if you like comics and super-hero movies you can’t go wrong with DC’s latest animated film, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. It’s a terrific translation of classic comics stories to film with a contemporary flavor.

Set during the early days of the League when they’re constructing their space station (pre-Justice League Unlimited). For the sake of this discussion, they live on Earth One. Meanwhile, on a parallel earth (known as Earth Three in the comics) there is another Justice League that’s the opposite of the one on JLA’s World. In this world, the villains are the heroes and visa-versa. Superman is a criminal thug named Ultraman. He runs a mob called the Crime Syndicate which is made up of evil versions of the Justice League. But the Justice League of that world is run by Lex Luthor and is composed of good versions of the villains in Earth One.

The good Lex Luthor has just stolen something from the Crime Syndicate. He escapes to Earth One using a device that allows him to travel between quantum realities. He needs the Justice League’s help in defeating the Crime Syndicate which has killed all the remaining heroes on his world. The Justice League questions why they should try to save a world other than Earth when they have so many problems to deal with here. But they know they can’t refuse.

Lots of fun ensues. (more…)

Marvel recently announced that their heroes would start acting like heroes again. So what were they doing, running crack houses?

After seven years of grim and grimmer story lines, including a superhero “civil war” that pitted Iron Man against Spider-Man and the death of Captain America, Marvel Comics will usher in a more optimistic “Heroic Age” approach in May.

“Heroes will be heroes again,” says Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada. “They’ve gone through hell and they’re back to being good guys — a throwback to the early days of the Marvel Universe, with more of a swashbuckling feel.”

What does “swashbuckling,” which refers to pirates, have to do with heroism? Quesada went on to explain that Captain America, Iron Man and Thor would be working together again instead of acting like foes. Suddenly, WTF? appears over the scene like the Batsignal. How does working together make them heroes exactly? In the “Dark Reign” series of stories at Marvel last year, a bunch of Super-villains led by Norman (Green Goblin) Osborn had taken over the Avengers and were “working together,” trying to kill off the real heroes. Under the guise of helping people. How progressive. But that’s not very heroic. (more…)

I just got home from Comic-Con. In a couple hours I have to take a shower and head back downtown for a big party my Hollywood management company invited me to. Every year they team with a bunch of other companies and throw a huge industry mixer. They’re usually really crowded and noisy, but there’s free food and drinks and I usually met interesting people.

This year they also teamed up with Wired magazine and set up a private green room called the “Wired Cafe,” where select people from the press and the industry are invited during the day. They have a bunch of laptops set up for people to blog and tweet and a cafe with an open bar and great food. I decided to go there for lunch instead of my usual haunts. I had a Smoked Turkey Panini and considered a Dim Sum sampler, which the person at my table ordered with his Burger. Maybe tomorrow. (more…)