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So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #120: Super(ish)girl!

So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #120: Super(ish)girl!

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

This past weekend, I was able to take the wifey out and about to catch a flick at the cinemaplexatorium. We chose to check out Supergirl. Having absolutely adored James Gunn’s Superman, I personally walked in with expectations of a fun romp with a good dose of heart. I knew the film itself was heavily inspired by “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, but alas, I’ve never read it. My knowledge of Kara Zor-El honestly was best pulled from the DC Animated Universe — which I know means not much in context. So, I’d like to say I sat down and plunked on my 3D glasses with as open a mind as you could get before the requisite ten minutes of commercials and ten minutes of trailers I’ve likely already seen on YouTube. 

I’m going to go ahead now and make clear: this will be as SPOILER-FREE a review as I can make… so long as you saw the end of Superman, and the trailer to this movie.

Supergirl effectively picks up where we left off at the end of her cousin’s flick. She’s picked up Krypto, and has headed off for a week(ish) of red-sun-dampening debauchery in celebration of her 23rd birthday. Hilarity, life lessons, and action sequences ensue. 

It’s time for a compliment sandwich, kiddos. Hope you’re hungry.

Overall? Supergirl is a fun romp. Milly Alcock is infinitely watchable as Kara Zor-El. Be it a drunken stupor, heroic posturing, or whatever comes between, Alcock’s cock-sure take on the character is purposefully diametrically opposed to ole’ cousin Kal. Because of this, we get a hefty dose of whatever the polar opposite of dork is for all 90-some minutes of the flick. Same as Superman, all other casting choices that the house that Gunn built are all scene-chewingly glorious choices. From Matthias Schoenaerts’ evil(ist) big bad Krem to, yes, Jason Mamoa’s Lobo… everyone plays their parts perfectly — no matter the heavy makeup, prosthetics, or both. Equally impressive is the downright dreary landscapes and sets of the movie, keeping in mind how bright and shiny Superman happened to be. If Gunn gave us a truly gleaming Metropolis first, this movie certainly makes bold choices to show us every grimy cesspool the galaxy has to offer on Kara’s sobriety-free solstice. If I can double back to Lobo though? Credit where it’s due. This was a part Mamoa clearly was born to play — so much so that even a line in, any fleeting memory of his Arthur Curry is fragged like a bastich, I tells ya. While Lobo never appeared in the original source material… it’s practically a given in James Gunn’s DCU (thus far), the Easter eggs and fan-service are always abound.  Continue reading “So Long and Thank For The Fish, Man #120: Super(ish)girl!” →

With Further Ado #371: A Variety of News – from DC Comics

With Further Ado #371: A Variety of News – from DC Comics

Posted on by Ed Catto

I TEACH AN MBA class that focuses on Entertainment and Media. Trying to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of entertainment & media is quite the challenge. If you’re curious and looking for better, or new, ways for the world to work, it’s an awful lot of fun too.

Reading Variety on a regular basis is a piece of the puzzle, and as a comic fan I’m often rewarded with ‘breaking news’ from the comic world.

Earlier this week, Variety ran a few exclusives focusing on DC Comics news:

James Gunn’s working on Jimmy Olsen Crime Series for HBO Max – Here’s an excerpt:

DC Studios and HBO Max are developing a fictional true crime series set in the DC Universe.

Titled “DC Crime,” the show would be presented as a true crime docuseries that would be hosted by Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo). The first season would focus on Gorilla Grodd, a DC villain best known for his battles with The Flash.

Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrautl would serve as writers, executive producers, and showrunners on the series. James Gunn and Peter Safran of DC Studios would also executive produce, with DC Studios’ Galen Vaisman overseeing production. Warner Bros. Television is the studio. Continue reading “With Further Ado #371: A Variety of News – from DC Comics” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Comics At Gunn-Point

Brainiac On Banjo: Comics At Gunn-Point

Posted on by Mike Gold

“Look in the paper, what do I see? Robbery, violence, insanity. Hey girl, we’ve got to get out of this place. There’s got to be something better than this. I need you, but I hate to see you this way. If I were Superman then we’d fly away.” From (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, written by Ray Davies.

I haven’t met James Gunn, but we have a number of mutual friends, and he’s treated those folks remarkably well. I love his work, but because I do not know him I probably have no right to make the following statement, which, of course, I shall make nonetheless.

If I were James Gunn today (June 30, 2025), I’d be the most nervous person in America.

I hope I’m wrong about that, but holy crap, if he’s a bit concerned right now that would be perfectly understandable. After all, only the entire fate of the American comic book industry is on his shoulders right now. And that includes all those cape movies and teevee shows Disney and Warners have been releasing since Covid.

If Superman (The New Movie) does not meet opening weekend “projections” — currently those projections run between $125 million and $145 million (source: the National Research Group) — the wags, the snooty critics and the incels will pronounce it a bomb. That might make Warner Bros Discovery, or whatever they’re calling themselves this week, a bit hinky. You can trade the combined budgets of any four of these flicks in for a nice crisp brand new one billion dollar bill.

I get that the wags, the snooty critics and the incels loathe cape movies with a passion previously seen in Madame Defarge while she’s knitting before the guillotine. Some big-name moviemakers are so jealous of their success they claim these movies have chased their work out of the theaters. They conveniently forget that cape flicks kept movie theaters alive during and after Covid. That’s how capitalism works, so these pundits must be commies. Amusingly, most of their movies are heroic fantasy just like the cape flicks. Do we need more superhero movies? Well, do we need more gangster flicks? Hypocrisy, thy name is Hollywood. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Comics At Gunn-Point” →

Brainiac On Banjo: G.I. Robot In Action!

Brainiac On Banjo: G.I. Robot In Action!

Posted on by Mike Gold

“Woke up this morning, what did I see? A big black cloud hanging over me. I switched on the radio and nearly dropped dead. The news was so bad that I fell out of bed.” From (Wish I Could Fly) Like Superman, written by Ray Davies.

We have been inundated with all kinds of remarkably ugly events. No doubt you’ve noticed this. Perhaps you, like me, have even started to hide in bed.

OK, I get it, and I’m not happier about it than any other person who isn’t self-delusional. People are getting sick — many are already dying — from completely preventable diseases like measles, polio, yaws, malaria, mumps, and elephantiasis. But vaccines fly in the face of a small group of paranoid, neurotic assholes who want everybody else to die, including their relatives, particularly if they’re Queer. Maybe they believe their invisible friend will spare them because they are pure.

Border czar Tom Homan, America’s most dangerous and proactive bigot and one of the three most despicable people in this nation, has informed us he’s coming to Boston and he’s “bringing hell with me.” Actually, Homan is asking us to meet him at Boston Harbor for a tea party. Yeah, but don’t bother with those finger sandwiches and doilies.

If his name rings a bell, Homan is the clown who just brought Dr. Phil along with him on ICE raids against people who don’t look like pure white Christians.

This past week the “former” leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted and later pardoned by President Rapist for his role in organizing the January 6 takeover of our nation’s capitol, allegedly emailed in a bomb threat against the “center-right” Principles First conference in Washington. Former CNN host Jim Acosta posted a copy of the threatening message, quoting “four pipe bombs had been deployed against political enemies of Emperor Trump (sic) who all deserve to die… This was being done in tribute to the J6 hostages… We have received a credible bomb threat from an account claiming to be ‘Enrique T.’” Not wanting to go back to prison, Tarrio denied the charge. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: G.I. Robot In Action!” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Birds of a Feather (Hey, Kids! It’s Spoiler-Free!)

Brainiac On Banjo: Birds of a Feather (Hey, Kids! It’s Spoiler-Free!)

Posted on by Mike Gold

“Oh, she said we are penguins on the ice. We’re not meant to fly, but god knows we can try. And I see a hope that’s in her eyes — oh,  can you see the love in mine?” From Penguins, written by Ed Sheeran.

Watch much television lately? If you subscribe to the correct overpriced streaming service, you have the opportunity to catch the latest pre-James Gunn DC Comics spectacular, The Penguin, featuring the classic Batman villain of the same waddle. The entire eight episode story is up there right now.

If IMDB is to be believed, this series has been very well received. Of course some knee-jerk haters lurk in the shadows of internet camouflage bitching about perceived insult. That’s what they do instead of wasting time having sex.

I am among those who thought the series was brilliant; one of the best gangster stories ever filmed. To those who dislike the differences between the comics and this movie, I ask two questions: 1) which comics version of The Penguin are you referring to, and 2) what works in a comics story with long continuity tentacles often cannot work in a movie or teevee series. If you’re pissed off that they shortened Oswald Cobblepot’s name or gave him a much more interesting mother, you’re missing the forest for the trees.

But let’s look at the backstory — the one in “real” life. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Birds of a Feather (Hey, Kids! It’s Spoiler-Free!)” →

Brainiac On Banjo: It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s… the Mayor?

Brainiac On Banjo: It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s… the Mayor?

Posted on by Mike Gold

Oh, it’s a long, long while from May to December, but the days grow short when you reach September. When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame, one hasn’t got time for the waiting game. “September Song” written by Teemu Brunila, Ben Hudson, Jon Cobbe Hume, and John Paul Cooper.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the peoples of steel, well, I understand. It’s hard to find DC books that aren’t about Batman. It might come as a surprise that DC Comics still publishes Bat-less books. And now that DC’s daddy has licensed their Looney Tunes characters out to Dynamite Entertainment, it’s even harder.

But if you search the racks a bit you’ll see that there are quite a few DC titles that feature the many various Supermans flying around the ever-morphing DCU comics that do not have Batman grabbing the staples, at least not in every issue. In fact, you might be confused with all the different Super men, women, children and pets. If you’re in Metropolis, and you look up at the sky, if you don’t see a fast moving red blur, you’re probably visiting an Earth with four digits.

The fact that all these Supers, with the arguable exception of Krypto, keep trying on new costumes does not help lesson the mob mentality one bit.

So it might come as a surprise that some major changes have been going on and, even more shocking, these charges are evolutionary and not the result of typical obsessive-compulsive rebooting.

As we have seen in last week’s Superman #850 (an up-priced anniversary issue because it ends in “50”), Daily Planet E-I-C Perry White, on leave of absence, has decided to run for mayor of the City of Tomorrow. Before he took leave prior to his announcement, he put the Planet in the hands of his star reporter, Lois Lane.

Now, that would be unlikely to happen on whichever Earth we happen to be living on. Lane has won more Pulitzers than the next ten winners combined. She is worth far more to the paper as a reporter. But this isn’t our Earth, and on hers she deserves the appointment, if she wants it.

In 2023, the existence of a women editor-in-chief of a great metropolitan newspaper is no longer rare. In fact, as print papers have dwindled down to a precious few, women editors are doing better than the medium for which they toil. Yeah, that isn’t much, and if this were British opera you might take that as a sign of their end times.

Should Perry win, should Lois become permanent E-I-C — and either can happen without the other — all kinds of interesting plot paths come into being. How would the job affect her marriage to Clark? How would the job accept her marriage to Kal-El? To their kid, to their family, to the other Supers and to the Justice League members she knows so well? And… what about Lex Luthor? Besides, if she’s running the Planet, she is unlikely to have time to fall out of helicopters.

What kind of mayor would Perry be? Does he have sufficient political skills to get anything accomplished? What sort of enemies will he make, and how will they act out? Will Perry have any sort of relationship with the Planet and his old friends? Will Mayor White’s work place those friends in jeopardy? Hoe long will he be mayor — and what happens after that ends? Senator White? President White?

In fact, Perry White had been mayor of Metropolis on one of the best known infinite Earths. It was revealed that Perry had been mayor before he went to the Daily Planet in the hit television show The Adventures of Superman, a program whose exposure and longevity is among the highest in history — it’s in the I Love Lucy class. Which is vaguely funny as Superman crossed over into Lucy.

Of course, there’s a 500 pound gorilla with Kryptonite ray vision sulking in the corner waiting for a big-ass strike to be resolved. What will happen to all of this as James Gunn’s Superman Legacy comes out — July 11, 2025, as time currently is reckoned in Hollywood? Does that establish another “sell-by” date for the masters of seat-of-your-pants circumlocution at Warner Bros Discovery? Hell, given the past ten years or so, will Warner Bros Discovery still be a thing? I wouldn’t bet either way.

There could be some interesting and fairly original stories coming out of all this. Then again, it all could wind up looking like a 30-car pileup in a blizzard on I-80 in Pennsylvania. We can and need to pay attention to history, but be careful about taking odds on the endgame.

But I like the sound of a kick-ass Mayor Perry White.

Brainiac On Banjo: Billion Dollar Babies?

Brainiac On Banjo: Billion Dollar Babies?

Posted on by Mike Gold

Hey girl, we’ve got to get out of this place. There’s got to be something better than this. I need you, but I hate to see you this way. If I were Superman then we’d fly away. (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, written by Ray Davies.

This past week has been quite full of two things, the first one being news.

Among the very few items in the news that promoted a sense of hope and tranquility was the communication from the very fan-friendly co-head of Warner’s DC Studios James Gunn, who tweeted the eventual possibility of a big-ass Marvel / DC crossover movie. He pointed out that he remains good friends with Marvel Media Emperor Kevin Feige, particularly with Gunn’s third and final Guardians of the Galaxy movie set to drop any day now, and that they talk all the time.

Well, that’s amusing. Maybe it will happen, although I have no doubt that would come off no earlier than a year with a “7” in it at best. But I’ve been through this before over on the publishing side, and you’ll note that the last time a DC / Marvel comic came out was well before any of Marc Alan Fishman’s multitude of children were born. When the first such effort was announced the word around DC Comics was “why should we give Marvel such a massive promotion opportunity?” Yet the 1976 Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man tabloid tome was published, and it was worthy. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Billion Dollar Babies?” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Should Hope Reign In Burbank?

Brainiac On Banjo: Should Hope Reign In Burbank?

Posted on by Mike Gold

Hope for the best, expect the worst! Some drink champagne, some die of thirst. No way of knowing which way it’s going. — Mel Brooks, Hope For The Best (Expect The Worst)

When Warner Bros Discovery revealed James Gunn and Peter Safran would be running their all-new DC Studios (as if there’s more than one), many of us lifted their faces out of our own puke in the hope it was the dawning of a new day. Well, with luck, it will be… although you can’t really blame us for taking a wait-and-see attitude.

I certainly appreciate and trust James Gunn. I love his work on the Guardians of the Galaxy and Peacemaker, and his The Suicide Squad was great fun. Better still, he treated my oldest friend and honored collaborator John Ostrander right, and that means so much to me I’d throw Gunn’s bail.

What I do not trust is, in order: 1) The “Hollywood” bureaucracy. 2) Warner-anything merging with anybody, be it Time Inc, America Online, AT&T or Discovery. Each merger made things worse for creators and end-users alike. 3) Warner Brothers Discovery in particular, and particularly how they turned the ridiculously overpriced HBOMax into a ridiculously overpriced, frustrating, mindless, and ultimately useless turd rapidly floating downstream into the sewer. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Should Hope Reign In Burbank?” →

Breaking News: James Gunn Reveals the Plan for the Near Future of the DC Universe in Film and TV

Breaking News: James Gunn Reveals the Plan for the Near Future of the DC Universe in Film and TV

Posted on by Bob Harrison

James Gunn, the co-custodian of the DC Universe (DCU) for Warner Bros. Discovery announced today the plan for what is coming out now and what is to come and it is amazing.

Gunn, along with Peter Safran, have addressed the properties that are currently in the pipeline, and in his video he details how they fit into the new vision which is being developed as an eight to ten year plan. The first “Chapter” of the DC story will be under the umbrella of “Gods and Monsters.”

There was so much exciting proposed content in this six minute video. We encourage everyone to check it out. Gunn’s enthusiasm about the DC characters radiates through the clip. It is infectious. I am more excited about these films and shows coming to fruition than I have been in a long time.

Here is a list of what is new on the docket in the first portion of “Gods and Monsters”: Continue reading “Breaking News: James Gunn Reveals the Plan for the Near Future of the DC Universe in Film and TV” →

Weird Scenes #119: Spaaaaaaaace Farce!!!

Weird Scenes #119: Spaaaaaaaace Farce!!!

Posted on by Mike Gold

Oh, holy crap!

Last week, outgoing Vice President Pence proclaimed “We just returned from the Oval Office and so it is my honor, on behalf of the President of the United States, to announce that henceforth, the men and women of the United States Space Force will be known as ‘guardians.’” Hmmm. From this, I gather our soldiers, sailors, air people, and Marines no longer have to be troubled with guarding anything.

Upon hearing this pronouncement, Guardians of the Galaxy writer/director James Gunn whimsically tweeted, “Can we sue this dork?” Others — many others; maybe everybody who ever saw these movies or and/or have ever read the very long-running Marvel comic books of the same name — asked if either Groot ( the tree who only says “I Am Groot!”) or Rocket Raccoon (who is a raccoon) would be the United States Space Force mascot.

The government pointed out that they’ve been using the term since 1983 when they appropriated the name “Guardians of the High Frontier.” That’s nice, but the Marvel Comics trademarked property “Guardians of the Galaxy” debuted in 1969. For that matter, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created a super-hero for DC Comics named “The Guardian.”

This is hardly the first time the United States Space Force has been accused of purloining intellectual property. Their logo is a pathetically obvious (or hysterically oblivious) swipe of ViacomCBS’s Star Trek, which has been in continuous use since 1966 and, as of this writing, is in use on five separate current and ongoing television productions.

The United States Space Force already has a major problem: many people, including this cynic, find it impossible to utter the name without triggering the giggle-reflex. That’s a really dumb name for what we’re told to accept on faith is a serious use of 16,000 troops and a 2021 budget of $15,400,000,000.00. Prior to their creation on December 20, 2019 (happy birthday, I guess) “Space Force” had been used as the name of the new Steve Carell / John Malkovich situation comedy, which is presently filming its second season. This television series was green-lit by Netflix in January 2019, almost a full year before the creation of the United States Space Force.

Carell’s character, General Mark R. Naird, doesn’t seem to know the details of the Space Force’s mission. What a coincidence! We’ve never been told what purpose is served by the United States Space Force, if any. Is there reason to believe we will be fighting some sort of war in space? With whom? The Russians? Japan? The Klingon Empire? As an occasional tax-payer, I’d like to know something about what we’re getting for our bucks, other than a big wet kiss on the ass of our outgoing Idiot-In-Chief.

There’s good reason why we should take our sundry defense services seriously. Combined, they provide the security blanket for the United States of America, which is a lot more than I can say for our current president. To put a decimal point on this, the budget for our Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2020 is in the neighborhood of $721.5 billion — not counting the black budget stuff. In real estate parlance, that is known as a high rent district.

I guess that compared to $721.5 billion, $15.4 billion is just a fart in a blizzard. Sure, we’re spending a hell of a lot more than all that on Covid research and relief, but we’ve already lost almost as many Americans to Covid as we did in World War II, and it’s disgustingly likely that before this is over that number will eclipse American WWII deaths. So I understand where that money is going. Such expenditures are understandable and clearly benefit the greater good.

Until we have evidence to back up both the concept and the expenditures, the United States Space Force will be commonly perceived as Donald Trump’s vanity project with its marketing elements ripped off from those who have been fostering our sense of wonder without the benefit of any tax dollars whatsoever.

In other words, the United States Space Force is little more than a joke.

But the joke is on us.