FIXED! Alan Kistler’s Guide to Doctor Who

I have corrected all of the broken links in Alan Kistler’s Guide to Doctor Who. I’m sure the individual profiles will have broken links, but at least the master guide works!

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New tag added

I have gone through the archives and added the tag “Alan Kistler Profiles” to every Guide and Profile that Alan ever did for us.

I figured I owed it to Alan because when I moved the blogs around I broke all of the links that Alan had painstakingly added to his articles and to WikiPedia, and I have been fixing them up bit by bit but it’s a herculean task.

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KISTLER PRESENTS: The incarnations of Doctor Who in a Nutshell

Time Lords can die. But if there isn’t too much damage to the body, they can make themselves regenerate instead, creating an entirely new body from scratch. The brain cells get naturally shaken up during this process, so while the memories remain (keeping the NURTURE part of the personality intact), the basic idiosyncrasies, physical quirks (whether or not they need glasses, etc.) and personality traits (such as temper, mannerism, impulsiveness) shift.

Here then is a run down of each of the Doctor’s incarnations, as we’ve seen so far.

This is part of ALAN KISTLER’S GUIDE TO DOCTOR WHO.

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ALAN KISTLER PRESENTS: The New Gods in a Nutshell

The New Gods are the creations of Jack Kirby. Originally, they were supposed to exist in their own continuity, separate from the DCU. What’s more, Kirby intended to give the entire saga a beginning, middle and end, stretched across four different titles, and then leave it alone, never to us the characters again afterwards. Today, this would be known as a “limited series” or a “maxi-series” of some kind. Back then, it was unheard of and Carmine Infantino at DC Comics wasn’t a fan of the idea. When he gave Kirby the title JIMMY OLSEN, it was Kirby’s way of organically introducing some New Gods stories little by little. By the time FOREVER PEOPLE #1 came out, Infantino wanted Superman to guest-star in order to give the title a sales boost and Kirby conceded, firmly establishing the “Fourth World titles” as part of the mainstream DCU (just in case there was still any doubt). The four different Fourth World titles were NEW GODS, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE and SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN.

Kirby never finished the Fourth World saga, returning to Marvel Comics to work on other projects instead, and other writers down the years brought the New Gods more and more into the mainstream realm and added to their history.

So who are they exactly?

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Alan Kistler’s Guide To Doctor Who

For all you Whovians and all you who heard of DOCTOR WHO but are afraid to begin watching without some basic info first.

If you just want a general overview of the show and characters of DOCTOR WHO that takes about five minutes or so to read, then check out my article: DOCTOR WHO IN A NUTSHELL.

If you want a simple and brief run-down on each incarnation of the Doctor, check out my DIFFERENT INCARNATIONS OF THE DOCTOR IN A NUTSHELL article.

If you want more detailed information on the career of each incarnation however, as well as lists of the Doctor’s adventures in different media in chronological order and info about the spin-offs, look below …

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: WONDER WOMAN! ( Pt. 3 )

And here is the conclusion of our look at Wonder Woman.

This is continued from Part 2.

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Martian Manhunter File Updated!

While taking a break from the Wonder Woman profile (which hopefully will be up monday night), I took an hour to update the MARTIAN MANHUNTER PROFILE. It now has more information in it, such as the fact that there was a previous character named Roh Kar who was described as a “manhunter from Mars” in a Batman story and the fact that J’onn’s daughter was named after Ostrander’s late wife. It also has an update on the new character Miss Martian and the new AJ Lieberman series.

If you’re just interested in J’onn’s recent appearances on SMALLVILLE, skip ahead to PART TWO.

That’s all for now. Enjoy!

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Kister’s Profile On: WONDER WOMAN ( Pt. 2 )

Continuing the history of Wonder Woman.

So to recap. We had a cool woman from Paradise Island who was several times stronger, faster and tougher than the best human male athlete and who fought Nazis and several different villains. Then she was revamped slightly for modern times and given a boost in super-strength, along with the ability to glide on air currents. And then she had all her powers taken away, was given a wardrobe full of white outfits, and acted as a sort of private detective/professional adventurer who trotted around the globe looking for trouble to fight.

So what happened to bring her back to her roots? Let’s find out!

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Kistler’s Been Updating!

I have updated my AQUAMAN, POWER GIRL and DONNA TROY profiles to contain information regarding what happaned to them Post-Infinite Crisis, including who the new Aquaman is and what his connection to the original involves, as well as what the deal was with the cancelled MERCY REEF live-action show and what I thought about it.

I have also, upon request, updated my PRE-CRISIS MEMORIES OF THE DCU article so that it now references each single comic book issue in which the events I wrote about originally happened.

And I added a couple of details to Part One of the Wonder Woman Profile to include info I somehow left out. If you already read that profile recently and don’t want to re-read it, just go to the next section of this post and I’ll explain briefly the new information that is now there.

If you want to look at any of those other updated articles, click on the link to MY LIST OF ARTICLES.

Thanks for your time, everyone. Cheers!

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER – Part 2

This is a continued from PART ONE.

So we’ve explored how he’s been treated in the comics. What about on television? Here then is …

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: WONDER WOMAN! ( Pt. 1 )

Everyone’s got an opinion on her. "She’s an American ideal." "She’s a symbol of Greek myth come to life." "She’s a strong feminist icon." "She’s all about power." "The lasso’s silly and she looks like she’s gonna fall out of her top." "How can someone fight crime in bikini briefs and heeled boots?" "She can kick Superman’s ass."

She’s a star-spangled beauty who is a strange mixture of mythic and modern day elements and who has been all around the world in comics, television, video games and cartoons (and certainly on underwear and Halloween costumes). Even if you’ve never read a comic book in your life, you know the name "Wonder Woman" and have a take on her.

But how’d she start out? And what made her the person she is today?

Let’s begin, eh? Here then is the HISTORY OF WONDER WOMAN!

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Kistler on The Transformers: Movie vs. Cartoons/Comics

This is a companion piece to an Interview with Optimus Prime, in which Peter Cullen talks about the upcoming movie.

A while ago a bunch of toys came out called the Transformers. To help advertise, a cartoon show and a Marvel comic book series came out featuring the characters in parallel but distinctly different continuities. Later on, a few different comic book series followed, each with their own take on continuity. The cartoon TRANSFORMERS: BEAST WARS showed us the descendants of the beings from the original cartoon series and even later than that, other cartoon series (ROBOTS IN DISGUISE, ARMADA, ENERGON and CYBERTRON) were created that re-envisioned the Transformers universe from scratch. And we’re not even talking about the U.K. and Japanese versions or the alternate universe G.I. JOE/TRANSFORMERS series that’s going on to this day.

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: DOCTOR WHO SPIN-OFFS

DOCTOR WHO is a show based on the idea that anything is possible. The Doctor goes to different time periods, various worlds and has encountered hundreds of other characters. He’s had a few recurring enemies and dozens of companions and assistants. And sometimes, even when those friends leave the Doctor, fans want to still see what they’re up to later in fictional life. And sometimes you get curious about what the villains are up to when the Doctor’s not around.

Here then are the spin-offs of a little show called DOCTOR WHO, as well as a discussion of the occasional mini-series and the possibilities of asking "what if …?"

NOTE: This is a companion piece to my DOCTOR WHO PROFILES.

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Kistler’s Review: CASUALTIES OF WAR

I have been following CIVIL WAR since it started (even picked up some of those ROAD TO CIVIL WAR books, if they seemed interesting). Fittingly, I have been divided about the cross-over. I think some of the tie-ins have been written with better skill than the main mini-series itself. I think there has been some lazy editing becuase certain events in the mini-series contradict things in the tie-ins. And I think there has been a little too much action and not enough conversation concerning how these events reflect on the history of the Marvel Universe, particularly when you consider that twice before Iron Man and Cap have had serious rifts between them over moral/ethical arguments (“The Armor Wars” and “Operation: Galactic Storm”).

I also have a problem with the fact that some parts of Civil War have been referencing things in Marvel’s history but not properly explaining them for those who have no previous knowledge. In other words, this is a series written for folks who have been reading for years and not for newbie fans. Which you can’t help sometimes, but I have always been of the belief that if every comic is someone’s first, you should write more of them in a way that can attract new readers.

So here comes CIVIL WAR: CASUALTIES OF WAR written by Christopher Gage.

I say this without reservation: THIS IS HOW COMIC BOOKS SHOULD BE WRITTEN!

If you don’t want any spoilers at all, stop reading now and simply pick up the book. If you are okay with minor spoilers that don’t give away the ending of the book or the biggest parts of it, keep on reading.

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Kistler’s Review of SUPERMAN II – THE RICHARD DONNER CUT

A while ago, Richard Donner made a wonderful movie called (fittingly) SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. It was a fun story with some great acting and wonderful moments and lines that just made you smile. Sure, even a child understands that time travel is not as easy as turning the Earth back on its axis, but what the Hell.

Donner had been simultaneously filming SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE and SUPERMAN II, but disagreements with the producers led to him being fired before he could complete the sequel. Richard Lester was brought in to direct and gave us his version of the film. Gene Hackman left the film when Donner was fired, necessitating the Lester use a body double and some voice dubbing for a couple of scenes (the other scenes he used what footage he could that Donner had left behind). Marlon Brando also left and his scenes were dropped from the movie entirely, as Richard Lester decided to replace his character Jor-El with Superman’s mother Lara, played by Susannah York. Lester didn’t even use the footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El acting as jailer to Zod and his crew, instead choosing to carefully cut the same footage from SUPERMAN I so that it looked like Jor-El wasn’t even necessarily there.

SUPERMAN II was hailed for giving us the first ever super-hero/super-villain battle in cinema as our hero battled Zod and his two henchmen. It also featured such classic scenes as Lois finally discovering (almost purely by accident) that Superman was Clark Kent and a very touching moment when Superman seems to speak to the ghost of his mother, asking Lara for permission to become human so he may love as a human being.

I enjoyed SUPERMAN II. There were a few scenes that dragged for me and a couple of little things I thought were unnecessary. And I had some criticisms. Richard Lester, for instance, had very little knowledge of what Kryptonians could do in the comics or simply didn’t care, because in several parts of the movie Zod and his cronies were able to telekinetically lift people into the air by pointing at them. Likewise, Superman suddenly was armed with a giant cellophane S-shield that he could throw like a net and was able to create the illusion of duplicates of himself, which he claimed had been part of a game he played as a child, implying he remembered a childhood on Krypton, which is odd since he was sent to Earth as a baby.

But still, I enjoyed it.

Ah, but now what’s happened? Because of constant fan demands, Warner Bros. was able to recover just about all of the alternate scenes and takes that Richard Donner shot and never showed on film. With all of this, Richard Donner went back and re-cut the movie, using this never-before-seen footage and giving us a VERY different film. And so, this week fans have finally been able to purchase SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT.

Before I begin, I want to point out that anyone who wants to buy the Richard Donner cut, please be aware that Donner’s version is the one with the black box and which says "The Richard Donner Cut" in big letters. [Shyster Editor's Note: It's the first thing linked in Monitor Duty's new aStore so that you can't get the wrong one. Shop with confidence!] It is NOT the re-released version of Superman II on DVD which also comes in the Superman box set. That is Lester’s film with a couple of special features added, that’s all.

All right, let’s begin. Be warned, some SPOILERS follow.

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: CAPT. AMERICA & BUCKY – Part 3

This is continued from PART TWO.

ONWARD WITH THE PROFILE!

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: CAPT. AMERICA & BUCKY – Part 2

So let’s review.

Steve Rogers was a frail young man when he tried to enlist in the army just before the U.S. joined World War II. He joined Operation: Rebirth which used "vita-rays" and the super-soldier serum to turn him into the ultimate human specimen. As Captain America, he and a kid named James "Bucky" Barnes hunted spies in America and went into Europe to kick Nazi ass. Towards the end of the war, he and Bucky were fighting Baron Zemo and things went bad. Bucky got blown up and Cap wound up frozen alive.

Decades later, Cap woke up in the modern age of heroes, joining the Avengers and finding out that enemies like Baron Zemo (and later his son Helmut) and the Red Skull were also still around. As we last left him, the Red Skull had apparently died in Cap’s arms and Cap fought his daughter Synthia a couple of times.

And now we can at last continue ….

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KISTLER PRESENTS: Alternate CRISIS ending?

So I was talking to my friend Glenn Hauman and he told me of a story he heard from someone who has spoken to Chris Claremont on a couple of occasions. And Glenn told me that this guy told him quite an interesting tale as to Chris Claremont’s suggestion for an alternate ending to THE CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.

Read on, if you dare!

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Alan Kistler’s Profile On: CAPT. AMERICA & BUCKY!

There are some characters who are very tricky. Some like Spider-Man or Wolverine can be either good or kinda lackluster depending on the writer. Some like Superman are of a far more precarious bent. They will either be VERY good or just plain DULL depending on whether or not the writer gets it. Not whether or not he’s even a good writer, I think. He can be a generally good writer and still not GET the core of this tricky character, thus accidentally making him a parody of himself in some ways.

Captain America is such a character. Fortunate for us, his current book is excellent. More startlingly, the current writer Ed Brubaker has brought back a lot of Cap history for readers who, unlike myself, do not have a collection of back issues that span his career back to the early 70s. He’s even brought back a character everyone figured was the one person who would remain dead, right next to Ben Parker and the Waynes.

So let’s begin. Let’s talk about the many characters who have been called "Captain America and Bucky."

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Alan Kistler’s Chronology: Doctor Who ( 9th Doctor )

Here is a listing of the Ninth Doctor’s adventures in chronological order. These adventures include the novels and comic strips, along with a few short stories and are all considered to be in continuity. Enjoy.

This is a companion piece to Alan Kistler’s Profile on the Ninth Doctor.

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