Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
A-DAY PLUS #3
That's right, issue 3 is finally here and I'll be shipping copies out this week. For ordering information e-mail me at d.cnozz@gmail.com
Here we go!
I've been busy. First off, the Zanshinkan demo team has scored a big win at the Battle of the Seven Cities. Congrats to them for busting their butts and sealing the deal!
The second issue of A-DAY PLUS is chugging along. If anyone is interesting getting some copies: shoot me an e-mail at d.cnozz@gmail.com and I'll give you all the ordering info.
And I'm promoting it! If you want to hear me ramble on about the comic and other fun stuff, Ryan and Pooya had me over for the FadCast over at FilmFad! Had a blast, and hopefully I don't come off as too nervous, because this was a first for me and I seem to have a real problem talking with a microphone in front of me.
Also, I'm going on my "SHUT UP, THIS IS FREAKING LIBRARY TOUR"! I'll be over at the Portsmouth Public Library for their Mini-Con on June 27th, and following that up with appearing over at Chesapeake Public Library for FantaSci on July 25th! I may also be doing a panel at FantaSci on a Literary Look at the Superhero Genre, but I'm waiting to here back on that.
All this, Teenage Mutant Ninja Camp next month and work, work, work.
(Do note, that Teenage Mutant Ninja Camp, is the fourth in our series preceded by Ninja Camp, Revenge of the Ninja Camp, and Ninja Camp 3: The Domination.)
The second issue of A-DAY PLUS is chugging along. If anyone is interesting getting some copies: shoot me an e-mail at d.cnozz@gmail.com and I'll give you all the ordering info.
And I'm promoting it! If you want to hear me ramble on about the comic and other fun stuff, Ryan and Pooya had me over for the FadCast over at FilmFad! Had a blast, and hopefully I don't come off as too nervous, because this was a first for me and I seem to have a real problem talking with a microphone in front of me.Also, I'm going on my "SHUT UP, THIS IS FREAKING LIBRARY TOUR"! I'll be over at the Portsmouth Public Library for their Mini-Con on June 27th, and following that up with appearing over at Chesapeake Public Library for FantaSci on July 25th! I may also be doing a panel at FantaSci on a Literary Look at the Superhero Genre, but I'm waiting to here back on that.
All this, Teenage Mutant Ninja Camp next month and work, work, work.
(Do note, that Teenage Mutant Ninja Camp, is the fourth in our series preceded by Ninja Camp, Revenge of the Ninja Camp, and Ninja Camp 3: The Domination.)
Curse you, Hickman!
For those of you who haven't been following Marvel Comics, there's a massive event going on. SECRET WARS kicked off this month and writer Jonathon Hickman, is really taking things next level. He's been building up to this story for years with his runs on AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS. This is going to be the event that reboots the Marvel Universe.
I picked up the first issue in which pretty much everything and everyone was destroyed. Only a handful of people made it out. It was brutal. The proper Marvel Universe and the Marvel Ultimate Universe collided and destroyed each other. We're left wondering where could be go from here. Thankfully, we did not have long to wait because Marvel released the second issue the following week.
Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up that issue because I was picking up my own comic book, A-DAY PLUS, from the printers just in time for the recent Tidewater Comicon. For those who aren't familiar with my current project, four apocalyptic events occur within a 24 hour period. Chaos and stupidity ensue. I got my books but had no time to get to Comic Kings to getmy weekly fix I comics, including SECRET WARS #2.
Fine, I went the following day to get my books. They had sold out of SECRET WARS #2, but marked me down to get a copy the next time some came in. They did have a fancy pants variant cover one, but I figured I could wait.
Tidewater Comicon came and went. I debuted issue 2 of A-DAY PLUS, and that went well. I go in the following week to get my comics, and still no second shipment of SECRET WARS #2. I finally got my hands on a copy yesterday. I read it, and was really into it... until... we get to the Shield.
The Shield is a massive wall which separates the relatively sane parts of Battleworld from the horrible parts. What's in these horrible parts?
Zombies. Robots. Horrible creatures. Replace the buggy Annihilation Wave for something more squidy, and add in some homicidal flying saucers and this gets really damned familiar!
Beyond the Shield is A-DAY PLUS.
Of course, its obvious what has happened here. Its not uncommon the two different writers come up with really similar ideas completely independently of each other. In fact it happened to me a few years ago on MERE MORTAL back when I was writing that to the point that someone thought another writer was attempting to rip me off, which it turned out not to be the case.
So the truth is obvious.
That Hickman fella got a hold of my first issue and was so blown away by it, he had to work it into SECRET WARS. Now, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery aside from showers of cash, and I'm truly honored that he would think so much of my comic that he would so blatantly copy it for his current project. However, he has not asked my permission to do so. Not even a friendly hit up on Twitter like, "Hey, mind if I rip off your comic for Secret Wars? k thx"
As such, I'm going to boycott SECRET WARS until I get an apology for Hickman and Marvel comics, or until the next issue of SECRET WARS comes out! Whichever comes first!
I picked up the first issue in which pretty much everything and everyone was destroyed. Only a handful of people made it out. It was brutal. The proper Marvel Universe and the Marvel Ultimate Universe collided and destroyed each other. We're left wondering where could be go from here. Thankfully, we did not have long to wait because Marvel released the second issue the following week.Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up that issue because I was picking up my own comic book, A-DAY PLUS, from the printers just in time for the recent Tidewater Comicon. For those who aren't familiar with my current project, four apocalyptic events occur within a 24 hour period. Chaos and stupidity ensue. I got my books but had no time to get to Comic Kings to get
Fine, I went the following day to get my books. They had sold out of SECRET WARS #2, but marked me down to get a copy the next time some came in. They did have a fancy pants variant cover one, but I figured I could wait.
Tidewater Comicon came and went. I debuted issue 2 of A-DAY PLUS, and that went well. I go in the following week to get my comics, and still no second shipment of SECRET WARS #2. I finally got my hands on a copy yesterday. I read it, and was really into it... until... we get to the Shield.
The Shield is a massive wall which separates the relatively sane parts of Battleworld from the horrible parts. What's in these horrible parts?
Zombies. Robots. Horrible creatures. Replace the buggy Annihilation Wave for something more squidy, and add in some homicidal flying saucers and this gets really damned familiar!
Beyond the Shield is A-DAY PLUS.Of course, its obvious what has happened here. Its not uncommon the two different writers come up with really similar ideas completely independently of each other. In fact it happened to me a few years ago on MERE MORTAL back when I was writing that to the point that someone thought another writer was attempting to rip me off, which it turned out not to be the case.
So the truth is obvious.
That Hickman fella got a hold of my first issue and was so blown away by it, he had to work it into SECRET WARS. Now, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery aside from showers of cash, and I'm truly honored that he would think so much of my comic that he would so blatantly copy it for his current project. However, he has not asked my permission to do so. Not even a friendly hit up on Twitter like, "Hey, mind if I rip off your comic for Secret Wars? k thx"
As such, I'm going to boycott SECRET WARS until I get an apology for Hickman and Marvel comics, or until the next issue of SECRET WARS comes out! Whichever comes first!
A-Day Plus is coming... with your help!
Hey guys. I've been working the last few months on a new comic: A-Day Plus. Four extinction events hit the earth on the same day and hilarity ensues. The first issue is all done, but I'm needing a bit of help with print costs as such I've got a Kickstarter running!
Check out the page. If you're having trouble navigating through the video link, here's another one for you! CLICK HERE!
Thanks again, and spread the word.
Check out the page. If you're having trouble navigating through the video link, here's another one for you! CLICK HERE!
Thanks again, and spread the word.
Comic review: 41 vol. 2 #1
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| That's right. Its signed. You wish you were me. |
This starts off as an old school kung-fu theater revenge story with a sci-fi twist. Human experimentation led to a martial artist becoming very powerful, but the same experiment ended up wrecking his body. Now widowed, he has trained his young son to get revenge. Its not clear whether the boy also underwent experimentation, but the entire town they were from did so that would easily explain this kid's level of bad-assery. This level of bad-assery comes in quite handy as Elroy, the big bad responsible for the human experiments and other hoorible type things, has a bunch of armed guards ready to take out the kid and his old man.
I really like that Frantz is taking the opportunity to explore something entirely different in this book. The feel of it is entirely different, and in a good way. It keeps the world of 41 fresh and exciting. Also with the focus being on just two main characters instead of a whole team its easier to jump on board with this new series. The artwork by Hoyt Silva is a big departure from the previous artist. Its a bit more cartoony, which may seem off-putting considering how harsh much of the action is, but then again people complained about Steve Rolston's artwork being too cartoony for QUEEN AND COUNTRY and it only won an Eisner.
Glad to have more of the series coming out, and am excited to see where this story goes. Check out more about this at the offical site!
Adam and Eve: Bizarre Love Triangle in the Zombie Apocalypse
Nowadays, you meet someone on Facebook. You chat while browsing their carefully selected pictures, that might not really be them, but gives you the impression that there's someone attractive on the other end typing. You chat and flirt with texts. Maybe get your Skype on. Then you finally sack up and decide its time for that real life meet-up. That's the state of things, and its a whole horrible ordeal.
It gets much hairier when the real life meet up involves trekking across miles of zombie infested terrain.
Yep, Dan Nokes has been at it again, and this here is a review of ADAM AND EVE: BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE IN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Vol 1: "Post Armageddon Underground Bunker Blues". Dan is, above all, a storyteller and he's always been damn good at pulling me right into his tales. This is no exception. Of course there's going to be the obvious comparison with Image's THE WALKING DEAD, because this deals with very much the same notion: "OK, I've survived the zombie apocalypse. Now what?"
We come in about seven years after the shambling undead nommed their way to world domination. We meet one Adam Jenkins of what's left of the U.S.A.F. and it quickly becomes apparent that this fella is no Rick Grimes. I completely buy this guy. He's not some big stud. He's a guy who hunkered down and managed to duck the worst of things when everyone around him was getting munched. So for five years, it was just him, his dog, the A.I. the bunker has installed, and his girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend. OK, she's dead. Sort of. So in dealing with the fact that the only person he has to talk to really only wants him for his brains (literally), the guy buries himself in his routine. He goes on doing his job and maintaining the bunker. At first I wanted to think he was nuts, but ultimately how is Adam supposed to cope?
We do get the backstory of how it all went down, and where everything went horrible. We see how things went with Adam and his dead ex. What's great is that while expostion is typically pain to get through Dan keeps it interesting and really uses it to paint and fascinating picture of who this character is. Adam Jenkins is a completely believable character in an unbelievable situation. We don't see exactly how the zombie outbreak got started, but we do witness how the bunker got overrun.
Fast forward to our guy Adam, along with Schafer the dog and Groucho the A.I., getting set to go on their big adventure to find love. Riding their hi-tech segway off to adventure in the wild's of post apocalypse Maryland. Here's where the real weirdness sets in. There's such an oddball absurdity to the entire thing and yet it stays just shy of going completely screwball. This really is fine-line writing because this story could go ff the rails at anymoment and devolve into a goofy comedy or a cliché horror tale. But it doesn't.
There's a couple of bits here and there that we have get around like there still being power in some areas and food not being a major issue. We get around this because this isn't the point. We've done that story a thousand times. This is about one guy who is all alone in the world and goes out to risk himself to make a meaningful connection with someone else. There's this vibe that Adam is kinda that guy who lives in his parents basement and doesn't want to go out, but finally finds something worth the risk.
It is a damn interesting take on the genre that's been beaten straight to undeath.
So read it.
And apologies to Dan for being incredibly tardy in reviewing his book. I suck, but he doesn't. So go read his stuff.
Comic Reviews (5-23-12)
We move on to NO PLACE LIKE HOME #4. You haven't seen the reviews for issues 2 and 3 because the shop hasn't gotten them in. Some sort of shipping problem. So I've gone from issue 1 to issue 4. This makes issue 4 the most unintentually hilarious thing I've read in a long, long time. I get through issue one and we meet the three sisters who are all coming back to their hometown. There's some sort of terrible secret there. The sisters seem interesting enough, so I'm going to stay with the title to see where things go. Fast forward to issue four and what do we get right on the first page: a flying monkey. That's right its a flying monkey. Now, you people all know the rule: everything is better with monkeys, so this book is now the greatest thing ever. What's more, its a homicidal flying monkey. Its like Bufkin from FABLES declared "F--- THIS S---, heads are gonna motherf---ing ROLL!" It seems tornadoes ask as portals and sometimes flying monkeys get through to our world, and they're complete pricks. The sheriff apparently ganked one when he was a kid, which is no doubt why they made him the sheriff. So all the good old boys are all "Dear God, no! Not another flying monkey!" The sister that's still running about is all "OMG! Why didn't you ever tell us about the flying monkey?!" Most likely because if they had you'd never ever come back to visit. And the flying monkey? He's all "RAWR!! GIVE ME YOUNG WOMEN AND OLD PEOPLE HEADS!" Well, actually it just goes "SKEEEE!" a whole bunch but the language of the flying monkey is is very utilitarian. Kinda like Tim Allen when he grunts. Means a whole bunch of stuff. The best scene in the whole comic, and yes this is a spoiler, either suck it up, or skip ahead, is when the old hippy with the Pink Floyd shirt opens the door to his house and finds the flying monkey dragging his ol' lady down to the basement. He's just standing there, and she's yelling at him to do something. The old hippy tells the monkey to stop that, but the monkey don't listen, most likely because the old hippy is an old hippy and nobody listens to them anyhow. He finally shuffles over to the basement door, mustering up the last of his old hippy courage and the monkey bursts back out and delivers a big flying monkey pimp slap, and drops the old dude. I then took out a pen, and breaking my long standing rule about writing writing in my comics added the word balloon over the flying monkey saying "SKREE!" which translated from the flying monkey language is roughly: "B----, YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE!" So, yeah, I love this book for all the wrong reasons.
Kirkman is Hardcore Sexy and he Knows It!
Hey guys. Its Sunday May 20, 2012, you haven't heard much from me this week, and this is The Side. I knew this day was coming. I'm putting the brakes on having a set update schedule. At least for now. I'm a bit burnt out, and when I didn't have much of anything ready for the last two updates, that was pretty much a sign.
I'm still going to be doing weekly comic book reviews. As for other stuff I'm not going to be posting as much. Sure, I'll go after something if the mood really strikes me, or if something cool happens, or I want to review a movie. Really, I've been having the serious itch to getting back to writing fiction and I've really missed that. I don't have the luxury to still at the computer all day and type, so something had to give.
That's that. Here's some nerdy stuff.
Y'know, you take your kids and try to raise 'em right. Try to teach them a proper trade. Try to give them the means to fend for themselves. Sometimes though, they just don't get it. This is what we see in THIEF OF THIEVES #4, which focuses not on Conrad, but on his son, Augustus. As we saw at the end of the last issue, the guy is in jail, and its his third strike. As much as Conrad has his illegal act together, Augustus is the exact opposite, and that's plenty for a certain beautiful F.B.I. to use to put pressure on the kid. We're still in the opening act of this story and getting to know all the players. Spencer is really taking his time with this. Issue one we met Conrad. Issue two we met the ex-wife he wants back. Issue three we meet the agent who wants to bring him in. Now we meet his son. This is an amazing example of taking your time with proper exposition and getting to know the characters and the world they're in, and still making it fun and interesting reading. This story doesn't move incredibly fast, but there's so much really good stuff here that we're enjoying the ride. Top notch work. This continues to be one of the top new titles of 2012.
THE ACTIVITY #6 is a straight military thriller. A seemingly easy mission into the democratic Republic of the Congo goes Tango Uniform in a big way. No fancy spy-tech. Nothing over the top. One could easily imagine this story actually happening. Its amazing. There's a bunch of action, and its all so incredibly controlled. Its another single issue story so if you go right now and grab a copy you can go into it completely ignorant of everything in the previous five issues, and have no trouble whatsoever. The writing and artwork are incredibly tight. This is real substantive storytelling without any flash and trash. Really an amazing comic.
THE SHADOW #2 is a bit difficult. The story is easy enough to follow and there's plenty of action. Cranston and Lane are heading for China before World War II and Nazis ambush them on the flight. Simple enough. Writing is good. The Art is good. There's only one problem: The Shadow is a complete prick. He's really an unrelenting one as well. We don't see him acting nice, charming, or anything unless he's using it as a front as Cranston. In his private moments with Margo Lane he's completely in "Shadow mode" in terms of attitude. There's been that train of thought that Batman is the real identity and Bruce Wayne is the front. I don't really agree with that, however this is that paradigm right to the core. I'm kind of on the fence here. I'm enjoying the story a bit, but really don't like the main character. I'm hanging in there for issue three before I make my final call as to if I'm going to continue with this title. Its not a bad book, but i just don't know if its for me.
HARDCORE #1 starts up a sci-fi thrilled from Robert Kirkman and Brian Stelfreeze. If you see Marc Silvestri's name on the cover, that's all he did: the cover. No problem because still book is great. We meet Agent Drake who is the pilot for a program which allows him to temporarily take over another person. The tech unit that makes this happen is called a "Hardcore" and I'm not exactly sure why, but that's where the name of the book comes from. The program is used by the government, buy its creator has different plans for it. . This is the type of premise that I'd expect to see in a summer sci-fi movie. Its clever, and sets up the conflict very well. The pacing is that of a summer movie opening act. We get enough to go on, a little bit about the characters involved, and then the hook sinks. I'm really excited to see where this goes, so I'm all in.
This guy absolutely kills it.
Alrighty guys. For now, The Side is retired. More reviews next week. Take care.
I'm still going to be doing weekly comic book reviews. As for other stuff I'm not going to be posting as much. Sure, I'll go after something if the mood really strikes me, or if something cool happens, or I want to review a movie. Really, I've been having the serious itch to getting back to writing fiction and I've really missed that. I don't have the luxury to still at the computer all day and type, so something had to give.
That's that. Here's some nerdy stuff.
COMIX!!
THE ACTIVITY #6 is a straight military thriller. A seemingly easy mission into the democratic Republic of the Congo goes Tango Uniform in a big way. No fancy spy-tech. Nothing over the top. One could easily imagine this story actually happening. Its amazing. There's a bunch of action, and its all so incredibly controlled. Its another single issue story so if you go right now and grab a copy you can go into it completely ignorant of everything in the previous five issues, and have no trouble whatsoever. The writing and artwork are incredibly tight. This is real substantive storytelling without any flash and trash. Really an amazing comic.
THE SHADOW #2 is a bit difficult. The story is easy enough to follow and there's plenty of action. Cranston and Lane are heading for China before World War II and Nazis ambush them on the flight. Simple enough. Writing is good. The Art is good. There's only one problem: The Shadow is a complete prick. He's really an unrelenting one as well. We don't see him acting nice, charming, or anything unless he's using it as a front as Cranston. In his private moments with Margo Lane he's completely in "Shadow mode" in terms of attitude. There's been that train of thought that Batman is the real identity and Bruce Wayne is the front. I don't really agree with that, however this is that paradigm right to the core. I'm kind of on the fence here. I'm enjoying the story a bit, but really don't like the main character. I'm hanging in there for issue three before I make my final call as to if I'm going to continue with this title. Its not a bad book, but i just don't know if its for me.
HARDCORE #1 starts up a sci-fi thrilled from Robert Kirkman and Brian Stelfreeze. If you see Marc Silvestri's name on the cover, that's all he did: the cover. No problem because still book is great. We meet Agent Drake who is the pilot for a program which allows him to temporarily take over another person. The tech unit that makes this happen is called a "Hardcore" and I'm not exactly sure why, but that's where the name of the book comes from. The program is used by the government, buy its creator has different plans for it. . This is the type of premise that I'd expect to see in a summer sci-fi movie. Its clever, and sets up the conflict very well. The pacing is that of a summer movie opening act. We get enough to go on, a little bit about the characters involved, and then the hook sinks. I'm really excited to see where this goes, so I'm all in.
MUSIC!!
This guy absolutely kills it.
Alrighty guys. For now, The Side is retired. More reviews next week. Take care.
We Drink, We Kick, We Die, and We Eat!
OSU! Its Sunday, May 13,2012, I think I've washed all the sand off of me, and this is The Side. After a pretty trying week, I wrapped it up with the Zanshinkan/Seireikan beach workout. It was a bit of a light turnout as it seems everyone had something going on this weekend. Still, there was about twenty of us out there, so it we had a good number. The workout started with a half mile run to warm up. Then on to stretching and drills. Bill Sensei led us through the kata Empi Ha which my school doesn't do, so it was new and exciting for my students. Its a nice form which Bill Sensei learned back in his Goju-Ryu training, and he's recently added it officially to his kata list.
I wrapped things up with a bit of a tribute to Darrin Sensei who passed away two weeks ago. I showed the group three particular techniques that he had showed me. We didn't go full blast with them as we did with Darrin's training sessions as those left me bruised to weeks. Still the applications got across, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
After that it was off to Red Robin for burgers and a healthy round of shooting the bull. I was quite exhausted the whole way home, and passed out on the couch.
THE WALKING DEAD #97 kicks off the "Something To Fear" story line which will be taking us up to the 100th issue. The last storyline gave us a brief glimpse at another community and this is looking good for Rick and his group. Rick's group has some serious muscle. The Hilltop has a lot of supplies that Rick's group needs. WE saw Hilltop has a problem with some guy called Negan who has a group of his own. Seems he's been extorting goods from Hilltop. Rick's volunteered his groups's aid in dealing with Negan in exchange for supplies. That's pretty much enough to give us a good idea as to where this current storyline is going. This issue gives us a little look at some of Negan's crew. Nothing terribly impressive. They come off as sort of culties, referring to Negan as if he was some sort of spiritual leader. However, its looking like this is the tip of the iceberg. We also get some big news about Glenn and Maggie which kinda has me worried about them. it seems when things start going really well for some characters that the bottom is going to drop out from under them at any moment. We're at another point in which the group is a well oiled machine and for the most part have a handle of things. this is pretty much the cue for Kirkman to lay waste to the cast with something horrible.
MORNING GLORIES #18 bounces us back to the events concerning the Woodrun. This book is crazy, and I mean that in a near schizophrenia type of way. Its been tough to pin down some of these characters, and there's been a lot of weird stuff going on. This time around we're focused on Jun or Hisao or whichever his real name is. We get some back story to him. We get the "not that there's anything wrong with that" reveal about him. More importantly, we get a bit of a look at the playing field. We know Morning Glory Academy is up to something weird and horrible. We know there's an organized resistance against them. There're buckets of straight weird all over the place. We know know that there's some kind of plan against the Academy, but we're light on the details. The reveal about Jun isn't really "graphic", but its pretty in your face, and I'm wondering how the fans of the book are going to react to this. Personally, I've liked the character since I started reading the book, and this doesn't bother me. I do imagine there's going to be camps on bother sides of this, but i doubt its going to be a big deal. This comic still flies under the radar even though its is very good.
Time for some drinking music.
Time for some coffee. See y'all Wednesday.
I wrapped things up with a bit of a tribute to Darrin Sensei who passed away two weeks ago. I showed the group three particular techniques that he had showed me. We didn't go full blast with them as we did with Darrin's training sessions as those left me bruised to weeks. Still the applications got across, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
After that it was off to Red Robin for burgers and a healthy round of shooting the bull. I was quite exhausted the whole way home, and passed out on the couch.
COMIX!!
MORNING GLORIES #18 bounces us back to the events concerning the Woodrun. This book is crazy, and I mean that in a near schizophrenia type of way. Its been tough to pin down some of these characters, and there's been a lot of weird stuff going on. This time around we're focused on Jun or Hisao or whichever his real name is. We get some back story to him. We get the "not that there's anything wrong with that" reveal about him. More importantly, we get a bit of a look at the playing field. We know Morning Glory Academy is up to something weird and horrible. We know there's an organized resistance against them. There're buckets of straight weird all over the place. We know know that there's some kind of plan against the Academy, but we're light on the details. The reveal about Jun isn't really "graphic", but its pretty in your face, and I'm wondering how the fans of the book are going to react to this. Personally, I've liked the character since I started reading the book, and this doesn't bother me. I do imagine there's going to be camps on bother sides of this, but i doubt its going to be a big deal. This comic still flies under the radar even though its is very good.
MUSIC!!
Time for some drinking music.
Time for some coffee. See y'all Wednesday.
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
Return of the Skyrocket
Its a short one today, kids. Its Friday, May 4, 2012, its the missus's birthday, and this is The Side. That's right. My wife was born on Star Wars Day. That's how we roll.
Yeah, only had one comic waiting for me this week. Things are still pretty nuts here, with the return of the mssus being under a week away, and Darren's untimely passing.. Let's get to it.
THE SKYROCKET #4 hit the stands a bit unexpectedly. Was not expecting it, but I'm glad that Mike Federali and Os Petroli got this baby on out. Samantha Robbins AKA The Skyrocket starts out a new adventure when Agent Evans needs her assistance in a hostage situation involving hi-tech crooks. Pretty straight forward stuff, but a very pleasant ride. We get fun villains for Sam to fight. We also get a bit of a twist at the end. The writing is good. Federali shines in the little moments, like the early seen with Sam in her lab. He does a good job of making Sam likable and engaging without falling into the trap of having a female lead who is just an over-developed bosom in spandex. Petroli plays off of this and does a great job of making her attractive without resorting to cheap cheesecake shots. This book continues to improve. Its paced well. The art continues to get cleaner. I do like that we see Evans in the field wearing tactical gear as opposed to his suit. There are a few things that didn't really work for me, like the Sam/Mari throwdown, but that's mainly me coming from a fight background and I'm too much of a stickler sometimes as far as fight scenes. These are only small misgivings, and even with them, I'm still really enjoying the comic and am definitely on board waiting for issue #5.
Well, since we're having a Federali love fest today...
That's a wrap for me. See you guys Sunday with a certain movie review. May the Fourth be with you.
Yeah, only had one comic waiting for me this week. Things are still pretty nuts here, with the return of the mssus being under a week away, and Darren's untimely passing.. Let's get to it.
COMIX!!!
MUSIC!!!
Well, since we're having a Federali love fest today...
That's a wrap for me. See you guys Sunday with a certain movie review. May the Fourth be with you.
Funny Book Goldmine!
Morning gang. Its Sunday, April 29, 2012, its review day, and this is The Side. As you noticed there was no update on Friday. I was very tired the tale end of the week, and just couldn't find the time and energy to sit down and write. Hit the wall, as it were. Has absolutely nothing to do with NetFlix now having TRANSFORMERS and G.I.JOE cartoon available for streaming now.
In recent months, I've railed against things like stupid variant covers, and rebooting entire comic book lines just In the hopes of bringing in new readers. It does seem like sensationalism is being pushed instead of good stories sometimes. Its very frustrating for me seeing the same silliness that absolutely did not work well twenty years ago being repeated now. This brings us to THE GOON #39, which is an issue that is sure to be a collector's item because its the book that guarantees Eric Powell won't be working for DC or Marvel for a while. The last two issues of this comic have dealt with some serious stuff and struck emotional chords. Not this time. Oh no. This issue is on big brutal mockery of every stupid thing certain larger companies have been doing to whore themselves to the media and the masses. Changing origins, changing costumes, gratuitous pantie shots, big gay kissin', characters dying repeatedly and more is all wrapped up in one nice neat little package for use to laugh at. This was my read of the week.
ANGEL AND FAITH #9 wraps up our heroes encounter with Druscilla who is now sane. She had gotten a hold of a demon which can take trauma out of you. You still have the memories, but you don't feel anything about them. This issue is a serious throwback to the old TV series, but in a really good way. It used to be Whedon and his writing staff would have a monster with some specific ability and that would be a plot device for a type of statement about humanity. That's what we have here. Having our pasts and caring about them is what makes us who we are today for better or worse. We definitely get both sides of the coin here as on one hand you have Druscilla whose trauma drove her mad. On the flip side, you have Faith who long time fans have seen go through a huge and tough character arc filled the guilt and trauma and come out the other side a hero. I had been on board with this book, and liked it well enough, but the wrap up to this story really made it shine. I wasn't expecting it, but I should have as Christos Gage really knows his knows his way around these characters. Great stuff.
This brings us to THE ACTIVITY #3 & #5. I can't review #4 because its classified. That and I didn't get it in, which I'm hoping to remedy soon. I said in my review of the first two issues that this comic is filling the hole in my soul left by an absence of QUEEN AND COUNTRY stuff. These two issues really put a point on that because both series are spy-fi, but neither is stupid spy-fi. There's no gratuitous action. There's no guarantee of success. This isn't James Bond with buckets of gadget saving the world in a tuxedo. Issue 3 gives us an insight as to some of what happens when an operation goes completing tango uniform. You don't get all the details, and good on Edmondson for that, because the story isn't about the operation itself. You get a lot of information about the resumés of the characters, and you see how they handle it when things go bad. They aren't larger than life, and this really grounded the characters for me. It did get a little heavy-handed with the "war is failure" bit, but I understand it since if these guys do their jobs right then wars don't get started. Issue five has our team in a Thailand prison getting interrogated. You also get more of Weatherman's history and how he was brought into the team. Again Edmondson doesn't throw in every last detail, because you don't need them all. This is a comic for intelligent readers who are capable of filling in the blanks for themselves. This way a storyline which could have been stretched out for two or three issues can be wrapped up neatly into one issue with no filler and we don't really lose anything. Its compressed storytelling that moves fast, kinda like GLOBAL FREQUENCY in that regard. The ruslt is a comic that you can pick up from any issue and be fully up to speed. I'm loving this comic.
I was clicking through the radio stations and actually caught this tune. Ain't nothin' like Jerry Reed.
That'll put a spring in your step, or at least make a fella feel better about his current situation. See y'all Wednesday.
COMIX!!!
ANGEL AND FAITH #9 wraps up our heroes encounter with Druscilla who is now sane. She had gotten a hold of a demon which can take trauma out of you. You still have the memories, but you don't feel anything about them. This issue is a serious throwback to the old TV series, but in a really good way. It used to be Whedon and his writing staff would have a monster with some specific ability and that would be a plot device for a type of statement about humanity. That's what we have here. Having our pasts and caring about them is what makes us who we are today for better or worse. We definitely get both sides of the coin here as on one hand you have Druscilla whose trauma drove her mad. On the flip side, you have Faith who long time fans have seen go through a huge and tough character arc filled the guilt and trauma and come out the other side a hero. I had been on board with this book, and liked it well enough, but the wrap up to this story really made it shine. I wasn't expecting it, but I should have as Christos Gage really knows his knows his way around these characters. Great stuff.
This brings us to THE ACTIVITY #3 & #5. I can't review #4 because its classified. That and I didn't get it in, which I'm hoping to remedy soon. I said in my review of the first two issues that this comic is filling the hole in my soul left by an absence of QUEEN AND COUNTRY stuff. These two issues really put a point on that because both series are spy-fi, but neither is stupid spy-fi. There's no gratuitous action. There's no guarantee of success. This isn't James Bond with buckets of gadget saving the world in a tuxedo. Issue 3 gives us an insight as to some of what happens when an operation goes completing tango uniform. You don't get all the details, and good on Edmondson for that, because the story isn't about the operation itself. You get a lot of information about the resumés of the characters, and you see how they handle it when things go bad. They aren't larger than life, and this really grounded the characters for me. It did get a little heavy-handed with the "war is failure" bit, but I understand it since if these guys do their jobs right then wars don't get started. Issue five has our team in a Thailand prison getting interrogated. You also get more of Weatherman's history and how he was brought into the team. Again Edmondson doesn't throw in every last detail, because you don't need them all. This is a comic for intelligent readers who are capable of filling in the blanks for themselves. This way a storyline which could have been stretched out for two or three issues can be wrapped up neatly into one issue with no filler and we don't really lose anything. Its compressed storytelling that moves fast, kinda like GLOBAL FREQUENCY in that regard. The ruslt is a comic that you can pick up from any issue and be fully up to speed. I'm loving this comic.
MUSIC!!
I was clicking through the radio stations and actually caught this tune. Ain't nothin' like Jerry Reed.
That'll put a spring in your step, or at least make a fella feel better about his current situation. See y'all Wednesday.
Variation of a Zombie is still a Zombie
Its Sunday, April 22, 2012, if you're one of the every fifth people who click on this block you get to see the variant pictures, and this is The Side. I got into it over variant covers with some people this week. I've seen how ridiculous it can be. I was around in the early 90s when it was completely out of control. Now many of the books with the super elaborate covers that collector's though would be worth something one day are found in dollar bin in comic shops right next to the same comics that didn't have the fancy pants variant.
Its one thing if a comic has a variant cover by a different artist. When INFINITE CRISIS came out years ago Jim Lee did the covers and George Perez did the variant covers. I sought out the variants because I'm a big fan of George Perez's artwork. I certainly didn't buy two copies of the same book. I can even understand seeing two covers by different artists and really loving the artwork on both covers, and buying both if you're unable to choose.
But this business Marvel's doing with not coloring parts of the cover and calling it a variant. That's so freaking sketchy. I've got to wonder where they came up with such an idea..
Head Suit: "OK men, our movie franchises are a hot ticket right now, but need a good sales boost on our comics. Ideas?"
Suit #1: "Make the best books we possibly can and hope readers and the market recognize this?"
Head Suit: "You're fired."
Suit #2: "I've got it! Variant covers!"
Suit #3: "We tried that back in the 90s. About the same time our bankruptcy attorney gave us our frequent filer card."
Suit #2: "No, no! It'll work this time! We've got Disney money backing us! Mickey Mouse cheddar, baby!"
Head Suit: "No, we're not going to use the Disney money to fall back on, but still this variant cover idea might have legs."
Suit #2: "Sure. We'll hit the nostalgia factor. If those guys across the street can bring back Barry Allen and get people to actually buy a book starring him after he's been gone for twenty-five years, I think we can run with such an old school gimmick. Its been twenty years, so its about time again."
Suit #4: "Are we going with the card stock, foil embossed covers with the holograms again?"
Suit #3: "Hold it. You've got to remember that we're still in a recession. Those bells and whistles will up the cover price. Money's tight and there's a lot of readers who won't pay too much more than they already do for one book."
Head Suit: "Yes, we need something that won't up the cover price much, if at all."
((Insert hours of pondering here.))
Suit #4: "What if we don't color part of the cover?"
Suit #3: "What?"
Suit #4: "Yeah, we'll not color a certain character on the cover."
Head Suit: "Oooo, I wonder how much we'll save in ink?"
Suit #3: "Probably not much, sir."
Suit #2: "Hey! Maybe we can get a kickback from Crayola, since someone will have to color those missing parts."
Head Suit: "Excellent thinking! Good work, gentlemen! Pie and hookers all around!"
THE WALKING DEAD #96 concludes the "A Larger World" storyline which is pretty pivotal. At the end of the last issue Rick was forced to kill a member of the Hilltop community in self defense. This issue we get a better idea of what Hilltop has to deal with, but its from description rather then Kirkman just dumping action on us. Hilltop has enemies. Rick and the others need what Hilltop has to offer in terms of supplies and food. Hilltop needs what Rick and others can provide by way of strength. This is so very fascinating from an anthropological point of view. We're seeing how countries are made. These tribes have formed a network to help each other. Now Rick's tribe has joined and we see what their contribution will be. How its going to work out is anyone's guess, but most likely Hilltop's enemies are going to have to deal with a very determined Rick Grimes as we approach issue #100 of the series.
THE SHADOW #1 kicks off Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell's take on the classic pulp character. I'm a fan of The Shadow. I loved the Alec Baldwin flick. I still catch an occasional episode of the old radio show when the local high school radio station plays them. Ennis pulls no punches here. I love WWII comics, but haven't seen anything of his concerning anything from the Pacific Theater. The book opens with details of japan's brutal assaults on China. I'm not sure how much of it is accurate, but when it comes to WWII stuff Ennis tends to be very well researched. Ennis's version of The Shadow is a gun toting, avenging mystic, who seems very cold. Then we see him as being very smooth and debonair as Lamont Cranston. I wasn't really thrilled with how he acted towards Margo Lane, however that was only one scene and I'm thinking she's one that'll be holding her own. I find this version of The Shadow not very likable, but still entertaining. I do like Ennis as a writer, and he's good at writing characters which aren't terribly likable, but still sympathetic. Haven't seen it here yet, but its just the first issue and we'll see how it goes.
THE ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2 gives us another trio of really great stories. This book has an excellent balance to it. We start off with a harrowing tale from the battlefield of WWII. Then its over to a fun little story with Cliff checking up on Betty while she's filming a movie. The last one is a great story from the one and only Walt Simonson with a charming little story. I do get a kick out of this book. We're treated to all these different takes of the same character by all these really talented writers and artists. Even with all the differences in the story styles, its still all obviously the Rocketeer. Great read.
RAGEMOOR #2 is just flat out freaky. I've read my fair share of really weird and disturbing comics, but this one has got to be up there in the ranks. It bangs about with the subtlety of a tire iron right to the face. The setting is just so intentionally horrendous, and Master Herbert tries to rail against it this issue for what happened to Anoria last issue. It just goes horribly and I have to wonder how on earth he and Bodrick the butler have survived so long in there. The answer is that the castle tolerates them and you don't screw with the castle. The creatures inhabiting the place are just so weird and freak that i have difficulty fathoming how the pieces of the puzzle fit. We know from the first issue how the castle was built, and how over time developed some sort of life of its own. Its almost like it is some Gothic, Lovecraftian entity that has all these little things growing in it like bacteria. Read it if you feel like getting weirdly creeped out.
MUSIC!!!
Caught this tune on the radio yesterday. I dug it.
That's it for me. See y'all Wednesday.
Its one thing if a comic has a variant cover by a different artist. When INFINITE CRISIS came out years ago Jim Lee did the covers and George Perez did the variant covers. I sought out the variants because I'm a big fan of George Perez's artwork. I certainly didn't buy two copies of the same book. I can even understand seeing two covers by different artists and really loving the artwork on both covers, and buying both if you're unable to choose.
But this business Marvel's doing with not coloring parts of the cover and calling it a variant. That's so freaking sketchy. I've got to wonder where they came up with such an idea..
BEHIND THE SCENES!!!
Head Suit: "OK men, our movie franchises are a hot ticket right now, but need a good sales boost on our comics. Ideas?"
Suit #1: "Make the best books we possibly can and hope readers and the market recognize this?"
Suit #2: "I've got it! Variant covers!"
Suit #3: "We tried that back in the 90s. About the same time our bankruptcy attorney gave us our frequent filer card."
Suit #2: "No, no! It'll work this time! We've got Disney money backing us! Mickey Mouse cheddar, baby!"
Head Suit: "No, we're not going to use the Disney money to fall back on, but still this variant cover idea might have legs."
Suit #2: "Sure. We'll hit the nostalgia factor. If those guys across the street can bring back Barry Allen and get people to actually buy a book starring him after he's been gone for twenty-five years, I think we can run with such an old school gimmick. Its been twenty years, so its about time again."
Suit #4: "Are we going with the card stock, foil embossed covers with the holograms again?"
Suit #3: "Hold it. You've got to remember that we're still in a recession. Those bells and whistles will up the cover price. Money's tight and there's a lot of readers who won't pay too much more than they already do for one book."
Head Suit: "Yes, we need something that won't up the cover price much, if at all."
((Insert hours of pondering here.))
Suit #4: "What if we don't color part of the cover?"
Suit #3: "What?"
Suit #4: "Yeah, we'll not color a certain character on the cover."
Head Suit: "Oooo, I wonder how much we'll save in ink?"
Suit #3: "Probably not much, sir."
Suit #2: "Hey! Maybe we can get a kickback from Crayola, since someone will have to color those missing parts."
Head Suit: "Excellent thinking! Good work, gentlemen! Pie and hookers all around!"
COMIX!!
THE SHADOW #1 kicks off Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell's take on the classic pulp character. I'm a fan of The Shadow. I loved the Alec Baldwin flick. I still catch an occasional episode of the old radio show when the local high school radio station plays them. Ennis pulls no punches here. I love WWII comics, but haven't seen anything of his concerning anything from the Pacific Theater. The book opens with details of japan's brutal assaults on China. I'm not sure how much of it is accurate, but when it comes to WWII stuff Ennis tends to be very well researched. Ennis's version of The Shadow is a gun toting, avenging mystic, who seems very cold. Then we see him as being very smooth and debonair as Lamont Cranston. I wasn't really thrilled with how he acted towards Margo Lane, however that was only one scene and I'm thinking she's one that'll be holding her own. I find this version of The Shadow not very likable, but still entertaining. I do like Ennis as a writer, and he's good at writing characters which aren't terribly likable, but still sympathetic. Haven't seen it here yet, but its just the first issue and we'll see how it goes.
THE ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2 gives us another trio of really great stories. This book has an excellent balance to it. We start off with a harrowing tale from the battlefield of WWII. Then its over to a fun little story with Cliff checking up on Betty while she's filming a movie. The last one is a great story from the one and only Walt Simonson with a charming little story. I do get a kick out of this book. We're treated to all these different takes of the same character by all these really talented writers and artists. Even with all the differences in the story styles, its still all obviously the Rocketeer. Great read.
RAGEMOOR #2 is just flat out freaky. I've read my fair share of really weird and disturbing comics, but this one has got to be up there in the ranks. It bangs about with the subtlety of a tire iron right to the face. The setting is just so intentionally horrendous, and Master Herbert tries to rail against it this issue for what happened to Anoria last issue. It just goes horribly and I have to wonder how on earth he and Bodrick the butler have survived so long in there. The answer is that the castle tolerates them and you don't screw with the castle. The creatures inhabiting the place are just so weird and freak that i have difficulty fathoming how the pieces of the puzzle fit. We know from the first issue how the castle was built, and how over time developed some sort of life of its own. Its almost like it is some Gothic, Lovecraftian entity that has all these little things growing in it like bacteria. Read it if you feel like getting weirdly creeped out.
MUSIC!!!
Caught this tune on the radio yesterday. I dug it.
That's it for me. See y'all Wednesday.
Conrad has Taste
Whew. Its Sunday, April 15, 2012, made it through the week, and this is The Side. yeah, it was a tough one this week, and I'm glad to have a morning where the main thing I've got to worry about is blowing on my coffee to get it the right temperature. Sure I've got another week of exhaustion ahead of me, but its those little respites that let us keep going.
That includes doing stuff like reading some comics.
Starting off with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #8 in which we deal with Buffy not being pregnant, but being a robot. I know those two things are often confusing. Buffy and Spike confront Andrew about her being a robot, because, of course, it had to be Andrew. Detective Dowling is also dealing with the nasty death of his partner during the zompire attack. He's not coping well at all, and that's actually refreshing. Very often in the Buffy-verse we see characters adapt to dealing with supernatural threats a bit too easily. This character is a capable police detective and had knowledge of the existence of the supernatural things that go on, and was still incredibly shaken in the aftermath of losing someone to them and having to fight for his life. I'd been having trouble remember the guy's name, but the character really stood out issue. There's also a disturbing little bit with Xander that has me fairly creeped out as to possible directions they may make with the character. This is made creepier by by a bit of possible fore-shadowing from season six of the TV show. But, this season has taken turns that I haven't been very comfortable with, but has given interesting payoffs once the story worked out. The main story itself is taking a neat path of its own. Cliff Richards steps in on pencils and does a great job. All and all, a decent read. This story has me engaged.
Moving on to the comic that AMC just optioned to make a show of THIEF OF THIEVES #3. We meet Special Agent Cohen, the beautiful FBI agent who is determined to catch Conrad. Oh man, this book was just great. Nick Spenser just worked this whole issue masterfully. The back and forth between Conrad and Cohen was absolutely brilliant. This book is just scene after scene of brilliantly dialogued, well paced storytelling. Shawn Martinbrough continues to shine with his elegant noir style. This issue does a great job of letting us know exactly where Conrad stands with the law, as well as giving us a glimpse of some of history in relation to Cohen and her investigation. We actually don't see much of Conrad in this issue after the opening scene, but Cohan is a great character to follow around. The book is low on action, but there's still a ton of things going on that kept me riveted. Do yourself a favor, go out and buy this book.
There was a huge reveal this month in THIEF OF THIEVES: Conrad is a Zevon fan.
Figured that one was appropriate for old Conrad. OK, I'm off to take a couple rotten kids to the circus. I'll see y'all Wednesday.
That includes doing stuff like reading some comics.
COMIX!!!
Moving on to the comic that AMC just optioned to make a show of THIEF OF THIEVES #3. We meet Special Agent Cohen, the beautiful FBI agent who is determined to catch Conrad. Oh man, this book was just great. Nick Spenser just worked this whole issue masterfully. The back and forth between Conrad and Cohen was absolutely brilliant. This book is just scene after scene of brilliantly dialogued, well paced storytelling. Shawn Martinbrough continues to shine with his elegant noir style. This issue does a great job of letting us know exactly where Conrad stands with the law, as well as giving us a glimpse of some of history in relation to Cohen and her investigation. We actually don't see much of Conrad in this issue after the opening scene, but Cohan is a great character to follow around. The book is low on action, but there's still a ton of things going on that kept me riveted. Do yourself a favor, go out and buy this book.
MUSIC!!!
There was a huge reveal this month in THIEF OF THIEVES: Conrad is a Zevon fan.
Figured that one was appropriate for old Conrad. OK, I'm off to take a couple rotten kids to the circus. I'll see y'all Wednesday.
Ninjas from Space?
COWABUNGA! Its Wednesday, March 21, 2012, I'm shocked spell-check doesn't recognize 'cowabunga', and this is The Side. Yes, I know I'm on the record as not thinking much of the ninja fad. I bought into it when I was 11. I grew up. I have a much better pool of knowledge as to martial arts and what ninja actually were.
That said, I still have a couple of soft spots on ninja-fanboyism: Sho Kosugi flicks, the whole Storm Shadow/Snake-Eyes thing from the Larry Hama comics, and the TMNT.
Well, it seem something else from my childhood is getting the big screen treatment.
That's right, Michael Bay is going to make a movie about aliens coming to earth and call it "Ninja Turtles" in hopes that all the people who actually know about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will just not notice and go shill out a bunch of money. This brings us back to the fun topic of adaptations. I'm OK with changes being made to certain parts of stories for the sake f updating things or making a smoother transition from one medium to another. When the TMNT made the transition to a cartoon there were a lot of changes from the original comic. It was made much more kid friendly, and the kids loved it. Then there was the live action movie and that was a bit of a middle ground between the kid friendly cartoon and the grittier comic. I'm a big fan of the first movie myself. Both the cartoon and the movie kept essential parts of the original story.
The thing with TMNT is it was a parody of a lot of Frank Miller's stuff from the 80s. The origin of the turtles getting mutated spoofed marvel's Daredevil's origin. From there it took its own path with some fun sci-fi and gritty street level stories. There's lots of room to play with story elements. However, with all the many different adaptations the origin has always been four turtles get mutated into a humanoid form and are mentored by a mutated rat in the ways of ninjitsu in order to get revenge against The Shedder. This concept that Bay is proposing is completely off the reservation. This is along the lines of that THE KARATE KID movie that came out last year that had absolutely no karate in it.
People are ticked. Fans are already speaking out. I even came across one guy who put forth this little gem:
There's plenty of room for many different adaptations of intellectual properties. Take this lunacy for example:
Looks like Joel Schumacher's wet dream. However, that's still Batman. That's a perfectly fine adaptation of the property. This isn't a case of someone trying to pass something off as a thing that's very familiar to us and saying, "Don't worry, I'm changing almost everything entirely, but you'll still love it because its still what you loved as a kid."
So, I'm completely out on this one, and its for the same reason I refuse to watch that THE KARATE KID movie. This is insulting to my pop culture intelligence. These aren't the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and should be trying to pretend to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just to try to get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans to support it. I don't care how good this ends up being. I feel like someone is trying to pull a fast one, and they won't be doing it to me. There's plenty of other movies for me to be excited about.
Yeah, we're sticking with the theme.
That's it for me today. I'll see y'all Friday.
That said, I still have a couple of soft spots on ninja-fanboyism: Sho Kosugi flicks, the whole Storm Shadow/Snake-Eyes thing from the Larry Hama comics, and the TMNT.
BATTLEGROUND: MY CHILDHOOD!!
Well, it seem something else from my childhood is getting the big screen treatment.
That's right, Michael Bay is going to make a movie about aliens coming to earth and call it "Ninja Turtles" in hopes that all the people who actually know about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will just not notice and go shill out a bunch of money. This brings us back to the fun topic of adaptations. I'm OK with changes being made to certain parts of stories for the sake f updating things or making a smoother transition from one medium to another. When the TMNT made the transition to a cartoon there were a lot of changes from the original comic. It was made much more kid friendly, and the kids loved it. Then there was the live action movie and that was a bit of a middle ground between the kid friendly cartoon and the grittier comic. I'm a big fan of the first movie myself. Both the cartoon and the movie kept essential parts of the original story.
People are ticked. Fans are already speaking out. I even came across one guy who put forth this little gem:
The real problems come with corp greed. They take 1 story line and keep it going, and going, and going.. They also DONT finish most of these comics. Even TMNT, Fantastic4 and hulk, and all the rest, are only designed for kids and short lived.Nice to see some goof has taken a break from occupying something to let us all know that all them there comic books are just for kids and greedy corporations are out to make a profit. Dick.
They also instill the idea/thought that the GOOD always wins. and that ISNT the reality. from the bible stories to comic books, its programmed into us, to be NICE/FAIR...but the corps are anything but..nice or fair.
There's plenty of room for many different adaptations of intellectual properties. Take this lunacy for example:
Looks like Joel Schumacher's wet dream. However, that's still Batman. That's a perfectly fine adaptation of the property. This isn't a case of someone trying to pass something off as a thing that's very familiar to us and saying, "Don't worry, I'm changing almost everything entirely, but you'll still love it because its still what you loved as a kid."
So, I'm completely out on this one, and its for the same reason I refuse to watch that THE KARATE KID movie. This is insulting to my pop culture intelligence. These aren't the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and should be trying to pretend to be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just to try to get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans to support it. I don't care how good this ends up being. I feel like someone is trying to pull a fast one, and they won't be doing it to me. There's plenty of other movies for me to be excited about.
MUSIC!!!
Yeah, we're sticking with the theme.
That's it for me today. I'll see y'all Friday.
Sneaks and Creeps
Good Morning, Spawn Campers. It's March 16, 2012, the Ides haves passed, two days ago was time for Pi, and tomorrow maybe some green pie, and this is The Side. Does it seem weird to anyone else that every other day seems like a "holiday" and every month is designated as a time that we're supposed to be aware of something. Yesterday was of interest due to Julius Caesar, so there's historic context their. The day before was amusing due to a specific number important to mathematics. Tomorrow is an Irish holiday which proper drunks refer to as "amateur night". I'm sure today is probably supposed to be recognized as something specific, but really, who cares?
There's too much of it and these stupid things have already started to overlap. The worst culprit is April 20th. Had someone at the bar I worked at ask me if I was going to celebrate 4/20 and I told them absolutely not and that the person who instigated the holocaust is not a person to be celebrated. They weren't sure what I was talking, because they were stupid. I told them that April 20th was Adolf Hitler's birthday. They tried to argue that it was the pot smokers holiday or something to that effect.
It was that point that I told them they really should put the bong down and pick up a book.
There's a void in my existence which is left because I can't get new QUEEN AND COUNTRY stuff on a regular basis. I'm on the verge of sending Greg Rucka an e-mail begging for such. I sit wishing the THE SANDBAGGERS DVD collection wasn't so expensive. Fortunately for me Nathan Edmonson and Mitch Gerads have heard my pleas and THE ACTIVITY #1 and #2 are in my hot little hands. Yes, I am a bit late to the game on this one, but I'm so glad I got a hold of it. This is some really outstanding Spy-Fi. Its not too over the top. The operatives have some great gear, but no jet packs or tricked out Aston Martins. These are top tier professions who handle problems for the CIA and other intelligence outfits. If a job goes a it wrong or there details or evidence that needs taken care of, these are the people that go in. The story is mostly mission driven, but the cast is very cool. We get scant bits as to their personal lives or lack thereof, but they all seem very likable. Don't go in expecting explosions on every other page or high drama. Do expect to see people who are very good at what they do beings very good at doing it. The art is phenomenal. The writing is sharp. this is the kind of book that could easily be over written, but Edmonson seems to really know when to stop and let Gerads handle the storytelling. This is a really great collaboration. I highly recommend this one.
I missed the first issue, but I did get THIEF OF THIEVES #2. I dig Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer so that alone sold me. I wasn't let down. This book also isn't over the top action, but is a really great character driven work about an incredible thief who is looking go go straight and get his family back. Shawn Martinbrough is the perfect artist for this project. I was a big fan of his work with Greg Rucka on their run in DETECTIVE COMICS for DC. His noir style is incredibly grounded and in a book like this in which the expressions on people's faces have as much impact as the bullets fired, his mastery of these subtle things is crucial. Even though I missed the first issue I feel like I'm mostly up to speed on the important things. That's great, because usually is you miss the first issue you're lost. Nice to see a smart comic that accessible. This book made me care a bit about the main character Conrad, and while we don't have all the pieces to the puzzle that's his life I find myself hoping he can put it all back together.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #7 continues "On Your Own" which deals with Buffy's pregnancy. Kinda of a weird title to the story since all she's done is go to get support from her friends. Her plans go awry when the police officer who's been trying really hard to establish himself as a character runs into a nest of "zompires", who are some of the most un-sparkly vampires ever, and Buffy, Spike, and is his alien bug piloted spaceship fly to the rescue. As much as I want to ask why in the blue frak Spike has a spaceship with a bunch of giant alien bugs that serve him and speak English, I've decide that this is just a monumentally weird thing that I approve of. There's a twist ending on this one that is also monumentally weird, which I'm going to approve of for the moment based solely on monumental weirdness. This "season" of Buffy has been pretty oddball, but after the overly epic epiciness of the previous "season" I'll take oddball. I was a bit put off by Buffy's decision to terminate her pregnancy, and I did briefly consider bailing on the book, however this issue made me glad that I hung in there.
You know how I said the zompires in BUFFY were some of the most un-sparkly vampires ever? Yeah, the vampires in THE STRAIN #4 are the most un-sparkly vampires ever. Icky, nasty and disgusting. These things are just outright creepy. The outbreak is coming and the CDC is a bit behind the eightball. The more they find out, the more disgusting these vampires seem to be. I do really like this book because its so very different from a lot of the more popular vampire fiction that's out there. They really do seem like diseased inhuman things. While not for the faint of heart, this is a really well done horror comic and I'm really enjoying it, even though it does creep me out.
This tune gives me a sweet American Gothic vibe. Kinda weird that the local alternative/modern rock station is playing the hell out of it, but I dig it.
Got the Petersburg Karate Open tomorrow and will be competing in the kata and weapons events. Hopefully, I'll have some nice new big trophies to put in the garage. I'll let y'all know Sunday. See ya them.
There's too much of it and these stupid things have already started to overlap. The worst culprit is April 20th. Had someone at the bar I worked at ask me if I was going to celebrate 4/20 and I told them absolutely not and that the person who instigated the holocaust is not a person to be celebrated. They weren't sure what I was talking, because they were stupid. I told them that April 20th was Adolf Hitler's birthday. They tried to argue that it was the pot smokers holiday or something to that effect.
It was that point that I told them they really should put the bong down and pick up a book.
COMIX!!!
I missed the first issue, but I did get THIEF OF THIEVES #2. I dig Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer so that alone sold me. I wasn't let down. This book also isn't over the top action, but is a really great character driven work about an incredible thief who is looking go go straight and get his family back. Shawn Martinbrough is the perfect artist for this project. I was a big fan of his work with Greg Rucka on their run in DETECTIVE COMICS for DC. His noir style is incredibly grounded and in a book like this in which the expressions on people's faces have as much impact as the bullets fired, his mastery of these subtle things is crucial. Even though I missed the first issue I feel like I'm mostly up to speed on the important things. That's great, because usually is you miss the first issue you're lost. Nice to see a smart comic that accessible. This book made me care a bit about the main character Conrad, and while we don't have all the pieces to the puzzle that's his life I find myself hoping he can put it all back together.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #7 continues "On Your Own" which deals with Buffy's pregnancy. Kinda of a weird title to the story since all she's done is go to get support from her friends. Her plans go awry when the police officer who's been trying really hard to establish himself as a character runs into a nest of "zompires", who are some of the most un-sparkly vampires ever, and Buffy, Spike, and is his alien bug piloted spaceship fly to the rescue. As much as I want to ask why in the blue frak Spike has a spaceship with a bunch of giant alien bugs that serve him and speak English, I've decide that this is just a monumentally weird thing that I approve of. There's a twist ending on this one that is also monumentally weird, which I'm going to approve of for the moment based solely on monumental weirdness. This "season" of Buffy has been pretty oddball, but after the overly epic epiciness of the previous "season" I'll take oddball. I was a bit put off by Buffy's decision to terminate her pregnancy, and I did briefly consider bailing on the book, however this issue made me glad that I hung in there.
You know how I said the zompires in BUFFY were some of the most un-sparkly vampires ever? Yeah, the vampires in THE STRAIN #4 are the most un-sparkly vampires ever. Icky, nasty and disgusting. These things are just outright creepy. The outbreak is coming and the CDC is a bit behind the eightball. The more they find out, the more disgusting these vampires seem to be. I do really like this book because its so very different from a lot of the more popular vampire fiction that's out there. They really do seem like diseased inhuman things. While not for the faint of heart, this is a really well done horror comic and I'm really enjoying it, even though it does creep me out.
MUSIC!!!
This tune gives me a sweet American Gothic vibe. Kinda weird that the local alternative/modern rock station is playing the hell out of it, but I dig it.
Got the Petersburg Karate Open tomorrow and will be competing in the kata and weapons events. Hopefully, I'll have some nice new big trophies to put in the garage. I'll let y'all know Sunday. See ya them.
Killers, Thrillers, and Chillers
Here we go! Its Sunday, January 22, 2012, got a bunch of stuff for you today, and this is The Side. Yeah, I'm a bit video heavy today, but I've got some cool movie trailers for you, and of course our music section. I'm actually haven't a pretty good weekend. No blood (at least not mine), not much drama, kids seem to be feeling a little better, I'm not rushing to bang this out.
I'm almost scared I'm jinxing myself. Ah well. Let's dive in.
Haven't had a chance to get to the theaters in quite a while. Fortunately, I've got Netflix and a Wii. Been watching some great flicks with the Missus. Been really digging some foreign movies section. Here's a couple we checked out this week.
BANLIEUE 13: ULTIMATUM is set two years after the first film. Yeah, we have or fun calling the French a bunch of cheese eating, surrender monkeys, but this film is completely badass. Damien and Leito team up again to keep a crooked politician from setting into motion events that would destroy the district and kill a lot of people. The Parkour scenes stole the show in the first film, and that gets toned down this time in favor of hard hitting martial arts choreography. They really do it right here going with the Asian approach to fight cinematography and pulling back with limited cuts to let the viewers really see the choreography and showcase the work the actors and stunt crew put in. The story has a hole or two in there, but for the most part its really good. The main bad guy manipulates everything masterfully. There were plenty of times I had to just sit back, slack jawed and take in how amazingly screwed up this guy's plans were. Really good performances all around. Not as visually over the top as the original, but more than makes up for it with a really tight story.
BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT was a really pleasant surprise. For the moment I saw that it was from the same production company they gave us ONG BAK and CHOCOLATE I knew I was in for a treat. I crew of young martial artists are hoping for a shot at fame in Hollywood, but what they get is kidnapped and put through a gauntlet of vicious fighters so high rollers can bet on them. This was a really martial arts thriller. I was on the edge of my seat worried about these kids. The thugs range from muay thai fights, to guy that seems more like an animal than human, and even a guy right out of a slasher flick. The fight scenes are off the charts. The crew of fighters specialize in parkour, muay thai, kung fu and capoiera. The action is as beautiful to watch as it is brutal. Plenty of twists and turns for the more story minded. Loved this movie.
MORNING GLORIES #15 is on deck this go around. Gym class continues as Zoe, Hunter, and Jun continue trying to navigate the Woodrun. So while things go fairly poorly for the students we get plenty on flashbacks continuing to let us in on Zoe's past. I'm very intrigued by this story because its focusing on Zoe. Yes there's more to all the characters here than meets the eye, but Zoe is such a random factor. On one hand she's dived right in to help save Jade, and she saves Hunter in this issue. But on the other hand she's got that pesky habit of stabbing people to death with large knives. She's really hard to get a bead on. I love that because early on it was so easy to write her off as a hot Indian Slutty McSlutslut who gets by on batting her eyelashes and excellent bra selection. That seems to be the middle ground between the altruistic girl who peeks out every-so-often and the stone cold killer. She's really a fascinating character. The over all story doesn't give us much more insight as to everything that's going on. There's a trap that seems specially designed for Hunter, or possibly he's not the only person with his condition. I do think there's a puzzle piece in here somewhere, but figuring out exactly what it is, and where it fits is the tricky part. As always with this book, its one big load of screwed up with a psycho chaser. Love it.
This guy's voice reminds me a lot of Sting's. The singer, not the wrestler. The tune has been getting a lot of air play here locally. I dig it.
That's going to be it for me today. Feels like I've got my mojo working, so we'll see how long I can keep it going. See y'all Wednesday.
I'm almost scared I'm jinxing myself. Ah well. Let's dive in.
MOVIES!!!
Haven't had a chance to get to the theaters in quite a while. Fortunately, I've got Netflix and a Wii. Been watching some great flicks with the Missus. Been really digging some foreign movies section. Here's a couple we checked out this week.
BANLIEUE 13: ULTIMATUM is set two years after the first film. Yeah, we have or fun calling the French a bunch of cheese eating, surrender monkeys, but this film is completely badass. Damien and Leito team up again to keep a crooked politician from setting into motion events that would destroy the district and kill a lot of people. The Parkour scenes stole the show in the first film, and that gets toned down this time in favor of hard hitting martial arts choreography. They really do it right here going with the Asian approach to fight cinematography and pulling back with limited cuts to let the viewers really see the choreography and showcase the work the actors and stunt crew put in. The story has a hole or two in there, but for the most part its really good. The main bad guy manipulates everything masterfully. There were plenty of times I had to just sit back, slack jawed and take in how amazingly screwed up this guy's plans were. Really good performances all around. Not as visually over the top as the original, but more than makes up for it with a really tight story.
BKO: BANGKOK KNOCKOUT was a really pleasant surprise. For the moment I saw that it was from the same production company they gave us ONG BAK and CHOCOLATE I knew I was in for a treat. I crew of young martial artists are hoping for a shot at fame in Hollywood, but what they get is kidnapped and put through a gauntlet of vicious fighters so high rollers can bet on them. This was a really martial arts thriller. I was on the edge of my seat worried about these kids. The thugs range from muay thai fights, to guy that seems more like an animal than human, and even a guy right out of a slasher flick. The fight scenes are off the charts. The crew of fighters specialize in parkour, muay thai, kung fu and capoiera. The action is as beautiful to watch as it is brutal. Plenty of twists and turns for the more story minded. Loved this movie.
COMIX!!
MUSIC!!
This guy's voice reminds me a lot of Sting's. The singer, not the wrestler. The tune has been getting a lot of air play here locally. I dig it.
That's going to be it for me today. Feels like I've got my mojo working, so we'll see how long I can keep it going. See y'all Wednesday.
I'm a Sexist Pig!
OINK! It's Sunday, January 15, 2011, I is ashamed, and this is The Side. Nobody's perfect, and boy, I sure ain't. Yes, there's often plenty of typos in here. Yeah, I've had times in which I haven't posted when I said I was going to post. This week I had a serious headdesk moment.
Last go around I raved and raved about HEART from Image Comics. I poured over the first first three issues and took in the whole book. Loved every bit of it and its a really great book. Its also the first comic from Blair Butler and I noted this saying that this book is his first outing as a writer. Well, I got a comment on the Comic Kings website:
GAH! It never occurred to me that Blair Butler is a woman. I've only know one person named "Blair" and he was a dude. There's that there Blair Underwood actor fella, he's a dude. The only "Blair" I know of that's a who was on THE FACTS OF LIFE. I even read an interview with Butler that was featured in one of the comics. Still had no clue she was a she.
This isn't like that whole Lady Gaga thing in which the song gets played, you ask "What the fuck is this garbage?", and then you she a picture of Gaga, and you ask "What the fuck is that?" And it seems obvious that that we're dealing with a Boy George type thing and its a cross dresser. But then they are claims that its a woman and you're stuck wondering "pre or post op". This is totally different.
Its also not the first time I've made this mistake. I spent months thinking Taylor Swift was a guy. People kept talking about how amazing Taylor Swift is and I'm wandering around half wondering who is he? He's certainly got a cool name. I was curious, but not curious enough to bother Googling Swift. Then I saw a magazine cover with a gorgeous girl on it and in big bold letters it said "Taylor Swift". I'm looking at the magazine thinking to myself, well I guess this guy must be popular to be the lead story in this magazine. Then the realization slowly crept in that Taylor Swift was the gorgeous girl on the cover.
This is even worse. Yes, Butler wasn't even a blip on my radar before Wednesday. I just knew there was an MMA comic out there that I wanted to check out. I had no clue that she was the girl on the cover of that one issue of BOOSTER GOLD. Usually when there's a writer I don't know very well, but their stuff blows me away like HEART did, I do a bit of research. Sure, my schedule has been pretty jam packed this week, but I could have at least checked out her website which was listed in the comic.
And its worse because I'm all for more women getting into the comic industry. Now one throws her hat in the ring and I think she's a he. I even read back through the comic armed with this new knowledge. The comic is from the viewpoint of an up and coming MMA fighter. Butler absolutely nails it. I would have thought that this comic was written by an MMA fighter. I don't expect women writers to write about hearts and unicorns and crap. I've ready plenty of hardcore stories from Gail Simone. Carla Speed McNeil's FINDER is still one of the best comics you probably aren't reading. I feel like a freaking hypocrite because it never dawned on me that the writer of comic that it brutal and honest about the stuff an MMA fighter goes through and is so pumped with adrenaline could have been written by a woman. I wouldn't blame Blair Butler one bit for wanting to kick my ass. Right now, I want to kick my own ass.
So, I want to apologize to Blair Butler, who isn't a guy. She's a woman who writes really awesome comics. And if you haven't picked up HEART yet, you suck nearly as bad as I do.
Rough weekend, but I did get to hear some really good music yesterday.
That's it for me this go around. Hope you enjoyed my tale of being a stupid sexist jerk, as well as the video with the cute little hamster. See y'all Wednesday, at which point I'll try to be a better person.
COMIX!!!
Last go around I raved and raved about HEART from Image Comics. I poured over the first first three issues and took in the whole book. Loved every bit of it and its a really great book. Its also the first comic from Blair Butler and I noted this saying that this book is his first outing as a writer. Well, I got a comment on the Comic Kings website:
Not to be that guy, but… Blair Butler is a lady. Other than that, great review. I’ll have to pick up “Heart.”Oh, he's so totally that guy.
This isn't like that whole Lady Gaga thing in which the song gets played, you ask "What the fuck is this garbage?", and then you she a picture of Gaga, and you ask "What the fuck is that?" And it seems obvious that that we're dealing with a Boy George type thing and its a cross dresser. But then they are claims that its a woman and you're stuck wondering "pre or post op". This is totally different.
Its also not the first time I've made this mistake. I spent months thinking Taylor Swift was a guy. People kept talking about how amazing Taylor Swift is and I'm wandering around half wondering who is he? He's certainly got a cool name. I was curious, but not curious enough to bother Googling Swift. Then I saw a magazine cover with a gorgeous girl on it and in big bold letters it said "Taylor Swift". I'm looking at the magazine thinking to myself, well I guess this guy must be popular to be the lead story in this magazine. Then the realization slowly crept in that Taylor Swift was the gorgeous girl on the cover.
And its worse because I'm all for more women getting into the comic industry. Now one throws her hat in the ring and I think she's a he. I even read back through the comic armed with this new knowledge. The comic is from the viewpoint of an up and coming MMA fighter. Butler absolutely nails it. I would have thought that this comic was written by an MMA fighter. I don't expect women writers to write about hearts and unicorns and crap. I've ready plenty of hardcore stories from Gail Simone. Carla Speed McNeil's FINDER is still one of the best comics you probably aren't reading. I feel like a freaking hypocrite because it never dawned on me that the writer of comic that it brutal and honest about the stuff an MMA fighter goes through and is so pumped with adrenaline could have been written by a woman. I wouldn't blame Blair Butler one bit for wanting to kick my ass. Right now, I want to kick my own ass.
So, I want to apologize to Blair Butler, who isn't a guy. She's a woman who writes really awesome comics. And if you haven't picked up HEART yet, you suck nearly as bad as I do.
MUSIC!!
Rough weekend, but I did get to hear some really good music yesterday.
That's it for me this go around. Hope you enjoyed my tale of being a stupid sexist jerk, as well as the video with the cute little hamster. See y'all Wednesday, at which point I'll try to be a better person.
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