Will The Real Batgirl Please Stand Up?

 

Some of you may question my choice for this post's headline, what with Barbara Gordon being paralyzed and all, but please know that I chose it for a very specific reason.  I genuinely want to see what that title refers to actually happen.  I think it is high time that DC Comics finally did right by Ms. Gordon and removed her from the wheelchair she's been sitting in for two decades and got her back to doing what she does best . . . fighting crime as Batgirl.

 

What got me thinking about this post was the recent news that over in the Bat-books a character by the name of Stephanie Brown, a hero originally known as the Spoiler and then for a time was Robin, has now become the new Batgirl.  I don't know about you, but upon hearing this my initial reaction was something along the lines of, "Ugh, really?  The Spoiler?  Really?  Is that the best DC could come up with?"  Do any of you out there actually give a care at all about Stephanie Brown as a character?  Maybe it's just me, but I'm sick and tired of seeing all these second rate characters being granted the cowl, cape and tights that should only be worn by Barbara Gordon.

 

Admittedly, Barbara Gordon wasn't the first Batgirl.  The original Batgirl was a woman named Betty Kane.  She appeared in the Bat-books back in 1961 as a love interest for Robin, but due to an editorial change and a general decline in the sales of Batman books at the time, both she and the original Batwoman (Kathy Kane) were quickly dismissed and forgotten about.  In fact, the two were so unpopular that they were officially retconned in 1985 during the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline so it's like they never existed at all.

 

It was in November of 1966 that Barbara Gordon appeared as Batgirl for the first time.  She was originally created as a deal between DC Comics and the ABC television network, who very badly wanted a new female character for their Batman TV show starring Adam West.  The move turned out to be a good one and Batgirl became very popular with both readers of the comics and viewers of the show.  Soon enough, Barbara Gordon's status as a caped crimefighter was cemented into the Batman mythology and for the next 22 years she fought alongside Batman and Robin as a trusted and loyal friend.

 

Then, in 1988, there came a guy named Alan Moore and a little one-shot (no pun intended) comic called Batman: The Killing Joke.  In this story, Barbara Gordon was shot through the spine by The Joker and has ever since been paralyzed from the waist down.  For a long time, the character of Batgirl was officially retired from the Bat-family.  Barbara Gordon herself evolved to become the information broker/expert computer hacker known as Oracle, but the world was Batgirl-less for a full decade.

 

The first woman to take on the role of Batgirl after Barbara Gordon was Helena Bertinelli (also known as The Huntress).  She donned the cape and cowl for a short time in 1999 before being forced by Batman himself to stop because she wasn't being heroic enough.  After her came a mute martial arts expert name Cassandra Cain.  This Batgirl had both Batman's and Oracle's approval and she held the position for many years before recently stepping down after the "death" of Batman.  Then, some teenager named Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe (yeah, I've never heard of her either) was Batgirl for a bit before Oracle told her to stop.  And now we have Stephanie Brown stepping up to the plate as the all new Batgirl.

 

Pardon me if that entire list of wannabe Batgirls leaves me feeling entirely underwhelmed.  Huntress, Cassandra, some punk kid nobody, and now the Spoiler?  When the hell is DC going to get their heads out of their asses and restore Barbara Gordon to her rightful place as the one and only Batgirl again?  She's the definitive Batgirl after all.  She's the most well known and well liked of them all.  She's the only one that non-comics fans have even heard of.  Her appearance and costume are the quentissential version of the character.  To have to keep watching one wannabe after another pretending to be Batgirl is disheartening to say the least.  To give a proper comparison, it would be like if this current "death of Batman" story went for over 20 years and we were forced to endure watching people who weren't Bruce Wayne pretend to be Batman for the next two decades.  How would that make you feel?

 

Why is it then that after 21 years, Barbara Gordon is still paralyzed?  No other hero has to put up with this.  Batman had his back broken too, and he recoverd in about a year.  Steve Rogers (Captain America) got shot through the neck, which as gunshots go is a little more serious than through the spine, and he's coming back soon.  For Christ's sake, even Aunt May, who has to be somewhere around 90 years old, was shot in the stomach and has managed to make a full recovery.  So why is it that Barbara Gordon is still sitting in a wheelchair.

 

And don't go giving me that, "Because it was Alan Moore" bullshit either.  Just because Alan Moore wrote it doesn't mean it can't be undone.  Everything in comics can be undone.  No exceptions.  If Bucky can come back from the dead, all bets are off s far as I'm concerned.  The fact that Barbara Gordon is still wheeling herself around instead of leaping off of Gotham City rooftops is a crime.  That crime is made even more glaring when you consider the fact that The Killing Joke wasn't even a regular continuity story.  It was never meant to have a major effect on the regular line of comics, so why is it still doing so?

 

I know that Oracle is a very popular character and that fans love her, but come on people, wouldn't you rather see Barbara Gordon running around as Batgirl instead of people like the Spoiler?  And just think of how awesome the new Oracle/Batgirl combo could be.  In her time off from wearing a costume, Barbara Gordon has clearly defined herself as one of the smartest women in the DC Universe.  As a hacker and general source of information, she's even more skilled than Batman is in certain areas.  A properly written Batgirl comic with Barbara as the title character could be filled with incredibly smart stories that show off both her intellect and her fighting abilities.  Just think how awesome it would be to see her and Batman working on a case together and trying to one-up each other with who knows more about whatever they were hunting down. 

 

It's not like she would have to stop being Oracle either.  She's already set up the Birds of Prey organization.  All she would have to do would be to appoint someone to take over her day to day duties as information dealer so she can go running around and beating up thugs.  In the meantime she can still supervise the group from a distance and occasionally lend a hand as Oracle when needed.  She could become both an individual hero again as well as a leader of a group of female heroes.  She could go on to truly become the female version of Batman that she was designed to be.  She's every bit as smart and as tough as he is, it only seems right.

 

In 20 years, will anyone really remember what the Spoiler did during her run as Batgirl?  Do any of you actually think her run as Batgirl will be more than two or three years in length?  I personally doubt it will even run that long.  Please, if anyone from DC Comics is out there, please bring Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl.  Just say that some new spinal surgery technique has been discovered that can restore the use of her limbs.  It's not a difficult storyline at all to write.  We fans will love you for it.  Even bitter and jaded fans like me .

More Motion Comic Goodness

 

Well, you can't really have anything happen in the comic book world ever without the X-Men showing up at some point and taking it over for themselves.  So it seems to be with the newest big thing in the comics world too . . . Motion Comics.

 

As my fellow Geek-tastic contributer Johann has pointed out here before, the success of the Watchmen Motion Comic DVD has made both Marvel and DC sit up and take notice.  Fans like motion comics, and they want more.  The two big comic companies, with dollars shining in their eyes, are only too happy to provide them.  DC followed up their Watchmen Motion Comic with Superman: Red Son and  Batman: Black and White.  It makes sense that their two biggest characters would get the motion comic treatment first.  Marvel suprised us though with making Spider-Woman their first big Motion Comic release.

 

I think we were all thinking the same thing.  Spider-Woman?  Why?  Why not start with Spider-man or the Avengers or Iron Man or any of the bigger characters.  Hell, even Blade would have been a bigger character to start with.  Well, worry no more true believers because Marvel has finally announced their second big Motion Comic series, and this time it's got some major marquee name power behind it.  That's right, the X-men.  And not just any X-men story mind you.  Oh no, they're pulling out all the fanboy stops here and are adapting Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men to Motiony Comicy goodness.

 

So, take some of Marvel's most popular characters, mix them up with one of fandom's most beloved writers, then take the critically and fan acclaimed comic series that came from said pairing and make it into a pseudo-movie that you call Motion Comics.  I'm sure the results will be spectacular.

 

On a personal note, I'm not sure how I feel about this whole Motion Comic thing just yet.  I have mixed feelings about it, to be honest.  On the one hand I am stoked because this is as close to 100% faithful film or TV adaptations as we're ever going to get.  You really can't get more faithful than panel for panel stories and line for line script readings.  On the other hand though, why does everything have to be made to be like movies or TV shows now?  What's wrong with comics just being comics?  Can't some things just stay in print form and be awesome there?

 

I'll have to ponder this some more.

Pixar Is Being Sued By It's Own Lamp

 

 

Well, sort of.  The famous animated filmmakers are actually being sued by Luxo ASA, the company which originally created the Luxo lamp that Pixar based its first ever animated short on.  You've all seen the little hopping lamp that squishes down the I in Pixar's name in all of the Pixar logos (as seen above).  Well, that little hopping lamp is called Luxo Jr., and he was the star of the first animated project ever worked on.  That film, simply enough, was called Luxo Jr. and it won an academy award back in 1986 when it first came out.  Now here we are, 23 years later and the Luxo lamp company have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Pixar Studios.

 

Why did they wait so long to sue, you may ask?  It turns out that the Luxo company had no problem with Pixar using their name or their lamp's likeness as their logo.  In fact, the two companies had an agreement allowing them to do so and relations between the two were rather positive.  Pixar got to use a logo which had sentimental value to them as it was a reference to their beginnings, and Luxo benefited from free advertising every time the logo was shown or the name was referenced.  That recently changed however when this little item here was announced for sale later this year.

 



 

You're looking at the Luxo Jr. Premium Combo Pack for Pixar's latest film Up which will be coming out on Blu-ray and DVD on November 10th, 2009.  Packaged with Up in this combo pack is a fully functional replica of the Luxo Jr. lamp.  It turns out that the folks at Disney merchandising didn't care to notify the folks over at Luxo that they had decided to go into the lamp making business and Luxo didn't really appreciate that.  While they were fine with the existing arrangement of their lamp being used as a logo, they were far less happy with Disney making actual Luxo lamps complete with the Luxo name on them without paying Luxo any royalties or fees for them.

 

I can totally understand that.  If I was Luxo, I'd be upset too.  It's one thing to allow your likeness to be used, but it's totally another for someone else to take your name and creation and sell it as if it was their own.  While I disagree with Luxo's statement that Disney's DVD and Lamp combo pack will "cause devastating damage to Luxo and dilute the goodwill which Luxo has built up", I'm sure the move must definitely break whatever existing agreement the two companies had before.  I'd chalk this one up to Disney being stupid for not notifying Luxo of their intention to make the lamps beforehand and working out an agreement with them where they got a cut of the money.

 

I'm sure this will be worked out without much hassle.  Most likely, Disney will pull a few coins from their giant Scrooge McDuck money bin and throw it Luxo's way and they'll be perfectly happy. At least, that's how I hope it goes.  If Luxo decides to get all pissy and Pixar has to consider changing their logo, I think I'll be really annoyed with Luxo at that point.  I really like that little hopping lamp and will be pissed off if Pixar has to get rid of it.

 

Let's hope that doesn't happen.  Afterall, just look at how cute that little guy is.

The New Halo: ODST Commercial Makes Me Want To Cry

 

 

Make no mistake though, these tears I shed as I watch this new live-action commercial for the upcoming Halo: Odst game are not because the commercial is bad, or because the game looks bad.  Far from it.  The commercial is so mind blowingly awesome it made me have to go change my pants after seeing it.  No, the reason it makes me want to cry is because it is a cruel reminder of the fact that I doubt we'll ever get to see a real live-action Halo film, and even if we ever do I would bet good money that it will be nowhere near as cool as this commercial is.

 

If Neill Blomkamp can no longer direct a live-action Halo film, can we get whoever made this commercial to do it?  Please?  Don't keep teasing me Microsoft and Bungie.  I can only hold out hope for so long.

Hello Comrade...

 

With the release of Watchmen the Motion Comic, DC started to prime and ready more of them to shoot out. Superman: Red Son seems to be the quickest off the block with about 6+ episodes already on iTunes.

 

On The DC website they have also put up Batgirl: Year One and Batman: Black & White.

 

DC isn't the only one to notice that the Watchmen motion comic did well. Marvel has Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. by Brian Michael Bendis and Astonishing X-Men by one Joss Whedon.

Marvel Comics does have the first episode of Spider-Woman on there site FREE right now for a limited time.

 


 

Watch it, form your opinions. I think that Marvel has bammed it up a notch with the way the Motion Comic is done.

The "Google Doodle" Phenomenon

 



 

I'm sure you've seen it by now.  That cute little drawing wrapped around the letters G-O-O-G-L-E as you make your morning internet rounds.  Usually it brings a smile to my face and even sometimes reminds me of an event that I otherwise would have forgotten.  I'm ashamed to admit it: I knew it was Earth Day only because animals were lounging around a search engine logo.  Today I found out the official name for these unique and ever-changing pictures, "Google doodles."

 

And for the first time, I am also thinking about their potentional power.  They have served as both reminders and amusement for me in the past.  Consider my nerdy happiness when I woke up the morning of Comic Con, opened my browser, and saw this staring right back at me:

 



 

My first thought was, "geez.  Look how big Comic Con has become if it's noticed by Google."  But maybe the more significant observation is actually, "Look how big Google has become."  It not only references established holidays, but it also now picks up on pop culture.   Think of the advertising potential.

 

So what made me think of this?  To Google's credit, Google.  If you click on today's image, a UFO doodle, the top search result as of 10:15am is an article called, " Unexplained Phenomenon: A Mystery Created by Google?"  The author explores some of the serious possible ramifications of having a not-so-innocent Google doodle.  "As far as I know, the Google doodle thus far has primarily been used to bring attention to events such as holidays and the birthdays of famous people.  But what if the Google doodle were to be used for more commercial purposes? Would it be a source of controversy? Would it give an unfair advantage to those who could afford to pay for it?"

 

Now I'm wondering what goes on at Google?  Who is Google?  Will the personalities, tastes, and motivations of its creators stay the same?  Perhaps the "unexplained phenomenon" of the Google doodle itself will turn out to be some evil plot to destroy us all.  Hopefully, the great minds behind the Google curtain reveal themselves to be better than that.   More... more... well, free-thinking and at times, nerdy.  Here's to hoping.

 

More steampunk! More steampunk!

 

To be released October 20 this year.

 

After watching the trailer you may think some of the character designs look familiar. If it does, good on you. It's the same creators of the Final Fantasy port series to the DS. By which I mean when they released Final Fantasy 1-6 with the 3D battles and maps.

 

Your airship is customizable with engines and weapons and as seen in the trailer, actual special attacks that can be performed by the ship itself.

 

And battle engines does make me reminise on Final Fantasy games and combo attacks like Chrono Trigger and lesser known Saga Frontier.

 

This is on my pre-order list and since I don't expect this to be heavily marketed in the next month, I thought I'd share some knowledge.