Reboots

It's a term I think is becoming more and more common: the Spider-Man movies and comics, Superman, Batman... a lot of writers are "rebooting" several series with huge fan-bases. One thing I have found is that these have been occurring a lot right after some sort of huge even in each series; Spider-Man had not only died, but been reborn in a more "evolved" state, and there were so many negative reviews about the movies that a new director has come along and said he wants to start again from scratch.

Superman died a long time ago, relatively speaking. Whether or not there was a specific event that I missed that caused this restart, Superman Earth One begins the time-told origin of the Man of Steel all over again. Guess what. I don't like Superman. He is the universal cheat-code superhero.
Oh, bad guys with guns? Let's make him impervious to that.
Lazers? Nope, won't work.
Fights in space? He can, uh...hold his breath for a really, really long time.
And apparently he just doesn't do wrong. And normal human women fall off of buildings all over the place just because he's around and want him to catch them.
However, this is what's interesting: Earth One made me like Superman. The entire first half of the book is about him going around and basically applying to high-paying jobs by discretely using his powers (like blowing people away in football, discovering how to turn salt-water into a viable energy source, etc). Oh, and that red-headed Jimmy Olson actually has some guts, and almost dies while talking back to a giant alien robot. Basically, the story is much more realistic, and Superman isn't a completely annoying Boyscout figure.

Batman "died" about a year ago. Meanwhile, several things have happened: the old Robin took his place as Batman, and Batman's son took over the role of Robin (yes, Batman also recently discovered he had a son). On the other hand, Batman and Robin All-Star, as you've probably guessed, starts back not to when Batman was born, but when he, uh... ok, he basically kidnaps Dick Greyson, who becomes Robin. I personally loved this version, and thought it was hilarious and cool at the same time; Batman acts like a crazy person. My brother, who is a little more than a Batman "fan" or even "enthusiast", holds a pretty much opposite stance. My favorite phrase that keeps coming up (edited for school purposes) is "I'm the God#### Batman." Seriously.

 

CoD: Black Ops

Tonight at midnight, several video game merchants will be opening their doors to allow customers to stampede *ahem* I mean gracefully enter their stores to buy the new "Call of Duty: Black Ops" game. The series has been building momentum especially ever since the releases on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Apparently, according to a family member who just began working for Gamestop, this game currently holds the record for highest reserve-rate. For any game. Ever.

I realize that this blog is entitled "Comics and Cartoons", but there's a slight tie-in: this same family member has revealed that the Gamestop in Exton that hired him is having a huge release party, and adding fuel to the fire is the presence of the artist for the game's strategy-guide. Of course, as soon as one of my parents heard this, they went on about how that was yet another job opportunity for the people in our family who liked to draw.

See? It's flimsy, but it's a tie-in. Opportunity for a job as an artist. That, and the fact that I would love to be an artist for games.

Oh, and if you are a fan and still don't know this, the nazi-zombies should be back. So I have heard, anyway.

The Walking Dead

Well, you couldn't ask for a more theme-sensitively-appropriate time for a zombie TV series to begin: 10pm Halloween night, The Walking Dead series, based off of the comic book, premiered on AMC.

First off, I am not a huge fan of zombie movies. That being said, right off the bat The Walking Dead is different simply because it's not a movie, it's a full-out television series, meaning there's no cramming action, gore, and every other stereotype into a 2 hour span of time. There's enough room for an actual plot to develop.

One of the things you worry about, whether you're a Harry Potter, Twilight, Batman, or fan of whatever original literary or comic-book work, is "does the film adaptation follow the original closely enough?" Walking Dead is only one episode into the series, but it's surprising how closely they do follow the comic. In fact, the TV series added a little bit in terms of back-story and other artistic liberties, but I personally felt like it only made it even better. The original series was a good read because it had relatively sensible people in charge of the survivors of the zombie apocalypse.

I'm not sure what the standards are right now for what you're allowed to put on television, but I think this is one of those that pushes the envelope. There is a lot more story-driven content than your typical horror movie, but the makeup is a little on the realistic side. (On the other hand, I noticed that I never noticed a zombie actually putting a body-part or some other piece of gore in their mouth. Can't say that I blame the actors/actresses, but seriously?

Anyway, I never finished the comic books, so I better get back to them before the series gets too far along.