Comics in Crisis Yard Sale!

I've never tried anything like this on this blog before, but as I was listing tons of figures on Amazon.com I stopped and thought it would be cool to give my readers the first shot at anything they wanted.

I have a lot of Eaglemoss Classic Figurines (both Marvel and DC) for sale, and they're going to go waaaaay below the list price you can get them for online. If you're familiar with these, you know they are top quality lead sculpts about four or five inches high that are painted in exquisite detail and include a booklet with information about the history of that character. These normally list for $14-$18 a piece, but I need to make some room so I'm letting them go to my readers for $10+$1 for shipping. These are unopened and are mostly duplicates from my collection.

Here's what you've got to choose from:

Doc Samson

Taskmaster

Madrox the Multiple Man (the bag is torn but this hasn't been opened or displayed)

Alan Scott Green Lantern

Union Jack

Banshee

Impossible Man

Blue Beetle 

Deadshot

Deathstroke

Barry Allen Flash

Sentry

Green Arrow
Batgirl
Starfire
Lex Luthor
Catwoman
Shocker
Ra's Al Ghul
Martian Manhunter
Supergirl
Bizarro

Doomsday (Super Special oversized, which will cost you $17 with shipping because of the size and weight of this one)
Gorilla Grodd (Super Special oversized, same price as above)

As an added bonus, I am tossing in a few comic books with each figure sold. Which books? Who cares--they're free! They'll be mainstream DC and Marvel comics relatively recent, so you aren't going to find any lost treasure, but you'll probably find something you haven't read before.

This is a first-come first-served basis sale, so email me at comicsincrisis(at)yahoo.com if see something you want. I can send you an invoice through PayPal if you'd like, or I can hold it until your payment of cash or money order arrives.

This listing is good from today until April 11, 2010, after which anything I have left will be listed on Amazon.com. This is a great way for your to begin a collection or add to one you already have. You can do an online search for any of those listed figures and you're going to see they're gorgeous.

I have a ton of figures I'm selling as well, so if this goes well I might just come back with a discounted list of other DC and Marvel showcase figures I have.

The Crestwood House . . . of Horrors!

Because of my personality trait of obsessive introspection, I can cite the many things that have contributed to my state of perpetual geekery / arrested maturity / dubious connection to reality over the years. Star Wars was my gateway drug to all things science fiction and fantasy, while Spider-Man (courtesy of The Electric Company TV show and its companion magazine of the same title) got me started on superheroes and all things comic book-ish. On the other hand, my interest in horror is a bit more convoluted in its history and took much longer to blossom. What I can say, though, is that my introduction to classic horror cinema was provided not by the movie theater itself, but instead by a publishing company called Crestwood House.

Some background information: This happened in the early 1980s, when there were no video rental stores and VCRs--let alone DVD players--were not common household appliances. My family didn't have cable and what syndicated TV stations (remember those?) we could get outside of the major networks were rarely of watchable quality. It was against this backdrop that my elementary school started getting these strange, fun "Monster Series" of books from Crestwood House. Once my buddies and I found the first set of these books at the library, we couldn't get enough of them. Between 1980 and 1982, we gobbled up each book we could find and looked forward to each new book as if it were the next set of new Kenner Star Wars action figures. For kids our age, that was a big deal. Read on . . .

Each Crestwood House Monster Series book was devoted to a classic movie monster, with plot descriptions and movie stills printed on black and white pages, while the books' covers featured a Halloween-esque orange and black color scheme. When I did some searching around the Web for some additional information about the Crestwood House Monster Series books, I found out that I wasn't alone in my experience with them. Several blogs have had their own retrospectives about the books, including pictures of the books themselves which I have included in this post. Go to the following links to see the interior of the following Crestwood House Monster Series books:

• For the Creature from the Black Lagoon, go to the Blog of the Creature
• For Frankenstein, go to the Branded in the 80s blog.
• For Mad Scientists, go to Jon's Random Acts of Geekery blog.

A few points of interest:

* What was remarkable about the Crestwood House Monster Series books was that they weren't just books about classic movie monsters; they were books about classic movie monster franchises. Because the first few books were devoted to classic Universal Studio monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, etc.), the books featured plot summaries of the movies in which each of the monsters first appeared, provided descriptions of many of the sequels, spin-offs, sequels-in-name-only and adaptations that featured the monsters, and even listed some behind-the-scenes trivia.

This may not sound like much, since franchises dominate the horror/sci-fi landscape today, but it was quite a find for me in my childhood. At that time, most of the to-be "blockbuster" summer franchises such as Star Wars and Jaws were in their relative infancy, with only one sequel each, and the multi-sequel slasher sagas commonly associated with the 80s hadn't really started yet. Furthermore, the multi-movie series that was the Planet of the Apes franchise, probably the biggest franchise that was the closest to me and my friends chronologically, was largely inaccessible to us at the time since we couldn't just go and rent or buy the films on video cassette. Thus, you could say that the Crestwood House books were primers for up-and-coming horror geeks who would crave monster movies, merchandise, and production trivia. You know, folks like me.

* The publishing run of the Crestwood House Monster Series books, which started in 1978, roughly coincides with Remco's release of action figures, accessories, and play sets based on the Universal Studio Monsters. You can read more about these toys at ToyMania.com and The Gallery of Monster Toys site. Whether Crestwood House and Remco ever deliberately attempted to cross-market the books with the toys (or vice-versa) I cannot say.

* Finally, when I used Amazon's search engine to do some research on Crestwood House, some monster books of a different sort also appeared on the search results list. In addition to books about movie monsters, Crestwood House published another series around the same time about monsters of legend in their Search for the Unknown series. (Not to be confused with Leonard Nimoy's In Search Of TV series, which was similar in both name and subject matter.) As far as I can tell, there were only six books in this series, and the covered the following subjects: Ancient Astronauts, The Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, Monster Tales of Native Americans, and UFOs. Two of the authors who worked on Crestwood House's movie monster books, Ian Thorne and Howard Schroeder, also wrote the Search for the Unknown books. I can only wonder how Thorne and Schroeder felt about juggling movie monsters with legendary "real life" monsters.

If I'm remembering correctly (although I can't be sure because no pictures are available for the books in this series), our school library had the Search for the Unknown books too but they weren't nearly as popular as the movie monster books. Nevertheless, they had some pretty impressive full-color covers, which featured painted depictions of the book's subject matter. For example, the Bermuda Triangle book featured an F-14 jet fighter flying into a dark, empty hole in the sky, a hole created by the clouds literally opening up into a circular pattern of flat panels. The Loch Ness Monster book cover was split between the areas above and below the loch's surface and it featured not just one but two monsters, each depicted in ways that were similar to two famous (albeit hoaxed) photographs of the monster--the grainy, black and white 1934 photo and one of the underwater pictures from 1975. The first monster had a snake-like head peering above the waters of the loch and a huge plesiosaur-like body below the surface, while the shadow of the completely submerged second monster could be seen peering out of the murky loch water behind the first monster.

Sadly, Crestwood House's brief run of books devoted to monster movie franchises came to an end. As the book series went on, it ran out of multi-sequel monsters such as The Invisible Man and Godzilla and shifted to books about sequel-less, single-movie creature features such as It Came From Outer Space and The Deadly Mantis. Unlike the first few books, the later books were little more than summaries of the movies, with no mention of any production details or similar films. Oddly, Crestwood House did a book about The Blob, but it only mentioned the first film and not the 1972 sequel, Beware! The Blob; however, the book nevertheless used a still from the sequel as its cover(!).

My school stopped getting the books in 1982, but I learned from the other blogs that Crestwood House did continue its movie monster book series with a different color scheme and an ongoing focus on individual horror films, such as Tarantula and The Mole People. To see pictures of the later books, go to the Scotty ART site and the Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Movie Books page on Facebook (Facebook access required).

With the ready availability of monster movies both on DVD and the Internet, I honestly cannot say how future horror fans will catch the monster movie bug. I also don't know if other publishing companies took up the movie monster kids book mantle after Crestwood House ended their Monster Series. Regardless, I still cherish my memories of the books, if for no other reason than that I directly benefited from a publisher who believed that Hollywood's glorification of reanimated corpses, blood-sucking fiends, homicidal human/animal hybrids, atomic age freaks, and sanity-challenged scientists with perverse moral agendas made ideal reading for the pre-teen set. I am so blessed!

Free to be in 3D

I've been a fan of 3D media for as long as I can remember. From the old View Master toys to books and magazines that came with cardboard red and blue glasses so that the anaglyph pictures inside would pop off the page, I always thought that the use of illusory three dimensions to enhance entertainment media was a fascinating, under-utilized idea. I've felt this was for almost three decades, come to think of it. Boy, am I old . . . .

Anyway, with the blockbuster success of Avatar and the impressive sales of Panasonic's S3DHD TVs, the first line of high-definition, flat-screen TVs, it appears that the idea of 3D has caught on--at least in the circles of movie production. Even Warner Bros. has gone so far to recently announce that all of their upcoming tentpole films will be in 3D.

With this sudden growth of the 3D movie market, there has been a fair amount of backlash from both critics and fans alike. For example, I usually enjoy reading Roger Ebert's movie reviews (even if I disagree with his overall evaluation of particular movies) but I've noticed over the last few years that if Ebert was reviewing a film that was released in 3D, it was a safe bet that the review would include at least one anti-3D rant. Likewise, just about every message board I've seen concerning the release of a 3D movie and/or Hollywood's increasing receptivity of 3D technology has resulted in countless posts about how 3D causes headaches, how movie makers are going to become over-reliant on 3D to the point where all of their films will be crap, how the gimmick of 3D movies should have died in the 1950s, etc.

So, being the 3D freak geek (or 3D geek freak?) that I am, I just thought I'd throw in my two cents. Yes, I believe that the era of 3D entertainment is here to stay, and it has been for some time. However, I don't think that it was Avatar or even the usage of higher-quality 3D technology such as RealD that made it happen. I think all of the credit should go to computers. Read on . . .  





Let me be more specific: I think that 3D video games, followed by 3D computer animation such as the Pixar movies, were what made 3D entertainment the cash cow it is today. My initial video game experiences in the early 1980s were with games that were almost always two dimensional in nature: Games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug and Defender in the arcades and games for the home game consoles were always flat. When 3D video games arrived on the scene, from 3D beat-em-ups such as Virtual Fighter to 3D first-person shooters such as Doom, the landscape had changed. The added layers of depth added new possibilities of game play and narrative devices within the games; thus, while 3D may be regarded by many as nothing more than a gimmick for movies, 3D has become the irreplaceable ingredient in video games. Sure, there are still many popular 2D video games out there, but the video game industry wouldn't be where it is today without 3D.

Then, the era of 3D computer animated movies began with Pixar and it imitators. One of the things that made these films really impressive is that unlike their live-action counterparts, there were no limitations on where the "camera" could be placed within a scene and thus no limitations on what kind of shots and perspectives could be seen in such films. When shooting live actors in physical sets, considerations always have to be made as to where the cameras, audio equipment, and lighting will be placed in order to get the right shots. If you place the lighting at the wrong angle or a boom microphone is visible, a shot can be ruined. No such limitations exist in 3D computer animation. Add in the feature of 3D film projection, and the unique visual style of 3D computer animated films becomes even more impressive. Take the opening chase sequence of the 3D version of Bolt--I've never seen a chase sequence like that, and I doubt it could be done the same way in a live action 3D film simply because it would be that much more difficult (if not impossible) to get a sequence of similar shots. I guess you can say that there is no better medium to capitalize on the illusion of depth (3D film projection) than one that already relies on the illusion of depth (3D computer animation).



I can't speak for others, but the difference between live-action 3D movies and computer animated 3D movies couldn't be more obvious. I enjoyed watching the remakes of My Bloody Valentine and Journey to the Center of the Earth, but the 3D effects in those films felt quite flat in comparison to their digital counterparts. Meet the Robinsons, Monster House, Monsters vs. Aliens, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs . . . all of them were a joy to watch in 3D, with their unique visual styles taking full advantage of the illusion of depth without having to constantly poke you in the eye with arrows, spikes, needles, and so on. It's no wonder that Avatar made the money it did in 3D, because it relied so heavily on computer animation as part of its narrative; thus, I expect a similar windfall for the 3D Tron Legacy for the same reasons. Then again, for all of the talk I've heard over the years about how George Lucas is going to re-release all six of his Star Wars movies in 3D, I think he'd be better off rendering the entire computer animated Clone Wars TV series in 3D--the overall effect would be more impressive and it would probably cost less to do so.

So to some degree, the critics are right--3D shouldn't be seen as the new technological application that will revolutionize movies. However, what makes 3D movies relevant and profitable now is not the idea of illusory three dimension but that the technology for making movies--due almost entirely to computers--has finally caught up to the concept of 3D entertainment. It's about time.

Comics Versus the Movies - Villains Edition Part 2

Last year I looked at how villains had fared in the movies compared to their relatively cool looks in the comics. It's time to update that list with several more who may or may not have been an improvement. Many thanks to Dorian, the reader who suggested many of these.

Two-Face

In the comic books, he's been portrayed over the years as a psycho, a hero, and a tragic figure. He's gone from silly to serious, and there were some great moments in his character's history. In the movies, it's been a toss-up as well. In Batman Forever, Tommy Lee Jones portrayed the character as a weird variation of the Joker. He had this weird purple face that was hard to take seriously, but in all honesty it was the least of the worries for the franchise at that point.

Aaron Eckhart turned around and made the character a tragic hero in The Dark Knight. While having the most gruesome face of all time, he showed us Harvey Dent before Two-Face, which made us sympathize with the character and hope for a good outcome. It didn't happen, but that just added to the gravity of the whole situation. Batman had to become a fugitive to protect Dent's pre-crazy reputation, and while we may never see a sequel to find out the repercussions of that decision, it was a strong move.

Kingpin

In the comics he is one huge, bald-headed white guy. In the Daredevil movie, he was one huge, bald-headed black guy. In the comic books it was hard to imagine him being fast enough to be a serious threat (especially if you've ever had to walk behind a fat guy in the mall). In the movie, we saw enough muscle in there to see what he was capable of.

The Daredevil movie wasn't that great, and I'm honestly not out there pushing for a sequel (a reboot, yes) but I wasn't really impressed with either villain in that film...or even the hero for that matter. Could have been worse though, I suppose.

Iron Monger

This character was radically different in many ways. In the Iron Man movie, he was old and worked for Tony Stark. In the comics he wasn't that old and had his own rival company taking on Stark Industries. Still, you have to admit the final armor in the movie was a nice challenge for Iron Man. He was one big dude.

The Riddler

The comic book version of this villain has been a pest, a private eye, and now a psycho again. He's a complex villain who may make some deep statements but always keeps himself presentable.

Jim Carrey, on the other hand, took the guy up about 18 notches and turned him into a really funny villain you had trouble seeing as a serious threat. He made the TV version of Riddler seem calm! To Jim's credit, however, he was the first Batman villain to actually make it through one of his movies alive. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) we'll never see him in a sequel. I still think Michael Emerson would make a great Riddler for the next Batman movie.

Ra's Al Ghul

This one is hard to score. The comic book version is a tough guy with a lot of issues. He has a daughter madly in love with Batman (and even had his son). The movie version was the guy from "Taken", which remains one of my favorite movies of all time.

While I wasn't overly impressed with Liam's overall take of the character, it did make for a rather nice plot twist in the "Batman Begins" movie. I liked how he was Bruce's mentor before becoming his enemy.

Scarecrow

 This one was actually pretty good. Despite having a lot of leeway in this, they stayed fairly close to the character. The costume was exact, but they were close enough to see where it was coming from. Cillian Murphy did a good job of having that "trust me" look that turned into a "HA! GOTCHA!" moment later.

I wish he'd gotten more of the costume besides just the hood though. It sort of made him look like he'd done his costume shopping at the Thrift Store.

Mystique

Lots to complain about here and lots to love. On the one hand, they took this rather cool character from the comics and turned her into this weird freak for the movie. I can understand the need to make her seem more motivated to hate people, but it could have been done differently.

On the other hand, there was no need for her to have to constantly change clothes when she changed identities in the movie. That was an interesting touch, though it could have been overlooked or explained with a costume, I guess.

Lady Deathstrike

Another one that kept the essence of the character while changing the overall look (and origin), this one made for a pretty cool fight in the second X-Men movie. While the outcome was never in doubt, you have to admit it was kind of touch and go there for a while.

Personally, this is one time I'm glad they didn't go with the comic book costume. To me, it would have been a bad choice and almost impossible to pull off. It would have made the character seem far too comic book and not threatening. The way she was set up, the Wolverine fight in the end was two sleek adamantium warriors going at it.

Doomsday (Smallville)

While this isn't a movie character, I wanted to give him a mention. When we heard that Doomsday was coming to "Smallville", we knew it was going to be a hard thing for them to do. For one, we knew he wouldn't kill Clark like he did in the comic books, so the overall threat was gone. Second, we knew Lex was gone, so his origin would be in question. 

As far as appearance goes, they did their best to stay faithful to the comic character while still making it work for the series. I wasn't that impressed with the human turning into Doomsday rather than him being created as a monster from scratch, but in the end it made for a pretty cool episode.

Touched by a Dark Angel

Score another one for DVD box sets: I just finished watching the entire Dark Angel series. When it originally aired, I dismissed Dark Angel as nothing more than a Buffy The Vampire Slayer clone; however, at the behest of the Mrs., I started watching the series and quickly learned that my original opinion of the show was very, very wrong.

Dark Angel has all the things that a great sci-fi TV show should have: a solid cast, decent production values, good scripts, and a detailed, consistent back story (or "mythology" for all you Joseph Campbell fans) that ties it all together. The first season was great and the second season upped the ante considerably, making for many tense, compelling story arcs. Indeed, the overarching plot of the second season--the conflict between fugitive genetically-engineered super-soldiers and the members of a secretive, selective breeding cult that's thousands of years old--made for some interesting, freaky viewing. Dark Angel also has the distinction of being the only show that I know of that is regularly referred to as "post-apocalyptic" and yet it has nothing to do with a global nuclear war (or a worldwide plague, or the Book of Revelation, or climate change, or alien invasion, or zombies), a quirk that the show's writers explored in a wide variety of intriguing ways. Unfortunately, all Dark Angel lacked was good ratings, which (like many sci-fi shows both before and after it) led to its cancellation after the second season, long before it could fully explore many of the ideas it presented.

Another thing to note (being the media production trivia geek that I am) is how many of the cast and crew of Dark Angel either came from or went on to other hit TV series; it's a veritable who's-who of hit TV trivia. Sure, Fox frequently dropped the name of James "King of the World" Cameron, Dark Angel's co-creator and co-producer, as a way to promote interest in the show; Cameron also directed the last episode of the series. (Even though Cameron is largely thought of as a filmmaker, particularly of big-budget, special-effects-heavy movies such as Titanic and Avatar, I really think that Dark Angel ranks as one of his best works.) Dark Angel also launched the career of then-unknown Jessica Alba. But take a look at Dark Angel's other alumni: Rene Echevarria, Ira Steven Behr, and Nana Visitor were previously involved in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Michael Weatherly would go on to NCIS, Jensen Ackles would go on to Supernatural, and Alimi Ballard would go on to Numb3rs. Furthermore, if you're paying attention, you'll notice Aaron Douglas, Alessandro Juliani, Kandyse McClure, Rekha Sharma, and Rick Worthy--all future cast members of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series.

So, if you don't mind being frustrated by two seasons of action-packed buildup and no conclusive payoff, with plenty of great stories and hit TV trivia name-checking in between, give Dark Angel a chance--you'll be impressed.

Video Game Cheaters (and the Web Sites that Love Them)

I love video games, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best at them. I love No More Heroes to pieces, but the third boss Shinobu kept kicking my butt inside out. I enjoy The Conduit, but the aliens kept gunning me down at the Jefferson Memorial. I've also wanted to play through all of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, but I kept running out of the necessary ammo during the last boss fight at the end of the Resident Evil 0 section of the game.

The repeated losses at the Umbrella Chronicles game was particularly harsh for me; even though I'm not a big Resident Evil fan, I love rail shooters where I can mow down endless waves of zombies. I have other horror rail shooters for Wii and I've completed all of them--the awesome Dead Space: Extraction, the over-the-top and also awesome House of the Dead: Overkill, and the arcade ports of House of the Dead 2 and 3--so being unable to complete Umbrella Chronicles stood out like a sore thumb. Furthermore, Umbrella Chronicles lets you enjoy three of the Resident Evil games (0, 1, and 3) without having to experience the painfully clunky game play mechanics of each in their original versions--how could anyone not like this game?

I kept trying to find cheat codes which would allow me to complete Umbrella Chronicles, but to no avail. Little did I know that cheat codes are so 90s; it turned out what I really needed was to find a way to get a completed Umbrella Chronicles game save file onto my Wii system. But how?

Enter Wii Save. As far as I can tell, this is the only site of its kind, where avid Wii game players finish games and then post their completed game save files for others to download for free. Some games have more save files than others (for example, The Conduit only has one file and according to the comments posted for it, it's a bit wonky), and the files cover multiple regions. I uploaded a file for Umbrella Chronicles for the US, and I'm well on my way to finishing the game. One of the bonuses you get for completing the entire game is a full range of weapons and unlimited ammo for each; in short, having this completed game save file turned Umbrella Chronicles from an unbeatable game (at least at my skill level) to a virtual Disneyland for impatient, trigger-happy zombie killers like me. Granted, it's neither the head-popping bloodbath that is Overkill nor does it involve the strategic dismemberment of Extraction, but Umbrella Chronicles is still great to play.

So, if you want to cheat at your favorite-but-tough-as-nails Wii game just to get your money's worth out of it, Wii Save is the place for you.

Fight Night!

I've talked about dream fights before, but let's look at some match-ups that would win their own awards.

Most Pompous Fight: Darkseid vs. Thanos

These two would spend the entire time talking about how regal they were, and how they were feared on their homeworld, and how they would not tolerate rebellion, and such. 

It would be a fairly even match, but I think it would be filled with so many word balloons it would seem like an issue of "Ultimate Spider-Man" during the Bendis years.

Most Confusing Fight to Narrate: Captain Marvel vs. Captain Marvel

Think about it: "Captain Marvel throws a punch and sends Captain Marvel flying. Cap flies into Cap, but Cap is too fast and speeds out of his way..." It would go like this indefinitely.

But then again, if you think about it, this might be a pretty cool battle. I'm talking the original Marvel Captain Marvel here, not any of the others who have held the title since his death.

Most Egotistical Fight: Lex Luthor vs. Norman Osborn

Both men consider themselves perfect. Both men consider themselves flawless leaders. Both men consider themselves victorious time and again against their enemies. And both men have that one thorn in their flesh: the main hero they can never stop. 

They'd spend a lot of time bragging about how they outsmarted this hero and that, and how they won this political victory or that, and then they'd both get ugly and start screaming "Look, it's Spider-Man" and "Hey, there's Superman" at each other.

Most Evenly-Matched Fight: Scarecrow vs. Scarecrow

Let's see, both men dress up in scarecrow outfits. Both men deal with fear, and neither is a trained fighter or anything. As a matter of fact, both men are basically punching bags when the time comes for fisticuffs.

Marvel's version has been beaten down by the Falcon, a c-list hero if that. DC's Scarecrow has been beaten down by...well, just about everyone. The only thing that could possibly turn the tide to his favor would be if he gets to use his fear gas on Marvel's version. Other than that, I predict this one to be a one-punch knockout for whoever gets to throw the first punch.

Most Paranoid Fight: Rorschach vs. The Question

Both men are brutal when it comes to fighting. Neither man would hesitate to do whatever it took to win. Both men would have awesome trenchcoats and hats going for them, and even an artist with horrible drawing skills would be able to do this one.

Both men would probably spend their time spouting government conspiracies and secret society machinations. In the end I think they'd just break down and find enough common ground to go grab a cup of coffee (or a can of beans). Still, you have to admit it would be a really fun read just for the conversations!

Most Boring Fight: Watcher vs. Monitor

In this corner, Uatu the Watcher. In the other corner, the Monitor.

And then, for the next two weeks they just sit and stare at each other until the match is declared a draw.

'Nuff said.

Write of the Living Dead

It's official: I'm now a published author. Centipede Press has published a large book of essays about Night of the Living Dead as part of their "Studies in the Horror Film" series of books and my essay, "Cannibalizing Consumers", is in it. You can read more about the book here.

"Cannibalizing Consumers" was originally part of a series of essays that was included in a 40th anniversary retrospective of Night of the Living Dead on the PopMatters site back in 2008, and it was picked up to be part of the book. If you are so inclined, you can read my original essay here. I'm giddy that my first shot at recognition in an academic publication happens to revolve around the genre-defining film that introduced the world to unstoppable, epidemic, undead cannibalism. Then again, this is isn't just an article publication for me: 1) It's an article published in a series of books about studying horror films, 2) it's an article largely devoted to Night of the Living Dead, and 3) it's an article where I was also able to spend some time discussing Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That's triple nerd score for me!

In case you're interested in reading more of my written works, which are nerd-devotion-thinly-disguised-as-academic-thinking, check out these articles:

• A Look at Iconic Versus: The Post-9/11 Significance of the Freddy vs. Jason and Alien vs. Predator Movies
• Pictures of Insect Men: A Retrospective Analysis of the “Mimic” Trilogy
• Man, Machine, Memory and Movies: A Critical Look at “Dark City”

The Dream Team

Sorry it's been a while, but I hit "The Wall" and just ran out of things to talk about for a few weeks, along with work taking a lot of time. Hopefully this will put me back into the swing of things.

We've seen team books for years since the very first issue of Avengers and Justice League, but what about the opportunity to put together a dream team? Never mind publishers, and never mind one-shot issues...what if we could put together a lasting team that would work together for a long time against common foes? Well, let's pick the cream of the crop for all spots:

The Powerhouse: Superman

While there might be other heroes who could fill this role (Hulk, Thor, Sentry, or Captain Marvel all come to mind), Superman is the one who would keep a pure head through it all. 

He doesn't kill, and doesn't try to kill, which would make him an interesting foil for some of the other members of the team who have no problem killing. 

Plus DC knows how to handle this character by making him strong while still giving him stories that challenge him. 

The Tactician: Captain America

I realize a lot of people would argue for Batman here, but Captain America is and always has been a soldier. 

He is the kind of hero who inspires others to follow him and truly is fearless in the battlefield. He's watched more than one friend die under his leadership (even though Hawkeye eventually came back) and that keeps a level head on all his decisions.

While he might not have the technological know-how of Batman or Iron Man, there's no doubt just having him on the team would make all the other heroes feel just a little bit better. 

The Brains: Hank Pym

Considered the smartest man in the Marvel Universe, this guy has something to prove and really is quite the brillian hero. Pym brings a lifetime of mistakes to the team, yes, but he also brings a solid head thanks to the recent death of the Wasp.

I would have to say Hank would serve as a valuable member of the team for other reasons as well. He could fight as himself or any of a half dozen other heroes as the need arose. Also, his recent creation of a multi-dimensional home base for the Avengers (very reminiscent of Doctor Who's Tardis) would help him get the team where they needed to be quickly. 

The Weapons Master: Deathstroke

Not necessarily the man you'd consider for a team player, Deathstroke would have a ruthless edge to him and the ability to back it up. He could easily hold his own against just about any villain the team would face and could keep his cool in an outnumbered situation. 

Of course, there would be clashes. This is the first member of the fantasy team (but not the last) who would kill without second thought. This would lead to numerous clashes with Superman's Boy Scout image. Also, Slade's past would make him a hard man to trust.  The team would never know when he might just be leading them into a trap...and I can easily see where there would be some huge redemption storyline in there somewhere to finally prove himself a team player.

The Stealth: Batman

Come on, you didn't think I'd forget Batman, did you? And I'm talking Bruce Wayne here. While not the heaviest hitter on the team, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone more likely to get into a locked building and grab the bad guy without any of his goons noticing. 

Batman would also bring gadgets to the table. Those moments when stealth wouldn't be enough, he could bring some firepower that would even the odds. Add his aversion to killing people as well, and you have someone to back Superman when things get a little tense in a few encounters. The difference would be that Batman wouldn't be afraid to trade punches with any team member who got out of line (can I get a witness, Guy Gardner?).

The Loose Cannon: Deadshot

Because every team needs someone to keep things interesting, I'd throw Deadshot in there. I know the natural choice would be Wolverine, but he's not on this team anywhere. Deadshot has a death wish, and is completely crazy.

The beauty of this is Lawton's uneasy history with Deathstroke. Both men tried to kill each other before, and you can see where the temptation would always be there in a fight to leave Slade dying or even to shoot him in the back himself. Plus the fact that there's no way on Earth you can tell me it wouldn't be cool seeing him walk solo into a room full of Hydra or A.I.M. goons and throwing down.  

The Heart: Wonder Woman

Every team needs that person that keeps them grounded. She has to be strong enough to hold her own but at the same time human enough to reach out to that person who's been hurt due to a battle and try to help them.

Wonder Woman would bring the advantage of a second powerhouse to the team, while not being an exact copy of Superman.  

She's also got the warrior princess thing going for her, which brings the supernatural element to the team where they can fight demons and mythic creatures galore.  

The Speedster: Barry Allen

Every team needs a speedster, and Barry Allen is the easy choice. Quicksilver is awesome, Wally West is cool, but Barry's the man who has done it all and lived (and died...and lived) to tell about it. 

The Flash does things with his speed powers no other hero had ever done, and his ability to tap into the Speed Force gives him limitless opportunities to "boost" when he needs it.  

The thing that he also adds to the team is brains. He's a scientist, and while he's not on the same level as Hank Pym, he could still contribute a lot by being able to do the equations about 70,000 times faster than Hank. 

The Comedy Relief: Deadpool

Because somebody's got to throw the witty one-liners during a fight, I nominate Deadpool for the job. He's got an incredible healing factor that will keep him going no matter what, and he's a whole lot of crazy. 

He almost qualifies for the "Loose Cannon" spot on the team, but his personality makes him a little too fun for the bad spot. 

Wade would be an interesting foil for Batman's very grim attitude. Seeing the two of them teamed up to sneak into a base would make for a lot of fun, especially as Batman would attempt to sneak past the guards while Wade would just jump into them and start shooting. 

The Archer: Hawkeye

Seems like this position has become a staple in recent teams, so we added an archer here. Hawkeye wins the spot simply because he's one bad dude. He has all the trick arrows of Green Arrow, but he can move beyond that. When his bowstring breaks, Clint has proven he can pick up just about anything handy and beat the tar out of any villain lurking nearby. 

 Clint also has a lot of leadership experience that would make him a good secondary leader. Given his past with the Thunderbolts, he's proven he can even manage villains and turn them into heroes, so the presence of Deadshot and Deathstroke wouldn't phase him. 

One interesting note, archers never fare well in team books. Both Green Arrow and Hawkeye have been killed in explosions (though both have come back thanks to the intervention of supernatural friends).  

The Mysterious Presence: Deadman

Come on, I dare you to name me a better spy for the team? The guy can go just about anywhere without being seen or heard, then report back as needed. 

Of course, he couldn't be seen or heard by his friends either, so that could be awkward at meetings...unless he had a body to possess. For that position, I nominate Rick Jones as permanent Deadman host body. Why not? He's been everyone else's sidekick.

So that's my dream roster. Yes, it would be a fairly large and volatile team, but imagine how this team could build over time. Deadshot and Deathstroke already have bad blood between them, so the constant contact with each other could lead to cool confrontations. How about a Wonder Woman/Captain America love connection (after she rejects Tony Stark's guest appearance in the magazine, of course). Hey, my line up definitely couldn't be worse than the Luke Cage angst-fest we're forced to sit through now in every issue of New Avengers. 

There are a lot of possibilities here, but we'll never know how it would have worked. Who do you think I should have dropped and added?