Fringe Season 4 is happening, woohoo!

 I wasn't at all unsure of 'Fringe''s popularity, as around 20,000 people rush to The Pirate Bay to download pirate copies of the show each night it's on, then it remains on top of the seeders list for at least the next 24 hours. Nielsen ratings can say what they like, but the show is popular in a big way with an audience who have grown up with the likes of 'Buffy',  'The X-Files', 'Twin Peaks', 'Star Trek', 'Smallville', 'Heroes' and 'Lost', whether they watched them first time around, or have caught up via boxsets and downloads. I am a fan of the show, and am glad it is staying on for another season, but the problems it has faced will still exist to the end of its run. Advertisers and short-sighted executives may be coming round to the idea that money can be made from properties such as 'Fringe' way after the television premiere, but they still have the power to either cut off a story in the middle, as in 'Heroes', or drag it out so long it becomes tired and incomprehensible, like 'Lost' nearly became, and 'The X-Files' inarguably did.  Similarly, as much as I liked 'Lost, it could have trimmed the flab and ended on a high note with a longer season 4. Hopefully, the lesson of 'The X-Files' incredibly drawn out and tired demise were learned by the Fox network, and 'Fringe' will come to a graceful end once the current alternate universe arc is resolved. Personally, I think Peter should activate the machine and the two conflicting universes merge into one stable whole, sort of the best of both worlds, but that's merely my inner fanboy having his say. Undoubtedly, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by the ending in some way and feel the story has been naturally resolved, than watch something I enjoy stumble its way towards an untimely and unsatisfying end. The  fact that this can happen simply because the creators are forced to participate in a financial, demographic and statistical sideshow each year by the networks actually makes me wonder why I bother with these shows in the first place.

War Of The Green Lanterns: Week 2

Ok, looks like I've got more to say about this little sub-event(?), than I thought. Part 3 was out today, with the long-anticipated fist fight between Hal 'No. 1' Jordan and Guy 'Woulda been' Gardner. By, long anticipated, I mean from the preview pages in Emerald Warriors #1, if they've ever fought before I don't know about it. The Guy Gardner I remember best is the incarnation from the 1987 relaunch of Justice League by Giffen, Matteiss and Maguire. Page 1 was just a single panel of Guy on his own,  feet on the JLI conference table thinking of how best to announce his role as leader of the new group. Of course the minute Batman walked in, it was over and from then on Gardner dreamed of ways to usurp Bat's leadership until a) Maxwell Lord took over for both and, b) Bats knocked a ringless Guy out with a famous single punch. Over the years Guy Gardner has developed into a pretty complex and useful character(and has stayed powerful, even in the abscence of the Corps, with yellow power rings, morpho-genetic grafts, etc.) , and is basically essential to the DCU, as a perfect example of an everyday character who happens to have extraordinary abilities. He is as wilful as Hal Jordan, but more arrogant with it and so was  in the running to pick up Abin Sur's ring when he crashlanded on Earth, a fact that comes up every now and then, and does so here, as he and Hal begin to succumb to the influence of Parallax. Strangely, the fight doesn't feel as defining in terms of Guy and Hal's ultimate friendship as last weeks falling out between Kyle and John, despite Guy and Hal being known to be serios rivals in the past, while Kyle and John had always shared a friendly comradeship until then. I suppose its how the writers like to shake things up now and then, but I have to say I preferred the previous status quo. Kyle and John don't seem the type to go the distance as silent rivals the way Guy and Hal have over the years. 

Guy Gadner is so integral to the DCU, it must have been tough to decide where to place him for the events of 'Brightest Day', as he would have fit as well into "JL: Generation Lost", as he has into "Emerald Warriors" which is probably why he and Ice split up so suddenly immediately before both series began(she got the Justice League, he got the GL Corps;  not the same as splitting electrical equipment and furniture, but this is the DCU, after all.) . Of course, the fact that he came under the influence of Atrocitus' red ring in 'Blackest Night' was probably what kept him in the cosmic color spectrum end of the events, rather than as part of the earth bound adventures of his former comrades as they battle against Max Lord. Not much goes on in this issue, but I always like to see people put their differences aside and unite against greater danger, and with Guy and Hal unsure of how to proceed without their rings, and Kilowog left fighting half the corps in space, there is enough to bring me back next time, even if my collecting obsession wouldn't do so anyway.

 I started buying DC comics again almost three years ago now, with the advent of Grant Morrisons Final Crisis, and am now wondering if I'd ever find the perfect place to stop buying the comics altogether. Not that I want to, you understand, it'd just be nice to know that I'd reached a plateau where things could go either way and the signs point to " keep buying for the fun of it, but it'll be awhile before something 'unmissable' comes along, or stop right here and you won't miss what comes next", you know? "Flashpoint" is on its way however, and I just need to see what happens when today's talent is allowed to 'run amok' with the 75 years of mythology built up in the DCU(once again)

Green Lantern 64 Green Lantern Corps 58 Ranting Review

War of the green lanterns is here, so SPOILER'S

                                                  

At last, I have in my hands not one, but two episodes of the first of the summer's big crossovers. Not a preview, or a prologue, but two actual parts of a whole that not only set aside my worries that this 'war' will be both pointless and designed to appeal mainly to the curious newcomers attracted by the pre-release hype for this Summer's 'Green Lantern' film, but also(finally)portray what Krona's quest with the Entities is all about, and show how Earth's Green Lanterns will find themselves set up against one another at a pivotal point in DCU history.
 Some people don't care for Geoff Johns' revisionist approach to storytelling, and prefer to ponder for themselves the mysteries of the DCU he tries so hard to explain and skilfully incorporate into long term storylines, not me though. I love explanations of such bizarre DC anomalies as the GL rings' yellow impurity(here unexpectedly restored, as Parallax once again inhabits the Oan Power Battery),  why there are so many incarnations of the Legion, and the fact that Rip Hunter is actually the son of Booster Gold, etc. If nothing else, it definitely proves beyond all doubt the guy loves the universe and character's as much as anyone. Of course, I kind of understand the desire to leave certain aspects unexplained and therefore more mysterious. The knowledge that ALL the Guardians once had names and that the Manhunters' genocidal 'malfunction' actually had some purpose behind it works for me, though.  At least someone has had a real go at explaining these questions, some of which have bothered me since childhood.
  Green Lantern #64 is all about the set ups: seconds after sending half the Corps to arrest Hal Jordan,  Krona gets busy making Scar and Nekron's imprisonment of the Guardians in last year's Blackest Night look like a walk in the park, by using them as hosts for the Entities, once again proving that millennia of emotionless logic, borderline fascism  and wilful amnesia cannot end well. Sinestro, the sly dog, seems to know a lot about the white light and the book of the black, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him attempt to usurp Krona, rather than help destroy what the reborn cosmic nutter has been busy setting in place throughout BD. After all, Sinestro not only was privy to a lot of  Abin Sur's findings, but was also the White Lantern for as long a time as it would take to find out plenty about what's really happening here. Also, his newly reforged alliance with  the Weaponer is based on a new-found ability to manipulate the White Energy. Yeah, that bugger's up to summat, alright ; he was too quick to jump into the book of the black  with the other new Guardians,not only leaving all of the rings behind, but even  convincing the one member of the group who had beaten him countless times he'd be better off elsewhere for now. The biggest question for me at the moment is how will all this dovetail into "Flashpoint",and what will the alternate universe Abin Sur's part be?(Actually, I'm more interested in seeing if the Batman of Wayne casinos is Simon Hurt/Thomas Wayne, since I called it the second I saw those teasers, but thats another blog altogether!)
Green Lantern Corps 58 brings us up to date with Ganthet and co, who are busy with the in-fighting even before a bout of Parallax possession reveals what John Stewart and Kyle Rayner really think of each other, apparently once and for all altering their relationship. In Infestation Veritas, it seems.  As ever, the events in this book don't feel as relevant as in GL proper, but there's still plenty for the die hard fanboys like me. Old Ganthet really has been through the mill of late; losing his lady friend to Larfleeze, suffering demotion from Guardian of his own crew to Green Lantern Honor Guard and ending up Atrocitus' bloodacid spewing bitch. This week he even loses a hand, something he could relate to Aquaman about, except Aquaman has either died, been transported 'somewhere'(either to do with the White Lantern, alternate universes, or both), or has simply gone on into the world of Flashpoint ahead of the rest of the DCU.
Any way, if you've even half a clue of the characters and concepts I've been talking about here, and know a fair bit about what's been going on, then you could do a lot worse than buy these two books, as I think they are building up into something that'll be as much fun and worthy as any of DC comics' other output over the last few years. However, if you're just a casual one comic a month reader or are simply passing time in anticipation of the GL film, you'll probably spend more time looking up reference points off nutty blogs on the internet than you will enjoying the story.
At the age of 34, I'm wondering if I've finally lost enough braincells to fully accept and thoroughly enjoy  these hyped up events in my comics, or has the companies grasp finally got in synch with their reach with this stuff? I don't know, but whatever happens I'll be reading all I can just the same.

ALBUM REVIEW Daft Punk 'Tron Legacy: Reconfigured'

At last, it's here-the remix album of the soundtrack of the sequel to Tron. OK, put like that it sounds pretty dire and desperate, but the original soundtrack was one of those things I knew in my heart I was going to love, and didn't even have to pretend to when it arrived. The Boys Noize remixes have been floating around for a while, as have others, but a Daft Punk album of any sort is always a joy to behold, and any DP release at all usually contains at least 5 tracks we've all heard before, simply because they are absolutely too cool to be held in wait of schedules and have escaped the studio via mp3's, downloads and white labels passed on to the usual suspects. Speaking of the Daft Club, its a bit of a surprise not to find DJ sneak, van Helden, DJ Falcon, the Sanchezes and all the rest on here, and even more of one to see Moby and Oakenfold in amongst the names displayed here. Photek's take on 'End  Of Line' is my current favourite, but then so is his stuff in general, so that's not much of a surprise. I'm really enjoying his subtle, solid and saucy  take on every style he cares to  turn his hand to.
 In actual fact, some of the songs feel like remixes of the Wendy Carlos soundtrack to the 1982 original, more so than Daft Punk's sequel soundtrack did last Autumn, in particular kaskade's remake of 'Rinzler' and Moby's 'Son Of Flynn', while others like the Japanese Popstars' 'Arena' rearrange just enough to ensure they'll reach the dancefloor without losing the flavour of  Daft Punk's originals. Having long been a DP fanatic, my initial assessment of their first mainstream soundtrack was that it wasn't dancey enough, which was to be expected really, as they were scoring a movie and not a stimulant fuelled night on the tiles, which is what I'd come to love them for way back when. The Oakenfold and Crystal Method tracks sound pretty much like any other Paul Oakenfold or Crystal Method song I've ever heard, though the vocal samples and sheer awesomeness of the original 'The Grid' make The Crystal Method's version pretty hard to dislike. Similarly, Sander Kleinenberg's closing remix of 'Tron Legacy End Titles' conjures up images far beyond the source material; for anyone of my age echoes of the 'Airwolf', 'Street Hawk' and 'Miami Vice' themes, alongside the many Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Harold Faltermeyer film scores are pretty hard to ignore. For all that, the finished product is much more than a nostalgia led dirge festival. Pretty Lights' take on 'Solar Sailer' sounds as fresh and original as anything coming out anywhere at the moment, and the Teddybears take on 'Adagio for Tron' takes my least favourite moment of the source material and turns it into a song you could use literally anywhere in a dj set. Finally, the opening remix of 'Derezzed' deserves special mention for turning the frenetic energy of the original into a nice laidback groove that still retains the energy somewhere inside;straining, but not quite managing, to burst free( harder to achieve than you might think, btw).
 All in all, 'Tron Legacy:reconfigured', sorry-' R3configur3d' is probably exactly what you fear most, a cynical attempt to get more money from the original soundtrack album that sold so well, but for that, it doesn't half have some good music on it.

Knight & Squire #6, out this week; 1 to 5 in review

                                                                      

"Knight And Squire" by Paul Cornell & Jimmy Broxton, a 6 part limited series, starring a pair of British superheroes initially dreamt up as an English counterpart to Batman in the zany fifties,.has been the best UK comic produced for the US market I've ever read. Knight & Squire, along with the group they belonged to the 'Batmen of all Nations/ Club of Heroes' had long been disposed of, consigned to the dustbin of DC  history that is labelled 'pre-Crisis', before Grant Morrison's revival and renewal of them in an evolved state made them the current ambassadors of UK comics culture within the DCU. The duo have been  pivotal characters in Grant Morrison's still ongoing, DCU spanning Meta-epic, first in JLA Classified #1-3, then as part of the revived "Club Of Heroes" concept, in the Batman:RIP prelude, "The Black Glove". Most recently they appeared in "Batman & Robin #7-9", which introduced readers to villains based on uniquely British concepts, like Smooth Eddie English, The Pearly Prince and his arch-rival, the Geordie kingpin of crime, Old King Coal.
  Grant Morrison has done a great job portraying the UK as Knight & Squire's home in "Blackest Knight" by having Batman race through London, into the Underground,  later ending up in an abandoned coal-mine which had been built over a Lazarus Pit; another neat touch was blending legends of the Thatcher years with echoes of  David Peace's disturbing Red Riding books to give the story a hint of the darker side of our culture. For Knight and Squire's own title, Paul Cornell has decided to retain the lighter elements established by Morrison, and has also injected more of the absurdly anarchic spirit of , now sadly defunct, UK classics such as  Buster, Eagle, Lion and Tiger, as well as the entire DC Thompson line. Yet, for all its references to a bygone age of Boy's Own adventures, the story is still firmly set in the 21st Century of DC comics and Post-Millennial Britain. A wannabe bad boy/love interest for Squire is a conflicted posh kid who talks street gibberish("U Feel  Me, Blud?) in a bid to impress the crowd in a pub that uses "truce magic" to allow heroes and villains a chance to rest up after a hard day's night of whatever it is they do. This is very much like the Oblivion Bar that is frequented by the magic types elsewhere in the DCU. Although, this is a limited 6 issue run, the first three parts were mostly self-contained stories, connected mainly by character growth and development, and fun explorations of the excellently portrayed hybrid society of Anglicised metahumans.
 The Knight, aka Cyril Sheldrake, The 4th Earl Of Wordenshire has led a chequered existence;  from titled nobility to tragedy, addiction, mental health problems, financial impoverishment and recovery. He has somehow been allowed  to move back to the  Wordenshire Estate he calls home. He first met his sidekick, Beryl Hutchinson, when she and her mother took him in off the streets at his lowest ebb, following the death of his father, the 3rd Earl( who was also the first Knight  alongside Cyril as the Squire).
   The generation and gender gap between Cyril & Beryl are a natural grounding for a fresh exploration of  the mentor/pupil relationship, most pronounced when Cyril is caught up in self-doubt and Beryl is applying her natural intelligence to the varied dilemmas.This is, after all,  the girl Batman trusted to search for, and retrieve,  the JLA from inside a baby universe by hand, for goodness sake. Another new spin on a familiar idea is apparent with  the duo's butler, Hank, who is basically an American version of comics' most famous butler.Alfred, and who, despite initially feeling very cliched, doesn't appear in the book often enough for my liking.
  The duo also each have relationships which handily  provide plot points and avenues to explore, such as Cyrils highly public date with starlet Cerys Tweed, which leads to a confrontation with Richrd III, and, perhaps most significantly, Beryl's burgeoning relationship with "The Shrike" aka Dennis Ennis, who isn't quite sure himself whether he's a villain or hero. Speaking of villains and heroes, there are some memorable ones on either side in "Knight & Squire", such as Jarvis Poker(The British Joker), The Morris Men and The Milkman. In fact, in amongst the various characters and places Cornell and Broxton(whose art is perfect for this concept) have brought to life, I got real, genuine shock when an extremely well known face from the DCU at large popped in, just in time for a good old fashioned cliffhanger at the end of issue 5. Now I'm just waiting for #6, the last in this series, but no doubt not the last of the adventures of "Knight & Squire". I would suggest the series so far to anyone, and for those yanks who are worried about some of the more absurd and eccentric Brit references and phrases, I  am happy to report that there is a well designed and amusing glossary, which even I, a lifelong resident of the UK, as well as rabid consumer of British comics, benefited from on occasion!

                                                            

Random Links To Things I Enjoyed Reading Recently

The Title says it all

Music industry scum, by Steve Albini

Mort Weisinger, who brought pop psychology to Superman

At Last, some comics reviews:- Booster Gold #42 & JL: Generation Lost #21

Ok, I know, I know, they are both DC titles, but what can I say? I love DC,  always have; the only other comics I felt any connection to as a kid were assorted 2000ad titles, their US (four colour)reprints and Judge Dredd spin offs, while the only Marvels I ever bought were incomplete instalments of stories, randomly picked out of the frustratingly tangled web of  interconnected  Spiderman & X-men comics, which I quickly found were at lot easier to follow in the British editions, shortly before deciding to not bother with them at all. I was also very fond of Viz, Electric Soup & The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, from around the age of 13 and until the market became flooded with a slew of instantly forgettable(despite the graphic and tasteless depictions of heinous shit they usually contained) "Adult Humour" magazines that began to appear across the UK, giving us all the chance to rediscover dear old  Frederic Wertham's POV, refracted through the  lens of the UK tabloid machine, but I digress......

Spoilers Below!




Booster Gold #42 & JL:Generation Lost #21

JL:GL #21
Judd Winick (Writer0
Fernando Dagnino & Raul Fernandez (Art)

I've decided to review these two comics together, basically because BG #42 has me wondering how JL:GL # 21 would be this week, were Keith Giffin still on writing duties for both books. I think the problems of having Booster appear in both titles concurrently were apparent at the outset, and could have been the catalyst for Giffen's sudden departure. To enjoy both, I need to switch to extreme suspension of disbelief mode and look at it as though both storylines are happening somewhere in the same year, rather than concurrently. Thanks to the time travel factor, this is a lot easier than it would be usually for me, as despite being a lazy, unpunctual, slovenly and inconsistent individual here on Earth Prime, I'm something of a stickler for continuity in my comics.
   JL:GL#20 ended up with Max Lord ventilating a Blue Beetle's skull for the second time, and so, for most of this issue we were led on a tour of the other character's reactions to the apparent death of Jaime Reyes. From the death inspired passion, ahem, igniting between Beatriz LaCosta(Fire) and Gavril Ivanovich(Rocket Red), to the reflections of Nathaniel Adams(Captain Atom)  on his loss of humanity, as Tora Olafsdotter(Ice) brought a candle to his dark night of the soul by reflecting that he will always be there to protect humanity as a result of the accident that gave him his powers; a thought which comforts her. As ever, Booster Gold had the trusty, but sarky,  flying robot, Skeets, as his wise counsel, uging him not to beat himself up over letting Maxwell Lord take away another of his closest friends, while reflecting on the overall damage Lord had done since his resurrection  in Blackest Night #8. All of this made for a genuinely affecting requiem; that is, until Jaime stood up on the last page declaring he has a plan to beat Lord once and for all. Now, I'm sure there are many who cheered as they reached this page, but  I was not among them. When DC promised to close the 'revolving door' around the infinite deaths and resurrections in their comics, I took it to mean we wouldn't be seeing any more deaths followed by resurrections within 6 months to 2 years. Having a character shot in the brain, only to be brought back  by the life support system in his weaponizsd bio-suit is a renege on that promise; the fact that it happened over two issues, before the character had a chance to have a funeral does not make the 'death' exempt in my view. Although I generally enjoy this series, sometimes I get the feeling Judd Winick has simply been treading water, providing plenty of consequence free dialogue and giving . Of course, another way of looking at it is Jaime's apparent death was necessary to finding out what's going on with Lord, as his attempts to separate him from the sentient Scarab(which makes him Blue Beetle) may have afforded them some leverage into the war machine the enemy is operating from. Despite the misleading premise of the issue, it was an interesting read, while good art, character development and banter continue to make this a title I would most likely stick with beyond the limited run of 24 issues.

Booster Gold #42


Keith Giffen, J.M Matteis(Absolutely able writers)
Chris Batista & Pat Oliffe(also amazingly able as artists)

 In Booster Gold #42, we catch up with Booster in the 25th Century as he continues the five year sentence imposed on him for stealing the time-bubble and powered suit that transformed Michael Jon Carter, shamed foootball  player , into Booster  Gold, cocky hero in the first place. His cellmate, 'The Perforated Man', after some totally transparent build up, turns out to be an older, diseased and insane version of Booster himself, who appears to be twisted and insane as a result of his constant time travelling.  There follows a neat little twist on the myths and theories of what would happen if time travelling versions of the same person share the same space in time as the two Booster's go at it with each other, each punch landing them in a different time zone, from the dinosaur era via Paris 1600, etc,  to a cliffhanger on the surface of our dying sun. It becomes clear that Rip Hunter has set this event up on purpose, though since we know that Rip is actually Booster's son and his father is alive and well(as seen in Time Masters:Vanishing Point #6 last month) we have to assume that The Perforated Man is an anomaly of some kind, possibly arising from DC's upcoming alternate future crossover event,  Flashpoint, which will see the entire DC Universe change beyond all reason and recognition, leaving one or two good guys to save the day, much like every other comics event really, but let's not moan before we've seen issue 1, at least! Chris Batistas art is nicely done, reminding me of Carlos Pacheco, with a little beautiful simplicity similar to  Francis Manapul's recent Flash output; and the Perforated Man/Old Booster reminds me of one of the Furies of Apokolips, I think its the slightly kinky(or kinkier than usual) head and face mask! I'm enjoying the narrative device here, that's a twist on the old 'Dead Man Tells His Tale In Flashback',  since Booster couldn't possibly be dead as he has returned to Rip's Lab, yet  still seems in genuine peril in the story he's telling, leaving us to wonder how they got out of it, and if the right Booster made it back alive! Anyway, I liked this as much as any past Booster Gold comics, and although I'm looking forward to the return of Dan Jurgens(who is never very far away from this 80's creation of his while at DC), I'll miss Matteiss and Giffen on the title. Maybe I'll seek out their Metal Men(which ran as a back up in Giffens Doom Patrol)when they wrap up here, providing the next couple of issues don't finally reveal them as the tired old hack writers they actually are, "Bwah, hah, hah, hah,"*


*See Justice League International/Europe, out now in TPB, folks!