Deep End Of The Long Box

2010-10-09T11:13:00.002-05:00

Hey, guess who remembered he had a blog! Yep, this guy. :::pointing to myself::: All I can say is that over the previous summer, I kinda decided to keep my opinions and thoughts to myself. It is not like anyone really cares what I have to say, right?

Well, A lot of nerdy things have happened to me since the last time I posted anything. I bought a PS3 (my first Sony system ever and my first Blu-ray player), the wife and I now own iPhones, discovered one of the best TV shows ever (I will devote a full post to it later), and we left the United States for the first time. Those aren't the reasons I decided to get back on this here blog though. I want to talk about something important....Star Wars.

Just a few minutes ago, I finished watching Episode II. I haven't seen that movie in full since I saw in the theater eight years ago. I've seen some small bits and pieces on TV, but never start to finish since I saw it on the big screen. The only reason I watched it now is because I found it for $3.00 on clearance at the local Half Price Books. Of course, I know that every single one of my fellow nerds has their opinion of the prequel trilogy and the internet is where all those opinions are aired. I bring it up now to many years after it would be relevant because I think my opinion has actually mellowed a bit since seeing the movie originally. Basically, I now believe that Star Wars Episodes I - III suffer from just three small misjudgments that, if corrected, would have saved them all from the ire of many a man-child. Here they are.

1. Midichlorians
If you are reading this blog than odds are you know exactly what I am talking about. A small throwaway conversation between Qui-Gon and Anakin in The Phantom Menance ruined the mythology of all six films. The audience has already expected the Force as an idea. We get it. We didn't need any explanation for it and the explanation forced upon us (no pun intended) was horrible. It was three minutes that easily could have hit the cutting room floor and then would not have changed what we already excepted.

2. Hayden Christensen
Again, I know this has been talked about at length but it still astonishes me that throughout the casting process and filming, no one piped up and said "he's a little robotic." Anakin Skywalker is literally consumed by his emotions but we don't see any of them on the screen? We ALL know what is coming! Come on people! The whole point of these movies is to see why he turns to the Dark Side, and from Christensen's performance, we just don't see it.

3. The Jedi Council is pretty dumb.
It is prophesied that Anakin Skywalker would "bring balance to the Force." O...K...I would think that every member of the Jedi Council could count, at least on their hands and toes even though that would only be a total of twelve for Yoda. There are a whole slew of Jedi and only two Sith that they know about. Hmmmmm. That does sound out of balance to me but the Council never realizes that balancing it out means a ton of Jedi have to die? These are supposed to be the wisest beings in the galaxy! All they needed to do to fix this obvious continuity error is say that the prophesy was that Anakin's appearance would "foretell a balancing of the Force." That way the story of Anakin falling to the Dark Side can still occur and the Jedi Council don't look like a bunch of morons.

And with three small tweaks, we would get three fine movies. Now you may be asking why the hell I even care enough to bring this all up now. It is because I watch Cartoon Network's The Clone Wars. None of the problems I listed are even mentioned on the show and that is why I enjoy the program as much as I do. I almost think that The Clone Wars is somewhat of a "mea culpa" for what was wrong in the films. I don't know but that's my opinion, take it or leave it.

Sit right back and you'll hear a tale....

2010-06-04T19:44:00.003-05:00

(NOTE: SPOILERS ABOUND SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!) Apparently I don't need to say this since everyone on Earth has told everybody else by now, but ABC's Lost has come to an end. Yep, it's over, and less than a second after Jack closed his eyes, the web was breaking in two under the sheer weight of opinions being thrown around. My wife and I, like millions of other viewers, sat by the television watching and waiting patiently to see if all the time we had invested in this show was worth it. Once it was over, I made the big mistake of tweeting my opinion and I definitely regret it now. It was a mistake because as soon as I said anything, I was told by multiple people that I was wrong. Well, I have let some time pass and ruminated on it and now it's my turn! BWA HAHAHA. This is my blog and here I am king! My opinion cannot be besmirched here!

After reading and hearing so many opinions, I think I know what I want to say about the finale. It is an unpopular opinion, but it is mine and I stick by it. Here goes. See if you can follow me. The finale itself was fine and served its purpose as a bookend for the show. I totally understand why people were moved by it even if I thought it was a little preachy. I totally understand where all of the positive reactions are coming from. The whole episode was a gigantic affirmation of life and even of death. You would have to be a statue for that not to affect you in some way. This is my problem with it though. These affirmations act as a smokescreen for weak writing not only in the finale but in the series as a whole. Giving happy endings to everyone is how the writers fool us into forgetting everything we have thought about the series.

I think a friend of mine, Matt Marquissee, put it better than I ever could: "It's a puzzle without a picture, just pieces. Then, when you're about finished, someone throws it out." If you think about it, he is totally right and you could even take it further and say that not only was there no picture but there were a lot of pieces left over too. Before you even say it, I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY! "The writers told us we would not get all the answers!" "We knew everything was not going to be answered." "The show isn't about knowing everything." Those are all cop outs for the writers, plain and simple. I'm sorry but I don't buy it. There was too much left over or cast aside. All those happy endings just stop you from thinking about the series and all the plot lines, character development, and continuity that now means nothing. For instance, let's go all the way back to the first season and the episode "Raised By Another." Anyone remember why Claire was on Flight 815? Anyone? Bueller?......Bueller? She was on the plane because a psychic had a vision that if Aaron was born, he would be some type of evil incarnate. So the psychic bought Claire a ticket knowing full well the plane would go down and kill her and her evil son. Don't remember that? That's because everyone is so happy moving on with their loved ones to the afterlife. Or hey! What about Faraday? The poor guy gets shot by his own mother in the past and he doesn't get to go on to the afterlife because she doesn't want him to? Doesn't seem fair to me at all. I could go on and on about everything that didn't make sense or all the instances of sloppy writing, but I won't. No one wants to read that. All I have to say now that it is all over and we can see it all in focus, Lost was a very interesting ride that ended up having a lot of potholes, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Now you can hear my voice!

2010-05-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to leave a note and tell everyone to go listen to the newest episode (#119) of the Marvel Noise podcast. Why, you ask? Because yours truly is the newest contributor! My new segment, "From The Quarter Box," looks at some of Marvel's contributions to the cheap bins, and the first spotlight is on Solarman #1, a true gem of Stan Lee's career. Go give it a listen. Since this is the first time I have ever really recorded anything, I welcome any thoughts or criticisms anyone may have.

Either I am totally right or I'm developing Aspergers. YOU DECIDE!

2010-05-04T19:38:00.002-05:00

As much as I don't want this blog to become my own little emo bully pulpit where I only talk about the things that anger me, it seems like those kinds of things are what get me motivated enough to sit down and start typing. To make matters even more depressing, the things that anger me usually have to do with the internet since that is where most of my social interaction comes from these days. Maybe I should explain my situation and get it off my chest so you can understand what I am talking about.

A couple days ago, I was very sick all day. I had absolutely horrible pains in my gut and I would have left work if I thought that the walk to the train station was possible in my condition. Basically, I just sat at my desk and waited until it was time to go. When I finally got home, I went right to my bed and slept for 3 1/2 hours straight. Eventually my wife woke me up since she was worried about me, and luckily for me, I felt better. We went to get some dinner so I could get some fresh air and food in my system. We got home late and my wife went to bed but due to sleeping earlier, there was no way I could fall asleep. Time ticked away as I surfed the internet all night. I looked at the clock and it was already 1:30 in the morning. Now this gets to the part where the problems (aside from not feeling well and not being able to sleep) begin. I will preface it with the fact that I know it may seem asinine but it was important to me at the time and what came next is what really irked me. I decide to read my Twitter feed and right there at the top was a major spoiler of the X-Men member that had died in X-Force #26 which had come out two days prior. Due to the fact that my comic store was sold out, I couldn't read it and I was doing everything not to be spoiled. I didn't read message boards, I didn't go to CBR or Newsarama, I did everything I could. I don't think it is too much that I was disappointed. Who likes things ruined for them? Do you want go to a movie and then someone tell you the end as soon as you buy your ticket? I decide to reply and say "DUDE, WTF. SPOILERS." I was pissed and that was all I could think to say at first. I then said that I had been trying not to be spoiled. I did eventually get to sleep at around 2:45 in the morning. Then I awoke to find this greeting me when I turn on my computer:

"for anyone out there who thinks i "ruined" second coming for them lasr [sic] night...grow up, this is the internet age. it isnt even half way over"

This is what turned me into a mushroom cloud. A simple "sorry" would have been enough (and those five letters would have been easier to type too), but no. I get told to grow up in the most condescending way possible. So you're saying I can't be disappointed that the pivotal plot point of the book that I wanted to read but could not purchase was told to me? Is that what you are saying? Ya know, the whole spoiler phenomenon is not that big a deal to me normally but since I couldn't buy the book, I just wanted to read it myself. Is that too much to ask? Now I have been thinking about this since it happened. It drives me nuts. I know that it may seem petty to a lot of people and I own that fact, but I was still disappointed. Being "spoiled" isn't even why I am angry! The ire comes from the "holier than thou" and "I'm better than you" response that I got in return. Am I right or crazy or both? I don't know anymore and I need to stop thinking about it. Writing it out helps. Thanks for listening to my rant anyway. It is always good to get stuff off your chest I guess.

Free Comic Book Day 2010

2010-05-01T08:56:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Free Comic Book Day today. Make sure to head out to your local comic store for some awesome free stuff (and make sure to buy something too since the comics are free for you but not free for the store.) Here is a link to the website so you can find a participating store near you: www.freecomicbookday.com.

C2E2 Con Report

2010-04-25T11:50:00.004-05:00

It has been a weird week and I have been so tired every day after work, but I decided that I should probably get my thoughts about C2E2 down before everyone has forgotten about it and moved on to other things. I was very excited for this con (like kid trying to sleep on Xmas eve) and it totally lived up to my expectations. I guess the best way to break the con down is to go day by day.

FRIDAY
So, I took the day off of work Friday so that I could attend the con. I slept in a little and left around 10 since I expected it would take about 2 hours total to get to McCormick Place using the CTA Blue Line and the #3 bus. That means I would get there with an hour to find where everything was and to get a good place in line. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up getting into line to enter the con after only 50 minutes. I was about the twentieth person in line and I had to wait a little over two hours to get in. Luckily I brought a book to read but I didn't even need it since they had a huge screen playing The Dark Knight which mesmerized me like a small child. Once I actually got into the con, the set-up was pretty spectacular. The place was so clean and bright with ACTUAL NATURAL LIGHT! The aisles were huge and no one was stuck together walking into each other. I applaud ReedPOP for their excellent use of the venue.

I made a b-line to artist alley since I knew there were sketch lists that I wanted to get on and books I wanted to pick up. Like the good little nerd I am, I printed out a to-do list full of everything I wanted to get done at the con. The first thing I did was get on Mike Norton's sketch list. (I'll post my art haul at the end so you can see it all.) Stop #2 was to pick up The Uniques #8 & 9 and a new gorgeous X-Men print from two of my favorite creators, Adam Withers and Comfort Love. They really do astonishing work and I have loved every issue of the Uniques more than the last. I also hit up Steve Bryant for the Athena Voltaire Collected Webcomics since I had just finished reading the Flight of the Falcon series and loved it. Go check out his Kickstarter campaign for the new Athena Voltaire series. I am really pulling for him. With those first purchases out of the way, we get to the most important aspect of the con for me, meeting up with everybody. So many people were coming into town for this con and I wanted to make sure I saw them. So Friday was spent with Matt and Sarah Kramer and Vince B, David (Don't call them floppies) Price, and Jason Wood from 11 O'Clock Comics. Walking around a con is great, but seeing everything with friends is better. It is always a highlight of a con to see people and hang out. As they should, the comics take a back seat to friendships. In the interest of keeping this short, the rest of the Friday was spent getting the lay of the land and talking with everybody.

SATURDAY
Saturday during the con itself was amazing. I got to hang out and walk the con floor with my beautiful wife, and my boys, Rick "Smash Tales" Hansen, Jose Capetillo, and Dave "ElDave" Mathis. We checked out the Cup O' Joe panel which was pretty much a snooze until they had the inevitable hilarious question. A girl wearing flannel and cat ears came up to the mic and asked very bluntly "Why do you hate your female readers?" and continued to berate the panel and interrupt their attempts at an answer as she explains how Marvel's depiction of women is a horrible injustice. Just wow. After the panel, I went and talked with Tom Fowler and got on his sketch list and got a FREE sketch from Hilary Barta. I insisted on paying him but he wouldn't have it. Hilary is just plain awesome. My wife and I also went to the Cleveland Show panel which was very cool since they showed the upcoming episode with Kanye West.

By this time, the con was closed for the day and we headed to the shuttle bus to the "afterparty" at Reggie's. Note to self: NEVER GO TO ANOTHER AFTERPARTY. My wife and I missed the shuttle that our friends had gotten on so we waited 20 minutes for the next one. Once we got there, our friends had already ordered food and had heard nothing since they ordered, so we all stood there, waiting at the bar forever. Finally a table opens, we jump on it like lions on a fresh kill, and we continue to sit and wait. The music is blaring, we can't hear each other, and we are hungry. We waited more than an hour for food. Let's just say no one was very happy. Then my food comes. I came 20 minutes after the other guys and my food came first. It was such a clusterf---. There is no other way to put it. And to add insult to injury, our food came right as the 11 O'Clock Comics guys decide to bolt. Hanging out with all of them was the big reason we all decided to even go but we couldn't leave with this food here. Luckily, my friends got their money back, but it all pretty much sucked.

SUNDAY
Sunday was the winding-down day, saying good bye to everybody and doing some last minute bargain bin diving. I found some books I needed to complete some runs so that's always good. I also went to the X-Men panel which pretty much became "The Peter David Show starring Peter David." He was the biggest name on the panel so he took over which is fine with me since he's a writing god. All in all, the day was a nice way to end the con. Sadly, there were a lot of people that I didn't see or run into like Adam Bensenyodi, Ryan "Gobo," George and Jon from anti-hero, and Scott Cederlund, but there is only so much you can do. Well, there will always be other cons. Maybe I will see them at the Summit City Convention, if I can find a ride to Fort Wayne. Wink, wink.

All in all, I think King DAP put it best. "Everything in the convention center was amazing. Outside the building, not so much." With that said, I had an amazing time and I will be back next year. Oh and here is my haul for those that want to bask in some awesome art:

That was pretty "groovy."

2010-04-10T10:05:00.005-05:00

It's only 9:18 in the morning and I have already had a pretty weird day. I was planning to go into work for some overtime, but traffic is so bad due to construction that my normally 15 to 20 minute drive would have taken an hour and a half at best. So, I decided to stay home, grabbed a piece of last night's pizza for breakfast, and read some comics. One of those comics was so good that I had to jump on the laptop and talk about it: Brave and the Bold #29.

I am quite the fan of the "team-up" books like Marvel Team-Up, Superman/Batman, etc. I just never got into the newest incarnation of DC's Brave and the Bold because when it started, the comic store where I shopped kept running out of copies and I eventually forgot about it. Now, I have been finding issues on the cheap and catching up and I must say that J. Michael Straczynski's current run on the book is pretty amazing. One off team-up stories with gorgeous Jesus Saiz art? Sign me up. Having just finished reading issue #29, I think I can say that I have found the best issue of the bunch as well. Now due to the fact that I was exclusively a Marvel reader as a kid, there is a lot of DC history that I don't know. The character of Brother Power, the Geek, is one such lapse in my DC knowledge. I had never heard of him before reading this issue. Apparently, he/it was a tailor's dummy that was exposed to chemicals and lighting and came to life during the 60's. OK...it is a comic book so you have to suspend your disbelief. The issue is really about the differences he sees from the 60's to now. Thanks to Saiz's art, it was pretty powerful. If you have a chance, pick up Brave and the Bold #29. You won't regret it.

Getting ready for C2E2

2010-04-09T12:14:00.002-05:00

It is really weird. I seems like only weeks ago that I heard the news that a new comic book convention was coming to town. It's actually been more than a year since the initial announcement, and now C2E2 is only a week away. I have decided that I am going to play this con cool. What I mean is that I'm going more to see people I know and to socialize and not really worry about buying a whole lot of stuff. This is mainly due to the fact that I need the money for my upcoming trip to Europe and also because there will be a lot of people I want to see, taking stuff home from McCormick Place is not as easy as from the Rosemont Convention Center, and less purchases equals less clutter in my apartment. I'm not saying that I won't dive in some longboxes, but I plan to rigidly stick to the list of issues I need to complete some runs. (Thank you ComicbookDB for making it so easy to keep an organized list or what I am looking for.)

There is one thing though that I am taking some time and preparing for next weekend. I have never really been very organized when it comes to the commissioned art pieces that I have bought at cons. I've meant to fix this oversight but I really didn't know how to do it. From what I read on the internet and hear in podcasts, most people have a sketchbook and have artists draw in those. Now I am only speaking for myself but I just don't get sketchbooks. The idea doesn't work for me. First, having a sketchbook limits you at a con since the first artist you get a commission from has to take the sketchbook. You are out of luck until he or she is done. That means either you just write that time off or you plan like crazy ahead of time to make sure you take the book to each artist you want one after the other and hope they have time left to do it. The other problem I have is the fact that I like having the oppurtunity to frame a piece if I really love it (and the wife approves). You can't do that if the commission is in a sketchbook. So after spending some time at some office supply stores and online, here is the answer that I have come up with: the TOPS 11x17 Executive Showfile. (Even that name makes it sound important.) With a big enough size to fit all the art that I bought at cons before and the freedom to get more than one piece at a time and display them how I want, the showfile is perfect for me. I don't want people to think that I am insulting them if they have a sketchbook. I have seen some amazing books where every drawing fits a theme (for instance "The Many Deaths of Strawberry Shortcake" and "Gambit fighting an alligator"). Sketchbooks just aren't for me though and I am excited about the new alternative that I have found.

Put some Rock Sugar on me.

2010-03-30T19:18:00.008-05:00

Geeks come in every shape and size and span the gamut of things one can obsess about. I am the first to admit that my weakest area of geekiness is music. Sure, I love music and I have gigs and gigs of tunes on my iPod, but I am not one of those guys that knows the names of every drummer that has ever played with KISS or knows where Mötley Crüe played their first gig. I know what bands I like when I hear them and that is as far as it goes for me. Now with that said, I have to gush over a new band that I just found out about. As soon as I heard them, I knew I must use my little outlet to the world that I have here and spread the good word, the word of ROCK SUGAR!

OK, here's the story. One of the funniest podcasts ever is Mike Schmidt's "The 40 Year Old Boy" which I have been listening to since the very first episode. Recently, a fan sent him a music recommendation and he could not stop talking about them on the podcast. That recommendation was of course Rock Sugar. Then days later, the band signs to a label and will start touring. Coincidence? Nope, someone heard the podcast and signed them. How amazing is that!? So I go on the band's website and order their CD and wait patiently for the mailman to deliver it.

"But Mike, why didn't you just download the album like a normal person?"

I was getting to that. Rock Sugar is not your normal band. They play "mashups." They still don't have the rights to put their music on iTunes and the like because they take songs we all know by heart, retool them, and mash them together. This might be too hard to explain in words. I think the only way for you to understand is to see it....

Now hopefully, you can understand why I love Rock Sugar.

The End of an Era

2010-03-20T08:12:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to make a quick note and and mark the end of something pretty special. In case you didn't know, Around Comics, the best comic book podcast out there if you ask me, had their final recording session last night. It was a memorable night with a whole lot of great people jammed into Dark Tower Comics, eating pizza, shooting the shit, and just having a good time. It will definitely be sad to see it go. To Chris, Sal, and Tom, you have done a great service to the comic industry and to comic fans. Well done, sirs.

I'd like some puddin' please.

2010-03-18T22:42:00.004-05:00

Don't you love that feeling when you read a book or see a movie, and it just totally resonates with you? Well, I had that experience yesterday as I read some issues that have been sitting in my "to be read" pile. Those issues were Gotham City Sirens #5-9.

First and foremost, it is not like I have just let these issues build up for five months without reading them. I recently changed comic stores, and Sirens was one of the titles that my old store could not get in stock even though I poked and prodded and asked them to order it. Now that I go to Dark Tower Comics here in Chicago, I have been able to fill in all of the issues that I have been missing. In the case of Sirens, I was missing issues #5 and #6. Now armed with five months worth of issues, I put them in the messenger bag I bring to work and decided to spend my lunch with the ladies of Gotham City. It actually was hard to have to wait to read these because I loved the first four issues (I have even blogged about the series before), but now I get my chance to dive in.

There is a reason that I bring all this up and the reason is Harley Quinn. I have always liked Harley but these issues showed that her character is more multifaceted than I think a lot of people would realize. Harley is not just the Joker's sidekick any more. Despite her festive costume and her one-liners, when you break her down, Quinn is a truly tragic anti-hero seeking penance for past wrongdoings. The tragedy starts with her origin. Most people know that Harley was created by Paul Dini specifically for "Batman: the Animated Series." What they may not know is that Dini created a back story for Harley once she made the transition to the comics, and it is a back story that almost breaks your heart. Even though she was able to go to college on a gymnastics scholarship and eventually became a prominent psychiatrist, Harley's horrible home life and dead beat, criminal father scarred her mentally and made her easy pickings for the Joker and his corruption. Today, Dini writes her as this smart, educated woman trapped in the mind of a mistreated child. What makes her even more tragic is that even though now that she wants to fight the good fight and make amends for what she's done, she is still in love with "her puddin'." The Joker is Harley's tragic flaw, and for me, that makes her a complex character worthy of reading about. What I am getting at is that when she's written well, Harley Quinn is an amazing character that gets forgotten due to her past sidekick status and television roots.

Gotham City Sirens is an under appreciated gem that I worry will not last long. I totally admit that I'm writing about it right now partially due to the selfish fact that I want the book to continue so I can continue to read it. But I can't be the only one that enjoys this, right? If you like the Batman family, why in the world wouldn't you give this book a chance? Issue #9 is an excellent jumping on point with the girls hiring the Riddler to help them with a mystery that literally fell into their laps (or should I say, fell into their pool). Go out and pick it up. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

You got free money. What else do you want?

2010-03-12T13:40:00.001-06:00

Last weekend and the early part of this week was an insane roller coaster of emotions for many nerds. In case you hadn't heard, Amazon marked down tons of comic hardcovers and omnibuses to clearance level prices. We're talking discounts as big as $100 books for $14.99. Of course, everyone scrambles to get in on the deals and message boards and twitter feeds are abuzz. Now after years of trolling sites like Fat Wallet and Slickdeals, I know when a deal is too good to be true and that there is little to no chance it will be honored. So, I too ordered some books, knowing full well that the order would probably be cancelled as soon as the pricing error is found, just in the off chance I could get some cheap reads.

Fast forward three days. One of the four books I ordered (The Old Man Logan hardcover for $14.99) arrives and I find an email telling me Amazon has cancelled the other books, but gave me a $25 credit for the inconvenience. How awesome is that!? Now I am riding a nerd high and thinking about what to use this free money on. I start surfing the internet to see if some of my fellow comic enthusiasts got the same deal. That is when my gears were officially grinded. I found tweets and message boards posts of angry customers saying that Amazon sucks and that this whole thing was horrible even after they too had received their $25 credit. What do you people want!? Handwritten apology notices? Bigger credits? A pound of flesh? Hookers? Honestly, what would make you happy? Amazon didn't have to do anything, let alone give you $25, because their site specifically states that they can cancel orders due to pricing errors. I just couldn't believe it and I needed to vent a little. We all had our fun this weekend and we all got something out of it. Be happy with that. Geez.

Massively Affected

2010-03-01T19:12:00.004-06:00

As much as I herald the cause of nerds, geeks, and fanboys everywhere, there is one aspect of my brethren that I have come to hate. I think, in most circles, the worst trait for nerds is their vocal distaste for anything and everything. Go online moments after a movie premieres and foulmouthed tweet after foulmouthed tweet will abound. No matter how good something is, you will find thousands of acerbic status updates, forum posts, and comments from angry nerds nitpicking even the smallest details and blowing them out of proportion. Or they can go the complete opposite way and hate something for no reason whatsoever and still feel the need to rant to anyone that will listen. I don't think I ever need to hear or read the words "It just didn't work for me" ever again. They are totally useless words that convey absolutely nothing. Opinions are like assholes as the saying goes, but shouting your opinion at the top of your lungs makes you an asshole. I learned this the hard way and I know now that back in college, a lot of people didn't like me for just that reason. Once I realized how asinine it all was, I promised myself that I would end it from then on. In this day and age, comments like those just make the commenter out to be the fool. Just talking about this in the abstract though doesn't cut it. The only way to illustrate this is with an example and I have the perfect one: Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 has completely changed the way I see video games. As a story, I would hold Mass Effect 2 up against the greatest examples of science fiction and it would hold its own. The way I have described it to people is "take the dynamic alien species of Star Trek and the multifaceted and relatable characters of Battlestar Galactica and place them in the space opera and grand scale of Star Wars and you get Mass Effect 2." While I admit that the first game had its faults in gameplay, I still held it as my favorite game of all time until the day that its sequel finally hit my doorstep and I put the disc into my Xbox. From that point on, there was nothing else that could compare in my mind. It was as if Bioware had created a game just for me and me alone and the fact that they sold hundreds of thousands of other copies was just gravy for them. But here is where my ire toward my fellow nerds comes to a head. I go online just for regular daily websurfing and not even looking for commentary on the game and I see the cynical comments, "I am getting sick and tired of all the scanning" being the most common among them. If you have not played the game then you may not get this so let me explain. In the game, in order to improve the technology of your ship and your crews tools, you have to scan and mine planets that you visit. A large amount of people found this tedious and time consuming and made sure everyone knew about it. I hate it because I don't want to be the one that shouts back and has to be equally as obnoxious, but when I read those comments they drove me nuts. Part of me felt like they were trying to rain on my parade and part of me felt that they were flat out wrong. For me, scanning planets made perfect sense in a story perspective. It fit well with the overall feel of what was going on. Also, if you paid attention, you can tell that the game designers went to a lot of trouble to make the planets as scientifically plausible as possible. But of course, fanboys have to harp on the one thing they don't like and not look at everything in the big picture. I think what I am trying to say is for the love of god people, just try to enjoy things and don't go into something trying to think what you are going to tweet from your iPhone the second it is over. If you want to talk to me about something, bring thoughts, not snark.

I also want to massively thank Mike Norton for doing the above sketch of Mordin after I tweeted about it. I wasn't kidding Mike, I am going straight to your table with money in hand for one of these.

Oh and I know someone is going to mention it. Yes, the title of this post is grammatically correct. English degree yo!

You can do some of the work, you lazy bums!

2010-02-27T10:29:00.003-06:00

While I am writing my next post (and it is going to be a long one since I have a lot to say about the topic), I'm hoping to get some help from teh intarwebs. Here's the deal. If you are reading this, than I want you to toss out a title, character, team, storyline, year of publication, anything. The first one mentioned that I can find buried in my longboxes will be the topic of an upcoming post. Basically, I want to read something, but I want it to be totally random and out of my control. So post a comment, send me a twitter, yell in my face, etc., and tell me what to read.

Insert apologetic title here.

2010-02-22T20:58:00.000-06:00

I want to apologize to the two people who actually read this blog. I know it has been a very long time since I wrote anything, and I know that I have a track record of letting endeavors like this fall to wayside once I lose interest or when other things get in the way. To be totally honest, I think I have a little of both going on now. Let me explain.

Let's tackle the lack of interest first. I will be totally honest with you. Comics just aren't doing it for me for the last couple months. Now before you go all crazy and tell me how great some series is and that I should be reading it (ha, as if someone would take the time to do that), I know that there are great comics out there. I am in no way saying that there are no titles that still interest me. God, X-Factor is probably better right now than it has ever been. That's why it's one of the few titles that have survived the massive culling of my pull list, but sadly, many other titles have not. Partially it is due to the sucky economy and my newfound effort to reevaluate my spending. I want to be able to really do things, and the money I spend on comics every week could be used to do other grander things. My wife and I are going to London and Paris for instance and cutting back on the comics will help us get there. Plus, there is the space issue. Someone (I won't name names) has been pressuring me lately to starting selling or donating the comics I have. Past Michael would have gone ballistic, ran into the office, and starting hugging the longboxes and telling them that everything is alright. Now, I realize that it might be time to start getting rid of some of the books that I never plan on reading again. Who knows? Someone else might want to read them as well.

Lack of interest in blogging itself is part of the problem as well I guess. I have two really strong opinions on the subject that are fighting it out in my head right now. One half of my brain says that no one cares what some boring nerd with a desk job thinks. Kinda like a "You actually think you have something to add?" complex. Even typing this right now makes me feel like the emo losers that I hate. Then there is that other half of me that says I need this. Writing can only help me become a better writer. Even if no one reads this besides myself, it still makes me better with every word, so that's something right? I hope so.

On top of the fact that my interest in comics and blogging are not what they once were, there are so many other types of media that is vying for my attention. I think the best and worst thing that has happened to me recently is that my best friend, and best man, Carl, got Katie and I a subscription to Netflix for our wedding gift. Seeing so many great (and some not so great) movies and having the ability to watch some of them whenever I want has definitely been a timesuck in this household. Not only that but, I am even reading novels again. I have a stack of books ready to go including some Star Wars books, a biography of Walt Disney, and Katie's Kurt Vonnegut books. Lastly, the Xbox has been singing its sweet siren song A LOT lately, but I will talk about that in a second. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am trying to have a more well-rounded entertainment diet by digging into some of the other food groups in the media pyramid.

Now none of this means that this blog is ending. Quite the opposite actually. As I mentioned in an earlier post from way back, I want to retool and be open to write about anything I think is cool and nerdy. There will be plenty of writing about the comics in my boxes waiting to be read, but there are a lot of other things that I want to talk about (even if no one is listening). For instance, there is a reason my wife has been an Xbox widow lately, and that would be Mass Effect 2. I have never played a game like it, and I promise you there will be a full writeup of all of my Mass Effect escapades. God, look at me. I am actually sitting at a desk and writing. When was the last time that happened!? Now I just need to keep it up and I hope someone out there will read it, but if not, oh well.

Spider-Donald and Daisy-Jane

2009-08-31T13:24:00.003-05:00

Never before have two of my fandoms collided as massively as they did today. In case this is the first website you have seen today (ha, I wish) or you've been playing copious amounts of Batman: Arkham Asylum as I have, you haven't heard that the Walt Disney Company has bought Marvel Comics. I will give you a second to let that sink in...

Now before you run around like a chicken with its head cut off, yelling that Ragnarok has come and that we are all doomed, take a deep breath and let's think about this. Practically every message board, comics news site, and newspaper has been abuzz with this story and as of right now, there are a whole lot more questions than answers. How will this affect Marvel movies in the pipeline? What about Marvel Island at Universal Studios? Are the MAX and Icon comics lines going to disappear? I have even more questions just off the top of my head, but no one knows when all of them will be answered. Since that is the case, I think it is a smart idea to relax and think of the positives that will come from this. First, I think it will definitely help Marvel in terms of making new relationships with retailers. Disney could definitely throw some of the shelf space they have in stores to Marvel. Second (as I mentioned on the 11 O'Clock Comics boards where A LOT of people are discussing this topic), Disney is all about self-promotion and they do everything they can to make sure people know about their properties and products. Due to this, I would not be surprised if Marvel's presence at conventions and the like were to increase as well as ads and commercials for their products. Lastly, the biggest gain from Disney's purchase is the possibility of a Marvel/Pixar collaboration. Comic Book Resources reported that "When asked if there was potential for cross-polination between Marvel and Pixar, Disney said that Pixar’s John Lasseter has met with key Marvel creative executives recently and the group got 'pretty excited, very fast.' Disney will look at all opportunities and thinks there are some exciting products that could come from this sort of partnership." That is pretty awesome if you ask me.

All in all, I think us fanboys need to keep our heads on straight and wait to see how this will all play out, but personally, I think this is the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership.

Oh and one last thing. As for the title of this post, if they ever make a statue or something of Spider-Donald and Daisy-Jane, I will be the first person in line to buy one.

I told you before I was going to start breaking my own rules.

2009-08-27T20:08:00.001-05:00

Everybody loves getting surprises. It's just human nature. But ya know what's better than getting one surprise? Getting TWO surprises in the same week like I did in the form of two comic books that I picked up this Wednesday. It was like Marvel and DC both said "let's put out an issue just for Mike." These books made my so giddy that I had to blog about them as soon as I could (and I bet I'll be the only person really talking about them). In a week with Blackest Night & War of Kings tie-ins, multiple Avengers titles, and of course, Wednesday Comics, my favorite books this week will probably be missed by a lot of people. Hell, I almost missed them too, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first of these awesome books was Wolverine: First Class #18. Like any good comic fan, I print out and bring my shopping list with me every Wednesday when I go to the comic shop. Since I've only read an issue here and there from the "First Class" books, I did not have Wolverine: First Class #18 on my list. Then, sitting on the new release shelf, was that hilarious Skottie Young cover with none other than my favorite character in all of comics: Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. Not only that, but the issue was written by one of my favorite writers, Peter David, who currently writes X-Factor which also features Madrox. Someone was not doing their job because I should have known about this month's issue of Wolverine: First Class! Really, they could have put an ad in X-Factor for this issue. I'll bet you it would have helped sales. Of course, as soon as I realized what this issue was, I bought it, and as you can probably can tell, it did not disappoint. Basically, the story is Multiple Man (whose power is that he can make copies of himself called "dupes" in case you didn't know) is looking for a runaway dupe and comes to Xavier's school looking for help. A chase ensues with Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in tow with a couple existential crises happening in the meantime as they debate what makes someone a person. So you get action, comedy, philosophy, and some great art from Francis Portela with Madrox in his awesome classic costume. What more could you want? It was a great issue, and with all of the rumors floating around that Peter David's X-Factor might be canceled soon, I want to get as much Madrox as I can. (By the way, please go out and buy X-Factor. Try it out. You'll like it. It needs all the help it can get if the rumors are true.)

The second book was on my shopping list but the story was not at all what I was expecting. That book was Gotham City Sirens #3. Now this series has not been getting much buzz really, and I don't understand why. The story so far has been tight and full of great action and Guillem March's art can only be described as "crazy fantastic." Over the last couple years, I have grown to love Batman's lady rogues. Will Pfeifer's run on Catwoman has made me a devout fan of Selina Kyle, and who can't enjoy the team of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn? Put all three in one title and I will definitely be purchasing it. Plus, look at that cover. How can you say no to that? It's like a movie poster for one of the good Bond movies. Now remember how I said this book was not what I was expecting. Well, I expected a book called Gotham City Sirens to have the Gotham City sirens in the book, but this issue concentrated on someone else entirely: my favorite of Batman's rouges, the Riddler! Just like my love of Jaime Madrox, I will buy any book with the Riddler, especially now that he has turned over a new leaf as a private investigator. Seeing Riddler solving crimes just like he would solve a riddle brings a new dynamic to the character, and writer Scott Lobdell shows us the genius that is going on in Riddler's mind as he mumbles the parts of each puzzle to himself, even the puzzle of a possible new Batman. Here's hoping that Riddler continues to be a major part of Gotham City Sirens as the series continues.

The Most Disgusting Thing Ever

2009-08-21T14:27:00.004-05:00

There is a new post coming this weekend, I assure you. Something happened thought that I have to talk about real quick.

I buy a lot of back issues at my local Half Price Books. It is a phenomenal store and I love searching through all the crazy stuff they have there (especially the comics of course). There is a very major downside though which made itself apparent to me while reading some of the comics I bought there yesterday evening. I wanted to get out of the house yesterday so I decided to drive over to HPB to see if they had anything interesting. To my delight, the comic boxes had a veritable smorgasbord of new comics from the last couple months. I found a great assortment of books that I wanted to read (but didn't want to pay cover for when they came out). I brought some of them to work with me today to read during my lunch. That is when I noticed something; the issues are filled with crumbs and oil stains from those crumbs! Really!? You are so gross that you don't brush off the food that doesn't make it into your maw while you're stuffing your face and reading your comics, and then you go and sell these books still full of crumbs to a used book store!? Ugh. The sad thing is that this has happened to me before and I totally forgot about it. So, whoever it is that sells bunchs of new comics to the Half Price Books in Niles, IL., you are disgusting.

(Oh and I want to make it perfectly clear that this is not a slight on Half Price Books. I love that place, but I will not buy newer issues of comics there anymore.)

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

2009-08-11T19:10:00.003-05:00

Yes, I am back after moving, getting married, losing a $1,100 security deposit because my old landlord is a f'ing deadbeat, and having to change internet providers since Comcast wouldn't get up off there asses and fix all the problems we had with their service. It has been a really crazy time in my life and I haven't had a lot of time to read comics. This past weekend was the Chicago Comic-Con though so what better time to get back into the swing of this here blog, but it is going to be a little different than before. Let me explain.

I have come to the conclusion that I have kinda handcuffed myself with the theme of reading old comics. While I will continue to read and blog about all of the comics that fill my longboxes, I've made the decision that having a different kind of post every once in a while might spice things up. This is going to be one of those posts. I have a bunch of little thoughts that have been running through my mind as of late that I think are worth sharing.

You may know that Big Lots is a chain of stores that sells closeouts items. What you may not know is that Big Lots carries a very interesting assortment of DVD's for dirt cheap. I recently found Batman: The Animated Series Vol. 4 there for $3.00! Of course as soon as I got it, I started watching the whole volume from beginning to end. Watching the series this way made something very strange stand out to me: smoke bombs. Gotham City must have a store called "Smoke Bombs R Us" because everybody and their mother has smoke bombs of every size and shape and they're throwing those suckers all over the place. If I watched the episodes every week in the manner they were intended, then this plot device might not have seemed so overused, but when you watch all the episodes back to back, it is a smoke bomb party and everyone's invited. The best example of this is in the episode "Mean Seasons" where Batman fights a crazy past-her-prime model who goes around terrorizing people as the Calendar Girl. (The episode is a more kid-friendly version of Loeb and Sale's Long Halloween in case you were wondering.) Now this model dresses up for a Halloween themed attack and uses smoke bombs disguised as candy corn earrings in order to facilitate a quick getaway. How in the world does a washed up model get her hands on candy corn smoke bombs!? I need to know!

Smoke bombs aside, there is one other thing I want to talk about that I mentioned earlier. Now that the Chicago Comic-Con (or whatever Wizard is calling it these days) is over, I have very mixed feelings about this year's con. As soon as I walked in to the convention center on Preview Night, I knew that this was going to be a lot different than previous years. The most obvious difference was the lack of Marvel or DC booths and all that space taken up by autograph areas. It was really weird not seeing huge banners and posters from the Big 2 everywhere as I walked in. That is how it has been since I first started going to the con. I am just so torn about it. It is a sign of the times that this is not an important con anymore. Frankly, I got bored and left early every day. It just wasn't the same for me, and apparently it wasn't the same for a lot of people. It wasn't bad for everyone though. A lot of the artists that I talked to had a great time since more people were interested in Artist Alley this year and spent their money there. That is great to hear and I am really happy that people had a good time. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself and found a lot of comics that have been on my wishlist for a long time (including one that was a total wild goose chase that I will recount in a post in the near future.) All in all, it was fun, but I will not be shelling out the money for a weekend pass. I will probably go on Sunday only next year so I can hunt for deals. Now I can get really excited for Windy City Comicon in a little over a month. If you haven't bought your tickets yet, GO NOW AND BUY THEM! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? And when you come, don't forget to come and say hi. I will be volunteering like last year so look for me in my new "Henchman" shirt.

Lastly, real quick, I wanted to mention a blog that I found and added to my links on the right. Go check out the Covered blog. It is amazing!

Riker's eyes are huge!

2009-05-20T22:55:00.002-05:00

By all accounts, I should have no energy to walk, let alone finally get back to my blog. I know I have been whining a lot, but between moving to a new apartment, a deadbeat landlord that won't return our security deposit, a wedding looming in less than a month, and craziness at work, I just haven't had the time to read or write about my precious comics. Now you may ask what has sparked my return to this here blog? Well, I'll tell you. I have been reinvigorated by a true work of art: Star Trek. I have been a Trekkie since I was a little kid. (Yes, I have a Starfleet uniform. No, I would not wear it if I were called to be a juror. True Trekkies will get that.) One of my fondest memories of my childhood is spending Thursday nights with my dad watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. That show turned me into the nerd that I am today. Now in 2009, we have the eleventh movie in the Star Trek franchise and it left me speechless. I have seen it twice now and the haters can all keep their opinions to themselves because they have given us a practically perfect film and a clean slate to start creating some new amazing stories.

Of course, Star Trek was so good and had me so energized that I went through my longboxes and started pulling Trek books left and right. I came up with a pretty wide assortment that spanned both the gamut of Trek series and many of the major comic book companies. You may not be aware that the Star Trek franchise jumped from publisher to publisher many times over the years. Here's the quick timeline: Gold Key - DC - Malibu - Marvel - Wildstorm - IDW.
The weird thing about all the Star Trek books I have read recently is that the book that really grabbed my attention the most isn't even from any of these publishers. It is Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga Boukenshin. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that this is a new book that was just released. I am bending the rules and talking about it because I did get it on sale and it DEFINITELY fits into the "oddities" category. I have never read manga before, but as soon as I saw this book solicited and saw the crazy preview pages, I knew that I had to get my hands on a copy. The book consisted of four separate stories of the crew of the USS Enterprise. Overall, I enjoyed reading this just based on the fact that I am seeing these characters artistically interpreted in a totally new way.

In the first story, "Changeling" written by David Gerrold (writer of the Original Series episode "Trouble With Tribbles") and drawn by E. J. Su, the crew investigate the "Labyrinth of Wisdom" and Wesley keeps transforming into different people. Honestly, this was the kind of story I expected to read. It seems stereotypically manga to me with magic and a crazy premise. The ending is mildly predictable, but it was still fun to read. This story also had the first of two majorly awkward moments of the book. Wesley transforms into a female Betazoid much like Counselor Troi. That alone is awkward, but when Riker comes onto Wesley, I was particularly skeeved out. Ah manga, you don't disappoint with strange sexual moments.

The second story, "Sensation," was very reminiscent of a few episodes of the TV show. Something is affecting the crew and only Troi can sense it. We've all seen it before, so the story really didn't bring anything new to the table. The art on the other hand; drawn by Chrissy Delk, was very interesting and kept my attention. Delk really knows how to draw a close-up that invokes a lot of emotion out of the character's faces. Obviously, this talent comes in handy when your story revolves around a character that reads people emotions. I would really like to see some more of Chrissy Delk's work. (Here is a link to her sketch blog. She definitely knows how to draw!)

And now the book took a bit of a dive in my opinion. In the third story, "The Picardian Knot" by Christine Boylan and Don Hudson, we see the after effects of Picard's mindmeld with Sarek from the episode "Sarek." Both the story and the art style fell flat for me. The story revolves around Picard and his inability to access his emotions as the crew tries to help him. I had never really seen art like this before either. Every page seems to be inked with a very fine tip which seems to deprieve the art from having definition. Also, the second extremely awkward moment came in this story when Picard, Data, and Troi talk to Guinan (the ship's wise bartender played on the show by Whoopi Goldberg). Guinan is in eleven panels and not one of them show her completely. It is so absurd and the only reasoning I can think of is that the artist did not know how to draw Whoopi Goldberg so he put her in shadow, faced her in the other direction with her back to the audience, and even cut her face off by the top or bottom of the panel. How weird!

Lastly, "Loyalty" by F. J. DeSanto and Bettina Kurkowski was another story that tied directly into a TNG episode, namely the perrenial favorite "Best of Both Worlds." We see Riker called by the Starfleet admiralty to defend Picard's ability to command after his assimilation by the Borg. This was no doubt the best story in the book. The story was an interesting wrinkle added to the established Trek canon and character development was spot on. The art was gorgeous as well. (Comixology has some preview pages from this story if you are interested.) Though the panels do have a manga feel to them, I would want to see more Next Gen stories drawn by Kurkowski. "Loyalty" by itself made this book worth the cover price.

All in all, I think I had a fairly painless jaunt into the world of manga. I don't think I will be picking up much more any time soon, but as a Trekkie, I am glad I picked up Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga Boukenshin.

Just a note: I recently found that all of the Star Trek comics from 1967 - 2002 have been collected on DVD-ROM. The best part is that Amazon is selling it here for only $27.99! Every Trekkie out there should jump on this.

Moving is not fun.

2009-05-08T14:30:00.002-05:00

Just so everyone knows, I have in no way given up on this little blogging endeavor. I just moved into a new apartment last weekend and all of the moving stuff has thrown practically everything out of whack. My internet in the new place should be up and running tomorrow so hopefully, I will be back soon.

"Well, it's only a quarter..."

2009-04-20T20:43:00.003-05:00

The beauty of the quarter boxes is that I find and buy books that I would normally not even take a second glance at. If the cover looks even mildly appealing or the subject matter might be something I like, in the pile it goes. Everybody always says you should "broaden your horizons," right? It's true, and it's even better when you can do so on the cheap. I may not like everything that I grab out of the cheap bins, but when they are less than a dollar, how can I really complain?

What better way to try new things then to pick up a "Special Introductory One-shot." After hearing all of the praise for Jay Faerber's Noble Causes series on multiple podcasts, I decided that I would be looking for some issues, and just my luck, I found Noble Causes: First Impressions #1 in one of the cheap boxes. A lot like DC's Secret Files books, Noble Causes: First Impressions #1 uses a couple small stories to introduce the reader to the Noble family, a family of superheroes that save the world while being followed around by the paparazzi and talked about in the tabloids. Both stories were written by Faerber with pencils from Billy Dallas Patton on the first story and Patrick Gleason (of Green Lantern Corps fame) on the second. Now I am going to be perfectly honest here. The book didn't really do anything for me. I knew going in that the series was a "soap opera with superheroes" but I guess I didn't know how much soap opera there would be. I don't know if I can explain it real well though since there are a lot of superhero books on the shelves that seem like soap operas too. Look at Spider-Man. Geez, how many hearts has he broken? I guess the difference is in the characters. Spider-Man and Mary Jane are multifaceted characters while it felt like every character in Noble Causes were just basic soap opera type characters. Maybe I need to try more than just this introductory issue.

Next up, we have a Top Cow two-fer: The Darkness #3 by Phil Hester and Michael Broussard and Witchblade #118 by Ron Marz & Stjepan Sejic. I came into both of these books totally blind. Top Cow has kinda flown under my comics radar and the only things I know about these books is what I have gleaned from ads and podcasts. Thankfully, both books had well written recap pages so I had enough info to know what is going on and enjoy both issues. (There has been some debate lately about recap pages. I find myself firmly on the pro side. I love a recap page and I think they can be pretty important. Every book is someone's first, right?) Admittedly, based on these two issues, I think I have been missing out on some goodness from Top Cow. I really enjoyed both issues. I can't think of one serious villian-based book from Marvel or DC right now, and The Darkness seemed to have a very cool premise of Grand Theft Auto meets Venom. In one scene, the Darkness summons all of these "darklings" just to make a giant pile to fling himself onto a helicopter. One word: epic. Phil Hester, I applaud you sir. I see the purchase of some Darkness trades in my future. As for Witchblade, I will admit I had some preconceptions. Like I said before, all I knew of Witchblade was what I had gleaned from ads and magazines, so I assumed that Witchblade was just a simple cheesecake book. Most of the ads for the book have the title character wearing little more that strategically placed armor, and honestly, I like the ladies just as much as the next guy but cheesecake books don't really do anything for me. That is why I never picked up any Witchblade books. Sadly, I wish I had known that I was wrong. I might have picked up a Witchblade book a long time ago. The story in this issue was very cool with the son of one of Witchblade's enemies taking up his father's quest to steal the Witchblade. Artistically, the issue shined. I was amazed by Stjepan Sejic's painted art. Sejic's art alone would be enough to make me buy this book on a regular basis. Top Cow is batting a thousand with me right now and I will be looking for more of their books in the near future.

Now I saved the best for last. I present to you Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters. This was one of those books that I saw laying in the quarter box and I knew I had to make it mine. Produced by Dark Horse Comics and written by Mike Richardson, Randy Stradley, and James Dean Smith with Smith on art as well, Boris The Bear is one of those books that just makes you ask yourself "What in God's name were they thinking!?" Well, luckily for the reader, they ask that very question in the preface to the book on the inside front cover. Apparently, Boris is the answer to the horrible influx of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles clones and ripoffs that flooded the comic book market in the 80's. Just so you know Boris's answer is of course a machine gun and katana which he uses to brutally kill Usagi Yojimbo, Cerebus, the Ninja Turtles, the Hamster Vice, Ambush Bug, Snoopy, the Looney Tunes, Captain Carrot, the Ewoks, the Smurfs, and many more cartoon favorites. (The best part of the book was the one character Boris spares from his carnage: Droopy Dog. Boris just says "You can go. I like you.") Honestly, Boris the Bear really was interesting to read, purely as an artifact of the 80's. I was right in the TMNT demographic at that time so I never realized how much the Turtles took over pop culture. I loved them and the more I had of them the better. I guess they needed a bear to come and clean house a little, and that is how we got Boris. This is the kinda comic I dig in the longboxes for.

Do they make inoculations for comic books?

2009-04-13T10:30:00.001-05:00

I thought moving and planning a wedding were enough problems in my life. Now I have this. Thanks to David from 11 O'Clock Comics, I am now aware of the fact that my quarter bin addiction may be LETHAL! (Cue dramatic music.)

Nanny State Law Gets Books Burned

The latest round of nanny state legislation finds Congress protecting your children from daily exposure to dangerous chemicals commonly found in items not usually considered dangerous, such as books. Everyone is aTwitter about it, and Laurie Sutton wrote me to let me know about the article in City Journal.

“…under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute. Merchants, thrift stores, and booksellers may be at risk if they sell older volumes, or even give them away, without first subjecting them to testing—at prohibitive expense. Many used-book sellers, consignment stores, Goodwill outlets, and the like have accordingly begun to refuse new donations of pre-1985 volumes, yank existing ones off their shelves, and in some cases discard them en masse.”

The fine for selling a pre-1985 children’s book to a child or for “children’s use”? $100,000 in fines, and prison. The law covers ANY item sold to children or for children which does not meet draconian testing standards, including handmade crafts and goods.

Can you knit junior a sweater? No, he might eat it and ingest lead. Or something.

Oh my goodness.

Go read and see if you think this law is as dumb as I think it is.

Now when I say "They will have to pry the comics from my COLD DEAD HAND," I actually mean it. Seriously though, this is insane. I say fight back and give a kid an issue of X-Men from the 80's. I am sure the only "symptom" they will have is something called "reading."

A quick note for my fellow deal hunters....

2009-04-10T08:26:00.000-05:00

If you read this blog, that means you like comics. It also means that you probably like cheap comics. Therefore, I thought I would post this link for anyone interested. I just found out that the website Things From Another Universe is having a "Nick & Dent Sale." What that means is that the books might not be in perfect condition, but you will get them for 60% off. I looked through what they had and there were some really good reads in there. Just thought I would drop a quick note and share some cheap comic goodness with everyone.

Trying to fill the void...

2009-04-05T14:22:00.000-05:00

As you can probably tell from past posts, I am quite a fan of Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica and an card-carrying Trekkie. With the final episode of BSG behind us and the new Star Trek movie still months away, I am in desperate need of a science fiction fix. So, TO THE LONGBOXES! To be honest, I've actually been saving something for just such an occasion. One of my many jaunts to the quarter bins turned up these: Marvel's Open Space #1, 2, and 3. I had never even heard of this series before I bought them, but they did look interesting. They are prestige format books put out by "Marvel Graphics" which I can only assume was some type of Marvel graphic novel imprint in the late 80's and early 90's. Conceptually, the series is the "world's first shared universe SF anthology in comics form" according to the foreward by Kurt Busiek who edited the series and went on to write the Avengers, Justice League, Astro City, and a whole lot more. The series brings famous science fiction writers together with well known comic artists to create stories set in a dystopian future. Think Heavy Metal minus the glowing green ball or the aliens and you have a pretty good idea of Open Space (and if you have never seen Heavy Metal, what are you doing reading this blog?).

Have you ever had so many different comments and thoughts about something that you can't articulate any of them coherently? It feels like a whole bunch of people trying to get through a door at the same time. Reading Open Space has caused this exact phenomenon. I will try to boil it down to the most important points for the sake of you, the reader, and my own sanity. I guess I should probably start with the positives. The art of the series is probably the most obvious strength of the series. While you have to look past the coloring on some of the stories due to fact they did not have the coloring techniques we have today, the pencils and painted works are amazing. Each writer's story is paired perfectly with the artist. Just like Heavy Metal, the art complements each story and shows the contrasts that are needed in any anthology series, even those that share a universe. There are definitely some artists whose names I will be looking for now that I have seen what they can do in Open Space. Of course art is not the only thing. Many of the stories can stand on their plot alone. Even though some fall into common science fiction tropes, they were all interesting enough to keep me reading. My favorite, titled "Heroes" from the first issue, written by G. Harry Stine and Kurt Busiek with art by Bill Wray. "Heroes" revolved around a con man whose ever growing cons eventually lead to his death and the false belief of thousands that he was a martyr for their freedom from the tyrannical supercompanies. Lastly, the last aspect of the series taht I enjoyed was a little more tangential. Obviously, most if not all of the stories are a product of and commentary on the United States and Reaganomics. When this series came out, the US was just transitioning out of Ronald Regan's presidency, but negative feelings of his economic policies still lingered. The whole Open Space universe and its companies taking over the government are proff of that. Comparing the series to the feelings of the country today in our economic crises shows some eerie similarities.

Now the idea of a sci-fi anthology series is not unheard of, but a "shared universe" sci-fi anthology is a very lofty goal and harder to execute by definition. The idea of a shared universe causes one of the most aggravating aspects of Open Space. Now I know that the term "continuity" has become the word that shall not be uttered among comic fans lately, but when the foreword of the first issue makes such a big deal of the fact that all of the stories in the series exist together, then continuity should be considered pretty important. The sad fact is that continuity errors litter the series and drove me crazy. I wasn't surprised though. When you bring famed sci-fi writers in to write their stories and then tell them that they have to shoehorn them into a particular universe, there are going to be problems. First, there is a lack of definition to the universe. What I mean by that is certain facts about the Open Space world were obviously written in some manifesto somewhere that was given to all the writers but explanations for these things were never given. I assume the writer just said "OK" when they read these tidbits and didn't have any desire to explain them in their respective stories. For example, throughout all three books, there are a lot of characters with the last names "Etchison" and "Brody." I wish they would explain why, but they don't. From what you can infer, it seems like the two names are class identifiers with the richest of the rich taking the Etchison name and the dregs of society called Brodys. The other big problem is that some writers just shaped the structure of the Open Space society as it fits the story. While some stories operated according to the timeline on the inside cover of the second and third issues, some just went their own direction. One of the most important factors of universe is that the major companies of the United States have taken over the government. Some of the stories though still mention specifc goverment agencies that other stories have said no longer exist as they were replaced by particular companies. As any nerdy comic reader knows, a shared universe can be a major strength or a major weakness, and I think it detracted a bit for the Open Space series as a whole.

Even considering the frustrations I had, I am glad that I found Open Space because it is good to see that at some point Marvel was willing to try something very unique for its time and 180° from anything they were working on. Original ideas are the lifeblood of the comics industry, and I think the idea of a shared sci-fi universe should be dusted off by one of the indy companies. They could have a very popular book on their hands if it is done right.

The Kids Are Alright

2009-03-18T23:00:00.001-05:00

It's been the better part of a month since I posted anything. I am actually pretty pissed at myself for letting it go so long but a lot of not-so-great stuff has been going on and my comic reading has definitely been laid by the wayside for other important life matters. That does not mean that I have nothing to write about though. Actually, it's quite the opposite. I literally have piles of books ready to be blogged about, so I might as well get to it.

Ever since Robin made his first appearance in the pages of Detective Comics, teenage do-gooders and sidekicks have been an major part in superhero comics. As a dug through my boxes, I found that I had a lot of books featuring super young'ins so I grabbed a bunch to see if I could find any gems. First up is Young Justice Secret Files #1. Now to start things off, I have to say that for anyone who is like me and had a hiatus from comics during the 90's and the early 00's, DC's Secret Files books are great primers for the DC Universe and give you a lot of info on specific characters. (Of course, the older the issue though, the older the info will be, so keep that in mind. Young Justice Secret Files is from 1999.) As with all of the Secret Files books that I have read, there is some type of framing story throughout the book that links all of the character dossiers. This time around, the main story (by D. Curtis Johnson and Ale Garza) follows the Young Justice team as they try to break out super powered kids being held by the government and find that this government agency has files on their team as well. As with most humorous sidekick stories, teenage impetuousness takes over, the plan goes out the window, and the team saves the day by the skin of their teeth. All in all, it was a good story and the art was passable. The only reason I would disparage the art is that there were a lot of panels with closeups on faces that just did not look right to me. The action panels were really good, but the faces just didn't look right. Lastly, there were some funny Easter Eggs on the dossier page for the character Secret. Stuck in the cells in the background are Artie Maddicks from the X-Men books and an Ithorian and dianoga from Star Wars. Yes, I am that nerdy that I found those.

Next up is a postmodern take on superhero youths in Casual Heroes #1, written and pencilled by Kevin McCarthy. Right from the start of the book, you are thrown into a reality where superheroes are superstars and superdivas fighting for notoriety and cash. The main character, Saturn Red, is adored, but when a monster rampages through the city, nearly kills one of his teammates, and calls him out specifically, he just goes to the bar to pick up another nameless girl to take home for the night. Looking at the book from my standpoint in 2009, Casual Heroes is anything but casual with its message. You are beaten over the head with "fame is the worst thing in the world once you have it" and "superheroes would be jerks if they were real." I knew I was in for a heavy handed ride when the first text box was a Sartre quote. I don't want you to think that the book was horrible. The indy art style was interesting and made the book worth reading, but I don't think that I will be looking real hard for the rest of the series.

Finally we reach the good stuff. Truthfully, this book could be one of the best finds I have made in the quarter boxes: Generation X Underground Special #1. Written and drawn by Jim Mahfood, one of my favorite creator, the Generation X Underground Special is quintessential 90's pop culture. Let me explain. Now when I think of Marvel's Generation X team, I think of basically a second incarnation of the New Mutants, students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I don't automatically think of them as part of the actual Generation X. Mahfood's Underground Special makes sure I remember that fact. Generation X was as much a team name as a statement of identity, and I totally forgot that until I read this. Of course the book is hilarious and beautifully drawn as I have come to expect from Mahfood. If you are an X fan or just someone of that generation, go out and find Generation X Underground Special #1.

Quickly, I want to just shoot through the two other books, one recent issue and one old one, that I grabbed out of the long box with the ones I talked about. First was a lucky find for 25 cents since it is a very new issue, New Warriors #14 by Kevin Grevioux and Koi Turnbull. (The issue must not have sold well since the book is in good condition.) Just wanted to note this book since most of the previously mentioned Generation X team are in this book and few have aged a day actually. Still, what I have read of the series is good and worth checking out. The series ended so you should be able to find the whole series in trade soon. The other issue is New Teen Titans #29 by Wolfram and Perez. I have read the major arcs in the Wolfram/Perez run like The Judas Contract but I honestly never knew that the series was so "soap opera-ish." It was like superpowered 90210 with Speedy trying to get on Starfire and Kid Flash's unrequited love of Raven. I was not ready for the pile of schmaltz that was New Teen Titans #29.

NOTE: After researching it, it looks as though Casual Heroes never had a second issue even though it was advertised in issue #1.

Random Dive #3

2009-02-24T20:27:00.012-06:00

Last Wednesday, I had a very nice surprise at my local comic store. They were selling bundles of ten random comics for $1.50, and all you could see were the two books on the outside of the bag. It is pretty obvious that there is no way I could pass this up. So I grabbed my new comics and tossed two of these mystery packs in there too. The reason I bring this up is because as soon as I opened them up to see what books fate had dealt me, I thought I should grab a couple that look the most interesting and write some notes about them here. So here we go with the three books that I thought looked the best just from their covers.

The first book I found that piqued my interest was The Spectre #4 by J. M. DeMatteis and Ryan Sook. While the cover is very nice, it was actually the creative team that drew me in. I am a huge fan of both DeMatteis and Sook and having them working on the same book made this a must read for me. Basically, the story is that the Spectre, Superman, and Batman must stop this demigod woman and Zauriel who has been possessed by the literal "Wrath of God." The story gets pretty interesting and metaphysical which was a welcome change to the books that I normally find in the bargain bins. Now the thing that I really think is worth noting about The Spectre is the art. I became a big fan of Ryan Sook's art with his run on X-Factor. When I read those issues though, not once did Sook's art remind me of Mike Mignola and Hellboy. The Spectre on the other hand is very reminiscent of Mignola and his Hellboy work. Don't get me wrong. This is not a negative at all. It works with The Spectre's story. It is just interesting that Sook's art style seems so different to what I know from more recent books.

The second book that grabbed my attention was The Flash #220 by Geoff Johns and Howard Porter. I like the character of the Flash, but I must admit that I have never really read a lot of The Flash. Most of my knowledge of Wally West comes from team books like Justice League of America and not from his own book. From the cover, I got the feeling that this might be one of those "big bang for your buck" books where you get a whole lot of characters and action. Luckily, the book did not disappoint. This was a great primer on Flash's famous Rogues Gallery as Captain Cold introduces all the Rogues and what they are doing post-Identity Crisis. I couldn't have asked for a better crash course through Flash's villains. I will definitely be on the lookout for the rest of the issues in this storyline.

Saving the best for last, we have a cross company team up as the X-Men visit the Malibu Comics universe in The Phoenix Resurrection: Revelations. It apparently took a small army to bring this book to life with Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett on writing duty and Kevin West, John Royle, Randy Green, and Rick Leonardi on art. Now I knew that Marvel acquired Malibu Comics in the 90's and tried to integrate some of their characters into Malibu's "Ultraverse." (Nerd fact: The Ultraverse is still part of Marvel multiverse and is designated Earth-93060). This book has characters crossing over every which way and the Phoenix force going nuts and being used by an alien supercomputer to destroy the Earth. We can't have that, now can we!? So all of these heroes all team up in order to save the world. The thing that kept creeping into my head while I was reading this is that Marvel could take a page out of DC's play book and bring some of these Malibu characters back. DC owns the Impact and Milestone characters and is folding them into the DC Universe. Why couldn't Marvel do the same with Malibu? Honestly, even in this book, there are a couple characters that could be pretty interesting. Marvel's Exiles series jumps around to other universes and would be a great way to mine some characters from the Malibu books. Well who knows? Maybe we will see Night Man or Topaz again. Like they say, all it takes is a creator with a good story and any character can have a comeback.

Spider-Man versus who!?

2009-02-11T11:35:00.011-06:00

It has been a while since I had time to write about the comics that I've been reading lately. Due to some major problems with my apartment, comics have taken a backseat to dealing with real life. But hey! I'm back, and I have a moment to write about the topic that came to me a week or two ago. I realized a couple weeks ago that I haven't read anything with our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in a very long time (All I will say is that I was a fan of Peter and Mary Jane together.) So, I thought this lack of Spidey in my comic diet needed to be remedied. Into the Marvel box I went and grabbed some Spider-Man issues. As I read them, one saying came to mind that you hear in the special features of any superhero movie DVD: "Heroes are measured by the villains they face." If this axiom is true then Spider-Man should only be considered a mediocre hero at best, and the comics you find in the bargains bin are proof. Sure, the Webhead has gone up against the likes of Doc Ock, Venom, and Dr. Doom, but he has also fought a lot of losers as you'll see from the books I read.

First, we have Spectacular Spider-Man #167 written by Gerry Conway with Sal Buscema on art. Our hero is in Liverpool, England to hunt down two super powered assassins. These two assassins are our first examples of Spider-Man's not-so-spectacular victories. They are Knight and Fogg. Right off the bat, we break the stereotype meter. All we need is Bad Teeth Man, The Guv'na, and Tea Time and you can have the most evil coalition in British history. Apparently Spidey fought Knight and Fogg in the previous issue, was knocked unconscious when he fell in a river, and got amnesia. Of course, his memory returns to him just in time to defeat these two evildoers and save the day. Honestly though, becoming fog is a superpower you would expect in a bad superhero comedy movie. What boggles my mind though is that these two ne'erdowells came from the mind of Gerry Conway, the same man who created the Punisher and wrote the death of Gwen Stacy. I guess I just need to chalk this up to nobody's perfect or maybe editorial needed a script as soon as possible. Knight and Fogg might be bad but it gets worse, I assure you.

Now we move from total stereotypes to a total copy. If I said guess the supervillain that is the most accurate marksman ever, wears a high tech mask and wrist mounted guns and a name that starts with "Dead," most, if not all, comic fans would guess DC's Deadshot. As Spectacular Spider-Man #210 (by Steven Grant and Sal Buscema) shows us, there is another character that fits the description, just not as well. The ripoff in question is named Deadaim, and Spider-Man must prevent him from killing the Foreigner (who is also a former Spidey villain that turned semi-good). This issue was honestly hard to read not only because of the extremely unoriginal villain, but also the subplot of J. Jonah Jameson not having enough time for his wife. This copy cat character couldn't feel a whole issue, so we have to see how JJ is obsessed with the Daily Bugle and doesn't appreciate Mrs. Jameson. Not only does the main plot leave enough space in the issue for a subplot, but there is a backup story as well. Actually the backup was the only readable part with some real dialogue between Felicia Hardy and Flash Thompson. So if you see Spectacular Spider-Man #210 sitting in the quarter bin, just leave it. You aren't missing anything.

Time for the worst of the bunch, and this will be very ironic because it would not surprise me if this issue is in a lot of peoples' collections. I am talking about Amazing Spider-Man #299 by David Micheline with art by the famous Todd McFarlane. In case you didn't know, the reason this issue is special and is in a lot of collections is that fact that this is the first appearance of Venom. "But Mike, Venom is one of Spider-Man's best villains!?" Yeah, he is but he doesn't appear until the last page. Before we get to that point, Spider-Man has to spend the whole issue dealing with and eventually teaming with the villain on the cover, Chance. Chance is a gambler and gun for hire who has no powers, but thinks he is so good that he wagers all of his pay on if he can complete the contract. That is his whole schtick. I'm not kidding you. How many nerds have found this issue somewhere, realizing what it is, and waited all issue to see Venom just to endure an onslaught of suckiness that is Chance?

As you can see, Spider-Man has had his fair share of terrible villains to fight over the years. Let's just hope the trend has ended for now and we won't have any more Foggs or Deadaims or Chances for a long time.

Funny sidenote: I wanted to link to bio of Deadaim like I did for the other characters, but he is so forgettable that I couldn't even find one.

This is the kinda book I'm talking about!

2009-01-28T22:13:00.001-06:00

It happened again. I had an idea in my mind on what I wanted to read and write about for my next foray into the longboxes, but before I even finished the comics I had grabbed, my plan totally changed. (Actually I am loving the fact that my plans have been changing so organically. It really is an interesting phenomenon that I didn't expect when I started doing this.) Everything changed this time due to the fact that I read a single issue that probably best exemplifies the type of crazy stuff you can find when you dig through your old collections or the piles of books at a convention or the cheap bins at your local comic store. This comic deserves a post all its own. I give you Obnoxio The Clown Vs. The X-Men.

Just look at that cover. Bask in it. That is comic gold you see before you that I unearthed a few years ago at a convention for a quarter. Written and drawn by Alan Kupperburg, the titular Obnoxio the Clown is hired by Professor X to perform at Kitty Pryde's birthday party. Basically, the plot is that the X-Men think Obnoxio is an intruder and try to apprehend him, and hilarity ensues. How could you not enjoy reading about a filthy, pock-ridden, foulmouthed clown going toe to toe with Marvel's band of merry mutants? In the end, the X-Men discover that Obnoxio is not the intruder they are after. It was actually a mutant that can change his body into ice cream. Oh it gets better. This super villain's name is Eye-Scream. Wow...just wow. After some internet digging, I found that the character of Obnoxio the Clown was created by Larry Hama as the mascot of the humor magazine Crazy that Marvel put out in the 70's and early 80's. Yes, it was the same Larry Hama that wrote so many of the now famous issues of G.I. Joe. It is these kinds of book that make diving into a quarter bin worthwhile. This is Marvel history right here folks, much like The Star Wars Holiday Special is part of George Lucas's history. They may not want to remember it, but there it is, and I am proud to have it in my collection. I almost wish that they would remake this comic now that the Comics Code no longer prevents any real off-color comedy. This could really be something. I challenge you Marvel Comics. Bring back Obnoxio!

The last little thing I wanted to quickly mention was on Bullpen Bulletins page. (For those who don't know, the Bullpen Bulletins page was full of info about other Marvel books and letters from the fans. What caught my eye was an ad for Blip #1. I had never heard of this so I looked at the blurb. To my surprise, apparently Marvel Comics published a video gaming magazine in the 80's that in their words was "the most fun-packed and fact-packed Video Games magazine around." Guess what the cover article is: "Blip Tips: How to beat Centipede & Missile Command." Wow, now that is old. Look at how much of a history lesson you can get from one comic book!

We'll be back after these important messages.

2009-01-28T21:50:00.003-06:00

I just have a couple things to share real quick with everyone.

1. I want to remind everyone that this Saturday is the live streaming of Harvey Pekar's opera "Leave Me Alone!" that I mentioned in an earlier post.

2. Also in an earlier post, I mentioned that there are no Thanksgiving comics. Well, you can sleep soundly now because I have found one. I just picked up a copy of Power Pack #19 and flipped through it to find the Power Pack spending Thanksgiving with Cloak & Dagger, Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, and Beta Ray Bill. I will definitely be saving that book for next November.

3. As you can see from the nifty countdown clock on the right, the date for the Windy City Comicon has been set for September 19th, 2009. I will definitely be going and volunteering. Volunteering last year was phenomenal. In only a couple months, Chris and Sal from Around Comics put together a con that the city of Chicago can be proud of. I had more fun at WCC than any other con I have ever been to.

4. I want to throw some love to two awesome creators who make an awesome comic book. Go check out The Uniques by Adam Withers and Comfort Love.

5. It has come to my attention that there is a new blog/podcast that has the same concept and almost the same name as this here blog. They even have some of the same phrases from my description in theirs. All I can say is imitation is the best form of flattery. I am having so much fun doing this so I am just going to keep on doing what I am doing. Hopefully you guys will keep reading.

Random Dive #2

2009-01-25T21:14:00.002-06:00

Now that the events from the "Big Two" are either done or winding down and neither company has left a really great taste in my mouth, I decided to just grab some random comics out of the boxes to clean my palette. I'm not in the mood to read about "Dark Reigns" or "Final Crises" for a little while, so I looked in the boxes for something different. Of course, the best place to start when trying something new is pick out the first issue, right? With only a peek at the issue number (to make sure I was starting a story at the beginning), I grabbed four #1 issues hoping that something was worth the paper that it was printed on. Let's see what I ended up with.

The first book was The Comet #1 from Impact Comics, story and art by Tom Lyle and script by Mark Waid. OK, I like Mark Waid. I can be hopeful that this book might be a good read. The issue was purchased entirely due to the fact that I know DC owns the rights to the Impact characters and is planning to fold them into the DC universe. The thought crossed my mind that I might like reading something about them before DC just dumps them into our laps. I can tell you now that I don't. Honestly, the origin of the Comet is pretty mundane and common. Young guy gets electrocuted, but instead of dying, he gains superpowers. After reading the book I ran to Wikipedia to find out a little more about Impact comics and found that the entire imprint was aimed more at kids. That explains it. The book just isn't for me. Keep it simple for the kids so that they can get into superheroes. I am a huge proponent of getting kids to read comics. If you have a copy of The Comet lying around, give it to a kid. They might like it.

We go from kid friendly to adults only with the next book, Power & Glory by Howard Chaykin for the "Bravura" imprint of the now-defunct Malibu Comics. From what I can gather, "Bravura" consisted of multiple titles of original stories from some big name creators like Dan Jurgens, Jim Starlin, Peter David, and others. When I started reading, I found that I fell into the "seen it before" trap twice in one day as Chaykin tells a story of the government creating a fake superhero to rally the American people. The thing that I found interesting though had nothing to do with the story. At the end of the book, there is a sign-up form for the "Bravura Gold Stamp Program." Listen to this great deal! All you had to do was buy every Bravura book (which, of course, you were going to do anyway) and you will be rewarded with FOIL VARIANT COVERS! Ah, only in the 90's could a company even think that something like this would fly.

After seeing how Malibu tried to steal money out of people's pockets, it was only right to read a book set in Las Vegas where money is stolen from people's pockets every day. Don't get me wrong. I love Las Vegas and as soon as I saw Nevada #1 in the quarter bin I had to buy it. Written by the great Steve Gerber with art by Phil Winslade and Steve Leialoha, Nevada starts out as a murder mystery set in a Vegas casino that looks a whole lot like the Luxor. Of course, it is full of Steve Gerber's signature weirdness. With victims cut in half, the main character's pet ostrich, and a crime boss with no head, the book got very strange very quick. Honestly, I was sort of hoping for a more realistic crime story but the well written story and the amazing art was enough to keep me entertained. Fables fans can really see Leialoha's ink style and where his own sensibilities influence the art. I do plan on going out and looking for the rest of this series or for the trade.

Lastly, I moved from the city where every dream comes true to a city where dreams actually are real. Dream Police by J. Michael Stracznski and Mike Deodato, a one shot from 2005, tells the story of two cops who patrol the streets of the city where people's minds go when they dream. Yeah, the concept may seem a little out there but JMS made a good little story. Dealing with the crazy things that people's minds come up with is hard work. I actually laughed out loud when they were get stuck in traffic because "as usual, it's filled with people finding themselves suddenly naked in a crowd." You have to give JMS some credit for a very original idea. Dream Police is definitely worth a read if you come across it in the cheap boxes at a convention.

So say we all.

2009-01-17T10:55:00.002-06:00

The time has finally come. Battlestar Galactica has returned, and my gods, it was amazing! This is going to be one crazy ride to the end. I think we all can agree on that. Also, I think I can say with confidence that fans will be clamoring for anything BSG related since there are only 9 episodes left. We need our fix and Dynamite Entertainment wants to be our pusher with all of their Battlestar Galactica miniseries. If you remember, my first actual post on this blog was of the first nine issues of the Battlestar Galactica comic series. Sadly, it was so bad that I never even tried to find the issue I was missing or finish reading the series. Logically, Dynamite's mediocre first attempt at BSG comics might be the reason why the other miniseries are also in the cheap boxes. If the core book is not great, why would I want to try the others? It is a very fair question and I can totally understand why anyone would skip the BSG line of comics after reading the first series.

BUT WAIT! Just because the other series were tossed in the cheap bins doesn't mean that they warrant it. Now that I have read Battlestar Galactica: Zarek, and Battlestar Galactica: Origins, I can tell you that the quality of BSG comics improved greatly after the first series. The first of these two that I read was Battlestar Galactica: Zarek. Zarek is a four issue miniseries that follows the life of revolutionary Tom Zarek and how he came to be a prisoner during the Cylon attack on the 12 Colonies. Fans of BSG have followed Tom Zarek's journey in the background as one of the show's second tier characters. The comic series shows how he lead a revolution on the colony of Sagittaron due to the death of his parents and the unfair treatment that his more agrarian colony received. All in all, the series served its purpose and did round out the character. Nothing seemed out of place and the story felt like it could be weaved into BSG continuity just fine.

As soon as I was done with Zarek, I moved right into Battlestar Galactica: Origins. Now I love a good anthology series and Origins does not disappoint. Over eleven issues, we get three completely separate stories. Issues 1-4 give us Gaius Baltar's story of how he rose from the son of farmers to the rock star of the science world. Written seamlessly, the story gives you just enough to make you believe that Baltar could have become no one but the arrogant narcissist that we know him to be. After Gaius's four issues, we change characters and time periods and find ourselves with a young William "Husker" Adama during the First Cylon War. "But Mike, we saw all that in the Razor webisodes or interspersed with the movie on the DVD?" You're right, but we only saw him fly a single mission (that they do mention in the comics) during Razor. You really think the great Husker Adama only flew one mission? If you love "the Old Man" as much as I do, then this story is a must read. The last three issues of the series give us a Starbuck and Helo story set during one of their early training missions. While the story was fairly basic, I did get the feel that both of them developed a strong trust with each other which is an important plot point of the second season when they meet up on Cylon-occupied Caprica. Considering the quality of all three arcs in the series, Battlestar Galactica fans should at least go out and pick up the trades. They'll be worth it.

Now have you noticed a common theme between these two series? Neither of them take place during the time period of the actual show, and that fact alone might be what makes or breaks a BSG comic series. Both of them are prequels that fill in gaps that we as the reader or viewer didn't even know that we were missing. That is the way they should operate. The first series's downfall was that it stepped on too many toes and made too many changes to established characters and plot lines. When you go and tell the stories that happen outside of the show, that problems is nowhere near as prevalent. You have a wider canvas and you can use interesting ideas that don't hamper anything that the characters on our televisions are doing. So Dynamite, thank you for making Battlestar Galacitca comics and keep them coming as long as the quality can stay consistent with Zarek and Origins.

The Best American Comics 2006

2009-01-13T21:54:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm back. I know it has been a while since my last post but I have valid reasons. It has been a very busy time for me lately with the holidays and a lot of work baring down on me, so it probably wasn't the best time for me to choose a book that I would really need to delve into and contemplate. I am not big on the whole idea of New Year's resolutions, but I kinda told myself that I would venture out from the common superhero fare and try some new comics in 2009. With that in mind, I went to my bookcase and grabbed The Best American Comics 2006. I found this book a few months ago at a Borders outlet store for $4.00. Honestly, now that I have finished reading it, I can assure you that I got much more than my money's worth. Even at the cover price of $22.00, I still think this anthology is a steal.

Basically, The Best American Comics 2006 is an anthology of sequential art stories and excerpts from larger works. I was very excited to read it since all of the stories in the book were new to me except one of the entries, an excerpt from James Robinson's Tricked, which I wholeheartedly agree is worthy to be included in the best of 2006. My excitement was heightened even more due to the fact that Harvey Pekar, writer of American Splendor and The Quitter, was the guest editor of the collection. If Harvey Pekar says something is worth reading, I will read it without question. The man is a genius in my book. (By the way, I just found out that he wrote an opera that is going to be performed and simulcast on the internet on January 31, 2009! Click here for more info.)

Through the course of all of the selections in the book, two themes became pretty obvious: the sociopolitical climate we live in and the internal problems and idiosyncrasies we all deal with. Almost every selection dealt with one of these two topics. The only one that really did not tackle either subject was also the only comic to mention superheroes as it humorously looked at the evolution of mainstream comics from the Silver Age up through the Modern Age. I think the best way to critique the book for all of you is to look at my favorite story from each of the two themes. In Joe Sacco's autobiographical story "Complacency Kills," we follow Sacco in Iraq as a front line reporter. Sadly, what I know about modern warfare comes only from playing way too much Call of Duty, but I learned a lot from just a few pages of Sacco's comic. He showed the day-to-day actions of our Marines in Iraq and you get the feeling that they truly are in a horrible catch twenty-two. Many of their normal operating procedures are in place to keep them safe, yet they could be construed as slights to normal civilians in that country. For instance, the Marines that Sacco was riding with were called to investigate a suspicious group of cars parked far off the main road. When they get there, guns drawn, they find that it is a funeral procession. It is a story like that that truly makes you think. As for the more psychological stories, the most interesting was definitely the excerpt from Couch Tag by Jesse Reklaw. I had never read anything by him before but this excerpt really made me want to go look for more of his writing. The selection was actually multiple stories from Reklaw's childhood that all centered around the many cats that his family had. The art was simple but evocative which was perfect for the subject matter. While many cats came and went from the household, something profound was learned from each one of them, even if they didn't live very long. The pets acted as a solid framework for a coming of age story.

After reading the entire collection, I highly recommend The Best American Comics 2006. If you have the chance, go and pick up a copy. I think that now that I have had a taste, I will have to go out and find the books that were excerpted to make this excellent anthology.

Christmas at Wayne Manor

2008-12-26T13:08:00.003-06:00

Before you even start, I know! I said I would have a second Christmas post on Tuesday, but when you have to drop everything and drive your fiancee to the Apple Store on icy streets while it is snowing in order to fix her dead Macbook, I will give you a break too. (I just want to make it known that I love Vista. LOL.) Consider this an belated Christmas present. OK with that settled, on to the season at hand.

What is the first thing you think about when you hear the term "Christmas?" Family? Food? Presents? WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! The correct answer is Batman. Yep, the Caped Crusader has definitely seen his share of Christmas stories set in the DC Universe, and purely by accident, I read two of them in the last week. Let me explain. During one of my trips to the the used book store, I recently came across Batman: Ego by Darwyn Cooke. Now I assume someone sold this original version since DC has released the story in a newer hardcover edition with the other Batman stories that Cooke has written. I have always wanted to read it since Darwyn Cooke is one of my favorite creators in comics today, so as soon as I got home, I parked myself down and read it. When I started reading, I made a realization pretty quick that Ego is the Batman version of "It's A Wonderful Life." Now of course, the Dark Knight's version of the classic tale has to be darker than the original. Instead of Bruce Wayne's guardian angel teaching him about his own worth, his personal devils explore his crusade to punish the guilty and avenge the death of his parents. We all know Batman's origin, but Cooke is able to make the reader feel Wayne's loss by showing more intimate moments of his childhood like Christmas morning with his parents. Just like George Bailey, Bruce Wayne comes out of the experience stronger, and assures Commissioner Gordon with only one sentence: "I'm on my way."

Now Christmas is all about the kids so it only makes sense that DC would put out a kids comic for Christmas as well. I read Justice League Unlimited #28 which is basically a kid-friendly re-telling of Batman: Ego. I assure you I did not plan this out. I just happened to read both books only days apart. Now instead of Batman being guided through his life by his inner demons, the Flash is guided by the Phantom Stranger (a perfect stand-in for a Dickens-style Christmas ghost) so that he can understand Batman better. Much like in Ego, opening presents at Christmas is used again to show Bruce Wayne's childhood. I will admit that this story has a truly heartbreaking moment when we see Bruce Wayne's first Christmas without his parents. When he gets the one present he really wanted, he starts to play and have fun like a normal kid until he looks up and stops dead in his tracks when he sees the portrait of his parents. Flash asks the Stranger what happened and the Stranger explains that little Bruce forgot his parents "and for the briefest of moments his promise to avenge them." As an adult, that sentence just punched me in the gut. In the end though, Flash gives Batman the same toy and all is right with the world. Honestly though, Batman fans should seek this issue out for the view into his life.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas with plenty of comics in their stockings. Merry X-Mas and Happy New Year to all.

A Late 90's Christmas

2008-12-21T21:40:00.002-06:00

It hit -7 degrees today here in Chicago so what better time to sit on the couch in some warm clothes and read comics. Not just any comics though. With Christmas less than week away, it is time to break out the egg nog and the Christmas-themed funny books. I have been saving a handful of books specifically for the Christmas season in order to get me into the holiday mood. Whenever I see Christmas or Halloween books in the quarter bins, I always grab them and put them in a special box and save them for their particular season. It works out to be a real money saver too since new issues are so overpriced. Honestly, $5.99 for a Christmas one-shot is a little outrageous. My older Christmas issues for 50 cents a piece will do just fine, thank you.

I ended up reading three hoilday specials today. The first two books I read were both special Christmas anthologies: DCU Holiday Bash III & Hellboy Christmas Special. Since I read the DC book first, I guess that is the place to start. The DCU Holiday Bash III (from 1998) is a collection of seven holiday stories set in the DC universe. It had the obligatory stories of Superman saving people with a smile on his face while Batman stays in the shadows and Wonder Woman not fully grasping the ideas behind the holiday. We have all seen stories like this either in the comics or the many DC cartoon series. Even though we get stories like this practically every year, I don't feel like I have been cheated or anything. Actually, it wouldn't be Christmas without them. It is like watching A Christmas Story. I know they show it continuously all day on TV but I watch it because it is tradition. Reading about Superman and Batman arguing about the holidays is the same thing for me; it is tradition.

The story that really got to me though was titled "Home for the Holidays." It follows some of the superpowered inmates of the DC universe on Christmas Eve, specifically Shrapnel, a C-level villian that I had never heard of before that has a body made of metal. We follow Shrapnel as he plans his escape from jail. His only reason for trying to escape is to see his daughters. Though he does have a dangerous ability, Shrapnel is just a low level thug who steals to keep food on the table for his family. The last two pages of the story just got to me when he succeeds in escaping only to get home after his daughters have fallen asleep and he can only look at them for a moment before the cops come to pick him up and bring him back to jail. Thanks a lot DC, now I feel depressed. Maybe I should move on to the other anthology I read.

Now I know Hellboy so I should have known that reading the Hellboy Christmas Special (December 1997) probably isn't the best idea when I want to pull myself out of a funk. The whole anthology dealt with Christmas horror stories. From demons to giant spiders to possessed children, this one had it all. Aside from the Hellboy story at the beginning of the book, I had never heard of any of the other properties in the book. I think that kind of prevented me from really enjoying this as much as other people since I had never heard of Steve Purcell's "Toybox" characters featured in the second story or Gary Gianni's "Corpus Monstrum" of the third story. They were solid stories but I got the feeling that they were meant for readers that were more familiar with the characters. I did really enjoy the Hellboy story though, don't get me wrong. It was classic Hellboy with some good old demon fighting. Also, I have to mention the Geof Darrow pinup in the middle of the book with a giant floating killer Santa. Now that is how you say "Merry Christmas!"

I am going to save the third book since I actually have a lot to say about it so keep an eye out Tuesday night. It will be like a early Christmas gift from me to you (and no, you can't return it.)

Random Dive #1

2008-12-14T03:24:00.005-06:00

Originally, this week was going to be about a bunch of Marvel books, but Marvel pissed me off recently. They don't deserve free advertising right now. Paying more than full price for less than 22 pages of Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes is definitely not cool. Before I go off on a anger induced tangent not appropriate for this blog, I think I should take my mind off it and talk about something fun and as far from Marvel as possible. So, let's take a dive into the longboxes and see what I can find. I plan on making this a regular thing with just random pulls out of the boxes just to see what comes out.

Practically every person I know around my age has fond memories of a very particular block of television, the "Disney Afternoon." For two hours every weekday, Disney controlled my TV. I would run into the house after school just so I could watch Ducktales, Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers, and the others. Now when I saw Uncle Scrooge #230 and #236 sitting in a quarter bin, a wave of nostalgia came over me and I added them to the pile of books I was purchasing. Tom Katers of Around Comics once said that adults are the only people that read Uncle Scrooge anymore. Sadly, I bet it is true. They have a lot of great stories of stinginess but they are only read by old people looking for that same nostalgic feeling I had. With so many people asking about what comics are appropriate for young readers, here is some advice. Go find a couple issues of Uncle Scrooge in the quarter bin and give them to the little ones. You won't be sorry.

Next on the docket is Ambush Bug #3 written by one of the greatest writers in comics, Keith Giffen. This issue has been sitting in my collection for some time now because I was worried that I wouldn't get any of the jokes. I bought it since I had heard of Ambush Bug a little and the title of this issue was "The Ambush Bug History of the DC Universe" which sounded like fun. I've explained before that as a kid, I never really read a lot of DC comic books. Now that I have immersed myself in DC history, I thought that I would be ready for some Ambush Bug. (Plus the fact that I have really been enjoying the current Ambush Bug: Year None series didn't hurt either.) Now that I have the background to get the jokes, this issue was really hilarious. I really don't want to spoil anything since I think real DC fans should go out and find this issue. I love it when a company can take a step back and make fun of themselves. Comics are always so serious lately and having a laugh about them once in a while is always a good idea. All I can say is that seeing what Ambush Bug would look like if drawn by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, and Frank Miller made me crack up and made this book worth all the time I have spent learning all about DC continuity.

Daydreamers #1-3

2008-12-07T16:02:00.002-06:00

I really hate it when I don't know how to categorize something. I'm having that problem with the Marvel limited series Daydreamers. I can't decide if it goes in the "What were they thinking?" box or with the "rehashed plot device" books. Ugh, what am I to do? Well I'll make an argument for both and let you decide.

Marvel's Generation X was a very popular X-Men spin off series in the 90's featuring a new, trendy team of teenage mutants studying at Xavier's School for Gifted Mutants. Through the course of the series, the book featured a lot of characters from across the Marvel Universe coming to visit the school, some even living there for a while. These visitors included Franklin Richards (thought to be orphaned during the Onslaught mega super tie-in crossover event of the 90's that every reader still tries to forget ever happened), Leech, Artie Maddicks, Tana Nile, and last but definitely not least Howard the Duck. Now of course, whenever a motley crew like this comes together, they have to be spun off into their own series, right? Oh geez, I'm sorry. I forgot that you have to add yet another character that no one cares about like the mute swamp creature, Man-Thing. How silly of me. I am being serious people. That is the team for this book. The story goes that they find themselves hopping for universe to universe trying to find their way home after being sucked into the Nexus of All Realities. (Don't even get me started on how dumb that idea is. The central point of every dimension is in Florida? Yeah, that's safe. They can't even punch holes through ballots correctly, and you think they aren't going to mess with a hole in reality?) Honestly, it astounds me that this got through the editorial process. Who did they think this book was for? The art and comedy could be for younger readers, but some of the ideas and jokes will go right over their heads. As for the older readers, I doubt the covers will jump out to anyone and say "read me!" except for the hardcore Howard the Duck fans. Plus, the part that truly boggles my mind is that the series was written by J.M. DeMatteis, who co-wrote one of my favorite comics of all time, Justice League International. What a weird project for him to work on. His comedy is in there, but it is so watered down that it makes me think editorial did make the judgment to make the series for the kids after the fact. What it boils down is that all of the these characters could have interesting stories to tell, but when bunched together and watered down, it just does not work out.

Normally, I don't like handing out spoilers but I think I can save you all 75 cents (that is how much I paid for all three issues) when I tell you that the group was never trapped in the Nexus at all. They were inside Franklin's mind the whole time as he was trying to hide from the reality of his family's death. This is where the "rehashed plot device" comes in. How many times does this kid need to be saved from his own brain? The Fantastic Four had to do it. It happened more than once in the pages of Power Pack. Franklin's melon is a WMD just waiting to go off. And the idea of being trapped in a world you made to get away from real life....that was Star Trek: Generations! It was even called "The Nexus" in the movie as well. Do you really want another version of that movie? I did not think so. I have seen this story a few to many times for my taste and that is yet another reason why this series is in the quarter box. Oh and by the way, don't worry. The Fantastic Four were not dead. Just trapped in yet another dimension and would return a few months later unharmed and Franklin again would use his reality changing powers to preserve the universe his parents were trapped in. Like a said before though, I don't know anyone who wants to remember anything about any of that period in Marvel history.

Oh and one last thing. There is a love story between the Rigellian alien, Tana Nile, and our own Howard the Duck. Yeah, I'll let you ponder on that for a while.

There is no giving thanks in comics.

2008-11-30T11:54:00.004-06:00

I thought finding some mention of Thanksgiving in comics would be easy and would make for a good blog post for the long holiday weekend. Then I started to dig through my boxes, looking for something that I could write about, and I realized that this search would be harder than I thought. Oh, I assure you I will have plenty to write about when Christmas comes around. The "Big Two" put out X-Mas books every year and every year those issues inevitably find their way into the quarter bin by January. When it comes to Thanksgiving though, there is very little comic book representation. Google couldn't even help me find something. It has to be pretty bad if Google can't find anything. Therefore, I have decided to give you all a special treat. I present to you Godzilla Vs. Barkley.

If you were to list the greatest battles in comics, you may say Batman versus Superman or Spider-Man versus the Green Goblin. I have seen the light though, and now I know that those answers are flat out wrong. There will never be a more epic, mind blowing confrontation than that of the battle that was waged between the king of the monsters, Godzilla, and the king of the hardwood, Charles Barkley. The obvious response to this is "but Charles Barkley is a mere mortal...how could he stop Godzilla?" That is where the magical silver dollar comes in. I concede that a regular-sized Charles Barkley might have some difficulty defeating Godzilla, but when armed with the magical silver dollar given to him by his "biggest fan," I know I would sleep soundly knowing that Godzilla had met its match.

I can already hear your next question. "So the silver dollar makes Sir Charles huge, but then what? Godzilla still has his fire breath and is almost impervious to any attack. What could Barkley do?" You're going to hit yourself when you see how obvious the answer is. You challenge Godzilla to a basketball game on an abandoned Air Force base of course! (And for some reason Bill Cosby, Jack Nicholson, Jimmy Carter, and Rush Limbaugh are there too to watch the game.) In the end, Barkley beats the 20,000 ton lizard and leaves it in a canyon to practice its layups. So if you are ever driving near a canyon near the California coast and you hear a giant monster shooting hoops, steer clear. It is probably still a little steamed that it lost to Charles.

In all seriousness though, this is the kinda comic book that I am always looking for when I dig through a quarter box. Obviously part of the Nike ad campaign of the early 90's, this book must have netted Dark Horse Comics some big bucks. That is the only explanation I could make for how something like this could ever make it to print. Godzilla Vs. Barkley should never have been made, but it was and therefore I must read it. Yes it is a complete case of fascination of the abomination, but I can't help it.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow #6

2008-11-22T21:34:00.001-06:00

There is a strong misconception that quarter bins and dollar boxes are only filled with the junk books that no one would buy. If you are one of the misinformed masses that holds onto this belief, I have come to enlighten you. Some of the greatest comics ever written are laying in the cheap boxes right now and you just haven't realized why. They're reprints! From the Dark Phoenix Saga to Crisis on Infinite Earths, comics' greatest sagas can be found in the quarter and dollar boxes because they have been reprinted, collected, and sold in newer versions countless times. I want to look at a specific reprint that I grabbed out of a fifty cent box a while ago: Green Lantern/Green Arrow #6.

As soon as I saw this issue, I knew it was a must buy for a couple reasons. First, even though I have never read anything from this era of the old Green Lantern series, I have heard over and over how culturally relevant the series was and how they dealt with drug addiction, racism, and other problems in society way before any other comics would touch those subjects. These are milestone issues that are definitely worth reading just for the fact that they mark a shift in the history of comics. Second, I have come to enjoy the characters in the current iterations. Hal Jordan's adventures in the current Green Lantern series has become required reading for any DC fan due to the massive "Sinestro Corps War" event and the coming "Blackest Night." I also have developed a soft spot for Ollie Queen and the rest of the Green Arrow family. When I was younger, I hated Green Arrow. In my blatant Marvelite attitude, I wrote Green Arrow off as a blatant copy of Hawkeye and disregarded him as I did with the rest of DC comics. Now after being reintroduced to the character by the animated Justice League Unlimited and reading Green Arrow/Black Canary every month (due to the great Mike Norton on art duty), I now consider myself a Green Arrow fan.

After reading the book (which reprints Green Lantern #86-87 just so you know), the only thing that kept running through my mind is that I kept wondering what a kid in 1971 would have thought when they bought this at the store and brought it home. Like I said before, these issues deal with some heady material that may not be very accessible for every reader. Today, major titles are targeted to mature readers who can understand involved plots and big ideas, but in 1971, the issues that these issues brings up were not commonplace. For example, this issue includes the first appearance of John Stewart, the African American architect chosen to be the new Green Lantern of Earth. As soon as Stewart is presented, his views on racism are brought to the forefront as he fights with a racist cop. Today, the character has mellowed out, but in his first appearances, John Stewart was blatantly militant in his views on society. With that said, I doubt kids reading this when it originally hit store shelves would have connected with Stewart at all. His stark view of 1970's America, while very true, is not what kids are really ready to hear. As an adult reading this, I can see why writing about these topics is so important, yet so difficult since you don't want to alienate readers.

As I read, I also wondered how a young reader would respond to Green Arrow. To put it bluntly, Oliver Queen is an asshole. Speedy, his sidekick and adopted son, is an addict looking for help, so what does Ollie do? He gives Speedy a beatdown. Yes, you read that right. The very first splash page shows Ollie backhanding Speedy, knocking him to the floor, for being "a lousy junkie." In the end, it is Black Canary and Green Lantern, not Green Arrow (the only father figure Speedy has ever had), who help Speedy through his recovery. Green Arrow does not even apologize. Yes, he finds the people responsible for trafficking drugs into the city, but you never see any reconciliation between him and Speedy. What does that say to a little kid? I think (and hope) kids know that if someone is asking for help, you don't knock them out. Plus, what would the super liberal Green Arrow of today say to that. That really shows how the character has evolved through the years.

Morlocks #1-4

2008-11-16T11:35:00.001-06:00

The X-Men have always had a soft spot in my heart. If it weren't for the X-books, I probably wouldn't be the comic reader that I am today. In fact, Uncanny X-Men #273 was the first comic book I remember reading when I was 8 years old. From that point on, I was obsessed with the X-Men and the rest of the Marvel characters as well. Even when I stopped reading comics for some time, it was Astonishing X-Men #1 that pulled me back in. (Talk to any comic reader, and more often than not, they will have a similar diaspora story for you.)

Today, the X-books are a little different, but I am still reading and enjoying them. Much to my surprise though, there was a mutant-filled limited series that I had never heard of until I found one of the issues in a quarter box years ago. That series was Morlocks. I bought issue number two a long time ago and it had been sitting gathering dust for some time since I had the hardest time trying to find the rest of the series until recently. As soon as I had the series in its entirety, I pounced on the issues and read them all in about an hour. They were so good that I couldn't put them down until I found out how it ended.

Morlocks came out during the period I mentioned before when I left comics. Actually, I am pretty lucky that I even found out about it at all. Small miniseries like Morlocks usually get lost in the shuffle and are rarely heard from again. The best evidence of this is the fact that Morlocks was written by a big name in the comics world, yet, no one has heard of the series or remembers it. You might be surprised to know that the series was written by none other than Geoff Johns. Yes, that Geoff Johns, DC Comics golden boy and current writer of Green Lantern and Justice Society of America. In Morlocks, Johns creates a powerful story steeped in X-Men lore. For those who don't know, the Morlocks were introduced in X-Men books years ago as a group of mutants who couldn't pass for human so they fled and live together in the New York City sewers. In the series, we follow a new group of underground-dwelling mutants hiding from the mutant hunting Sentinels all while trying to complete a pact they have made to each other to fulfill one wish each member has. The characters have real heart. In the course of four issues, you get to know them and wish that you could continue with them on their journey. It is too bad that only one of the characters, Litterbug, has ever made another appearance.

I wouldn't be doing the book any justice if I didn't mention the art. Shawn Martinbrough's art is new to me and I love his art style. He reminds me of Michael Avon Oeming's art on Powers but with a little more detail. I have always been a fan of that type of minimalist style and I think that Martinbrough uses it perfectly in Morlocks.

I did have two small problems while I was reading Morlocks though. The series did border on two of my pet peeves. You would not believe how excited I was to see the first page of the first issue and read the word "Chicago" right there. Having your hometown as the setting is always a special treat. It sucks when there is nothing in the book that makes it specific to the city it is set in though. Aside from the first word of the book setting it in Chicago, there was nothing that made this city setting different than anywhere. Come on people! How many New York landmarks do I have to read about all the time? Can't Chicago get some real love for a change? Geez, even Milwaukee has the Great Lakes Avengers. The Windy City needs some real representation in comics. The other thing that irked me a bit was that the lettering was not proofread at all. there were multiple times where the word bubbles were coming from the wrong people. I know it is not a big deal, but one readthrough after the letterer is done could remedy that completely.

Stacked Deck: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told

2008-11-09T10:31:00.002-06:00

One of the greatest finds I have ever found in a bargain bin was a copy of Stacked Deck: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told. As soon as I saw the purple faux leather cover, the gold leaf on the edges of the pages, and the signature Joker grin on the binding, I knew that this was a real find and that I had to have it. The best part about it was that it didn't break the bank at only $14 at my local Half Price Books. I showed it to Katie and even she agreed that it was too good to pass up and that it would look very nice on our bookshelf.

Now the really strange part about this acquisition was that I bought the book only a month before the release of The Dark Knight, arguably the biggest comic book inspired movie to date. How perfect is that? I am in the mood to read some Batman and Joker stories and there is a gorgeous collection of the best ones right there for me and at a dirt cheap price. Why would someone sell this to a used book store when they could have easily made a mint off of it on eBay? OK all you comic deal hunters out there. This is where I teach you a lesson. That question can NEVER enter your mind. The only thing you are supposed to think is "their loss, my gain." In the hunter/gatherer world of longboxes and quarter bins, you have to grab what you want or it will be gone before you have time to blink. Questioning why someone would want to get rid of something is a waste of time. Just be happy that you have the opportunity to read it and add it to your collection.

With my militaristic rant over (don't forget that I still have a lot of Battlestar Galactica in my system), I can get into the book itself. Like a said before, this is a gorgeous edition worthy of being in a library. Aside from a small scuff on the front cover image, the copy is in excellent shape. All of the reprints were reinked and recolored so even Batman #1 looks brand new. All together, there are twenty-two separate stories included in this volume from Batman, Detective Comics, World's Finest Comics, and the daily newspaper strips, and they run the gamut from 1940 to 1987. The only thing missing in the book is Alan Moore's Killing Joke, but the afterword explains that it was omitted since it was new at the time Stacked Deck was printed and needed to stand on its own two feet.

As I read through the many stories, two major ideas popped out at me that I think are worth discussing. First, the Joker's temperament and MO have changed drastically throughout the years. Mike Gold, a DC editor, also mentions this in his preface. The Joker starts out as a basic sociopath and murderer. Many of his first appearances don't even have the grand plans or jokes that we have come to expect. He just hides in someone's home and then kills and robs them. Yes, he still has his purple suit and white face, but the connections to a clown persona end there. Then as the character progresses, he becomes the thief with the grandiose plans that we have come to expect, but there is no bloodshed or massive death toll as there had been years earlier. Joker would try to steal the money from a charity collection or make an attempt to discredit Batman, but he would be caught with everyone safe and sound by the end. Now the modern Joker is a combination of the two using plots and pranks with deadly outcomes. I just find it interesting that today's Joker evolved as a combination of the original Joker and his murderous ways with the later Joker and his jokes and elaborate plans.

The other plot device that I kept noticing was the use of female characters. Honestly, I think I know now why comic books are only considered a "boy thing" these days. The seeds were planted in all of these classic issues. A handful of the stories in Stacked Deck involve a witless woman making a complete mess of something, be it Joker's plan to get rich or Batman's attempt to defeat him. There was one moment where I literally burst out laughing at the brainless female portrayal. In The Joker's Utility Belt from Batman #73, Batman and Robin are christening a ship in Gotham harbor. They had have already found that the Joker rigged the bottle of champagne with paralyzing gas and replaced it with a safe bottle. Right when they are about to strike the ship, a woman runs out of nowhere grabbing the rigged bottle and yells "I want to have fun too! HURRAH!" She breaks the bottle and releases the gas, paralyzing everyone and allowing Joker to rob them all and get away. This is just one of the many examples of how women were written to just be a nuisance to everyone, hero and villain alike.

After reading Stacked Deck, I found that there is a lot of Batman lore that I have missed out on and a lot of interesting stories that have been written throughout the evolution of both the Dark Knight and his nemesis, the Clown Prince of Crime. It looks as though there are a lot of other books that I need to look for next time I go digging in the longboxes.

Battlestar Galactica #0-8

2008-11-06T20:31:00.000-06:00

What better to use for my first review than something that has been taking over my whole life as of late: Ron Moore's reimaging of Battlestar Galactica. In the last month, I have become completely obsessed with BSG. I've bought all of the DVD's and watched the first three seasons from start to finish. When it originally debuted, I was in school and missed the miniseries which led to me falling behind pretty fast. Since the continuing narrative is not very friendly to new viewers, I just never found the time to devote to it until recently. BSG is truly an amazing show in that the writers have created a world in which they have the ability to tell stories the viewer can relate to as well as comment on today's relevant issues while still operating in the mode of a massive science fiction epic.

Now I can see you reading this and asking yourself "this is supposedly a comic book blog, where are the comics?" Well, after starting to watch Battlestar Galactica, it came to my attention that Dynamite Entertainment was printing multiple comic series based on the show. Due to my new found love of the program, the hunt was on for these issues. Luckily for me, the search did not take long and in the myriad of longboxes at the Windy City Comicon, I found twelve of the thirteen issues of the core Battlestar Galactica book (only missing #11), the complete "Zarek" limited series, and a handful of issues of the "Origins" series. Honestly for a longbox diver like myself, I really wasn't expecting to find any of them when I left for the con due to the fact that most vendors just bring their old Marvel and DC books to sell at shows and leave the back issues of the smaller press titles at the store. Fate smiled on me though and I walked away with an armful of BSG goodness or so I thought....

I chose to delve into the core book first because I had a almost complete run of the series and I thought it would tie into the show's storyline more than the others. I was encouraged as I opened up the front cover of issue #0 to find the series explanation from the start of every show and a note that placed the story right in between two episodes of the show. Hooray! They really want this to work and even went as far as to place the story in a set time period within the series. Then I noticed the writer: Greg Pak. Yes, the Greg Pak from World War Hulk among many other Marvel books as of late. Apparently, BSG is the only non-Marvel comic work Pak has done. By this point, I am pretty excited to start reading a story firmly set in the BSG world written by an established comic writer.

As much as it pains me to say it though, my excitement faded pretty quickly. Licensed comics are a fickle mistress. It is very easy to fall into the traps that make for bad licensed comics. Sadly, Battlestar Galactica shows many of these fatal flaws. First of all (and probably the most obvious at first glance), the art is distractingly bad. If you cannot draw the people from the show, then a licensed comic might not be the best assignment for you. I definitely don't want to give the impression that artist Nigel Raynor shouldn't be drawing comics, but he chooses not to try very hard to make his representations of the characters look like their televised counterparts. Basically, all of the characters are reduced to stereotypes with matching hair color except for Sharon who is drawn as a Hispanic woman instead of an Asian one and President Roslin who is drawn much younger than her character in the show. Artists should bring their own flavor to a book, but they can't just disregard the other media that the license may come from.

As for the story, there is no silver lining there either. First of all, it was like Pak had the first fifty issues of the series thought up and then either he realized that the show's progression would prevent him from doing everything he wanted or Dynamite surprised him when they told him he only had twelve issues to do everything he wanted. I say this because within the issues #0 through 8, the crew of the Battlestar Galactica deal with pirates, terrorists, Cylons impersonating dead family members of the crew, old model pre-rebellion Cyclons, and a bunch of the current model Cylons (including both Centurions and another Sharon Valerii copy) all AT THE SAME TIME. The story is a constant mashup of plots and problems all crossing and intersecting. Nothing resolves itself. I fear even more for the people who read this in trade since the trades don't even end at logical points. I thought by reading to issue #8 (the end of the Volume 2 trade paperback) that something would be resolved but none of it was. It is just too much.

The feel of the book does not fit the show either which presents another common flaw of licensed comics. Comic fans are the most continuity-obsessed people ever, and when what they read does not fit into continuity, they will go berserk. It is just that simple. At the time that the book came out, everything in the story may have made sense. It may not have been good, but it would have made sense. Now that the show has continued, we know that a lot of the events and happenings in the book would never have happened in the show and yet again the reader is angry.

All I need to say is that Battlestar Galactica is a phenomenon that is considered by some to be the best show on TV currently. With that status and preexisting fanbase, it only made sense to make a BSG comic book. I really just wish they tried a litte harder. Hopefully, the Zarek and Origins series will be better.

The Obligatory First Post Jitters

2008-10-30T19:49:00.001-05:00

Right from the get go, I am going to admit that this newfangled "bloggin" thing that all the kids are into is new to me. The layout as it stands currently should be proof of that. And yeah, I know that I am a couple years behind. Thanks for reminding me. Lately though, the idea of starting a blog though has become more and more intriguing. I finally think that I have something to say and an interesting topic that is somewhat unique. So here is "Deep End of the Long Box."

In the three years since I graduated from the University of Illinois (Go Illini!), I really haven't had much of a chance to use the degree that my parents paid so much for me to get. As Princeton says at the beginning of Avenue Q, "what do you do with a BA in English?" I am still trying to find the answer to that question, but in the meantime, I know that I need something to keep those English muscles from dying of atrophy. What better way to do so than by using something I know and love: comic books. I am a total and complete comic nerd and my knowledge of the medium is pretty extensive. After spending years learning how to critically examine what I read and how to clearly and concisely share my thoughts with others, I think I can use these skills to make some interesting points about the comics I read on a daily basis. I know this is starting to sound like something someone would write on their resume, but I'm being serious. While flipping the pages of whatever comic I have on me, thoughts come to my head that I want to get out and bounce around, and writing them out will give me the chance I need to use my English skills.

OK, so I have a reason to be typing this and a subject matter, but I know that's not enough. There are a million podcasts and blogs about comic books already out there and established. You need to be unique if anyone is going to take you seriously. Not being able to come up with that hook has been the stumbling block for me. This mental roadblock has continuously kept me from doing anything like this until recently. A few months ago, I moved into a new apartment with my longtime girlfriend (now my fiancee). Now while moving, I finally saw how many comics I own that I have never read. All tolled, I have about 5 long boxes worth of comic books waiting to be read. You may ask "where the hell did they all come from?" The answer is that I love to buy comics in bulk whenever I can. No convention, quarter box, or comic sale is safe from me. After finding and consolidating all of these books, an idea hit me. Most of those comic podcasts and blogs only review the new comics that came out that week. No one really goes and looks critically at all of those books gathering dust in the back of their long boxes. There is that niche that I have been looking for.

So here we go. I now have a project that I can really dig into and work on. I am going to dig through those comics and share my thoughts about the diamonds in the rough as well as the absolute duds that should probably be forgotten. The choice of books will be based on what is going on in the world or in my own life, or it could be completely random. That is the fun of it. I do want to thank my fiancee Katie for helping me with the idea. Without her, I probably still would be putting this off. Wish me luck.