Category Archives: Comics

The difficulties of giving away tickets to Man of Steel

I received tickets to Man of Steel because of a partnership with Norton for last Wednesday night, two days before the movie was actually was released. I had plans that night, but I figured that they’d be easy to give away, right? Not so much.

My friends who really love Superman wouldn’t be off work in time. My co-worker whose birthday was the same day had plans despite wanting to see it. My step-dad didn’t want them with my mom out of town. In all, I asked ten people (counting a couple as one) before I found someone who wanted them. It was short notice, which is what made it difficult. I know a lot of people would have been interested if I had received the tickets and started looking earlier.

Eventually I found that my friend Mario wanted tickets. Giving them to him would ensure they get used, make me a good friend, and get me some cred with my DM, right? He took them, but as it turns out, he couldn’t go. However, everything ends well. His wife and daughter took advantage of them! I guess she’s a big fan of Superman, so I’m glad she enjoyed the tickets. Mario said that she said there were aspects of the movie that disappointed her, but I’m not sure what those are. That’s too bad, but it also seems normal given that she’s a fan.

Daredevil by Waid volume 4 brings headless DD and more

The fourth trade collection of Waid’s Daredevil got rather weird in parts despite making some interesting progress. When Foggy discovers something shocking that Matt’s done, he dissolves their partnership. However, Matt doesn’t remember doing it. It gets weirder from there as his sanity slowly seems to unravel.

While I’d expect some weird things to be happening if Matt’s indeed going crazy, there are also some weird inclusions in these issues. For one, Stilt Man is back. In the earlier days of Marvel, there were a lot of heroes and villains with weird powers. Hydraulic stilts is one of those, and it seems lame to reintroduce Stilt Man. However, at least Daredevil sort of comes to my same conclusion. There’s also an enemy that separates heads from bodies, which seemed odd to me.

By the end of the collection, we do learn what’s happening with Matt’s sanity, but there are still some escalated plot threads. His relationship with Foggy is no where near fixed, his romantic relationship is shaky, and there’s an interesting villain out to get him named Coyote. It was compelling despite being odd in places.

The Intergalactic Nemesis Book One: Target Earth

Friday night I saw The Intergalactic Nemesis Book One: Target Earth, written and directed by Jason Neulander, at Segerstrom Center for the Arts with my brother, James. I had purchased tickets to see it with gem, but she had to travel on business. It’s a live-action graphic novel. Have you ever heard of that? As soon as I did, I knew I had to see it. The show consists of panes of the graphic novel being projected one at a time, live piano accompaniment, live sound effects, and three actors performing the characters. It’s live radio drama combined with a graphic novel!

The story involves a lot of funny science-fiction stereotypes. In the 1930’s a journalist and her assistant get caught up with aliens, robots, time-travel, invasions, and more. It’s an amusing story that’s very entertaining, especially if you’re familiar with older science fiction or classic sci-fi radio drama. I’m thankful that I’ve listened to Space Patrol, the radio space opera from the 1950’s, because it definitely helped me to appreciate The Intergalactic Nemesis.

The production was amazingly fun. While the visuals were supposedly the panels of the graphic novel, the voice actors used gestures and facial expressions as well. Even the woman performing the sound effects, woman controlling the sequence of panels, and pianist contributed with reactions.

So, how does one go about watching? I watched both the voice actors and the graphic novel. As different sound effects were used, I’d look at the woman making them. I usually wouldn’t look at the woman controlling the panels or the pianist unless something shocking was said in the dialogue. When all three voice actors made a reactionary face, usually the other performers would as well.

After the show, the cast and creator held an autograph session. I purchased books one and two in graphic novel and radio drama and got all of it signed. Book two is going to be performed at the same location in November, and I’m definitely looking forward to it. If you get the chance to see the show, I’d recommend it!

Alakazam Comics’ Midnight Madness Sale haul

Friday was Alakazam Comics’ Midnight Madness Sale in which everything in the store was 20% to 80% off normal prices. I was at Yogurtland when I remembered and decided to stop into the store. Of course, I ended up with a large haul.

Siege

I’m not even ready to read Siege yet, but this hardcover collection would give me the story in one convenient book. I’ve wanted to read the important events in the Marvel universe with focus on the Avengers. I’ve read Secret War, Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Civil War. Will, manager at Alakazam, has helped me decide what to read to next, and I purchased Secret Invasion a month or so ago. Despite not having read it yet, I couldn’t pass the chance to get Siege at a big discount.

Grandville Bête Noire

gem picked this one. Grandville seems to be a steampunk, alternate history title starring a detective that’s an anthropomorphic badger. We didn’t realize until we bought it that it’s the third in a series. gem already started reading it and says it seems to stand alone well, but I still feel like we should pick up the other two.

The Complete Maus

I’ve been wanting to read this for a while too. Maus is a graphic novel by cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Spiegelman retells his interview with his father about his life as a Polish Jew and Holocause survivor through the graphic novel. It’s won the Pulitzer Prize, so it must be good. I’m looking forward to reading it.

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Color Edition

It’s about time I start collecting the color edition of Scott Pilgrim. They didn’t have the second one though. Dang, the sale work! I need to go pick up the second one (possibly this week).

Adventure Time Volumes 1 and 2

These are gem picks as well, although I’ll be reading them as well. If the Adventure Time graphic novels are anything like the TV show, they should be a lot of fun.

The haul came to a little over $100. On our way out, we filled out raffle tickets before leaving for the evening. But then…

…gem got an e-mail saying she won something in the raffle! We headed back to the store later in the weekend;,gem was given the choice of any graphic novel from a box of different titles. I was leaning toward Batman: Earth One, but it wasn’t my call. She asked what Fables was and learned that it was about characters from fairy tales and folklore living in the real world. This particularly novel. Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland is a tale of the Big Bad Wolf. She chose this, and I’m pretty fascinated by it as well.

As a bonus, they threw in two other comics as well. Godzilla: Kingdom Of Monsters issue 1 was interesting. Apparently IDW Publishing created over one hundred variants of the cover for various retailers. You can see Alakazam getting crushed by Godzilla in the comic. The other bonus was Alakazam: 10 Years of Fun, a book about Alakazam created in honor of the store’s tenth anniversary. It contains works from both fans and Alakazam employees and includes comics, prose, poetry, and more. It’s a fun piece of history!

It was a bigger haul than I intended to purchase, but I’m happy! Now the trouble will be finding the time to actually read some of this.

Daredevil Volume 3

The third volume of Mark Waid’s Daredevil collects issues 11 through 15 of Daredevil volume 3 along with issue 6 of Avenging Spider-Man and issue 10 of the The Punisher volume 8. The Omega Drive continues to be a driving factor, but Waid manages to get other unrelated stories into the comic while still keeping the focus on the Omega Drive.

The story flows seamlessly between the three different series without the art or writing changing styles drastically. By the end of the collection, the Omega Drive story arc comes to what I assume is a conclusion for the time being. It comes as a nice bit of a twist as well.

My favorite story in this book was unrelated to the primary story arc; as Matt talks to his date about his friendship with Foggy, he recounts his college days. It goes into the details surrounding a professor lying in an attempt to get Foggy expelled, Matt risking his college career to defend Foggy, and Foggy repaying Matt. I’ll withhold the details, but it’s a great story.

In the second volume of Mark Waid’s Daredevil, my favorite story was also one unrelated to the main arc of the Omega Drive. The best Daredevil stories seem to be the ones that don’t cross-over with the rest of the Marvel universe. In addition, Waid intends to return Daredevil to the swashbuckler he once was and to take him out of the darkness. I think the dark stories work better. Despite preferring a harsher tone, Waid’s Daredevil continues to be interesting and fun. In the final of this collection, we definitely see some dark things happen to poor Matt again as the story arc changes.

Frank Miller’s Sin City

gem had never seen Sin City and wanted to watch it, so I borrowed it from my brother on Sunday. We watched it last night. Wow, I forgot just how good it is! It’s like a dark, film noir playground in which Miller can explore his fantasies.

The first thing I notice is how great the casting is. Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, and Bruce Willis were all great. I didn’t even notice that Kevin was Elijah Wood, who also did an excellent job, until gem pointed it out to me.

I love how the film captures the feeling of a comic book. The stylized use of color to highlight and accentuate was obviously used throughout the film. Even the stark white bandages on Marv’s face stood out from the rest of the scene. I absolutely loved the large, fat drops of white rain on a dark background, coming down almost like a solid sheet. Noir fiction couldn’t be noir without heavy rain, right? I just loved the style.

According to Wikipedia, Sin City 2 will be released this coming October. I really need to read those graphic novels.

The Amazing Spider-Man

While the Amazing Spider-Man was quite entertaining, I also found it strangely flawed. Before I even gave it a chance, I have to admit that I was annoyed that it was being rebooted so quickly. It seemed really soon to show Spider-Man’s back story as well. Most people are already very familiar with Spider-Man, so did we really need to learn how he got his powers? However, showing it helps reinforce the idea that this is a reboot. I suppose in this respect there was just no winning.

I liked the actors in the Sam Raimi trilogy, especially Tobey Maguire, and I didn’t care for Andrew Garfield’s look at first. Having now seen the movie, his appearance does seem to match the character as he’s written, but he’s not written as I know him. Peter Parker is supposed to be a smart, nerdy kid. He’s an outsider because of that. In the Amazing Spider-Man, Parker is still an outsider, but I don’t really see him acting like a nerdy loser. He seems smart, sure, but he also has the self-centered attitude stereotypical to teenagers. For example, after a teacher tells him not to use his skateboard in the hall, he waits until out of his sight, drops the board, and continues skating. Perhaps things have changed since I was in school already, but weren’t the skaters the cool kids? Peter Parker is definitely a different Peter in this film, but it still works for him. The intelligence is still there, but the nerdiness isn’t as highlighted. As he’s younger in this film as well, it seems only fitting that he’s filled with angst. He’s a rebellious teenager at this point, and it shows.

The Lizard was an interesting and memorable villain but not quite as memorable as some from the Raimi trilogy. I didn’t find Sandman or Venom very interesting in Spider-Man 3 (despite really liking Venom), but I still found the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus more interesting than the Lizard.

On a less important note, there’s a scene in which Spider-Man jumps off a balcony without his backpack and later has it. I caught it immediately and have to wonder how no one attached to the film caught it in time to fix it. The security at Oscorp is ridiculous. How they don’t manage to notice Parker going where he shouldn’t seems like flawed writing to me. At first I wanted to say that it also seems unbelievable that Parker would touch the things he did, but I might be projecting values of the Raimi Parker on the new Parker.

The film is darker than I’d like Spider-Man to be, but there’s still humor. I particularly liked Spider-Man’s use of his cell phone. In once scene, he plays a game on his phone while waiting. In another, he sits atop a building in costume talking to his aunt about picking up groceries for her. As minor as it is to the story, it sets the mood quite well and is my favorite scene of the movie.

To reiterate, things definitely weren’t all bad. I really enjoyed the film, and there were some excellent parts. Gwen Stacy wasn’t very important in Raimi’s films, and I didn’t really care about her. She’s portrayed and written well in the Amazing Spider-Man. She’s cute and a good love interest for Parker. It was a little odd that she dressed so provocatively at work, but she’s a teenager, so I suppose that’s realistic. It’s also odd that a high school teenager has time to intern at a large corporation, but I’ll accept that. Her father, Captain Stacy, was also an important role in the film. I enjoyed Parker’s interactions with him.

I came into my viewing biased against it, so I was looking for problems. The Amazing Spider-Man was actually a fun superhero movie and has a lot of things going for it. Parker is a little less nerdy and a bit more angsty and angry. This is different, sure, but it works. Emma Stone’s portrayal of Gwen Stacy was great, and I’m happy to see her heavily featured. I’m looking forward to the sequel!

Daredevil by Mark Waid Vol. 2

Volume 2 of Mark Waid’s Daredevil collects issues 7 through 10.1, and Amazing Spider-Man 677. While I enjoy Daredevil best as a noir title, I enjoyed Waid’s continuation with a happier Daredevil. One storyline in this collection involves a villain stealing graves from beneath them, which then forces Daredevil to go underground looking for them. When one of the graves ends up being Matt’s dad’s, his emotional state turns sour. While this brings it a little darker, which I would normally like, the plot seemed rather silly to me, but the rest of the stories made up for it.

Now that I write this, I realize that my favorite story in this book involved Christmas, young children, tragedy, and harm coming to Matt. What did I say about liking the previous, darker Daredevil more? It’s darker than most of the surrounding stories while still ending positively.

Volume 2 also brings some comedy with a cross-over with Spider-Man. The Black Cat claims she’s been framed which sends Spider-Man and Daredevil off together. The switch to the Amazing Spider-Man’s art style seems very jarring because it’s a bit more stylized, but it also fits the comedy of Peter Parker. The cross-over brings plenty of jokes, a bit of romance, and great writing. “I think this is my super villain origin,” says Spider-Man, witnessing Daredevil and The Black Cat kiss.

The Omega Drive story continues as well. Matt contains a drive with terabytes of information on the world’s villain organizations, and they want it back. When one of them makes a move, Daredevil responds in kind.

Comics

Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Volume 2

How could I be done talking about Comic-Con when I hadn’t actually talked about comics yet? A friend of mine that I met working at Barnes & Noble, Kyle, introduced me to Daredevil, the man without fear! He let me borrow a few different trade paperback collections starting with the one pictured above.
I had to own these for myself, and I had to own more too! I ended up purchasing Daredevil Visionaries: Frank MIller volume 2 ($24.95 list), Daredevil Born Again hardcover ($24.99 list), Daredevil Legends volume 3 – Daredevil The Man Without Fear ($16.95 list), and Elektra hardcover omnibus ($74.99 list). I paid $100 for all of them, which I think is pretty good.

I don’t really need to say anything about this, do I?

What’s that, some sort of tank? No (well, yes), it’s the Batmobile! They had a few different ones outside of SDCC, which was neat.
There was also a really cool panel, Unlocking Arkham: The Forensic Psychiatry of Batman’s Rogues’ Gallery. Forensic psychiatrists H. Eric Bender, M.D., Praveen Kambam, M.D., and Vasilis K. Pozios, M.D. discussed Arkham Asylum, comparing it to real mental health facilities. They also considered Arkham Aylum’s patients and examined whether they would actually be found not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty. It was pretty interesting. As you might guess, Arkham Asylum is much more of a prison than a mental health facility, and many of their “patients” should have been found guilty anyways.
And I think that wraps up my summary of Comic-Con!

John Scalzi

The most exciting part of Comic-Con was getting to meet my favorite author, John Scalzi. He was nice enough to pose with me for the photo shown above!
There were two panels featuring John as well as autographing. There was some confusion about the line, but the folks at the Tor booth did a great job. In fact, after hearing about what Tor has allowed John to do and how they’re selling their e-books DRM free now, I’m very happy with Tor.

Before signing at the Tor booth, comedy and musical duo Paul and Storm played a little song about George R. R. Martin. It was a fun way to start an autograph session. After the song, we were given free copies of Old Man’s War and then got to meet John!

gem had John sign her vinyl, which I posted about earlier, but I’ll show here as well. He signed in red on the hand. It looks like bloody knuckles!

I asked him to sign Old Man’s War, the first book in his fantastic series (soon to be a movie), and told him it was an honor to meet him. He said, “no, it’s an honor to meet you! In fact, I’m going to write that!” That was pretty cool!

I also asked him to sign Zoe’s Tale, the fourth novel in the series. Afterwards, I asked his wife Kristine and daughter Athena to sign as well. I felt excited to meet them too; it feels like I know so much about them from John Scalzi’s blog, the Whatever. They said yes, so now I have a family-autographed novel! It was shortly after the signing that I saw him walking away from the booth and asked for the photograph shown at the top.

To get good seats for the Spotlight on John Scalzi panel, we caught the end of the previous panel and then moved to the front. While waiting for the panel to begin, the audience ended up singing together. John came into the room and decided to help. He led us in a rendition of Don’t Stop Believing before showing us that it’s possible to turn any song into a B-52’s song.

The panel itself was a lot of fun. I managed to record the whole thing. I don’t think John would ever read this, but let me just say sorry anyways for sitting in the front row with a camera aimed at you for an hour. Honestly though, I’m sure he’s used to this.

My final encounter with John was the panel he moderated on comedy in science-fiction and fantasy. It was a very entertaining panel, and I left with an interest in some new books and authors! Again, I was sitting in the very front with a camcorder. It was the last day of Comic-Con, but we woke up early and lined up early to ensure good seats. It paid off!
It was such a pleasure to meet him. I hope someday I can do something awesome enough to get on his radar. It’s a longshot, but you never know!