Announcement: Joel on Better in the Dark Podcast

Dollar Bin contributor, Joel, spends some time over on the Better in the Dark Podcast to discuss Zack Snyder and pimp the DB.  Here is the link and the show discription:

Director’s Court - The Case of Zack Snyder (Guest: Joel Mangrum)
Court is back in session, as Tom and Derrick welcome special guest judge Joel Mangrum. Together they put the latest target of geekdom’s rage in the docket! Join the Boys Outta Brooklyn (and the One Outta Cali) as they evaluate the reasons behind the recent backlash, whether Zack Snyder should have made Sucker Punch when he did, his reliance on certain cinematic tropes, and his impending Man of Steel. Plus, old gals who are still hella hot, an investigation into why writer / artists circa 1980 have become hopelessly insane, and a classic BITD rant — and it’s not from Tom! You don’t want Emily Browning to dance for you (or maybe you do), so get to clicking!  Download

Speaking of Zack Snyder, here is a link to the Dollar Bin’s discussion on Watchmen Part 1 and Part 2.  We have a 300 movie topic discussion around here somewhere.

Review: Dr Who Season 6; Part 1

In the nearly 50 years since it first broadcast there have been 11 different men to play the mysterious Doctor Who.  For me, at the end of last year’s Fifth Season, Matt Smith’s Doctor ranked second to last, only above Paul McGann’s 8^th Doctor and that’s because McGann only had the one two-hour movie.

I don’t lay the blame for my dislike of Smith’s Doctor on the actor, but instead what he was given to work with.  Matt Smith has taken the best parts of all the previous Doctors and come up with something new. 

The Doctor is over 900 years old, has had dozens of companions (mostly human) and has spent the bulk of his known life not only on Earth but defending it from all sorts of invasions, yet, this Doctor seemed to be baffled by even the most simple of human interactions.  I felt as though I’d spent a dozen episodes watching the really smart kid in school, who had a kind of book smarts, but not an ounce of common sense nor the first clue how to relate to the other students. 

After watching Season 6, Part 1 on DVD (on sale now by the BBC) Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor is now in my top 5 incarnations, somewhere between Colin Bakers criminally too-short run as the 6^th Doctor and Christopher Eccelston’s lonely, tortured 9^th Doctor.

So what’s changed between the two seasons?  Well, The Doctor has settled into his new regeneration for one thing.  Gone is the Doctor who jumps up and down in the middle of the room screaming at the top of his lungs, “Look at me and how wacky and strange I am!”  That has all been replaced with a man who might still be all of those things, but has learned to temper that side of himself.  He is man who feels comfortable with his two companions Amy and Rory.  For the first time that I can remember the Tardis feels like a home and The Doctor has a family.

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Review: Batman: Brave and the Bold Season 1; Part 2

Comic fans are an extremely fickle lot.  Look on any message board and you’ll see page after page of concern among comic readers about the monthly decline in comic sales and how the reading demographic is gradually getting older and older and how we’re not grabbing the younger readers. 

Look a little further down on the same message board and you’ll hear those same fans complain about the latest Batman animated series Batman: The Brave and The Bold.  There will be a chorus of people complaining that it is too campy, that the stories are too light-weight, that Batman is too jokey, that he should work alone for the most part, and that *gasp* Kevin Conroy isn’t doing Batman’s voice! 

Is the dark, gritty, and oft-times depressing Batman: The Animated Series really the best way to introduce new younger readers still in single digits age-wise to Batman?  Wouldn’t a show with a lighter tone and brighter palette that pairs him up with characters from every corner of the DC universe be a better way to go?  Give the kids a taste of what DC has to offer in a fun way and like crack dealers where the first taste is free, the kids will come back and pay for the comics.

Even though this series is aimed at kids, I love it.  The 9 year old in me is has a towel pinned around his neck while jumping on the couch with joy when he hears the theme song and he cannot wait to see who the guest star is that week so getting my copy of Batman: The Brave and the Bold-Season One; Part Two made me a very happy 9 year old.  The adult in me who read the original comic series this cartoon is based on loves not knowing who the guest star that week will be and how Batman interacts with the different characters.  The mentor/apprentice relationship with Blue Beetle, the friendly rivalry with Green Arrow, or his exasperation with the over-enthusiastic Aquaman are all great.

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FIVE Comic Titles I Want Back

There was a recent Dollar Bin episode on the cancellation of Thor, The Mighty Avenger and I remembered Heather saying how this was her first experience with a cancelled series.  This got me thinking about all of the series I have loved or have found over the years that were cancelled before their time.  I decided to try my hand at a top 5 list of comics that are no longer with us that need to be brought back.  See Heather, you’re not the only one to suffer the loss of a loved title. 

Adventures of Barry Ween: Boy Genius

Before he started working for the big boys churning out mostly mediocre stories and giving AIDS to characters for no particular reason; Judd Winick had some serious indy cred as the writer and artist on such titles as Pedro & Me, Frumpy the Clown, and his best creation, Barry Ween Boy Genius.  We’re not going to mention his stint on the Real World since that is pretty much unforgivable.

Barry Ween has best been described as Calvin and Hobbes meets South Park (with a pinch of Dexter’s Laboratory thrown in for good measure) and I can think of no better description.  This all-too-short series of only 12 issues follows Barry, your typical 10 year-old with a 350 IQ, and his best friend Jeremy Ramirez in a series of adventures which usually involve an experiment of Barry’s that goes wrong.

Make no mistake, this title is not for kids.  Barry and Jeremy use curse words with a frequency that Tarantino could appreciate, but it’s funny.  And when I say funny I mean laugh out loud until your sides hurt and you have to check to see if you wet yourself funny. 

There have been rumors of a new series being worked on and I can only hope that is true.  In the meantime I suggest everyone pick up a copy of The Big Book of Barry Ween and see what I am talking about.

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