Batman | Nerdage

No joke: Batman marks four weeks atop GameFly Top 10

Posted by nerdblog

on September 11, 2009 at 3:49 pm

Batman: Arkham Asylum remains at the top of the GameFly top 10 list for the fourth week. Halo 3: ODST moves from No. 4 to No. 2. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 jumps from No. 5 to No. 3. The Beatles: Rock Band, released 09-09-09, makes its first appearance on the list — at No. 9.

The GameFly Top 10 List reflects gamers’ choice from more than 6,000 titles for the Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PSP consoles.

Batman makes it a three-peat atop GameFly Top 10

Posted by nerdblog

on August 26, 2009 at 1:47 pm

Batman: Arkham Asylum remains at the top of the GameFly top 10 list for the third straight week. Wolfenstein 3D at moves up a spot to No. 2, knocking Madden 10 to No. 3. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 switches places from last week with Halo 3: ODST. Ultimate Alliance is now in the No. 5 slot, with Halo 3: ODST at No. 4.

The GameFly Top 10 List reflects gamers’ choice from more than 6,000 titles for the Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PSP consoles.

Megan Fox in almost certainly untrue Catwoman rumor

Posted by nerdblog

on August 26, 2009 at 11:51 am

Actress Megan Fox poses backstage at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009 in Universal City, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Popeater shares a report from a British newspaper that Transformers 2 star Megan Fox might suit up as Catwoman in an upcoming Batman flick.

It’s not the wildest rumor that’s floated about the as-yet-untitled Batman movie — that would probably be the “Cher as Catwoman” rumor — but I don’t see that this one is any more substantial than that one, at this point.

I think people are just hungry for news on a new Bat-film and will take what rumors they can get until something is officially happening.

UPDATE: People confirms that this is false.

“It’s rumor. It’s not true,” said a studio rep. “There is no script. There is no project to be cast in.”

- Matt Price

comments

Batman grapples to top of GameFly top 10

Posted by nerdblog

on August 12, 2009 at 8:54 am

Batman defeats all opponents to top the GameFly Top 10 List for the week ending August 10, 2009.
The GameFly Top 10 List reflects gamers’ choice from more than 6,000 titles for the Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PSP consoles. Last week’s No. 1, Madden 10, falls to No. 2. Halo 3: OSDT hangs on at No. 3.

Executive producer of Batman, Archie writer Michael Uslan coming to Comic-Con

Posted by nerdblog

on July 21, 2009 at 12:33 pm

“Batman” movie executive producer Michael E. Uslan will come to Comic-Con this year for the 20th anniversary of the Tim Burton film that changed how comic books are brought to movie screens.

Uslan will also be on hand to talk about his highly anticipated upcoming storyline for Archie Comics, in which Archie marries Veronica.

Uslan has several new properties in development, including Shazam! and The Shadow.

Uslan will be on hand at the following Comic-Con panels:

THURSDAY:
11:30-12:30 Archie Comics: Archie Marries Veronica. It’s the wedding of the century, but that is just the start, with plenty of surprise announcements about the future of Archie Comics, including the latest news about Archie on television and in feature films! Panelists include legendary The Dark Knight movie producer and Archie writer Michael Uslan, new Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater, iVerse CEO Michael Murphy, IDW Publishing COO Greg Goldstein, Archie Comics president/director of circulation Fred Mausser, and Archie Comics vice president/managing editor Mike Pellerito. The panel is moderated by Archie’s public relations coordinator Rik Offenberger and features a Q&A session. An “Archie Marries Veronica” poster will be given to everyone attending the panel. Room 4

FRIDAY:
6:00-7:00 Comics to Film with Michael Uslan. Godfather of the modern comic book film Michael Uslan (Batman, Constantine, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) celebrates the 20th anniversary of his landmark movie Batman (1989) by recounting what it took to make it happen and how the industry has changed since then, advising newcomers how to make their comic book movie dreams come true. Q&A and surprise announcements will cap off the hour. Moderated by Tony Panaccio. Room 7AB

SATURDAY:
10:30-12:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #9: Is the Joker a Psychopath: You Decide! Psychology professors Robin Rosenberg (The Psychology of Superheroes) and Travis Langley (Henderson State University) discuss the technical definition of a psychopath and review the criteria for antisocial personality disorder does the Joker fit the clinical definition? Is he more than just crazy? They are joined by Joker experts Jerry Robinson (The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950), famed “Joker-fish” scribe Steve Englehart (The Point Man), and film producer Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight). Room 30AB

comments

Review: Batwoman wows in Detective Comics 854

Posted by nerdblog

on June 25, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Greg Rucka and JH Williams III kick off the Batwoman storyline with a bang in “Detective Comics” 854. Williams hasn’t lost a step from “Promethea,” and is one of the most interesting artists working today. If you’re on the fence about this, I suggest you just pick up a copy and look at it. Rucka’s story is interesting – continuing the “Crime Bible” saga, it appears, and exploring the personality of Kate Kane, first introduced with much fanfare in “52.” But the obvious selling point of the book is the art. Williams is brilliant in layout and composition, experimental yet completely clear in his storytelling.

The black and red color palate from Dave Stewart as “Detective” opens draws you into Gotham City; Todd Klein, one of comics’ most prestigious letterers, completes the package.

The backup story, by Rucka and Cully Hamner, follows the new Question, Renee Montoya. It’s just 8 pages, but sets up what looks to be an interesting yarn.

- Matt Price

comments

I’m Batman: A look back at live-action Dark Knights

Posted by nerdblog

on June 23, 2009 at 12:06 pm

Today is the 20th anniversary of the 1989 “Batman” film starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I remember my brother and I desperately anticipating this film, which we then saw multiple times over the summer. (Thanks to the Bat-Blog for the reminder.)

With the 1989 “Batman” on my mind, I decided to take a look back at the men who have portrayed Batman in live-action over the years.

Lewis Wilson was the first man to don the cowl of the Bat in the 1943 serial “Batman.” It’s done well enough for the time, though the racial overtones are difficult, if not impossible, to get around. Batman and Robin protect Gotham City from Dr. Tito Daka, who’s about as stereotypical as you’d expect for 1943. Ironically, perhaps, the DVD of the serial was released by a subsidiary of Sony.

Robert Lowery replaced Wilson in 1949’s “Batman and Robin,” as the Dynamic Duo face the Wizard and his death ray. It’s cheaper, and not as well-done as 1943’s “Batman,” but contains less offensive content, if you’re considering checking it out with younger viewers.

Here’s what The Oklahoman’s entertainment editor Gene Triplett wrote about “Batman and Robin” for its DVD release:

The Saturday morning serial model of Batman shown in the theaters of 1949 was pretty low-budget: His pointy ears and nose more closely resemble those of a Doberman pinscher than a bat, Robin’s mask is of the dime-store rubber-band Halloween variety, and the Batmobile is nothing more than a stock 1949 Mercury convertible, sans fins, Bat-mask grille or any other snazzy options.

Batman is played by Robert Lowery, accurately described as a “colorless B-movie actor” in David Inman’s “TV Encyclopedia,” and best-known as Big Tim Champion on the ’50s TV series “Circus Boy.” John Duncan, a young body-builder with an Okie accent, is Robin, and B-movie stalwart Lyle Talbot (”Plan 9 From Outer Space”) is Commissioner Gordon. If you don’t take your Batman too seriously, here’s 15 chapters (261 minutes) of unintentional hilarity.

Batman next appeared when Adam West brought the character back with the campy 1960s television series. Rights issues have precluded the TV series from being released on DVD, though the 1966 movie is available. “Batman” reruns were a staple of television throughout the 1980s, showcasing the program’s quirky charm to another generation. My brother and I couldn’t wait to race home to watch “Batman” for years; we were older before we realized it was supposed to be funny.

The Oklahoman’s Renee Lawrence asked West in 2001 what he thought gave the 1960s “Batman” its staying power among later generations.

“I think possibly it’s because we made a great effort to do it on several levels: for the kids, so they would enjoy all the splash, adventure, color, the bizarre villains and situations and so the adults would see the humor and laugh along with it,” West said. “And I think it worked because, I’m not that old, but I have three generations of folks coming to see me at these live appearances. It’s wonderful.”

Though Batman appeared in his own cartoons and in “SuperFriends” in the 1970s and 1980s, that was it for live-action “Batman” for several years, until Tim Burton’s ” Batman” was a critical and commercial tour-de-force in 1989.

” Batman” took nearly a decade to get made, as multiple approaches were tried before director Tim Burton came aboard.

The film likely couldn’t have been made without the darker ” Batman” comics of the 1980s, including “Dark Knight Returns” and “Killing Joke,” which Burton showed at meetings to get the 1960s “Bam! Pow!” version out of executives’ heads.

Michael Keaton is an unlikely but outstanding Bruce Wayne/ Batman, who sees his parents killed and dedicates his life to fighting crime. Burton mentions he didn’t want a traditional muscleman for Batman. Keaton looked crazy enough to put on a Batsuit to frighten criminals.

Casting Jack Nicholson as the Joker was almost “too obvious,” Burton says in the commentary, while Kim Basinger was a last-minute replacement as Vicki Vale for Sean Young.

Things turned darker with 1992’s ” Batman Returns,” featuring Michelle Pfeiffer’s slinky Catwoman and Danny DeVito’s malformed Penguin. Christopher Walken was slimy businessman Max Shreck.

Critics and parents squawked at the misfit Penguin, who was a far cry from Burgess Meredith’s dapper interpretation.

The result was Burton’s sliding into the producer’s role for ” Batman Forever,” allowing Joel Schumacher to take over the directorial reins.

Val Kilmer makes a striking Batman and a perfectly acceptable Bruce Wayne; the film does offer some psychological insight into the character – now in a love triangle with Nicole Kidman’s sexy psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian. The origin of Robin (Chris O’Donnell) is right from the comics and manages a good introduction for a character Burton had twice avoided.

Where the film fails is with the villains. Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face is a poor man’s Joker, and while Jim Carrey’s Riddler is at times sparkling, the movie is too much at Carrey’s disposal.

Still, audiences were crazy for Carrey, and the lighter “Forever” was a huge moneymaker in 1995.

This led to almost immediate preproduction on ” Batman and Robin.” George Clooney, then best-known for his role on “ER,” donned the cape, cowl, and nipples of Batman. While Clooney isn’t a great Batman, it’s hard to say it’s entirely his fault.

The film introduces Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. Schwarzenegger is badly miscast, doesn’t carry off the tragic arc of Mr. Freeze (imported from the excellent animated series) and can’t get through a scene without a hideous cold-related pun. The failure of ” Batman and Robin” kept the series on ice until the recent ” Batman Begins.”

The Oklahoman’s George Lang called “Batman Begins” the second-best movie of 2005.
Joel Schumacher’s ” Batman and Robin” was so ghastly in its day-glo kitschiness, it almost qualified as a directorial hate crime, and it fell to Christopher Nolan (”Memento,” “Insomnia”) to rehabilitate the moribund franchise. But this was no mere rehabilitation: ” Batman Begins” is a glorious creation story drawing from Frank Miller’s ” Batman: Year One” and featuring the best cinematic Bruce Wayne to date, Christian Bale. The British cult actor balances introspection with the expected physicality in a performance that never condescends – Bale takes every element of his task seriously. Throw in Nolan’s customarily nonlinear storytelling, a truly scary villain (Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow) and a supporting cast (Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Gary Oldman and Rutger Hauer) working at peak levels, and ” Batman Begins” becomes the first Batman film completely worthy of its subject.

That brings us to last year’s “The Dark Knight,” the best Batman film yet. While Bale’s Batman is overshadowed by Heath Ledger’s Joker – much like Keaton was overshadowed by Nicholson – it’s a tour-de-force of a movie. ”The Dark Knight” begins as a heist caper, as goons in clown masks execute a bank robbery. But the twists in that scene foreshadow the entire film: “The Dark Knight” will not be business as usual.

In Gotham City, an aggressive new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and police Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) are following the lead of the crime-fighter Batman (Christian Bale) in taking it to the Mob. Together, the three have put a dent in the Mob’s control over the city. But the game is about to change. Anarchic madman the Joker (Heath Ledger) tells the Mob’s leaders that the answer to their problems is clear: Get rid of Batman.

The Joker looms large over the film “The Dark Knight,” at least partially because Ledger, who portrays the villain, died of an accidental drug overdose. But “The Dark Knight” is a tribute to his talents, as Ledger disappears into the role of the Joker. As the madman at the center of this crime epic, the Joker’s lunacy has the town on edge. While the Joker ostensibly is working for the city’s criminal powers, his real goal is chaos. This creepy vision of the Joker is original and unsettling, with greasy hair and a painted-on smile covering scars.

“The Dark Knight” is as much, or more, crime epic as comic-book adventure, and it reveals how far competent hands can take the Batman character when played straight. Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne, yearns for a real life, possibly with Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). But as long as Gotham needs him as a protector, he must fill that role. Batman sees in Dent a possible replacement; his legal solutions for crime could take the place of Batman’s fists and technology.

The Joker doesn’t want a return to normalcy; he wants a city mad enough to need Batman for a defender. Their battle takes on multiple dimensions, both in the persons of Batman and the Joker, and the city at large, as director Christopher Nolan asks: What rules are worth breaking?

- Matt Price

(more…)

comments

Superman meets Batman in 1950s Cold War novel

Posted by nerdblog

on June 5, 2009 at 10:27 am

WORD BALLOONS

Superman meets Batman in the new novel from writer Kevin J. Anderson, “Enemies and Allies.” Anderson sets the first meeting of the two in the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War.

“It seemed unlikely to set a story in the modern day, and say that Batman and Superman have never heard of each other before,” Anderson said in a phone interview with The Oklahoman. “It felt more in keeping with the spirit of the universe if we set it back in a more nostalgic time. And of course the ’50s is the time we all remember from George Reeves as Clark Kent and Superman, and Noel Neill as Lois Lane, and that was the flavor I wanted to pick up on.”

In “Enemies and Allies,” Bruce Wayne’s Wayne Industries is at the forefront of many technological breakthroughs. But he’s being spied on by another industrialist, Lex Luthor, who wants to stoke Cold War tensions to build his own military-industrial empire.

“Set in the Cold War universe with Bruce Wayne as the big industrialist as well, Lex Luthor just seemed like the natural foil for both Bruce Wayne and Wayne Industries, and Clark Kent and Superman,” Anderson said.

Meanwhile, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen, reporters for the Daily Planet, are sent to look into a possible flying saucer crash.

“We did the story in stages,” Anderson said. “One was doing Batman and Superman and deciding to set it in the ’50s. And in the ’50s, the primary thing is the Cold War, and everybody was afraid that the Russians were going to launch nuclear missiles at us, and everybody was doing disaster drills. The movies at the theater, they’re … all these wonderful flying saucer paranoia pictures.”

Ultimately, the 1950s setting became interwoven completely with the story.

“It became not just window dressing, but the ’50s setting and everybody’s attitudes about the Cold War, the paranoia about flying saucers, and all of these details became integral to the plot rather than just little backdrops,” Anderson said.

Another new release from Anderson is “Terra Incognita: The Edge of the World,” a fantasy novel featuring high-seas adventure. Additionally, a CD from ProgRock Records tying into the book’s release has lyrics by Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, with music by Erik Norlander (keyboardist for Asia Featuring John Payne).

“This idea’s been in my head for a long time, because I think a lot of the people who listen to that kind of music also listen to the kind of books that I write,” Anderson said. “It’s a crossover rock CD and fantasy novel.”

More about Kevin Anderson’s “Enemies and Allies” and “Terra Incognita” can be found at his Web site, www.wordfire.com.

- Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman

comments

Review: Batman and Robin 1

Posted by nerdblog

on June 3, 2009 at 10:48 pm

Writer Grant Morrison teams up with his “All-Star Superman” and “New X-Men” collaborator, artist Frank Quitely, for “Batman and Robin” No. 1, and the result is the best comic-book launch of 2009 to date.

I often have excessively high expectations for DC event-type comics, but this issue met them all, with the new Batman and Robin beginning their partnership in an issue that felt both fresh and respectful of the past.

At the conclusion of “Battle for the Cowl,” Dick Grayson, the first Batman, has taken on the role of Batman, taking over for his mentor, even though he hoped he’d never have to. He’s assisted by Damian, the son of the original Batman. Damian is a bit of a hothead, but has the skills to back it up.

It makes for great Batman-Robin interplay, and it’s something we haven’t seen before. I’m not sure where this puts the former Robin, Tim Drake, but dramatically speaking Dick and Damian make for a fun team.

Batman and Robin have a new, flying Batmobile, a new Batcave, and new, very creepy villains introduced this issue.

This is the accessible, exciting launch I had hoped “Batman RIP” and “Final Crisis” would be. Morrison is writing a great “Batman” take that can be read by anyone.

“There’s a new Batman and Robin,” you could say, “read this.” And people would instantly be able to follow along. Yes, Morrison’s run to date and “Battle for the Cowl” inform the story, but all you need to know is on the page.

“This is it,” says the new Batman during the story. “Batman and Robin. Together again for the first time.”

– Matt Price

Click past the cut for preview art from “Batman and Robin” No. 1

(more…)

comments

NewsOK Comics Podcast: Supergirl 41, Captain America 50, Wolverine Weapon X 2 and Batman Battle for the Cowl 3

Posted by nerdblog

on May 23, 2009 at 10:54 pm

Kyle Roberts and Matt Price review some of this week’s comics, including Supergirl 41, Wolverine: Weapon X 2, Batman Battle for the Cowl 3 and Captain America 50.
Below, see an image gallery from “Wolverine: Weapon X” 2, written by Jason Aaron with art by Ron Garney.