Batgirl

For years when the knowledge of my geekery and love of comic books come up I will inevitably be asked who my favourite super hero is. And for years I downplayed it because I thought I really didn't have one. I follow creators these days. So if Warren Ellis, Greg Rucka or Ed Brubaker is writing it, odds are I'm going to buy it.

And yet a quick glance at my bookshelf shows I seem to have an awful lot of Batgirl graphic novels (14) by a lot of different creators. Also, as I seem to currently own 9 Batgirl toys/figurines and several pieces of original art. So yeah, if I had to pick one, I think I'd pick Batgirl.

A painting of Batgirl by Mike Maihack
that I bought.

Why her over, say, Batman? Because he's been such an unrelenting grim character for so long. Batgirl at least has moments of joy. I just like the compassion in the character. Batman can occasionally feel like a very masochistic read. I haven't felt that way very often reading Batgirl.

So that why when news broke over geek sites that there was going to be a Batgirl movie being written, directed and produced by Joss freakin' Whedon I was pretty damn happy about that. One of my favourite creators on one of my favourite characters. Sign me up.

It's always interesting to watch the reaction to this kind of news as it shakes out. With all the Buffy 20th anniversary stories in the media lately, Joss has certainly seen a bump in his profile and there's huge swaths of affection for him. Honestly, after the first Avengers movie I'll forgive him a wide variety of cinematic sins. I like Avengers: Age of Ultron a lot more than others. It's not perfect, but it's still pretty good.

On the other side are some that take exception to Joss's feminism (they really don't like the Black Widow story in Age of Ultron, which I can understand) and their wish that a woman either direct or write the movie.

And I can understand that, although I'm getting to the point where I'd just like to see more not white guys directing any super hero/sci fi/fantasy movie they want. Sure it'd be nice to have a woman direct Batgirl, but if it means that Kathryn Bigelow directs the next Captain America movie (we should be so lucky) or Rachel Talalay wants to do Justice League Dark, bring it on. We slowly have to start moving beyond women only being able to direct female lead super hero movies and just having more of them direct, period.

If that starts to happen, then I think you can forgive Whedon for moving all the levers on a Batgirl movie.

No, my concern comes from reports that the movie will draw inspiration from Gail Simone's "New 52" version of the character. Understand, I love her writing. I got to meet her in Seattle, get a bunch of books signed and babbled for several minutes how much I not only enjoy her writing, but what I learn from her online presence, where she's one of the most open and positive people you could hope for, but also has a zero tolerance for assholes.

Having said that, it's not some of her best writing. I think she was pretty hamstrung at the time. She had an editor that wanted to keep the darker, more trouble Barbara Gordon, who was suffering PTSD after being crippled/sexually assaulted by the Joker (the controversial and, in my opinion, the badly aging The Killing Joke book) when Simone was ready to move on to more positive and upbeat stories.

Also, I think she struggled a bit with people who simply didn't want Barbara Gordon back as Batgirl. They wanted her Oracle, another popular character who was an inspiration to a lot of disabled people. She was essentially wiped away when DC did their disastrous "New 52" reboot.

So we'll see. The news is about 12 hours old. It could all still fall apart. DC/Warner is throwing everything and the kitchen sink out there with super heroes, hoping some movie will hit (God help us all, but Zach Snyder's Justice League trailer looked dreary and it's apparently three hours long). And I can't see Whedon going for Zach Snyder's vision of things. But dare to dream.

In case you were wondering what some Batgirl books are good for catching up on, try these:

Gail Simone's run
Vol. 1 - The Darkest Reflection
Vol. 2 - Knightfall Descends
Vol. 3 - Death of the Family
Vol. 4 - Wanted
Vol. 5 - Deadline

After Simone left, began the Batgirl of Burnside run, featuring a slightly more fun loving Barbara Gordon. It also featured a costume redesign that is beloved by cosplayers everywhere. By Cameron Steward, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr
Vol. 1 -  Batgirl of Burnside
Vol. 2 - Family Business
Vol. 3 - Mindfields

Before Barbara Gordon came back, Batgirl was a character called Stephanie Brown. The run, written by Brian Q. Miller, is one of my favourites of any super hero series this century. It is staggeringly good fun and died well before its time. The original trades are hard to find, but they're reprinting the series this summer. No kidding, the issue where she teams up with Supergirl to fight holographic Draculas (yes, plural) is why you make super hero comics.

Batgirl: Stephanie Brown - Vol. 1

And prior to Stephanie Brown, there was another Batgirl called Cassandra Cain. Former assassin turned good. They've also recently started reprinting the series with three trades out so far. I have the first two and I'm quite enjoying them.

Vol. 1 - Silent Knight
Vol. 2 - To the Death
Vol. 3 - Point Blank

And barring all that you could also pick-up Batgirl/Robin: Year One, a fun retelling of both character's origins. Probably most noteworthy for Marcos Martin's stunning artwork.

Last Five
1. The diner/the slant (live) - Ani DiFranco
2. Windowsill - Arcard Fire
3. Hard time - Seinabo Sey*
4. It's only me - Barenaked Ladies
5. Walk on - Corinne Bailey Rae

Emerald City Comic Con

When I walked out of the New York Comic Con in October 2015, I was sad. It went beyond the usual "Awwww, the Con is over", because I also knew I wouldn't be going back to NYCC anytime in the near future. When I went to my first NYCC in 2008 the attendance was around 70,000. In 2015 it was 168,000. In 2016, when I didn't go, it was 180,000.

It should be noted that the Javits Center has not expanded to keep pace. So while it is a con I have great memories of, it's simply too crowded. They're talking about expanding the Center, but that's not likely to be completed to the early 2020s.

So yes, a touch depressed.

But that's when Cathy stepped in with one of her ideas that she later has cause to regret. There's been a series of these. They include such highlights as:

-    If you give up single issues of comic books you can buy all the trade paperbacks you want.

-    Hey, let's wander into this toy store.

-    I bought you Lego for Christmas. You do like Lego, right?

To that list we now add "you should just find a Con in the middle of winter. It'll give you a nice break."

Which took as permission to go to another Con. Which I just did.

The Emerald City Comic Con hit every note I want for a con. First, it's in a new city, which is always a good chance to explore. Seattle is pretty awesome and a lot of comic creators are now located in the Pacific Northwest, which means you get some pretty cool writers and artists in attendance. It also has a reputation of focusing more on creators than celebrity guests. It's over four days and last year the attendance was just shy of 100,000. So perfect all the way around.

So while Cathy goes to Florida for a week to sit on a beach and read in April (which I would suck at. It takes me a week of moving before I can settle into doing nothing), I spent the first week of March in Seattle and at the con.

Alas, I didn't see as much of Seattle as I would have liked. I underestimated distance and was desperately trying to save my feet. I nearly amputated my feet after the last NYCC and you do a lot of walking at cons. I did walk around Pike's Market. I also had some truly excellent pizza, thank god.

As for the con, it may be the best organized one I've ever been to. I can nitpick at stuff. Cell service was shit, but that might have just been T-Mobile sucking. Also, the escalators kept breaking, which I actually found slightly amusing, recalling this article from a few weeks ago.

But the organizers did a phenomenal job of utilizing space. For one thing, they moved all celebrity autographs and photo ops to the hotel next door, clearing out a ton of space. There was a floor dedicated for gaming. A floor for cosplayers, especially if you needed to repair your outfit. Most of the 6th floor was dedicated to Artist Alley. It's the nicest one I've ever seen. Huge number of artists there, lots of space for getting around, carpet on the floor so your feet aren't being murdered....

They had family rooms and quiet spaces in case you need some privacy to chill because you're overwhelmed. Cosplay is not consent signs were all over the place and I didn't see any bad behaviour to speak of.

In fact everyone I spoke to was friendly and I had a lot of great conversations just waiting in line for something to be signed. An Australian and I bonded over the fact that we could finally talk the metric system when describing temperatures instead of having to mentally convert to Imperial. Discussions about cosplay. Bantering with a Darth Vader.

One of the other cool things ECCC does is a limited edition book. Each year they do an art book called Monsters and Dames. I'm normally leery of these kinds of books because they can be hit and miss. But it was overwhelmingly hit. And then you go on a treasure hunt - walking around the alley trying to get each page signed by the artist.

It's time consuming, but it is fun and you talk to artists you might ordinarily walk past. And you pick up some information on their projects.

Everybody has their own thing at these events. I didn't spend five minutes on the gaming floors, but I prowled artist alley and the main show floor. I bought a bunch of books (rules: the creative team must be there to sign it, or it's on sale). I hit the Funko booth, god help me. I sat in on a few panels as well.

So yes, just a blast. Tons of space to move around, places to sit, friendly atmosphere. It's in the middle of downtown so there are lots of places to eat after the con (for that matter, there were lots of places to eat on site and the mark-up was only annoying as opposed to horrific and the lines were reasonable.) I caught a late show of Logan a couple of blocks away. Hell, I even managed to find a hotel a few blocks from the convention center and it was clean, reasonably priced and gave away free craft beer every 5:30.

So yeah, I quite liked this con. I'd go back in a heartbeat. And rather than try to mix pics in with the text, here are a few favourites from the show...

Pickachus. Lots of them

Ursula. She was terrifying and futhermore,
she knew it.

Captain and Ms. Marvel

Barry Kitson drawing Delirium in my
sketchbook at the Hero Initiative booth

A young Predator

I love Yip Yips.

R2D2 has been hitting the juice

My main goal was to get a sketch from
Terry Dodson. And I did. He's showing
the spectacular Princess Leia he drew
for me.

Oh yeah, and I got my picture taken with this guy.

Social media break

So amidst the horror show that was Tuesday night's US election I came to a conclusion. And not just that I need to stop following American politics as a cheap and amusing spectator sport. It's that I need to take a break from social media. A long, long break.

Basically social media on Tuesday night gave me a panic attack since it was nothing but people I follow screaming in horror as the results were coming in and predicting the Apocalypse. One or two people saying that is easy enough to absorb. Literally hundreds of people freaking out on my various timelines at the same time is a bit harder. I did not sleep a wink on Tuesday night, and not because I was up late watching election results. I actually stopped a little after 11 after I could see which way the wind was blowing and unable to absorb any more hysteria.

I woke up the next morning and the world hadn't ended (stay tuned!) and realised I needed to make a change. I've quipped for ages that at any given time I'm five minutes away from quitting all my social media. That was always partially due to the level of restraint I had to engage in when using it. Given my employer has a....limited....sense of humour about putting your foot in it, and given the level of competence and thorough willingness to misconstrue information of people out there, using it can be a frustrating and bland experience.

I say this know my level of privilege is extremely high. I'm a middle aged heterosexual white male from a christian (currently agnostic) background.

So when I started freaking out from using Twitter/Facebook, I realised maybe a break is needed. Not sure how long it will be. I'm hoping I don't cave in a few weeks. I might have to in the new year briefly if I still end up travelling to the US. We'll see.

But already I can feel the difference. It's been a little over 72 hours since I announced on both Twitter/Facebook that I was taking a break (I'm hoping this isn't automatically posting to Facebook. It used it, but who knows) and it's....odd.

I can already feel a void. It's not a secret that these things can be time wasters, but even I'm surprised how much extra time I have that needs to be filled up. I finished rereading "Espedair Street" by Iain Banks and I'm about 100 pages into "Caliban's War" by James Corey. And a couple of graphic novels for flavour.

And then the damnedest thing happened tonight....I felt like writing. Been awhile since that happened. I've had ideas, but never could find the time or energy to sit down and write them. Tonight, I did.

This isn't a grand literary epic, of course. But it's a start.

We'll see how this all plays out. I have the sneaking feeling the next four years are going to make the Bush II presidency look like Camelot, but if it's made me take a step back from spending so much time on social media and more time reading, writing and talking with my wife, then who knows, maybe some good has come out of Tuesday night after all....

Last Five
1. Leather (live) - Tori Amos*
2. Wind your neck in - Lily Allen
3. Charlie Brown - Coldplay
4. Name - Goo Goo Dolls
5. Dorothy Dandridge eyes - Janelle Monae

Happy Birthday

So let's flashback about 10 years ago or so....

Cathy and I are in Iqaluit without a pet. This is an unusual set of circumstance as neither one of us had gone long without one. But my cat, Max, passed away the previous August and we were getting anxious. We wanted something. Cathy's allergic to both cats and dogs, but some dogs affected her less than others. For example, beagles are very, very bad. She adapted to Max, but it took some doing.

So, a dog. Adding to the mix was the apartment we were living in didn't allow dogs. This was among it's many flaws, including being right above the Storehouse bar, having a neighbour who thought it was acceptable to blast the Top Gun soundtrack at 8 am on a Saturday and another neighbour who must have been president of the local Marijuana Party(or at least too stupid to actually take measure to cover the smell a bit).

So we were going to get another apartment. And we wanted a dog to go with that apartment (the timing of those two things were a bit dicier than we had planned, but it worked out).

Via the recommendation of a friend we started looking at Coton de Tulears, which is a snooty sounding name, but they were exactly the kind of dog breed we were looking for. Small, because we were living in an apartment, they don't shed and are good for people with allergies, and very sociable and playful.

So we reached out to a breeder in Ottawa. They were called Pick of the Litter back then, but I see they're called Riverport Kennels now. And after getting grilled a bit on if we would make good dog owners (which I totally respect, by the way) we agreed to get a puppy.

And 10 years ago this weekend, May 21 to be exact, we got this picture.



And then a couple of months later, we flew Boo up to Iqaluit (but not until Cathy got a two hour seminar on proper Coton de Tulear care, special water and his blanket to help ease with the transition).







It's hard to state how important he's been in our lives. Cathy's joked many times that she needs something to pick on and it was either me or the dog. I have, on more than one occasion, when I recognize one of "those" moods, picked up the dog and given him to her. At this point Boo normally shoots me a look that say "thanks pal". But hey, it's him or me.

He is, simply a good dog. He keeps us company. He makes us laugh. He cuddles in when we need it. He ably defends his house from the twin threats of the Water Truck and the Sewage Truck on a daily basis by barking until they flee.





If there is anything wrong with him it's that he doesn't interact with other dogs well, and that's entirely our fault. His first apartment was in downtown in Iqaluit. And while we might have kept him on a leash there were a lot of strays around, some of them quite aggressive. You spend enough time pulling him away from strange dogs and, well, he learned a lesson we might have preferred he didn't.

And at 10....well, he's slowing down a touch. He doesn't like longer walks and he's perfectly willing to cuddle more these days. But slowing down doesn't mean old. He still insists on playing several times a day and still has manic bursts of energy where he runs up and down the hallway barking for several minutes.





And on days where maybe work sucked or things are just blah, he's always there. He's a pure bred Coton de Tulear and they're not cheap. But I don't think you can put a price on a good companion who keeps you happy and sane on days when that can't be a challenge.

So Happy Birthday, Boo. Here's to many more...





Last Five
1. The scarlet tide - Allison Krauss*
2. Where did you sleep last night? - Nirvana
3. She opens her eyes - Keane
4. All to all - Broken Social Scene
5. Consistency of Sound - Ian Foster Band

Tumblr Restart

I got an email from Tumblr the other day congratulating me on the 4th anniversary of my tumblr. Which is mildly amusing as I’ve done nothing much with it. When I started it I had vague plans of doing something geeky with it, and maybe do something Iqaluit-related. Photos around town, that sort of thing.

Instead, I spend most of my time just stalking comic art tumblrs. Which is fine and all, it just seems like it is a bit of a waste of space.

So with the 4th anniversary notice, I had a few ideas. First, I might as well scrap the idea of putting up Iqaluit photos on tumblr. I simply don’t take many pictures around town. I thought my iPhone might change that, but nope, not so much.

Secondly, on the blog I can see the noticeable hit in traffic stats anytime I talk about anything geeky. People tune into my blog to read about Northern life, our latest news, or politics, not so much with the geekery. 

And third, when I was recently doing an inventory of the geek stuff I have in my den, I noticed that I’m actually building a decent comic art collection. It’s not massive by any means, but I now have several dozen pieces, between the ones hanging on my wall, in sketch books and in a portfolio I got for Christmas. And not very many people see it…or at least see it and can kind of appreciate it.

Lord knows the internet doesn’t need another comic book/geek tumblr, but what the hell. I have opinions, I have some nice art and I follow some pretty decent comic tumblrs. So that’s what that space is going to be from now on. My geekery. This space will cover the rest of my life and interests.

So expect pics of the art I own, probably one or two a week. That should get me pretty close to a year. I think I might also include stories that go with the art. In most cases there’s a con story, or my interactions with the artist that goes along with it. Or at least lessons to be learned about buying art on eBay.

Then reposts of art I like, and thoughts on geek TV, movies, etc. For example, the last episode of Castle just aired. I haven’t watched it yet, but I have a few thoughts on the show. Maybe tomorrow night, after I watch it.

This is assuming I can make this work, of course. Tumblr is graphics heavy, obviously, and Xplornet, my ISP, really doesn’t like, well, much of anything given the speeds I’ve been getting lately. But it really doesn’t like Tumblr. 

So let’s see how it goes…

Last Five

1. Factory – Band of Horses

2. Temporary girl – Mo Berg

3. Automatic - Weezer

4. Lights - Editors

5.  Dick-all – Colleen Power*

Comics for sale

This is more housekeeping than anything else. So if you don't live in Iqaluit, I suspect it's not going to be of much use to you. I'm going to link to this from Twitter (I'm @towniebastard if you're stumbling onto this from elsewhere) so local folks can look at the list. DM me if you're interested.

About once a year I take a look at my graphic novel shelf and figure out if there's some stuff that can go. I might have upgraded to a hardcover from a trade paperback. The book might have gotten good reviews, but it just didn't capture me for some reason. It's not that it's bad, just not what I'm looking for.

That means the books are better off in a new home rather than staying and occupying precious, and limited, shelf space.

So this is this year's purge. As a rule I don't ask much, just that they find new homes.

1, Manifest Destiny: Vol. 1 (Image) - Dinger/Roberts/Geini - In 1804 Lewis and Clark set out on an expedition to explore the uncharted American Frontier. This is the story of what they discovered lurking in the wilds. ($2)

2. God is Dead: Vol. 1 (Avatar) - Hickman/Costa/Amorim - The Gods have returned. They're kinda pissed. Adult content ($2)

3. Godzilla: Vol. 1 (IDW) - Swierczynski/Gane - A top notch team is assembled to take down monster-sized threats. But can you take down Godzilla? ($2)

4. Deadly Class: Vol. 1 (Image) - Remender/Craig/Loughridge - It's 1987 and a homeless kid is invited to join a special school...to develop the next generation of assassins. ($2)

5. Hellblazer: Setting Sun (Vertigo) - Ellis/Various - It's John Constantine. Bastardness will ensue. ($2)

6. X-Men: Primer (Marvel) - Wood/Copiel/Lopez - The female members of the X-Men band together to fight an ancient evil ($2)

7. Wolverine (Marvel) - Claremont/Miller/Smith - The classic story with Wolverine in Japan fighting ninja, plus the follow-up stories in the regular X-Men series. ($3)

8. Deadpool Classic: Vol. 9 (Marvel) - Simone/Udon Studios - It's Deadpool. Stuff gets blown up, shot and general chaos ensues. ($3)

9. Northerlanders: Vol. 1 and 2 (Vertigo) - Wood/Kelly/Gianfelice - Vikings. Lots of vikings. ($2 each)

10. Umbral: Vol. 1 (Image) - Johnston/Mitten - Dark fantasy/adventure series. ($2)

11. Uncanny: Vol. 1 (Dynamite) - Diggle/Campbell - What if you could steal someones memories and abilities for a limited time? What if you were a complete screw-up? ($2)

12. Spider-Men (Marvel) - Bendis/Pichelli - Peter Parker (Amazing Spider-Man meets Miles Morales (Ultimate Spider-Man). Lots of fun. ($3)

13. Birds of Prey: Vol. 7 (DC) - Simone/Scott - Great series, tons of fun. Accidentally bought two copies. ($2)

14. Indestructible Hulk: Vol 1 and 2 (HC) (DC) - Waid/Yu/Simonson - The Hulk goes and works for SHIELD. Plus, Simonsons draws Thor and Hulk, so that's cool. ($7 for both)

15. Chew: Vol. 1-6 (Image) - Layman/Guillory - Tony CHu is a Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impression from whatever he eats. It also makes him a hell of a detective, albeit one who has to eat strange things to solve crimes. Funny and weird. Sold as a set. ($12)

16. Agents of Atlas (Marvel HC) - Forgotten heroes of the 50s reunite under SHEILD to fight a menace only they can stop. New work plus reprints of classic comics...$5

17. I have the complete run of Matt Fraction's Iron Man. I'm debating it. If you're interested, let me know. 12 books, mostly hardcover. Sold only as a set.

18. I also have nine volumes of Atomic Robo that I'm thinking of parting with. Again, if interested, let me know. Sold only as a set.

Mother's Day/Geek Day

So, a threefer here with this blog post...but with a theme!

1. Mother's Day is almost over, so here's a quick little thing about my mom....

I'm pretty sure she never really got my fascination about all things sci-fi/geek/comic book related. On the other hand, she never discouraged it either, beyond her despair over the state of my bedroom when I was a kid.

I mention this because when I was in my 20s mothers were the source of more cursing among geek acquaintances of mine. This was a period of high popularity for comic books, but not for good reasons. A lot of the books were crap, but there was a lot of speculation going on. Comics are hot now because of what TV or movie property can be generated from them. Back then, they were like stocks and bonds. People bought huge numbers of the Death of Superman or X-Men #1 because they thought they were going to be worth a fortune.

They weren't of course. Hard to have a value when there's 7 million copies being printed. But older comics also shot up in value. And I routinely heard from people who despaired because they had Fantastic Four #1 or Action Comics #1 (no, they didn't. They had a reprint) but their moms tossed them in the garbage.

Moms. Scourge of collectors everywhere.

Mom never did that (to my knowledge). Now, none of the comics I collected in my youth were worth anything. Let's not get crazy here. But she never tossed them and she never gave me a hard time about spending money on them, even when I often didn't have enough. She knew it was something I loved.

So thanks, mom. One more thing to add to the awesome list.

2, So yesterday was Free Comic Book Day. I haven't had the chance to celebrate that in more than a decade. Even before we moved it Iqaluit I kind of gave the day a pass. Comic book stores tend to get flooded with parents and kids looking for free comics. Since I was routinely at my local store once or twice a week anyway, I just stayed out of the way.

But I kinda missed it the last few years. The event has really taken off and my Twitter feed was filled yesterday with creators doing events at stores - free signings or sketches. It's become a very cool little event.

But Iqaluit had its first Free Comic Book Day event yesterday. For the last five years Iqaluit has a toy store - Stuff 2 Do - operating in town. I remember the first time I went in...it was in a little cubbyhole near Baffin Gas.  We bought a few things and I remember thinking it would never last. Not because I doubted the owners ability....he's a nice enough guy and very ernest. I just figured there wasn't enough local support for it. Or that people would buy things through Amazon instead. Or that NorthMart would undercut it somehow.

But no. He moved into a bigger location. And then he expanded in that location. And earlier this year he started selling comic books. I feel bad about not buying comics there, actually, but The Deal is still in place with Cathy and I (I do not buy single issues, only paperbacks and hardcover graphic novels). So this year he decided to do FCBD event.

And he did a great job. He actually sent a bunch of free comics around to local schools the day before. He had some cosplayers in the store; you could get your picture taken with them with funds going to a local group. There was another guy there with a robotic K-9 from Dr. Who he built (he's seriously good. He also built an R2D2 that's pretty awesome and he told me he's currently working on a WALL-E. Which is awesome. I can't wait to it as WALL-E is one of my favourite movies.

So it was a great event. We showed up, grabbed a couple of comics (I have a rule about only taking one, but he insisted on me taking more as he had lots) and we dropped a few dollars at the store. Because of the rules of FCBD is that if you take a comic, you should buy something at the store. The comics are free for customers, but the store has to buy them and ship them. So it's not cheap for them. Buy something.

It was a good day. I hope his store had a good day too. And I look forward to seeing what happens next year.

3. So, Captain America: Civil War. That movie was almost unfair to DC/Warner. It's criminal that they released Batman vs. Superman, which would under ordinary circumstances just be a bad movie that people might have forgiven a bit in the course of time. No. Marvel/Disney release this movie, one of the best in the super hero genre, just to rub salt in the wound.

Somewhere there are studio executives plotting how they can slip some cyanide into Zach Snider's smoothie. Something to right the ship. Because Marvel just laid a smackdown of such biblical proportions that you gotta feel that DC/Warner has to do something.

The scary thing is that isn't even the best Marvel movie. I'd place it maybe 4th or 5th. I'll see it again, but that feels right. In case you're wondering
- Avengers
- Iron Man
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Captain America: Civil War

It's interesting, but I watched Winter Solider the night before we saw Civil War. And the thing I noticed on my latest viewing is that sucker moves. It's not all action scenes, but it's a tight movie. The movie really propels you forward. Even the quiet scenes have weight and momentum to them. I like that energy and heft to it. There isn't an ounce of fat on that movie.

Civil War doesn't meander so much, but there's less drive to it. But there is a clockwork precision to it. There's so many characters, but they all work in their own way. The problem is that it takes away some of the energy of it. There are lots of lovely scenes, like the Vision and Scarlet Witch, or Tony and Peter Parker...but they do take away some of the urgency in the movie.

Still, that's a hell of a movie. The big airport sequence gets all the attention, but the fight at the end packs quite a weight as well.

Also, let's give a tip of the hat for the smooth way they introduced both Black Panther and Spider-Man. Age of Ultron introduced new characters and set-up future movies in an....inelegant way. Which was practically poetry compared to Batman vs. Superman's utter clusterfuck way of introducing Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman.

But no, Black Panther is fantastic in this movie. Absolutely can't wait for his movie in 2018, which is stupid far away. It should be coming out next year. And as someone so thoroughly done with Spider-Man, he was great in this movie (although one scene where he talked about an old movie he saw had me whispering "cocksucker" under my breath, then laughing).

The only faults I have are nitpicks. Like this actually should be called Avengers: Civil War, but what are you going to do.

But yeah, get rid of Zach Snyder. Because if this is the kind of intelligence the Russo Brothers are going to bring to their Avengers: Infinity Wars movies, then Snyder's Justice League movies are well and truly doomed.

Last Five
1. What kind of man - Florence and the Machine*
2. Great DJ - The Ting Tings
3. Flying Dutchman - Tori Amos
4. The lowlands of Holland - Anita Best and Pamela Morgan
5. I've got your fire - Jenn Grant

Fight or Flight

So on Monday an airline war broke out, resulting in a seat sale unlike anything that's been seen in Iqaluit in years.

And social media immediately broke out into outrage. In fact, it's safe to say you've never seen so much anger and seething rage over a seat sale.

So in one corner we have the usual gang - First Air/Canadian North. In the other corner a new airline that is in the process of starting up - Go Sarvaq.

Go Sarvaq is a bit of a weird airline. They're working with another airline, Flair Air, and booking seats on those planes when they fly in. I don't pretend to understand all of it. And they had a rocky start. They originally were Fly Sarvaq, but had to change their name due to the government regulations. Their website didn't work for weeks, and people were calling to reserve tickets, but often weren't getting responses back. All of this and the airline is scheduled to start next month.

So a shaky start, sure. On the upside they announced an introductory fare of $499 each way to either Ottawa or Halifax. So that got a lot of attention. And people were eager for some competition. I understand for the average person a $1,000 return plane ticket does not sound like a fantastic deal, but considering the average plane ticket for the last two years has been around $2,400, then yeah, saving $1,400 is a pretty good gig.

(Caveat: Airline tickets are never that straightforward in Nunavut. There are all kinds of discounts. Government of Nunavut employees get them, teachers do, Government of Canada employees, staff of Inuit organizations, Inuit beneficiaries. You have to be special not to qualify for one. But even with those discounts, tickets are still around $1,500-$1,800, which has gone up).

So when Go Sarvaq finally got their shit together, and their website up and running and booking tickets, Canadian North/First Air reacted pretty much the way you expected. Except they didn't. Most people expected them to match Go Sarvaq's fare. They actually undercut it - $399 each way or $798 return. But even that was weird because when you went to book a ticket, the final return fare was $740.

To put that in perspective, we've lived in Iqaluit for nearly 11 years now. Only once have I seen a seat sale better than that, and it was a 12 hour flash sale for around $650. This one is going to last a couple of weeks. And just when people are booking their summer vacation plans.

The howls come from the fact that is not even a remotely subtle attempt at bankrupting Go Sarvaq before it gets going. And let's be clear, it is. You can talk "protecting your market share" or "being competitive" all you want, but Canadian North and First Air are essentially the same airline at this point, what with the highly unpopular codesharing and all.

Also rubbing people the wrong way as both airlines crying poverty just a few months ago when called before the Legislative Assembly to explain why tickets were so expensive and the quality of service in decline. Now, magically, a few months later they can apparently cut ticket costs by two-thirds in advance of one of their busiest times of the year.

There have been a lot of people pleading on Twitter and Facebook that people should bite the bullet, spend the extra couple of hundred dollars on Go Sarvaq. That if the First/Canadian succeed in bankrupting Go Sarvaq then plane tickets will bounce back to their old $2,400 levels pretty quick. I'd argue that's not true. I'll bet money they go higher as they try to recoup money lost in their little war to drive their new rival out of business before it finds its feet.

(Also, it should be noted, it's not as simple as battle over the Iqaluit-Ottawa route. Canadian/First also fly into other communities, Go Sarvag doesn't. That affects the economics of things as well)

I'm pretty pissed with Canadian/First. Standard business practice and all, but they're trying to protect their fiefdom and it's not a particularly enjoyable feeling being the serf when you're trying to book plane tickets. My only gripe with Go Sarvaq is the terrible roll out they had. They got a little too eager to announce, didn't have things in place, and didn't communicate what was going on very well, which gives me pause about them.

But I think Go Sarvaq is just the harbinger. Even if they hadn't entered the competition between Iqaluit-Ottawa (and good for them adding that once a week Iqaluit-Halifax route), I still think competition is coming. Iqaluit's sparkly new airport opens next year. And when it does I will not be the slightest bit surprised if WestJet, Air Canada or Air North takes a crack at the route. The other two Northern capitals have multiple carriers beyond First Air/Canadian North. It's only a matter of time before it happens in Iqaluit.

Then things will get interesting. And hopefully a little cheaper. And hey, if you ever wanted to come up and visit us, now's the time.

Last Five
1. Open all night (live) - Bruce Springsteen
2. This sad song - Alison Krauss and Union Station
3. It's hard to be a saint in the city (live) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
4. Bluish - Animal Collective
5. Twined and Twisted - Valerie June*

Review: Batman vs. Superman (possible spoilers)

There are two things to consider when reviewing Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, beyond whatever marketing genius came up with that horrific title. The first is if it is a good movie, plain and simple. The second is if you're a geek, how much are you going to love, or be pissed off by, some iconic characters that you may be heavily invested in.

The answer for neither is particularly good.

First, the movie itself. Zach Snyder is a director that does have chops. 300 is still a hell of a movie. But since then...not so much. Sucker Punch was a mess, but that's fine. Every director is allowed to have one of those. Watchman was ambitious but also a mess and I'm not sure was ever really filmable.

Man of Steel was where Snyder's worrying trend of uneven movies really crystalized. That Snyder is a director with style, that he can film a memorable scene or put together a breath-taking image is without a doubt. That he could film an action sequence is also without a doubt. But that he could put together a coherent narrative into a well edited, fun movie went pretty much out the window.

Man of Steel was a choppy movie, a little too in love with its disaster porn movie, with elements that were either badly thought out (the entire Krypton sequence) or filled with plot holes. And that continues on into B vs. S.

Again, Snyder can put together some beautiful sequences. Martha and Thomas Wayne have never been so loving murdered on the big screen before (It's 3D gun porn). There are a few sequences of Superman rescuing people are certain lovely to look at even if you hurt your eyes from rolling them so hard as they hammer home the Christ symbolism more in this movie than they did in Man of Steel.

But the pacing and editing of the movie is all wrong. Some of that can be blamed for trying to set up about a half dozen spin-offs from this one movie (Justice League, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and probably a Batman spin-off). Avengers: Age of Ultron had to do this as well and it frequently didn't work well either. But the franchise had earned a degree of....leniency. If it was occasionally frustrating, you tolerated it because the characters are so fun.

The DC franchise has earned nothing at this point. And if the last Avengers movie was unsubtle at promoting its future franchise movies, B vs. S is about as subtle as an atomic bomb (literally). it really does screw up the narrative flow of the movie badly. There are scenes that are so unnecessary - a Batman dream sequence, Wonder Woman looking at future Justice League

Not helping this is bad editing. The first half of the movie, which is primarily set up, still manages to have some weird and jarring edits. By the time we reach the end, and have gone through the big action sequences the editing has become almost incoherent. Snyder is falling back on old cheats. Lot of filming in the dark and many quick edits to indicate that something is happening even if you can't really understand what that is.

And I'm going to throw one final shot here...while Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman is a refreshing breath of fresh air in the movie (she is literally the only charming or fun aspect of the movie), other woman don't fare so well. They tend to need rescuing or get blown-up to service whatever the men need doing in the movie. I mean, Lois Lane getting rescued once is a tip to the comics. The number of times she needs it in this movie is just sloppy writing.

Are there good things? Sure. A Batmobile car chase is quite good as long as you don't think about certain troubling aspects. The actual Superman/Batman fight is really quite good and pretty much the highlight of the movie. And while you might not like how dark it is shot or even the theme that DC/Warner is going for in these movies (Gods walk among us, basically), they are committed to the vision of it.

Because there is a good story buried here. That yes, after the events of Man of Steel, Batman would be traumatized and horrified by one person having that much power and being unaccountable. That he would take steps to make sure that if necessary he could stop Superman. That there should be discussion about what a Superman would mean to the world. There's a really good narrative there if you stripped this movie down to its skeleton and rebuilt. It just got in its own way.

For The Geeks
The other question is how true these characters are to what we're familiar with. Marvel's not perfect, but they put characters on the screen that are relatable and pretty true to what comic book fans are familiar with. In some cases, they hit it out of the park as they did with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. So have DC/Warner managed to do the same here?

It's a pretty mixed bag. So let's get onto the good first.

Gal Gadot is a spot on choice for Wonder Woman. She doesn't have much to do in this movie, but she pretty much steals every scene she's in. Whether it's looking exotic and the most beautiful woman in the room at a party, or her little dig at Bruce Wayne at sharing or her looking scary and fierce as hell in the final movie fight, you'll be lining up to see her movie next year. I have no idea why they're setting it during World War I, but I'll be there to find out. She's the highlight of the movie.

Ben Affleck got a lot of crap for being cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman and, you know, the man has a rep. And it's not like he's had the best of luck at starring in blockbuster super hero movies before. But there's a legit argument to be made that he's the best Batman to grace the screen so far. The Batman of the 80s and 90s had little to do with the comics and more to do with the 60s TV show. And they really haven't aged well. Christopher Nolan's movies are much better, but even they appeared to want to have a step removed from the comics.

That's not the case here. Affleck is a solid Bruce Wayne. He has the playboy business man who drinks too much down pat, with the passion and barely controlled rage of the Batman. There's weariness after fighting the battle for 20 years, there's compassion and, thank god, brains. One of the things that previous movies tended to miss is that Batman is also the world's greatest detective. He actually does detective work here, so it's nice to see.

The fault here, and it has nothing to do with Affleck, is the astonishing cavalier attitude towards life Batman has. Batman does not use guns. It is a central aspect of his character. A gun took his parents lives, as we are lovingly shown, repeatedly, and in slow motion. He hates them. And yet, he has quite a body count at the end of this movie, and in no small part by shooting bad guys with his plane or car. That doesn't even count a dream/vision sequence where he uses machine guns to kills people.

It shows such a fundamental misunderstanding of who the character is supposed to be it's kind of breath-taking. Snyder clearly loves Batman: The Dark Knight Returns given all the references he has to it scattered throughout the movie. But he neglects one of the big ones: where Batman takes apart a gun and chastises a group of want-to-be followers, calling it "the weapon of the enemy".

I don't know. Maybe in America where you're allowed to openly carry guns to church it's now ok for Batman to shoot people and for Superman to be Christ. But it's kind of sad if that's the case.

And, ah, Superman. I've never liked the Superman as a messianic figure. And I've certainly never cared for how it's been hammered home, both in the last two Snyder films and even Superman Returns. I like him more as an immigrant, just trying to figure out his place in a new world and trying to help. That's an interesting take. Superhero as Christ is just boring.

But even if we can say that's just a matter of personal taste, Superman shouldn't be a grim, dour character. He barely smiles in the movie. You can see why some people find him terrifying because of the way he acts. One scene sees a large group of people die and he doesn't act with outrage or sorrow. He just....stands there.

Superman is a character of hope and somehow everyone involved with this has misconstrued this as meaning he has to be an angry, resentful messiah. Somehow Superman as a tortured asshole is the acceptable version and I don't know why. Maybe it's easier and cooler.

I put up this link last week on Facebook and said it was my Superman. So is this one. Or this one (scroll down until you come to the Hitman scene). Or this one if you want a scene emphasizing a more religious Superman.

There are so many good instances of well written Superman (Morrison/Quitely All-Star Superman, Busiek/Immomen Superman: Secret Identity). It's only laziness and a desire to be "cool" that screws it up. I genuinely don't think Snyder likes the character very much, or if he does it's to be used as a punchline.

DC also goes dark/grim and gritty when they're in trouble. It's been their default mode since the mid-80s, when they had classics like The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. And given the hammering they've taken from Marvel the last 10 years both in the comics (Marvel outsells DC by about 50% these days) and in the movies (Marvel is averaging 2-3 hit movies a year while DC was trying to figure out what to do). That's fine to an extent. But Marvel puts out movies that are fun. No matter how serious the material is, like Winter Solider, there are still fun moments. There's not one laugh line in B vs. S. It's all dark and grim and not all fun. For more than two hours.

But it is, I guess, very cool.

But cool isn't going to cary these movies as far as they might think. We'll see. But if these movies don't do as well as expected, which seems to be the case with this one, it's because fans want better than what they're getting. DC and Warner might want to take that advice to heart and stop doubling down on Snyder (and Goyer, the co-writer). They have a vision. It's occasionally pretty to look at, but not enjoyable to endure over two hours. It's time for a change because I love these characters. I'm just not sure the people involved with making these movies do...

Last Five
1. Enough of the night (live) - Jackson Browne
2. Take me with you - Tori Amos
3. Before the Earth was round - Ok Go
4. She's a rebel - Green Day
5. Dance all night - Ryan Adams*

Bring on the Trump

Cathy and I have been married for more than 10 years and together coming up on 15. So I like to think we're reached that comfortable state in any marriage where I can say things I know will bug her just for the amusement of the reaction.

Oh, come on, we all do it. She does it to me as well...

But my go to for about 7-8 months now is this phrase: "You know, I kinda hope Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination." This get me icy glares, and threats of divorce. If I'm feel particularly suicidal, I'll mention how I wouldn't mind him becoming president. That's generally good for a death threat or two.

Look, when I started cracking these jokes last summer I thought, along with every pundit in the Western hemisphere, that Trump would flame out in the Fall when the competition for the nomination heated up and all of his many, many character flaws and policy inconsistencies would come out into the light of day and that would be that.

If you ever wanted proof that it is possible to sell your soul to the devil for power, Trump is presenting a good case for it. It's the only explanation I have for his popularity at the moment.

But here's the thing, I really do want him to win the Republican nomination. And it's not because I think he would make a good president...let's be serious here. And it's not even for the amusement value that comes from being a smug Canadian watching the US blow itself up during what will surely be the weirdest election campaign in my lifetime.

No, I want it because I think Trump finally, finally might blow up and destroy the Republican party. And thank god for that.

I've linked to this before, but I always liked John Rogers blog piece from back in 2004 called "I Miss Republicans". And I agree with most of that piece. There's nothing wrong with people going "Whoa. Hey hey hey...have we thought this all the way through? Figured out what might happens and how much it's going to cost?" Nothing wrong with those people. They're good folks to have around. And I really do try to at least understand, if not agree with, both sides of an argument.

The current Republican party is about 95% batshit crazy. If you think climate change is a conspiracy, hate all Muslims as a matter of course, think unlimited assault rifle access is a good thing and oppose abortion no matter what the circumstances, up to and including incest and rape....then you, my friend, are part of a political party that has taken leave from reality. Or are at least part of a reality that I would prefer not intersect with mine.

And if you believe all those things and think Trump is just the man to get you all of those things, well, I'm not sure there's a word to accurately describe that level of delusion.

So yeah, bring on Trump. Make him the Republican nominee. I think he effectively destroys the Republican party, which I think is long past due. That party's more sane elements need to either control the lunatic fringe of their party, or walk away from it. Blow it up real good.

But yeah, I think Republicans stay away in droves from the polls in a Trump vs. Clinton race. Democrats would probably take back the Senate, maybe even make some serious headway in the heavily gerrymandered House. So yeah, bring him on.

And yes, there's always the risk that Trump becomes president. That Clinton continue her streak of being a really shitty campaigner or that Saunders wins the Democratic nomination and the US has a little brain fart over that.  I could almost go for President Trump because I think the 2020 election would be a horror show for Republicans and Elizabeth Warren, who I'd actually prefer to see as President, would win in a landslide.

But the amount of damage that nimrod could do in four years....no, I just can't go there.

But no, let's roll those bones. Let's take a chance. Let's cheer for Trump. Even if my wife murders and divorces me...possibly in that order.

Besides, I'm still half convinced after the election he's going to announce this has been all one big prank and unveil the reality program to end all reality programs....

Last Five
1. Wrecking ball - Spirit of the West
2. Amazing Grace (live) - Ani DiFranco
3. Backstreets (live) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band*
4. The freezedown - Gramercy Riffs
5. Never tear us apart - INXS

New airline...

Flying into Iqaluit has almost always been a horror show. It's bloody expensive, and getting a meal and a slightly higher baggage allowance only goes so far in taking the edge off when you see how much it costs. Even using special codes, tickets are still around $1,500. Without them you're looking at a ticket closer to $2,400.

So it's hard to get out, but it also hard to get people to pop up for a visit. I mean, you might have friends and family who love you, but you can got to some pretty interesting places in the world for $2,400. My parents have never been up for a visit. Cathy's are coming up in June, but it took about 90 minutes on the phone with Aeroplan to find dates that worked.

And before you roll your eyes and go "pffft, typical Aeroplan" it was mostly First Air and Canadian North's fault. They're computer systems don't play well with Aeroplan, timing out and crashing on a regular basis.

Earlier this week there was a contest that CTV ran in conjunction with the Northern Lights trade show that offer three nights in Iqaluit with accommodations included. That contest went viral pretty quick in Iqaluit, with everyone sharing it with friends and family down south. I've got a bunch of friends I hope win it.

However, this evening we got news that might change things a bit in Iqaluit. Might. At that same trade show a new airline, Fly Savaq, announced they were going to start flying into Iqaluit. Twice a week from Ottawa and once a week from Halifax.

More competition against the other two airlines is good, especially since with codesharing they're essentially the same airline. But what's caught people's eye are what they're charging for a ticket - $499 each way, taxes and fees included. Now, that's the introductory price, so I'm sure it will go up. I'm also sure by this time tomorrow First Air and Canadian North will match it, trying to crush the competition in the bud.

It pretty much worked with Air Canada. Not sure it works as well with Fly Savaq. There's a lot of anger directed at the other two airlines. People are going to throw their business at them just our of irritation. I know we will. We're flying down on a Friday this summer, so we'll probably give them a try. I won't be flying back on a Monday, but oh well. I'll have done my part to support airline competition in the North.

Does this mean I'm expecting friends to suddenly fly up and see us? Well, no. Probably not. $1,000 still isn't exactly chump change. But hey, who knows. My friends are weird, anything is possible....

Last Five
1. Slow and steady - Of Monsters and Men
2. Forest Serenade - The Joy Formidable
3. Shadow of a man - Bedouin Soundclash
4. Talk tonight - Oasis*
5. To much love with kill you - Queen