Alan Kistler, Comic Book Historian: August 2007 Archives

Just some fun personal news I thought I'd share.

So LevaFilmWorks (who've done wonderful documentaries and that really hilarious mockumentary "R2-D2: BENEATH THE DOME") is doing a documentary on certain DC Comics characters and they want me to be in it as a comic book historian.

Good times! Let's hope I sound like I know what I'm talking about and don't come off as just a huge trivia freak. :-)

And seriously, thank you to all the Monitor Duty bloggers and readers. Because of you, this site is here and this site is talked about and if that were not the case, these people would never have heard of me. So thank you all.

Yeah. Imagine a remake of THE WIZARD OF OZ with Dorothy as an ass-kicking, hard-edged heroine.

Oh, dear lord.

The full story is HERE.

This is continued from The Joker In Media!

A good villain is someone who scares us. A great villain is someone who scares us and is complicated enough that we and the hero he fights can argue and debate about his nature and his motivations. For instance, many DC heroes who have met the Joker figure “okay, he’s just nuts” and leave it at that. Batman does not allow himself the luxury of such a snap judgment. And by showing that he takes the Joker that seriously, he lets us readers know we should too.

“I’m convinced that, while everything about the Joker – his murderous instincts, his maniacal laughter, his maddening behavior – points to his being insane, he is the farthest thing from it. The Joker’s greatest prank has been to pull the wool over society’s eyes all these years, masquerading as a madman so as to be thrown into an asylum and treated with kid gloves when apprehended, to be ‘rehabilitated’ rather than punished in a penitentiary. It’s a strategy worthy of a high-stakes player, so it’s apt that he’d be named for a playing card.”

- The Batman's files,
from JUSTICE #12 - By Alex Ross and Jim Krueger

An interesting point and one that would come up in the later story “JOKER: The Devil’s Advocate.” So … let’s continue, shall we?

The country of Estonia, which is south of Finland and borders Russia and Latvia, suffered a heavy onslaught via rogue hackers. It had a lot of significance in that it brought up several issues to light concerning a country's security and what the proper protocol was in dealing with such a situation.

The full story looking back on this event is on WIRED.

We've seen him in comics and we talked about Cesar Romero, the first man to portray the Joker in live-action media. But what about the other times the Joker has showed up before a non-comic reading audience? What about the cartoons and the silver screen?

This is a companion piece to Kistler's Profile On: The Joker!

Ever wonder about those projects that could've been but were never filmed?

Don't be stupid, of course you do.

Follow this link then to a list of awesome ideas that were never actually made.

It's been green-lit. According to VARIETY, they are definitely doing a live action VOLTRON movie for the big screen from NEW REGENCY (I guess they realized a movie that resembles TRANSFORMERS is a better bet than their upcoming movie of Alvin and the Chipmunks).

The full story can be found HERE.

He is the Clown Prince of Killers. The Ace of Knaves. The Harlequin of Hate. Grinning death.

It's been said by many writers that your hero is only as impressive as the villain he fights. A memorable rogues gallery has certainly helped Batman become one of the most widely recognized characters in modern fiction. And the man who stands out in his collection of enemies, the one who audiences love to see time and time again, is a man whose white-skin, ruby lips and green hair aren't accomplished with make-up. A nameless criminal known only as the Joker.

But how did this villain, who is often cited as possibly the most popular comic book villain in pop culture, begin his career? How has he changed over the years and what are his greatest victories, those crimes that the Batman was UNABLE to stop?

Let's find out. Here is the HISTORY OF THE JOKER!

Some of you may know I'm a freelance video editor.

I was bored last week in between doing two new profiles that are coming up soon and so decided to spend the next few hours editing together a Transformers music video using footage from the new movie and the cartoon series. The music is the opening theme from the animated movie.

Enjoy. Feel free to comment.

Based on Darwyn Cooke's wonderful story in which the he explores the JLA if they're adventures occurred closer to "real time" and explores how the 50s and 60s America would have TRULY reacted to people with powers. Here is the trailer for the upcoming NEW FRONTIER DVD.

And click on this link for a preview to the upcoming DEATH OF SUPERMAN DVD.

And check the trailer for the newSPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN CARTOON, coming soon to Kids WB!