Sleep Is For Suckers

Marvel Annihilation: Update

2006-05-26T09:15:00.000-05:00

Marvel's secondary Summer event is now a few issues into each miniseries' run, so I thought it'd be a good idea to reassess my views on the books.

As expected, Annihilation: Nova is pretty much the book to beat in this group. It's actually one of the best books I'm reading right now, not just from Marvel, but from any publisher.

Wow. Nova is one of my favorite comics. That just feels weird to admit.

If anything, the second issue actually improves on the first, supplying another couple of interesting character dynamics with the addition of Drax the Destroyer and his little Earth girl companion. The writing is snappy, and the art is just terrific. I'm really grokking on this book, and would gladly buy an ongoing or follow the creative team to a new book.

Annihilation: Super-Skrull is a good read as well. I was very skeptical about this one. I mean, the Super-Skrull? He's got to be one of the goofiest characters to come out of the House of Ideas. He looks like Ultra the Multi Alien's brother-in-law, fer cripe's sake. Still, it's a pretty bouncy, light outerspace book, and certainly satisfies on that level.

Confession: I have never, ever enjoyed a Silver Surfer story. He seems to me to be the ultimate Stan Lee creation. He simply cannot be written without being overwritten. His overriding angst and flowery speech patterns have the same effect as an prescription sleep aid on me. He is possibly the most boring Marvel character I have ever encountered. There's plenty that are lamer or goofier, but as we all know, the greatest crime in super-heroics is to be boring. Which he is. (Although he is certainly goofy as well) I'd rather read a Razorback story than a Silver Surfer story.

As for Annihilation: SIlver Surfer? Well, it's a typical Silver Surfer story, which means I didn't like it. Huh, that was pretty easy.

And then there's Annihilation: Ronan. I've only read the first issue, but it didn't really resonate. I don't really have any knowledge of the character before this mini, and I'm still not sure I have a handle on who he is. I think I had him mixed up with one of the Celestials, a group of characters that I have only previously seen in the Marvel Handbooks. The book itself is kind of boring, so it's going to have to get a thumbs down from me.

All in all, this "Event" is batting .500 with me, which is actually pretty good for a group of miniseries, and is downright spectacular for a group of Marvel comics. Nova is great, Super-Skrull is fun, but Silver Surfer and Ronan are kind of drag.

Note to Marvel. Nova monthly. Dan Abnett. Kev Walker. Money in the bank.

Kicking and Screaming - Criterion Details!

2006-05-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

The Criterion website has finally released info on their upcoming release of Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming, which is, by chance, my absolute favorite movie. It looks to be another high-quality presentation from the good people at Criterion. Still no commentary from Baumbach, but that wasn't really very likely considering the lack of such on his recent The Squid and the Whale dvd. Lots of good stuff on K&S, though, including copious interviews with Baumbach and cast members, as well as some deleted scenes.

I really couldn't be more stoked. It's nice to get exactly what you want, even if it takes a bit longer than you would have liked. I really recommend anyone who hasn't seen it make a note to check it out when released. There's no date listed, but hopefully they're still planning on releasing it sometime this summer. [edit: the site lists August, so... yay!]

(I love you, Criterion.)

Oh, the details are also out for Dazed and Confused, which looks great as well.

Anyone??? Bueller???

2006-05-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not dead, although when I was doubled over with crippling gallstone pain a month or so back I sure felt like death was imminent at times. Things have been hectic, but I think I'm back on track, so you can expect a return to my previous level of sporadic posting.

Huzzah.

Oh, and Waiting... was just terrible. Watched it yesterday. Save yourself the pain.

Teen Titans #37 - The Tipping Point?

2006-05-25T10:03:00.000-05:00

I like the current Teen Titans book. I have affection for most of the characters, and I find the plots to be, for the most part, a lot of fun. That said, I am on the verge of dropping the book altogether.

The reason is the art.

I don't know a lot about Tony Daniel. I think he was responsible for the art in Darkchylde, which was an Image book about a girl with thong underwear, if memory serves. What I do know, however, is that the Image/Maximum/Avatar art style is really pulling me out of this book. This is a book completely drenched in DC history, using characters from all over the DCU. It is not a book "to teh extreem!"

It's a fun, soap-operatic book that needs a lighter touch on art, in my opinion. Mike McKone was the initial artist on the title before Marvel sniped him, and he was a great fit for the book. The skinny, sketchy characters populating the books at present just don't mesh well with the storylines. Teen Titans require an artist who can effectively show fluidity, from Robin's smooth acrobatics to the almost cartoonish appearance of Beast Boy's green animal incarnations.

Daniel is a good artist, if not entirely to my taste, but his style of rendering and figure work just aren't suited for this book. I feel like a jerk for dissing his work, but it is really turning me away from Teen Titans.

I'm more of a writer's comic-fan, and I can't even remember the last time I found the art on a comic so distracting. I really might drop the book, which would suck, because I think that Teen Titans is one of the books that has made the best use of the whole One Year Later concept.

I hope DC finds a book that is a better fit for Daniel's art, and I hope Teen Titans gets a clean-line artist like McKone or Alan Davis. This whole thing is likely just a reflection of my unrealistic desire to have Alan Davis pencil every book DC is currently pencilling. Except the Seven Soldiers books. The art in those was the s**t.

New Prisoner Series?

2006-05-05T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hmm... not sure if this is a good idea or not. Remaking one of the seminal 60s Brit series is a tricky proposition. The original is so linked with Patrick McGoohan, who not only starred but also wrote and directed several episodes, hat it might be difficult for a new actor to establish himself in the role.

Still, the original Prisoner was a long time ago, and many younger viewers won't have any familiarity with the source material, meaning the show could do well with the Lost crowd. Plus, Christopher Eccleston is an interesting actor.

I'll be keeping my eyes open for this series. It's going to be a six-parter, scheduled to air next Spring.

Annihilation: A Marvel Mega-Event I'm Digging On

2006-04-24T21:33:00.000-05:00

I swear to God, I'm just as surprised as you. I thought House of M was el stinko. Civil War looks to be an overblown mess from the lead-ins I've read so far. I think the last Marvel Mega-Event that I've actually enjoyed was The Evolutionary War. And that was because I was young and dumb. It isn't, in fact, any good at all.

And yet, despite my best intentions... despite my amazingly high initial level of non-interest in every character involved in this story... I can't help thinking Annihilation is boss.

I've only read the Prologue issue and Nova #1, but I can already tell that the puppetmaster behind this particular multi-part story actually seems to have a direct, linear story that he wants to tell. Keith Giffen ,you have made me anticipate a Marvel Event, and for that I'm not quite sure whether to thank you.

I really believe that the Nova character is going to come out of this story revitalized and full of heat. I'm not sure if there's already talk of a regular series in the near future, but it certainly wouldn't come as a surprise. Yes, Nova is basically Peter Parker in the Green Lantern Corps... but damnit, that's not a bad concept to hang a character on.

I think the greatest asset this story has is that it is, as far as I know, staying the hell out of regular series and confining itself to the related miniseries (Nova, Silver Surfer, Super Skrull and Ronan). This gives the story clear structure, and makes coordination between books an infinitely simpler prospect.

Marvel has also put great writers and artists on the books. It seems simple, but a lot of times the creative teams on big event books aren't up to the task. Hot writers with hotshot attitudes maybe find it a bit difficult to work under the confines of somebody else's game plan. And the best artists for some books aren't necessarily the "Artists of the Minute". Sometimes a book requires a very specific type of art style, one that might not even be en vogue at the moment. The art on Prologue and especially Nova was close to perfect. Kev Walker has a very Giffen-esque quality to his work, which is an artstyle I've always liked.

I'm not a "cosmic" guy. I'm certainly not a Marvel guy. But this story has got my attention, and that says a lot for the strength of its execution. If the other minis' first issues can hold up to the high quality set by Annihilation: Nova #1, I'm in for the long haul. And it looks like it might be a pretty nice ride.

And hey, maybe if this little event book sells decent numbers, we can hope for Marvel to take notice, and stop cramming "concept books" that fall apart in the execution down our throats.

Marvel can be proud of Annihilation. That can't be said for a lot of the marquee books that come out of the House of Ideas. And I think Marvel should be encouraging the development of more projects like Annihilation. Not that anyone's asking me. But they should. Oh yes, they should.

Oh god, the pain....

2006-04-17T12:43:00.000-05:00

I am currently experiencing "Spider-Man trapped under massive machinery" level pain in my lower back as a result of the bane to every 30-year-old man's physical well-being, unsafe lifting. Last night, I found myself unable to sleep while laying perfectly motionless on my back, so I am running on virtually no sleep. It's truly a miserable state of affairs.

I mean, I just turned 30 like two weeks ago, and my body has already decided to begin the decomposition process? Nuts to you, lower back. I think you suck. I'ma gonna do nothin' but lie on the couch and watch Mystery Science Theatre when I get home from work.

Oh, and down Robaxacet like M&Ms. Yum yum.

My First Comic

2006-04-14T11:55:00.000-05:00

Hmmm... First Comic Week, eh?

It was actually pretty hard to remember what my first comic was. I can't give 100% assurance that this was in fact my very first comic, but it's certainly the first one I remember owning. And actually, considering how confusing I must have found it, I'm surprised I kept reading them. The comic? Legion of Super-Heroes #295.

Wow. This is one strange comic. I notice, upon rereading it, that it's a fill-in issue, with the always-satisfying Keith Giffen only pencilling the framing sequence, and Howard Bender working on the bulk of the issue. I guess Timber Wolf is trying to decide whether to leave the Legion with Light Lass for some reason, and his buddy Blok decides that the best way to help him figure it out is to force him to watch a completely unrelated holotape of an early LSH adventure. Blok is kind of a dick, it seems. I think he just doesn't like to watch tv alone.

So, they watch the tape, and it's this convoluted story that tries to explain why there aren't any Green Lanterns in the future. Only there are. And one of them is Universo, who I had never heard of, but is apparently a big deal (from the looks of him, I guessed that he was a pirate or something). Blok figures this out, but then decides not to tell anybody, either because he figures if it was true they'd already know, or because there's no reason anybody would give a rat's ass.

Oh, and Cosmic Boy is a sadistic sumbitch, that's for sure. Geez, that bug looks pretty juicy, eh?

Anyways, in the end Timber Wolf decides to stay, and gets dumped by his girlfriend. You know, the Giffen run on LSH is one of my favorite runs of any comic, but this fill-in issue is a stinker. I'm glad I didn't make any decisions about comic reading based on this issue alone, because then this blog would be about woodcarving or clog dancing or something.

I must have been a weird kid, because despite the lameness of this comic, I read it until it just about fell apart.

So, there you have it: Jhunt's first comic. A fill-in right in the middle of one of comicbookdom's seminal runs. Nice job, moron. If I had just started a month earlier, I'd be talking about the conclusion to The Great Darkness Saga, possibly the greatest story-arc in Legion history. Nuts.

Related Posts:
Everybody Loves the Giff

Missing In Action

2006-04-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note... so busy. So very, very busy. We moved back into the condo on Friday, and Tam and I have been opening boxes ever since. So many boxes...

The dark side of being an avid reader is that the sheer amount of books I've accumalated is a bit staggering. And they all need to be reshelved.

We're making fair progress, and I am hopeful that we'll be back to normal within a day or two.

And at that time, I should have both the time and energy to begin blogging again with some semblance of regularity.

Huzzah!

Bob Ross: The New Mario?

2006-04-06T09:49:00.000-05:00

This is a completely awesome idea. Try not to have your minds blown when you hear it, okay?

Some company is actively developing a number of video games starring the world's most mellow landscape painter, the late Bob Ross. I guess they saw some demos of Nintendo's wacky new controller for the Revolution and thought "Hey, you could totally mime some painting with that sumbitch!". I hope whoever said that gets a raise, because an idea like that takes some serious courage to put forth at a pitch meeting.

I guess they're hoping that this game will appeal to ravers or something. I don't really know too much about ravers(except that they like soothers and glowsticks and the Teletubbies), but this seems like the kind of thing they might enjoy. Actually, maybe stoners would be a better target demographic. The thing is, it's tougher to get stoners to go to a store to buy something. Because of the marijuana that they smoke like a cigarette. I hear it makes you lazy. And/or schizo. Stay in school, kids!

Now, this game probably won't be available for the XBox, which means I won't be able to play it on Clutch(I have named my XBox after my favorite G.I.Joe soldier, just to raise the geek quotient a little bit higher). Still, it's a concept that deserves, nay... demands recognition.

I have very fond memories of lying on the couch when I was seventeen or so, hungover to the point that I could barely focus my eyes on anything without a piercing pain stabbing my temples. Watching Bob Ross paint a seascape or mountain range always soothed my discomfort. His gentle voice lulling me into tranquility as every pore in my body released the noxious stench of cheap draft beer.

Those were good times, people. And that's why I fully support the development of Super Bob Ross Sunshine, or whatever the game is going to be called.

I'm Hiding From the Blogosphere

2006-04-03T17:04:00.000-05:00

Wow, the blogosphere can be a frightening place when you haven't read last week's comics yet. Case in point, I'm unable to log into my Bloglines account, as I am positive that a good 20 percent of the posts that have accumalated over the weekend make mention of All-Star Superman #3. Hell, if I had read it already this post would likely feature a review or shout-out. The facts of the matter are, however, that I haven't read it yet, which makes the Comics Blogosphere a dark, dangerous place, not unlike a minefield planted with spoiler-bombs. If such a thing existed.

The reason I've been so remiss with my four-color consumption? I was gifted with a beautiful XBox gaming console in honour of my aforementioned 30th birthday. No, I don't know what Tamar was thinking either. I guess the continual whinging I've been producing over the past couple of years finally wore her down. Games were bought (GTA:San Andreas, Outlaw Golf 2, NFL Street 2, and Splinter Cell), and time disappeared like mist on a lake.

Oh, and yes, it is a crystal XBox. It is so choice.

A quick note to all y'all who are showing up looking for Kicking and Screaming DVD news: I emailed a question through the Criterion site, and got a little note in return that gave a tentative street date of late August. No word of extras yet, but I'll keep poking around and see if I can get any further information. As it is, that news is far too awesome.

Oh, and we're getting the keys back to our rebuilt condo this Friday! We're going home! Only better, with new furniture, appliances, and flooring. And paint. Oh, and cabinets, as well. I'll be sure to post some pics after we get back in so you can compare them to the post-apocalyptic wasteland we left post-fire in November.

Sometimes it's good to be me.

Related Posts:
Condo In Flux
Criterion Is Reading My Mind

Old Man River

2006-03-30T09:47:00.000-06:00

Well, I thought in honor of my 100th post, the least could do is turn 30 before your eyes. So that's what I've done today. Anyone want to know what a 30-year old man looks like in the morning? Wonder no longer.

I think I'll hit the comic book store today, as I am still immature enough to take the day off work. I still need to pick up the 2nd Seven Soldiers tpb, and Beck vol3 as well.

Wow, that picture is frightening. Sorry if anyone clicked over and was trying to eat or something.

Amazing Spider-Man #530: Marvel Thinks You're Thick

2006-03-29T09:13:00.000-06:00

I still haven't quite decided if I'm going to read the bulk of Marvel's fast-approaching Civil War event. It initially sounded fairly interesting, especially for a Marvel event (warning:bias revealed). Like most Marvel mega-events, however, what is promised in the concept is rarely present in the execution. Yes, I'm looking at you, House of M.

The gearing up process for Civil War is taking the form of Peter Parker and his new father-surrogate Tony Stark travelling to Washington to oppose some pseudo Mutant Registration Act that would affect all costumed vigilantes. That's perfectly serviceable as a way to introduce the overconcept for the event, but the way the field trip, and especially the relationship between Peter and Tony, is being presented is making my teeth hurt.

You see, Spider-Man has clearly developed a strong non-sexual crush on Iron Man. It's just really, really weird. He's taken to wearing an outfit that Stark has provided, and even though the outfit could appear in any form (even his classic red'n'blues), he has decided to leave it a metallic supersuit with a decidedly Iron Man-based color scheme.

Honestly, I dont even understand how police officers are recognizing him as Spider-Man. As far as I can tell, they should just think he's some new super guy. Unless maybe Stark International sent out a press release detailing Spidey and Iron Man's new BFF relationship. It's possible I missed that issue.

The most distracting aspect of IM and Spider-Man's new Brotherhood of True Admiration, however, is Spider-Man's complete obsession with addressing by a new nickname. Peter Parker, the world's most irreverent Spider-based superhuman, seems virtually unable to call Stark anything but "boss". Constantly. Ad nauseam. Emphasis on the nauseum.

It's a form of cow-towing, and it jars. I get Peter Parker admiring Tony Stark. It makes a lot of sense. But this swooning, sycophantic behavior is a bad choice. There are ways to show a father-bond without having one character call the other "my new daddy" every couple of pages.

Oh, and his new phallic backback is every bit as silly as you may have suspected. If not sillier.

Related Posts:
Spyder-Mann Iz Teh Extreem!!
Ladies And Gentlemen....

Icebox: Today's "New-To-You" Website

2006-03-22T10:14:00.000-06:00

Remember when there were awesome new websites popping up everyday? Back in the day, people were so convinced that the internet was a diamond-encrusted goldmine that they were throwing money at big-name talent to produce content for their sites. Sadly, in most cases, the Emperor had no clothes, and most of the flashy (and often flash-animated) websites have folded, or at least stopped producing new content.

One such site is icebox.com. Icebox was a site that offered 4 minute "webisodes" of flash cartoons. And they were kick-ass cartoons. Queer Duck, Mr. Wong, The Elvis and Jack Nicklaus Mysteries. They were all top-notch little time-killers.

And there were big names producing cartoons on Icebox. Peter Bagge with Rock 'n' Roll Dad. Larry David with The Paula Principle. Bill Corbett with Poker Dogs.

But the best thing on Icebox was definately Superhero Roommate. Created by Simpson's writer Matt Selman, Superhero Roommate boasted the vocal talents of Dave Foley and Mr. Show's Brian Posehn. When I was working overnights at the radio station about five or six years ago, Superhero Roommate was what got me through the long, slow stretches inbetween newscasts.

Icebox was one of many websites to attempt to go to a micro-payment model, which must not have been the success they had hoped. New content screeched to a complete stop shortly thereafter, and my interest in the site faded.

The site now seems to have released the existing episodes of all their shows to the wild, so it is definately worth a visit if you haven't seen them in years, or especially if you haven't seen them at all.

Tam's heading to Grand Forks today to buy American consumer goods, so I will have ample opportunity to crack a Coke Zero and revisit those crazy days when dot-com money fell from the sky, and Flash cartoons could still make you believe a man could fly. Even if he wouldn't take out the garbage.

God Bless you, Superhero Roommate!

Link? Blog?

2006-03-21T09:27:00.000-06:00

I'm leading off with this ASB&RtBW Frank Miller variant cover because :
a) it's very nice, and
b) it just indicates how all-powerful is the Batgirl meme. None may resist the power of the Batgirl meme. Bow before the meme!

Mike Chary is the first (at least that I've read) to take the contrary position in regards to the V For Vendetta movie. I certainly don't agree with his contention that the V movie is better than Alan Moore and David Lloyd's comic (especially as he seems at times to equate "more likeable" with "better"), but it is an entertaining post nonetheless, especially the Top 10 Ways the Movie was Different from the Comic Book. Look, maybe The Incredibles was more likeable than Waking Life, but I would much rather rewatch Richard Linklater's oddly-paced series of monolgues on conciousness and dreams. I liked it, and it didn't evaporate like fairy-dust immediately after the credits rolled.

Mike Sterling is merciless in his clipping of Amazon.com reader reviews of Alan Moore's seminal comicbook works. It serves as a bleak reminder that the internet is permanent, folks, and if you write something silly... it will be held up for ridicule at some point. This excerpt of a From Hell review was my favorite:
(headlined "It's A Big Comic Book!") "I did not realize when I ordered it that it was just pages of illustrations with TINY LITTLE WRITING coming out of the various character's mouths. The writing was so small, I could hardly read it, and finally just gave up."
That's just beautiful.

Hypnoray is right smack-dab in the middle of drinking in the wonderfulness that is the DC Showcase Presents Superman phonebook, and he's lucky enough to get sick enough to require a "bed day" while doing so! Boy, I have to admit I'm actually a little jealous. I picked up the Superman Family Showcase volume on Saturday, and I think I would really appreciate getting to take a day or two to wear my pyjamas 24-7, slurp chicken noodle soup, and watch Jimmy Olsen make a world-class nuisance out of himself. Sweet, stupid, headstrong Jimmy Olsen. God bless him.

Sparky at Trusty Sidekicks has some underwear that my fiance should thank her lucky stars I have never come across in a store. Seriously, I would wear those. Probably ironically, but not definately. Hell, if I still had my Spider-Man underoos from when I was six I would probably try to squeeze into them. So, um, I guess it's rather a good thing that I don't.

In closing, I have to admit, in the wake of the announcement of a forthcoming Showcase volume, that I have never read a single issue of The Phantom Stranger. My experience with the character is pretty much limited to his brief, cryptic appearances in DC's mega-crossovers and that weird issue of Secret Origins that posited four entirely seperate possible origins for the Stranger.
Were his solo stories any good? Was he more of a Cain & Abel type host for horror shorts, or did he actively have his own adventures? I honestly have no idea. It's kind of a gaping hole in my DC knowledge, no?

Related Posts:
V For Vendetta: Preview Review
Superman Ragdolls the JLA Up and Down the Street

V For Vendetta: Preview Review

2006-03-16T09:15:00.000-06:00

First, a small disclaimer. I last read V For Vendetta about 3 years ago, so I am quite fuzzy on the specific plot of the comic. As a result, while I am going to try to keep this review from becoming a movie/comic comparison. If I should do a little compare and constrast, it is very possible that I may err when describing the comic proper. Which is why I'll try to avoid it, when possible.

V the movie is very good. I'll just get that out of the way right off the top. It's stylish and engrossing, and the director, James McTeigue, managed to resist the temptation to Matrix-ize the production, for the most part. There are a couple of scenes that involve some CGI work, but it's smooth and unintrusive. (i.e. there's no bullet-time, for what it's worth.)

Elements of the comic have been rejigged, some just a little and some quite a bit. Most noticeably, the character of Gordon has been changed quite considerably.

I think the changes work, for the most part. Readers of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's original comic might swoon at the thought of changing anything, but this is not an arthouse film, and should be approached as a studio picture. And as a studio picture, it certainly engages the audience, putting forth a message of active resistance against oppression that is more complex than is common among Hollywood action movies.

The character of V is a difficult one, both in nature and logistics. V is so over-the-top, so animated in his speech and mannerisms, that it must be quite difficult to pull of without veering into caricature. I think if the wrong notes were hit, it would be rather easy to see V as a cartoonish character, someone like Bugs Bunny. Hugo Weaving does incredible work with his voice and body language, lending V a sense of nobility and sadness that is easily discernable, despite the abence of facial expression to serve as cue.

Natalie Portman is excellent as Evie. Acting opposite a dynamic personage such as V puts a great deal of pressure on the other lead. The audience must feel connected to Evie, especially when plot dictates that V disappear from the screen for great stretches of time throughout the film. I didn't once fidget during the Evie scenes, didn't once wish that V would show up and slash somebody or deliver a rousing speech, and I think that speaks of the power of Portman's performance.

V For Vendetta is a dark movie, but does contain scenes of great humor and heart. While ostensibly a movie about social problems, about facism and the risks inherent in giving up perosnal freedoms in the pursuit of security, V is very much at heart a movie about the relationship between V and Evie. I believe that a large part of why the movie connects and succeeds is the strength of the performances. I wasn't simply concerned about the plight of futuristic Great Britain, but heavily emotionally invested in the V/Evie interactions.

It's a movie about ideas as much as people. But the ideas would never have stuck, never would have been able to take root without the care that was given to characters exploring those ideas.

Highly recommended, whether you've read the comic or not.

Oh, and the song that plays over the end credits is genius. I left the theatre looking for a fascist government to overthrow. So watch yourself, Stephen Harper.

V For Free

2006-03-15T12:18:00.000-06:00

I'm looking forward to checking out V For Vendetta tonight (preview passes are the bizomb). I haven't read the comic in a few years, so it should feel pretty fresh. I was tempted to reread before seeing the movie, but ultimately decided to not sully my film-going experience with too many direct book-film comparisons. Hopefully, I'll be able to look at the movie as just that: a movie.

I'll try to drop some commentary tomorrow on what I thought of the flick, as it will be the rare ocassion where I actually have something of note to share. I haven't been reading a ton of comics lately, and have been watching mostly old Doctor Who episodes (about which I fear I have already spent far too much time blogging). So, it's been another slow stretch at Sleep Is For Suckers.

On the bright side, at least I'm not bothering anybody with space-filler posts. Um, except that's kind of what this is...

Crap.

Everybody Loves the Giff

2006-03-10T11:36:00.002-06:00

If you dig on Keith Giffen like I do, then you'll definately want to check out a big ol' interview done with the man himself on Newsarama. Keith is current in the middle of some very high-profile stuff for both DC and Marvel, but this interview isn't strictly a "press release primer", as it goes into the roots and highlights of his long and storied career.

I'm a huge Giffen fan, from his early LSH work, through the 5-year-gap Legion, and right up to his more recent Hero Squared book. Heck, I even liked PunX. But my favorite Giffen title, and in fact one of my favorite short-run comics ever, is The Heckler.

I think The Heckler is one of those perfect comics. It only lasted six issues, but my god, what a six issues! Ambush Bug will always hold a special place in my colelction, but it's Heckler that I really appreciate.

If DC ever trade-paperbacked this title, I will go on record as saying I will buy a copy. I guess the ball is in your court, DC! That's one guaranteed sale that you'd be throwing away!

Sigh.

Night Trippers: Choice Cut

2006-03-08T11:10:00.000-06:00

Newsarama has a nice little write-up of what looks to me like an excellent soon-to-be-released graphic novel from Image. Night Trippers is "vampires in the 60s music scene", and that sounds pretty boss to me. And if that description isn't enough for you, there's also a 22-page preview available.

I actually have only looked at a couple of pages of the preview, because 22 pages is a bit excessive for me. I'm planning on buying the book when it comes out in May, and I'd rather not have already read more than 10 % of the story. But if you need a long look before deciding whether this book is for you, go to the 'Rama and fill yer boots.

The book has a very nice website too, and in the grand tradition of NextWave a theme song is available there for download. There's also audio interviews from the world of Night Trippers and quite a bit of extra info about the book's setting and creators.

I like the look of this book, and I'm certainly happy to support creators that are putting this much effort and care into their work. When Night Trippers streets in May, I'll gladly buy a copy.

It's nice to be excited about a book that isn't about masked crimefighters. I'm not about to stop digging on old-school comics, but a change of pace is not only welcome, but highly recommended.

My Heroic Finale

2006-03-04T19:44:00.000-06:00

Crash has been watched. Yes, that means that I have wholeheartedly completed my self-challenge of watching all five Best Picture nominees prior to the Acadamy Awards telecast. It was maybe a bit theatrical of me to wait until the final days to complete my mission, but in the end all that matters is that I did it.

Crash was amazing, by the way. It was probably the Best Picture nominee that I was least looking forward to seeing, and it turned out to be second only to Good Night and Good Luck in my personal ranking.

Besides, any movie that manages to get high-quality performances out of Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock deserves our support, I believe. Tam loved it too, and best of all, it was the type of movie that spurred a great discussion after it ended. Too many movies are completely disposable. Enjoyable while you watch them, but instantly forgettable once you are done. Crash was not one of those type of movies.

I may have enjoyed GN&GL slightly more, but that probably owes more to my status as a politics geek and a Cold War "buff" than to any superiority of the film over Crash.

Crash is higly recommended, and I don't think I'd be disappointed to see it win Best Picture.

Criterion Is Reading My Mind!

2006-03-02T17:47:00.000-06:00

I'm on the Criterion DVD email newsletter list, as I'm sure absolutely none of you know or care. However, it is minutely possible that some of you might be a little bit interested in the following bit of rumour. In the latest email, there is a small cartoon on the very bottom of one dog saying to another "Were you Dazed & Confused last month, or just Kicking and Screaming?".

Criterion has already revealed that they are preparing a new edition of D&C for release, but the news that actually made my heart skip a beat was the reference to Kicking and Screaming. I have to believe that this means that Criterion is also preparing a release of Noah Baumabach's first film, and not the Will Farrell comedy from last year.

K&S is probably my favorite comedy of all time. I have a VHS tape with the movie on it that I taped off Canadian Bravo about 8 years ago, and I was relatively certain that that tape would have to last me the rest of my life, because there was no reason to think that it would ever be released on DVD.

And then came The Squid & The Whale. Critically acclaimed, and Acadamy Award nominated. Noah Baumbach, who had been working with Wes Anderson of late, was back on the map as a writer/director in his own right.

Could this be true? Will I soon have not only a DVD copy of Kicking and Screaming, but a gadblamming CRITERION EDITION?

If they are f**king with me I cannot be responsible for what happens. I really can't.

1YL -I Don't Get the Roll-Out

2006-03-02T17:07:00.000-06:00

So, was there a SNAFU because Infinite Crisis is running a little behind? Or was 1YL always intended to begin while IC was still in full swing? Because we're seeing the initial offerings of the future DCU in comic stores this week, the same week as IC #5.

It's a little jarring to start reading about the aftermath of a crossover that hasn't run its course yet, s'all I'm saying.

I can't wait for 52* to start up, though. The Question has been the s**t since the O'Neil/Cowan days, and while I never really grokked on the last "urban shaman" interepretation of the character, I can certainly get excited about seeing him brought closer to the JLU version. The DCU can use someone shuffling through it's dark underbelly, making the connections that quite possible shouldn't ever come to light. Cooooool.

I like what I'm seeing from DC lately. I think we're getting close to the part of the story that I want to read. The part where things move back into the light, and betrayal and casual sadism are the exception, not the rule.

Plus, the end of this uber-crossover event means it will become much, much easier to completely ignore books I don't enjoy. Like Outsiders. Blech.

The Real Amazing Race Returns!

2006-02-28T09:02:00.000-06:00

Tonight at 8pm (Winnipeg time) the Big Dog of all competitive reality show returns, in its unmolested form. That's right, the Amazing Race is back!

After a brief but painful foray into the craptastic realm of family programming, TAR is going back to the classic 2-person teams format that won it multiple Emmys. And not a second too soon.

It actually feels to me like TAR has been on hiatus since the Rob & Amber season, as the latest edition, which pitted four-person family teams against each other in a race around, um, parts of North America, was so bad that I actually stopped watching a few episodes in.

I'm more than ready for airport subterfuge, jetlagged aggression, and, of course, the widowmaker that is the India leg.

TAR is one of the few shows that Tam and I both enjoy (she having thus far resisted my requests that she start watching Doctor Who and Veronica Mars), and we routinely end up supporting different teams, which makes the viewing experience all the more enjoyable. (there's nothing that can't be made more fun with some merciless heckling).

SO thank you, CBS, for returning TAR to its intended form, and here's to another great Race!

Oh, and my early pick to win? BJ & Tyler: two globe-trotting hippies who speak multiple languages. I'm so confident that they will be a strong team, that it is almost a sure thing that they'll fail miserably. Lookit 'em.. poor, grinning bastards... don't even know they've got the Jhunt Curse all over them....

So be sure to watch tonight to see them get Philiminated first...

Related posts:
Amazing Race: Family Edition - Episode 1

Sloth Weekend: Post-Mortum

2006-02-27T09:38:00.000-06:00

Wow. It had been quite a long while since I gave in so completely to laziness and idleness. Other than a quick trip to the library on Saturday, I accomplished very little that didn't involve a sitting or lying position.

I certainly didn't watch everything on my list (which actually relieves me a little bit), but I did watch some fun stuff, and some not-so-fun stuff. What really surprised me though, was the amount of reading material I tore through. Sunday, I had one of those really intense, multi-hour reading sessions. The kind where you only move to relieve your bladder or get a snack.

Well, on to the wrap-up...

What I Watched:

Timeline - This movie was exactly what I thought it would be. Which is not really a good thing. I watched it while cleaning out my file folder, and I think that was the best way to watch it. I caught the gist out of the corner of my eye, and every once in a while something interesting would happen and I'd watch for a few minutes. The acting was remarkably flat, and Billy Connelly was particularily jarring, as he seemed to have been shipped in from a different, sillier movie. They could have named this movie Generic Adventure Movie, because that's pretty much what it was.

HBO's Rome (eps 9 & 10) - I quite like this show, probably as much as the Sopranos, really. However, this pair of episodes has caused me to question some of the basic structure of the series. It's framed very much like a typical soap-opera, with a bit of Upstairs/Downstairs in the way the two groups of characters are explored. The problem is, recent happenings have damaged this structure a bit, I feel. The treatment of both the incestuous encounter between Octavia and Gaius Octavian, as well as the casual murder of a slave by Titus Pullo, has left me stragely disconnected to the characters and the story.

I understand that moral conduct was quite a different animal at that time, but I'm no longer sure who I'm supposed to be rooting for. If a show wants to treat its subject matter in the fashion of a soap-opera, and in fact spends a good deal of its earlier episodes building up certain characters as "villains" and others as the "heroes", it seems a bit sloppy to suddenly flip things on the viewer, and leave them with no one to support.

The murder bothers me more, I suppose. Titus Pullo had been, up to this point, one of the two "heroes" of the show. The viewer has seen many examples of his loyalty, bravery, and refusal to compromise. And then, with the brutal murder of one of Lucius Vorenus' slaves, all of that character-building is destroyed. Lucius comes out of the incident poorly as well, directing his anger at the fact that Pullo a) destroyed his property, and b) did it in front of his children.

It's hard to enjoy a "buddy movie" when one of the buddies is a brutish murderer and the other is a callous slave-owner.

I'm still enjoying the show, I'm just not sure that I care very much about any of the characters. It's a strange feeling.

Way, wayyyyyy too much Doctor Who-

Um... 10 episodes. Ouch.

Still, it was good, cheesy stuff. Just the thing for a Saturday night spent in. The Sontaran Experiment was a nice little story, but Genesis of the Daleks was clearly the highlight. An epic story that actually warranted the expansion to six episodes, it was easily the high point of my Doctor Who exposure thus far. I'm sure the storyarc would have had more resonance had I seen some of the earlier Dalek episodes, but I got the gist pretty easily (Daleks are a Borg-like destructive race) and really enjoyed this story-arc.

I've watched the first half of Revenge of the Cybermen as well, and boy, those Cybermen are goofy looking. But quite cheerful looking as well. Which is nice, I suppose.

What I Read:

Night Fisher by R. Kikuo Johnson
Minimum Wage by Alex Robinson
The Filth by Morrison and Weston
Doom Patrol: The Painting That Ate Paris by Morrison and Case
Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
New Frontier vol1 by Darwyn Cooke
the South-Western Coast portion of Let's Go: Road Trippin' USA (Honeymoon preparation... Napa Valley, here we come!)
and the 1st half of To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

I think I actually reached the point of reading overload. Too many differnt types of material battling for position in my brain. What left the largest impression on me?

Honestly, I don't think I understood much of The Filth, and what I came away with most of all was a sense of deep sadness over the (um, spoilers, I guess) fate of his cat. Maybe it's just because this was around hour six of an eight-hour reading blitz, but most of The Filth left me numb in the face of its relentless barrage of, well, filth. Greg and his cat were the only aspect of the book that engaged me, and the eventual result was heartbreaking.

I know Grant is a cat-person (Animal Man #26, for those looking for written confirmation) and I can't imagine what writing those pages involving Greg and his cat felt like, but I can't imagine it was pleasant.

I am looking forward to reading some analysis of The Filth, and hopefully I can get a better, if not appreciation, at leas tunderstanding of what this project was intended to accomplish.

Related Posts:
Pants Optional Weekend

Pants-Optional Weekend

2006-02-24T09:41:00.000-06:00

Tam's working overnight this weekend, and my adherence to her desire to return to the confining embrace of the South Beach Diet means ducking out to the pub for a couple of drinks is not an option. Therefore, I have prepared a Geek's Paradise of sorts to occupy my time for the next couple of days.

The plan is mostly based on (surprise!) sitting in front of the teevee, with a small outing on Saturday afternoon to the big downtown library. Here's what I plan to watch:

-Ultimate Avengers: The Movie (maybe. it looks a bit shite, to be honest.)

-Wet Hot American Summer (sure thing. I haven't seen this movie in a couple of years, and I remember it being hi-larious.)

-Rome episodes 9-12 (I was watching this regularly until CondoBurn 2005, and am pretty psyched to finish out the season)

-Band of Brothers episodes 7-10 (It's about time I finished off this truly excellent mini-series, I've been dithering and chipping away at it for about a month)

-TimeLine (yeah, I am fully aware that this movie will suck. Sometimes it just doesn't matter. You just want some junk.)

-Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment and Genesis of the Daleks (I've watched two full story arcs thusfar. Verdict? Robot was pretty crappy, but may have suffered under the need to tie off the previous Doctor's supporting cast and milieu. It certainly suffered from some of the most inept special effects this side of a poorly-made fan film. The Ark in Space, however, was quite good. It was a bit spooky, had much improved dialogue, and was set in a much more interesting environment than Robot, which looked to be filmed primarily in someone's backyard.)

-Veronica Mars (I have about six episodes of VM to catch up on. It's actually a little disturbing; I'm right up to date on The OC, which I can't really stand, but have fallen way, way behind on VM. Maybe it's due to the fact that I'll watch The OC just to kill an hour, but I feel the need to really be in the mood to watch VM. I won't waste an episode while I read a magazine or something, for example.)

Wow, that's a big list. I hope to God I don't honestly finish all that stuff. That would be ridiculous.

Oh, here's a link to the top Doctor Who resource on the net, Outpost Galifrey, just in case anybody else was considering testing the TARDIS-infested waters like myself. Nerdery loves company, it's true.

Related Posts:
Me, Now 35% Nerdier!

Decompression Can Be a Powerful Tool

2006-02-23T10:29:00.000-06:00

Case in point: Drawn and Quarterly's Walt and Skeezix, Book One .

I took this book out of the local Public Library, and have been nearly overwhelmed by the sheer pleasure of reading it. It collects (more-or-less, skipping a bit of the earliest material) the first couple of years of the oft-forgotten (but much-acclaimed) Gasoline Alley newspaper strip by Frank King.

The strip, which began as a gag panel dealing with the earliest age of automobile enthusiasts, really gets cooking when perennial bachelor Walt finds a baby on his doorstep.

From this point on the continuity that King has applied to the strip becomes more evident, as the baby (Skeezix) gradually ages in "real-time". And yes, if you read the current installments of the strip, Walt is just over a hundred years old, and Skeezix is in his eighties. It's really quite an achievement.

There are seasons, holidays, birthdays, just about everything that could be expected to occur in a year. But there are also strips that feel much like those countless days when nothing much of import happens. Days where the only thing you might retain is an interaction with a friend, or something funny you saw out of your window.

I'm only about half-way through this collection, and it already feels like I've been reading it for weeks. It's kind of mind-blowing to think that there are about 86 years worth of strips that have yet to be collected.

I have a kind of obsession with Caniff's Terry & the Pirates, but Gasoline Alley is satisfying in such a different way. It's the perfect book to read while laying in a hammock. It's a book best read without haste, taking the time to really appreciate each panel.

So hopefully, the second volume will be realeased by mid-June, which will probably be my first opportunity to laze outside. Hurrah, Winnipeg!

Me: Now 35% Nerdier!

2006-02-18T15:49:00.000-06:00

I seem to be getting more and more geekish as I get older. After having managed to avoid it for nearly 30 years, despite its unwavering presence on Public Television during my formative years, I have now started to watch Doctor Who.

Good god.

And not even the currently popular, slick and stylish new series that started last year, but the dorky, clunky, cheap-looking episodes from the seventies and eighties. I am, to be precise, watching the Tom Baker episodes.

I've only watched a couple of episodes so far, but they are fun little bits of cheese. Baker is certainly enjoying himself in the role of the Doctor, and his enthusiasm is hard to resist.

Regardless, thank god I'm already engaged, because I seem to be intent on turning myself into the world's finest female repellant.

I wonder if there's a group for those of us who feel such intense shame in their own nerdish tendancies. If there isn't, there should be.

"I wish I could quit you, Doctor Who..."

(..and yes, that quote does mean that I have watched Brokeback Mountain, bringing me ever closer to my goal of having seen all 5 best picture nominees before the Academy Awards. Only Crash now remains, and it is sitting right on the DVD player, waiting for my attention.

oh, Brokeback? It was excellent. But sad. Holy Moses, was it sad. I had to use Arrested Development as a kind of sorbet after watching Brokeback, just to cleanse the palate of mopiness and gloom.)

Will I Dig the New Spectre?

2006-02-14T09:26:00.000-06:00

Newsarama has been bursting at the seams lately with DC goodness, mostly with the steady trickle of awesome projects that Grant Morrison will be tackling in the months to come. Now, buying what Morrison creates has pretty much become a no-brainer for me, so (this time) I won't bore you with detailed knowledge of how stoked I am for his Batman run, or his WildCATs run, etc.. etc...

However, there is a book featured on Newsrama which I'm cautiously excited about, that might be more interesting to discuss: Will Pfeifer's new Spectre miniseries.

I am emphatically not a Spectre fan. Although I've heard nothing but praise for the John Ostrander run, and am in fact a huge Ostrander fan, I've only read a couple of issues, and wasn't grabbed the was it seems many readers were. A large part of the problem might be that horror comics have never been an interest of mine, and the Spectre comics, while incorporating some of the tropes of superherodom, are at heart horror stories of comeuppance and retribution.

What might make me take a second look at the new Spectre? Two things. Will Pfeifer's writing and Cris Allen in the lead role.

Pfeifer made me like Aquaman. I think we should all pause for a second and take a good look at that short sentence. Aquaman. Buffon of the High Seas. The scaly-shirted tool. Captain Hookhand McBeardy.

I didn't even like Aquaman when Grant Morrison was writing him in JLA. But when Pfeifer took over the solo book, and managed to take him back to his roots while at the same time thrusting him into an innovative, fresh situation (Sub Diego).

So, if anyone could make me give a rat's about The Spectre, Pfeifer is certainly top of the pack.

Plus, Cris Allen is a terrific character. I'm glad he's surviving the end of Gotham Central (um, surviving is probably a poor choice of wording).

So, I will be giving this book a shot. Mostly because Pfeifer's rundown of the concept sounds intruiging:

“This is the kind of mini-series where there’s big, cosmic stuff happening, and there’s action, and violence and weird visions, and the Spectre’s classic ironic sense of punishment, but ultimately, it’s about a man accepting his role in the cosmos, and a man dealing with faith in his own way. That’s the real essence of the series, and the big, flashy colorful stuff is how we get to that point.”

Sounds good to me, and Pfiefer, based on his track record, has earned at least a first issue pick-up from me.

Jeff Smith's Captain Marvel Is Coming...

2006-02-10T17:18:00.000-06:00

The latest DC Editors Debriefing at Newsarama (which I read, so you don't have to) contains a couple of interesting nuggets, but none is so exciting as the news that Jeff Smith's long-awaited Captain Marvel project, Shazam: Monster Society of Evil, is progressing.

DC Editor Mike Carlin says the book is about half finished, and he also gave a quick hit on the basis of the series:

"Basically the story follows a young Billy Batson and his even younger sister, Mary, in their first tussle with Sivana. It will include several other classic Marvel villains and concepts (the "Monsters" in the "Society of Evil", even)... as well as a new take on Mr Tawky Tawny!"

Oh my god, this book sounds like fun. It's planned for four prestige-format issues, and I honestly might not be able to wait for the trade on this one. I mean, just look at Mary Marvel! It's almost too adorable to handle.

Maybe, if we're lucky, DC will release some sort of collection of the original Monster Society of Evil saga back form the forties. I think that would be awesome, mostly because I want to read it. It would make for a ginchy tie-in with the Smith book, though.

The Neswarama piece also has some other preview pages and art from assorted DC books such as Hawkgirl, Green Arrow and the JLA & JSA Classified books. So, go and have a look if that sort of thing seems like it would appeal to you.

If mini Mary Marvel doesn't appeal to you, however, go seek a physician's care immediately, because you are sick, buster.

Breaking News: Love Monkey On Hold

2006-02-09T17:16:00.000-06:00

This is some sh**ty news right here. Love Monkey, Tom Cavanagh's new show, has been shelved for the forseeable future (source). It hasn't officially been cancelled yet, which is good news, but it is definately on the bubble.

I loved Ed, and Love Monkey was turning into another great hourlong comedy-drama in the same vein. I really hope this show gets another shot.

Come on people, it's got Judy Greer for cripes sake! Who doesn't like Judy Greer? I'll tell you who, crazy people! So, if it gets another airing, please watch it. I'd consider it a personal favor.

I can't believe they can keep making the Bachelor, but this show might get the axe. I know reality shows are supposed to be dirt cheap, but what about the emotional cost? Or the karmic cost? What about that, tv programming bigwigs!!!

I Can't Remember Where I've Been!

2006-02-09T17:05:00.000-06:00

I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis. Like, about a hundred or something. And often, I'll leave a comment on some entry or other. The problem is that I often can't keep track of where I've left comments, meaning I can't keep track of any responses.
This is annoying, and up until now, my only solution was to clip the blog entry in question into my Bloglines account. This was a real pain in the ass, and not really a satisfactory solution.

Then I heard about coComment. This little piece of code purports to keep track of your blogments for you, just by clicking a little button on your toolbar before you press "POST COMMENT". Perfect, I thought, and promptly signed up for the beta.

Well, I've been using it for a couple of days now, and there is one crippling problem with coComment: it doesn't support pop-up comment boxes. This renders it useless for a huge amount of blogs, mine included.

Nice try coComment, you might amount to something if you can plug this gaping hole.

Video Test Post: A Ninja Pays Half My Rent

2006-02-09T11:41:00.000-06:00

I'm giving the YouTube embedded video thingy a test run, but lest it be said that I waste people's time with pointless test posts, here is a very funny little short that it is possible not all of you have seen. I present - A NINJA PAYS HALF MY RENT -

Enjoy!

X-Factor #3 - Why Won't This Book Let Me Love It?

2006-02-07T09:14:00.000-06:00

The latest X-Factor series started out as the mutant book seemingly written specifically for me. It avoided, for the most part, any serious need to be a comic fan long steeped in the X-Universe. Sure, there were some nods to Marvel continuity, most seriously to the recent House of M "event", but a simple one sentence condensation brought the casual reader up to speed.

"Dude, there used to be like hundreds of thousands of mutants, but Scarlet Witch went batsh*t crazy and now there's only like 200."

"Oh, okay."

Simple.

The Layla Miller thing was a little more annoying, but at least none of the characters really knew anything about her either, so I had the reasonable expectation that I would fill in the blanks as the team did.

That notion has been damaged slightly in this most recent issue of X-Factor, as Layla makes reference to her reasons for forcing herself upon the team. Those reasons, it seems, are going to be mired in the fall-out from House of M, setting up the book as one of the main depositories of post-M plot detritus.

Sadly, right up to that little speech about "making sure the world never found out about the real reason mutants were depowered", I was actually begrudgingly enjoying Layla's role in the issue. She was much less annoying, and her cryptic responses seemed snappier, more on mark than before. But, as she is now serving the needs of some uber-Mutantverse conspiracy or something, she has turned right back into a major annoyance.

Honestly, if they just took her and her House of M fallout crud out of the book,this would probably be my favorite current team book. Jamie Maddox is a wonderful character, and the supporting cast in this book nearly as enjoyable. Peter David's "tweaking" of the basic nature of Madrox's powers is quite close to genius, and opens the character up in any number of ways. There is the danger of turning him into the resident deus ex machina, as in the "lawyer" scene this issue, but until it becomes a problem this book has earned the benefit of the doubt.

Plotwise, this book is moving very slowly, but it is much less vexing than the "decompression" evident in some higer-profile Marvel books. There are so many engaging character moments and interactions that I find myself reading the book less for the detective story, and more for the dialogue and off-beat situations.

Turning to the art, it seems word has finally gotten out (beyond this blog) that Ryan Sook is leaving the book, to be replaced by his tag-team artist over the past couple of months, Dennis Calero. Now, I was very critical of the Calero portion of issue 2, but I have definately come around some. I think the two artist blend was a bad decision, as the artists' styles are just too disimilar. Sook is slick, while Calero works more in a Michael Lark-Gotham Central style. While I do prefer Sook's work, I'm certainly gaining a growing appreciation for Calero's pages, and I think his art will look much better when he's doing the entire book. Artistic continuity is very important to a book's flow, and I'm surprised the decision was made to go with a piece-work approach for the past couple of issues.

It's too bad that, just as this book is starting to straighten itself out art-wise, it seems poised to take a flying leap into the cesspool of the X-Universe. I honestly don't want this book to have an overriding conspiracy (as Layla alludes to in this issue), and if there is going to be one, I certainly am not interested in it being tied directly to the fallout from House of M.

Look Marvel, I'm predominantly a DC reader. You have lured me over to Marvel with a clever, fun book that lets me enjoy it with a minimum of Marvel continuity infodumping. Please don't blow it. I'm positive I'm not the only casual-to-rare reader of Marvel books that you have on the hook with this book.

Am i wrong? Or is this, in fact, the Marvel book DC fans have been waiting for? And Marvel doesn't seem to realize it.

Sad, really.

Related Posts:
Ryan Sook Off X-Factor
X-Factor #2 - Aw, crap.
X-Factor #1 - A good Mutant Book? Que?

Super Bowl XL - One More Poke at the Corpse

2006-02-06T11:45:00.000-06:00

Looks like I'm not the only one with some uneasiness about the reffing in this years Super Bowl...

Slate:How the referees handed Pittsburgh the Super Bowl

TV Barn: Six thoughts on Super Sunday

Rossputin.com: The Seahawks Were Robbed

ESPN.com: Game's third team upstaged Steelers, Hawks

...and many, many more that I don't have time to list.

It doesn't really mean much though The game is over and done with, and no amount of kvetching is going to change the result. Hopefully, the Seahawks will come back twice as hungry next year, and will put themselves right back in the hunt.

..stoopid refs....

Super Bowl XL Post-Mortum

2006-02-06T09:23:00.000-06:00

Honestly, I was pretty disappointed in the game. I really felt like the Seahawks were controlling the pace, and I think that, had a few very questionable calls and non-calls gone Seattle's way, there would have been a much different result. Ben Roethlisberger never seemed to find a rhythm, and looked pretty rattled through much of the game.

However, I might just be digesting some sour grapes, because I was definately rooting for the Seahawks. It was nice to see the Bus go out on top in his home town, but I couldn't help feeling like the game was decided by the refs, not the players.

Oh, and thanks for playing the same 5 commercials over and over and over, Global TV!! Watching the Super Bowl in Canada sucks.

Kind of a down close to what I thought was a strong season, all in all. It was pretty cool to see all the former Super Bowl MVPs though.

Regaining My Film-Geek Street Cred

2006-02-05T14:57:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm making some solid headway in my quest to view all five Best Picture nominees prior to the Academy Awards. I am pleased to report that I have watched both Munich and Capote this weekend, leaving just Brokeback Mountain and Crash.

Of the two I most recently viewed, I would have to say I preferred Munich. Steven Spielberg has put together an intelligent thriller, one that asks many difficult questions but offers no answers. Eric Bana is excellent as the head of the Israili assasination squad, and Daniel Craig (in probably his final supporting role) does good work as well. Munich is exciting and tense, but more than that it is very effective at showing the toll that the "work" takes on the men charged with it.

Capote was also quite good, if a bit slowly paced. I'm sure that it's not a surprise to anyone that Philip Seymour Hoffman dominates the picture, with his portrayal of Truman Capote being almost unsettling. It's an interesting story, and it's told well, it just didn't really connect with me. Still, the performances alone are enough to recommend this movie, and it's possible I would have enjoyed it more if I had waited until I was in the mood.

So, I am kicking serious butt in my self-challenge. 3 down, 2 to go, and time to spare.

Boo-rah.

Related Posts:
As A Movie Buff, I'm A Bust

Bookworm Alert

2006-02-03T09:24:00.000-06:00

KCRW has released another exceptional comic-related episode of Bookworm into the internetosphere. They've had a number of great comic podcasts before (check the archives, because there's plenty of gold to be found), and this one is no exception. Host Michael Silverblatt is joined by John Carlin and Art Spiegelman to discuss both the current Masters of American Comics display at MoCCA as well as the exceptional "catalogue" produced to accompany the display.

I always find Spiegelman much more enjoyable in audio interviews than in print, where he seems to come off as rather humorless. Listening to him speak gives me a much greater appreciation for his enthusiasm for the art form.

Silverblatt is one of the best literary interviewers I've encountered, and he certainly has a clear familiarity and affection for comic art, without ever descending into the fan-enthusiasm that often weakens other comic related podcast interviews. It's a bit more academic than most, coming off as nothing so much as a much less snarky audio Comics Journal.

As always, KCRW remains my podcast hero.

Grab it here.

Related Posts:
Podcasts: Quality, Not Quantity

As A Movie Buff, I'm A Bust

2006-02-02T09:26:00.000-06:00

This is how bad I suck. Here are the five movies nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars this year:

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

So, do you want to know how many of those movies I've seen?

One. And that's only because I saw Good Night, and Good Luck last night. I am like the world's worst film fan. It's not even that I haven't seen most of this years best movies. It's worse than that. I actually have a copy of Crash at home, and just haven't gotten around to it yet. Capote was filmed right here in Winnipeg, and I haven't been able to drag my butt to a theatre. It's pathetic.

I wish I could say it was because the movies themselves didn't interest me, but that is just not the case. It has just become one of those times when I'd rather watch a couple of episodes of NewsRadio than a movie.

But all that changes now. I'm making a vow, right here, right now. I will see all five Best Picture nominees by the evening of the Academy Awards. No excuses, no exceptions. I'm tired of nodding silently while others discuss Brokeback Mountain's haunting landscapes.

Oh, GN&GL was excellent, by the way. I have a fair understanding of the Cold War era from my Internation Relations B.A., but to actually see the footage of a sputtering, sweating Joe McCarthy was something of a revelation.

The performances from every actor in the piece were note-perfect. There is no grandstanding in this film, even the most powerful speeches were delivered firmly but delicately. A good choice, in my opinion, as this material provides its own gravitas. George Clooney has had a very good year, between this film and his Oscar-nominated performance in Syriana, and I'm really looking forward to his future projects, especially if he continues to select them based on what inspires him. He can be a compelling actor when he's not mugging his way through an Ocean's [insert digit] flick.

Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly had very specific ideas about the role and responsibility of journalism in American society. They felt it was their duty to challenge what they saw as the injustice and fearmongering of the HUAC trials, regardless of the consequences, be they personal or corporate. This is a story of courage and integrity, and it was a pleasure to watch, both as a moviegoer and as a student of modern history.

So, onward and upward, then. Capote, you're next!

NextWave #1 Review - Spoilers, Quite Possibly

2006-01-28T12:43:00.000-06:00

NextWave #1 was not the greatest English-language comic book ever published. That being said, it was, however, an incredibly fun read. Warren Ellis is seriously immersing himself in the silly here, and it is very enjoyable. The concept mirrors in some superficial ways Robert Kirkman's current Marvel Team-Up "League of Losers" storyline, but takes it to another, more hyper-weird, level. Ellis has deliberately chosen characters that he would feel free to desecrate. The highest profile team member is the former Captain Marvel, a character who I had a certain fondness for during her tenure with the Avengers, but I can't honestly say I've thought about her in the past 10 or so years. Which makes her perfect for Ellis' purposes.

Stuart Immonen, who I first discovered when he joined the line-up on my favorite run of the Legion of Superheroes (the 5 years Later series), has modified his art style to such an extent that it as if the comic is drawn by a neophyte artist who just happens to share Immomen's name. His former, almost Adam Hughes-ian style has been warped into a cleanline animation-inspired technique. whatever he's doing, it's quite good, and serves the story perfectly.

In fact, what NextWave reminds me of is nothing so much as the old Freakazoid cartoon. It's a very random, very anarchic Saturday morning cartoon of a comic, with more that enough jabs at Marvel continuity to satisfy the "Zombie" consumers. I don't really have quite so much familiarity with old Marvel comics, but I enjoyed the book all the same.

Between this and X-Factor, I'm starting to be slightly impressed with Marvel's current output. You have to ignore anything that ties in with a current or upcoming crossover, but there are quality books to be read.

This is a book tailor-made to satisfy the Comic Blogging crowd. And it does so with style and energy.

Oh, I liked the running away song. Sue me.

I'm A Lazy Blogger

2006-01-27T17:39:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted much of anything this week, mostly because I haven't read much of anything. I spent most of my downtime watching Band of Brothers on DVD. BoB is awesome, but didn't really spark any blogpost ideas for me.

Hopefully I'm not hitting a wall or something. Maybe I won't panic yet... I mean I haven't even read or even picked up any of this week's comics! Nextwave is supposed to be good, right?

Lately, all I feel like reading before bed is my beloved Showcase Presents: Superman volume. But I'm almost done.. so there is a little panic growing.

Any thoughts on what I should pick up next? I'm thinking something in a Showcase or Essential. Mybe the Iron Fist or Luke Cage volumes? Or should I go indy? Or maybe it's finally time to crack and pick up the Cerebus: Church & State phones books.

If most of my floppies weren't in storage, I think it'd be time for a Starman reread. That always seems to cleanse the palette and reinvigorate the spirit.

Hitting a slump sucks, y'all. Blech.

The Results Are In!

2006-01-24T08:48:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not talking about the new Conservative minority government in Canada (because that's a bit depressing), but rather the winners of the Comic Bloggers' Poll 2005!

Go see if your favorites prevailed here.

(...and if you have any familiarity with this blog, you'll know that I am mighty pleased with the results....)

Big thanks to Chris Tamarri of Crisis/Boring Change, who put the whole thing together and tabulated the results, and to Ed Cunard of The Low Road for corroborating. Oh, and they deconstruct the results here.

Go East, Young Man!

2006-01-22T09:20:00.000-06:00

Ragnell, while plugging my Infinite Crisis 4 review and sending a boatload of traffic my way (thanks!), has gotten very excited about the prospect of James Robinson returning to Opal City for some future project. She throws out a near-staggering number of possibilities for what that future project might be, all of which I would buy without reservation (hey, it's James Robinson and DC's greatest fictional city. Yes, I said greatest. Eat it, Gotham.).

But here's what I want from James Robinson, and it doesn't even really involve Opal City. I want Robinson and Tony Harris to finally produce the oft-mentioned tale of Jack (Starman) Knight's trip to China with one of the poster-eaten time-displaced persons. I remember hearing about this story before the original Starman series ended, and we were promised that eventually it would be released, probably in the form of a graphic novel.

Well, I'm tired of waiting. Now that Robinson is back in the saddle, writing a Batman mega-arc for 1YL, it's time to pressure him to finish what he promised us. I understood when he ended Starman. Heck, I even approved. It was great to see a writer with such a definitive story-arc planned out for his creation, especially in the realm of corporate-owned superheroes. But the thing that made the loss of the monthly Starman book hurt a little less was the knowledge that there was at least one more story to come.

I'm ready to read that story.

Related posts:
James Robinson Surfaces!

Infinite Crisis #4 - Mild Spoilers Abound!

2006-01-19T09:05:00.000-06:00

Well, I finally enjoyed an issue of Infinite Crisis. I was beginning to think that there wouldn't be a single part of this sprawling story that I would find satisfying, but I honestly had very little complaints after reading this issue. What made the difference? A decided reduction in self-serving "meta-commentary" on the sorry state of the current DCU, and a big jump in plot and character.

There were a lot of highly enjoyable moments in this issue, from the Brotherhood of Evil's deployment of Chemo onto Bludhaven, to the welcome appearance of a number of much-missed speedsters. I think this series is finally hitting a comfortable groove, albeit maybe a few issues too far into its seven issue run.

There was also a fair bit of gore in this issue, supplied by a seemingly unlikely cast member. The carnage did manage, to my recollection, to be restricted to characters that no reader is terribly likely to call a favorite, which seems a bit coy (although I personally prefer them killing off d-listers as opposed to somebody I might actually miss).

If Geoff John's can keep the lid on his "DCU is too dark" rants for the remainder of the story, and just tell the story, this might turn out to be a decent read. This issue put the cataclysmic events occurring in the DCU front and centre, and also put the heroes involved on a more proactive path, rather than the previous issues "What is happening!?!" vibe.

Dan DiDio's latest "Crisis Counselling" (found here) contains the following bit of info that might be of interest to 7S fans:

?: Does Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers: Zatanna book take place before or after Crisis? Does Seven Soldiers factor into Crisis at all?

DD: We have positioned Seven Soldiers as post-Crisis, running simultaneously with 52. Anyone think otherwise?

And, a bit later, something I quite appreciated reading:

?: Will the Crisis have any major effects on the Starman legacy? Or on Opal City? Now that you have "terminated" Black Condor (in a rather disrespectful way, I must say), that city is without a hero.

DD: That’s a question only James Robinson can answer.

I'm still kind of killing time until 1YL, but this issue did give me some thrills, which is certainly more than I expected.

Related Posts:
Infinite Crisis #2 - Spoilers Abound!
Infinite Crisis #1 - Spoilers Abound!

Superman Ragdolls the JLA Up and Down the Street

2006-01-17T10:40:00.000-06:00

I have purchased two of the super-keen DC Showcase Presents phonebooks thusfar; Superman and Justice League of America. I was a little wary of the JLA volume, as I had read some reprints of early JLA in the past (mostly in those 70s 100-page giants), and the stories always seemed remarkably lifeless.

I orginally thought that the problem might have been the editorial restrictions involved in using a number of characters who were appearing in their own solo titles. You couldn't very well change or expand upon the Flash in any significant way without causing major problems within his own book. The same could be said for Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. I wouldn't really put Batman and Superman in this category because they were so clearly not allowed to participate in JLA adventures for more than a couple of panels. As I read the Showcase JLA book, it became a running joke to see how quickly and ham-fistedly the two DC icons could be sent off-panel ("Batman and I will head to deep space to make sure no other aliens come to earth." Um, ooookay, then).

However, regardless of the logistics of writing solo title characters in a team setting, the problem remains that Martian Manhunter and (I believe) Green Arrow were not headlining their own books during this period, and they were treated just as shabbily. I've read about 300 pages of the book so far, and MM and GA are written in exactly the same way as every other character in the book. There is virtually no difference (besides the obvious cosmetic variations) between any of the JLA members.

They exist in the story only to serve the exposition, it seems.

And it is deadly boring to read. Deadly boring.

Every story moves along like it's on a railcar track. *click click* Initial conflict. *click click* Split into teams. *click click* Discover simple solution to conflict. *click click* Final panel pun or barb. *click click*

The Superman book, however, is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in quite a while. The characters, while not exactly complex, at least have traits that are contant and unique (i.e. Lois is sneaky and lovelorn, Jimmy is headstrong and ineffectual, Perry is gruff and steadfast, and Superman is, well, a dick). I think the shorter story length helps as well. Silver Age story logic is tenuous enough at 8 pages, it's a little naive to try to get it to hold up for 20-odd pages.

Plus, the Superman stories are almost aggressive in their imagination. The cover reproductions included in the Showcase volume basically dare you not to read the story inside. "Superman has a lion's head? Th- f**k?!? Gimme that!"

Oh, and the single greatest story I've read so far has involved Superman, after the apparent death of Clark Kent in an explosion, forcing Jimmy Olsen to let him move in as his roommate. Because, you see, Superman had to pretend he and Clark were roommates after all sorts of Superman's things were found in Kent's apartment. It apparently never occurred to Superman that he could just get his own place or something.

These stories may be dumb, but they are never, ever boring. If you are bored by the Superman stories contained in this volume, then I envy you the kind of daredevil, adrenaline-junkie life you must lead. You'd have to be an intergalactic rodeo clown, or an undersea octopus wrestler to find these gems dull.

And I am neither, so I think they are awesome.

But JLA? You are deathly dull, and will be heading on over to my Sequential Swap tradelist, STAT.

Spyder-Mann Iz Teh Extreem!!

2006-01-13T16:42:00.000-06:00

Here's a new image of the Iron Spider costume... and that's right, kid... he's got a hanglider-jetpacky thing!! Woot!

Dammit, that gaudy thing is growing on me. I hope they give him a skateboard or a scooter next! MARVEL ROOLZ!

(feel free to dig throught this jokey, scripted-sounding "Joe Fridays" interview with Joey Q for more details on "Iron Spider" and Civil War. Not too many details, mind you.. just enough...)

Seven Soldiers Resources

2006-01-13T10:24:00.000-06:00

For those of you who, like me, picked up the 7Sv1 trade paperback this week, and are getting ready to dive headfirst into the highly-entertaining madness that is Grant Morrison's latest work of comic beauty, here are a couple of links that might be of interest:

Barbelith is home base for Grant Morrison enthusiasts (or Granties, as we are called. Fine, I made that up.) Although, It seems you now need an invitation to join. Details on how to get one here. Barbelith is definately the place to go for indepth discussion threads on the latest 7S releases. Plus, there are countless threads on other interesting topics to boot. It's the rare message board that is both enthusiastic and (predominantly) civil.

Barbelith is also responsible for my primary 7S annotations resource. It's set up like a Wiki, which makes navigation very simple, and it seems to be updated with remarkable speed and accuracy.

If Barbelith doesn't do it for you, you can always use this page of annotations, but it is a GeoCities site, so be prepared for banners and outages.

I've got my tpb ready to go, and a freshly printed out stack of the Barbelith annotations on the side table, and I'm looking forward to taking some time this weekend to read through the collected issues a couple of times. An initial run just to enjoy the series as fun comic book escapism, and a second, slower read to appreciate the convergences, connections and references (aided by those handy-dandy annotations).

I also finally picked up the DC Showcase Presents Superman phonebook. Wow, did somebody say this weekend was going to be "off the hook"?

Because it is.

Ryan Sook Off X-Factor

2006-01-12T22:50:00.000-06:00

Well, apparently Ryan Sook is leaving the new X-Factor book following its fourth issue, after which he'll only be contributing covers to the series.

Nuts.

I'm still going to buy and enjoy Peter David's X-Factor, but I am very disapointed to see Sook leave. It looks like Dennis Calero will be the new regular penciller, and I'm looking forward to seeing a full, non-rush job issue of his pencils.

Word comes from the SookGallery Yahoo Group (which I joined to ask just this question). So, nothing official just yet, but that seems to be the case.

Hmm... maybe Sook can work with Grant Morrison on another Zatanna miniseries or some other special project if the monthly grind is a little too hectic? Just planting seeds, people...

How Could I Stay Mad at You, Seven Soldiers?

2006-01-12T10:18:00.000-06:00

To those who might be wondering, yes, I will be stopping by ye olde comic shoppe to pick up a copy of Seven Soldiers of Victory vol. 1. Yes, I still maintain serious reservations about the collection strategy, but that ship has sailed. 7S is my kryptonite, and I am powerless to resist.

I can't wait to have this whole sprawling explosion of a mega-mini-series on my shelve. Four complete volumes of Grant Morrison opening a main vein and spraying raw creativity all over the page. I want to take peyote, Buddy Baker-style, and read the comics on a hilltop during a thunderstorm. Wearing a tin foil helmet I found in a dumpster behind a Freemasons meeting hall.

I'm going to cut every seventh page out of each volume, then arrange them on the floor of a rooming house where a redemptive brigand was murdered with his own locket, thus releasing the full magickal power of the text.

Or I might just read it every once in a while, each time finding some new connection to savour and enjoy.

I haven't decided yet.

Reveal Yourselves, Infidels!

2006-01-12T09:57:00.000-06:00

So, erm, it's Delurking Week or somesuch. I actually am not even sure if I have any lurkers, but if I do, please feel free to make yourselves known.

...yes, even you in the back with the silly hat. Everyone counts during Delurking Week.

Ladies And Gentlemen....

2006-01-11T18:05:00.000-06:00

Presenting Spider-Man's new, post-The Others look..... I give you...... Iron Spider!!!!

What? What's everybody laughing at? Damn it, Tony Stark designed this suit. Um, Tony F**king Stark? Maybe you've heard of him? IRON MAN?!?

Screw it, I give up.

Sweet Jeebus that's ugly....

(discovered via The Great Curve)

Why I Love Transmetropolitan

2006-01-10T11:31:00.000-06:00

I tore through the final 3 tpbs of Transmetropolitan last night. I should preface that by saying that I've read the first 7 books in the series multiple times over the past few years, but just never got around to picking up the final volumes. Embarrasingly, I think the main reason that I didn't buy them, was that the covers for the Transmet tpbs are just similar enough in color and design that I was constantly terrified of buying a volume I already owned. I could never remember whether the last one I had read was volume 6 or 7.

And ever since a sad day as a 13-year old when I accidently brought home two separate copies of X-Factor #42, I've been paralyzed with the fear of Redundant Purchasing.

Anyways, my neuroses aside, I did finally get around to finishing up the series. And I believe it is Warren Ellis' strongest work to date, and may well stand as his strongest work, period.

What stuck with me most, upon placing my copy of One More Time on the carpet next to my bed, was the incredible sense of momentum that Ellis and Darrick Robertson were able to sustain. The final four volumes of Transmet are frantic, even frenzied, in pace. There's a lot of running, and exploding, and scheming packed into those pages. Spider Jerusalem's impending descent into pseudo-alzeimer's spurs a full-bore assault on the sitting President, as Spider and his "filthy assistants" try to wrap up business before it becomes too late.

The script and art are working together in complete synergy at this point in the run, one of the benefits of having a permanent (in the real sense) artist. Where Robertson was occasionaly guilty (and I'm sure this was either motivated or encouraged by Ellis) of grotesquery for its own sake, he is now fully involved in the process of making the City seem a real place, especially necessary when the opening arc of Dirge (volume 8) only works if the reader can feel horror at the City's betrayal by it's "keepers".

Ellis clearly has very strong feeling about the role of journalism in society and politics. Luckily for the reader they are engaging feelings, and he has created the ideal setting to take those ideas and jack them up to 11, as it were. Spider is repulsive, but cannot be bought. Ellis refuses to give us an easy protagonist, and he rarely rewards his characters for the positive choices they make. I think Ellis wants us to recognize that true journalism has a cost, that integrity cannot go unpunished when the corrupt are controlling the situation.

I also enjoyed reading an Ellis book where the lead character embodies the best of the "Ellis Archetype", while shedding some of the more grating characteristics. Spider, like most Ellis protagonists, always knows more than both the other characters and the readers. He's arrogant, but usually right, which only serves to make him more infuriating. However, contrary to many Ellis stand-ins, he is also repugnant and undeniably unattractive. In both manner and hygiene, he repels all who come into contact with him. The only thing that makes him tolerable, the only reason that he is able to maintain the services of any of his varied supporters and aides, is his unshakable tenacity in "getting the story out". Nothing else matters to Spider, and in a milieu where almost the entire populace has resigned themselves to being mistreated and abused by those with power, be it politicians, pimps, or corporations, that makes him a crucial presence.

I think Transmet is an important story. I think it has a lot of valid things to say about the role of the journalist as the last bastion of accountability when all other avenues have been blocked. But more than that, I thinks it's an enjoyable story. I love a comic series that has a beginning and an end. Especially an end. Superhero comics are fun, and some can be really great, but they are all inherently limited by the need to leave something for next month. Nothing can ever truly be resolved, it's simply shelved until the next writer want to take a crack at it. It can weaken the creative team's ability to tell the story they want to tell.

But in creator-owned books, such as much of the Vertigo slate, there are no such restrictions. Ellis and Robertson were able to tell the story of Transmetropolitan in exactly as many issues as they felt the story warranted. These are the books that stick around on my bookshelf, to be pulled out once a year or so for a full reread. The trades of Transmet, along with those of Preacher, The Invisibles , and Sandman, are books that I value.

And I have a lot of books.

The Skinny on X-Factor

2006-01-08T14:19:00.000-06:00

I've received further information on the Ryan Sook X-Factor art conundrum. A well-placed source who'd rather stay on the downlow has confirmed that Sook and Dennis Calero will be splitting the art duties for the forseeable future, in order to keep the book on schedule.

While I'm certainly a little disapointed that it won't be wall-to-wall Sook action, it's probably a good move on Marvel's part to keep the book coming out on time. One thing I would like to see, and it looks like this may be the case, is Sook and Calero alternating issues, rather than splitting the art duties within a single issue. Their art styles are just too disimilar to blend smoothly.

So, there you go. Sleep Is For Suckers' first breaking story. And how crazy is it that I have an "unnamed source". I feel like Bob Woodward. Or Carl Bernstein. Whichever one Dustin Hoffman played, I guess.

Oh, I still haven't heard back from Sook himself, though.

Oh, and Layla Miller still sucks.

I've Never Been An Intellectual, But I Have This Look

2006-01-06T11:26:00.000-06:00

Had a semi-comic, semi-tragic conversation with Tamar last night while we watched a Woody Allen DVD (appropriately enough, Melinda & Melinda ). The film contains a number of classic Allen-esque dinner party scenes. You know, the ones with well-read New Yorkers exchanging bon mots over glasses of expensive wine.

I paused the movie, turned to Tamar, and began to lament our lack of a New York-style social life. I expressed my longing for the type of erudite conversation found in Woody's film. I wanted to be one of those distinguished people laughing and arguing philosophy in the darkly lit restaurants of the Upper West Side.

Tamar paused and thought about this for a second, then answered.

"You realize, of course, that if you were to ever find yourself at one of those dinner parties, you wouldn't be one of the sparkling coversationalists entertaining the table with anecdotes, right?"

I looked blankly back at her.

"You'd be the Woody Allen stand-in. You'd be complaining about the ozone layer, or your uncomfortable pants, or the inherent dangers of walking outside without shoes on. You're way too neurotic to resist the urge to turn the conversation towards one of your pet peeves. Plus, you'd probably drink a bit too much. Which, despite your belief that alcohol serves to improve your higher thinking processes, only tends to make you louder and much more likely to inject a slight slur into your speech pattern"

I turned the movie back on, a gloomy expression on my face.

She was absolutely right.

The BBC Owes Me

2006-01-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

Here's what I need. I need the Beeb to start full-scale podacasting most, if not all, of their shows. BBC Radio was running a test-run, podcasting certain shows, over the past few months, but that experiment has now ended. Besides, the programs they were podcasting weren't the greatest. Chris Evans is a twat, that much is certain.

I love listening to BBC Radio, especially their History programs. In specific, there was this programme about alternate history (name escapes me), where they'd gather a number of experts and pose questions such as "what if the Roman Empire never fell?" or "what if the D-Day Invasion had failed?". I tell you, there's not much better than listening to BBC Radio while you do the dishes or dust. Not that I dust, but I imagine listening to BBC Radio would make that task much more pleasant.

In addition to the great History programmes, there's also an entire radio channel full of great Drama and Science Fiction programmes. The problem is, most of these programmes are longer-form, but broken up into 1/2 hour or hour-long segments. Which means when I hit the website to get my listen on, and find something that sounds like just the ticket... it's usually part 7 of 12 or somesuch.

S'unnofabitch.

So, I have the choice of either finding something else (and it seems like I am never doing dishes on the days when new programmes begin), or I can try to pick up the plot of Perelandra on the fly while listening to episode 8 of 18. It's a no-win situation.

There is some fascimile of "Listen-On-Demand" available, but either it only archives the past week's shows, or I suck at navigating the BBC Radio website (or both).

See, podcasting would correct all of my difficulties. I could download any of the programmes I want, and listen to them at my leisure! Whatever happened to living in the future!

Now, I'm not sure what responsibilities the British Broadcasting Corporation has towards me. While technically not a British citizen, I am a citizen in good standing of a Commonwealth nation. Therefore, I believe a podcasting initiative should be instituted with all due haste. For god's sake, they've got Doctor Who radio dramas!

Right, that's that taken care of. Next up: This American Life. Might be a bit trickier, as I'm not in the least bit American, and I understand the program needs the iTunes money it charges for episodes in order to subsist. However, there must be something that can be done for me, if no one else.

Oh, and the Ricky Gervais archives at XFM (outside of their last run) are "listen-only". The f**k? I want to stick them on my mp3 player for the drive to work!! I tried to figure out some way of downloading the listen links as mp3s, but I couldn't find a way to do it that didn't involve recording them in real-time. Which I might be reduced to doing soon.

Sheesh, technology is nothing if not a burden.

(Republic of Replicants gives love to BBCRadio 7 here)

Read, Think, Comment.

2006-01-03T18:02:00.000-06:00

There's a column up at Buzzscope that makes some pretty serious allegations of assault by a female comic creator against a male comics executive. I'm hoping to learn more about this story as further details become available, as the story is disturbing to say the least, and is (according to several comments on the Buzzscope column page) indicative of a pattern of degradation towards female creators within the male-dominated comics industry.

I don't really have a lot to say in regards to the column and allegations at this point, as I am unequivicably not someone with any inside knowledge of either the specific incident or even the comics industry as a whole, but I thought it was interesting enough to link to. I found the column through comics212.net, where the always well-spoken Christopher Butcher and I are currently not exactly seeing eye-to-eye in the comments section.

So, check it out, and if need be, tell me why I'm a moron. (okay.. um.. don't do that. I'm fragile)

I'm, sure there's much more to come in regards to this story, and I hope that the column has the intended effect of pressuring the organization involved to take the complaint very, very seriously. As it should be.

Searching For Ryan Sook.

2006-01-03T11:00:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about it, and I really want to know why there was a fill-in artist working on at least half of X-Factor #2. I used my mad google-fu to trek over to Ryan Sook's personal website , and sent Ryan an email. Here 'tis:

Hi Ryan, I was just wondering what the dilly-o was re: the fill-in artist on X-Factor #2. Your art is one of the main reasons I'm picking up the book, so issue #2 was a pretty big letdown for me, and I'm hoping that you are still on board as regular penciller for the book. Thanks, Jhunt

I'll let y'all know if he gets back to me, and hopefully I'll have news to the effect that he is back on track with X-Factor pencils. I mean, jeez, you can't get me buying an X-book and then just pull the rug out from under me. It's cruel.

So, there you have it... Sleep Is For Suckers: Attempting to Harness the Mighty Power of The Internet and E-Mail, FOR YOU!!!!!

(...the secret ingredient is love...)

X-Factor #2 - Aw, crap.

2006-01-01T17:04:00.000-06:00

Peter David is really putting out a nice little book with the new X-Factor series. He's got a great cast of characters, and a premise that opens things up for almost any type of story he'd care to tell. His dialogue is crisp and witty without becoming precious (which I understand is sometimes a danger in a David-written book). It's definately my favorite Marvel Mutant book since X-Statix.

However, two serious problems with the book rose to the surface with the second issue. Honestly, Layla Miller is a terrible, terrible character and her inclusion is damaging the book. I honestly have no idea why David has shoehorned her into this highly enjoyable book. I mean, Bendis created her, so I could understand if she showed up in New Avengers or one of his other crap titles. But in X-Factor? It just doesn't make any sense. This is a pretty mature, sophisticated comic, and the presence of a sassy 11-year-old girl is jarring.

"I'm Layla Miller. I know stuff."

Do you know how to zip it? Apparently not, judging from her unrelenting nattering in this issue.

The other, less critical problem is the art. Last issue had some really nice Ryan Sook art. Fresh from his stint on the 7S Zatanna book, Sook looked ready to rise to the ranks of the premier comic artists. This issue, however, credits Sook and Dennis Calero as pencillers. Now, I don't know who did which pages, but the whole book was filled with disappointingly sub-par artwork. It didn't look anything like the book I picked up last month. The art had a kind of "pseudo Gotham Central" look to it. It was muddy, and most of the faces looked like grotesque likenesses done with the use of far too much photo-referencing.

I'm certainly not dropping this book, but I hope Sook is able to get back on deadline and put out the level of work he did on Zatanna and X-Factor #1. Ugly art hurts a book, even a book I'm reading primarily for the writing.

Oh, and I hope X-Factor #3 opens with Layla Miller taking a bus out of town. Because I don't know if I mentioned it but she sucks. She's like cilantro to me. Any dish made with cilantro, no matter how delicious the other ingredients are, is going to make me gag. Give Layla "Cilantro" Miller back to Bendis to put in a ninja suit and shoehorn into New Avengers.

Um... please.

Eye Am Getting Annoyed

2005-12-29T12:17:00.000-06:00

Do you want to know what inconsequential detail of DC's latest mega-event has been bothering me of late? The way Geoff Johns is writing Brother Eye's dialogue in the best-selling uber-series Infinite Crisis. See, the killer satellite that controls the OMAC automatons was named Brother Eye by its creator, Batman. So Johns has been substituting the word "eye" for the first-person reference "I". For example-

Batman : For the love of mercy, Brother Eye, I created you! Stand Down!!
Brother Eye : Eye'm sorry, Father. Eye recognize your feelings of betrayal, and eye validate them. However, eye cannot stand down, as eye have much left to accomplish.
Batman (quietly sobbing) : Damn you.... damn you....

Um, my first issue is that all Brother Eye dialogue is spoken aloud, meaning there is no audible difference btween saying "eye" and "I". They sound exactly the same! It's just impossible that a listener could even tell that a visual pun was being made. Ridiculous.

But the larger issue, the bigger problem, is that, even if you accept through some serious logical gymnastic that there is, in fact, a noticable difference btween "eye" and "I", you must then come to terms with the fact that Batman programmed Brother Eye this way on purpose.

Let's explore that thought a little, shall we? At some point during the process of designing and programming a killer satellite in order to prevent some sort of super-hero motivated mass destruction or danger, Batman thought it would be cute to give Brother Eye a little vocal tic. I can imagine that this happened very late one night during the vocalization process, with Batman possibly being a little punch drunk or sleepy. I guess we're just lucky he didn't give Brother Eye a lisp or a stutter or something.

I fully realize that this is nitpicking....

or is it?

Is it possible that the Brother Eye "cutesy voice" was a subtle indication on Johns' part of the growing instability of Batman's grip on his emotions? Were these "eye-isms" the very clues that were paid off in Infinite Crisis #3 by Batman suffering a serious pout followed by a barely contained hissy fit?

No. Probably not.

Eye am not amused, Geoff Johns.

And, hey, now that I think about it, Brother Eye is nothing but an Ultron/Starro the Conquerer mash-up, which should be a lot cooler. But isn't.

My Impending Dementia Is Great News!

2005-12-28T11:23:00.000-06:00

As mentioned, I picked up Beck volume 2 with a portion of my Xmas gift certificates on Boxing Day. Now, Boxing Day night I read Augusten Burroughs' Dry, top to bottom. I've got to tell you, it had been quite a while since I went all gonzo and "one-day"ed a decent sized book. Dry, however, was so engaging that I just wanted to read alittle more... a little more... just a bit more... until I found myself reading the short preview of his next book at the back of this one!

Funnily enough, Tam was sitting next to me reading A Million Little Pieces while I carved through Dry, making it kind of a funny "hitting bottom/ stories of recovery" double feature. Well, not that funny, I suppose. More on the level of "interesting coincidence".

Anyways, back to Beck. I've read Beck. Lot's of Beck. In fact, most of Beck, or at least all that was scanslated at the time I discovered it. And I loved it. It's definately my favorite manga. It has those (seemingly) unavoidable slapstick, Benny Hill-esque panty shot jokes, but the story is primarily the slowly-told story of a young man's introduction into the world of music. Tanaka is an immature boy with absolutely horrendous taste in music (think low-quality J-pop) when the story begins, but a chance encounter with a slightly older, much, much cooler boy turns him down a path that will alter the very direction his life takes.

And what is most refreshing about this manga, besides the stunning art (especially the reproduction of actual musical instruments), is that Tanaka is emphatically not a wunderkind. He is a terrible guitar player when he begins, and in fact doesn't even begin learning guitar unitl well into the second volume. His skills are improving, otherwise this wouldn't be the story of a young man joining a band, but rather the story of a young man who plays along badly to records alone in his room. The key is that the improvement is realistic. He doesn't use some long-forgotten guitar technique called "Eleven-Finger Dragon Revenge" to battle other musicians, and ultimately defeat them.

He just practices, practices, practices... until his fingers are bleeding and he feels the swell of pride that comes from the burgeoning callouses that guitar players must develop in order to play successfully. It is awesome.

So, the point is, while I was excited to see Tokyopop releasing Beck, I thought it would mostlybe rehash for me. Then I began reading volume 2. I didn't remember any of it. It's like reading a completely new, if vaguely familiar, manga. Now, this would be frightening to me, if it weren't so enjoyable to read these stories fresh. Only problem is, now they can't bring out the bloody volumes fast enough for me. March 2006, my ass!

My Local Comic Store Sucks

2005-12-26T16:39:00.000-06:00

So I was pretty psyched today, getting ready to spend some cash at the comic store. The store is having its regular big-time Boxing Day Sale, as I have previously mentioned. Superfiance even got me a gift certificate, after being told by store staff that nothing she bought for me would be returnable or exchangeable if it was the wrong thing. That's pretty lame in and of itself, but the capper is that, after paying cash money for the gift certificate, we were told today that not only could I not use it today for the sale, but it is only usable towards the purchase of full-priced merchandise!!

That is absolutely f**king stoopid. The bloody thing isn't a coupon, it was paid for! Tam almost blew a gasket. Consequently, there was no trip to the comic store today, as I was concerned that my docile fiance would ragdoll the store owner up and down the street.

I did go to Chapters though, and used 75$ in gift cards to bring home Dry, Never Mind the Pollacks, How We Are Hungry, a few more books, and the much-anticipated Beck volume 2! Plus Santa brought me even more great books/comics, including Adrian Tomine's Scrapbook, Buddy Does Seattle, and the McSweeney's Humor collection. I am truly a spoiled little brat.

You want to know what the greatest problem to have is? Too damn many new books to read!

Hope all your Christmases (Christmasi?) were equally supercool.

But comic store? You suck.

Countdown to Infinite Christmas

2005-12-24T13:32:00.000-06:00

I'd like to wish all my fellow Blogizens a merry Christmas, and best wishes for a kick-ass New Year!

It'll be organized chaos in this neck of the woods, as my seven-month old niece tries to eat as much wrapping paper as she can jam into her mouth.

Thanks to everybody who stopped by this blog over the past few months, and a special thanks to everybody who left comments! It's nice to know that some people are taking the time to read whatever junk I've vented into the ComicsBlogoSphere.

By the way, Bulleteer #2 is a great example of how to do an infodump without boring the reader to tears or turning a character into a thinly disguised mouthpiece. Yes, I am looking at you, Mr. Johns. It seems like the 7S books are gearing up for the grand finale, while the IC books just get messier and more cluttered.

IC #3 was pretty jumbled, and even worse, a bit boring. Plus, Batman is just not a good fit for the "woe-is-me" role. I wish that the DC team, if they truly felt that their comics were getting too dark and gloomy, had just started writing better, brighter stories instead of feeling the need to knock us over the head with a multi-headed colossus of a "comics event" in order to make their point. I think at this point I'm just killing time until One Year Later, and that's kind of a bummer.

Anyways, here's looking forward to anther year of bitching about comics! Seriously, I can't believe how many great blogs are out there writing about comics. Don't tell me there's no good comics criticism on the internet, because it just ain't so.

Oh, and yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. His real name is Grant Morrison. And he rules.

I wish you peace!

Boxing Day Blitz

2005-12-20T11:58:00.000-06:00

The local comic shop has an annual 50% off sale every Boxing Day sale, and I'm starting to construct my "Plan of Attack"... aka "shopping list". I try to pick up all the tpbs that I can during these sales, so I take the process very seriously.

Here's what I'm thinking about grabbing this Boxing Day:

DC Showcase Presents: Superman
Out of all the Showcase phonebooks, this is the one that made the cut. I gave serious thought to the JLA volume, but the sheer energy of the Superman stories contained in this volume make it irresistable. The old JLA stories have always come off a little bland to me when I've come accross any reprints. The Metamorpho volume made the short list because, even though I've never read any of Metamorpho's solo stories, the blogosphere seems to have embraced this volume as perhaps the zaniest, most out-there Showcase book thus far. Jonah Hex never had a shot, sadly, as I can only enjoy Western comics in very small doses. And most importantly, I used to love the early 80s Superman digest volumes, which were composed primarily of goofy stories from this period.

When a Superboy volume is published, I will buy it day of publication, as even Superman stories take a back seat to the Smallville Wonder when it comes to stirring DC Digest nostalgia in me.

Essential Marvel Team-Up
I love the Essential format because, when it comes to old-school Marvel, I find my enjoyment-to-price ratio is best met by huge, cheap books. I never really read Marvel during the late 70s/early 80s, so there isn't really a nostalgia factor coming into play, and therefore I read and enjoy the stories on their own merits, not on the feeling and memories they evoke in me. That said, Marvel books from that era have a limited entertainment value to me. I did enjoy the Essential Defenders volume, but I can't help but think that enjoyment would have been lessened if it had been a tpb of the first 6 issues or so. There's something to be said for having a stack of 25-odd issues sitting in front of you, waiting to assault you with with their oddness.
Marvel Team-Up was my Essential choice because it seems to have had a pretty good slate of artists during this period, and I think I'll enjoy mostly self-contained stories featuring the characters within. I love Spider-Man, but I've already read pretty much the entire run of Marvel Tales, so the best of the early stories are already very familiar to me. I guess I could try out the first volume of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, but it just doesn't look very good. I mean, Tarantula? Jeebus.

Cerebus: Church & State vol.1 & vol. 2
Better bloggers than me have attempted to analyze the relative merits and faults of Dave Sim's mammoth opus, but I don't think many people dispute that the earlier volumes contain some absolutely stellar story-telling (especially after Gerhard joins Sim on art duties). I've read High Society, Jaka's Story, Reads, and Flight thus far, and I think I'll take a bit of a breather after I read the Cerebus-as-Pope storyline. It it possible to read something, enjoy it, but have very little idea of what was going on? Because that pretty much reflects my feelings after finishing Flight. And I hear it only gets weirder.

Buddy Does Seattle
I have all but a couple of these issues in singles form, but they're all in storage at my parent's house, and I love the Buddy Bradley Chronicles enough to warrant a discounted buy on Boxing day. These stories are such an artifact of a specific time and place, much like another of my favorite indy series, Minimum Wage. I think these earlier stories, before Buddy left Seattle to make an attempt at domesticity back in New Jersey, are the strongest work Bagge's ever put out. There's a rawness here that allows the stories to veer into the cruel and vulgar wiothout seeming crass. Buddy might be one of the most enjoyable douchebags ever depicted in comics (well, him and Henry Peter Gyrich maybe). Plus, Hate is just laugh-out-loud funny.

Beck vol. 2
Best. Manga. Ever. I've read a ton of it in scanslation form before it got picked up by a North American publisher, and it's great to read it again in a much more convenient form. I love me some 20th Century Boys and Monster, but Beck trumps all. I even downloaded the CD Soundtrack. I am a Beck fanboy, no doubt about it.

Well, that's the preliminary list. Any glaring omissions you can see? And what are you planning on picking up at comic store sales this Holiday season, if anything?

The Funniest Damn Thing I Saw on TV Last Night

2005-12-18T13:32:00.000-06:00

I didn't watch all of last night's Saturday Night Live, but I was lucky enough to be watching when Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg performed in the digital short Lazy Sunday. It was f**king hilarious.

Watch it here. Seriously. Even if you hate SNL.

"SNACK ATTACK, MOTHERF**KER!"

Samberg's comedy trio has a good website too.

X-Factor #1 - A good Mutant Book? Que?

2005-12-18T11:08:00.000-06:00

Picked up X-Factor #1 this week. It's Peter David's new ongoing that follows up the situations established in his Madrox miniseries. Ryan Sook, fresh off a stint on Grant Morrison's Zatanna, handles the artwork, and it is very, very pretty.

Now, I should say right off the bat that I am not a Marvel Mutant fan in general. Outside of Morrison's New X-Men and the legendary X-Force/Statix, there are very few X-books that I have enjoyed. I've never even read the Phoenix Saga or Days of Future Past. Clearly I am completely unqualified to be reviewing a mutant book. But why would I let that stop me?

X-Factor #1 is great. Apparently Peter David has a bit of a reputation for being "cutesy" at time, and for relying excessively on puns in his lighter work. That may be true, I have no idea. I've read his Madrox miniseries and Fallen Angel, and both weren't excessively silly, to say the least. X-Factor does have a healthy amoount of humour, but it manages for the most part to keep from veering into parody. Jamie Madrox is a great lead character, especially now that he's been removed from one of Marvel's worst costumes.

David has surrounded Madrox with a grab-bag assortment of supporting characters, some taken from his earlier X-Factor run (which no, I haven't read) and some taken from more disparate corners of the Marvel Mutuant Universe. It seems like a good mix, but this issue didn't really have much of a chance to show too much interaction. With David in the writers chair, I have no doubt that the relationships will be revealed in full in forthcoming issues.

I thought House of M was utter pap, but I do think it was a good idea to clip the number of active mutants down to a reasonable amount. David is evidently going to explore some of the issues raised by the depowering of a significant portion of the mutant population, and I think I'll enjoy his examination of the new status quo much more than I enjoyed the initial House of M "mega-event".

One thing I didn't like about X-Factor #!? The inclusion of know-it-all super-mutant Layla Miller is a bad, bad idea. She was lame in House of M, and I don't see why a small child would seem like a logical addition to a hard-boiled detective pastiche.

Seriously, get rid of her. Please.

Ryan Sook does a dynamite job, using interesting panel layouts and very expressive (almost Kevin Maguire level) facial renditions. He's a keeper, that's for sure. Marvel did a great steal when they took him from DC. I usually am unhappy when an artist I like goes over to the House of Ideas (*cough*Pascal Ferry*cough), but if Sook is going to stick on this book long-term, I have no complaints.

hey, wow, I'm actually adding an X-book to my monthly take! Who says people don't grow and change!

Who's The Big Winner?!

2005-12-14T19:28:00.000-06:00

Me, that's who!

I won a copy of Blood: The Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts courtesy of the good people at Love Manga, where there is an awesome Advent Calendar Giveaway happening. One trivia question a day, one book a day being given away. It's genius.

The only sad thing however, is that, as a winner, I can no longer attempt to answer any of the questions. I'll still be checking back to see what excellent books are being given away each day. (oh, and to read all the manga news, can't forget that the site does things besides give away sackfuls of free books).

By the way, today's book giveaway is the first volume of Barefoot Gen, widely considered one of the classics of manga, so get over there and give the trivia question a try!

Victory is mine!! Woot woo1!

Nice... Very Nice.

2005-12-13T12:30:00.000-06:00

This was definately my favorite image included in the March DC solicits released yesterday.

If they can keep this one on the rails, in terms of both quality and release schedule, it will be just, um.. boss. It's really cool to have a new book to look forward to, what with Morrison's Seven Soldiers wrapping up early in the new year.

I may be a bit guilty at times of being a Morrison apologist, but when he (not to minimize the Quietly factor) provides stories that include images like the above, how can you not love him?

My main Morrison-related question is, now that Morrison is well along with his Seven Soldiers books, do you think anyone at DC will pick up the reins and tell new story utilizing the characters and concepts introduced therein? I understood Morrison's intent to be the revitalization of some dormant or underused DC properties. Sort of a "Hey, any character can be made interesting, look at what I do with these random character templates!"

So now that he's done it, are there any plans to carry the experiment further? Is anyone exploring the possibility of doing a Shining Knight story, or a Bulleteer ongoing series? Or is it still just too early in the project to do so, as no one has any idea whether the characters will still be in usable shape once the "series of minis" is complete?

Of the miniseries' leads, I think the character I'd most like to see explored further is probably Klarion, although a Guardian ongoing could scratch a Kirby-esque itch much in the same way the Kesel/Grummet Superboy run did.

Any thoughts?

The Seven Soldiers of Victory TPBs Are Trying to KIll Me!

2005-12-12T19:02:00.000-06:00

From Newsarama:

SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY VOL. 2 TP
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Simone Bianchi, Cameron Stewart, Ryan Sook & Mick Gray and Frazer Irving
Cover by Stewart
The brilliant mind of Grant Morrison (THE INVISIBLES, JLA, ALL STAR SUPERMAN) is showcased once again as the collections of his most groundbreaking and ambitious project yet! Comprised of seven different 4-issue miniseries and two bookend Specials, this colossal 30-part tale of death, betrayal, failure, joy, loss, romance, triumph and redemption is being collected in 4 volumes!
This second volume features the continuing exploits of four of the seven soldiers, and collects KLARION #2-3, SHINING KNIGHT #3-4, GUARDIAN #3-4, and ZATANNA #3. Independently, each of these characters is featured in a story arc that redefines their purpose in the DCU. But their stories also interweave with the other Soldiers' tales, and tells a grander story of a devastating global threat to mankind. Together, these reluctant champions must arise and work together to save the world...without ever meeting one another!
On sale March 22 • 176 pg, FC, $14.99 US

"Hi, I'd like to have the Klarion the Witchboy miniseries in trade paperback form, please!"
"Sure kid. Only thing is that it's spread out over three seperate volumes."
"But it's only FOUR ISSUES!!"
"Hehhehhehheh!!!"

I give up. Thank god I actually do want the entire thing in TPB, because if I only wanted a couple of them I'd be tearing my hair out.

Bloggosphere: Sword of Unpleasantness

2005-12-12T17:06:00.000-06:00

I really don't get it. One of my favorite comic bloogers, Scipio of the Absorbascon, has taken such strong offense to the recently announced Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis revamp that his blog is of late composed primarily of bitter attacks (both overt and veiled) on both the concept and the people responsible. To say he dislikes the new book is quite an understatement. Without having read a single page of the new title, he has decided that it is utter crap, to the point of renaming his blog to take a derisive poke at the new Aquaman's title (which admittedly, is not the world's greatest comicbook title).

I'm just finding the whole thing kind of disheartening. I mean, I can understand being disappointed that one of your favorite characters is being replaced by a new version. I get it, I really do. It sucks that a character that you feel is so wonderful and has such great story potential is being thrown aside for financial reasons. I was pretty unhappy when Firestorm was replaced, and I was really ticked when Blue Beetle got a bullet to the head in order to make Max Lord come off as a bad ass.

But the plain truth of it is that Aquaman wasn't selling enough. I loved the Will Pfiefer run, and I'm really enjoying the current run as well. If I had my druthers, DC wouldn't be replacing Arthur Curry with a brand-new Aquaman. However, DC can't continue to publish books simply because I like them.

And further, the nature of the revamp makes it clear that the classic Aquaman isn't being "ruined" in the manner of Hal Jordan. Should this new book fail, as Scipio has guaranteed that it will, there won't be anything preventing some writer from returning Arthur to the Aquaman role with a minimum of fuss.

So basically, they're creating a new character, inserting him into a previously created characters milieu, and telling stories about the new character's adventures in that milieu. And they're not killing or "crazifying" the old character in the process. Would the new book still stink like death to some if they had just not used the Aquaman name? Because that would imply that it's not the new book that is being criticized, but the decision to shelve the old book. And in my opinion, that's a business and creative decision that DC shouldn't be insulted for making.

I might like the new book, or I might not. Just like I might like the new Blue Beetle title (I sure hope I do). However, if more people enjoy the new books, and especially if enough people buy it that it becomes financially successful title, then the correct decision was made. Comics are a democracy, and we vote with our dollars.

Honestly, I understand being pissed off. I just want to read the Absorbascon and not wince at the shots taken at DC. Scipio has absolutely no responsibility to me, and I respect his right to deal with any topics he wishes, in whatever manner he wishes.

I just miss the old Absorbascon.

Condo In Flux

2005-12-12T15:19:00.000-06:00

Hey, who'd like to see the amount of damage that can result from unsafe welding on a mostly wood-based condo? More like who wouldn't?!

Casa Jhunt is trashed, folks, and let's all just give a big "Hell Yeah!" for insurance. It looks like we're going to come out of this with what amounts to a brand new condo. Now, if it wasn't for the incredible, immeasuarable pain in the ass that the process invloves, this would be a no-lose situation. Such is life, I suppose.

Y I'm Worried About The Last Man

2005-12-08T11:06:00.000-06:00

Is anyone else getting concerned about Y - The Last Man? I'm a big fan of the series. I think it ihas often risen above it's high-concept inception to really explore some of the more interesting ramifications of a world without men. Brian K. Vaughan has created some really dynamic, well-rounded characters, and I was especially interested in the Yorick/Hero dynamic.

However, of late, it seems like the series may have lost it's way. The story is getting more and more dependant on wild coincidence, and seems to be most influenced by American soap-operas at this point. I'm still enjoying each month's new issue, but I'm getting, I suppose, a bit restless.

Does anyone know if BKV has an endgame in mind? Is this a series designed to run a (loosely) predetermined number of issues, a la Preacher & Sandman? I'd like to think he at least knows where he's going to end up, if not exactly how he'll get there.

In Yorick, BKV has created one of my favorite characters of the past few years. He's incredibly knowledgeable about some very random topics, but remarkeably uninformed in many quite basic areas. He's funny, self-centered, a little weak-willed, and has a surprising temper at times. I'm really enjoying his progression throughout the series, I just want a little reassurance that his progression is leading him somewhere.

The artwork of Pia Guerra never disappoints, though. She has a "clean-line" style that reminds me a little of a more refined Chas Truog, who I feel never got the attention he deserved for his run on Grant Morrison's Animal Man. I see a real benefit in having a simple, but effective artist controlling the look of Y. The storyline could easily devolve into standard Hollywood blockbuster type garbage under the reins of a lesser artist. The art is naturalistic, with none of the posing or teeth-gritting that mars many of today's comics (even some of the well-written ones).

I hope this doesn't sound like a "complaint post". I genuinely look forward to each month's Y, and I have a certain level of confidence that BVK is heading somewhere. And he has certainly earned a level of trust from me (as a reader) through his work not only on this title, but Runaways as well. Y is just feeling a little "loosy-goosy" lately.

Still, Y sure does have the prettiest covers of any DC book. And lady pirates are very awesome.

Gervais Update : C'est Bon!

2005-12-06T11:20:00.000-06:00

I listened to the first Ricky Gervais podcast last night while watching the Seahawks absolutely manhandle the Eagles. (Go 'Hawks!)  What did I think of the show?  Well, I did get several recriminating glares from Tam, as she was sitting next to me trying to study Statistics in preperation for her exam in a couple of weeks.  The nasty looks were given because I was actually laughing out loud.

Now, I am not, by nature, a "laugh-out-louder".  The potent combination of my Canadian citizenship and British heritage has allowed me to develop a significantly developped sense of shame, as well as a general unwillingness to draw any sort of attention to myself.  So to luagh out loud, I must be amused to the point where I can't physically control myself.  Such was mu experience listening to the Gervais show.

Ricky Gervais is, to me, a bit of a troublesome performer.  His series, the Office, was genius. Possibly the most subtle televised comedy I've ever seen, its greatest moments are among its quietest. A glance held just a couple of beats too long, a mumbled comment that the viewer can barely register, it really is an immaculately created piece of comedy. Gervais' stand-up however, while still very funny, has always struck me as a little self-congratulatory. He can rarely keep himself from giggling at his best material, a trait that, while not enough to completely spoil my enjoyment, does lessen it somewhat.

So it was with a bit of worry that I clicked on the inaugeral episode of the Ricky Gervais Show. Luckily, Gervais surrounded himself with two very complementary performers. He has an easy banter with writing/producing/directing partner Steven Merchant, which I suppose stands to reason, and they easily bounce and carry (seemingly) unscripted bits between them. The true star of the Ricky Gervais Show is neither Ricky nor Steve, but producer Karl Pilkington.

Karl wearily proposes a number of off-centre sociological theories, including the reasons against a cure for cancer and his half-baked proposal for the direction human procreation should take. The funniest moments of the program are Ricky and Steve's reactions to whatever Karl has just posited.

Seriously, I giggled like a little girl with a secret while I listened to this show. It's very, very funny. And it includes a landmark discussion into the possible validity of Russian astronaut monkeys. You just can't beat that with a stick.

Link

Podcasts : Now With 100% More Gervais

2005-12-05T16:51:00.000-06:00

Hey, remember how I was whining about wanting to find some really great podcasts to stuff into my brand-new MP3 player? Well someone up there likes me, because I just found out that the incomparable Ricky Gervais (of The Office fame) has begun to podcast his own show (from EW Popwatch). This is just awesome.

I haven't listened to the show yet (the first episode is now available), but I'm definately going to do so at the first available opportunity. This is even better than Harry Shearer doing le show. And Gervais will probably do slightly less Dubya-bashing. (As a registered bacon-carrying Canadian, I'm less than interested in most American-liberal venting. It's like, yes, he's quite terrible, isn't he. Tell me again why he won?) I just wish Shearer would do less reading the newspaper and tsk-tsking, and more entertaining segments.

I'm just as cranky and smug as Shearer, but I just don't feel the need to inflict my complaining on others through the magic of the internet. Um, except for when I vent in this blog. But come on, Tomb of Dracula is stupid!

However, I was not in Spinal Tap, so I think he wins on points regardless. As he should.

Want To Hold Hands?

2005-12-02T23:02:00.000-06:00

So here's something I stumbled across at angry ogre. Well, it's far better than the "What Character From Lost Are You" I did the other day. This is apparently the type of Humanist I am-

Handholder

You go out of your way to build bridges with people of different views and beliefs and have quite a few religious friends. You believe in the essential goodness of people , which means you’re always looking for common ground even if that entails compromises. You would defend Salman Rushdie’s right to criticise Islam but you’re sorry he attacked it so viciously, just as you feel uncomfortable with some of the more outspoken and unkind views of religion in the pages of this magazine.

You prefer the inclusive approach of writers like Zadie Smith or the radical Christian values of Edward Said. Don’t fall into the same trap as super–naïve Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge who declared it was okay for clerics like Yusuf al–Qaradawi to justify their monstrous prejudices as a legitimate interpretation of the Koran: a perfect example of how the will to understand can mean the sacrifice of fundamental principles. Sometimes, you just have to hold out for what you know is right even if it hurts someone’s feelings.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

Oh, and don't worry that this is going to become a "Quiz Blog" or some such... it's only two I've shared in the whole span of this blog! Frankie Sez Relax.

Parade of Linkblogging

2005-12-02T17:57:00.000-06:00

Harvey Jerkwater has put forth an exhaustive (in the good way) account of his X-Men experiences, with special attention to the wonderfulness that was the Grant Morrison New X-Men run.

Another fun background easter egg on Lost this week, plus a comic cover tribute to boot! The Baboon Bellows has the details. By the way, is anyone else becoming increasingly paranoid that there's no possible way the Lost crew will be able to satisfactorily explain the dozens of mysteries they've currently got on the go? Tam and I watched this week's episode last night, and then spent the next half hour or so detailing all of the different plot threads that need resolving before the show could end. I hope to god there is some sort of endgame in play already, or those writers should plan to change their names and hide following the final episode.

Monitor Duty relays the welcome news that Chuck Dixon has some form of return to Green Arrow in the works. I think I've made my dislike for Oliver Queen (as he is currently written) fairly clear, but I would definately be up for Dixon telling another killer Connor Hawke/ Eddie Fyers story. Man, that was a fun run of books. Good times.

And the week's big dog... the blog post everybody is talking about.. is definately Chris Sims' in-depth examination at his Invincible Super-Blog of the most inadvertantly (I assume) homoerotic issue of World's Finest ever published. Possibly the most homoerotic mainstream comic ever. Wow, it's off the hook. Truly.

That's it for my time, thanks for yours.

Podcasts: Quality, Not Quantity

2005-12-02T14:11:00.000-06:00

So I finally got myself one of those MP3 players the kids are all into these days. I grew up in the heyday of the clunky cassette Walkman, so I'm still completely baffled by how tiny the little bugger is. And it can hold like 350 songs? That's just insane.

Anyways, it's lots of fun, but most of my music collection is in storage (along with my computer) while our condo is rebuilt following FireFest 2005. As a result, I've been using it primarily to listen to Podcasts. What I have found, from my informal sampling of Podcasted shows, is that some are very good, and some are very, very bad. I'm not going to go into detail about the ones I haven't enjoyed very much, because hey, at least they're putting something out there, and who am I to judge it? I don't think I'd have the cojones to record myself blathering on about anything. I even cringe when I hear myself on an answering machine (seriously, who is that guy? he sounds like a massive tool).

The ones I've enjoyed thusfar are not even really Podcasts, but rather episodes of actual American public radio shows made available through Podcast technology. I use Juice, by the way, for my Podcast download needs.

And the cream of the NPR Podcast crop, by far, are those made available by KCRW. I am currently subscribed to no less than fourteen KCRW podcasts, including my favorites: The Treatment and Bookworm. I used to listen to these shows via RealPlayer at home while I did the dishes, but to have them in my pocket, ready and able to fill five minutes to an hour whenever I need them, is invaluable. It's like living in the freakin' future, people! (except for jetpacks. Where's my freakin' jetpack, Scienceticians?)

All I need now is for the BBC to fully embrace podcasting and I might never have to talk to another live human being again! They have a few available, but there are probably hundreds of shows on Radio Beeb that I would love to listen to at my leisure. Yes, yes, they DO have Listen Again, but I can't seem to get the bloody thing to work! And I needs my Jonathan Ross... it's like one of the members of Spinal Tap has his own morning show. It's very cheesy, very much "'ello, 'ello... Bob's yer uncle" but I honestly can't express how enjoyable I find the show. It's hypnotic to me. I could listen to Jonathan Ross read the phone book, I think.

Those are the podcasts that I am enjoying. What about you? Any that I should add to my subscriptions? I've listened to Fanboy Radio and The Pipeline Podcast, but I haven't really run across any top-notch comic related podcasts. Leeme know if I'm missing out on any hidden gems out there in Podland?

"Wheeee! I'm the Flash!!"

2005-11-30T16:15:00.000-06:00

Courtesy of Crisis/Boring Change -

Your results:
You are The Flash

The Flash		70%
Robin		65%
Spider-Man		60%
Hulk		60%
Green Lantern		50%
Iron Man		30%
Batman		30%
Catwoman		25%
Wonder Woman		20%
Supergirl		20%
Superman		20%

Fast, athletic and flirtatious.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

I could only be happier if it was the Barry Allen Flash. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no DC purist. I don't curse the name of Kyle Rayner. Heck, I'm the first to admit that characters can become stale after a time, if they're not given the attention they deserve. I even liked the "Four Superman" thing they did after Doomsday offed Supermullet. (well, liked might be too strong of a word. I enjoyed the Superboy stuff and thought the rest was okay)

But the Flash is different to me. My formative comic-book reading memories involve buying the Trial of the Flash issues right off the stand at the drugstore on the corner. I remember being absolutely riveted by the isue in which the JLofA vote on whether to allow Barry to remain a member. Even with the Infantino art, which I love now but creeped me out as a kid, didn't stop me from devouring those issues. I even managed to amass a nice little collection of Flash back issues, including the great mindf**k issue #300.

And then they killed him in Crisis. I was completely blown away. How do you kill the Flash? To my pre-pubescent incarnation he was the greatest super-hero that ever pulled on tights. Still, dead he was, and dead he remains.

Wally West quickly took up the mantle. I think this was a great move in a lot of ways: it introduced the concept of a "legacy hero" to the DCU, it started the cohesion of the Flash Family (a concept that Mark Waid really went to town on), and it resulted in the development of a character who has become one of the mainstays of the super-hero community.

Wally, through time, attention ,and inclusion in the animated properties, has effectively become the Flash. In fact, many younger readers probably have no more than a vague idea of who Barry Allen was. He has taken on the role of Thomas Wayne in Wally West's origin. He had to die, in order that Wally be allowed to take up the mantle. He's even become something of a running joke in the JLa (i.e. "Barry never yelled when things didn't go his way").

I think the ursurping of the Flash role by Wally is interesting, and I certainly don't think Barry Allen should return to the DCU. Ever. But still, when I think of the Flash, that's who I think of. The blond flat-top Police scientist. And that's the Flash I'd want to be.

Even if he was a square.

James Robinson Surfaces!

2005-11-28T11:22:00.000-06:00

Crisis/Boring Change communicates the very exciting news that James "Starman" Robinson is slated to make his long-awaited return to monthly comics, taking on the writing duties for a Batman/Detective Comics story arc post-IC. This is very welcome news. Starman was, for a period, the only comic book I read with any sense of regularity. Even though the bulk of my floppies are in storage at my parents' place, my stack of Starman issues has a place of honour on my bookshelf, next to my Terry & The Pirates collections.

I think it's very telling that, although Starman was a very popular series, and Jack Knight a compelling and complex character, the series was ended with such grace and panache that there hasn't really been very much outcry for its return. Sure, people are still hoping to see the story of Jack's trip to China, but there seems to be a sense of patience involved. Fans seem to understand that the story will only be told if and when Robinson and Tony Harris feel the time is right.

On a related note, at the time that the series ended, Robinson had promised to return to the DC Comics Starman board in order to answer one last round of reader questions about the series. While I checked back every now and then, I don't believe he ever did so. Maybe he'll now find the time.

Welcome back to comics, James Robinson! We've missed you!

This Is A Test

2005-11-23T17:11:00.000-06:00

...because A) the Comic Weblog Update page hasn't been reading me (for
some reason), and B) I'm testing my abitlity to post to ze blog
through email.

So, um carry on. Or pad my ego by posting copious amounts of
illuminating comments on the most inane post yet. Your choice.

The Stupid Patrol Runs From Dracula

2005-11-23T10:37:00.000-06:00

Pop quiz, hotshot. You’re a full-time vampire hunter. Count Dracula is your sworn enemy, and you’ve vowed to destroy him more times than you can remember. He’s killed your friends, your family, and has threatened to end the lives of everyone you hold dear.

You’ve attacked him countless times, devoting every second of each day to either the preparation or execution of an attack on Dracula. However, every time you strike, he laughs in your face and repulses you with ease. No matter what you throw at him, you and your team are lucky to just escape with your lives.

Now, put yourself in a situation where you have the upper hand. You are stranded in the Transylvanian Alps with Dracula. He’s weakened; he hasn’t tasted blood in days. He can’t change from his human form because of the howling winds. He’s keeping you alive in case he needs you as a food source.

Suddenly, from above, salvation! A majestic mountain ram, just as hungry and desperate as Dracula himself, drops from an overhanging ledge. Dracula is overpowered at once! He is completely unable to defend himself, the ram’s teeth sink into his flesh. All you have to do is watch, and he will be torn to pieces by the mighty beast. The culmination of your life’s quest rises before you.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Well, if you’re Rachel Van Helsing in Tomb of Dracula #20, you SHOOT the RAM because you can’t bear to see it kill DRACULA!

I repeat, she kills the wild animal to save Count Dracula. While sobbing.

Sigh.

I think Tomb of Dracula is maybe just lame. I was enjoying it in a superficial, old-skool Marvel way, but this is just ridiculous. I find early nineties Image comics to have more credible plot twists.

I need you to understand how much this frustrated me. I was reading it last night in our hotel room, and even though I wasn’t yet tired enough to go to sleep, I had to put the damn book down out of sheer irritation. The should have renamed this book "The Stupid Patrol Runs From Dracula", because that’s what it is.

Tomb of Dracula #20? You suck.

All-Star Superman #1 - Yes, Please!

2005-11-19T11:33:00.000-06:00

So, has anyone heard of this book? I'm surprised none of the other comic blogs are talking about it.

Seriously, this book was a great deal of fun. Grant Morrison is clearly relishing the chance to write an old-school Superman story, and I am certainly relishing the opportunity to read it. This is one series that I think will be even more enjoyable to read in serial format, and I haven't thought that about a book in awhile. Maybe my severely positive reaction to A-SS is a direct result of the ennuie brought on by the dragging, omnipresent monolith of corporate planning known as Infinite Crisis, but it's awesome to just read a great Superman story, one that doesn't promise Earth-shattering revelations every month, or guarantee to damage either the internet or our mental faculties with its sheer audacity. Morrison just provides the goods, month-in and month-out, to the point where, in order to truly blow my mind, a Morrison title would have to bore me. I don't always love his work (some parts of JLA and New X-Men didn't exactly thrill me), but I am never disengaged by it. It is always interesting and unique.

Quietly's art, while certainly verging on the grotesque at times (his faces sure do look like they're made of great big hunks of flesh, don't they?), is more than up to the task of providing a vsiual sense of the spectacle and awe that Morrison's story demands. His figures never lack energy, and the layouts and panel structures in this issue serve the dynamic power of the script to great effect. Those of you who haven't enjoyed his work in the past, however, won't find anything here to change your minds, I fear. This is Quietly at the top of his game, but it is very much still Quietly doing what he does, whether we like it or not (luckily I do, usually).

With this title, alongside his truly satisfying Seven Soldiers miniseries, Grant Morrison is certainly making a play to be named DC's MVP for this year. I'm just thankful that he's a part of the current "DC Council of Elders" who are shaping the direction the fictional universe will be taking for the forseeable future. It reassures me that, whatever treacle Johns, Waid, and Winick produce, there will be at least a few DC books around that I will be looking forward to.

RealLife Takes a Craptastic Turn

2005-11-16T17:33:00.000-06:00

So, blog posts from me will be sporadic, at best, for gods knows how long. The reason? A fire in the condo next door has resulted in significant smoke damage in my condo, and Tam, the cat and I have relocated to a hotel while our insurance adjuster works out the details. It is truly teh suck.

On the positive side no one was hurt, and we are fully insured so it should just be a matter of inconvenience rather than financial hardship in the long run. Still, virtually no internet access is shite, and I hope a couple of people are still reading this blog when I get back to making regular comments about the things I do to waste my time.

Oh, DMZ #1 was awesome!

Jhunt out!

Infinite Crisis #2 - Spoilers Abound!

2005-11-13T11:44:00.000-06:00

Well, first off, it was nice to see Animal Man and his family again. Morrison's AM revamp was my first exposure to his writing, and made me a life-long fan. I even stuck with the series after he left the book, and only finally dumped the book following the 50th issue. Boy that comic went from great to absolute dreck, didn't it? So, it was a treat to check in with the Bakers.

That said, the remainder of the comic was an unmitigated let-down. I really thought I would be this book's target demographic, but thus far the plot seems tightly focused on characters I have no attachment to. I'm not interested in Donna Troy's return from the "dead", and I don't care what Power Girl's geneological tree looks like. Honestly, I'd prefer more Psycho Pirate over those two characters.

And then there is the massive info-dump that comprises the middle of this issue. I think this is the point in which any pretense of telling a genuine story is abandoned, and Geoff Johns admits to the readership that this is nothing more than a long-form "course correction" for the DC universe. Kal-L's monologue is so meta, such a blatent comment on the current state of DC Comics, that he ceases to be a character in a fictional story, and becomes instead Johns' proxy.

The comments themselves, basically that the DC universe has become far too dark and hopeless, seems curiously flawed to me. There are a few examples given of this grim n gritty-ness, but anyone with a working knowledge of the comics published by DC over the past 15 years knows that, while there were many dark, cynical stories published during that time, there were also many, many books that were light, even funny old-school superhero type stories.

The problem with these books, which included at various times Stars and STRIPE, Young Heroes in Love, Supergirl, and Hourman, was that they simply failed to sell. They were all, I believe, cancelled due to poor sales. So, is Kal-L thus levelling a criticism at the comic buyer? Is Johns saying that DC fans were wrong when they voted with their dollars to continue Lobo over YHIL? It's a bit odd, like Johns is telling readers to sit back and buy the books they need, rather than the books they want.

And then there's the kicker. The panel chosen to represent the ultimate descent of the DC universe into complete and utter darkness, the montage of scenes that pushed Kal-L to break free of his captivity in order to set things right, is composed entirely of scenes that occured in the build-up to Infinite Crisis. They are all events designed and orchestrated to darken the DCU prior to this very series. This disingenuous approach, tsk-tsking the events that he himself helped arange and set in motion, weakens the statement considerably. It makes the thesis invalid. Sigh.

Oh, hey, is that a new costume on Booster Gold, or is Jiminez just really off in his rendition? I only ask because there were a few places in this issue where the art seemed really shaky. Clearly, Jiminez hasn't got a handle on Power Girl yet, because I can't imagine his intention was to make her so grotesque.
And his older Kal-L Superman looked odd in places as well. I usually enjoy I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Perez's art, so I hope the drop in quality this issue is a result of deadlines or some such.

Finally, I'm not even going to touch the cliffhanger statement from Kal-L, except to say that it doesn't make sense, except in regards to the dictates of the plot. And that's not so good.

Kilmer Goes 2 For 2

2005-11-10T11:36:00.000-06:00

I really appreciate it when I leave a movie theater glad that I was there. DVD has become such an overwhelming, Ultimate Nullifier-type force that I rarely go out to the movies, preferring instead to watch them in the comfort and security of my home. I like to watch my movies in a place where I can be certain no one is going to talk incessantly, or rustle with illicit candy, or even just have an annoying laugh. And where I don't need to wear pants.

So, when I do go to a movie, I really need it to be a great one. I saw Jarhead last week, and it was good, but the movie I saw last night is the one that will stick with me. Jarhead was good, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is great.

The first thing you need to know about KKBB is that the plot is irrelevant. Now, I'm not just saying that because it makes no attempt to resolve itself or maintain consistancy, it actually just doesn't matter. This movie is all about watching two of North America's greatest currently living actors bounce snappy, clever dialogue off each other. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer are on f**king fire here.

You know how you'll watch a Val Kilmer movie sometimes, and you can almost see the contempt he feels for both the director and everyone else in the movie? Well in KKBB you can sometime catch a glimpse of the absolute glee he seems to have been feeling in making this movie. These two give razor-sharp performances that are hilarious, but never veer into caricature. And Kilmer, who also tore it up in Spartan, is absolutely mesmerizing as Gay Perry. It looks like he shed his notorious bad attitude along with the chub he's also dropped.

This movie has a story, but I'd have to draw a chart to try to explain it. And it still wouldn't make a lick of sense. It loosely folllows the outline of a dime-store detective novel, but all you really notice is Kilmer and Downey. They seem to almost egg each other on, and their interplay is riveting.

I'm buying this movie when it comes out on DVD, and I hope to god there's a commentary track on it, because I want to hear these two discuss the process they used, because the end product is, I think, the best buddy-movie of the past decade.

Yes, better than Tango & Cash. I know. That is f**king crazy. I know.

Oh, and best opening credits since Catch Me If You Can. Very slick.

Wedding Social

2005-11-08T12:47:00.000-06:00

So, I haven't posted in a bit, and the main reason is that I'm still working away the hangover from my wedding social on Friday. A wedding social, for those of you not from the Canadian Praires, is a party put on by an engaged couple, in which tickets are sold for admission, drinks, and raffle prizes, with all monies raised going towards the cost of the wedding. It probably sounds pretty bizarre to outsiders, but it's a long-running Manitoba tradition.

It was a lot of fun, but my voice is still hoarse from all the chitchatting, and let's just say many beverages were enjoyed by yours truly. Luckily, I have the week off from work, so I'm hoping to be able to blog quite a bit. I just reread Avengers Forever, and my opinion of it has changed considerably. For the better or worse? Stay tuned!

Erik Larsen Makes No Sense

2005-11-04T11:22:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note, cause I'm on the move today. Erik Larsen, whose work I enjoy for the most part, has written the strangest column I've read in quite a while. He seems to be ranting about not being able to recognize Bruce Wayne in a crowded room. It's just really weird stuff. It seems like he's expecting a lot of comic fans to agree with him, but I just don't see it. Honestly, when is the last time you were reading a Batman comic and actually couldn't figure out who Bruce Wayne was? Never, that's when.

I think he wants to give all famous characters eye-patches or a top hat or something, so he doesn't have to bust any brain cells finding the protagonist. And this is completely ignoring the point that Batman, not Bruce Wayne, is the star of the show. If anyone is having problems identifying Batman, then I think the latest issue of Detective Comics is the least of their problems.

Anyways, go read it here, and let me know if you understand what the heck he's going on about. Cause I'm just not getting it.

Besides, Bruce Wayne has an iconic look. It's the Jim Aparo version. True dat.

Bulleteer #1 - Um, good?

2005-11-03T21:16:00.000-06:00

I think I really liked this comic. I'm pretty sure, anyways. Bulleteer, the latest Seven Soldiers mini, seems to be an examination of the public perception of superhumans, and the lengths one will go to in order to interact with them. It has definate shades of celebrity culture, and also addresses the body modification craze. It's a parody of cheesecake super-heroines, but it also embraces that very same cheescake asthetic through Yanick Paquette's artwork. It addresses internet culture, pornography, and the effect of classic super-hero origins on hospital wards.

In other words, this comic has cast a pretty wide net in terms of themes and focus.

I'm going to be very interested to see where this book goes. Its so abitious, conceptually, that I'm not sure how all of the different areas can be given their due. I think Grant Morrison has a tendancy to throw ideas against the wall and see what sticks, but in this case I'll be disapointed to see any of them get short shrift. I enjoyed this comic a great deal, and I really hope the rest of the mini lives up to this introductory issue.

The main character, Alix Harrower, is definately one of the strongest of the Seven Soldiers books thus far (behind only Klarion, in my eyes). She doesn't come off like a ditz or a ball-buster, but a complete person. She clearly has faults (um, inattention would seem to be the main shortcoming), but is clear-headed and kind. I like reading stories that don't feature brooding sociopaths or angst-ridden whiners. It's kind of a wake-up call when a failed suicide is the most positive protagonist I've read in a current DC comic recently.

Anyways, Bulleteer is the bizomb. I think it's overambitious, but I'd rather read a book that tries too many new things, than one that does the same crap all over again.

Marvel vs. DC: 70's Style

2005-11-01T21:29:00.000-06:00

As I've mentioned, I'm currently reading Essential Tomb of Dracula vol 1. What I don't think I've revealed thus far is that I'm also working my way through Essential Defenders vol. 1.

I, a lifelong DC fan, am expanding my comicbook horizons, and sampling a brick-sized portion of Mighty Marvel in the 70s.

And it is blowing my mind.

I mean, were the Marvel writers in the 70s being paid by the pound or something? Each character feels the unrelenting desire to verbalize every single aspect of their thoughts and actions, using as many words as humanly possible! It's actually kind of exhausting to read. I read these books in bed before I hit the sack at night, and I rarely get through more than an issue before I conk out.

It's not that I dislike the writing style, it's just such a complete adjustment to someone whose primary Classic Comic Experience consists of Shooter-era LSH reprints. Where Lightning Lad might thought-balloon:

"*Sob* Maybe they're right! Maybe I am a menace to everyone around me! *Choke"

Hawkeye would say:

"Great ginger beer! Can those big-headed browbeaters have a point? Could I, Hawkeye, the sureshooting archer with the deadeye aim, be a menace to everyone I love? It can't be true, can it?! But why not? I've never really felt comfortable among these flatdomed uptights. Maybe it's time I, Hawkeye, masterful marvel of mirth and marksmanship, took my ever-lovin' quiver and made a quick fade!"

These Marvel heroes have some incredible lung capacity. And they must talk faster than the Flash himself. I've seen heroes go through whole character arcs during the time it takes to close their finger around a trigger. I'm not kidding.

Keep in mind, this is not even taking into account the fact that the Marvel Universe has a significantly higher population of characters who speak with serious affectations. In these two Essential volumes alone you have a veritable Who's Who of the worst verbal offenders: Sub-Mariner, Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Dracula... hell, they even stick a little Thor in there just to remind you of the original fancy-talker!

And then there's the Hulk. I think I just don't get the Hulk. He's been a fan favorite for like 40 years, but reading his dialogue throughout his various "dumb Hulk" periods makes me cringe. Here's a fun game: whenever you're reading a "dumb Hulk" story, pretend all dialogue is being spoken by Super Baby. Just change all instances of "Hulk" (because 'Ol Green Skin loves himself some third person) to "Me" and see if it fits. Because it will.

And your mind will be blown.

What I like about these 70s Marvel comics (because clearly it's not the dialogue) is the bats**t crazy, anything-could-happen plots. The Defenders fight a fuzzy monster with a steel dome on his head. Hey, that's a little weird, but not too weird, right? Yeah, well that fuzzy monster is hosting a children's show a la Barney in order to mind-control all of the viewing children into returning with him to his home planet.

'the f**k?

It's completely awesome in its sheer lunacy. You just can't read something like that without gaining a certain measure of respect for the creative team. Especially because, unlike modern comics, there is no *wink* to the reader. This book treats the Space Barney Menace as if it were as deadly as a heart attack, and shame on the foolish reader who disagrees. I admire that.

And I admire Marvel in the 70s, when it seems there was no concept too far out there to try, if only for a month or two. I hear the next volume of Defenders is even more bananas, especially once Steve Gerber comes on board. I don't even want to think about what that could possibly entail.

I have visions of giant lactating space-oysters who need Valkyrie's metal chest-plate to signal their spaceship in order to attack Atlantis.

And just like that, I'm sold.

Linkbloggin' Ain't Easy

2005-10-30T10:01:00.000-06:00

Real-life duties have slowed my comic/movie intake considerably (our Manitoba-style wedding social is this Friday), but I still found time to check out many, many excellent blogs.

Beaucoup Kevin checks out the new DC solicits, and both snarks and loves on them, as the spirit moves him. He also seems to share my concerns about the Seven Soldiers TPB, but I'm already had my fanboy hissyfit on that topic, so I'll endeavour to rise above...

Brian Hibbs give a nice plug to volume 2 of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, which is my absolute favorite manga. I've read lots and lots of it in scanslation form, which is not in any way preventing me from buying the Tokyopop editions as soon as they come out. Dude, it just gets better. So, so much better.

Halloween costumes? Tom at Comics Ate My Brain does a nice round-up of his dress-up history. Which includes professionally-made Jedi robes.

Harvey Jerkwater does a cover version of Dave's F*@% Yeah! Files recounting his experience reading one of the greatest issues of What If? ever. It's certainly the issue with the most kick-ass cover.

Jog has written a nice column re: Dave Sim's role in the comicsphere. Dave is mildly bats**t crazy, but damn those Cerebus pages are pretty. I still don't understand what happened in Flight, tho.

And finally, any blogpost titled DC's Teen Sluts get a plug, regardless of content. Well played, Lady, That's My Skull!

Hopefully, I can find the time to process another chunk of Tomb of Dracula over the next couple of days. I just have to find a way to do it that does not lead Tamar to believe I'm goofing off. Apparently "It's for my blog!" is not a strong argument. Who knew?

Dracula Fights Idiots

2005-10-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

I'm now just under halfway through the Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 1, and what has struck me most is that Dracula, in general, is fighting opponents with the relative tactical ability of a cheese sandwich.

I mean, he's constantly running away from a group of people who have yet to mount anything even resembling a notable threat to his wellbeing! These people seem to forget on a nightly basic the most general vampire rules, and approach Dracula as if they can overpower him solely with the strength of their purple prose.

Rachel Van Helsing, who has the great honour of being the granddaughter (I think) of the world's foremost vampire authority and dispatcher, has developed an irrational attachment to a weapon that, over the past 11 or so issues, has not even managed to nick Dracula. She clings ferevently to her belief that the crossbow is the weapon of choice when it comes to taking on the King of the Vampires. Even when presented with modern, specially designed anti-vampire artillary, she refuses to even consider the posibility of switching. This leads to at least one scene in every single issue where she fires a crossbow bolt at Dracula, and it passes harmlessly through him when he turns to mist. As he does every time a crossbow bolt is shot at him.

While I respect her desire to remain constant, it gets to the point where even Dracula himself is mocking her. I mean, when the guy you're fighting is laughing at the weapon you've brought for the umpteenth time to the battle, it might be time to seriously consider a swap.

And speaking of swaps, she might want to think about dropping uber-WASP beau Frankie Drake, who has turned out to be even more of a lame-duck series lead than I had feared. Frankie is consumed, for no discernable reason, with the fear that he carries the threat of vampirism with him, depsite all evidence suggesting that the affliction is in no way genetic but rather the result of being bit. By. A. Vampire.

Sigh.

Thank god they introduce Blade in issue 10, because the old crazy guy in the wheelchair was turning out to be the most competant fighter in the group. No, I'm not kidding. He's the only one of the core group to have even scored a hit on Dracula. Which does not in any way prevent Frankie from making all sorts of fervent threats every time Drac sails away undisturbed by the Wack Pack.

"Come back here Dracula! What, are you scared?! Go ahead, run away, you coward!

...oh crap, he's circling back this way, everyone into the Oldsmobile!!"

Frankie Drake, ladies and gentlemen. Your hero. First class weiner.

(and yet I'm still really enjoying these stories. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either!)

Shortform Linkblogging

2005-10-26T07:49:00.000-05:00

Mick over at The Daily Burn has written a well thought-out piece on what he sees as the role of superhero comics, and it is very much worth reading. So go do so. A very nice use for his blog's 100th post, if I might say so.

And Dave's Long Box is running through some high-quality F*@# Yeah! moments. But you already knew that, of course. Because you are so Airwolf.

Oh, I'm now about three issues into Essential Tomb of Dracula and I have to say, I'm really looking forward to Marv Wolfman showing up a few issues down the road. There's nothing exactly bad about the early issues, but my god, Frankie Drake is a drip of a lead character. I'm not sure if he continues as the lead for the duration of the series, but I sure wouldn't be disappointed to see him finish what he started at the outset of the third issue.

The art is really nice, though. I can see why so many people have commented that Gene Colan's art really lends itself to black & white reproduction. Great use of blacks, and the sketchiness of the linework makes Dracula seems almost fluid, like he's made up of smoke and shadows.

Still, the stories themselves lack a certain crackle. It's like the writers could all get a handle on Dracula himself, but were sort of confused about how to approach stories in which Dracula couldn't presumably come out a clear winner, but in which they were loath to allow him to be defeated. It's like a Doctor Doom series, but instead of the Fantastic Four, you have him take on two guys who work at a car wash. You just keep thinking to yourself, "why doesn't he just kill them?"

Still, fun stuff. Don't get me wrong.

Essential for Halloween: Tomb of Dracula

2005-10-25T20:56:00.000-05:00

I received a package containing the fruits of my inaugural Sequential Swap exchange this afternoon. I'm pretty excited to check out the contents, which included Pounded, Astronauts In Trouble: Live From the Moon and Top Shelf Asks the Big Questions. However, the book I was most psyched to see when I tore open the package was Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 1!

Some background might be in order, I suppose. I was born in 1976, so I effectively missed out on the whole mid-seventies horror revivial that the Comics Code Authority changes brought about. I think I had a copy of Werewolf By Night in my collection as a kid, but I don't remember giving it more than a cursory look. See, I was a DC reader, and still am today. To a young DC reader, Marvel books from the seventies looked terrifying. And I'm not just talking about the horror books, the whole damn line was scary!

The colors were darker, all oranges and browns, the inking seemed muddy, the printing seemd darker, and then there was Gene Colan. It didn't really seem to make a difference what the subject matter was, every page of Colan art seemed to me like it was infused with near-satanic evil. It's only in recent years that I've begun to appreciate the energy and atmosphere his pencils produced.

So, as a result, I have vitually no experience with the once-popular Tomb of Dracula series. I know Blade first appeared in its pages, but other than that, I'm pretty much a blank slate. Which is why I am really looking forward to digging into this phonebook sized chunk of the macabre.

And just in time for Halloween, no less. Awesome.

So, is he allergic to fire, or not?

2005-10-24T11:36:00.000-05:00

Over at Monitor Duty, Alan Kistler has put together an exhaustive (in the good way) profile of the Martian Manhunter. I highly recommend checking it out if you have any interest in the character. I honestly had no idea how convoluted his history had become. It seems like every writer to take on J'onn J'onzz has felt the need to tweak his origin, resulting in more than a handlful of overlapping accounts of his life on Mars and early exploits on Earth, each one contradicting the ones that came before in some way. It's positively Hawkman-esque.

I loves me some MM (yup), so you know I enjoyed learning so much about the permutations of the character over the years.

Go read it!

Counting Sheep

2005-10-24T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally did it. It's been well over a year since I started, but I finally finished Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase. Now, it certainly didn't take me a full year of reading to finish the book. Did you ever have one of those books that you pick up sporadically, grabbing it every couple of months and reading a chapter or two? Sheep was that book for me. Everytime I was standing in front of my bookcase, looking for something to read before I went to bed, Murakami stared back at me, judging me silently as I pulled out a volume of Terry & the Pirates or my copy of David Sedaris' Naked.

Don't get me wrong, it was a very enjoyable read. It's just that I've found I have to be in precisely the right mood to get into the story of a disatisfied Japanese ad-man who gets drawn into a dream-like search for a mythic sheep with a star-shaped patch on it's back. That's not the type of book you can just plop down and carve through.

What surprised me most, as I neared the end of the book, was how truly creepy the tale had become. Throughout the bulk of the book, the protaganist has an almost clinical detachment from the events unfolding around him. He's not uninterested in what's going on, but it doesn't seem to move him on a personal level, even when his life is being threatened. The last section deals with his isolation at an old house deep in the mountainous Japanese countryside, and both he and the reader start to react more actively to his situation.

I was reading the last 80 pages or so last night while Tam slept next to me, and I actually considered putting it down and finishing it during daylight hours. Which is kind of a sissy move.

So, the book is finished, and I can now slip it back onto the bookshelf with my head held high. The only problem? Right next to it is a copy of Murakami's Dance, Dance, Dance, which has now taken pole position in the "you need to finish me" sweepstakes.

*Sigh*

Light As a Feather, Hard as Steel

2005-10-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

Tam was working last night, and I was feeling decidely less than 100% (Winnipeg turns into a germ factory about this time of year), so I decided to take it real easy and just chill out with a movie before hitting the sack. Seeing as how I was too tired to read anything while I watched the movie (my usual modus operandi), I took the opportunity to watch a movie where I wouldn't be able to read anything else, i.e. a film with subtitles.

I've got quite a few in my movie collection that I haven't gotten around to watching yet (Kung Fu Hustle, Crouching Tiger), but I decided to go with Hero, starring Jet Li.

Wow, I really liked this movie. It may have been the perfect movie to watch while mildly hopped-up on flu medication. It's basically a series of fight scenes, but man, what amazing fight scenes. Jet Li is a guy who shows up at the King's place claiming to have returned from defeating the three assassins who the King was terrified would kill him. He tells the King how he came to beat them, then the King tells Jet Li what he thinks happened, then we find out even more about what really happened.

It sounds a little complicated, but all that's really important to know is that you get to watch the same 5 characters have multiple fights. And the fight choreography is amazing. I admittedly haven't seen a lot of modern kung-fu movies, so I'm probably a lot behind the curve in regards to this genre. There's quite a bit of "wire-fu", but while I'm sure a lot of movie watchers are sick to death of it, it still looks amazing to me. Most movies you see these days are overloaded with CGI effects(no offence to Geroge Lucas), but I really prefer watching actors interact with real environments.

Yeah, there definately is still some CGI in Hero, but the shots it's used to create would be absolutely impossible to film without it. And the shots are so inspired that I have no problem with how they were created. Even if it involved puppy slave-labor. There's a fight sequence set in the middle of a forest, with the leaves falling all around the two combatants, that is breathtaking (and not just because I'm so congested).

The story is a little Rashomon influenced, but has enough surprises to keep things interesting, and the movie doesn't waste a whole lot of time on non-kung-fu or swordfighting-free scenes. This is a movie that aspires to be a great visual treat for fight enthusiasts, and on that level it succeeds completely.

I know I'm kind of behind the boat on this one, but I'm really looking forward to checking out the other recent martial arts films that are grouped with Hero. Sometimes it's a good thing to be late to check something out, because then there's a whole glut of material just waiting to be enjoyed. Hooray for me, and my pop-culture laziness!

"Smell How They Burn" - Klarion #4

2005-10-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

This was the Seven Soldiers miniseries that I was least looking forward to, when I initially heard the line-up, but it has turned out to be both the one I looked most forward to reading, and (perhaps more importantly) the one I feel gave the best reading experience as a mini-series. I'm really surprised at how much I've grown to enjoy the character of Klarion the Witch Boy. I remembered the character vaguely from some earlier appearances (mostly Young Justice and Demon), and really didn't care for him.

Morrison really did a number on him, though, stripping away the cloying cutesy aspects of the Witch Boy, and replacing them with Salem allusions and puritan imagery (thanks in no small part to the absolutely stellar art of Frazer Irving).

While some of the other Soldiers seemed to exist simply to serve the function of the uberstory, Klarion was well fleshed out. His environment and supporting cast was rich with history and rife with story possibilities.

Some of the other minis have seemed more concerned with forwarding the Sheeda concepts, but I feel that Klarion told a complete story (more or less). Yes, it ends with a push for Seven Soldiers #1 just like the rest, but you get a sense that Klarion has had a complete adventure, and is now heading off on another (as comic book characters are wont to do).

I certainly have my problems with the decision DC has made regarding the collection of the Seven Soldier minis into TPB (you betcha), but I will admit that I'm really looking forward to rereading this family of books once all is said and done, and piecing together the clues and echoes that thread through all the books.

Yep, I'm gonna buy the TPBs regardless. DC, you win this round.

Update: Jog the Blog has an interesting look at Klarion #4. Check it out.

Undercover Martian Brother

2005-10-19T11:14:00.000-05:00

The Onion AV Club has a fun list of their favorite “Underrated” pop culture figures (actor, cartoon, band, etc) and they’ve selected Martian Manhunter as the most underrated super-hero. It’s just a brief little blurb, but it’s an interesting read all the same. It’s hard to debate their selection, as MM really does seem strangely obscure, especially considering the length of his publishing history. There’s no mention of his role in the bwahahaha Justice League, which is where I would argue he gained the bulk of his current fan base. J’onn as exasperated den mother to a gaggle of super-powered buffoons is my favorite interpretation of the character.

Or it would be, if not for his brief turn in House of Mystery as super-mole in the evil spy organization VULTURE. I’d love to see him return to the Marco Xavier identity. A Martian infiltrating a spy group to bring them down from within is a badass idea that I support without reservation.

Although, admittedly, I haven’t read the Ostrander series yet, so I’m not sure if the Xavier period is revisited there. Maybe it is. Anyone know? I keep meaning to try out the solo MM series, but it just looks like pretty dreary stuff. It might just be the muddy looking Mandrake art. I liked his work on Spectre, but I just think the MM series could have been better served by an artist who's work was less EC/Bernie Wrightson inspired.

Regardless, I hope DC throws together a Showcase phonebook that collects a chunk of J’onn’s solo stuff from the 60s. That would be a great use for the format. Um, for me, anyways.

(If this kid comes to my house this Halloween, he will receive double treats. That's a promise.)

Free Comics! (Kind of)

2005-10-17T18:44:00.000-05:00

I recently joined Sequential Swap. For those of you who've never heard of the site/group, it's basically a group of clever comic fans who realized that everybody has books they own and don't want anymore (I'm looking at you, Scooter Girl). The elegant solution: have members list the books they have but don't want, and the books they'd like to read, and work out swaps to get the right books to the right people. This arrangement seems perfect for me, because I've already exhausted the relatively meagre selection of tpbs available at my public library, but I sure don't want to be plunking down mucho dinero to get more books, when the bookshelves of my little condo are already filled to the point of bursting.

I haven't completed a swap yet, but I do have a couple in the works. And any service that allows me to get rid of books that I'm angry that I paid retail for is worth it in terms of stress reduction alone.

I have to give mad props to Mick of the Daily Burn for turning me onto Sequential Swap. So, um, big ups, Mick. Holla. Wow, my "mad props" are pretty pathetic.

Anyways, if you have books you'd like to trade away for other tpbs, why not have a look and see what's available at Sequential Swap? (especially if you're a Canadian looking to dump your Cerebus phonebooks and are willing to give me first crack!) Come on, people... I need to read Church & State.

Thanks for your support.

Clancy Ain't Got S**t on Me, Baby.

2005-10-15T09:45:00.000-05:00

You know how you'll be reading a Tom Clancy novel (don't lie, I know you have), and there'll be like ten pages describing how the engine of a specific helicopter operates. So you just skim over it, scanning the pages until you see the name of a character you recognize? Spartan is like a Tom Clancy movie with all the military-dork stuff trimmed away.

Oh, and there aren't any ultra-patriots running around saving freedom, whereas in a Clancy novel every second character loves his goddamned country so goddamned much he could cry sweet manly tears, if that didn't go against everything his rigorous Special Ops training had instilled in him. So instead he just steals a quick look at the creased photograph of his pregnant wife, that he keeps inside the battered rucksack that was a gift from his father. The only gift the old man had ever given him. He still remembered the way Pops had saluted him the day he left for basic training in Okawanee....

...um, sorry, got a little carried away there... anyways, there's none of that in Spartan. David Mamet wrote and directed it, so there's no lame-assed dialogue or character motivations cluttering up this sleek movie.

Val Kilmer plays Scott, an uber-agent searching for the President's daughter, who was abducted from college. Now, everybody has by now heard that Kilmer is apparently batshit crazy, right? That may be true (and may be why his dour, focused agent keeps referring to everyone as "baby"), but he keeps it on the rails in this movie, delivering a really strong performance. He's such a magnetic presence on screen, you kind of have to appreciate the fact that Hollywood didn't really manage to make him a Tom Cruise-ian type Star.

The story unfolds quickly and crisply, barely giving you time to process information before more is given. You know what, though? It was nice to watch a military/espionage thriller and not have to book time off work to finish it. It runs a slim 106 minutes, and feels much shorter, which is a good thing in this case.

And hey, Veronica Mars! I didn't even know Kirsten Bell was in it, so that was a nice surprise (although it was a little strange to hear her drop Mamet-style eff-bombs all over the place). The cast overall is great, as you would expect from a Mamet film, and yes William H. Macy shows up, as he is required to do everytime David Mamet picks up his camera.

"David?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Why is Bill Macy standing behind Timmy in his birthday party video?"
"Oh, he heard I was shooting something, so he just showed up and started workshopping a scene he's been tackling. I think it's dynamite"
"Sigh"

Oh, and how awesome is this alternate poster for the movie? It looks like Val Kilmer is starring in Black Rain 2: The Search For Curly's Gold. I think they made the right choice when they went with the other poster.

Val Kilmer is such a BAMF, though. Represent.

JLA #120 - Now W/ 80% More Bickering

2005-10-13T14:34:00.000-05:00

Um, I'm going to keep this pretty short but, if the incessent arguing among the DCU's Big Guns has you half as annoyed as it has me, you're really going to want to avoid JLA 120. It's like they decided that super-heroics were actually holding the book back, so they eliminated them entirely to focus more effectively on the angsty inter-personal drama playing out among the Right to Mindwipe movement and its detractors.

It's just boring, angry bitching with no story momentum whatsoever.

Although, there are, I believe, at least a couple of fan favorite "Green Arrow gesticulating wildly while foaming at the mouth" panels. I assume those scenes are very popular, right? Otherwise why would DC feature them? Every. Single. Month. The only way the scene could be more generic would be if they had one of two of Ollie's teammates "holding him back" from punching somebody. They should rename Green Arrow "Drunk Uncle", because that's who he is.

Zip it, beatnik. Just zip it for once.

Spoilers Abound: Infinite Crisis #1

2005-10-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

Oh my god, they killed Ratcatcher... NOOOOOOOOO!

Sad thing is, someone, somewhere counts Ratcatcher as one of their favorite characters, and is, in fact, very upset about his fate. Actually, that's not sad.. that's the beauty of the DC Universe. There's something for everyone, even rat-control fetishists.

I guess I liked Infinite Crisis #1. I sure didn't come away from it thinking that the collected series is set to take a place on my shelf next to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it did contain enough interesting interludes to make it worth my while.

Because, in the end, isn't it the great character interaction scenes that we think of when we look back on CoIE? Hawk watching Dove die while saving a child, Supergirl and Batgirl talking on a frosty rooftop. Those are the moments I remember from the series. They were short (often less than a page) and sweet. I know comic writing has changed since the 80s, but this book seemd a lot more sluggish.

My biggest problem with Infinite Crisis, though, is that it seems to be mainly preoccupied with the disintegration of the Supes/Bats/WW relationship. I just don't care. I know those are the three icons, the "Holy Trinity" of superheroes, but I'm not in the least bit interested in watching them argue for five pages in the rubble of the Watchtower.

Furthermore, Batman's "the last time you inspired anyone was when you died" line, while a really good burn, was nonsensical. Are they trying to retroactively change our perception of Superman's role in the DC universe? Sure, he's been kind of a lame duck for a year or so, but I blame that mostly on the fizzling of the Azzarello/Lee run. And hey, did that story even happen yet?

Sigh. I think I liked much of the rest of the book, I'll admit. The Freedom Fighters bit was fun, until they got massacred.And did anyone else think for a second that the Spectre had absorbed Batman at some point? No? Just me? Okay.

The Connor (Superboy) stuff was just bad, though. He's so "depressed" that he just sits ther all day watching tv news while his best friends fight for their lives? That's lame. And then he gets up...starts to pull off his shirt, revealing the S... and then someone on tv mentions the name Lex Luthor, and Connor gets bummed out and sits back down on the couch.

In future issues, I'm hoping for a lot less Big Three bickering, a lot more great character moments from the lesser lights in the DCU, and hey, if you're going to clean house and off some characters, at least try and give the deaths some poignancy. I guess they tried with Uncle Sam (if he's dead), but it just fell flat.

This book did prove to me that it doesn't matter which title it's happening in, I just don't give a crap about the Rann/Thanagar war.