David S. Goyer to Make Green Arrow Prison Movie

When I recently wrote that DC could learn a lesson from Marvel and put their second and third tier heroes to better use in the film market, I didn't mean that they should remake a Tango and Cash with the Green Arrow character. In that post I stated I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or cheer. Now I know that the weeping must begin.

What the hell are they thinking?

According to ICV2, David S. Goyer has sold Warner Bros. on a film idea where Green Arrow is wrongfully convicted to life in prison and confined to a special prison for super types.

Goyer's success with Batman Begins and failure with Threshold must have driven him insane! Though I will withhold full judgment until after I have seen Invisible. In the article Goyer is quoted as saying, "comic book fans should really love the film since it contains many of the B- and C-list villains from the DCU that hardcore fans will recognize, even though the prisoners are not allowed any of the super-villain (or superhero) regalia."

Let me get this straight...I'm going to love Death Warrant 2: Green Arrow's Flight because I'll get to see the Pied Piper and Captain Cold in a little prison action? Look, I like Amanda Waller as much as the next guy, but The Longest Volley where Green Arrow has an archery competition against Deadshot while the guards look on ominously isn't making me giddy. The thought of underground prison fights between Green Arrow and Bronze Tiger in Lock Up 2: Queen's Trial is making me contemplate suicide.

Given Green Arrow's real name, Oliver Queen, I can only imagine some of the innuendo laden prison dialog that awaits me if this film ever gets released.

DEATHSTROKE
Hey Ollie, why not be my Queen and pick up that soap?

I want to die.

A Different Take on Critics vs. Audiences

It's not everyday that you read a newspaper article discussing Kant's views on the relation between moral understanding and aesthetic judgment, but yesterday's Washington Post has such an article. Joshua Bell and the Washington Post agreed to collaborate on a little experiment. They wanted to find out what would happen if you took a highly regarded violinist and had him play during early morning commuting time at a subway station. Would his talented play attract a large audience if he appeared anonymously and dressed just like any other street musician?

Surprisingly, at least to the Post, he was treated like just any other musician.

I read the Post article and was impressed with the questions that the writer asked, and especially impressed that Gene Weingarten took the time to ask a Kantian scholar about what the lack of interest had to say about the aesthetic tastes of the audience. In a nutshell, the Kantian answer is that surroundings matter and that not appreciating high art when it is in a common setting is no moral failing. But I was surprised by how Weingarten, even after presenting the Kantian defense of the "masses," rejects the premise wholesale. From the title to the closing sentence, I could almost read Weingarten's disdain for the commuters.

"Pearls Before Breakfast," is quite obviously a reference to "Pearls Before Swine." Weingarten's title implies that the audience, who failed to recognize Bell's importance, are swine. He doesn't consider the fact that people are genuinely busy (though he does mention that about one of the people who stops for the 3 minutes that he had available). Weingarten also doesn't seem to truly understand the relation between context and appreciation. Certainly Bell's performance is wonderful, at least what is available on the Post site, and I am rushing out to buy his most recent CD today in response to the article, but it is also being performed at a subway station during commuter hours.

Weingarten mentions that all the children want to listen and implies that this means that they still have a pure "poetry of the soul." How about a different analysis? How about the fact that the children haven't fully developed a sense of time and obligation? For many of the commuters, it may have been a moral act of the highest order to not stop and listen. What if Bell performed during a time the subway was filled more with tourists than commuters? Would the results change? I don't think they would change significantly, but I think they would be mildly better.

What is evident here is that Weingarten, like the film critics who can't understand why audiences rush to see 300, doesn't seem to understand the way most people behave. Movie theaters aren't cathedrals of high art in the same way that the Disney Music Hall is, nor is a Metro station Carnegie Hall. When people go to see 300 they know they aren't watching high art and music at the Metro is likely to be ignored as commuters mentally prepare for their day.

I find it ironic that Weingarten, in judging others to be ignorant of the pearls thrown before them one January morning, throws aside the thoughtful examination of a leading scholar.

The Housing Market as a Roller Coaster Ride.

The following video represents home value costs, adjusted for inflation, for the past hundred plus years as a roller coaster ride. Those of you thinking of buying now "while the market is good" might want to look at the past first. As for me, I can't wait until this crest drops.

The roller coaster was based on this graph:

Live Action Transformers

After watching this, one wonders why Michael Bay needed all that money for special effects.

Metal Men: The Movie. I Don't Know Whether to Laugh, Cry, or Cheer

I have often stated that DC Comics needs to follow Marvel's lead by using some of their second, and even third, tier heroes in theatrical releases. Marvel has had great success, and with lower outlay, producing films like Blade and Ghost Rider who reside far from the lofty 4-Color heights of Thor and the Avengers. Before all the Dan Ketch/Johnny Blaze/Zarathos fanboys out there murder me for calling Ghost Rider a second tier character, let me cut them off at the pass. You're right, Ghost Rider isn't a second tier character. He's a third tier character. Daredevil is a second tier Marvel character. The point is that Marvel hasn't merely relied on their top three most recognizable properties to base movies around. That isn't so true of DC Comics.

DC might make a television show about the Birds of Prey, but it will vary so wildly from the source material as to be almost unrecognizable. They might make a Catwoman or a Steel, but their hearts weren't really in the production. They seemed to think, "make it and they will come." Whereas Marvel, even when I don't like the movie, seems to be genuinely trying to entertain me. I only mean this in recent times, back in the days of the Captain America movie they didn't get it either. But let's face it, as bad as The Punisher was, it was very much drawing from the Ennis version of the character and the few moments most connected to the comic worked. What DC hasn't done in the past is ask themselves if they have anyone apart from the big three (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) who deserves to be treated seriously. Well...apart from the Flash television series, but that was a long time ago.

This may or may not be changing. DC has announced that they will be making a Metal Men movie produced by Lauren Shuler Donner. When I first read the story, I worried that DC still didn't get it and that they were going to make a ridiculously awful movie about these absurd, and obscure, characters. But then I read that Geoff Johns one of the best writers in comics today, and a former assistant to Richard Donner, would be working on the project a small part of me began to hope. Johns is truly one of the best writers working in the industry, he just seems to get how to balance "Iron Age" darkness with "Silver Age" levity. His work on the Justice Society is some of the best comic writing ever. I can only hope that his contributions can make a movie about the Metal Men (obscure Silver Age characters if there ever were) entertaining.

Greatest Film Idea Ever to Come from New Zealand

Have you ever seen a Were-Lamb?

You can see the trailer here.

Paizo to Publish Backlisted SF in Planet Stories Line of Books

Magazine and game publisher Paizo Publishing has announced that they will start publishing a line of books featuring backlisted SF and Fantasy titles. The line of books will be published under the heading Planet Stories, and given the nature of the initial catalogue of texts this seems appropriate. Paizo has decided to enter the arena of book publishing in response to the current resistance of larger publishers have to keeping strong backlists. Paizo wants to introduce a new generation of readers to older books which have influenced modern SF and Fantasy, at least that is their claim.

Let's have a look at the validity of that claim by looking at their choices of backlisted books featured in their first wave of publications.

Almuric, by Robert E. Howard, is a savage planet of crumbling stone ruins and debased, near-human inhabitants. Into this world comes Esau Cairn, Earthman, swordsman, murderer. Only he can overthrow the terrible devils that enslave Almuric, but to do so he must first defeat the inner demons that forced him to abandon Earth. Filled with vile beasts and thrilling adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Almuric is one of Howard’s few novels, and an excellent yarn from one of America’s most distinct literary voices. Robert E. Howard is most known for creating the fictional character, Conan the Cimmerian (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian), who has been featured in comic books, short stories, novels, and feature films for over 70 years. Howard's work is often credited as the source of the sword-and-sorcery genre and influenced everyone from J.R.R. Tolkien to George R.R. Martin.

The Anubis Murders, by Gary Gygax, weaves a fantastic tale of warring wizards that spans the world from the pyramids of ancient Egypt to the mist-shrouded towns of medieval England. Someone is murdering the world’s most powerful sorcerers, and the trail of blood leads straight to Anubis, the solemn god known by most as the Master of Jackals. Can Magister Setne Inhetep, personal philosopher-wizard to the Pharaoh, reach the distant kingdom of Avillonia and put an end to the Anubis Murders, or will he be claimed as the latest victim? Gary Gygax co-created the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game over 30 years ago and has watched it grow to become one of the largest entertainment sources in the hobby gaming industry. Dungeons & Dragons has been played by tens of millions worldwide and the name Gygax is instantly recognizable to any fans of the game, past or present.

City of the Beast/Warriors of Mars, by Michael Moorcock, features the return of Moorcock's Eternal Champion, Kane of Old Mars, a brilliant American physicist whose strange experiments in matter transmission catapult him across space and time to the Red Planet. Kane’s is a Mars of the distant past, a place of romantic civilizations, fabulous many-spired cities, and the gorgeous princess Shizala. To win her hand and bring peace to Mars, Kane must defeat the terrible Blue Giants of the Argzoon, whose ravaging hordes threaten the whole planet! Adventure in the Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition from the creator of Elric of Melniboné. The first stand-alone American printing since 1979, City of the Beast/Warrior of Mars will be available this September.

Black God's Kiss, by C.L. Moore, was first published in the pages of Weird Tales in 1934. C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry is the first significant female sword-and-sorcery protagonist and one of the most exciting and evocative characters the genre has ever known. Published alongside seminal works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, the five classic fantasy tales included in this volume easily stand the test of time and often overshadow the storytelling power and emotional impact of stories by Moore’s more famous contemporaries. A seminal work from one of fantasy’s most important authors, Black God’s Kiss is an essential addition to any fantasy library and will be available this October.

Elak of Atlantis, by Henry Kuttner. Published in Weird Tales to satisfy fans of Conan the Barbarian in the wake of Robert E. Howard’s death, the four long stories depict a brutal world of flashing swords and primal magic, touched by a hint of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Never collected in a mass market edition since their publication in the late 1930s, these exciting tales helped to establish a genre and are a critical part of any fantasy library. Included as a bonus are Kuttner’s two Prince Raynor stories from 1939’s Strange Tales.

With seminal, thrilling adventure tales from one of the most important writers in science fiction and fantasy, Elak of Atlantis is not to be missed! Available in November 2007.

The Secret of Sinharat, by Leigh Brackett. Enter Eric John Stark, adventurer, rebel, wildman. Raised on the sun-soaked, savage world of Mercury, Stark lives among the people of the civilized solar system, but his veneer of calm masks a warrior’s spirit. In the murderous Martian Drylands the greatest criminals in the galaxy hatch a conspiracy of red revolution. Stark’s involvement leads to the forgotten ruins of the Martian Low Canals, an unlikely romance, and a secret so potent it could shake the Red Planet to its core.

In a special bonus novel, People of the Talisman, Stark ventures to the treacherous polar icecap of Mars to return a stolen talisman to an oppressed people.

The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman make an excellent introduction to the work of Leigh Brackett, a pillar of science fantasy and one of the greatest writers to work in the genre. Talented enough to co-write The Big Sleep with William Faulkner and influential enough to write the original screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, Brackett’s fiction is no less distinguished than her movie work and never fails to deliver thrills and wry smiles.

One is struck by a few things when looking at the list. First is the fact that three of these novels fall squarely into the genre known as "Planetary Romance" and one of the authors is a seminal figure in that genre, Leigh Brackett. The focus on Planetary Romance makes it a natural that the line of books should be titled Planet Stories. Incidentally, Planet Stories was the name of a magazine in which Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury, among others, were frequently featured.

They even feature Robert E. Howard's (creator of Conan) singular foray into the genre, his novel Almuric. Almuric is an unusual Howard story, so unusual that David Drake, who edited a line of Howard books, speculated that the book might have been written by Otis Adelbert Kline and not Howard. The fact that Kline wrote a number of Planetary Romance novels, in playful competition with Edgar Rice Burroughs, makes the case all the more interesting to imagine even if it is mere speculation.

In addition to the focus on Planetary Romance, one other fact strikes me as particular to the selection of novels. The Anubis Murders is far from a seminal work of SF or Fantasy as far as its influence on modern authors goes, but it is written by a figure seminal in the creation of a genre of game very close at heart to Paizo Publishing's heart. Gary Gygax may not be an SF/F legend, but he is a Founding Father of the Roleplaying Game hobby, which is the focus of Paizo Publishing's two magazines.

What concerns me about the list of chosen novels is how much they ignore the truly overlooked backlisted novel. Sure the Moorcock pastiches to Burroughs are fun and overlooked, but the true inspiration are the Burroughs Mars books which are currently being published by the University of Nebraska Press.. The inclusion of Leigh Brackett is a necessary one, but her works are currently being published by Haffner Press. Yes the editions are more expensive than the $13.00 that Paizo will be charging, but they are hardback and include more stories.

I will certainly be purchasing Paizo's catalogue, but I would like to see the publication list expand from the current list.

Tomorrow, I will likely discuss what I think is a large hole in the current gamer/pulp-nostalgia movement.