Another Damn Comic Blog

State of the Blog 2009, Ramble Edition

2009-08-12T20:37:00.004-06:00

At this point it's been approximately twenty-one days since my previous post, which in turn was merely a mention of the four months that had lapsed between the post before that (which, in turn, was hardly a post at all, the latest in a series of what could only be considered glorified tweets).

I am still intent on getting this page, shadow of a real blog though it may be, back on track (or as close to on track as it ever really was) very soon. I have some posts and some ideas for posts and some thoughts on ideas for posts percolating. I am, however, moving on Monday and am the best man at a friend's wedding in the days just before that (and then starting college again almost right after the move and oh yeah, my birthday falls in there somewhere), so I don't know if there'll be any kind of real, honest to goodness content (was there ever?) before next week.

A lot of my ideas don't necessarily have much to do with comics though, and I think once I start writing again it will be a more of a hub of all-purpose nerdiness with some room for general tomfoolery on my part, so I'm thinking about, I dunno, changing the name or something to reflect that.

Anyway, in the meantime, I've started doing that twitter thing that all of the kids are fussing about, so I'm messing around with that (follow me @mrliparota if you're so inclined).

The last entry...

2009-07-22T22:02:00.001-06:00

...was approximately four months and eleven days ago.

Obviously, this blog has fallen into a state of disrepair.

I'm hoping to change that.

Aw yeah.

2009-03-11T00:15:00.002-06:00

SO THERE.

Image and totally rad announcement courtesy IGN.com.

Wild Theory Corner (Spoilers)

2009-01-17T13:45:00.005-06:00

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace will, somehow, be revealed as the offspring of "special" Cylons Saul and Ellen Tigh, making her a Cylon by loophole (but not technically one of the Twelve).

This explains her mysterious death and rebirth (and subsequent discovery of her own charred corpse). Additionally, it serves as a sort of "genetic" explanation as to why her personality is a strange offspring of Saul and Ellen.

Or: Starbuck is a younger model of the "Ellen" line of Cylons.

You heard it here first!

1989 - 2007

2009-01-06T18:39:00.007-06:00

Just posted over at Kotaku:

What began as a rumour last month has now escalated into full-blown fact; Ziff Davis have officially sold the 1UP network to competitors Hearst, owners of UGO.com.
Hearst - who more importantly own many of the nation's biggest newspapers along with ownership stakes in ESPN and the History Channel - will however only be taking ownership of the network's online presence.

Which means long-running print magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly won't be along for the ride. This will be the last month the magazine is published, bringing to an end nearly two decades of independent, influential games editorial.

I can't even say how much this bums me out. EGM has always been my favorite gaming publication for one reason or another; when I was younger I liked that it managed to walk a line between "professionalism" and "sophomoric," especially considering that most gaming mags at the time were going for either one or the other (usually the latter). In recent years, especially as my interest in journalism has grown, I'd come to admire them as a source of integrity within the industry.

Which, I think, is the main reason I'm so sad to hear this news. Publishers trying to influence review scores with either veiled threats ("Give Barbie Magic Fun Time an 8 or higher or we pull the ads for all of our games") or flat-out bribery ("Hey, want a free flight to New York City and a stay in an upscale hotel for a few days so you can try out our newest title?") is one of those things that is way too common in the industry but nobody every really talks about - but EGM was different. Editorial policies were put into place that worked to circumvent such back-alley dealings; review scores were changed from numeric to academic, writers previewed games in the magazine's home office whenever possible, and publisher gifts and freebies were refused. In an industry that is often seen as immature and illegitimate, EGM worked hard to show that integrity in journalism means integrity in journalism, whether you're covering a government scandal or Metal Gear Solid 4.

So long, Electronic Gaming Monthly. You will be sorely, sorely missed.

Sushi X for life.

-M

Yes we can.

2008-11-04T17:46:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone got out there and did their part today.

My candidate of choice*:

Change we can believe in.

-M

*At least, that's what they tell me.

Thought of the Day - 9/29/2008

2008-09-30T01:09:00.001-06:00

I wonder how long it will be until Heroes reveals that, in fact, every character of any consequence is actually in some way related to the Petrellis, revealing Tim Kring's intent on creating a sort of super-powered version of Dynasty.

-M

Adventures in Video Game Retail, Part Two (In a Series)

2008-09-25T00:37:00.002-06:00

You know, I recently got promoted at GameStop. You'd think that this would get me more of these stories more often, but surprisingly I've mostly been dealing with relatively normal people (or, at least, weird people who don't really do anything of note).

This one isn't quite as amusing (or appalling) as the last one, but I got a good bit of bemusement out of it. This fella, let's just call him Guy, comes in on September 20 and trades in some Xbox accessory. After he takes his cash he wanders around the store a bit, asking questions here and there. At one point he comes to the counter and the following ensued. Keep in mind that Guy is at least 25 and may or may not have been cracked out of his mind (and also, that this is verbatim):

Guy: So, uh, when does Fable II come out?
Matt: October 21 [Insert mild banter about how ridiculously excited Matt is for the game]
Guy: Uh, how long from now is that?
Matt: [Bewildered stare] Uhm...just about a month, at this point.
Guy: Huh. Cool.
[Exit Guy.]

I just don't get people sometimes.

-M

RickRoll'd!

2008-09-11T22:20:00.004-06:00

Some of you may have heard of Spore, a new video game from The Sims creator Will Wright. Spore takes the micro-management of The Sims and expands it to an evolutionary level - the game allows one to manage the evolution of a creature from the single-celled organism to the complex animal, giving the player the ability to customize everything along the way (creatures, buildings, spaceships) and share them with other players.

Naturally, a game featuring evolution in such a way was sure to raise issues with the creationist crowd, and soon after AntiSpore.com sprouted up. The blog (which touts the tagline "Resisting EA's attack on Creationism") attacked Spore for its attempt to assault Christian values and brainwash kids into believing in evolution.

Then came today's post. An excerpt:

...People of science claim that the Earth is the way it is because of millions of years of time and science effecting it. But we are taught and believe that our world is this way and has the aged look because of the flood of Noah. It was the waters covering the Earth on such a grand scale that caused the aging that people of science claim as proof.

But in the Bible we are told in Genesis 6:7 “So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth–men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air–for I am grieved that I have made them.””

But the Bible teaches us that God was not done with man. For we were His creation and He then spoke to Noah in Genesis 8:21-27 after the flood.
“21. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never gonna give you up. 22. “Never gonna let you down.” 23.”Never gonna run around and desert you.” 24. “Never gonna make you cry.” 25. “Never gonna say goodbye.” 26. “Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.” 27.”Never truly believe anything you read on the Internet. There will always be cases of Poe’s Law.”

By the by, Poe's Law basically that it's difficult to tell fake fundamentalism from real fundamentalism since they sound equally ridiculous.

The best Rick Roll of all time?

Hell yes.

-M

I would have laughed, if I could have remembered how...

2008-09-03T00:32:00.003-06:00

Caught this during the season premiere of The Shield earlier tonight (review for that upcoming, by the way):

Color me skeptical. I was a huge fan of both of the games when they hit on the PC. On the whole the trailer seems to capture the feel of the games (Mila Kunis aside), although I am curious to know if it will stick to the original game's entire story - what with all the secret corporate espionage and what-not - or if it will stay closer to the game's first third, which is more of a hard-boiled cop yarn.

And seriously, what's with those demon things?

-M

Biting social commentary.

2008-09-02T10:39:00.002-06:00

This has been circulating the interwebs for a while now, but I'm bored and I just had the internet restored at home, so there you go.

P. Diddy complains about high gas prices:

Diddy's gotten some flack about this video, but for real? It's obviously just some brilliant social satire, commentary meant to shock us out of our complacency. "You know what?" We're supposed to think. "Gas prices ARE too high." Diddy's "private jet" is symbolic of our SUV's, which we've sadly had to forego for smaller, more dangerous sedans.

Whoever the next President is, he's GOT to do something about this.

-M

I'm upset that this is even necessary.

2008-08-14T23:11:00.006-06:00

I've been a big fan of Bully for almost as long as I've been blogging. Normally it's a good, fun read; a good, light-hearted shot in the morning. This, however, is a little different.

John and Bully recently took a trip out to Comic-Con, and they came back with some unnerving stories, which are recounted here. Some other bloggers have reposted the entry in hopes of spreading the word, and I've decided to do the same:

Overheard at San Diego Comic-Con while I was having lunch on the balcony of the Convention Center on Sunday July 27: a bunch of guys looking at the digital photos on the camera of another, while he narrated: "These were the Ghostbusters girls. That one, I grabbed her ass, 'cause I wanted to see what her reaction was." This was only one example of several instances of harassment, stalking or assault that I saw at San Diego this time.

1. One of my friends was working at a con booth selling books. She was stalked by a man who came to her booth several times, pestering her to get together for a date that night. One of her co-workers chased him off the final time.

2. On Friday, just before the show closed, this same woman was closing up her tables when a group of four men came to her booth, started taking photographs of her, telling her she was the "prettiest girl at the con." They they entered the booth, started hugging and kissing her and taking photographs of themselves doing so. She was confused and scared, but they left quickly after doing that.

3. Another friend of mine, a woman running her own booth: on Friday a man came to her booth and openly criticized her drawing ability and sense of design. Reports from others in the same section of the floor confirmed he'd targeted several women with the same sort of abuse and criticism.

Quite simply, this behavior has got to stop at Comic-Con. It should never be a sort of place where anyone, man or woman, feels unsafe or attacked either verbally or physically in any shape or form. There are those, sadly, who get off on this sort of behavior and assault, whether it's to professional booth models, cosplayers or costumed women, or women who are just there to work. This is not acceptable behavior under any circumstance, no matter what you look like or how you're dressed, whether you are in a Princess Leia slave girl outfit or business casual for running your booth.

On Saturday, the day after the second event I described above, I pulled out my convention book to investigate what you can do and who you can speak to after such an occurrence. On page two of the book there is a large grey box outlining "Convention Policies," which contain rules against smoking, live animals, wheeled handcarts, recording at video presentations, drawing or aiming your replica weapon, and giving your badge to others. There is nothing about attendee-to-attendee personal behavior.

Page three of the book contains a "Where Is It?" guide to specific Comic-Con events and services. There's no general information room or desk listed, nor is there a contact location for security, so I go to the Guest Relations Desk. I speak to a volunteer manning the desk; she's sympathetic to the situation but who doesn't have a clear answer to my question: "What's Comic-Con's policy and method of dealing with complaints about harassment?" She directs me to the nearest security guard, who is also sympathetic listening to my reports, but short of the women wanting to report the incidents with the names of their harassers, there's little that can be done.

"I understand that," I tell them both, "but what I'm asking is more hypothetical and informational: if there is a set Comic-Con policy on harassment and physical and verbal abuse on Con attendees and exhibitors, and if so, what's the specific procedure by which someone should report it, and specifically where should they go?" But this wasn't a question either could answer.

So, according to published con policy, there is no tolerance for smoking, drawn weapons, personal pages or selling bootleg videos on the floor, and these rules are written down in black and white in the con booklet. There is not a word in the written rules about harassment or the like. I would like to see something like "Comic-Con has zero tolerance for harassment or violence against any of our attendees or exhibitors. Please report instances to a security guard or the Con Office in room XXX."

The first step to preventing such harassment is giving its victims the knowledge that they can safely and swiftly report such instances to someone in authority. Having no published guideline, and indeed being unable to give a clear answer to questions about it, gives harassment and violence one more rep-tape loophole to hide behind.

I enjoyed Comic-Con. I'm looking forward to coming back next year. So, in fact, are the two women whose experiences I've retold above. Aside from those instances, they had a good time at the show. But those instances of harassment shouldn't have happened at all, and that they did under no clear-cut instructions about what to do sadly invites the continuation of such behavior, or even worse.

I don't understand why there's no such written policy about what is not tolerated and what to do when this happens. Is there anyone at Comic-Con able to explain this? Does a similar written policy exist in the booklets for other conventions (SF, comics or otherwise) that could be used as a model? Can it be adapted or adapted, and enforced, for Comic-Con? As the leading event of the comics and pop culture world, Comic-Con should work to make everyone who attends feel comfortable and safe.

It seems a little silly that something as massive and (increasingly) mainstream as Comic-Con wouldn't have any sort of established policy, and it's upsetting that it doesn't. I can only assume that, as a comic book convention, whoever's in charge assumes that it's a primarily male customer base and therefore a sexual harassment policy is unnecessary. Weak justification or blind ignorance, it's unacceptable.

I'm an optimist by nature; I like to think that we as a fandom - hell, we as a society, we as a species - have come far enough over the last fifty some-odd years that most people understand that this is not okay by any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately though, I read enough stories like this and deal with enough guys like the ones John talks about at work to know that many who share our interests still lack this fundamental, basic knowledge.

Hopefully this gets the word out, if only just a little bit more.

-M

Fearful Symmetry

2008-07-18T02:23:00.004-06:00

So, The Dark Knight was pretty sweet.

I'm not really going to get into that right now, though - hopefully in the next couple of days.

No, I'm here tonight because attached to the flick was the first real trailer for Zak Snyder's adaptation of Watchmen, due out next year.

Certainly I share the collective caution of anyone who has actually read Alan Moore's opus and there are definitely some things here that don't help (Nite Owl looks too much like a hardcore Batman clone and not enough like the pudgy, broken man as portrayed in the book, for one), but this footage definitely shows some promise. If anything, this thing might actually turn out to be watchable, at least a little bit.

But I'm not holding my breath, honestly...

-M

P.S.100th post! It only took me what, a year and a half?

Flashback

2008-07-08T11:57:00.006-06:00

A Flash-related conversation that apparently happened at Wizard World Chicago, courtesy of Engblom:

Didio followed up, "Which Flash would you talk about?" Van Sciver shot back, "Why not all of them?"Didio pretended to be incredulous: "In the same book?" Van Sciver drove it home with, "Why not?"

This certainly doesn't mean anything necessarily, but it got me thinking about how cool it would be to see a Flash book that focused not just on a singular hero, but the entire legacy - a sort of "Team Flash" monthly, with all of the speedsters starring - sometimes working alone, and sometimes teaming up together to work on cases or take on larger threats. Jay Garrick is the patriarch, Barry Allen is the experienced legend, Wally West is the everyman (or family man, depending on how much exposure you want to give Iris and the super-twins). Hell, you could even find a way to bring back Bart at his "real" age and include him as Kid Flash (which would mean that Bart could also show up in Teen Titans, thus rectifying the overall dismantling of Johns' Titans, one of my least favorite results of Infinite Crisis).

Something like this, I could definitely get behind. The Flash is definitely one of my favorite heroes of the DCU - a good look, a unique spin (the legacy and the speed), and each individual Flash brings something different to the table.

It may never happen, or maybe it'll be the first big book to launch after Final Crisis, but either way it's kind of a cool thought and I'm imagining how I would write it.

What about you guys? Yes, no? If you were writing a "Team Flash"-style book, how would you handle it?

-M

Back!

2008-07-08T11:55:00.001-06:00

Back from Cornerstone. I had a great time overall, as I always do. I may post more about it at some point, or I may not. I haven't decided yet.

Either way, "regular" content will resume shortly.

-M

Scientific Progress Goes Boink

2008-07-01T19:37:00.003-06:00

Looks like I'm breaking the hiatus a little early.

I just wanted to share this, which I just stumbled upon - Friday's edition of PvP.

I've intended on writing a big, juicy love-letter to Scott Kurtz' daily dose of awesome since I started the blog, but I've yet to get around to it. This will have to do for now.

I just had to share this because I absolutely adore Calvin and Hobbes, and I have since I was a kid. Kurtz loves it too, and this is a cute little homage.

Go check it out. If you've never read PvP before, you should. It's one of the better webcomics out there.

Okay, for real now - hiatus.

-M

Hiatus

2008-07-01T14:11:00.003-06:00

I'm outta here, guys.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking off for Bushnell, IL for my yearly retreat to the Cornerstone Music Festival, so more than likely there'll be nothing coming from this neck of the woods until sometime next week.

See you then!

-M

April 21, 1971 - June 27, 2008

2008-06-30T16:14:00.003-06:00

Kind of a kick in the teeth, isn't it?

As most of you have surely read at this point, superstar comic book artist Michael Turner passed away at the age of 37 this past Friday.

It's always a little unnerving when something like this happens - surely we're surrounded by death every day, but when it comes to one who is so well-known, even in a relatively niche community as this, it hits a little bit closer to home.

I won't do the man a disservice by pretending that I was any big fan of his work, but I know that the man had his fans and more importantly, family and friends who cared deeply for him, and I offer my condolences.

...and that's all there really is to say, isn't there?

-M

In which I change the name of the site to "TMZ-Lite"

2008-06-15T22:36:00.005-06:00

Did you guys hear about this?

Sudden superstar Katherine Heigl has a tendency, it seems, to run at the mouth a little bit. Usually I'm quick to defend her, perhaps because I like (well, not so much like as "don't hate") her as an actress and she's so gosh darn purty.

But I'm not so sure about this one, guys. Read for yourself:

I am truly grateful for the honor that the Academy bestowed upon me last year. I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the Academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.

A little bit unbelievable, no? It seems a little incredulous to start blasting the very people who a.) have helped make you and your show (Grey's Anatomy for anyone not in the know) such hits, b.) have just gotten back to work after an industry-crippling strike, and c.) fired that one guy for far, far less.

I guess I have to respect her a little bit for being totally up-front about how she feels, but for real, yo -if she wanted out so badly, she could've just asked.

-M

Jesus hates sports

2008-06-05T23:40:00.004-06:00

Just something quick before I go to sleep.

Stumbled across this over at Matthew Paul Turner's blog, from which it was subsequently stolen by me:

Seriously, like, as someone who has been surrounded by the church since high school, I know why most of those are up there...

...but sports fans? That's one that I just don't get.

This sign reminds me of last year's Cornerstone. Every year a bunch of folks from a local Baptist church stand outside and protest the (Christian) rock festival. They've got crazy signs just like these and pretty much just scream at festival-goers - most of whom are trying to talk civilly to them.

Sigh.

-M

The candy man can

2008-06-03T09:46:00.001-06:00

And now, for your viewing pleasure, one of my all-time favorite moments from Scrubs:

-M

Let's do the timewarp

2008-06-02T22:47:00.003-06:00

From last night's MTV Movie Awards, and only about a decade too late:

The moment in which Mike Myers first mentions Tila Tequila and the entire audience cheers makes me want to kill myself.

Also, this makes me ponder again precisely how many movies these days are created to succeed based solely upon their nostalgia factor.

-M

Adventures in Video Game Retail, Part One (In a Series)

2008-06-02T12:22:00.004-06:00

You meet some weird people working at a video game store.

I've no doubt that this is true of almost any job, especially retail in a specialty store. Occasionally one of those people who can only be described as "fanatic" about whatever product you specialize in will wander in and it's Weird City from there on out.

This isn't really one of those stories.

So I've been working at EB Games for a while, (a little under a year, actually) and we get weird customers on a fairly regular basis. This guy takes the cake. I think his name is Leif and he comes in from time to time and I've never been particularly fond of the fellow (he's pretty much an ignorant, overly-pushy ass).

Some background: Leif is a raging douchebag who insists that the only decent video game genre is first-person shooter (and even then only if it has online play), the only console worth a damn is the PlayStation 3 and the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company is going to be the greatest video game in the history of video games (because it has lots of guns and explosions, of course).

Anyway, Leif comes in and the usual banter begins (for the purposes of this story, Leif will be henceforth be known as Douche-Man):

Douche-Man: GIVE ME BAD COMPANY.
Matt: That's not out yet, man. Late June.
DM: Can I get one now?
M: Er...well, we won't have them for a few weeks.
-Insert more banter about what a badass game Bad Company is going to be and how it's going to beat Call of Duty 4 in every way imaginable, as well as mild banter about the PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. This banter is amusing in it's own right, but for the purposes of this dramatic retelling, it has been omitted.-
DM: Man, I need more money. Not just for games, but for all kinds of shit.
M: Ha, yeah, if you were rich you'd buy us all games, right?
DM:...well, if I were rich I'd be too busy to play games.
-Douche-Man looks at Matt as if he should know what that means-
DM: I mean, I'd have other things to buy.
M: -blank stare-
DM: Things you can't get in this country.
M:...er...like in Amsterdam?
DM: No.
M: -blank stare-
DM: Did you know that in other countries you can buy women? Hot women?
M: You can do that here, you know. It's illegal, but...
DM: No no no, not like to rent.
M: -Deeply horrified by his choice of wording-
DM: I mean like to keep.
M: I'm fairly certain that's called slavery.
DM: Yeah, here it is.
M: ...
DM: Did you know that in other countries, like in the United Arab Emerates and Israel, you can just buy women like you would buy anything else?
M: ...so, uh, did you want to pre-order Bad Company or what?
DM: Nah, I've already got it pre-ordered. I'll see you guys later.
-Exit Douche-Man-

Um...WHAT.

-M

Well then.

2008-06-02T10:25:00.005-06:00

Wow.

What's that, like two months? (Actually, it's been exactly two months.)

I guess I don't really have an excuse. School and overall life issues got in the way for a little while, and there's also the fact that I'm not really keeping up with comics these days for lack of funds, save for a few books here and there (and I certainly could care less about Secret Invasion and Final Crisis).

I've considered it a bit over the last couple of months, and it occurs to me that this blog hasn't really become what I set out for it to be, and it's been over a year. So something needs to be done.

I'm not quitting, just changing gears. From here on out, I think I'm going to focus less on comics and more on entertainment as a whole - TV, movies, video games, etcetera - and of course, comics when I have something to say about them. The problem is recently I don't and that leads to some big fat dry spells around here.

So there it is. With the overall "it's gotta be about COMICS!" stigma out of my head (I'm not changing the name of the blog, at least not now) I should hopefully get around to posting more frequently and more substantially.

If there are any of you still around, I appreciate it. Be back soon, hopefully.

-M

This one's for you, Tom

2008-04-01T22:18:00.005-06:00

Not a trick! Not a joke!

From TVShowsonDVD.com:

Warner Bros. has just announced the complete first season of Freakazoid!, the 1995 animated series starring Paul Rugg as the D.C. defender, Freakazoid. The 2-disc set includes 14 episodes, and sells for a suggested price of $26.99...suprisngly little information is included on the title, but we know the second side of disc 2 will include some bonus material; an all-new documentary "The Original Freak," "Freakazoid-less Archival Promos," and commentaries on 3 episodes! The set is coming on July 29th, the same date as Tiny Toons Adventures.

Feel free to freak out.

-M

A new challendger approaches

2008-03-09T14:21:00.002-06:00

Warning: posts on Another Damn Comic Blog may become more erratic and rare than normal over the next week or so (if that is indeed possible).

That is all.

-M

Smallville is lame

2008-02-28T19:28:00.004-06:00

You know, Smallville has never really been a good show. Since the day it premiered, it's been poorly written and poorly acted.

But at one time, there was something about Smallville that made it seem better than it was. There was this sense of destiny, that it was building towards something..what it was building towards we all knew, but it was still interesting to see how it got there.

But right now, I'm sitting here, waiting for Lost, and in the meantime watching a newer episode of Smallville (Blue, if anyone was interested), and I...I just can't even enjoy it anymore. It's not even that interesting.

The show seems, to me, to be a shadow of its former self. Each episode is still chock-full of talk about destiny and whatnot, but it all seems like lip-service. It doesn't feel as if the show is moving towards anything, stagnating. And this shines a spotlight on the poor quality of the show, making it more obvious than it was in previous years. What's worse is the increasingly prevalent reliance on gimmick episodes since Season 4's uber-popular Run - primarily using other DC heroes as guest stars (most of whom, by the way, have it a lot more together than Clark, which makes the future-Superman look a hell of a lot less super).

So when did this happen? If you ask me, it was Season 5. Season 5 seemed to be moving strongly toward a resolution, toward Clark achieving his ultimate destiny. Clark discovers the Fortress of Solitude; he experiences the loss of his father and the degradation of his friendship with Lex; the writers took great pains to put the (then) final nails in the coffin of the Clark/Lana pairing.

My understanding is that this was originally intended to be the final season - but a surge in ratings encouraged the show to overstay it's welcome. And it has - dreadfully so, and it becomes more apparent with each passing episode, each passing season.

Smallville used to be a show that I couldn't miss. Now, I can't help but go out of my way to miss it. There's nothing in it that interests me anymore, and it has tainted my enjoyment of older episodes to the point that I don't even like those anymore, either.

And that's a damned shame.

-M

Thought/Question of the day - 2/20/08

2008-02-20T19:57:00.004-06:00

Is it strange that I am intensely annoyed whenever a citizen of the Marvel universe refers to the events of a specific "big event" mini-series as the title of said mini-series?

For example, whenever someone refers to the events of House of M as "House of M," the events of Civil War as "the Civil War," or the events of World War Hulk as "World War Hulk," it bugs the hell out of me.

And I know it's just going to happen again a year from now, when every Marvel hero is talking about how devestating the "secret invasion" was.

-M

I'm not reading it, but I can't stop writing about it

2008-02-17T23:14:00.003-06:00

I haven't been reading Amazing Spider-Man since the end of "One More Day," but I've been sort of keeping tabs on it since the reboot.

I read Dan Slott's opening arc (which was pretty good, but nothing that couldn't have been done with Mary Jane) in which Dexter Bennet purchases the Daily Bugle and later renames it "The DB."

As an aspiring newspaper man, this kind of interests me. I think it would be kind of cool to see the Daily Bugle staff (particularly Jonah) dealing with the fact that newspapers have had to become sleeker and more design-dependent since the dawn of the internet in order to keep people buying, often using the printed edition and the website as compliments to each other. Maybe it's just my inner-nerdiness, but I think it would be interesting to see Robbie Robertson and J. Jonah Jameson - surely two old-school journalists - dealing with growing pains, having to watch as a couple of hotshots right out of college come in and completely redesign their template because the one they're using is outdated. Naturally this isn't something I wouldn't want to see an entire major plot devoted to, but I think I would probably get a kick out of a recurring subplot of some kind.

This is something that's always been a nitpick with me, at least in recent years. As I've become more involved and knowledgeable about the design of a newspaper and the amount of effort and thought that goes into creating an eye-catching page one, I often find myself critiquing such pages within my fiction of choice, whether that be television, comics, or movies. Oftentimes I will vocalize this if someone I know is with me, usually causing them to either roll their eyes and ignore me or remind me that it is, in fact, fictional and used merely to forward the plot in some way. I know this, but I can't help it.

...

Why yes, I am working on the college newspaper this weekend. Why do you ask?

-M

Get thee behind me, Mephisto

2008-02-06T13:53:00.000-06:00

Marvel keeps trying to lure me back to Amazing Spider-Man. Dan Slott, John Romita, Jr....and now, Barry Kitson.

If I weren't so opposed to "Brand New Day" on principle, this...

...is almost enough to keep me from sticking to my guns. You ask me, that Spider-Man is fantastic.

Hm...nice move, Marvel. You may have convinced me to give in enough to pick up his one-off issue, but I haven't caved yet.

-M

Just because

2008-01-27T23:11:00.000-06:00

Discovered thanks to The Daily P.O.P., I present to you this -

And for comparison, the original -

Because we could all use a good chuckle right about now.

-M

BONUS! I've also stumbled upon this, the same as above but for Tim Burton's original 1989 Batman film. Not nearly as amusing, but interesting nonetheless.

Sweet justice

2008-01-09T17:13:00.000-06:00

According to CBR:

Is there trouble at the Hall of Justice? A report at IESB says so. Their Robert Sanchez wrote, "'Justice League' is indeed in danger of not starting production on time and maybe even getting scrapped altogether' is what a studio source told the IESB last week. 'The concerns are that the script is not ready to go in front of cameras, and also that the budget is getting a bit out of control, the WGA strike has proven to be Kryptonite to Superman and friends ... The cast for 'Justice League' is mediocre, the execs know it's mediocre, it's going to go down to wire on this one, this movie cold be huge but right now it's plagued with a couple of big issues and the WGA strike isn't making things easier."

Please, allow me to be the first to say:

Thank God.

-M

Do I dare to dream again?

2007-12-24T14:52:00.000-06:00

Season six of 24 burned me. It burned me bad. As the writers shoved more and more mediocrity in front of the camera as the season progressed, there were times when I was positive that at any given moment, I would be fed up with one of my favorite shows for good.

But I'll be damned if this doesn't get me giddy with anticipation:

Sure, with the WGA strike, the premiere of this episode could easily be a year or more away, but the mere thought of 24 being good again gets me all a-twitter.

Everything I've seen of Season 7 thus far looks promising. After seeing the wreckage that Season 6 caused, the writers have apparently razed the ground and started rebuilding brick by brick. Gone is CTU - once a staple of the series, but recently it had become a burden on the show and the boring office politics/romance subplots made that painstakingly obvious.

I am also excited about the return of Tony Almeida. His unceremonious death was one of the few things completely wrong with Season 5. Certainly there'll need to be a little bit of tap-dancing to explain why the guy's not six feet under, but in my opinion it's far easier to explain than a resurrection of, say, David Palmer.

I am hoping - nay, praying - that everyone involved can pull this off. If not, I fear it may spell the end of Jack Bauer's adventures for good.

-M

Not-so-random thought of the day - 12/12/2007

2007-12-12T22:30:00.001-06:00

Spoilers.

I think the thing that I love most about Hot Fuzz is not the wonderful cinematography or the great spoof of action flicks at the end.

No, my favorite part of Hot Fuzz is the "big reveal" scene - in which the protagonist, obsessed with murders taking place within his small burb, exposes an elaborate, cunning plan on the part of the town's prominent citizens - only to have them reveal that the plan is in no way, shape, or form, elaborate in the slightest.

-M

An endorsement

2007-12-03T23:24:00.000-06:00

For a long time now, Spidey Kicks Butt has been serving up insightful, well-thought-out commentary on Marvel's flagship character. Every time I read one of J.R. Fettinger's articles - which have covered a variety of aspects of Spidey's existence, from romance to villains and everything in-between - I am blown away by the fact that he writes not just the best serious comic book commentary I've ever read, but some of the best literary commentary I've ever read, period.

So why do I bring this up? Well, for one thing, I finished reading a three-part series that the man wrote, entitled "Why Did It Have to Be You, Mary Jane?" There, Fettinger deftly discusses his reasoning behind why the Peter/MJ pairing makes sense, has always made sense, and how it could've been done better. On Quesada's constant insistence that Peter's marriage to Mary Jane ruins his "loser" status, he writes:

Peter's appeal was not that he was a loser (although his hard times was a big factor in his popularity), but that he was ordinary. As Spider-Man he could kick Doc Ock's butt and save the world, but none of that helped him as Peter Parker. He still had to fight for the respect of his peers, scrap to pay his bills, and survive the day to day indignities that life throws everyone's way. He wasn't a rich playboy like Bruce Wayne, he was a working class hero. It wasn't that he would be crushed on a daily basis by catastrophe after catastrophe, such as friends and family dying all the time, or losing his home, etc., but that he would be accosted here and there by those irritants that frequently plague ALL of us. And none of that had to change when he got married.

It's great stuff, and there's a goldmine of information there for any Spidey fan - not just on MJ, either. Fettinger has written series on Venom, the Green Goblin, and Hobgoblin, among others.

Each article is pretty lengthy, but if you've got the time, they're absolutely worth the trouble. I give the site my highest recommendation (for what it's worth).

Happy hunting.

-M

Another open letter to Frank Miller

2007-11-29T23:36:00.000-06:00

Sorry, dude.

Carry on.

-M

Choose your own caption

2007-11-29T22:14:00.000-06:00

SPOILERS AHOY for the latest (and final!) issue of Sensational Spider-Man:

A few caption ideas popped into my head upon seeing this, so I thought I would let you, the reader, decide which one you favored - or heck, even to come up with some of your own!

a.) Mephisto is a petty, petty bitch.

b-1.) No longer satisfied with collecting the souls of the dead, Mephisto decides he'd be better served as a divorce attorney.

b-2.) I would read and/or write a series called Mephisto: Divorce Lawyer from Hell.

c.) There'd better be a damned good explanation for this one, Joe Quesada.

That's all I've got, for now. Surely you, my fellow bloggers, are far cleverer than I - got any good ones? Leave them in the comments or post them on your own sites!

-M

Joke's on you

2007-11-28T00:26:00.000-06:00

As part of its viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. intended to release the first official image of Heath Ledger as the Joker piece by piece - that is, until someone went and spoiled it.

While Batman Begins certainly wasn't perfect (despite being the second-best Batman flick) and I don't expect it's successor to be either, I have to say that I am , thus far, immensely satisfied with the way this most recent portrayal of the Joker is being handled. Instead of channeling Jack Nicholson and going with the over-the-top, only slightly-more-dangerous-than-an-average-circus-clown Joker (which has never really worked for me in live-action), Christopher Nolan and David Goyer have decided to make the character as creepy and demented as possible. Really, they nailed it with the look of him - looking like that, Ledger could play the role like John Travolta circa Battlefield Earth and I think I'd still be creeped the hell out by it - even though I really hope for some dynamic new take on the character, as opposed to a simple retread and/or amalgamation of Mark Hamill or Cesar Romero.

I think the look gives the character a sort of credibility on-screen, if that makes any sense, a way for the audience - specifically the "new blood" - a reason to take this threat more seriously than they would a character with a purple suit and a simple make-up job. The Joker as a character is a twisted example of psychopathy wrapped in the guise of a childhood fear - and unlike other interpretations of the character which leaned more towards camp, The Dark Knight's take actually reflects this visually.

I can only hope that the film itself lives up to the promise of this image. Like the rest of the comics blogosphere, I'll be watching this one closely.

-M

And now, a moment of random awesome

2007-11-21T17:20:00.001-06:00

The players: Matt (Aged 21) and his Little Brother (Aged 13)

The setting: The other night in Matt's basement room, playing Super Mario Galaxy

Little Brother: Hey Matt?
Matt: Yeah?
LB: Who sings that song, "The Final Countdown"?
M: Um...a band named Europe, why?
LB: Because that song is totally awesome.

I am so...very proud.

That is all.

-M

And now, your extra-special Scrubs moment of the day

2007-11-14T09:48:00.000-06:00

A lot of people online seem to be down on the last couple seasons of Scrubs. I just finished watching Season 5 on DVD for the first time, and personally, I loved it.

Especially this:

Why? I don't know. Maybe it's that the song "Kung Fu Fighting" plays in the background the whole time, or that the sequence goes on for two whole minutes. Or maybe just because it makes me chuckle, unlike Foating Head Doctor.

Watch it. Love it. Savor it.

That is all.

-M

Shellhead's lookin' good

2007-10-29T09:32:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago, CBR posted the first screenshots from the upcoming video game tie-in to next year's Iron Man. The game is being developed by SEGA, and according to the article, it "represents the first step in a strategic partnership between Marvel and SEGA."

A couple of shots from the report, all courtesy of CBR:

I'm not sure if those are in-game screens or not (they could be from cinema cutscenes), but either way it looks absolutely gorgeous. If SEGA can get the gameplay down, then this has the potential to be a great game (and a great tie-in, at that).

Needless to say, I'll be watching this one closely.

-M

Live from Washington, it's Saturday afternoon

2007-10-27T12:47:00.000-06:00

Just a quick, non-comics-related update from our nation's capitol.

Strangely enough, I've been in D.C. for roughly four days, and I've yet to see any buildings of real importance. Sure, a couple of the other editors and I trekked out to the Scientology center a couple blocks from the hotel (supposedly the "founding" center) for an amusing tour (remember that time I wrote that I like researching religion?), I haven't seen any of the Washington staples - which, with any luck, will be rectified by the end of today.

Despite that fact, I'm having a great time. I've explored the five or so blocks directly north of the Washington Hilton, and what little I've seen of the city is absolutely beautiful.

The trip has been ridiculously educational, as well. I'm getting to know my editorial board better than ever, we're learning a hundred different ways to improve the Valley Forge, and we're just getting pumped about journalism in general (as always seems to happen at these things). It's pretty surreal, because we'll all just be sitting around, knocking back a beer or two, and suddenly erupting into an impromptu brainstorming session for our next issue, and every single one of us is totally pumped. It's very, very cool, and we're coming home equipped with some great ideas for everything from web design to layout to photography to blogging.

So, yeah, I'm having a pretty good time. I've got to jet, but I'll post a bigger write-up (probably with photos) once I return home. I've also got some ideas for some honest-to-goodness comics-related material, too.

I'll catch you all later. Stay classy.

-M

Insert witty title relating to our nation's capitol here

2007-10-24T01:43:00.000-06:00

I'm headed up towards D.C. for the National College Media Convention. I'll be back around Sunday, although I'll probably have some kind of post (albeit not comic related in the slightest) up sometime this week.

Hope all you folks have a good week, and I'll catch you all when I get back.

-M

Random thoughts - 9/15/07

2007-10-15T17:44:00.000-06:00

Random thought -

Wouldn't it be wild if Rob Liefield was totally right?

Hm.

-M

Guess who's back?

2007-10-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

Today, Marvel released an image of the new Captain America's costume, set to debut in Captain America #34, the bearer of which has yet to be revealed.

The costume itself looks pretty cool, I suppose, and I'm interested to see how it works out.

I have to say, though, I can't say I'm overjoyed that the Living Legend of World War II (Mark 2) is packin' heat. Don't get me wrong - it's fine for guys like the Punisher, but I've always thought the fact that Cap's only weapon is defensive in nature, not something intended to injure or kill. As renowned comic guru Scott Tipton put it:

Aside from the obvious notion of a man wrapped in the flag, it's important to note that Captain America has no offensive weapons: no gun nor sword. Instead, Captain America has a shield, which is purely a defensive weapon, just as the U.S was moving in to protect the peoples of Europe from fascism. And the shield is unbreakable, representing the strength of America's intentions. Even when Cap throws the shield offensively, the analogy holds, as Cap is extending the strength and protection of the United States to defend the weak and helpless.

I'll wait and see how it turns out, but so far, it seems like attempt from the big dogs at Marvel to replace "old, stodgy Steve Rogers" with a slightly grittier model, which is very uncool (no, I'm not cynical - why do you ask?).

As for who's wearing the costume? I'm with the Occasional Superheroine - it's Clint "Hawkeye" Bartoon, for sure.

...but Steve'll be back sooner rather than later.

-M

The Legend lives on.

2007-10-03T19:06:00.001-06:00

A while back, Square Enix completely retooled Final Fantasy III, the only game in the series never to be released in North America, and released it for the Nintendo DS.

The game was a hit, and not long afterwards, the company announced that they would be giving Final Fantasy IV a similar treatment.

The first in-game footage was shown at this year's Tokyo Game Show, and courtesy of File Front I bring it to you in the form of the above video.

I am ridiculously excited for this game. Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series to feature the epic, sprawling storylines that the series has become known for. The first three installments were little more than "four archetypes search for crystals and fight evil," but with number four, we were introduced to a story with far more layers than that, and protagonists who were far more interesting and nuanced. This is, of course, not to mention that the remake of Final Fantasy III was done extremely well.

I'll be watching this very closely, hoping with baited breath that SquareEnix does this one justice, because to be honest, I'm sort of hoping for similar remakes of Final Fantasy V and VI as well.

-M

An announcement, of sorts.

2007-10-03T18:53:00.001-06:00

Attention, one and all.

I have discovered something glorious.

I want this--

--to be my wedding cake.

That is all.

Shamelessly stolen from Kotaku

-M

Coming attractions

2007-09-26T23:05:00.001-06:00

Ah, yes. It's another one of those posts.

I'm not dead. I just don't have time to write.

Between picking up a second job, still having to work my first job, the newspaper, a lack of funds with which buy and/or read comics with, and that cruel headmistress known as Halo 3, I haven't had much time to even think about comics, let alone blog about them.

I'm hoping to change that this weekend, though. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some books, and I'd like to get some kind of write-up on the new TV season starting up as soon as it gets into full swing.

Also, expect a Halo review soon, once I've had time to sufficiently get my head around the single player a second time.

I'm sorry. Sometimes I feel like I spend more time writing posts like these than posts about comics.

-M

The triumphant return of...(Spoilers ahoy)

2007-09-19T21:58:00.000-06:00

I wasn't a big fan of 24's sixth season. I didn't talk about it much here, but in my semi-regular user reviews over at TV.com, boy oh boy did I rip into that show on a weekly basis. I've been optimistic about season seven, however, since it seemed as though the writers of the show heard the cries of fans and decided to do something about it. Although we won't be able to say for sure until the season actually airs, it seems to be that a smaller threat and an exorcism of the seriously-overstayed-its-welcome CTU are definitely steps in the right direction.

And, on a pure fanboy level, FOX has let slip a nugget that makes me a very happy fan.

It's majorly spoilerish, so I've placed a buffer image (a la our good friend Mike Sterling) for those who don't want to take a look. For those that do, read at your own risk.

Seriously.

According to whoever wrote the press release for the new season (and promptly reported on by TV.com):

Bauer’s day gets off to a shocking start when former colleague Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), last seen in 'Day 5,' returns after being left for dead by a terrorist conspirator in CTU’s infirmary.

This is very interesting stuff. I mean, yeah, Tony is supposedly dead, but in my mind it was always very unclear and there are a lot of ways to explain it away. I suppose we should have seen something like this coming, what with the fake ending (or was it the original ending? I forget) of season six, which was to have featured a cliffhanger ending on Tony's return.

This makes me pretty happy. Even though season five was one of the better seasons of the show's run, I think it sort of doomed season six in a way because, with so many characters dead and so many zany plot twists that made sense, it was hard to get into the plot (which was pretty hard to believe at times) and it was pretty hard to care about the characters, since so many of them were brand new and so many of the characters who made it into season six were either incredibly boring (Bill) or had somehow become so in the off-season (Chloe).

Plus, I've always liked Tony. He was sort of the "office" version of Jack, his counterpart in a way. Killing him off, and so unceremoniously at that, was incredibly shocking, but I've always thought it was a bad idea, and I'm glad it's something they're rectifying.

I'm still very skeptical about this upcoming season, but I'm really, really hoping that the writers can make it fresh, exciting, and interesting again. I like to think that the return of Tony Almeida is a step in that direction.

-M

Almost like it's 2004 all over again

2007-09-06T11:44:00.000-06:00

I watched Spider-Man 2 for the first time in a long time the other day. In doing so, I came away with a few thoughts.*

Firstly, the idea that Spider-Man 2 is one of (if not the) best comic book adaptations in the history of the genre (or sub-genre, as it were) was reinforced in my mind. Secondly, as much as I love the movies as they are, I wish there had been more fight scenes along the same lines as the train scene. Thirdly, I am as disappointed with the film's portrayal of Otto Octavius (a.k.a. "Doctor Octopus") as I was when I initially saw the film in the theatre.

"But Matt!" you're surely thinking. "What are you talking about? Doc Ock was great in Spider-Man 2!" And he was, to a point. But there's always been something about the character's story in the film that I've never really been able to get over.

And that's his tentacles.

Let me explain. His tentacles look great. They're very cool and they're used to good effect throughout the film. However, if you need a refresher, Octavius explains that the tentacle harness is outfitted with an "inhibitor chip" - a small microchip that keeps the artificial intelligence of the harness from influencing his actions. In the ensuing accident that causes the tentacles to be fused to Octavius' body, the inhibitor chip is damaged, and the influence of the artificial intelligence is a very large contributing factor in Octavius' crime spree.

This has never sat right with me. The way I've always seen it is that, by introducing the idea that A.I. is influencing Doctor Octopus' decisions and rationale, you take away a good portion of the character's motivation and, in a way, his accountability. It also seems that it diminishes what otherwise would've been a very nuanced and deep character. With the A.I., it appears that Otto is a pretty nice guy who gets stuck in something beyond his control, something that he's not really responsible for. In a way, the tentacles act as a psycho-changer when one isn't remotely called for - the story dictates that Otto Octavius undergo a severe personality change; however, instead of using the pieces of his personality already there to facilitate said change, they use an outside force to do so, which robs the character of all responsibility and accountability from there on out. Isn't it enough that Otto is a relatively pleasant (if slightly pig-headed and arrogant) scientist who becomes a monster due to his own hubris, who is driven insane not only by his utter and complete failure (and the effects of the explosion), but also due to his role in the death of his beloved wife? This would have added a hell of a lot more depth and nuance to the already great performance Alfred Molina brought to the table. Instead, the notion that the tentacles are influencing his judgment does little more than to diminish the story of Octavius' fall and redemption.

And what bothers me most, I think, is that it would've been so easy to change this at any time during the production of the film without sacrificing anything of consequence at a script level. All that would've been needed, really, are a couple of changes to some dialog towards the beginning and end of the film. Add in a quick bit showing Otto's arrogant streak and change around his expository "This is why I'm eeevil now" scene later in the film, and the rest of the film remains untouched.

It all seems very much like a lost opportunity to me.

And seriously - who puts A.I. in a tentacle harness? That's like giving sentience to an electric power drill.

What do YOU think, Gentle Readers? Am I voicing a valid complaint about an example of weak storytelling, or am I bitching for the sake of bitching?

-M

*Yes, yes - I KNOW I'm complaining about a film that came out THREE years ago, but I needed SOMETHING to get the creative juices flowing after my brief hiatus, alright? Bear with me.

My so-called life

2007-08-26T13:51:00.000-06:00

I find myself once again forced to apologize to you, my Gentle Readers, for the lack of any substantial content over the last week or so.

Sometimes, real life just gets in the way. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had a birthday, followed by two (2) weddings, work, the start of a new production cycle at the college paper of which I am now Editor, and lots of general business, which culimated about an hour ago with my girlfriend leaving for school in Chicago.

Things have settled down a bit, so hopefully I'll be able to whip up some content with the next few days.

Until then, catch you cats on the flip side.

-M

Er...what?

2007-08-21T23:10:00.000-06:00

And now, a special moment of absurdity for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Marvel's latest batch of solicitations...

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS #6
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by ROGER CRUZ
Cover by ERIC NGUYEN

"Hey Cyclops, you seen my powers anywhere?"

"Naw."

"Ay-ay, where my wings go at?"

"Dag, I'm all havin' to lift up my coffee with my HANDS, yo."

"Dang. We cold done lost our powerz."

No joke - that's the actual solicitation as it appears over at CBR.

Er..uhm - what?

-M

A Long-expected party

2007-08-18T10:52:00.000-06:00

In honor of the twenty-first anniversary of my introduction to the planet Earth, I'm taking the weekend off.

I hope everyone has a good couple of days, and I'll see you back here Monday.

-M

June 24, 1963 - August 12, 2007

2007-08-15T01:32:00.000-06:00

I return after a brief absence and find myself completely and utterly shocked beyond words.

This past Sunday, Mike "Ringo" Wieringo passed away of (apparent) heart failure. He was 44. Honestly, I wasn't even aware the man was past his thirties.

My knowledge of Mike's work is limited. I was aware of him on Fantastic Four and only really recognized him once he came aboard Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with Peter David. However, I knew enough to know that his was a style that I dug a lot, one that really struck a chord with me.

Anyway, by now the rest of the blogosphere (as well as the industry) has reacted, and I imagine far more eloquently than I ever could.

My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Wieringo's family, and I hope it is some small comfort to them to know that Mike's immeasurable talent brought joy to comic book fans the world over. I hope that in their mourning, they will not forget to celebrate the life and achievements of such a talented individual, and I hope fans of his work will do the same.

Rest in peace, Ringo.

-M

An open letter to the DC Comics boards and various other fanboys

2007-08-08T13:32:00.000-06:00

Hey guys,

This?

Not an image of a fat and/or ugly young woman.

That is all. Carry on.

-M

Special thanks to the Occasional Superheroine and the Fortress Keeper for bringing this to my attention.

Itsy-bitsy spider, redux

2007-08-07T16:43:00.000-06:00

Earlier today, CBR reported that Marvel released the above image, the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #545 (part of the upcoming and much balyhooed "One More Day" event), accompanied only by the ominous text, "The end of an era."

I'm trying to decide what I think releasing the image so early is trying to say - it's obviously some kind of tease, but to what? Is Quesada saying "Gasp! What will become of Pete and MJ? Read and find out!" or is he saying, "Haha, I'm going to bludgeon this concept that I hate so much to death and there's nothing you can do about it, bwahaha"?

I've speculated before about what may come of the Spider-marriage after Strazynski's run on the title has wrapped. Since we can safely assume the characters won't divorce and that Mary Jane probably won't die (despite that "one of these will die!" teaser image that popped up not too long ago and suddenly can't seem to find). That said, I can't help but wonder if perhaps Quesada's "fix" for this problem lies not in natural means, but instead in the mystical.

We know that Dr. Strange plays a role in the upcoming events. Quesada has also mentioned that once Mary Jane is written out of the books (should such a thing happen), all it takes to "start over" is simply not mentioning her at all. Quesada has also said that this doesn't necessarily write off any chance at a relationship for the two at a later date; Mary Jane could easily come back into the picture years down the line and the two could date, with no mention of their past together (this is supposedly all hypothetical). This has caused some within the online community to speculate (or perhaps a better term would be "jump to the conclusion") that this evidence indicates that perhaps, going into "Brand New Day," Peter and Mary Jane may not even be aware that they were ever married. I don't know if I would expect Marvel to go quite that far - even these days - but it saddens me to admit that I can't completely rule it out.

I just can't help but wonder if maybe the bigwigs are in fact simply pulling the wool over our eyes, only to reveal a marriage stronger than ever by the time Strazynski leaves the title. I would hate to see this year's fantastic Sensational Spider-Man Annual seen as little more than a fluke in the history of the character, rather than an example that the marriage isn't so much a bad idea as much as it needs someone who knows how to write realistic and interesting people who happen to be married.

The closer the story approaches, the more apprehensive I become. Whether or not I continue reading the adventures of my favorite hero depends on the outcome of this "event" and it's execution. I hope that my reasons for loving the character will be valdiated instead of shattered, but with the way things are going these days, I'm not hopeful.

At this point, I guess there's really nothing left but to wait and see what happens...

...that, and pray, I suppose.

-M

Say, is this shameless? Maybe, but I'm doing it anyway.

2007-07-28T10:44:00.000-06:00

A woman named Katherine, with a site called Heavy Ink, sent me (and apparently other s) an e-mail. Apparently a new web-based comic shop is opening up in the fall, and they want feedback. They're asking folks to complete a survey, and they're supposedly offering one lucky participant five graphic novels, valued at roughly $100. Also, all participants will recieve a full year of any comic for free when you "subscribe to another comic book at [their] regularly discounted prices."

I'm not sure if these graphic novels will be pre-chosen or for the "winner" to decide, but it still sounds like quite a deal.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this, but these people seem genuinely concerned with bringing their potential customers the best service possible.

So what are you waiting for? Go take the survey!

-M

Neither can live while the other survives

2007-07-24T00:11:00.000-06:00

And so it ends.

I've just spent a fine portion of today finishing up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final chapter in J.K. Rowling's sprawling Harry Potter opus.

Needless to say it had all of the twists, turns, and action that Harry Potter fans have come to expect.

I imagine I'll write a full review before the week is out, but I'm going to wait a day or so - both to allow it to sink in, allowing me to properly articulate my feelings on it, and for the sake of fellow bloggers and visitors who may be unable to resist the urge to be spoiled.

That said, first impressions of the book as a whole are overwhelmingly positive.

-M

Monday Morning Macking: Awful Bootleg Edition

2007-07-23T12:13:00.000-06:00

Is it wrong? Against the rules? Illegal? Maybe.

But it feels so good.

Because Steven "Don Juan" Padnick demands it, I defy my lack of a scanner and bring you a clip so steamy, they couldn't show it in theatres.*

In celebration of this weekend's release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, watch with baited breath this video of budding young love, and revel in amazement at the realistic shaky-cam and life-like audience commentary.

It feels so good.

-M

P.S. 50th post. Yay?

*Clip actually shown in theatres.

Like beating a dead horse

2007-07-17T17:21:00.000-06:00

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #1 (of 5)
Written by ROBERT KIRKMAN
Penciled by SEAN PHILLIPS
Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM
Are you ready for Marvel Zombies Civil War? Forty years have passed and the zombies have come back home after eating just about everything else in the universe. Yum yum! What awaits them back on Earth, though, is beyond anything even these shambling monstrosities could have conceived! This is a new series featuring the amazing, irreverent take on the Marvel characters that became last year's unexpected smash hit. They're back and more stomach-churning than ever! The smash hit series is back, daring to ask: "Whose stomach are you in?"
32 PGS./Parental Advisory ?$2.99

Dear Marvel,

I think it's about time we put a stop to this, don't you?

Come on, buddy. Whaddya say?

...please?

-M

Random Thoughts: Buffy, Season 8 #4

2007-07-05T23:26:00.000-06:00

I read the latest issue of Buffy today (yeap, I'm late again).

Here, we see Willow captured by Amy and the magically still-alive Warren. At one point, it seems apparent that Warren is gouging out one of Willow's eyes, and later we hear that he's lobotomizing her.

Once Buffy reaches her, however, Willow appears to be fine. The implication through the dialogue is that Willow used some kind of magicks to heal herself.

My question is - if that's how it works, couldn't she easily heal Xander's eye? Surely he's used to his cycloptic nature by now, but I imagine that he'd jump at the chance to regain his depth perception, no?

Thoughts?

-M

P.S. I'm also mourning the apparent death of occasional thorn-in-the-side Ethan Rayne. We hardly knew ye.

Girl Be Crazy

2007-07-01T15:18:00.000-06:00

Nothing big today, as I'm still recouperating from my fantastic trip, spending time with the family, and racking my brain for some worthy content for a post.

However, I did stumble across these amusing images of Heroes' Hayden "The Cheerleader" Panettiere, which you may have already seen, during my early morning web-surfing...

WTF?

This is ridiculously awesome. She's living out my lifelong dream of wearing a Stormtrooper helmet at all times.

Photos courtesy of the always-amusing What Would Tyler Durden Do?

-M

Triumphant Return

2007-07-01T03:46:00.000-06:00

It's almost 5 am, and I'm back. I'm sunburnt and dirty and tired, but I had an absolutely incredible time as always.

I hope everyone had a good week, and I look forward to catching up on everything I missed. Hopefully I'll have a new post for you guys within the next couple of days, after I get my bearings.

But now, it's time for me to sleep.

-M

Sabbatical

2007-06-25T17:55:00.000-06:00

No new posts for a few days - the rest of the week, actually.

I've nothing new to report today, and tomorrow morning I leave for the nothing town of Bushnell, IL for the Cornerstone Music Festival until sometime Saturday, with no internet access to speak of.

So I'll be back Sunday, hopefully with some kind of content worthy enough to warrant a post.

Until then, everyone have a good week!

-M

More memes that I can actually do

2007-06-24T19:57:00.000-06:00

So apparently I got tagged by Calvin a couple of days ago without realizing it. Better late than never, right? Right! So, let's get to it, shall we?

- I have to post these rules before I start.
- I have to tell you eight facts about myself.
- I have to tag eight people to participate.
- I'm supposed to leave a comment telling them they're tagged and to read my blog.
- And the tagees need to write their own blog post, telling us eight things and posting the rules.

Hm, let's see what we can think of here...

1. Despite the fact that I consider myself something of a film/pop culture "buff," there are plenty of classic films that I've never seen. The Godfather, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now...none of em. I get most of the "hep" references from said films, but I'm still ashamed to admit that I've never seen these American classics. Meanwhile, I have copies of Elektra and Hulk in my DVD collection...think what you will.

2. Speaking of DVDs, over half of the DVDs in my collection are box sets of some of my favorite TV shows. Of the actual films that I own, at least a quarter of those are box set collections as well.

3. I once wrote that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was what introduced me to the wonderful world of serialized storytelling, but looking back, that's not really true. In reality, it was K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series. Despite an "8-12" age label, the series explored themes like war, combat, and dehumanization in a way that I'd never experienced at the time. I still foster a great love for the books, and all sixty (fifty-two reglar novels, four deluxe editions, and four backstory novels) still sit on my bookshelf today. I'm very seriously considering picking them up again after all this time.

4. Despite my appreciation for the characters, I absolutely cannot read Fantastic Four from the Lee/Kirby era without becoming bored at best and appalled at the ridiculousness at worst. However, I can read Silver Age Superman stories and enjoy the hell out of 'em. What's up with that?

5. I'm extremely interested in what some might call "alternative" religion. I'm very into researching the theology of certain faiths, important events in their history, and the lives of their leaders. One of my favorite religions to research to date has been the Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormons). Don't ask me why they stick out to me, but they do.

6. I own copies of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Lord of the Rings that I've never bothered to read.

7. The first comic book I ever read was an issue of the Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog series. For years, it was the only book that I read. To this day, I still have an enormous run of at least 100 issues, as well as most of the 32-issue run of its spin-off, Knuckles the Echidna.

8. At times I can have notoriously low self-esteem. When put in a position with another whom I see as my better in some way, I can't help but feel useless in their presence. This has, at times, affected my writing - I often feel that whatever I have to offer has probably already been more succinctly stated by another, more intelligent person.

So, according to the rules, I have to tag eight people. Lesse...how's about Tom, Sally, Steven, Spencer, Jon, aaaand...Engblom.*

Let the games begin!

-M

*I originally DID have eight, but alas, I discovered that two of my tagees had already done this little excersize. Oh well.

R.I.P.

2007-06-23T12:02:00.000-06:00

In memory of a little thing called fun...

I offer you this.

Rest in peace, fun.

You will be missed.

-M

Is it possible?

2007-06-16T12:52:00.000-06:00

I happened acrosss this little gem while reading over CBR's report of the "Mondo Marvel" panel at Wizard World Philly...

Bill Rosemann took the microphone to discuss the sequel to the popular "Annihilation" event, "Annihilation: Conquest." New covers were shown for the miniseries, including "Star-Lord" by Keith Giffen and Randy Green, "Quasar" by Christos Gage and Mike Lilly, and "Wraith" by Javier Grillo-Marxauch and Kyle Hotz. The ongoing "Nova" series will also be tying into the event, and the cover shown in the panel featured the cosmic assassin Gamora brandishing the helmeted skull of Nova!...The "Wraith" miniseries will feature the eponymous new character, but it was hinted that he may have some connections to a character of the past.

I don't know about you, but when I hear "Wraith" one thing immediately comes to mind...

Please oh please oh please...

-M

A meme for me, a meme for you

2007-06-14T20:51:00.001-06:00

I'm kinda stoked about this. I love memes, but due to my lack of proficiency with Photoshop, I never get to take part. This one's easy and fun for the whole family!

I volunteered myself to be interviewed, and in turn I'm offering to interview others. Here are the questions I was asked; the details follow.

1. You're trapped in a burning building, but you can contact one hero for help. Your two choices are Spider-Man or Batman. Who do you call?

Spidey all the way. Nothin' against Batman, really - he's pretty much a pro when it comes to his war on crime, but when you get right down to it, Peter Parker is more of a natural-born hero than Bruce Wayne will ever be. Not to mention the fact that if I'm in a burning building, I could use a little something to take my mind off things, and I think that ol' Webheads wise-cracking ways are perfect for that.

2. You've somehow been transported into Clue: The Movie! You're drawing straws for pairs to search the house. Who are you paired with?

It's been a long time since I've seen the movie. I guess I'd say Wadsworth, because he's either Mr. Boddy in disguise or an FBI agent, and the fact that he's Tim Curry is a bonus.

3. The Anti-Monitor is coming to destroy your world! Luckily you happen to have a spare "Cosmic Treadmill" lying around and can escape. But you'll be trapped on that other earth forever! To what earth do you flee?

Hm...it's a tie between New Earth and Earth-2. New Earth because that's where the action is, Earth-2 for the simpler times of the Golden Age.

4. You're stranded in a war zone. Things don't look good. Which ex-vet will you choose to watch your back: Wild Dog or the Punisher? (and explain why!)

I would have to say The Punisher. For one thing, I have no idea who Wild Dog is. For another, as Tom Foss noted, Frank Castle is just a little bit crazy. That definitely has it's downsides, but it can come in handy in an all-out war scenario.

5. You're in the Old West, there's a bounty on your head, and Jonah Hex has tracked you down. He asks you if you have any last words. What are they?

Honestly? I'd probably just wet myself. A lot. Jonah Hex is kind of a scary dude.

-----

Now, it's your turn:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. (They probably won't be the same ones you see above!)

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

----

-M

Wait, you mean people aren't still talking about this?

2007-06-12T00:37:00.001-06:00

Okay, so yeah, everyone kind of got over the dud that is The Ultimates 2 #13 a while ago, so this is kind of old hat.

But - for some strange reason - I was thinking about the issue earlier tonight, and something crossed my mind.

At the end of the issue, Cap tells Nick Fury that he intends for the Ultimates to break off from S.H.I.E.L.D. and go independent, Avengers-style.

The thing of that is, in my reading of the first two volumes, I always got the impression that the Ultimates were government-sponsored and funded. I always got the gist that, essentially, the Ultimates were a super-human extension of the armed forces.

So can they actually break free, just like that? I mean, it kind of seems like Easy Company deciding to secede from the Army after the war and go their own way.

Seems kind of silly when you stop and think about it.

But then, I find lately that that's the case with the majority of Mark Millar's body of work...

-M

Sand in your eye

2007-06-02T15:57:00.001-06:00

Feh.

Even though it came out a little while ago, I hadn't had a chance to sit down and read the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual until just a few minutes ago.

And my reaction was mostly "feh."

In the main story, entitled "Sandman: Year One," Peter David attempts to explain how Sandman ended up the way he did with all of the classic elements - an absentee father, a bad home life, and two or three single moments which set him on the path of a career criminal.

That's all fine and good (if a little cliched), but along the way, we get all sorts of unnecessary explanations - as a kid, William Baker (aka Flint Marko aka the Sandman) loved to play with...guess what? Sand. Sand castles, colored sand in a bottle - you name it, Baker loved it. He loved it so much so that he taught himself to fight by watching how sand moves in the ocean.

William Baker came up with his primary alias - Flint Marko - based on a high school nickname and the fact that his high school coach told him he'd "never make a mark" on the world.

I hate hate HATE it when writers do stuff like this. So William Baker loved sand as a kid? I can get behind that, I guess - excepting the fact that Baker's transformation into the Sandman was completely accidental and therefore, this retcon makes it one enormously convenient coincidence.

Whenever I run into this stuff I can't help but ask myself - why is this necessary?

Doesn't it make sense enough that William Baker ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time - and that he just happened to be wearing a green-striped shirt, and hadn't worn some form of said apparel since his adolescence? Isn't that enough?

The name "Flint" I get, but isn't it enough that "Marko" is something he made up out of thin air? Isn't it enough? It doesn't have to have some kind of significance to his past, does it?

The thing of it is, there are a lot of other characters for which this could have worked. Want to say Adrian Toomes has a thing for birds? That works because at some point the old fella had to make a consious decision to dress up like a bird and call himself the Vulture, so it fits. Want to say Curt Connors was really into reptiles at one point? That makes enough sense, because maybe that's what led him to study their regenerative properties in the first place.

But it just doesn't work for Sandman. William Baker wasn't a scientist studying sand who was caught in a lab accident or a guy who deliberately made himself into sand; he's just a poor dude who was in the wrong place at the wrong time - so establishing some sort of precedent for his love of sand just seems kind of contrived and hackneyed. It's kind of like rewriting history so that Otto Octavius had an interest in octupi as a child - despite the fact that the name "Doctor Octopus" is derived from a nickname he earned working with his mechanical tentacles.

I don't know. Maybe I'm being too critical. Maybe I'm not being critical enough. I guess I'm just kind of pissed that I saw that the pieces for a really good (if not overly original) story were there, but all of the necessary explanation and connection seems to overshadow and overpower it all, and what results is just a giant pile of mediocre.

I don't know. You tell me, Dear Readers - am I on to something here or do I just have a bad case of Angry-Fanboyitis?

-M

More random thoughts

2007-06-01T23:58:00.000-06:00

1.) Has it ever been explained exactly how Alan Scott managed to steal the name and schtick of an intergalactic peace keeping force before he knew they existed?

2.) Has anyone noticed that every book DC puts out has a small logo for the corresponding issue of Countdown from that week? I thought that was kinda cool.

-M

Random thought of the day

2007-05-29T18:50:00.001-06:00

What would happen if, say, Dan DiDio or Joe Quesada resigned their post tomorrow and gave it to a female comics creator - like Gail Simone?

Discuss.

-M

Silly Quesada, hentai is for adults!

2007-05-28T10:56:00.000-06:00

Warning: some portions of this entry are decidedly NSFW.

Okay, so I lied.

But only a little bit.

I said I wasn't going to say anything about Heroes for Hire #13, and I didn't intend on doing so.

I've also avoided talking about the now-infamous "Mary Jane doin' laundry" Comicquette statue because, like the Heroes for Hire cover, I really don't feel I've much to bring to the table that hasn't been said by others in a more articulate fashion than I could muster.

And even now, this post really isn't about that. It's more about Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and his crazy antics.

The Fortress Keeper wrote an interesting response to Quesada's comments on Heroes for Hire #13. I threw in my two cents over there, but really, I went along my merry after that. It wasn't until I found the latest New Joe Fridays column from Newsarama that I was reminded of what a ridiculous huckster Joseph Quesada is.

First I'll begin with Quesada's response to the Mary Jane statue, the least offensive of the two:

When fans saw the statue was exactly the same time I was made aware of it, I have no involvement in that stuff and haven’t kept up with the brouhaha. It kind of floors me in a way because Adam Hughes is brilliant and is known for his amazingly sexy portrayal of strong women, so I’m not quite sure what people are up in arms about? Seriously, fill me in because I’ve literally been out of town and out of the loop.

Quesada avoids the issue here by referring not to the statue itself, but to the art that the statue is based off of. My understanding is that the original Adam Hughes art wasn't seen as all that bad, and have seen some even refer to it using the word "cute." My understanding is that the issue people have with the statue is the slightly overexaggerated anatomy (Tom Foss used the term "terribly stretched-out," which I think is fitting), the well-placed rips in the jeans, and the ridiculously high thong peeking out from underneath the low-rider jeans.

I might be able to buy that Joe wasn't really aware of the statue until it was actually finished and ready to be solicited, but he's not really responding to the issue. By referring to the art the statue is based on as opposed to the statue itself, he's kind of misleading people. The Adam Hughes art is a bit sexist in the way that pin-up girls of the 1950's were, but it's not really that bad (in my estimation). It's the statue that people are up in arms about, Joe. The statue.

Immediately following that response, Newsarama asked him to respond to the Heroes for Hire controversy:

First, I think people are reading way too much into that cover than was ever intended. I heard terms such as “tentacle rape” being thrown around when that in no way is what’s happening, nor does it happen in the book. Those tentacles are the arms of the Brood who appears in the issue and is a major story point, the Brood have tentacles, sorry about that.
Secondly, the concept for that cover, soup to nuts came from a female artist. Thirdly, not being a deep follower of manga, I have no idea what recurring theme people are referring to or concerned with. While I appreciate the sentiment and the feelings that some may have about this, I honestly feel that there is way too much being read into this cover.
Also, HFH is a book that features two strong, lead female protagonist who kick major ass; somehow folks have forgotten to focus on that.

There is so much wrong with this response that I don't really even know where to begin.

Firstly, I don't buy the fact that Joe Quesada has never encountered "tentacle rape." I'm not saying that in any kind of derogatory slight against his character; just that, as the gatekeeper of the Marvel Universe and therefore each and every pop-culture icon contained therein, whose stories are told in a medium that's often associated or at least connected with anime and manga, I find it hard to believe that he's never once come across any instances of the tentacle rape phenomenon.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and accept that it's possible, though - but in that case, when he heard of the fan outcry, why didn't he take any steps to actually find out what tentacle rape actually is? His stance is, essentially, "I've never really encountered this, so I don't really get why people are so upset." This is your readership, Joe. You should take it upon yourself to figure out why the fuck people are so upset and respond adequately.

So what is your response, Mr. Quesada? "Well, um, the tentacles belong to the Brood! And no actual rape takes place in the book! And these girls are kick ass!"

Ridiculous. Firstly, does the fact that the tentacles belong to the Brood even matter? Would it be more offensive if it were some anonymous monster or perhaps an octopus? The issue people have is not to whom the tentacles actually belong; rather, the issue is with what it seems blatantly obvious the tentacles are doing and not who they belong to.

And doesn't the fact that these girls are supposed to be "kick ass" make this cover all the more appalling? Sure, these girls kick ass left and right, but as has been explored ad infinitum, they, like many comic book heroines, find themselves in a compromising position that no self-respecting male character would find himself in (which opens the door for an entirely different kind of exploitation that I'm not prepared to discuss in this particular post).

Seriously, Quesada. How can you look at this...

...and then compare it to stuff like this...

...and NOT see the problem that people are having with this particular comic book cover?

Seriously. I mean, at the very least, that hentai DVD cover at least has a warning label: "Guess what, Mom? Don't buy this for your fucking twelve-year-old!" And yet, Marvel continues to label Heroes for Hire #13 as a teen (13+) book. Perhaps the content itself is more than suitable for any Little Johnny or Sally to pick up and read, but you wouldn't know it looking at that cover.

Seriously! Look at it. It's like publishing an issue of Amazing Spider-Man featuring Mary Jane or the Black Cat with a big, cheesy grin and a face covered in sticky white fluid on the cover, and then going public and saying "Come on, guys! It's obviously web fluid! What's the big deal?!"

These two little comments say a lot about where the head of Quesada and therefore Marvel is at these days. Firstly, it's a boys club. Sure, they're fully willing to put out quirkly little titles like Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane in order to draw in the tween girl crowd, but when it comes to a mainstream title rooted in the proper Marvel Universe, there's little, if anything, on the surface that would or should appeal to any female reader. Secondly, the fact that Quesada is completely unwilling to do anything but defend, defend, defend, and sell, sell, sell, as opposed to actually taking the time to address the issue at hand does nothing more than enrage intelligent readers - male and female - and show everyone exactly why he's qualified for little more than hype. Thirdly, that he's unwilling to do anything about it whether or not he actually gets it - change the cover, slap a "mature readers only" label on that one issue - shows that he's only looking at the dollar signs - because as we've seen various times in modern comic book history, hype sells and so does controversy. Add those sales to the sales you were already guaranteed with the regular readership and the misinformed teenage hormone bomb, and you've got an issue of Heroes for Hire that's poised to sell a hell of a lot more copies than originally anticipated.

I just wish that, for once in his career, Quesada would address the readers intelligently. As opposed to deflection, what about actual conversation? Then you might get to the root of the issue and figure out exactly what people are so up in arms about. And be willing to concede, dammit! When you or your company is in the wrong, fucking admit it. By constantly putting a positive spin on the negative or refusing to acknowledge it altogether, you prove to your readership that you're stupid, stubborn, or both. And when you wonder why it's so hard to obtain new readers, especially female ones, you really don't do anything but promote that idea in the minds of the readers.

Whew. That kind of took on a life of its own there.

I'm done ranting. I'm glad I decided to post about this after all - I feel better now that I've gotten all of that unbridled rage off of my chest...

-M

Itsy-bitsy spider

2007-05-27T22:34:00.000-06:00

When I sat down initially I was going to produce a commentary on Tentacle Rape '07, but as I considered what I was going to say, I realized that I didn't have anything new to bring to the proverbial table and that I would really just be following the trend. Considering the fact that I do that enough around these parts, I scrapped the idea and now I'm offering something else entirely.

Anyone who reads the mainstream Spider-Man titles these days is undoubtedly aware of the weird state of flux Peter Parker seems to be in these days.

First came "Sins Past." Then various power upgrades, a spot on the Avengers, and a couple of less than stellar crossovers. None of these have really set the world on fire. Add in Joe Quesada's self-made controversy surrounding Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane Watson, and you've got fans wondering why it is that the guys at Marvel can't manage to tell a halfway decent Spider-Man story that doesn't threaten to shake up the status quo.

And wouldn't you know, we've got another one of those coming up right around the corner. With "One More Day," Quesada and Strazynski promise to answer the "question" of the marriage once and for all as well as restore the character to glory.

What little fan response that I've seen of this story seems to be overwhelmingly negative - with Quesada's reputation as the Human Hype Machine and Strazyinski's Cardinal Sin, nobody seems to have much faith in the "event."

Despite three overwhelmingly successful movies and a household name, it seems like Marvel is constantly trying to fix some kind of percieved problem with Mr. Parker and his world. Either they're tearing down his past or constantly shaking up the status quo, and it feels like years since Marvel has put out a Spider-Man book that didn't promise to have long-lasting consequenses for years to come.

At the same time, it seems as though Quesada and his boys are constantly trying to bring Peter Parker back to some form of the character that they see as the Spider-paragon; some definitive interpretation of Spider-Man that is, like, the best one ever (and, consequently, the version they feel will be most marketable to the younger demographic). This paragon is young, hep, and above all, single. Quesada has repeatedly commented that he's in a bit of a pickle, however - he can't manage to figure out a way to achieve the "single" without sacrificing the "young" because, after all, there's no such thing as a twentysomething divorcee or widow. And what results is a Peter Parker who has this sort of identity crisis - he's a character who begs for forward progression, for the same kind of movement he's gotten in his 40-plus year history, but the higher-ups at Marvel seem to think that any kind of progression lies in a spiritual regression.

"One More Day" supposedly promises to fix all of that, but I guess we'll see.

I once saw it speculated - possibly on a blog, but more likely on a message board - that Spider-Man's role as a turncoat in Civil War would lead to neither side of the Registration Debate really trusting him, therefore forcing Pete to once again be the "loner" that he's been known as for most of his career. Obviously things didn't quite pan out that way, but I don't think this speculation was that far off the mark.

Some have speculated that perhaps "One More Day" will see some kind of reconciliation - or at least a bargain - between Tony Stark and Peter Parker, leading to his absolution of any crimes involving the Registration Act and therefore making him a "free man" - presumably for the sake of Mary Jane and Aunt May. I think it's likely that this will end up being the case. This will, of course, cause the anti-reg heroes (such as the Secret/New/Whatever Avengers) to see him as a traitor to the cause, putting him at odds with that side. On the other hand, I don't imagine that Peter will fancy being SHIELD's lapdog again, so perhaps the bargain will come with some degree of autonomy for Peter, thus leading to a certain isolation from the pro-reg heroes and the Initiative. Thus, Peter's "loner" status has been effectively restored without completely hitting the "reset" button.

But what of the marriage? This is the question that Quesada promises that this "ground-breaking" story arc will settle once and for all. So what becomes of it?

Well, we know that Mary Jane can't die, and the two can't divorce. Quesada has said as much and, while you can't normally trust a word that the man says, this statement holds some validity. After all, making Peter a widower and/or a divorcee "ages" the character, and idea of undoing or otherwise vetoing the marriage is all about restoring that younger paragon of the character. So what happens to the marriage?

Honestly, I can't begin to know. Aside from some kind of mystical mind-wipe, I don't know if there's any way to actually put an end to the marriage without death or divorce (maybe I'm just uncreative in that way). Unless Joey is pulling the wool over our eyes and plans on using this story to show us why the Spider-Marriage is awesome in a sort of enormous practical joke, I can't begin to wonder about the outcome of this particular storyline.

I suppose only time will tell. This time next year, will we see a Peter Parker dealing with the loss of yet another love of his life? Will we see the marriage of Peter and Mary Jane reinvigorated? Who knows?

I certainly don't.

But enough of my barely-coherent ramblings - what do you guys think? I want to hear your thoughts on the current state of Spider-Man, the marriage, and any kind of "One More Day" speculation you have to offer.

Thoughts?

-M

Viva la Revolution

2007-05-24T17:10:00.001-06:00

Courtesy of one Mr. Chris Sims, who makes me want to right things that I never knew were wrong to begin with.

Godspeed.

-M

Maybe it's just me...

2007-05-24T16:29:00.001-06:00

...but I honestly don't see what's so bad about the new look.

Anyone care to spell it out for me?

-M

Do you believe in miracles?

2007-05-22T21:38:00.001-06:00

It's no secret to anyone that I've discussed it with that I've been utterly unhappy with the latest season of 24.

The pacing was sloppier than usual, the story arcs phased in and out of relevance as if the entire writing staff came down with a severe case of ADD, and nine out of ten character moments rang entirely hollow.

So naturally, I wasn't really expecting much going in to last night's blowout of a finale - after all, just two weeks prior we had been treated to perhaps one of the worst episodes of the season.

As the first episode passed and we reached the halfway mark, I found little to alleviate my fears. And then something beautiful happened.

The final episode of the season was amazing.

It wasn't the action or the various ka-booms. Granted, the action pieces were very well done and I enjoyed them, but when that oil rig blew, I still wasn't all that engaged. It was good eye candy, but not much else.

It was when all of that was over that the real magic happened.

The last twenty minutes of the episode delivered on so many levels, emotionally, that I was honestly floored. It's not simply that this episode offered character development and analysis that I've been craving all season; it may be safe to say that I've been craving this level of depth for the entire run of the series.

We don't often get to dig deep into Jack Bauer's psyche. Often, the severity of the plot dictates that Jack constantly be in a "work now, deal with shit later" mode. That's probably very realistic for what people like this have to actually do in order to effectively accomplish their jobs, but on dramatised television where you have a character getting off a plane from a Chinese torture camp and jumping right in to the action with no ill signs of his imprisonment, it feels a little unrealistic.

Jack's scene with James Heller was, simply put, beautiful. In those ten or so minutes, we saw the extent of the damage that his time in China - nay, his entire lifestyle - had done to him emotionally and psychologically. Jack was well overdue for an emotional breakdown/epiphany, and while I wish that we had gotten a few more looks at the cracks in Jack's armor throughout this season, I have to swallow my pride and say that the folks in the writer's room pulled off the payoff beautifully and proved to everyone that they've still got it, and they know how to use it when they want to.

I am skeptical for what the future holds for Jack Bauer and company, but with the way the year closed out I am hopeful. Where just days ago I was ready to walk away completely, now I'm ready to see what Day 7 has to offer. Here's hoping Cochran and Surnow don't let me down.

-M

P.S. With finals over, I'm hoping to resume (or rather begin) posting with some semblance of regularity. Within the next couple of weeks I hope to have a few good posts up - especially ones that talk about - y'know, comics.

An Open Letter to Frank Miller

2007-05-17T00:01:00.000-06:00

Dear Frank,

Stop.

Just...just stop. Knock it off. Seriously.

...

...please?

-M

Not so Amazing

2007-05-12T21:47:00.000-06:00

This is a real shame.

For the most part, the video game adaptation of Spider-Man 2 was everything a Spidey game should be. By taking the idea of a free-roam world (a la GTA) and applying it to Spider-Man and adding a solid storyline and satisfying gameplay, Spider-Man 2 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox was a winner from the get-go.

I had a chance to play the PS2 version of the Spider-Man 3 adapation, and I'm sorry to say that it doesn't live up to its predecessor (many would argue that it reflects the quality of the film in that way).

This game has the same basic engine of the previous game - that is, you swing around as Spidey and beat up on thugs and retrieve balloons and whatnot, and at your leisure you can complete missions which push the overall story forward. And for that, Spider-Man 3 is worth a good hour or so of gameplay.

But I find that once you break that barrier, once the random web-swigning gets old and you get tired of saving armored cars, the rest of the game is pretty shallow.

Maybe it's the fact that I played Spider-Man 2 on the technically superior Xbox, but it felt like the graphics for Spider-Man 3 were sloppy. Buildings look fake, and while that was a slight problem with Spider-Man 2, it's even more troubling here because the more complex renderings of buildings often don't appear until you're right on top of them. Pedestrians are once again rendered as weakly as possible, but the real kicker here is the main characters - they're animated well enough and they look enough like the actors, but in cutscenes they're so over-rendered that they just look ugly. It also doesn't help that each character literally has one outfit for the entire game - Mary Jane is forced to wear that "button up shirt and tie" ensemble throughout the entire game so that the final battle is as accurate as possible. And it really doesn't help that even the smallest side-missions come with load times.

Everything feels very dumbed down, as well. While the previous installment had a good deal of combos and attacks to be utilized against enemies, it feels like there are only four or five easy to use combos at work in Spider-Man 3 (granted, this was just in my two hours or so of playing; it's possible more moves are unlocked as the game progresses). Spider-Man 2 also had lots of cool little touches and side quests - for example, cleaning out all of the gang hideouts in the city, the races, and the various tokens. Spider-Man 3 has none of that, which makes the game feel very bare and limited - and it's not helped by the fact that the side-missions have little to no variety.

As usual, the game takes liberties with the basic plot of the movie, and that's both a blessing and a curse. For example, the pacing of the film is a bit off-kilter (the battle in which Spidey "kills" Sandman takes place directly before the final Venom/Sandman fight), but at the same time there are aspects of the story which the film improves on (instead of a random team-up, Venom coerces Sandman into helping him by kidnapping his daughter).

Overall, the game really just feels sloppy. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm playing a game that's really intended for the "next-gen" consoles on an "outdated" one, but my impression overall is that the game was rushed to coincide with the film's release. That's really a shame, because no matter the quality of the film itself, the game should've been something of beauty; instead, it's just a mess.

We can all agree on that, I suppose.

-M

P.S. All images from PS3 version and may not reflect in-game graphics. Also, all images courtesy of IGN.

Impossible!

2007-05-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

Is it possible? Can it be true?

Preview art from perenially-delayed The Ultimates 2 #13 (supposedly to ship May 16) courtesy of IGN?

Who ever thought that the book was actually going to come out, eh?

My world has been turned upside down.

-M

Concerning Thought Ballons

2007-05-10T08:13:00.000-06:00

I'm a little late with this one, but I suppose it's better late than never, am I right?

A little bit of hooplah has been raised about Bendis and Mighty Avengers and the fact that the uber-prolific writer has been using the long-thought-dead convention of the thought ballon.

Yesterday I happened across a copy of Mighty Avengers #2 at my local Borders. Not interested enough to buy, I figured I'd give it a read in the store (as I do with New Avengers, Supergirl, Ultimate X-Men, Justice League Unlimited, Green Lantern, and Teen Titans on a semi-regular basis).

And what I realized after setting the issue down was that while there was a dense amount of thought ballons (at least one per page for the most part) they were, on the whole, completely pointless.

Gee whiz! See how Bendis used thought balloons to humorously remind everyone that Tony Stark is a womanizing bachelor?

Golly! Isn't it great that, thanks to a little bit of thought-ballooning (and a trick that I remember from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the reader is now even more aware of the fact that Ares is impulsive, brash, and says whatever is on his mind?

I don't mind a little joke now and again, but it felt like that the thought balloons were all bad humor and useless information and it became blatantly apparent that Bendis was using them simply because he could. If this is the "glorious" return of the mighty thought ballon, I'll stick to text-box narration, thanks.

And let's not even get into the fact that it was just a shitty comic book. It just reinforces my opinion that putting one writer on two Avengers books was a bad idea from the get-go, which is a shame because New Avengers hasn't been that bad lately (although it hasn't been great, either).

Beh. I'm done ranting for now, but what are your thoughts, about the Avengers books in general right now?

-M

Does whatever a spider can

2007-05-04T12:51:00.000-06:00

Guess what today is?

After months and months of hype, hooplah, and what have you, the Biggest Movie Ever is here - Spider-Man 3. I caught a midnight showing yesterday and considering the fact that I'm skipping all of my classes today because of it, I've posted this review for you - my Lovely and Devoted Reader.

You all know the story. "The greatest battle lies within," "Sandman kills Uncle Ben," "Emo Peter," blah blah blah. I won't bore you with those details.

At its core, Spider-Man 3 has a couple of major themes - the "darkness within" one, as you no doubt know already; but it's also a story about relationships - how they crumble, the longing of simpler days, and how they're rebuilt.

We see this most prominently in the relationship between Peter and Harry - the relationship has all of these beats, and in my mind it's kind of the crux of the film (although it can be easy to miss since it is kind of a crowded flick). All of it culminates in a sweet-ass team-up between the two that feels like it could have been torn from the pages of Movieverse Marvel Team-Up.

To a lesser extent, Peter and MJ have a similar arc, although there's really no "nostalgia" aspect and it primarily focuses on the "crumble." Mary Jane feels overshadowed by Spider-Man, which isn't helped by the fact that Peter always seems to make any issue about him and ignore how MJ might be feeling at a particular point. It is, quite honestly, the most interesting the relationship has ever been in the films.

Sandman's story was brief, but for the most part, emotionally resonant. Instead of making him the dim-witted goon he seems to often be portrayed as these days, the Flint Marko we see here is a man who, like so many, doesn't want to do the things he does, but feels he has no other choice if his family - namely, his daughter - is to survive. To me, it feels a bit less like the two-bit villain we're familiar with and more like the well-rounded character who eventually atoned for his sins before editorial mandate voided it.

Which brings us to Venom. Despite all of the nay-saying, Topher Grace does a commendable job at portraying Eddie as an arrogant, pretentous prick. Given the pace of the rest of the film (particularly the Harry/Peter dynamic), Brock's transformation into Venom seems a little sudden, but it works because in the film, Venom primarily serves to personify Peter's dark side (which I've always thought is when Venom is at his best) and to serve as the catalyst which brings the story to an emotional climax between the primary three characters in a sort of Ozymandian kind of way. Plus, I thought they managed to pull him off in a pretty cool way - although I thought that the "Venom face" was a bit too rare for my liking.

Spider-Man 3 doesn't take itself too seriously, and I like that. There are portions of the movie that were destined to be cheesy (in a bad way) no matter how they played it - take, for example, Peter Parker's symbiote-induced emocity. So Sam Raimi smartly plays these scenes up for laughs as opposed to playing them seriously, which no doubt would've illicted groans from the audience. Granted, there are a few moments that are intended to be serious that come off as unintentionally funny (I'm thinking Harry and the butler here), but that's been true of all the Spidey flicks so far.

Other various notes:

I thought that the team-up between Venom and Sandman near the end felt kind of rushed. It seemed apparent that they needed to rush towards a conclusion that would resolve all of the emotional conflicts, but the set-up kind of came out of nowhere.

For the most part his story was really cool and emotionally resonant, but I thought that Sandman spent a bit too much time pulling off the "sand monster" trick. It was sweet the first time, but I didn't like that he spent the final conflict of the film as a veritable "King Kong" - he even roared. Meh.

Gwen. Oh, Gwen. Your story is great, and you are quite the looker. I'm just unhappy that this one teases us with some lovin' between you and Peter, and then essentially closes the door on it. Uncool, Sam Raimi. Uncool.

I was really very wary towards the idea of Flint Marko as Uncle Ben's real murderer, and given the fact that it was revealed the way it was in the trailers and previews, I was fully expecting it to be some kind of fake-out to add to Peter's regret concerning his actions while under the symbiote's influence. However, I do like the way it ended up in the film - it was Marko, but it was fully accidental and he was intensely remorseful. It added to the sympathy of the character.

I really liked that Peter used his brains to defeat Venom, as opposed to a well-placed goblin glider or electrocution. The thing with the poles was pretty nifty, and it was kind of a cool moment when I was like, "Ah, harmonics!" It seems like these days Marvel is so hell-bent on pushing the "everyman" status of Spider-Man that they forget that he's also extremely intelligent, and it was nice to see that reflected here.

In all, I really enjoyed the movie on the first viewing. I plan on seeing it again just to make sure my mind was functioning properly, and if anything more occurs to me I'll be sure to post it.

What did you guys think? How'd you like the film?

-M

A little bit of sunshine, peeking through the clouds.

2007-05-02T20:54:00.000-06:00

In a bit of follow-up to a previous post, I stumbled upon this little gem over at CBR - the first photo of the "modern" Iron Man armor from Jon Favreau's upcoming adaptation.

Personally, I like it. I might've preferred a more "classic" suit as opposed to this one, which is derived more from recent versions. That's alright though, because it still looks pretty badass either way.

Count me in.

-M

String Theory

2007-05-01T12:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome back, Heroes.

I know, I know. Heroes came back last week, and I wholly intended to do a post then, but a little thing called real life got in the way and well, here we are.

I think it works better to do a "welcome back" post for last night's episode, Five Years Gone, anyway. .07% was a fine offering, but it really just served as a bridge into the remaining four episodes of the season.

Let me just say this - Five Years Gone rocked. Honestly, I think it could be a contender for the best episode of the season (so far) along with stand-out episodes like Homecoming, Company Man, and Parasite.

Before I go any further, I feel I should preface this with a bit of a disclaimer - I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories. "What ifs," alternate realities, possible futures (especially dystopic and oppresive ones). Generally, this is the kind of story that I would at least marginally enjoy no matter what took place; that said, I think among all that this is just a damn fine episode of Heroes.

What I really like about this one is that it doesn't get bogged down by exposition. The audience gets just enough knowledge about what transpired in the lost five years in order to understand the state of the world and the events taking place on the screen. It doesn't matter why exactly Future Peter is so damn bitter; it just matters that he is. It doesn't matter how or when Sylar managed to slice open Nathan to get to his soft and chewy center; it just matters that he did. I think a lesser writer could have easily (and understandably) fallen into the pit of trying to explain as much as possible.

With that, allow me to go into a break down about my thoughts on the episode, primarily about the Future versions of our heroes:

Future Peter Petrelli? Badass, plain and simple. He's everything that Present Peter isn't - calm, collected, in control. Watching him use the array of powers at his command with little more than a thought was pretty awesome. If I've one complaint it's that the character is a bit too bitter - I'd like to see Present Peter find a sort of a happy medium between his current self and the character we see portrayed here.

Despite badassery and swordplay, Future Hiro was really my least favorite character of the episode. Maybe it's the fact that Hiro's "Find the Sword" storyline kind of exhausted me on the character, or perhaps the Future versions of the other characters just outshined him, but I just didn't care for him all that much.

Niki was more likeable here than she has been for the entire run of the series. Perhaps it's because the character we see in Five Years Gone appears to be a nice balance between the two personalities - she's not overly bitchy and agressive (Jessica), nor is she overtly pathetic and prone to whining (Niki). It gives me something to look forward to for her character.

Likewise, I really liked what they did with Matt here - he was slick, kinda badass, and confident. I generally like Present Day Matt, but it's hard to deny that the man can get just a little bit grating.

I think big twist - that President Nathan Petrelli was in fact Sylar in disguise - was probably the most interesting part of the episode for me (even though I was a little disappointed; I thought that the previews for the episode kind of gave it away). I kind of wish there was more time, because I sort of would like to see this explored a bit more - although I think a good portion of it is more or less just a question of how Candace's powers work. I mean, can you keep up the illusion indefinitely, or do you have to recharge once in a while? What about when he's sleeping?

The biggest disappointment, I think, was that the show continued in it's grand tradition of giving us tragically short confrontations between Sylar and Peter. Since we learned exactly how Peter's powers work, I've been itching for an all-out superpowered slugfest between the two characters. I'm desperately hoping that they're building up all of this anticipation for an enormous blowout in the season finale. Alas, if we aren't treated to something awesome in the next three weeks, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Again, perhaps the best episode of the season. I am consistently pleased with the way this show presents itself - there's logical follow-through, it doesn't waste too much time, and it doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence (usually). Where 24 has burned me this season, Heroes has helped keep my love for the medium of serialized storytelling intact. I'm more than a little stoked for the rest of the season.

Anyone else watching? If so, what're your thoughts on this and other episodes?

-M

Gadzooks! (Shameless Self-Promotion)

2007-04-28T00:30:00.000-06:00

Many of you are familiar with the bloggers extraordinaire over at Legion of Doom, as well as the weekly feature they run, entitled Books of Doom.

Likewise, many of you may also be aware that starting this week, the Legion has decided to let a weekly rotating "celebrity" blogger in on the fun.

I am humbled to say that the first of such individuals chosen is myself - one who, I might add, is hardly deserving of such an honor.

So, if you're so inclined, head on over to LoD and see what the Legion and I have to say about this week's Book of Doom, Fallen Son: Avengers.

Thanks for reading.

/self-promotion

-M

It doesn't really live up to its name

2007-04-23T10:54:00.000-06:00

In my mind, Pathfinder kind of had a lot (okay, a little) going for it. It had kind of a cool concept, and it looked like there would be some nice action and hopefully a well-written story.

Unfortunately, only two of those three are true for this film.

Pathfinder tries to be one of those action movies that makes you go "OMFG THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN" with cool action scenes - the kind of movie that you watch and leave feeling more masculine than you have in your entire life. While there are a few really cool action sequences, it's nothing that hasn't been done better in other films - Lord of the Rings and 300 in particular. If this movie was just a few months earlier (or later), it might have more of an impact stylistically, but coming so close after the release (and insane success) of 300, it really just looks like its aping the style of a superior film.

There's also not much reason to care for the characters. Most of the characters are tragically stereotypical Native Americans or Vikings, and those that aren't are really just boring or ill-defined as characters. This is most true, unfortunately, of the main character, Ghost (played by Karl Urban of Doom infamy - and it should also be noted that the character's name is never once mentioned in the film; none of the main characters' names are, in fact). He's an "action hero" torn straight out of a 90's action flick - he's really just there to look pretty, do cool stunts, and not much else. I think he has literally four lines throughout the entire film - the rest of the time, he's either chopping up Vikings or looking conflicted. There's really no reason for the viewer to be at all invested in the characters or what they're going through - even though the film DOES try - if only half-heartedly.

The narrative - if it can be considered such - of Pathfinder is also poorly done. Pathfinder begins as a tale of revenge and it's ill consequences (Ghost spends the first half of the movie hunting and being hunted by Vikings for the slaughter of his village), but halfway through the film - if it can be considered such - it changes gears without warning (the main characters are captured and must devise a way to escape while also preventing the Vikings from finding another village to slaughter). It's fairly disconcerting and really just serves to make the movie feel forty minutes longer than it should be.

I doubt many people were really rushing out to see this, but if you were at all considering it as an option, do yourself a favor, save your money, and see Spider-Man 3 a second (or third or fourth) time come next week.

That's all for today. This is Matt, signing off - watching bad movies so you don't have to.

-M

World War Whatever

2007-04-18T21:08:00.000-06:00

I was tempted to pick up the "World War III" titles today, but after a quick flip-through each of the three companion titles, I decided against it. From what I'm reading around the blogosphere, I made the right choice.

From an outsider's perspective, it appears that "World War III" was nothing more than another big event in a long line of big events that are, for the most part, disappointments.

Then again, I didn't actually read it, so I want to hear your thoughts - was DC suffering from a bit of Civil War-itis or is this just another example of comic fans being ridiculously hard to please?

-M

What I'm reading - 4/18/07

2007-04-18T13:48:00.000-06:00

Very small week, which is fine by me since I'm broke. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Justice League of America #8: The first part of the JLA/JSA (and apparently, now LSH) crossover, "The Lightning Saga." I suppose it works well as a set-up for the rest of the storyline, but other than that I'm mostly indifferent to this one. I suppose I can say that it's better than last issue, but then again, I don't think that's that difficult. There are some cool scenes here - I kind of like the training session, and I think it's cool that every now and then Wildcat (the cool one, not the lame knock-off) and Mr. Terrific might just show up at the Hall and whip people into shape. All that aside, though, it still just kinda feels like a reason for the JLA and the JSA to be in the same place at the same time to justify the team-up. To me, this is kind of one of those issues that you can't really look at until you see how the rest of the story shapes up. I guess we'll see.

P.S. I think my LCS might hate me, just a little bit. Out of the eight issues of JLA to be released so far, I think maybe one of them has not been the Turner cover. Why, LCS, why? Why are you such a cruel mistress?

Sensational Spider-Man #37: I don't know how Aguirre-Sacasa does it, but Sensational Spider-Man is consistently the best "mainstream" Spider-book on the stands right now. Part of that, I think, is the fact that this book doesn't try to be more than it is - the last half-year or so, Amazing has been nigh-unreadable without the latest issue of Civil War as a guidebook, and Friendly Neighborhood has been simultaneously trying to both tie up the loose ends of "The Other" and get out of its shadow since the crossover ended. And all this time, Aguirre-Sacasa has just been telling fun little stories that pay attention to continuity and the current state of the Marvel U., but aren't enslaved by it. This latest story is no different - it's not essential reading, and it's not "OMG GOING TO CHANGE PETER PARKER'S LIFE FOREVER," but it is a neat, well-written story that you can come into with a minimal amount of knowledge and get more or less the same enjoyment out of as the guy who has a doctorate in Marvel. If anybody at Marvel is reading - snatch this guy up and get him on ASM, stat.

Ultimate Spider-Man #108: A solid issue, although I think the first two chapters of this "Ultimate Knights" story were stronger. I've never much minded Ultimate Moon Knight's wacky inner monologue before, but something about in this issue seemed...I don't know, off? I can't really put my finger on it.

I'm also kind of morally opposed to the idea of Ultimate Ronin. When a character has yet to be firmly or satisfyingly established in the Marvel Universe proper, I think it might be a bit too early to "Ultimize" him/her/it/whatver. I don't even know of too many people who like the character as a concept, so it's not like people have been clamoring for Ultimate Ronin.

This arc has been pretty solid so far - then again, I was saying that about "Ultimate Clone Saga" right before it all went to shit, so I guess we'll see. So far, I think this arc is standing head and shoulders about "Clone Saga" for the simple fact that we're actually seeing Spider-Man in Ultimate Spider-Man.

Other than the quibbles, this issue wasn't bad. Solid writing, some decent art, and a pretty good fight scene. If Bendis can keep it up, I might not make #110 my last issue of this book after all...

A small week, and nothing really groundbreaking one way or another. I didn't love anything and I didn't absolutely hate anything...a very "meh" week.

What'd you guys think?

-M

Queen of the Tards

2007-04-17T11:26:00.000-06:00

Today, CBR reported about some internal strife with the cast and crew concerning the possible production of Spider-Man 4. Here's the story as they published it:

Director Sam Raimi talked to Entertainment Weekly about the possibility of directing "The Hobbit" ("If Peter [Jackson] didn't want to do it, and Bob [Shaye, chairman of New Line Pictures] wanted me to do it -- and they were both okay with me picking up the reins -- that would be great. I love the book. It's maybe a more kid-friendly story than the others"), but even the rumor of Raimi taking on something so time consuming and leaving the franchise in other hands sent actress Kirsten Dunst into a tizzy. "It's disrespectful to the whole team, I think, to do that," Dunst said. "And audiences aren't stupid. It'd be a big flop without me, Tobey, or Sam. That would really not be the smartest move. But they know that already. [Sony chief] Amy Pascal would never do that." Sony's President of Production Matt Tolmach laid down the law: "Listen, we're making 'Spider-Man 4.' Our hope, dream, and intention is to do it with Sam. But I don't have a crystal ball."

Man, I really dislike Kirsten Dunst - as an actor and, from what little I've seen, as a person. It seems like every time she opens her mouth - especially concerning the Spider-Man flicks - she says something ridiculous that gets her into trouble.

And seriously? The films would flop without you (or Tobey or Sam)? Doesn't that seem a little bit egotistical, you think? To be honest, I've been hoping Mary Jane would bite the bullet in this one simply because she's played by Kirsten Dunst. Somehow, I honestly doubt that a lot of people are buying tickets to Spider-Man 3 simply because of the fact that you're in it.

Tobey and Sam? Yep. Sam Raimi is a pretty good director, and Tobey hasn't done a bad job as Peter Parker. Without them, Spider-Man 4 probably won't do as well or be as strong of a film. But Kirsten Dunst? Completely expendable.

And I understand being pissed off about Sam possibly moving on after this one, because that essentially means your "era" of Spider-Man flicks (and a semi-regular paycheck) are over, but you don't go blabbing that shit all over town about a guy you claim to admire and respect. Show some restraint, woman!

I knew we couldn't get to the premiere of another Spider-Man flick without her saying something incredibily ridiculous and retarded. With any luck, maybe she won't come back for the fourth go round (oh God, please oh please oh please...).

Bah. Rant = over.

-M

He lives! He walks! He conquers!

2007-04-14T12:28:00.000-06:00

I'm a little bit behind the curve with this one. I hope you can forgive me for that; I was in Chicago for a couple of days and alas, I was separated from my beloved blogosphere.

A day or so ago, the lovely folks over at Superhero Hype! broke this little bit of juicy info: the first look at Iron Man's "Mark One" suit of armor for Jon Favreau's big-screen adaptation of the character, to be released in the not-too-distant future.

Please allow me to say this - sweet ass. This image is beautiful and realistic. Looking at that, it doesn't seem so absurd that a billionaire playboy would climb into that baby to fight communists.

And it's damn faithful to the source material, to boot. If anyone needs a point of reference, let's take a look at Iron Man's first appearance in Tales of Suspense #39:

Thank you, Mr. Favreau. Thank you. As long as you can avoid depicting Tony Stark as a fascist douchebag, I think you might have a solid adaptation on your hands.

-M

The Third Day

2007-04-07T23:06:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to take a second and wish any and all of you out there reading a Happy Easter, or Passover, or whatever it is you may celebrate this time of the year.

And if you don't celebrate anything, well - at least have a damn fine Sunday.

See you folks next week. Hopefully I'll have something worth posting.

See ya then.

-M

Batman of the Future

2007-04-07T13:06:00.000-06:00

I've been watching quite a bit of Batman Beyond lately, as I recently procured a copy of the Season 3 DVD and I've been playing a bit of catch up.

And as I've been watching these assorted episodes, I'm remembering just how much I really love this show.

I've seen it get a whole lot of crap from fans, but I don't think it deserves the flack.

I like that Terry McGuiness is at once Dick Grayson and Peter Parker. On the one hand, you have a young man with a tragic past, taken in by the Batman in order to learn to control and direct his anger and walk the path of the hero (a journey that isn't really completed, in my mind, until the JLU episode Epilogue). On the other hand, you have a teenage superhero born of tragedy still dealing with the same hassles as any other teen - bullies, relationships, friends, and grades.

I also admire that Bruce Timm and the rest of the producers didn't let the show fall into the same pattern as a lot of other "future versions of current superheroes" do - a Batman of the future must also spawn a Joker of the future, a Two-Face of the future, etc. Timm and the rest occasionally ressurrected old villains (Mr. Freeze and the Joker, both of which were superb stories) but for the most part they made (mostly) original villains for better or worse, and I think that's to be commended.

And honestly? Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought that the outfit just looks badass.

I've always thought that the Batman Beyond concept could work well as a monthly ongoing. I know there've been some Batman Beyond Adventures books, but I'm talking a more mature treatment. Sort of an Elseworlds/MC2-style alternate future book that's not restricted to an "all ages" format, so you can get a little bit darker and a little bit mature with the material.

I know it's a pipe-dream, but I think with the right kind of writer it could be a great book.

What I really want to know though, is what you guys think of Batman Beyond. Am I on the money here? Or is my childhood nostalgia clouding my vision?

-M

I love you, Buffy Summers

2007-03-29T22:29:00.000-06:00

Before I hit up my LCS last week, I had gone a good six weeks or so without picking up my books, if not more.

Sometimes that happens, after all. Bills and other expenses pile up, and soon you just can't make it out to the shop.

So I'm really late in actually getting around to reading some of these books. I think I may share thoughts on a majority of them at some point (hopefully soon) but for now I'm just going to go with one, and it's pretty damn late, but it's one that's close to my heart.

I grew up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Many a Tuesday night during my rough and awkward high school years were spent in front of the telley, watching the latest Buffy epic from the folks at Mutant Enemy unfold.

To the rest of my friends, I was what you might call a Buffyverse connoiseur. I still remember the name of the guy Faith accidentally killed in Season 3's Bad Girls (Deputy Mayor Allan Finch, by the by). I know the general history of Spike, Angel(us), Drusilla, and Darla. For a time, I could recite the name of each episode (of both shows) in order. When Buffy died at the end of The Gift, I don't think I cried, but the next morning I saw the world just a little bit differently.

I think it's safe to say that I was obsessed.

I can't pinpoint an exact reason I was so in love with Buffy Anne Summers and her adventures. They were intelligent. They were funny. They were grand, but personal. They were dramatic and compelling. And whatever otherworldy tomfoolery was going on, the characters were real.

The show had amazing, believable characters - even villains. As time went on, these characters learned and grew and...evolved while remaining the same at their core (as we so often do).

I think it's safe to say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is what introduced and fostered my love of serialized storytelling. The idea of a story that didn't wrap up by the time the credits rolled, but instead moved on to the next episode (and the next and so on), featuring the same characters growing and changing, was something I'd not encountered at the time.

Without Buffy, I doubt I would care about good storytelling in general - and I definitely wouldn't care about comic books.

When Buffy ended in 2003, I was saddened. The kind of sad that you feel when you part with an old friend and you know you may never see them again. Watching the final scene with the survivors of Sunnydale staring in awe at the crater that was once their home felt like the end of a journey - not just for the characters, but for me as well. I was sad. But it felt...right. It felt like it was time for the characters to move on.

But that doesn't mean I wanted it to stop.

When Joss and Dark Horse announced a year or so ago that Buffy was coming back in comic book form, I was stoked. I've been eagerly anticipating this day for a year, and now it's here.

I've never been a fan of the Buffy comics. To me, they've always felt derivative at best and just plain bad at worst. Even IDW's Angel books, which I've been slowly but surely coming around to as the quality has increased, have left me feeling underwhelmed. Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the art. Maybe it's the fact that part of the thing that works so well about the Buffyverse is the actors portraying the characters. I don't know what, but there was always something.

I don't have any of that here.

Right out of the gate, I feel like I'm home. The characters - well, Buffy and Xander and Dawn, as they're the only "regulars" we see here - sound pitch perfect, which makes sense considering who's at the helm.

Joss smartly takes what happened at the end of Chosen (as well as the limitless budget of the comic book medium) and runs with it. Our girl Buffy is no longer a girl taking down evil one danger at a time - she leads an army now. She's in the big leagues and she's got the artillery to prove it.

This issue feels like the first act of a television script, but that's okay. It's a first issue and there's bound to be a lot of set-up. I'm really loving a lot of the story elements we're introduced to here - the aforementioned Buffy army, Xander as de facto Watcher, and giant Dawn (wtf?) to name a few.

I think my favorite, though, is the involvement of the United States government. I was always a fan of the Initiative from Season 4, even though a lot of people disliked it. And it makes sense that something as enormous as the destruction of an entire town would draw in some government attention. I'm very interested to see where this goes.

Georges Jeanty's art, as you can see, is beautiful. 'Nuff said.

My only real gripe here is Amy. I imagine we'll get her motivation for wanting to get rid of Buffy sooner or later, but as it stands, Amy has never been the "supervillainess" type. The worst thing she ever really did was turn Willow into Warren (The Killer in Me - ugh, what a bad episode), and even then that was more Willow's subconsious, if I recall. And that was really about as bad as it got - before that, all she really did was hang around and be a rat and get into magic trouble with Willow in Season 6. I guess we'll see; I imagine it has something to do with this "boyfriend."

Despite any misgivings I may've had at first, I think it's fairly safe to say that I'm hooked. Thank you, Mr. Whedon.

Welcome back, Buffy. I've missed you.

-M

January 22, 1950 - March 25, 2007

2007-03-29T00:18:00.000-06:00

There's been a lot of hubbub the past few days about the death of some big-time Batman artist, Marshall Rogers.

I'm not familiar with Rogers' work. I've never read any books drawn by him (that I'm aware of), and honestly, before news of his death by heart attack hit I'd never even heard of the man. Quite simply, he was before my time.

To be completely blunt, aside from the usual "man, that sucks" feeling you get when you hear about death in general, Rogers' passing didn't much affect me.

But then I stumbled across this image posted on just about every blog on my blogroll:

I've written before that I don't really have an eye for art - at least, not any more than any other Joe Shmoe. But there's some art that's just so good that you'd be blind not to take notice.

That menacing face, the posture - this is an amazing Joker.

But what really gets it for me is the sound effects.

Take a look at any of Rogers' art and you can tell that the man had a knack for clever use of a sound effect. Take that image of the Joker, for example - the laughter swirling around him, like smoke. Pure genius.

Everything else I've seen from the man has been equally as stellar. It's unfortunate that he's gone, and it's unfortunate that I've only become aware of his fantastic body of work after the fact.

I don't really know how to end one of these things to be honest, so I offer words written by comic book historian Scott Tipton, who dedicated his latest column to Rogers...

"You can't sum up a man's career with just a few images, and it almost seems shameful to try. All I wanted to do here was give you a taste of how talented Marshall Rogers was, in the hopes that you'll be inspired to read it for yourself. Life is short, and there's never time enough, and in the end, all that remains is the work one leaves behind. In that sense, Rogers' legacy is a proud one."

-M

Busy busy busy

2007-03-28T12:42:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to take a quick second to apologize to all of you (well, all three of you or so) for the lack of a substantial post of any kind over the last few days. This weekend has been really hectic. I've been working, and when I haven't been working I've been helping to finish the newest edition of the Valley Forge (my college paper) ready to go to print.

Things are starting to slow down though, so hopefully I'll have a minute to whip something up either tonight or tomorrow.

See ya then!

-M

Heroes in a half-shell.

2007-03-24T00:55:00.000-06:00

Disclaimer: As I write this, it's nearing 2 AM and I'm tired as all whatever - please excuse any lameitude that may or may not follow.

So I saw TMNT earlier tonight. I've got kind of mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, it was a really enjoyable flick - it was damned fun to watch. The CGI was fantastic - undoubtedly one of the best computer-generated pictures ever - and all of the action was fluid and well coreographed.

The tone was an interesting blend of the semi-seriousness of the original live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the more wacky cartoon fun of the old TV show. The characterization was spot-on, not that it's overly difficult to handle - Leonardo is responsible, Donatello is smart, Raphael is tough, and Michellangelo is the goofball.

In short - as a fan of the cartoon in my childhood, I couldn't help but enjoy the sheer semi-mindless fun that the film contains.

But as an amatuer film critic and overall fan of decent storytelling, there were some things that left me feeling underwhelmed.

Despite the amazing CGI, it helped in making me feel as though I was watching a video game - they were advanced enough to make me go "wow," but also cartoon-y enough for me to feel like I should've had a controller or something (and my girlfriend keeps reminding me that Splinter closely resembles Chester Cheeto). It reminded me of the Coca-Cola ad that spoofs Grand Theft Auto; you know the one. The plot itself kind of feels like one out of an action game - the expository scenes mostly serve to push the Turtles to the next "level" of kicking ninjas and monsters in the face.

And as an extreme continuity freak, I couldn't help but nitpick over which "timeline" the film takes place in. It seems like it may be intended to be a semi-sequel to the live action flicks, but I suppose it could work in the cartoon-verse as well - it's only established that at some point in the past, Shredder was defeated. I suppose it could work interchangeably for whatever timeline you want to shoehorn it into should you decide to do so, or perhaps it can be written off as a "psuedo-sequel" in the way that Superman Returns was. I can't complain on this one too much because it doesn't actually detract from any enjoyment of the film itself - it's more of a nitpick on my part.

So I'm trying to decide exactly how I feel about the damn thing. I don't know - I enjoyed the hell out of it, but the plot really left me hungry for more. Maybe I expected too much?

What do YOU guys think?

-M

O Bagley, Where Art Thou?

2007-03-22T23:18:00.000-06:00

I found this piece of art accompanying a feature over at Wizard's site. It is, if you aren't already aware, an imaginary battle between the original Avengers line-up and the Justice League from Mark Waid's JLA: Year One mini-series, as depicted by Mark Bagley.

Now I'm not what you would call qualified in any way to critique art, but I know what I like and I like Mark Bagley.

I wouldn't say this is Bagley's best work - his mid-to-late-90's stuff on Amazing Spider-Man was better if you ask me - but in my humble opinion (which is my own and is in no way professional) pretty damn good.

I wanted to post it because it reminded me how good of an artist Bagley can be. Lately he's just doing Ultimate Spider-Man, but the art is so damn inconsistent - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's okay, and sometimes it's just pooey. You can look at the book and tell he's ready to skedaddle.

So yeah - nothing in-depth today. I just wanted to throw up that li'l piece of art and discuss it a bit..

As always, I ask: thoughts?

-M

Random things that I think at work when it gets slow.

2007-03-21T21:25:00.001-06:00

I've yet to see 300.

Does that somehow make me less of a man?

Discuss.

-M

Some Assembly Required.

2007-03-21T08:57:00.000-06:00

I've a bone to pick with New Avengers.

I noticed before I sat down to write this that there's a post over at Legion of Doom that says some pretty similar things as I'm about to. So I'm linking there because, well, it's probably a better post than this one is going to end up becoming and hey, I've gotta give credit where credit is due.

Where was I? Oh yeah, New Avengers. Bone to pick.

When the New Avengers first debuted back in '04, I remember thinking to myself, It's a good line-up, but it's not the Avengers. They should just take Cap and Iron Man out of the equation and re-name the team the New Defenders or make up a new name. Throw Daredevil in there for posterity.

But alas, this did not happen. Cap and Iron Man stuck around, so I shrugged my shoulders and went along my merry. After all, so long as Cap and/or Iron Man are on the team, you can get away with calling any team the Avengers, am I right?

But here we are, in March of '07. The good Captain is no more, and Iron Man has found himself with a bad case of fascism and is too busy heading up this new Mighty Avengers team to be bothered hanging out with his old New Avengers buddies.

So now the New Avengers have a line-up consisting of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Dr. Strange, Wolverine, and some new Ronin. This "new" team, being Anti-Reg, is essentially made up of outlaws.

I dunno, I just don't look at that team and think "Avengers." Honestly, I think Marvel should've just launched a new team book with this line-up under a different name - the aforementioned New Defenders or some other new title. This way, you've still got your cash cow team (i.e. a team with Spider-Man and Wolverine on it) and you have any added sales that a new #1 issue brings around. Meanwhile, New Avengers can either continue with the new line-up from Mighty Avengers, rename itself Mighty Avengers, or be canceled altogether (for another new #1).

But I digress. If Marvel wants to call this new team The New Avengers, I guess I can't do anything about it. I don't read either of the books except when I happen to come across a trade at Borders or something, so I can't really comment since I'm not actually spending any cash on either book.

Enough about that, though - I've more bones to pick.

If Marvel is so insistent on having two Avengers books - and the possibility of more, what with Civil War's 50 State Initiative in place - why on God's green and bountiful Earth is Bendis writing them both?

Now, don't get me wrong. Bendis can spin a great yarn. Daredevil? Great stuff. Ultimate Spider-Man? It's pretty sweet when it wants to be (which is to say not lately). But I don't know if he's so great that he should be writing two Avengers books. At once.

Look at it this way. So you've got two Avengers books, right? Doesn't it make sense - logically, that is - to have two different creative teams? Surely there's someone else in the Marvel bullpen who'd be itching to write an Avengers book - and said writers are probably just as qualified (if not more) than Bendis to do so. Seems a little bit fair to spread the love, does it not?

Some of you may frequent comic book message boards. If you don't, you should probably check one out sometime - it can be pretty amusing. Anyway, if you scour one of 'em long enough, it's only a matter of time before you see someone post something along the lines of, "OMG BENDIS SUX SO HARD AND MARVEL LET HIM DO WHATEVER HE WANTZ " (note: the name "Bendis" is sometimes interchangeable with "Millar," especially nowadays).

Obviously this isn't the case - Bendis has some kind of editorial barriers - but when I see stuff like this, where you've got one guy writing two high-profile books of the same "franchise," I can't help but wonder if the fanboys are right, if even a little bit.

I wonder what would happen if someone like Bendis were to write two or three X-Men books at once? If I were an X-fan (at least one who picked up the titles with anything resembling regularity) I would be pretty miffed.

I dunno, it bugs me. Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass here, though. Thoughts, anyone?

-M