Convo goes extra filthy about Feist, our listeners, our comment line 412.567.7606, Street Fighter, Zangief, video game backstory, DOA, Dhalsim, Michael Biehn, YouTube, frat girls, Dilly Bars, Charlie Wilson’s War, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Sam Waterston, Beckett, Becker, Ted Danson, House, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, David Lynch, darning socks, potted meat, Avengers: The Initiative #13, Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #29, Mighty Avengers #14, Captain America #38, and more.
Sorry folks - I was in the UK all last week. It kinda sucked. I missed a whole week of TV including BSG. However, more importantly - I missed this:
Yeah, that. Now, say what you will about Lisa Edelstein’s Dr. Cuddy and her seemingly permanent dour face, she’s got a little sexy to her. She’s got style and pulls off skirts extremely well. I’m not going to wax poetic about this or anything. Afterall, I’ve seen better stripteases by better looking people. I’m just a sucker for pigtails. Thank you Television and Lisa Edelstein for making my Monday bearable.
Wonder Woman #20. I’ve been waiting for this. Aaron Lopresti on THE superheroine. It’s pretty good. Not mind blowing. But decent.
My biggest praises? The art and the character of Etta Candy. My most egregious criticisms? The dialogue that doesn’t flow well (most everything except for Etta) and the seeming disconnect between Wonder Woman’s Beowulf adventure and Diana’s encounter with an unfriendly foe.
On another note, I’m sure it’s been addressed, but Etta Candy is definitely modeled after Wonder Woman writer Gail Simone. At the very least, it’s a physical likeness. I’ve never met Gail so I can’t speak for the personality.
And on a TOTALLY unrelated note, today I just learned that there are approximately 30 free issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vol. 4 on Wowio. I know I’m a little bit late on this but who cares?! We’re talking about free comic books here.
The deal with Wowio is that you have to confirm your location, which can be a bit bizarre. You can do it with a credit card / debit card. You can do it with a non-anonymous email address (whatever the hell that is). Or you can send them a scan of your photo ID.
DAMN! All we want to do is download free books Wowio. Why make it so weird???
Neal takes the week off as we talk about The Simpsons season 12, Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, firing squads, ramen, canasta, Leona Lewis, Last Defenders #2, Thunderbolts #120, Secret Invasion Fantastic Four #1, Guardians of the Galaxy #1, X-Men Legacy #211, T’Challa, Black Panther movie, Avatar, and some more stuff.
A little over one week ago, I came to this forum — known among savvy readers as the awesome AudioShocker — and talked smack on the Marvel Adventures Free Comic Book Day offering from Marvel Comics.
Truth be told, talking smack is a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like expressing disappointment. And I was disappointed at the time — I had read the issue and it just didn’t live up to my standards.
Truth be told, saying I read the issue is a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like I read the first two-thirds of the story, and then I made assumptions about the rest of the issue.
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I reviewed the issue without finishing it. I broke the unbreakable rule of reviewing — don’t review something that you have read, seen, watched, or listened to from start to finish.
It just so happens that I finished reading the Marvel Adventures FCBD 2008 issue on Saturday, and DAMN! what an ending! Once the Mandarin shows up for a second time, the story really hits a groove and finishes in fine form.
I apologize for giving an opinion half-cocked. It was wrong. And I’m grateful for finishing this excellent comic book by Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin, Alvin Lee, Terry Pallot, Wil Quintana, and Nate Piekos.
To make matters even better, the issue finished off with a Mini Marvels comic strip by Chris Giarrusso featuring none other than Elephant Steve! I love Elephant Steve. And I love this comic book.
Do you have one of those friends or relatives that YOU KNOW is the last person you should be letting borrow money? You keep your distance for a few months and then you get a familiar phone call: “Hey what’s up, man?! You wanna hang out this weekend?”
With no recent disappointment burned into your memory, you figure it’s okay. So-and-so can’t possibly be trying to hit you up for money again, right? And it seems like everything is going well for most of the night. Then it gets to the end and it’s time to pay for the drinks: “Awww man I’m totally broke! Could you cover for me? It’ll get you next time.”
DAMN IT! They did it again! Well guess what? DC Comics just did that to me this Wednesday with Detective Comics #844. I reviewed Detective Comics #843 last month and the issue was awesome. When I didn’t get #844 sent to me for free with last weekend’s advanced comic books for my reviews, I decided to buy the issue.
How bad could it be? Last issue was a genius display of storytelling by Paul Dini. His Zatanna was incredible. She stole the show and I wanted more. Detective Comics #844 seemed like such a good bet that I didn’t even flip through the book in the store. I just tossed it into my short stack and took it up to the register.
And then I read it. SON OF A BITCH! Burned again by DC Comics! This happens almost every time I try out a new DCU book. It happened on Green Arrow by Judd Winick and Scott McDaniel. It happened on Wonder Woman when it relaunched.
Hell, it’s even happening now with Dwanye McDuffie on Justice League of America. His story arc started off great, and then it just got average. Then there were unexpected fill-ins. Then he was randomly gone for a month! Now he’s back, but I’m hesitant to believe that it’s going to get better…
You know it’s bad when DC Universe #0 only costs $0.50 and you still want your money back. I should have known better than to pick up Detective Comics #844, let alone a DC Comics set in the DCU. And you know what the worst part is? I’m going to do it again! In about a month, I’m going to forget how pissed I am right now and I’m going to pick up something and hate it. It’s a never-ending cycle of pain.
P.S. For the record, I am enjoying Green Arrow / Black Canary right now. If they @#$% that up I’m going to be really pissed.
I will be taking a brief transatlantic starting tomorrow to the UK for about a week. I apologize in advance. Video reviews and “Girls I’d Like to Stick it to” will return upon my repatriation. In the mean time, check out our blogroll, read our bios, and peep the archives.
And remember, you can always reach me, Nick, or Justique anytime by emailing us @ audioshocker.com
Don’t get me wrong — I love Brian Michael Bendis’ concept here. There’s a Skrull infiltration of planet Earth and now we have no idea who is a genuine superhero and who isn’t (though it seems pretty obvious that Tony Stark is legit right now).
But I’ll be damned if I didn’t start cursing by the time I got to the end of Secret Invasion #2. I paid $3.99 for 22 pages of story that took place in two and a half settings over the course of what… maybe 10 minutes? I was just getting into the issue when all of a sudden BOOP! it was over.
REALLY? That’s all I get? It’s a well-made comic, please understand that. But it’s no better than the pre-Secret Invasion New Avengers stories and I’m paying a buck more to see Mark Morales and Laura Martin overwork Lenil Yu’s pencils. Martin and Morales are great artists — they just have a tough time blending in well with Yu’s more abstract line work.
If there is one extremely frustrating flaw that I can say I dislike unequivocally, it’s the recap page. The design going on in the background looks like an eight-year-old tried to make a magic eye poster in Photoshop and failed miserably. The design is full of so many saturated colors that I can barely read the text on the page. Marvel really needs to do something about this. I mean, what is wrong with white letters on a black background? Since when was readability uncool?
Overall, this is a good issue. But the value just isn’t here. I appreciate the work of Bendis, Yu, Morales, Martin, and letterer Chris Eliopoulos — I did buy the damn issue after all. But if this thing doesn’t turn itself around by Secret Invasion #3, I can guarantee you that #4 won’t be making it home with me.
Iron Man. Can you believe it did so well? I can barely believe it.
The most interesting thing I’m experiencing right now is the stunningly favorable popular sentiment about the quality of the film. People who have never picked up a comic book and never will are telling me how it’s their favorite superhero film they’ve ever seen.
A friend of mine raised a good point — this movie was all about Tony Stark. Iron Man showed up a few times, but we were sold the genius inventor billionaire for the majority of the film instead of the guy in a robot suit.
A great observation, if you ask me. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still shocked by how well this movie has been received. I’m extremely pleased for Marvel Studios, I’ll tell you that. And I’m glad to see that Shellhead is green lit for a sequel. Thor, well, I’m iffy on that.
And 2011? Damn, that should be a fine year for comic book movies. When I was sitting in the theater watching Iron Man, I just kept thinking to myself, “this movie is okay, but how awesome will the Captain America movie be?” Seeing Cap tossing his shield around on the big screen will be a rather religious day for me. No doubt this movie will eclipse the earlier Captain America film.
That same year will see the Avengers movie, if everything goes to plan. Man, how are they going to pull that off? The first test was the Samuel L Jackson cameo after the Iron Man credits. That was good. The next test will be the Robert Downey Jr cameo as Iron Man in The Incredible Hulk. That’s probably my most anticipated movie moment of the year right there.
I know that some have decried the idea of a Captain America movie separate from the Avengers film. My feeling is that we need to see Cap slinging his shield away from the big team to really appreciate the character. We need to see Falcon gliding across the New York City skyline while Cap leaps from rooftop to rooftop. I think we need to see Cap’s mettle tested by going up against the Sons of the Serpent or Hate-Monger.
Not saying I’m right about any of that, mind you. I just think we need to understand Steve Rogers as a man coming to grips with the America that exists outside of his ideals. That way we get a better feel for the motivation and majesty of the person that he is (and there better be some Falcon in there!!!).
P.S. How trippy was it to see Obadiah Stane on a giant movie screen?
Talking about Sifu Kisu, rosin vs. resin, Michael Turner art, Iron Man, Tony Stark, Obadiah Stane, School Daze, Horton Hears a Who, Captain America as a Communist, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Dummy, One Missed Call, Free Comic Book Day 2008, Cyclops in The Castro with no shirt on, fancy cheeses, funny nipple stories, creepy Miley Cyrus pictures, South Park WGA episode, how hookers got the name hookers, The Riches, Mighty Avengers #13, Avengers / Invaders #1, Invincible Iron Man #1, Young X-Men #2, and of course we got more.
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