Christopher R Taylor

Justice League isn't terrible.  I consider it on par with the worst Marvel films, and fun in some parts.  It could have been great but is deeply flawed.  What's frustrating and sad is that they could have avoided those flaws so easily, but they're exactly what DC seems to WANT in their movies.
 
Sometimes I wonder if DC isn't trying to "out-Marvel" Marvel by having its superheroes "down to earth" with "real life problems" the way the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man did when they first came out.  So DC stands out by doing what Marvel did to them, in the 60s.

Except Stan Lee understood what a hero was, what superheroes are supposed to do, and how to keep characters likable, fun, and interesting despite having flaws and difficulties.  Yes, the Thing and Human Torch used to fight, but they were good buddies who really cared about each other still.  Yes, Spider-Man had the worst luck but still when he strapped on that costume, he had a blast and was fun to read.  All that seems to have eluded DC entirely except for a fluke in Wonder Woman.
 

Also, I think the whole "change expectations and expand the genre" thing has to be done years later, when the genre has become too predictable and standardized, not right at its beginnings.

Justice League isn't terrible.  I consider it on par with the worst Marvel films, and fun in some parts.  It could have been great but is deeply flawed.  What's frustrating and sad is that they could have avoided those flaws so easily, but they're exactly what DC seems to WANT in their movies.
 
Sometimes I wonder if DC isn't trying to "out-Marvel" Marvel by having its superheroes "down to earth" with "real life problems" the way the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man did when they first came out.  So DC stands out by doing what Marvel did to them, in the 60s.

Except Stan Lee understood what a hero was, what superheroes are supposed to do, and how to keep characters likable, fun, and interesting despite having flaws and difficulties.  Yes, the Thing and Human Torch used to fight, but they were good buddies who really cared about each other still.  Yes, Spider-Man had the worst luck but still when he strapped on that costume, he had a blast and was fun to read.  All that seems to have eluded DC entirely except for a fluke in Wonder Woman.
 

Justice League isn't terrible.  I consider it on par with the worst Marvel films, and fun in some parts.  It could have been great but is deeply flawed.  What's frustrating and sad is that they could have avoided those flaws so easily, but they're exactly what DC seems to WANT in their movies.
 
Sometimes I wonder if DC isn't trying to "out-Marvel" Marvel by having its superheroes "down to earth" with "real life problems" the way the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man did when they first came out.  So DC stands out by doing what Marvel did to them, in the 60s.

Except Stan Lee understood what a hero was, what superheroes are supposed to do, and how to keep characters likable, fun, and interesting despite having flaws and difficulties.  Yes, the Thing and Human Torch used to fight, but they were good buddies who really cared about each other still.  Yes, Spider-Man had the worst luck but still when he strapped on that costume, he had a blast and was fun to read.  All that seems to have eluded DC entirely except for a fluke in Wonder Woman.
 

I actually feel that Evans and Chiklis pulled this off pretty well. But then, Chiklis was a fan of the Thing before the movie and wanted to play him and Evans seems to be very good at embracing whatever characters he plays. I know that move gets panned a lot, but really, its not for the portrayals of the 4, but for Doom since they cannot seem to get him right. I actually liked the 4.

The talent builds are available for free in the downloads section with the Greatest Guns of History as HDC files.

I actually wrote in to comics back in the 90s congratulating the creators for returning Zatanna to her old costume and razzmatazz stage magic style. Admittedly, the medium and Stuart Immonen's art avoided her being objectified by the camera angle being at knee level a meter behind her most of the time. I dread that the way the DC movies do things she'll either be in some kind of BDSM fetish wear or she'll be covered in nothing but grease and shadows like The Enchantress was for the first half of Suicide Squad.

Justice League isn't terrible.  I consider it on par with the worst Marvel films, and fun in some parts.  It could have been great but is deeply flawed.  What's frustrating and sad is that they could have avoided those flaws so easily, but they're exactly what DC seems to WANT in their movies.
 
Sometimes I wonder if DC isn't trying to "out-Marvel" Marvel by having its superheroes "down to earth" with "real life problems" the way the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man did when they first came out.  So DC stands out by doing what Marvel did to them, in the 60s.

Except Stan Lee understood what a hero was, what superheroes are supposed to do, and how to keep characters likable, fun, and interesting despite having flaws and difficulties.  Yes, the Thing and Human Torch used to fight, but they were good buddies who really cared about each other still.  Yes, Spider-Man had the worst luck but still when he strapped on that costume, he had a blast and was fun to read.  All that seems to have eluded DC entirely except for a fluke in Wonder Woman.
 

Ok here is the pitch...Zatana is like a super hero, or something, she wears fishnets and booty shorts! We can shoot a lots of scenes in Dutch perspective. The fans will Love this!

As the executive producer, I can assure everyone that Zach Snyder had considerable input on the WW84 movie and its writing.  The author of that essay on Heroes though, he has it right: Jenkin is great at getting best performances out of women in her movies (the men are kind of bleh but fair enough, most women in other movies are bleh.  You're supposed to like the love interest because she's pretty and that's about it) but she's not much of a writer.
 
Zach Snyder can do good work but he needs to stay far the hell away from anything involving superheroes or good guys, because his view of the world is Sucker Punch.  He should have no power or input whatsoever with making DC comic movies.  None.

DC is really hit and miss in its movies.  They do really great (Batman Begins) or really awful (Catwoman) with huge tentpole movies that give the franchise more life for a while and a bunch of bad stuff in between.
 
I really like Snyder as a director, when he's doing the right sort of stuff for his style and mood.  He's just a terrible choice for doing DC's more mainstream characters.  The problem is that they live in constant terror of people associating them with the 60s Batman TV show again so they go way, crazy, stupid far overboard the other direction

Shang Chi was always one of my favorite offbeat, side characters.  The phenomenal art probably contributed a lot to that.  I liked White Tiger a lot too, with the amulet magic.

It should be noted that the new Western Hero is a "complete" book, in that it includes all of the rules you'll need to play a Heroic level Western Hero game.  (To my complete approval, it does not include Powers, referring you to Champions Complete if you want to include them.)  

Bought the PDF (anything other than virtual products via Drivethru are prohibitively expensive to the UK).

I have to give Matt Forbeck full credit here, his original Western Hero campaign section made it into this one to a noteable degree. I had to do a lot of editing and rewriting to fit better info about Deadwood, and change some details in the adventure, but he came up with the two major adventure ideas and some of the additional writeups for campaign suggestions (its why he gets credit in the book info at the beginning).
 
I found a more period-accurate Deadwood map, and significantly more accurate details about the characters and events than he had access to in the early 90s, but I leaned pretty heavy on his work for that section.

I have to give Matt Forbeck full credit here, his original Western Hero campaign section made it into this one to a noteable degree. I had to do a lot of editing and rewriting to fit better info about Deadwood, and change some details in the adventure, but he came up with the two major adventure ideas and some of the additional writeups for campaign suggestions (its why he gets credit in the book info at the beginning).
 
I found a more period-accurate Deadwood map, and significantly more accurate details about the characters and events than he had access to in the early 90s, but I leaned pretty heavy on his work for that section.

I have to give Matt Forbeck full credit here, his original Western Hero campaign section made it into this one to a noteable degree. I had to do a lot of editing and rewriting to fit better info about Deadwood, and change some details in the adventure, but he came up with the two major adventure ideas and some of the additional writeups for campaign suggestions (its why he gets credit in the book info at the beginning).
 
I found a more period-accurate Deadwood map, and significantly more accurate details about the characters and events than he had access to in the early 90s, but I leaned pretty heavy on his work for that section.

You just ruined my day.  Magical sorcerer type heroes are one of my secret pleasures.  With the MCU when they announced Doctor Strange I was over the moon and was searching for news and spoilers for months and could hardly wait to see.  But with DC I am all "Noooooooooo! they are going to ruin her!". 
 
I really like Zatana, bummer.
 

DC is really hit and miss in its movies.  They do really great (Batman Begins) or really awful (Catwoman) with huge tentpole movies that give the franchise more life for a while and a bunch of bad stuff in between.
 
I really like Snyder as a director, when he's doing the right sort of stuff for his style and mood.  He's just a terrible choice for doing DC's more mainstream characters.  The problem is that they live in constant terror of people associating them with the 60s Batman TV show again so they go way, crazy, stupid far overboard the other direction

I can now proudly announce that
Western Hero: Rough and Ready Roleplaying is available and on the shelf, in pdf
 
and print on demand on drive thru RPG!
 
Get your cowboy on!  Or Native American warrior.  Or gambler.  What have you.

I loved when they were doing the Iron Fist stuff a few years back with the 7(?) hidden cities and the tournament. where every move in the comics had some type of associated name.

Shang Chi was always one of my favorite offbeat, side characters.  The phenomenal art probably contributed a lot to that.  I liked White Tiger a lot too, with the amulet magic.

Just ordered it in PDF and POD from DrivethruRPG!

Given the Buffy allegations and reports of abuse by JL cast members, Whedon should probably stay away from actors for the foreseeable future.

You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold ‘em. know when to walk away and know when to run.