The End of Water as We Know it

Glub, glub! Its Friday, August 12, 2011, I'm ready to get my drink on, and this is The Side. While watching the finals of SYTYCD last nice (Congratulations, Melanie!) I was accosted by an ad featuring little girls playing soccar and on a break the coach goes to give them some sports drinks. She told them they were losing a lot of water, and one of the little moppets queried, "If we're losing water, why don't we just drink water?" At which point the coach, after being schooled by a 10 year old, produces a bunch of bottles of water she just happened to have in the cooler.

Guess what this was an ad for.

I'm addressing this because, first, it annoys me and, second, this advertisement is spread bad and potentially harmful information. Those kids weren't just losing water out there on that field. If that were the case then sweat wouldn't taste salty. Your body needs salt on a certain level. Yes, too much salt is bad for you, but if you flush too much salt out of your system by, let's just say, performing strenuously for prolonged periods of time in high heat and only drinking water, you can get sick and possibly die. In fact there was a radio contest as to how much water people could drink, and despite a registered nurse calling in and telling them that they shouldn't do this, they went ahead anyways. The winner was found dead later of water toxicity.

Yes, drinking water is a good thing. You need water. Right now though, we're in the dead of summer, and for some of us water isn't going to cut it. Yes, those sports drinks are often sweet and sugary. They have to be because nobody is going to want to drink synthetic sweat.

COMIX!!

BATGIRL #24 ends DC's most enjoyable book that they've put out in a long time. I've gone on a lot about how displeased I am with the DC reboot, especially what's going on concerning Batgirl. Bryan Q. Miller's BATGIRL run is the type of book that DC should be doing. It should be the model. Its a fun, accessible book and I feel comfortable telling nearly anybody to check out. Its really hard to review this book because every time i turn the page I just keep thinking about how much I'm going to miss all of it. This issue picks up right where the last one left off: Steph has confronted the person behind the Reapers and its none other than her father, the Cluemaster. One would typically expect one of these stories to be a wannabe-heart-wrenching tale of "how can I fight my daddy?", but screw that. This is Stephanie Brown, the post Spoiler version, the agent of Batman who kicks all form of ass, including hyena. Cluemaster: not a problem. This book is more a good-bye to a really delightful series. We have these really great scene's with Steph's mom, and Babs. We get a bunch of wild glimpses of stories that'll not get told. We even get a possible look in the future that let's us know something readers of this book have known for a while now. Stephanie Brown is awesome and she's going to be alright. Even if we don't get to tag along and see the journey. As much as I want to rail again DC for cancelling a book I looked forward to every month to brighten my week, I can't, because I just want to thank Mr. Miller for such a gem.

HELLBOY: THE FURY #3 puts me in an awkward position. I've been ordered by one Mike Federali not to review this book because he hasn't read issues one and two yet and wants to sit down this weekend and read them all in one fell swoop. So I guess I don't get to tell you guys about how the battle of Ragna Rok turns out and the whole thing with Hellboy fighting the dragon. I guess I also don't get to tell you about which character dies horribly and all that. Oh well. You know what I really love about this book? There's just one big set of events and all these different cultures have all their myths built around it. We have Cthulu stuff, and Arthurian Legend, and a Norse Apocalypse all sharing page time without stepping on each others toe. That is one hell of a good trick, but its what I've come to expect from Mike Mignola.

THE RED WING #2 is more heavy conceptual stuff. Characters are not the center piece so much as the concept of frequency-based temporal construction. There's also the concept of set time lines, which plays into alternate dimension theory despite that not getting touched upon. Concepts are the theme. Its about understanding them, and not understanding them. Not understanding the concept of this book's construction of time is seen as a flaw. Not understanding the concept of war is something that needs to be corrected even if it is unpleasant to discuss. This is such a weird book to read as I find it very interesting, but don't really care for any of the characters. Its like when I got The Scorer to watch AKIRA. He said "I don't care about any of these people and yet I want to know what happens to them." There's a weird disconnect here that makes this work like a classroom. I feel like I'm studying this book. Fortunately, I like studying things, so I'm enjoying myself.

BALTIMORE: THE CURSE BELLS #1 continues Lord Henry Baltimore's hunt of the vampire, Haigus, who murdered his family. Its a bloody trail with plenty of bloody battles. This works because it lets the captions handle all the exposition for those who are new to the book. It let's things flow without things getting bogged down. Not much to say here. If you like vampires without sparkles, and enjoy seeing them die horribly, then this is the book for you. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

MUSIC!!

Take that, Criss Angel!



That's it for me. Time to grab some Gatorades and head to work. See y'all Sunday.

Dreaming of Batgirl

It's Friday, July 15, 2011, there's actual comic reviews this week, and this is The Side. We had the service for my uncle yesterday. There was probably about 400 people there. I know a lot of people couldn't make it. If everyone who wanted to be there to pay their respects to him were able to make it, we would have needed a bigger church. It was a lovely service and a great celebrate of his life. My cousins said a few words about him and Scott shared some wisdom that his father gave him.

"You're where you are in your life because of the series of decisions you've made up until now. If you don't like where you are, then you need to make some better decisions."

Words to live by.

COMIX!!

BATGIRL #23 starts us off with a bang. The Grey Ghost, who has been annoying Steph with his creepy efforts to help her, is dead. The Reapers go all out as their plans get under way with Steph up again five power suit wearing baddies. Great issue. Really great reveal on the last page. Bryan Q Miller continues to knock it out of the park every month. Its really frustrating knowing that after Miller has done so much with the character of Stephanie Brown and made this comic one of the best books being published by the big two that is all getting wiped away in the DCU Reboot. I kept reading through this issue thinking how much I'm going to miss getting this book every month. In a really dumb move, Miller isn't on the creative teams of any of the 52 comics DC will be releasing. That's a damn shame.

DETECTIVE COMICS #897 has the focus squarely on Jim Gordon and his son James. Snyder keeps readers on the edge of their seats as last months big reveal that James is still a killer permeates and we see exactly how far gone this guy is. There's also an incredibly creepy scene with the Joker which serves as a hell of a reminder of just how scary this character can be. This is pot boiling story telling at its finest with amazing artwork by Francesco Francavilla. If you haven't been following this story, its definitely one to have when its collected. Its really amazing stuff.

HELLBOY: THE FURY #2 is like the end of the world. Everything seems to be coming to a head. The apocalypse is on the move. Mystical armies have risen up. In the middle of it all Hellboy is duking it out with a freaking dragon. Mignola really has gone epic here. There's been so much building up to this story and it not disappointing. We only get snapshots of all the insane over the top action but we get great feel for everything that's going on. There's a time to show readers things, and there's a time to let them fill in the blanks. Mignola absolutely nails it here in a masterful display of storytelling.

THE RED WING #1 from Image is a sci-fi tale of time-traveling combat fighters. There's a lot of conceptual stuff going on here, so Hickman is having to juggle between character introduction, world-building, and explaining how the concept and mechanics of time-travel are working in this story. We see the enemy they are facing but learn very little about them. We don't get much of a feel for the characters either. I came out of this with an idea of what this comic was a bout, but still had a bunch of questions as to what was going on. Still, its an interesting story conceptually, so I'm going to sticking around most likely for all four issues of the series.

OK, I got 50 GIRLS 50 #2 because I was curious if the characters were going to end up on another planet that made all their clothes fall off again. That doesn't happen, but we have women in skin tight space suits, women tied up, and Bakula just out of the shower reporting to the bridge of the ship wearing only a towel for whatever reason. While RED WING was sci-fi heavy on cencept, this is sci-fi low on concept with a lot more exploitation. There's things going on with the characters that are curious. A lot seems focused on Bakula, who's got something weird going on but we're not sure exactly what. There's a fair amount of butt-kicking. This is a fluff comic and its seems comfortable with that.

HOMEWORK!!!

Alright kids, your homework assignment is have naked fun time with this song playing. Bonus points if there's more than just you involved. You've got until Monday.



That's all for me today. Have a good weekend, and I'll see y'all Sunday!

How far has Hellboy come?

Hey now. Its Friday, June 3, 2011, I got lucky last night, and this is The Side. By lucky I mean I was in a convenience store last night. I was down to my last buck before payday, and since there's not much you can do with a buck nowadays, I bought a scratch off lottery ticket. I won ten dollars!

Figured I'd push my luck and used that money to get more scratch off tickets. After going through most of them I had won a dollar, so I'd at least be back where I started. Sure enough the last ticket won me twenty dollars. For a brief instant I considered getting more lottery tickets, but there's a point where you've got to quit when you're ahead.

COMIX!!

HELLBOY: THE FURY #1 begins the wrap up to the huge arc that's been going on for a while now. Big Red has gotten King Arthur's sword, been offered to be a king, and has a nasty queen witch to battle. There's a lot of elements going all the way back to the beginning of the series. There's mentions of Rasputin. Alice Monaghan, the baby from "The Corpse", is all grown up. There's a lot going on, and we jump in right with Hellboy going to confront Nimue. In the meantime its looking like King Arthur's true heir is rising up. There's a big battle going on, and looking like a bigger one is on the way. This one is tough to jump onboard on if you haven't been following what's been going on. Fortunately, Mignola and Fegredo give us a two page recap just to refresh our memories. They're going for "epic" and doing a pretty fine job of it.

With the DC reboot still just a little ways off, I'm finishing out the stories for a bit of closure for myself.

SECRET SIX #34 has the team back from Hell, but there's still the matter of Scandal Savage's girlfriend, Liana, having been kidnapped by lunatic whose torturing her and planning on killing her. Things don't go well for the dirtbag responsible. We also see Bane go out on a date. In a stunning change of pace none of the team tries to kill anyone else on the team. This is probably as close as this book gets to being upbeat. Yes, its always fun in its own unique and twisted way, but there was a slightly different tone here. We can get behind the team's motivation to save Liana and put down the guy who was torturing here. We can enjoy Bane being out on a date with the nice little stripper who really likes him in as close to a romantic comedy as this series can get. Gail Simone hits all the right points here, and fleshes them all out beautifully. Although, I'm still unconvinced about King Shark being a Shark.

MUSIC!!

The actual video is pretty cool until it turns into a "hurray for liberals" bit. Ah well. I could get it embedded in here anyways. As such. Enjoy some penguins.



That's it for me today. Got a Karate tournament tomorrow and I'm hoping for some big trophies. We'll see what happens and I'll tell y'all about it Sunday.

Geek Overload!

Hang on, I'm comin'. Its Sunday, May 15, 2011, I'm limpin' like a pimp with polio, and this is The Side. Blogger was down for most of Thursday and Friday, so I'm making up for that today. As for the limp, I'm pretty sure I aggravated an old injury. I came off a roof years ago and broke my heel. Taking the down time necessary to let it heal right wasn't an option, so I kept going on with things, and typically its fine. However, work this week involved jumping over some railing repeatedly, and eventually I landed wrong.

Guess its time to put my feet up and talk some comics.

FALL OF THE AMAZON

Well, I said the Wonder Woman TV show was looking and sounding pretty bad, and it seems that upon seeing the pilot episode NBC agreed with me. I've followed this story and read a bunch of articles about it and I've looked at comments attached to the articles. No one had much of anything nice to say about it.

Look, the girl was pretty, and she might be a pretty good actress, but she looked either freaked out or constipated whenever she was photographed doing any stunts. The costume was redesigned three times based off the latest Jim lee design which no one really cares for. It doesn't look like Wonder Woman, plain and simple. Word is the script was atrocious. I heard there was a seen with Wonder Woman crying over her ice cream with Etta Candy over the stress of being Wonder Woman and running a business, which wouldn't surprise me one bit since David Kelley was behind this.

This thing didn't have a prayer.

Fans keep bitching and moaning about the lack of a live action Wonder Woman project. I still say be happy with the awesome animated feature from a few years ago. But, if you want to do this right you put Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, and Eric Kripke in a room together, and you let them have it out. Rucka and Simone understand what is great about the character of Wonder Woman and Kripke knows how to make epic TV and still ground it. You let them get the ball rolling. You then find an actress who is athletic, and preferably with a strong background in dance. Dancers perform incredible physical feats while making it look graceful and easy. Wonder Woman is as tough as they come, but she's incredibly graceful. This is important, just as much as having the acting chops to pull off a character who is elegant and caring and very compelling.

This can be done right.

COMIX!!

This week FLASHPOINT #1 came out in which DC let's us all know that Barry Allen is the greatest hero ever and without him the DC Universe would be doomed, but not in a way that made sense like "Chain Lightning". The effects of this story will be felt through out comics everywhere. In fact, Marvel's "Fear Itself" storyline concludes with Barry Allen telling everyone that 'everything will be alright' and then resurrecting Johnny Storm with the power of his awesomeness.

Let's light this candle with BATMAN INCORPORATED #6 in which we discover quite a few things, but foremost is Chris Burnham is one hell of an artist. Love his work here, right down to him drawing Bruce Wayne's eyebrows to suggest little bat wings. These previous issues have been a lot of build up. We've got an idea of what's going on. If you haven't been following but were thinking about maybe trying to jump on this train, this is the issue to do it. I've talked a lot about how Bruce Wayne is structuring this thing and here it all is laid out pretty for us. We also get a good taste of how this organization is going to operate. There's a couple of new members including a mysterious new Wingman who will be Bruce's ace-in-the-hole in the upcoming fight with Leviathan (Its Barry Allen, because Barry Allen is the awesome-est hero ever). This new foe has been creeping me out. He weaponizes children and its revealed that the youngest one is 18 months old. That pushes all the buttons I need to make me want Bruce Wayne to take this guy out. This book is flat out cool.

Moving it on over to R.E.B.E.L.S. #28. This is the book's final issue. They've had a great run. This was definitely a sleeper book which I don't think had a huge following, but everyone who got onboard really dug it. Word is this book got axed to make room for all the FLASHPOINT stuff, because Barry Allen is so awesome that there's just not enough room for all of the existing DC titles and the amount of awesomeness Barry Allen possesses. We get the conclusion of the battle with Starro. There wasn't a ton of loose ends to get wrapped up, so this book is nice and tight. Thank you Tony Bedard, Claude St. Rubin, and the rest of the creative team for a really fun ride.

In RED ROBIN #23, Time is up against assassins who are in competition to kill important people and he's got to stop them before they get to Barry Allen thus depriving the world of his awesomeness. Tim's running a nasty risk trying to get the inside track to take this group on, and its one that Commissioner Gordon and Batman don't quite approve of. Marcus To is back on pencils, and thank goodness for that. The story is pretty good. Tim's walking a fine line, and I'm hoping to see this pay off.

Things are getting thick in BATGIRL #21 as the Reapers send their latest agent, Harmony, on missiony types things which our gal Steph has to stop, which she does with a "huzzah", thus validating me for bringing back "huzzah". She also has to deal with her stalker, The Grey Ghost, who turns from annoying to creepy to jerk. I've enjoyed the dynamic in this book with Steph and Wendy, but its looking like that's coming to an end as Wendy is leaving to go to Nanda Parbat to try heal herself and start a church devoted to the Awesomeness of Barry Allen. This book continues to be consistently entertaining.

BIRDS OF PREY #12 has Jesus Saiz joining Gail Simone in this new storyline, and I'm one happy little nerd. I totally dig Saiz. I loved his stuff on the old CHECKMATE series and hes true to form here. The Birds latest case connects with one of The Questions, so we get a Question/Huntress team-up which is always a blast. We have the Birds working an infiltration, which makes it so fitting that Saiz is onboard with a superhero/espionage angle. I'm going to be honest, this felt like a Greg Rucka book. This is what I think it would be like if Rucka took a turn writing BoP. I mean this as a complete compliment to Gail Simone, as Rucka is in my eyes one of the top espionage story writers working today. I loved this. I loved this so much that I can't even slip a Barry Allen awesomeness line in here.

In HELLBOY: BEING HUMAN, HB and Roger the Homunculus head to South Carolina to investigate a weird grave robbing that takes a nasty twist. Its a nasty case with some bad voodoo involved. Roger is forced into action which he's not very comfortable with. He's not the violent sort. Fortunately, Barry Allen shows up to tell him that everything is alright. This is a fun little one-shot. If you haven't gotten a good, creepy Hellboy fix in a while, then this should be just what you need.

This has been the word of Barry Allen for the people of Barry Allen. Praise be to Barry. Allen.

NOZZ'S FAVORITE SUPERHERO MOVIES: TOP 10!!

Mike Federali wanted to know, so here we go. These are my favorites, and not based of critical reviews or how much money they made. These are also strictly live action movies, because if I start factoring in animated movies this list changes entirely.

10: The Phantom The first hero to wear tights, and purple ones at that! Billy Zane hit the weights like a champ because he refused to wear a padded costume. Same writer as INDIANA JONES AND LAST CRUSADE. Its a family friendly adventure and a great popcorn flick.

9: The Crow This movie pretty much hit cult status upon release. This was going to be Brandon Lee's star maker, but ended up his swan song. Great film with an awesome soundtrack.

8: Spider-man Tobey Maguire and Willam Defoe really brought their a games. While I'm not a big fan of Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane I'm willing to look past that for the many great scenes in this film.

7: Sin City They filmed a comic and did it well. Brilliant cast. Robert Rodriguez brought Frank miller's comic to the big screen in a way no one was really ready for. This was the big comeback for Mickey Rourke and he played Marv to the hilt.

6: Ironman 2 Speaking of Rourke, notice how the first Ironman flick ain't here? Its because Mickey Rourke drove this film like a champ. Robert Downey Jr. did his thing, but the rest of the cast were just as stellar.

5: Hellboy If you want to talk about great casting, Ron Perlman as Hellboy is spot on. This movie is a blast. Del Toro brought us right into the Hellboy world and mythos without a cop out or apology.

4: Batman Begins This is the best Batman film to date. Christian Bale is a great Bruce Wayne. And just when things got too heavy you have Michael Caine with every bit of charm you'd expect from Alfred Pennyworth. That's exactly what was missing from THE DARK KNIGHT: charm.

3: 300 No prisoners! No Mercy! This movie kicks ass on a primal level. They expanded on the comic quite a bit, but it was done so very well. This movie is one to watch when you need to get fired up to do what you've got to do.

2: Spider-man 2 Alfred Molina was remarkable here. Tobey Maguire again played an excellent Peter Parker. The train fight was remarkable. We really felt horrible for poor old Spidey making cheering him on as he saves the day that much more satisfying.

1: Thor That's right, I'm going there. Like I said when I reviewed it, this movie was a blast. Just a whole lot of fun. Good action. Funny as hell in parts. And it had a very solid plot and story. Top notch work and wasn't afraid to pull us straight into a fantasy world which it showed off gloriously.

MUSIC!!

Been a bit stressed this week. Missing Friday's post due to technical problems didn't help. Still, when you feel down, and Barry Allen is busy saving the world, there's only one thing to do.



That's my load for today. No numbers jump after the Pocoyopocalypse, but I'm keeping an eye on it. I'll see y'all Wednesday. My Barry Allen bless you and keep you.

Electro-magna-gooperangs GO!

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

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

Time for some comics to make me feel better.

COMIX!!!

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

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

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

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

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

MUSIC!!!

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



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

Dreaming in four color process.

Where's the coffee? Its Friday, February 4, 2011, I am freaking exhausted, and this is The Side. The exhaustion in question comes from a lack of decent sleep. Its not that I've been staying up to all hours of the night. I do still get up at six every morning. The thing that has me so exhausted is really weirdo nightmares.

So I'm at this big old house which seems really out of place because its in the middle of the suburbs. There's markings on the floor and salt on the window sills, and I know that there's a demon that's going to come and get me at midnight. OK, so obviously I'm in a SUPERNATURAL setting, which is weird because I haven't seen the show in weeks. But do I have Sam and Dean Winchester to back me up? Of course not. I have J.D. and Turk from SCRUBS. Not the most reliable help when you're being hunted by a demon.

And for some reason Felicia Day showed up, and was being hunted by the same demon. Now, I've got no problems with Felicia Day showing up anywhere, much less my dreams. Still, if she's gonna show up, why does it have to be a life threatening event that doesn't involve shoulder rubs? Stoopid dream.

So after some panic and running around trying to figure out how not to be killed by a demon we actually spot the thing and it turns out to be The Demon. That's right, Etrigan was just waiting to roast my sorry ass. And as more running about and panicking ensued, midnight struck and i was trying desparately to figure out how not to get roasted, but really it wasn't midnight, it was six in the morning and the alarm went off.

That's not the way you want to start your day. I have to wonder what those dumbass hippy dream interpreters would glean from that one. Probably that I watch too much TV and read too many comic books.

Nah. That couldn't be it.

COMIX!!

Getting the ball rolling we've got SECRET SIX #30. Fresh off a crossover with ACTION COMICS we've got a crossover with DOOM PATROL. Them there Secret Six. They do get around. The WTFery of this issue was enough to keep me reading. A slack ass kid gets an inheritance from his grandfather and decides to reform a Ratpack style super villain team. And he gets his buddies to go along with it because there's girls involved. We also learn that getting your leg bitten off is sometimes not that big a deal. Sure its annoying, but if the eventually grow back then there's really not much need to panic. Speaking of education, we learn this month about strippers. Strippers are like 90s fanboys in that they think Bane is awesome. And Bane is pretty awesome, but not on the drooling level expressed by 90s fanboys and strippers. And finally this issue has inspired me get some smut mags, get a hold of my buddy (now known as Lord Thunderclap the Magnificent), and then go to the pier to see if I can catch anything while fishing with smut mags.

Oh yeah, and there was this thing with a volcano.

Let's move it on over to HELLBOY: THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD #2. This wraps up a nasty little yarn in which Hellboy takes on vampires. Scott Hampton handles the artwork, and its really stellar stuff. Too often we see these portrayals of vampires as these sympathetic (and often sparkly) characters. Its nice that Mignola is reminding us here that they're really a bunch of nasty undead bastards. With all the action going on we see some really creepy stuff. Vampires preying on little girls. Spirits out for gruesome revenge. This book is a lot of fun, and that's good, because there's some messed up stuff going on in here. Great read.

I set up camp in Mignola land this week and rounding out my reads was SIR EDWARD GREY: WITCHFINDER #1. This is a well paced opener to the series. Sir Edward finds himself on the job in the Old West. On the surface this story seems like just a tale of an Englishman in a lawless western town. It was more like a JONAH HEX story. But there's these little details letting us now that there's a lot more to that nasty little town than it seems. A lot of it is explained late in the issue. This is the first time I've really taken a good look at the character. I'm definitely on board for this series.

MUSIC!!

Damnedest thing. I heard this tune on the radio for the first time in ages, then i come to find out last night that they've officially broken up.



That's the whole shebang for today. UFC night it tomorrow, followed by Super Bowl Sunday. There goes my diet.

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.

2008 summer comic book movies review

So, this summer we've been hit with five comic book based movies. I really wish I was happier about that. Why am I not happy? Well let's look at what we have.

The Incredible Hulk

I skipped this one entirely. The early previews looked really great. Edward Norton on the run from the military. He's having to keep his cool or really bad things are going to happen. Then I got to see more and more by way of previews. It looked like one big CGI fest and frankly, I have a Wii, so yeah. I skipped it. I might rent it, but I'm not impressed by fancy CGI anymore.

Iron Man

This movie just ticked me off. The action scene bored the hell out of me. The final fight scene just flat out did not work. Of course they take their helmets off for the last battle. Makes complete sense. Please note the sarcasm. I was hoping to see Rhodey do at least one cool thing, and that didn't happen. Mostly, I felt like my intelligence was getting insulted. If I'm making weapons for the military and I find out that the bad guys are getting them and using them, my reaction is not "we're going to stop making weapons". I was waiting the whole time for Tony Stark to ask the magic question, "um, how did these guys get their hands on my stuff?" Sure there were some good one liners and the chemistry between Downey and Paltrow was very good, but that wasn't enough to save it. I wondered repeatedly if I was supposed to watch Tony Stark or Wile E. Coyote. I'm sick of being told that a movie is great as long as I just turn my brain off.

Wanted

This isn't an adaption of the comic so much as the film lifting a few lines and character names and pulling a cut and paste. The early part of the movie did have a nice Fight Club vibe to it, but once the bullets started bending it went downhill real fast. I constantly felt like I was two steps ahead of everything and not just in the plot, but in the action scenes. Props in a couple of spots, but mostly a let down. And "the Loom of Fate"? Who the hell was smoking what when they came up with that one?

The Dark Knight

This movie was best made piece of unenjoyable material I've seen. Great acting, excellent visuals and a solid story all of which I never want to see again. There was no charm whatsoever. Harvey Dent in the film delivers the quote "it's always darkest before the dawn". The dawn never comes. It's a tragedy featuring three noble men struggling against evil and chaos only to be torn down. Good does not triumph here. It barely manages to survive through sacrifice and compromise. I left feeling very depressed and slightly horrified, not by the movie but by my fellow movie-goers. Ledger's Joker was one the screen brutally murdering people and some in the audience were laughing right along with him. Bale's Batman gets by on his gadgets and fists, but little of the intellect and cunning that fans of Batman are used to seeing in the 'World's Greatest Detective". I'm really sorry I watched it.

Hellboy II

Why am I talking about this one last? Because I like to save the best for last. If you're reading this and haven't seen it yet, go right now. It's such a good, fun movie. All the charm The Dark Knight was lacking must have moved here. Great action with some gorgeously executed fight scenes. Del Toro's vision is a joy to watch. Utterly mesmerizing, even when it incredibly creepy. Also, easily the funniest thing I've seen on the big scene in months. This movie is not trying to bring the characters and concepts of the source material into our world. It draws the audience into a completely different and strange world. I'm sure this movie won't make the kind of money the others will at the box office, but I certainly know which one I'll be buying when they come out on DVD.