Superman Costume

Another shot of the new film Supes costume sans cape...very similar to the recently rebooted comics costume,no red shorts,more blue throughout.I still think the emblem is a bit strange though,misshapen almost.

Graphic Language:The Gang From The Store

I picked up a couple of collections of local CT artist Luke Foster's web strips at Comiconn the other day.I decided to read Gang first because it is simply a collected edition of a web strip he had done a few years back,and it was a quick read.The basic premise is every strip is a four panel recreation of a true event that took place while working at a comic shop.Having spent too much time in a comic shop many of the stories were funny and rang true,while several fell flat.Foster is a pretty simple cartoonist,which suits the comic strip's nature perfectly,and is quite witty,which never translated into belly laughs,but at least lended some good humor to the whole thing.An enjoyable read,especially if you spend any time in the comic store.On a side note,Luke seems to be a real polite guy who was appreciative that I took interest in his work,if you see him at a convention,support him and keep indie guys going too.

30 Second Movie Review:Suckerpunch

I fully expected to hate this film.I like Zack Snyder,but do not think 300 is that great,liked Watchmen but didn't love it,and thought his best work was the Dawn Of The Dead remake.This seemed to me to be one of those visually striking films that relied heavily on visuals and was story poor.I was pleasently surprised.The story is basic,young girl suffers tragedy and ends up in a mental institution.She forms a bond with other patients and devises an escape.That is the plot.The mechanics used to convey the plot are what is interesting.As our heroine plots the escape,she burrows herself into a fantasy world where she and the other girls are not patients but prostitues,and the hospital staff is pimps and gunmen.The scenes where the girls complete various missions on their way to escape levels down even futher into unreality,and involves dragons,steam powered zombie German soldiers,trolls and other craziness.These scenes complement the character work by being unrelenting in the action department.In the end,a complete story is told,all of the various levels of reality and imagination line up,and we learn that the story was not really about who we thought it was.4Stars.Fun.

Season 6

Next month....can't wait

Musical Interlude

Great song from one of the bands that I listened to during my late 80s hair metal phase.Dangerous Toys with Scared,and this song still holds up.I can just picture it on the Dial MTV countdown.

Ghost Rider 2

This looks like they figured out that GR is a real dark character finally.The first one was good,but lacked any sense of darkness.

RHCP New Video

The Peppers are back with a new album at the end of the month,and I'm excited.This is a band that has a special place in my heart and I have stuck with them as a fan for the last 20 years,may as well keep on.For a bunch of guys mostly in their mid to late 40's,they still rock,and I am glad to say that this song,the first single off of I'm With You is really a nice wink back to some older stuff,while still sounding fresh.

Crazy Nic Is Back

I can't say the first Ghost Rider film was great,nor was it terrible,it was decent.The second film,subtitled Spirit Of Vengeance is coming out in February of 2012,and I am actually excited.The directing duo of Neveldine/Taylor have made this one,and if you are a fan of their Crank films,or Gamer,you know they have a kinectic energy and dynamic camera work.This may be what a stagnant franchise needed.The teaser poster is simple but gets the message across.

Musical Interlude

The Alarm was the Welsh version of U2 in the 80's,replete with blonde Bono lookalike frontman Mike Peters.I only know a few songs by them,and they are all good.This one in particular,68 Guns has all the makings of a great anthemic rock song,rousing chorus,shouted harmonies and that killer twangy riff.The other notable thing about this band is that the lead singer announced during the last song at a gig that he was leaving the band,unbeknownst to his bandmates.The final song they played was a song called "Blaze of Glory".Thats Rock n Roll

The DC New 52 (John's List)

DC is weeks away from what may end up being a bigger failure than The Clone Saga in the eyes of comic readers,or a surprise hit.Rebooting their entire universe and starting at 1.If you read Lou's post,you get the jist,here is a full list of titles,and my thoughts.

1. JLA#1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee (read more)-interested to an extent,did not order this one though.
2. Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales (read more)-nope,Grant Morrison has confused me too often,I'm still not sure what happened for most of the last 5 years in Batman
3. Superman #1 by George Pérez and Jesus Merino (read more)-no
4. Superboy #1 by Scott Lobdell and R.B. Silva and Rob Lean (read more)-no
5. Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. (read more)-yes,because I hear Snyder did good things with the last arc on Detective,and I need some good Bat
6. Detective Comics #1 by Tony Daniel (read more)-Yup
7. Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes. (read more)-nope
8. Batwoman #1 by J.H. Williams III, Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder (read more)-nope
9. Catwoman #1 by Judd Winick and Guillem March (read more)-nope
10. Red Hood And The Outlaws #1 by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort (read more)-Red Hood,Starfire and Arsenal?Not interested.
11. Batwing #1 by Judd Winick and Ben Oliver (read more)-the tales of Africa's Batman...nah
12. Nightwing #1 by Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows (read more)-didn't read it years ago,no
13. Batman And Robin #1 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason (read more)-yes,because I have grown fond of Damian Wayne as a character
14. Adventure Comics DC Universe Presents #1 by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang (read more)-anthology series,nah
15. Green Lantern #1 by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy (read more)-Yes
16. Green Lantern Corps #1 by Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna (read more)-Yes
17. Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1 by Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham and Batt (read more)-Kyle and his Rainbow warriors...no
18. Red Lanterns #1 by Peter Milligan, Ed Benes and Rob Hunter. (read more)-Interested,but budgetary reasons say no
19. Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman and Dan Green (read more)-no
20. Swamp Thing #1 by Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette (read more)-I will always read a Swamp Thing title even though it is destined to be cancelled,yes
21. Legion Lost #1 by Fabian Nicieza and Chris Batista? Pete Woods (read more)-no
22. Birds Of Prey #1 by Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz (read more)-no
23. Teen Titans #1 by Fabian Nicieza Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund (read more)-seems to be the only place to follow Tim Drake anymore,but no
24. Savage Hawkman #1 by James Robinson Tony Daniel and Philip Tan (read more)-love Hawkman,yes
25. Blue Beetle #1 by Tony Bedard and Ig Guara-I enjoyed the last series,but no
26. Supergirl #1 by Brian Wood Michael Green and Mike Johnson (read more)-no
27. Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello #1 and Cliff Chiang (read more)-never really cared for WW,no
28. Fury Of Firestorm #1 by Brian Clevinger Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver and Yildiray Cinar. (read more)-I like the character,but again,no
29. Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis (read more)-Another character I like,but no
30. Mr Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson (read more)-This will be cancelled early,but I love this character so yes
31. Flash #1 by Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul (read more)-yes
32. Green Arrow #1 by JT Krul and Dan Jurgens (read more)-yes
33. Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti (read more)-yes
34. Captain Atom #1 by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II (read more)-no
35. Grifter #1 by Nathan Edmondson and CAFU and BIT (read more)-no
36. Legion of Superheroes by Paul Levitz and Chris Batista? Francis Portela (read more)-no
37. OMAC #1 by Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen (read more)-no
38. Batman: The Dark Knight #1 by David Finch (read more)-the only Batman title I'm saying no to
39. All-Star Western #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Grey and Meridat. ( Vigilante #1 by Darwyn Cooke inside?) (read more)-The same creators as Jonah Hex,basically the same book?...hell yes
40. Justice League Dark #1 by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin -just because I love Constantine,yes,the concept sounds goofy though
41. Demon Knights #1 by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves and Oclair Albert -nope
42. Frankenstein: Agent Of SHADE #1 by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli -yes
43. Resurrection Man #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino -no
44. I, Vampire #1 by Josh Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino -no
45. Voodoo #1 by Ron Marz and Sami Basri. -no
46. Static Shock #1 by Felicia Henderson, John Rozum, Scott McDaniel and Jonathan Glapion. -no
47. Hawk And Dove #1 by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld-no way
48. Sgt Rock And The Men Of War #1 by Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick.-no,and it's Sgt. Rock's grandson 
49. Stormwatch #1 by Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda.-yes,because it features characters from Authority
50. Deathstroke #1 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennett and Art Thibert.-no
51. Suicide Squad #1 by Adam Glass and Marco Rudy-yes
52. Blackhawks #1 by Mike Costa and Ken Lashley-no

There it is,what will still be around a year from now?

The DC new 52

So now that we are just a few short weeks away from the DC relaunch I wanted to give some of my opinions, which admittedly have gone back and forth over the past few months, and to share what books I am going to be getting in on come September.

I know that there has been some heavy backlash from the continuity buffs out there about DC's new approach, and their opinions are completely valid, I can see how people who have been reading about, and have become, vested in these characters for decades can get angry when everything seemingly gets scrapped. I on the other hand can see the point of continuity being as heavy a burden as it is a blessing, it's kind of like a Dynasty team in sports, once you have won everything... repeatedly, what is the motivation to keep on doing it???, and in the case of many of these superheroes, they have stared down the barrel of the worst the universe has to offer, and have triumphed over and over again. Where do you go from there??? besides popped collars??? (if you don't get that joke, take a look at Supes New Suit)

My major problem with the whole thing came with the way DC let the information out of the bag, which seemed to me, to be a complete un-coordinated mess from the get go, drips and drabs every day, never really answering any questions, mostly because I think they didn't know themselves, which to me was the mistake, I really feel that if they had come out with a cohesive list of bullet points, it would have gone a long way to helping us all understand what in the heck was going on, instead of "OK, its all coming out of "Flashpoint" but.... Green Lantern and Corps etc. is still in Continuity, Blackest Night Happened, but Hal Jordan doesn't even have the ring yet, Abin Sur is still alive, Superman is X amount of years in the past and so is the Justice League, Aquaman, is a mass murderer, Firestorm is dead, and Wonder Woman is Evil, not to mention that Batman is Thomas Wayne, and Robin is once again Nightwing, but he hasn't even left the big top yet, Lois is in England, not to mention that Barbara Gordon is Batgirl again!!!! surprise!!!!!!! thank god for the miracles of Physical Therapy!!!!!" See what I mean?????

Now for the Books I plan on Buying,

Justice League

Justice League International (Gotta get me my Booster Fix)

Detective Comics

Batman

Batman and Robin

All Star Western

Swamp Thing

Grifter

Deathstroke

Superman

Green Lantern

Green Lantern Corps

Green Arrow

Frankenstein

Aquaman

The Flash

In the end though, I am really excited to see the direction that they take with some of the most timeless, and beloved characters in the industry, and as long as the story's are good, which I'm sure they will be, I'll keep reading them, because that's what it's all about. After all, it's just comics!!!!!

Cover to Cover

I'm allowed to put up covers that haven't come out yet right??????

This is the cover for the New Avengers Annual #1 Coming out September 7th, and it is absolutely stunning, drawn by Gabrielle Dell'otto (Secret Wars), it showcases a completely pissed off (insane?) Wonderman. Without giving out too much in the way of spoilers, it seems that Mr. Williams has begun to fulfill his promises to Steve Rogers by forming what will be known as "The Revengers".

Cover To Cover

As a kid,Secret Wars was a true favorite of mine.The 12 issue EVENT! maxiseries took most of the Marvel U and stranded them on a planet,to do battle,good vs. evil.The concept was simple and fun to a kid's mind,let's have super heroes and villains duke it out!

Secret Wars is not really very good,and rereading bits of it as an adult just scream that this whole thing was a way to move toys and sell issues.Not a whole heck of a lot came from the series except two things I can think of.One was the old 80's Thing series,where Ben Grimm decided to stay on the planet at the end of all the action,to live in solitude.I really liked that series.The bigger one was the black Spidey suit.No matter how you feel about Venom,the suit was a stark change to what we knew,and this cover will always be etched in my brain.Spidey's suit is destroyed in battle,and he finds a machine that he thinks has made him a new suit,not knowing what it really is.We all know what happens for the next 25 years,lots of Venom,all the time.In the end,I may not have the fondest memories of Secret Wars,but I do have one of my favorite covers.

Batman Minis

Catching up on some reading and finished off two different Batman related miniseries,both starkly different,both quite good as well.

Batman Beyond-This was long overdue,as the 8 issue regular series that followed this mini last year just ended.This picks up after the show,Terry Mcginnis is still Batman,working for Bruce Wayne who can no longer physically assume the mantle of the Bat.The story revolves around a villain using the identity of Bruce's old nemesis Hush,and he is killing off current Bat foes.Terry is having a hard time dealing with Bruce's focus on the whole need for a Batman,and doesn't want to end up alone and friendless as well.Along the way we run into Amanda Waller and her CADMUS project,find out the fate of Dick Grayson,and meet the new Catwoman prowling Gotham.Hush's identity ties in nicely to the story,and isn't a letdown.Overall a really good series written by Adam Beechen and a good read for fans or non fans of the animated show.

Batman:Knight Of Vengeance-This is a Flashpoint tie in,which pretty much relegates it to an "otherworlds"tale,meaning it most likely will end up being non-canon.It's too bad,because in reality,this is the best Batman story I have read in a long time.In the Flashpoint world,Bruce was killed in Crime Alley,and his death spawned Batman,his grief stricken,vengeance minded father,Thomas.It also created Batman's greatest nemesis,the Joker,his grief stricken,driven insane mother Martha.The reveal in issue 2 of the Joker's true identity was a great moment,and issue 3 explains how these characters ended up in the situations they are in now.Oh and as we flash back to Bruce's murder,the story is intercut with scenes of the once loving couple fighting,as the Joker repeatedly is hitting the Bat in the head with a hammer.Created by the "100 Bullets"team of Azzarello and Risso,this is a dark,scary ride with some real emotional bite.

If you have the chance to read either of these stories,get down to your local comic shop and pick them up,both are self contained even without knowing about Beyond or Flashpoint.

Future Foundation?FF?Fantastic Four?

Is Johnny Storm going to blast his way out of the Negative Zone?Is Spidey leaving?Is this a shock?As long as the book remains good I'll still read it.

Is It Getting Gayer In Here?

That's tension folks.

Bring Back Brandon Routh

First pic of Henry Cavill as Supes.Suit looks leathery,huge emblem compared to the one Routh wore.I would bet this film will be another fine disaster in the DC films catalog(that isn't about Batman)

WTF Slider?

Why does he strike that pose during that beach volleyball game?Why does Iceman chomp his teeth at Maverick?WTF is happening?

30 Second Movie Review:Captain America-The First Avenger

Thor left me cold.I really liked the stuff on Asgard but felt the Earth component of the story was lacking.I was nervous that Cap would not be all I hoped for and I found myself relieved when it was.

Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers with a noble quietness,a man who wants to help his country but is deemed to physically weak to do so.The supporting cast is good all around,with Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones as Cap's tough commanding officer and Hugo Weaving laying on the slime to play The Red Skull,Cap's archenemy and Nazi Occultist out to rule the world.As the film plays out during WW2,we also get to meet early Marvel mainstays like Arnim Zola,Bucky and in a blink and miss it cameo,the original Human Torch.

This movie has heart and character,and also brings some really good action to the mix,and the end literally sets up next year's big screen adaptation of "The Avengers".4 stars.

KAPOW!BOOMF!

Looks like they are dancing,hope it's a fight.

The Dark Knight Rises Set Photos

Here are two of the first photos of Tom Hardy as Bane, these were taken on the Pittsburgh Set by Just Jared.