arts and entertainment 11 Over the Edge + December 1, 2010 Superman Goes Twilight? A graphic novel review MYSTERY CONTRIBUTOR The quote that came out, when J. Michael Straczynski “Superman: Earth One” was brought to the world’s attention was, “This is Superman for the Twilight Age.” Upon hearing that, | went nuts. How could my beloved DC Universe transform a classic hero into a crazed marketing scheme?! —_—$—- It just didn’t add up, so patiently | counted down the days, ay hours, and then minutes for the release date. It arrived, and | ‘ vil was first in line at the local comic book store. in a mature comic book. Villains tend to believe what they are doing is for a good cause, “I’m killing off vermin-scum to start a new, better world,” for example, versus the Disney motto of, “I’m evil because | want to be.” FARTH ONE The only thing really special about this villain is that he used the classic, “I’m going to tell you, the hero and audience, my evil plans,” to distract Superman from what he was really doing. It was a fun spin on a classic villain mistake. The art, | must say, is stellar. Shane Davis did not disappoint. He gave the worn out hero a chic new look, without losing the character’s identity. This is a believable Superman for the 21st century. He’s wearing tight jeans, high-tops, a dress- shirt, a hood and a jacket... it screams cool. This graphic novel was clearly intended for a teen audience, unlike most of DC’s products. The key themes revolved around things every student feels, which makes the character more relatable. Superman no longer seems “out of reach,” he seems like he could really be alive. oro = — Pr So = — oro And the cover does the new image justice, giving the famous stance and laser eyes a fresh feel. Superman has lost the physical persona of a campy boy scout and donned the identity of a troubled teen. Also, there are parts that are quite inspirational when it comes to things like choosing a career, finding out your identity or where you belong in a society where you often feel alone. The story-line in keeping with the traditional Superman is, however, a little dull. It's a very typical tale, repetitive, and points where, | admit, | thought the graphic novel was over. This book had more potential than its final product. Its plot was quite basic, but this allowed for a lot of character development, which | believe was the main purpose of this retelling of Superman’s origin. The villain was weak, but, the art was magnificent. IHSMAZOVULS TEVA “f The villain was nothing special, though he had a few interesting qualities. His whole reason behind killing Superman was something out of a Disney movie, not something anticipated j ie WIKIMEDIA COMMONS xg give this book 3 % out of 5 stars. Is nothing sacred? Film Review: The Social Network Facebook makes it to the big screen DARCIE SMITH ARTS EDITOR The Social Network is a film that most people, especially all 500- million that are on Facebook, are probably already familiar with. As expected, there was a lot of hype around this film, and like good little addicts, most saw it in theatres as soon as they could. The most common response from the majority of individuals who saw it was, “It was actually good.” There is always a bit of embarrassment when it comes to spending so much time on Facebook, so when a film about the website comes out it, not everyone wants to immediately admit that they really want to see it, or that they enjoyed it. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was played by actor Jesse Eisenberg, who resembles a creepier, mouth-breathing version of Michael Cera. His resemblance to Zuckerberg is slight, though his face is significantly less kind and welcoming than the real Zuckerberg. Eisenberg’s acting is pretty solid in this film, though most people might not have been exposed to any of his other films to be able to compare it. He portrays Zuckerberg as a bit of a jerk, but incredibly smart. Quite a few of the other characters in the film appear to have been dumbed down in order to enhance the quality of Zuckerberg’s intelligence (Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, for example). Considering how young Zuckerberg is, itreally gets the audience thinking about how the success of Facebook is really quite astounding. The plot follows the account of the lawsuit that several greedy Harvard students filed against Zuckerberg, claiming that he stole their idea for the website. Their concern is valid, however, they had no case. The film is biased towards Zuckerberg, even if he is the one who is in the clear. It demonstrates how ultimately, Zuckerberg created Facebook out of his anger and feelings of inadequacy after being dumped by his girlfriend. He went on to create a website where people rated the female undergraduates of Harvard based on their looks. The rating site became so big in such a short period of time, and inspired the concept of having a site dedicated to social networking amongst only university friends. Zuckerberg was caught and put on academic probation for his actions involving the rating system and crashing the Harvard server, but it did not stop his hacker tendencies. The film shows how Facebook grew from an exclusively Harvard student _ site, to eventually expanding beyond _ university involvement, and the eventual worldwide phenomenon that it has become today. The best part of this film was Larry Summers, the character of the president of Harvard University. Douglas Urbanski was cast for this role, and the manner in which he speaks to the two Winklevoss brothers is hilarious. It was such a short and ridiculous scene, but the way he insults the two and makes them appear as the idiots they really seem to be is outrageous. While the appearance of Sean Parker and the protrayal of him as Justin Timberlake is not quite the comic relief that Summers provided, it is always humorous to watch Justin Timberlake act. The real Sean Parker does not resemble Justin Timberlake in the least, and keeping that in mind while watching this film helps maintain a lighthearted feel. Parker is a co-founder of the free file-sharing site, Napster, and once he heard of the popularity of Facebook, he began to have an informal participation in the site’s production and advisement. As most said, this film was actually good. It was slow at times, however it is an interesting glimpse into the tiny idea which Facebook started out as. There is no doubt that Facebook is an incredible and powerful website, but now that it has its own film, it might be a good time to remember the importance of real relationships and the concept of weening ourselves off of our computers. This film demonstrates the birth of the social networking monster, and hopefully our society can last long enough to see the death of it as well. YOU DON’T 5 & 5 ONLINE SOURCE Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network”