This is Entry 31: Comics!

Well, my grand experiment didn't live up to what I wanted it to. It's mostly my fault, I just didn't keep it going. Ironically enough I stopped just a day short of my sister's birthday (That would be an easy post to do). So I'm back a few 2 weeks later & I'm back to finish off the big ol' pile of Marvel that I have. I'm doing it now since next month is a busy month.

Next weekend is Free Comic Book Day which means I'll have a tone of new stuff to blog about. The weekend after that is the 6th annual Emerald City ComiCon. Then a week after that I'm going for a week or more. Then it's basically June. So, I'm going to try to hit everything I want to but I'll probably won't. I should really plan out what I want to say before I type all this out but I never do. This is off the top of my head, People! I'm free styling!

Let's start off with a "graphic novel": Earth X Trilogy Companion, a collection of sketches, background info, covers, the apparently rare Earth X 1/2 issue (I have 2 of them) & some other stuff. Most of it I've seen before & own some of it. Then why buy the book? I like Alex Ross' pencil/sketch work more then I like his fully painted stuff. It just looks cooler to me so that's why I bought the book.

New Stuff:

-Annihilation Conquest, the really cool space drama, finished up. Issue 5 (of the 6) helps explain how there was an Ultron here & over in Mighty Avengers a few issues back.

Favorite panel of issue 5:



I think that would make a great battle cry, like "Spoon!" or "Touch the Liver, Lick the Goat!" are.

Issue 6 nicely wraps up everything. I've never thought Warlock (from New Mutants fame was scary but he kind of is here). There some great lines in there. The end fight is a little lack luster but still cool. The very end segaways nicely into full up series/spin off series called Guardians of the Galaxy which will be drawn by a one Mr. Paul Pelletier, I really like his art. So, that's got me excited & I like the characters. The series is going to be written by the same people who did this series which is nice.

Next up is the muchly delayed 29th issue of Runaways, I only vaguely knew what is going on with the book. The art is nice, the writing is (as you would guess with Joss Whedon) but the only think that is kind of sucky is that there are huge gaps in between issues. Next issue (when ever that comes out) is the last of this story line, maybe it will pick up after that i.e. ship more frequently.

Now I hadn't read much of Young Avengers or the other issues of this series (Young Avengers presents...) but I like/liked Vision. So I picked this up to look at. It's good some nice art (I wouldn't mind seeing more of Mark Brooks' art). But I was a bit lost given my only passing knowledge of the series. The story it present may continue next issue, if it does I may pick it up.

X-Men First Class #11 is an odd issue. It a sort of a mishmash of concepts & characters. It also marks the first appearance & maybe only appearance of a new team: The Continuiteens! It's a fun read, but then most of what writer Jeff Parker has written that I've read are a fun read.

So I Issues 2-5 of New Exiles in my pile. Issues 2-4 cover the team getting it's last member; Gambit. But not the one we know but an a blond Atlantean Gambit who's parents a black Namor & Sue Storm. Yeah, I know. The character is ok & I'm sure why they had to name him Gambit (the only similarities between the 2 are they talk like there from New Orleans but this version is from Africa). I'm skipping over most of the story which makes this all make sense, sort of. Side Note: In Issue 4 we get to see a blue skinned female Atlantean (who is also Gambit's sister), she reminded me a little of a Namora (former member of the Exiles). I liked her.

The story that starts in Issue 5 is one that I enjoyed. I've been a bit wary of the book the last few issues of Exiles & the first couple of New Exiles haven't been all that exciting to me. But if they start being more like the story in 5 I'll keep the book.

Next up in the final issue of Penance: Relentless. Now I liked this series & the character, some people I know don't like character. But this was a nice conclusion, it was basically just one big fight between him & Nitro. Now that can be a bad thing sometimes but the way this one played out was wonderful. Probably one of the better fights I've read all year.

Next up is Captain America: still a good book. But I want to talk about the book just one character from the book: Black Widow, more particularly her hair. In Captain America she has long hair:



But in Mighty Avengers she has short hair:



What the? I know they are 2 different book with different writers & artists but you'd think that if they used the same character in both she'd have the same hair style. She is wearing the same costume!

Next I'd like to talk about 3 issues of Mighty Avengers: Issues 9, 10 & 12.

Issue 9 is a amazing it's done in 3 types of art: it's starts off painted, goes to regular art & end is done to look like an old comic book. Also there is a 6 page fight scene in this issue, not text just glorious art.

Issue 10 continues on with the old comic feel & is done perfectly.

Issue 12 is one I have problem with. It ties in with the "Secret Invasion that's going on. Now I didn't have a problem with that but this issue feature none of the Mighty Avengers. They aren't on the cover (It's a skrull recreation of Avengers, vol. 1 #4) & there are none inside (well, Spider-Woman shows up but that's about it). It's all about where Nick Fury has been for the last few years, he disappeared after the most resent "Secret War". The story was ok, the art was a bit to dark for my tastes

One back issue I'll talk about: Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #14 which feature a team up between Ultimate Spider-Man & a appearance by Ultimate Black Widow before she showed up in The Ultimates (or Ultimate Avengers if you will). She also looks different here then in her Ultimates appearances. But this I can let slide, they hadn't decided on her final look yet since her hair color changes from the cover to the inside.

2 Non Marvel books:
- The Brave & The Bold finished up it's first story arc with Issue 12 & I look forward to seeing what the next arc is.
- I'm thinking of dropping Doctor Who, not the classic version but the current version. It's Issue 3 & I'm still not liking it. I'll give it a another issue or two. I've thought about dropping New Exiles but it finally picked up at issue 5.

Side Note: New Episodes of Doctor Who started to air. SCI-FI Channel, 9 p.m.

So, next post will most likely be FCBD (Free Comic Book Day) related. Stay Tuned for that.

And as always: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 30: Comics!

Ok, here it is. I'm going to finally blog about all the comics I've built up over the last month or so. This might the first of a multipart posting. I don't know, depends on how much I want to write this time. I of course have the 3 major sections: DC Comics, Marvel Comics & smaller press stuff.

Let's do something a little different this time, let's start off with the "smaller press stuff" pile. Also they are the smallest pile of the three.

The first up is a first for this blog, it's a comic from the Bongo Comics Group, the people who bring up The Simpsons Comics, Futurama Comics & a few years a go produced the really cool mini series: Heroes Anonymous (if you can find it, I hight recommend you check it out). The comics I picked up was Simpsons Super Spectacular #6, it's a book that pokes fun at Comic Books themselves. It hits some points right on the head. Added Bonus', Bonuses', Boni, whatever: The characters from the Radioactive Man comics get some play here. Also, almost every super hero identity that a Simpsons character has assumed over the years in the comics is also here.

Next up: Umbrella Academy #6, it's the last issue of this interesting mini-series. But in reading the the letter column at the end, there will a 2nd series. So, yippie to that!

Lastly from this section are Doctor Who Comics. IDW Press is currently putting out 2 Who related series: Doctor Who Classics which feature reprints from the 1970's with Tom Baker as The Doctor & the simply titled Doctor Who, featuring the current Doctor (as played by David Tennant). As I've posted before the Classic Who book has at least one panel that is laugh out loud funny, both in context but even funnier out of context. I have 2 issues & here are there panels:

Issue 4 presented us with these 2 Panels (I edited out 1 panel, hence the white part):



Issue 4 also has a fun little story called "Time Slip" where The Doctor got caught in some space slime creature thing that reverted him back through his previous incarnations. The art's a bit odd but it's a fun story.

Issue 5 had these 2 panels, I like them both:



The book featuring the current Doctor is good. The first 3 pages of Issue 1 give you a nice quick overview of who The Doctor is, but I think you'd already know if you were going to be picking this book up. The 2 issues I've read so far are on par with ok episodes of the TV show, nothing all that truly awesome but all still pick up the book.

So, that's for the smaller press stuff. Who to talk about next. DC or Marvel? Marvel or DC? A question that has plagued Nerdom for decades. Hmmmm....

Ok, Let's just go for



Why? It comes alphabetically first. That's why!

So, we have the last two issues of the most kick ass storyline I've read all year: Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes(Action Comics #857-863). Issue 862 has a the update to a personal favorite team of mine: The Legion of Substitute-Heroes. I've always been a fan of the somewhat out of the normal. The conclusion was good, a bit lack lust but at the end there was a 2 page ad to for something to look forward to: Superman & the Legion of Super-Heroes Vs. Superman-Prime & the Legion of Super-Villians. You know who writing it? Geoff Johns, the same guy who wrote this LSH story. you know who's drawing it? George Perez! Wahoo! It looks like it's going to be awesome!

Next up is the book I don't know why I buy but still do: All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder. This issue is pretty much one long fights between Bats & Hal Jordan, The Green Lantern. There is a lot of yellow in this, for obvious reasons. :)

Next up: Justice Society of America. I'm still not sure I like the whole "Thy Kingdom Come" storyline that's going on. I liked Kingdom Come, even the sequel had some good parts. But I'm not sure about this. It seems to have been set up for the last few issues & not enough action. At least in #14 we got some fighting & with it came more KC connections.

The next 2 book on down the pile are issues of The Brave & the Bold, Issue 10 featured was split into 2 parts. Part 1: Superman & the Silent Knight. Part 2: Aquaman & the orginal Teen Titans (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash & Aqualad). Issue 11 is an interesting team up of Superman with his Earth 3 counterpart of Ultraman. The best part of the issues was Mixyezpitelik, the Earth 3 counterpart to Mr. Mxyzptlk.

Were almost there, I'm half way down my DC pile. Then there is the Marvel & we're down (for now). Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Much like I'm not sure about the KC story line in JSA, I'm not sure about having Blue Beetle in Booster Gold. (Added Bonus, Issue #8 has Anthro in it, who part of the the kick ass miniseries: Doctor 13: Architecture & Morality). Speaking of Blue Beetle & Booster Gold, Issue 43 of Justice League Unlimited is about them & is a fun issue.

A few posts back I talk about Tangent Comics (Entry 20, to be exact), well that universe is back & in it's own 12 issue Mini-Series, called Tangent: Superman's Reign. I have the first issue & it look good, so I pick up 2.

Recently the animated version of the kick butt mini series DC: The New Frontier came out with a slightly different title (Justice League: The New Frontier) so to celebrate/cash in on that, DC released a Special book with a few new stories in that dimension/time period. Best Parts: Rip Hunter's introduction & the 1st story.

And now a word from Julius Schwartz:


(This panel was from the Ambush Bug Nothing Special)

I picked up one of DC's Secret Files And Origins books, this one features Superman's Villains (circa 1998). There was one thing that I was a bit funny. In the Super-Villains Time Line, it claims that 4 years ago Crisis on Infinite Earths happened. What? That happened in '85 not '94. In '94 you, being Superman kicked the bucket & not in '97 as this time line claims. Man, DC needs to figure how to tell time. :)

Lastly, is issue 31 of Cartoons, Cartoons, series featuring many of the Cartoon Network's cartoons. This issues covers story is Ed, Edd & Eddy. I do so love me some Ed, Edd & Eddy.

Well, I think this post is long enough. I shall hold off on Marvel until next entry.

Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 29: Blank Entry

This Entry has been intentionally left blank for your protection. Please do not post any comments to this entry for it may invalidate this Blog.

Thank you & as always Stay Jazzy!

-The Management (i.e. Brian).

This is Entry 28: Blog Experiment, Part 2

New-ish content. It's not mine but a really funny guys' content. I present to you: The Road. Enjoy.

This is Entry 27: Blog Experiment, Part 1

Or: Part 1 of the Experiment

Well, today I wanted to share with some photography. I had a wonderful picture all lined up for you all. But the site I upload all my pic's to so I can post them on the web is being a little troublesome. So, there is no photography. :(

But I might be back later today with something as as today's new content. We'll see.

Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 26: Blog Experiment

In honor of this Blog's 9 month anniversary starting today... well maybe Tomorrow, but this week: I'd like to try something.

I'd like to put up more content here on the ol' Blog. So, everyday this week there will be something new. This will count as today's new post, I know but this is a new post. But the rest of the week I'll start to work on the pile of Comics that I yet to ramble on about (I've got like weeks worth of stuff to go over). But, that won't be all: I do some photography, so prepare for the artist side of me to make it's self known here on the Blog. There might be other stuff, so stay tuned.

Tune in tomorrow for the start of this experiment! Let's hope I make it to Friday. :)

As always: Stay Jazzy!

-Brian

This is Entry 25: FCBD

In one months' time, lo there shall come a holiday!
A most glorious holiday that all good little geek boys & girls wait for all year!
It's a most glorious Saturday where one can go into their local participating ye olde Comic Book shoppe.
Once there ye can pick up many a printed page for no cents on the dollar!
Yes, for nothing excluding the the cost of getting thy hence!
But a word of warning to ye: get thy there early for a line doth form & ye may miss out on some cool printed pages!
This Holiday shall happen on one day every year: The first Saturday of every May & shall be called by one name:



The Event's official website: http://www.freecomicbookday.com

This is Post 24: Update!

It's been a month & it would be time for another post but I just haven't gotten around to it. Now I do have a large pile o' Comics to share with you. There has been so much goodness, so much in fact I'm thinking of doing a multi-part posting.

The Posting will be forth coming.

Stay Tuned & Stay Jazzy.

-Brian

This is Entry 23: Comics!

It's a new month, so it's time for a new posting. I've been meaning to do this for sometime since I've got a ton of comics to gush about. That's part because one of the comic stores I frequent had a few $.50 an issue boxes. My love of free/cheap stuff & comics made me look thought all the boxes.

First up, it's



X-Men First Class #8, in this issue the Team meets up with The Man-Thing. Since you can't have Man-Thing without the Nexus of Realities far behind. The team travels to what might be possible futures for the team. The series is written by Jeff Parker.

He also wrote the next book, it's the last book in this year's What If series. It stars Spider-Man & Wolverine. It's based off of a story from the 1980's. Spidey gets a new costume over the issue:



And it reminded me of the design Alex Ross did for the first Spider-Man movie.

Speaking of Ross designed costumes (hows that for a transistion?), we get the first issue of the *new* Captain America in, yep you guessed it Captain America #34:



And I'll spoil who's under the mask, It's James Buchanan Barnes/Bucky/The Winter Soldier. I don't think anyone who had been reading the book didn't see that coming. As for he first outing in the Red, White, Blue & Black: he did ok. As for the suit: I don't have a firm opinion either way. It makes since he didn't want to wear the original. The twist at the end should be an interesting read to see how they resolve this one.

Mighty Avenger #8, the Symboite fight seemed at little pointless & never truly got going. The issue seemed like a setup for the "Secret Invasion" event that upcoming. Next issue the team facing off against good ol' Doctor Doom.

I picked up the latest issue of The Fantastic Four, something I hadn't done in awhile. My readership of the book fades in & out. Issue #554 is the first issue of Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch. I thought the redesign for the cover was interesting:



The opening scene was a great way to open the book & look forward to seeing where Mr. Millar takes the book.

Spider-Man Family #7, the cover story was tribute to the late Mike Wieringo. It was a fun story & that's what 'Ringo's stories were: Fun. For more on my feeling about Wieringo: see Entry # 3. One small problem about the SMF book, it's a 104 (not sure if that includes ad's) but most of the book is reprints & a manga version of Spider-Man. I don't mind the manga but the reprints I do mind. I wouldn't mind seeing all new content for the book. I pick up more if it did.


Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special This 1991 "80 Page Block-Buster" as the cover proclaims is the first appearance of a character. She not on the cover & was used again for at least a decade but this book marks the first appearance of Squirrel Girl! Yes. She teams up with ol' Shellhead (Iron Man, in case you didn't know that nickname) & fight Doctor Doom. The story's plot, pencils & inks are by Steve Ditko! yeah, the same guy who was there for the start of Marvel!

My last Marvel book was for the geek in me, it's Marvel Teals #276, which reprints Amazing Spider-Man #263 & is the first (maybe only) appearance of spectacular Spider-Kid!



-----------

Next are...



I'm going to quick hit most books so I can get to what makes up the bulk of my DC pile.

- Booster Gold is still one of the most fun books on the stand. Go pick it up!
- The Justice Society of America is getting some new members!
- Legends of The DC Universe #1 is a "lost story" from the story that redid the the enfire DCU, Crisis on Infinite Earths & features the only story appearance of Earth D.
- Superboy #8 has 2 for the price of one. Pre-Crisis Superboy & Kon-El meet up due to the effects of Zero Hour. They of course fight.
- Adventures of Superman #646: in this issue Mr. Mxyzptlk Dies! Now I didn't know this before I picked up this back issue but it had cool cover:



In the $.50 bins I mentioned earlier, most of the books I picked up related to one team: The Legion of Super- Heroes. But before I talk about the older books featuring them, I'll talk about their current appearance in Action Comics. We are in to the fourth part of the story & It kicks butt! I'll be sad to when it's over.

We now go back to the Legion's first appearance: Adventure #247, which was reprinted in the book I picked up, it was DC Archive sampler of Silver Age stories.



One thing that has always been a bit weird to me: why does Cosmic Boy wear Pink? it just doesn't seem like a very super heroey color.

After reading this story I found something intresting, the only team the group is only refered to as "The Legion of Super-Heroes" is in the title of the story, every where else they are a "Super Hero Club", they even have patches that say that:



Also for some reason Cosmic Boy is the only one to wear the patch, Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl don't wear it. This might be the only time he does wear it because I had never seen it before this. I also found it odd that they had their names spelt out on their shirts, I found it a bit distracting (I'm glad they dropped that).

I picked a DC Special featuring the Legion of Substitute-Heroes, it's from '85. I know that because of this ad:



I also picked up issues 5 & 8 of "Legion of Super-Hero" from 1990 (5 is the cool one & 8 retells the team's origin). I also picked up Issue 100 from '98. I picked up Issue 1,000,000 of Legionaires (it was part of the DC 1 Million event). Picked up Legionaires #66 for the cover:



The other 3 issues dealt with Time Travel. Where Legionaires #66 & Legion of Super-Heroes #105 dealt with the Legion's past. Legionaires #54 dealt with the Golden Age of Comics:



It was really well done how the merged the era with the legion. They found ways to use Proty, the Legion's classic Headquarters & R.J. Brande. But the best way was how the flight rings were used:



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Ok, we are almost done. I also picked up the latest issues of Oni Press' Maintenance, IDW's Doctor Who Classics & Platinum Studios Comics' Hero by Night.

That's it for now.

Stay Jazzy!

-Brian.

This is Entry 22: This Day in History 2008

Events:
98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
1142 - Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily.
1416 - Republic of Dubrovnik, as a first state in Europe, outlaw slavery
1606 - Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, and ending in their execution on January 31.
1678 - The first fire engine company in the United States went into service.
1785 - The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
1870 - The first college sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is formed at DePauw University.
1880 - Thomas Edison files a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
1888 - In Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Society is founded.
1900 - Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined
1926 - John Logie Baird makes the first television broadcast.
1939 - First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1967 - Apollo program: Apollo 1 - Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center.
1967 - More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
1973 - Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War, Colonel William Nolde falls, becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.
1977 - Record company EMI sacks the controversial United Kingdom punk rock group the Sex Pistols.
1983 - Pilot shaft of World's longest subaqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō breaks through.
1983 - I was born in Seattle, Washington, USA.
1984 - Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world long jump record by 9¼ inches (23.5 centimeters) with a 28-foot, 10¼-inch (8.795-meter) jump.
1997 - It is revealed that French museums have nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
1998 - American First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appears on the Today Show calling the attacks against her husband part of a vast right-wing conspiracy.

Births:
1443 - Albert, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
1687 - Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
1701 - Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian (d. 1790)
1756 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
1805 - Maria Anna of Bavaria, queen consort of Saxony (d. 1877)
1832 - Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
1848 - Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
1908 - William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (d. 1993)
1921 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
1924 - Sabu Dastagir, Indian actor (d. 1963)
1928 - Michael Craig, British actor
1940 - James Cromwell, American actor
1944 - Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
1951 - Brian Downey, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy)
1952 - Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, American football player
1954 - Peter Laird, American comic-book artist
1955 - John Roberts, 17th Chief Justice of the United States
1956 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
1957 - Janick Gers, British guitarist (Iron Maiden)
1957 - Frank Miller, American comic book artist and writer and film director
1959 - Keith Olbermann, American news presenter
1961 - Margo Timmins, Canadian singer (Cowboy Junkies)
1961 - Gillian Gilbert, British musician (New Order)
1964 - Bridget Fonda, American actress
1965 - Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
1969 - Patton Oswalt, American actor and writer
1972 - Guillermo, Mexican-born American TV personality
1983 - Me!
1987 - Katy Rose, American pop singer

Deaths
98 - Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
1629 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
1688 - Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, grandmother of the Kangxi Emperor in Qing Dynasty China
1731 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (b. 1655)
1740 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
1814 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1762)
1851 - John James Audubon, French-American naturalist, ornithologist, and painter (b. 1789)
1901 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
1910 - Thomas Crapper, English inventor (b. 1836)
1967 - Crew of Apollo 1: Roger Chaffee (b. 1935), Virgil "Gus" Grissom (b. 1926), Edward White (b. 1930)
1972 - Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
1973 - William Nolde, last American combat casualty of Vietnam War (b. 1929)
1993 - André the Giant, professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
2004 - Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)
2004 - Salvador Laurel, 9th Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
2006 - Johannes Rau, 8th Bundespräsident (President of Germany) (b. 1931)
2006 - Gene McFadden, American singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
2007 - Marcheline Bertrand, actress and mother of Angelina Jolie (b. 1950)

Holidays and observances
- UN: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
- United Kingdom: Holocaust Memorial Day.
- Germany: Gedenktag für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism).
- Poland: Dzień Pamięci Ofiar Nazizmu (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism).
- Italy: Giorno della Memoria (Memorial Day).
- Serbia: St. Sava Day.
- Denmark: Auschwitzdag (Auschwitz Day; commemoration day for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocide).
- Monaco: Day of Saint Devota, patron saint
- Catholicism: Catholic Schools Week.
- January 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- My Birthday.