Oblivion Song

Checking out the new Robert Kirkman series "Oblivion Song". Was gonna wait until it got collected into a trade, but since Gecko's had the first two issues, I decided, what the hell, I'll check it out. Pretty good so far!!!

EDIT:
Decided to wait until Oblivion Song is collected into Graphic Novel form rather than buying the floppies each month.

Planetary Vol.1-4

Re-reading the Warren Ellis/John Cassaday Wildstorm series for the first time since initially getting them for Christmas from Gerg. Didn't really grab me the first time, hoping this time will do the trick.

Checking out the FX Series "The Americans"

My friend Kashi piqued my curiosity with her description of “The Americans”, and on the off chance it might be something I wanted to watch, I checked out a clip on youtube to see if it grabbed me. The clip I saw DID interest me, sadly, it was a clip from season 3 of Mom Elizabeth ordering daughter Paige to spy on some priest, so the surprise of the kids finding out that their parents are Russian Spies was spoiled for me, LOL.

So anyway, I was intrigued enought that when I saw someone on ebay selling a set of Seasons 1-3 on DVD for 25 bucks, I bought it. I have to say that at first, the show did not grab me the way I hoped. By the middle, I was really losing interest and was thinking I was going to pass on the rest of the series. But the last three episodes of season one REALLY blew me away, so much so that I went to Amazon and ordered seasons 4 and 5!

I think I didn’t like the writing of the first half episodes:

For example, when FBI agent Stan Beeman moves in next door, I liked how Elizabeth and Phillip acted, instead of acting guarded, they were very friendly and outgoing. And when Stan wants to borrow jumper cables, instead of hiding the car from him, he invites Stan into the garage and even opens the trunk in front of him.

So I was bugged when Stan tells his wife, “something’s fishy about that couple”, like, What??? They didn’t do anything to warrant suspicion and I hate when he says he has “instinct”. 

And when his FBI boss tells him “the Russians could be anyone”, he thinks “OH DAMN, IT’S MY NEIGHBORS I GOTTA BREAK IN THEY’RE KEEPING THE PRISONER IN THEIR TRUNK”, I’m like who in HELL would come to that conclusion just becasue they have the same kind of car?

I alos noticed that each episode’s writer had a different idea of what kind of personailty Elizabeth should have, so in some episodes, she was romantic and wanted the marriage to work, in others she was a strong soviet agent, nonetheless, it always seemed like they were writing reasons for marital squabbles to fill the show up and after the 5th episode I was getting irritated.

And those episodes where the head of FBI announces that they are going to kidnap and kill any KGB agents they find, I was like WTF! This is like a 4th grader wrote this, this is liek reading comics! If they’re just gonna kill anyone they want, what’s the point of ANY intricate sleuthing, spying, etc? Just go out and shoot everyone.

I was ready to give up watching, but two things kept me interested in the show: 

One: I really love the Russian girl Nina, out of all of the show’s characters, she seems the most complex and multi-layered. Her character was the one that grew the most in the first season, and the season’s finale where she confesses to the Russian Boss that she is the mole and becomes a double agent was AWESOME! 

Two: The fake romance and marriage between Phillip and FBI secretary Martha Hanson. I always liked wherever the story went to this subplot. I really liked the Martha character (am I crazy to think that this lady is sexy???LOL), sadly I once again shot myself in the foot when I went online to look up  “actress that plays Martha in the Americans”, and the first article that came up said “ACTRESS ALISON WRIGHT TALKS ABOUT HER CHARACTER MARTHA HANSEN’S DEATH IN THE AMERICANS”

D’OHHHHHH!

Anyway, So by episode 10 I was pretty much watching on autopilot, and then…the last three episodes of Seasons 1 came on, and DAMN! these were so awesome, it was what I was hoping to see from the beginning: Tense cat-and-mouse games between the KGB and the FBI, awesome spy action and a great car-chase, and even fat old KGB Lady Claudia shows she’s badass by tazing that guy and slitting his throat. And like I mentioned before, the turning of Nina into a double agent was like the coolest turn ever, NOW I’m invested and can’t WAIT to dig into Season two!

Swamp Thing Vol.1: Saga of the Swamp Thing

Re-reading this again for the very first time. I never read the Vertigo Comics Swamp Thing series when it was currently being published, and only picked up a few collections later to see what all the hub-bub about it was. 

Can't say I was overly interested in it, and i've never felt like reading it again in all the 10+ years since.

But I really love Alan Moore's writing, and this weekend without anything to read, decided to finally give this series another go. So far, i have to admit I'm enjoying it a lot more...will update my progress on re-discovering SWAMP THING!

The Walking Dead Vol.29

Continuing on with the Walking Dead....

Back to Buying Monthly Issues of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE

After three long years I'm finally going back to picking up the monthly issues of The Wicked + The Divine! I'd been thinking about returning to monthlies for awhile now since the storyline is getting so damn good, and when I found that they were going back to "portrait" style covers like the original, that was the deal-sealer!

The portrait style covers was one of the big attractions I initially had for the series, and I even went on ebay to get the variant portrait covers of issue #1 to have the whole set. Strangely they halted the portrait covers right when they changed artists and started a new storyline, and this was the BIG reason I stopped picking up monthlies and went for the trades only.

 But with Jamie McKelvie on as the permanent illustrator for the series and the news by Kieron Gillen that the series is making its way to its conclusion, I've decided to support the strip every month as WELL as picking up the trades when they come out! Should ultimately be a KILLER series!

The WicDiv K-Pop Connection

I'm a huge fan of the Image Comics series THE WICKED + THE DIVINE and have always been impressed not only by its poetic script and dialog but the wonderful, detailed artwork as well. And it was poring over that intricate artwork of the latest trade paperback that I noticed something!

 Goddess Urdr is being shown around the bedroom of a troubled teenage boy by his father, and when I looked behind him, I saw a poster and thought immediately, "That looks like Girls' Generation."

It looked a bit like the cover to their album "Baby Baby", but when I looked over the Google images, there wasn't anything that really matched the comic illustration. But it looked SO familiar, I just knew it had to be them!

I decided to ask the SNSD pros over at Reddit's Girls Generation sub, and queried,

"I was reading an issue of Image Comics' THE WICKED + THE DIVINE and in a panel where they go to visit the room of someone's son, there's this poster behind them....Is it my imagination or is that Girls' Generation?

The very next day, a SONE named ArthurMauk took one look at it and recognized it right away! It was indeed Girls Generation, and he said:

 "Good spot! Yeah it looks exactly the same as THIS photo, cool! :)" 

Look at that poster! It's amazing how well artist Jamie McKelvie captured the likenesses of SNSD, and a redditor named Xian Roberts even commented, "Is it sad that I can recognize and name the girls in the comic without needing to see the original picture?" LOL!

SNSD turns up in the darndest places!

The Wicked + The Divine Vol 1-6

Trade paperback volume 6 just came out for The Wicked + The Divine and in anticipation, I' re-reading the entire series again from Book 1. Kind of cool because the last comic I read (Wicked + The Divine 1923AD) occurs JUST BEFORE the beginning, and it serves a a nice "intro"!

The Wicked + Divine 1923AD

Just finished reading The Wicked + Divine “1923AD" One-Shot and I can’t remember the last time I was so thoroughly SATISFIED! If you‘re like me, you’ve ALWAYS wondered about those four gods who appeared with Annake in the opening of Wicked + Divine’s very first issue (before simultaneously ending their own lives), and for the FIRST time, we are getting to read their TALE!

I have to say I spent many a day poring over those mysterious four characters, trying to guess which Gods they represented…I remember assuming the little blonde girl was the 1920’s Morrigan because she had the same black charcoal looking “mask” around her eyes, but had absolutely NO CLUE who the others were...

Well, come to find out I was wrong The little girl, (whom I guess I should have deduced was the 1930’s Minerva since the one in the present day is also a little girl),but no matter as I soon got to learn about ALL of the 12 Gods, some of whom I knew and some I’d never heard of before!

Since such a grand tale couldn’t be told in one issue if it were drawn like usual, this issue is almost 80% TEXT- yes, this issue is a written story, with only a few illustrated pages spread throughout SO awesome, !it’s like reading a NOVEL on the Pantheon!!!

Damn, it’s issues like this that reassure me that THE WICKED + THE DIVINE is one of the most well-crafted and special storylines out there!

PS: I absolutely ADORE the 1923 Amaterasu and the "Shirley Temple-ish" Minerva (and is that her I see on the upcoming WicDiv Issue #35???)!!

John Byrne's IDW Titles!

Been re-reading John’s awesome IDW titles and wanted to know- which series is YOUR favorite? For me, it HAS to be TRIO…as a long-time fan of Marvel Comics, his satirical re-imagining of the “Marvel Universe” is a JOY to read and re-read over and over, and it’s one title I’m hoping he continues to write and draw someday!

Marvel Novel Series!

I remember seeing these on the shelves at Honolulu Book Store Ala Moana and being mystified at these "grown-up" versions of comic book characters I loved...I was particularly haunted by the Iron Man cover...at the time, I didn't know who Modok was and assumed it was the name of the "other" Iron Man.

A Childhood Star Wars Misconception

The "Second" Book?

Remember back in late 1977 when Star Wars was all the buzz and George Lucas first said that Star Wars was part of a NINE-CHAPTER epic, and going to the bookstore and thinking this Alan Dean Foster book "Splinter Of The Mind's Eye" was the second book in the series? And that "Han Solo At Star's End" MUST be the "third" book? OK maybe was it just me and my classmates who believed it.

The "Third" Book?

To be fair, we were only 6th graders at the time and had no idea that Star Wars was originally a standalone movie before its success made them re-title it as "Chapter IV: A New Hope" and that this "Nine-Chapter" thing was something Lucas made up off the top of his head and there WEREN'T any actual "books" to be found!

 I remember thinking the original Star Wars novelization was the first, Splinter Of The Mind'e Eye being the second, the Han Solo Books as the third and fourth books, and then asking my fellow classmate "where are the other five books?" to which he slowly told me the truth about my wild goose chase.

Back then, every kid had this book

Still, whenever I see images of Splinter Of The Mind's Eye, it still invokes that rush of Star Wars excitement and I can remember when it seemed like the whole universe of the Star Wars legend was all out there to discover!

Futuristic Cheesecake

Mmmm, Futuristic Cheesecake! Jetsons had that Pinup Art style down pat, and the episode "Miss Solar System" showed just how wonderful and STYLISTIC their girls could get! 
Yeah, Mr. Spacely knows What's Up:

Invoking the good girl art of artists like Playboy regulars Jack Cole and Doug Sneyd (two absolute MASTERS of the genre) the designs of the sexy Miss Solar System contestants really reflected the sixties sexy swinging style!

Heck, even the regular characters reflected this cool art style, as evidenced in a water cooler scene earlier in the episode. Those gals look mighty fine, too!

...and boy, Hanna-Barbera sure loved Gina Lollobrigida. After her Flintstones' doppelgänger Gina Loadabricks, this futuristic "Gina Lolla-Jupiter" character marks the second homage to the Italian Beauty!

Favorite Comics: Legion of Super-Heroes #11

Remember when  the serious tone of the X-Files would occasionally be interrupted by a fun, silly episode  to brighten things up? Well, that’s JUST what the maniacs did for the serious and violent world of LEGION 5Y with issue 11 featuring a very FUN and HILARIOUS solo story featuring  Tenzil Kem (the amazing MATTER-EATER LAD) as a blundering Lawyer whom, along with his sweet sidekick/assistant Calorie Queen, attempts to defend Polar Boy in court!

As everyone knows,  Tenzil’s got one of the sillier powers on the LSH, and I love how they crafted the VERY silly and charming story where Tenzil is so inept as a lawyer that even Brek Bannin himself doesn’t believe in his skills, but he has so much heart and gumption ya gotta love him anyway.

And the way they humorously use his “powers” of being able to eat matter is some of the funniest stuff ever, with dialog like:

(Pouring a cup and taking a sip)

 “Cal, this tastes like yesterday’s crank case oil…

Is it too much to ask for a FRESH pot of crank case oil?”

(Eating in a greasy hole-in-the-wall Diner)

“What IS this stuff? I may be able to eat all matter, but I’ve got to draw the line SOMEWHERE!”

(discards meal and begins eating the ashtray full of cigarette butts instead)

A New Take On The New Mutants

Don’t know if you saw the trailer for the NEW MUTANTS upcoming movie, but instead of your usual glossy super-heroes whopping on each other, they are shooting it like a teenage horror movie style, dark and brooding with jump-scary style editing. Could work, at this point they don’t have anything to lose.

Anyway just today they uploaded the promo pic of the group. At first I thought it was crappy, (my first thought was, why are they all so dirty???) but someone pointed out that they’re paying homage to AC/DC’s Highway to Hell which I kind of like!

The cherry on the top came when someone on reddit pointed out that the Ilanya Rasputin character has a puppet of Kitty Pryde’s dragon “pet” Lockheed on her hand, which I find hilarious!

Already love Anya Taylor Joy from the very spooky and moody movie THE WITCH (or, the VVitch) and of course Arya Stark as Wolfsbane is going to be something to see!