Dracula on PBS cartoons!

By cracky, its Wednesday, August 25, 2010 and today is special, because today its not all about Batman. That's right, today the Laundry Crisis takes a rest. My harebrained theories on possible connections between Darkseid and The Black Glove are cooling gently.

Today is a day without Batman.

Because today... its really all about Spider-man.

PBS MAKES YOU THINK!!

There was a time that when you were a kid and you get out of bed at an insane hour of the morning you could turn on regular television and be entertained, even on the weekdays. VOLTRON was on at six in the morning and, by Buddha, I'd be up to watch it. And VOLTRON wasn't alone. I truly think I'm the only person who remembers THE BIONIC SIX because I was the only nutter up at that time of the morning watching television. And there was HEATHCLIFF, M.A.S.K., and BEVERLY HILLS TEENS... not that I would watch BEVERLY HILLS TEENS, but I had the option! We didn't have cable, but there was stuff to watch on TV even as a kid in the mornings on the weekdays.

But things are different now. Now almost everyone has cable, or satellite TV or whatever. Everyone but me. And the weekday cartoons have died off. I think one channel shows one cartoon and the rest of the morning its infomercials. The other stations all have their morning news shows. So what do you do if you want to watch cartoons in the morning and don't have cable, especially if you have little kids in the house? You turn to PBS. Because you have to. And because I have to, I have thought about it way too much. And because I have a blog I can now inflict these thoughts upon you.

* I am fascinated by the Man in the Yellow Hat on CURIOUS GEORGE. He works in museum, has a nice condo and a house in the country, and is a published author. He's been on expeditions to the antarctic. He was chosen to go into space on a mission. This guy must have a resumé as long as my arm, and I'm still not entirely sure what he does for a living.

* While I'm thinking about CURIOUS GEORGE, I know he's a cute little monkey, but I live in constant dread of the day he grows up, tries to achieve his male dominance of the house hold and goes off on the man in the yellow hat like the opening scene of 28 DAYS LATER.

* I wonder how much it costs to go to the private school that SID THE SCIENCE KID attends. They're fully stocked with a ton of educational stuff, have an great facility, and only four students.

* I have finally adjusted to the fact that dinosaurs and brightly colored on DINOSAUR TRAIN and that they ride on a train that goes through tunnels that can take them through time. The fact that they all talk was pretty much a given. However the undersea train station just killed me. I still can't figure out how the hell they built it.

* I often think that the residents of SESAME STREET live in constant fear of the monsters that reside there. I think they put up with all the counting and such to keep them pacified for the sake of the children. What with seemingly all power creatures about that can change you into things and control the weather its smart to stay on their good side. I just know that the day the garbage truck finally shows up, Oscar will start the uprising.



* I don't know if POCOYO is very educational, but the fact that its narrated by Stephen Fry makes me feel smarter.

* I find myself worrying horribly about Cliff Hanger on BETWEEN THE LIONS. That poor bastard has been stuck there for a while. I do admire his tenacity hanging on for so long instead of just giving up and plummeting to his demise. That and his grip strength. I admire that too.

* I enjoy THE ELECTRIC COMPANY much more than I probably should. The only reason i watched it as a kid was because Spider-man was on it. The new show is a lot of fun but there is a distinct lack of Spidey.

I just read an article about people hooked on Cable. At first I just wanted to dismiss them as pathetic losers, but really it seems like we're all getting 'pushed' into getting some pay TV service or another. Big thing like switching over air broadcasts to lame digital signals from the superior analog signal, to small things like a lack of decent cartoons to watch. It just feels like the fix is in sometimes.

I wonder what Clifford the Big Red Dog would do.

A BRIEF WORD FROM UNCLE STAN

COMIX!!

Got an early peek at DRACULA: THE COMPANY OF MONSTERS #1 from BOOM Studios and I freaking loved it. Maybe it hit me at just the right time having watched a good chunk of BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA on TV last Saturday during their Keanu Reeves marathon. Maybe it was just my basic geek nature. This first issue sets up so much great stuff that I'm salivating for issue 2. Wirters Kurt Busiek and Daryl Gregory split this story nicely between exposition on Prince Vlad the Impaler in the 15th century and a modern day corporate drone on an assignmnet that he doesn't understand.

Scott Godlewski handles the art chores nicely on here. He manages to not only nail down the modern day setting but also the 15th century history lesson. Not a bad range at all.

This has a pitch perfect horror movie set up. Normal guy just keeps getting in deeper and deeper in the a weirdness that he wants no part of. It didn't end like I expected, but that just got me more eager to see the next issue. Honestly, I was expecting this book to be about Dracula somehow now in the 21st century and running a company. They wisely twist this into a corporation looking to make Dracula their latest corporate asset.

They're looking to wake the devil. Expect all hell to break loose when they do.

MUSIC!!

Because today, its all about Spider-man.




That's all for now. Please enjoy the remainder of the WTF portion of your week. See you Friday. Behave yourselves. And if you can't, put it on YouTube.

Stan Lee trades Comics for a Pug!

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

STAN LEE GOES BOOM!!

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

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

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

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

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

COMIX!!!

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

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

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

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

WHO SAYS KIDS AIN'T CLEVER?

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

How many kids drive to high school in a Porsche?

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

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

GREATEST PUG EVER!!!

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

MUSIC!!

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



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