Asian Superheroes part 3 - Super Young Team

It's been a while since I've written about Asian Superheroes (when DC, Marvel, Image, Wildstorm et al take an honest crack at writing Asian spandex heroes) as frankly, there's not a lot out there. But when you do come across em, you take notice, scratch your head, and in my case with the Great Ten, happen to stay abreast of whenever they make appearances (such as in Checkmate). This time around, the focus is on Super Young Team - another creation of Grant Morrison (who created China's Great Ten). SYT is from Japan, and as such can best be described as trendy, superfluous, J-pop/idol-based, idiosyncratic tomfoolery. Let me be blunt, I don't know if I hate them or respect the effort put into making them a statement of today's 5-second attention-span, twitter-saturated youth or a mockery of what heroism is supposed to mean. They are not heroes. No, SYT is a bunch of meta-powered teenage idols thrown together by a PR machine with no reason for being. Sadly, they know it themselves. Despite pinch hitting saving the universe in Final Crisis along with the Checkmate Organization, Renee Montoya, the Justice League and Captain Marvel - their true contribution to the side of good is looking glam, endorsing cocktail parties and merchandising.

They were introduced as the current incarnation of Jack Kirby's Forever People, for fuck sakes. I LOVE the Fourth World (Darkseid, Desaad, Kanto and the rest of them) and seeing Kirby's creations turned into things I HATE (having lived in Japan for seven years and working alongside the Tokyo talento industry gave me this perspective) made me shudder at the vapidity and hypocrisy of a bunch of superpowered amateurs with little understanding of morality and sacrifice. This would all be fine, I suppose, but because they resemble the idiocies of a supremely shallow and bereft-of-talent industry, I'm going to see how they develop. To be fair - the writer, Joe Casey, nailed down the Tokyo Pop environment pretty damn well. References to Kiddie Land, Akiba, Shibby-Shibs, etc etc are all in there. Anyhow, here is who they are:

- Most Excellent Superbat: costume based on an amalgamation of Batman and Superman. His talent? Being really fucking rich. Limited martial arts capabilities but when you save Japan by buying it outright, hell even I'm impressed.

- Big Atomic Lantern Boy: sexually-repressed virginal nerd who combines Firestorm and Green Lantern. Hint of being a pervert with some kinky fetishes regarding his team-mate called....

- Shiny Happy Aquazon: similar to Mera, Aquaman's wife, in being able to create hard-water constructs and can live underwater. Wearing S&M PVC gear, she is the team's bimbo, ready for her face to be plastered on ads and keitai's (mobile phones) all over the world. Well, Japan anyways.

- Shy Crazy Lolita Canary: a fist-sized winged schoolgirl alcoholic. Her primary superpower is a sonic scream - only screams "Sumimasen!!!" (excuse me) a la Black Canary. Her secondary superpower is being annoying. Actually, I liked her the most. The alcoholism rung a chord, I guess.

- Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash: you guess it - the team's speedster. He looks plain awful with an eggshell helmet, and can only go 500MPH. Considering that is Jay Garrick's (Silver Age Flash) cruising speed, and Wally West and Bart Allen have both gone Speed of Light, big freaking deal.

Oedipus Redux - Peter Milligan's Greek Street

Apologies for the late posting - been busy.

Ahem. Anyways, let it never be known that we are not literate here on this blog. Today, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be focusing on the Greek Classics. Or to be more specific, the story of Oedipus. Yes, the lad who shagged and then killed his mother. The forebear of a psychosexual complex that forms the basis of today's psychology and a huge industry of anti-depressants manufacturing.

Greek Street is a bit of a pun, something to be expected from one of DC Vertigo's pioneering writers. It's an actual street found in London, a home of vice, baklava, strippers and gangsters. Actually, no it's not, it's really just a lane filled with a slew of ethnic restaurants in Soho. But then what better home than to put a modernized version of a veritable mish-mosh of Greek stories mixing Oedipus, the Iliad, the Golden Ass and more? At the center of the story is Eddy (which for those quick on the take is a hipper version of Oedipus), a street urchin/junkie/ne're do well in trouble with the local mob, run by the Fury family, nee The Erinyes. The local crime family is itself in some kind of debt to their local House of Lords representative Lord Menon (Agamemnon). He has a clairvoyant daughter named Sandy (Cassandra) and there is a Greek chorus of strippers who bookend each chapter with a summary and a taste of the shit to befall young lord Eddy. This has cannibalism, incest, ultra-violence and drug-taking. Why it's got everything we need in our modern Greek plays!

The writing is crisp but accent-heavy. If you're a fan of Guy Ritchie films or Irvine Welsh novels, this is definitely for you. This is UK gangster to the hilt with enough Greek Classic references to make you hit Wikipedia for a couple of hours. The art by Davide Gianfelice is spectacular, much better than the usual Vertigo norm, with bright colors and sharp line graphics that show the glitz and grit of today's London. I dunno if the rest of you have been there recently, but it captures the seedy dump-quality of the non-touristy areas. Don't get me wrong, London is cool and all that. But Disneyland it ain't.

The Best TV Show Never Made - Gotham Central

Imagine a television series that took place in Gotham City. Oh wait, that already happened. It was called Birds of Prey and focused on Oracle, Black Canary and Huntress. It came and went quietly. But imagine that it was done RIGHT, by making it in the Chris Nolan age where realism, grit and epic storytelling were the main themes.

Gotham Central started off as an experiment in 2003 by the best crime writers in the comics genre - Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, two guys who know how to write genuine detective stories as well as police procedurals. Their idea was to do crime stories set in the city of Batman but with the costumed freaks firmly in the background. The main characters were formerly supporting ones themselves - Maggie Sawyer who previously was the head of Metropolis' Major Crimes Unit now transferred to Gotham, Crispus Allen from Detective Comics and the animated DVD Batman: Gotham Knight, Renee Montoya from Bruce Timm's Batman Animated and Marcus Driver, an entirely new character. Their stories focused on solid police procedurals that sometimes involved supervillains, sometimes not - and Batman's presence (if not the man himself) shadowing in the background. Many of the characters, of which there are almost 20 officers, look down upon their supposed need to always contact Batman to solve their cases. And while most refuse to accept his help when they hedge their own abilities to solve crimes, they do understand his necessity in taking down some of the supervillains when their own firepower isn't enough.

So combining top-notch storytelling and clever cameos by Batman and his Rogues Gallery (plus some cameos from the Titans and Flash's Rogues), what do you get? Eisner and Harvey Award attention in the first year for writing, series and inking. You had serious DC character development unmatched in other series, Montoya (who most of us remember as the plucky detective alongside Harvey Bullock and Jim Gordon in the DCAU) becomes a lesbian and starts her path into leaving the GCPD and turning into the next Question, and Crispus Allen is on his way into becoming the next Spectre. And it was a thrill to see how seemingly regular crimes ended up involving characters like The Joker, Mad Hatter, Two Face or Catwoman. Or vice versa, where you would think costume freaks are involved but you are not sure. Maybe not.

But funny enough, the series was a commercial failure. It was like a critically acclaimed art house movie that wins top honors at all the film festivals and yet never finds its audience. It ran for 40 issues before the writers could no longer justify its existence despite continually racking up awards.

And end footnote was that, ironically, TV execs at Warner Bros (owners of DC and producers of the Nolan films) LOVED the comic series. Although they were nonplussed with Birds of Prey's failure, their confidence in the quality of writing and character development (imagine Hill Street Blues or CSI, but with Batman in it!) would make it a reality if not for the fact that there is a moratorium on all Batman TV shows as long as the film saga will keep going. So we got that.

Paul Dini's Fetish

Paul Dini is probably most famous for being one of the original producers and writers for Batman The Animated Series, and for having helped launched the DC Animated Universe, itself having the nickname of "Diniverse". Today he is still active in the comic world for being the current writer for Gotham City Sirens and Batman: Streets of Gotham. He just penned the script for the game Batman: Arkham Asylum (although the original concept was done over a decade ago by Grant Morrison in the now classic Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth). His writing style can best be described as solid, compelling, and knows when to take light and serious steps in his writing, anchored by strong characterizations in his dramatis personae. IMHO, the only other writer of similar ability is James Robinson.

What he is not as known for is his eternal appreciation for sexy, garter belt-armed magician women. Being himself a bit of an amateur illusionist, no doubt being in the circles of performing magicians led to a relatively healthy fascination with said type of fine women. Starting with an infatuation with DC Comics' homo magi character Zatanna Zatara, he no-doubt coincidentally eventually married a magician by the name of Misty Lee, who then took on some of the trappings of Zatanna (or vice versa, well Zatanna was chronologically around longer). He then wrote his own creator-owned comic series called Madame Mirage on Top Cow Comics, about a vengeance-fueled illusionist superheroine which coincidentally and admittedly was based on his wife.

I include pictures, in order, of: 1) DC's Zatanna, 2) Zatanna as portrayed by the actress/model Serinda Swan in Smallville, 3) Misty Lee, Paul Dini's wife, and 4) Paul Dini's Madame Mirage. See the resemblance?

Asian Superheroes part 2 - The Great Ten

While I'm very supportive of any attempt for a large publishing house to take a Great Leap Forward (pun intended) in absorbing Asian stories and being a global community - the potential for screwing up The Great Ten as far as cultural and political sensitivities is concerned is pretty jarring. Now I'm not saying that the Chinese Communist Party or even the non-English reading population of the PRC are going to be offended or even aware of this upcoming title (coming Nov 4 this year), but there are enough overseas Chinese who are avid readers of DC Comics to take notice of this one.

Chinese comics are nothing new - themselves inspired by Chinese myth and legends on one side, and stories of criminal honour on the other. Notable titles are Feng Wan (Storm Riders, made into movie in 1998) and Chinese Hero - probably the breakthrough title showing a line-heavy pencil style that set it apart from the more simplistic Japanese style of, say, Lone Wolf & Cub. But this is a subject for another post (ayah, my blogs-to-be list is piling up!)

DC Comics actually preceded Marvel with coming up with a Chinese superhero team by about 2 years. Introduced during 52, the year long crossover event, The Great Ten is China's official team of "superfunctionaries" ("hero" connoting a level above the masses of the people). They have been both fighting on the side of Western heroes as well as against them, for while they protect the people of China - they are public servants and all orders and doctrine must come from the CCP bureaucracy. In their first fight, several of them were unable to take part as they had not filled in the proper paperwork. It is assumed they are named after the literal translations of the character set they were given, and they consist of:

Accomplished Perfect Physician - in the past, an outlaw named Yao Fei, who is their equivalent of Dr. Strange, in being a practitioner of mystical arts. This actually puts him in conflict of the Communist Party as there are cults and religious societies in China like Falun Gong that are not exactly on the good side of the authorities themselves. But then Chinese history itself is replete with horrendously bloody religious rebellions like the White Lotus or Taipings killing millions of people.

August General in Iron - certainly one of the coolest-looking characters in the set. Fang Zhifu has been reshaped by alien DNA into being turned into a living steel statue and functions as their field commander.

Celestial Archer - with clothes resembling Chinese comics, he is their Hawkeye or Green Arrow, coming with the same off-kilter, irresponsible and irascible personality.

Ghost Fox Killer - you have to have your female assassin somewhere and this one is it. She is a Ghost Fox spirit, from Chinese mythology and she kills all evil-doing men plus she has a poisonous touch. In some ways, she has the least potential for any interesting back-story unless she truly isn't human at all.

Immortal Man in Darkness - I LOVE the name of this one. A jet fighter pilot bonded with a black alien fighter-craft that can turn into dark smoke. Not too sure if this was voluntary but considering that his real body is eroding due to the bonding process, they probably failed to mention that fact. Or they can blame it on excessive lead poisoning.

Mother of Champions - this one is particularly clever, as how many times have you ever heard of a living birthing chamber being referred to as a hero? Niang Guan Jun has the ability to give birth to 25 super soldiers every 3 days. Now of course this could lead to a population problem even if China wouldn't have that gender imbalance of 2 men to every 1 woman in about 10 years thanks to female infanticide.

Seven Deadly Brothers - a guy who can split into seven duplicates. Each one a kung fu expert. Sort of like X-Men's Madrox the Multiple Man, except with actual fighting skills. Sort of liked pwned cloning...

Shaolin Robot - although I'm sure it is an expert in the monkey, tiger, mantis, etc etc kung fu forms - it speaks in I Ching hexagrams. This may sound cool, but considering that most Chinese themselves have no idea how to interpret hexagrams I can imagine the difficulty it can have in relying useful information to the team during combat. It's like someone speaking morse code.

Socialist Red Guard - an old radioactive racist fogey who dreams of killing old skool pre-Taiwan Chinese Nationalists/KMT and forcing all urbanites into working on collective farms and reciting from Mao's Little Red Book. I'm sure he is popular during diplomatic meetings even if he wasn't permanently wearing a giant suit of thermal-shielded armor.

Thundermind - a Bodhisattva. Yes, a Buddhist. Yes, Buddhism is the religion of Tibet. What the hell is he doing on a team that serves the Chinese Communist Party? They should also include an Imam to represent all the Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang if using that logic.

It is noted that these people are based on a real nationality and culture. The Immortal Weapons are based on mystical cities and frankly speaking, the authors can do whatever they want with them, their homelands never having actually existed. With the Great Ten, some of them have some pretty bad political and cultural issues that need to be explained in order for the worldwide Asian community to take them seriously. No joke.

Evil Portrayed - the Finance Industry

The global finance industry is not exactly seen in a good light right now - what with millions of people unemployed and retirement plans up in smoke. Yet Wall Street plutocrat fatcats are raking in the bonuses once again while the masses can't even afford enough food to eat. But it's curious to see how the comic industry treats them. While its no doubt that they are treated as big as bastards as criminal lawyers, there are two treatments that stick out for their ingeniousness.

ARKHAM ASYLUM: LIVING HELL

Arkham Asylum is well-known as the home for the criminally insane in Gotham City, where Batman tends to send his murderous Rogues Gallery after he's spoiled their nefarious plans. In one case, a man named Warren White (a metaphor for Alan Stanford or Bernie Madoff but preceding them by several years) thinks he's successfully manipulated the legal system but getting himself declared mentally incompetent for running the worst fraud in financial history. At first the judge is outraged at the result then he smiles. For in Gotham, a madman gets sent to Arkham, which is far far worse than any conventional prison. White was better off in a maximum security pen when compared to sharing quarters with Two-Face, Poison Ivy, the Joker and the Scarecrow. He goes from a normal guy who you almost feel sorry for (almost, until Madoff and Stanford became news) who is regarded as "the worst man I've ever met" - even by the outraged Joker! (For you can kill people. but you can't fuck with their retirement plans.) White goes through every degradation, torture, psychological horror and abuse by his fellow prisoners until his mind snaps after he suffers piecemeal crippling physical debilitations. Over a period of six issues in this limited series, we see him slowly and painfully transform into Great White Shark, a new freakish entry into Batman's Rogues Gallery. Awesome.

G.I. JOE: ORIGIN

A clever retcon story written by Larry Hama, the writer of the original Marvel series, that shows how the original team of Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Heavy Duty, Breaker, Rock and Roll and Stalker were pulled together by Hawk on a small mission in Las Vegas. Written in the post-Jason Bourne era so it's smart, technical and leaves few plot holes - as today's military comics now have readers who are as informed as most real tacticians. Breaker and Scarlett actually act and speak like real communications and intelligence operatives, Stalker speaks pure special forces lingo and professionalism is the name of the game. This particular pre-Cobra mission has them pursue a terrorist with links in the government but whose doctrine and methods are unified with the nut-case right wing militias of Montana and Idaho. So basically G.I. Joe (although technically, that codename has yet to be formulated so they are known as "The Unit") is up against red-neck yokels with machine guns but led by paramilitary hardcases. I'm going to do a big spoiler here but the end challenge for Duke and his team is a choice left by the terrorists - they have only enough time to shut off one weapon of mass destruction, either a) mass toxins that will be released into the atmosphere, killing millions of people, or b) an email that will be sent to every major bank and financial institution in the world that contains the Gaussian copula function, the mathematical formula used to model huge complex risks and widely blamed for the financial subprime crisis. (The terrorists' profit motive being based on crashing the worldwide financial markets and shorting it). The Joes understand both of the risks but as history has shown, they obviously opt to stop the toxins instead to halt an instant kill rather than a slow one. It's quite funny and interesting to see how the financial world was actually being manipulated by a terrorist action, full well knowing the end result while the fatcats themselves are just pawns for evil.

Let's Get Ethnic - Vimanarama!

There are a LOT of stories out there that take Japanese culture and history as influence. But as far as Asian cultures are concerned, Desi tends to get thrown on the wayside despite having a longer storytelling tradition and just-as-rich context to fall upon.

Bollywood has long been regarded as not-quite mainstream enough to hit Hollywood or comic-dom shores in a big way. Slumdog Millionaire, it can be fair to say, was for many people their first encounter with Bollywood as an entertainment vehicle, despite it not being authentically Bollywood. True Bollywood remains a acquired taste what with its overacting, semi-ridiculous plot points and habit of breaking into song and dance that renders something as serious as Othello turned into Hairspray at the drop of a hat.

Grant Morrison and Philip Bond have done something special - they focus on the Indian community of England, itself the home of a rich and unique culture, (it's also the birthplace of an awfully cool musical subgenre called ethno, blending techno, breakbeat and tabla/sitar music) and tales of the delicate balance of modernity vs tradition, brown vs white, Islam vs Hinduism, etc come to the fore. Writers like Hanif Kureishi, musicians like Talvin Singh, and movies like Bend It Like Beckham all come from this not-too-little community.

Blending this modern UK culture with a Jack Kirby-esque story involving cross-dimensional meta-humans, demonic aliens and reincarnation (we think, we're never too sure) and a heavy dosage of humor is Vimanarama. The storyline is simple, a self-absorbed not-too-bright dreamer/loser named Ali is set into a modern battle in the middle of Camden, London between the ancient cosmic demigod protectors of earth and their demonic rivals who want nothing more than wipe humanity's asses from the face of the planet. But in reality, despite all this - all Ali really wants is for his arranged wife to not be too ugly upon seeing her for the first time. And who knew that she's also the reincarnation of the Lord Demigod Protector's Holy Wife? Dammit! Some guys just have no luck.

Crossover Works of Warren Ellis

Despite being more known for Planetary and Transmetropolitan (and to a certain degree, G.I. Joe Resolute), it's actually Warren Ellis' smaller works that got optioned for movies and television. No doubt because the story arcs are more self-contained or in one series case, the whole thing was written as television scripts in mind.

RED:

Paul Moses is a retired CIA agent who specialized in "foreign acquisitions", which is spook shorthand for "assassination" who is quietly and happily retired and living a secluded life where the most exciting thing he opts to do is speak to his Agency handler about family and other banal things. However, his record of service is still on file at the CIA and the new incoming Director is given a summary of actions. Typically as per any political nominee without real experience, he freaks out and immediately demands Moses be killed to prevent any political fallout. A team of assassins visits who he promptly dispatches. Once he recognizes them and clocks on what is happening, he goes berserk and sets off for vengeance with extreme prejudice against his former employers. A solid revenge shoot-em-up tale that shows just how dark the human soul can get. Although the writing is sparse, the artwork by Cully Hamner is stunning as it is concise.

The movie will apparently be starring Bruce Willis as Paul Moses, and directed by Robert Schwentke.

GLOBAL FREQUENCY:

Are you on the Global Frequency? One of the more high concept ideas of comics, Global Frequency was written in episodic format, perfect for a television show. The idea is that a private covert intelligence operation solves the world's hidden problems. With 1,001 operatives at its disposal, the lead characters of Miranda Zero and central operator Aleph can call upon any one of them to take on an assignment. Each operative is a master of his or her field, be it a special tactic, personal skill, science or feat of engineering. They run from ex-soldiers, scientists, thieves, professors, athletes, police, spies, or those who defy description. Each assignment is equally hard to describe - a village in Norway that has succumbed to the arrival of an angel, an alien virus hits New York city and spreads like an idea, old Cold War weapons that have degraded and posed a threat. One case involves a Russian ex-Spetznaz man who has the ability to generate worm holes and because he took part in quantum experiments long ago, is connected to a nuclear device in Siberia that when detonated there, ground zero is wherever he is standing. In this case his retirement choice of San Francisco. All assignments and operatives are non-governmental despite being G8 funded - for if a government officially acknowledges any of it, they are also automatically responsible for most of the problems. The final story where a global population reduction device from the 1960s in orbit goes awry is particularly heinous. A combination of the X-Files, the old 1980s TV show Masquerade, and Mission: Impossible.

Each story was done by a different artist, but the covers were spectacular - each one a composite by Brian Wood (creator DMZ and Supermarket). They capture the sophistication of the writing and the grass-roots flair of each story. While not every story works, as some merely degrade in depictions of ultra-violence (one story even only focuses on an exceptionally brutal hand to hand fight), the ones involving high concept ideas are truly worth reading.

There WAS a television pilot made, with Michelle Forbes (Ensign Ro Laren of Star Trek: TNG) as Miranda Zero and Aimee Garcia as Aleph. However, WB didn't pick it up for whatever reason they had at the time. I can imagine that the special effects and location shooting were probably pretty cost-prohibitive. Global Frequency works best as an episode-based TV show, maybe even as a mini-series as although there is no central narrative, there are far too many ideas and abilities to create a movie out of it.

Tiphares

It's pretty well known by now that James Cameron is going to be making his own film version of the manga Battle Angel Alita, and God knows what his cybertronic gladiators and bounty hunters are going to look like. I'll save that for another day, but interestingly enough - I came across this blog regarding the setting:

http://urbanfloop.blogspot.com/2009/06/of-ships-dreams-tiphares.html

... which had this to say about Tiphares when comparing the floating city to the giant landfills and scrap yards of India and Bangladesh...

"these terrains survive on the waste dumped by the floating world that upholds its morals of sustainability and equality by outsourcing the opposites to far off horizons away from its cone of vision."

Cosplaying Appleseed

First off: Lose weight. Pump Iron. Train. Train. Train. (not like these guys)

Second: Get the right hardware. Seburo Industrial is a good starting point.

Third: Kick some ass. The bad guys won't know what him them.

Analyzing the DC Universe Original Animated Movies

Since most, if not all, of these were direct to DVD (and hence an automatic stigma gets attached to that), a lot of these didn't receive a lot of publicity when they came out. Which is a shame, as critical response has been amazing - in fact a lot better than most of the animated movies which actually make it to the theatre. I would guess DC does it for cost reasons, DVD sales can be pretty brisk as is, and the marketing budgets needed to launch a movie are cost-prohibitive. But at any case, let's take a closer look at the DC Originals.

1. Justice League: The New Frontier. Based on Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel, this is a storyline that takes place in the McCarthy era. The JSA has been broken up and heroes are not well-received by the government and the people. It's about the rise of the JLA as told through mainly Green Lantern (Hal Jordan version) and the Martian Manhunter. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are secondary characters. The Flash (Barry Allen version), Will Magnus, Kyle Morgan (Challengers of the Unknown), Rick Flagg, The Atom, Green Arrow, King Faraday, and Adam Strange also make appearances. There are plenty of villainous cameos and the main villain is The Center, otherwise known as Dinosaur Island. Some great writing here, and even if you're not a big fan of the Silver Age of comics, this is still impressive. Rating PG-13.

Comparison: animated series such as The Superfriends, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited.

How does it stack up? It's on par with the latter two series although the era that its set in adds a definite Cold War feel on par with the Watchmen. With no live movie to compare to (not including that 1970s crap with Ed McMahon), this is now the standard. The artwork is wonderfully done in a Max Fleischer-style, and feels right for a Justice Society-timeframe look. Voice-wise, I just didn't buy into Jeremy Sisto as Bruce Wayne.

Best parts: David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan and Neil Patrick Harris as Barry Allen. The speech by John F Kennedy at the end to a montage of everything coming in the JLA history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League:_The_New_Frontier

2. Superman: Doomsday. Based on the Death of Superman series that was a ploy to rise profits on the Superman title when things weren't going so well for DC, with the character of Doomsday being a pure plot device rather than a real foil with any justifications for wiping out the Man of Steel. This movie adaptation streamlined that narrative and eliminates many of the new characters like Cyborg Superman (Hank Henshaw), John Henry Irons, Eradicator and Connor Kent. Instead they are all replaced by Bizarro, which kind of makes sense when you think about it.

How does it stack up? In truth, the only animated comparison is the Justice League episode Hereafter, which itself took elements of the Funeral for a Friend storyline from the comics. I suppose the only thing that can be compared to it is the Superman Returns live movie by Brian Singer. And if we're going to do it that way, then the animated movie actually wins. Superman Returns had far too many flaws to bring it to bear.

Best parts: James Marsters as Lex Luthor, and Adam Baldwin as Superman. I would think that Tim Daly and Clancy Brown would have been better, but Marsters and Baldwin were serviceable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Doomsday

3. Batman: Gotham Knight. This was a companion DVD in preparation to the theatrical release of Nolan's Dark Knight. It was six different films done by six different Japanese animation companies, much in the same way as the Animatrix. In fact, the same companies that worked on the Animatrix were the contributors to Gotham Knight. These stories are set between Batman Begins and Dark Knight or during the training period before Bruce Wayne discovers the League of Shadows in Bhutan. Some deal with pain, others with his tenuous relationship with the Gotham City Police Force, others how the public perceive him. There are appearances by the Scarecrow, Crispus Allen, Killer Croc and Deadshot.

How does it stack up? In reality, the closest two things to compare this to is the Animatrix, and Gotham Knight is easily more compelling. The other, unfortunately, is the Batman Animated Series by Bruce Timm, which had already set the standard for all DC animated efforts for now going almost 15 years. True that Gotham Knight is better animation, but the Timm-verse series has the history, the writing, and the pedigree behind it. Lastly, we have to compare this to the Dark Knight movie itself - and unfortunately it will be a very long time before any cartoon is going to knock that movie off its top pedestal. Not even close.

Best parts: the animation is stunning, pure and simple. However, the voice acting is so-so, with some overuse by Corey Burton for Jonathan Crane. But thankfully, Kevin Conroy of Timm-verse Batman lends his voice as Bruce Wayne and putting it bluntly, he IS the voice of Batman, easily making Christian Bale's voice sound like a geriatric's ulcer come alive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Gotham_Knight

4. Wonder Woman. Directed by Lauren Montgomery, this shows the introduction of Diana, princess of Themyscira to the modern world in the background of a war between the Greek gods. Her delving into our world is merely a subploy by the god of war, Ares, to regain his powers and change the balance of power in Olympus. Now that's all well and good, but really, this is actually the first successful portrayal of Wonder Woman in a feature film ever. Excellent writing, tons of humor, mythical bloodshed, decapitations, rendered limbs and awesome voice acting. This is actually the best of the DCAU Original Movies bunch.

How does it stack up? Compared to what? The TV show with Linda Carter? Her role as a supporting character in the Justice League Timm-verse series? There is nothing to compare this to. This is the new standard for Wonder Woman!

Best parts: the voice acting. All of it. From Keri Russell as Diana, to Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor, to Virginia Madsen as Hippolyta, to Alfred Molina as Ares and Rosario Dawson as Artemis. They knock this one out of the ballpark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman_(film)

5. Green Lantern: First Flight. This shows the introduction of Hal Jordan to the Green Lantern Corps. How he got his ring is shown in the first five minutes (and frankly, Justice League: The New Frontier did a better job of it) so they scoot through that to show the Guardians of Oa, the GLC and Sinestro. Basically, it is Hal Jordan versus Sinestro with some politicking up front and in your face. We all know Hal Jordan will win this, its actually a question of how he is going to do it. There are appearances by Kilowog, Arisia, Ganthet, Boodikka, Carol Ferris, Tomar Re, Kanjar Ro and the Weaponers of Qward.

How does it stack up? Again, similar to Wonder Woman, there is nothing to compare this to... except, perversely, Justice League: The New Frontier in terms of the portrayal of Hal Jordan. And in reality, David Boreanaz did a better job than Christopher Meloni. But as is, with no other Green Lantern films, series, etc to compare to... it is the new standard. I heard that there is a movie in the works with the over-exposed Ryan Reynolds in the running as Jordan (although he would be better as Kyle Rayner) we have to wait and see.

Best parts: in terms of sequences - the running battle between the GLC and Kanjar Ro's gang. Brutal and sequentially brilliant. And the meeting between Sinestro and the Weaponers of Qward, casual, terse and pretty funny. Victor Garber's voice as Sinestro was spot on. Much much better than Ted Levine in the Timm-verse series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern:_First_Flight

Upcoming this year, Batman/Superman: Public Enemies. Based on the DC Comics opening narrative for World' Finest.

Gotham City

Gotham City is a beast, the dark sister city of bright and beautiful Metropolis, which is probably why people just love the dark deco monstrosity that it is. Did you know that in the Tim Burton movie, Vancouver BC's map was used as the geographic layout of the city? Throughout history, everyone has had a take on what the city should look like. It's an architect's dream and a civic planner's nightmare. Here's some takes by Anton Furst, Chris Nolan, DC Comics and DCAU