Dark Knight Rises, Game of Thrones, New Template

Hey, I redid my template and changed the commenting from that awful JS-Kit (which was once haloscan) to blogger. Thoughts?

One of these people will be playing Bane and the other will be playing Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. I'm OK with one and not so much with the other? Guesses as to which is which?




Most people who read my blog are likely aware of this.

Also, most people who read my blog have likely seen this preview clip of Game of Thrones

The Game Begins

But hey, what better way to drive traffic to the blog than to mention quite possibly the most anticipated television adaptation in HBO's history (not to mention the history of the fantasy genre) and the latest announcement about the most anticipated 2012 film?

Hugo Awards 2009

This is the first Novel Ballot where I've read the majority of the nominees. Links on the novels, obviously, point to my reviews and for the shorter lengths, links point to the my review of the anthology in which I the story appeared. Locus gives a brief, and helpful analysis.

For all others, I've bolded the books I have, but haven't yet read, and italicized in orange in those I have read but not reviewed. Where I can, I've listed my selection under each category

Best Novel
(639 Ballots)


Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK)

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen; HarperVoyager UK)
Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi (Tor)

Rob's Choice: I'm torn between The Graveyard Book and Little Brother even though I enjoyed the other two I read in this category. They happened to be 2 of the 3 of my best reads from 2008.

Best Novella
(337 Ballots)

“The Erdmann Nexus” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)
“The Political Prisoner” by Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF Aug 2008)
“The Tear” by Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
“True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow (Fast Forward 2)
“Truth” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)

Best Novelette
(373 Ballots)

“Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s Jan 2008)
“The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
“Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel (F&SF Jan 2008)
“The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s Feb 2008)
“Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)

Best Short Story
(448 Ballots)

“26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Jul 2008)
“Article of Faith” by Mike Resnick (Baen’s Universe Oct 2008)
“Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
“From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s Feb 2008)

Best Related Book
(263 Ballots)

Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan University Press)
Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood Books)
The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold by Lillian Stewart Carl & John Helfers, eds. (Baen)
What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid (Beccon Publications)
Your Hate Mail Will be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 by John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)

Best Graphic Story
(212 Ballots)

The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle Written by Jim Butcher, art by Ardian Syaf (Del Rey/Dabel Brothers Publishing)
Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
Fables: War and Pieces Written by Bill Willingham, pencilled by Mark Buckingham, art by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy, color by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein (DC/Vertigo Comics)
Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic Story and art by Howard Tayler (The Tayler Corporation)
Serenity: Better Days Written by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, color by Michelle Madsen, cover by Jo Chen (Dark Horse Comics)
Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores Written/created by Brian K. Vaughan, penciled/created by Pia Guerra, inked by Jose Marzan, Jr. (DC/Vertigo Comics)

Rob's Choice: Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores - The ending was terrific to one of the landmark pieces of comic book/graphic novel fiction of the decade. This series was consistent, smart, entertaining and really cemented Vaughan as a premier writer of comics. I'm sure it also helped him get the Lost gig, which in turn, has helped to make the show as terrific as has been over the past season or two.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
(436 Ballots)

The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, story; Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, screenplay; based on characters created by Bob Kane; Christopher Nolan, director (Warner Brothers)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army Guillermo del Toro & Mike Mignola, story; Guillermo del Toro, screenplay; based on the comic by Mike Mignola; Guillermo del Toro, director (Dark Horse, Universal)
Iron Man Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, screenplay; based on characters created by Stan Lee & Don Heck & Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby; Jon Favreau, director (Paramount, Marvel Studios)
METAtropolis by John Scalzi, ed. Written by: Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell and Karl Schroeder (Audible Inc)
WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)

Rob's Choice: It'll go to either WALL-E or The Dark Knight, but my choice is with the Bat. I thought WALL-E was good, but nothing compares to The Dark Knight.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
(336 Ballots)

“The Constant” (Lost) Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof, writers; Jack Bender, director (Bad Robot, ABC studios)
Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen , writers; Joss Whedon, director (Mutant Enemy)
“Revelations” (Battlestar Galactica) Bradley Thompson & David Weddle, writers; Michael Rymer, director (NBC Universal)
“Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead” (Doctor Who) Steven Moffat, writer; Euros Lyn, director (BBC Wales)
“Turn Left” (Doctor Who) Russell T. Davies, writer; Graeme Harper, director (BBC Wales)

Rob's Choice: This might be toughest of all, but I'm going with "The Constant." Each episode/Webisode was good on the list was very good, but "The Constant" might have been the strongest episode of Lost on the season that really put the show back on track.

Best Editor, Short Form
(377 Ballots)

Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams


Rob's Choice: I've read more Strahan-edited fiction last year than the others, so he's my choice.

Best Editor, Long Form
(273 Ballots)

Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
David G. Hartwell
Beth Meacham
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Rob's Choice: Without any other easy way to find out what books these fine folks edited/commissioned in the nomination year, this is a tough one, too. Patrick Nielsen Hayden edited two of the books on the novel short list and Pyr/Lou Anders published 4 of my favorite books of 2008. Ginjer Buchana, I think, was responsible for one of the better debut authors I read last year, Taylor Anderson, as well as Saturn’s Children on the short list. I think I’d lean towards Lou Anders, on this one but reserve the right to modify my choice in the future.

Best Professional Artist
(334 Ballots)

Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

I'll go with Picacio, followed closely by Dos Santos.


Best Semiprozine
(283 Ballots)

Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Neil Clarke, Nick Mamatas & Sean Wallace
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, &; Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kris Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, & Kevin J. Maroney
Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer &; Stephen H. Segal

Rob's Choice: Clarkesworld gets my nod here.

Best Fanzine
(257 Ballots)

Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian III
The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

Best Fan Writer
(291 Ballots)

Chris Garcia
John Hertz
Dave Langford
Cheryl Morgan
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist
(187 Ballots)

Alan F. Beck
Brad W. Foster
Sue Mason
Taral Wayne
Frank Wu

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
(288 Ballots)

Aliette de Bodard*
David Anthony Durham*
Felix Gilman
Tony Pi*
Gord Sellar*

*(Second year of eligibility)

Rob's Choice: Only having read Gilman and Durham, my nod would definitely go to Durham.
A total of 799 nomination ballots were cast.

The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier - Review @ SFFWorld

Joshua Palmatier’s debut novel, The Skewed Throne hit shelves in hardcover in 2006 amidst a number of other debut novels (Hal Duncan, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Naomi Novik, and David Louis Edelman). At least at the SFFWorld forums and from some of the folks on my blogroll, it seems Palmatier’s novel was a bit overlooked. Shame because the book is engaging, pretty tightly plotted, and evocative. I posted my review of it yesterday:

The story is told through the eyes and voice of Varis, a young street urchin living in the Dredge – the down and dingy slum of Palmatier’s secondary world. Think Lankhmar but not as clean or Crime Alley from Batman’s Gotham City with a subtle hint of magic. Palmatier’s use of the first person narrative is engaging and utilizes a spare sensibility; no overly descriptive passages just a blunt yet evocative relaying of information directly from Varis. This combined with Varis’s overall believability, honesty, and sympathetic aura make for an engaging read throughout.

At the age of eleven, after spending five years in the Dredge, Varis’s talents bring the attention of The Skewed Throne and one of its Guardsmen, Erick, who recruits her as an assistant assassin/knife for hire. As a guardsman, Erick is tasked with dispensing the Mistress’s justice; in other words, killing those who the Mistress of Amenkor deems unfit to continue living. Varis’s years on the street and her ability to see the “grey” (innocent) and “red” (guilty) aspects of people make her eminently suitable as Erick’s assistant. Varis realizes those she is told to kill aren’t “red” and she begins to question Erick and the Mistress. Her disillusionment leads her to Borund, a wealthy merchant who hires her as his personal bodyguard.

Mark posted the second part of SFFWorld’s 2008 Round up, which focuses on Science Fiction and media. Once again Aidan of A Dribble of Ink, Graeme of Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, Ken of the Nethspace, and Pat from the Hotlist all participated. I’ll be posting my own year-ender later this week.

SFFWorld Year in Review (Part 1) and Christmas in Review

Mark/Hobbit posted the first half of SFFWorld’s year in review yesterday. This is the third or fourth year we’ve done one of these wrap-ups and as we did last year, we invited some of the bloggers who frequent our forums: Aidan of A Dribble of Ink, Graeme (of Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review), Ken (Nethspace), and Pat from the Hotlist. The first part consists of Fantasy while the second part, when posted, will cover Science Fiction and the various media. This annual review at SFFWorld limits itself to (primarily) books and movies released in 2008 or whatever current year is in review. I'll be posting a more broad and personal year in review here at the blog next week after 2008 actually ends.

Santa treated me very well, and particularly well from a geekish perspective. I got more comic book boxes, which I desperately needed; what is now one of the coolest books I own: The New Annotated Dracula edited by Leslie Klinger; a Greatest American Hero t-shirt; both volumes of the US edition of George R.R. Martin’s Dreamsongs; a Miskatonic University sweatshirt; and the most fun gift: Lego Batman for my PS2.

Later Edit: Santa brought two awesome games, well one for Mrs. O Stuff and myself: Marvel Scene-It and one for me. This second game is quite legendary, I played it a lot when I was younger; it was a great combination of Dungeons & Dragons RPG style game and table top board game like Risk. The game, of course is Talisman.

Only 5 people voted in my poll about last week's Books in the Mail post; I suppose whoever voted that I wouldn’t be reading Stover’s new book doesn’t know me very well. I didn’t vote for obvious reasons, but some people were spot on in what I would be least likely to read.

Juggling Reviews and Batman

I posted up my review of Juggler of Worlds, the follow-up to Niven/Lerner’s enjoyable Fleet of Worlds. I didn’t enjoy Juggler nearly as much as its predecessor:

As indicated in my review of Fleet of Worlds, I’ve not (even since then) had a chance to read any of Nivens other Ringworld or Known Space novels, so I don’t know how much overlap or retconning/re-appropriating is done for this novel. Some parts of the novel lacked dramatic tension. The earliest portions of the novel were tense as we were introduced to Sigmund, but as the novel progressed, Sigmund became less interesting and the story also felt more by-the numbers.

Mark posted his review of James Barclay’s latest, Ravensoul. I read the a bunch of Barclay’s excellent Raven novels a few years back and like them a lot, here’s a brief from Mark’s review:

…the book begins strikingly, with the return of old characters in new bodies. The souls of the dead, under threat, are drawn to those they knew best. Removed from their place of rest, they are being hunted by a new enemy travelling across dimensions, the Garonin. These seemingly unstoppable opponents appear from nowhere in Balaia, mining mana, the magical force that drives this world. Any attack on them means they vanish to other dimensions in the blink of an eye. When engaged in combat, their speed is phenomenal, their weaponry awesome and their battle-skills are ferociously scary.

On to things Batman...

I really, really hope Grant Morrison’s payoff in Batman R.I.P. is worth the hype and delays. Something inside of me hopes Bruce becomes the Joker, but that might be too extreme even for Morrison. Part I’ve been enjoying the ride Grant’s been taking us on so far and despite what others have said, I like Tony Daniel’s art. Time will tell how long “Bruce Wayne will no longer be Batman,” since DC will somehow get Bruce back under the cowl. I think the Heart of Hush storyline that just concluded in Detective was pretty good as was the Nightwing storyline involving Two-Face.

The Devil's Eye Reviewed, Gaiman-Batman, and Me

Jack McDevitt, through the fine publishing imprint Ace Books, just released a new book a couple of weeks ago. I read it, reviewed it, and posted said review to SFFWorld yesterday. I went through a spate of McDevitt’s novels a few years back and enjoyed them quite a bit, so was happy to tackle this latest one for SFFWorld. Reading The Devil's Eye reminded me how much I enjoy McDevitt's books and that I've got some catching up to do. As if I don't have enough to read.

Here’s a snapshot of my review:

The action starts when Vicki Greene, a popular horror writer of the era pleads for Benedict to help her, leaving only a cryptic message as his primary clue: “God help me, they are all dead.” Alex is intrigued, though he is relatively unfamiliar with Greene’s work, his partner Chase is and they take the job. With very few clues by which to guide them, Alex and Chase embark on a mystery that spans the galaxy and whose roots have dire ramifications for a planet with both humans and Ashyyur.

McDevitt unravels, or rather the fact that he deftly weaves a number of plot elements together keeps his skilled hand hidden, multiple plot strands throughout the novel rather seamlessly. As such, The Devil’s Eye works on many levels – mystery, conspiracy story, galactic travelogue, alien/human relations, adventure novel, horror novel, character study. Dramatic tension and sense of wonder played off each other quite well. In fact, each element serves the other in the novel very effectively, much like familiar people/characters effectively play off of each other’s personalities.

Speaking of British Comic Book writers, happy birthday to Alan Moore!

Lastly, I did something over the weekend I’d been bugging myself to do for a while. I joined the Online Writing Workshop for SF, Fantasy & Horror (formerly hosted/sponsored by Del Rey) and submitted the first couple chapters of the novel I’ve been working on for the past couple of years. Some respected and popular authors have come out of the workshop: Joshua Palmatier (The Skewed Throne); Sarah Prineas (The Magic Thief); Chris Evans (A Darkness Forged in Fire); Elizabeth Bear and a personal favorite of mine (R.) Scott Bakker so I fell like I’m on the right track by joining the workshop.

Halowe'en Poll

I may be dressing up for Hallowe'en this year, but I'm not sure what to be. Maybe my millions (and millions) of visitors can help me decide:

Batman
Green Lantern
Harry Dresden
Vampire
Zombie

The ultimate decision may factor in the ease and cost of making the costume.

You're Just Too Much Fun - The Dark Knight

So with great fanfare, promotion and anticipation, The Dark Knight opened on July 18th and I was able to sit and watch the film with Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff. The film starts a bit slowly but pretty powerfully – a nice gradual reveal of The Joker. Mark Hamil’s Joker was probably the definitive interpretation of the Joker for me, but because the exceptional Dini/Timm Batman Animated series was aimed at a younger audience, the Joker couldn’t quite be as insane and murderous. Well with The Dark Knight, there are no limits and Ledger has redefined the villain and what he represents. When I initially heard of the three villains from Batman’s rouge gallery being in the film – The Joker, Scarecrow and Two-Face, I thought it would be villain overload. Boy was I wrong, but more on why I was wrong later.

Bale is more confident as Batman in The Dark Knight, which might be because of the new suit with which he was outfitted for the majority of the film. His Bruce Wayne is the perfect arrogant fop, but the Wayne persona isn’t in the film quite as much as the first. The Batman persona has fully taken over Bruce Wayne. Granted, Bale performs a great many scenes without the Batsuit, but in a good portion of those, he’s in the new/ temporary Batcave plotting his plans with Alfred and Lucius Fox. Unlike the Spider-Man films, seeing Bruce Wayne/Bale without the Batmask is not contrived. Bale’s Batman in this is even darker than in Begins and his methods at the film’s conclusion lead one to question whether he has gone too far. This methods is a great parallel to fairly recent events (JLA: Tower of Babel and Infinite Crisis) in the DC Universe. I thought those themes that have been present in the comics over the past few years worked in the film without asking the general audience to have the vast knowledge of the comics a lot of geeks and fanboys like I have.

Goyer and the Nolans flesh out the players of the film very well, with the primary new characters being (of course) the Joker and Harvey Dent. A lot of people are praising Ledger’s performance as the Clown Prince of Crime, and rightfully so, but there doesn’t seem to be as much chatter about Eckhart’s ownership of the Harvey Dent role. Dent/Two-Face has never been one of my favorite Bat-villains, but Eckhart’s intense performance, seemingly ripped from Jeph Loeb’s stellar portrayal of the character in The Long Halloween was really good. Not to sound too corny, but after Eckhart’s portrayal, I Believe in Harvey Dent. He stood in great contrast and comparison to Bruce/Batman.

Although Jim Gordon was an important character in Batman Begins, here he takes another step up in both the filmed Batman mythos and as a character in his own. Gary Oldman is becoming one of my favorite actors and I’m learning why he is considered a great actor. He must have read Batman: Year One and a lot of the Gotham Central comics to really get Gordon, because he just is the character.

Fox and Alfred, as Batman’s ‘assistants’ were perfect and like a lot of the other players in the film, Caine is the perfect Alfred. Gyllenhal’s Rachel Dawes was just sort of there, she is a better actress than Katie Holmes and her role served its purpose. Eric Roberts as Sal Maroni was very good too, once I got over the fact that it was Eric Roberts.

As for the plot of the film, in its barest simplicity, the Joker arrives and stirs up a lot of shit. Of course there are a lot of layers and threads to the film, all of which are amazingly tight and feed well off of each other. There isn’t any plot element that seems unnecessary or just filler; everything is necessary to the greater good of the film and establishing the character of Batman, his world, and ultimately, his relationship with the Joker. The same night of the Joker’s robbery, Batman breaks up a heist led by the Scarecrow. It wouldn’t be such a tough job for Batman except for all the Batman imposters who want to help Batman. After The Joker’s bank robbery, which began the movie, he soon enters a mob meeting where a Japanese “businessman” and potential partner of Wayne Enterprises is telling all the mob heads how he can secure their money after he learns of an attempt from the police and Harvey Dent to seize their marked money. The Joker; however, offers a deal to the collected mob heads after poo-pooing the Japanese businessman– give him half of their money and he’ll kill Batman.

The stuff between Dent, Gordon, and Batman was played really well, essentially a triumvirate of good. Corny analogy aside, what these characters represented to the film, to Gotham and each other was a strong theme from the movie and one that was [again] played out equally well in Loeb/Sale’s aforementioned The Long Halloween.

The Joker is more of a terrorist in this film and promises to kill one person a day until Batman unmasks. Batman contemplates revealing himself in order to save lives, but here the story mirrors the threat of terrorism in the real world. Does Batman give into the terrorist and let the Joker “win?” Dent makes the decision for him and ‘reveals’ himself to be Batman.

The scenes in the Police HQ are absolutely brilliant and where Ledger’s Joker is spectacular. His tone and vocal affectations take on a darker and more considered approach – the Joker walks a fine line between speaking the truth of the world as he sees and flat out insanity; and it is scary how right he just may be. Of course that is the power of an individual like the Joker – his insanity is laced with truth and sane talk.

As the scenes in the Police station continue, it becomes clear the Joker wanted to be caught, again showing how everything in this film is tied together. The chaos the Joker spins touches everything, from Batman, to Dent to the Police and as a theme it is convincing and effective. As the Joker says, he is “an agent of chaos” and “I just *do* things.” Even though the Joker hints at a “multiple choice” origin, his past is never revealed truly revealed and that’s just how it should be- the Joker is, aftera all, probably the most famous unreliable narrator .

The Joker reveals that Rachel and Dent are in two separate locations and Batman can only save one of them. This eventually leads to Dent becoming Two-Face and allowing Eckhart’s acting ability to shine even more. As Two-Face, we see just how much of a vigilante and dark demon Batman can be come if his conscience were left uncheck. At times, I found myself rooting for Two-Face, but that was somewhat short-lived.

Paralleling Two-Face’s revenge is Batman’s chase and final confrontation of the Joker. Nolan and Co. have said they used The Killing Joke as inspiration for the portrayal of the Joker and his relationship to Batman – itself one of the landmark stories in both characters evolution. No surprise that Alan Moore wrote it and damn if the echoes of that story weren’t loud and clear in this confrontation. The theme of one bad day changing a person forever, though not implicitly stated in the film, is another great parallel to The Killing Joke.

“I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness...and I won't kill you because...you're just too much fun.”

Of course talk of a follow-up to the film is inevitable. I almost don’t want to see a follow-up, this film is too good and I fear anything might be a pale specter of the greatness of this film.

As good as Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins were this movie is in a whole other league. There were a lot of plot threads but all of them were necessary for the whole of the film. The same goes for the themes, most notably chaos v. order. This film shows how three villains can be used effectively in one film. This is absolutely the best comic book/superhero movie, hands down. On its own merits, it was a great film, a great crime/caper film, and it is in my all time top 5 films. I can’t fully judge how high that ranking goes, if for nothing else that is reason enough for me to see this film in repeated viewings.

Queen SMASH!

This week’s review is Greg Keyes’s The Born Queen, the final volume in his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone quartet. I’ve been a fan and supporter of the series since it burst onto the scene with The Briar King and through each subsequent volume. The Born Queen is no exception – I think Greg pulled off something really special in this series, something not a lot of his contemporaries have been able to do. He set out to tell a certain type of story (Secondary World Epic Fantasy with a Large Cast) in a set number of volumes (four). He did that and did it very well.

Unfortunately, this series inevitably is considered Martin-lite, which is an unfair comparison. Yes both series have very large casts and both authors don’t falter when it comes to allowing primary characters to die, but Greg’s series really stands on its own. Just check out my review, I say it there in more detail.

Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff and I caught The Incredible Hulk on Friday. I went in hoping it would be good and at the least, better than the one from a few years ago. Unlike Iron Man, I read The Incredible Hulk for a number of years, most of Peter David’s legendary run on the character, and some of the recent stuff – I had expectations of what a real Hulk film needed to do and was surprised – it was better than I expected it would be. I don’t know that I’d consider it in the upper echelon of Super Hero Movies like Batman Begins, Iron Man, Superman, Spider-Man 1 & 2 but solidly in the next class along with Hellboy, X-Men 1 & 2 and Superman II. Good action, ambiguous ending and a Geek out moment for me when the Green Goliath exclaimed HULK SMASH! I really hope Edward Norton, and the studio for that matter, decides to stick around for the hinted and hoped follow-up. In terms of summer movies of 2008, I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk more than Indiana Jones.

Comics and Beer

I haven’t been hitting the comic shop nearly as regularly lately, at least for the past couple of months. Holiday shopping and all sorts of things for the house have precluded any extra comics spending. However, I did acquire a few trades/graphic novels for Christmas. I’m slowly making my way through the ones on my sidebar. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago on my last visit to the store, I picked up Testament #1 by Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp. I’d seen the preview for this in a recent issue of Fables and liked the art. Liam has taken to hanging out in the sffworld forums, too. Well, what did I think? As first issues go, I think they did a good job of setting up the story and the characters. The opening pages of a flashback, of sorts, segueing into the present storyline was effective. The world they lay out is familiar and eerie – religious overtones mixed with PKD-paranoia – is reminiscent of a Big Brother controlled world. Sharp’s art is quite effective and his art really shines on the closing pages of this issue. I liked his art on the Possessed mini-series from a couple of years ago and his high quality pencils, seemingly inspired by HP Lovecraft imagery is equally suited here. I’ll definitely be picking up the second issue, and chances are, I’ll be adding it to my pull-list.

Under the tree were some choice goodies. In addition to the books on the sidebar (Hellboy, Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams), I also received the first volume of George Perez’s run on Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals. I have always liked his art, especially his rendition of Wonder Woman. I didn’t pick up these issues when they first came out nearly 20 years ago, but since getting into Rucka’s Wonder Woman (ease up perverts), I wanted to see where it all started. Of course, the art is great – George draws Olympus and its gods with the greatness they deserve. Some of the plot elements in the first issue reminded me of Gladiator, which is odd considering the book predated the film. Anyway, if Joss Whedon is still looking for a great hook on his movie, he need look no further than this volume. The story nicely captures the mythic feel inherent in Wonder Woman’s character, and firmly establishes a status quo for the character as superhero in the modern world of the late 80s. With this in mind, I’m hoping the new Wonder Woman series that starts up after Infinite Crisis isn’t a clusterfuck. On a side note, here is a nice overview of Rucka’s Wonder Woman.

Over the weekend, I finished my chapter/issue a day re-read of Watchmen. I don’t think I can add to what many, many, many, many, others have already said, save for a couple of thought-bits. Even after reading it a number of times, Moore and Gibbons still surprised me with certain things. I was also able to appreciate the synchronicity of recurring images in each of the chapters and characters, particularly the look of awed involvement on Doc Manhattan’s face early when Laurie is talking to him, Dan’s similar look again in the company of Laurie as he is trying to deduce the mystery behind the masked killer, and the same look on Veidt’s face as he views the monitors showing the world and the world reacting to his master joke. One of my favorite lines from the book:

Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.

Lastly, Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff and I went out to dinner with my parents just over the border in Pennsylvania at the Porterhouse Restaurant and Brew Pub. The have River Horse on tap, a microbrewery out of Lambertville, NJ. One of the beers I had, their award-winning Triple Horse had to be one of the best beers I’ve ever had on tap, it was smooth and delicious. However, it is 10% alcohol, which is more than double the normal beer. With two of those in my belly, a third beer and a huge burger, my stomach was ready to explode, but it was worth it.

The Traveler & Batman Begins

I posted my review of The Traveler last night. A gripping, frightening novel that eerily mirrors our own society. This book is going to be big. The Web sites associated with the book are receiving continual updates, too:
http://www.evergreen-foundation.com
http://www.geocities.com/judithstrand
http://www.resurrectionautoparts.com
http://www.hollismartialarts.com
http://judithstrand.blogspot.com/

I saw Batman Begins yesterday and the movie lived up to the hype. At the time, I thought Michael Keaton was a pretty good Batman, but Christian Bale IS Bruce Wayne/Batman. A lot has been said of how well the character of Bruce Wayne was built up before he donned the cape and cowl and it's true. I really think the little early scenes with Bruce and Thomas (Bruce's dad) Wayne were great and showed how good a relationship there was between father and son, which lent greater impact to Bruce's loss. Bruce's frustration with where his life was or wasn't going and his world travels and training in the League of Shadows all helped to build up Bruce Wayne as he grew into the role of Batman. This film did a lot of things right in capturing what makes Batman such a mythic icon.

The early instances of Batman on screen are handled superbly well, he is in the shadows and you don't get a complete image of him. As the film moves on, the image of Batman becomes more clear, a nice parallel between Bruce's vision of himself and what the audience sees. The strongest influence on this story, from the comics, is without a doubt, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's definitive origin story, Batman: Year One. Nolan and screenwriter Goyer lifted scenes directly from the pages and as in BYO, Batman is not perfect, he bounces around walls and gets banged up. The scene with the bats in Arkham was just about lifted from BYO as well, it was effective on the comic page and even more so on the screen. The feel of parts of the story of this movie also had a lot in common with Loeb/Sale's The Long Halloween.

The animated series did much to capture the essence of Batman, and in the series, Kevin Conroy voiced Wayne/Batman for many years, and still does on Justice League Unlimited. Before seeing Batman Begins, his was the voice I heard in my head when reading the comics, now it will be Bale's voice. Bale was delightfully insane in American Psycho, and the intensity he showed in that role carried through here, though there were no scenes of him runing nude with a chainsaw.

The remaining cast members were absolutely perfect and like a lot have already said, Gary Oldman is Comissioner Gordon. Morgan Freeman seemed like he had a lot of fun playing Lucius Fox, he had the best one liners. Michael Caine was very good as Alfred. The people who played Bruce's Parents, especially his father were very good, Liam Neeson was excellent as well and the Ra's al Ghul scenes were great. Katie Holmes looked good and I thought the relationship between her and Bruce was handled very well, especially the end.

If I can raise any complaint it was that the film was a bit too long, but I find that to be the case with most films nowadays. Comparing this to other recent comic-book films is almost like comparing apples and oranges. The Spider-Man films were excellent, but a bit more bright. As much as loved the Spider-Man films, I have to say Batman Begins topped them. This is probably the best movie I've seen since The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

As did Spider-Man 1 & 2, Batman Begins ended on an almost perfect note with Batman leaping from a top a building. As in BYO, the foundation for Gordon and Batman's relationship is set and I cannot wait until the sequel. Additionally, a lot of groundwork was laid for future sequels and the last exchange between Gordon and Batman hit me with a huge amount of fanboy glee, though to be honest the whole film really did. This wasn't just a great superhero/comic adaptation, it was a great film period. Dramatic tension, superbly acted characters, great action and overall, a wildly entertaining film. I want to go and see it again, something I haven't done in theaters since Empire Strikes Back.

I think Lou Anders agrees, too.

Books & Comics

There are two books, well actually probably more, but two right now that are really piquing my interest. One of the books is on the shelves in the US right now, the other will hit UK shelves in August, with a US release late '05 or early '06. The first is Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. The book is generating good buzz and some positive reviews. It is an Epic Fantasy in one volume, something relatively rare in the Epic Fantasy market nowadays. The requisite book blurbs are from writers like Orson Scott Card and David Farland, and good reviews from Publisher's Weekly and the usually anti-fantasy Kirkus. Here's a breif blurb of what the book is about:

Elantris was the capital of Arelon: gigantic, beautiful, literally radiant, filled with benevolent beings who used their powerful magical abilities for the benefit of all. Yet each of these demigods was once an ordinary person until touched by the mysterious transforming power of the Shaod. Ten years ago, without warning, the magic failed. Elantrians became wizened, leper-like, powerless creatures, and Elantris itself dark, filthy, and crumbling.

The other book is Vellum, by Hal Duncan. On his Night Shade Books Message Board he describes the book thusly:

It's 2017 and angels walk the earth, beings that were human once, now unkin, remade by the ancient machine-code language of reality itself. Now, with the very book in which reality is written lost somewhere in the Vellum - the vast realm of eternity on which our world is just a scratch - the unkin are gathering for war.

On one side there's Metatron and his Covenant of angels, out to create Heaven on Earth even if it means an apocalypse to clear the way. On the other, there's the splinter-groups of ancient gods still hungry for the power that was once theirs, bitter enough to destroy the world if they can't rule it. And caught in the middle of it all are a handful of refuseniks still young enough to remember what it's like to be human... and to want to stay that way.

Again, Rick Kleffel has interesting things to say about the book. Squid enthusiast and fantastic writer Jeff VanDerMeer thinks highly of the book as well. Vellum is the first of a duology, available now in the UK through PanMacmillan and sometime in the future from Del Rey.

It is the middle of the month, so as always, DC Comics lets the world know what they are offering in a few months, specifically in August and some later. CBR has the full rundown and cover images. Aside from my normal pull, here's what caught my eye:

• I am mildly interested in the inter-Bat crossover between Detective Comics and Batman, I liked what Andersen Gabrych was doing in Detective Comics before the War Games mess. However, this is strange since it cuts David Lapham's 12 part saga in Detective 3/4 into the story. This makes very little sense to me, and I haven't seen any kind of explanation from DC.
• DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories looks like a bunch of Silver-Age fun. I've got the original Superman Red/Superman Blue in a Superman compilation.
• At one point, I was interested in the Alex Ross/Jim Kreuger Justice mini-series, but my interest has waned. I thought their Earth X series for Marvel was OK, if overrated. Justice, on one hand, looks like Super Friends fan fiction, on the other, it could by plain old superhero fun.
• Great Ozymandius! Watchmen: The Absolute Edition ain't cheap at $75, but I'll probably still pick it up. This is actually not shipping until October
• A hardcover of V for Vendetta is also being solicited now for sale in September, with a couple of extras.
• DC Direct gives another excuse for uber-hype machine Mark Millar to espouse how great he is and how much better he could make Superman by putting out a Elseworlds/Red Son figure.

On the Marvel side of things, Peter David and Mike Wieringo really seem to get Spider-man, something that may not be said of the other people handling his comic book adventures as of late.

Last, but not least, I'm probably one of the last people to post this one, Darth Vader's Blog. I actually got caught up in the thing for too much time yesterday.

Geekery, thy name

Star Wars fever is really getting to me, I feel like devouring as many of the SW books as possible. Aside from reading Zahn's Thrawn trilogy years ago, I was resistant to reading Star Wars novels for a while. But after writers like Matthew Stover and Greg Keyes got involved in The New Jedi Order, I warmed to reading the novels. And you know what, they are pretty good and quite entertaining. I've got the last two books of The New Jedi Order on my "to read" pile, and I would like to pick up the Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous as well as James Luceno's Labyrinth of Evil. But goddamit! I've already got a "to read" pile at least 20 books thick; with one book from last Christmas (2003) I haven't read yet. Not to mention the bi-weekly stash of comics I pick up as well as the occasional graphic novel (still need to pick up the recently released deluxe edition of Batman: Year One and the Legend of GrimJack: Volume 2).

Another character/universe continually popping up in front of me is R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf, Drizzt Do’Urden and I find myself wanting to read the novels. A handful of years ago I read The Icewind Dale Trilogy and it was a really entertaining story, with exciting action sequences. While the characters were somewhat clichéd, they were still characters I enjoyed reading about. Yes, yes another media/franchise character/world, what are you thinking Rob? Aren't you the same guy who, in the SFFWorld Forums always recommends writers like Jeffrey Ford, Gene Wolfe, Michael Moorcock, China Mieville and Steven Brust - writers who more often than not are the exact opposite of the more generic stuff like Drizzt and his Forgotten Realms pals? Yes I am. But when a writer I like Matthew Stover, whom I consider one of the 4 or 5 very best FSF writers publishing today, has said he enjoys Salvatore's work, and has written the introduction to the recently re-released Exile (book 2 of The Dark Elf Trilogy), well, I am further convinced I need to read these books. I also consider the fact that my best friend who isn't really a reader and my brother-in-law, was so captivated by Salvatore's Drizzt, I am again, further convinced I need to read these books. Good entertaining story is still good story.

I think these are all symptoms of my biblioholica - an addiction to books.

On to the world of comics, the Brian Azzarello/Jim Lee 12-issue storyline finally wrapped this week. I didn't pick it up, but skimmed through it in the store. I dropped the storyline about 8 issues in due to the WTF factor and it doesn't look like I missed much, other than more WTF-ness. I do have to say the guy coming aboard as the new writer, Mark Verheiden, looks like he has some interesting things coming along with Ed Benes. Just from the few preview pages, it looks like Verheidn has a good handle on what can be cool about Superman. Only time will tell, but between this and Morrison/Quietly's All Star Superman, Big Blue could be having some interesting adventures in the near future.

Shinedown The Wizard

Mrs. Blog O’ Stuff picked up Shinedown’s debut CD for us the other day, Leave a Whisper. I’d been hearing Shinedown on the local rock station WDHA for over a year now and was really impressed with what I heard: the powerful ballad showcasing lead singer Brent Smith’s stunning voice: .45, both the original and the acoustic, the faster Fly from the Inside and their acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man. This is an extremely impressive debut album, Smith’s vocals are an amazing compliment to guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brent Smith and Barry Kirch’s singular musical sound. I’d probably classify the group as hard rock and call them simply great. Leave a Whisper is a polished, great sounding album, not by just debut standards, but by hard rock standards overall. I am looking forward to more of their albums and hope to see them in concert, though now I am kicking myself for not going to see them at the Starland Ballroom over the holidays in 2004. Methinks they’d be a great opening act for Godsmack if and when Godsmack tours later this year.

Also finished up The Wizard by Gene Wolfe over the weekend. Even though this was really the second part of a novel, it started off a bit more weakly than The Knight. I think that is because Wolfe switched from Able’s first person narrative to Able referring the story of his companions after they separated. Once Able came onto the stage, though, the book returned to the level of excellence Wolfe accomplished with The Knight. This isn’t to say that the early portion of The Wizard was bad, just that by comparison, not as strong as the other portions of the story. And let's face it, those who have read Wolfe will agree that reading Wolfe when he is a notch below his strongest efforts is far superior to 99% of most writers at their absolute best.

The last 100 or so pages of the novel were absolutely wonderful. Packed with emotion, thought, choices and introspection, I think it will be difficult for anything I read for the remainder of this year to move me emotionally and entertain me as much as did Wolfe’s Wizard Knight. I don’t know if Mr. Wolfe plans on penning more stories of Sir Able or any of the characters from this rich novel, but the door is open. While any of Gene Wolfe’s work is worthy of excitement, more tales of these characters would be most welcome.

Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I went to the Rutgers vs. Georgetown Basketball game on Saturday and both teams didn’t look good. Rutgers was sloppy at the end of the first half arrived, but did make a nice little comeback towards the end of the game, which was too late. Rutgers basketball does look to be getting a better profile now that Gary Waters is doing such a fine job. It would be real nice to see them in the NIT again this year, though I highly doubt they will be invited.

Good Superbowl last night, I was really hoping the Eagles would pull it off, and at the end of the game, they came pretty close, too.

A new Batman Begins trailer was shown during the game and the Web site for the movie has been pretty substantially updated. Interviews, Wallpapers & other downloads, (one of which is now on my computer). Have I geeked-out enough for this film on my blog yet? I think I'm looking forward to this even more than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith even though super-cool writer Matthew Woodring Stover has written the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization. Though I think am more looking forward to the novlization than the movie, I think.

Lastly, less than two weeks until Pitchers and Catchers!

Quills and links

From locusmag.com, yet another award show: The Quills. Actually the cynicism is undeserved. NBC and Reed Business (the people who publish Publisher's Weekly) are organizing this thing for October. Being the booky person I am, I'm mildly looking forward to this. It will be interesting to see how these book awards work out. There are 16 categories including Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, Book of the Year, Graphic Novel of the Year, Desgin, and Children’s Book of the Year. The rest of the nominees and information is available at http://www.wnbc.com/quills/index.html. I guess they are sort of like the Peoples’ Choice Awards for books.

War! The Republic is crumbling

under attacks by the ruthless

Sith Lord, Count Dooku.

There are heroes on both sides.

Evil is everywhere.

Go read the rest of the intro text from Revenge of the Sith at Star Wars.com

Some may ask, will there be a video game based on the forthcoming Batman Begins? Of course. It is being made by EA Games, one of the best game companies out there (LOTR, Madden NFL, NHL 2005, MVP Baseball). Chances are I will eventually get it, but before that I need to get Prince of Persia 2 and MVP Baseball.

Overall I think its safe to say the trend of making video games based on movies is much better than making movies based on video games. Anybody remember Super Mario Brothers with Bob Hoskins, or Double Dragon with Scott Wolf (of Party of Five fame), or Mortal Kombat with Christopher Lambert [as an Asian!!!] or even the dreadful looking forthcoming game-to movies Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark? Hell at one point The Rock was rumored to star in a movie based on Spy Hunter. Fucking Spy Hunter!1

Books, comics, music, TV

New review posted at SFFWorld last night of Karin Lowachee’s Burndive. Very enjoyable and worthy successor to her first novel, Warchild. About 1/3 into the novel, it became ever more hard to put down – something I think every writer wants to achieve. I thought her debut novel, Warchild, was a bit more evenly paced, but Burndive really showcases her growing skills of characterization and overall writing ability.

Heading over to the comics shop for my bimonthly visit today and I’ll be picking up

Incredible Hulk #77 (the return of PAD!)
Flash #217
JLA #110
JSA #69

I may pick up Nightwing #101 and perhaps a trade. I need to catch up with Fables, but I’ve also been wanting to read BKV’s Runaways and there is a good deal of stuff by Morrison I need to read. Ahhh…the difficult choices of the comic book reader.

Speaking of which, I’m debating, as most comic readers do, cutting down my pull list, probably dropping Superman/Batman and Superman. S/B is ok, Carlos Pacheco is a wonderful artist, but the stories haven’t really moved in a positive or negative way, it is just sort of there. Superman is moving very slowly and though I’ve stuck it out this far with the Azzarello/Lee storyline, I’m just really not caring enough to see where it goes. For the most part, I’ll probably hold off my Superman fix (aside from JLA) until Morrison & Quietly’s All-Star Superman starts appearing on shelves. JSA is probably on the cut list to, even though I’ve got the majority (missing only 2 or 3 issues) of the current series. Geoff Johns is a capable writer, but again, I haven’t really cared too much about what is going on in the book in a few months/issues. I may also drop the Fantastic Four after Waid/Weiringo leave and JMS and McKone take over. I like McKone’s art, but I haven't been too overwhelmed with JMS’s Spidey and I’m getting a bit bored with the pacing of Supreme Power, also maybe on the chopping block. All told, I may be cutting roughly $10 from my floppy single issues, but funneling it back into Trades.

The Superman film is shaping almost as well as Batman Begins. Kate Bosworth is going to be Lois Lane, Kevin Spacey will be Lex Luthor (great choice there), James Marsden (who played Cyclops in X-Men) is set to join, as well. I’ve got a lot of faith in Bryan Signer, since I’ve been very happy with all the films I’ve seen by him, I hope he can continue with the quality on Superman Returns. Singer is a director who tends to work with the same actors on various films – he worked with Spacey on the great Usual Suspects, Ian McKellen on the X-Men films and Apt Pupil, Marsden on the X-Men films and rumors have the guy starring in Singer’s TV show, House, joining the cast as well. I think this is a good thing, James Cameron uses the same actors very frequently Bill Paxton (Aliens* and Titanic) and Michael Biehn (The Abyss, Aliens and Terminator 1 & 2) and Bruce Campbell has been in, I think, every Sam Raimi film.

* That's it man, game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?

Found this cool link the other day The Invisible Library, which lists all the books that only exist in the pages of other books like the Travels of Jain Farstrider in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time (yes I admit to reading most of the books), Machine’s Way from Stephen King’s The Dark Half, and Lovecraft’s invented book The Necronomicon.

Rick Klaw dedicated one of his Geeks with Books columns at SFSite to this phenomenon. Rick is the author of the book Geek Confidential: Echoes From the 21st Century published by Monkey Brain books

Speaking of the SFSite, go over there and vote for your favorite books of the year. Very similar criteria to what I do over at the SFFWorld forums (hell, I kind of borrowed some of that criteria from them).

I also added Rick Kleffel’s Agony Column (http://trashotron.com/agony/) over at the left. I constantly get there from other blogs and Rick always presents some interesting things there.

I’m listening to Velvet Revolver’s Contraband right now, and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. I fell in love the song Fall to Pieces before it became overplayed. Sure the song may have a bit of a power-ballad feel to it, but after watching the video, I really got the feeling Scott Weiland poured his heart into the song and Slash sounds better than he did with G’N’R. Some of the songs sound like they could have been pulled right off of STP’s album Purple or Four, both albums I enjoyed very much. Overall, as I said, Contraband a pretty dam solid album. Back when I saw Disturbed at the Starland Ballroom over the summer, some of the bouncers said Velvet Revolver, who performed the night before, were absolutely amazing.

Watched the concluding part of the Battlestar Galactica mini on the SciFi channel last night, and I have to say, I enjoyed it. It is pretty intriguing and raises some interesting questions. Is it a perfect show? No. Is it watchable entertainment? Absolutely, so I’ll probably be watching it every Friday night, though it will never be able to replace FarScape.

Rambled a bit much today, huh?