Going to San Diego and other things on my mind

If you have been paying the least bit of attention here or over at my other blog (or MySpace, Facebook or Twitter) you already know that I'm going to be meeting up with my friend Dan on Thursday. We have a hotel already booked, in fact Dan will be in SD on Wednesday and will be staying there already.

I have some plans to meet some folks there over the weekend, but plan on spending most of my time roaming aimlessly about the displays and taking lots of pictures. Of course, should I be struck by another Jedi this year I don't know if my camera will survive a second light saber hit. *sigh*

There are a number of panels and presentations I would like to attend, but I don't have the patience to stand in line for two-hours for a one hour program. A quick glance at the posted list of programs made me realize that I can't possibly attend everything I would like. A couple of Mark Evanier's panels sound good, especially an interview with Stan Freberg on Friday and the annual "Quick Draw" with Sergio Aragones & Scott Shaw! The former MST3K folks now working as RiffTrax are also doing a live event, which I missed last year but hope to catch this time around.

As usual, I'll be going to Dick's Last Resort at least once and the Marriot Gaslamp for the annual Capa-Alpha breakfast on Saturday. I hear they have re-opened the Spaghetti Factory also, so I might head over there. There are a lot of good places to eat in San Diego, but the problem is that most of them will be packed. We'll have to see how the coffee shop at the hotel is if nothing else is available.

If I can I might try to log-on over the weekend at least once and give a quick update to some of my pages. Keep an eye out!

I highly recommend the first issues of both BLACKEST NIGHT & BLACKEST NIGHT: TALES OF THE CORP for you DC fans. Some really creepy stuff, including the seeming death of a couple of characters and the resurrection of several more. The lead up to this series in the two GL books has been good and it looks like this is going to have a big payoff.

Still listening: Old Time Radio

One of the nice folks that we have met on our regular Bingo nights is Jeanne. Jeanne is a wonderful lady, who it's hard to believe is in her mid-80s. She's still working part-time and has more energy than people half her age. Anyway, Jeanne is quite naturally a fan of Old Time Radio and has been nice enough to let me borrow some of the CD collections she owns.

Among the collections have been compilations of detective shows, some sets of one series and others of miscellaneous programs. As a fan of these shows I'm still surprised to discover one with which I wasn't familiar or to find one by a particular actor. Two actors, primarily known for their film or television roles (at least by me) were Dick Powell and Jack Webb. In both cases, it was a pleasant surprise and in the case of Webb a revelation.

I knew Dick Powell played RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE on radio for several years. Jeanne had let me borrow several collections featuring this program and I had also heard several before on RADIO SPIRIT compilations. What I hadn't known was that four years previously (the same year Powell appeared as Philip Marlowe in the film "Murder,My Sweet) he had a short-lived radio program. Called ROGUE'S GALLERY, Powell played Richard Rogue, a private-detective. The show's gimmick was that at least once a week Rogue would be hit over the head (or otherwise rendered unconscious)and find himself in dreamland where he would have a conversation with his alter-ego, EUGOR (spell it backwards!). Just as with Powell's interpretation of Diamond, the show was often tongue-in-cheek with Rogue never taking himself too seriously. If you find these shows I recommend them, since you can hear how this portrayal comes close to the one Powell used in the later series.

Other than DRAGNET, and perhaps the film THE D.I., most folks probably are not familiar with Jack Webb's career. I'll be honest and admit that except for knowing he did a few other movies and later became a producer, my knowledge of Webb was pretty much limited to that of his Sgt. Friday. I'd also read his non-fiction book on the Los Angeles police department (and some of their most famous cases) THE BADGE, back in high school. It's kind of odd hearing Webb playing some one other than Friday, especially because his voice is so distinctive, as is his delivery. Apparently, his first show was actually of the comedy/variety type and called THE JACK WEBB SHOW. Sadly, I haven't heard any of those and may have to only imagine what they must have been like.

Before DRAGNET, Webb appeared/starred in about a half-dozen radio dramas for various periods. The only two that I have heard myself have been PAT NOVAK FOR HIRE (Webb as an unlicensed P.I., who also works down on the docks) and JEFF REGAN, INVESTIGATOR (where he works for the sometimes not very scrupulous, Lion Detective Agency). It's a lot of fun, if odd, hearing Webb portray characters who weren't criminals, but didn't have a lot of use for the police. In fact, in both of these dramas you often had the police working at odds with Webb's characer and even being corrupt. It was while working on the film, HE WALKED BY NIGHT in 1948 (based on a true murder case), that Webb got the idea for the series that would make him a star.

Hope you found this interesting. Next time out either comics or a movie review.

Quick Review of ROB HANES/ADVENTURE DIGEST

In preparation for San Diego, I'm going through some of my comics to decide what I might need/want to purchase. I have also checked out the current list of 'guests' and may bring along some books to have signed while I'm there.

I first met Randy Reynaldo at one of the SD Comicons in the early '90s, if I recall. He is there just about every year and so was I for some of that period. Considering the number of 'small press' comics and creators that have disappeared over the past decade, it's great to see somebody like Randy continuing to put out such a fun book.

Randy's Website will tell you more about his book and the lead character than I can, so I recommend you go there. However, I highly recommend ROB HANES for fans looking for something a bit "old fashioned" yet contemporary at the same time.

Reynaldo's influences such as Milt Caniff, Roy Crane, Alex Toth and other "Golden Age" of action comic strip artists are obvious. Rob is modeled after the adventurers like Terry, Buz Sawyer and Steve Canyon, but the stories themselves involve terrorists, video piracy, steroids in professional sports and other things the Old School guys never knew of. Of course, as in those strips and Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT you'll see lots of beautiful women and evil henchmen in just about every issue.

Check out Randy's page, read some of the free webcomics and buy some of the Rob Hanes books. I think you'll be happy you did!

Remote Viewing: Surfing the channels last night

I've yet to start reading anything online, but Donna and I thought that Niel Patrick Harris did a nice job hosting the Tonys last night. He was fun and you could tell he was having a good time. I think it's smart to fill the show with musical numbers, since most of America will not have a chance to see the actual shows. Smart, also, to promote the traveling editions of the shows, as for many those are the only way they'll get a chance to attend.

Quick notes: Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Angela Lansberry are all beginning to look their age, with Parton beginning to take on that creepy, Joan Rivers overly tightened look. Liza continues to act and look like a drag-queen doing a moderately okay impersonation of her. (Yeah, Donna didn't think it was funny when I said that either!)

The new season of WHO WANTS TO BE THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR? began last night. No standouts, but you can understand why somebody doing a salad would get booted. I also can't see the nutritionist going too far either and you should never bad-mouth the network kitchen to somebody who works there!

TOP CHEF MASTERS looks to a way to spin-off from the original. Bringing in some of the major chefs who have been judges on the TC show and Food Network to compete against each other for charitable donations. I love this stuff!

Stay tuned!

I've got no clue, but what the heck?

As I mentioned yesterday, over on PARTING SHOTS, the block seems to have been lifted on Blogger. They have been working on the various filters and there are librarians who post professional information and links on their blogs, but we have not been able to access them. We'll see what happens in the coming days.

When time permits I'm going to be adding and deleting some of the links on both my blogs. There are some news sites that have caught my eye and others that I seldom, if ever, visit any longer. I doubt I'll be playing around with the layouts, since I'm pretty happy with them.

If you haven't been here in a while, or are just finding this blog, I recommend you scroll down and view my reviews of STAR TREK, WOLVERINE & WATCHMEN. It will give you a pretty good idea of where I'm at currently. I stopped promoting these blogs a few months ago, when the filtering began, but have started listing it on some new sites. If you haven't been here before, Welcome!

I hope to be posting some comics reviews later this week, since I'm currently going through three weeks worth of stuff I picked up at Nuclear Comics.

I'm really getting into the buildup to BLACKEST NIGHT at DC, but the teaser shots of returning "dead" DCU heroes has me nervous at the same time. Still I recommend both GREEN LANTERN & GREEN LANTERN CORPS, even though I think Sinestro is outlasting his usefulness. I'm hoping he departs as some of my favorite heroes make their return.

On the other hand, I think I about reaching the saturation point for "Dark Reign" over at Marvel. It might be time for both the Big Two to start getting back to non-epic stories and maybe letting the good guys win every so often.

Really quick: If you like zombies and other films of an apocalyptic nature, you should try QUIET EARTH. Good site for folks who like that sort of thing, and I'm certainly in that category. I have to admit that I got an initial kick out of the site's name, since my first apa was called CURSED EARTH, which referenced the post-apocalyptic America in the Judge Dredd series.

Well, I have to go now. There's something scratching at the door, so I better go and ....

Stop Talkin' About Comic Books Or I'll Kill You - Ookla The Mok

How can you not love this song!

"I don't care if Spider-Man's a clone!!" LOL

Popcorn for One: A Review of STAR TREK (a few spoilers)

So okay, I'm a sucker for STAR TREK (ST), especially the original (OST) series with Shatner, Nimoy and company. I've lost count of the number of times I have seen all the episodes. I also enjoyed NEXT GENERATION & ST: DS-9, and the first two seasons of VOYAGER, although I'll admit that after the pilot & first few episodes of ENTERPRISE, both Donna and I gave up. I've also seen all the previous Big Screen ST films, at least once and several a few times when they started making the rotation on television. It was obvious from my initial viewing of the "Under Construction" trailer prior to last year's San Diego Comicon that I was going to be psyched for this movie.

As a fan of LOST and CLOVERFIELD, I was willing to give J.J. Abrams the benefit of the doubt on his take on the franchise. He admitted he wasn't a fan, and frankly, that might be a good thing, especially as the film takes things in a different direction. These are not the characters I have followed since high school and I'm fine with that. Maybe part of the problem with some of the earlier ST films was that we were already overly familiar with Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the bridge crew. We could almost guess what their reactions would be in any given situation. For a 'new generation' (pardon the expression) of fans to accept the series it had to move into new ground.

In the first few minutes of the movie a gigantic spacecraft emerges from a wormhole and engages a Federation ship. From that point, all bets are off. The appearance of the Romulan ship, commanded by Nero (Eric Bana) changes events and creates an alternative timeline. The characters we knew from OST are not the characters we are introduced to throughout the film. The names are the same, but almost everything else we knew has been changed.

The James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), and Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) we see here are for the most part closer to the 'classic' ones we knew. Spock (Zachary Quinto), or NuSpock as he as been branded in fan circles, is by far the most radically different from how we knew the Vulcan portrayed Leonard Nimoy. As both characters appear in the film, the versions are easy to compare. Sulu, Checkov, Uhura and Scotty are all here, with Uhura (Zoe Saldana) given quite a bit different persona than we saw from Nichelle Nichols. It will be interesting to see in the sequels (which I'm sure we can expect given this movie's critical success and box-office) where the different characters go from this point.

I liked the new actors, and thought they did good jobs in the roles. I don't think I'm the only one who will be willing to see some more of the new Enterprise crew.

DCU: Green Lantern CORPS - Floyd Was Here

Just because it is so cool!

I"ve added both GREEN LANTERN and GREEN LANTERN CORPS to my pull list at Nuclear. Love the way both titles are going with the leadup to BLACKEST NIGHT.

Whoa! Got over a dozen freebies for FCBD. Hope you scored some goodies this past weekend! I"ll try to have some reviews and comments later this week.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (with spoilers)

Hugh Jackman owns the role of Wolverine. I can't imagine another actor doing the role at this point and hope I won't have to for a while. Equally good in the film is Liev Schreiber, who stars as Logan's brother the villain Sabretooth.

If you aren't a comic book fan, you might be surprised by some of the things revealed in the opening sequence of the film. That I won't giveaway! You might also want to stick around after the credits start to role, as there are a couple of extra goodies. Just don't expect to see Nick Fury or Tony Stark show up. They aren't that sort of spoiler, just a couple of moments to show "what happened to..."

As you may know, if you have read anything about the movie, this takes place a few years before the incidents in the first X-MEN film. We see a couple of characters that appear there and understand why they react as if they don't know each other after an initial meeting. The movie is filled with mutants, some of whom I'm familiar with and others I'm not, so I can't say how faithful they are to their four-color characterization. I do know that one character is pissing off the fanboys and I can understand why. Even though I've never liked this character I think he is ill-used and this ruins him for future appearances. (Think Darth Maul!)

One last thing about particular mutants in the movie. I think it was a mistake to use The Blob in the film, since the scenes with him (after earlier ones where he is unidentified) stop the film for comic effect and it doesn't work. It's basically Wolverine fighting Fat Bastard! The same information could have been introduced without resorting to jokes about an obese man.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and think that it works. Not amazing, but a decent summer movie for action fans. If you enjoy super-heroes and can overlook some of the minor things I've mentioned I recommend you check it out. Give you something to do until STAR TREK opens next week!

Hugh Jackman on FCBD plus Wolverine Trailer

Damn! For the 3rd year in a row I'm working on FCBD!

Support your local shop and buy some comics.

Watching & reading, as usual!

Is everyone as confused by LOST as I am? (SPOILERS)

I mean I still enjoy the show and many of the characters, but the current time-hopping storyline makes things even more confusing then they were when you just had to worry about something being a dream or vision. Characters are not only appearing in flashbacks, but some have actually moved back in time to the 1970s. In the latest episode one character saw himself as a three month old infant!! Oh, and John is alive again. (End spoilers)

I'm currently reading three books, and should probably concentrate on one. I'm about half way through I'M NOT A COP! by Richard Belzer, one of those books where the celebrity writing as her/himself becomes involved in a mystery or murder. Steve Allen, wrote a nice series where he mixed fictional and real life characters solving crimes. Belzer, does that here, but doesn't really include anybody other than himself in the story, except in some phone conversations he has with his wife. I think you have to like the Belz and his humor, along with his television persona to enjoy the book. So far, I am.

I've been a fan of Charles Dickens, since I first read some of his novels back in junior high. His final, unfinished novel THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, has been the subject of close to a dozen books, in which different people have tried their own hand at discovering what Dickens had in mind for the ending and even attempted to write that conclusion themselves. In DROOD, writer Dan Simmons tries his hand at not only figuring out the mystery of the novel, but also of the final years of the author. Following his surviving a horrendous train wreck, the famous writer spent the final years of his life engaged in not only writing, but performing and staging adaptations of his works. In his personal life he also seemingly became even more difficult and began suffering from both physical and psychological attacks, often leaving him in weakened states.

Simmons, through the narration of Dickens'one-time friend and collaborator, author Wilkie Collins (The Lady in White, Moonstone, etc.), chronicles the final years of the "illustrious" writer as he becomes involved in with a mysterious individual called, simply Drood. Who is this person? Is he a healer, or serial killer? What hold does he have on the author and what will Dickens do to protect him? Finally, has the favorite of Queen Victoria begun plotting a murder of his own and decided to turn his own life into one reflecting his final work? Even though I'm not quiet halfway through I highly recommend the book.

Oh, and in case you're wondering I'm also reading comics.

Not sure where Dwayne McDuffie is going with JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, but things do not look good in the current issue #31, where the team is basically told to disband by the current chairperson. Repercussions of several past and current stories come together and we see how a few of the characters are dealing with the apparent death of Bruce Wayne/Batman. McDuffie sort of fills us in on things and lets us know of other changes taking place in the DCU. Looks like there are several super-hero teams about to be shaken up and have their rosters changed.

That does it for now! Don't forget about FREE COMICBOOK DAY coming up pretty soon, either!

Supercar series one title sequence

For some reason I can't explain, I found myself humming this on my way to Starbucks this afternoon. I haven't seen the show in a couple of decades, but still remember the opening.

On an unrelated note, it pays to call the hotels in San Diego a couple of months before the convention if you want to book a room. Hell, don't even mention the con! I know folks who booked rooms last year when they were there, or a few months after. If you are sharing a room the costs aren't that bad.

Oh, did anybody else catch the premiere of THE UNUSUALS last night on ABC? A comedy/drama cop show, with some familiar faces. I liked it!

Just some random stuff!

If I haven't mentioned it before, but I believe I have, I'm going down to the San Diego ComiCon again this year. My friend, Dan, is flying in from Brooklyn and we already have a hotel room booked for three nights (Thursday thru Saturday). The only definite thing so far will be the annual Capa-Alpha get-together on Saturday morning. Be nice if we got more than the six folks that came last year, although I had a really good time. These things used to take up several long tables with a couple dozen current and former K-a members. Ah, well...

I have finally gotten around to watching my anniversary present from last year. Namely the MST3-K 20th Anniversary DVD set. Nice selection of four films from several seasons, plus the "History of MST3-K" special split over three of the disks. I still haven't watched the fourth film, with the video of last year's SD convention get-together. Recommended to all MYSTies!

In the comics, it looks like several titles are having deadline problems for various reasons. It will be interesting to see what effect the badly delayed FINAL CRISIS: LEGION OF 3 WORLDS will have on the up-coming new LS-H series. Also, I'm really disappointed that Marvel's THE TWELVE seems to have slipped under the radar and the delays will probabaly real damage the sales on this very, good book. Finally, it's nice to see Barry Allen back in the scarlet costume. I don't think things are going to go smoothly for the speedster though. Check out THE FLASH: REBIRTH, if you haven't already. Plus, I recommend RAGE OF THE RED LANTERNS and both the current GREEN LANTERN & GREEN LANTERN CORPS books. Been quite a few year since I could say that!

FAIL Barbie . . . REAL TOY Review Mike Mozart JeepersMedia on YouTube

OMG! I need this immediately!!!

Popcorn for One: A movie review - WATCHMEN

WATCHMEN

Wow! That pretty much sums up my reaction to the film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s classic graphic novel, WATCHMEN. Director Zack Snyder finally does what others before him could not get done. Namely bring this book to the big screen and do it justice. Seeing it in IMAX probably added to my enjoyment, but I'm sure it would also work on the regular screen.

If you are familiar with Moore’s story you already know that it takes place in an alternate 1985, where Richard Nixon is in his third term as President and the U.S. won in Vietnam. In this reality super-heroes, have been around since the 1940s and were pretty much accepted until outlawed. Some have gone into business, or into other pursuits and some began working for the government in one way or another. When one of the more notorious members of the group called The Watchmen is murdered, another member believes that someone is purposely targeting ‘masks’.

That pretty much sets up what happens as we learn some of the background and origins of the major players. It seems the ‘good guys’ may have had their own share of dark secrets and might not have been morally much better than some of the ‘bad guys’ they fought.

Some reviewers didn’t look favorably on the performance of Malin Ackerman (Silk Spectre II), but I thought she was quite good. Her action scenes seemed believable and I thought she was equally as good in the straight scenes as many of her male co-stars. To be honest, I certainly thought she was better than Matthew Goode, doing his best David Bowie impersonation, who chewed the scenery as Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias. I put Goode’s performance on a par with Julian McMahon who made Dr. Doom such a cipher in both FANTASTIC FOUR films.

On the other hand, a couple of the major male leads were extremely good and I would hope one of them gets a nod come Oscar time. If Heath Ledger brought the Joker to life (pardon the expression) then Jackie Earle Haley as RORSCHACH deserves equal credit. With his face totally hidden behind his ever-shifting mask, Haley has to use his voice and body language to portray what is going on. Those scenes, especially those in prison, where he can be seen are even more powerful. Patrick Wilson and Billy Crudup (Nite Owl II and Dr. Manhattan respectively) are both good, even though Crudup is computer generated for part of his performance. Hey, if a CGI- Gollum can get an MTV Movie award than Dr. Manhattan and his blue wee-wee are equally deserving of one. As The Comedian, Jeffrey Dean Morgan actually makes you feel sympathy for a character that is pretty unlikable.

By the way, it was fun to see Matt Frewer(Max Headroom, for those with good memories)as Moloch, a 'retired' super-villain. Even though he doesn't have a big part in the film his role is pivotal to the plot.

Finally, I think this film does as much to bring up the level of ‘super-hero’ movies as did the original SPIDER-MAN, IRON MAN and last year’s DARK KNIGHT. Just don't take any small children or elderly nuns, huh?

Folks who know me know I love previews. There were about a half dozen film trailers, evidently being released to IMAX. Of them, I know I'll be catching the new STAR TREK film, with fingers crossed and the second TRANSFORMERS film looks to be even more over the top then the first. Donna caught an ad for MONSTERS VS. ALIENS on television and we might both go to see that one. The next Harry Potter movie really looks as dark (even in the way it was filmed) as I remember the book, but the 'kids' do seem to be much older than the ones they portray at this point.

Save me an aisle seat!

Amazon Babes from Another Dimension!

I just got a real kick out of this. Ultimate fanboy stuff!

Review: The Jakarta Plot

Despite the fact that the Joe Bob Briggs site hasn’t posted a new review for well over a year, I’m still finishing up the books I have. There should be three more after this one, I believe, but at this point I think I may have lost track of which books JB sent me and those I’ve picked up at cons.

While I’m at it I want to apologize again for posting so seldom but I have listed the reasons before. Hope you will forgive me and drop by every so often to see if I have actually blogged.

**************************************************************************
The Jakarta plot – R. Karl Largent; published by Leisure Books
ISBN: 0843945680

When you read these books you have to wonder how many ex-CIA agents are running around. Also, why does it seem the Agency always has to bring them back in to perform actions the current crop can’t seem to accomplish? I’m just asking.

Largent’s book is quite good, even though his hero, former agent Gideon Stone does seem to question himself a bit more than necessary. Stone is likable and I’m assuming that Largent will be bringing him back, if he hasn’t already (as the book was published back in 2006). One of the weaker elements is that some of the secondary characters, and there are dozens, never seem to really have any back-story, or any that we learn. We feel sympathy for them when they are injured or killed, but that’s because of how it affects Stone and not because we genuinely care about them. An odd thing is that this is truer of members of Stone’s team than of individuals on the opposing side. For instance, we know more about a native crewmember on a barge, used in a later mission, than we do about several servicemen who accompany Stone on his first rescue attempt.

When a group of Communist terrorists capture and hold captive U.N. delegates of an international meeting on the island of Java, including the U.S. Vice-President, the CIA is asked to attempt a rescue, while not admitting it publicly. Led by the popular Bojoni Sawak, the Bandung rebels demand that the current leader of their country step down and recognize the Bandung as the legitimate government, otherwise, the hostages will be executed one by one. With Stone already in the area, working to recover some documents lost when a civilian airliner is blown up, it’s an easy move to have him head up the assignment. Since he is an expert diver and former black op, you know that the ultimate rescue will involve at least some of those skills. When the initial attempt goes badly wrong, leading to the death of two of the group and the VP still hostage, the stakes rise. Stone has to get his team into the terrorist base, perform his mission and get everybody out alive. Complicating matters is the threat by China that any overt American intervention would be considered a provocative action and might lead to that country becoming involved.

As is typical of this type of book, Largent brings in a lot of technical information on the equipment Stone and his team uses. Interesting to a point, but it does make this reader skim over paragraphs of this stuff in order to get to the main action. If you are more into this Tom Clancy sort of thing and especially if you are interested in deep-sea vehicles and helicopters you might want to tack a half-star onto this. Overall I give this a solid -

Three stars

Narwhals

Just thought this was fun!

I'm still around!

I really don't have anything to add right now and not being able to post during the week has gotten me out of the habit. Seems that come the weekends I don't feel like blogging or don't have anything timely.

During the week I'm posting on Tony Isabella's messageboard, CBGXtra.com or one of the other places regarding comics. I'm also pretty active on Shelfari in several groups (Graphic Novels, Horror, etc.) and trying to catalog the books I've read or owned. Another reason why I don't blog when I have a chance, is because I've already talked myself out.

If you happen to wander around YouTube you might catch me commenting on one video or another. There it's pretty much politics, but also some of the goofier sites (What The Buck?; PonceMan; Penn Says and several others).

Next time I pick up a batch of comics (I'm about three weeks behind) I'll try to comment. Until then take care!

Four-color Fiend: Final Cri...What the @#%*$?

Color me...


S
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I have no real idea where Grant Morrison was going with FINAL CRISIS and how much interference from Dan Ditto-head ruined his plans. Unless things are happening in other DC books I'm not aware of this "event" might as well have been an "Elseworld" project. Then again, with the multi-verse back in the DCU all the books we were told were non-continuity Elseworld stories now seem to have actually happened on other Earths.

At the end of issue #7 of FC it appears to me that we witness the end of the Monitors and Darkside. It also appears that the New Gods, minus Orion, have been brought back. To me the gods of New Genesis have no reason to be without their opposite numbers on Apokolypse. That was Kirby's point in creating the two races of gods to begin with. If this is how it ends, you might as well have allowed High Father and the rest to remain dead. They serve no purpose in the DCU.

I would be interested in hearing from Morrison how he had to change things, or why The Powers That Be seem to be all but ignoring what he did. At this point I don't see FINAL CRISIS as having any major impact, and certainly nothing like the original CRISIS did years ago.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #23 picks up from where the previous story arc ended. In the Kingdom Come/Gog story there was a major split among the team and things said and done at that time remain a sticking point. Hawkman quits the team in the first few pages and we are told what has happened to all those who are no longer living in the headquarters. I think we'll probably see the return of some of those members, at least briefly in the up-coming story.

We find that Isis/Adrianna was not killed, but was held captive by Felix Faust as his sex slave. Was it really necessary to make it so obvious? Kind of creepy to see Faust dressing next to an unconscious Isis. I guess we should be thankful that she was dressed. Anyway, Isis is able to summon enough of her former power to make her presence felt by Black Adam who quickly appears. We have a nice reunion of the two lovers, but it quickly becomes apparent that this is not the same Adrianna we knew before. Perhaps, understandable given what she has endured the past months, but still it changes fundamentally the Isis of "52".

Adam & Isis confront Captain Marvel in the Rock of Eternity, where he has taken over from the wizard Shazam as its caretaker. Isis is able to remove CM's powers, turning him into the powerless Billy Batson. Billy is able to contact the remaining members of the JSA and finally admits to them (although Courtney/Stargirl tries to stop him) his dual identity. The unnecessary last page reveals Adam & Isis, on the Rock and talking to someone we see only from behind and the waist down. Anybody not recognizing the tight, black miniskirt and leather boots hasn't been paying attention the past couple of years. It's obviously Slutty...I mean, Mary Marvel and I guess the only thing we can hope for is that she doesn't have the dominatrix outfit and punk hairdo we saw in FINAL CRISIS.

The Four-color Fiend is not especially happy with the DCU at the moment and it might be time to drop another book or two.

Four Color Fiend: Am I still reading this stuff?

No spoilers this time around, just wanted to mention a few things about the current batch of comics I'm reading.

Not sure how I feel about Marvel's "Dark Reign" event. It picks up immediately after SECRET INVASION wrapped and cleans up some things that happened there. I bought the first issue of DARK AVENGERS and some other books which tie-in, but haven't read any yet. I'll keep you posted.

One thing that can be said for Marvel, at least the entire MU acknowledges the SI events and now those of DR. DC on the other hand, doesn't seem to recognize the FINAL CRISIS series, except in those books officially tie-in. The SUPERMAN & BATMAN family books are all concentrating on their own mini-events, and the current JUSTICE LEAGUE & JUSTICE SOCIETY storylines also don't seem aware of what's going on either. To be honest, it might be to their benefit, since I'm still not entirely comfortable with where FC is going and it only has one more issue to go. *shrug*

My current list of faves include the following:
Guardians of the Galaxy (tying in to the War of Kings storyline); Brave and the Bold (the regular title and not the Batman B&B book related to the animated series); Soloman Kane from Dark Horse; Walking Dead; the various Doctor Who books from IDW (classic and contemporary); Stan Saki's Usagi Yojimbo (always the first book I read when I pick up the new issue); the Hellboy/B.P.R.D./Lobster Johnson books that Dark Horse produces with Mike Mignola's crew. A guilty pleasure is ZOMBIE TALES: THE SERIES also from Boom! Studios always has at least one excellent story each issue.

By the way, despite saying last year that the San Diego con exhausted me, I'm going again. More on that as time grows near.

Gammera the Invincible movie clip

Damn kids with their rock 'n' roll music! They got what they deserved.

Santa vs. Santa

Can't we all just get along for the holidays? :-)

Have a very, merry Christmas and a happy New Year's!!

I hope to be able to post a bit more next year.

"Star Wars" a capella tribute

OMG!! Brilliant stuff.

Four-Color Fiend: Dark Secret Invasion with Spoilers on the side!

So I've spent the past nine months reading the various SECRET INVASION titles and it ends with a sociopath with a split-personality shooting the Skrull queen on national television. Boy, sure glad I haven't been wasting my comic bags on this!!

Norman Osborne, is the Green Goblin, for those who haven't been reading Marvel comics for the past three decades or seen any of the Spider-Man films. He's a multiple murderer, child abuser and (depending on whether you accept that storyline) a seducer of young women. Just the kind of guy the President of the U.S. would put in charge of every facit of American intelligence and allow to oversee the super-human community. He's probably a Republican, as well.

Norman has called in a group of super-baddies to act as his back-up, although there is apparently one other (who we don't see except partially in shadow) that will keep his 'allies' in line. I know I haven't been reading a ton of Marvels, except the SI books, but when did Namor start looking like Hugh Laurie? I also wasn't aware that Loki, Thor's half-brother is now sporting cleavage. Do I even want to know?

The next few months those heroes and villains who have survived the Skull attacks are going to battle each other, probably with reversed roles. I guess the folks at Marvel so how great the DC books were when Lex Luthor was President and have decided to try something similar. Good move! I'll be cancelling some of the Marvel titles I've been buying the past half a year.

On a positive note, if you aren't buying the current JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA title you are missing some wonderful stuff by writer Dwayne McDuffie. He did a nice alternate-world story featuring Vixen and is bringing the Milestone characters (many of whom he created or helped to create) into the DCU.

If you are into horror/dark fantasy, you really should be buying the Mike Mignola written titles from Dark Horse. Anything with Hellboy, Abe Sapien and the other members of the B.P.R.D. are well worth seeking in the shops and bookstores. Also, WALKING DEAD by Robert Kirkman remains one of the better books currently being produced, even if you are not a big zombie fan.

Happy Birthday - The Beatles

Today is my birthday! Happy birthday to me!!

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Who wouldn't want one under the tree?

Saw this on YouTube and couldn't resist.

Cinemassacre's Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters

You can't go wrong with Giant Movie Monsters! Well, maybe if you trip while running from them...

Holiday viewing!

Caught my first "A Christmas Carol" of the season yesterday. It was an animated version, which I don't recall at all. I only saw the last fifteen minutes, with Scrooge getting the crap scared out of him by the Spirit of Christmas Future. No major singing here and Scrooge is accompanied in his journeys by two mice. While they don't speak there actions are semi-antropomorphic.

As some of you know I'm a sucker for the Dickens tale and will watch just about any half-way decent adaptation. I'll try to keep you updated during the season as to which ones I see.

On the comics front, I picked up the last two issues of Justice League of America (#25 & 26) written by Dwayne McDuffie. I've always liked Dwayne's writing and have had the chance to meet him a few times, back in the Other Life. Actually, it was because of comments on Tony Isabella's messageboard that I checked out the book. How could I pass up McDuffie introducing the "Brown Bomber" character? The black hero who would have been the star of DC's first comic with an African-American character was a bullet just barely dodged, thanks to our Tony I. It was a nice surprise and I know I'll be picking up the next few issues, since Dwayne will be brining back the Milestone superheroes as part of the DC Universe. Way cool!

That's it for now! If I can't get back before Thanksgiving I want to wish you all the best holiday.

I'm Voting for Popeye

Even if you aren't voting for the one-eyed sailorman, be sure and vote tomorrow!

Take care!

Playing catch-up!

Apparently the new filter system at work allows me to access Blogger on the weekends. If this continues I'll probably only post here on those Saturdays when I'm working, unless I 'share' a video from YouTube.

Donna and I have been watching horror movies the past week. Normally, my wife doesn't care for this type of thing, but there hasn't been much interesting on some nights and lots of stations are showing older scary movies. I finally got Donna to watch HALLOWEEN, which she had never seen and the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. These are two of my favorites so it was nice to share them. We also watched the Vincent Price film HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, a movie that Donna actually had seen before and enjoys. Lastly, we watched GHOST SHIP (2002), which had it's moments if predictable, especially the ending which I could have done without.

Nuclear Comics is having a sale this weekend, but the only thing I picked up (other than my usual pulls) was WALKING DEAD TPB #8, so I'm all caught up on the series. It remains one of my favorites, but I wonder how long creator/writer Robert Kirkman can continue without repeating himself.

Only one more issue of SECRET INVASION to go and things are nearing some sort of climax even in the tie-in books. Some of which (like SHE-HULK, INCREDIBLE HERCULES & Ms. MARVEL) already seem to be moving on or setting up future storylines beyond the Skull war. There are several Skrulls already established in some books who look to be staying around for a while, but I suppose that could change.

That's it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend and remember to vote next Tuesday!

NYC GREENWICH VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE 2007 PART1

There are things I miss about not being back in NY this time of year. I used to go down just about every year in the late '80s til the mid-90s. You never knew what to expect.

Happy Halloween!!

Wassup 2008

When these guys were hot I loved the commercials. The one in the Japanese restaurant still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Sorry, it gets political at the end, since I try to stay away from that here. Still I don't think anybody should be surprised who I support!

Have a good weekend and vote early, if you can.

Four Color Fiend: Spending Time with the Time Lords!

I’ve been enjoying the two regular DOCTOR WHO books from IDW (Doctor Who & Doctor Who Classics), so was happy to see that they are putting out two more series featuring the Time Lord. The first book features new stories with the Doctor #10, while the other reprints earlier adventures beginning with the Tom Baker version.

I mentioned DW: The Forgotten last month (featuring the current Doctor, David Tennant and the first, William Hartnell) and I just picked up the second issue, which has adventures of the second & third regenerations (played by Patrick Troughton & Jon Pertwee respectively). The Doctor and his companion Martha Jones are still stuck in a mysterious museum and unable to locate the TARDIS, plus it seems the still unseen villain has begun to activate some nasty surprises for our duo. Writer Tony Lee and artist, Pia Guerra are doing a nice job capturing the personalities and appearances of all the Doctors. While Guerra’s style may be a bit cartoonish for some I find her perfect for the title.

The same week a had second DW reprint book, Grant Morrison’s DOCTOR WHO, with tales of the Sixth & Seventh Doctors (who were played by Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy on television). This is a two issue series featuring the DW stories Morrison wrote in the ‘80s, before he brought back the DC hero, ANIMAL MAN in popular and award-winning series. While the Baker two-parter is nothing special, the done-in-one McCoy story has the Doctor helping an entire race avoid extinction. It also shows the Time Lord at a low point being reminded of why he does what he does.
I’ll try to throw in more reviews later this week.

I'm still here!

I haven't forgotten about this blog, but I haven't been doing much posting anywhere. Heck, I think Alex over at Poplitiko is about to cross me off the contributor list any day now. :-)

I've actually been doing more reading than writing lately, not that I think I have much to add to the general conversation. I'm also getting lazy and finding it easier to link to something or toss up a video from YouTube on the topic of the day.

I'm still trying to keep up with SECRET INVASION and still finding most of the tie-in books pretty decent. MS. MARVEL and BLACK PANTHER are interesting enough now that I may stick around post-SI to see where the characters go from here. In both books we have seen the titular heroes take a number of lives, mostly Skrulls but still it is bound to effect them. I've previous BP series, but had to be brought up to speed when I picked up the title a couple of months ago. I had no idea that he was married to the former X-Men, Storm.

I sort of like AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, even though there are a lot of characters with whom I'm not familiar. I enjoy the fact that the 3-D MAN has become sort of a 'legacy' character with a new kid taking up the name & uniform of the retconned '50s hero. I'd never heard of the "Skrull Kill Krew" before and I'm not sure I care enough to do more than read the Wikipedia entry. On the other hand, if there are going to be Skrulls remaining on Earth after the end of all this, I might be interested enough to keep an eye on them. Of course, that depends on which characters might be part of that group at the time.

Speaking of Marvel, I really have liked the three "free" SAGA books that have been given out at shops. The DAREDEVIL issue pretty much centers on what has happened to the character since mystery/thrill writer, Ed Brubaker has begun writing the character. Still it was interesting. MARVEL: YOUR UNIVERSE covered a good portion of the last decade, filling me in on what led up to CIVIL WAR, SECRET WAR and background enough on what the Skrulls and other characters have been up to. There were also a few pages taken from the up-coming new MARVEL HANDBOOK, with the section on James "Bucky" Barnes (Winter Soldier & the new Captain America) especially helpful. Finally, last Friday I picked up MARCH ON ULTIMATUM SAGA, that had a great overview of the ULTIMATE universe at Marvel, something which I have not followed at all. Have to be honest and say that there wasn't much in the book that made me regret not buying the titles, except for missing the first appearances of the MARVEL ZOMBIES. I still plan on picking up the TPB collecting those issues, since there is a third mini featuring the 'undead heroes' coming next year.

Hope to have some more stuff on comics or television in a couple of days.

What am I up to?

No good, would probably be the best answer. Fortunately, it's not true. I've been to busy with other stuff to have a chance to post much, but felt I should drop by just so you'll know I'm still active.

My comics buying is almost 50% Marvel stuff related to SECRET INVASION. I'm certainly enjoying it more than I did almost any of the COUNTDOWN stuff that DC put out. In a way it is fresher, since the writers in the tie-in books actually seem to be relating their story lines to the Skrulls. Many of the DC books last year seemed to be ignoring what was going on in COUNTDOWN and even making it more confusing, as characters who appeared dead, injured or otherwise incapacitated in one book were just fine in another.

FINAL CRISIS is still confusing, even restricting myself to the main title. The only tie-in book I picked up was FC: Requiem, which dealt with the fate of J'onn J'onzz and nicely covered his history as it is/was in current continuity. Writer Peter J. Tomsi and artists Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy all did a good job presenting the story of one of my favorite characters. Although it was a good send off, I really would love to see the character return in some form or other.

If you are not already a fan of Mike Mignola you are missing some fun & exciting books. It doesn't matter if they feature HELLBOY, the B.P.R.D. or his pulp-inspired hero, Lobster Johnson. There is generally at least one title in the Mignola-verse coming out every month and I recommend them all. Right now you'll find HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN, with art by Richard Corben. Corben is inking his own work and, as usual, fills the pages with well-endowed beautiful women and the creepiest monsters & villains you'll see anywhere. For a more 'typical' story in terms of art & story you can also find B.P.R.D.: THE WARNING a follow-up to the previous WAR ON FROGS, which expanded on the already known menace of the 'frogs'. Trust me, they are not the ones you'll find in your garden or in the local pond. At least I would hope not!!

The DOCTOR WHO books from IDW continue to be a lot of fun, whether you prefer the antics of the Tom Baker incarnation in D.W. Classics or the current David Tennant version in D.W. A wonderful bonus is in the just started mini-series D.W.: THE FORGOTTEN by Tony Lee and Pia Guerra. There the current Doctor and companion Martha Jones find themselves transported to a mysterious 'museum' filled with mementos of the Time Lord's past incarnations. Exhibits include the outfits worn by the various actors who played the role and artifacts which became identified with them in the show. The first issue has a bit of an adventure with the original Doctor (played by William Hartnell) , his "grand daughter" Susan and her teachers, Barbara & Ian. The rest of the series will feature appearances of the other eight incarnations and we'll probably learn more of the 'mysterious' person behind this (although long time fans of the show might easily guess). Bravo!!

Other stuff on recent purchases when I get the chance.

(I had actually tried to post this yesterday (9/25) but Blogger was giving me a hard time.)

The Banana Man!

If you have a chance you should click over to Mark Evanier's page to watch a video featuring Sam Levine. Levine, as Evanier explains, was one of perhaps three men who performed a routine called "The Banana Man" for several generations of children and adults. If you're my age, as Mark is, you'll have some memory of the routine from Captain Kangaroo or some other show from that era.

Another found memory is of chatting with writer, John Ostranda one evening in New York and having him surprise me by having the same memories of Levine as I did. Just another reason why I consider John one of my favorite comics creators.

Watch and enjoy! Thanks, Mark!

Salty Brine profiled on PM Magazine

I used to listen to Salty in the mornings through the '60s and watched his TV show in the afternoon, after school.

Salty used to do the usual Popeye, naturally, and tons of other cartoons.

Four Color Fiend - I MARVEL at all this!

A few spoilers this time, but I’m not going to bother with making you scroll down. This is just a quick rundown of some of the titles I’m currently reading.

I continue to pick up most of the SECRET INVASION titles from Marvel. As I’ve said before most of them are decent or better, giving you a nice “what has gone before” page at the beginning and generally allowing you to figure out who is who. Only a few times have I had to go to Wikipedia to check out a character or two, mostly from AVENGERS: The Initiative. In many cases they appear to be old characters with new names or new characters assuming the names of older ones.

The SI storyline seems to be at the mid-point, at least in the main title, but it may be ending sooner or later in the books that currently tie-in. The two main Avenger titles (Mighty & New) continue to bring us the back story on how various heroes were replaced and how things on the Skrull home world developed up to the beginning of the actual invasion. Tony (Iron Man) Stark has been led to believe that he may be a Skrull double-agent, but still is working to repair the damage done by the actual aliens. It looks as if Reed Richards may be getting back into action and on his way back to aid his allies on Earth. As it appears that it was Richards’ mind which held the secret the Skrulls used to hide among us, it is probably Mister Fantastic who will discover the means to correct the situation.

Both INCREDIBLE HERCULES and CAPTAIN BRITAIN & MI: 13 are showing how the Skrull invasion is taking place in the realms of magic (in the case of CB) and among the immortal gods (IH). The events and characters in both books have enough appeal to me that I may continue to pick them both up after the Skrull storyline ends. Dr. Faiza Hussain, particularly, may be one of the most interesting characters to have appeared in quite a while, at least in my reading of the Marvel Universe books. It will be interesting to see where writer Paul Cornell and co-creator Leonard Kirk will be going with her in the next few months. In the Hercules book, it is Amadeus Cho (the 7th smartest person on Earth) who is the most interesting of the hero’s companions and I fear for the fate of his puppy, Kerberus (“Kirby”) at the hands of the Skrulls.

While I’m still reading MARVEL 1985, I feel a bit disappointed that Mark Millar is going a so dark. Considering the other things the man has written, I guess I should not have been surprised. I would have preferred a little lighter tone as the main character in the book, Toby Goodman, is only a young teen in the story. I certainly don’t remember the various Marvel villains being quite this blood-thirsty (in some cases almost literally), especially back in the mid-80s where this is supposed to be taking place. It remains a good read and it will be interesting to see where Millar will eventually take this.

Finally, at least with the Marvel books, I found THE TWELVE ½ among my ‘pulls’ at Nuclear Comics last week. While the covers are new, as well as a summary of the series on the inside front cover, the rest of the book contains reprints of the early adventures of three of the heroes who now find themselves in the 21st century. Rockman, Mr. E and the Fiery Mask all have a moment in the spotlight. Of note are the origin of the Fiery Mask by Joe Simon and a Rockman tale by Basil Wolverton.

I’ll probably have more on other comics either later today or next Monday.

Vacation viewing!

Had the opportunity to catch a couple of films while I was on vacation and thought I'm quickly mention them.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (seen on a decent size screen on the ship, while enjoying a Pina Colada)- is the second film in the Narnia series based on the novels by C.S. Lewis. I never had the chance to see the first film, although I did read the book years ago and saw the British television series based on it. I never got beyond the first book in the series, so was taken by by how dark the film was in some portions. Although some characters are revived (and we all know where Lewis was going with that symbolism) there are a number of deaths in the movie. While not especially graphic, I could see how young kids might be disturbed by the nighttime attack on the castle and some other scenes. While not up to Peter Jackson's brilliant Lord of the Rings trilogy, the film certainly was entertaining. Of note was Sergio Castellitto in the role of King Miraz, uncle of Prince Caspian and the major villain in the film.

The Happening (watched on a lap-top sized viewer in First Class flying from Anchorage to Seattle and enjoying a rum & Coke) - Is another strange and disturbing film by M. Night Shyamalan. Mark Wahlberg plays a high school science teacher who finds himself fleeing with his wife and others from Philadelphia after New York suffers an apparent terrorist attack. The film moves from Wahlberg and his fellow travelers, back to the city as events begin to escalate and spread. We see and hear newscasters, 'experts' and others speculating on just what may be happening and why. I saw the film in edited format on a plane, so some scenes and language may have been altered, but it was still quite chilling. Along with Wahlberg, we have solid performances by John Leguizamo (as one of Wahlberg's fellow teachers and close friend) and Zooey Deschanel as Wahlberg's wife (who has her own secret). Betty Buckley gives a creepy performance as the mysterious Mrs. Jones, a woman who allows Wahlberg to stay overnight in her home. As usual with Shyamalan's movies not everything is answered or explained, but perhaps it shouldn't be. Probably not the best film by the writer/director, but a decent addition to his resume.

I've found that the consumption of alcohol while watching movies can make any film an enjoyable experience. :-)

Off to Alaska, but first...

Donna and I will be leaving for our cruise tomorrow, so I won't be posting for the next 12 days or more. If I blog at all it will be over at Parting Shots, but don't hold me to it.

As an update to my previous post, I caught the last episode of DUST TO DUST yesterday. It wraps up the series nicely, but leaves things open for even more sequels, should the folks at Ghost House chose to make some. Congrats to Steve Niles & Co. for creating a really scary universe.

Anyway, take care and enjoy the Labor Day weekend. If you hear of somebody going over the side of the Island Princess, don't even bother to look for me. I'll be heading to Barrow! ;-)

30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust (with spoilers)

I wasn’t tired the other night and decided to take a break from watching the Olympics. Nothing could be more different than to switch over to On Demand and see what FEARnet had to offer this month. Fortunately, they were broadcasting the first five installments of ’30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust’ (DtD).

If you caught FEARnet’s BLOOD TRAILS (BT), you’ll know that was a prequel to the film 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Chronologically, BT took place several weeks before the events in the film, while DtD is set a month or more after. BT set up the world in which 30 Days takes place and we learn that something is going to happen in Alaska. In the sequel, we learn that the general public has been led to believe that the town of Barrow, Alaska was destroyed in an accident that set fire to the town and killed all the residents.

Andrew Laurich is back as George Fowler, the junkie from ‘Blood Trails’, who accidentally learned of the vampire society's plans and possibly how they can be stopped. We were also introduced to a group dedicated to stopping them. George is now doing time for the murder of his girlfriend, who had become a vampire in the previous series. Apparently, some vampires are still after George for the code he has which would reveal many of their secrets. When the state decides to transfer him (in the middle of the night, naturally) his guards are attacked, along with a nurse who was administrating sedatives to George as he understandably resists the transfer. During the attack, George makes his escape and a manhunt begins. Meanwhile, the nurse Sara, who was not killed, begins to change as she had been scratched and thus infected by the vampiric virus.

Of course, things are never this simple, so it is revealed early on that Sara is the sister of former homicide detective, Nick Maguire. Nick confronts his former partner, Gina (played by the very, busy Shawnee Smith) who reminds him that he has no official authority in the investigation. Eventually, Nick finds George and together they try to find Sara, whom Nick believes he can still save.

I’m not going to give anything else away, not only because I don’t want to totally spoil the suspense, but because the series has not been completed as of this week so I don’t know what will eventually happen to all the characters.

If you enjoyed the first series, the feature film or the various '30 Days of Night' comics by Steve Niles and co-creator Ben Templesmith, on which the films were based, you will definitely want to go to FEARnet.com or the FEARnet channel (if your cable/satellite provider carries it) and catch this. I highly recommend both the online episodes and the film (if you haven’t seen it yet) for those who like this sort of thing. Count me in that group!

Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!: A serious note.

Mark Evanier posted a link to this essay and after reading it thought it would be worthwhile reading.

I remember from my early con going experiences that female attendees were generally girlfriends or wives who were being dragged around, or those few female professionals who worked in the industry. Often you wouldn't see more then a couple ladies, until it was time for the 'costume' contest when they would magically appear. The past couple of decades has seen an amazing increase in the number of women both reading and creating comics. I think this is a plus for all fans of comics and for the industry itself.

Sadly, I have also overheard, witnessed and been told stories which mirror those in the essay. I am in total agreement that this type of behavior (no matter where it occurs) should not be tolerated. I'm frankly surprised that the SDCC doesn't have an established policy on this sort of thing and think that the organizers might want to consider creating one.

Anyway, see what you think:
Bully Says: Comics Oughta Be Fun!: A serious note.

The Dark Knight- Joker Interrogation Scene Spoof

This is too funny!

Four Color Fiend: Let's spoil this!

Over the weekend, between watching the Olympics, I worked my way through a couple of week’s worth of comics. More than half were Marvel titles and most of those were SECRET INVASION tie-ins. I’m going to just quickly go over them, not really reviews, but just quick comments. I also read a few DC books and independent titles, which I’ll cover in the same manner. Oh, there will be….

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Secret Invasion: Frontline continues the story of the first day of the Skrull invasion in New York City and how it affected the lives of a half dozen people. We see the Skrulls and various super-heroes, but the focus here is how the average citizen reacts in such a situation. Of course, since it is the Marvel version of Manhattan, you’d think those folks would be used to this sort of thing. You won’t find answers to the major questions the main title brings up, but the writer Brian Reed and artist Marco Castiello do a good job.

Peter David has been among my Top Ten favorite comic writers for years. I haven’t liked everything he has written, but even Charles Dickens had off days. He is the current writer on both She-Hulk and X-Factor, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that given the natural crossovers taking place during the SI event that PAD would bring his characters into conflict. Currently, the X-Factor team is working as ‘mutant’ detectives, taking cases for private individuals and being forced to perform the same tasks by the U.S. government. Jennifer “She-Hulk” Walters is working as a bounty-hunter, along with her Skrull partner, Jazinda and naturally (or else it wouldn’t be a super-hero comic), Jennifer and various members of X-Factor end up fighting. I have to be honest and admit that I’ve never been a big fan of Larry Stroman’s art and in fact find many of the characters he draws in the X-FACTOR book (#33) ugly and misshapen. It’s almost jarring then to immediately pick up SHE-HULK (#31) and find the animation style work of Vincenzo Cucca. Wow, what a pleasant surprise! Both books are, of course, well written, but your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about the art in either.

I really don’t know where writer Dan Jurgens will eventually go with TANGENT: SUPERMAN’S REIGN, but he is doing a nice job so far of keeping my interest. About half the current Justice League, led by Batman, has gone to Tangent: Earth to rescue some of their members who have been captured by that world’s Superman. Having made himself the ruler of the planet, Superman feels that the ends will always justify the means when it comes to remaking the world in the way he sees fit. Reading the mind of Green Lantern John Stewart this Superman feels threatened by the hundreds of super-powered beings who exist on Earth One. Believing that his world would be threatened by ours Superman decides that he should strike first. The art by Jamal Igle with inker Robin Riggs is clean and keeps all the characters easily identifiable as the action heats up. As I said last time out, I have a bad feeling about the fate of Tangent’s Guy Gardner where he is a hacker picked up by what may or may not be the government, rather than holder of a green ring.

Final Crisis #3 may be the final issue in this series for me. I still have no real handle on where this is going and Grant Morrison makes no attempt at making things clear. Personally, the appearance of the bitchy Mary Marvel cuts any points I might have given the issue in half. The appearance of Barry Allen and the Atomic Knights on their giant Dalmatians doesn’t make up for it. J. G. Jones is a good artist and he certainly is doing a better than journeyman job on this book. Unfortunately, nice art and good dialogue do not make up for too many unanswered questions and the fact that I’m expected to buy several tie-in series in order to follow everything. While you could say some of that about SECRET INVASION, at least the Marvel folks are giving you a hand with a ‘what has gone before’ page in every issue. Check with me in a few weeks to see if I decided to give Morrison & Co. one more chance.

I finished off my pile with three books I have really been enjoying. First, you cannot go wrong with Stan Sakai’s USAGI YOJIMBO and #113 is a nice little done-in-one tale that brings an end to the partnership of Usagi & Gen. IDW continues to bring us two entertaining DOCTOR WHO books each month, one (DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC) featuring reprints of the tales of the Tom Baker Doctor and the other (DOCTOR WHO) stars the current incarnation of the Time Lord. Both are fun and recommended.

Finally, from BOOM! Studios we have ZOMBIE TALES: THE SERIES which is comprised of stand-alone and multi-part stories of survival. As in WALKING DEAD the world is coming to grips with an ever increasing horde of the undead. Whereas in WD the zombies are pretty much what you would assume zombies to be, in ZT the writers are given a free hand. Some stories actually have the zombies maintaining their intelligence and slowly rebuilding civilization, but on their terms. Namely, the ‘norms’ are corralled and raised as livestock for the undead citizens. In other stories, they are your typical Romero shufflers and pretty easy to dispatch if they don’t outnumber the living. The stories are a mix of straight horror, human interest and humorous or a mix. Writers such as Joe R. Lansdale and Steve Niles have appeared along with lesser known folks and a number of artists. To paraphrase something the late, Don Thompson used to say, if this is the kind of thing you like you will like it.

Finally, my San Diego pics

I just wanted to post some of the photos I took back in San Diego.
The guy dressed as The Joker was amazing, from the makeup to his laugh.

The vampire from 30 Days of Night actually scared the crap out of me, since I thought she/it was a statue, until I was about to touch her boot and she looked at me. D'oh!

The storm trooper and alien/Jedi (?) were part of the promotion for the new SW: Clone Wars movie.

That's Mike Nelson signing posters and photos while promoting RiffTrax and the MST3-K reunion on Saturday.

The lady behind the bar, whose name I forget, was serving up drinks and sarcasm at Dick's Last Resort. I had lunch and a brew there both Friday & Saturday. (Should I mention her Hello Kitty panties? Probably not.)

Various other photos are likely easy to figure out. On the other hand, the Kaiju/monster is from a strange show where folks dressed like that wrestle. I saw it once on YouTube, but can't recall anything else.

There are a few other photos, but these came out the best.

Four Color Fiend: More stuff from this week

Really quickly, having panned the S.I. tie-in for the latest issue of THUNDERBOLTS, I wanted to mention two other Marvel books worth the cover price.

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Both MIGHTY AVENGERS #16 and NEW AVENGERS #43 are also crossing over with the SECRET INVASION series.

In Mighty Avengers we have a flashback several months that shows how Elektra came to be captured by the Skrulls and replaced by one of their agents. Brian Michael Bendis writes this issue and is aided by the art of Khoi Pham with does a lot of nicely drawn silent, action panels that demonstrate just how formidable Elektra can be and why she was chosen by the Skrulls.

Over in New Avengers we get to see the Captain America who escaped from the crashed Skrull ship going up against some of the other heroes in the Savage Land. I don't want to give anything away, but Bendis again provides a lot of background and some incite into the Skrulls. Here he is aided by artist Billy Tan, who does a nice job with all the characters, both on the Skrull world and in the jungle scenes.

By the way, when did Shanna become so blood-thirsty? Wow!

Four-color Fiend: It was bound to happen

Since I've been sucked into the whole SECRET INVASION story at Marvel I have picked up just about every issue of any title that seemed to be tied into SI. I have to admit that I have been happily surprised to find that I enjoyed every issue I read. Oh, sure there were some that stood out from the others and might be titles I continue to purchase after the last Skrull has been revealed.

Still I guess it was inevitable that I would finally come upon a book that I didn't particularly like.

Unfortunately, it just happened to be THUNDERBOLTS #122, one of the last Marvel titles I was still buying before I dropped comics completely for a while. Created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley, the team was comprised of Marvel villains under the leadership of Baron Zemo, who pretended to be heroes in order to secretly gain power. As things went along, some of the members (now working under different code names) actually began to believe they could be like the heroes they formerly fought. While not entirely original, the book under Busiek was interesting and well written. He and Bagley turned a group of second & third-string baddies into characters we cared about. When the writing chores were turned over to Fabian Nicieza he continued to put the characters through changes, including bringing in former Avenger (and also one-time villain) Hawkeye to lead the team. An ill advised change in the book (keeping the title but making it about super-powered wrestlers) didn't last long and Niceiza returned with the NEW THUNDERBOLTS, making the book again something worth reading.

I haven't picked up an issue of the title in the past year, since starting to read comics again, but have read reviews (or rather pans) of what has been going on in the title during this time. Instead of trusting far wiser reviewers that the book wasn't very good I decided to take a chance. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...wrong!

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This issue of T-bolts is listed as a SECRET INVASION tie-in, but unless you really pay attention to a couple of panels (always the check the eye color of characters in the SI books) you'll not understand why. Of course, the appearance of Captain Marvel (or rather the Skrull who thinks he is CM) in the last few pages might count if you know his back story.

Basically, you have an unlikable group of characters only two of which, as far as I can tell, were part of the old T-bolt team with which I was familiar. The team is managed/lead by Norman Osborne (sociopath, abusive father and murderer) who was formerly the Green Goblin, members include original team member Moonstone (manipulative, uba-b*tch and possibly a murderess), Venom (human encased in the symbiote costume formerly worn by Spider-Man and a multiple murderer & cannibal), Radioactive Man (not the cool Bongo Comic character, but a third-string Thor villain, created by the 'Red' Chinese government back in those good ol' Cold War era), Swordsman (who assumed the name of a one time villain, later Avenger and is apparently the son of Baron Strucker an old time Sgt. Fury villain and former Nazi; this guy appears to have an odd relationship with his late sister who he hoped to have cloned and who seemingly shows up during the issue {again note her eyes}), Penance (formerly the Steve Ditko hero called Speedball, who feels responsible for a the destruction of a city and the death of thousands of civilians, which more or less led to the events of "Civil War"), and finally, Songbird (also an original T-bolt, former villain and the only non-murderer as far as I can tell). Except for this last character, I couldn't find a single T-bolt likable and frankly all she does this issue is complain and confront Moonstone over who runs the T-bolts when they are in action.

Blah! Unrepentant characters, half of which should be serving time in prison, if not sentenced to death for their deeds. This is what the U.S. government with aide by fascist d*ckhead Tony Stark has brought together to confront actual heroes who have not registered.

Buying this was a mistake that I'm not going to make again.

(Thanks to Wikipedia, with link in the headline for giving me a lot of this information)

Remote Viewing: DOCTOR WHO season finale (No Spoilers)

Having caught the pen-ultimate episode of DOCTOR WHO a week ago, I set the DVR to make sure that I didn’t miss the season finale. I mean considering the cliff-hanger I had to find out if we were going to see..well, I better not say!

I don’t want to give anything away, but the show wrapped up quite a bit in that extra-length episode and set things up for possible future stories. We had a mix of both happy and sad endings, with several of the Doctor’s former companions returning home or going off on their own. We may also have seen the last of one of the Time Lord’s most persistent enemies (but I personally doubt it). Both these episodes were a delight for old and new fans, as they put the spotlight on each of the companions, giving each several nice scenes individually and with the Doctor. I’m not going to confuse you or spoil anything by telling you who they may have been.

David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor (not of course counting Peter Cushing, who portrayed him in two films, essentially adaptations of stories from the series), has become one of my favorites. He’s certainly the most flirtatious, and as the last Time Lord possibly the most driven. Given the events of this last episode and things revealed about his character, it will be interesting to see where the Doctor goes next and who his next companion may be.

I know the official BBC site probably gives away some of the events of next season, so I purposely kept away. On the other hand, I wasn’t as familiar with some of the companions as I was with others, so I cheated by peeking at the Wikipedia entries on several.

Now, I can’t wait for the next season to see what space & time hold in store for the Doctor and whomever he invites into the TARDIS.