For months I've been working diligently at this here new job with the combat training, fast driving, bomb diffusion, alligator wrestling, and chemistry classes. And it seems the big boss has taken a notice, even if he's off to Japan with his ladyfriend recruiting new assets.
I get a nifty letter in my inbox, personally signed by Mister Wayne, saying how happy he's been with the work I've been doing and progress I'm making. It also names me Batman Inc.'s first employee of the month. I'm obviously honored that Mister Wayne would take note of my work, and he's obviously looked past me impersonating him at Chik-fil-A.
This is a great step up from my previous job. Determining "employee of the month" had an entirely didn't criteria there. You probably don't want to know about that.
COMIX!!
Let's kick this off with SECRET SIX #28. Gail Simone wraps up her "Secret Six versus Secret Six and Jungle Land" storyline with massive carnage and a giant snake thingie. I've enjoyed this storyline a bit because its brought some characters to the table that needed some attention. The roster expanded a bit which may be a tad awkward, but I'm confident Simone can make it work. My favorite part was at the end. Gail Simone had a great run on the comic THE ALL NEW ATOM which I loved, but have somewhat mentally blocked out because of how horribly the title and character got treated after Simone left the book. It was pretty deplorable. But two prominent characters from the series, Gianta and Dwarf Star, have popped up in the expanded Six roster. At first I just figured that this was a good excuse for Simone to use the characters. Then came the ending of this issue. I think Ms. Simone had a bit of steam that needed venting, and that bit made this book my read of the read.ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #13 hit this week penned by Paul Cornell. It was just two days ago that it was a big ol Cornell love fest up in here. Obviously I was looking forward to this issue. Unfortunately, I felt a little let down. The issue delved a lot into the history of Lex Luthor. Seems that history had a lot to do with Darkseid and Ra's Al Ghul. I get that Cornell is painting a portrait of Luthor as exciting and interesting long before Superman came on the scene, but I wasn't really digging this twist on his history. I loved the idea of Luthor showing up in metropolis with hardly any money, but determined to stay in nice places that he was confident he would be able to afford given a day. Then things twist a bit and the Darkseid stuff gets brought in, and as much as I dig Darkseid as a villain, the whole thing felt off somehow. Not a bad comic, but I didn't really dig it.
Finally we have BATWOMAN #0. I like this character. I love what Greg Rucka did with her in his run with the character in DETECTIVE COMICS. However, Rucka isn't on this book and his absence is sorely felt. Artistically the book is interesting splitting the art between J.H. Williams III and Amy Reeder. I prefer Reeder's art personally. Lovely stuff. The writing is alright but I have a serious gripe with it that's entirely personal. The story revolves around Batman investigating Batwoman to access her fighting skills in one story segment and verifying her secret identity with another. My gripe is entirely martial arts related. During the fight accessment Bruce notes "But she's only using three different fighting styles." I hate that crap. "Only" using three? Three is a lot actually. Claiming a character has mastered tons of different martial arts is just silly. It takes a lot of time to properly train in different martial arts, so three is actually a good number to versed in, just ask any competitive mixed martial artist. Then the more ridiculous bit that came later. "The move she uses doesn't exist in any fighting styles I've studied. It's something she invented herself." I'm sure if I was a lot more ignorant of hand-to-hand combat that would sound cool, but this just has me thinking "Wow, I figure Batman would have at least heard of Capoiera." Note to everyone, there are no knew moves or techniques. Every way a person can hurt another person hand-to-hand has been done, most likely in multiple styles from various places around the globe. So for me, the book looks very pretty, but the writing was kinda lame duck. I'll probably grab the first proper issue of the book just to give it a fair shake, but I'm not terribly optimistic about it.
THE BOMB DIGGITY!!
Bit of drama going on at the local college as a couple of students were trying to make stuff blow up behind their apartment complex and the neighbor called the cops. These dopes were trying to makes bottle bombs with household chemicals and such. There's multiple stupidity going on here.First off, these two college students could make it work, and yet me and my buddies were making these things when we were barely in high school.
Second is the group of their friends who have rallied around them and have condemned the neighbor who called the police. One claims the neighbor ruined these guys' lives, but the neighbor didn't force them to attempt to make bombs now did she? What I love is the dopes who have insinuated that since that area is known as a "party area" that the lady shouldn't have moves there. OK. I know its been a while since I went to college, but in these "party "areas" stuff usually didn't blow up, and guys weren't making bombs. There's also the college is where you're supposed to learn about stuff excuse. Pretty sure I learned not to try to blow stuff up in residential areas long before I got to college. Then there's the "they were only using household chemicals" bit. You can do a lot with household chemicals. I'm not going into details, because I'm not going to be giving you people any ideas. I'm on to you.
Next up is the excuses from the suspects. First was that it was for a class project. Please tell me what teacher had an assignment that could in any way be construed as "you are to attempt to blow shit up in your back yard", because I'm totally signing up for his class. Next was that it was for a video project. That's so weak, and made even weaker in that the police found no video equipment in the apartment. Tsk. If you're going to blow shit up, you're going to want to have your story for the police ready and airtight ahead of time. Just sayin'.
And finally, I know I said I made these things successfully in high school. However, I didn't do it in a residential area. We were out in the woods far away from anybody and anything, so the only lunatics at risk were us. I certainly didn't do it in a city that hosts the largest military base and top strategic target on the east coast, and I certainly did not do it during a war against terrorists who like using improvised explosive devices. 9-11 brought an end to my bomb making days.
So these goofs are facing federal charges and possibly jail time due to world class stupidity. I am looking forward to the addition in the student handbook saying that students are not to attempt to make bombs. You'd think it would be common sense, but that seems to running in short supply.
MYTHBUSTERS?
Nothing sucks more than a militant atheist. Right on cue with Christmas coming up we get this crap. We're constantly told how we're supposed to be tolerant of other cultures and religions. That's cool, and we should be. However these atheists, who supposedly value reason, seem to think that this doesn't apply to them. So they take to attention whoring this time of year with crap like this. I suppose their propped up airs of superiority just can't stand that someone has something to believe in and celebrate, so they just have to try to tear it down to make themselves feel better. Funny thing is, typically when they go on bashing religion, usually Christianity because you can get away with it, one of their biggest gripes is how intolerant religious people are. You can actually smell the hypocrisy.
CULTURE CLUB!!
Mark Waid caught a bit of heat for a speech he gave at the Harvey Awards a while back. The gist of it was that what comic makers add to culture is more important than copyrights. So basically its contributing to art and culture versus making money. Now this upset some people because really times are tough and there a lot of guys and gals out there who work hard and want to be justly compensated for their work. There's a valid point to both sides and there really does need to be a balance found in this somewhere.
Vito Delsante seems to have found it. In the month of December you can use any character that Delsante has created in your work for free as long as you do it properly and give him the credit for creating the character. All the details on this are in the link. This is a brilliant move. First off it allows fresh talent to have a stab at his works to bring new and interesting things to the table. Also, it gets Delsante's own works out there even more thus making them more recognizable and that will benefit him later.
Brilliant idea. Wish I thought of it. Kudos, Mister Delsante.
MUSIC!!
Winter is coming fast, and this song is just awesome.
That's the shooting match. See y'all Sunday. Don't get any on ya.
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