Top 5

This month’s edition of “Top 5″ includes my top 5 favorite titles I’m currently collecting.

5.  Justice League Dark.  This was the last book that I decided to pick up at the launch of the New 52.  And I am glad I did.  I have enjoyed this book immensely since issue 1.  And more amazingly, that run includes a writer change at issue 9.  Peter Milligan left the book, and Jeff Lemire took over.  And the book has gotten even better.  Plus, it’s my monthly fix of Zatanna.  So, that’s good, right?

4.  Action Comics.  It’s Grant Morrison doing whatever the hell he wants to in his own little Superman sandbox, and it’s been a fun ride.  The thing that I think makes this a successful comic is that it has managed to tell a grounded, emotional Superman story, while not sacrificing any of the more fantastical elements involved with Superman.

3.  Batman.  Scott Snyder’s Batman has been terrific.  I consider the Court of Owls storyline to be a must read Batman story.  I am greatly looking forward to what the “Death of the Family” has in store for us.

2.  Fables.  Just because this long-time #1 title of mine is now #2, doesn’t mean I like it any less.  Without exact calculation, this book may be the longest continual run I have.  I will admit, shortly after the war with the Adversary, things may have dipped for a little bit, the past 2 story arcs have been absolutely fantastic:  Inherit the Wind and Cubs in Toyland.  But, these two stories show Bill Willingham’s new emphasis on Snow White and Bigby Wolf’s cubs.

1.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I became a fan of TMNT back with the original cartoon, and had a couple collections of the original comic series.  As a kid, I read those over and over, until eventually the covers came off.  Not sure where they are now, which is one reason I’m picking up the Color Classics as well.  And while there have been many volumes of the comics in the past, this is the first one that has begun since I began collecting.  So I had to pick up.  And sure, some of the tweaks in the origin may irk some people, I love that sort of thing.  I love seeing how someone can keep the basic story, while putting their own spin on it.

Honorable Mention:  Green Lantern, Demon Knights, Batman and Robin.

Top 5

This month’s edition of “Top 5″ features my 5 favorite Juao Ruas’ Fables covers.  If you have your own favorite, please share.

5.	Fables #120
4.	Fables #105
3.	Fables #96
2.	Fables #100
1.	Fables #98

Top 5

 

Scootin’ Spidey is NOT one of the Top 5.

This month’s Top 5 will look at my top five Spider-Man costume redesigns. This is costumes other than the original recipe red & blue that first appeared back in 1962 and is still in use today. Not all of these costumes have been worn by the Peter Parker we’re all familiar with but they’ve been worn by someone somewhere/somewhen who called themselves Spider-Man.

 

 

Top 5

This month’s “Top 5″ list are my top 5 Robins.  It might be cheating a bit in that there have only been 5 different Robins in main continuity, but shut up.  This is the order that I rank them.  If you disagree, state your case.

5.	Stephanie Brown	Stephanie Brown started as Spoiler, and was mostly known as being the romantic interest of Tim Drake.  When Tim resigned as Robin, Stephanie volunteered to fill his role.  However, she quickly failed as Robin and was fired.  To redeem herself, she stole and implemented some of Batman’s plans, which started a cluster&@$%, and resulted in her “death.”  (War Drums, War Games)  But everything was revealed to be a-okay when Chuck Dixon returned to write Robin, and didn’t want to believe that anything had changed between now and when he left.  She’d later go on to Batgirl, until the New 52 relaunch sent her to limbo.
4.	Jason Todd	Jason Todd was so well liked that people voted for him to die.  At least, that’s how the story goes.  And really, the most memorable thing about him is that Joker killed him with a crowbar.  Well, brutally injured him with a crowbar, and killed him with an explosion.  Realistically, he probably wasn’t that bad of a Robin.  He just had the rotten luck of following Dick Grayson’s 40+ years of being Robin.  We’ll call him the George Lazenby of Robin’s.  He’d later go on to be brought back from the dead.  At first it was unknown how, and the Under the Red Hood storyline was actually pretty good.  Unfortunately, they revealed how he was brought back to life, and it involved Superboy Prime punching the time wall.  Yeah, some things should remain mysteries.
3.	Damien Wayne	Damien Wayne is the son of Talia Al Ghul and Bruce Wayne, and is the current Robin.  Damien was introduced early on in Grant Morrison’s run on Batman, and has been a thorn in the Bat Family’s side ever sense.  But, that’s the charm of Damien.  He’s not like any of the previous Robins.  He’s not haunted by his past.  He’s not trying to prove anything.  He may not even really want to be a hero.  He’s just an arrogant brat that believes he’s better than everyone else.   He’s there because he’s Bruce Wayne’s son, and therefore the heir to Bruce Wayne, which means, to him, being the heir to Batman.
2.	Dick Grayson	Ah, the original Robin.  He lasted quite some time as Robin, and I’ll admit that I haven’t read a lot of those older comics.  But from what I have read, it seemed like the best things done with Dick Grayson were near the end of his run as Robin.  This would be when he started to venture away from Batman, and was leader of the Teen Titans.  Otherwise, he was really just nothing more than Batman’s sidekick.  Of course, Dick Grayson did essentially establish the sidekick.  (Go ahead, show me the list of earlier sidekicks that you think I’m overlooking.)
1.	Tim Drake	I might be biased because this is the Robin I was introduced with, but I do believe that Tim Drake is the greatest of the Robins.  First, he used his detective skills to figure out who Batman and Nightwing were.  He then believed in Batman so much, that he volunteered to be Robin because it needed to be done.  He believed that Batman needed to have a Robin.  He had no reason to do this, other than it was the right thing to do.  He didn’t have a broken childhood.  Well, until his father was killed during Identity Crisis.  But, Bruce Wayne did end up adopting him, making him his son, instead of his ward.  Tim Drake would go on to become Red Robin after the events of Battle for the Cowl, and work solo.  On the publishing side of things, Tim Drake was the star of his solo title for 209 issues, if you combine Robin and Red Robin.  This run was stopped with the launch of the New 52.

Top 5

This month’s Top 5 list features my favorite episodes from Batman:  The Animated Series.  I was inspired to put this list together when I saw a panel at Emerald City Comiccon celebrating the 20th anniversary of the show.  Of course, that headline also made me feel really old.  This is what cemented my love of Batman, but I’ll save talking about how wonderful this show was for a different post.  Here’s the list.

5.	“Almost Got ‘Im”	Joker, Killer Croc, Penguin, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy all meet at a poker table, each telling a tale of times when they almost defeated Batman. At the same time, Harley Quinn is about to kill Catwoman. This episode made the list because it is probably the episode my wife and I quote from the most.  And it’s only one line.  When Killer Croc is telling his story, he builds up the suspense, and then simply says, “I threw a rock at him.”  The others at the table question how he almost got Batman, and he responds, “it was a big rock.”
4.	“Beware the Gray Ghost”	Simon Trent, an actor best known for his past role as “The Gray Ghost”, is on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to his declining career. To save himself, he sells off all of his Gray Ghost merchandise. Immediately afterwards, a series of crimes related to the old show begin to occur. Batman, having himself been inspired partly by the show to become the crime fighter he now is, goes to Trent for help, and they team up to put an end to the crimes. This is on the list because not only is it a great story about childhood heroes not disappointing you, but Adam West is the voice of the Gray Ghost.  That is what you would call “awesome.”
3.	“Robin’s Reckoning”	During a fight with some gangsters at a construction yard, Batman and Robin learn the name of their boss: Billy Marin. While Robin looks forward to going up against Marin, Batman becomes distant, and after a falling out at the Batcave, Batman doesn’t allow Robin to accompany him on the search for Marin. Robin investigates on the Batcomputer, and soon realizes that Billy Marin is not the boss’ real name. Rather, it is an alias of Tony Zucco, the man who killed his parents. Robin sets out to find Tony Zucco instead of saving Batman, all the while plagued by the memories of his parents’ death and how Bruce took him in as his own son. Eventually, Batman manages to find Zucco at an old amusement park, but breaks his leg during the fight. Robin arrives, and prepares to kill Zucco in revenge. He initially scoffs Batman’s advice, but realizes that justice and revenge are not the same. Zucco is arrested, and Batman makes amends with Robin, stating that he wouldn’t let Robin accompany him under the fear of Zucco killing him. This is on the list because I love Robin’s origin story.  In the comics, it doesn’t even matter which Robin.  I think Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake all have good origin stories.  But this episode, with Robin going after the man that killed his parents, had an emotion to it that is rare with kids cartoons.
2.	“Christmas With the Joker	After escaping Arkham Asylum on Christmas Eve, The Joker takes over Gotham’s airwaves and terrorizes the city. He then challenges Batman to find his hidden TV studio and free his hostages, Commissioner Gordon, Detective Bullock, and Summer Gleason, before midnight. This is by far my favorite Joker episode.  And it ends with Batman getting a pie in the face. I think today’s superheroes need more pies in the face.
1.	“The Demon’s Quest”	When Robin is mysteriously abducted from his college campus, Batman begins a fruitless search, until he is astounded by the sudden appearance in the Batcave of Ra’s Al Ghul. Ra’s quickly reveals that his daughter, Talia, has been abducted under circumstances similar to Robin’s, suggesting that the same persons are responsible. So an uneasy truce is formed between Batman and ‘The Demon’.  After freeing Talia from her father’s clutches and escaping from an avalanche, Batman and Robin follow the only clue they have, the word ‘Orpheus’. After discovering that ‘Orpheus’ is Ra’s private satellite that will orbit over the Sahara, the duo travel to the Demon’s desert stronghold. There, Batman learns that the satellite is actually a weapon which will explosively destroy all the Lazarus Pits simultaneously, throughout the world, destroying all the life that exists. Ra’s Al Ghul is my favorite Batman villain, so naturally, an episode featuring him is going to be my favorite.

Honorable Mention:  “Mad Love,” “Harlequinade,” “Harley and Ivy,” “The Man Who Killed Batman,” “Joker’s Wild”

Top 5

Today’s Top 5 list is the top 5 DC stories I’d like to see adapted into animated movies.  It should be noted that I am only drawing upon stories that I myself have read.  If I haven’t read it, then I can’t really say if it’s good or not.  If you have your own suggestions, then please leave them in the comments.

5.	Superman and the Legion of Superheroes	First, this Geoff Johns written story was a really good story.  Secondly, I think this story would be a good way of introducing the Legion of Superheroes to a wider audience, and opening the possibility of doing a Legion story down the road.  Having not read any Legion titles, I’m not sure what stories they could be.  I also know that there are several different iterations of the Legion.  However, this story and any other stories could be adapted with a particular Legion line-up in mind.  But this story is a good way of introducing their history and their connection to Superman.
4.	Batman:  Prodigal	This is the story that happens after the Knightsend volume of Knightfall.  In this story, Bruce Wayne realizes that it was a mistake to make Jean Paul Valley his replacement (duh), and has Dick Grayson fill in for him until he is fully healed from his broken back.  (Sound kind of familiar?)  The potential in this story lies in exploring the emotional impact and difficulties of trying to fill in or replace someone that was not only a mentor and a father figure, but also someone that so many people in the city depend upon.
3.	52	No, I don’t think they should adapt the entire series.  That would be impossible.  However, any of the stories that make up 52 would make a good movie.  My personal vote would be for the Booster Gold/Supernova story.  But, Warner Bros. and DC are weary about using lesser known characters.  With that in mind, the Steel story would also work.  Lex Luthor is the villain of the story, and you could market it as being a Luthor story as much as a Steel story.
2.	Sinestro Corps War	This story seems like it would be choice to be made into a movie, which is why I don’t actually expect it to become one of the animated features.  I expect this story to be the basic plot to Green Lantern 2, assuming it ever gets made.  With that being said, I’d rather that it be an animated feature for one reason.  If it’s an animated feature and not a live action feature, I know we’d get the entire Sinestro Corps involved, and not just him.  I fear a live action movie would have just him fighting the Green Lantern Corps, for fear that movie audiences would think too much computer animation was used if they brought in his entire corps.  Yes, that was a complaint I saw in several reviews, among other things.
1.	Kingdom Come	This is my all-time favorite story.  I was introduced to this story very early in my comic buying days, and it blew me away.  At its core, Kingdom Come is a story about learning to adapt your life when society has passed you by.  Nothing good ever happens when you choose to deal with it by getting angry and secluding yourself away.  Though, I’m not certain how they would adapt the art.  With these movies, the animators do their best to make the movie look like the comic, but I imagine it may be difficult to adapt the painted style of Alex Ross.

Honorable Mention: The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, Formerly Known as the Justice League, Superman and Son, and Villains United