|
|
| Monday, May 2, 2011 12:17 PM |
| Recyclotron |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Now here's a noble goal: teaching computers to understand "that's what she said" jokes. I feel like my friend Cyn has to be involved with this somehow...
- Apparently Oscar Wilde's original version of The Picture of Dorian Gray contained many passages that were deemed objectionable by the editor and were thus removed. The good news: the original, uncensored version will soon be published.
- The Onion A.V. Club explains various Beastie Boys references.
- Robert Zemeckis is lined up to direct an actual live-action movie! About time travel, no less! Sort of. It's more of a Groundhog's Day-type thing.
- A look at some of the amusing images/memes that have been generated by the royal wedding - in particular, that hat. You know the one.
- Thanks to Lionsgate, Joss Whedon's The Cabin in the Woods may finally get released!
- A nice piece of art involving a monster.
- Boba Fett plays "Laura Palmer's Theme" from Twin Peaks on the accordion.
- An impressively detailed cross-section of the Millenium Falcon.
- Maybe I have to start watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This episode, "Night of the Batmen," wherein Batman is injured and his fellow Justice Leaguers have to temporarily take his place, sounds fantastic.
- These illustrations featuring various Disney characters playing characters from Star Wars are pretty cute, although it seems backwards to me that Mickey was chosen to play Han and Donald to play Luke.
- Something called EVOL - which is either a single artist or an art collective, I'm not clear on that - transforms trash cans, electrical boxes, and other items of the urban landscape into tiny skyscrapers.
- Super Punch provides another fun art roundup, which includes a great piece of Dune art.
- Super Punch is trying to nail down the worst headline related to Osama Bin Laden's death. Here are two candidates. (If you're interested my feelings on the news, click here.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Batman (Not), Books (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Computers (Not), Disney (Not), Dune (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), Links (Not), Mashups (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Photoshop (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Star Wars (Not), TV (Not), Twin Peaks (Not), Video (Not) |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, November 24, 2010 11:39 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- The dude who made Gattaca is making another dystopian sci-fi film, this one starring Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake. Exciting!
- I am sad to say I am not doing my part to support Terriers. It's a great show, but I can't get myself together to actually watch it at all. Don't be like me! Save Terriers!
- An amusing comparison of Lord Voldemort and Lord Vader.
- Fun stuff I already posted to Twitter: a first look at Sherlock Holmes 2, and Darren Aronofsky on why he's doing The Wolverine and what it'll be like.
- If you haven't heard yet, people other than Joss Whedon are doing a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie that will reboot the franchise. I'm willing to check it out, although I think the chances of it being any good are very, very low. Anyway, here are Mr. Whedon's thoughts on the project.
- A couple of cool pieces of art by Chris King.
- Photos of LEGO creations featuring creative ways to kill mimes. Don't worry, it's an art contest, and no actual mimes were injured or killed. (Via)
- Game|Life gives a very positive review to Donkey Kong Country Returns, saying it "feels a lot like Metroid with monkeys." Intriguing!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Buffy (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Craft (Not), Harry Potter (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Sherlock Holmes (Not), Star Wars (Not), Terriers (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Wolverine (Not) |
|
|
|
| Monday, September 13, 2010 03:49 PM |
| The Take |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.
This post covers new releases from the week of 9/1. Beware spoilers!
New releases
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #36
Another jump back in time, and another attempt to explain Angel's recent actions. This time they do a pretty decent job. We also get to see how Angel and Spike dropped in from the IDW comic book universe. It was a pretty sudden and violent process! Next the book sets up the upcoming storyline - which will apparently involve returning to Sunnydale, fighting the Master again (he's still around??), and digging up something called the Seed of Wonder. Then it threatens us with a future storyline involving the universe that Buffy and Angel created and then abandoned when they had ultra-sex.
Meeeeh. I just don't know about Buffy anymore. I'm still annoyed by the resolution of the previous storyline, despite their attempts to explain it away. I'll probably stick around for now, though, if only to see what this Seed of Wonder is all about.
Thumbs Sideways
Hellboy: The Storm #3
Hellboy once again rejects his destiny - he's good at that! He gives up his army and his sword. I very much like the parallel to Arthurian mythology here, where Hellboy asks his loyal retainer to throw his sword into a pond or a river, because "that seems like the thing to do." She doesn't want to at first, but finally agrees. Then there's the image of the grail on the inn's sign post. Interestingly, Hellboy says after this is all over, he wants to go back to the Bureau, and also live in America with his new girlfriend. Cool! But Hellboy's got a lot of hard work ahead of him before that can happen. He has an interesting confrontation with the guy I take to be Merlin, who again offers him the army of Hell to command - but Hellboy made his choice as far as that's concerned a long time ago. Then Baba Yaga shows up again to make him a different offer: if she can have one of his eyes, she can get him past Nimue's army so he can face her one on one. But deals with Baba Yaga are never a good idea, and this one may very well have brought about Nimue's final and most terrible transformation - the one the beast warned Hellboy about an issue or two ago. By the end of this comic, it looks like she has become - against her will, even - what Hellboy refused to be. The seven Old Ones have awoken again! That is not good news.
This has been a fantastic series, and I'm excited and a little terrified to see what comes next.
Thumbs Up
Incorruptible #9
We learn more details about Alana Patel's past, and about her connection to Max Damage. But it turns out she might be more pissed at Jailbait than at Max. Which is bad, because the new, vulnerable Jailbait just landed right in front of her. Meanwhile, it looks like the white supremacists want revenge on Max in a big way. I know I keep saying this every month, but I'm really disappointed in this book anymore. The art is poor and inappropriate, and the writing is pretty weak. It's still a must-buy in my head, but I don't know how much longer that's going to be true if it keeps on this way. Especially if the next week it comes out, there are five other books I'd rather read.
Thumbs Sideways
Wolverine #1
Jason Aaron has a new ongoing Wolverine title! Which is something I would have been way more excited about back before I read his other Wolverine title and couldn't get into it at all. I decided to give this new one a try anyway, but sadly I don't think I'm going to be able to get into it, either. I did learn a couple of interesting things in this issue: Wolverine has a love interest, and she appears to be that reporter from the other Wolverine title Aaron was writing. Also, Mystique is alive again (not that I ever really expected her latest death to stick), and despite the way Wolverine treated her last time I read about them hanging out together, she's now helping him by saving his girlfriend. Huh. I would not have expected that. Anyway, the story involves some kind of evil presence inhabiting Wolverine's body and wandering about doing mischief on Earth while his soul is tortured in Hell. I guess it's kind of a vaguely intriguing premise? But mostly I find it boring and off-putting. It seems like all the comic book heroes are going to hell lately. Really, the whole book is cliches. Wolverine's life is finally settling down, and he's got a girlfriend, and things are looking up, so of course everything's going to go horribly wrong and a gang of killers is going to try to murder his girlfriend. The problem is, it's hard to care about Wolverine, because c'mon, he'll be fine, and it's even harder to care about his girlfriend, because she's just the generic comic book reporter girlfriend and I don't care about her at all. Maybe Aaron has more exciting things planned down the line in future issues, but I'm just not sure I'm willing to hang in there and find out.
Thumbs Sideways
X-Men: Smoke and Blood - Curse of the Mutants #1
You know what nobody's telling stories about lately? Vampires! Thank goodness Marvel is here to remedy that! Ha ha ha- oh, screw it. Anyway, apparently the latest X-Drama revolves around those mystical blood-sucking entities that one hears about so rarely these days, and this awkwardly titled one-shot is writer Simon Spurrier's contribution to the story. I follow Spurrier on Twitter (@sispurrier), and I've enjoyed his work in the past, so I thought I'd pick it up. The book is... okay. The vampire portrayed here is actually more like a Xenomorph from the Alien movies than your traditional be-caped seducer, and the story proceeds like one of those movies, with a small group of people trapped in a small area with the monster, being killed off one by one in true sci-fi/horror thriller fashion, despite all their technology. I'm not sure I quite follow the solution to the mystery of how the vampire works (when Emma asked, "What the $&#% just happened?" near the end, I sympathized with her a great deal), but that's okay. The dialog is clever to the point of sometimes being too clever - it occasionally totters towards feeling contrived and over-composed. But it's also legitimately funny and smart a reasonable portion of the time. Like I said, the book is okay.
Thumbs Sideways |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Buffy (Not), Comic books (Not), Hellboy (Not), Jason Aaron (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), Mark Waid (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), Simon Spurrier (Not), The Take (Not), Vampires (Not), Wolverine (Not), X-Men (Not) |
|
|
|
| Friday, April 2, 2010 10:50 AM |
| (Last updated on Friday, April 2, 2010 12:39 PM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Most of the movie sites I read have picked up this rumor, so it seems possible it might actually be true, despite the fact that it came to light on April Fool's Day: Sebastian Stan has been cast as Bucky Barnes in Captain America. I don't know the guy, really, but he looks right for the part, at least. And Ed Brubaker approves! (UPDATE: Yep, that's official.)
- In case you didn't read about this when I tweeted it, all of Joss Whedon's shows (Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse, Firefly, Dr. Horrible) are now available for immediate viewing on Netflix Watch Instantly.
- In this new clip from Kick-Ass, Nic Cage's character totally ruins a whole room full of gangsters. It's pretty awesome. The brutal, machine gun editing is a little distracting, though.
- io9 and Super Punch both have roundups of some of the better April Fool's Day gags.
- Two particularly evocative recent entries on Black and WTF. I think I want the latter to be the cover of my novel.
- A real Mexican pizza. I'd eat that!
- Again, in case you missed it when I tweeted it, a new trailer for The A-Team. As a bonus, there's also a trailer for an action thriller called Salt starring Angelina Jolie.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Angel (Not), Buffy (Not), Captain America (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Dollhouse (Not), Firefly (Not), Food (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Movies (Not), Netflix (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not) |
|
|
|
| Thursday, April 1, 2010 10:39 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Remember that movie The Expendables with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and like everybody else in it? Here's the trailer. Looks like your typical big, dumb action movie. (Via)
- Star Wars pin-ups. (Via)
- The 160 greatest Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes, all collected in one convenient YouTube video. (Via)
- Supposedly Joss Whedon is on the short list to direct the Avengers movie. This is also supposedly not an April Fool's joke. But I find that hard to believe. (Via)
- How about some 8-bit Pink Floyd? (Via)
- io9 gives us 25 reasons to get excited about comics this spring by previewing 25 of the most promising upcoming series. I agree with them on S.H.I.E.L.D., Jason Aaron's Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine (I hadn't even heard about that before), Grant Morrison's The Return of Bruce Wayne, Patton Oswalt's Serenity book, Buzzard, and of course anything having to do with Hellboy. I will most certainly have to try Brightest Day, a few of the new Avengers books, and The Flash, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for them. The rest don't interest me.
- The Hulk, Spider-Man, and other modern pop culture heroes inserted into ancient art.
- Another new Adam WarRock track, this one dealing (at least tangentially) with Flash Gordon.
- A unique, animated entry on Animals with Lightsabers.
- The new, manly way to cook bacon: with a machine gun.
- Paul Greengrass, best known for making a couple of the Bourne movies, has been picked to direct James Cameron's 3D remake of Fantastic Voyage.
- LOLCats trading cards.
- Ah, the Tea Party: a haven for those who truly enjoy experimenting with the English language.
- Leonardo DiCaprio may play J. Edgar Hoover for Clint Eastwood in a biopic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Bacon (Not), Batman (Not), Cats (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Flash (Not), Food (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), Hellboy (Not), Hulk (Not), Jason Aaron (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), Links (Not), LOLCats (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Spider-Man (Not), Star Wars (Not), Video (Not), Wolverine (Not) |
|
|
|
| Monday, March 8, 2010 03:09 PM |
| The Take |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.
This post covers new releases from the week of 3/3, which was sadly the worst week for comics in recent memory. Beware spoilers! And bitterness!
New releases
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #33
It's an interesting moment when the vampire slayer realizes that, metaphorically at least, she has now become a vampire herself. But this is followed up by a patented Scooby gang pep talk from Xander, and Buffy's soon up and fighting again. There's a weird thing that only lasts a handful of panels where Andrew somehow gets his hands on a whole bunch of geeky gear and uses it to try to fight Twilight. I don't know where that came from or how it makes sense.
Of course, the big deal about this issue is that it includes the long-awaited reveal of Twilight's secret identity, a reveal that fails entirely to have any power or suspense because anybody who goes online has known the secret for weeks now, thanks to Dark Horse doing a really poor job on information control. Twilight's true identity originally leaked thanks to the cover art for a future issue hitting the internet too early. I'd forgive them that - who can keep stuff like that from leaking out these days? - except that they then assumed that everyone knew the secret, and started talking about it openly on Twitter and Facebook, thus ruining it for everyone else, including people like myself who hadn't even known anything about the leaked cover, and wouldn't have looked at it even if they had. Sigh.
But anyway, the point is, the reveal doesn't make a lot of sense, even in context. I don't see why this character would become a villain all of the sudden, and his explanation of why he let a bunch of innocent people die is not sufficient. I just don't see him ever doing the kinds of things that Twilight has done. Buffy's reaction to the reveal doesn't make any sense, either. I mean, she's made poor decisions as far as romance is concerned as long as we've known her, but to stop in the middle of a fight and just start having sex with someone who is essentially a mass murderer? Really? And what the hell is with her and Twilight glowing, and Twilight talking about them being some kind of fated pair, and Giles being all doom and gloom? Meltzer has some serious explaining to do in the next couple issues!
Thumbs Sideways
First Wave #1
All the prequels and previews of this series that I've seen so far have been crappy, but I decided to give this first issue a try anyway, maybe because there were so few other interesting books on the stands this week. Unsurprisingly, it's mediocre. There's way too much narration, none of which is terribly well written, and none of the subplots that get initiated here are really grabbing me. Boring characters, boring dialog, boring, boring, boring.
Thumbs Sideways
Girl Comics #1
This is the first of a three-issue anthology miniseries from Marvel consisting of short stories by all women comic book creators. It's all part of the company's new "Women of Marvel" initiative, highlighting and celebrating all the female talent in the field. It's a cool idea, but as with most anthology books, this one is really hit-and-miss - mostly miss. The introductory bit by Colleen Coover is cute and inspiring, but the Cabaret-style Nightcrawler story is a real yawner (even if the art is intriguing and unique). Trina Robbins' Venus short is perhaps even more dull. Interspersed with the stories are "spotlight" prose pieces which consist of short bios of particularly important women in the comics field. These are a nice idea, and are reasonably interesting. Valerie D'Orazio's Punisher story is pretty amusing, even if, as others have pointed out, the ending is a foregone conclusion from page one. The She-Hulk pin-up is nice. The goofy Doctor Octopus two-pager is probably my favorite story in here, because it's just pure cutesy fun. Robyn Furth and Agnes Garbowska's fairy tale-inspired Franklin & Valeria Richards' story is interminable, and packed full of completely unnecessary text. You should never need this many words to tell a story in a visual medium like comic books, especially when the words are this boring. "Head Space," which focuses on the complex Cyclops-Jean Grey-Wolverine love triangle, has a fascinatingly surreal story-telling format, but it's not saying anything we haven't already heard a million times before. I doubt I'll pick up another issue of this book, unless something really sticks out when I flip through it in the store.
Thumbs Sideways
Green Hornet #1
I realized after his latest Batman series that I really disliked the way Kevin Smith writes comics, but I was interested enough in this Green Hornet comic that I decided to give it a chance anyway. Mistake! It's terrible. Seriously. So formulaic and awful. All the characters speak that same Kevin Smith language we all know so well, but Smith is even less inspired here than usual, and is just churning out all the usual stereotypical junk. The jokes are incredibly cheesy and cliche and unfunny. The characters are all smug and unlikable. There's even a slacker whose girlfriend leaves him because he's so much of a lazy, uncaring jerk. It's pretty hard to blame her.
The comic is full of ads for the seemingly hundreds of other Green Hornet-related series that Dynamite is launching, but after reading this example of their work, I think I'll skip the rest.
Thumbs Down
Ultimate Avengers #5
It feels like I may have missed an issue of this, but maybe the mild confusion I'm feeling as to why all these people are where they are, and what it is exactly that they're talking about, has more to do with how long it's been since I read the previous issue. Anyway, the series is getting really... Millary now. I find that with pretty much all of Mark Millar's stuff, eventually it crosses a line and I stop liking it. It just gets too dark and thoughtless and disgusting and offensive and I lose my taste for it. I think this series might have hit that point for me now. The Ultimate Red Skull is just such a ridiculously awful creature, what with the baby-killing and the gang-raping. And there's a scene in here where poor Nerd Hulk vomits just because Millar thinks it'd be funny for that character to vomit and be shamed in front of the other characters. And you know what? Not funny. Then Millar makes fun of the French for no real good reason, and that's not particularly funny either; it's just a boring cliche. And there's plenty more lame dialog where that came from. Yeah, I think I'm done with this book.
Thumbs Sideways |
|
|
|
|
| Monday, March 1, 2010 12:23 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Check out the trailer for Cargo, above. It looks essentially like a remake of Alien, but hey, I'd watch that. (Via)
- Recently somebody on Twitter posted a link to this escape-the-room style puzzle game. I got obsessed with it this weekend and played it through all the way to the end. It's quite brilliant.
- Listen to the new Gorillaz album in its entirety for free, thanks to the majestic and astounding NPR. (Via)
- Ooh. Check out the cover of an upcoming graphic novel adaptation of one of Lovecraft's more accomplished stories, At the Mountains of Madness. (Via)
- Kristin Hersh put up a new Throwing Muses demo for free download. (Via)
- In honor of DC Comics' 75th anniversary, io9 picks the 75 DC books you should own. That's a lot of books! Many great picks, but a couple of lame ones, too. I definitely would have included Final Crisis instead of Blackest Night, for instance.
- Time for some more amazing LEGO creations! Here are some fantastic sci-fi models by a 15-year-old artist, and here's a 30,000-piece model of a Droid Control Ship.
- io9 fills us in on what the folks saw who attended one of the recent Tron Legacy secret screenings. Sounds cool, but also pretty anti-climactic considering what people had to go through to get to one of them.
- Robert Rodriguez was all set to direct Nerverackers, which he describes as "Blade Runner, set in Mexico in 2085," when his star had a scheduling conflict. So now he'll be directing Machete instead. I for one am looking forward to seeing both movies.
- Rumor has it Joss Whedon may be making a feature film with Eliza Dushku.
- A Flash movie could be on the way soon, as they've now hired a director.
- Probably due to the upcoming film version of Alice in Wonderland, there are a ton of Alice-related links floating about lately, such as: an amazing Alice tattoo; a restored version of the first ever film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland; a wonderful caterpillar sculpture and Alice-inspired bottles; a selection of pieces from an Alice-inspired art show; and yet more Alice-inspired art.
- It's the first day of March, and you know what that means: it's time once again for March MODOK Madness!!!
- Angelina Jolie is interested in starring in Gravity, a space thriller to be directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who co-wrote the screenplay with his son. Jolie would play "the sole surviving human member of a space mission, desperately trying to return home to Earth and her daughter." Could be interesting.
- Here's a clip from a supernatural thriller called The Eclipse. Nothing really happens, but it's full of menace and tension.
- Activision shut down that King's Quest sequel that fans have been working on for years. I guess I understand Activision's reasons, but this still kind of sucks.
- To celebrate its third anniversary, Super Punch is doing something cool: inviting a series of artists to contribute to a Super Punch Tarot card deck.
- Cool Zelda fan art and Tron statue. (Via)
- Here's another of these newfangled book trailers, this one for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, from the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Nice.
- A whole bunch of famous people, including Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, and Chrissie Hynde, got together to sing "I Put A Spell On You" to benefit the reconstruction of Haiti. Here's the video. Not bad.
- A preview of the first issue of the new Flash comic book. It's fun, as far as it goes. But I'm wary of being disappointed by Geoff Johns again.
- Two different film adaptations of The Three Musketeers are in the offing, including an updated 3D version from Paul W.S. Anderson (which sounds awful) and another version that doesn't have a director yet. As Cinematical points out, do we really need another movie of this story? Especially when the '70s adaptations were so awesome? Seriously, watch this movie, then this movie.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comic books (Not), Flash (Not), Geoff Johns (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Lovecraft (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Wars (Not), Tattoos (Not), Toys (Not), Tron (Not), Vampires (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Wonderland (Not), Zelda (Not) |
|
|
|
| Thursday, February 11, 2010 08:39 AM |
| (Last updated on Thursday, February 11, 2010 10:20 AM) | | The Take |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.
This post covers new releases from the week of 2/3. Beware spoilers!
New releases
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #32
This issue had multiple covers, but I got the best one: it retitles the book Buffy Comics and the illustration is a parody of the famous cover of Action Comics #1, with Buffy standing in for Superman. Also, I'm pretty sure that's Joss Whedon playing the screaming man in the bottom left corner. They didn't do this just for the fun of it, either; the issue is about Buffy gaining super powers, way above anything she ever had before, and is loaded with references to other super-powered characters from throughout the history of popular culture, especially Superman. There's something particularly funny about the references to Kitty Pryde, and Buffy's dislike of the character, given that Whedon wrote an arc of Astonishing X-Men in which Kitty was the central character. A lot of the story is quite funny, really, especially how Xander just totally geeks out over Buffy's powers. I also rather like the Superman II reference, when Buffy, standing in the air with her arms folded, says, "General... would you care to step outside?"
I was a little worried about this issue, because it was written by Brad Meltzer, whose work I've really disliked in the past, and indeed some of the dialog is a bit awkward and odd, but overall I was pleasantly surprised. It's a pretty good issue - fast-paced, exciting, funny - and it moves the overarching plot forward in fascinating ways. The revelation about the origin of Buffy's new powers is not particularly shocking, but it's still an interesting development. Hopefully Meltzer can keep up the good work.
In the back of the book is a preview of Zack Whedon's upcoming Terminator series. I was going to buy the first issue of this sight unseen because I love Terminator and I love anybody named Whedon, but this preview seals the deal. Fun dialog, interesting characters, and a sense of impending doom. Good stuff!
Thumbs Up
Criminal: The Sinners #4
Another great issue. One of the killer kids realizes it's not all black and white, and that some of the bad guys aren't so bad that they deserve to get executed. He makes a fateful decision, and Lawless solves the murder mystery. That doesn't get Lawless out of any trouble, though; in fact, he's making brand new enemies, and now his fellow employees know about him and the boss's wife. Yay for dark and evil noir!
In the back of the book is a really amazing essay by Joe Hill called "Real, True Damage." On the surface it's an appreciation of a Charles Bronson movie called Mr. Majestyk, but underneath that it's really a powerful, insightful memoir about life and human nature. I think I might have to start reading more stuff by Joe Hill.
Thumbs Up
Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire #6
Finally, the epic conclusion to Jason Aaron's run on Ghost Rider! Sadly, the pacing of the opening is a bit off; almost before we realize Johnny and Danny's first fight with Zadkiel is over, they're going back to face him again, with no real indication of where everybody went in the meantime. Still, the rest of the book pretty easily makes up for this, as the next sequence features every Ghost Rider ever rising up to pull Zadkiel down, and then, when they're done with that, utterly destroying the invading armies of hell. It's pretty awesome, especially the huge two-page spread of the entire Ghost Rider army. Then there's tiny Knuckles O'Shaugnessy spitting out ridiculous slang, and a Wild West Ghost Rider saying, "Bring it on, you sumbitches!" and a Ghost Rider on a giant shark tearing into people, and... yeah, it's fantastic. Later there's a handful of fun epilogue panels, including one where the giant zealot guy is stuck paralyzed in a hospital room with eyeball guy, who is just talking and talking in the most annoying way and it's hilarious. The very end is also excellent, with our three heroes riding off into the sunset, in search of new adventures. Danny: "Where the hell are we going?" Johnny: "I don't know. But I'll race ya." Yep, that pretty much sums it up! Aaron's Ghost Rider arc had its bumpy moments, but overall it was a lot of fun, and this conclusion was pretty much everything I could have hoped for.
There's not much to say about the reprint, in the back of the book, of the final part of the origin story of the Son of Satan, except that it's pretty ridiculous.
Thumbs Up
Marvel Heart-Breakers #1
I'm not really sure why I felt I had to pick up this one-shot anthology. I guess it was the inclusion of a character from Nextwave (Tabitha Smith) that pulled me in. I believe the book is meant to be Marvel's celebration of Valentine's Day, so the focus is, stereotypically, on the women of the Marvel universe and their love lives. There's a goofy Spider-Man story that looks like it's going to be about Gwen Stacy vs. MJ, but then ends up mostly being about Spider-Man vs. an ill-conceived science project. It's vaguely amusing, but nothing to write home about. The next story, "Superboys!", is funnier, if also a bit uneven. It features Tabitha Smith and Elsa Bloodstone waiting around to beat up Bloodstone's ex. While they're sitting there, they share stories about relationships gone awry. I particularly like Elsa's story about how her Dad chucked her into the water with sharks to celebrate her womanhood. Tabitha points out that this is a continuity problem, but Elsa retorts, "Who are you, Uatu the Watcher?" Heh. The gossip about the other men of the Marvel U is also pretty amusing. The next story centers on the Beast and Dazzler, and it's kind of sweet, but also kind of corny, and also... Dazzler. Dazzler is lame. The last story, about Snowbird, is dull and melodramatic. Then there's a cute page of art with a bunch of the Marvel women hanging out with white outfits on that show off their boobs. Classy.
I really have to stop getting these anthology books. They're always mediocre.
Thumbs Sideways
Siege #2
I'm really enjoying Olivier Coipel's epic art on this title, which is set off by Mark Morales' fine inks and Laura Martin's wonderful colors. In the opening of this issue, Ares learns the truth: that Osborn has lied to him to trick him into fighting against his brother Gods. This is clearly an important plot point, but unfortunately it's a pretty weak hinge for the story to swing on. I mean, the lie was a transparent one that Ares was bound to see through eventually. Why didn't Osborn come up with something a little more believable? Why didn't Ares bother doing some research first? It's kind of lame. It is totally fun, however, when Maria Hill drives in on the back of a beat-up truck and shoots Osborn with a missile launcher, and then follows that up by covering the rest of the Avengers with machine gun fire while her new buddy tries to drag the injured Thor to safety. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers pulls pretty much every other hero in the Marvel U together to help him stop Osborn, which is awesome. Then it's time for a huge, brutal fight between the Sentry and Ares that ends with... well, with the Sentry ripping Ares in half with his bare hands. Sigh. Have I mentioned lately that I hate what Bendis is doing with the Sentry? However, I was ready to forgive pretty much all of this comic's flaws when I got to the last page, a page so great it made me pump my fist in celebration. It's just four panels of Osborn staring up while we watch the reflection of Cap's shield getting closer and closer in his armor's faceplate. Hilarious and fantastic and a thrilling preview of the epic battle to come.
Thumbs Up
Siege: Embedded #2
I'm enjoying this series more than I thought I would. The characters are strong and interesting - Volstagg is particularly fun - and it's good to see somebody taking jabs at Fox News and our media-obsessed culture. There's even some exciting action. In the back is a preview for a Jeph Loeb Ultimate title which is predictably bad.
Thumbs Sideways |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Tagged (?): Brian Michael Bendis (Not), Buffy (Not), Comic books (Not), Criminal (Not), Ed Brubaker (Not), Ghost Rider (Not), Jason Aaron (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), Siege (Not), Superman (Not), Terminator (Not), The Take (Not) |
|
|
|
| Sunday, January 31, 2010 03:47 PM |
| On the Viewer - Dollhouse (Season 2, Episode 13 - "Epitaph 2: The Return") |
| by Fëanor |
Spoilers ahoy!
I was wondering how much connection there'd be between this episode and the unaired "Epitaph 1." Looks like a lot! They're playing clips from "Epitaph 1" in the opening, and it looks like we're picking up right where that episode left off. I'm glad I got around to watching it when I did!
They've been captured and taken to Neuropolis, the city of minds, once the headquarters of Rossum. Crazy.
Zone: "And you just didn't think to mention that Safe Haven was parked right next to the frickin' Death Star?!"
Caroline: "It had to be. This is where we got the vaccine."
So they did get that vaccine eventually.
Harding's here! Although of course in another body. Apparently he's enjoying the finer things in life as much as he possibly can. He's picking out yet another new body - one of the options is Ballard!! Looks like he and the real Echo are already here, breaking in.
Echo points a gun at Harding.
Harding: "Please. You know I'm backed up. Why even bother?"
Echo: "Ask me again some time." Shoots him. Nice.
Looks like Echo and Ballard came to break out crazy Topher, who's been here working on something for the remains of Rossum, against his will. Topher is close to figuring out how to get everyone back the way they were. "Like an echo.... I can bring back the world."
Sierra's got a kid!
Echo: "Thanks for the insight, mini-me."
Ballard: "Topher thinks he can flip it. Create a pulse to restore all the wiped minds."
Zone: "Yeah, he also thinks he's a little teapot, short and stout."
DeWitt: "Topher Brink is a genius, and you will keep a civil tongue in this house or we'll put it in the stew."
Mini-Echo: "Good to see you've mellowed."
Sierra: "We don't really eat people's tongues."
Zone: "Cool."
Man, the writers (Joss Whedon mostly, I assume) were on fire for this episode! Figures.
Topher's "fix" is a double-edged sword. It would reset everyone. They'd all forget everything that happened, go back to how they were before this all started. To escape the effects of the pulse, they'd have to go underground for a year. Wow.
Ballard: "This is where it gets interesting."
Mag: "It was dull?"
For Topher to finish his work, they have to go get him stuff from the Dollhouse.
Zone: "Oh, c'mon! We just left that party! That party was on fire!"
Ballard: "The world still needs heroes, kid."
Everyone laughs.
Echo: "Did you really just say that?"
Ballard: "What? I was being inspirational."
Echo: "You are so corny."
Ballard: "You're... fat."
Mini-Echo whispers in Ballard's ear: "She loves it when you're corny." That's so cute!
Holy crap! Victor shows up in a giant truck with a bunch of foreigners, all in Mad Max-style garb. Apparently they're all "tech-heads" - all wired up with "mods." Clearly Vic and Sierra have gone their separate ways - although they seem to agree that their kid, T, should be free of technology.
Zone: "C'mon, it just takes me some time to process things, during which I yell. I know what's at stake. Besides, who doesn't want to spend some quality time with these awesomely normal people."
Mag: "Little Asian's kinda cute."
Zone: "She's a tech-head, Mag.... She's a girl, Mag!"
Love this. The "little Asian" tech girl has a bunch of what look like USB drives around her neck. One is labeled "weapons expert." Another is labeled "mercy." She took the latter out to make room for the former, apparently.
Ballard dead (again). Mag crippled. Jesus.
Back in the Dollhouse. It's full of mindless actives again. Alpha is here - and he's their buddy now?? He lost his stomach for the fight? Wha??
Alpha: "Victor! Why would someone do something so horrible to your face?"
Victor: "Psycho."
Alpha: "Lapsed."
Holy crap, that was funny. And twisted!
Victor's tech-heads turn on our heroes. They realize that what our heroes are trying to do would destroy their world and their way of life. They'd rather be masters of a wasteland than servants in a frightening new world.
DeWitt: "I'm very glad you didn't clean up."
Alpha: "It spoke to the schizophrenic in me. Well, both of them, actually."
Echo's grief and regret over Ballard finally comes out while she's yelling at Sierra about Victor. A very powerful scene. Echo's and Ballard's relationship was a classic Whedon romance - totally fucked up and heartbreaking.
Topher's watching an instructional video starring his old flame, Bennett. He's going to sacrifice himself to set off the pulse. DeWitt embraces him. Another powerful scene. Man, this episode is killing me. Like, stabbing me in my heart. Now Sierra finally introduces her son to his father. They have the same name: Anthony. *sniff*
DeWitt will lead the actives into the light.
Echo: "Ever the shepherd."
DeWitt: "Funny the last fantasy the Dollhouse should fulfill would be yours."
Echo: "I don't have any fantasies, Adelle."
DeWitt: "More's the pity."
I have to say, I find it unlikely that a mind as brilliant as Topher's wouldn't be able to come up with a way to put a timer or a remote detonator on a bomb. But I'll accept the plot device because it works emotionally. I like that when the moment comes, he's looking at the wall of photographs labeled: "To Remember."
Alpha left Echo Ballard's chip. He's in her head now. Perfect. She'll never be alone again. She goes to sleep in her little pod.
Wow. I wasn't sure how Whedon was going to end this series, but he did it magnificently. A world reborn, and a tough road ahead, but some have found little pockets of happiness. A beautiful piece of television. Bravo, sir! |
|
|
|
|
| Friday, January 15, 2010 11:20 PM |
| On the Viewer - Dollhouse ("Epitaph One") |
| by Fëanor |
Just so you know, SPOILER ALERT!
I've been wanting to watch this unaired episode for forever, but never seemed to have the opportunity. Now that I have it on DVD, the series is nearly over, and the post-apocalypse is about to happen on the show "for real," I figured the time had finally come.
Hey, it's Felicia Day! Wow, lots of weird slang. I think I'm getting the gist of what's going on, though.
Oh man. They just stumbled upon the remains of the Dollhouse.
Felicia: "We all love the sound of our own voices. That's why we're here. We want to keep our own voices."
There are some continuity issues here, I think. But then again, this episode isn't really in continuity, per se.
Wow, we're getting to see Topher arriving at the Dollhouse for the first time! Fun.
Dominic: "Cities don't burn because everyone got smarter. Cities burn because someone lost control."
It's funny you should say that...
DeWitt: "Mr. Dominic is my ears and eyes."
Topher: "Can I be nose and throat?"
Sending the kid to go to the bathroom by herself while you take a shower alone in a giant, dark building you haven't explored completely? Not a good idea.
This is basically just a clip show, but a really clever one.
Woah! This flashback scene with Boyd and Saunders was actually reused in a recent, aired episode. Interesting.
Whiskey's here - but without her scars. What's this about?
Oh man, it's the kid! The kid's evil!
An interesting scene with Dominic, set post-apocalypse. I'm not sure this one could fit into continuity anymore... but then again maybe it could. They're talking about Caroline having the imprint blocker inside her.
Dominic: "Did I miss anything?"
DeWitt: "Just the vodka, thank God."
Victor: "You don't want to end up like November."
Sierra: "Which one?"
That's intriguing.
And now, in a new flashback, a weird post-apocalyptic religious ceremony. Here, again, Whiskey has no scars. Topher has totally lost it, apparently unable to deal with the enormity of what his technology did. DeWitt is taking care of him.
Topher: "An entire army in an instant. That's so brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? ...Did I think of that? Did I? Oh God. Oh my God."
Best scene in the episode.
Echo asks about how Whiskey's face got fixed; she says it's a long story. Okay then.
Echo stored a backup copy of herself in the Dollhouse and Whiskey stayed behind to make sure it was found and Echo was brought back, so she could eventually save the day.
A very strange, very sad episode of the series, although it ends with the slim hope that the world might be healed. I wonder how much of it will fit in with what's going to happen in the last episode of the series... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
