THE GOOD:   Writer Stan Berkowitz does a pretty good job keeping the movie very similar to Jeph Loeb’s original….the art isn’t the classic Superman/Batman stuff but it is not shabby either…nice to have the voices of Clancy Brown (Luthor), Tim Daly (Clark Kent/Superman) and Kevin Conroy (Bruce Wayne/Batman)…These are the voices I am familiar with….Seeing Lex Luthor slip Amanda Waller the tongue was more gross on DVD than it was in the comic.

THE BAD:  Not too much bad here.  The video stayed true to the original story until the end when it got cheesy.  But then again,  PUBLIC ENEMIES was originally just the beginning of the storyline.  This is just a fraction of the true story.  Should the movie have  included Darkseid, the Joker, Bat Mite and Kara Zor-El?  Probably.  But then again, this should have been a full length feature film.

THE VERDICT:  The DVD sells for anywhere between $10-$20.  It’s worth it.

Incredible Hulk 602…..Greg ak and Ariel Olivetti are doing pretty good with Bruce Banner and Skaar.  I like the art……The other book by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness (current storyline by Loeb and Ian Churchill) ain’t bad but they better not drag out “who is Rulk” too long…….The entire Dark Avengers storyline is hot and a must get……Bendis and Deodato are a great combination….New Avengerswith Bendis is not as nice but still good reading….Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin (Dick Grayson and Damion Wayne) is a 10…..Superman:  Secret Origin is a good buy as is Adventure Comics featuring Superboy and The legion of Superheroesin separate stories….Uncanny X-Men will get interesting with the return of Magneto…Is Namor an official member of the X-Men?

I was watching a repeat this morning and the guy was brought on the show (his first mistake) by his girlfriend and mother of his child.  She accused him of doing a few things but the two that stood out were staying out for three days and having blood stains on his boxers.  His answer:  He was out with his friends and passed out and he has an ingrown hair.  Sounded lame to me.  She also claimed she saw hickies on his neck.  He claimed they were frtom mosquito bites. 

Naturally the lie detector test blew his story out the water.

His baby mama (can’t say his girlfriend since she immediately dumped him) screamed on him and yelled “hell no!” when he asked for another chance.

He (and most other guys) are doomed before they even get on the show.

To the guys:  if you know you are guilty why allow it to get to the Maury Show so she can be humilated and have more fuel added to the fire?  Own up to what you did.  Hell, if you were that careless to get caught out there you might as well do that than go on a nationally televised show where billions can see you make an ass of yourself as well as watch your lady bawl her eyes out.  In this case dude was an idiot.  The easy thing for him to do was to come home at night or hang out ONE NIGHT at a friend who your wife can reasonably trust.  If she can’t speak to you for two days you are toast.

Also, if you are messing with another woman, you need to be careful about your smell and your clothes.  Blood stained drawers should not be in the hamper for your girlfriend to clean.  Nasty and stupid.

There are times I question whether or not these guests are real or if they are the creations of crafty producers thirsty for ratings.  But I actually KNOW some guys who would lie about anything.  The girlfriend could catch the guy with his finger in the other woman’s snatch and he would lie and say he wasn’t doing anything.  So I know these guys exist.

Doesn’t make the show less sad though.

Now in pro wrestling a mark is a fan who believes at least some of the product they are watching.  As a kid I was probably the king of the marks.  I thought pro wrestling was real until I was about 16 or 17.  When I was 13 I thought Ernie Ladd was the boogie man.

The late Ernie Ladd used to scare the hell out of me.  He was the first Black wresstler  ever saw.  To me though he was more real to me than the others.   My mother, a huge football fan had heard of him.  He was like some thug you would see at the local pool hall.  He would stoop over and snear at the camera and just seem like a 6 foot 9 inch bully.  And bully he did.  Every week in the IWA (International Wrestling Association) Ladd would beat up somebody (I remember it being Nelson Royal) and at some point Cowboy Bob Ellis would run to the ring and beat the hell out of Ladd.  I actually cheered for Ellis.  Ladd’s heel persona worked on me though even when the IWA faded from existance to be replaced by the (then) WWWF.  I was genuinely scared of the man.   First rule in wrestling…the fans have to either love you or hate you.  There can be no in between.  The man did his job well, especially for his time where television coverage was a fraction what it is now.   I was scared to death he would actually beat Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund or Mil Mascaras.    Unfortunately Ernie ladd died in 2007 from colon cancer.  I have him to thank for inducing my first huge fears in wrestling.  Next big mark moment…Billy Whitewolf.

I saw Billy Whitewolf wrestle in the 1970s with Chief Jay Strongbow as a Native American tag team.  They defeated The Masked Executioners.   At some point on television Ken Patera, who at that time was a huge monster heel, was wrestling some prelim guy and beat the guy down  Whitewolf made the save and a short  feud was born between Patera and Whitewolf.  Short because Patera wrestled Whitewolf the next week and applied the swinging neckbreaker on Whitewolf and didn’t release it, breaking Whitewolf’s neck.    It took me close to 20 years to realize Whitewolf’s neck wasn’t broken.  Even longer to realize he wasn’t even Native American.  His name was also Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy and ws a manager in World class Championship Wrestling.

Around the same time I would watch Championship Wrestling from Florida with the late GREAT Gordon Solie.  I would watch Dusty Rhodes, Mike Graham,  the Brisco Brothers and a young wrestler named Don Muraco wrestle.  Muraco stopped wrestling for a while and I never thought twice about it with all the talent they had.  One day a huge masked wrestler came into the federation and was a monster, indestructable heel.  Unstoppable he would hammer his foes and defeat them with either the Asiatic Spike (thumb to the throat) or the Asian Hammer (Tombstone piledriver).  He was unmasked one day and I never forgot it.  He was revealed to be DonMuraco and he was just standing in the ring twitching.  said Gordon Solie, “the masked man is Don Muraco!  Look at him, he’s deranged!”  Between the menacing look and Solie SELLING THE HELL OUT OF THE STORYLINE I had nightmares.   Before Muraco left Florida he was an average sized wrestler.  He came back looking like Hulk Hogan.   Years later I came to realize how valuable Solie was to the business.  And I realized Don Muraco took a lot of vitamins during his time off

I was almost 20 years old when Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat faced each other in the WWF.  When they wrestled on television Savage knocked Steamboat out of the ring and did his now famous move where he jammed the bell into Steamboat’s throat damaging his larynx.  Bruno Sammartino was doing commentary and was reporting on the story outside the doctor’s office and attacked Savage calling him a “piece of slime”.  I am embarrassed to tell you I thought that was real.  even when my friend was telling me that there was no scar from the supposed operation to Steamboat’s throat.  I called it microscopic surgery.  Seriously.

A few years before the Savage-Steamboat feud, Bruno Sammartino was just retiring.   It was 1979 and Bruno was doing color commentary with Vince Mcmahon.  It was common knowledge that Larry Zbyszko was a student of Sammartino. Zbyszko was being shady to Bruno and when confronted stated he wanted to be out of Bruno’s shadow and wanted a match against him.  Since both were babyface the match was billed as a “scientific match”  In that nationally televised match Bruno schooled Zbyszko who got increasingly frustrated to the point he laid out his former teacher with a wooden chair and leaving Sammartino in the ring bleeding like a stuck pig.  The two fought around the country ending with Sammartino winning the famous Shea Stadium cage match.  BUT..for years I actually thought the two hated each other.  It wasn’t until I read larry Zbyszko’s book a year or two ago that I fully realized it was a great work.  The two had worked on that feud for months.  Thankfully with that one I wasn’t the only mark.  According to Zbyszko he got death threats for what he did to Bruno.  Not from me.

Lastly, when Hulk Hogan was champ and was feuding with “the million dollar man” Ted Dibiase, the two cut a promo where DiBiase offered Hogan money to relinquish the WWE title.  After a  week of mystery and Hogan came out and told diBiase hell no he wouldn’t sell the belt.  Yeah, for a minute I fell for it.  Hell, it was still early in Hogan’s run as champ and I actually didn’t know if he would do it.

Wrestling changed not too long after that.  Vince went for a more real product which included “grayer” characters.  We knew wrestlers by their real names so it was harder to make certain stories fly.

I hadn’t had any breakfast so I was starving when I got there.  I figured if I already cooked hot dogs and burgers at home then why buy them from Burger King?  So I went to Subways.  Not my usual choice, but it was quick and it wasn’t a burger.

I go to the Subways on 7th Avenue near 38th Street, walk in the door and there’s Paul Mooney at the counter.  For people reading not in the know, Paul Mooney is an African-American comedian, writer and actor, known mostly for his work with dave Chappelle and the late Richard Pryor.

Paul Mooney is about my height (no more than 5 foot 11) and about average build.  The times I have seen him on television I thought he was hilarious.   Now Mooney is not the first celebrity I have ever seen.  If you are in New York you will see someone well known from time to time, so I don’t make a big deal when I do run into them.  So I didn’t run up to him for an autograph.  I’m glad I didn’t.

I was in Subway for no more than two minutes before I heard Mooney and the cashier exchanging words and it ended with Paul Mooney and at least two others walking out of the store after Mooney said “f**k you” to the cashier.  Now prior to that  I couldn’t understand completely what was going on but apparently a young female who was with Mooney was being served or supposed to be served and Paul Mooney wasn’t satisfied with the quality of service.  To me it seemed like a misunderstanding between Paul Mooney and a Subways staff that had poor command of the English language.  Yeah, it seemed like a language barrier problem because after Mooney left even I coudn’t understand what the people were saying. 

I just thought Mooney would have been taller.

Is this racism or are Republicans that nasty?

Judge Mathis:  Not my ultimate favorite but he is pretty close.  It’s cool watching a male African American in this type of role.  Granted he will show you his ghetto roots at times but the people in the court room resepect him and he’s not afraid to let you have it.  He is fair though.  Unfortunately though his show is nothing like his introduction about giving second chances.  You go into his court, man up and tell the truth or get eaten alive.

People’s Court:  Marilyn Milian is better on my eyes and has just as much spunk, maybe more.  What I like about her is that she can let you have it but stay a lady.

Judge joe Brown:  My favorite and I can’t put my finger on why.  He’s a country bunkin but highly intelligent and knowledgeable.  I used to think he had no control over hs courtroom but he sanctions people!  He won’t hesitate to take money from you. So he gets major points for letting his ghetto contestants think they are smart then gutting them

My least favorites:

Judge Judy:  I hate watching her show.  She is obnoxious and to me shows a bias against men.  AndI thnk she is unnecessarily mean.

Judge Karen:  Ghetto chick in a judges robe.  Plus she also shows a bias against men.  she makes me think of some hood rat with a baby daddy problem.  Now she is a judge and is crusading against all the baby daddies of the world.

My thoughts:  While I think the details pertaining to Vick’s arrest to be heinous, especially being that I am an animal lover, I think the world at large should step back, shut up and let the man get his second chance.  As it has been so stated, Vick has “paid his debt to society”.  He spent his time in prison and deserves to put this behind him.  I have no problem with him playing football for as long as he can throw the ball.  Those who are loudly opposing his re-entry into the NFL need to remember to let God judge and convict him.  As long as he stays out of trouble why not let him play? 

What kills me about people is how we hate to be judged, but will condemn another man.  According to an article I read in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Eagle owner Jeff Lurie made mention to wanting to see if Michael Vick had enough self hatred for Lurie.  That self hatred was a prerequisite for signing him.  Why was that necessary?  Why couldnt the man simply show remorse and stay away from criminal activity?  Why self hatred?  I don’t have to hate myself for doing something wrong inthe past.

I was annoyed at him when he was first arrested, but I now wish Michael Vick well.  I would love to see him get decent playing time and break some NFL record so he can tell his critics to kiss his behind.

1)  Damion Wayne (Bruce Wayne’s son is one of my personal favorites)
2)  Venom (used to be Scorpion and he was boring.  Now he eats people)

3)  Norman Osborn (at first I thought bringing back Norman was tacky but now they made him Lex Luthor Marvel

4)  Daken (Wolverine’s son)

5)  Superboy Prime (a loony tune Superman)

6)  Skaar (son of the Hulk)

7)  Red Hulk

Honorable mention:  Mike Deodato Jr.  Ed Benes, David Finch, John Byrne, Ivan Reiss, Sal Buscema, John Buscema. Dave Cockrum, Keith Giffen, Frank Miller, Dave Gibbons, Seve Lightle,  Jerry Ordway, Michael Turner, Michael Golden