Needing to know about comic

Its Friday, April 1, 2011, I feel pretty guilty, and this is The Side. Anyone who reads this thing on the regular knows I'm pretty opinionated, and there's certain folks I give a hard time to, but typically I don't genuinely wish ill on people. So when I found out that Lady Gaga passed away yesterday due to sudden and extreme anaphylaxis brought on by something in one of her outfits, I wasn't gleeful about it. I'm sure she'll have many devastated fans, and I hope her friends and family can find some comfort in this time of grief.

COMIX!!

ACTION COMICS #899 starts things off for us this week. We have another fill in artist for Pete Woods, which is a bit of a bummer, but Jesus Merino is pretty sharp. This is the issue that brings together everything that has been going on in this storyline. We've been treated to a highly entertaining world tour of the DCU with Lex Luthor being an incredibly engaging protagonist with his sidekick, Robo-Lois. There's been a lot of questions as to what was going on. What were this black sphere's that Luthor was questing after? What would happen when and if he got all of them? Did he know we was walking into a trap set by Brainiac? Would Robo-Lois make it out of this story, because we all really love her and hope she does? Who is Mister Mind working for? We get all the answers here. How good has this story been? I've gotten every issue and I'm still going to be buying the trade when it comes out because I want all this awesomeness in one easily to grab place.

Onward to JIMMY OLSEN #1 which collects the back-ups from ACTION COMICS and completes the story. This book came about in a weird way. ACTION COMICS was serving up Paul Cornell's Lex Luthor epic and with Nick Spencer's Jimmy Olsen story as an awesome side dish. This back up story got some press because it officially introduced Chloe Sullivan from SMALLVILLE into official DCU canon. Dc stopped doing back-up in their books so they could do their $2.99 price cap (which I'm very grateful for since I am poor white trash). So, this story was going to be collected in the issue we have this week, but since them Nick Spencer signed exclusively with Marvel. So this comic is all about things DC isn't having anymore of. Which is unfortunate, because its really awesome. I had a conversation with some friends in that we determined that we like that Jimmy Olsen is just "That guy that these weird things happen to". That's all this is. Just a complete ton of completely weird stuff hitting one guy in the space of a week. If its gotten under your radar thus far, do yourself a favor and go buy this book.

DETECTIVE COMICS #875 continues the chilling tale concerning the return of Commissioner Gordon's son James. Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla outdo themselves here. And old murder mystery with Gordon's family right in the middle of it as years later a criminal's confession may mean Jim Gordon had made the worst decision of his life. We don't see much of Batman here, but frankly that's fine. This is a double-tough detective story, and Francavilla settings the tone in amazing fashion. This is such a pot boiler. Its sedated, and well paced, but absolutely engaging. Brilliant stuff.

TEEN TITANS #93 introduces new hero Solstice to the team. Nicola Scott is back doing the pencils and its great to have her back. Red Robin leads to team to investigate the disappearance of Solstice's parents in some ancient ruins. Krul is being really good about not falling into the trap of putting Raven in the middle of every story she's involved in, and that's great. Solstice is a very nice character, but a bit of an "Anti-Raven". Her power set and open attitude make her a polar opposite, but at the same time she's very charming and a nice cast addition. Krul's definitely improved his game since last year's Arsenal debacle. Glad to see it.

Let's wrap things up with ZATANNA #11. Jamal Igle jumps on board to help wrap up the case of the murderous puppeteer. I love this guy's work. Its like this week knew i was going to be disappointed that Pete Woods wasn't on Action, so it gave me Igle to help sooth me. Paul Dini continues to please. This is really a rock solid book, and is doing a great job at establishing Zee away from ensemble casts. I'm looking forward to seeing where things will be going now that Brother Night has returned.

MUSIC!!!

Great tune.



That's all for today. I'll see y'all Sunday, and do hope that Lady Gaga can rest in peace.

Perfect, Black and Blue Swan

Get out of your mind! Its Wednesday, March 30, 2011, my brain is going a bunch of different directions, and this is The Side. The reason for my brain going so many different ways will be apparent soon considering my recent viewing habits. Fortunately, I've got a good audience to keep me rooted in reality.

ASK NOZZ DAY #3

Darren Brown had questions. I have answers.

Hey Marty, is the Uraken Uchi a fake or a nose buster?
The Uraken Uchi, or back fist, is a favorite technique of mine. It works much like a jab in western boxing. Its great for setting up combos and creating openings. It can be used as a fake or feint to try to open a hole in an opponent's defenses, but when I throw it, I'm throwing with force. The technique can work great for stunning someone. Pop them in the eye, nose, or upper lip and you'll definitely get some good results. You're not likely to get good,reliable knockout power from it, but its still a great technique. But then again, the missus put her previous sensei in a hospital with an Urakan Uchi so there's always exceptions to the rule.

How's the toe?
Diseased! Or infested. It ended up being a case of athlete's foot which I'm currently dosing and hoping will go away soon. Looks like I'll be wearing shoes to the dojo for a while. I think One spot on my toe got rubbed raw when I got sand in my work shoe and had a hole in my sock. From there it make catching a nasty fungus that much easier. It had a hole in my mighty foot callous armor.

HEAD GAMES!!

A while back I went to the movies and saw BLACK SWAN. For those who haven't seen it, its a psychological thriller centered around a repressed ballet dancer. Its a very, very good movie and quite a head trip. We currently live in a comparative society, meaning when we experience something we automatically try to compare it something else. I'm guilty of this too. The movie I could best compare it to was an anime feature from the 90s, PERFECT BLUE. There's been a bit of back and forth as to whether PERFECT BLUE was an influence is creating BLACK SWAN, but one way or another there's a lot of similarities.

PERFECT BLUE was a complete head trip. It centered around a young pop star who was venturing into acting. Both films featured likable, sweet, young women as protagonists. Both also had their protagonists being put through a change in character. Both involve performing arts. Both have a heavy sexual element to them. I have a copy of it which I hadn't watched in probably ten years. I had a VHS player hooked up the other night and came across the old tape so I fired it up.

I do have to say that this movie is a lot more graphic than I remember. While the fake rape scene stuck in my mind, I had forgotten about the brutal murders that took place. That's another thing the two have in common: quite a bit of stabbing.

Now, this movie came out in 1997 in Japan. It was loosely based on a novel and was originally going to be a live action film but a major earthquake damaged the movie studio. Now, let's keep this time in context. 1997. The internet was still fresh and new. One of the pivotal points in this film is the main character, Mema, discovering a website called "Mema's Room" which was pretty much a blog for her. In it she talked about what she did, and shared her thoughts with her fans. The problem was she didn't write any of it. This is way before the social media boom, back when e-mail was the hot new thing.

So we've got an early version of a blog as well as a case of identity theft going on. In this respect its almost as if the movie was ahead of its time by about ten years.

The main thing the stories both revolve around is aspects of a performance have a major influence in the performer's real life compounded by hallucinations. BLACK SWAN is good with this to the point that I was questioning whether or not the mother even existed. However, as good as BLACK SWAN was at making me question what I was seeing PERFECT BLUE does it ten times better. It ratchets it up to Hitchcock levels to the point where the viewer is completely thrown barely having any idea what it real, what is imagined, and what is on the TV show Mema is on. So people really don't like being confused by the stories they're working through, and as a general rule its not a good idea to confuse your audience, but stories like this are the exception. It gives the audience a better understanding of what the character is going through.

MUSIC!!!

This is my jam, yo!



OK, that's all for the whiskey portion of your week. I'll see y'all on the foxtrot.

Radio Free Gotham

My name is Wayne. Bruce Wayne. Its Sunday, March 27, 2011, that's what i tell the people behind the counter at the coffee shop when they ask for a name with my order, and this is The Side. Alright, a few orders of business before we jump right into things.

First off, this coming Wednesday is our third Ask Nozz Day. So if anyone has any questions about anything, leave a comment or e-mail me at d.cnozz@gmail.com and I'll have and answer for you.

Second, my buddies Mike Federali and Drew Moss are getting things together for their comic release and have a Kickstarter going for it, so if you show them some love, I'd appreciate it.

And finally, I've got a working razor again so I got rid of my beard. Amen.

BATCORP

Its easy to interpret things wrong. Our preconceived notions of what we're experiencing can throw us off. This is very true with entertainment. If I told you TWILIGHT was a horror series since it has vampires and werewolves in it and you've never seen anything about it, you'd be a bit surprised when you finally got around to reading the books or watching the movies.

That said its easy to read BATMAN INCORPORATED as a superhero story when there's obviously superheroes in it. But that's not quite accurate. It's much like when Mark Waid wrote "Terminal Velocity" and when everybody expected the death of Wally West, Waid delivered a great love story. More recently Grant Morrison wrote a widely misinterpreted story. It wasn't intentionally misleading, but some of the DC staff got all excited by the notion of Batman dying in what was really part of a greater story involving Bruce Wayne's greatest triumph. So everyone was yammering about Bruce Wayne being dead, when that was furthest from the truth. Now he's on to something new. "The Once and Future Batman" epic has been completed, and now Morrison is doing something very different, and again, he's not meaning to mislead folks, but its happening.

Currently we are five issues into this new story. It began with BATMAN: THE RETURN and is continuing with BATMAN INCORPORATED. There's also a lot of tie in books. There's a bad history of books tying into stuff Morrison is doing, but not understanding what Morrison is doing thus making the whole thing weird in a bad way. But let's lay out where we are going into this for those late to this dance.

Bruce Wayne grew up. No more brooding, spiteful, keeping everyone at arm's reach because he really needs a hug and doesn't know how to ask for one. He's still the baddest sum'bitch on the block but now he's finally taking the experiences he's had and being a man about it. He has a family which he loves dearly, and has fully accepted that. He's proud of his sons. And he's doing what he does because he sees the need for it and knows he's best suited for the task at hand. Its not some dark compulsion. And his family is glad to have him back, especially now that he doesn't seem like a half crazed zealot in his war on crime.

But something is afoot. Bruce Wayne knows something is out there that is going to be very dangerous to the world. Its something subtle and secretive, not the kind of thing you can point the Justice League at and have them hammer it into submission. So he formed a "company".

Intelligence organizations have a long standing history of using business terms for going about their business. So on the surface BatCorp is planning on fighting the idea of crime with the idea of Batman. But is that all there is to it?

This Morrison, people. There's never a "that's all there is to it".

Bruce Wayne is the director of operations. He's also operating in the field since this "business" is this in start up mode.

Alfred Pennyworth is the one who keeps everything together. Without him this whole thing goes off the rails. He's Kate Cooke except not as pretty more use in the field.

Now with most intelligence firms there are two divisions. One is internal in dealing with its home turf. Defending the castle as it were. The compliment branch (which is funny to think about since they tend to be pretty competitive with one another) deals with what's going on outside of the home turf. Now, the lead story in BATMAN: THE RETURN was "Planet Gotham", but that's not really the case. Gotham City is still home base and everything that goes on inside it is a domestic affair. Currently Dick Grayson is in charge of all domestic affairs, and he's aided by Damien Wayne as well as Commissioner Gordon and rest of the GCPD.

Now most operatives lend themselves both to foreign and domestic actions since we have seen Grayson operating in France. But again we're still in start-up phase so double duty is to be expected.

Barbara Gordon is crucial to everything. Something she should be used to by now. She's the desk that every bit of information passes in front of. What's more, she has her own personal unit she's in command of to help facilitate operations. Everything goes through her before getting to D-Ops, and she's got discretion and capability to handle things herself should she see fit.

This brings us to our floater operatives. Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown are both fully vetted and have their missions to attend to. Drake is currently dealing with the Unternet situation because this is an intelligence game and having an evil internet in play makes things difficult. Brown mainly operates domestically, but will soon be on assignment to one of the foreign stations. The status of Kate Kane remains up in the air at this time. She's been vetted by Grayson and Wayne seems to approve but she's yet to take direct action for the Corp. The current case she's on is leading directly into BatCorp's affairs, so we'll likely be seeing a lot more of her soon

Now, for the foreign intelligence you can't just read the newspapers or the tea leaves. You need people on the ground. Wikileaks broke a story a while back telling everyone that governments were using embassies for intelligence gathering. There's was a bit of Oscar Mike Golf about it from folks, but anyone with half a clue pretty much rolled their eyes that this passed for news. Currently BatCorp has three stations up and running and a fourth pending that we know about. These station heads are all field trained and have the added value of a secret identity which allows for more effective intel gathering. There was some debate about who really killed Mister Unknown since Jiro laid to rest the identity along with his mentor and took up the new role of Batman Japan. He pretty much has to since his identity was compromised by Lord Death Man. While its doubtful that Lord Death Man worked for BatCorp's competition, and that wouldn't really matter since his sorry ass was shot into space, he did have a few underlings that could be gotten to.

This also makes me wonder about Nightrunner's relationship with the Parisian law enforcement. Wayne approached them directly. On the surface it seems like he wants his agents to have the same relationship and support that he enjoys in Gotham. In the back of my mind I have to wonder if he suspects corruption in their police force that may be linked to Leviathan.

Wayne has also made use of independent contractors in the past and in this endeavor its no different with him employing Catwoman to help on a case. Of course in this instance its not so much about financial compensation as it is a matter of he trusts her to come through for him.

Using superheroes as spies has been done for a quite a while, but not really like this. They have good covers, and are well trained. The public identities can actually work favorably in gaining assets as being superhero often attracts people who want to help.

We've seen Bruce Wayne in a lot of different lights over the years, but I think many of us weren't quite ready to see him as a spymaster. So as Morrison draws us in deeper and deeper into this fascinating story, keep this in mind. BatCorp is watching.

MUSIC!!

You never need an excuse for playing Elvis Costello.



Alrighty then, that'sll do it for today. Remember Ask Nozz day is Wednesday. I've had some good questions so far and would like to keep this ball rolling. See y'all then.

Batman's puttin' on a few pounds

Get in my belly! Its Friday, March 25, 2011, the hunger is upon me, and this is The Side. Came across one of those "Parents need to read this" articles on Yahoo, featuring the First Lady. Her current cause is fighting childhood obesity, which is fine. That's something I can support and do my part to get my students in shape through various and sundry methods of torture. Unfortunately Michelle Obama is still rambling on about the importance of BMI (Body Mass Index). So its nice she doing something, but unfortunately she's going about it in a stupid way.

Never go by BMI. It don't take into account bone density, muscle mass, or body fat percentages. According to BMI Shane Carwin, and Randy Couture are overweight. So we're going to tell children that their overweight based on number from a fatally flawed system? Why don't we just give them all eating disorders now and be done with it.

COMIX!!!

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4 hit this week. That's right, two issue in the same month which makes up for the lag between issues 2 and 3 for me. Chris Burnham joins Morrison on this one, and this guy can draw his ass off. At first I was a a little bummed that it was different artist, but that only lasted about three pages. Wow. Batman and Gaucho are still pitted against each other in a deathmatch to save three children. Meanwhile we have a little story shift with Batwomen, both the awesome Kate Kane and the silver age Kathy Kane whose superpower seems to have been fighting crime while supporting massive boobs. This issue is starting to tie a lot of things together, and digs up a ton of Silver Age stuff. Its got Ace the Bat-Hound in there for cryin' out loud. For those thinking "what the hell" I thought the Silver Age was all gone bye bye. That's not the case. Since INFINITE CRISIS the Silver Age has been acknowledged a lot more, especially by Morrison in his Bat run. I think that's one of the bones of contention with the Morrison haters. They like the dark 90s version of Batman, and don't want to think about the really weird bat-stories from the 50s. Morrison draws from those stories and makes really incredible stuff from them. I've hit the point in the storyline in which I've gone from just liking the story to going all in and waiting for the next issue with what little patience I can muster.

SUPERGIRL #62 was good, but I'm still wondering where Nick Spencer got to. I'm enjoying the storyline, but with this being the maiden voyage for James Peaty and Bernard Chang on this title I'm wondering if this is really the right time for a big team-up. I'm always happy to see Robin, Blue Beetle, and Miss Martian, but it just seems to me that they should be focusing a bit more on our main character. It kind of read like a Mini-Teen Titans. That's not really a bad thing as I love the Teen Titans, but it just seems a bit odd to have so many guests so soon. The truth about Alex is revealed, and he's a lot more dangerous than previously thought, and that's saying something as he was previously pretty damn scary. Its a fun ride, and while I'm a little put off by all the guest stars so soon, I can't really hold it against the book because they're all handled very well.

ATOMICA #6 hit the shelves this week. The story has been building up for the last couple of issues, but we're getting all the answers in "Atomica Must Die!" The title seemed pretty retro, and one of the things that drew me to this book was how Rose Lockhart was such an homage to many silver age heroines. Now it all comes crashing down as the Metavore, which Dr. Astray warned of last issue, arrives. Its baffling how Rose could be linked to something that consumes realities, but its all laid out for readers. It was a pretty tough read. This character is a lot of fun, but the romp may well end in tragedy. It seems for the world to survive, as the title says, Atomica must die. There's big cliffhanger as to whether or not her friends will do what they have to do to say the world, or will the love for their friend mean the end of everything. We'll find out soon enough.

MUSIC!!!

I really need to go bowling again.



That's the whole nine yards this time around. See y'all Sunday.

Whammo!

Great Caesar's ghost! Its Wednesday, March 23, 2011, my face hurts to look at it, but that's probably because I'm ugly, and this is The Side. Typically, I comment a bit about news and whats going on in the world. The problem is is that right now the news really sucks. Bad stuff is going on all over, and of course the news vultures are all over things because "if it bleeds, it leads". Makes a person not want to watch any of it, because its like a punch in the face.

Oh, you've never been punched in the face?

BEATIN'S!!!

I'm working on getting back in fighting shape and that involves blood, sweat, and tears. In fact I got to see all of those the other night. Weather was nice, so we engaged in some outdoor training. Stations were involved. A heavy bag swung from a tree. Bats were displeased, yet seemed fascinated. There were only three of us out there, but that was enough. We were rotating through stations, alternating between pounding the heavy bag and targeting pads. It wasn't long before a caught a powerful roundhouse kick in one of my muay thai pads and the force sent the pad crashing into my face.

Completely my fault for holding the pad at the wrong angle, but at the speed we were moving accidents happen. The pad itself is very solid, and not terribly forgiving. Fortunately, I rolled with the impact so it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could have been.

For those of you who have not been hit in the face, its not the end of the world. If you wear glasses like I do, they're probably the first thing you check. Wearing glasses sucks when you take a shot to the face. They tend to break, and that means first that you can't see, and second that you'll likely have to shell out the cash for new ones. The glasses were intact.

The second thing you check is your nose. Noses break pretty easily, which sucks. If your nose gets broken, there's really no reason to check, because you'll know its broken. What you're checking for is blood. Blood sucks. Its a pain to get out of your closes and makes breathing difficult. A broken or even bloody nose in a face is trouble because you could be forced to breath through your mouth. I knew the nose wasn't broken, but a quick check revealed a bit of blood. Fortunately, I'm currently sporting facial hair and that kept it from going everywhere. Expect tears. When you get hit in the nose your tear ducts automatically start working overtime and you'll shed a few tears even if the impact didn't hurt that much. this sucks because it can make your vision blurring. So a nose is indeed a good target in a fight.

You them use your tongue to make sure all your teeth and where they're supposed to be. That's why you wear mouthguards when you fight. Some of the better ones even come with dental insurance now. These same mouth guards also set your jaw forward a little which helps prevent pressure knockouts. Blows to the jaw are tricky. Sure there's the possibility of a broken jaw or teeth going flying, but there's multiple risks for a knockout. First is your head whips around so quickly that you black out. Second is the pressure point on the jaw gets popped at the correct ankle and out you go. That's called getting hit "right on the button". Third is the space between your jaw and the rest of your skull gets compressed and that's a pressure knockout, you will go night-night for that. I was awake and teeth were all in place.

Tending to a blood nose is fairly simple. Holding your head back is not how you tend to it. That keeps the blood from running out of your nose, but it has to go somewhere, so it ends up going down your throat. A quick trip to the bathroom got me a couple of tissues to help with the clean up. What you want to do is pinch your nose closed tightly and tilt your head forward for thirty seconds to a minute. that'll usually stop the bleeding. If it doesn't, then you need to go see a doctor. Bleeding stopped in a textbook fashion, but having blood clots in your nose sucks because they feel like really dry boogers and you don't want to go picking them.

Then it was back outside for some more rounds with the bag and pads, because getting hit in the face happens. You can't just pack up and go home when it does.

MUSIC!!!

Not a huge GnR fan, but I always dug this tune.



The bell just rung and that's it for this round. See y'all friday.

Jonesing for Wonder Woman

Rats! Its Sunday, March 20, 2011, I'm mildly disappointed with myself, and this is The Side. The karate tournament went well yesterday. All of my students competing placed in their divisions. First place trophies eluded us, but that's not a big deal because I'm proud of all my students because they did well. For many of them it was their first open competition and they did well again tough competitors as well as being out in front of a large audience for the first time.

I'm slightly disappointed with myself for flubbing my forms a bit. Sure I placed in both my divisions, but my rust was showing. I haven't competed in two years and that was evident. So I'll be working that much harder for the next tournament.

It was also a little disheartening to see the turn out for the event. I remember how packed this tournament used to be when I was a kid. Not as many competitors this time. I know a part of it is money. This tournament costs $40 to enter, which is very reasonable for a tournament of this size and quality. Some people just can't afford to pay that and pay for gas to drive to this event. Still, it was a good event, and hopefully will grow again in the future.

BEATIN'S!!!

So what do you do to warm up before the biggest fight of your MMA career and you very first title shot? You stop a thief. Its great for your cardio.



Jon "Bones" Jones is the type of fighter that perfect for the sport. He's recognizable, personable, respectful, entertaining, and most importantly he fights like a beast. Boasting the longest reach in the UFC at 84.5 inches he's incredibly lanky compared to many of the other fighters in the light-heavyweight division. This weight class is the UFC's thickest stacked with many of the sport's biggest names all vying for the title. Jones is 23 and has only been training in MMA for three years since transitioning into the sport from wrestling. So when he was offered a title shot when his training buddy, Rashad Evans, got injured there were doubts that he'd be up to the task.

Taking a fight against Shogun Rua is always a risky proposition. Shogun is one of the most feared strikers in the world with a long and impressive resumé. As much as I like Jones, I had a lot of doubts. Sure the kid hasn't been beaten, but if anyone was going to put an end to that streak it would be Shogun.

Shows what I know.

It was a very one sided affair with Jones using his incredible reach with his arms and legs to keep the very dangerous Rua at bay and when Rua did get too close Jones used his grappling to take him down and punish him is elbows. Jones sealed the deal in round three using strikes to the liver to crumpled Rua. Rua was tapping out as the referee was stopping the bout.

Bones Jones. Crime fighter by day and by night the youngest ever UFC champion. Kudos to this great young fighter.

WHO'S THAT LADY?

Its a pretty tough time to be a Wonder Woman fan. Straczynski's revamp of the character still hasn't gone away even though he sodded off to go do other things. This has left an unpleasant hole in my DC reading. But then I figured I could get my fix with NBC making a Wonder Woman pilot for a possible TV show. Cool, since I loved the old TV show. Everybody did, except for cummunists.

But then more and more details came out about the project. The guy who created ALLY MCBEAL was in charge. Networks were passing on the project. Still its getting pushed. Now we have a picture of the costume, which is based on the Jim Lee redesign, but with thankfully less black. No, that's not an image of someone cos-playing from a conventions, that's what Wonder Woman is supposed to look like now. Now don't get me wrong, the actress is a very attractive woman, and would probably be a great Wonder Woman, if she was actually allowed to play Wonder Woman.

The fact that a lot of networks said no thanks to this actually give me some hope. Even TV network executives have a notion of what Wonder Woman is, and they aren't seeing it. Hopefully this'll mean getting away from the JMS reboot soon and getting back to having Wonder Woman the way she should be. Honestly, from the details I've been hearing about the script this sounds worse than the 1974 TV attempt.

What does that failed effort and this current future failed effort have in common? The '74 TV version was based off the "I Ching" version of Wonder Woman in which she had no, powers, no real costume, and feminists quite upset. This current version is based on the JMS reboot in which we have a HaRdCoRe Wonder Woman who isn't really anything like he real character.

Yes, things do need to be altered a bit in adaptations, but basing entire projects on unpopular derivations or iconic characters is just flat out doomed. Ah well, I've still got my WONDER WOMAN animated feature DVD. I'm all set.

MUSIC!!!

I'm directing my feetza to Daddy Green's Pizza.



That'll do it for me this time around. I'm going to go make some coffee, and be thankful that Dana White will be starting the UFCs an hour earlier from now on.

Cornell is Selling What Tomorrow Means

OSU! Its Friday, March 18, 2011, I'm as ready as I'm going to be, and this is The Side. With so much being afoot I'm still trying to get back into fighting shape. My body has some thoughts of its own about this. Been training with my boat oar again, and I feel stronger than ever with it. I hadn't really used it for a couple years with my being out of the tournament circuit. Still, while practicing with it the other night while performing a technique that I've done hundreds of time I smacked my own leg with weapon and sent it flying out of my hands.

I wasn't hurt, but it did lay there on the dojo floor. Fortunately, it was undamaged. Still, I had to think "this does not bode well".

Can't focus on that right now. There's stuff to do, and comics to discuss!

COMIX!!!

KNIGHT AND SQUIRE #6 is the wrap up for this fun little mini-series. The Joker has come to London and has kidnapped Jarvis Poker, the British Joker. Along with that he's looking to wipe out all British Superheroes. Knight and Squire look to rally the forces and save Jarvis continuing the very clever use of media that we've seen throughout the series. One thing that does jump out at me is how differently Paul Cornell writes the Joker in this series than he did in The Joker's appearance in Cornell's ACTION COMICS. It very much follows the Morrison notion of Joker reinventing himself repeatedly. The series has been pretty whimsical, but took a nasty turn with this storyline. At the same time it still stays true to the characters and theme showing that these fun folk can get the job done even against one of the DCU's top villains.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #26 has Starro back on the march, and this time he's got a very pissed off Lobo to contend with. While it looks like he's struggling to get his act together in the face of the threat of the Main man, his invasion takes a creepy turn as in invades Rann. I'm bummed that this series is getting a axe because its rock solid and always entertains. This time around it gave me a pretty big chill with a certain splash page.

RED ROBIN #21 continues Tim Drake's battle against the Unternet. This storyline is pretty oddball for me because the notion of entering a virtual world mentally just seems dated. I almost expect old bearded Jeff Bridges to come strolling through a panel. Still, FabNic keeps me around every issue because he writes a very cool Tim Drake. His fight this issue with the Mad Men is cool. I do like that this book is playing off of some things that I dug in FINAL CRISIS, and things in BATMAN INC, but it feels like cool notions being explored in ways that aren't quite as cool as originally envisioned. Its not bad, but not as engaging as I'd like.

Let's move things on over to TINY TITANS #38. The underwater world is a strange and mysterious place, and Aqualad and Lagoon Boy discover just how strange it is. Baltazar and Franco have a bit of fun with the old TERROR TITANS series with this issue as our underwater heroes meet some underwater Titans. Despite being around since issue one, poor little Aqualad hasn't really been around all that much in the series, but he's a hoot in this. The series continues to be great for kids and fun for older fans who enjoy the parody bits that and slipped in.

Baltazar and Franco join up Mike Norton on YOUNG JUSTICE #2 which is adapted from the new Cartoon Network series. I've never seen the show, and comic doesn't make me feel like I'm missing much of anything. Its passable I guess, but its featuring Superboy, and this version of Superboy has all the personality of a chair. There's a lot more action than their was in the first issue (which isn't hard as someone kicking a soccer ball would be more action than the first issue) and not a bad twist towards the end, but first such a dull protagonist its difficult to get into the story. I really wanted to like this series, but I won't be picking up issue 3.

Let's wrap things up with 41 #2 Bob Frantz is joined by Alexander Singleton has he continues his freshman effort into comics. Frantz doesn't take the easy route with this book in that he's managing to write an ensemble cast and still make them all sound individual. Tricky for a new writer sometimes. He also let's us know something very important with this issue: these characters aren't safe. One of the team doesn't make it back from a mission and the others have to deal with that. Singleton's artwork is very tight, and he gives each character a unique look. The one thing that could be done to really improve this book is place a little intro caption by the characters when we first see them in the book. This was done in issue 1, but was missing here. Makes it a lot easier for new readers and with this being issue 2 everyone is still a new reader. Great book and I'm looking forward to issue three.

MUSIC!!!

Because my goal in life is to keep running.



Alright, big chop socky day tomorrow. I'm completing in the Petersburg Karate Open and we've got a hot UFC card for Saturday night. Expect a beatings wrap-up Sunday. See y'all then.

Brock Lesnar versus Zangief?!?

Its Wednesday, March 16, 2011, my joystick is doing a 360 while I mash the punch button, and this is The Side. So much is going on in the world right now. Libya is in a civil war. Japan is in deep trouble and working hard to recover, and that's going to take years. Our financial woes here and going to get worse with energy prices rising because out Pop Star-in-Chief won't lift his idiotic oil drilling moratoriums and think windmills are the way to go.

Makes somebody want to hit something. Or write about people hitting things.

MOVIN' AND SHAKIN'!!!

Big news for MMA fans like me. Zuffa who owns the UFC has bought Strikeforce. This brings some really great talent into the UFC roster and makes some dream matches possible. A lot of people have been wanting to see Fedor for Lesnar, and know that's possible. There's also the possibility of of Women's MMA matches in the UFC.

But there's some people crying foul. The UFC and Strikeforce were the two top MMA promotions. Some are saying that in buying Strikeforce Dana White and Zuffa have created a monopoly. It is true that the UFC is the only big show now, but its not a monopoly. There's still plenty of independent promotions around. They don't have the resources that the UFC does, but that's just how it is. Strikeforce was in a bit of money trouble. Their parent company wasn't interested in pursuing maintaining Strikeforce, and Zuffa was in a position to buy. Pretty simple. A lot of people aren't happy because the UFC has bought up a few other companies in the past and some think its their way of getting rid of their competition.

Competition is what MMA is all about. When the UFC bought the Japanese PRIDE promotion the reason was they wanted to expand their roster of fighters. The WEC was faced with some financial issues and the UFC bought them and in the bargain gained fighters in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions thus adding new and exciting fighters and divisions. The UFC is still growing, it has to because not growing and adding new fighters runs the risk of things becoming stagnant. There's a heavy demand for the UFC to do shows in other countries. Now this is a lot easier because the they don't risk spreading their roster too thin and can do more than one show per month. This is the fight game. It takes time for these people to train and recover so they can stay healthy.

Will there be another promotion that'll rise up and become the new "number 2" as Strikeforce was? Sure. It'll take some time, but the sport of MMA is based on guts, and that's not just the fighters. The promoters have them too, and a hunger to succeed. Someone will rise. n the meantime, I'll be checking out the UFC PPV this weekend.

ZANGIEF'D!!!

OK, we all know bullying is bad. Kids pick on other kids for a ton of different reasons and kids are targeted for many different reasons. So, when a kid in high school was the target of bullying for years because he was overweight it wasn't anything new. The thing is when the person who is being bullied outweighs the bully by a good hundred pounds, its pretty obvious that the bully is a complete moron.

I was on Twitter and was surprised to see "Zangief" trending. "How the hell does that happen?" Sure, I love the character from the STREET FIGHTER video games, but it just seemed so random. So i did a little investigating, and it didn't take much before a discovered "The Zangief Kid". I'm not posting the video on here because frankly, I'm not looking to get into hot water with blogger again. Seriously, YouTube was yanking down videos of this as quick as they possibly could.

For those not familiar with the STREET FIGHTER games Zangief was a larger than life Russian grappler with buckets of throws. Essentially if he got close enough to get his hands on you you could probably kiss half of your life bar good-bye.

In the video the bully approaches the overweight teen grabs him by the shirt and punches him in the face. Other students are around and do nothing. It looks like a school, but there's no faculty around. The bully tries to punch the kid in the face again and this time the kid blocks the punch. At this point the bully dances around and throws some punches at the kids belly. Well, at this point the kids springs off the wall grabbing at the bully, and despite acting like a tough guy a second ago the little weasel scrambles desperately to get away. The kid grabs the bully, yanks him into the air and slams him to the pavement. The kid them walks away as the now broken bully tries to walk on a, quite possibly, broken leg. As face is a pathetic mask of a whimpering child who had bought a ticket on a ride he could not ride.

The kid in question has been suspended from school of course, because if you are being bullied and/or assaulted in schools you aren't supposed to defend yourself at all. Hey, you may end up in the hospital, but at least you won't get expelled. If any of my students are forced to use anything I've taught them to defend themselves they'll likely get expelled. Doesn't matter if someone is beating them for all their worth, if a kid punches back to try to stop them, he's going to get suspended or expelled. They're supposed to get out of the situation and go get a teacher. If there was a teacher around then the bullies wouldn't be assaulting anyone, now would they.

So, the rules about defending yourself are idiocy imposed by pussies, but they're just trying to keep the children safe, so it should be hugs and pie all around. See, these bullies just need understanding.

No.

They need the Zangief Kid to bounce them off the pavement.

The internet has made this kid a celebrity. I haven't seen a single comment anywhere against this guy. Why? Because everyone knows what the idiots in charge don't: these little bastards have a world of hurt coming and they're past due to get it.

MUSIC!!!

The only Oasis song that doesn't suck.



That's the skinny for today. Please continue to keep Japan in your thoughts, and if you can, donate to help. See y'all Friday.

On the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami

Its Sunday, March 13, 2011 and this is The Side. No dumb lines this time around. Friday I posted up my usual comic reviews and a top 10 list which I was pretty happy with. The main thing on my mind was my kids' birthday. Then the news came in. I felt pretty douchey posting my goofy shit when there was so much serious shit going on. Some things happen and you get a real idea of how small you are. I thought a lot about it this weekend. I was distracted a bit by the birthday party and work and other things, which I'm thankful for. It gave me a lot of perspective in dealing with a bunch of four-year-olds at a Tinkerbell themed party.

THE QUAKE

I've been in earthquakes, but only minor ones. It was the variety of you get woke up in the middle of the night, everything is shaking, and you say "fuck this" and go back to sleep. The one that hit in Japan was not of that variety. I could throw up a ton of links with news on the disaster, but really all you need to do is go to wherever you get news from and it'll be there. The quake was as bad as any Japan has ever seen. The tsunami was worse in terms of destruction and deaths. People are watching the damaged nuclear reactors cautiously, checking radiation levels, cringing at the explosions, and holding their breathes while they pray the worst doesn't happen.

Japan wasn't the only country affected. We're all on the same planet, and when something so major happens its effects travel. In this case its very literal as a tsunami was sent rocketing across the pacific ocean towards the United States. We suffered nowhere near as much damage as Japan, but you have to appreciate the magnitude of what happened so far away when its effects physically hit here.

I had to explain how tsunamis function to a kid I work with. He doesn't have much of a science background. These waves are only a couple of feet high, but they're moving as sometimes hundreds of miles per hour. So when the the ocean gets shallower near the beach you get a massive swell that causes the damage. Its not some massive wave that crests over the horizon.

I live very near the east coast, and we had our tsunami scare a few years back. There was never any threat, but the local news folks needed ratings, so when the tsunami hit Indonesia they used that as a catalyst for scare stories. Scare stories are when news goons try to scare you into watching. We get those annually with hurricane season. "Are you prepared for the worst?"

So I was in no danger, but there are people I know that were. I don't talk to Kristie as much as I used to. She lives in Hawaii, and when this happened I was immediately concerned for her safety and my other friends there which I made the acquaintance of through her. Thankfully, she's safe. In the aftermath she wrote a very poignant piece about living in the aftermath of just a warning that needs to be read.

Here on the mainland the effects were felt along the west coast. One of the Vloggers I follow, Philip DeFranco, lives out there. He's very clever. He jokes about a lot of things, and can be very mocking and flippant. Not this time.



So think about the effects that are felt by the people here. Now trace them backwards. A mother calling concerned for her son, and the son reassures her he's fine. A young woman witnessing two girls making very worried phone calls, some of which may not have been answered. That's just the outskirts. That's the outer ripples of an event that changed and ended many lives.

I keep thinking about this little kid. I saw him at the Youth Butokusai back in 07. he was the youngest one in his group. These Japanese kids were doing a Kenjustu demonstration and looking like young samurai. The little guy was so young that they didn't let him use a real sword. Still there he was out there with his toy plastic sword, keeping up with the moves of his older teammates. I have no clue what his name is, and doubt I would recognize him if you showed me a picture. I remember thinking how great all those kids were, and now I'm praying they're all alright.

There's donations being taken up now for aid. Our president, whom I usually disagree with, has pledged aid and Naval ships are headed in to help. I spoke previously about the horrible NBC show HARRY'S LAW in which a judge on the show stated that Americans don't care about foreigners. The writers and producers of that show don't know Americans and the amount of love and support that's been shown to the people of Japan is a testament to that. We're in an economic crisis. People are out of work here. Families are losing their homes. This earthquake/tsunami reminds us of how much worse things can be, and still despite the tough times, we give.

Out of great tragedy can come great inspiration and hope. Pray for the people of Japan.

MUSIC!!

U2's first video, before they became overly douchey.



That's it for today. there's a lot of charities scrambling to raise money to help those affected by the earthquake/tsunami. If you can, make a little donation, or at least spread the word. Thanks.

Batman and Nathan Fillion pwn Charlie Sheen

It is the Tango of DEATH! Its Friday, March 11, 2011, I still can't dance, and this is The Side. I've been talking a bit about the Wisconsin protesters. The bill they were protesting limiting the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions got passed despite a lot of idiocy. There was a major brouhaha and a lot of morons were pissed. Michael Moore called for students to do a walk out, which of course would mean even less work for the teachers would actually cared enough about their jobs and students to keep doing their jobs.

So what will this all mean?

These teachers and other union workers will continue getting the same pay they were getting before. They'll still have their pensions. They'll still have their benefits. That is if they still have jobs, because I know I wouldn't if I fucked off for a couple weeks. But they are still union workers, so they probably can't be fired.

They all yelled as they protested "This is what Democracy looks like!" Once they stormed the capitol building in Madison. Makes me glad we're a Representative Republic. Anyone care to imagine what the news coverage would be like if it were the Tea Party pulling this nonsense?

Ah well, on to happier things.

FILLION IS BETTER THAN SHEEN: THE TOP 10!!!

Sure, Charlie Sheen is winning, but there's someone who is winning even more and without even trying. That is of course the greatest living dude and one ruggedly handsome sum'bitch: Nathan Fillion! Why is he winning more than the tiger blood fueled stud of studs? Glad ya asked!

10: My kids' top three favorite superheroes? Ironman, Batman, and Captain Hammer.

9: Nobody is trying to help Charlie Sheen buy the rights for his old TV show.

8: When the police approach Nathan Fillion its either to get his autograph, or ask him to help fight crime.

7: While Charlie Sheen is praying for the possibility of a MAJOR LEAGUE sequel, everyone else is praying for a SERENITY sequel.

6: Charlie Sheen may have a million more Twitter followers than Nathan Fillion, but none of Nathan Fillion's followers are just there waiting for him to self destruct.

5: Charlie Sheen's co-star: Jon Cryer. Nathan Fillion's co-star: Stana Katic. No contest. Sorry Jon.

4: When a girl fantasizes about Nathan Fillion when in bed with her fella that's perfectly acceptable. When a girl fantasizes about Charlie Sheen while in bed with her fella he may catch something he can't wash off.

3: The last time anyone called Charlie Sheen "Captain" he had to pay her for it, and he probably didn't remember the next morning.

2: Charlie Sheen may have Adonis DNA, but Adonis has Nathan Fillion DNA.

And the top reason why Nathan Fillion is more winning than Charlie Sheen...

1: CBS just signed Nathan Fillion to star in their new show "2 3/4 Dudes". The three quarters is Nathan Fillion's penis.

COMICS!!

If you didn't think I was going to start off with BATMAN INCORPORATED #3 this week, you're obviously new here, so welcome aboard. Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette take the action to Argentina this time for a team-up with El Gaucho. Bruce is hoping to get his old friend to join his worldwide organization, and teams up with him on a case. What really knocks my socks off is that in the last storyline we had a distinctive Japanese feel to things as Batman and Catwoman went to Japan. This time around we have the same creative team giving us a story with all the fiery heat I would expect in a "Scorpion Tango". We see a lot of parallels between Batman and El Gaucho and get just a glimpse of El Gaucho's life, and its enough to make me want to see a series about him. The highlight was Bruce's tango with Tristessa. Gorgeously drawn. I'm digging this grown up Bruce Wayne. He's not the preptime bad ass of fanboydom. This guy is a freakin' stud.

The batiness doesn't stop there. BATMAN AND ROBIN #21 continue Dick and Damian's case with a weird religious themed murderer. The White Knight is revealed and this new addition to the Batman rogues gallery is just creepy. He's methodical in picking his targets as well as in how he leaves his victims. This is a great storyline, which I expected of Tomasi. He's got the character chemistry down and has given us a case that we can sink our teeth into. Top notch stuff.

Was that all the Bat-stuff this week? Not a chance! BATGIRL #19 pits Steph against new foe, Slipstream. This story is actually a follow up to the events of the "Death of Oracle" storyline and ties in nicely to the Batman Incorporated brand. There's a bit of a new status quo emerging, with Steph getting online backup more from Proxy. Firewall also gets a major upgrade. This is a solid little story with Steph not only trying to track down and take down the new high speed thief, but also dealing with her fanboy Clance, AKA the new Grey Ghost. I really don't like Clancy, but that's on me as the old "Grey Ghost" episode of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES is one of my favorite episodes. Its nice to see the Grey Ghost in the DCU, but I'm a little ticked he's such a goof. Still, its another great issue from this really fun series.

Oh hey, about that whole "Death of Oracle" thingie, BIRDS OF PREY #10 wraps up that storyline. Gail Simone knocks it straight out of the park. I just wish that the series would get a solid artist. Since the departure of the overly exploitative Ed Benes, the art has been serviceable, but not terribly exciting. Fortunately Simone keeps our attention with some of the best writing in comics. This issue sets up the new status quo that I mentioned in Batgirl with the Birds taking on the Calculator and his hired thugs after the seeming death of Barbara Gordon. This story is a nice little reminder that these ladies aren't to be trifled with, ever. Black Canary and Huntress are utter forces of nature.

Rounding out my reads this week is ZATANNA #10 which isn't a bat-book, but is written by Paul Dini, so it still sorta counts right? This book is a bit of a sleeper. The Missus loves this title. We've seen Zatanna for years playing off the Justice League and aiding other heroes when magic cases pop up. This series gives us a better idea of Zee's heritage and the baggage that comes with it. This issue is very creepy in often a very subtle way. Is the man transformed into a puppet by Zatara really innocent? Zee takes him to her family's ancestrial home to find the answers. Its a big mistake, but one that is gorgeously illustrated by Chiff Chiang.

MUSIC!!

What was hilarious was this song hit right after "Learn to Fly" and bunch of people thought the Foo Fighters were just a nice little pop band. Suckers.



That's it for today. Sunday may be a tad light as there's two little girls who are turning four and there's a Tinkerbell themed party that I shall be smack in the middle of. Pray for me.

When suckage attacks, counter with awesome.

Jumpin' Jiminey Christmas! It's Wednesday, March 9, 2011, NBC hates me, and this is The Side. I was pretty stoked with NBC, and especially their show, THE CAPE. It's not the greatest show ever, but its really a lot of fun. They had a spiffy "create a villain" contest which I entered, and was really excited about.



But my entry didn't get picked, which kinda sucked, but the one that did get picked looks cool, so I'm alright with that. Then I come to find out that the show is getting canceled. So, they cancel a fun show, but they keep horrible, insulting crap like HARRY'S LAW. Of course they say its about the ratings, but if they showed THE CAPE three times a week like they do HARRY'S LAW then it would probably so a much different story.

SCIENCE!!

Everyone loves to be listened to. So it makes me happy that after bitching that science had stopped being awesome and really started sucking lately, I'm very happy to report that its started turning up some interesting stuff!

For instance, they've found the fossil of a nuclear reactor. That's right it seems that these did occur naturally a long time ago, which is how Fred Flintstone was able to power his TV. The Earth really is a fascinating old gal. All sorts of interesting things go on beneath the surface. Naturally occurring nuclear reactors from before recorded history. It really does sound like crazy science fiction, but there they are. Of course these are completely dormant now as the radioactive materials are long since spent.

This brings to mind a lot of comments people make that are just stupid. "How can Superman be hurt by a rock from his own planet?" Try holding a piece of uranium for a while, and see how you're feeling. "How can marijuana be bad for you? Its natural." You know what has a really killer buzz? Hemlock. Go try it, stoner.

Of course now that we know about these ancient reactors, now we know what really killed the dinosaurs: Pre-historic Geo-Nuclear War! Couldn't be a rock from the sky!

Hey, speaking of rocks from the sky, guess what they found in one? No, not Jimmy Hoffa! They found evidence of alien life! Yep, fossilized bacteria were found in meteorite. Now, these findings are still being poured over like no finding were ever found before, but its looking legit. Fossilized bacteria, and I'm glad they are fossilized as I hear Alpha-Centaurian Flu is an absolute bitch.

So its not a flying saucer or anything like that, but now we have proof of life not of this Earth. This of course has sent quite a few people into a tizzy. It shouldn't really. There's a lot of real estate out there. Somethings got to be out there. And some people are still waiting for them to show up. Of course if they do get close enough to pick up on our broadcasts, I'd expect them to flee are far from this planet as they can. I fully expect that if we do have an alien invasion, like in SKYLINE or this week's BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, that it'll be because the aliens had seen JERSEY SHORE and have a pressing need to vaporize Snooki.

And, of course, there's those people who are determined to make science suck, like the other NASA group saying that the fossils inside the rock from space are from Earth contamination. They're saying that they fossils being from space somehow implies that life on Earth didn't originate here, which is pretty stupid. Some people have some kind of weird notion that life must have originated in only one spot. Its like the notion that life spawning in more than one place is impossible. That's fairly stupid. Ah well, the findings are still being poured over, and we'll see what's up.

MOVIES!!!

Its a movie with Kevin Bacon AND Nathan Fillion!!! Kevin and Nathan! Nathan and Kevin! This is destined to be the greatest movie of all time!! OK, maybe not, it'll probably be more like KICK-ASS if KICK-ASS was funny and enjoyable.

MUSIC!!

Mumford and Sons has been getting a ton of radio airplay around here, especially on the local rock station. I don't think this tune will make their play list, but for whatever reason Dave Matthews did, so we'll see.



That's all for today. More work for me, which is cool since that's what lets me buy some comics. See y'all on the Foxtrot.

You Win, You Winning Winner!!

It's Sunday, March 6, 2011, duh, and this is The Side. I've been working every day this week and am pretty tire, and in the little amount of time I do have to relax, I'm watching some TV, and read a little. Yeah, it seem Charlie Sheen is everywhere, but I have found some time to watch some other things.

I watched "Harry's Law". If you ever want to feel like America is the worst country ever and Americans are just a horrid mob of moron, self-centered monsters, go watch this show. Sure its got clever dialogue and interesting characters, but at its heart its hardcore liberal, America bashing. That said, to the producers and writers of that show: you're a bunch of assholes and can go collectively fuck yourselves.

And I got to read that Michael "Why yes I would like gravy with that" Moore has joined the Wisconsin Union protesters in a stand against the "wealthy elite". I guess nobody told that opportunistic, money-grubbing asshole that these are public unions and they're really making a stand against tax payers. I'm sure he'll figure out some way to work this into whatever crap propaganda flick he's working on. He's probably just there for the cheese.

But with all that stuff pissing me off, there's still one ray of sunlight. And now, on with the show.

CRAZY TIME!!!

That's right. The bandwagon is rolling, and I'm jumping on. Its so wildly entertaining. Every interview has a dozen new and glorious soundbites. He's been on a shit-ton of drugs. Is living with two girls, one of which is a porn star. His kids just got taken away. Its a complete trainwreck and its the most popular show out.

And I do indeed regret my "Charlie Sheen was here" tattoo.

Dude is freaking everywhere! He says, he's "Winning" and right now, he's absolutely correct. Yes, we watch him and read about him and everyday it seems like there's some new wrinkle coming out. I've talked about him with my friends and our consensus is that he'll likely not live out the year. However, if there was ever a case of going out in a blaze of glory, then this is it.

@ForrestGriffin It's official Charlie Sheen would kill chuck Norris. Hell Charlie is the new Chuck.

However, it does make me wonder. He's passed a drug test and says he's open to taking one any time. He's invited anyone who has any questions about what goes on in his house in. He's posted videos. So now I'm curious. Typically, you have a celebrity go through stuff like this and they go straight into rehab, then they come out months later and do the obligatory interviews where they're apologetic for their previous behavior, and either they're forgiven by the public or not. Then they pop up on show TV show or worse a reality TV show.

Sheen has taken another route all together. The media is thrown off because he hasn't gone into rehab. They're doing the interviews, and he's not apologetic. In fact it seems he's batshit crazy.



Sheen has surpassed the realm of reality TV and moved onto reality media. He got on Twitter and conquered it in about a day. He's got interviewers scrambling trying to figure out what he's talking about and he's obviously just screwing with them. What if he is clean? What if he's playing off his antics and turned "Crazy Charlie Sheen" into a role. He's already plotting on merchandising the hell out of this. The TV show he's been on for years is getting canceled, and maybe that's part of the plot. He wanted out, and now he's out. Now he's walking a highwire. His only option to pull this off is to stay clean and maintain the role.

Its like Robert Downey Junior without the jail time.

Sheen has options. He can become a Downey who has gone down the road of vice, suffered for it, and refocused himself into incredible success. He can become a Gary Busey who is out of his mind and a joke preparing to be gawked at on TV. He can become a corpse. One slip and it all comes unraveled, and he's heaped an incredible amount of pressure on himself by thrusting himself in the media spotlight.

And I hope he pulls it off. I hope he has gotten himself completely under control, and is enjoying his life clean and sober. I hope he keeps this role away from his kids and separates the crazy part from the part that has to be a good father. I'd like to see him use the spectacle that he's made made himself do some good like in his offer to go to Haiti with Sean Penn to do some charitable work.

In all likelihood, this train is going to fly off the tracks sooner rather than later.

MUSIC!!!

Once I figured on writing about Charlie Sheen the song choice was obvious.



OK, its off to work for me. I'll see y'all Wednesday.

Time's Up for Secret Six!

Tick Tock. Its Friday, March 4 2011, spell check doesn't recognize the word "tock", and this is The Side. This week is rushed. Time is working against me. Its already Friday and the entire week has been a blur. It seems like I'm always on the move, either going to work, or from work to Karate, or rushing home so the Missus can make it to a meeting or class, or trying to figure out how I'm going to fit errands into this.

All that rushing and staying busy has mead the week fly by and I'm heading into another weekend. That's good right? Not really. I'm not terribly comfortable with time seeming to pass so rapidly. It makes me feel like I'm going to blink and end up old. I type the dates of these blog posts and wonder how march got here so quickly. OH CRAP, only a couple weeks away from the Petersburg Open! Will I be ready?

It all goes by so fast. All the more reason to try to fit in something you enjoy.

COMIX!!

Only had one book waiting for me this week, fortunately it was Secret Six #31. This kicks off a storyline in which a lot of things are looking to come to a head. This team has gone through a few members. In the VILLAINS UNITED series that introduced them they lost the Fiddler and a Parademon that that had broken ranks from the Apokalypse crowd and come to earth. Later during the stupidity that was COUNTDOWN the Infinity man was going around killing New Gods, and Secret Six member Knockout was one of the victims. The COUNTDOWN event was supposed to tie into Morrison's FINAL CRISIS, but did so horribly. Morrison had his idea and the lead in tried to give detail to something we really didn't need details to. There was a war of the new Gods, and many of them perished and were reborn in people of Earth. That's all we needed to know, but unfortunately we Knockout getting killed away from this war where characters are being reborn in others, so it seems she is in Hell.

Guess who has a Get Out of Hell Free card.

That card was the main point of the first storyline of the current series. Scandal Savage had, unknown to the others, and when she has a dream that seems to be message from her deceased love, Knockout, she wants to use the card to free her. Unfortunately another member wants to use it to bring back his lost friend. Team members fight amongst themselves (they typically do), but this time one of them kills another. And they have the card. So the rest of the team is going to Hell. Well, they were all probably going there anyways, but they're taking the express route. Also Scandal's current girlfriend is kidnapped from the strip club she works at.

Now, there's a lot going on here, but I'm looking for a wrinkle. Gail Simone is a brilliant writer, and has spun great stuff out the crap that has been handed her. The new Gods were reborn in humans their spirits landing in them and eventually taking them over, and a part of me had wondered what if Knockout had been reborn in Liana and she just hasn't taken her over. What if this dream message is all a trap with nothing to do with Knockout? I like Liana. She's a fun little side character, and it would be a fun twist to play with in this story. But we'll have to wait and see for now.

MUSIC!!

For the record, I've got nobody where I want anybody, so this song choice is kinda ironic.



OK, time is up for today. I know it was a short one, but I had a lack of comics and time was working against me. Happens to everyone sometimes. Here's hoping to slow things down this weekend and hope y'all can do the same. See y'all Sunday.