Episode Review: The Cape Episode 5: Dice

The new superhero tv series The Cape, has only been on the air for four weeks, and even though the series is not doing so well ratings wise, as a true-blue fan of superheroes, I'd say it's doing alright. We a get a new villain every episode, so at least viewers get to see a ever expanding rouges gallery, with continued appearances by main super-villain Chess aka ARK Corporation head Peter Fleming. Tonight's episode introduces Dice, a savant whose father was the first murder ever committed by Chess. The dictionary defines a savant as a person who is specialized in a certain field. Well this savant has a talent any would kill for, to see into the future. Alright so this girl, now a grown woman years later, wants to kill Fleming for killing her father, but of course Vince wants to put Fleming away so he has to do something that really sticks it to himself, he must protect Fleming in order to take him down at a later time. And of course, what new episode of The Cape would not be complete without an appearance by Max Malini and the Carnival of Crime to aid Faraday in his superhero exploits. Even though I am not a professional tv numbers man, I can say as a fan of comic books and superheroes that I give this episode five out of five stars. For those who missed tonight's episode, go to http://www.hulu.com/the-cape to watch the first four episodes and check back tomorrow night to view tonight's episode. The Cape airs every Monday night at 8pm Central Time on NBC, and now I leave you faithful readers with this post, and I'll be back tomorrow with more to satisfy all the commitments of my mission. Thank you all and goodnight.

Elseworlds: JSA: The Liberty Files

This will be my last post in my Elseworlds series and I will be moving back to doing posts based around what the "mission statement" of Comicbook/Sci-Fi Kingdom is about. I decided to go with The Liberty Files as my final Elseworlds post because, well quite frankly this was the one that I kept coming back to, more than anything. It takes the Golden Age superheroes, (Atom, Hourman, Batman, Flash, Hawkman etc.) and places them during WWII and afterwards during the Cold War. They are portrayed not as traditional superheroes, but instead costumed, covert government agents. There are appearances by some of the classic villains to be sure, including Joker (in this series smuggler Jack the Grin), Parasite, who well, looks normal but is really gross when he is doing the whole sucking the life-force from people thing, and Scarecrow, who is a German agent that is more of a... dang it there really is no way to describe him except that he is nasty looking. That's it, plain and simple. As with all other Elseworlds, I highly recommend this one, and encourage all who read my posts to really consider starting their own "library" of not just these, but other comic book trade paperbacks. So don't delay, get out there and get your own Elseworlds today!

The Fantastic Four are now Three...

It is with a heavy heart that I finally blog which member of the finest superhero family ever was killed in the pages of Fantastic Four #587, standing valiantly against a large horde of monsters from the Negative Zone while a de-powered Ben Grimm was forced to watch, unable to help. Johnathan Storm, the Human Torch is dead. But knowing comic books as they are, Marvel may decide to resurrect him in a couple of years, like what they did with Captain America a couple of years back. Issue #588 will be the last issue of the current Fantastic Four series, which will relaunch in March as simply FF. Johnny... we'll never forget you hothead. Flame on forever dude.

Elseworlds: Batman & Dracula: Red Rain

A dark story to be sure. Batman is investigating a series of murders of Gotham's homeless, all of the victims throats have been slashed. This leads him to discover a family of vampires, lead by Dracula himself. Teaming up with a rouge vampire named Tanya, who is powerless against Dracula's vampire powers, she drains Batman of some of his blood, to turn him so that he may fight the Vampire Lord. This eventually leads to a final confrontation in the Batcave, with Batman detonating charges, collapsing Wayne Manor destroying all the vampires within. Batman then flies to Dracula on his new wings, impaling the monster on a lighting struck tree, but at the cost of his own humanity, Dracula drains the last of his blood, fulling turning Batman. After his "will" has been read by Alfred, Batman assures his old friend not to worry, Bruce Wayne may be gone, but because of these new abilities, Batman will live on forever. This story is not for the faint of heart, but to all who are loyal fans of the Dark Knight, go out and pick up a copy today!

Elseworlds: The Golden Age

The first time I picked up this trade, I was immediately drawn to it because of the cover. On it are pictured tons of classic Golden Age of Comics (1940's to the mid 1950's), superheroes, or "Mystery Men". Now a lot of you non-comic book readers might be asking as you read through this trade, why does the Flash wear that dorky outfit, or why is the Green Lantern blond or whatever. Well the reason they look this way is because these guys came first, before the familiar characters from the cartoons we all watched back when we were kids. These are the "superheroes" our grandparents grew up with. Now granted, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have been around since the 1940's as well, but this book focuses more on the lesser known Golden Age heroes, like Mister Terrific, the Ray, Phantom Lady, Mister America, Starman etc. The basic plot of this book is that WWII is over, and there is no longer a need for heroes, so many of them are being forced back into their civilian lives. This book focuses on certain heroes and how tough it is adjusting to a "normal" life. But, and I will not spoil the book for anyone, but one of their collectivly old foes makes a comeback, and so these heroes must come out of retirement one last time, to save the day one more time. I know I keep saying that all these books are great, and they are, but this one hands down has to be the greatest one ever. You can find this one at either your local comic-book store or http://www.amazon.com/. Don't hesitate, go pick up your copy today!

Elseworlds: Superman: Speeding Bullets

Alright, hands down this was one of the wackiest Elseworlds I ever picked up. You think that Superman and Batman can't ever be put together into one guy. Well wrong you are. This story starts with Superman's rocket landing on the property of Thomas and Martha Wayne. They take the baby, name him Bruce and raise him as their son, not knowing about his powers. They raise him to be kind, caring of others, and above all "Aspire for something better, something higher". Well one night, as the Wayne's are walking home from the movies, they are held up by a mugger. Thomas and Martha are gunned down, then the mugger fires on Bruce. His powers go out of control and he burns the robber with his heat vision. After being coped up in the mansion for years, frightened by what happened, Bruce emerges, saves his father's company from being bought out by Lex Luthor, who has come to take control of Gotham the same way he did Metropolis, and Bruce also takes a job as publisher of 'The Planet'. There he meets the lovely reporter Lois Lane. Bruce also becomes the Batman, and uses his powers to fight crime in a violent manner. While Luthor is on the run after being exposed as a criminal, he falls into a vat of chemicals, and is reborn as the insane criminal mastermind The Joker. After taking down the Joker and halting his plans to take over Gotham, Bruce is convinced by Lois to become a more hopeful, bright hero, giving rise to his new persona of Superman. The artwork in the book is fantastic and the story is well done too. A thumbs up from me and hearty "must read!" as well.

Elseworlds: Batman: Nines Lives

An Elseworld that takes our dear Dark Knight and places him back in his glory days of the 1940's but with a noir undertone. But this time the villains are far less colorful and more realistic. And there is no Boy Wonder in a yellow cape and green speedo and red tunic jumping from rooftops with him. Instead there is Private Investigator Dick Grayson, who is investigating the murder of Selina Kyle, nicknamed the Catwoman because of her ownership of the Kit Kat club. Readers still get James Gordon in the role of Police Commissioner and Alfred Pennyworth as loyal butler to Bruce Wayne, but as I said the villains have far less colorful roles and more realistic human ones. Oswald Cobblepot, is a dapper racketeer nicknamed the Penguin. A two-bit card shark from Vegas named Jack who runs an underground gambling ring, giving him the nickname 'The Poker Joker'. Mister Freeze is an albino hit-man for Oswald, but don't let that white skin fool you, underneath is heart of ice to match his condition. Harvey Dent is a Two-Faced lawyer and best friend to Wayne, while Clayface is a powerful, disfigured gangster named Matt Hagen. And of course we cannot forget Edward Nigma, in this little tale of murder and mayhem he is guilt-ridden banker, nicknamed the Riddler because of his ability to "cook the books". And then there is Croc, who is taken from being a murderous man beast and reduced to an ex-sideshow attraction from Grayson's days with Haley's Circus. And through it all, the good guys win, most of the villains are killed in manners both grim, grisly, and that flow with that rich corniness of classic noir fiction. A trade paperback that all will enjoy, I once again say to all who read my daily devotions to our friends in the funny pages, visit your local library, bookstore or comic book store, and pick up your copy today!

Elseworlds: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Frank Miller is well known as the creator of the popular comic book series's 300 and Sin City, but today I've decided to talk about the series that put him on the map, and kinda redefined comics from the happy, cheerful if gritty things they were in the mid-20th century. The Dark Knight Returns takes the Batman, a character well known to everyone, and really just fleshes him out. The series is set in a unspecified period of time, although Ronald Regan is shown as President. It has been 10 years since Batman was last seen, and the reason behind that is quickly revealed, because those 10 years prior, Jason Todd, the second Robin is killed, although the how is not given. Before I continue I should point out that this out of continuity death of Jason is published 3 years before his actual death in the 1988 Batman storyline, "A Death in the Family". Now back to the topic at hand. It's 10 years in the future, Gotham is overrun by crime, and Bruce Wayne is in his 50's and actually living as a billionaire playboy. But while out walking one night, he happens upon the place where his parents were killed all those years before, Crime Alley. He is then threatened by two thugs, members of the criminal gang known as "The Mutants", and this is the spark that galvanizes him into becoming Batman again. That spark turns into a blaze, when Harvey Dent, after undergoing massive reconstructive surgery funded by Wayne, has been hailed as finally cured of his Two-Face persona returns to crime. Batman stops him, and even though it appears that physically, Harvey looks fine, there is a brief flash where you see that mentally, he is still Two-Face, worse than ever before. The book proceeds with Batman taking down the Mutant Leader, and then the return of the Joker, having spent the last 10 years in Arkham Asylum catatonic. He pretends to be finally cured of whatever madness he suffered from, and then kills every person on the talk show he goes on. This leads to a final fight between Batman and the Joker in a carnival's Tunnel of Love, with Batman breaking the Joker's neck, stopping short of killing him. The Joker finishes the job, killing himself but making it seem like Batman did the dirty deed.
The rest of the book also shows Superman, now a puppet of the US Government, and the only superhero not retired besides Batman. After dealing with a Soviet warhead, Superman is then ordered to deal with Batman, and this ends in battle royal in Crime Alley, with Batman being aided by the one-armed, former Green Arrow, Oliver Queen. During this fight, the book shows Alfred, the loyal Wayne family butler and Bruce's confidant in his war on crime, detonating charges in the Batcave which level the cave and Wayne Manor, Alfred the dies of a stroke while watching the entire history of a good family and a good man go up in fire. After Bruce apparently dies during the fight of a heart attack, the last pages show him and the new Robin, Carrie Kelly, who seeks him out during the book to help him fight crime, along with reformed members of the Mutant gang, setting up shop in the other caves beneath Wayne Manor. Bruce is planning on building an army, which will take time, to save the world from "something worse than thieves and murderers" and he decides that this will be a good life, good enough. Before I finish this post I'd like to point out that there are at least two other classic Batman characters that are in this book, James Gordon, forced to retire the position of Commissioner in the book on his 70th birthday to the new, young, anti-vigilante Ellen Yindel. The second character is Selena Kyle, once the Catwoman, who now runs an escort agency. The artwork in the book is fantastic, the plot-line amazing, and I highly recommend this trade paperback to all who read this blog and are not comic fans. So go out, check your local library, comic book store or bookstore, and pick up your copy today!

Elseworlds: Batman: Nosferatu

This is the sequel to "Superman's Metropolis", and like the first one, is based around the plots of two great German Expressionist horror films of the 1920's, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu, an unauthorized German film version of Bram Stoker's "Dracula". I won't go into a massive plot description this time, but only say that this Elseworld was one of the more unusual ones I've read. Nevertheless, I highly recommend it to everyone who reads this blog. I hope you are getting as much enjoyment out of these posts as I am from writing them. Thank you all and have a good day.

Elseworlds: Superman's Metropolis

I'd like to start out this post by asking the question of everyone, what is a metropolis? The dictionary defines it as "a very large city, often the capital or chief urban center of a country, state or region." Chicago has been called the metropolis of the Midwest. And yet there is a obvious division between the citizens of this so called "metropolis", you walk those streets long enough and you'll find the section where the well to do live, and continue walking and you will find the section where the poor and cast off live as well. But there are people who do try and try to make the city come together, so that the citizen's can live together in peace. That is what the main theme of Fritz Lang's classic 1927 film "Metropolis" is based around, social justice. In "Superman's Metropolis", it follows roughly the same pattern, with the same social division between the city's citizens and has the traditional cast of Superman characters. In it, Clarc Kent-son, the son of Jon Kent, the great architect and Master of Metropolis, becomes aware of the social injustice when he falls in love with Lois, a beautiful teacher from the undercity and he comes to see the horrors that the workers suffer. He goes to his father and begs him to right these wrongs, but after investigation comes to realize the real master of the city it Lutor, an old colleague of his father's who has used advanced hypnosis to make Jon his slave. Clarc discovers when his father lays dying, betrayed by Lutor that he was a foundling, adopted by Jon. Lutor placed mental blocks on Clarc and blanked his mind to make him forget his powers. Fearing a social revolution, Lutor kidnaps Lois and builds a robot named Futura, modeled after her to lead the workers to their doom. After breaking the blocks, Clarc becomes the Super-Man, the savior of Metropolis, fights and defeats Futura and Lutor and with Lois as his wife, become the new enlightened rulers of Metropolis. An excellent book for anyone who enjoys classic films as much as I do, and also loves reading about Superman too. I highly recommend this book to people.

Elseworlds: Kingdom Come

I thought it would be appropriate to do today's post on a Elseworld that was so groundbreaking, so amazing, I literally read it through cover to cover four times in one afternoon. Kingdom Come is without a doubt one of the finest pieces of Elseworld material I have ever picked up. The basic plot is this, published in 1996, it is set 10 years into the future of the DC Universe. After the death of Lois Lane and the staff of the Daily Planet those 10 years prior by the Joker, Superman just... well in a single word, quit. He hung up his cape, and disappeared. And without him leading the charge in fighting the good fight, his friends, the other heroes of legend, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, they all either quit as well, or stopped being active in the world's eye. Now flash forward back to the present. The world is in chaos, overrun by young, vicious metahumans, the successors of the originals to keeping the world safe. But all they do is fight themselves, not to save the world, but for the sheer thrill of fighting. And in the midst of it all, a legend dies, right at the beginning of the book. Wesley Dodds, once the crime-busting mystery-man known as the Sandman dies. The nightmarish dreams that once aided him in his war on crime as the Sandman have now become apocalyptic visions, and have passed on to his friend, Pastor Norman McCay. McCay is disillusioned in a world without Superman, without apparent hope. He is then visited by the Spectre, in the DC world this being is the physical manifestation of God's vengeance. He then proceeds to take Norman on as witness to the visions that Wesley passed to him, and see them become true. And in the midst of it all, Superman and his friends, or what remains of them by the end, manage to right things again, and come out of retirement to live amongst the human population and help them, work with them. Now for all my friends who I hope will read this blog, I am not going to spoil the entire book for you, but I urge you to go out and check any bookstore near you, check your local library, wherever, just find a copy of this amazing work by the genius team of Mark Waid and and Alex Ross. Well, I've said my piece, and that's that. 

Elseworlds: Superman: The Dark Side

This is a story that filled me with a bit of fear, because of how dark it was. The long and short of this tale, is that Superman's rocket is diverted on it's course to Earth, and lands on Apokolips, and Darkseid raises Superman. Superman becomes his disciple and a willing participant in bringing about the destruction of New Genesis. This book brings with it the usual cast of Jack Kirby Fourth World characters, as well as familiar ones from the Superman series. An Elseworld that all will enjoy, as well as the two part episode of the Superman animated series entitled "Legacy", which follows the books plot closely.

Elseworlds: Superman: War of the Worlds

This is one of those Elseworlds that was published as just a one shot book, but finding it and reading it is still awesome. This takes H.G.Wells classic science fiction novel and moves the setting from 19th century England to a 20th century Metropolis, in which the Martians encounter a Golden Age Superman, who does not have access to the full range of powers he has in modern times. I'm not going to spoil the book for people, but it does come with some of the supporting characters that Superman had in the Golden Age, including Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, a red haired Lex Luthor (a la his first appearance), and Daily Star editor George Taylor, and the Star's chief reporter Perry White. I'm not going to go into more details, but anyone who reads this book will enjoy it immensely. To all who are following my blog, I thank you. Feel free to post comments.

Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl and Batgirl

This is one Elseworld that grabbed me by the shirt and shook me up. It's an interesting one, because it is a world that has well-known heroes and villains from the DC Universe, but no Superman or Batman. In their place is Supergirl standing in for her cousin, and guarding Gotham with an iron fist is Batgirl. I won't go and spoil the book, but be assured that everyone who hasn't read this is in for surprises. I hope you will all enjoy this book as much as I did. 

Elseworlds: JLA: Another Nail

Since I blogged about the JLA: The Nail yesterday, I figured it would be fitting to blog about the sequel, Another Nail today. There isn't much to tell with this one as apposed to the first one, except that the basic premise of it is that Kal-El, after having been found by the League near the end of The Nail, is adjusting into his role as Superman, but in this world, there is no Clark Kent, so he is Superman, all the time. To top it all off, there is the impending threat of the Limbo Cell, a massive thing that feeds on energy, matter and eventually subspace, which is causing massive ripples across multiples DC realities. Now I'm not going to say more as to not spoil the ending, or even the overall book, but this is in my opinion an excellent sequel. To all those out there who are following this blog or not following it, I thank you.

Elseworlds: JLA: The Nail

The Nail is one of the more interesting Elseworlds I've read, because the setting and time are fairly reminiscent of a Silver Age (1956-1970), in which the League has just arisen, bringing with them a whole slew of new heroes and villains. The only difference is, on this Earth, due to a nail puncturing one of their truck tires, the Kent's never went out for a drive the night Superman's rocket flew into a Kansas field, so they never found baby Kal-El. So in the present of this world, there is still a Justice League, but there is also a great deal of fear for metahumans, which are fueled by Oliver Green's (Green Arrow's), assertions that the League are a vanguard for an invading alien force. To top it all off, metahumans, both hero and villain are being arrested for no reason. I am not going to spoil the rest of the book, but I will say this, it is without a doubt one of the finest trades I've ever picked up. I encourage everyone who follows this blog to go out and buy a copy from your local comicbook store or pick up a copy on amazon.com

Elseworlds: Superman and Batman: Generations

Alright, sorry about the delay in postings, today's post will cover, well I'm not sure one can exactly call this series an "Elseworlds", but it certainly has the ring of it. Superman and Batman: Generations, is a four issue mini-series that examines the long careers of the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight Detective, with each issue having two stories, each taking a ten year leap in the lives and careers of these heroes. I'm not going to bore everyone with breaking down the details of each issue and story, but they are chock full of excitement. After the success of the first series, two more were spawned, with the second one taking elven year leaps in the careers of these heroes and in the timeline of the DC Universe. This one was a twelve issue series and like the first two, took large leaps, but by century instead of by years. Again I am not going to bore people with the details, or spoil the surprises that await in each series. You can find trade paperbacks for the first two series's online at Amazon.com, but the third one has no trade, so if someone wants to read the full story, it's going to take some looking. And once again to whoever is out there and is reading these posts or will be reading these posts, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. I hope everyone is starting off the New Year well, and happy reading, watching, whatever to all fans of comic books and science fiction etc.

Elseworlds: Batman: Year 100

This is one of the more interesting Batman stories, because of several reasons. 1. It is the year 2039, and Gotham City is a police state, with the citizens being randomly searched without warning. To make matters worse, Police Captain Gordon, grandson of the original Commissioner Gordon, is having to put up with Federal agents investigating the apparent return of the Batman. The second reason is that there are no supervillains in this story, not even a cameo of say some homeless man that is hinted as being The Joker. The third reason is that there is also no appearance by other superheroes, not a single one. I am not going to spoil the story for new readers, I'm just telling you a few little things that you may notice yourself if you pick up a copy of the trade (lingo for paperback graphic novel). I hope this new series of posts will further endure new comic book fans more to these amazing tales. To whoever is out there and reading this blog, I thank you.

Elseworlds: Superman: Red Son

Today I am going to be covering one of the more odd Elseworld's I've read. It takes the Man of Steel and makes him the champion of Communist Russia smack in the middle of the Cold War. First as just a hero and then after Stalin's death, becoming the new party leader and remaining so all the way into the 20th century. He is of course apposed by Lex Luthor, who in this case starts out as a handsome, red-haired American scientist working for a S.T.A.R Labs that apparently exists even in the 1950's. The regular cast of Superman characters appear, some in more odd ways than others. An interesting thing to note is that with the passage of time in this tale, Luthor ages up until he appears as he did before the whole recton in the late 80's. This story also has its share of real world historical figures including Stalin, Eisenhower, J.F.K, with Nixon being mentioned and a one panel appearance by British socialist political Tony Benn. I'm not even going to spoil the story and tell you about the whose who in the cast of DC heroes that appear, just that it will not surprise you good readers.

Elseworlds: Gotham by Gaslight

I thought it would be appropriate to kick off my Elseworlds section than with the first actual Elseworlds title. Gotham by Gaslight is an interesting story in which Batman is taken from a 20th century Gotham, and placed into one based during the Victorian Era. Jack the Ripper has come to Gotham, and has resumed his murdering ways. It is up to Batman to stop this monster before the events of Whitechapel repeat themselves. And when Batman deduces the Ripper's identity he is in for a shock. Now I am not going to spoil the book for people, so I've only got this to say. Head to your local comic book store and pick up a copy today!

ElseWorlds: Which one is your favorite?

Alright to make up for being gone for so long, I am starting a new series of posts on various Elseworld's publications by DC. For those of you who do not know what these books are, well I think the tagline will allow these books to speak for themselves. "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow." Well that's enough for today, to whoever is reading this blog out there, I hope this will certainly make the whole comic book scene more appealing to you, whoever you may be. And to those of you who are already Elseworld's fans, feel free to comment on this post with whatever title you love the most.