Apparently, Scientology Makes You Feral

Just got sent this by a friend:

Chilling.

Update!!!

While I'm getting my celebrity snark on, I remembered this cover photo from the Parade Magazine circular that came with the Sunday Trib a few weeks ago. I had originally assumed that Xenu's programming erased the section of her brain that allowed her to smile like a sane person, but, perhaps she's silently sizing up her co-stars for dinner?

Lazy Posting: Creepy Comics of the 70's

Man, there was some weird shit going on in comics the year of my birth:

UNUS

NO

Also:



Damn, that Magneto is creee-azzzy.

Anyhoo, somewhat normal posting will resume once work stops, literally, kicking my ass, and I get back from vacation.

Panels taken from The Defenders #15 via Essential Defenders Vol. 2. Joke stolen from Mike Sterling.

Lazy Posting: 30 Rock

Yeah I know, I have three posts that are so old they smell right now, but I just can't get them done. Anyway, I promise that I'll be back on Thursday with this week's "Two Reviews". I've decided that each week, I'm only going to offer two reviews of whatever struck me the most a given week, good or bad. Hopefully this will make what I write a little more concise.

Anyway, in the mean-time, here's the best 2 minutes of 30 Rock from last year:

Geekery

OK, I'll admit that this looks pretty damn cool:

But, then again, I'm the target audience. I wonder wha tthe general public will think of this?

2007, Yet Again -OR- Stop this Year in Review! I Want to Get Off!

Alright, a few odds n' ends I left off my last two lists:

Best Mini-Series: Annihilation Conquest: Starlord

Kicking off this year's Cosmic Event, Marvel once again rolled out a couple of mini-series (and a story arc in Nova) to set the stage. This is easily the best of the lot, mostly for one reason:

Rocket Raccoon back and better than ever!

Anyway, for those of you who are not enthusiasts of the best anthropomophic raccoon ever created by Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola, the story is a very funny, very tense take on the Dirty Dozen in outer space. Thanks to Calvin Pitt for reminding me about it.

Best Movie I Saw This Year: Casino Royale

I was doubtful when I saw that they were re-booting this franchise, I had genuinely enjoyed Pierce Brosnan's work as Bond and thought he was very good at it. But I was just blown away by this movie. The commitment to making it down and dirty, but with still most of the hallmarks of Bond (hot women, hot cars, cool locales and giant set-pieces). Daniel Craig was just a revelation as Bond, making this the "realest" Bond we've ever seen. I'm really pissed I skipped the theater on this one, and I've probably watched it at least once a month since I got the DVD. Just great stuff.

Best Movie I Saw in a Theater All Year: Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Just beautiful, if you've never seen it before, shame on you, go buy the DVD. If you haven't seen it in a while, shame on you, go buy the DVD. If you don't have the DVD, shame on you, go buy the DVD. I just can't believe they took a 27 year old film and made it look like it was made yesterday, without any of the problems that crop up when you update such an old film. George Lucas should watch this and cry at the fact that it makes his tinkering with Star Wars look like he was hacking at his films with a machete. A rusty machete.

Allright, irregardless of anything else I might think of, that's it. 2007 is over and anything I forgot about will be mentioned in '08's YiR post. Now, let's get to some resolutions for 2008:

See more movies in the theater. I tell you, having kids really kills your ability to go to movies, but I'm going to make a commitment to get to at least on a month for all of 2008. There's alot of flicks coming out this summer I'm guaranteed to see (Iron Man, Dark Knight, Indiana Jones, etc.), but I want to try to get to more films that I'm not likely to see anyway.

Along with that, I need to stop Netflixing bad movies and start watching the good ones. I must have watched 4 bad action flicks in the month that Letters From Iwo Jima sat on my kitchen counter waiting for me to watch it. It turned out to be unquestionably one of the best movies that I had seen all year, but it's hard to work yourself up to something you know is going to be a tough movie, especially when you can tune out to Jet Li punching guys through walls. I will stop this, from now on, at least one of every two discs I get from Netflix must be a "good" film and I will watch it within a reasonable time-frame. Yes Rescue Dawn, I see you there on the counter and I will get to you within the next two days.

Annnnd, along with that, I need to start reading more "real" books. I've been doing pretty good over the last few weeks, I've read 3 books already since Christmas, so I have a feeling this shouldn't be to tough. Just to keep myself honest, I'm going to try to post monthly on what I've been reading.

Speaking of blogging, I'm going to make a commitment to posting at least once a week on both of my blogs, I'm going to try and get some recurring series going, mostly focusing on stuff that I've recently unearthed in my collection, stuff that, I feel, never got its due, or somethings that should not have in the first place. As ever, I try to keep my stuff positive, as the blog-o-dome tends to be such a soul-suckingly-negative place that I can't believe blogger doesn't have it's own anger-management hotline.

So thanks to you, my real and internet friends, for reading this, and all of my other blather. Let's look forward to a bright 2008.

Two Reviews

Hey there, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to give up reviewing everything I get every week, I'm just going to point out the things that really stood out, both good and bad. Fortunately, the comics web-o-sphere is alarmist enough to warn me not to buy things that are most-likely-to-be-awful (*cough* One More Day *cough*), however, we all make mistakes (*cough* Countdown: Arena *cough*).

Anyway, here are two items that struck my fancy this week (or rather, yesterday), first a movie:

Sunshine

I was watching Space Cowboys on TNT last Saturday and was lamenting to my 5-year-old that they just don't make hard-science-fiction movies anymore, meaning that most of the SF hitting the screens tends to be more fantasy (think Star Wars) than actual, scientifically possible, fiction. Like just about any geek in his thirties, I'm fascinated by the idea of space travel and the possibilities and problems associated with it. Very few movies actually deal with this and just act as if it's just normal to travel in space and you need something like an alien invasion or a ghost to make it dramatic. Dude, you're riding in a tin can literally millions of miles from breathable atmosphere, just the plain mechanics of the situation make it dramatic.

Now onto the actual movie, Sunshine's story is that the sun is dieing and the Icarus 2 has been dispatched to attempt to reignite it. While most of us assume that our sun isn't set to burn out for billions of years, there is science behind the story, Roger Ebert's review explains it a lot better than I can (I assume it's also explained by Science Advisor Dr. Brian Cox in his commentary on the DVD, which I plan on hitting up soon). Unfortunately for our crew, theirs is not the first attempt, the Icarus 1 disappeared right about where they are now, and, since this is a movie, they've just received a signal from their predecessor. As the kids say, this is where the shit gets real.

They decide to rendezvous with the other ship, thinking that, if their bomb is still intact, two shots at reigniting the sun is better than one. This is probably a bad idea. From there on, the situation continues to get more and more grim, giving you cause to wonder if these problems are supernatural, psychological, or just plain bad luck.

It's an absolutely beautiful film to look at. The CGI blends in seamlessly with the practical effects and truly, you never even see "effects", you simply see a space-ship approaching the sun. I really recommend this movie, I've watched it twice in the last two days, tonight with director Danny Boyle's commentary and he really makes you rise to a new appreciation of the movie with his enthusiasm. It's not a great movie, but it is a darn good one.

Teen Titans: The Lost Annual

Now here's an odd little thing. This issue, the final written work by Bob Haney (I believe) featuring art from Jay Stephens and Mike Allred hits the stands after sitting on shelf at DC since 2003. Obviously Haney is channeling the crazy with this issue that features Mod-Aliens kidnapping and brain-washing JFK in 1962 in order to help them battle Space Hippies on their own planet.

Let's let that sink in: Mods vs. Hippies....in Ouuuutttteerrr Spaaaaaace!

Of course, Robin is there to witness all of it, so who's going to believe him, he's just a kid? A kid who was staying in the Lincoln bedroom while JFK got kidnapped mind you. Robin, dude, for the contribution Bruce Wayne had to give to get you that night in Camelot, trust me, I think someone will believe you.

Anyhoo, he gets his buddies, the original Teen Titans to go on a trip to Ouuuttteerrr Spaaaaace to get our Prez back. The do leave Aqualad behind though, because that dude's totally a buzzkill. Once there, they realize the stakes, so of course they go to war. Well, except for the (Wonder)girl, who of course totally falls in love with the Hippy-alien leader and wants to have his babies. And Robin eventually saves the day through a convoluted plan to snap JFK out of his programming involving the PT 109, a demolished spaceship and a hat. Then, in the last four pages, shit gets really weird.

OK, stepping away from it, it sounds like the most crazy-tastic issue ever written in the 60's, doesn't it? The problem is that it was written in the 2000's, so it just doesn't seem as authentically crazy. Obviously, having Haney on board mitigates that, but I don't know, maybe I'm just over thinking the whole thing, but after reading the Saga of the Super Sons, you get the feeling they were really trying to be hip. Now it's like they're making fun of themselves trying to be hip. Maybe it's just the overuse of irony in comedy these days that kind of blunts this for me. Stephens and Allred's art is very good, almost too good, since it's aping 1960's comic art which tended to be serviceable at best. That said, Nick Cardy's cover (above) and sketchbook is amazing. I would kill for just one of those sketches, the detail and composition are so good.

Along with that, the ending just kind of struck me wrong. ***SPOILERS ON*** In the end, they return to Earth with the real JFK (a duplicate had taken his place) only to find out the duplicate-JFK had a very bad day in Dallas while they were gone. So JFK decides, for the good of the country, to go back to the alien world since him reappearing after being "killed" would be too much of a shock to the nation. Linking such a crazy, lighthearted book with such a tragedy just kind of ended the whole thing on a sour note. The artist even draws in the famous photo of JFK Jr. saluting his father's casket, which is, in my mind, one of the most heart-breaking images ever.

Anyway......HIPPIES VS. MODS IN OUTER SPACE!!!!!

OK, that makes me feel a little better. Overall, it's a fun little artifact, and I'm glad that I have it, but I kind of think it is a missed opportunity.

2007, Gone Like Donkey Kong, Part 2

Best On-Going Series of Articles On-Line: Nathan Rabin's My Year of Flops on the AV Club

Mr. Rabin has been taking one (hundred and four) for the entire internet team by writing this year's worth of articles rating a litany of bad, horrible or simply misguided movies that have been inflicted upon the viewing public. Whether it's making a serious attempt at finding the good in Francis Ford Coppola's One From the Heart, or mercilessly mocking the bizarre disco-nightmare musical of The Apple, he brings the funny, along with just the right amount of insight. Kudos to you, Mr. Rabin, your nightmare is over, at least until the make you review Alvin & The Chipmunks 2.



Best On-Going Series: The Brave & The Bold

I really can't say much about this series than I already have. Pure fun super-hero writing by Mark Waid with pitch-perfect art by George Perez. Featuring team-ups ranging from the popular (Green Lantern and Batman) to the downright bizarre (The Boy Commandos & The Blackhawks?) the creators have managed to tell a galaxy and century spanning story that is timeless in it's enjoyability.

Best New Series: The Immortal Iron Fist

Holy Smokes, both Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction came at us like they were shot out of a cannon this year, didn't they? Kung-fu action with just enough comedy to acknowledge the silliness of the premise and enough drama to make you feel the tension. All that and stuff like this:



Best Movie: Ratatouille

I love this movie. I don't know why, it's just perfect, funny, moving, and it so amazingly articulates it's points about the love of art and food that it just sings. The fact that both me and my four-year-old son can watch it and both of us get the same amount of enjoyment out of it is just gravy.

So that's all I got, I may have another, clean-up post, but that may be more of a quick-hit type list featuring me bitching about stuff that bugged me. Overall, 2007 kinda kicked my ass, but it ended well and 2008 is starting to shape up rather nicely.

2007, It Was A Year Part 1

That it was, that it was. I suppose I should do a quick recap of what I enjoyed during the year. Keep in mind, while I do frame what I've listed down below as the "Best", it's more that these are my favorites. I wholly acknowledge that there may be better things produced last year in each of these catagores, but this is what I enjoyed the most. And more importantly, remembered 1 to 12 months later. Thusly, here is part 1 of what maybe a single, or several part look at what I liked about 2007.

Best Single Issue - Superman #666

This issues was just a blast. Crazy in every way possible and a lot of fun. Superman goes bat-shit insane and kills EVERYTHING. OR does he?

Best Summer Movie - The Bourne Ultimatum

As I said in my twitter comment the other day. Pound-for-pound, the Bourne series is really the best action series ever. No dead-weight, not a wasted scene or moment. Just pure action moving an excellent story forward for six straight hours.

Best Guilty Pleasure Summer Movie - Transformers

What the hell, it's a crappy movie, but who doesn't like watching transforming robots beat the crap outta each other?

Best Impulse Buy - Bones Season 1 DVD

Saw like two episodes of this series and really got into it this season. Saw the first season on sale for 20 and figured I'd give it a shot. Great decision. Fun, interesting and scary in all the ways that made me love the X-Files, but not derivative of that series.

Best Repackaging of Something I Already Had - Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson

I had all of this in the three "Visionaries" trades that Marvel had put out years ago, but since vol. 2 got killed in a basement flood, I was itching to repurchase it. Then, my shop had its big X-Mas blowout sale and I managed to get this beautiful, brick of comicy goodness for quite a discount. What a great package, 15 pounds of over-sized, hardcover kicks to the face and ninja action. Highly recommended to any that can afford it.

Best Movie I Can't Believe They Made - Shoot Em Up

Pure gonzo violence and wise-cracking. I'd be amazed to learn that the writer-director wasn't 15 and drunk during the conception of this film. Both of the leads (Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti) bring just enough dedication to the film's tone to push it right over the top.

Best Essential/Showcase Book - Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot

Back when I got my Absolute New Frontier book last Christmas, I read Darwyn Cooke's annotations talking about his love of the "War that Time Forgot" books with longing, knowing that I had to track down these books somehow. I mean, WW2 soldiers vs. dinosaurs, how can that not be great? And DC was kind enough to help a brother out and publish this phone-book sized collection. Great stuff all around.

Put On Your Rose Fur Coat, It's 2008

Satchel - Suffering

Happy New Year

WTF, Lifeday?

You know, there was a time that I thought that I had dreamed this whole thing and that it never actually happened. In College, I found other, like-minded souls who had memories of it too. Perhaps I was better off remembering it as a bizarre dream.



Though it is awful, I'm amazed that Lucasfilm has yet to try and extract a buck by re-releasing this.


Update! Hey Sugar-Mama readers! Remember that Christmas gift I wanted? Well Check that, get this instead. Holy smokes is that awesome.

Candygram For Kal-L!

"Hey Dark Knight Superman!"

"Yes, Red Son Superman?"

"I got you a Christmas present! Heat vision!"

Exactly

Images courtesy of Countdown: Arena #3, in which, some young, upstart, Elseworlds Superman literally grabs two other Supermen's heat vision and uses it to bonk their heads together. Yeah, I still don't know what I think of it either.

Happy Whatever!

Hey all, I had planned to get some type of "Year's Best" list up this week, as no one else on the internet seems to be doing, but unfortunately, work and other, more festive, concerns have really gummed up the works here at Phoning It In Industries, so I'll have to kick that to the side for a few days. Instead, I just wanted to leave a quick note wishing you all the best over this Holiday Season and thank everyone who has come by in the past few months. As a quick "gift" to you all, here are two of my all-time favorite Christmas songs from my current two favorite Christmas albums:

Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)

Aimee Mann - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Have a good one, and hopefully I'll get something up on Christmas Eve, since I have the day to myself. That's probably a lie, since I'll probably spend the day watching an entire season of the X-Files and listening for the sounds of hooves on my roof.

Edit: Incidentally, should I have any rich, sugar-mama-ish readers out there who want to get me (or rather my inner-12-year-old) that perfect Christmas gift, here you go (thanks to Kevin for the find).

Random Moments

Some random F@$% Yeah! Moments from Green Lantern # 25:

Guy Gardner name checks "Red Dawn"

The Lost Lanterns back up Hal Jordan


Hal chin-checks Sinestro with a 2x4!

Leezle Pon! Super-intelligent Smallpox Virus Green Lantern!

Zombie Lanterns!
ZOMBIE LANTERNS!!!

What's that Nova #9, you've got one too?

Heh, rocket style indeed.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

The Golden Compass

Is it bad that while I'm watching a movie these days, I'm actually writing a blog post in my head? I've become "that guy". I f@%&ing hate "that guy".

Anyway, went to see The Golden Compass" this evening and was entertained, but ultimately, underwhelmed. It had the same problems that the first Harry Potter film had, it rushes from plot point to plot point without giving the story any breathing room to draw us in. The best thing about the book was the world that Pullman built in it. He didn't explain that this was an alternate Earth, or what daemons were or any of the things that the movie explains in the opening narration. The reader was allowed to discover these things for themselves and the world of the book was very well realized. A few other thoughts, since I can't be arsed to write a full, well reasoned review:

• Daniel Craig is dreamy. I mean, I'm straight as the day is long, but I can gaze into those baby blues of his for days. They better get on the stick with that next Bond flick.

Gaze into the dreaminess of my stare!

• I think the Nicole Kidman-bot only has two emotion switches: "Wounded" and "Sinister". She was in full "Sinister" mode in the movie and her performance was very good for an android.
  
• When reading the book I was expecting the world to look much more sooty and "steam-punky", but it was very clean and sci-fi. Kinda threw me off.
• I don't think that Christopher Lee actually filmed his scene for this movie. I think the just re-purposed some of his footage from one of the Star Wars prequels. I mean, the only reason his scene was there was so people would say, "Hey look, Christopher Lee!"
• People were bitching about the ending as soon as it was over. Firstly, to the jackass who said, "Well that ending sucked!" No, you suck jackass, because you were kicking my seat throughout the entire movie. One more time and I would've broken your foot. Anyway, the ending was kind of anticlimactic IF you've read the book. If not, it seems perfectly sensible, especially if you expect them to make the next one (which, after the first weekend's gross, doesn't seem very likely).
• My take on the whole Catholic League brou-ha-ha: If you think your kid can be turned into an atheist by watching one movie and reading a few books, well, then perhaps you as a parent and your local priest aren't exactly doing your jobs. I mean, it's not like there's anything else, in fiction or reality painting the Catholic Church as some type of sinister organization.
• It certainly looked very nice and the production values were very high. Just figured I'd mention it since someone obviously worked very hard on it.


Anyhoo, it's certainly not bad, and it goes by very quick, but I'd recommend you to just skip it and read the book.

KWIK KOMIKS REVIEWS

Nova #9

Space Hero and a Talking Russian Dog take on the cosmic undead at the edge of the universe. Pretty much as cool as is sounds.



X-Factor #26

My inner 12-year-old is really excited about this new X-Force (as seen here in this part of the current mega-X-crossover). I want to punch that kid.

Oh, Tannenbaum

So I just spent the last hour putting lights on my first real Christmas tree in years (my ex was allergic) before realizing that I only bought half as many lights as I'd need. Crap. I really don't want to have to go to Target (with both kids) on a Saturday mere weeks before Christmas. Oh well. Anyhoo, got the tree at Home Despot last night and it was pretty darn cheap, but the former-Boy Scout in me was screaming as the dude tied it to the top of my car. The knots! Ye gods the knots! I wanted to knock him to the ground and take over. Obviously our public school are not doing their jobs. I still tipped him heavy since, hey, it's 20 degrees and dudes' gotta deal with people a lot more asshole-ish than me.

Anyway, last year I passed on DC's Infinite Holiday Special due to some so-so reviews. But now that I realize that I missed this, I've gotta track it down. I love holiday specials. Update! Many thanks to Chris @ the ISB for pointing out that he covered my personal favorite Christmas comic a few years back. Go here to read about it (this post also includes the most articulate description of why I love Starman so much.)

Speaking of fun holiday-themed comics, this really cracked me up:



Hope everyone's holiday preparations are going well! Gotta go vacuum up more pine needles!

Grrrr....

You know, I had a long, bitter post I was writing about how much I hate parents who let their kids ride in shopping carts (not in the kiddie seat, but in the basket itself), how much I can't fucking stand our President and about how Mit "freedom requires religion" Romney has upgraded himself to scaring the shit out of me. But instead let's talk about something that allows me to forget about those things. No, not alcohol, let me rephrase, let me talk about the thing that lets me forget about those things AND operate heavy machinery: comics. I only had one book pulled for this week, so I took a flyer on a few others just to see what was going on (and get myself over the $10 minimum to use my credit card, since I had no cash).

Annihilation Conquest #2

This series is definitely living up to its predecessor and it's going to places that I didn't anticipate. That's good, very good. Plus, we get more Starlord action. Not too much else to say.

Countdown: Arena #1

What a mess. Anyway, the plot of this book is that the Monarch (formerly Captain Atom) is preparing to fight some type of battle to save the universe, but he needs the best that the multiverse has to offer, so he plucks various iterations of our favorite heroes off of various Earths and decides to weed through them, death-match style. In the first issue we get the fights between the Batmen and Nightshades and neither really delivers.

Scott McDaniel's art is a little too cartoony for the high action that he is supposed to be delivering, but he does subtly ape both Mike Mignola's and Frank Miller's art while drawing their versions of Batman & Superman. I am tempted to pick up the next issue, but it'll have to pass the flip test in order to sucker me in next month.

Uncanny X-Men #493

Onto Marvel's little event they got going on in the X-Titles. While I was intrigued by the last issue of X-Factor, not enough to buy into the whole crossover, but they may have drawn me in with this. Pretty much, this is a full issue fight scene featuring the various X-Teams, all in pretty crap shape, going up against some new-school sentinels. It really reminds me of the X-Men I fell in love with back in the late 80's/early 90's and I really like what I see. I guess they've sucked me in.

Justice League Unlimited #39

Math time! Batman + Elongated Man + Detective Chimp / Gorilla Grodd = Fan-freaking-tastic

Ahhhh, there I'm in a better mood. Let's turn on the Bears game and relax...aw shit, it's on NFL Network, I gotta deal with fucking Bryant Gumble? Wait, is Griese the QB, what the fuck? Dammit, can nothing go right?

Completely At Random

Well, since I haven't had any real content in a while, I figured I'd do a quick list of crap that's been floating through my mind/DVD player/bookshelf.

Went to see Beowulf in 3-D last week, a few brief thoughts:

• John Malkovich proves that you can act badly in CG animation, there had better be a deleted scene on the DVD of him getting handed his check.
• While some characters look amazing (Beowulf for one), some are plainly rush jobs and fall deeply into the uncanny valley.
• If you want to see it, I'd recommend 3-D, as it's pretty cool and a lot of the shots are plainly made to "be cool in 3-D".
• Those 3-D glasses kinda suck if you have to wear them over glasses.
• The first thirty minutes of the movie could easily be repurposed as an opening to a porn film. Everybody in the beginning just wants to have sex.
• I never, ever need to see a drunk, half-naked, computer-generated Anthony Hopkins ever again. Hell, I never needed to see that in the first place.
  

Saw the Pipettes that same night, go to this old post (and this one too) for repeat gushing.

Also, in a musical vein, go check out this guy's blog, he recently gave me a fantastic mix and it's been playing almost non-stop on my work computer. Send vol. 2 my way when you get a chance DB.

Finally got the first season of Flight of the Conchords from Netflix. I was on the fence during the first episode, but once the below little number hit, I was enamored:

Obviously, the show is deeply odd, but it's a charming odd, not a pretentious odd. Much like New Zealand (ie. the Canada of the southern hemisphere).

Here's what I got comics-wise last week:

Captain America #33 - Excellent as usual, but I think I might be switching to trade on this book. The last four or five issues have essentially been one, long chase sequence and I think it would read better all at once rather than with the monthly breaks (I am not one of those people that can buy books and let them sit, unread until an arc completes).

Brave & the Bold #8 - Another excellent title that really doesn't leave much more to say. It's amazing that the quality of George Perez's art continues to grow every year. Check out that cover (below), awesome. Easily the most fun book on the stands every month (with the occasional skip month).



Ex Machina #32 - I can't believe that I keep forgetting to drop this book. Don't get me wrong, there's really nothing wrong with it, but since it started veering away from political stuff into a more "standard" superhero story, I've kind of lost interest. The book started very strongly but I just don't get the feeling that it's going anywhere. It's odd, both the writer (Brian K. Vaughn) and the artist (Tony Harris) are two all-time faves, but it just isn't clicking with me. I almost feel that it would be better as a prose work.



The Spirit #11 - Darwyn Cooke wraps up his longest story line in this book in his penultimate issue and it's good, but I really didn't want the Spirit to tangle with zombies. I prefer the more down and dirty crime issues and this it just a little too over-the-top. That said, it's still beautiful to look at and I imagine I'll look at it with much more fondness once Mr. Cooke's been off the title for a while. That said, it has a very cool Dia De Los Muertos cover (above). Will have to remember to re-purpose that around holiday time next year.

Other than that, just been trying to finish up the last of the Christmas shopping, hopefully that'll be done in the next few days. I'm picking up my comics tonight, so maybe I'll have some thoughts on this week's books up tomorrow.

Have a good one.

Always Remember.....

Indiana Jones is very disappointed in you.....

Friday Night Fights! The Return!

What happens when you take a Giant Robot, The Thing & The Human Torch?

You get a mon-stah fightin' maniac!

Damn, that's how you do it!

Give thanks to Bahlactus for getting us in the ring!

All images are from Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan. Also featured in these pages...Droom makes a sandwich for Iron Man.

Tony Stark - Fashion Criminal

In an effort to provide some further evidence to support Dr. Campbell's thesis on Tony Stark's dickishness, I grabbed some random issues of 80's Iron Man outta the ol' back issue boxes. It seems that while going on the wagon did curb some of Tony's asshole tendencies, and his kung-fu action, it did make him a bit of a clothes horse, and in 1988, in retrospect, that was a bad thing to be. Here are two random fashion crimes of Mr. Stark:


Now let's get one thing straight, I have no problem with the white tux, I mean, Sean Connery rocked a mean one in Dr. No, but this is just 80's fashion at it's worst. The black collar? Bad. The tux with no tie? Worse. The mullet? Aaaiiieeee...my eyes!

Next we have this loverly little ensem:



Whoa there tiger, no use getting so riled up right before your safari. Further investigation (in issue #237) proves this outfit to be some type of khaki, belted, vested, jumpsuit. In real life this outfit would get you laughed at. By me.

Anyhoo, to show that Tony didn't completely lose his mojo after becoming a friend of Bill W., here's some pimp action Stark Enterprises stylie:


That's right baby, you're on your way to the Great White North, and if you don't put out, well, let's just say that 18 hours on a Greyhound bus can't be that bad.

However, to be fair, my delvings into my own consumer past also unearthed this fine bit of fashion, courtesy of Power Man & Iron Fist #121:


And that dude's omniscient!

Hope every one had a great Thanksgiving, and remember, even if you feel fat today after all that turkey and pie and you can only fit into sweatpants, at least you're not in a pink leather disco suit.

NEWSFLASH: DC Delays (My) Christmas until May

This news (via Newsarama) made me as giddy as a school-boy:

STARMAN, the acclaimed DC Universe series created by writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris, will be collected for the first time in hardcover, on
high-quality paper, in THE STARMAN OMNIBUS, a series of six volumes beginning in May.

This series will feature new covers by Harris, and will measure 6.75” x
10.25”. Collecting the entire STARMAN series, plus the STARMAN ANNUALS, SECRET FILES, 80-PAGE GIANT, THE SHADE miniseries and much more, these volumes include stories illustrated by Harris, Peter Snejbjerg, Chris Sprouse, J.H. Williams III, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, Guy Davis, Teddy Kristiansen, Lee Weeks and many others, as well as several stories co-written by David Goyer.

Scheduled to reach stores in May, THE STARMAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC is a 448 page title collecting STARMAN #0 and 1-16, with a cover price of $49.99 U.S.

Starman is absolutely one of my top five, actually top three ever and to know I'll be able to have it all on my book shelf in hard cover is awesome. Especially since it'll collect the last few issues that they haven't gotten around to.

Since I can't grab my comics today, no reviews till Sunday. Have a great Turkey Day and always remember the true meaning of Thanksgiving (per Warren Ellis):

Give your neighbours an infected blanket this Thursday and then move into
their houses after they're dead.

Hey Looksie!

I got a new computer and a scanner!

This may catapult me from a shitty blogger to being a crappy blogger. I'm giddy with anticipation.

Pictured: West Coast Avengers #1. A book that somehow, despite being not very well written or dawn helped draw a little me into a life-long addiction to comics. I mean, it'd be a hell of a lot more explainable if ROM had joined the WCA...just imagine the possibilities.

What I Got 11.14.07

So to echo Calvin's spleen-venting...f--- you federal prosecutors...do you realize what you've done to us sports fans? Here we were, all happy that the A-Rod mess had wrapped up quickly so we wouldn't have to hear about that all off-season and might actually hear about our teams' hot-stove issues, but no, now I can't listen to or watch ANY national baseball or sports shows because I know we're in for months of Barry Bonds talk. Couldn't you just ship him off to Guantanamo and allow us to forget about him?

Listen, I lived a block away from Wrigley Field during the home-run chase of '98, it's one of the things (along with the Cub's wild-card run) that helped turn me from a Cubs fan to a CUBS FAN. I was 24 and I was all but certain that the chase was fueled by steroids, but, I didn't care much, simply because neither baseball, journalists or the government cared enough to do the simple investigations into illegal drug trafficking to clean up the sport before it became an issue that not even my dog could ignore. And she ignores her own poo when she goes in the house. Whenever I hear all of these sportswriters delighting/complaining about Bonds, I keep wondering, what kind of stories were you writing in 98(I'm looking at you Mariotti)? It was obvious to anyone with eyes there was something fishy going on.

BLEARRRGGHHH!!!!

Anyway, here's what I bought this week:

World War Hulk #5

Well, at the end of the day, that was kind of disappointing. I mean it certainly delivered a great fight between the Sentry and the Hulk (and also gave us a good glimpse into exactly how much of a head-case the Sentry is), but c'mon, they may as well have just hung a "to be continued..." on the whole thing. I understand that event comics are meant to be jumping off points for new series and storylines, but really, can't you just give us some type of closure? Shit, has House of M even ended yet?

Fortunately, John Romita Jr.'s art makes the whole thing worth the price of admission, but I still feel like I just ate a really good steak that was slightly over-done.



Nova #8

So yeah, this book has apparently found what its over-arching storyarc is to be and it's Star Trek: Voyager. That is not to say that the comic isn't excellent. We have an entire issue of exposition of Nova's new situation, but since said exposition is delivered by a Soviet, talking, astronaut dog (named Cosmo!), it is awesome.

My only fear is that since this story mirrors said crappy ST series (and Abnett & Lanning's previously awesome series: Legion Lost) that they may go on auto-pilot. But irregardless, I'm in.



X-Factor #25

So this is smack dab in the middle of the Messiah Complex cross-over and instead of something like David's well-written Civil War and (kinda) House of M stories that only tangentially touched the whole things, this issue continues on directly from the last X-issue that came out last week and leads into whatever issue comes out next week. That said, it's not totally incomprehensible, but you only really get about 10 pages of story actually including any of the stars of the book, the rest is Cyclops bitching out whatever members of the New X-Men that are still alive this week.

Anyway, I'm intrigued enough by the thing that I'll probably pick up the trade, but I hope that we'll get back to some stand-alone X-Factory goodness next month.

All-Star Superman #9

So yeah, not much to say. A-hole Kryptonians show up on Earth, try to take over and Superman ends up proving that he's better because he's not a complete dick (depending upon who you talk to).

There's not much more I can say about this series except that it's very good, however this issue was a little disappointing, simply because the resolution came a little too quick, I honestly thought I had missed a page or two somewhere.

TRADES

I know, I know, why am I the only person who's not talking about LOEG: The Black Dossier? Well, I didn't get it (yet), and even if I did, there's no way I'd be through it by now. Truth be told, I've never been completely hit-over-the-head in love with LOEG, I've liked it and thought it was a great idea with good execution, but I've never thought it measured up to Moore's best work of archetypal deconstruction (Watchmen, Tom Strong). Hopefully I'll have something to say about it in a week or so.

But now to the best book I've read this year:

Scott Pilgrim Vol. 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together

If you haven't read the first three volumes of this series of GN's and you enjoy fun, video games, Canada, indie rock, (half)ninjas, laziness or fun, you are doing yourself a disservice by not going out and buying them all and spending your weekend catching up. Seriously, buy copies for yourself and anyone you know over the age of 12, it's like crack, but it won't fuck up your teeth.

This book is pretty much impossible to review, just say that over four volumes and hundreds of pages, Bryan Lee O'Malley has managed to write and draw one of my top five favorite series ever with no drop in quality. Now I'm just pissed I gotta wait a year (at least) for vol. 5.

Anyhoo, thanks for coming, I'm going to an art gallery and (perhaps) a movie tonight, so maybe tomorrow I'll came back to drop some knowledge bombs on y'all.

Dammit

You know, I had this rough-draft of a post I was working on about the incredible oddity that is Ikea. Since I just moved, and needed a whole gang of furniture, I got a bunch of stuff from there since it looks pretty darn snazzy and was inexpensive (if not out-and-out cheap). But then, (thanks to the Beat) I find that David Byrne beat me to it. F---ing David Byrne. Shouldn't he be banging on a bongo and refusing to regroup with the Talking Heads somewhere?

Actually, it's a pretty amusing post, and answers the question about where they get all those weird Scandinavian names from.

While I Was Away: Blade Runner

Annnnndddd....I'm back! Well, not really, as AT&T continues to deny me the internets, but anyway, I figured since my reader has demanded a post, I'd better comply lest I lose him.

Anyhoo, since I last posted in the long, long ago time of October not much has happened except for the damaging my back due to lifting a 30 year old console TV. Saw a few shows (New Pornos & Stars - both very good) and went to the Blade Runner re-release last night at the Music Box. I really can't offer a review of this film since pretty much everyones mind is made up as to it, but if you like the flick, I really recommend going to see it in the theatre. The clarity of it is just amazing. It looks like it was shot this year, everything looks incredibly clear. I really didn't detect much difference from the previous Director's Cut, there was the re-shot scene of Zhora's death (detailed here), but I only really looked at that closely, since I knew it was re-done. It was blended seamlessly. The effects are all the same, they were just cleaned up. They did correct the "sixth replicant" continuity error though, I guess the internets can close all of the conspiracy theory files on that one.

They did include the "unicorn dream-sequence" along with Dekkard finding the origami-unicorn that Adama apparently left for him at the end, meaning that , most likely, Dekkard is a replicant. While at first glance, this seems like an interesting idea (humans sending out another replicant to do the loathsome task of hunting down other replicants), I wonder if it would be more interesting if he was a human? I mean, it's obvious in the movie that he has emotional problems due to his job, wouldn't it be more interesting to investigate the emotions of a human having problems with hunting down "machines" rather than those of a replicant? They already detail that replicants are showing signs of emotional problems, despite their implanted memories. Oh well, it's all academic. I'm very excited for the DVD to come out, I haven't seen the film with the voice-over since the 80's and I remember initially preferring that over the Director's Cut. I can easily see myself blowing a weekend watching different versions of this movie. Of course I'm also hunting for the box that contains my copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? so I can tear into that again.

Well, that's what I got for right now, eventually, I'll get my ass down to the shop and pick up the pile o' geekiness that awaits me and transcribe my thoughts on whether Rocket Racoon makes it through Annihilation: Conquest alive. Hope all is well with you, internet friends.

Moving...

So yeah, I haven't been around a lot. I'm in the middle of moving houses and let's just say, it's a pain in the ass. Anyway, I should be through with is by the start of November so I'll pick up a more regular pace by then.

Talk at you soon.