TuxedoKamen
05-31-2002, 03:28 PM
I picked up Rucka's novellization of the No Man's Land Saga yesterday, and finished it this morning. I have one word: Wow. That was an awesome novel. I loved seeing the current state of that little section of the DCU, as I barely keep up with comics enough to know what's going on, much to my chargin. (I found out Batgirl was wheelchair bound about 8 months after it happened.) I really like Cassandra (the new Batgirl), and thought the whole thing about how she had gotten Barbara's "blessing" was quite neat. In fact, Barbara's framing and role as Oracle made the book, especially in the hundred odd pages before Batman showed signs of coming back. Nice to know that (when this went down, at least) Leslie and Alfred were still up and around. (I really enjoyed seeing Alfred kick a little butt when he got jumped...too bad Batman had to bail him out :) ) Rucka nailed Batman, and it was as much of a psychological drama as anyting else. I much prefer Tim's presentation in this book to the one on TNBA (He's older, for one, making things more believable when he takes on angry mobs and walks out in one piece) and it's fun to see him interact with Oracle.) Nightwing is, well, Nightwing.
That brings us to the villians. Everyone but Two Face, the Penguin, and Joker seemed minor players. But that was enough. He studied good for his characterization of the first two...they were dead on, just as I expected them to be. There was no moment when I looked at the pages and went, "Yeah, sure, that'd happen." Penguin was almost amusing in the way he tried to make himself seem a king, and Two-Face's duality as presented in the book was breath taking.
But not so much as Harley and the Joker. It's amazing how little of the book they were in yet how big their presence was. This was my first time to be exposed to a Joker that wasn't censored by BS+P, for as I said, I've never had the oportunity to become a comic maven. It was incredible. The pages oozed with his insanity. Even two face, with his momentary lapses into benevolence, didn't seem so bent, so purely malevolent. Harley was great too. After watching the cartoon for years, I was almost shocked by the types of violence she was capable of, and her relationship with joker was the picture of insane disfunctionality.
I only had too gripes. It was too short. :) Two, I wished Nightwing and Robin would have been called back sooner. It's fun to watch them interact with Bruce.
Which brings me to my problem. Why do we have to write new scripts, horrible, contrite, motivated by nothing save the desire for money. Get over trying to get the children in the theatre to watch something they're really too young for anyway (my children would not be reading NML until I was quite convinced that they understood reality from fiction), and give us, the more mature fans of Batman and his crew, a faithful rendition of one of the comic sagas. Of course, asking all this to happen in two -- or even three -- hours might be a little much, so how about a Band of Brothers type miniseries? Something good, that's all I'm asking.
Stop writing crappy scripts for the Dark Knight, Hollywood. Use the gold you seem not to want to touch.
That brings us to the villians. Everyone but Two Face, the Penguin, and Joker seemed minor players. But that was enough. He studied good for his characterization of the first two...they were dead on, just as I expected them to be. There was no moment when I looked at the pages and went, "Yeah, sure, that'd happen." Penguin was almost amusing in the way he tried to make himself seem a king, and Two-Face's duality as presented in the book was breath taking.
But not so much as Harley and the Joker. It's amazing how little of the book they were in yet how big their presence was. This was my first time to be exposed to a Joker that wasn't censored by BS+P, for as I said, I've never had the oportunity to become a comic maven. It was incredible. The pages oozed with his insanity. Even two face, with his momentary lapses into benevolence, didn't seem so bent, so purely malevolent. Harley was great too. After watching the cartoon for years, I was almost shocked by the types of violence she was capable of, and her relationship with joker was the picture of insane disfunctionality.
I only had too gripes. It was too short. :) Two, I wished Nightwing and Robin would have been called back sooner. It's fun to watch them interact with Bruce.
Which brings me to my problem. Why do we have to write new scripts, horrible, contrite, motivated by nothing save the desire for money. Get over trying to get the children in the theatre to watch something they're really too young for anyway (my children would not be reading NML until I was quite convinced that they understood reality from fiction), and give us, the more mature fans of Batman and his crew, a faithful rendition of one of the comic sagas. Of course, asking all this to happen in two -- or even three -- hours might be a little much, so how about a Band of Brothers type miniseries? Something good, that's all I'm asking.
Stop writing crappy scripts for the Dark Knight, Hollywood. Use the gold you seem not to want to touch.