EW: Batman vs. Superman

It's the 75th anniversary of DC Comics, so some guy named Darren Franich over at Entertainment Weekly posed the idea of settling the Batman vs. Superman argument once and for all. He proposed two different ways to interpret the argument: (1) Which of the two has been able to evolve over 3/4 of a century and stay interesting, and (2) Who would win in a fight?

I don't think that anyone can come up with a realistic argument for Superman when it comes to question #1. Despite the extreme valleys that the Batman franchise has suffered through (i.e. an embarrassing television show in the 60s and two hideously terrible movies in the mid-90s), the peaks have been too high, and the potential for a completely human character with flaws is just so much greater than a perfect superhero with limitless power and no true equal.

In regards to question #2, Franich takes the lame, inside-the-box angle, without even really mentioning that in the only legitimate confrontation the two had (Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which is regarded by many to be the greatest graphic novel of all time), Superman flat out gets dealt with - by a 55 year-old Batman no less.

I better stop before I really get rolling. In the words of Linda Richman of Coffee Talk, "I'm a little verklempt, talk amongst yourselves..."

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• Pitchfork has an 30 minute Vampire Weekend set from last summer's Pitchfork festival posted here. "Campus":

• According to Pitchfork, Modest Mouse is going on tour (without Johnny Marr), and Dodos are releasing a new album in September, this time with a vibraphonist as the third permanent member.
• 11 Classic Letterman Moments, courtesy of EW.com.
• From The Playlist: Three Stooges the Movie, Elf as a musical, and 'Batman 3' news.

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• In "what-could-he-possibly-be-thinking?" news, Common will be making an appearance on a track from the new Jonas Brother's album. Not that you should, but you can here it here.
• The new comic series Batman & Robin hit stores this week. It involves Dick Grayson (the original "Robin") taking over for the deceased Bruce Wayne, and Bruce's son, Damian, taking over as Robin. Evidently, it's not bad. Interesting...
• The guys in Band of Horses spin-off band Grand Archives have a new album coming out in September called Keep In Mind Frankenstein. The first track out there is "Silver Among The Gold". You can download it by right-clicking here, or listen to it right here:

• And the battle rages on:

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• Hugo Weaving has signed on for The Hobbit.
• My Name Is Earl is now officially dead. TBS won't be picking it up. I'm still holding out hope USA will do the world a favor and resuscitate Life.
• Lots of weird news today... Kris Allen is reportedly "flattered" by Adam Lambert's "crush". This whole thing is going to get out of hand...
• Heidi Montag, The Hills star who's made it a point to broadcast her Christianity in I'm a Celebrity... is reportedly posing for Playboy. Nothing else really needs to be said.
• CNN actually considers this to be news:

• Norm MacDonald was Conan's lead guest last night, and he is one of the funniest people alive:

• Neko Case performed another single from Middle Cyclone on The Tonight Show last night. Same show, different host:

• Last but not least, Cheap Trick has covered the original 80s Transformers theme for the new movie, and it is remarkably cheesy. Enjoy:

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