Sasquattch

Name: Martin Kilroy

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Reviews

Although Batman #13 was a very good beginning to the “Death of the Family” story arc, it seemed to be…

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There is nothing quite like a fantastic ending to a comic book storyline, especially one that has been going on…

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It is reassuring to know that the flawed hero concept remains an integral part of Iron Man and Tony Stark’s…

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Sasquattch's Recent Comments
June 18, 2013 8:19 pm They chose to honor rule one over rule two. By complying with Rule 1. Superman sacrificed a moral high ground that is mostly taken for granted to save those three people. They wanted to highlight that over finding some way to not have to deal with consequences. The morality should only be important to Superman in the context of the work not to the audience. That is to say the fact that Superman does not kill is important to Superman and thats why it is interesting not because it is held in esteem by the audience. Also by showing Superman taking a life they illustrate why he has the do not kill rule. It's more powerful to describe why he doesn't do something then to just say he doesn't do that. 95% percent of the world does not kill but what does that mean if you are never confronted with that hard choice. Also does the hero choose "C" to serve himself, the story, or to appease an audience that is uncomfortable with what is about to happen. Notice the part of my review referring to writer's not being allowed to put Superman in scary situations.
June 18, 2013 5:05 pm My review of the film: Man of Steel is a terrific film. But clearly, based on critic and comic book fan reaction, it is not everyone’s Superman film. But it is mine and I think it should be others’ as well. There are two characteristics that define Superman’s worldview, which I am borrowing from Glen Weldon’s incredibly thorough book Superman: The Unauthorized Biography. 1. Superman puts the needs of others before the needs of himself. 2. He never gives up. The thesis of Weldon’s book is that these are the only two factors that are needed to make a Superman story a Superman story. Everything else is just window dressing, hotly debated window dressing to be sure, but inconsequential just the same. These debates about details seem to make up a majority of the criticism for the film. But all that does not seem to matter because Man of Steel has those two factors in spades. As can be seen in two key lines of dialogue. The first line of dialogue is delivered by Jor-El, “What if a child aspired to something greater?” This represents the first characteristic. From birth, the film depicts Superman laboring to become more than he is and he does so by always improving and putting the needs of others before his. This is iterated again and again throughout the film. When we see him wearing the red towel as a cape. When he hears everyone call him a freak when his powers begin manifesting. When he decides to rescue the bus. And the big one that the plot hinges upon, when Superman gives himself over to humanity when he knows that they mistrust him and are going to turn him over to Zod. The notion that this selflessness is absent from the film is preposterous. Zod (major spoiler alert here) delivers the second line. The setup of the scene is that Superman and Zod have crashed into a building after a serious drag out fight. Now I can actually understand if you criticize this film for being too violent or that the fight went on for too long. But if this is your only criticism see the third act of every superhero comic or film. Superman has Zod in a headlock; Zod turns on the heat vision. A family of three is trapped between the beams and a pile of rubble. What would Superman do? The line is “If you love these people” and the unspoken I am going to take this sacred morality from you. Superman snaps Zod’s neck. For all the people hating on David Goyer’s script rethink this scene a couple thousand more times and then tell me the script is no good. This line represents factors 1 and 2. He sacrifices his morality for earth and he does not give up because this is the only way. Now people will argue that the writers should never have put him in this position. Is that to say Superman should never be written into a scary situation, that the writers should at all costs try to preserve everything positive and light about him, to create an aura of perfection? That’s bullshit! That means as readers we just want to ignore that anything could go wrong in a Superman comic. He is a hero not an omnipotent god, invulnerable not invincible. That brings us to the point of collateral damage and people complaining that Superman does not handle this well or saves that many people. One, he saves the whole world, billions of people by killing Zod and stopping the world engines. Two, because a building falls down and maybe someone gets killed Superman should be held responsible. This is inane. We don’t hold rescue workers or doctors responsible every time someone dies on their watch. Besides, Superman’s purpose is not to fix every problem in the world. If humanity were that weak Superman would not forsake himself for earth. His narrative existence would cease to function. Superman is needed for the big threats like Zod, not to point people to the fire escape. And three, in the comics cities are destroyed all the time, just because they do not always survey the scene in the pages does not mean destruction is not present in the background. In no way does this diminish Superman’s icon as a hero. All right, that is enough of dispelling criticisms. This movie did an excellent job of illustrating that Superman is a product of nature and nurture. I like the idea that he was the first natural born being on his planet and that was bolstered by his upbringing with the Kents. And I like that this film showed Clark making little choices that mirrored the bigger choices he would need to make later on. I also liked that everyone involved in this film removed themselves from the Christopher Reeve influence. We have seen that to death. The biggest problem with the homage-to-the-point-of-pastiche Superman Returns was that it was an anachronism and failed to demonstrate any of the growth that had occurred to the character in the intervening years. Man of Steel does a great job of bringing in more modern elements and getting rid of others that don’t matter nearly as much like kryptonite. Man of Steel delivered an action packed yet heartfelt origin of Superman that showed his humanity. The cast was excellent and the out-of-order flashback chronology explained more of Superman’s thought process than we have ever seen before. They also did a good job of explaining the important plot details that are important to the narrative but not nearly as much to Superman as a character. These details have been presented a many times in many different ways across Superman’s history and will continue to be reinvented. But the movie really nailed the important defining aspects of the character. To borrow a phrase from Nolan’s Dark Knight, which David Goyer helped write, “It’s the Superman movie we deserved, but not the one (everyone) thinks they need right now.” Which is unfortunate.
November 1, 2012 1:11 pm Winter Soldier. While Brubaker's work on the Captain America series has fallen off over the last few years, this series has moved in to take its place. It consistently combines classic superhero tropes like Dr. Doom, with globetrotting espionage concepts, which make it feel like the heyday of the Captain America run. Although, the series had a slow start, the current brainwashed Black Widow arc is full of excitement and momentum. After reading this month's issue, Winter Soldier is the series I am most looking forward to next month.
December 27, 2011 2:25 pm All Star Superman DC Comics Pop-Up Book Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Gotham Central Volumes 3 & 4 Hark! A Vagrant Mr. Murder is Dead Petrograd Rocketeer Complete Adventures Swamp Thing Volume 6
October 14, 2011 10:12 am Amazon has it listed for a February release date but it is supposed to collect the arc from the regular series as well as the miniseries. I am very excited. Even though I read the issues I have decided to buy all the hardcovers too.
May 19, 2011 11:34 am Excellent Pick!  
April 18, 2011 4:17 pm Most excited for the continuation of War of the GL's and the new issue of Sixth Gun! Space cops and cowboys!

BQ: OJ 
April 18, 2011 4:14 pm Color me green but I am still loving this series.
April 23, 2009 6:17 pm I agree that the art does look fantastic.  Darwyn Cooke is probably my favorite artist working in comics today.  I have been eagerly anticipating this project since it was announced.  The only thing that concerns me is the lack of dialogue or narration on the pages.  I have never read the novel "The Hunter" but I have scene the film adaptation, "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin, the original badass in my opinion.  I understand that much of Parker's character development is conveyed through physical action.  It is the whole inner made outer technique.  I just feel that comics are the blending of pictures and text and without a lot of text it might seem more like a film adaptation; mainly visuals.  I am definitely picking this up, but I just wanted to voice my opinion.  Also, does anyone know how many adaptations of the novels Cooke is doing?
April 7, 2008 7:26 pm

Decent sized week for me.  Five books

Fantastic Four #556

Last Defenders #2

Titans #1

JSA #14

Countdown #3

Can't wait to see the resolution of Countdown!  And I am excited about Titans!

BQ: Matt Parkman from HEROES