Hey there guys and gals.
Sorry I've been gone for what seems like a long time. Truthfully, the game did not suck as much time out of my life as I thought (or hoped). Still a phenomenal game, but RL is a cruel bitch at times. I had to sort out some issues so that I could return to the fat jolly idiot you see beside this post. They have been resolved so that at least the holidays can be joyous with my family and all of my great friends.
And you are great, no matter what anyone else says, I dig you guys!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A Life Sucker.....and how!
Hey gang.
I promised some more reviews and there will be in a day or so. Right now, after some well deserved rest, the Kid here is going exploring. Nowhere that you guys would know about. Me and the Mrs. are headed to Northrend.
Where the hell is Northrend?
In the WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, that's where!!!! We have been eagerly awaiting this and the fact that it came out today is the only thing that kept me sane through a completely insane night at work.
So, be good to each other, look out for one another and stay out of trouble. (puts on his armor)
I AM OUT OF HERE!!!!!!
I promised some more reviews and there will be in a day or so. Right now, after some well deserved rest, the Kid here is going exploring. Nowhere that you guys would know about. Me and the Mrs. are headed to Northrend.
Where the hell is Northrend?
In the WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, that's where!!!! We have been eagerly awaiting this and the fact that it came out today is the only thing that kept me sane through a completely insane night at work.
So, be good to each other, look out for one another and stay out of trouble. (puts on his armor)
I AM OUT OF HERE!!!!!!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Your patience has been rewarded!
Yes, FINALLY some comic reviews!
Rather than focus on a particular week (last week was a small one for me), I want to pull some from recent weeks that caught my eye for good and bad.
Spawn 185- Beginning of "Endgame" by McFarlane and Portacio. The line from Godfather 3 kept repeating in my head as I walked out of the store with this issue; "every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in.". Spawn was my foray back into comics after many years and I stayed with it through good and bad times like a battered girlfriend. Finally I get the courage to say "enough" and walk away only to get sucked right back in. Todd hasn't written or drawn for I don't know how long and Whice has been in and out of things as well.
All that being said, this has both good and bad points. If you haven't read SPAWN in years, you're not going to know who this patient 47 is and why it's such a bad thing that he's awake from his coma. If someone knows, please leave me a posting. It also looks like Al (Spawn) has killed himself. Or at least it appears that way. The body is found by the Clown (Violator), sort of Joker to Spawn's Batman. The artwork is typical Portacio, for better and worse. A very dark tone in terms of shading to the book, more to make the words and actions pop. Given that it's the first part of a story arc, it's not that bad. But if they don't go about giving the backstory to this at some point, all of what has happened will be for nothing.
Ultimate Origins- I picked this up with great trepidation. I have loved ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN for the most part and read both FF and X-MEN for a while before both lost me. This is supposed to be a telling of how everything is connected within the Ultimate universe.
OK, now that the official line is out of the way let me say, WTF? Black Panther was part of Weapon X and saved by Nick Fury? Seriously?? Rick Jones is going to be the Silver Surfer? That's it? That's the "big thing"? Man. I know that Black Panther did not have the sexiest origin in the MCU, but it was organic and made sense for the character and it worked. To take it and totally screw it up is pitiful. Speaking of pitiful.....
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 3- In this economy, I feel that we as fans should march on Marvel's offices and demand our money back from either Bendis or Quesada for this abomination. The artwork on this was sporadic at best, and the tagline about Peter and MJ was misleading. So they get back together, so what? That's supposed to cost me 4 bucks for something they could have put in the regular series? I do have to say that the introduction of Mysterio was nice, and if they had sold the issue as his intro, maybe I wouldn't have as much issue with things. Just a total bait and switch for my money.
Rage of the Red Lanterns- I loved this! Man I was looking forward to this issue and not only did it not let me down, it deepened the mysteries that will go on toward the BLACKEST NIGHT story next year. I also feel that I should throw something out there. Hal Jordan has been the model Green Lantern for the last 40+ years, but I don't think he'll be one at the end of the story next year. I think that he'll become a Blue Lantern to join Ganthet in that particular corps. One question I do have though; what did this have to do with FINAL CRISIS? It had it labelled on the cover and said it took place between 1 and 2,but in my opinion, had nothing do to with it. This was a great mix of action and talking. Having a cat as a Red Lantern? Brilliant! It sneaks up on a Yellow Lantern as they are trying to break Sinestro out of his cell and kills him. He was being transported to his home world for execution by the Green Lanterns when the Yellow Lanterns ambushed them. They appeared to have been tipped off by the Guardian who can see the other colors. The Red Lanterns appear and lay waste to all to get to Sinestro, who had imprisoned the leader Atrocitus.
The Red Lanterns don't care who is in front of them, they kill everything. The one Guardian (a chick?) who was wounded during the SINESTRO CORPS WAR seems to have to ability to either communicate or manipulate the other color Lanterns, including the Black Lanterns. Did not see the red logo or the orange logos in her eyes, but we'll see. She also can communicate without the other guardians knowledge, something that will be telling in the months to come. I look forward to the series next year and if the buildup to it is as good as this, it will totally blow FINAL CRISIS and SECRET INVASION away.
Crossed 1- I have never been a big horror fan, but I've liked most of what Warren Ellis has written. This book totally unnerved me. And not in a good way. It seemed almost like shock just for shock's sake. I know it supposed to be a look at what we would be like if all our inhibitions went away, but some of this, especially with the kid was disturbing on a level that if you heard someone talking about this, you'd have him locked up. I don't know if I'll buy another issue, I may read it in the store to see where this goes. Unlike THE WALKING DEAD, this seems to have nowhere to go, so I'm guessing that it's a mini series.
Superman/Batman 53- Part 1 of the "Super/Bat" arc. This is another book that I jumped off a while back but was sucked back into. So far though, this has been a consistently good book. Michael Green has done a nice job constructing out of continuity stories that while different, don't look too out of place. His "mini-heroes" are was short and sweet (pardon the pun) and a whole lot of fun. Had some great moments of humor in them.
Now he gets to play with Rags Morales on art with swapping the powers for the two. Okay, there are no real powers for Bats to give to Supes, but you get my drift. It appears that Silver Banshee may have caused the switch, at least on the surface it looks that way. The inner dialogue that happens is spot on and captures both heroes flaws, including some pity and jealously. This has the making for a great arc and hopefully a continuation for Green of a great run of stories.
That's it for the moment. Will return (I promise!) in a day or so to throw some more your way.
Rather than focus on a particular week (last week was a small one for me), I want to pull some from recent weeks that caught my eye for good and bad.
Spawn 185- Beginning of "Endgame" by McFarlane and Portacio. The line from Godfather 3 kept repeating in my head as I walked out of the store with this issue; "every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in.". Spawn was my foray back into comics after many years and I stayed with it through good and bad times like a battered girlfriend. Finally I get the courage to say "enough" and walk away only to get sucked right back in. Todd hasn't written or drawn for I don't know how long and Whice has been in and out of things as well.
All that being said, this has both good and bad points. If you haven't read SPAWN in years, you're not going to know who this patient 47 is and why it's such a bad thing that he's awake from his coma. If someone knows, please leave me a posting. It also looks like Al (Spawn) has killed himself. Or at least it appears that way. The body is found by the Clown (Violator), sort of Joker to Spawn's Batman. The artwork is typical Portacio, for better and worse. A very dark tone in terms of shading to the book, more to make the words and actions pop. Given that it's the first part of a story arc, it's not that bad. But if they don't go about giving the backstory to this at some point, all of what has happened will be for nothing.
Ultimate Origins- I picked this up with great trepidation. I have loved ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN for the most part and read both FF and X-MEN for a while before both lost me. This is supposed to be a telling of how everything is connected within the Ultimate universe.
OK, now that the official line is out of the way let me say, WTF? Black Panther was part of Weapon X and saved by Nick Fury? Seriously?? Rick Jones is going to be the Silver Surfer? That's it? That's the "big thing"? Man. I know that Black Panther did not have the sexiest origin in the MCU, but it was organic and made sense for the character and it worked. To take it and totally screw it up is pitiful. Speaking of pitiful.....
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 3- In this economy, I feel that we as fans should march on Marvel's offices and demand our money back from either Bendis or Quesada for this abomination. The artwork on this was sporadic at best, and the tagline about Peter and MJ was misleading. So they get back together, so what? That's supposed to cost me 4 bucks for something they could have put in the regular series? I do have to say that the introduction of Mysterio was nice, and if they had sold the issue as his intro, maybe I wouldn't have as much issue with things. Just a total bait and switch for my money.
Rage of the Red Lanterns- I loved this! Man I was looking forward to this issue and not only did it not let me down, it deepened the mysteries that will go on toward the BLACKEST NIGHT story next year. I also feel that I should throw something out there. Hal Jordan has been the model Green Lantern for the last 40+ years, but I don't think he'll be one at the end of the story next year. I think that he'll become a Blue Lantern to join Ganthet in that particular corps. One question I do have though; what did this have to do with FINAL CRISIS? It had it labelled on the cover and said it took place between 1 and 2,but in my opinion, had nothing do to with it. This was a great mix of action and talking. Having a cat as a Red Lantern? Brilliant! It sneaks up on a Yellow Lantern as they are trying to break Sinestro out of his cell and kills him. He was being transported to his home world for execution by the Green Lanterns when the Yellow Lanterns ambushed them. They appeared to have been tipped off by the Guardian who can see the other colors. The Red Lanterns appear and lay waste to all to get to Sinestro, who had imprisoned the leader Atrocitus.
The Red Lanterns don't care who is in front of them, they kill everything. The one Guardian (a chick?) who was wounded during the SINESTRO CORPS WAR seems to have to ability to either communicate or manipulate the other color Lanterns, including the Black Lanterns. Did not see the red logo or the orange logos in her eyes, but we'll see. She also can communicate without the other guardians knowledge, something that will be telling in the months to come. I look forward to the series next year and if the buildup to it is as good as this, it will totally blow FINAL CRISIS and SECRET INVASION away.
Crossed 1- I have never been a big horror fan, but I've liked most of what Warren Ellis has written. This book totally unnerved me. And not in a good way. It seemed almost like shock just for shock's sake. I know it supposed to be a look at what we would be like if all our inhibitions went away, but some of this, especially with the kid was disturbing on a level that if you heard someone talking about this, you'd have him locked up. I don't know if I'll buy another issue, I may read it in the store to see where this goes. Unlike THE WALKING DEAD, this seems to have nowhere to go, so I'm guessing that it's a mini series.
Superman/Batman 53- Part 1 of the "Super/Bat" arc. This is another book that I jumped off a while back but was sucked back into. So far though, this has been a consistently good book. Michael Green has done a nice job constructing out of continuity stories that while different, don't look too out of place. His "mini-heroes" are was short and sweet (pardon the pun) and a whole lot of fun. Had some great moments of humor in them.
Now he gets to play with Rags Morales on art with swapping the powers for the two. Okay, there are no real powers for Bats to give to Supes, but you get my drift. It appears that Silver Banshee may have caused the switch, at least on the surface it looks that way. The inner dialogue that happens is spot on and captures both heroes flaws, including some pity and jealously. This has the making for a great arc and hopefully a continuation for Green of a great run of stories.
That's it for the moment. Will return (I promise!) in a day or so to throw some more your way.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Quick hits....
I am behind in both getting and reading the books, and that will be rectified this weekend.
But I did get some of the event books so here are some thoughts;
-OK I did not see that Turpin was actually going to become Darkseid in FINAL CRISIS. A nice surprise using a pretty good supporting character.
-I feel a little like Jim and I just want SECRET INVASION to end. I also sort of understand Rusty's long help belief that issue long fight issues can really suck. It wasn't all that bad, but should have ended somewhat earlier.
-The Lady Bulleseye run in DAREDEVIL has been.....OK. I am really not getting why there are rehashing the secret ID again with Matt. He is also becoming a little too angsty about his wife. I mean, he should feel bad about the situation, but he has to move on.
-I gotta tell you, I did not like the NIGHTWING part of R.I.P. It never even felt like it was a part of the overall story. The OUTSIDERS did a better part of conveying what the DCU was seeing of this. Now to hear DiDio tell it, the next big arc ("the battle for the cowl") is becoming not who inherits it, but who will actually wear it. Hell, I'll throw my hat in the ring for it if that's the case.
-On a related Batman note, November will see the premiere of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD on Cartoon Network. From what I've seen and heard, I am excited for it. It is steering away from the dark and brooding Bats we've had and is looks to have more of a silver age feel, but using modern characters such as Blue Beetle. Keep your eyes and ears open and give it a chance. After all, it seems that cartoons involving superheroes are going the way of the dinosaur.
That's it for now. I promise that as soon as I immerse myself in the books, I'll come up for air and barf up an opinion.
Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Everyone be safe and watch out for the kiddies!
But I did get some of the event books so here are some thoughts;
-OK I did not see that Turpin was actually going to become Darkseid in FINAL CRISIS. A nice surprise using a pretty good supporting character.
-I feel a little like Jim and I just want SECRET INVASION to end. I also sort of understand Rusty's long help belief that issue long fight issues can really suck. It wasn't all that bad, but should have ended somewhat earlier.
-The Lady Bulleseye run in DAREDEVIL has been.....OK. I am really not getting why there are rehashing the secret ID again with Matt. He is also becoming a little too angsty about his wife. I mean, he should feel bad about the situation, but he has to move on.
-I gotta tell you, I did not like the NIGHTWING part of R.I.P. It never even felt like it was a part of the overall story. The OUTSIDERS did a better part of conveying what the DCU was seeing of this. Now to hear DiDio tell it, the next big arc ("the battle for the cowl") is becoming not who inherits it, but who will actually wear it. Hell, I'll throw my hat in the ring for it if that's the case.
-On a related Batman note, November will see the premiere of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD on Cartoon Network. From what I've seen and heard, I am excited for it. It is steering away from the dark and brooding Bats we've had and is looks to have more of a silver age feel, but using modern characters such as Blue Beetle. Keep your eyes and ears open and give it a chance. After all, it seems that cartoons involving superheroes are going the way of the dinosaur.
That's it for now. I promise that as soon as I immerse myself in the books, I'll come up for air and barf up an opinion.
Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Everyone be safe and watch out for the kiddies!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tumbleweeds on the internet!?!?!
Yep, that's what I see blowing across my screen as I look at my page here.
I know that this is primarily my fault. I haven't been keeping up with things as much as I should have. Things have been in a big flux around here and I am simply spinning too many plates to keep track of everything. If it's any consolation (probably not) other things have been sort of pushed off to the side as well. Nothing major like the wife or hygiene, but a bunch of the small stuff that adds up to your life. I don't expect you to either understand or maybe even care, just know that I am thinking about you guys and gals while I'm out slaying the dragon. I've been doing that more than anything the last couple of weeks or so, and hopefully things will have calmed down that I can get back into a flow. It better, or else things may go sideways.
A long time ago, I promised my wife that work would never again take over my life so completely that I neglect her. That happened once or twice before and it almost cost me the most important thing in my life. After all, she is the reason I do all this crap. The last couple of weeks have been brutal on both of us. I'm not home much, and when I am, I have been pretty much a cypher. The feeling I had yesterday when I walked out of work knowing that I wasn't going to be seeing it for at least a few days was one of being sprung from jail. Finally I could devote some time and effort to things and people I love.
So, now that I've purged myself, I hope you understand why I haven't been here lately. I also hope that you will continue to come back from time to time and check in on me. I will be back more often and with hopefully better and happier posts to throw at you. I know that comics are on the horizon and will make it's way here very soon.
Thanks for bearing with me.
I know that this is primarily my fault. I haven't been keeping up with things as much as I should have. Things have been in a big flux around here and I am simply spinning too many plates to keep track of everything. If it's any consolation (probably not) other things have been sort of pushed off to the side as well. Nothing major like the wife or hygiene, but a bunch of the small stuff that adds up to your life. I don't expect you to either understand or maybe even care, just know that I am thinking about you guys and gals while I'm out slaying the dragon. I've been doing that more than anything the last couple of weeks or so, and hopefully things will have calmed down that I can get back into a flow. It better, or else things may go sideways.
A long time ago, I promised my wife that work would never again take over my life so completely that I neglect her. That happened once or twice before and it almost cost me the most important thing in my life. After all, she is the reason I do all this crap. The last couple of weeks have been brutal on both of us. I'm not home much, and when I am, I have been pretty much a cypher. The feeling I had yesterday when I walked out of work knowing that I wasn't going to be seeing it for at least a few days was one of being sprung from jail. Finally I could devote some time and effort to things and people I love.
So, now that I've purged myself, I hope you understand why I haven't been here lately. I also hope that you will continue to come back from time to time and check in on me. I will be back more often and with hopefully better and happier posts to throw at you. I know that comics are on the horizon and will make it's way here very soon.
Thanks for bearing with me.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Some Thoughts on the Recent Comics
It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but I have had a few moments to read some comics and I thought I would throw my 2 cents out there and see what you guys think.
-The craze over ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN should have been how bad the book was. Its was all over the place and at this point I am having trouble deciphering what the hell the story is. They should have placed black boxes over the entire book.
-Conversely, I liked the ending of ALL STAR SUPERMAN. Sure it took forever to get all of it out, and not alot of people are getting what the last page means (leave me a reply if you want my opinion), but it told a story from beginning to end and will look decent when they wrap it all in trades.
-Back on a sort of negative rant, I have been massively disappointed by the latest arc in BUFFY. I was never a big Fray fan (sorry, Shawn) and this whole thing feels like.....I don't know, a stunt? A reason to bring Fray back? But there has been no chemistry, no feeling like "I want to go back and find trades to enjoy her", nothing. I have been as big a supporter and defender of master Joss since the book came out, but sorry, he's on his own here. I'll still get it, I await the next arc with much anticipation. They need to get back to the overall arc.
-I have trouble believing that the whole FINAL CRISIS blame can be laid at the feet of J.G. Jones. Not sure if they are even doing that, but that seemed to be the point of bringing in Carlos Pacheco. He was supposed to be helping, but man they are taking forever to get back to the main story.
-This might be a minority feeling, but my feeling on the last issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA was good, but could have been better. At least we had some resolutions. For the time being, it looks like Steve will replace Bucky in the Marvel axiom "dead means dead". Brubaker has done a terrific job for the most part with this book and I look forward to seeing if he can sustain Bucky's role in the MCU, or will he succumb to Kyle Rayner's disease and fall into the background.
-Is anyone else getting burned out on this "Embrace change" campaign from Marvel? Just end this and get on with the repercussions. Of which, I have a feeling that there will be only a few and probably neither any big or long lasting ones.
-Had a blast at the Baltimore Comic Con last weekend. Some highlights? Getting to see the old crew from the conversations show. I miss them and it was great to talk face to face and catch up.
A big highlight for me was meeting Scott Kurtz from PvP. Yes, I've met him before. Several times in fact. But this year he recognized me and greeted me like and old friend. It was terrific to talk about non-comics stuff with him and he is an awesome guy. Also, spending a few minutes with Herb Trimpe while he was working with Matthew on his HULK sketch was very nice. He is a nice guy and had great things to say about the show, which made me feel great that some people have a good opinion of our little show. I say that like I run the damn thing, but Marc Nathan and crew have done a fabulous job and I look forward to next year.
That's about it for now. Thanks for stopping by while your porn or bootleg movie downloads. Come back soon!
-The craze over ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN should have been how bad the book was. Its was all over the place and at this point I am having trouble deciphering what the hell the story is. They should have placed black boxes over the entire book.
-Conversely, I liked the ending of ALL STAR SUPERMAN. Sure it took forever to get all of it out, and not alot of people are getting what the last page means (leave me a reply if you want my opinion), but it told a story from beginning to end and will look decent when they wrap it all in trades.
-Back on a sort of negative rant, I have been massively disappointed by the latest arc in BUFFY. I was never a big Fray fan (sorry, Shawn) and this whole thing feels like.....I don't know, a stunt? A reason to bring Fray back? But there has been no chemistry, no feeling like "I want to go back and find trades to enjoy her", nothing. I have been as big a supporter and defender of master Joss since the book came out, but sorry, he's on his own here. I'll still get it, I await the next arc with much anticipation. They need to get back to the overall arc.
-I have trouble believing that the whole FINAL CRISIS blame can be laid at the feet of J.G. Jones. Not sure if they are even doing that, but that seemed to be the point of bringing in Carlos Pacheco. He was supposed to be helping, but man they are taking forever to get back to the main story.
-This might be a minority feeling, but my feeling on the last issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA was good, but could have been better. At least we had some resolutions. For the time being, it looks like Steve will replace Bucky in the Marvel axiom "dead means dead". Brubaker has done a terrific job for the most part with this book and I look forward to seeing if he can sustain Bucky's role in the MCU, or will he succumb to Kyle Rayner's disease and fall into the background.
-Is anyone else getting burned out on this "Embrace change" campaign from Marvel? Just end this and get on with the repercussions. Of which, I have a feeling that there will be only a few and probably neither any big or long lasting ones.
-Had a blast at the Baltimore Comic Con last weekend. Some highlights? Getting to see the old crew from the conversations show. I miss them and it was great to talk face to face and catch up.
A big highlight for me was meeting Scott Kurtz from PvP. Yes, I've met him before. Several times in fact. But this year he recognized me and greeted me like and old friend. It was terrific to talk about non-comics stuff with him and he is an awesome guy. Also, spending a few minutes with Herb Trimpe while he was working with Matthew on his HULK sketch was very nice. He is a nice guy and had great things to say about the show, which made me feel great that some people have a good opinion of our little show. I say that like I run the damn thing, but Marc Nathan and crew have done a fabulous job and I look forward to next year.
That's about it for now. Thanks for stopping by while your porn or bootleg movie downloads. Come back soon!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Holy Crap...
I refuse to make this a place for politics. There are enough places out there for that. However, I feel compelled to say something about what has happened with the economy the last few days;
Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?!?
The stock market looks like a train wreck, banks are failing, people are losing their houses, and McCain says with a straight face that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong"? Then, when caught completely depantsed by both the news and the media, he tries to peddle it as "I was referring to the workers as the fundamentals of the economy".
Yeah, right.
Anyone else feel like a "fundamental"? Because I sure as hell don't.
Feel more like a prostitute. Willing to do what it takes to make a buck and stay alive for another day.
OK, that's it. Back to the fun things in life. Be good.
Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?!?
The stock market looks like a train wreck, banks are failing, people are losing their houses, and McCain says with a straight face that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong"? Then, when caught completely depantsed by both the news and the media, he tries to peddle it as "I was referring to the workers as the fundamentals of the economy".
Yeah, right.
Anyone else feel like a "fundamental"? Because I sure as hell don't.
Feel more like a prostitute. Willing to do what it takes to make a buck and stay alive for another day.
OK, that's it. Back to the fun things in life. Be good.
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