Summer reading list. So far.

• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - I'm nothing if not a completist.



• Daphne Du Mourier's Rebecca.



• The Tiger's Wife.



• Paradise Lost - because I, like a fool, chose Milton to study next year. Expect much chin-stroking lasting into the wee hours for this one.



• Misery and The Shining.
  


• Climbing Mt. Improbable by Dawkins.



• A Miss Marple book. Unsure of the ins and outs, so I'm just going to pick up the first one I see.



• The Hobbit - the annual re-read of my favourite book.

How about a challenge? Anyone reading or read any of these?

Return of the Jobcentre.

Well, exams are officially over, as is my hiatus. It's that time of year, when all the kids are embarking on a summer of glorious freedom, and there was no better way to ring in the season then standing outside the local at half past ten ay-emm, waiting for it to open in the bitter cold.

Of course, this means two things. One, that I have so much more time for creative projects. As mentioned earlier, I can really dive into the inner workings of the blogosphere, build up a strong readership and find an excellent creative angle I can take. You know, something beyond moaning about unreleased films and my caffeine intake. The other biggie is that I have to get a job.

But enough of my woes. We can start with the big comics news of last week - namely the fact that Geoff Johns, in His infinite wisdom, has decided to hit the "restart" button on the entire DC Universe. To anyone that doesn't frequent comic blogs, this little tidbit means that come september, every major DC comic goes back to issue #1 and sports a brand spanking-new costume courtesy of Jim Lee. Now don't get me wrong; Jim Lee is a terrific artist. The abysmal All-Star Batman was rescued only by his sublime, super-detailed rendering of Alfred's bulging muscles and the Joker's rather rapey tendencies.

Getting him to design stuff, however, is not good. WildC.A.T.S, Wonder Woman... and now it seems, in a fit of rage at Geoff Johns for actually daring to give the notorious perfectionist a deadline, he began furiously scribbling v-collars and erasing wrinkles left and right. Why do Aquaman, Green Lantern, Superman and every other hero without a cowl HAVE to have the collar? It's not that they don't look good, because many do. They just don't look iconic, and I can't see many of the costumes, especially the second-tier characters like Black Canary and Teen Titans, surviving very long after this status quo shake-up. That said, Superman without the trunks is definately an improvement, and I'll be champing at the bit to own an actual Batman #1.

But while the Justice League up top is still technicolour eye candy, Teen Titans (opposite) is just a terrible eyesore*. All blacks and reds and moody teen angst. A mixed bag so far - I'll be keeping an eye on this.

*I see Tim, Superboy and Kid Flash so far. I hope to Johns the Tron-suited Sith chick is not Wonder Girl. Can anyone confirm this one for me?

DC/WB developing a Hawkman movie?

I know, I know, I'm on hiatus, but I saw this on twitter and felt obliged to post it. Flying around the net* this morning are rumours of a Hawkman movie! That means that hopefully Carter Hall, with his obscenely large wings and waxed pepperoni-nippled chest, will be coming to a cinema near you in 2013. Warner Bros, presumably banking on Green Lantern being a success, are shopping for writers as we speak. For the uninitiated, here is their pitch;


"Part INDIANA JONES/DA VINCI CODE, part GHOST tentpole about the fictional superhero that appears in D.C. Comic books. He used archaic weaponry and large, artificial wings attached to a harness made of the Nth metal that allows flight. Most incarnations of Hawkman work closely with a partner/romantic interest named Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman in his fight against supervillains. Based on the DC comic."


First thing's first; Hawkman looks ridiculous. Look at the image from Smallville below. Look at it very carefully and decide if you'd pay eight quid to sit through that for two hours, probably in 3D. There are other more deserving DC heroes to adapt, such as the Flash and Wonder Woman. Household names, that need their films before (let's face it) the superhero blockbuster bubble inevitably bursts. There are other reasons not to adapt Hawkman; his convoluted history for one. I mean, I consider myself very well-versed in comic lore, and even I couldn't tell you what "Nth Metal" is. As well as his origins being tied to ancient Egypt, he is also linked with the alien race known as Thanagarians for no real reason I can comprehend, despite spending the better part of an hour on Wikipedia. I'm sincerely hoping they leave that bit out.



But Smallville did an excellent job with the character, delicately balancing his past lives and tragic storyline very well with his hardass-mace-man persona. The project has potential; a pissed-off, tooled-up Indiana Jones flying around Nazi-bashing sounds like an appealing prospect, and if done straight-laced could be a real feather in DC's cap*. But what finally convinced me was a youtube clip from someone in the CBM comments section, from a film entitled Legion that I've never seen before.





With the mace, and the wings... stick a helmet on him and you get some idea of what to expect. As long as it sticks to a period setting I'm all for this, but not at the expense of a decent Wonder Woman movie. This is all speculation anyway; if Green Lantern flops, the Hawkman movie will sadly never get to spread its wings*.


*Puns fully intended. I regret nothing.

On hiatus - back soon!

After thumbing through the Questionable Content archive for about two hours (in between, of course, putting off that horrible, guilt-ridden revision; it's always there, ticking away like The Telltale Heart) I've a craving for hipster-made coffee and pastries. I may swing by the shop with a bag of books, I guarentee I'll get more done without a computer.

On the subject of my all-important work, the blog is going to be quite quiet for the next week or two. At least until exams are finished, and maybe a little bit after. I'm looking at getting a domain name of my own and tinkering with the layout, with a bit of guest-posting to do in the meantime. I want very much to make the look of the blog less... standard-blogger-template-esque is the only hyphonated word I can think of. Probably because it IS a standard blogger template. A bit more professional, you might say, and now that I've got a bit of content I wanted to do this as early in the blog's life as possible. To my devoted readers (all three of you) I understand that these are harrowing times to simply go cold turkey without your thrice-weekly dose of my wonderful witticisms. Be strong, you'll make it.

Back-issue blog: Mark Millar's Superior

About six months ago, I would have assumed Mark Millar could do no wrong. This is the guy that wrote Kick-Ass, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man and perhaps most importantly Civil War. It's a terrific run; "The Last Stand" was the Spider-Man story that got me reading comics properly in the first place. But Nemesis, his other big mini-series, was sadly a misfire. Some terrific moments and truly diabolical scheming by the titular anti-hero were wasted on the cardboard cut-out characters and I was afraid that Superior, Millar's attempt at a Superman story, was going to go the same way. Millar is teetering on the brink of overexposure with these projects, Kick-Ass 2, his new film and London comic-con, and I was worried that the slippery slope of success had got to him. However, I'm happy to report that four issues in and it's looking good. Not Kick-Ass good, but good nonetheless.


So let's recap: a disabled twelve-year-old boy is approached by a monkey in a space suit and offered a "magic wish" that turns him into his favourite comic-book hero, Superior.

Hang on, what?!

Past the slow start and ridiculous premise, the book is actually rather good. It's a character story, the sole reason that Superior succeeds where Nemesis failed. The comic forces us to actually care about the plight of poor little wheelchair-bound Simon Pooni, Millar's very own mystically transfigured Tiny Tim. But all this character development is a double-edged sword; this comes at the expense of much of the action, putting off casual readers.

Once the supporting cast expands by issue #4, Millar gets off his backside and kicks the story into gear. A maverick female journalist and even Barack Obama prompt some great moments by Superior, showing not only the hero inside of ourselves, blah blah et cetera, but the frightening realisation that a twelve-year-old boy, unused to walking, can now lift buses with one hand and threaten the school bully with exposure. Even the monkey's big reveal by the end of issue #4 was a genuine "Oh shit" moment for me, something that not many comics are able to accomplish.

Let's talk about the art. Leniell Yu is probably one of my favourite artists in comics at the moment; his art has this raw, sketchy, effortless quality that really makes it shine. While his work on Secret Invasion was nice, it was more personal, moodier comics like Wolverine and New Avengers that really won me over. Let me tell you, the man draws one hell of a Wolverine. This cannot be overstated. Given his art style, he would not have been my first choice for this project but it works. It really does. The book looks gorgeous.

It's a slow starter, perhaps unnecessarily so, but Superior is a return to form of sorts for Millar. I strongly suggest you jump on the book before it's over, if you haven't already. Grab some back issues and get up to speed before issue #5 hits the stands.