Monitor Duty» Josh Elder

Goodbye to Angel

Josh Elder — Fri, 21 May 2004 05:08:00 +0000

This was without a doubt the best show on television, and it was just hitting it’s creative zenith this season with the addition of William the Bloody to the cast. I’ll never forgive the WB for this. Never.

That being said… *SPOILERS!!!!*

This was probably the best series finale since Star Trek TNG’s “All Good Things” which is probably the best series finale of any television series ever.

Team Angel went out fighting. They probably aren’t going to win, and even if they did they wouldn’t truly “win”. Evil can never be defeated, only fought. And that’s the point of the show. Fighting the good fight is worth it, even if you never achieve “victory”. The struggle is what counts. Fighting to save souls, fighting to save innocents. As Angel says when confronted by the endless legions of the damned lining up to destroy him and his surviving allies… “Let’s get to work.”

And that’s why I like Angel more than Buffy — both the character and his eponymous show. Angel saves while Buffy slays. Sure, Buffy fights evil and makes the world safe for children, puppies and ice cream cones, but Angel takes the fight directly to heart of darkness. He works tirelessly to not only defeat evil, but to save it and convert it. To shepherd the lost to salvation.

Angel is a champion in the truest sense of the word. He fights to redeem himself and all those that the Darkness has claimed for its own. He’s a real hero, one of the few that popular culture has produced in the last few decades.

I will miss him.

WORSE THAN BATMAN AND ROBIN?

Josh Elder — Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:41:00 +0000

If you thought the publicity photos of Halle Berry as Catwoman were terrible, just wait till you see this. Between this god-awful addition to the Batman canon and the never-ending trainwreck that is the Superman movie, I think Warner Bros has officially squandered all good will they engendered after casting Christian Bale as the Dark Knight.

GOYER GOES PLATINUM

Josh Elder — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:54:00 +0000

Blade: Trinity director (and longtime co-writer of DC’s JSA)David Goyer has signed on to direct Unique, a sci-fi thriller based on an upcoming graphic novel from Platinum Studios. This development certainly bodes well for other Platinum Megaverse projects. Projects like, say, Love Bytes…

AMERICAN FLAGG! RETURNS

Josh Elder — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:23:00 +0000

Howard Chaykin’s seminal sci-fi political satire American Flagg! is finally coming back into print thanks to the good people at Dynamic Forces. Filthy, funny and groundbreaking, this book belongs on every serious comic fan’s shelf.

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS

Josh Elder — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:02:00 +0000

Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone… The name is Joshua Elder — former DC Comics intern, former Wizard magazine associate editor and newest member of the Monitor Duty family. Mike Hutchinson was nice enough (or insane enough, depending on your perspective) to invite me to become a regular poster to Monitor Duty, so look forward to a lot of kvetching about the sorry state of the Superman titles and the occassional philosphical digression. And if you’ve got entirely too much free time on your hands, go check out my website, The Planet Krypton.

Now, on to blogging!