Justice Blog of America

Heath Ledger is being talked up for an Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker in the upcoming “Dark Knight.” But I’m fond of the version from Batman: The Animated Series. And so is the guy who penned this MTV blog article.

Integral to their portrayal, of course, was the voice acting of Mark Hamill, whose Joker was a delicate mix of psychosis and manic glee, just as ready with a gun as he was with a gag. Fans of the character still give Hamill credit for the most definitive take yet.

“And he didn’t even have to try hard!” Timm exclaimed. “He can put the Joker on like that, just instantaneously. He doesn’t have to stop and do the whole Method acting thing, like, ‘OK, now, what’s the Joker like?’ He can do it at the drop of a hat. He can do it in the middle of a sentence. He can be talking about something and go right into the Joker voice and it’s just, he’s there. It’s, like, yikes. It’s actually kind of frightening.”

Via i09.com

Meet the undoing of the next movie. A founding member of The Black Eyed Peas has been cast as a non-cowboy cowboy from Texas in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. In an interview with MTV Will.I.Am describes his powers explaining, “I’m a teleporter. … I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere. Boom, boom, boom!” Click through for Will.I.Am’s full description of this new character.

Via io9:

If September’s The Flash #244 does, indeed, mark the beginning of the end for Wally West – and the fact that that storyline isn’t by recently-announced new writer Tom Peyer suggests that that may be the case, if his longterm plans are being cut short; regular Flash artist Freddie Williams II has already been announced to be returning to the Robin series - this will be the third relaunch of the Flash franchise (and, indeed, may lead to the third Flash character to take over the lead of the franchise) in the last five years.

Via io9, the movie that became Batman Begins was almost based on the Batman Beyond animated series:

I loved Batman Begins, but I’d way rather have seen the origin of a twisted future Batman, working with the embittered, broken old Bats. With Stephenson’s help, the Batman Beyond movie could have been a fascinating look into Terry’s relationship with the suit that extends his capabilities, in the corrupt future world. Just as long as they left out the stuff that was added later (in Justice League Unlimited) about superspy Amanda Waller injecting Terry’s dad with a retrovirus designed to turn his sperm into Bruce Wayne’s sperm, so Terry could be Bruce’s biological son. Nobody needs a movie about Bat-sperm.

I agree. For the most part, Batman Beyond was the best of all of the recent animated versions of Batman. Only the the very first season of Batman: TAS surpasses it. But yeah, we really didn’t need the episode about the altered sperm.

And the theme music for BB is the best:

The clown who’s been (for the most part) ruining DC Comics of late is about to take a walk:

For people who haven’t been enjoying the adventures of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman or any other DC superheroes over the last few years, relief may be at hand. It looks as if DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio is about to be removed rather soon. That’s the rumor that’s been going around comic circles recently, made all the more believable by the past month being one of the more unfortunate for DC’s PR department in recent memory. Declarations of tiny tyrants, the problem of being second best, and the dreaded deadline doom, all after the jump.

After more than a year of falling sales and stories that left readers and critics cold, DC’s summer 2008 flagship comic Final Crisis was seen by many to be the one book that could fix all problems and return the publisher to the #1 spot in terms of fan conversation, critical acclaim and sales. After all, it had a fan-favorite creative team (X-Men, JLA, Invisibles and We3 writer Grant Morrison and 52 cover artist JG Jones) and promised to not only provide thematic closure to, but also wrap up long-running subplots from, the last four years’ worth of DC comics. Where could you go wrong?

I’m not saying everything DC turns out of bad. I’m really enjoying the new Silver Age approach to Superman, for example. But for the most part, all they do these days is reboot.

Via Bitten and Bound:

Lynda Carter of the popular 1970’s television series Wonder Woman was out boating on the Potomac River in Washington D.C. yesterday when she came upon a dead body. She was stunned to see a woman floating face down and promptly notified nearby boaters.

And how cool is it that the Web site is named “Bitten and Bound? The original Wonder Woman from Sensation was all about the bondage fantasies.

That’s Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News. And he not only loved the movie he saw at a screening, he loved that this movie ties into the other recent movies:

Now, I know I’ve been talking a lot about this Cinematic Marvel Universe – but I’ll tell you. I love, love, love – that in THE INCREDIBLE HULK… there’s science fiction weaponry. The Sonic Cannons are OUT-FUCKING-STANDING! The design is goofy and awesome as though Jack Kirby drew them. It’s big and clunky and mounted on the back of an armored vehicle… and that’s AWESOME! And they send waves of power that knock the living shit out of the HULK. And this shit came from Stark Industries. YES!

I love that SHIELD is a scary Big Brother organization that’s monitoring all of our fucking emails. How great is that? Now – if only we’ll get the Helicarrier… and Dum Dum Dugan! And jet packs and skin-tight mission suits – and evil HYDRA and AIM.

These films are on a collision course. They’re building on one another – and Marvel has a supreme chance here to do something that we’ve never seen in cinema… just as they did in Comics. And that’s to create a coherent fantasy Universe across titles, releases and distribution companies.

Justice Society of America No. 16: The JSA meets up with the all-new Gog. Not the fake one who’s been killing all the other gods during past five or so issues. And certainly not the Gog from “The Kingdom” miniseries, the events of which are apparently not part of the new “52-Earths continuity.” Instead we meet the original “Gog,” who’s trying to pull off the “I Come in Peace” thing. The last two issues were satisfying slugfests. In this issue, everyone stands around while the new Gog tells his back story. I have to admit, the scene at the very end surprised me, and that surprised me. The Justice League is making yet another appearance next issue. Yawn. The story is by Goeff Johns and Alex Ross (the later of whom did the cover). Johns wrote it, and Fernando Pasarin penciled. Buy it if you are a golden age comic junkie.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War No. 2. I bought the first one and wasn’t all that impressed. The cast of characters was just too big and seem haphazardly tossed together. The art and story is better this time around. It’s not going to make anyone’s top-ten lists this year, but it has some of that loopy, old-school fun that I’m finding in the revived The Brave and the Bold. And any comic with a cover showing silver-age heroes battling a dinosaur can’t be all bad. Jim Starlin provides the story, Ron Lim the pencils and Rob Hunter the inks. Go back and buy issue 1, too.

Supergirl No. 30. More than two years into this title, and they are still having this character recovering little bits of her memory of her life on Krypton. Three words, people: Get. Over. It. The artwork is unimpressive. The story-telling technique is flawed, as the scene shift from time and place, sometimes without any attempt at transition. I cannot see this title continuing if they can’t get a creative crew willing to get on with it and tell a story that doesn’t involve Supergirl moping around. There’s a ton of fun to be had with a 16-year-old girl with the powers of Superman, and after getting off to a good start, they are throwing it all away for a ounce of two of angst. Will Pfeifer is the writer, Ron Randall is the artist. You can live without buying this one.

The All New Atom No. 24: For the first 12 issues of this book, it was one of my favorites. A real must buy. The writing and art were top notch. The characters were fun. The plots were shock full of elements from the sci-fi movies I enjoyed. Today, the title is a sloppy mess. I can’t follow it the plot. I don’t want to follow it. There’s a long-awaited appearance on the very last page. Too little, too late. Written by Rick Memender, pencils by Pat Olliffe and inks by John Stanisci.

Yes, I know. NO Marvel titles this week. Honestly, I looked for some. But I am staying away from the Secret Invasion storyline, so that kind of limited my choices.

Another fond childhood memory shot to Hell:

Sony is moving forward with what may be the most unlikely superhero film yet: The Green Hornet starring Seth Rogen.

The Knocked Up star will play Britt Reid, a bored playboy who inherits his father’s crusading newspaper and spends his nights fighting crime with his sidekick, Kato.

Feh. I just don’t see it:

I fondly recall watching “Green Hornet” with my parents back in the 1960s. I remember being very confused when Green Hornet and Batman fought it out in a crossover episode. And then there was this:

And then there was this scene:

I cannot find myself disagreeing with any of these. In fact, I double-dutch agree with a couple of ‘em.