Want to see something totally different by William Orr and me? Go to www.girlswithslingshots.com, a totally awesome webcomic by Danielle Corsetto, and check out her blog. There’s a whole bunch of guest comics in there, including one by the Hunter Black crew…

…AND one by me and Matthew Filer, the once and future Masque of the Dragons creative team. Lot’s of good stuff there by a lot of talented people, and if you don’t read GWS…well, you have no soul.

…and by “we,” I mean my fiancee and me. I’ve been hassling her for a while about watching The Dark Knight, because we tried about a year ago (she’d never seen it), and she fell asleep. In her mind, that translated to BORING, which obviously appalled me.

After seeing The Avengers, and anticipating The Dark Knight Rises, I came out of my office the other day to find her watching Batman Begins, much to my surprise. Apparently, she had never seen it. I sat down to finish it with her, and last night, we decided to watch The Dark Knight.

Needless to say, she didn’t find it boring, and didn’t remember any of the opening of the film. According to her, it’s better than The Avengers, although it’s like comparing apples and oranges. I wanted the opportunity to compare the two again…and I have to agree. I LOVED The Avengers; you’re not going to find many movies that are more fun, and The Dark Knight certainly isn’t one.

That said, you’re also not going to find as strongly executed a theme (I call it “One Really Bad Day”) in The Avengers, nor a breakout character like The Joker. I mean, The Hulk steals The Avengers with only two lines of dialogue. The Joker is a brilliant combination of impeccable writing and a virtuoso performance by Heath Ledger.

Alma gives The Avengers an 8 and The Dark Knight a 9. She’s a good woman.

Last night, I tweeted something to the effect of, “I can’t say that The Avengers is any better than The Dark Knight…but I also can’t say it’s any worse.”

That tells you in a nutshell what my general impression of the movie is, because you have to know that I LOVED The Dark Knight. That movie was practically made with me in mind. But I figure I owe you more than that. I’m going to try to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible; I don’t want it to be readable only by people who have already seen the movie.

(First off, by request: This movie is off-the-chain good, and it’s pretty much kid friendly. There might be a few instances of profanity, but nothing over the top. There is some violence, and not all of that is restricted to “comic booky” violence. But if your kid can handle Star Wars, I think your kid can handle The Avengers.)

I had to compare this film to The Dark Knight, because The Avengers enters the rarefied air of that film. It has to be considered for the title, BEST COMIC BOOK FILM OF ALL TIME (with the obvious caveat, “THUS FAR”), which is currently held by The Dark Knight, in my opinion, which in turn pushed Superman: The Movie aside. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great comic book films, but not many ICONIC ones. Now, with The Avengers, there are three.

The writing in this film is really, really good. Joss Whedon shows an incredibly deft hand with characterization and exposition, and he never has to create scenes expressly for that purpose. Every scene pushes the story forward, at least as far as I was able to notice. The dialogue was perfect, in that every line fit perfectly in each character’s mouth. The stakes continually got higher, and this movie was about something. Every character got his fair shake, except for maybe Hawkeye, but it also has a clear main character, in that one character in particular goes through a clearly defined arc.

Like most of the Marvel Studios films before it, this movie is FUN. (I say “most,” because Thor was frankly kind of boring.) It’s got laughs and balls-to-the-wall action. The movie is practically without flaw. Some are saying that the opening drags a little bit, and it does take a while for any of the Avengers to get onscreen, but I don’t think that it drags. Not at all.

But here’s what it lacks that The Dark Knight has…and The Dark Knight IS a flawed film in my opinion, in that it drags and is VERY dark. But The Dark Knight, thanks in large part to Heath Ledger’s Joker, is filled with moments that gave me chills. I literally had goosebumps watching The Dark Knight. I never had goosebumps while watching The Avengers. It was great and I loved it and I cheered…but it never crept into my soul and gave me chills. The Dark Knight did…and Superman: The Movie, The Incredibles, and The Empire Strikes Back all still do.

This is a very personal review. I’m sure that there are plenty of people who do get the requisite chicken-skin when watching this film. And I very much intend to see it again in the theaters. I will buy this movie, twice if I have to. It’s SO good. Better in ways, than either The Dark Knight or Superman: The Movie. But it’s worse in ways, as well.

So what is the BEST COMIC BOOK FILM OF ALL TIME? I don’t know yet. There are two contenders, and I’ll need to watch both again to be sure. The Avengers has to be in the discussion. And frankly, that’s all you really need to know, isn’t it?

Going to a 12:35 am showing of The Avengers, that’s what.

Now frankly, there has been a part of me that has been feeling guilty for wanting to see this so badly, what with the controversy going on the family of the late Jack Kirby and his heirs, regarding how little money they receive (I believe it’s NONE) from the films based on characters that the King co-created.

I haven’t been feeling bad enough to stop myself from going…but I do feel bad enough that I felt the need to contribute $50 to The Hero Initiative. My contribution goes to helping out aging or destitute comics creators in times of financial crisis, and that’s a pretty cool thing. Certainly, it takes any guilt I was feeling right away.

So I urge as many people as possible to go see this movie…and to donate to the Hero Initiative.

One of my good friends has made it his mission to remind me of how long it’s been since I’ve written a blog (he also proofreads them for me…after they’re posted). It’s a good thing that he does, too…I have so much stuff that I have to do, and while I don’t have deadlines on any of them just yet, they are time sensitive, windows of opportunity and so forth.

He suggests that I use the blog to describe what exactly I’m working on…but in many cases, I simply can’t. There are issues of confidentiality, and there is the potential to blow my chances by blabbing about things that I shouldn’t be.

I can say this, however. One of the things that is shouldering its way onto the front burners of my writing stove is the script for the fourth issue of Rocket-Girl and The Wrench, which most of you have never heard of.

Rocket-Girl and the Wrench is one of my creator-owned projects. The creative team is myself, Ramanda Kamarga handling pencils and inks, Rainer Petter Ribeiro (who also does the colors on Planet Pantheon) on colors, and our very own Jacob Bascle handling lettering, SFX, and so on. The first issue is completely done, soup to nuts. It could be printed and shipped today. Ramanda just sent me the last inked page of Issue #2, and I’m holding off on color because my funds for such things are limited and require recharging. I’ll put that in motion if I get a bite from a publisher.

RG&W is an idea I came up with while exercising one day. I asked myself, “What if Alfred had a kid Robin’s age? What kind of trouble would they get into together?” Part of me was inspired by Harry Potter, which I love by the way, in that I wanted to do a real coming-of-age story that was all ages appropriate, but wasn’t gonna treat kids like babies. Anyway, elements of Batman, Harry Potter, and Iron Man all went into the mixing tin in my brain, and out poured RG&W.

I’m lucky enough to be represented by Space Goat Productions, and they have helped me connect with some really talented artists, and Ramanda is one of the best, in my opinion. I did not go into this project thinking about manga AT ALL, but as soon as I saw Ramanda’s stuff, I knew he was right for the project, and he nailed the look of Rocket-Girl’s armor on the very first try. I can’t wait for an opportunity for readers to see his interior work. It’s spectacular. He really knows how to take my scripts and turn them into something special. Like Will here and Myke over on Planet Pantheon, he elevates my work.

We’ve submitted the project to all of the usual publishing suspects: Image, IDW, Top Cow, Archaia, Dark Horse, etc. One rejection and utter silence so far. We sent out the pitches in January, and I’ve been told to be patient by other professionals. These things can take up to six months. I’m fully prepared to try to self-publish if push comes to shove, but man…considering all the stuff that I have on my plate, AND the fact that I still have a full-time night job and a wedding to plan…self-publishing is an immense undertaking. I’d like it to be a last resort. Anyway, I’ve attached the cover image, just so you can get a taste of what we’re doing. I hope you like it.