Comic Related

Comic films are massive business. This year so far we've seen five comic book related films which have grossed in total over $1 billion. Marvel seem to have their future films layed on for the next 3/4 years, leading up to the inevitable Avengers movie. DC on the other hand seem to be stuck in the traps, there have been many reasons cited for DCs lacklustre foray into cinema and I'm going to address...none of them. Instead I'm going to give you a list of the top 5 DC properties I believe should make it to celluloid.


1) Green Arrow

Green Arrow has had a helluva time over the last year or so. His marriage to Black Canary and their new book. A beautiful and exciting retelling of his origin in Green Arrow: Year One and his rising popularity thanks to the handsome young Justin Hartley on Smallville.

Now this actually looks viable, if reports are to believed and things don't get cancelled, with Green Arrow: Supermax. Originally I was incredibly skeptical about the premise of an unmasked and outted Oliver Queen thrown in prison with a number of "super"villains. DC so far have played it safe with their villains, especially with the more street level Batman and shyed away from villains with actual "powers". Will this actually work? I don't know, having David Goyer attached bodes well and I understand taking a risk on powers in a flick like this before bringing in a powered villain to the Batman franchise. However, when they have a perfectly good Year One story reimagined by Andy Diggle and Jock just sitting there waiting to be made into a film it makes me wonder whether this will really be a showcase for Green Arrow, or the villains.

Whatever happens, whether we're treated to a Green Arrow story that pays homage to the emerald archer or whether we're be attacked at all senses by a supervillain team up, I for one just want to see more of DCs characters up on the screen.


2) Green Lantern

If 3 is the magic number at DC, with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, then Green Lantern is most definately number 4. Especially, Hal Jordan. Since Geoff Johns brought back the greatest Green Lantern in Rebirth, Hal Jordan has been front and center. Returned to the Justice League, played a massive role in the Sinestro Corps War one of the most successful crossovers/storylines for some time. Hal was also one of the big hitters to actually have a storyline in 52, yet luckily avoided Countdown, unlike poor Kyle Rayner. He even manages to be the poster boy for Final Crisis, gracing the cover of issue 1. Hal Jordan in his day job, civilian identity is a USAF Pilot. That's right, all your Top Gun fantasies come to life...well, besides the voleyball scene where they'r...nevermind. That is cool. The only thing cooler is that in his superhero guise he is a cop. A SPACE cop.

Space. Anything could come from space. In this case, a film following Green Lanterns origin, we'd see the gift of a Green Lantern power ring given to a man who knows no fear from a dying alien. Much like Green Arrow: Year One, Green Lanterns origin practically lends itself to film, a flyboy USAF pilot finds a power ring, gets schooled by some alien super cop add ending of some kind of threat, lay hints that alien super cop may not be all he seems for the sequel and bam. Blockbuster. The effects can be handled easily enough now-a-days, look at the likes of other recent comic book movies, Iron Man, Wanted and the Incredible Hulk.

Again, like Green Arrow a supposed movie is in the works, but we've been given nothing, no casting, no teaser, no hint of production and talk can only get you so far. I sincerely hope a faithful Green Lantern movie is made, if only to eliminate all memory of the talk of Jack Black playing a comedy version of the Lantern. This might be more deserving of a movie than Green Arrow, but Green Arrow just ticks the right boxes at present, street level hero, already popular on television and B-level Hero they can take a risk on.


3) The Flash

The Fastest Man Alive is no stranger to television appearances, Barry Allen had his own TV series and made for TV movies back in 1990, even including Mark Hamill as The Trickster! Flash forward, Wally West took up his uncles role from the comics as one of the founders of the Justice League in the epic animated series, again, Mark Hamill as The Trickster! Even Bart Allen donned a red tank top in several episodes of Smallville to take up the role of The Flash. General people know of The Flash, they know what he can do to a degree. He's fast. Very fast. What general people don't know about the Flash is that he has one of the best groups of rogues outside of Gotham City.

When you're dealing with the "Fastest Man Alive" there are always certain jokes that come up and as such, The Flash has often had a certain humour to it, especially in the animated series. A tongue in cheek Flash versus the rogues could work, leading to him proving himself in an eventual JLA film, or you could throw him in at the deep end. The Flash vs Zoom. The Flash's hardest test, set by a maniac convinced he can make The Flash a better hero by injecting a little trauma and misery into his life. Fitting this all in a two hour film, with a short flashback summary of his origin is plausible. Though there are still other methods you could employ, such as taking on a natural disaster. The Flashes powers lends itself to various scenarios as well as the humour and ultimate determination. The Flash is a loveable character, who could easily appeal to all ages, more so than even Superman. So put any ideas for a JLA film on hold and get the characters out there and treated right FIRST!


4) Wonder Woman

Ask anybody, comic fan or otherwise to come up with a female superhero and odds are the first name on their lips will be Wonder Woman. A name synonymous with female heroism, a literal Amazon, Wonder Woman well known and instantly recognisable the world over. She also holds her own in DCs elite pantheon of superheroes as part of the trinity with Superman and Batman. Yet the Amazonian princess has proved a complicated character to write and to especially bring to film. She has many physical characteristics that have to be reached for an appropriate casting. She is, obviously, beautiful, yet she is an intense warrior, taller than both Superman and Batman. She is mature and wise behind her youthful looks, with her long, thick, dark hair and then there's the costume, which she needs to fill out, while still maintaining a warriors air.

Storyline. I don't know all that much about Wonder Womans cast of villains beyond Cheetah, Circe and Giganta, with Cheetah heading out as most plausible villain for a big budget film. Avoid the furore of getting to deep into the mythological side of things with the inclusion of Circe and avoid the embarrassment and sexual connotations of the princess of the Amazons dealing with an attack of a 50ft woman. Oh. Who used to be a gorilla.

All this said, there have been writers who have made the most of Wonder Woman, Greg Ruckas run was lauded and Gail Simone has been dying to get her hands on her forever and I couldn't think of many people better, as for the film reins, Joss Whedon was reportedly interested in writing a screenplay, the man who took on one of the now predominant female icons, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Someone out there needs to take on the warrior princess and tame her onto the screen, she's a hero, a legend and an icon and she needs this as much as we need to see it.


5) The Question

Street level heroes work. The Question not only works as a street level hero who passes over petty crime and focuses on the corruption higher up the ladder, but as Vic 'Charlie' Sage, TV reporter acting as a voice of The Question, outing the corruption heading on right under the noses of the people of Hub City. With a simple to integrate back story and lack of a super villain, this could be done on a reasonable budget.

The Question himself has seen quite a resurgance in recent years, ironically up to and including his death, though again, with a character so open ended as Vic Sage you could tell the story of his death and his training and philosophical opening of Renee Montoya or even have it spin out of the next Batman movie. The Question was one of the most popular characters on the JLU animated series as well as in 52 and with the ultimate Question homage of Rorschach set to make his film debut Spring, 2009, what better time to start working on a film of The Question? That...and someone should show Frank Miller how to treat a street level detective character with a bit of damn respect. Click Here to Read More..

One small step for mankind, one giant leap for comics.

Introducing people to comics is great fun. They're full of questions and you're bouncy with glee that you get to answer or at least give your opinion in a knowledgable way, while being stared at with starry eyed awe. The one question that isn't always quite so easy though, is;
"Where is the best jumping on point for.."

Now, jumping on points for individual characters can vary from the recent trade to a change in writer, to a specific issue a while back and some extensive Wikipedia research. Jumping on points for the big two, universally, usually varies from event to event, with Marvel coming out well ahead for being new fan accessible.

Marvel seem to have grasped the art of the jump on point fairly well, with a lot of mini series and adequate back up for their ongoings as well the recent accessible "event", Civil War, which acting as a great jumping on point and marker to read back or forward from. The X-books aren't quite as simple to just jump in to, with a wide selection of X-titles with numerous crossovers running in and out of each other over the last few years, for a strong jumping on point you'd really have to go back to House Of M.

DC on the other hand tend to opt for long running, continuity heavy series, with little explanation or reference of what has gone before. To get a grasp on the state of the DCU and what it's characters have gone through you must really head all the way back to Identity Crisis and follow it through the major events that spiralled after that, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown and now Final Crisis, seemingly the least accessible of all. DC are trapped by their own continuity, their own fan base and their own company. Catering to the silver age and a fanbase that holds them back from innovation. DC itself a subsidary of Time/Warner, a subsidary of AOL and bring in barely a portion of the profits and subsequently are falling behind to Marvel on several fronts.

Wherever you jump on, if the character catches your attention there's always ways to find out more and to find out what you should be reading to head in the right direction. All else fails you, head to Wikipedia or just ask around, like I said...introducing people to comics is, and should be, fun.
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Hi, I'm Lee and I'm a Comicaholic.

I love comics. Over the last few years I have spent literally thousands of pounds (£1:$2) on graphic novels and comics. I've been a fan of comic heroes since I was a young lad, but a comic reader...collector, over the last few years.

I grew up watching the utter epic X-Men and Spiderman animated series during the early '90s. Series with continuity, including multiple episode storylines, action, drama with stories taken from the comics with no dumbing down. I was mesmerised, nothing else gave me such a range of different characters with so much depth and maturity.

I needed more. I needed the comics, but being in England, despite the few growing Forbidden Planet stores dotted around the country, finding a comic book store was like finding life from Krypton, pretty hopeless even if you know where to look.

So my fascination with comic heroes went on a back burner, every now and then I'd see an issue of X-Men, Spiderman or Wolverine and I'd snap it up, I'd watch old re-runs of the cartoons as well as others I'd missed from the '90s such as Incredbile Hulk, Iron man and the Fantastic Four. I watched and raved about the Blade films and couldn't wait to see Spiderman in the cinema as the years flashed forward.

2005. By now I finally had money that wasn't going to the car, girlfriend, rent or pub. Not only that, but I'd been on the internet a few years and found the Forbidden Planet website. Here was a calvacade of geeky dreams which I had never seen before and me with some spare change. Let's go shopping.

I needed to find an adequate comic jumping on point, I thought I'd stick with what I know...either X-Men or Spiderman, Spidey I'd just have a friend attempt to explain the clone saga to me and I developed a 1000 yard stare any 'nam vet would be proud of. So I opted for X-Men.

The site had a section for Marvel graphic novels and a subsection dedicted to the X-titles. I had no idea how many there were. I looked for characters I recognised, I saw storylines I recognised, but I wanted something that was issue 1. I picked up Grant Morrisons New X-Men 1 - 5.

Boy can I pick 'em. I loved it. There were characters I didn't recognise and plot points I didn't, but I was able to cope and what I didn't know just made me want to learn more as I picked up more X-books, books like the Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past as well as some Wolverine titles.

I started looking around on the internet for new things to read and where to go next and decided my next port of call would be on a whole new continent. DC comics. I knew Batman, Superman, The Flash and they had a bunch of weird colour coded characters. Green Lantern? Red Tornado? Blue Beetle? How imaginative. Apparently, thank you internet, the book of the moment was Identity Crisis. I loved Identity Crisis. All these new characters taking center stage especially one of those weird colour coded characters, Green Arrow.

I loved this witty, intelligent, yet hot headed character and had to find out more and to my amazement he has a few new books out written by Kevin Smith! I know him! I was sold and they actually turned out to be pretty good and so my foray into DC was under way, next stop Batman and then the lead up to Infinite Crisis.

Trying to find out more about comics and the top comics people have read and what I should be reading, one name constantly came up on lists, Watchmen. Who was I to argue? I ordered a copy. I opened it up excited and flicked through. It was...well...pink. Where were the bright vibrant colours I'd become rapidly attached to? I put off reading it and buried my head back into my brightly coloured, brash world of heroes until my to read pile ran dry. I took it to work with me and started reading, it was slow and still pink and I was waiting for the fight scenes. I kept reading. The characters developed, the mysteries unfolded, the plots unravelled, my mind exploded. This was it, this was my hit too far, I was now a comic junkie.

After that came the spending. I read as much as I can afford and when my to read pile runs low I'm more than happy to reread some of the epic storylines holding up my bookcase. So thank you New X-Men, Identity Crisis and Watchmen. The three hits that created an addict.
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