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That Time I Stopped an Art Theft at Ivan Reis’s Table at NYCC

It was Saturday at New York Comic Con. I turned to my friend and said, “We should head over to Ivan Reis’s table in Artist’s Alley. He has the original art to the cover of Earth 2 #1 at his table. It’s $3,000, so I don’t think either of us are buying it. But it’s cool to see it in person.” My friend, like me, is a fan of Earth 2, so I knew he’d want to check this out.
Ivan had two tables that he shared with his brother Rod and Joe Prado. Books of original art lined the table, along with a stack of sketchbooks for sale and a bin of covers and splash pages. It was in this bin where I had seen the cover to Earth 2 #1. Everything in that bin was at least $2,500.
As we approached the table, there were two guys leafing through the original art. They looked almost identical: same height, same build, same jeans, and same Yankees cap. The only difference between them was the color of their hoodies. One of them had the cover art for Earth 2 #1 on the table and another page from the bin in his hands. “Wow, that guy’s buying the Earth 2 #1 cover.” I said to my buddy. I’ve never seen $6,000 in cash trade hands before, so I wanted to hang out and watch the exchange take place.
There’s usually a bunch of people at this table: Ivan, Joe, Rod, various friends. Right now, it was empty except for a woman I took to be Ivan or Joe’s wife or sister.
The guy with the Earth 2 #1 cover and other cover in his hand walked away from the table.
“Did I just see what I think I saw? Did he just steal that art? Maybe he paid before we got there? What if I say something and it turns out he did pay for it? I’ll feel like a jerk. But what if he is stealing this and I don’t say anything? I won’t be able live with myself.” Those thoughts raced through my head in about half a second before I called out, “Did you pay for that?”
No response. He kept walking. His friend was silent too. Here’s the thing about asking someone if they’ve stolen something. If they haven’t stolen anything, they will very vocally tell you so.
I wasn’t sure what to do. These guys were both much larger than me, and if they wanted to, could easily kick my butt.
The first guy waited for his friend about 10 feet from the table. The friend picked up a splash page from the bin and put it down on a box he had placed on the table. He pulled out another page, looked up and asked the woman at the table, “How much?” She indicated the price was on the page. He put that page back, picked up his box with the other splash page resting on it and walked away.
Yep. These guys clearly just ripped off Ivan Reis. There was no question about it. When the two guys were about 15 feet away, I ran over to the woman behind the table and said “Those two guys just stole three pages from you!” She had no idea what I was saying. I repeated myself. She still had no idea what I was saying. “Oh damn,” I thought, “The Reises are from Brazil. This lady only speaks Portuguese!” I tried a combination of words, hand gestures and pantomime. Her eyes went wide. “They…stole…?” she said. “Yes! Those two guys over there!” They had just rounded the corner to the next aisle.
The lady called out something in Portuguese and this Brazilian giant ran over from another table. The two thieves were big. This guy was huge. She frantically explained to him in Portuguese what happened. He turned to me and said, “You saw them?” I responded, “Yeah, they’re right there!” They were almost lined up perfectly with us in the next aisle. “I don’t see them,” he said. “They’re right there! Those two guys in hoodies and Yankees caps.” “I don’t see them.” I was getting frustrated. “Follow me!”
I took off like a rabbit. The giant followed. The two thieves walked at a slow pace, like they didn’t have a care in the world. I pulled up about 15 feet behind them. The giant caught up with me. “That guy in the Yankees cap, and that guy in the Yankees cap,” I said while pointing at them.
The giant went up to the second thief. He stood in front of the thief and blocked his path. They exchanged a few words and the thief gave up the art. The other thief didn’t even turn. He just kept walking.
The giant returned to me. “Thanks,” he said. “What about the other guy?” I exclaimed. “What other guy?” he said. I pointed out the other thief. The giant gave chase. He tried getting in front of the guy, but the guy went around him. “Excuse me,” the giant said, trying to get his attention. No response. The guy kept walking. The giant grabbed that stolen art that was under the thief’s hand. This stopped the guy. He gave up the Earth 2 cover and the other piece of art he stole from Ivan.
The giant returned to me. He thanked me and told me that the thieves claimed they thought the art was free. “Yeah, right,” I said. He told the thieves to stay away from their table. I wish he had brought them to the police. I wondered how much of their duffel bag was full of other stolen goods. I saw police officers in Artist’s Alley every day of NYCC, but at this moment, I didn’t see one. He thanked me again. I followed him back to the table. My friends were still waiting there, and I still wanted to check out the original cover art to Earth 2 #1.
We returned to the table. The woman thanked me. Ivan returned to the table about a minute later and the woman explained what happened. He shook my hand and thanked me. I told him, “Don’t worry about it. I was just doing the right thing. I’m a huge fan and wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I let them get away with that.” Ivan reached for one of his sketchbooks, thought better of it, and picked up his book of Aquaman art. He pulled out a page from Aquaman #12 showing Arthur and Vostok-X talking and gave it to me. “Please, take this.” he said. Now it was my turn to thank him.
The next day, I said to my friend that I wanted to return to Ivan’s table. He had a book of prelims that had some cool stuff in it and I wanted to buy one. When I returned to the table, the woman from yesterday was manning it again. She smiled and said hello, as did I. I found an Earth 2 #7 rough cover prelim and indicated that I wanted to buy it. I pulled out my cash when someone called out, “Don’t charge him.” I turned and saw it was Joe Prado, sitting a few feet away. “That’s okay,” I said, and attempted to hand the woman my money. “You’re the guy from yesterday, right? The guy who stopped the theft?” he asked. “Yeah, that’s me.” I replied. “Don’t worry about it. Just take it.” he said. I smiled and thanked him.
Later that day, I turned to my friend and said that I wanted to go back to Ivan’s table and buy this sweet looking Tempest design sheet that was in his prelim book, but I was worried they were going to think I was some kind of mooch that was trying to bleed them dry off one good deed. We joked that I’d have to have the cash out and throw it at them as I took the art. We didn’t return to the table.
We did stop by the table of Tim “Mr. Tim” Chamberlain, of Our Valued Customer fame. He was doing sketches of convention attendees. At this point, I had told the story of stopping the theft at Ivan’s table to every friend I ran into at NYCC. After telling him the story, Mr. Tim drew this commission for me:
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21 Jump Street – Review

5/5 – Watch this movie!

When I first heard that 21 Jump Street, that beloved series from my youth, was being remade into a movie starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, I was more than leery about it. I was positive it would like the new GI Joe and Transformers movies and would take a giant dump on a TV show I loved as a kid.

I skipped it in the theaters and didn’t give it a second thought when it came out on DVD. But then, slowly, I kept hearing from friends whose opinions I trust that this movie is hilarious. Setting aside my trepidation, I rented 21 Jump Street.

My friends were right, this movie is hilarious.

I’m guessing there are a lot of guys who graduated in the late 90s
 who get to look back on this unfortunate look in their yearbook photo.

21 Jump Street is a great comedy. If you want to laugh, and laugh hard, for an hour and 49 minutes, rent this movie. It’s a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are a few meta jokes about current 80s revival and about the previous incarnation of Jump Street. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller also use title cards to a very funny effect. The title cards might be my favorite thing about this movie.

Awesome unicorn!

It’s crazy how much Dave Franco looks and sounds like his older brother James. Is he a clone? Has anyone seen his birth certificate? I’m guessing clone.

Project DAVE: The first human clone.

SPOILERS after the title card…you’ve been warned…

How awesome was it that Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise reprised their roles as Officers Tom Hanson and Doug Penhall? I was excited when Holly Robinson showed up early in the movie, but the cameo by these two guys near the end was perfect! It’s too bad they won’t be in the sequel…
Fuck yeah, motherfucker!!!
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Looper – Review

5/5 – Go see this movie now!

I want to see Looper again; it’s that good. If you haven’t seen Looper yet, do yourself a favor and see it before it leaves the theater. It is my new favorite movie of 2012.

I’m going to spoil major story points in this review, so don’t read any further until after you’ve seen Looper.

Seriously, don’t go any further if you haven’t seen the movie.

Part of what I loved about Looper was the fluidity of who was the hero in the story. Here, I’m considering it necessary to be selfless in order to be considered a hero. If a character acts in his own self-interest, he’s an antihero as best.

Young Joe does a heroic act early in the film when he hides Seth after Seth fails to close his loop. Young Joe is putting his life in danger here. But he quickly sells Seth when his own savings are threatened by his boss as the price for his silence. Seth comes to a gruesome end, largely to Joe’s fault.

When Old Joe returns to the past, he quickly appears to be more heroic than Young Joe. His heroic quest is to come back in time and kill the Rainmaker as a child. The Rainmaker, besides being the criminal kingpin of the future, was behind the killing of Old Joe’s wife and countless others, and sent Old Joe back to the past to be killed by his younger self. Remember the old “If you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby, would you do it?” question? That’s Old Joe’s quest in a nutshell. How could you be opposed to that? He is clearly the hero at this point in the movie.

I sometimes want to do this to my younger self.

But Old Joe falls from the heroic path with relative ease. When they’re sitting in the diner, Old Joe tells Young Joe that he wants to kill the Rainmaker in order to save his wife in the future. But Old Joe refuses to show Young Joe his wife’s photo when Young Joe says that if he see it, he’ll make sure he never talks to her when he sees her for the first time in Young Joe’s future/Old Joe’s past. If they never meet, they’ll never marry and she won’t be murdered. Sure, Young Joe isn’t doing this to be altruistic. Young Joe hates Old Joe. He sees his living as being a block to his future happiness. If he can kill his future self, maybe Young Joe can get back in good with his mob employers. Old Joe won’t let him see his wife’s photo. Old Joe wants it all. He wants to kill the Rainmaker as a child and change the future, but he also wants to hold onto his personal future with his wife. If he was truly selfless and concerned with his wife’s safety over his own, he would show Young Joe his wife’s picture. Old Joe does have a good motivation for this. He views his wife as his savior. With her help, he kicked the junk, mellowed out and found true happiness for the first time in his life. He can’t picture his life without his wife.

The far more damning act to Old Joe’s heroism is when Old Joe kills the first child. Director Rian Johnson used a much more interesting take on the “Would you kill Hitler as a baby?” question when he added in the twist that Old Joe has it narrowed down to three possible children that may grow up to become the Rainmaker. “Would you kill up to two innocent children if it meant also being able to kill Hitler as a child?” is a much harder question to answer. I liked that Old Joe was clearly pained by his killing of the first child. It stopped him from losing all sympathy and just coming across as a complete Terminator-esque monster. But he’s definitely on his way to being a monster.

The second child on Old Joe’s hit list turns out to be the daughter of Suzie, the stripper/prostitute that Young Joe is infatuated with at the beginning of the movie. Young Joe cares for Suzie. He offers Suzie enough money to take care of her and her kid. But Old Joe is perfectly willing to kill Suzie’s child if that prevents the Rainmaker from coming into being. Old Joe does pause at first when he realizes his next target is Suzie’s child, but decides to go through with it. At this point, he knows that Young Joe is guarding Cid, the final child, on the farm. If he still cared for Suzie, he could save Suzie’s child for last. If Cid is the one destined to be the Rainmaker, then Suzie’s child won’t have to die if he changed up the order of who he kills. But doing so could put his mission into jeopardy. Old Joe sees himself as having a much higher chance of success killing Suzie’s child here than he does succeeding at the farm. I think Old Joe realized there was a very good chance he wasn’t returning from the farm, and that infiltrating the city a second time would be difficult, so he decides to kill Suzie’s child now to play it safe. It’s only Kid Blue setting of a trap for Old Joe in Suzie’s apartment that keeps Suzie’s child alive.

When Young Joe arrives at the farm, he hasn’t undergone his heroic transformation yet. He’s there to kill Old Joe when Old Joe shows up. He even tells Sara that he doesn’t care at all about her or Cid. His interactions with the two of them, and his viewing of Sara’s motherly love for her son does awaken something inside Young Joe. When Sara stands between Old Joe and Cid, willing to sacrifice herself for her son’s survival, something is awakened in Young Joe. Previously, Young Joe would help people as long as it didn’t cut into his well being. But Sara’s love for Cid inspires him to make the ultimate sacrifice. He shoots himself point blank through the chest in order to prevent his future self from killing an innocent woman.

In Old Joe’s defense, this kid is seriously creepy.

In that moment when he shoots himself, Young Joe explains that he realized Old Joe would be creating the Rainmaker instead of preventing him from existing. Cid would escape, embittered by the loss of two mothers and use his smarts and powers to become the Rainmaker. By killing himself, he’s both saving Sara’s life, and the hope that she can raise Cid right so that he doesn’t grow up to be the Rainmaker.

But did Young Joe really prevent the Rainmaker from coming into being by killing himself? Remember, in the original timeline, Young Joe grows up to become Old Joe after successfully closing his loop as originally intended. Old Joe is originally never given the chance to orphan Cid, so Joe isn’t integral in Cid becoming the Rainmaker. But, here is why I think Young Joe succeeded. At the end of the movie, when Sara and Cid reunite, he calls her mom. Before this, he’s always called her Sara, never acknowledged her as his mother, and told Young Joe that she’s a liar. But something changed when Sara stood between Old Joe and Cid, and Young Joe sacrificed himself. That change of calling her mom instead of Sara is tiny, but it’s huge. Sure, something could happen down the road that causes Cid to fall to the dark side, but at this moment, he has the best chance of growing up a hero instead of a villain. His powers and his outbursts make him a scary child, but he tells Young Joe he wants to protect people. I think Cid is now on the path to becoming more Superman and less Lex Luthor.

You know what would be really messed up? If it was Suzie’s child all along.

At some point before he becomes Old Joe, Young Joe apparently becomes Neo.

In a different (and I also think worse) movie, Young Joe and Old Joe would team up to take of the mob of the future down in Young Joe’s present. Instead, Rian Johnson has given us a much richer experience with his Looper.

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Argo – Review

5/5 – Go see this movie!

Ben Affleck is now three for three when it comes to directing. Not only that, but Argo is the best of those three movies as well. I really liked Gone Baby Gone and loved The Town, but I think Affleck has set a new bar for himself with Argo.

Affleck is helped by a really stellar cast. Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber and Tate Donovan join Affleck in this movie about a fake movie. Kyle Chandler even makes a very brief couple of appearances.

Don’t blink. You might miss him.

Argo is based on the real life story of a CIA mission from 1980. When the American embassy in Iran was raided by revolutionaries in 1979, 6 embassy workers managed to escape to the residence of the Canadian Ambassador. Tony Mendez, played by Ben Affleck, is the CIA agent tasked with getting them out of Iran before they’re discovered and killed. The tension is high throughout the entirety of the movie. Seriously, the tension is high right until before the credits roll. That works great at making Argo a very suspenseful movie.

I was on the look out for it, but could not find one instance of Affleck Face at any point in the movie. I was shocked. A Ben Affleck movie without Affleck Face? He came close once, but never gave us full Affleck Face. The tension was broken instead by my new favorite phrase, “Argo fuck yourself!”

“Argo fuck yourself!”

I will be shocked if Argo doesn’t get nominated for Best Movie, Affleck for Best Director and screenwriter Chris Terrio for Best Screenplay at the next Academy Awards.

I’m starting a 1-5 rating system with this review. A 1 means avoid the movie and a 5 means you should go see it right now. You can find the number rating at the top of the review, just under the movie poster. In case you missed it, I gave Argo a 5.

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Andrea Romano Interview at NYCC 2012

I was able to sit down with both Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano at New York Comic Con this year to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Parts 1 and 2 and Batman: The Animated Series. You can read my Bruce Timm interview here.

Andrea Romano has been casting Batman for the past 20 years. “Somebody told me that I’ve cast Batman 13 or 14 times over the various different projects,” said Romano. She is one of the people responsible for the incredibly good casting of  Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman for Batman: The Animated Series.
When Kevin Conroy came in for this audition int he early 90s, Andrea had already listened to 500 auditions for the role of Batman, and had auditioned 150 people in person herself. After Kevin’s audition,  Bruce Timm and Andrea looked at each other and said “We have found Batman.” In the two decades since Kevin Conroy began being the voice of Batman, people have come up to Andrea and told her that “For my entire life, I’ve heard Kevin Conroy as Batman.” Andrea knows the feeling. According to Andrea, “When I prep a script, regardless of what incarnation of Batman it is, when I’m preparing for recording, I hear Kevin’s voice. Even though it may be somebody else I’ve cast to play Batman, I hear Kevin’s voice. That sets the bar.”
Andrea described the casting of Batman as “incredibly hard.” But the benefit, according to her, is that “it’s a character you don’t have to pitch. You don’t have to go, “There’s a guy named Bruce Wayne, and he’s got this problem because his parents were murdered.” Everyone knows who he is.” She also pointed out that these actors may never get the chance to play him on camera and this could be their one opportunity to play him.
When asked about how Mark Hamill was cast as the Joker, Andrea said that Mark Hamill approached her. Mark had his agent call her saying that Mark wanted to be a part of the Batman series. Andrea first cast him as a guest. “He did a terrific job and was very much embraced by the crew. He was very generous with his Star Wars stories.” When they finished recording, he came over to Andrea and said, “I had a great time, but you don’t understand. I want to be a part of this series,” Andrea let on. At the time, Tim Curry had been cast as the Joker and had recorded a handful of episodes. Andrea was asked by her higher ups to recast him. On a side note, she mentioned that she is probably the only person who has an existing version of a Batman show that has Tim Curry in it playing the Joker. She decided to give Mark Hamill a shot. “He auditioned and was stunning,” Andrea said about Mark.
In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, Michael Emerson, from Lost and Person of Interest, will be the one playing the Joker. When asked how she found him, Andrea said that she approached Michael at San Diego Comic Con and asked him if he would ever be interested in doing an animated project if the right role came up. “Then this came up and I said, “Would you like to be the Joker?” and he jumped on it.” said Andrea. According to her, Michael said this was the hardest work he’d ever done. “I think because it’s out of his wheelhouse.” Andrea commented. When they recorded Michael as the Joker, Andrea was in LA and Michael was in NY. It was the first time Andrea recorded via Skype, so she could watch him. “Because working with an actor when you can see them, as opposed to only hearing their voice is very helpful. And having them be able to see me so that I can direct them.” Andrea explained.
Regarding Peter Weller being cast as Batman in The Dark Knight Returns, Andrea said “If I can’t use Kevin Conroy, because I do love using Kevin Conroy whenever I can, Mark Hamill as well, this was a really good bit of casting.” She explained, “The thing is, Peter is a good actor in and of himself. I didn’t know he was a major comic book fan. He was really familiar with the source material.”
At New York Comic Con, publicist Gary Miereanu revealed that Conan O’Brien would be voicing talk show host Dave Endocrine in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2. When asked how it was working with Conan, Andrea said, “He was excellent. He was a pleasure to work with. There’s something that he has to do in this piece, which is when he gets hit with Joker gas, that laughing gas that hits people. It starts with a building laugh and then a big, big laugh and then it gets to that painful, I’m dying laugh. He did it in one take. It’s a long, long laugh. Both Bruce Timm and I were like, “You’re really good.” You have no idea how hard that is. Laughing on cue is one of the hardest things to do in voice over. It’s just really, really hard, and he just nailed it.”
When asked who’d she like to work with in the future, Andrea’s answer was Jon Hamm. “I think he’s a wonderful actor. He can do comedy, he can do drama and everything in-between. She also said she wants to work with Kyle Chandler, saying “I think he’s a terrific actor too.” And she would love to work with Glenn Close. “[Glenn Close] began her career in voice over. She was in The Legend of Greystoke, the Tarzan story. She completely dubbed Andie MacDowell’s voice. That’s not Andie MacDowell. That’s Glenn Close’s voice. She’s a terrific voice over actress, so I want to work with her.” explained Andrea.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on January 29, 2013.
Interview by Billy Henehan
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Bruce Timm Interview at NYCC 2012

At New York Comic Con, I was able to sit down with Producer Bruce Timm and Casting Director Andrea Romano to discuss Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and 2, and the enduring legacy of Batman: The Animated Series.

Bruce Timm and his team meet every week with people from Warner Home Video, DC Comics and Warner Brothers Animation in order to discuss everything that’s in production and what they might want to put into production. The idea of doing an adaptation of Batman: The Dark Knight returns was first brought up when DC began producing animated movies. There was some objection to it at the time, and they did other projects. The idea didn’t come up again until a couple of years ago, in between Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight’s release and the start of production on The Dark Knight Rises. There was concern that Christopher wanted to use The Dark Knight Returns for The Dark Knight Rises, so they had to again, not move forward with an animated Dark Knight Returns movie. Later on, once The Dark Knight Rises was in production, DC said it was different enough from The Dark Knight Returns to do an adaptation. “I jumped on it,” said Bruce Timm.

According to Bruce, it’s tricky finding the right project to pitch. “Sometimes we’ll have a favorite Batman comic that we loved as a kid or a teenager, and we’ll throw the idea out, but not all of those make good movies.” He went on to explain that with the realities of the marketplace is that even with the tight budget they work with, the movies still cost X millions of dollars. “The Home Video people want a sure thing. That means you’re going to get a lot of Batman movies, a lot of Superman movies, a lot of Justice League movies. I’m hoping that something happens along the way that allows us to broaden our horizons and lets us do a Nightwing movie or a Batgirl movie, but what something might be, I don’t know,” explained Bruce. I asked him, if Arrow continues to be popular, will we see a Green Arrow animated movie? “Who knows? Maybe. Possibly. We’ll see.” was his response. That sounds hopeful to me, Arrow fans.

When asked if he was concerned bringing the politics of the comic to the film version of The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce said, “Fortunately for me, my takeaway from reading the original in terms of political mind view is that Frank Miller seems to hate everybody. You know? It’s not that he hates liberals or he hates conservatives.”

Bruce caught himself and said, “I shouldn’t have said that. Frank doesn’t hate everybody. I don’t think Frank hates anybody.”

(Just kidding, Frank)
In talking about the actual script for The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Timm said that screenwriter Bob Goodman hit all the high points in his outline. After Bob turned in his first draft, Bruce made notes about important dialogue from the book that needed to be in the script, or an important moment that needed to be put in. “It’s a little back and forth, but it’s a complicated process,” said Bruce.
The art direction is also something that was labored over. “We wanted to make it as much like the source material as possible,but knowing we weren’t going to make it look exactly like the comic…It’s always a trick to find what are the most iconic looking things about the original art that makes it look like Frank Miller art and yet at the same time can also be translated into animation.” Bruce commented. They referred to the comic on every background, vehicle, location and color schemes. Their goal was to make it look like the original comic as much as possible. Finding an art style that worked was difficult. It was something they struggled with for weeks. It had to be true to the original, but still able to be animated. They even went back to the original model sheets from the Batman: The Animated Series episode that dealt with The Dark Knight Returns, but didn’t get any help from there. “They were too simplified.” said Bruce. “We put our nose to the grindstone, sweat more bullets and eventually came up with what we came up with.”
Our discussion turned to Batman: The Animated Series. When I asked if he had a favorite episode, he said, “No. Too many. I couldn’t narrow it down.” When I followed that up with if there was an episode he didn’t like or that he was really unhappy with, he responded similarly: “Oh, I have tons that I don’t like. Are you kidding me? Again, I couldn’t narrow it down either. Which one’s the worst? There’s too many.” When asked who his favorite Batman composer was, Bruce said “That’s like asking me which one of my kids I love best.” Naturally, I immediately followed up with, “Which one of your kids do you love best?” Without missing a beat, Bruce said, “My daughter.” and then went on to say, “That’s an easy one, because I only have one.”
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 is available now. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 will be released on January 29, 2013.
Interview by Billy Henehan.
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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 Review

Around the time that the first Tim Burton Batman movie was released, I had a case of full-on Batmania. I had enough Batman t-shirts to last over a week. I had multiple Batman buttons pinned to my jackets. I even had a giant Batman movie poster from the NYC subway hanging in my bedroom.

It was around this time that I was given a copy of The Dark Knight Returns. It immediately became one of my favorite comics. It’s one of those comics that I read almost every year.

When it was announced that Dark Knight Returns would be adapted into an animated movie, I couldn’t help but feel hesitant about it. I’m not a fan of the Death of Superman animated film and I worried that they would use the wrong art style or water down the story on DKR. The box art scared me; this wasn’t the Batman from The Dark Knight Returns on the box art.

I shouldn’t have worried. The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 is a very faithful adaption of the first half of The Dark Knight Returns. The art style is very reminiscent of Frank Miller’s art from the comic, but updated to not look dated, less rough, and more streamlined. It’s a very subtle shift in style and it works well. The story has barely been changed. It’s not a shot-for-shot, line-for-line remake of the comic, but while watching it, I couldn’t pick out any scene that was missed. Batman’s inner monologue is gone, but that may be for the better. I don’t know if I’d have enjoyed the movie if every scene was narrated by The God Damn Batman.

Yessssss!

The story in Part 1 deals with Batman coming out of retirement to deal with the Mutant Gang, who have been terrorizing Gotham City. The leader of the Mutants is a ‘roided up, razor teethed psycho. It’s a cool story that works both on its own and as a set-up for Part 2, which is being released on January 29, 2013. The climatic battle between Batman and the leader of the Mutants is simply awesome.

The Mutant Gang have a similar eye-wear fashion sense as Cyclops from the X-Men.

The hardest part of enjoying any animated Batman movie for me is dealing with Kevin Conroy not voicing Batman. To me, and many others, Kevin Conroy is Batman, so hearing someone else’s voice come out of the character’s mouth can be jarring. But Peter Weller is great as Batman.

I highly recommend checking out Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1. It has replaced Batman: Under the Red Hood as my favorite DC animated feature. If you enjoyed the recent The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight rises movies, it’s worth checking out the story that helped inspire those two films.

I can’t wait for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 to be released. In the meantime, I think I’ll check out the DC animated movie of my other favorite Batman tale: Year One.

You can also read my interviews with Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano about the making of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

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NYCC 2012: Scott C’s The Great Showdowns


One of my favorite things about going to comic book conventions is the chance to pick up books before they are released to the general public. It might sound silly, but there’s something cool about being able to get something that’s not yet been released to stores. Even though I was on a tight budget at this year’s New York Comic Con, #1 on my list of things I had to buy was an advance copy of Scott C’s Great Showdowns book, which was just released by Titan Books at the end of October.
           
 I first came across Scott C’s (the “C” stands for “Campbell”) work online earlier this year, and I immediately fell for his fantastic artwork. His style could veer into “too cute” territory, but the topics of his paintings (such as Daft Punk Camping, or the Beatles without their shoes) are usually just bizarre enough to prevent this from happening. He’s been posting his Great Showdown paintings online (almost) daily for a while now, and I was super psyched that there would finally be a book collecting these awesome pieces. For those unfamiliar with his work, the paintings feature “moments of conflict” from classic (and, admittedly, not so classic) movies. They are not only restricted to fight scenes, or good vs. evil battles – the best part about these paintings is that they can pretty much be anything – from Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore vs. a vase on a pottery wheel (Ghost), to a boat vs. an iceberg (Titanic), to (my favorite) Bruce Willis vs. many smiling shards of glass (Die Hard). I haven’t mentioned it, but all the subjects are smiling at one another, and just seem so happy to be included in the paintings.

             

As an added bonus, in addition to setting up a signing, NYCC also included a Great Showdowns panel, which gave everyone the chance to hear about the book from the man himself. Over the course of about an hour, Campbell talked about the impetus for the showdowns (the first painting, of Ghostbusters, was included in an exhibition at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles), his favorite of the showdowns (Ghost), how, after more than 500 of these paintings, he still has a long list of movies he’s still got to get to (one specific example: Serenity– chew on that one, nerds!) Like most panels, this one closed with a Q & A session – but while this usually is the signal to leave a panel, Campbell kept the audience glued to their seats by drawing each person asking the questions as they were answering them! While this did lead to questions that were…less than awesome (especially since the panel’s location was right next to the exit from Stan Lee’s photo op), Campbell’s love of making art was infectious, and I would not be surprised if a majority of the people that wandered by the panel ended up getting a copy of the book. 

While I was lucky enough to pick up an early copy at Comic Con, The Great Showdowns should be available now at all good bookstores- pick up yours today!      

Written by Nicolas Doyle. Convention photo by Nicolas Doyle.

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The Cosplay of NYCC 2012

There were so many awesome costumes at this year’s New York Comic Con! I think this year may have boasted the most impressive cosplayers since NYCC began. Here are some of my favorites!

New rule: all dealers need to cosplay, just like Absorbing Man here. 
The most dangerous hazard with crowded escalators: getting hit in the face repeatedly by Bark the Mog’s wagging tail.

Arcee, ready to roll out.
And one of many 11th Doctors in the background. 

“There’s money in the banana stand.”
The only way this costume could have been better is if it was self-immolating.
This might not be a George Costanza costume. Maybe this guy just really likes Seinfeld and tucking his shirts into his denim shorts. I hope this is a George Costanza costume.

War time Captain America and the Scarecrow partying it up like an intercompany crossover.
I was really impressed by this woman’s Captain Marvel costume for a couple of reasons: 1. This costume just debuted in the comics a couple of months ago! 2. She even incorporated Carol Danvers’s new hairstyle.

There were so many Doctors at NYCC, but only one Doctor Strange. I want this cape. 

I’ve seen many guys dressed as Ghostbusters over the years, but none as elaborate as this duo. They even had a Slimer! 

A very manly Mera.

While not a costume, this remote control R5-D4 was amazing. 

Venom

I really wish this picture came out clearer. 
These three had awesome Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man costumes. 
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone cosplay Ant-Man before!

Weeping Angel.
Don’t blink….but feel free to tip generously.
Starro 
This guy needs a “Free Face Hugs” sign.
I don’t get the whole Free Hugs thing. But Free Shrugs, I get that. 
Cassandra Cain Batgirl and Red Robin. 

I was very happy to see someone cosplaying my favorite Batgirl, Stephanie Brown.
My absolute favorite costumes from this year’s NYCC all have something in common: wings. 
Sorceress and Skeletor
Does He-Man know about this?

Victoria’s Secret Stormtrooper Angel
This guy rocked the runway that is Artist Alley!
But my absolute favorites…
Steam Punk Hawkgirl and Hawkman
There two win! The attention to detail in their helmets. The individually feathered metal wings. This Steam Punk Hawkgirl and Hawkman pair are amazing!
Written by David Henehan. Photos by Billy Henehan, David Henehan, Nicholas Doyle and Graig Kreindler.

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The Dos and Don’ts of NYCC 2012

Whether New York Comic Con 2012 is your first convention or your five hundredth, following these dos and don’ts will almost guarantee you and the people around you all have a good time.

DO: Plan ahead!
New York Comic Con is big. There are many cool panels to attend, writers, artists and actors to meet, dealers to buy from and publishers’ booths to check out. To make sure you don’t miss out that piece of exclusive merchandise that you really want, or meeting your favorite creator, plan ahead. Check out the maps and schedule on the website. Use your phone’s calendar to remind you of special events. Make a checklist.

DO: Download the NYCC app for your iPhone or Droid!
There have been NYCC smartphone before. They have for the most part been useless. This year’s NYCC app has changed that. They’ve rebuilt it from the ground up. It’s a great resource to have before and during the convention. It’s packed with information: panel schedules, a full list of guests, floor maps and a live Twitter stream of NYCC related tweets. If you’re looking for information regarding, NYCC, the app probably has it.

DO: Bathe! Every morning! With soap!
I will stop recommending this when you stop smelling. If you don’t bathe with soap, you will smell, thus both perpetuating a foul odor and a foul stereotype. Let’s start a new stereotype: The freshly washed nerd!

DO: Mind your obnoxiously overstuffed backpack.
It’s easy to not notice when you hit someone with your backpack. You probably don’t feel it. The other person definitely does. Better yet, pack a messenger bag instead. They are the perfect size for holding books, look more stylish, and make you more maneuverable. But if you’re a fan of looking like King Koopa, please be mindful of where your backpack is in relation to other people’s faces.

DO: Stay healthy!
Your immune system is going to be weakened by the marathon sessions of being on your feet all day for four days. There will be lots of people in an enclosed space, all recirculating the same air and pawing over merchandise likely that hasn’t ever been cleaned. This all leads to one thing: Nerd Flu. Don’t get it. Wash your hands. Pack a travel size container hand sanitizer.

DON’T: Push!
New York Comic Con is going to be crowded, especially on Saturday and Sunday. Expect to be stuck in slow moving traffic. Don’t be that guy who pushes the person in front of you to signal you’d like things to be moving faster. It doesn’t make the crowd move faster, lowers the mood, and makes you an asshole. NYCC 2012: No Assholes. It’s a motto we can all get behind.

DO: Take a break!
Sure, there’s enough to do at NYCC to fill the whole day. But if the crowds start getting to you, take a break. Get some sunlight and fresh air. There’s a deli a couple of avenue blocks away on 34th St that has a good selection of food and drinks, and plenty of seating. Head there. Decompress. Get a bite to eat. Then head back to the Javitz refreshed.

DON’T: Even think about asking for more than 3-5 signatures at 1 time!
It’s obnoxious to show up with a stack of 30 books, especially if there are other people waiting, or if an artist is signing your books while also working on a commission.

DON’T: Be afraid to haggle with a dealer!
If you see something you like, don’t be afraid to politely ask if the dealer can do a little better on the price. If the price is $60, ask if they can do $50. Maybe he’ll say yes, maybe he’ll counter with $55 and maybe he’ll say no. If he says no, don’t be afraid to walk away. Maybe you’ll get the deal you’re looking for at another booth. Maybe that first dealer will call you back over instead of losing out on a sale. A lot of dealers are selling the same merchandise and want your money to end up in their pockets, not the guy’s in the booth next to them. This is doubly true on Sunday. Whatever these guys don’t sell, they have pack, carry, load, unload, carry and unpack later.

DON’T: Be creepy!
It’s interesting how weird people can be when they’re around someone they love or someone they hate. Whether it’s your favorite writer, or “that bastard who ruined _________,” they’re all people, just like you and me. Be cool.

DO: Eat the soft pretzels!
They’re delicious!

DON’T: Eat all the soft pretzels!
Save some for me!

Written by David Henehan