Boy, It's Vintage! GOTHAM CITY, MID-SIXTIES

Yvonne Craig aka Batgirl 

Catches Up to TV's Dynamic Duo (1966) [via]

LEE MAJORS For Future Art Majors

EXCLUSIVE: NBC Cancels HEROES -- And JAY LENO Is Seriously To Blame

We can't say we didn't see it coming - and you probably did, too.  So it was no surprise   Friday when NBC announced that their long-struggling Heroes won't be returning for  Season Five. Apparently, the network seriously mulled bringing the show back for a shortened final season, but ultimately Heroes' poor record of keeping its twisty narrative on track  - and the cost of the hour-long comic book-inspired drama - failed to provide a truly compelling reason for NBC to do so. 

NBC cited both reasons when they canceled Heroes last week, although they didn't make any secret of Heroes' constantly-declining ratings also being a factor in their decision. While we won't delve into numbers analysis of the beleaguered series, we're of the opinion that Heroes was strong enough and likely would have returned to its 9pm time slot if not for the biggest prime time disaster in recent memory - The Jay Leno Show. 

It wasn't NBC as much as its nationwide network of affiliates that Leno's abysmal performance hurt, as the show's ratings resulted in 'bleeding' viewers - and advertising dollars - from late local newscasts across the country. The affiliates 'revolted,' prompting the cancellation of the Leno Show and, subsequently, the debacle between NBC and Conan O'Brien. 

Trying to build the muscle necessary to carry viewers into their NBC-affiliated newscasts is the  unfortunate goal of the network's new fall slate, which was announced in its entirety earlier this morning. All together, the early 2010 line-up includes seven new series, with five of those (one each weekday) filling the 9pm lead-in slot.  Another five new series are being primed for mid-season.

In a Leno-free world, or one where he didn't bomb, Heroes likely would have survived -- at least long enough to bring closure and perhaps a bit of clarity to the series, which had regained a good measure of its storytelling legs in Season Four.  Unfortunately, our world is not the Leno-less one we'd like, and in it, neither Heroes nor the comic-booky-named Conan O'Brien had the power to pound the 'Joker' that is Jay Leno.

 Must be the chin...

Our conclusion is mostly us reading between the lines, but it's more than that, too. With their announcement today, NBC also reasserted that they've left the possibility open for Heroes to return next season, not as a series but as a television movie, to wrap up loose threads.  This makes complete sense - probably as a 'Sweeps Week' event - and stands as evidence that Heroes likely lingered on the network's precipice of decision rather than being summarily discounted. While we'd be the first to admit NBC's  horrendously poor judgement obliterating O'Brien from their late-night laugh-in, the final fate of Heroes wasn't similarly decided. 

We should mention that the Clown Prince of the Peacock also put the official toe-tag on Law & Order, ending the series after a full twenty seasons.  That may have caught a few fans of that series off-guard, although ABC's cancellation of Flash Forward most certainly didn't - despite the rather awesome ads they pulled too late from their Tarot deck. 

What's your dabbling determination on Heroes? Did the 'Joker of Late Night' condemn Peter and Claire to oblivion or did they do themselves in?? And are there really any Jay Leno fans out there at all??? We want to hear from you before the new season rolls around, so get us your Back Issues now!

Twelve Guys Succeeding At The Super Hero Game

The 48th Annual Springfield Easter Egg Hunt begins in just over an hour, so, in an unexpected twist and turn of events, the Home Office has decided to dabble-down the comicsblog early.  Our (surviving) staff was aces with The Joker last week, and 'sides, even the most intrepid Springfield abbracadabblers deserves a treat every now and then.  But before we  hop along to the festivities, hoopla, and all-around holiday hi-jinx -- and the never-ending quest for a sugar high -- we're bringing a bit of spice to the blog.

Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, Justin Hartley... The names go on, but it's a short list of Hollywood's hottest. And they're not just hot; they're super. Why? Because we've all harbored the deep-down secret desire to be a super hero - and the twelve actors on the blog today count among the select few that succeeded.  Aside from their undeniable good looks, does this dozen have more in common than meets the eye? Are the heroes they play on TV or the silver screen simply parts to our boys, or do they feel they're a part of something bigger? If they have what it takes, do you? And are your chances even better if your name is 'Chris'?

All food for thought...Which reminds us, we're running late for a very important date. We hope your Easter is a basket of fun, too; we've got you off to a good start with twelve right here.  Sure, these dudes may not be as tasty as chocolate bunnies, but they are most definitely eye candy. Indulge your sweet tooth.

Chris Evans - Captain America [IMDb]
Steve Rogers (First Avenger: Captain America, Avengers)

Lucas Lee (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World)

Jensen (The Losers)

Johnny Storm (Fantastic Four films)

Christian Bale - Batman III (untitled) [IMDb]

Bruce Wayne/Batman (The Dark Knight)

Bruce Wayne  (Batman Begins)

Chris O'Donnell - Robin, The Boy Wonder [IMDb]

Dick Grayson (Batman & Robin)

Dick Grayson (Batman Forever)

David Boreanaz - Angel [IMDb]

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern (Justice League: New Frontier)

Angel (Angel)

Angel (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Chris Hemsworth - The Mighty Thor [IMDb]

Donald Blake/Thor (Thor)

George Kirk (Star Trek 2009)

James McAvoy - 'World's Greatest Assassin' [IMDb]

Wesley Gibson (Wanted 2)

Wesley Gibson (Wanted)

James Franco - Harry Osborne [IMDb]

Harry Osborne/New Goblin (Spider-Man 3)

Harry Osborne (Spider-Man 2)

Harry Osborne (Spider-Man )

Ryan Reynolds - Green Lantern [IMDb]
 Hal Jordan (Green Lantern)
Wade Wilson (Deadpool)
Deadpool (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Blade: Trinity (Hannibal King)

Jude Law - Doctor John Watson [IMDb]
Dr. Watson (Sherlock Holmes)

Justin Hartley - Green Arrow [IMDb]
 Oliver Queen (Smallville)
Arthur Curry (Aquaman)

Brent Spiner - Lieutenant Commander Data [IMDb]
 Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
B-4 (Star Trek: Nemesis)
Lore (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Dr. Arik Soong (Enterprise)
Dr. Noonian Soong (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

James Marsden - Cyclops [IMDb]
Techotl (Conan: Red Nails)
Richard White (Superman Returns)
Scott Summers / Cyclops (X-Men 3: The Last Stand)
Scott Summers (X2)
Scott Summers (X-Men)

 All photos (above) except as noted [via]

Brent Spiner  [via]

SUPERSet: Classic Abbracadabbling With THE BIONIC WOMAN

Once we heard that diva Christina Aguilera's planning a Bionic summer, our brainwaves immediately pinged pop culture's leading cybernetic lady, Jamie Sommers, The Bionic Woman. We weren't much taller than an R2 unit when Lindsay Wagner's Bionic Woman hit the ABC airwaves in January 1976, just months after Lynda Carter began twirling as Wonder Woman on the very same network. (Dabbler Dalliance: ABC commissioned eleven episodes of Wonder Woman for the second half of the 1976-77 season, broadcasting several of them to fill-in downtime for Wagner to recover from a real-life car crash!)

Despite Wonder Woman's comic book connection (and our total fascination with her wardrobe changes), Jamie Sommers' bionic exploits  (and the obsessive-compulsive way she pulled her hair back to 'hear' things) were what rocked our kiddie cradle. Sure, Jamie was tricked out with enhanced hearing, bionic legs, and super-strong right arm - and the girl definitely kicked ass at tennis - but what we loved the most was her connection to our favorite, The Six Million Dollar Man.

As a Six Million Dollar spin-off, The Bionic Woman had strong legs of its own - literally. Both shows maintained a close connection, and their stars' robotic relations were never better than during their team-ups against Bionic Bigfoot.  Even after Jamie's adventures were transplanted to NBC and she was forced to go it alone against the Fembots,  her Bionic co-stars Richard Anderson (as Oscar Goldman) and Martin E. Brooks (as Dr. Rudy Wells) continued their parts on both series -- and by doing so, became the first actors to play the same roles in two concurrent television series airing on two different networks.

Alas, superhero TV hasn't seen that kind of 'Bionic Wonder' since, and the prime-time power couple that was The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman has yet to meet its modern day match.  No matter how much we wish it otherwise,  those much ballyhooed bionic days are as behind us as our tennis fantasy pitting Jamie Sommers against Martina Navratilova.  But if we can't bring the blog to the bionics, we'll bring bionic straight to today's blog -- thanks to modern tech and pinch of that old dabble magic...

We get The Bionic Woman off to a good start with her very first episode ever, Welcome Home Jaime (Part 1).  Here's the official synopsis: Coming to terms with her memory loss, Jaime decides to move to Ojai (!) to live with her step-parents and settle down. She takes an apartment at their ranch and also gets a job as a schoolteacher. During a car accident, she uses her bionic abilities to get her out of trouble, but someone is watching.

As completely enthralling as that isn't, ask yourself this question: might the 'someone' that's watching Jamie really be...a bionic Bigfoot???  We Can HOPE!!! We urge you to slide into a comfortable seat and find out with us. Heck, the only other 'someone' could be  Mr Lee Majors,  who just so happens to guest star as Col. Steve Austin aka The Six Million Dollar Man.  Yup, the Six joins the bionic babe for her very first adventure - you know it don't get better than that. Unless there's a bionic Bigfoot, because that would be, like, even way better...

Feel the need to go for a longer run with The Bionic Woman? Find the rest of her entire Classic first season on Hulu.com - HERE.

The Smallville Secrets of Rodolfo Migliari's JUSTICE SOCIETY

Just in case you didn't catch the landmark two-hour 'Absolute Justice' episode of Smallville last month - or you did but a closer look would be like sex for your inner fan boy/girl, the episode marked the 'live media' debut of DC Comics' legendary World War II-era superhero team, The Justice Society of America.  And whether you saw the episode or only caught a teaser or two, it'd be hard to miss the JSA's mural-sized portrait, a visual that's long-been a part of the team's comic book legacy. 

If you've been wondering exactly who created Smallville's wall-sized tribute, the answer is DC Comics' cover artist Rodolfo Migliari, whose most recent work can be seen on the variant cover editions of Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Blackest Night.  

Migliari's piece, like much of his work, isn't an illustration but an actual painting.  Interestingly, it's not the actual - or Migliari's original rendering of the JSA - that appears in 'Absolute Justice'.  Migliari confides on his blog that given the show's size requirements, the Smallville painting is actually a print; the original work is considerably smaller (about 27.5" by 11.8").

While the iconic visual of the JSA seated about their engraved conference room table has been seen many times throughout the team's publication history, it's the original appearance of the image that served as Migliari's inspiration. 
 
All-Star Comics Issue #3, which debuted during the winter months of 1940, marked the very first appearance of the Justice Society of America, a team comprised of various superheroes who enjoyed their own individual adventures in other concurrent DC Comics' series.  The cover art (right) was drawn by illustrator Everett E. Hibbard .


Migliari's other influence for his Smallville JSA came from Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which, in many respects, must also have been a source of inspiration to Hibbard over sixty years ago.

While we'd love Migliari's JSA painting to be hung in as many households as reproductions of da Vinci's work surely are, Migliari notes that the possibility seems unlikely due to copyright restrictions.  But, to his credit, he's let 'the powers that be' know the demand is there -- and we think any and all interested dabblers should, too. DC Comics editorial is just an email away! For an even closer look at Rodolfo Migliari's work, scoot over to his self-named blog HERE.
(For a gi-normous view of The JSA by Migliari, right-click on the image to make much bigger!)

SMALLVILLE'S Allison Mack On Chloe's Greatest Accomplishment

Allison Mack's contribution to Smallville's success cannot be understated, and as the show that chronicles the evolution of a super boy to a Superman enters into the final stretch of its ninth season, Mack's Chloe Sullivan has become its most interesting and enigmatic character.  Chloe, you see, is Smallville's only main character that isn't part of the established Superman mythos. As written, she's Lois Lane's cousin - and at this point in Smallville's weekly drama, she's become an integrated part of the show's superhero community, whereas  Lois herself is still a good leg from getting the scoop on Clark Kent.  By virtue of her existence outside of Superman's comic book continuity, Chloe's also Smallville's' go-to girl,' the one character that everything can happen to that can't happen to everybody else. Though this fact has made Mack's character something of a guinea pig for past plot lines, has also allowed Chloe to develop a character arc -- to change -- more visibly, and perhaps more dramatically, than the rest of the Smallville gang.

What's most intriguing about Chloe is the character's potential to become anything - or anybody. Smallville's fans have been intrigued for years as to who Chloe may yet become, as a name or identity change may one day surprisingly reveal her to be an already-established character from DC Comics' Superman lore.  The mystic hero Doctor Fate even alluded as much in Smallville's Absolute Justice episode earlier this month - and he hasn't been the first to do so.

We take today's quote from an Allison Mack's February 12th interview with Newsarama.com -- because, frankly, it just made us smile. It's also a testament to the interplay of legend building in the comic book universe,  and to Mack's creation of a very pivotal role in the world of The Man of Steel.  DC Comics purchased the rights to Chloe Sullivan, intending to bring her into Superman's comic book canon, beginning with issue #674 of that series. Ultimately, however, those plans fell through -- and DC has no future plans to integrate Chloe into the DC Universe.

Still, while mainstream superheroing may evade her, Allison Mack's Chloe did get the DC treatment.  In 2002, DC Comics published Smallville: The Comic -  a 64-Page Special! - a story set outside of DC's other Superman titles but that did jive with Smallville's own continuity.  Featuring the show's entire cast at the time, the Smallville Special was a one-time event, but its popularity brought Smallville back for a second eleven-issue run  (and TV series tie-in) the following year.  Considering how things are really super-heating up for the series, it's likely that Smallville - and Chloe - will find itself cast in four-colors for a third time.  For both, as we've said, anything is possible.  Need more Smallville or Chloe Sullivan? The place to be is Kryptonsite.com - HERE.

 Left: Smallville (Volume 2) Issue #7 (DC Comics, 2004) 

Right: Chloe Sullivan as her comic book alter-ego

Boy, It's Vintage! TV'S BATMAN, Beyond...

Adam West  - as photographed by Seth Kushner [via]

Boy, It's Vintage! Can't Say CAPTAIN MARVEL

SHAZAM!

Jason Bostwick as 'Captain Marvel' 

CBS Saturday morning television show, Shazam! (1974)

For more SHAZAM! TV, fly HERE

Disney and the Many Possibilities of MARVEL TV

Mickey's corporate Mousketeers have had a busy two weeks.  Yes, it's been exactly fourteen days since Disney officially assumed ownership of Marvel Comics, and it doesn't surprise us to hear that the reverse-imagineering has already begun full throttle.

According to our buddy  'Honor Hunter' on the quite excellent, Disney-centric Blue Sky Disney blog,  Mouse execs are closely scrutinizing Marvel's many Tier 2 and Tier 3 characters to identify those heroes   best positioned to attract the attention of the elusive young boy demographic.  Although their DisneyXD Channel (formerly Toon Disney) is geared towards young males, Disney's been unsuccessful capturing their attention a la Hannah Montana.  If you've ever tuned into DisneyXD, you'll fully understand why.

Disney's CEO Bob Iger's never made a secret of the goldmine his company believes Marvel's lower rungs to be, and the rest of us will likely find out how prescient he was before the end of this year.  Considering Iger wants as close to instant cred as he can get with his new heroes, maybe even before then.  

We've always harbored a secret desire for an exclusive cable  superhero channel, and Disney's definitely going in that direction. They're expected to green light at least two new Marvel projects for DisneyXD  shortly, with more to follow.  While no official time-line's been given, we're thinking DisneyXD's lineup will become very superhero-heavy just before we're buying tickets for Thor.                                                                                               

Of course, there's still the small and potentially conflicting matter of Marvel's animated  projects in development pre-Disney. A Black Panther cartoon is set to debut this Spring, and The AVENGERS: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, featuring Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man and Wasp, is expected to  for broadcast in 2011 to coincide with the release of The Avengers feature film.   Will Disney be assuming these developing projects, or be limited by pre-existing deals  set to prevent the Mouse from reaping Avengers guaranteed bank?    

With all that's involved, it's a tad premature to be calling DisneyXD MarvelTV.   But with everyone's attention tuned into TV, we've got to wonder how Disney's XD Directive will impact the future of Marvel comic books.  After all, isn't that about what we're most concerned?  

If the new Disney 'toons prove as popular at Marvel's Super Hero Squad,   we can probably count on each new show getting the comic treatment. Bolstered by Disney marketing and distribution, we're as certain of their success as we are of the precedents these comics will be setting.  Disney's superhero cartoons may be the first real litmus test of their Marvelous purchase,  as well as a clear sign of what's to come. Perhaps it's in this way that Disney will wrest editorial control, with the extent of its reach being measured in cable subscriptions and by boys twelve and under.   Source: [link]

HEROES GO BOLLYWOOD

If you've already read our first (so far) Avatar blog , you probably were as surprised as we were to read that James Cameron's blue man movie racked up a two week $560 million box office in India alone - twice it's US haul.  If nothing else already has, Avatar's Indian performance has surely made every studio in Hollywood sit up straight and take notice.  Luckily for our movie makers, India's BOLLYWOOD TV and film industry  isn't the competition  that its audiences are --yet.

We've always been curious about exactly what BOLLYWOOD is, and kinda thought we might not be the only ones.   In a nutshell, here's what we learned, Cliff's Notes style:  Bollywood  is a mash-up of Bombay (now called, Mumbai) and Hollywood, and it's stuck as the name of India's Mumbai-based entertainment mecca. When collectively combined with India's other film-centric operations, BOLLYWOOD is considered to be the world's largest entertainment (movies and TV) industry in terms of the number of movies produced as well as the number of movie tickets sold. 

After Avatar's cash-dump, we don't doubt that one bit.  A couple of other key differences are that India's film industry uses the  Hindi-language, of course, and most Bollywood productions are melodramatic song and dance flicks.  That doesn't make them Hollywood musicals; picture Sylvester Stallone breaking out with  a catchy tune and a twirl after his big win in Rocky, and you'll be on the track.

BOLLYWOOD has also earned a reputation for its close knock-off's of popular American movies and television shows.  We got a kick out of Bolly's version of NBC's Heroes  -- (which, by the way, we're hoping you caught last night).   As you can tell from the poster itself -- quite similar in composition to NBC's initial ad campaign --  India's Heroes is an entirely different ballgame from our own.  The show's tag-line and main characters' goal to travel the country and discover national pride removes any doubt that the Mumbai-made Heroes isn't every bit steeped in 'India' and not in the adventures of Sylar, Hiro, and Claire.   Like most other Indian entertainment we've seen, Heroes is very much a portrait of that country's culture. [Want more Bollywood? Go HERE]

You can tell a lot of about a place from their movie posters and ad campaigns. We still like Save The Cheerleader, Save The World -- NBC's Heroes first catchy tag - way more than its Bollywood brother.  But we're not exactly sure what Saving A Cheerleader really says about our culture to  outside nations.  If the world economy was controlled by the National Football League, that'd be a different thing all-together.