR. FATE makes his Earth 2 debut!
Supernatural powers are emerging on Earth 2, and that means new heroes on the scene—not to mention new villains!
Plus: The debut of the new Wotan!
Dr Fate's appearance is no big surprise - he was name-checked a few issues back but it'll be nice to see him back in action.

And Wotan! Who'd have thought that!

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Justice League Variant Covers

The news that the forthcoming Justice League of America #1 is to have 52 variant covers broke last week. Is that some sort of record for the number of variants of a single issue, by the way? I've never been a big fan of them - for the most part, I'm happy to get a single issue and read the story within rather than worry about what's on the cover.

Anyhow, the variants are going to be the state flags of America, all based on this image:


It's various members of the new League hoisting the flag a la Iwo Jima.

Thing is, comics are something of a geeky habit so why not throw in a few geeky flags as well?

Monday 12 November 2012

Who Was Who Is Who #46

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Tiger's chance.

THE TERMINATOR - as in Deathstroke before he really became known by that name. He's made it through into the DCU, helming his own title as well so he's definitely in place.

TERRA - poor old Terra didn't have a good time of it in the pre-Flashpoint world and ended up a traitor to the Teen Titans and then a Black Lantern. The new Terra, Atlee, was a nice addition to Power Girl's title but she's been lost post-Flashpoint. However, it has been announced that a new Terra will be in the forthcoming (this is written in early April, my friends) Ravagers series so while it may not be the same person, the name's in use.

Thursday 8 November 2012

New DC Series

It's been all over the net for the last couple of days so this is anything but breaking news, but I figured I'd chime in on the new DC series that were recently announced.

First up is Vibe.

No, seriously, DC are producing an ongoing solo series starring Vibe, quite possibly one of the most reviled characters they've ever produced. Can you think of another single hero that's been hated for so long and by so many? I can't.

But for whatever reason, a new Vibe series has been announced, written by Andrew Kreisberg who, according to this article, will be writing about Cisco "Paco" Ramone - no idea why they've decided to give him a new first name but I won't be picking this up. I only know Kreisberg's work from his run on Green Arrow/Black Canary from a few years ago which I didn't enjoy at all.

The other series is Katana, another minor character that's being given a chance to shine in the spot light.

As with Vibe, it's being written by a writer that I've read books by: Ann Nocenti. It was her god-awful run on the most recent Green Arrow series that made me drop the book, one of only a handful of instances where I've done that. As I've said before, I managed to stick with Teen Titans when Felicia Henderson was writing it so Nocenti's work had to be something else for me to drop it.

With that in mind, that'll be another new series I won't be picking up.

Having mentioned Green Arrow, I notice that with Nocenti moving over to Katana, Jeff Lemire will be taking over Ollie's adventures. Tempting as that is - because I really like his writing - I don't think I'll be rejoining that series either.

It can't be any coincidence that both Vibe and Katana will be appearing in next year's Justice League of America series, not to mention Green Arrow who with his new TV series is getting a bit more attention. That's obviously being used as a springboard for both of them but it's not going to tempt me.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Monday 5 November 2012

Who Was Who Is Who #45

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got either of the Tempests' chances.

SYRENE - anybody else remember the days when Superman would battle demons in the future? No? Chances are we won't be seeing Syrene again, then.

Friday 2 November 2012

A Great Disturbance In The Force

I go away for a few days and what happens? Lucasfilm is bought by Disney and plans for new Star Wars films are announced!

More Star Wars is good . . . but Disney? Lucas has been famously lenient towards fan films and homages, allowing people to play in his world over the years. Disney? Not so generous and more than a little litigious.

I guess we wait and see what happens.


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