Chance are wherever you are in the United States, it's too damn cold!
It's cold here at the Fortress of Ineptitude
Here in the Greensboro environs, this is not a level of cold we're used to.
And it's just getting started.
Apparently the low temperature for Tuesday is going to be 5....
No, I am not forgetting a digit, it's just gonna be 5 degrees.
That's Farenheit because I'm an American, dammit and don't need no metric system.
As I write this on Saturday afternoon, we're staring down the barrel of a major winter weather system that's going to bring us.... stuff.
What kind of stuff?
Well, apparently I will know by the time this blog posts on Sunday.
Right now this stuff may include...
Snow
Ice
Freezing rain
Sleet
Glaze
Frost
Blizzard
Hail
Elsa from Frozen
The damnation of God!
Cold shit
Even before it arrives, I've already been dealing with this winter storm for a whole damn week now.
My wife Andrea has been living in fear of this thing with daily frantic reports of wintry anxiety with updates on the types of winter precipitation, when exactly it will get here and just how cold it's gonna get.
Back in 1993, Andrea was still living with her parents when a major snow and ice storm blustered into Greensboro and knocked out power to her home for 3 days.
I know this story well because she tells it all the time whenever there is inclement weather.
It doesn't even have to be WINTER inclement weather.
Even in summer time when we're in the middle of a bad thunder storm that threatens to knock out our power....
"There was that time in the winter of 1993 when the ice storm knocked out our power for 3 days!"
Legend has it that the power could've been back on sooner but her dad bitched at the power company one time too many.
Life lesson: You do not cross Duke Energy.
So Andrea has been sharing this tale of woe from 32 years ago all week and worrying herself into a tizzy of a doozy of a panic.
What if we get snowed in and can't get out? What will we do for food?
There's enough food in the house for several days. We're even fine for milk and bread.
But what if the power goes out?
Well, we'll just have to bundle up as best we can and go somewhere else where they do have power if we have to.
But how will we go somewhere else? The roads will be icy.
I guess I will have to drive VERY slowly and VERY carefully.
But what about the food in the refrigerator if we lose power?
Since the temperature is dropping to 5 degrees, I will put stuff on the front porch where it will freeze!
But what about.......
(Sigh!)
A side note to my son Dean in case we die either by freezing to death or a crazed murder/suicide, well, I guess the Fortress of Ineptitude is now yours.
And if you're hungry, help yourself to whatever frozen food you find on the front porch.
Today's post is about a little film from 1941 I saw sometime last year, a film noir directed by Anatole Litvak called Out of the Fog starring John Garfield and Ida Lupino.
Litvak directed the 1948 mental hospital expose The Snake Pit which I posted about in 2023.
Today's film is about a couple of old dudes who just wanna fish. If only a certain damn gangster would leave them alone.
Goodwin and Johnson are just a couple of old guys in Brooklyn NY who like to spend their spare time fishing. They have their eye on a sweet new fishing boat but it's hard to save up the dough.
A gangster by the name of Harold Goff keeps hitting them up for protection money for their Brooklyn pier.
And just to tighten the screws in Goodwin's gut a bit more, Goff is romancing his daughter, Stella. And dang if she isn't falling in love with the conniving crooked bastard.
Even though Goff is just using Stella to score a little nest egg Goodwin saved up for his daughter.
It's not like Goff is the only guy in town. There's good ol' George, affable, amiable dock worker who keeps trying to pitch some good hearted woo in Stella's direction.
George wants to guide Stella down the path of righteousness.
Goff wants to lead her down the path that rocks!
SCORE! Emperor's New Groove reference!
Worried that Stella is being led astray by a smarmy creep who keeps squeezing every body in the neighborhood for protection money, Goodwin and Johnson come to a conclusion: Harold Goff needs to die.
These two guys are a couple of harmless, kind hearted schmucks who wouldn't hurt a fly but nonetheless, they proceed to craft a plan to lure Goff into a boat out into the harbor and kill him.
SPOILER: things do not go exactly as planned.
BUT... Goff will get what a creep like him deserves while Goodwin and Johnson recover the money he extorted.
The "It's That Guy Who Was In That Thing" Dept.
George is played by Eddie Albert who plays the peddler in Oklahoma! and will go on to play Oliver Douglas in the TV series Green Acres.
Ida Lupino & John Garfield
John Garfield plays the completely amoral racketeer, Harold Goff, whose extortion schemes finally go too far, leaving his victims to take matters into their own hands.
Ida Lupino is the woman who loves him despite his criminal activity.
In 1941, Out of the Fog was a bit ahead of it's time as a dark and gritty film noir. The source material for this movie was a play called The Gentle People by Irwin Shaw. The play is even more pessimistic than the movie with Goff not answering for his crimes.
Which is something the Motion Picture Production Code aka the Hays Office would not allow. Whether it was the conniving gangster or the two old men who plot his death.
So Goodwin and Johnson do lure Goff into their old fishing boat to kill him but it's Goff's own arrogance and temper that ultimately does him in.
Out of the Fog has an unrelenting dark tone that sets the template for future film noirs like Double Indemnity (1944) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).
Humphrey Bogart lost out on the role of Harold Goff to John Garfield because the studio thought Garfield was a much bigger name. Which left Bogart free to make a couple of movies you may have heard of, The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942).
Out of the Fog is an unrelentingly dark and grim film so I can't say I recommend this as a fun movie time. But it is well made for it does, elevated by stylish direction of Anatole Litvak, making this a lost Hollywood gem and a prototype of film noir.
Your Friday Video Link takes us back to the groovy 1960's, baby!
Our lesson today? You can solve any problem if you have the right Bat-tool for the right Bat-job.
Sometimes the right Bat-tool for the right Bat-job is to blow stuff up real good!
Nothing like some 1960's Batman goofiness to help us escape from the real and pressing problems of today's world!
Oh shit! Even in the middle of some 1960's Batman goofiness, we gotta still deal with ICE?
Having the right Bat-tool for the right Bat-job is not just an axiom for Batman. Even Batgirl comes prepared, even if the problem is being shot into space!
OK, look if you're gonna ask stupid questions like "Why didn't Joker just take off Batgirl's utility belt?" But just accept that the Joker has access to an interplanetary space craft, well, what the hell are we doing here anyway.
OK, we're done here for now!
Back here tomorrow for Movie Time!
As always, remember to be Bat-good to Bat-one another.
My friend* Mark Evanier posted this list on his blog and I thought I would take a stab it myself.
*We are legally required to telll you that Mark Evanier is not my friend. He could be but he's not. And that makes me sad. I must bury my sadness with food. Or a blog post about food.
It's a list of chain restaruants and as the header suggests, you give yourself a point for each place you've eaten at.
(Call me old fashioned but I still hate ending a sentence with a preposition. I know the arbiters of the English language have made their peace with it but I haven't.)
Some of these places I have not eaten AT but I did get food FROM there....
So let's give this a go!
Yes, I know! What the hell is BASKET Robbins? Or a StarBUCK?
Let's start with Column #1. It would be easier to list the places have not eaten at or from: Chipotle, Jack In the Box and White Castle.
Some of these are not around here in Greensboro anymore and may in fact be dead in the water nationwide, such as Quizno's and Boston Market. Andrea and I used to like eating at Boston Market but the one here in Greensboro died a death of a thousand cuts.
From Column #1, we've got 11 points.
Moving on to Column #2, Greensboro got a Whattaburger a few months ago but I've yet to give it a try. And we do not have an In & Out.
We do have a Five Guys which I found to be overpriced and overrated. No one needs that many french fries. As for Starbucks, I ponied up to the bar once for a hot chocolate and a muffin.
So for Column #2, that's 12 points.
For a total of 23 points.
Moving on to Column #3.
I have not eaten at a Shake Shack, Wing Stop, Dave's Hot or Popeye's. In the case of the latter, I do hear they have Superior fried chicken.
We used to eat at TGI Friday's but we stopped when they took Dean's favorite fish dinner off the menu. We haven't been there in nearly 10 years I think so they petulantly closed their Greensboro location and tore the building down to the ground with a different restaruant being built in it's spot.
So that's 10 points for Column #3 for a grand total of 33 points.
Which gets me... what?
I think this may have been a pointless exercise.
But now I'm hungry!
Now if I only had an idea where to get some food....
It's another edition of Dave-El's Spinner Rack as I look at some new comics I've recently purchased and read.
First of all for today's post is DC K.O.
Everybody who is anybody in the DC Universe,super heroes and super villains have come together....
...to fight each other for the privilege of saving the Earth.
The Quantum Quorum (Time Trapper, a reformed Gorilla Grodd, World Forger, and Booster Gold) have news for the Justice League: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are dead and the Earth has been destroyed.
Which given that the Earth is still here and Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are standing right there, well, that is surprising news.
Well, that's time travellers for you. You're already dead and you haven't been born yet, wobbly wobbly, time wimey, you know the drill.
The Quantum Quorum has witnessed it all come to pass: Darkseid has returned to the Earth, killed it's last defenders and left the world a smouldering ruin.
Here's the wind up: Darkseid's home world Apokolips' heart runs on Omega Energy, and Darkseid has placed its heart on a different earth, creating it in his own image, becoming King Omega.
(This is what's been going on in DC's Absolute line of titles which I understand to be quite good but I'm not getting them because I'm not made of money.)
Darkseid is coming to the current main Earth of the DC Universe to do that again.
Batman comes up with an idea: why not create their own "King Omega" before Darkseid gets here.
The Quantum Quorum explains that to make that work, only one person can use the King Omega energy and that person needs to be determined through combat.
Everybody has to fight everybody until only one remains to become King Omega.
Since this plan involve everyone fighting full out balls to the wall full power to the damn death, Superman objects to this plan.
Batman and Wonder Woman convince Superman to re-consider and the game is on.
Step one is to get remove super villains from the playing field. Can you imagine if the Joker or Lex Luthor gets to King Omega?
So they get zapped to the Phantom Zone. So that part of the plan works.
Until it doesn't. Damned if Joker and Lex don't show up anyway!
While plans are made for a mass evacuation of the Earth (in case this doesn't work), our assembled heroes and villains cross through Skartaris Nexus to this center of the Earth to participate in the tournament.
It's like the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. With super powers instead of basketballs.
The first round whittles our forces down to 32. Batman does not make the cut, apparently killed by the Joker.
And there is another joker in the deck: Darkseid has been there the whole time, disguised as Booster Gold.
Well, we're fucked!
The field of 32 are challenged to secure 16 items of power such as power rings, Blue Beetle's Scarab, the Lasso of Truth and more.
Chaos ensues on the battlefield when Starro the Conqueror sends out multiple copies of himself to control the combatants.
(Side note to my son Dean: Please stop giggling at Starro the Conqueror just because he's a giant alien starfish! Yes, a giant alien starfish of astonishing cosmic levels of power you need to respect and....I SAID STOP LAUGHING!)
Superman and Lex Luthor get into a throwdown which is not going Superman's way. In order to dominate the contest to win King Omega, the ultimate champion will need to be completely and ruthlessly comitted to victory at any cost.
That's the sort of mind set that Lex is born with and Superman can't quite wrap is head around. The most powerful man in this contest may not win because he's spent a lifetime not using that power to it's maximum potential.
DC K.O. is a bold exercise in comics universe crossover excess from writer Scott Snyder and looks good thanks to some exciting art by Javi Fernandez.
Meanwhile, while all sort of shit is going down in DC K.O., what pray tell is going on in Justice League Unlimited?
Mr. Terrific is leading a team on a mission into Hell!
So just another day in the Justice League, I suppose.
Mister Terrific brings together several time-displaced superheroes to journey to Hell where there are complications afoot to hinder efforts to save the Earth, obtain King Omega and stop Darksied once and for all.
It's quite an eclectic team that includes the Terry McGinnis Batman from Batman Beyond, the electric blue Superman and spear for a hand Aquaman.
Writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora are still delivering some solid work on the title but it is inherently tied to the events of DC K.O.
_____________________________
Next week, my comic book themed post will look back 50 years to comic books I bought in January 1976.
Yesterday brought news of a significant change to the radio landscape of Greensboro and the surrounding environs.
Chris Demm announced his retirement and his departure from Rock 92 and the 2 Guys Named Chris Show.
Chris Demm and Chris Kelly launched the show in April 1999.
It is the nature of radio to not know when your last day on the air will be. Most DJs put in their shift, get a call to meet the program director and shown the door on the same day.
Demm counts himself lucky to know when his last day will be, the end of March.
While a lot of people posted online their concerns that Demm's retirement may not necessarily be his idea, my opinion from listening to his statement that this does seem to be on his own terms.
Demm said, "I've known about this decision for a while, and, you know, rationally, it makes sense, but when you add emotion into it, and you're saying goodbye to people who were such a part of your life every single day, 27 years, Chris Kelly and I worked side by side before sunrise."
Chris Demm with his dry and snarky wit was the perfect counterpoint to Chris Kelly's continually flummoxed goofball.
Demm could do characters like his take on newsman Tom Brokaw or Junior from the Pump 'N' Munch in Montgomery County in North By God Carolina. Junior hasn't called in for a few years now. Maybe Demm can coax him to make a quick check in.
Demm was the star of the daily music trivia game Rock 'N' Roll Put Up Or Shut Up when listeners pitted themselves against Demm's encyclopediac knowledge of rock music, trivia and legends. At stake was whatever money Demm had in his wallet. He very rarely had to pay up.
For 27 years, Chris Demm and Chris Kelly teamed up to have a conversation for 4 hours a morning about whatever damn thing popped in their heads and almost always made it entertaining.
Chris Demm described his time on the show as "the best 4 hours of the day. I will miss, you know, having an outlet for anything that pops into your head. It's unbelievably gratifying, and to have people respond to it is, it makes it even better."
The best of luck to Chris Demm for his pending retirement in 2 months. God knows how we're going to keep that knucklehead Chris Kelly in line without you
Chris Smith's ideal alternative Earth with a brother and father who are still both alive and the father is not a heartless prick who despises him....
Of course there's a catch.
It's an Earth where the Nazis won World War II!
Holy fuck, it's Earth X!
Earth X was introduced in Justice League of America#107 in 1973.
And this alternate world made it's TV debut in Crisis On Earth X in the CW's Arrowverse shows in 2017.
Chris Smith does not notice he's on an Earth ruled by Nazis?!?!
To be honest, he is pretty caught up in the joyous notion of being in a world where his father loves and respects him, his brother is alive and this world's Emilia Harcourt actually loves him.
Meanwhile, Peacemaker's friends from his Earth,the self described 11th Street Kids, have crossed over to bring Chris back.
It takes Emilia Harcourt-1 to point out what's weird about this Earth.
No people of color
I hate to say I didn't catch that. Which makes it the 2nd time THAT plot twist ("Dot and Bubble" from Doctor Who in 2023) has caught me off guard.
My middle age straight white male privilege is showing.
And then Harcourt (and the camera) shows us more stuff that we hadn't seen but really, Chris should have.
A swaztika instead of stars on the American flag.
Everyone has a copy of Mein Kampf
The big honking Hitler mural on the wall.
Jesus! Peacemaker can be so oblivious!
Peacemaker and the gang escape Earth X and spend the final episode of season 2 dealing with A.R.G.U.S. shit led by a clearly corrupted Rick Flag Sr..
Flag has made a deal with the proverbial devil with Lex Luthor who is pulling strings from his jail cell in Belle Reve.
Flag is using Chris's dimensional doorway to seek out another Earth to use as a prison for meta-humans.
Meta human villains, right?
Yeah, go with that if it makes you feel better.
Flag finds one and calls this new Earth "Salvation".
Well, that's a pretty name for a prison, ain't it?
SIDE NOTE:Salvation Run was a 2007-2008 DC Comics limited series about a group of supervillains exiled to the planet Cygnus 4019, also known as Salvation, where they are given no support to survive. This series is the basis of this plot in Peacemaker season 2.
Meanwhile, led by Leota Adebayo, the 11th Street Kids joined by some surprising recruits from A.R.G.U.S. launch Checkmate to serve as a balance against people like Rick Flag Sr.
SIDE NOTE: Checkmate was is a covert operations agency in the DC Universe, first appearing in Action Comics #598 (March 1988) and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate!.
What drives this series is the strong characer development for Chris, Leota, Harcourt and John Economos. They've been through some shit for 2 seasons. These are some seriously broken people who have no one to count other than each other.
With Leota starting Checkmate, they're finally getting the happy ending they deserve.
Well, we can't have nice things, can we?
Checkmate takes a hit when A.R.G.U.S. kidnaps Chris Smith.
Rick Flag Sr. wants to first test his other dimensional prison world on Chris Smith.
Rick Flag Sr. makes it cleear as the door closes on Chris that this is payback for Peacemaker killing his son, Rick Flag Jr. (as seen in The Suicide Squad movie.)
Left with nothing but the clothes on his back, Peacemaker has to fend for himself on a savage world filled with... whatever is making that growling noise?
Dinosaurs?
I guess we'll find out in season 3.
Except....
James Gunn says as of right now there is NO season 3 planned for Peacemaker.
Damn that's cold!
Peacemaker season 2 lacked the cohesion that season 1 had with the season long alien invasion story arc. It is a bit disjointed in terms of plot but it's the character work that sustains this series.
It's a shame it ends with Chris Smith being fucked over when he just finally found a chance at a noble purpose in life and maybe, some happiness.
Coming up next week on the Touchbase - Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
And after that.....
High Potential
Brilliant Minds
Fallout
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
The Tuesday TV Touchbase will be up later this morning.
But first....
Damn!
On Sunday, Donald Trump wrote a letter to the prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre.
What follows is NOT a creation by some A.I. chatbot programmed in Li'l Donnie's mangled syntax.
The letter is real.
Trump really sent it.
Norway really got it.
Norway confirmed yeah, this is a real thing that really exists.
So ladies and gentlemen, these are the words of the President of the United States of America,
Behold!
Dear Jonas,
Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.
Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only a boat that landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.
I have done more for NATO than any person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States.
The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.
Thank you! President DJT
What the unholy fuck is that?
I just can't even....
Let Seth Meyers do the heavy lifting on this one.
The Tuesday TV Touchbase is up later this morning.
Trump says he's inflicting additional tariffs on 8 European countries until Greenland is ceded to the United States.
So what's a little blackmail among friends, eh?
And he has not ruled out the use of military force.
So what's a little military aggression among friends, don't cha know?
Which brings us to the question of....Why? What the fuck, WHY?
Trump and his minions will tell you it's for reasons of national security why we MUST have Greenland.
If the United States doesn't have Greenland, then Russia or China will take it.
Xi Jinping is on the phone with Vladmir Putin.
Xi Jinping: "What's this about Russia taking Greenland?"
Vladmir Putin: "Greenland? Bah! I haven't been thinking about Greenland!"
Xi Jinping: "Me neither. Taking Greenland had not occurred to me!"
Vladmir Putin: "Donald thinks we want Greenland!"
Xi Jinping: "Greenland: What the fuck?"
Vladmir Putin: "That Donald is one crazy son of bitch!"
Well, Putin may not have been thinking about Greenland but Trump's obsession with it plays right into Putin's Christmas wish list.
Putin has long wanted to undermine, weaken or even destroy NATO.
And guess what happens if Trump decides to take Greenland the HARD way?
A NATO member attacking another NATO member is anathema to the whole organization's structure and reason to exist.
United States aggression against Greenland would shatter NATO leaving Europe without a strong, coordinated defense against Russian aggression.
Trump may take Greenland but it's Putin who gets the gift.
About this whole "national security", Stephen Miller explains that Denmark is a small country with a small military so it can't defend Greenland against Chinese or Russian attack.
Well, yes, Denmark is small and of course it's army is small which is why we have NATO, you goddam motherfucking dumbass!. If China or Russia tries any shit with Greenland, it wouldn't be just Denmark defending the island. It would be all of Europe! And America!
It's also why the United States has a goddam treaty with Denmark that allows us to have military bases in Greenland.
The defense of Greenland is as assured as it can be with combined American and European forces.
Also Miller questions why Denmark even owns Greenland. Totally devoid of any sense of irony, Miller asked just because some Danish explorers happened to come across this frozen island and decided, hey, it belongs to Denmark now?
Hey, Miller, that is a good point and some Native Americans would like to have a word with you, if you don't mind.
So why does Trump really want Greenland?
Your guess is good as mine as to what the fuck goes on in the dementia addled calcified brain of his but my best guess is that he saw it on a map, it looks big and it's close to the United States and Tump wants to be one to redraw an expanded United States.
Basically, it's like everything Li'l Donnie does, he needs to appease his ego.
Even if it's based on a fallacy.
FUN FACT: Because the Earth is a ball and a map is flat, there are distortions in the perceived sizes of land masses, especially near the polar ends of the Earth. The upshot is Greenland is not quite as big as it appear on a map.
FUN FACT: Trump thinks Greenland is as big as it appears on a map.
FUN FACT: Because of this misconception, the world order as we know it will end and we could all die.
FUN FACT: These facts are not really all that fun, are they?
It's been a couple of weeks now since ICE agent Jonathan Ross murdered American citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis.
And no amount of propoganda out of the White House or the Department of Homeland Security or any other government organization corrupted by the Trump regime will convince me otherwise that this wasn't murder.
But Trump and his snivelling sycophants maintain their narrative that Renee Good was a domestic terrorist who viciously ran over Ross with her car.
Despite eyewitness testimony and video evidence to the contrary.
One video captures the last thing Renee Good said before she was murdered. Calmly and politely addressing the ICE agent, she said "I'm not mad at you."
The last thing we hear on the video is an ICE agent (presumably Ross but we're not sure) utter this: "Fucking bitch!"
In this interaction that resulted in the murder of an American citizen by a government agent, the government is siding against the American citizen.
As people in Minneapolis have come out to voice their anger and frustration of this invasion of their city and their lives, ICE agents have felt emboldened to push back against the protestors.
As one ICE agent told a protestor, "Didn't you learn anything when that lesbian bitch was killed?"
In the overheated environment of ICE agents swarming into Minneapolis, Trump and his cronies have turned up the heat by sending even more ICE agents into the city.
ICE agents who are going around breaking windows, hassling kids, throwing tear gas cannisters and basically terrorizing the good people of Minneapolis. All for their temerity to not want them there.
Always ready to make a bad thing worse, Trump's lap dog Pete Hegseth is ordering approximately 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to be ready to invade Minneapolis.
We've always been worried that Trump would start a war with some country or another.
Of course that country turns out to be the United States of America.
As I noted in his first term, Donald Trump is not the President of the United States of America. Donald Trump is the President of the Parts of the United States of America That Voted For Him.
Even more so in his 2nd term, his mindset is that anyone who did not and does not support him is the enemy of America. And enemies must be destroyed.
The good people of Minneapolis object to having ICE agents flagrantly ignoring the law and due process.
The perspective from Trump and his cultist enablers is that the mere act of questioning the presence and the process of ICE agents is worth some form of retribution, up to and including murder.
Meanwhile, Trump still has an itchty finger to cause problems outside the United States.
In our second post of the day - Greenland: What the fuck?
Since yesterday's movie post was about the 1989 Batman film, I decided to stick with the theme of DC super hero movies for today's post.
A few weeks ago, I did a post about an animated movie based on Darwyn Cooke's classic New Frontier comic book. Today we take a look at another animated film based on an iconic comic book project.
From 2011, it's All-Star Superman based on the comic book series of the same name by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.
The screenplay is by the late and very much lamented comics writer Dwayne McDuffie.
Like the comic, the movie is about Superman living under a death sentence and what he chooses to do with his life in his time remaining.
Dr. Leo Quintum and his team are exploring the Sun when they are sabotaged by a booby-trapped genetically-enhanced time-bomb clone made by Lex Luthor.
Superman saves Quintim and his team but he receives an overdose of solar radiation.
Good news: Superman's powers are stronger than ever.
Bad news: the radiation overdose is killing him.
Clark Kent writes an expose that leads to Lex Luthor's arrest and his subsequently being sentenced to death.
Meanwhile, Superman decides to reveal to Lois Lane that he's Clark Kent.
She doesn't believe him. After years of failing to prove Clark and Superman are the same person, she's not falling for Superman's shenanigans now.
Even after Superman gives Lois her birthday present, a serum that gives her super powers for 24 hours.
They spend a wonderful super powered day together.
Meanwhile, Lex has a reprogrammed Fortress of Solitude robot steal the serum which gives Lex the power to not be killed by the electric chair.
Another threat arises, the alien super sun Solaris who is secretly allied with Lex Luthor. Superman flies into space to confront this powerful menace but he is outmatched by the power of Solaris, Only the intervention and sacrifice of Superman's pet Sun-Eater weakens Solaris enough for Superman to defeat the sentient alien sun.
But Superman's encroaching solar radiation poisoning has left him very ill and closer to death.
Clark returns to the Daily Planet and collapses after completing his final article: "SUPERMAN DEAD".
Lex Luthor attacks but a moment of seeing the world with Superman's enhanced senses creates an epiphany of understanding about his long time hated nemesis: Superman was right.
Yeah, that summary leaves out a lot of stuff but the gist is that Superman facing a countdown on his very life still insists on spending that limited time to make the world a better place, to help others.
Basically, it's the classic message that what makes Superman truly powerful has less to do with the "Super" and more with the "Man".
The original All-Star Superman ran for twelve-issues from November 2005 to October 2008 so yeah, it took awhile to complete.
A lot of stuff in the comics does not make the cut for the movie (such as a side trip to Bizarro world) but the movie still captures the comic's optimistic and positive tone even in the face of evil scientists, alien threats and Superman's own terminal condition.
The movie also expertly captures the distinctive style of artist Frank Quitely.
Grant Morrison wanted to write a "timeless" Superman story that was not an origin story or followed a classic narrative.
Grant and Frank do address Superman's origin.... in one single page.
The book powerfully realizes Morrison's dream of a timeless Superman tale and the movie effectively delivers on that vision.
A few words about the title: All Star Superman.
In 2005, DC launched it's All Star imprint with the mission of spotlighting their iconic characters without being constrained by DC Universe continuity. (I suppose in answer to Marvel's Ultimate line of titles.)
The All Star imprint only produced two series: All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder by Frank Miller & Jim Lee. The series sputtered to a close after 8 controversial issues. For things like this panel:
The series never finished due to a lack of time and/or interest from Miller and/or Lee.
All-Star Superman was far more successful although it took 3 years to produce 12 issues. But the series received critical acclaim and is widely seen as one of the greatest Superman stories ever written and one of the best comic books of all time.
As assessment I happen to agree with.
Writer/director James Gunn cited All-Star Superman as an inspiration for his Superman film that came out last summer.
The film All-Star Superman is a very good distillation of the book's themes, emotional narrative and artistic style.
Over the Christmas holiday, Andrea, Dean, Jan and I were out to dinner when Dean mentioned he had not seen any of the Batman movies.
I begged to differ in that we did see The Batman in 2022 starring Robert Pattison as the Caped Crusader and directed by Matt Reeves. It was a very good movie that we enjoyed emmensely.
We also saw Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice from 2016 with Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, directed by Zack Snyder. It was a very BAD movie that we regard as a shared traumatic experience, one best shut aside as something best left forgotten.
But I knew what he meant. Prior to 2016, there were 8 films that were Batman movies.
From 2005 to 2012, director Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy with Christian Bale in the lead role that took the mythos of the Batman oh so seriously.
From 1966, Batman made it to the silver screen with a film version of the campy ABC TV series starring Adam West that took the mythos of the Batman oh so NOT seriously.
And in between was a quartet of movies from 1989 to 1997 which.... well, it began with good intentions.
So we introduce Dean to the 1989 blockbuster motion picture Batman starring Michael Keaton as Batman, directed by Tim Burton. And getting top billing as the Joker, Jack Nicholson.
Normally when I do a movie post, I include some kind of summary of the film but I will forego that here.
OK, fine! Here you go!
Good guy who dresses like a bat versus a bad guy who was turned into a clown. Hilarity and tragedy will ensue.
There! You're caught up.
What I want to cover here is why this movie was important to me and other comic book fans.
In the 1970's, creators like Denny O'Neil, Frank Robbins, Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, Marshall Rogers and more gave us a Batman to be taken seriously, a dark avatar of justice.
The efforts of these creators in the comics went a long way to give us fans the Batman we wanted, that we felt we deserved.
But the damage of the 1960's persisted.
Outside of the medium of comic books, most people knew Batman from this.
I hate to sound like a consummate fanboy who dies of embarrassment that my sacred comic book mythology is represented by something so silly, so demeaning.
In my old age, I've come to appreciate the absurdist charms of the Batman TV show and what Adam West brought to the role.
As corny and campy as it was, without the Batman TV show, there is a very real possibility that Batman would have faded away into pop culture obscurity.
But while Adam West may have been Batman, he was not THE Batman. Comic book fandom knew the truth of our beloved crime fighter. How could we get the rest of the world to see that?
Fan boy made good Michael Uslan secured the film rights to Batman which he still holds. Anytime Batman is on screen in anything, Uslan gets a credit and a check. Good work if you can get it.
A fan of modern comics, Usland made various pitches to get a Batman movie off the ground.
Uslan was selling the Dark Knight Detective, "the definitive, dark, serious version of Batman.....a creature of the night; stalking criminals in the shadows."
FIlm studios want the Caped Crusader. They wanted something fun, light and colorful.
At one point, Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman was attached to a Batman project that would have cast Bill Murray as Batman and (you gotta be shitting me here!) Eddie Murphy as Robin?!?
Were fans to be denied their definitive, dark, serious version of Batman"?
Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct because they liked his work on Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
And Burton cast comic actor Michael Keaton as Batman?
Oh come on!
I wrote a scathing letter of objection to this nonsense that was published in the comic book fanzine Amazing Heroes.
Burton tried to assuage the comics fandom, citing his own bonafides as a comic book fan, referencing the works of O'Neil & Adams, Englehart & Rogers and the recently released The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller.
It appeared Burton understood the assignment. But could he deliver?
It was about a year out from the film's summer 1989 release when I was in a theater and saw the trailer for the first time!
Batman crashing through a skylight, his dark cape unfolding about him?
It's a scene lifted from a comic book panel by Marshall Rogers!
Michael Keaton decked out in his Batman gear, framed in shadow, a grim expression of determination and resolve.
This is a man on a serious mission of "stalking criminals in the shadows!"
Well, God Damn! I'm sold!
The lead up to the movie's release was insane!
The black and yellow logo was on everything!
Prince was in heavy rotation on radio and MTV (yep, back when they still ran music videos) with "Batdance!"
Then Batman finally hit the big screens and I saw the damn thing 3 times!
Each time with a different woman.
I was a nerd AND a playa!
The 3rd time was with future wife Andrea.
I was giddy fan boy! This was as close as I ever expected to see the Batman in my comic books on a movie screen.
Yes, it could be absurd and campy but that was OK. No one wants to sit through a 2 hour version of "There Is No Hope In Crime Alley".
And I was bothered by things?
Batman shooting machine guns from his Bat Plane?
Batman does not use guns!
And worse still, he misses?!?!
The Joker is standing still right in his sights!
And then....
The Joker takes out the Bat Plane with a single shot?!?!
Are you fucking kidding me?
And do NOT get me started on Alfred letting Vicki Vale into the Bat Cave?!
Watching this again a few weeks ago, I was struck by how stalkerish Vicki comes off. She seems to have crafted this whole big relationship thing from spending one night with Bruce Wayne.
Was it just one night? Joker's side man Bob says Vicki is seeing some guy named Wayne which would imply some public knowledge of an ongoing relationship.
The script is peppered with inconsistencies like this, due to constant re-writes and studio interference. Warner Bros. paid damn good money to get Jack Nicholson into this thing and by God, they wanna see him on screen!
Apparently some character building stuff for Bruce and Vicki fell by the wayside to make room for more Joker.
Here is one consistency: Vicki Vale loses her shoes! Three times! Once with Bruce, once with Batman and finally with the Joker.
"Hey, Batman! Have you seen my shoes?"
What did Dean think of 1989's Batman?
Andrea and I have to be careful not to oversell any TV show or movie we like or have fond memories of. But he seemed to enjoy the experience.
I rather enjoyed seeing it again. Poking holes in the plot is part of the fun. Also there is that nostalgic rush of remembering those anxieties of what would become of my beloved comic book hero and the sheer relief that it delivered on the promise of "definitive, dark, serious version of Batman".
