The comments, reviews and rantings are for entertainment only. If you are offended then someone else is getting entertained. Welcome to the internet. Have at it. This is where I sound off on what I read in comics this week, and occasionally ramble about other things.
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.
Shame! Or possibly sham. Its Sunday, February 27, 2011, I've returned to you, and this is The Side. "Where was Friday's post?" you may ask. More computer trouble, but its been resolved. I thought about posting up some stuff on Saturday, but it would have been more rushed and half-assed than usual, so I figured I'd wait.
Alright, time for a shameless plug. I like video games, but I'm not super up on all the news and details. Lately, I'm playing more older games since they're cheaper to get a hold of and i don't have the latest systems. So if you're looking for some video game news and articles, go check out my buddy Joe. You'll be glad you did.
BEATIN'S!!
The UFC last night proved three things to me: you don't ever want to get punched my Mark Hunt, Michael Bisping is an asshole, and Jon Fitch can't catch a break.
The main event last night was disappointing and not because of the fight. After seeing Michael Bisping blatantly throw a completely illegal technique and then go on to win I was a bit soured. However, then out comes Jon Fitch to some sweet Johnny Cash music. Much has been made of him coming into this fight, mainly due to him adopting a new diet which is pretty much a vegetarian one. He's been a dominant fighter in the welterweight division. And now standing between him and title shot is the former champion BJ Penn.
Fitch might look like he should be in a van with a Great Dane and some other kids out solving mysteries, but he's the real deal. He battled a very tough Penn in a grappling war the first two rounds, and then beat the crap out of him in the third taking the fight to the a decision. The Judges chose poorly and the fight was declared a "majority draw" meaning two of the judge called the fight even on points while the third said Fitch won. Even Penn said that him getting a draw in that fight was an act of the gods and he thought he lost. Fitch was very disappointed but his attitude about it was outstanding.
His stance is that its not his job to decide who gets a title shot. He's there to do his job and that job is to fight. He's said that if he hasn't convinced Dana White, the UFC and fans that he should be the number one contender to the title then he hasn't been doing his job right.
No excuses. No whining. Hard work and dedication. That's what I like to see. Does Fitch deserve a title shot? Absolutely. Will he get one? Probably, since he's not going anywhere, looks better than ever in the ring, and is patient enough to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal.
DIRTY LOW-DOWN SHAME!!
With me being knocked offline for a couple days I spent my mornings before work watching the morning news shows. I got to see some true stupidity. The big news was that blogger who got an interview with the Wisconsin Governor by posing as someone else. Pretty lame stuff considering the Governor said the exact same stuff in a press release a couple hours later. But this was apparently some kind of brilliant ploy against the Governor. What was the monumentally dumb part was they played a portion of the phone interview and the Governor said that since certain state senators are literally in hiding to avoid doing their jobs then he was going to stop the direct deposit of their pay and take the checks and lock them into the desks of the senators, so if those clowns want to get paid they better show up for work.
At this point the dim anchor woman said how horrible it was to even suggest that those state senators be locked to their desks. Not surprised she got confused as she does tend to get confused easily. Fortunately there a guy on the same show who is actually quite brilliant and pointed out her mistake. Unfortunately as he attempted to explain why the Governor is correct and the protesting unions are not the show conveniently ran out of time for that segment. Nice.
But yes, the bill is working its way through limiting the collective bargaining abilities of public unions in Wisconsin. Democrats were chanting "Shame" as it passed. Of course they're pissed. This directly affects them. See, this is about public unions. These unions are made up of people whose wages are paid by money from taxes. The heads of these unions donate money to politicians from union dues. Doesn't really matter what the rank and file union workers want, they don't have much say in the matter. Unions is Wisconsin donate a disproportional amount to Democrats over Republicans. The Democrats are pretty much in the Union's pocket as they know which side their bread is buttered on. So yeah, the Democrats are pissed because they couldn't stop this bill which would decrease the power of public unions. The whole reason this is going through is in an attempt to balance the state's budget. It doesn't cut anyone's pay or take away their pensions. All it does is put a check on the power of unions. The unions don't want it. The Democrats they gave money too couldn't stop it. So they're worried they won't be getting their hefty union donations come election season.
Yeah. That's a damn shame.
Its been such a crazy week with everything in politics. Protests are going on in a bunch of countries against their governments. Libya is completely nuts right now. I have to wonder if our Pop-Star-in-Chief isn't trying to get himself impeached with his declaring law "unconstitutional" and refusing to defend them. He was supposed to be the one with all this understanding of the world, and the world is going apeshit on his watch. Not his fault, mind you. There's nothing he can really do about it. But between that and his old lady giving him grief about her crusade as First Lady to fight obesity, I wouldn't be surprised if he's considering saying "Fuck this! I'm out of here, and going to go get myself a cheeseburger." So, he's doing a bunch of dumb stuff that Presidents can't do and hoping to get tossed.
Its just nuts. Fortunately, good old Virginia is trudging on fairly steadily. The only political uproar here is if our Governor will be on the Republican ticket as Vice President if he gets asked. Amazing how our budget is manageable and this being a right to work state. One hell of a coincidence.
Politics. It really is like a contact sport.
THE LATE MANNY FRESH
Manny Fresh is dead. That's the reports coming in via The Mike and Bob Show. Manny went out doing what he loved but also proved that masturbation and gun play are never a good combination.
But is there more to this story? Manny Fresh had his share of foes. They struck at him through Twitter, but Manny masterfully shut that down. Then came "Cupcake" who also approached Manny via the internet and attempted to lure him to his doom with the promise of weird sex while simultaneously trying to drive a wedge between Manny and the Dudes. Yet, still Manny persevered! But now it seems he has fallen, and while it appears to be accidental, I wouldn't rule out foul play. This could have been staged and Manny's body could have been left in the state that it was to try to shame his memory. However, it was Manny, so there's not much that could be done to shame that memory.
Could this secret cabal that was attempting to destroy Manny Fresh have finally succeeded? Is Peter Criss Mask somewhere out there oddly laughing at Manny's demise? Has Manny really been sent back through time and is being hunted by a metaphorical curse machine? Will be one day return to form Manny Fresh Inc and train Manny Freshes around the world?
Only time will tell.
COMIX!!!
I'm going to start this off on a serious note. This week we lost a really great talent. Dwayne McDuffie passed away due to complications from a surgery. You're probably familiar with is work. He's been a writer in comics for many years. He's done a lot of work with the DC animated properties. I even scripted the Justice League Heroes video game for PS2. McDuffie was a writer that you could trust to deliver. He didn't get the recognition that some of the writing "superstars" get, but when he's mentioned you're not going to hear much of anything bad about his work. And this is good. This is a fellow who will live on through the amazing body of work that he produced in his life. The day that he passed the animated feature ALL-STAR SUPERMAN that he wrote was released. I wasn't planning of purchasing it, but I am now. Not so much as a tribute, but as a fan who now has a greater appreciation to a talent that was taken from us to soon.
On to some actual reviews, and this week's book were really great. Starting the ball rolling with DETECTIVE COMICS #874. Earlier in the Snyder run the book was split with half of it following Dick Grayson and the other half following Jim Gordon. That format got dropped to complete the Grayson story, and now that its wrapped we pick up right where we left off with Jim Gordon and his son. When I was picking up my comic the guys were discussing Luke Cage and how that fella eats a lot. It seems that there's a lot of appearances with Luke Cage eating. So its funny that the first issue I read this week opens with a diner scene. Its brilliant. Its so tense that it palatable. Brilliantly written and the artwork by Francesco Francavilla is incredible. Grayson is indeed here and dealing with the after effects of his battle with The Dealer. Fortunately he has Red Robin to back him up. I always liked reading these two teamed up. It does seem weird that in the field Tim is referred to as "Red Robin". It just doesn't sound right, but that's just how it is now. Great issue front to back.
Moving on to another Red Robin appearance over in TEEN TITANS #92. Georges Jeanty pencils this issue, and i like his work, but I was really amped to get my Nicola Scott fix. After a few deep cleansing breaths I dove in. With everything going on with Calculator the story was mainly about the team preferring to have Tim with them than Damien. I understand it since a lot of the team has a long history with Tim. These are his best friends. It makes sense that he's with them now that his quest to find Bruce has been completed. However, I prefer the team with Damien on it. J.T. Krul really made that dynamic work and I was eager to see how this was going to play out in the long term. Looks like we'll never know. Something that was bugging me was the deal with Kid Eternity. He got snatched like a year ago and it seemed like nobody noticed. Well, they certainly noticed now.
Over in ACTION COMICS #898 Hairless Lex Luthor takes on his old Orange Lantern ally Larfleeze. Paul Cornell and Pete Woods are nearing the end of this story which has just been completely stellar. Just when you start to really pull for Lex Cornell reminds us of what a complete bastard that he is. The end of this issue has a huge reveal about Robo-Lois which had me smacking my forehead and wondering how I couldn't have seen that one coming. We knew she had an agenda separate from Lex's and that she was working for someone else. Now we know who and this has me itching to see the next issue.
ATOMICA #5 turned things from a light-hearted romp to a nasty chain of events. After talking with a counselor about her Amnesia, Rose discovers that Professor Colluns is missing! The hunt for the good Professor leads out plucky heroine straight to one Dr. Astray. Ted Astray is still a nasty opponent and fairly creepy, but the creepiness gets upped with his parting warning "Beware the Metavore!" I don't know what a Metavore is, but I'm damn sure bewaring it. I have to wonder if this has a connection with Atomica's past and if this is the "big bad" that Astray is working for. Hopefully we'll get more answers next issue.
MUSIC!!
I'm a general fan of there domestic policies concerning boggy marshes.
That's the whole nine yards for today. I'm ready to go back to bed or start a coffee IV. Money's on the latter. See y'all Wednesday.
Bah and Cripes! Its Friday, January 28, 2011, I'm sore as all get out, and this is The Side. I work a lot. This week had me amazing my way into the upper level of a hundred year old house. It was tricky getting up and once there I had to be careful as it seemed the last person to do so misstepped his way right through the dining room ceiling. Not much was found up there, but one thing I came across was a letter from a lawfirm discussing a bill to whoever had lived there and mentioning "tough economic times". I figured the letter must be pretty recent and them I found a date on it. "June 6, 1995." Man, if they only knew.
Fortunately, I'm working steadily which lead me to be crawling under a house for the better part of a day yesterday, which is why I very sore today. I hate crawling under houses. Its not so much claustrophobia as it is know what tends to be under houses. I know there were mice and probably rats under there at some point. I dread the thought of disturbing a snake under one. There's no where to go. Crawling past the vents and pipes is very slow going. So while I was re-pinning insulation and heard something right next to me and quickly turned to see two glowing green eyes staring back at me I was understandably not pleased. Home owner had a wiener dog. Wiener dog found my access hole. Wiener dog decided to see what was going on under the house.
Wiender dog is damned lucky I didn't brain him the flashlight when he barked at me.
COMIX!!
Let's start this party with ACTION COMICS #897. I'm officially sick of David Finch doing the voers on this series. Pete Woods is an outstanding artist. He has absolutely shined on this series. Finch can stay on his series BATMAN: THE DOUCHE KNIGHT and everyone will be happy. That gripe aside, this issue was outstanding. Lex has a meeting with The Joker in Arkham Asylum continueing on his quest. This Joker presents himself much like "Gravedigger Joker", clever, manipulative, and capable of appearing rational. The level of manipulation here is absolutely amazing. There's a game inside a game inside a game. Luthor has to play Joker's game to get what he wants. Joker knows there's a bigger game afoot. Everyone is playing their part, but the only one not in on things is Lex. Robo-Lois has gone from scene stealing sidekick to pivotal player in this entire affair. This entire run by Cornell has been amazing. If the payoff at the end of this arc is lives up to how good the rest of story has been this going to be one of handlings of Lex Luthor that all others will be compared by.
Over in TEEN TITANS #91 J.T. Krul and Nicola Scott are really putting together a great run. Krul isn't falling into the familiar "writing Teen Titans" crap stories. There is no villain from from the past. Raven isn't in danger nor the center of the story. This is a new villain and the Titans are in this fight up to their necks. Robin and Ravager have a great scene. Krul continues to make Kid Flash cool stuff. He manages to give the character's past a definite nod without lingering too long. Solid storytelling with a lot of great action balanced by good character work. I'm really looking forward to the crossover with RED ROBIN coming up.
Scott Snyder and Jock continue to shine over on DETECTIVE COMICS #873. This book is feeling a lot like the Detective Comics I grew up with. Detective was the first series I ever collected on a regular basis. The stories were very noir even with using the superhero genre. This is much the same but more updated. What really stuck out for me was the story taking a sudden seemingly fantastic turn turn and then there being a completely logical explanation for it. The only slip up was Barbara Gordon saying that they gave Dick a coagulant to stop the threat of a stroke. That would increase the threat, she should have said blood thinner. I forgive this only because the nightmare scene that immediately preceded it was just too gloriously creepy.
Taking it on over to ZATANNA #9. Paul Dini and Cliff Chiang continue their tale of a puppet gone bad, or has he. It seems the puppet has a different story, and claims he's the victim in all this. Not a terribly convincing story considering at the end of last issue he had Zatanna tied to a bed and had a large knife in his little wooden hand. Still, Zatanna is determined to find out the truth. This issue is split between this story and one from Zatanna's younger years by Adam Beechen and Jamal Igle which was really cute. It was like Sabrina the Teenage Witch if she was training to fight crime one day. This story resonates quite a bit with me as young Zee gets her braces and I remember well getting used to mine and being turned into a walking drool machine when trying to speak as I got used to them. I'm also not quite a sure Speak and Spells worked quite that way, but I'm willing to just go with it.
Holy Hadrons! ATOMICA #4 was a really weird turn for the series. Up until now things have been light-hearted, fun adventures. This issue's story, "The Return of Dr. Astray" had things take a sinister turn. The Doctor in question is Dr. Ted Astray whom we are are told is an old colleague of Dr. Colluns. We get a glimpse of the horrible lab accident in which he died in a flashback. Now he's back thanks to an interdimensional wormhole thingie and he attacks Doctor Colluns and Atomica. the nasty twist comes when Astray reveals that he's working for some interdimensional big bad and whatever it is has some connection to Rose. Fortunately instead of angsting over what this connection could possibly be, Rose serves up a buffet of her "Atomic Power Punches" and sends the undead Doctor packing. Very odd twist to the series, but I guess it could lead to answers about our mysterious heroine.
MUSIC!!
While not a huge Billy Joel fan, he has done some great stuff, and this song is really good.
That's it for today. Everyone have a good weekend. Stay out of trouble. Wear your seatbelts. All the stuff. See y'all Sunday.
I'M BACK! It's Wednesday, December 1, 2010, gravy runs thick through my veins, and this is The Side!
As yes, Thanksgiving. It was a time of much traveling, spending time with family, and eating until I thought I would explode. The traveling was long, but the scenery was pretty, and also laughable as a big billboard in West Virginia read "What Would Jesus Do? Start over. Single Payer Healthcare. Everyone in. Nobody out." This sign was brought to us by www.bunch-of-morons-who-want-the-government-to-take-care-of-them-instead-of-being-responsible-for-their-own-lives.org and I'm also pretty sure Jesus wouldn't be advocating socialist solutions to healthcare problems. He'd probably be doing the laying of the hands bit.
Once there I got to relax and attempt to enjoy the Macy's Parade with the kids, which I finally did get to see all the neat floats and balloons after NBC shilled all their shows I don't care about, and a performance from every show that is even considering performing on Broadway. That's except for the Spider-man show which would have performed, but the actors got stuck up on the wires and couldn't get down. When did the Macy's Parade start sucking?
GETTING BETTER?
There's a social project going on to support teens of various sexualities against bullying called the It Gets Better Project. This features messages from adults aimed at teens of various sexualities to let them know that even though things suck for them at that moment, if they just hang in there that things will improve. They want bullying to end. Unfortunately, bullying will never end because there's always going to be some kid who is pissed off at the world and has enough weight behind him to push it around. Also I'm not seeing a big improvement in parenting across the boards so kids who think its OK to beat the crap out of other kids for whatever reason will occasionally spring up. Still, as far as activism goes its a damn sight better than it idiocy that is Feminist Hulk.
The thing is that things don't just get better for most of us. Gay kids aren't the only ones getting bullied. In fact if you go to most teenagers and get an honest view of life from their eyes, most of them are going have a pretty sucky one. Even that kid at school who's the most popular one there and everyone loves them has their own crap that they have to deal with on an everyday basis. You may not see it, but its there. I had a pretty easy go of things when I was teenagers, and I thought that things sucked for me. Have things improved, or gotten better, now that I'm an adult? Of course not. There's now different things that suck. I don't worry about bullying, partly due to being able to throw a hell of a punch, but because there's bigger things to worry about like paying bills and making sure that my family is alright.
Your current situation is temporary, unless you are dead, and in that case, disregard this message.
The choices you makes are what are going to decide whether or not things will get better. Bullying can indeed be the very least of your problems. And it is a problem. I'm not saying that it isn't, or that whatever is making any teenager's view of life a sucky one isn't a completely valid reason. But its something you can deal with. Bullying can be dealt with. The site also says that there are LGBT youths who can't imagine a future for themselves. Seriously, that's most youths, not just the gay ones. Sometimes that's not even them being depressed about something. That's just being a teenagers and the concept of being a 'grown up' is like a make believe thingie.
Jay Medicine Hat told a story about being stuck in traffic in some city in Colorado. It was snowing and cold as hell and he and his buddy are bitching about the whole thing. Then they find out why traffic is backed up. A guy in wheelchair was trying to get across the street and got stuck in the snow. People are yelling and honking their horns at him. So Jay and his buddy get out of the car, and pick up the guy in the wheelchair and get him over to a sidewalk in front of a hotel where there was no snow. The guy looks up and says "Thanks, fellas, I thought I was going to be late for work."
Life sucks. Complaining doesn't help, but it can make you feel a little better. So after you vent, go out and do what you can to deal with your problems and make your life a bit better. It may take a while and there's no guarantee that things will be great, but it sure as hell beats the alternative.
MAKING IT BETTER?
The area I live in is often referred to by people who think they are cool as the "7 Cities". Well some of those cities are not quite a desirable to live in as others. Sure there are nice places to live in every city, but when the "murder report" comes on the news every night certain places tend to get more mentions. I've worked in all these cities, and one of them has an area that's quite a bit worse than the others. Typically, when the sun starts to go down, you better be in your truck and heading in the general direction of the fuck outta there.
I come to find out that a building I've worked on for years doing things like fixing leaks because when you fire a gun into the air the bullet has to come down somewhere, is going to be demolished. I am here to say that demolishing this building will be an improvement. The interesting part is that this area will be the start of a new "town center" which will feature upscale restaurants and stores. So they're hoping to take one of the crappiest areas around, put a bunch of really nice stuff there, and hope that its such a good influence that it spreads making the whole area nicer. They're going to need a lot more cops out there.
They did do this in another city which was one we left quickly when the sun set. This was a bit smarted in there cunning plan as instead of starting as an oasis amid a desert of just horrible crap they started on one end to town and worked south. It was like a slow moving wave, but it worked and now about half of the downtown area is pretty decent. It does seem weird when you get to the invisible line where the restoration ends. They built a nice little Kelly's Tavern, and two blocks away is where a guy threatened to shoot me for being white in the wrong part of town.
So will it work? Damned if I know. I'm just waiting for the city to start knocking down the crap out there and seeing the residents on TV complaining how they're tearing down historical stuff.
COMIX!!
It has come to my attention that Paul Cornell is slowly but surely taking over the DCU. I fully support this. He jumped on BATMAN AND ROBIN #17 with Scott McDaniel and gave us the opening to a fun little three parter. I'm not terribly sure about Damien smiling so much, but this book was so much fun that I could easily look past it. This book has Dick and Damien working on a mystery and having a grand time of it. Its obvious that the book has moved on from the Morrison epic as there's no hint of the previous storyline here, although it could be argued that the "hole in things" has changed zip codes.
Moving over to more Cornelliness in ACTION COMICS #895 Vandal Savage has a bone to pick with Lex Luthor. It involves a nasty old prophesy and stuff. I'm not a big Vandal Savage fan. The whole thing with him being Cain was kinda weird, but this version works pretty well for me. It wasn't a huge funfest like the last view issues, but it was still good stuff. Robo-Lois is always a treat. The Jimmy Olson back-up was really great as well. It hadn't really been clicking for me up 'til now, but this installment was hoot. I want to go shop at Yarn barn because of it.
Moving away from the Cornelliness we have DETECTIVE COMICS #871 with Scott Snyder and Jock taking the helm. I haven't been the biggest fan of Jock, but his style works really well with this story. Snyder spins an interesting mystery putting Dick Grayson chasing after a foe who is using equipment from Gotham's rogues. He handles Dick very well and the interaction between him and Jim Gordon was a definite high point for me. I'm not reading all the Bat-titles despite how it may appear, but this one is still got my attention. Its a vast improvement from that terrible Hine story that just wrapped up.
ATOMICA #3 rounds out my reads this week. This issue was pleasantly weird with Atomica fighting the Omega Neutron Identity, which is an oddball super robot that has an adaptive personality. It was supposed to be a learning program, unfortunately it got stuck in a room with a radio on a bad pop station. It then ran amuck, destroying things and chanting “raw raw raw” while wearing stupid costumes and dancing strangely. Never had I wanted anything in a comic to be destroyed so horribly. I was hoping for the big “Atomic Power Punch”, but instead I got a curve ball as Atomica pacified the thing with a combination of classical music and kids songs. It felt a bit like a bait and switch, but I rolled with it as Atomica is easily a pluckiest hero to come along in years.
MUSIC!!
That's it for today. More comic stuff on Friday. See you then. Or else.
It's Friday, October 29, 2010, It finally got cold out, and this is The Side. Time for a bit of Nozz History.
Last time we talked about age limits on trick-or-treating and how that was the norm for me growing up. I only really lived in two areas when i was a kid and both those spots had cut off ages for trick-or-treating. So where was I on the last year I could legally trick-or-treat? San Miguel Marine Base in the Philippines!
The advantages to being on a military on Halloween night are simple. The houses are packed pretty tightly together and most of those were duplexes. Also the base had security, so my parents were cool with me striking out on my own to trick-or-treat. For a long legged kid well motivated by a powerful sweet tooth, that's a winning combination. My costume was a very simple one: it was my karate gi with a mask. We had a two hour window to trick-or-treat. In that time I had covered the majority of the base and managed to load up two whole bags with candy to the point of them nearly over flowing. I still had Halloween candy all the way until the next Easter.
What got interesting was walking home and I ran into my buddy, Joe. Joe was a Filipino kid about my age who lived off base, but was frequently allowed on base to hang out. Nice enough guy, but a bit surprised by seeing me in a mask. You see, he had no idea what Halloween was. He was pretty amped to try to get my candy. That wasn't going to happen and I told him to get his own and this led to me explaining the trick-or-treating process and lending him my mask and a bag after I dumped the candy into my gi jacket. The first house was a riot.
Joe: "You are messing with me."
Me: "No. I swear this works."
Joe: "So I ring the doorbell, and when they come to the door I hold out the bag and... what do I say again?"
Me: "Trick or treat."
Joe: "Trick or treat."
Me: "You got it."
So he rang the doorbell and waited.
Joe: "I'm going to kick your ass if you're screwing with me."
But the lady came to the do, he recited his line, and bingo, candy in the bag. We hit about twenty houses. I had to explain Jack O'Lanterns as he thought there might be candy in there. But once we got back to my house, he loaded up all the candy he got into his pockets and thanked me profusely for telling him all about "the coolest holiday ever".
SPOOKY COMIX!!
Let's start with the end, and by the end I mean death, and by death I mean ACTION COMICS #894. Lex Luthor is sort of a little bit dead. As such he meets Death. As one could probably predict, he's not terribly glad to see her. In fact, the whole situation is completely unacceptable to Lex. Death is pretty understanding about it and they have a nice conversation about the matter. Despite the tag line on the David Finch cover saying "Death in Action" there's pretty much no action in the entire book. However, this was utterly riveting. This was easily far and away my read of the week. I'm not a Neil Gaiman fan, and not because I dislike him, but because his work never really grabbed me, so having his interpretation of Death in here, while novel, isn't the selling point. Its Lex Luthor's reaction to his own demise that makes this book sing.
Also, Lex is kinda a freak. Just sayin'.
Moving on, DETECTIVE COMICS #870 also hit this week. The big reveal I predicted two months ago was revealed in completely predictable manner. This was immediately followed by our bad spilling his guts about his motivation and coming off as the biggest douche ever. It felt like Hine was imitating JMS's crap SUPERMAN story with the "why couldn't you save my loved one, you asshole" bit. I'm expecting Hine to write batman walking across the country now. The story was with gory detail hitting the reader smack in the face with exactly how horrible the loved one in question died. This whole story has gone straight to hell since the beginning. Completely awful and if Hine's frankly if I see Hine's name on anything else, I'm going to pass on it. That's how bad this issue was. It turned me against a writer.
In lighter news, I grabbed up TEEN TITANS #88 because I am a big Nicola Scott fanboy. I absolutely adore Scott's work. I had dropped this title due to it being pretty damn lame, but I couldn't pass this up. J.T. Krul is the new writer on the book, and this is the first thing of his I've read. The roster has been streamlined a bit to Superboy, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Raven, and Ravager. The current Robin, Damien Wayne, is set to join up too. This book was a pretty good time, and I'm definitely on board with it for now. The characters were all likable and well handled. I don't really dig the romantic tension between Connor and Cassie, but that's because I want that coupling to work out. I also dig how Krul handles Kid Flash. Good stuff.
ATOMICA #2 hit this week. This was interesting in that the issue was split into two separate stories. It kind of gave it an old school ARCHIE COMICS kind of feel to it. The stories were pretty light-hearted fair as well. In “The Time Loop Team Up”, Atomica is up against the dreaded Captain Doom. I think his name is the most dreadful part, but he’s pretty formidable. There’s just enough plot to get us to the fight itself, something about that bad ol Captain trying to steal something from Doctor Colluns. What is interesting in here is Atomica gets saved by herself. Literally. It seems her Atomic Power Pendant gives her limited time travel powers, so she popped back from the near future to help defeat Captain Doom and after the win the one that got saved popped back in time to help her past self. Stephen Hawking would probably get up and walk if he read that one. The other story was a bit less trippy. “Atomica’s Day Out” featured her in her secret identity, Rose Lockhart, out and about in the city. It was pretty tame with her shopping and enjoying the park. She met a guy, Ray Ringer, who may or may not end up a love interest. Ray was sketching at the park, and Rose was admiring his work when I random giant spider attacked. I guess that’s what giant spiders do. It was pretty amusing to see such a calm pedestrian story take such a sudden weird twist. This issue was really a lot of fun. So far its surviving my “three issue” test.
SPOOKY MUSIC!!
Because its that time of year, I had to include something from local musician and spooky dude Lucan Wolf.
Hoo boy. It's Friday, September 24, 2010, and in a startling change of pace I'm not ready for the weekend. Got the annual Beach Workout tomorrow and I'm still putting together what I plan on teaching.
However, someone else has much bigger problems.
MANNY FRESH R.I.P.
Previously I covered a plot against local radio personality Manny Fresh. I fear things may have progressed. I'm not sure he's going to survive the weekend.
At this time he prepared to meet someone who he knows on the internet that claims to be an old acquaintance that has reconnected with Manny via Facebook. That should raise a few alarms in and of itself, but more disturbing is that Manny has not executed his normal cyber jujitsu to properly vet this person. Combine this with recent events and I fear there may very well be a conspiracy to destroy Manny Fresh.
This Facebook person is allegedly a woman who is promising the one thing that is known to have power over Manny: weird sex. Manny has accepted the bait hook, line, and sinker. But could this alleged woman be the Jezebel Jett to Manny's Bruce Wayne? Could this be part of a larger ploy to utterly destroy our BatManny? His defenses have been dropped making him quite vulnerable. In fact he heading into this weekend's activities against the very vocal admonishments of the rest of The Mike and Bob Show.
There has already been a few cyber assaults on Manny which he has fended off in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, I fear his Achilles heel. That early assault on the part of the Manny Fresh Sucks Guy could have been some early sparring to determine the extent of Manny's abilities. The moving of the radio show to the morning might be a Machiavellian ploy to deprive Manny of sleep thus impairing his judgment. And now over the last few weeks Manny has been lured into the cunning web of this e-black widow. And there's the ever present threat of Peter Criss Mask, who it the utter wild card in this equation.
This has to be one giant conspiracy. A trap that is so intricate that Manny is already caught. He just doesn't know it yet.
Will Manny Fresh survive the weekend? Will he have to call upon the assistance of his associated Hat-Club and The Silver Fox to aid him? Will he have to become the Manny Fresh of Zur En Arrg to survive? We'll have to wait until Monday to see if Manny is still on the show.
The suspense is killing me.
COMIX!!
Leading off with SUPERGIRL #56 which had our hero doing exactly what I like to see those wearing the red "S" doing: having big space adventures. Kara's off to try to save Bizarro World, which means some sweet Bizarro fun. Sterling Gates knocks it right out of the park in delivering out of the world adventure, but keeping our heroine emotionally real and grounded.
This storyline is a real treat. We have Supergirl working her way through some heavy emotional stuff. We have some really hysterical Bizarro stuff. And we have big nasty sci-fi world threatening stuff. I am typing 'stuff' a lot because my high English teacher Ms. Warren hates that word for inexplicable reasons known only to herself, and frankly none of us liked her.
This book did pull a bit of a stunt in its big reveal in that the art on the double-splash page is sideways. Well done stuff. It forces me to pay attention. That and the image is absolutely stunning.
On to LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #5 in which we have Paul Levitz working really hard to redeem the Geoff Johns creation Earth-man who I think most of us wouldn't mind seeing get his ass kicked every other issue. This title is still winning me over. Its got a lot of overcome. I don't like the circumstances in which it came into being. I don't like that some good folks got screwed over in the deal. I definitely don't like the majority of the costume designs. Still, Levitz makes it a pretty enjoyable read.
THE SKYROCKET #3 hit the stores the week wrapping up Mike Federali and Os Petroli's freshman effort. We get some more world building. The working relationship between Sam and Agent Evans is firmly established. Oh and there's a mad scientist with tentacles coming out of his back who is trying to kidnap Sam and make her wear a sailor outfit. OK, I made that last bit up. Wanted to make sure you people were still paying attention. The story is pretty solid stuff as well as the art. It could use a bit more rendering, but I think Petroli is definitely on the right track. This series has done a good job of world building and there's tons of possibilities for it so I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.
I found ATOMICA #1 sitting on the shelf today and it seemed like a good reason to give something new a shot. My pull list has been hemorrhaging titles lately. This book has stopped the bleed. It’s light fun with the emphasis on science adventure. The origin story seems almost Silver Age with a scientist, Doctor Colluns, doing some experiment. There’s an accident and an explosion and when the smoke clears we have a girl with amnesia in the middle of it with an amulet that gives her super powers. The storytelling is almost hokey, but it’s saved from that by being so earnest. Our heroine mixes it up with would-be kidnappers and seems surprised by every new power she manifests. What is very refreshing is that Rose isn’t angsty over her plight. She doesn’t spend panel after panel and page after page going on and on about her lost memories or where she could have come from. Instead she shows the kind of guts and pluck that reminds me a lot of early issues of Erik Larson’s THE SAVAGE DRAGON. Sure, she has problems and questions about herself, which I’m sure will be dealt with in later issues, but for now Rose a.k.a. Atomica is on the scene and ready to help.
MUSIC!!
With all the excited of Manny Fresh's impending demise I need a little Pink Floyd to calm my nerves.
OK, that's it for today. Have a great weekend, and good luck to Manny. Hope you're alive and still have all your vital organs on Monday.
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.
