Fucking bitter salad...

I fucking hate tablets. I'm trying to decide which device would suit my digital comic needs the best and I am losing all of my hair trying to decipher the pro/con bullshit. Before you start, I know an iPad would be the best choice, but it's outside of my price range. I'm looking for something in the $200 range that I can read comics on and maybe play some Angry Birds. I want a garden where the comics grow and I don't go broke trying to read them. There is no fence in this garden. If I want a tree that blooms both Comixology and Graphicly apps, then my garden had better be fertile enough to grow it. I don't want bugs in my garden eating up my comic reading experience. I am going back and forth between two different gardens because I'm making a salad. A fucking comic book salad! I'm making a salad and I don't have enough lettuce to get a garden that is nice enough to support every app and function that I like on my salad.

See? This is why I hate digital comics! They make my brain seize up and I end up rattling off comic related salad metaphors!

...

...

......ok. I think it's all out of my system.

As someone who hasn't really figured out this digital comic thing, deciding between a Nook Color and a Kindle Fire is becoming an overwhelming endeavor. I like the Fire because I can run Comixology on it, but I hear that the Fire is buggy. I hear the Nook is less buggy, but you are restricted to the apps that can be bought through Barnes & Noble. Then I also heard about this Idolpad Tablet that is only $100 and has everything I need, but that seems too good to be true. Also, the iPad 3 is coming soon, which means the iPad 2 will be dropping in price, but it's still twice the price of the Kindle or Nook. Then I start doubting that going digital is for me. I've always thought that, but I considered biting the bullet and giving it a try. I fear change. I will always buy print for certain comics, but I don't know what route to take.

Does anyone have suggestions?

CBM Oscars

The Oscars bore the shit out of me because all I see are comic book movies and they don't make it to the awards very often. So I'm gonna have a beer and do my own Oscars for best of all time. I know I'm going to piss people off, but you can't please everyone. As Lewis Black says "This is my opinion. Some people may disagree with me, and they're wrong". Let's see who wins the Golden Surfer statues!

Best actor playing a super-hero nominees:
Patrick Stewart - Professor Xavier
Christopher Reeves - Superman/Clark Kent
Michael Keaton - Batman/Bruce Wayne
Alan Cumming - Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner
Christian Bale - Batman/Bruce Wayne
Michael Chiklis - Ben Grimm/The Thing
Robert Downey Jr. - Tony Stark/Iron Man
Kelsey Grammer - Hank McCoy/Beast
Ron Perlman - Hellboy
Carla Gugino - Sally Jupiter/The Silk Spectre
Winner: Robert Downey Jr 
Sorry, Batman. Tony Stark is fresher in my mind, so this perfect casting that brought CBMs back from the dead for me wins it.

Best actor playing an antihero nominees:
Brandon Lee - Erik Draven/ The Crow
Vincent Perez - Ashe Corven/ The Crow
Jackie Earle Haley - Rorschach
Jeffrey Dean Morgan - The Comedian
Michael Fassbender- Eric Lensherr/Magneto
Edward Norton - Bruce Banner
Winner: Michael Fassbender
I'm trying to pay tribute to living actors, but Brandon Lee put up a hell of a performance as Eric Draven. Fassbender just so well as a good man who was put through something that ruined his idea of humanity. Well done.

Best actor playing a villain nominees:
Jack Nicholson - The Joker
Heath Ledger - The Joker
Willem Defoe - Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
Alfred Molina - Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock
Gene Hackman - Lex Luthor
Ian McKellan - Magneto
Hugo Weaving - Johann Shmidt/The Red Skull
Tom Hiddleston - Loki
Winner: Heath Ledger
I feel bad for Tom Hiddleston, because he makes a great Loki, and maybe my opinion will change once I see Avengers, but Ledger's Joker beats everything I've seen thus far.

Best comic book movie:
Batman
The Dark Knight
X2
Captain America: The First Avenger
Iron Man
The Crow
Watchmen
Hellboy
Winner: The Dark Knight
This movie was amazing in a time when CBMs are really starting to become more impressive. I'm excited to see the final chapter this year.

Well, dinner's ready, so that's all for now.

Too Often or Not Enough - Episode 3

Changes to creative teams.
So, the breakout hit if the New 52 is getting a new artist. Travel Foreman is leaving Animal Man and Steve Pugh is making his return to the character. Now, I hadn't seen Pugh's artwork, so I had to look him up. I like his art, but I feel that Foreman's unique style is a big part of what cemented this title as a frontrunner. Now, I have faith in Jeff Lemire as a writer and I am certain that the book will continue to intrigue, but I feel that we have lost an extremely dynamic writer/artist duo. I understand that Travel Foreman is dealing with some loss in his personal life, and I can't fault him for getting burnt out, but it brings to mind other series that have drastically changed tone with the transition between artists.

Different artists aren't always a bad thing, and there needs to be change sometimes in order to get those memorable titles, but I find that we get changes too often. I miss the days that we would have one consistant artist for years. Here's some notable changes that have happened over the years that I feel have affected a comic for better or worse.

X-Men Volume 2 and Uncanny X-men

Now here is an interesting transition. Jim Lee had been drawing Uncanny for a long time and really defined the type of X-Men stories we got to see in the late 80's and early 90's. Then when the new X-men book arrived, it was easy to read, because Jim Lee was the artist. However, where we gained a great new book with great familiar art, what happened to to the original book? Uncanny X-Men #281. You know the cover. I has Jean and Storm and Colossus battling sentinels with art by Whilce Portacio. I sorry if I offend anyone, but I HATE this art. I dropped Journey Into Mystery when he came onboard halfway through Fear Itself. I really just can't look at it. I read adjectiveless X-Men exclusively at this point. It's kind of like what's happening now with Regenesis. I hate the art on Uncanny, and love it on Wolverine and the X-Men. To the point of hating the stories. It was supposed to be a brand new era, but it just falls flat.

X-Force 1991

Those of us in my particular age range remember the speculative days of the early 90's. When Rob Liefeld took over New Mutants, I'm sure it was an exciting new change. I fell for it, and it made sense that Rob would be drawing the book that replaced it, X-Force. I know it's easy to jump on the Liefeld hate train, so i will. Comics readers are going to look back on this era and wonder what the hell we were thinking. In any case, I was reading through my old X-Force collection and getting ready to swallow a bottle of pills, when I realized that the art takes a distinct turn around issue 20. I recognize this! Like, it looks like something from recent memory. This can't be. This is 90's X-Force! It is not something that should be appreciated artistically. So who is this mystery artist that saved this book from fading into crappy obscurity along with parachute pants and grunge? Only one of the best artists of today, who is getting praised by everyone for a book that is on everyone's radar from the New 52. I'm talking about Batman artist Greg Capullo. It was a time warp seeing his name on my 1993 X-Force comic. This is an example of an excellent change of art.

So, artistic change is not always a bad thing. I just feel like it is not always well planned. In the case of Animal Man, it's something that is a special case. The artist has personal things that need his attention, I understand. It just reminded me of the times when changes in art are editorial in nature. You don't go from Jim Lee to Whilce Portacio, and you do go from Rob Liefeld to Greg Capullo. Unfortunately, I don't think you can go anywhere from Travel Foreman. His style is too unique and perfectly suited to Jeff Lemire's Animal Man to avoid anxiety with his departure from the title. We'll miss you, Buddy(pun intended). FYI, as you all probably have heard, Trav can be followed over to Birds of Prey, so show your support and pick up his new book, but don't stop buying Animal Man, because Jeff Lemire is killing on that book. Also, put in your preorders for Frankenstein to keep it around for awhile because this is another example of how Lemire is a wonderful writer and I want him to continue to get work.