The comments, reviews and rantings are for entertainment only. If you are offended then someone else is getting entertained. Welcome to the internet. Have at it. This is where I sound off on what I read in comics this week, and occasionally ramble about other things.
Its Wednesday, Nevember 2, 2011, I was planning on catching them all, but that required a lot of effort, and this is The Side.
Halloween has come and gone. I've got a ton of left over candy, which is probably going to make dropping those few extra pounds a little difficult. The girls raked in quite a haul between the Halloween event at the Norfolk Zoo, the trunk-or-treat at their preschool, and running around the neighborhood.
The girls were Ash and Pikachu, and were a huge hit with all the little nerdlings that were out and about. We did run into a few other Pikachus at the zoo event at which point I looked at my daughter and told her, "Its time for a Pokémon battle."
She did run up to one of the other Pikachus, struck a battle pose and yelled "PikaCHUUUUUU!" I told her to use tail whip. The other kid went to correct me that I meant iron tail. I told him that my daughter hadn't leveled up that far yet.
It was at this point that a mother pulled her daughter away who had watched the whole thing saying "C'mon, they ain't really gonna fight."
That went down Sunday, and unfortunately Monday, the hat which my wife spent a day hand sewing and I hand painted the design on it to look like the hat Ash Ketchem wears got lost. This was the cause of high drama in the house. I turned the entire house over looking for it. It looked like Ray was going to have to go trick-or-treating with out it. She was actually out the door a few seconds when I found it.
I think my cry of "HA!" scared a few kids, but it was Halloween.
MUSIC!!
Sometimes, you just need a little Weezer.
I was planning on this being a lot longer, but I spent an entire evening trying to salvage a room of the house. This meant leaving work earlier than planned, so I'm now going into work earlier than planned. See y'all Friday.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's Sunday, October 31, 2010, and my favorite holiday is here. It took a bit of time but I'm finally full on in the Halloween spirit. NBC showed a couple of new specials from Dreamworks featuring Shrek and the cast from MONSTERS VERSUS ALIENS. Both were pretty cool. After that I bounced over to PBS to enjoy AFTER YOU'RE GONE and KEEPING UP APPEARANCES, but that was just the interlude to me enjoying a Halloween TV fest. Last night was was the 35th anniversary of Doctor Madblood. The mad scientist from the edge of Pungo Swamp has been hosting cheesy horror movies and doing skits with his kooky cast all my life. Last night's showing was HAUNTED HOTEL with Christopher Lee. One could almost take the movie seriously if the Doc hadn't transported his buddies Count Lacudra and Renfield into the movie to wonder around. Fun with editing is still fun.
There was also a Pancake supper at the church I teach Karate at, which I attended because it was for a good cause and pancakes rule. I was hanging out with another of the karate guys who is now a bit too old for Trick-or-treating but noted that in his neighborhood a lot more houses have darkened their porches and a lot of the fun traditions his neighborhood had have gone away. This is in a lot of places. Part of it is the media trumping up a bit of fear about children safety. There's also the spreading of notion that Halloween is a "Satanic Holiday" which is complete and utter hogwash.
So tonight, be safe of course, but remember what this Holiday is really about: having fun.
SPOOKY TRADITION!
Every year on Halloween there's always one thing that I do. I break out the VHS, hook it up, and fire up Disney's THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HALLOW. I've watched it every year on Halloween since I got the VHS tape. For you young'ins, VHS is what we used to watch movies on before DVDs. And yes I do remember Betamax. Despite owning this short film and having the ability to watch it whenever I want I only watch it once a year. And no that has nothing to do with me being too lazy to hook up the VHS player. Its the same reason that while I have A CHRISTMAS STORY on DVD I only watch it at Christmas. There's a time for these sorts of things, and to watch it at other times would make it a bit less special.
I love the Disney version. Bing Crosby narrates it and sing the songs. The animation is nice and crisp. The story is a classic of American Literature. For those who haven't read it, its not terribly long and you can find it here. I like that the story for the most part is set up. There's a tiny bit at the very beginning that that has a spooky touch when introducing the town, but that is quickly brushed past. It doesn't get spooky until the party and from there the stage is set.
I did find the cartoon scary when I was child and it seems I'm not the only one. Watching the video last Halloween, my daughters watched it too, with as much attention as a two year old can muster. After I had enjoyed the viewing and my one daughter was content to enjoy a cup of warm milk before bedtime, I had lost track of the other. I briefly searched the house only to find her in her bedroom behind a chair. She hides a lot. I went to retrieve her from her hiding spot to bring her out into the living room with her sister so she could also have her cup of warm milk.
"No!" She stated firmly wiggling from my grip.
"Nicole, come on out and have your cup. Its close to bedtime."
"No. Horsey. I scared."
So yes, I scared my kid something fierce with a cartoon I love to pieces. I should have known better since Nicole scares pretty easy. She fled crying after I dropped a couple of Mentos in a Diet Coke bottle. I'll be waiting until she's snug in her bed this year before I watch it. You never can tell though. maybe one day she'll have the same affection for Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman that I do.
SPOOKY MUSIC!!
Sure there's a video I have to watch every year on Halloween. There's a song I have to listen to too.
Thus ends our two week long Halloween romp. Whether or not Halloween will be scarier than next Tuesday remains to be seen. See y'all Wednesday!
It's Friday, October 29, 2010, It finally got cold out, and this is The Side. Time for a bit of Nozz History.
Last time we talked about age limits on trick-or-treating and how that was the norm for me growing up. I only really lived in two areas when i was a kid and both those spots had cut off ages for trick-or-treating. So where was I on the last year I could legally trick-or-treat? San Miguel Marine Base in the Philippines!
The advantages to being on a military on Halloween night are simple. The houses are packed pretty tightly together and most of those were duplexes. Also the base had security, so my parents were cool with me striking out on my own to trick-or-treat. For a long legged kid well motivated by a powerful sweet tooth, that's a winning combination. My costume was a very simple one: it was my karate gi with a mask. We had a two hour window to trick-or-treat. In that time I had covered the majority of the base and managed to load up two whole bags with candy to the point of them nearly over flowing. I still had Halloween candy all the way until the next Easter.
What got interesting was walking home and I ran into my buddy, Joe. Joe was a Filipino kid about my age who lived off base, but was frequently allowed on base to hang out. Nice enough guy, but a bit surprised by seeing me in a mask. You see, he had no idea what Halloween was. He was pretty amped to try to get my candy. That wasn't going to happen and I told him to get his own and this led to me explaining the trick-or-treating process and lending him my mask and a bag after I dumped the candy into my gi jacket. The first house was a riot.
Joe: "You are messing with me."
Me: "No. I swear this works."
Joe: "So I ring the doorbell, and when they come to the door I hold out the bag and... what do I say again?"
Me: "Trick or treat."
Joe: "Trick or treat."
Me: "You got it."
So he rang the doorbell and waited.
Joe: "I'm going to kick your ass if you're screwing with me."
But the lady came to the do, he recited his line, and bingo, candy in the bag. We hit about twenty houses. I had to explain Jack O'Lanterns as he thought there might be candy in there. But once we got back to my house, he loaded up all the candy he got into his pockets and thanked me profusely for telling him all about "the coolest holiday ever".
SPOOKY COMIX!!
Let's start with the end, and by the end I mean death, and by death I mean ACTION COMICS #894. Lex Luthor is sort of a little bit dead. As such he meets Death. As one could probably predict, he's not terribly glad to see her. In fact, the whole situation is completely unacceptable to Lex. Death is pretty understanding about it and they have a nice conversation about the matter. Despite the tag line on the David Finch cover saying "Death in Action" there's pretty much no action in the entire book. However, this was utterly riveting. This was easily far and away my read of the week. I'm not a Neil Gaiman fan, and not because I dislike him, but because his work never really grabbed me, so having his interpretation of Death in here, while novel, isn't the selling point. Its Lex Luthor's reaction to his own demise that makes this book sing.
Also, Lex is kinda a freak. Just sayin'.
Moving on, DETECTIVE COMICS #870 also hit this week. The big reveal I predicted two months ago was revealed in completely predictable manner. This was immediately followed by our bad spilling his guts about his motivation and coming off as the biggest douche ever. It felt like Hine was imitating JMS's crap SUPERMAN story with the "why couldn't you save my loved one, you asshole" bit. I'm expecting Hine to write batman walking across the country now. The story was with gory detail hitting the reader smack in the face with exactly how horrible the loved one in question died. This whole story has gone straight to hell since the beginning. Completely awful and if Hine's frankly if I see Hine's name on anything else, I'm going to pass on it. That's how bad this issue was. It turned me against a writer.
In lighter news, I grabbed up TEEN TITANS #88 because I am a big Nicola Scott fanboy. I absolutely adore Scott's work. I had dropped this title due to it being pretty damn lame, but I couldn't pass this up. J.T. Krul is the new writer on the book, and this is the first thing of his I've read. The roster has been streamlined a bit to Superboy, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Raven, and Ravager. The current Robin, Damien Wayne, is set to join up too. This book was a pretty good time, and I'm definitely on board with it for now. The characters were all likable and well handled. I don't really dig the romantic tension between Connor and Cassie, but that's because I want that coupling to work out. I also dig how Krul handles Kid Flash. Good stuff.
ATOMICA #2 hit this week. This was interesting in that the issue was split into two separate stories. It kind of gave it an old school ARCHIE COMICS kind of feel to it. The stories were pretty light-hearted fair as well. In “The Time Loop Team Up”, Atomica is up against the dreaded Captain Doom. I think his name is the most dreadful part, but he’s pretty formidable. There’s just enough plot to get us to the fight itself, something about that bad ol Captain trying to steal something from Doctor Colluns. What is interesting in here is Atomica gets saved by herself. Literally. It seems her Atomic Power Pendant gives her limited time travel powers, so she popped back from the near future to help defeat Captain Doom and after the win the one that got saved popped back in time to help her past self. Stephen Hawking would probably get up and walk if he read that one. The other story was a bit less trippy. “Atomica’s Day Out” featured her in her secret identity, Rose Lockhart, out and about in the city. It was pretty tame with her shopping and enjoying the park. She met a guy, Ray Ringer, who may or may not end up a love interest. Ray was sketching at the park, and Rose was admiring his work when I random giant spider attacked. I guess that’s what giant spiders do. It was pretty amusing to see such a calm pedestrian story take such a sudden weird twist. This issue was really a lot of fun. So far its surviving my “three issue” test.
SPOOKY MUSIC!!
Because its that time of year, I had to include something from local musician and spooky dude Lucan Wolf.
Here it comes. Its Wednesday, October 27, 2010, and this is The Side. Only a few days remaining until Halloween and I spotted a new story about age limits placed on Trick-or-treating. What's weird is I thought that this was the norm. I thought everywhere had an age limit of 12 for trick-or-treating. Sure I hit up a few places in high school, but those were people I knew and there was a smile and wink to it. It was my way of wishing them a Happy Halloween. I was busy riding my skateboard through the neighborhood and spraying the kids and their parents with silly string as they were out and about. No problems and all in good fun. The kids would scream. A few of the parents would too. Most of the dads would laugh. But still, that amount of effort on my part required a little sugar boost, so if I needed to stop in for a treat, it was a great reason to say "hi" to some folks and ask how their holiday is going.
I do have a bit of a problem with high schoolers trick-or-treating, especially if i don't know them. They don't put much effort into their costumes. They don't say "tick or treat". I have a hard rule. You want candy from me on Halloween, you better say "trick or treat". It's just sad when I see some goofy kid holding out a bag and looking at me expectantly through a cheap rubber mask. "And what do we say?" I'll ask him (its always a him). "Um... please?"
Damned kids have no since of tradition. What are we teaching out children when they can't even beg of candy properly on candy beggin' night?
SPOOKY COMIX!!
DRACULA: THE COMPANY OF MONSTERS #3 is in stores today. This comic is really taking its time with its pacing, but there's still all these things going on that keep me in the story. We have a new element with a vampire hunting family investigating the killing of the research team from the last issue. This immediately made me think of VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST and the monster hunting group in it. There's not a ton of resemblance between the two groups, but it just had a similar feel to me. Its a good thing that they did get introduced in this issue because they deliver the only action in it.
That is not to say in any way that this was a boring issue. Evan is under a ton of pressure from his uncle to get Dracula to do his bidding and use his powers to aid in a hostile take over. At least that's what Evan is told. He's getting grief from his friends and co-workers about not keeping them the loop about the project he's working on. And let's not forget the vampire in the basement.
Dracula is written very interestingly here. He's highly intelligent, and spends his time locked up but studying the word around him through media. This isn't Dracula like we know Dracula. We expect the devious monster. However we are shown Prince Vlad, who calmly discusses business, politics, and his life. He seems very honorable here, especially in his treatment of Evan, whom he treats with the utmost respect. At the same time, he'll ask to be let out of his confinement and that voice in the back of our heads starts whispering, 'the second he gets loose everyone is going to die'.
This is an old school horror story like I love them. A person messes with something he really should, like Victor Frankenstein or Henry Jekyll. And like them he unleashes something he can't control. Certainly Conrad seems to have the upper hand now. But literary statute tells us that that's only temporary.
SPOOKY BITING!!
I do enjoy a good monster, and certainly there are plenty to choose from. Growing up I did enjoy the classics, vampires and werewolves. Nowadays, zombies are all the rage and I like zombies alright but not so much as monsters themselves but for the situation in which they're often used. There's been a few stories with "vampire apocalypses" but I haven't seen one with a "werewolf apocalypse". OK, the werewolf one I understand. Things would only go straight to hell one night out of the month. The vampire apocalypse stories I've read were pretty lame as well. Zombies still are the reigning champs of apocalypse creatures. I think a lot of it has to with their relentless unreasonable nature. They're more of force that needs to get beaten back, and in most movies and stories can't ever really be beaten. There's always more zombies and they're always still coming for you.
One thing all three of the creatures I've mentioned have in common is biting. Getting bitten is the way one typically becomes a vampire, werewolf, or zombie. And here's where it starts to get weird. If a zombie bites you, its horrible. Usually there's a character who tries to hide it from the others hoping he doesn't turn into a zombie, but he almost always does and turns on everybody at an inopportune moment. Werewolf bites are always treated the same. Some animal attacked someone. They thought it was a big dog or something. Next full moon, the zaniness ensues. Vampire bites are the sexy among the crowd that wears black way too much. The predatory act gets sexual twist to it, because it doesn't matter that these guys are just zombies with slightly higher IQs, they have much better skin and brood a lot.
Here's the break down:
Zombie bite - Having an affair with that really heinous person from the office. You try to hide it the best you can, because once people find out you're as good as dead to them.
Werewolf bite - You were at that party. You had too much to drink. Things got a little fuzzy as the night went on. You woke up the next morning wondering what happened. Then its, "Wait I did what? With who?"
Vampire bite - It was a sensuous and seductive night of passion which you know you shouldn't have had. Unless you're a guy, in which case, some pasty faced bastard put the swerve on your girl.
Its a nasty and drooly state of affairs. Its pretty much accepted in society that biting people is just not done. That's unless its behind closed doors and with two, or more, consenting adults. So there's a little bit of a taboo, intimate element involved. With the zombies and werewolves we don't see them as human so the act becomes something purely predatory. But, make the monster look a bit more like an attractive person, then its all sexy fun time, please drink my blood.
It such a horrible bias.
People only seem to like the pretty monsters.
But remember people: if you love vampires then you're a necrophiliac.
SPOOKY MUSIC!!
Because most songs about vampires and zombies suck:
Alrighty, that's it for today. Join us next time for comic reviews and the tale of my final year of trick-or-treating.
Here we go again. It's Sunday, October 24, 2010, I feel more tired than when I went to bed, and this is the side. Why am I tired, you probably didn't ask. Because I spent what seemed like the entirety to the previous night's sleep having bad dreams. They were the unrelenting kind too. As many of you know, if you're having a dream in which you've won the lottery and are surrounded by a half dozen or so well proportioned, oiled up, and morally deficient young hot-bodies the slightest jolt in your sleep cycle will render it impossible to return to your little nocturnal fantasy land. However if you're having a nightmare, you can wake up, get out of bad, have a drink to calm your nerves, watch a bit of television, and vacuum the floor and the moment you close your eyes to go back to sleep you're right back there.
Nightmares have many different forms. There's of course the traditional ones in which something horrible is coming for you to do something horrible to you. There's the socially awkward ones in which you show up to high school naked or something to that effect. The subconscious plays out many different weird things when your brain is cooling at night. I can say that the majority of dreams are unpleasant ones. Fortunately, I have creative outlet with which to deal with them. The more horror stuff I write and draw the fewer bad dreams I seem to have. Probably has to do with getting the stuff out on paper.
So what bad dreams really get to me? Its usually one in which bad stuff doesn't happen to me, but people I care about with me being unable to stop it. Especially if its the girls. I've found I'm more easily disturbed by bad things happening to little kids since becoming a father. Anything bad happening to my daughters in a nightmare is fully capable of jolting me awake in a cold sweat.
So what gave such a fitful night last night? It was one of those marathon dreams which seemed to last for days and the crux of it was Joey sold Comic Kings. I'm completely serious. The new owner was a jerk. He rearranged the whole shop so I couldn't find anything. All the regulars were gone and replaced by a bunch of douchebags who wanted me to play Magic the Gathering and wouldn't shut up about it. And for some weird reason I needed to get my hands on KITTY PRYDE AND WOLVERINE #6, which I know I have. Somehow, the guy had a trade of it which for whatever reason had Cannonball from the New Mutants on the cover. And despite me telling him to ring me up, he just kept yammering on to people about things and ignoring my attempts to get the hell out of there.
And I have no clue why he was wearing a cowboy hat the whole time. You don't do that indoors!
SPOOKY MOVIES!!
What is the Halloween season without some good scary movies? There's a ton to pick from, and really you can't go wrong as long as they're a good time. I'm not really into the splatterfests like the SAW series. I prefer a good fight, but I do like my scary flicks. Here's some of my favorites.
*FRANKENSTEIN Ah, the Boris Karloff classic. I have a great love for the old black and white horror movies. By today's standards they're pretty tame, but there's still a few decent chills in this one. It always amuses me that everyone thinks Doctor Frankenstein's assistant is named 'Igor'. It's Fritz!
*DRACULA Another classic with probably the most iconic image of Dracula portrayed by Bela Lugosi. Again many may consider this tame by current standards but Renfield in the ship cackling madly is creepy as hell. Back then they didn't have all the fancy computer effects to scare you. They had acting.
*BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA I love it movie. And yes, I even like Keanu Reeve's in this movie. Very stylish, very slick. Scary as hell. Gary Oldman absolutely nail Dracula as a seducer/predator. Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing is incredible. Its long, but its a lot of fun.
*GHOSTBUSTERS Not really huge on the scares, but its a ton of fun. Dan Aykroyd's grandfather was a spiritualist and corresponded with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject. A lot of the technical paranormal stuff written into the film comes from actual research. In another little note the role was Peter Venkman was originally written for John Belushi but was rewritten for Bill Murray after Belushi's death. It was joked the green ghost, "Slimer", was the ghost of Belushi.
*THE MONSTER SQUAD Another one that's not big on scares and is actually pretty hokey. Still, I loved this flick when I was kid and watched it over and over. And yes its true:
*SILVER BULLET This movie scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. Its based on a Stephen King novella "Cycle of the Werewolf" which I devoured in an hour on my lunch break back in 6th grade. I've always had a fascination with werewolf lore, and this movie really stoked that fire. Its a really great flick and scary as hell.
*THE CROW Based of course on the James O'Barr cult comic. Brandon lee died making the movie that would make him a star. It was set the night before Halloween and the whole movie just reeks of it. Dank lighting. Guys coming back from the dead for revenge. Weirdo mysticism and spiritualism. Yeah one's a full candy store of creepy all wrapped up in pseudo-superhero revenge drama.
*HELLBOY While I like both movies, I love the first one. Very weird and creepy with nice of Lovecraft smashing against Judeo-Christian beliefs and European mysticism. Mike Mignola, Hellboy's creator, said that if he could go back in time and do the series over again, it would probably be a lot more like the movie.
SPOOKY MUSIC!!
Speaking of Hellboy, here's some Pete Yorn doing a bad ass cover of an already bad ass Nick Cave and the Bad Seed song from the soundtrack to the first movie
That's the shooting match for today. One week until Halloween. I'm still working on my Alfred the Butler costume.
It's Friday, October 22, 2010 and we're continuing our two weeks of Halloween. heard from on of my Karate parents that a school is getting ready for their "Fall Festival", to which I responded "Why don't they just call it a Halloween Party, and get it over with." Oh no. That would lead to parents complaining to the school board I'm told.
Parents who complain about a school having a Halloween Party need the stick surgically removed from their asses.
There's a lot to enjoy about Halloween and one of the things I enjoy the most is the costumes. Sure, I like the scarier costumes that are traditionally associated with Halloween, but the idea of dressing up and getting out of yourself for a night is a lot of fun. Sure my buddy's son who is planning on dressing up as Batman doesn't know every detail about the character and isn't going to try to really play the role. he's three. he just wants to run around in a fun outfit and say "I'm Batman."
Hell, I want to run around in a fun costume and say "I'm Batman." Halloween is the night in which I get to do it and not have folks think I'm some kind of nut.
There's something to be said for masks. We can act a bit freer. We can take on roles that others don't think fit us. We spend a lot of time having to be ourselves in the real world, so its fun to play a different part, or at least dress the part.
Makes me want to get myself a Cape and Cowl for the Halloween.
Just as long as its not cursed.
SPOOKY COMICS!!!
OK, the comics this week for the most part aren't spooky, but I've got a theme going here so just deal with it.
Let's get the ball rolling with TINY TITANS #33. The comic has introduced its versions of Jason Todd and Tim Drake as pretty much toddlers. But having three Robins is not enough. All the kids in the daycare decide they want to be Robin too. So you have a bunch of little kids running around as Robin just in time for Halloween. This was neat because they worked in Shephanie Brown and Carrie from THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. I do wonder why little Cassandra Cain had a picture of Dan DiDio that she held onto so warmly. Perhaps she's hoping her DCU main equivalent will get a another series. Lot of fun to be had here.
Moving on over to SUPERGIRL #57 we have our hero dealing with the loss of her planet. Recently Superman and Supergirl suffered a heavy tragedy with the loss of new Krypton. While Superman has dealt with it by walking across the country and being a jerk, Supergirl is doing what she can to save an entire planet. I like her way to dealing better, its certainly more entertaining. Sterling Gates continues to make this the definitive run of this book and I know he's leaving soon, so the next writer is going to have big shoes to fill. The art this time around is handled by Bernard Chang, who with be taking over for Jamal Igle as he also departs the book. I like Bernard Chang, but again, he's got big shoes to fill since Igle was crucial in changing Kara's image away from the "Superjailbait" look. The comic itself dealt a lot with Kara looking at herself by way of seeing her 'reflection' in Bizarro-girl. The introspection was balanced nicely by a giant creature trying to destroy Bizarro World and Kara leading the Bizarros against it. Its a great story covered in a blanket of weird sci-fi. Big win.
I saved BATMAN AND ROBIN #15 for last because there so much going on in here. I absolutely love the fact that this story is coming to head right around Halloween. We're smack in the middle of the "Batman and Robin Must Die" storyline, and everything that's been going on since Grant Morrison started this is coming to a head. The reason I'm so stoked that this is all going down around Halloween is that one of the main themes in the entire run has been playing roles and theatricality. The very first issue of BATMAN he wrote featured Alfred trying to coach Bruce on playing the part of Bruce. It just kept rolling from there. We had the three police officers playing the role of Batmen. Batman and The Joker both taking on different personae. There was that "Battle for the Cowl" nonsense, but then onto Dick Grayson playing the role. We also had Damien Wayne attempting to take the role of Robin from Tim Drake and finally getting it.
On the other side we have Doctor Hurt playing the part of Thomas Wayne. We saw him rehearsing shooting Dick Grayson in the head. There's the whole "The Black Glove" movie that's just come back into the narrative. Everyone is playing the parts, but the actors are having it out as to what kind of story this will be.
I've been right all along. This is all about laundry. Who is going to play the roles? Who is going to wear the costumes? Good and evil are battling it out over who gets to wear the Cape and Cowl.
And the problem with reviewing an issue like this is that there's so much absolutely incredible stuff here that I want to absolutely gush on and on about forever, but I don't want to give away any spoilers. The contents of the box was easily the greatest thing ever, and I'd bet my bottom dollar that the last page was not what it seemed. The good guys have unleashed their ultimate weapon and I'm just giddy about it.