Electro-magna-gooperangs GO!

GOOP! Its Friday, April 15, 2011, I'm bewaring the ides of April, not sure why, and this is the The Side. Its been one of those weeks where it seems the only thing that's been going alright has been tiring labor. Bunch of other stuff just seems a bit weird an uncertain from entertainment to keeping the house in order. I like routine. I used to wish for adventure, and now having had a few with their fair share of drama I've learned that I like things nice and normal with not a lot of fuss.

Oh crap... I think I'm maturing. DAMMIT!

Time for some comics to make me feel better.

COMIX!!!

BATGIRL #20 was an absolute delight this week. I can't say enough great things about how well this series has shaped up. Steph and Wendy have the newly revamped Firewall HQ and a bunch of sweet new toys courtesy of Batman Inc. These fancy new items get put to the test as Steph takes on the Reapers' superfast flunky, Slipstream. There's still a bit of mystery in the air about the Reapers and who they're working for. I know its a long shot, but if they're being backed by Leviathan I'll be bouncing off the walls, and the "everything's connected" part of my brain will be satisfied for at least a month. Maybe two. I highly recommend this book.

The conclusion of "Dark Knight vs. White Knight" hit in BATMAN AND ROBIN #22. The White Knight is murdering the family members on Arkham inmates, and its up Batman, Robin, and Alfred to stop him. The question of nature versus nurture is raised due to the White Knight believing that the only way to make sure that the evil and insanity of the those locked in Arkham is to sever their bloodlines forever. We also get a good look at White Knight's origin. This guy is a nice addition to Dick Greyson's rogues gallery. Batman has one of the best rogues galleries of any superhero. I'm very happy to see that now that we have a new batman patrolling Gotham that we won't just be getting the same villains for him to go up against. Tomasi has a firm handle on these characters, and I'm loving his start on his run.

Breaking up is hard to do, and sometimes even more so when you're not even really a couple yet. Huntress and Catman deal with their maybe relationship in BIRDS OF PREY #11. These two characters had some sparks fly when the Secret Six fought the Birds, but with all that's gone on with the respective teams in their own books Gail Simone hasn't had much time to deal with these two and their unresolved unresolviness. Simone really did a great job here. She didn't go an easy route. This is an interesting coupling that barely has any chance at all of working out and everyone knows it, but that doesn't mean that the attraction between the two is just going to go away. On top of that Catman has gone through quite a bit in SECRET SIX and isn't same guy inside that Huntress first danced with. lot of hard choices get made, and its a damn fine read.

Starro is back on the attack and is making a run at the planet Rann in R.E.B.E.L.S. #27. With Vril Dox facehugged its up to his son to come up with a plan to stop Starro. On top of that Lobo and going knuckles to eyebrows with Smite. Its fun space action time as our heroes look to turn the tide of an invasion. I've been a fan of this series since it kicked off, and while I'm ticked that it'll be ending soon, it looks like it'll be ending on a high note.

I hadn't gotten enough weird stuff lately so it was time for Mike Mignola to fix that, and he did with HELLBOY: BUSTER OAKLEY GET HIS WISH. This one shot had a weird demonic summoning which lets us all know that we should do such things or you'll be abducted by aliens. Hellboy nearly has a close encounter of the fourth kind, which is indeed the butt thing. As for the wish of one Mister Oakley, its not fully spelled out, but it seems like maybe he wanted to be like Hellboy. It doesn't really go as planned, but we do get to see them beat the crap out of aliens.

MUSIC!!!

Not my usual taste in music, but this lady sings her ass off, and the visuals in this video are really damned interesting.



That's it for me today. I'm going to go get stuff done because tomorrow I'm going to the circus. That's probably the most adventure my delicate disposition can take.

Super-Ladies press the Press

It's Friday, December 17, 2010, everything outside is frozen, and this is The Side. I'd type more on stuff that's going on, but it all comes down to one thing. Its freakin' cold and we've gotten a lot of snow for this area for December and there's more on the way. I hate snow. Still, it could be a lot worse. I could be up in Minnesota.

Stay warm, Linda!

COMIX!!

BIRDS OF PREY #7 should come with a warning on the cover: "CAUTION: contents contain male strippers". I'm cruising on through this issue which kicks off the "Death of Oracle" storyline, there's a really cool scene with Babs and Bruce, I turn the page and WHAMMO! Great big men wearing banana hammocks and little else! Startled the hell out of me. Thanks a bunch, Gail Simone. That aside (which wasn't really a problem, but it did catch me off guard) this issue was great. Raises a question as to whether or not there's a double agent in the Birds as The Calculator is looking to yet again take on Oracle. The gals are all out having a good time for Dove's birthday, who is utterly mortified by the entire thing. Oracle and Batman have a bunch of really good stuff going on as this storyline looks to be one where things really change for the characters in a really great way. Its one of those issues where I can say if you haven't been reading this comic here's a good place to jump on board. My favorite bit in there actually addresses something that bugged me previously. In James Robinson's really awful CRY OF JUSTICE series, it was alluded to that Hal Jordan had a threesome with Huntress and Lady Blackhawk. It was a macho high five moment that I would expect from some meathead teenagers. Some friends of mind online joked that Huntress and Lady Blackhawk probably drank him under the table and he doesn't remember a thing. This issue made me wonder it Simone saw that exchange. Loved it!

Moving it on over to SUPERGIRL #59 which wraps up Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's definitive run on the book. Much like Greg Rucka's run on WONDER WOMAN, all other runs by creative teams on this book will be judged against Gates and Igle's work here. Its been that good, and their final issue is no exception. The story involving Cat Grant finally comes to a close and brings things full circle, in a really awesome way. We also get a nice Christmas scene at the end on the Kent farm with the rest of the family. I found this part to be interesting in that early runs on this title pretty much showed Kara off as jailbait. Seeing her in this issue, particularly at the end shows us a Kara who is a mature, respectful young lady. She's become the kind of character I would like my daughters to look up to. And of course there's plenty of cool action in the story as Kara spends much of it trying to track down who's been kidnapping children. Great book from top to bottom. The next creative team is very good and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do, but they've seriously got some big shoes to fill.

EXTRA EXTRA!!

I have trust issues with the media, particularly news media. There's bias there obviously, so we tend to tune into whichever news source shares our biases, unless we want to piss ourselves off them we tune into the other side. But my trust issues aren't really about bias. They mainly stem from my observation that most of the people who report news are trying to interpret life without much knowledge of how life actually is. And then there's a fact that many of the ratings-crazed doghumpers would report on their grandmothers being utterly destroyed by insane, genetically altered ferrets if they could just get the story out ahead of their competition.

When did I come to distrust the media? It was probably about ten years ago. My father was part of an Air Force reserve unit. They're an engineering unit, meaning when something needs built somewhere they deploy to do it. There was a mission in Florida in which part of the unit, not including my father, went to Florida. The mission went completely fine and they were on the way back when there was a problem and the plain crashed killing (if memory serves me) seventeen members of the unit. Terrible tragedy and a really tough time for everyone.

My father was placed in charge of building a memorial on the base which turned out incredible. Also, he was assigned a family of one of the fallen to help through this time. There was a lot of paperwork to get through which he helped with and he also served as a liaison to keep the family updated about everything going on including the investigation as to what caused the crash.

A month later the investigation about the crash concluded. In real life that's how long these things take. Its not like the movies when they rush in their team of experts and have results in a day or two. These things take time and a lot of it. So my father and the rest of the family liaisons were called to a meeting. The findings were gone over and all the questions were asked and answered. The following day, the liaisons were going to go to the families and go over everything and report the findings, hopefully to give a little closure to the grieving families.

That night, I'm at the bar, checking IDs and making sure all the drunks behaved themselves. There were about seven TV in the place and the one right in front of me had on the local 11 o'clock news.

Guess what the lead story was.

There had been a leak. The findings were not to be released to the media until all the families affected were briefed on everything. But there it was for everyone to see. A story about a plane crash over a month ago, in which the only people who really gave a damn about it were supposed to find out personally the following day. In the local news's defense it had been a slow day and they needed something concerning somebody dying to lead off with.

This lead to the next day when my father goes to the family, who are understandably upset to say the least. Why should they even talk to my father when the results were on the news? Why wouldn't they be the first to know what had really happened to their son?

I utterly seethed about that for a long time. There was once some stuff called integrity and ethics attached to news and journalism. They call that censorship now. An asshole with a website gets a hold of classified documents that he shouldn't? Well, he's got a right to publish them. That doesn't mean that he should, but it'll drive up his page views. Canadian news station shows an athlete suffering a fatal accident at the Olympics over and over again? No problem! It wasn't a close up, so that means it wasn't sensationalized enough for it so be exploiting a some poor guy getting killed.

Just because this is the "information age" does not mean that we should be able to get every last bit of information in front of us at our whim. There are things like discretion and ethics that should be drilled into anyone who wants to be a journalist or reporter. They need to know what needs to be made public and what really should be sat on. Julian Assange isn't a journalist. He's a douchebag with a website who gets his mitts on stuff he shouldn't and waves it in front of everybody because he has the law to hide behind. That Canadian station that ran that footage from the Olympics over and over and over again? That was a complete jag-off move and if they don't know it, they're complete morons. And that local news show that decided to lead with a story without considering the people it would affect or hurt? They're just assholes.

MUSIC!!

Since this week's comic reviews were all about the ladies (not including the male strippers) here's a song about more ladies.



Alright, time for me to probably go explore Ice Station Norfork. If I die horribly and freeze into a giant Nozzsicle, I'll let you know.

Straczynski's Swipey Thing

Its Friday, November 12, 2010, I'm ready to swipe something, and this is The Side. Recently, I helped change a bunch of glass in windows in another town. The client was a friend of friends we got the job done pretty quickly and everything looked great. However the client seems to be having trouble with his penmanship when it comes to writing the check to pay for replacing the glass.

This led to him showing up at my buddy's door asking his wife about a "swipey thing".

Now call me old fashioned, but I always thought it was bad form to show up unannounced at a fella's house and make inquiries to his wife about a swipey thing.

Seems the guy want to pay with a credit card as he's "moving and packed up his checkbook". Oh, well, that explains everything, because whenever I've moved, the checkbook was the first thing I shoved in a box. Shame on my buddy for not having a swipey thing.

SWIPEY COMIX!!

Seems someone swiped my copy of THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #6 before I could get to the shop this week, so my thoughts on that will have to wait until I can secure an issue. In the meantime...

KNIGHT AND SQUIRE #2 hit the shelves and was pleasantly weird and charming. BATGIRL #15 welcomed aboard Dustin Nguyen to the creative line up and is completely worth it for the three page history to the Bat-verse according to Steph. The rest of the issue is fun too. TINY TITANS/LITTLE ARCHIE AND HIS PALS #2 had all the fun and humor I've come to expect from Baltazar and Franco. When you have the bat-tusi and Josie and the Pussycats in the same comic its really hard to go wrong. Speaking of team-ups, HELLBOY/BEASTS OF BURDEN found its way into my bag and it was a lot of fun. Talking animals being cute and fighting supernatural stuff is a totally untapped market. I was previous unaware of these here Beasts of Burden, but I shall investigate further.

BIRDS OF PREY #6 wraps up the inaugural storyline for the relaunched title. There was seriously a Birds of Prey shaped hole in things after this book was swiped away from us poor nerds. Huntress takes on Shiva in a battle to the death. That alone is plenty. What I didn't expect was Shiva actually acting just a little bit like a human being here and there. Huntress doesn't get a whole lot of respect in the DCU, which I suspect has a bit to do with the outfit she's constantly drawn in, but she's center stage and being completely awesome in this book. Great stuff from Gail Simone, but great stuff from her business as usual.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #22 brings Starfire to center stage as her and a Psion Green Lantern get a hard look at what it means to be a female on the planet Psion. It was pretty harsh stuff as we see a culture in which the only reason they keep females around at all is for breeding purposes. Starfire is an excellent fit into this book which is all about the space characters of the DCU. I'm still burnt out quite a bit on Green Lanterns what with all the GL themed events recently that just served to annoy me, but Bedard has to use them. This book is about space heroes, and they are space heroes. It makes sense that they're there. The bokk continues to be incredibly solid and a great read.

SWIPEY BUH-BYE! sorta...

Previously I bailed completely from reading the comics SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN despite being a big fan of both characters because writer J Michael Straczynski took over both titles and made them both awful. The WW story was like a cliché of a cliché featuring super strong girl with no memories fighting an eeeeeeevil government agency hoping to get revenge for killing all of her people. I read one issue, vomited and promptly dropped the book, praying that this was all a dream and that somehow Gail Simone would magically return to save me. The Superman story fetured the big guy walking around looking for answers to life and yet somehow being condescending to everyone questioning his actions and seeming to have all the answers. It also featured Superman and current Batman, Dick Grayson, being utterly douchey to each other in what seemed to be a throwback to the first part of INFINITE CRISIS and showing that JMS seems to have no concept of what makes Dick Grayson tick, which seems to complete the trinity since he doesn't seem to know what it is that makes Superman and Wonder Woman awesome.



Then I rejoiced to learn that JMS was quitting both book early. I was gleeful last evening, blissful in thoughts that prayer does indeed work and then got down on my knees to get to work on the smiting of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and whoever it was at YouTube that put that James Cameron ad together which makes it a pain to watch the videos I want to watch. Makes the videos skip. I don't like it. Then I later learned that Chris Robinson and Phil Hester will be taking over the writing of SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN respectively, which is cool because I had forgotten that Phil Hester writes stuff. And finally, unfortunately, I learned that both writers would be working from Straczynski's notes. So, I suppose Bieber, Gaga, and the YouTube putz will continue to live, although they may all get boils.

JMS is going to go off to write a sequel to that EARTH ONE book I completely ignored, which is fine because the more projects like this he goes off to do the less he can infect the continuity of the characters I love with bad stories. So, it looks like I'll be staying away from SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN for a while yet, and hopefully the writers will be able to get out from under the JMS notes soon.

SWIPEY MUSIC!!

The Missus made a discovery! Guy and girl with pretty eyes and a Batman T-shirt make music! YOU LISTEN NOW!! And no you don't get to see her swipey thing.



Alright, its time to go do stuff. I need to go find my swipey thing so that I can get paid this week. Its like the world is trying to go all BATMAN BEYOND on me.

Gail Simone battles George Lucus with Jetpacks!

Its Friday, October 6, 2010, my hair is a mess, and this is the Side.

First off, 24 Hour Comic Day was last weekend. That's when creators produce 24 pages of comic in as many hours. Our good friend, loyal supporter, and all-around awesome gal Kat Hogan participated. Her project can be seen here. Go there. Enjoy. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Done?

OK, let's go.

IT'S HEADED RIGHT FOR US!!!

George Lucus announced last week that he has no more ideas in his head at all but still wants your monies. Translation: he's releasing the STAR WARS movies in theaters in 3D. This of course is great news for the dozen or so people who think 3D is awesome and this announcement makes their lives complete. The rest of the population rolled our eyes and asked "Really?"

Because its not like George hasn't messed with the franchise enough. Sure he created it, and the orginal films are awesome. Then he turned around and released the movies and updated some of the special effects. Alright, we're OK with that as long as everyone is clear that Han shot first. After that off course came the prequels, which really weren't that good at all, but we still watched them because we're a bunch of lemming nerds. We dealt with it though because "Phantom Menace" had Darth Maul, and "Send in the Clones" had Yoda kicking ass, and "Revenge of the Sith" had... had...

OK, "Revenge of the Sith" completely sucked.

But soon you'll be able to see it suck in 3D!

They're planning on rolling out "Phantom Menace" in 2012 as the Mayans predicted.

Probably by that time everyone will be completely fed up with 3D and just sit home and watch their pirated DVDs of the original trilogy. Y'know, I'm against stealing content, I really am, BUT I've watched the movies, I've watched the releases, my parents bought me a ton of the toys when i was a kid. I even got the Boba Fett action figure in the mail before "Empire Strikes Back" came out and nobody knew who this guy was or what he did, but HOT DAMN did he look cool! And I'm definitely anti-entitlement, however, for all the hard earned money that I and my parents have spent on STAR WARS I should be able to watch the version I want on the format I want.

So, I want a DVD without Hayden freaking Christianson photoshopped into the final scene of "Jedi".

That's not too much to ask.

So Mister Lucus, with all due respect, F'N QUIT IT!!! Quit screwing with the movies I love. Do something new or just enjoy retirement.

BATTLEGROUND: TEH INTARWUB!!

Cyber-bullying seems to be on the rise. This is when someone picks on someone else online. This is made much easier by social networking sites, but its absolutely not their faults. They do what they can to crack down on these sorts of things. Parents are very worried, but don't seem to be worried enough to keep their kids offline.

NEWSFLASH: There's more to the internet than Facebook.

There are a lot of websites that are very well moderated geared towards young people. And you create your own user name so unless you tell people who you really are, then they won't know. When you put yourself out there online, whether you are a child or an adult, you put a target on yourself. That target is not only for criminals and weirdos, but for anyone who doesn't like you. So if you're going to go online, you either need to know how to keep your online privacy secure, or grow a really thick skin.

And then there's the claim of this won't stop what people say behind your back. Look, this is nothing new. Waaaaaaaay, back when I was in school before such inventions as the internet existed people would still say things behind other peoples back. I'm pretty damn sure Thomas Edison created the telephone just so he could talk shit about people behind their backs, because tapping out how stupid someone is in morse code is a pain in the ass. And certainly people talked about me behind my back. I was a skinny kid with braces who read a ton comic books and made great grades. No one lifted a finger against me and no one could say anything that I hadn't heard a million times before. Being able to throw a spiral, hit a softball a country mile, and people not being sure whether or not I was a black belt in Karate didn't hurt either.

Bottom line: there are people on and offline who suck and will target anyone if they think they can get away with it to make themselves fell better. You can't hide from them forever and you mommy won't always be around to deal with them. Learn to deal. Either ignore it, report it, or get ready to get your hands dirty.

COMIC SPECULATION!!

I really don't spend a lot of time on Twitter but when i do things just jump out at me. Like this from Gail Simone for example:

Even people who haven't been reading BOP are gonna want to pick up the DEATH OF ORACLE storyline. Just saying.

Now this may cause some people to worry quite a bit as oracle is a very beloved character, however I can tell you not to worry as my sources have ferreted out the truth. I say this because my sources are actual ferrets.

Oracle will not actually be dying because Oracle can never die. Instead Barbara Gordon will be sent back in time to sit in an ancient clock tower for a while. In the meantime the "Battle for the Comp" mini-series written and illustrated by Ed Benes will be launch to determine who will be the new Oracle. The new oracle will be Wendy Harris and working along side her as the new Proxy will be the daughter Barbara Gordon never knew she had, but it'll make for an interesting dynamic since the younger Gordon was raised Mark Zuckerburg and is evil, sorta.

A mysterious force will begin bouncing Barbara through history where she'll found Microsoft, invent the telegraph, as well as develop the Dewey Decimal System.

This is going to be great!

MOVIE SPECULATION!!

They've decided on a director for the upcoming Superman movie: Zack Snyder. Nolan and Goyer are still producing and writing the project. I'm still not sure about this project. On Nolan's end, I loved BATMAN BEGINS but hated THE DARK KNIGHT. With Snyder I loved 300 and that's the only movie of his I have to go on. I did not see WATCHMEN because I did not particularly enjoy the comic and had no urge to go see the a movie based on a comic that I didn't enjoy. Still I've seen some clips of it.

I don't know how well Snyder's stylized approach will work with the property, but I've got a bit of confidence that he'll do something pleasing. Its Nolan I'm worried about. Nothing this guy has made gives me a feeling that he'd be a good fit helming the Superman project. All of his movies that I've seen are visually appealing, but are pretty dark affairs. That's not the sensibility I'm comfortable with when looking at a character like Superman. Of course he could really surprise me and make a great and inspiring piece.

So, we've got another time will tell situation. I'm really hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!

A company is getting closer to making a commercial jetpack. This is good because the one I've been building from the kit I order from the back of that old AVENGERS comic isn't looking to promising. Really this thing isn't a "jetpack" so much as an "enginepack", however "jetpack" sounds much much cooler.

Of course you'll probably need a license for the thing and have to file flight plans to use it, oh, and there's of course the fact that most of use will never be able to afford it. Kinda takes the shiny off a little bit.

I'll probably never be in a position to be able to afford on of those things. Still, if I'm sitting around being old and crotchety, waving my cane at the neighborhood kids and telling them to stay the hell off my lawn, and I look up to randomly see someone someone streaking across the sky with their jetpack...

Bah. I'll probably be all bitter and pissed off that I didn't have one too.

Odds are this won't get too far with the public. There's probably be some outcry that its not environmentally friendly because *GASP* is runs on gasoline. Freaking hippies expect us the fly using fairy dust, and that's not going to happen because the same hippies will get torqued off because we'd be exploiting the fairies' natural resources.

MUSIC!!

I'm feeling like some punk this week. And not that crap that they try to pass off as punk nowadays on the radio.



Wow, that was a lot of stuff. Alrighty, I'll see y'all on Friday. I'm going to go build a fence now.

Muppets are HaRdCoRe!!

That's right! It's Friday, September 17, 2010 and there's a whole lot of comic stuff going on up in here to get your weekend going. ONWARD!

COMIX!!

This week we kicked things into gear with BIRDS OF PREY #5. In the aftermath of the last storyline Black Canary accompanies White Canary to Bangkok saying she's quitting the team. Once recovered from being stabbed by the Penguin, Lady Blackhawk goes with Huntress after her to try to get to the bottom of thing. The result? Big street fight!

There's a lot of things in flux in the Bat-Universe that Birds of Prey orbits through like a fun little moon, and it seems that this book is caught a little in between that and the "Brightest Day" shenanigans. In fact the book has the little "Brightest Day" header at the top, which I suppose has to do with hawk coming back from the dead. There's a little scene with him and his late brother which I suppose ties into that story, but i don't really know because i have slightly less interest in "Brightest day" as I do in having my eyebrows waxed. At the same time we have Oracle moving her base of operations out of the Batcave and into Kord Towers. I suppose this is good because we wouldn't want Doctor Hurt blowing Dick's brain's out upstairs while Babs is in the basement doing her thing. It would just seem insensitive.

Gail Simone keep showing that it was ridiculous to ever have this book not be around. We also have artwork by Alvin Lee and Adriana Melo this time around which is a pretty big artistic departure from the previous issues, but not an unwelcome one. Still I go through each issue of the series wishing it was Nicola Scott drawing it. Oh well.

ZATANNA #5 also hit the stands this week. Paul Dini loves this character and its a bit overdue that she gets her own series. The book itself is pretty subtle. Yes you hav fire demons and a Lord of hell gunning for our hero, but the action isn't completely over the top. The real strength to this book is how likable Dini writes Zee. She's clever and fun which makes me want to see what she's up to and how she gets out of the situations she's in. He opponents are sneaky buggers, so its a case of Zee having to fend off threats from often unexpected directions. But what is magic without misdirection?

Last up is TINY TITANS #32 in which the lunch lady's kid starts school. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, except the lunch lady is Darkseid. We also discover that Li'l Barda helmets are all the rage in elementary school fashion. Parents keep this in mind, because halloween is coming and you wouldn't want your kid to be the only one on their block without a Li'l Barda helmet.

HaRdCoRe KIDDIE COMIX TOP 10!!

Recently I received a press release from the great folks of at BOOM! Studios, who send me such things because they love me. Amid the releases I found this gem:

MUPPET SHERLOCK HOLMES #1 – The bloody conclusion is at hand! Cole's past finally comes to light, but will it put the only family he has left into danger? On the brink of the end of the Civil War, there's just one last standoff between Cole and freedom. The final issue of the critically acclaimed series from the writer of the best-selling 28 DAYS LATER

This, of course, is the beginning of a new trend. BOOM has some of the best comics for kids around. They also produce incredible books for more mature readers. It only makes sense to combine the two. So what should you expect? Glad you asked!

10: In SHIRT TAILS the cute animals with their message creating shirts we all know and love are the last hope of an apocalyptic future as they carry messages from the resistance fighters against the robot uprising.

9: In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, All Star leads the surviving SNORKS against oil companies in daring eco-terrorist raids.

8: With nearly 100 guys vying for her affection, Smurfette is used to a lot of attention, but will Stalky Smurf go too far?

7: BOOM adapts A CLOCKWORK ORANGE starring THE WUZZLES.

6: Its Scrooge McDuck versus the IRS. Be there.

5: Its adventure and danger in the world of cutting edge science as THE LITTLES battle a nanotechology menace.

4: The MUPPETS take the stage at CBGB.

3: Is their whole world a lie? To help save their powers and magical land THE CARE BEARS have have to enter therapy after the cataclysmic disaster of Share bear declaring he needs a little "me time". Can things be set right or will the youth of the world become a bunch of selfish little bastards.

2: MICKEY MOUSE takes on the Elder Gods with a little help from his friends is DISNEY'S CTHULU TALES!

1: After Al Gore steals the limelight from his own environmental protection efforts, Captain Planet turns his back on his cause forcing the Planeteers to try to stop him before he trashes the world. That's right. CAPTAIN PLANET is IRRESPONSIBLE!

MUSIC!!

Been rocking out to The Offspring's AMERICANA and this is my favorite tune on there. Combine that with the fact I've been playing a lot of FINAL FANTASY lately and...



That's the shooting match of today. Enjoy the weekend, and see y'all Sunday!

Stan Lee trades Comics for a Pug!

By everything good and sweet in Odin's beard its Friday, July 23, 2010 and today begins Operation: Cleansweep. The Nozz Compound has been divided into eight zones and every day I'm not out sweating my ass off fixing a beach house in Sandbridge I will be cleaning one of those zones. Today's target: the office. But first..

STAN LEE GOES BOOM!!

Big announcement coming out of Comic-Con is Stan Lee lending his creative skills to BOOM Studios, and he's being backed by some serious talent. Here's the line-up:

SOLDIER ZERO, written by DOCTOR WHO and ACTION COMICS scribe Paul Cornell with art by SUPERMAN artist Javier Pina, tells the story of a wheelchair-bound astronomy teacher who finds himself in a freak accident that bonds him with an alien weapon of war.

THE TRAVELER, written by Eisner Award-nominee and BOOM! Studios Chief Creative Officer Mark Waid with art by AMAZING SPIDER-MAN artist Chad Hardin, features a mysterious new superhero with time-traveling powers battling the Split-Second Men, super-powered assassins from the future.

STARBORN, written by iZOMBIE's Chris Roberson with art by THE X-MEN's Khary Randolph, tells the story of a regular guy who discovers he's the heir to an intergalactic empire, putting him the center of a war between five alien races.

I'm highly intrigued. This is the sort of sci-fi goodness I've really been digging lately, and now that SUPERMAN has gone from awesome space adventures to talking down streets I think these are just what I need to scratch that itch. Also, if you want a copy of SOLDIER ZERO signed by Stan Lee make sure to request one at your local comic shop. There will be some shipped. Lee has created some of the most beloved characters in comics, and these concepts look like he still got a sweet creative touch.

COMIX!!!

Hey speaking of comics, let's look at BIRDS OF PREY #3 which i realize may be old news to many of you, but I didn't get a copy until this week. Now, last time I discussed BIRDS OF PREY it was in one of the "Battleground" segments due to Scans Daily moderators being completely ridiculous in their treatment of BOP scribe Gail Simone over the killing of two characters one of them being gay in the middle of gay pride month. Ms. Simone urged them to wait until the storyline had concluded before jumping to conclusions and making snap judgments. Of course they didn't listen gave Simone and "official warning" for hate speech or somesuch and she saw the writing on the wall and left.

And now one month later we see that she was right and the moderators in question were indeed morons. Although now I suppose they'll have to find something else to attack which will likely be the line "Penguin party in my pants" which I would like to see on a t-shirt.

Paul Levitz has made me a convert as his LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is being a really good time. The flashback issues on ADVENTURE COMICS are dull as hell, but his book is juts a lot of fun. Yes, it is crappy that 3boot Legion got shafted for this. Yes, the treatment of Jim Shooter was ridiculously stupid and awful. Yes, those costumes really need to be changed. However, Paul Levitz is writing some really fun book.

Onward to TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT, which I have to say I love the title. This book is a story inside a bigger story wrapped up in a tortilla. For more on the tortilla I will refer you all to the chart that's is being made over in England right now once its finished. As we know from THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE, Superman, Green lantern, Booster Gold, and Rip Hunter are traveling through time trying to find Wayne before he makes it back to the present and destroys everything somehow. So, Dan Jurgens is doing a limited series detailing that there's some chicanery afoot during their search. It doesn't seem to have anything huge therein that readers need to follow the main Bat-storyline, but its a fun little book.

WHO SAYS KIDS AIN'T CLEVER?

Value can indeed be a relative thing. One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. Something is worth what another person is willing to pay for it, or trade for it. Steve ortiz put that to the test when he went on Criagslist to see what he could get for an old cell phone. With some patience and a lot of time online, this kid ended up with a Porsche. This process took about two years and he traded quite a few things along the way. It fact the Porsche was actually a set down in monetary value from the thing he traded for it which was a Ford Bronco. So why did he trade it?

How many kids drive to high school in a Porsche?

So really its about what is important to you at that point in time. When I was a kid I had Star Wars figures. Played with them. Loved them. After a while I didn't play with them as much. But the guy up the street took a shine to them. So I traded a few of them for some of his comic books that he didn't want. There was some pretty sweet stuff too. So I was amped, the guy down the street was happy. Everyone was happy, except my parents who said that kid took advantage of me and made us trade everything back. So I got my Star Wars figures back which went into a box never to be played with again because I just didn't care about them anymore.

Ortiz has some of him family members saying he's a swindler. Pretty much the same mindset as my parents way back when. Its not about the monetary value attached to the items. Its about two people having something the other wants and them both coming to an arrangement both are happy with. Call it swapping, call it bartering, call it whatever but its as old as the hills and it still works.

GREATEST PUG EVER!!!

Even money says our good friend Richard over at Teatime Brutality would trade his Doctor Who box sets for that dog. Well, maybe a couple of them.

MUSIC!!

Continuing this week of my favorite songs, here's one I wish that all songs were as awesome as.



That's it for Friday. I'm going to begin the cleaning process. In the sage words of Lando: "Here goes nothing."