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In the past few reviews I’ve posted, I’ve failed to mention something: LOST ROCKS!!! I know. I know you all know this, but it has to be said every so often. Tonight’s episode was great. We had answers to questions, more mysteries, and Star Wars. What more do you want? This week’s episode is entitled “Some Like it Hoth”. An obvious reference to Star Wars. As this week’s episode progressed, I said to myself where is the Star Wars connection? When it was finally revealed, I burst out laughing. I tip my hat to the writers of this week’s episode. However, I do have to disagree with Hurley on the Ewoks; they do not suck. Now Jar-Jar Binks? He sucks! Big time! Although the Ewoks were never my all time favorite, I never had the hatred that some people feel for the Ewoks. They were comic relief similar to C-3PO and R2. What does this all have to do with “LOST”? I’ll mention that later. The episode “Some Like it Hoth” was an episode that was Miles centric and it revealed more about his past. Lets begin.
Spoilers….......................
Click to continue reading LOST Review 4/15/09
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DC Comics Review: Batman: Confidential #28
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: ***
The final part to the King Tut storyline is here. This was a very good story. It’s funny after reading this story, I almost wish DC went with the funny 1960s version of King Tut, but as I said before DC has Maxie Zeus to fit that role so it would be redundant here.
The Riddler and Batman continue to match wits as they work together to take down King Tut. When we last saw them, it looked like the were caught in Tut’s trap and died in an explosion - obviously they escaped. Similar to the old movie serials we are shown exactly how they escaped just prior to the explosion. I like the relationship here between Batman and the Riddler. I think writers Christina Weir and Nunzio DiFilipis do a better job of this pseudo good Riddler than what Paul Dini was doing in over in “Detective Comics”.
Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez is still a master with his artwork. Some great action sequences that help tell the story. Batman and Riddler save the day and send King Tut off to jail. However, by the looks of the things, this will not be the last time we see Tut as he now has a queen to help him rid Gotham of Batman.
“Batman: Confidential” continues next month with the return of the creative team of the previous story arc Andrew Kreisberg and Scott McDaniel. They team up once again to to tell the story of the police officer who has gone insane thanks to the actions of the Joker. See you next month for the beginning of the two-part storyline entitled: “Bad Cop.”
The magazine Starlog came along when fans of sci-fi movies and TV shows were split into two camps: those still trying to figure out whether or not Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was actually any good, and Star Trek fans still waiting for Paramount to revive what was not yet “the franchise.” Star Wars was just about to hit and bust open the genre’s wallet.
If you’ve been living on Io for the past few days, you might not have heard that the print version of Starlog is no more. Like so many other magazines, it has ceased to be and is moving to the internets, temporarily they say, though permanently is more like it. It’s a tough climate for print, though I hear trees have never been happier.
I have long-standing connections to the Starlog Universe and I’ll miss it mightily. Editor Dave McDonnell and I have been acquainted with one another since college –
Click to continue reading Starlog Logs Off
The many tubes of the internets are always clogged with great stuff. Here’s a few pleasant time-killers to take the edge off a long work-week (for those of us still hanging onto a job) and ease us into the holiday weekend.
WATCHMEN: Still can’t get enough Watchmen linkage from all over the internets? Here’s one more: Doug Atkinson – whose last name means “too much time on my hands” in Esperanto – has gone through and footnoted/annotated all 12 chapters of the graphic novel (or issues, for you original serialized readers) in a highly detailed and analytical fashion. Debate on, you funnybook fanatics.
MORNING WOOD: Over at his blog, My Delineated Life, Tom Buchanan has a great post about Wally Wood’s tryout for Prince Valiant. King Features was looking for a replacement when Hal Foster retired and Woody was one of the applicants (as was Gray Morrow and the winner John Cullen Murphy). Tom’s got the facts and the samples. A must for fans – Wood would have been a great choice to carry on.
(h/t Booksteve’s Library)
WHAT’S UP, CHUCK?: Cartoonist Mike Lynch has a short but fascinating post about the time he met Chuck Jones, the great animation director.
GREEN HORNET I: Writer/Editor/All Around Good Guy Bob Greenberger has a knack for finding the most interesting projects to work on. I missed this post, but Bob Greenberger has announced, some time ago in fact, that he’s writing some new non-comics adventures of the Lone Ranger’s relative (no really, they are related) for Moonstone Books. You can find all about it at Bob’s blog and a little bit more at the Moonstone website.
GREEN HORNET II: Meanwhile, blogmeister Dave Olbrich, an old friend from the Ultraverse, has finally weighed in on the whole “Seth Rogen as Green Hornet” debate. I reserve all judgment – Mr. Olbrich went on record like this once before when he brayed that Michael Keaton was a bad choice for Batman. Casting decisions are always a fun debate – I cringed when supposedly-clean Robert Downey, Jr. was announced as Tony Stark but wasn’t he ten shades of awesome? So it’ll be interesting to see where a Green Hornet movie goes. Besides, true GH fans know that the real star of anything GH is Kato.
GREEN HORNET III: So he’s back in book form, and he’s coming back in comic book form, now what’s left? Oh, yeah, he’s coming back to comic books, too. The Scoop has the, well, scoop.
MARVEL COMICS: Why is Marvel Comics making it so hard for this guy to read and enjoy Marvel Comics?
That’s it for this weekend. If you’re celebrating, enjoy your holiday, and try to bite the heads off as many chocolate bunnies as you can, and then see how many Marshmallow Peeps you can stuff into an EC Comics hardcover slipcase. (My guess is 176.)
Marvel Comics Review: Wolverine: Weapon X #1
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,
Rating: ** 1/2*
I haven’t read a X-book in a year or two. Even when I picked up “Uncanny X-men” #500, I didn’t bother reading it because it didn’t interest me. For the longest time, I just haven’t been all that interested in what Marvel has been doing with the world of the X-Men. Ever since they killed Jean and put Scott with Emma, I just could care less. The only X-Men experiences I have been reading are of Wolverine in the “New Avengers” - which I just dropped.
When I first heard that Marvel was going to a do a third monthly series featuring Wolverine I almost lost it. I couldn’t believe how stupid Marvel was being with the Wolverine character in their quest to put him in comic after comic, month after month. I wasn’t planning on getting this issue, but with the new Wolverine movie coming out, I began missing the old days when I used to love reading the Wolverine monthly title. Both Chris Claremont and Larry Hama did some amazing stuff on that book. I highly recommend reading those old stories. So I picked up “Wolverine” Weapon X” purely for nostalgia reasons. Did it live up to those old Wolverine stories? No, but it wasn’t completely awful.
This issue focuses on a group of people from Roxxon getting a hold of the Weapon X files in order to make their own group of super soldiers. Wolverine finds out about this from his old Weapon X buddy Maverick who no longer has his powers thanks to the Scarlet Witch in the “House of M” storyline. Wolverine decides to stop them and show them that they can’t build a better killing machine because they already did. Chessy, but whatever.
The story is quick and to the point. No new ground is broken here and it doesn’t make me want to get the next issue. Maybe I’ll pick it up - especially if I like the Wolverine movie, but the story has to really pick up in order for me to put this on my pull list. Ron Garney does a good job with the art, but nothing spectacular. If you love Wolverine, you’ll probably like this, but if you don’t like Wolverine, you can pass on this. I hope there are some good Logan stories on the horizon. I’m starting to really miss him.
“Dead is dead.” says Ben Linus in this week’s episode of “LOST”. It also happens to be the name of this week’s episode of “LOST”. As mentioned in last week’s review, this week’s episode focuses on Benjamin Linus and his desire to seek out the smoke monster in order to be judged. This episode is also full of flashbacks on Ben’s life from his youth and the moment after his healing from the gunshot wound to the “business” he had to take care of before he got on Flight 316 to head back to the island.
The “dead is dead” line is a reference to John Locke. At the end of last week’s episode, Ben was surprised to see that John was alive. The island has brought him back to life and although Ben knew this would happen to John, it’s still an unusual thing to see because this shouldn’t really happen to anyone on the island. However, the island it seems has chosen John for a special purpose and needs him alive. With that being said, Ben is here more importantly to be judged by the smoke monster for breaking the rules and returning to the island. What is Ben’s verdict? Lets us see.
Spoilers….............................................................
Click to continue reading LOST Review 4/8/09
DC Comics Review: Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2
Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, DC Comics,
Rating: *** 1/2*
This was another great issue of the “Battle for the Cowl” (BFTC) mini-series. As readers know, Tony Daniel provides the artwork as well as the story for this mini-series and he continues to do a great job. The story so far has not only lived up to the hype, but in my opinion it has surpassed what I thought we’d get here. As I mentioned in my previous blog about the first issue, I thought giving Daniel the task of writing this story was going to be a mistake. Most of the time big events tend to let me down, and I really get excited when they don’t let me down.
This series is a must read for Batman fans. Although Bruce Wayne does not appear in this story, he is here spirit. The foundation of what Bruce believed in and what he stood for is the center of the story. Who will continue his mission?
The story hasn’t had any real surprises so far. Its been pretty straight forward in the direction it’s heading with Nightwing becoming Batman and Damian becoming Robin. It’s almost too much like getting hit over the head and saying that this is exactly what will happen. However, you never know, there could be a turn coming and maybe Tim Drake becomes Batman. Who knows.
The story picks up where we left off in the last issue with the gun totting Batman aka Jason Todd, attacking Nightwing and Damian.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Batman: Battle for the Cowl #2
JOHN ALBANO is a name familiar to anyone who grew up reading DC Comics in the late 1960s and 1970s. He did a ton of humor work for the company and the Academy of Comic Book Arts awarded him a Shazam Award in 1971 (Best Writer: Humor Division) and 1972 (Best Individual Short Story - Dramatic) for “The Demon Within,” that was illustrated by the great Jim Aparo, and published in DC Comics’ House of Mystery #201. He also co-created (with artist Tony Dezuniga) the legendary Jonah Hex, the scarfaced cowboy who just will not die. Albano died in 2005 and Mark Evanier has more about his life here.
JOHN COSTANZA is primarily known as a letterer (on titles like Alan Moore and Steve Bissette’s run on Swamp Thing) and cartoonist especially on Warner Bros. cartoon characters (though he’s also worked on The Simpsons comic books as well as Roger Rabbit). He got his start as Joe Kubert’s assistant on the newspaper strip, Tales of the Green Berets. He also won a Shazam Award from the ACBA in 1974 (Best Letterer), and in 1986 and 1987 won Comic Buyer’s Guide Fan Awards for Favorite Letterer for his work on Swamp Thing.
In 1984, John and John teamed up with Little Golden Books for this short easy-reader gem: Ronald McDonald And The Tale of the Talking Plant. In the story, Ronald and Grimace help two children find a place where a beautiful talking plant can be appreciated by adoring fans. (And no, cynical reader of licensed tie-in projects, they don’t take it to a McDonald’s restaurant.)
If you’re an Albano/Costanza/Ronald McDonald collector, you should be able to snag a copy of this relatively inexpensively. I got mine at a library book sale for less than a buck.
(artwork © 1984 McDonald’s Corporation)
Lots of fun stuff on the internets lately. We’re still not done with anything Alan Moore’s ever touched, seen, eaten or smelled; Gotham By Gaslight, the classic “Elseworlds” book gets a callback; Jim Mooney makes an appearance; and an old fanboy remembers the Chicago Comic Con of 1986 when funnybook fanatics were all talking about Alan Moore, Frank Miller and the grand future of the printed comic book!
MORE ALAN MOORE: This has been linked to elsewhere but Steve Rose has a nice interview with Alan Moore, published in England’s Guardian (which is both a newspaper and a website, not some cape-clad superhero).
GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT: There’s a great internet game started by blogger Patti Abbott and her site, pattinase. Every Friday, she encourages her fellow crime bloggers to write about their favorite Forgotten Books. This week, crime blogger Scott D. Parker weighs in with an old favorite. For those unfamiliar, in Gotham by Gaslight, Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) imagined Batman back in Victorian England and created a memorable stand-alone adventure involving Jack the Ripper. Parker argues that this is a forgotten book that deserves to be discovered again. You can chime in on the conversation at his blog.
JIM MOONEY: I think Jim Mooney is a vastly underrated artist who doesn’t get nearly the love and respect he should. I feel the same about Bob Brown and Ross Andru. Over at 20th Century Danny Boy, Dan Best (who’s published a book about Andru and his longtime business partner Mike Esposito) has an excerpt from his yet-to-be-published book on Mooney. From just this sample, this looks like a great book and I hope someone publishes it soon (I’m looking at you, TwoMorrows). Mooney’s career spanned decades – a lot of Batman work back when Bob Kane was still taking credit for everything, and a lot of Marvel work later in his career.
Part One is here (and has the greatest photo of a very young Steve Gerber)
Part Three focuses on his Batman work. You’ll have to click the links and get part 2 on your own!
CHICAGO COMIC CON: Jay Zilber scanned and uploaded the entire program book from the 1986 con. It’s a fascinating journey back to the old-school days of comics. It’s a pdf and the scan is a little fuzzy, but the journey is worth making.
And finally, this cartoon by Ted Rall made me laugh out loud. Have a great weekend, internets!
Artwork © DC Comics
Rating: *** 1/2*
The Flash is back! “The Flash: Rebirth” mini-series begins the story of Barry Allen’s return to the DC universe. This is a new experience for me because the lead Flash for me has always been Wally West. In the 200 plus issues of Wally’s Flash book, Barry Allen has popped up in several storylines. He would be pulled from the time stream before he made his Crisis run so he could come and help Wally. Now as a result of the events of “Final Crisis,” Barry has been pulled from the Speed Force where he has existed since the end of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and he’s now alive and well ready to continue to live his life. But the question remains why was he pulled and how?
In this issue, writer Geoff Johns paints an almost dark Batman type of Barry Allen. All he seems to care about now that he’s back is getting back into the game and fighting whatever threat there is out there. He doesn’t want to go to the parties or parades that are in his honor. He feels that since he’s been away for so long, the world has passed him by and he needs to catch up immediately and start fighting. He seems almost obsessed with it.
From the few stories I have read that contained of the character of Barry Allen, he seems like a much different person here in this issue. Has his time within the Speed Force changed him? I don’t know.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: The Flash Rebirth #1
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