Hope You're Comfortable...

Because I have a truckload of comics to review. So many that I am starting this during halftime of the Super Bowl. Not really going to comment on that until later if needed. I will say this. After seeing the IRON MAN trailer, I am convinced that it will give THE DARK KNIGHT a run for the money this spring.


So, on to the comics!


Marvel-
Amazing Spider-Man 547 &548- I really loved Dan Slott's run on THE THING. It was the best superhero book with humor out there. That being said, this has not been a great start. I know he is hamstrung by Quesada's agenda, and he probably cannot start any real good storylines because of the "Secret Invasion" stuff. (real quick sidenote on that; I may pick an issue, but having Yu doing the artwork to such a big project is turning my stomach. His stuff has not looked as strong as his earlier stuff. In my opinion.) So with all that, he managed to do put an OK start to this FUBAR hero. Not great, but OK. I will stay with it for a bit more and see what he can do before the hammer drops.
Astonishing X-Men 24- We're almost done with this Whedon /Cassaday run, and I know that a lot of you are happy about that. You know my feelings for Master Joss, and I love just about anything Cassaday does, but I think I feel the same way. He has tried to write this at times like his shows, or at least I think he does. I loved the line from Wolverine; "when does Pete get to throw me at something?" But for the most part, the story has been really sort of blah.
Captain America 34- The "new" Cap begins his run. There have been lots of stuff written about this, most of it by people who never bothered to pick up a comic in their lives. I like the fact that Bucky is using a different suit and his explaination of why he is using a gun. Steve Epting does a great job drawing the battle and Bucky's inner conflict at wearing the colors seems in place. Brubaker does a terrific job ratcheting up the suspense in this issue and the next should be as good.
Daredevil 104- Mr. Fear uses Lilly to drive Milla over the edge and beat the living crap out of her nurse. Matt is too busy plaing catch-up and discovers too late what is happening. Meanwhile, Mr. Fear and the Hood are meeting to (I guess) join forces. This has been a pretty good arc from Brubaker. He has turned DD from a reactive hero to a proactive one. The things he does to Ox with a blow torch , while not MAX line stuff, is not the usual fare from ol' hornhead.
Fantastic Four 553- This is Dwayne McDuffie's last issue before Mark Millar takes over the writing chores. Man, did this one give me a headache. Timelines, alternate timelines, Kang's 3rd law of time, yada, yada yada. Wow, felt like I needed a Phd or something at the start of this. As such, was not the best issue to start on. But we got a big battle with Dr. Doom and a nice wrap-up so I can't complain too much. On the whole, McDuffie's run has been one of the better one on FF in the past few years, with Mark Waid's really the best of the past decade or so. I look forward to seeing what Millar and Brian Hitch can cook up for the First Family of Marvel.
Iron Man 25- To begin with, I must agree with Jim's assessment of Marvel's continued gouging of it's fanbase. Charging 1 to 2 dollars more without giving more story or anything of signifigance is just wrong. If I want to read about the origin of IM, or see a preview of another miniseries, I'll look elsewhere. That being said, the main story was pretty good. We are FINALLY going to see Iron Man vs. the Mandarin. Can't wait to see that.
New Avengers Annual 2- Big battle, Jessica Jones turns herself in. Not really a whole lot more than that. Dr. Strange kicks them out of the house and leaves the group. And who the hell is the demon controlling the Hood? If it is Mephisto, I am holding a public burning of anything Marvel.
Punisher 54- We see a series of flashbacks on what made the Barracuda such a bad mofo. Man, the way that Frank finally ended him was so brutal, so final, it makes it tough to think that there will be any more miniseries.
Ultimate Spider-Man 118- First part of "Spidey and his Amazing Friends" arc. Don't know if that's what they're calling it, but I'm calling it that. So, Liz is the new Firestar? That's....cool. One thing the Ultimate universe prides itself is taking characters and putting some spins on them. This is one I like. I also like this kid Kenny. He seems somewhat grounded and has potential. Have to say I was not real thrilled with Stuart Immonen's art on this ish, but to quote Spider-Man from "Family Guy"; "everybody gets one save". So I'll consider this his.
Wolverine Origins 21- Not really much to say here except for one word; Deadpool. This issue really did nothing for me except make me laugh at a couple of times. The opening "duck" sequence was a pacesetter for how this arc is going to go.
X-Men 207- End of the "Messiah Complex" crossover. Other than *spoiler warning* Professor X ending up dead, what the heck really happened here? What is the deal with Bishop? Will he be a pariah? This is leading into the ongoing CABLE series, but sorry, not for me. Oh, would someone please tackle me and explain the deal with Rogue? I know she is one of Rusty's favorite character, but just what is her damage?

DC Comics-
Action 861- Looks like Brainiac wasn't such a bad guy after all. Turns out the JLE is using one of the lost Legion guys to turn the sun red. Then Brainiac loses control of his planet and the universe is headed towards war. This was a really terrific issue and Gary Frank's artwork (at least to me) got really better. Maybe he just needed to get his feet wet again, as I don't think he has done any monthly work in a while. If I'm wrong, I humbly apologize. As for Geoff Johns, this guy is becoming the Bendis of DC. Or maybe Brubaker is better. Anyway, just about anything this guy touches is done right and feels like a sure fire winner.
Batman 673- I love Grant Morrison's stuff, but sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up on what the heck is going on. Case in point, last issue Bats got shot in the chest and was left for dead, or so we thought. It was not until the last page that we actually discovered what happened. On the plus side, we did get a peek into what Bruce subjected himself thru during the Nanda Parbat thing. My unconfortableness aside, this was a pretty good issue upon further reading and I am looking forward to finding out just who is this guy in the other Bat suit.
Countdown 15-13 - I can pretty much sum alot of this up in one sentence. Superman Prime is the biggest jerk in the 52 universes and acts like a petulant child. But I have to say issue 15 had the line of the week during the battle between Wonder Girl and Donna Troy; "I'm Donna Troy, bitch. Donna. Troy.". Loved it. Darkseid makes his move and Monarch is killed, maybe along with Superman Prime (I hope).
Green Lantern 27- Creation of the Alpha Lanterns. They are the internal affairs of the corps. they will police the police, as they say. John Stewart had a chance to join, but refused the offer, perhaps sensing something is not all wel and good in Oa. An interlude in the issue shows a "guardian" asking Ash to recover the corpse of the Anti-Monitor. Last panel on that page shows it all. It also shows why I love Geoff Johns. He introduced an idea during the conclusion to the Sinestro Corps War and even though it won't become a major thing until 2009, he is already starting to sow the seeds. For the love of God DC, don't screw this up and let him go without completing this epic!
Justice League of America 17- Alan Burnett takes over the main story arc here while McDuffie writes the back-up. Main story deals with some villians looking to the JLA for sanctuary from the Suicide Squad. The stories are geting back to the JLA about the planet the bad guys have been put on (see SALVATION RUN for that one) and they aren't happy about it. Looks promising. Back up is dealing with Vixen's new powers, that of being able to leach the abilites off of her teammates as opposed to animals. For me, Jon Boy Meyers drew about as sexy a Vixen as I have ever seen. This story has me curious as to where it will lead. Is this something that she can control, or is it part of something more sinster using her as a bait? We'll see.
Robin 170- Well, it didn't take Chuck Dixon long to make himself right at home back on Robin, did it? He brings back one of Tim's better supporting cast (Ives) and introduces a new female villain in purple (Stephanie? nope.) to chase around. There has been a bunch of speculation on the 'net about if Steph will actually return from the dead or not. Me? I sure as hell hope not. I like the girl Tim has in his life now, and bringing her back will just draw Batman back into the mix, and he really works well as an ancillary character here.

Well gang, thats gonna wrap it up for me right now. There are a few more that I will comment on later, since I'm back to being poor and my selection will be come slim again. But I promise that there will not be any more 3 week breaks like this again. 2 at the max, no more.
See ya! =)

So, who the heck are you?

I will be posting later on in the weekend a whole bunch of reviews of comics. But before then a brief interlude....

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

And......

Which Smallville Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

That should hold you. Ponder the fact that either I am a dead lesbian or a iconic superhero. I am confused myself. Time to go read some comics. Later.

Words......

Before I dive into the meat of this blog...give it up for the kid here. This is my 50th post. Never thought I had that much brain matter in me.

OK, on to the heart of things. I never really got that at times. The "heart" of things. Is that saying because the heart is the most important muscle in the body? Or is that the heart lies in the center (well, just off center if you studied anatomy) of the chest?
My point is that we as a society tend to throw words around without sometimes really thinking about the meaning. There have a couple of subjects that have captured my attention and I thought I would share them with you and (hopefully) get some responses.
First, is the term "heroic". I have heard this attached to the quarterback from San Diego after hearing that he had an operation to get back on the field. The fact that I think that this guy is a hump is not really in play here. I have heard a couple of sportscasters say it was "heroic" and "gutty" of him to go out and play. Heroic? No, I'm sorry, its not. Heroic is a policeman who puts himself in the line of fire to protect a civilian. Heroic is the firefighter who risks his or her life to save someone at the expense of their own life. Heroic is the soldiers who are fighting an unpopular war that they have no say in, no way out, and are probably hated by just about everyone over there. As for "gutty"? I'm sorry, but it's his job to be out there. That's why you get paid. Think about this for a sec. Most of you get sick pay if you miss a day or two. But this guy gets paid if he does nothing all week. Do people call you "gutty" if you're sitting at your desk with a fever or some other malady?
The other word that has come into play lately is "tragic". This has been especially used in the last 24 hours over the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger. Now, before you sharpen your pitchforks and fire up the torches, hear me out. Is this a tragedy? You bet your ass is it. But not for us. It is for a little 2 year old girl that will have to grow up without her father there for all the momentous things in her life. But for us? The great unwashed? It's sad, yes. The prospect of what could have been is daunting. And I think the family has every right to call it tragic. In the end, maybe it was tragic. When I think of tragic, my thoughts tend to run toward people who had no control over their situation and were faced with insurmountable obstacles, like a child born with AIDS. So I guess maybe this comes down to interpretation.
I know that most of you will probably think I'm out of my mind, and you may be right. I butcher the King's English as much as the next person. But I just thought that I would throw this out there.

Wishes and Random Thoughts

First off, lets all give a big birthday wish to Shawn! Happy Birthday, you crazy fool!

OK, on to other things.....

The big news is that the Ravens have hired a new head coach. John Harbaugh, the older brother of former Ravens QB Jim, is now the face of the team. I am still thinking over how I feel about this. On the one hand, it's a good move. The guy is young and has a chance to set things up for a long time to come here. He may have fresh and new ideas that can only help this (somewhat) aging team. On the other hand, he has never held any sort of coordinator position until this past year. Even then it was only special teams, which isn't really the glamour job. Still, I'm willing to give the guy a try. Let's see what he can do with a few years and maybe he'll make all forget about that other guy who was here.

I am also glad about his hiring in that it proved that Bischotti (sorry if I misspelled it) was not going to be beholden to his players. I'm sorry, I love those guys, but they basically killed any chance of Rex Ryan getting the job because they couldn't keep their heads shut. Why do they think Billick got canned anyway? One of the biggest factors, at least that I could see, was that the players were out of control. The way they carried on at the end of the Patriots game and the end of the Steelers game just showed that the players thought they had final say in things. Then, after the firing, the idiots just couldn't shut up. Anytime someone shoved a mike in their face, they had say "we love Rex, we want Rex, Rex deserves this." MORONS! If they had kept their mouths shut (rare I know), or said something like "we'll be happy with whoever comes aboard", there is a chance that Ryan would be the new head coach. This next sentence makes me want to throw up in my mouth, but do you hear the morons down in D.C. popping off? Nope, they are keeping quiet and they will get that tard Williams. Sorry just my opinion of the guy.

They practically forced the owner's hand. He was not going to continue this culture of grandstanding by the players. He took a stand, and I think it's the right one. It's possible that in the long run, these guys will understand that Harbaugh may have been the right tonic that this team needed.

Time to bring the mojo down on some teams. My predictions for the championships? My heart says Chargers and Packers, even though I hate that goofy-faced Mayberry screw Rivers. But I'm going with my head and say; Packers and Patriots. That sets up my dream scenario; Farve beats the pretty boy and the hoodie, then walks off into the sunset.

Time for bed. Everyone stay warm and have a good weekend.

Finally! Ta Da!

I am sure that you all waited with bated breath for this moment, but things were sort of out of whack for me. So here we go with at least 3 weeks worth of books!

Dark Horse-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10- Master Joss returns for a one and done to give us a pause between arcs. The last one, "Faith" by Brian K. Vaughn was very good. The main thrust of this is Buffy and Willow going to see a demon about the future. Instead he gives them both a peek into dark secrets in the past. Buffy committed some bank robberies overseas to finance the slayer operation. Turns out that Willow blames Buffy for her lover Tara's murder. To top all of this off, Buffy finds out that someone close to her will betray her. This is a great example of why I love this comic. It advances the overall arc somewhat and give clues to things both in the past and future. Can't wait for the next issue.

DC Comics-
Action 860- Part 3 of the "Legion" arc. The remaining Legionnaires and Supes head to an interment camp to find Brainiac. However, he has gone to his home planet and become something of a despot. The leader of the JLE is absorbing all of the captured Legion powers and using them to find the others. Pretty good story, but I am still not really all that thrilled with Gary Frank's art. It's not all that bad just.....sketchy. I've seen his more polished work and liked it more. Still, it does sort of fit the gritty world that Earth has become under the red sun.

Batman 672- This is example 1 in my "why crossovers can suck" case. Grant Morrison is a terrific writer, and Tony Daniel is doing a fine job, but I was seriously lost on the first read. I had to go back to find out what the deal was with the other Batmen and the affair between Bruce and Jezebel. Now that I've done that, the story makes some sense. A terrific cliffhanger as Batman is suffering a heart attack and Bat-Mite may be on the way to help (summoned?). Again, I love Grant Morrison, and he does things here that either haven't been done or tried in a long time.

Countdown 18-16- OK a lot of stuff happening here, so I will give the condensed version. The Challengers finally find Ray Palmer, only to have "Bob" go rogue on them. Turns out Ray is the modern Ray, not the Ray of the Earth the find them on. Monarch makes his move after drawing the Monitors out of hiding. Superman-Prime is going to use the rogue Monitor to help him find the perfect Earth. Jimmy Olsen is a soul-catcher. Jason gets captured by a Batman and is staring down the barrel of a gun. WHEW! This book has really picked up in intensity and looks to be (hopefully) headed for a great finish. I've heard that Morrison will pick up some of the threads from this to use in Final Crisis. Maybe he should just let his story stand on it's own, but that's just my opinion.

Detective 840- So let me get this straight; we had a major crossover with all the Batman books to bring back Ra's ah Gaul as a player in the rogue's gallery, and they leave him in Arkham? Are you freaking kidding me!?!?! Man, they are swerving dangerously close to Spidey's "one more day" crap. It was a great crossover, with lots of action and battles, and the best resolution they can come up with is to drug his ass and take him off to the insane asylum? BOO!!!

Green Arrow/ Black Canary 4- I am not sure how long I will stick with this book, but man did it take a major turn for me. I did not see that ending coming. I thought for sure they were going to kill Conner, thus sending Shawn into a spiral about killing his favorite characters. I loved the way Ollie called for Clark, just repeating his name over and over, building in intensity until he's screaming at the top of his lungs. And the scene with Batman in the stairway? Nicely done. I do have one question about this great issue; when did GL become a surgeon? That was so out of left field and really unneeded. Could have used Dr. Midnight, but they go with the fighter pilot? Final thought: Cliff Chang will become a major player in the field. His artwork is beautiful, capturing the right tones to the characters. DC would be wise to lock him up for a while.

Nightwing 140- Beginning of a new arc and a new team. Rags Morales jumps on with art that, while different from his work on "Identity Crisis", still is a classy look. Peter Tomasi climbs on to write, and it looks like he has a handle on who both Nightwing and Dick Grayson are. This takes place before Detective (since the crew is talking about Ra's and Talia) and leads to an encounter between Dick and Talia. Great dialogue there. There has been a rash of grave robberies and Nightwing goes to investigate. He sets up a new base of operation in New York and gets a visitor; Superman. Can't begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing the next issue. Dick and Clark have always had a good repore, with Clark even contributing the codename (Nightwing was a hero in Kandor).

Teen Titans 54- The end of the "Titans of tomorrow, today" arc. They stop Starro from taking over and Wonder Girl realizes that Bart and Superboy are clones. That sets in motion events taking the future heroes out of the time stream. This was an OK ending, with the epilogue giving the appearance that things are not really going to change. Also that the Martian Manhunter (Girlhunter?) is going to be the one to cause the events to happen. An OK arc, but not one that left me feeling really satisfied, an odd sensation since Sean McKeever usually has done a great job.

Teen Titans-Year One #1- This issue looked for me like I was going to be not going to continue onward, but it took some steps that made me curious. I did not like the characterization of Aqualad, either in look or feel. He's afraid of fish? Seriously? The look and feel of Robin and Kid Flash on the other hand were dead on and those, along with what's the deal with Batman, has me interested enough to try a second issue.

MARVEL-
Amazing Spider-Man 545 and 546- End of the "One more Day" arc and beginning of the "Brand new day". I should have known something was up by the way they made Mephisto look a retard on the cover of 545. Could almost hear him saying "duhhhhh, are you sure you want this Joe?". In the interest of fairness, I will yield to other, more intelligent people such as Jim, Shawn and Matthew to comment on these two issues. As for me? Well, having Aunt May call Peter "tiger" almost made me throw up in my mouth. So we'll leave it at that.

Captain America 33- Continuing the tradition of telegraphing their moves 6 months before actually doing it, we get to see the beginning of Bucky's transformation into the new Cap. I mean, did anyone really expect it to be anyone else when they announced it? I feel bad for Ed Brubaker, because I have a feeling that if he had his way, he would have picked someone else. I don't know this for sure, just a gut feeling.

Daredevil 103- Matt is battling on several fronts and not really doing well. He is worried about Milla and the upcoming trial. She is still dealing with the effects of the fear gas she was exposed to. Not to mention the fact that Mr. Fear is running the streets causing chaos and panic. That he can do something about. He captures Fear's main henchman, the Ox, and has him chained up with a blowtorch ready to get info as to the whereabouts of his boss. The last page reminded me of the classic Frank Miller cover with DD holding a gun saying "no more mister nice guy!". Again, Brubaker is doing a slow build-up to the inevitable confrontation. And it's working.

Hulk 1- Pretty pictures by Ed McGuinness. Other than that? Are you kidding me? They gave it all away again in the first issue. I am starting to wonder. Long ago, in one of the early issues of Thunderbolts, they gave away the plot twist that the good guys were actually bad guys in disguise. But that only helped to enrich the stories as the series went forward. Lately, Marvel just doesn't seem to care if the reader is entertained or not. I would have been better served if we would have some suspense as to who actually was the Hulk. Is it his son? Some genetic clone from Tony Stark? Instead we get this, and I really don't care how he ( I won't spoil it for you) got to become the Hulk. I think I may stick for another issue or two, then I'm out. And yes they have effectively killed the buzz that "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk" had.

Iron Man 24- Really don't have much to say here. An OK issue. Looks like we might be getting more Mandarin soon, which can only be a good thing.

Punisher 53- Looks like my fears from my posting a while back were unfounded, but it was a great cliffhanger. Man, the stuff that Frank does to Barracuda once he captures him is brutal. But how the Barracuda uses the kid against Frank is just as brutal and frightening. The dude is the Energizer Bunny of comics. No matter how much you beat, shoot, torture or main him, Barracuda just keeps on coming. Next issue should be one big beat-em-up, which will be great.

Thunderbolts 118- Part 3 of the "Caged Angels" arc. Man does a lot of stuff hit the fan in this issue. Norman is just about over the edge (sitting in the bathroom with the Goblin mask on? Priceless.), Venom is on a rampage and the Swordsman makes his move with troops loyal to him. I have really loved this stuff by Warren Ellis, but I agree with Jim. Sometimes the lateness of these books take you right out of the story and you have to go back and re-read to find out what is really going on. But nevertheless, a relentless story that if you read this and don't want to pick up the next issue, has me feeling sorry for you.

Ultimate Spider-Man 117- End of the "Goblin"arc. And what an ending it was! Really, did not see what happened coming and was totally enthralled by it. The dialogue between the principals, especially Peter and Harry, were engrossing. Stuart Immonen's art was fantastic. This is the book any fan of Spider-Man SHOULD be reading. I only hope that someone has the smarts there to keep Joe Quesada from getting his grubby little fingers on it and destroying what is a consistently good to great read.

Well, that's about it. There are some others, like Wolverine (next time he dies, it's for good), the X-Men crossover (yawn) and Superman (insects? meh.) that really don't warrant my time or a second (or third, in some cases) read through. Hope you enjoyed my reviews and as always, feel free to throw me a comment or two. Promise to respond to any and all!

Later!

A Moment of Clarity

Comics will be reviewed later on this weekend, I promise.

But first, a little introspection.

I realize that I am a large hairy man. I also realize that looking like this might intimidate some people, but not you gentle readers. I bring this up because I felt like a real shmoe. I have been waiting and waiting to interview for this job. I have been put off so many times I started to get frustated. But I stuck with it simply because this was the best chance I have had in some time to get working. The interview took all of 10 minutes and the person basically gave me the bum's rush. I have been prepping as best I can and this person made me feel like she couldn't wait to get me out of the office. Like I was going to go berserk and start turning over things. Now, I'm back at square one and I am feeling lower than snail shit. If this is what the year is going to be like, I may have to consider swallowing a handgun at some point.

A number of years ago, I stopped drinking. When I did, I was about as good as a high functioning drunk as you would ever find. I used to down about a case a night at my peak. If you can think of it, chances are I've imbibed it at some point. I stopped cold turkey because I was tired of literally pissing my money away. That was over 14 years ago. I do still have a beer from time to time, but that's about it. Days like this really drive me close to crawling back into the bottle and not coming out until after Groundhog's day. Truth of the matter is, I'm too poor to go on a bender, so here I sit.

Stupid, broke and not sure where to turn next.

Happy fucking new year. Whee.

I'm Back.....Miss Me?

Probably not. But that's OK too.
So how was everyone's holiday? Hope you survived the drinking and eating binges that you all had at one point or another. Me? I'm fine. No serious injuries to speak of.

Where have I been, you might ask? Well, my initial time after Christmas was spent trying to get my wife's computer up and running. I had her brother build her one so we can play WoW together. It was her wish for the past few months and I was able to pull this off with JR's help. Even got her to cry when she saw it. She said that she was crying because she never thought it could happen. So, after some stops and starts, we now have 2 computers. One for her and one just for me. Makes it much easier to download porn now.

I have not spent as much time as I wanted to reading comics. Money and time were major constraints on me. I did get there last week and thanks to Shawn, I was able to purchase my books. I plan to put up a posting later on in the week about everything that has come out lately. Not the "One more day" crap though. I think that Jim and Shawn have said it much better and more eloquently than I can.

However, I will say one thing. I took some heat about my roasting of Joe Quesada for inflicting his opinion on the characters. After reading this, I stand by my comments. Someone asked me if I thought he should be fired for this, as they thought he should. I disagree. In the ledger of what Quesada has done right and wrong, this is a big check in the wrong column. However, he has done a lot of things right. He has brought great writers and artists to Marvel. He has overseen some rebirths that have made the character fun to read again (Cap, Daredevil, Iron Fist). So while I don't give him a pass on the OMD crap, I don't think it's that egregious to warrant a firing.

But he is on notice.
Thanks for stopping by and hopefully this will be the start of a lot more to come!