Fantastic interview with Alan Moore at Wired

There's a fantastic interview with Alan Moore at Wired - check it out!

DiDio, Bendis, and - me?

I have a nice quote at the end of this New York Daily News article (by Ethan Sacks) about the recession within the fictional world of comics - affecting the characters themselves, rather than the fans or creators in the real world.

Bale IS the "goddamn Batman"

It appears Christian Bale may be preparing to play Frank Miller's "goddamn Batman" from All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder for the sequel to The Dark Knight - he's certainly got the dialogue down (with asterisks playing the role of the infamous not-so-black bars):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28984085/

Watchmen and Philosophy interview

Check out my interview for Watchmen and Philosophy at WatchmenComicMovie.com - I had a fantastic time taking with Glenn, who runs the site, and the interview came out wonderfully.

Preview of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader"

There's a four-page preview (plus two covers) of next week's Batman #686, part 1 of "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert at MySpace Comic Books - this looks fantastic!

Dark/Mighty Avengers thoughts (spoilers)

Batman gets a break this week (while Heath gets recognition), and several flavors of Avengers step up. (Hey, if we can have a rainbow of Lantern Corps, why not 31 flavors of Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Remember the United Nations of Justice Leagues several Crises ago?)

I hate to admit it, but I enjoyed the hell out of Dark Avengers #1 - I intended not to buy any 32-page books for $3.99 (#1 may have been longer), but if Bendis and Deodato keep it up, I may have to make an exception. SPOILER ALERT: Osborn certainly has stones to outright replace Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Hawkeye for his new Avengers team. Love him or hate him, you have to admire the gumption. Typical snappy banter from BMB - loved the brief exchange between Ares and Moonst--sorry, I mean Ms. Marvel. And the art was beautiful - highly recommended book, even if the higher price point grates. (UPDATE: Excellent interview with Bendis at Newsarama.)

Mighty Avengers #21 was 180 degrees different in tone, as you would expect from a Slott book - this looks to be the BWA-HA-HA Avengers. The final line-up is about as absurd as you're going to get, with - SPOILER ALERT - a little old (Scarlet Witch, Pym/Wasp, Jarvis), some updates (Vision), some legacies (Stature), and some oddballs (Amadeus Cho and USAgent), plus a few more. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this after the first three-issue arc, despite the $2.99 price, but I think I'll enjoy while it while I stick with it.

Batman and Final Crisis #6 (SPOILERS)

There are spoilers right from the get-go, so be warned...

This was just weird, for so many reasons, such as:

1. Batman using a gun (and with an extremely weak rationale) - didn't we just go through this at the end of Infinite Crisis with Alex Luthor?
2. He shot Darkseid in the shoulder? Oh yeah, he's dead all right - no doubt about it. (Geez Louise...)
3. Darkseid calls the Omega Sanction "the death that is life" - so by "killing" Batman, he's giving him life? (Maybe he'll be reborn in Damian's body like Ra's wanted to do.)
4. This is how Batman's going to die? Really? I don't buy it... Jonathan Kent went in a much nobler fashion.
5. Remember, Grant has been telling us for - well, forever now - that Batman is the most prepared mother------ on the planet. Don't count him out.

Several guesses/predictions:

• Maybe Darkseid absorbed Batman's life essence through the omega beams to save his own life, and Batman will be restored in Final Crisis #7.
• Miracle Machine - hel-lo?
• Superman (or the Flashes - Flashi?) will go back in time (maybe with the help of Brainiac 5) to alter time so none of this happens. (And maybe take that awful Raven mini-series with it - and Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom while you're at it.)
• If we're loading up the cosmic U-Haul and moving to an alternate Earth, it may be one with its own Batman. (And, with any luck, no Raven or Superman/Supergirl mini-series.)

That's what I've got - any thoughts?

UPDATE: Wizard has a fantastic interview with Grant Morrison here. (Ignore the "Final Crisis #7 available now" at the bottom of the page.)