You maniacs! You blew it all to hell!

            “You maniacs, you blew it all to hell!” he says staring at the statue of liberty buried up to it arm in sand.  They hadn’t landed on some distant planet, they were home.  They were home but it wasn’t the home they remembered.

            That scene burned into my brain as a child.  The ramifications of that startling image slammed into me like a tsunami as the reality I knew shifted into bizzaro world where Superman is the bad guy, the Justice League a criminal syndicate, and Lex Luther the Hero.  I just got finished reading a comic called Infinite Crisis, and I had that same reaction.

You see in DC comics there used to be many earths some of which were Earth-Prime, Earth-X, Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-3.  They used to tell stories of how Clack Kent and

Lois Lane

got married and had a Super Boy, how Kal El wasn’t the only one left from Krypton there was Kara Super Girl.  There were many stories, stories of Super Heroes during World War II who joined together and formed the Justice Society.  They had stories of Superman when he was older, wiser and he and Batman were friends.  Many good stories all wiped out 20 plus years ago by an epic story called Crisis on Infinite Earth’s.

In this story a villain, an entity called the Anti-Monitor started destroying the parallel earths and collecting the energy from their destruction for its power consumption.  The earth’s heroes united, but by the time they had all but 5 of the parallel earth’s had been destroyed.  They all gathered and attacked this Anti-Monitor and ultimately pushed him back through time and space until he was defeated.  The cost was the destruction of 4 more earths.  Many of the heroes had died valiantly protecting these realities.  Some from destroyed realities still lived but as time started they faded from existence, never to be born and never to return in any stories again.

I read that story back in high school.  Years later one character remembered what had happened, Green Lantern and he tried to fix it.  Most current comics readers don’t remember or never read Crisis on Infinite Earths and so when Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of our Sector decides to put everything back to rights by collecting all the Green Lantern power rings in order to get enough energy to recreate reality with all the parallel earths again.  The heroes not remembering the Crisis brand him a lunatic and ultimately defeat him.  This is a first in DC history, a hero dies; it all begins to crumble.  It illustrated the new mortality of heroes and the death of ideals.  Hal
Jordan was right, and they killed him.

Years have passed since that story as well, and since then we have seen the death of Superman at the hands of Doom, Robin by The Joker, Kara by Deathstroke, Batman even had his back broken by Bane.  There are many others, but the point is this our heroes were failing, falling from grace.  The use of deadly force, against heroes, by heroes is rampant.

Now don’t get me wrong, as a reader I enjoy that comics have a sense of reality to them.  I relish their grit, the drama, and stories that keep you riveted.  But I needed to set the stage for what I read in a new mini-series by DC.  Infinite Crisis story line started out with the finding out certain heroes had mind wiped a villains memory in order to protect their secret identies.  Apparently not only had they wiped his memory, but also Batman’s who had objected to altering the villain’s memory.  The plot quickly picked up, a rift was shorn; Batman left the Justice League.  The Justice League was attacked, Martian the Man Hunter appears to have been killed, the Blue Beetle is killed investigating a crime.

It all seemed so random, what was going on, but then a light is turned on.  Not all the heroes from the alternate realities are dead, there was a sanctuary and they are watching.  They watch as Wonder Woman finds the man who attacked the Justice League and murders him because he knows everything about them, she saw no recourse.  Superman disavows Wonder Woman because she’s a murderer, all while these other heroes watch on.  Then they decide, they decide they can take no more, and Superman from Earth-1 breaks through their protective sanctuary seal.  Among his ranks are the remainder from the final battle of Crisis of Infinite Earths, his wife Lois lane and their son Superboy, the good Lex Luther.

Holy shit I said to myself as I read along.  Superman from Earth-1 explains his reality shouldn’t have been the one sacrificed, they had made a mistake, and that there is something horribly wrong with this reality.  He explains the story of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and how they had fought till their dying breath but in the end only one could be saved, and they decided it would be this reality, but they had chosen wrong.

“You maniacs, you blew it all to hell!” he says staring at the statue of liberty buried up to it arm in sand.  I can’t help but replay that in my head over and over again.  What an awesome read.

Gamera Rocks, Gamera Rolls!

So I couldn’t sleep last night and I got up early this morning around 3:30 or so.  Back was all jacked up so at first I was like,….hmmm ok hot bath, read some more of the Last Sky Pirate, awesome book by the way if you like kids fantasy stuff like Dark Crystal, Labrynth, Never Ending Story and the like.  After that I went downstairs and watched some IFC coming attractions looks like this year could be interesting with independant films, I’m excited.  But then I wanted to watch some more Kaiju madness so I put in a Gamera flic.  Now for those who aren’t familiar Gamera is a gargantuan beast like a turtle from the Lost continant of Atlantis and is the protector of earth.  Not humanity mind you,…..but earth.

I was watching the third one in the remake trilogy Revenge of Iris (1999), and holy shit the effects were awesome.  The monster Gamera fights was freaking kewl and uses some ideas I been thinking about for kaiju designs.  They definatly borrowed some concepts from Guyver Bio Booster Armor comic book published in the mid 80’s.  They used this whole organic cannon idea really well, although I would have preferred to see more they definatly made the affects believable.  There’s one scene where Gamera and Iris fall through a building while the main human characters are inside.  It was freakin kewl.

The more I watch kaiju films the more I wish we had more of them but american ones.  Deep Rising with Treat Williams was kewl, in fact in the new King Kong film they even show one of the creatures from Deep Rising.  But we don’t have anything like Japan does where it’s one creature fighting many other creatures.  I think the closest we’ve gotten has been Jurasik Park or King Kong but they leave you wanting for more.

Unfortunatly we don’t have things like Chimeras, Dragons and such in our folk lore to pull from.  But we could definatly have the atomic/nuclear expirements gone crazy kaiju with regular animals mutated.  I mean just think of it,……..Bald Eagle mutated to gigantic proportions and sometimes good sometimes evil.  Could even set up the basis for changing looks in subsequent movies by saying the creature continues to evolve.  Oh and what it could fight would be the typical snake, coyotee salamander.  See that would be kewl and all raging through america cities!

Elementry my dear kaiju!

            Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did two things which I will always thank him.  He created Sherlock Holmes which I have read his adventures and lost tales time and time again.  He also created The Lost World genre which many acclaimed authors like Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burrows have contributed to with captivating tales.

            Willis O’Brien’s King Kong (1933) was the first comprehensive exploration of the Lost World on film.  O’Brien used aspects of Doyle’s Lost World mythos, most importantly giant creatures.  O’Brien’s King Kong also added to the mythos of the Lost World giving it a mysterious location a continent shrouded in mist.  Since then it has been called many things;

Skull
Island, Monster Isle, and the Lost Continent of Atlantis.

            Godzilla: King of All Monsters (1954) or more appropriately Gorjira was produced in
Japan as a response to King Kong.  American actors were added subsequently and spliced into the film to appeal to American viewers when released in the states.  The Japanese also created the term kaiju which as a description of all giant monsters.  Later they created another term daikaiju for humanoid giants like Ultraman. Since Godzilla’s inception there have been 30 films featuring her with battles with close to 100 other kaiju. 

Yesterday I stayed home because I wasn’t feeling well.  During my time home lying on the couch I had loaded up several Godzilla movies including the allegedly last one Godzilla: Final Wars.  It was almost like comfort food, to hear the different versions of Godzilla’s scream, the background music, all those creatures smashing the city.  I still think my all time favorite is MechaGodzilla.

            That’s pretty much it.  I just wanted to share yet another obsession besides the usual foray of vampires, werewolves, angels & demons, time travel, alternate dimensions and immortals fighting till there is only one.

Brick

So I just finished watching Brick, and holy crap what an awesome flic.  It’s smart, almost too smart lol.  It introduces you to a world of lingo and a convoluted plot of who dunnit in a high school environment.  Now don’t think this is some high school drama like Pretty in Pink not that I didn’t enjoy that movie, Duckie is hysterical.  No this is a 21st century version of High School where kids deal drugs, and there are major, minor and indifferent players.

The basic plot is a young man’s ex-girlfried calls in distress about some trouble she’s in and the ex is a moral duty bound kind of guy who is smart.  Smatter than the school officials, smarter than the cops, smatter than the other players on the field.  It doesn’t mean he doesn’t get knocked around though.

In fact the plot has you gripped the entire way.  Excellent movie and well worth a viewing for the off the beaten path but not the same hum drum Hollywood dribble, and no I’m not talking about Mutha f’n Snakes on a Mutha f’n Plane!

Oh yeah and the camera work is freaking great, sometimes drawn out to add tension, or the chicken chicken reminded me of Quicksilver but less drawn out,……yeah that was freaking kewl.  Or the eye glasses scene where without glasses he can barely see and with glasses everything is focused.  It’s the little things that make it so you see the world from their point of view.  Now I haven’t seen any of Rian Johnson’s other films but with titles like Evil Demon Golfball from Hell!! I can’t see where you can go wrong hahahah.  Ok I’ll have to Netflix that one.

A Scanner Darkly

It’s nice to see a Philip K. Dick story told well.  It stays true to the original story, although I have to say it would have been nice to see Count Zero.  The visuals alone were worth the cover charge.  Robert Downey Junior is in rare form, he continues to impress me as a character actor.  While Keanu Reeves is his normal, dry, unemotional self it works for this charcter just like it worked for Matrix.  In addition Woody Harelson is zainy, and Wynoda Ryder is back from her exile of petty theft as a police officer in the future.  It’s kind of poetic actually heh.

It’s nice to see cmoic book style imagery being used in live action movie.  I hope someone at the movie companies takes notice and says hey we could make a great Justice League of America, or a Mighty Avengers movie using this technique.  Such a kewl visual style.

Wells here to hoping that this landmark film launches a whole new style of movie making.

Heroes – Episode 5

What an awesome episode this was, I mean it didn’t answer many questions, but what it did do is provide a bit of framework for things that are happening.  Hiro’s trip back in time, stating he was risking a rift in time just coming back sets the stage for how events are going to play out.

It also confirms my theory that in the future he has already come back and affected time.  This would explain Proffessor Suresh’s picture changing on the book cover.  The happenstance that Nathan lands at the diner where Hiro happens to get dropped off at by the Casino Cowboy.  These aren’t coincidences. Hiro has affected the past setting the stage for members to meet each other.

The interesting thing is Claire’s dad chooses not to shoot Nathan, knows Nikki is also a hero and chooses to only take Nathan.  This to me confirms my theory that they are all somehow connected to each other.  I’d have to go back and watch it again but I think the debt Nikki owes is actually to Claire’s step-dad.

Now the interesting thing is this,……..Matt the policeman’s job has changed.  Before when he was outside the the girls house and could hear her inside.  He makes a point of talking about taking the test, and not passing.  He get’s kidnapped by Claire’s step-dad and his mind is wiped and suddenly he’s a Detective.  His wife says on the phone she is looking for Detective Parkman.  So how does this happen, who’s made it happen.  I doubt the alleged villain is doing this, is this some sort of time travel change, and can these changes somehow cause a rift if they are too cataclismic.  Of course Hiro doesn’t say how Peter gets his scar, and I doubt it’s a nuclear explosion scar but it would be kewl if in the future episodes they have the team together in the past trying to fix this explosion.

I definitely think Peter’s gift of syphoning away powers is going to play a rather large role in the show.  he might be the great one that shows them how to use their powers, gather them together.  I still think the Eclipse is going to play a larger role than some icon on the website.

I wonder what role Nikki’s husband is going to play in all this. I mean phases into existence inside the house which leads me to believe he’s either been there all along, or can come and go as he pleases without Nikki knowing.  With her son’s almost admission that he’s seen his dad i think this is defintly a possibility.

I still haven’t figured out what the importance of the little girl is, I mean she’s obviously important enough for Sylar to come back and risk capture in a FBI holding area.  Maybe it’s Claire in the past, or Claire’s sister from her real parents, but why take the brains, is that stealing the powers some way.

oh man, what if Sylar is like Peter and syphons the powers away.  We have already seen that the powers are connected to the brain wave patterns so maybe if you take the brain you get to keep the power.  If the little girl is Claire then she might have regenerated and escaped before Sylar was able to kill her again, yeah but she had no blood.  So she must have been hiding the entire time.

So many questions, such a good show.

Heroes – Episode 3

So I don’t think Niki’s husband ran after stealing the 2 Million that he is accused of doing.  I think Niki’s alternate personality killed him and his gang, absconded with the money but Niki doesn’t remember.  maybe that’s how she bought the new vehicle?  I think the finger she took the ring off of is her husbands.  Which is pretty messed up, I mean is she going to be a villain?  I hope not, lol cause if they do do super hero outfits she should wear something skimy heh.

I have to say Peter’s attempts at flight after walking on air in episode 2 left me disconcerted.  It looks more and more like he and his brother must be in the same location in order to access their powers.  I might have to go back watch the first episode again but I seem to remember that his brother and he are twins, not identical what is that maternal instead of fraternal, different zigote?

Did anyone catch the doodle on the side of Claire’s text book.  It’s the same S half helix.I think she’s drawing them from memory, I think the symbol is going to be something either the gov’t or some corporation used to identify the people they were expiermenting on, not saying there is anything in the show to support that, it’s mearly a hypothesis.

But it would make sense to me that Suresh knows as much as he does, because he got pulled into working for someone, then left, they ended up chasing him down because of something he had figured out, and yeah that bitch neighbor of Suresh Sr arranged for the appartment to be cleaned out before the authorities arrived.

Holy crap, ok so Claire can die and until foreign objects are removed she can’t heal, but they carved her up.  I mean weren’t those pans of organs?!!  Well that’s all i got for now, what a freakin ride.

Heroes – Episode 2

Wow, is this show getting interesting or what.  Hiro teleports into the future and sees the destruction of NY City.  Nikki’s brutish alternate organizers her escape.  She wakes up in completely different clothes several hours later.

I don’t know what to make of the Neighbor for Papa Suresh, is she a plant, seems to me he tells her more about the theories than she reveals to him.  I think the man in the apartment is completey seperate from the step father, although I still think he’s not evil.  He might be misunderstood, like where they offer up oh look here is a bad guy when really he is just an expression of humans trying to control the situation.  I mean he says he wants to protect her from the world, and that her growing up breaks his heart, ut he has the video tape of her attempts of suicide.  How much you wanna bet she confesses later that attempt number one is where she found out she couldn’t die.

The introduction of the police officer who is a telepath was kewl.  I think this Selar character the Proffessor trained is some sort of syphon of powers.  He either froze, or burned his victums.  The brains missing, eaten, or otherwise was gruesome.  I think he might look like the stone creature seen on Hiro’s desktop, either that or that is the alternate personality for Nikki.

As a plotline to show Hiro from Japan the future and then go back in time to change events is excellent.  I love time travel stories.  I don’t know if this ties into Nikki’s ability to go back.  The whispers on the first episode which I thought said “Reverse will save you” or something to that affect may have been Review,….like on the camera.  And who is the guy at the grave site

So the nurse guy can fly after all, and increase his density.  Was his father just like him and couldn’t handle it.  Plus he has some clairvoyant abilities. he can see the future illustrated by his drawing of him walking to his brother.

But here’s the thing, Hiro thought he could teleport before he could, the artist makes paintings and in the future a comic book.  It seems to me that several characters have this ability, maybe it’s clairvoyance, maybe it’s that they have all done this before.  Maybe hiro going back in time is like a massive Deja Vu for them.

The half helix motif on the comic cover as the publisher logo, swimming pool debris, written blood at the crime scene from the woman stabbed with all the utensils, the sticky note on the map in the proffessors flat, the pattern in the Proffesor’s thumb drive, and the bloddied map from Nikki’s traveling is completely bizzar.

What happened in Barstow is that where the Proffessor was killed, if Silar is Patient Zero like the Proffessor believed what does he have in common with all the heroes.  What makes the little girls parents special to kill, was it a concious choice, or victums of circumstances.

Alright that’s all I can think of at the moment.

Heroes – Episode 1

So tonight is the next episode for Heroes, and one episode in I have to say I am really excited about the possibilities this show is presenting.  It’s really nice to see Super Heroes making it into the mainstream, I think the success of Marvel’s movies lately has really done a lot for changing societies perceptions, it’s OK to enjoy geek stuff.

The interesting thing is the ground work for at least a couple seasons is laid in the first episode.  The concept of the Patient Zero as if the mutations of humans is like a contagion or virus is an interesting take.  As apposed to Marvels ancient gods having traveled to earth and manipulated cro-magnon DNA making Homo Sapien and thus Homo-superior, or DC’s spontaneous mutation for Meta Humans.  I really like the lines on the maps, tracing someone traveling about the world, I wonder if this person will even end up being the first villain.

I suspect the big rocky creature on the Japanese guys screen is going to be the villain, much like the artists paintings foretell what is going to happen weeks in advance.  I hope it’s not that his imagination creates the villain, that’s a little too much like lost.  Although this show owes a great deal to Lost’s success.

The funny thing is I find myself identifying with the Japanese guy the most, that aspiration to be a hero.  The code of conduct, and everything being a hero is trully about he embodies.

Nikki’s character I find to be intriguing, is the multiple personality like the hulk.  I mean she wakes up to one of the guys being torn in half.  I hope they let us watch the video tonight.

Unfortunately I think either the Nurse has no powers or the brothers access flight together.  But his conversation with his mom about knowing things had happened may mean he is a precog, and he just misinterpreted his brother being there to save him and he himself flying.  Or like the Canadian Twins in Alpha Flight, they access powers simultaneously.

The cheer leader could be extremely interesting.  Does her father work for the federal gov’t or corporation that knows about, or caused patient zero.  if it’s evil, this could be our Lex Luthor in the series, maybe his boss.  But why adopt a girl, who is going to have super powers, why didn’t they just keep her in a lab.

Well tonight we get introduced to more characters, and I hope the pattern of Patient Zero starts making more sense, connect the dots, with some string for us, at least I hope so.

Well those are my raw thoughts about the show, can’t wait till tonight and see where they go with this show.