On “Beautiful Dreamer”

Sometimes, the depths of my ignorance surprise me. In this instance, the song “Beautiful Dreamer” by Stephen Foster. Like, doubtless, a good many people, I knew it from Danny Elfman’s Batman score; he used the melody as the Joker’s “love theme” for Vicki Vale. And I’ve been known to whistle it or hum it inContinue reading “On “Beautiful Dreamer””

On Things I’ve Been Reading

Write Now! Issue #19 Published by TwoMorrows Publishing There are two magazines on writing that I routinely pick up. One is The Writer. The other is Write Now!, published by TwoMorrows Publishing. (No, I don’t read Writer’s Digest. It’s a bit useless. The special themed reprints? Sure, I’ll pick those up. But the regular issues?Continue reading “On Things I’ve Been Reading”

On “The Goddamn McCain”

Consider Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. An aged hero confronts a new generation. He’s older, he’s slower, he knows that he’s physically no match. An artist has done an incredible job mixing portaits of John McCain with Frank Miller’s Batman dialogue and thought balloons from The Dark Knight Returns. If Frank Miller, circa 1985,Continue reading “On “The Goddamn McCain””

On What Others Would Do

Ah, Mr. Stephen Fry. 🙂 He wrote, in his most recent column for The Guardian, “Some Christians have What Would Jesus Do? as a motto; I have What Would Douglas Think?” Douglas being, naturally, Douglas Adams. What an amazing motto. “What Would Douglas Think?” Doubtless it would be something snappy, something witty, something that bringsContinue reading “On What Others Would Do”

On Things I’ve Been Reading

Some recent comic book purchases… Star Trek: Mirror Images #1 IDW Publishing Written by Scott and David Tipton Art by David Messina A long time ago, when I was but a wee lad, I loved the classic Star Trek episode, “Mirror Mirror.” A transporter accident sent Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty into a weird, twistedContinue reading “On Things I’ve Been Reading”

On Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen

On a mailing list I subscribe to, discussion turned recently to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. The series were published in 1985 and 1986. Watchmen is credited with beginning the era of “realistic” superheroes, Dark Knight is credited with turning Batman “serious.” It was noted that theContinue reading “On Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen”

On Things I’ve Been Reading

Recently, I’ve begun buying comic books again. I used to buy a lot of comics. In retrospect, it’s a bit embarrassing. And then, somewhere in the late ’90s, I stopped buying comics on any sort of regular basis. I’d visit comic shops occasionally if something was coming out that I was interested in — like,Continue reading “On Things I’ve Been Reading”

On the Justice League and the Justice Society

The on-again, off-again film based on DC Comics’ Justice League appears to be off again. Years of development heck wasted. The present Justice League project seemed cursed from the very beginning. From script issues (and the Writers Guild strike) to casting problems to location uncertainty (would be it Canada? would it be Australia?), Justice LeagueContinue reading “On the Justice League and the Justice Society”

On Thinking About Summer Movies

I mentioned a few days ago the comic book films I was looking forward to this summer. To recap, from top to bottom: The Dark Knight Hellboy II: The Golden Army Iron Man The Incredible Hulk It’s a bit of a misnomer, actually, to suggest that I’m looking forward to The Incredible Hulk. I’m quiteContinue reading “On Thinking About Summer Movies”