My Life in a Longbox

This is Entry 247: 2012!

2012-01-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

The year is 1992.

In Sports: The Washington Redskins win Super Bowl XXVI. The Dallas Cowboys win Super Bowl XXV. The Chicago Bulls win the NBA Finals. The Toronto Blue Jays become the 1st Canadian team to play in the World Series & the 1st non-American Team to with the World Series.

In Politics: 41st President of the United States George H.W. Bush become violently ill in a Japanese televised state dinner. While there there his threw up on Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa & then fainted. Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaced Jaiver Perez de Cueller of Peru as the UN Security General. Bill Clinton, before becoming 42nd President of the United States, plays the saxophone on the the Arsenio Hall Show. Ross Perot buys a block of TV time for his Presidential Campaign.

On TV: Seinfeld, Barney & Friends, The Real World, Batman: The Animated Series, Martin, Goof Troop, Eek! The Cat, Roundhouse, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Mad about You, Ghostwriter & X-Men: the Animated Series all had their premiere episodes. The Cosby Show, MacGyer, Growing Pains, The Golden Girls, Night Court, Darkwing Duck also had their final episodes. The Sci-Fi Channel (now Sy Fy) & Cartoon Network premiere.

In Movies: Aladdin, The Bodyguard, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Basic Instinct, Lethal Weapon 3, Batman Returns, a Few Good Men, Sister Act, Bram Stoker's Dracula & Wayne's World are the Top 10 Movies of the year. Other notable movies are: 3 Ninjas, Bebe's Kids, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cool World, Cutting Edge, Death Becomes Her, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Encino Man, Honey, I blew of the Kid (sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids), The Lawnmower Man, The Crying Game, A League of their Own, The Mighty Ducks, The Muppet Christmas Carrol, My Cousin Vinny, Passenger 57, Reservoir Dogs, Rock-a-Doddle, Sneakers, Stop! or My Mom will shoot, Toys & White Men can't jump.

In Video Games: Mortal Kombat is released to Arcades. The Ecco the Dolphin video game is released. The Sega CD (an add-on to the Sega Genesis) is released in the US. 2 Games from the Ultima series of games were released (The Black Gate & The Stygian Abyss). The Later being the 1st 3D role-playing video game.

Notable Births: Disney Channel stars Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Dylan & Cole Sprouse.

Notable Deaths: Actor Dick York (Darren Stephens #1 from TV's Bewitched), Author Issac Asimov, Comedian Sam Kinison, Actor Robert Reed (Mike Brady from Tv's Brady Bunch), Comedian Benny Hill, Actress Marlene Dietrich, Musician Lawernce Welk, Carl Stolz (Founder of American Little League), Martin Goodman (Long Time Publisher of Marvel Comics), William Gaines (EC Comics/MAD Magazine Publisher), Joe Shuster (Superman Co-Creator) & Pierre Culliford/Peyo (Smurfs creator).

In World Events: Euro Disney was opened (The name was changed to Disneyland Paris later on). The 1992 Summer Olympics are held in Barcelona, Spain. Hurricane Andrew happened.

Now what does 1992 have to do with 2012 besides being 20 years ago....

In Seattle, Washington: A 9 year old boy starts down a path that will come to define his life.

Over the course of the rest of the year (& maybe a bit into 2013): I'm going to go over the comics I've read over the past 20 years. Most of the comics I'll be talking about are the "good" comics, the ones I really enjoy/enjoyed. But some of the "bad" comics might make their way into the retrospective if I think they are worth talking about.

There are a few notable Comic Book milestones that happened in 1992:

- Image Comics is founded.

- Detective Renee Montoya (Batman #475) & Carnage (Amazing Spider-Man # 361) make their 1st appearances.

- With Issue 12, NFL Superpro is cancelled.

- Spider-Man 2099 #1 is published.

I'll be back soon with the 1st official post in what I am calling "The 2012 Project". Until then, Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian.

This is Entry 246: Out with the Old & in with the New!

2012-01-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

DC Comics now has a new logo. It now comes in a variety of themes & colors!

I don't dislike this new logo (I didn't dislike the previous logo).

It could be cool to see it animated some how (like before a Movie/Cartoon/TV show).

That is all I got for now. Until next time: Stay Jazzy, Everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 245: Ch-Ch-Changes!

2012-01-13T16:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah. I know i haven't updated the blog all that much recently but I have news!

1st off: the day I knew was coming for some time. DC Comics has announced the cancellation of 6 books. Those books are: Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, OMAC, Static Shock & the only book of the bunch that I've been reading: Mister Terrific. It's sad to see any books get cancelled but DC has announced that they be replacing these 6 books with 6 "new" books. Of the 6 there are 2 really super cool & awesome books of the bunch: World's Finest with Power Girl (yeah. She's back) & Huntress (but not Helena Bertineli, Helena Wayne is back as Huntress) as the main characters in the book. Who's the team behind the book? Paul Levitz, George Perez & Kevin Maguire. The other book that I thought was just going to be a mini series but now I know is an on going series: Earth 2. You know what that means? The Justice Society are coming back. The team behind this book is James Robinson & Nicola Scott.

The other four books are the return of Batman Incorporated (by Grant Morrison & Chris Burnham), the replacement of Men of War G.I. Combat (by J.T. Krul), The Superboy/Teen Titans spin-off The Ravagers (by Howard Mackie & Ian Churchill) & the relaunch of the "Dial for H for Hero" which is now just called Dial H (by China Miéville and Mateus Santoluoco). Of that set I'd think about picking up the Dial H series becuase I've liked what DC has done with that concept in the past.

The 6 old series get cancelled in April & the 6 new series get launched in May.

----------

In other DC Comics news....

That might be their new logo. What was my 1st reaction after seeing it?

WHAT ON RAO'S GREEN KRYPTON IS THAT THING?

Now this isn't a what it will be but this design has been set off to the U.S. patent office by DC. Also, it being "colorless": that was on purpose. If I understand what I read, they trademark it "colorless" they also have a patents on any color they change the logo to.

That's all I got for now. I have a nice stack of comics that I be back soon to talk about. Until then, Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 244: Comic Book Round-Up!

2011-12-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

It's a been almost a month since the last Round-Up posting but there was the the Fantastic Four #600 review posting in there & it's been a few weeks since I've really posted anything. Why? Basically I've been doing other stuff.

But I'm back with 11 books & if I waited until tomorrow, there would be another 4 or 5 books to add to this pile. But I'm doing this now so I don't get so behind that I decided to not do this at all. Also, I don't have much to say about many of these books but I do have something to say.

---------------------

First off: Marvel.

FF #12: This comic has a nice cover class photo of "members" of the Future Foundation (The FF that the title refers to). This issue direct continues where we last saw them in Fantastic Four #600. Tomorrow 601 of the Fantastic Four comes out & we/I get more of a look at how these 2 books will connect together. If it's like this issue (Events from Book A are further explored in Book B) It should be pretty good. But I don't think you should have to read both books to get what is going on (something that that could be problem with the interconnected Comics of the 1990's especially when your buying years after they came out).

The Invincible Iron Man #510: I think I made mention of this the last time I talk about this book that I had been enjoying the book before it got all tied up in Fear Itself junk. It went from a book I looked forward to one I didn't. I also thought that it might go back to being good after the FI stuff is over. Well, 510 is the first issue post FI & it was pretty good. But I've just lost interest in the book so this is the last issue I'll be reading for awhile. Also something I've thought is odd: IIM is the only Super Hero book I read from the "Big 2" that is a dollar more expensive. IIM is $3.99 where everyone else is $2.99 & I don't know why. IIM doesn't have any more pages then the other books so I'm not sure why the higher price.

The Defenders #1: This is the first book that I know that was come out that was connected to the Marvel: Point One one-shot that came out a few weeks ago. This was one of the few books I actually thought I'd might pick up before from the story in the book & an interview with writer Matt Fraction I read. Fraction also writes Iron Man so I know he can write a good book & the art by the Dodsons (the husband & wife art team, Terry & Rachel) do some nice looking art. How was the issue itself? Good. It may have the best line of dialogue to some up a feeling I have. The dialogue was uttered by Danny Rand, also known as Iron Fist (The guy with the glowing hands on the cover). He said:

" The older I get, the more life seems to be the stupid, frustrating stuff that gets in the way of You and reading Comics...."

The comic that Danny attempts to read through the issue I think might be foreshadowing something. Also, the comics has a very retro 1970's/1980's feel to it. Maybe it's just that the team, the Defenders is a comic from the 1970's/1980's. But yet it feels modern. It's somewhere in between & I like that.

You might be asking what that larger monster thing on the cover is? Well, that's Red She-Hulk & I don't think she'd like being called a Monster. Oh... you meant the monster in the background. That is the villain of the book. They don't exactly name him in the book.

Avengers Academy #23: Yes, X-23 (the teenage girl clone of Wolverine) does going the book in this issue & no Mettle (That's the guy's codename) does do not throw her in the comic. But X-23 being in the book is not the main focus of the book. I'd say it's more the conversation between Striker & Lightspeed (Formally of the Power Pack). What's the topic? coming to terms with your sexuality. it is done quite well. Another good issue of a good series tackling an issue that doesn't come up in comics all that often.

-----------------

On to the DC Comics...

Demon Knights #4: 1 thing about the cover. That sword seems a bit to long to be usable. I know there are "long swords" but that just seems too long. As stated on the cover, this issues does go into the back story of one of the mysterious members of the group. It does shed some light on the character but doesn't exactly explain everything. Another good issue of a good series.

Suicide Squad #4: *SIGH* I'm really trying to like you, Suicide Squad comic book but your making it hard to do so. What with your inconsistent art (On 1 page, Harley Quinn's makeup appears & disappears) & your confusing at times story telling (some stuff that might of helped explain what was going on just wasn't there). I know that a lot of people didn't like you from before Issue #1 came out but I was willing to give you a chance. But if you keep this up, I might stop reading you & from the sounds of it you can't afford to loose any readers.

Justice League International #4: I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It's not the art or the writing. They are both good. It's just the book just hasn't really grabbed me. I'll read to the end of this storyline & then see how i feel about the book.

Justice League Dark #3: This cover doesn't really connect to the comic inside which is good both in story & art. It seems like it's trying to be a movie poster.

Coming this Summer from Warner Brothers Studios

Justice League Dark
Are they enough against the rising Dark Forces?!?!?

Mister Terrific #4: I don't have much to say about this issue other then it's another good issue of a good comic. The cover image does happen in the comics (Not that exact scene but Mr. T does face off against that creature).

Batgirl #4: Why isn't this Issue #3? Issue #1 Introduced us to the Villain, Issue #2 Batgirl fought him a bit. Issue #3 she fights with him for a 2 pages & then lets him get away. Batgirl spends the rest of the issue hanging out with Nightwing reminiscing about the same thing for 20 pages (Them being trained by Batman when they were younger. She also keeps mentioning that he she had a crush on him). So, Issue #4 is her fights the villain once more & defeating him. Why couldn't see have done that last issue & spent this issue hanging out with Nightwing? What was Issue #3 just seems to be so out of place which doesn't help my minor dislike of the book. There is stuff going on that I do like not not enough. A book I might stop reading.

The Flash #3: The book I currently read with maybe the best art & most inventive use of that art. The way text is used in panels & how those panels are used on the page is worth looking at. Also, the book also has a good story going on. I don't have much more then that to say. Yet another Good Issue of a Good Book.

-----------

Not sure if there will be another post or not before the end of the year but there might be. Check back & see! :)

Until then: Stay Jazzy & Merry Christmas (if you celebrate that)!

- Brian

This is Entry 243: Coming Attractions!

2011-12-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

Here is the "teaser poster" for a project that has been in the planning stages for a few months. It will start up soon (for hopefully obvious reasons). What it is actually is about will be revealed at that time.

Until then, Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 242: The World's Greatest Comic Magazine Returns!

2011-11-30T13:40:00.001-08:00

So... Last week this came out:

There are a couple different covers this just happens to be the one I have

The "Fantastic Four" comic book is back after about a year away with Issue #600. The last issue before this was the "final issue" & #588. Where are issue 589-599? Uh.....

(Marvel is counting the issues of the first 11 issues of the FF comic as those "missing" issues but unless you know that in a few years when people are looking for back issues of Fantastic Four might be a bit confused where those 10 issues are.)

This is the 2nd over sized book I've bought from Marvel in the last few weeks. The other one was their Point One anthology. Both of these books have some similarities:

- Both are longer them an average 32 comic book: Point One is 64 pages, Fantastic Four #600 is 100 pages.
- Both are more expensive then an average comic book (which ranges from $2.99 or $3.99 most times): Point One was $5.99 & Fantastic Four #600 was $7.99).
- There are multiple stories in both (Point One has 6 stories, Fantastic Four has 5).
- Both are preparing what future comic books (Point One has a bunch of stating points for stuff Marvel is soon to put out & Fantastic Four #600 is a getting you set for what's happening in future issues of Fantastic Four & FF).

But as I said when I talked about Point One I got the book half off from my local comic book store because they didn't anyone would spend 6 dollars for it & of the 6 stories I'd only read 1 or 2 of them. Is Fantastic Four #600 any better?

Oh heck yeah!

Of the 100 pages in the book, 6 pages are ads. That's 94 pages of story. (Point One had 10 ads but also has almost half as much pages). In those 94 pages, writer Jonathan Hickman packs in a lot of story. Things that have been building since around the time he started writing the book which he's done for 30 or more issues.

My 1 complain about the last few issues of "FF" was that it all felt like set up & I was getting tired of reading the set up without getting much of a payoff. This issue was the payoff & then some. Oh man, was it a pay off. I did not mind at all the $7.99 price tag: I got my money's worth!

The 1st/main story was almost the length of an average comic (27 pages, no ads in that story). If that 1 story was all we got in a double sized issue of "FF" that would have been awesome & worth the cover price. But this being a 100 page book & we are only on page 27: we still got a lot more to get to.

With the reveal at the end of the 1st story, we our first ad before getting to the 2nd story which takes of most of the book (The story is 46 pages long with 2 ads). In it we find out what *SPOILER CHARACTER* has been up since we last saw them & they have been busy which is partly why I think it takes up the majority of the book.

I felt the art change from Steve Epting in the 1st story to Carmine Di Giandomenico in the 2nd was if a tonal change but Carmine's art did fit with the location (The Negative Zone) & for the Bug Horde that is present. But I found how the characters are drawn to be a bit wonky or at least for me. They can look a bit odd at time when I don't think they are meant to look odd.

We flip the page for 3rd ad of the book & past that is the 3rd story of the book a 7 page story involving the Inhumans & we see how Medusa & Blackbolt "talk" to each other. Once again the art changes (each story has a different artist but all the stories are written by Hickman). The art for the 3rd story is by Ming Doyle & nicely goes with the story.

I will say this that all the art in the book while it changes from story to story they all compliment the story nicely if as I said might look "wonky" at times.

On to Story #4 with art by Lenil Francis Yu it is set on the moon with Reed & Sue talking Galactus. They talk about the future of Earth & how it's not going to be a great one. It's only 6 pages long but it sets up a lot.

On to the 5th & final story, it's 7 pages long & the art is by Farel Dalrymple (They also letter the story, too). It's a story involving Franklin Richards & Leech. The art has a childlike quality to it (That is not a bad thing). There is also a mysterious white man. They are completely white. Just the outline of a man with nothing but white in the outline. The "white man" also seen in 1 panel standing partly outside the panel I partly think this is "white man" the writer, Hickman talking to Franklin & Leech but I might be wrong.

And with that we end the book on a text page with some words from Tom Brevoort (Editor at Marvel among other things), Stan Goldberg (Artist & the original colorist for the Fantastic Four comic book) & Paul Mounts (the current colorist for the book). The very last page is the last ad for issue 601 of "Fantastic Four" & Issue 12 of "FF".

From the looks of the ads, what I've seen elsewhere & read elsewhere, the Adults (The Thing, Reed & Sue Richards, *SPOILER CHARACTER* & maybe a few others) will be the focus of the newly restarted Fantastic Four where the "Kids" in the Future Foundation will be the focus of the FF book now. Which I don't mind I think Hickman has enough to fill both books. But this does mean that I now have one more book to read a month :)

Now this wasn't the only book I picked up last week (It certainly couple have been given that I was that good). There were 3 others but I'll talk about them when I talk about the books from this week & that will be a post for another day.

Until then: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 241: I'm thankful for...

2011-11-30T13:31:00.001-08:00

So, last week in the good ol' U.S. of A. was the Thanksgiving holiday & a day where we gather together with family & eat lots of food. We are also to think about what we are thankful for & I probably should have posted this last week but I didn't. So, 1 thing I'm thankful is this:

It has slipped my mind when I was talking about the latest issue of Demon Knights to talk about the last page of the issue (which that image is). I'm thankful for writer Paul Cornell & Artist Diogenes Neves for not showing me all the gore of the decapitated head. Yeah, it's a bit odd to not see their faces but if I had to a choice to not see their faces or to see blood, guts & gore: I'll got with not seeing their faces. That's all I got to say about it.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 240: Comic Book Round-Up for 11/9/11 & 11/16/11

2011-11-19T10:34:00.001-08:00

I think that I'm going to be doing more & more of these 2 weeks of Comics in 1 post round-up posts what with the schedule I've been keeping with these post. I've got most of my comics from last week (except for Marvel Point One which got it's own post) & all of the comics I picked up this week.

Let's start off with the lone Marvel comic I picked up this week & the 2nd/3rd time I've talked about this month: Avengers Academy #22:

Not only does it get the "Shattered Heroes" banner (Still not sure what that means, not one here seems "shattered" other then Jocasta) but it also gets the "Regenesis" banner at the bottom of the cover because every book that has the X-Men in it for the next few months is getting that. So... yeah. The X-Men are in this issue or at least Magneto, Cyclops & Emma Frost are in the book. I liked this issue & the appearance of the X-Trio didn't seem likely a meaningless cameo just because the Academy has not moved to California. There was some really nice scenes between Magneto & Quicksilver. Also, some nice scenes between Hawkeye (who has changed costumes in between issues for some reason) & Hank Pym regarding the X-Men (or at least regarding Magneto & Emma Frost). Again as I said last time regarding this book: another good issue. One of the better Marvel book I read.

On to the DC books & there are a lot of them.

--------------

Red Hood and the Outlaws #3: First off I like the cover. Now what is shown on the cover (The group fighting their past selves) doesn't happen but we do get to see a flashback to a time in each of the group's past which I thought was cool. I liked the flashbacks for Roy Harper (Arsenal) & Jason Todd (Red Hood) better then the one for Starfire. They were all good but felt the flashbacks for the guys were more interesting. I was also nice seeing what Jason looked like when he was Robin.

Suicide Squad #3: 1 thing about the cover. Harley's Boobs: they are bigger then her head! What the What? Moving on to the book it's self as seen on the cover, Mad Dog is back!

Cover to Issue #1 of the mini-series.

Who? yeah. Mad Dog is a minor DC character who got a 4 issue mini series way back in the 80's & I don't think had been seen since. How he is seen on the cover is not how he was seen in the 80's. I will say this about redesign. I sort of miss the Hockey Jersey & the laughing dog. But they kept the look of a hockey mask for his present day mask. Something not seen on the cover but he has a necklace which has the design of the target symbol on it. (The target looked like the "O" from the old mini series' logo). I don't well see much more from Mad Dog given what I think happened to him at the end of the issue but he might be. I'm not sure.

But how was the comic? Getting better issue by issue. My 1 real complaint about there being more then 1 artist per issue seems to be solved. There was some great moments in the book (They should do more with King Shark, he was great in this issue). There was some great banter between the Squad members. If the banter in Suicide Squad became a bit more like the banter Red Hood and the Outlaws that would be cool. Also, at the end of the issue we got a new Squad member: Captain Boomerang! 1 person we haven't really seen much since issue 1 is Amanda Waller. We've heard her a few times but not seen her much.

Demon Knights #3: Kind of of an off issue for me. It's not that it was bad. Just more of the same from Issue #2 which was good. Nothing truly new, still a good book.

DC Universe Presents: Deadman #3: We are half way through Deadman's story. DCU Presents is an anthology book with a rotating cast of characters (I think I read that The Challengers of the Fantastic will be the next story in the book). EDIT: As pointed out to me Jay Boaz, It's Challengers of the Unknown not the Challengers of the Fantastic. How was Part 3 of the Deadman's story? Good. The story has nicely clipped along. Each issue has introduced some interesting ideas or characters. Some which I'd like to see elsewhere but am not sure I will. A good story but not much else to say.

Mister Terrific #3: We have the conclusion to Mr. T's fight with Brainstorm which was good. Much like with Deadman: a good story but not much else to say beyond that.

Batgirl #: *sigh*. I didn't see much point of this book existing. They spend much of the issue with Batgirl hanging out with Nightwing which could be a interesting idea for an issue. It wasn't. They don't do much. Almost nothing really (they spend a few pages talking about how they were both trained by Batman. Really???!!! I did not know that! Please, waste a few more pages talking about that). I know writer Gail Simone can do better then this! I'm seriously thinking about stopping reading this book.

Speaking of books I'm thinking of no longer reading....

Catwoman #3: Before we talk about the book (which there isn't much to talk about) let's talk about the cover. Actually more 1 thing on the cover: The Bat. You can't really read it at the size I have it at but on the the Bat is the logo "Gotham Bats" which I guess is a local sports team (Really Gotham City? Does Metropolis have a team named the Metropolis Supers? Is there also the Central City Flashes?). But just that Artist Guillem March put that on the bat is kind a groin worthy moment (Not as much as Nova's "Epic Fail" comment from last week but I still groined a bit after looking at the bat).

What about the book it's self? meh. Not really bad, not really good. Just kind of there. I know writer Judd Winick can do better. He's done better stories & better Catwoman stories in the past. The art is nice but I'm seriously stopping reading this book which mean the only books I'd be reading for DC that have female main characters would be Red Hood and the Outlaws (with Starfire) & Suicide Squad (with Harley Quinn) & they aren't the best female characters DC has now are they? :)

Nightwing #3: That is an awesome cover!

I want to show you a panel from the comic:

It's probably my favorite panel from the issue. The art by Eddy Barrows is really nice through the whole book & from the past 2 issues also.

So.... what about the story? It was also pretty darn cool. Good book: Good Art & a Good Story. A book I will continue to read.

------

I have a short list of books that I am thinking of stopping reading (both DC & Marvel) they have until January to be better or I stop buying them.

Also, the next round up post might not becoming all that quickly. Next weeks comic will be out later then normal due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday screwing with shipping. That means I'll get the comics later which means I'll be talking about them later then normal. That will also happen in December due to Christmas screwing with shipping.

1 more thing: My Life in a Longbox is on Facebook so like me & get updates about the blog on your wall! :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 239: Rapping & Comics Collide!

2011-11-13T13:23:00.001-08:00

Still saddened that she doesn't exactly exist in the "New 52" (if you count the Karen Starr in Mr. Terrific as a non powered version of her). But I have a theory of how he could exist in the new 52 that I'll be posting here once I collect all my thoughts on the subject.

Until next time Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 238: The Future begins Here!

2011-11-11T15:21:00.001-08:00

Back in Entry 230, I talked a little bit about Marvel's upcoming Point One event/thingy. Which I said that it might be the reaction by Marvel to DC's New 52. And they do need something since DC is beating them currently in sale something that hasn't happened in years.

To get you excited/interested in what is coming down the pike, Marvel put out a anthology book called well... what else but:

Before we talk about the cover, let's talk about the price of this here comic book for a moment. It's over 6 dollars. There are 7 stories (6 with a framing sequence) in the book so your almost paying a dollar per story & in this down economy the price point might turn people off buying this book. The comic book store I went to (Arcane Comics) knew this & was offering this book at half off the cover price so it was only 3 dollars for the book. Why did they do this? I was told that they didn't think anyone would buy the book for 6 dollars. I was willing to, just because I wanted to talk about it here on the blog. If I didn't have that as a reason. I would have flipped through it & not bought it. Marvel could have priced it cheaper but maybe they are trying to make up for money lost to the New 52 :)

On to the cover: A general mish mash of characters. Some people are drawn better then others. Nova (way in the back) looks too wide. The Scarlet Spider (to the right of The Watcher's big, bald head) is drawn weird or at least looks a bit weird to me. Maybe Adam Kubert, the cover artist, wasn't exactly sure what the costume was going to look like so kept it vague. Ultron (under the Watcher's Left hand) looks weird. I think it's the head that throws me off a bit. The rest of the people look ok. Still not sure if the archer at the bottom is Hawkeye or not. If it is him, then he's getting a new costume because he ain't wearing that now. When I first saw the cover, I thought that was Sabertooth. Not sure why but that what my mind connected to. Also, I have looked at this cover a half dozen times & it wasn't until I had scanned it in & had it starring me in the face while typing up this post, did I noticed that the Phoenix was on the cover. I thought that was the sun, a lens flare, something other then The Phoenix.

Let's talk the book it's self. I'll say what the stories title is & who made it (The writer & artist only).

The framing sequence (by Ed Brubaker & Javier Pulido) I made mention of is that there are 2 astronauts who are part some group called The Unseen who break into the Watcher's moon base while he is in a trance. A trance that lasts only 42 minutes (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference? Doctor Who Reference? Random Number?). So, the 2 astronaut go look at to the quote the book "a Wall of Memories and windows into Alternate Universe". So, the Watcher's TV which he uses to watch events that have or might happen. The two are there to record what the Watcher has been watching (Who watches the Watcher? Apparently these to). From there we get out first story.

Story #1: "Harbinger" by Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness. A story featuring Nova in a story that I feel like I've read before. It's not just that this story is telling me that the Phoenix has returned & that it just killed a planet (because that what The Phoenix does). But this felt very much like Crisis on Infinite Earths #1. Nova is Pariah, the one who witnessed the destruction. The Phoenix is Earth-3 because it had a bad guy who thought he fight against the all encompassing whiteness of death (Earth-3 had Ultraman where as the Planet Birj had Terrax). This story probably has the worse line of the whole book & Nova says it as he flies away from the planet as Phoenix sits on it (or eats it depending on how you look at the picture):

... All those people... I... epic fail...

No, Nova. You don't. Don't blame yourself, Jeph Loeb epic fails because that's a stupid line & he was the one who came up with it & had you say it. That line might be the stupidest line I've read in a while & not in a stupid/awesome kind of way. Just a stupid/makes my brain hurt kind of way.

I also don't understand why this exists. Unless they don't something new & different with The Phoenix I don't see why there needs to be yet another Phoenix story. But they might. They might not.

Onto the next story, Story #2 "The Myth of Man" by David Lapham & Roberto De La Torre. This story brings up back to the Age of Apocalypse for a 3rd, 4th time. Not really sure why we need to return to this alternate timeline. It seems kind of pointless since I didn't there was anything left to cover in this timeline. Sure, not everything had been covered but you don't need cover everything. The story we have here is that basically the entire human race is dead (The rest of Earth's population are Mutants) except for a group of 5 humans who are on a quest to kill mutants. What does merry little quintet but the most extreme name that could come up with: The X-Terminated! Which I guess works for a alternate timeline that came into being during the Mid-1990's & as Lewis Lovhaug has a habit of telling us poor literacy is of course kewl. :)

Story #3, yet another story with calls back to the Mid-1990's "The Scarlet Thread" by Chris Yost & Ryan Stegman. The Scarlet Spider is back in action! But it's not who you might think it is but you'd be close. Scarlet Spider was the identity original created & use by Ben Reily, a clone of Peter Parker (Spider-Man). But this time it's Kaine. Who? He's another clone of Peter Parker. During the 90's he had a lot of clones running around. In fact there was a whole saga about him & his clones. This story spins out of the events of Spider-Island, which is a story I haven't read but it does kind of interest me. Something I might pick up when they collect it into trade paperback form. We see Kaine in his Spider outfit beat up a few bad guys. One of the better stories in the book but I'm not sure if I read the continuing stories with the new Scarlet Spider.

Story #4 "Yin & Yang" by Fred Van Lente & Salvador Larroca. The main characters in this story (codenamed Dragonfire & Coldmoon) are from the only story to not get some representation on the cover. All the other stories have at least 1 character on the cover (2 stories get 2 of their characters on the cover). This brother & sister duo (DF is the brother & CM is the sister) are 2 characters I had never heard of. From the looks of the story & how it is told they are new characters. They will be teaming up with the Avengers to help take down an evil corporation by the name of Taiji because as Coldmoon said in the story:

"Taiji is infecting this planet with alien technology that will enslave humanity if we don't stop it."

so... yeah. This is all set up for something in the future. The book doesn't tell us where to read their further adventure (most likely an Avengers book). This story has a slightly funny interchange between Hawkeye & Wolverine after seeing Dragonfire & Coldmoon show up:

Hawkeye: Friend... or Foe?

Wolverine: Or somethin' in between?

I got a laugh out of it.

On to the next story, one of the better of the book. Story #5 "The Shaman of Greenwich Village" by Matt Fraction & The Dodsons (Terry penciled the art & Rachel inked the art). I read an interview with writer Matt Fraction over at Comics Alliance about the upcoming The Defenders book which this story leads us into & it sounds like a cool book with an interesting story to tell. Given the interview & this story, "The Defenders" is maybe the only book I'd think about picking up.

The last story in the book is "Age of Ultron" by Brian Michael Bendis & Bryan Hitch. This story & the Defenders' story might have the best art in the book. I got an Old Man Logan feeling from this story but that might just be the "Story set in a not to distant crappy future" setting to both of those stories. It doesn't tell you much but that's ok. I might pick this up.

-----------

So... out of the 6 stories in the book I'd pick up 1 or 2 of the books, I find 1 pointless & 3 I'm sort of non plussed about. Was it worth my 3 dollars? Not sure. But It certainly wasn't worth my 6 dollars.

I'll be back soon with my thought on the other books I picked up this week.

One more thing: My Life in a Longbox is on Facebook. I've set up a group page which I think you should be able to find just by searching for by name. If you "like" it you can get message about this blog on your Facebook wall. How cool is that? :)

Well... until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 237: Comic Book Round-Up for 10/26/11 & 11/2/11

2011-11-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

I did mean to make a Round Up post last week but I just never got around to it & that was sort of good since 1 book I've been reading has put out 2 issues in the last 2 weeks. So... Let's start with that book:

Avengers Academy #20 & 21: Issue 20 is the last issue to tie into the "Fear Itself" event. Now where with Invincible Iron Man I've been pretty much lost on what is going on in the book. With AA's ties in, I have not been. Sure, AA's tie has mostly been not involved in the main action of Fear Itself like Iron Man has been but IIM seemed to have dropped it's story lines/plot lines to focus on FI completely. AA did not do that. It found a way to incorporate it's ongoing story elements into the FI event. Another thing nice about AA & it's FI tie in's, It filled in the reader who might not be reading the main event (i.e. Me) what is going on in that book & why some of the stuff that is happen is actually happening & it didn't seemed forced in there. I don't think I have read a truly bad issue of the series. It's always a book I look forward to reading each time it comes out (which is sometimes once a month & sometimes twice a month).

In reading Issue 20 I was worried that it would be the last issue. The title of the story was "Endings" & the cover sort of looked like it could have been a last issue cover. But as evident by there being an Issue 21 this was not the case. It was just a ending of a few of it's plot lines. A member of the group (Veil, the girl with the orange hair & black suit as seen on Issue 20's cover) has parted ways with the group. But I don't think she's gone from the book as how her leaving is seen in the book & the end of of 21. 2 teachers (Speedball & Justice, the men either end of the back row on Issue 20's cover) have left to go on a road trip. I'm not sure that we'll see their road trip in the book but it would be nice to check in on them every couple of issues.

The major change in Issue 20 is the group's membership is growing & the team in moving. Previously there was only 6 members & they were headquartered in the Infinite Avengers Mansion (which was location in another dimension). With the IAM being destroyed/lost (not sure which it is), the team is moving into the old West Coast Avengers headquarters in California.

The Academy is being opened to any & all young superhuman who would some further instruction/training. From the sounds of it there will still be the small core ground of Academy members with a rotating group of "part time" Academy members. 1 part timer I'm excited about is Emery Schaub, the hero known as either Boulder or Butterball (depending on who you ask). He's awesome!

1 thing I thought was interesting that on the cover of 21: it says it's a "1st Issue" but it also says it's Issue 21. Why? Because under the large "1st Issue" text it also has a smaller "of a new era" text. They are trying to get some new readers because most people will pick up something labeled a 1st issue. It's stupid but it works so they keep doing it. Another thing about 21's cover, I have no idea what "Shattered Heroes" it's probably something to do with the fall out from Fear Itself but the Heroes in AA don't seem to shattered.

Also, in 21 the Academy is gets a new Teacher: veteran Avenger (and former West Coast Avenger member) Hawkeye. There is a mystery set up in 21 that will play out over the next couple of issues. The next issue (which comes out in 2 weeks) has the Academy meeting up with some of the X-Men.

Before I'm going on to the DC books I've picked up in the last 2 weeks, 1 more Marvel thing: FF is actually doing some stuff, so the last issue (Issue 11) was a good one. Still not sure if I'll drop it or not. There might come a time when the only Marvel I'm reading will be Avengers Academy.

------

Now on to DC!

Justice League Dark #2: As far as I say there was no burning of witches in the book. Zatanna & Constanine didn't even meet in the book either (But Constantine does make a "connection" with Zatanna). But it was still a good book. I am interested in seeing where this book goes. I still don't really like the name "Justice League Dark" but it has yet to be used in the book yet which is good.

Justice League International #3: I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It could be better. I'll at least stick around until at least the end of this story line & see how I feel about it then.

The Flash #2: I'm enjoying this book. It's got some nice art, a cool cover, some inventive use of panels & a interesting story, too. Also, this issue marks the first New 52 appearance of the Cosmic Treadmill, a cool old piece of technology that had been used in Flash of the past. It has been used in the past to test Flash's speed (which what it was used here) but it's also been used for time travel in the past too. Not sure if it will be used for that here. But It could lead to some cool stories in the future if they do use it in that way.

That's all I got for you this time. When I get more comics, I'll be back with more thoughts on them. Until then, Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 236: Comic Book Round-Up for 10/19/11

2011-10-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Before I get into the comics I picked up this week I'd like to take a moment to thank a recent replier by the name of Lindsay. She posted some nice long comments (each reply was a couple of paragraphs long) to 3 different post. She also filled filled in some info for me on who Azazel from the movie X-Men: First Class. So... Thanks Lindsay! Hope to hear from you again sometime.

------

Now getting to the comics of the week. Like last week I'll start off with the lone Marvel I picked up: Invincible Iron Man

This was the series that was launched around the time of the first Iron Man & has had some story elements that one could see that it tied it to the movie(s) but it's a series that is firmly planned in the Marvel Universe. I've enjoyed the series up till now. For the last few months we've been in the midst of the series tying into the mini-series "Fear Itself", a series I am not reading because of what little I know about it just doesn't interest me.

I feel that with tie in issues that you shouldn't have to read the main series to get what is going on & that the issues should still further the own series' story lines something that IIM is not doing. I've been lost last the last few months, IIM started to tie into FI in issue 503. But I've just been lost the last few months, we are now on 509, there is 1 more tie in issue. So, that is 8 whole issues that have tied into an event that I don't really care about & for the last few issues it just been Tony Stark (Iron Man) just hanging out with dwarves at an Asgardian forge making weapons. Also, what makes it's annoying is that we are not getting the whole story in the book. Major events happen elsewhere (most likely in the main book) & we aren't really given a recap or directed to what books to to find out what has gone on in between issues. Yes, there is a text recap page in the front but even reading that might not explain everything that is going on.

IIM use to be a book on the stop on my reading pile, now it have fallen to the bottom. Much like with FF I am thinking of dropping Invincible Iron Man but for different reasons. I've been spending 4 dollars a month on a book I don't really like anymore. So, maybe it's time to stop buying the book. I think it's partly the whole "Fear Itself" tie in stuff but then I was thinking about the book & I was kind of feeling my liking of the book slipping before FI came around. This might be yet another Marvel book I drop.

-------

On to the DC books of the week...

Catwoman #2: After what we saw on the last page of Issue #1 (Batman & Catwoman were giving each other a vigorous hugging) I wanted to see where Issue #2 went. The issue starts out with the two of them post coital. They talk a bit & then part ways. During the scene we get to see some shots of Catwoman in your undies (I think that is becoming a trend in the book). There is a fun scene between Catwoman (in a kind of slutty disguise) & Bruce Wayne. She doesn't know that Mr. Wayne is Batman but he knows she's Catwoman. Why? He's Batman! Do you need another reason? (The book doesn't say why he knows I'm just assuming the reason he knows is.. because he's Batman & used his detective skills to find out). That 4 page scene is the best part of the book. We end the book the introduction of who I'm guessing will be Catwoman's first foe for the series. The character's name is Lous Ferryman or as he tells her "Some call me BONE." Yes, in the book the word "Bone" is in all caps, bold & a special font then the rest of the text. He doesn't look all that boney, he just looks like some bald guy in suit with a skin condition. It's slightly smoother them The Thing's skin & white, not orange.

How do I feel about the book? Along the lines of how I was feeling about Batgirl #2: Meh. This issue had a fun Catwoman/Bruce Wayne scene something Batgirl didn't have (Not a fun Catwoman/Bruce Wayne scene, just a fun scene in general). I did like Catwoman #1 more then I liked Batgirl #1. I might drop both books but I'm more inclined to keep reading Catwoman but there are still some strikes against them.

Nightwing #2: I thought the issue was good. About on par with the first issue. The fights (yes there was more then 1) with the Saiko (who is named in this issue & on the cover) were good. The furthering of the storyline with Haly's Circus is good. I liked the Circus stuff better then the fighting but both were still good. I did think it was interesting that the book has two equal story lines going on. A number of the books have a few different storylines going on but they seem to have the main storyline & the secondary storyline. Here I feel both are the main storyline & yes they do connect in this issue. 1 art thing: I'm not sure if it's on purpose but they artist (Eddy Barrows) makes Dick Grayson look a bit like Tom Welling (Clark Kent from "Smallvile"). He doesn't look that much like Welling when he has the mask on but without the mask, he comes off looking a bit like Welling.

How do I feel about the book? As I said: Good. A book I'll definitely keep reading.

DC Universe Presents: Deadman #2: First off lets just look at that cover. That's kind of weirdly cool. Not exactly sure what it going on & nothing like that happen in the comic but it's still a cool looking cover. So, last month's 1st issue was one of the better things I had read that month. How was issue #2? Good. It had some interesting stuff going on. There is a magic night club in the issue that I think is a great idea. I wouldn't mind seeing more of it, not sure I will since it served it's story purpose but hopefully it will show up again sometime. Also, the blind Librarian is also an interesting character.

What do I think about the book? Good. Definitely worth reading further issues of.

Red Hood and The Outlaws #2: I liked the issue more then the first issue. I liked it alot. It was a fun romp of book. We get more info of Jason Todd (Red Hood), the secret society, The All Caste & his connection to them. We find out that Jason has a connection to Talia Al Ghul (Daughter of Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul). There is some fun exchanges between Jason & Roy Harper. Starfire seems more like a person, she had a personality & was not just a sex object saying stuff (well, she might still be that but now she has a personality!). We also the formation of the team wether they like it or not. There is a character in the book, Suzie Su, who I wouldn't have minded finding more about but we might not since she died in the issue (Just before she died, she did mention that her father might come after Jason for killing her. Given how Suzie looked, I wonder what her father looks like).

What do I think about the book? Good. As I said: a fun romp of a book. Definitely worth seeing where this book goes. But I might be of the small group who think so.

I picked up 1 more thing yesterday:

The reprint "100-Page Spectacular" of Superboy's Legion. It originally came out in 2001 as a 2 issue set. This book has it all in 1 book & only 3 ads (There is 1 on the inside of the front cover, 1 on the inside of the back cover & 1 on the back cover). The 100 pages mentioned on the cover is all story. Even though it doesn't say on the cover or anywhere in the book, this is one of DC's "Elseworld" books: a book that that take place in an alternate universe & doesn't relate to the main DC universe.

I had heard about this book & that it was good. A Bonus (at least for me): The art is by Alan Davis. I am a fan of his art. He has a nice classic feel to his art & I don't think I've ever been disappointed by the art in a book he's done & that comment holds up here.

The premise of the book is that the rocket holding the baby that would grow up to be Superman gets caught up in meteor field & goes dormant for a thousand years. So, instead of growing up in the 20th century, Superboy grows up in the 30th century, the time of DC's "Legion of Super Heroes". In the book he helps form the group.

It has some nice art by Davis. The Legion sport some nice costumes (a few of them being variations on the those they wear in the normal DCU). The story is a variation on the Legion origin. I only have a basic knowledge of the team but I don't think you need to know all that much about the team. Some of the jokes you might not get but I don't think it detracts from the story. It's a fun book & if you get it this way your saving a bit of money. You'll get the whole story for 8 dollars where if you searched out the original 2 issues you'd pay more. At 1 website I went to you you'd pay over 25 dollars for the 2 issues & that didn't include shipping the books to you.

Another book that recently came out as part of DC's "100-Page Spectacular" is

This is another 2 issue Elseworld from a few years ago: JLA: Age of Wonder. I didn't pick it up at the store since I bought it when the mini-series first came out (2003) & it's another good story. The story asks what would happening if the Heroes of the DCU appeared a century before then they did (instead of the 20th century, they show up during the 19th century). It has a bit of a Steampunk feel to it. But is a fun story & DC made it easy for you to pick it up cheap. I saw on the 1 website that they were selling the issue at about cover price but once you add in shipping, your saving half the price by buying the "100-Page Spectacular" book.

Another book that I think DC should release as like these two is Secret Society of Super-Heroes. It's a good story & at the 1 website I keep referring to you, you can buy that 2 issue series for over 35 dollars & that's not with shipping.

I think it cool that DC is putting out these hard to find/out of print stories from their back catalog.

That's all I got for now. Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 235: Comic Book Round-Up for 10/12/11!

2011-10-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 weeks since I last told you about comics I've read. But I'm back to tell you about them.

I'll start off with the the lone Marvel book I picked up this week. Yes, I do read some of what what Marvel puts out. Use to be more but I've pared back my readership of their books. Mostly because I lost interest in their books.

So... the Marvel book : FF. The book that arose from the death of of Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) & the end of the of the Fantastic Four (but they are or at least the book is coming back. Is Johnny? I don't know). I'm thinking of dropping this book from my monthly readership. It's not because I think the book is bad or anything. It's that I'm not sure it works reading the book in a monthly format. The story lines are large & drawn out. Some month's issues are just set up for things you might not even get around to reading until months later. This is nice since it gives you feeling that what is happening is large & it should be for "The World's Greatest Comic Book" but it might not be good month to month. I think I''l get to the end of this storyline & then just pick up the book in the collected format.

On to the DC Comic books:

I won't be adding the cover for the DC books since I don't have much to say about them & I'm lazy. If you want to really see the covers I'm sure you could find them online somewhere.

Before I tell you about what I bought let me tell you about what I decided to not buy. The second issues of Batwoman & Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. came out this past wednesday & I did not buy them. Why? I just wasn't feeling those books. I may pick up the collected edition/trade paperbacks of those book's 1st story line in the store to look at & see what I missed. Batwoman has some really nice art.

What did I Buy:
- Justice League International #2: this came out last week & was the only book I bought last week. It's still a good book & introduced their first villian: The Signal Men. I feel like I've heard that name before but haven't looked into it yet. Nice issue all around. Also, we find out that Skeets, Booster Gold's sidekick/best friend/Personal assistant does exist in the New 52. We didn't see him but heard him so that was nice to know.

- Batgirl #2: This book was meh. Not really bad. Not really good. I may end up dropping it. I may or may not check back in on via looking at the trade in the store to see what I missed if I do so.

- Suicide Squad #2: Issue #1 had 3 artist on the book. Issue #2 has 2 artist on the book. Both times I liked the art by the other people then the main artist on the book. Now if the other filling artist had styles similar to the main artist this might not be a problem but they are not so it's a bit jarring to have one art style for a first half of the book & then you flip to the next page or look to the next page to see a different (better in my opinion) art style. This is my only really complaint about the book (other people have other complaint about the book but I look past those) & if happens in every further issue, DC either needs to get an artist you can actually do the art for the book on a monthly basic or I may drop it.

- Demon Knights #2: Probably the best book I read this week. It was awesome. Go read it! (See! I said I didn't have much to say about the books.)

- Mister Terrific #2: Another good book. Not too sure about the WiFi symbol of the villain Brainstorm's forehead. Not sure it actually is a WiFi symbol it just looks like that. Maybe that's means he's a WiFi hotspot :) 1 thing about the art in the book & I think I might have mentioned this in regards to last issue: The way the artist (Gianluca Gugliotta) draws faces can be a bit wonky at times. It's something I can get past since it's consistently wonky all over the book & it's something you could use to.

So... that's it for this weeks comics. I'll be back when I have more. I think I have a couple I want to pick up next week.

But before I sign off, just a plug for my *new* Tumblr account: My Life in a Longbox, the Tumblr edition. Right now it's just a mish-mash of pictures of stuff I've found around Tumblr that I found interesting. I'll try to get some more original content made by me up there sometime. Just go & check it out.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 234: Brian on the Aisle #11

2011-10-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Brian on the Aisle. Today we will be looking at the last of summer Super Hero comic book movies: Captain America: The First Avenger.

As I've made mention there is a movie theater near my house. They get the movies for their theater as they are exiting most of the big chain theaters. They also don't charge you an arm & leg to see the movie. Every movie is a flat rate of 3 dollars.

Out of the 4 comic book movie adaptation I've seen this may well be the best of the bunch. Green Lantern could have been so much more but was enough for Hollywood to make a sequel (Yes, there is going to be a GL sequel. Let's hope it better then the one we got). Thor was a good film. It was a fun romp of film.

Cap has some in common with the last movie I saw X-Men First Class. Both are period pieces (X-Men is set in the '60's & Cap set in the '40's mostly). I feel that Cap's setting was better & made me feel like it was the 1940's. It contributed to the film. Where as X-Men's 1960's setting was secondary & if you change a few things it could have easily been set in present day.

I think out of all the Marvel films I've seen this has the best transition. You actually get the costume from the comics in this movie, his original shield & how they are used work to further the story. His "improvised" costume was reminiscent of the World War II era costume worn by Captain America in Marvel's own Ultimate line of comics. It's yet another visual taken from that line of comics (Nick Fury's look being the biggest so far & from the looks of it Hawkeye's costume in the upcoming Avengers looks a bit like his Ultimate counterpart).

We got some awesome stuff from the comics: The Cosmic Cube, Arnim Zola (before changed his look), The Howling Commandos & probably the most awesome cameo I've seen. It may only be second to Wolverine's cameo in First Class. The cameo is one if you blink you'll miss him & you might miss him if you don't read comics. The cameo was by the original Human Torch. A truly geeky moment for me.

What else should I say about the movie other then it was awesome? It's got a good story, casted well (Tommy Lee Jones is just awesome), there is some nice action. Felt very comic booky in a good way.

Going into this movie I wasn't sure I'd see James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes in the movie. The way he's in the comics might not exactly work in the movie but there he was & was used well. They even managed to work in some of his comic book storyline. Cap failed to save him but that doesn't mean he couldn't be back for the Avengers film if you know anything about how's been used in the comics in the last decade.

I thought the inclusion of Howard Stark, father of Tony "Iron Man" Stark was a nice addition. He's not normally part of the Captain America origin story but it shows that yes these movie all exist in the same universe & characters can meet (see next year's The Avengers for more of this).

Regarding the origin story: it's pretty much the one of the comics just slightly altered to fit the movie. There is nothing there is to drastically different from the comic book. All the event from the comic happen, just a bit differently & that's ok. The major parts are there.

So... yeah. That's my feelings towards the movie. I saw it with my parents & they seemed to like it. My sister had seen it a weeks ago & liked it. So, not only is approved by me but it's approved by my whole family!

I give Captain America: The First Avenger 3 circular shields out of 5.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 233: Everyday I'm Tumblring

2011-10-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

well... not everyday since today is the first day with my new Tumblr account. :)

so... Yeah. I have a Tumblr account now which can be viewed here. It's just another way to share stuff I find interesting with the word. I've labeled it the Tumblr version of this blog but I'm not sure how much it will be like this blog. I don't plan on now any of the post I do here over there. I will be cross posting hopes that if people see something from over there will come over here & check out the awesomeness (Yes, there is awesomeness). The blog I consider a journal where as the Tumblr will be more of photo album. Most thought will be put in over here. But check it out if you want to see pictures of stuff that interests me or funny things I find.

That is all.

Stay Jazzy Everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 232: Check... Check... Checklist!

2011-10-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

It's another entry & another DC centric entry. I'm not sure where I will stop doing these purely DC centric posts. I guess when I run out of stuff to talk about. I will try to space them out a bit (note the word "try", this does mean I will space them out).

DC on their blog, The Source they have released a checklist for the 2nd issues of the New 52. I noticed that some books have moved around in the schedule & at least one has an altered title.

I hope you can read that. sorry if you can't.

The checklist for Issue 1 is on right & Checklist for Issue 2 is on the left. I like the look of the 2nd Issue checklist better. It's got the checkbox so you can check it those you bought & the header is just better. They could have added the words "DC Comics" to the top to make it say:

DC Comics: The World's Greatest Super Heroes

52 All-New Series

But that is just semantics.

As for what is different between the 2 checklists. Not much:
- Batgirl got bumped down from Week 1 to Week 2 while Red Lanterns got bumped up from Week 2 to Week 1. Why did they changed this? I don't know. Maybe it was to have 1 Lantern book a week (there are 4 weeks & there are 4 Lantern books).
- Justice League went from being the 1st title in the "New 52" to being the 34th title in the "New 52". I thought that JL would have been a week 1 title & not a week 3 title. They made a big deal about it being this flagship title but a flagship title is not a book you put in the middle of the books. But then the week it comes out it's not up against many other "big" name title other then Batman & one of the Lantern titles.
- The Firestorm book changed titles. Issue 1 was The Fury of Firestorm, Issue 2 is this The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men. As for why the change in titles? Again, I don't know. There are a number of Firestorms running around that book.

That's all I have for now. I have a few other posts planned:
- Which "New 52" titles I'll continue to read past Issue 1
- I took a Neilsen survey regarding the New 52 & got some stuff to say about it
- I thought I'd tell you what Marvel comics I read

Stay tuned for those & others. :)

Until then: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 231: Hey Look over there! There some stuff going down!

2011-10-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

As promised in the last entry I am back with my thoughts on the last week of the 1st issues of DC's New 52.

First off all the comics I past on:

For some reason I don't remember seeing many of the this weeks books out at the store I went to. But I found that in weeks past that it mostly likely I just didn't see them. 2 books I didn't see but wouldn't mind looking through are Aquaman #1 & Superman #1 just to see what's up with the books. Others I didn't see but am less likely to look though are Batman: The Dark Knight #1, Blackhawks #1, Green Lantern: The New Guardians #1, The Savage Hawkman #1 & I, Vampire #1. Why am I less likely to look through them? just not interested.

I did look through Teen Titans #1 & Voodoo #1. TT like I thought is tied somewhat into the Superboy book & like the Justice League book they didn't show the whole team in the book. As for the rest of the book: wasn't really interested. I did see that Miss Martian exists in this New Universe (a picture of her was on a screen so she might be a future member of the group) Voodoo took place almost entirely in a strip club & our main character is a stripper. And she is also some sort of shape shifting monster thingy.

-------

On to the 3 books I did buy: Justice League Dark #1, The Flash #1 & All Star Western #1.

When I heard about this book & as I have noted here on this blog in the past, I just don't really like the title of the book. It's kinda clunky & I sure hope the group doesn't actually call themselves that in the book. I'd let it be mentioned in the book if only as a joke i.e What do we call our group Justice League Dark?"

So my expectations were low for the book but I was open to trying it. I never read much of DC's magic characters & had very few preconceived notions to the groups members. I had heard of most of them, some more then others (Madame Xanadu, Shade the Changing Man, Enchantress, Zatanna, John Constantine, Deadman) but wouldn't say I was a big fan of any of them.

What did I think of it? I thought was good. Maybe one of the better things I read of the month. I would come back for Issue #2. They introduced everyone but not the group yet which I didn't mind (At least everyone from the group was in the book unlike in Justice League). There was also a problem set up that the normal Justice League couldn't handle. With this book Batman has been in all 3 League titles this month but this was just a cameo appearance not like in JL & JLI where he'll be a member of both teams. I do wonder how this team will work with the main Justice League team. But since the team was not yet set up here in this issue, hopefully this will be brought up in a future issue.

I wouldn't have minded if Zatanna had kept her previous "Stage Magician" costume, I quite liked that costume. It worked both for both of her jobs and it would be something new readers might of recognized since it was the one used in her appearances in the "Smallvile" TV show. But maybe in this timeline she never had that one. I sure hope the blue & white costume with those ugly red "Z" earrings & whatever that red thing she had on her head doesn't show up again. I do not like that one.

This book seems to continue on from the past Pre-Flashpoint Flash series with some adjustments to fit into the new Post-Flashpoint timeline we find ourselves in. Now that is not a bad thing, the art by Francis Manapul (who is now a co-writer) is still good. There is a new way to how Barry Allen gets on his Flash costume which looks kind of cool. Not sure how that exactly works but it's a comic book so you just go with it. There are some odd lines on the Flash costume now that I don't like since they seem pointless. I read that they are the suit's seems which is ok (I guess).

I do sort of wonder how he relates to the the Kid Flash over in the Teen Titans book since there was not mention in the this issue of there being a connection but I would assume there would be one.

1 change from Pre-Flashpoint to Post-Flashpoint Flash: he is no longer/never was married to Iris West but she is still in the book. So, they could still get (back) together. Her appearance does bring up something: Where is Wally West? It has been recently confirmed that he is around. But much like with Stephanie Brown (the last Pre-New 52 Batgirl) I have not heard where these 2 characters will end up & what they'll be doing. But with all these it is only the first issue & not every question can be answered. Because then there would be no reason to come back for Issue #2.

Much like DC's magic stuff, I haven't read any of there western stuff. That is partly because DC doesn't put out that many Western books & most of their western stuff was out way before I started reading comic/I was born. They had a Jonah Hex series out recently by the same writers (Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti) of this book & I had heard that book was good. So I was open to giving this book a try.

What did I think? I thought it was ok. Maybe even good but there was just something about the book that just didn't draw me like other books have. There is an interesting story there in the book. It's presents it's world well. The art by Moritat is good. It fits the era & feel I think they were going for.

But I just wasn't all that interested in the book. I still wouldn't mind find out how the story turns out. So, I might not read it monthly but I would definitely think about buying the the trade paperback of this storyline when it comes out.

------

And that's it for the New 52! At least the 1st issues of the New 52.

So what did I think? There was some good stuff, ok stuff & could get better stuff. I didn't find anything that I thought was truly bad. But that's my own opinion. I know from reading stuff elsewhere on the 'net that some people that DC had put out some bad stuff.

One thing I was sad to not see was anything truly new. Everyone of the 52 books that came out was a reboot/relaunch/rehash of something that DC already had. I would have liked to see something new, something I hadn't seen before. Sure, I found some stuff I had read before or something I hadn't read much of. But where was the New in the New 52?

We could have done with 1 or 2 less Batman, 1 or 2 less Green Lantern books, maybe just 1 Legion of Super-Heroes book? Maybe some of the series could have just been miniseries (since I think some won't get beyond the first story arc)? If they had done that, they could have freed up some space for new stuff. But that might of been to much of a risk?

Then what was the point of the New 52 if it was to not take a risk? They could have done much of what they are doing in the old timeline with only minor changes not the wholesale changes they've made. They have done that before. Changes are made every couple of years.

The way DC is now will not how it will be in a year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years. They have proven this to be true.

I'll be back soon with which of the 15 DC books I picked up in September that I'll be reading in October.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 230: The New 61?

2011-09-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't put up this week's review of the comics I got this week. I've had some life stuff come up that I won't bore you will & have been busy away from the computer. The review will most likely be up this weekend if not early next week.

-------

I was over at Comics Alliance & they had some promos images from Marvel Comics next big event called "Point One". To read their coverage & see the promo images go here. Upon seeing the images & reading what little has been revealed it brought up something I've been thinking about lately: what will be Marvel's response to DC's "New 52". I'm guessing that this it. In thinking of what a Marvel response would be called I came up with the name "New 61" since I thought they might try something similar to get new readers too.

How did I decide on the number? Much like how DC likes the number 52, I think Marvel also likes the number 61. 1961 being the year the first issue of Fantastic Four came out, the book that started off the how "Marvel Age of comics" & this being the 50th anniversary to that event why not reboot/relaunch? DC did that in 85! I thought about using the number 616 but thought was too high & Marvel official doesn't use that number (at least they say they don't but it has popped up in a few of their books over the years). So I went with the lower number & thought it would be easier for them to put out 61 books a month as opposed to 616 books a month. I don't anyone could do such that high number to get out something that people would think as being quality. I also had a thought that 61 being a larger number then 52 that it could be Marvel's way of saying DC up. "We did 61 books while you only did 52. *sticks out tongue*"

Using some of the imagery/style from their "Point One" Promos, I made this:

I sure hope that it didn't take Marvel longer then 30 seconds to do that gradient background because that's all the time it took me in Photoshop. :)

I make a reference back to a earlier "event" that Marvel made a big deal over: The Heroic Age. That "age" is only like a year or two old. I did think about referencing another similar "event" they did: The Dark Reign by saying 61 exciting new comics setting the stage for who reigns in this new age but I thought it would be too long & kind of hokey. I wasn't sure I even wanted the word "exciting" in there for a thought that the tag line might be too long with it.

Now I enjoyed what I read during that reign & that age mostly because they were none events.At least I thought they were none events. There were just comics with a DR or HA header on the cover which meant that they had some involvement in the events of that "event". I thought it worked because you didn't need to read a main book (there was none) that then tied into other things. You could just read what you want. The more you read the more of the "event" you knew about but you could just read a small number of books & not have to worry about reading other stuff because of the times they didn't crossover all that much.

But then that's sometimes Marvel's problem: they don't crossover. Events from an Avengers comic might not matter to events in a X-Men comic (But then it seems that most events from the X-Men comics in the past few years haven't really matter to the rest of the Marvel comic books so why would it work the other way around). Events in an Avengers might not matter in an Iron Man comic even though he was present for said event from the Avengers comic. That how it is currently they have 2 events running at the same time: Fear Itself & Spider-Island. Or at least I thing they are happening at the same time, the books are coming out of the same times. I'm not reading any of the SI stuff (save for 1 books so far but that book had Frog Man in it & Frog Man is cool) & I'm reading 2 books that have ties to FI (Iron Man & Avengers Academy) but I'm reading the main book. I haven't heard that they are referencing/referenced each other but if they were happening concurrently wouldn't they have to? They use similar locations & characters.

Take Spider-Man for example, he's involved in both events: he not only has his own books to be in & has storyline/Spider-Island stuff there, he also in the Fear Itself books which has storyline stuff to deal with & he's also (sort of) in the FF books which has it's own storyline stuff there. If that is all taken place at once, Spidey is a busy guy! What with him currently wearing 3 different costumes (his normal one, his FF one & the one he got in FI). Where does he store the one's he's not wearing at the moment? The Negative Zone? Aunt May's house? The Daily Bugle? In a Phonebooth?

But now I think I'm rambling but I have thought about a number of these things. I just haven't put them up here on the blog since I think it's just me rambling & people might not want to read about that. But then isn't that what a Blog is for: a place for you ramble on about stuff? :)

I think I finish up but before I do, I made something in response to at least a part of hubbub surrounding "Catwoman #1":

Because that's what the DCU needed more sex! :(

I'll be back soon with my thoughts on the books from this last week of the launch issues of the New 52!

Until then: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 229: Hey Look! More stuff went down!

2011-09-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's yet another week so it's time for for of Dc's "New 52". I've got 4 books & most of them Batman related to talk to you about. But first some of the ones I past up on:

- Batman #1: a guy who works at the store tried to sell me on the book by saying that Scott Snyder was writing the book and that pretty much meant nothing to to me. I just wasn't interested in the book so I didn't buy it. I did look through it I just wasn't interested in it.
- Bird of Prey #1, Blue Beetle #1, Supergirl #1 & Wonder Woman #1: I looked through the books, didn't see anything that really grabbed me.
- Captain Atom #1, Green Lantern Corps #1 & Legion of Super-Heroes #1: didn't see them. Might of missed them.

Onto what I bought:

Catwoman #1: Thinking back on what I've read by writer Judd Winick I'd say I like his stuff. And from I seen of the art from Artist Guillem March I 'd say I like his art. And with this issue I'd say I liked it. March does draw some nice looking ladies. If you like boobs or at least Catwoman's boobs, then you'll like this issue!

But I'm not sure I liked the over sexualized natural of the issue. It does end the issue of Catwoman getting it on with Batman. I was not expecting that ending since I don't read a lot of Batman comics but in the ones I have read I don't think I've ever read any where you actually see the two of them getting it on. I read a lot of comics but I haven't read many where you see two people having sex.

On odd sidenote: when Catwoman was dressed in her bartender disguise, she kind of looked like a redheaded Morgan Webb. Not sure that was the intention but that what I thought of when I saw her.

Nightwing #1: Cick Grayson's time as Batman is still in continuity. They start off the book with him saying that he was Batman for a year but is now back as "himself": Nightwing! I'm not sure why they went with red on the costume & not the traditional blue but I can live with the change. I also noticed tat some elements from his Bat costume made there way over to his new Nightwing costume.

I originally wasn't sure about the book but in reading what the first arc was going to involve (Haly's Circus, where the Grayson family worked & where his parents died) would be coming back to Gotham for the 1st time since the incident (that's according to the comic) & he would facing his past intrigued me a bit. So, I decided to pick it up. What did I think of the 1st issue? It was good. It nicely set up the Circus plot line & the antagonist for the next couple of issues or so (I'd tell you the character's name but I don't think they said his name in the issue).

I don't think I've read anything by writer Kyle Higgins before. The artists' name (Eddy Barrows) seems familiar. So I might of seen his art before or at least read his name before. It's nice art.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1: This wasn't one of the books I had on my "pick up" list but it was on the "look at at when it comes out" list. There were questions I had about the book. the biggest is still not answered after this issue: did Roy Harper ever loose his arm or did that event never happen in this New 52 universe?. I'd consider this book to be similar in tone to Suicide Squad: small group of mercenaries for hire doing "bad" stuff & killing people.

Red Hood/Jason Todd's time as Robin is still in place in the New 52 which means over the course of about 6, 7 years Batman has had at least 3 Robins (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd & Damion Wayne). Roy Harper's time as Speedy is also reestablished.

I've been wondering about the Teen Titans timeline. I started to wonder about before any of the books came out, Justice League gave me some stuff to wonder about regarding it. With this issue, it gave me more to wonder about it. Mostly in relation to Starfire & her involvement. She was still with the team but I wonder for how long? I might have to read/look at the Titans book when it comes out next week. They do mention that Starfire & Dick Grayson (Nightwing) had a previous relationship. Also, Starfire feels very cold & distant. At times, it seems like she has been on earth for awhile while other times it seems like she just got to earth.

I don't like the Bat in the O's of the word Hood. It looks stupid. It's there to tell people this is a Batman book but it's not really. The only person who has a connection to Batman is Jason Todd & it doesn't seem like he wants anything to do with him anymore.

Like in Catwoman, if you like Boobs or at least Starfire's boobs. You like this book! Also, like in Catwoman: there is sex but you don't see it. You see that 2 characters (they are on the cover but their name isn't in the title) are going to off to do it & then you see them afterwards.

DC Universe Presents #1 or DC Universe Presents Deadman #1: 1 of 2 anthology books in New 52 (I'm counting All-Star Western as the other one). The first couple of issues will be devoted to Deadman. About the only thing that I liked about the book "Brightest Day" was the Deadman sub-plot. This is where he meet up with him in the New 52. Well... I saw online that he was the Hawk & Dove book but this is where he has his "main" story. In the past I've liked what I've read by writer Paul Jenkins & this is a good story. It's probably one of the better, might be the best Deadman story I've read so far. Might be one of the better things I've read that's been part of the New 52. It nicely sets up what Deadman's back story is (in 1 page) & then spends the rest of the issue presenting the start to an interesting story. It's gives the best explanation for why he does what he does. I've always though that was ill defined in other Deadman stories I've read.

I look forward to the rest of the story & to see who will be the next headliner for the book.

So that's it for this week. Up next week is....

The last set of the #1's come out: I'll be picking up All-Star Western #1, The Flash #1, Justice League Dark #1 & a strong maybe to Teen Titans #1.

The other books that are coming out are: yet another attempt at making the King of the 7 Seas look cool (Aquaman #1), the last Batman book (Batman: The Dark Knight #1), G.I. Joe... sorry.. I mean Blackhawks #1, 2 books that have ties to the Brightest Day event (The Fury of Firestorm #1 & The Savage Hawkman), the last of the Lantern books (Green Lantern: New Guardians #1), a book that will is cashing on the vampire fad (I, Vampire #1), Voodoo #1 (which I know almost nothing about other then it lady with a mystic glove thingy) & the last Superman book (Superman #1).

See you next time. Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 228: And yet even more went down!

2011-09-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

It's another week & I'm back to talk about the DC Comics I picked up this week. This has proved to be the week I picked up the most so far. Week 1: 1 Book (Justice League) & in Week 2: 2 Books (Batgirl & Justice League International). So by that logic It's week 3 so I should have picked up 3 books, right? That was what I was planning on but I found 2 more books that I thought were worth buying. Before I talk about them, I few other things first off.

Last Saturday, I was watching Doctor Who on BBC America & I saw the commercial that DC has put out for the New 52. Which I think I've touched on before but I'm exactly sure which post it was so I can't link you over there. But I can link you to the commercial: View it on YouTube here. After the ad was over I turned to My Mom, who does not read comic but does watch Doctor Who & I asked her if she wanted to read some comics. I did that partly jokingly but her answer was truthful & that answer was "no". That's what I think is wrong with the ad: If you don't already read comics why should you care?

A better ad would have been someone from the company (Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Dan Didio, Grant Morrison, Bob Harras, etc.) had come on screen & explained why you should read these comics. Oh... wait. They did that. To see that video: View it here. But video is a bit too long & still might not appeal to the no reader. The ad would have to be shorter, it would be too expensive to do air a multi-minute ad. They need give the no reader the 30 second pitch of why they should read their books. The commercial currently airing do not do that. It's just a series of images with a vaguely rock track playing along with it. It didn't sell me on the comics. Didn't sell my non reader mom on it. Not sure it's sold anyone on it.

As I mentioned last time, every time I've been into my local Comic Book store I've seen new people& they are buying stuff. This past Wednesday I saw the a couple (I'm guessing they were husband & wife) buy the most I've heard so far. When I was there & milling about they bought 2 of the Marvel Select action figures (which aren't cheap, each figure is at least over 20 dollars), a Statue (which was priced over 200 dollars) & a pile of comics. Not sure what they had in there pile but it was at least over 10 books. So.. the store made some money that day.

But.. getting to the comics! I did have the 3 I was looking forward to reading: Batwoman #1, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E & Suicide Squad #1. But there were other books! 3 books caught my eye but I only bought 2 of them. The one i thought was interesting but not enough to buy was Superboy #1 I thought the idea behind it was interesting but as i said not enough to buy. I would check out future issues to see where it goes. I did also flip through Deathstroke #1, Resurrection Man #1, Legion Lost #1 & Batman & Robin #1 but didn't see anything in those issues that grabbed me.

On to the 3 books I was looking forword:

Batwoman #1: a comic that was been a long time coming. It was originally slated to come out months ago (January or February) something happened & it didn't come out but was going to come out sometime. That time was now! But as I read this book I just couldn't shake the feeling that the books seems to be working off of the past universe. It seems like a Pre-New 52 book. Also, if you had not read the previous stories with Batwoman (like her run in Detective Comics which was awesome) you might be a bit lost since they directly reference it & just assume you know what they are talking about. It's fine 1st issue. The art by co-writer J.H. Williams III is what sold me on the previous Batwoman stories & is still a strong point (if not the strongest point) of the book. I'll continue to read it but it still felt like it was written & drawn before the New 52 happened. It was just dropped in because they had said with going to come out.

Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1: I hadn't read any of the previous stuff involving this character & decided to pick up purely on what little I had read about the book. After reading this issue I sort of wished like I had read some of the older stuff so I'd have a better handle on what was going on. Much like with Batwoman they refer something from older stories like your just to know who/what they are. They do explain some of the stuff like what does S.H.A.D.E. stand for (Super Human Advanced Defense Executive) which was one thing I was wondering about. In the issue they reveal that Ray Palmer exists in this new universe & is the U.N. Science Liaison to the organization (He created the shrinking technology they use. No mention if he's The Atom or not). They also made mention of a "Langstrom Serum" in reference to a character (one of the member of Creature Commandos, who also exist in this new universe & also work for S.H.A.D.E.). So, Kurt Langstrom exists but Man-Bat might not? I sort of wish the artist (J.G. Jones) who did the cover had done the interior art. The art by Alberto Ponicelli did a fine job on the art & it fits with the book. It's just not my favorite art style. There are some interesting concepts presented in the books (S.H.A.D.E's HQ & the character of Father Time being 2 of them) but I wasn't completely sold on the story. So, a large part of the story takes place in a place called Bone Lake, Washington. I live in Washington & had never heard of it. I asked my parents if they had heard of it, they had now. I looked it up online & there is a Bone Lake, Washington but in the comic there is a lake there. In the photos I saw there is no lake near Bone Lake. There is a lake called Bone Lake but that in Washington County, Minnesota. But in the comic it states that the town's name is Bone Lake & it's near a lake in Washington state.

Suicide Squad #1: I'm starting to think I might be in the minority of people who liked this issue. I wasn't sure what to make of this comic before it came out. I thought it was a fine first issue (most of the New 52 comics I've thought have been fine). It sets up who the members of the team are, what the team's purpose is & some has some nice action in it. Now I hadn't read any of the old Suicide Squad comic but I had a general idea of who that team was & this was in line with what I thought. (That might be good or bad). At times it did feel like Marvel's Thunderbolts which I guess is their version of the SS & a book I was more familiar with. I didn't mind Harley's new costume all that much (but wouldn't mind an explanation of why it changed). I like Deadshot's old mask over the one he wears in this issue. 1 thing I did notice was that on the cover it lists 1 artist (Federico Dallocchio) on the book but inside there are listed 3 artists (Dalocchio, Random Getty & Scott Hanna. I'm not sure who's art is whos' but I liked the art from the middle part of the book more then the art from the first part of the book (I suspect that that art is either Gettys' or Hannas'). I will be coming back to see where this book goes.

On to the 2 books other books I bought: Demon Knights & Mister Terrific.

Demon Knights #1: I have read some of writer Paul Cornel's previous stuff (His Lex Luthor story in Action Comics was awesome). I don't think i've seen any of artist Diogenes Neves' art before. As for the characters in the book (Etrigan the Demon, Madame Xanadu, Vandal Savage, The Shining Knight) none would say I had an opinion on any of them either way. I just hadn't read enough to form an opinion. I did know who they were (at least I knew of the older version of the Shining Knight, the new version was new to me). The story read nicely, I liked the art, it established the characters nicely & set up things for the next issues (there be dragons to fight!). I do wonder how this book will tie into Madame Xanadu's appearances in other books (like Justice League Dark).

Mister Terrific #1: I was already half sold on the book for 1 kind of stupid reason: I heard rumors that Karen Starr (the alter ego of Power Girl) was going to be a character in the book. Is she? Yes. But was that really worth the buy? no. I bought it because it was a pretty good issue & set up a storyline that I want to see where it goes. And it doesn't hurt that Karen Starr is there. :) They don't say that she's Power Girl & she doesn't show having any super powers but just that she exist in someway is fine for now.

Not sure I had read anything by Eric Wallace (the writer) or by Gianluca Gugliotta (the artist) before but they I didn't read or see anything truly bad in the book (some of the facial expressions were a bit odd but I could get past that). I hadn't read much or knew much regarding the character Mister Terrific other then he's smart (3rd smartest in the world according to the book) & a member of the JSA (who don't exist, at least on his earth). I do sort of miss his jacket.

Well... that's it for this week.

As you may notice that the number & which comics are listed has changed. It's gone for "New 11" to the "New 12" to the "New 14". What number will it be at next week? I don't know. We'll just have to see.

The books I'm looking forward to new week is: Catwoman #1, DC Universe Presents #1 (which will be featuring Deadman) & Nightwing #1. Other books coming out next week is Batman, Bird of Prey, Blue Beetle, Legion of Super-Heroes, Red Hood and The Outlaws, Supergirl & Wonder Woman.

The next post here will mostly be about a character who has been popping up in New 52 comics. Who are they? I don't know. DC hasn't told us.

Until then: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 227: Fall TV Preview!

2011-09-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

So, we are going to step away from DC Comics for a moment to talk about the upcoming Fall TV season. Well.. as I found that the season already started 2 Fridays ago. But most of the networks are starting to roll out the new shows & new episodes of returning show this week. This will be happening well into November. But most of the premieres will be happening with in the next month.

To see where I found me list go here. I'll be breaking it down by day, time & channel. This is using the U.S. times & channels. If you live elsewhere check you local listings.

September 14th (Wednesday)

America's Next Top Model at 9pm on the CW: yeah. This for some reason this show just draws me in. I seen most of the past seasons (if not the complete season, a few episodes from that season). This season it's an All Star edition with 14 past contestants are back for a second chance at the top!

September 19th (Monday)

Dancing with the Stars at 8pm: Much like ANTM, this show just draws me in for some reason. I think I've seen every episode of this show.

Castle at 10 pm: awesome show! You should be watching this show if you don't already watch it. The show's premise is this: The show follows novelist Richard Castle (played by Nathan Fillion) who shadows NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Played by Stana Katic) on case & together they fight crime! There is other stuff but that's the basic premise. Go watch it!

Other stuff you could watch on Mondays:

Two and a Half Men at 9 pm on CBS: This will be the 1st season without Charles Sheen. His replacement (or sorts) is Ashton Kutcher. It should be interesting to see how they write out Sheen & write in Kutcher.

2 Broke Girls at 9:30 pm (but after the Premiere episode moves to 8:30 pm, still on Monday) on CBS: A new comedy about well... 2 broke girls who work at waitress' in New York City.

American Pickers at 9 pm & Pawn Stars at 10pm on the History Channel: 2 shows always worth a watch.

The Playboy Club at 10 pm on NBC: one of the few 1960's era based shows that are premiering this fall. This show takes place as... the Playboy Club in Las Vegas (I think).

September 20th (Tuesday)
NCIS at 8 pm on CBS: like Castle, NCIS is another awesome show. It follows the Washington D.C. based Naval Criminal Investigational Service (NCIS) lead by Special Agent Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon). Another show you should be watching

NCIS: Los Angles at 9 pm on CBS: Like NCIS but in LA. Not as awesome as NCIS but still pretty good. The 2 shows have different feels to them which is good. I just like the original better.

Other stuff you could watch on Tuesdays:
- Glee at 8 pm on Fox: if you into that sort of thing. I've seen an episode here & there. I'm still not sold on the show.

The cast of "New Girl"

- New Girl at 9 pm on Fox: This new comedy starring Zooey Deschanel (Fox has cornered the market on Deschanels since Zooey's older sister Emily is on Bones). I've actually seen the pilot episode of the this show & it's was actually pretty good. Had some nice moments, nice character inactions, a few good laughs. In the show, Zooey's character has just broken up with her boyfriend & wants to start over so she moves. Into an apartment she'll now share with 3 guys, 3 straight guys. Of course hilarity ensues. Something I'd think about watching more episodes of.

September 22nd (Thursday)

Who will be your replacement?

The NBC Comedy block (Community at 8, Parks & Recreation at 8:30, The Office at 9 & Whitney at 9:30): The 1st hour is better then the 2nd hour. I will tune into to see who'll replace Michael Scott (Steve Carell's character) as the Boss in The Office. Whitney is a new show & I'm not sure if I want to watch that. I am wondering where the show 30 Rock will end up since I didn't see it on the schedule & I don't think it was cancelled. Maybe it will come back mid season?

Other stuff you could watch on Thursdays:
- Charles Angels at 8 pm on ABC: a reboot of the old 70's TV show. Might be good, might not be.

- Prime Suspect at 10 pm on NBC: the American version of a British show. Maria Bello takes over the role original done by Helen Mirren.

September 24th (Saturday)

Doctor Who at 9 pm on BBC America: Time Travel! Aliens! Robots! Bow Ties! British People! Scottish People! Other Awesome Stuff! Watch it!

After Who (all the cool kids call it Who), at 10 pm BBC America will be airing a show called "The Nerdist": I know nothing about this other then it might be a televised version of Chris Hardwick's podcast of the same name.

Saturday Night Live at 11:30 pm on NBC: I don't know who the host or musical guest will be at the moment.

September 25th (Sunday):
Fox's Animation Block (The Simpsons 8 pm, The Cleavland Show 8:30 pm, Family Guy 9 pm & American Dad 9:30 pm): the shows are hit or a miss for me. Depends on the episode if I like the show(s).

Pan Am at 10p on ABC: It's the 1960's, Pan Am still exists as a thing (it was an Airline company). From what I've gathered the show will focus on the Stewardess (now called Flight Attendants).

September 28th (Wednesday):

Mythbusters at 9pm on Discovery: another awesome show returns for new episodes!

October 21st (Friday):
Grimm at 9 pm on NBC: The shows' premise is set in present-day Portland, Oregon where a homicide detective learns that they are a descendent of & last of a group of hunters known as "Grimms". They now have to fight to keep humanity safe from the various evil storybook characters/creatures.

October 23rd (Sunday):

Once Upon a Time at 8 pm on ABC: Along the same lines as Grimm, this show's premise is a woman with a troubled past is drawn into a small town in Maine where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales might be real.

October 27th (Thursday):

Wood. heheheheheheheheheheh

Beavis and Butt-Head at 10 pm on MTV: They return!

And that's pretty much it for the show I'll be watching/checking out this Fall Season.

I'll most likely make another post after I seen some of this stuff & tell you want I think. I'll be back later this week with another post regarding the this week's DC Comics.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 226: Got ya Covered!

2011-09-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

This was some I made a week or so ago. I put it up on Facebook but I forgot to put it up over here. So... Here it is:

It's a fake cover I put together. It's a visual companion to a comment I had been hearing around the 'net since the announcement of "New 52" was coming out. That comment being "DC's New 52 is their version of Marvel's Heroes Reborn.

For those who do know or don't remember that event/line of books. Head over to Wikipedia & read their entry on it: Heroes Reborn.

------

In other news: My Life in a Longbox has gained yet another follower. This brings the count up to 7. Slid is the name followers' name. So, welcome aboard!

That's all I got for now. Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 225: To Reboot or not to Reboot?

2011-09-07T23:18:00.000-07:00

One of the more interesting & thought provoking videos I've seen regarding DC's "New 52":

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Continanity: Rebooted

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 224: Even more went Down!

2011-09-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's another week & I'm back to talk more about some DC Comics. As you can see my banner for the post is slightly different. I'm taking a page/idea from the world of Fashion.

The term "The September Issue" as I understand it means that the September issue of those fashion magazines (Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, etc.) devote all & some portion of that issue to talking about that Fall's fashion trends. So, I've devote some of my post this month to talking about DC reboot. I didn't put up this banner for my discussion on Justice League since it was released in August & I hadn't thought it up yet.

Before I get to the 2 books I bought. I'll give come quick reactions to what I saw in some of the books as a took a quick look through them at the store:

Action Comic #1: Meh. I'm not so hot on DC starting some of the New 52 book in the past (five years ago). I'd rather them start it in the here & now then have some flashback later on. Or just let the information trickle out in the story.

Animal Man #1: Did not like the art. I don't care how great a story it might be but if I don't like the art of comic book. I'm not going to read it.

Batwing #1: The art looked painted. Not sure why they did it this way.

Detective Comics #1: I know i pick this one up & looked through it but I don't remember anything about it. Must of flipped to fast. I might look through it again.

Green Arrow #1: He apparently is wearing the suit from the "Smallville" show now & his facial hair was drawn weird in the book.

Stormwatch #1: What's up with Martian Manhunter's head? It's got like gills on the sides of his head now. Also, why is he even in this book?

Swamp Thing #1: meh. But that's how I feel about the character in general.

There was a few books I didn't even see the store I go even had (Hawk and Dove, Men of War, O.M.A.C. & Static Shock). Not sure I just didn't see these books or the store just didn't order any of those books.

Also, In the past 2 weeks I've been coming into the store around the same time. Both weeks I've been seeing new people in the store. I see then DC Comics in their hands. So, that's 1 thing DC has going for them. I'll wait to see these people are around in 6 months.

-------

But on to the 2 DC books I picked up: Batgirl #1 & Justice League International #1

First up: The JLI. Before I get into the book it's self. Lets' talk about the cover:

The Original Cover

The Altered Cover DC started to use a few days later.

The Cover to Issue #1

The lower right hand cover has gone through a lot of work since it first came out in Early June. First, there was a mystery woman down there (I still don't know who she is). Then, there wasn't anyone there & now there is someone there. That person is Godiva!

Who?

Yeah. I only vaguely know who she is (What I knew before read this issue was that there is a DC character named Godiva & she has big blonde hair. Now I also know she's British).

I will say this there is 1 thing the JLI book has over the Justice League: all the members on the cover show up in the issue & they go off to do something. Pages 1 & 2 it's stated that a team should be made. Pages 3 & 4 the team members are chosen. On Page 8 you see the entire team together & in costume. By Page 11 they are off on a mission. By page 16 they are fighting monsters. I'm guessing this what will take the Justice League at least 2 more issues to do.

Also, on page 1 it establishes that The Creeper, Metamorpho, B'wana Beast & Congorilla exist in the New 52 (They are seen in splash page montage of various characters).

I'm still not completely sold on Booster Gold's costume. I don't like the "W" on the costume, It seems pointless. It would work better if there was.. oh... I don't know... a W in his name. The rest of the costumes seem better good. Godiva's seems extreme generic. It's almost like no thought went into it.

There was also one thing I keep on thinking "Where is Skeets?" Did Booster just forget him at home or does Skeets, Booster's sidekick/personal assistant not exist in this New 52? Hope this point will be resolved in future issues.

2 more things:

- In this issue Batman doesn't seem like such an dick as he comes off in . But this Issue does happen 5 years later.

- Apparently Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) is Tony Stark now because the issue talks about them getting the team's jet from Queen Industries.

-------

Up next is Batgirl #1

One of the few books that truly had the Internet as buzzing. I wanted to pick this book simply to see how to do they resolve the whole "Hey! I'm not paralyzed from waist down anymore!" thing. Well... They do. And *Spoilers to a almost 30 year old story* she was still shot by the Joker & was paralyzed. But after 3 years of not being able to move or feel her legs, a "miracle" happened. It's said like one morning she just woke up & could feel/move them. We are not told what this miracle is but I sure hope that when they reveal what this "miracle" is that it's not something like Marvel did in the Spider-Man story One More Day: Ms. Gordon made a deal with a demonic force (it's not the devil because that would mean that the comic was favoring Judeo-Christian themes) so that she could use her legs again.

As for the story it's self: it was a fine 1st issue. It set up who Barbra is, what her backstory is, started to establish who her supporting cast is, set up a Villain & showed her out kicking some ass as Batgirl.

Not much else to say. A newspaper article is shown to have been written by Jack Ryder, who is the alter ego of The Creeper & a couple mistake Batgirl for Batwoman during on scene.

-------

Next week....

I'll be picking up 3 books: Batwoman #1, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 & Suicide Squad #1. Other books being released next week are 2 of the 4 Green Lantern books, Demon Knights with Etrigan the Demon, one of the Legion of Super-Heroes books, Mr. Terrific (which I've heard rumors might have Power Girl in it), Deathstroke, Grifter, Resurrection Man & Superboy!

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 223: Brian on the Aisle #10

2011-09-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

Movie Poster!

Well... for this tenth entry of the "Brian goes to the Movies & then Blogs about them" I went & saw: X-Men: First Class. You might be saying to yourself:

Self, didn't that come out a few months ago & it's shortly coming on DVD/Blu-Ray soon?

Uh... it's a bit odd that you refer to yourself as Self but yes. It did come out a few months & is shortly to be out on the movie playing discs. But as said in posts past I live just a few short blocks from a 2nd run movie theater & if I don't mind waiting I see most major movies at a discounted price (3 Dollars). Knowing that it was soon to be on DVD/Blu-Ray & that the theater stops playing said movies when they do that I had only a short while to see it. So, I did that yesterday.

What did I think about it? Was good. I think that my viewing of the summer comic book movies is in an interesting order. I saw Green Lantern disliked it. I saw Thor next, liked it. Now I seen this & not sure if I liked more or less then Thor but I have 1 left: Captain America: The First Avenger. So, that should be the best of the four. Yes, I know that Cowboys Vs. Aliens was based off of a comic book but it's not super hero related so I'm not counting that. Plus, I don't really want to see that movie.

There was 1 kind of major part of the movie that I'm not sure worked all that well: The Era. Sure, they say it's the 1960's & keep showing things from the swinging '60s (Clothes, Cars, Reel to Reel Tape Players, JFK, etc.) but all background stuff. It just didn't seem like the 1960's. Doctor Who on a smaller budget (I'm not sure but this is a movie & Who is a TV show which to me means less money behind it) seemed to have done the 60's quite nicely a few months back. This version of the 60's just seemed off. The X Uniform I think do not look like something that would have been present during the time period. I just looks too modern. If you can put the "what era are we actually in?" out of your mind you can have a quite nice time at the movies. It's not a bad movie.

There was few nitpick things:
- I'm not sure Havok's powers work that way. I think I knew what they were going for "He's Cyclops' bother so his powers should work in similar fashion" Uh... no. Just because their brothers doesn't mean they have similar powers.
- Beasts' makeup from X-Men 3 looked better. It just looked more Beasty to me. I will say that I did think effect done with Beast's feet while he wasn't so furry earlier on in the film did look cool. I did make me wonder how he got his feet into his shoes. They looked like he folded his toes under & that can't be comfortable to walk like that.
- Banshee wasn't Irish or at least he didn't sound Irish. Yes, he could have been the American born child of 2 Irish immigrants but that's not how it's in the comics.
- Why kill off the only black mutant before he has a chance to really do anything?

I have a pretty good basic knowledge of the X-Men mythos & who people are but I just didn't know who Azazel (red Nightcrawler) & Riptide (who I had to look up online for his character's name since I don't it was ever said in the movie & I missed during the end credits) are. I might do some more research on them later on, I might not.

I thought it was a fun movie. I liked the relationships between Charles, Erik & Raven. I thought the scenes of Charles attempting to pick up women (Your a mutant, I'm a Mutant, Mutants are sexy, let's have sex) was funny. I liked the cameo in the movie (one of the better cameos from the Marvel movies since it's slightly served a story purpose).

What do I give it? 3 mutated genes out of 5. I did think about of saying 3 X's out 5. But XXX is something else :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 222: It went Down!

2011-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Get use to seeing this since I'll be using it for the next month :) Also, you'll notice it now say New 12 instead New 11 as previous posted. I decided to add the Nightwing book to the list.

So.... yesterday the 1st of the "New 52" books came out. It was Justice League #1. What did I think of it? It was an ok book. Not really a spectacular book, just ok. In all the 1st issues I've read over the years this this was ok. Now as a "we are introducing a new universe & this is your first look" it was... uh... ok. Maybe less then that.

The issue set up (for the most part) the book/storyline but not the universe as a whole. Which is ok but the way the book was being advertised it seemed like "To know what is going on in the New 52, you must pick up Justice league #1 or forever be lost! *evil laughter with a lightning strike in the background*"

The book does not set up the universe or the team very well. About half of the team doesn't even show up in the book! It's mostly the Hal & Bruce Show with a special appearance by Superman (on the last page) & a subplot involving the man who will become Cyborg. I still don't understand why Cyborg is even a member of the team (to me he will always be a Teen Titan). I would have much rather had Martian Manhunter on the team. Make it a true classic JL line up.

What did I think of the writing? Fine. Geoff Johns' writing for me is a hit or miss: I'll either like or not. (Example: Blackest Night is Awesome, Brightest Day is Crap.) The issue had some nice exchanges between Batman & Green Lantern. I chuckled to myself aloud at some of the lines. The pacing of the book was bit slow but but then Mr. John likes to slowly build. I read somewhere that the 1st storyline will be 6 parts so hopefully the League is up a running by or before issue #3.

What did I think of the art? Nice. It's on level of what I've come to expect from a "Jim Lee drawn" book.

Would I pick up Issue 2? I might pick it up at the store & flip through it. Not sure I'd buy it.

Next week as you can see on the Checklist we have 2 books I've been looking forward to: Justice League International #1 & Batgirl #1. There are 11 other books coming out like Action Comics & Detective Comics being the 2 biggest of the set. But JLI & Batgirl are those I'm really looking forward to. I might flip through/buy AC depends on what I see in it.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 221: It's going down!

2011-08-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

It's all going down tomorrow. DC closes the chapter on the current DC Comics Universe with the release of Flashpoint #5 & opens the next chapter with the release of Justice League #1.

What do I think about? I'd think that you'd kind of know what I think it since your here at my personal blog & have pretty much only been talking about this since DC announced they were doing. :) As for what I think about the books themselves I'll be talking about them as they come out.

How do I feel about how DC has closed out this chapter? not quite sure. There doesn't seem to be a defining close out of the universe which I guess Flashpoint #5 is but across the books it seems to be scattershot of how they end the books. Some books seemed to just end & give no real resolution to the series (Booster Gold), seem like they end on cliffhanger & give no info on where that cliffhanger will be resolved (Power Girl), Have ended their storyline issues ago & have just been filling space for the few issues (Gotham City Sirens) or actually have a nice ending to the series (Batgirl). The books I mentioned end these ways but I think it's like that for other books, too. It seems that for many a series a New 52 change over came as much as a surprise the readers as to the people writing/drawing the books. I've noticed in a few different books that there seemed be a change. They all seemed to be building up to something in their respective story lines & then a few months ago that all changed. I'm guessing that when the people behind the books got words that they only had X number of issues to finish up. So did better then others. I picked up one of the Batman books (Batman #713) that did a rather nice "Final Issue" story. They managed to cover most of the main points in the life of Batman & Robin.

I didn't see any story that I thought was akin to "Whatever happened to the man of Tomorrow?" the last Silver Age Superman story from 1986 (who was then rebooted later that year with the mini series Man of Steel as part of the fallout for Crisis on Infinite Earths). I think I read some where that people at DC didn't want to do stories like that which I think is fine. But I don't think that all of the books should have a definitive ending to them. I keep finding that I felt let down by many of the books. Like "That's it? That's how we are ending things." Not with a bang but a whimper.

That is sort of how Comic Books work: There is so much built up at the start of a book. There are special graphics used just for 1st issues. Then when you get to the end of book there isn't much hoopla made about it. I think I only saw a handful of DC's comics that even had it clearly stated on their cover that it was the final issue. Some did alluded to it (like the tagline for final cover of Power Girl Up, Up ... And Away! or on the final cover of Gotham City Sirens with all the main characters walking away from each other).

As I said earlier & in previous posts: I'll be picking up a number of the books. After I read what I've read I'll most likely post my comments here. So look for those as the month of September rolls along.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 220: Now is time for Cake!

2011-08-25T12:41:00.003-07:00

For no other reason then this makes me laugh...

until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 219: Who is this aimed at?

2011-08-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

Early this week, DC released online what it's Motion Comic-esque Television commercial for the New 52 will be. You can see it here. I'd show it here but I can't. I linked the video over on my Facebook page & got some 2 different reactions. Both from fans of Comics, one bigger then the other:

The bigger of the 2 fans', Kirk's comment:

There is absolutely nothing about this ad that makes these comics at all interesting to people who aren't already fans.

And I agree with him. I'd also add that there is very little there to get people who are actually fans of comic to get excited about the books. It's almost a none ad: It tells you very little & if you didn't already know about the change up you could be very confused. You could also be a put off by the ad & decide just from that to not read any of those books.

The other comment by Abraham:

i liked it.. but, i'm not a huge fan of those comics. should I care about all these #1s? are any of these comics ones that I already like? are these #1s going to be worth anything; is that any reason to get them?

These are things that I'd like to talk about since I feel that this is emblematic of what I've either been feeling or heard regarding the change DC will be going through in a few weeks time.

Part of the reason DC is changing is to bring in new readers which Abraham could/would be one of them. In his comment he said that he wasn't a "huge fan of those comics". I'd say a good chunk of the New 52 titles were featured in that ad. If they can't bring in a guy who already reads comics, how are they going to bring in someone who does read comics?

He also has a few questions that have been asked & are floating around the internet regarding the New 52 & basically boil down to one main question: Why?

And I don't have a clear answer for him. Many people are giving up on DC & say they won't be reading any of the new 52 books. I think that's a bit drastic. I for one will be checking out a few of the books (not all of them). The ones that interest me someway. I'll also continue to read about what is said of the books on online as I have been. I may might pick up a book or two from doing that or a might not.

I will say this DC has done one thing: It has gotten people talking about them. Yes, in a mostly negative fashion but they are talking. So, I think they'd rather have people talking about them then not having people talking at all.

Going back to one of Abraham's questions: are any of these comics ones that I already like?

Maybe. "Like" is highly subjective but DC is not really premiering anything new. Any reader of DC Comics will recognize most every books as something that had been done before. Most of the titles have been used at least once or feature character who has been around awhile (the only possible except to this is maybe Batwing, a character who was created with in the last year)

So, it's not that DC has thrown out everything to start new again from scratch. It's just another reboot. Something that DC has done every couple of years since the 1950's. If we look at how those played out: Things changes on a massive scale: histories are altered, costumes are changed, characters die, dead characters come back to life, new characters are created, etc. Then tweaks & alterations are made as the months go along. Some stuff works, some stuff doesn't. After about a year or two things even out & we have to the new Status Quo. Sure, some people want to go back to the old way & they will always be around.

Another question from Abraham is this: are these #1s going to be worth anything; is that any reason to get them?

Much like with "Like", Worth is also subjective & Reasons can be subjective to. But my reasons for checking out the New 52 is to see where they are going with this. I haven't gotten to participate in a massive universe changing event like this before. I was too young to participate in Crisis in Infinite Earths, I was old enough to for Zero Hour but didn't participate in it (my readership of comics at the time was very spotty, getting comics where ever I might get them).

I'm excited to see where DC's crazy bus takes me. It's coming soon fast. The big change over happens on August 31st.

EDIT: In related news, over at Comic Vine, they have an article on choosing which of DC's new offerings to read. You can read the article here.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 218: The Checklist!

2011-08-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

Recently DC Comics put out a checklist of all 52 new #1's & when they would be out in a Comic Book Store near you!

But I took it upon myself to make my own Checklist:

It went from 52 to 11. Yes, there are 11 books (maybe more, more on that later) that I would think about picking up the first issues for in September. Let me tell you why...

But first if you notice that that each week is broken down into 13 books as week (13+13+13+13=52).

-------

August 31st: Justice League.

The 1st of the 52 books. The tent pole book. The one that is three to get you excited & set up the this whole new Universe for you! I wasn't sure about this one but thought I'd give it a go. Still not sold on Cyborg being a member of the Justice League.

September 7th: Batgirl & Justice League International.

I'm picking up Batgirl to see how they get Barbra Gordon up & out of the wheelchair. I'm picking up the JLI because it's got 1. Booster Gold & 2. Dan Jurgens writing the book.

September 14th: Batwoman, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Suicide Squad.

I've been waiting for the Batwoman book to come out for a while (it was scheduled for a February released) so I want to see this book. With Frankenstein & Suicide Squad they seem like they could be fun books.

September 21st: Catwoman & DC Universe Presents.

I like Catwoman, Judd Winick writes some good stuff & Guillem March does does nice art. As much as I disliked Brightest Day as a whole, the storyline I liked the most from it was Deadmans' & his story is continuing in & I also looking forward to seeing who else they have in the book.

September 28th: All-Star Western, The Flash, Justice League Dark.

I haven't read much of DC's western stuff or the Jonah Hex book (which I heard was good) but the same team from that book (Justin Grey & Jimmy Palmiotti, which I've read other stuff by them & it was good) continue his adventures here. Also, they have him in the early days of Gotham City & that does sound cool. I like The Flash & I like how Francis Manapul draws The Flash. I would be willing to give the new Flash book a chance. Like with DC's western stuff, I haven't read much of their Magic stuff but a team of their magic characters could be interesting, just wish they had a better name then Justice League Dark.

-------

That's it for the month of September & the 11 books I'd pick up. But, there are a few others that I'm not sure about but might be willing to take a look at:

- Mister Terrific: If only because Karren Starr, Power Girl's alter ego, might be in the book.

- Nightwing: Him facing with his past & interacting Haley's Circus, the circus his family worked for & where his parents died, could be cool.

- Batman: The Dark Knight: if only to see who exactly The White Rabbit is!

Which gets my count up to 14 Books. 14 of the 52. Not very many but that's mainly because of what I've seen of the other books It just doesn't interest me. But could change as the books roll out. We will just have to see.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This Is Entry 217: The New DC, Part 6

2011-08-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Or: What have we learned from San Diego ComicCon

Back in June I was doing making all sorts of posts related to the change up over at DC that will be in full effect next month (well... actually it starts on August 31st but most of the new stuff is coming out in September). At the later half of July was the San Diego ComicCon & news was streaming out from there. Some of that news also answered questions brought up here on this here Blog. I just haven't gotten around to making a post at is. But I'm here now to do that since if I don't do it now I'll most likely won't have the post made before the change up happens.

So.... did we learn?

On going back to a Pre-New 52/Pre-Flashpoint DCU? DC made a point to not introduce any trap doors or escape clauses into the new universe they have created. No one will remember the old universe not even time travelers (Like Booster Gold). But then I don't think Marvel had any plans to go back to the "old" universe when they did Heroes Reborn back in the early 90's. :)

Justice League International will be a United Nations-sanctioned team, which was made in response to the main Justice League. There will be a somewhat rotating cast of characters in the book. I have found no response to who that lady was that was taken off the cover of #1. And yes & the Batman who is part of the JLI is the same Batman who is part of the main JL. He's like Wolverine who was an X-Men & an Avenger at the same time.

Power Girl: It is unclear if she exists but Karen Starr, her alter-ego, does exist & might be a character in the Mister Terrific book. This fact would be the reason why I'd pick up the MT book.

Stephanie Brown, the current Batgirl: She is still part of The Bat Books but it was not said how. 1 thought I had is that she'll be back as a friend of Barbra Gordon.

The Justice Society: They may or not exist. Dan DiDio said that DC was they were "taking a rest on them." I'm not exactly sure what the means other then they don't have a book & won't be appearing in any others either for the next few months/years. But in this new Universe, the Wildstorm characters (Midnighter, Apollo, Voodoo, Grifter, etc.) have seemingly replaced the JSA in the history books as the costumed "super heroes" in the Pre-Superman era. The Stormwatch (the name of their group) have been working the shadows for years which how they'll fit them in. Maybe somewhere down the line the JSAcould be fit in somewhere like forgotten WWII era super heroes.

Superman's Timeline: the 1st story arc of Action Comics takes place early on in Superman's career (hence the "costume"). By the 2nd story arc I will have more of the present & will explain where the costume seen in the other books came from.

Collars: Why do the many of the New 52 costume have collars? Jim Lee said that there's a sense of majesty and royalty with the high collars & he wanted to make their costumes more formal.

I think that's about it. As I said we have about a month until the change happens. I'm mostly back before the change happen On how feel that DC has closed this chapter of it's history.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 216: The Blog Changeth!

2011-08-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today is the 4th Anniversary of my starting this Blog & I wanted to do something special for it.

So..... It now has a new background of covers of Comics from my collection. Also, I was thinking that the Blog needs a cool Banner. Something cool up top so I set about making one. It's what I had first had envisioned. But as you would see that the name is no longer Living For Wednesday but now My Life in a Longbox. I was thinking about the name. I still like the idea behind LFW (it's still implied in the subheading) but most of what I have here on the blog & planned to put up is not dependent on Wednesday (the day new comics come out on) but just dependent on whats in my collection (and yes the new comics from wednesday are added into that).

Now you might be asking yourself:

Self, what exactly is a Longbox?

Well, it's a bit weird that you refer to yourself as "Self" but... A Longbox is the term for long white cardboard boxes that Comic books are stored in. They are the exact size of the average comic book & 25 inches in length. Oddly sized books don't fit in them. There are shorter boxes called a Shortbox, it is 15 inches in length. I use the Shortbox to hold my collection (simply that what the stores I frequent sell & I find it's easier to store those boxes). I am using the term "Longbox" because it sounded better with the name "My Life in a Longbox" then "My Life in a Shortbox". I'm stating what a Longbox is because, as my Dad mentioned to me when I told him the name, I don't want people thinking that I'm referencing a coffin.

That is all for today. Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 215: Coming Attractions!

2011-08-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

This Sunday is the 4th Anniversary of this here Blog & changes are a coming! It's what I'm currently working on so that why I haven't posted anything recently. Look for those changes On Sunday!

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 214: Brian on the Aisle #9

2011-07-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

So.... Captain America came out this weekend & what did I go see? THOR of course!

As I mentioned before there is a theater a few blocks from my house & they are a "second Run" theater. Most everything there has already left the first run theaters by now. So if you don't mind waiting a few months (Like me) so can see some cool movies & with an added bonus: Every movie not matter when it's shown during the day costs you $3.

They have Thor playing & I had not seen Thor yet. So I could walk from my house & see Thor for 3 dollars or I could pay a whole lot more & go a few miles more to go see Captain America? Hmmm....

------

First off: I thought it was awesome! Sure it was about 2 hours long but it didn't feel that way (as some movies do). There was a smattering of jokes worth laughing at, cool cameos (Both by Stan Lee & Hawkeye), cool visuals, good villains, some nice nods to the comics (Thor's assumed name, the phrase "Journey into Mystery" & the visual design of the movie).

In watching it I thought back to the last comic book movie I had seen Green Lantern. Why was Thor Good & GL not so? They do have some comparable points. The biggest is both have a chunk of their film not take place on earth. Thor fleshed out their other world where GL didn't. Also, GL's other world (Oa) was just too darn dark even in the light. Thor's other world (Asgard) never got that dark even in the dark :) Another thing: Love interests. In Thor she actually did something, furthered the plot & had some character to her. In GL: not so much. In Thor they went with the villain you wanted (Loki) & threw in some cool secondary villains (The Frost Giants). With GL they didn't go with the right villain (Parallax instead or Sinestro) & threw in a pointless secondary villain (Hector Hammond). I should stop harping on the GL movie but it's hard not to, there is so much wrong with it.

But I don't have much move about Thor that hasn't been said elsewhere. So I'll just end this post here.

Thor: Good! Go see it if you haven't already. I give it 3 & half Hammers in a crater out in the New Mexican dessert out of 5!

Most likely the next post will talk about the info reveled by DC Comics about "the New 52" at this weekend San Diego Comic Con. Look for the in a next week or so.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 213: the road to the New DCU!

2011-07-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

We are a little over a month until DC resets things to make way for the New 52: the relaunch/reboot/reworking/screwing up the DC Comics line of books. Every week as I go into the comic book store & pick up my weekly allotment of books I'm seeing where some books will be ending on. In others not so much.

As I read the books I wonder what will happen to people:

- Stephanie Brown: Miss Brown is the current wearing of the Batgirl mantle & in the new DCU that mantle will once more be worn by Barbra Gordon. So... what happens to Steph? Her Batgirl series only has 1 more issue to finish up plot lines & (maybe) tell me where she'll be come september. I also wonder where the few members of her supporting cast will also be? We know where Barbra Gordon is going. But what about Wendy/Proxy? There is a detective Stephanie has been working with, will he still have a job in the new DCU?

- The Cast of Booster Gold: We know where He is in the New DCU (In the JLI) but what about his supporting cast? I assume Skeets will join him in the JLI but what about Rip Hunter? Michelle Carter? Rani? The last one has only had a handful of appearances in the Booster Gold book. With that now to be cancelled where will her store continue? The JLI book? Also, will Booster's job as "Time Cop" continue in the JLI book?

- Power Girl & Company: so far I've heard nothing of what is going to happen to her & her cast of characters in the New DCU. She has an issue or 2 left. Hopefully I get some answers.

I'll keep making posts like this as we enter this new age of DC Comics which means these posts will be happening every so often for the next few months.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 212

2011-07-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well... last month was a big month for the blog. 12 posts. That like 3 regular months worth of posts in one month. Then I haven't post anything in 3 weeks. I have really had much I want to say/I've just been to lazy to post stuff. :) I've got some stuff which will be posted when I get it ready. Look for it then.

Until then: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 211: Brian on the Aisle #8

2011-06-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of Brian on the Aisle this time we'll be looking at

*This is in no way a complete, well thought out review of the movie & sounds kind of angry. You have been warned!*

This is the 3rd Super Hero movie to come out this summer & so far the only one I've seen. I don't get out the movies very often (Last Movie I saw in theaters was Scott Pilgrim) but a friend asked me if I wanted to go. So, I went. I would like to go see X-Men: First Class. I'm still unsure about Thor (which has been out for sometime) & Captain America (which comes out next month). Going into this movie there wasn't that made me really excited to see it. I've never really been a big fan of Green Lantern but I was (kind of) interested in see how they'd translate it from page to screen. How did they do? eh. It's wasn't the best movie or the worse movie. It was ok. Did I feel I got my matinee movie price worth? I guess so.

From what I saw before I didn't really like art direction of the movie. It seemed too "dark" & the costume looked stupid. Well, the costume still looked stupid & the movie was a bit too dark. Also, what is with the eyes in this movie? If your in the Green Lantern uniform you will have weird looking eyes! Also, this movie really liked it's close ups' which I found odd. I don't need the extreme close up of someone's face! The extreme close up is almost never needed! Also, I found some of the special effects shots to be poorly done/unfinished. I could easily tell they were fake. Is I know they were fake but they shouldn't look that way.

I felt it tried to explain/introduce to many people & things. In the end didn't really seem to explain anything or anyone really well. It gave you enough information, most of the time. I also felt that their title character didn't seem to do much which is odd since he is the title character. If your main character doesn't even appear in your film until a few minutes into your film & those minutes were not filled with your movie's credits I think something might be wrong with your film.

This movie fell into something many Super Hero movies fall into: Let's just not have one villain but two! Why? Because two are so much better then one! There was Hector Hammond (who was under developed as a character & might as well been called a henchmen for all he did) & Parallax!

In the comics Parallax is seen as a giant bright yellow evil space bug, the sentient embodiment of fear traveling from world to world and causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia & a whole bunch of interesting stuff that would be to complicated to explain here. But in the movie it's a giant greyish black evil space octopus with a humanoid face doing some less interesting stuff like sucking the fear & their skeletons out of people to make it's self strong so it could seek out it's revenge on those that had wronged it! But at least it was a thing & not a menacing space cloud of Death that did nothing! (see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer's Galactus). I think starting your movie franchise with Parallax was a bad choice. Sure, Green Lantern doesn't have a great list of villains & his greatest foe was a good guy for whole movie but Parallax is only an interesting character after Hal Jordan has done a bunch of stuff. Parallax is your foe in Green Lantern 3 or 4, not Number 1. You can set him up as a super evil entity, mention him as a threat but don't use him. Let it build but you can now! SPOILERS: You threw him into the sun! But... that doesn't mean he's dead & might be back in Green Lantern 2: the Electric Boogaloo. :) And yes they did set up the sequel, you don't spend that much talking about another color ring without doing something with it.

Plus, there were a few too many "coincidence" in the movie that I think was just poor planing/writing & most of these seem to be based around Hector Hammond's character. Maybe if he was better developed they could have been worked out better. maybe.

How was Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern: fine but he wasn't Hal Jordan. He was Kyle Rayner (another Green Lantern from the comics) or some odd mix of Hal & Kyle. Reynolds just didn't seem to full pull of how I think a "Hal Jordan" should act.

So, high points & there were a couple: there were some funny jokes. The art direction was dark but nicely done. The relationship between Hal & Carol Ferris (played by Blake Lively) seemed real & was nicely played. The aliens looked cool (even if you didn't get to see much of them).

I think I've just read too many comic books & know the story lines too well to fully give into the movie. It's was an ok movie. It's not the worse Super Hero movie I've seen (That currently goes to the 1977 Doctor Strange which completely missed the mark).

What do I give this movie... Seeing at there are 9 Lantern Corps (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Black & White), I give it a 2 & half power rings out of 9.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 210: 616

2011-06-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Let's step away from DC for a moment to talk about Marvel (Kind of). Today's date of the Sixteenth of June & has a somewhat geeky meaning to it. If you use the American form of abbreviating the date (Day then Month), today is 6/16. Why is that Geeky? Unofficially in the Marvel Comics multiverse the designation for the main universe is 616.

According to Wikipedia the origin of "616" is this:

The term was first used in "Rough Justice," a story credited to both Alan Moore and Alan Davis published in July 1983 by Marvel UK in the anthology comic The Daredevils (and was later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback). Saturnyne uses the term to differentiate Brian Braddock, the Captain Britain of the regular Marvel Comics universe, from the other members of the Captain Britain Corps. The designation was later confirmed by the American branch of Marvel Comics in the Excalibur title, which frequently referenced Captain Britain's early UK-published adventures. This comic was written by Chris Claremont, who had created Captain Britain, and by Alan Davis, the artist on the UK-published series.

Alan Moore is usually credited with creating the term (for example by Marvel editor Tom Brevoort). However, Alan Davis has stated that the designation of Earth 616 was actually first made by Dave Thorpe, the previous writer of the UK-published Captain Britain stories.

In addition, a difference of opinion exists regarding the selection of the number 616. In 2005, Alan Moore's son-in-law John Reppion (who is married to Alan Moore's daughter Leah Moore), stated on an Internet message board that the number 616 was arbitrarily chosen by Moore and had no significant meaning, saying it "was just a random number of no significance chosen because people always seemed to be talking about 'earth 2' or 'earth 4' but never any higher numbers." However, Alan Davis contends that Thorpe specifically chose the true Number of the Beast to reflect his feelings about the modern superhero genre.

I say this term is "unofficial" because some of the Marvel's Management don't like the term & don't use it. But this hasn't stopped some of Marvel's writers from putting this designation in their Books (various Marvel Uk series, the Excalibur series, Marvel 1602 #6, Marvel Knights 4 #15, Uncanny X-Men #462, the Exiles series & in Marvel's very own Official Handbooks). Writer Steven Grant even tried to change when the main Marvel Universe fell in the numbering system. In the final story arc of the X-Man series (Issues 71-74), He referred to the Marvel Universe as Earth 611 because the godlike entity known as Qabiri has been "cleansing" some of lower realities. Grant's change was most likely an allusion to the events of DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" but his change has not be adopted by other writers. I got this of this info also from Wikipedia.

Hope you day is Marvelous & as always Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 209: The New DC, Part 5

2011-06-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

DC Comics keeps putting out info relating to the *new* DC come September & I shall continue to make posts about it!

As of this morning DC over on their blog, The Source has started to roll out the Solicits & most of it is stuff we saw last week but there is some new info in there. Now from the text, I confirmed 3 things:
1. Some of the books sound really uninteresting.
2. Zatanna is now a confirmed member of Justice Leaague Dark.
3. The guy I couldn't name from Justice League International is August General in Iron (It's odd name but that just the english translation, he's from China).

With the solicits I saw 1 new image & 1 altered image:

NEW IMAGE!

It's for Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.. That looks (kind of) awesome! I think this makes a better cover image then what was posted before.

ALTERED IMAGE!

It's for Justice League International! Why is there a blank area in the lower right hand corner?

Well....

There use to be someone there! Now I don't who that was (I was thinking Troia) or why they were taken off the the image but this was the only image I saw that was altered from it's previous posting.

That's all I have for you for now. Marvel is making a big announcement today & when I find out about that & I'll make a post on it. EDIT: Or not. I read about what the "big announcement" was & it's just that a new Spider-Man book is coming out in the fall.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 208: More DC, Part 3

2011-06-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

I think this will be the last part of the Brian & Scott talk about the DC Reboot but there could be more. This the 3rd part of a conversation. Entry 206 & 207 are the first 2 parts of the conversation.

-----

Good points and yes, I see the comparisons to Heroes Reborn as well. You're right.

Thanks. You have also made good points. HR is the best example I think what what seems to be going on but we'll just have to wait & see how it turns out.

But I think it's been planned like Steven Moffat and Russell T Davies planned out Doctor Who seasons. I think DC has planned it all for a very long time. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

SIDE NOTE: Those not in the know of who Russell T Davies & Steven Moffat are. Davies is the man who brought "Doctor Who" back to television in 2005 after a sixteen year hiatus. Davies has stepped away from the production & Moffat has taken his place as the main man behind the show.

I'm not sure. I think the Moffat run of Doctor Who is a departure of what Davies what doing with the show. Moffat has said that when he came on as the head of the show that he wanted to change many of the things about the show. So I'm not sure how much Davies has a say in what happening now.

Sucky thing for me is I can only get bits and pieces. I still need to finish Brightest Day and read Flashpoint.

I did not like Brightest Day as presented in my rant that was posted as Entry 195. I'd stay away from the main series if you could, just read about what it was on online & say the money. Most of the other stuff that spun out of Blackest Night that I read was good.

Now Flashpoint is still going on (It started last month) & I'm not currently reading it since their are so many related books & I don't have the money to pick up every book. So, I'd wait, like me, until they are all collected & read it then.

I'll say one thing for DC, I'm very hooked on everything. 52 Earths, Hal and Barry back, etc. It's all fun.

In the past few years I've been reading more & more DC related stuff. Most of what I've read has been good. There has been a few clunkers along the way but that's to expected. I've now been pulling back on what DC & Marvel books I read. Partly because I've gotten a bit burnt out & partly because I just don't have as much money anymore to spend on comics.

If this is truly what they say though, a real re-start, I'll just wait it out and only get trades of collected new JLA and JLI (hey, I'll try ANY JLA.) I'll read them and wait for the next reboot.

I plan on picking up the new JLI books since I liked the book it's spinning out of Justice League: Generation Lost, one of the better things I read to come out of Brightest Day. Not sure about the new JL books, I may pick up an issue or two to see what it's about.

Will you be picking up the Justice League Dark trade when it comes out? It's the League book with many of the Magical DC characters all teamed up together. I'm not sure how I feel about. Like the main League book, I'd pick up an issue or two to see what it's about.

I could never love a DC Universe/multiverse with no JSA, but I could like certain aspects of it (JLA, Flash, GL).

I don't think think they are truly gone. DC would be stupid to ignore the JSA & other characters (Power Girl, The Marvel Family, etc.) since there are fans of those teams/characters. They could be second tier of titles which DC will mostly produce. They have released what the launch titles are but in 6, 9 months their are bound to be books that don't work & there will be production slots that need filling.

Also, they are making DC Universe Presents, an anthology book which is being billed as "a new series that will focus on multi-issue story arcs each featuring a different superhero from the DC Universe’s rich cast of characters". So, some of those character who don't have a series might pop up there?

But this is all conjecture. We'll just need to sit back & see how it all unfolds. And if we don't like it there is always old comics we can read! :)

------

With this post it makes June 2011 one of the most post filled months here on the Living For Wednesday blog, it ties with September 2010 with 9 entries. The most post filled month was January 2010 with 10 entries. But, it's only June 12th: we still have the rest of the month to go. I still got stuff to talk about & show you all which would easily fill more then 1 more entry. So, Thanks DC: for giving me something to talk about!

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 207: More DC, Part 2

2011-06-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

It's another day & another double post!

This is a continuation of the Conversion between Me & Scott over the *new* DC that started on Facebook, continued in Entry 206 & continues here.

--------

Some good answers

Thanks. You gave some stuff to think about & stuff worth responding to.

but not everything convinces me that DC isn’t pulling our leg.

As for DC pulling our collective legs I'm not sure. This could be the new direction but I haven't read much from DC other them the solicitations & they don't say much. Everything hinges on the final issue of Flashpoint, which is the last book that will be released before the reboot & Justice league, the 1st reboot book released.

I didn’t know Multiversity was due already. That’s a shame.

All I found talking about it was from 2009 & they said it was coming out sometime in 2010. I found nothing talking about it post 2009. So, what happened to it: I don't know. Only Grant Morrison & DC know.

The Earth 2 Superman who died in the Infinite Crisis was the true one. The one from old DC, who went to the pocket dimension with Lois, Alex Luthor of Earth 3 and Superboy Prime.

Yes. I know that. I just didn't mention it. :)

In that JSA annual, they said Superman and Powergirl were missing. I thought they said they went missing together.

If I remember correctly, it's been awhile since I read that issue: It said that Superman went missing first (During the 1st Crisis most likely) & their Power Girl went out later looking for him afterwards

The original Power Girl didn’t disappear after the Crisis so I take this as the Earth 2 we saw in that annual was a new Earth 2 created after the 52 earths were created. NOT the original. Which means why make the Superman of the new Earth 2 vanish? It’s refrenced in that JSA annual and the 52 series. I think it’s a loose end.

I think that was a reference to the Crisis on Infinite Earths: He went missing from Earth-2 then & some how when this new Earth-2 was created this carried over since at the time he still existed just in a pocket dimension & would have still been "missing" from that Earth-2. Why have certain things carry over? I don't know. This is just me trying to make sense of things.

In the new 52 (what? 52 books? Not 53? Not 49? 52? Why that number?)

Why 52 new books? I don't know other then they seem to like the number. The 2 numbers can look like the same number placed back to back & flipped over. So, it might be that.

there is no refrence in the adverts for the JSA, Powergirl, Stargirl, etc.

I know! I mentioned no JSA & talked about no Power Girl about the very thing in Entry 205!

Now you’re right about sales. But the JSA are very popular. They’ve made it to the JLU and Brave and the Bold cartoons and Smallville (at least several members did). Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line is doing a JSA theme wave (wave 19). Of this toy wave and all three of those shows, Star girl is shown. Why not give her a book? Granted, Mister Terrific was given a new book, but besides Hawkman, he is the only one. And in Infinite Crisis we found out the new Mister Terrific would’ve been native to the old Earth 1.

Being in the JLU, B&B & Smallville is only the allusion of popularity. It's popular enough with the people putting together those shows & toys. But they might not be popular with the public at large.

I don't think Stargirl is a strong enough character to warrant a book. I don't think Mr. Terrific is a strong enough character to warrant a character either but he's getting a book somehow. In the JSA annual you also find out that he has a Earth-2 counterpart but I don't think he became Mr. Terrific there.

Why did Hawkman get a book? I think it's because of his involvement in Brightest Day. why would that matter in a rebooted DC? Not sure but if you read the end of BD I does look like DC is setting him up from something. Like something you'd tell in a Hawkman series.

So no old Earth 2 carry overs? Even popular ones?

At this point in time: no. Which is sad. I like Earth-2 & the people who emanated from it's universe. I had also been enjoying the Power Girl book.

There is a list compiled of the 52 Earths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DC_Multiverse_worlds

I've seen it before & used it as a reference before.

On it we see that the main DCU is Earth 0, Earth 1 is their “fresh look Earth” that had two books recently, and the list goes on.

Ok. I'll give that what I was calling Earth-1 last time is actually Earth-0. But what 2 books are you thinking of from Earth-1? So, far only Earth-1: Superman has been released (Earth-1:Batman is still in the works) & I'm not even sure that "Earth-1" ties into the main DCU. I have looked at the E1:S book & thought it was ok. Not sure if was the best "start" to a universe.

Take note of Earth 16. Sure, they goofed up, but they made a point of saying the new Young Justice cartoon on Cartoon Network takes place on Earth 16. They never said that about the Brave and the Bold cartoon, which also began after the 52 earths were introduced. The new Green Lantern cartoon coming this fall ALSO was never given a certain Earth. Why was the Young Justice Earth given Earth 52?

I hadn't heard this since I haven't been watching the YJ cartoon or following any news around it. But I do known in the past people have said that certain people have been from certain other earths & then been corrected later on.

Bottom line: I agree with the concept you mentioned that Barry returned to the wrong Earth. This reboot is a sales gimmick. You are right. I doubt it will be for a single month and honestly, it may be for a year.

Of course it's a sale gimmick: Comic Nooks are built on sale gimmicks but I'm sure how long this will go on for. I think saying it'll be gone in a year is being short sighted. A one month is just crazy what with what DC is launches part of this reboot (The Day & Date digital releasing).

As for it will all turn out to be: Barry's on the wrong earth I don't know. I would kind of sucky if they did that since that's why they are just doing in Flashpoint.

We see 2 different costumed versions of Superman and Superboy.

We have seen 2 different covers from 2 different artists which means that could still be 1 Superman & 1 Superboy. I heard that Action Comics & Superman might take place in different point in time (AC being earlier then S) so that would account for the "different" costumes but that just conjecture.

We see Green Lantern remaining about the same

They didn't want to change it so much. They have a movie to tie into vaguely & Geoff Johns, the writer behind all things GL, is high up in company & was most likely in all the planning so his favorites got to stuff they way he wanted.

yet so many are drastically changed from Harley Quinn to Wondergirl.

Not sure about WG, but Harley's costume looks a bit like the one from the upcoming Batman video game. So, they might of changed to be like that so new readers wouldn't be "confused" about why didn't look the way she did in the game.

The peculiar absence of anyone originally from the old Earth 2 (no JSA, Powergirl, Jade whom they just brought back), Earth S (No Captain Marvel or Marvel Family relaunch) or Earth X (no Freedom Fighters relaunch).

You do bring up a good point. There do seem to be quite a few people missing from the new DC.

The fact that in the new Action 1 it’s listed that Superman was the first hero (again no JSA?), all of this just adds up to more mystery.

This just brings back up the point that since Superman was the 1st published super hero comic, he'd of course be the first hero. The JSA were just but first to make Superman seem younger.

I bet they just put the regular DCU on freeze for a period, play with these concepts, and then after it’s done it goes back.

Maybe. But there isn't really anything "new" there. It's just "old" concept doing in a slightly new way. I didn't see anything I didn't already recognize. There were no new characters. So, I don't see why this couldn't just be done in the regular DCU & make the changes gradually.

Hmmm. A comic company stopping everything and releasing a whole bunch of temporary new number one issues? Where have I heard that before? Maybe I should go ask Super Soldier, Dark Claw and Spider-Boy? Oh wait. Amalgam only got those number one issues. I’m referencing to that excellent gimmick when DC and Marvel stopped all their books for a couple weeks and published merged books as “Amalgam Comics”.

But you knew when they did Amalgam that they weren't going to do anything beyond those #1 issues. Here they seem to be saying "This is where we are going & this is what we are doing!"

*sigh* Wouldn't it be awesome if they did another Amalgam series? Still one of my favorite events/gimmicks.

Marvel did it gain when they stopped all their X-books and published new number one books called the Age of Apocalypse. This is the same thing.

But that was clearly an alternate dimension & you knew that they never have that as the main universe. Also, AoA happened before Amalgam.

What this seems more like is Marvel's "Heroes Reborn": After Onslaught (remember Onslaught?) killed most the major characters (except for the X-Men) were shunted off to a side dimension. All had new #1's, new costumes & the characters were "different" from the version pre-Onslaught. They were written & drawn by different people then before. They were "reborn"! Certain aspects of their earlier stories were redone in this new Universe & they were trying to get new readers to read comics. Does that sound familiar? Flashpoint is DC's Onslaught. We are going into "DC Heroes Reborn"

How long did Heroes Reborn last? a year. What happened? "Heroes Return" which brought them back to the main Marvel Universe & resumed their lives as normal to new talk of it ever again.

Don’t worry.

I would have said Don't Panic or added "Be happy". :)

All those clues will pan out someday.

eventually.

Is it smart playing such a long game? No. They’re losing readers and playing with their heads, and not in a good Sixth Sense way.

They'll continue to play with their hardcore reader because they know no matter what they do they'll still have people buying the book if only to complain about how bad it is.

Still, that’s my thinking. I could be wrong.

And I've given mine & I could also be wrong.

It could just be a bunch of guys saying “wouldn’t this be kewl if…” and “oops, well lets try this then”.

It's what they have always done, why would they change it now? :)

Guess we’ll see.

Yes we shall.

I look forward to your reply. Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 206: More DC!

2011-06-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

So....

I've been posting images of the *new* costumes of the reboot DC Characters over on my Facebook account. Most of the pictures have gotten some discussion going on but one has gotten a bit more going on there others. A friend of my mine, his name is Scott, who use to read comics but hasn't due to him not have enough discretionary funs to do so has been commenting & has been asking some questions. Answers that I think need more space then an answer in a Facebook reply thread could handle.

This all was posted under this picture of the *new* Deathstroke:

And Scott's comments start like this:

Kewl! I didn't realize it was 1994!

My reply is Everything old is new again!

His comment of it being 1994 again id one I've made & other have made. Another of the designs & characters all seem to be from an earlier time. Either the early 1990's or the late 1980's.

I still think it's all fake, and we'll find out this is one of the 52 earths. I still think they're not finished telling the story they've been leading up to for years, with the Anti-Monitor, 52 Earths, etc. I think we'll find everything back to normal after a month or so.

Now what Scott said here is a theory I've seen elsewhere around the 'Net. One theory I think is interesting is this: After Flashpoint, Barry Allen attempts to return to the main DCU but missed & ends up in this *new* DCU. It one of the better explanations I've read of how DC will explain the change over. Plus, it also gives them an "easy out" if it does work: Just have Barry return to the "Normal" DCU. :)

My reply was It is one of the 52 earths, It's the main Earth! :)

It is. The Earth where most of the comics that come out monthly which most people would consider the Main/Normal DCU is categorized as being Earth-1 (or Earth One). The First of the 52 Earths.

I continue....

As for everything going back to "normal" in a month or so: I seriously doubt that. DC this will most likely be how the comics will be for a couple of years before they make another change.

I still feel this way. I don't think DC would renumber/relaunch all their books & redesign their character for a few month stunt. Most likely over the next year they'll see what worked & what didn't: cancel a few book that didn't do well. The Big name book will return to their "legacy" numbering in 2 years & a number of the costumes will revert to a more "classic" version. And life will go on.

Me some more: Also, DC introduced the 52 earths about 5 years ago & have still yet to do much with them. I sort of wonder why they even brought back the "multiverse" if they aren't going to do anything with it?

I still wonder this & it will brought up again. Scott's rebuttal is this...

Because they are playing the long game. Whatever they are planning, they are building up to it. Come on! They bring back the alternate Earths, the GL Corps, Earth 2 Superman, The classic Legion AND the 90's Legion, The Anti Monitor? They have been planning this since before Infinite Crisis! Just wait. And how could it be the main Earth? JSA and Power girl are big sellers. They don't bring them back but they do bring back Men at War, Blackhawks and Omac? OMAC? No. It's all a plan.

Now since this was a public place we have another my friend's chime in. Here is Kirk:

Scott, You have more faith in the management of modern comics than I do. When the guy who wrote an incredibly awesome Justice League cartoon can't manage to recreate that same magic in the comic book because editorial is so incompetent, it really says something about the industry.

I think he referencing Dwayne McDuffie's work on the Justice League Unlimited cartoon & the Justice League comic book.

I do agree with Kirk that Scott might have too much faith in the management & I do think DC is "playing the long game" they have to but I doubt anyone at the company has been "planning this since Infinite Crisis". If they have, they haven't been doing a good job at it. It's all over the place.

To answer his question: How could this be the "main Earth"? It could be. They are the ones stirring the ship, we are only passengers.

Scott says that JSA & Power Girl are big sellers but I don't think that are as big a seller as he thinks. Comics are as big sellers as they once were. Even the top sellers aren't as big as they once were. They are no one where near 90's levels but they aren't even where they were 10 years ago.

Scott goes on...

And what about the fact that Power girl found Earth 2, and they already had a Power girl and they claimed their Superman was missing? Never followed up on.

Scott references the Justice Society Annual from 2008 where Power Girl makes it back to her "home dimension" of Earth-2. They did have a Power Girl there. As for Scott's comment they "never followed up on" Earth-2's Superman being missing, they did in the book.

Before Earth-2 was whipped out as part of Crisis on Infinite Earth, their Superman went out to fight. That was the last they ever saw him. Now when Earth-2 was recreated as part of the 52 Earth at the end of Infinite Crisis they still assumed him missing not knowing that he had died during the events of IC.

Now beyond this Annual they have yet to return this Earth since they have not had a reason too. (Power Girl knew it wasn't her Earth-2 anymore, has returned to Earth-1 & has made that her home). As with many of the other Earths. A number where visited in Countdown but many other haven't been. This to me, at this moment, seem like a missed opportunity.

Scott has another CoIE related question...

And why bring back the Anti Monitor just to have him hang around the anti matter universe?

I wasn't sure why he had returned but in what I found online: He returned because the Multiverse & the Monitors had returned. Now that to me seems kind of stupid.

Scott then asks about something that is just in the begin stages of what DC is doing..

And why did Constantine and Swamp Thing come back only to be rebooted? They didn't need to return for that.

Since they haven't done anything yet They'll carry over into the rebooted DCU. Why? I don't know. I don't work at the company & it's the best answer I have.

Then Scott starts to ask a whole Bunch of questions.

And some of the stuff on Rip Hunters chalkboard hasn't come true.

Not yet anyways. :) Rip's chalkboard might also reference things from alternate timelines.

And Hawkgirl wasn't resurrected for some reason.

It makes a better for a better story: this is the only reason I can think that she wasn't.

And has Starboy fulfilled his whole mission?

Yes. If your talking about the Starman who was a member of the JSA recently. He finished his missions (He had more then one) & had returned to his own time a few years ago. If not then I'm not sure who he's talking about.

Scott:

And what about Multiversity?

I'm guessing your talking about the 8 issue mini-series by Grant Morrison that is set with in the 52 earth Multiverse. As I've read the 1st 6 issues would all focus on 6 different earths where the last 2 issues would be about the the Multiverse as a whole. This series was expected some time last year. I can't find out much about other this when it was announced a few years. It is also something I've thought about. It seems like Morrison has gotten involved in Bat stuff lately. I'm not sure if he'll get around to it or not.

Scott:

And why wasn't Ralph resurrected?

At the end of 52, Ralph & Sue were seen as "Ghost Detectives". Actual Ghosts who are detectives & there is 1 other mention of them doing that I found. Then they disappeared into a light. So, they might of gone to heaven? I don't know. I'm just realting what I've read online. I do think a Ghost detective book with Ralph & Sue would be kind of cool.

Why was it so important that Prof Zoom brought back Barry?

So that we can have Flashpoint! :) This will maybe said at the end of that series.

And why make Earth 1 such a special jump on Earth if they were going to do the same thing on the main Earth (Earth 0)? It just doesn't add up.

I'm not sure what he's asking here. He might be referencing the Earth 1 line of books (so far only Earth 1: Superman has been released with an Earth 1: Batman in the works). I'm not sure if that line of book are even mention to tie into the main DCU.

As for things not adding up: they don't always in comics since we don't know everything that is going on or will go on. We will just have to wait & see.

Until I have more from Scott or other I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 205: The New DC, Part 4

2011-06-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is the second time this month I've posted twice in a day but as I mentioned today DC released the images for the *new* Superman, Supergirl & Superboy titles, which can be seen Here.

I guess they aren't changing the "S" on his costume it was just drawn weird on the JLA cover. :) As for my reactions of the super costume changes over all: I think the top half of Superman's costume looks fine (it's different but fine), not liking it from the waist down. Supergirl's new costume looks... interesting, not really liking the boots but I do like the cape. And Superboy is now an android or something. And with those last titles: Action Comics, Superman, Supergirl & Superboy. All 52 of the rebooted titles have been announced.

But there is 1 title (well.. 2 titles) that are not on that list. Those 2 titles are Booster Gold & Power Girl. Looking at the what they have announced I'll still be able to see Booster monthly in Justice League International & I'm fine with that since I'll still be able to see him on a monthly basis in book relaunched book I was enjoying. Hopefully there is a enough time in his own book after Flashpoint to tie up some plot threads before the reboot so the readers of the book (Me & others) can fell that the plot threads weren't just dropped because of the reboot. I do wonder if any of the status quo from Booster's book will carry over (Will he continue being a "time cop"? What happens to Rip Hunter? More importantly what happens to Rani?)

But I have yet to read where I might be able to the continuing adventures of Kara Zor-L/Karen Starr: Power Girl!

Sketch of Power Girl drawn for me by Artist Colleen Coover at Emerald City ComiCon 2010.

I would have thought that if her book was continuing on that she would be announced with the other the Super titles since that is her linage (she is from Krypton after all! One from an alternate dimension but Krypton none the less). Also if she don't have her own title where might she show up? In the Justice Society book? That, like her own book, is apparently being cancelled since it wasn't listed as reboot title. Where might she end up?

Will she even be around? It happens anytime a reboot happens: Some characters are altered & other just disappear. But I'd think that would happen to Power Girl, what with her being a popular character. But I don't know. I wasn't there when they decided on what was New DC & what wasn't.

I've enjoyed both books & have had a some healthy run. Booster Gold has run for 47 issues. Power Girl has run for 24 issues. They are bound to have a few more put out before the reboot. This might mean that each will reach a milestone. Power Girl will get to Issue 25 & I think I know what that issue will be able. One I've been excited to read. Booster might not reach Issue 50. That is 3 issues away & the reboot happens in 2 months so until they ship 2 issues in a 1 month he might not make it. So, I might not get any meaningful resolution in either book. It would be nice but I'm not sure if I'll get it.

I'll just have to continue to do as I have done: continue to watch, read & hope for the best.

---------

Out of the 52 rebooted titles, here are the 10 I'm thinking about checking out:

- DC Universe Presents: Written by Paul Jenkins. Art by Bernard Chang. The sole anthology book. I like anthologies & I liked the old "DC Comics Presents" series.
- Justice League International: Written by Dan Jurgens. Art by Aaron Lopresti. I was already planing on picking up this book anyways before the reboot was announced. Plus, It's got Jurgens on the book!
- Justice League Dark: Written by Peter Milligan. Art by Mikel Janin. I waant to see what exactly this book is all about.
- The Flash: Written by Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato. Art by Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato. I like the Flash.
- Catwoman: Written by Judd Winick. Art by Guillem March. I enjoy both Judd's & Guillem's work.
- Batgirl: Written by Gail Simone. Art by Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes. I want to see how they get her up & about.
- Batwoman: Written by J.H. Williams III & Haden Blackman. Art by Amy Reeder. As with the JLI was already planning on picking this up anyways.
- All-Star Western: Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Grey. Art by Moritat. I don't read many westerns but the promotional text sounds interesting.
- Suicide Squad: Written by Adam Glass. Art by Marco Rudy. Interested in see what this is & where it goes.
- Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE: Written by Jeff Lemire. Art by Alberto Ponticelli. It's looks like it could be good.

Yes. The 10 titles I'd be willing to check out, the other 42 don't really hold much interest. Now I might also check them out but at this point in time & from what little I've read these are the ones that interest me.

Hmmm... I said I wanted to do more here on the Blog & This marks the 6th post for the month. Thanks DC! :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 204: The New DC, part 3

2011-06-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

DC continues to release images relating to the 52 *new* series coming out at the end of the summer & I'll continue to post my comments about it!

Last time i wondered about where Martian Manhunter & Blue Beetle will be in this brave new world. DC has answered: BB is once more getting his won series & where is J'onn J'onzz? Well... He's joined Stormwatch!

Yes, the group/team from DC's Wildstorm imprint. He's standing with Apollo & Midnighter. Now from what I've read J'onn isn't, crossing over to that "universe" but that they & the rest of the Wildstorm characters are coming to the main DCU. But I could be wrong: what I read was kind of vague:

Stormwatch is a dangerous super human strike force whose existence is kept secret from the world. Jack Hawksmoor and the rest of the crew look to recruit two of the deadliest super humans on the planet: Midnighter and Apollo. And if they say no? Perhaps the Martian Manhunter can change their minds.

Next up: The Suicide Squad!

Pictured Are Harley Quinn, King Shark & Deadshot. Now I'm not sure if the whole "squad" is just them or has other people in it too (Again vague text). But Harley is getting a drastic new look. A friend on Facebook said that he thought it "appropriate that Harley Quinn is now a member of the Suicide Squad, since she now looks like a Suicide Girl." I agree with him but if she is to be one, she'll need more tattoos. :) Also, I thought she looked a bit like the costume she'll be wearing in the new Batman video game: Arkham City. Also, I can't really get a good look at Deadshot's new look but I'm not sure i like it. I thought his old look was awesome!

What DC has to say:

Harley Quinn! Deadshot! King Shark! They’re a team of death-row super villains recruited by the government to take on missions so dangerous – they’re sheer suicide! Who will be the first to crack under the pressure?

Next up is another costume that make be think we have traveled back 20 years to the 1990's: Deathstroke!

I don't have anything really to say about it other then it's seems very 1990's in look.

A book I wouldn't mid seeing what they do with it is All-Star Western with Jonah Hex as the lead character:

From Dc's own website, the premise is:

Even when Gotham City was just a one-horse town, crime was rampant – and things only get worse when bounty hunter Jonah Hex comes to town. Can Amadeus Arkham, a pioneer in criminal psychology, enlist Hex’s special brand of justice to help the Gotham Police Department track down a vicious serial killer?

The book will also have back-up stories featuring DC's other Western characters.

Next is: Blackhawks, a group of characters that I don't think has had anything done with them in awhile. Most of the stuff I know about this group is from the 1950's & 1960's.

The image looks very G.I. JOE & how the book is being described It sounds like it:

Blackhawk is an elite group of mercenaries made up of brave men from around the world equipped with the latest in cutting-edge hardware and vehicles. Their mission: Kill the bad guys before they kill us. A set of contemporary tales that battle the world’s gravest threats.

Up next, DC tries to their hand at another of Jack Kirby's character. I'm not sure if it's going to go well. I hasn't in the past. This is OMAC:

DC describes the book as:

A man loses control of his life as the omnipresent Brother Eye transforms him against his will into a powerful killing machine

The art looks very Kirbyeque & I'm not sure that is a good thing. If they want to do stuff with the the characters he created do something new or don't do anything at all. No oen will ever bee Jack Kirby no matter how hard they try.

Just today we have gotten full looks at Superman & Supergirl new costumes & I have think about them a bit. I'm still waiting on what they are going to do with Power Girl.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 203: The New DC, part 2

2011-06-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm back with more comments on the forth coming rebooting of the DC Comics Universe!

But first some links:
- Lewis Luvhaug (Linkara of Atop the Fourth Wall) wrote up some of his feeling towards the reboot over on his Blog.
- My go to spot for commentary & news surrounding the reboot is Comics Alliance. They recently put up an break down of all the time DC has righted it's self over the years which can be read here.

-----

I've been following the announcements of the New DC over at their Blog: The Source & over the couple of days they have been posting images relating to the 52 new books they are launching at the end of the summer. I'd now like to give some of my comments about the images.

Let's start off with the Justice League:

The 1st image DC showed us of this brave new world we are entering into. It was also out first image to see what's changed in this new world where some people have gotten "new" costumes. I put quotes on the word new since most of these are the old costumes with some changes. Superman now has a collar, an altered "S" & maybe new outer underpants. They have alerted Wonder Woman's costume a bit more (still wearing pants) but giving her an armband & choker.

This line-up is back to a more classic line-up then what they have at the moment. They are only missing Martian Manhunter (who I have yet to see where he fits into the new DC). They have added someone new to the League: Cyborg, a character who I'll always see as a Teen Titan not matter what else he does. He has gotten some new cyborgy elements. The rest of the group all seem to have basically their "classic" costumes with some minor tweaks to them.

Next up: Justice League International:

Fresh off their time in the Justice League: Generation Lost book, the JLI is back! And most everyone looks ok. Except for Booster Gold: What on Rao's green Krypton is he wearing?

That was my first reaction to the costume but I've had sometime to take it all in & there is only a few things I didn't like about: It's the mask & the "w" around his neck. If they when with the more classic mask & maybe had the collar from the '80's: I could be good with the costume. I kind of like the sleeves.

Let's talk about the rest of the team: Batman (yes, he's on the JLI & the JL), Rocket Red (most likely the one they might in JL:GL), Fire & Ice (can't have one without the other!), Vixen (which a slightly modifired costume since last I saw her), Guy Gardner (because you need a Lantern on your team & he with the team before), Dude in the back with the spear (He is/was a member of that team from China) & Other Lady! I'm not sure who she is. My first thought is that it's Troia but that's a complete guess.

2 people who were part of JL:GL that aren't presented are Captain Atom & Blue Beetle. I know where Atom is (in his one book) but I have yet to see where DC has put Jaime Reyes (BB's real name). He was with the group when Generation Lost ended & hopefully the new JLI book will fill us in on what's up to. But since it's Reboot I wouldn't put it beyond DC to make Ted Kord (who's currently dead) back as BB. Maybe even put a resurrected, younger Ted Kord in the Beetle armor. They's why people can have the "best" of both worlds! (read last line with a heavy dose of sarcasm).

Next Justice League team, the one I wonder who it's exactly for: The Dark Justice League... oh... wait... this isn't Marvel & they aren't evil, just magical: Justice League Dark:

Yes. a number of the magically inclined members of the DCU joining together to form their own Justice League! It's Deadman, John Constantine, Shade the Changing Man, Madame Xanadu & (maybe) Zatanna together at least! As I said earlier I'm not sure who these book is aimed at. They aren't big name/well known characters but a few do have fan bases. I sure how that in the book they don't actually call themselves "Justice League Dark" because that sounds kind of stupid. I don't even know if this group will be interacting with the other Leagues, their worlds don't seem to go together.

Moving on...

Let's talk some Batman!

Recently there have been a bunch of Batmen running around the world. What with they all be incorporated & such. Most of them have had names other then "Batman" but there had been 2 people sharing that name: Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson. In the new DCU, Dick goes back to being Nightwing!

I don't have much to say about the costume, it's looks fine. With the red (instead of the the normal blue) it reminds me a bit of the costume Chris O'Donnell wore in the "Batman & Robin" movie. Not sure the costume needs the arm thingies. I don't know what to call them, the things poking out of his gloves. I guess they & the boots are a hold over from his time as Batman.

Next up: Batgirl!

After more then 20 years, Barbara Gordon is getting up out of the wheelchair & taking back the mantle of Batgirl! This does make he wonder what will happen to Stephanie Brown (the current Batgirl). Almost I'm not sure I like the costume Miss. Gordon is sorting. Sure, it's reminiscent of her old costume but it looks too shiny. There is a bat around her neck & I'm not sure what it is: It sort of looks like it would be part of a necklace but I don't see the rest of the necklace. To read an article about Barbra taking back Batgirl, go here.

About here being Batgirl: I'm not sure. I haven't read a lot of comics with her in them, either in or out to the bat costume. This does seem to be the biggest change DC is making.

Next up the Batman of Africa:

Batwing!

I haven't read any of the comics he's been but.... I think the name & costume are a bit stupid. This sort of feelings like "Batman's answer to Steel". Now I haven't read anything with him in it so I don't know if that's what he is. But he's getting his own series! Steel had his own series, didn't he?

We are almost at the the end of the images I've seen that I'd like to talk about & these 2 best represent a feeling I've been having: DC wants to bring their characters into the 21st Century then why do I feel like we are back in the 1990's again?

These are the Teen Titans:

The art & the costumes all scream to me: We are from the 1990's & X-TREME TO MAX!

This is Red Hood & the Outlaws:

Which seem like a more X-TREME version of "Batman & the Outsiders". Red Arrow/Arsenal's hat don't help the 90's feel any. Also, it's appears he has grown back his arm.

Now I haven't seen anything for the new Superman books (Other then Supes' new look from the Justice League cover) so I'm still wondering what the fates of Power Girl & Supergirl are. I'll most likely post about that when I find out & I'm also most likely going to make a few other posts about this New World will be heading into.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 202: The New DC!

2011-06-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

So, this Tuesday DC Comics made an announcement that has the internet all a buzz: At the end of August they are renumbering their entire line of comics. Everybody is getting a new #1. It's kind of like Oprah: You get a #1! You get a #1! EVERYONE GETS A #1!

Also a lot of characters are getting "new" costumes courtesy of Jim Lee. What was the last costume design he did? Wonder Woman (You know. The one with pants & the bolero jacket). Since then I've been reading some reactions of my friends (mostly on Facebook), the reaction on the Comic Book news site Comics Alliance & the announcements that DC has been posting to it's own blog: The Source.

What do I think of the renumbering? To but it bluntly: It's stupid. What follows is my own opinion. If you want some more well thought out opinion & commentary on the subject, I suggest going to the the Comics Alliance's website. I suggest going there anyways. It's pretty cool Comic Book related website.

But back to DC: 1 reason they are renumbering it is to get new readers in because the high number might seem daunting to these newbies (Action Comics just past Issue 900, Detective Comics is at Issue 878, etc.). Well, tough cookies! It's how it's been for years & That hasn't stopped people from reading comics before. I think more of the problem for people isn't coming into comics with a high number, it's where do I start? It's a problem every comic book reader has faced & one question basically every new readers has asked at least once. There is no clear answer. You ask 10 different people & you might get 10 different answers.

My answer is: Find somewhere & start there. It might not be the answer they want but it's my answer. Do some research, ask people what out there, find something you like & start reading there. Then expand out. Read what's new, what's old. Enjoy the spectrum comics has to offer!

It might seem daunting but look through the back issue bins at a Comic Book store or attending a Comic Book Convention & look through those bins! There is more then 50 years worth of comics to look for, find, read & enjoy! You are bound to find something you like but that old stuff: What about new stuff?

Well, it's a similar story. Look at what's out there. Find your local comic book store & browse the shelves, look at what's there. Ask the people who work there. They can help you. If you don't live in area that has a comic book store: go online! Read up on what's out there & buy something. From Amazon, Barnes & Noble or the best I've found for buying single issues comics: mycomicshop.com. I'm always amazed at what they have. They sell new (& old) comics. They will ship them to your house! Find a place a comic that interests you & read it. Then, find another & another & another. :)

Also, you don't need to read every issue to understand what going on. You don't need to start at Action Comics #1 to understand what is happening to Superman in Action Comics #900. Most people know who & what Superman is about. Most people have some understanding on who many of the Super Heroes out there are. And if you don't, a simple search on the Internet should tell you all you need to know is a few sentences.

Relabeling a book with a #1 number has been done many times before. Most of the time is to get people to read your book because it's a good "jumping on point" but it's also a "good jumping off Point" for people who had been reading the books before the renumbering. The better idea is keep the older numbering on put something on the cover about it being a good jumping on point, a new storyline is starting, something other then a just a renumbering.

People who have read the announcement might be saying "But Brian: you are thinking about the other part of the announcement. What about the digital publishing?" The "going back to #1" factors into that & it's that the mostly the reason why they are doing it. They think it'll look at lot better in the digital marketplace having Superman #1 then Superman #715. But I think most people would be wise enough to that a Superman comic (a character who has been since 1938) would have a large number of issues associated with it. Also, in the information associated with the comic that could say it's a great jumping point for new readers.

There! No need for renumbering!

I'll be back with another post about the recostuming of DC.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 201: Hyping the Blog part 4

2011-06-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

This might be the only second or third time I've ever made 2 posts in 1 day. But I wanted to get this up. As explained in Entry 200 I got a lot coming down the pile & I want be more proactive about posting things here. So...

Look for super cool & awesome things coming soon!

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 200!

2011-06-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

*A monotone yet feminine voice announces* T-Minus 0. Countdown complete. This is Entry 200. *Confetti goes everywhere*

Yes, this is Entry 200. Now for some facts:
Entry 1 was made on August 7th 2007. Entry 50 was made a year & 2 days later on August 9th 2008. Entry 100 was made on July 19th 2009, a full 20 days before the 2nd anniversary. Entry 150 was on July 6th 2010, a month & a day behind the 3rd anniversary. Entry 200 is now being posted on June 1st, 2 month & 7 days before the 4th anniversary.

What does this all mean? Most posting rate is getting quicker & about every 2 years I make 100 entries. But if you want get down to brass tacks, there are 4 "blank" entries & probably a few other posts that probably could of been merged together so this could actually be Entry 196 (or earlier) but that would require deleting some posts, merging of others & rewriting of a few more. Which is work I don't really want to do. This is my Blog! So, as per the current numbering system is Entry 200!

*more confetti goes everywhere*

What do I have planned for this entry. When I wrote Entry 100, I did a Entry-by-Entry breakdown of the Blog so far. I don't really feel like doing that this time. I just took too darn long to do & I don't anyone really liked it since it wasn't all that informative. But the midpoint of doing it I started to loose interest but i didn't have a better idea. Entry 100 was basically a text clip show with a little bit of added content.

I'm not sure if this will be any better. I did start to write a different version of this entry this morning & I still have the same problem I did then: I don't know what to make this entry about.

I don't really have any interesting behind the scenes stuff to tell. There is some of that stuff but as I just said I'm not sure if it's interesting and I'm not sure how to put it into words.

For the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about what to do for this entry. Make it something special. Something good. Something worth seeing. I came up with a few different ideas. Well... no. Half ideas. Ideas without endings. Ideas without a clear way of doing them. I though of merging all my ideas into 1 big idea but even that didn't have an ending or a clear way of doing it.

So, that brings us to now. This entry & there isn't much here. But then there wasn't much there 2 years ago for Entry 100. At the bottom of that entry was a "Coming Attractions" list. How many of those things were done?

Zero. I either lost interest in the idea or lazily haven't got those idea out of the planning stage. I currently have another list of things I'd like to put up on the blog. Some of these things where on that list 2 years:

- Emerald City 2011 Photos: I have a bunch of photos from the Convention in March that I want to post. I didn't post 2010's photos until September, 7 months after the con was over.

To give you a preview here is one photo from this year:

It's Me with Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings. The boy facing away from us is his son.

- FCBD 2011 Thoughts: Not a whole review of the books I got, just some thoughts about the event from last month.

- Final Thoughts on Smallvile: I posted my thoughts about the Series 10th season awhile ago & I want to just some thoughts on the finale.

I know all of these are late but it's almost become a hallmark of the Blog to talk about things well after the fact.

- The Stan Lee Entry: I first made mention I wanted to make a entry about Stan Lee late last year & I hope to get to this year. As said before it won't be a post about "The Man" himself (a recap of career, etc.) but just some thoughts about about my feeling regarding him & some other thoughts connected to him.

- The Puzzle Post: I bought a jigsaw puzzle at a thrift store a year or so ago. It's have a... altered version of the George Perez art from the 3rd Avengers series, the "Heroes Reborn" relaunching. I think that issue of Avengers was my first. The 1st Avenger comic I ever read. I'm not sure if I'm going to do a video of me putting together the puzzle, talking about the image & other related stuff OR just post the puzzle's image & talk about there.

Over the last few years I've made mention of my video camera but have yet to really put to any real use. Of the few videos I have made the best one is Entry 132. I didn't plan out anything before hand. Probably should have as I tend to ramble a lot in the video. Since then I've had multiple idea of how to use the camera I just haven't gotten around to do it.

Speaking of my camera....

-LFW TV: This is still in the planning stages. It's one & maybe the best thought I've had out of "what do I do with my video camera". The original idea was to do a monthly web series but as time went on I realized my ideas were bigger then my ability so the series evolved/devolved into this. It's an umbrella idea where any of my filmed bits for the blog will fall under this umbrella.

One planned video is:

-Doctor Strange review: Last year at a community yard sale I found a VHS copy of the 1970's made-for-TV live action "Doctor Strange" movie. It's a bad movie. It's watchable & does have it's enjoyable moments but it's not a good Doctor Strange movie but any means. I want to do a video review of it & use clips from it. If I can't do that I'm going to do a text review of it & have some accompanying screen shots.

In related news: that same yard sale is happening again this year & if the guy who sold me the tape is there with more VHS tapes, I'm going to see what else he has. I bought 4 tapes from him last year.

Speaking of Movies...

-Plan 9 sequel comic: Recently I came into possession of comic which is the sequel to the 1959 movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space". The comic is called "Plan 9 from Outer Space Strikes Again!" It was put out by in 1999 by Bluewater Productions. Now the original movie is considered a bad movie classic & is a movie I enjoy. But the sequel comic fails every aspect. It's one of the worse comics I've ever read. So, I'll be reviewing it!

There are also 2 things I've been planning & want to start up soon. I hope to make them be reoccurring things from the blog:

- Really Cool Old Ads: I like comics. I like old comics. One of the things I like about this is the ads. I have been scanning on the ads from this old comics that I think are really cool. Most of the ads I've scanned in are every from the Mid 1960's to the Mid 1990's.

- Random Photos: I've collected about 20 or so random photos. I have no context of where they were taking, who's in the photos or why they were taken. Once I get through those I'll be posting random photos I've taken which I do have some context of why they were taken, where they were taken & who's in then.

Also, I have a few things that I'm planning for next year. 2012 is an important milestone in my comic book reading. I won't say why at the moment or what I'm planning there but know there is stuff being planned.

I think this post is long enough.

So here end Entry 200!

*even more confetti goes everywhere*

Until next time: Stay jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 199: Hyping the Blog part 3 & other things

2011-05-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a another Poster I've made hyping the Blog using some art from the most recent issues of FF by Barry Kitson. Now I don't actually know if Uatu is actually pissed or not. That's just what I thought his face looked like.

There is a change that will be happening to the Blog. I'll be amending how I label each entry. Making it easier for people who want to look at older posts. They will still continue to start with what entry it is but will also have some add text. I'll be going back through the older posts & making this adjustment. EDIT: I have now done so. My adjustments might not be all that helpful but at least you now have some idea what the post might contain. :)

Also, you (Oh reader of this Blog) might of noticed that at the bottom of the last couple of posts there has been a thing, a countdown to something. Well, that something happens next entry: it's the 200th entry! It took me about 2 years to get to the 100th entry & it's taken me almost another 2 years to get to the 200th entry. So, stay tuned for that!

Until then & as always: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

T-Minus 1

This is Entry 198: the 1990's & Goodbad/Badbad Comics

2011-05-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I've been distracted by other things (not a good excuse but I was). What are those other things? Either stuff not worth mentioning or stuff I'm working on for future entries so I can't tell you what it is at the moment. :)

On Free Comic Book Day a few weeks ago I was at a sale: 1 Dollar bought you 3 comics. I spent 5 dollars. Among the books I bought this one:

Now why did I buy this comic book? Am I an X-Force fan? no. I bought it because of what it is: an example of early 1990s' comic excess. There is so much wrong with what it going on (the cover & inside): The art & character design is flawed. There is so much wrong with this comic but I love it! :)

This is comic is from when I started reading comics. This might explain the love I have for comics of this type. I know it's bad but I can't help myself. I also feel that one should know what the bad is to truly know what is good. This is Good Bad: Something that is bad & you think about all that is better then it but still feel that it has a place. One can still enjoy something that is Good Bad or learn to enjoy it. There is also Bad Bad which I will have a whole entry devoted to a comic I feel is Bad Bad. What is Bad Bad? It is something that is bad but doesn't have a place, something that didn't need to exist but it does! Now each persons definition of what exactly is Good Bad & Bad Bad may change from person to person depending on their tastes.

That's all I have for you at the moment. More is coming. I promise!

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

T-Minus 2

This is Entry 197: FCBD 2011 & Comics at Toys R' Us

2011-05-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!

Comic Book Stores (and some Libraries) around the U.S. & the world are handing out comic books for free tomorrow, May the 7th. Also, at a number of stores I know of there they will be having sales & special events at the stores. So, tomorrow stop on by & get yourself a come free comic books! A few posts down the Blog, I went over a few of the Comic books that are being offered Tomorrow, to take a look at the post either scroll down the Blog or click Here!

---------------

When I was coming back from this year's Emerald City ComiCon (Photos are forth coming) I stopped on by my local Toys R' Us & saw this:

Yup! It's Comic Books! Now I didn't have this when I was the target market for the Store. But that would have been Awesome! Yes, the selection isn't all that great but that's besides the point.

That's all I have for today. I'll be back a day or tow with what I got on FCBD & maybe a few different things. Great things are planned & forth coming!

- Brian

T-Minus 3

This is Entry 196: A New Follower, Linkage & some Music

2011-04-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

This my 3rd entry this week. Normally I'm good if I even make 1 post a week but I guess I had stuff to say/show this week! :)

First off I want to welcome my 6th follower: Neil Kapat/Nitz the Bloody, a guy I know from a message board I frequent. He is the creator behind the online graphic novel called Ruby's World & has his own blog Handi-Capeable which is a blog about Comic Books & it's depiction of the Disabled. He also has other stuff post on his blog like his ongoing review of the Sonichu series.

If you don't know what Sonichu is, you should be glad. If you want to know what that is, you can go look it up but be warned: your better off not knowing. :)

Next up...

*Confetti goes everywhere while a monotone yet feminine voice announces* We have Linkage!

It's been a long time since that alarm has gone off. I wasn't even sure it was still working. But for the only the second time since I've started this Blog I've been referenced on another blog. Well... it's the second time I know about. The first time was back in way back 2007 (and I made a post about & that post is Entry 18). If you scroll down a bit you'll see that I have made 2 posters promoting this blog. Well, I made a poster for a friend of mine's Blog & she (yes, She) posted it to her Blog, The Girl on the Milk Carton, her self described "feminist mormon vegetarian geek blog".

Lastly, I'd like to share with you all a song. I didn't make it but I do think it's pretty darn cool!

It'a song about Booster Gold & they manage to an overview of his whole career in a few minutes. The song came from a self titled E.P. by the group Spoiler Alert! & you go hear the other 2 songs from the abum by clicking on the link (The other 2 songs are about Batman & Blue Beetle).

I think that's all I have to link you today. Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

T-Minus 4

This is Entry 195: Brightest Day

2011-04-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Today the 25th & final issue of DC Comics' Brightest Day (but it's marked 24 because their was an Issue 0) came out in your local comic book store. What did I think of it?

meh. & huh?

What did I think of the story as of a whole? uh... Not sure. My feelings are leaning towards not good. It had it's moments (and most of those only involved 1 character from the book). But coming off the pure awesomeness that was Blackest Night, Brightest Day wasn't as good. I've thought about why it wasn't good.

Why did I think one was awesome where as the other was not awesome. It think was the length & width that really killed it for me. Length as in 25 issues long & Width as in had a lot of people in the series. Having a bunch of people in a book can work but if most of your characters from the book don't interact with each other that can be bad.

Brightest Day was all over the place, in terms of location & what it was doing. There was no one set storyline. We had like 5 or more story lines going on at the same time which can be annoying & confusing. Or, I know annoyingly confusing!

Brightest Day was annoyingly confusing & not so good!

What I think would have saved it a bit (for me at least) if they had done it a different way. If there had been a series short mini-series (3 or 4 issues long) with 2 books bookending the series. One to start off all the story lines (which what 0 was) & one to tie up all the story lines together (which the last few issues & Issue 24 tried to do). The mini-series would have been about the different characters: One for Hawkman/Hawkwoman, One with Deadman, Hawk & Dove, One about Martian Manhunter, One about Aquaman & One about Firestorm(s). This is sort of how the series went anyways there were certain issues that only featured a few characters & you had no idea what what those that weren't in the issues were doing.

Also what made Blackest Night good was that it 7 issues so the story clipped along, going from awesome thing to awesome thing. There were various tie-in mini series that helped fill in some gaps that weren't really necessary to the main book (which almost of the tie-in stuff I read was cool). With Brightest Day it was 25 issues & just took a stroll to the endpoint. I didn't really see any tie-in mini series. In BD, Stuff happened in each issue but you had to wade through a half dozen issues before something major or a plot point happened. I think stuff major happened in Issue 0 & then the next time something major happened was in Issue 7 by that issue BN was done & over. I was willing to let this happen in BD: it was a longer series, there was a lot to set up & other excuses I said as I started to read this series.

By the mid point I was lost. I'd read the latest issues, put it down I wouldn't know what I had just read. I found myself thinking over it in my head & it wasn't making sense. I found myself wanting to yell at the book: EXPLAIN, BRIGHTEST DAY, EXPLAIN!!!!!!!!! WHAT ON RAO'S GREEN KRYPTON IS GOING ON??????? WHAT IS YOUR POINT????????

And for the most part, the events of Brightest Day just seemed to be happening in it's own world. You didn't see the events spill over into the Batman books, Superman books, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern Books. Or even some of the series that were launched a result of the aftermath from Blackest Night (BD was a result of BD).

I'm not even sure what the point of the Brightest Day was other then to kill off Hawkwoman (again), introduce a new Aqualad (who didn't really do anything), bring back Swamp Thing (Why?) & have an excuse to launch a few new titles. Which wasn't a bad thing: Justice League: Generation Lost is awesome! The Flash book is pretty cool, too.

At the end of Issue 24 there wasn't one. There was no end, just a "story threads from here will be continuing on elsewhere. Have a nice day! :)" That's fine but you have to have an ending to your book! Give the readers (i.e. Me) a feeling that reading this series was worth it?

WHAT WAS YOUR POINT?

TELL ME!

We'll be soon going into DC's next major event Flashpoint which from all that I've seen could be awesome! And it playing one one thing i really like in comics: Alternate Timelines! But I don't think I'll be picking it up in the individual issues. I don't have enough money as i once had. I wish that I could use all the money I spent on BD & spent it on FP.

*sigh* If I only knew then what I know now.

Well, until next: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

T-Minus 5

This is Entry 194: Hyping the Blog part 2

2011-04-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here is another promotional poster for "Living for Wednesday":

Most of these "quote" are fake & made up by me. The 1st quote is a mixture of quote from the back of a 1960s' era book I have & was the inspiration for this poster. I had originally planed on making all the quote positive but felt it was funnier if they got less positive as you went down the poster. :)

I have few more poster idea which I post as I make them.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

Oh, yeah.. Happy Easter! (if you celebrate that sort of thing)

- Brian

T-Minus 6

This Is Entry 193: Hyping the Blog

2011-04-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

I created this Poster to promote my blog & to poke a bit of fun at what Marvel is doing with the Fantastic Four comic book. I am enjoying what they are doing with it. It was just that this was a joke that I couldn't pass up on.

I have a few other Promotional Poster ideas that when I get them made I post them.

Until then Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

T-Minus 7

This is Entry 192: Wonder Woman on TV Part 2

2011-03-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

To follow up my last posting, It seems that all the (negative) comments surrounding the Wonder Woman from the upcoming TV show seem to have gotten to the show's producers. As seen in this "on set" image shows:

She still has pants but they aren't shiny bright blue latex anymore & the boots are red, not blue! Still not sure how I feel about the show but I'd be willing to check an episode or two.

That's all I have for now. I know that not much has been happening lately but there is stuff being planned.

So, until next time: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

T-Minus 8

This is Entry 191: Wonder Woman on TV

2011-03-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

So... there is going to be a new Wonder Woman TV show & over at Entertainment Weekly's website they have the first photo of what Wonder Woman will look like in the show:

which makes me think of this:

That's how Wonder Woman is appearing in the comics' currently. But recently she's been seen without the jacket. The TV version seems to be drawing inspiration from the comics (which is good) but I would have gone for a darker blue or a black for the color of the pants. But I think most people were hopping for a more classic version of the costume.

I'm not sure how I feel about this or the show the in general. I don't I've ever seen a episode of the old 1970's TV show.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

T Minus 9

This is Entry 190: FCBD 2011 Preview

2011-03-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

In less then 2 months is the 10 anniversary for Free Comic Book Day! The annual event where comic book stores across & the around the world give out comic books for.. you guessed it: FREE!

-----------

I was looking at their website & the comics that will be given out. So, I've made a partial list of the comics that I would like to pick up. Not every store has gives out every comic:

Green Lantern/Flashpoint by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis & Andy Kubert.
According to the website: This is the perfect jumping-on point for new readers who can't wait to see the Green Lantern major motion picture from Warner Bros.! Discover how and why Hal received the power ring that changed his life forever with this reprinting of Green Lantern #30, a pivotal chapter of the Green Lantern: Secret Origin graphic novel by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Plus: No comic fan can afford to miss this exclusive first sneak peek of Flashpoint, DC's blockbuster event of 2011, by the all-star team of Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert!

So, half of it is a reprint but the Flashpoint part is what I'm excited about.

Super Dinosaur Origin Special #1 by Robert Kirkman & Jason Howard.
According to the Website: Super Dinosaur is finally here! In this standalone origin special you will learn everything there is to know about Derek Dynamo's best friend, Super Dinosaur! Where did he come from? How did he avoid extinction? What is Inner-Earth? And what the heck is DynOre and why is it so dangerous? All this and more will be revealed - and all for FREE!

Now I hadn't heard of Super Dinosaur before but how can you pass up a Comic Book about a Dinosaur with rocket launchers attached to it!

Captain America/Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers! by Roger Langridge & Chris Samnee.
According to the website: From the fan-favorite creative team of Thor: The Mighty Avenger comes a time-twisting tale of Camelot-craziness. When mischievous Loki's machinations throw Thor and a World War II-era Steve Rogers into King Arthur's court, it's an adventure neither noble Avenger will ever forget!

This is one of the two comics Marvel is putting out for the event (the other is a Spider-Man comic) but this one intrigues me more.

Civil War Adventure by Chuck Dixon & Gary Kwapisz.
According to the website: Two-fisted, historically accurate stories of the war that divided America! Bloody Bill Anderson's rein of terror in Missouri traps a reluctant soldier in the battle of his life in 'I Rode With The Devil!' Blood-stained axes, moonshine, murder, and revenge in the South Carolina swamps leads to a gunrunner's worst fear in 'Gator Bait!' Check out the 'Battle Field Amputation' fact page!

This comic comes from a company I had never heard of (History Graphics Press) & it seems (to me) like an odd choice for FCBD but it dose seem like it could be an interesting read.

Deadliest Sharks/Prehistoric Predators by Joe Brusha & Anthony Spay.
According to the Website: Sharks, Dinosaurs and Dangerous Animals! This FCBD edition from Zenescope's Silver Dragon Books' imprint has got them all. This book previews Discovery Channel's and Animal Planet's first ever line of Graphic Novels and is based on some of their most popular programming including Shark Week. A book for animal fans of all ages to enjoy.

Much like the Civil War book it seem like an odd choice but could be an interesting read. If the discovery channel wanted to do more comics based off their shows I'd be open to seeing a Mythbuster comic. :)

Inspector Gadget by Dale Mettam & Jose Coba.
According to the Website: Inspector Gadget, Penny and Brain are back... but so is M.A.D.! On what should be a peaceful vacation aboard the Orient Express, Gadget must locate Professor Sagan-Heisenberg and escort him safely back to Metro City. But with M.A.D. agents everywhere, perhaps this time, Dr. Claw will finally beat his nemesis. Go-Go-Gadget-Adventure!

This comic (from Viper Comics) seems to riding the recent wave of Comics based off of Cartoons from my childhood. I have fond memories of the show & am willing to check out the book.

The Mis-Adventures of Adam West #1 by Reed Lackey, Russell Dauterman & Matt Bellisle.
According to the Website: The Man, The Myth, The Amulet? Legendary star of the small and silver screen, ADAM WEST, has his career youth-enized in this hip-whimsical,trans-dimensional epic of an adventure. When a mysterious fan delivers an exotic amulet to Mr. West's doorstep he is Dorothy-fied on an odyssey that will change his career, his love life and inadvertently make him the man that saves the universe!

Bluewater Productions is known for producing comics based off of real people. But I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It could either be really super cool & awesome or extremely stupid. I hope the comic is earlier!

The Tick by various people.
According to the website: In honor of this year's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, NEC Press offers fans-both old and new-an all-new full-color full-lenght 32-page comic book! Featuring a new 7-page introductory story by the awesome creative team of the popular ongoing Tick Series, Benito Cereno and Les McClaine! Plus we offer original full-color preview material from this year's blockbuster project, The Tick's Giant Circus Maximus, the all-new and updated official "encyclopedia" of The Tick Universe! Use this FCBD Tick both to introduce new fans to the phenomenon know as The Tick, as well as to introduce Tick fans to the upcoming Giant Circus Maximus project!

I have a soft spot for The Tick. I remember watching the cartoon as a kid & reading some of the comics.

-----------

As I said these aren't the only comics that will be given out, you can see the website for the rest. These were the just the ones that interested me the most. Also on the site you can find out what comic book stores in your area will be participating in the event.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

T MINUS 10

This is Entry 189: Da Bat

2011-03-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering how to do it...

also...

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 188: Emerald City 2011 Part 3

2011-03-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Today was Day 2 & was good.

It was more laid back (at least for me). I of course bought some comics (most of them were from the 50 cents bins) but for most of the time it was just wondering around the con looking at stuff & taking pictures at what we saw (today My Dad came with me).

There were a lot more people in costume today then yesterday & many pictures of the costumed people were taken (Photos are forth coming!). One person I kept seeing was Booster Gold. It's hard to miss some in a bright blue & gold costume. Through out the day I saw them about a 10 times. The last time I got a photo with them. She (yes, it was a woman dressed as BG) where there with 2 other women: 1 dressed as the second Blue Beetle & the other was dressed as Goldstar! ( I didn't see a Skeets but Booster Gold had Oreos). There was also who I think was a guy dressed up as Wonder Woman. Lots of cool costumes!

Other people I saw there Brian Michael Bendis past by me twice & was shorter then I thought he would be. Another person there was Ken Jennings, of JEOPARDY fame. He's a local guy & my dad knows him a bit. So, I got to talk to Ken about comics a bit which was cool was we both were searching the bins for stuff (Noticed he was looking at a bunch of Superman stuff). I got my Crisis on Infinite Earths novel signed by Marv Wolfman.

Went to 2 Panels: Super Blank: The Game Show which is basically the old 1970's game Show Match Game with comic writer's & artists as the panel. There were a few references to Match Game (brief references of Charles Nelson Reily & Gene Rayburn)/. A fun thing. I'd go back to it next year if they had it. Also there prizes for playing where really cool: DVDs', Posters, Comics, Sketches & 1990's era blank Marvel Comics forms.

Also went to the DC Universe panel which to not be confused with theDc Nation I went to on friday. But they were basically the same thing it's just that this one was more well attended. :) In prep for the Super Blank panel I saw the last bit of a panel featuring a few web cartoonists & that was pretty fun.

As I left the Con outside the building was a guy playing a Tuba with a guy playing a trombone. What type of music were they playing? music from Star Wars.

Emerald City ComiCon 2011 was another good year. I'll be back for next year, their 10th Anniversary!

Until next posting (which most likely will be photos): Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 187: Emerald City 2011 part 2

2011-03-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

So... today was the 1st day of this year's Emerald City ComiCon! How was it? Awesome! How could it be any less! :)

I bought some comics. Some of them I had been looking for a few years & finally found! I was also really good this time: I didn't really stray from my list & half of my list is also boughten which is also really cool!

I bought 2 t-shirts (one of the Red Skull holding the Cosmic Cube & the other relating to the TV show "Doctor Who").

I had a comic signed by Dan Jurgens (writer/artist of a whole bunch of things & creator of Booster Gold), I got a sketch from artist Colleen Coover (this year's subject: Jimmy Olsen). I also had the 1st Issue of the awesome late '90's short lived DC Comics series "Chronos" by the artist from the book: Paul Guinan! I also piked up his recent book: Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel. The book which he created with his wife, Anina Bennett (who was also there). I bought the book & inside my copy is a sketch of Boilerplate in the book & the two of them signed the book, too!

I went to 2 panels: 1 put on by DC Comics. The other relating to Star Trek & behind the scenes stuff. Both were good.

I also took some pictures. Didn't take any footage.

I am also going back tomorrow for Day 2 & since I spent most of my money today it might just more of people watching day.

I'll report back on that after it happens. Until then I think I'm going to go read some comics & as always I'd like you all to Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 186: Emerald City 2011 part 1

2011-03-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the 2011 Emerald City ComiCon! I've been getting prepped: found my sketch book (hoping to add a piece or two to it), made a list of comics I'd like to find (oddly enough a lot of them seem to have Batman in them), been looking over the panel schedule (see what I want to go to), charging batteries (so my cameras can work) & a few other things.

This will mostly be my last Pre-Con posting. If people want to read a "How to" of going to to a Comic Book Convention. About 2 years ago I wrote one out. I don't it's an full "how to" guide but it's something! :) You can read it here! I still like it. Someday I might even get around to updating it.

To see pictures from last year's ECCC: go here!

Since I will be attending 2 of the 3 day Convention. I hope to be back here tomorrow & give you a rough run down of what I did on Day 1. On Saturday I hope to get on here & give what I did on Day 2. But I might just end up here on Sunday & telling what I did on both days. I am also taking my video camera so I hope take some footage to make a video. Took it last year but didn't use it. :(

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 185: Cookies!

2011-02-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

Late last year DC Comics released a comic book: The Larfleeze Christmas Special. I personally have a soft sport of Holiday comics & was looking forward to reading this one. The story is pretty good & you also get a few activities, too!

One of the activities that intrigued me was that there was recipe for Orange Lantern Cookies. So, with the help of my Mom I made them!

I posed a cookie on a small plate atop of the comic book & got out my Orange Lantern ring to finish off the scene. You can see my attempt at making the Orange Lantern logo on a cookie. It didn't go so well. So for the rest of the cookies they didn't get the logo. But they did get sprinkles!

How did the cookies taste? Pretty good & rather tasty. I liked them & so did my Mom! She said we should keep the recipe (which I would have anyway since the recipe was in a comic book). I had thought about how would you make other lantern cookies? I had also thought about trying to find other Comic Books related recipes. I think that like the 1970's that a few comic book cook books were made. I'd have to search that out more.

So, until next time I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 184: Emerald City 2011 Prologue part 2

2011-02-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

So... in a few weeks is this year's Emerald City ComiCon! Put if you read my last entry you'd already know that. :)

Something cool the Con did this year is they put their program guide up on their website so attendees (like myself) can better plan out where they want to go at said Con. Included in the guide is a floor map of everything at the Con. I'm going to try & post a version of the map highlighted with things I want to go to & people I want to see. So people could stalk me if they wanted. :)

Also, over the next 2 weeks I'm going to try & get some stuff up on this here Blog that I've been putting off. Note the word "Try". :)

Until time Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 183: Emerald City 2011 Prologue

2011-02-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

I really need to get back to into updating this thing...

But I have something to talk about! Something Awesome!

In less in then month one's time of the best weekends of the year is happening: It's the 2011 Emerald City ComiCon! It at the same place it was last year but this year it's 3 days! Well... 2 & Half. The 1st Day (Friday, March 4th) it runs from 2 to 8 pm. Day #2 (Saturday, March 5th) runs from 10 am to 7 pm. Day #3 (Sunday March 6th) runs from 10 am to 5pm. In years past I've only going to 1 day (Saturday) which is always awesome but this year I'm going 2 days (Friday & Saturday)! Can I handle a double dose of ComiCon awesomeness? We'll just have to wait & see!

In looking at the website there are lot of super cool & awesome stuff happening! Panels galore, 2 Concerts, a Buffy Sing Along, a Masquerade, Movie Presentations, Improv, a Game Show, a chance to meet famous people & of course my main reason to go: Comic Books! Comic Books at cheap prices! Oh & Free Stuff! Can't forget about the free stuff!

Like last year I'll have both of my cameras (still photography & video). This year I hope to actually use them. I tend to get blindsided all the awesomeness around me that I forget to document it. :)

Emerald City ComiCon 2011:
There will be awesomeness!
I'll be there, will you?

Through the rest of this month I'll most likely make a post or two more about the Con. I also got a few other things I need to get out before the Con also. Look for those things soon!

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 182: Update!

2011-01-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

uh... Hi! Remember me? :)

It's been almost a whole month since I've made a posting & I feel sort of bad since I've made some stuff I could have easily put up as entries. One of them being the entry relating to my Birthday which was on Thursday but I wasn't able to access on a computer on Thursday so no posting. If you wanted to see what they post would have been like go & look at what I've posted on the last few January 27ths'. It would have been pretty much been that.

I have a few other things that I want to get up before I forgot about them. Also, here is another thing to add to the list of "Stuff Brian has said he'll post but didn't give a time when he'd do it" this last week I found that Wizard is stopping production of it's self titled magazine & their other magazines also. So, I thought it was a fitting time to post an entry about something I've been thinking about for some time: all the sucky stuff Wizard has been putting in their magazine. There are a few & I'll get into that in that posting. I will say this news about Wizard has been long over due!

Until next Month Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 181: Happy New Years

2010-12-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

First off since I'm not sure I'll be making a post tomorrow or on Saturday so Happy New Year! May your 2011 be as good or better then your 2010!

But the real reason why I'm making this post is to tell you all about another upcoming entry to the Blog. Yesterday, the 200th issue of the comic book series What If? was released out into the world. Why is this important? It's a 200th issue so that is something but why this is important to an upcoming blog entry is I happen to be a big fan of that series. I have a collected most of the series. I probably have most of the issues. In the back of Issue 200 there was an interview with the series creator & there were a few other comic book creators talking about their favorite issues from the series. This got me thinking about the series. About my favorite issues, the issues I thought were bad/stupid/odd/pointless/could have been better & some of the themes that I have noticed in my reading (there was one major theme I noticed but I'll get into that entry it's self).

This & along with whole bunch of stuff is coming in the new year. If I get around to everything I have planned: 2011 should be the Jazziest year ever for the blog!

The What If? retrospectacular should be up sometime in January (probably early January). The posting time frames for the rest of the stuff I have planned out (Really Cool Old Ads, Random Photos, The Hot List, Entry about Stan Lee, Entry 200, etc.) don't set posting dates as of yet. When I know what's going on you will too!

Until next time Happy New Year & as always Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 180: a Newish Holiday Carol

2010-12-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

In this Holiday season I began to notice that there are a number of creepy holiday songs & that the word Santa & Satan are pretty much the same word just with the same letters mixed around. So, I started to think is there some song I could change to make it about Satan that was originally about Santa. I also didn't want to do a lot of work changing the lyrics around. So, I think I found that song! Here is Satan is coming for your Soul! (which was originally Santa Claus is coming to Town):

You better watch out, You better not cry
Better not pout I'm telling you why
Satan is coming for your Soul!

He's making a list and checking it twice;
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
Satan is coming for your Soul!

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

Oh! You better watch out!
You better not cry better not pout
I'm telling you why
Satan is coming for your Soul!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday everybody!

And as always: Stay Jazzy! :)

- Brian

This is Entry 179: Logo & Staying _______

2010-12-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to say in this posting but I thought it was worth updating the Blog to give all you reader something new to read.

Over the last couple of weeks/months, I've been thinking that this blog needs a logo. Something that up at the top of the Blog that looks all spiffy keen! I have settled on a design for said logo & now it's just to get it all ready for posting. I'm not sure if I could make a the logo look good or a get someone else to make it look good for me. I sorting of thinking of premiering the Logo in Entry 200. That's one of the ideas I have for what's going to happen for Entry 200. I haven't said much about what going to be in Entry 200 basically because people won't be disappointed if something isn't there. :)

Recently I been seeing a few advertisements using a phrase similar to one used here on the Blog. The Cooking Channel, Diet Coke & Walgreens all have ads that have the tag line of Stay *some word*. Now none have used Stay Jazzy (well, Walgreens would like you to Stay Jolly) & I doubt that my sign off phrase had anything to do with this recent trend in ads. But, every time I see one of this ads I keep thinking of my sign off phrase. I also keep thinking about that I've never defined what someone was to exactly "Stay Jazzy". All this ads have terms that kind easily be thought of what they mean by the viewer but what does Jazzy mean? I don't know. I've never really thought about. I just thought it sound cool & was a whole lot better then just "Goodbye" or any other like term.

EDIT: I saw a Beer commercial last night that would like you to Stay Thirsty. :)

I've also been thinking of the frequency of my posting here on the Blog. Most of the time I will go for a week or more between postings. I also never gotten over 10 posts in a month & on average most months only get 4 posts in them. This is the 2nd post for the month & there is mostly going to be a year end posting (which mostly only be me saying Happy New Year). I've also thought about doing a new post for every day in January! But then started to think about all that might get in the way of that. So, the thought was 6 of the 7 days of the week so that would be 26 posts that month. Then I thought about just doing one for Monday thru Friday which would make it 21 posts for the month. But then I thought of "Do I have enough stuff for that many posts?" My answer was maybe but I wasn't sure I could be that organized. If I did this a number of the posts wouldn't be not all that interesting (not sure my post are all that interesting anyways). But after all that thought process I am sort of committing myself to be more frequent with my posts. Once or twice a week would be fine (which would get me 4 to 8 posts a month).

In the new year: I'll be starting Really Cool Old Ads, Random Photos back up. I'll most likely get The Hot List out & probably a few other things. Along with the Entry 200!

Until next posting I would you like you to all Stay Jazzy!

Oh!

Also Merry Christmas if you celebrate that, if not continue to Stay Jazzy! :)

- Brian

This is Entry 178: I got called out!

2010-12-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

So, on friday when I got on to my trusty kind of crusty but not rusty computer I had a post to my wall over on Facebook. It was from one of the people who have decided to become "followers" of this here Blog. He said:

So I started following your blog anxiously awaiting a new post to read and comment on for two and a half weeks now. And nothing!!

Which I responded that He had not replied to said post from 2 & half weeks, now probably is 3 weeks past. As you can see that that post was about stuff I have in the works for the blog so I could say I was busy but to get down to the nitty gritty: I hadn't updated the Blog because I was Lazy.

This 3 Blog is into it's 3rd year & this is the first I think someone has ever asked why I hadn't updated the Blog in awhile. I think most people hadn't cared to asked. I had thought about that I should update it & was going to but was unsure of what to update it with so this is what you get. :) As I said with him: More stuff is coming soon-ish. There will most likely be another post or two before the year is over.

In other posting news: I've noticed that I've gotten a few replies recently from people who say they like my stuff. But then they ask me to contact them about something. I'd think about responding if I had a way of doing so! Most of these comments are from "Anonymous" & in their replies they don't give any sort of contact info so I don't know how they expect me to reply to them.

Well, that's what I got for you now. Until next posting I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This Is Entry 177: Further Coming Attractions

2010-11-22T15:54:00.000-08:00

This post yet another update on stuff that is coming to this here ol' Blog, along with Random Photos, Really Cool Old Ads & The Hot List, here are some other stuff to look forward to:

A Moment of Awesome: With most of the other stuff I've named for the Blog the name is somewhat self explanatory. With this I will give the viewers a moment of something I think is awesome. Why viewers & not readers? Well....

LFW TV: For awhile I've toyed with the idea of doing filmed segments for the Blog. The idea originally started out as a monthly web series, things were prepared for such a thing (like me buying a video camera among other less expensive things) but as time went on my ideas were bigger then my ability so the series idea has been done away with/devolved. It's being replaced with a more general umbrella idea called LFW TV, the Moment of Awesome thing would be under this umbrella as with any other filmed stuff I'd do. There wouldn't be any real schedule for LFW TV but there are some other ideas for what would come out as part of this.

A more text based upcoming post is one about Stan Lee, this is something I've been thinking about recently. It won't be a post about "The Man" himself (a recap of career, etc.) but just some thoughts about about my feeling regarding him & some other connected to him. When I'll put this up? I don't know.

TWe are about a little over 20 entries until Entry 200 which most likely will happen some time early next year. Not exactly sure what I'll do for that post but it will be something special.

until time: Stay Jazzy, Everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 176: Somebody Save me!

2010-11-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

This time I'll be talking about:

And it's last season. After 10 season they are closing up shop so this season must the best season ever, right?

Well, no. At least not to me anyways. I stopped being a regular viewer of the shows a few seasons ago. Why? I just lost interest but I'd check in from time to time to see what was going on. But I thought since it was the last season I'd watch it more often to see how the close everything out. Not sure I like how they are doing things.

One thing that I've been seeing is they are bringing more & more recognizable names. Not in the terms of actors but in names of characters. why just the names? Well, I don't recognize those characters as the ones from the comics. Now I know Smallville does have it's own continuity so they can't be how they are exactly in the comics. But half of the time the character is so changed to fit into Smallville's continuity that they don't seems like as the character, just someone with their name.

2 people they have gotten right is Lois Lane & Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) mostly because they gave them more then one episode appearances & then guest spots later on. Kara (Supergirl) was good since she didn't seem to change that much. The best translation might be the Legion of Super Heroes (but they might of been because Geoff John had a hand in that episode). The stuff with Brainiac was pretty good also but then they developed the character over a series of appearances.

The other people that have shown up I didn't have enough time to establish a character before they were never seen again. (I would have liked to see more with Black Canary, you do have Green Arrow on your show!). Last season, they introduced the Justice Society which I thought was cool (again with Johns) but I wanted more & I doubt I'll get more (They had some more with Hawkman this season but that's probably all I get from that group).

With this season there seemed to be another characters from the comics plopped into the show: Mera, The Suicide Squad, Slade Wilson, Cat Grant to name a few. I heard rumors of Booster Gold & Blue Beetle showing up, too! But I'd rather not see people from the comics then see lesser versions of the characters show up.

Another thing I not too keen on is I feel like they are trying to do too much. They know it's the last season so they are trying to do everything they ever wanted to do with the show. But too many story lines ruin a show. Also, I would really like them to stop beating me over the head with the whole "Clark is unsure of himself & is afraid is going to screw up something" subplot. I thought this was already covered in earlier seasons. I know why they are doing this but I wish they were handling it in a different way.

Smallville is not the show it started out as. It only has 1 cast member from the 1st season still on season 10 (That's Tom Welling, who plays Clark Kent but then you can't have a show without him).Over the last decade the show has been good, been ok & been bad. This last season is turning out for me to be ok with a leaning towards bad. But It's not over it might turn out to be ok with a leaning towards good. We'll just have to see how the series ends.

Until next time, Stay Jazzy everybody!

-Brian

This is Entry 175: Batman & Captain America

2010-11-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

As I've been thinking of Batman lately, I've started to think about how much he & another comic book character have in common. That character is Captain America.

- Both were created & first published during the early 20th century (Batman in 1939, Cap in 1941).
- Both have and/or had teenage boys as Sidekicks (Robin & Bucky).
- Both have had sidekicks that had seemingly died in explosions only to have them return years later alive as enemies (Jason Todd as The Red Hood, Bucky as the Winter Solider). There is a difference here: Bucky came back to side of good, Jason has not.
- Both have recently seemingly died themselves but didn't & it was revealed that their "deaths' had something to due with time travel.
- After their "deaths", their original sidekicks stepped & took on the role their mentor had held (Dick Grayson became Batman, Bucky became Captain America). When the original came back, neither of them had the person give up the role & went on to create a similar role from themselves (Bruce Wayne is now maybe the Batman of the World & Steve Rogers is known as Captain Rogers).
- Both have have last names that could be first names (Wayne & with Cap if you took off a letter: Roger).
- Both use to carry guns during the early part of their careers but don't anymore.
- Both are expertly trained fighters.

About this time in my thought process It sort of broke down into minor comparisons but there was few I thought were interesting. If I think of any more interesting comparisons between I post them.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 174: The Return of RCOA!

2010-11-15T17:16:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in Entry 171, I lost a chunk of my files when my computer decided to crap out on me & among those files were the Ads' I had scanned in for my Really Cool Old Ads project. Today I started in the re-scanning process.

As I've probably said before the Really Cool Old Ads project is me going through my comics & find ad's I think are really cool & old. :) Most of these ads will be coming from the Mid 1960's & up to the Mid 1990's. I've seen a distinct drop off of really cool ads in Comics during the late 1990's & in to this present decade. But if I find any ads' that I think are cool I'd post them, too.

Many of the ads I've found can be divided into a few different subcategories: Toy Ads, Video Game Ads, TV Ads, Hostess Ads, Mail Order Ads, Public Service Announcements, Marvel House Ads & DC House Ads. A "House Ad" is an ad made by the company (Marvel & DC) to advertise their only products (upcoming comics most often).

I'll most likely begin posting these Ads in the next months barring an unforeseen events.

Until next time, Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 173: More Batman!

2010-11-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

So, this is going to be another Bat-Centric post. If don't like it, well... tough cookies!

This last Wednesday I read the concluded chapter of "The Return of Bruce Wayne" which seems kind of redundant since we already know he's return & had been running around doing stuff. This issue only fills in the gap of who the heck do he actually get back.

Well, he got back & I thought "Huh?" But then was my reaction to end of Final Crisis which was written by Grant Morrison, seen here making sure you know Superman has a crotch:

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm talking about but it's odd photo of Grant Morrison (He's the bald one) I found on the Internet.

Now thinking about both series I come to another comparison that there is a part of the story gone (Now Wayne's return, this might be partly my fault since his return was also partly chronicled in other Bat Books (Batman & Robin being one of those books) that I didn't read but I don't think was the problem with FC I just think with that book the missing part of that series was in Morrison's head.

Now there might be a 3rd comparison or it just might be an off shoot of my first comparison: the book might be on a higher thinking plane. I found this with a number of Morrisons' more recent works. They seem to have some concept were you need to do some deep thinking about concepts to fully get what's going on.

I tried to explain what happen in the Return of Bruce Wayne #6 to my dad. Now I didn't completely understand the book but I thought I could explain what happened but not really why. My dad didn't under what happened, he thought it was just confusing.

That might be the best way to explain Morrison's writing: Confusing. Now are his books bad because they are confusing? No. At least they are getting you to think about stuff. They are bad comics that just leave you confused & all you can think about is how bad the comic you just read is & nothing beyond that. Confusing can be good & lead you to something more which in Comic Books that might lead you to buying more comic books. :)

That's all I go for this time. Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody.

- Brian

This is Entry 172: Holy Crap, Bat-Man!

2010-11-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I went old school with the name, that's just how I roll. :)

But this post is about the Dark Knight Detective: Batman & how I've become burnt out on reading about him.

Going back a years or two, I started to read more Batman related titles, starting off with the whole "Battle for the Cowl" stuff which I sort of found pointless. Everyone knew that Dick Grayson was going to become the new Batman we didn't need the mini-series. We didn't need the tie-in books even thought I did like a number of them. I think the story could have been a 2, 3 part story line in one of the Bat Books. Then once BFTC was over a whole bunch of Bat Books were launched, I've read a number of them.

So, here we are again: more mini series. "Bruce Wayne: The Return" was good but kind of slow. "The Road Home" mini-series was pointless. It was put out out of order (Part 2 came out a week before Part 1 did.) I thought most of the stuff said in those books could have been down in the characters' own books. Sure, some of them don't have books so put out a one-shot book. Now with Bruce Wayne back (How exactly? I don't know, the story that told of his return isn't finished yet) & there will now be the "Batman Inc." stuff with a bunch more Bat Books coming out. Will I buy them? Not really. I might buy 1 or 2 of the half dozen that are on their way. I'm most likely give the new books I once over at the store & might wait to see what happens in the books. I've thinking of dropping some of the Bat Books I already read.

This a feeling not just for Bat Books, I'm thinking at the new year dropping some of the books I buy. Most for the reason they don't interest me anymore. Also, I need to cut back on my spending.

*Sigh*

I'm just kind of burnt out. I don't want to feel like I need to buy 8 books to just to know the whole darn story line. I should be able to get the full story in the one book I read & if I read the other books it should enhance what I have already read, not make me feel like I missed something since I haven't been reading a book.

I was getting burnt out on the Superman books after all "World of New Krypton" stuff but the books have now split off & I don't fell I need to read everything. I doubt the Bat Books will be doing that any time soon.

We'll see how it'll go over the next couple of months.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 171: Computer Problems

2010-11-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Mid-Term Elections everybody! Hope everyone voted because if you didn't vote, you shouldn't be able to complain about what happens as a result. :)

This is just quick post to tell you all about what's happening with the Blog. I've recently been having some problems with my computer. Many thing where tried but in the end it came down to having the hard drive replaced. So, my hard drive was all bright shiny & new! It was no longer cluttered up with all those silly files! wait... that might've been a bad thing & it was, sort of. But before it all went to heck in a hand basket, files from the computer were backed up on 2 external hard drives. So, I didn't think I had lost anything & everything would go back to normal. I was wrong: when thing were reloading my computer not all files were saved. At least not all the files were saved on one of the external hard drives. One of the hard drives is locked & we don't know how to unlock it so my other files might be there & they might not be: I don't know.

So, what does these means for the Blog?

The 20 some odd "Random Photos" & the 70 some odd "Really Cool Old Ads" I had scanned in ready to go were among the items not found. :( So, it will not take me longer to get those up for you to see. You''ll eventually see those things just later then I had hoped.

Until next time I bid thy a Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 170: The Marvel Food & Deli

2010-10-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, I randomly found this place.

The place was closed & there was a fence around it. :( So, I don't what they sold. Also, I doubt the store had anything to do with Marvel Comics but it's fun to think what could have been in some alternate dimension.

Also, this might be a Random Photo but I don't consider to be part of the Random Photo series.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian

This is Entry 169: Coming Attractions!

2010-10-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

So, this post is to give you an update on stuff is coming to soon to this Blog!

Really Cool Old Ads!: I got over 70 ads scanned in & I'm not even deep into my collection. This project will most likely be an on going thing. I've got a whole lot more comics to go through & of course I'll be buying more comics so it's an never ending circle! What you'll be seeing is Ad's from the Mid 1960's to the Early 1990's.

Random Photos: this project has an end since I haven't gotten anymore random photos since the one's I've scanned in. There around 30 photos.

These 2 projects will start rolling out when I figure out in what order I want to do them in. RP is less a problem then RCOA is since I've started to notices sets of ads & am wondering if I should do special set postings (Multiple ads, 1 post) or just a special month of posts (1 ad per post for a few weeks).

Another project in the works is The Hot List. Right now my max number is 70. I've got about 65 people on the list. I've started to get really picky on who is on the list. There are some people I could just put on the list to get it to 70 but want to make it a list that I would feel good about sharing with you all. This will be put out once the list is finished & then I'm not sure how I want to do (1 per post, 5, per post or 10 per post). I guess it all depends on how long I want to drag it out. :)

There are also other projects that are in the works & when they are in more the final stages they'll be talked about here. Also, I was thinking about these entries & I'll soon be at Entry 200. I did something kind of special for 100 & I'd like to do something special for 200. Now sure what it at the moment but it'll be something I'll be thinking about.

Until next we meet: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 168: Hip Hop History with Jimmy & Justin!

2010-09-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Last Night on Last Night with Jimmy Fallon: Jimmy, Justin Timberlake & the Roots took a musical trip through Hip-Hip History! How was it? Watch the video to find out.

I could name about half to 3/4th of the songs they used. This also marks the 2nd time i've posted a video where the song "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z was used. :) Also, things like this is why I think Late Night is really cool. He & the show has done some really cool stuff so when I stay up late at night I'm going to see something cool and/or funny. Speaking of songs: There is a song by Jimmy, Amy Poehler & Rashida Jones that pretty cool, too. I think would also be on the Late Night section of NBC.com.

So, until next time: Stay Jazzy, everybody!

- Brian