Project Superpowers: The Flame and Flame Girl

Time for some more PROJECT SUPERPOWERS back stories. 'Cause I know you love them so. LOL!

This time you get a two-fer. Mainly due to the fact that the story surrounding the origin of The Flame from THE FLAME #1 was so blah, I decided to just stitch the first 3 pages together into a "stand alone" origin. A question that is unanswered (either in this mini-origin, or the full story) is how he got the name Gary Preston. Oh well. Deal with it. Okay, here t'is:

THE FLAME #1
(Summer 1940)

In PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #2, we saw The Flame being all weepy-eyed about "Linda."

The Linda in question is Linda Dale, girlfriend to Gary Preston. In the following story, we see how Linda acquired her powers and became FLAME GIRL! (Dated two months before ALL STAR COMICS #8, by the way...)

WONDERWORLD COMICS #30
(October 1941)

You can download THE FLAME #1, WONDERWORLD COMICS #30 and lots of other awesome golden-age goodness from Golden Age Comics Downloads!

Batman: Gotham Knight - preview

DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation have collaborated to create a unique Batman experience in Batman: Gotham Knight. The all-new, original movie will arrive July 8, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
A cross section of distinguished creators, award winning producers, and acclaimed writers weave six interlocking stories that reveal Bruce Wayne’s journey from BATMAN BEGINS to THE DARK KNIGHT, each with stylish art from some of the world’s most revered animation visionaries.

Batman: Gotham Knight will be available on DVD for $19.98 SRP. There will also be a 2-disc Special Edition DVD available for $29.98 SRP which contains additional bonus features. All the content from the 2-disc Special Edition DVD will be available on Blu-ray Disc for $34.99 SRP.

Visit the website:
http://www.warnervideo.com/batmangothamknight/

Pre-Order Batman - Gotham Knight (Single-Disc Edition) at Amazon.com

Titans (whatever) #1

TITANS #1

written by Judd Winick
art by Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund

Okay...
When this book was first announced I was kind of excited. I mean, THE NEW TEEN TITANS has always been one of my all-time favorite comics. I love these characters and having them come back together was just too much to ask. Even though the previous TITANS revival kinda fell apart, I still wanted to love that one, too.
Judd Winick wasn't really a stumbling block for me. I know a lot of people on the internet seem to hate him, but he's written some good stuff (GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY, the first couple years of THE OUTSIDERS) along with the bad (TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE: GRADUATION DAY, TITANS EAST SPECTACULAR). So, I wasn't too worried.
Ian Churchill's art on the other hand had me a little trepidatious. I just don't get it most of the time. He can draw a pretty man on occassion, but on the whole it just does nothing for me. But I read the interviews, and Winick seemed like he was excited and got the group. So I thought it might me all right.
I guess I was kinda wrong. This book just doesn't make any sense. I could go into more detail, but Troy Brownfield over at Newsarama has pretty much taken all the words out of my mouth.
Go read his review and then come on back. I'll wait.

Hmm, hmmm. La la la la...

Oh, hi! Okay: First of all, I don't hate it quite that much. But it's close.
What is the timeline on this thing? Are they all attacked at once? They couldn't get ahold of Dick to let him know what was happening, because his comm was cut while he was fighting. And how long was his fight that they got ahold of Batman and he got to Dick before Dick was done? Or did the other attacks happen before Dick's? And how did they get away.
Especially Donna. She was out in space with Kyle, gets attacked by some tentacle thing, and then has time to get free, come back to earth and change clothes. All the while that Dick is running around with glass sticking out of his neck. !!??? And where did Kyle go? He was a Titan once. He did get attacked same time as Donna. Were they just like "Okay, see ya later!" !!???
About the only thing I didn't hate that most people seem to have a problem with is the return of Trigon. I love him. I hope he turns out to be cool. But really, this should have been a lot more Raven oriented for Trigon's return...
All in all, there were some highlights in the artwork :). However if these weren't my favorite characters, I probably wouldn't be back. But I have to keep reading to see if maybe it gets better. Please.

And now for something completely different: Here's a review of the book from an alternate universe. I really, truly cannot believe we read the same book. I so wish I could love it as much as this guy did.

Countdown to Birds of Prey: Day 93

It's been a long 5-year wait...but in just over three months, the Birds of Prey TV series will finally be on DVD!!! Yay! I'm so excited!!

For anyone who may have missed it, here's a description of the show:

On a terrible night seven years in the past, the Joker attacks the two women at the center of Batman's life: Catwoman and Barbara Gordon, who fought at Batman's side as Batgirl. With Catwoman dead, Batman mysteriously disappears from New Gotham. Barbara, now confined to a wheelchair, redefines herself with a complicated double life: by day, she is a teacher of computer sciences, but by night, she is "Oracle," a master of cybernetics and weapons design, who monitors the activities of New Gotham's criminals from her secret lair in the city's Clocktower.

Barbara takes under her wing the secret daughter of Catwoman and Batman, young Helena Kyle. Helena has inherited Batman's strong sense of justice, along with Catwoman's meta-human abilities. Although she longs for a normal life, she quickly grows into the fierce and beautiful "Huntress." The pull between good and evil is strong within her, and Barbara knows she must guide Helena carefully.

Into the lives of these two remarkable women comes an innocent teenage girl named Dinah who is drawn to the Clocktower by powerful, haunting visions. Unsure of her background, but impressed by her budding meta-human powers, the two crime-fighters take Dinah in, and the trio is complete. They are now the "Birds of Prey."

And here's a little video clip. It's 1.36 MB, so it might take a minute to load. And the quality is kinda iffy, but it's what I've got to share! Enjoy it! (You need Quicktime)

And, oh yeah, no; I'm not going to do this daily. I just wanted to have some fun with it. I'll probably bring it up a couple times a week, tho. LOL!

Wonder Woman Logo Study

For awhile I've wanted to do a collection of all the various logos that Wonder Woman has had through her 67-year history. Somehow I've never gotton around to it (it's called "lazy"). But now letterer/designer Todd Klein has beat me to it with a study of the logos with insightful commentary!! Plus a look at a few logos that didn't make the cut!Check out the articles here:
Logo Study: WONDER WOMAN part 1
Logo Study: WONDER WOMAN part 2
Logo Study: WONDER WOMAN part 3
Logo Study: WONDER WOMAN part 4
Logo Study: WONDER WOMAN part 5 (final)

Project Superpowers: The Fighting Yank

Because I love Golden Age comics, the announcement of PROJECT SUPERPOWERS really excited me. And I started throwing up stories from the golden age that featured the characters that were appearing in PS.
But somehow I managed to completely ignore the one character who has basically been the star of the show so far: The Fighting Yank. He's the one that starts the whole thing. I don't know how I came to ignore him, but now I'm making it right.
Here is the first appearance and secret origin of The Fighting Yank! Straight from 1941's STARTLING COMICS #10!
Thrill to the adventure that leads Bruce Carter III into the startling life of a superhero!
Learn how Bruce Carter's ancestor met his gruesome fate!
See Bruce's fiancée Joan learn his secret identity in his first outing!!
It all starts now!!

STARTLING COMICS #10
(September 1941)
written by Richard Hughes; art by Jon Blummer

You can download STARTLING COMICS #10 (scanned from microfiche) and lots of other awesome golden-age goodness from Golden Age Comics Downloads!

Cartoon Network's BATMAN: The Brave & the Bold

From Newsarama:

CARTOON NETWORK UPFRONT 2008
by Steve Fritz

For those not in the know, an upfront is when a TV network presents its plans for the next year. It’s one of their main ways of convincing advertisers that they have the programming that will attract the most of a particular target audience.


BATMAN: THE BRAVE & THE BOLD

Think James Tucker would be out of work long after they closed down Legion? Yeah, like that was going to happen.

Tucker has been named supervising producer of the much-anticipated latest Batman series. As many have already guessed, it features the Caped Crusader teaming up with some other major denizen of the DC universe. Among those mentioned were Green Arrow, Blue Beetle and even Aquaman. Now if they have any brains about them, I’d like to see a certain creepy yellow guy as well as a blonde bombshell who can blow you away by just opening up her lips.

Joining Tucker on the crew are the likes of fellow executive producer Linda M. Steiner, story editor and rising WB star Michael Jelenic as well as episode directors Ben Jones, Brandon Vietti and Michael Chang. According to informed sources, voice recording is going down now and the series is targeted to debut next March.

BIRDS of PREY on DVD II

Now TVShowsonDVD has got the box art up for Birds of Prey: The Complete Series.

They also have a look at a promotional flyer that's being sent to retailers. Check it out.

But the best news is: When Warner Home Video announced yesterday that BOP was coming to DVD, they said the release date was July 29. Today they've announced that the release date will be JULY 15!!! Two whole weeks earlier!!

I'm still going to die waiting...

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds

Geoff Johns. George Perez. Superman-Prime. Three Legions of Super-Heroes. The entire DC Universe of the 31st Century.

I think my head's going to explode.

Run to Newsarama now!!!!

BIRDS of PREY on DVD!!!!

From TVShowsonDVD.com:

CRIME FIGHTING NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD
WHEN WARNER HOME VIDEO RELEASES

BIRDS OF PREY:
THE COMPLETE SERIES

ON JULY 29, 2008

Warner Home Video Finally Brings Your Favorite Crime Fighting Trio to DVD

BURBANK, CA (April 2, 2008) – The wait is over! Birds of Prey, the hit WB show and the #5 most requested unreleased show on TVShowsOnDVD.com, will finally make it to DVD. Three young female heroines will be fighting together, living together, and soaring into adventure together when Warner Home Video's (WHV) releases of Birds of Prey: The Complete Series on July 29, 2008 for $39.98 SRP. Birds of Prey: The Complete Series includes all 13 episodes from the series plus all-new bonus features in a 4-disc collection.

Starring Ashley Scott as Helena Wayne/The Huntress, Dina Meyer as Barbara Gordon/Oracle, Rachel Skarsten as Dinah Lance, Ian Abercrombie as Alfred Pennyworth and Mia Sara as Dr. Harleen Quinzel!!!

Read More!!