Jacob's Comics: Batman: Digital Justice

I’m going to take you all on a journey.  Way back into the mystical year of 1990.  Home Alone, Total Recall, and Dances With Wolves were dominating the box office. (Tremors also came out that year as well.)  Everybody’s boom-boxes were blasting out Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This”.  The internet, still in its infancy, seemed liked the way of the future, vast realms of cyberspace ripe for exploration with near-unlimited potential.

Or, at least that’s what I picked up from the latest comic I’m reviewing, Batman: Digital Justice.   In its defense though, the creators behind it way back in 1990 couldn’t have imagined the likes of Facebook and Twitter.  Hell, Napster would’ve seemed really out there at the time.

Before I get into the comic itself, I’m going to explain the specific genre that Batman: Digital Justice falls into.  During the 80’s, there was an explosion of literature that showed a highly advanced but grim future.  A future where corporations were in charge (like nowadays but worse), resistance fighters taking on the corrupt, rival hackers using virtual reality avatars to wage battle in cyberspace, and it’s always raining.

I’m talking about the genre known as Cyberpunk.

Elements of cyberpunk have crept in nearly all forms of media from film and TV to video games and fashion.  To wrap your heads around the style of cyberpunk, look no further than Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, Blade Runner.

While Blade Runner doesn’t really have much  to do with computers and cyberspace, Los Angeles in the future is spot-on for a typical cyberpunk setting.  Tall imposing buildings, clear separation of classes, merging of different cultures, rain, it has it all.  Even William Gibson, author of one of the quintessential cyberpunk novels, Neuromancer, was awestruck by the world of Blade Runner.

“BLADERUNNER came out while I was still writing Neuromancer. I was about a third of the way into the manuscript. When I saw (the first twenty minutes of) BLADERUNNER, I figured my unfinished first novel was sunk, done for. Everyone would assume I’d copped my visual texture from this astonishingly fine-looking film.”
                                                         -William Gibson, “Oh Well, While I'm Here: Bladerunner”

For the record, Neuromancer has one of my favorite opening lines: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

DC Comics, being no slouch when it comes to bandwagons, decided to dip their toe into the cyberpunk end of the pool when they released the 1990 graphic novel, Batman: Digital Justice.

I'd first heard about the book from my library's beat-up copy of Tales of the Dark Knight: Batman's First Fifty Years 1939-1989.  I'll admit I'd didn't read much of the text when I was younger, but the book had an awesome collection of covers and scenes from various Batman comics.  I remember, though, that the last chapter discussed Batman's future and it spoke about the then-up-coming Batman: Digital Justice. 

Written and illustrated by Spanish artist Pepe Moreno, what’s particularly interesting about the book that it was created using only computer technology.  Now mind you, this is 1990,  art tablets weren’t invented yet.  Microsoft Paint wasn’t invented yet!  So, Mr. Moreno only had what was available at the time.  While it looks very outdated nowadays, I have to admire the creator’s and book’s ambition.

(WARNING! THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD! Spoilers for a twenty-three year old comic book, but spoilers nonetheless)

The book takes place in Gotham Megatropolis, “sometime into the next century”, where police officer Jim Gordon, grandson of Commissioner Gordon, is noting that the Servos, robot sentries meant to replace the human police force, are using deadly force on perpetrators. And by “deadly force”, I mean shooting them with a Gatling gun until there’s nothing but red chunks everywhere.



As Gordon tries to figure out who might behind the Servos’ violence, he finds himself attacked, both physically and technologically, as every time he uses his ID card (for the elevator, bank, etc.), some mishap tends to happen. Eventually, most of his allies are killed off by the Servos’ puppet masters, with only Robert Chang, a skateboard punk that Gordon unofficially adopted, by his side.

The Servos are actually one of the many tools run by a small group, led by the mayor to control the population.  However, they all answer to an even higher source. 

After coming home to his apartment ransacked, he finds an old box of his Grandfather’s possessions including the original Batsuit that Bruce Wayne gave after he retired.  Combined with this and coming across a broken statue of Batman in the park, Gordon decides to don the Batsuit himself and take down the establishment.

Now, this is where it gets kind of weird.

Stories of Batman’s crime fighting soon becomes the talk of the town and Gata, a Lady Gaga-esqe musician, gets pissed that Batman is stealing her thunder.  In response, she decides to become Catwoman as “the cat is the natural enemy of the bat!”.  I swear to God, she says that.

After an attempt on his life by the Servos, Gordon and Chang are saved by Batman’s old computer who sends a Batmobile hovercraft to give them a lift to the original Batcave.  There, they find out that the original Batman programmed his computer into a powerful A.I., laying dormant until Gotham needed its help again.

The reason for the Bat A.I. is that Bruce Wayne saw that crime would eventually become virtual as the Joker created a computer virus to wipe out Wall Street.



Donning a new Batsuit modified to take on the Servos, with Chang becoming his Robin, they launch a full-frontal attack on the secret group that runs Gotham while the Batcomputer takes on the group’s benefactor: the Joker virus that evolved into an equally powerful A.I. with Joker’s personality.



Although the story went to some weird places, especially with the Joker Virus, I was very fond of it overall.  I’ll admit, I have a deep love of all things early 90’s, and this fit the bill quite perfectly.  That being said, there was some hokey dialogue here and there (I’m looking at you, Gata!) but it captured the usual cyberpunk technobabble you’d expect.



After having read The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, I understand how myths can be a source of inspiration even generations after the myths were first told. One of the themes Batman: Digital Justice covered that I appreciated was, appropriately enough,  the power of myth.  By the setting’s timeline, Batman had become nothing more than a legend.  However, as Gordon’s escapades as Batman become more public, Gotham’s populace feels hope for the first time as it seems that true justice is being carried out.

I can tell it was made during the short-lived “cyberdelic” movement, spearheaded by infamous drug guru of the 60’s, Dr. Timothy Leary.  He, and others in the movement, believed that the internet, and cyberspace in general, would become a stepping stone in the next stage of Human evolution, not the gateway to porn and cat videos that we know today.

Now, I come to the art, which if you’re considering picking up this book, is either going to make or break your decision.  I found the artwork to be…odd at times.  Gotham in overhead shots looks more like a circuit board than an actual city.  I also noticed that Moreno cut some corners with the artwork by reusing some figures in different panels.  In a crowd shot, there’s one guy who apparently has a clone with red hair.

This is clearly a shot of cyberspace, right?  Nope. It's Gotham from a high angle.

I did like how the Joker virus looked, being a collection of shapes that resemble the Joker’s face.  On the other hand, The Batcomputer’s Batman avatar looked like a weird stretched-out pixilated version of Batman’s head.  Also, I thought Chang was a girl at first, he looked very feminine when he first appeared.

Overall, Batman: Digital Justice wasn’t a bad read. Dated, for sure, but not horribly so.  I’d recommend it for cyberpunk fans or die-hard Batman fans to complete their collection.

But if I had to pick between alternate futures of Batman, there was another piece of Batman media that had a distinctly cyberpunk setting.  Now, what was it called?  Oh, yeah. This.

  

Beer Thoughts 07-03-13

Long time no see!  Sorry for the lack of updates but with real life (and lack of motivation :P) wanting to jump me at every turn, it’s been hard trying to put up a post recently. 

But the show must go on! With nothing but a six-pack from the dark heart of World Market at hand, a keyboard in front of me and a song in my heart, allons-y!

Victory Prima Pils - It has a peppery hops smell to it when opened. Slightly bitter at first taste but goes down smooth.  Strange that when I let sit in my mouth to taste it, it has a strong aftertaste but when I drink it normally, it doesn’t taste as bad.

Alaskan IPA - Has the same smell as the Prima Pils but more mild. Very smooth taste with a bit of a hoppy kick.  (Holy crap, this is a huge milestone as this is the 200th beer I’ve tried! )

Left Hand Brewing Co. Sawtooth Ale - It smells a bit like mocha, sweet but dark. Tastes quite smooth to the taste buds.  It still has a bit of a mocha taste but it’s not overpowering enough to distract the overall smoothness of the beer.

Deschutes Brewery Twilight Summer Ale - Has a very slight hops smell, I had to really put my nose to it in order to smell it. It has a pleasant taste with a fruity smooth flavor. Like the smell, it has a very slight aftertaste as well.

Baja Brewing Co. Cabotella - Despite being a Mexican beer, it doesn’t have the skunky smell that comes with cerevezas, more of a domestic beer smell you get with Miller or Budweiser.  Although it has a light aftertaste, it’s goes down quite easy with a mild flavor.

                                                                             
Blue Moon Agave Nectar Ale - Surprisingly, this one does have the skunky smell I expected with the Cabotella. However, it smells more sweeter than a Corona does.  The agave really stands out in the flavor as it gives a uniquely sweet taste to the beer.


Jacob’s Best O’ the Bunch! - I’m going to have to let Sawtooth Ale take the award as I was really fond of the dark mocha flavor it had over the others. It had the right balance of flavor that went beyond my expectations. But the Agave Nectar Ale and Alaskan IPA both take a close second as they both had a unique taste I never tried before with other beers.

RealmsCon 2013 Guest List...O_O

As I posted last year, I attend RealmsCon, Corpus Christi's premier anime (but really at this point it's more of a pop culture with strong anime overtones) convention on a fairly regular basis.  Now in the last few years, the guest list for RealmsCon has usually been one big name guest and a bunch of unknown or lesser known guests following in his or her wake.  For example, the big guest last year was Crispin Freeman, a well-known voice actor in the anime/video game scene.  After that were a few voice actors whose only roles of note were some obscure animes and Wizards 101.

But this year...

I don't know if the convention organizers got a huge budget increase but...Holy Crap, look at this list!

1. Jonathan Joss - Best known as the voice of John Redcorn from King of the Hill.  He was also the Indian who was hanged in the remake of True Grit.  This'll be his third year at RealmsCon.

2. Quinton Flynn - A renown voice actor most know for voicing Raiden from the Metal Gear Series and Axel from the Kingdom Hearts games.


 


3. Vic Mignogna - Another voice actor with a huge list of credits.  He is best known for playing the voice of Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist.  However, I know him best as the voice of Broly from Dragonball Z.

 

Also, I met him at RealmsCon 2009 and he signed my copy of Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

4. Verne Troyer - Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies. 'Nuff said.
 

 5. Rikki Simons - Artist and Colorist.  Most known from his work on Invader Zim, not only as an artist but as the voice for GIR the robot, who, I argue, is the most popular character on the show mainly for being insane.  Merchandise with GIR's image is still being sold in Hot Topic to this day.

6. Richard Horvitz - Voice Actor extraordinaire and a very prominent part of my childhood.  He is the voice for Zim in Invader Zim, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Daggett from Angry Beavers and Alpha 5 from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi, indeed!



And now my favorite bit of dialogue from Invader Zim featuring both Richard Horvitz and Rikki Simons:

 

Now we move onto what I call The Crow Corner:

7. James O'Barr - Creator of The Crow comic book and, in my opinion, a staple of RealmsCon guests as he has appeared at every RealmsCon I attended and even autographed my copy of the The Crow.
 

8. Rochelle Davis - She played Sarah the little skateboarding girl in The Crow.




9. Jon Polito - Played Gideon, the pawn shop owner in The Crow.  I know him also from The Big Lebowski, The Rocketeer and Miller's Crossing.

 

10. Tony Todd - Played Grange, Top Dollar's right-hand man.  He is most known for playing the Candyman from the Candyman movies and recently played The Fallen from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the Coroner from the Final Destination movies.

 

11. Ernie Hudson - Sgt. Albrecht in The Crow but I know most people know him better as Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters.  I swear, I screamed in joy "OH MY GOD!"  when I saw his name on the guest list. 



Moving out of The Crow Corner, we come to our last but not least guest.

12. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa a.k.a. Shang Motherfuckin' Tsung from Mortal Kombat! A very prominent movie from my childhood. I did the most fangirly squee when I saw he would be coming to RealmsCon.

RealmsCon can't come fast enough.

Beer Thoughts 05-16-13

Jacob’s back and, this time, someone has to pay!

Or I could just tell you about these new beers I found.  Yes, I’ve returned with a new make-your-own six-pack.  However, these beers are courtesy of Liquid Town, a liquor store with multiple locations across Corpus Christi.  I felt like a kid at a candy store as they had a very diverse selection to choose from.  I’m definitely going back for another six pack as this one’s only a fraction of a taste of what they were selling.  ¡Vamanos! ¡A la embriaguez!

Alaskan Freeride APA - Has a sweet fruity smell to it and can also smell the hops in it as well.  Despite smell, it has only a slight hoppy taste and, for the most part, is quite smooth with a bit of a fruity aftertaste. As I’ve said before, I normally don’t care for pale ales but this particular brew is an American Pale Ale (Most pale ales I’ve tried before were Indian Pale Ales) and tasted much more palatable to me.

Red Hook Copper Hook - Doesn’t have a very distinct smell at all. Has a strong bitter taste at first but a relatively smooth aftertaste. After drinking awhile, it gets less bitter and  descends into a more smooth taste all around.

New Belgium Dig Pale Ale - I can smell a faint but sweet citrus scent after opening.  A very mild bitterness when it first hits your tongue but you can definitely taste the fruitiness as it goes down.  Strange that I find not one, but two pale ales that aren’t bad at all with this six-pack. (Either that or I’m just getting more and more used to pale ales)

Flying Dog Tire Bite Golden Ale - It has a light pleasant smell and a sweet taste that’s hard to pinpoint at first. After a few gulps, it tastes sort of lemony to me or at least a citrus flavor that I detect.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. Hefeweizen - It has a burnt wheaty smell that reminds me of bread.  The smell carries on to the taste buds with a “burnt” sort of taste, if that makes any sense. But, overall is quite smooth from start to finish.

Cerveza Caguama - Has the same skunky smell that most South-of-the-Border beers have like Corona or Landshark. I was expecting an aftertaste but it’s very smooth and goes down quite easy.

Jacob’s Best O’ The Bunch! - Not since Christmastime has there been a tie, but I’m going to go with both Alaskan Freeride APA and Cerveza Caguama.  I swear, Alaskan Brewery can do no wrong with me as every beer I’ve tried with them, I’ve enjoyed thoroughly.  Gordon Biersch Hefeweisen came as a very close third contender but Caguama beat it out by having a more smoother taste.  

Story of the Year (So Far)

Now, I've been working at KRIS/KZTV News for a little over two months now and I've seen my fair share of interesting stories on a day to day basis.

But this...

I'm not sure how any other story this year can top the absurdity of this one.

My face after reading and watching the story.

Since the video won't play here for technical reasons, I'm going to post the story link to the KZTV website . Look upon the story, Ye Mighty, and despair!

Also, special props to reporter Mike Manzoni for doing such a good job setting up the video.

My Thoughts on Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

With Iron Man 3 fast approaching, everyone’s getting into an Iron Man craze.  New toys are on the shelves, Marvel’s putting ads for it on every other page in their comics and an anime movie starring the armored hero went on sale entitled Iron Man: Rise of Technovore.

The movie is a continuation of Marvel Anime, a joint project between Marvel Comics and Japanese animation studio, Madhouse, responsible for beloved animes such as Death Note, Trigun and Ninja Scroll amongst others.  They even did two of the segments in Batman: Gotham Knight (specifically, my two favorites, the Scarecrow and Deadshot segments).

In this project, they did four short anime series based on Marvel characters: Iron Man, Wolverine, Blade, and X-Men.  The reaction has been sort of…mixed, to say the least, to all of them.  But sales were apparently good enough to warrant a full-length anime movie starring Iron Man.

Iron Man A.K.A. Tony Stark has just built a new satellite named “HOWARD”, after his father, which will be able to connect with any satellite and computer system in the world making an effective anti-terror monitoring system.  However, before the launch, the site is attacked by a new villain called the Technovore.  He also wears a suit of armor but unlike Tony’s, his is a liquid metal that he can control with his thoughts.  Unfortunately, Tony’s long time friend, James Rhodes A.K.A. War Machine is presumed dead in the aftermath.

S.H.I.E.L.D., specifically its director, Nick Fury, is suspicious of Tony’s involvement in the attack and brings him in for questioning.  When Tony refuses and escapes, he sends S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best agents, Black Widow and Hawkeye, to bring him in.

Along the way, Tony seeks out the Punisher, who happens to be in the area and has extensive knowledge of the criminal underworld, on who the Technovore is and how to stop him.

While the movie is beautifully animated, hand-drawn this time unlike the earlier Iron Man anime which had a CGI Iron Man suit, the story’s kind of confusing, particularly the villain’s motives. At one point, he wants to “liberate humanity”, then later on, he wants to destroy humanity.  While I don’t want to reveal who the villain really is, he’s actually a very prominent bad guy in Iron Man’s rouges gallery.  But his appearance and characterization are so utterly different, he might as well be a brand new bad guy.

I only heard the English voice cast, but only a few actors really stood out for me.  While Matthew Mercer was all right as Iron Man, my favorites were Norman Reedus as the Punisher and Clare Grant as Black Widow.  Grant actually sounded very close to Scarlet Johansson who played Black Widow in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers.  While Reedus, who most people know as Daryl from AMC’s The Walking Dead but I know him best as Scud from Blade 2 and Murphy McManus from The Boondock Saints, does a surprisingly good job as Punisher.  I was afraid he would sound too teenager-ish, but his voice was just right for the brooding anti-hero.

Also, the one thing that really bugged me was that they never really explained what was the deal with Technovore’s suit. (MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!) While Tony ponders that it might be some form of nanotechnology, he dismisses it as seeing that it’s “too simple” of an explanation.  But it’s clear from a few scenes that the suit has a mind of its own either from a very advanced A.I. or, my personal theory, some sort of alien technology.  Either way, they never explain why it lashes out at its owner from time to time.

My reaction to this movie is, well, “meh”.  It’s not horrible, the fights scenes are cool to watch, plus the idea of Iron Man teaming up with Punisher was an interesting idea I’d never seen before but the way the story flows is weird.  It’ll be intense action at one scene then weird somber reflections of humanity the next.  You know you’re watching an anime when there’s those long moments of no dialogue or action and all you hear is just ambiance in the background.

Also, I’m still upset this movie and the Iron Man anime were not THIS.

This was the teaser when they made the announcement that Marvel had teamed up with Madhouse and were going to create an Iron Man anime. I don’t even know what’s going on in this scene but nothing of that epicness happens in either Iron Man features.

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore’s definitely worth a watch but buy it only if you really love seeing Iron Man in action. (I do :P)

Beer Thoughts 04/14/13

Hey, sorry about the lack of updates.  Work’s been keeping me busy since last week and I was under the weather the week before that.  But now, I return and have brought back a bounty of new beers with me from World Market!

Onwards, Lads and Lasses! To inebriety!



 

Tona - This beer from Nicaragua hast the typical “cerveza” smell and taste like Corona or Modelo with a slightly more darker taste akin to an English dark ale.  Pretty good since I’m a fan of beers south of the border.

 

 Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA - It has a spicy hop smell when opened.  Very strong hoppy taste at first but seems to lessen when left sitting.  It has a bitter aftertaste, though.

Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier - Although it looks like I smashed my fingers on the keyboard, this beer (and long name) is from Germany. Has a smoky kind of smell to it.  I’m not sure why but its taste reminds me of BBQ at first. Taste becomes smoother and less “BBQ-y” as it sits.  (Fun Fact:  According to the bottle and website, Weihenstephaner is the world’s oldest brewery, founded in 1040 A.D.)

 

Shiner Premium Beer - A wheat-y smell to it when first opened, very pleasant.  Very smooth taste with no aftertaste.  Though to be truthful, it doesn’t taste particularly different from a regular Shiner Bock. (After some research, I've found out that this is merely the new name for Shiner Blonde. Deceived again!)

 

Milk Stout Nitro - It has a rich mocha scent, very much like coffee.  Smooth at first but the coffee taste kicks in strongly after.  While it does have a bit of a bitter aftertaste, it’s not too overpowering.  I’m not sure if it was letting it sit or my mouth got used to the taste but it tasted more smoother and less bitter after a while. (Another milestone, this is the 190th beer I’ve tried!)

 

Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat - Very sweet apple scent when opened, probably one of the more pleasant smelling beers I’ve encountered.  Tastes very similar to a hard cider and smooth all the way down with nearly no aftertaste at all.

Jacob’s Best O’ the Bunch! - I’ll admit I was a bit biased with this lot but it’ll have to go to the Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat.  I had been looking forward to this one ever since I first saw it and, boy, it didn’t disappoint.  It had exactly the right amount of sweetness I was expecting with this flavor.  Even if one isn’t a beer drinker, I’d imagine you could pick this beer up without any trouble to your taste buds.