Angelthorne's Bard College

An Epic Battle

2008-09-27T21:35:00.001-05:00

DARK KNIGHT

2008-07-30T21:57:00.005-05:00

Things I Liked: Heath Ledger's Joker. In fact, everything about the Joker. Wasn't sure I would like this anarcho-punk incarnation, but it turned out to be great. The fact that they did NOT show Joker's origin, and that Joker's own explanation for his scars keep changing a la The Killing Joke. The fact that Joker survived the movie. Gary Oldman's James Gordon. Absolutely perfect. Referring to the original 1989 Bat-suit that famously did not allow Michael Keaton to move his head. The cameo by Senator Pat Leahy. Keeping the same Bat-mobile. Referencing the 1970's "Batcave" hidden beneath Bruce Wayne's penthouse. Batman willing to take on the general public's hatred.

Things I Did Not Like: The damn thing was so dark (I mean lighting-wise) at times you couldn't tell what was going on. The fight scenes were claustrophobically-shot; how can you tell Batman is the world's greatest fighter when all you ever see is a blurry close-up of his elbow? The sound editing; loud and awful. Dialogue was drowned out at times, particularly during Gordon's closing exposition. Harvey Dent; pretty much everything about him. We never learned enough about him to care or understand why he went insane or why he was so great Batman would seriously consider retiring in favor of him. Dent's portrayal in The Long Halloween was much better. In fact, his entire sub-plot felt tacked-on and unnecessary and his death pointless. The music; utterly forgettable. Production values on Gotham City. While I don't miss the homo-erotic Stalinism of Joel Schumacher's Gotham, there was something to be said for Tim Burton's gothic mega-city. Gotham City should be virtually a character in and of itself. The city should reflect the corruption within it and I hardly recall even seeing graffiti. Nolan's Gotham either looked too much like Chicago (where it was shot) or too generic (particularly the hospital). Christian Bale's Bat-Voice. It's become so dark and raspy as to be unintelligible, more like Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade.

Overall? Frankly? It was kind of meh. Hate to admit it, but yeah.

Hancock

2008-07-24T22:57:00.005-05:00

Great movie. Really great movie. I loved the concept of an essentially homeless alcoholic superhero utterly despised by the city he protects. Will Smith does a superb job of conveying the character's essential loneliness and surly alienation from society. Jason Bateman is understated and convincing as the earnest, PR sidekick who takes it on himself to rehabilitate Hancock against his will. Charlize Theron plays Mary, Bateman's disproportionately hot wife. The plot is more or less an origin story for Hancock and does an intriguing job of speculating on how superheroes might actually be perceived in the real world. Hancock also shows that the powers don't make the hero; his are relatively generic (flight, invulnerability, super-strength) but we don't mind because the character who wields them is complex, interesting, and (eventually) sympathetic. There is a mild plot twist at the end that most fanboys will spot coming, but it's still interesting and advances the plot without being annoying. Highly recommended.

The Incredible Hulk

2008-06-15T23:26:00.003-05:00

Subtitled "The Apology," this version completes ignores Ang Lee's widely-panned previous effort and actually pays homage to the old TV series, from cameos by Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, to the classic "Banner hitchhiking" piano music, to the Hulk-making gadgetry. The plotting is tight and rather simplistic, with three increasingly-spectacular set-piece battles. Edward Norton channels some of his old "Fight Club" angst as the isolated, lonely and perpetually-fearful Banner. Liv Tyler is, well, Liv Tyler: enormous eyes, pouting lips, and almost no acting ability beyond a breathy little-girl voice. I particularly enjoyed the intertwining of Marvel history throughout the movie, including references to the Captain America mythos (in this respect, it's more like the Ultimate Universe). The CGI Hulk, however, was a little disappointing; it didn't seem nearly as realistic or emotive as, say, Gollum in LOTR. Overall, a very good effort, though not as incredible as Iron Man.

Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-05-24T22:03:00.002-05:00

*HERE BE SPOILERS*

Spectacularly mediocre final installment of a series that has been going steadily downhill since Raiders of the Lost Ark. The franchise feels old and worn-out, not unlike Harrison Ford who seemingly can scarcely contain his boredom. The plot, such as it is, is molecule-thin, even by Indiana Jones standards, and riddled with holes, dead-ends and sheer silliness. Showing a hero facing old age is good idea, but other than one or two references to his age, Indy is exactly the same superhero he was in 1937, though he seems to have lost all common sense when it comes to reading his friends. He gets caught in a nuclear blast, tossed ten miles in a refrigerator that slams into the Earth at high speed and is able to get up and dust himself off! Which brings up another point: the stunts have gone WAY beyond thrilling and deep into ludicrous territory. The villains here (the godless Commies) are completely indistinguishable from the Nazis in the previous films, save only for the accents and the uniforms. And the last quarter is cringe-inducingly racist (not that the previous three installments were exactly enlightened), with Indians portrayed as screeching naked savages (and, apparently, some kind of ninja) and far too stupid to have invented anything on their own, instead being dependent on the "benevolent" von Daniken-ite aliens to instruct them. Overall, a disappointing end to an era.

Speed Racer

2008-05-11T20:15:00.005-05:00

Emphasis on "Speed." An insane combination of Rollerball (the crappy original, not the crappy remake), Death Race 2000 and some kind of neon-fueled acid trip involving lots and lots of Hotwheels track. Presented with a deafening sound and explosive visual intensity designed to induce seizures in Japanese schoolchildren. Edited and directed by a hyperkinetic ADHD Asperger's Syndrome five-year-old. On crack. And bizarrely enough, the movie is actually LESS violent than the original cartoon series thanks to Plot Device Super Balls that eject the drivers when their vehicles unconvincingly explode (perhaps due to the Treknobabble matter/anti-matter drives that run them) into a billion white hot fragments.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-05-11T19:39:00.005-05:00

Mighty Avengers #13: Shorter Bendis: "This'll show you all for not reading Secret Wars!"

New Avengers #40: Yeah, it's Battlestar Galactica.

Avengers/Invaders #1: Hmmm, okay. Not sure about this. Art okay, like seeing the actual Captain America back. Have to assume this is some weird hiccup of continuity seeing as how Cap never "remembered" any of this.

Batman #675: Bad art. Jezebel Jet is annoying and pointless. Plus, the eye-finger guys from 52.

Captain America #37: Red Skull is well-presented, as was the Hawkeye vs. Bucky America confrontation.

DC Universe 0: It was free. And worth every penny.

Detective Comics #844: The cartoonish artwork goes well with Dini's writing. Nice, creepy origin for the new Ventriloquist. I still liked the Goth look for Zatanna better.

Infinity, Inc. #9: Mediocre art, reads sort of like an X-Men for DC. How old is Mercy supposed to be?

Iron Man Viva Las Vegas #1: Jon Favreau makes his own continuity, which is cool with me. Liked the artwork, fairly snappy dialogue. Not sure how Tony Stark pulled off the whole bathroom change thing and still kept his secret identity, though.

Justice League of America #20: Another team-up, this time Flash and Wonder Woman. Pretty well-handled, nice art and good dialogue for Flash. This may be part of the set-up to retire Wally and reinstate Barry Allen, desecrating the last grave in the superhero universal cemetery. Heaven forbid that any meaningful death ever be allowed to keep its meaning.

Ms. Marvel #26: Agent Sum is more interesting and Machine Man way more creepy than I originally thought. Paranoia strikes deep.

Noble Causes #32: Picks up five years later. Artwork is vastly improved and the new characters are intriguing, though I missed Liz Donnelly.

Powers Annual #1: Sigh, more of the super-apes. And with fur thong bikinis.

Secret Invasion #2: Okay, this is WAY more interesting than the interminable exposition in the Avengers. Bendis is doing a good job of stretching out the suspense over who is really a Skrull.

Amazing Spider-Man #558: My first BND issue and it was intensely adequate. Given that the whole BND shtick was to bring back the "glory days," it's pretty disappointing that this storyline doesn't even remotely approach Roger Stern's run. Creaky dialogue, silly plot. And Peter Parker living with his aunt in his late 'twenties doesn't make him an Everyman, it makes him pathetic.

Superman/Batman #47: Return of a concept from Generations and JLU that really makes sense when you think about it, even without Luthor as President.

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #8: Black Condor has been leeched of all originality and reduced to a New Age-spouting, Tarzan-talking stereotype. Very sad.

Wonder Woman #19: Simone continues to grow into the role, developing an interesting take on the main character. Artwork slipping, though.

IRON MAN

2008-05-08T23:02:00.005-05:00

Absolutely great flick, one of the best superhero movies of all times. This is the kind of movie Superman Returns might have been, had Bryan Singer not been so obsessive/compulsive about remaking Superman: The Movie. Beginning with the inspired casting (some might say typecasting) of Robert Downey, Jr. as a rich, shallow, self-absorbed, substance-abusing womanizer, to Gwyneth Paltrow's wonderfully understated performance as Pepper Potts, to the smooth-without-being-overwhelming CGI, it's really hard to find fault with anything in the production. Iron Man's Cold War roots are skillfully updated, transferring his origin from Vietnam to Afghanistan and remaking his arch-nemesis the Mandarin (who was, let's face it, a pretty crude Fu Manchu stereotype in the comics) into a warlord with a Genghis Khan fetish. Obadiah Stane, a villain from the Denny O'Neil run in the 1980's, is played by Jeff Bridges, who resists the urge to chew scenery and delivers such an excellent performance, I really didn't even mind the cliched "villain who has it all together throughout the film only to lose it spectacularly at the last minute" ending. Director Jon Favreau (who also appears in a couple of scenes as Happy Hogan) takes his time with the pacing, making sure the audience gets to know Tony Stark long before he ever gets strapped into his metal union suit. The dialogue is snappy, the set-piece fight scenes are great, and Downey makes us believe that a man can become a reluctant hero after a personal epiphany. Highly recommended.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-04-10T22:45:00.003-05:00

Mighty Avengers #11: Well, so much for what I said about Dr. Doom being well-presented. What clumsy, stilted dialogue! Maybe he's really a Skrull...

New Avengers #39: Okay, the Skrulls have infiltrated the world but the Super Skrull does such a crappy job as Daredevil that D-Lister Echo can see right through it?

Captain America #36: Bucky America continues to thrill and annoy. I thought I could handle Cap with a gun, but now maybe not so much. He had to shoot a non-powered teenage girl in the back? I did like the fact that the crowd refused to listen to Bucky America.

Green Arrow & Black Canary #7: Cheap joke at the beginning and a ripoff from X-Files. I'm back and forth on the flat cartoonish Chiang artwork, though I do appreciate that Speedy still has the physique of an actual teenage girl. The "interrogation" scene was entertaining.

Invincible #49: Big superheroic throwdown against Doctor Seismic. Mark learns the hard way that he can't even trust the government; after finding out his Dad was actually a murderous alien bent on world conquest, he has to be developing a complex.

Justice League: The New Frontier #1: Absolutely wonderful. The Batman vs. Superman fight (a great DKR homage) alone is worth the cover price. "I waste a bit of rubber on him and get clear just as the missile detonates." Backup features are great, too. Really makes me want the TPB and the DVD.

Justice Society of America #14: The cover seems unrelated to the story inside, a pretty good battle with Gog. The sheer size of this team may be getting problematic, however, given that none of them have their own titles. Hard to really stand out in a crowd this big.

Ms. Marvel #25: Another retro-style flashback which I enjoyed, right down to the Buscema-esque art and editorial footnotes. More behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Remains a solid book.

Secret Invasion #1: Surprisingly good, though with a very distinct Battlestar Galactica flavor. "He loves you," was I think what put me in mind of the religious zealot Cylons. I'm genuinely intrigued and looking forward to seeing how far this all goes.

Titans #1: Nice round-up issue, plus Starfire cheesecake. Nice to see the old team I remember from the great days of Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #7: Good alien invasion story, even though I hate alien invasion stories for the most part. Also, a little unsure of the continuity here; are there just no other superheroes on Earth besides the Freedom Fighters?

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-03-13T22:15:00.003-05:00

Mighty Avengers #10: The time travel saga continues, with the clever conceit that the flashback pages look like a Marvel comic from 20-30 years ago, including the slogans along the bottom gutter. Dr. Doom is well-presented ("A lot more people hate you than hate me"). Plus the thought balloons are WAY less annoying now.

Birds of Prey #115: Art is good. Zinda is good. Huntress is always good. Black Alice I could do without, as her powers seem ludicrous (she absorbs people's clothing, too?) Still not up to Simonian levels, but making progress.

The Last Defenders #1: A nice turn on the (ludicrous) Initiative concept as the new Defenders are assigned to...New Jersey? Artwork is okay, though Blazing Skull apparently needs to try Adkins. I liked the portrayal of Kyle Richmond as conflicted and self-doubting. Very Marvel, that.

Detective Comics #842: Well, that was kind of a letdown. Is that really all the Magic Armor of Doom does? Give you 'roid rage? As part of some supehero version of The DaVinci Code? Artwork decent, coloring GREAT.

Green Arrow & Black Canary #6: I think Judd Winick has captured the interplay between Canary and Arrow very well. They behave like, well, old friends/lovers, as it should be. Good art, especially with Dinah having an athletic build and realistic boobs as opposed to implanted basketballs,. I thought Mia snoozing in the front seat of the van while "mom" and "dad" talked was unexpectedly sweet.

Powers #28: Ugh. Why does Deena have to have powers? Can I whine about this some more? At least Christian stays out of that ludicrous Milennium Guard get-up. I can only hope this arc ends with Pilgrim losing her power to fry people through their eyeballs.

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #5 & 6: Superheroes as bad dads is becoming a cliche, but it's well-presented here, even if we have to again swallow the idea that Golden Age heroes have 20-something children. Art is good, rather Chaykin-esque actually. The REALLY gross potential side-effects of shrinking. And Red Bee is presented WAY better as an insect queen villain that that silliness over in Superman.

Wonder Woman #18: Simone is hitting her stride here. The courting rituals were wonderful. Etta Candy: "woo fuckin' woo" = priceless. Artwork was...okay, I guess, though it appears Bernard Chang is convinced Sarah Michelle Gellar should play the lead in the Wonder Woman movie.

In Memorium

2008-03-04T23:55:00.002-06:00

Like millions of other nerds around the world, my imagination was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. My best friend once interviewed Gygax for a documentary on gamers and told me what a gracious and accommodating human being he was. That's not too bad a legacy, if you think about it.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-03-01T23:21:00.002-06:00

Giant-Size Avengers #1: Several short, silly insubstantial stories with artwork ranging from good to dubious, plus two flashbacks--one a classic, the other silly.

Batman#674: Conclusion of the 3rd Man arc. And more Superboy fist/Super Worm powered retconning to further rob Jason Todd's death of any meaning.

Captain America #35: My annoyance at Bucky America is slightly offset by an intriguing and convoluted plot by the Red Skull. Why is the Guice and Perkins art so dark, though?

Invincible #48: A Mole-Man-esque villain captures every hero in the world. More on the Invincible/Atom Eve relationship.

Justice Society of America #13: Pretty good art, including some Alex Ross inserts. The Gog storyline is intriguing.

Teen Titans #56: I like the fact that these Titans are presented as real teenagers, apt to stupidity and bone-headed stunts. In this issue, Kid Devil, the nerd of superhero-dom, stars as a "walking teen cliche."

Wonder Woman #17: Wonder Woman defeats a secret cabal of Amazonian fundamentalists. Artwork a little weak at points and Simone's writing is a tad...off, maybe? Stiff? Just doesn't have the sparkle of Birds of Prey. Probably just needs a little more time.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-02-21T22:58:00.002-06:00

Mighty Avengers #9: Three!,(count 'em!) three double-truck splash-pages of the Avengers going all shock and awe on Doombots. I actually preferred the Djurdjevic painted artwork in the first three pages, with the skull-like helmet on Doom. And now maybe Iron Man will finally discover the shocking secret of whatever happened to the Silver Age?

New Avengers #38: Takes place right after the Annual, and I still don't get Jessica Jones. Her actions seem way out of character. Are they supposed to? Is this designed to make us paranoid about who might be a Skrull? Damn you, Bendis!

New Avengers Annual #2: Good art, a brutal battle, a human side to Ms. Marvel. A reminder of why magic is scary.

Captain America #34: Eh, sigh. I can only hope now that Jason Todd becomes the new Batman.

Detective Comics #841: Neat, funky art by Nguyen, typically excellent story by Dini. One nitpick: I realize Batman is the World's Greatest Detective, but can he REALLY recognize every "small-time grifter and part-time 'escort'" at a glance?

Green Arrow & Black Canary #5: Nice retcon of Green Arrow and Connor's origins together. Was Connor always bi-racial? Or is it just that artists really don't know how to do bi-racial?

Justice League of America #18: Still not a fan of the Benes art; frankly I preferred Jon Boy Meyers' cartoony work on the Red Tornado back-up. And how exactly is the Hall of Justice an embassy? Is that some kind of holdover from the Keith Giffen run? Gitmo in space is a nice touch, though.

Justice Society of America #12: I like the idea of the original Amazing-Man retconned as a Civil Rights icon, but Markus Clay's getup is ludicrous. Is anyone supposed to take him seriously in that pseudo-Dashiki number? Quick, the Blockade Boy signal!

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #4: Red Bee has been reading Superman, it appears. Also, is it just me or does Darrell Dane look like George H.W. Bush (at least in the first few pages)? And Robbins looks like some kind of combination of Tony Stark and Clark Gable. And how many secret government super-teams are there?

P.S. Thanks for the link, Fangirls!

A Game of Thrones

2008-02-17T21:24:00.003-06:00

A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin.

As with many things, I am coming late to this series. Nevertheless, I came away extremely impressed by this tightly written epic of civil war, politics and (a little) magic.

Though set in the sort of generic Middle Ages familiar to most fantasy readers, Martin avoids many of the more annoying cliches. For one thing, magic is subtle and blessedly rare, and human beings (and there are only humans so far, though other races are hinted at) are far more evil than any demon lord in their lust for power and control. Villains are not all the very embodiment of everything wicked and heroes are not perfection personified. There is no long lost boy heir to the throne (at least so far) and the lawful king is a brutal, spoiled brat. There is actually quite a bit of cruelty here, some of it involving children, but the worst of it occurs "off screen" and is only referred to in the past tense. The novel's structure is divided into viewpoint chapters from each of the major characters, which provides a nice Kurosawa-like feel. On the negative side, there are many, many characters to keep track of and some of the descriptions venture close to purple, but on the whole it is smartly written and a decent page-turner. Game exists to introduce us to the major players and factions and the world itself, and set the stage for a brutal civil war that will likely consume the rest of the entries in this projected seven-volume series, A Song of Ice and Fire. I liked it enough to buy the second volume in the series, A Clash of Kings, before I had even finished this one. Recommended.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-02-11T23:07:00.001-06:00

Abbreviated edition. Just a couple of titles I picked up at the local Corporate McBookmart.

Justice League of America #17: Art was okay. Writing pretty good. I like the developing relationship between Hawkgirl and Red Arrow. The "Gitmo-ing" of supervillains is a nice touch. Not sure why the backup feature was a backup feature nor why NO ONE can be bothered to correctly illustrate the proper way to hold and fire a bow and arrow.

Superman #672: Super kid? Not much for the art. Nice to know that even alien spider-queens from beyond the stars insist on nine-inch hooker heels. And just how many arms does she have? Seems to go from two to three to four depending on the panel. And the mouth thing is just gross on a Freudian level.

Teen Titans #55: I liked it. Art was good, teenaged girls looked like teenaged girls as opposed to pornstars in zero gravity. And teenagers acted like, well, teenagers--impulsive, whiny, overly emo. Robin has control issues? Whodathunk?

Wonder Woman #16: Now Wonder Woman knows how to hold a bow! And she also apparently now knows not to wear a thong into battle. Simone's writing is great. "How frightful you are, in your little black boots," and "Hmm. Kipling. Not my favorite." You can never go wrong with WW leading an army of super-apes against Nazis.

Astonishing X-Men #24: I like Joss Whedon, but I had no frackin' clue what was going on here. Seriously. Completely and utterly lost. Plus it's the whole "space saga" thing apparently. I guess this is one of those books I'm going to have to read for a year to get up to speed. Not sure it interests me that much, though.

I AM IRON MAN!

2008-02-04T21:43:00.001-06:00

New Iron Man ad from the Superbowl. Obviously, this still has the capacity to suck, but I am cautiously optimistic thanks to the inspired type-casting of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. Not only does he physically resemble the role, in the original trailer he seems to have that bored, contemptous rich asshole look down pat.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2008-01-17T22:39:00.000-06:00

Mighty Avengers #7: Not so sure about the Bagley artwork and Tony Stark appears to have shaved off his beard in between panels from last issue. More Skrull paranoia. Too bad Stark isn't a Skrull, as opposed to just a suddenly megalomaniacal fascist willing to stab his best friends in the back.

New Avengers #37: The Hood is turning out to be a very interesting villain who puts me in mind of Sidewinder from the Serpent Society, a villain who thinks outside the box. Yu's artwork is not growing on me.

Batman #672: Morrison's writing is as good as ever, though I find the character of Jezebel Jet boring. Artwork is...radically adequate. I did like the idea of Vicki Vale on Gotham's version of "The View."

Birds of Prey #113: Oracle has to suddenly be portrayed as wildly out-of-character incompetent just so Superman can come and lecture her? And if this had to be done, wouldn't the Batman have been a better choice? And that lame Transformer knock-off was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

Detective Comics #839: Hate the "Bat Crusader" costume, rather indifferent to Ra's Al Ghul who is now apparently Asian despite his previous origin as Arabic/Persian. I can't get past Damien's ludicrous name enough to take the character seriously.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #49: Good if cartoony artwork, crisp writing. The Ultimate Crimson Dynamo and pals seem like a pretty blatant ripoff of DC's Rocket Red. Who would've thought Red Ghost and the Super Apes could be made even remotely cool? Still not sure what the point of the Ultimate Universe is though.

Green Arrow & Black Canary #4: This is a stupid death. Stupid and pointless and a needless elimination of part of the legacy feel that made the Arrow Family interesting. On the other hand, I could also see it as a painful lesson that this is a rough, dangerous job, something Ollie knows better than most. Artwork kind of cartoony for me, but at least Speedy is given the body of a teenage girl as opposed to an adult porn star in zero gravity.

Invincible #47: Can't say enough good about this series. The supporting cast is fascinating and makes you wish they had their own titles. Even the silly Viltrumites, a race of alien supermen all equipped with 70's porn star moustaches are interesting.

Justice League of America #16: Artwork WAY too Liefieldian for me. Black Canary has a three inch waist and Red Arrow has an upper left thigh the size of a small continent. And why does John Stewart intermittently have the body of the Incredible Hulk? Story is interesting, though, and Black Canary gets to actually lead.

Justice Society of America #11: More alternate universe hi-jinks. Artwork kind of stiff, but I appreciated the fact that Power Girl and Wonder Woman both had the sort of musculature you would expect and Jay Garrick and Alan Scott look a little closer to their real ages. Speaking of which, when did Alan Scott go back to being Green Lantern as opposed to Sentinel and regrow his eye? Did I miss something?

Ms. Marvel #23: I continue to like this series. Ms. Marvel is smart, intelligent and tough, yet still prone to vulnerabilities like worrying about a relationship (whatever happened to that guy who owned the restaurant?). This is an intriguing story arc apparently aimed at integrating the many different heroes Carol Danvers has been over the years, which is enough to make me overlook the fact that it's full of the kind of silly alien stuff I usually can't stand.

Ultimate Power #9: The light table art is better here but still annoying. And when the heck is this supposed to take place? The ending was kind of lame, given that the hook for the whole story turns out to be a red herring.

Rob Liefield is Satan

2008-01-07T01:25:00.000-06:00

Thank you and have a pleasant tomorrow.

MMORPGS...

2007-11-25T01:59:00.000-06:00

...of the FUTURE!

Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-09-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

Amazons Attack #6: Meh. As God is my witness, I have no idea what the bad guy's secret plan was supposed to be here. Also, the whole Hippolyta with her sword at Diana's throat thing kinda loses it's dramatic appeal after the second or third time around.

New Avengers #34: The real benefits of regeneration. Dr. Strange gets his freak on. Echo gets an eyeful. Group therapy, Dr. Strange style.

Batman #667-668: A clever twist on the hoary old Agatha Christie plot making good use of D-List heroes from the Silver Age. Not much of a fan of the J.H. Williams, III art.

Black Canary Wedding Planner #1: Mediocre artwork, fairly good writing. DC is really milking this thing for all it's worth.

Captain America #30: duhn, duhn DUUUHHHHH!!!! Oh, and (sigh) Cyber-Bucky.

Catwoman #71: More mediocre art, though an interesting concept. Helena would make a much better Bat-baby than (shudder) Damien.

Detective Comics #836: Gross, badly written, overly-narrated and badly-drawn Scarecrow arc lurches to a close.

Green Arrow & Black Canary Wedding Special #1: I love Amanda Conner's artwork, particularly her wonderfully expressive faces, an area frequently overlooked in comic book art. The look of affectionate bemusement on Wonder Woman's face at Superman's cornfed cosmic naivete did more to establish WW's character and personality than all of Amazons Attack and most of her current book. My only complaint? Ollie's facial hair looks way more redneck than Robin Hood. Oh, and the ending. The ending is moronic on so many levels.

Justice League of America Wedding Special #1: I can only hope they'll be a Darkseid Wedding Special soon. Joker shouldn't be on supervillain teams; he should be the supervillain other villains have nothing to do with and are secretly afraid of. And Luthor looks ridiculous and decidedly un-intimidating in that armor get-up.

Justice Society of America #9: Art still bad, story okay, but the continuity has been screwed up so much lately, do we really need to get into alternate realities?

Noble Causes #31: Vastly improved artwork, good sudsy story with a clever twist.

Ultimate Power #7: More bizarre light-table art, but the story is getting better. Oh, and Thor spits on your gods.

Welcome to Tranquility #9-10: I didn't realize this was going to be an actual series instead of just a mini-series. Gail Simone's writing is as good as ever, with clever twists on classic comic book genres and tropes. The cartoony art takes some getting used to, but it fits in.

Wonder Woman #12: WW continues to be badly served by DC, remaining a dull, boring character without any sort of spark of personality, motivation or appeal. Even here, in her own comic, she's pushed to the sidelines by the supporting cast. Someone really needs to do a serious revamp of WW, someone who actually cares about the character, or by the time the movie finally rolls around, no one will give a flip.

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

2007-09-23T00:46:00.001-05:00

Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman. Meh. I picked this up thinking it might be some funky, post-modernist take on superheroes (the way "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" might have been if its creators hadn't been completely cowardly). But, no, it's really just a novelized version of a fairly standard superhero plot, revolving around a veteran villain (Dr. Impossible) and a rooky hero (Fatale). Their origins, the plot, and the "shocking revelation" at the end are all fairly pedestrian and really wouldn't warrant much of a mention in any comic book currently published. Austin Grossman's writing itself is good (he wears his fanboy status on his sleeve), and there are a tantalizingly few glimpses of social commentary or relevance, but not enough to drag the thing out of mediocrity.

OZ-ZY!! OZ-ZY!!

2007-09-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

Iron Man trailer is up...

Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-08-26T21:22:00.000-05:00

Amazons Attack #5: A character I know next to nothing about turns out to have a twist in her background that means nothing to me. Not sure if this development is due to Superboy's fist or the giant reality-eating worm.

The Mighty Avengers #4: Ares riding one suit of Iron Man armor and steering it with a sword impaled through the helmet while blasting away with the bootjets of the severed torso of another set of armor = priceless.

New Avengers #33: Scrub villains made moderately cool. Luke Cage slowly going insane.

Batman #666: Oh noes! A grim 'n' gritty future Batman what kills!

Birds of Prey #109: Yes, I know there were some pretty glaring continuity errors in this, but I still thought this first post-Simone issue was somewhat Simone-esque.

Detective Comics #835: Ugh. Gross, badly written, bad art.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #45: Nice re-imagined use of Silver Surfer and Psycho-Man. I wonder if they turn out to be in the Ultimate Microverse? However, isn't the whole "Mr. Fantastic endangers the world" plot device getting a little old?

Invincible #45: More smartly-written personal and professional drama for Mark. I miss when Spider-Man used to be this good.

Justice League of America #12: I like the classic logo and the Silver Age flashback art, and the fact that Lian has an Arrowette costume. I like that Black Canary plays the harmonica (tho' I bet this is a little detail that was just retconned for this issue), and that she thinks of Red Arrow as "my boy." Meltzer continues to surprise me.

Justice Society of America #8: Why is there no Silver Age anymore? Why are we pretending that Golden Age heroes of the 40's have kids in their 20's? As long as we have Superboy's fist and that worm guy's mouth as retcon tools, couldn't we say that Hourman and Liberty Belle are the grandkids of the originals? That makes more sense that pretending that superheroes vanished after WWII and didn't reappear until the standard "ten years ago." And does no one have a secret identity anymore?

Ms. Marvel #18: One of the things I liked best about NEXTWave was it's wacky surly version of Machine Man, so it's nice to see him again. Puppet Master has always been a seriously creepy disturbing supervillain concept and this storyline reflects it. It may be skating towards the edge of exploitation, however. We'll have to see.

Powers #25: Eh. It's getting harder and harder to enjoy this series now that it's basic concept (non-powered cops investigating super-powered crime) has been chucked out the window. The Powers addiction plague is a nice idea, but every glimpse of the Millennium Guard costume makes me want to hurl.

Ultimate Power #6: More big superhero battles among light-table rendered supermodels in assorted porno poses. Scarlet Witch, in particular, is rendered in an almost Liefield-ian grotesque out of proportion shot on page 10. Seriously, is her left arm withered like Kaiser Wilhelm? Why is her belly button an off-center slit? Why is her right leg a pipe-cleaner and her right boob twice as big as her left? If I wanted art this bad, I'd just trace pictures out of Playboy myself.

Wonder Woman #11: More of the hideously-convoluted Amazons Attack plot. J. Torres seems to be capturing WW's voice and personality well, a hero who is a pious pagan, yet would berate the gods when she thought they had it coming.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

2007-08-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. This was my first foray into Gaiman's work and I was spectacularly impressed. The conceit of the novel is that the Old Gods of Europe, Arabia, India and so forth followed their immigrant followers to the New World, but as the immigrants became Americanized and gave up the old ways, the Gods became weaker and weaker, eventually living like mortals as taxi cab drivers, funeral home operators, prostitutes and grifters. The New American Gods are composed of things the general public now "worships" (Media, Technology, Television, Money, the Interstate Highway System) and they are ready to finally knock off the shabby Old Gods and claim control of the spiritual realm that exists parallel to reality. The story follows Shadow, a recently-released prison inmate whose attempts to reconnect to his old life are detoured when he meets the (not really that mysterious) Mr. Wednesday. The writing is good, the descriptions tight and eloquent and the pacing good. My only complaints are that the ending felt rushed and was a bit of a letdown. If you spend 500 pages setting up a Ragnarok-like Battle of the Gods, it had better be pretty spectacular and this one wasn't. Also, for a writer who clearly researched his gods, he made some spectacular goofs regarding the book's Cherokee character (one who was built up, then rather haphazardly discarded); there are no reservations, Cherokee or otherwise, in Oklahoma (unless you count the subterranean Osage Reservation). Overall, though, a great read and one that encourages me to pick up more of Gaiman's work.

Because Kalinara Demands It!!

2007-08-07T22:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, Hale:

1. If you could rewrite one major plot development in either big universe to suit your tastes, what would you choose?

Hmm, hard to pick, what with both houses producing some godawful work lately. I'd have to say throw out the Civil War. The. Entire. Thing. It was a halfway clever concept, but it is beyond redemption. Just drop the entire storyline, dump into the Marianas Trench and never ever speak of it again.

2. If you could take one character from any comic and insert him/her into the cast of another comic, who would it be and what comic would you drop it in?

Captain America into the Justice Society, because dammit he deserves better!

3. If you could make a villain and a hero who are not usually direct adversaries have a knock down no holds barred fight, who'd be fighting?

Assuming I can cross universes? Superman and Galactus. That'd be something to see.

4. Zombies or dragons?

Dragons. Or maybe zombie dragons.

5. If you could give a "hang in there" poster to any character in superhero comics, who would you give it to?

Captain America. Dammit, he deserves better!

Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-07-30T22:48:00.000-05:00

Amazons Attack #4: Okay, I can't really decide if I like this or not. Started out strong, with fairly good (if overly bright) artwork, but now the storyline has become a muddled, Marvel-style "crossover event" where it's impossible to keep the action straight without buying 10 other books per month, and I'm not willing to do that.

New Avengers #32: Still not sold on Yu's artwork, though I remain a fan of Bendis' snappy dialogue. I always thought the Skrulls were fairly stupid as far as Evil Alien Invaders go, though this plot is more in keeping with their distant cousins twice removed, the Dire Wraiths of Rom fame.

Birds of Prey #108: Good artwork, good story, though the ending was a trifle schmaltzy and deus ex heroine. The "old rival from the past that we've never heard of now coming back into our life" bit? Tha's old, man.

Detective Comics #834: The unsatisfying end to an unsatisfying Zatanna team-up (and why is her hat suddenly way too small for her?)

Green Arrow Year One #1: Eh, I suppose it was inevitable that GA's origin would have to get updated, but I will miss him as a cranky, aging hippy ("Goddam fascist sons of bitches!"). Definitely NOT a fan of the "Jock" art.

Invincible #43: Nice "between adventures" story centered on Mark deciding that college maybe isn't really worth the hassle, and the Immortal having a crisis.

Justice League of America #11: What could have been a nice, self-contained story focused on two of the members without their own books (Vixen and Red Arrow) and what it must be like for heroes who can't fly through the Sun is spoiled by having Vixen (previously established as a tough, smart hero on her own) turn into a crybaby on the edge of a nervous breakdown. If Meltzer is going to put Vixen through a personal crisis, could we at least have some lead up to it?

Justice Society of America #7: The new Commander/Citizen Steel is basically rather callously manipulated into a new heroic identity by the JSA. I did really like Superman chowing down on sloppy joes and one of those tiny little cardboard cartoons of milk you get in elementary school, however. Also, the Tau of Wildcat: "Fists are nature's problem solvers." And Power Girl is shaping up to be a pretty good leader.

Ms. Marvel #17: I continue to really like this book. Good wrap-up to the AIM/Modok story arc. The plotting is good, dialogue is crisp, and the artwork is very good, even if Carol Danvers looks to be barely old enough to drink.

Transformers

2007-07-04T22:18:00.000-05:00

Transformers. Surprisingly good, actually. Part by-the-numbers action flick, part Army recruiting film. Shia LaBeouf channels John Cusack (he even looks like him about twenty years ago). Jon Voight channels Donald Rumsfeld. Rachel Taylor is the obligatory, impossibly-hot computer hacker genius, with Anthony Anderson as her comic-relief sidekick in sequences that have a distinct Independence Day feel to them. Megan Fox is the obligatory ultra-hot love interest who obligatorily has more to her than meets the eye. Josh Duhamel is the male supermodel who seems to have accidentally wandered into the Army. Well-paced, though I actually preferred the lead-up in the first part. Excellent, though claustrophobic, battle scenes. Almost enough to make adults forget it's based on a crappy cartoon show based on cheesy toys.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-07-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

Amazons Attack #3: Eh, I think I've had my fill of War on Terror metaphors. Art is better than the writing.

The Mighty Avengers #3: Okay, the thought balloons are annoying. Stop them immediately. Ultron is well-presented and more interesting this time than in previous "DIE FLESHLINGS!" incarnations. Curious to see how all this ties into the Civil War.

The New Avengers #31: No thought balloons makes me happy. Still unsure Yu's art. The flashforwards and flashbacks have stopped, which is good because they had lost their charm. And Elektra is a Skrull? Hwah?

Birds of Prey #107: Pretty good art, nice characterizations. Gail Simone knows, loves and respects her characters and it shows. Anyone who can make Catman seem cool...Features yet another annoying resurrection, but by this point I'm pretty numb to it.

Detective Comics #833: Dumb villain with a lame surprise (and what? Batman is suddenly paralyzed or something?), unconvincing interaction between the Batman and Zatanna (and btw is there anyone in the DCU Bruce Wayne didn't meet as a boy?). Artwork seems a little less stiff this time, though I preferred Zatanna's more recent Goth look.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #43: Interesting art, good dialogue. The whole "Reed Richards screwed up" thing is getting old. Movie tie-in, obviously.

Green Arrow #75: Good fight, though the ending is silly. I like it when Ollie gets to stick it to the man.

Justice League of America #10: Story silly; cover abominable. Sorry, I just don't like Michael Turner; his women are so distorted as to be repulsive, not sexy (Suspension of Disbelief demonstrates how the original sketch was even more freakishly, infantile-fetish distorted). And this story was just stupid. Meltzer obviously has a thing for dork Silver Age Legion tales and he fanboys all over this arc to prove it. Feh.

Justice Society of America #6: Tie-in to the ludicrous Lightning Arc in JLA, only with somewhat better writing and worse art (although Power Girl actually looks like she has a spine and is more than just a life-support system for ginormous boobs).

Noble Causes #30: Art continues to improve. Good soapy story, though I would've liked to have seen the actual trial of Rusty.

Ultimate Vision #4: Gah-Lak-Tus comes across as much more powerful in this one module than it did in the entire mini-series devoted to the entire planet-sized behemoth. Good art, good story, but I wish Vision didn't look like C-3PO as a stripper.

Wonder Woman #10: I think Jodi Picoult has a good handle on WW and I like the way she is presented here, particularly her internal conflicts. Pretty decent art by Paco Diaz.

Star Trek: Ex Machina

2007-07-01T21:27:00.001-05:00

Star Trek: Ex Machina by Christopher L. Bennett. Set immediately after the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, this novel revisits the world-ship Yonada from the TOS Episode "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky." Pluses: manages to work in some good commentary on religion, faith, politics and terrorism in the finest Star Trek tradition, and also some subtle criticism of Gene Roddenberry's atheist, communist utopia of the future.
Minuses: Bennett's writing style is a little creaky and he shows a fanboy's annoying tendency to drop in little references to damn near every Star Trek movie and series, plus a number of novels, in a glaring "look how clever I am" fashion (he lays them all out for you at his web-site). Also, he seems to have a hard time capturing the personalities of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, possibly because he spends too much time cramming in too many supporting characters who are fleshed-out in exhausting detail, even though their backgrounds and personalities do little if anything to advance the plot, not to mention trying to work in a life-altering moment of realization for almost all of the original TOS cast. Bennett obviously knows and loves his source material, but he needs to damp it down somewhat and focus more on the craft of writing than in trying to demonstrate his encyclopedic knowledge of Trek trivia.

It Hurts Because It's True, Part Two

2007-06-11T23:44:00.001-05:00

Thanks, Shortpacked!

It Hurts Because It's True

2007-06-11T23:43:00.000-05:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-05-12T20:01:00.000-05:00

52 #52: Meh. We had to go through all this just to get the Multiverse back? Did anyone really miss it? And Mister Mind, the lamest villain in all of creation, is the new Superboy, eating holes in alternate Earths? Gah.

Amazons Attack #1: Okay, this is cool. I got your War on Terror right here, pal!

Avengers (The Initiative) #2: Nazis? Tony Stark is now working with frickin' Nazis? Gah! Oh, and George W. Bush is evidently a super-hero. Who knew?

Detective Comics #832: Not much for the art, stiff as woodcuttings, but it's a mystery (albeit not much of a mystery, certainly nothing to compare with Hell-Mouths in daycare centers) and the Batman gets to solve it.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #41: Nice end to the Ultimate Diablo storyline, though I have to say, I'm seeing less and less to distinguish UFF from their counterparts. This could have been an original FF story with practically no changes. And if that's the case, then what's the point?

Green Arrow #74: A sweet story about Green Arrow and Black Canary and their on-again, off-again, on-again relationship built around some good fight scenes. I liked it.

Invincible #41: Back from space. Finally. And damn, but they like to kill off characters!

Justice Society of America #5: I'm with Kalinara; I like the new Sand(man) look. Alot. Plus, the idea that all of the villains in Arkham have the same nightmare, the Batman, is pretty cool.

Noble Causes #29: Still good. Art's better.

Powers #24: Please, please, oh, PLEASE, get Christian out of that moronic Millennium Guard outfit!

Ultimate Powers #5: Thor vs. Hyperion! Good stuff. Plus, everybody looks like a supermodel. Oh, light-board, is there nothing you can't do?

The Sky People by S.M. Stirling

2007-05-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

WARNING! SPOILERS!

The Sky People, by S.M. Stirling. Have to say that I am generally not a very big Stirling fan. I found his Draka Series to be unconformatably close to an attempt to make fascism seem cool, not to mention godawful alternate history. Plus, I don't really care much for his leaden writing style or his cardboard characters. However, in this book, a kind of alternate history homage to old sci-fi pulps, it actually works for him, since we expect two-dimensional, jut-jawed, heaving breasted, real men and women to be exploring this alternate Venus, complete with dinosaurs, steaming jungles, sexy barbarian princesses and neanderthals. The conceit is that sometime around 200 million years ago, as yet unrevealed aliens terraformed Mars and Venus, making them pretty much exactly as they were imagined to be in the popular imagination before all those boring old probes allowed reality to intrude. Here, the Venera and Mariner probes reveal habitable planets, already inhabited by imported flora and fauna from Earth, including humans(in what appears to be a pretty glaring plot hole, the Americans only just get around to figuring out that the Venusians are exactly like humans and, therefore, the aliens must be still restocking their zoo). It's the alternate late 1980's, Terran technology has been jumpstarted by an ongoing Space Race with the godless commies, and what little plot there is serves merely to introduce us to a set of unremarkable characters and then have them trudge through the wilds of Venus so we can see how cool it all is. This is the literary equivalent of a popcorn movie, but its a brisk read and fun, especially if you are a fan of old-style (say before the 1930's) Sci-Fi.

300

2007-03-31T19:22:00.000-05:00

Written by Frank Miller, directed, evidently, by Leni Riefenstahl. Good God, this thing is horrendous on soooo many levels. Without exagerration, I can say that it is about as close to Nazi (not just fascist) propaganda as you will ever see from a major motion picture studio. From King Xerxes as an inexplicably 10 1/2 foot tall, body-pierced, mincing black queen, to the unsubtle message that dark-skinned people, Democrats and the "genetically impure" all deserve to die, the message is pounded home with the subtlety of a battle-axe. And history? Oh Lord, forget history. Here, the Persian Army is composed of armored rhinoceroses, elephants, cave trolls and ninja (wearing identical silver kabuki masks) and sixty-five million orcs. Leonidas, who in reality was King of a Sparta that enslaved 8 out of 10 of his subjects, fights for "freedom" and "reason" against the forces of multi-culturalism, gay rights, sniveling peace-niks (in the form of Theron as John Kerry) and cowardly untrustworthy allies. Don't get me wrong; Thermopylae was an important battle. And we're lucky the Greeks ultimately won, since otherwise democracy would have died in its infancy. But this? This is nothing but Birth of a Nation for neo-cons. Just...horrible. Really, really horrible.

THEY KILLED FRITZ!

2007-03-28T00:22:00.000-05:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-03-19T22:59:00.000-05:00

52 #41: Space, blah, blah; Rene Montoya IS THE NEW QUESTION!! Get it? See? See? Blah, blah. Ralph Dibny is now just another grim n gritty obsessive jerk. Oh, and more space stuff.

New Avengers #27: A one-shot character you never-really cared about who is really another B-List supporting character you never cared about is dead. Or possibly not. Also, Elektra.

Batman Confidential #3: Because you can't get enough tales of Batman's early adventures. Bad art. Uninteresting story.

Civil War #7: The BIG CONFLICT. Which wasn't all that great. And this--this--is how it ends? Cap notices that superhero battles tear up real estate (surely a surprise to him after THE LAST FORTY YEARS), bursts into tears and surrenders? Invisible Woman vs. Taskmaster was about the only highlight. And why is that the Texas Avengers consists ENTIRELY of lame stereotypes? Plus Hank Pym. Wheee. In the end, I found this series to be an incomprehensible mish-mash, with characters behave completely out of character, and a political motive that started out strong (or at least semi-coherent) but went insanely over-the-top. If there was supposed to be a political message in this, a sort of post 9-11 cautionary tale, it was lost in the murk.

Detective Comics #829: The start of what looks like another good story-arc, focusing again on Robin. "Mister Wayne, your son is here," was a poignant line. Not sure yet if I like the Andy Clarke art; seems a little too bright for the Batman.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #39: Ultimate Diablo, well-presented. The Thing's mother is cool. Hadrian's arch as star-gate also cool. Not a fan of the Scott Kolins art, though the gimmick here is that they have Mark Brooks (who is much better) doing the scenes with Diablo.

Frontline #11: So...we hate Cap because...he...isn't on MySpace? Hwah? So, what, Britney Spears should be the new Captain America? And Tony Stark did all this to make money? Or he started a war with Atlantis to...get a new prison? Or something? Gah.

Green Arrow #71: Red Hood (whom I despise with the fiery passion of a thousand red-hot suns) vs. Green Arrow; Brick vs. the Batman. Speedy gets clocked off-panel? Speedy, the girl hostage. Heh. You hated that.

Justice League of America #6: The end of the occasionally entertaining but mostly ponderous Red Tornado saga with an extremely graphic, stomach-churning battle. Vixen is handled well; and the true extent of her power is awesome to behold. Not to mention her Golem-esque fixation on the totem that controls it.

Justice Society of America #3: Cyclone has a ludicrously insipid costume and is apparently going commando on the cover. Quick! The Blockade Boy Signal! And more grotesque over-the-top massacres of innocent women and children. Do we really need that? Wildcat interacting with his son was handled very well, understated and not maudlin. And I like the new look for Sand(man) immensely.

Powers #23: Okay, I was really liking the back-to-basics approach, but now he was frickin' Satan involved and the whole "eternal powers" bit that I really didn't care for, and now Christian is back in the Green Lantern (er, I mean, Millennium Guard) union suit. Feh.

Red Prophet #5: Never read the books, but I found this comic so intriguing I went out and bought the first one. An extremely accurate and thoughtful presentation of Native Americans, though a little on the "Indian Elf" side. Still, it makes me want to read more, and I'm not really much of an Orson Scott Card fan, his politics notwithstanding.

Superman/Batman #32: Superman vs. Batman, it's now been done so many times it's hard to make it that interesting. Gee, do ya think Batman has a trick from up the sleeve? And then it goes Silver Age, with a super-Batman. And, of course, the Lois ex machina. That, plus the iffy art, just really didn't do it for me.

Superman Confidential #2: Not sure why I like Tim Sale's artwork (Lois looks about 14 and Jimmy Olson somewhere around 10), but I do. I'm a little confused as to where this series fits in the new time line, but the story angle on the limits to Superman's powers was intriguing.

Wonder Woman #3: Jerk-ules is more like it. Still, good fight scene. Not really sure what I think about the whole Wonder Woman going Nomad theme, but Diana Prince (Agent of SHIELD) seems to know what she's doing philosophically. Pretty good art.

X-Men #193: Positively impenetrable, just like the good ol' days. A secret society with non-superhero-ey names bent on world domination? Check. Team that can't trust one another? Check. Romantic attachment betwixt villain and hero? Check. Flying, uh, supertanker? Okay, well, that was just weird.

Thieves World: Sanctuary by Lynn Abbey

2007-03-11T23:18:00.000-05:00

When I was in high school, several of my friends swore by the Thieves' World series. I never really got into it, but having read Lynn Abbey's sequel I regret it. This is a great book. For starters, it is finely-crafted, with enough description and details of Sanctuary to really make the legendary city come alive. The setting, a sort of late Antiquity right around the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is nicely evoked, as "civillization" gives way to the "barbarians." The characters are treated respectfully and their personalities are individualized and quirky, seen mainly through the prism of the main character, Cauvin the "sheep-shite stupid" stonecutter's apprentice. The pacing is brisk enough to keep the reader from bogging down in 533 pages; surprising, given that the action all happens over the course of only a few days. I'm sure I missed many of the homages to previous Thieves' World characters and situations. The plot is fairly standard for a fantasy work: an old gruff wizard and his reluctant apprentice. But given that just about every possible fantasy plot has already been done (and most of them by Tolkien), Abbey can be forgiven. It revolves around an assassination plot against the aging priest and political power behind the throne, Lord Torchholder, and his efforts to manipulate events one more time to find an heir and solve his own murder. His unwitting and extremely reluctant agent is Cauvin, who has a background and an agenda of his own. This being Sanctuary, of course, he faces betrayal and intrigue as he pushed and prodded along a course he does not understand and does not want to accept. Another detail I appreciated: magick here is both subtle and powerful. And used sparingly enough that when it happens, it's clearly something important and makes an impression on the reader. A minor quibble would be the ending, which felt somewhat hurried and does feature a somewhat annoying deus ex machina. All in all, a great read and I am now motivated to seek out some of the early books in the series as well as any further sequels.

(Not So) Recent Comics I Have Read

2007-02-21T22:54:00.000-06:00

52 #33: Nightwing, seriously; stop hitting on Batwoman. Not gonna work. Trust me on this.

52 #34: Okay, how many people cut in two can we have in one series? I liked the idea of torturing Clark Kent to find out who Superman is, but how are they injecting him with anything? Are his powers really that far gone?

52 #35: Lex Luthor is EEEEEEEEEVILLLLLLL!!!! And destroys multi-billion dollar projects for extremely flimsy reasons!!!! Artwork looked like a flashback to a random Marvel title circa 1981. And I don't mean that as a compliment.

52 #36: Oh please, dear God, let this godawful space saga END!!!

52 #37: Oh. It was him. Wow. Yawn.

52 #38: MUCH better art. And I like the Last Days of the Question. And the Island of Evil Misfit Dorks (can't imagine why).

New Avengers #26: Because no one. Ever. Dies. Nothing fixes a lame random superheroic death like a lame random resurrection to suck out what little dramatic energy it might have had.

Batman #661: Now that I see it more in action, the I.G.O.R. is pretty damned ludicrous.

Batman #662: The Grotesk story arc went on at least one issue too long and this was it. Felt rushed. And it felt like it was cut together from old Denny O'Neil issues.

Civil War #6: Basically one long set-up for the Giant Battle That Changes Everything. Plus, Captain America is now the Batman. Or Ultimate Cap.

Detective Comics #827: The new Scarface is even creepier than the old one, particularly with the whole puppet necrophilia thing. I wish I could like Kramer and Faucher's art, but I can't.

Eternals #2: Yes, out of order. Deal with it. "You know I don't do nuclear. Religious reasons." Excellent line.

Eternals #6: The Eternals are cosmic. And cool. Earth-bound demi-gods millions of years old. I usually don't like Cosmic, but I do like this. Don't tell me how it ends.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #37: Again, don't like Cosmic, but Ultimate Thanos is shaping up nicely. Not liking the Pasqual Ferry art, though.

Frontline #7, 8, 9 & 10: Hadn't been reading this, but thought I'd give it a try. It does fill in some of the background details nicely, and I like that it is primarily told from the standpoint of non-heroes. A Congressman tells you his life story and how you are an ungrateful dirty hippy and now you dis Captain America to his face? Hwha? Having Speedball live seems to undercut the dramatic effect of Stamford. Penance. Penance? Oh Dear Lord. It's just too--gah! Words fail me.

Green Arrow #70: The team-up with Batman continues. Lord, but I hate Red Hood, but I don't have to look at him much here. The Quentin Tarentino-esque scene of thugs discussing the proper nomenclature for American Indians was a nice little touch.

Iron Man #14: Still dislike this art. And Cap ambushed Tony? Why? Wasn't the whole point of this to have Iron Man appealing to Cap's sense of honor?

Justice League #5: Traya has now gone beyond cute and is well into annoying plot device territory. "&%#$ you, swamp thing," was a nice little dig/homage. And now at least the three most powerful persons on Planet Earth are out of the damn Bat-cave!

Justice Society #2: I still think I'm going to like this. Good art. And you can never go wrong with Nazis, especially Hawkman smashing Nazis with a flail and mace combo.

Powers #22: Bendis is still sticking with what made the series great and I'm still digging it. "Her belly button winked at you." Another entry in the great quote of the post contest.

The Return #1: They. Never. Stay. Dead. Jim Starlin's masterpiece is shat upon for now apparent reason. Gah. Constant revivification = lazy writing 99.9% of the time. The backup with Sentry, however, was good.

Superman/Batman #31: When Aliens Attack! Next on FOX! Lame third- or fourth-rate Silver Age characters? Hmmm.

Ultimate Powers #3: I'm curious to find out how Ultimate Reed's little doo-dad caused an entire planet to covered in giant Lovecraftian boogers. Power Princess is less, uhm, insane than we're used to.

Ultimate Vision #2: Getting better. Ultimate AIM is well-represented, and less ludicrous without the beekeeper costumes. I wonder if we'll see Ultimate MODOK?

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #6: Miss America is much cooler than I had imagined she could be. Father Time's motivations are getting murkier: is he supposed to be a supervillain of Dick Cheney (but I repeat myself) or is he really just anti-metahuman? "Invisible Hood isn't cool at all...sounds like an ultra-thin condom." Black Condor = NDN Jedi. Sigh.

Union Jack #4: Nice wrap-up. The art is still fairly decent and the dialogue was less creaky. Taking the Dreadnought down with the flag was corny, but hey, this is supposed to be the UK's Captain America, after all. And you can't go wrong with "punching out the snotty bureaucrat" as a good ending.

X-Men #194: I can't stand the artwork and I'm completely lost. It's almost like Claremont never left.

New X-Men #33: Better. Better artwork (MUCH). Better story. Better characterizations, particularly of Beast. I don't even recognize most of the characters, but this story makes me want to get to know them.

Words Fail Me

2007-01-14T19:44:00.000-06:00

"...done entirely in the medium of gummy..."

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-12-16T23:53:00.000-06:00

52 #30: So...Batman was trained by...guys with eyeballs on their fingers? And now he's going nuts? Hwah?

52 #31: Poor Captain Comet. Kalinara will be devastated. I have no frickin' clue who Supernova is, and I'm not sure I care. This guy does, though.

52 #32: Bad art. Talking, whiny crocodiles are a stupid, annoying idea. Ralph Dibny among the Secret Society of Godawful Asian Stereotypes.

Batman #659-660: Good story, though "Grotesk" is a dumb name. "Guess you didn't recognize me, it being such a dark night and all." Heh. Apparently, there are now black people living in Gotham; who knew? Artwork is uneven. Johnny Karaoke, God help me. "Your lunge needs work," and "Prepare to bleed." Heh, again.

Captain America #24: Cap vs. Hydra is always a classic. Artwork iffy, very stiff poses throughout, though Perkins may be doing some kind of Kirby tribute.

Detective Comics #826: Paul Dini lays down one of the single best, and creepiest, renditions of the Joker in a long time. Great dialogue, excellent little features (like the ornament/ball-gag), good interior monologue by Robin that serves to heighten the tension. "Just go 'Batman' on his ass." You have to love that. Don Kramer is not my favorite artist, but it's good here. I like the fact that he draws the Joker as a normal human (as opposed to a cartoon) and concentrates on the changing facial features.

Green Arrow #69: Very good banter. Nice interaction between Ollie and Bruce Wayne. Winick (combined with McDaniel's art) neatly captures in a couple of panels how Bruce Wayne is basically just another mask the Batman puts on.

Invincible #37: This book continues to remind me why Spider-Man used to be so much fun, before clones and The Other and all the assorted crap that is currently keeping me away. Invincible is a kid; he gets pissed off and breaks a villain's jaw (actually, damn near severs it). He gets jealous and fights with his girlfriend. His dean thinks he's doing drugs because he is missing so much class-time. Great, classic, unemcumbered superheroic stuff.

JLA Classified #30: Surprisingly specific politics in this; not sure why Chaykin hates the Netherlands. Pretty good artwork. I'm not going to ask how Kyle got the ring out...

Justice League of America #4: This continues to be a good run. Meltzer has a fine eye for history and for character interaction. Not sure what I think of Solomon Grundy as Mr. Fixit. Loren is not going to like some of the archery illustrations.

Justice Society of America #1: This a wonderful concept, the JSA as a mentor organization for legacy heroes (or heroes-to-be). Should I know why Mr. America looks almost exactly like the original Americommando? Good take on Wildcat, including the home-made looking costume. I think I'm going to like this.

New Universal #1: I freely admit I didn't read enough of the original New Universe run (which I thought at the time was a pretty clever idea) to know if this a revamp or a relaunch. Someone alert Ragnell; at last a superhero from Oklahoma! Is Optima Down anywhere near Tahlequah? Actually, in the first scene, it looks like the kids are hanging out at Lake Eufala. Does this whole concept reek of Heroes? And it was nice of James Gandolfini to drop in to play the sheriff.

Next Wave #10: Still not enough to tell if I really like it or not. I do like the funky, Bruce Timm-ish art. Forbush-Man, though he has a really interesting power, may just be too snarky.

Powers #21: I'm liking this storyline because it is back to the basics that made this book so good. If I never see or hear of the Millenium Guard again, I can die a happy dork. Cops and superheroes, this time with some political intrigue. Good stuff.

Ultimate Power #2: Pretty much a non-stop battle from start to finish. Intriguing (though pretty predictable) motivation. Great light-box artwork. Spot the celebrities!

Welcome to Tranquility #1: Love Gail Simone and love the concept of a superhero retirement community, sort of like Fables or that town in Florida where the former circus people go. Looks like it's going to be fun.

Ultimate Vision #1: The title character is evidently modelled by Pam Anderson for the cover. Sam Wilson has a crush on the Vision--that's sweet. Who is Tarleton supposed to be? Other than the artwork, I liked Ultimate Extinction, and re-imagining Vision as a sort of anti-herald of Gah Lak Tus (with a little Uata thrown in) added to both characters. I'll want to read more of this.

Spleen Perforated

2006-12-16T23:52:00.000-06:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-12-07T23:49:00.000-06:00

Birds of Prey #100: Superb issue. Good artwork, a cast of all-female protagonists shown as intelligent, skillful professionals. I really enjoyed the concept of the new Birds of Prey as a sort of superhero clearing-house or union hall, not unlike the JLU. Back-up feature with Black Canary is weak, and suffers from extraordinarily stilted dialogue.

JSA Classified #18: Good second-parter featuring the Hour Men, but it ends weakly on a truly stupid "sit com"-ish ending where all the characters get together and chuckle at the camera. I appreciated that Bane was given a motivation a little more deep than "I must break you."

JSA Classified #19: Doctor Mid-Nite is an intriguing and under-utilized character, much like Mr. Terrific, so I liked this opportunity to have him shine solo. The use of the urban myth was a good starting point, though the whole storyline reminded me of the John Sublime arc in X-Men.

Next Wave #9: Snarky and funny. I can't decide if I like this or not. The concept of a team of D-List superheroes is good.. "A city on jets! A terrorist city! A flying trap!" = good line. The "return" of Forbush-Man may a little too self-referential. Further study is indicated.

Superman #657: Nothing like a good Superman story with barely a cameo by Superman. The futuristic, post-superhero dystopia bit, man, tha's old. "Khyber" is a stupid name and he sounds an awful lot like Apocalypse.

Portrait of the Blogger as Superhero

2006-11-30T00:58:00.000-06:00

The Stuntman (seen here relaxing in Croatoa) is now 30th level. Woot! If you find yourself on the Victory server, need a team, can at least moderately RP, and are not an idiot, buzz me. Issue #8 seems to be pretty interesting, so far. I love the police scanners and the idea of changing an entire zone (Faultline). World of Warcraft could learn a lesson here.

Naughty-Spawn, Beware!

2006-11-27T23:12:00.000-06:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-11-26T15:07:00.000-06:00

52 #29: In a bit of a twist, this issue focuses primarily on only two of the dozens of storylines swirling around, the JSA and the Island of Mad Scientists, with most of it going to the "last days" of the venerable Society. I thought it was well-handled, and the contrast between the original, amateur superheroes and the new wave of corporate heroes, epitomized by Luthor's Infinity, Inc., gives a new interesting tension to the DCU. Of course, by the end of 52, I'm sure all of Infinity, Inc. will be dead, so...

JLA Classified #27, 28 & 29: This is the first time I've read this book, so I'm really not sure where it's supposed to fall in the timeline. Clearly, it's pre-Crisis, since Kyle is still Green Lantern and Wally is still Flash. Luthor isn't President and neither is Gonzo/Knight; it's some guy named Jonathan Horne who is evidently really close buddies with the JLA, so I guess this is after Pete Ross resigned. At any rate, it's another attempt to bring some realism to the DCU, with a metahuman arms race between two fictional Central American republics. Chaykin's writing is good, but the narration is AWFUL, even more purple than in American Flagg, and I loved that run. Also, Plunkett and Nguyen's artwork isn't quite up to the task when all of the heroes are out of costume pretty much all the time; I struggled to tell the characters apart. In an interesting departure, the nude torture scene with Wonder Woman is counter-balanced with a duplicate nude torture scene of Green Lantern. Now that's progress, huh?

JSA Classified #17: Hourman has never been one of my favorite heroes, though I like Hourman II's costume. "Take this and in twenty minutes your hour of power begins"--okay, that was funny, but how old are Rex and Wendi Tyler supposed to be? He's at least got the whole Reed Richards grey patch thing going, but she could pass for 30. Also, and I know I've gritched about this before, but the whole concept of "legacy heroes" loses pretty much all of its dramatic punch if NO ONE EVER DIES. Having a couple of Golden Age heroes still around and at fighting trim? No problem. For example, I think having Wonder Woman as a Golden Age hero who is still active due to immortality would be a great idea, better than the whole Hippolyta/Wonder Girl mess. Having damn near ALL of them still running around in tights? Boring. Boring and lazy.

Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters #5: Okay, we may be getting perilously close to jumping the political shark here. I've always said I have nothing against politics in comics, regardless of the ideology, provided they are integral to the story and I'm not clobbered over the head with them. Father Time's extended soliloquy was not quite as boring as the African Avengers in Squadron Supreme, but it was pushing the edge. And if, as was made pretty clear at the time, September 11 never happened in the DCU, where are all these references to the PATRIOT Act coming from? Having said all that, Uncle Sam throwing Americommando TO THE MOON was pretty entertaining, despite the fact that his powers are so vague as to be almost Silver Age Superman-ish. I'm curious as to the exact nature of Miss America's powers, and why she's wearing the single most godawful costume every. Paging Blockade Boy! Also, wouldn't it be more interesting if, instead of "First Strike" Father Time's group was a total revamp of the Crusaders, instead of just a few of them?

When Nerds Collide

2006-11-24T01:47:00.000-06:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-11-19T22:13:00.000-06:00

52 #28: Eh, more space-opera. The Crime Bible cannibals are silly. The scene in Australia was interesting, though I'm curious how faithful it was to actual Aboriginal beliefs. It now seems pretty apparent that Montoya will become the new Question.

New Avengers #25: The entire premise (a Stark employee hacking the armor) is pretty much ludicrous, but this is the first multi-dimensional portayal of Maria Hill we've seen yet. Excellent Bendis dialogue, as usual, and great art by Cheung, though everyone seems rather young. Maybe it's just me.

Civil War #5: Eh, sigh. Where to begin? The glass that's Spider-proof but not bullet proof? The "Spider armor" that shreds like cloth? Two D-List villains shitting the beat out of Spider-Man? The same guy who a few pages earlier PUNCHED IRON MAN THROUGH A WALL? The same guy who is fast enough to DODGE LASER BEAMS but not pumpkins tossed at him? Captain America, in addition to being reduced to a crotchety old man ("Damn SHIELD units") now can't even make a decision? Daredevil carried a frickin' silver dollar around IN HIS MOUTH, presumably through combat, just so he could insult Tony Stark? That coin better turn out to be a tracking device or a neutron bomb, but given the horrible track record of this series, it will likely never be referred to again. Is no one editing this train wreck? Why exactly does Marvel pay Tom Brevoort if not to catch insanely obvious inconsistencies and contradictions? I tried REAL hard to like this series, or at least maintain an open mind, but this is just simply awful. If Marvel was trying to suck harder than Infinite Crisis, they've succeeded.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #36: Ultimate Thanos is an excellent villain, with creepy powers and living in a fascinating and well-developed home universe. As I've said numerous times, I really don't like cosmic, but this is as good as I've seen it done. Artwork a little iffy this time around.

Green Arrow #68: The end of the island saga and pretty much a non-stop battle from start to finish. Green Arrow, at least since the Kevin Smith resurrection, has always been a fascinating character to me, with a pretty unique personality and motivation; this comes out brilliantly during the interior monologue/narration. I still think the sword is silly, though.

Invincible #36: Scooby Doo and the gang check out a mystery! Not really, but it was a refreshing reminder that Invincible is just a teenager and teenagers frequently come up with elaborately stupid plans that go badly. The parallel story, featuring the Guardians of the Globe, continues to interest me in that team, though they really need their own book. Their appearance seemed kind of awkwardly shoe-horned into this issue. The backup Capes feature is, as always, badly drawn and ridiculous.

Iron Man #13: Okay, okay, we get it; Tony Stark is the next director of SHIELD. Spymaster appears, in a MUCH less sucky costume than I remember. Happy Hogan was just starting to get interesting, so I hope this isn't the end for him. Tony Stark is conflicted and plagued with self-doubt? Wow! Never saw that before. How unusual!

Ms. Marvel #9: I have to admit, this was a pretty cool plot twist. Parallel dimensions, Warbird vs. Ms. Marvel, and a personal epiphany gained by beating the crap out of one's quantum doppleganger. If only my therapy sessions were like that! Wieringo's art suffers under Von Grawbadger (if that is his real name)'s inks, making it look excessively cartoonish, almost like a Bruce Timm feature. Beast, in particular, looks awful. And Carol looks too young to be in a bar, much less drinking in one.

Union Jack #3: Again, a good story with cleverly-presented characters, definately not A-List but obviously professionals. The accent still bugs me, particularly Jack's. He is clearly supposed to be working class, but his accent is all over the place, and I'm certainly not any expert on British accents. It's sort of like when Colossus used to exclaim "Lenin's Ghost!" You didn't need to be a Russian literature scholar to call bullshit on that.

This Explains Much

2006-11-16T22:41:00.000-06:00

From Nodwick!

What's Wrong with WoW?

2006-11-16T12:11:00.000-06:00

An excellent article in Slate about a topic we've discussed here before, namely the existential boredom of WoW and what could be done to fix it.

Puny Humans Try to Coerce Hulk! Hulk Smash!

2006-11-14T01:11:00.000-06:00

A belated election day post from Dave's Long Box. The comments get a little silly, as some people can't avoid bloviating no matter the context. But this brings up an interesting point that I had been thinking about while brain-storming for ideas on a possible superhero-related novel: are superheroes perceived by the public as liberal or conservative in general? What kind of support do they get from the authorities and how does that change over the decades? The way I figure it, the original Golden Age heroes were all from the GI Generation, so they are likely nearly all FDR New Deal Democrats. The law looks the other way at vigilantism, or some heroes even ignore it as they fight corruption. After WWII, you have "Seduction of the Innocents," superheroes are seen as nonconformist and bad influences, so the public starts to turn against them. When the Silver Age comes around, superheroes are still mostly New Dealers, but now they are The Establishment and on the wrong end of the Cultural Revolution. Remember, most of the fighting in the '60's was between Liberals and Radicals not Liberals and Conservatives. Around this time, the Supreme Court starts taking a closer look at laws that allow vigilantes to run amok and starts excluding evidence beaten out of informants in back alleys. Some of the Silver Age heroes become more conservative, and some more radical, as the country polarizes. In fact, I can see superhero vs. sidekick Generation Gap conflict as a theme during this time. As a result, superheroes in the '70's are a bizarre mishmash and probably generally seen as old-fashioned and somewhat silly. You'd probably see sitcoms and movies routinely lampooning heroes. If there is a government superhero program in place, Jimmy Carter probably shuts it down. In fact, he probably gets blasted in 1980 for not using superheroes to rescue the Iranian Hostages. By the '80's, the Reagan Revolution hits, patriotism (not to mention brutal vigilantism) is cool, anti-vigilante laws and rulings are loosened and superheroes are again seen as part of The Establishment. You'd probably see a government-run superhero team by then, turning up publicly in places like Grenada and less publicly in Nicaragua or Afghanistan. At the turn of the Millenium, I think we'd see superheroes being criticized as male-dominated and exclusive of racial minorities. Bill Clinton would be far less likely to use government superheroes, especially after a superpowered Iran-Contra Scandal. George W. Bush, on the other, would likely make immediate use of both public and covert superhero teams. That's how I see it, anyway.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-11-11T16:44:00.000-06:00

52 #27: Ralph Dibny Goes to Hell. The only thing I dislike more than metaphysical/outer-space comic book adventures is metaphysical/outer-space comic book adventures with clearly inappropriate heroes (Spider-Man vs. Mephisto, Batman vs. Darkseid, etc.) . Ralph is a frickin' detective, not the Phantom Stranger.

Batman #658: Okay, now I dislike Bat-brat. He has no personality, ludicrously unrealistic skills and is just plain silly. Plus, he beats up Alfred, kills a thug in cold blood, nearly KILLS Robin and all Batman gives him is a stern talking to? And Talia is officially boring, having become just another scene chewing villain prone to excessive exposition. And don't even get me started on the Bat-rocket!

Eternals #5: Excellent, excellent series. The Eternals are presented as Earth-bound gods, not merely superheroes who check "other" in the box on origin. Deviants with a Celestial-based religion is a great touch, as is all the pop-culture references, Zuras as a homeless wino and Thena as a soccer mom. Great stuff!

Powers #20: Now this is Powers; none of that Millenium Guard crap, no powers for Deena. Not even a reference to the boring origins of all the powers; just cops working a powers-related murder.

Grishna Rex

2006-11-10T23:41:00.000-06:00

A friend's NWN character recumbent upon a throne of skulls...

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-11-04T23:10:00.000-06:00

52 #23: The Island of Mad Scientists is funny. Black Marvel, Jr., not so much.

52 #24: Farewell, Super-Chief; you were a lame stereotype, but...well, okay I got nothing. Ambush Bug is funny. I really like the idea of a supehero named "Poledancer." Perhaps best not to speculate what her powers are. Martian Manhunter is the Secretary of State? He doesn't look anything like Condi!

52 #25: The little kids on the cover are adorable. "Happy Halloween, Judeo-Christians!" Just how the heck old IS Alan Scott? He looks about 25, tops. And I didn't even recognize Mr. Terrific, who looks even younger. Doesn't DC have an Artist's Bible?

52 #26: The Sivana Family is just...wrong. Deeply, creepily wrong. The mad scientists don't like it when girls come in their clubhouse. Pfft, fanboys.

New Avengers #24: Sentry and the Inhumans. I grok that Bendis intends him to be a Marvel-version of Superman, but I'm really starting to like the Sentry, when he isn't written as a pathetic whiner, that is. Iron Man gives a slightly better exposition on his motives in the Civil War than "crazed fascist asshole."

Captain America #23: All Bucky, all the time. Give me strength.

Detective Comics #825: Nice, self-contained story marred by shaky art. Batman uses his brains; kind of Denny O'Neil Silver Age, but in a good way.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #35: Okay, at first I thought these guys were supposed to be the Ultimate Kree, since they had Ronan the Accuser. But then...Ultimate Thanos? Nice to see the space whales from the X-Men about 15 years ago. Liking the art, but Reed seems WAY too muscular, though maybe he's supposed to be deliberately bulking himself up.

Green Arrow #67: The little walking "Oriental master" stereotype beats the crap out of GA to learn him up right. I did like the idea of Ollie the liberal selling out his values, but for a "good cause." A flawed hero is an interesting hero.

Invincible #35: Mostly alot of sitting around and talking in this issue, but its part of what makes the book good. The characters, every single one of them, even the NPCs, are interesting and unique.

Justice League of America #3: Beating the crap out of an army of cut-rate Red Tornadoes = priceless. I am genuinely intrigued by what the villains are up to. Meltzer is doing excellent work with an ensemble cast.

Ms. Marvel #8: Again, a much better discussion of the philosophical underpinnings of the Civil War than has ever appeared in that actual book. Carol Danvers continues to develop as a truly complex and interesting character; yes, she follows orders--she's ex-Air Force, after all. But she's not a mindless martinet, either. I wonder if Brian Reed, or someone he knows, has been in the service, since he seems to recreate that mindset very realistically.

Ultimate Power #1: Hurm. Supreme Power jumped the shark awhile back so I stopped buying it. Nice to see Ultimate Project PEGASUS (aka, the Plot Device Room). Also liked the FF action figures. Land & Ryan draw the Ultimate FF better, and Land seems to be weaning himself off his light table.

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #4: President Evil. Sorry, couldn't resist that. President Gonzo Knight sounds like he reads Civil War, too. Artwork not as good this time. And the psychotic government agent bit is old. Can't the bad guys have a motivation slightly more subtle than advanced sociopathy?

Union Jack #2: Pretty much all action. Jack is hardcore and a natural leader, maybe more of a British version of Captain America than Captain Britain. I like the fact that he is presented as naive enough to make mistakes.

Speaking of Superheroes and Sex In the City...

2006-10-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

Yeah, That's Cool, Too...

2006-10-19T16:39:00.000-05:00

From Penny Arcade!

Create Your Own Native American Superhero!!!

2006-10-17T23:26:00.000-05:00

In honor of DC's "Relaunch Native American Superheroes" Month, we present a handy guide so you, too, can create an original Native American Superhero just like REAL comic book writers!

Some Things to Keep In Mind:

1) There are only two Native American tribes: Navajo and Cheyenne. And sometimes Apache.

2) All Native Americans live in teepees or pueblos located on impoverished reservations somewhere Arizona-looking.

3) All Native Americans are magical and good-looking, kind of like elves!

4) All Native Americans over the age of, say, 65 look like they are really 257 and are shaman, kind of like Gandalf!

5) All Native Americans, therefore, have a grandfather, great-grandfather or third cousin twice-removed who can impart magical knowledge to them, if only they would give up the White Man's ways and return to the land of their ancestors. Sometimes, this relative is dead and appears as a ghost or severed skull.

6) All Native Americans have an English first name and a two-part Indian last name that usually combines an animal and an adjective and always sounds cool. Most Indian ancestors, being magical, were able to see far enough into the future to pick names that describe their descendents, for example, a fast-runner conveniently named Wingfoot.

7) Every Indian tribe in America is familiar with the concept of Manitou, no matter what the Algonquins might tell you.

8) Nearly all Indians are veterans. Occasionally, they are social workers. Exactly one is a doctor. There are no Native American scientists, astronauts, lawyers or business-people.

9) All Indian superhero costumes must feature buckskin, beadwork and leather fringes. Extra points if you can work in some feathers, preferably in the form of a "warbonnet." Female Indians traditionally dressed like a frontier version of Britney Spears or backup singers for OutKast.

10) All Native Americans are chiefs, or are related to chiefs.

11) Your Indian superhero must have a code-name that sounds "Indian," like Thunderbird, Warpath or (God help us) Super-Chief.

12) Native Americans are ALWAYS serious and never, ever crack a smile or show any emotion other than stoic resolve, kind of like Vulcans! Likewise, all Native Americans speak very formally at all times.

Finally, remember that all Native Americans have inherent super powers, like super-tracking, ultra-vision or animal telepathy, again kind of like Elves! Or maybe Vulcans!

If you stick with these handy hints, you'll be cranking out original (not to mention culturally sensitive) Native American superheroes in no time! Good luck!

Coyote Rising

2006-10-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

SPOILER WARNING! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Review of Coyote Rising, by Allen Steele.

Normally, I wouldn't read a sequel before the original, but I had read some of Steele's work before, specifically Clarke County, Space and Labyrinth of Night and found them interesting, if excessively snarky in the Larry Niven and worst of Robert Heinlein (The Cat Who Walks Through Walls) tradition. Coyote Rising, the sequel to Coyote, fortunately has virtually none of his previous smartassery as it tells the story of the inevitable conflict between the rebel crew of the URSS Alabama (refugees from a theo-fascist America) and the next wave of colonists from the successor-state Western Hemisphere Union on the title planet, a moon orbiting a gas giant of 47 Ursae Majoris. The first half to two-thirds of the book goes well, alternating between straight narration and first person diary accounts from assorted colonists. The final third, however, seems rushed, with a Pollyanna ending that undercuts the drama of the climax, as though the author suddenly realized he was up to 300 pages with no denoument in sight. There were several other things that annoyed me: first, not enough information about the planet (despite several maps and even a calendar). I wasn't expecting an Encyclopedia entry, but for all the bare descriptions of the geology, flora and fauna, Coyote seemed about as alien as Southern California in a TOS episode. Second, we learn virtually nothing about the guiding principle of the Western Hemisphere Union, social collectivism, even though it is mentioned nearly every chapter and is given as a reason for the colony's failure. If it's not important enough to flesh out, why even mention it? Third, the bad guys are mostly cardboard cutouts, from the honorable bad guy who does the right thing to the chief bad guy who can be counted upon to go berserk at the most dramatic moment. Fourth, the sentient aliens seemed to serve no purpose (except maybe for a sequel) and smacked of The Man Who Would Be King paternalism. Fifth, Steele seems to lack the chops to handle technological change. The second wave arrives 250 years after the Alabama, but their technology may as well be identical and is pretty primitive to begin with; log cabins? Hide coats? Is this the twenty-second century or the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

Overall, a promising start despite the flaws, but an annoying ending. I still may be interested enough to read Coyote and the final installment Coyote Frontier, but they won't be high on my list.

Holy Two Dimensions, Batman!

2006-10-10T21:16:00.000-05:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-10-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

52 #22: Eh, sigh. Okay, in what jurisdiction can you throw someone (even someone with a previous conviction for rape) from a moving bus just for being an obnoxious jerk and the police let you go without much more than a stern talking to? Pretty obvious Metropolis is not located in South Dakota. "Super Chief" is a moronic name, and does NOT translate into "Saganowahna" in ANY Indian language (the Cayuga word for chief, for example, is hahsenowah-neh). "Manitou" is an Algonquin NOT Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) concept. Nor am I aware of any Haudenosaunee tradition of euthanasia. Just...really bad. Not much better than "Apache Chief."

Detective Comics #824: No tentacle-rape this time. Not a fan of the artwork, still too stiff and wooden. Penguin remains pathetic. And since when are the Batman and Zatanna such pals?

Eternals #1, 3 & 4: Excellent, excellent miniseries re-introducing the Eternals into the Marvel Universe. I think the last time I saw them, Starfox (stupidest. name. evar) was joining them into some kind of giant floating 'shroom. Wonderful writing by Neil Gaiman and great artwork by John Romita, Jr. Nice touch? The "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" television show that is really nothing but pro-Registration Act propaganda.

Green Arrow #66: Okay, so now I know where Green Arrow learned to use a samurai sword. It's still a stupid idea, though. And why is it no one gives a crap about their secret identities anymore? All these assassins and other teachers Ollie pays to come to his private island and he thinks no one is going to talk? The same guy who rationalized mind-rape in Identity Crisis as necessary to protect secret identities?

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #2: It's apparently Native American Superhero Revival Month at DC. I must say, though, Black Condor is considerably better-presented than (sigh) "Super-Chief." For one thing, Jimmy Palmiotti actually did his homework on the Navajo and grounded the origin in real history (The Long Walk; nice touch having Jonah Hex there, btw, though I always thought he fought for the Confederacy) and actual beliefs (the Spider-Woman). Of course, all Native American heroes have to have a magical/mythological origin (just as nearly all of them have to be either Navajo or Cheyenne) because there are no Indian scientists who might fall into a vat of radioactive chemicals or get bitten by a genetically-engineered wombat.

Damn You, South Park!

2006-10-08T01:17:00.000-05:00

God, I hate this series; but I have to admit, this was pretty damned funny.

Deep Thoughts...

2006-10-08T01:06:00.000-05:00

Battlestar Galactica vs. Star Trek

2006-10-08T00:49:00.000-05:00

I have mentioned before how I thought the Star Trek franchise could use a Battlestar Galactica-style makeover/reboot. The new season has just reinforced that for me, as Galactica has begun using the Star Trek tactic of incisive social commentary in a fantastic setting. In the case of "Occupation" and "Precipice," it's the uncomfortably fine line between "freedom fighters" and "terrorists" and whether the ends really do justify the means. I think it's a mistake, however, to think of these episodes purely as a critique of the Iraq War; the themes are universal and are no more limited to our current conflict than "A Private Little War" was limited to Vietnam.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-10-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

52 #18: I like the fact that the chimpanzee with the Sherlock Holmes shtick is a Republican.

52 #19: Evil Skeets, eh? Supernova is Kon-El? Do what to who now?

52 #20: And now Supernova is....who? Jason Todd?

52 #21: Just for the record, I did not, in fact, ask for Infinity, Inc. Man, but the art is just really...not good.

Batman #657: Damien? Damien? I'm sorry, but the subtlety eludes me. Was the name "Evil Lad" already taken? Andy Kubert cannot draw children; I don't care who trained the little bastard, no 10 year old has abs like that. And should we really leave Alfred alone with a vicious little killer? Like I said, the concept of "Son of the Bat" doesn't bother me; the execution so far, though, is sloppy.

Captain America #21: I would've really liked this storyline, but for #$%^&^^!! Bucky.

Captain America #22: Much better outline of Cap's views on the Registration Act than the raging, nearly incoherent sociopath we see in Civil War #4.

Civil War #4: Eh, sigh. This would actually be pretty good, if it starred original characters and not long-established properties who are forced to act completely out of character in order to drive the plot along. And why is it that little Damien (there's that name again! Coincidence? Or a sinister conspiracy?) had a "favorite toy since he was three years old," given that we've now established that Iron Man is only four years old and the toy Iron Man is his current armor?

Detective Comics #823: God, this was disgusting! The story was decent, but the artwork was barely above the level of Japanime tentacle-rape porn. And what is George Clooney doing wearing the Bat-suit on the cover? And since when did Stan Lee take the place of Commissioner Gordon?

Ultimate Fantastic Four #34: A wacky misunderstanding among heroes from other dimensions! Just like the good ol' days.

Iron Man #17: Still dislike this art, dislike the smart-ass wise-cracking Iron Man even more. Though I guess Tony Stark as Spider-Man is better than the soul-less fascist asshole he's become in Civil War. And I still have no idea what Nick Fury is doing here.

Justice League of America #2: Still good. Art is a little better.

Ms. Marvel #7: Marvel and Wonder Man hunt down an unregistered mutant who looks exactly like Ultraman. Good art, though; nice action sequences. I like the way Marvel justifies her actions in support of Registration.

Ultimates 2 #12: The Evil Liberal Army gets its ass kicked. Quicksilver vs. Hurricane, Hulk vs. Abomination, and Captain America vs. uh, the W guy? Anyway, all very hardcore action. "Darth Maul wants his lightsaber back, motherfucker!" and "What's the square root of six million, two hundred and eleventy?" = priceless.

Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters #2: Artwork is inconsistent and shaky (not to mention Phantom Lady's gigantic shiny boobies), but I like the concept and especially the portrayal of Uncle Sam.

Union Jack #1: Good character, fairly decent story, marred by creaky dialogue. Gage admits he's no Brit, but whoever is proofreading his dialogue needs to try again. I'm not British, either, but even I could tell the slang is dated. "Old sod"? Is there anyone under 70 who still says that?

Our Founder

2006-09-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

Tales of the Dominion War

2006-09-24T12:04:00.000-05:00

Tales of the Dominion War is an excellent concept marred by spotty execution. Some of the stories, such as "The Ceremony of Innocence Is Drowned" by Keith R.A. DeCandido (who also serves as editor), are very well written and fill in gaps in the overall television series storyline (in this particular case, the invasion of Betazed). Others, such as "Eleven Hours Out" by Dave Galanter take a good idea (the Breen sneak attack on Earth and the Enterprise's role in the war) and ruin it with truly horrific writing (the "news broadcasts" in particular are an over-used cliche done howlingly bad). As a result of the inconsistent quality (even worse than normal for an anthology), I have to recommend this one only if you can find it in the discount bin.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-09-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

52 #14, 15, 16 & 17: Art continues to be spotty, but at least it's on schedule, which is more than I can say for Civil War. The storyline in Khandaq is interesting but ludicrous; in what Muslim country would 100% of the inhabitants suddenly start worshipping a self-proclaimed god and a goddess that dresses like Isis? Would this happen in America? Are we supposed to be believe the "natives" are just that naive or is this a condescending "The Man Who Would Be King" scenario? The space saga is boring and when did Starfire develop a sense of modesty?

New Avengers #23: Spiderwoman joins the resistence. She spends 2/3rd of the issue in her underwear because, you know, this is a comic book. I did like the scene of her fleeing the exploding island on a speedboat; very James Bond.

Batman #656: Batman vs. ninja man-bats. Artwork tolerable. And, oooh, big surprise at the end! I actually like the idea, puts me in mind of Kingdom Come (which was excellent) and Superman & Batman: Generations (which was good only in concept, not execution). I hope he doesn't turn out to be a clone, Clayface off-shoot or the product of Superboy pounding on the wall.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #32: The merciful end to the godawful "Frightful" saga. Anything original or interesting about Ultimate Doctor Doom has now been pounded out. The Wasp has somehow gone from being an Asian woman to Julia Louie-Dreyfuss with short hair. Admittedly, it was entertaing to watch Doom/Reed literally rip zombie-Thing's arm off and beat him to death with it.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #33: Artwork...different. Can't tell if I like it yet or not. Definately less light-boxing. The story reminds me a little too much of 1990's Chris Claremont, and not in a good way. I reserve judgment.

Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #2: Art very good, Mike Carey's writing even better. Nice snappy banter. The Mole Man is presented as pathetic, as well he should be.

Green Arrow #65: Nice blend of politics and action. Great scene where Mayor Ollie confronts Theodore Davis. "Goddam fascist sons of bitches."

Iron Man #11: I still don't like the art, still wondering where Nick Fury is coming from. Maybe this is the same robot that Spiderwoman took out. Still not sure why we are retconning Iron Man's origin to 2002.

Justice Leage of America #1: Excellent issue, though I'm not a fan of the artwork. Good blending of the holy trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) picking a new League while other seemingly unrelated events swirl around the edges. The return of Red Tornado was heartwarming, without being too sappy or maudlin.

Ms. Marvel #6: I continue to like this book, and its portrayal of Ms. Marvel as a strong, dedicated and above all professional superhero. Yes, there was an unnecessary panty-shot, but it was positively restrained compared to New Avengers or, God help us, All Star Batman & Robin.

Ultimates Annual #2: Excellent story, excellent interplay between Cap and the Falcon. Artwork mostly good, even if "Southern Missouri" looked an awful lot like Arizona in some panels. I liked the concept of Ultimate Arnim Zola being recruited by the CIA in an "Operation Paperclip"-like scenario. I also greatly enjoyed Captain America's "formal costume," complete with "c-cap" (people who are or have been in the military know what I'm talking about, and why I'm abbreviating it).

Camelot...In Space!

2006-09-15T22:47:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine forwarded this to me.

Carnival Cruise

2006-08-22T23:56:00.000-05:00

If they could see me now...

Who Wants to be Scipio?

2006-08-15T00:17:00.000-05:00

From Absorbascon, Scipio's review of "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" I've only watched parts of a couple of episodes, but I was generally pleasantly surprised. Stan Lee remains a hoot.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-08-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

52 #9-13: While the "History of the DC Universe" is still boring and pointless, and the artwork is spotty from issue to issue, I continue to enjoy the overall storyline. Ralph Dibny's tortured soul is well-portrayed. Not sure about Batwoman, yet. I'll be interested to hear her origin.

New Avengers #22: Not surprisingly, Luke Cage refuses to throw in with Iron Man. I thought his and Jessica Jones' characters were done intelligently and sympathetically. "And I ain't gonna have my kid grow up to find out that after all we been through, her daddy buckled to the man." Damn straight. "Don't take no shit off nobody." "She's three months old. How much shit you think she'll be taking?"

Batman #655: Good artwork by Andy Kubert, intriguing story featuring Bruce Wayne more than the Batman. I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Captain America #20: Another pre-Civil War piece, continuing Cap's reunion with Union Jack and Spitfire in London. Brubaker seems to have a good handle on the Red Skull. I just wish we could forget Cyber-Bucky.

Civil War #3: Still trying hard to like this, or at least not to hate it. Is there some reason why characters like Tony Stark and Mister Fantastic have suddenly sprouted all-new personalities? Cap's line, "You shouldn't have taken down two of my boys, Tony," was priceless.

Detective Comics #820: Decent artwork, though why Batman would wear such an obviously accessible bluetooth on the OUTSIDE of his cowl is beyond me. I liked the fact that Scarecrow's toxins revealed threats from Beyond the Retcon.

Detective Comics #821: Do NOT like the art; too, I don't know, Roy Lichtenstein for my taste. Writing by Dini not nearly as crisp. Facade is a moronically stupid villain concept.

Detective Comics #822: Artwork slightly better. I like the notion of the Riddler as celebrity PI to the stars.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #31: Continuing the concept that everyone in the Ultiverse is a complete and utter moron. "Oh no, the zombie FF seemed to vanish into thin air! Let's crack open the containment seal and rush in to check, because surely INVISIBLE Woman couldn't be pulling a fast one on us!" What's next? Doctor Doom defeats our heroes with the ol' "pull my finger" gag?

Green Arrow #63-64: Winick's writing is still good but I LOATHE G.A.'s new costume. It looks like an old AIM outfit with the sleeves cut out. Deathstroke in prison has its moments.

Invincible #34: Global Guardians from the future. Mark is a hero who is actually deeply upset when he kills an enemy, particularly when he worries he used excessive force. Another crappy CAPES back-up, but fortunatley the giant crocodile seems to be killing them all.

Iron Man #10: Don't like the armor with the "Pretty Woman" boots. Sentry vs. Iron Man plays more like Dark Knight Returns. Still have no idea what Nick Fury is doing here, since he was apparently kicked out as head of SHIELD before the New Avengers were even formed, wasn't he?

JSA #87: Pretty decent end to the series, at least for now. Best line? Ma Hunkel to Mister Terrific on why ghosts can't touch Stargirl: "Don't you know our girl--our sweet strong little Courtney--she's a virgin, you overeducated moron!" Wow, those True Love Waits wrist bands really do work!

Ms. Marvel #5: Still going strong. Carol flirting with Dr. Strange, and Dr. Strange flirting back, was a nice touch. I like this series.

Powers #19: More back to basics, less super-powered Christian and Deena. Again with Bendis' bizarre fascination with orgazmo-powers. And why is their a highly-public superteam out now? Aren't powers still illegal?

So What Was the Damn Point?

2006-08-10T23:16:00.000-05:00

Once again, Scipio distills my thoughts as though they were his own. If all that was accomplished was a few minor tweaks in continuity, what was the purpose of the bloated, rambling and nearly incoherent Crisis?

The Greatest Moment in My Life

2006-08-02T00:16:00.000-05:00

I am linked to on When Fangirls Attack!
You like me! You really, really like me!

My Super Ex Girlfriend

2006-07-30T20:29:00.000-05:00

Fairly cute movie. I liked the fact that all the characters just assumed the existence of superheroes. Yes, it was neat if your buddy happened to see G-Girl putting out a fire, but it wasn't a life-changing event. Superheroes as celebreties, in other words; as cool as if your buddy saw Uma Thurman in a restaurant. The concept was clever, but I think it would've been better if the script had focused more on the female superhero as a metaphor for men's basic insecurity about strong/successful women. Maybe that's why G-Girl is so incredibly unlucky in love, and neurotically paranoid. As it is, her character is barely explored and we really have no idea why she goes insane after Luke Wilson's character dumps her. Yes, there are hints that Luke Wilson's character considers himself a fairly open-minded guy (at least in comparison to his wonderfully loathesome best friend played by Rainn Wilson) and some hints that he feels intimidated by G-Girl (and not just in bed), especially once he learns her secret identity, but more could've been done with it. There is a funny scene at the end where Wilson's character and reformed supervillian Professor Bedlam (wonderfully played by Eddie Izzard) are left holding their super girlfriends' coats and purses as they fly off to save the day. So, all in all, a pretty clever idea, with some genuinely funny moments, but it could've been better with a little more work.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-07-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

52 #6, 7 & 8: Continues to be interesting. I liked the rise and fall of Booster Gold. The artwork remains decent; not outstanding, but decent. Luthor's public rehabilitation seems a bit forced, but then again, that old fraud Nixon was being described as an "elder statesman" by the time he died. The backup feature, History of the DCU, is annoying mainly because it serves as yet another reminder of how pointless and silly the whole Infinite Crisis was in the first place.

New Avengers #20 & 21: The end of the Michael saga was good way to bring back Magneto. I now officially regret looking forward to Chaykin's artwork. It comes across as stiff, unwieldy and the characters inexplicably have tiny skinny little legs with huge torsos balanced on top.

Batman #654: Artwork is still uneven. The storyline would be better if we had been given more time to empathize with Harvey Dent, so we actually felt bad when he descended back into madness, which took about 2 pages. Has the Great White Shark appeared before? If so, did he seem as lame then? The ending is nice.

Brave New World: Several short stories, all fairly mediocre. The New Atom is interesting; the Marvel Family remains impenetrably lame. The new Freedom Force is...intriguing. Who the heck is Father Time?

Captain America #19: Finishing up the more or less decent Union Jack team-up. The art is either getting better, or I'm getting used to it. Yet MORE cameos by super secret Soviet cyber-Bucky! Feh.

Civil War #2: A let-down from the first issue. How many times have we seen this cliche? Protagonist is "kidnapped" or otherwise "disappears" and when the blindfold is removed, he's in a hidden lair and someone says "Welcome to the resistance." The internets are of course all a'buzz about the big outing of Peter Parker. I personally have no problem with change. I have no problem with big change. Characters grow up, get married, sometimes they die. This change, however, seems completely gratuitous, just another gimmick to sell comics.

Invincible #33: Alternate Universe Brain-head guy strikes! Does Invincible's mom have any point other than to be drunk, menaced or have the crap beaten out of her?

Iron Man #9: Still not sold on Zircher and Hanna's artwork; looks too...I dunno...manga? Not big eyed, microscopic-nosed manga, but--well, just can't put my finger on it, but I don't like it. Again, why the hell is Nick Fury running things? Have I missed a memo? And I still don't understand how we are realistically ret-conning Iron Man's origin out of Vietnam and into the Afghan war. That makes Iron Man, tops, 4 years old. Couldn't we have at least used the first Gulf War?

JSA #86: Big lead-up to the final issue. Artwork is very very not good. A close-up on Power Girl makes her look like some kind of buck-toothed Bizarro world caricature. The Gentleman Ghost is just not enough of a villain to pull this story off.

Ms. Marvel #4: I liked it. Good art. Nice House of M mystery tie-in. DC are you taking notes? Dr. Strange was presented well. Some sinister undertones to Ms. Marvel's agent. Good. I'd like to see a tie-in with Carol Danvers' blog. That could be a good storytelling device.

Outsiders #37: Yeah, nothing like love between a giant talking gorilla and a...brain...in a pickle jar. Alan Scott, Agent of SHIELD (including the eye patch BEHIND his mask). And we can never have too many lectures by Superman: you're going too far. I have my eye on you. And Nightwing THREATENS HIM WITH KRYPTONITE! WTF? Yeah, this is stupid and I don't think I will buying any more of this.

Squadron Supreme #4: The origin of Inertia, and unsurprisingly, it involves sexual assault (evidently mandatory for all female comic book characters) and also a hypocritical right-wing Christian preacher with a penchant for domestic violence. Okay, guys, know what? This horse is DEAD. It's been overdone since at least Elmer Gantry. Can there be NO positive Christian characters in comics? Even Nightcrawler had to be turned into a stooge for some white supremacist outfit instead of a Catholic priest.

Ultimates 2 #11: The battle against the Evil Liberal Army continues. I get the distinct impression there's going to be some big, reality-altering magick thingamabob at the end of this, probably involving Odin. Which might explain why there is NO cross-continuity with this storyline in any of the other Ultimate titles.

Young Avengers #12: Very entertaining team-up with the New Avengers. I'm starting to like this book alot. Weird, silly, unnecessary, self-congratulatory back-up story.

Playing the Bendis Card

2006-07-05T23:39:00.000-05:00

From the almost-always hillarious Nodwick!

Nothing Says "Liberty"...

2006-07-04T23:49:00.000-05:00

...like getting together with friends to slay ogres. God Bless America!

Superman Returns!

2006-07-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

****CHOCK FULL O' SPOILERS****

That John Williams theme. Every geek my age can't help but feel stirred at that crashing martial beat as a red-and-blue streak crosses the sky. Frankly, it's too bad Williams didn't score the whole thing, as the rest of the music was fairly generic. Brandon Routh does an excellent job of playing Christopher Reeve playing Superman. Actually, as Clark Kent, Routh is at times virtually indistinguishable from Reeve back in '78. I had originally thought, looking at stills, that he was too slim to be believable as a superhero, but it wasn't that bad on screen. Kevin Spacey does an excellent job out-hamming Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, but he adds an air of menace that Hackman never had. You believe Spacey's Luthor would kill someone with his bare hands and never think twice. Kate Bosworth looks WAY too young to be believable as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. She's twenty-three but looks maybe 18 in the movie. It's supposed to be five years after Superman left, so she was working at the Daily Planet as what? A high school intern? Couldn't Bryan Singer have cast someone who was at least old enough to have graduated college? I have to say I did NOT like the new costume. The brick-red on the cape and shorts and boots is too dark and detracts from the whole familiar American flag theme. And the cape's material seems too much like pleather, okay for the Batman, maybe, but not Superman. I also found myself missing the gold "S" shield on the cape, as well. The story is good, but drags at points and would've benefitted from some tighter editing. Singer goes way over the top with the religious iconography, practically hammering it home. From a Pieta scene with Ma Kent at the beginning, to guards gambling after they beat the crap out of a temporarily depowered Superman, to Lex Luthor piercing his side, to a cruciform Man of Steel plunging to Earth, to a nurse finding that "the tomb was empty," to Marlon Brando's recorded voice intoning, "My only son..." Enough already, Singer! We get it! Geez! So to speak. And, of course, there's Super Out of Wedlock Boy. I really saw no need for this particular plot point at all, really and I found myself annoyed by it the longer it went on. And poor James Marsden! His characters just can't catch a break. Superhumans are either disentigrating them or muscling in on their girlfriends by being a Super-stalker. The idea of Superman scanning my house, by the way, is actually pretty creepy. I would've liked to see Superman actually fight somebody, even Luthor, as opposed to spending the whole movie lifting or catching things. The cinematography is practically claustrophobic; seemed like half the damn movie was an extreme closeup of something or other or someone's face.
Okay, so that was the bad. The good was, it's an entertaining film. Singer is obviously a fanboy, obviously has a great deal of reverance for the source material, both the comic and the iconic 1978 film and it shows in the respect and love he demonstrates for the characters. Singer also adds some nice touches, like Superman having to fight the semi-real laws of physics to rescue a crashing airplane, a thug who nevertheless plays the piano and is nice to children, and a cameo by Jack Larson. Overall, I have to agree that the world needs Superman and this was a classy if slightly plodding vehicle to bring him back on the big screen.

Okay, Maybe I Did Not In Fact Come Up With This First...

2006-07-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

...but this would've been cool, too!

Batman versus Superman

2006-06-30T14:47:00.000-05:00

From the lovely and talented Scipio at Absorbascon.

A Hero for Our Times

2006-06-30T13:42:00.000-05:00

From the almost-always hillarious Theater Hopper!

The Hidden Crisis

2006-06-29T17:29:00.000-05:00

From the almost-always hillarious Real Life!

Medieval Dead

2006-06-25T16:30:00.000-05:00

If you play Neverwinter Nights, allow me to recommend the module Medieval Dead, created by an old gaming buddy of mine. It's sort of George Romero meets Gary Gygax, an homage to various zombie movies and games. Very heavy on atmosphere, probably best played at night, alone, with the lights dimmed. I don't even particularly like zombie movies and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Stop the Voices!

2006-06-25T16:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, let me be the official last person to complain about the latest WoW update, specifically making the LFG channel worldwide. First of all, if my little 10th level hunter is happily slaying murlocs in Elwynn Forest, do I really give a crap that some 47th level shaman a continent away in Mulgore is looking to put a group together? Second, the LFG channel was hard enough to monitor when it was limited by realm; now so many requests (not to mention random idiocy, such as today's spirited debate over, I kid you not, health care policy) scroll by, it's just a meaningless blur. Blizzard, stop the madness!

Some Restrictions May Apply

2006-06-19T23:22:00.000-05:00

from the almost-always hilarious, Order of the Stick.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-06-07T23:31:00.000-05:00

52 #4: Continues to be interesting. I liked the focus on Rene Montoya and the Cult of Superboy is interesting for its echoes of Kingdom Come. Artwork is still spotty.

JSA #85: Okay, the lame Gentleman Ghost was actually moderately interesting this issue. I'm kinda interested in what he's up to. But how is Jay Garrick here as the Flash and tarted up in Joel Schumacher leatherwear over in the Outsiders?

Ultimate Extinction #5: Nice ending, but I would've liked it better if it had come out and been completed before the Evil Liberal Army invasion in Ultimates. Actually, if you take out the superhero angle, the whole concept of Gah-Lak-Tus was actually pretty good science fiction.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #30: Something's wrong with Johnny (again) and the Wes Craven Fantastic Four are up to something. Plus, where the heck did Ultimate Latveria come from? Last we saw Doom, he was slumming in Denmark. And why (on the cover at least) does he suddenly have normal legs?

Uncanny X-Men #473: Haven't read anything mutant-related in a long time, but I was intrigued by the Claremont name. Sure enough, this is vintage Claremont: absolutely impenetrable. And excessively "cosmic." And how many times has he done this "horsemen of the Apocalypse" bit?

How I Learned to Love World of Warcraft

2006-06-04T23:52:00.000-05:00

Have been playing alot lately and I'm starting to actually get into it. All of my characters are on Cennarion Cirle--a 15th level human Rogue named Hale, a 15th level human Paladin named CrossTheSky (would've been Panther-Crossing-the-Sky, but they don't give you enough room!), a 10th level Night Elf Hunter named Aredhynn and a 5th level Dwarven Warrior named Dworthin. Hale was recently invited to join a guild, and that's opened up the opportunity of almost always being able to get a party together. If you see me online, give me a buzz.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-06-04T23:25:00.000-05:00

52 #1, 2, & 3: Okay, I like these stories. I was prepared not to, but I actually like them. Booster Gold as a conniving self-promoter again is great, even though they ripped the concept of covering his costume with endorsement labels off "Mystery Men." Art is still shaky and I'm not sold on Luthor's media rehabilitation, but then if today's politics teaches us anything, it's to never underestimate what some people will believe. Also, the ripping people into shreds bit gets old. Fast.

Batman #653: Okay, we have pretty much one issue to get used to the idea of Harvey Dent as a normal-looking good guy before he goes insane again. I guess it's supposed to be all explained in 52, but this seemed way too abrupt. Artwork is very stiff and uninspiring.

Captain America #18: Arrgh! Another Bucky cameo! The agony! And why did we have to "de-age" Spitfire? Can't ANYONE from the Golden Age actually stay old? Doesn't that detract from Cap's uniqueness? Nice to see Union Jack and Cap together again.

Green Arrow #62: A sword? A samurai sword? Why? Good Lord in Heaven, why? And just how powerful is Deathstroke supposed to be? In Identity Crisis he was taking out half the League; now Green Arrow by himself can take him down with his tricky new ninja moves and some glue? A sword...good Lord and butter!

Iron Man #6: Yeah, really don't care for the Zircher/Hanna artwork. At all. Tony Stark is still an asshole. Someone is, apparently, controlling the armor. Why is Nick Fury there seeming like he's back in charge of SHIELD?

Ms. Marvel #3: Pretty good story. We still don't have any idea who Cru is, but that's okay. Life isn't always resolved in one story arc. Art is still hit or miss.

New Avengers #19: More of the mysterious Michael with powers leftover from House of M. Personally, I think it would've been better if he had been Michael Korvac, like Iron Man originally thought. I like the way SHIELD acts under Maria Hill, like a real spy agency would and not a goody-two-shoes operation as it often was under Nick Fury. I think I have decided my problem is not so much with Deodato's pencils as Joe Pimentel's inks. Seems...I dunno...sloppy? Unfocused?

Powers #18: Enough with Club Cinderella already! Deena has superpowers, Christian has superpowers--why? Why? Why?

Squadron Supreme #3: Ya know, I really don't mind when writers put their politics into their work. Really. If done right, it can be interesting and add to the story. But here, we get four solid pages of nothing but exposition by African superheroes who are otherwise completely unidentified and indistinguishable. Putting aside the bizarre, liberal conspiracy rant politics, was there no way to work that into the story other than through a four-page-long sermon? The entire plot just ground to a halt for this political science deus ex machina. Bad.

Zero to Infinite in 30 Seconds...

2006-05-14T01:04:00.000-05:00

...thanks to Chris' Invincible Super-blog! In Spaaaaaace!

A Cowardly, Superstitious Lot...

2006-05-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

From the lovely and talented Kalinara, a typically thoughtful piece on what really motivates the Batman, my favorite DC hero.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-05-07T23:35:00.000-05:00

Batman #652: Characters still look wooden; Robin's new costume still sucks (he's NOT named after Robin Redbreast; it's Robin HOOD!). I admit to being intrigued by the storyline of villains getting wacked and I'm keen to find out why the Batman put Harvey Dent in charge of the city while he was gone for a year.

Civil War #1: Surprisingly un-sucky. Very good artwork; I especially like the look of grim determination on Cap's face as he plows through SHIELD agents. The concept of a superhero-created tragedy involving mass civillian deaths frankly makes sense in a gruesome sort of way. How has this not happened before, with all the battles that have gone on in New York City? Millar has an excellent grasp on America's media-soaked, scandal-obsessed culture.

Detective Comics #818-819: The villain-whacking continues. Leonard Kirk's artwork is vastly superior to Don Kramer's and the coloring by John Kalisz really builds up the grim, moody feel. And the single dumbest villain in recent Batman history is finally wiped out, in a particularly grisly fashion. Take that, Larry Hama!

Infinite Crisis #6-7: It's over, thank God! I'm going blind trying to read George Perez' increadibly overloaded panels! These last two issues put me in mind of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I never saw the need for this "Crisis" in the first place, and it rapidly became a hyperventilating, overblown, bloated mess. But it's done. Now let us never speak of it again.

Invincible #31: Continues to plug along nicely. Wonderful ensemble cast. Even the villains are multi-dimensional, or at least entertaining. Sadly, another CAPES back-up with crappy artwork and annoying characters.

Justice #5: Alex Ross, what else can I say? VERY creepy scene involving the Atom and Jean Loring. It's awful nice of Alex to try to bail out the ludicrous ending to Identity Crisis by giving it something it lacked: a logical reason for being, some kind of backstory and context!

New Avengers Annual #1: Wedding of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, avoiding nearly all superhero wedding cliches. Artwork is a little uneven, but an excellent extended fight sequence.

Outsiders #36: Speedsters are really, really dangerous! Good art, good teamwork from the Outsiders in combat. The teaser is just, well, bizarre.

Ultimate Extinction #3: Okay, now I'm up to speed. The liquid metal/T2000 Silver Surfers are cool.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #29: A good end to a cool concept stupidly executed. I'm still unclear as to how altering the timeline turned Thor and Mister Fantastic into complete and utter drooling morons.

Villains United #1: Organized supervillains, always dangerous. Nice tie-in with Infinite Crisis #7. Fairly good artwork and excellent characterization of the villains.

Infinite Secret Civil War Identity Crisis One Year Later

2006-04-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

From PvP!

Neverwinter Nights After Action Report

2006-04-24T18:36:00.000-05:00

Last night, we continued Legacy of Oslan. Some observations:

1) Every square inch of this world is covered in approximately 300 feet of fire beetles.
2) It is generally a VERY bad idea to go stumbling around in the woods after dark. Stopping for the night? Posting guards? Yeah. We figured that out about fourteen deaths later.
3) The DM rigged us a portable resurrection device because a bug in the game was preventing us from raising the dead. We only discovered this only AFTER lugging dead bodies all the way back to the "community center." I'm not sure why it's a "community center" and not a temple, since it has a priest. Maybe it's like Catholic Charities.
4) This game seems to have only two spawn settings--constant and none. We were either literally having fire beetles constantly and endlessly appear right up our asses, or we were spending endless hours running hither and yon, finding nothing, and bitching at each other.
5) And speaking of endless hours, the magical maze is a good idea. Especially if it's cool-looking, and this one was. But the thing was frickin' ginormous and there were, maybe, a dozen monsters total in the entire thing. Needless to say, it got boring after awhile.
6) At third level, trolls are seriously mean mother-fuckers. I nearly soiled me armor when three of the giant bastards came lumbering down the mine shaft after me.
7) My pet peeve about NWN? DM's who put realistic lighting in all their caverns. I only have so many damn Light spells per day and you can't fight and hold a torch at the same time. Sure, pitch darkness is more "realistic" but c'mon! How "realistic" is it that caverns are packed to the walls with hundreds of vicious, giant, hungry predators and NO prey? Give us the damn glowing lichen or whatever plot device we need to justify being able to see underground.
8) A bug in the game kept randomly taking people's armor or primary weapons. Nothing like a bunch of guys running around half-naked to maintain that underlying tone of homo-eroticism role-playing games are famous for. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
9) By the time you get to be my age, doing ANYTHING for nine straight hours is probably not a good idea.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-04-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

Batman #651: One Year Later...Gordon is back as Commissioner for no apparent reason, Robin has a new and much suckier costume, and, well, everything is back to normal. Don Kramer's art is so stiff, the characters seem carved out of wood.

Battle Hymn #4-5: I had heard relatively good things about this series, and maybe I should've picked it up from the start, but frankly the idea of Golden Age heroes who are all, virtually without exception, assholes was not very appealing to me. And the ham-fisted political message was about as subtle as a rocket-powered enema. The idea of trying to draw some sort of moral equivalency between the Allies and the Nazis during WWII belongs on bizarre conspiracy-theory blogs.

Captain America #17: Better artwork this time. Cap and Sharon team up with yet another AIM fragment to fight Crossbones and Sin. Yet more clues about Bucky, triggering a Pavlovian response of rage within me.

Green Arrow #60: Yes, I read this out of order, but it hardly matters. The entire issue is a teaser for #61. I like Scott McDaniel's artwork; it's sort of combination of Mignola and Frank Miller. And personally, I like the return of The Longbow Hunters-style hood for GA; the little Errol Flynn hat was always pretty silly.

Invincible #17: Yet another one I read out of order. Mark graduates high school.

Iron Man #7: Daniel & Charles Knauf take over from Warren Ellis. Not sure yet if I like Patrick Zircher & Scott Hanna's art or not. Evidently, Iron Man's new powers are transforming him into a paranoid, self-absorbed, brutal asshole. My God! He's becoming Batman from All Star Batman & Robin!

Ms. Marvel #2: EXTREMELY annoying; I found out only after I had bought this book and gotten it home that there was a printer's error in the middle that cause two pages to be ripped and virtually unintelligible. Ms. Marvel fights the Brood (who we haven't seen in a long time) and something that is apparently hunting them down. Looking good, so far.

New Avengers #18: I had no idea who the Bad Guy was until I read a spoiler. STILL don't like Deodato's art, though this issue seems better. Avengers seem rather, uh, disorganized and sloppy. I hate Spider-Man's getup with the white hot intensity of a thousand burning suns.

Squadron Supreme #2: On their first mission, this dysfunctional gang of neuroses fight an African dictator with super-powers (because, you know, only Third World countries EVER have dictators). Despite knowing in advance what his powers are, they blunder right into a trap.

Ultimate Star Trek?

2006-04-21T23:55:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the new movie is supposed to revolve around the early years with Kirk and Spock meeting at Starfleet Academy. Remember, you heard it here first.

Star Trek Vanguard: Harbinger, by David Mack

2006-04-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

A new TOS novel set immediately after the events of "Where No Man Has Gone Before," Harbinger is the first of a series set in and around the mysterious new Starbase 47 Vanguard. Kirk and Spock make a brief appearance, but most of the novel revolves around an ensemble cast of original characters. As you might expect from the first work in a series, very little is actually resolved, but numerous mysteries and conflicts are set up for later books. This was my first David Mack novel (not to be confused with the comic book writer and artist David Mack), and I was very impressed. The writing was good, the characters well-developed and interesting, and as an added bonus, there is a gatefold diagram of the Starbase by none other than Masao Okazaki. Overall, the feel is more like a TOS version of DS9. After being disappointed by several recent Star Trek novels, Harbinger was a pleasant surprise. I recommend it and look forward to the next installment.

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-04-14T23:49:00.000-05:00

Captain America #16: Crossbones and Sin on a Starkweather-like crime spree. Bucky is mentioned and every time that happens I feel the desire to destroy something. Art is fairly decent, but still rather dark and mushy, plus Mike Perkins can't seem to decide what Steve Roger's face looks like, since it changes almost from panel to panel.

Green Arrow #61: So, One Year Later, Ollie Queen is Mayor of Star City. Fairly interesting, and I like the presentation of Ollie as a kind of liberal Ross Perot, including his plan to generate economic growth by turning Star City into a gay Las Vegas by performing same-sex marriages. Interesting random side-note: the seal of Star City is almost an exact copy of the Great Seal of the State of Texas. Also, this may be nit-picking, but on page two it clearly states that Ollie is the newly ELECTED mayor, but on the last page, the plaque on the wall says he was "appointed." So which is it?

Invincible #30: At last the stupid space saga is over, and Invincible brings his completely improbable half-brother back to Earth (species canNOT interbreed; that's why they're called "species"). I'd really love to know what the Robot is up to. Extremely crappy back-up feature with CAPES.

Iron Man: Extremis #6: Final battle between the new upgraded Iron Man and the bio-enhanced terrorist Mallen. It's a good fight, though Adi Granov's artwork isn't really up to epic super-conflicts. The ending is cheesy, though, and you probably saw it coming five issues back. Plus, Mallen remains more or less one-dimensional. We never really learn that much about him, beyond his hatred of the government and the fact that his parents were shot by the ATF.

Ms. Marvel #1: I was never a very big fan of this character, but this is a good relaunch. The writing is pretty good, with sharp though not Bendis-quality dialogue. Some excellent interplay between Jessica Drew and Carol Danvers. I love the idea of a PR firm that specializes in superheroes.

New Avengers #17: Okay, so I do not like Mike Deodata, Jr.'s artwork. Howard Chaykin is supposed to come on board for #21, so that's something to look foward to. I do like the idea of Luke Cage applying the "broken window" sociology theory on a superheroic scale. I also like the idea of epic superhero battles occuring in cities other than New York from time to time.

Noble Causes #18-19: Issue 18 starts off with a scene ripped off pretty blatantly from Powers, but the story recovers as we see the Blackthornes manipulating public opinion. Sadly, in issue 19, Jon Bosco takes over the art duties and, well, it's pretty bad. He has Liefield's range of facial expression (i.e., blinding fury and jaw-dropping surprise, but nothing else), so bad that you can't even really tell the characters apart, which is pretty important in a comic book where the heroes don't usually wear masks. Yeah, Fran Bueno's stuff was almost like a Bruce Timm cartoon, but at least you knew who was who.

Outsiders #35: One Year Later, everyone thinks the Outsiders are dead (why, we don't know) and superheroes are disguising themselves as non-superheroes (in gimp masks!) and using silly radio codenames while torturing suspects. Apparently, the Outsiders are going to be what the Justice League Elite was supposed to be, doing covert operations and so forth. I wasn't very impressed, frankly.

Powers #17: Bizarre, Clockwork Orange inspired cover completely unrelated to the storyline. Sadly, I'm smelling shark. We've gone from a very well written, very cool concept (police in a world with superheroes) to what is more or less just a very well written superhero comic. Oh, and the whole "Club Cinderella" bit is now officially annoying. Not entertaining. Not edgy. Annoying.

Squadron Supreme #1: I liked the Supreme Power run, but haven't kept up with the Nighthawk or Hyperion titles. This looks like it could be interesting; even though they've dropped the MAX imprint, it never really seemed all that important before. Most of the MAX-worthy stuff in Supreme Power struck me as fairly gratuitous and unnecessary.

Ultimate Extinction #4: I missed an issue, so now I'm a little lost. The inking on Brandon Peterson's art is way too dependent on cross-hatching; it looks like you're viewing almost every panel through a fine wire mesh. The storyline remains interesting, and I like the twist on the concept of the Heralds of Gah Lak Tus.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #28: President Thor, Part 2. Apparently, in the Ultimate Universe, superheroes are catastrophically stupider than in the Marvel Universe, as the FF fall for the single most blatant set-up ever. Millar's writing is not usually this, well, sucky, so I can only hope there's some kind of twist to this and I'm just not getting it yet.

Young Avengers #10-11: Okay, it's space stuff and it involves the Kree and Skrull, who are the epitome of lame Silver Age aliens, but the writing is sharp, and the art is great and we are slowly learning the origins of individual team members, and that is also good.

Neverwinter Knights

2006-03-27T19:16:00.000-06:00

This weekend, after a LONG intermission, part of our old group was able to start a new Neverwinter Nights campaign, with one member (thanks to the miracle of the internets) logging on from Kosovo where his National Guard unit is currently deployed. We're currently running Oslan Legacy, a wilderness module. I had a bit of a hard time adjusting to NWN controls, which now seem kind of clunky in comparison to WoW or CoH.

A few things I learned the hard way:

1) when in danger or in doubt, do NOT run in circles, scream and shout;
2) badgers, contrary to appearances, are actually mean mother-fuckers;
3) While a loin cloth (or more accurately a breech-clout) may LOOK cool, it has little practical value in combat;
4) Wolves do not care that your culture honors their spirits;
5) Pixies, contrary to appearances, are actually mean mother-fuckers;
6) Always use the buddy system. In particular, do not strand your buddy in the wilderness surrounded by a horde of ravening badgers while he is levelling-up;
7) Remember your Boy Scout training: if you find yourself dead in the forest, stay where you are and wait for help;
8) Contrary to negative representations in the Mainstream Media, most medieval villages are actually quite advanced and progressive and have "community centers."
9) When attempting to have fallen colleagues Raised from the Dead, as always, caveat emptor. Shop around and get figures from several clerics and ask for references before deciding on the priest (or priestess) that is right for you;
10) Print out these handy tips and tape them to your Bag of Holding to increase your enjoyment of wilderness adventures.

Doctor Say What?

2006-03-23T20:29:00.000-06:00

Just caught a couple of episodes of the new Doctor Who on the Sci-Fi Channel. I have to say, it's nice to see the spirit of the series kept up, not to mention a vast improvement in production values. My only real complaint, and it's pretty petty, is Christopher Eccleston. His accent is, at times, impenetrable. There were points when I literally had no idea what the hell he was saying. The Doctor I grew up with, Tom Baker, had a BBC English accent and ennunciated like a Shakespearean actor. Baker's voice was, in 2005, voted the fourth most recognized in England, after the Queen, Tony Blair, and Margaret Thatcher. Maybe David Tennant will be better.

Great Hera!

2006-03-23T00:40:00.000-06:00

Recent Comics I Have Read

2006-03-19T22:09:00.000-06:00

Teen Titans #32: As if I didn't get enough "Superboy Gone Wild" in Infinite Crisis #4! Now I get to read the exact same story, only from a different camera angle. And, surprisingly, it's just as ludicrous. Thank Kirby the Infinitely Pointless Crisis is over!

Ultimates 2 #10: "Axis of Evil." An evil liberal army led by Russia, Syria, North Korea and Red China invades America, with Ultimate versions of Abomination, Perun (how many people remember the regular version?), and Crimson Dynamo. Things are obviously being set up for a major battle between the Ultimates and the Liberators nexy issue, so this is primarily filler. My only problem with the whole concept is: if superhumans are THIS easy and quick to make (both SHIELD and the Evil Liberal Army have bazillions of them) why isn't the planet literally crawling with them by now? Why don't we have (as in Ultimate Fantastic Four #27) the "Planet of the Capes"?

Young Avengers #9: The first time I saw this book, I passed on it. Seemed too silly, like a very obvious Marvel attempt to create the Teen Titans. However, I may have been too hasty in my judgment. The concept (teen sidekicks who were never really sidekicks) is presented well and the writing and art are good. The angst and emo aren't allowed to get out of control. In this issue, the team has been disbanded on orders of Captain America, so they never even appear in uniform. It's still a good story as they deal with the consequences of their breakup and fight the always ridiculous Super-Skrull.