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BEST OF 2011

COMICS

PART 2

COMIC PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR – RAVEN GREGORY

With three brand new books and a major cross-over event under his belt, Zenescope Entertainment's Raven Gregory is PCA's Comic Professional of the Year

2011 proved to be a banner year for Zenescope Entertainment’s executive editor and writer, Raven Gregory, one of the busiest comic writers in the industry today.  Known primarily for Zenescope’s Wonderland series, which has become a massive cult favorite amongst comic book fans, Gregory also writes three of the most exciting new comic series of 2011 – Grimm Fairy Tales: Myth and Legends, Fly, and The Theater. He also penned the first issue of Tales From Neverland, featuring Tinkerbelle, and the massive multi-issue Zenescope crossover event, The Dream Eater Saga.

Raven Gregory has one of the most creative minds in comic books today.  He is unusually adept at inventing dark and twisted stories, full of horror, death, and suspense, that cross genres, from horror to fantasy to crime noir to super heroics.  What draws all of these genres together is Gregory’s unique brand of twisted imagery.  But while some writers working in the horror/fantasy genre just fill their books full of sex, violence and gore, Gregory creates three dimensional characters that the audience grows to care about, and intelligent scripts that work on multiple levels.

Raven Gregory was the mastermind behind Zenescope's twelve part "Dream Eater Saga," which for the first time tied the entire Zenescope universe together, and had Gregory writing a variety of different genres under one coherenet plot

Gregory’s true talent was revealed this year with The Dream Eater Saga.  Bringing together all of Zenescopes franchises, which have never been tied together before, under one massive cross over event Gregory wove a multi-layered story, which realistically worked in all of the characters and dimensions from Zenescope’s various books.  Unlike similar projects published by some of the industry’s larger companies, The Dream Eater Saga maintained strong plot that made sense throughout the entire twelve part series.  Gregory managed to shake up the status quo for a number of the series, and set up plots that will continue to affect Zenescope’s entire line of comics throughout 2012 and beyond.

Furthermore, Raven Gregory’s most personal project to date, Fly, is a modern masterpiece that is unlike anything currently being published anywhere.  Gregory bravely used experiences from his past, in regards to a drug addiction that affected himself and his family, to create the backdrop for Zenescope’s first superhero book.  But unlike other superhero books throughout the industry, the people with the super powers in Fly are not necessarily the heroes.  Finally, Raven released The Theater – a horror anthology book which is tied together by a plot about a mysterious movie theater where people go in, but don’t come out. To cap off 2011, Raven Gregory announced his return to the Wonderland universe with a prequel starring Alice Liddle, and has hinted at a sequel to his 2010 mini-series The Waking.  Raven Gregory had a huge output of material in 2011 and each book he wrote proved to be a classic.

What’s really impressive, showing just how hard Raven Gregory works, is the fact that in addition to writing nearly two dozen books last year alone, Gregory is also a single father raising four kids at home!  This should give the comic creators who can’t get their books out on time a bit of a new perspective.  We look forward to seeing what Raven Gregory, possibly the hardest working man in comics, comes out with in 2012.

THE BOOK THAT WE WANT TO HATE…BUT CAN’T – SUICIDE SQUAD

One of the most controversial books of the DCnU, Adam Glass' "Suicide Squad" has caused an uproar amongst fans who don't like the sweeping changes, but it doesn't stop it from being one of the best books being published by DC today.

Not long ago, Suicide Squad writer Adam Glass sent me a note defending his book.  The note stated, “Sometimes change is good.”  People picking up one of the most controversial books that DC put out as part of the DCnU are realizing that Adam Glass just might have a point.

Let’s face it.  Comic book fans hate change.  They like their characters to be the same characters that they grew up with.  Even a small change, like a relationship status or a costume update, can send fans over the edge, triggering rants on message boards and hate mail flooding into the comic book offices from furious fan boys and fan girls who are ready to lynch a writer or artist.  Adam Glass has faced the wrath of comic book fans since he took over DC’s premier villain oriented book, Suicide Squad.  Best known for his work on TV’s Supernaturals, Adam Glass erased years’ worth of Secret Six continuity.  He revamped the fan favorite, Harley Quinn, from a whimsical cutie pie into a psychotic tramp, made Amanda Waller look more like Halle Berry than Chandra Wilson, and even took away Deadshot’s handle bar moustache.  But, while the changes were extreme and questionable, Adam Glass, with stunning art by Federico Dallocchio, has created a hell of a compromise by putting together the most exciting comic book currently being published by DC Comics!

In one of "Suicide Squad's" most hilarious moments, Glass reintroduced forgotten DC mercanary Wild Dog.

The original concept of Suicide Squad remains intact.  A group of villains on death row are sent on black op missions as expendable agents by the US government in exchange for pardons for their crimes.  Deadshot, King Shark, Harley Quinn, and El Diablo make up the primary team, but time on the Squad can prove to be short; some team members meet their demise after only a handful of issues.  While hard core fans may have a hard time swallowing the extreme changes that he has put into place, there is no denying that Adam Glass is a brilliant storyteller.  He creates exciting situations and adds a dash of humor and intrigue to each issue, which essentially acts as a stand alone book with plots bleeding into the next issue.  Highlights have included saving a baby from a football stadium full of flesh eating mutants; the hilarious, and short lived, reintroduction of forgotten lame assed DC mercenary, Wild Dog; and the return of Captain Boomerang.  No matter how much the fan boy in you wants to hate it, it is just impossible to deny that Suicide Squad is one hell of a read.

Is change good? Glass' all new, all different Harley Quinn has yet to prove popular with her very vocal group of fans. Will his brand new origin of Harley Quinn win them over? Only time will tell.

However, Glass will have a challenge on his hands in 2012 when he gives Harley Quinn an all new origin.  Harley Quinn fans are a vocal and devoted bunch, and Glass’ Harley, although interesting, has proved unpopular with her legion of fans that refuse to look beyond the fact that he has tampered with their favorite character.  Of course, many of them are ignoring the fact that Harley Quinn suffered a major psychotic breakdown at the end of Gotham City Sirens, which could easily explain the character she has become in Suicide Squad.  Yet, it will be interesting to see if Glass’ reworking of Harley Quinn’s origin will finally endear him to the fans, or if it will be his own personal suicide mission.  Personally, I think that if his Harley Quinn story is as good as the individual issues of Suicide Squad have been so far, Glass will be coming back from this one alive.  I still haven’t decided whether change is good, but it is certainly entertaining.  If you have been holding back from picking up Suicide Squad, put your biases behind you and buy this book.  Your inner fan boy is preventing you from enjoying one of the best comics currently being published by DC.

BEST MINI-SERIES OF 2011 – PENGUIN: PAIN AND PREJUDICE; CLOAK AND DAGGER: SPIDER ISLAND; BUTCHER, BAKER, CANDLESTICK MAKER

Trying to pick a single best mini-series from 2011 is like trying to pick out a single favorite Beatles song.  It just isn’t going to happen.  With so many mini-series and company cross-over events taking place, including DC’s Flashpoint and Marvel’s Fear Itself and all their different tie-ins, there were just too many to choose from.  However, three individual books stood out above the rest, working their way to the top of the heap.

"Penguin: Pain and Prejudice" by Gregg Hurwitz and Szymon Kudranski examines the dark and tragic life of one of DC's most iconic villains

From DC Comics writer Gregg Hurwitz and Szymon Kudranski brought classic Batman villain Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, into the spotlight in Penguin: Pain and Prejudice.  Still the character that fans remember, Hurwitz reexamines the dark and disturbing world of Gotham’s premier crime lord by bringing readers back to Cobblepot’s childhood, where he was tormented by his father and brothers, and how their abuse lead him to be the dangerous and deadly man that he is today.  A character with a checkered history of being treated as both a joke villain and a deadly adversary, Hurwitz adds a new dimension to The Penguin by adding a sense of pathos to the character, creating shades of grey to the nature of his evil.  Presenting him as the ultimate underdog that has had to take extreme measures to stand up to the bullies that have taunted him in the past, the roles of the bully and the underdog start to bleed into the rivalry between Batman and The Penguin in the present.  Meanwhile, Hurwitz adds additional drama into the series as  The Penguin searches for love and acceptance in subplots involving his ailing mother and his romance with a blind woman.  Although still presented as a dark and evil villain, especially via Kudrandski’s bleak yet beautiful artwork, Hurwitz presents The Penguin as a multi-dimensional character, thus endearing him to the reader.  A far more subtle book then the majority of the DC titles released as part of the DCnU, Penguin: Pain and Prejudice is one of the finest single stories that DC put out in 2011 and is a powerful character study of one of the company’s most iconic characters.

"Cloak and Dagger: Spider Island" by Nick Spencer and Emma Rios created stornger seperate voices for the fan favorite duo.

Possibly the biggest surprise hit from Marvel Comics this year was the three part Spider Island tie-in Cloak and Dagger: Spider Island.  Fan favorites since the 1980’s, Cloak and Dagger have had a hard time holding down a regular title for decades, and have been rewritten and revamped numerous times since their debut.  In the latest incarnation of Cloak and Dagger writer Nick Spencer, who has proven his ability to create strong and realistic voices for adolescent characters in Image Comics’ Morning Glories, steps up to plate to put his own unique stamp on the duo.  The story is pretty simple.  Spiderman baddie Mister Negative is told via a fortune teller that one day Dagger will kill him so he seeks out the heroine to kill her first.  But the story is only secondary to the real drama of the story.  Cloak and Dagger: Spider Island is less about good vs. evil as much as it is about the dueling inner voices belonging to Ty and Tandy in what becomes an interesting character study of Cloak and Dagger.  Down on their luck, Cloak and Dagger seem to be slowly drifting in different directions.  Ty, hopelessly in love with Tandy, still holds on to the belief that he and his partner were given their powers for a higher purpose while Tandy, feeling smothered by Ty’s affections, seeks a more normal existence.  The strength of Cloak and Dagger; Spider Island lies in Spencer’s ability to enhance Cloak and Dagger’s individual identities instead of just telling another superhero story.  The mini-series also acts a teaser for things to come, finishing with a twist that changes Cloak and Dagger forever (or at least until Spencer returns to reverse the change at least).  Said to be one of the most popular books Marvel put out last year, it is almost certain that Nick Spencer will be returning on Cloak and Dagger in 2012.

From the pages of "The Boys," Garth Ennis and Derik Robertson finally reveal the life story of the enigmatic team leader Billy Butcher.

With The Boys coming to its big finish in 2012, Garth Ennis finally reveals the origin story of the team’s leader, Billy Butcher in Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker published by Dynamite Comics.  Attending the funeral of his estranged father, Billy Butcher recounts his life story, from an angry young kid in an abusive home, to his days as a soldier in the Falkland Wars and the events that led him to becoming a founding member of The Boys.  But what makes Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker a must read is that fans finally meet Becky Butcher.  Butcher’s deceased wife, who has played such an important part in the comic series’ mythos, Becky finally comes to life as a beautiful and charming woman who had the power to tame the savage beast within Billy’s soul, but whose rape by The Homelander leads to her horrible death.  In classic Ennis style, nothing is held back and Becky’s nightmarish end is painted upon the page in gory shades of red, and the reader feels a true loss at her demise.  An enigma throughout The Boys, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker finally brings a human element to The Butcher, and validates his relentless hatred for “supes.”  Easily the best of the mini-series to stem out of The Boys, Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker is essential reading as the series heads to what should prove to be a brutal and deadly finale.

CLIFFHANGER OF THE YEAR – CARL GRIMES GETS SHOT IN THE FACE IN WALKING DEAD #83

In comics best cliffhanger of the year, "The Walking Dead's" Carl Grimes takes a bullet to the fact, proving once again that nobody is safe from wrtier Robert Kirkman.

If there is one thing that Robert Kirkman has proven over the years that he has been writing his epic horror series The Walking Dead is that no matter how important of a character someone may seem to be, nobody is safe.  Kirkman has no problems killing major characters, and at one time slaughtered nearly the entire cast of The Walking Dead in a stand off between Rick Grimes’ band of survivors and the villainous Governor and his followers.  As a result, Kirkman has always been able to keep readers on their toes by being continuously unpredictable and writing some of the best cliffhangers in comic book history.

This summer Kirkman really pulled out all the punches within the pages of The Walking Dead #83 when the walled community where Rick and the rest of the survivors had been living comfortably for months was overrun by a zombie attack.  In an attempt to escape the town, Rick, his son Carl, his new lover Jessie and her son Ron attempt to outrun the zombies.  However, when Ron is overrun by the flesh eaters, Jessie attempts to save him but, in the process, holds Carl back.  Only two issues after establishing their relationship, Rick is forced to choose between Carl and Jessie and in a brutal split second decision sacrifices Jessie to the hungry zombies by hacking off her hand with an axe in order to free his son from her grip.  Yet, moments later it seems that all was in vain when the communities’ fallen leader Douglas appears waving a gun and randomly firing it at zombies.  As he gets devoured, Rick turns around to find out that Carl has had half of his face blown off by a stray bullet from Douglas’ gun.  Overcome by zombies, Rick is forced to retreat back to the houses with his dying son in his arms, and brings him to the communities doctor Denise, begging for her to save Carl’s life while zombies rampage outside.

So does Carl live or die?  Well fan boys, you’ll have to get your hands on The Walking Dead #84 or wait for the trade paperback of No Way Out to find out for yourself.  But there is no denying that Robert Kirkman still has the ability to write the most exciting cliffhangers in comics today, leaving readers breathless and clamoring for the next issue each month.

BEST OF 2011

COMICS

PART 1

Possibly one of the most eventful years in comic history, 2011 saw comics come further into the mainstream via film, television and news headlines causing many publishers to step things up a notch in order to compete in an ever struggling market by creating hew markets, new gimmicks and new ways to read comics.  Critics have said for years that the comic book industry is dying, but 2011 proved that it is still thriving.

BEST COMIC OF 2011 – FLY

Never before has the subject of drug addicition been tackled so effectivly as in Zenescope Entertainments "Fly" by Raven Gregory and Eric J

Published by Zenescope Entertainment, Raven Gregory’s Fly is a true genre bending comic unlike anything that has ever been written before.  Filled with horror, suspense, drama and romance, Fly is something completely different.  One of the rawest and most daring books ever written, Fly is easily the best new comic series of 2011.

Stories dealing with the subject of drug abuse have been a part of the comic book landscape since Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ classic look on the subject in Green Lantern/Green Arrow (“My ward is a JUNKIE!”).  However, while some of them become classics, generally books dealing with drugs are preachy, unrealistic and pretentious.  The reason for this is simple.  They are generally not written by people who have actually been addicted to drugs, and have experienced first hand the effects that drugs have on a real life.  They are not men like Raven Gregory.  As a recovered meth addict, Raven Gregory watched addition tear apart his wife, his family and his life.,  In Fly, Gregory writes his most personal story yet, using the real life experiences of his own addiction as the backdrop for his comic about an addictive drug that gives a group of teenagers super powers.

Told in two timelines, Fly chronicles the past and present of three young adults who have had experience with a highly addictive drug, called Fly, that gives them the powers of flight, strength and speed.  The book’s hero, Eddie Patron, was a normal high school student when he helped defend the school’s rich and nerdy kid Francis from a pack of bullies.  In return Francis brought home Eddie and introduced him to Fly from his father’s stash.  Later Eddie uses his powers gained from the Fly to defend his girlfriend, Danielle, from being sexually abused by her stepfather, and introduces Danielle to the drug.  But in a darker future, Danielle, still addicted to the drug, relentlessly hunts Eddie, now a recovering addict, for a reason only known to the two of them related to their past.  Just how did the love between Eddie and Danielle die, what does it have to do with the Fly?  Meanwhile, a psychotic Fly addict hunts our characters with his own sinister agenda.

What is different about Fly compared to other books about drug addiction is that it breaks the stereotype of “the junkie.”  The primary leads of the book are three dimensional characters that you grow to love.  By understanding their past, you realize that they are, in fact, good kids despite their actions under the influence of Fly.  However, by getting in over their heads due to addiction, their futures have become dark and twisted.  While Danielle seems to be a cruel drug addict on a killer rampage in the future, it is hard not to fall in love her in the past, and despite the differences in their two natures, both past and present Danielle are realistically the same character. Eddie is a good kid who tries to do the right thing, but gets over his head, and there is a sense of pathos surrounding Francis who seems to be caught up in tragedy and death due to the drug he introduced to the others.  As a contrast to their innocent past and bleak future, artist Eric J draws the book in two distinct styles, choosing a dark realistic style dripping with violence and destruction for their future, and a more innocent cartoon like style for the past.

One of the best reads of 2011, Fly’s first arch is soon to be released in trade paperback, and although on a short hiatus, will return in 2012 for its second arch.  Don’t miss what is easily the most unique and powerful book of 2011 written with a sense of knowledge and honesty by the only man that could tell this story.  Raven Gregory’s Fly is truly a modern comic masterpiece.

COMPANY OF THE YEAR – ARCHIE COMICS

Archie caps off it's 70th Anniversary celebration with a visit from KISS, in one of the most supirsing team-ups of 2011

Once the perennial loser at the end of the comic hierarchy, over the last few years Archie Comics have had a series of victories and have made headlines earning the company a new found popularity and notoriety amongst comic readers.  However, unlike some companies, Archie Comics have never had to reboot everything to keep itself relevant nor interesting.  It is still headlined by the familiar characters that have been entertaining fans for generations – Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie and the whole Riverdale gang.  But with the addition of a few new daring storylines and interesting characters, Archie Comic’s 70^th Anniversary has been a huge success.  From Archie’s gay character Kevin Keller getting his own hit mini-series, which will be spun off into his own on-going series in 2012 by creator Dan Parent, to a host of guest celebrities appearing through the Archie universe, including Simon Cowell, Jennifer Lopez, Mark Zuckenberg, JJ Abrams and, most recently, rock gods KISS, Archie Comics is continuing to create an industry buzz like it has never known before.

In the alternative timeline of "Life with Archie," Kevin Keller gets married in comics first ever gay marriage

Possibly one of the most joyful aspects of Archie’s 70^th Anniversary was its use of its full cast of characters, including spotlights on Josie and the Pussycats, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and even That Wilkin Boy Bingo Bradley.  Meanwhile, Lil’ Jinx and friends got a makeover in a brilliant digital comic by J Torres and outdated concepts like The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. and Captain Pureheart were revisited and brought into the current century.  Possibly the best of the Archie books is still the magazine sized Life with Archie, by Paul Kupperberg and Fernando Ruiz,  featuring alternate timeline stories of Archie and the gang in their mid-twenties, where Archie is married to Betty and Veronica in their two different dimensions.  From Mister Weatherbee’s grief over the death of Mrs. Grundy, the destruction of Riverdale High, Archie’s separation from Veronica, Jughead’s marriage to Midge, the trial of Reggie Mantle, Veronica’s disappearance and the marriage of Kevin Keller in comics first ever same sex marriage, the two alternating stories have started to become linked via a plot featuring Dilton Doyle’s investigation to the connection between the two parallel timelines,  Life with Archie continues to push the Archie characters in directions never before expected while still staying true to the individual characterizations and still maintaining a certain status quo.

The only thing that was missed in 2011 was any appearances by classic Archie character Katy Keene.  Hopefully Katy will rejoin the Archie Universe in 2012.  However, what we do look forward to is an appearance by Lady Gaga in Betty and Veronica, and the return of Valerie Brown of Josie and the Pussycats who is sure to steam things up when she reunites with Archie Andrews in what is one of the most surprising romances in Archie’s 70 year history.  Everything you know about Archie is still the same, but Archie has never been better.  Still comics’ best kept secret, you don’t know what you are missing if Archie Comics are not on your pull list.

BEST BOOK YOU ARE NOT READING – RACHEL RISING

Terry Moore turns his attention to the supernatural in his latest book "Rachel Rising" - the best book you are not reading.

Released will little fanfare, Terry Moore’s Rachel Rising is one of the most intriguing new books in the comic book industry but has received hardly any buzz.  Best known for his independent masterpiece Strangers in Paradise, Moore ended his science fiction based follow up Echo earlier this year.  In Rachel Rising, his third series published by his own company Abstract Studios, Moore turns away from the crime and science fiction stories from his past and is delving into the world of horror and the supernatural for his newest story.

Rachel Beck is having a weird week.  Waking up in a shallow grave, she returns home to find that not only does she have a massive scar around her neck, but has lost three days of her life.  It seems that Rachel has been murdered, but has no idea who killed her or why.  Reanimated, Rachel turns to her transsexual uncle, Aunt Johnny, and her jazz musician best friend Jet to find help find her killer.  Making thing stranger is that Rachel can now predict who will be her killer’s next victim, and can’t be rekilled.  Meanwhile, Rachel has a mysterious doppelganger who is manipulating random citizens to kill their loved ones, and has a mysterious hold on a murderous little girl named Zoe.

With only five issues published thus far, Rachel Rising has plenty of story to be told and quaestions yet to be answered.  One of the best writers/artists in modern comics, Terry Moore is known for his ability to create endearing multi-dimensional characters and for his ability to slowly weave a story together, creating a world of mystery and intrigue.  Rachel Rising has barely gotten started but has already brought together a number of interesting characters and situations and deserves far more attention that it is currently receiving.

COMIC NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR – THE DCnU

Love it or hate it, the DCnU seems to be here to stay!

In what was possibly the most daring move in their history, DC Comics outraged and mystified its legion of fans this year when it totally deconstructed their entire universe by canceling all of their titles and starting their entire line of comics from scratch.  In the summer of 2011 Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Geoff Johns announced that at the end of Flashpoint, that the DC Universe was going to be rebooted…or was it?  Seems that nobody was able to agree if it was a hard reboot or a soft reboot.  It seemed that while some successful franchises (Batman, Green Lantern) would stay the same, others (Superman, Teen Titans) would be getting a massive over haul.  DC’s entire stable of characters were redesigned, everything was cancelled and in September 2011 52 brand new books were released on the market.  A daring move from one of comic’s biggest companies.

Now all of us can own a copy of Action Comics #1...but at the cost of DC giving up its legacy titles as a result of new numbering.

But was it a good idea?  There is no doubt that something had to be done at DC.  Despite having some of the best characters and most iconic franchises in the industry, DC Comics seemed to be losing its steam in recent years, and the books were….well….kind of dull.  Speaking as a DC reader, I was buying the books out of habit and loyalty, but not out of pure enjoyment.  Despite being a controversial move which was initially welcomed with a wave of negativity by long time comic fans, the overhaul did ignite a lot of excitement amongst everyone in the comic industry.  Five months into the DCnU it is clear that there have been pros and cons to the reboot.  Sales for DC have certainly increased and, once again, DC Comics is at the top of the heap.  The reboot also made international headlines beyond the comic book subculture, bringing new readers into the comic store.  It seems that the true success has come from what the individual creators desire to do with the characters.  Some have opted to continue them as the characters that we know and love, while others have all but thrown out decades worth of continuity and fan favorite franchises to create their own take on characters and concepts.  In some cases (Superman, Wonder Woman) it has worked.  In others (Blackhawk, Green Arrow) it has not.  Time will tell if the DCnU maintains its popularity, but there is no denying that the DCnU is, without a doubt, one of the riskiest marketing moves that any major comic book company has ever come up with.

MOST SUPRISING BREAKOUT CHARACTER OF 2011 – AQUAMAN

Aquaman a bad ass? Seems Jeffery Danger was right all along.

In 2011 Aquaman became cool.  Once the whipping boy of the comic book industry, Aquaman has always been the bunt of every comic book joke for his super lameness and for talking to fish.  Over the decades writers have relentlessly tried to make Aquaman more cutting edge by chopping off his hand, making him look like a lost mariner, killing him, resurrecting him and even giving him magical powers.  But in 2011 it took Geoff Johns to make Aquaman cool by doing something that most writers never thought about doing – bringing him back to basics.  Instead of recreating or revamping Aquaman, Johns put his stamp on the King of Atlantis by writing a good story and giving him some three dimensional characterization.  Brilliant!

With a dash of humor, heroics and horror, Geoff Johns’ Aquaman made it’s debut with the rest of the DCnU in September 2011 and, for most intents and purposes, was pretty much the same character that fans remembered from before the relaunch.  Resurrected as part of the Blackest Night/Brightest Day titles, Aquaman and his wife Mera attempt a new life on the mainland, taking up in a lighthouse on the American East Coast.  What makes this Aquaman title so good is the fact that Geoff Johns tackles the issues of Aqaqman’s lameness head on, making Aquaman face the public’s misconceptions about his usefulness and gives new explanations for his powers.  As a Aquaman fights for his dignity amongst a public that doesn’t believe in him, his true value comes to the forefront, and Aquaman once again rises as not only a hero amongst men, but sort of a total bad ass in orange and green.  From taking out marauding bank robbers, to saving the Eastern seaboard from cannibal mutant fish (yes…cannibal mutant fish), Aquaman kicks tons of ass.  Who would have thought it?  The new Aquaman is, without a doubt, the nicest surprise of 2011.

BEST OF 2011

PEOPLE

When it came to fascinating people, 2011 wasn’t big on people taking the spotlight as much as maintaining the spotlight from 2012.  However, a few new individuals were able to take center stage to delight, inspire, and charm us via their talent, style, humor and humanity.  The majority of them have been in the public eye for some time, and have now just found their moment in the sun.  For others, fame came virtually overnight under fluky circumstances.  For one, her rise to pop culture immortality came due to her untimely death.  I am proud to present PCA’s picks for the people we most admired in 2011.

PERSON OF THE YEAR: KATE MIDDLETON

With a combination of beauty, brains, charm and independence, Eng;and's future Queen consort, Kate Middleton, is PCA's person of the year!

There is no denying that the wedding of the year was the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton (sorry Kim Kardashian).  With an estimated three billion people watching the wedding worldwide, it was like watching the finale of a Disney movie where the normal girl from Buckleberry (albiet a very rich one) married her prince.  First gaining media attention in 2001, when she met Prince William while she was studying as an art student at St. Andrews University in Scotland, Kate was the subject of “are they or aren’t they” in the press for nearly a decade, especially after their break up in 2007.  However, when they announced their engagement to the world in 2010, it was clear that Kate Middleton was here to stay and Kateamania officially took off.  With only six months between their engagement announcement and the wedding, the world was buzzing about Kate, and suddenly the whole world had a crush on the future Queen consort.

Only someone as fascinating as Kate Middleton could start a fashion trend like the fascinator.

With grace, style, and beauty that can easily rival that of the late Princess Diana, Kate Middleton has also been praised for her ability to deal with the media and royal protocol with more ease and grace then former women in her position. This included a number of peaceful, yet daring, scuffles with the paparazzi.  Boldly independent, Kate Middleton has had the unique opportunity to know a world beyond that of European aristocracy, binding her solidly in the real world, while being slowly incorporated into the world of the royal family for over a decade.  As a result, Kate seems to be centered and grounded far more then her husband, making her an anchor for Prince William.  Furthermore, Kate’s modern, yet elegant, sense of style has made her an immediate fashion icon, with her most famous contribution to the 2011 fashion landscape being those funny little fascinator hats.  Kate Middleton is what dreams are made of – elegant, smart, daring, independent, rich, and drop dead gorgeous.  She is the perfect woman to help William breathe new life into the monarchy when he one day takes the throne as the future King of England.  Hopefully William has learnt from the mistakes of his parents and will keep a hold of this one.  But for the rest of us who are still dreaming of a girl like Kate Middleton, don’t forget about her gorgeous, and apparently available, sister Pippa.  I wonder if Pippa is into heavy set Canadian dudes that wear fedoras?

INTERNET CELEBRITY OF THE YEAR – GEORGE TAKEI

"Oh My!" With his wit and wisdom via facebook, twitter and YouTube, 74 year old "Star Trek" alumnist, and gay activist, George Takei is PCA's Internet Celebrity of the Year

Possibly the most prolific Asian actor in the history of American pop culture, George Takei isn’t a stranger to us.  His career has spanned over six decades, and he became a pop culture icon via his role as Sulu in the original Star Trek series.  Despite delighting fans with his intelligence and his friendliness at sci-fi conventions for years, and even publishing an autobiography in 1994, it wasn’t until 2005 that the world truly got to know George Takei for the first time when he revealed to the public that he was gay.  That was when something truly special happened.  George’s sexuality didn’t only come out of the closet, but so did  his wicked sense of humor and suddenly a brand new George Takei was unleashed on the world.  George Takei has been acquiring a massive fan following beyond that of Star Trek for a number of years now via his politically charged opinions, generally focusing on issues surrounding gay rights.  However in 2011 he really found his voice in full force by conquering social media.  Via networking devices such as twitter, YouTube and facebook, George Takei has stayed in touch with his fan base, which reaches far beyond just the gay community, with his videos, photos and unique sense of humor.  From chastising homophonic politicians and public figures with his catch phrase, “Oh my,” to his “It’s okay to be Takei” campaign, and his recent call to arms against Twilight fandom, George Takei has boldly stayed relevant and hands on in a way that no Star Trek performer has ever done before.  And who can forget his hilarious bid to play Spider-Man in the suffering Broadway production of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark?  Freakin’ brilliant!  George Takei is the one guy we want to live long and prosper.  Oh my!

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR – AMY WINEHOUSE

2011 was the year that the world was ready to finally listen to an appreciate Amy Winehouse as a musican instead of a tabloid headline. Unfortunatly, it took her death at 27 to make it happen, making her PCA's Comeback Performer of the Year

Now I am probably biased.  Amy Winehouse has been my favorite contemporary singer for a number of years.  However, for nearly as long as I have been listening to her, her dark melodies and undeniably original vocal styling have been overshadowed by her battle with drugs and alcohol, and the demons that haunted her.  For years I have pleaded with friends and associates to look past her public persona, and find the beauty of Amy’s life in her music.  On July 23^rd, 2011, I finally got what I wanted, but at a heavy cost.  Amy Winehouse died in her London flat at the age of 27.  Suddenly the world realized what they had, now that it was gone.  Weeks earlier, in June, a heartless crowd booed an intoxicated Amy off of a stage in Serbia, marking a premature end to her European tour.  She would never make another public appearance. In a sad way, Amy’s death could have been the greatest career move that she has made in years.  Barely able to record or write as a result of her troubled life, Amy hadn’t released a new album since 2006, and although reports and rumors had been circulating for years that Amy was going to put out a new album, the only new material fans were privy to were bootlegs and demos.  Her last new recording released during her lifetime was a cover of Lesley Gore’s It’s My Party, released in November 2010 for a Quincy Jones tribute album.  It took Amy’s death to turn her from a tabloid freak show to gaining the respect that she deserved from the mass media when top name artists on the pop culture scene jumped on the “We Love Amy Winehouse” band wagon, praising her originality and stating how she was an inspiration to them.  Suddenly a mourning public finally took a long and hard listen to her music, and finally began to appreciate the tortured melodies that came out of her soul.  Not long after her death, her final recording ever, a duet of Body and Soul with Tony Bennett was released to a fascinated public that was finally ready to accept her.  It was joined in December with the release of Lioness: Hidden Treasures, an album of unreleased tracks, primarily made up of more cover songs and alternate versions of her original material.  The album quickly became one of the biggest selling records of 2011.  What has struck me personally is the fact that while she was alive, I had to import all of my Amy WInehouse merchandise from the UK.  Now, that she is a dead rock star, I can get Amy Winehouse stuff at my local mall.  Talent can make you and icon, but only death can make you a legend.  Congratulations Amy.  You achieved immortality and joined the 27 club.  However the cost was just too great.  I still miss you.

PCA’S FAVORITE PERSON OF 2011 – BENNI CINKLE

Gaining fame as a result of her appearance in Rebbeca Black's "Friday" video, teenage philanthropist Benni Cinkle is PCA's Favorite Person of 2011

Someone once asked me “Why are you giving Benni Cinkle so much coverage at PCA?”  The answer is simple.  She is probably one of my favorite people in the pop culture landscape today.  With a legion of loyal fans worldwide, Anaheim teenager Benni Cinkle has had an extraordinary year by taking what was a bad situation and. via her honesty, her sense of humor and her compassion, turned it into mission to help better the lives of people around the world.  But even more spectacular is that Benni has taken a mere twenty eight seconds of fame and brought it far beyond that of being “That Girl in Pink That Dances Awkwardly in Rebecca Black’s Friday Video” and made it into a crusade far beyond even the most optimistic realities.

Perhaps you don’t know Benni Cinkle by name, but unless you were living under or rock, or were perhaps Amish, in 2011 you saw her.  She was Rebecca Black’s “friend is by my right side” that was “sittin’ in the back seat” in the notorious music video that went viral on the internet last summer.  With her flailing arms (now known as a dance called “The Benni” that managed to make its way onto an episode of Glee) Benni quickly became a popular .gif and gained a fan following almost over night.  But while most teenage girls would have hid their heads under the covers for the rest of the summer, in a brilliant move of damage control, Benni went on YouTube and with poise and charm, answered a series of questions ranging from practical to ridiculous that were being targeted towards her via multiple on-line sources.  Suddenly, the same people who were laughing at Rebecca Black fell in love with Benni Cinkle.  As her popularity grew, Benni continued to make public appearances and additional videos, but while Rebecca Black spent the rest of the summer and following fall trying to get the world to take her seriously, Benni had moved on to far bigger things.  Benni has been trying to make a difference in the world one step at a time.  Starting with a flash mob that helped raise money for the Japanese relief after the devastating earthquake, Benni went on to raise money on a global scale, including a cystic fibrosis campaign, and tackled the teenage mental and emotional problems via her own powerful pop video, Can You See Me Now, which not only featured a song written by Benni herself, but which looked like a Spielberg production compared to the Friday video.  As her popularity continues, Benni’s humanitarisim has come under the umbrella of The Girl in Pink Foundation, which offers support and raises money for various causes.

With a sense of humor and a heart of gold, Benni has gone far beyond her initial twenty seven seconds of fame and has been trying to better the world for people who need help throughout the world as "That Girl in Pink."

Since the Friday video, Benni Cinkle and Rebecca Black have gone in different directions, but while Rebecca continues to release pop singles more lackluster then the last, Benni is gearing up for a cross country school tour talking to real kids about bullying and other issues.  In only a few months the soft spoken little girl who was answering questions from cue cards has turned into a beautiful and confident philanthropist.  But what makes Benni truly special is that while teen culture has always been based on ego and marketing, Benni has always been about what she could give to the world as a result of her kooky tidbit of fame.  Benni got the joke, ran with it, and turned it into something truly beautiful…and only a girl with a soul as beautiful as Benni Cinkle’s could have achieved such a feat.  Fame may be fleeting, but whatever Benni Cinkle does in the future PCA is going to be behind her because I believe in this kid.  She’s the kind of person you are proud to get behind.  Why do we give Benni so much press?  Because she deserves it.

Now if I could only score an interview with Rebecca Black’s “Not so popular friend on the left.”  That’d be sweet!

WISHES ALL OF YOU A

VERY BRADY FAKE JAN DAY!

ENJOY YOUR DAY TODAY GERI!  THANKS FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD FRIEND TO ME AND A SUPPORTER OF PCA!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! FOREVER AND EVER! – SAM TWEEDLE

(and if the rest of you don’t get it, just think about for a minute….) 

Happy New Year friends!

Looking for some new adventure in 193...er...2012!

So this is it.  2011 is gone.  2012 is here.  It’s time for resolutions, dieting (ugh) and reflecting. So as we say goodbye to another year, I want to take the time to thank all the people who helped keep PCA running this year, and to all our friends that made 2011 another successful and interesting year.  You know, unlike many “blogs,” PCA is more then just one guy sitting at his computer late at night, sprouting out rants and random factoids for the sake of a few people who might be reading.  There is a lot of preparation in producing these articles, and a network of contacst and people that help PCA reach thousands of readers each month.  Without the kindness given to me by people throughout all aspects of the entertainment industry, PCA would not be the successful resource of alternative and retro-media that it has become.  So I want to thank all the people who have been so kind to us over 2011 including:

Jeff Albright from The Albright Entertainment Group, Jennifer Armstrong, Nick Barucci of Dynamite Entertainment, Jacques Beland, Eliot Brodsky of The Rubber Room and Monsterpalooza, Lonnie Burr, Mike Casey, Jeff Caudill, Benni Cinkle, Pati Cinkle, Jeffery Danger, Kim Darby, Paul Dini, Heather Donahue, Barbara Eden, Don Grady, Ed the Sock, Carl Giammarese, Paige Gregor from IndiePix Films, Raven Gregory, Tom Green of Titan Books, Anneliese Grosfield from Simon and Shuster Canada, Larry Hagman, Danielle Harris, Janet Heatherington, Adrienne Kakoullis, Tran Nguyen and Vanessa Andres of Holmes Creative Communications, Clare Kramer, Misty Lee, Barry Livingston, Stanley Livingston, Jeff March and Marti Smiley Childs, Stuart Manning, Dolly Martin, Marcia McBroom, Mercedes McNab, Alan Mercer, Jerry Milani of Wizard World, Kitten Natividad, Cubby O’Brien, Harrison Page, Dan Paren, Giddle Partridge, Siouxzan Perry of Girlwerks Media, Larry Ramos, Robbie Rist, Fernando Ruiz, John A. Russo, Matt Servo, Pamela Schott, Tara Shakespeare of Zenescope Entertainment, Anita Siraki of Thomas Allen and Son Ltd, Russell Streiner, Carol Summers, Ronn Sutton, Scott Thompson, Linda Thorson, Mamie Van Doren, Tom Veitch, Dawn Lee Wakefield, Kristine William, Robin York of Anchorless Press and Gene Yusem.  Each and every one of you had a part to play in PCA’s success in 2011.  Thank you for your individual contributions to the pop culture community.

And, of course, PCA would not exist without the team of volunteers that help keep things looking professional: Aaron Alford, Em Fox, Nicole Grady, Cynthia Hill, Kathleen Lang, Mandy Livings and Breanna MacLeoud. These people are the gel that keeps PCA together.  I’m the idea man, but they make it all look good.  Thanks to all of you for your time and for helping me keep this site running.  I know that all of you have busy lifestyles, and are often far busier then I am.  You are the unsung heroes of PCA and I love all of you for it.

Starsky and Hutch. Why? Why not. Everybody likes Starsky and Hutch!

And of course, I am always indebted to PCA’s lovely web-misteress Candace Shaw for making sure that PCA is running each and every month.  While I may be the heart and soul behind PCA, Candace is still the brains.  Thank you Candace for kick starting this journey.  I will forever be grateful and indebted to you for the greatest gift I have ever been giving.  You continue to hold open the doorway to my wildest dreams.

But without a doubt, the biggest thanks goes out to you readers that come back to PCA week after week.  Your comments, your ideas and your e-mails are what keeps PCA going and keeps me knowing that the work I do here is being read, thought about and, hopefully appreciated.  To all of you who read, return and pass our features and articles on to your people, my eternal gratitude go out to you.  Without you, we would just be another vanity blog.  Instead, we are currently welcoming as many as twenty thousand readers a month.  You are what makes us a success, and keeps PCA going for another year.

So I’m going to be totally honest.  Last year was a tough year behind the scenes and many weeks it was throwing myself into my work at PCA that helped keep me sane.  PCA continues to be a doorway to adventure beyond my everyday life.  From waking up to e-mails from pop culture icons, to gossiping on the phone with some of my favorite screen idols, getting insider scoops and insights that I am sworn to secrecy about, to having heart to hearts with 70’s film stars, I have achieved my wildest dreams.  Everything to come is just a bonus.  It is a big and beautiful world we live in my friends, and with a little bit of respect, good energy and integrity, anyone can be apart of the bigger world outside of their day to day existence.

Some of the people coming to PCA in the opening months of 2012!

As you may have noticed, November/December has been quite at PCA.  Mainly I’ve been dealing with some personal business and celebrating an exceptionally busy and social holiday season.  However, beyond that, I am actually in the process of writing my first book.  It is sort of a non-linear biography, but takes a look at modern culture such as blogging, gender distinction, nerd culture vs. geek culture, geek chic, the cult of celebrity and pop culture as the modern collective unconsciousness.  Its sort of a James Harriot meets Roland Barthes kind of thing that only someone that has had a lifetime of pop culture addiction can write.  This winter I am going to be putting a lot of my focus on the book, but I already have a ton of PCA features planned throughout. I’ll be starting a new series on “snow” films for PCA Retro Review; PCA Book Club and PCA Film Fest will continue and I’ll be introducing a new monthly feature reviewing graphic novels and TPBs.  I also have a few bigger PCA Profile projects planned for closer to spring, and I already have a number of new interviews in the can which will begin to make their way to PCA starting the second week of January.  But starting Wednesday January 3rd, join me as I look at the best and worst of 2011 with a series of features that will run over two weeks on what I really liked, and what pissed me off, in 2011.

Well friends, thanks again for all your support in 2011.  Keep writing those comments and e-mails.  I can be reached at popcultureaddict@gmail.com and I always look forward to hearing from you.  There is a lot of work to be done, so the New Year starts now.

Stay tuned because there is more to come!

Sam Tweedle

Pop Culture Addict

SHOULD OLD ACQUAINTANCES BE FORGOT

PCA PAYS ONE LAST TRIBUTE TO THE MEMBERS OF OUR POP CULTURE COMMUNITY WHO LEFT US IN 2011.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR LIVES.  WE LOVE YOU, WE’LL NEVER FORGET YOU, AND YOU WILL REMAIN ALIVE FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS AND OUR MINDS.

FROM ALL OF US AT

MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON

PCA’s Five Worst Christmas Songs Ever!

What do Paul McCartney, NewSong, Marvin Gaye, Spinal Tap and Red Sovine all have in common?  They have performed some of the worst and/or most annoying Christmas songs ever unleashed on the public.  From gutter snipes begging for shoes, to kids dying on Santa’s lap, to the emotional crys of a POW in Viet Nam, PCA explains why these Christmas songs are the worst of the holiday season.  Click on the videos at your own risk.

Every year a dozen Christmas movies are made, but not all of them are good.  Throughout the Christmas Season PCA Retro Review features the best in Christmas films that will entertain, shock, delight…and not star Tim Allen!

Holiday Inn (1942) – Remember last year when you watched White Christmas and thought to yourself “Wow.  This movie isn’t all that good.  I thought it was supposed to be a classic?”  Well, what happened is you watched the wrong movie.  The movie you should have watched was Holiday Inn, the film in which Bing Crosby first sang the classic holiday hit White Christmas!  Pairing together Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire with the music of Irving Berlin, Holiday Inn is not only one of the most delightful original musicals ever to come out of Hollywood, but is more then a Christmas movie.  It is twelve holidays packed into one, celebrating all of the American holidays from New Year to Thanksgiving!  However, with the majority of the drama taking place during the yultide season, Holiday Inn will always be predominantly remembered as a Christmas movie.

Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale sing and dance through a year of holidays and a plethora of Irving Berling songs in the 1942 classic "Holiday Inn."

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire play song and dance team Jim Hardy and Ted Hanover, who, when the film opens, are about to perform their final show together.  Jim plans to marry entertainer Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale), retire from show business and go into farming.  Ted and Lila, however, have other plans and Lila leaves Jim for Ted to continue as his dance partner.  Jim spends a  year farming but has a nervous breakdown and ends up in a sanitarium where he comes up with a brilliant idea.  He plans to turn his farm into an inn that is open only on holidays, and have a brand new original show each holiday with a big band, singers, dancers and the whole shebang.  Jim auditions aspiring entertainer Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) and, falling in love with her, makes her his partner at the inn which is to be opened on New Years Eve.  But when a jilted and drunk Ted Hanover shows up at the grand opening, having just had Lila run out on him with a Texas oilman, Ted dances with Linda to the excitement of the crowd.  Unfortunately for Ted, he can’t remember what she looked like the next morning due to his state of intoxication.  Thus a cat and mouse game begins between Jim and Ted as Ted and his excitable manager Danny Reed (Walter Abel) show up at the inn each holiday in search for the mysterious girl, while Jim tries to keep Linda away from them fearing he’ll lose another love to his former partner.

"Holiday Inn" marked the only time the two titans of 1940's musicals, Crosby and Astaire, were united on film, but their salaries were so large that Paramount couldn't afford to cast Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth as their leading ladies.

In 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire were two of the biggest leading men in the film industry.  Pairing them together for Holiday Inn was  pure genius and finally the two titans of the musical genre were brought together beautifully, ensuring the success fo the film  Originally Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth were suggested to play the two female leads of the film, but Paramount could barely afford to put Astaire and Crosby in the same film, thus Virginia Dale and Marjorie Reynolds, both minor actresses, were far more affordable and are charming enough to enhance Crosby and Astaire’s performances.  It is a mystery just why Dale and Reynolds didn’t go on to far bigger careers as a result of the success of Holiday Inn.

Fred Astaire does some of his most creative dance numbers, including the explosive tap number for "Let's Say it with Firecrackers," and took a risk with the character of Ted Hanover by stepping out of character and playing a total douche bag.

Bing Crosby plays the typical role that made him popular with audiences – laid back, charming and slightly sad.  No wonders women loved him.  Jim Hardy was the perfect role to help further establish Crosby’s public persona.  It is Fred Astaire who goes out on a limb and defies type casting by playing a total asshole, albeit a charming and likeable one.  In the role of Ted Hangover, Astaire is a girl stealing double crosser who is always thinking of himself, and his career, thus abusing his friendship with Jim.  Possibly film’s first douche bag, Ted Hanover was a risky role for Fred Astaire to play, but he does it with a sense of class and charisma which still makes it impossible for the audience to hate him. Furthermore, Astaire does some of his most creative dance numbers ever in Holiday Inn, including a dynamic tap number involving lighting firecrackers with a cigarette and exploding them at his feet, and his intoxicated dance routine with Marjorie Reynolds in the New Years scene in which it was rumored that Astaire purposely got drunk on bourbon to perform (that’s what you call method acting).  Even after nine glasses of bourbon, Astaire dances with pure perfection.

Bing Crosby, Marjorie Reynolds and Walter Able help an intoxicated Fred Astaire off the set after his New Years Eve dance number. In realisty, Fred Astaire drank nine glasses of bourbon to actually get himself drunk in order to do the scene.

Of course the real star of Holiday Inn is the music by Irving Berlin.  Berlin first came up with the idea for Holiday Inn after composing Easter Parade for the 1933 Broadway musical As Thousand Cheer.  After the success of the song, Berlin got the idea to do an entire musical made up of holiday themed songs.  Berlin reused Easter Parade in Holiday Inn, and it was later used again as the inspiration for the 1948 film of the same name.  A number of the songs for Holiday Inn have become part of the musical cannon, including the Happy Holiday intro of Come to Holiday Inn, I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For and You’re Easy to Dance With.  Berlin also included his earlier hit, Lazy, as part of the soundtrack.  Yet not all the musical numbers work.  The musical number for Washington’s Birthday, I Can’t Tell a Lie, is lyrically forced, and the number is only saved by the comical dance number which is worked into the film as part of Jim’s plot to keep Ted from kissing Linda.  The Independence Day number, Song of Freedom, sounds too similar to the Lincoln’s Birthday number, Abraham, which is a much stronger number, and is accompanied by an awful patriotic montage (it was, of course, the height of WWII).  The montage isn’t awful because of content, but is uninspired and lacks creativity or imagination compared to a decent patriotic montage such as Frank Capra’s montage in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  Song of Freedom is the only mar on what is almost a perfect film, but it is saved by Fred Astaire’s performance of Let’s Say it with Firecrackers.  Not all the musical numbers are memorable, but they range from above average to musical masterpieces.

The original version of "White Christmas" was a duet between Crosby and Reynolds. The solo recording released in promotion for "Holiday Inn" would sell fifty million units, holding the record for the best selling single of all time for an astonishing fifty five years!

Of course, the most famous musical number to come out of Holiday Inn is White Christmas which, in the film, is sang beautifully as a duet between Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds (who’s voice was reportedly dubbed by Martha Mears).  Personally, I prefer the song as a duet between the pair and am shocked that recordings of the track are nearly impossible to find considering that it has never been commercially available.  When Holiday Inn was first released, the Valentine Day number, Be Careful, It’s My Heart, was the song that the studio predicted would be the hit and Crosby’s version of the song was the first record cut commercially for the film.  However, history would prove that White Christmas would be the big seller.  With the WWII in full force, White Christmas became an anthem for soldier’s overseas and for their families back home missing their loved ones.  Released commercially for Christmas 1942, Crosby’s version of White Christmas raced to the top of the Billboard charts for the final week of October and remained there for eleven weeks.  It would return to the top of the charts again in 1943, as well as 1946 and 1947.  To date no other song has reached the number one position as many times as White Christmas.  More importantly, Crosby’s recording of White Christmas sold over fifty million copies and would hold the record for the highest selling single of all time for an astonishing fifty five years until it was topped by Elton John’s reworking of Candle in the Wind released prior to Princess Diana’s death in 1997.  Naturally White Christmas won the Academy Award for best song at the 1943 Oscars, and it has become possibly the most important Christmas song of the 20^th Century.

With the song White Christmas still maintaining its popularity in 1954 Paramount decided to exploit its lasting power by casting Bing Crosby in a film titled White Christmas.  The studio tried to get Fred Astaire to join him, but Astaire wisely backed out, but the crew returned to the same inn which they filmed the earlier picture, and brought back the music of Irving Berlin.  For the most part, White Christmas is a less inspired film then Holiday Inn.  While Holiday Inn was a totally original concept, White Christmas seems far more forced.  Yet, with White Christmas being the actual title of the movie, it has managed to eclipse Holiday Inn in populairty despite being a far inferior film.

"Who was it that set the darkies free?" Bing Crosby's minstrel show, full of negative black stereotypes, has kept "Holiday Inn" off of television in recent decades.

So if Holiday Inn is so good, why doesn’t it get shown on television every year like the rest of the holiday films?  A big part of that has to do with the number revolving around Lincoln’s Birthday.  For the Abraham number, Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds don black face in a giant minstrel show inspired musical number.  Reynolds’ costume itself is way over the top, and despite the fact that it is a celebration of the freedom of African American’s from Southern slavery; the entire number is terribly misguided.  In fact, at one point actress Louise Beavers, who plays the stereotypical “Mamie” role to the point that her characters name is actually Mamie, sings to her children “When black folks lived in slavery/Who was it that set the darkies free/Abraham, Abraham.”  For years stations aired Holiday Inn on television, cutting out the sequence entirely despite the fact that a number of key plot points take place during the sequence, including Crosby and Reynolds’ characters getting engaged, and Ted and his manager starting their search for the mysterious blonde.   Eventually, most networks just became nervous about running the film altogether with it’s dated and insensitive portrayal of black culture, and dropped it from most stations.  Currently American Movie Classics is the only station in the US that continues to air Holiday Inn during the holidays.  Yet, when put into it’s historical context, it is obvious that the people involved in the making of Holiday Inn where not deliberately trying to be racist as much as they were ignorant to their subject matter and it becomes a glaring look at the ignorance of Hollywood in regards to ethnic stereotyping during the golden age of cinema.

And for those who are wondering, yes, the hotel chain did take their name from the film Holiday Inn.  Opening the franchise in 1952, founder Kemmon Wilson had the name Holiday Inn suggest to him by one of his architects as a joke, but the idea stuck with him.  Today Holiday Inn is one of the most popular hotel chains world wide with over two thousand locations!  The hotel chain is opened more then fifteen times a year, and there is no musical extravaganza, but you can get a nice room at a reasonable price, and the spirit of the film lives on.

Holiday Inn has its share of flaws, but the flaws are few and far between.  If you’ve never seen Holiday Inn, bypass White Christmas this year and watch the film which started the White Christmas phenomena.  If you have seen it, relive the magic of Crosby, Astaire and Berlin and share it with your family and friends.  It’s a film that lasts all year long, but is pure perfection for the Christmas season.

Every year a dozen Christmas movies are made, but not all of them are good.  Throughout the Christmas Season PCA Retro Review features the best in Christmas films that will entertain, shock, delight…and not star Tim Allen!

Die Hard (1988) – Possibly one of the most unconventional Christmas films in the history of the medium, Die Hard has become a modern holiday films for people who hate holiday films!  Full of explosions, gun fire, classic one liners and the biggest body count of any Christmas film to date, Die Hard not only gave Bruce Willis his first box office success and Alan Rickman his film debut, but has become considered possibly the greatest action film of all time!

When New York cop John McLean (Bruce Willis) travels to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Beldelia), he is forced to meet her at her office Christmas party on the thirtieth floor of the Nakatomi Plaza.  After a tense reunion with his wife, McLean excuses himself to the bathroom to wash up and prepare for a passive aggressive evening of making nice with the obnoxious strangers that his wife works with.  However, McLean’s night becomes much more interesting when the party is taken hostage by a Germanic militant group lead by the evil Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) who seeks to steal $640 billion in bearer bonds to fund his terrorist organization.  Executing Nakatomi’s head executive Mr. Takagi when he will not reveal the codes to opening the seven computerized locks on the company vault, Gruber sets his computer expert (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) to the long task of cracking the vault code.  Gruber’s plans would probably be simple, if not for the undetected presence of John McLean.  Now, outnumbered, outgunned and barefoot, McLean plays a cat and mouse game with Gruber and his men as he tries to contact the authorities, kill the bad guys, keep the office party alive, stop Gruber’s evil plans and save Christmas in the most explosive holiday films of all time!

Original casting for "Die Hard's" hero John McLean was not offered to Bruce Willis but to...Frank Sinatra??? Thankfully Sinatra, who was 73 at the time, turned down the role so that Bruce Willis could create his persona as a Hollywood tough guy!

When Die Hard first went into development, Bruce Willis was nowhere on 20^th Century Fox’s radar to star on the film.  Instead, the first person offered the starring role was, as hard as it may be to believe, singer Frank Sinatra!  Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, the source material was a sequel to Thorpe’s novel The Detective which had been filmed in 1968 with Frank Sinatra in the lead role of New York detective Joe Leland.  Fox thought it’d be a unique idea to bring back Sinatra in the role of Leland for a sequel, but when Sinatra, who was 73 years old at the time, turned it down realizing that he was not able to do a film as physically demanding as Die Hard, the writers made a number of sweeping changes to the script, with the most obvious being the renaming of the central character from detective Joe Leland to New York cop John McLean.  Other changes included creating the sub-plot between McLean and his wife.  In the original script Leland was in LA visiting his daughter whose office party was hijacked.  After Sinatra turned down the role, Arnold Schwarzenegger was approached to play John McLean, followed by Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson, who all turned the role down.  Turning to a short list of actors, which also was rumored to include Don Johnson and Richard Dean Anderson on it, Bruce Willis was finally offered the role.  Willis, who was starring on the popular detective/comedy series Moonlighting, had yet to find success on the big screen, and had not established himself as a Hollywood tough guy.  Instead the studio had u unsuccessfully tried to market Willis in comedic roles, including the forgettable romantic comedy Blind Date.  Running out of options and depending on Willis’ success on Moonlighting, the studio took the chance on Willis.

Having made his career on the British stage, "Die Hard" would be the film debut of Alan Rickman as the film's villain Hans Gruber

Furthermore, the studio also took a chance on casting Alan Rickman in the role of the film’s villain Hans Gruber.  At age 42, Alan Rickman had never before appeared in a movie.  Instead, he had made his career on the London stage in classical theater, and on a number of British based TV programs.  With no experience on a film soundstage, and no exposure to the American audience, Rickman was an unlikely pick for the film’s villain, but it was obvious to casting agents that he would be perfect in the role of a German terrorist.

With two stars that had never seen box office success, 20^th Century Fox had little faith in Die Hard, and despite it’s Christmas theme, released the film with little fanfare in July 1988.  Such little promotion was put into the film that Bruce Willis didn’t even appear on the initial posters.  However, within two weeks the film made 7.1 million dollars at the box office, becoming one of the summer’s blockbuster films, launching Willis’ fame as a Hollywood action hero, and Rickman’s film career in general, where he would go on to play bad guys in a variety of film franchises for decades to come. Die Hard would be nominated for four Academy Awards, and continues to appear on dozens of critic lists as one of the greatest action films ever made.  Maintaining a strong fan following, Die Hard would go on to become one of the most successful action film franchises, spawning into four sequels between 1990 and 2007.  Currently a fifth Die Hard film, A Good Day to Die Hard, is in pre-production for 2013 and the “wife beater” shirt Willis wore in the original Die Hard is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

"Now I know what a TV dinner feels like." "Die Hard" contains a clever script full of comedic one-liners that help relieve tension instead of making it a parody of itself.

With likeable characters that you care about, or at least love to hate, Die Hard is a pulse pounding action/adventure that never takes itself too seriously, but keeps enough pathos and drama to create a real sense of suspense for the audience.  Furthermore, the film is funny, with a number of clever one-liners that are cleverly inserted to relieve the film’s tension at key moments.  From Willis and Rickman’s punchy banter about American Westerns (Rickman: “This time John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly”/Willis: “That was Gary Cooper, asshole”) to the frustrated police and FBI agents outside the building (“I’m Agent Johnson, this is Special Agent Johnson….no relation”) and of course the film’s signature line, and Bruce Willis’ most famous quote, “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker”, Die Hard is filled with more memorable and quotable lines then is usually contained in a film without it becoming campy.  Yet, Die Hard avoids its camp factor by having the actors take their roles seriously, and never allowing the film to become a parody of itself.  Although it is a simple plot, the true strength of Die Hard is dynamic performances combined with an excellent script.

Future "Family Matters" star Reginald VelJohnson co-stars as Sgt. Al Powell, John McLean's man on the ground, giving "Die Hard" another layer of drama, and someone for Bruce Willis to talk to

Joining Willis and Rickman is a colorful cast of supporting characters, both fun and despicable, that make Die Hard even more memorable.  Most notably is the film’s co-star Reginald VelJohnson as LAPD Sgt. Al Powell.  As John McLean’s guy on the ground,  VelJohnson gives one of the film’s most sensitive performances as the first officer on the scene, who maintains contact with McLean, keeping him alive and encouraging him from behind police lines.  The comradeship between Willis and VelJohnson adds an added emotional layer to the film, and gives McLean someone to talk so he can reveal what he is thinking instead of just having Willis talk to himself for the entire film.  Oddly enough, VelJohnson would find further fame playing a cop on the awful 90’s family sit-com Family Matters, as Carl Winslow, the patriarchal comedic foil to the annoying Steve Urkle.  Thankfully audiences can have a chance to see the dramatic talents of VelJohnson in possibly the best role of his career to date.  Other memorable characters include the likeable limo driver Argyle (De’voreaux White), obnoxious Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason), Holly’s lecherous coke-snorting co-worker Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner) and terrifying white haired head gunman Karl (Alexander Godunuv).

Dead terrorists donning Santa Claus hats with yuletide messages written on them clothes their own blood is just one of the many ways "Die Hard" maintains its holiday theme

Although it is an nontraditional Christmas film, the holiday theme runs throughout Die Hard from beginning to end.  Beyond the obvious plot of John McLean saving a Christmas party from terrorists, the set designers fill the film with Christmas decorations and colorful lights.  One gag involves Willis writing a warning in blood on the sweatshirt of the first dead terrorist a message that reads “Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.”  Yet the most subtle element that keeps Die Hard festive is the film’s clever score by composer Michael Kamen who weaves together a symphony of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with the Christmas classic Winter Wonderland in various ways to create different moods common to action films.  Attempting to stick with the Christmas theme, Die Hard 2 also takes place on Christmas Eve, but realizing that it would be far fetched for John McLean to get into trouble every Christmas, the producers of Die Hard dropped the Christmas element of the series for the third film.

“If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta be here for New Year's.”

Die Hard is a great alternative for Christmas viewing.  Not a part of the holiday cannon in the way that Miracle on 34^th St or It’s A Wonderful Life is, Die Hard is something for the members of the family that have some testosterone to burn, or something to watch with older kids going through a cynical phase.  Great fun with not a single dull moment throughout it, Die Hard is best summed up by Argyle in the final line of the film – “If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta be here for New Year’s.”