Musical Monday: Seal sings "kissed by a rose on the grey," and my world is falling apart (a little bit)

"Kiss From a Rose" has to be one of the most well-known and well-loved pop songs to be heavily associated with a superhero movie.  Originally released in 1994, its inclusion on the soundtrack to 1995's Batman Forever (not a bad movie btw...something maybe suited for a future post...) is what vaulted it into the public...ear.  And it does work amazingly well with the Batman mythos, since Bruce Wayne's lasting emotional trauma after the death of his parents gives a simple connection to the song's rose on their grave(s).

Except I just found out yesterday that he isn't singing "grave," he's singing "grey."  And I'm not sure how to feel about it.  It seems to be a pretty commonly misheard lyric...I'm definitely not the only one to be shocked by it, and I found at least one person suspecting the Mandela Effect at play.

Which would make sense...I mean, we even see the Waynes' graves, and roses, in the music video, don't we?

Wait...don't we?  Wtf do I remember THAT from?

Hmm.  What else am I going to find out about all of this?

Wait a minute, Val Kilmer died?!

Okay, I'm leaving this and coming back to it...

The Christmas party on my desk at work

A bunch of folks at work put some real effort into their cubicle Christmas decorations this year.  I think I held my own (with coworkers helping on a couple of festive touches), BUT if you ask me, the real party at my desk was in the...party...going on in the corner.  I documented it over the course of the season...

(HAPPY HOLIDAYS, ALL!!)

Four-color thought experiment: Drafting a superhero universe

So, I've had this running through my head for a bit...really just a fun thing to ponder, but I actually think it would be a cool exercise to carry out at some point.

What if you took all of the superheroes out there, put them into a pot, and allowed the major comic book publishers to draft their rosters in the manner of American professional sports leagues?  (I'm sure some leagues in other countries do it, too, but it's more of an American phenomenon, as far as I know...)  To make it interesting, we'd let more than the Big Two in on it...maybe five or six entities...or hell, a hundred, since this is all hypothetical anyway...could choose their group of heroes to publish.

If you were in charge of choosing, how would you go about it?  Do you just pick the most popular characters out of what's available?  Your favorites?  Do you go for synergy above all?  Do you pick a theme and look for consistency?

There are a lot of fun wrinkles to consider.  Once you pick a member of the X-Men, do you feel the need to lock in mutant prejudice as part of your world?  If you first-pick Superman (one of the obvious top picks, I think), does his power level limit your choices the rest of the way?

And who would be the first character outside of Marvel and DC that's worth picking?  Spawn?  Hellboy?  Faith?  Popeye (sure, he's in there)?

There would have to be some specific ground rules that I haven't really ironed out...doesn't seem like it would make much sense to let someone have, say, Superman, but then let Supergirl go somewhere else.  Green Lanterns and the Fantastic Four present issues that would have to be addressed.  Those details are part of the fun of thinking about this, though.

From where I stand, there's really just one obvious first pick, no matter your overall strategy:

From the DC Database.

Probably the most popular superhero (and maybe the most popular fictional character) on the planet...extremely adaptable...doesn't have powers that warp the rest of the world...it's hard to see why anyone would choose anyone else.  Even if no members of the Family come along, Bats is worth it.

In my mind, it gets a lot hairier after that, though.  Based on my vision of an ideal superhero universe, with nods to both popularity and my own favorites, this is how I'd rank my top ten picks (at the moment, anyway)...

1. Batman
2. Spider-Man
3. Wonder Woman
4. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan if I have to pick one)
5. Captain America
6. The Hulk
7. Aquaman
8. However many members of the Fantastic Four I could get with one pick
9. The Flash (Barry Allen if I have to pick one)
10. Wolverine

I'd love to know how some of y'all would go about this...!

Batman vs. Puppies

Not a straight-up fight, cuz we know who would win that one.  (Sorry, pups.)  BUT...a little over a week ago, I got a message from Rika over at DiscoverGeek.com pointing out that my readers and I might enjoy the map they put together on tendencies within states to Google up the Caped Crusader or...well, puppies.

Now, I know I am but a pawn in the Game of Clicks that is internet commerce, but if someone is willing to both (A) do some research on two of the main reasons life is worth living, and (B) point it out to me in such a way that implies I have a significant readership (I'm talking numbers here, people...I appreciate EVERYONE who's willing to take a moment to look at my random thoughts on here!)...well, then I sure as heck am gonna plug it on Monstrous Matters...!

So if you're so inclined...go check it out over at DiscoverGeek...and I'm definitely interested if anyone has an interpretation they'd like to share!


via DiscoverGeek

Playing in Light City: Adam West's Batman

I kind of feel like this is a bit self-serving as a "tribute" to Adam West...but since Light City currently occupies as much of my idle brainspace as anything else, I guess it seems appropriate to stat his Batman up here.  It's even more fitting, I think, due to the fact that (obviously) I keep thinking about how a Batman-style character would fit into the Light City archetypes.  Considering that he's good at...well, pretty much everything, do you focus on the martial prowess?  The Bat-gadgets?  The detective skills?  The psychological presence?

Basically, I kept wondering if it would be anywhere near appropriate to put Batman in the Brawler class, and the idea I kept coming back to that made me think that could work was the 60s TV show...

That show really demonstrated that Batman's crimefighting best often meant letting his fists do the talking, and when it wasn't his fists, he was usually improvising with his surroundings.

Now, the Bat-gadgets and other Bat-goods are also clearly a trademark of the old show...but I don't think I'm doing too much of a disservice to Mr. West's Batman to make him a good old Brawler.  Pow! Bam! Biff! indeed...!

Batman

Image snagged from an article very much worth reading over at ComicsAlliance.

Level 7 Brawler
First appearance:  Batman (TV series) Episode 1 (1966)
STR 16     DEX 13     CON 12     INT 18     WIS 18     CHA 16
7 HD (25 HP)     Saving Throw 8
AC 8[11] (Bat-suit)
Attacks:  3x Unarmed Strikes, +8 to hit, 1d6+1 damage; Batarang, range 60 ft., +7 to hit, 1d6+1 damage; Special Improvisation 1x/day.

----------

While I ultimately couldn't forsake the Batarang as Batman's signature item, I will admit that I almost went in a slightly different direction.  Perhaps it would have been fitting in remembering the Batman that Mr. West gave us...

By the artist known as CornFedCannibal.  Click here for the story of this amazing image...!

Adam West, 1928-2017

He truly will be missed...

2 days to go

From this article that's a couple years old...but I'm guessing we're all still yellow states.

Reboot vs. Remake vs. Requel vs. Revival vs...

You know how sometimes you just feel like making a Venn diagram about something trivial?  I felt that way earlier today.

No real rhyme or reason to the examples I chose.  Maybe someday I'll get really ambitious and try to fill out each section more completely.

I'm not quite sure where Superman Returns should go on here.  I am pretty sure this was just another one of my procrastination tricks.  I'd love any feedback you have, though!

Back to work now...

(Click to embiggen.)

(EDIT:  Oh, I should probably get "Reimagining" on here somewhere, shouldn't I?  I think the whole thing might topple...)

IDW Crossover Sale

As of the time I write this, there's a sale going on for digital versions of various crossover series from IDW Publishing.  I don't know how long it's been running, or how long these sales usually last, but there's some really worthwhile stuff there.  Besides the fact that IDW is the publisher for licensed comics...so they have a great stable of their own to mix together...they've also done some crossovers with DC that are taken straight from a fanboy's Christmas list.  Like this dream series:

Here's the link to the sale at IDW's site, and here's the comiXology link (the .com version) if you prefer that.

Saturday Evening Cartoon: The Killing Joke trailer

While I'll admit that my enthusiasm has been tempered a bit by the recent revelation of some tinkering with the Batman/Batgirl relationship (SPOILER at that link!), I don't plan to miss my brief chance this week to see Batman: The Killing Joke on the big screen.  It's a classic story and a Brian Azzarello take on the Alan Moore/Brian Bolland original.  Add in that DC has a pretty good track record with their animated features (and apparently isn't holding back at all with this one, as it seems to have earned an R rating), and that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are portraying the leads, and it's still something I don't want to miss in theaters.

USA screening information can be found here, UK here.  (May be showing elsewhere, too...not sure about that!)  It's a two-night event now, so I hope everyone gets a chance to see it if you want to.  Thanks to Tim over at HeroPress for initially giving me the heads-up on this!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Darwyn Cooke's Batman 75th Anniversary Short

To honor the passing of comic creator Darwyn Cooke one week ago, here's the Batman Beyond short he made for the Dark Knight's 75th Anniversary in 2014:

EDIT:  Tim over at the Other Side has included this very same cartoon in his tribute to Mr. Cooke, along with some great artwork.  Justin at Halls of the Nephilim also posted a nice series of Darwyn's works earlier this week.  They're both worth a click!

Saturday Evening Cartoon: Batman versus the Terminator

...and not the Terminator he usually faces.

There's a good chance this will be the best Batman v. film I'll see this year...