Old Snake (MGS 4 Reflections)

METAL GEAR SOLID 4 SPOILERS


I finished Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots a few days ago and wanted to let the experience soak in for a while before commenting. Like the best entertainment works, it stays on your mind well after completion. That might be more for the gameplay upgrades and knowledge that it's Solid Snake's last adventure (barring prequels or some wild explanation for his continuing survival) than necessarily being the hammer blow that was MGS 3 with its powerful ending for the Boss and Big Boss.

The Bosses

I enjoy the whole MGS series but looking back on Guns of the Patriots, I am surprised by how much referencing of the past was done. Every boss pays homage to previous games' characters to the point that some of the fights felt a little too much as though they were remixes of fights versus characters I'd played before instead of being something new. Raging Raven was my favorite of the four beasts and the only one that didn't immediately remind me of another installment's boss battle mechanics. Perhaps it's because she's so different from Vulcan Raven of MGS 1 in character design and attack style.

As for the other three beasts, the Laughing Octopus fight was more fun when it was the Fear (MGS 3), Crying Wolf (love that name) was a bigger version of the Sniper Wolf (MGS 1) battle, and Screaming Mantis was a rematch with Psycho Mantis. Plus, Snake gets his chance to shoot Vamp after Raiden had the fun in MGS 2. I'll admit Snake vs. Vamp's throwing knives was enjoyable, although it's all about cleaning up the second game's unfinished business. You even get to take care of business I didn't know was unfinished with the Metal Gear Rex vs. Ray battle that was a complete blast, especially since it seemed both were pretty trashed at the ends of their respective games.

The finale leaves us with Liquid vs. Snake in a hand-to-hand that should stand as the most brutal fight between two old guys you'll ever see. The cut scene preceding the bout would've been enough violence for most, but no, the player still gets to control Snake to get in more shots. The way the whole thing turns into a trip through Liquid/Ocelot's struggles with Snake over the series' course accompanied by the corresponding game's score is beautiful.

Wrap It All Up

SPOILERS (STILL)

Now the endings for these characters...some work and some are a bit of a head scratcher. The game tells you all along the way that Snake's death is coming, so the surprise is more how he arrives at his end. I'm still a little amazed he received the opportunity for a peaceful walk away from all the war and violence, but the character certainly earned it. His coming to terms with a certain someone at the graveyard dropped my jaw.

The, "Where did that come from?!" moments are provided by a few of the supporting players. Meryl's marriage...I guess it works, but part of me still isn't sold by the development. Overall though, the character's MGS 4 design and her stepping up as more of an experienced soldier had me thinking she'd be fun to play as in a future game (possibly adopting the Solid Snake codename to pay homage to him and keep the franchise's name going with Solid in the title).

As for the rest, Otacon mourns Naomi over the course of the story with some unfortunate crying along the lines of Spider-Man 3 level enough's enough. He's Snake's friend till the end though and he gets points for that and taking care of Sunny. Drebin filling in his own background and future plans was appreciated as well. His character was probably the most original addition to the MGS saga in part 4. And Jack/Raiden was pretty much a complete turnaround from the MGS 2 induced hate of his character. Yes, he borrowed heavily from Gray Fox's coolness with the cyborg ninja redesign (done in a new way I loved) , but his happy family reunion was also well done, particularly complemented by his son's comment about him being like a superhero.

Roll Credits

There's still much to be said about this game, but the key is that it pays off so much more for MGS veterans. Guns of the Patriots is a complete thrill on its own with many great qualities, but I'll remember it for being the best example I've seen of wrapping up a very complex series with so many storylines while simultaneously upgrading gameplay control of Snake to its best level yet. Hopefully, Hideo Kojima, Yoji Shinkawa, and company are already planning their next title.

Sneaking in Late

I grabbed a PS3 with the MGS 4 system bundle during its release week a few months back, but only now have I sat down with the epic game packed with my console. Life made it hard to dive into a long game and eager to play through something start to finish, I snagged Heavenly Sword. An enjoyable, quick play that let me see some of what the system can do gaming-wise when I wasn't taking in Blu-ray films' beauty.

MGS4 SPOILERS

Finally, I settled in to stealth action my way through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. A series vet of the Solid generation at least (MGS 1-3), the trailers taunted my mind for months with how gorgeous the game looks while equally amazing changes to the controls were less hyped yet significant. It's much easier to accidentally slip into Rambo mode instead of running when spotted. I blew through the first half of the game's second act (South America) by continually getting discovered by PMC soldiers then fighting my way by. Previous games left you pretty much waiting to die when your presence was revealed. The resulting low ration count does suggest stealth is still the road to walk (as well as telling of my averager shooter skill).

Soon as I'm wondering where all the need for stealth went, reverting back to sneaking makes the rest of Act 2 a less nerve-racking (Where's the next ration already?!) experience. This is followed by a very CIA espionage movie feeling third act that drives home how different every act will be. Currently, I'm just digging into the unexpected return to Shadow Moses with deja vu all over the place. Amazing to see the old locations graphically polished to PS3 level as Snake comes down the hill in Alaska while MGS 1's end song, "The Best is Yet to Come, " plays. That's a superb gaming moment.

Cannot predict where it will all go exactly as I play roughly the last quarter of the game. Maybe it feels quick because I know this is Solid Snake's last game from what creator Hideo Kojima has said, but this installment is flying by compared with how long it took me to work through any of the previous titles.

"...just an old killer..."

Music from all directions

This past week had sort of an odd feel to it musically, anyway. Right now, I find myself listening to a Smashing Pumpkins song ("The Beginning is the End is the Beginning") thanks to the Watchmen trailer and then a Vashti Bunyan track ("Train Song") thanks to a Reebok NFL commercial with players crossing a desert wilderness of all things. Weird to find music new to me in those ways, but I'm enjoying both.

The Dark Knight

The giant fun pile of this week continues to be The Dark Knight as it has been since its release. I saw it for the third time in theaters today, and I enjoy the film more and more. The financial success has been amazing considering how dark the film is with a PG-13 toeing the line up to the edge of being an R. It's been encouraging that a franchise and character have been allowed to take a different direction than the standard lighter, all-audiences fare while also mixing genres. Seeing a superhero crime thriller combine the best of the comics with the best Christopher Nolan and his fellow writers can create has been one of my favorite all time movie experiences.

The Dark Knight doesn't nail every little thing I'd have liked, but any gripe I can come up with isn't major in light of everything the movie does well. I miss the scenes from Begins of Batman with the cape wrapped around him, but I love the improved costume design overall. Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart continue the perfect casting of the Nolan/Bale reboot. The Batpod, unlike the Tumbler which I warmed to slowly after seeing Begins, had me excited before seeing the movie and delivered with a terrific sense of speed and that beautiful confrontation versus the semi. It's impossible to pick a favorite scene with Batman in Hong Kong, so many Joker moments, Batman mourning as he finds the burnt coin, the human terminator look of Two-Face, Gordon's closing narration, and a list that goes on till you realize the whole movie is a ride that must be repeated to take everything in.

A couple moments that always got a great crowd reaction every time I saw the film:

1. "How about a magic trick?"
2. Batpod vs. Joker's semi - First everybody is wowed by the truck flip then they love when Batman puts his front tire up a building exterior to spin the pod back around. Makes me smile every time.

Such a memorable way to finish off the best summer of movies I can remember. Here's hoping the fall and winter have offerings to make the year as a whole something special.

Speed Racer (near the top in quality at least)

Of the three big summer movies I've seen so far, I'd rank their quality as follows:

1. Iron Man
2. Speed Racer
3. Indy 4

And it's pretty much a tie between those top two. Yeah, that's right. I enjoyed Speed Racer aka "the blockbuster no one's seeing" as much as Iron Man. The anime adaptation is dazzling aside from some odd choices to rough the content up to PG level instead of G. The entire cast works well for me with a fun plot actually tackled with some depth for an all ages film. Racing will never be as entertaining in reality as what this movie offers either. Forget watching drivers turn left for hours, because nothing compares to Speed and Racer X using jump jacks and screaming through the gorgeous tracks full of loops, jumps and drops.

As for Indy, it's too soon for spoilers but Indiana Jones 4 sadly left a lot to be desired from a franchise of that level. The cast all did a fine job with a script that didn't give them nearly enough to do. Not enough fights (barely any use of Indy's weapons either), a close to infamous Tarzan sequence for Shia LaBeouf, Mummy style insect scenes and especially a lame sci-fi quest all bring the film down. There is some very good fun to be had here, but the missed opportunity overshadows it. An Indiana Jones film can be much more than what we got.

Loaded Summer

As a film fan, this summer has to be the most interesting in quite a while. Iron Man has already kicked things off with a solid start, and now I'm planning on checking out Speed Racer before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Indy 4, short title fans) hits in a couple weeks. I absolutely love years with plenty of movies to see, and I'm looking at my personal count of films seen in '08 being well over a half dozen by summer's end.

Unless you're a film critic, most people only see a handful of films in theaters every year. I was no different with an average year providing around 5 or 6 movies to leave the house for until 2007 when that number went up to a dozen. There were also a couple that had to be tried on DVD because local theaters never got them. It was a blast to see that many films from various genres, although only half were ones I'd watch again or consider buying on DVD. The experience of averaging an intriguing new film or more a month to view was welcome and made me wonder both if that could happen again and if more of them could be higher quality.

This year started slowly with a pair of smaller films (Be Kind, Rewind and Leatherheads), but the list even only going through July is incredible with much more appealing blockbusters than recent summers. I took in Iron Man already and here's the rest of what I'll be checking out (or at least trying to in the case of smaller films):

Speed Racer
Son of Rambow (currently a victim of being crowded out by bigger films in my area)
Indy 4
The Incredible Hulk
Wall-E
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight

After all that, there's still the so-called Oscar season which had quite a lot to enjoy last time out. May just top my personal record for trips to the theater again, and I love it.

New York Comic Con

Finished browsing through the news avalanche from the NYCC on Newsarama, CBR, etc. and adaptations into movies and games were the most interesting stories. Marvel and DC are all about the big events right now, but more teases aren't really changing reading plans for me personally. Secret Invasion and Batman: RIP are reads (for now), Trinity will get a look for the Bagley art, and Final Crisis is a pass unless word of mouth changes my mind (dropped the last Crisis pretty early on).

The last couple events that I followed start to finish were rough. Civil War was worth it for the McNiven art covering for an okay story. Then I and plenty others were burned by Spider-Man: One More Day with nice pencils by Quesada but the story itself acting as a good jumping off point. Since then Amazing Spider-Man has become a title I check for the occasional penciller of interest, but the stories don't grab me.

The most interesting developments in the last few days were the announcement of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows for every gaming system (but c'mon, you want it for a current gen system) along with movie news. I missed the last movie game, but Ultimate Spider-Man is still one of my favorite comic games. The WoS trailer was pretty wild with Spider-Man looking to be in the middle of a big Marvel universe event instead of the solo tale these kinds of games are usually set in.

On the movie front are a bunch of descriptions of new trailers and/or scenes that aren't online yet for The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. Not that I mind being unable to view them yet, since anymore I'm simply ready to see the movies and avoid being spoiled. The summer blockbuster season has already lined up around half a dozen films I want to see or am at least considering. Can't wait!

Leatherheads

This film turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Going in, it seemed as though George Clooney was simply seeking out a project with a return to the feel of his work in the hilarious O Brother, Where Art Thou? Actors Stephen Root and Wayne Duvall even rejoin him with small roles, but Leatherheads ends up standing on its own as something unusual. It never reaches the level of O Brother (probably my favorite all time comedy), while still managing to be more than a pale imitator. I didn't bust out laughing constantly, but Leatherheads is a fun watch with fine performances carrying the film along. Being a football fan (as I am) helps slightly to add to the enjoyment, however Clooney, John Krasinski, Renee Zellweger and excellent support from the small roles are what make this one work.

Clooney did a fine job capturing the 1920's romantic comedy charm with that era's pro football being the focus of the setting, but there are also scenes set in a newspaper office, a speakeasy, etc. The convenient thing about those old leather helmets is that we also get great looks at everyone's faces without that pesky face mask. Period films may not be for everyone, although how someone won't watch one once in a while amazes me.

Leatherheads isn't bogged down as strictly being for sports film fans or for romantic comedy goers. The latter genre is usually not on my radar but worked well here with the three leads playing off each other nicely. Even as a football fan, plenty of sports movies turn me off by being predictable and/or overly sentimental. Leatherheads avoids that by focusing on the fun characters and romantic comedy take instead of doing the cliche "coach handing down life lessons" story.

Old Man Logan

Ah, dystopia. The Dark Knight Returns style future looks at Marvel icons continue (also see Kaare Andrews homage-ized Spider-Man: Reign) in June with Mark Millar and Steve McNiven bringing the story, "Old Man Logan," to the character's eponymous comic, Wolverine, with #66. Millar's teases in interviews have me interested and cringing a little at the same time. Seeing a world where the villains won and discovering what made Wolverine give up the super hero life and simply be Logan both sound intriguing. From there, the descriptions provided by Millar (especially his hints about the Hulk) go downhill. Fortunately, Steve McNiven is the big draw with preview art of older Wolverine that sells me even though his Civil War, 4, and Amazing Spider-Man work already had me planning on a buy.

Does your job have an off-season?

Today I saw a story on Reelz Channel about the summer film season filling with so many movies all wanting an opening weekend of their own that now the first of the big money movies regularly hits in early May. These stories always make me think about why these release seasons get established. Most people have to work year round, so wouldn't they be looking to enjoy entertainment offerings on the same schedule? Even families with children off for the summer probably end up waiting for an adult to take the kids to the theater on the weekend just as they'd have to during the school year.

Summer blockbusters have crept into theaters when nature's still in spring without difficulty apparently. Would audiences really mind if they were spread over the rest of the calendar? The same goes for the so-called awards candidate films mostly debuting in the fall and early winter.

My Wallet Has Deja Vu (The Double Dip)

Most of the time buying another version of something you already own is a no-no, but everybody must break this rule once in a while, right? Comics are the easiest vice with trade paperbacks and hardcovers being much more attractive in the long run for rereading than pulling out single issues from a long box. If you don't support smaller titles (non-Marvel or DC super hero books) along the way, you may not even get a trade to wait for, so double buying happens by support of the regular issues followed by picking up the collected edition if the story was good enough. Then there's the case of oversized hardcovers and DC's Absolute editions. You thought that comic looked gorgeous enough in regular format until you see a huge, pretty book and owning another copy of the story you've read makes sense. Doubling up on comics is something I try to do sparingly, but it still happens when I know I can't wait for the trade without being spoiled but also know going in that I'll want the ultimate version of the tale. Waiting for movies and games is one thing, but doing the same for comics when you can have a weekly fix...I only manage it for a few titles hit with sporadic release issues anyway.

The issue is a little murkier than it used to be for films. Used to be you could tell a sans extras DVD was a pass until a better edition came along and you set in for an increasingly shorter wait. Now Blu-ray adds the improved picture quality factor and in some cases, extras that aren't on the DVD version. Recently, I decided to hold off on No Country for Old Men until I get a Blu-ray player to avoid the temptation to rebuy and have been thinking maybe I should've done the same for 3:10 To Yuma. The price of Blu-ray discs is a pretty strong deterrent still with only all-time favorite films even being considered. I don't even want to think about how much Critertion Collection films will cost (rebuy or not) taking into account how much they already run on DVD.

Video games are the one safe medium...well, not today. Multiple versions of the same game are close to absent from my shelves except for the Metal Gear Solid series which got me again today with the MGS: The Essential Collection giving me the chance to pick up the trilogy again but most notably, the Substance version of MGS 2. I know the fourth game is only a few months away, but still I go back for more of the PS2 era.

All you can do is keep the, "I've bought this before," moments to a minimum. For me that means, Batman Begins on Blu-ray will be the last time for a while. Gotta keep looking for something new.

Captain America: White

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale will be doing another "color" book for Marvel entitled, Captain America: White. I haven't tried Daredevil: Yellow or Hulk: Gray, but I do have the hardcover of Spider-Man: Blue. It's a nice look back at the time where Peter/Spider-Man was dealing with both Gwen and Mary Jane in his life. The current direction of the Amazing Spider-Man stories left me feeling as though we lost Mary Jane just as past readers lost Gwen (okay, MJ didn't die, but the book is close to over for me now), so Blue is a chance to see them both again if you haven't read it.

The Loeb/Sale team shines in these slice of the past tales along with their projects together on DC's Batman (Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory) and Superman (For All Seasons). Captain America is different than any of the other solo characters the two have worked on as he's not a vigilante hero in the vein of Bats, Spider-Man or DD and obviously not in the Hulk's monster style. There are some parallels between Cap and Superman since both are the inspirational hero of their two universes, but the war background separates Steve Rogers from Clark Kent. Plus, Tim Sale's art is unlike anyone else's and Jeph Loeb gives him plenty to draw, so the visuals always make the pairing something to be excited about. I plan on picking this up in trade or hardcover, because their stories are worth rereading.

No Maps For These Roads

I've been thinking lately about the types of characters and stories I seem to seek out on purpose or subconsciously. As someone in his twenties and currently looking for work, I noticed the recurring themes once I stopped to take a look. I tend to relate to characters who seek their place in life while keeping a small circle of people around them. Not that those traits are all that I'm interested in, but they do seem to be parts of the major players in my movie and comics collections as well as my TV choices. I do enjoy seeing characters not sure about their future as they figure out who they'll be.

I certainly was fascinated to watch more of the Connors dealing with their destiny in the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series this season. The idea of going back in time and messing with a historic figure's mind by telling him exactly what he'll be someday continues to fascinate me. John Connor is told at school age that he'll be the military leader who leads mankind against the machines. That's like telling a young George Washington that he'll win the Revolutionary War and turn a group of colonies into a superpower. Well, nuclear war and terminators are a bigger specter than British soldiers, but I'm comparing sci-fi and history here. The hook is having that uncertainty removed and seeing how people deal with filling the gap between what they are and what they'll be now that they know. That time of discovering your role in life is sped up at least for Sarah and John. They both study military strategy, weapons, tactics, enemy behavior, technology etc. and put themselves on track for what looms as best they can.

On the less grim end of the spectrum is NBC's series, Chuck, about a Buy More (pseudo-Best Buy) employee finding himself living a double life working for the CIA. The show does have dramatic touches but is meant to be on the lighter side. Still, I find myself identifying all too well with the idea of the lead character dissatisfied with his current situation and wanting to be more. The first season was fun and accomplished a lot considering the writers strike's impact, and it'll be welcome to see Chuck again next season.

The spy genre also produces Sydney Bristow (Alias) and Jason Bourne on the more dramatic side. Both are highly skilled at what they do with the problem being that they want no part of the job anymore. Being burdened by what they are as they battle for personal freedom to change is another recurring type of characterization that can really work when done well.

Moving from spies to comics, characters like Bruce Wayne/Batman and Peter Parker/Spider-Man are constants in the super hero genre. Peter Parker doesn't seem to be necessarily using his college degree thanks to Spider-Man's distraction. Writers have had him go from photographer to various science-related jobs to teacher and back to the Daily Bugle again. He is always in the process of figuring his life out.

Then there's Bruce Wayne defined by his role as Gotham's central figure and is seemingly different than the other characters mentioned so far. He fascinates as someone who's found their calling so completely, but the road to that point is still an amazing backstory that hasn't been explored in-depth. There are bits and pieces about Bruce's training years, but the epics still seem to start with his first year as the Bat and onward. When he set out at the beginning, he wasn't certain about exactly what he'd become, so there had to be a struggle which is hinted at in the comics as well as the film, Batman Begins.

I suppose part of the appeal of the characters discussed so far is seeing people become what they're supposed to be and reminding myself that there's still so much time to go. I do wince a little when I watch a character like Max (Jamie Foxx) in Collateral who starts the film seeming to have let his goals slip by. Those scenes in Walk the Line where Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) struggles as a salesman until getting his record deal resonate as well. It's just nice to see how others have found their way as I wonder how I'll get there too.

No Fate - Sarah Connor finishes Season One (of many, I hope)

The best thing for viewers to come out of the TV content shortage from the writer's strike has to be that it caused so many of us to give Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a chance. The series finished its short 9 episode first season last night and at least for me, would be at the top of the list of shows to watch next fall and stands as a Heroes-killer if it keeps the Monday timeslot and goes up against that series. I have no idea what the hold-up is on Fox's end, but this show deserves to be renewed.

Quality performances from the entire cast, excellent writing, and deft handling of Terminators on a TV scale were sustained throughout the first year. I haven't been this interested by a show's early goings since Alias broke out of the gate.

SPOILERS for Vick's Chip/What He Beheld

The final two episodes ended the season with several pitch-perfect moments that only helped seal the deal as something to pick up on DVD. Vick's Chip started the night off more subdued compared to the second episode of the evening but was still an excellent exploration of the Terminator tech and provided key characterization notes. Skynet wanting access to the city's traffic camera system was another fitting way to attempt subtle infiltration. The scene of John removing Cameron's chip recalls the deleted scene from Terminator 2 and displayed more of that tension over how close to get to her.

What He Beheld provides the strongest moment of connection yet between John and his uncle when Derek takes John to watch young Derek and Kyle playing baseball. It's a pretty powerful sense of contact for John with his father and also included a very well played revelation by Derek that he knew John's lineage by family resemblance.

I enjoy the show's score very much but was blown away to hear Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" as the FBI team tragically tries to raid Cromartie's room only to get dismantled by something they aren't ready for. At first when the agents' bodies start raining down into the hotel pool, I assumed they weren't killed to lighten the blow for television (as I'm guessing the show creators meant to play with expectations). Then we get a look at all the blood mixing with the water, and the impact is realized with the devastated Ellison as the spared survivor, only alive because Cromartie left the scene to resume his mission.

All of the above was plenty and then they go ahead and have a car bombing on top of it. Sure, plenty of other shows have had that, but to see it happen to Cameron, a terminator, certainly piques interest. We know she's not dead, but what kind of shape is she in? It'll be tough passing for human for a while at least.

Season 2 should be something special and I can't wait!

Bourne One More Time

Quietly it was recently announced that the Jason Bourne movie franchise would be getting another installment from Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. The existing films comprise one of the few complete trilogies, meaning no weak installment(s) that become forgotten or blocked out by fans. A fourth film is certainly something to look forward to even after plenty of us picked up the slick box set of the first three movies.

The second film, The Bourne Supremacy, stands as my favorite for several reasons, but particularly for the ending. The conversation between Bourne and the daughter left orphaned by his past actions followed by the shot of him walking away from her apartment building in the snow is haunting in the way I love films to be. The Bourne trilogy has the rarest blend of quality characters, story, and action all with a good dramatic weight to it. When the tv series, Alias, ended, I moved to getting my spy fix from Jason Bourne and am glad not to have to look for the next series just yet.

Living in Gotham

As I think about what I'm looking forward to in entertainment for 2008, much of it is about Batman in various media. Bruce Wayne has always been a favorite character of mine in all of fiction, but I can't believe how many different ways you can get your fix this year. At the top of the list (even above almost all the comics themselves) are The Dark Knight film and Batman: Gotham Knight. The latter being a rare mix of a great American property with some of the best studios in anime to create an anthology telling the stories between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The release of Begins on Blu-ray alongside Gotham Knight are how I plan to begin my hi-def collection this summer as I finally pick up a PS3.

Taste for the Theatrical

The Batman property is on its way to potentially having the best-executed super hero adaptation franchise going because of its complete restart with Batman Begins. Gone are the days of making a Bat film seemingly without opening a comic. Pre-Begins, Spider-Man seemed to have the crown with the second film still containing the best fight scene in the genre. However, seeing the pieces of a great adaptation fit together better in Begins changed plenty of minds about who had the best film. Strangely both Spider-Man 2 and Begins had train fights and the somewhat annoying plot device of a villain trying to destroy the city, but the story and casting were stronger for Bats. This combined with odd choices in Spider-Man 3 (excessive crying and dance sequences should set off a spider-sense) to make me go back and realize that the Spider-films have had their solid moments, but there's still so much more to be done and perfected. Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and company upped the expectations for the entire genre with Begins. Comics are still the place where these characters shine brightest, but filmmakers are understanding more of what's being offered to adapt.

On Leather Wings

The Bat has a history of changing my expectations going back to the start of the legendary Batman: The Animated Series. The series was the first time I was shown as a kid that animation would still be interesting as I got older. Not only was it different than any other U.S. offering, but unknowingly it was a bit of an introduction to anime with Japanese visual elements coming from the overseas animators who worked with Bruce Timm and company. At the time, I only knew it looked cool and wasn't written like a long action figure commercial. Having gone back and picked up all the DVD box sets last year, I can say it still holds up as one of the few American works I enjoy as much as the best anime series I've gone on to watch since. With more mature animated takes on super heroes being doled out as the occasional direct-to-DVD movie these days, Batman: TAS stands as a singular moment and has me hoping for quite a lot from the Gotham Knight anime effort.

Bat Signals

A stack of trade paperbacks and hardcovers bought over the last several months sits on my table (book and DVD storage being at a premium currently), and half of them are Bat books. The stories range from black and white short stories to long, full-color epics with the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne working well in more writing and art styles than possibly any other in the medium. Much is always made of the main books, Batman and Detective Comics, but the project I'm most anticipating is the Joker story by Brian Azzarello and my favorite artist, Lee Bermejo, planned as a graphic novel to be released sometime this year. Bermejo's art and costume designs look better than cinematic, and Azzarello works well with him. Previously, they've been in Gotham for a Batman and Deathblow (Wildstorm character) story, but the pair absolutely nailed their take on Bruce Wayne/Batman in Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #3. That issue showed us Bruce through the eyes of Superman's greatest foe, but now the creative team will finally get a chance to show us their view of Batman's enemies with the Joker tale also featuring plenty of other Dark Knight foes.

Year One - Year ???

Bruce Wayne and his world continue to fascinate with a mix of so many favorite genres that I just never get bored. Creators from all media can switch and combine styles and elements from detective stories, martial arts, noir, super heroes, psychological exploration, horror, and more. Storytellers who normally don't go near mainstream comics characters still seem to have at least one Batman tale in them. Something about the character simply works and has continued to do so since 1939. It's at least one franchise that won't have to be explained to future generations someday. They'll still have him.

Little things that make me smile

In random order as they come to mind:

1. Arizona will be bringing back my favorite way to buy green tea mix after a break to tweak the packaging from a tin to a cylinder (for a while there I thought it was the Red Fusion soda fiasco all over again. Sigh, Dr. Pepper people, why did you take that drink away?!)

2. The ending pages of All Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder #9

3. Listening to the song "Little Bird" by Goldfrapp

4. Rewatching Sara/Jorja Fox's goodbye episode of CSI tonight (just love the wording of her letter to Grissom)

5. Announcement of Metal Gear Solid 4 and PS3 bundle complete with pretty box art

6. New screens from Batman: Gotham Knight - Batmanime

7. Sarah Connor Chronicles being much better than anybody anticipated (if it goes head-to-head with Heroes next fall, I'll go with Sarah)

Back from seeing Be Kind Rewind

Last year had me going to the theater much more than usual, but still with mixed results. Zodiac being a fantastic start followed by films that were okay for a one time viewing on the big screen, but nothing worth owning on DVD till a flow of great films began in August with The Bourne Ultimatum followed by 3:10 To Yuma and several others through the end of the year.

I've actually made it nearly to the end of February this year before going to the movies. Not by choice, but nothing was grabbing me. Finally, Be Kind Rewind came along to end the drought. It isn't a perfect film or a universal recommendation, but it had been in the back of my mind to see it since first catching the trailer. The selling point of the film, the "sweded" short versions of other movies, works beautifully, but the main story itself doesn't seem to flow quite well enough. It's hard to say what could have been done differently other than adjusting the pacing to deal with some slow points (and less of Jack Black's bodily functions would've been nice).

Getting back to what works, the no-budget remakes are terrific and inventive. The first one out of the gate, Ghostbusters, made me laugh ever since seeing it in the trailer. My favorite, though, is the sweded 2001: A Space Odyssey with some fun visual trickery, Jack Black as HAL, and Mos Def going for a circular run. Initially, I'm not sure about buying Be Kind Rewind on DVD with some of the heart-string tugging main plot being a little much, but extended cuts of the various short films with behind the scenes looks at their making would swing my vote.

First Post

This blog will act as my column to discuss whatever topic is on my mind. Most of the time that'll be comics, movies, games, etc. and the occasional wandering thought. I hope to make this interesting so I'm not a writer without readers, plus it'll be nice to clear some brain space by expressing whatever I'm wondering about at the moment. Thanks for checking this out!