I’ve been more excited for this comic book to come out than any other issue so far in the year 2010.  I’ve done a couple of interviews with the writer, Scott Snyder, and both times we spoke, our interviews always descended into deep conversations about the character of Dick as Batman.  The first time we did this it was before his first issue of American Vampire had come out and any work on Batman by Scott was literally a twinkle in his eye.

After the runaway success of American Vampire, which I like quite a bit, I was tremendously excited by the idea of Scott taking a turn with the mantle of the bat.  He gets the character, not just as a fan, but as a very calculating writer.

Detective Comics #871 came out today, and is the first issue Scott Snyder has written.  The art is by the incredibly talented Jock and the colors are by the very capable David Baron.

I’ve been reading Batman comics for a very long time, and not just the main titles, but most of the side titles as well.  One thing you’re quick to notice after you’ve read that much Batman is whether or not the writer is able to capture the voice of the character they’re writing.  Too often, you’ll have a writer who writes as though he only knows the character’s name and has no idea what his voice should sound like (Fabian Nicieza on Robin and Nightwing or AJ Lieberman’s work on Gotham Knights) , other times you get a feeling that it’s so much of a cartoon of the character you love because it reads like a fan-fic, aimed directly at fans (you know these guys).

Not as often are we treated to writers that not only grasp the voice of the character, but can give us something interesting and new as well.  It’s a rare mix of great writer and love of character that combine to give us the right voice for the character, a story that’s interesting in the current continuity, and so completely unique to the character that it couldn’t be told any other way.

With few exceptions (like Bryan Q. Miller and Chris Yost), the current stable of writers tend to write Dick Grayson as Batman with the Dick Grayson part as an afterthought.  Snyder gives us a Batman that is so uniquely Dick Grayson that you simply can’t tease Dick from this story.  He has different mannerisms, thought patterns, reactions to situations, bits of humours, etc.  And Snyder captures them all with an easy grace that makes it look far too simple.

To say this is the best issue of a Batman comic I’ve read in a long time is an understatement.  Sure, it’s the first act of three act story and it still has two chances to collapse in flames, but it’s a very elegant and well laid out setup.

Unlike most backups in books, the Commissioner Gordon backup in Detective (also by Snyder) folds neatly into the imagery of the book proper, maintaining a continuity that makes me feel I’m reading the same story instead of two completely disjointed arcs.  Like I said, elegant.

There are a lot of things a lot of people are rolling their eyes about as far as this new Batman Incorporated story device is concerned.  Snyder is able to take what he needs of that continuity and sidestep the traps left by the rest of it to give a very clean Detective story that could only be happening in the here and now of continuity.

There is a skill to working on long-running titles for long-running characters and Snyder, in his first outing exercising that skill, knocked it out of the park.

Aside from all of that, the mystery in the book is intriguing and will keep me reading, with enough broad strokes of detail to help me remember the finer points over the month to month shipping schedule.

A lot of people continue to sing the praises of Batman and Robin, but Detective Comics is THE Batman book you should be reading.  This is the Batman we all feel we deserve.  And lets hope this team sticks around for a while, because this could be the team that defines the post-Morrison era of Batman.

The only negative comment I can make about Disney’s new animated feature Tangled is that I still don’t like the title. Originally called Rapunzel, the film took on the name Tangled when Disney thought it might provide a broader appeal (read: boys might come see a movie if the title isn’t a girl’s name). Aside from that, Rapunzel, er, Tangled, exceeds all of my expectations and can easily draw comparisons to earlier masterpieces Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin.

Alan Menken can take some of the credit for that; he scored those films as well as Tangled, and though the music doesn’t quite meet the bar set by the earlier films, the songs are catchy and beautifully sung by Mandy Moore. And the duet . . . the duet is a showstopper. Add Glen Keane to the mix as directing animator, (animator for Ariel and the Beast) and you have a recipe for a winner.

Tangled is the story of young and spirited Rapunzel, who has been kept trapped in a tower her entire life. And though her prison has no bars, trapped she is. Her loyalty to her mother keeps her from leaving, but her birthday approaches and the rebellious teenager inside begins to emerge.  Her mother visits her often, using Rapunzel’s abundant locks to ascend the tower wall, but their relationship is complex.  Rapunzel has never known another human being, and in her naivete doesn’t realize that her mother’s insults and criticisms are emotionally abusive.

She does, however, recognize that the world extends beyond her tower, and she dreams of leaving and exploring the kingdom.  Her chance comes in the form of a bold and handsome thief named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi, Chuck).  The contrast between his worldliness and her innocence is fascinating to watch, and I found that for animated characters, they have a lot of chemistry.

And I must mention that the animation is exquisite.  Every frame is rich with details and vividly colored.  I particularly recall how detailed the lace at the cuff of Rapunzel’s dress looked. The landscape is so lush and fanciful it makes me want to grab some paint and a canvas and duplicate it.  Or at least make an effort at it, for duplication would be impossible.

I also must mention that children will be enchanted by the noble steed Maximus and Rapunzel’s pet chameleon Pascal.  These are not the kind of sidekicks that talk or sing, but they are still entertaining characters.  I predict a lot of requests for plush versions of these guys as Christmas approaches.

The most magical and moving scene of all is what I will call “The Boat Scene.”  I don’t want to give anything away, but the song and the lavish animation at that point in the film melts my ice-cold heart.  If you don’t believe in fairy tales or that dreams can come true, you will after seeing Tangled.  How much did I love this film?  I’m planning to see it a second time this week, and I’ve already purchased the soundtrack.

Let your hair down and enjoy the movie!

It always amazes me how few things come out the week of the biggest shopping day of the year.  But there are a few gems in the release list today and we’ll start with Batman Beyond: The Complete Series.  This show is arguably the best of the DC animated TV shows.  From it’s stylized opening by Darwyn Cooke to its grim vision of the future of Gotham.  With Kevin Conroy returning as an elderly Bruce Wayne and Will Friedle taking the part of Terry McGinnis, the young boy who finds out Bruce’s startling secret and dons the mantle of the bat, this series boasts one of the strongest voice casts of the entire DCU and one of the most compelling looks at Gotham.

The complete series is worth picking up.  The only thing you need after this is the Return of the Joker full length movie they made for this series.  It’s hands down the best DCU film ever made, but it is only half as good if you haven’t seen the show.

Seeing this show makes me miss it that much more and makes me wonder why they cancelled it.  (It also makes me wonder why they’d put Adam Beechen on writing duties for the comic…  Ugh…)

Next on the list is the restored version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis on Blu-ray.  This is something I need to acquire.  It had a theatrical run that I literally blinked and missed.  I’m still sad about that.

The last thing this week is a must buy.  For $10.99 you get a double-Blu-ray of Total Recall and Terminator 2.  That’s literally a price you can’t pass up.  If you buy anything on my list this week, it should be this.  The price is just right.

There’s also a two pack of the only two Rambo movies worth watching, the first and the last, for the same price.

My guess is they’re stocking stuffers.

ALSO!  For one today only, the complete (to this point) collection of Harry Potter films on Blu-ray is less than $40 on Amazon.

Until next week!

After an unforeseen delay, Secret Origins (insert day here) is back! To make up for it, today I decided to tackle the origin of a team rather than an individual hero. What better team to profile than the Justice League? Over the years, there have been many incarnations of the League, and many tales of how they got together. The one I highlight today is no longer in continuity, except that it kind of is. Explanation: this is a retelling of the original JLA’s first origin. Originally, Wonder Woman was a founding member of the JLA, but this particular telling of the origin was published post-crisis (which if you aren’t familiar with the term, trust me, isn’t worth getting into now). Post-Crisis, Wonder Woman didn’t become a hero until after the Justice League formed, so it was decided that Black Canary fit her role quite nicely, so she was used instead. Ok, now that I’ve thoroughly bored you, let’s get on with: The Secret Origin of the Justice League of America!

Our story begins in space, on the planet Appellax. It seems their leader, the Kalar, has been murdered. You would think this would be bad and you are right, but possibly not for the reason you’re thinking. Apellaxian law states that whoever takes the life of the Kalar becomes the next Kalar. The problem is, seven Apellaxian citizens claim to have done the deed. Since this is comics, the only way to figure out who should be crowned Kalar in this case is “Trial by combat!” The last time this happened, a good portion of the Appellaxian population was destroyed, so they’ve picked a backwater planet to fight on. You’ve probably guessed that it’s Earth, because no one picks poor Venus. After getting a quick briefing on earth and its inhabitants, one of the combatants asks a rather prudent question.

Not as absurd as that facial hair, buddy.

We follow the invaders to Earth in their spaceships which not only look like giant meteors, but also house random “battle forms” for the combatants which will allow the aliens to convert earth-beings to their cause as we’ll shortly see as we cut to J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars! He’s kvetching about how he can’t reveal himself in public because the earthlings would freak out, because not all aliens can look as svelte as Superman. As he’s moping while invisible, he notices the city is full of stone statues. This is obviously odd, but when they start to move he’s really wondering what’s up. All of a sudden, he encounters the first Apellaxian, whose battle form is a giant rock monster! It seems he is turning the people into living statues as his own private army. J’onn tries his best to hit the thing, but it’s pretty ineffective. He tries a mind probe, and boy does that backfire…

And this is why I always carry an oily rag. Just in case J'onn goes rogue.

J’onn is weakened by the fire, and is about ready to throw in the towel, but then he’s hit with a moment of heroism, and tries to ignore the pain and just flies at full speed through the granite giant. Smashing him to bits. Unfortunately for him, the effort taken to do this drops his invisibility and he’s able to be seen by his adoring public for the first time. The reaction is certainly not what was expected, which proves that moping just makes the moper miserable.

Yeah! Martians are supposed to have exposed brains!

Anyway, there are more important things to be done. When J’onn probed the alien, he found there were more, so he flies off to get to another before it “hatches” We’ll catch up with him later, for now we cut to Aquaman! Aquaman is swimming, as he is wont to do when he notices a bunch of mercurial bits floating in the water. Before he can figure out what’s up, he gets shot by a ray and well, he doesn’t fare too well.

Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas (and the obvious)

In the state he’s in, there isn’t much Aquaman can do (kinda like when he’s in human form). He does have the gumption to try, though. He can’t really control his body, but he tries to ride the currents to attack the blob. The blob is pretty clever though, it just forms a hole in the middle of its body and Aqua-blob just passes through. The blob is now heading toward Atlantis, obviously upsetting the King of the Seas. As luck would have it, there is a whirlpool in the distance. Aquaman figures that the blob may not be from Earth and therefore not know how destructive a whirlpool can be. All he has to do is use his power to command fish to lure the blob into the path of the ‘pool. Possibly due to the fact that he’s not currently human, or maybe in a rare case of telepathic performance anxiety, the fish aren’t listening to Aquaman’s commands. Driven to the point of abject frustration, we’re given just about the quintessential Aquaman panel.

I wonder if Enzyte comes in fish food flakes?

It finally works and Aquaman reverts to normal. He heads to the local center for Oceanographic studies (comics!) And find out that there are more of these beasties out, particular one in the Florida Everglades. He swims off and when he gets there, sees someone in a cape who may or may not need help. Once again, we’ll get back to this, but for now let’s look in on Black Canary! It turns out this is Canary’s first public appearance. She’s on a rooftop lamenting her lot in life, inheriting a super hero identity from her mother and not really digging the fishnets. Before long, she hears a scream for help, and springs into action! Continuing the trend, she encounters an aliens turning people into a different substance. This time it’s glass, which really does not seem like something that’d be too effective in battle, but we’ll go with it anyway. Being a novice, she’s pretty overwhelmed by the situation, so she’s a bit distracted. Too bad for her.

Good thing it didn't hit her jaw.

Undeterred, Canary makes a joke to herself about how she’ll never tap dance again. This actually gets a chuckle out of our alien baddie. This is where Black Canary shows she’s truly ready for the hero game. She uses her Canary Cry, but pitches it so perfectly, it focuses solely on the glass guy, shattering him to smithereens, but keeping her foot and everyone else intact. Much like the others, after the danger is passed, she’s informed of more of these alien guys, and she makes her way to Florida, only this time, we find out why we keep cutting to other heroes. It seems this particular meteor is having a bit of an effect on the collected future leaguers.

Lay down your roots, Canary!

So again we cut to another hero, this time it’s Green Lantern! He’s in space, returning to Earth when he comes across a meteor, which he decided to race for fun. When the meteor picks up speed suddenly, he knows something is up. He follows it to the wilds of Africa, where it hatches, and what emerges is a giant yellow bird. GL tries to come up with a nice alliterative expression, while coming up with a way to fight an enemy that his ring can’t directly affect.

I bet Hal did this all the time with ants as a child.

After Hal tries to burn the bird, it kind of gets ticked off, so it grabs the emerald crusader in its talons and GL starts to sport some stylish feathers of his own! Using his legendary confidence, the undeterred Lantern uses his ring to bring about a hailstorm that forces the bird to let him go. He then leads it into a waterfall, which he promptly freezes over. This apparently does the trick as he’s back to normal. Anyway, he also gets the info about the unhatched meteor in the Everglades, and you can probably guess what happens.

Hal needing help? Absurd!

We cut away one last time to check in on the Scarlet Speedster himself, The Flash. He happens to be in England and the Queen herself asks him to check out a flame creature in Croydon. Being the dutiful hero that he is, this is exactly what he does. Being a scientist, The Flash tries to blow out the fire with wind generated by him moving his arms like a giant fan. This only serves to increase the monster’s size. This of course grabs flamey’s attention and he starts to turn the Flash into a fire-guy too. The Flash has complete control over his molecular structure tho, and can just vibrate himself back to normal. The battle rages and Barry tries a multitude of things to put out the fire, including water and sand, but the thing is just too hot. Then he has a great idea.

Flash Fact, creep!

With the fire put out, the alien is put down. It’s pretty obvious by now what happens next. The Flash learns about the Everglades meteor and runs headlong into the fray, and what happens next is rather unexpected, but definitely iconic.

And now you get my root joke from earlier.

Now, with all the players in place, the meteor finally opens revealing a wooden alien menace! It explains that it deliberately delayed the hatching process and it seems to have worked out well for him. It also seems to have had the effect of converting all of the heroes instantly, since even Flash didn’t have time to free anyone, or himself for that matter. Knowing that most of his work is done for him, the creature leads his thralls to the final battle:

Yes, they're going to walk from Florida to Antarctica.

Aquaman is not too thrilled about making a trek that long, and comes up with a wacky, convoluted plan that is simultaneously awesome as all get out. He uses his own limited telepathic ability to block the creatures control just enough that he can knock himself into J’onn. The Martian Manhunter wonders what’s up and then realizes that he can uncover GL’s ring from under the “bark”. He does so, and Lantern plans on freeing everyone, but his will is weakened and only manages to free Black Canary’s head. This is fortuitous tho, because Canary, being raised by heroes knows that Flash can vibrate himself back to normal, he just needs a jumpstart. With her vocal cords freed, she canary crys at Barry who “wakes up” and fixes himself up. The alien plans on changing that, but the Flash knows it’s game time and is constantly counteracting with his own vibrations now. He knows he has to take this guy out fast, otherwise he’ll set the other converted heroes on him, so he takes the direct approach.

High speed splintery action!

One threat down, one to go. After the heroes give themselves some quick congratulations, they all head off to Antarctica to face the final creature, only to find that Superman has taken it out already. They’d all like to meet the Man of Steel, but he flies off, not even seeing the assemblage of heroes. The five exchange pleasantries and identities on the trip home, when Flash has a pretty great idea after Canary mentions strength in numbers. It’s decided they’ll form… a team! Canary suggests they model themselves after the old Justice Society. Green Lantern suggests the oh-so-original name Justice Society II. Flash has a different idea for a name:

"No? How about the X-Men?"

Cooler heads prevail, and the Justice League of America is born! They go on to add many, many members to their ranks over the years, they become an international organization, and Earth’s first line of defense. All from these humble beginnings. Like I said at the start, this may not be the “definitive” origin any more, but I think it’s the most entertaining and most fun to read. You get introduced to all the players in such a way that even if you aren’t familiar with them, you get to know their deal pretty quickly. I credit this story for helping to cement my lifelong devotion to the DC Universe. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do!

A bunch of ghosts do, apparently.

Cartoon Network is debuting a new DC Animated series loosely based on the young superhero team from the ’80’s called Young Justice, and they are kicking it off with a one-hour adventure this Saturday (check your local listings)! You can check out the 6 min. trailer below, courtesy MTV.

I for one am pretty excited for this. It looks like it may be up to par with the fantastic straight to DVD DC Animated movies that have been released.

The series will focus on Robin, Superboy, Artemis, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Aqualad as they attempt to prove that they have what it takes to become the next generation of the Justice League. Sam Register (“Batman: The Brave and the Bold”) is the executive producer with Greg Weisman (“The Spectacular Spider-Man”) and Brandon Vietti (“The Batman”) on board as producers.

When the series was first announced, the team’s roster was said to include Robin, Superboy, Artemis, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Aqualad. It’s interesting to note that Green Arrow protege Artemis and the alien shape-shifter Miss Martian don’t appear in the trailer, though Speedy (Green Arrow’s former sidekick) has a big role.

Into every generation, a Slayer is born . . .

Turns out that’s more accurate than we originally thought.  First there was the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie with Kristy Swanson and Pee-Wee Herman, then there was the television show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar that lasted 7 seasons, and now Whit Anderson is penning a script for a reboot to be released by Warner Brothers.

No, I don’t know who Whit Anderson is, either, but her IMDB page reveals that she has acted in 3 films and has scripted . . . um, none.  I’m not quite sure how she even got involved in this project, but according to Hero Complex, she is a fan of the television series.  That’s a step in the right direction, at least, but fans aren’t thrilled that this will be a Whedon-less Buffy.  Myself included.

Joss Whedon wrote the script for the original film and is the creator and the guiding hand for the television series.  His devotees are loyal and have followed him from Firefly to Dollhouse (both short-lived series), but he wants no involvement in the new film: “I think that’s something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck,” he said in a 2009 interview.

This reboot could be a success, since fans are hungry for more Buffy, but I think they want more of the characters and actors they know and love.  Will we see Angel, Spike, Drusilla, or even Oz?  I doubt it.  (And Buffy without Spike is no Buffy at all!) Likely this story will feature mostly new characters.  It may not even be set in California, much less Sunnydale.  It’s impossible to predict what elements will remain from either the 1992 movie or the series.

However, it’s reasonable to assume the protagonist will be a girl named Buffy, and she slays vampires.  I also suspect she’ll have a Watcher.  Aside from that, it’s anyone’s guess.

I just hope it doesn’t suck.

“To make a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It’s like a whole big sucking thing.” – Buffy, “Welcome to the Hellmouth”

Series creator Robert Kirkman made his debut this evening as a writer of teleplays with tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead and I must say I was quite pleased with the result.

After having left Merle, a racist redneck, handcuffed to a pipe on the top of a building and left to die, Rick, Glenn and T-Dogg (really?) feel compelled to go back to rescue Merle with his hot-headed, but ultimately badass, younger brother, Daryl.  The ending of episode 3 brought the group to the rooftop where it turns out Merle has amputated his own hand in order to survive.

This episode has the group following his blood trail, but they’re jumped by a group of Latin gang members.

There are those I was watching the episode with that checked out right at that moment.  The episode jumped the shark for a lot of people at that point (if reactions via Twitter are to be believed), but I was into the story, hook, line, and sinker.

The gang members kidnap Glenn (who is probably my favorite on the show, making his likely death all the more bittersweet) and a standoff ensues.

The thing I love about this show is that it ties me up in knots while I’m watching it.  It’s stressful.  I get way too involved in who is going to live and who is going to die.  I truly feel like I have a stake in the survival of the characters.  When things turn out better than expected, I’m relieved.  When things go to hell, I really feel like I’m ready to vomit.

When all hell broke loose on this episode, all I could say over and over again was, “Aw, shit.”

Now that we’re on the back end of season one, heading toward the finale, I feel like we’re getting to know the characters better and better, and they’re giving us plenty of reasons to enjoy the show.  The highlights are obviously Glenn and Dale, two of my favorite characters from the comics.  The parts have been cast perfectly and they are being played to perfection by Steven Yuen and Jeffery DeMunn.  And they get fleshed out just a little bit at a time as each episode goes by.

Kirkman and Darabont have been providing plenty of departures from the source material so far, not enough to be off-putting and just enough to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.  Merle is one of those things, to be sure.

Sure, there was a big climax here, a zombie attack and things are changing for the group, but Merle is on the loose still.  Rick and his group don’t just have the walkers to worry about, Merle is out there and full of piss and vinegar, ready to kill.

And that cliffhanger is probably one of the best this show has offered us so far, that nauseating sense of uncertainty.

In summation, though some might think it faltered, I think this was a great episode and is going to leave us a lot of interesting opportunities for the last two episodes of the season.

Now that we’re done, I want to take a moment and make some predictions about this season, and this is spoiler territory for those who have not yet read the comic book, so stay away if you haven’t:

My guess is that this season is going to end with Carl killing Shane.

It makes a lot of sense.  It happens early on in the comics. People seem to hate the idea of the love-triangle that’s being played into and there’s much more interesting stuff to come on that front with this relationship.  And Shane is becoming more and more a loose cannon and a dick-headed lawman with each episode.

And wouldn’t that be a perfect book end and a lost shot of the season?

Episode One opened with Rick killing a little girl zombie.  Wouldn’t it make perfect sense to reverse the imagery and have a little boy killing a healthy adult for the bookend?

Who knows.  It’s a theory.  We’ll see.

What do you guys think?

Welcome back to the third week of Convention Sketches!

We feature a convention sketch here every week.  We’ve got a whole pile of our own, but we want to see yours, too. Email us convention sketches you want to show off and let us know what website you’d like credited for it.  (bigshinyrobot(at)gmail.com)

This week we have a drawing of the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing from George Perez!

It’s Clobberin’ Time!

It’s a couple of days late, but it’s here nevertheless.

Big Shiny Robot! has a weekly column in the Salt Lake City alt-weekly IN Magazine and every week we bring it to you on the site.

If you live in the greater Salt Lake area, you can pick up a copy of IN Magazine up from one of their ubiquitous newsstands, and we would highly suggest that you do.

You can read the online version of the story here.

This week we talk about the similarity of Jocks and Geeks.

(I also wrote a story this week about National Novel Writing Month in the magazine this week that you can read here.)

You can read the print version below:

Its the most wonderful time of the year! The countdown is on to this years Doctor Who Christmas special which is titled “A Christmas Carol.” Matt Smith, Karen Gillen, and Arthur Darvill return as The Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams. Guest starring is Michael Gambon who you most recently have seen as Dumbledore in the new Harry Potter movie. “A Christmas Carol” will air on BBC America on December 25th at 9/8c.