Monday, January 31, 2011

X-Men (vol 3) #7 - Post Vamp Arc

May I say that I am really enjoying Victor Gischler's run on this title. I also like that we've had the fortune of going from a good artist to another good artist. Medina's art was enjoyable, and now that we have Bachalo on board, I'm just having a ball. Bachalo's pencils just have a way of making me feel jazzed.

Onward to plot. One question: Why does Storm always seem to get sent on missions in which there will be teeny, tiny corridors? That Cyclops has a love of irony when he's rostering his operations.

I'm thrilled to see smaller groups of X-Men taking part in smaller scale adventures. It's refreshing to see a quartet spelunking in sewers rather than watch an all-out, no-holds-barred, every-mutant-gets-frame-time extravaganza. Yes Wolverine is being used, and yes a majority of the panels are splashed in yellow spandex, but it's not bothering me as much as normal, somehow. I love Storm and Gambit books, too. The addition of Emma within the gathering adds a bit of the unexpected. She adds flavor with complaints and boobs.

One bit of malicious criticism is in regards to a certain faux pas that either Chris Bachalo or someone who edited the particular page in question may have committed. A double use of a single drawing is never acceptable unless is for the sake of comedic repetition, ie: a delayed reaction sequence. Well here's one that bothered me quite ruthlessly. I don't know if it's time restraints, or an editorial choice, but I think this trick is above an artist like CB.

I'm a little verklempt...
Talk amongst yourselves...
I will give you a topic...
Shadowcat is neither a shadow, nor a cat...
Discuss

Ok, I'm betta.

Seriously, though. I hate that


I want to point out one last thing before I relieve y'all. Vic Gischler has lived in Louisiana and he pays special attention to Gambit's dialogue. I've made this point countless times, and I'll make it again.

Gambit is my favorite modern age X-man. I'm married to a Cajun girl from Crowley, LA. I have always wanted someone to make Gambit's dialogue valid and believable. Suffice to say that this single frame satisfied me.

My wife says what Remy says in this panel all the time.

I'm not joking, Vic. I want my muffaletta to make an appearance in the Cajun's hands. He could even charge it and throw it at The Lizard for all I care. As long as that crusty, salty, meaty, olivey sandwich makes it into an X-Men comic, I can die happy.

Make mine, Gischler.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Found it.

Went one a jaunt to a few comic shops today. I looked where I've previously looked, and as luck would have it. I found what was not there before. My X-Men Vol 2 collection is complete.
I've been trying to complete this collection for so long. Now that it's over. I don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.

"Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make an excellent Dread Pirate Roberts."

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

WWHD? Episode 3 - Wednesdays


There are, however, a couple of cool things about Wednesday:

It's actually Odin's Day according to Wikipedia:

     "The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English Wōdnesdæg, meaning the day of the English god Woden (Wodan), a god in Anglo-Saxon England until about the 7th century. Wēdnes dæg is like the Old Norse Oðinsdagr ("Odin's day"), which is an early translation of the Latin dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day"), and reflects the widespread association of Woden with Mercury going back to Tacitus."
So, that's cool.
Let it be said that Wednesday evening has a much better feeling associated with it than Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning has a feeling of still going uphill after two days of traversing this bitch of a mountain called the "work week", whereas Wednesday evening renders us in the first part of the relief period called a "downslide" in which we are further from the beginning of the "work week" and closer to Friday or "Freya Day" afternoon. So Wednesday can be good as well as bad.

Also, it's not Monday...or Sunday afternoon. I strongly dislike Sunday afternoon.

Amazing Spider-Man #652

I thought the transition from Ramos to someone who isn't Ramos would be tough for me. I have a problem moving on to new artist's. I was pleased to see, however, that Stefano Caselli is a fantastic artist. Not only that, but his style really does compliment Spider-Man for where he's at as far as atmosphere goes. I feel he has a more practiced hand with figure drawing and portraiture then Ramos,, yet he mixes in cartoony elements as well. Not that Ramos isn't a good artist. It just seems as though he is studied more with caricature and cartoon. Both techniques have their place, and Spidey has always been enjoyable to see in a less-serious tone.

As for Dan Slott's writing, it is as practical and uncomplicated as I've come to expect since reading my first Spidey in ten years a few issues ago. Wait a sec...I'm not sure if practical is a compliment to a writer or not. What I meant by that is that it doesn't bother with formalities that many other writers tend to take in the way of over-elaborating on things that readers can clearly understand without explanation.  It is balanced and makes every nod that we want it to make to the audience. Everything from the narration to the banter feels necessary.

Amazing is, at the moment, making me happy to be reading Spidey again. It just feels linear as opposed to being an X-book reader, which more often than not leaves me annoyed at continuity and angry at characters that seem omnipotent. It feels good to slowly be creeping out from the mutant world. I'm trying to broaden my horizons a little. You know, check into X-Men rehab. It's a long road ahead. One day at a time, and such.

I should mention that I bought a Thor comic today.

I have read one (1) Thor book ever. ONE. I think it was from, like, 88'. Had no idea what was going on. The big reason I bought this book is because I love Matt Fraction and wanted to see how he writes comics other than Uncanny. Also, my best friend and hetero life-mate loves Thor. So I figured I'd give him a try. Single-hero titles will be a nice break from the X-hole that I've fallen into.

Maybe I'll do two reviews tonight.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Cap's sparkling firejunk

And now...I present to you the most advanced weapon to be created by the Weapon Plus program.


Drum roll...

Submitted for your approval:

Weapon I

AKA: Captain America

AKA: The Cap

AKA: Lip-biting,
wiener-muzzle-flare,
over-hyphenated super-soldier

Nuff' Said

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Spring cleaning

I left some comments on Victor Gischler's blog, and decided to comb my blog and make sure there wasn't anything negative about him on any of my posts.

Of course, there isn't. Anymore.

Keep up the good work, Gisch! Volume 3 is an enjoyable and worthwhile book and we will continue to buy it!
You are good enough, smart enough, and dog-gonnit, people like you!

I would like my muffaletta priority mailed on tuesday, since Central Grocery isn't open today and tomorrow.
Also, some etouffee from the Gumbo Shop.
Enjoy New Orleans!

Friday, January 14, 2011

How to wash your cat

Love it!

Source: http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2006/9/17/how-to-wash-a-cat.html

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger Born

The first graphic novel based and inspired by Stephen King's magnum opus, The Dark Tower. The story is gathered from the fourth novel in the series, Wizard and Glass. In this book, the ka-tet camps for one almost endless night and Roland finally gives them the tale of his origin. It is quite a departure from the first three novels in that the meat of the novel is entirely flashback. At first I was slow in getting immersed into the new twist in King's writing, but found myself almost depressed to return to the present at the end of the book. It was a brilliantly executed change of writing style, and it would carry into the next book heavily. I have to say that of the six that I've read, Wizard was my favorite, with Drawing of the Three a close second. Now that I've read the graphic version of my this origin tale, let us palaver on it.



Excellent writing by Peter David: CHECK
Beautiful artwork from Jae Lee: CHECK
True to source material: CHECK?
Enjoyed reading: CHECK



*HEREIN BE SPOILERS, YE BUGGER*


The reason I have a small issue with the 'sticking to source' category is not because they strayed. Quite the contrary. In fact, David made certain to translate essentially verbatim. I was not fully satisfied simply because there wasn't enough pages to truly capture the gunslinger's origin story. It's not a fault of Marvel's team assigned to this mammoth task. They did a fine job getting as much as necessary into the mere 240 pages they were unfortunately restricted. I'm sad because this trade should be at least ten books long, instead of seven. There are so many small, yet deep, subtleties in the novel this story was taken from that were simply not included.

One thing in particular that bothered me is that Roland, Cuthbert, and Alain never have the run-in with Rhea of the Coos. This is an important plot point because this is where Roland is forced to kill Rhea's snake familiar, Ermot. Without this part of the story, we will not know why Roland shoots a visage of Rhea back in Gilead that turns out to be his own mother, hence giving Rhea her revenge.
Also, the Cordelia/Susan story was not touched in any way, really. Cordelia only makes a significant appearance near the end when Rhea comes a'knockin.

We never really see what happens to Sheemie, and Olive Thorin never aids Susan to escape.
Now, I'm having a memory lapse here, but I seem to remember Roy Depape, not Clay Reynolds, being assigned to escort Susan back to town. I think Olive or Sheemie rescues Susan and then they are stopped by Reynolds on the way out of Hambry. I apologize if I got the events wrong, but this isn't exactly how it happens in the graphic version.

I don't want to split hairs over most of these details, but I thought I'd mention them. It's a wonderful trade and it truly does capture the main aspects of Roland's early career as an apprentice gunslinger. I'm excited to read the rest of the books. They aren't taken directly from King's novels, so I won't have any complaints about sticking to source. I think they will be more enjoyable because they will be completely new stories about events that we've only heard Roland mention, like the fall of Gilead and the battle at Jericho Hill.


I would recommend reading the comics, and if you're up for a phenomenal series of books, check out the Dark Tower series in novel format, if you haven't already.


Till the wheel of ka turns you back this way again, fare thee well.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Dark Tower

So, I am a super slow reader when I don't have pictures to look at. I blame this on A.D.D.. I can read several pages and not know what I read. I will actually stop and assign actors to every character, just so I can visualize everything.
Which brings me to Stephen King's epic of Roland Deschain. I can't stop reading these novels. Can't put'em down, say thankee. I have even taken to the dialects and mannerisms of the books, if ya kennit.
I have only the last book left and have taken a break. Reason being, I bought the first trade of the Dark Tower graphic novels. I have read the first two book of The Gunslinger Born trade, and am excited to review the books when I finish.
And I will have much to say, set your watch and warrant on it.

...catch you on the flip side...

Sunday, January 9, 2011

WWHD? Episode 2 - Planet Hulk DVD

I saw Planet Hulk awhile ago and it was pretty entertaining. I think marvel needs to stop making shitty live-action parodies of their greatest comics and pour every cinematic dollar Disney will loan them into animation. Also, I haven't read Planet Hulk, but I'm pretty sure it was Silver Surfer in the ring with the Hulkster and not Beta Ray Bill, but I was happy to see ol'Billy get his freaky horse-face get turned into tacos.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

OMG two issues away!

Ok, sorry about my giddiness, but I now only have two more issues left in my X Vol 2 quest. The hunt is on for #70 and #80!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Powdered Toast Man is a Catholic deacon???

I don't know of a better way to describe what just happened.
This blew my fucking mind:

Religions of comic book characters

I couldn't find Janet Van Dyne on here, so I honestly can't tell you if The Wasp, is really a W.A.S.P.

So close!

Got a shiny new eBay gift card for Christmas. So I went on a subquest to complete my X-Men (Vol 2) collection. Thirteen buy-it-nows later, I am a mere four issues away from my ultimate quest. I just need #53, #70, #80, and #97.
I'm anxious about completing the final few issues. I get mini panic-attacks when I think about finishing anything. May the gods of comic collectors find me in their favor. Know the faces of my adversaries: