Die Conception

Introductions of Hannibal and Jayna

2011-11-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

So, here, I'm workign on an introduction that does not seem too forced for the first person perspective. I want to show that Hannibal is a mage, indicate how he works magic, and introduce his name to the audience in a way that the situation calls for that information to be relayed to the reader. Which I believe this scene does in just one page.

“Hannibal Moxy! You are supposed to be a mage, so cast some magic!”

The shouts around the bar almost drowned out Jayna ______’s voice. However, the din of 7 people loudly clamoring and shouting in a magical firefight could not hide that piercing voice.

“Jayna, that’s not how my magic works!” I shout back. I peek above an upturned table to survey the carnage in the room and quickly move to the back by the serving bar. Jayna’s hidden behind it. She’s holding a small sword in her left hand. She asks, “So, what do you do?”

“Well, if I get in close enough, maybe I can drain the magic energy of your rampaging customer. I can feel it happening now. I don’t think we have half an hour for it to work, though.” I raise my head above the bar to confirm what I feel. I can sense where people are and how strong there are, magically. I can feel how gravity shifts around them. Worriedly, Jayna asks, “Can’t you cast a spell?”

“Jayna, I can, but I don’t have enough juice for everyone. Just be quiet and let me feel where they are so I know who to spend my energy against.” I can feel that there’s 3 of them. A couple of guys came in thinking they could knock over the bar. I’d been doing some part time work bussing tables at Jayna’s bar. She knew I had some limited magical ability but never was interested in it until now. Today, she gets the crash course on Hannibal Moxy. “Ok. I need you and your stabbing knife to go around the bar to the back right corner. I can feel two bodies there. One of them is Mr. Daniels. I bet the other is one of our robbers. He’s normal. You can fight him. I’m going to hop this bar to get the other two’s attention. Marvin Colquitt’s by the other normal one. When I distract them I’m betting Marvin will play a hero and take the other one down. I’ll get close to the mage and suck him dry.”

I use what little ambient energy I drew into me to conjure a protective field. “Go, go, go!” I yell as I hop the bar. The spell caster tries to throw force my way but it breaks against my field. Just keep throwing at me, I think. My ability to leech magic off a user means that the more they throw at me, the more they spend to fight me, and the more strength I gain from draining them. The longer a fight goes, the more certain I am of winning this fight. I just have to keep myself from being turned to a messy pulp before that tipping point.

Jayna gets to her man easily and cuts his arm’s muscles. She’s trained in using her sword to minimize killing. I couldn’t say the same for Marvin Colquitt. Marvin is an old soldier that I struck a casual friendship with while working for Jayna. He said he was former because he had an anger problem. He breaks the other normal guy’s arm and collarbone with a few twisting grapples. I grab the mage’s arms with my and put him into a hammerlock. The magical energy I’ve been getting from him as he tried to attack me let me make a set of magical shackles to cuff his hands behind his back. I kick his knees to put him kneeling on the ground and use my arms to put pressure on him to stay put. I keep taking energy off of him and using it to increase the strength of my muscles to hold him in place. I can feel him trying to blow the shackles off his hands, but he’s losing energy too fast to put any oomph in his spell. The mage screams bloody murder and struggles to get away from me, but he can’t. Eventually he slumps against my grip, defeated and prostrate. I joke towards Jayna, “Wanna make him kiss your boots?”

A new beginning.

2011-11-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

I'm leaning towards doing this break-in scene as the opening for the work. That said, I think i spent too much time describing the lead up to Hannibal's move downstairs. Also, I've switched to a first person narrative. I WANTED to make it third person, but it was not working for me, at the moment. I think it can be better for the story I want to tell, but if I'm just busy trying to get comfortable writing, i should go where my instincts are leading me, first, before I try to weild the written word in a practiced, deliberate fashion.

“The time isn’t right.”

I may not own a working clock, but my sense of perceiving time hasn’t gone to shit. I have lived in this apartment above the ______ bar for almost 5 years, now. During that time I got to know the particular ins, outs, and habits of, Jayna, the owner. The presence I just felt enter the bar could not be Jayna. I definitely perk up in my bed when I register a second presence in the bar.

Almost anyone in this world would never notice someone breaking into a building with the amount of stealth displayed by these two. The majority of mages and magic users would never notice, too. I’ve developed a style of magic my master and I agreed on as “gravitational”. Aristotle only thought of 5 senses. He didn’t think whether people could have more. I can sense a shifting in the fabric of the world. I have a unique way of sensing when new objects warp space-time around them. As a kid, Einstein used to explain gravity as the dent of an object lying on a stretched bed sheet. I can feel when these shifts and movements happen as more things enter a space.

This gives me an added benefit of being able to fight blind. I can feel where anyone is around me. It’s a knack I’ve honed into an advantage. I’m a part-time detective in this town and I often don’t work without making a few enemies. I had to learn to defend myself. Unless these burglars are as exceptional as me, they’re about to find out they’re severely out of their league trying to stealth around me.

I got out of bed and moved to the wall to the left of my bedroom door. The air is warm and humid. It’s been a hot night, tonight, and I decided to sleep in the nude, trying to fight the heat. I guess I’ll be fighting in the buff, too. I don’t have the time or desire to try and quietly slip on some clothes. Thank God it is dark and the lights are out. I’d hate to give these two a show. I put an ear to the wall, hoping to hear any noise from the intruders. They’re knocking things about downstairs. I can’t make out any voices. The sound of a few broken bottles lets me know that they are not looking to steal the bar’s liquor. It brings a pain to my heart knowing all that delicious booze is going to waste, now.

I’d been steadily picking up ambient energy around me over the past few days. Being a gravitational mage means not only can I sense something warping the fabric of space-time near me, but I pull ambient magical energy to me, like light to a black-hole. My body stores that energy and I can use it for whatever little tricks I need. Usually that means I’m slightly better at physical activities than the next guy. This energy doesn’t get stored as fat in my body and I don’t get out of shape by not using it. Usually it just means I can push myself harder than the next guy. Usually that’s more than enough, too.

I’m not picking anything dangerous up off these two, so I’m not drawing in any more than normal. But I have enough to will a field of silence around me.

I exert enough force and energy around me to suppress sound. I guide my right hand to the door and turn its brass knob. I open the door and slowly move down the stairs. The biggest drawback to suppressing sound around me is I can’t hear what’s close by, too. I can sense they’re far away from the stairwell and away from where their peripheral vision could see me, but I can’t determine if they’re saying anything, either.

Hannibal meets The Shade

2011-11-16T14:12:00.000-08:00

Another page of writing. More rewrites for it in the future. I'm not sure if I want to have a tense conflict with an unknown charcater in this. It feels like I included some vague drama just for the hell of it. I wanted to use Qarim better than this, too.

Hannibal and the bipedal bird-lizard travel down an unlit trail towards the forest that rings the south of Ember City.

The woman greets him at the forest line. Her gaze is stern and unwelcoming. “I’m sorry I’m putting you off by doing this.”, he says to her.

She replies, “Once you were an ill omen. Then you were a very sad burden. Now you’re a pathetic beggar. Why do you seek to return to this ancient wood, Hannibal?”

He explains, “I know there are things in there that move between the forest and the city. I need to speak to one of them.”

She answers, “Officially, I am the intermediary between the woods and the civilization of man.”

“You are the gatekeeper and my curious companion is the key master, Qarim.” Hannibal points to the creature beside him. “It saw something assist a man in attacking one of the city’s museums. I’ve been told it is darkness, and spreads darkness. If you cannot call it to me, I will go in there and find it.”

The native woman Qarim throws open her arms as a symbol of blocking Hannibal’s path. “You gave up your right of passage when you decided to make your destiny in the world of the engineers and architects. You seek the Shade but you won’t be able to find it this time of night.”

Hannibal mutters, “Qarim, I’m sorry for what I’m about to do to your pride.” The lizard-bird dissolves into bones and falls to the ground. A commotion arises inside the trees. A roar is uttered and Qarim looks back bewildered at what has occurred. Hannibal explains, “I know, too, of the ancient things buried in those woods. They were once alive and now dead. My friend has resurrected one of them. It returns to destroy the balance of your natural society. It invites me into those woods Qarim. It predates any pacts you or those things that go bump in the night may have agreed upon.”

The darkness of the woods begins to recede imperceptibly. However, Hannibal’s magic sense picks up on the movement. A sabre-toothed cat pokes its head out from the dark interior of the woods. Its eyes glow with the reflection f the moon’s light. Hannibal runs to the tree line, to bypass Qarim. “I’ve found you hiding in the night, Shade! You can’t hide your nature from me.”

Qarim tries to tackle Hannibal but is jumped by the large cat. Into the woods Hannibal goes and it is as if the forest of trees moaned in unison. Hannibal unconsciously begins to drain the magic form the woods. He feels charged and more alive than before. His energy rockets through the roof and he pushes that energy into his extremities and his senses. He knows he can’t stay in the wood too long, but he needs to find the Shade to cripple it with his power as quickly as possible.

A patch of darkness tries to retreat further into the forest, but the vigor form the ambient magic of the wood gives Hannibal the speed he needs to catch the fleeing darkness. Once his outstretched hands touches the Shade, the night creature screams in pain. Its body begins to be dragged onto Hannibal’s. He starts absorbing the ethereal being. Now h turns, and races out of the wood as fast as possible. Once he is clear of the treeline and snaps his arms and throws the Shade to the ground, save a small sliver of it still attached to this right index finger.

Back at it one year later

2011-11-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

So, I'm, again, trying to go about making this one page at a time. Is it a finished page at a time? No. But it is a page worth of writing and I willa ssuredly write and rewrite each sentence, paragrap, and page againa nd again until I feel happy with this result. So enjoy the next, barest, installment of introductiont of Hannibal Moxy: Mega Sorcerer (title a work in progress)

The small apartment has chalkboards across 3 walls. Each wall is littered with mathematical equations: formulas for universal gravity, [physics}, and an entire board devoted to endlessly adding to the sequence of pi. In a back corner is a large metal sphere, with an open hatch into the interior of it. Next to the sphere is a desk weighed by books authored by Aristotle, Capernicous, Newton, and other great mathematical minds. On the opposite corner is a bed with dirty brown covers and a yellowing, formerly white, bed sheet. Hannibal Moxy has just risen for the morning and shuffles his way to the desk. Past the board with the sequence for pi he writes the next number. He then continues to his desk, picks up a book without glancing at its title, flipping to a page, and writing the first equation he sees on the back board. He reads the text about the formula, trying to digest its meaning and purpose, and determining how it fits in with the myriad of other reference formulas he has on the board.

Learning to use magic was never as hard for Hannibal as learning advanced math.

He doesn’t spend as much time as he used to in his studies. There once was a moment where he’d spend entire weekends locked into his room. Those days are years gone by. Now he just rehearses and refreshes his memory. He’s hoping that inspiration may strike him. He’s hoping a haphazard approach will allow him to find the needle in the haystack when a systematic approach just yielded too many results to be adequately tried and followed. Now he maybe spends 3 minutes each day on his “studies”. That is far more time than he would like to, right now.

It is early in the morning. Hannibal shambles towards the attached bathroom for his morning shower.

Hannibal spends little time during the day in his studies. He kept to himself during early mornings locked in his apartment above ________’s tavern. After looking over new notes of scientific and mathematical research he ventures downstairs to help out at the tavern.

______’s tavern is a relatively upscale establishment. Mirrors set in elaborate frames and bright pastel works of art line the walls. The mirrors are very well polished. ______ has been a source of stability in Hannibal’s life. When work is slow ______ always has a few chores to allow Hannibal to earn his keep. The rate of stay for Hannibal is heavily discounted, as the services most specialized and radical detective in the Ember City come at high premiums. However, his record for success cannot be argued. ______ has benefited more than his fair share of times from Hannibal’s willingness to help out those in need of his heavy handed approach to protection. ______ may be the safest place in the city because of the tenant that sits above it that helps out busing tables and doing dishes. That kind of security attracts a delightfully moneyed clientel to ______’s tavern.

Why is it that ______’s tavern is so safe? In a world of magic Hannibal is a rare breed of magician that acts as a leech. Anything of significant magical power begins to lose their essence once in Hannibal’s vicinity. Hannibal is a man that acts as a safety for every figurative loaded gun in the city. That kind of safety cannot be easily found in a place such as Ember City.

It is barely a mid-morning when Hannibal ambles down to the ground floor. He has a conversation with ______ before picking up a mop to clean the floor. The front door opens and in steps a person. This person has a problem and claims on ly Hannibal can help him/her. Hannibal pauses for a break, lets ______ know that he’s working on his clock now, orders something to drink, and invites to person to spin their tale.

Conceiving Hannibal

2010-11-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

So, for this next thing, I just wanted to write a few words and begin to think of how to charcaterize Hannibal by writing from his perspective. Plus, I may entertain the thought of writing from my main charcater's POV rather than a 3rd person omniscient.

I was being crushed.

Intense pressure permeated the museum. Something big is in here. Ambient energy tends to flow into me. It is how I make with the magic. The amount of juice flowing into my body, now, felt like I was an empty swimming pool being filled by a tidal wave. The nearest I can think of experiencing such a presence was being close to my teacher, Damonlark. I could feel a small ache in my body as the power flowed into me from its source. The problem here is that I can feel it crashing all over me. The whole building could be the source of this disturbance.

I can't tell how much ambient power there is. Reaching the point of equilibrium with such a large amount of energy tends to take a while. If whatever is permeating this building has an external source of magical power, then there is no limit to how much energy I'll be swallowing. I quickly began to scan my surroundings.

My ability to use magic may depend on how much magical energy is being brought into the room, but I'll always have my eidictic memory. The walls of the museum were lined with the fossils of long dead creatures. Nothing too big, perhaps a few trilobytes, some plant impressions, and dinosaur footprints. Up on the roof, though, hung the fossilized remains of a prehistoric fish the size of a shark. In the center of the room were the remains of a few dinosaurs about the size or slightly bigger than a normal human. No massive monsers here.

The only people around the room were a few police officers taking a break from the investigation into the stolen viking horde. Someone who I can only assume is a top level museum employee is with a few of the officers too. She's asking a few questions, trying to determine how much longer the investigation may take until the building can start to be repaired.

No one seems to be paying any mind to the swelling mystical pressure inside the room. It figures. Even magicly attuned people can't normally tell who's a practicer of the arts and who is not, let alone determine how strong a person really is. Reputation and shows of force tend to be the best barometers. So that makes me an exception, and I can quickly find out if I'm getting in over my head or not. A problem though is when I'm being a bit overwhelmed, like now, I'll begin to act a bit wobbly.

My body heaves slightly, and sweat begins to form on my brow. The power is still rising within me and I don't think I'll be reaching a balance with what is in the room soon. One of the officers come sover to check on me as I stumble a bit around the room. Its not a great way to show that you belong in such a situation. "Hey Hannibal, losing your nerve?"

I respond, "Bad eggs, kid." I'm turning into a canary in a coal mine. That wasn't why I was brought here, but that's the situation as its standing.

A few more peple walk into the room. It looks like a reporter and a police officer. The thumping of my heart and throbing in my head aren't giving me a chace to catch the conversation.

I can feel a shift, now. The power int he room is beginning to coalesce into something. Its shrinking down to a spot, but it isn't getting any weaker. At least now I can follow where its going if I wasn't busy about to fall over onto the floor.

This exerience has taught me the best way to pull everyone towards you and away from possible danger is to feign a heart attack. Almost every person in the room stops to come look at the guy convulsing and groaning. That gives me a chance to try and check how the energy is moving. Gasping for breath, I attempt to use some of the power gathering in me to erect a wall of force around the people puzzling over my reaction to broken walls and debris. Obviously I'm very distraught over this. I'm way too self conscious, but I like to display a bit of competence in being able to leave my apartment.

Thankfully my episode begins to subside. I can still feel the magic in the room, but it feel slike my body is growing accustomed to the amount of power coming at me. I can breathe a bit mor esteady as I begin to consciously listen to the questiosn being asked me. One of the museum people is askign me, "Do you need to go to a hospital? How'd you get in here?"

My mouth hadn't caugh up to the rest of my body. Strain can make me say the darndest things. I good old incoherent, "Uwaaaaaah?" escapes my lips, certifying that, yes, I may in fact be slow to the res tof the people aroudn me. Just some guy with no sense who stumbled into the room. Thanks mysterious super magical presence. You've ruined my chance to talk to any of the fine women here. I can't wait to hear the rumors.

Just as I was finished chastizing myself for having an allergic reaction to massively strong sources of power, I noticed where the energy was beginning to really settle into the room. I released some of the stored energy in my body in a wave of force, blowing fossils and relics across the room into the wall. Mouths gasp i shock at what is happening but I begin to stagger up. A few "Om my!"s echo through the room, some wide eyed surprise from a few of the cops looks to me and back at the wall, the reporter was a bit blow away by the force I made. However, it didn't tae long for people to see what I was feeling. Screams began to erupt around me as 3 sets of dinosaur bones rise from the mess across the room, recomposing themselves from the debris I shattered them into. The creatures shook themselves as if they were shaking off dirt, and turned their eyeless heads in my direction. People in the room began to run out as I was able to stand again. One of the officers was pulling on my arm, trying to drag me out. I casually shrugged him off, telling him "No, its fine. I got next."

I approached the three starting with a stagger, but everntually into a cautious advance. They begin to curiously watch my movements through their empty skulls, then began to slowly circle around me.

Hannibal's room

2010-10-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

A sudden cold spreads across Hannibal Moxy's faces. He rises in surprise. His eyes a wide and anxious. He sucks in breathes of air and his heart thumps a 100 beats a minute. He lifts ahand to wipe the water from his face and casts a few quick glances over his surroundings. To his right is John Forbush, an old friend from school.
Hannibal spits a few bits of water out of his mouth, and asks, "Jesus, John. What'd you do that for?"
John Forbush grabs a chair, and sits down, placing the empty water jug on a night stand next to Hannibal's bed. John replies, "Asking nicely wasn't working."
John takes a sweepign look across the room. Littered around the floor are diagrams of circles and mathematical equations about them. He can barely understand them all but is troubled by what he sees. John asks, "Hannibal, what have you been doing all this time?"
Hannibal rises off the bed and stretches. He is not sure how long he has been asleep but he can feel the suns rays beating through the windows. He reckons it must be 10 or 11 in the morning. "Damon left me here after school. Says the ambient magic in the area can keep me powered for how ever long I need it. The circles are my pet project."

God I feel like I can do so much more with this. I just wanted to ge tsomethign on paper so I can mull it over and really work on it in the future. IDK if I want to keep his name John Forbush, but I needed a placeholder. I need more detailed setting information. I've been reading about voice and person, too recently, and how if I use third person, I should always keep it trained on one person at least for the chapter, and not use it to examine whats going through another character's head. I know i've used the 3rd person to talk abotu Hannibal and John's feelings in this brief write up.

Enter the Moxy

2010-10-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

The doors blow off the hinges of the front entrance to the Brothel. A dazzling array of lights glide through the main lobby of the building, bathing the area in hues of green, yellow, red, and blues. A small band plays in a darkened corner. The sounds of the cello thumps in tune with Hannibal's heart. The trumpet plays a wild tune as the player is shocked by the abrupt entrance. The remaining members of the band fall silent.

In the back of the sits Lars. His legs are splayed and head lolls the the right side as two ladies attend to his body. He is not dressed in any sort of battle gear that most people identify him in. However, Hannibal can feel the power of the immortal viking press against him like a sweltering summer heat.

The blast of unseen force Hannibal used to annihilate the doors dies down. His overcoat drifts ad wafts into a settled position. Hannibal tenses his body, waiting to see Lars' first move. He is not eager for a fight to erupt yet. He wants to allow as much time as possible to elapse, and allow his body to absorb as much ambient mystical enegies as possible.

Lars lifts his lazy head, curious to examine the man who interrupts his quiet time. Lars snaps his fingers and the band resumes their play. The tune is more exciting. The beat is faster and the lights begin to slowly coalesce around Hannibal. The room grows dimmer as the wisps of light are absorbeed into Hannibal.

Some of the working women in the lobby begin to move to the walls. A shocked look in their faces. The darkness begins to creep into the room from the edges towards Hannibal. Lars sits up attentively, looking about himself and watching the light in the room receed towards Moxy. Before he is enveloped into darkness his eyes meet Hannibals, and his mouth breaks into a shape a wolf makes when snarling at an enemy. Then, darkness.

Its silent until lights sine along the wall. Torches illuminate the room and show Hannibal and Lars standing nose to eye of each other. Hannibal notices the Viking is tall, lean, and muscled. Lars' face showed a few days growth of facial hair. His red hair was long and shiny. His voice is smooth. Hannibal was surprised how civilized this man seemed.

I'm not doing so well, thinking of dialog. :(

Before the fight.

2010-10-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hannibal could feel the shadows crowd around him. The denizens of the unseen darkness want to be privy to a fight between the unusual magician and the underworlds most noted thug. Hannibal knew they were accomplices in Lars destruction in the museum. However, he felt their alien reasoning didn't make them accountable for their part in this mess. He could easily understand. Hannibal feels his own thought processes are alien to this town. He experienced things that no normal person in this world has experienced. He brought a set of core values and beliefs that are constantly questioned by the peculiar way things are done in Everton. With a smirk he resolved to give these dark beings a show for their entertainment.

He could feel the power radiating from Lars' hideout. Proximity to power tells Hannibal what he needs to know. Lars is a powerful entity on a level Hannibal has only experienced once before. He spends a few moments, in order to savor the ambient energy and allowing it to flow into his form. He is now fueled for the fight and swallows a gulp of air, unsure of the outcome.

SO, I might be able to extend this scene a bit farther. IDK if I want to do such a thing. I know Ihavent gone into who Lars is or what his hideout actually is. My goal in this writing was to get back on the horse and establich a shot of a coming battle. I wanted to attempt to signify that other forces are interested in this figh besides Hannibal and his Antagonist. I wanted to indicate that Hannibal feels like an outside in the world he exists. I also wanted to set up how formidable a foe Lars, the Antagonist, is.

Hey lookit what I found!

2010-09-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

Dusty here, remember me? I was the other out of shape, slightly awkard Nerdking on the Pop Media Primecast. Since the show rode into the bittersweet sunset, I've been wading through a murky swamp filled with overbearing responsibility that was made up of 2 parts part-time jobs, 1 part college courses and 3 parts maintianing social life. Well one of those jobs rode into its own chaotic sunflare a few weeks back, I'm wrapping up my self-appointed sentence at Community College in December, and one part of that social life is leaving for the military in a few weeks. So needless to say I now have more time to focus on what was a recurring theme for me throughout the Primecast's golden run, evolving into an established writer.

Dom suggested I pool some of my ideas on this Bloggy-thingy (Scott Pilgrim reference) so you folks can critique and/or instigate a flame war against them. I see he's been busy with his own works, so it looks like I've got some catching up to do. First up I'm going to offer a synopsis of a script I worked on during the show's run. Its about a British metal band as it tours across Eurasia to promote its nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, instead of their career long rivals. Here is an excerpt of The Ballistacrats.

Black. The crowd roars. Over the loudspeaker an announcer yells, "Alright Moscow we want you to go fucking nuts as we bring you the metallic gods...the sirens of solos...the demigods of distortion...the sophisticated savagery that is, The Ballistacrats!" Fade in; panning over the audience leading to a large stage, it fires pyrotechnics like a warship as ERNIE V. pounds on his drums. A soothing bass groove, followed by a screeching guitar riff mix in as SONNY PAUL and PERRY LOU rise from the stage floor. A low growl summons a ring of fire at center stage and JACQUES LeRAGE jumps out of the ring in a furious yell as the band leads into its biggest hit to date, "Spread Eagle."

Security frantically barricades fans from rushing the stage. One woman manages to break free and tackles Sonny. She introduces herself as AMANDA, and claims to be his biggest fan. He jokes, "Sorry babe, but she's my biggest fan." He points out a rather large hambeast of a woman covered in tattoos and piercings screaming at the top of her lungs. Amanda laughs and lunges at Sonny's face before he stops her, asking to delay the impromtu meet and greet until after show, he needs to return to the song. She enthusiastically nods and trots backstage in a giddy frenzy. The rest of the concert becomes lost in a haze of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Back at the band's tour bus, a television set plays an MTV News segment. Reporter SWAY reports that the upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction Ceremony will be postponed until the Nomination Comittee can decide on who takes the final spot of this year's induction class, which include Kiss, Thin Lizzy, Lodon Wainwright and in a surprise decision, Zydeco act Wayne Toups. The final spot is currently being debated over two legendary metal acts, The Ballistacrats and their career long rivals, Jack Union.

At the very utterance of that name Ernie V. hurls one of his drumsticks at the television, breaking it. He exclaims as he rises from a chair, "Jack Union? Fuck those wankers!" The rest of the band agrees, except for Sonny, who is locking lips with the groupie from earlier. They stop for a moment so Sonny can assure Ernie V. that he shouldn't worry. "If the band doesn't make the cut, they're is always next year." Ernie V. turns and directs his anger at Sonny by throwing his other drumstick at him. Sonny in a panic grabs Amanda ans shields himself, the drumstick hitting her in the eye. She slaps Sonny and storms out of the bus, crossing paths with SAUL McGUINNESS, the band's manager. He sees her storm out, sighs and enters the bus.

So this is a bit of the beginning. It basically sets the plot in place and establishes the cast of characters, both protag and antag. This is the most recent draft of the story and I'll add more when I happen again on this site. Hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Comics for August 17, 2010

2010-08-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

It must mean I have nothing new to add to the budding story. Lets look at what literature I bought this weeks.

Justice Society of America #42
I had a cousin ask me how I can jumble aroudn the 20-30 comic book storylines I must follow every month. I tell him it is rather easy as long as the story is entertaining. He asked me what if I don't remember it. I told him "Then, I drop the book." I'm getting in that zone with this JSA/JLA crossover, right now.

Want more reason than that? All I can say is that I don't care for what James Robinson is doing in this crossover. If I can't be bothered to mentally file away the previous month's books, then I can't be bothered to buy this book. BMB was getting like that with me on New Avengers, but I probably blame that on his penache to not write in chronological order. Reading Avengers during the whole Secret Invasion story was just a pain. Especially when I didn't know until 3 months into the event that it was going on.

Hulk #24
Ed McGuinness draws beautiful Hulks. Meanwhile, I can't help but marvel at the difference in attitude in Bruce Banner between Pak's writing and Loeb's. I'm not qualifying it, I'm just drawing attention to Pak's Bruce Banner who wants to wholly deny the Hulk versus Loeb's more responsably reluctant Hulk. Loeb's Banner definitely embraces his Hulk more than Pak's does.

Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow #1
I was pretty entertained with this Colleen Wing book. I was wondering what happened to her when she didn't show up in Blood on the Streets.

Shadowland: Power Man #1
Before buyign this I was pretty much willing to give anything by FVL a try. After this, I'm still willing to give anything FVL writes a try.

The New Avengers #3
When Bendis seems to bring a group of people together everyone speaks in the same voice. His ability to wield dialog does not shine until he has to focus on just one charcater, like Iron Fist in the white room.

Darkwing Duck #3
Sad to see Taurus Bullba be the big bad. Needs more Negaduck.

Brightest Day #8
I have a fist pump for Hawkman. I'm hoping the book is making a turn from its directionless beginning issues. Now, at least, the issue of the new Martian is being addressed, and it seems Black Manta will also, finally, be given some more time in the next book. Plus, I didn't have to read any more of Firestorm or Aquaman's whining.

Deadpool #26
This book did not seem to be 22 pages long. It felt like 12. Now I have to decifer if it was really needed. It just gives me this feel like Way painted himslf into a corner, storywise, with the last issue and had no way to resolving the fact Deadpool has a 9-5 job as a hero in Vegas in a really entertaining fashion. Yes, I'm saying this book was not entertaining. After a short fight with Ghost Rider there is another rehashing of Deadpool's origin, and that means another person's interpretation of the origin's of Wade Wilson. If Deadpool was actually a charcater that people hung onto every continuity bump in his past, like Wolverine's, he'd have as confusing an origin as Hawkman. So, thanks, Daniel, for giving us another story in the origin of Wade Wilson. It is not like you couldn't have filled the book up with a longer, funnier fight against Ghost Rider.

Uncanny X-Men #527
I don't have much to say about this except that the art is terrible.

Green Lantern Corps #51
This issue really revels in deaths. It is kind of sad to say that. i know I've had problems with the Alpha Lanterns as charcaters because I generaly don't like reading about people giving up their humanity to do a job. So, if this is the reaction that the GL writing teams has been trying to evoke since the introduction of the Alpha Lanterns, it has been accomplished. I just wish it did not have to involve so much death, as well.

Averngers Academy #3
This has been a remarkable book. I just kind of wish Gage did not lay the teenage skepticism/sarcasm/rebelliousness on so thick. It makes characters like Hazmat, Finesse, and Stryker unlikeable, to me, and when he confirms their attitudes towards the way the heroes treat them, it makes the academy heads seem like clueless buffoons.

Sad face :( for turning Speedball into a cutter.

Thunderbolts #147
And here we now see that basic title crossovers are trying to make it so that you don't have to buy the other books in the crossover to get a complete story. I really find that rather annoying.

DV8: Gods and Monsters #5
My favorite of the week. Then again, I was solidly in the tank for Warren Ellis' DV8 run in the mid 90s. This issue was a bit different than the others as it spotlights on two charcaters instead of one. Also, Brian Wood juxtaposes the fates of the two characters as they satisfy different roles in the tribe that kidnapped both of them. Sublime is elevated into the status of a goddess, while Evo is demoted into the status of carnival freak. I guess if you wanted to show that not everyone was happy being on the mystery world, someone had to get picked on, and, really, Evo is a bit of a whipping boy for the whole team. Just another solid book in "High School Drama with Caveman Armies".

Fables #97
Another solid book. And, hopefully, this spells the end of the nearly year long diversion from the looming threat of Mr. Dark.

Moving along

2010-08-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

Catherine bounces an idea off him, “Maybe I can do a story about the people out in the woods and how they have to co-exist with the power-dome. You know if this technology will do anything about the soil blightening that has been spreading from the city into the valley?”

Martin shakes his head, “It’s only going to try and pull more energy out of the geothermic dome. All that means is probably more soot in the air and more dead trees. Woodford doesn’t care about who lives down in the valley. If you want personal stories, you should do a write up on a Privateer.”

Catherine scoffs at the thought. “You gotta find one that is personable. They’re hardly human or just live in their own fantasy world.”

“Perhaps you could find one whose fantasy includes a girl like you?”

She recoils in mock horror, pointing a finger from one of her carefully cared for hands at him. “Evil man! I shall nothave my honored sullied in such a way!” She quickly finishes her coffee and stands off the couch. She wags a finger in Brandt’s face and begins to back away from him. “You will not invite such ill portents in my presence. Good day to you, sir” before she winks, turns, and walks back up the stairs.

Catherine was certain that Wallace has had plenty time to calm down from thrashing about his favored photographer. She opened the door into the Alarm’s offices to see Hines sweeping up the debris from the earlier tirade, and notice the silhouette of Wallace changing his attire into something drier.

The offices of the Sunderville Alarm would generally be considered spacious, for any business located inside. Wallace was the only editor for the publication, and employed eight typists to generate stories for the 4 page daily in addition to any news that is transmitted via the World News Telegraph Wire, which is transmitted straight to layout editor, Mike James’, desk. Catherine sits besides Mike and Marshton in a row of four typists, their desks facing towards a small alley created with the four desks of the other writers for the Alarm. In the back of the office is a small printing press which Mike operates with the help of Martin, and now Catherine begins to realize how many people whose first names begin with the letter “M”. She shakes her head in slight embarrassment and smiles at how she can marvel at something so trivial.

Once at her desk she notices a curious sight. Atop her work area is a plain package addressed to her. Looking around to notice if anyone is watching her for their amusement and determining that no one is, she grabs the package and tears it open. Inside is a letter addressed to her, along with old newspaper clippings. She dumps the contents onto the table and scans them over. The message is written on the letterhead Sturm museum. The clippings were stories in Norwegian and Swedish about a Viking treasure horde known as the Sigmund Horde and the message asks that she interview the horde’s discoverer, Andersson Sigmund.

A few posts ago I trie dmy hand at doing this, and found it way too clunky. So lets see how the rewrite goes. Right off the bat I feel like I should be more descriptive of the Sunderville Alarm's offices and play up the mystery package.

Catherine has to lie down, again

2010-08-13T14:51:00.001-07:00

Catherine decided now was a time to get up and walk out before debris finds itself in her auburn hair and all over her new attire. She put her arms through her grey jacket’s sleeves, shuffles her papers together, and places them in her desk to protect them in case Woodford creates another small storm in the office. She whispers a short phrase into the ear of Marshton Brandt, “Coffee Break” and hurredly moves out of the offices of the tabloid paper and down the stairs into the common lobby of the Campman Building.

The Campman Building is nestled between the Armstrong hotel and grocer on Fullman Avenue. On the second floor is the Sunderville Alarm. The third floor houses the offices of ward #8 representative Cameron Lager and a small investment firm, Manos-Taurus. The fourth floor was unknown to Catherine. She hadn’t met anyone that works up there, nor did she have the curiosity to go snooping around there. The common lobby of the building is decorated all around with furnishings from the east: Persian rugs, Ottomans, and Japanese fire-lamps. Shelves of throw away books line the walls, along with pictures of building proprietors and famous events captured in the news. A small kitchen and wait staff is maintained by the owner, Joseph Campman, to cater to the business tenants. Catherine finds a reclining couch near a far off corner, waving off an approaching waiter. She removes her jacket, exposing her deep red blouse. She lies down in the couch, frees her feet from the pointed flats she wears everyday to work, and begins to collect her thoughts and compose herself for the remainder of the day.

Catherine Faber had hoped for a chance to make a mark in the career of news reporting. For years women have begun to assert themselves in several literary fields. Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters from Norway was a major inspiration for her. She wanted to write stories about society and the average person’s existence in the city. She wanted to be a champion for the normal person and show that people like her could lead fantastic lives. Yet, editors like Woodford prefer stories in the style of Mary Shelley. News was being overrun by outrageous accounts of mad scientists and the consequences of their dalliances with dabbling in mastering the God’s domains. Newsprints follow the idea that where there’s magic, it’s fantastic. Catherine is dismayed that mundane life had become so menial.

A second body sits at the foot of the couch. With delicate hands Marshton Brandt rubs Catherine’s feet, eliciting a purr from her lips. “5 more minutes” she says.

Brandt stops manipulating her feet and motions to a waiter. “2 cups of Colombian. Milk and sugar in one. Black the other.”

As the waiter leaves Catherine teases Brandt. “So, I’m going to be used as a way for you to obscure the fact you can’t take your coffee without a few additives.”

“You are my beard.”

Catherine runs a hand over his face, “Could you even grow one? I wonder what you’d look like with a mustache.”

Brandt cocks his head askew, asking, “Would you want me to wear something like Woodford had last year?”

Catherine erupts with glee, placing a hand against her chest to catch her breath as she giggles maniacly, “Oh god, no! That little broomshaped thing under the nose? Martin, don’t you ever do that!” Catherine tossles his short blonde hair destroying the part he put in it on the right side of his head. Martin begins to slump down in embarrassment. His shirt just drapes over his body. Catherine can tell how thin is he underneath his black, button-down, pocketed shirt. He likes to leave his shirt untucked a bit, as it gives him a sense that he has a larger frame than he really does.

Martin muses, “Perhaps I’ll grow out my sideburns and let my hair grow long.”

When the coffee comes in, Martin offers to cover the cost of both their cups, which Catherine gladly accepts. She put her feet back into their shoes and both her and Brandt sit side by side in the couch, silently sipping their drinks.

Catherine is pensive about returning upstairs. She has not had the chance to develop any real story for the next edition of the paper. It has been over a week since she could turn in anything she felt was up to Woodford’s standards. The last thing she wanted was to find her way into Wallace’s sights. Attempting to make conversation she asks Martin, “Have you gotten any leads you haven’t been able to follow up on, lately?”

Martin shakes his head no and lets out a deep breath. “I’ve only got my own lead. I’ve been working on a story about new advances to help extract more energy out of the volcano dome. The new director has been on a media blitz about this technology.”

Catherine whines to him, “Maybe I can do a story about the people out in the woods and how they have to co-exist with the power-dome. You know if this technology will do anything about the soil blightening that has been spreading from the city into the valley?”

Martin shakes his head, “It’s only going to try and pull more energy out of the geothermic dome. All that means is probably more soot in the air and more dead trees. Woodford doesn’t care about who lives down in the valley. If you want personal stories, you should do a write up on a Privateer.”

Catherine scoffs at the thought. “You gotta find one that is personable. They’re hardly human or just live in their own fantasy world.”

“Perhaps you could find one whose fantasy includes a girl like you?”

Double Thursday all the Way

2010-08-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

I redid my introductiont o Catherine by giving Walace and Martin a bit of a back and forth. I wanted to provide some charcaterization of the two while also giving them dialogue so that I don't have to explain everything about them in narration. I assume that's a good thing, right?

Wallace Woodford was summoning a storm. Catherine Faber could hear objects bouncing off the walls. The door to Woodford’s office would rattle and creak as it almost blows off its hinges. Wallace had a habit of generating tornados in localized areas when angered. Catherine moved to keep her head down to her desk, sitting behind her Guttenberg Moveable Type-Writer among the remainder of the Sunderville Alarm’s writing pool.

The door could no longer resist the active forces behind it. It flies off its hinges. Papers, plants, pencils, and photographer Martin Hines burst out of the room. Wallace marches out of his office afterwards, swearing and pointing an accusatory finger at Hines. “Entirely tedious! These pictures don’t pop! All you got is a chimp with a smile and giving a thumbs up.”

Martin was sprawled out among a pile of papers, potting soil, and office supplies. He sits up off the wooden floor. “I’m sorry Mr. Woodford, but intelligent super apes that act like normal people tend to act like normal people. Rocky’s not some sort of menace to society. There’s no angle to play up”

Wallace snorts and yells, “Why couldn’t you have it dressed up in a suit or something! Outfit it in imperial military dress! Make it look like this Ape is from our future, and our future is murderous soldiers who subsist on a diet of plantains!”

Martin picks himself off the ground, “Sir, the monkey doesn’t own any clothes. Plus, whose imperial clothes do we dress it in: Germany, Japan, or England’s? I don’t think it’ll be a good idea to equate a country with monkeys, regardless if they are highly evolved animals from the future.”

Wallace’s face contorts into ragefilled menace as he unleashes a rebuttal to his prized photographer, “Newspapers don’t start wars! If the Queen of England reads our paper-“

“King, now, Sir.”

Wallace pauses briefly. “She’s now a man?”

Martin matter of factly states, “She felt her body was too immodest. The female form does nothing but inflame the passions of the opposite sex.”

Wallace yells into his typing pool. “Who wrote our story on the Sex-changing Queen!?”

Comics for August 11, 2010

2010-08-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

Incredible Hulk #611
I want to, first, comment on how this crossover was organized. For 6 months you could avoid having to pick up both books, Incredible Hulk or Hulk. The crossover did not hinge on you reading both books. Honestly, I don't enjoy crossovers built like that. Each month I'd pick up two books that had no direct tie to each other. Any information I learned in one book I could not completely transport to the other. I guess I like it when my crossover books operate similar to "Second Coming". Each chapter advanced the story and you had to read each book to get the whole story.

The theme of family resonated strongly in me from this book. I enjoyed how the heroes in WWH, essentially, relive bad memories of the past while hulking out. We all knew how the Hulk's mind worked before, though, and where his rage comes from. What was nice was the story about Banner's relationship with his dad and how it is an analogy for how Hulk and Skaar interact shifts the representation of Banner's father between Hulk and Skaar and shows how a fractured mind can interpret events through memory and constantly assign new roles to people given the relativety of the current situation.

Finally, Pak's afterward was a great send off to this whole event.

Birds of Prey #4
Even Hank Hall is tired of Brightest Day, now.

Daredevil #509
Here we have the Siege/Blackest Night way of doing a crossover. There's the main Shadowland title, and then the tie-ins act as satellites that fill in small gaps in story in the prior book. Nice to see Typhoid Mary is all aboard the Matt Murdock Ninja Express.

Shadowland:Blood on the Streets #1
My thoughts as the story goes on: Who's the Shroud? Wheres Paladin? Misty Knight really doesn't want to do work. Where's Paladin? That strip club is really going to hurt themselves in the long run w/o the Lesbian demographic. Where's Paladin? More Shroud! :(

Oh, there's Paladin :)

Justice League: Generation Lost #7
At least Rocket Red is funny.

Ultimate Avengers 3 #1
3rd panel on page 3, Blade looks like Professor X, as played by Wesley Snipes.

Titans #26
Oh god why do I have to be such a completionist. I really jut hate everyone on this team. Deathstroke is MIA most of the time. Osirirs is just Superboy Prime. I really can't wrap my head around the motivation of Cinder and her volcanic Va Jay Jay. Penitent suicide, I guess? Ink is whack. And I'm really not digging Cheshire's newfound conscience. Specifically, its just the way she is acting. I can believe she has a newfound love of life with the death of her daughter, but I'm just not believing her entire new personality or the way she is carrying herself. Example: The bottom three panels on the page where Arsenal joins the team. I believe panels 1-2, I've read enugh to know she's the kind of person to revel luring someone into a false sense of security. Then she shows remorse in the last panel. Honest remorse. That does not jive with what I expect from that character. Her personality is all over the place and genuinely schizophrenic, to me.

X-Men #2
From what I've been seeing from Scott SUmmers since Utopia, just taking the approach of "Ressurect Dracula to deal with the current problem, and we'll deal with Dracula later." doesn't, again, jive with what I've seen from him already. I'd honestly believe, "Resurect Dracula and don't worry, I got a plan to deal with him afterwards." It is weird when Blade becomes the voice of reason in a book.

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1
It is a start. Lets see where it goes. Attrocitus' skull wall, though, is pretty sweet.

Dark Wolverine #89
Remender writes this crossover so much better.

Two for Tuesday

2010-08-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Inside the abandoned warehouse, Moxy examines the mysterious steel ball. At the top of the object is a small hatch.Upon opening the hatch Moxy can make out that the interior is entirely mirrored. "Aw hell." he mutters under his breath.

Jason Raines from the Advanced Geometric Institute joins Moxy an hour later to confirm what Hannibal fears most. Jason's advanced mathematical skills can precisely calculate most objects area to the tiniest fraction. But his sense of precision are confouning him. "Hannibal, this thing is coming up as a perfect sphere. I haven't stopepd calculating Pi to the 200th decimal. How can someone construct such a thing? For what purpose?"

Hannibal can only posit. "Magic and Metalurgy to create a perfect sphere. Inside, the sphere is mirrored. It was once believed a mirror is your reflection in another world. An alternate you in another time. Meta-scientifically, this is the 5th dimension. The existence of multiple timelines existing side by side each other. If geometric 2D planes can cross each other to form polygons, then a 3D object is the intersection of multiple planes in space. If the 4th dimension is a timeline, then the 5th dimension is a time plane, and the 6th dimension is 3D time. Mirrors only operate on planes, so to access multiple timelines you need to be in 3d time space, thus the sphere."

Raines stares bewildered at Moxy. "What now?"

Moxy simply states, "Time travel through dimensional planar hopping. That's how our thief was able to nab those jewels and leave without a trace. Once he hops into the perfect sphere, he has access to an infinite number of alternate dimensions and can use magic to cross back and forth between worlds. Each point in the sphere is another timeline he can insert himself into. If he finds the right point in the sphere, too, he may be able to move back and forth on his own timeline. Theoretically it means nothign though. Each pint in time in 3d time is the convergence of several timelines. so anythign he does to alter the future just shifts him int another timeline. Dammit. Blow it up Raines."

Jason asks incredulously, "You're kidding right?"

Moxy sighs, "I was hopping I wouldn't have to run after him and get stuck in some dimension where ants are pets kept on farms or something equally as crazy. To pinpoint the exact spot in the spehre our friend ran to is ludacrously difficult. If I'm off by a fraction of PI, I'll go tumbling into a world our culprit hasn't visited. Or worse, on the return, I may never make it back here. Bad enough if an evil twin is somewhere doing this same thing and exits the sphere just as I leave through it."

"Odds of that?" asks Raines.

"Better than your mom being celibate tonight." replies Hannibal.

Ok. I have no idea where this is going except i needed to jot this down to actually mold into a better story. I like this idea from Edogawa Rempo's short story on what it must look like to be in a spherical mirror. I just comined it with my own mad thoughts on what the 4th, 5th, and 6th dimension must represent, and threw some grade school one-liners, and out pops this menagerie.

Wacky super science moment. What if Archimede was still alive in this world, and he's kept in a room where he must continue to speak the next number in the sequence of Pi, and that's how this world with no computers was able to do that?

Back at the office...

2010-08-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Wallace Woodford was summoning a storm. Catherine Faber could hear objects bouncing off the walls. The door to Woodford’s office would rattle and creak as it almost blows off its hinges. Wallace had a habit of generating tornados in localized areas when angered. Catherine moved to keep her head down to her desk, sitting behind her Guttenberg Moveable Type-Writer among the remainder of the Sunderville Alarm’s writing pool.

The door could not continue to resist the active forces behind it. It flies off its hinges and papers, plants, and pencils fly burst out of the room. Photographer Martin Hines comes tumbling out of the room. Wallace marches out of his office afterwards, swearing and pointing an accusatory finger at Hines. “Entirely tedious Hines! These pictures don’t pop! All you got is a chimp with a smile and a hand out. It doesn’t even talk! Why couldn’t you have it dressed up in a suit or something! Outfit it in imperial military dress. Make it look like this Ape is from our future, and our future is murderous soldiers who subsist on a diet of plantains!”

This is a re-do on my introduction to Catherine Faber, her surly editor Wallace Woodford, and Peter Parker simulacrum Martin Hines. Tried to give the introduction more pop by mentioning a literal tornado being called forth behind Wallace's closed doors.

Redux on Chapter 1

2010-08-06T11:21:00.001-07:00

The first European settlement in the Colmaya Valley was the town of Everton. The colonizing population would sustain itself through the trade of furs and game meat. The people of Everton would mingle with the barbarous tribes of the valley and both cultures would eventually meld into one group. Everton would rise as an example of how two disparate cultures could meld together.

In the 1870s, the mortal Gods of industry united to destroy the sprawling, luscious, green valley and its budding city. Everton’s population was straining the city’s infrastructure. New accommodations and amenities would have to be built. Railways were laid to ease transportation going in and out of the city. Sewers were built. Roads were paved throughout the many streets in the city. Lighting would be needed to keep the city burning bright throughout the day. A source of power would have to be developed. A powerful volcanic presence was discovered along the Eastern mountain ridge of the Colmaya Valley. Pacticioners of the old spirituality believed the area was where Colmaya’s heart lay. Investigations into the mountain revealed a long simmering cauldron of magma, ready to erupt at any notice. If the power of the volcano could be harnessed, it could provide enough energy to sustain Everton and cities hundreds of miles away for decades.

Construction of the great geothermic power dome began. Powerful mages were summoned to forcefully activate volcanic activity within the structure. Everton, and many other cities, could channel the rage of the natural furnace to power any sort of the new and fantastical contraptions being constructed every day. This act was known as ate sundering, the time where the people of the valley forsook their original faith for that of the Industrial magnates. Everton became Sunderville.

Yet, with such advances came the inevitable backlash of using such methods to tame the wilds. The lights of the city’s streets gave off a peculiar residue that wafted into the air, causing even the brightest of days to resemble a hazy twilight. The power of the magic underground turned the land around Sunderville into a charred, blackened thing. Water pumped into the city had the taste of ash. The forest retreated and gave the city a wide berth, allowing for the expansion of numerous new districts into the valley below.

Comics for August 4, 2010

2010-08-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Shadowland #2 and Shadowland: Bullseye
So, a few years ago, something called "Civil War" happened, in comics. Captain America and Iron Man go to war over whether vigilante heroes should submit to government control. Its kind of like the arguement over the legalization of Marijuana, except with more explosions. Government sanctioned explosions. Marvel stated that they wanted to paint a fair and balanced picture of both sides. Captain America is Captian America. Aside form being hounded by Iron-Man and the U.S. Government, Captain America's biggest headache is havign to work alongside The Punisher. Iron Man, meanwhile, hires villains to hunt down rogue heroes, makes a clone of Thor that is prone to going on homicidal rampages, locks any rogue heroes he captures in a concentration camp in another dimension, and has to fight against Captain America. So, the two negative extremes of each side represented, here, are The Punisher or Hitler.

So, out comes Shadowland, and now we see what the danger to Cap's arguement is. They take Dardevil and make him into Hitler with an army of ninja villains to help him fight New York's street level heroes. Except now he's doing it without government sanction. Greatest quote out of Shadowland #2 that sums up this whole thing: "You sitting here in your throne room in your ninja castle in your own little kingdom in the middle of New York..." that is both the most awesome thing about Shadowland, and the most dangerous thing, in terms of the actual situation, about a vigilante hero. Daredevil, fed up with law enforcement in a small area of New york city, has taken it upon himself to construct a castle int he middle of a major metropolitan area and a jail for anyone that crosses his ninja law code.

For the past year, Marvel has been doing some great events that boil down to delightful concepts. Siege is Evil Avengers try to destroy Asgardian Gods who live in Oklahoma. World War Hulks is The Leader and MODOK make an army of hulks to conque the world. Second Coming was Evil Machine opens a time portal from the future so Terminators can come through and kill mutants. Curse of the Mutants is vampires come to take over San Francisco. Now, Shadowland joins these great over the top concepts with Ninja lord attempts to impose ninja law on New York City from obvious castle stronghold in Manhattan.

All in all, Shadowland #2 is a real hoot. Shadowland: Bullseye isn't so bad, either. It gives the story of how Ben Urich fits into this while also giving us ghostly Bullseye haunting a schizophrenic. That is full of win and awesome.

SHIELD #3
I am not quick on most readings, especially ones that are disjointed. I tend to respond to such narratives better through movies where I can recieve visual AND audio clues. So I had to read this twice to grasp what it was talking about. It is a fine book, though. It lacks action, but here's hoping a showdown of epic proportions between time traveling leonardo DaVinci and Immortal mad genius Isaac Newton pays off better than my homemade videos of physicist backyard wrestling featuring a titanic clash between Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.

Doomwar #6
Meh. My real quarrel with this book is that it appears other countries don't look favorably upon an invasion of Latveria. I guess I missed the boat on why a country would be against weekly invasions of the home of Doctor Doom, considering how often heroes just stop by to have a good throwdown with the doctor of the brutal arts. I respect Maberry for what he has been doing with this book, which is super-hero statecraft. However, once someone decides to take over the world, that should be unilateral cause for a beating.

Now, I'll just think how awesome a Marvel U.N. comic could be if we had the following things in it: Ambassador from Utopia, home of the mutants Scott Summer. Ambassador form the US Steve Rogers/Norman Osborn, Ambassador from Atlantis Namor, the Submariner, Ambassador from Wakanda T'Challa/Shuri, the Black Panther, Ambassador from the Vampire State of England, Dracula, Ambassador from Mandarin City, The Mandarin, and Ambassador from Asgard, Thor. That is a security council.

Avengers: Prime #2
A great story. Love where it is going, except: Why is Hela taking over the remaining Nine Realms in the wake of Asgard's departure when she barely has any real estate to her name in the Thor books? Most importantly, how does this sync up with what went down with Hela in Siege, which this story takes place directly after? I can only assume Bendis is creating a new swerve to throw at the reader in anticipation of issue 3, out in two months :(

Brightest Day #7
I felt satisfied in this issue. I've mentioned before that with 6-12 characters to feature every issue, that stories can't advance for each character at a satisfactory pace. What can happen, though, is that a common event/theme can be shared amongst all the different characters and, thus, a satisfactory story can be communicated to the the reader. That hasn't really happened until this issue, and that's why I am so tickled pink over this.

Deadpool #1000
FVL's story was best, bar none. Remender's story was second best.

IZombie #4
And here we get the metaphysics of this bizarrely populated world.

Refinign the background: The death of Colmaya and the beginning of the universe

2010-08-04T13:40:00.001-07:00

The death of a God is common. A lot of religions feature the dramatic death of some sort deity. The native people of the Sunderton Valley had their own story.

Gorin extended his hand into the darkness of the night. When we withdrew his hand, he held a fading green star. He fashioned it into a spear. With this dying star he would slay his enemy Colmaya. The dark green light would not be easy to spot in the darkness of the unborn universe. Gorin launched his celestial weapon into Colmaya. The God would die from his wound and his corpse became the earth. The gouge in his body would become The Valley. The starlight spear would remain lodged in Colmaya, and become the first tree. Gorin, unsure if a God could truly die, circled above Colmaya’s carcass, always watching the corpse with one of his two eyes, the Sun or Moon. Colmaya’s blood poured from his wounds, giving us water.

Gorin was wise to watch Colmaya’s body. The God did not truly die. His life essence was sundered by the force of Gorin’s star spear, creating the many diverse species of life. All living things were once part of the soul of Colmaya. The indigenous tribes of The Valley feared Gorin’s retribution. His all seeing eyes would find them and finish the job he started at the beginning of time.

Gorin would fashion a race of people out of his own pale skin. He deposited them on the other side of Colmaya’s body. Gorin commanded them to conquer the people of The Valley. These were the Europeans.

I am actually pretty proud of this one. It is rather daunting, creatively, to think of creating a Genesis story. Should I use any real material? How much real material would I use? How much do I explain? Does it sound too ridiculous? You always kind of worry about that. I believe I did a rather good job with this, though. Cooke dit all up from scratch. I was not looking to take away from any current myths/stories. I know, though, I can spot some Cain and Abel in this. Maybe a hint of Aztec w/ the names. I'm sure the idea of a few others might be spotted in this, though through no intention of my own.

A raw background of the city

2010-08-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Padlmanque took a dull star from the heavens, and fashioned it into a spear to stab his enemy, and uncle, Comaxa. Its green light was not bright enough to spot in the darkness of the time before the rising of the sun. Padlmanque stabbed at Comaxa, thus forming the Earth. Padlmanque circles above the bloated corpse of his fallen family member as the moon, remainig vigilant should he rise. This star became the first tree, the gouge in Comaxa’s flesh became The Valley, and as water, Comaxa’s blood, seeped from his numerous wounds, life took hold and spread. The barbarous people of the mountain ranges believed that one day Padlmanque would see how his uncle cheated death, to spread his essence amongst all living things, and resolve to finish the job. According the the tribes of the Valley, Padlmanque fashioned a race of man out of his own pale skin, deposited them on a side of the Earth where no green existed, and bid them to conquer in his name. These were the first Europeans when they encountered the mountain valley tribesmen.

A dedicated order of Shamans from a splinter tribe of savages were said to use their natavistic magic to feed the spirits of nature inside the valley. Comaxa’s essence infused all life in the valley to have a resiliance to the elements unheard of during the times. Extreme heat and cold were a slight annoyance. People could withstand winds of hurricane force magnitudes. They could copulate and procreate in times no where near resembling the normal periods of gestation for their counterparts. Thus the wars began, as the people of Europe had to contend with a Native population that was hardier and able to replenish population quicker than them. They huddled agaist the mountain sides of the Valley, and resolved to let the savages of this area live as they wished.

Nestled against the walls of this deciduous valley, the town of Everton housed a population that sustained itself through trade of woodland wildlife furs for consumer goods from the east coast. Eventually, the people of Everton came to mingle with the people of the Comaxa Valley and both cultures assimilated into one. Once the gateway to a barren spiritual hellscape, Everton would become the ambassador of Man’s integration into a more natural world.

The mighty Gods of industry united in order to destroy the sprawling, luscious, green valley and its City. Railways were constructed alongside the mountains of the valley. In order to provide amenities to the people of the growing city f Everton, a source of power would need to be developed. Construction began on a particular mountain top, the creation of the great geothermic power dome on one of the mountains. Powerful mages were summoned to forcefully activate volcanic activity within the structure. Upon completion of their task, Everton could channel the rage of the natural furnace to power any sort of the new and fantastical contraptions being constructed every day. Lights for the city, Underground sewage disposers, pumps for water, etc. This act was known as ate sundering, the time where the people of the valley forsook their original animalistic faith for that of the Industrial magnates. Everton became Sunderville. Yet, with such advances came the inevitable backlash of using such methods to tame the wilds. The lights of the city’s streets gave off a peculiar residue that wafted into the air, causing even the brightest of days to resemble twilight. People described seeing inside the city to resemble like trying to see through a haze, or, in some locations, look into a burning fog. At nights, the moon and stars could no longer be seen. The power of the magic underground turned the land around Sunderville into a charred, blackened thing. Water pumped into the city had the taste of ash. The forest gave the city a wide berth, allowing for the expansion of numerous new districts into the valley below.

Immediate thoughts on writing this; I need to find a better conclusion. I need to flesh out a lot more of the ideas of the story fo the two gods fighting. I know I'm leavng out something, and I cant shake the feelign that what I wrote is thoroughly boring.

New Character and New Begining

2010-08-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Catherine Faber silently sat behind her Guttenberg Moveable Type-Writer while Wallace Woodford summoned a storm in his office behind her. The door would rattle and occasionally bulge, almost blowing off its hinges and flying into the general typing pool that makes up the Sunderville Alarm. Office items could be heard bouncing around inside. Woodford had a habit of spontaneously generating tornados in localized areas when angered. Flash prints captured by Patrick Williams for the impending lead story of the time traveling ape were not up to the newspaper’s usual quality.

Unable to resist the force of the elements behind it, the door to Woodford’s office swings open and Williams flies out of the room, Wallace standing between the doorway pointing an accusatory finger towards the reporting cub. “Entirely tedious Williams! These pictures don’t pop! All you got is a chimp with a smile and a hand out. It doesn’t even talk! Why couldn’t you have it dressed up in a suit or something! Outfit it in imperial military dress. Make it look like this Ape is form out future, and out future is murderous soldiers who subsist on a diet of plantains!”

Faber decided now was a time to get up and walk out before debris finds itself in her hair and all over her attire. In the common lobby area of the first floor of the 4 story building, she sits in a reclining couch. She had hoped for a chance to make a mark in the career of news reporting like other women have begun to assert themselves in other literary fields. Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters from Norway was a major inspiration for her, but it seems editors like Woodford prefer stories in the style of her daughter Mary Shelley. Outrageous accounts of scientists, their dabbling in god-like fancy, and the physical consequences of these dalliances. News prints now-a-days just follow the idea that where there’s magic, it’s fantastic.

Mundane life had become some menial that all news must deal with the metaphysical. Events of an unexplained nature have been appearing with increasing frequency as the world has turned towards finding the true limits of Aristotilian science and leading into a resurgence of some of the more ancient forms of worship, with their Gods more willing to interact with the world. People felt comfortable knowing beings of such immense power would take such interest with the normal world and exhibit such human frailties. The useage and occurrence of practicioners of occult sciences has grown so much in the recent years that more people than ever feel as if they could become Gods in their own right if the ones they follow show such human frailties. Popular theory suggests that the Gods were people who transcended their forms into divinity, and the feeling around the world is that, eventually, the rest of the world would undergo an apotheosis.

Results have been mixed. While instances of apotheosis have not gone up, practicioners of magic or technomancy have certainly gone up. Everyday thousands of new fantastical events occur. Thus, the newsprint industry became an increasing source of up to the day retellings of the day’s most fantastical accounts. Literacy has gone up amongst even the most poor of masses. Urban areas have flourished as more educated citizens are needed for increasingly more sophisticated jobs. Women have begun taking to the workplace. They can even wear trousers when performing duties not centered on their home. However, they still remain figuratively chained in their caves. Woodford offered her an imperfect version of her ideal job of reporting on the most amazing events of the day. Instead she would report to every other reporter in the typing pool the events of Wallace’s ever changing moods.

Certain that Wallace has had plenty time to calm down from thrashing about his favored photographer, Catherine ascends the steps into the Alarm’s headquarters. At her desk, though, was a curious sight A plain package sat there. Looking around to notice eif anyone is watching her for their amusement and determining that no one is, she grabs the package and decides to deliver it to Mr. Woodford.

She gives his warped door a few courtesy knocks before letting herself into his offices. There she finds him dejectedly putting his office back together from the events of the tempest he summoned earlier. She hesitantly asks, “Sir, This package, came for you, I think?’

Wallace Woodford looks up at his secretary. His eyes wide with excitement. “A mystery package?! I never asked for anything sent here. Cathy! Its providence!” Woodford takes the box out of her hands and tears into it. Inside is a small shining item and a letter. After looking it over, Wallace’s eyes twitch and he eyes his personal assistant over. “You want a chance to do this Cathy?” She asks, “What is it?” and Woodford replies, “The Sigmund Horde is coming into town in a few days, and in its lead up it seems the managers for it want to have a lady interview its discoverer. You’re supposed to wear the jewelry inside.”

Okay…I need to find a better way to show that a dues ex machina has come in to Catherine’s life. There's a lot of this I need to clean up.

Comics this week

2010-07-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

No new content for the bizarre Novel-in-not-making, but at least I can try to critique and hone my words against my comic purchases this week.

Justice League: Generation Lost #6
The most impact this comic will have on anything is if it gets thrown at your head. I hated this thing since page 4 when it started veering off towards being a flashback. You know when this book would have been great to print? Issue 2. Just after the events it references happened in issue #1.

Oh, spoiler alert, Captain Atom knows Maxwell Lord is going to cause trouble. For fuck's sake. That is the premise of the damn book. Max Lord is a bad guy and only the JLI redub can save the world. Why the hell do we need a whole issue devoted to this startling realization when the entire premise of the book is that?

Green Lantern #56
I kinda like Green Lantern. I mean as a character concept. However, Hal Jordan is a humongous dick. Way to go Geoff Johns for ruining Christmas for anyone reading this book.

The book is just fine. I really liked it. Then again, I like Larfleeze. He is a delightfully simple minded character that expresses how difficult someone unaccustomed to our forms of etiquette and behavior can have in adjusting to our world.

Franken-Castle #19
God I love this book. If you happen to be following the crossover, though, go ahead and witness the difference in attitude and demeanor for Daken between Daniel Way and Remender. It is quite startling. If this signals anything, it is that Daken is a weak character, right now. I get that writers should put their own spin/voice in a character, but the differences between Way's version's of Daken and RR's version is too drastic to chalk up to creative license. I prefer Way's version.

The Flash #4
Oh good lord this was a fun book. For anyone that truly enjoyed the Batman 60s TV series, this book is about the closest you will get to a mainstream super-hero book emulating that style. The presentation is far from camp, sure, but the over-the-top ridiculous antics of the characters work well in the setting. I squeeled with glee upon reading the Rogue's big plan is a giant mirror from the Mirror Master engraved with the words, "In Case The Flash Returns Break Glass". It is so outrageously cheesy and in step with the way Geoff John's portrays the Rogue's as about as dangerous as a college fraternity rather than a league of super-villains.

World War Hulks: Spider-Man vs. Thor #2
Best comic of the week and I only enjoyed half the book. For the better part of half a year Kieron Gillen has written the best Thor I have ever read. He has taken the basic character flaws for both Spider-Man and Thor and shown us how the power of the Hulk kicks those character points up a few notches. Then, he shows us why these people are heroes, despite these flaws.

This book is fabulously funny, too. Favorite line, hands down, is "We must be friends and brothers. And never again let Diplodocus make us fight."

The Sigmund Treasure Horde (A new prelude?)

2010-07-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

"It was during the dead of night, around 6:00 pm" Andersson Sigmund recalled to the reporter. "I was wrenched out of my thoughts by the appearance of light in the distance."

Andersson Sigmund deigned to live away from civilization. He is secure in his isolation in the area of Uppsala. It has been mentioned that the area shares a bond with the gods of the old Norse. Uppsala was a fabled home of Odin. Magic has the potential to be strong in this area. The winters in Scandinavia don't leave much to do but allow the imagination to wander. Brutally cold temperatures and near constant darkness throughout the day keep most people inside.

Sigmund breathes in deeply. he attempts to compose himself as he continues with his story. "There wasn't any sound. Just this shining light, like a light bulb. Except it looked purer. It is bizarre to think of light as healthy and strong."

Curiosity was better than quiet contemplation, at the moment. Sigmund dressed himself for the elements, then opened his door. The weather outside was still. The wind stopped howling across the fields, momentarily. From his front door, Andersson could tell the light was not coming from just outside his house, but into the woods where he gathered fire wood. "It was as if the light responded to how far my vision could determine its source. If I didn't look directly at it, or see down where it was coming from, the intensity of the light out the corner of my eyes was almost blinding. The light wanted me to follow its path. As long as I never strayed form it, my body felt safe from the winter environment."

Sigmund would follow the light into a clearing about 2 miles form his home. In the clearing, he felt as if he was surrounded on all sides by the light, but it was not so intense as to cause him to shut his eye. "It looked as if the light was just acting as illumination, just like a fire lamp would brighten up a room."

Sigmund's eyes adjusted to the illumination. Within seconds he could easily survey his surroundings. The light brought many features into focus. "I could see scratch markings into the ground. not fresh. But the way the light bounced off the ground, you could see that this soil was not meant to be there. I began to dig in the spot."

Within minutes he found the first golden coin. Time had tarnished it, but the mystical light in the clearing helped Andersson see what it was. Digging and looking further into the ground, he found more coins. Then iron weapons. Eventually, he was able to exhume a ship. "I couldn't feel tired. Not with the excitement building over what I had discovered."

That was 4 years ago. Andersson has parlayed his fame from discovering of the Sigmund Horde into national accolades, honorary professorship at the finest occult institutions, and personal wealth. The magic behind its discovery has yet to be explained. Recently, the Swedish government allowed the horde to go on a wolrdwide tour, allowing other institutions of alchemical science to study its metaphysical makeup.

So, What about this thing? I feel like it sound sliek it wants to be a news report, but I know I never explicitly made it into that. Should I just go all the way with out like that? Is that even a good idea? Should I fix it up to make it less of a newspaper article?

The Robbery to be solved by Hannibal Moxy

2010-07-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

Acid rain attempts to smoother the flames of Sunderville's streetside firelamps. The flames remain eternally lit. The essence of a nearby volcanoe is mined to power them. However, the glow from the magical flames shrinks as the acrid waters attempt to douse the lamps. Gaps of darkness begin to form along the city's stone roads.

Lars Ulrichson marches to the Sturm Museum. He stays in darkness where he can. When he is caught in the glow of a firelamps he is slightly obscured due to the downpour. The sight of a few empty burlap bags against his body can briefly be made out before he melts into the shadows. The darkness that slowly spreads over the city allows him to move with impunity.

Unseen, he trudges up the steps to the museum's entryway. He grabs hold of the handle to the Museum's entryway. He pulls the door off its hinges and casually tosses it to the side. He purposefully walks into the Museum's foyer, glancing around to spot any signs that can direct him to the Sigmund Treasure Horde. He is losing time. His forceful entrance has trigered a whisper message to be sent to the closest constabulary. He chooses to move straight and plows through a wall, hoping to find the Horde or someone who can lead him to it.

Louis Simon drifts through his watch round. The polished floor of the museum reflects the soft orange glow from the fire lamps inside the museum. His reflection in the floor is his silent partner during these rounds. The silence is broken by the sound of a distant cracking from beyond the left side wall. The halways begins to rumble and shake a few seconds later. The wall to Simon's left begins to break. The wall explodes and Lars emerges like a Titan birthed from the bedrock of the Earth.

Simon has little time before he is snatched by the raider's hands. A quick tug pulls Louis' face into the remaining wall. A quick flick of the wrist takes him down to the ground as the strongman steps through the hole in the wall. Lars drops to one knee, nestled against the crotch of Simon, and wraps a single hand against the scared security man's throat. Lars leans in close to Louis to ask, "Where is the Sigmund Horde?"

A shaky point of the finger is rewarded with a the snapping of bone. Lars the Vile stands and breaks into a full sprint down the hallway in the direction shown by Simon. Lars's frame crashes into another wall and he explodes into the main rom of the Sigmund Treasure Horde.

Lars manicly ransacks the place. Any object that immediately catches his attention gets shoveled into one of the several bags he brought with him. His mighty fists shatter glass cases that house golden treasures. Larger objects get casually tossed aside or kicked over. Bags leaden with ill gotten gains are thrown into the corner, far away from the theif's whirlwind of violence.

Once satisfied in excising his lust of carnage and destruction, Lars the Vile picks up the bags he tossed into the corner, makes a new exit through the wall of the room, and trots into the darkness of Sunderville's many unlit back alleys.

I have a feeling i could do a few things to change this up.
1-I just feel like I should have a stonger opening. I don't know whether I should open with the robbery in progress or use the scene I set initially, and just spice it up
2-I'm thinking that i should, perhaps, go into the history of the SIgmund Treasure Horde. Perhaps using the dicovery of a treasure horde and the excitement around it as a more solid opening than this?
3-I really feel like I did not go into enough detail of the robbery itself. I feel like I just wrote the most boring theft in literature.

What do all you party people think?

The Exploits of Hannibal Moxy

2010-07-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

What follows here is some writing I have been attempting to refine. Let me know how it sounds and what i can do to really make it stand out. Critique away!

The light at the head of the steam rail pierces through the night. The contraption moves with a low rumble over the tracks guiding it. Inside the 19th car Hannibal Moxy sips tea, looking through the window as the line crests the Florentine ridge.

The cabin would be decribed as ostentacious by any regular traveler. Hannibal has nary a word of complaint for its decor, though. He reclines into the ornate couch's arm rest, turning to his left and laying his legs across the second seat so that he may get a good view of the outside of the approaching Metropolis of Sunderton.

From his window Sunderton glows like an ember in the fireplace. The red lights along the streets provide the visible illumination of the city this night. The glow does not extend into the blackened sky, though. Sunderton is reknowned for the chokeable haze that hangs over it, casting the brightest of days in the gloom of twilight.

Hannibal can tell that a forest wraps the city from behind. The outlines of the trees are evident thanks to the glow from a geothermal power dome in the distance. The Purgatorio dome is another of the famous features of Sunderton. The dome is an engineering miracle that encapsules the active Volcano located close to the city. It is the source of all power for Sunderton.

Now, What follows is entirely new content that I have not attempted to refine. This is more of an exercise on relevancy and if this is at all necessary/interesting enough to put into the story, at this time.

Hannibal comforts his thoughts on his looming arrival into the city with a reminder that his mentor is a warp missive away. The ease of connection gives Hannibal confidence going into his first investigative foray. His mentor, Damon Lark, is a carnosseiur of some of the world's most esoteric histories. When a priceless collection of artifacts dating back to the Viking age were stolen from the Suderton museum, Damon Lark volunteered the services of his newest protege to help in locating these items.

So I am torn on how to present this information. I just feel like I cut to the chase entirely too quickly. I dont know if, perhaps, i should tell the story of the break in, instead of just relaing its events second hand. I'm leaning towards actually doing that as a new opening, since I view the robbery as a non-essential element of the story. I, particularly, have no desire to keep the events of the theft hidden from the reader. The thief, maybe, but the actual theft, i think i can enjoy writing that, especially if I can throw in some ninja prostittues and empty kegs of mead.

A NEW Jane Eyre! For the 2000s!

2010-07-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

When I got this email, I immediately thought of that horrid book:

Dear Beloved,

I am sure this mail would be coming to you as a surprise since we have never met before and you would also be asking why I have decided to chose you amongst the numerous internet users in the world, precisely I cannot say why I have choosen you but do not be worried for I come in peace and want you to me to help me accomplish my last wish . As the island of Haiti experience a major earthquake struck, I will like to use this last chance to help as a philanthropist .

Before I move further, permit me to give you a little of my biography, I am Lady Rita Ratnavale, 78 Years old woman and the wife of Sir Ratnavale, Victor, dual citizen of Switzerland and Britain who died in a Plane crash on Monday the 7th of September 1998 GMT 14:22 UK alongside with my daughter while they were flying from New York to Geneva. Please see site below for more information. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9809/swissair.victims.list/index.html

After the death of my husband I became the Head of his investment and now that I am old and weak I have decided to spend the rest of my life in my Ranch before i finally leave the world, but before the death of my husband we had a plan to use the last days of our lives to donate half of what we have worked for to the less privileged and charity homes and the other half for ourselves, family members and close friends, and it is so unfortunate that my husband is not alive today to do this with me and I am very weak and old now, hence I have decided to do this philanthropic work on behalf of my late husband.

Presently, I have willed out almost half of our assets to several charity homes and to some of the less privilege in different countries. Despite the agreement between my late husband and I to give aid to the deprived, we also agreed to render support to an individual we have not meet before in life due to the fact when we were still young in life we received an anonymous help from an individual we did not know and which we were never able to identify,the impact we got from such a gesture made us to do same.

I am sorry to inform you that you will never have the chance to know me because I have just concluded the assignment which my husband and I have agreed upon before his sudden death and you happened to be the beneficiary of our last will. hence I need you to do me a favour by accepting our offer and using it to help the poor in Haiti.

I deposited a check in the sum of ?2.400,000.00 (Two Million Four Hundred Thousand British Pounds) with DHL UK one week ago to deliver to you, but i was very ill so i could not send you an email until today. what you have to do now is to contact the assigned dispatch officer Mr Jim Brown as soon as possible to know when they will deliver your package to you.

For your information, I have paid for the delivering Charge, Insurance Premium and Clearance Certificate Fee of the Cheque showing that it is not a Drug Money or meant to sponsor Terrorist attack in your Country all you have to send to him is the payment for the security keeping fee of 250Great British Pounds ($389USD)

So what to do with this? Did Sir Ratnavale get his money through Nazi Gold? Why did their plane crash (don't cheat and read the news aricle!) Has Lady Rita attempted to prolong her life through siritual means, and if she has not, would she begin to reclaim her money if she decided to? What of the path of the money? Suppose I write a story where it is real money, who would follow along the trail of money to YOUR house? Terrorists? The Real Owners of the Money? Nazis? Just what sort of demonic pact would you be signing if you took Lady Rita's illicit gains? This demands to be done!

So seriously. What kind of story would anyonoe here write about this?

Would you like it?

2010-07-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

The spirit of Leonardo daVinci lives in a volcano.

I belong to the Red Lantern Corps

2010-07-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

I have great anger in my heart. It is time I begin to rise. I am propelled by the horror I feel for what has befallen me. My double has left me to rot in this jail, shackled to the wall of this island cave. But no longer will I bemoan my current state. Instead, my form wracks itself against the floor and upon the wall. I tug at the bindings, spasming my body with such violence that I break a link in the chains.

I emerge triumphant into the night. Before the glimmer of light from above I resolve I will conquer my current state of ennui, and, after speaking a few prayers to my personal divinity, cast what remains into the watery abyss of my cavernous imagination. I begin to fashion a raft out of my sloughed, slothful carapace. Taking the broken anxietal chains that once bound me to this Platonic prison I lash logs from my clear cut mental forest to the body of my vessel and set sail into the void.

I summon forth my anger, with which I will temper my thoughts into their actions. I distaste acting on my bloodlust physically. I have no qualms letting forth the pent up reservoir of bile sloshing in my head and putting those words down on paper. This is the mindset with which I scribe out these words that fill this page and communicate my ideas with all of you.

My journey brings me to a new land where I have hounded the meek into a killing field and slaughter it. I will cook its meat upon the flame of my rage, and start to venture forth into the primeval jungle hoping to return to my camp with nuggets of inspiration.

Deadpool #25

2010-07-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

This week was chock-a-block full of comics to buy. I could go on about how boring X-Factor #207 was or how excited I was to read a Taskmaster story by Fred van Lente that mentions a Taskmaster ongoing (Coming in September) in Age of Heroes #3. However, there was only one book on my mind and its not even because I thought it was great (it was servicable).

My odyssey to find a .jpg of this week's cover to Deadpool #25 led me down memory road to the last time a "Deadpool" comic reached #25, which was the end of the 25 issue "Mithras" arc of Joe Kelly's, and becoming the last great thing Joe Kelly has written until "I Kill Giants"

Anyone who has read Deadpool over the past 9 months may recognize this plot. Deadpool is attempting to be a hero. He finally gets a chance to, but those plans go south as Deadpool finds out he has to sacrifice his reputation, and all he has built up towards being a hero, in order to truly be one.

I have no idea if Daniel Way was trying to sum up the greatest Deadpool arc with his own twist of limon (the active ingredient in Sprite), but the fact that we may have capped the quest by Deadpool to becoming a hero on the same issue number as the end of the "Mithras" arc is a hell of a coincidence.

Digging deeper into my fantasy realm, I would love to pick Way's brain on whether this three issue story has been his attempt to put his own spin on the past 7 years of Marvel books. Deadpool apes "Secret Invasion" by pretending to be Weasel in his power armor. Way channels "Dark Reign" by using his opportunity as Wild Card/The House to team up with The Grizzly in order to rob the money vaults of Las Vegas. "Siege" gets a nod as Weasel must charge headlong into Las Vegas in order to defend it from the titular character and reclaim his glory.

As I wrote earlier, this is not a particularly great book. However, it was one which I felt I could talk about and not just be excited and pee on the carpet for like I did over DV8 #4.

DND Adventure Idea : The Art of War

2010-07-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

PCs must stop a conquering horde and their leader from destroying a good kingdom. The PCs must bring down an advanced force led by an Elite General.

Their foe has wrote the book on warfare, however. The adversary has spies and saboteurs spread throughout the good kingdom, ready to begin a shadow campaign that could cause the good kingdom to crumble before it has time to mobilize.

Soon, heroes begin to learn their enemy knows more about them than they could believe. Now, they must do the same against this awesome rival. The heroes must unearthe everything they can on this unseen master of war.

Once they know their enemy, the heroes must begin planning for war. Understanding their enemy allows them to plan to defend against his best strategems. The heroes organize the good kingdoms defense, and wait for an opening.

Once an opening presents itself, the heroes must attack, and rain down fury against the Master of War.

Hooray for Second Coming

2010-07-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

It is bizarre given that I'm writing praise for an event title that I have consciously chosen not to spend money on. I refuse to endorse, monetarily, any more X-Men books that feature Sentinels, or allusions to Days of Future Past/Present/etc. That last time I enjoyed a story featuring these over used mechanoid fun suckers was Operation: Zero Tolerance, only because it assumed the rest of the world of Marvel does, in fact, exist in the same world as the X-Men. Other heroes (okay, just Spider-Man) were drawn into such an inherently unfair conflict as U.S. Government sanctioning of genocide.

I give Second Coming praise for only a few reasons. I praise it for acknowledging this, in its own way. Bastion HAD to isolate San Francisco from the rest of the world because, yeah, the rest of the Marvel Heroes would be forced to deal with this issue. X-Factor covered it perfectly, too. I want to desperately believe that with the end of Second Coming that the stories of Sentinels and futures where robots hunt mutants are finished. In fact, I want to believe that with the end of Second COming most of Claremont's influence on the team has begun to fizzle out.

I honestly want to see the new adjectiveless X-Men succeed, and not just because I consider Victor Gischler a friend of the now dead show. I am not going to pretend that the X-Men shouldn't serve the niche they have for themselves, and that's as representations of minorities and discrimination in this country. However, I would like to see variety in the stories, and the upcoming vampire arc is certainly headed in the right direction. Instead of the minority fighting against the majority, lets go ahead and two dfferent minorities fight each other.

Since Claremont's "Days of Future..." the X-Men have been stuck in a world with pre-WWII sensibilities towards minorities. I hope that we can at least move them into the civil rights era, in terms of the problems mutants in Marvel will have to face. Then again, with Utopia being what it is, a tiny nation off of the bay in San Francisco, perhaps we'll get some stories that are allegories for African Genocide/Yugoslavia. That'll at least get their problems coinciding with the times.

You Wouldn't Expect It...

2010-07-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

But I am still quite alive. However, The Popmedia Primecast is not. So, Me and Dusty have decided to part ways creatively. If you would think about it, though, getting 6 months out of a hour and a half long commercial radio show with 45-60 minutes of content devoted to the comic book medium on AM radio in South louisiana is a hell of a feat. Hooray for me.

Now, It is on to othr things. Writing more, specifically. I'm making a check list right now.
1-Write on this damn blog
2-Go to Lafayette "Drink and Draws" and mingle with the artists.
3-Get adventures published for D&D 4th Edition
4-Write a novel
5-Write for Marvel

Prince of Power #1

2010-05-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Cho is a legacy character, in a sense. It is presented in this book he is the inheriter of the role Hercules played in the Marvel U. Cho stands apart from most legacy characters because his skill and power set are so different from his heroic mentor. He has a great chance of seperating himself from his heroic mentor and becoming a unique hero. This isn't a legacy charcater who is just a change in personality from his mentor, such as Wally West and Dick Grayson. Cho is drasticly different from Hercules, but the mission statement for the character remains the same. A whole new space of storytelling is opening up to fill this role of fighter of mythological monsters.

The book moves at a break neck speed, which is good. Events moved from a fight with The Griffin, to Banner's work to locate Hercules, to Vali's plan to work towards god-hood. Each story has its own unique undertones and threads laid out that will, hopefully, intersect with each other before the series finishes up. The Griffin fight lays out a larger story of the impending appearance of the Chaos King. The work by Banner features a second story about the quest to find Hercules, and Vali's plan to attain godhood is a third arc that will, most likely, require Cho to visit, and anger, several pantheons over the course of the series. The art is gorgeous, and I wish I could enjoy it more without the purple information boxes. For some reason those things are irritating to me.

Finally, there is an everpresent undertone of the gods vs man . In the Chaos King story Athena leaves a message for Cho that Mankind should learn to depend on themselves rather than look tot he gods for help in their monumental battles. In the Quest for Hercules story, as Cho is talkign to Delphyne, the Gorgon, she is reading a book titled "How to Kill a God"while Cho voices suspicions of trusting Athena, and there is the rise of Godhodd story, which was started through Vali Halflings desire to raise mortals into godhood because of the gods' indifference to their mortal followers. There is, also, an intersting scene where people donate goods to help the Norse Gods after the events of Siege. It is a nice juxtaposition of how mortals look to the gods and help them after reading Athena's and Vali's speeches on the relations of mortals to the gods. Artistically, this is a juxtaposition to an earlier panel regarding the horrors the god's have bestowed upon the world. War, Destruction, and the "kindness" of the one day only free health clinic.

This is a great book, all around. Cho has the personality of a self-assured teenager, and reminds me of some of my most problematic A students, as a teacher. The heavy mythological lean of the book is right up my alley and I'll be returning again to continue reading this series next month.

Siege 4

2010-05-13T14:37:00.001-07:00

I truly hate becoming a comic nerd, but, after 2.5 solid issues of work (I refuse to consider the 1st half of Siege #1 as being good), Bendis just dropped the ball on the ending of this book.

Two scenes effectively sink this book. First, we have the Loki begging Odin for strength scene. This does a lot to undercut Loki's machinations that have been present throughout Kieron Gillen's run of Thor and the Siege: Loki one shot. I get that Loki can shrug off being killed. That was the point of his dealings in Siege: Loki. I have a problem with the sincerity he displays in his astonishment at the destructive power of The Sentry. There's no reason for Loki to not be sincere in thoughts. So you have to assume that those thoughts he has are true. He is not vocalizing them. He's not trying to hide from mind readers. These are presented as true feelings that Loki is experiencing, at that moment. In that moment Bendis completely castrates everything we knew of Loki over the past few months. It's great Loki took back the Norn stones because he certainly acts like he lost his stones in these first few pages.

Most of the fight we get against The Void is solid. The Avengers, powered up by Norn Stones, Asgard's "Power Thirst", try to beat up The Void. Not working. Iron Man drops a Helicarrier on The Void. Not working. Its building up to the point where something awesome needs to happen to beat The Void, and we get Thor calling down a Lightning bolt on him. Which he tried doing, to little effect, at the beginning of the fight. This doesnt look like Bendis running out of ideas, this smells more like the page count was gettign too high for the fight and needed to be wrapped up, quickly. Again, The Sentry lost the fight because the page count was going up!

Lets also remember how many times the damn guy DIED in Dark Avengers! And he stays down from that? And being dumped into the sun? Wasn't the BIG SCARY thing about the man that he was unbeatable because his molecules were under conplete control of his will, ever if he died? Didn't he have the equivalent of a molecular healing factor? WHY THE HELL IS A LIGHTNING BOLT BEATING HIM?!

Throw in a 10 page epilogue to this story and we end Marvels great crossover with a pretty pathetic whimper.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight 8

2010-05-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

I am constantly amazed Moon Knight has his own series.

This week was a fairly light week for me in comics. I only picked up 8 books. While I, normally, gush glowingly about titles such as Batman and Robin, Spider-Man: Fever, and Amazing Spider-Man, I found this book to be my favorite one of the week. It is not that it is as innovative or potentially exciting as the three books mentioned previously, but it was an enjoyable read and concluded a story. I like having endings in books.

So this story is, essentially, a 22 page epilogue to the McGuffin of the contract killing on a Russian Mobster. Deadpool was hired to kill this man. Moon Knight was not going to let that happen. Moon Knight runs off to dismantle the man's operation himself. By page 5 that whole thing is wrapped up. Then we get a 13 page throw down of Moon Knight and Deadpool for, really, no reason, now. Deadpool is a synonym, in story, for the illogical, so fighing for no reason at all is right up his alley. The other 4 pages? Well, the lady that hired Deadpool decides to be more proactive in her mission to kill the Russian mobster after the Merc with the Mouth fails to do the job.

iZombie 1

2010-05-06T13:56:00.001-07:00

Witness that I do not just read Marvel comics or Green Lantern tie in books.

A problem that can plague #1 issues is the writer attempts to set something up in the issue rather than provide anything dynamic in the book. What is great about this book is that, while it is a set-up piece, at $1 for the book, it is a cheap entry way into the world of Supernatural Eugene, Oregon.

Boy does this book set up the world too. We get our protagonist, Gwen, her best friend Ellie, their 3rd wheel hangeron Spot, the Vampire paintball ref, and some monster hunters. Nobody is really doing anything in this issue except establishing themselves and what their role is in the book. They are all interesting characters. I'm excited for these people. But, again, this issue is just meant to set up the world. I suspect issue #2 will be where some action will begin.

Now, for the real critiquing. While this book was good, I'm sure we don't need to wait until story page 20 to find out Gwen is a zombie nor story pages 21-22 to find out what the purpose of the book is. What is most frustrating about this, though, is that 18-22 were the previews of the damn book. Your big reveal is not clever if the last 5 pages of your comic were the preview of your book in just about every DC comic printed over the past month. That makes you a giant waste of my time. Why the hell can we not get these five pages as the beginning of the story, and then the next 17 is Gwen and the gang solving the mystery of the murdered man? Can the reader not be introduced to them over the course of an investigation? I hate asking rhetorical questions because these should not be asked. There is no reason to hide the fact Gwen is a zombie until page 20 if everyone who has seen an advertisement for the book already knows this.

Now, on the plus side, Allred's art is beautiful. It is interesting to see a zombie rendered in his pop-style art work and how the fact that there is a zombie rendered in this way can expand on the possabilities of zombies in a person's eyes. While Roberson has changed the myth of the zombie slightly to suit this book, Allred's work on the physical appearance of the zombie does the same, and for the better. It is not as if Zombies haven been featured in comics before.

*cough*Marvel Zombies

However, I cannot remember a recent comic that uses zombies in this fashion. Bravo to the creative team of Roberson and Allred for that.

Siege: Secret Warriors

2010-05-04T12:35:00.001-07:00

I cannot find a better picture, so you people may have to squint to see that one.

This book follows two different stories. One is Captaina nd America and Nick Fury catching up with each other, sinc ethey have not had a team up since Cap's death. The other story is more important. Ever since Siege 2, i'm sure i'm not the only person to have wondered how Alex, Phobos, God of Fear, Son of Ares, God of War, would react to The Sentry ripping him in two. Now, we get that reaction.

I was thrown for a loop when the kid decided to go after the President. The story reason is not so bad. Osborn would not have been in power if the President had not given it to him. So going after the President as the real man who is responsable for the madness in the Marvel world is not that far fetched. However, I don't quite agree with that reasoning. Alex is a child, so don't get me wrong, this is a child's way of lashing out at a situation he had no control over. In the story, though, Ares is as responsable for his death as the President, Norman Osborn, or The Sentry are. All 4 men could be held accountable for this particular death. This leads me to think Hickman is trying to draw attention to the Iraq War, a war started through the office of the Presidency.

I absolutely love the letter Phobos writes to the President at the end of this book. My favorite lines being "You sacrificed honor for expediency. You traded intent for quick action. You were wrong...and we all suffered for it. So, do better now, mortal man...for if not I, then surely some god somewhere will some day find you wanting."

If Jonathan Hickman is indeed echoing the war in Iraq with those lines, then he essentially called W. out, because, surely, W.'s Christian God may find him wanting for starting such a war. But that assumes Hickman believes the War in Iraq to be started for the sake of expediency and quick action, rather than to protect our country's honor or for a true intent.

Captain America 605

2010-05-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

"Two Americas" comes to an end. American cnservatives have not been fully eviscerated. All the gnashing of teeth is pretty moot. Lets not beat around the bush, though. Brubaker took conservative anger at our government and used it to tell a story whose villains are examples of extreme conservative ideology. To be petty, Captain America arose out of anger at a form of extreme conservative idology, Nazism.

By the third act the arc has veered off of the the path of conservative anger at the current government and shifted to the culture wars. The real moral of this story is that, given we live in such a diverse country, we, sometimes, have to compromise some of our principals in order for us to interact with our fellow man. As long as people can exist and do not cause physical or devastating financial harm to each other, then you may have to give up the dream of homogeny. To tell that story necessitates a villain that may have a bit of a conservative lean to him. The culture wars are a conservative rallying point. The 1950s Captain America is a culture warrior taken to an illogical extreme. That comes into its sharpest focus when, atop the Hoover Dam, 1950s Cap begins screaming, "I don't want to look at this world and think it's right!" shortly before he attempts to blow it up.

I'm fine with Ed Brubaker using Captain America as a soap box for his ideals. It would not be a Cap comic without him fighting for something the writer views as an American concept. When Bill Willingham gets ahold of this comic, I won't begrudge him giving us stories with Flag Smasher on them. We live in a country, today, where audiences don't want to be given unbiased news reporting. Audiences actively seek out news that fits into their own world view or form opinions based on what they read out of the rare source of unbiased news. That is perfectly fine. Its how news has to survive, now. If people feel you do not accuratey report the news, they will find someone who they believe will, and that tends to be someone who presents news with a slant that they agree with. People like being informed, but also like being advised, and they respond to advice given by people they agree with.

If conservatives want a Captain America of their own, they are more than welcome to read Mark Millar's Cap in Ultimate Comics.

Mighty Avengers 36

2010-04-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Its not a surprise when I say I am in the tank for Dan Slott. His run on Mighty Avengers has been more enjoyable than Pak and Van Lente's Hercules. Additionally, he more understadably communicates more information between panels than Grant Morrison does. A lot of that second point comes from the incredible artwork of Khoi Pham, but Dan's writing, or absence of certain scenes in this case, shows how you can create good comics that rest on high points and avoiding writing about trivial details that don't advance the story in a meaningful way, or provide understanding of the story as a whole.

Between pages 7-8 Ultron reveals what he has done to corrupt Jan in the underspace, and rather than have 2-3 pages devoted to him enacting this plan, we get a suspenseful scene as he reveals what he has done and Slott/Pham place this revelation beautifully on the last panel of a page you have to turn in order to continue the story.

This is one of about 3 examples I can cite in this book of how Dan cuts out needless information and moves us along to the next high point in the story, and does it in a way the reader can follow.

I could continue to go on and on about this man, but, I dont think I have to. If you want fun comics that move at a breakneck pace and bring the most action/plot to you as can be fit in a 22 page comic, Dan Slott is that writer.

So now lets briefly mention Khoi Pham and this setting. Given that half the book takes place on Jan in Underspace, Pham has to utilize white space to its fullest. It is a background that, I believe, is meant for defining shots and heightens their meaningfulness. White space around a character means that your attention has to go on that object. Your eyes cannot wander and if the artwork/posing/fighting is not up to snuff, white space can be a detriment to the enjoyment of the comic. Pham uses white space so effectively in this book with the most awesome scene being the one on the 12th story page with Hank Pym launching off the tower of Jocastas at Ultron, who is floating in white space above Janet Van Dyne's body/universe. The Panel placement was superb, and the whitespace really forces you to focus on Pym due to the character's size and the contrast of Red and Yellow against white.

Just a great book all around and my favorite of the week.

Amazing Spider-Man 629

2010-04-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well. That audio review thing blew right up in my face. And my procrastination, too.

Not a bad way to cap off this story. I'm a little bit hesitant to completely suspend my disbelief in the way this book asks me. I tend to shy away from a series of fateful coincidences that this book ended up becoming. That said, it is a fine story detailing, and continuing, the ongoing redemption of the Juggernaut in the Marvel U, which I wholeheartedly endorse under the auspice that the character is actually growing and evolving in a medium which embraces stagnation. Not to say that is a bad thing. Its just an observation. I wholeheartedly endorse this change just because of the fact it is change and it has honestly been one of the better things that came out of Chuck Austen's Uncanny X-Men run, and most enduring (looking in the direction of my run of "The Draco")

Meanwhile, in the backup story, we get a preview of the return of the Lizard! Well, I'm excited for it.

S.H.I.E.L.D. 1

2010-04-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

So, hickman messes with Continuity and does a MASSIVE retcon of the Marvel U in this book. However, that is fine considering no one has bothered to really do much with ancient Marvel history outside of the FF, Dr. Doom, and Apocalypse. Really, Hickman is just tapping into an unmined vein of opportunity. Considering the technology that exists in the current Marvel World, why can't we accept that Leonardo DaVinci is the Reed Richards/Tony Stark of the 15th century?

Anyway, Hickman wallows in continuity in this book, but you dont have to be aware of continuity to enjoy this piece. I liked the special guest appearance of Apocalypse and Moon Knight in the ancient Egypt scene, and that was some nice similarities between Imhotep and Captain America.

There is a lot of Cosmic imagery in the book, Night/Day dichotamy, and Heliocentrism. All of it is not explained thoroughly in the first issue, but Hickman has set up a fabulous spread for our visual palettes to enjoy. Dustin Weaver really turns in gorgeous art-work on this book

It would not surprise me if the events and history told in this book begin having an impact on Hickman's other works in Secret Warriors and Fantastic Four. I'd dare say he is carving out a little niche of the universe for himself to play in. There's more that could be shared between this book and Secret Warriors rather than Fantastic Four, given the fact Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. is featured in Secret Warriors, but I would not be surprised if Hickman takes some of what he has in this book and runs with it in the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards and company have already traveled in time to Ancient Egypt and Doom is not too above using time travel for his own ends, so the events alluded to in this book may be better fleshed out in future FF books. One thing is for certain, though. This book may get me to buy into FF if this is a supposition that pans out to be true.

Spider-Man: Fever 1

2010-04-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Recently I've taken to reading "Essential Doctor Strange Volume 1" and this book compares favorably to those Stan Lee/Steve Ditko comics. Brendan McCarthy's artwork is pleasantly surreal when featuring Doctor Strange.

I was a bit unsure about the plot. As far as I am concerned, the Arachnix were an entirely new entity being introduced into the Marvel world. I tend to not embrace limited stories that don't feature villains I care about, or, rather, I need really good writing to truly keep my interest given my lack of familiarity with the antagonists. I hate mysteries because of that belief.

Right, back to the book. McCarthy does the proper thing in characterizing the Arachnix through the use of curious language at seemingly bizarre moments. Aside from the chanting of "Harrah Harrah" the little droppings of phrases such as "I shall have it with custard" and "It will be such a strange meat" are just sliiiiiightly off base of normalcy in their use. That helps evoke a more alien feeling towards the Arachnix rather than their looks, to me.

On the whole, the book is good. It is a solid beginning to a limited series, and I always welcome more stories featuring Doctor Strange.

Punisher 15

2010-04-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to rehash anything about whether or not Frankencastle is supposed to be a good or bad, or whatever. Rick Remender is doing things with this character that no one could have expected that they would want to see in a Punisher book. That's the only thing that needs to be said about that.

Now, onto the content of the book itself. Once Remender is able to cut loose with the premise of the book, the amount of wacky that permeates every page of this comic is something to behold. There's Frank Castle riding a D&D Red Dragon. There's Frank shooting up WWII Nazi and Russian zombies. There's Hellsgaard. Everything you need to make this enjoyable is in here.

Regarding Hellsgaard: I read about how this villain is another example of what would happen if there are two Punishers in the world and they meet each other. Ennis covered that, I believe, and probably better. Hellsgaard is nothing like the Punisher in terms of motivation. Hellsgaard did lose his family to monsters and has vowed to kill all monsters. And if, in that last sentence, you replace "Hellsgaard" with "Frank Castle" and replace all the letters "n" with "b" you will have the summary of the Punisher. You know what though? They aren't the same guy. Hellsgaard is more akin to a racist than anything else, and Fraction covered that in War Journal, while Punisher is a killer of people for their deeds. Not the same. Do both men hate? Absolutely. But then that'd mean Wolverine is similar to the Punisher, too, and Magneto, as well.

Siege books for 3-31

2010-04-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

Dark Wolverine 84

Reiterating what I have said before: If you have been reading Dark Avengers and thinking that Bendis, for all the time he spends of dialog, has not really characterized that group of maniacs, then you need to read this book.

Daniel Way is writing some of his best work on this title with Marjorie Liu. I've had no prior introduction to Daken outsid eof this title and his first appearance in Wolverine Origins. Yet, as I read more of these Dark Wolverine books, I'm becomig more and more intrigued by Daken. This is a guy that liks to make everyone around him uncomfortable, it seems, so that it puts him in a power position. It creates, honslty, great scenes of ballsiness, such as deep throating Bullseye, that can shock the reader once they see it.

As a Siege tie-in, the Dark Wolverine books haven't done much. They're fever dreams and imaginary stories Daken is experiencing throughout the Siege. They don't have any real impact on the greater Siege story, which is a shame.

If I could be reading the adventures of crazy-nihilist-aranchist Daken and the Furies, I'd probably keep buying into the book. Right now, though, this 3 part arc has got me intrigued enough to look into the past stories from the year of Osborn's Dark Reign, and I might keep my eyes further on the title. Yet, I'm disappointed that the Furies and Daken as "Menace of the gods" won't be any further explained since Siege is finished next month and Dark Wolverine will be busy with a new story to tell.

New Mutants 11

This is a bit of an ancillary tale to Siege, but, over-all, the story was good.

Norse goddess Hel calls in her mark from Dani Moonstar after giving her the strength to fight Ares back in Utopia, and, really, its not that big of a deal. Now, I'm coming at this with, really, no prior experience of what Hel is like in the Marvel U, but if all she wants Dani to do is pick up some dead spirits, Dani is being, pretty much, a petulant bitch. Really, in the grand scheme of things, Hel doesn't give her a morally difficult, ethically ambiguous job. I honestly have no sympathy for the spot Moonstar puts herself in at the end of the book.

It is good, though, to see Kieron Gillen write more stories involving the Norse Gods. His Thor run is absolutely great and I wil be sad to see him leave Thor. He does a great job characterizing the Norse pantheon through their dialog while in action, and that's what I love most about Gillen. But you also have to tip your hat to Niko Henrichon's art and how much it conveys to the reader. Although, he still has men that look a lot like Jay Leno. Seriously, the chins of the men in his book are always pretty massive.

And, in the end, everything gets reverted to normal. The New Mutants, after-all, need to get hopping into "Second Coming" next month. However, that doesn't do anything to prevent this from being a good stand alone New Mutants story.

Siege Books for 3-24

2010-03-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

Thunderbolts 142

Good god, this is what everyone needs to look at over at Marvel and DC if they need to know how to do a tie-in to a crossover book. My god, Jeff Parker tells a fantastic story. Let us count why this is awesome:

1) It is a tie-in that advances a plot and seems as if it has some importance to the main title. I know the Spear of Odin is not going to show up in Siege 4, but that doesn't mean the books can't act like they're some important piece to the over-all story, and this plot about the Thunderbolts getting the Spear of Odin to Osborn to help him defeat the Asgardians is exactly that. You have some real tangible proof that if something bad happens in this book, then people in the main story could be in serious trouble.

2) It has The Mighty Avengers

2.5) U.S.Agent vs Scourge. you never knew you would want this fight to happen until it actually happened.

3) "You've blown my cover. That's another demerit." God bless you, Nuke.

New Avengers 63

This, thankfully, is one of the better Bendis written tie-ins to Siege. It is not ALL flashback. In fact, the only thing the flashback sequences accomplish is to provide characterization of Cage, Jessica, Hawkeye, and Mocking Bird. I don't mind knowing how each of these respective characters feel about the Siege of Asgard and it's aftermath. Do I wish that, perhaps, there were no flashbacks? Sure. Hakeye and Mockingbird's little story could have taken place inside Asgard, but I'm just too happy over the fact this entire issue isn't ALL flashback.

Mighty Avengers 35

OK. First the bad. As much as I bang on Bendis for his tie ins to Siege, at least his boks help, a bit, in characterizing the major players of the event. Dan Slott's first of a 2 part tie-in doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of Siege. Its not right to call this a tie-in and probably anyone just lookign to pick up all Siege books will be disappointed in this book.

Now, for the good. this is a book written by Dan Slott. That's instant credibility in my eyes and a sure fire guarantee of "having a hoot." As a person who started reading Avengers books with New Avengers, and neve rpicked up Mighty Avengers until Dan Slott's run, I'm happy to be reading my first Ultron story, now. The book features its daily requirements of Pym science and does enough to tangentially tie itself into the Siege event.

Now, just some general reactions to things in the book:

1) Hank Pym is straight up getting creepy with his real(er) doll mods he keeps doing to Jocasta.

2) I forgot about G.R.A.N.D.P.A.

3) Hank Pym is kinda a dick.

4) I HATE speculating on the future, but hear me out on this because I think this whole train of thought has a special pay off of insanity. So, The Wasp looks kind of like Eternity in the Underspace. I can only surmise that when Thor teleported the Wasp to underspace so she could blow up at the end of Secret Invasion, she was the new Big Bang of Underspace, and she became the Eternity of Underspace.

Now, Eternity in the Marvel U is the personification of the Universe. To recap-The Universe is actually a living biped. Now, Eternity must have been born in the big bang. There was a universe that existed before the Big Bang in the Marvel U. Galactus is its last survivor. So, Eternity, the personification of space, has a tiny Galactus floating aroud inside him eating planets. Its like a virus in the bloodstream, or a hook worm.

So, If Eternity, the embodiment of the Marvel U, has Galactus, the last survivor of the universe before the big bang, foating around inside him, then does Janet Van Dyne, the Eternity of Underspace, has a tiny Galactus floating around inside her, too, from the universe she destroyed when she blew up?

Avengers: The Initiative 34

Christos Gage keeps doing what many people find to be amazing: Give adequate page time to about several different plot threads and stories in a 22 page book. We have the New Warriors, Taskmaster, Constrictor, Diamondback, Penance, and The Hood as the books main characters and Gage utilizes what little page time each character can have to their maximum efficiency. Night Thrasher decides whose side he will be fighting on by the 2nd page. Tigra gets her chance to tear into the Hood for about 3 pages. Justice worries as only a leader can worry for about 2 pages. Penance comes around within 3 pages, Taskmaster gets his chance to shine for about 6 pages, Constrictor and Diamondback get all emotional for another 3 pages, the remainder is tied into timing the events of Siege 3: The appearance of The Hood, The Avengers attacking Osborn, and the Sentry's destruction of Asgard. There's is a LOT going on in this book and Gage deftly handles it all.

You know what this means? Its a comic that doesn't slow down. God Bless Jorge Molina for keeping the action going on the page, too. Outstanding work.

This book is a tie-in with plot hreads that are independent of main story, yet have real repercussions to the over-all tale. We're back to why I liked Thunderbolts so much and this book is another example of point 1 from that review.

Red Hulk 3

2010-03-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

I know squat about Rick Jones. It makes it kind of hard, initially, to get into this book, then. However, Jeff Parker does enough to fill you in on the history of Marvel's greatest-support-character-other-than-Jarvis. My only thoughts on this book, as a whole, is wondering where it is going. Issues 1 and 2 did a good enough job filling in some gaps in stories from the Hulk book and how Red Hulk and Banner get together to attempt to take down the Intelligencia. This story really doesn't do much other than fill in the origin of A-Bomb and extrapolate 22 pages of story from it as A-Bomb was created to be a manchurian candidate by the Intelligencia against Bruce Banner.

The book is mostly characterization of Rick Jones as A-Bomb, which is sad since the title of the comic is "Red Hulk". Yet, Parker's analysis of Jones' psychology is pretty nifty. The big question about how Rick should actually be feeling about being a Hulk-thing, and why he should feel that way was a nice bit of drama injected into Rick's character. Sadly, I liked Rick as the guy that was enjoying being a Hulk-thing more than most people. I suppose it is because I felt more like Rick was a representative of the readers. I don't think i'm going on a limb to say the readers would think it was pretty awesome to be a Hulk-thing. Rick has his A-Bomb form. He can change back into Rick. H eis still kind of the same guy in either form. Now, because of Parker's characterization of Rick, that analogue is gone, but it doesn't make Rick a worse character for it.

Amazing Spider-Man 625 and 626

2010-03-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Joe Kelly wraps up his contributions to Gauntlet so far by bringing the Rhino story to a further close than I feel it really needed. I'm glad, I guess, that status quo is upheld and old Rhino is back to being Rhino, but I don't see the reason why outside of retaining status quo. I was fine with a new Rhino as much as I was fine that old Rhino was completely emasculated by his wife. So, instead, readers get a rather predictable story where Old Rhino's wife dies because of new Rhino and Old Rhino becomes Rhino again because he can't properly channel the tragedy of death towards positive improvement. Also, the story is narrated by what seems to be a teenage girl, and Peter Parker gets kinda emo.

One of the better things that I am noticing in these books is that writers haven't dwelled on Peter's emotional state, most of the time. Specifically, the reader knows Peter's having a rough time, but I am not reading the thoughts Pity Party Peter Parker. Kelly gives us a helpful helping of that, though.

Look, on the whole, it is not a bad story. However, as part of the genre of graphic serialized ficition this chapter highlights what a lot of people complain about regarding the medium and what some fans complain about Spider-Man. We had a good character progression moment for old Rhino and perhaps some potential for stories about the new Rhino before he shuffled off this mortal coil. Instead those possabilities for new stories were taken off the table for a plot that has been told enough in just Spider-Man books themselves. Additionally, one of the harder things to do in comics is probably making Spider-Man entertaining without the character of Peter Parker being a whiny shell of a man the whole book. I always figure one of the defining traits of the character was his ability to continue to bounce back from adversity and in this installment, it seems more like he's letting adversity defeat him. That's not a character I want to read about.

Being an ex-teacher, the events between Michele and Lucas make me think of too many bad memories from emtionally investing myself in the wrong kids from that time in my life. So, on a personal level, Fred van Lente grabs me and hooks me into this story, which I'm sure is something all writers want to have happen to their readers.

High level of engagement aside, FVL tells a great Spider-man story that has the tale of Michele and Lucas as one of many threads running through it. What's most important is that it is a Spider-man story and not a tale that also features Spider-Man, which I could say is very different than what I read in 625. This is a story that forces Peter to have to use his resourcefulness instead of his spider powers, which was an enjoyment to read given Peter's humility and pragmatacism. The reader gets a self deprecating Spider-Man without me getting the impression he was going to have to cut himself once he got home.

I, sadly, did not read World War Hulk. I have no prior knowledge of who the new Scorpion is. I suppose I wish for more conflict between her and Spider-Man, but c'est la vie. I'll take a Tombstone appearance, though. Now, if only the comics could build him up the way the Spectacular Spider-Man TV show did.

X-Books

2010-03-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

Uncanny X-Men 522

Nation X comes to a close and Matt Fraction leaves the story on about as good a note as you can for the X-Men. This month's book leaves a sugary sweet feeling within the reader in the end, if you discount the fact Kitty pryde is perpetually intangible for the moment. If the concept behind "Nation X" was that it was to be the place for all the mutants in the world to gather, Fraction pulled in the last piece he could, with Kitty Pryde being the final mutant to call Utopia home.

Perhaps the only knock on the story was that it seems there is much more that could be told about living on Asteroid M than what Fraction covered given the page and monthly limitations. Now, if Nation X becomes more of a setting change than just a storyline, the possabilities are still there, but until the end of Second Coming we'll have to wait to read more about the 200 some-odd mutants living on a rock in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

The only other negatives generally are with charcaterization, specifically how much of a dick Reed Richards comes off as. But, c'est la vie.

The backup story was pretty good. The plot goes, "What if you knew when your world was going to die, and there was an appreciable amount of time. Could society keep itself together in the face of that knowledge?" Its always an interesting story because it is almost akin the the zombie movie genre in that if you focus on just a few characters it turns into them trying to maintain their ethics and a sensible morality in the face of the world going mad. The story adds a layer of irony because we know Kitty is in the giant space bullet and the aliens will actually survive the coming apocalypse just fine. I am actually pleasantly surprised with the ending to the story, too, as it maintains the sugary sweet feelings the whole book coaxes from the reader.

X-Factor 203

Sometimes I wonder if I should stick with X-Factor, given how niche it is within the X-Books. Then Peter David reminds me why I'm such a moron for thinking these things. We got Baron Mordo up in this book, man! Plus, there's some mindless ones, too.

Now, time for vaguely critiquing the writing of the book. Peter David probably uses a bit too many pages to get across the story he wants to here. The opening scene could probably have been done in 1 page. Readers can all see that something weird is going on with Monet by the end of that page. Guido's assault of the drug cartel could have been lessened by a few pages, and generally I seem to be frustrated with scenes I feel are going a bit too long than they need to be. I just get the impression that David had the idea of where he wanted to end the book and just kinda drug out scenes as much as he can until he had enough pages for a whole comic.

Now, one final note. Is it wrong that I can totally relate to Guido and the advice he got from "Legs"? 'Cause that's totally why I asked out my current paramour. Just another comic from this week that is enhanced by me having an emotional resonance with the characters.

Nation X 4

With this issue, the anthology comes to a close. Nothing truly advanced, nothing truly altered, but, over-all, some good stories and a chance for some talent to shine in a limited space.

In the frist story Michael Allred turns in some fabulous art for a story written by Peter Milligan that features Doop. WTF is a Doop?

Harvey Tolibad turns in som nice art for a good story about the Stepford Cuckoos and they give teaching a better name than it deserves by claiming how much it fulfilled Emma's life and can fulfill the lives of the three mischevious minxes.

Best story, bar none, was "Ice Cream Alamo". Though I question the sanity of kids willing to stab people just for Ice Cream. Not cool Loa. You lost, suck it up and learn from it.

"The King and Queen of Utopia" was a fine story, but Niko Henrichon's art is just a bit off for me. Check the chin on Namor. He's ready for Late Night. However, a good little wrap up of what was a very obvious theme between most of the stories in Nation X, the problem of food. Plus it spotlights Namor, who just doesn't get enough nods in Uncanny.

Green Lantern 52

2010-03-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

I'm going to put it out there: this book really didn't do much for me.

Now, it has some nice extras in it for those that want a complete story. The threat of Xanshi is resolved. We get a peek at all the different embodiments of the colored corps. Geoff Johns also gets to provide his take on the whole creation of the DC Universe.

One problem I have with this is that, given that Johns has to write this book so that it is completely unnecessary for a reader to pick up if they are only buying the Blackest night event book, the book kinda moves in a circle. Where the book started is about the point the books ends.

A second problem I feel the book has is that its kinda falling beneath its own weight. I can buy complete darkness and silence in the world before the white being showed up. I get that. Then the reader is told that the white being made Earth. Then the reader finds out all the different colored entities of the corps: ion, parallax, etc, are all mutated animals from earth themselves. That doesnt quite jive, I guess, with some things. Is a flying bug really the first thing to feel fear? No protozoic sea bugs or fish? And while I find the attempt at using the serpent from The Garden of Eden cute for the being of avarice, do we have to throw in some biblical creation stories as well into this? Plus, I'm sure the serpent didn't eat the apple, and I'm an avowed Atheist. Is Johns simply hinting at the serpent's part in getting Adam and Eve to eat the apple, without showing the two? Having that question just leads me into what I'm seeing with all of these references. Johns has just made a muddled mess of various creaton tales and what it does is make inconsistencies that I have to spend time deciphering how all the pieces fit together and that really takes me out of the story.

The wrestling equivalent of this is the show before a Pay per view. That's known as the "going home" show. Well, this is the going home book and while it sets up Blackest Night 8 to be, possibly, a slobber knocking fight book, this book does more to set up future arcs than truly resolve anything in the Blackest Night event.

The DC books from me 3-17

2010-03-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

Green Lantern Corps 46

No picture for this one because of difficulties getting one :(

The end of Blackest Night, part 1. All of the various multi colored lantern corps begin converging onto Earth and the black lantern Anti-Monitor makes an appearance, as well as black lantern Ice, for the first time. Things then start to get really wacky as a black lantern refrigerator full of Kyle Raynor's first girlfriend appears in space and we get to relive Major Force's now reviled act of aggression against sensability in comics. It is probably sad to say I am de-sensitized enough to violence to not be ashamed of my favorite medium for allowing such a scene to be put into ink back in the 90s, or be reminded of it, again, today.

Its nice to see Dove continue to make appearances, though. Blackest Night: Titans is continuing to show its one of the few tie-ins people honestly should have bought into for story purposes

Fables 93

I love Fables to death. Month after month Bll Willingham knocks it out of the park. However, given that his main narrative is the ever-present doom of Mr. Dark in the mundy world, I find it annoying that we get these 2-5 month side tales every once in a while. With the Adversary as the antagonist, the threat of danger against the protagonists and suspense raised because of that was lower due to the relative proximity of the two. It was fine to have these arcs spread across the tales of the Fables war against the Adversary because there was no great sense of urgency to resolve the conflicts in story. However, I find that, in story, there is a greater sense of urgency to resolve the issue of Mr. Dark and, thus, these side trips to Bufkin's fights against Baba Yaga and Fly's kingdom, while entertaining, become frustrating.

That aside, this story was pretty good. John's idea of using the story of a fable to help him locate his only witness for the trial ahead was an inventive, meta, use of the characters' nature. I do not think I've seen this use of the fact that the character's are fictional beings, before, in such a way by the character's themselves. It was quite inventive and helped in telling a larger story of nature vs. law and to what degree society should provide leeway and excuse the actions of people due to their customs. In the end, Willingham sets up a future story to tell that will center on the possible decline of Fly's kingdom.

Doomwar 2

2010-03-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

Issue 1 was a hoot for me and issue 2 of Marvel's comic book adaptation to Kissinger's idea of Realpolitik keeps on trucking along just fine.

I am thoroughly enjoying this type of Doctor Doom than some of the others. This is one that is not driven by revenge or slights agaisnt his personage. This Doom is a political thinker and Machiavellian manipulator. The only thing off putting about him is his use of a gun, which seems suplerfuous given the number of lasers his armor houses. So, really, the only gripe I have about Doom is that he's misuing his armor. Personality wise, this flavor of Doom is the best one I have tasted yet. The ending is a bit confusing but given the rest of the story, that's a small complaint since I am aware that the ending will be better hashed out come issue 3. Something tells me it will be along the lines of Doom proving his purity by being merciful.

The only thing I wish differently, now, is if the book just did not have the Dora Milaje story. I figured that once the Desturi leader was killed in issue 1 that the X-Men-T'Challa-Shuri forces would defeat the Wakandan-Desturi and Doombot army. Instead of the panels and pages devoted to the Dora Milaje, more of a spolight could have been placed on T'Challa.

Pakverse

2010-03-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Incredible Hulk 608

It is wrong for me to probably say this, but some of my thoughts while reading books that are part of a giant shared universe revolve around where a story fits in that world. For the longest time I have had the impression, unfounded, really, that Hulk books tend to exist seperately from the rest of the Marvel U. I know those stories are supposed to be in the same shared world, but I find that the Hulk tends to operate in his own little corner away from the rest of the Marvel books.

I have found that with Pak's writing of the Hulk, and since Big Green's return to Earth 616 after Planet Hulk, the character has been mixing in and integrating within the Marvel world more than I was initially under the impression he was. I'm unsure if that was Pak's intention writing the character for the past couple of years, but I can say it has broadened the accessability of the character in my eyes.

As for this issue, Fall of the Hulks comes to an end and sets the table for World War Hulks. Most of my comments regarding the event will be better detailed when I begin to talk about the other book in the series...

Hulk 21

You know what you are getting, relatively, with Jeph Loeb's "Hulk" book. Red Hulk is kind of an ass. He prefers to do things the destructive, bombastic way. The book is low on subtlety and sometimes I find Red Hulk tends to always have to justify why he does things in, perhaps, a less than efficient way. However, Red Hulk represents something to me in the way he goes about his business. He's having fun as a hulk and I would probably settle things the same way as him if I had his power set, too. The Red Hulk has hubris and, also, a bit of moxy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Now, as for the Fall of the Hulks event. I believe that this is how events need to be run. The relevant books, "Incredible Hulk" and "Hulk" all contained stories that advanced the plot of the event. The tie-ins, She-Hulks and Red Hulk, reveal some pretty relevant information to the over-all story. I can honestly say that every part of this event I purchased has not made me feel like I have wasted my money.

Best thing about this issue, though? Thor-Hulk!

Hercules: all of an Avenger 1

I'll state now, and probably be wrong, but I do expect Hercules to return, eventually. That said, that viewpoint does not prevent me from enjoying this book.

I don't have much to say that has not aleady been better said at the ISB. I loved this book. Pak and Van Lente don't wallow too much in the stories and write them as tiny comedic beats. My first impression of this was that it would be an anthology and I was very pleasantly surprised to see it was not. Thor's story runs the longest at about 5 pages. Plus, we also get the return of the editorial box reminding readers of what issues events in the stories happened in! I LOVE those things. Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, but apparently 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Even better than the main story, though, was Paul Tobin's Agents of Atlas backup which puts the new Venus and Namora on the job of settling matters of Herc's rather large estate. It is a rather fun read as, once again, Tobin doesn't dwell on any particular job during this process. To keep an activity like this entertianing, Tobin keeps it moving on the page.

Comics don't make a good medium to illustrate quiet contemplation which is broght to the front when juxtaposed with the content of these stories. The nature of these events for most of humanity is that they are solemn, quiet, or contemplative times. The world slows down a bit, for me, when I have to deal with death. Both of these stories don't slow down and, because of that, the tone of the book is definitely more celebratory and less boring. A character such as Marvel's Hercules deserves such a memorial.

One last thing to mention. In Tobin's story Venus and Namora discuss how the gods of this Marvel world can be so mortal. The Greek Pantheon has not had the best of times, recently, in the Marvel World given, now, that Zeus, Hera, Ares, and Hercules are now dead and a new Venus has risen to take the place of an abdicating Aphrodite. I am curious to know if there is a specifically concerted effort to dismantle the Greek Pantheon of deities in Marvel and where it will eventually lead to in the future.

Deadpool Books for 3-17

2010-03-18T13:40:00.001-07:00

Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth 9

Victor Gischler turns in a two-fer this week.

In Merc with a Mouth number 9 adventures in the zombie world continue as the remaining humans from the past 6-30 miniseries that haven't been discovered do all they can but strap a siren to their base to antagonize their comfy situation. No better irritant is needed than Deadpool to help expedite that process.

The well known and prototypical zombie works of fiction revolve around main characters/survivors interactions between each other as zombies congregate around them. Most conflicts tend to be within the group of main charcaters rather than people vs. zombies. Zombies are a stressor that provoke people into extreme forms of behavior. This book takes that archetype and removes the existence of the zombies as a stressor on the characters. The reader certainly knows super-powered zombies exist outside the human's home base, but I, personally, don't feel any tension from their existence. Perhaps it just comes from past useage of the zombies, which establish them more as a vehicle for black humor rather than terror.

Now, at some point, the mystery of Zombie Deadpool sprouting a body is going to have to be addressed.

Prelude to Deadpool Corps 3

No picture because I don't have a scanner nor a reliable websource to pluck the image from.

Gischler has been doing his consistently best Deadpool work with this Prelude series. The ablity to exaggerate the acceptability of the cruelties of these worlds that form these various Deadpools has allowed Gischler to plum the depths of parody and return with precious gems suchs as Dog-Wolverine, which is much funnier in the context of the story than it has any right to be.

One-liners become essential to the montage of panels that illustrate the despair of Dog-pool's life. "Dogs should be cute!" was, indeed, a cut above the rest.

I also should mention Phillip Bond's art work on this story. Bond's work first makes me thin kof Crumb and in a comic that is not meant to be taken with much seriousness set in a pretty surreal world, the art matches up perfectly with that intent.

Plus, I may be reading too much into this, but Gischler harkens to a Looney Tunes classic punchline after Deadpool abscoonds away with Dog-pool and leaving the circus the dog performed in with the quandry that they have performed the finest act possible and, yet, have no hope of repeating it.

Siege Books for 3-17

2010-03-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Dark Avengers 15

I've stated that I do not mind flashback sequences that are tie-ins as long as they reveal something new to the story. The ones I dispise are the ones that just fill in gaps that could easily be filled in by the reader. This book is a case of the former, not the latter. That said, the reveals really just trivialize one of the better mysteries of Osborn's ability to secure power as leader of "The Cabal". I don't mind spoiling this because, really, Bendis just as well threw away the reveal in a flashback sequence. The Void was Osborn's ace in the hole to keep "The Cabal" in line.

The issue now tries to fill in some of the holes left in the Siege: the Cabal one-shot. Last issue Bullseye was placed in charge of killing The Sentry's wife, and he goes about that mission. I do not see the need to address this particular plot thread other than the fact it extends Bendis' story another month. As far as I knew, I was cool just thinking The Sentry was insane, like he has been patterned to be since his first appearance. I don't need to see that, now, his wife's dead since it has not been brought up or mattered AT ALL in the Siege event. The only reason this needs to be addressed is if, at some point, her spirit comes back to wreck vengeance as a 3rd Ghost Rider or Bendis is taking apart everything that is tied to the existence of The Sentry in preparation for the character's death and leaving no loose story ends behind.

Siege: Embedded 3

Crazy Glenn Beck representation goes crazy in this issue. By the way, this is a GOOD tie-in. No flashbacks, some action, and we get a spotlight on characters that we know are around during this event, but can't have time devoted to them in the main book.

Siege 3

No joking, this book was awesome. Great one-liners coming from Evil Ms. Marvel, "Well I sure as @#$% saw this coming." A cool fight between Thor and The Sentry. Play by play by Obama and Robert Gates, and Osborn's Green Goblin face paint. Olivier Coipel pays attention to detail by making sure Norman has two rows of teeth around his mouth, one for the face paint, the other for his real teeth. That is dedication to making good art.

I'd, perhaps, be a bit more worried over the arrival of The Void if it wasn't for me delving into my back issues of New Avengers and re-reading the story where the heroes of the Marvel U fought The Void before. It kind of cuts down on the drama, there, no matter how many gods he kills.

Prelude to Deadpool Corps 2

2010-03-12T12:58:00.001-08:00

The origin of Kidpool revealed!

A nice story with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Seriously, I laughed hardily when I saw a lecherous Chuck Xavier try out toupees to try and impress Emma Frost. Chuck needs to be in more Afros. And his statement that he'll have to find his look and then plant a false memory in her mind was classic. And that's screech a few pages until the end of the book. "WILSON!!" indeed.

This book was a great excuse to go bananas with the characters of the X-Men and Gischler does a good enough job. Is his world horribly dark given the callousness of the "adults" in the book? Absolutely. However, its humor more reminiscent of Clerks than anything else.

Amazing Spider-Man 624

2010-03-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Not a bad book. There's not a lot to mention, critically, about the book. Well written and the story was fine. The reaction is mostly to just the story events.

So, I didn't expect Peter being fired like that. I was betting on "You didn't SAVE me! You took pictures!" Not, "You photoshopped and now you're fired!" It makes sense for JJJ, believe me it does, but it wasn't my first option. Nice to see I can be surprised. Nice way to get your required kick Peter when he's flying high moment, too. Bonus for us not having to see him turn emo and whiny to try and wring out a few more panels of emotionalism.

My real only misgiving over this whole thing is that the impact of Peter being fired from working with the Mayor isn't really that big. Considering he was fielding offers from "Frontline" to be a photogarapher there, it is not as if he's now faced with dire financial straits and no job pospects. I'll expect a fall out of that at some point given Jonah's remark to have Parker blackballed from the news industry. Whether "Frontline" pays heed to Jameson's words or not, I don't know, but that is something that I suspect will have to be brought up in a future issue.

Batman and Robin 10

2010-03-12T12:34:00.001-08:00

Before "Battle for the Cowl" I was not a Batman fan. I just didn't really want to read the comics. Nothing against Batman. I LOVE "Dark Knight". Then I read Batman R.I.P. Then i got "Battle for the Cowl", "Heart of Hush", "Hush", "The Black Glove". I enjoyed them all. So I started buying into the monthlies. Then I started getting kinda frustrated. I figure the cause was that in "Batman" and "Streets of Gotham" there's about 6-7 plots hanging out there to address in a shared universe. Sometimes it seems the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Plus, and this is purely my perception, Batman isn't really being a great detective in these books. And what I mean is that the actual detective process in these books is so stripped down and seemingly cast aside to get to the action sequences that they become distracting, confusing, and unsatisfying.

Now, for the first few issues of this book, I figured Grant Morrison was at least paying less lip service to the detective work Batman does and highlighted more of the action. I was fine with it. No clumsy investigative scenes. Then, this book pops up and Morrison choreographs a delightful detective sequence. He engages the reader and moves from point A to B to C and plays them out. Meanwhile, we get, as a way to fill the time of Dick Grayson deciphering clues with Damien's conflicting thoughts of what would happen if Bruce Wayne were to return to become Batman. The flashbacks to Damien's past serve as a way to break up the investigative sequences and foreshadow conflict to come.

I also now demand Oberon Sexton gets his own mini, or backup.

R.E.B.E.L.S. 14

2010-03-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

Tony Bedard wraps up his Starro opus and I must say it was kinda not as explosive as I expected. Nothing goes according to Vril Dox's plan, but in the end he is able to use his wits to defeat the intergalactic menace. Starro goes out more with a whimper than a bang and without his starfish companion, in the end, he's just not anything to be afraid of. I suppose I get more enjoyment when the villain is backed into a corner and that is the moment he becomes the most dangerous. Not so in this case.

All thats left, now, is whether this expansion of Starro mythos sticks and what is the future of the book, considering Dox is no longer a R.E.B.E.L.

Dark X-Men 5

2010-03-11T12:04:00.001-08:00

For 5 solid months Paul Cornell has banged out a script that would make anyone who's a fan of "Office Space" proud. I've gone on enough about how this team resembles the most toxic of work place environments so nothing more needs to be said.

To everyone saying there was no drama because you knew Norman was going to make it out of this book alive and okay: Well, yeah. Thats not the point. This series is about an X-Men team that, quite frankly, no longer has a true purpose in the Marvel world. Utopia happened. The reason for Norman to have an X-team, to stroke Emma's pride, is no longer applicable. This team needed a reason to show Osborn why they are still needed, and, in the end, they coudn't even do that.

Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange

2010-03-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not a guy that follows writers. I mostly attempt to follow characters. That has led me to make some bad decisions before, such as buying Jimmy Palmiotti's "Deadpool" run. I'm a fan of Doctor Strange, mostly because his Hero Clix figure was a giant swiss army knife.

Eugene on War Rocket Ajax remarked, recently, that it seems anthologies are on the rise. I might be inclined to agree with him. As an anthology book of Doctor Strange, in B&W, the book is what you expect from it, a mixed bag.

Kieron Gillen leads off spectacularly with "The Cure". The gentle nudges to the makeup of the world at the beginning that tip Strange off to problems of the magical kind are clever and subtle, up until that point where Clara is going to rob a bank. The placement of it on the right page, bottom corner, gives it a forced pause to snap the reader out of the motions of reading and give them a moment of sudden realization akin to, perhaps, what Strange felt.

Whats of particular notice to me is the time of the setting. The story is set in 1975. It takes advantage of the turmoil of that time. I suppose my only critique to that date is that we see a Dr. Strange that looks much like the one used in 2010. Strange apparently ages very well.

But still, the story, itself, is marvelous.

Peter Milligan tackles the second story with "Melancholia". Here, instead of Strange, protector of the real, we have Strange presented as a man able to cure exotic problems. While not bad, I suppose I am burned out on Strange stories that deal with him entering a man's mind to fix him in some way. I can't help but compare this to Fraction's use of Strange in Invincible Iron Man. That was excellent. Without as much space as Fraction had to use Strange Milligan's story just comes up a bit short.

Ted McKeever brings his fabulous art with him to the third tale "So this is how it feels..." In this story, Strange is just as fallable as any man, and I think this Strange has the most potential to carry his own ongoing series. While the story is not the best of them, it is another twist on Strange, and makes him a more accessible character for readers.

Finally, there's Mike Carey's "Duel in the Dark Dimension" which is a prose piece. Its 2 pages of words and a single picture. I tried doing something like that in College, Dave Simms did that in Cerebus, and "Poison Elves" started in this format. There's a reason why 1)I'm not a comic writer, 2) a lot of Cerebus readers HATE Jaka's story, and 3) Poison Elves switched to a more conventional comic format.

In all, the anthology did do one thing for me, it made me want to go out and write my own Dr. Strange script.

Mighty Avengers 34

2010-03-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

It would not surprise me if a few months ago Dan Slott was givena checklist of things to accomplish by the time Siege rolls around.

-Wrap up Loki's involvement with the series

-Tie the book into New Avengers, Captain America Reborn, Incredible Hercules, and Thor

-Lead into Siege and the end of the Mighty Avengers book

Perhaps many more things, too. The point, though, is that within a single issue out of a year of story telling and halfway into Marvel's Siege event, Dan Slott accomplishes this goal. Most importantly, he makes the most use of 22 pages that I have seen from anyone. Slott's writing is concise and conveys exactly the information he needs to tell the reader. It is a special talent that I have seen the man exhibit throughout his run on Mighty Avengers and is on full display here. For the rest of Marvel the Heroic Age may be approaching, but the fun and whimsy of a brighter, new age of Marvel Comics has been on display for a solid year in this book.

It may not be a flagship book. It may have to bow to the continuity concerns of several other books, too. However, it has a true master of the comic medium leading it to its end, and given the limitations placed on him with the direction of all of these characters, Slott has exercised and explored more than enough space. To use a different analogy, he's made a tiny home seem bigger than it is from the inside.

Ultimate Comics Avengers 5

2010-03-04T14:19:00.001-08:00

The big knock on this book is going to be the consistency at which it comes out, which is completely inconsistent. When the advertsement for th enext issue is supposed to be for 04/14/2010, I'd believe itd be the 4th day fo the 14th month of the year that we see issue 6.

Despite late releases, it remains a pretty ypical Mark Millar Ultimates book, which slots it in its own respective "good" category. The dialog is full of bravado, grandstanding, and machismo. If right wing reactionaries want a Captain America that is theirs, they should turn to this book instead of worrying about bleeding hearted 616 Cap.

Pacheco's art is great, but it should be given how long the waits between books are for him to get his art in.

Finally, just a rhetorical question regarding comic book science. If the Red Skull is a guy who cut his own face off with a knife, did it hurt like crazy to get a tatto placed on what is essentially muscle and scabbing?

Siege Tie-ins for 2-24

2010-02-26T15:17:00.000-08:00

My back is apparently conspiring against me, which means I'll have to do these reviews before I try home chriopractcy. Lets get to these.

Thunderbolts 141, New Avengers 62

Dark Wolverine 83, Avengers: The Initiative 33

New Avengers

I'm dealing with the worst of the bunch, first. IF this issue happened before Siege 1 I would not be so angry about it. As I said before, one of the little tricks Bendis likes to use is to use flashbacks for tie-in books to the larger story, pulling curtains aside to fill in small details for the audience. The problem with this is that it does nothing to reveal more about a character. This is the story to how Steve Rogers got the team together between Siege 1 and 2. Did we really need a 2 issue story on how Steve Rogers gets the team together? Couldnt I just assume the Avengers, you know, assemble?

Dark Wolverine

And continuing our trend of pointless tie-ins...

I kid, slightly. This story doesn't really impact the events of Siege, and the hopes that Daken stabbing Osborn through the chest at the end of DW 82 were real events were quickly dashed, as I expected. However, we get a little shout-out to the Thor: Disassembled series and Daken gets a nice bit of characterization, again, in this book that he never recieves in Dark Avengers.

Avengers: The Initiative

Gage does a superb job juggling the massive cast of this book, going between stories about Taskmater, Diamondback and Constrictor, Penance, and the New Warriors vs. The Hood. Theres nothing too amazing to crow about outside of good characterization of all the parties involved. Taskmaster quickly realizes he's in waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

over his head and gives a nice quip about the special kind of crazy needed to lay Siege to Norse Asgard. Plus, this issue, not a flashback or a fever dream. Its a nice bit of fleshing out contemporary events to the Siege and adding more story to Bendis' 4 issue mini event.

Thunderbolts

Alright, this one was the best. I've been digging Thunderbolts for almost a year now. The whoel group is fractured. Half of the group has to survive the bouts of violence out of the other half and the boss acts as if they're throw aways. This is Dark X-Men but in monthly format :D

You know whats alo good about this book? Its not a tie in that fleshes out the events already going on, its not a fever dream, its not a flashback, its an actual story that has some potential to impact on the greater narrative, if you believe the Thunderbolts will actually steal the spear of Odin and get it into Osborn's hands around Siege 4, and is completely new to the story as its being told. Holy Christ! This is a real tie-in! Jeff Parker's sense of irony is in top form, too, within the opening pages, as the remainder of the T-bolts gather to listen to Osborn praise their work/brief them on their current mission. Plus, this book features the miracles and fun of Pym-Science as the Mighty Avengers enter the fray in the end.

Blackest Night Books for 2-24

2010-02-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I did one of these. Let sstart with Blackest Night from this week.

Blackest Night: JSA 3

Black Lantern Green Arrow

Blackest Night 7

These 3 books exist independently of each other, and outside of the Blackest Night 7 you dont need the other two, which has been the nature of tie-ins for events, now. One which I continue to rail against, alone.

Blackest Night JSA 3 was about the most sane of the books in the series, but I chalk that up to my lack of knowledge of the JSA and the sheer amount of heroes in it. Holy Christ I didn't know what I was getting into. It was a fine wrap up to the series, too, though I wish Alan Scott, the GREEN LANTERN, played a bigger role in it than he did.

Black Lantern Green Arrow contains too many adjectives in its title and our villain, BLGA, is offed in what appears to be the second best option out dispensing with Black lanterns outside of having light...freezing them. OK. I know its bad to nit pick comic science, but if freezing them can work why the hell do none of the Black Lanterns in space freeze solid, too? Isn't space kinda, you know, cold? It must be they have to freeze in ice and thus a lack of water molecules in space prevents them from freezing in the cold depths of the abyss. BTW, freezing is the preferred option of escaping Black lantens in Blackest Night: Batman (freeze yourself) and Blackest Night Flash (freeze them)

Now, for the main event, Blackest Night 7. The rounds on this one tend to be people are disappointed. The white lanterns make their grand entrance and people mostly talk about not being able to beat the bad guy, yet. I will say this, though. Most people express dissapointment in the lack of characterizaton of the deputy lanterns made at the end of Blackest night 6, a valid criticism if all you are buying is the Blackest Night Books. However, you got that charcaterization in the tie-ins throught he months of January and February. So, i give DC editorial the the nod to making some of the tie-ins matter. Mera and Wonder Woman got to shine, slightly, in Blackest Night: Wonder Woman. Atom got a chance to matter in Atom and Hawkman. Blackest Night: Flash delt with Ble Lantern Flash, and Scarecrow got to shine in this book and in Green Lantern 50. This left Lex Luthor to be handled, slightly, in this book, and I dont find a problem with the characterization of Luthor in this. I thought one of the deals with the orane ring is that it is dangerous and can consume its user. I hated the characterization of the orange light just because it set up as a completely irredeemable light and unable to be a motivating factor for good.

SPOILER!

I totally called Sinestro being the white lantern :P

Episode 7

2010-02-20T01:16:00.000-08:00

New episode at http://www.kane1240.com/pop_media.htm

New format unveiled. We couldn't get the show at an hour,s till, but at least we're having a LOT more fun with it now that we got rid of the "Total 10" news updates.

Give a listen, let us know what you think of the show. We need all the feedback we can get to make it the best we can make it.

Dark Avengers 14

2010-02-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not breaking ground here when I mention there is a lot of talking going on in this book.

Okay, it's not bad. I did not feel, at all, bored reading this thing. Bendis takes the comic medium to enhance dialog. That has been his schtick for a long time and he excels at it.

As a siege tie in, this book acts as part of a prelude, hinting at how Secret Invasion tie-ins were written by Bendis. Instead of stalling the current story of Siege we get a story of the lead up into the Siege. However, given what happens in this book, this makes it not a Siege tie-in, at all. I honestly find this frustrating. When i pick up a book that ties in to an event, I want that book to actually tie in to it. The book mentions the siege once regarding Norman's future plan for starting a war against Asgard but nothing beyond that. Theres a subtle hint at the Siege at the end of the book, but its just like any other subtle cliffhanger in a comic.

What I'm working towards is a lot of the drama and pay-off for a big reveal gets lessened as its released in a flashback while something that features the immediate consequences of the action can be observed elsewhere. Obviously the Sentry calmly listens to Osborn, or else we'd be having comics where New York is trashed to oblivion right now. Of course the Sentry listens to Osborn, or else how would the Sentry have joined the team in the attack on Asgard? The sentry turning down a darker path isnt shocking given we knew he's gone down the path of the Void in Siege 2. The tension of the Sentry's impending assault and destruction of New York, the thin possability that the Dark Avengers team might have to contend with the Sentry as an enemy instead of ally, for this issue, and the Sentry's loss of humanity are all mitigated and their effects lessened because we already know what the immediate results are.

Now, for my crudest reactions to the story. Victoria Hand is one seriously aggressive lesbian. And, what do you know, the Sentry is once again defeated through the power of conversation. James Lipton could qualify as this man's arch-nemesis.

Amazing Spider-Man 621

2010-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

We begin this week's looks at where I left off last weeks. Dan Slott ties most of the loose ends of the Mysterio arc together with this one shot. Spoltighting Mr. Negative, this story features more of a way for Spidey to castrate one of his baddies than one coming out of the woodwork with new, better powers.

This is probably the Slott book I have liked the least given what I've read by him, but that still makes him better than Jeph Loeb or Bendis, IMHO, in terms of enjoyment of the book.

Also, in the story, I just found out MJ knows Spidey's secret ID. Great job OMD/BND! You can tell I haven't been reading spider-man much. in fact I jumped on board with the Deadpool issue, 611.

Not my favorite book of the week, but, then again, my favorite kinda tops the charts in terms of precious insanity in words on the page.

Strange 4

2010-02-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

I really want this series to be the start of something similar to what DNA are doing with Marvel's cosmic series of books. It better be, too, given the relatively unhappy ending of this book.

Okay, supernatural stuff tends to have a tinge of the unfulfilled, unhappy, etc. Almost all books out there signal that magic isn't somehing to be toyed with. Using it will result in consequences that will ruin your life. "Constantine" does a better job of hitting that note than anything. Mark Waid did not need to go to that well for the end of this series.

I've heard someone mention, I believe it was Chris Sims, or maybe someone on War Rocket Ajax one day, that Strange is a hard character to write and that no one seems to have done him right since Stan Lee. Parodies exist and flourish, such as Dr. Orpheus from Venture Brothers, but treating the character seriously and making him fun seems to be a monumental task.

What we have here is a man that has this amazing power, and amazing responsability towards the power, he is the master of its use and knowledge of it. It seems to be there is little to nothing that can flummox him. Strange almost sounds as if he's Bruce Wayne with Spider-Man's problems. The key negative to Dr. Strange is that people keep returning to the idea that magic has severe consequences for its use, and, thus, should be used sparingly. Peter Parker knows there are consequences for being Spider-Man, but he doesn't stop being Spider-Man BECAUSE the world will be worse off if he doesn't use them. Dr. Strange, instead, uses his powers in as limited a fashion as possible because it has such dire consequences for its use. People's lives become worse when he uses his powers. When the character can't have fun with his super powers, why should the people have fun reading about this tedious drama?

Marvel is going to release another series featuring Strange soon, co-starring Spider-Man, which I hope is a bit more fun. On the whole, Strange 1-4 wasnt a bad series, its that the theme is a bit too worn out for the good Doctor. Emma Rios' art is fantastic, though I cautiously critique Strange's floppy hair look. Waid's stories in parts 1 and 2 were fantastic, with part 3 going great as a lead in to this issue. This issue would have been wonderous if not for the downer of an ending. Now, Waid does hold out hope. Strange leaves the book stating, not in this many words, that using Magic doesnt have to be bad and that he should stop being such a pansy with its use. That's great. But did a tragedy, in the context of the greater narrative of the series, have to happen for that thought to occur?

Amazing Spider-Man 620

2010-02-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

There's not a lot that I need to have happen to enjoy a Spider-Man comic. There has to be some point where being Spider-Man causes some drama to arise in peter Parker's life. Spider-Man should have to use his brains in order to outwit his bad guys rather than lean on his powers. In this book Dan Slott does a good job of nailign the first point, and providing enough fun for me to gloss over the second one.

One of the best things about how being Spider-man causes grief in Peter's life is that Peter doesnt whine. We see how being Spider-man has caused his friendship with Carlie to crumble in this book and Slott doesn't spend time dwelling on the aftermath.

Now why doesn't Slott dwell anymore on this? Becuase Slott doesn't brake for emo crap. Slott doesn't brake for red lights, too. For about 5 months Dan Slott has been the most enjoyable writer in comics, to me. I look forward to any book of his because they are packed with energy and action. Plot does not suffer since he seamlessly weaves it into the action going on in the page, and he doesn't need to have characters recite a novel like Claremont does in a fight scene to do it.

Now, to make Spidey use his head, what better choice than to drag Mysterio out of the casket. When your schtick is to cause head games, Spider-man should have to use his noodle to see through the tricks. Instead, the truly memorable parts of the illusions Mysterio creates are used for humor. Which, in this case, amps up the fun value of the book.

The art is fantastic, too. Martin and Pulido have created a style that makes me think I'm reading a Spidey book from the early 70s.

Really, the only story of "The Gauntlet" I haven't enjoyed was the Electro story, but still, for about 2 solid months I've been enticed into reading Spider-Man when I wasn't before by the promise of classic villains and top-nothc writing by the ever expanding Spidey creative team, which numbers probably as more as the number of Duggars. While Mysterio didnt get the power boost treatment that all the other Guantlet villains got, that doesn't mean this story is the slouch of the bunch. If not for Dark X-Men #4, this book would have been my pick of the week.

Episode 6

2010-02-12T11:15:00.001-08:00

Brian Clevinger joins us tonight via unlock time capsule from the distant future of 8:00 EST. Which will be broadcasted at 1:00 EST, at whcih point, that time capsule will be from the past and this cant be any worse than the convoluted past/present/future of Heroes.

Dark X-Men #4

No news today, except the news that Dark X-Men is pure fun. It is not surprising since this is the same creative team that gave us Captain Britain and MI-13. It may be because I can identify with the characters of this book, on some level. The gist of the series is "let's do a wacky adventure with the remainder of Norman Osborn's Dark X-Men team from the Utopia crossover." The team is completely dysfunctional. With no true purpose or direction, they need to justify their existence before their boss, who seems like he'd rather give up on them. Whose soul-crushing job does this NOT sound like?

The fun is in the dialogue, because if you can't write dysfunction between 4 socio/psychopaths, what kind of writer are you? Mystique's straight person routine is the perfect figure to bounce Dark Beast's amoral regard for life, Mimic's channeling of Shinji from Evangelion, and Omega's meth addict tendencies off of. Plus, you can't go wrong with the line "What, his strategy against us is slight frustration?"

The big knock on the series is that we know Osborn is going to be fine in the end. We know who will ultimately be in charge of Osborn's body, even after being possessed by the psychic spirit of a dimension hopping test tube baby from the genes of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from an alternate world. What's great, though, is that this may be the in continuity tale of how Osborn starts to fully revert back into being the Green Goblin.

Was the book light on action? Yes. But with great/entertaining conversation, a lack of action is excuseable. Dark X-Men is probably one of the best comics I'm buying now on the stands every month and I am sad to see it go away with issue 5.

Come and knock on my door...

2010-02-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

So many days between the posts, let us start with this bit of news.

Now, I remembe rsome time ago mentioning todays youth and how their use of social networking has the potential to go very awry. I'm not immune to this. I friend just about anyone that asks for being my friend on facebook. I also wouldn't give my home address knowing there are about 16 people I have friended that I have no idea who they are.

I never did participae in the teen party scene. Is it that easy to lose track of who is supposed to be in the party? They routinely go over 10 people? If I had know the relatively ease of crashing a party, I'd have surely attended more of them, but that would necessittate that I would even know of any parties, which I did not.

Hit-Monkey

Problems arise for a group of monkeys, when they invite just one guy into their home.

I like Daniel Way's work on Deadpool. I get that this book is a tie in to a future release of Deadpool. This is not the Daniel Way I love. Now, I am one of the few heathens that doon't like monkeys in my comics. Here we have an elite hitman that is actually a monkey, and the tale of how he got that way. Its not funny.

As wacky a premise as a hitman monkey is, this is played way too seriously for everyone involved in the story. Sometimes it has comedic effect. When our hitman human is revived by the group of wild monkeys, he takes to staying in a hot spring with his clothes on. Then proceeds to do karate in the snow in his wet clothes! This isnt played for yucks, though. It's just Clint Eastwood seriousness played by the hitman human and his monkey companions.

The 3 humors

2010-02-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Episode 5 of the show comes out tonight, with Ben Levin and Matt Burnett from "For Tax Reasons" on to talk about their animated works.

Meanhile, Joel Hodgson gave an interview about his current cross country extravaganza, Cinematic Titanic, as well as shed lights on why he stepped away from MST3K

Deadpool Team-Up 896

Deadpool Team-Up works so much better when deadpool wanders his way into another character's life. The hook for the series has to be how other Marvel U charcaters interact with a character whose whole existence is based upon causing chaos and breaking the 4th wall. Deadpool should be Deus ex Pinto and should not be driving the stories. He has 2 other titles to be the lead in. In this book, he should take the backseat to his guest stars.

This book does it right. The story is Rocket Raccon clones are being used by a demon truck driver to steal space parts being hauled by U.S.Ace and Deadpool for the demon truck driver's no questions asked trucking company. What was cute about the whole set up is that Stuart moore takes about a page to explain U.S.Ace and his backstory and one to include Deadpool in the shenanigans.

The ridiculousness of the story is where the humor comes from. It has a small amount of fun banter in it, but primarily Deadpool trying to utilize Trucker Speech, with obvious results of mocking the jargon. The big negative is that U.S.Ace is too much the straight man to Deadpool. Ace doesnt acknowledge how ludicrous his own continuity is, and instead comes off more like Dante from Clerks being asked to watch over a retarded child. Perhaps what this book needs is someone to play off Deadpool's humor, not be overwhelmed by it.

Government and media

2010-02-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

Not content to interrupt my television watching, Obama wants to sully my internet experience too.

Joking aside, I commend the President on reaching out to a medium that seems populated by apathetic or non-voting age people. I commend the outreach as a way to enhance the political experience for such people and I can say that the cynic in me is not going off on the potential of using planted videos to answer questions. Obviously, screening will be used to prevent any questions that someone could characterize as "Idiotic" being brought before the president (birther related questions spring to mind).

Siege 2

Bendis improves in issue 2, and directs Coipel through a fabulous fight scene between Ares and Sentry.

With 4 issues to tel this story over Bendis' usual 6, I can safely state that we ar egetting a wide screen comic in short form, and that means the paes are PACKED with art by Coipel. Panel count per page is high.

Its nice to see Bob the Sentry finally show himself to be somewhat menacing. But, really, it is kind of too late. I'm going to start worrying, now, though whether this book is meant to be a Sentry book.

And finally, I have to ask a fictional character: Really Norman? Wolverine against Thor. You didn't see the winner of that one?

I like Bill.

Volstagg seems a bit too childish for my liking in this book. I know he's naive about the world, but at times he comes off as if he's mentally retarded and I'm sure thats not what the writers are aiming for.

OK, Volstagg is kind of weird. We know. But hes written better and mor elikeable when he's clueless to girth and how it enhances his fighting prowess. He drinks a lot because hes big. And will not turn down a challenge to do so. He eats a lot because hes big. Not just because he worked up an appetite. Hes hardy because he's big, not just an asgardian. A lot of his appeal comes form the fact he is unconcerned about his girth and more than willing to highlight the percieved advantages of his voluminous size.

Here's he's just plain clueless, and its not really entertaining, just sad. Ben and Bill come off more like they'r ein charge of a man-child and speak as if they pity him more than anything else. Volstagg doesnt need pity. Volstagg needs to hunt.

The other part of the story, featuring the Fox News analog of Todd Keller is slowly building. I hope it doesnt build to a perceivable shifting of opinion in Keller over his stance for Osborn. But I rail against that only becaus eof its predictability. I personally want Keller to remain unrepentently loyal to osborn and then have Ben Urich punch him in the face as Asgard comes falling to the ground around them. ACTION News!

Malware

2010-01-29T18:56:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since we did some of these.

To beat spam, turn its weapons against it

Lord knows how many messages my home computer must be pumping out. I notice my machine never enters into its screensaver, so I can only assume some sort of evil background program is operating. I also get bounce back messages saying my spam mail my comp is sending cant find certain addresses.

Necrosha X

X-Men Legacy 232

The elements of Necrosha remind me of the first X-Men story I really got into as a child, the Phalanx Covenant. Channeling a future that yet existed in the woe-be-gone days of the early 90s, a malignant technological virus infects people and turns them into borg like beings bent on...spreading their techno-organic virus. Necrosha brings back the virus, this time in the guise of returning dead X-Men characters under the service of an evil leather domme.

This book does nothing to address that story. It tangentially ties into it. It is the McGuffin by which a long dead X villain will make his return, surely to be handled by the end of next issue. Let me address my misgivings with this book, now. I am tired of event tie-ins never advancing the plot of the event. I understand in Blackest Night why that is so. There are actually about 16-24 issues of the thing you need to read. The main book, and the two Green lantern books. The rest is fine to be tangential. Who has enough power to drive story for the 60 some odd issues Blackest night has already worked its way through?

Necrosha X is nothing like this. It is 13 issues of comics. This is part of 3 comics that have nothing to do with the main story. This has no reason to be a tie in. Yet it is. When you have 13 issues of cross-over to explore a story over, you can advance the freaking plot in them all. Its fine. I'm sure 13 issues over 6 months is within anyone's budget of comics.

X Force 23

This is essentially the main story of Necrosha X. Sort of. Once again we get a book that is just retreading ground to stall. The truly meaningful advancement of the story in this is that the X-Men decide they need to take the fight to the previously mentioned leather domme. And by X-Men we mean X-Force, the black ops team. This happens after the 2nd time zombie ex-friends come to the X-Men home and wreck house. The 2nd time!

In general, this whole crossover has been frustrating. It feels as if its moving slower than Blackest night, which is quite a feat since BN had, about, a 4 month jump on this. I should not be bored reading my comics crossovers, and yet I am.

Did I mention the stories for either 2? No, because nothing substansive happens in them that is particularly critical to the plot of Necrosha X that could not have been done in 1/4 to 1/2 the pages. Essentially, this is part of the growing list of complaints against the practice of Decompression, extending a story far more than it needs to be to maximize story, gain a totality of events and provide more dialog, and profitability from the story, by making the issues necessary to purchase the whole story increase from 3 comics to about 6.

Here's the stories.

In X-Men Legacy 232, Professor X's son Proteus comes back to life thanks to the events of Necrosha X and proceeds to possess everyone of the X-Men on Muir Island who were led there by a blind woman with precognative abilities. Magneto has to save the day and begins to do so before the comics ends.

In X-Force 23 Rahne Sinclair is saved when her werewolf boyfriend barters his soul to Norse goddess Hel for X-Force's healer, Elixir, to be raised from near death so that he may heal everyone in the party. The party healer is raised so that the tanks and DPS can be healed. Meanwhile, the encounter goes badly as the CR 10 monsters lay into the PCs and then escape once they grab the item of power they are looking for, a +3 knife that does an extra d10 necrotic damage per hit, leaving X-Force to follow them and take back the magic item so that in the end it can be sold for gold since only Warpath is proficient in knives and he has a better one that does 1d12 damage.

Episode 3 and the News

2010-01-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

Be sure to find Episode 3 for download after the show at http://www.kane1240.com/pop_media.htm

We had such a great time letting Fred van Lente and Greg Pak talk on the show that we could not address everything in the news that we wanted to. So here's an avalanche of the news we felt like sharing with the rest of the listenership.

First: The news for tonight, if you're curious to see our sources.
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/rock_band_let_any_band_upload_and_sell_their_own_songs.html

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/01/espn_on_xbox_360_tipping_point_for_cable_workarounds.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/01/avatar-pulled-from-2d-screens-by-chinese-government.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/books/19sherlock.html?ref=books&pagewanted=print

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2010/01/20/exclusive-twilight-the-graphic-novel/

Now for the news we didn't cover.

Book publishers are taking a cue from the RIAA and blaming Pirates for the lack of books sales. Next, they'll go after libraries.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6714772.html?nid=2286&rid=#CustomerId&source=link

Need an audio copy of your last phone call? Talk to the FBI'll have a handy copy for you.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803982.html

Google goes to war against China before the US ever would. http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-45511720100119?sp=true

Androids move into China http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc20100118_760688.htm

The art of war is used a lot in business classes.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/01/what-we-and-activision-learned-from-modern-warfare-2.ars

Brian Michael Bendis extends his evil empire.
http://www.premiumhollywood.com/2010/01/17/more-powers-talk-with-fxs-john-landgraf/

Wait...Windows isn't secure?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/19/microsoft_escalation_bug/index.html

Internet running out of room. Cyber space looks like a bachelor pad. Unkept, boxes everywhere, too much porn in plain sight.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39994507,00.htm?tag=mncol;txt

Gamers aren't ugly, they just don't want girlfriends apparently.
http://www.gamepro.com.au/article/333006/20_women_dump_partner_gaming_habits/

FCC cant keep up with technology. Old experts retire and new experts aren't experienced enough.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/56190

New York Times to start charging for news over the Internet. What will the people do? Try reading the Popmedia Primecast blog.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/business/media/21times.html

AT&T 3G network needs 5B upgrade.
http://www.itworld.com/networking/93311/analyst-atampt-needs-spend-us5b-catch

Rockband Network opens beta to public
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/12897-rock-band-network-beta-opens-to-public-accepting-submissions/

http://www.rockband.com/rock-band-network

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is like a comic, but more people read it than any actual comics
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10021/1029665-44.stm

Zombies on the TV
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118014051.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Is Nintendo's cornering of the market on motion controllers threatened? That assumes you think Nointendo really developed a market for motion controllers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10437898-1.html

Bill Gates is on Twitter for less time than the Primecast, and he's already lapped us :(
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34945257/ns/technology_and_science/

If you find video games a struggle, it may be because your brain is wired differently, like for social interaction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8471182.stm

Interview w/ Fred van Lente (written portion)

2010-01-21T12:42:00.001-08:00

Dom
Thanks for the opportunity to interview you today. I hope you don' mind if I start by saying that this week's issue of Herc was, once again, great. With Herc's end approaching, though, and the cancellation of books like S.W.O.R.D., Doctor Voodoo, and last year's cancellation of Captain Britain, how much of an advantage do books like Herc and Captain Britain get of maintaining a long print run due to the fact they were tied into major events, Herc with World War Hulk's aftermath and Captain Britain with Secret Invasion?

Fred
Well, for one thing, Dom, there is a slight misconception in your question -- unlike those other books, Herc isn't ending. The title "Incredible Hercules" is ending, but we were just borrowing that from the Hulk in the first place. But the story contained in that book is continuing for the foreseeable future, just in a form I've got to be cagey about at this time--but see the May solicits!

I think Herc got a huge advantage from coming out WWH, no question about it. We never would have gotten the numbers and attention we did it if we hadn't. And while it's been a bummer to see our numbers slide, I think it was unrealistic to expect us to maintain that high level indefinitely -- which we did for the better part of a year. This is Herc's first on-going series ever, and in today's market to keep it going without the benefit of years of legacy fans built in behind us is something I think we can feel justly proud of.

Dom
I, personally, love being corrected on misconceptions. It keeps me informed. I know of the Hercules: Fall of An Avenger solicits, so I was happy for those, but sad to see it as a 2 part series. If it goes on beyond that, fantastic.

Lets say I want to look at Hercules through the lens of a literary scholar. What are some of the themes you were hoping to touch upon with the Incredible Hercules books up to this point?

Fred
It's exploring the nature of heroism and friendship in general, not just looking at Herc's original myths and how they're reflected in his adventures today, but of course in the evolution of Amadeus Cho and him learning how to become a hero by following -- or, in many instances, actively avoiding -- Herc's example.

Dom
My store is not the most diligent in picking up titles from alternative publishers. I never got a chance to read Action Philosophers as it came out, or Comic Book Comics. Comixology on my iPhone has done wonders in allowing me to read Action Philosophers. How important has digital distribution been to the book?

Fred
So far, no so much. Print is still where the money is. We're did pretty well in our launch on iTunes, and we've recently signed deals with new cell phone content providers, but we still make the vast amount of our revenue from the comics shops, and a bit less in bookstores and Amazon.

Dom
I would have personally found the answer regarding Action Philosophers to not be surprising, no matter which answer you provided. I could have honestly seen it falling either way. But it is good to get an honest opinion from one man on the impact online distribution has on his indepedently made books. Did you cover most of the philosophers you wanted to, or were there some you wish you could have included?

Fred
We ran fan voting on our web site to see who people were most interested in, and in addition to our picks, we used what the fans were telling us as a guide for people to choose. With the four brand-new stories in the COMPLETE ACTION PHILOSOPHERS trade -- available at finer comics shops and Amazon today -- we pretty much closed out that list. People are always coming up to us at conventions and saying "What about [INSERT NAME OF OBSCURE THINKER YOU READ IN COLLEGE]? He's crazy!" But we did pretty much all the A-listers in philosophy, and many of the B-listers. That's over 300 pages worth of philosophy comics! Which was enough for us. We've moved on to the history of comics. ;)

Dom
I did a Social Studies Fair Project on that back in Middle School. First Social Studies Fair I did not get 1st place in. I was able to get a hold of a copy of each issue of Comic Book Comics from a friend, eventually. I need to actually purchase them so my money gets in your hands. As I read about Walt Disney and his obsession with his "Disney World" I couldn't help but think of Doctor Doom and Latveria. How are you able to research this project when my middle school library and local public library did not have any information for me to use? Do you have your hands on some primary documents to help with the work, and, if so, where did you find them so that other enterprising comic book historians go pursue these sources themselves?

Fred
Well, a lot of the best books on comics history have come out fairly recently, like TEN-CENT PLAGUE. A lot of it also is that people who write histories of comics rarely do the whole field, they instead focus on things they're fans of, whether that's Batman or R. Crumb or MAD Magazine or what have you. That's part of me and Ryan's project, to unify comics history and show how all these different trends influenced each other.

But you can go to our web site and see all the Notes on Sources for the entire series:
http://www.eviltwincomics.com/cbc_notes.html

Dom
Excellent. So, now, lets bring up something about you. Between Action Philosophers, Comic Book Comics, and Hercules there is a theme of history in your work. Are you a fan of history or just interested in these particular projects given their content or themes? Is there anything else you like learning more about besides comics history?

Fred
History is definitely something that's always interested me as a subject. I love reading historical fiction, and one of my current projects is to do more historical fiction in comics, now that I feel like I've explored the superhero genre quite a bit. That's been one of the most rewarding aspects of Hercules, relearning and exploring the Greek myths that have had such a mammoth impact on Western culture.

I was actually never a big philosophy guy -- Ryan and I just did a funny Nietszche comic because we thought it was funny. It was encouragement from others that led to the creation of Action Philosophers as a series!

Dom
So if you're doing more historical fiction in comics, would you mind if I ask what topics you would like to cover?

Fred
Alas, that would be premature. But it involves a lot of reading. ;)

Dom
I promised myself never to fall into the speculation trap when talking about comics. I should have known what the answer would be. I can only hope it meets my interests in history.

Onto Spider-Man briefly. How well is "The Gauntlet" doing for the series?

Fred
My understanding is it's doing very well. I was very pleased with the response my Sandman story got, and having read future issues, like Joe Kelly's Rhino and Zeb Wells' Lizard and Dan Slott's Mysterio, I really think it's going to blow people away. I feel like everybody (myself included) are turning in their best work on the book so far, and it's hard not to think it has something to do with the return of these great villain characters.

Dom
The premise of "The Gauntlet" got me to actually buy into the books. Curse Marvel's marketing department. But the whole plan seems to be working out great for consumer like me. The idea of doing smaller contained event stories has already got me onboard Necrosha, Siege, Gauntlet, Doomwar, Realm of Kings, and Fall of the Hulks. I dont want to count how many more books that I'm going to end up buying because of these events.

The Sandman story was fabulous, by the way. It was a good emotional gut punch that doesn't feel too over-played. The ending was superb. The story, itself, while not full of action every page, was entertaining and engaging.

Now, moving to Marvel Zoombies. You've been the writer of the series since part 3, if I'm not mistaken. Part 5 is coming out. Your works began to seriously address the Zombie's world colliding with the "Core Marvel Universe" (A phrase I love since reading about it from Chris Sims) Was this the direction you wanted to originally take with the franchise or an editorial one? How big is the desire to continue to integrate the Zombie's with the greater Marvel Continuity?

Fred
Well, the challenge with MZ -- and hopefully I'm not shocking anyone by saying this -- is to keep the concept fresh and interesting. Spider-Man can only eat Mary Jane once. I really felt like crossing them over with the 616 was the best "high concept" to grab new readers, and it really seemed to resonate with people. I also consciously tried to get more of a, for lack of a better word, "Serious" feel, give it more of a action/horror to plot -- actual heroes who have to defeat the zombies to gain a specific goal.

But just the sheer ridiculousness of the concept, these cannibalistic undead guys in long underwear, eventually took over, and the whole thing got crazier and crazier. Humor is always a big part of my writing and I do enjoy combining it with the gore in MZ.

Dom
I must say I did a o.O when i read you wanted to make it more serious, considering the involvement of the Warren Ellis redefined Machine Man in part 3. With part 4, though, I can understand.

Thanks for the interview.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Firefox and Google : Dreams and Nightmare

2010-01-20T19:08:00.000-08:00

Tangential ties to Haiti aside, Pat Robertson does mean something when he mentions deals with devils

I'm happy that it has taken what is essentially a free third party independent entity to show how to break the long forgotten nightmare scenario of total IE dominance predicted by the old master of Netscape Navigator. 25% of the market of internet browsers owned by Firefox is pretty good. However, as the article suggests, the features that set Firefox apart form IE is being copied and marginalized, in terms of individuality, by competitors such as Opera, Chrome, and increasingly, IE.

Of course, the article centers more on how the relationship has changed between Friefox and Google after Firefox gave them lots of money that Google probably used to help further develop Chrome.

Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural 3

On the same vein of Haiti, whoe Devils Pat Robertson alude to being, I assume, the Loa, we have Rick Remender's rebuttal. Haiti is helping to make sure the Unreal doesn't corrupt our world. If we want to address strange bedfellows and deals with the untrustworthy, too, this book certainly has its own examples.

I can only wish the High School motivational speakers I heard included grim warnings of Self Doubt causing the potential unraveling of the real world. I prefer to think my resolve is the extra weight upon which the world is raised above a harrowing abyss of insanity and callousness. If I just chose to step off the plank, I could send the world spiraling into chaos.

Anyway, how about a few claps for Dr. Doom, asserting himself not just in Black Panther this month, but in the fall of the Hulks series, a few upcoming guest spots in Siege,but also in this book as the Tyrant who ensures reality's existence in the face of unmitigated creativity allowed to flow to its worst entrophic extremes.

Doom certainly stands as a metaphor for control over the self.

By the way, those things I said yesterday about Rick Remender needing to just be given the same deal that DnA has with the Marvel Cosmis world? That still stands. Great book.

Brave and the Bold 31
I really hoped JMS would have told a good tale of the Atom having to team up with the Joker for something. Instead we got a pretty predictable story of the Atom having to choose whether or not to save the Joker and how if the Atom doesn't do what a hero does, he's no worse than the Joker. So he must help the Joker to show the Joker he's better than than the Joker.

JMS did a nice job crib noting The Dark Knight for why the Joker does what he does.

Final Comics Rundown

2010-01-19T20:16:00.000-08:00

Amazing Spider-Man 617
Probably the best book I read last week. I don't know how good Joe Kelly has been since he left "Deadpool" many years ago, but he seems to be finding his sweet spot again after reading his last two issues of Spider-Man work.

It has some of those annoyances in there. The congenialty of the Robo-Rhino's creator is broken suddenly when she remarks on her own work, "...Damn. I'm Fantastic." Parker's co-worker/strumpet isn't much help either. I at to black her out of every page she appears in. Whats worse is she's comic relief in Spider-man's fight against Rhino. Repeating, SHE IS COMIC RELIEF IN A SPIDER-MAN FIGHT! Isn't that Spider-man's job? Doe she need the help? Luckily, though, those parts don't completely detract from a good story. I'm only worried at how long Robo-Rhino will continue to be the "real" Rhino or if Alexsei will eventually be Rhino again in some ret-con/non-acknowledgment of the events of Gauntlet in the coming years.

Strange 3
The world needs more Dr. Strange comics. However, he must be one of the hardest characters to nail down for a writer, only because it must be work to make the man entertaining at all. It seems as if his schtick is that nothing really surprises him and he has to eternally clean up someone else's mess. So, it presents you a case of a man who has no true character flaws. He's always in control. While that particular set up makes him great as Deus ex Machina in any story, as a lead character, it kind of makes him uninteresting because you know he'll pull it out in the end.

Invincible Iron Man 22
Exhibit B of the point above. Now Strange is in that comfortable Deus ex Machina role and he truly excels in it. It helps when Fraction's wit has a chance to show itself, without it feeling as if the characters are using forced speech. Maybe Dr. Strange just needs to have a team up book.

Oh yeah, reviews. Strange 3 is amusing. Strange knows it all, the girl doesn't, things get wacky. He'll have to clean it up in issue 4. In Iron Man, Tony Stark is just moving forward towards waking up to help in Siege.

Finally, a brief asid eont he state of Marvel's Supernatural line. They desperately need an event or somehting to put some attention to the books to give them a chance beyond issue 5. At least Captain Britain was able to pull 13 or so issues out of starting as a tie-in to "Secret Invasion" Ghost Rider essentially lives on as a network of Mini-series since the character's book never really interacted in any other parts of the Core Marvel Universe outside of World War Hulk. Doctor Voodoo got 5 issues out of relatively little fanfare to its creation. These books need something to make people want to buy them. Maybe the supernatural line of Marvel needs someone to run it like the cosmic line of titles is being run. A series of major events books built around two solid on-going titles. The ongoings become established during/after the major event titles publication, not before.

Stick Rick Remender on this. Tell him he has complete run of the Marvel Supernatural line, give him Ghost Rider, Strange, Brother Voodoo, Mephisto, Man Thing, Morbius, et al. and let him go to town on the thing.

Batman 695
I honestly can't say if anything memorable happened in this book.
Nope, just set up for the next. Batman is investigating who is in control of the false faces of Black Mask, Robin is being a douche.

RIDDLER ALERT! Oh man, we are at code green, for my cash leaving my pocket, because I <3 the Riddler

The 2nd show and the X-Books

2010-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

For those who want to listen, episode two is found here

The show went fine. Probably a bit too long, but considering Dusty is a radio noob and I'm a noob at being a lead host, I'd say we did fine. Comment on what needs to change in the show, besides the hosts, and then we'll have an idea on what to do for the future.

Nation X was a dissapointment. However, I don't think people were expecting much from it anyway. This month featured 4 stories in the anthology.

"Wish you were here" makes me wish I wasn't. I get it. Jubilee isn't a mutant anymore and she is sad and she feels she can't be accepted by her friends because she isn't a mutant. After she gets this acceptance from the young mutants on the team, she says she can't be with them. So she's preventing her own self from being happy. Kthnxbye.

"7.5" was the best story fo the bunch. John Barber picks out 2 figures from Grant Morrison's X-Men run and decides to do a story about them. One is an atypical Quentin Quire. The other is Martha, the brain the jar. Now, I only posit that this is atypical of Quentin only because his plan comes at you like a blunt force object. But considering hes doing this to engage in a game with a brain in the jar, subtlety isn't a necessity and it gets the story up and away in no time. What follows is a race against time as two physically handicapped beings match wits with the remainder of mutant kind hanging in the balance.

*sigh* "LDR"

I like Northstar. And far be it from me to talk about mischarcaterization of fictional beings, the last part of the Anthology being a prime example, I don't remember Northstar being this ditzy. Is that even the right word? He's definitly more in the range of being love sick/preoccupied with his love interest, and definitely panicky over the whole thing. Now, the qualifier here, Northstar is gay. He's been gay since 1992. This book will make sure you know he's gay. Now, I lived in quite possibly one of the gayest houses in Louisiana. The only straght guy with 4 other gay people, men and women, and they weren't as in your face as this story is. Its not obnoxious about the lifestyle, it just wants to constantly remind you, like a slow moving sugar cane truck. It is in front of you, you can't pass it by, and it is throwing wood in your face.

The last one is "Cajun Justice". It is a Gambit story. Once again hes torn over his horrible past and his devotion to his team. He just does not know is he can belong, etc. Then he does something to redeem his soul and show he is a good guy. Paint by numbers Gambit story.

The second book is Dark X-Men #3. I LOVE this book. No, wait, I <3 this book.First, it has Nate Grey, the X-Man in it. I've been waiting to get excited by X-Man since his Age of Apocalypse series. Plus, he has the pimpest jacket ever. Chris Sims already addressed that. Perhaps what I enjoy most is how I identify with the team. You have what can best be described as a group of 4 people that have to learn to get along becuase their boss, Norman Osborn, can't really be bothered with them anymore. He has more important things to worry about than his flagging X-Men team. So Mystique, the beleaguered leader, has to coordinate a semblance of teamwork from Weapon Omega and his addiction issues, the completely non team oriented, amoral, and analog to my personality Dark Beast, and the clinically depressed Mimic. Has no one else experienced this in the work place? You and your team of misfits: the sad guy, the lazy guy, and the hyper guy that breaks stuff, have to find your own niche in the office as you find yourself drifting from your boss' attention? This team is every corporate team/department in the country. It is Dilbert with nuclear weaons and spandex. Buy this.

Contacting Authors and R.E.B.E.L.S. #12

2010-01-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

I cannot tell a lie, 'tis I that does this

I need to mention Jeff from And Books Too, though, for clueing me in on how to properly contact an author, or any famous person. I was just doing what came naturally, trying to let my written charm do the talking for me. So far that has netted me:

1) Chris Sims, whom I may have promtly gotten pissed off at me due to my behavior on the show. Comment and let me know how I did.
2) A representative for SEGA of America to talk about Bayonetta.
3) Fred van Lente
4) Kind of a reveal, Brian Clevinger
5) Also, another potential reveal, Tom Tomorrow

More to come, but I can say that i understand the wariness of answering random messages from unknown emails. Thankfully, not everyone wear tin foil on their head like me or else we would never be able to put up this kind of murderers row of guests through the first month of the show.

However, I can say my outreach to potential guests does meet a 80%, or so, failure rate. There are many more messages that have elicited no response compared to messages that have one.

This situation shall be rectified.

Tony Bedard is another of these authors that I really want to have on the show, though. I didn't jump on REBELS because of the Blackest Night tie-ins. I hopped on board thanks to the REBELS Annual, with the secret origin of the new Starro the Conqueror. What got me to buy that annual was the backup previews in DC comics about a month before the book actualyl hit stands.

REBELS 12 does not dissapoint. I have not had the chance of knowing of Vril Dox prior to reading REBELS, but I am glad I'm gettign to know him now. I find it curious that I am taking an active interest in the affairs of DC space, as anyone who knows me can attest to my visceral hatred of space sci-fi, but I won't turn down good charcaters only because of the perils of the black void.

For real, though. Vril Dox is my kind of guy. I aspire to be this Inimical.

The Omega Men plot thread doe snothing for me, though. it feels too Deus ex machinan. I prefer Vril's plan of attack. It feels almost as machnie god like but at least its part of a risky gamble Dox is attempting to do, whereas the Omegas seems to be wandering around mildly aimlessly into their ultimate nullifying weapon.

It is a mild nit to pick, even if the aliens in the book do appear to be rather hairless and unable to acquire nits, anyway. But really, it like where it is going. The flow is smooth. The voices are developed. The characters are a unique cross of good, bastard, and unlikeable that it is interesting to see what could happen after the Starro story is finished, but, alas, it appears this book may be jettisoned into the void once the story is complete, as it is a low seller among DC's titles.

Attack of the China and Blackest Night

2010-01-13T21:08:00.000-08:00

Some kudos to Google for taking a stand. However, the reasoning is a bit too selfish. They're not exactly too concerned with the actual plight of the offended oppressed Chinese more so than the fact the Chinese government is breaking into Google's house in order to do this.

I gues its like taking a stand against domestic violence because the noise is too loud. Its good that it is stopped, but the reasoning isn't quite up to the level one would like to consider moral.

Segueing into thousands of attacks against the righteous...

Secret 6 #17 finally weaves the black lanterns into the story which is fine. Still, the focus of everything is on the individual battles between the Six and the Squad, while the black lanterns are only on the outlier waiting to pick off the stragglers and weakened in the conflict. The best of the 3 books this week.

Power of Shazam #48 gets me caught up on the Shazam side of the DCU. Too bad we never got a chance to see more of zombie prince Osiris. Good glimpse and characterizations of the rings themselves. Second best of the three books.

Gotham City Sirens got renamed this week to Catwoman # 83 as the original Black Mask returns to menace Selena Kyle through her deranged sister. I really enjoy how Selena was able to deal with the tragedy of her sister by completely ignoring her in the mental institution. Great momemt of characterization. I can't believe I actually find Harley to be the more likeable of the whole group. And I demand more Riddler. Worst of the 3 books, but still enjoyable in its own right if you do want to see the women of gotham city violate the dead.

At least none of the women in this book showed up as the emotion of "love" like it seems 90% of them do in the rest of the DCU. That puts them int he category of rageful Mera and @^#%$ Dove.

Problems with America's youth and Cinderella #3

2010-01-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

First off, lets start with the supposition, backed by science.

Does this in anyway have anythign to do with technology? One of the factors mentioned deals with students now being concerned with material gains and one could argue consumer do-dads are increasingly becoming status symbols more than handy things that ease life. From the perspectiv eof the show, Collectable card games increase anxiety as that one golden ticket prize in the card pack can't be acquired. In video games, anxiety increases as frustration in the game increases, obviously. With blogs, facebook, myspace, twitter, et al. we find youth are less private than ever and thus placing themselve sunder more scrutiny than ever, and possibly more pressure to conform.

Perhaps children need to seclude themselves, like the comics readers of old, under the covers with aflashlight, and read this book. Well, if they are above the age of 15.

Cinderella proves that anything under the "Fables" banner is made of pure joy and squeezability. I would say the paper is like charmin to my skin, but against my fingertips, only. I would not dare wipe my keister with this book. It doesnt deserve such a fate.

Cinderella continues to expand upon her own mythos withint he fables world, and so we get introduced to all the ancillary characters in her world, thus expanding the Fable sworld as a whole.

The reveal isn't special, sicne it was forecasted in Issue 2, and some questions do possibly linger too much between the events of three issues, but it is a spy thriller than hits the right notes and portrays Cindy as a strong female lead. She doesnt rely on her sexuality. She isn't helpless. Its as if she were a capable human being. Whereas Alladin is a nice flip. He's the eye candy in this equation.

News and Nation X: X Factor

2010-01-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

I used to be a school teacher, so I'm enjoying this

That's at least how I can best sum up that meme. If anyone knows the words from Fark.com, correct me and give me a fail at the internet.

Tangentially tied to this topic is this article from the New York Times

While through time the rules of the English Language have become increasingly optional, a loss of words to articulate the ideas our minds form can't be acceptable, can it? How many words does the average person need to convey the basic of survival we nee din this world? It seems our culture is bombarded by the need tpo use buzzwords and to sound relevant to our listeners. It sounds to me the first article bemoans that today's youth refuses to adopt the language of the entrenched society. For youth today, as it was yesterday, language is another way to rebel against authority.

The problem becomes when the teens of this country decide to ignore meaning behind the language they u se. Havign a limited vocabulary is not as detrimental as having a limited understabnding of the meaning of the words you are using.

Now, for another rebellion, more familiar to our nation's history.

In the recent months, the X-Men of the written word have seceded from the United States to establish their own Mutant government and country. The entire subtext of the story can be vaguely analogous to the formation of our own country. Read them if you want to catch up. Matt Fraction is a great writer.

However, not all mutants, like colonial Americans, wish to seperate form the country. X Factor, the equivalents of tories, find it is not proper to isolate oneself form a more powerful, domineering enemy. Norman Osborn is a nice stand in for George III.

Subtext aside, its a fairly normal Peter David work. He leaves threads hanging to be tied at a later date that make X Factor the best book to be collected as a graphic novel, but as a serialized book it can be frustrating since it seems that plots never become resolved over long periods of time. The series keeps as many stories floating around as protagonist Jamie Madrox keeps duplicates around.

This builds up to me stating that Nation X: X Factor is a fine book, but not easy for someone to jump into. It keeps X Factor present in the X Men part of the Marvel Universe but resolves only to state that X Factor doesnt want to be involved in the X Universe. X Factor fans dont need this story since it accomplshes nothing, for now, which is why they should pick it up in case Peter David builds on the introduced antagonist, a Vampiric Elderly Immortal Fate. Nation X fans don't need this book since it does nothing to forward the story and only explains why one group of X Mutants won't be bothering to involve themselve sin the current X-Men setting arc.

Deadpool Team Up #3

2010-01-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

Deadpool Team has potential. Deadpool is a true neutral character who can team up with Captain America or The Mole Man. The multiple voices inside his head has potential for new story/plot hooks. Issue 1 was a great example of that use. this issue also has a novel use of 'Pool's schizophrenia. Throw in two flaming skeletons in Ghost Rider and Ghoster(?) Rider (I didn't have the chance to read Jason Aaron's run on Ghost Rider or Ghost Rider's latest mini series) attacking a circus freak town in Florida to stop a demonic infestation of the most physically maligned of our society and it should be a good romp. However, the comedy falls flat like Joe Buck doing standup. The book doesn't, and shouldn't, take itself seriously. But when that lack of seriousness is coupled with a lack of actual comedy then you end up with a story flatter than Matzo, and just as bland.

First Episode

2010-01-09T09:59:00.001-08:00

Our first episode is available for download, now, at http://www.kane1240.com/pop_media.htm

The first show

2010-01-08T23:18:00.000-08:00

Show went off fantastically! We'll will do a breakdown of how we excelled at blowing your minds during the week. In the meantime, we'll get a podcast up Saturday once we edit. SDadly, the first 10 minutes are lost to the Aether so we have no conversation about Wonder Woman vs. Bayonetta.

The Blackest Night Books

2010-01-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

Overall, out of these 3 books, 1 is actually worth a damn, 1 is vaguely interesting, and another is utterly useless and makes me Hulk angry.

First, lets start with the big one, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2. This story takes place between the page sof Blackest Night 6 as everyone in the story was wondering just what is up with Black Lantern Diana? Well here's the answer. This issue puts he rin a fever dream where she slaughters her friends and fellow black lanterns to her hearts content until batman descends form the mountain top, not on fire, and kisses her, thus putting I suppose some part of Wonder Woman's body in heat. All of this was orchestrated by Aphrodite who is assiting Wonder Woman in joining the Star Sapphire corps, which occurs back in Blackest night 6.

The negatives are: Wonder woman is essentially dependent on people to help her overcome this Green lantern menace, its dissapointing that Greg Rucka, who writes a great female lead character in Detective Comics, wrote Wonder Woman so incapable of defeating this ring that is possessing her body until she has a vision of being caught in Batman's hunky arms, she dresses like a tart, etc.

I'm in no way dismissing these arguments, its just that they have been discussed and elaborated on ad nauseum alreadty, so I do not need to further elaborate on these. Chris Sims does a better job of dismantling this thing like an Edsel over at http:www.the-isb.com

I'll just say that, yes, it is a shame how Wonder Woman is easily brushed aside under the power of a Green Lantern villain and depends on outside assistance (externally and internally) to help her overcome this condition she finds herself in. Its sad that she has to get the love ring when she really sometimes has compassion for most of the world. Of course, that's the BIG inconsistency of Geoff John's technicolor emotion rangers is that what represents compassion and love when the two inevitably blur?

My real anger is reserved for Weird Western Tales. By itself it is a good story. better than Wonder Woman's, but for me it does not meet expectations of enjoyment that it could have capitalized on. I do not think I'm lying when i say people would have prefered more zombie Johna Hex in this book. Hell, I'm certain people buy this book to see zombie Hex in it, besides jst collecting EVERY tie-in to Blackest night (ME!), but still, why does Didio have to hold back Hex so long? Really? He has to build suspense to reveal Hex in a book people know he's going to be in? Why not reward readers for spending their money by giving them Hex right from the start? Where are these charcaters from this one off even going to matter in the grand scheme of the whole event? I've seen the played out scene of "Oh noes! Zombies! How will people survive them!" This book, in my opinion, should have been the way to shine a light on a Black Lantern as the central figure and Didio blew it. I dont care about the Ray. Hell, I think the Ray is the only guy still alive after the attacks. Will the Ray come back at some point? Will he be the key to some other tie-in?

Now, the same could be aid to "Suicide Squad". Really, how will these figures matter? The key to this, though, is that we expect this book to be about Deadshot, and Simone and Ostrander are delivering a slow boiling story on Black Lanterns looking to exact revenge against Deadshot, with the Secret Six and Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad along for the ride. This book does what Western couldn't, deliver us a story with the expected main character being front and center, and Simone is also able to provide characterization for the rest of the six for the continuing book. Western was a one off. We dont need in depth characetizationw hen we want Hex roaming the desert using Black Lanter powers to tear some poor schlub's heart out. In Squad we need that charcaterizaton because when Blackest Night is over, the book goes right on.

So, how do I like the Blackest Night offering for this week? 1 great book (Squad), 1 "meh" book (Wonder Woman) and 1 F U Lemons! (Western Tales)

Siege #1 and Siege: Embedded #1

2010-01-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

This I really want to see succeed.

After reading both Siege comics for this week, I can say that one of them was good, the other I want to see improved before four months are over.

Siege is a great premise. It's almost as if it is the anti Final Crisis. It is shorter. It has fewer tie-ins. Gods from a far away realm have invaded Earth. The villains are in charge of the world, yes, but this time the villains are the normal people and the Gods are the heroes. Most importantly, for me, it is written in a straight forward style hat is hardly confusing, which i something I I designate about 80% of what Grant Morrison writes.

Basics out of the way. This story is supposed to be the culmination of the stories Brian Bendis has been telling since Avengers: Disassembled. After that. we had the start of New Avengers, then House of M and Decimation, then Civil War, then World War Hulk, then Secret Invasion (which was so secret I missed it until Issue 6), then Dark Reign (The Countdown to Siege), and now we end up here. Asgard, the Viking one, ends up in the middle of Oklahoma. Loki continuously schemes to gain control of the land and National Security Commander Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, has to fall over himself to help his only friend left in the original Cabal of Super Evil, outside of the Hood. Loki convinces Norman to stage a Siege on US soil of Asgard. That's the gist. Man vs. God.

However, Brian Bendis does a horrible, horrible thing. He features a beat down of Marvel's Thor and instead has a reporter tell us instead of showing us. I think I get why. He's used to decompression. He wants to keep a secret member of Norman's Cabal hidden from us. I have a feeling it is the guy that looks like an orange Vincente from Age of Apocalypse's "Generation Next". I feel like he didn't want to reveal this big gun yet until a later issue, but because he only has 4 to work with instead of 6-8 he can't reveal the guy on issue 2 or 3 like he wants without having to edit out the fight scenes where ths secret member can be of value.

It's no excuse. The book is a normal Marvel 3.99 book, but instead of the scene where we get Norman being told by everyone in his Dark Avengers that he is a nut job and that this cannot go anyway other than bad, he coudl use those three pages to show a potentially awesome fight scene.

What's a worse kick to the junk is then he practically prints the extended edition of the planning scene in script in the back of the comic. Really? What was int he comic par tof the book couldn't be put back there so that I could get more Thor fighting in this book? Hawk(Bulls)eye's witty banter is just more important than Asgardian environment smashing?

Actually, that's just one piece of what makes this book frustrating. The other part is that the events in this book are after the current stories of half the solo books for all involved. Ironman is still in Tony Stark: Disassembled being revived from lobotomizing himself. In Siege we can tell he's fine. Great Job! I don't need to spend my money now to read the story. Thor apparently got Asgard back into Oklahoma, because in his solo book the Asgardians moved the place to Latveria to shack up with Doom. So, I guess its good to know what happens in Thor before it does. Thanks Bendis! And, well, we already knew what happened to bring back Steve Rogers since EVERY book is ahead of Captain America: Reborn in terms of the publishing schedule. Nice cohesive universe going on there Quesada.

I want Siege to work. I do. As a plot, I think its great. However, the execution was off on this first issue.

Now, for Siege: Embedded, I liked that one. I knew what I was getting into with that one and I got what was delivered. Brian Reed weaves the tale of Volstagg after he accidentally obliterated Soldier field with a Bears Game going on into a story on how orman Osborn is using the press to manipulate the American Public to go along with this scheme to assault Asgard. Okay, the references to government politics and the manipulation of the media, especially harkening back to the Bush Administration, are pretty evident. Of course, that whole concept has been a good standby to use since 1776.

I'm just happy to see a book that glorifies good journalism. It is nice to see a book that gives us a protagonist that is antagonistic to his government. That's what a journalist needs to be. The Glenn Beck/Sean Hannity analog is a nice touch too, and shows just what can happen to a journalist who doesn't believe in ethics anymore.

So, Embedded was good because it told a nice untold story within Siege 1, got a good theme across, and introduced us to some characters that play their roles on the stage perfectly.

First post

2010-01-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

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