Digital comics are a good thing

I’ve been mulling over the big DC Comics announcement from yesterday and bemoaning a lot of things this presents from a storytelling standpoint (what will happen to Dick Grayson and all of the development Grant Morrison has given him? will there still be a Justice League International book?).  This has distracted me, and surely others, from considering the impact of the other half of that announcement - that DC Comics will be releasing their comics in a digital format the same day as the print editions are released

Brian Michael Bendis tweeted yesterday that it would kill local comic book shops.  That’s nonsense. It's simply a method to help facilitate a wider audience to have access to comics.

13 Year Old Me would have loved it.  In the wee town of Olean, NY, there’s a pretty tiny store that allegedly sells comics, but they really don’t get much in stock.  For example, when DC flagship event Blackest Night happened, I stopped in during my trip home for Christmastime to see if they had an issue and the guy working there had no clue what I was talking about.  The same goes with the frequency of theatrical releases becoming more readily available through video-on-demand while in theaters - Olean's movie theater would never play any arthouse films, and the closest theater that would is an hour and a half drive.  If technology like this prevents anyone in similar cultural dead zones from having to deal with a lack of access to things they're passionate about, I’m all for it.

Of course, Adult Me loves having a tangible product in his hands and is a compulsive collector of DVD's and comics. And since I live in a city where I can buy every comic that comes out each week, I’ll still be at my local comic book store every Wednesday. I know I’m not the only one.

I’d Really Like to See…Christopher Nolan Direct a Western

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series on January 29, 2009... so don't expect this to mention Inception.

In his relatively short film career, Christopher Nolan has proven that he’s among the best filmmakers working today. He slowly gained notoriety for completely changing the way we look at film structure and the reliable narrator with Memento and in less than a decade of work he's helmed one of the biggest motion pictures of all time. While Nolan’s films typically share some similarities tonally and thematically, he’s proven he's admirably adept at directing a wide range of genres, from intimate thrillers such as Memento to big budget summer spectacles such as The Dark Knight. Taking into consideration his versatility and the characteristics seen in Nolan’s films, I’d like to see one of my favorite filmmakers diversify a bit further and take on one of my favorite, mostly forgotten genres: the Western.

I’d Really Like to See…A ‘King of Kong’ Feature Film

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series on March 26, 2009.


Documentaries often have a stigma for being dry and boring. Although reality programs pass themselves off as a form of the documentary medium, they’re overly stylized, mostly scripted and forged to bring more entertainment value to the piece. Unfortunately, this often prevents people from giving docs a chance to open them up to worlds, often quirky, unbeknownst to them.

My personal favorite documentary is one that completely shatters these stereotypes of documentaries. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters peers into the world of competitive Donkey Kong. While the concept seems silly and does not seem like a compelling subject for a documentary - there is, after all, a whole world ripe with socially, politically, emotionally relevant topics waiting to be discovered - the characters and their interactions turn out to be absolutely riveting.

I’d Really Like to See…’Criminal’ the Movie

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series on February 26, 2009.

Most folks find comic books synonymous with superheroes. Considering how popular cinematic adaptations of Batman and Iron Man were this past year, it’s hard to separate the two. Many seem to forget that there was a time where the superhero genre was dormant in comics while other genres, such as horror comics from EC and adventuring comics (like those paid homage to in Watchmen’s comic-in-a-comic “Tales from the Black Freighter”), were more common to find in a long box than they are today. 

One of the best comics being released today is far from a superhero book. Writer Ed Brubaker and illustrator Sean Phillips bring pulp crime to four-color glory in their book “Criminal.” The “Criminal” books have a structure similar to beloved crime comic series “Sin City.” One thing that sets “Criminal” apart from “Sin City” (aside from the fact that Sean Phillips can draw really well, unlike Frank Miller) is that they waste no time setting up the mythology of their universe. 

I’d Really Like to See…More Absurd Musical Adaptations

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series on December 18, 2008.

Yes, they adapted The Fly into an opera.

Years ago, there was an episode of “The Simpsons” that featured “Planet of the Apes: The Musical,” which was brilliant on multiple levels. In about 90 seconds, “The Simpsons” presented a fantastic "what if" that convinced me, and I’m sure plenty of others, that a Planet of the Apes musical should be made. The songs in the show incorporated some of the more popular moments of the film into catchy melodies with a wink to the viewer and took a grim science fiction tale, added song and dance numbers, and managed to maintain entertainment value (although it was in a very different way than the source material intended).

While at the moment we can only hope and dream for “Planet of the Apes: The Musical” to become a reality, there are other films taken from source material that seemingly should never be made into musicals. One of my favorite films of all time is Little Shop of Horrors. Who would have thought a Roger Corman film about a killer plant from outer space would form such a wonderful union with doo-wop song and dance numbers? And Little Shop is not alone. Alan Cumming, Kristen Bell, and Neve Campbell were among the stars of a 2005 film adaptation of Reefer Madness as a musical. That’s right -- the cult film that used to be shown in classrooms to preach the evils of marijuana. While they haven’t made them into films, there are on-stage productions of Evil Dead, The Toxic Avenger, and The Fly that exist or are in the development stages.

I'd Really Like to See... Geoff Johns write the next Superman film

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series on December 11, 2008. Since a new Superman film is in the works, I thought it might have some good relevancy today.. even if we know Geoff Johns isn't going to be the scribe. Dammit.

A couple of months ago, Richard Donner (the original man to bring the Man of Steel to the silver screen) endorsed comic book super writer/man-god Geoff Johns for a job writing the next Superman film. I also noticed that his quote was picked up all over the place for weeks afterward, but nobody really took a deeper look why he would be a perfect fit. Geoff Johns has many qualifying characteristics. Not only is Donner endorsing him, but Donner also mentored the guy in his early days in the entertainment industry. Wizard Magazine has just named Johns’ run on Action Comics Best Book of 2008 and now he'll be redefining Superman’s origin in an upcoming miniseries. But for me personally, there is one primary reason above all that makes Geoff Johns the one and only man for this job: he made me believe Superman could be riveting.