With the last post I mentioned the name of writers I liked who also happened to be the biggest names in comics right now. I'm continuing that list and admittedly most of the other names are also big names in comics whom I really like.
Brian K Vaughan
Most Famous Works: Y - The Last Man, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, Ex Machina
Claims to Fame: Not much beyond quality storytelling. He did escape the stigma of being confused with Brian Michael Bendis. That's what you get for being a bald American writer named Brian.
Big Mistakes: None yet, but I do find some of the pop culture references in his works distracting in that they can really derail a conversation and it feels like Brian's mentioning stuff he's personally interested in.
Style: I can't really describe him as having a single particular style, though he works very well with the serial format. He's great at both creating cliffhangers and hinting at things to come in future stories so that even if the current story doesn't press all the right buttons, the next one looks promising. Vaughan is wise enough to keep things unpredictable, yet logical. There are lots of series that are well written but has plot twists that one can see a mile a way, but Vaughan manages to surprise with every story. He's also really good at coming up with premises for series. Y - The Last Man examines the age old hypothetical question "what if I was the last male on Earth" and examines how women have learned to survive in the face of the end of mankind (so to speak). Runaways is a subversive teen hero book about rebellious youth warring with their super-villain parents. Ex Machina is about a super-hero who can speak to machines who ends up giving up crime fighting to do greater good as the new mayor of New York City. Brian K Vaughan takes already great ideas and does a very good job exploring the possibilities within the series. His characters are also usually pretty likeable, which always makes a series better.
Most Recent Works: He's finishing up his run on Runaways and is finishing Ex Machina and Y - the Last Man. I really don't know what he's planning beyond that.
Kurt Busiek
Most Famous Works: Marvels, Astro City, Conan, Superman, Thunderbolts
Claims to Fame: Showing readers that powerfully emotional and human stories can be told with classic super-heroes. Plus, he made the Avengers and Conan popular again, and catching readers completely off guard with the surprise ending to Thunderbolts #1.
Big Mistakes: He's had quite a few forgettable stories and created some very forgettable characters (Triathalon and Silverclaw). Also, the epic Kang Dynasty had as many flaws as it had strengths.
Style: His style of writing is old fashioned in an age of meta-storying that has become popular in the post modern era. Most of his super-hero stuff is classic hero versus villain storytelling, though he does it quite well. When he's on the right book he can really bring out the best in the heroes and villains. In Thunderbolts, a series about a group of villains pretnding to be heroes as part of a world domination plot, become quickly likeable and there is a pleasure in seeing these selfish villains reluctantly learning what it means to be a hero. His best stuff, however, are his slice of life stories that take place within a super-hero filled world. The best examples of this are Marvels, in which a reporter chronicles the Marvel universe in through the Golden and Silver Ages, and Astro City which focuses on what it is like living in a city full of heroes and villains. His stories are often quite poignant and rather than trying to make the world "realistic" (which was popular at the time), he's more concerned with having believable characters in a crazy and unbelieveable world. Recently, however, he has expanded into sword and sorcery type books like Conan and Aquaman, which he is doing a great job on, bringing an epic feel to books I never thought I'd care about.
Most Recent Works: Superman, Aquaman, Astro City: the Dark Age
Warren Ellis
Most Famous Work: Transmetropolitan, The Authority, Planetary, Fell, Desolation Jones
Claims to Fame: Bringing the edge back to super-hero comics and sci-fi in general, though sometimes that can be a bit of a mixed blessing. He also manages to explain sci-fi concepts in manners that are both clever and carry the illusion of pluasiblity.
Big Mistakes: I wouldn't call him mistakes, per se, but even Warren admits that some of the early books he wrote for Marvel are not that good.
Style: Warren Ellis is what I would call a cynical optimist. Or maybe an optimistic cynic. It's like what Morgan Freeman's character says in the movie Se7en: 'Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part'. Warren Ellis' work shows just how horrible, hypocritical, and humanity can be and how incredibly unfair the world can be, but he also often shows that there is beauty in the world, sometimes hidden even in the mundane and that there are at least a few good things humanity can accomplish. And he also tends to show that there are causes worth fighting for, but no one says you have to fight fairly for them. It doesn't mean that the means justify the ends all the time. It just depends on the means and the ends. He is primarily a sci-fi writer, though he has written mysteries and a few fantasies as well. As I said before, he's very good at constructing and explaining the sci-fi elements in his works, but what really impresses me is that he is able to explain these things while retaining the sense of mystery and wonder that would often be lost or dulled by explaination. He's also known for his absolutely wicked sense of humour (he's known for offing characters in warped and bizarre ways) as well as a strong sense of justice that most of his characters have.
Most Recent Works: Nextwave, newuniversal, Fell.
Next time, if I don't come up with a better idea for an article, I'll probably introduce some of my favourite artists, who, in this case, while popular, are not quite the huge megastars (for the most part) that these writers are.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Styles upon Styles
I was thinking of doing a blog entry on comic books that would make great video games (since we started playing Ultimate Alliance for the Wii) but talking with Nathan of Sunday and last night about comics and writers that we like and ones that he hasn't tried yet made me feel like properly introducing the writers and artists that I really like. Now they're not all perfect, but they all have something that makes them unique and capable of telling great stories. So here's my list of today's top writers.
Alan Moore
Most Famous Works: The Watchmen, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, Promethea, From Hell
Claims to Fame: He rewrote the book on comic storytelling and ignited the "British Invasion" in which DC comics started staking out great English-speaking European writers to work for DC (and those writers ended up becoming superstars in their own right) and became one of the most respected comic writers of all time.
Big Mistakes: Not a lot really, although dealing with DC after he said he wouldn't ended up biting him in the ass. He and Frank Miller, unfortunately did unintentionally usher in the "grim
n gritty" fad in comic, which both writers sort of regret. See Moore was writing a lot of very dark super-hero books that poked holes in the usually optimistic genre and a lot of other series tried to do the same thing. Unfortunately most of these imitators were missing the heart, the intelligence and the interesting characters that made his books great.
Style: Though many of the writer on the list can be quite versatile, Alan Moore is among the most. He gained popularity through his dark super-hero-related books in which cliches and concepts that were taken for granted are scrutinized, as is the act of being a super-hero. He also explores themes of power (and those who wield it), political philosophy and human nature and how super-humanity would be effected by these things (and vice versa). A lot of his super-books also have recurring mystical themes as well Many involve protagonists who die (or are "destroyed" in a more metaphorical fashion) and come back like a phoenix from the ashes, having to relearn who they are and what they are capable of. Lessons often take story arc and culminate in a big threat were the character must show what he/she has learned. Though his hero-related books grab the most attention, he has also written quiet subtle books like Birth Caul and A Small Killing that tell the kind of stories nobody else tells in comics. One of the most famous examples of this is when he fell away from the mainstream and started writing the meticulously researched From Hell, which tells of the Jack the Ripper murders and the supposed conspiracy surrounding them. Interestingly much of the series starts building up a strong case for it and the final issue seems to imply a case against both the existence of a conspiracy and exploiting such tragedies (the way he has done through the series). In the nineties and 2000's he's almost turned his back on writing dark hero books and has focused on more classic and pulp style hero books. His made his return to mainstream comics with Supreme in which he writes his version of Superman, not having to worry about editorial interference with his vision of an Icon. He made an even bigger splash with ABC (America's Best Comics) where he writes action/adventure books in an attempt to lead by example that there are great new things to do with the pulp/hero genre. With this he mixes both retro and contemporary styles in a fashion where you can tell silly and serious stories at the same time. ABC allowed him to do comedy, drama, adventure and tell all kinds of fun stories. Unfortunately a bad deal with DC caused him to leave ABC though he has given the OK for DC to have certain characters to have new stories, the only exception being League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which he took with him).
Most Recent Works: His latest works include the final book he's done for DC and the last League book publish by DC: the Black Dossier. He also published a long in the works project called Lost Girls, a story that proves that pornography can be art.
Neil Gaiman
Most Famous Works: Sandman, The Books of Magic, 1602
Claims to Fame: One of the biggest names to come out of the British Invasion, Neil Gaiman was one of the first writers to get his own American ongoing series with a complete ending, rather than having the series go on until sales could no longer support it, paving the way for other ongoing series with full planned endings and the like. That book, Sandman, also was the leading book when DC launched Vertigo, it's imprint aimed at mature readers.
Big Mistakes: Gaiman's lucky in that he hasn't really made any huge mistakes and seems to have made nothing but friends in the industry and beyond. Heck there was recently a CD released centered all around him. But I guess that writing for Todd McFarlane proved to be a big mistake and they have had a pretty shitty relationship since. I don't know if his Spawn related stories are any good, but Spawn is bad in general.
Style: Gaiman's style is to tell stories in the form of epics, fairy tales and myths. In fact, most of Gaiman's stories revolve around the art of storytelling and the importance of myth and archetypes in all of their forms. That's actually what Sandman, Gaiman's most popular series, is all about. Gaiman is a fantasy writer in general and most stories include actual myths, legends and stories and often involve how they interact with contemporary society.
Most Recent Works: While he writes lots of novels he's slowed down quite a bit in his comic writing, but he still does it. His current project involves the old Jack Kirby comic The Eternals, about space gods who have forgotten who they are and are secretly living as humans waiting to be reawakened. He was also supposed to write the return of Thor but plans changed with a story called Civil War. Thor will now return at someone else's hands but Neil Gaiman's original explanations for his return may be worked in.
Grant Morrison
Most Famous Works: The Invisibles, New X-Men, JLA, Animal Man, We3
Claims to Fame: Creating comics stranger and more experimental than anyone else was doing, being one of the most innovative writers around, and re-invigorating classic characters.
Big Mistakes: Skrull Kill Krew. He's had a few misses but even his misses have something salvageable but Skrull Kill Krew was written by him and Mark Miller for beer money and it was written while they were drinking. Heavily.
Style: Grant Morrison's work has lots of counter-cultural leanings and often questions the nature of reality. With his work on Doom Patrol, he started writing the series by ear and including all the crazy ideas he could fit into it. Some stories were great, others impenetrable. Disliking the grim n gritty "realistic" direction comics were heading in and decided to go against the grain. Though he certainly wrote some dark books, it wasn't in the vein of books like Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen, but rather he followed his own style. He did play with the "realistic" approach in his first major series Animal Man in a more upbeat way: The title character wears a jacket so he has a plkace for his wallet and keys and he often has to by milk after a super-battle for his family. He is a likeable guy who has to balance his goofy super-hero life with his mundane but happy family life in the real world. A lot of his books involve reality and the thin fourth wall between creation and creator (most noticably in Animal Man). His super-hero books are also a mix of traditional super-hero wackiness (Grant doesn't shy away from the sillier ideas and in fact seems to relish in them) and some clever ideas. Grant has crazy ideas but they always end up making a strange sort of sense. He created such great ideas as the idea of mutant culture (think a cross between the flamboyant gay culture, the return to Africa movement as well as other cultures), a woman with 64 personalities that each have a super-power and the idea that Joker isn't insane, but rather supersane and isn't tied down to any one identity, philosophy or ethical code.
Most Recent Work: Currently he's writing 52 and just finished his epic Seven Soldiers of Victory which includes 7 interconnected but individual mini-series.
I'd write about more writers but I'm tired right now, so I'll probably just wait a while before writing about any more. But there are indeed more European people.
Alan Moore
Most Famous Works: The Watchmen, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, Promethea, From Hell
Claims to Fame: He rewrote the book on comic storytelling and ignited the "British Invasion" in which DC comics started staking out great English-speaking European writers to work for DC (and those writers ended up becoming superstars in their own right) and became one of the most respected comic writers of all time.
Big Mistakes: Not a lot really, although dealing with DC after he said he wouldn't ended up biting him in the ass. He and Frank Miller, unfortunately did unintentionally usher in the "grim
n gritty" fad in comic, which both writers sort of regret. See Moore was writing a lot of very dark super-hero books that poked holes in the usually optimistic genre and a lot of other series tried to do the same thing. Unfortunately most of these imitators were missing the heart, the intelligence and the interesting characters that made his books great.
Style: Though many of the writer on the list can be quite versatile, Alan Moore is among the most. He gained popularity through his dark super-hero-related books in which cliches and concepts that were taken for granted are scrutinized, as is the act of being a super-hero. He also explores themes of power (and those who wield it), political philosophy and human nature and how super-humanity would be effected by these things (and vice versa). A lot of his super-books also have recurring mystical themes as well Many involve protagonists who die (or are "destroyed" in a more metaphorical fashion) and come back like a phoenix from the ashes, having to relearn who they are and what they are capable of. Lessons often take story arc and culminate in a big threat were the character must show what he/she has learned. Though his hero-related books grab the most attention, he has also written quiet subtle books like Birth Caul and A Small Killing that tell the kind of stories nobody else tells in comics. One of the most famous examples of this is when he fell away from the mainstream and started writing the meticulously researched From Hell, which tells of the Jack the Ripper murders and the supposed conspiracy surrounding them. Interestingly much of the series starts building up a strong case for it and the final issue seems to imply a case against both the existence of a conspiracy and exploiting such tragedies (the way he has done through the series). In the nineties and 2000's he's almost turned his back on writing dark hero books and has focused on more classic and pulp style hero books. His made his return to mainstream comics with Supreme in which he writes his version of Superman, not having to worry about editorial interference with his vision of an Icon. He made an even bigger splash with ABC (America's Best Comics) where he writes action/adventure books in an attempt to lead by example that there are great new things to do with the pulp/hero genre. With this he mixes both retro and contemporary styles in a fashion where you can tell silly and serious stories at the same time. ABC allowed him to do comedy, drama, adventure and tell all kinds of fun stories. Unfortunately a bad deal with DC caused him to leave ABC though he has given the OK for DC to have certain characters to have new stories, the only exception being League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which he took with him).
Most Recent Works: His latest works include the final book he's done for DC and the last League book publish by DC: the Black Dossier. He also published a long in the works project called Lost Girls, a story that proves that pornography can be art.
Neil Gaiman
Most Famous Works: Sandman, The Books of Magic, 1602
Claims to Fame: One of the biggest names to come out of the British Invasion, Neil Gaiman was one of the first writers to get his own American ongoing series with a complete ending, rather than having the series go on until sales could no longer support it, paving the way for other ongoing series with full planned endings and the like. That book, Sandman, also was the leading book when DC launched Vertigo, it's imprint aimed at mature readers.
Big Mistakes: Gaiman's lucky in that he hasn't really made any huge mistakes and seems to have made nothing but friends in the industry and beyond. Heck there was recently a CD released centered all around him. But I guess that writing for Todd McFarlane proved to be a big mistake and they have had a pretty shitty relationship since. I don't know if his Spawn related stories are any good, but Spawn is bad in general.
Style: Gaiman's style is to tell stories in the form of epics, fairy tales and myths. In fact, most of Gaiman's stories revolve around the art of storytelling and the importance of myth and archetypes in all of their forms. That's actually what Sandman, Gaiman's most popular series, is all about. Gaiman is a fantasy writer in general and most stories include actual myths, legends and stories and often involve how they interact with contemporary society.
Most Recent Works: While he writes lots of novels he's slowed down quite a bit in his comic writing, but he still does it. His current project involves the old Jack Kirby comic The Eternals, about space gods who have forgotten who they are and are secretly living as humans waiting to be reawakened. He was also supposed to write the return of Thor but plans changed with a story called Civil War. Thor will now return at someone else's hands but Neil Gaiman's original explanations for his return may be worked in.
Grant Morrison
Most Famous Works: The Invisibles, New X-Men, JLA, Animal Man, We3
Claims to Fame: Creating comics stranger and more experimental than anyone else was doing, being one of the most innovative writers around, and re-invigorating classic characters.
Big Mistakes: Skrull Kill Krew. He's had a few misses but even his misses have something salvageable but Skrull Kill Krew was written by him and Mark Miller for beer money and it was written while they were drinking. Heavily.
Style: Grant Morrison's work has lots of counter-cultural leanings and often questions the nature of reality. With his work on Doom Patrol, he started writing the series by ear and including all the crazy ideas he could fit into it. Some stories were great, others impenetrable. Disliking the grim n gritty "realistic" direction comics were heading in and decided to go against the grain. Though he certainly wrote some dark books, it wasn't in the vein of books like Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen, but rather he followed his own style. He did play with the "realistic" approach in his first major series Animal Man in a more upbeat way: The title character wears a jacket so he has a plkace for his wallet and keys and he often has to by milk after a super-battle for his family. He is a likeable guy who has to balance his goofy super-hero life with his mundane but happy family life in the real world. A lot of his books involve reality and the thin fourth wall between creation and creator (most noticably in Animal Man). His super-hero books are also a mix of traditional super-hero wackiness (Grant doesn't shy away from the sillier ideas and in fact seems to relish in them) and some clever ideas. Grant has crazy ideas but they always end up making a strange sort of sense. He created such great ideas as the idea of mutant culture (think a cross between the flamboyant gay culture, the return to Africa movement as well as other cultures), a woman with 64 personalities that each have a super-power and the idea that Joker isn't insane, but rather supersane and isn't tied down to any one identity, philosophy or ethical code.
Most Recent Work: Currently he's writing 52 and just finished his epic Seven Soldiers of Victory which includes 7 interconnected but individual mini-series.
I'd write about more writers but I'm tired right now, so I'll probably just wait a while before writing about any more. But there are indeed more European people.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Torrent! Torrent! Torrent!
While I like Bit Torrent, I only recently decided that I should start using it to read American comics that I haven't read before or don't own. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, however, because I don't enjoy reading it off my computer the way I enjoy reading manga on my computer. I do think that might have something to do with the fact that there's a lot more detail and spaces being used than in manga. Plus there's colour. Or maybe I just haven't gotten used to it, because the only thing I've read so far is an issue of Supreme. Still, I want to take advantage of the bit torrent in order to try to find certain books, which are unavailable in Trade Paperback (my format of choice) and my never be before I die. In some cases books are considered classics but because they're so hard to find, they are unread b a large number of contemorary fans. In other cases, the company just hasn't had enough demand to reprint them or to continue reprinting them.
Miracleman (known as Marvelman) in Britain is Alan Moore's first major comics work and,
along with V for Vendetta, helped him get noticed by DC comics. The basic premise is that a good-hearted and innocent hero (who was a pre-existig British character clearly modelled after Captain Marvel) finds himself in a much less innocent present. It seems he spent the past few years not knowing that he was a rather silly super-hero and that the past few years of his life were a lie. Now he's returned to find a much less innocent world and much grimmer threats. Later, Neil Gaiman took the book over and wrote a tale in which Miracleman now rules the Earth as a more benovelent leader, but Miracleman starts questioning if he's done the right thing. Though the final issue of the story was written and drawn, it was never released and it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon. A lot of the themes of this book (rebirth, power, changing the world) reappear in many of his later works, which are pretty much all reprinted. So why won't this one be reprinted any time soon.
It is currently caught in a legal entanglement where both Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane are battling in court over ownership of the character. And it really doesn't look like the issue will be cleared up any time soon, since both seemed very convinced that the character is rightfully theirs. Basically Todd bought the rights to Eclipse comics, who last had the rights to the character, not realizing that Gaiman received 30% of the character rights, who shared them with artist Mark Buckingham. Gaiman (who was one of the guest writers who did an issue of Spawn for Todd) had created a couple of characters for Spawn under the impression he had part ownership and was interested in trading full ownership for the rest of those Miracleman rights. But Todd pointed out something in the book that claimed he had full ownership rights of the aforementioned characters and, well, things went downhill from there. But if Gaiman ever wins, he promises that the character will be called Marvelman again and all of the books will be reprinted by Marvel.
Zenith also looks interesting in that it is an early work from certified genius/madman (may not actually be certified in either case) Grant Morrison. The series follows a Gen-X hero who is the son of a hippie super-hero couple. Uninterested in saving the world, Zenith is more interested in using his power to build on his pop star fame. Unfortunately, Zenith still finds himself facing threats including Lovecraftian horrors, and a Richard Branson-esque madman obsessed with super-eugenics. While it doesn't sound as inventive as his later works, it still sounds quite interesting. Plus it has art from Steve Yeowell, who is an underrated artist in my opinion and has worked with Morrison on quite a few projects, including a personal favourite of mine Sebastian O, which is like a cross between a dumb action movie and the works of Oscar Wilde. This too is caught up in some legal shenanigans, but the details on that one are a little less clear. Still, it never hurts to get a little more Grant Morrison.
Another Grant Morrison work that has gone unreprinted is considered by many to be a forgotten masterpiece. It also is noteworthy for featuring some early art by Frank Quitely, who
is a rather big star at the moment. Flex Mentallo focuses on the titular character who is clearly a super-hero version of Charles Atlas. His origin is almost exactly that of "Mac" from the Charles Atlas comic ads in which a guy gets sand kicked in his face and gets revenge later when he returns with big muscles from the Charles Atlas program. Flex discovers that he is more powerful than Mac, however, as he can alter the universe by flexing his muscles, thus becoming the Man of Muscle Mystery! The mini-series focuses on Flex in different eras and is a metaphor for how comics have changed over the years and how they reflect changing eras and represent different stages of growing up. The series is considered by a modern classic, right up there with The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. It should be noted that DC still might reprint this, as they have reprinted all of Flex Mentallo's appearences in Doom Patrol and they seem to have won the lawsuit that Charles Atlas' current owner that brought against them. Still DC seems very tight lipped about the whole thing, so they could just be waiting until all of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run (from which Flex originated) has finished being reprinted.
Miracleman (known as Marvelman) in Britain is Alan Moore's first major comics work and,
along with V for Vendetta, helped him get noticed by DC comics. The basic premise is that a good-hearted and innocent hero (who was a pre-existig British character clearly modelled after Captain Marvel) finds himself in a much less innocent present. It seems he spent the past few years not knowing that he was a rather silly super-hero and that the past few years of his life were a lie. Now he's returned to find a much less innocent world and much grimmer threats. Later, Neil Gaiman took the book over and wrote a tale in which Miracleman now rules the Earth as a more benovelent leader, but Miracleman starts questioning if he's done the right thing. Though the final issue of the story was written and drawn, it was never released and it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon. A lot of the themes of this book (rebirth, power, changing the world) reappear in many of his later works, which are pretty much all reprinted. So why won't this one be reprinted any time soon.It is currently caught in a legal entanglement where both Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane are battling in court over ownership of the character. And it really doesn't look like the issue will be cleared up any time soon, since both seemed very convinced that the character is rightfully theirs. Basically Todd bought the rights to Eclipse comics, who last had the rights to the character, not realizing that Gaiman received 30% of the character rights, who shared them with artist Mark Buckingham. Gaiman (who was one of the guest writers who did an issue of Spawn for Todd) had created a couple of characters for Spawn under the impression he had part ownership and was interested in trading full ownership for the rest of those Miracleman rights. But Todd pointed out something in the book that claimed he had full ownership rights of the aforementioned characters and, well, things went downhill from there. But if Gaiman ever wins, he promises that the character will be called Marvelman again and all of the books will be reprinted by Marvel.
Zenith also looks interesting in that it is an early work from certified genius/madman (may not actually be certified in either case) Grant Morrison. The series follows a Gen-X hero who is the son of a hippie super-hero couple. Uninterested in saving the world, Zenith is more interested in using his power to build on his pop star fame. Unfortunately, Zenith still finds himself facing threats including Lovecraftian horrors, and a Richard Branson-esque madman obsessed with super-eugenics. While it doesn't sound as inventive as his later works, it still sounds quite interesting. Plus it has art from Steve Yeowell, who is an underrated artist in my opinion and has worked with Morrison on quite a few projects, including a personal favourite of mine Sebastian O, which is like a cross between a dumb action movie and the works of Oscar Wilde. This too is caught up in some legal shenanigans, but the details on that one are a little less clear. Still, it never hurts to get a little more Grant Morrison.
Another Grant Morrison work that has gone unreprinted is considered by many to be a forgotten masterpiece. It also is noteworthy for featuring some early art by Frank Quitely, who
is a rather big star at the moment. Flex Mentallo focuses on the titular character who is clearly a super-hero version of Charles Atlas. His origin is almost exactly that of "Mac" from the Charles Atlas comic ads in which a guy gets sand kicked in his face and gets revenge later when he returns with big muscles from the Charles Atlas program. Flex discovers that he is more powerful than Mac, however, as he can alter the universe by flexing his muscles, thus becoming the Man of Muscle Mystery! The mini-series focuses on Flex in different eras and is a metaphor for how comics have changed over the years and how they reflect changing eras and represent different stages of growing up. The series is considered by a modern classic, right up there with The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. It should be noted that DC still might reprint this, as they have reprinted all of Flex Mentallo's appearences in Doom Patrol and they seem to have won the lawsuit that Charles Atlas' current owner that brought against them. Still DC seems very tight lipped about the whole thing, so they could just be waiting until all of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run (from which Flex originated) has finished being reprinted.These are books I'd absolutely love to fid online and wish that they somehow find themselves being published again. I suppose it's not impossible and have high hopes for Flex Mentallo. And Heck, I would have put EC comics on my list but their finally being collected into gorgeous looking Hard Covers by Gemstone comics (who are currently publishing classic Disney comics, including the Uncle Scrooge books that inspired Duck Tales). I know I saw a torrent for Miracle Man once but now it all seems lost. Still, I hope that some day I can cradle Flex Mentallo in my arms like a newborn babe and tell it I love it. Then I'll probably open the book up to the super-hero orgy in chapter 3.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Ends
Update: I added pretty pictures and some great news: There's a really awesome trailer for Spider-Man 3 and Alan Moore will be Guest Starring on the Simpsons. I also added pretty pictures.
I really don't have a lot of things to say save for that this is my first post that didn't make it on Wednesday since I planned to update every Wednesday. I knew it would happen eventually and suspected it would happen sooner, but to be fair it isn't entirely my fault this time. Turns out that when I signed on to this blogger beta thing and then found that I couldn't access my blog until everything was ready. The price I pay for the drag-and-drop option.
Anyhoo, I've noticed that quite a few series and mini-series are actually coming to an end, so I decided to predict who it will all go down. I don't expect to be write, and for many of them I've only been following the trades, so I don't necessarily have all the information I need to make the best guesses, but I feel I have enough to take a stab.
52
How Much Longer?: The series ends this April which means it has 25 issues to go.
Premise: After the huge Infinite Crisis crossover, every DC universe series skipped a year ahead in time, allowing each series to start out fresh. DC decided to explain what happened in that missing year in a weekly year long series: each issue covers a different week within that year. The characters involved are Booster Gold (a super-glory hound from the future who decided to take Superman's place as Metropolis' big hero since Supes has gone missing), The Question (a conspiracy theorist detective), Renee Montoya (a disgraced Gotham city cop), Ralph Dibny (a former super-hero whose life's been ruined since his wife was brutally murdered), Steel (a super-hero engineer who worked hard repairing the damage from the Crisis) and Black Adam (a sometimes hero, sometimes villain who now rules his own middle Eastern country).
Goings-On: Booster Gold's been seemingly murdered (though who can tell with time travellers) thanks to his sidekick Skeets who may now be insane, Steel's daughter has joined Lex Luthor's own super-hero team, Ralph Dibny has gone off the deep end, a paradise island for mad scientists harbors a strange secrets, The Question trains Renee Montoya to become his successor, and many many other subplots are a happening.
The End?: The series has been hinting at a threat known as the 52 (the number appears in some form every issue) but what the 52 is remains a mystery. My guess is that it has been organizing the mad scientists and is manipulating Skeets. It probably also has something to do with time travel since Skeets himself is searching for time traveller Rip Hunter, who's home is full of insane scrawlings about all manner of super-activity as well as the messages "Time is Broken" and "52". With DC continuity once again changed in a big crossover, it would make sense that some entity or entity would want to take advantage of a fresh new timeline. Since all of the stories are going to intersect by the end of the book, my guess is that it has something to do with the mad science island, the crime bible (a mysterious tome that supposedly archives every crime ever), the new superheroes Batwoman and Super-Nova, the Superboy resurrection cult and pretty much every subplot the series has (which is a lot).
100 Bullets
How Much Longer?: It ends at issue 100 and it's now in it's late seventies, meaning it only
has a couple years left. That seems like a while compared to the other series, but it's still barreling towards it's inevitable conclusion.
Premise: Agent Graves gives people 100 untraceable bullets and irrefutable evidenced that they've been wronged, thus giving them the chance for consequence-free revenge.
Goings-on: Well, it became apparent pretty early on in the series that there was a much bigger story and now a great deal of it has been revealed except what Grave's master plan is and the more specific details of what happened in Atlanta. It seems that America is secretly run by the Trust, an organization of 13 crime families who run America in just about every conceivable way since the 1600s. To prevent one family from becoming more powerful than the others, the Trust employs the Minutemen, 7 agents skilled in murder, deceit and espionage whose job is to police the Trust. But somewhere along the way the de facto head of the trust, Augustus Medici, convinced the others that it was time for a change and that the Minutemen where now obsolete. While they were supposed to be killed off in Atlanta, a surprising number of them survived and it has become abundantly clear that before and after the Atlanta incident it is impossible to tell whose on which side. In fact it's getting hard to say what the sides are, exactly.
The End?: One way or the other the series is going to end in a lot of bloodshed. My guess is that Agent Graves master plan will end with getting himself killed. A lot of characters seem to be willing to put their life on the line for Graves and one character seemed to know that his end was coming, as if it fit into Graves' master plan and he was still OK with that. I think whatever Graves is planning, he believes in it enough that he's willing to lay his own life on the line for society's greater good. But I doubt he'd just kill the Trust and leave America to look after itself and he doesn't seem like the type to want to take control. I think Augustus has been planning it to be this way as well and that he and Graves are actually on the same side. My guess is that Medici's son Benito will become the new head of the Trust and Augustus may also sacrifice his life in order to get his reluctant heir to want to take over. Most of the Minutemen will die (especially the more experienced and confident ones) but a few will remain. And those who do will be Benito's new Minutemen who will begin the test again, giving 100 bullets to those who need it to find out who should be Minutemen (as well as taking care of other problems)
Civil War:
How Much Longer?: Hopefully three months unless there are more delays.
The Premise: After a tragedy involving the destruction of the small mid-western town of Stamford thanks to reckless super-heroing, the moral implications of super-vigilantism come into question. Iron Man quickly gets behind the Superhuman Registration Act which would render any non-government regulated superhuman activity illegal. Before it is, characters find themselves having to pick sides and when it is passed there are two major camps: Iron Man's pro-registration side (his argument is that heroes should not be above the law and that they can accomplish more working with the law) and Captain America's anti-registration side (his argument is that superhumans should not be forced to be government agents or be forced to sacrifice their identity).
Goings-On: To beef up support for the registration, Iron Man convinces Spider-Man to reveal his secret identity on national TV. Spider-Man does so (after consulting with Aunt May and Mary Jane) and finds it biting him in the ass and finds that old friends now view him with disdain. Meanwhile Captain America plans to give members of his faction new secret identities (I can't decide which is better: Cap as a mall security guard or Hercules as an IT guy). The two sides class for the first time in the ruins of an old Stark building and Tony whips out their trump card: Thor, who was thought dead. Well, actually he still was and what they have is actually a Thor clone, that turns out too be a little hard to control as it kills the Black Goliath, which royally pisses Captain America off. Spider-Man, realizing that he's backed the wrong side prepares to defect while Tony, realizing that he'll still need more soldiers organizes a new team to neutralize the heroes, composed entirely of unreformed super-villains.
The End?: Well, if I have one problem with the crossover it's that Tony's side seems to... villainous. I would prefer it that both sides were more relatable rather than making Tony the bad guy. Anyway, my guess is that somewhere there is a villain whose adding fuel to the fire. Wolverine recently discovered that Damage Control, a company in charge of cleaning up after super-battles, may be responsible for the Stamford incident that triggered the war. Plus that murderous Thor clone stinks of evil. My guess is that Loki the chaos god has returned to life (he died at Ragnarok along with all the other Norse gods) and has decided to make things worse. Still, the Superhuman Registration Act will still be polarizing the Marvel universe with each side having to pay for their choices. There will be two Avengers team, Spider-Man will be on the run and (based on an image leaked onto the Internet) Tony Stark will be the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., making me suspect the current director might be a villainess. Still, the Marvel universe will probably be forced to work together for the next big crossover World War Hulk.
Planetary
How Much Longer?: One issue left. Who the hell knows when it'll come out.
The Premise: A team of mystery archaeologists are trying to uncover the Earth's secret history as part of an open conspiracy while matching wits with a deadly group of ex-nazi scientists who have powers not unlike the Fantastic Four... only deadlier. the team is made up of Elijah Snow, the 106 year-old leader with cold powers, Jakita Wagner, a beautiful amazon, and the Drummer, who can talk to machines and can sense information.
Goings-On: Planetary was able to defeat most of the 4, but only the leader remains, as well as a friend turned foe. Also, it turns out the Drummer is a being of pure information.
The End?: The good guys are going to get what they want: access to the secret history of the world and the ability to give that information to the people. But what those big secrets are I can hardly imagine. I'm stumped as to how will this end beyond the obvious good guys win stuff. But Warren Ellis is always more original than that. So my guess is that we'll get a glimpse into the world that Planetary leaves behind now that there are now big plots to exploit the wonderfully strange secrets of the world. I also think that Snow may shock the other characters by giving the last villain mercy since he has much to offer the world despite his selfish evil. I'm guessing that mostly because the rest of Planetary felt a little let down by Snow's somewhat amoral handling of the four's seemingly unstoppable Thing-like member which cause a bit of a rift in the team.
Y - The Last Man:
How Much Longer?: Nine more issues left to go.
The Premise: A man with the unlikely name of Yorick Brown and the helper monkey he's
training (named Ampersand) are the only living male mammals on the face of the Earth. All of the other suddenly, at around the same time, coughed up blood and died. Now Yorick finds himself traveling across the Earth with a government agent named 355 and geneticist Dr. Mann in order to find out why Yorick and Ampersand are the only survivors of the plague.
Goings-On: I actually haven't been keeping up with this one but I'd be able to make a better guess when the eighth trade finally comes out. Last I remember the main character was heading to Japan, but I'm pretty sure he's left by now in the monthly books. Also the books recently told the cause of the plague and the reason for it. The reason for Yorick's survival was released much earlier. Also, Yorick still has to find his girlfriend Beth, who's somewhere in Europe.
The End?: Someone might die but I doubt it's going to be Yorick. Frankly, I'd like a happy ending for everyone but I doubt that's going to happen. But I bet that while not everyone's ending will be peachy keen, the Earth will be able to produce new humans again.
Frankly, I'm not the best at predicting and there is some stuff being telegraphed from a mile away but with some stuff, I have a good feeling that I'm right. Especially 100 Bullets.
Anyhoo, I've noticed that quite a few series and mini-series are actually coming to an end, so I decided to predict who it will all go down. I don't expect to be write, and for many of them I've only been following the trades, so I don't necessarily have all the information I need to make the best guesses, but I feel I have enough to take a stab.
52
How Much Longer?: The series ends this April which means it has 25 issues to go.
Premise: After the huge Infinite Crisis crossover, every DC universe series skipped a year ahead in time, allowing each series to start out fresh. DC decided to explain what happened in that missing year in a weekly year long series: each issue covers a different week within that year. The characters involved are Booster Gold (a super-glory hound from the future who decided to take Superman's place as Metropolis' big hero since Supes has gone missing), The Question (a conspiracy theorist detective), Renee Montoya (a disgraced Gotham city cop), Ralph Dibny (a former super-hero whose life's been ruined since his wife was brutally murdered), Steel (a super-hero engineer who worked hard repairing the damage from the Crisis) and Black Adam (a sometimes hero, sometimes villain who now rules his own middle Eastern country).
Goings-On: Booster Gold's been seemingly murdered (though who can tell with time travellers) thanks to his sidekick Skeets who may now be insane, Steel's daughter has joined Lex Luthor's own super-hero team, Ralph Dibny has gone off the deep end, a paradise island for mad scientists harbors a strange secrets, The Question trains Renee Montoya to become his successor, and many many other subplots are a happening.
The End?: The series has been hinting at a threat known as the 52 (the number appears in some form every issue) but what the 52 is remains a mystery. My guess is that it has been organizing the mad scientists and is manipulating Skeets. It probably also has something to do with time travel since Skeets himself is searching for time traveller Rip Hunter, who's home is full of insane scrawlings about all manner of super-activity as well as the messages "Time is Broken" and "52". With DC continuity once again changed in a big crossover, it would make sense that some entity or entity would want to take advantage of a fresh new timeline. Since all of the stories are going to intersect by the end of the book, my guess is that it has something to do with the mad science island, the crime bible (a mysterious tome that supposedly archives every crime ever), the new superheroes Batwoman and Super-Nova, the Superboy resurrection cult and pretty much every subplot the series has (which is a lot).
100 Bullets
How Much Longer?: It ends at issue 100 and it's now in it's late seventies, meaning it only
has a couple years left. That seems like a while compared to the other series, but it's still barreling towards it's inevitable conclusion.Premise: Agent Graves gives people 100 untraceable bullets and irrefutable evidenced that they've been wronged, thus giving them the chance for consequence-free revenge.
Goings-on: Well, it became apparent pretty early on in the series that there was a much bigger story and now a great deal of it has been revealed except what Grave's master plan is and the more specific details of what happened in Atlanta. It seems that America is secretly run by the Trust, an organization of 13 crime families who run America in just about every conceivable way since the 1600s. To prevent one family from becoming more powerful than the others, the Trust employs the Minutemen, 7 agents skilled in murder, deceit and espionage whose job is to police the Trust. But somewhere along the way the de facto head of the trust, Augustus Medici, convinced the others that it was time for a change and that the Minutemen where now obsolete. While they were supposed to be killed off in Atlanta, a surprising number of them survived and it has become abundantly clear that before and after the Atlanta incident it is impossible to tell whose on which side. In fact it's getting hard to say what the sides are, exactly.
The End?: One way or the other the series is going to end in a lot of bloodshed. My guess is that Agent Graves master plan will end with getting himself killed. A lot of characters seem to be willing to put their life on the line for Graves and one character seemed to know that his end was coming, as if it fit into Graves' master plan and he was still OK with that. I think whatever Graves is planning, he believes in it enough that he's willing to lay his own life on the line for society's greater good. But I doubt he'd just kill the Trust and leave America to look after itself and he doesn't seem like the type to want to take control. I think Augustus has been planning it to be this way as well and that he and Graves are actually on the same side. My guess is that Medici's son Benito will become the new head of the Trust and Augustus may also sacrifice his life in order to get his reluctant heir to want to take over. Most of the Minutemen will die (especially the more experienced and confident ones) but a few will remain. And those who do will be Benito's new Minutemen who will begin the test again, giving 100 bullets to those who need it to find out who should be Minutemen (as well as taking care of other problems)
Civil War:
How Much Longer?: Hopefully three months unless there are more delays.
The Premise: After a tragedy involving the destruction of the small mid-western town of Stamford thanks to reckless super-heroing, the moral implications of super-vigilantism come into question. Iron Man quickly gets behind the Superhuman Registration Act which would render any non-government regulated superhuman activity illegal. Before it is, characters find themselves having to pick sides and when it is passed there are two major camps: Iron Man's pro-registration side (his argument is that heroes should not be above the law and that they can accomplish more working with the law) and Captain America's anti-registration side (his argument is that superhumans should not be forced to be government agents or be forced to sacrifice their identity).
Goings-On: To beef up support for the registration, Iron Man convinces Spider-Man to reveal his secret identity on national TV. Spider-Man does so (after consulting with Aunt May and Mary Jane) and finds it biting him in the ass and finds that old friends now view him with disdain. Meanwhile Captain America plans to give members of his faction new secret identities (I can't decide which is better: Cap as a mall security guard or Hercules as an IT guy). The two sides class for the first time in the ruins of an old Stark building and Tony whips out their trump card: Thor, who was thought dead. Well, actually he still was and what they have is actually a Thor clone, that turns out too be a little hard to control as it kills the Black Goliath, which royally pisses Captain America off. Spider-Man, realizing that he's backed the wrong side prepares to defect while Tony, realizing that he'll still need more soldiers organizes a new team to neutralize the heroes, composed entirely of unreformed super-villains.
The End?: Well, if I have one problem with the crossover it's that Tony's side seems to... villainous. I would prefer it that both sides were more relatable rather than making Tony the bad guy. Anyway, my guess is that somewhere there is a villain whose adding fuel to the fire. Wolverine recently discovered that Damage Control, a company in charge of cleaning up after super-battles, may be responsible for the Stamford incident that triggered the war. Plus that murderous Thor clone stinks of evil. My guess is that Loki the chaos god has returned to life (he died at Ragnarok along with all the other Norse gods) and has decided to make things worse. Still, the Superhuman Registration Act will still be polarizing the Marvel universe with each side having to pay for their choices. There will be two Avengers team, Spider-Man will be on the run and (based on an image leaked onto the Internet) Tony Stark will be the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., making me suspect the current director might be a villainess. Still, the Marvel universe will probably be forced to work together for the next big crossover World War Hulk.
Planetary
How Much Longer?: One issue left. Who the hell knows when it'll come out.
The Premise: A team of mystery archaeologists are trying to uncover the Earth's secret history as part of an open conspiracy while matching wits with a deadly group of ex-nazi scientists who have powers not unlike the Fantastic Four... only deadlier. the team is made up of Elijah Snow, the 106 year-old leader with cold powers, Jakita Wagner, a beautiful amazon, and the Drummer, who can talk to machines and can sense information.
Goings-On: Planetary was able to defeat most of the 4, but only the leader remains, as well as a friend turned foe. Also, it turns out the Drummer is a being of pure information.
The End?: The good guys are going to get what they want: access to the secret history of the world and the ability to give that information to the people. But what those big secrets are I can hardly imagine. I'm stumped as to how will this end beyond the obvious good guys win stuff. But Warren Ellis is always more original than that. So my guess is that we'll get a glimpse into the world that Planetary leaves behind now that there are now big plots to exploit the wonderfully strange secrets of the world. I also think that Snow may shock the other characters by giving the last villain mercy since he has much to offer the world despite his selfish evil. I'm guessing that mostly because the rest of Planetary felt a little let down by Snow's somewhat amoral handling of the four's seemingly unstoppable Thing-like member which cause a bit of a rift in the team.
Y - The Last Man:
How Much Longer?: Nine more issues left to go.
The Premise: A man with the unlikely name of Yorick Brown and the helper monkey he's
training (named Ampersand) are the only living male mammals on the face of the Earth. All of the other suddenly, at around the same time, coughed up blood and died. Now Yorick finds himself traveling across the Earth with a government agent named 355 and geneticist Dr. Mann in order to find out why Yorick and Ampersand are the only survivors of the plague.Goings-On: I actually haven't been keeping up with this one but I'd be able to make a better guess when the eighth trade finally comes out. Last I remember the main character was heading to Japan, but I'm pretty sure he's left by now in the monthly books. Also the books recently told the cause of the plague and the reason for it. The reason for Yorick's survival was released much earlier. Also, Yorick still has to find his girlfriend Beth, who's somewhere in Europe.
The End?: Someone might die but I doubt it's going to be Yorick. Frankly, I'd like a happy ending for everyone but I doubt that's going to happen. But I bet that while not everyone's ending will be peachy keen, the Earth will be able to produce new humans again.
Frankly, I'm not the best at predicting and there is some stuff being telegraphed from a mile away but with some stuff, I have a good feeling that I'm right. Especially 100 Bullets.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Four Colour Crap
I really don't have much to talk about this week (or most weeks) but since I'm always singing the praises of sequential art, I thought I'd point out some of the most awful comics of all time. Now there are certainly a lot of crappy comics, but I want to go beyond your Spawns and your Youngbloods to show you something that goes beyond regular bad. These books are like the "Plan 9 from Outer Space" of comics.
Dracula: Drawn by talented artist Tony Tallarico when he was in a serious slump, Dracula is about the adventures of a guy who looks like a cross between the Phantom and Batman but with a much more hideous costume than either of them. Dracula's real name is Al U. Card (*groan*) and has radar powers derived from a bat-serum that was supposed to cure his brain damage. It apparently didn't work, because then he dressed up in purple and red and called himself Dracula despite not being a vampire, or Dracula or even sucking blood. Come to think of it, Dracula did not have radar. I'm really confused by this guy's code name. Also unlike Batman's intimidating sharp pointy ears, Dracula's ears look soft, round, fuzzy and kinda cute. Seriously, I'm not an expert in fashion but not only is this one of the worst super-hero outfits I've ever seen (and that's saying a lot), it has possibly the worst use of colour I've ever seen. Uninteresting fact: Tony Tallarico later created a much uglier looking super-hero named Frankenstein.
NFL SuperPro: For some reason Marvel and the NFL decided to team up to create a comic book. It was terrible. It focuses on a football player who receives a career-ending injury while saving a little girl. He later gets dosed in chemicals which, thanks to a combination of fire and "ultra-rare NFL Souvenirs", give him superpowers. He then proceeds to fight football themed villains, including Instant Replay and Quick Kick (a football player turned ninja). Suddenly, everything that occurs in Eyeshield 21 seems plausible and sobering. Superpro's secret identity is that of a football journalist, which, much like Superman, allows him to hear about football disasters before anyone else so that he can avert them. Finally a football reporter who isn't afraid to do something to fight football corruption, unlike those yellow football journalists.
It seems odd that there are so many football obsessed villains out there. Do baseball players and curlers have to deal with this kind of shit? Frankly, if I was about to sack a quarterback and then a guy in a blimp shot laser rays at a guy whose team colours don't match any player on the field, I might take a month off. Heck, I might take the season off. But if I became aware that this sort of thing was happening every week, I would not hesitate to quit the game and look for another non-laser ray sport to play professionally. Assuming there is such a sport.
Skrull Kill Krew: This is probably the only super-group to have a neo-Nazi on the team. The series' origins go way back to Fantastic Four #2 where Mr. Fantastic hypnotizes invading skrulls into thinking they're cows. Well, Mr. F might be a genius, but he wasn't smart enough to prevent the cows from getting milked and slaughtered into skrull burgers. The milk issue was dealt with in a rather dark and clever before this, but the skrull burgers were eaten by some random people, who now have super powers and can see Skrull posing as humans. Not only that, but these people now have an intense and irrational hatred of Skrulls and travel around the country murdering Skrulls.
This series was actually created by visionary Grant Morrison and the popular Mark Millar. Though they are currently some of comics' most beloved writers, they created this dog right before Morrison hit it big and a five years before Millar did. Millar admits that they did most of the plotting while drinking heavily and is pretty embarrassed by it. In fact, the writers did a lot of things just to see what Marvel comics would let them get away with (which was a surprising amount). Still, the series was originally going to be called the Skrull Kill Kult (in reference to the popular and controversial Thrill Kill Kult), but the all ages Marvel didn't like the idea about a series that revolved around a Kult. Oddly, they took no issue with Skrull Killing.
Bad as it is, I do like the first issue cover, pictured above.
Brother Power, The Geek: The next two series I have a soft spot for, despite having never
read them. Part of it is that the series premise is so quirky, that it would be possible to make them into really fun series with a good creative team and a good mind set. The other thing is that I think that the creator of both series wanted to say something about the hippie/youth culture of the time. The problem was the writer (Captain America creator Joe Simon) and editors were way to out of touch.
This two-issue series focused on a human-sized rag doll brought to life in a freak occurrence and who is trying to understand humanity in a Stranger in a Strange Land sort of way. He gets involved with Hippie Land and there's all sorts of attempts at social commentary, but it's really apparent that the creators don't know what a hippy is or where they come from. According to artist Carmine Infantino, Superman editor Mort Weisinger really hated the hippy subculture and didn't like how sympathetically the hippies were portrayed. He petitioned to have the series cancelled, but it's hard to tell if that was what ended the series. It was probably just the piss poor sales. The series ended with Brother Power being launched into space as order by governor Ronald Reagan!
Prez: The other series by Joe Simon that tried to connect with the current youth culture and completely misses the mark. This one focuses on Prez Rickards: the first teen president! Seems that he fixes all the clocks in his hometown, which somehow gets him on the fast track to the presidency after the age of eligibility is lowered for whatever reason. After that he fights vampires, undead generals and "Boss Smiley", an evil political boss with a smiley face for a head. A lot of this book was expanding on ideas that were hinted at in Brother Power and was also apparently inspired by the hippy flick Wild in the Streets, which I haven't seen. Ask Darcy about it.
It also did poorly but had two more issues than Brother Power and... well, that's really all it had going for it.
I still think that the previously mentioned series have more potential to be a good comic than the others, as long as an appropriate can be found. Critically acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman actually did stories for both characters: he turned Brother Power into a doll elemental in a Swamp Thing annual and wrote a great Prez story in Sandman in which we get to see how America would have been different if there really was a noble, clever, incorruptible soul in the white House. Frankly, I have a soft spot for most bad comics because I always feel that any crappy premise has the potential to be a great story as long as it's given great creators and the right angle. Except Superpro. I mean, football ninja? Fuck!
Dracula: Drawn by talented artist Tony Tallarico when he was in a serious slump, Dracula is about the adventures of a guy who looks like a cross between the Phantom and Batman but with a much more hideous costume than either of them. Dracula's real name is Al U. Card (*groan*) and has radar powers derived from a bat-serum that was supposed to cure his brain damage. It apparently didn't work, because then he dressed up in purple and red and called himself Dracula despite not being a vampire, or Dracula or even sucking blood. Come to think of it, Dracula did not have radar. I'm really confused by this guy's code name. Also unlike Batman's intimidating sharp pointy ears, Dracula's ears look soft, round, fuzzy and kinda cute. Seriously, I'm not an expert in fashion but not only is this one of the worst super-hero outfits I've ever seen (and that's saying a lot), it has possibly the worst use of colour I've ever seen. Uninteresting fact: Tony Tallarico later created a much uglier looking super-hero named Frankenstein.
NFL SuperPro: For some reason Marvel and the NFL decided to team up to create a comic book. It was terrible. It focuses on a football player who receives a career-ending injury while saving a little girl. He later gets dosed in chemicals which, thanks to a combination of fire and "ultra-rare NFL Souvenirs", give him superpowers. He then proceeds to fight football themed villains, including Instant Replay and Quick Kick (a football player turned ninja). Suddenly, everything that occurs in Eyeshield 21 seems plausible and sobering. Superpro's secret identity is that of a football journalist, which, much like Superman, allows him to hear about football disasters before anyone else so that he can avert them. Finally a football reporter who isn't afraid to do something to fight football corruption, unlike those yellow football journalists.
It seems odd that there are so many football obsessed villains out there. Do baseball players and curlers have to deal with this kind of shit? Frankly, if I was about to sack a quarterback and then a guy in a blimp shot laser rays at a guy whose team colours don't match any player on the field, I might take a month off. Heck, I might take the season off. But if I became aware that this sort of thing was happening every week, I would not hesitate to quit the game and look for another non-laser ray sport to play professionally. Assuming there is such a sport.
Skrull Kill Krew: This is probably the only super-group to have a neo-Nazi on the team. The series' origins go way back to Fantastic Four #2 where Mr. Fantastic hypnotizes invading skrulls into thinking they're cows. Well, Mr. F might be a genius, but he wasn't smart enough to prevent the cows from getting milked and slaughtered into skrull burgers. The milk issue was dealt with in a rather dark and clever before this, but the skrull burgers were eaten by some random people, who now have super powers and can see Skrull posing as humans. Not only that, but these people now have an intense and irrational hatred of Skrulls and travel around the country murdering Skrulls.This series was actually created by visionary Grant Morrison and the popular Mark Millar. Though they are currently some of comics' most beloved writers, they created this dog right before Morrison hit it big and a five years before Millar did. Millar admits that they did most of the plotting while drinking heavily and is pretty embarrassed by it. In fact, the writers did a lot of things just to see what Marvel comics would let them get away with (which was a surprising amount). Still, the series was originally going to be called the Skrull Kill Kult (in reference to the popular and controversial Thrill Kill Kult), but the all ages Marvel didn't like the idea about a series that revolved around a Kult. Oddly, they took no issue with Skrull Killing.
Bad as it is, I do like the first issue cover, pictured above.
Brother Power, The Geek: The next two series I have a soft spot for, despite having never
read them. Part of it is that the series premise is so quirky, that it would be possible to make them into really fun series with a good creative team and a good mind set. The other thing is that I think that the creator of both series wanted to say something about the hippie/youth culture of the time. The problem was the writer (Captain America creator Joe Simon) and editors were way to out of touch.This two-issue series focused on a human-sized rag doll brought to life in a freak occurrence and who is trying to understand humanity in a Stranger in a Strange Land sort of way. He gets involved with Hippie Land and there's all sorts of attempts at social commentary, but it's really apparent that the creators don't know what a hippy is or where they come from. According to artist Carmine Infantino, Superman editor Mort Weisinger really hated the hippy subculture and didn't like how sympathetically the hippies were portrayed. He petitioned to have the series cancelled, but it's hard to tell if that was what ended the series. It was probably just the piss poor sales. The series ended with Brother Power being launched into space as order by governor Ronald Reagan!
Prez: The other series by Joe Simon that tried to connect with the current youth culture and completely misses the mark. This one focuses on Prez Rickards: the first teen president! Seems that he fixes all the clocks in his hometown, which somehow gets him on the fast track to the presidency after the age of eligibility is lowered for whatever reason. After that he fights vampires, undead generals and "Boss Smiley", an evil political boss with a smiley face for a head. A lot of this book was expanding on ideas that were hinted at in Brother Power and was also apparently inspired by the hippy flick Wild in the Streets, which I haven't seen. Ask Darcy about it.It also did poorly but had two more issues than Brother Power and... well, that's really all it had going for it.
I still think that the previously mentioned series have more potential to be a good comic than the others, as long as an appropriate can be found. Critically acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman actually did stories for both characters: he turned Brother Power into a doll elemental in a Swamp Thing annual and wrote a great Prez story in Sandman in which we get to see how America would have been different if there really was a noble, clever, incorruptible soul in the white House. Frankly, I have a soft spot for most bad comics because I always feel that any crappy premise has the potential to be a great story as long as it's given great creators and the right angle. Except Superpro. I mean, football ninja? Fuck!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
I'm Trick or Beat
What my rather forced pun-based title is trying to say is that I'm sort of tired of Halloween related stuff. It probably has something to do with the fact that me and Aiden had a little horror movie marathon over the weekend. I find that I obsess over the horror genre for most of the month of October, then I usually get kinda depressed afterwards (horror can be a pretty negative genre) and usually spend most of November watching upbeat comedies (Steve Martin's the Jerk is always a pick-me-up) . But nonetheless I love a good horror story when I'm in the mood for it.
Frankly, I was very tempted to purchase a $64 hardcover of Weird Science which collected the first twenty issues of the classic '50's anthology series from EC comics, a company known for it's incredibly edgy story-telling that inspired countless writers and film-makers. Surprisingly, the book is being released by Gemstone, a company that publishes almost exclusively Disney-related material. I have to applaud Gemstone for their fine treatment of the material: the book itself is quite handsome, the coloring has been cleaned up and for each book they've gotten a HUGE name to do a forward for the books. Well, not all of the books. Weird Science has a foreword by George Lucas, Crime SuspenStories will have a foreword by Steven Spielberg and Tales from the Crypt will have a foreword by John Carpenter. Now I guess I'm making to much of a big deal out of famous creators saying that an acclaimed comic is cool but I just appreciate that these lauded creators are giving thanks to the comics that inspired them. Maybe I'm just looking for more people to legitimize my favourite medium.
My one problem is that the first volume of Vault of Horror has a foreword by Goosebumps creator RL Stine. Really? Don't get me wrong, I read his Goosebumps books in elementary school and enjoyed them at the time, but he's really not that great of a writer. I guess he's still popular, and I have no problem with him thanking those comics for inspiring him, but shouldn't someone... better do a foreword there?
Still, as I've stated I've never even read an EC comic yet of seen enough bits and pieces of the books as well as pastiches and homages to fall in love with the books and their tragic history. But it's sort of like talking about how Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time without having seen it, but have seen countless references to it and documentaries about it. I really should get this book but... $64! Geez. Looks like you're on my Christmas list.
Anyhoo, Aiden and I watched some horror flicks over the weekend to sate our horror lust and while most of the movies floundered (despite being famous) they were fun.
The first one we watched was Cube Zero, the prequel to the clever (though imperfect) Canadian sci-fi horror film Cube. For those of you who don't know, the premise of Cube is that people wake up finding themselves in a cube with doors on each side that leads to a similar room (though some of them are trapped). There is no food or water, but there is a pattern to the cubes that hint at an exit. Cube Zero tries to do some interesting things, but ultimately fails. The biggest problem is the unbelievably silly villain who is essentially (as Aiden pointed out) the same bad guy from Last Action Hero. It really feels like a relatively good Cube prequel is being interrupted by a really bad episode of Lexx (and keep in mind I like Lexx). I do like how it ties into the first film, but it really wasn't worth the movie. The first one worked better because we are given very little information about what the Cube is and the viewers only have the characters' theories and their own to work with, while this film just tells you how and why the Cube is. Disappointing.
Friday the 13th was pretty funny, but that wasn't really what they were going for. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of this movie that are scary, but I just don't like the characters enough to want them to win. Also, Ralph, the local loony who tells the kids there all doomed is hilarious and really should have appeared in the movie more. "You're all doomed... DOOMED!" I don't think the film makers intended him to be as funny as I found him but I still think the writers wanted us to laugh at him a little. On the negative side, we see Kevin Bacon's ass and various guys dressed as nevernudes. If you're gay and you're looking for a healthy mix of horror, titillation and Ralph, then I highly recommend it. Still, the final battle is a bit silly and drags on due to the fact that the Last Girl is constantly given chances to either finish off or further subdue the killer but she doesn't take them. The pattern goes like this: girl is chased and cornered by killer, girl finds something to beat the crap out of the killer who drops the weapon, doubles over and seems to be temporarily knocked out or stunned or something, girl runs away some where else with no real plan. This happens like three times and it gets pretty tiring.
Hellraiser was also rather disappointing, especially because I liked the only book I read by Clive Barker. Said book was The Thief of Always and when I read it it quickly became obvious that the book was aimed at younger readers, but I still enjoyed the book quite a bit. Hellraiser, however, is just sort of boring. It's about some jerk named Frank who opens a portal to the afterlife in a run down house and finds himself facing grotesque divine torture at the hands of the Cenobites (not to be confused with Cinnabites, which are a delicious cinnamon treat). Later, Frank's brother moves in with his ice cold wife who secretly had an affair with Frank. A twist of fate has Frank partially resurrected and he convinces his Sister-in-Law to seduce poor idiots so she can take them home and Frank can kill them and drink their blood, which will give him more flesh. Unfortunately, because this is Britain, any scene of passion in this movie is about as sexy as a luke warm fish. Any scene where people are kissing was about as sexy as church. Characters talk about sex but when I look at them I can imagine it being anything by dry, cold and uninteresting. I mean, for a film about pleasure and pain they could have tried to spice it up a bit. And I'm not even asking the characters to be attractive. I just need to believe that these characters would fuck each other.
Finally, we watched Land of the Dead, which was easily the best movie of the four that me and Aiden watched. A lot of Dead fans didn't like this movie but I thought it was a great way to end the franchise, even if the characters weren't all that deep this time around (I can't speak for Day of the Dead, which I have yet to see) but I like the story and it is surprisingly the most upbeat of them. I actually like the fact that the zombies have evolved and have become tool users and in a way shows that the zombies are actually close to becoming human. Sure that might take some of the scariness out of the zombie concepts, but it makes the film more interesting over all. The humans aren't that interesting this time around but there is a lot of great moments. There's a scene in which a character is given a choice between being shot and becoming a zombie and I found it interesting that he chose the zombie, wanting to know "how the other half lives". Not nearly as good as Dawn of the Dead, but still pretty good.
Well, most of the films weren't great, but being able to laugh derisively at them with a friend made it much more enjoyable.
Frankly, I was very tempted to purchase a $64 hardcover of Weird Science which collected the first twenty issues of the classic '50's anthology series from EC comics, a company known for it's incredibly edgy story-telling that inspired countless writers and film-makers. Surprisingly, the book is being released by Gemstone, a company that publishes almost exclusively Disney-related material. I have to applaud Gemstone for their fine treatment of the material: the book itself is quite handsome, the coloring has been cleaned up and for each book they've gotten a HUGE name to do a forward for the books. Well, not all of the books. Weird Science has a foreword by George Lucas, Crime SuspenStories will have a foreword by Steven Spielberg and Tales from the Crypt will have a foreword by John Carpenter. Now I guess I'm making to much of a big deal out of famous creators saying that an acclaimed comic is cool but I just appreciate that these lauded creators are giving thanks to the comics that inspired them. Maybe I'm just looking for more people to legitimize my favourite medium.
My one problem is that the first volume of Vault of Horror has a foreword by Goosebumps creator RL Stine. Really? Don't get me wrong, I read his Goosebumps books in elementary school and enjoyed them at the time, but he's really not that great of a writer. I guess he's still popular, and I have no problem with him thanking those comics for inspiring him, but shouldn't someone... better do a foreword there?
Still, as I've stated I've never even read an EC comic yet of seen enough bits and pieces of the books as well as pastiches and homages to fall in love with the books and their tragic history. But it's sort of like talking about how Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time without having seen it, but have seen countless references to it and documentaries about it. I really should get this book but... $64! Geez. Looks like you're on my Christmas list.
Anyhoo, Aiden and I watched some horror flicks over the weekend to sate our horror lust and while most of the movies floundered (despite being famous) they were fun.
The first one we watched was Cube Zero, the prequel to the clever (though imperfect) Canadian sci-fi horror film Cube. For those of you who don't know, the premise of Cube is that people wake up finding themselves in a cube with doors on each side that leads to a similar room (though some of them are trapped). There is no food or water, but there is a pattern to the cubes that hint at an exit. Cube Zero tries to do some interesting things, but ultimately fails. The biggest problem is the unbelievably silly villain who is essentially (as Aiden pointed out) the same bad guy from Last Action Hero. It really feels like a relatively good Cube prequel is being interrupted by a really bad episode of Lexx (and keep in mind I like Lexx). I do like how it ties into the first film, but it really wasn't worth the movie. The first one worked better because we are given very little information about what the Cube is and the viewers only have the characters' theories and their own to work with, while this film just tells you how and why the Cube is. Disappointing.
Friday the 13th was pretty funny, but that wasn't really what they were going for. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of this movie that are scary, but I just don't like the characters enough to want them to win. Also, Ralph, the local loony who tells the kids there all doomed is hilarious and really should have appeared in the movie more. "You're all doomed... DOOMED!" I don't think the film makers intended him to be as funny as I found him but I still think the writers wanted us to laugh at him a little. On the negative side, we see Kevin Bacon's ass and various guys dressed as nevernudes. If you're gay and you're looking for a healthy mix of horror, titillation and Ralph, then I highly recommend it. Still, the final battle is a bit silly and drags on due to the fact that the Last Girl is constantly given chances to either finish off or further subdue the killer but she doesn't take them. The pattern goes like this: girl is chased and cornered by killer, girl finds something to beat the crap out of the killer who drops the weapon, doubles over and seems to be temporarily knocked out or stunned or something, girl runs away some where else with no real plan. This happens like three times and it gets pretty tiring.
Hellraiser was also rather disappointing, especially because I liked the only book I read by Clive Barker. Said book was The Thief of Always and when I read it it quickly became obvious that the book was aimed at younger readers, but I still enjoyed the book quite a bit. Hellraiser, however, is just sort of boring. It's about some jerk named Frank who opens a portal to the afterlife in a run down house and finds himself facing grotesque divine torture at the hands of the Cenobites (not to be confused with Cinnabites, which are a delicious cinnamon treat). Later, Frank's brother moves in with his ice cold wife who secretly had an affair with Frank. A twist of fate has Frank partially resurrected and he convinces his Sister-in-Law to seduce poor idiots so she can take them home and Frank can kill them and drink their blood, which will give him more flesh. Unfortunately, because this is Britain, any scene of passion in this movie is about as sexy as a luke warm fish. Any scene where people are kissing was about as sexy as church. Characters talk about sex but when I look at them I can imagine it being anything by dry, cold and uninteresting. I mean, for a film about pleasure and pain they could have tried to spice it up a bit. And I'm not even asking the characters to be attractive. I just need to believe that these characters would fuck each other.
Finally, we watched Land of the Dead, which was easily the best movie of the four that me and Aiden watched. A lot of Dead fans didn't like this movie but I thought it was a great way to end the franchise, even if the characters weren't all that deep this time around (I can't speak for Day of the Dead, which I have yet to see) but I like the story and it is surprisingly the most upbeat of them. I actually like the fact that the zombies have evolved and have become tool users and in a way shows that the zombies are actually close to becoming human. Sure that might take some of the scariness out of the zombie concepts, but it makes the film more interesting over all. The humans aren't that interesting this time around but there is a lot of great moments. There's a scene in which a character is given a choice between being shot and becoming a zombie and I found it interesting that he chose the zombie, wanting to know "how the other half lives". Not nearly as good as Dawn of the Dead, but still pretty good.
Well, most of the films weren't great, but being able to laugh derisively at them with a friend made it much more enjoyable.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Japan in the Ass
In the event that there is someone who has not been told, I will be spending my next year in Japan, teaching English as a second language with NOVA.
Well, I'm going to Japan for a year provided I get all of my documents in order before this upcoming Tuesday. I know I shouldn't worry and that everything will probably be OK, but I'm a worrier. I worried about this much before getting ready for the interview and now I feel worry again. Worry!
Anyhoo, I got some stuff done today: I was told that I should be getting my passport in two to three business days, which makes me less worried (since I forgot that I could ask them to hurry up for about thirty dollars) but Dad (as my guarantor) said he hadn't recieved a phone call about it yet and that he should have if it was sent out. Worry.
Later I got my set of original transcripts from my university. I also got six more passport photos, when it would have been much cheaper to get 8 when I got the actual photos for my passport. I was out in the rain so when I got to the photo place, my hair was all wet and the resulting picture looked like I had a really greasy comb-over. Yuck!
Frankly, this kind of stuff is driving me mad because I end up second guessing every move I make and am just not sure if I'm doing it all correctly. I'm already planning to spend all of tomorrow filling out all of the documents and double checking to make sure I have everything I need. Worry.
But I am still looking forward to Japan with great enthusiasm. I just know that I'll be able to do a good job on this and that I'll be able to thrive in the culture despite the language gap. I'm not saying it will be easy, but I've had the experience (albeit long ago) of living in a non-English speaking country for a length of time. And frankly, I just need a change in my life and a chance to do some real fulfilling work.
In many ways I'm not sure what to expect when I get there, but I'm told it's pretty easy to buy English literature at a book store and I'm planning to get the Internet (and a computer) for my room on the first few days before (hopefully) my work begins. I know that if I didn't then it would just bug the Hell out of my parents simply becuase I'd be even harder to get a hold of.
I will be living with two other teachers so I won't have to worry too much about being alone. Still, I have know idea if I'll be able to stand these people (or vice versa), but it's probably than living alone. I just think I'd end up becoming a creepy introvert or something. I still have no idea where I'll be living tonight, but frankly, I think I'd be happy anywhere, hot or cold. My parents are already talking about visiting me next Christmas. It would be pretty easy for my sister if she's still going to be staying in New Zealand.
The hours look interesting as well and look like they will range from 4 to 8 hours days on different days of the week (of course, that's just based on an example schedule) and the days I'll get off will most likely be in the middle of the week, which should make things interesting. It was also hinted that I'll probably doing a lot of karaoke as it's common for emp-loyees to hit the bars and go to parties together. Frankly, I think there's no better way to socialize than to massacre songs together while wasted. It's a real bonding experience. Frankly, I've never been involved with work that really allowed me to really get to know my co-workers, so I think I'll appreciate that.
I still don't know quite what to expect when I get there but I highly doubt any culture shock since I'm very much used to being in different cultures and am a lot more mature than when I started (imagine being a "picky eater" type kid when you're living in another country). I really feel like I'm going to be involved with something important to me and that I can finally make the next big step in my life.
Well, I'm going to Japan for a year provided I get all of my documents in order before this upcoming Tuesday. I know I shouldn't worry and that everything will probably be OK, but I'm a worrier. I worried about this much before getting ready for the interview and now I feel worry again. Worry!
Anyhoo, I got some stuff done today: I was told that I should be getting my passport in two to three business days, which makes me less worried (since I forgot that I could ask them to hurry up for about thirty dollars) but Dad (as my guarantor) said he hadn't recieved a phone call about it yet and that he should have if it was sent out. Worry.
Later I got my set of original transcripts from my university. I also got six more passport photos, when it would have been much cheaper to get 8 when I got the actual photos for my passport. I was out in the rain so when I got to the photo place, my hair was all wet and the resulting picture looked like I had a really greasy comb-over. Yuck!
Frankly, this kind of stuff is driving me mad because I end up second guessing every move I make and am just not sure if I'm doing it all correctly. I'm already planning to spend all of tomorrow filling out all of the documents and double checking to make sure I have everything I need. Worry.
But I am still looking forward to Japan with great enthusiasm. I just know that I'll be able to do a good job on this and that I'll be able to thrive in the culture despite the language gap. I'm not saying it will be easy, but I've had the experience (albeit long ago) of living in a non-English speaking country for a length of time. And frankly, I just need a change in my life and a chance to do some real fulfilling work.
In many ways I'm not sure what to expect when I get there, but I'm told it's pretty easy to buy English literature at a book store and I'm planning to get the Internet (and a computer) for my room on the first few days before (hopefully) my work begins. I know that if I didn't then it would just bug the Hell out of my parents simply becuase I'd be even harder to get a hold of.
I will be living with two other teachers so I won't have to worry too much about being alone. Still, I have know idea if I'll be able to stand these people (or vice versa), but it's probably than living alone. I just think I'd end up becoming a creepy introvert or something. I still have no idea where I'll be living tonight, but frankly, I think I'd be happy anywhere, hot or cold. My parents are already talking about visiting me next Christmas. It would be pretty easy for my sister if she's still going to be staying in New Zealand.
The hours look interesting as well and look like they will range from 4 to 8 hours days on different days of the week (of course, that's just based on an example schedule) and the days I'll get off will most likely be in the middle of the week, which should make things interesting. It was also hinted that I'll probably doing a lot of karaoke as it's common for emp-loyees to hit the bars and go to parties together. Frankly, I think there's no better way to socialize than to massacre songs together while wasted. It's a real bonding experience. Frankly, I've never been involved with work that really allowed me to really get to know my co-workers, so I think I'll appreciate that.
I still don't know quite what to expect when I get there but I highly doubt any culture shock since I'm very much used to being in different cultures and am a lot more mature than when I started (imagine being a "picky eater" type kid when you're living in another country). I really feel like I'm going to be involved with something important to me and that I can finally make the next big step in my life.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Holy Alliance!
The more I hear about the upcoming Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game, the more I like. It looks like it's going to be a lot more polished than the previous X-Men Legends games. Don't get me wrong, those games were a lot of fun, but I had a few issues with them, and usually towards the end of each area, I found myself bored (especially in the first game, since there were only a few locations), though the boss battles were usually pretty good. Now, I'm not expecting Ultimate Alliance to be perfect, but I am expecting it to be a lot of fun.
Now, I'm not good at describing play mechanics like Jordan is, but I'm excited about the use of the Wii-mote to fight and use super-powers, but I'm still not sure what to expect exactly from the Wii-mote. The descriptions sort of paint a picture but I'm so use to classic controllers that I can't imagine it as feeling natural. Still, based on how great the DS is I'm optimistic.
I also appreciate that the "costumes" you can get for your characters not only give you different stats but also different characters. For example, if you have Captain America, one of his costumes is the U.S.Agent, Cap's less-than-stable replacement. With Thor, you can get a Beta Ray Bill "costume" so you can fight as Thor's oddly-named, hideous rival/ally. Hopefully they'll be a few more costume choices this time. The last X-Men game was good but I was very disappointed when they didn't include Jim Lee's X-Men costumes (which were popular with fans and appeared in the 90's X-Men cartoon) but they had hideous costumes that look like they belong to action figures that don't exist. Night Attack Wolverine indeed. My only real costume-related beef is that this game is clearly taking place in the classic Marvel universe, yet Thor is wearing his admittedly cool ultimate costume. I have less of an issue with using the Ultimate Nick Fury (which seems very likely) because he's just Samuel L Jackson with an eyepatch and therefore awesome.
Now all twenty playable characters have not been revealed yet, but I already take issue with Blade and Elektra being playable characters. Maybe if they were unlockable, but I'd rather they used Daredevil and Black Widow rather than a couple of untrustworthy murderers who don't really belong on any main stream super-team. Aside from that, however, it sounds like a great line-up. Still, I'm curious about the notable exception of the Hulk from the initial line-up, which makes me suspect the Hulk might be a major plot point within the game (a boss/unlockable character maybe?) or at the very least will play a large role.
Another element I like is that the game features not only a huge cast of characters (about 140 characters in all) but also all kinds of classic Marvel locations such as Hell, Murderworld, Castle Doom, SHIELD Helicarrier and the Skrull Homeworld (to name a few). Now, as I said, in the X-Men games, some of the levels started to look a like, but in this game it's so all over the Marvel map that I can't help getting excited.
Still, while I know perhaps too much about what's happening in this game already, I'm still guessing what characters will show up and what locations will be visited to give me a geekgasm. So I decided to write about some stuff I really want to see in either this game or the eventual sequel.
Heroes:
Union Jack: If the team were to hit Britain, I'd sure like to see them team up with this badass spy. In all honesty, I mostly like him for the costume, but he's a much cooler British hero than Captain Britain.
Runaways (right): This reluctant super-team is composed of teens (and one pre-teen) who discover that their well-to-do parents are actually all murderous super-villains and they team up to stop them. Unfortunately they have few resources, limited powers and gifts they barely understand and live in LA, far away from the super-hero mecca that is New York City. Since the series is heading in a road trip direction they could easily end up anywhere in the Marvel universe.
Marvel's Western Heroes: I wouldn't be surprised if there was time traveling in the next game and a quick stop in the West might be a fun excuse to showcase the Lone Ranger-esque Western super-heroes that were popular in the fifties.
She-Hulk: She's easily one of my favourite Marvel character's right now, mostly because she has the funniest series and is one of the most level-headed characters. Basically, she's the Hulk's cousin who gained his power set after a blood transfusion only Bruce Banner could give. But she
doesn't have his terrible mindless rages (well... usually) and uses her hero-ness to be one of the nation's most famous and beloved lawyers. Unfortunately, she became poison to her firm when the opposition was able to point out that saving the world (and thus, her jury) could be a form of jury tampering. She was then hired by the firm that got her fired and must now try cases without her fabulous green bod. Now she works on cases involving super-human law.
Man-Thing (left): Not a hero, really, but neither is it a villain. It was, however, ordered to be the guardian of the nexus of all realities. Pretty big role for a creature that isn't really sentient. The Man-Thing is a big swamp monster who is empathic and who only reflects the emotions of any sentient creature it encounters. So if any creature is aggressive towards it or afraid of it, it attacks and becomes very corrosive. I always kind of liked Man-Thing, but I'm not sure why beyond the interesting character design.
Villains:
Kang the Conqueror (right): He's one of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel universe thanks to his time traveling. He's already conqueror the future, but is now bored and wants to conquer it in the time of heroes, where he faces the most opposition, just to show he can. He actually succeeded in the clever but overly-long Kang Dynasty story-arc but checking out all of the future's possibilities and preparing for every eventuality. He loses only because he is betrayed by his son.
The Kingpin: He looks like a fat-ass, but he's not. What looks like fat is actually almost all muscle, making him a physical match for even some of the super-powered heroes. But his real strength is his Machiavellian machinations and his tenacity. He's the runs all the crime in New York (and beyond) and though he's been taken out many times, he always finds a way to get his position back. He's also known for tricking super-heroes into beating the crap out of his competition. It's incredibly hard to make anything stick to the Kingpin no matter how much the evidence piles up. Plus, he has some quality henchmen (Elektra, Bullseye and Typhoid Mary) as opposed to the usual dumbass henchman most villains seem to have.
Thanos: When you need a villain bigger than Dr. Doom, you turn to Thanos. A mad titan from another world (populated by space gods) who worships death. Basically, his big plot is just to kill lots and lots of people to impress Death (who's a chick) until she reciprocates his love. He also constantly hunts for the Infinity Gems, which make whoever collects them all pretty all powerful. He did it once before and killed half the universe and almost all of the Marvel heroes. The universe got better.
The Taskmaster: Born with photographic reflexes (he can copy pretty much any athletic skill or maneuver he sees, including martial arts) the Taskmaster can beat most super-heroes in physical combat after collecting all kinds of martial arts just by watching. But what he prefers to do is stay out of the way and teach other villains how to fight. Still, he's a guy who only gets tougher to beat the longer you fight him.
Locales:
Wakanda: It's essentially techno-Africa. This African nation was the most technologically advanced long before any other nation, thanks largely to the vibranium mines across the country. And because of that, it's constantly under attack from villains and various greedy interests.
The Negative Zone: A crazy alien dimension that's filled to the brim with evil, violence and floating land masses.
Monster Isle: Really speaks for itself. Basically, before Stan Lee got into super-heroes Marvel was publishing almost nothing but sci-fi/horror stories with monsters in 'em. Most of these stories take place in the current Marvel universe, but to explain where they went, Marvel created a crazy island where most of those Monsters lurk. An entire level of monsters with a 12 for tall minimum? Sounds fun to me.
The Raft/The Vault/Negative Zone Prison: any one of these three jails would be cool to visit. And if it's to stop a jail break, then the creators could have fun sending an army of lame villain cannon fodder (with some really tough villains mixed in) rather than the usual faceless henchman. A fun idea for a very tough level.
Well, that's just my little wish list for the series, but so far, things are shaping up to be pretty good. Too bad for Jordan since that means that I'll be unloading all sorts of pointless comics trivia on him for each new character or area we face.
Now, I'm not good at describing play mechanics like Jordan is, but I'm excited about the use of the Wii-mote to fight and use super-powers, but I'm still not sure what to expect exactly from the Wii-mote. The descriptions sort of paint a picture but I'm so use to classic controllers that I can't imagine it as feeling natural. Still, based on how great the DS is I'm optimistic.
I also appreciate that the "costumes" you can get for your characters not only give you different stats but also different characters. For example, if you have Captain America, one of his costumes is the U.S.Agent, Cap's less-than-stable replacement. With Thor, you can get a Beta Ray Bill "costume" so you can fight as Thor's oddly-named, hideous rival/ally. Hopefully they'll be a few more costume choices this time. The last X-Men game was good but I was very disappointed when they didn't include Jim Lee's X-Men costumes (which were popular with fans and appeared in the 90's X-Men cartoon) but they had hideous costumes that look like they belong to action figures that don't exist. Night Attack Wolverine indeed. My only real costume-related beef is that this game is clearly taking place in the classic Marvel universe, yet Thor is wearing his admittedly cool ultimate costume. I have less of an issue with using the Ultimate Nick Fury (which seems very likely) because he's just Samuel L Jackson with an eyepatch and therefore awesome.
Now all twenty playable characters have not been revealed yet, but I already take issue with Blade and Elektra being playable characters. Maybe if they were unlockable, but I'd rather they used Daredevil and Black Widow rather than a couple of untrustworthy murderers who don't really belong on any main stream super-team. Aside from that, however, it sounds like a great line-up. Still, I'm curious about the notable exception of the Hulk from the initial line-up, which makes me suspect the Hulk might be a major plot point within the game (a boss/unlockable character maybe?) or at the very least will play a large role.
Another element I like is that the game features not only a huge cast of characters (about 140 characters in all) but also all kinds of classic Marvel locations such as Hell, Murderworld, Castle Doom, SHIELD Helicarrier and the Skrull Homeworld (to name a few). Now, as I said, in the X-Men games, some of the levels started to look a like, but in this game it's so all over the Marvel map that I can't help getting excited.
Still, while I know perhaps too much about what's happening in this game already, I'm still guessing what characters will show up and what locations will be visited to give me a geekgasm. So I decided to write about some stuff I really want to see in either this game or the eventual sequel.
Heroes:
Union Jack: If the team were to hit Britain, I'd sure like to see them team up with this badass spy. In all honesty, I mostly like him for the costume, but he's a much cooler British hero than Captain Britain.
Runaways (right): This reluctant super-team is composed of teens (and one pre-teen) who discover that their well-to-do parents are actually all murderous super-villains and they team up to stop them. Unfortunately they have few resources, limited powers and gifts they barely understand and live in LA, far away from the super-hero mecca that is New York City. Since the series is heading in a road trip direction they could easily end up anywhere in the Marvel universe.
Marvel's Western Heroes: I wouldn't be surprised if there was time traveling in the next game and a quick stop in the West might be a fun excuse to showcase the Lone Ranger-esque Western super-heroes that were popular in the fifties.
She-Hulk: She's easily one of my favourite Marvel character's right now, mostly because she has the funniest series and is one of the most level-headed characters. Basically, she's the Hulk's cousin who gained his power set after a blood transfusion only Bruce Banner could give. But she
doesn't have his terrible mindless rages (well... usually) and uses her hero-ness to be one of the nation's most famous and beloved lawyers. Unfortunately, she became poison to her firm when the opposition was able to point out that saving the world (and thus, her jury) could be a form of jury tampering. She was then hired by the firm that got her fired and must now try cases without her fabulous green bod. Now she works on cases involving super-human law.Man-Thing (left): Not a hero, really, but neither is it a villain. It was, however, ordered to be the guardian of the nexus of all realities. Pretty big role for a creature that isn't really sentient. The Man-Thing is a big swamp monster who is empathic and who only reflects the emotions of any sentient creature it encounters. So if any creature is aggressive towards it or afraid of it, it attacks and becomes very corrosive. I always kind of liked Man-Thing, but I'm not sure why beyond the interesting character design.
Villains:
Kang the Conqueror (right): He's one of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel universe thanks to his time traveling. He's already conqueror the future, but is now bored and wants to conquer it in the time of heroes, where he faces the most opposition, just to show he can. He actually succeeded in the clever but overly-long Kang Dynasty story-arc but checking out all of the future's possibilities and preparing for every eventuality. He loses only because he is betrayed by his son.
The Kingpin: He looks like a fat-ass, but he's not. What looks like fat is actually almost all muscle, making him a physical match for even some of the super-powered heroes. But his real strength is his Machiavellian machinations and his tenacity. He's the runs all the crime in New York (and beyond) and though he's been taken out many times, he always finds a way to get his position back. He's also known for tricking super-heroes into beating the crap out of his competition. It's incredibly hard to make anything stick to the Kingpin no matter how much the evidence piles up. Plus, he has some quality henchmen (Elektra, Bullseye and Typhoid Mary) as opposed to the usual dumbass henchman most villains seem to have.
Thanos: When you need a villain bigger than Dr. Doom, you turn to Thanos. A mad titan from another world (populated by space gods) who worships death. Basically, his big plot is just to kill lots and lots of people to impress Death (who's a chick) until she reciprocates his love. He also constantly hunts for the Infinity Gems, which make whoever collects them all pretty all powerful. He did it once before and killed half the universe and almost all of the Marvel heroes. The universe got better.The Taskmaster: Born with photographic reflexes (he can copy pretty much any athletic skill or maneuver he sees, including martial arts) the Taskmaster can beat most super-heroes in physical combat after collecting all kinds of martial arts just by watching. But what he prefers to do is stay out of the way and teach other villains how to fight. Still, he's a guy who only gets tougher to beat the longer you fight him.
Locales:
Wakanda: It's essentially techno-Africa. This African nation was the most technologically advanced long before any other nation, thanks largely to the vibranium mines across the country. And because of that, it's constantly under attack from villains and various greedy interests.
The Negative Zone: A crazy alien dimension that's filled to the brim with evil, violence and floating land masses.
Monster Isle: Really speaks for itself. Basically, before Stan Lee got into super-heroes Marvel was publishing almost nothing but sci-fi/horror stories with monsters in 'em. Most of these stories take place in the current Marvel universe, but to explain where they went, Marvel created a crazy island where most of those Monsters lurk. An entire level of monsters with a 12 for tall minimum? Sounds fun to me.
The Raft/The Vault/Negative Zone Prison: any one of these three jails would be cool to visit. And if it's to stop a jail break, then the creators could have fun sending an army of lame villain cannon fodder (with some really tough villains mixed in) rather than the usual faceless henchman. A fun idea for a very tough level.
Well, that's just my little wish list for the series, but so far, things are shaping up to be pretty good. Too bad for Jordan since that means that I'll be unloading all sorts of pointless comics trivia on him for each new character or area we face.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Gone NOVA
Man, what a weekend. For those of you who don't know, I travelled to Halifax to be interviewed for work with the NOVA corporation, which would allow me to teach English in Japan. Frankly, I've been getting ready for this for quite a while. In fact, the week leading up to this I was a bit of a nervous wreck. Just when I think I remembered everything, there was something else to do.
I spent most of Friday and Sunday riding on a bus and reading comics and books. It wasn't really all that fun. At around 6:30ish I got to Halifax and got to my hotel, which ended up costing about $238 including meals and such. It was a pretty decent hotel, though I didn't really have time to enjoy it. I spent most of the night getting ready mentally and ironing the Hell out of my shirt for the interview. Unfortunately, the next morning I discovered that I had ironed one of the buttons off my shirt. Luckily, it wasn't that obvious and I don't think cost me any points but it upset me greatly.
I got to my 8:45 appointment on time (I wanted to be earlier, but the first taxi the hotel called for me never showed up). The first interview was really more of a presentation and information session, though there was some teaching practice. It went pretty good, but I knew that it would be the second interview that would count. Unfortunately, I was the last person to have a one-on-one interview, giving me free time between 11:30 and 4:15. I got some lunch and got some comics from Strange Adventures, but that just took two hours and I spent the rest of the time hanging around the hotel.
The one-on-one interview didn't go bad but I tripped up a little in some areas. I was quite nervous and that affected my performance a little and I wasn't sure quite what the interviewer was looking for. Still, I think my role-playing as teacher went really well and I really got to show off my teaching skills well enough. Still, I'm as nervous as sin and I'm supposed to get my answer come Friday.
Anyhoo, I spent that night with friends of the family and was treated very well (as the elderly like to do) and took the bus out of town the next day.
Now if this thing with NOVA doesn't work out I can still try with JET, but I really hope that I get hired by NOVA, as I really like what I hear about it so far.
And frankly, I just want it because I already invested so much emotionally into this last weekend.
I spent most of Friday and Sunday riding on a bus and reading comics and books. It wasn't really all that fun. At around 6:30ish I got to Halifax and got to my hotel, which ended up costing about $238 including meals and such. It was a pretty decent hotel, though I didn't really have time to enjoy it. I spent most of the night getting ready mentally and ironing the Hell out of my shirt for the interview. Unfortunately, the next morning I discovered that I had ironed one of the buttons off my shirt. Luckily, it wasn't that obvious and I don't think cost me any points but it upset me greatly.
I got to my 8:45 appointment on time (I wanted to be earlier, but the first taxi the hotel called for me never showed up). The first interview was really more of a presentation and information session, though there was some teaching practice. It went pretty good, but I knew that it would be the second interview that would count. Unfortunately, I was the last person to have a one-on-one interview, giving me free time between 11:30 and 4:15. I got some lunch and got some comics from Strange Adventures, but that just took two hours and I spent the rest of the time hanging around the hotel.
The one-on-one interview didn't go bad but I tripped up a little in some areas. I was quite nervous and that affected my performance a little and I wasn't sure quite what the interviewer was looking for. Still, I think my role-playing as teacher went really well and I really got to show off my teaching skills well enough. Still, I'm as nervous as sin and I'm supposed to get my answer come Friday.
Anyhoo, I spent that night with friends of the family and was treated very well (as the elderly like to do) and took the bus out of town the next day.
Now if this thing with NOVA doesn't work out I can still try with JET, but I really hope that I get hired by NOVA, as I really like what I hear about it so far.
And frankly, I just want it because I already invested so much emotionally into this last weekend.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Play MSTy for me
I was going to call this post "Thank YouTube" but it's more MST3k-based than YouTube-based. But YouTube started it when I was looking around on their site for TV series openings and stuff when I found that whole (well, segmented) episodes of were available. I've since been watching many of the episodes that I had not seen before but had always wanted too. It's not as nice as having it on DVD but I'll take what I can get. It just reminds me that Mystery Science Theatre 3000 is still one of my favourite TV series of all times.
Even before I had seen the series I was always very interested in seeing it ever since I heard of it on either the Internet (back when it was relatively new and relatively hideous) or on some crappy TV show that shows the funniest clips from other recent TV series. It instantly caught my attention because it was already quite similar to an 80's TV special I loved called It Came From Hollywood in which John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Cheech and Chong heckle clips from silly sci-fi and monster movies. I remember seeing it long ago, so I have no idea how well it holds up. Still, I was intrigued and when I stumbled on to a tape of it way back in late junior high/early high school at Strange Adventures I picked it up immediately. The episode was the Atomic Brain and it still remains a favourite episode of mine.
The show was created way back in 1988 by Joel Hodgson and some other comedian friends in the mid-west. It was put on a crappy little station called KTMA which, when MST3k was airing on it, air almost nothing but syndicated reruns of forgettable sitcoms and action shows. MST3k gained a quick local following although some people didn't quite get it (apparently one person called the show saying that he liked it except for the annoying people talking through the movie). The show was originally improvised and was really not very good (or so the creators of the show admit). Still, it proved popular enough to have their 13-episode season expanded to 21. Nonetheless, it was cancelled due to the station's financial woes.
The series premise was simple: Joel, a janitor at Gizmonics Institute (a crazy science place) is knocked out by two evil scientists (Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt) and forced to watch crappy movies in an attempt to find the film that will drive him insane. Once the film that is bad enough to drive him over the edge is found, then the mad scientists (or Mads) will use it to conquer the Earth. To keep his sanity, Joel creates robots from the instruments that control the film. The robots are the slightly pretentious Tom Servo, the smart alecy Crow and the unlikable Gypsy (I'm sorry but this character just sucks. Bad). But really it's all about making fun of movies.
The series was eventually picked up by the then young Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central) mostly because it ate up a lot of time on their schedule. When it made it their a friend of the creators and TGIFriday's employee Mike Nelson started working on the show and became head writer one season later simply because of his talent. With season two Josh Weinstein AKA Dr. Erhardt (who is barely remembered by fans) and the voice of Tom Servo left the show so a new Mad was introduced (TV's Frank) and Tom got a new voice. The show continued and just as it got popular the shows lead Joel Hogdson left. Part of it was because he was not comfortable with acting and was really more of a reluctant host and the other was that he was disagreeing with producer Jim Mallon about the direction of the show. In the middle of the fifth season Joel's character bids a final farewell to the cast after being freed against his will, and is replaced by head writer Mike Nelson as host. In my opinion, Mike is a better host mostly because of his confidence and that the era he ushered in brought forth more polished riffing.
Well, the series continued with TV's Frank leaving (he enters Second Banana Heaven at the end of season six) and the series was seemingly cancelled at the end of a very short seventh season. Since it seemed unlikely that there would be no more show, the season finale had the characters reaching the end of the universe and evolving into pure love or energy or something (it was pure whatever it was). At this point, Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Forrester, Crow T. Robot) left the show and his character Dr. Forrester exited.
The series was later picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel, where the crew was given a few guidelines (a continuing storyarc throughout the season, sci-fi movies only) but for the most part it was business as usual. The series lasted three more seasons (which where easily my favourite) before being cancelled.
Since then the actors have been involved with many random projects and books. Most noticeable is that Mike Nelson is chief content producer for Legend films and while there has done some MST3k-style riffing for some of the films. Mike's still pretty funny but it's just not the same without the other cast members. Luckily, Mike's also producing RiffTrax, which include film commentaries by him and, in some cases, his friends Kevin Murphy (the second Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (the second Crow). Basically, they're MST-style film commentaries for more mainstream films (X-Men, Star Trek V, Road House) that can be downloaded and listened two while you watch the film. I found clips of them on YouTube and their pretty good.
The RiffTrax website can be found here. And some great RiffTrax previews can be found here, here and here.
Sorry, if my post isn't that great this week (or ever) but I'm tired and I had to start this one later than usual. Mostly it was an excuse to show that I love MST3k and that RiffTrax are awesome.
Even before I had seen the series I was always very interested in seeing it ever since I heard of it on either the Internet (back when it was relatively new and relatively hideous) or on some crappy TV show that shows the funniest clips from other recent TV series. It instantly caught my attention because it was already quite similar to an 80's TV special I loved called It Came From Hollywood in which John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Cheech and Chong heckle clips from silly sci-fi and monster movies. I remember seeing it long ago, so I have no idea how well it holds up. Still, I was intrigued and when I stumbled on to a tape of it way back in late junior high/early high school at Strange Adventures I picked it up immediately. The episode was the Atomic Brain and it still remains a favourite episode of mine.
The show was created way back in 1988 by Joel Hodgson and some other comedian friends in the mid-west. It was put on a crappy little station called KTMA which, when MST3k was airing on it, air almost nothing but syndicated reruns of forgettable sitcoms and action shows. MST3k gained a quick local following although some people didn't quite get it (apparently one person called the show saying that he liked it except for the annoying people talking through the movie). The show was originally improvised and was really not very good (or so the creators of the show admit). Still, it proved popular enough to have their 13-episode season expanded to 21. Nonetheless, it was cancelled due to the station's financial woes.
The series premise was simple: Joel, a janitor at Gizmonics Institute (a crazy science place) is knocked out by two evil scientists (Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt) and forced to watch crappy movies in an attempt to find the film that will drive him insane. Once the film that is bad enough to drive him over the edge is found, then the mad scientists (or Mads) will use it to conquer the Earth. To keep his sanity, Joel creates robots from the instruments that control the film. The robots are the slightly pretentious Tom Servo, the smart alecy Crow and the unlikable Gypsy (I'm sorry but this character just sucks. Bad). But really it's all about making fun of movies.
The series was eventually picked up by the then young Comedy Channel (now Comedy Central) mostly because it ate up a lot of time on their schedule. When it made it their a friend of the creators and TGIFriday's employee Mike Nelson started working on the show and became head writer one season later simply because of his talent. With season two Josh Weinstein AKA Dr. Erhardt (who is barely remembered by fans) and the voice of Tom Servo left the show so a new Mad was introduced (TV's Frank) and Tom got a new voice. The show continued and just as it got popular the shows lead Joel Hogdson left. Part of it was because he was not comfortable with acting and was really more of a reluctant host and the other was that he was disagreeing with producer Jim Mallon about the direction of the show. In the middle of the fifth season Joel's character bids a final farewell to the cast after being freed against his will, and is replaced by head writer Mike Nelson as host. In my opinion, Mike is a better host mostly because of his confidence and that the era he ushered in brought forth more polished riffing.
Well, the series continued with TV's Frank leaving (he enters Second Banana Heaven at the end of season six) and the series was seemingly cancelled at the end of a very short seventh season. Since it seemed unlikely that there would be no more show, the season finale had the characters reaching the end of the universe and evolving into pure love or energy or something (it was pure whatever it was). At this point, Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Forrester, Crow T. Robot) left the show and his character Dr. Forrester exited.
The series was later picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel, where the crew was given a few guidelines (a continuing storyarc throughout the season, sci-fi movies only) but for the most part it was business as usual. The series lasted three more seasons (which where easily my favourite) before being cancelled.
Since then the actors have been involved with many random projects and books. Most noticeable is that Mike Nelson is chief content producer for Legend films and while there has done some MST3k-style riffing for some of the films. Mike's still pretty funny but it's just not the same without the other cast members. Luckily, Mike's also producing RiffTrax, which include film commentaries by him and, in some cases, his friends Kevin Murphy (the second Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (the second Crow). Basically, they're MST-style film commentaries for more mainstream films (X-Men, Star Trek V, Road House) that can be downloaded and listened two while you watch the film. I found clips of them on YouTube and their pretty good.
The RiffTrax website can be found here. And some great RiffTrax previews can be found here, here and here.
Sorry, if my post isn't that great this week (or ever) but I'm tired and I had to start this one later than usual. Mostly it was an excuse to show that I love MST3k and that RiffTrax are awesome.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Ticked Off
I finally got the first season of the Tick on DVD and I have to say that I'm very disappointed. I don't know if Beuna Vista just doesn't have any love for the show, but this is one of the poorest looking DVD sets I've ever seen.
Now, I have some problems with the first season of the Tick to begin with: the animation is a bit weak in some areas (though some of it, like character designs, holds up rather well), the humour isn't as strong as following seasons and while it certainly has charm the first season, it doesn't quite click. I also don't really like Mickey Dolenz (of Monkees fame) as Arthur. He's no bad really and he has nebbish down but the I prefer Rob Paulson's take on him, who gives Arthur a bit more personality. The problem with the humour is in part a problem with timing and delivery (there are some jokes that I realize I would love in print but the screen fails to deliver) and just poor plotting. Still, there are lots of great jokes, including the Carpeted Man's refusal to take off his super s hit despite sweating profusely, Stalingrad (a villain whose power is looking like Stalin) and most of the episode "the Tick vs. the Tick" where the two super-heroes fight over the use of the super-hero name. And for the first seasons failings I still like it (though would not necessarily recommend it).
However, the DVD is pretty piss poor. The only thing I appreciate is that the set features a cover with new art by creator Ben Edlund. Lovely. But the menu itself is both bare bones and ugly looking. The menu shows the Tick (Arthur in disc two) standing while wacky things move about the scene while the theme song plays. It doesn't sound too bad when I say it, but it's irritating and hideous. There's no extras (though there are trailers for other stuff before the menu comes up. I hate that), which is a shame because I would have like some Ben Edlund commentary and maybe some more insight into the series, as well as the creation of the character (which he first created for his university newsletter).
Also, episode 11 is missing. Now it's a pretty weak episode ("the Tick Vs. the Mole Men") and I'm not fighting to get it but I just don't like the fact that they would do that. It's the principle of the thing.
Still, I'm looking forward to season two, when things get really good. In fact, I'm going to make a list of the series best episodes, simply because lists are easy for me to write. Must have something to do with my lack of imagination:
Best Episodes of Season Two:
Alone Together: An accident on the moon shoots the Tick into deep space where he's saved by a cosmic entity named Omnipotus. Omnipotus agrees to bring the Tick home if the Tick acts as his personal hygenist. *shudder* Too bad Omnipotus is planning to eat the Earth when he gets to it.
Classic Quote:
(After the Tick convinces Omnipotus not to eat the Earth and teaches him the meaning of friendship)
The Tick: (whispering to Arthur) "I don't even really like him."
Evil Sits Down for a Moment: The vain super-hero (if you can call him that) Die Fledermaus and furniture controlling villainous Ottoman Empress fall in love. It's all fun and games at first until the Empress asks for a commitment. Plus, the Tick is convinced he's an elderly British woman.
Classic Quote:
The Tick: "Oh, look, Arthur! It's a completely rehabilitated villain. She's comfortable with herself. Comfort, commitment, marriage... what do all these things have in common? The letter C! Except for marriage. And if people get all British when they get knocked on the head... what do British people get? I know! Comatose! Another C!"
Ants in Pants!: After the Tick has an unpleasant run in with evil ants, he checks himself into Captain Sanity's Superhero Sanitarium. Unfortunately, Captain Sanity's only idea is to have his Shaft-like assistant Taft ("Yer darn right") fight the Tick in different costumes.
Classic Quote:
(while wrestling each other)
Taft: "I'm your momma, man!"
the Tick: "NO YOUR NOT! YOUR TAFT!"
Grandpa Wore Tights: The Tick and Arthur spend the day at the super-heroes retirement home while the Terror, an elderly villain, seeks a weapon they took from him years ago. Old people are amusing.
The Visual Eye: "Oh, the Ray Gun was terrible weapon. Turned everyone it hit into a guy named Ray."
(Flashes to a sepia-toned city scape crawling with friendly, young gas station attendents)
Ray: "Fill 'er up, chief?"
The Visual Eye: "Then there was the Tommy Gun..."
Best of Season Three:
That Mustache Feeling: The Tick inexplicably wakes up with a mustache, which he obsesses over. But when the mustache begins acting on it's own the Tick begins a decent into madness. Who holds the answer to the problem? Jim Rage, Agent of S.H.A.V.E.!
Classic Quote:
The Tick: "Hey, you have both eyes! You're not a secret agent at all! You're just some guy who hates my mustache!"
Devil In Diapers: The villain Mr. Mental seeks protection, so he hypnotizes the Tick and Arthur into thinking he's a baby. It's pretty creepy seeing a 40-year old man being treated like a baby but it's a funny sort of creepy.
Classic Quote:
None I can't think of. I'm still creeped out by the forty year old in diapers.
The Tick Vs. Education: The Tick teaches an Adult education class for super-heroes. His students: The Flying Squirrel, Sarcastro: Master of Sarcasm, Mr. Exciting, Gesundheit, and Babyboomarangotan. Together they must face ice cream mascot Uncle Creamy and the KGB Agent who replaced him.
Classic Quote:
Ex-KGB Agent and current Uncle Creamy Ivan Rubek: (In with a stern tone and Russian accent) "Hello, children. We are having fun at this time. My carefree antics are winning your hearts."
Now, I have some problems with the first season of the Tick to begin with: the animation is a bit weak in some areas (though some of it, like character designs, holds up rather well), the humour isn't as strong as following seasons and while it certainly has charm the first season, it doesn't quite click. I also don't really like Mickey Dolenz (of Monkees fame) as Arthur. He's no bad really and he has nebbish down but the I prefer Rob Paulson's take on him, who gives Arthur a bit more personality. The problem with the humour is in part a problem with timing and delivery (there are some jokes that I realize I would love in print but the screen fails to deliver) and just poor plotting. Still, there are lots of great jokes, including the Carpeted Man's refusal to take off his super s hit despite sweating profusely, Stalingrad (a villain whose power is looking like Stalin) and most of the episode "the Tick vs. the Tick" where the two super-heroes fight over the use of the super-hero name. And for the first seasons failings I still like it (though would not necessarily recommend it).
However, the DVD is pretty piss poor. The only thing I appreciate is that the set features a cover with new art by creator Ben Edlund. Lovely. But the menu itself is both bare bones and ugly looking. The menu shows the Tick (Arthur in disc two) standing while wacky things move about the scene while the theme song plays. It doesn't sound too bad when I say it, but it's irritating and hideous. There's no extras (though there are trailers for other stuff before the menu comes up. I hate that), which is a shame because I would have like some Ben Edlund commentary and maybe some more insight into the series, as well as the creation of the character (which he first created for his university newsletter).
Also, episode 11 is missing. Now it's a pretty weak episode ("the Tick Vs. the Mole Men") and I'm not fighting to get it but I just don't like the fact that they would do that. It's the principle of the thing.
Still, I'm looking forward to season two, when things get really good. In fact, I'm going to make a list of the series best episodes, simply because lists are easy for me to write. Must have something to do with my lack of imagination:
Best Episodes of Season Two:
Alone Together: An accident on the moon shoots the Tick into deep space where he's saved by a cosmic entity named Omnipotus. Omnipotus agrees to bring the Tick home if the Tick acts as his personal hygenist. *shudder* Too bad Omnipotus is planning to eat the Earth when he gets to it.
Classic Quote:
(After the Tick convinces Omnipotus not to eat the Earth and teaches him the meaning of friendship)
The Tick: (whispering to Arthur) "I don't even really like him."
Evil Sits Down for a Moment: The vain super-hero (if you can call him that) Die Fledermaus and furniture controlling villainous Ottoman Empress fall in love. It's all fun and games at first until the Empress asks for a commitment. Plus, the Tick is convinced he's an elderly British woman.
Classic Quote:
The Tick: "Oh, look, Arthur! It's a completely rehabilitated villain. She's comfortable with herself. Comfort, commitment, marriage... what do all these things have in common? The letter C! Except for marriage. And if people get all British when they get knocked on the head... what do British people get? I know! Comatose! Another C!"
Ants in Pants!: After the Tick has an unpleasant run in with evil ants, he checks himself into Captain Sanity's Superhero Sanitarium. Unfortunately, Captain Sanity's only idea is to have his Shaft-like assistant Taft ("Yer darn right") fight the Tick in different costumes.
Classic Quote:
(while wrestling each other)
Taft: "I'm your momma, man!"
the Tick: "NO YOUR NOT! YOUR TAFT!"
Grandpa Wore Tights: The Tick and Arthur spend the day at the super-heroes retirement home while the Terror, an elderly villain, seeks a weapon they took from him years ago. Old people are amusing.
The Visual Eye: "Oh, the Ray Gun was terrible weapon. Turned everyone it hit into a guy named Ray."
(Flashes to a sepia-toned city scape crawling with friendly, young gas station attendents)
Ray: "Fill 'er up, chief?"
The Visual Eye: "Then there was the Tommy Gun..."
Best of Season Three:
That Mustache Feeling: The Tick inexplicably wakes up with a mustache, which he obsesses over. But when the mustache begins acting on it's own the Tick begins a decent into madness. Who holds the answer to the problem? Jim Rage, Agent of S.H.A.V.E.!
Classic Quote:
The Tick: "Hey, you have both eyes! You're not a secret agent at all! You're just some guy who hates my mustache!"
Devil In Diapers: The villain Mr. Mental seeks protection, so he hypnotizes the Tick and Arthur into thinking he's a baby. It's pretty creepy seeing a 40-year old man being treated like a baby but it's a funny sort of creepy.
Classic Quote:
None I can't think of. I'm still creeped out by the forty year old in diapers.
The Tick Vs. Education: The Tick teaches an Adult education class for super-heroes. His students: The Flying Squirrel, Sarcastro: Master of Sarcasm, Mr. Exciting, Gesundheit, and Babyboomarangotan. Together they must face ice cream mascot Uncle Creamy and the KGB Agent who replaced him.
Classic Quote:
Ex-KGB Agent and current Uncle Creamy Ivan Rubek: (In with a stern tone and Russian accent) "Hello, children. We are having fun at this time. My carefree antics are winning your hearts."
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
I Can't Think of a Good Zellers Pun
Well, I didn't get a job at Chapters (damn) but I got a job at Zellers (*shrug*). It seems OK and all, but I don't plan on staying too long past Christmas for a multitude of reasons. One is that if everything works out I'll be teaching English in Japan for most of 2007. Hopefully things will go well with NOVA on Sept. 30th and there'll be a place for me in NOVA. I imagine that if it does go well with NOVA, I'd be heading for Japan sometime between November and January (I checked January off in my application so hopefully that will affect things). The other thing is that while it certainly isn't bad work, it's just something I'm not as interested in sticking with for a prolonged period of time. If things don't work out this time around with NOVA, then I plan on trying again and moving out of my parents apartment. I don't have a specific plan yet but I just want to get some independence in my life and get out of my rut. Maybe into a new rut. Hopefully, if NOVA doesn't work out this time around I'll be able to get some more substantial work with the English Language Programme beyond what I'm doing now (which is nice, it's only about an hour and fifteen minutes a day, on days that I work). OK, that's really more like a few reasons rather than a multitude. Still, it isn't bad work so far.
My work with ELP is really nice (and rewarding) so far, but it doesn't require too much work and I'm really hoping to do more there. Basically what I'm taking part in is recreational activities for the studentsYesterday, I gave a small tour of the UNB/STU campus to some students and today I played cards and some board games with an older Korean woman. Interestingly, it took a lot longer to grow board with War than I thought she would but she really enjoyed Go Fish (which she pronounced as Go Fishy). We also played Boggle and Snakes and Ladders. A good time was had by all.
That's all I can really think of writing about for now... yep.
My work with ELP is really nice (and rewarding) so far, but it doesn't require too much work and I'm really hoping to do more there. Basically what I'm taking part in is recreational activities for the studentsYesterday, I gave a small tour of the UNB/STU campus to some students and today I played cards and some board games with an older Korean woman. Interestingly, it took a lot longer to grow board with War than I thought she would but she really enjoyed Go Fish (which she pronounced as Go Fishy). We also played Boggle and Snakes and Ladders. A good time was had by all.
That's all I can really think of writing about for now... yep.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Conversations with Clod
(By the way, I'm the titular clod)
Well, I had two job interviews today, both of which rather well.
First, I had an interview with Zellers which turned out much better than expected. I wasn't sure even if I wanted to work there simply because I would be afraid it would be like Wal-Mart. I never really hated working at Wal-Mart per se, but I never really liked it that much either. I think I'd like working at Zellers more, partially because I'd only have part-time hours and because the positions available mean I won't have to work in the clothing department again. I feel very confident about the interview because there are plenty of openings, only a few other people being interviewed and the guy interviewing me took a liking to me. Seems he was a "Brunsy" (writer for the Brunswickan) too and said something along the lines of "anything for a fellow Brunsy". Nice guy, but that statement struck me as a little weird, as he repeated it a couple of times and I never really thought of the Brunswickan as a kind of fraternity. But any interview that ends with a discussion of the merits of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men is a successful interview in my books.
Strangely, this is the second interview I've had so far and the second one were I meet people who know comics (though not as much as I, if I may sound like a pretentious snobby ass) as the same thing happened when I was interviewed by Chapters a week ago and found that half of the other people in the group interview were talking about comics. A good omen?
Anyhoo, my other interview was a second interview with Chapters, who asked me a few extra questions. It was a pretty short interview (about 15 minutes) and they told me that I'll be informed within the next couple of days if I have the job. My hopes are up and if I get the job, I'll get 30% off all books and 10% off giftware (plates and stuff). I don't know if it stacks with my iRewards card but either way that's a pretty sweet deal. I'm hoping and praying for that call.
Both jobs start out as part-time jobs but that shouldn't be a problem for me as long as I can balance it along with my part-time work with the ELP, who I have a meeting with on Friday. I know I have that work if I want it, but I just hope whatever work I get allows me to work with ELP too.
Well, I had two job interviews today, both of which rather well.
First, I had an interview with Zellers which turned out much better than expected. I wasn't sure even if I wanted to work there simply because I would be afraid it would be like Wal-Mart. I never really hated working at Wal-Mart per se, but I never really liked it that much either. I think I'd like working at Zellers more, partially because I'd only have part-time hours and because the positions available mean I won't have to work in the clothing department again. I feel very confident about the interview because there are plenty of openings, only a few other people being interviewed and the guy interviewing me took a liking to me. Seems he was a "Brunsy" (writer for the Brunswickan) too and said something along the lines of "anything for a fellow Brunsy". Nice guy, but that statement struck me as a little weird, as he repeated it a couple of times and I never really thought of the Brunswickan as a kind of fraternity. But any interview that ends with a discussion of the merits of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men is a successful interview in my books.
Strangely, this is the second interview I've had so far and the second one were I meet people who know comics (though not as much as I, if I may sound like a pretentious snobby ass) as the same thing happened when I was interviewed by Chapters a week ago and found that half of the other people in the group interview were talking about comics. A good omen?
Anyhoo, my other interview was a second interview with Chapters, who asked me a few extra questions. It was a pretty short interview (about 15 minutes) and they told me that I'll be informed within the next couple of days if I have the job. My hopes are up and if I get the job, I'll get 30% off all books and 10% off giftware (plates and stuff). I don't know if it stacks with my iRewards card but either way that's a pretty sweet deal. I'm hoping and praying for that call.
Both jobs start out as part-time jobs but that shouldn't be a problem for me as long as I can balance it along with my part-time work with the ELP, who I have a meeting with on Friday. I know I have that work if I want it, but I just hope whatever work I get allows me to work with ELP too.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Coming Soon to a Rack Near You
The latest issue of Wizard (it's a comics magazine) came out today and had a huge fall preview issue and I just thought I'd go over some of the comics and comic-related stuff that was previewed in the book:
Mighty Avengers: This series will be taking place after the Civil War crossover (in which the Marvel Heroes are split into two warring factions over the issue of superhuman registration) and looks to be focusing on the pro-government heroes. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho (who likes to draw the boobies), this looks to be much more upbeat than New Avengers, but since there's a good chance these guys are the winners of the Civil War I don't blame 'em for being upbeat. The 7-page preview looks really good, particularly the Mole Man's monster army, and it looks to be a return to the classic "Avengers vs. world-threatening villain" stories that have been missing for quite a while in the other Avengers series. Plus, it's good to see Wonder Man on a team again. I keep thinking that writers forgot he existed.
New Wildstorm: I've never been a big fan of the "Wildstorm Universe" (though there are a lot of great series within that continuity), but Grant Morrison and Jim Lee's new take on it sounds like it's going to be a great read. Mixing the flash of the early Image comics with the substance of Vertigo comics, the new Wildstorm books sound clever, fun and, as one expects from Grant Morrison, crazy. Basically the idea is that while most hero comics are accused of being an adolescent power fantasy, Wildstorm will represent an adult power fantasy.
The headlining series will be WildC.A.T.s written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Jim Lee and will be about the Halo Corporation, the first alien corporate machine, run by the alien robot Spartan who has humanities' best interest at heart, whether we want it or not. He gives a cyborg in every home and all sorts of advances in technology but will Spartan and his WildC.A.T.s (who are a group of Covert heroes) give the world fatherly love or a cold iron fist? Or will it be a bit of both?
The other huge series will be the Authority by Grant Morrison and Drawn by Gene Ha (Top Ten). The Authority is a super hero team who plan to change the world for the better regardless of what any government says. Basically, if they existed in our world they would have taken care of Bin Laden, Kim Jong Il and George Bush in the cleanest way possible. The original series was good but failed to deliver on the title characters changing the world, despite overthrowing a few corrupt governments. Creative teams tried to make it work, but it never felt... right. This version will feature the title characters lost in the Bleed (a sort of field where all universes meet), trying to get home and changing every universe the meet along the way.
Gen13 features over-sexed super-powered teens who are on the run from the government. Sounds generic enough, but Gail Simone is one of the wittiest writers in the industry and the promise that she'll give us the sexy humour that made the original so popular is promising, since she handles that stuff pretty well. The artist's name is Talent Caldwell, who I've never heard of. Still, his name sounds talented. Now if only there was a writer named Plot Goodscript.
The other series (StormWatch, Midnighter, Deathblow and Wetworks) don't sound all that interesting, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them turns out to be a sleeper hit of some sort.
Richard Donner on Superman: Yeah, that Richard Donner will be writing Superman quite soon. Apparently, this is what Superman III was supposed to be until it became a shitty Richard Pryor vehicle. Plus, it will greatly involve Bizarro, who is always one of my favourite villains. Frankly, I don't know how much Donner will actually write as he's co-writing with Geoff Johns (they worked together on conspiracy Theory), whose writing approximately 50 books a month right now. This is definitely the most-hyped book write now, but I'm still not quite sure what to expect. Still Richard Donner has directed some fun flicks before (Maverick, Lethal Weapon, Scrooged) despite some stinkers (The Toy, Timeline) and I'm pretty hopeful for his run on the series.
Heroes: Coming to NBC this fall is a series about people all over the world from all walks of life gaining different super-powers. Apparently, they will have to save the world from an apocalyptic threat but that won't be for a few more seasons yet, assuming the show lasts that long. For the first few episodes, it's just the characters exploring the possibilities of their powers, so for that alone, the first few episodes should be worth checking out. The characters include a Japanese Otaku/salaryman with teleportation and time manipulation powers, a flying congressional candidate, an inmate who can walk through walls, a cheerleader with a healing factor and a mind-reading cop. I hope it turns out to be good, as it has been a long time since I've watched a weekly program that I can look forward to.
Also, this isn't comics related, but I'm thinking that if I get a next generation system, it'll be the Wii. It sounds as though it will be less expensive than the PS3 and just more imaginative.
Mighty Avengers: This series will be taking place after the Civil War crossover (in which the Marvel Heroes are split into two warring factions over the issue of superhuman registration) and looks to be focusing on the pro-government heroes. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho (who likes to draw the boobies), this looks to be much more upbeat than New Avengers, but since there's a good chance these guys are the winners of the Civil War I don't blame 'em for being upbeat. The 7-page preview looks really good, particularly the Mole Man's monster army, and it looks to be a return to the classic "Avengers vs. world-threatening villain" stories that have been missing for quite a while in the other Avengers series. Plus, it's good to see Wonder Man on a team again. I keep thinking that writers forgot he existed.
New Wildstorm: I've never been a big fan of the "Wildstorm Universe" (though there are a lot of great series within that continuity), but Grant Morrison and Jim Lee's new take on it sounds like it's going to be a great read. Mixing the flash of the early Image comics with the substance of Vertigo comics, the new Wildstorm books sound clever, fun and, as one expects from Grant Morrison, crazy. Basically the idea is that while most hero comics are accused of being an adolescent power fantasy, Wildstorm will represent an adult power fantasy.
The headlining series will be WildC.A.T.s written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Jim Lee and will be about the Halo Corporation, the first alien corporate machine, run by the alien robot Spartan who has humanities' best interest at heart, whether we want it or not. He gives a cyborg in every home and all sorts of advances in technology but will Spartan and his WildC.A.T.s (who are a group of Covert heroes) give the world fatherly love or a cold iron fist? Or will it be a bit of both?
The other huge series will be the Authority by Grant Morrison and Drawn by Gene Ha (Top Ten). The Authority is a super hero team who plan to change the world for the better regardless of what any government says. Basically, if they existed in our world they would have taken care of Bin Laden, Kim Jong Il and George Bush in the cleanest way possible. The original series was good but failed to deliver on the title characters changing the world, despite overthrowing a few corrupt governments. Creative teams tried to make it work, but it never felt... right. This version will feature the title characters lost in the Bleed (a sort of field where all universes meet), trying to get home and changing every universe the meet along the way.
Gen13 features over-sexed super-powered teens who are on the run from the government. Sounds generic enough, but Gail Simone is one of the wittiest writers in the industry and the promise that she'll give us the sexy humour that made the original so popular is promising, since she handles that stuff pretty well. The artist's name is Talent Caldwell, who I've never heard of. Still, his name sounds talented. Now if only there was a writer named Plot Goodscript.
The other series (StormWatch, Midnighter, Deathblow and Wetworks) don't sound all that interesting, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them turns out to be a sleeper hit of some sort.
Richard Donner on Superman: Yeah, that Richard Donner will be writing Superman quite soon. Apparently, this is what Superman III was supposed to be until it became a shitty Richard Pryor vehicle. Plus, it will greatly involve Bizarro, who is always one of my favourite villains. Frankly, I don't know how much Donner will actually write as he's co-writing with Geoff Johns (they worked together on conspiracy Theory), whose writing approximately 50 books a month right now. This is definitely the most-hyped book write now, but I'm still not quite sure what to expect. Still Richard Donner has directed some fun flicks before (Maverick, Lethal Weapon, Scrooged) despite some stinkers (The Toy, Timeline) and I'm pretty hopeful for his run on the series.
Heroes: Coming to NBC this fall is a series about people all over the world from all walks of life gaining different super-powers. Apparently, they will have to save the world from an apocalyptic threat but that won't be for a few more seasons yet, assuming the show lasts that long. For the first few episodes, it's just the characters exploring the possibilities of their powers, so for that alone, the first few episodes should be worth checking out. The characters include a Japanese Otaku/salaryman with teleportation and time manipulation powers, a flying congressional candidate, an inmate who can walk through walls, a cheerleader with a healing factor and a mind-reading cop. I hope it turns out to be good, as it has been a long time since I've watched a weekly program that I can look forward to.
Also, this isn't comics related, but I'm thinking that if I get a next generation system, it'll be the Wii. It sounds as though it will be less expensive than the PS3 and just more imaginative.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Comics for my friends
Just as Darcy espouses on the art of cinema, movie making and all that crap, those who know me know that I go on at length about comics. I just love them. In fact, that's why I decided that I MUST write a new weblog entry every Wednesday (new comic day!) And I always try to get others to read comics too, though the results are mixed. Aiden's well on his way to loving them thanks in no small part to Marvel's Ultimate line of comics. Cheesy name aside (may as well call them extreme. No, that's still worse, if by just a narrow margin) the line, which is basically a continuity enema where things are happening again for the first time, is mostly high quality with the occasional minor slip-ups. Jordan reads webcomics and manga but I haven't been able to turn him on to anything outside those aesthetics (though he showed interest in the character of Hellboy). No luck with Darcy, but I don't see him that I often. The Twins read Transmetropolitan and loved it, although it seems to be the only thing I've been able to turn them on two. I've tried other stuff but have not been given a response for most of it. Nathan recently turned to comics after seeing V for Vendetta. He actually didn't like the book it was based on so much, but he loved Alan Moore's other book, Watchmen, which is widely regarded as the greatest comic of all time (I wouldn't go that far but it is definitely in the running) though I don't know if he has explored much beyond that.
What I want to do in this entry is provide some options that might appeal to each of my friends. My purpose is to pick the one great comic that will most likely appeal to the people listed here that they have not read, as well as a few runner ups that I was also considering. Now I can't be positive but I'll also mention what I based my decision on and let you decide. And sure, you probably don't want to spend money on something that's just been recommended to you, but most of these probably ain't to hard to download off the Interweb just as Nathan did.
Aiden: Conan: Yes, that Conan. The barbarian one. But try not to think about the movie. This is much better. Basically it follows the history of Conan, a warrior living in a time on Earth known only as the Hyborian Age (think pre-Babylonian, but much more advanced), who tries to sate his wanderlust and ends up with a greater destiny. The thing I like about Conan is that he's not off on some great quest and he's not a chivalrous selfless hero. He's not really a hero at all, just a guy who wants to find what wonders and opportunities lay over the next horizon. Oh, and gold, food and fine pieces of ass are motivating factors too. Though the series starts with him leaving his home for the first time, the series is essentially the cradle to grave story of Conan who grows and changes as a person with each story. I think Aiden would like this not only because I know he's a fantasy fan, but also because the series is essentially Ultimate Conan. It retells all the classic tales of Conan in a more organic fashion than before (the original pulp books take place in various random points in Conan's life), but still keeps the violent and exciting flavour of Conan's world. The writing by Kurt Busiek (Marvels, Astro City) deviates from his usual style of classic style super-hero books and slice of life super-hero books and really shows that he gets the character and doesn't shy away from some of the nastier aspects of Conan's world. The art by Cary Nord (whom I had not heard of before this book) is absolutely wonderful, assisted by the luscious colours of Dave Stewart. A damned fine book.
Runners Up:
Runaways: A fun teen-action series written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y - The Last Man) that takes a Breakfast Club-like group of kids and forces them to use their newfound power to stop one of the most dangerous super-villain teams ever: their parents.
Astonishing X-Men: Written by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) and penciled by the always amazing John Cassady (Planetary) bring one of the best X-Titles in a long while. Whedon brings the comedy, the plot twists and the character development and Cassady brings the bad ass fight scenes and awe-inspiring visuals
Street Angel: Seeing how much Aiden liked Dr. McNinja (or whatever it's called) I'm positive Aiden would like this series about a homeless 14-year-old ninja on a skateboard. Funnier and weirder than it sounds. Also featuring former black exploitation hero Afrodisiac and CosMick the Irish astronaut.
Jordan: Bone: One of my personal all time favourites. It's the tale of the Bone cousins, three white smurf-looking creatures from Boneville (where everyone looks like that I can imagine) who get kicked out of town after a mayoral election gone awry. Fone Bone is de facto leader and easily the most sensible of the three, Phoney Bone is greedy, cheap and short-tempered and Smiley Bone, though seemingly stupid is just eccentric and is actually quite quick-witted (he's sort of like Hobbes to Phoney's Calvin). While wandering through the desert they all get lost in a huge swarm of locusts and all end up in a huge valley, populated by humans and various talking animals. After spending most of the winter lost in the woods (though making very good friends with the animals) and occasionally chased around by fearsome rat creatures (who aren't really very good monsters, as a real monster tries to make you into a stew, not a quiche), Fone meets up with the beautiful human Thorne and her hearty Grandma Ben. He also finds his brothers in the nearby town of Barrelhaven washing dishes at a bar for a rough and tumble bartender. Everything seems fine at first but soon Fone notices strange things. Why does Grandma Ben refuse to believe in the dragon Fone claims to have seen? Why does it seem that she and the bartender know more than their letting on? And who or what is the Hooded One?
I figured this was a good choice for Jordan since it is a fantasy epic (which I understand Jordan likes) with a good sense of humour and an immensely likeable cast. Though it's full of classic fantasy conventions it doesn't feel hampered by cliches and writer/artist Jeff Smith storytelling keeps the reader on his toes. And, most importantly its just fun.
Runners Up: Hellboy: A very popular book and with good reason. A really unique art style, a very likeable main character (a sort of blue collar paranormal investigator who would rather be drinking brews than facing Lovecraftian horrors from beyond) and an interesting continuity. It should be noted, however, that the first book is plagued with serious pacing problems and doesn't hold up nearly as well as further volumes.
Fallen Angel: Generic title aside this is a strange, witty book by long time Star Trek novel and Hulk comic writer Peter David. In the city of Bete Noir, one of those "city of lost souls" cliches, a young woman, Lee, acts as a hired detective for anyone who will pay and contends with the man who runs the town Dr. Juris. But keeping with the "everything is not what it seems" cliche, Juris and Lee are lovers as well as arch-enemies. Despite everything making it sound cliche, Fallen Angel is a fun quirky series with David's trademark humour and strange, intriguing characters (Ricmond would love the criminal named Asia Minor).
Top Ten: An NYPD Blue-esque series about the cops who work the beat in Neopolis, a city who population is composed of superheroes, supervillains, aliens, robots, monsters, gods and any other things one might find in a comic book. While there is certainly humour, the actual plots and subplots are gripping. Sure, there's comedy (a shape-shifting ass-grabber is plaguing the city, a Godzilla-like drunken dad causes trouble when he tries to break his son out of jail) but there is also some great drama (a cop realizes he's responsible for a prostitute getting murdered, the team faces death and destruction at the hands of one of their own).
Darcy: The Mystery Play: This one-shot from the bizarre mind of Grant Morrison (We3, Seaguy) and with beautiful painted art by J. Jon Muth (MoonShadow) comes this eerie story of a town that holds mystery plays (a very old kind of play in which biblical stories are re-enacted). When the actor who plays God is murdered, a detective named Carpenter arrives to try and solve the mystery. But this story isn't a mystery: it's an enigma. While it's plainly obvious from the premise that this story focuses on religion and the nature of God, it also focuses on madness and humanity. The story is short but is full of haunting images and strange discomforting dialogue. Though Grant Morrison is known for being very weird, this is actually a very toned down work for the writer. It's still quite weird but it's not quite as over the top. This will appeal to Darcy for it's cinematic imagery and it's cryptic story that raises many questions but answer little despite having a satisfying ending.
Runners Up:
Doom Patrol: Also by Grant Morrison. This is a deliciously crazy mix of David Lynch, David Cronenburg and super-heroes. This is Grant Morrison at his craziest giving us sentient transvestite streets, the Brotherhood of Dada, the ghost of imaginary friends, and Crazy Jane, who has 64 separate personalities... and a super-power for each one.
Transmetropolitan: I guess calling this series Hunter S. Thompson in the future is accurate, but I get the feeling that it sells it a bit short. Warren Ellis' most personal work focuses on the media and the nature of truth in a future that's a lot like today... only stranger.
Four Women: A powerful thriller in the vein of Straw Dogs. But while Straw Dogs was about masculinity, this series is about different kinds of femininity. But it's still about survival and what people are capable of... and what they wish they were capable of.
The Twins: Fell: Snowtown is a feral city, no longer fit for civilized people. But people still live there, shop there, eat there and work there. Detective Richard Fell has entered Snowtown to clean it up but it won't be easy considering the precinct is understaffed, the town is superstitious and even his friends and allies aren't quite sane. Warren Ellis created this series in an attempt to make a book that's cheaper than others, for those who can't afford normal monthly comics, but still has a full story. Each issue is a self-contained story so the target audience doesn't have to worry about having to buy it every single month if they can't afford it. Even though the page count for each comic is about 8 less than the average each issue is satisfying like a good meal. And at the end of each issue there's four pages of bonus material including reader mail, commentary and a page from the original script. The reason I chose it for the twins is that it each issue is usually inspired by the strange sort of information and trivia that the twins seem to know and love. Said information and trivia serves the story well, however, and shows the reader how nightmarish Snowtown can be.
Runners Up: Louis Riel: It's the life story of Louis Riel, in comic form. It's much better than it sounds and is probably the best biography I've ever read. Though the writer admits that some of the details are fictionalized (such as the dialogue and the characters motivations, which we could never truly know), the book is painstakingly researched and it shows. I've always known of Riel, but I never really knew how interesting (and nuts) he was until I read this book.
Switchblade Honey: A fun one-shot by Warren Ellis (writer of That Other Stuff I Mentioned By Him) created to be sort of an anti-Star Trek, featuring a crew of treasonists (they all had good reasons) given a ship to engage in guerrilla combat in a war that humanity is losing. Clever and fun, it's to bad it never became a series.
X-Statix: This probably the only X-Title I could get the twins to read, but I'm sure they'd find it amusing. The X-Statix call themselves a super-hero team but the fact is they're really flamboyant celebrity mercenaries. With a high mortality rate, the group is constantly changing members, but most shocking is the new leader the team gets after the last one got fragged. Not only is he inexperienced but he has a moral compass.
Nathan: 100 Bullets: His name is Agent Graves and he gives people a chance to change things. He gives them an attache briefcase containing 100 untraceable bullets, a gun, carte blanche to do what you wish with the bullets and irrefutable evidence that you have been irrevocably wronged. He gives consequence-free revenge. But then, when is anything consequence-free. This epic crime book explores the secret history of America while exploring the human drama of those who are given the briefcase. The great thing about this series is how everything seems to fit together so perfectly. The readers are given hints at the big picture and with each little hint it forces the readers to reconsider all that they've seen before. I figured this is the kind of thing that would interest Nathan simply because it has style character and manages to create a cool noir mood without becoming a cheesy noir pastiche.
Runners Up: Powers: A dark violent police drama about two homicide detectives who specialize in murdered super-humans. Great story and dialogue by Bendis and great animated style art by Michael Avon Oeming add up to a great book. Great. Sorry, I'm tired and my brain thesaurus ain't working.
Preacher: Great. I mean, er-- a violent Western about a Reverend possessed by the son of God and a demon. Now the Rev, his gun-toting girlfriend and his vampire drinking buddy are hunting god to hold him responsible. It might feature a lot of religion but what this series is really about is friendship, loyalty and cowboy justice.
The Walking Dead: What if Dawn of the Dead didn't end? This series is a lot like your average zombie movie, except it keeps going month after month. A small town sheriff wakes from a coma to discover the dead have risen. After finding his family, our hero and his new friends try to find sanctuary and remain sane but things look grim.
Just some suggestions. What do you think?
What I want to do in this entry is provide some options that might appeal to each of my friends. My purpose is to pick the one great comic that will most likely appeal to the people listed here that they have not read, as well as a few runner ups that I was also considering. Now I can't be positive but I'll also mention what I based my decision on and let you decide. And sure, you probably don't want to spend money on something that's just been recommended to you, but most of these probably ain't to hard to download off the Interweb just as Nathan did.
Aiden: Conan: Yes, that Conan. The barbarian one. But try not to think about the movie. This is much better. Basically it follows the history of Conan, a warrior living in a time on Earth known only as the Hyborian Age (think pre-Babylonian, but much more advanced), who tries to sate his wanderlust and ends up with a greater destiny. The thing I like about Conan is that he's not off on some great quest and he's not a chivalrous selfless hero. He's not really a hero at all, just a guy who wants to find what wonders and opportunities lay over the next horizon. Oh, and gold, food and fine pieces of ass are motivating factors too. Though the series starts with him leaving his home for the first time, the series is essentially the cradle to grave story of Conan who grows and changes as a person with each story. I think Aiden would like this not only because I know he's a fantasy fan, but also because the series is essentially Ultimate Conan. It retells all the classic tales of Conan in a more organic fashion than before (the original pulp books take place in various random points in Conan's life), but still keeps the violent and exciting flavour of Conan's world. The writing by Kurt Busiek (Marvels, Astro City) deviates from his usual style of classic style super-hero books and slice of life super-hero books and really shows that he gets the character and doesn't shy away from some of the nastier aspects of Conan's world. The art by Cary Nord (whom I had not heard of before this book) is absolutely wonderful, assisted by the luscious colours of Dave Stewart. A damned fine book.
Runners Up:
Runaways: A fun teen-action series written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y - The Last Man) that takes a Breakfast Club-like group of kids and forces them to use their newfound power to stop one of the most dangerous super-villain teams ever: their parents.
Astonishing X-Men: Written by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) and penciled by the always amazing John Cassady (Planetary) bring one of the best X-Titles in a long while. Whedon brings the comedy, the plot twists and the character development and Cassady brings the bad ass fight scenes and awe-inspiring visuals
Street Angel: Seeing how much Aiden liked Dr. McNinja (or whatever it's called) I'm positive Aiden would like this series about a homeless 14-year-old ninja on a skateboard. Funnier and weirder than it sounds. Also featuring former black exploitation hero Afrodisiac and CosMick the Irish astronaut.
Jordan: Bone: One of my personal all time favourites. It's the tale of the Bone cousins, three white smurf-looking creatures from Boneville (where everyone looks like that I can imagine) who get kicked out of town after a mayoral election gone awry. Fone Bone is de facto leader and easily the most sensible of the three, Phoney Bone is greedy, cheap and short-tempered and Smiley Bone, though seemingly stupid is just eccentric and is actually quite quick-witted (he's sort of like Hobbes to Phoney's Calvin). While wandering through the desert they all get lost in a huge swarm of locusts and all end up in a huge valley, populated by humans and various talking animals. After spending most of the winter lost in the woods (though making very good friends with the animals) and occasionally chased around by fearsome rat creatures (who aren't really very good monsters, as a real monster tries to make you into a stew, not a quiche), Fone meets up with the beautiful human Thorne and her hearty Grandma Ben. He also finds his brothers in the nearby town of Barrelhaven washing dishes at a bar for a rough and tumble bartender. Everything seems fine at first but soon Fone notices strange things. Why does Grandma Ben refuse to believe in the dragon Fone claims to have seen? Why does it seem that she and the bartender know more than their letting on? And who or what is the Hooded One?
I figured this was a good choice for Jordan since it is a fantasy epic (which I understand Jordan likes) with a good sense of humour and an immensely likeable cast. Though it's full of classic fantasy conventions it doesn't feel hampered by cliches and writer/artist Jeff Smith storytelling keeps the reader on his toes. And, most importantly its just fun.
Runners Up: Hellboy: A very popular book and with good reason. A really unique art style, a very likeable main character (a sort of blue collar paranormal investigator who would rather be drinking brews than facing Lovecraftian horrors from beyond) and an interesting continuity. It should be noted, however, that the first book is plagued with serious pacing problems and doesn't hold up nearly as well as further volumes.
Fallen Angel: Generic title aside this is a strange, witty book by long time Star Trek novel and Hulk comic writer Peter David. In the city of Bete Noir, one of those "city of lost souls" cliches, a young woman, Lee, acts as a hired detective for anyone who will pay and contends with the man who runs the town Dr. Juris. But keeping with the "everything is not what it seems" cliche, Juris and Lee are lovers as well as arch-enemies. Despite everything making it sound cliche, Fallen Angel is a fun quirky series with David's trademark humour and strange, intriguing characters (Ricmond would love the criminal named Asia Minor).
Top Ten: An NYPD Blue-esque series about the cops who work the beat in Neopolis, a city who population is composed of superheroes, supervillains, aliens, robots, monsters, gods and any other things one might find in a comic book. While there is certainly humour, the actual plots and subplots are gripping. Sure, there's comedy (a shape-shifting ass-grabber is plaguing the city, a Godzilla-like drunken dad causes trouble when he tries to break his son out of jail) but there is also some great drama (a cop realizes he's responsible for a prostitute getting murdered, the team faces death and destruction at the hands of one of their own).
Darcy: The Mystery Play: This one-shot from the bizarre mind of Grant Morrison (We3, Seaguy) and with beautiful painted art by J. Jon Muth (MoonShadow) comes this eerie story of a town that holds mystery plays (a very old kind of play in which biblical stories are re-enacted). When the actor who plays God is murdered, a detective named Carpenter arrives to try and solve the mystery. But this story isn't a mystery: it's an enigma. While it's plainly obvious from the premise that this story focuses on religion and the nature of God, it also focuses on madness and humanity. The story is short but is full of haunting images and strange discomforting dialogue. Though Grant Morrison is known for being very weird, this is actually a very toned down work for the writer. It's still quite weird but it's not quite as over the top. This will appeal to Darcy for it's cinematic imagery and it's cryptic story that raises many questions but answer little despite having a satisfying ending.
Runners Up:
Doom Patrol: Also by Grant Morrison. This is a deliciously crazy mix of David Lynch, David Cronenburg and super-heroes. This is Grant Morrison at his craziest giving us sentient transvestite streets, the Brotherhood of Dada, the ghost of imaginary friends, and Crazy Jane, who has 64 separate personalities... and a super-power for each one.
Transmetropolitan: I guess calling this series Hunter S. Thompson in the future is accurate, but I get the feeling that it sells it a bit short. Warren Ellis' most personal work focuses on the media and the nature of truth in a future that's a lot like today... only stranger.
Four Women: A powerful thriller in the vein of Straw Dogs. But while Straw Dogs was about masculinity, this series is about different kinds of femininity. But it's still about survival and what people are capable of... and what they wish they were capable of.
The Twins: Fell: Snowtown is a feral city, no longer fit for civilized people. But people still live there, shop there, eat there and work there. Detective Richard Fell has entered Snowtown to clean it up but it won't be easy considering the precinct is understaffed, the town is superstitious and even his friends and allies aren't quite sane. Warren Ellis created this series in an attempt to make a book that's cheaper than others, for those who can't afford normal monthly comics, but still has a full story. Each issue is a self-contained story so the target audience doesn't have to worry about having to buy it every single month if they can't afford it. Even though the page count for each comic is about 8 less than the average each issue is satisfying like a good meal. And at the end of each issue there's four pages of bonus material including reader mail, commentary and a page from the original script. The reason I chose it for the twins is that it each issue is usually inspired by the strange sort of information and trivia that the twins seem to know and love. Said information and trivia serves the story well, however, and shows the reader how nightmarish Snowtown can be.
Runners Up: Louis Riel: It's the life story of Louis Riel, in comic form. It's much better than it sounds and is probably the best biography I've ever read. Though the writer admits that some of the details are fictionalized (such as the dialogue and the characters motivations, which we could never truly know), the book is painstakingly researched and it shows. I've always known of Riel, but I never really knew how interesting (and nuts) he was until I read this book.
Switchblade Honey: A fun one-shot by Warren Ellis (writer of That Other Stuff I Mentioned By Him) created to be sort of an anti-Star Trek, featuring a crew of treasonists (they all had good reasons) given a ship to engage in guerrilla combat in a war that humanity is losing. Clever and fun, it's to bad it never became a series.
X-Statix: This probably the only X-Title I could get the twins to read, but I'm sure they'd find it amusing. The X-Statix call themselves a super-hero team but the fact is they're really flamboyant celebrity mercenaries. With a high mortality rate, the group is constantly changing members, but most shocking is the new leader the team gets after the last one got fragged. Not only is he inexperienced but he has a moral compass.
Nathan: 100 Bullets: His name is Agent Graves and he gives people a chance to change things. He gives them an attache briefcase containing 100 untraceable bullets, a gun, carte blanche to do what you wish with the bullets and irrefutable evidence that you have been irrevocably wronged. He gives consequence-free revenge. But then, when is anything consequence-free. This epic crime book explores the secret history of America while exploring the human drama of those who are given the briefcase. The great thing about this series is how everything seems to fit together so perfectly. The readers are given hints at the big picture and with each little hint it forces the readers to reconsider all that they've seen before. I figured this is the kind of thing that would interest Nathan simply because it has style character and manages to create a cool noir mood without becoming a cheesy noir pastiche.
Runners Up: Powers: A dark violent police drama about two homicide detectives who specialize in murdered super-humans. Great story and dialogue by Bendis and great animated style art by Michael Avon Oeming add up to a great book. Great. Sorry, I'm tired and my brain thesaurus ain't working.
Preacher: Great. I mean, er-- a violent Western about a Reverend possessed by the son of God and a demon. Now the Rev, his gun-toting girlfriend and his vampire drinking buddy are hunting god to hold him responsible. It might feature a lot of religion but what this series is really about is friendship, loyalty and cowboy justice.
The Walking Dead: What if Dawn of the Dead didn't end? This series is a lot like your average zombie movie, except it keeps going month after month. A small town sheriff wakes from a coma to discover the dead have risen. After finding his family, our hero and his new friends try to find sanctuary and remain sane but things look grim.
Just some suggestions. What do you think?
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