Conrad has Taste

Whew.  Its Sunday, April 15, 2012, made it through the week, and this is The Side.  yeah, it was a tough one this week, and I'm glad to have a morning where the main thing I've got to worry about is blowing on my coffee to get it the right temperature.  Sure I've got another week of exhaustion ahead of me, but its those little respites that let us keep going.


That includes doing stuff like reading some comics.

COMIX!!!

Starting off with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #8 in which we deal with Buffy not being pregnant, but being a robot.  I know those two things are often confusing.  Buffy and Spike confront Andrew about her being a robot, because, of course, it had to be Andrew.  Detective Dowling is also dealing with the nasty death of his partner during the zompire attack.  He's not coping well at all, and that's actually refreshing.  Very often in the Buffy-verse we see characters adapt to dealing with supernatural threats a bit too easily.  This character is a capable police detective and had knowledge of the existence of the supernatural things that go on, and was still incredibly shaken in the aftermath of losing someone to them and having to fight for his life.  I'd been having trouble remember the guy's name, but the character really stood out issue.  There's also a disturbing little bit with Xander that has me fairly creeped out as to possible directions they may make with the character.  This is made creepier by by a bit of possible fore-shadowing from season six of the TV show.  But, this season has taken turns that I haven't been very comfortable with, but has given interesting payoffs once the story worked out.  The main story itself is taking a neat path of its own.  Cliff Richards steps in on pencils and does a great job.  All and all, a decent read.  This story has me engaged.


Moving on to the comic that AMC just optioned to make a show of THIEF OF THIEVES #3.  We meet Special Agent Cohen, the beautiful FBI agent who is determined to catch Conrad.  Oh man, this book was just great.  Nick Spenser just worked this whole issue masterfully.  The back and forth between Conrad and Cohen was absolutely brilliant.  This book is just scene after scene of brilliantly dialogued, well paced storytelling.  Shawn Martinbrough continues to shine with his elegant noir style.  This issue does a great job of letting us know exactly where Conrad stands with the law, as well as giving us a glimpse of some of history in relation to Cohen and her investigation.  We actually don't see much of Conrad in this issue after the opening scene, but Cohan is a great character to follow around.  The book is low on action, but there's still a ton of things going on that kept me riveted.  Do yourself a favor, go out and buy this book.

MUSIC!!!

There was a huge reveal this month in THIEF OF THIEVES: Conrad is a Zevon fan.





Figured that one was appropriate for old Conrad.  OK, I'm off to take a couple rotten kids to the circus.  I'll see y'all Wednesday.

Sneaks and Creeps

Good Morning, Spawn Campers.  It's March 16, 2012, the Ides haves passed, two days ago was time for Pi, and tomorrow maybe some green pie, and this is The Side.  Does it seem weird to anyone else that every other day seems like a "holiday" and every month is designated as a time that we're supposed to be aware of something.  Yesterday was of interest due to Julius Caesar, so there's historic context their.  The day before was amusing due to a specific number important to mathematics.  Tomorrow is an Irish holiday which proper drunks refer to as "amateur night".  I'm sure today is probably supposed to be recognized as something specific, but really, who cares?


There's too much of it and these stupid things have already started to overlap.  The worst culprit is April 20th.  Had someone at the bar I worked at ask me if I was going to celebrate 4/20 and I told them absolutely not and that the person who instigated the holocaust is not a person to be celebrated.  They weren't sure what I was talking, because they were stupid.  I told them that April 20th was Adolf Hitler's birthday.  They tried to argue that it was the pot smokers holiday or something to that effect.


It was that point that I told them they really should put the bong down and pick up a book.

COMIX!!!

There's a void in my existence which is left because I can't get new QUEEN AND COUNTRY stuff on a regular basis.  I'm on the verge of sending Greg Rucka an e-mail begging for such.  I sit wishing the THE SANDBAGGERS DVD collection wasn't so expensive.  Fortunately for me Nathan Edmonson and Mitch Gerads have heard my pleas and THE ACTIVITY #1 and #2 are in my hot little hands.  Yes, I am a bit late to the game on this one, but I'm so glad I got a hold of it.  This is some really outstanding Spy-Fi.  Its not too over the top.  The operatives have some great gear, but no jet packs or tricked out Aston Martins.  These are top tier professions who handle problems for the CIA and other intelligence outfits.  If a job goes a it wrong or there details or evidence that needs taken care of, these are the people that go in.  The story is mostly mission driven, but the cast is very cool.  We get scant bits as to their personal lives or lack thereof, but they all seem very likable.  Don't go in expecting explosions on every other page or high drama.  Do expect to see people who are very good at what they do beings very good at doing it.  The art is phenomenal.  The writing is sharp.  this is the kind of book that could easily be over written, but Edmonson seems to really know when to stop and let Gerads handle the storytelling.  This is a really great collaboration.  I highly recommend this one.


I missed the first issue, but I did get THIEF OF THIEVES #2.  I dig Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer so that alone sold me.  I wasn't let down.  This book also isn't over the top action, but is a really great character driven work about an incredible thief who is looking go go straight and get his family back.  Shawn Martinbrough is the perfect artist for this project.  I was a big fan of his work with Greg Rucka on their run in DETECTIVE COMICS for DC.  His noir style is incredibly grounded and in a book like this in which the expressions on people's faces have as much impact as the bullets fired, his mastery of these subtle things is crucial.  Even though I missed the first issue I feel like I'm mostly up to speed on the important things.  That's great, because usually is you miss the first issue you're lost.  Nice to see a smart comic that accessible.  This book made me care a bit about the main character Conrad, and while we don't have all the pieces to the puzzle that's his life I find myself hoping he can put it all back together.


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #7 continues "On Your Own" which deals with Buffy's pregnancy.  Kinda of a weird title to the story since all she's done is go to get support from her friends.  Her plans go awry when the police officer who's been trying really hard to establish himself as a character runs into a nest of "zompires", who are some of the most un-sparkly vampires ever, and Buffy, Spike, and is his alien bug piloted spaceship fly to the rescue.  As much as I want to ask why in the blue frak Spike has a spaceship with a bunch of giant alien bugs that serve him and speak English, I've decide that this is just a monumentally weird thing that I approve of.  There's a twist ending on this one that is also monumentally weird, which I'm going to approve of for the moment based solely on monumental weirdness.  This "season" of Buffy has been pretty oddball, but after the overly epic epiciness of the previous "season" I'll take oddball.  I was a bit put off by Buffy's decision to terminate her pregnancy, and I did briefly consider bailing on the book, however this issue made me glad that I hung in there.


You know how I said the zompires in BUFFY were some of the most un-sparkly vampires ever?  Yeah, the vampires in THE STRAIN #4 are the most un-sparkly vampires ever.  Icky, nasty and disgusting.  These things are just outright creepy.  The outbreak is coming and the CDC is a bit behind the eightball.  The more they find out, the more disgusting these vampires seem to be.  I do really like this book because its so very different from a lot of the more popular vampire fiction that's out there.  They really do seem like diseased inhuman things.  While not for the faint of heart, this is a really well done horror comic and I'm really enjoying it, even though it does creep me out.

MUSIC!!!

This tune gives me a sweet American Gothic vibe.  Kinda weird that the local alternative/modern rock station is playing the hell out of it, but I dig it.





Got the Petersburg Karate Open tomorrow and will be competing in the kata and weapons events.  Hopefully, I'll have some nice new big trophies to put in the garage.  I'll let y'all know Sunday.  See ya them.

Funny Book Beatdown

Hey howdy, buckaroos!  Its Friday, January 13, 2012, eek, bad luck, and all that crap, and this is The Side.  Not terribly concerned with the whole Friday the 13th being bad luck.  If memory serves I've tended to have good days on Friday the 13th.  The only thing that concerns me is being a bit off schedule as far as my weekly rhythm.  Had a couple of short days at work which is kinda nice because I got to spend a bit of time with the kids.  Still, it feels weird because today feels more like a Tuesday than a Friday.


Next thing you know I'll be trying to go buy comics tomorrow.  Completely unnecessary since I got them already.

COMIX!!!

Snagged HEART #1-3 and got my doors blown off.  ATTACK OF THE SHOW's Blair Butler makes his comic writing debut and he hits on all cylinders.  Yes, I am absolutely biased.  Its a comic about an MMA fighter, and I love MMA.  The story follows Oren Redmond, a young guy who really has nothing going on and gets into MMA.  We see him in the beginning of the story as a guy working in an office and hating it.  His brother is an MMA fighter because he grew up wrestling and wanted to keep doing it.  Oren decides to give it a shot.  At this point you'd typically see the story take a turn in which Oren turns out to be insanely talented, and learns super secret techniques from his sensei and everyone is blown away by him.  Not this time, Butler keeps it real.  You see Oren's head in the trash can on day one puking his guts out.  You see him getting the crap kicked out of him.  He keeps going because he's feeling pretty good about this.  He feels like he's earning his rest at night.  Slowly but surely he gets better.  He gets in shape.  He figures out he has a sucky ground game.  The coaches keep working him and he starts getting amateur fights.  He does well and starts getting pro fights.  Its not all glamour.  There's a great scene in which he's working to cut weight, and the reader gets to know exactly how much it sucks.  Oren also does stupid stuff like blowing money on tattoos.  He's a likable, but not perfect character.  Kevin Mellon blows me away here.  His art is spot on.  Its dynamic and still very technical.  Its easy to draw a guy throwing a punch.  Its not easy to draw a guy locking in a kimura from his back.    Even the little things like giving the fighters' stats and listing their entrance music really made this book sing.  This book is a gem.  If you've never seen anything MMA and want to get an idea of what's up this book is a brilliant introduction.  Also, if you've got a friend who loves MMA but isn't really into comics, let them check it out.  I'm betting they'll dig it.


Moving from realism to fantasy let's head over to Dark Horse for BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON NINE #5.  Buffy's having weird Slayer dreams and those of use who have been following the Buffy-verse for a while know that these tend to set the tone for things.  There's buckets of things that go down in this book.  Huge reveal at the end.  Its really hard not to drop spoilers because of the extreme Oscar Mike Golf factor.  This is really a set up issue in which we're getting some pretty significant plot beginnings to plot threads that we'll most likely be following for the majority of season nine.  We get an inkling of a possibility of reconnecting earth to magic as well as huge personal changes for Buffy.  Karl Molina (FRAY) guest pencils, and I love his stuff.  I'm really excited to see where this season is going now.


Let's stick with vampirey type stuff with THE STRAIN #2.  This is a really nasty story.  The vampires here are pretty disgusting.  These are the complete anti-Twilight vampires.  Nothing even remotely sexy here.  Still, its a good story.  You've got to be a patient reader here because the vampirism pandemic is only just beginning.  There's no huge body count let, but things are still just just beginning.  Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and the others at the C.D.C. are still trying to get a handle on just what happened on the flight, and the three survivors aren't any help.  The mystery is deepening for them, but we get a peek of the horror that's coming.  The creepiness of this book is building, so if you love horror, you'll love this.


We wrap up this week with DARK MATTER #1.  This is a nifty little sci-fi mystery.  Six people wake up on a spaceship with no memories of who they are or how they got there.  They look for answers and fight a robot.  For a first issue, its pretty straight forward.  The set up isn't anything really fresh, but its handled well enough.  Each character seems to have their own skill sets that they're discovering.  Its not bad at all, but hasn't really hooked me.  It is good enough that I'm going to follow along for a bit and see where it leads.

MUSIC!!

Let's use one of Rooster's entrance music songs.





That's it for me today. Have a good weekend even if it feels like the middle of the week. See y'all Sunday.

Buffy Enters The Octagon?

Hey gang! Its Sunday, November 13, 2011, I've got a ton of chores to do, and this is The Side. That's right kids, chores don't end when you grow up. They just get more in depth. Mowing the yard and cleaning your room, pail before fix the plumbing, sand down the floor, and fix the oven.

Oy vey.

Last post had a bit of traction and a lot of page views. Had a really great response over at Comic Kings. Maybe it was due to having picture of women all over the post. Well, I'm equal opportunity for my fans, so I've got a dude picture for ya, ladies!

BEATIN'S!

The UFC made its network debut on Fox last night. Unfortunately they only showed on fight. I say unfortunately because Benson Henderson and Clay Guida also fought that night and put out three rounds that earned both fighters a standing ovation. However, Fox said they only wanted to air one fight, so Dana White delivered what they wanted. The heavyweight championship bout between two undefeated fighters. The result: Junior Dos Santos defeated Cain Velasquez and is the new champ.

There was a lot of build up on the one hour show, which is completely understandable. This is the first showing of the UFC on network TV. Yes, there have been other MMA promotions on network, but the UFC is the biggest MMA promotion out there. If you have someone who hasn't checked it out before and this was their first time they needed to know who these guys are and what exactly is going to be going down here. I think the broadcast did an excellent job of that.

For those of us that do follow MMA, these guys are no strangers. These are the two toughest heavyweights around. My buddies and I couldn't even make a prediction on this one. This is also extremely gutsy of Dana White, the UFC president. Both of these fighters are capable of ending a fight in 30 seconds. What if it turned into the Mike Tyson thing and everyone gets all eager for a big fight and its over in the blink of an eye?

The fight itself was a quick one, but it did last longer than 30 seconds. There was some feeling out going on with some hard striking. Dos Santos snapped a front kick into Velasquez, who countered with an immediate takedown attempt. Dos Santos expertly slipped out of the takedown attempt. Soon after Dos Santos threw a bomb right hand catching Velasquez right behind the ear and sending him to the floor. Dos Santos capitalized with some ground and pound and referee John McCarthy smartly stepped in when one of the blows made Velasquez's arms go limp. It was a brief fight, but a really great one.

Congratulation to Junior Dos Santos.

COMIX!

Only had one book this week, and fortunately it was a good one. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #3 does what I like to see with a good Buffy story. Set things in motion, give you a good idea of where things are going, and then turn everything over in a very intelligent manner. There's a key move when doing this. If you add one piece of information that alters the context of everything you've read up until that point and it doesn't make everything before it pointless, then you've got a good turn around. We've been moving in a fun direction so far. There's vampires popping up that are more feral and stronger than usual. Bodies are being found all over the city. Something is after Buffy. Got it. Things got more interesting when Buffy meets a guy with the power to touch vampires are turn them back into humans. Of course, these humans died to become vampires, so they're dead. Still is pretty big news since the world has been cut off from magic. We get a bunch of answers as to what's been going on. The great thing is that these answers lead us to new interesting questions. I'm really liking this story, and combine that with great understanding and use of the characters are this book is a real winner.

MUSIC!

Wait! You mean this song isn't really by Dingoes Ate My Baby!



I guess i better get on those chores I mentioned. See y'all Wednesday!

Buffy keeps me up at night

Yawn! Its Sunday, October 16, 2011, one of these days I'm going to feel rested after sleeping, and this is The Side. Its completely due to the amount of sleep. It seems I'm not capable of functioning as well on six hours of shut as I used to. Used to be I'd get maybe four hours of sleep and then its off and running, but I don't think I'll be able to pull that one off anymore.

Its kind of a drag because its not until the kids finally hit the sack that we can watch whatever we want on TV, or put in whatever movie we'd like to watch. Its also less often when the Missus is hanging out with neighbors making it so I can play whatever video games I like and have full carté blanch over the viewing choices.

It used to just be a choice of what I wanted to watch or do. Now, I've got to choose between that and sleep. Right now, it feels like I chose poorly.

COMIX!!

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #2 starts us off this go around. Last issue we got a dose of where Buffy Summers is with her life, and its pretty normal stuff. She's working as a waitress. She's got an apartment with a couple of fun roommates. She's got to worry about paying her student loans. She just got relate-able again. That's good, but the bad is on the horizon. Bodies are popping up all over town and the police are thinking our favorite blonde Slayer has something to do with it. Andrew Chambliss steps in as writer after a strong series start from Joss Whedon, and he doesn't miss a beat. He's right on top of the distinct dialogue that the Buffy-verse is known for. We got to see where these characters are with issue one, and issue two let's us know that there's stuff going on. We do get an answer as to where all the John and Jane Doe corpses are coming from and that answer leads us to a lot more questions. We don't get a ton of over-the-top slam-bang action, but we do get good solid storytelling that's fun and engaging. Highly recommended.

PILOT SEASON: CITY OF REFUGE #1 makes me feel like I've dropped into a story halfway through. Its very possible since this is the first time I spotted this book and its an issue 1, but it seems I may have missed a previous series. Still, its not hard to fill in the blanks. Something really bad has happened, and people have come to a secured city for safety. The people in the city all receive implants which eliminate the capacity for violence. How it does this isn't spelled out all that well, but it works on the brain and that's all we really need to know. This city has not had a violent crime in eleven years. Security forces receive injects that temporarily counteract the implants. The implants are believed to be causing health problems. People don't like having their minds messed with. This story reminds me a lot of the film EQUILIBRIUM with some of the themes. Unfortunately, the comparison ends there. While the film was stylish and featured a ton of suspense and amazing action scenes, this comic is pretty slow. Its tough because there's so much going on that it requires a lot of exposition, unfortunately it doesn't have much going on to balance that. Yes, there is a hostage scene, and an element of danger, but the way it plays out doesn't really 'pop'. Its not a bad book, but you'll have to be a patient reader to really get through it.

MUSIC!!

Jumping in the wayback machine to visit a Van Halen tune. I used to really love this song. I didn't know the Blue Angels used it in a video, so that was a pretty pleasant discovery.



That's all for me for today. Time for about half a pot of coffee. See y'all Wednesday.

SMG XTC!!!

That's right, we're not done with her yet. Its Sunday, September 18, 2011, and because you expect it, this is The Side. It rained nearly all day yesterday, which was kind of nice. It brought the current battle to a bit of a halt. Seems a hive of yellowjackets or hornets or something has got themselves a bit of nest next to the front porch and underground. I hit them with multiple cans of horrible chemicals but time is going to tell me with worked. One of the little bastards already stung the Missus. That affront shall not stand.

EXPECTATIONS

Its hard to go into anything without expectations. When you're telling stories you have to decide whether its going to be better to meet the expectations of an audience or surprise them. There's benefits to both options, but if you do nothing but meet expectations things are going to get boring and stale. You run the risk of losing the audience. I'm not talking about quality. If you have a reputation of doing quality work, that's an expectation that you're going to want to try to achieve every time. I'm talking about the type of work that you do. You can't just plug stuff into the same formula over and over and over. You don't grow that way.

Since its been a Sarah Michelle Gellar week, she's going to be our example. When we think of her there's one role that she played that springs to mind: Buffy Summers. Its easy to equate the two. She wasn't the first actress to play the role, but she played it for seven seasons on television. The show was the premier show of a network and spawned a spin off. It had legions of fans. She won awards for the role, and received a ton of nominations for other awards. We equate the actress with the role and vice versa. When you envision Buffy Summers she looks like Gellar. When you think of Gellar in a role, you expect someone tough, funny, and heroic. Not too shabby for an actor.

She then proceeded to deliver the goods to the fans of her show, but she player smart and branched out a bit. She got noticed for many different reasons for the movie CRUEL INTENTIONS. Most notably she had a steam on screen kiss with another actress, Selma Blair. I don't make the claim that that's the most notable thing about that role because I'm a big old perv who likes watching hot girls kiss. That kiss won an MTV movie award. It surprised people a bit, and folks took notice. She won best female performance at the same awards show and was nominated for "best villain". Gellar played against type here. The role called for her to be manipulative and overtly sexual. These are two traits you don't think of when you think about Buffy Summers. She pulled the role off masterfully. If you went into that movie expecting to see the same role from her as she played on TV, then you were in for a surprise and, probably, a bit of a shock.

What she was doing there was showing range. It was a different role, with different challenges to it. By meeting those challenges, she helped herself avoid being typecast.

The fact that she drastically changed genres worked for her advantage. Nobody expected her to kick an undead creature in CRUEL INTENTIONS. However, other movies she made were in the horror genre, and she was rather forgettable in them. In the movie I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER she was second fiddle to Jennifer Love Hewitt playing "hot girl in the movie who will eventually die horribly". Even worst was SCREAM 2 in which she played "random sorority person who dies horribly". I watched both these movies, and was sitting in the theater expecting her character to kick a bit of butt. I was placing the expectations I had of Buffy onto these characters. That's not to say that all of the horror movies she started in were suddenly equated to Buffy expectations. After the TV show had wrapped, her next role was in THE GRUDGE which was a horror/suspense piece but the tone and performance was so very different that she managed to put away the expectations we had of her and move on.

She's also been smart enough to do a couple of movies aimed at much younger audiences with the SCOOBY-DOO movies. I'm not going to sit here and rave about these as I skipped them entirely. I'm not a huge Scooby-Doo fan aside from the shows first season. But again, she branched out a little bit playing to a different audience. This audience wouldn't know her as Buffy, although their parents probably would. Again, she played a character in a supernatural adventure piece, and she played it to the fans not only of the old cartoon show, but from the previews the character had a few martial arts moves as a nod to her role as Buffy Summers. This is using the audience's expections to give them a wink. It acknowledges the expectations even if its not playing totally to them.

Its been a Sarah Michelle Gellar week, not because of the weird dream I had a few nights ago in which I was married to her, but because of her new TV show, RINGER, which debuted this week, and I previously reviewed. The actress is returning to television after the birth of her daughter to a show on the network that made her a huge star. Expectations were already in place from the first advertisements. The thing is that we couldn't be exactly sure what to expect because with the nature of the show and the events of the premier episode the network, wisely, didn't want to give too much away. I did go in with expectations, however my expectations didn't include her shoving pieces of wood through the bumpy-faced undead and delivering kung-fu kicks. I expected her to turn in a good performance and be watchable in the role. She did that times two with her portraying very different twin sisters.

I approach expectations as a writer. I'm no actor. I'm a ham with a lot of cheese, but no actor. But the type of expectation that an audience has of me as a writer and cartoonist are the same as type of expectations that they have of an actor. We're both there to try to deliver a, hopefully, good and memorably story/performance. Both walk a fine line of trying to give people what they want, and try to give them something they wouldn't expect from us, but will still like.

I'm struggling with it, but it looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar's got it all figured out.

MUSIC!!

What would you do for a girl like SMG... aside blog about her for a week?



That's it for me today. I've actually had the weekend off and have been enjoying a bit of recuperation time. I'm going to be getting back to that and I'll see y'all Wednesday.

Buffy Gives Me Mojo

Fire bad. Tree pretty. Its Friday, September 16, 2011, the w00tness is upon me, and this is The Side. Its hard to turn things around sometimes. It could be a change of events, or just your attitude. When you're bummed out it can be pretty tough to feel like you've gotten your Mojo back. Got a buddy of mine who makes YouTube videos. He hasn't made one in a while, and I asked him if everything was alright. Things seem fine, but he aid he's lost his Mojo.

Getting your Mojo is really tough. You're out of your groove. You feel lousy about it. It can lead to things just not going right. It can easily spiral into feeling depressed. I'm not talking the clinical kind, but a real funk, and because of that funk its even harder to get you Mojo back. It might not even be entirely on you. You may have gotten some news, or found something out that threw you out of balance.

Best thing to do is to start small. Just do something that you can handle, even if its inconsequential like cleaning your place up. Accomplish something that you can say, "Hey, got it done and it looks good." It gives you a feeling of pride, even if its small. Repeat as necessary until you're ready to get bigger stuff done.

I was having the same problem this week. Tuesday, I was pretty much all done mentally and emotionally. I still had to work though, so I focused on that. Mistakes at work were part of the problem, so I focused on doing the best I could at work. It wasn't great. I wasn't perfect. Still, I didn't royally screw up. Next day, worked hard and made stuff happen. Yesterday, more of the same and ran a good karate class.

Today, I'm sore as all hell physically, but mentally and emotionally, I feel pretty damn good. I've got my Mojo workin', and am ready to roll.

So let's roll with a comic review.

COMIX!!

Its a Sarah Michelle Gellar kinda week as on the heel of the very cool RINGER debut, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON NINE #1 hits the stands. I won't lie, I wasn't thrilled with how Season Eight wrapped up, but ANGEL AND FAITH #1 was pretty good so I figured I'd give this a shot. I wasn't disappointed as Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty give us the return of... wait for it... Drunk Buffy. She didn't turn into a cave person this time, but Buffy Summers just can't hold her booze. No monster killing this issue, but we do catch up with the cast following the events of Season Eight as the issue splits between flashbacks of a Party at Buffy's new apartment and her dealing with one opponent that's truly her match: a vicious hangover. We do meet a couple of new cast members with Buffy's apartment-mates: Anaheed and Tumble. They both seem very nice, so I'm calling it now, I think one of them is possibly eeeeevil. Betting on Tumble with his not getting up off the couchness. There are a few things afoot that should play out something nasty down the road. Last season, Buffy severed Earth's connection to magic. There's still monsters and Slayers, but there will be no new Slayers, and magic users like Willow now have no juice. But there's some things that are being held by magic, and it looks like they're getting loose. I'm all in for this new season to see where it goes. This issue was a lot of fun, and the comic stopped being fun for a little while. Glad its back and glad its good.

MUSIC!!

It felt like a Foo Fighters kinda morning, so I'm going with it.



You guys have a good weekend. Hope your Mojo is workin' for you. See y'all Sunday.

Its Whedon's Universe, we just geek out in it....

Gobble gobble. Its Wednesday, November 24, 2010, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and this is The Side.

So what am I thankful for?

I'm thankful to be working steadily. I'm thankful to have a roof over my head and food in my family's bellies. I'm thankful for my family and friends. I'm thankful to all my followers on here. There's ten times more of you now than last year. Some of you are still strangers to me, others are friends, a few of you I see as family, and you know who you are.

So to everyone, enjoy the holiday with your loved ones, and travel safe.

SCIENCE!!

So, I'm thinking about the origin of the Universe, and how it relates to Batman, which typically would be insane, but this times its not (HA!) because Greg Rucka was the one who posted the link.



A universe that existed before our own? Nonsense, you say? PIFFLE! Because we all know Galactus survived the Big Bang so something had to be there, right? And let's not even start on the thingie with CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, or ZERO HOUR since as it stands a fairly mundane superhero caused the Big Band. Sorry to all the Damage fans out there. All eight of you.

Seriously, a lot of the comics I've read put forth a lot of fun stuff about time. Recently Batman was at the end of time in which the last outpost was being destroyed by the heat death of the universe. The Flash once outran death by running forward in time and looping back to the beginning of time and finally making it back to the present. The big bang has also been shown in comics to have an opposite number "The Big Crunch", which I'm fairly certain Wolverine has survived.

Here's the theory, the Big Bang happened and the universe has been expanding since. But at some point, that expansion will stop and everything will begin to be drawn back into a single point, at which time things will get very crowded. There's also a thought that this cycle is like a loop so on some insane-o cosmic time table this could all have happened before and will happen again.

But that's how the universe is, and that's why I love it so. There's always stuff blowing up, or something getting sucked into something. And there's the weird crap that no one's quite sure what the hell is going on with. And we find thing out there, that might contain or be suitable for sustaining life. Then there's our gas giant planets with cool rings and spots running interference for us with their insane gravity wells to prevent space crap from smashing into us more than it does.

Oh, and Pluto might be a planet again, which is awesome because it'll always be a planet to me. I love Pluto.

And sometimes I worry that in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy there is a mother of a black hole sucking everything in and we're circling the drain at an insane speed, but its all so big that we don't notice it. I don't know why I worry about that.

But I do think its cool, because its reality. Reality is everything that exists in space and the events that occur in time. While reality TV mostly sucks, reality itself can be pretty damned epic.

It also makes for excellent fodder for writing comics.

YOUTUBERY!!

Chad, Matt, and Rob have been at it again. Go have some fun, but remember, its not shampoo, it's fuel.

BIZARRO BUFFY!!

As I discussed before, there is a new BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER MOVIE in the works, and it has nothing to do with Joss Whedon who created the character. This came as upseting news to many long time fans. But what does Whedon himself really think? Well, someone asked him, and he answered. So for those wailing and gnashing their teeth about the matter, take a cue from your Lord and Master, Whedon: just laugh at it. It's not the first time Hollywood has sought to cash in on something with an existing fanbase and screwed the pooch. That's why there's a pretty cool looking Kung-Fu movie out now on DVD called "THE KARATE KID".

Still, our sympathy goes out to Joss, that poor guy, as he deals with what's being done with his creation while still soldiering on to work on THE AVENGERS movie. Hopefully that movie will be enough to keep a little food on his table. Its hard being a struggling writer in these tough economic times.

MUSIC!!

Because Thanksgiving is all about family, being thankful, eating turkey and an old hippie with a guitar.




OK, that's it. I'm getting in my car and heading to the mountain in about an hour or so. You have the weekend off from my insanity, but I expect you all back here next Wednesday sharpish. See ya, then.

Comics to make you cry

Great Scott! (I've always wondered which Scott they're talking about.) Its Friday, August 20, 2010. I heard yesterday that economically this is being called "the Summer of Recovery" by the White House. Funny. I wasn't broke in June.

Buncha jerks.

BATMAN DON'T CRY!!!

Recently a study was done claiming that super heroes are not good role models for young boys. I dove into this. This could have led to a biting commentary about how superheroes are portrayed and the writing of comic books and that whole "the medium has grown up" blather. But no, it was a weak sauce attack on Ironman, specifically the movies, for showing off 'bling' and womanizing. Ironman is the logical choice for criticism since the movies are currently the hottest superhero property going. Its also a fair criticism of the character as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr.

Unfortunately it ends there, and hits upon its main point: superheroes don't help young boys to talk about their feelings. And at that point mentions of superheroes get few and far between revealing this for what it is, and that's a waste of time. This 'study' is obviously cashing in on the current popularity of superheroes in movies to get attention to their crap. But its a study by someone who claims to be intelligent and know what they are talking about, so unfortunately someone is going to take it seriously. Hopefully not in the way "Seduction of the Innocent" was taken seriously.

According to this study young boys are encouraged to take on the social roles of "macho man" or "slacker". It is now obvious that no actual comic books were read in pursuit of this research. It also criticizes the role of superheroes comparing them to "action stars" who are in stories of violence and action. I guess they would much prefer the current JMS Superman storyline of him walking down the the street and being douche. The stupidity of these "findings" is just mind boggling. For the past few years it seems that every other writer has been hell bent on making Superman cry. And the comparing them to "action stars" is accurate because that's what superheroes are. If you can bench press a bus, who wants to stories about you having tea and discussing literature.

Are superheroes bad role models for young boys? That depends on the character. You probably wouldn't want your son wanting to grow up idolizing the Punisher. However there is no shortage of characters that are good role models like Superman, Batman, and Spider-man. A guy with power to do whatever he wants but uses them to help whoever he can. A guy who through through horrible tragedy uses it as a motivation to become something great. A guy that doesn't have things easy, but doesn't walk away from his responsibility to do what's right.

And yes these characters do share their feelings on a regular basis. There are pages and pages of captions featuring their inner monologues. Sure, they share their feelings with the readers, and not often with each other. There's usually not much time for that when the planet is about to explode. Still, it does pop up here and there, like when Superman was talking to the Flash about being worried sometimes of not being able to live up to people's expectations of him. Of course a bit after that he prevented the Moon from crashing into the Earth and wrestled the renegade King Angel of the Bull Host. Really though, its not up to comic books and superheroes to teach kids personal relationship skills and how to deal with their emotions. That's the job of parents. Comic books, specifically the superhero genre, are escapism. Its entertainment. Its great when entertainment can be educational, but mostly its their so people can have a bit of fun for a while.

Ultimately, this study is pointless and seems to come from the viewpoint that men and boys should all talk about their feelings and emote about everything. Newsflash: we're guys. Us talking about our feelings typically boils down into a couple of sentences, and then we move on.

Unless you have a blog and tend to ramble a lot.

COMIX!!

Starting things off this week with TINY TITANS #31. This issue was hoot with a birthday party for the clone of a clone, fun with the Brainiac Club and the Tiny Titans meeting the Little Legion of Super-Heroes. This series is a hoot with its little jabs at the mainstream DCU. It consistently finds a way to be perfect for little kids yet still have enough charm and clever bits to keep an older audience smiling.



Always remember to be careful what you ask for.

Moving on to my read of the week: SUPERGIRL #55. Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle continue to knock this title right out of the park. This book struggled horribly under big time writers like Jeph Leob and even Greg Rucka, but Gates has captured the character so wonderfully that this book is just a joy. I've been a fan of Igle's art since his run on FIRESTORM. Its spot on and does a great job of making Supergirl look attractive without making her look like jailbait.

This issue has Supergirl taking on Bizarrogirl! That's right, a Bizarro Supergirl! Gates and Igle absolutely nail how dangerous Bizarrogirl is while simultaneously making her hysterical. Also we continue to have the supporting cast be incredibly strong in this book. Doctor Light and Gangbuster are really fun in this book. I've was never really a fan of either character before them being in this book, but they fit perfectly and play well off Supergirl. A great supporting cast is really what cements a solid superhero comic and Gates' run on this book has really set up a great cast and a great tone for the series. Top to bottom, a good time.

Shifting away from DC over to Dark Horse, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: RILEY hit the shelves this week. Its written by Jane Espenson who wrote more than a few episodes of the TV series. Art is handled beautifully by Karl Moline who many will remember as having handled the art on Joss Whedon's first comic book FRAY. Great writing and great art, but this is an issue that feels out of place. Its a set up issue for events that have already transpired in the series. It doesn't give any huge insights into the storyline that we need to move forward. It has the same feeling as WORLD WAR III or BATTLE FOR THE COWL. Its an unnecessary book even though it is a really good one.

YOUTUBERY!!

There's a new channel on YouTube which I gave a shout out to a while back: Black Box TV. They just posted their first full episode this week. I'm not putting the video up because I want everyone to go subscribe to it. Its cool, creepy stuff and the sort of thing that's been sorely lacking from YouTube.

MUSIC!!

Continuing our little Muppets themed tribute to Linda this week because I forgot to get a birthday card. Hopefully this'll prevent her from using her powers to reign much doom over me. Its like a pagan offering, only fuzzier.



That's all for Friday. Enjoy the weekend!

New Buffy movie. Run for your lives, kids!

Yeas it looks like there are plans for a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Joss Whedon has nothing to do with it at this point. The people that directed and produced the fairly lame Kristie Swanson flick are behind this one. Seems they still have the movie rights.

OK, for those Buffy fans out there wailing and gnashing your teeth, tone it down to just a big eye roll. They haven't approached Whedon as of yet so you never can tell. He might get on board. Also, that's how these things work. It's not easy to hang on to your creator rights when you're an unknown, which Whedon pretty much was when the movie came out.

Now, if you want some more Buffy stories with Whedon's touch on it, Dark Horse Comics is currently publishing BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 8 which follows the TV series and is being helmed by Whedon. I highly recommend it.

I <3 Vampires

I wasn't originally going to call this this little rant that, but I in my morning web-browsing I found an ad completely at random but that title and it seemed like fate. And if that title seems odd coming from a guy who just made fun of "Twilight" one post ago, then read on and all will be revealed.

I like vampires, really. They're great villains. You can kill them off in the required gruesome fashion and not feel bad about it. I've tried to write them as protagonists and even once attempted to write one as a sympathetic character. It just didn't fly. It boils down to one very important thing: I can't bring myself to care about the dramatic immortal plight of something higher than me on the food chain. Let's face it, they're pretty much zombies without the skin problems and better articulation.

The whole 'they live forever see the ones they love grow old around them' doesn't fly, because in all likelihood the ones they love would end up dinner. I did see a t-shirt with a line on it from what I presume was the 'Twilight' movie: "Your scent is like a drug to me." I imagine the actor delivering the line made people swoon with is urgent and longing acting as he used it to win the heart of girl in the film who meets him and despite the fact that potential he's gonna kill her cannot stay away. (And if this isn't the case in the movie, please don't comment to correct me, because I don't care.) If this is indeed the case, I can see why the vampire in question is so smitten with her. He's got no game and she's obviously stupid. It's a match made in Beverly Hills 90210.

So, if this is the case then how do I feel about Angel and Spike from Joss Whedon's series BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL? I approve of these for a few reasons. Primarily, Whedon is wise enough to make fun of the whole brooding immortal bit in many other characters telling Angel "He should get out more" or the like. Also, there's nothing 'sexy' about vampirism in these shows. You lose your soul and become infested by a demon. Your face twists into something monstrous when you feed. The feeding itself isn't the trading fluids/metaphor for sex cliché either. It's a nasty predatory affair.

So pop culture aside, let's go literary. I tried to read Anne Rice's vampire books. Got bored into a coma and missed 1997. Thanks Anne. So, back up the trolley further to Bram Stoker's DRACULA. This piece struck the precarious balance between the vampire as the seducer and the monster. He was evil as the night is long no doubt about it. He was also an evil that liked girls; preferably young, hot ones. There's no conflict about bumping off because if you don't he's either going to kill you, bang your girlfriend before killing her or both in whatever order is convenient.

So, with the current vampire fad rampant with a certain recent DVD release, am I worried that the current piece of fiction I'm writing won't fair well because there's vampires in it that are evil? Nah. End of the day, vampires are great bad guys and nine times out of ten really lame goods guys. So, get out the garlic and stakes.

Time's achangin'... : part 2

So, I have no interest in Marvel and my enthusiasm towards DC is greatly diminished. Where does that leave me? It leaves me open to things I haven't picked up before. I made the joke in the 'Fanboy Dictionary' that anything not published by Marvel or DC was an 'independent comic'. If that were actually true then Archie is an indy comic. Kinda nukes the old stereo type.

That's right kids, there much more to comic books than just Marvel or DC. This should be apparent to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention. HELLBOY is getting action figures, animated shows and some very cool movies. Frank Miller scored big with big screen adaptations of SIN CITY and 300. SPAWN has a huge following and has had figures, cartoons and a movie. These are just four off the top of my head. Venturing outside of the big two yields some very fun results.

For me, I've recently started getting into MADMAN, THE GOON and BONE. Good times all around. For those who haven't really ventured outside the big two, here's an idea of what's waiting for you.

DARK HORSE comics have been around for decades. This is where you're going to find comics like SIN CITY, THE GOON and HELLBOY but also STAR WARS and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. This is where you'll find a lot of really great, high quality, creator owned works. There's not a lot of your 'traditional' super heroes flying about, kinda a spandex free zone.

IMAGE COMICS has had it's ups and downs, but like it or not the founders struck a major blow for creator ownership when they broke away from Marvel and went their own way. This is the company that gave us SPAWN, THE SAVAGE DRAGON and host of others.

ONI PRESS is one you may not have hear off. However, if you've heard of Judd Winick or Greg Rucka then you should be familiar with them. This is the company that produced THE ADVENTURES OR BARRY WEEN: BOY GENIUS, WHITEOUT, and QUEEN AND COUNTRY. These are award winning books, and I've currently been spending a lot of time lately drooling of the grand gloriousness of the QUEEN AND COUNTRY absolute editons that are being released.

Then there's BOOM STUDIOS which is currently working very hard to suck me in and doing a fine job of it. I'm predicting this group becoming major players, and not just because they had the good the sense that DC didn't and made Mark Waid editor. Here's the best part about these guys: if you're leery of forking out the cash n something new, they've taken the sting out of that by offering some of their titles FREE on their site. So, once you're done here, go read you some free stuff. I'm currently working my way through 2 GUNS.

That's just a glimpse of some of the other stuff out there. So, by now you're thinking, 'OK, Marty's heading off into the wilds of indy comics now.' This is true, but what I talked about above isn't it.

More later.