Superman: Kryptonite

Darwyn Cooke is a genius. Plain and simple. And, like me, he doesn’t like event comics. Event comics are pretty much the reason why he doesn’t write in continuity. Event comics always include retcons or such major changes that whatever a writer does to a character one year may be completely moot or forgotten the next. So, Darwyn Cooke (genius, remember) writes stories that stand outside of continuity so that they can stand the test of time. “New Frontier”, his work on Batman, and his run of Will Eisner’s The Spirit are great examples, and so is “Superman: Kryptonite”.

While Darwyn has a different idea about Kent’s first contact with Kryptonite and introduces a character that may or may not sit well with Superman fans, he still presents a wonderful Superman story that deals with the Big Blue Boy Scout’s origins and mortality. The relationships are great and the plot is good, and Tim Sale’s art is as great as ever. We get to see Superman sip champagne atop the Eiffel Tower, fight a volcano, learn about Krypton, and almost die. Lex Luthor is his usual badness. Lois Lane is her usual spunkiness. Jimmy Olsen is his usual eagerness. It’s all there and it’s all good.

The art of Tim Sale and the timelessness of Darwyn’s story make this seem like a spiritual sequel to “Superman for All Seasons”. I highly recommend this book.

Green Lantern: Rebirth

I’ve never been a big fan of Green Lantern. Actually, I should clarify: I love the idea of Green Lantern, but there are too few examples of good execution. It’s an idea with so much potential, but the stories almost always fall short for my taste. Alan Moore’s work is excellent, of course. I love Frank Miller’s Hal Jordan in “Dark Knight Strikes Again”. Darwyn Cooke’s “New Frontier” is astonishing. I enjoyed Kyle Rayner in JLA. I liked the Green Lantern episode of “Superman: The Animated Series”. I even liked John Stewart in the animated “Justice League”, Hal Jordan in “Green Lantern: First Flight”, and the “Duck Dodgers” episode in which Kevin Smith has a voice cameo.

These exceptions are few and far between, really. Geoff Johns’s “Green Lantern: Rebirth” is not one of these exceptions. I’ve been hearing great things about “Blackest Night”, so I thought I might actually buy the TPB when it comes out. To prepare myself, I finally bought the TPB of “Rebirth”. I hated the idea of bringing Hal Jordan back to life when I first heard about it years ago. Hell, I hated the fact that he was around as The Spectre! To me, bringing characters back to life simply makes their deaths meaningless. And resurrection is a plot premise that is WAY too overused.

“Rebirth” is a rather poorly paced story, and Geoff Johns fills almost every page with words. A writer’s job is not necessarily to put so many words on each page. The only writers who can really get away with doing that are Frank Miller and Alan Moore, and Geoff Johns is NOWHERE near their level. (Also, Miller and Moore each usually pare their stuff down so the artist can do his job too, as comic books are a visual medium.)

Ethan Van Sciver pencils pretty typical superhero figures. He’s certainly a good artist, but judging by this book alone, he might be better suited for non-sequential things, like ads, covers, or character designs.

Overall, it’s a pretty disappointing read. My local comic book supplier tells that it was Johns in his earlier days, and I should give him a try again, but I do have issue zero (Free Comic Book Day) of “Blackest Night”, and I’m still unimpressed.

Batman -- Martial Artist - Prologue

(I’m going to preface this by giving some credit to “Bruce” over at Building Batman for inspiration.)

This is the beginning of a series about Batman’s martial arts training. Batman is one of the most fascinating characters in all of fiction, and probably THE most fascinating character in all of comic books (there are lots of characters who would tie for a close second, though).
One of the things that have always interested me most about Batman is his physical capabilities. Foremost among these is his combat proficiency.

This prologue will just lay out some of the arts that Batman has trained in (or that some writers have suggested he’s trained in). In future writings for this series, I will point to a particular story that mentions or depicts Batman training in a martial art, and I will write a bit about that art’s history and why Batman would (or would not) learn that art. I will do my best to go in historical order, but I may jump around a bit because of timelines/continuities.

According to superhero expert Scott Beatty’s entertaining “training manual”, “The Batman Handbook”, there are ten major martial arts that Batman mixes and utilizes:
Aikido
Boxing
Capoeira
Hapkido
Judo
Jujitsu
Karate
Krav Maga
Kung Fu
Savate

In Scott Beatty’s “The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight”, he states:
“There are 127 major styles of combat. While abroad, Bruce learned them all, from Aikido to Yaw-Yan. His knowledge of so many varied disciplines has made Bruce an unconventional and unpredictable opponent, quite capable of countering a Savate kick with a Capoeira dodge, then kayoing with a paw-knuckle strike!”

I should be writing about all of the aforementioned arts.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection

I’ve been wanting to get “Afro Samurai: Resurrection” since it came out. And I finally did it! Yay for me (and for my girlfriend, who also likes Afro Samurai).
This time around, instead of being 5 OVA episodes, it’s an hour-and-a-half feature. The action is just as good as in the first “Afro Samurai”, and the voice work is as excellent as you’d expect (Samuel L. Jackson! Lucy Liu!) (retroactive props to Ron Perlman [!] for his work in the first, and Kelly Hu [!] for hers). And… Oh. My. God. The RZA’s music is as incredible as ever.

I love this movie, even though the story has its logic flaws. Despite the flaws in the logic and characterization of the villains, the movie does a great job of discussing Afro’s motives and methods (he killed so many people just so he could avenge his father, and now it’s only natural that there are family members of his victims who would want [and deserve(?)] revenge against him).

I made sure to spend the extra bit of coin to get the 2-disc special edition director’s cut. Spending that money got me some nudity, sex, and swearing in the actual movie. It also got me “over 100 minutes of special features” that include:
-exclusive insight from creator Takashi “Bob” Okazaki
-GONZO studios interviews about the Japanese side of production
-interviews with people on the American side of production (including the awesome Sam Jackson, and the gorgeous Lucy Liu)
-a cool behind-the-music thing with RZA
-a look at “Afro Samurai: The Game” (which I’ve played and loved)
-a cool feature about the Afro Samurai stuff at Comic-Con 2008
-insightful video commentary with the Japanese side of production
-a little booklet with art and stuff from the creator, director, and RZA

Anime. Hip-hop. Samurai. Sword fighting. Japanese culture. Black American culture. Samuel L. Jackson. Lucy Liu.
If you like ANY of these things or people, go out and buy “Afro Samurai: Resurrection”.

Wolverine: Weapon X

I should preface this by saying that I (1) dislike event comics (so I’m not enjoying “Dark Reign”) and (2) I have never liked Wolverine’s son Daken (neither as a character nor as a story point).
So, naturally, I’m not really enjoying the main Wolverine monthly title and hate that Marvel decided to create a new Wolverine monthly title.

So, at first I was against Wolverine: Weapon X. However, after really giving the series a chance, I’ve gotta say I’m digging it. I like Jason Aaron’s writing and Ron Garney’s pencils on this series. I like to see Logan being a real bad-ass stealth fighter. It’s so cool to see a black-clothed Wolverine going up against a platoon of soldiers who have pretty much the same powers as him.

If you wanna see some great action, see Maverick being a bad-ass without his powers, and get a pretty much perfect rendition of Wolverine (how he speaks, acts, and looks are all spot on), then you should definitely be picking up Wolverine: Weapon X.

Vagabond, volume 1

I’ve been in a mood for some manga and anime, as well as martial arts and samurai stuff, so I thought I’d get in on the manga Vagabond. I recently bought the first volume of the Viz Big Edition of the series (it contains essentially the first three volumes of the series).

Takehiko Inoue’s series is loosely based on the novel “Musashi” by Eiji Yoshikawa. Now, I’m a big fan of the legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, which is why I bought the volume of Vagabond. Unfortunately, for my tastes/expectations, this is a manga that is loosely based on a novel that is a fictionalized account of the life of one of my martial arts idols.

The book isn’t that bad. Inoue’s art is good, certainly. The sword fighting is done pretty well and I enjoy the martial arts side of the book, but the story seems lacking. The characterization isn’t all there. Perhaps the problem is that the character of Musashi is a work-in-progress, so maybe I need to read more of the series.
This first volume doesn’t make me want to run out and get the rest of the series, but I figure if I have some extra money (actually, a LOT of extra money; enough money that I feel I can waste some) eventually, I might pick up the next volume and give it an extra chance to engage me.

Dynamic Karate

It’s not a new book (published originally in 1966), and I’ve had my eye on it for a few years (frequently seeing it in a book store and thinking “Hmmm…”), but I only recently (finally) got around to purchasing M. Nakayama’s "Dynamic Karate".

These are the chapters:
Chapter 1:
Stance and Posture
Chapter 2:
Applying Power in the Hips
Chapter 3:
Balance and Center of Gravity
Chapter 4:
Hands and Feet Can be Weapons
Chapter 5:
Tsuki (Punching) Theory and Practice
Chapter 6:
Uchi (Striking) Theory and Practice
Chapter 7:
Keri (Kicking) Theory and Practice
Chapter 8:
Uke (Blocking) Theory and Practice
Chapter 9:
Defense and Countering Joudan (Upper) Attacks
Chapter 10:
Defense and Countering Chuudan (Mid-Section) Attacks
Chapter 11:
Defense and Countering Gedan (Lower) Attacks
Chapter 12:
Basic Training
Chapter 13:
Calisthenics and Exercises


It’s an excellent book for anyone looking for some insights into the basic movements of Shotokan karate. While it doesn’t outline the kata (so you won’t really learn the system overall), it does provide great pictures that go through basic moves in great detail.

While it doesn’t really teach an experienced practitioner any new moves, it’s good to go through the basics and get some of this master’s insights and training methods.

I suggest it for both casual and serious, beginning and advanced practitioners of martial arts. The $30.00 cover price is worth it.