Justice Blog of America

This Website has been running a pretty funny tournament in which various popular comic book characters face off. It’s now wound down to a face-off between the Hulk and The Batman. All three commentators on the site have come to the same conclusion: Batman kicks the Hulk’s big, green, Gamma-ray ass.

And I agree.

‘But wait,’ you might say if you have a passing familiarity with comic books. ‘The Hunk is one of the strongest, meanest, toughest, most indestructable characters in comics books. Batman is a guy with now powers and a utility belt. How can Batman win a one-on-one, face-to-face batter with the Hulk?’

Simple. He’s Batman. He always wins. There’s a line a comic in which Batman teams up with Green Arrow against a super-strong, street-smart gangster called “Brick.” The gangster tells Batman he has no intention of facing him in one-on-one combat. “You’re the *&#@*! Batman.”

That’s because the Batman always wins.

He’s prepared in advance for this contingency. There’s no way Batman allows himself to get into a fist-fight with the Hulk. He lures him somewhere and springs a trap, where he can knock Hulk unconscious with sedatives or something, then waits for Bruce Banner to make an appearance.

He’s *&#@*! Batman. He WILL find a way to win.

Which is why Batman will always be cooler than the Hulk.

Behold thew glory of this unauthorized Batman movie from the Philippines:

I still prefer it to anything Joel Schumacher made.

Hat tip: FARK.

The people who run D.C. comics cannot stop with the gimmicks. There are, I think, some six or seven multi-issue, mega-cross-overs going on right this instant. All of them involving every character in the D.C. universe, and all of them supposedly designed to change everything.

Meanwhile, the best books are those that focus on character development, smart writing and crisp art. Few of these books are coming out of D.C.

So what’s the latest gimmick? They are sending the Man of Steel into space for about a year. Of course, they are doing this gimmick while the titles are undergoing a renaissance.

Just like they did in 1988. And as I recall, they brought him back to take part in what-the-hell-ever super mega cross over was being done THAT year, then had him go off again for a few months once it was over.

Oh-gee-will-he-ever-come-back.

Oh, for the love of God, will someone please rid us of DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio.

For those who don’t know “geek out” is my phrase for that odd combination of nostalgia and tingly excitement I feel when the elements pop culture I loved in my youth are updated in new and exciting ways.

THIS is one of those times: Continue reading ‘New Batman series looks like a Silver Age geek out’

You you, when I was a little kid, I would have completely geeked out over this trailer. The only think that could have made it better would be is Green Hornet and Kato were guest stars: Continue reading ‘Da da da da da da da da da da da da Batman! Batman! Batman!’

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.”

Continue reading ‘The definitive Joker … and it ain’t Heath Ledger’

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: