Happy Batman Day!

Over eight decades ago, the smoking gun barrel of Joe Chill unleashed unto the unsuspecting denizens of Gotham City a nocturnal nightmare of which they had never seen. The tragic murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, before the innocent eyes of their young son, Bruce, created a force of vengeance and justice that has been preying on Gotham’s criminal underbelly with furious anger ever since… The Batman!

Created by the peerless pairing of Bill Finger and Bob Kane, the creepy and curmudgeonly creature of the night’s first ever appearance was in DC Comics’ revered Detective Comics in May of 1939. Since that time, the dark and surly one has gone on to become, quite possibly, the most popular and renowned Superhero ever conceived, with his fame spreading across every single known entertainment medium, from comic-books through video-games, television shows, movies, toys, clothes, novelisations, and so, so much more, firmly cementing his place in heroic history!

But what is it that compels readers to immerse themselves in a vengeance driven man-hunter, a being that has devoted his life to bringing his own brand of Bat-justice to a corrupt and dystopian city seething with criminal detritus? I absolutely believe that it’s his inherent vulnerability and pathos, you see, unlike the vast swathe of caped crusaders, Bruce is, ultimately, just a man in a costume… he can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, or deflect bullets with bracelets, he’s not capable of reaching the speed-force, or even talking to fish! but what he does possess is the inherent belief in his own righteousness and decency, it’s his integrity and moral fortitude that has enabled him to rise above the sea of costumed crimefighters and be the best he can be, no matter the adversity or lack of powers thereof… the mark of a true hero (of course, billions of dollars, an unsurpassed mastery of myriad martial arts, genius level intellect and a compendium of glorious gadgets also, sort of, helps!)

And So… Happy Batman Day! What will you be doing to celebrate the Dark Knight? Why not sound off in the comments below, fellow Bat-fans.

Precinct1313’s Retro Revivals…

Merciful Minerva! 700 posts!! that’s right, the mystical mansion of mystery known as The Precinct has output a ridiculously huge 700 individual musings on Comics, Movies, Toys, Video-Games, and general geekery… where in Tartarus did I find the time you ask!? damned if I know fellow Agents, but it’s been an awesome time sharing my glorious geekdom with all of you, that’s for sure.

The first couple of years of the Precinct’s existence were sparse as far as views and followers were concerned, but that definitely did not stop the output of posts, in fact I believe that I definitely posted more often back then, nowadays I find myself taking a considerable larger amount of time to triple check what I’ve written and even colour co-ordinate the post both visually and text wise to the subject matter at hand (yep, for real, I’m that geeky!) Seeing that 700 posts thing actually made me go back to some of my earlier articles written as long as four to five years ago, re-reading them is rather interesting indeed, oh how my writing style has changed, and yet, the seed for my current writing techniques are still there…

Now that the Precinct has a larger following and substantially more views on a weekly basis, it might be the time to relive some of those older obscurities, so each week we shall present a past post from the Precinct’s vicarious vaults (y’know, it’s going to be a bit like when your favourite TV show runs out of ideas, so you get one of those lazy compilation episodes that’s book-ended by a small amount of new footage!!) Uuh, not that we’ve run out of ideas for cool posts, of course, but it’s always interesting to go back over previous work and share it with our newer followers, hence – some of our favourite older posts shall be forthcoming, beginning with this one from December 2015:

Borag Thungg fellow Squaxx Dek Thargo, and welcome back to another instalment of “Great British Comic Book Characters,” Precinct1313‘s episodic look at the UK’s biggest selling and highly influential weekly anthology comic; 2000AD.

Over the previous five instalments of this ongoing series, I have gradually introduced you to the characters and creators of the “Galaxy’s Greatest Comic,” what first motivated me to begin a series on 2000AD was initially the fact that, apart from Judge Dredd, the majority of classic characters from this mighty tome are rather unknown to the world outside of the British isles. Fantastic creations such as Nemesis the Warlock, Rogue Trooper, Zenith and Strontium Dog have rich backstories, superstar creators and close to 40 years of history, yet still remain in relative obscurity. Having grown up alongside these characters, I decided to utilise my blog to promote, as best as I could, these groundbreaking comic characters and hopefully draw more appreciation and proclivity towards characters I believe are deserving of a far larger audience than they currently receive.

“Read 2000AD, Or It’s Five Years In An Iso-Cube… Mandatory!”

Released in the UK on December 7, “Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD” is an 106 minute documentary that charts the rise of Britain’s favourite comic-book, offering up a dynamic and comprehensive overview of the comic that includes a look at the various highs and lows of the comics history, and extensive coverage of the creative process behind the scenes of the long running megazine. Documenting how a band of Britain’s most talented and eclectic comic talent came together to create the visionary publication, and guest starring a swathe of said talent including; Neil Gaiman, Pat Mills, John Wagner, Grant Morrison and Dave Gibbons, plus recent “Dredd” actor Karl Urban is also on hand to profess his adoration for 2000AD‘s world famous grim protector of the law.

Future Shock! is directed by Paul Goodwin, who has, as previously mentioned, assembled an iconic group of talent for interviews and nostalgic musings on their past glories. Especially entertaining, as always, is the fantastic Pat Mills, who rages and rants humorously on the ups and downs of the comic’s (at times) tempestuous past, Mills alone is worth the asking price, one of the greatest talents in the UK industry, he never pulls his punches and always tells things as they are, his part in this documentary is legendary!

Legendary British Comics Guru And 2000AD Co-Creator – Pat Mills Is As Fantastic And Outspoken As Ever In Future Shock… He Alone Is Worth The Paltry Admission Price!

The documentary itself mostly consists of the aforementioned interviews alongside various illustrations, also included though are some impressive animations courtesy of Zebra Post, with the opening sequence being a particular stand-out piece. The docu mainly covers the 70’s and 80’s of 2000AD‘s long history, but does touch on the 90’s, especially on sister publication Judge Dredd: The Megazine.

At over 100 minutes long, this fantastic look at 2000AD is a must have for fans of the comic, but also offers up an intriguing study of British comics in a time when the UK was going through a considerable transition in politics, music and outlook, 2000AD embraced and used these changes to produce an intelligent and sometimes hilariously subversive comic that almost predominantly helped evolve not just the comic book scene in Britain, but ultimately across the planet itself!

Precinct1313 Rating: Zarjaz!!

The Week In Geek… With Precinct1313

Welcome fellow agents of Precinct1313 to another episode of “The Week In Geek” where we list our favourite comic book, video-game and cult movie news for your perusal and pleasure.

JK Simmons Cast As Jim Gordon In Justice League Movie…

Award winning actor JK Simmons has been cast in the role of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon in the 2017 dated Justice League movie. Simmons will follow in the footsteps of Gary Oldman, who played the role (fantastically, I might add) in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’.

Of course this isn’t the first time that the Oscar winning actor has had a major role in a comic book franchise, he portrayed Chief Editor of the Daily Bugle – J. Jonah Jameson in the original Sam Raimi directed ‘Spiderman‘ trilogy.

Cult British Game Developer – Lionhead Studios Are Being Shut Down…

Classic and much loved English video-game creators Lionhead Studios are being shuttered by their parent company Microsoft in the very near future it has been announced. Lionhead was founded by Peter Molyneux and Steve Jackson in 1996, and has given the gaming world such iconic delights as – the Fable trilogy and Black and White.

Lionhead were deep in development of the persistent online Fable Legends game when the announcement was broken, Fable Legends has also been canned. A very sad day for gaming, Lionhead have always been one of the very best when it comes to British video-game creators, Microsoft have said that they would seek alternative employment for their staff at Lionhead once the layoffs become official.

Crimson Fox Will Be One Of The First Superheroes To Join DC Comics’ “Powerless”…

The currently filming NBC comedy “Powerless” which takes place in an insurance agency office that deals with claims arising from Superhero destruction, has announced that one of the first DC characters to appear on the show is French superhero and former member of Justice League Europe – Crimson Fox.

Crimson Fox is actually two different people, identical twins Vivian and Constance D’aramis, who share the role. Fox was created by Keith Giffen and Bart Sears in 1989 and made her (their) first appearance in JLE #6. This is a fantastic idea for a Superhero TV show, and it will be intriguing to see each week what obscure DC characters will show up. More news on this as we hear it.

Why not join us again next time friends, for more “Week In Geek.”

Nightingales escape their cage…

If you are anything like me, as soon as you unlocked the very cool ninja-like Nightingale armour in Skyrim you probably wore nothing else for the rest of the game….that’s because it’s about as close as you will get to looking like a medieval Batman in the classic Bethesda RPG. Well if a virtual version of this awesome armour isn’t enough for you, then Bethesda has you covered with an extremely limited edition statue.

This Daedric, Lady Nocturnal favoured statue stands at 1/6 scale, approximately 16″ and will be available as a standard edition, limited to 1000 pieces and a special edition complete with light up base, limited to a mere 500 worldwide. Available in early 2015, Bethesda are taking pre-orders now via their online shop.