Cruisin' for a Bruisin', and: the Greatest Batman Artist Ever

What a crazy day today was at work.

Not only was perhaps the biggest movie star of the last twenty years on the Tonight Show, but the show's outdoor concert series kicked off with country superstar Toby Keith. So we had a BIG crowd today, and a lot of people antsy about whether or not they'd get in. So the need for crowd control was paramount. And when Tom Cruise decided to spend the commercial break running up and down through the audience, shaking people's hands, hugging women, and saluting the military group in attendance, well, things got kinda crazy. Cruise really did have that larger than life persona though. Sure he tries to act like a regular guy, but I think him and John Travolta have been the only two actors I've seen on the show that have that old-school Hollywood megastar aura about them (maybe something about Scientology ... ?) where they seem like they're from another planet or something. And yeah, Tom Cruise's interview had many awkward moments when Jay tried to talk about all the Katie Holmes stuff. So weird - like Jay was asking Tom questions about the realtionship as if they are just some normal couple. Like how did they meet, what kinds of stuff do they do, etc? I mean, you can't ask that kind of stuff to Tom Cruise. They probably just like sit around all day and meditate on the tenets of Scientology or something. But when the inevitable questions did come up, Cruise started gettin' all crazy eyed again a la Oprah and then, in what I guess was supposed to be some kind of self-mocking reference to the earlier incident, he (in what turned out to be yet another reeaaally strange and embarrasing moment) JUMPED ON THE COUCH AGAIN! Wha!?!?! Dude, this guy is seriously losing it, or something. I mean I recall him being so subdued and calm and cool and collected in most of his interviews. Now his interviews are like some kind of dramatic interpretation of Robin Williams' schtick or something. Jay even had him acting like an ogre and doing Donald Duck impressions. NowI'm not gonna speculate about all the different rumors floating around, don't know if he's really in love or whatever, but this guy is living on his own planet. Or who knows, maybe he's just a pretty normal guy who's becoming less sure of how to handle himself with the media? Surreal interview, to say the least. In any case though, forget all that stuff and focus on what's important: War of the Worlds, without a doubt, is going to rock seven ways to Sunday.

Also psyched for MR. AND MRS. SMITH. Again, I don't really care about the tabloidy stuff behind the scenes. The important thing is that this movie looks pretty sweet.

Some Random Thoughts:

Ugh, what is with all the raves for COLDPLAY? I don't usually like to critique music, as it's so subjective, but a few things are annoying me about this band. One is that at least here in LA, they are getting played on modern rock radio way too frequently. Their new stuff is, if anything, EASY LISTENING that sounds like it belongs either in a hotel elevator or as the background music during a breakup scene on a WB teen drama. And secondly, they are being hailed as the "new U2." Now I'm no hardcore U-2 fan, but their early stuff in particular was pretty spectacular, and many of the songs had very provocative, sometimes political lyrics that still resonate to this day. I'm not quite seeing how Coldplay in any way measures up to old-school U2. If anything they are more reminiscent of the later-years of U2 - stale, derivative, and boring. And that's my opinion.

Honestly, who are the people following the Michael Jackson case so closely that it deserves the amount of coverage it's been getting? I think this is a case of the media going crazy over nothing, creating a self-perpetuating circus. I think we have a case of a pop star who lives in a fantasy world and is pretty delusional about the role that adults should play in the lives of children, and an accuser whose family is out to make a buck and knows that the media would love nothing more than to see Jackson go down hard. And note to Leno: ENOUGH WITH THE MJ JOKES.

Now ...

BATMAN BEGINS WEEK - PART 2

Presenting: The Top 20 Greatest Batman Artists of All-Time.

Batman has one of the greatest visuals of all time, but what is so great about his character is that the design and feel is so completely open to interpretation. Throughout the decades Batman has been drawn in wildly varied styles, and gone from being a cartoonish Superfriend to a shadowy dark knight. In Batman Begins, the art style seems to be veering towards a more realistic character, unlike the gothic noir cityscapes of Tim Burton's films, the art-deco retro stylings of The Animated Series, or the godawful acid trip craziness of Joel Schumaker's two abominations. The new movie seems to be taking a cue from the gritty, barebones style of Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's work on Batman: Year One, as well as Neal Adam's classic, realistic interpretation of Batman, which introduced Ra's Al Ghul, the main villain of the movie. So here are the twenty greatest Batman artists ever, in my humble opinion. Look up their works and see their stuff for yourself.

20.) Howard Porter - over the years, Porter's style seemed to get increasingly angular and less polished, but for a time he was drawing THE version of Batman in his modern-classic run as artist of JLA during writer Grant Morrison's red-hot run in the mid to late 1990's. Porter drew a Batman who could scare the crap out of his superpowered comrades in the Justice League and who could take down cosmic villains like Darkseid with his uber intelligence and sheer force of will. Porter's imposing, confidant version of Batman ushered in the modern take on the character as being more than just a detective and vigilante. Porter's Batman looks and acts like the most dangerous man on earth. see: JLA: New World Order

19.) Jim Balent - some call him nothing more than a cheesecake artist, but the bottom line is that Jim Balent can draw. In the 90's, following her prominence in Batman Returns, DC launched a Catwoman comic with art by Balent, and the results were if nothing else visually stunning. Balent drew one of the best versions of Catwoman ever, and his Batman was not too shabby either. Check out his splash page in Batman: Knight's End where Bruce Wayne puts on his Batman costume for the first time in months after being beaten by Bane and replaced by Azrael - awesome. see: Batman: Knight's End, early issues of Catwoman

18.) Barry Kitson - Kitson is a consummate storyteller who can draw dark, scary, and atmospheric while somehow maintaining a slick, clean, and highly detailed and nuanced style. Kitson has not done an abundance of Batman work, but when he has he has really shined, contributing many stories in the 90' and beyond including the definitive run on Azrael, the comic about the adventures of Batman's ill-fated replacement, which at it's peak had the best art going of anything out there. see: early issues of Azrael

17.) Frank Miller - sure, he hasn't actually drawn a lot of Batman. And sure, some regard his style as rough, sketchy, and even downright messy at times. But one work speaks for itself: Dark Knight Returns - the greatest Batman story ever told, written and drawn by Miller. In it, Batman and Gotham City are dark, scary, gritty, and intense. His scratchy lines draw you into the books surreal, dark atmosphere and never let up, and his splash pages from this series are some of the most iconic images of Batman ever.
see: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

16.) Jim Lee - Until recently, Jim Lee had never drawn Batman. He was mostly known as the guy who did X-Men in the 90's. But Lee revolutionized Batman a few years back, teaming with Jeph Loeb for Hush - the most talked-about Batman story in recent years. Lee's sleek, Japanese-influenced style is pure eye candy. It's no wonder that he is still the industry's hottest artist. see: Batman: Hush

15.) Graham Nolan - Nolan does classic Batman with a modern twist. He excels at action, but his clean images never become confusing. He had a long run on Detective Comic and Batman in the 90's, and he was always consistently dynamic, exciting, and the go-to guy to provide the best moments in the stream of big event stories that were occuring at the time. see: Batman: Contagion

14.) Scott McDaniel - In the last few years, McDaniel teamed with Ed Brubaker to do an amazing run on Batman, and also became the definitive artist for Nightwing, aka the original Robin. His unique, hybrid-manga style is pure speed and motion, with images that seem to fly off the page and action scenes where you can feel every punch. see: Batman: Bruce Wayne - Murderer?

13.) David Mazuchelli - Another artist who hasn't done a lot of Batman per se, but who did one story, Batman: Year One, with Frank Miller, that is one of the best ever. Mazuchelli's art is stark, realistic, and effective at telling a story. The images of Batman's origin in Year One are some of the most iconic ever drawn, and their influence has been seen in the original Batman movie, the Animated Series, and now, heavily, in Batman Begins. see: Batman: Year One

12.) Alan Davis - Davis is just an amazing artist who does a classic comic book style, but does it better than anyone, with a smoothness and scope that is still unrivaled. His Batman is a superheroic figure, whose emotion always shines through his mask. Davis also does Batman villains like few others, and his ability to fill a page with clean, dynamic action is unrivaled. see: Justice League: The Nail

11.) Tom Grummett: Tom blends the consistency and fluidity of Disney animation with the classic stylings of canonical comic artists like John Byrne and George Perez. While his Batman is impressive, Grummett also is notable for being the artist who really defined Robin for the modern era, along with a handful of others like Tom Lyle and writer Chuck Dixon. Grummett excels at teen characters, and his pages have the distinct look of animation cels. see: World's Finest: Superboy / Robin, early issues of Robin

10.) Tim Sale: Teaming with Jeph Loeb, Sale has created two of the defining Batman stories - The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, which stand as two modern classics in the Batman canon. Sale's stylized, deceivingly simplistic style lends a cinematic feel to his stories, and imbues Batman's rogues gallery of villains with a unique type of scary personality. see: Batman: The Long Halloween.

9.) Dick Giordano: One of the classic artists of the 70's, 80's, and beyond, who always delivered a classic, heroic Batman with an iconic style that along with the work of Jim Aparo would exemplify the house style in which Batman was drawn for a good twenty or so years. There's nothing fancy about Giordano, but his sheer staying power and consistency makes him a classic. see: Batman: A Death in the Family

8.) Brian Bolland: Again, here's an artist who is one of the absolute best ever, and on the special occasions that he has drawn Batman, he always turns in something memorable. Bolland's ultra-detailed style lends itself more to doing work as a cover artist, and Bolland has done some of Batman's most memorable cover images. Notably, his depictions of the Joker rank as arguably the best ever. The cover, along with his stunning interiors for Batman: A Killing Joke, are etched in the minds of Batman fans as the definitive version of Batman's greatest villain, The Joker. see: Batman: A Killing Joke

7.) Dick Sprang: Sprang embodied a different era, when a jovial Batman fought space aliens and cracked jokes with Robin, the Boy Wonder. Despite it's goofiness when compared to today's version of Batman, Sprang's art in the 1960's and beyond was amazingly fluid and along with other great silver age artists like Carmine Infantino, helped define the style of an era. The larger than life aspects of Batman, from Joker's elaborate death traps to the crazy array of Bat-gadgets, are in large part a lasting piece of the mythos due to Sprang's outlandish work on the character. see: The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told

6.) Marshall Rodgers: After artists like Sprang brought out the lighter side of Batman, others like Marshall Rodgers would help to bring back the Dark Knight in the 70's. Rodgers Batman was mysterious, conflicted, moody, and tormented. Along with writer Steve Englehart, Rodgers helped redefine Batman in the 1970's, creating definitive looks for his villains that are still evident today. see: Batman: Strange Apparitions

5.) Norm Breyfogle: In the late 1980's and early 90's, Breyfogle was the definitive Batman artist. His Batman was shadowy and dark. His stories had above all else a moody atmosphere that was never quite recaptured by other artists that would follow. Along with writers like Alan Grant, Breyfogle introduced strange new villains like Anarky, Scarface, and Mr. Zsasz. He somehow managed to do clear, dynamic storytelling while always emphasizing that in Batman's world, things were slightly darker, more shadowy, scarier than in our own. see: Batman: Anarky

4.) Bruce Timm: One phrase is all you really need to know - Batman: The Animated Series. With one stroke of genious, Timm along with cocreator Paul Dini reinvented Batman and defined an art style that is still being used today in various comic and animated series. Their angular, art-deco meets film noir meets Japanes anime style was unique but immediately a hit, somehow capturing everything great about Batman and his supporting cast in a deceivingly boxy, square-jawed shell. In addition, some of his character designs, notably for villains like Mr. Freeze, Two Face, and of course Harley Quinn, were lasting influences on the Batman mythos. see: Batman: Harley and Ivy

3.) Bob Kane: What can you say - this guy, along with collaberator Bill Finger, created Batman. While Bob Kane did much of the original artwork and plotting, Bill Finger apparently did much of the actual scripting, and their collaberation produced legendary results - one of the greatest fictional characters ever. Kane's designs for Batman's costume were spot-on, even if many refinements were later made throughout the decades. Kane's creation of and designs for villains like The Joker and Catwoman changed comics and popular fiction forever. The idea of a dark superhero combined elements of Superman, Zorro, The Shadow and other pulp heroes, but Kane's vision was like lightning in a bottle. The father of Batman. see: Batman: The Batman Chronicles Volume 1

2.) Jim Aparo: To many, he is THE definitive Batman artist. Aparo drew Batman throughout the 70's, 80's, and 90's, and when multiple generations of Batfans think of Batman, they envision him as drawn by Aparo, who seemed to know just how long to make the ears, how dark to make the shadows around the cowl, how sharp to make the gauntlets on the gloves. He just did Batman right, as he should be. His versions of Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, the Joker, Commisioner Gordon - all classic - he picked up on what Marshall Rodgers started and refined it until Batman simply existed as drawn by Jim Aparo - his Batman became THE Batman, to the point where any other artist's rendition looked a little off, because it could only be viewed in comparison with Aparo's. Nowadays Batman is drawn in a much more varied array of styles, but nothing beats that classic, elegantly simple Aparo style. see: Batman: Knightfall

1.) Neal Adams: More so than any other artist ever, Neal Adams showed the world that comics were serious business. While Marshall Rodgers showed the way and Jim Aparo carried the ball, it was Neal Adams who brought Batman out of the Adam West years and into the modern age. Adam's style is realistic, extremely so, yet never loses that classic comic book dyamism and sense of larger than life style. His Batman was simply amazing, and along with writer Denny O'Neal, Adams put Batman through some of his greatest adventures in the mid to late 1970's, pitting him against the fiendish Ra's Al Ghul, among other surprisingly intelligent and cunning villains. The bottom line with Neal Adams is that he was just that damn good of an artist, and Batman was the character he did best. Unfortunately Adams mostly left the comic industry in the 80's and today only occasionally contributes new material to the comics field. But Adams run on Batman is considered by many to be the best ever, and I agree. He simply did Batman better than anyone else before or since. see: Batman: Tales of the Demon

More later.

Peace out.

Happy Birthday (I suppose ...) to my brother Matt, who is now 19, and who though close, can still not beat me in basketball, videogames, hand to hand combat, or, well anything. That's my story and I'm sticking to it until proven wrong.