Tomorrow night my wife and I will be going to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, but before that happens I want to explain why Batman has never held that much appeal for me even though I have been a long time comic book reader. Let me give the point of view of someone less close to the subject than me to help explain my thought process.
Someone that I know who is a non comic book reader told me that they like the character because he is so realistic. Bruce Wayne has no super powers just the physical training that he does to keep his body at its peak. Plus since he is so rich he can afford the technological gadgets that he uses in his career of fighting crime and avenging the death of his parents. I suppose that on some level those are valid claims, but this person is seven years younger than me and did not spend his grade school afternoons watching the Adam West Batman series from the 1960's. That rendition of the character forever took away any hope of credibility and or coolness factor for Batman for me. Seeing Adam West stomp around with his gut perched over his utility belt made him sillier than anything else I could imagine. There was nothing inspiring about the character beyond the fact that Julie Newmar purred at him in her sparkling catsuit and cute cat ear headband. Those images killed any interest in the character for me and kept any Batman comic books purchases out of my mind.
Then forward to the time when the Tim Burton Batman movie first came out and yet again I was unimpressed by what I saw. In various interviews, Burton said over and over again that he had no interest in the comic books and simply made a movie that had elements in it that he liked. So this meant that Michael Keaton, the same actor who had been Beetlejuice, had been chosen to play the debonair Bruce Wayne and Olympic level athlete Batman. Sigh. Once again there was very little there that impressed me by this image. Then there was the over the top mugging of Jack Nicholson as The Joker that made me loathe the movie even more. Later Michael Keaton gave way to Val Kilmer and George Clooney in Joel Schumacher train wrecks that were done in almost same tradition of camp as the Adam West era.
Finally, Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan came along and brought some small amount of dignity to the character with their movie Batman Begins. There was substance there and the movie did not make me shake my head. I can not say that Batman Begins is my favorite comic book movie, but at least it is far better than others that have been made in the past. Personally I would love to see Frank Miller bring his Dark Knight Returns book to the big screen done in the same method as his Sin City work. I doubt that that will happen now that the public has come to love the Bale and Nolan version. So with these things in mind, I am curious to see my reaction to this new movie. Will I come to love the character as much as other people? I suspect not, but I am hoping that it will be a fairly good movie.
Part of me wanted the summer to go by quickly so I would be starting my Russia trip sooner, but I find it a little hard to believe that the Fourth of July is over two weeks in the past. I enjoyed the holiday with my family, but it went by so fast and all that I have now are memories and some nice photos. On a more positive note, even though the days of the calendar are flying by faster than I might prefer, the weather shows no sign of leaving the dog days of summer behind. The almost non stop rain of June has given way to day after day of sticky heat. Now if only I could find more time to spend in the pool.
Yesterday I did some serious cleaning of the office and I impressed myself by how nice it looks now. There are no piles of books and or paperwork on the floor. Plus even better, there is free space on my desk. I seldom use my desk for writing, but for weeks if that was something that I wanted to do it would have been near impossible to do. Papers were spilling over in any free space available, but that too has been corrected. I can not take full credit for this transformation though. My wife had been the one to prompt to do this cleaning to make the place look presentable for a guest. As to how long the place stays in this freshly organized condition remains to be seen.
Somehow I stumbled across some buzz about the final episode of this season of Doctor Who and I was more than a little excited by what I had read. There was talk of regeneration. There was talk of David leaving the program. There was talk of Donna being a Timelord. Sadly those were merely rumors and the reality was less satisfying than the wild ideas being proposed. I will admit that the episode Turn Left that preceded the season finale was fun, but the two part finale itself left me feeling somewhat letdown. Yes, it was fun to see the various characters from the revived version of the series come together, but at the same time, I was disappointed by the sad and quick reunion of Rose and The Doctor. As for the final treatment of Donna, well at least she is still alive and healthy.
The elements are working against my plan to swim as often as possible. There isn't a hint of sun this morning and there is a thirty percent chance of rain for the morning. Sigh.
I just walked inside from spending a glorious hour in the pool. Yes, I think that I am going to go there as often as possible. To be immersed in water as the sun shines overhead is such a pure feeling. I love it. Before I went, I told myself that I would limit myself to an hour to prevent any sunburn and I think that that was a good amount of time. Plus an older couple came to the pool just as I was preparing to leave.
A full week back at work did its best to anger me, but in the end I walked away feeling calm. Oh, I still would have no hesitation in quitting, but I know that for the moment I have to endure the idiocy of the place. What I need to do when I am there is maintain my level of indifference without coming across as too sarcastic. Starting a new vacation countdown also aids in dealing with the everyday nonsense of work and the frustration of what it does to me.
On the home front, I am trying not to fall into a dull routine and have gladly limited my television viewing. While I was away, my wife had recorded a bulk of Anthony Bourdain episodes for me, but once those have been watched, all that will be left for me is the season finale of Doctor Who and the slow build of Bleach. I have yet to see the first installment of the three part episode that hints at a regeneration for The Doctor, but I am more than a little eager to see it. David Tennant has done a great job in the part and seeing him leave after three quick seasons would be sad. Then there are the rumors that Tom Baker wants to return to the series in some capacity, be it as The Doctor or even better as The Master.
I have yet to spend any time in the pool where I live, but I have been exercising regularly and finding time to read. Both of those things make me happy and when swimming get added to the mix, I suspect that I will be even happier.
Batman and Zatanna are great together or at least when Paul Dini is writing them and Dustin Nguyen is drawing them in Detective Comics.
Being away for ten days was good for me. Most of that time was spent outside with my family doing various things such as swimming, talking or eating. There was no stress and I also found time to do some reading. All of those things sound simple enough, but that was what I needed in my life. I needed to escape for a time and work was far far away from my mind. Now I am hoping to keep that feeling of calm as I return to work tonight.
I've noticed a new trend in my comic book reading. I prefer books with a lead character versus team books. With the exception of Fables, my top five books are all solo books. Here is my list followed by some reasons why I like reading the various titles.
Superman
All Star Superman
Fables
Scalped
Red Sonja
Witchblade
Captain America
Green Lantern Corps
Fantastic Four
Wolverine
I love what Ed Brubaker is doing with Captain America. He writes an excellent espionage book with the best moments of Captain America history intertwined. For example, Sharon discovering that the Grand Director is still alive made me smile all day long. Yes, I remember the Grand Director fondly. He appeared in one of the very first Captain America books that I ever read and is one of the earliest books in my collection.
I need to stop caring about the Fantastic Four. I am not sure what Mark Millar was hoping to achieve with his first arc on the title, but I was less than impressed. At best I was disinterested.
I will miss Grant Morrison's take on the last son of Krypton. Each and every issue of his run was perfect. Not only was the lead character done with style, but the supporting cast also shone brightly be it Lois Lane or Steve Lombard.
The writing talent of Jason Aaron is my primary reason for liking both Scalped and Wolverine.
By this time next week, I will probably be hundreds of miles away floating on a lake staring at the clouds above me without a care in the world. Sadly at this moment, I am trying to make sure there is nothing left that I need to do before I can make that future moment happen. Insert deep breath here. I have to pay two more bills before I leave and do a few more chores around the house and then everything should be in place. Then all I need to do is choose some books to bring along to read and bring my beach towel and trunks.
