The new cool kid (and the new followers)

im listening to the newest Comic Geek Speak podcast, ep 666 "what if...", and they mention how the new "cool kids" are the "geeks" and "nerds" and that there are also new "followers". First lets define the terms (the engineer is coming out)

Cool Kid: 1, One who is knowledgeable about current events pertaining to a popular specific field (comics & super heroes). 2, shares a common language, with others, when discussing popular specific field with other "cool kids" (knowing the proper way to pronounce Ras Al Ghul). 3, knowing basics behind popular specific field(Green Lantern Oath).

Follower:1, One who is semi knowledgeable or able to feign knowledge about current events pertaining to a popular specific field of interest by "cool kids". 2, understands the common language or feigns understanding of the common language when others are discussing a popular specific field with other "cool kids". 3, does not know the basics behind popular specific field.

Basically the new "cool kids" are me and the other people reading this blog that have an interest in what i say (if there are any), I am not talking in the high school sense but the American culture sense. You may have noticed that a lot more super hero/comic book movies are coming out, and these try to cater to a nerd market which becomes the new "cool kid" group because the super heroes/comic books become a popular subject.

Generally followers don't bother me, you can be who you want to be, lead follow whatever, i dont care. But on a cultural scale, blindly following, gets on my nerves (like with Apple stuff), then when it deal with comics and super heroes it really grinds my gears (for lack of a better phrase). What many may not have realized is that comic book movies have been coming out for a long time, movies like The Shadow(1994), Blade (1998), and the TV movie staring David Hasselhoff Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D (alright bad example).

My point is that pretty good super hero movies have been coming out for a good while before Spider-Man in 2002, but only now are movie producers and production companies are realizing that they can make money. The annoying following starts when companies see that they will make money by having a superhero movie and can make more without actually including an already established character (Hancock), or incorporating a super hero into a movie that really doesnt need one, just so it will maybe get some geeks in the theater (My super ex-girlfriend).

I am hoping that more comic movies in the future take a cue from movies like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Watchmen; because they were well made and well written and the fan were kept in mind when it was being put together. So basically i hope the following dies off and the leaders pick up and the true fan get involved in the production of this stuff.

What the thor!?

This is pretty funny
Maybe i should start reading Thor.

Thoughts on Black Panther

Alright, Im a fan of Marvel's Black Panther character and have been for a long time. My dad got me collecting the older 70s issues back in the day, and i have been collecting them ever since. I Never really got into the series that came out during the 90s where they completely redid the Black Panther character, making him a city street crime fighter(i think) as apposed to a king of a nation, that also gets involved in super heroics. But when they relaunched the Black Panther series with vol. 3, that stuck more with its roots (BP, Warrior King of never been conquered hightly advanced African nation of Wakanda), in 2005 I was excited. The first arc was amazing and the issue 1 variant Capetian America vs Black Panther cover was great(first pic). After that first arc I feel it lost steam and the book, I feel, just became an excuse to cross over other black superheros. Although it did have some really great crossovers dealing with the major Marvel events, especially with its ending very strong with its Secret Invasion crossover(second pic) (I highly recommend the last arc, issues 39-40 also in TPB Secret Invasion:Black Panther***READ IT***)
Now they have started anew with Black Panther vol. 4 and i am liking it so far(last pic). They have finished the first arc, it isnt as good as the first or last arc of vol 3, but it is good. It deals more with Black Panther/Wakanda stuff, politics, the kingdom, the panther religion, and so on. That is the kind of stuff that vol 3 didnt do much of, it took Black Panther out of what makes him who he is. Im not saying he should never leave Wakanda but that should be where most of his business should be; Its Black Panther's book he should be in Wakanda most of the time not teaming up with Luke Cage or Blade in New York, for some random reason. I feel like its similar to if you are reading a Solo Batman book you dont want to see Batman teaming up with Booster Gold in Metropolis or The Flash in Star City every arc.
So, in conclusion, i feel that if the new books continues down the path of a Black Panther central story and not just a team up and cross over central story it can be great, not just good.

New Batman

Alright, I have read the first two issues of the new Batman and Robin series. If you didnt know the original Batman is dead (Bruce Wayne) and the original robin has taken his place (Dick Grayson). I find it hard to formulate an opinion on a comic series with only the first issue, even if it is a series with as much history as this, so I waited a little before coming to any type of conclusions. Over all i think it is a pretty cool series so far, i like seeing the new Batman and Robin dynamic. Bruce Wayne's (evil)son, Damian: son of Talia, grandson a Ras Al Ghul, is the new Robin. Though, I dont know how i feel about this just yet because it just seems like another Jason Todd type thing where this kid is brought in because other wise he would end up a criminal(mastermind), but they seem to want to be developing a relationship between him and dick (that will be less familiar), although that cant quite be done yet because dick doesnt know who he is yet as batman. Eeven though, he seemed to make a big step at the end of issue 2.

Now, Grant Morisson and Frank Quitely are the writer artist pair on this book(they do everything together), they both have done some great stuff on their own and as a pair, i really loved All Star Superman, but it will take some getting use to with batman. I think Quitely's art style is cool for a more light hearted stuff but I feel batman is dark and mixing that with his art style makes everything kinda freakish and grotesque, but i guess that is what they are going for in this first arc. I geuss they are also going to lighten up the book too. Also in the panels when there is onomatopoeia, it spells it out in the event that is causing it, this kinda took me out of the book because i saw the word boom instead of the explosion. this was more of a problem in the first issue,but the second issue was done much better(I had to actually go back and look for it). I saw short clip of an interview with Morrison about this new book(cant find link, but is mentioned here) and he says he is going for a kind of brighter batman with Dick and a more realistic Gotham, a city that isnt just fill with crime. I think he is going to try and make Batman more flamboyant, like having the flying batmobile or fighting a ridiculous gang of circus freaks. I think since he has the new characters to work with he will basically morrison the crap out of the book. this may work it may not but so far i think it is pretty good.

Second Post!!

What is with all the Obama comics. i was at my new comic shop last week and they had this "Barack the Barbarian" on the counter it was like 5.99, i think, so i didn't pick it up, but the clerk pointed out "President Evil" (play on "resident evil") an Obama zombie comic. I like zombies and i feel politics could use a nice injection of Zed, so i scooped it up. it is pretty corny but kinda in a good way. There is also another comic called "Drafted: First hundred days" that has an Obama character in it on an alternate earth. The barbarian and drafted comics apparently where written and put out so comic buyers would see them and be like "what the hell is that?" so that kinda worked on me. Although, i didn't buy either of them, from what i have read they seem heavy on the political satire. I got the President Evil pretty much just for the title, i was laughing from when i saw it to when i left the shop. it has a few funny moments and a surprise ending, so im gonna have to pick up the next one to see what happens.

hello to anyone reading this

hmmmm . . . . . . well don't really know how to start this so lets just get somethings out the way. I'm 25 from a small Ohio town and have been into comics since around 2nd or 3rd grade. I guess i have always liked the out going nature of heroes in comics being extremely shy myself. Also like 8ball I want to be an engineer (mechanical) however being a slacker I've gotten myself off track and am currently trying to get myself back in the groove and on track. Though I spent 3 yrs in graphic design before making the move to engineering. My interest kind of swing all over the place what with liking the sceinces, anything tech related, movies, anime, comics, manga, motorcycles and sports cars, WoW, magic the gathering, and few different sports. It lets get along with most anyone I meet.

Right now my favorite heros would be Ironman and Green Lantern (any of them). I read to many comics to list but I tend to be a Marvel fan. I'm kind of the Marvel expert to 8ball's DC.

Introduction

Alright this is a sort of stream of conscious introduction to this blog and me (i assume my buddy will also do an introduction for himself). Im a recently graduated electrical engineer, i love graphic novels, im a nerd, im an anime fan (Otaku?), I AM NOT A WRITER (like i said engineer), I like the funny books, i like to build things, my favorite day is Wednesday, i like video games (smash, halo, gta), i like manga, i like to build computers, i like the smell of news print, i like to fix computers, i like superheroes, i like to take pictures, i also like those comic book things. so basically i like almost 100% nerdy stuff. this blog will weigh heavy on the comic side of that nerdy stuff, with maybe the occasional other nerd injected. I have had the idea of starting a blog in my head for a while as a way to just get my thoughts out about comics and also as a way to stay in touch with my buddy who will also be making some posts.

My favorite superhero is Batman. my expertise is on the batman family. I read a good amount of book and try to stay update on the ones i really like. The things i stay current with are: Batman, Robin, Detective comics (before Battle for the cowl, some of that is different now), Black Panther, anything Ultimate Marvel, Ex Machina, Invincible, mighty avengers, new avengers, Secret Warriors, The Walking Dead, and i probably missed some things. My top books are probably walking dead, invincible, and ex machina; i have got to have these every month. After these books would probably be the Batman books. I have a collection of around 1400 comics, most of which are bagged and boarded in a short box somewhere. I have been collecting since i was about 8 or 9 (one of my first comics was uncanny x-men 1, so like '91ish) and i have been addicted ever since. um... thats about it. see you in later posts.