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I really don’t know what to say. Final Crisis 7 is a perfect summary of the Final Crisis series. It reads like a plate glass window smashed by a sledgehammer. Every scene is a piece of shattered glass that tries to re-assemble itself back into a window. Whether it was successful or not is your opinion (by the way, check out Dave and Joel‘s opinions). I apologize for the jumpy nature of this review, but this issue is going to require a lot more re-readings before I comprehend everything.
Click to continue reading Final Crisis 7- My Take
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Someone has to stand up for Lex Luthor in Smallville and it might as well be me. I believe that the only honest person on the show is Lex and here is why.
We have to assume that the real fans of the show have watched every episode. It would be very easy to say that Lex is a power-mad psychopath who is only interested in accumulating power for himself. Crazy maybe, but crazy like a fox, I say. See, Lexie has a motive that is pure. He believes that there are aliens out here and they do not have the best intentions towards our planet. And guess what? He is right.
Lex has had exposure to aliens and they all seem to want to conquer Earth. From Brainiac to Maxima to Zod, all these guys have bad intentions towards Earth and its people. He wants to create a super-powered army to oppose them. All his efforts have been to accelerate this goal. Sure, he wants to be the top banana, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else that recognizes the threat and taking measures to counteract it. It is his money and intellect that propels every project to create this earth defense force. Even paranoids have enemies.
Let’s face it, everyone on the show is lying in one way or another. Sure, they are mostly lying to help Clark. But Clark was Lex’s BFF and his secret is not that he has super powers like every one else in Smallville exposed to meteor rocks, but that he is an actual alien. Imagine how life would have changed if Clark told his BFF the truth early in the relationship. Now Lex knows for sure there are good aliens as well as bad ones and they could work together to defend Earth. And another thing. Jor-El, from Krypton, sent John Jones, from Mars to help protect his son from, TADA, bad aliens who would do harm to earth. So I guess Lex isn’t so bad, afterall. Even though he threw his father through a window all the way to the Hero’s Universe to track down people with super powers.
Ironic huh ?
WEEKEND READING: John August, Carol Lay, Russell Davies and Wally Wood
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
Lots of great stuff popped up on my radar this week. It was tough to narrow it down to just four. But this stuff should keep you busy through the weekend. Happy clicking!
WALLY WOOD: Steve Thompson of Booksteve’s Library has launched a new blog about the late, great and tragic Wally Wood. Wood was a regular at EC Comics and his work popped up everywhere in the 1950s and 1960s: MAD Magazine, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Sally Forth, Cannon, The Spirit, Witzend and others. He worked as a penciller and an inker and did humorous stuff, super-hero stuff, sci-fi stuff and even stuff for adults only. He was also one of the first comic book artists to start publishing his own stuff. His illustrated “Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work” is a mini-masterpiece of story-telling techniques that’s been passed around since the age of the photocopier. He led a sad, unhappy life and ultimately took his own in 1981, but his art is still beautiful to look at years later. Favorite posts from Steve so far include sample art from the proposed Wizard King animated feature and a brief overview of his Thunder Agents comic, Noman. There’s lots of great artwork up so far and the promise of more. This is a blog to bookmark and come back to often.
Click to continue reading WEEKEND READING: John August, Carol Lay, Russell Davies and Wally Wood
I just finished reading “Justice Society of America” #23. Can someone please put Geoff Johns on a new Captain Marvel comic?!
This issue focused on the Marvel villain Black Adam and the resurrection of his wife Isis. I’ve never been a big Captain Marvel fan, but Geoff Johns does it again; he makes me interested in characters that in the past I really had no interest in reading. It’s such a shame that he’s leaving Justice Society. Another great issue. Pick it up if you’re a Marvel fan.
Random Thoughts - 1.30.09
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Reviews, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
Oh, it’s not our Final Crisis but the Monitor’s Final Crisis? Does that mean we have our own Final Crisis to endure? And, if I read it right (a big IF) did the Monitor’s existence fade away? Who exactly has the power to do this? Uotan? He did tell his fellow Monitors to “make your peace,” but he was reborn in Metropolis. So is his BFF reborn somewhere else? And if he’s reborn why wouldn’t the rest of the Monitors regenerate. Maybe they have their own resurrection ship like on Galactica. And how did I miss the ship on the next-to-last page that obviously carried Batman to Australia? Could someone tell me where in the previous story did this ship come from? Darkseid always hated music? Who knew? Do you think the DC Aborigine knows the Marvel guy? And, finally, Superman can wish for one thing and wants a “happy ending”? Wow, the jokes could be endless. Me love Superman long time.
Well, Final Crisis Revelations sure revealed a lot didn’t it? So to find out all of Hercules female conquests, we need the “Who’s Who of Super Heroines”? Told you last time. Why didn’t Herc and Cho invite Athena to join them for pizza? Now I like the FOE covers, but my customers having to keep asking where their favorite books are ? The covers are all black and the white Black Adam obscures the title of the book. People couldn’t find Booster Gold because of the Enemy Ace name. Over in the war that time forgot (too easy to say book that people forgot), I pity the fool that picks up the first six-issue compilation and tries to figure out the plot. And what’s with the rumor that Smallville has shot two different season ending episodes with one being a series-ender? My DC rep promises to investigate.
In Marvel land they really seem to be killing off half the Ultimate Universe characters. Just like raising almost everything to $3.99 will kill off half their sales. Still, I did like Kitty Pryde telling the reluctant subway passengers to “Take my hand if you want to live.” They really concluded the Daredevil storyline neatly huh? Except they didn’t. Now we know to not mess with Orono because she really jumped in power level, didn’t she? Finally, I loved New Avengers because they are heading for a grand confrontation with no opaque motivations, so far. But, even the President knows Norman Osborne is nuts? Gotta love politics.
Normally, I never re-read comics, mainly because owning a store means I have access to too many of them. But, I made an exception in the case of Final Crisis. The following was my original evil plan.
When the comics arrived I unpacked them and immediately read Final Crisis. I figured I could review it before any of my fellow bloggers (Thanks, Dave for beating me to the punch!). Well, I would have if I could have figured out what the hell happened here.
So it took me a little digesting and a re-read to understand this book. My DC rep said someone in the office figured it was going to take him a year and a complete re-read to fully understand everything that went on. I always tell people that at my age I can’t wait a year for anything. That all being said, I finally figured out exactly why I hated Final Crisis 7 and the entire series.
Anyone who follows wrestling realizes that the problem with the WWE is that all their writers are writing for an audience of one, Vince McMahon. Here, Grant Morison is writing for someone who’s identity we will never know. He tried to pack so much into the series that it has confused and upset the vast majority of readers. Comics are supposed to be popular culture, like, say, this site. Producing high art that is well above the comprehension of the common man may be emotionally satisfying to Mr. Morrison and a few of his contemporaries, but it does nothing for either my sales figures nor the emotional well-being of my customers. My wife is someone who saw the first five parts of Star Wars (chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) but refused to see the sixth (chapter 3). How, I asked her, could you see the first five and not the sixth? Easy she replied. I liked the first three (4, 5, 6), but didn’t like the next two (1, 2) so why should I waste my time and money on the sixth? I have a feeling DC is going to promote the compilations with the idea that the only way to “fully enjoy” the story is all at once. I don’t think so.
Stay tuned for Random Thoughts.
Another solid issue by Paul Dini. Dini was one of the masterminds behind “Batman: The Animated Series”. When it was announced that he was going to write for Batman, I was thrilled. Although his run has not lived up to my expectations, his run has still been quite good. This issue continues the “Faces of Evil” storyline that began in “Detective Comics”.
If you read part one of this story and the “Heart of Hush” story before that, you know that Tommy Elliot aka Hush has had his face surgically altered to look like Bruce Wayne. Catwoman has sworn revenge over the incident in where Hush stole her heart - literally. She gets revenge by stealing all of the Elliot fortune and leaving Tommy penniless.
Because he looks like Bruce Wayne and Bruce is missing, Hush takes advantage and uses this to score some cash - unfortunately for him he wasn’t expecting to meet up with Catwoman again.
Spoilers….......
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Batman #685
“LOST” continued its fifth season last night with an episode entitled “Jughead”. The episode focused mainly on the characters that are still on the island – with the exception of Desmond as he’s in this episode too.
What more praise can I give to this show that already hasn’t been given by me or anyone else. This show continues to hit the big home run; score the big touchdown and make the game wining shot. I’m so envious of the creators and writers of this show because I believe they truly have created something special. Many shows that enter their fifth season start to begin to show cracks in the armor, but thankfully (at least in my opinion) “LOST” has yet to show any cracks.
Of course, if you haven’t seen the episode, do not go any further due to spoilers.
Click to continue reading LOST Review 1/28/09
THIS MODERN WORLD: Tom Tomorrow and the Alternative Cartoonists
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
It’s a tough time to be a cartoonist these days. Magazines started dropping cartoons from their pages years ago. Daily newspapers (remember them?) are now dropping whole pages of comic strips. They’re also doing away with their salaried editorial cartoonists. Now the evolving economy has come for the alternative weeklies.
With a name like Tom Tomorrow, you’d expect him to fight aliens with a ray gun in some old Mort Weisinger DC comic from the 1950s. Instead, Mr. Tomorrow fights society’s evils with something better, a Wacom tablet and Photoshop and a wicked sense of humor. Now the erstwhile Mr. Tomorrow could use a hand.
According to his blog, which has been confirmed by other sources, the Village Voice Media conglomerate has been hit just as hard by our collapsing economy as other newspapers and magazines. They’ve responded by dropping all the syndicated cartoons from their various alt-weeklies. This includes the loss of This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow.
For now, the Dallas Observer, New Times Ft. Lauderdale, Houston Press, LA Weekly, Minneapolis City Pages, Nashville Scene, OC Weekly, Pitch Weekly, Seattle Weekly, Denver Westword and the Village Voice in New York will all be cartoonless.
If you’re a fan of Tom Tomorrow’s and you live in one of the above cities and you’d like to do him and his fellow cartoonists (guys like Max Cannon, Ruben Bolling, Lloyd Dangle to name a few) a solid, take the time to write a nice, well-reasoned letter to the editor and ask her to reconsider the decision and bring back the cartoons. Yeah, there are lots of great cartoons on the internet, and Tom Tomorrow and his cartoon pals may not be to your political taste, but as long as there are newspapers there should be cartoons in them. They’re one of the most popular features they have. I think the people in charge sometimes forget that.
(Artwork ©2008 Tom Tomorrow)
Contest: Mophie Juice Pack 3G giveaway
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Smartphones, Features,
We hit you with our Mophie Juice Pack 3G review a couple of months ago, and even did a Juice Pack 3G video. Since then, we’ve continued enjoying how free we feel with the Juice Pack powering our iPhone 3G while we are out and about. Worries of a dead battery have all but disappeared, and that’s with Push mail, calendars, and contacts running.
Now we want one of you to be able to share in that experience, which is why we are giving away a Mophie Juice Pack to one Gear Live reader. Since it’s an iPhone accessory, we figured we would center the competition around that. Here are the rules:
Here’s how to enter to win:
- If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Gear Live account
- If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Twitter account
- Add the Gear Live Twitter account to your follow list
- On Twitter, post a tweet about out contest and link to this page. In the tweet, include the phrase “#gearlive”.
- Once that is done, leave a comment here in this post with a direct link back to your Tweet, and also let us know what your favorite iPhone app is. Be sure you are signed in to your Gear Live account before you leave the comment.
Here’s an example of an appropriate Twitter entry:
“Entering to win a Mophie Juice Pack 3G from #gearlive http://jvu.qlnk.net/”
Now, as to the actual contest dates. The contest starts today, January 28th. You have until 11:59 PM PST on February 4th to enter your comments here on this post. We will then announce our winner, chosen randomly out of all valid entrants and bonus points, on February 5th. Good luck to all, and remember, this contest is only open to residents of the United States and Canada.
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