Love that photograph.  (I first saw it here.)

My friend Andy recently pointed me in the direction of a terrific web-comic called XKCD.  It’s a self-described web-comic of “romance, sarcasm, math, and language.”  My buddies who work in the computer world picked this comic as their favorite.

Here’s an interesting article that compares various shows’ original pilot episodes with what actually made it to air.  I was particularly intrigued since I recently saw Joss Whedon’s original, unaired pilot for Dollhouse that was rejected by FOX (it was a special feature on the season one DVD set), which Steph and I agreed was FAR superior to the pilot that aired (and, frankly, superior to ANY episode that actually aired during the first season!!  The two episodes that FOX never aired, that pilot and the epilogue episode Epitah One, were far far better than any of the 12 episodes that were actually broadcast.  But that’s a blog for another time…)

Here’s an interesting list of one fella’s thoughts on the 10 best series of the 21st century so far (2000-present).  Some interesting choices there.  Love his description of season 1 of Battlestar Galactica (though beware a spoiler for that season’s shocking finish if you’ve never seen it!).

Click here for an absolutely fascinating, lengthy look into Spike Jonze’s almost decade-long effort to bring Where The Wild Things Are to the big screen, from the New York Times.  I cannot wait to see what he has created.

There’s a really intriguing new trailer out there for Up in the Air, the new film from director Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You For Smoking) and starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, and Zach Galifianakis that looks spectacular.

Last year I wrote a piece that I called My Farewell to Heroes, in which I vowed to stop watching that incredibly disappointing show.  Luckily (judging by the consistently terrible reviews that the third season of the show got) I was able to stick to my vow.  Life is just to short to watch shitty TV.   Anyways, there’s an amusing review of the third season DVD set up at DVDactive.com (a terrific DVD/Blu-Ray site) by someone who shares my disdain for the show.  Worth a read.

I’ve breen pretty down on the movies of summer 2009.  My feeling has been that this was one of the more disappointing summers in recent memory.  But a recent article by Devin Farici over at Chud, listing his 10 best movies of summer 2009 just might cause me to change my tune.  I haven’t yet seen Moon, Away We Go, or World’s Greatest Dad (missed ‘em in theatres, but I hope to check out all three on DVD), and I just didn’t have much interest (sorry, Devin!) in Drag Me to Hell.  But I must admit that any summer that saw the release of Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Funny People, District 9, Up, and Inglourious Basterds can’t be that bad.  Still, it’s hard to forget the disappointments of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Terminator: Salvation, Year One, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

See you all back here tomorrow!

Battlestar Galactica vets Hamie Bamber (Lee Apollo) and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo) will be together again on the season 2 premiere of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse! Click here for more details.

Speaking of Dollhouse, any interview with Mr. Whedon is always worth a look, and this piece contains some tantalizing glimpses at the unaired Dollhouse episode “Epitah 1″ (which screened at Comic-Con and sounds super-cool) as well as hints at a sequel to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (one of my favoritest things ever)!!

So wow, Capone over at AICN has a report from Peter Jackson covering about 10,000 upcoming projects, all of them enormously exciting!!  Click here to get an update on The Hobbit, District 9, The Lovely Bones, Tintin, and more!

The Sci-Fi channel (urg, I really don’t want to call it Sy-Fy) has posted video from all of its Comic-Con panels.  Perhaps, like me, you couldn’t care less to watch video of people talking about Stargate: Universe — but be sure to check out the full hour-long panel about Battlestar Galactica: The Plan and Caprica!

Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill will be lending their vocal talents to The Simpsons?  Awesome!  Here’s some additional info that came to light at Comic-Con on the season’s upcoming 20th (20 years!  Unbelievable!!) season.

I am disappointed, but not terribly surprised, to read that Kevin Smith might have to change the title of his upcoming buddy cop movie (starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan), A Couple of Dicks.

By all accounts, the Iron Man 2 panel was pretty awesome.  (Click here for a description.)  Why can’t some of this footage be found on-line??  Grrr.  But here’s another interesting tidbit of Marvel movie news: some hints about the line-up for the upcoming Avengers movie!  Some interesting choices.  I really hope that they use Millar/Hitch’s magnificent Ultimates series (which I reviewed here) as the basis for this film.

Since Comic-Con is also a place for news about, you know, comics, I’ll close with a piece of comic-book news that should get any true comic fan very excited:  Planetary #27 is finally being released in October!!!  Can it possibly live-up to the hype generated by the years-long delay?  We’ll see!

Over the past two days I have listed several of my favorite graphic novels.  (Click here for part I and here for part II.)  You’ll notice that most of them had nothing to do with super-heroes.  This was purposeful — although super-hero stories dominate the American comic book scene, there are so many other types of stories that can be told using the comics medium.  That’s something I wanted to highlight.

But that’s not to say that I don’t also love a terrific super-hero story, because I certainly do!  Here are some of my favorites, that are available in graphic novel or collected-edition formats:

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns — Following the death of Robin, Bruce Wayne retired his Batman persona.  It’s been 10 years, and Gotham City has sunk into an urban decay of crime.  Bruce Wayne is a broken man, empty and lost.  But when something drives him to put on that mask one more time, everything changes.  (Although not necessarily for the better!)  Along with Watchmen (which was also released in 1986), Frank Miller’s magnus opus changed the comics industry forever, demonstrating without a doubt that it was possible to tell sophisticated, mature stories with super-hero characters.  (It also was a tremendous influence on the look and tone of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film.)  This story is intense and shockingly brutal.  It is also a gorgeous work of art, filled to the brim with overlapping narratives that tell the stories of an enormous cast of characters, all struggling to make their way in the brutal urban jungle that Gotham City has become, and all of them somehow affected by the shadow of the bat.  The Dark Knight Returns is also infamous for Miller’s depiction of an almost fascistic Superman, and his battle with the Batman in the series’ final chapter is a show-stopper.  (I should also mention that I am quite fond of Miller’s Batman: Year One, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, from which a great deal of the story of Batman Begins was adapted.)

The New Frontier — Darwyn Cooke’s brilliant series re-tells the origins of many of DC Comics’ most familiar characters, albeit set in the years in which they were originally created.  Similar to the way in which The Right Stuff showed how American fighter pilots gradually became our astronauts, The New Frontier tells the story of how the pulp heroes that came out of the second world war gradually became the costumed super-heroes of a brave new age.  Cooke’s somewhat retro, simplified art style is stunningly gorgeous and absolutely perfect for the story being told.  The New Frontier captures the innocence and wonder, as well as the growing dangers, of the 1950’s and 60’s.  It is an epic saga, filled out by an enormous cast of characters, all of whom Cooke wonderfully brings to life.  I only discovered The New Frontier about two years ago, but it immediately became one of my absolute favorites.

Astonishing X-Men — Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) and John Cassaday crafted the greatest X-Men story of the past decade, which I wrote about at length here.  A scientist declares that she has discovered the cure for mutants (that storyline was incorporated into the lackluster third X-Men film), Professor X’s mutant-tracking system cerebro attains sentience and threatens the students, and an enormous extra-terrestrial threat is revealed.  But all of that takes a back seat to the characters’ story-lines.  Whedon has a quite a gift for creating vibrant characters, and his stories are intense and also filled with delightful humor.  Whedon & Cassaday’s entire story is available in four softcover editions or two hardcovers.  

Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt – I probably read this at too-young an age, but it certainly captured my imagination at the tim.  I am pleased to say that it also holds up today as one of the most compelling Spider-Man stories ever told.  In the ultimate tale of revenge, Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter shoots Spidey, buries him, and then, in order to prove his complete superiority over his foe, puts on his costume and takes his place.  And that’s just in the first chapter.  This jaw-droppingly grim and serious story takes the reader on a powerful journey through the haunted past and disturbed psyche of Kraven, while also giving us great insight into the mind of Peter Parker as he faces his mortality and struggles to overcome a seemingly impossible situation and an indomitable enemy.  J.M. DeMatteis’ wonderful prose (which follows the inter-weaving narratives of several major characters) and wonderful, over-lapping dialogue was way ahead of its time, and Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod’s art is dense, atmospheric, and truly gorgeous.  I can’t tell you how many times I have read this story, and it never ceases to amaze me.  

The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch and Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross — I recently re-read both of these, and I have longer posts in the work about them both that will be coming in the next few weeks.  For now, let me just say that they are both true masterpieces, and must-reads for any comic fans.  

OK, whew!  This has been a fun look at various amazing comics over the past three days.  I like being reminded about just how terrific this medium can be.  Did I leave out one of your favorites?  Let me know!  And if you’ve never read a comic book and are just bewildered as to what the heck I’ve been going on about for these past few days, I do hope that you’ll give one of these great works that I have listed a try.

I cannot believe this has been in existence since the summer and I only just saw it a few days ago!!!

What am I talking about?  It’s the incomparable Joss Whedon’s 3-part web-series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, which has just been released on DVD.  

Some back-story: Conceived during the writers strike, Joss Whedon (Firefly, Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), along with a gaggle of his friends, created a 3-part web series (each installment totaling approx. 15 minutes in length) that was released, for free, on the web this past summer.  It was quite a success, crashing various web-servers and garnering a lot of acclaim in the mainstream media.  

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a super-villain musical.  Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) turns in quite possibly the best performance of his career (certainly the best performance of his that I’ve ever seen) as the titular sad-sack super-villain, Dr. Horrible.  His nemesis: the handsome and super-strong hero Captain Hammer, played by Nathan Fillion (Captain Tightpants himself — Mal Reynolds from Firefly and Serenity).  In addition to their repeated conflicts over all of Dr. Horrible’s nefarious schemes (undertaken in an attempt to join the League of Evil), the two quickly fall for the same girl:  the beguiling Penny, played by Felicia Day.  And did I mention this was a musical?

All of the actors (the three leads and a variety of other talented folk) all turn in magnificent performances, but Neil Patrick Harris’ Dr. Horrible is one of the great creations of recent memory.  The story opens with a lengthy monologue straight into camera by Harris, delivered without cuts — this is our introduction to his video blog.  The sequence is astounding — a magical combination of a talented actor and a sharp, hilarious script by Whedon.  If you’re not hooked by its end, then I really don’t think we have anything in common.

Great actors and a hysterical, poignant script — that would be enough, no?  But I was blown away by the quality of the songs.  There are 14 songs in total, and they are really astounding.  Judging music is not my forte, but I found all of the songs to be catchy, witty, and well incorporated into the overall story.  I was humming quite a few of them after my first viewing.

Although I am astounded that I let something of such high quality go un-watched by me for so many months, I don’t regret too strongly holding out for the DVD release.  That’s because in addition to a high-quality image and some terrific special features (an in-depth “making-of” and a fun, insightful commentary) there is a also second commentary track — a little something called “Commentary!  The Musical.”  This is a full-length commentary track that is, itself, a musical about commentary tracks.  You with me?  I turned it on, not knowing quite what to expect, and was rewarded with what is, in essence, an entirely new musical by Joss and the entire cast.  It is genius.  (My favorite part:  Nathan Fillion’s song “I’m better than Neil.”)

I remember seeing an interview with Joss Whedon (it was on the DVDs of either Firefly: The Complete Series or Serenity, I can’t quite recall) in which he discussed how his goal, when creating something new, is never to make something that people will like.  His goal is to make something people will LOVE.  Well, in this case: mission accomplished.  I am head-over-heels for Dr. Horrible… and if you haven’t seen it yet, then what the heck are you waiting for???

The various X-Men comic books have been a sales juggernaut for Marvel Comics for almost forty years now, and the success of the three X-Men films has certainly furthered the spread of this franchise.  There have been a heck of a lot of talented writers and artists involved in the X-Men over that long stretch of time, but one man really deserves the lion’s share of the credit: Chris Claremont, who wrote The Uncanny X-Men comic book from 1975-1991. 

Over the course of that incredibly lengthy run, Clarement shaped the characters, the stories, and the world of the X-Men, so much of which is known and loved world-wide today. 

I started reading Uncanny X-Men towards the late-middle of Claremont’s run, in the mid/late 80’s.  I’d been reading comics for a few years (my enjoyment of Marvel’s Transformers comic book series lead me to various super-hero titles such as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers), and people kept telling me “you can’t be a comic fan and not be reading X-Men.” I finally took the plunge, and I was immediately sucked into the series.  Claremont was incredibly skilled at crafting interesting, really three-dimensional and human characters, and his stories were dense and sophisticated.  (Claremont was the master of the “sub-plot,” in which various story-lines would weave in and out of the comic, sometimes for YEARS, before finally dovetailing with the main story being told.)

After Claremont left the X-Men comic in 1991, I continued to follow the series for many years, but it was never able to recapture for me the greatness of the Claremont era.  Various writers and artists would rotate through the book, and some entertaining stories were told… but after a while I finally began to get bored, and I ultimately stopped reading.  Once or twice a year I’d pick up an issue or a mini-series, but nothing ever held my interest enough to warrant my reading the title again on a monthly basis.

Then, in 2001, the British writer-artist team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely took over one of the X-Men comics.  (By this point, there were several!)  I purchased their first issue, titled “E for Extinction,” and was blown away.  Suddenly, the characters were interesting again, and the world those characters inhabited seemed dangerous again.  I was hooked, and with no small amount of disbelief I started reading an X-Men comic every month again.

Maybe I’ll return to this topic at a later date to write a lengthier review of Morrison’s run, but ultimately I was disappointed by what had begun so promisingly.  From the beginning, Quitely wasn’t able to keep up a regular schedule, and without his magnificent art the stories suffered.  (It didn’t help that the fill-in artists each had dramatically different styles, which made it really jarring from issue to issue.)  And while at first I was really intrigued and excited by the amazing density of new ideas that Morrison brought to each issue, by the end of his run I started to feel that the characters of the comic had drifted too far from the world that I had grown up with.

Why am I writing about any of this?  I’m getting to that!!  After Morrison left, the X-Men comics seemed directionless again, and I again stopped reading.  But only a few months later, Joss Whedon began writing a new X-Men comic, titled Astonishing X-Men.  Whedon is known to many as the creator and show-runner of the much-loved Buffy and Angel TV shows, and while I had never (and still haven’t) seen either of those series, I had fallen head-over-heels in love with the next TV show he created:  Firefly.  

Whedon was joined by one of the best artists working in comics today, a gentleman named John Cassaday.  They began a 25-issue run on the title that wrapped up this past spring.  When I purchased the final issue, I decided that before reading it I wanted to go back and re-read their entire run, which I finally had a chance to do this past week.

It is magnificent.  Whedon was able to bring to the comic everything that makes his writing for TV so addicting – most particularly his knack for creating characters who you immediately fall in love with.  The way he is able to create dramatic stories that are also filled with fall-out-of-your seat humor, without turning into self-parody, is also quite stunning.  Whedon was able to capture everything that made Claremont’s run on X-Men so amazing, while also not losing sight of the modern continuity of the book (including many of Morrison’s more far-out ideas, such as secondary mutations, Cerebra, and the idea that Cyclops and Emma Frost – once a deadly enemy of the X-Men – would fall into a love affair).  This is a singularly impressive feat. 

Whedon & Cassaday’s run is divided into four main stories, each of which can be found in collected editions.

“Gifted” (issues #1-6) – Probably my favorite story, in which Whedon re-introduces the characters who will serve as the main focus of his run:  Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and Beast.  In issue four, Whedon adds a sixth main character, crafting a very emotional resurrection of a classic X-Men character who had been killed off in the 90’s, and I will love him forever for that.  I’ll also love him forever for returning Kitty Pryde (the young Jewish girl who seemed like she was a favored character of Claremont’s back in the day – she certainly was a favorite of mine) to the forefront of the X-Universe.

The main story concerns a scientist who discovers a “cure” for mutants.  Elements of this story-line were used quite liberally in the third X-Men movie,  so its interesting to go back and read the (far superior) source material now.  I think the aspects of this story that made it into the third film were some of the best parts of what was, ultimately, a very disappointing movie.  The question that our characters must confront — is being a mutant something unique and vital to who they each are as people, or is it just a disease that they want to be cured of with a drug or an injection — is powerful stuff, and its one of those ideas that’s so good that one wonders why it took over 30 years for someone to come up with this story-line.

“Dangerous” (issues 7-12) – In which the Danger Room (the X-Men’s training facility which they use to test their mutant abilities) achieves sentience and attempts to carry out what has always been its main programming: to kill the X-Men. 

“Torn” (issues 13-18) – In which the Hellfire Club (a great group of villains from Claremont’s run – they figured prominently into the original and famous Dark Phoenix saga) return, and the Cyclops-Emma Frost relationship is explored in a very deep and intriguing way.  Also, Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin (Colossus) do it.

(The above, by the way, is one of the most hysterical – and also the most poignant – stories in Whedon’s run, and again, the way he is able to weave humor and pathos together is really amazing to me.  I certainly found myself getting very emotionally involved in the Kitty-Peter relationship, and in the way that plays out in the final arc of Whedon’s run.)

“Unstoppable” – In which the X-Men find themselves brought to an alien world which Colossus is prophesied to destroy.  All of Whedon’s storylines and character arcs converge here, and its terrific.  My only complaint is the ending, which is a bit abrupt and cries out for a continuation.  More Whedon/Cassaday X-Men comics, someday, please!!

I highly highly highly recommend these comics.  While there is a LOT in there that really speaks to a long-time X-Men comics reader like myself, NO prior reading is required to enjoy this story.  If you liked the first two great X-Men movies, and/or if you’ve enjoyed any of Whedon’s TV work (Buffy, Angel, Firefly and the big-screen follow-up Serenity), then I urge you to check these comics out.  Its not exactly “great literature” the way graphic novels like Watchmen or Maus or V for Vendetta or Jinx (I could go on and on here) are, but it is terrifically entertaining escapist fantasy.  Super-hero comics at their finest.