Comic Shopping List February 13, 2013

Any other comic book fans follow me here? Here’s what I’m picking up this week. I’m looking forward to the “Death in the Family” conclusion in Batman #17!

• Batgirl #17, DC Comics, $2.99 
• Batman #17, Greg Capullo Regular Cover, DC Comics, $4.99 
• Batman And Robin #17, DC Comics, $2.99 
• Ghostbusters #1, Cover A Dan Schoening, IDW Comics, $3.99 
• Powers Bureau #1, Michael Avon Oeming Regular Cover, Marvel Comics, $3.95 
• Secret Avengers #1, Tomm Coker Regular Cover, Marvel Comics, $3.99 
• Star Wars #2, Dark Horse Comics, $2.99 
• Uncanny X-Men #1, Chris Bachalo Regular Cover, Marvel Comics, $3.99 
• Wolverine And The X-Men #25, Ramon Perez Regular Cover, Marvel Comics, $3.99


—- Created by Comic Shopper, Version 2.0.2.0 

2012: My Favorite Things

For the past couple years, I usually write up a huge post detailing my top 10 films, music, songs, etc. and write about each thing. It takes a long time, not many people read the whole thing, and since I was on a break I missed the prime time to post something like that. This year, I’m just going to write about my favorite thing in each category and then list the runner(s) up in no particular order. Quick and easy… maybe.

Favorite Film: The Cabin in the Woods

This was a real pleasant surprise. It didn’t get a whole lot of marketing so so I wrote it off as just another horror movie. Then months after it was already out on video I saw that Joss Whedon was involved, mandating that I check it out. It was one of the most fun a movie I have seen has been. It tears down cliche horror tropes while still employing them and making it interesting. I don’t really want to talk about the plot because that would ruin some of the fun. Runners up: Chronicle, The Avengers, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty.

Favorite Film Moment/Scene: The raid in Zero Dark Thirty

I knew what was going to happen, I read multiple accounts after it went down, but this whole section of the film kept me on the edge of my seat and blood pumping for the entirety of it. Add to that, the last shot of Jessica Chastain at the end which perfectly communicates the moral questions of the whole film. Runners up: Javier Bardem’s single shot introduction inSkyfall, the nonchalant conversation at the end of The Cabin in the Woods, Bilbo and Gollum’s first meeting.

Favorite Album: Every Time I Die, Ex-Lives

I can think of two things that had a major change on Every Time I Die’s sound: Keith doing a stint with his side project The Damned Things, and a new drummer. This new album managed to be both more melodic and more brutal than any of their past releases. This was the only rock album last year that absolutely blew me away, and it showed because I spent much of last year listening to other genres outside of my normal musical taste. Runners up: Frank Ocean Channel Orange,Good Old War Come Back as Rain, Circa Survive Violent Waves, Fiona Apple Idler Wheel…, Anberlin VItal.

Favorite Song: The Weeknd, “Wicked Games”

This is kind of cheating since technically the song came out in 2011, but he didn’t release it as a single until 2012 and I didn’t discover these albums until the end of 2011. If this is where R&B is headed in the future, count me in. Between him, Frank Ocean, and Subtrkt, new style R&B dominated my playlists in 2012, and this song is the epitome of it. I can’t even describe the awesomeness of this song, you just have to listen. I just wish he would perform it regularly instead of the acoustic version whenever it’s played live. Runners up: Further Seems Forever “Rescue Trained”, Every Time I Die “Revival Mode”, Usher “Climax”, Good Old War “Better Weather”, Fiona Apple “Werewolf”, The Darkness “Concrete”, Kid Cudi “Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)”.

Favorite Book (that I read, not that was released): Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn

No one can even come close to reading all the books released in a given year so this is my favorite book that I read for the first time, and it happens to be timely with Star Wars getting new movies in a few years. This is the start of what most people hoped the sequel trilogy would be and I definitely failed as a nerd by not reading it before now.

Favorite Comic: Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

I finally got a tablet this year and with that was my inevitable fall into comic book addiction. I now have around 30 titles that I read monthly. I like all of them (obviously) but none of them has the same effect as reading Batman. It’s the only one that I wait up until midnight the day of its release to read it digitally. In the future, Snyder’s storylines will definitely be referenced alongside books like The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Long Halloween, and Death in the Family.

James Holmes, Not Your Average Psycho Killer

I wasn’t going to get into the gun control debate with today’s shooting in Colorado. It’s the same story every time something like this happens; the left argues that more gun control is needed and the right says that something like this proves that people need guns for their protection. This plays out for a couple months and then nothing happens. The more I thought about and discussed todays events, the more I realized that this time it was different.

James Holmes is a terrorist. He didn’t pick a Batman showing because it inspired him like some outlets are reporting, he picked it because it was the biggest event going on in the near future and his goal was to instill fear, as was evident by his backup plan, the bomb rigged apartment he revealed post arrest. There’s no reason, yet, to assume that there was a reason for his acts besides pure terror.

The usual gun owner rhetoric is that a person in the crowd that had a concealed weapon could have stopped it. That argument doesn’t work in this case. James Holmes was prepared to get shot at. This is first evident in the full riot gear he was wearing. Sure, the outfit also served to instill a bit more fear in his intended victims but it wasn’t just for show; in addition to a flak jacket and ballistic helmet, he also had specific things like a throat and crotch protector. James Holmes was prepared to get shot at. Reports have varied on the exact sequence of events, but they agree on the beginning. He came into the theater and threw either smoke bombs or tear gas before opening fire with an assault rifle. A smoke screen to distract and disorient a potential responder and the assault rifle because that would get off rounds at the quickest rate and increase the killing potential before he was stopped. If a potential “protector” had a gun, he would have had to see through thick smoke and get through Kevlar to stop him. And even then, damage would have been done. But James Holmes was prepared to get shot at. Had he been taken out, no one would have known about his booby-trapped apartment, which would have caused an unknown amount of damage. Holmes revealed the bombs almost immediately after arrest because he had already accomplished what he wanted to, there was no need for contingency. The apartment is so complex that it is now almost a full 24 hours after the discovery and no law enforcement has actually gone in.

No, a gun would not have prevented or reduced this tragedy. At worst it would have caused more deaths, at best it would not have prevented a majority of the 70 casualties. Obviously not all psychopaths are this smart, but Holmes has now provided a blueprint for people in the future. 

Holmes was able to prepare for all of this legally. The assault rifle and 100 round magazine that was attached to it were purchased at a store. The fact that people can still buy assault rifles and 100 round magazines did not cause this, but it sure made it a lot easier. Not having an assault rifle probably would not have stopped him but it would have made it a lot harder to kill people, and easier to prevent. This is why we need gun control. Not a gun ban, but control. With the frequency of shootings that happen here, we cannot afford the price in human life to keep the existing policies as-is. Something needs to change, preferably before this happens again.

Thoughts On the DC Film Universe

I was actually writing up a post on a wish list for the cast of a future Justice League film, but then I realized that I had some general wishes for the any of the future DC films. Here are some of those random thoughts.

  • Do not attempt an Avengers. Marvel had an endgame in place when Iron Man first debuted. DC has demonstrated that they have a little harder time coordinating like that, and I doubt they have something in place currently for Man of Steel. But cross-film continuity is not necessary right now. Everyone knows these characters, we don’t need a reboot and origin story each time. DC’s animated division is making great movies from single, contained storylines and I think films could work like that as well, kind of like the James Bond series.

    When the Justice League movie happens, don’t get greedy with characters.  Marvel had already put in place backstories for four of the six main characters, and a semi backstory for Black Widow. And even then, there are few people besides Whedon who can handle an ensemble storyline like that. I would limit a Justice League film to four or five main heroes  To me, there are six main players: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Flash. In my opinion, the only one that needs to be in it is Superman, arguments can be made for any of the others to be left out.

  • Leave Batman alone for a while. Nothing anyone makes in the near future will get even close to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, don’t taint that. I’m okay with Batman having a role in a Justice League film as long as he isn’t the main focus.

  • Use Kyle Rayner for Green Lantern. Everyone who is at least familiar with DC Comics and/or the Justice League knows Hal Jordan. Jon Stewart had many seasons worth of the animated series, and I don’t think is even that interesting of a character in general. The only other Earth Lantern is Guy Gardner and he’s just a dick and no one likes him. Rayner’s Lantern is much more interesting because he needs to figure out the power on his own without a corps to back him up. Also, there is no need to waste time establishing the rest of the corps and Oa.

  • Be careful with Wonder Woman. Personally, I would just wait until Joss Whedon is done with his Marvel responsibilities and let him do what he originally wanted to. All of the articles about Justice League casts I read just went straight to a hot actress that had been in previous action films a la Gina Carano, but this is the absolute wrong way to go. Anyone else remember Catwoman? A female superhero needs to be written and performed smartly to be successful. Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 vs. The Avengers is a perfect example. We first see her as eye candy, but she becomes a compelling character with someone better behind the script.

  • Pay attention to the fans. I don’t feel like DC has paid any attention to their key demographic when it comes to making decisions and it has been to their detriment, besides Nolan’s Batman (he can do what he wants at this point because he had previously established that he knows what he’s doing).

    Again, I will use Marvel as the example. These are the ones I thought of off the top of my head:

    • They put in references to other comics constantly, even when it doesn’t specifically tie in to one of their concurrent films.
    • Samuel L. Jackson as Nick fury.
    • And the ultimate… Joss Whedon. If we had it our way, he would be behind every comic book film ever and Marvel gave him the chance everyone was waiting for.