Why Superman's Called 'The Man Of Steel'

The Many, Many, Many Loves of

SUPERMAN: Part I[via]

Finland's First Superhero: THE NIGHT GUARDIAN (Yövartija)

We've always said that Yövartija would be an ideal name for a superhero flick,  and indeed, it now will be. Thanks to one fine Finnish filmmaker, the movie -- which translates into English as The Night Guardian -- may very well be Finland's first-ever superhero movie.  While Finland has been filming since 1896 (the first motion picture screening in the world was in 1895), the country's first produced feature didn't debut until 1907; indeed, it's only been since the mid-1990's that the Cinema of Finland has been reinvigorated. 

It's interesting to note that Finland's film industry is financed by its government; the Finnish Film Foundation provides funds for all aspects of film production and distribution, and thus is subject to the rises and falls of the nation's political and economic climates, the films themselves often politico-centric. Of the average 15 to 20 films now made annually in Finland, no Finnish film has ever breached a budget of more than $5M, and commercial success has only recently become acceptable to movie makers.  

All that said, Yövartija (The Night Guardian), which began production last August, is an intriguing new development, especially because adding a superhero genre film to the country's relatively very short list of feature credits seems a bold departure from the norm. After all, Cinema of Finland is no Bollywood; Finland's films tend to stand on their own without mimicking Hollywood franchises and story lines. For an industry not motivated by profit margins, the allure of superhero cinema has nevertheless found a foothold, and it's a curious thing.

Aside from the notorious Tom of Finland, comics themselves have only recently found a more mainstream acceptance within the country and while beginning to find audiences beyond its borders. Three comics festivals  are held in Finland each year, the largest being The Helsinki Comics Festival, an annual event sponsored by the Finnish Comics Society and which draws 5.000 - 10 ,000 visitors from across Northern Europe every autumn. According to the Master List of Comic Book and Trading Card Stores, three comic book stores call Finland home, and comics remain staples at newsstands (or kiosks) and supermarkets throughout the country. 

As the first of its Finnish kind, Yövartija promises superhero comic book themes and modern special effects set within a film noir setting.  Its hero, The Night Guardian, is a masked superhero, brought to life by the shimmer of hope from a lonely dreamer. (Yes, we think the explanation there is just a bit vague, too.)   And the movie's website asks: Courage and passion are weapons in the hands of superheroes, but is their world really all black and white?

From the few screen caps posted to Yövartija's website,  The Night Guardian character seems to be the low-budget blood brother of Gabrielle Macht's The Spirit. Another featured character resembles Sam Raimi's first filmed superhero, Darkman. Beyond just those few images, little else can be learned about the movie; its first teaser is promised to appear any day, although no date has been given for the film's intended release -- at least in English.

From the United Kingdom to Mexico to Japan, Spain, Italy, and more, superheroes have found new interpretation through international cinema.  Though Hollywood's obsession with its men in tights and body armor may stem from box office receipts and licensing deals, superheroes' popularity with audiences is driven by different stuff, from the cultural to the symbolic and psychological.  Yövartija''s arrival in Finland may be nothing more than one movie maker's fan-boy dream -- but it could be much more than that.  A film very worthy of our label 'Coming Attraction,' only time will reveal exactly what lies behind The Night Guardian's mask.

Do you want to keep current with Finland's first hero, The Night Guardian? Check out the film's very own Blogspot blog HERE.

Cover Girl: Lynda Carter's WONDER WOMAN

Dabblers love comics; they lust after comic book cover art. We know those action-packed, brightly-colored faces of our favorite four-color books are more than the marketing tools they - like all covers of books and magazines - have traditionally been. Mark our words, we'll have plenty more on the art form that is the comic book cover coming your way this week. To fulfill this promise, we had to dive in someplace, and the Wonder Woman works of  Ray Caspio, graphic designer and illustrator, were an ideal place to begin.

Caspio's love of DC Comics' Amazonian Princess finds it roots in the live-action Wonder Woman television series starring Lynda Carter, which enthralled audiences first on ABC in 1975, then later on CBS until 1979.   In what we think is a very innovative move, Caspio's represented his favorite episodes as comic book covers, each one true-to-form and perfectly capturing all the essentials -- like "The Deadly Dolphin" of Wonder Woman episode 45, which aired back in December of 1978.

In order to best translate his comic book homages to Wonder Woman's episodes,  Caspio's numbering is slightly different than what's given in most episode guides -- although it makes far better sense. Caspio counts the two-part 1975  Wonder Woman pilot movie as his Episodes One and Two, then continues his counting right through the show's two-part finale, which finish out his full 61-episode system. For a full episode listing of Wonder Woman, go HERE.

To date, Caspio's completed four in his ongoing series of comic book covers based on Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman:  The Return of Wonder Woman (Episode No. 15), The Deadly Dolphin (No. 45),  Skateboard Whiz (No. 44 ), and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman (No. 61).  

We think they're all really cool -- and even cooler, Caspio's made each available as an 11x17 print. If you're interested on framing one of his wonderful homages to Lynda Carter as much as Wonder Woman herself, you can contact him HERE.  If you're fave happens to be his latest work, Wonder Woman No. 15 (just below), you're in even better shape: you get your choice of either a print HERE or a T-shirt HERE.   We're thinking No. 15 as a tee, while "The Deadly Dolphin" already has the perfect spot over the kitchen pantry. 

Ray's comics illustrations don't quit with Wonder Woman, though.  You'll find much more of his amazing work and superheroine homages on his blog and website, HERE.

NEWS of the BLOG: HEROES Huge Audience...We Get Heroic 4 HAITI ...Jackson Out of AVENGERS...And MORE!!

Yo, dabblers, we are back! And what better way to get back to the grind of comics blogging than with... NEWS OF THE BLOG! This would be a great opportunity to launch into 'The Week In Review,' but the comics industry can't be summarized so simply -- you know that. Instead, we'll seize the moment and throw out this question: Did you know that today's National Frustrated Writer's Day? Yeah, we were surprised, too. (We thought it was in April.) But calendars don't lie, and neither do we. Two-thirds of the Home Office staff is already at the pub, while the rest of us -- and me, your Dabbler -- are here once again to hold down the fort.  If you're a frustrated writer of any kind, today's your day -- and abbracadabbling salutes you. Have fun, and drive safe. 

Here's another question (because it seems like we're full of 'em this morning): Is NBC's Heroes going to be cancelled or what? We're rooting for the show - don't get us wrong.  The show still has a good eight or nine episodes left in the season, though cast and crew have already wrapped production for the year.  Now, Springfield has a direct line to Hollywood (it's a little known secret here) and from those sources, we've heard that our Heroes are feeling pretty upbeat about their possible predicament. Mainly because  the season ends again on yet another cliff-hanger -- which means, of course, they think they'll be back like a sinister Sylar.  We'd hate to be the one's to tell them quite a few shows before them have seen season-ending cliffhangers...then went right off that cliff after them.  It's called denial, guys. Wear parachutes.

Then again, in the wake of NBC's clash with Conan O'Brien, anything's possible. Shaking up their late night TV has put a gap in the Peacock's schedule -- and we think the wise move would be to gym-it for a stronger Heroes rather than go for the unknown.   Heroes has had a lot of buzz this year: all eleventh-hour improvements then nothing but cancellation chat since Episode One. Entertainment Weekly even quoted one source as saying, “Everyone is expecting this to be the last season. The cast, the crew, everyone.”  Reasonable fears, given the show's pulling in just over six million viewers a week (down from the 14 million it had back in 2005), but hey, that's about three times what Leno had before they, uh, cancelled him.  

However, despite what those numbers suggest, Heroes story does have more to it. Both Heroes and the CW's Smallville were blasted for their early poor ratings last Fall, but both shows were rescued from almost certain comicide* at that point when the DVR data finally rolled in. It seems that the comic book crowd isn't necessarily sitting on the sofa when their favorite shows come on -- but that doesn't mean they're not watching them.  In fact, Heroes may have a larger viewing audience than anyone suspects, because this audience can't be measured directly. 

For the second time in a row, Heroes has topped the list of the year's most-pirated television shows.  According to Torrentfreak, Heroes was downloaded 6.58 million times in 2009, which if you've been paying attention is a larger number than the show's weekly ratings.  In our modern world of 52-inch LCD's, it might be difficult to image that not everybody tunes in to television, even if they have a set. We've known several tech-heads with all the nice toys who get all their TV kicks from Torrents, and considering digital is the way we're headed, it'd be foolish of NBC to overlook its pirating peeps.  Don't be the music industry, NBC, and blame poor physical sales (or weekly ratings shares) on actual Nielsen ninnies. Just as more pirates buy more digital music than the average music junkie, your Heroes' bread is buttered by digital demographics.

We abbracadabblers spent a good part of the week in the Present Magic Comics Shop -- our eBay  store where we sell all sorts of comics and action figure goodness.  As you know, your favorite comicsblog has joined the Heroes 4 Haiti effort to raise money through online auctions for the victims of the Haitian earthquake on January 12th.   We now have FOUR  (4) active auctions in support of the cause -- our latest being another great set of Spider-Man limited series, including Spider-Man: The Final Adventure and Spider-Man: The Lost Years, the latter by fan favorites, writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist- extraordinaire John Romita, Jr. The auction's for a total of eight (8) Spider-Man comics, and you can find them on eBay HERE.   For the list of our first three auctions, go HERE.

You might think we've been too busy with our charitable work (which we have) to even think about  being among the Comic Blog Elite. Nothing could be farther from the truth, though, and we hope that many of you had a chance to check out the Elite's website to see what the fuss is. If you haven't (shame, shame on you, dabbler), don't fret -- Matt Bergin, the CBE's E-I-C, is now posting a weekly CBE feature on Pop Culture Shock, which will introduce you to everything you've ever wanted to know about the comics blogosphere and its member blogs.  But Matt's first blog HERE covers more than just an intro; he's got mini-reviews of several sites (he'll get to us eventually) and he posts the Top 10 Comics Blogs of the week, too. We're not on that privileged list yet -- but with your help and back-links, we will be. 

Samuel L. Jackson, however, may not be making The Avengers' list, though.  Jackson's an actor so ubiquitous that we'd expect to find him hiding in our own home movies, so when The Hollywood Reporter told us last year that he'd reportedly signed a long-term deal with Marvel Studios to play 'Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.', in nine upcoming films we weren't surprised. 

The reverse is true of the latest news, in Jackson's own words:  "There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it.  There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal'."    The 'it' in question isn't just one thing; Jackson's referring to those guest-starring roles he's been slated to play in Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and finally, The Avengers.   Marvel's movies -- which are narratively ambitious and set a new standard for superhero cinema, bringing it more in-line with comic book storytelling -- find their origins rooted not in Marvel's primary 'universe,' but in it's modernized 'Ultimate Universe', which presents different, twenty-first century versions of its characters. Creators Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch used Jackson himself as the model for Ultimate Fury, which took the traditional white, grizzled, aging commando with salt-and-pepper hair Nick Fury character (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960's) and re-imagined him as a younger, bald African American ass-kicker. 

Jackson wasn't playing when this news broke last week, and he seemed clearly dissatisfied with Marvel and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau.  The Los Angeles Times article that broke the story does mention that Jackson may be trying to stir the fanboys to pressure Marvel and with the hopes of a bigger paycheck, as clearly many an actor before him have done. But the issue involved does highlight just one of the  potential 

problems Marvel's ambition will encounter -- the cost of bringing the two distinct art forms of film and comics ever closer.  As the Times points out, Marvel will have to weigh each film's budget with the calculating eye of pro-sports franchises who want marquee players but have to fit them under a team salary cap.  

The Times doesn't so clearly or directly mention the assumption that underlies most of their article: the belief that comics and films are different sides of the same coin. With comics today becoming movie properties in record numbers - and many of them being created with an eye on cinematic adaptation from the get-go -- the view that comics are little more than storyboards or, at best, underdeveloped movies, has become quite popular.  We think that there's nothing wrong -- in fact, there's a lot exciting -- about having one's favorite reads and longtime super friends find their way to the silver screen -- the best stories and characters are ones that are able to find life across artistic media.  But comics are unique, and much about them is not translatable to film -- and that, dear dabblers, is a good thing.   From Jackson's problems, it looks like recurring minor characters aren't translatable, either -- if they're played by actors with big names and even bigger tax returns.  Considering comic book lovers acceptance of big screen treatments in the first place, Jackson's model for Nick Fury in the comics is a truth that can be left on the pages of Ultimate Marvel. He's trivia, it's cute, and there are other actors in Hollywood who'd be happy to shave if the role of Nick Fury knocked on their trailer door. * * * * * *  *Comicide - the act of killing a comic book, or a comic book related property.

THIS MAN SHOULD BE SMILING: NEWS OF THE BLOG!

Understanding The Iconic: Top 75 Covers of DC Comics

If you've spent even ten minutes online during the last few weeks,  you've already learned that somebody's Top 10, Top 50, Worst 100, 25 Most Memorable, or similarly prefixed list will find you, no matter where you hide. Comics aren't spared the 'Top List Torture' any more than movies, celebrities, or bad Britney photos. And while most Lists rehash and debate the same irrelevant material, there's bound to be a few that don't. Abbracadabbling's seen most of them, and we've teased out those rare examples we thought you'd find interesting.  Chances are, one or two might even pop up on the comicsblog this week. 

In addition to today's DC Comics' Top 75 Iconic Comic Book Covers list, that is. For the mischievous purposes of our blog, we won't be telling you - yet - who the Top 75 Iconic Covers list belongs to, but we will share a few details up-front.  Earlier this fall, a popular comics industry news site surveyed its numerous readers to determine which of the great many covers from DC Comics seventy-five years of publishing  they considered the most iconic.  

(We should add that's no easy feat.  DC Comics, which began as National Allied Publications, published its first comic book -- New Fun #1 - in 1935.  A change of ownership and a deal made to fund the 1936 publishing of Detective Comics #1 also prompted the change of the company's name -- to the rather appropriate-for-the-moment name, Detective Comics, Inc. More on the history of DC Comics can be found here.) 

Anyway, aside from the inherent problems the use of iconic  presents,  our still-nameless popular website  ranked the top 75 covers  as identified by readers  and the result is a list that's both comprehensive and quite insightful.

For instance, DC fans and popular culture at large, not to mention many DC Comics creators past and present, playfully debate which hero is more 'super,' Superman or Batman. When we examined just those covers on the list that belonged to superhero comics, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman graced many more covers than Bob Kane's Caped Crusader.  Even taking into account those covers which featured both Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, Superman still edged out Batman by one.  

DC Comics' most popular superhero teams, which we defined as Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, the Teen Titans, and the Legion of Super Heroes, as a group also appeared on more covers than Batman himself. 

One interesting fact our data-mining manifested was Wonder Woman's surprisingly poor performance as a DC Comics' 'cover girl.'  The publisher has promoted Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to be it's "Holy Trinity" for years, placing them on that high pedestal largely because their three titles endured comics' bleak years post-WWII and thus are the only DC books never to cease publication.  Nevertheless, when it comes to being an icon, Wonder Woman gets her's served on silver platter by both Green Lantern and the Flash.  

Of DC's Top 75 Iconic Covers, only four of that number were non-superhero comics. None of DC's romance or humor comics made the list, nor did any of their licensed property titles.  We noticed only one comic cover less than five years old, and roughly two-thirds of all the covers on the list were published before 1970. A select group of artists and writers were responsible for more than one of the iconic covers  on the list, including, of course, the creators of Superman and Batman.  Notably, Alan Moore topped the writers list with five of his books' covers represented, including Watchmen #1 and his Batman graphic novel, The Killing Joke.  Frank Miller, the writer of the four-issue and now historic series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, made the list twice, as an impressive two of that series four total covers made the Top 75.  Neal Adams came first in the art department; his pencils graced seven covers. 

Of course, the BIG question on every dabbler's mind right now is which comic book cover claimed the Number One spot.  Could it be a Batman comic? Or did Superman finish first? Maybe neither of them got that coveted ranking - who knows?   Well, we do, and we'd tell you, but we decided to make a game of it instead. 

We selected twelve (12) of the Top 75  covers and lined 'em up in completely random order for you below.  

Your job is to arrange the issues in the way you think they were ranked.  Start with the 'least iconic cover' at the top of your list and work your way down to Number One. You can use every bit of your superhero savvy,  human insight, female intuition, or hell, even a lifeline if you've got one - but really, it's all about fun. 

Since we love you, we are going to give you -- in no specific order -- the actual rankings of the comics below. They might not be too much help now, but then again, you never can tell.  And so, in random order, the rankings of the comics below are:  1,2 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 24, 26, 28, and 33. 

Got 'em? We'll be back with Understanding The Iconic: Top 75 Covers of DC Comics - Part II this Tuesday. And we'll have your answers then.