He adjusts the helmet strap tight and snaps on the mini-spotlight attached to its side....flips on the feed from the cam lens to the vcr in his backpack. Mentally checks off the weapons - 2 bags glass marbles and a slingshot, half a dozen roadside flares, a pair of glass baby food jars filled with angry wasps...and his trusty club. Moving to the "defendoor" exit from his private lair (a city maintennance garage), Arthur Poppington catches his reflection in a cracked mirror, and checks the black make-up mask painted around his eyes. Ready for another night of whitling down the crime in this city...he was ready...

Did you know that Woody Harrelson has a new movie out? A dark comedy about a man who takes it upon himself to don a costume and patrol the city at night to protect those harrased by the long reach of organized crime...but with a loftier goal always in the back of his mind - to make Captain Industry (his mother's "murderer") pay for his crimes. The biggest difference with Harrelson's superhero - Defendor - is that he is not exactly Bruce Wayne wealthy or intelligent. In fact, though his precise condition is not spelled out in the film, he is a man plagued with not only a vivid mission, but down's syndrome as well.
This film is not packed with action and special effects, rather the drama that surrounds Arthur's one man war against crime and the people who try to convince him this "line of work" might be a bit dangerous. Joining Woody are some great co-stars: Sandra Oh as his psychologist, Kat Dennings as a crack smoking prostitute he befriends and "hires", Michael Kelly as his friend Paul - a compassionate family man genuinely trying to help, and Elias Koteas as the crooked cop Dooney.
In one of the films funnier moments, Defendor has kidnapped Dooney and has him restrained to find out info - to aid the interrogation, he employs a squeeze bottle of lime juice - which he squirts directly in Donney's eyes while Dooney screams - half amused and totally in pain "NOT THE LIME JUICE!!"

Maybe they pulled this out of theater distribution due to the similarity to the recent "Kick Ass"...I don't know, but it only earned $37,000. If you like Woody - don't miss it!!

The Ventures - Fight Flight

Many cities across our nation have individuals who actually don a costume and head out on the city streets to "fight" crime. They may not solve problems as violently as Defendor, but their growing presence is a testament to righteous commitment and, well, free time. Locally in Cincinnati we have one such character who goes by the name of "Shadowhare" and helps feed the homeless and promote an aura of safety in the inner city.

Others - the "Allegiance of Heroes" have joined him in the cause - and he even has his own comic!

David Bowie - Joe the LIon

...and, speaking of comics, I was a little let down that the proprieter of the comic shop wouldn't even let me take "Spectacular Spider-man" #1 out of the vinyl bag for a peek. Released in 1969, the comic was a bit larger than normal comics, and featured a retelling of Spidey's origin drawn by future hall-of-famer John Romita - all in black and white inside, though the cover was a nice color sketch of a classic pose. After describing the memory of this comic to the shop-owner and getting his confirmation that he did, in fact, have one on hand - he pointed out it's display spot just above eye level. As I reached for it, he quickly asked me not to touch - unless, that is, I wanted to plunk down the $160 to own it. I think I'll try an track down the 2002 facsimile.

King Tee - Just Clowning