Comic Review: Superman Birthright

I've been meaning to read this story for years, and I finally got around to it last night.  In a nutshell Superman Birthright is a modern retelling of Superman's origin story, something that has since been done a lot.  At the time the mini series was meant to be a non-canon story, but was so well received it replaced the already established Superman origin story.  It was written by the Mark Waid, the man behind Kingdom Come and the current Daredevil series.  The art was done by Leinil Yu, who was also the artist of Mark Millar's incredible Superior series.

The Good

This mini-series did a lot of this well, one of the biggest highlights being that they explained the disguise, really well in fact.  Clark refused to use a mask, so his mother came up with the idea for him to wear layers to hide his muscles, bad posture and acting to seem mild mannered, keeping his hair well groomed because flying would mess it up, and very thick, strong prescription glasses to dull his otherworldly eye color.

The next strong point was Lex Luthor, everything about him was perfect.  In this story Lex is a genius in the field of...well everything really.  his origin is that he lived in Smallville, and was an outcast until an accident left him an orphan as well as bald.  After that he started his company in Metropolis, and created truly amazing technology by looking at planets and hypothesizing how something could survive on them.  His hatred of Superman is based on his obsession with alien life, and when he finally makes contact, he is treated as a lesser being.  So he decided to put together an elaborate plan to discredit Superman and eventually kill him as an alien invader.

Superman's power set was slightly altered for this mini-series as well, making him powered by multiple sources; the yellow sun charges him, but the powers themselves stem from the differences between Earth and Krypton's environment.  Basically everything about this mini-series is brilliantly written, well, almost everything.

The Bad

I have a few complaints about this series, interestingly enough it was basically everything I didn't like about Man of Steel.  The "S" shield, something that went from being a simple letter, to the El family crest, but in this series it was made into the Kryptonian symbol for hope, something I found kinda dumb, but not the biggest problem.

My biggest complaint with this series was how Pa Kent acted in the early issues.  Like the Man of Steel film, Pa Kent is responsible for for Clark hiding his powers.  And in the early issues he was very disproving of the idea of Superman, even to the point where he tried to destroy Clark's rocket to stop him.  He eventually turns into the Pa Kent we all recognize, but the whole point of Pa Kent is he helps Clark become Superman.  

The series was a bit slow in the early issues, but by part 4 the pacing got better and I ended up staying up until 3 AM because I couldn't stop reading.  But the early 3 issues were kinda disappointing, I felt like it was just an average storyline and didn't see why it was so well received.

The Verdict

The series was overall great, but it does suffer from the usual origin story problems, and this one in particular suffers a little more because it is such a well established character.  But the series proves itself thanks to the brilliant creative team of Waid and Yu.  Thus I give this mini-series an A-.

DCnU: 2 Years Later

It is hard to believe it has already been two years since DC decided to give its readers the finger...I mean reboot everything to reach out to a new audience.  And to mark this anniversary in stupidity I will do my best to give an unbiased review of the past 2 years.

The New 52, seriously we're still calling it that? Was started as a reboot that would modernize the DC universe and allow for new readers to jump in without worrying about 70 years of backstory.  At least that is how it was sold to us.  In practice however their were some problems with this.  When it all started our heroes were redesigned (in matching uniforms for some reason), made younger, and had their origins altered.  It started with Justice League and our favorite heroes were brought together to stop an enemy too powerful for them individually.  I was enjoyable enough, but then the individual titles started to come out, and they were all hit and miss (mostly miss).  For the first moth I saved up and bought everything just to try it all out.  The second moth I dropped about half of them, after the first arcs were done I dropped even more, and after about a year I made the difficult decision to drop all titles about my favorite DC hero, Superman.

As new titles were released I would try them out, usually hate them, and drop them.  Currently I only read 6 monthly titles and 2 weekly digital ones.  To put this into perspective I usually get more than that a week from Marvel.  Of these 6 titles, 1 of them is set in a parallel earth, in fact my favorite stuff DC has done in the last few years are all outside their mainstream universe.

Now onto some of the problems of the New 52, first and foremost the timeline.  DC promised a new timeline for new readers to not be confused by.  This ended up failing because they set this new universe 5 years after the heroes started showing up, and those origins were not revealed for almost a year, and the villains had to wait even longer.  So instead readers were dropped into a world where even long-time readers were lost on the timeline.  Sure there were books set at different times, like Action Comics being set at the beginning of Superman's career, but this ended up doing more harm than good because the different timelines would contradict each other.  Other times we are given multiple books set at the same time, but very different things are going on.  Also we are forced to believe that in those 5 years there has been 4 different Robins raised in Wayne Manor.

The next problem is the reimagining of characters themselves, particularly the villains.  For example Darkseid was always one of DC's biggest Baddies, born of a noble family he became a tyrant by right.  In the New 52 Darkseid was a farmer who was given the powers of a god, got tired of his oppressors, and took power.    A lot of the heroes were moved out of their iconic, albeit fake cities, and moved to one we would all know.  The most notable being Green Arrow, who was moved to Seattle a town I know well.  But Green Arrow's Seattle is more of a tourist destination rather than the hipster rich, rain plagued land I know.  The Space Needle was always present in every issue I did read, which is impossible considering it's location and the fact you lose sight of it only a few blocks away.  Then their is Nightwing, for those who wisely gave up DC before the reboot here is his new origin; Dick Grayson grew up in a circus (so far so good), but this circus was secretly used to recruit assassins for an Owl themed secret society (could be worse), and Dick's parents were killed because he was to be the next one recruited into the order (you're losing me), and did I mention the assassins are all undead zombies? (And I'm done).  The last one I'm gonna talk about is the infamous living sex doll Starfire, way to reach out to female readers guys.  Starfire was a fan favorite character for years, and her popularity skyrocketed with the Teen Titans cartoon.  So why would anyone think it was a good idea to remove all aspects of her personality and make her a character who sleeps with any man she talks to...oh right, the ever elusive horny teenage boy demographic.

The costumes are also an issue with the universe, everyone seems to have the same tailor now.  Either they have a full bodysuit with unnecessary lines and a v-shaped collar, or they have a Tron suit, which is especially weird when considering Tron is owned by Disney, and yet Marvel is staying away from the suits.  There is a small handful of costumes however that I find well made, for example Animal Man, his suit is an updated version of what he used to wear and it manages to set him apart from everyone else.  I also like the Earth-2 line of costumes, all of which are hilariously more eye-catching and original than anything the mainstream DC universe has.

Moving on we have the treatment of characters, I sort of went over this a little bit ago, but this is such a problem it needs be addressed twice.  First are the relationships, in a rebooted universe I'm OK with nullifying some marriages, but don't tell me superheroes work better when they are single *cough* Didio *cough*, sorry I had something in my throaght.  Clark Kent is no linger with Lois, and I can live with that for a while so long as they have some kind of dynamic.  Barry is no longer married to Iris, this is a bit odd considering the whole reason behind Flashpoint was Barry wanted Iris back, but I can deal with it, again, so long as there is some dynamic.  The real problems start when we get into characters like Animal Man, a large aspect of his character is his family but after Rotworld his son is dead, his wife left him and took his daughter, leaving him...single.  Then there is Batwoman, her potentially groundbreaking marriage was called off recently in order to keep her free and available to fight crime, even though her partner was totally supportive and understanding.  The relationship that really throws a wrench in DaDio's single=better theory is Aquaman and Mera, who officially are not married yet I don't think anyone told Johns because he's been writing them that way since issue 1.  There relationship actually improves the narrative and makes me care about the characters more.  So basically DiDio took the one Marvel decision fans are still angry about (ending Peter and Mary Jane's wedding), and thought; "yeah, that was a great move, let's do it to everyone".

Speaking of Marvel, they had a modern reboot as well roughly a decade ago, but they did it in a way that worked.  Not everyone is a fan of the Marvel's Ultimate Universe (personally I am), but they still have the choice to read it, or the classic mainstream universe.  DC didn't do this, they just made the Ultimate Universe the main and did away with the classic.  This honestly makes the reboot universe all that much worse.  Luckily DC does have it's share of "elseworlds" for fan to turn to, including my personal favorite the "Earth-One" line, which only releases a single volume every couple of years, but manages to reboot DC better than the actual reboot did.  Or the Beyond series which comes out weekly and continues where the series "Batman Beyond" left off, only a little more mature to match the age of those who grew up with the cartoon (like me), so DC isn't failing, just the New 52.

The next large mistake made in the new 52 is not listening to the fans.  Since the reboot started fans have asked about their favorite characters, such as Stephanie Brown, Wally West, and Cassandra Cain.  And for years we have got the same answer; wait and see, they may return.  I may not be in charge of a Major comic industry, but wouldn't you want to bring back characters fans enjoy so they buy more comics? 

Lets move on to the Events, oh God the events.  Night of the Owls was decent-ish, if you only read Batman's story.  Then there was the train wreck "H'ell on Earth", then the mediocre "Trinity War", and the abomination that is "Forever Evil".  However I am enjoying Zero Year, so that's what, 1 out of5?  And people say Marvel is having problems.  "Forever Evil" in particular is possibly the worst event I've read in a long time.  It was transitioned into badly by simply tacking it onto the end of another event, the Earth-3 characters are borderline cartoonishly evil, and it was so badly written I stopped reading partway through. 

Now lets talk Batman shall we?  Batman is overused, I understand he's popular, especially after the Dark Knight trilogy, but DC is treating him like he is only hero, he and his Bat family take a majority of the DC monthly titles, 4 of which actually have the word "Batman" in the title.  There was even a brief time when he led 2 different Justice Leagues, when honestly he isn't the kind of person people would rally behind.  One thing the New 52 did get right is he cannot defeat Superman, every fight the outcome was Superman as the victor thus far.  Which makes sense because Superman is the most powerful character in comic books, hell Screw Attack did a Death Battle where they determined just how powerful Superman truly is (Click HERE to watch).  Batman is meant to be the dark brooding hero that invokes fear in others, not the shining beacon of hope everyone rallies behind.

The last thing I want to touch on is this, this isn't the first time DC has rebooted, it's the 1st major one they have done in a while, but every Crisis usually leads to alterations in the continuity, and those happen every couple of years.  So if you're not a fan of the most recent reboot, just wait a little longer DC's track record has proven they don't like to commit.  And even with the crap the reboot has given us, there is still a few titles that are well worth the read, my favorite of which being Earth-2, ironically another example of a reboot done right.

Top 10: Supervillains

I already did a top 10 Superheroes, so I thought it was only natural that I did the Supervillains next.  Please keep in mind this is my list, and therefore is based entirely on opinion.  So without further delay; here is the list.

10. Darkseid

Starting off this list is Darkseid.  No matter the medium, if Darkseid shows up; crap hits the fan.  Ruling over a planet called Apokolips with an iron fist, Darkseid made it to my list thanks to the animated universe.  Growing up in the 90s he and Apocalypse were the 2 most powerful baddies of my childhood, and Darkseid was always more interesting to me.  His powers are similar to Superman, but he cannot fly and his eye lasers seem to defy all logic.  It is for these reasons he is only number 10 on the list.

9. Green Goblin

What makes the Goblin such a great villain is not his powers, costume, or secret identity...but the fact he enjoys it.  Norman Osborn was a crooked business man until his accident.  Since then he has terrorized New York, murdered countless people, saved the world, controlled the nation's security, destroyed Asgard, and that's just a short list.  The whole time he was doing these things he had to reuse the Goblin formula, meaning deep down he prefers to be the goblin.  But it was Willem Dafoe's amazing performance that puts him on my list.

8. Doctor Doom

Personally; I can't stand the Fantastic Four, but Doctor Doom is a fantastic villain.  Doom is arrogant, powerful, and has diplomatic immunity.  The only issue I have with him is his power set, magic just has too many variables and is often too convenient for me.  Doom was the big bad behind one of my favorite games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, where he outsmarts every other villain in the game, and he proves why he is one of the planet's greatest threats time and time again.

7. Doomsday

Doomsday will always hold a special place in my heart, the Death of Superman was a big deal when I was young (Yes the event predates me, but it was still a big deal) and Doomsday's design was really cool.  What makes Doomsday a great villain is he isn't a mastermind...he's an animal that happens to be the top of the food chain.  He also reshaped comic books forever, after he killed Superman he set events in motion that led to death becoming inconsequential. 

6. Joker

Joker is Batman's greatest villain, he scored so low on my list because as you will see, I clearly have a type when it comes to villains.  Joker is one of the few Batman villains I like, and usually when he gets involved his plans keep me guessing the whole time.  Joker however is the first character on my list that follows the number 1 rule of supervillains; a great villain is the heroes opposite, the other side of the coin.  And the colorful and outrageous Joker is definitely the brooding Bat's opposite.  On a side note, Mark Hamill's voice has been how I imagined Joker sounding since I was 5 years old.

5. Lex Luthor

Lex is a different kind of villain, he believes that what he is doing is right.  Lex feels Superman s a threat to society, and thus must be defeated.  At least that's how it all started, now his motives are a bit more greed oriented.  Another thing that makes Lex a great villain is that everyone knows his real name, yet he is still able to become president of the United States.  Not only does he believe he is in the right, he is able to convince others of this as well.  And just look at that image, can you imagine that in the next Man of Steel/Batman movie?  It would be amazing.

4. Magneto

Another villain who believes he is right, Magneto is a terrorist that feels in order for his kind to survive he must destroy the rest of humanity.  This puts him at odds with his enemies (Though surprisingly never really the Avengers) in his mission.  He has been a revolutionary, a terrorist, a political figure, and a member of the X-Men, though in a twist of irony Magneto has the same mindset as those who subjugated him in his youth, the Nazis.  It's this hypocrisy that only puts him at number 4 on my list.

3. Red Skull

Red Skull is has done something few villains can, he killed his nemesis.  Sure Doomsday killed Superman once, but he also died.  The Skull managed to win and for a while the world without it's greatest hero.  But more than that he was also deemed to dangerous to live once Cap came back.  And to add another accomplishment, Red Skull is so evil, other villains refuse to work with him.  Instead he uses his own very small list of accomplices.  In recent days Skull has been brought back in the form of a clone, exhumed the body of Charles Xavier, and experimented on it to give himself Xavier's telepathy.  Not only that, but in the most recent story arc he succeeds in destroying the mutant race; forcing the children of Apocalypse to go back in time to stop him.  His track record speaks for itself as to why he earned his spot on the list, but the next 2 are even worse.

2.Ultron

Ultron combines some of my favorite aspects of a supervillain: he believes he is in the right, has the power to back up his threats, he was inadvertently created by his nemesis, and he is brilliant.  The best part of Ultron is not if he will destroy mankind, but when.  Ultron is always upgrading himself, and the Avengers know, or knew rather, that he would eventually become too much for them to handle.  The recent event Age of Ultron was all about this and the heroes were only able to stop him once and for all with time travel.  But he is also very limited, and even at his best he could only take 1 planet.

1.Brainiac

Brainiac has never appeared the same for very long.  He had an extremely inconsistent origin story, that is until the New Krypton story and it was revealed there was a reason for this; none of them were the real Brainiac.  Brainiac collects cities, and there is speculation that he is responsible for Krypton's destruction.  Which means he also destroyed every other planet who's cities he has taken.  This gives him a death toll somewhere in the trillion...with a "T".  Brainiac has been in my mind the greatest villain since the first episode of the animated series.  And if the speculation about him destroying Krypton is true (we'll never know thanks to the new 52), then he manages to have created the most powerful and iconic hero of all time.

Well that's my list, if you have one feel free to post it, or if you have any other comments you want to leave.

Movie Review: Man of Steel

       Normally I don't review new movies, but I felt that this movie in particular needed a review from someone who wouldn't knock it simply because it wasn't like the original movies.  As a fan of Superman since I was a child, it always bothered me that the whole time I was growing up we never got a decent movie...until now.  Man of Steel is is a darker, more realistic take on Superman similar to Nolan's Batman trilogy.  This movie also had the only director I felt could handle the visual style needed for a proper Superman film; Zack Snyder.  Because there is so much history for the character, and DC's recent reboot destroying all of that; I approached this movie as an Elseworld story (DC's Alternate Realities), as I urge all others to do as well.

The Plot

       As a reboot the plot is a retelling of Superman's origin story.  However the movie takes enough liberties with the story that even I was surprised when certain events happened.  Basically the movie starts with the destruction of Krypton, like every Superman origin should, but as soon as the rocket lands on Earth the movie fast forwards to an adult Clark, something I was OK with, but I did want some interactions with his parents.  Eventually we did, in the form of flashbacks, that were out of order.  The flashbacks were good, but I would have preferred if they were simply together as his childhood, then jumped to him as an adult.  The villain in this was General Zod and his army of Kryptonians, who in this movie had an actual reason behind their actions.  While the movie had a strong focus on Kal-El, Clark Kent took a backseat in this story.  The entire movie was about Clark trying to find a place in the world, and stumbling upon his heritage, eventually deciding to become Earth's protector.  Meanwhile reporter Lois Lane is hot on his trail investigating miracles that have been happening since Clark's childhood, and an alien ship discovered in Canada's frozen tundra.  Eventually She finds him and becomes the sort of middleman between the humans and Kryptonians.  The movie's climax is an all out battle between Earth and Zod's armies.  There is incredible collateral damage and quite possibly the greatest superhero battle seen on screen.  The ending sees Clark adopt his duel personality and step up as the public defender of Earth.

       Honestly I can't find much wrong with the story.  I felt it was a great Sci-Fi story and a very unique take on the most iconic hero ever.  The only problem I could say is that Nolan's hand is far too noticeable and Goyer's writing can be hit and miss, creating plot holes bad characters, and bad dialogue.  But this can be overlooked for the most part, however in some spots it becomes unforgivable.

The Characters

       The weakest part of this movie in my opinion were the characters, two in particular were unforgivable in how they were done.  The first was Lois Lane portrayed by the fantastic Amy Adams, however when it comes to Superman Amy Adams is more suited to another character, Lana Lang, Her Lois however was a little too sweet.  Lois is meant to be a bull headed, sarcastic, and almost masculine in her personality.  Amy Adams is simply playing the same part she usually does here, making Lois more of a damsel in distress than she should be.

       Next is Kevin Costner's Pa Kent, I'm all for making changes, but Pa Kent is the one that convinces Clark to use his gift to help people in every iteration of the character, and in some stories it is his death that gives him the push to become Superman.  Here Kevin Costner gives a boring performance and spends Clark's whole childhood convincing him to hide his powers, even at the cost of human lives...even his own.  That's right, Pa Kent dies in order to teach Clark a lesson to not show his powers.

       On the opposite end of the spectrum is Faora.  I was skeptical at first when I heard Faora would be replacing Ursa, and that she was to be played by a scream queen (female horror movie actor), but I was blown away by her in the film, she was Zod's number 2, and even got a rival in the army Colonel  in charge of the attack on the Kryptonians.

       Another character done really well was Perry White.  In the movie he is played by Lawrence Fishburne.  I never really got Perry, he was Clark and Lois' boss, but he never really did much for the story.  In Man of Steel however he proves that he is capable of much more than I imagined, he protects Lois when she is getting to close to a government cover-up, and even risks his own life attempting to save one of his employees, making peace with the fact he will die with her until Superman saves them both at the last second.

       Then there was Jor-El played by Russel Crowe.  I didn't expect much here because Jor-El is dead for most of the movie, and Russel Crowe is known for giving unenthusiastic performances, but here it really worked.  He was playing an emotionless alien in the beginning, who returned later as an artificial intelligence.

       The other characters were nothing really special in wither direction, they were simply what you would expect from a Nolan movie, so I'll leave it at that.

What I'd Change

       Like with every movie, there are things that I would prefer were different.  In Man of Steel many of my changes are already addressed in my review, rather than Amy Adams as Lois, I'd save her for Lana in a later movie, and instead use an actress known for being more sarcastic and headstrong; like Dexter's Jennifer Carpenter, in fact, she's perfect for it, I'd go with her.  Next I would move all the flashbacks to the beginning, in order, to make a more linear story and distance the comparisons with Batman Begins.  While on the topic of the flashbacks, Kevin Costner's Pa Kent shouldn't have happened, it was just wrong.  I know this isn't the comic version of Superman, but the Kent's shouldn't hold Clark back, they should be pushing him to be the man he is destined to be.  The last thing I would  change is the inconsistency with Zod.  In the movie the Kryptonians are all genetically engineered to fill a specific role.  Zod is to be the ultimate warrior who will to anything for the good of Krypton, even start a revolution to remove the incompetent leaders from power.  The problem is that Zod is beaten up...a lot, first by a scientist (Let that sink in), and later by the first naturally born Kryptonian in centuries who never got in a fight in his life.

Sequel Ideas

       If I was to make the sequel I would give Superman a little more personality.  the movie makes him the Boy Scout that everyone says he is, but I feel superman should be more confident, and even borderline arrogant.  In the first movie I'm okay with a more broody Clark, but now that he is more comfortable in his role he needs to be more confident as well.  This is alluded to at the end of the movie, but I want them to do more with it.

       As for the villain, I want Lex, I know all the Superman movies have only had 2 villains, and Lex was in all 5 of them, but Lex is Superman's arch enemy.  They can add another villain as well, but Lex is even set up perfectly; an army of unstoppable aliens almost destroyed his planet, now one is left and we are all supposed to accept him?  Honestly I want to see Lex working with the military to create a protector that can take down Superman if needed, but the superhuman they make turns on them.  They could use someone like say Metallo, or Parasite, then we get a big Snyder style battle, and end it with Lex in his exo suit fighting Superman in a massive showdown.  Lex can be played by someone with a commanding presence like say Jon Hamm, or Michael Fassbender, and for Metallo use Mark Pelligrino.

       Another character I want to see, that was alluded to in the movie, as well as the prequel comic, is Supergirl.  In the prequel it is revealed Supergirl crash landed on Earth years ago, and in Man of Steel her there is an empty pod on the ship that was meant to be her.  The movie could use her to fuel Lex's paranoia because she doesn't understand how the Earth works, or her own strength so she is bound to cause some problems.  Find a competent younger actress, like Chloë Grace Moretz, to play her and there you go, I just came up with an outline that would work really well.

       The biggest thing for a sequel however is not to follow in Marvel's mistake with Iron Man 2, and don't simply make a build up for the future Justice League movie, make it self contained, but with references to the other characters.  Though honestly I feel a Justice League movie that recasts everyone except Superman is a bad idea, especially since Green Lantern and Dark Knight Rises are still so fresh in our memories.

Final Verdict

       All in all Man of Steel is my favorite Superman movie to date, but it still isn't the one I've been waiting for, maybe the next one could be however.  Comparing it to other Superhero movies I have to say, it was better than Batman Begins, so a solid origin story that has the potential to be one of the best superhero franchises of our time if handled right, and definitely not deserving of all the hate the critics are giving it.  A grade this movie at an A-.

Editorial: Comic Books and Aging

       It's been a few weeks since I posted anything, I hate Spring Quarter.  Anyway I thought today I would bring up my biggest complaint with comics books as a genre, okay that's not true, DC's ridiculous need to reboot every few years is worse.  But today I would like to go over the annoyance of how characters stop aging once they reach age 30.  This wouldn't be such a big deal if younger characters didn't age, but they do, and eventually they are the same age as their idols.  To make matters worse the narrative of comics is that they go on for years, and often bring up things that happened in the past.  But the always say it was only a few months ago, which doesn't work if you create new characters, then age them multiple years.  The most obvious example of this is Barbara's paralysis in 1988, the New 52 claims this was 6 months ago, but in that time Damian Wayne was born, raised to be a killer, and became Robin.  Not bad for someone less than 6 months old.

       Sure it's understandable that given their powers some of these characters will live longer.  For example all God characters such as Thor, Hercules, and even Wonder Woman can live forever so long as they are not killed.  The same goes for characters with healing factors like Wolverine, who is already over 200 years old.  Also characters like Nick Fury and Superman can live longer than others, Superman because of his powers, and Fury's infinity serum.  It has also been put on record Hulk will far outlive Banner as well.  But what about all the characters whose powers don't affect aging?  Batman for example has been around for decades, fathered 3 adopted sons and 1 biological son, half of which are roughly his age now.

       As a child of the 90s I have lived through many a child hero, all of which are destined to be the next generation of heroes.  Except that next generation never happens, in truth they end up aging and are then more often then not overshadowed by older heroes.  So what happens to the futures we are often seeing in comics them?  Futures that in many instances should have happened years ago.  For example Spider-Man can't lead the Avengers if Iron Man never retires.  Interestingly enough the X-Men are the only ones to address this issue.  By killing off Xavier they left a role that needed to be filled by his pupils, which they did.  Creating a new Mutant power struggle not based on Racism, but who is actually willing to join with the now far more accepting populace.

       Though it is true my favorite heroes are the oldest of their respective universes, and with them aging in real time I may have been denied them in their glory days, but as I said before, new heroes would have raised up to fill their shoes, so instead of Clark Kent and Steve Rogers, I may have gotten Christopher Kent and James Barnes.  Though these are bad examples because as I mentioned before, these characters actually don't age normally and may actually still be active today.  So better example, rather than Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark we would have Terry McGinnis and Anthony Stark Jr.

       Though the most annoying thing about this utter neglect of time has got to be technology and pop culture.  If you read a comic from the 90s there are no cell phones, no Facebook, no Obama.  Yet a comic from 2013 not only has all of these things, but technically they are still in the 1960s with them.

       I may be reading too much into all of this, so I will leave it to you the readers to decide for yourself if our heroes should remain ageless or not.  But I for one would love to see the Titans and Young Justice from my youth go on to become the Justice League, except Superboy, who cannot age.  Or how about the Avengers led by Steve Roger's grandchild.  Have something to say on this topic?  Feel free to leave a comment below.

Television Review: Arrow

       With the season finales about done with I thought I would review the first season of Arrow.  This show was a pleasant surprise.  Because this show is so new, I will attempt to have as few spoilers as possible.  Growing up I never liked Green Arrow, he had a silly beard, his trick arrows were often ridiculous, and his personality was simply unlikeable.  So why is it that a show that manages to get every aspect of the characters wrong, ends up being downright awesome.  Allow me to explain, in the comics Oliver Queen was stranded on an island for 5 years after after falling off a boat.  Let me back up a bit, when he was a child his parents were mauled by lions on safari.  When he inherited his parents money he became a drunken playboy, which is how he ended up falling off a boat in the first place.  On the island he had to survive and became very skilled with a bow.  There was also a drug operation on the island, which he took down.  When he finally returned to his home he decided to use his new skills to fight crime, the name Green Arrow was given to him by the media and he simply ran with it.

       The show however made him into a drunken playboy who was raised by rich parents who didn't believe in discipline.  While on a boating trip with his father the boat went down because someone was trying to kill his father.  On the life raft his father realized there wasn't enough food for the both of them, so he killed himself, but not before giving Oliver a list of names of those who "Wronged" his city.  Oliver then spent the next 5 years on an island.  But there also happened to be a terrorist group on the island as well, who was hunting down Oliver because he was a problem.  While there he met a few people who trained him to fight and survive, including Slade Wilson, one of the most dangerous people in the DC universe.  Oliver had multiple chances to leave the island, but chose to stay to do the right thing.  When he returned he found his mother remarried, his sister is now a party girl, and his girlfriend is now dating his best friend.  With his life turned upside down he devotes himself to hunting down the people from his father's list with the help of like minded individuals.  The police give him the name "The Hood" and because it is just a name Oliver lets it go.

       As I mentioned before the show gets most everything about the characters, Green Arrow doesn't have the stupid beard or boxing glove arrows, but he knows how to fight and treat wounds.  The most obvious character change however is Slade Wilson.  In the comics Slade is an older man who is missing an eye.  He is a mercenary who goes by the name Deathstroke and is a constant villain of Batman and the Titans.  In the show he is roughly the same age as Oliver, and is also stranded on the island.  Slade is a part of Australian special forces, and the iconic mask is standard gear.  He and his partner were sent to the island to investigate a terrorist sighting, but they were shot down and captured.  Slade's partner, Billy Wintergreen, betrays him and joins the terrorists to stop the torture.  Slade escapes and joins up with Oliver.

       As awesome as the show made its hero, it is the side characters that actually make the show in my opinion.  First and foremost is Slade whom I mentioned before.  However other characters are just as good, characters like John Diggle; a bodyguard Oliver's mom hired when he returned home who has a personal grudge with a hitman named Deadshot and becomes Oliver's partner.  Another character I really liked was Felicity Smoak, Oliver's sexy tech assistant who tends to ramble, and most things out of her mouth comes out wrong.  Then their is the Queens, the mother who is hiding something, and the sister who reminds Oliver of what he used to be and he's trying to save.  But perhaps the character most viewers are interested in is Roy Harper, a poor street kid who is trying to turn his life around, and is searching for the Hood so that he can help him on his mission.  For those who are fans of the comics you probably know Roy Harper as Speed/Arsenal/Red Arrow, Green Arrow's first sidekick.

       Another aspect I feel I need to go over is the villains.  Some of the best villains used are Batman villains like Firefly, Deathstroke, and The Royal Flush Gang.  But it does use some Green Arrow villains as well; such as Constantine Drakon, China White, Count Vertigo, Dodger, and my personal favorite the Dark archer, the season's big bad.  All of the villains were given a more realistic feel that you would expect from a Nolan Batman movie.

       I felt the show made a bold move in choosing Green Arrow as the main character, and even bolder by changing every aspect of the character, and it becomes even more bold in using mostly Batman villains and using up all the good Green Arrow villains in the first season.  But this high risk plan yielded an even higher reward by doing the impossible, making me like Green Arrow.  And for that I give the show's first season a B+.

Top 10: Superheroes

I was sitting around my apartment today,  bored out of my mind because I happen to be the only one of my friends that didn't have class today, and I came to the realization that I've never actually ranked all my favorite super heroes.  So I put an end to that and without further a due I give you my top 10 favorite superheroes.

10) Hit Girl

       I don't know why, but for some reason this characters really stuck out to me.  It could be the fact you wouldn't believe a litter girl could kick ass (pun intended), but it's more than likely because this is one of a short list of female heroes that aren't just knockoffs of male counterparts, and of those Hit-Girl is the only one that's actually interesting.  Hit-Girl is a little girl who was kidnapped by her father and trained by him to kill in order to fight crime.  She is an expert in most weaponry and combat styles, and as an added bonus she has a vocabulary that would make the American Pie cast blush.  This created a huge controversy when the movie came out, and has placed her at the top of parents most hated superhero list.

9) Animal Man

       The best thing to come out of DC's "New 52".  Until recently I thought this guy was a joke, but then the reboot happened and I sampled all of the series, and this one quickly became one of my favorites.  Animal Man is an actor who was chosen by a force of nature called The Red to be its champion.  Now Buddy Baker has the power to replicate animal's abilities, and most recently he changes physically based on the animal.  But what really sealed it is that he doesn't want to be a hero.  He wants a normal life with his family, but every time he tries to get out he is forced back in.  And as of now it has cost him his marriage, his son has died, and his daughter is the one human on Earth The Red really wants.  If you're a comic fan and you aren't reading Animal Man you are truly missing out.

08) Green Lantern

       I realize their are literally thousands of Green Lanterns, but my personal favorite is Hal Jordan, mostly because he reminds me of Mal from Firefly, especially the new version of Hal that's the hot shot pilot.  I really wanted the movie to be good as well and lead into a Justice League film, but when Ryan Reynolds need to fix the script because the oath is wrong your movie is in serious trouble, though I may be the only person on the planet that liked the costume design for the movie.  Green Lantern has a power ring that allows him to create constructs that are only limited by willpower and the wielder's imagination.  I'm not a fan of his comic series, but there was an amazing Green Lantern animated series that recently ended and his appearances in other series such as Justice League are quite good.

7) Winter Soldier

       Ah Winter Soldier, for almost 50 years James "Bucky" Barnes was the greatest argument against child sidekicks, he died young, and his death haunted his partner for years.  That is until the early 200s when he was resurrected as the brainwashed Winter Soldier, the Soviet Union's answer to Captain America, and one of the biggest badasses in comic history.  When he finally regained his memories he kept to the shadows until he was chosen to replace his mentor as the new Captain America.  Nowadays he is back to being the super spy Winter Soldier, and will be the focus of the next Captain America movie next year.

6) Wolverine

        Growing up in the 90s, or the heyday of animated superhero shows one hero really stood out, Wolverine.  This is how I was introduced to super heroes and Wolverine just seemed far cooler than all the others.  He has been the focus of almost every X-Men movie, and was the best part of the only one that didn't, out of everyone on this list I feel he has the most development.  Originally he was a Hulk villain, but he was popular enough to become an X-Men, an Avenger, and the star of his own series.  recently however he has made his most shocking development, he has chosen the path of peace and is continuing Xavier's dream of cohabitation with humanity, teaching the X-Men this philosophy in the hopes that eventually they'll no longer have to fight, yet Cyclops, the poster child for the X-Men has chosen the path of Magneto and mutant superiority rekindling the Xavier/Magneto conflict that was the central premise of the early X-Men comics.

5) Batman

       This is where I piss everyone off, especially once you see who I put at number 4.  I feel I don't need to describe him, but her it goes.  Billionaire Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered in front of him as a child so he traveled the world to learn as many skills as he could before finally returning to his city to wage war on crime as the Batman and becoming the one thing all criminals fear.  I like Batman, and in fact he was almost my number 3, but I decided I liked my number 3 choice slightly more so Batman was bumped down.  Batman has some of the most memorable villains, and allies in all of comic books, and right now he also has my personal favorite comic series from DC, as well as some of the best games and movies of all time.  The problem is, all of these things create a legend that the man himself simply can't live up to, coincidentally that's the whole point of Batman.  He doesn't score higher on my list because he relies too heavily on his gadgets, when he is more than capable of not needing them, and because he is quite possibly the most depressing guy in comic book history, a lot of heroes are orphaned, get over it.

4) Red Hood

       Before you send your hate mail, hear me out.  Jason Todd's parents were also victims of crime, however unlike Batman Jason had no money and ended up on the streets.  He had to work hard for everything, he became the second Robin, was trained by Batman, was then beaten to death by the Joker.  Was resurrected and trained in the same manner Bruce was, but by all the greatest underworld figures on the planet, whom he killed afterwards to stop them.  He then returned to Gotham to see that nothing has changed since he started.  Thus he came up with one of the greatest plans in comic book history, take down crime by becoming the greatest criminal ever.  He is willing to get his hands dirtier than Batman for the same goal, making him something criminals fear even more than Batman, in short he's a better Batman.  The downside however is because due to horrible writing he is prone to bouts of insanity that conveniently last long enough for a story arc to finish.  If you haven't read or seen Under the Red Hood I highly recommend you do both, the movie in particular happens to have casted one of my favorite actors as Jason Todd, and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing.

3) Daredevil

       Daredevil is an interesting hero, honestly if not for DC I believe this guy would have been called Batman, or at least Bat something.  As a child Matt Murdock was blinded, which heightened his other senses to super human levels.  When he got older he started to clean up his neighborhood, Hell's Kitchen, by working as a lawyer during the day, and fighting crime as the vigilante Daredevil at night.  I'm one of the few people I know who liked the movie, though to be honest the director's cut is far superior.  I fell in love with this character when I was young and he made a guest appearance on the Spider-Man cartoon, everything about him was cool, his costume, his weapon, his other life, this guy would have scored higher if I made this list back in middle school.

2) Superman

       I am a huge fan of Superheroes with uncompromising values.  Superman is a being so powerful nothing on Earth can stand up to him, not even Batman so please shut up about it, yet he chooses to use his powers to protect mankind.  In recent years Superman has been treated unfairly because of how powerful he is, and he's not a bad boy as opposed to darker heroes like Batman or Wolverine.  In comics today he doesn't even have a decent series in the mainstream universe, and if I was new to comics I would probably hate him.  But I'm not and over the years he has demonstrated his superiority time and time again.  Superman has even died saving the people of Metropolis and has never compromised his morals to achieve his goals, not even Batman can say that since he did kill Darkseid...with a gun, breaking two of his own rules at once.  If you read my editorial a few months ago you'd know that I feel the best way to revitalize Superman is to focus on his internal struggles, since he is so powerful on the outside, problems like that make him conflicted on the inside, it would be far easier to appeal to a wider audience this way, like how the Earth One series did, than to go the route DC took with the New 52 and simply constantly put him up against powerful enemies with no real consequence because DC won't ever raise the stakes.

1) Captain America

       Captain America is like Superman in that he is uncompromising and always doing the right thing.  The difference however is why he is at number one instead of Superman.  Steve Rogers was originally a frail kid who wanted to stand up for good so bad that he underwent an untested process to make him strong enough to do so, he wasn't born with powers like Superman, or money to travel the world to train like Batman, he simply really wanted to do good.  Captain America has started out as a propaganda comic during World War II, but Marvel acquired the rights in the early 60s and since then he has been the poster child for the Avengers.  In the mainstream universe he became the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., and in the Ultimate universe he became the president of the United States, however I prefer the mainstream despite the fact he's weaker, but of all of them the movie version is my favorite because he is the most uncompromising.  The image above is the concept suit for the upcoming movie Captain America:The Winter Soldier, and is based off my favorite costume from the comics.  Fun fact, the movie version is possibly the only movie superhero who is a virgin, think about it he started tiny, his first girlfriend was Peggy, and they only kissed once, and then he was frozen until the Avengers.  Much different than his comic book counterparts who have been known to be involved in affairs with married women.  Cap is the ultimate everyman hero as well as the ultimate role model.  Another fun fact, he has fought Batman to a standstill on two different occasions, the latest one Batman admitted Cap would eventually win, both these fights are confirmed as cannon by DC.  He also has the only villain so evil most other villains refuse to work with him, including the Joker in a 1960s crossover.

       I just realized a lack of diversity on my list, this wasn't intentional, in fact Black Panther and Miles Morales almost made the list and should be considered honorable mentions.  As for Spider-Man, I always thought he was a bit too whiny until recently when life finally started to go his way, but a few years of awesome can't make up for decades of annoyance.  Agree with my list?  Disagree?  then feel free to leave a comment below.

UPDATE: I realized that I like Daredevil a lot more than I listed him here, so I moved him up to a more appropriate position.  Besides, thanks to the Not-So New 52, I hardly read DC anymore, just reboot it again already.

Editorial: Saving Superman

       Taking a break from the Halloween theme for the month I decided to write my first editorial article, where I rant about something that either annoys me, or I find interesting, in this case both. 

       Superman is one of my favorite superheroes, second only to Captain America.  Which is why it pains me so much that I haven't enjoyed his comic since the new 52 started.  Just to clarify, Action Comics can be good, but Superman's main series is horrible, its like the creative team over at DC sat around and thought, "How can we destroy Superman?" 

       First I would like to say the costume isn't the problem, Superman has changed his costume before (anyone remember the electric suits?  No, its for the best then).  The problem is that they decided to crap all over everything that made Superman, Superman.  First his marriage to Lois was removed, not only that, but now there is no relationship between them at all.  Jimmy is now his roommate, which actually could work, but all his relationships with regular people are that they are just there.  Every time I do read an issue of Superman, he seems to pull at least one new power out of nowhere, for example this month was a prelude to an event, so I picked it up, Superman can now use his super hearing to figure out the shape, size, and speed of an approaching danger.  He then combined his heat vision and super breath to gently transport people three miles away.  The sad part is all of this would work in an alternate universe, like Marvel's Ultimate series, but this is DC's main universe.

        Next they took away his job, but more than that the turned the Dailey Planet into a farce.  Clark's only job there is to cover Superman, if he tries to do any other story, he gets in trouble, if Superman is gone for a week, while he is on vacation, he gets in trouble.  And now he is an internet news blogger, so basically what I'm doing right now.  Lois is the head of the television department, and even has the balls to ignore Perry and text during a meeting, things Perry would never stand for.

       The writing style of this series is atrocious, its like it was written out of time, everything is narrated, which nobody has done in decades, so why reboot the series to make it more modern only to write it in a style of the 1950s.

       The biggest problem however is that every other Superman publication is good.  Smallville comes out once a week, and is the most traditional Superman series available, which is ironic considering the whole time it was on television fans complained.  The Earth One series is even better, but you only get one volume every few years, and in fact in that series he even has the red underwear.  Even other New 52 titles know how to get Superman right, he is the toughest hero around, and not even Batman has lasted more than a few seconds.  So why does the monthly Superman series suck so much?  My theory is that the reason Lex has yet to make his debut is because he is secretly the head of the creative team. 

       So how can he be redeemed?  The answer is simple, first reboot, something DC does every few years when they realize they need a clean slate.  Then get a team that knows Superman, or is known for working on stories that would work with Superman.  Next reverse all the changes made to his character, Martha made the suit, there is chemistry between he and Lois, and Jimmy is his friend.  Hell if DC doesn't want to reboot they could simply dive into the more personal side of Superman, and his relationships with those around him.  An interesting way they can do this is bring up the fact that Clark and Lex grew up together, and are friends, this could even be an interesting story arc in itself.  Though DC may have already considered some of this, because Scott Snyder and Jim Lee are now doing their own Superman title, combining DC's greatest writer and artist in one title, he's even getting  better suit.

       Though a lot of what is wrong with Superman today I feel can be blamed on the movies, I know they are the comic nerd Holy Grail, but think about it, only two of them are any good, and even those two are considered cheesy by today's standards.  Plus they are responsible for giving Superman some of his strangest powers, like time travel, or making copies of himself, or whatever the hell that "S" thing was in Superman II.  Then Superman Returns was released as a sequel to a film franchise the target audience never saw, and was boring.  But again I feel DC is fixing that and now Zack Snyder is making the reboot, and really he is one of the only directors that can make the large amount of CGI needed for Superman look good, and with Nolan's help this should become my new Dark Knight.

       While we're on the subject of Superman I want to bring attention to Volume 2 of Superman Earth One, my favorite Superman book of all time.  Volume two is to be released next week, so Halloween, and if the last one was any indication, it is set to be one of the better Superman titles available, just look at the cover art.

      

DC's New 52, 1 Year Later

       In the war for comic book superiority only two companies seem to still be competing, DC and Marvel.  The better series depending solely on personal preference.  For me I prefer Marvel, this is mostly due to DC's tendency to reboot every couple years, resurrecting all who have been killed and even changing events that didn't sit well with readers.  Marvel may make stupid mistakes, but they at least have the balls to live with them.  The new 52 is the worst offender of all, not only did they revive dead characters, or even change minor events, but they made changes so drastic that movies like Green Lantern are now more comic accurate than the DC animated universe of the 90s and early 2000s.

       But do these changes make the comics better?  Yes and no, some changes I can get over, such as Beast Boy being red rather than green, the Justice League being an exclusive club, and Amanda Waller being in shape.  However other changes are so bad they destroy the characters and how they fit in with everything around them.

       An example of this is Superman's costume, originally it was made by Ma Kent to give him a commanding, yet friendly appearance.  It was made from the blankets that were in the space ship he was found in.  Now his costume is Kryptonian armor that started out white, but changed colors when he put it on simply because it read his mind for color preferences.  Is this cool, yes, does it fit the persona of Superman, no.  Plus this makes the costume worn by Christopher Reeves not cannon, meaning wrong and will be looked at by future viewers as a mistake made by "an incompetent director".  The changes are not limited to Superman however, Batman now has only had 3 Robins, this isn't a problem when you consider the new 52 claims heroes have only been around 5 years.  The issue comes with Dick Grayson, or Nightwing, in this 5 year period he has been inspired by Batman to help others, trained by him, became Robin, became Nightwing, took over as Batman for a year, and is now Nightwing again.  Yet despite all of Grayson's accomplishments, Tim Drake was never a Robin in this new continuity.

       Another character who seems to have suffered is Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern.  In the new 52 he no longer exists on Earth 1, but is exclusive to Earth 2.  Here the Green Lantern is a warrior chosen by the planet itself to defend and protect it, to be honest I'm OK with this.  His costume has been changes and is now all green, no purple or red, again I'm OK with it.  His powers must be channeled through an item personal to him, in this case his fiance's engagement ring, another change I'm OK with.  However they decided to turn him gay now.  Before you cast judgement on me, hear me out.  Until a year ago Green Lantern had children who's powers were inherited from their father Alan Scott, personally I have no problem with my superheroes being gay, or anyone else for that matter.  However in this particular case it makes more sense for him to be straight.  I guess it is possible for him to have a surrogate child, but the love of his life is now dead, meaning the chances are VERY low that we will ever see Jade and Obsidian again, at least not until the next reboot.

       An interesting question being raised however, is because this is a reboot of the entire multiverse, which universe is now mainstream?  My initial thought was that it was obviously Earth 1, however since the new 52's release there has been a Batman: Earth 1 book released, and next month Superman: Earth 1 volume 2 comes out making this impossible.  On a brief yet interesting side note, these books are in fact closer to the classic comics than the current mainstream run.  We also know it isn't Earth 2 because their is a series currently running with that title.  We also know that it isn't Earth 25 because we get to see this universe in an issue of Action comics.  So why does it matter what universe the new series takes place it?  Because DC has made a very clear point that there is only 52 different universes, and between the Beyond, Smallville, ame-comi, Arkham, and the other three aforementioned universes, there isn't many left, some of our favorite Elseworld series may no longer exist, such as the Crime Syndicate, or Kingdom Come.

       One minor complaint that seems to be common with fans is the color red.  Or more specifically its overuse.  With Superman he now has more of it which is noticeable, but ultimately he still looks recognizable.  But for characters like Nightwing and Beast boy it makes them seem like completely different characters. 

       A major complaint I have however is the multiple timelines.  Batman in particular seems to suffer from this in that every series is going on at different times, yet they can have crossover event even when the series are taking place years apart.  It also seems to kill some of the suspense.  Will Superman survive this encounter?  well the series that happens 5 years later says yes.  I also hate how the reference issues that have yet to come out.  In Superman he fights alien parasites who came to Earth on his suit, the editor's note then says to refer to an issue of Action comics, that will be released next month for the back story of these aliens who were just defeated.  The series themselves seem off as well.  they have the feel of a sequel, yet the original doesn't exist, so it seems like your jumping in mid narrative a lot.

       Is the new 52 worth picking up? like everything else its hit or miss on the titles, even with the same characters.  For example Batman has 4 different series going, all taking place at different times along the 5 year time span I mentioned earlier, and personally I think only 1 is worth reading.  The same goes for Superman, though with him I recommend Smallville season 11, it is far more like the classic hero we all grew up with, is only $1 an issue, and a new issue comes out online every week.
The Earth 2 series is interesting, and is trying to establish itself as a universe without the big heroes, that's right a world without Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, in fact, they get killed off in the first issue allowing new heroes to rise up in their place.  My favorite of which being the Green Lantern, I know I complained about him earlier, but he is a great character.  Another series is Animal Man, the only hero who truly benefited from the reboot, before he was lame in every aspect except his power, now he is all around awesome.  Whether or not you should read any of these titles however is still personal preference.  I on the other hand give the reboot a C, both good and bad, but ultimately not as good as the classics.  If you have an opinion on the subject, feel free to comment.

Frank Miller's Batman; The perfect Dark Knight, or Psychotic madman

                                                                       Intro
      There is no denying that Frank Miller redefined Batman with The Dark Knight Returns, and then recreated his origin in Batman Year One.  Both of these series were used as inspiration for Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.  What many don't realize is that Miller wrote other Batman series as well.  Such as The Dark Knight Strikes Back, All-Star Batman And Robin The Boy Wonder, and Batman/Spawn.  Another little known fact is that this was all a series, meaning it is in fact all the same Batman.  Here I will post my reviews of the other series, factor them in with Miller's masterpieces and rate them as a whole, this review is different then what I intend to regularly post, but this will be a good practice run for future series reviews.

                                                The Dark Knight Strikes Again                     
       Miller later wrote a sequel to The Dark Knight Returns titles The Dark Knight Strikes Back.  A series so incoherent in its plot and characters that resembled nothing of their former selves.  For example Big Barda, a warrior from the planet Apokalips who escaped slavery and turned her life around to become a member of the Justice League.  In The Dark Knight Returns she is a porn star named Hot Gates who decided to become the dictator of Columbus Ohio.  Another casualty was Elongated Man who was, to be honest was a less popular, more adult version of Plastic Man, Miller made him a spokesman for erectile dysfunction pills.

       Normally I don't believe in judging anything based on art/special effects, but this series was so oddly drawn, the backgrounds were not finished, the characters seemed to all be in different art styles, and the fact that the original series was far more appealing on the eyes, I would post an image, but I don't know how the copyright laws on this issue work, if you want examples simply google The Dark Knight Strikes Again.  All in all this series fails on all levels, thus I give it an F.

                                                         Batman/Spawn
     The Batman/Spawn series was actually three different stories, but because they were crossovers with the same guy I decided to tie them together.  As far as crossovers go this one is actually not half bad.  The only real issue with this is that Spawn deals with supernatural problems whereas Batman is more grounded in reality.  As far as superhero team ups go, this one seems natural, 2 dark and broody lone wolf type men trying so solve murders, when they realize they are after the same killer they decide to pool their resources and work together.  This happens three different times.  And to really nitpick another problem issue is no matter how many times they work together, they always start off by duking it out over a misunderstanding.  Not a bad series, but not as amazing as Miller's other work.  Honestly it is barely above average, I give it a C+.

                                  All-Star Batman And Robin The Boy Wonder
       Personally I feel this series gets more crap than it deserves.  True they destroy Batman's character turning him into an angry psycho who kidnaps kids, insults them, sleeps around, and blackmails Superman.  But other characters that are introduced have far better origins than those introduced in other series of Miller's.  For example Batgirl is a girl who worships Batman and decides to follow in his footsteps, their is no affiliation between the two, and in fact they never meet.  Robin's origin is relatively the same.  His parents are murdered so Batman decides to take him in and train him, however because Batman takes a young boy from a circus, it looks like a kidnapping.  This leads to a subplot.  Black Canary is a bartender who works at The Black Canary and fights crime in her uniform, earning her the name.  The Justice League in this series seems to be just starting out.  The roster  includes Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Superman, and his girlfriend Wonder Woman.  The biggest problem with this series is that there is just too much going on.  That and the fact that it doesn't really have an ending.  Along with the aforementioned Batman character raping earn this series a B-.

                                                             The Verdict
       The results are in and go as followed.
       The Dark Knight Returns               A
       Batman Year One                           A
       The Dark Knight Strikes Back        F
       Batman/Spawn                                C+
       All-Star Batman And Robin            B-
       Average                                           B-

       If you look at the series individually some of them are colossal failures.  But as a whole they are not all that bad.  Because of that you can forgive a majority of the flaws, and if you stop after The Dark Knight Returns the series becomes instantly better.  Though one thing that always bugged me about Miller's Batman is that he is constantly referencing things that happened, that we the readers never saw.  A huge example being the death of Robin, which is the reason for Batman's retirement, I feel this would have made a great series, but all we get is a single line of dialogue.  Anyway that is my opinion on Miller's Batman, if you have your own thought feel free to let them be known.