shrinking budget and New Avengers

So yesterday was finally able to clear out my box at my comic shop (Christmas money woot), and i a had to cut a few of my marvel titles. I was a on pull for Invincible Iron Man, Deadpool, Avengers, New Avengers, Black Panther, and everything Ultimate. I dropped a lot of marvel stuff because of the price, as im sure you are aware most of Marvel's good stuff is 3.99 while all DC's normal monthly stuff is 2.99, this is very hard to ignore. (especially when you house needs new gutters) Ironman, deadpool, Avengers, and a lot of the ultimate stuff. Ironman got dropped because i wasn't digging the story it was moving kinda slow for me and i didn't like the villains. Deadpool i dropped because i was just getting it for the laughs, and thet was hit and miss some months. Avengers because i had to choose one. (sorry JRjr) A lot of the Ultimate stuff im gonna wait and see, but im staying on ultimate Spider-Man, because most of it is mini series and i will be able to filter out the bad and keep the good. (bad = vampires; good = ultimate mystery)

Moving on, just read issue 7 of New Avengers and i am glad that I am sticking with it. This issue deals with all the aftermath of the first 6 issues arc as they continue with setting up the team. This is great, i love seeing heroes in there everyday not so everyday lives, it probably helps that Bendis is writing. All the personal conflict and story setups and what not just amazing.(spiderman even gets screwed twice; classic spiderman) Im still kinda mad they killed Brother/Doctor Voodoo cause i liked the character, but i think they will make up for it in the coming months. Definitely worth the 3.99

And remember kids, save your dollars they might be worth something some day.

Avenger's Earth's Mightiest new superhero cartoon show

So, found out about this new Avengers cartoon show a few weeks ago and was able to catch up on it last weekend, and it was one of the best super hero cartoons to come out in the last few years, the last being Justice League Unlimited. This first season was great and i love seeing a cartoon that is great for kids and people, like me, who are 25 year old kids. The show started off strong with the whole gravity guy super villain breakout thing, then went back in time to show the lead up to the break out gravity guy thing. I thought that was an interesting way to develop the story, and explain why nick fury was a weird cross between ultimate black and normal marvel gray temple nick fury. (that was weird to me during that first ep) I cannot wait to see what they do with the series going onward especially with the shifting roster. (hope black panther stays on a while) cant wait to see if they bring in the sentry, that would be cool.

Watchman vs Watchmen

So, i know this is a bit late, but im gonna say a few things about the Watchman movie because i recently re watched it for the first time since the theater. (and did not have a blog when it came out) If you havent seen the movie this will probably have spoilers for both the movie and book.

First off, i thought it was a cool movie, better than most and not your typical super hero movie; and with that, i did read the comic many years and just before seeing it in theaters. They stuck to the main plot and kept all the main characters, something i did not expect because of the nontraditional and dark themes of the story. I feel that they followed the books over arching idea of what super heroes would be like in real life very well, and the only gripes i have with it are superficial.

Some said (me included) that they hated that the ending was changed so drastically, but to me after seeing it again i am not feeling that way anymore. They still had the "bad guys" win and unite the world at a high cost and the "good guys" had to make a very very difficult decision as to whether or not to go along with the ruse, and that is really all you need to do to get the point of the book across. Really the idea of having a bunch of scientists and artist on an island build some giant creature is a little too comic booky for the big screen, much like the X-Men costume change in the movie. (grown men in spandex = gross)

The one main thing that still bugs me is how they did Rorschach's Rorschachs' origin story with the kidnapped little girl. Rorschach finds the guys hide, realizes what happened, confronts the man, and handcuffs him to a stove then in a rage splits the guys head with a meat cleaver. For me this just was not Rorschach. For me he is insane, in a sense, but he is in control; he does not fly off the handle or go overboard unless he is proving a point, much like the prison lunch line scene. It is like they are saying that in the movie Rorschach truly went insane at that moment instead of just coming to the conclusion that he needs to change in order to be a better tool for justice. (Im thinking now they may have changed that only because of the similarities between that scene and the first Saw movie, the whole "hand or your life thing")

They really played up the sex and the fight scenes, but i dont know how i feel about this. Im conflicted; it is fun to watch, but it cheapens the source material. There also seemed to be more full frontal on Dr. Manhattan than in the book. (again conflicted lol)

The last thing, Rorschach's final scene. I didnt like Nite Owl being there (the whole NOOOOOOO!!! thing) and i didnt like Jackie Earle Haley's execution of his final lines(He really did a great job a Rorschach throught out though). But, like i said these a superficial imperfections that are completely in one owns opinion. if you dont like it write your own blog.

Invincible #75

Just read Invincible 75. It was pretty cool. I have read all of the series, and have been reading monthly since issue 38. The book is great because it looks and feels almost like a kids super hero book, but very jarringly lets you know it is not with some of the issues dealt with and the level of violence. It has a great mix of humor, action, and darkness. I highly recommend this book for any one who like a good superhero book.

Issue 75 was cool, stuff is going down. what i love the most about this story arc is we get to see more of Tech Jacket and Battle Beast. TJ is just a cool character that never got a chance, in my mind, and BB is just awesome when ever he shows up. (did i say awesome i meant badass) I cannot say enough good things about this book in general, if you are reading this and not reading that stop reading this and start reading that.

PS: why doesn't omniman wear shoes anymore

Some Great Trade Paper Backs You Never Heard Of

One, The American Way by John Ridleyand Georges Jeanty. This is a great book i picked up about 3 years ago now; it was an unexpected find at a library that just blew me away. Its about a super hero cold war that is being engaged in by the United States and Russia in 1962, where the united states has the only super heroes and basically stages all these elaborate battles for them to win. It is only after there American icon Old Glory, a flag wielding super patriot, dies of a heart attack in Battle, and is replaced with, the New American, an African American who's races is strategically hidden, and then inadvertently revealed, that stuff gets crazy. Awesome story about Civil Rights, corrupt government, and its got crazy racist southern superheroes.



Two, Global Frequency by Warren Ellis. Cool Si-Fi book dealing with a huge world wide network or spies, kinda. The network, called the Global frequency, consists of people with really specialized skills. this network is lead by a woman named Miranda Zero and a genius hacker chick code named Aleph. Each issues is a one-and-done thing witch is cool, and each story deals with some crazy super science world destroying stuff. really cool book. you want to check it out.

Quick post "Why I Like Slightly More Indie Books"

I will start by saying this, i just recently had an epiphany, i kind of don't really look forward to getting my super hero books every week, and i think that is because i know they will have to deal with continuity of their entire universe in some way. They will either ignore it some how or work around it. examples which brought me to this conclusion: X-factor and Justice League: Generation Lost. i have read 1-5 of the trades on X-Factor and the first 6 issues of Generation. In the last couple of days i realize that they both really upset me with how they deal with continuity and how i think they will deal with it in the future. JLGL will coast comfortably outside of continuity because the whole point of the story is they are fighting a dude no one knows exists; and i just got to the point in XF that they just upp'in dumped Layla in the future and they will probably never get her back because she is a character born of House of M. basically ex machina, invincible, walking dead, Y the last man, and other junk i read doesn't have to deal with all the "how we gonna deal with continuity in our 'tiny book in a big universe' problem this week" I feel that not having to deal with a giant load of history makes indiy and/or limited series better books month to month.


edit: just did some research. guess layla comes back later for a lil. still mad

edit(part deuce): Now I have read up to vol. 8 of XF; i thought i was going to drop it, but my comic shop had the trades for half off. So, i have read it i thought it was pretty cool, but i think i am done now (for real), i feel the only reason i kept reading the book was because of the mystery around layla, now that that stuff has been explained i think im jumping off. still dont like books that skirt around issues of continuity ungracefully.

Comics for an Electrical Engieer like Me

Well hello again. Been a while. Moved in to my new house a lil over a month ago and have been putting more time into it than this blog, unfortunately.

Any who, I'm going to do a post about some of my favorite comics that strike at the Electrical engineering side of me. Books that are heavy in gadgets, super techno science, and complex machines.

First ill start with whats in the picture, Ex Machina for those who do not know. This is one of my favorite books, ending soon or ended at issue 50(not sure haven't got comics in a while), even setting aside the fact that it deals with weired techo concepts. Synopses goes like this: Mitchell Hundred is given the ability to speak to machines and control them with his voice. His super-heroics are told mostly in flashback as he has become mayor of New York City and "retires" for the most part from being The Great Machine. He has to deal with current problems of being mayor and deal with past problems he had created for himself.
I love this book; for one, Hundred's powers are just cool; and two, it is written by Brian K. Vaughan which is sure to write a compelling story with a good bit of humor and social commentary. Why this is a cool book for an EE like me is that fact that Hundred is himself and engineer i want to be, not just because he can talk to machines and build things in his sleep, but because he is a smart guy who deals with the problems he is faced with; even if solving them doesn't give the best outcome for him.

Next up is Atomic Robo, this book I love mostly because it indirectly stars my favorite electrical engineer of all time, Nikola Tesla (Father of AC). Basically the story goes that Tesla built this AI (Automatic Intelligence) capable robot in 1923 that succeeded him in his death and goes on to start his own company and become a world adventurer of sorts from the 1940s onto nowish. Its a very fun book with a lot of action and humor (robots vs dinosaurs vs Nazi vs giant walking pyramids)


Then, or course there is Batman. This is a character that has more of less influenced my feeling on becoming an engineer. I am pretty sure that i have always wanted to be an engineer but seeing the batman character with all of his gadgets and mostly designing and building them himself just inspired me more. my goal in life is pretty much to be able to build batman level gadgets.


Life Goals are to progress as follows: Build Batman level gadgets->build AI Huminoid robots->Speak to and control machines.

aziz ansari in Thunderbolts 144?

on page 10 of thunderbolts issue 144, with luke cage looking for the new thunderbolts clue, they use part of a joke from aziz ansari's stand up when he is making fun of MTV's Next the dating show.

Sorry no cover of the week

Sorry no cover of the week the last few week, but I have been putting it off. I don't know why i did this but hey. So i tried to go back and do a sort of retro active cover of the weeks, but then is really looked at my new comics and realized i didn't really like any of them in particular. Choosing one I really didn't like or didn't stand above the rest, i feel, would cheapen what COTW really stands for.

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne

Check it out, two in a rowzz !!!1!1 anyway, i am very excited about Bruce coming back, but i don't really know how i feel about how they are doing it though. It seems a lot like how they brought back Captain America, except this is more literal trapped in time rather than a weired alternate inside-caps-head time. Looks like we start off right were Final Crisis ended and go from there. I guess i just have a lot of questions at this point. It seems that this story was from the point of view of the cavemen and they couldn't understand Bruce, so we couldn't understand Bruce.We don't know how he got were he is, how much he knows, or even how he lost his shirt. The ship is a time capsule from the cracked multi-verse from the beginning of Final Crisis issue 7.
I think it is strange that it seems like that ship has been there a while and is undisturbed by either the Old Man caveman or Bruce who had to pass it going into the cave.
It could be argued that Bruce is not only lost in time but in the multi-verse because of the appearance of the multi-verse ship and the appearance of Booster Gold and Rip Hunter along side GL and Sups. (plus the red skys thing is DC speak for multi-verse upheaval)
I'm also wondering if this ship will play an important role in the story. as of right now it is gone cause the Blood Mob cave dudes took it when they captured Bruce.
Another thought is what did superman mean when he said that if Bruce "makes it back to the 21st century on his own everyone dies," could it be that batman will break the multi-verse?
and a final thought and or question, where did that sword come from in the final panel, i know it wasn't in his utility belt.

Siege (Spoiled) and Heroic Age Avengers book

First off sorry for not following through with the weekly update thing (who would of thought buying a house would take so much of one's time.) But, here i am to talk about Siege and the newest Avengers book. Siege was cool, i think i would have liked for it to go to like maybe six issues instead of 4 just cause i like longer stories generally, and this was wrapped up pretty quick. I have been reading Dark Avengers plus all the other Avenger books and I feel that all of Norman Osborn's problems came to a head way to quick only in the Siege book. Through out the Avengers books leading to Siege Norman was doing a pretty good job leading HAMMER and keeping his insanity from showing. I would have liked to see some lead up to his breaking point, like during his more stressful time his cracks would show to more than just Victoria Hand.
**Spoiler**
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I'm Fine with them offing the Sentry, but I think they did it the wrong way. Having taken him down with a helicarrier Thor combo, granted after being hit with a super charged Thor lightning bolt and some other shit, was kind of weak seeing that he was still able to kill a god just before being smote.
I liked this ending alright but i feel like it was just your typical superhero-big-battle-everyone-works-together-to-take-down-the-super-baddy ending. I was listening to Comic Geek Speak Podcast the other day and they were talking about the ending of Siege and i think it was Jamie who had the an idea for an ending that i think would have been much sweeter and would have worked. Have Phobos show up do the whole "you killed my father, prepare to die" thing with Sentry and proceed to unleash on him. I fell that would have made sense seeing that Sentry RIPPED HIS FATHER IN HALF.

Anywho, Siege was kinda the bridge to take us to The Heroic Age. Avengers 1 was cool. i loved seeing all of Rogers' potential picks for Avengers teams, and i hope the Young Avengers guys get to see some action since they never got a real book. O MAN i love Romita's art, it takes back to my childhood (Dare Devil: Man Without Fear), and it really has a comic book feel to it. I like the photo realistic stuff that shows up some times but the Romita stuff reflects more of the scene to me somehow. I don't know how i feel about them bringing in characters from the direct to dvd Avengers stuff though, but I'm not even sure that is where these characters came from. I am looking forward to seeing where this new book goes.

PS How does Iron Man keep taking his helmet off, i though it was a part of his face now?

NEW cover of the week

Alright, I'm gonna try something new. so i can maybe get myself in the habit of making a post every week. So, here i will post my favorite cover from the weeks comics i get. This will only include books i buy that are new for that week. It will most likely come out on Friday cause that's when i get my books. It will be based on how i feel about the cover and not what is inside the book and in an ideal world i will chose before reading what is inside.

Finally, my chose for this weeks cover of the week is, Red Robin issue 11. Of my new books it beat Batman & Robin issue 11, Ultimate X issue 2, Captain America Black Panther: Flags of our Fathers issue 1, S.H.I.E.L.D. issue 1, and Invincible Returns issue 1. I chose Red Robin because the cover is just smooth, the other weeks books all have this kind of ruff style that seem like a sketch to me. Red Robin has all the smooth edges and details that I feel like seeing this week.

All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder

Very few of my relationships with Batman comics start off as rocky as with this book. Truthfully i read the first two issues and thought it was an affront to the character of Batman, specifically the whole "god**** Batman" line. (I may have said to some it was like Frank Miller ate Joel Schumacher's Batman movies and vomited them into a comic) But, i kept on getting it to see where is was going. It was after reading the whole thing together (without months between issues) that i actually saw how cool the book really was. I feel like this is giving me the same reaction i got when i read Frank Millers Batman: Year One; Not that he is just redoing what he has already done, but has taken a character and casted him in a new light. What i loved about Year One was that it took Batman and made him vulnerable; he was actually losing through some of that book, and that made this Batman more real to me. (I was only familiar with the Animated Series Batman at that point) All Star does this by taking Batman and saying that it is ok for you to be that other side of Batman; the Batman that Batman doesnt want you to be. A Batman that likes to maim the criminals, beat the shit out of cops(set fire in some cases), and doesnt care if a few are killed in the process; basically a noticeably damaged Batman.

I think Batman said it best in issue 7 "... I'm half-crazy. But only half. The other half is doing just fine."

Now, if only they would get off the hiatus and start putting out issues regularly.

Been a while. Just finshed issue 8 of Kick-ass. Wow. This book got me from the very first issue, and held on tight. Im pretty sure it had me by the balls too (in a great awsome way.) That is the most accurate way i could describe reading this book. It was crazy violent, the story was good, and each issue left you wanting more. Even though it was 8 issues spread over like 2 years, i wont hold it aganst them.

I am a sucker for the cliff hanger ending, and im not afraid to say that is a big reason i stayed ontop of this book; I had to know what happended next. Of course that story between cliff hangers had to be pretty good two. The way they put this in the real world was pretty great. They kind of explored what would happen if a super heroe actually showed up and caught on.

I highly recomend this book if you like a book with a good bit of violence and set in the real world. i also love romita jr's art great for of the graphic stuff.