Revamp : the late 80s Superman

So, those of us that care (and some that don't) know that in September DC is relaunching their universe.
Books by new creative teams (mostly) and a general desire to freshen things up.
Clearly it's too early to tell if it'll be any good. Whether we have Heroes Reborn (dire) or Ultimates (somewhat better but not flawless).
Though it's made me think back to the DC of the late 80s. In the UK, London Editions reprinted recent DC stories, often with articles explaining characters and storylines. It was through these that I first learnt of Crisis On Infinite Earths. Crisis (just in case you didn't know) was an epic story arc that allowed DC to tweak characters and their history in an effort to make the comic universe more accessible.
And few were more tweaked about with than Superman.
You know what? It excited me to know that I was reading about a fairly new Superman. (I did find myself looking down the nose at some pre-Crisis material as, for Supes, most of that stuff now hadn't happened.)
DC had entrusted John Byrne with reinventing the Man of Steel. And his version was very much of its time. Luthor was a corporate crook with underworld connections as opposed to a mad scientist. The sillier trappings like the Fortress of Solitude and Krypto the superdog were gone. And Supes was not all powerful. Also stripped back was a lot of the Kryptonianess. Supergirl no longer existed. Clark was on his own. And all the various different non-green colours of Kryptonite (and their different effects) were gone too.
Probably one of the strongest ideas was the doing away with Clark's time as Superboy (seriously, any crook with a brain would compare Smallville phonebooks of the Superboy era with those from Metropolis - yeah, it would take a while then but the rewards would pay dividends.)
Another strong idea was having Superman and Batman not get on. The grudging respect they showed made more sense given their vastly different attitudes and approaches.
But possibly the most crucial change was the overall grounding of Clark in his humanity. Ma and Pa Kent were now still alive, allowing us to see his human side. (Some of my favourite scenes were Clark hanging out back home.) Yes, this was a powerful being but he was relatable. See the issue of Man Of Steel when Clark comes home after his first heroic feat, saving a space-plane. He is overcome by the public reaction. "They all wanted a piece of me, Ma".
Byrne and fellow writer Marv Wolfman had modelled a fair bit on the Christopher Reeves films, to be sure. Though the paring back paid dividends. We were allowed to discover a hero who whilst morally strong could fail. And that could make for interesting reading.
The first issue of anything that I definitely remember having is Superman 9. It features the Joker attacking Metropolis. The Joker-smiles on his gassed victims scared my 8 year-old self but what really terrified me was the Joker's response when ultimately asked why he'd attacked another city. "Why ever not?"
That isn't the best part of that issue. The best part is a back-up story featuring Luthor appearing in a diner 900 miles from Metropolis. This is small-scale evil. He asks his waitress if she wants to give up her life, her husband and come with him for a month. She has ten minutes to decide.
There's no super-heroics at all. Just a moral dilemma and a great character-piece.
It's the characterisation that makes this era.
At the same time, over in Adventures of Superman, Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway created two of the more interesting recent additions to the supporting cast. Cat Grant (a bolshy single mother colleague of Clark's, who had designs on him) and Jose Delgado. Yeah, Jose's got a bit of a stereotypical name but his introductory storyline was great. Gang Wars focussed on turf wars between gangs and Superman's realisation that this was a problem that couldn't be punched into submission. Jose eventually becomes Gangbuster in an effort to help police his neighbourhood. Which led to another issue that I adored, Adventures of Superman 437. There are two narrators, on facing pages. Lois Lane and Luthor. Lois is discussing her date with Jose and how it is interrupted by a hired thug called Combattor. Luthor (who has funded said thug) tells his dinner-date of a hypothetical fight between Combattor and Superman and how neither are really the good guys. It's narratively daring (for a comic) and I remember being shocked that Combattor crippled Jose. It also made me hate Luthor even more.
To conclude, yes, this brave new world of 1986 had a few mis-steps in its first 2-3 years but it entertained the hell out of my kiddy self. And took risks when doing it.

Doctor Who and another split season

Another week, another press release from the Dr Who office.
This time, as reported by the Guardian, the show next year will start in the autumn.
I kinda predicted this. There's a school of thought that the programme works best in the long winter nights. (My personal feeling is that the weather outside's completely irrelevant - I fell love with the show whilst having a break from playing about in 36 degree heat).
However what the BBC seems to be wanting to do is not air all of next season's episodes in 2012. And instead stagger it around Christmas.
Some folks think this helps make the books balance a little easier (the show ain't cheap after all). The BBC denies this and instead cite narrative reasons.
But whatever the cause, I wonder if this action'll hurt sales abroad. Won't it be more helpful for schedulers to have whole seasons rather than piecemeal ones? (Hence why most UK broadcasters, Sky excepted, wait for an American import to complete its season rather than showing it close to transmission in case they have to have breaks for Labor Day, Christmas etc.)
I guess we'll see what the UK ratings are like this autumn.....

Graham Linehan v the Today programme

Graham Linehan's media profile has been steadily increasing recently.
I was surprised but delighted to see him on BBC 1's Have I Got News For You.
This week just gone, the Father Ted and IT Crowd creator has complained about his treatment by Radio 4's Today programme.
He believed that they wanted him to discuss the difficulties of transferring Ealing comedy film classic The Ladykillers to stage. (And also allow him to plug said West End production).
Instead it became what he feels to have been an ambush. Here's his version of events and here's the audio.
He has claimed it happens all too often on Today.
Sure for the politicians, bankers and other bogeymen, yes.
Though I haven't heard it happen too often to civilians.
Listening to the debate, yes, Justin Webb, the presenter is a tiny bit confrontational. And he does get it back on track once Linehan expresses his displeasure.
And Michael Billington (the Guardian critic) does have a point that there's an awful lot of West End shows based on movies. (Also, it's an interesting theory that The Ladykillers' gang of crooks are an analogy for the Labour post-war government)

As for the political debates on Today, well they sometimes talk over each other. But Today hasn't reached the aggressive heights of news parody The Day Today
Nor is the show a home to the rigid partisan shouting matches of say Crossfire, the show memorably demolished by Jon Stewart whilst on it.  Within a few months, Crossfire was dead (though last time I checked in on American news TV, Crossfire's spirit could still be felt).
But, this. Well what happened to Linehan must have been awkward and upsetting but it ain't a Crossfire moment.
Maybe Michael Billington just needed to go lighter on Linehan and his play. Maybe it was just that.
But I don't think this should change Today.

DC's revamp and the Oracle question

So DC are relaunching their universe.
This was always going to bring in some changes.
Most probably Clark Kent becoming unmarried (kinda like Spidey but without the whole deal with the devil).
Bruce Wayne being the sole Batman wasn't a surprise. Sad but not a surprise.
Though I was stunned by Oracle-gate.
In the 80s Barbara Gordon was shot by the Joker, crippling her. Whilst this meant she couldn't be Batgirl anymore, it wasn't the end of her as a character. Instead she became a tactician, showing that wheelchair bound characters can be just as heroic. And also be romantic.

And far from a saint. As Oracle, Babs became a great character.
Yes, deaths get undone but there was no way Babs would suddenly get better. That would be too tacky.


Erm, well.
We've got a new Batgirl series starting in September, starring a Babs able to swing over rooftops and all that jazz.
At least it's being written by Gail Simone who did such a good job writing Oracle in Birds of Prey. And maybe it will be good.

Change will always upset some and geeks can be conservative with a small c. And change can be beneficial.

But this particular change doesn't seem the smartest of moves by DC, especially when they have publicly stated that they are trying to make their universe more diverse.

Doctor Who : A Good Man Goes To War

This is an exceptional season finale.
Last year's didn't stick the landing but, yeah, this delivers.
And going from some friends, it can be enjoyed without having seen much of this season.

And now we delve into

spoilers

Looking back it was obvious that River would be Rory and Amy's daughter.
I had kinda suspected for a while.
But the reveal was still enjoyable. (Sure, some people twigged as soon as we learnt the baby was called Melody. But I was too caught up to notice.)

Yeah, there wasn't much to the villains as yet. Evil Christian fanatics in the future has been done before (even in Doctor Who - Mark Gatiss's St. Anthony's Fire ).
And there wasn't anything distinguishing about this mob.
However the temporary supporting cast more than made up for it. I loved the idea of the Doctor calling in his debts. And the Silurian adventuress and her housekeeper girlfriend were wonderful. Even if they don't reappear on the show, they'll be in the spin-off books and audios. A lot.
Also this was the best use of the Sontarans since that mid 90s Doctor Who Magazine story Pureblood (it had an ideologically flamed war between cloned Sontarans and pure ones - very awesome).

And "Let's kill Hitler" is the best episode title ever. I assume it'll be about time loops rather than actual Nazis but, hey, that title had me in hysterics.

Yes, some of the red herrings regarding Melody's parentage and River's origins didn't make an awful lot of sense.
But this episode had to put a cap on this half of the season, answer mysteries and whet the appetite for the autumn, as well as entertain.
And it did all of that.

Kaiser Chiefs - The future is web-driven

So you are an indie band that has slipped off the radar.
Suppose you think that you need to reach beyond the 6music daytime crowd.
Do you go into the jungle? Appear on the lottery?
Or do something innovative.
Now I am not saying Ricky Wilson and the boys were consciously thinking of this but Kaiser Chiefs have managed to pull off a masterstroke.
They have made their new album, the awesomely titled The Future Is Medieval, completely customisable online. You can choose ten out of twenty tracks, the running order and the artwork.
It is also a darker sounding album than I expected (but I only really paid attention to the first two albums)
The website let's you listen to sizeable samples of each track and the site is quite lively as you would expect from them.
So go and have a mosey....
It'll probably be quite a commonplace practice before long but I don't think it'll often be done with as much panache.
And it's a very fitting step for a band that has been so much about fun and youth...

Flashpoint : DC's bold gamble

DC comics is currently going through one of its universe shaking storylines as is its wont.
To be honest, I was only paying a little bit of attention as it is an alternative universe story and those are a hard sell for me as I find it hard to care if the giant reset button is going to be pushed.
Which is slightly ironic given one part of DC's announcement yesterday.
They are apparently relaunching all their titles with an issue one. (I say apparently as I doubt they'll reset the numbering on Detective or Action Comics which have run uninterrupted since the 30s - Action is 8 years off an issue 1000)
This is said to boost sales. It certainly acts as a jump-on point to buyers in the store.
They are also reworking some if not all of the characters. Clearing out some of the clutter will help. It worked a treat for Wonder Woman and Superman in the 80s who were controversially but brilliantly reinvented. It hasn't been done on this sort of scale before though.
And you have to be so careful with this. Witness the varied attempts to relaunch Hawkman in the 80s/90s with vastly different interpretations, turning the concept into a bit of a mess. Also if you lose some developments, in a bid to simplify the saga, it reinforces the notion that DC resets all too often back to the 1970s. It removes any sense of growth and also puts off those who grew up with the next-generation heroes. For me, The Flash is Wally West, who was the 80s/90s incarnation, rather than Barry Allen who was, ahem, dead but recently revived (Barry always seemed to be a more interesting character dead than alive and I've yet to change my opinion on that).
And it'll be an absolute shame if Dick Grayson is stripped of his joint-Batman-hood. (That depends on the whim of current Bat-writer Grant Morrison).

Another announcement of note was the creators, or specifically what has been announced for Superman. That Morrison man again.
Why so thrilled? Morrison wrote All Star Superman, an out-of-continuity tale of Kal-El that was stunning in both spectacle and emotional power. You must go sample it on Comixology now.
I am waiting to see where they put Paul Cornell though... And Chris Roberson.
The biggest thing though is that new issues will be available to buy online on the same day they reach the store. This is a bold move. Great for consumers but damaging for retainers. Especially British ones given that digital is cheaper than paying for printed copies to be shipping over. It was only this year that UK retailers got issues on the same day as the states. DC govern and DC gaiety away.
Yes the convenience could increase sales.
But, crucially, the new issues need to be good and genuinely feel fresh.
Here's hoping....