Black Mask was another character on this list I was not looking forward to.
For the most part, Roman Sionis is one of the numerous by the numbers villains created in the eighties who somehow lasted beyond their first storyline. Later the writers made him a gang lord in what looks like an attempt to bring the realism of the mob into the costumed world. But ultimately he’s another psycho who’s more of a danger to his own men then he is to Batman and the rest of society. The last two reboots have not done him any favors.
It doesn’t help that in this monochrome format he’s indistinguishable from the Red Skull.
For this setting, I might keep him at the top of the heap if I need a someone to fill in the “King” niche for my Joker as the crown prince of crime idea.
Because we just got through text times I decided to do films involving members of the IRS as protagonists. After all, this time of year can’t be easy for them either…. They’re only human after all… Yes, really!
First on this list was one that I’d known about for a while, but hadn’t taken very seriously, Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson. We are first introduced to IRS auditor Harold Crick (Ferrell) by an omniscient narrator who tells us he is a repressed individual who schedules everything and plans his whole life around his watch, counting his brushstrokes and steps to work. One day, however, he becomes aware of this narration. Eventually, we learn the narrator is novelist Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) who is writing her latest novel, of which Harold is her main character. A story which will ultimately lead to his death.
When I first saw the trailer for Stranger Than Fiction I, like many other people thought that it would be just another Will Ferrell comedy with him going crazy over the narration and Emma Thompson as a cool disinterested God. Once I watched it turned out to be something much more subtle. Almost to the point where I’m reluctant to consider the film a comedy. Karen is shocked when she finds out that she is mystically manipulating a man’s life. And Ferrell is almost tragic as he ultimately decides to accept his fate but at the same time learns how to live.
If I had any problems with it I almost wish that the scenes with Karen, and her assistant Penny, played by Queen Latifah, had equal time.
Thompson is wonderful as a frustrated and eccentric creator. And Queen Latifah is brilliant as the person who has to put up with it.
The next film on my list, George Marshall’sThe Mating Game, a very loose adaptation of the novel The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates, tells the story of the Larkins, a highly eccentric family living an idyllic farm life in rural Maryland who well liked by their community, except their very rich neighbor. After Pa Larkin (Fred Clark)“borrows” his prize boar to stud with the Larkin Sow he finally takes action by calling in some favors in the treasury siccing the IRS on them. This comes in the form of Lorenzo Charlton, played by Tony Randall. who is tasked to look into the Larkin’s finances. Lorenzo quick discovers that Pa Larkin has never filed an income tax claim, mainly because the Larkins technically don’t have any income, having been mostly self-sufficient for three generations and getting whatever else they needed by trading
In the process, Pa considers Lorenzo, who he quickly renames Charley, as possible husband material for his oldest daughter, the vivacious and irrepressible Mariette, played by then Debbie Reynolds, and does everything he can do to slow down Charley’s investigation. Not so much as to interfere with the audit, as to give Charley a chance to get to know the family.
As Charley tries to make heads or tails out of the families convoluted “records“ he and Mariette begin to hit it off. And he takes a liking to the rest of the family as well. But can Charley help them before his bosses come checking on him?
I’m not sure what I thought of this movie. On the plus side, you can’t help liking the Larkins and their wonderful utopian lifestyle that I suspect no longer existed even when this film was made. In a strange kind of way they kind of remind me of a cross between the Clampetts and the Addams Family, where they’re not actually being rebellious, they are just genuinely oblivious that they’re doing anything wrong.
The problem is that the rest of the film is complete fluff. I find myself wanting to spend more time with the Larkins… just not in this movie… This definitely makes me want to go the three seasons worth of the BBC’s television version of The Darling Buds of May.
So for today’s Sketch Challenge, the magic Tupperware told me to draw one of the newer villains in Batman’s rogue’s gallery, Professor Pyg.
I admit Professor Pyg was another one I wasn’t looking forward to. I think Grant Morrison came up with him to create the most nightmarish villain possible. But still, he seems to be popular having shown up several times in different media, most notably Beware the Batman.
Once again, I don’t have much to add to this mad vivisectionist. Beyond whatever agenda he might have, to me, he’s just a sadistic serial killer who villains are just as likely to go after as Batman is.
I really wasn’t looking forward to doing Robin, I really should really learn not to tempt the whims of the Magic Tupperware.
For me, Robin is an extremely problematic character. For a guy who likes a little realism in his comics (okay, the illusion of realism but I trust you all know what I mean) I do not understand the concept of the teenage sidekick. Yes, I do understand why comic companies do them, It gives the kid reading the comics someone to identify with) But from a proper Watsonian perspective, it’s hard to explain why a superhero would endanger minors like that.
But since that marketing thing clearly works, and the nature of this project means I can’t just ignore the legacy of the characters. So I need to find an angle…
Here we go.
Jokes about disposable sidekicks aside, I liked the various stories that acknowledged all of the “wards” existing simultaneously, with Robin as Batman’s senior apprentice or, as the “squire” to the Dark Knight.
Or Robin could be the generic term for all of the trainees in the Bat dojo. I think I’ll run with that one for now.
So here’s what I assume are Tim, Stephanie, and Damian suiting up after their workout.
At risk of sounding like an MRA idiot, I’ve been having some difficulty justifying Batgirl and Batwoman in this sketch challenge. Batgirl as a teenage sidekick fits under the Robin file, (another difficulty I hope to figure out before the Magic Tupperware makes me address it) And if we go to the original setting where either Barbara Gordon or Kate Kane are doing their thing independently, well the Bat organization in this setting is a lot better at enforcing the franchise… fortunately, I still have the Huntress.
I’m mostly sure this version is still Helena Bertinelli, though I could just as easily make it an alternate identity for Kate Kane. Either way, she’s an independent operator whose level of vigilantism the Bat Group is not entirely comfortable with.
As a fan of the Escher Girls blog, I’m very embarrassed that I caught myself having her pivot a little more than anatomy allows in the rough sketch.
Today, as we reach the official halfway point of this challenge, the magic Tupperware told me to draw Batman’s loyal batman, Alfred.
Alfred’s another one I hadn’t thought about much. I’ve mostly kept the snarky conscience that he is in the comic and the animated series. For the sketch challenge setting, I’ve been playing with he’s the chief of staff in the cave watching over all of the departments (while still being the man who gets’s the boss his tea when he’s in the mood.)
I spent most of this sketch as a way to readdress my approach to Batman having kind of avoided going into any details in my first go. I’m mostly borrowing from a good friend’s thoughts on how to do a “thinking man’s Batman” rather than the antisocial, marginally sane, “Bat-thug” popularized by Frank Millars among others. Someone who was the detective as well as a warrior.
For his perfect choice for an actor who could pull that off was Mads Mikkelsen, based on his performance in Valhalla Rising. Since I’m fond of Mikkelsen’s performances I decided to go with it.