The Great Pretenders : The Best Pre-JOKER ‘Non-Superhero’ SuperHero Films!

 

Way before Todd Phillip’s record breaking JOKER, other filmmakers were tackling very grounded stories of damaged people, transcending (or giving into) their damage in ways either heroic or horrific. Grounded takes that are eerily familiar to the fanciful origin stories more typically found in the comic books of yesteryear, but now moved into a darker world,, more akin to our own. Here then are the best of the pre-JOKER grounded films. One of them plays like the tale of the most bad-ass Robin, another an evil Super-Soldier Steve Rogers, another perhaps the origins of a demented Joker, or a sociopathic Bruce Wayne (the Jeff Wadlow directed TRUTH OR DARE is surprisingly good), and one a pre-Netflix prototype for Luke Cage.

What I’m reading and watching! Quick ratings!

What I’m reading! Quick ratings!

BATMAN AND ROBIN BORN TO KILL by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason- After reading one disappointing ‘NEW 52’ book after another (ACTION COMICS by Grant Morrison comes to mind) I went into this read with some trepidation, but it was unwarranted. Tomasi crafts a solidly engaging read that is good from first page to last and complimented by great art by Gleason and Gray. Strongly Recommended! B+.
Batman & Robin, Vol. 1: Born to Kill (The New 52)

SUPERMAN BATMAN SORCERER KINGS- Is a hodge-podge of four different stories, none of which really ever rises to become anything more than tedious. D.

What I’m watching:

Just finished watching Michael Moore’s SICKO and CAPITALISM A LOVE STORY back to back, and they are both powerful, essential, if not always easy viewing.

CAPITALISM A LOVE STORY is particularly brilliant, has been called Moore’s Magnum-Opus and I concur. It’s a courageous, informative, and well put together film. Sometimes Moore has a way of perhaps working a theme into the ground, and beating us over the head, and I felt that in SICKO, acutely. ‘Yeah, okay I get it, other countries have better healthcare than the US, how many examples are you going to show me? Move on to solutions.’.

Somewhere in most of Moore’s films that thought process rears up, however it didn’t in CAPITALISM A LOVE STORY. Potentially Moore’s last film it is undeniably his best. And both films, will make you want to make real, hard changes in your life. As it makes clear that the people you entrust with your well being… don’t care about that… at all. Both films should really be seen, and CAPITALISM must be seen.
Capitalism: A Love Story

The COMIC STRIP Returns?!!!! THE HOUSE OF DUELING MIDNIGHT #1

Yeah, yeah.. it’s pretty stupid, and horrible. But I have to admit… it made me chuckle. 🙂

As far as why… Well I’ve been meaning to put up a couple strips for a while. And have been trying to network, collaborate with a couple of artists, but I’ll let you in on a secret, artists aren’t really the most reliable bunch for collaborating or networking with… at least the ones I’ve been dealing with.

So rather than wait on people to grow up, I decided to just ‘what the heck’ it, and just go ahead and create and post something that would make me laugh.

Hence this very brief, very juvenile ‘cut and paste’ cartoon courtesy of one of the free cartoon generators out there, The art is crude, but the insane story and words and madness is all me. Hope you enjoyed it. If you do, leave a comment and some likes!

It’s a work in progress experiment, that will improve if you guys will stick in there with me. Thanks!! 🙂