Infinite Crisis and it’s tie-ins

Almost every DC Comic Book writer I consider myself a fan of comes with some catch, a part of their body of work I hate just as much as I love the stuff I like. 

Geoff Johns is someone I'm a fan of because I love his Teen Titans run and Infinite Crisis and a few other things. But I hate his contributions to Green Lantern and The Flash’s histories and most of his impact on Superman.  

The irony is Infinite Crisis is great in part because it’s a critique of Toxic Nostalgia, and yet what I don’t like about Johns work is when his own weirdly Toxic Nostalgia for the Silver Age comes in. And 2005 is the year he made Hal Jordan the main Green Lantern again, pandering to Silver Age nostalgia at the same time he’s vilifying Golden Age nostalgia, maybe that’s actually perfectly consistent from a certain POV?

The thing about Infinite Crisis is it’s one of those Events that is viewed as needing all its tie-ins to work, but in my opinion they don’t, certainly not all of them. But the tie-ins can add to the experience.  Some of my favorite scenes from the DC Comics come from unnecessary but awesome Infinite Crisis tie-ins. 

It’s a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, but not in a way where you need to have actually read that to follow what’s going on. 

The build up to Infinite Crisis arguably begins with Identify Crisis or more directly things that happened in the aftermath of Identity Crisis. Identity Crisis itself stands alone perfectly, it’s informed by when in the then current continuity it takes place, but everything you need to know it explains on its own. 

Identity Crisis shares the theme about Nostalgia.  And while CoIIE isn't as a whole about Nostalgia it's eventual sequel being a story with that theme is foreshadowed by it's very last page. 

There were four concurrent miniseries that DC promoted as being the Countdown to Infinite Crisis. 

The OMAC Project written by Greg Rucka.

Villains United written by Gail Simone

Day of Vengeance written by Bill Willingham

Rann-Thanagar War written by Dave Gibbons

But in my view the only one even close to qualifying as necessary, as being the main story of what’s going on in the DC Universe at this time, is the first of those. For one thing the bottom two I still to this day haven’t read and don't feel like I’m missing anything. Villains United is great. I absolutely highly recommend it on its own merits, but the main protagonists it’s following don’t even appear in Infinite Crisis. 

The OMAC Project is the only one featuring DC’s Big Three as prominent characters, it provides what serves as the equivalent to the Red Skies during Infinite Crisis. But most importantly it bridges the gap between Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis while building on their shared theme of Toxic Nostalgia. It is a great story on its own in my view, and also the second most important storyline to Infinite Crisis after Infinite Crisis itself. 

The Infinite Crisis Companion Trade Paperback collects DC Specials that were epilogues to those stories going on during the events of Infinite Crisis. They were needed precisely because Infinite Crisis itself did not tie up all of those storylines loose ends. But the one for OMAC Project is needed mainly just to cap off Sasha Boredeaux’s storyline. 

An Auteurist would suggest other stuff written by Johns this year are what should be considered most important.  I haven’t read his JSA run or his Green Lantern stuff (but it's safe to say Green Lantern Rebirth happens before any of the Countdown storylines start). His Powergirl story from the first four issues of JSA Classified included in the Powergirl Trade Paperback do set up where she is when Infinite Crisis starts and does also add to that theme. JLA Crisis of Conscience is similar, dealing with the aftermath of Identity Crisis in its own way and ending right before Infinite Crisis starts. 

His Teen Titans run’s main tie to what happens in Infinite Crisis is Connor Kent/Superboy’s importance since that’s where his character arc played out which had been his arc since the start of the run in 2003. 

The Future Is Now Trade Paperback first collects a Time Travel arc Teen Titans Vol 3 16-19 which takes place before Identity Crisis (these are as far as I can tell the only comics featuring Time Drake that seem to take place between the deaths of Stephanie Brown and Jack Drake), but it then finished with issues 20-23 an Arc that takes place after Identity Crisis and I would argue is the first real direct Aftermath of Identity Crisis as well as our chronologically first glimpse of the Secret Society of Super Villains. After that comes Teen Titans/Outsiders: Insiders, then The Return of Donna Troy then the framing device of Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2005 and then Teen Titans: Life and Death is events happening concurrent with Infinite Crisis. 

Superman is the main lead character of the DC Universe. So here are the main Superman Trades to recommend. 

Superman: The Healing Touch by Greg Rucka

Superman: In The Name of Gog by Chuck Austen and J.D. Finn

Are the Superman books from right after Identity Crisis. The Day of Vengeance Trade Paperback includes some Superman issues that take place about here as well. 

Superman: Sacrifice ties directly into the biggest climatic event of OMAC Project, and thus much is written by Greg Rucka.

Also regardless of how the cover dates may confuse you, Supergirl:Power the first 5 issues of Supergirl Vol 5 written by Jeph Loeb ends before Infinite Crisis starts.

Superman: Ruin Revealed By Greg Rucka and others.

Superman: Strange Attractors by Gail Simone

Superman: The Journey by Mark Verheiden

Are the Superman books that lead into and were concurrent with Infinite Crisis. 

Superman: Infinite Crisis collects the last Superman comics before the One Year Later leap forward. 

For Wonder Woman this is all happening during Greg Rucka’s run and the concurrent period is collected in Eyes of The Gorgon, Land of The Dead and Mission’s End. 

JLA: World Without a Justice League collects the JLA books during Infinite Crisis which were the end of JLA Vol 1.

The Batman books don’t feel as relevant, references happen but Batman’s mostly in his own little world. Under The Red Hood and War Crimes were the key Batman events this year.  Detective Comics mostly was doing City of Crime, a story that seems like it has to be set before War Games to make sense. Gotham Knights was doing Hush stuff which is best ignored. 

For Tim Drake/Robin the Robin/Batgirl:Fresh Blood, To Kill A Bird and Days of Fire and Madness Trades cover this period, and for Cassandra Cain/Batgirl also Fresh Blood then Kicking Assassins and Destruction’s Daughter. 

Someone Nerdier than I will have to deduce the ideal reading order for all the Comics I mentioned here. 

I'm now caught up on Titans

Clearly there are others who enjoy this show, you don't get 4 seasons on brand recognition alone, but they aren't the people making YouTube videos on it.

I talked about the first 2 seasons of the show on this blog previously giving them probably one of the most glowing reviews they'd had.  Now originally when I tried following season 3 as it aired I got frustrated, I got annoyed at them doing mostly Batman stuff instead of using more villains from the Teen Titans comics.

But just recently I decided to give it another chance, and it's fine, once we got into the latter half of the season Raven and Donna's returns made things a lot more enjoyable.  And also once they started getting into the head of this take on Scarecrow I decided that this is a pretty decent interpretation of the character, different from what we've seen before but still distinctly Scarecrow.

Season 4 is 4 episodes in and doing actual Titans storylines again, so the show is back on track.

This show is far form perfect, it is again far from what I would write, but I still maintain that it captures the Spirit of the Titans Comics I love better then the more universally praised mid 00s Cartoon.

A lot of the Credit for that goes to the Actors, the Actresses they got for both Raven and Donna embody the characters as I've always thought of them perfectly.  And most everyone else does a good job too.  

The show has real Heart to it, it flexes it's Edgy Muscles constantly but as someone who's watched Fate/Zero multiple times this show's darkness is child's play to me.

Party like it's Ninteen Ninty Nine

The previous post on this blog was about early 2000s Anime, but I technically mentioned a couple that are really from 1999, To Heart, Steel Angel Kurumi and the starts of Johto Era Pokemon and One Peice.  When you take stuff back to it's source material even more of what I mentioned there has it's roots in 1999, Comic Party's original Video Game and a lot of stuff based on weekly Shonen Manga that got animated in 2000.

At face value To Heart seems difficult to justify as relevant to the early 2000s at all, it's a single cour show that was done halfway through 99 and based on source material from 97, the others at least had active continuations.  But first of all it's directly relevant to Comic Party, I'd dare say it's almsot required viewing for Comic Party in the same way Haruhi is required viewing for Lucky Star.  But it's also simply that when I look at To Heart I kind of still see 90s style Animation but I more see how much of 2000s and even still 20tens and 2020s Anime is built on foundation that To Heart laid.  And it getting sequels in the mid 2000s proves it was at least in Japan consistently still popular all through the time in-between.

But those shows aren't the only examples of how much Anime in 1999 feels like the 2000s started early, Excel Saga, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Corrector Yui, Ojimajo Doremi, Hunter x Hunter, Digimon Adventure, The Big O, and Turn A Gundam are all interesting examples of shows that started airing in 99 and ended in 2000.  And then for Detecive Conan January of 1999 was the Anime introduction of Ai Hiabara in episode 129 (136-139 of the international numbering).  And on the subject of Source Material for future Anime, Kanon came out in 99 launching Key and adding the next layer to the foundations laid by To Heart.

For the sake of organizing our memories we like to try to define drastic changes in culture as correlating to decades of the Gregorian Calendar, but 1999 sticks out to me as an interesting case study in how culture isn't actually paying attention to calendars when it changes.

As someone who used to be more interested in following Music then I am now, I've always noticed how 1999 was the year Eminem, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson all became stars, all of them are now mostly more famous for stuff they did in the 2000s not to mention how much people who started their careers later were influenced by them.

In the world of Video Games the Sega Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure were released in late 98 but reached the U.S. in 99 thus starting the Sixth Generation of the Console wars.

Pro Wrestling at first glance doesn't seems like it fits what I'm talking but rather the opposite, the first year and a half of 2000s Wrestling feels like the end of 90s era Wrestling.  However I feel like mid 99 was a sever drop in quality for both WWF and WCW, I know I'm nearly alone in this, most pretend WCW stopped being good as soon as Sting vs Hogan was botched and the WWF stayed impeccable till the Invasion storyline was botched, but for me everything I dislike about post Attitude Era wrestling really did start happening in 99.  And of those that so amusingly both Anti Vince Russo people and Pro Vince Russo people will connect the quality drop  that happened in 99 to which company Russo worked for changing, but for me the problems on both sides started a couple months before that, it started in the Summer, October marked a noticeable change in WCW but not so much WWF.

In the world of Western Superhero Comics, the Batman No Man's Land storyline is definitely the beginning of what early 2000s Batman Comics were like, as well as The Titans run that started in 99.  And in the world of adaptations of Superhero Comics Batman Beyond and Spiderman Unlimited changed things.  Sonic Underground feels like it's of a similar zeitgeist to those shows.

When it comes to Theatrically released movies from 1999 there are three that I mainly recall, the first Star Wars Prequel, the first Stephen Sommers Mummy movie and the first Pokémon movie.  Again all three were first not lasts.

In Japan the first Pokémon movie was in 98, but in the U.S. the franchise as a whole made it's debut in late 98 and I'm pretty sure it didn't catch my attention till it was 99 already.

I finally saw the Titans TV show

I'm as a much of a Batman fan as I am largely for what's been done in adaptations, my favorite actual Comic Book franchise has always been the Teen Titans.  I have fondness for their Silver/early Bronze Age incarnation, I consider the Wolfman/Perez stuff from the 80s and early 90s among the most important ground breaking comics of all time, I like what I've read of the turn of the century run Linkara considers his favorite incarnation, but my personal Nostalgia is for the Geof Johns run of the mid 2000s.

This personal investment in the Titans and their lore has had me at times pickier about their adaptations then I am of any other Comic Book adaptations.  Thus the 00s Cartoon so many people my age are nostalgic for I always resented and the DCAMU Titans aren't much better.  Both have good qualities I can recognize but they don't speak to the Titans fan within me.

This Titans adaptation is still not the Teen Titans show I would have written.  But all things considered, I love it, underneath everything that should at face value turn me off it has proven that it understands the heart of the Titans comics in ways none of those other adaptations have.

Look I get it, everyone hates DC stuff being dark and gritty now, and for the films I'm more inclined to understand.  But on Live Action TV you have the CW shows that have a much more MCU tone, especially Legends which is practically Silver Age.  So let these writers experiment with doing something darker then a big budget Hollywood blockbuster would ever be allowed to even when technically R rated.

I very heavily enjoyed season 1, but season 2 was even better.  Though frankly I kind of think this show is better watched as if it were one 24 episode season.  To everyone who has a Michael Baily attitude to edgy DC stuff, just grit your teeth and bare through it, trust me the pay off will be more then worth it.

The most important thing about the Titans is that it's about Family, a Found Family to be exact.  That's the core that I feel is missing from every Animated property with the Teen Titans name.  On this show that theme was becoming apparent in only 3 episodes and it really really earns it by the end, but it is a slow burn in a lot of ways.

Donna Troy was my original favorite Comic Book character.  Sometimes I have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that the amount of time Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain have been about equal to her has now long dwarfed the time it was just Donna.  And one thing that has repeatedly frustrated me is Donna not even being in Teen Titans adaptations allegedly because of weird complicated rights issues.  A decade ago I never would have imagined that I'd get to see a proper Donna Troy in Live Action before Animation, but that's what has happened.  And she was great, she was perfect, this is exactly the character I have been a fan of for longer then YouTube has existed.  And in her I honestly think we have the best version of the Wonder Woman lore put to screen so far, I like Gal Gadot's movie and I liked Bloodlines but both are too New52 influenced for my taste.

Deathstroke has been adapted a lot, on prior live action TV shows and in animation and even has a Cameo on the Big Screen now.  But the point of why Deathstroke works has been repeatedly missed time and time again making him just some generic mercenary.  This Titans series in season 2 finally got Deathstroke right because it included Jericho and Rose and while there are deviations it ultimately does include them properly.

Another comic book element never seen in adaptations before is Dick Grayson's career as a Cop, whether you like it or hate it, it's interesting to finally see it included.

And I think there is plenty to enjoy about this show for people who aren't all that specifically into the Titans.  

KyleKallgreenBHH made that video with the segment where he via Civil War commented on how Superhero stories can bring together things from different genres in ways that would seem randomly nonsensical anywhere else.  This show is also a great example of that, in season 1 the main plot is about Raven so it's an Omen/Haunting of Molly Hartley kind of story, but where else does that kind of story throw in urban crime fighting vigilantes, a space alien, a woman connected to the Amazons of Greek Mythology and a green haired were-tiger?

I hope we get a season 3 before 2020 is over.

Update: Binging

I think I enjoyed this show more then many partly because I binged it.  Season 1 in particular seems like it was written under the pretense of following the Netflix model but then DC changed their minds on how they wanted to handle their streaming service.  But even beyond that I think I'd have been less okay with how season 1 ended if I didn't get to watch season 2 right away, if I spent a year with that being where it ended I'd have felt a little annoyed.

A season 3 is confirmed already, should I wait and binge it too?  I think sometimes the difference between binging and week by week viewing matters less once you're already invested.  Like with the Raildex Anime, those shows definitely work better binged so I'm glad I binged it all the first two easons of both shows in November of 2018, but now that I'm invested I can follow Railgun T week by week pretty well.

A lot of complaints about this show are pretty silly.

Dick has had rage issues in the Comics, I've read scenes where he punches the dashboard of his own car.  And like it or not there has been prior precedent for writing him as being more willing to kill under the right circumstances then Bruce.

And the complaints about how little of the show is them actually doing traditional Superhero stuff and being apart so often, but that's frequently exactly what the Teen Titans comics are actually like, and generally what the ones I'm most fond of are like.  I like that this show isn't forcing itself to follow a traditional formula.  I suppose some will cynically compare this to Game of Thrones, but it's closer to season 2 of True Blood where everything does come together at the end of the season.

Will I watch The Perfectionists? (The PLL Spin Off)

Given how I still call Pretty Little Liars at it's peak the best Western TV show of all time, and how much I invested in following it for seven years.  It's pretty surprising that I'm now pretty uncertain I'll even bother with it's spin off.

Part of it is how falling down the Anime rabbit hole has made me mostly give up on Western TV altogether.  I'd also never have imagined a day would come when I wouldn't even be following the shows based on DC Comic Book properties.  (Titans I will give a shot since it was in theory what I wanted the most, but I'm still pretty Ambivalent about it.)

Part of it is previous attempts at giving us a PLL spin off or sister show didn't work out well, Ravenswood and The Lying Game.

But mostly, it's what I've already talked about regarding how PLL's biggest fumble soured it's legacy.

What this spin off needs to do to win me over is provide us some positive Trans representation to balance out the Charlotte debacle.  Preferably a character or characters played by actual Trans actors.

If I hear good things in that department, I'll give it a try.  Otherwise a PLL spin off that doesn't have a Hastings in it is of no interest to me.

Infinity War has reignited my excitement for Superhero movies.

It's difficult to explain my feelings here.  Since on an individual basis I have generally been liking the Phase Three MCU films the best so far, and yet at the same time was kind of tiring of them as a whole.

But I really wanted the DC Cinematic Universe to be better as someone who's more of a DC fan.  And so when I wound up feeling disillusioned with Batman V Superman it began a slow fading out of my interest in the genre.  And it helped that my discovery of Anime gave me something to fill that void.

It would never have been completely gone, as Batman in particular is my oldest Fandom and and for a long time this genre was the center piece of my Geekdom.  But the last three DC movies were all ones I left the theaters with initially high praise for but that I slowly soured on.  And that it's been basically the same with the new Star Wars movies had me feeling that I may have only Anime to rely on.

But Infinity War was amazing, it managed to truly feel like a Crisis level Event done on the Big Screen in Live Action with Live Actors.

And the knowledge that Donna Troy will be coming to the Titans show they're making also livens me up.

So my investment in this genre is renewed.  Anime is still gonna gonna be what this Blog talks about the most.  But I no longer feel like it was going to inevitably become an Anime only blog.

I just saw the Teen Titans Judas Contract animated movie.

It was enjoyable, the films in this New52 series seem to get better as they go along.  Much of it in this case however is drawing on the original Judas Contract story, more so then the 2000s Cartoon did.

The lack of Jericho I expected.  They tried to make Damien's history with Drathstroke in this universe relevant to the story even though it really still wasn't.

The biggest disappointment for me was them flat out not showing the battle between Terra and Raven.  That was one of the few things I enjoyed about the 2000s show's version of the story.  And the main moment in this particular film where I thought "if only it wasn't limited to 70 minutes" again.  But then I noticed this run-time is 84 minutes, so they are letting them get a little longer now, but I still think at least a full 90 is necessary for a story like this.

But I have to talk about Terra's characterization, once again we have an adaptation of the story trying to make her less unrepentantly evil.  Now it's weird of me to complain about this since I in-general like depth in characters and like when villains can be redeemed.  In fact that came up in a recent Reblog I did on Tumblr.  However it only bothers me when a story goes out of it's way to send an anti-redemption message.  Terra was a character who never sought redemption, and that really made her stand out compared to other mole/traitor stories in this genre.

However what really makes their characterization of Terra odd here is how they are throwing this aspect into it, even though some moments they want to have play out exactly like in the original Comic.  And so that makes some of Terra's inconsistencies seem less like she's conflicted and more like two different writing philosophies were behind this character.

We got a tease of Donna Troy at the end, I'll watch another of these Teen Titans films if it means we get more of her.

And that leads me to the subject of casting.  None of the main cast of this film, protagonists or antagonists, really wowed me.

Now with these New52 films I don't know how much of the problem is hiring people who don't specialize in voice acting, since I mostly don't even know who these actors are.  It may just as much be my personal preference for the voice acting done in Anime dubs.  And this is a great film to return to that subject on because....

Crispin Freeman was in it, as two characters.  I recognized him immediately as "Scientist" a character who spoke in only one scene he was in.  That moment was the most my ears perked up listening to this, and it was all wasted.  In the credits I noticed he was also Speedy in the 5 years earlier flashback at the beginning.  In that role he showed he had more range then even I thought.  Still it was another small role.  To WB/DC the cream of the crop of Anime Dub actors is merely a filler actor for roles you won't waste an expensive star on.

Crispin Freeman should have been Brother Blood, just think about how awesome he is as roles like Kotomine Kirei, he'd have been perfect for Brother Blood.  Instead we got the lamest most uninspired cult leader I've ever heard.

This Slade had his moments, but I still prefer Ron Pearlman, an opinion that arguably goes against the general philosophy I've expressed here.

All of the Titans themselves could have been improved by Anime actors.  This Raven in particular is such a disappointment to me, and not like it is for others who are nostalgic for Terra Strong's Raven.  Tara Strong is great but Raven was not her best role.  In my opinion we still don't have an ideal Raven voice.  There are several Anime Dub actresses who could make a great Raven.

Now if Warner does want to take advice for the future.  Get Kari Walgren for Donna Troy, a voice similar to what she does for Saber/Artoria could be great for Troia.

Trade Paperbacks DC needs to do

You'll be surprised how many story-lines DC hasn't done Trade Paperbacks for yet.  I'm going to list some I really want to see.

The Battle of Metropolis/Fall of Metropolis story-line that spanned 9 issues of Superman comics in 94.  It ended the Alexander Luther Jr story-line, and was the next major Superman event after the Death and Return of Superman.

The 3 part story that originally introduced Spoiler/Stephanie Brown from 1992 in Detective Comics.  Throw some other stuff in to elaborate on it, like early Cluemaster stories to explain him, or later Stephanie centric stories from various Secret Files and Origins books, like the one where she sums up her history to her new born child.

Dead Reckoning, a Batman story that was going on in Detective Comics about the same time Hush was in the Batman title.  One that has similarities to it but that some fans liked better.

The Noctruna Arc from the Pre-Crisis 80s Batman Comics, that would probably take more then one Volume.  And then one including the Batman story of Detective Comics 566 and Batman 400, the last Pre-Crisis Batman story.

The New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans comics that deal with the aftermath of The Judas Contract, issues 45-55.

And I'd like to see a sort of prequel Trade for Bruce Wayne Murderer/Fugitive chronicling his relationships with Vesper Fairshild and Sasha.

I'd also like some Infinity Inc and Pre-Crisis Wonder Woman story-lines from the 80s.

And some Bronze Age Supergirl story-lines.

I could also complain about how many TPBs have left out things they should have included.

I wish the Who is Donna Troy TPB had also included the original Origin of Wonder Girl story from Teen Titans 22 in 1969 which was also written by Marv Wolfman.

Even the new two volume collection of War Games that includes many things the old trades didn't left out Batgirl 54 which is the last time we see Stephanie before the inciting incident.  Also Catwoman 33 and 37 should have been included for the Prologue and Epilogue parts.  And Gotham Central 25 is also an important part of the epilogue.

I love watching Fan Trailers on Youtube

Most of the ones I've watched are DC based with a heavy bias for Batman.  I have a playlist on Youtube of many of my favorites.  The first video on that Playlist is one I wrote myself, I had the idea in my head for awhile, but I have no real video editing skills, but because I made a thread on the subject on IMDB SolyentBrak1 wound up editing the idea together for me and he did a great job.  I have other Brak fan trailers on the playlist as well.

Most in that playlist are Fan Edited trailers, but there are a few full on Fan Films that are really just trailers like Grayson.

I first discovered them in the era of trailers being made to speculate what the third Nolan movie would be, The Riddler was popular.

I've seen many more then what I've put on the Playlist.  I want to mention a few things some do that for me personally at least take me out of it, and so I'd recommend avoiding.

Using any audio from Animated projects, whether voice over, dialogue or even music.  Even if I haven't seen the animated project being used it always sounds like a cartoon to me.  Plus I want the voices to match the physical actors.  Whether it's using voices from the Dark Knight Returns cartoon, or Flashpoint, or even Amanda Waller from Assault on Arkham or the DCAU, that actress could be a good live action Waller, but from those projects her voice always sounds like animated voice acting.  So for DKR or Flashpoint it may be an easy way to get direct quotes of the Comic in your trailer, but it's just not worth the awkwardness.  The worst offenders are those Batman/Dracula trailers that use the narrator from the commercials for The Batman vs Dracula.  The best Batman/Dracula trailer is the one in my playlist with Burton's Batman and Hammer's Dracula.

Every rule has one or two exceptions they say.  In this case a lot of people would like to see Jensen Ackles as a Live Action Jaosn Todd/Red Hood, and in fan trailers based on that premise using Jensen's voice work from the Under The Red Hood animated film tends to work.  The voice does match the actor, and I think also Jensen simply wasn't doing it like usual voice acting, which would normally tick me off in an animated film but his performance was good.  However even in some of those if any other actor's voices from that same movie is used it ruins it, I like Bruce Greenwood's Batman voice, but I don't wanna hear that when I'm looking at Ben Affleck or Christian Bale.

Also using visuals from Video Games like DC Online or Injustice, or the Arkham games.  Unless it's something that absolutely would be fully CG in a LA film anyway like a Darkside or Doomsday, or maybe Brainiac, that just never looks right.  And even then it needs to be a really high quality graphics video game, PS3 level at least.  But I've seen trailers do it for Batman and The Flash.  And using the Black Mask or Deathstroke from the Arkahm Origns trailer is really popular.  To me it always stands out awkwardly.

It amazes me how often someone makes a bad decision in the music/score department.  There are now a few Superman/Batman trailers premised on it staring Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton.  Most use neither's Iconic score, one uses the Williams score but for Batman uses the Nolan theme, that simply doesn't match.  Keaton without the Elfman score works sometimes, but if that specific nostalgic crossover is the gimmick, I wanna hear both Iconic scores.

Those are my constructive criticisms.  Now I'm going to throw out into the ether some ideas I'd like to see that haven't been done yet, not that I can find anyway.

The potential is out there to make a decent Dark Knight Returns trailer using material from the Nolan Batman films and Batman V Superman.  They all take some elements.  Begins has thanks to the fear toxin the mot surreal moments, TDK has the gun touting Batman copycats.  Rises has the cop saying "you're in for a show tonight" line, and Alfred talking about Bane being in his Prime is similar to what Alfred says in DKR about the Mutant Leader.  And BvS has Batman fighting Superman with many of the same elements, and a nuked Superman being healed by the Sun.

In costume which Batman you use shouldn't matter, but I'd favor Affleck who looks older for Bruce Wayne, yet Michael Cain for Alfred due to the scene I mentioned.  And Snyder's take on the killing of the Waynes and falling into the cave fits better, just leave out him flying.  Only appearance of Harvey Dent I'd put in the trailer is him saying "There is no Escape from this".  Also throw in stuff from the Gotham Tonight special features segments to help get the whole Batman in the news vibe going.

Leto's Joker would fit this more then Ledger's.  Use scenes from Suicide Squad trailers, or that Music Video.  Use the Gotham skyline from Gotham on Fox since it has those twin towers similar to yet distinct from the World Trade center.  Include stock footage of Ronald Reagan as President on TV.  And throw in the Bat Demon from the bat-cave in Batman Forever and it's deleted scenes, also use Forever's establishing shots of Arkham.  And you could make a pretty convincing DKR live action trailer without any need to cheat by taking audio from the animated movies.

A few cool Teen Titans fan trailers have been made, they can show us where to start.

But my main disappointment is none are able to include either Wonder Girl.  You'd have to be creative but you can find a way, there was a time when we had Gal Gadot as WW in fan trailers when we hadn't seen her in costume yet.  I want a trailer that looks like either the Wolfman/Perez 80s Teen Titans, or the Geoff Johns 2003-2006 Teen Titans line ups.  (I don't want just the animated series line up.) Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy/Changling and Starfire (and maybe Jericho) are part of both those, they go from being the new team members to the older ones.

Troian Bellisaro has become an ideal pick to me for Donna Troy.  I haven't seen much of what she's done outside Pretty Little Liars (just the two episode of NCIS).  But I know on that show in Season 4 Episode 1 we see her investigating a burned down building, in a TT fan trailer that could easily make fans think of the orphanage in Who Is Donna Troy?

There was a TV spot for that old Cartoon Network show that had what looked like a convincing real life Titan's Tower.  Perhaps you could throw that in.

But you have to use the Arrowverse Deathtroke over Smallville's horrible one, (or maybe the DCEU one that is now coming soon, but on Arrow he interacts with potential Titans characters).

The existing trailers have a tendency to mix and match the line up, I'd prefer to avoid that also.  If the Robin is Dick Grayson then Donna should be Wonder Girl, Wally West should be Kid Flash (we have him in Costume now from the Flash season 3 previews) and Roy Harper as Speedy/Arsenal, and only this older lineup should have Terra.  If Tim Drake is the Robin then Cassandra Sandmack should be Wonder Girl, Bart Allen should be Impulse/Kidflash, Mia/Thea for Speedy and have Conner Kent/Kon-El/Superboy.  Bart and Conner would have to be taken from Smallville.

I used to think the ideal Batman Beyond fan trailer needed Clint Eastwood as Batman, but he's more DKR Batman, which I do prefer to see as distinct.

There is a trailer on my Playlist for a Dark Knight Returns film starting a contemporary Michael Keaton.  It's cool but doesn't feel like it references anything specific from the comic.  And Keaton simply isn't a harsh enough character in any role for that.

But it got me thinking that a version of Batman Beyond with Michael Keaton could be cool.

I still like Stephen R McQueen for Terry McGinnis (and maybe Chad McQueen for his father), Malese Jow for Dana Tan but perhaps Janel Parrish for a second choice.  And either Jessica Parker Kennedy or Zendaya for Max Gibson.  And Sasha Petierse for Chelsea Cunningham.

Angie Harmon for Barbara Gordon because she played an authority figure on Law and Order, so maybe she could be the second rare exception after Jensen Akcles.  In case you don't know she voiced Barbara in Return of The Joker.

Not entirely sure what to do for The Jokers.

Perhaps Cameo Appearances from modern Kim Bassinger, Michelle Pheifer, and Billy Dee Williams, or the actor who played Knox if he's done anything recently.

I don't have a compelling suggestion for Derek Powers or his son just yet.

I like the idea of taking the original The Dark Knight teaser trailer and replacing it's blue tint with red.  The Nolan bat-symbol is similar in shape to the Beyond one.

Some Batman Beyond fan trailers have already started using Beyond Fan Films for Terry in Costume.

Last but not least, Crisis on Infinite Earths or Infinite Crisis or anything vaguely like that.  Multiverse ideas.

These became more popular over the last year, Season 2 of The Flash provided the key exposition source material needed.  And some made already I quite enjoy.  But none have used George Reeves.  I want him as the Earth-Two Superman, he was in color in the latter seasons.  Earth-Two Superman is the most important, he, Kara and Barry make the key heroic sacrifices.  George Reeves was a WWII vet and had the right basic look by the time the show was in color.

And Lynda Carter is naturally the Earth-Two Wonder Woman.

Some more of my thoughts on the DC Cinematic Multiverse I discuses in my last Batman V Superman post.

And with no particular idea of what fan trailer to feature her in, I've recently thought of Ashley Benson for Stephanie Brown.

So those are some ideas I'm throwing out there.  Feel free to use them.  Let me know about any Fan Trailers you've made or seen you think I might like and if I do I'll add em to the Playlist and promote em.

Hollywood and The Titans of Myth

In Hollywood movies based on Greek Mythology, the term Titan keeps being applied to entities that don't actually seem like the Titans at all.  But rather more primal monsters, even though they are refereed to as the parents of the Olympian gods who are shown as idealized Super Powered humans.

The basis seems to come from intentionally confusing them with the other offspring of Ouranos and Gaea.  The Cylcopses, the Hundredhanders, the Gigantes and Typhon.  They are very inhuman creatures, like the beings created by or corrupted by Morgoth in Tolkien's works.  But in the actual Mythology the Titans are defined as being not like those monsters, they were the successful offspring, and were entities very much like their Olympian children, entities that would in Tolkien more resemble the Valar.

This trend started at least as early as Disney's Hercules animated movie.  Where in addition to making Hades seem like the Devil, they also used the word Titans when what the climax was clearly actually based on was the legend of Herakles helping the Olympians fight off the Gigantes.  The Gigantarchy not the The Titanarchy.

Then there was The Immortals, a very garbled version of the Theseus legend.  Where the name Hyperion is given to a Human king who should have been Minos.  And the Titans just look like very big Orcs.

And in Wrath of The Titans, the only entity we see who shares a name with a Titan is Cronos.  But this Cronos is more like Typhon.  And in Clash of The Titans which that is a sequel to the remake, the justification for putting Titans in the title is the Kraken.  The Kraken isn't actually Greek at all but exploration era sea faring folklore derived from Norse legends.  The monster Perseus actually slays at Joppa is the Ketos/Cetus, who was not a Titan.

All this is perhaps done to try and give Greek Mytholgoy a more Lovecraftian vibe.  While some Greek mythical ideas likely influenced Lovecraft, in Greek myth the age before the known world was a Golden Age, not the primal demonic wasteland of Lovecraft and the Buffyverse.

A few times they've just been depicted a Giants (like that one Xena episode).  Likely influenced by Christians associating them with The Nephilim/Genesis 6, which itself is because the word Giant comes from Gigantes.  This trend probably helped inspire the anime Attack on Titan.

DC Comics however has depicted The Titans of Myth how they were (in-spite of getting plenty else about Greek Mythology wrong).  There were different story-lines for them between Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis, but in both were depicted a plausible parents of The Olympians.

Wonder Woman is the initial basis for bringing Greek Mythology into the DC Universe, but The Titans of Myth are usually involved with the Teen Titans.  Their Pre-Crisis appearances are collected in New Teen Titans Archives Vol 2.  And for Post-Crisis appearances get New Teen Titans: Who Is Donna Troy and Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Death and Return of Donna Troy.

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.

Here is why I'm upset about the upcoming Supergirl show

I'd been thinking for awhile, and had expressed on IMDB, how I kind of don't trust a channel other then the CW or ABC Family to do a Teen or High School/Collage hour long Drama.  Other Networks are all about being "Adult", especially the non Cable ones, and Glee has no appeal to me.  CBS in particular is a channel that seems to care only about Cop and Lawyer shows.

Then I read that this Supergirl show will start with her being already 24.  And I was like THAT'S NOT SUPERGIRL, THAT'S SUPERWOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All the Supergirl stories I like from the Comics, from all the various incarnations of Supergirl, are all set with her either in High School or Collage.

It's like her being a female Superman is all they really cared about.  24 is literally the same age Clark Kent was when Smallville ended.

Supergirl was an opportunity to do something like the Early Seasons of Smallville but without the extended Prequel burden or the No Flights no Tights limitation.

I think that's the source of the problem though.  Smallville even though it is by any objective standard the most successful Comic Book based TV show of all time.  Is for some reason known for it's Hatedom rather then it's Fandom.  So they don't want to be confused with Smallville, instead they're just gonna create a show more likely to resemble later Smallvile then early Smallville, which is when the show's quality took a nose dive.

They should have done Powergirl with the premise described for this show.  But that name isn't as marketable.

Supergirl being a Female Superman is a small part of her appeal.  It's also being a younger superhero.  Supergirl could've been the new Buffy or Secret World of Alex Mack, or Pretty Little Liars with Superpowers.  Any of those would have been interesting.  I wanted the drama of her possibly going to school with Nastalia Luthor or Lena Thorul.

But making it so the character's only difference from Superman is being a female Hero just draws attention to how they could have instead given a chance to a Superheroine that isn't linked by name to a male hero.  Like Stargirl, or Zatana, or Black Canary, or heck just give another try to a Wonder Woman pilot.

First Teen Titans ticks me off that it won't have Donna Troy, and now this.  And Gotham as much as I love it keeps screwing over Montoya.  At least Flash is good and Arrow is improving.