This is not one of my more well written blog entries and I am not even going to edit it. I did want to mention these recent Batman news reports because it reminded me of when the radio reported Bane broke Batman's back 20 years ago. Batman books flew off the shelf once that news hit the mainstream....

I do get somewhat of a kick out of major news entities picking up new from the world of comics. The Associated Press among other major news services that there will be a major change in the Batman mythology. Such an assessment might be a little overstated. The new changes will basically be an extension of the Batman Year One concept Frank Miller devised many years ago. The new extension of events that occurred during the first year or so of Bruce Wayne's decision to become Batman and the various events in his early years wandering and learning will be covered.

I know, we have seen story arcs like this before. A host of stories in the original run of Legends of the Dark Knight revolved around the first year or so of being Batman. Granted, those were legends and not necessarily real tales part of the actual continuity of the series.

And we do all know a whole lot of changes have occurred with the onset of the New 52 DC universe.

Regardless, Batman is usually one of the best characters to follow if you like comics because the writing across the board in all the books is usually quite good. I would assume this new storyline will be an enjoyable one to follow.

Fantasy and science fiction short stories have been popular for well over 100 years. Back in the days of the old pulp magazines, many young readers saw their minds opened to the wonders of science fiction and fantasy worlds. One such young reader was Philip K. Dick and he would go on to become one of the most influential science fiction writer in history. Truly, he was a trendsetter and is considered one of the forefathers of hard science fiction.

The recent Total Recall movie was a remake of the classic 1990 version that fans know and love. Not all fantasy and science fiction fans are familiar with the short story that spawned the two Total Recall films: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale was the short stay that was the basis of these films.

Here is a look at this brilliant science fiction and fantasy tale:

Altering the Mind Mundanely: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, the Work that Inspired Total Recall

I am going to talk briefly....VERY briefly....about the decision to kill off the Damian Wayne incarnation of Robin.

One word: money.

Sorry, but to so crassly remake a classic story arc such as Death in the Family (which was ruined when Jason Todd eventually returned) for the hopes of moving a few more issues after the somewhat flat end to the Death of the Family story line is a bit much.

The whole somebody dies plot line is just too played for me to care. It is all just crass these days and really does not make me want to buy any books.

Fans of comic books are SURPRISE SURPRISE also fans of fantasy and science fiction. Some critics believe the the comic book movie genre is actually a subgenre within the worlds of fantasy and science fiction. That is another argument for another day. (Although we could say that many science fiction writers share many traits with comic book writers)

On this day, you may wish to check out to unique hubs that delve into the topic of science fiction and fantasy literary and film movements.

All you have to do is click on the links to read the hubs.

As you might notice, these are mostly articles about hard science fiction. You will not see much from the world of space operas. This is not meant as a slight on those types of science fiction and fantasy works. However, the subject matter I like to promote is more of the hard science fiction variety.

The Road Warrior and the End of the Industrial Revolution, the Civil Society and the Natural World


The Future Today and Yesterday: The Strange World of the Cyberpunk Genre 

Obviously, the essay on The Road Warrior is about the classic 1981 film. It is not a review though. The essay looks at the film form the perspective of classic philosophical and literary movements in western civilization.

Cyberpunk is, of course, the nefarious literary genre made famous in the 1980s by some esoteric science fiction writers. The essay takes a closer look at it.

UPDATE: There is a new essay and it will be of interest to those that are huge Philip K. Dick Fans:

Altering the Mind Mundanely: We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, the Work that Inspired Total Recall

In the recent issues of Detective Comics 16 and 17, Batman has to deal with obsessive fans of The Joker that have decided to go on their own brutal killing sprees. The two part storyline is titled Nothin' But Smiles and it does give you pause for thought.

There are those that will celebrate heroes. Then, there are those that celebrate antiheroes. And then there are those that celebrate villains. In this two part series, we get a grim look at those on the fringe of society that see The Joker as an icon to be worshiped and, worse, emulated.

As Batman says in his own words:


Of course, there is a cautionary warning in there about who you choose to make heroes out of and how such persons can offer influences that are more dangerous than uplifting.

I recently looked over the sample copy of the digital version of Wing Chun Illustrated and I was stunned to see this digital magazine was, pretty much, identical to a classic newsstand magazine. Other than being a digital magazine, it presents the layout and graphics once would expect from a traditional small press newsstand magazine. Actually, I take that back. Since the magazine does not have to print out thousands of actually copies on glossy paper, it can design the look of the magazine to mimic the layout of any major magazine from an international publisher.

What if you want a real magazine though and not an electronic one? You could always order a individual print copy that is made to order.

This led me to think back about a number of the excellent movie magazines that were published in the 1990s only to go out of business circa the early 2000s.The magazines were the progeny of the original Famous Monsters and Warren Publishing. The diversity of the magazines ranged from cult films to Japanese monsters to horror cinema to classic television and more. Unfortunately, virtually all of these magazines had to bow to economy reality and cease publishing.

The common reason why these magazines went under where the high cost of printing combined with the high cost of postage and problems with distribution.

All of these problems would be nonexistent today had the digital option be available then. Of course, you could say many of the problems in healthcare back in 3000 B.C. Would not have existed had the folks living at the time had access to modern hospitals. The fact remains the current technological and distribution landscape did not exist in 1998 and this is one reason why so many outstanding magazines ended ceasing publication.

If those publishers still do have an interest in resurrecting their old magazine, I want you to know the digital option exists and it is a really cheap one.

tSometimes, you really have to wonder why Namor, the Sub-Mariner never really was as huge of a superhero star as he should have been. He was clearly a favorite character of Stan Lee as Stan the Man did push him heavily in the early issues of The Fantastic Four as a misunderstood villain who would soon become a hero. The Prince of Atlantis eventually did get his own monthly comic in the 1960 else's and it was quite a good one.

Actually, he had two books: He shared a book with The Incredible Hulk in the form of Tales to Astonish (Namor's stories were a lot better than ole Greenskin's ) and when T2A as canceled, both The Hulk and the Sub-Mariner would get their own titles. Unfortunately, Namor's book never was a huge seller and it was canceled after a few years. Namor, of course, would appear again and again in FF along with appearances in Marvel Team Up, Marvel Two in One, and various other guest shots in scores of other books.

In the 1970's, there were a few attempts to cash in on the character. Likely assuming he could not sell issues his own,Marvel opted to team him with, of all characters, Dr. Doom in the bizarrely conceived and relatively short lived Super-Villain Team Up . This was not a bad book, but it was one of those 1970's Marvel titles that was doomed to sell okay at first and then end up canceled. Ditto with the Invaders. Namor got another chance with The Defenders until that title devolved into a B-grade Avengers ripoff. Namore would see new life in miniseries and reboots in new titles from the 1980's to the present.

Why do he always fall below the level of the top stars? Basically, Namor, the Sub-Mariner was originally concerned as a villain and he basically is best portrayed as a villain. When he is too heroic, he loses a lot of his edge. Of course, they cannot change him too much without fundamentally altering the character which means you have a very villainous and arrogant hero.

Namor, the Sub-Mariner is still a cool Marvel Character so he will be around a long time.

Considering he was a star in the 1940's, he has been around a long time!

The recent Daredevil: The End of Days issue had a nice cameo by Melvin Potter, the Gladiator. Or I should say, the former Gladiator. For those that are long time fans of Daredevil, the Gladiator. was a somewhat generic villain that really did not show much of anything unique until the Miller run. Miller presented he former mob assassin/thug as a lunatic that really through he was an actual Roman Gladiator. Issue 166 of Daredevil features the villain in one of my favorite comic book covers.

The character of The Gladiator went under a major change. No longer a villain, Potter just wanted to go straight and work at his first love, being a maker of Halloween (and superhero) costumes. Ironically, this is actually a business you can make a lot of money at online and with a brick and mortar store. Consider Potter's new career, which first emerged in the 1980s, is not yet dated.

Of course, many of the stories featuring The Gladiator have been ones that dealt with him going mad and reverting back to the Roman Gladiator psychopath. This leads to Daredevil, Spider-Man and other heroes trying to talk through Potter's disturbed persona to reach the real Melvin Potter. Some of these story lines were very formula driven but there will also a number of them that were quite well written. The good ones and, of course, the ones from the Miller era show how a B level villain can be given new and original life simply by, well, adding something unique and original to him. The buzz saws on the wrists gimmick is really little more than just a gimmick.

In the End of Days, we do get to see another side of The Gladiator and that side would be one of a man trying to turn away from the wayward past he feels guilt over. Brian Michael Bendis does have a unique ability to add depth to his characters and we see such a nice touch in the guilt ridden Potter. We usually do not see such sentimentality in most comics because they are more action driven than dramatic (or melodramatic), but the structure of the story in DD: End of Days is a character driven one. This contributes to the nice touch of interesting look at one of The Man Without Fear's classic villains.

All grown up an somewhat childlike? Such an oxymoronic assessment may be fitting of some of the more fun comic books to read these days.

There are three spheres comic books fall into, The first would be mature readers titles which are more thematically for adults. The others would be those comic books clearly written for a very young audience. The third would be the ones somewhere in the middle but learn towards a kid's audience.

Okay, that is fairly confusing of an assessment. Let's try to flesh this thought out a little more.

Titles such as The Walking Dead, Marvel Max Comics, Vertigo books, and many of the Ultimate books are obviously written for older audiences. These are the PG13 to R Rated titles.

Then, you have the innocuous little kid books that are not only G rated in terms be being inoffensive to young readers, the story lines are kept as simple as possible in accordance with the reading comprehension level of a young audience.

What I am enjoying are those books which are, in truth, designed for young children that have a higher level of reading comprehension. The plots are a little more involved and the themes do present morality tales and lessons to be learned. However, there is a lack of cynicism and mature themes allowing the tales to still have an old sense of comic book innocence.

Recent issues of Daredevil, The Justice League, The Flash, and Aquaman would be example of these types of titles. They remind me a lot of the Marvel books of the late 1960s and early 1980s and early 1990s. A lot of the books I read in those eras had well written plots that were geared to a younger audience, but did not insult the audience. In the 1970s, a lot of comic books were pretty bad in this regard. The writing was very formula driven and the plots thoroughly lacking in depth. I look at a title such as The Flash to be one that contains a modern, evolved writing style that style maintains the spirit of the tradition of comic books.

(By the way folks, if you follow that Daredevil link, it will lead you to a really interesting Hub article)

Daredevil has been a hero with his ups and downs. This is not only true of his tumultuous life, but also with the storied history of his comic book. There have been some mighty highs and major lows over the years as the quality of the book ranged from revolutionary to awful.


Most will look at the Frank Miller Daredevil run as the time in which the series completely turned around. There is a bit of pre-Miller history that is sometimes forgotten. For those interested in a little back story, the following HUB might be well worth reading:

Daredevil in the 1970's: The Precursors to the Legendary Frank Miller Run

The 1970s were not always kind to Daredevil, but they were not as bad as some have suggested.