"Winter Soldier" is a different movie for its first couple acts. "Ant-Man" is a different movie for its first act, and so on. By the end they all turn into the same plot.

I'm always curious about those immediately pre-Crisis comics, whatever DC had lined up against the kung-fu/blaxploitation/Spider-Man-complains-about-too-many-girlfriends era of Marvel. I find those post-New Gods DC books impenetrable except for the stand-alone Batman issues I read here and there; hell, I had to skim Cr…

The point of that part is kind of the same as the one you're getting at: the idea of Superman and Batman at odds for a moment could be fun, but the idea of Superman fighting Batman is kind of boring, so Byrne just side-stepped the whole deal and didn't dwell on it.

I'd call it a return to pulp, with more in common with adult pulp novels than the two-fisted kiddie pulp that Batman ripped off in the first place. Note I don't say that made it any better. Some of the art was nice, some of the stories were nice, and that's it.

Miller's work only matters nowadays because of its past influence, and look at the guy now vs. Moore & Gibbons. Hollywood thinks he's a director. I don't get Hollywood.

Sure, but it was also a brand name choice that didn't suggest 1) a flow of electrical charge or 2) that all of the company's comic books are about detectives.

Sure, but it was also a brand name choice that didn't suggest 1) a flow of electrical charge or 2) that all of the company's comic books are about detectives.

People don't like Zack Snyder because his movies are bad. They make money, but they still under-perform as tentpoles, probably because word-of-mouth on them tends to be abysmal.

1) Lex Luthor
2) Brainiac, who is a completely different thing every time because no one cares about Brainiac
3) The Great Gazoo but with a name nobody can pronounce or market
4) Toy-or-joke-themed guy…? (might be a pedophile)
5) Big weird space god signifying Marvel firing the guy who invented most of their characters…

True… and still, not nearly as awkward as trying to make Fawcett's Captain Marvel age up with us. Yowza. I can't believe they're trying to make that movie. A kid who says a magic word and skips back and forth over the puberty line… please, no. Let's just remember back when it was a kids' fantasy.

It's one of Miller's worst books, visually, in my opinion. He's best at drawing impossible kung-fu maneuvers with heavy, simple inking to complement it; Dark Knight Returns has him scratch-cartooning at his most gonzo level and the inking only emphasizes that. It isn't pretty.

Well, superhero comics, anyway. Then there's the other kind, which are depressing and sell poorly. Even more poorly, I mean. And only adults buy either kind, really, which is even sadder.

I won't dispute "random alien starfish" but that's the thing that got the Justice League together in their first story ever. Pretty wacko there too.

That is exactly what Bendis's writing is, and why it got big, because he can mimic Joss Whedon (no master of realistic dialogue himself) but do it at an astounding rate of pages per day. And they're both considered "more realistic". Than what, I don't know, "Garfield", I guess.

They always get a lot of mileage out of people dodging heat vision, which doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, doesn't he just have to glance to the side? But then again, most comics with Superman probably shouldn't make sense on that level. It would wreck the possibilities for the thing.

Most of the comic books considered "great" are considerably dumber than most of the books considered "great". That's the dividing line for me, and clearly, I read comic books. Dark Knight Returns is still treated like the Great Gatsby of the medium, and while I don't enjoy The Great Gatsby much, it's a hell of a lot…

Settle down, partner, it's not a race.

Great article - sums up a lot of why superhero comic book fans aren't overly excited about seeing Dark Knight Returns acted out at the cinema, and does so with efficiency and charm I couldn't match on my best day of complaining about it.

On Lois & Clark: I'm sad they showed the goofy "how strong I am" clip, when it's followed immediately in that scene by a kind-of-neat "how fast I am" demo where Superman puts down the sword, picks up a gun, fires a bullet at Luthor, then zips in front of him to catch it. It's not a bad little scene, as Superman stomps…

He said something at a convention about how he didn't like the darkening of comics characters for shock value and found it lazy and stupid, overall a statement I agree with, but he was a little shockingly careless in suggesting that reinventing Batwoman as a lesbian fell into that category when the reason that was…