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. :-)