Chris Sims
Love That Joker: Comics Alliance Reviews ‘Batman’ (1989), Part Two
On the occasion of the film’s 25th anniversary, ComicsAlliance represents our in-depth commentary and review of Tim Burton’s Batman ’89, the father of modern superhero cinema. Originally published in 2011 as part of our exhaustive Cinematic Batmanology series (which also included a massive five-part analysis of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight), this piece by Chris Sims and David Uzumeri strips the fan favorite Batman ’89 down to the bone to get at what works, what doesn’t work, and what’s just plain crazy about Burton’s enduringly influential film.
The Avant-Garde Of The New Aesthetic: Batman ’89, Destroyer And The Changed Face Of Gotham City
I'm not a big fan of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week, but there's definitely one thing that I think it did right. Burton's Gotham City, redesigned for the screen by Anton Furst, is absolutely beautiful. The Academy Award-winning production art direction is stylish, terrifying, visually engaging and arresting on a level that the rest of the movie has a hard time living up to, creating a world that looks like Batman could exist there.
It's also one of the movie's lasting influences on the world of the comics. Ever since Furst and Burton unveiled their version as a backdrop for the Joker blasting Prince from a boombox while trashing an art museum and Batman blowing up a chemical plant with his remote-control car, Gotham has adhered to their vision of the city, transforming from the bustling stand-in for New York that it was before and becoming its own unmistakable entity. And in true comic book fashion, the comics accomplished this by blowing everything up and starting over.
Chase Taylor Draws Hard Driving Gorillas, Mugatu From ‘Zoolander’, Robot Insomniacs And More
Growing up in the '90s, back when video stores roamed the Earth like the mighty titans of entertainment that they were, I developed a deep and abiding love for a certain kind of aesthetic that I can only describe as "VHS." The lurid art and bizarre situations that you'd see strolling down the action movie aisle resonated with me in the way that few things have since, and when I see an artist like Chase Taylor, whose art somehow manages to capture that aesthetic perfectly, I'm immediately a fan.
That might sound a little dismissive, but it's not. There's a boundary-pushing energy to Taylor's art that's just beautiful, especially when it's Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze or gorillas cruising in a convertible. Check out a few of my favorites below!
Here’s The Thing Episode 12: Angel Punisher vs. FrankenCastle
If our weekly Ask Chris column isn't enough of definitive comic book (and pro wrestling) opinions for you, good news: ComicsAlliance is proud to present Here's The Thing, a series of videos where you can join our own extremely opinionated senior writer, Chris Sims, as he sits in his living room under a framed portrait of Destro, drinking a cup of coffee and sharing his opinion on comic books.
On this week's show, Chris revisits a previous episode to examine why FrankenCastle, the story where the Punisher became a grumpy Frankenstein monster with a giant metal arm, works much better than Angel Punisher, the story where the Punisher became a grumpy angel with a coat full of heaven guns. Believe it or not, there is a difference.
‘Turtles In Time’ #1 Has Ninja Turtles Riding Dinosaurs To Fight Brains In Robot Suits, All Other Comics Are Inferior By Definition
This might be obvious if you caught last week's installment of Ask Chris, but I've been thinking a lot about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately. More than usual, I mean. Because let's be real here, there's nobody who was a kid in the late '80s who doesn't think about how Raphael is cool (but rude) on a fairly regular basis...
Spider-Man Statue Removed From South Korean Playground Because It Has A Gigantic Boner
After erecting a statue of Spider-Man in a South Korean shopping center, artist Eunsuk Yoo met stiff resistance from the people who run it. It seems they took a long, hard look at the spectacular piece after suspicions were aroused about its suitability. The statue has now been yanked off, despite being impressively hung on that wall for almost a year. Yoo may feel he got the shaft, but one hopes he understands the thrust of the mall's decision.
It's mainly because the statue has a giant tumescent penis and people were starting to get weirded out.
75 Years Later, Batman Co-Creator Bill Finger Gets A Cover Credit On ‘Detective Comics’ #27
In case you don't mark your calendar solely by events related to Batman -- which is increasingly difficult since Year One was 22 years before Zero Year, with Zero Hour somewhere in between -- you might need a friendly reminder that DC has declared July 23 to be Batman Day, part of its celebration of 75 years of the Dark Knight. To mark the occasion, the publisher's putting out a free special edition of Detective Comics #27, containing material from both the 1939 original and the New 52 offering from earlier this year.
What makes this issue really significant, however, is that to my knowledge, it's the first time Batman's co-creator, Bill Finger, has received a cover credit for the original Batman story.
Ido Yehimovitz Draws Pop Culture’s Greatest Rides [Art]
Listen. I love cars from movies. Yeah, I know, you all prefer horses or brisk walking or canoes, but me? I'm an iconoclast, baby. I like cars, and I don't care who knows it. Whether it's ECTO-1 from Ghostbusters or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Party Wagon or even one of those ridiculous murder machines from Death Race 2000, sweet rides are some of my favorite parts of pop culture. And fortunately, artist Ido Yehimovitz feels the same way.
Ben Hibon Draws Lush Landscapes And Steam-Powered Samurai [Art]
There's a pretty good chance that you're already familiar with the incredible design sense of Ben Hibon. As an artist and designer his credits include the "Tale of the Three Brothers" sequence from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and on the off chance that that wasn't enough, he's also worked on video games like Capcom's DmC and Killer 7. Clearly, the dude has some chops when it comes to making evocative imagery, but like a wise man once said, you don't have to take my word for it.
Fan Builds Remote Control Transformer Toy With A Drivable Mech In Mind [Video]
If you ever doubt that this world might be worth saving, consider the following: There is, right now, at this very moment, an engineer and roboticist in Japan named Kenji Ishida who is working on building a full-sized, drivable car that transforms into a humanoid robot that can shoot missiles out of its hand. If that news doesn't cheer you up (and make you at least slightly terrified) then really, I don't know what will.