Yeah, I think I'm done.
They were working some kind of "horror in space" thing with Plo Koon and the clones in a fading life pod, and things out there trying to get at them. When the other dead life pod turned up, it could have been a cool moment as well. But then what's hunting them? Frickin' joke droids again! Sucking any of the tension out of the situation.
In addition, the big thematic story is Plo Koon telling the clones that they're not expendable and someone is coming for them, but neither Ah Soka or Anakin ever express even a word of concern for the clones. They're always talking about Master Plo Koon and how important it is to rescue him.
Also... boring space fights, boring starship chase, misuse of characters made cool in previous cartoon and comic book appearances.
This is Lucas brand Star Wars... and that's really the last thing I want at this point.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Fake liveblogging The Clone Wars
Kinda like what I did with Heroes here. When I'm watching a show and it inspires me to snark at it more than enjoy it, that's a good sign I won't be watching it for long.
The Clone Wars inspired snark about a minute in. As with Heroes Season Three, I watched the first episode and started writing down increasingly sarcastic observations. I was going to Twitter them, but didn't want to spoil anyone who was going to watch the show. So here they are, if you're interested.
Every time I see the goofy droids, I cringe. Every time they talk, I cringe even more.
Aussie accented Clone Troopers - not so cool
Yoda - always cool. Smart enough to know he's headed for another trap, confident enough to not give a damn.
This animation blows. Asaj Ventress looks pretty much like a shitty Rock Band character.
Is this a Doctor Seuss planet? What's up with the purple spiky foliage?
I mean, it's good that Paul Hogan is getting some voice-over work, but... jeez, the Clone Troopers sound goofy.
Do you think the clones assigned to Yoda ever want to say "Jesus, can you just learn proper grammar and sentence structure already? How old are you, and you haven't mastered fucking English?"
Oh God, more droid schtick. Nasally voice, totally ineffective... they're a personification of every bad storytelling and humor instinct George Lucas has. Seriously, worse than Jar Jar.
You know how to suck any dramatic tension out of a fight? Make the opponents completely and totally ineffective. Does *anyone* think the comedy 'bots pose a threat to anyone?
Ah, there we go... Super Battle Droids. They're cooler, mostly because they don't talk.
Can't help but think how much cooler Yoda and the clones were in the Tartakovsky series.
Never mind. They talk. But they don't joke. So Super Battle Droids still slightly better than joke 'bots.
Damn it, they joke too. Just as badly.
In Tartakovsky's cartoons, Yoda uses the force to slam droid ships together and force them back off the planet. In the new cartoon, he lifts one battle droid and uses it to shoot all the others. That lack of scale, lack of imagination and love of slapstick says everything about why these new Clone Wars cartoons *suck* compared to the earlier ones.
And in this scene, Yoda teaches the clones... how to love.
Jedi faces off brigade of tanks and droids... better use of scale.
Admittedly, Yoda's action sequence here is pretty cool.
Count Dooku looks like something out of Rankin-Bass.
Yoda punks out Ventress. OK, I like that.
Wow, they set up a base on a random planet! How epic! How exciting! It's just like when they blew up the Death Star, or Han got taken by a bounty hunter! Christ. The stakes aren't even as exciting as Ewoks beating up Stormtroopers.
Overall: Bleh. I'll give it a couple more episodes, but I think my initial plan to avoid was probably the right one. Glad I didn't pay to see the first three episodes in the theater.
The Clone Wars inspired snark about a minute in. As with Heroes Season Three, I watched the first episode and started writing down increasingly sarcastic observations. I was going to Twitter them, but didn't want to spoil anyone who was going to watch the show. So here they are, if you're interested.
Every time I see the goofy droids, I cringe. Every time they talk, I cringe even more.
Aussie accented Clone Troopers - not so cool
Yoda - always cool. Smart enough to know he's headed for another trap, confident enough to not give a damn.
This animation blows. Asaj Ventress looks pretty much like a shitty Rock Band character.
Is this a Doctor Seuss planet? What's up with the purple spiky foliage?
I mean, it's good that Paul Hogan is getting some voice-over work, but... jeez, the Clone Troopers sound goofy.
Do you think the clones assigned to Yoda ever want to say "Jesus, can you just learn proper grammar and sentence structure already? How old are you, and you haven't mastered fucking English?"
Oh God, more droid schtick. Nasally voice, totally ineffective... they're a personification of every bad storytelling and humor instinct George Lucas has. Seriously, worse than Jar Jar.
You know how to suck any dramatic tension out of a fight? Make the opponents completely and totally ineffective. Does *anyone* think the comedy 'bots pose a threat to anyone?
Ah, there we go... Super Battle Droids. They're cooler, mostly because they don't talk.
Can't help but think how much cooler Yoda and the clones were in the Tartakovsky series.
Never mind. They talk. But they don't joke. So Super Battle Droids still slightly better than joke 'bots.
Damn it, they joke too. Just as badly.
In Tartakovsky's cartoons, Yoda uses the force to slam droid ships together and force them back off the planet. In the new cartoon, he lifts one battle droid and uses it to shoot all the others. That lack of scale, lack of imagination and love of slapstick says everything about why these new Clone Wars cartoons *suck* compared to the earlier ones.
And in this scene, Yoda teaches the clones... how to love.
Jedi faces off brigade of tanks and droids... better use of scale.
Admittedly, Yoda's action sequence here is pretty cool.
Count Dooku looks like something out of Rankin-Bass.
Yoda punks out Ventress. OK, I like that.
Wow, they set up a base on a random planet! How epic! How exciting! It's just like when they blew up the Death Star, or Han got taken by a bounty hunter! Christ. The stakes aren't even as exciting as Ewoks beating up Stormtroopers.
Overall: Bleh. I'll give it a couple more episodes, but I think my initial plan to avoid was probably the right one. Glad I didn't pay to see the first three episodes in the theater.
Coloring Theory
Heidi M. posts about the re-coloring of Moebius pages. Then a bunch of colorists show up to talk about it, and coloring theory in general. It's *awesome* if you have any interest at all in the art of coloring comics. I follow colorists more than many, and I still learned more from reading this thread than in 10 years of clumsily trying to talk about what I liked in reviews.
Must reading.
Must reading.
How To Scare the Crap Out of Randy
Army Combat Unit to deploy within the U.S.
What. The. Fuck.
Posse Comitatus, anyone? We don't *do* this shit here. You don't put over 4,000 members of your military, who are *trained* to *kill people*, into a domestic law enforcement role. The DOD can say all they want that they're a response unit for hurricane relief, but... what are they going to do? Shoot at the hurricane? This isn't a civil engineer brigade, this is a combat-trained and tested brigade that has seen action in Iraq.
Seriously, this is one of those "We should have known we were in for a totalitarian regime when they started up with the domestic combat units" kind of things.
Can anyone remember the last time our government did something that didn't scare you or piss you off, or both?
What. The. Fuck.
Posse Comitatus, anyone? We don't *do* this shit here. You don't put over 4,000 members of your military, who are *trained* to *kill people*, into a domestic law enforcement role. The DOD can say all they want that they're a response unit for hurricane relief, but... what are they going to do? Shoot at the hurricane? This isn't a civil engineer brigade, this is a combat-trained and tested brigade that has seen action in Iraq.
Seriously, this is one of those "We should have known we were in for a totalitarian regime when they started up with the domestic combat units" kind of things.
Can anyone remember the last time our government did something that didn't scare you or piss you off, or both?
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
How Much Do I Love Rebecca Traister Right Now?
Don't pity Sarah Palin
Traister is dead on. Palin is not some innocent babe in the woods taken in by Republican operators.
Traister is dead on. Palin is not some innocent babe in the woods taken in by Republican operators.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Blog Update for September 2008
This is the latest monthly update to the right column of the blog, updating my favorite comics and TV for the previous month. The listings are alphabetical, not by rank of how much I liked them in comparison. My criteria for what makes the list is when I read them, not necessarily when they were published. This is basically also my own records of what I read/liked for the inevitable "End of Year" lists I feel like making.
There were a couple really slow weeks for comics in September, but a couple really busy ones, and that sort of balanced out into plenty of books that could have made my Top 20. Of course, the number of books I'm super-excited about seems to be down, but there are plenty of solidly enjoyable books, and it may just be that I'm in jaded mode. At any rate, there were 5 DC (including Johnny DC, Wildstorm and Vertigo) books that almost made the cut and 5 Marvel (all pretty much Marvel universe, except for The Stand), and Atomic Robo Dogs of War was just on the outskirts as well. In terms of what did make the top 20, it was 4 DC (one in-continuity, one all-ages, one Wildstorm licensed and one All-Star Superman), 8 Marvel (2 X-Books, 2 DnA space books, 3 Brubaker books, and shockingly, 3 with direct tie-ins to Secret Invasion), 4 Dark Horse, 2 Image and 2 Boom Studios. Honestly, if I had to have only one publisher right now, I think I'd pick Dark Horse... they also cleaned up in my graphic novel list, and they've got a great diversity of product (webcomics, licensed Conan and Star Wars, creator-owned gems like Usagi and Hellboy, etc.) and an enormously talented stable of creators. I decided to add in a "Top 5 of the month" based on my Top 5 lists over on Comic Pants, we'll see if that lasts.
I borrowed the second Song of Ice & Fire novel from a friend, but haven't had time to read it yet... October, perhaps. Instead, I read 9 Star Wars graphic novels this month, as well as a variety of other stuff as it came out. I also played an enormous amount of Rock Band 2.
My TV schedule is filling back up, although I think an increased interest in politics and, of course, the writer's strike, has killed some of my once-fanatical love for the medium. Certainly there's nothing new this season I'm really looking forward to (although I'll check out Christian Slater's "My Own Worst Enemy," which is getting good buzz). However, I won't deny being delighted to have some of my old favorites back. How I Met Your Mother came back with a really strong opener and a solid second episode with the best use of Regis Philbin ever. Chuck has a good opener that many have called great. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is probably the best laugh-out-loud show on TV... at the very least, it's tied with The Office and 30 Rock. The Shield... well, I've loved it for so long, I'm mostly sad to see it kind of limping along in its final season, but I have to stick it out and hope for a great finale, even if the series right now is kind of... meh. And Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has really turned around for me, turning into one of my must-watch shows. It's not perfect (John Connor and his girlfriend are annoying as hell, for instance), but it's pretty good. And The Wire? Well, I'm mid-way through season four and I can't decide if I'm sad it took me so long to get onboard this awesome show or happy because it means there's no waiting, and I can just watch all five seasons straight through as time allows.
In RSS feeds, it's the end of an era as X-Axis switches over to blog format and so I've started reading Paul O'Brien's blog "If Destroyed, Still True." I've also started reading The Stranger blog on politics, mostly for Dan Savage's take on things.
I really need to figure out how to link podcasts, but in the meantime I've gone ahead and also added a list of Podcasts I'm currently listening to to the ever-growing (and probably rarely-read) sidebar of the site. In addition to the stuff previously mentioned, I added the real life story podcast The Moth (which is awesome, especially when guys involved with New York mobsters or cops are talking), The Rachel Maddow show (yep, I love her as much as every other liberal does these days) and NPR's Planet Money (it's a really good podcast on economic issues for the layman).
Also, I was kind of amused to see, looking at my tags, that my blog is becoming increasingly a place for me to rant, a lot of the time about politics. Weekly comics posts are still at the top, with 91, but there are 80 rant tags and 75 politics, and I'll be surprised if politics doesn't hit the top tag before the elections.
After the elections, I'll either be calmer or numb, depending on who wins, so it should go back to either more comics posting or increasingly depressed and angry rants about the slow death of America.
There were a couple really slow weeks for comics in September, but a couple really busy ones, and that sort of balanced out into plenty of books that could have made my Top 20. Of course, the number of books I'm super-excited about seems to be down, but there are plenty of solidly enjoyable books, and it may just be that I'm in jaded mode. At any rate, there were 5 DC (including Johnny DC, Wildstorm and Vertigo) books that almost made the cut and 5 Marvel (all pretty much Marvel universe, except for The Stand), and Atomic Robo Dogs of War was just on the outskirts as well. In terms of what did make the top 20, it was 4 DC (one in-continuity, one all-ages, one Wildstorm licensed and one All-Star Superman), 8 Marvel (2 X-Books, 2 DnA space books, 3 Brubaker books, and shockingly, 3 with direct tie-ins to Secret Invasion), 4 Dark Horse, 2 Image and 2 Boom Studios. Honestly, if I had to have only one publisher right now, I think I'd pick Dark Horse... they also cleaned up in my graphic novel list, and they've got a great diversity of product (webcomics, licensed Conan and Star Wars, creator-owned gems like Usagi and Hellboy, etc.) and an enormously talented stable of creators. I decided to add in a "Top 5 of the month" based on my Top 5 lists over on Comic Pants, we'll see if that lasts.
I borrowed the second Song of Ice & Fire novel from a friend, but haven't had time to read it yet... October, perhaps. Instead, I read 9 Star Wars graphic novels this month, as well as a variety of other stuff as it came out. I also played an enormous amount of Rock Band 2.
My TV schedule is filling back up, although I think an increased interest in politics and, of course, the writer's strike, has killed some of my once-fanatical love for the medium. Certainly there's nothing new this season I'm really looking forward to (although I'll check out Christian Slater's "My Own Worst Enemy," which is getting good buzz). However, I won't deny being delighted to have some of my old favorites back. How I Met Your Mother came back with a really strong opener and a solid second episode with the best use of Regis Philbin ever. Chuck has a good opener that many have called great. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is probably the best laugh-out-loud show on TV... at the very least, it's tied with The Office and 30 Rock. The Shield... well, I've loved it for so long, I'm mostly sad to see it kind of limping along in its final season, but I have to stick it out and hope for a great finale, even if the series right now is kind of... meh. And Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has really turned around for me, turning into one of my must-watch shows. It's not perfect (John Connor and his girlfriend are annoying as hell, for instance), but it's pretty good. And The Wire? Well, I'm mid-way through season four and I can't decide if I'm sad it took me so long to get onboard this awesome show or happy because it means there's no waiting, and I can just watch all five seasons straight through as time allows.
In RSS feeds, it's the end of an era as X-Axis switches over to blog format and so I've started reading Paul O'Brien's blog "If Destroyed, Still True." I've also started reading The Stranger blog on politics, mostly for Dan Savage's take on things.
I really need to figure out how to link podcasts, but in the meantime I've gone ahead and also added a list of Podcasts I'm currently listening to to the ever-growing (and probably rarely-read) sidebar of the site. In addition to the stuff previously mentioned, I added the real life story podcast The Moth (which is awesome, especially when guys involved with New York mobsters or cops are talking), The Rachel Maddow show (yep, I love her as much as every other liberal does these days) and NPR's Planet Money (it's a really good podcast on economic issues for the layman).
Also, I was kind of amused to see, looking at my tags, that my blog is becoming increasingly a place for me to rant, a lot of the time about politics. Weekly comics posts are still at the top, with 91, but there are 80 rant tags and 75 politics, and I'll be surprised if politics doesn't hit the top tag before the elections.
After the elections, I'll either be calmer or numb, depending on who wins, so it should go back to either more comics posting or increasingly depressed and angry rants about the slow death of America.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Weekly Comics to Come - October 1st, 2008
TOP FIVE
Authority #3 (Abnett & Lanning's post-apocalyptic take on the team has gotten me interested in them again, for the first time in a long while)
Blue Beetle Vol 4 Endgame TP (Rogers' finale on this book is amazing)
Manhunter #35 (Andreyko and Gaydos are doing great stuff on this book, and they're hitting my personal fanboy buttons (Blue Beetle! Suicide Squad! Birds of Prey!) too)
Spirit Vol 2 HC (The last Spirit I'll be enjoying for a while, as Cooke's run concludes)
Top Ten Season Two #1 (I'm skeptical without Moore, but I like Cannon and I like Ha and I love these characters)
THE REST
City Of Dust #1 (Interesting looking futuristic story from Radical and Steve Niles)
Civil War House Of M #2 (First issue was a little slow, but House Of M Avengers was great, so I'm still reading)
Dc Universe Decisions #2 (First issue... kinda meh. But I'm still curious)
Invincible #53 (Getting bored with it, but hoping it'll pick back up again)
Marvel Apes #3 (Still surprisingly fun, a good guilty pleasure book)
Monsterpocalypse #1 (Fun concept, licensed comic which is worrying, but giant monster fighting should make for some cool comics)
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Vol 1 (Never played the game, but I'm kinda curious about the manga)
Authority #3 (Abnett & Lanning's post-apocalyptic take on the team has gotten me interested in them again, for the first time in a long while)
Blue Beetle Vol 4 Endgame TP (Rogers' finale on this book is amazing)
Manhunter #35 (Andreyko and Gaydos are doing great stuff on this book, and they're hitting my personal fanboy buttons (Blue Beetle! Suicide Squad! Birds of Prey!) too)
Spirit Vol 2 HC (The last Spirit I'll be enjoying for a while, as Cooke's run concludes)
Top Ten Season Two #1 (I'm skeptical without Moore, but I like Cannon and I like Ha and I love these characters)
THE REST
City Of Dust #1 (Interesting looking futuristic story from Radical and Steve Niles)
Civil War House Of M #2 (First issue was a little slow, but House Of M Avengers was great, so I'm still reading)
Dc Universe Decisions #2 (First issue... kinda meh. But I'm still curious)
Invincible #53 (Getting bored with it, but hoping it'll pick back up again)
Marvel Apes #3 (Still surprisingly fun, a good guilty pleasure book)
Monsterpocalypse #1 (Fun concept, licensed comic which is worrying, but giant monster fighting should make for some cool comics)
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Vol 1 (Never played the game, but I'm kinda curious about the manga)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Another Reason to Love Dan Savage
Btw, how can you tell when Randy is supposed to be writing and is putting it off? The blog posts get even more frequent.
Sarah Palin's interview style
You know, it hadn't clicked for me until a co-worker said it, but don't Sarah Palin's rambling non-answers like this:
and this:
Remind you of this?
You can take the beauty queen out of the pageant and make her governor, but you can't take the nonsensical pageant-level answers out of the beauty queen masquerading as a vice presidential candidate.
Or something to that effect.
and this:
Remind you of this?
You can take the beauty queen out of the pageant and make her governor, but you can't take the nonsensical pageant-level answers out of the beauty queen masquerading as a vice presidential candidate.
Or something to that effect.
Thoughts on Minx
So everyone has probably heard by now that Minx has been canceled.
To be honest, as a reader and as a retailer, this doesn't have much effect on me. Despite liking a lot of the talent on Minx, most of the books fell somewhat flat for me (then again, I'm a 37-year-old married guy, if the teen-girl-aimed Minx was fireworks for me, it would have been a bad sign for both me and the imprint). And despite having a big crowd of manga-buying girls and guys at my shop, the Minx books for the most part didn't sell at the store. We gave them a big push early on, thanks to the returnability, but after Plain Janes and Re-Gifters did pretty well, the others just kind of sank for us.
As a follower of the industry, though, it's definitely a sad thing. This was a positive attempt at outreach, and an imprint that earned a lot of blood, sweat and tears from a lot of folks I really respect in the industry. There is a small, selfish part of me that is glad to have talented editor Shelly Bond and any number of the cartoonists who were working on Minx projects working (hopefully) on projects at Vertigo that might be more aimed at me, but like I say, that's small and selfish. Would I rather have more Street Angel than more Plain Janes? Well, yes. Do I think it's in the best interest of Jim Rugg or the industry as a whole? No, probably not.
With any luck, a lot of what worked about Minx (the talent, the focus on a different audience) will be transitioned into work at Vertigo, and the spirit of the line will survive, even if the line itself doesn't.
To be honest, as a reader and as a retailer, this doesn't have much effect on me. Despite liking a lot of the talent on Minx, most of the books fell somewhat flat for me (then again, I'm a 37-year-old married guy, if the teen-girl-aimed Minx was fireworks for me, it would have been a bad sign for both me and the imprint). And despite having a big crowd of manga-buying girls and guys at my shop, the Minx books for the most part didn't sell at the store. We gave them a big push early on, thanks to the returnability, but after Plain Janes and Re-Gifters did pretty well, the others just kind of sank for us.
As a follower of the industry, though, it's definitely a sad thing. This was a positive attempt at outreach, and an imprint that earned a lot of blood, sweat and tears from a lot of folks I really respect in the industry. There is a small, selfish part of me that is glad to have talented editor Shelly Bond and any number of the cartoonists who were working on Minx projects working (hopefully) on projects at Vertigo that might be more aimed at me, but like I say, that's small and selfish. Would I rather have more Street Angel than more Plain Janes? Well, yes. Do I think it's in the best interest of Jim Rugg or the industry as a whole? No, probably not.
With any luck, a lot of what worked about Minx (the talent, the focus on a different audience) will be transitioned into work at Vertigo, and the spirit of the line will survive, even if the line itself doesn't.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
My Newspaper Column
I've been writing a semi-bi-weekly (that means it shows up about every two or three weeks) column for the local paper, The Round Rock Leader. It's aimed at folks who are not generally comics-savvy, more of a "civilian's guide to comics," so I don't know how much interest it will be to my usual readers who read Comic Pants, etc.
But since I have friends and family who read this blog and might want to see my writing elsewhere, here are links to my first five columns:
#1 - Dark Knight Returns
#2 - Watchmen
#3 - Star Wars
#4 - Comic Book Primer - How Much Is My Comic Worth? (Note: This says it's the second column in a series, but I'm not *entirely* sure the first one ever ran... I can't find a link to it, at any rate)
#5 - Bone
But since I have friends and family who read this blog and might want to see my writing elsewhere, here are links to my first five columns:
#1 - Dark Knight Returns
#2 - Watchmen
#3 - Star Wars
#4 - Comic Book Primer - How Much Is My Comic Worth? (Note: This says it's the second column in a series, but I'm not *entirely* sure the first one ever ran... I can't find a link to it, at any rate)
#5 - Bone
Weekly Comics to Come - September 24, 2008
TOP FIVE
Help Is On The Way TP (Collection of the hilarious "Basic Instructions" webcomic)
Nova #17 (Big spoilers, so I didn't get an advance look at it... even more anticipated than usual as a result)
Solomon Kane #1 (Dark Horse takes on Howard's puritanical ass-kicker)
Tezukas Black Jack Vol 1 HC (One of Tezuka's wilder concepts, a two-fisted surgeon, gets the deluxe Vertical Books treatment)
Warhammer Condemned By Fire #5 (This book has been my favorite Warhammer comic so far)
THE REST
Avengers Initiative #17 (Digging the Skrull Kill Krew, actually)
Back To Brooklyn #1 (Crime fiction from Ennis and Palmiotti, this could be fun)
Captain America #42 (Brubaker wraps up his *enormous* first Cap story arc)
Conan Vol 6 The Hand Of Nergal TP (Collecting the final Conan stories before the book was relaunched... looking forward to reading them)
Fables #76 (#75 might be a good ending for the book, and I'm close to considering it an ending... but I'll give the book another couple issues to convince me it should be an ongoing, rather than the extended limited series that the best Vertigo series have been)
Flash Gordon #1 (Not wildly optimistic, but the art looks OK, and I'm going in hopeful)
Hellboy The Crooked Man #3 (Second issue weaker than the first, but the first was *awesome*, so that's not a terrible thing)
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #3 (My daughter's favorite Marvel comic book)
Northlanders #10 (Behind on this one, need to read #9 as well)
Proof #12 (Ditto, I think I'm two or three issues behind on Proof)
Samurai Legend #1 (Looks like gorgeous art... hope the story is good)
Station #3 (Digging this space-based murder mystery)
Thunderbolts #124 (Gage's Thunderbolts are pretty good reading)
Usagi Yojimbo #114 (Always good reading)
Warhammer 40k Exterminatus #3 (Really enjoying this look at 40K's Inquisitors)
Wildcats #3 (One of the weaker Wildstorm relaunches, but I do still like the post-apocalyptic hero angle)
Wolverine First Class #7 (Strange tone to this book, as it's not all-ages, not modern-day... it reads a lot like '80s superheroes... which is cool by me. Plus, Soviet Super Soldiers)
X-men Legacy #216 (Weaker issue of this book, but it's still surprisingly readable for someone who thought he was done with X-Books)
Help Is On The Way TP (Collection of the hilarious "Basic Instructions" webcomic)
Nova #17 (Big spoilers, so I didn't get an advance look at it... even more anticipated than usual as a result)
Solomon Kane #1 (Dark Horse takes on Howard's puritanical ass-kicker)
Tezukas Black Jack Vol 1 HC (One of Tezuka's wilder concepts, a two-fisted surgeon, gets the deluxe Vertical Books treatment)
Warhammer Condemned By Fire #5 (This book has been my favorite Warhammer comic so far)
THE REST
Avengers Initiative #17 (Digging the Skrull Kill Krew, actually)
Back To Brooklyn #1 (Crime fiction from Ennis and Palmiotti, this could be fun)
Captain America #42 (Brubaker wraps up his *enormous* first Cap story arc)
Conan Vol 6 The Hand Of Nergal TP (Collecting the final Conan stories before the book was relaunched... looking forward to reading them)
Fables #76 (#75 might be a good ending for the book, and I'm close to considering it an ending... but I'll give the book another couple issues to convince me it should be an ongoing, rather than the extended limited series that the best Vertigo series have been)
Flash Gordon #1 (Not wildly optimistic, but the art looks OK, and I'm going in hopeful)
Hellboy The Crooked Man #3 (Second issue weaker than the first, but the first was *awesome*, so that's not a terrible thing)
Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #3 (My daughter's favorite Marvel comic book)
Northlanders #10 (Behind on this one, need to read #9 as well)
Proof #12 (Ditto, I think I'm two or three issues behind on Proof)
Samurai Legend #1 (Looks like gorgeous art... hope the story is good)
Station #3 (Digging this space-based murder mystery)
Thunderbolts #124 (Gage's Thunderbolts are pretty good reading)
Usagi Yojimbo #114 (Always good reading)
Warhammer 40k Exterminatus #3 (Really enjoying this look at 40K's Inquisitors)
Wildcats #3 (One of the weaker Wildstorm relaunches, but I do still like the post-apocalyptic hero angle)
Wolverine First Class #7 (Strange tone to this book, as it's not all-ages, not modern-day... it reads a lot like '80s superheroes... which is cool by me. Plus, Soviet Super Soldiers)
X-men Legacy #216 (Weaker issue of this book, but it's still surprisingly readable for someone who thought he was done with X-Books)
Live-Blogging Heroes Season Three... Sort Of
Look, a post that's *not* about politics!
It will retain all the snark and bile of my politics post, though. Sorry. I watched the first episode of Heroes Season Three and started writing down observations. I was going to Twitter them, but didn't want to spoil anyone who was going to watch the show. However, I only wrote observations about the first hour, because I deleted the second hour un-watched.
Heroes is dead to me. It's not worth my time. SPOILERS and observations below:
Every power in the known universe, and the best plan future Petrelli can come up with is "Shoot my brother in the chest?" Maybe "Stop time and take him aside to talk to him" would have worked?
Maya and Mohinder in the same room... two of the most useless characters the show has to offer. Guess I can tune out for a few minutes.
New drinking game: Drink whenever Mohinder decides to go back to India, despite it being completely contrary to his character as previously established.
If there's anything in that safe besides a note that says "I knew you couldn't resist opening this" I'm going to be very disappointed.
OK, kind of cool superspeed effects.
Plot's still stupid as ever, but the superspeed/time travel effect is neat.
So future Peter Petrelli... is shorter than modern Peter Petrelli?
Oh, Christ, the "10% of our brain" thing is back.
I guess we finally see how Sylar's powers work... about a year after I stopped caring.
If Heroes really wanted me to come back and believe they were doing something different, they should have actually killed Claire or Nathan Petrelli.
Fuck me, they even brought Malcolm McDowell back? This show is allergic to just killing somebody off and leaving them dead, aren't they?
Yep, they are. There's Ali Larter back too.
I *hate* when I wake up in the desert with a scorpion on my face!
Wow, I bet that Hiro/Ando situation is not what it seems. Because they've never done that kind of thing on Heroes before.
The Mohinder gets powers effect was as cheesy as the superspeed effect was cool.
"Things fall apart... the centre cannot hold..." Blah, blah, blah. Does Heroes have *anything* that hasn't already been completely played out?
It will retain all the snark and bile of my politics post, though. Sorry. I watched the first episode of Heroes Season Three and started writing down observations. I was going to Twitter them, but didn't want to spoil anyone who was going to watch the show. However, I only wrote observations about the first hour, because I deleted the second hour un-watched.
Heroes is dead to me. It's not worth my time. SPOILERS and observations below:
Every power in the known universe, and the best plan future Petrelli can come up with is "Shoot my brother in the chest?" Maybe "Stop time and take him aside to talk to him" would have worked?
Maya and Mohinder in the same room... two of the most useless characters the show has to offer. Guess I can tune out for a few minutes.
New drinking game: Drink whenever Mohinder decides to go back to India, despite it being completely contrary to his character as previously established.
If there's anything in that safe besides a note that says "I knew you couldn't resist opening this" I'm going to be very disappointed.
OK, kind of cool superspeed effects.
Plot's still stupid as ever, but the superspeed/time travel effect is neat.
So future Peter Petrelli... is shorter than modern Peter Petrelli?
Oh, Christ, the "10% of our brain" thing is back.
I guess we finally see how Sylar's powers work... about a year after I stopped caring.
If Heroes really wanted me to come back and believe they were doing something different, they should have actually killed Claire or Nathan Petrelli.
Fuck me, they even brought Malcolm McDowell back? This show is allergic to just killing somebody off and leaving them dead, aren't they?
Yep, they are. There's Ali Larter back too.
I *hate* when I wake up in the desert with a scorpion on my face!
Wow, I bet that Hiro/Ando situation is not what it seems. Because they've never done that kind of thing on Heroes before.
The Mohinder gets powers effect was as cheesy as the superspeed effect was cool.
"Things fall apart... the centre cannot hold..." Blah, blah, blah. Does Heroes have *anything* that hasn't already been completely played out?
Monday, September 22, 2008
And Here It Is WIth Video
I should say, I'm not blind here. I'm aware that Obama wants to raise the minimum wage, and as a business owner just barely scraping by, that's going to increase challenges for me. I'm aware that the 7 sick days a year, paid medical leave, etc. is a cost my business will have to absorb.
But I think that's a fair challenge. The fact is, the minimum wage is too low. First thing I did when I bought my store was give a raise to every employee, and we're well above the current minimum wage. And if I need to raise it again to meet a new minimum wage, I'll find the money to do that, because it's clear that the minimum wage isn't accurate anymore... you can't live on one minimum wage job.
But overall, what I'm hearing from this economic plan is much more promising than what I hear from McCain, or what we've seen from Bush (Jr. and Sr.) or Reagan. Trickle down economics DO. NOT. WORK. The higher-ups keep the money. Those lower on the ladder spend their money upward... the rich are going to stay rich, they just might not be as rich.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
If You're Voting On Money...
Here is it, very clear, with pictures and everything, why you should vote for Obama.
If you're making over $603,000 a year, you're going to pay more taxes. But there's nobody reading my blog who makes that much money.
If I'm wrong... can I have some money? ;)
If you're making over $603,000 a year, you're going to pay more taxes. But there's nobody reading my blog who makes that much money.
If I'm wrong... can I have some money? ;)
A few thoughts around the web
Aaron Sorkin writes up a fictional meeting between Jed Bartlet and Barack Obama.
Tom Beland links to a piece by Tim Wise on White Privilege and the role it has played in the race. My wife sent me this one via email the other day as well.
I have to say, these two factors (white privilege and anti-intellectualism) are probably the biggest factors in how close the race is, and also the most frustrating reasons. It boggles my mind that people want a President who doesn't seem smarter than they are. Isn't that the point of a representative Democracy? Seriously, I wouldn't want me as President (although I'd take me over Palin... at least I know what the Bush Doctrine is.)
Tom Beland links to a piece by Tim Wise on White Privilege and the role it has played in the race. My wife sent me this one via email the other day as well.
I have to say, these two factors (white privilege and anti-intellectualism) are probably the biggest factors in how close the race is, and also the most frustrating reasons. It boggles my mind that people want a President who doesn't seem smarter than they are. Isn't that the point of a representative Democracy? Seriously, I wouldn't want me as President (although I'd take me over Palin... at least I know what the Bush Doctrine is.)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Some Good News (Well, Sort Of)
Don't look too hard at this or think too hard about it, because it's a tongue-in-cheek piece that the author admits is "irrational exuberance," but...
Jonathan Golob has an interesting take on the economic downturn and why it's all going to be OK.
Like I say, don't look too closely at it, just enjoy it as a bit of spoofery, but...
Is it wrong that I get a big grin at the idea of all those upper-class mofos who have been squeezing the middle class downward since the Reagan era losing all their money and winding up fucked in the new global economy they helped to create and hoped to dominate?
I mean, yeah, in reality the end result will be government money flowing to them, the middle class probably being squeezed even more so that the rich can get their money, but... it's nice to think of the possibility of these guys being hoisted by their own petard.
If nothing else, think of how many rich, entitled assholes have had a couple of really, really, really bad days.
Jonathan Golob has an interesting take on the economic downturn and why it's all going to be OK.
Like I say, don't look too closely at it, just enjoy it as a bit of spoofery, but...
Is it wrong that I get a big grin at the idea of all those upper-class mofos who have been squeezing the middle class downward since the Reagan era losing all their money and winding up fucked in the new global economy they helped to create and hoped to dominate?
I mean, yeah, in reality the end result will be government money flowing to them, the middle class probably being squeezed even more so that the rich can get their money, but... it's nice to think of the possibility of these guys being hoisted by their own petard.
If nothing else, think of how many rich, entitled assholes have had a couple of really, really, really bad days.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Weekly Comics to Come - September 17th, 2008
TOP FIVE
All Star Superman #12 (The Morrison/Quitely finale, the build-up has been great and the cover teases a great ending)
Family Dynamic #2 (Awesome new all-ages book that is probably going to become an obscure favorite, what with being cut down to only three issues)
Guardians Of Galaxy #5 (One of my favorite books of the moment, and the Secret Invasion tie-in has been done well)
Local HC (Super-excited to see this hardcover)
Tiny Titans #8 (Always fun)
THE REST
Atomic Robo Dogs Of War #2 (Robo in WWII, first issue was as fun as expected)
Conan The Cimmerian #3 (Hopefully more Conan, less Conan's grandpa)
Incredible Hercules #121 (Starting a new story with Amazons, Namora and the Sub-Mariner)
Iron Man Director Of Shield #33 (Starting a War Machine story arc, and I'm a Jim Rhodes fan)
Marvel Apes #2 (Continues to be surprisingly fun, and a neat little twist about halfway through)
Punisher #62 (Second issue not as strong as the first, but I'll give it a little more rope)
Stormwatch Phd #14 (Digging the post-apocalyptic Wildstorm universe... this was probably the weakest of the reboots, but it's got potential too)
Uncanny X-Men #502 (Still remarkably fun, still full of vaguely inappropriate posing and cheesecake)
Walking Dead #52 (Last issue was creepy... looking forward to more)
X-Men First Class Vol 2 #16 (The art's a little wonky this time out, but Human Torch + Iceman is indeed comedy gold)
All Star Superman #12 (The Morrison/Quitely finale, the build-up has been great and the cover teases a great ending)
Family Dynamic #2 (Awesome new all-ages book that is probably going to become an obscure favorite, what with being cut down to only three issues)
Guardians Of Galaxy #5 (One of my favorite books of the moment, and the Secret Invasion tie-in has been done well)
Local HC (Super-excited to see this hardcover)
Tiny Titans #8 (Always fun)
THE REST
Atomic Robo Dogs Of War #2 (Robo in WWII, first issue was as fun as expected)
Conan The Cimmerian #3 (Hopefully more Conan, less Conan's grandpa)
Incredible Hercules #121 (Starting a new story with Amazons, Namora and the Sub-Mariner)
Iron Man Director Of Shield #33 (Starting a War Machine story arc, and I'm a Jim Rhodes fan)
Marvel Apes #2 (Continues to be surprisingly fun, and a neat little twist about halfway through)
Punisher #62 (Second issue not as strong as the first, but I'll give it a little more rope)
Stormwatch Phd #14 (Digging the post-apocalyptic Wildstorm universe... this was probably the weakest of the reboots, but it's got potential too)
Uncanny X-Men #502 (Still remarkably fun, still full of vaguely inappropriate posing and cheesecake)
Walking Dead #52 (Last issue was creepy... looking forward to more)
X-Men First Class Vol 2 #16 (The art's a little wonky this time out, but Human Torch + Iceman is indeed comedy gold)
Monday, September 15, 2008
And Then A Reminder...
That not everyone in America is a total fuckwit.
Witness, a very sweet, inoffensive and kinda funny comic about the cartoonist getting "gay married" (it's the title of the strip.)
The editor defends the piece and prints some of the ridiculous hate mail, including "the minister of a local church accused the newspaper of promoting "sodomy." If your minister ever writes a letter like that to the paper, you owe it to your faith to change churches, by the way.
OK, so maybe there's still a larger than usual contingent of assholes out there, who would complain about such a politically neutral piece. Using the bullshit language of "I just don't want it pushed in my face" is pretty much admitting homophobia, especially when faced with a mild, universal story of marriage depicted in the cartoon.
But the editor's level-headed defense of the piece, not the angry screed that someone else (OK, me) might write in response to idiots like this, reminds me that there are lots of folks out there fighting the good fight. And if we can just keep from having a total financial collapse, healthcare panic, food riots, environmental disaster or any of the other things the Republicans are helping to cause, maybe eventually reason and intelligence will win out.
Yeah, I don't really believe it right now either. But you gotta have hope, right?
Witness, a very sweet, inoffensive and kinda funny comic about the cartoonist getting "gay married" (it's the title of the strip.)
The editor defends the piece and prints some of the ridiculous hate mail, including "the minister of a local church accused the newspaper of promoting "sodomy." If your minister ever writes a letter like that to the paper, you owe it to your faith to change churches, by the way.
OK, so maybe there's still a larger than usual contingent of assholes out there, who would complain about such a politically neutral piece. Using the bullshit language of "I just don't want it pushed in my face" is pretty much admitting homophobia, especially when faced with a mild, universal story of marriage depicted in the cartoon.
But the editor's level-headed defense of the piece, not the angry screed that someone else (OK, me) might write in response to idiots like this, reminds me that there are lots of folks out there fighting the good fight. And if we can just keep from having a total financial collapse, healthcare panic, food riots, environmental disaster or any of the other things the Republicans are helping to cause, maybe eventually reason and intelligence will win out.
Yeah, I don't really believe it right now either. But you gotta have hope, right?
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