Titans season 3 is coming and it will probably leave me disappointed yet again.

Titans season 3 is coming. I've watched the other seasons of Titans, first on DC Universe and later on HBO Max (DC Universe didn't last very long). That being said, I'm always disappointed. I was pissed last season when they killed off Wonder Girl. The actress's name is in the credits for filming season 3, so I think that we'll see her come back. However, this show consistently bites off more than it can chew.

In my opinion, there are too many characters and too many storylines to juggle in the ten episode season. They like to throw a lot of Batman stories into the mix, and (don't get me wrong) I do like the Batman. However, this isn't his show even if Dick Grayson is the star. Now we've got Jason Todd being cast as the Red Hood, and the trailer for season 3 seems to hint strongly at the Death in the Family storyline, wherein the Joker killed Jason Todd and essentially created "the Dark Knight," which was his decades long brooding phase where Batman was grim dark and the storylines were brutally violent and dripping with evil. The Death in the Family storyline was also very bonkers as Joker became a representative for Iran and received diplomatic immunity for killing Jason Todd. Then he used that status to try and gas the UN. Oh and Superman stopped Batman from going to kill Joker because Supes may not like diplomatic immunity, but he honors it. I'm like...what?

I guess we are also getting Barbara Gordon who I guess will be crippled ala the Joker so that she's Oracle (which goes along with the comic books) but it is also a dark storyline. And then there's Tim Drake (the third Robin), Blackfire, Superboy, and Krypto the dog. And that's not mentioning the Titans that we've already seen. Nobody gets any time and the ending of the season is always a low-budget mess.

Anyway, that's my rant. Below is the trailer for season 3 of Titans. I'm gonna watch it. I just wanted to bitch at something on a Friday.

Most people seem to hate the Titans trailer that broke at San Diego Comic Con but I seriously love it

DC's Titans is a gritty and dark story. I don't understand why people are upset that the upcoming trailer for the live-action Titans on DC's streaming service is dark. Something tells me that it probably has a lot to do with Teen Titans GO! I think I was able to watch only a single episode of that show before I just shook my head and said, "I've no idea why this is even a thing" and then turned it off.

I used to collect the New Teen Titans comic books in the eighties. They started out with a story about Raven being the daughter of Trigon the Terrible, a malefic entity that had the power to destroy all of creation and make it into a Hell on Earth. He was incredibly powerful, essentially the ruler of Hell. How on earth do you make Raven into what she is on Teen Titans GO!? I've no idea, but apparently they did, and it seemed to work.

Those issues (drawn by George Perez with a story by Marv Wolfman) were some of the best I have ever read. They followed up with fifty issues of incredible storylines, introducing characters that became villains (like Terra) and dealing with real teen angst and some stories that were very similar to what we see in Riverdale (the Archie comics series on the CW). It was some very adult stuff. Furthermore, Perez started to change Raven's appearance in subtle ways after the Titans first encounter with Trigon the Terrible. Her face started to get longer, and she wore her cowl more and more to hide the physical changes that were happening to her. It was a thing that took many issues and went on for years, and it was so slow that you really didn't notice until it was pointed out in issue 50 when Cyborg was talking to Nightwing (I think) and showed Nightwing on the computer just how much Raven had changed in the years they'd known her. All of this (of course) pointed to something BIG that was headed their way.

There was so much character development. Dick Grayson (as Nightwing) had enormous emotional baggage left over from his time with the Batman. I could totally believe it when he said, "F*ck Batman" in the trailer, because this is obviously the way that the show's creators are going. And Princess Koriandr, a.k.a. Starfire, fell in love with him and the romance was great. Anyway, after seeing the trailer, I'm really looking forward to this series, and I've no idea why it's getting panned so much online. I think people somehow forgot that Titans is a DARK storyline. It isn't supposed to be campy. Raven's storyline in particular is the backbone of the whole thing, because it's her storyline that essentially dooms the entire world. No one can beat Trigon. In issue 50, when Trigon came back to Earth, he enslaved legions of superheroes. Superman was nothing to Trigon, nor was the Justice League. He's easily as big a villain as Thanos is to the Marvel universe (or on that same level of power).

Anyway, this post is just a little rant. Overall, I'm happy that the showrunner is taking cues from the Titans source material (the actual comic books) and not Teen Titans Go! I've put the trailer below if you haven't seen it. For what it's worth, I think the casting is really good. I just wish that the forces that decry DC for being "too dark" would just go away.

Let's consider the pros and cons of Dwayne Johnson's choice between Shazam and Black Adam

In science fiction news this week, I read that action superstar (and real-life Hulk) Dwayne Johnson is trying to decide between playing either Shazam or Black Adam. So given that I have a special place in my heart for Shazam/Black Adam I thought I'd break this decision down pro/con style beginning with Shazam.

At left is an illustration of Shazam from the iconic "Kingdom Come" graphic novel (which I absolutely loved). Comic star Alex Ross painted the whole thing in glorious color--the book is literally a work of art in and of itself. But the tale revisits the DC universe with veteran superheroes like Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman, who are all in their older years. However, "older" isn't the same as it applies to humans. These "gods" get stronger with time, so Superman, Wonder Woman, and Shazam/Captain Marvel are at the peak of their game. In this particular panel, Marvel has triumphed over Superman by speaking "Shazam" which summons the lightning magic that transforms him from a mere mortal into a magical being that's just as strong as Superman. In fact, Marvel says the command word multiple times, sidestepping the lightning which rains down on Superman essentially throwing him to the ground (Superman is as vulnerable to magic as he is to kryptonite).

Now, from time to time I get asked (usually by kids) to weigh in on who the most powerful superhero is in any given universe. My "go to" answer is usually "It's really hard to beat Superman..." which usually elicits a surprise because most kids don't get that Superman is so frickin' powerful that it's kind of on its own level of ridiculous. But he is. So when I say that another superhero is as powerful as Superman, that means that character is basically a god.

So yeah, Shazam is basically a god. And its easy to be confused with Shazam because he's also known as Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who by speaking the magic word "Shazam" can transform himself into the being with the combined powers of 1) Solomon 2) Hercules 3) Atlas 4) Zeus 5) Achilles and 6) Mercury. That's how you get the name "Shazam!" You take the first letters of all those gods and put them together as an acronym.

Legally, there have been lawsuits alleging that Shazam is a copy of Superman (there are similarities). Also DC comics renamed the character to Shazam to avoid long-standing trademark conflicts with another character named "Captain Marvel" owned by rival Marvel Comics. So I don't blame you for being confused.

The Pro's for playing this character are plentiful. 1) Shazam has never been portrayed in a movie, so the character would be ready for Dwayne to put his personal imprint on it. 2) The character has a long and storied history rich with great tales (Crisis on the Infinite Earths, Kingdom Come) and is a gateway to the most powerful villains in the DC pantheon, e.g., Darkseid. 3) Shazam is incredibly powerful which means the movie is going to be filled with all kinds of "eye candy" that boys and men love. And Dwayne has a strong loyal following among women so that'll pack the audiences with ladies who like to look at muscular men.

The only con I see for Dwayne in playing this character is that it'll just be him playing another protagonist, which doesn't stretch his acting talent at all. Well, and then there's the fact that DC Comics just don't have the popularity that Marvel has, and Warner Brothers may screw this adaptation up the same as they screwed up Green Lantern. So yeah, there's always that.

WHO IS BLACK ADAM? On the right is another Alex Ross painting of the super villain Black Adam (yes, Shazam and Black Adam could be the Dukes of Disgusting as far as power level goes). First off, you'll note there's a similarity and that's intentional, because Shazam and Black Adam are two sides of the same coin.

Now when Black Adam was originally depicted, he was a corrupted ancient Egyptian predecessor of Captain Marvel who fought his way to modern times to challenge Shazam. But DC redefined the origin to make him an antihero trying to "clear his name."

Black Adam (if memory serves) gets his powers from Shu (stamina), Hershef (strength), Amon (power), Thoth (wisdom), Anpu (speed), and Menthu (courage). I know, it sounds like he's very feng shui but in the DC universe, all of these things translate into "power" and "magic." Of course he has just as much super strength as Superman (able to hold a Boeing 747 aloft full of passengers like it was nothing), so much stamina he doesn't need to eat, sleep, or even breath (he can easily survive in space), he can move at sub-light speeds, fly, has instant access to all languages, has magic resistance against massive amounts of spells, and enough courage to render him resistant to telepathy and mind control of any kind. So yeah, he's basically another god (hence why I use the word "disgusting").

The Pro's for playing this character are 1) anti-heroes are interesting. Vin Diesel proved that by helming the signature character of "Riddick" which was worth three fully funded Hollywood films. 2) Dwayne Johnson would get to tap into his known propensity for all things Egyptian (remember "The Rock" played to great effect the character of the Scorpion King). 3) Dwayne Johnson finally gets to expand his acting repertoire and play someone sinister.

The Cons? Well playing a villain is usually a one-shot deal. And as a bankable star with a following, that seems to be a waste of Dwayne Johnson's talent. But what is a good movie without a great villain? Arguably a mediocre movie. So by hiring talent like Dwayne to play the bad guy, the films bound to be a success.

The Flash and Nightwing are both coming to Arrow and that makes me excited

I am super excited that actor Grant Gustin is playing The Flash on this season's
Arrow. However, even more exciting is the fact that he's getting his own series.
The Flash totally deserves a series to make up for that awful one about twenty
years ago (yes it still haunts my dreams). Oh and he's Barry Allen. I like Barry
so that's a great choice. Wally West was always a little "meh" to me.

Marvel may be the undisputed ruler of the silver screen, but DC is really making a strong showing on the CW, and I've gotta say it's pretty cool. Sure, one could argue that DC's properties "The Dark Knight" and "Superman" are always money makers. But outside of those properties, I really can't think of any that are a success. In comparison, Marvel has Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, the Avengers, and will probably add Dr. Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy to that very soon. What does DC have? Ben Affleck playing yet another version of Batman only this time he gets to beat up on Superman. I'll go and see it, but I don't expect it to be spectacular in the same way that last year's The Avengers managed to be.

In contrast, however, Marvel has no showing on mainstream television that really grabs my attention. I've been watching Agents of Shield dutifully on Tuesday, but to be honest, I've almost fallen asleep twice during that show. I think I expected it to be more exciting, and it just has failed to live up to my perhaps "unrealistic expectations."

I suppose that the biggest surprise of all has been how much I love Arrow. I mean...I REALLY LOVE ARROW. I look forward to it every Wednesday, because the first season just blew me away. I never thought Oliver Queen could be so interesting. In Smallville he was some decent eye-candy and kind of/sort of was made interesting because of his association with random guests that showed up that happened to have a tie to the Justice League.

Since that time, the CW has reinvented Arrow as more than just a Batman clone. For one, he doesn't have nearly the extent of emotional baggage that Batman has. Ollie doesn't brood. He's a man of action and I love the flashbacks to his time on the island that became the crucible where all of his combat and survival skills were forged. Plus as Sarah Falen pointed out in a private conversation with me, it's cool when the hero gets beat up and Ollie gets smacked around a lot.

Nightwing is Robin all grown up. 

To add to this mix is a fully dynamic world that isn't afraid to introduce any and all elements of the DC Comics universe that make it super awesome. We've got the Birds of Prey in the form of Huntress and Black Canary! We have Raas al Ghul, perhaps Batman's most dangerous villain. If that isn't enough, the League of Shadows is everywhere and does that mean Bane is right around the corner? We've also got Flash being introduced in just a couple of episodes (and he's getting his own series soon thereafter) and I learned just last night that Nightwing is on his way into Arrow!

Actor Steven McQueen getting ready for his role as Nightwing on Arrow. I think
it's awesome that we live in a day and age where guys can actually have the bodies
of the superheroes that they play. I imagine it's pretty hard getting these roles. And
for those of you that don't know, this Steven McQueen is classic Steve McQueen's
grandson so good looks run in the family.

How awesome is that?!

For those of you who are at a complete loss as to who Nightwing is, he's Dick Grayson a.k.a. the first Robin who studied under Batman. He joined the New Titans where he fell in love with an outerspace princess by the name of Koriander (Starfire) and took the name Nightwing.

ZOMGAH! Seriously...this is so frickin' awesome. If they bring in Nightwing, they'll probably introduce Starfire at some point and then maybe we'll get Raven and some of the other New Titans. We could even be looking at a scenario where Batman shows up and that would be just...wow.

I think that the CW is my favorite network. They've done such a great job with DC that I absolutely can't wait for the series "Amazon" slated for 2014. And no, this isn't about the bookseller. It's about Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman, and I won't be surprised to see them introduce the title character in an episode of Arrow in 2014.

This two-minute short will make you believe the world is ready for a Wonder Woman movie

Click to Embiggen

I own the above issue that came out in the eighties. If you can't tell, it's Wonder Woman #1 featuring a full reboot complete with origin story of the iconic character. I mostly bought it because George Perez moved from The New Titans to launch Wonder Woman and give the character the sendoff she deserved (Perez is my favorite comic book artist).

What led me to this little rant today is a post I found on io9, which caught my eye. It was a two-minute short created by amateurs featuring Wonder Woman (albeit with some artistic license), and I absolutely loved it. This makes me question, why hasn't Wonder Woman been greenlit for her own movie? They gave one to Green Lantern (which still makes me cringe) and Wonder Woman's origin story is way better than Green Lantern's. Just look for yourself at the above spread. Doesn't that panel just hint at the awesomeness contained within? You have Hercules holding Diana in chains (where her bracers that deflect bullets and her strength come from) not to mention all of her other cool magic items. In a nutshell, this origin story is pretty darn amazing.

It's immersed in Greek mythology. You can't tell me that Greek mythology doesn't make money, because it totally does. Think of Percy Jackson and all of his adventures. Want another example? How about the two Clash of the Titans remakes. Sure they're terrible, but they ring the register every single time.

This two-minute short will make you believe the world is ready for a Wonder Woman movie. Please watch it. You won't regret it.

Bill Finger and the Batman

As a boy, I collected Detective Comics for years. You would see me flipping through back issues in obscure comic book shops in every city I visited.  Nearly every great writer in the industry has done some work on this superhero.  The Batman's entire mythos has been penned by such notable names as Marv Wolfman, Samm Hamm, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, or Frank Miller. They invented "the Rogue's Gallery" which seemed to take on a life of its own as more and more villains joined that infamous group. We have Ra's al Ghul, the League of Shadows, the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, Catwoman, the Scarecrow, Bane, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and the list goes on and on.

Green letters on the cover denote
a first edition print. I own this issue.

Truthfully, I've forgotten the names of so many good comic writers, but I still remember my favorite story lines. Who can forget "A Death in the Family"?  Who can forget the blood streaked corpse of bad boy Jason Todd (Robin) which basically started all of this "Dark Knight" stuff. After Jason's death, the Batman was never the same. He became brooding, blamed himself, and embraced a life of dark isolation. Who can forget the iconic "The Killing Joke" where Barbara Gordon "Batgirl" gets paralyzed? This character is later scene in the television series "Birds of Prey" which lasted only one season (but deserved more).

One of the darkest graphic novels I have ever read is "Arkham Asylum." Its art is flat out, unforgettable. And I unknowingly attributed ALL of this great creation to Bob Kane who I thought created "The Batman." But recently, I realized that I am wrong. DC has hidden a substantial truth from the eyes of the world. Bob Kane had a friend and co-worker named Bill Finger who is responsible for half of everything that IS the Batman legend. I wanted to talk about that today, because I think no recognition for something as big as "the Batman" is wrong.

A Death in the Family. Jason Todd killed by the Joker.

As the story goes, DC commissioned Bob Kane to come up with a new superhero after their success with Superman. Kane met Finger at a party and hired him to help.

These are Bill Finger's contributions to the Batman legend as identified in the new book Bill the Boy Wonder: the Secret Co-Creator of Batman by Marc Tyler Nobleman:

1. He named Gotham City.
2. He named Bruce Wayne.
3. He designed the Batman's cape and cowl costume.
4. Kane wanted to call the character "Birdman". It was Bill who said, let's call him "the Batman".
5. Bill came up with the concept of Robin by saying that the Batman needed a companion with whom he could converse.
6. Bill wrote the first story featuring "the Joker".
7. Bill Finger came up with the story that as a child, Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents, and this was the catalyst that started him down the superhero/vigilante path.

A single panel from the graphic novel, Arkham Asylum. This artwork by artist Dave McKean and story
by writer Grant Morrison blew me away. I had never been treated to a story that was darker and more
riveting that this particular one. There's an unforgettable scene where the Batman shoves a shard
of broken glass through his palm and I thought the blood and the glass looked real.

Kane went on to become very wealthy. Bill Finger died poor because his name is on none of this. Does that seem right to you?

Here's a great fan-made video called Batman: Puppet Master. Why am I including this? Well 1) it's great entertainment but 2) it shows you just how ingrained the whole "Batman" experience is with American pop culture. It's filmed in the spirit of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight franchise. I think it's pretty good, but rather long. Give it a watch if you have the time. And the next time you talk about the Batman, know that there is a silent co-creator of this superhero that got absolutely no credit and hardly any money.

What would you do if someone took all of your ideas, got rich from it, and gave you no credit at all?

The Incredible George Perez

When I was a teenager, I started collecting comic books. One time in Moscow, Idaho in the late eighties, I walked into this  place called Safari Pearl. The lady that owned the comic book shop started to talk to me about George Perez. Up until this time, I mistakenly thought that all comic books were essentially created equal. Boy was I wrong.

The Incredible George Perez.
I bow to your greatness good sir.

There were actual artists behind these pulpy magazines. And what she pointed out about George Perez was absolutely correct. The guy was a modern day Michaelangelo, and he became my favorite comic book artist of all time. That has never changed even though there are many great comic book artists like Alex Ross and Todd McFarlane. I think George Perez brings a level of detail and dedication to any project that he does that is so good, it sets the bar for my enjoyment of a comic book.

So, with comic book movies being all the rage this summer (talked about on P.T. Dilloway's blog and many others), with "The Dark Knight Rises" destroying the box office that was left in tatters by "The Avengers" and with talk of Joseph Gordon Levitt possibly being cast as Nightwing for his own series (a classic Perez character), I wanted to tell you a little about the great George Perez because he's still alive. He's getting old, and I honestly don't know how much longer he'll be around. I have a goal to meet this guy and hopefully, my wish will come true someday at a comic book convention.

George Perez is a Puerto Rican-American born on June 9, 1954. Above and left, I've included a picture of him. He started illustrating Marvel's The Avengers. The first time that I really noticed his artwork (but didn't pay attention to who he was) was when I started reading "Crisis on the Infinite Earths". If you don't know what this series was, it was a landmark DC series that destroyed all of the various Earths that DC had created in one huge storyline to kind of get a hold of their plotlines which had gone in so many directions that they could no longer keep track.

Here is one cover from the series. I want you to pay special attention to this because it is CLASSIC George Perez. He has detailed a gazillion characters in this cover and each one is carefully drawn down to their eyeballs. I also want you to note the team of Wolfman and Perez. That to me is the sign of "excellence". Whenever I saw those two on a comic book, I knew it was going to be incredible.

This is the cover Perez did to reboot Wonder Woman. Yes, he drew and detailed
all of those warriors on Paradise Island standing behind Wonder Woman.

The very next time that I saw this combo was on the "Who is Wonder Girl" series on the reboot of the Teen Titans to the New Titans. So yeah, I bought into that. But Perez only stayed with it to reboot and then went to work on rebooting Wonder Woman so I followed him to that magazine. Wolfman and Perez owned Wonder Girl and Crisis on the Infinite Earths basically destroyed her origin because a crucial character that saves her as a child is no longer around to save her and DC just went for years after this event, never touching on the fact that Wonder Girl shouldn't be around. When Perez finally returned to the New Titans to redo Wonder Girl's origin, it was nothing less than spectacular.

The story of Wonder Girl's new origin was amazing. And the detail on each and every subsequent cover put out in this series just got better and better. That's Nightwing front and center carrying Wonder Girl. To the right is Starfire (a character that only Perez seems to be able to draw correctly because her costume is asymmetrical), and to the left is cyborg. Behind and rising above the others is Raven who returned in a white cloak after she went missing for many issues following the Trigon the Terrible plotline. Raven was my all-time favorite character in the DC universe. She basically had the powers of a demigod, and she takes on the ultimate bad guy in this series and it's one of the best combats I've ever seen drawn on paper.

Anyway, if you aren't convinced of George Perez's spectacular talent then I'm going to include some other pictures of his for your enjoyment. Again, I'd like you to just take a look at the level of detail that this guy goes to when he does his work. It blows me away every time. I'd love to have a couple of signed prints that I could frame just to hang in my house.

I think Perez has drawn every character in the DC universe here.
CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER

The Avengers as drawn by Perez
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This is a poster of the Avengers that shows them in
 every single costume ever worn. It blows my mind at how
detailed George Perez gets with his artwork.
CLICK TO MAKE BIGGER

So what do you think of the great George Perez? If you didn't know about him, are you now a fan?

Have a great weekend.