DC made a whole bunch of Rebirth announcements this past week at WonderCon, and we’re ready with the final installment of what we’re calling The New Fifty-Tues, where Billy and Dave pitch titles and creative teams for the Post-Rebirth DCU!
This week on the Tuesday Night Book Club the villains take over as Billy and Dave review DC’s Salvation Run. Did it live up to the hype in Billy’s mind?
Plus, our picks for new comics coming out Wednesday, 3/30/16 and reviews of the comics we’ve read recently.
While everyone is working themselves up into a frenzy over how bad a movie Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice may be, a VERY entertaining movie starring Batman and Superman was quietly released on DVD and Blu Ray recently, Lego Justice League: Cosmic Clash.
The Superman and Batman rivalry plays a big part in Cosmic Clash. Sure, maybe not so much that they’d name the movie after their rivalry, but it’s mentioned often and clearly drives Batman’s relationship with Superman and the rest of the Justice League.
I have to hand it to screenwriter James Krieg, the guy knows his DC superheroes. This shouldn’t be a surprise, as he penned the screenplays for Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and the previous Lego Justice League movie, Attack of the Legion of Doom. He also wrote episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Beware the Batman. There are a lot of Easter eggs and in-jokes sprinkled throughout this movie that were a nice wink and nod to longtime DC comics fans. My favorite was the incorporation of Batman’s outfits from Grant Morrison’s time-travel epic, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. Can we please get a Lego minifig of Caveman Batman?!
The movie does come with an exclusive Lego minifig of Cosmic Boy. Spoiler alert: The Legion of Superheroes are in this time-spanning adventure. The Cosmic Boy minifig is done right, even including Lego pieces representing his magnetic powers. While it was cool to get a Cosmic Boy minifig, I really wish that the minifig was one of Batman’s time-traveling guises. Again, can we please have a Caveman Batman minifig?!
Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom don’t make it into this movie. The bad guys are Brainiac and to a lesser extent, Vandal Savage. Brainiac’s collection of miniaturized planets is used for comedic fodder; any longtime comic book collector will probably see a bit of themselves in Brainiac.
Overall, Lego Justice League: Cosmic Clash is a very fun movie, fit for both adults and kids. Are you trying to get your son, daughter, niece or nephew into superheroes and feel that the Deadpool movie isn’t the way to go? Pop Lego Justice League: Cosmic Clash into your player, sit back, and enjoy. Trust me, you will both enjoy this movie.
Big news! Billy is a dad! Because of that, the email exchange below almost replaced the podcast this week. But Billy and Dave managed to sneak into the studio during one of Billy’s daughter’s naps, and here we are with a new episode! Is it a little late for this week or a little early for next week? You decide!
But before you enjoy the podcast, please enjoy the following email exchange between Billy, Dave, Nick (occasional Tuesday Night Comics guest host) and Bryan (Billy’s cohost on The Billy and Bryan Show) about The Killing Joke, Alan Moore, John Byrne and Supergirl.
From: Bryan
To: Billy, Dave, Nick
Subject: Newswire: Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reunite for Batman: The Killing Joke animated film [feedly]
In the words of Joe Biden, this is a big fucking deal, right?
I would normally be excited about something like this but man, do I hate the Killing Joke.
From: Bryan
To: Nick, Billy, Dave
Oh yeah? I thought it was one of the big ones. (I mean, if I’ve heard of it, it must be something.) Do most people like it?
From: Nick
To: Bryan, Billy, Dave
It is one of the “classic Batman stories” but I don’t like it – I think I’m probably in the minority, though. I definitely do not need to read a story featuring (technically) children’s characters where (spoilers for a nearly 30 year old comic) Batgirl is paralyzed and possibly sexually assaulted and Commissioner Gordon is sodomized by circus people, all in the quest of being “edgy.” Again, though – people do seem to like it, and it is Alan Moore and the art is great, but…yeah. Not my thing.
COMICS EVERYBODY
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
Yeah, I think it does a lot that has influenced Batman and the Batman seen in other media but as the decades pass there a parts of it that really don’t hold up. Especially the stuff that Nick points out. I do want to read it again because it has been ages since I have read it. I remember reading and article and I think Alan Moore uses rape quite heavily in his work.
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
This isn’t the article but it does give a good list of all the rape/sexual violence scenes:Let’s look at it by the numbers. There’s been an instance of sexual violence (much of it shockingly offhand and quickly dismissed or forgotten) in every major work Moore has written and in many of his minor works. Every volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen contains one instance of sexual violence (almost all aimed at Mina Murray). Lost Girls, his long germinating erotic adventure, veers between joyful sex and sexual violence so rapidly that I found myself wondering (however momentarily) if Moore even remembers the difference between the two. Neonomicon, his ode to Lovecraftian horror, features a grizzly rape. Tom Strong, his attempt to write an old-fashioned superhero comic has a rape (which is actually played as a punchline).
Even his earlier works (which in my opinion tend to be better than his offerings from the last ten years) have a disturbing pattern of sexual violence. Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Killing Joke, Miracle Man each features a scene of sexual violence. And while many of these were treated with seriousness and humanity, still others were, in my opinion, both unnecessary and ultimately insulting.
Yeah, I’ve seen a few articles like that – from what I can tell, he’s used rape as a”motivating factor” in a majority of his work. I know I’ve seen it in almost everything of his I’ve read (except for Supreme and the ABC stuff).
From: Nick
To: Dave, Bryan, Billy
Oops! I guess there was rape in the ABC books (Tom Strong, although I don’t remember it and don’t think I’ve read the whole series). Good times, I guess!
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
Well. lets not forget the Gooser in Top Ten.
From: Nick
To: Dave, Bryan, Billy
Crap, you’re right. I figured that if it was going to happen anywhere in those books, it would’ve been in Top Ten. Honestly, I’ve found that I like Moore’s stuff less and less as I get older. Although I did re-read Watchmen over the summer (for the first time in like a decade, probably) and liked it more than I had previously. But still. There’s no rape in “For the Man Who Has Everything,” right? I still love that one.
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
Hmmm. I don’t think so but now I want to reread.
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
And I agree about Moore.
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
I’m sure someone would have been raped if he did the revamp instead of Byrne:
Jeez, Louise, John Byrne. I follow a Twitter account called “John Byrne Says” that basically just posts art and the ridiculous things he says on his forum (so you don’t actually have to read his forum) and yesterday he said:
…because I guess because she is Kryptonian she wouldn’t be affected by light? *THATS* the reason he can’t watch a TV show. This is a grown man who makes snide comments about “fanboys” and yet posts things like that. He also believes there’s a worldwide conspiracy of retailers purposefully not ordering his comics, so that they can then tell people that his comics don’t sell and that’s why they don’t order them.
From: Dave
To: Nick, Bryan, Billy
Hah, because John Byrne, the actress who plays her is human and humans naturally squint and a reaction to a bright light. Imagine on set someone was like stop squinting Melissa you are Kryptonian! Also when does a Kryptonian become a robot and not a super strong human? And couldn’t you just fanboy science it the other way for a no-prize? She was using her super vision and then was caught of guard by a bright light. She had to squint. I think fanboy arguments like that help move the characters of Superman/girl to unrelatable.
From: Billy
To: Dave, Nick, Bryan
John Byrne’s an idiot. Kara was squinting because she was using her x-ray vision to get a better look at the driver. Duh. Now give me my No-Prize. Crap, wrong company.
I’ve found that I liked The Killing Joke much more when I was 12-14 and needed comics to be cool and edgy and “NOT FOR KIDS ANYMORE!” That said, I recently read Moore’s Swamp Thing for the first time and loved most of it, and both Dave and I really like Miracleman Vol 1: A Dream of Flying (which we talk about on last week’s episode of the Tuesday Night Comics Podcast, free on iTunes #shamelessplug). Now, Batman: Year One, on the other hand, only gets better every year.
Hmmm…Instead of a podcast this week, maybe I should just post this email thread to Tuesday Night Movies? (Violet Jubilee says hi to everyone)
As we approach DC: Rebirth, Billy and Dave present their take on which comics they would put out if they were running DC and with whom they would staff said comics. It’s the New Fifty-Tues! This week, it’s the Batman books! Find out which Batbooks made the cut!
Also on this week’s episode of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast, Billy and Dave read and review Miracleman Vol 1: A Dream of Flying by Alan Moore, Alan Davis and Gary Leach. And the comics industry eulogizes artist Paul Ryan.
Also, in this episode: an important message to you, from Billy and Dave, about the future of this podcast!
It’s all things Vixen this week on the Tuesday Night Comics Podcast. Billy and Dave watched Vixen’s debut on last week’s Arrow, her animated series on CW Seed, and read Vixen: Return of the Lion by G. Willow Wilson and Cafu.
The guys also take on the job of DC editorial, as they staff DC’ books for the Tuesday Night Comics version of DC: Rebirth. We’re calling it the New Fifty Tues. This week we tackle the Superman line of books.
Plus, Billy and Dave give you their picks for what comic books to look out for on new comic book day this week and review a lot of comics. Plug in those headphones and tune in, fanboys and fangirls!
