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We've seen Batman: The Brave and The Bold, DC Nation Shorts and Justice League Action each bring all sorts of DC characters to animation, no matter how obscure. For some reason, Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew have yet to make the cut. That seems to be quite an oversight to me - if there is any DC Comics property that was made for a cartoon adaptation, it's the Zoo Crew!
My father used to drive our family of nine around in a Volkswagen bus when I was a kid. More recently, one of my brothers purchased a vintage 1972 VW bus, and boy, does riding in it bring back memories. When I saw that Batman had one of his own, I knew that I had to make a cover around it.
Batman and Spider-Man have a bit of history on STF: The Lost Issues...
Batman got his first look at the Spider-Buggy in STF #1628...
There's been lots of speculation about Chris Evans returning the MCU as Steve Rogers, despite the fact that his story came to an end in Avengers Endgame and the Captain America mantle has been passed on. One way to do bring him back without undermining those developments is to tell stories of what happened to Cap in the alternate timeline where he finally had his dance with Peggy Carter. That way we could get a WWII Captain America movie featuring the debut of The Invaders. That's what I would do, anyway. Kevin Feige seems to have taken my number off of his speed dial.
The Batman has finally been released, and I was thoroughly entertained by it. (No Spoilers in this review) It's probably the most like a Batman comic of any live action adaptation so far. Batman is finally a proper detective and the movie is very much a film noir. The cast was uniformly excellent. Zoe Kravitz and Colin Farrell are easily my favorite live action versions of Selina Kyle and The Penguin, I look forward to seeing more of both in the movies and on streaming shows. I wanted more of both Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, but they were also excellently realized, especially in their interactions with Bruce Wayne/Batman. Paul Dano was very effective as The Riddler, even if the character was a few steps too far away from his comic book counterpart for my taste. Robert Pattinson himself made for a great Batman, though his Bruce Wayne was missing the bored socialite act - but that is an element that can be explored in future installments, he's still perfecting his dual roles at this point. The fight choreography was very well done, you could actually see what was happening. Gotham looked fantastic and felt like a real place and the score was moody and thrilling. The Nirvana song worked, but we'll see how much it dates the movie like Prince's contributions to Batman '89 as the years pass. I didn't mind the 3 hour run time, though that may change with repeated viewings. I absolutely loved that we got a little bit of Batman voice over narration just like in the comics, and hope we get even more the next time around. The costume looked better onscreen than I had been expecting, and I look forward to seeing what upgrades he gets the next time around. I still miss the white eyes, but I don't know if we will ever get them with this ultra grounded version of the character. In fact, that's my only real quibble with the movie - it is so gritty and down to Earth, that I don't know how any of Batman's more fantastical foes like Man-Bat or Clayface could ever fit in here - let alone connecting it to a larger DCU with Superman and the Justice League and so forth. Matt Reeves has expressed interest in using Mr. Freeze, though, so maybe this world will broaden its comic book horizons going forward. Cant wait for it to hit HBO Max in 5 weeks so I can watch it again!
I thought I would present a take on the crossover that started it all. I remember seeing ads for Superman Vs. Spider-Man and being fascinated by them. It was a mythical comic to me as it took about a decade before I would be able to own a copy.
Ultraman here is by Ethan Van Sciver. I was glad to get a sketch by him several years ago:
One question that I have for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is exactly what role The Scarlet Witch will play in it. Will Wanda be the true adversary of the film, or will she be influenced by outside sources? I'd hate to see her turn irredeemably evil, but she did do some pretty bad things to innocent people in Wanda/Vision. As I have mentioned before, I am doing my best to avoid spoilers for the film, so I'll just have to see it to find out.
The New Mutants was exciting for readers of my age because here was an X-team that we could start collecting and following as soon as they began. Well, not exactly, for me anyway. While I was able to get the series off of the stands from issue #1, the first appearance of the team was in one of Marvel's new graphic novels. Those were only available in comics shops, none of which were nearby my home, certainly not in bike riding distance. It would be years before I was able to get my hands on a copy.
Spider-Man: No Way Home kind of gave us a Sinister Six story but not really. I guess if you count the mid-credit scene there were six Spidey villains in the mix - or if you count J. Jonah Jameson as a villain. Still, hopefully one day down the line we'll see a true sinister six adventure on the big screen.
I was happy to use a Don Newton image of Man-Bat here. I was lucky enough to pick up an original Don Newton page many years back:
Recently I have been watching the 1967 Jonny Quest series on HBO Max, and thoroughly enjoying them. Sure, the animation of the time was fairly limited, but the plots and gorgeous visual work more than make up for that. Alex Toth's designs for the characters, vehicles, hi-tech devices and weapons are a joy to take in. Toth also gave Space Ghost one of the greatest superhero costumes ever, so It's no surprise.
We need to see The Tick back in animation. Both the old and newer live action incarnations of the series had their moments, but could not quite capture the manic fun of the comics or the cartoon. With the explosion of superhero movies in the past decade plus, there's plenty of new material for a new Tick show to pit its signature spin on.
I was happy to use an image of Hawkman here by the very talented Lee Weeks. I was able to pick up an original page of his many years back, and even got to thank him for it at a convention years later, he was incredibly nice and got a kick out of the STF Daredevil/Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt I was wearing. I gave him a business card with the Blog's address on it when he asked where I got the shirt from, so who knows? Maybe he's checking out this entry right now.
This is a match up that I am surprised we did not see for real back when Marvel had the rights to publish Godzilla comics. I definitely would have been down for a Herb Trimpe-illustrated throwdown between these two behemoths. I have always loved the designs of both of these monsters and it would be great to see them clash.
Warner Bros is taking their sweet time bringing Hal Jordan back to the movies. There's the long ago announced and slow moving Green Lantern Corps series for HBO Max, but he wont be part of that. By the time he hits the big screen again, we'll be ready for a new Oliver Queen as well - so why not bring them back together? I'd be up for a Hard Travelling Heroes movie!
As much as I enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home, I can only imagine how much more I would have liked it if most of the surprises in the movie were not spoiled by the internet beforehand. With that in mind, I am making even a more concerted effort to stay as spoiler free as possible for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It won't be easy, but hopefully I can go into that film without knowing every plot point and cameo if I remain strict about what articles and message boards I click on for the next few weeks.
I can imagine a tale that combines a rag-tag team of space pirates with the futuristic Knights of the Round Table would be filled with lots of cool action and character moments. Camelot 3000 remains a favorite of mine, largely in part to Brian Bolland's amazing artwork. I consider my self very lucky to have been able to pick up an original sketch by Bolland several years back, since he works mostly digitally these days:
This cover was another case where it may look like all that was needed was to insert the Shield image on top of the Batman image - but there was a bit of clean up and prep work before I could get to that point. Here's a look at the room staging:
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