Where's Teatime Brutality when I need him the most?

Its Friday, October 15, 2010, I fancy a cuppa, and this is The Side. I'm a bit behind of things, but no matter, still got stuff for you, I just which it was more. Just like I which my Brit Brother was still on his blog because I'm sure he'd be able to shed some light on Paul Cornell's latest undertaking. That's the thing with the British, their accents make them sound smarter than me even if they're spouting off complete hogswill. And also they sound funnier even if I don't get the jokes.

Not that I want to be British mind you. Seems like a nice place to go visit, but our food is much better.

COMIX!!

Its one of those weeks where everything was a lot of fun, making it really hard to pick a read of the week, so I'll just say everything was awesome, including Mike Fedaerali over at Comic Kings for hooking me up this week.

Let's start with something new, KNIGHT AND SQUIRE #1 came out this week. This book has a major problem and its right on the cover. That problem is that this is only going to be a six issue limited series. The book itself is a hoot and brings in a very strange Britain into the DCU making me would with the rest of the superhero community, aside from Wildcat who has nifty little guest role, know exactly what kind of stuff goes on over there. The issue is primarily world building, but the world is so damn weird I feel like a tourist on vacation. Fortunately Jimmy Broxton takes the pictures for me, so I don't have to worry about that. This book is loaded with oddball character courtesy of Paul Cornell. Most fun of the bunch is Jarvis Poker who is the British version of the Joker, who loves the Joker's fashion sense but can't bring himself to commit any of the crimes. This book is loaded up with enough British slang that I need Richard over here to translate. I watched 20 hours of BLACKADDER, THE VICAR OF DIBLEY, and SNATCH and still had no idea what most of them were saying up. I think Cornell just made most of it up and that its all about penises. More great mysteries to add to life.

Moving one to the BATGIRL one shot, which is a "Bruce Wayne, The Road Home" even though Bruce isn't home quite yet despite what David Hine would have you think. I don't know why is is released as a one shot instead of just being a regular issue of BATGIRL aside from maybe hoping for a sales boost. Its a lot of fun as Steph has to deal with the return of Bruce and wanting to stay Batgirl no matter what Bruce wants. Bryan Q. Miller does a geat job in making Steph extremely likable in every issue, and this is no exception. My only regret is that DCU didn't release things in a proper order. Seeing the future is nifty, but it takes away a bit from the present when dealing with stories like the current Bat-epic.

Speaking of Bat-epicy things. GAME INFORMER magazine had in their November timeline feature:

"DC Comics can't find a solid direction for Batman."

This was quickly followed by a bit of a revelation as the reviewer gave away a bit that explained the previous statement;

"...penned by Grant "I Write Confusing Stories" Morrison..."

And let this be a lesson to you all. If you're too dim to realize that a story has a difinite direction and has had one for a few years now, but want to say otherwise because you're too dumb to understand what exactly is going on and are too stuck on yourself to ask, you shouldn't be reviewing anything for any publication. You belong on the internet.

This of course brings us to BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #5 with Bruce Wayne right where he belongs: in the middle of a detective story. He's bringing together a lot of clues and more is revealed as he investigates a murder. And that murder is that of Martha Wayne. This story brings back the whole deal with John Mayhew and the Black Glove movie that came up waaaaaaaaay back when Batman was trapped on the island with the Club of Heroes. And sure enough, there's Doctor Hurt, looking just he is now. This issue touches on something else we saw back in R.I.P. in that the Wayne reputation is under attack as well as the man himself. There's bit about reputation as it applies to the self. Its interesting in that how people see you is a good gauge of your own character, so if you change how people perceive someone do you change that someone? Its an old school attack, but this story brings a cool new twist to it.

THE CHILEAN MINERS

The Chilean miners that were trapped deep underground forever and day are now free. There was much weeping with joy. Constant news updates went out around the world. It was pretty much THE news story going on. I haven't talked about it on here until now. Its not for lack of caring, because I've been following this story. My grandfather was a miner. My grandmother's first husband was a miner. The first husband died in a cave in. My grandfather got his back broken in one. So I do really appreciate the risk these people take in this profession.

This story says a lot about people. It shows that no matter how much media will tell us about people being horrible to each other, we can still find people that will band together. When you hear about a bunch of guys going 17 days on 2 days worth of rations, it sounds downright miraculous. And these guys weren't perfect. I heard one guy started digging deeper when he found out his wife and mistress showed up at the site to show their support.

Are they heroes?

Maybe to some people. What they endured was extraordinary. I find their resolve pretty valiant. Circumstances like this will either bring out the best or the worst in people. This one brought out the best.

And we can't forget the amazing rescue effort. These guys would have been goners had this happened back when my grandfather was mining. Nice to see some technology that isn't communication tech being put to use.

So, to echo pretty much everybody else who has commented on this, congratulations to the rescue team, and glad to see the miners have gotten out safely.

MUSIC!!

Don't think is qualifies as posh, but oh well.



That's it for today. See y'all soon. Cheerio.