With it's Ellen Page starring sequel arriving on September 29th, 2017, and that I just re-watched it, I thought it would be a good time to talk about Joel Schumacher's 1990 haunted psychological thriller Flatliners. The premise was simple but effective; a group of medical students experiment with near death experiences to see if the stories of lights, and tunnels, and voices told by other near death survivors holds any water. What they discover are very personal experiences that bring secrets/demons of their pasts into their physical reality. It stars Kiefer Sutherland (Lost Boys), Kevin Bacon (Friday The 13th), Julia Roberts (Erin Brockavich), Oliver Platt (X-Men; First Class), and William Baldwin (Backdraft). This is my favorite film Schumacher ever made and his best looking one. He was backed up by cinematographer Jan De Bont, production designer Eugenio Zanetti, and set decorator Anne Kuljian and together they created a very cool, very alive, stylish film that had touches of gothic horror, crime noir, scenes straight out of a comic book, and washed in lighting that almost rivals some of DePalma's or Argento's work.
Flatliners was one of those films that I watched repeatedly on cable and also rented a fair number of Silence Of The Lambs had ridden in on the wave of slick adult horror *cough cough* THRILLERS, like Jacob's Ladder. Despite the genre label, Flatliners had a fair amount in common with Frankenstein and dealt with some very heavy spiritual issues. Regardless of what it was called, the important thing is that it's a smart, well made movie that offers a very satisfying experience. It has strong characters, some decent scares, high re-watchability, and ultimately a decent pay off. Schumacher had already proven to be an adept film maker with a good eye. Tonally his films were pleasing, even if they weren't always my thing. The last film of his I enjoyed was the every-man-at-the-end-of-his-rope hit Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.
times. It came out after the 80s slasher boom had run out of steam and with the run away success of
Schumacher would betray me though. Stab me in the heart through my back even, when he made the shit-tastic Batman and Robin and Batman Forever. Yes, stellar set design, amazing lighting, yes, yes. But. There is not one other good thing to be said about these films. At all. From the casting on these films were utter mistakes, culturally tone deaf, and killed Batman in the cinema for years. Schumacher wanted to do a wild, campy, fun take on The Dark Knight that combined the feel of the two previous Burton films, with the colorful world of the 60s TV show. As far as I'm concerned, the Burton films were already a big step in the wrong direction and Schumacher just wheeled the whole franchise off a cliff. It wasn't because Batman had landed in the hands of a bad director, it was because a good director didn't respect the character enough-or perhaps have enough faith in the character to further his career in a notable way, so he decided to have fun and collect his check.
Returning to Flatliners after so many years really made me sad for what could have been. Take the
film and imagine Chicago as Gotham City (Nolan shot his DK trilogy there). Think about the themes and techniques Schumacher employed; there's touches of horror, science fiction, action, mystery, redemption, fear, heroism...If you change the plot to fit a Batman story, Joel Schumacher would have defined the character for a generation or more. It could have been a small, claustrophobic, mystery that took the character seriously, while embracing all the elements of the comic (the other-wordly, sci-fi, super human aspects) that Nolan flat out ignored. Ras Al Ghul could be hundreds of years old in that version, instead of just a man, you could imagine gods and monsters coming out of the wood work, and even an alien savior. Baldwin would have made a good Batman/Bruce Wayne. Sutherland could have pulled off a Joker to rival Ledger's performance, Roberts would have been a far more comic accurate Vicky Vale, Bacon would slay as Scarecrow, and Platt would have been a great Penguin.
I love Nolan's films, but while they are top notch Nolan films, they're only so-so Batman films, because he doesn't embrace the of the levels of the character. Which is where Burton and Schumacher fail as well. They only adapt Batman at a surface level and never dig into the depths of what makes the character so weird, and fun, and dark, and scary, and absurd. Did Snyder capture any or all of that in the new DC cinematic universe? I think we have to wait for Justice League to really judge. I have high hopes and really like Affleck as Bats. What's even more exciting is the fact that Matt Reeves will helm the solo Batman film and I base my excitement solely on Let Me In, which isn't just a great remake, but a great film in it's own right. He gets characters, atmosphere, and horror, in much the same way Schumacher did with Flatliners.
Sounds like Dr Strange has found a director and is in good hands. Good for him. But what about Wonder Woman, Spider Woman, Black Widow, Bat Girl, Huntress, Black Orchid...Hell we had two major villainessess in Dark Knight Rises (Talia Al Ghul and Catwoman) who both had to take a backseat to mush mouth Bane (who was great, really). Hasn't Scarlet Johansen proven that she kicks ass as Black Widow and could carry a solo film? Props to Arrow for having a number of strong female leads, here's hoping they keep it up in season 3.
Anyway, here's a few of my favorite kick ass lady flicks. Yes, some are certainly better than others, but none are boring! (Batwoman is one I just found out about today. It's a Mex-ploitation flick from 1968 and not connected to the DC character, but sports an Adam West style cowl and a bikini.)
John Broome and Carmine Infantino created The Phantom Stranger in 1952, giving him a six issue series, but it wasn't until 1969 when he was reintroduced in Showcase #80 that we got the Stranger that is most familiar to comics fans. Originally, the Stranger was a hoax breaker, disproving supernatural events and had no supernatural power himself. Since then there have been five different possible origins given for the Stranger, none definitive except the last one in Phantom Stranger #0 (2012) where he's revealed to be Judas and his never ending journey is his penance for betraying Christ.
Fans have seen the Stranger fade in and out of various DC titles for years and occupying his own
excellent series and mini-series. The mysterious traveler would show up out of no where, be cryptic, help the Justice League or Swamp Thing and disappear into the great unknown.
When I was a kid, there was no Phantom Stranger series (until the '87 mini series drawn by Mike Mignola, but I was unaware of it until later). It was only guest appearances in Swamp Thing that I first became aware of the character and started seeking him out. I've always said DC Comics's greatest strength outside of Batman was in the B, C, and D list characters. Especially the supernatural/horror super heroes. The great, weird and eerie 1970's adventures of the Stranger are perfect examples. Mixing costumed adventuring with Lovecraftian horror, keeping his origin, purpose, even powers vague, and giving an ultra-cool and unique look made those comics some of the best I've ever read. Particularly, issues featuring Deadman (who I rank right up there with the Stranger) really drove home just how unique DC's universe was. Yes Marvel and other comic publishers have and do mix the supernatural into their super heroing, but DC had a look and a style that was unmatched.
Marvel's great horror titles of the 70's, like Werewolf By Night, Tomb of Dracula, and Ghost Rider were exciting and cool, featuring great artwork and writing, but they never had a Phantom Stranger. The new Stranger series in DC's new 52 and his appearance in Justice League Dark have been more than satisfying and worth following. #0, which I mentioned earlier, was a cool jumping on issue for the uninitiated, written by Dan Didio. It lacks the darker spook house feel of the 70's, but I doubt anyone can recapture that.
The Stranger has shown up in the cartoon series Justice League Unlimited and in a darker episode of Batman Brave and the Bold. I've heard rumors about a Phantom Stranger tv series coming from JJ Abrams, but I'll believe it when I see it. But if there is any character that would lend itself to a cool and creepy hour of weekly tv it would be the Stranger.
The Bat team continues their winning streak with Batman and Batgirl #s 16, the last issues before the big finale in Batman 17. I can't afford to follow all the Bat titles that tie into DotF, but I've tried to keep up each one and everyone's doing a bang up job.
The three I do follow (these two and Morrison/Burnham's Batman Inc) have been flat out amazing. Snyder and Simone are crafting pure gold from these old characters and showing that after more than 70 years Batman can still be as shocking and exciting as ever.
The Joker has been a pure terror, more horrifying than we've ever seen him. With a sick new Leatherface make over and an ever twisting evolution of his traps, few writers have ever made such good use of the Clown Prince of Crime. And as a long time Batgirl fan and always a little pissed over the Killing Joke, it's been a thrill seeing a fully abled Barbara Gordon go toe to toe with Joker.
Now it's all waiting for #17 and and Batman Inc #7...
So tonight we're swinging on the low hanging fruit of blogdom-The LISTING. If someone makes a list of, say, their top ten favorite DC characters and their choices aren't YOUR choices, you're going to feel MAD and my esteemed colleague, Paul O'Connor at Long Box Graveyard, has done just that. His list does include some true winners, but, ahem, Wildcat? Wildcat is no one's favorite anything. And you will speak with RESPECT when referring to Aquaman!
Deep breath-let it out-focus.
I've decided to make this list devoid of Batman (family or rogues) to get at the depth of awesome that is the DC line up. Other wise we're talking Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Nightwing, Red Robin, Robin (Damian Wayne), Talia Al Ghul, Riddler, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Batwoman, and Batman and we never get to these fantastic four color heroes and villains...
10. Deadman
The ghost of an acrobat who has to possess the bodies of the living to interact with them. Boston Brand is a compelling character and part of DC's darker line of heroes. Mike Baron and Kelley Jones probably told the best Deadman stories until he became a major player in Brightest Day.
9. Phantom Stranger
The classic version of the Stranger could be explained pretty simply by his his name, it's what he was and everything else was a mystery. The new series has given him a proper origin that's pretty interesting. The Stranger has often dropped in on the DC universe to be creepy and cryptic and awesome. Sometimes a direct force in the action, sometimes just there to advise or warn. When the Phantom Stranger arrives something cool is about to happen.
8. Animal Man
There's something cool about a lot of DC's characters; no matter how goofy they may have been in the early days, there was always at least a sliver of awesome to be capitalized on later. Grant Morrison did just that to Buddy Baker aka Animal Man and turned him into one of the most compelling and entertaining characters in comics. After Morrison left, the series went on to get darker and weirder, evolving into an adults only Vertigo title and pushing the envelope of what a super hero comic was. The New 52 Animal Man series continues with that attitude keeping him one of the most unique and original heroes out there.
7. Raven
I actually became a Raven fan because of the Teen Titans cartoon series. The teen Titans comics could never hold my interest very long when I was a kid-I really only cared about Robin, but times and attitudes change and I've developed bit more interest in the Titans, with Raven being my favorite. The daughter of a demon and a human, Raven possess powerful magic powers that she must always be careful to control.
6. Starman
Let's be specific here. I'm talking about the 90's version, the reluctant hero who takes up the mantle when his brother (who had become Starman after their father had retired) is murdered. Industrial/punk/geek. Cool look. I want to see this guy come back.
5. Green Arrow
Same with Animal Man, you've got a goofy guy with a goofy suit with a goofy gimmick and in the right hands one of DC's best characters. Start with the Neal Adam's in the stuff in the 70's and go forward. Green Arrow stays good almost the whole time, especially with Mike Grell and most recently with Ann Nocenti.
4. John Constantine, Hellblazer
The good old Vertigo stalwart. Piss poor attitude, aging punk rocker, magician, and all around asshole that manages to do some good. Pals around with Swamp Thing, screws with Satan, and puts everyone he knows in mortal danger at some point. Constantine has been one of DC's most enduring and beloved characters. It's nice to see him back in the regular DCU with Justice League Dark!
3. Swamp Thing
Here's one Long Box Graveyard and I agree on. Swamp Thing has to be in everyone's top ten list, or their list is broken. That's a judgement call and I'm making it (as Bill Hicks said). Some the best creative minds in the history of comics have laid their hands on Swamp Thing over the years and in all of comics there are few characters that provide as rewarding and exciting stories as this rip off of the Heap. The Alan Moore years are most famous but the last Vertigo series, starting with Bad Seed and the current New 52 incarnation get high marks from me and are extremely recommended.
2. Deathstroke
This was a character that I thought looked really cool, but never cared about until Identity Crisis, then he became one of my favorite villains. His origin owes a nod to Captain America, but he becomes the world's greatest assassin and mercenary. The main enemy of the Teen Titans, Slade Wilson is a tactical genius and one of the coldest bad asses in all of the DCU.
1. Gorilla Grodd
I can understand people raising an eyebrow at this one, but I love talking monkeys, sorry. Planet of the Apes ranks high with me, so does King Kong. The idea of an evil genius talking ape is a pretty good foundation for weirdo/fun storytelling. Part of Flash's rogues gallery, he gained his powers from exposure to a meteorite. He now sees himself as a superior to man. Hell, he even ran for governor once. Not to mention that he makes a damn cool action figure.
Out of all the monsters-classic or modern- Frankenstein's monster is by far my favorite and the most important to me.
When I was four or five I got the Mego-like Remco Frankenstein monster action figure with only the vaguest idea of who it was. It didn't matter who it was, I had an awesome monster for my Mego Batman to fight. I grew to love that toy almost as much as my Batman and was crushed when it mysteriously disappeared.
Toys just not being there anymore was common for me growing up since we moved every six months and I can only assume things were just trashed.
By the time the monster had vanished I had a favorite character that captured my imagination the way Batman and Star Wars had.
Having no context for the monster allowed my imagination to run wild and when I found out it had multiple movies and a book my interest ignited into a mild obsession.
Cartoons like The Drac Pack and Groovy Ghoulies and the TV show The Munsters gave me a taste of the monster, but I knew these were all played for laughs and the monster was a monster and I needed to see the real movie to find out what the deal was.
But this was pre internet, hell pre VCR and pre cable so it'd be a long wait to enjoy the Universal classic.
With the loss of the toy and no replacement to be found my interests focused on Star Wars and a little later Masters of the Universe (my favorite toy line of the 80's) and GI Joe. I loved action, sci-fi, ninjas, but not horror-not even a shred of interest in it until late in 4th grade. I literally couldn't see a commercial for Friday the 13th without having nightmares for days. I liked monsters though; Godzilla, King Kong, and of course Frankenstein (I gave the novel a try for the first time in 3rd grade, but I didn't fully appreciate it until I was an adult). I saw a distinct difference between monster movies and horror movies.
Monsters tended to be misunderstood and the humans were the real monsters or the concept was so outlandish it couldn't be taken seriously. Horror was about evil, senseless evil and killing and terrifying men in masks who watched you from the bushes before attacking.
I developed a tolerance and then a love of horror thanks in large part to Tales From The Dark Side. By the sixth grade I was becoming a serious fan of the genre. I read Fangoria whenever I could, checked out books about horror films from the library and started working my way through Stephen King's novels. I reread Frankenstein around then as well and that's when the monster took on a whole new meaning for me.
With puberty and middle school came awkwardness and cliques at school. Divisions were clearly defined and being a skinny, short kid from a poor family with no interest in sports I was an easy target for the rednecks and jocks.
I got "Hey, faggot" so much I began to suspect people thought that was my name. Feeling like an outsider in a world I didn't ask to be a part of or even wanted to be a part of deepened my affection for the story. Alice Cooper's "Teenage Frankenstein" from his Constrictor album gave me a theme song.
I finally got to see James Whale's version with Boris Karloff around this time and Robocop shortly after when it came out on VHS. I saw a kinship right away and Empire Strikes Back was no longer my favorite movie.
Sometime around then the awesome Monster Squad came out which featured all the classic monsters, a definite classic of the 80's. There was also an updating of the Bride of Frankenstein called The Bride, more of a gothic romance, but still very good.
The local grocery store had a video rental section and randomly had a copy of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. I was unaware of Hammer Films at the time, but the meaner, darker Frankenstein was revelatory.
In high school I got to see more of the Universal Frankenstein films when we got AMC and I found more Hammer films on VHS. There were plenty of parodies out there, none of which I recommend (Monster Squad and Frankenhooker are dark comedies that seem to respect their sources not make fun of them).
I'd say all the Universal and Hammer Frank' films are great to watchable and I HIGHLY recommend Andy Warhol's Flesh for Frankenstein, directed by Paul Morrisey and starring Udo Kier and Frank Hennenlotter's Frankenhooker, just for their sheer audacity and fun.
You can't overlook Stuart Gordon's adaptation of HP Lovecraft's take on Frankenstein; Re Animator. Sick, dirty, gory and AWESOME!
And one can't forget Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound that puts an interesting time travel spin on the story.
Ken Russell told the tale of the book's origin in the cool Gothic.
I'm forgetting or haven't seen plenty more, but my point is that the story never gets old. Or at least, I never get tired of it.
I hope to some day unleash my own take on the monster and I believe there's plenty of room for more retellings and continuations because it's a story that can be universally understood and never seems to be out dated, especially with the leaps and bounds science makes in genetics, prosthetics, robotics, and cloning. The subtitle of Shelley's Frankenstein was the Modern Prometheus. Prometheus stole fire from the gods and was punished. Man will never stop trying to steal that fire and Frankenstein will always remind us to use caution in our pursuits.
The premier of the CW's Arrow, based on DC Comics' Green Arrow aired last night and I really enjoyed it. Aside from stiff/wonky dialogue it was a great action show, faithful enough to the comic and I'm looking forward to what's to come. At the beginning of the show we see Deathstroke's mask, next episode features China White and Deadshot has been confirmed. It looks like they got this one right.
A precursor to Batman, The Shadow was a dark and mysterious crime fighter who used several disguises and a network of agents to wage war on the underworld. With a look that just flat out defined cool, The Shadow was one of the most influential and popular of all the pulp heroes. The Shadow has been featured in every medium except animation (as far as I know.
I was first exposed to The Shadow one Christmas when my Aunt Brenda got me the Denny O'Neil/Michael Kaluta graphic novel that had The Shadow fighting Nazis.
The Shadow captured my imagination in a way that only Batman, Treasure Island, and Frankenstein had before.
Dynamite Entertainment's new reboot of the character is set back in the pre-World War II world where he belongs and is as violent and action packed as any fan would want.
The new series holds up well against the old DC Comics series.
There's been rumors of a new movie for a few years, but I'm not holding my breath. I was certainly not knocked out by the Alec Baldwin version from '94, not that it was totally awful, just a bit too tongue in cheek and goofy in parts. Baldwin could've made a terrific Shadow had there been a better script.
When I was drawing my earliest comics as a kid, I ripped off the Shadow more times than I can remember.
Released this year was the sick 12" Sideshow Collectible action figure.
I didn't grow up near a comic shop, but the grocery store had a spinner rack. That rack never had Swamp Thing. I been following Detective Comics, Spectacular SpiderMan, The Punisher, and Daredevil, but I knew there was a whole world I was missing out on.
But there was a magical trip to Knoxville (the biggish city 45 minutes from my hometown) that finally put me next to a comic shop. I don't remember why we at that strip mall, but next door to where we were going was a comic shop and my parents dumped me there while they did whatever the hell they were doing.
I started digging through the long boxes, desperately searching for all those cool titles I'd only heard of, Swamp Thing was at the top of my list. This cover to the left was the first issue I pulled out of the box and the first of four I bought that day. Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson created Swamp Thing who made his debut in 1971 in House of Secrets. His series debuted in '72 and was a successful and popular run, but sales began to dwindle towards the end. It was brought back ahead of the Wes Craven film adaptation. Writing duties were turned over to Alan Moore and the book became the first comic to abandon the Comics Code, becoming an adults only title. Moore's run is also notable for the great artists who worked on the book (Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette) and for the introduction of John Constantine, Hellblazer.
Though sales dropped in the 90's and the book was cancelled, the character remained a fan favorite. There was a new Vertigo series in 2004 written by Andy Diggle. That series kicked off with Swamp Thing as the antagonist and his daughter Tefe trying to stop him. Swamp Thing's old nemesis Anton Arcane returned in a bloody story arc and horror comic legend Richard Corben contributed to some issues, but unfortunately low sales doomed that series, but fans would get a treat when Swamp Thing returned in Geof Johns' Brightest Day series.
Now the new series is set to crossover with another character that started off in the regular DC universe and crossed over to the adults only Vertigo, Animal Man (another favorite of mine, and currently one of the best books on the shelf).
I don't see much point in talking about the two movies, although the first isn't the worst thing ever and has some interesting moments. The tv series from USA network that ran nearly 100 episodes is much better and is now collected on DVD in three volumes.
A search on Youtube will get you to the animated series I'm sure, but you don't want to go there...The theme song alone, ugh (shudders).
Hopefully this new Swamp Thing series will be around for a long run, Not one issue has been a disappointment.
Flatliners was one of those films that I watched repeatedly on cable and also rented a fair number of Silence Of The Lambs had ridden in on the wave of slick adult horror *cough cough* THRILLERS, like Jacob's Ladder. Despite the genre label, Flatliners had a fair amount in common with Frankenstein and dealt with some very heavy spiritual issues. Regardless of what it was called, the important thing is that it's a smart, well made movie that offers a very satisfying experience. It has strong characters, some decent scares, high re-watchability, and ultimately a decent pay off. Schumacher had already proven to be an adept film maker with a good eye. Tonally his films were pleasing, even if they weren't always my thing. The last film of his I enjoyed was the every-man-at-the-end-of-his-rope hit Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.
