A science fiction blog featuring science fiction book reviews and with frequent ramblings on fantasy, computers and the web.
It’s Patton Oswalt Video Day!
Patton Oswalt stars as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot (Penguin) in this new Batman video from College Humor.
Previously, I reviewed Gail Simone’s first volume for the rebooted Batgirl series, The Darkest Reflection, which is a part of DC’s New 52 initiative. In the review, I mentioned my appreciation of Gail Simone’s writing, and how the series was off to a great start, and how I was looking forward to the next volume, which we now know is called Knightfall Descends.
The question at such a point, of course, is whether the second volume can match the first volume, and whether it can exceed expectations.
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Continuing a trend tailor-made for the Twitter generation, here are my quick takes on a few recently-watched genre-related films.
My brief thoughts follow…
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Far be it from me to make fun of the man who took down Batman. Of course, that doesn’t mean that other people won’t take to YouTube to berate Gotham’s self-described liberator.
I know some audiences had some issues understanding Bane. Perhaps this video will clear things up. And help their diet!
The awesome, wish-I-had-their-job folks at How It Should Have Ended have put together another episode in which the ever-egotistical Batman shares his thoughts with Superman on the Man of Steel trailer…
With DC’s relaunch of its entire line-up under the “New 52″ umbrella, several Batman-related titles were announced, no less than ten of them! We have the main Batman title, Nightwing, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, Red Hood and The Outlaws, Batwing, Batwoman and Birds of Prey. That’s one heck of an overdose of everything Batman. Plus the fact that the first twelve issues of most of these titles came under the Court of Owls crossover event, and keeping track of the various appearances and stuff is pretty overwhelming. At least, that’s one of the reasons why I avoided reading anything other than Batman by Scott Snyder, Birds of Prey by Duane Swierczynski and Nightwing by Kyle Higgins until now.
Recently, it was as if there was more and more praise for writer Gail Simone, who is penning Batgirl at the moment. It made me curious. I’ve never had much of an interest in Batgirl, a character little seen in the movies and the various TV shows alike. Duane and Kyle have both featured her quite a bit in their ongoing series, with Batgirl being one of the core members of the current incarnation of the Birds of Prey, so I wondered how she would be written in her own solo series. And how it would all tie to the various crossovers that are ongoing for all Batman-related titles. As I said above, first we had the Court of Owls crossover, and now we have Death of the Family, in which Joker returns to Gotham with a vengeance and an axe to grind.
Greg Cox is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels and short stories. He wrote the official movie novelizations of Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Death Defying Acts, and all three Underworld films, as well the novelizations of four popular DC Comics miniseries, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown and Final Crisis. In addition, he has written books and short stories based on such popular series as Alias, Batman, Buffy, C.S.I., Farscape, Fantastic Four, The 4400, The Green Hornet, Iron Man, Leverage, The Phantom, Roswell, Star Trek, Terminator, Underworld, Xena, X-Men and Zorro. A sample chapter of his latest, the novelization of The Dark Knight Rises, can be read at IGN. Visit Greg Cox at http://www.gregcox-author.com/ for more about his projects.
ADAPTATION: THE NOVELIZATION FROM SCREENPLAY TO FINISHED BOOK
An Interview with Bestselling Author Greg Cox by Gilbert Colon
“Well, I’ve gotta write the book first, John. Then, you know, they get somebody to write the screenplay.” – Susan Orlean in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation.
“Well, they get somebody to write the screenplay. Then, you know, I’ve gotta write the book.” – The Novelizer.
When enthusiastic fans write stories involving iconic characters like Captain Kirk, Spock, Iron Man, or Sydney Bristow, the result is called “fanfic.” When a professional like New York Times bestselling author Greg Cox does it, it is what could be called “franchise fiction” and is published by houses such as Simon & Schuster, Berkley Books, and Titan Publishing Group. One particular form of franchise fiction, the novelization, involves the complicated process of adapting a screenplay into a novel without the benefit of a finished film for reference. It can be a bit like working in the dark, and involves more imagination than it is often given credit for. With The Dark Knight Rises, Cox’s latest novelization, the author takes us behind the scenes to give us a soup to nuts look at the nuts and bolts of this until-now secretive process.
Gilbert Colon: Have movie tie-in novelizations changed since the days they debuted? Since you began novelizing films 10years ago?
Greg Cox: I’ve been doing this for about a decade now, starting with the novelization of Daredevil,and the main difference is that the level of secrecy surrounding the scripts has increased significantly, for which I blame the internet. Nowadays there’s practically a cottage industry devoted to publishing spoilers on-line, so I understand why the studios have to work even harder to keep things under wraps.
DC Nation over on CartoonNetwork, continues to add to their slate of DC Comics related shows (Young Justice, Green Lantern) with a new Batman cartoon: Beware The Batman. Fans of Batman: The Brave and The Bold might not be looking forward to this, but fans of Batman: The Animated Series might have a different take. Although done in a CGI style that, so far, looks similar to the blocky Green Lantern, Beware The Batman looks to be a more serious take on the caped crusader, which should appeal to fans of the Batman comics and movies.
A teaser trailer has been released – check it out after the jump!
I can only imagine that money must have been tight in Gotham City back in the 1960s for Batman to take a singing gig on a variety show. Or perhaps he was working undercover to bust a ring of rogue off-key villains? Or maybe he lost a bet with the Joker?
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REVIEW SUMMARY: A gritty, faithful adaptation of Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An aging and retired Bruce Wayne sees his city spiraling down into crime and fear at the hands of Harvey Dent and a new threat, the Mutant Gang, forcing Bruce to reclaim the mantle of the Batman to bring order and justice back to Gotham.
MY REVIEW
PROS: Excellent animation, acting and storytelling; gritty and dark, channeling the original material well.
CONS: As dark as it is, the PG13 rating means most of the ‘in your face’ violence and themes of the original work have been watered down.
BOTTOM LINE: A fine addition to the growing library of Warner Brother’s Premiere / DC Animation titles. Well worth your time and money.
Inspired by Poe TV‘s wonderful find of Burgess Meredith singing his way into cheesedom in character as the Penguin from the 1960 Batman television series…I learned that it was but a single track from the album Batmania: Songs Inspired By The Batman TV Series, which features other entries by the Riddler and Batman himself, Adam West.
Not being one to shy away from the painful (see previous posts on The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins and Paul Williams on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show singling in His Planet of the Apes costume) I ventured forth to seek out the other songs on this album…which is now the first thing on my wish list.
“Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.” — Bruce Wayne, Batman Begins.
“Time for you to work through some of your issues, Mr. Reese” — Harold Finch, Person of Interest.
Batman fans, take note — Person of Interest, a ratings hit when it debuted last year, returns for a second season in its original Thursday 9 pm/8 central timeslot this fall on September 27th. Creator Jonathan Nolan, the man who helped bring the Dark Knight back to the big screen, borrows from Batman for a disguised variation on the famous comic-book legend. Brush up on season one available on Blu-ray and DVD now, or plunge in Thursday before Executive Producer J. J. Abrams’ trademark penchant for elaborate mythology kicks in.
In what perhaps best sums up the two protagonists in the CBS series Person of Interest, a comic-book-obsessed boy (“Astro” from The X Factor) tells ex-CIA operative Reese, “You are a ronin … a samurai with no master.” Indeed Reese is, as is the new boss Finch who recently took him under his wing, and while the desaturated hues of Person of Interest bear zero resemblance to a colorful comic-book palette, this grittily realistic crime series has much in common with the recent Dark Knight Trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises). What is Batman, after all, but a masterless warrior trained in the fighting arts of the Far East?
A couple of months old…but still funny.
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Here, Batman enemies, the Joker and the Penguin, have devised a seemingly diabolical trap for an surprising foe. But can you see the flaw in their plan?
Just when you thought you’ve seen all the Batman mashups you can handle, here’s a mashup of Batman…and Pokémon.
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What happens when you take Nolan’s Batman and Bane and add in a little Burt Ward Robin?
In a word…awwwkward!
And NSFW.
These are always fun.
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Pretty much what it says in the title…
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Apparently, Batman’s fears are less intimidating than his persona might imply…
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Poor Bane. Life has not been kind to him after the events of The Dark Knight Rises. He has only himself to blame, of course, but still…you can see how life has beaten him down seven years later…
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