Michael Keaton is trending this week because of the Oscars “Batman” moment between him and Arnold Schwarzenegger/ Danny DeVito this past Sunday.
Many of the comments discuss Keaton being the “best” Batman.
Now, as I’ve said previously, I never loved the way his face looked in that original cowl. That’s partly the fault of the costume, and perhaps partly Keaton’s face shape. And the resulting style guide art was… not great.
That said —
Keaton is still the most enjoyable version of Bruce Wayne on screen. By far.
Keaton’s Wayne is both charming and offbeat. He’s very self-aware, has a sense of a humor and charisma, but still on the edge — likely bordering on psychotic. He provides many, many shades to the Wayne persona. His main scene with Bassinger and Wuhl is one of the great moments from the first film.
And hilariously, the whole “Keaton is the best Batman” thread is one of the most ironic critiques in entertainment history.
Why? Because even without the Internet and social media, the trolls managed to make so much negative noise about Keaton cast as Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 feature.
“The guy from Beetlejuice? Seriously?”
The long knives were out for Burton, Warner Brothers, DC, and pretty much anyone and everyone associated with film prior to release.
Seriously, I don’t how the casting would have survived if social media had existed in 1988.
Which reminds us of the late, great William Goldman’s classic comment:
Veteran comic art retailer Bechara Maalouf runs the focussed convention twice a year in LA (Redondo Beach) — typically May and November — and also one in the SF Bay area in February.
As always, it featured a great selection of original art —- plus a fun group of guests this time around. Pictured: Andy Kubert, David Mack, Mark Texeira, and yours truly with Andy.
If you blinked you missed it department:
I recently raised a glass to our friends at Dollar Bin Bandits (podcast, video) in honor of their second-year anniversary. Much more importantly, they used the occasion to announce that they had joined forces with the gang at Tomorrows Publishing. The fine folks there do a stellar job of publishing books and mags on the history of comics and pop culture.
It’s like combining peanut butter and chocolate: “Two great tastes that taste great together.” Very much looking forward to their joint efforts.
There are at least 10 million opinions about recent comic book superhero films out there (the on-line universe is obsessed with this art of thing) but I will add my own three cents anyway. (Spoiler- free, and ranked in order of my personal preference:)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse:
• A landmark in animation.
• A landmark in comic book stories on film.
• A landmark in cinema, period.
Haven’t yet seen the film and think’s that hyperbole? Check it out — and let me know if you think I’m wildly off base.
Guardians of The Galaxy 3:
Enjoyed it very much, and kudos to the filmmakers and their marketing efforts that managed to tell us what the film was about — without spoiling the story. The efforts worked, because pretty much every internet rumor about the film prior to the release was wrong. (Some just laughable.)
Caveat — I know the High Evolutionary’s animal experiments were needed for the story, but I do wish they had used a little more finesse in the editing room to tone some of it down.
The Flash:
Between the changes in WB studio ownership / management and Ezra Miller’s well-publicized troubles, this was a cursed project that still somehow delivers a fair and occasionally fun superhero product, especially if you are familiar with the Flashpoint storyline.
Yes, the special effects needed a bit more work, but I barely tolerate most CGI anyway, so it didn’t annoy me as much as other fans apparently. As for the cameos? My only real reaction is where is TV Flash Grant Gustin? (The inter webs have plenty of thoughts on that, too.)
We complete the hat trick of Flash time travel stories with this knockout double page spread by Tony Daniel from writer Marc Guggenheim’s Flash run in 2007.
What happens when you lose the speed force? Nothing good, apparently. Although we did a great looking piece of art out of the deal.
After quite a few fits and starts, The Flash feature film is making its way into theaters this week, so naturally here’s a great Flash page… minus the Flash.
But all the classic Flash rogues are here in a story which focusses specifically on them. If you’re a fan of the classic Silver Age Flash (guilty) this splash by my pal Sean Chen is definitely the pen and ink version of comfort food.
As far as I can tell from the trailer, The Flash movie will be light on the rogues, so this is good way to get our fix.
Rogues, nothing but rogues. Comic book professional and historian Peter Sanderson — as a fan — wrote an amazing summary with pros and cons of each character, which Julius Schwartz published in Flash #174
Forget about The Batman for a moment, who is the best cinematic Bruce Wayne?
Michael Keaton’s hairstyle might be a bit off, even for 1989, but his Bruce Wayne interpretation is otherwise compelling and terrific.
Irony.
Even without the Internet and social media, the trolls managed to make so… much… noise.. about Michael Keaton cast as Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 feature.
The long knives were definitely out for Burton, Warner Brothers, DC, and pretty much anyone and everyone associated with film prior to release.
And you know what?
Keaton is still the most enjoyable version of Bruce Wayne on screen.
Not to take anything away from Christian Bale, who, overall is terrific and definitely has his Bruce Wayne moments, there’s both a charm and weirdness to Keaton’s Wayne. (And who wouldn’t be weird, dressing up as a bat and fighting crime at night? But we digress.)
And Pattinson might turn out to be a terrific Bruce Wayne. But we didn’t see much of him as Wayne in The Batman so the jury is still out.
Keaton’s Wayne is very self-aware, less brooding, has a sense of a humor and charisma, but still — on the edge, and likely psychotic. He provides many shades to the Wayne persona.
He might not be the best-looking Batman in a cowl (I specifically never warmed up the style guide art based on his Batman likeness) but as Bruce Wayne, just a blast.
Much of “The Batman” is brilliant. It’s not necessarily my personal cup of Joe, but Matt Reeves has delivered an inventive and occasionally extraordinary film that incorporates elements of some great “contemporary” Batman comic book story lines and motifs. (Batman Year One, The Long Halloween, Cooke and Brubraker’s Catwoman, et al.)
It’s nice to see the world’s greatest detective actually detecting again.
The cast is superb. Robert Pattinson as Batman was excellent. I didn’t much care for his emo version of Bruce Wayne, but we hardly see him in the Bruce persona anyway. (He also wins for best bat-jawline). Zoe Kravitz and Paul Dano are also excellent, and Colin Farrell as the Robert DeNiro/Al Capone (Untouchables) version of the Penguin was good fun. He definitely has enthusiasms.
Jeffrey Wright as “Lt. Gordon” also great.
As for the story — I didn’t think it would be possible to incorporate Catwoman, Riddler and Penguin into one film without creating a bit of a mess; but the filmmakers made it work, and it worked pretty well.
And of course, developing the Riddler character as a serial killer is amazingly effective. Those real-life maniacs are always writing letters and taunting law enforcement so it was more than a logical character choice. Much of the first act of the film channels David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac. (Later on, it throws in elements of LA Confidential and Chinatown for good measure.)
As for the scarred side of the Two-Face coin?:
Upping the ante on Gotham as a modern Sodom and Gomorrah is wearying, even when done well. Why does anyone with more than 50 cents to their name live there? What the hell is the draw? It rains all the damn time, the nights last 16 hours or more, and it apparently has the most ineffective police force in urban history. It’s clearly the most dangerous and corrupt city in the USA, and it makes NYC in the 70s seem like a gleaming paradise. It’s becoming its own cliché.
(I’m beginning to think Ra’s al Ghul was right. Wipe Gotham off the map and start over.)
And riddle me this? Why are the non-“rouges gallery” villains always portrayed as one-dimensional cartoon characters? From Burton to Nolan to Reeves: The mobsters in these films are mostly not believable as mobsters. (Not to mention the cops, especially “senior management.” Also cartoons.)
And the bodies… just keep piling up… and up… and up. Maybe someone should call the state police. Or the FBI. Or… anyone.
As for the length of the film…
“I’m sorry I wrote you such a long letter. I didn’t have time to write you a short one.” – Blaise Pascal.
Seriously… it needed to be 20-30 minutes shorter. Do that and I think you not only have a terrific “superhero film”, but also a much more effective film, period. (No offense, it’s not the Godfather, which clocks in at about the same length.) And I would have watched the “extended” version on HBO a year from now anyway.
One final thought. A few film critics and fans have called this movie a “film noir.”
Nope.
Does it contain some of the tropes? Of course it does. So do a lot of films. (The whole dark and rainy thing again.) But, In actuality, you could argue the Batman’s arc in this film is the complete opposite of a film noir.
If it really was a noir, Batman would have completely fallen for Catwoman, done something really stupid because of his infatuation, and ended up floating face down in Wayne Manor’s swimming pool or dying in a hail of bullets.
Or, conversely, Bats would have done something “heroic” on Catwoman’s behalf that ultimately causes her to end up in a pool of her own blood.
And, spoiler alert (ok, I fibbed) they’re both alive at the end of the film.
We continue to celebrate Jack Kirby’s legacy at DC Comics with a special two-week look at Jack’s characters and concepts as envisioned by other creators. 2021 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth World storyline. *
Superman (with Mr. Miracle’s help) gets into it with the Infinity man in this great splash page and well-crafted mini-series by Jim Starlin.
Starlin of course created Thanos, the not-quite knock-off of Darkseid, who became one of the most popular super-villains in the Marvel Universe, and ultimately the ultimate “Big-bad” of the MCU. So it’s fitting to have him play in the Darkseid’s sandbox as well.
Ironically, it took Darkseid a bit longer to achieve the same level of popularity in the DC Universe, but his own crown as DC’s ultimate super-villain has been amplified by his inclusion in the Zach Snyder “cut”of Justice League.
As for the series title? Let’s just say that reports of the New Gods’ deaths are greatly exaggerated.
*Purists will note that some of the characters and titles actually made it onto newsstands before the close of 1970, but the fully integrated series (Jimmy Olsen, Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle) — doesn’t fully materialize until the following year.
Darkseid and Thanos, not as similar as you might think. (Darkseid doesn’t need a cosmic cube to be a god — he already is one.)
Michael Cho delivers one of the best images this century of the Golden Age Superman.
Superman. In action. Happy and upbeat.
You’d be happy too if you were the most powerful human on earth — even if you had some serious crime to fight.
I’ve gone on the record that a grim and gritty, introspective (even mopey) Superman is not for me. In other words, most of the modern versions of the character.
Call me old school.
Michael says this early era of Superman is his favorite. It’s certainly among mine as well.
It’s a Superman week here on the blog as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the debut of the amazing Paramount Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons. Those wonderfully produced animated shorts were the very first time Superman hit the big screen.
In a few days, the most recent filmed version of the character will appear in the re-edited “Snyder cut” of Justice League on HBO.
Don’t take any bets on which version I prefer.
Printed cover, digital prelim, and full-bleed litho version.
George Reeves and Christopher Reeve both knew it was (mostly) cool to be Superman.
