Batman Vs Superman, Comic editions

I found this series of scans on Facebook.

Still better than the film.

Superman Theme - Sonya Belousova (dir: Tom Grey)

I've called Sonya Belousova the Lindsey Stirling of the piano, and dang, she does it again. Not only does she rock the Supergirl cosplay, but she has one of the best piano arrangements of the Superman theme I've ever heard.

And no, there is no other Superman theme. There is only John Williams.

If you haven't already, check out some of the books below.
And if you have, please leave a review.

Thanks.

    

Midseason Review: Supergirl

The first half of the season is done. Time to break them down.

Item the First

It's a puff piece, it's agit-prop, no, it's Supergirl!

Dear, God, SOMEBODY SAVE THIS SHOW.

Sigh. Too late.

Okay, fine, let's break this down.

The Good: The move for the CW has definitely improved the series. In the first few episodes, you can see the budget actually show up on the screen.

 I guess that means that the filming on location in LA really did eat up most of the budget while they were on CBS.


There is obvious effort put in here and there. The end result of the villain Parasite, for example, wasn't that bad. I say the end result because he was really a global warming fanatic who went insane.

They had one or two obvious character choices for certain players that they did not take that surprised me -- mostly, their decision to not make every member of the Luthor family into a flaming psychopath.

And, to be honest, I don't mind their Superman. I mean, heck, he SMILES. Was a Superman allowed to smile since Christopher Reeves? Hell, Brandon Routh was so dang stiff, he should have been an awesome Superman. He wasn't even allowed to smile until he became Ray Palmer, and now, he makes a great Clark Kent on Legends of Tomorrow ... as the wrong character.

The Bad: everything else.

No, really. This is bad. The opening of the season wasn't that bad. It had Kara and Clark, and it wasn't that bad ... okay, the Cat Grant lusting after a man who is obviously 15-20 years younger than herself was amazingly creepy, and everyone else just looked uncomfortable without calling her on it.

The primary thread for the season revolves around "anti-alien sentiment" and a "home-grown terrorist group, Cadmus." I mean, I can't imagine why anyone would have harsh feelings against aliens. I mean, they nearly DESTROYED THE PLANET last season. Though they actually have some counterpoint to this thinly-veiled political analogue, with even the Martian Manhunter directly opposing an "alien amnesty" proposed by a President Lynda Carter. So they have some props there.

And, seriously, "amnesty"? I'm sorry, in a world where Superman has official citizenship of the United States, are they telling me there's no way for these people to just fill out some paperwork? Is INS / ICE really still screwed up, even in the DCU? Are we kidding?

And we won't even get into the blunt forced message fiction about Kara's sister becoming a lesbian out of ... nowhere, really. Yes, the character of Officer Leslie Thompson from the Superman comic was gay ... then again, so was Rene Montoya, Cassandra Kane, and about half the women in the DC universe feel like they're at least bi, if not 100% lesbian. But they've spent so much time with the sister becoming gay, and less and less time addressing an overall plot. I fast forward through at least a third of every episode, looking for a plot. Kickass female characters ... and they made them gay. Yes, of course. Because "kickass" somehow must mean ... what? Butch? Therefore gay? Um, no, people. That's not how this works.

The sister's sudden coming out of the closet is particularly startling after first season and her having a relationship with Maxwell Lord -- who was so overbearing and overshadowing last season, his disappearance this season is whiplash-inducing.

Oh, and then there's Jimmy Olsen becoming the Guardian .... Do I even have to explain why this is a bad idea? Jimmy Olsen ... as a superhero.  Somehow, Jimmy Olsen is a cross between Iron Man and Batman. Look at him. He's even IN IRON MAN'S SUPERHERO POSE.

Even Kara mentions how her cousin sometimes works with a guy with a lot of gadgets and a lot of issues -- ie, Batman.

Oh, does this mean I can have Batman now? Please? Pretty please?

But, yeah, Jimmy Olsen as a superhero ... because the son of the Toyman made him a suit. Um, point of order, but did Wynn cobble together this super suit out of DEO technology? Did no one notice what had to be millions of dollars in hardware suddenly going missing? Is it as inefficiently run as every other government organization that millions can just disappear without anyone noticing? And screw that, now we just have the problem that Tony Stark has -- why is Wynn not making Guardian suits fro everyone in the DEO? Considering the amount of crap that they have to put up with on a daily basis, why hasn't Wynn made an entire SWAT team suits like this?

Worst of all ... why is JIMMY OLSEN having more time on screen as a superhero THAN SUPERGIRL. You know, in a series called SUPERGIRL?

Yes, I do consider it possible that Supergirl could recover. There was hint that Lynda Carter's President was an alien, suggesting that she be an alien menace, and that all of this illegal immigration analogy falls apart. But I don't see it happening, I truly don't.

And the sad thing is that this is all so easily fixable. I honestly don't care about Kara's sister and her new girlfriend -- that the sister has become gay, or that she has a girlfriend -- if they focused less on that and more on THE PLOT, I'll be happy.

In fact, you will find that complaint very often in the Berlantiverse reviews.  I want less focus on interpersonal relationships, and more of a plot. The sad thing is, for Supergirl, this is still an improvement over last season.

I may keep watching, if I have additional brain cells I feel like sacrificing. Otherwise, this is one hero I can without.

And, I can say without any shame at all, you're better off reading any of the following books.

 

Election Day: Who Would Marvel and DC Vote For?

After Green Arrow / Green Lantern, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), and Batman (Bruce Wayne), Captain America, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Daredevil, Deadpool, Catwoman, Superman, Fantastic Four, and Luke Cage ....it's already been a busy day.

But for those of you just showing up, we're doing an expanded version of the 2012 post where I broke down comic book characters by politics. Because the 2016 election has been a joke since the nomination process.

This was an all day thing. One post per character ... mostly. The shorter ones will be grouped together. After all, there's no much I can do with Deadpool.

The ones done for this year include...

Captain America

Green Arrow / Green Lantern.

Spider-Man (Peter Parker)

Batman (Bruce Wayne)

Iron Man (Tony Stark)

Daredevil -- with Wilson Fisk (of course)

Deadpool -- Includes Norman Osborn and Two Face as bonus rounds

Catwoman -- with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn

Superman -- and the Hulk, and even Nick Fury

Fantastic Four -- the Penquin, Mr. Freeze, and some nonstarters

Luke Cage -- this one will surprise you

Deathstroke -- this one may not surprise you as much.

Nonstarters

These are nonstarters in general, and I couldn't really scrounge up enough of these folks for their own entry.  They are both heroes and villains. And, while I would have loved to title this post "WWJVF: Who would Joker vote for," well, he's not really that complicated.

People who I have considered and rejected doing this time out include.

The Punisher: 
He's too easy. Frank Castle doesn't care. He wants his guns, and no one will take them away. Not the mob. Not politicians. No one. Ever. He's like a Honey Badger, he just doesn't give a darn. Trump? Hillary? He would probably take one look at everyone and tell them to simply leave him alone. Or they would be dead. Period.

Doctor Strange: It is too tempting to pull him in, since his film just came out, but really, would it help that much? I'm sure he would hate Obamacare, and what's been done to the healthcare industry in general, but as Sorcerer Supreme, I'm not even sure he's registered to vote anymore. And in what dimension? Hell, have you seen how he dresses? Imagine that walking into a voting booth. Then again, he does live in Greenwich Village, so would anyone notice?

Wolverine: Canadian. And unlike Deadpool (who I'm told is also from up North), he would let that stop him.

Jessica Jones: She's too drunk to vote. Otherwise, she'd vote Hillary, or Johnson, if she was feeling more nihilistic than usual.

Joker -- As noted, he'd probably kill everyone in the polling place, and vote Johnson.

Lex Luthor -- Would vote for himself. He was President once, after all.

Wonder Woman -- won't vote, since both candidates have no military service.

Thor -- Not a citizen, and therefore, can't vote.

Loki -- As a demigod of chaos, you can almost lay money that he would vote Bernie

And, while we're all here....try Murphy's Law of Vampires, sequel to the second place Sad Puppies 4 nominee for best novel, and Dragon Award nominated novel Honor at Stake came out yesterday. 

Enjoy.

Election Day: Who Would Superman Vote For?

Between Captain America, Green Arrow / Green Lantern, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), and Batman (Bruce Wayne), it's already been a busy day.

But for those of you just showing up, we're doing an expanded version of the 2012 post where I broke down comic book characters by politics. Because the 2016 election has been a joke since the nomination process.

This will be an all day thing. One post per character ... mostly. The shorter ones will be grouped together. After all, there's no much I can do with Deadpool.

Superman, aka Clark Kent

Clark Kent is a big city reporter, and over 90% of journalists are Democrat supporters, so it should go Hillary. Kent has also recently given up a job with the Daily Planet because it was bought but someone who kinda resembles Rupert Murdoch -- evil big business, after all.  So, that would be left-leaning.

On the other hand, Clark Kent was raised in Kansas by a rural farming family. So there's a possibility for Trump.

However, as Superman, he once rescinded his American citizenship for five minutes.

Hillary's decorum thus far would probably put him off.

Trump's decorum would probably put him off.

Superman is an illegal alien, so Hillary.

He wears red white and blue, so Trump.

And Kansas is a really strange place to start with, so who only knows what people are thinking.

VOTE GOES TO: It depends on who's writing Superman at the time.


Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk 

Dr. Bruce Banner, fugitive from practically everybody on the planet, he likes the back end of nowhere, and staying as far from military and local authorities as humanly possible.

Enter Hillary, who seems to want to cut the military budget and the US involvement in foreign affairs.  And she has anger management issues.

VOTE GOES TO: No one. Bruce Banner is probably not even registered to vote.

Nick Fury

Like Captain America, the original Nick Fury is yet another World War II vet. He is also a spymaster, will defend the planet against enemies foreign and domestic, which will make him both socially conservative and pro-military.

Then again, he'll want someone he can manipulate.  Or would he want someone who agrees with him already?

Either way, Trump's policies (the few he's discussed, anyway) wouldn't offput Fury. He's dealt with bigger jerks. There would be very little reason to vote for Hillary, though

VOTE GOES TO: Whoever Fury has rigged the election for, so .... Trump? Maybe?


See the previous posts: Captain America
Green Arrow / Green Lantern.
Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Iron Man (Tony Stark)
Daredevil
Deadpool
Catwoman

Or, while we're all here.... Murphy's Law of Vampires, sequel to the second place Sad Puppies 4 nominee for best novel, and Dragon Award nominated novel Honor at Stake came out yesterday. 

Enjoy.