The Dark Knight – First thoughts

I just returned from Utopolis (the major movie theatre complex in Luxembourg) and I wanted to share some of my first thoughts about The Dark Knight before I head to bed. I initially wanted to review it immediately, but I want to sleep over it and let it replay in my mind, before I write about how awesome it is.

I must say I had my doubts, especially with all the hype and the glorification of Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker. Most people, who say he is the best Joker that will ever exist, have probably never read a comic book before and so I wanted to see for myself. And yes, he is good. He is not only good, but he does something to the character that is amazingly true to the comic version and yet he still manages to make it his own. Pure genius really, but more on that later.

Our screening of the movie was sadly interrupted during one of the most intense moments, which basically ruined the whole atmosphere. The climactic moment was annihilated and the tension ruined. The movie was still very good, but that moment managed to rip me out of the dark atmosphere and I had to re-immerse into the world of the movie. Afterwards the manager of the cinema complex reimbursed us for the botched viewing, but only after we complained about it. It would have been better for them to explain what had happened and offer some kind of recompense on their own.

This is also the main reason, why I want to sleep on it again. I want to be as objective as possible and I don’t want my review to be biased due to the negative performance of the cinema’s staff. More about the Dark Knight, tomorrow!

P.S.: You won’t get the picture above unless you’ve seen the movie. The image is taken from Bam!Kapow!, who made a t-shirt out of it, which you can get here.

Doomsday

“Where were you the day Superman died?”

Last week we saw that something was trying to break out of an underground vault. Well now it’s free and the gigantic creature is heading straight towards Metropolis. On its way towards the city, the Justice League of America tries to stop it, only to get their pants beaten off. Guy Gardner and the Blue Beetle are severely hurt and when Superman finally arrives at the scene, the League has been defeated. An incredibly long and furious battle ensues between Superman and the so-called Doomsday (the heroes think he might be a doomsday device). Both seem to be equals in strength and speed and it looks like Superman has finally found his match. When the two super-beings finally reach Metropolis, Superman is already exhausted, but in order to save his city he channels all of his power into a final blow. A blow that would kill Doomsday and ultimately also the man of steel himself.

Killing one of the greatest superheroes around was not a simple thing to do. First of all you can never really kill a hero (Supergirl and Flash are just two examples of this rule). They tend to come back in some way or another, be it as a clone, or in form of a successor. Still, the idea of killing the invincible man must have been an idea that had been floating around for a long time. After all, who wouldn’t want to know, how somebody could finally kill Superman? The art of this storyline is nothing special, but it fits the style of the time. By letting the creature first battle against the entire Justice League, the writers (Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Kesel,) managed to show us how incredibly strong Superman really is – as he is the only one who can take a punch of the beast and still stand up – only to kill him moments later. Although I don’t think it is one of the best Superman stories ever written, I still think it is very courageous to tell such a tale. The chance was there, that such an event would alienate the fans, but it turned out to be a success, with millions following the events in the following issues: Superman: The Man of Steel #18+19, Justice League America #69, Superman v2 #74+75, The Adventures of Superman #497 and Action Comics #684.

As this is a collection of several artists and writers, I won’t rate Doomsday. I will keep this up for all the events that cross several different comic series.