Mark Millar's Moonie denial

In JLA issue 27 cover date March 1999 written by Mark Millar, the Martian Manhunter disguises himself as a Japanese Woman and uses the name Rei Hino.  Bruce Wayne immediately knew that was J'onn because he recognized that name as having something to do with Mars.

Sailor Moon fans immediately deduced that J'onn was naming himself after Sailor Mars, and apparently Batman was also familiar with Sailor Moon.

Thing is Mark Millar has denied that this was an intentional Sailor Moon reference, saying...

"I was told it translated loosely as POET OF MARS, which is what J'onn's occupation was back on his homeworld. It had zero to do with Sailor Moon."

But that explanation doesn't make sense.  Rei Hino does NOT mean "poet of mars".

Hino means "of Fire", the Kanji for Fire in that name is also part of the Japanese name for the Planet Marts, Kasei which means "Fire Star" but is spoken differently in that word.  So in context Hino is a fitting surname to give someone you're associating with Mars, but it's not on it's own inherently a reference to Mars.

Nor does Rei mean Poet, according to Wordhippo the Japanese words for Poet all have "jin" in them.  The Wikipedia page for the name Rei lists many different Kanji and meanings for Rei, but none is Poet.

So either Mark Millar is lying, or someone lied to Mark Millar.  Who told him this name translated that way, and why were they offering a translation of this name specifically?

Millar wrote this individual Issue, but it's actually still during the Run of Grant Morrison.  There are things about Grant Morrison that make me suspect he would like a lot of Anime, including Sailor Moon.  So is it possible the real culprit here is Grant Morrison?

If I described the premise of the Black Moon saga (the Manga version not the 90s Anime) to a bunch of DC Nerds but avoided like names and stuff, they'd probably say "that sounds like a Grant Morrison comic".  But Naoko Takeuchi did that before it became Grant Morrison's thing.

Morrison's key theme for his JLA run was equating each JLA member with an Olympian deity.  So it's easy to imagine he was researching lots of ways those deities were used in modern pop culture, especially stuff that can be considered Superhero stories.

Justice League, Both Cuts are good movies

That’s my double Hot Take, each has their advantages and disadvantages.

I wasn’t expecting to have this reaction.  I’ve always known I’m not as much of a Snyder Fanboy as I sometimes come off to others, but clearly I myself was overestimating our alignment.  So much of what I liked about the Theatrical Cut that is not in the Snyder Cut I really assumed would be.

I’m quickly growing to have a similar relationship with Justice League as I do Superman II where my ideal hypothetical version of that movie combines elements of the Theatrical and Donner versions.  However the differences in Aesthetic Style here make doing a Fan Edit not nearly as easy.

I can say that while the Theatrical Cut should have been longer, 4 hours I would not have tolerated for a movie theater viewing where I can’t pause it.  No Superhero movie should in theaters be longer than The Ten Commandments.  However like the LOTR Extended Editions home viewing is different.  The same runtime as the Avengers movies would have been the ideal.

The best “superficial” praise I can give the Snyder Cut is that every scene or moment which is on paper the same in both versions is better executed here, better editing and cinematography and special effects and definitely a far more cohesive Musical Score.  And a lot of the longer scenes, and other stuff one might say adds nothing to the “plot” and may therefore get criticized as padding actually helps the film’s Gravitas and Characterization.

As far as the actual story goes the chief improvement in the Snyder Cut is everything involving Cyborg and his Father and the characters connected to them completely cut from the theatrical, he is the heart of the film and who was most done dirty by the theatrical cut.  Most of what I now dislike about the theatrical version are the alternate scenes with them.

However there is one more detail of the Theatrical Cut I would be completely adverse to including in an ideal hybrid cut and that is the Flash landing on Wonder Woman’s boobs gag.  One of the few Anime clichés I’m glad I (usually) don’t have to worry about in a Hollywood movie.

The Flash is overall also done better by The Snyder Cut, but I also like everything with him in the Theatrical besides that one gag I just mentioned.  However I don't consider major extra Flash scenes to be necessary.

Aquaman comes off about the same in both versions, which is good, he’s cool.  

Steppenwolf I don’t care about either way.  He is different but I really don’t care about his greater depth.  As I said before in Super Team formation films I’m fine with the villain being just a plot device.  The DeSaad and Darkseid scenes I enjoyed as a Nerd, but I don’t think what they add to the film really matters, they were there to set up future films that still might never get made, and Darkseid is the kind of character I feel should be ominously mentioned for years before he's ever even glimpsed.

However what I would most prefer to be gone are the Injustice inspired bad future visions, and I now want that gone from BvS too.  I was hoping that storyline would be resolved by the end of this film.  I don’t want more Evil Superman BS, that was supposed to be done away with once this film finished Clark’s Hero's Journey.  It turns out Snyder was planning more than a Trilogy and that disappoints me.

The Theatrical version of Justice league for all it’s plot holes and imperfections is still a fun movie that gets most of the core characters right.  And compared to The Snyder Cut is far better as a Superman movie, or a Batman movie and sure as hell a better sequel to Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman films.

The Theatrical Version despite having less than half as much Runtime feels like it has twice as much humanity.  Patrick H Willems talked about how Whedon’s Avengers movies have more glimpses of the normal civilian population and their reactions to the Superheroes then the Russo films, and that same contrast exists here.  

That Instagram video of the kids recording Superman at the beginning, that goon Batman uses to bait a Parademon, the Opening Credits sequence, having civilians around they need to protect during the big final battle, and other little moments right before cutting to the end credits.  All of that adds a lot of humanity to the theatrical version that I missed here.

I want to talk briefly about the Mustache controversy of the theatrical version.  People keep saying it's something you can’t not notice, except when I first saw it I hadn’t heard about any of this and I indeed didn’t notice it.  That one particular screenshot people like to meme to me just looks weird because of Cavil’s facial expression, in a way lots of freeze frames in a film will.

I hate the inclusion of the Black Superman Suit.  A lot of people think it's a requirement for a Superman returns from the Dead storyline, but this isn't a direct adaptation of Reign of The Supermen.  I would have been fine with it if it was only temporary like in those Comics, but him having it in the closing shirt rip shot symbolizes what I’ve already complained about and feel betrayed by.  I’m one of many who defended Snyder’s choices for Man of Steel and BvS on the grounds that it's Superman’s beginning.  Instead The Snyder Cut has revealed that Darker Edgier Superman was the long term plan.

With Batman I’ve already praised that scene where he coaches Barry and how much I liked that.  I also liked that Lois calming Superman down was Bruce’s plan, in the Theatrical Cut that’s the pay off to Barry’s future warning, in the Snyder Cut it only adds to that to set up a final pay off later.  I also like when he says to Alfred that Clark is more Human than he is.

In the Snyder Cut Diana kills that British Terrorist, this isn’t exactly contradicted in the Theatrical but it's clear that’s something Whedon chose to cut because he knew it didn’t fit with how Jenkins’ Wonder Woman movie ended.  A lot of people have been praising the moment with the little girl soon after saying “how could they cut that?” they aren’t looking at the context.  There was no way to include that while still hiding that Snyder had filmed Wonder Woman killing someone.  In addition to that I also don’t like her being so determined to decapitate Steppenwolf either.

I also miss all of the interactions between Bruce and Diana unique to the Theatrical Cut.  I do not interpret them Romantically, Alfred is just being a naggy parent who wants grandkids.  I like that they talked about Steve Trevor, something only briefly alluded to in the Snyder Cut.  I like that Bruce is a dick in one scene but not going to Frank Miller levels.  I like that he sees Diana as the one who should actually lead the team.

As stand alone works of art The Snyder Cut is more “Auteur”, but both were in truth collaborative projects.  I appreciate both and I hope the Theatrical version is never buried and forgotten.

What I like about Justice league 2017

No I do not still give it the 10 out of 10 I proclaimed it on this blog right after seeing it.

It's a flawed movie, I'm sure The Snyder Cut is better but as much of a apologist for Snyder's Superman movies as I've been his take on the DC Universe is still not my ideal.

But I enjoy the Theatrical version of Justice League because it got the characters right.  In terms of characterization that movie is genuinely in my opinion the best depictions of Superman or Batman ever seen in a theatrically released Live Action film.  And the other characters are great too

And I watch these kinds of movies first and foremost for the characters.  So I don't care how much of a mess the plot is or how inconsistent the tone and aesthetic turned out to be from switching directors.

With Superman the idea was always that the entire Trilogy is his origin story, so no this Superman isn't suddenly being more bright and cheerful solely because DC made Whedon course correct.  This was always the character Snyder was building.

With Batman as well how different he is from most of BvS naturally follows how BvS ends.  Honestly the only thing I expect to be different in the Snyder Cut is how Superman comes back, everything else is just a matter of Snyder's cut being longer and more fleshed out.  And I'm pretty sure the musical score will be better.

One of my favorite moments in the movie is when they go on their first team mission to rescue Cyborg's father and the other Star Labs people and Flash's fear suddenly catches up to him and he explains that to Batman.  I feel like a lot of writers would have defaulted to having Batman take a very General Patton approach to that situation.  Instead this movie has Batman take a very understanding and reasonable approach that worked out great.  That's the Batman I like to see, that's why he's a great mentor figure to the various Robins and Batgirls.

Still the movie does not shy away from the ways Batman can be difficult to get along with as we see when he first brings up the subject of resurrecting Superman and how he pisses off Diana.

This is core to why I say Ben Affleck is my favorite Live Action Batman regardless of the overall quality of the movies he's in.

Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman are all great in the film too.  Cyborg is perhaps not given the moments he needs to truly shine but is still good.

So next time you re-watch the movie just try to focus on that and shut up about plot holes.

My Top 10 DC Animated Movies

DC Animated movies seem to be one of the few areas where I'm more critical than conventional nerd culture wisdom rather than less, saying DC is overall better at Animation is silly to me when no Live Action Superhero film will ever be as offensive to me as that Gotham by Gaslight disaster.  And I'm not even as in love with the fullness of the Timmverse as most people, but that's a rant for another day.  That said I have still gained plenty of enjoyment from them, even the ones I’ve been very critical of in the past history of this blog have had some redeeming value I’ve enjoyed.

So I figure it’s time I talked about which ones I like the most.  There do exist DC movies I haven’t seen.  But I’ve seen most of what people generally recommend.  The recent line of DC Super Hero Girls movies are the main thing I’ve missed out on, also the straight to DVD Lego movies.

Now the usual structure of a list like this is from the bottom up.  But in this case the very top of the list is actually very predictable, what I consider the very best, maybe even the entire top 3 is a pretty common conventional wisdom.  So I’d rather list these from the very best to the least of the best so the focus of the post can stay on where my opinions on them diverge from most.

1. Batman: Mask of The Phantasm.

As I said, a predictable opinion, why it’s so great is already better explained by others.

2. Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.

Also an opinion I’m fairly certain is far from uncommon.  Again others have no doubt talked about it at length.  But my appreciation for it has only increased since I’ve seen Akira and now recognize the blatant Homage (the Laser fired from a space satellite looks exactly the same).

3. Justice League: New Frontier.

Perhaps I’m still unfairly biased towards this one for being the first of the 2007 initiated line I actually liked.  It’s a pretty decent Adaptation of an interesting Comic drawing on ideas popularized by Watchman and DKR, so it’s interesting how it got a movie before they did.

4. Scooby Doo & Batman The Brave and The Bold.

I already dedicated a blog post to this one.  It’s absolutely hilarious.  There is still more I could say and perhaps will after the next time I re-watch it.

5. Superman Unbound.

I’ve also already written about why this is my favorite animated Superman movie.  But I now feel more comfortable saying it may be my favorite Superman movie period.  Also the Superman animated movies I hadn't seen yet when I wrote that I have seen now and it hasn't changed anything.

6. Batman Under The Red Hood.

In a way I’m disappointed that this is by a significant margin the best we’ve gotten from a Batman animated movie not directly connected to a TV series.  But don’t take that as too much of an insult.  It arguably improves on its source material by streamlining things and cutting out the tie ins to other DC story-lines of the time.  I just wish Black Mask had been represented better and it’s Joker didn’t recycle jokes.  Kelly Hu is fantastic in her supporting role, she’d probably make my top ten list of performances from the main line of animated movies.

7. Justice League Crisis on Two Earths

This one was the biggest surprise for me, I was not expecting how well it would hold up.  Probably my main agreement with SUPER FRAME’s video on the DC animated movies is how high up he places this one (his unlike my list here is of only the specific line of films).  It’s another one that I could write an entire post on someday.

I only have room for three more, I think these bottom three might be the most influenced by my current mood and moderately interchangeable with the honorable mentions.  Above the order of 3-7 is also perhaps subject to change, but basically that is a pretty solid top 7.

8. Batman/Superman World’s Finest

Even though it’s transparently a 3 part episode of a TV crossover spliced together, it’s still the best take on how Superman and Batman first meet to date.  And no it's not the only multi-part episode once packaged as a movie I counted as a movie for consideration for this list.  I also love how it used both Mercy and Harley.

9. Allstar Superman

Most seem to like this the best of the animated Superman solo films.  I do enjoy it a lot clearly since it’s on this list, but even as someone who hasn't read the comic I sense how this is an abridged version of something larger.

10. Justice League Flashpoint

The most recent film from the actual line I consider even worthy of consideration for this list.  What I hate about it comes right from the Comics, as an Adaptation of a flawed Comic story-line this is perhaps even better then the above mentioned Red Hood.

The honorable mentions that almost made it would include both of the Adam West and Burt Ward animated movies made just before West passed away.  Together they might be a perfect send off for the Bright Knight.  Both Superman/Batman animated films which again arguably improve on their source material but the second of them is held back by an art-style I don’t like and the first by cutting Katana.  Both Green Lantern animated movies which I found pretty decent introductions to the GL mythos for newbies, but I controversially actually like the Ryan Reynolds movie more.  And finally the two Dark Knight Returns movies executed a lot perfectly, maybe even improved some details, and had great acting, they could have been on the list if they were one movie with the length of Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya and weren’t afraid of using voice over narration.

A failure to make that top 18 out of over 50 hardly means I hate it, I’ve given on this blog overall positive reviews to even stuff from the New52 based series, there are only a handful I have significantly overall negative feelings for. 

But those are the ones that exemplify what Superheroes can do in Animation.  I wish Marvel had made enough for me to consider such a list for them, but their only true shining achievement is Into The Spiderverse which was actually made by Sony.

The Justice League movie was a Ten out of Ten

I know I don't exactly have a reputation as someone who's praise for DCEU films means much.  But I did have conflicted feeling towards MOS and BvS.  That conflict is gone here.

They finally got Superman right.

Wonder WOman was still awesome.

Batman was dope as usual

The Flash was used pretty well, since I gave up on the TV show, Ezra is my Barry Allen now.

Aquaman and Cyborg weren't bad either.

Stay thorough the credits, DC finally did a full all the way after the Credits scene.

My advice to Zack Snyder.

First off, I want to offer my condolences on the loss of his daughter, Autumn earlier this year.

Chances are because of that he won't be directing any new movies for awhile.

But my advice is that if and when he does return to directing, he should take a break from Comic Book Movies and try doing some Anime adaptations.  I feel like Snyder's style is better suited to adapting Anime into Live Action, he's clearly been influenced by Anime already.  I did a post on wanting LA versions of Anime to be Colorful, and Snyder I feel would do that, the muted coloring in Man of Steel was the result of Nolan's influence, Watchman shows he is great at directing vibrantly colored films.

He got attached to adapting Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead at some point, who knows if it's actually still in active production.  I think doing something with no SciFi or Fantasy aspect is not going to be Snyder's strong suit at all.  Either way as a former Libertarian-Capitalist and current Libertarian-Communist the last thing I want is more exposure for Rand's so called Libertarianism.

I have enjoyed every Snyder film I've seen except Dawn of The Dead.  And all things considered I greatly appreciate what he's done in establishing the new DC Universe.  But Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman better reflect where I want that universe to go moving forward.  And Justice League will finish Snyder's vision effectively being the third film of his Superman Trilogy.

Snyder's approach of being visually experimental while also having a dark tone isn't what audiences expect from Comic Book Movies.  We're more used to Dark=Gritty and Realistic for those.

Not every Anime would be ideal for Snyder, I feel like Nolan would be best for Noir, and Gundam by the same people handling Star Wars.  And I'd overall prefer Women be entrusted with Magical Girl adaptations.  However....

Madlax, Lupin III depending on which kind of Lupin Anime they're drawing on, Future Diary, Attack on Titan, Kabenari of the Iron Fortress, maybe Code Geass.  Are examples of Anime where if a Western Live Action version is ever green-lite, I think perhaps Snyder might be the best guy for the job.  I would also sorta add just about any Nasuverse story, including Canaan which may not actually count as Nasuverse.

I don't like Justice League Doom either.

I had been excited for the idea of a Tower of Babel adaptation.  But this movie majorly disappointed.

First of all throwing a bunch of other Villains in with the Legion of Doom idea was unnecessary.  I feel like they mostly did it as an excuse to shoe horn Bane in who's involvement in Rises made him more marketable then ever.

Even just replacing Ra's Al Ghoul with Savage was lame, it definitely worked best that the mastermind of this story was a Batman nemesis.

I would have preferred them keep the original's Justice League line up, including Plastic Man, and Kyle as the Green Lantern and Wally as The Flash.  And them throwing Cyborg in just because they're beginning the process of lining up these animated films with the New52 line up really annoyed me.

But my biggest issue, was how they changed the nature of Batman's contignecey plans.

1. The Comic had made sure to make them Non Leathal, hence not using Green Kryptonite even though he had some.

2. But what's additionally stupid is how the plans in this movie were dependent on them having their normal personalities.  They are supposed to be plans in case they got body swapped or brainwashed or something.  In which case especially the plans used in this film on Superman and Hal Jordan would be utterly useless.

Once again, this is another movie that proves, no, DC has never been perfect at making Animated movies.

Some predictions about upcoming Comic Book adabtations

I'm not claiming to have any inside info, these are just my wild guesses bases on the evidence available to everyone.

The Flash Season 3.

1. I think we'll learn that on Earth-Three where JWS is Jay Garrick, that Dinah Drake, Laurel and Sara's mother from Arrow, is The Black Canary.

2. I think at the end of season 3 Barry Allen will "die", and Wally West will take over as The Flash.  I think WB will want that so while their featuring Ezra Miller's Barry Allen in two movies that will come out during season 4 the TV Flash will be different.  But regardless I think that would be a good move, because that's part of the Comics history of The Flash.  Obviously a door will kept open for Barry to return, perhaps in the 100th Episode in the middle of Season 5.

Wonder Woman

1. The woman with the weird face in the trailer is Paula Van Gunther.

2. Bookend scenes set in the present will revolve around Diana talking to Carol Ferris (Christina Wren), where reference to Hal Jordan disappearing might be made.

Justice League.

1. Superman will return in about the middle of the film, but he'll instantly assume leadership, not unlike in Reign of The Supermen.

2. Green Lantern will show up at the very end, with maybe hints of his existence being made earlier.

3. Deathstroke will be in Justice League, he's who Batman will fight while the Superpowered characters fight aliens form Apokolips.  That's what the footage we saw is from.

4. Enchantress will appear, that's why Bruce also got her file also at the end of Suicide Squad.

5. We'll learn the father of Eisenberg's Luthor is still alive, but probably not see him yet.

Spiderman Homecoming

1. Zendaya is Michelle Gonzalez and/or White Tiger, not Mary Jane.

2. They will wait till he's in Collage to have him meet Gwen or MJ.  What I want to see when we get there is Gwen and MJ being friends.

The Flash movie

Will flop and not get a sequel

Aquaman

Will be a hit and get a sequel

Batfleck

1. The first movie will be a version of Under The Red Hood with Arkham Knight influence.  Harley and Joker will both appear.  Mat Damon will play a villain replacing Black Mask's role, maybe Hush, and he'll hire Deathstroke.

2. Then in the second Justice League movie.  Bruce will be "killed" by the Omega Sanction and the next Batfleck film will be Battle for The Cowl with aspects of Knightfall.

Update: The Official Deathstroke announcement came out right after I posted this.  It kinda doesn't change anything, we know he'll be in Batfleck now, but I hope he's not the main or only villain.

DC Cinematic Multiverse

I'm now more excited by what DC is doing on TV then what either is doing on the Big Screen.

Not because of any lack of excitement for the movies, certainly as each movie (excluding Fox ones) nears release they'll be what at the time I'm most Geeking out over  And Batman Vs Superman once it's actually approaching I predict I will be the most intensely excited I have been for a movie since 2008.

But TV I've said for a long time has the potential to do Comic Book mythos far more justice then Movies, and DC is finally realizing that.  The Flash season 1 alone is going to give us in less then 9 months more screen time of Comic Booky goodness then the entirety of Phase 1 of the MCU gave us in 4 years.  6 movies, 5 were 2 hours one was rounding up 2 and a half makes 12 and a half hours.  An Episode of Flash is minus commercials 40 minutes, so 3 episodes makes 2 hours.  So 12 and a half hours of screen time will be reached during episode 19.  It'll be the same with every other show that gets at least a 20 episode season.

Why am I not as excited for Marvel on TV?  Because Marvel's shared universe approach means TV only gets the left overs.  I did enjoy season one of AoS, especially the Winter Soldier tie in storyline, that was Historic.  And I enjoyed Agent Carter, but it was still mostly just the supporting cast of First Avenger, plus some generic Cold War nonsense.

I'm glad DC is not simply doing the same thing as Marvel.  I'm glad they are doing a connected Universe on the big Screen but with a different approach.  But I'm also glad the TV shows get to be separate.  Not just from the movies but also from each other.  CW has it's own mini DC Universe going now, but neither Gotham or Supergirl are gonna fit into that.  And probably not Teen Titans either.  I know some people are holding out for Supergirl and the CW shows being connected because of the CBS-CW relationship, but Supergirl is going to have a Superman established for awhile, which won't fit The Flash's premise.

But because DC has the long established in the comics Multiverse premise, it means the option still exists for them to something down the road.  Keeping it so each universe can day to do not worry about any continuity restrictions but their own.

After all the currently green-lite DC movies are done, maybe they could consider an Crisis on Infinite Earths and/or Infinite Crisis inspired story, perhaps as 3 films filmed at once.  Where they could bring the various TV show universes into it.

Because of the nature of the Crisis none of the shows would have to acknowledge it in their continuity if they didn't want to  But The Flash has already established a Crisis as part of it's future.  2021 is when I believe it's supposed to happen, that is after all the already announced JLA movies will be over.  So, who knows, maybe WB/DC already considers that in the cards.

In the comics there were many universe crossovers before the Big Crisis, they'd been going on since the 60s.  But the key thing that really matters is the concept of first Contact being made by two Flashes.  So could Ezra Miller guest start on The Flash in it's 6th or 7th Season?

Update: I'd misremembered, on The Flash the Crisis will happen in 2024, they gave themselves a decade.