Captain America: Civil War REVIEW

For those of you who have followed me for a while, you know I think the CIVIL WAR comic book was horribly written and one of the worst things Marvel ever put out.  Why that comic has gotten any praise at all from comic book fans baffles me.  It utterly screwed up the dynamic of the Marvel trinity.  It had main characters acting horribly out of character.  And the fall out from it was ridiculous.

Need a quick overview of the book, watch this.

Ok, got all that?  Cool.  Now on to the review.

PAST THIS POINT THERE BE SPOILERS, AND POSSIBLY DRAGONS, SO DON'T GO CRYING TO ME ABOUT RUINING THE MOVIE OR GETTING CHAR-BROILED!!!

Everything the comic book did wrong, the movie did right.  The book had Cap and Tony at each others' throats over a difference of opinion about government oversight on superheroes.  That element is indeed at play in the movie, but there is so much more at play here.

This is a revenge story, and a really good one.  All these little twists keep going to bring about the ultimate result of the movie.  The fanboys who love the comic have been wanting to see Captain America and Ironman kick the ever-lovin' crap out of each other, and guess what, that's exactly what the main villain wants too.  

Let that sink in for a moment, you people who wanted to see tension between these characters and wanted them to beat each other up.  

Tons of manipulation, all these little moments that seem to be a bit pointless in the film, come together to form this nasty web that catches our heroes.  And the great thing here is that it allows each of the characters to stay true to themselves and we don't have idiotic things like Cap acting like a zealot and Tony recruiting super villains after all the heroes realize he's being a douche.

In fact, Tony is the main target of the manipulation.  I have to wonder if there's scenes that had to get cut revealing the mother of the slain college student was a plant working for Zemo and that the explosion early in the film was somehow rigged.  That isn't crucial to the film, as it could just be our villain waiting for the perfect opportunity to spring his trap.  He's a patient one.

So, we have an excellent plot that greatly improved the dreck that was the comic.  On to the movie itself.

The performances were great top to bottom.  There's been a lot of buzz about Spidey and Black Panther, and how great they were, and its warranted.  Everyone had these wonderfully juicy moments, and it all meshed together so nicely.  It's a very well balanced script, and while we have a dozen superheroes running around its clear that this is a Captain America film.  That's hard because Robert Downey Jr. is always amazing as Tony Stark, but Chris Evans holds his own so well as the stanch moral rock of the movie.  

Here's the hing about Captain America: he's right.  He's the character that is when given all the possible choices is always going to make the one that's going to help as many people as possible.  So, when asked if you're TeamCap or Teamfillintheblank, if your answer isn't TeamCap then you need to probably reconsider your position.  And Evans absolutely nails it without coming off holier-than-thou.

My only problem with the movie is how some of the fight scenes were shot.  I hate shakey camera work and I hate quick action cuts.  That's how sloppy fight choreography gets covered up and it doesn't look like these scenes were sloppy fight choreography.  Let me see the moves and not risk motion sickness, please!

There was plenty of funny bits to keep folks entertained, which is good.  There's a lot of really heavy and dark stuff going on in this story.  Marvel knows when to lighten the mood without coming off cheesy or cheapening the story.  They're also a bit self aware, especially in regards to Marissa Tomei who many people have said is way too young and too hot to play Aunt May.

The trailers for this movie were really misleading on the lot of points.  Lines were cherry picked to make it seem like Tony and Cap were really not liking each other at all.  They left me wondering how two people who are indeed friends could have that much animosity over a difference of opinion on an issue that's pretty much just political.  Once everything gets put in context with the movie it makes so much more sense.  And for those who say, well there was that animosty there back in the first Avengers movie, you're refering to scenes in which all the characters were at each others throats due to the Mind Gem being in the room, so stop, you're embarrassing yourselves.

Bottom line: I went into this movie with a lot of apprehension, and am now releaved that that Marvel managed to make this story happen without it being the utter trainwreck that the comic was and having all of these heroes coming out of it with us as viewers still being able to see them as heroes.  Did the villain win here?  Some may think so, but the final scenes in the film let us know that when the time comes, the Avengers will assemble once more. 

Not my Captain America?

The new Captain America comic came out last week and its caused a bit of a stink.  For those who haven't been keeping up, Steve Rogers, the original Cap, no longer has the Super Soldier Serum in him and has aged.  He chose a successor, his friend and long-time partner, Sam Wilson, the Falcon.  There was a bit of a flap about Captain America being black and diversity running amuck, but for those who have followed the comics and characters for a long time, its actually pretty cool.  Sam Wilson is a great character, and if someone had to step in for Steve Rogers I think he's the best choice.

Now the new comic is out, and its written by Nick Spencer.  I like Nick Spencer.  I think he's a really amazing writer.  I was excited to see what he;d do with the character, and then I read the issue.  Things started out great.  Sam is kicking butt and taking on Hydra goons and Crossbones.  It a lot of fun.  Then we find out that everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. is ticked at him and so is a good chunk of the public.

And its the reason why where I think Spencer has made a big mistake.

Spencer acknowledges that Steve Rogers kept his politics to himself as much as possible.  He stayed out of partisan squabbling.  I really like the quote that Hickman gave Cap when he was being told his values and ideals were archaic.  His answer was "I don't judge people's lives, I save them." And that's just awesome.  Captain America makes the right choices even in the toughest of situations.  He's an ideal, and I think that's a lot of the ideal of America.  Doing what's right, even when its hard.

But Sam Wilson doesn't seem to be reflecting the ideal of America, but more of the reality of America.  He's come out on certain sides of issues, and its ticked off people who don't agree.  This is so very disappointing.  I saw Sam being Cap and being a minority as a step forward and we can judge characters and people by the content of their character and their actions.  I had hope.  I had hope that Sam, like Steve, would stay above politics and just be a force for good.

Instead I see the like of "You're not my Captain America" which reminds me of those who say Obama "is not my president".  There's other parallels between Sam and Obama in the book.  Its funny because there was hope for him too.  Instead our president has focused on the divides in this country and pushing his side of things.  I really don't want to see Sam go down that same road, but that's kind of how its looking it'll go.

The latter part of the book has Sam coming in to stop people from harming illegal immigrants.  That's good.  Captain America should be stopping those who would harm people unable to defend themselves.  But at the same time, these are people who are willfully breaking the law, and I'm doubting Sam is going to tell them that what they are doing is wrong.

I follow politics, and its a tiring, soul crushing affair.  I read comics to life my spirits and often inspire me as they did when I was a kid.  I used to want to be a good, upright, moral man like Captain America.  Now Captain America saddens me.  It looks like just one more thing that's been sucked up in the political game of demonized and mocking anything or anyone that doesn't agree with you.  Its even to the point that we're being presented characters in this book like Phil Coulson and Nick Fury Jr. who are heroes in other marvel books but are here shady individuals that we shouldn't trust.

But its only the first issue of this run.  Perhaps Sam will learn that he's not Captain Democrat, Captain Republican, Captain Conservative, nor Captain Liberal.

He's Captain America.  And I hope he's one I can admire and respect as much as his predeccesor.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Hey gang.  Its Wednesday, April 8, 2012, and this is The Side.  The Missus's trip to Kansas has gotten extended a bit.  I'm pretty much exhausted, so I'm not terribly clever today.  Being sick doesn't help either.  Right now I'm functioning on vitamins, pills, and caffeine.

MOVIES!!!

THE AVENGERS knocked it right out of the park.  Pretty much the only people who didn't like this movie are snobby twit critics who take their jobs way to seriously.  It broke the box office record, and a sequel has already been green lit.  This is going to follow sequels for Thor, Ironman, and Captain America.  There's a lot of expectations going around, so I'm going to share mine.


As far as over all, I like how they've handled things.  Going into the next sequel cycle, I'd like some build up to a show down with the big bad they showed during the first extra scene in the credits.  The Infinity Gauntlet was shown during Thor, so maybe play with that a bit.

As for the Thor movie, I think an obvious choice in villains is The Enchantress along with the Executioner.  I'm not too stoked with piling on villains for movie sequels, but these two go really well together.  The Enchantress can be a fun foil to the Natalie Portman played Jane, and make for an interesting pseudo-love triangle bit.  Meanwhile you've got The Executioner there for the big time throwdowns that are a must for these flicks.  And if during a big battle a certain glove gets lost and the six certain gems get scattered, I'm seeing no problem with that.


The Ironman movie is a bit trickier.  Marvel isn't wanting to use Chinese characters as major villains in these movies for fear of a possible backlash and maybe accusations of racism.  This sucks because a lot of fans are wanting to see the Mandarin, especially with everything they hinted at in the first movie.  This also rules out The Radioactive Man.  My next thought would be The Titanium Man, but using him right after the Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo gestalt seems too soon.  Back-to-back Russian armor wearers might not go over very well.  This is where we hit tricky ground because we're ruling out a lot of top flight opponents.  I'm thinking its about the right spot to put in M.O.D.O.K. and introduce AIM.  Probably won't have the goofy yellow jumpsuits, and the M.O.D.O.K. design will need a bit of tweaking, but I think that would make for a fun ride.  Might also be a good place for a missing gem or two to be recovered.

The Captain America movie has no shortage of bad guys to pull from.  The great thing is he's got a ton of Neo-Nazi baddies, and if you can't kick the crap out of a Nazi, then there's just no point anymore.  Still, I think it would be a good idea to have the main baddie be someone more current, and not a WWII hold over.  At this point, as we saw in THE AVENGERS, Cap is still getting adjusted to the modern world.  Having a modern villain can really build conflict, not just between the two foes, but with Cap's whole situation.  I'd like to have Crossbones for this.  He's got ties to the Red Skull, and would be a good bridge character.  Taskmaster trained him, so having him in there for a bit would also be fun.


After Mark Ruffalo's brilliant performance there's been a bit of buzz about a possible Hulk movie.  I'm game for it as Ruffalo was really, really good in THE AVENGERS and the Hulk had many of the best scenes.  Since I'm picking villain's here, I'd go with The Leader.  Some of us got to chatting about this on Google Plus, so I've thought about it a bit.  I'd have Banner up north, and have him run afoul a Wendigo.  This way you get some good monster on monster violence.  Have the Leader be behind the scenes a bit looking to tap the power of the Wendigo, but he goes after the Hulk instead.  His quest for the Hulk's power turns him into the big headed green guy we all know.

There's also been a lot of call for an Ant-man movie.  I really don't know about that one.  Sure, I'd love to see The Wasp, but I don't think Ant-man as a character has enough to him to carry a movie.  Yes, I do know he was one of the founding members of the Avengers.  However, that's not quite enough to warrant getting your own major motion picture.  Thor, Cap, and Ironman are the Marvel Trinity characters.  Hulk as been immensely popular for decades.  They make sense.  Ant-man just doesn't rank up there.  Introduce him in one of the sequel flicks and work him in there.  The next Ironman film would be the best fit.


There's a lot of characters I think of when I think of The Avengers: Wonder-man, The Vision, Ms. Marvel, The Scarlet Witch, Beast, and The Black Panther.  I doubt you'll be able to had too many more characters into the sequels as it would make AVENGERS 2 an unwieldy mess.  We don't want that.  Work in Ant-Man and The Wasp, keep the cast they have.


For the sequel, everyone's looking to have the team take on Thanos.  May as well give the people what they want.  Whether or not they use the Infinity Gems as a plot device is fine with me.  My favorite Thanos stories involved the gems so I'm obviously biased here.  Either way, it should be a bunch of good summers coming up if you're a fan of what Marvel's been up to the last few years.


That said, if you're wanting to check out the movie and haven't, go to a theater, and don't be a dick downloading the thing.  The studio makes more money that they can use to continue to entertain us.  besides which, watching these flicks on the big screen is completely awesome.

MUSIC!!

Yeah, been a rough few weeks, so I'm tossing this one on out there.







Off to work.  See y'all Friday.

Weekend of Nerd!

Howdy!  Its Sunday, May 6, 2012, I'm getting my geek on, no surprise, and this is The Side.  Got a bunch of reasons to be nerding out this weekend.  Yesterday was free Comic Book Day and I took the girls up to Kings.  We got up there pretty late so most of the free releases were already gone.  Heard they went fast too.  Still, there were some boxes of old comics out and you could grab 10 each.  The girls loaded up, quite pleased with their hauls.  I didn't grab anything, because I think Free Comic Book Day should be about getting new readers, not guys like me who already have a pretty regular reading list.  Sure, if there were some of the releases out that looked interesting I'd have grabbed one to check it out and maybe add something new to my reading list, but first come, first serve, and I certainly wasn't early.


Other big reason for nerding out.  SHERLOCK season two is coming on PBS!





If you haven't seen season one yet, shame upon you.  Netflix instant streaming is your friend, however, and you can watch them on there.  Brilliant series, and I can't wait to sit and enjoy this new season.


So that's more nerding out.  Wasn't there something else?  Some movie coming out this weekend?

MOVIE REVIEW: MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS

Which I'm glad they clarified in the title because I might have gone in expecting more adventures with Peel and Steed.  But no, this is indeed Marvel's big guns gathered together for the movie fans have been waiting for.  Now, at this current time, we are at a point in which we have multiple comic book based movies coming out in theaters every year.  This was absolutely not the case for me growing up, so unlike in my youth I'm not as forgiving of them.  I used to feel a definite need to defend comic book movies even if they weren't very good, because I feared they'd become fewer and further between.  Now, they're a hot property, and they don't seem to be slowing down, so I have no qualms about calling out a movie's flaws, even if the majority of comic book fans loved the films.  Its refreshing to be able to be completely honest about a movie and reviewing it based on its merits, and those alone.


So I can be completely honest in my opinion of this movie.  Let's face it: this is an unprecedented move by a any studio.  They've released separate films introducing these characters to movie going audiences.  They made these movies with big budgets, and very talented actors, writers, and directors, not sparing anything in terms of quality if they could help it.  Multiple individual franchises have been launched, and the intent has been there since they really started rolling with this to eventually make the movie that was released here in the States this weekend.  Expectations from fans were through the roof.  Joss Whedon was signed on as writer/director.  Expectations rose higher.  It was to the point that there did not seem to be any way that the fans' expectations could be met.  I had to make a conscious effort to go into this movie and try to leave my personal expectations for what I'd want this movie to be in the lobby and try to form an honest opinion of the work.


So, with that out there I can say completely honestly, and checking my nerded up expectations at the door: this was one damn fine piece of work.


Let's start this out with the writing and directing from Whedon.  What he did that was really amazing here is take these characters from their separate franchises and place them in one film and still had them ring completely true to how they were depicted in their separate films.  This didn't feel like Whedon's take on these characters.  It felt like the separate writers all had gotten together to handle their particular characters.  At the same time, Whedon managed to have these character playing of of each other beautifully.  It was as if he had had a hand in everything from the beginning of Marvel's big movie push.


This is a long movie at two and a half hours long.  It didn't feel like it because of the excellent pacing.  Its kinetic, without being rushed.  The quiet moments are still packed with juicy, fun conversations that really give you a good feel for these individuals.  Certainly you have to have suspension of disbelief when in this genre, but that's not taken for granted here, as Whedon keeps the story on track.  Its fairly straight forward. Loki is back and he's ticked over what happened in the THOR movie and he's got a plan for some big time revenge and looking to take Earth in the bargain.  There's not a lot of twists, but that's fine because the speed this roller coaster moves at, any hairpin turn in things could easily send it right off the rails.


On to the performances, and here's where this movie shines.  Everyone brought their "A" game to this.  There's been a lot of buzz about Mark Ruffalo coming into to playing Bruce Banner.  Initially there was some dismay from fans who were miffed about having a different actor for the role when every other role was being reprised by the actors from the separate movies.  This has shifted to glowing praise of Ruffalo in his work in this role, and that praise is completely justified.  He was remarkable, especially in his scenes with Robert Downey Junior.  Downey delivered the Tony Stark that the fans love with style, wit, and panache.  Chris Evans was a really fun Captain America.  Chris Hemsworth gave us the Thor we know and love, albeit with a bit less humor than in his movie.  That's easily forgiven considering the circumstances of the story.  I didn't get quite enough Jeremy Renner.  It seemed like Hawkeye got the short end of the arrow this go around, although he did have some really cool moments.  Scarlett Johansson was amazing in this.  Whedon shines at writing strong women, and his Black Widow is no exception.  Some fans have sort of rolled their eyes at her inclusion in this with a "What's she gonna do?  Flash her boobs at the bad guys?" attitude.  To say she holds her own in this is an understatement.  Samuel Jackson's portrayal of Nick Fury is slick and stylish with enough gravity to it to really anchor the film.  We can't forget Tom Hiddleston as Loki.  He's gotten a lot of praise for his performance, and its well earned.  This is a very nuanced character, and and it shows down to every little facial expression.


Big props to Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson.  He's been around since the first Ironman movie, and is really great here.  He may not have had the flashiest moments in the marvel movies, but he's always kept things very grounded, and I've found myself really liking the character even though he's been a bit antagonistic in previous films.  He had all these great little moments in this, and it was really made things fun.


Overall, this movie gave me everything I could have asked for.  It got me engaged in the story.  There were parts that totally cracked me up.  There were parts that made me grin like a child that has been thoroughly indulged.  The movie had a definite purpose and didn't fall into the trap of having unneeded and distracting sub-plots.   The action was incredibly over the top and was still easily followed.  You could see and appreciate every impossibly blow in these battles.  The fast clip editing that is completely annoying in many fight scenes is used very sparingly, and when it comes to the big hits, the camera hides nothing.


I'd pay full price to see it again.


Also, make sure you stay through the credits for some fun little Easter eggs, and a hint as to where a possible and probably sequel will be heading.

MUSIC!!!

Yeah, I'm sticking with my theme today.





I think that'll do it for me today.  Time for some coffee.  See y'all Wednesday.

All Who Chose to Oppose His Mighty Shield Must Yield!

If you didn't know, the title today comes from the old Captain America cartoon theme song. You doubt me?



Its Sunday, July 24, 2011, this post is brought to you by powder milk biscuits, not really, but this is The Side. We're on the tail end of the heat wave here. Yes I did go out and work in it. There's one big problem with being online in that saying stuff can net a response from unexpected places. I posted that I might have sweated something important off and the first response I get is from an Australian firefighter telling me "toughen up, sunshine".

You can't come back from that! This guy goes out and fights a brush fire and the heat and when he starts getting dehydrated goes "Oy! Gimme a beer."

Pesky internet.

MOVIE REVIEW: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

When I think of Captain America I think of three main points: he's the best pound-for-pound fighter in Marvel, he's a hero's hero, and he's a stand up guy. The last point was the one that Chris Evans really brought home when he played Steve Rogers in this movie. Yes, he completely looked the part. The special effects that were used to make him look skinny were remarkably well done. He also did a great job with the action scenes required. Most importantly, I completely bought into him as Captain America. He really brought his "A" game as an actor.

This was just one great performance among many. Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull was menacing and eeeeeeevil. Hayley Atwell was phenomenal as Peggy Carter bringing a classic beauty and real strength to the character. Tommy Lee Jones played to his strengths which I love it so when he does it. He was responsible for most of more humorous lines in the film. Sebastian Stan as Bucky did great and really showed the friendship between Steve and Bucky. I loved Stanley Tucci in this. He plays the scientist behind the super soldier process and brings such warmth and charm to the role.

Let's get down to it. For those who don't know the story, in World War II America was going to create an army of "super soldiers" to take on Hitler. A spy kills the scientist responsible after the process produces only one test subject. From there, Cap goes to war. Director Joe Johnson sticks to these key points, and the key points of the character. It works. The best way to describe this film is "simple", and I mean that in the best way possible. I love Johnson's other period superhero film THE ROCKETEER for the same reason. The good guys are good through-and-through. The Nazi bad guys and just dripping evil. You want to cheer for Steve the whole time. He's got an amazing "can do" grit in everything except how to talk to women. There's a lot of charm here making this movie a lot of fun. At the same time we see the stark comparison with Hydra and villains. They aren't likable at all, and you want to see Cap and the Howling Commandos take them down.

One little bit I completely nerded out on. Early in the film, Steve and Bucky go on a double date to the World's Fair. Keep your eyes open to catch a look at The Human Torch! Its the original Human Torch, which was an android superhero the Marvel (then Timely comics) had going back when Cap first came on the scene. Cap, the Torch and Sub-Mariner were their big three back in the day. That Human Torch was the inspiration for the modern Human Torch that Chris Evans played in THE FANTASTIC FOUR. That was such a neat little circle for a movie Easter Egg.

Bottom line: this was a really really good movie. Great performances by all the actors. It looks great. Its a lot of fun. The ending is a gut wrencher that really makes you feel for the characters. They really did an amazing job in this all the way around. This is the classic Captain America I grew reading and not the Mark Millar HaRdCoRe douchebag. Thank goodness for that.

And finally, make sure you stay through the credits for a sneak peak of next years THE AVENGERS. Its the same one that got leaked to YouTube this week, but its really awesome to see on the big screen.

MUSIC!!

When I kick it old school, I mean reeeeeeeal old school.



That's it for today. If the heat is still on you, go catch a movie and enjoy some air conditioning. We'll see y'all Wednesday.

Captain America loves Chick-Fil-A

*COUGH! HACK! WEEZE!* Its Wednesday, January 9, 2011, I'm sick as all get out, and this is The Side. The dreaded Chinchilla Flu has descended upon the Nozz compound. We're all sick and miserable. I've yet to find the proper medication that allows me to be particularly clever, so onward we go.

NOMNOMNOM!!!

I love Chick-Fil-A. I typically eat there at least once a week. The food is great. The staff is always friendly. It's got a good health rating. Pretty much a win all the way around. So when I found out that there were people planning to boycott it this got my attention. Seems a Chick-Fil-A provided catering to a group that is against gay marriage. So, obviously everyone at Chick-Fil-A and those people that eat there are a bunch of homophobes and bigots.

Well go right ahead and lump me on in there too, because I'm gonna keep on eating there.

Obviously if someone has a problem with with Chick-Fil-A then they shouldn't eat there. But the slanderous crap is just idiotic. That high school kid behind the counter taking your order most likely doesn't have an opinion on the subject. They're just working and doing their best to provide good service. That lady with her kids stopping in there for lunch doesn't care about gay marriage when they were choosing where to go. There are no signs up denouncing gay marriage. It was just one store that provided catering to a seminar.

Now there's dopes saying they won't eat at the chain again until they provide a donation or catering to a group supporting gay marriage. Well, I hope they aren't holding their breaths because that's not going to happen. There's not enough ticked off people to make a dent in Chick-Fil-A's business. This is like that stupid boycott of Target a while back. It went absolutely nowhere.

So, if you don't want to eat there anymore, that's fine. However, if you want to call people bigots just for working there or eating there, you can get bent.

YOUTUBERY!!!

I have seen the future, and it involves hamster powered mech armor!!



And while I'm tossing around some YouTube vids, here's the teaser for the Captain America movie.

MUSIC!!

As the dreaded Chinchilla Flu has been kicking my ass this week I've been on the hunt for a perfect drug to make me feel better.



That's it for today. I'm going to go take a bunch of drugs now. See y'all Friday.

Waid made Cap a Derivative of Batman

Hey Nonee Nonee, it's Wednesday, July 21, 2010 and in a startling change of pace I'm actually wearing pants as I post this. In another change of pace, I've discontinued the "Pop Quiz" section as one one person has actually answered any of the questions since I started doing them. See? Even an e-troglodyte can e-evolve.

Today's Side is a bit light on news and heavy on my opining and rambling. I'd have gone through more effort to hunt down more news, but I'm working hard to curb the crime spree of a three-year-old who despite knowing you have to pay for things in stores thought it was a good idea to haul ass out of an FYE in the mall with a SUPER FRIENDS DVD before paying.

OK, that may not technically be a "spree" but that's how these things start!

HOWDY MISTER ROGERS

That's some art that's mostly likely going to be the look Captain America sports in the upcoming movie. They look to be going with WWII era heavily and that's fine by me. Should be fun.

BAT-THEORIES

With Bruce Wayne returning there's a lot going on in the Batman comics. For those new to here and that have not been following Batman, Bruce Wayne was trapped in the past after battling Darkseid. Now something has him bouncing through time and we're told that if he gets back to the present very bad things will happen. Here's some of what we know:

* Bruce Wayne traveling through time seems to be allowing him to reclaim different aspects of himself and his memory seems to be starting to come back.

* Wayne is also creating a situation that will allow for himself to become Batman.

* Bruce Wayne was at the end of time.

* The Black Glove is shown to be Bruce Wayne's father Thomas in an origin that isn't possible.

* The Black Glove cursed Bruce and it seemed to come true as his very next case led him straight to Darkseid.

* The events that led to the story in BATMAN #666 featuring Dick Grayson's death and Damien Wayne becoming Batman seem to be coming true.

But there's still a lot we don't know and the pertinent questions seem to be:

* What is the true identity of The Black Glove?

* Is there a connection between The Black Glove and Darkseid?

* What is within Bruce Wayne that is so dangerous?

* What is the Joker's hand in this?

So, what are the possibilities? Well there's a lot, but I've got a few thoughts:

* This could be Darkseid centric. After the war we did not see in FINAL CRISIS the New Gods and the Gods of Apokalypse got bounced backwards in time. The methods of the Black Glove and Darkseid resemble each other in that they want to twist and corrupt that which is good. The Black Glove could be one of Darkseid's agents and the alternate origin could be what he hopes to replace the history we know with. What Bruce could be carrying inside him is an "imprint" of Darkseid which is growing and hoping to be reborn when the time is right.

* This could be Devil centric. Going with the notion that the Black Glove is an incarnation of the Devil and let's assume that he's factored in Darkseid with his curse on Batman's cape and cowl. Perhaps he's trying to manipulate events so that Bruce's time traveling somehow allows a situation in which the impossible origin become possible. Its like time and reality are a slinky bouncing down the stairs. the same events keep circling around each other, but each time just a little more removed from the original loop.

This is of course the conjecture of one nutter that really should get more sleep.

BY THE NUMBERS

Currently I have 41 follower on this blog. That's about 30-some more than expected. This also does not take into account the ones that follow that are not shown, so the actual number may indeed be 42. The number of blogs I currently follow is in the single digits. Over on Google Buzz I have just over 150 followers and i follow just over 50. Twitter is another story. My account there is less than a week old. I follow a dozen folks and am followed by two.

My online time is limited so there's only so much content I can view and mentally process. That's why the number of things I follow is very limited. Looking at some accounts I see that there are people that follow hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, and they have a few hundred followers themselves. This is the I'll follow you if you'll follow me and really this is pointless for anyone who wants to see content. Its fine if all you want to do is sell sell sell. But consider this if you want people to read and appreciate your content: if they follow hundred of thousands of people, there's not way that they are going to pay any attention to your work. It'll be lost in the shuffle.

Between the blog, Twitter and Buzz two of the three bast higher numbers in followers versus following. It just may be possible that I'm doing something right. Don't faint.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Being that I love comics in a way that may be considered unhealthy, I also love it when people who make good comics get their due. So when Mark Waid was shown the door over at DC I was not happy because he makes great comics. I honestly think some powers that be over there saw him as a bit of a threat because Waid could do his job better and the fans knew it. But that's history and Mister Waid has moved on over to Boom. Boom at the time had been struggling a bit. They had good stuff, but it wasn't quite hitting with readers.

Enter Mark Waid: Editor-in-chief. *Cue dramatic music.*

Now just a couple years later the company has won numerous awards and is doing quite well not only with their existing titles, but they have also bought a great line of kids comics to the forefront, which is something that's been sorely lacking. So now he's gotten a promotion to Chief Creative Officer. He'll be expanding the growth of the company in new and exciting ways. So if you haven't checked out what they're up to already, do so and thank me later.

Stepping into his previous position is Matt Gagnon. This was a no-brainer. Gagnon has an eye for talent and isn't afraid to get hands on to make sure the books get out on time. Congratulations to him as well.

CREATING BY DERIVATIVE

Reading a ton of comics does not make one qualified to write one. Certainly it helps in terms of understanding how the pacing works and how the pages break down. The problem is if all you read is one genre, in the case of comic books its most likely superhero, then you'll wind up regurgitating what you've taken in. Chris and I were talking about it last night. The best writers know to draw upon life experience or the life experience of others for their work. They know to look at classic literature to see what in these works have made them stand the test of time.

Same with art. The majority of manga is crap because the artists are under such a tight schedule to produce work that copying is encouraged. That's one of the main reasons for the generally homogeneous look of most manga art. The plots and pretty close to cookie cutter as well. Sure there's a few stand outs, but its very few and good luck finding them.

In creating you most be original and until you find your own voice and style look to others that are stand outs and originals to see what is working for them. This does not mean copying their work. It means examining the ideas and concepts that they are exploring and try to find something in there that resonates with you. But you have to be careful. Just because you think something is brilliant does not mean everyone else thinks so. If you're going to do a piece heavily inspired by Lady Gaga, you need to make sure your audience actually gives a damn about Lady Gaga. It doesn't matter how popular the media thinks she is.

Finding an original voice inside yourself is not easy and you may not have it in you, but its worth looking for.

MUSIC!!

This week I'm listing three of my all time favorite songs. Enjoy.



And that's a wrap for today. I leave with with an asignment. Its Hump Day. Go hump something. Just keep it legal. See ya Friday.

What? No Union Jack cameo?

Captain America his heading across the pond. That's right, the upcoming movie starring Chris Evans will be filmed in England. Well, some of the movie is supposedly set in England, so that's cool, but what about the rest? Why not film it in the States?

Money. Specifically, taxes.

California would tax the hell out of it. England offers significant tax credits for filming a movie over there. So which is smarter? Having to spend a ton of money on taxes, or having that money to make a better movie with the budget you have?

California is in an economic tailspin and there's already companies bailing off of that sinking ship. On the surface its easy to think of those companies as rats deserting that sinking ship, but those rats have employees, with families, and they'd like to be able to eat.

So, is it horrible and unpatriotic that Captain America is being filmed in England? Not so much, but it is pretty ironic. I think everyone thought Hollywood would come crashing down due to sin and excess. Really the bigger problem is government and taxes.

I think the major Hollywood studios should move the Virginia! Of course I say that because being an extra in some big movie would be cool. Best I could hope for with my mug is "victim #3". I can play dead real good. Honest. Ask my boss.