10 months since my last post!
Said I wanted to write more frequently and failed. Failed horribly.
So, we will try this one last time.
With work the way it is now, I cannot pick up my comics on a weekly basis. Working on 3 weeks now since my last visit. So no more weekly pull lists. I guess I will just post whenever I read something of interest.
My problem is that, I just let my reading pile up and up and barely knock the pile down any before it gets higher than before.
The comic, the Boys. I am at least a good 20 issues behind on that title and in the most recent solicits it advertises the beginning of the end of the book! It ends at 50, meaning there is only 7 issues to go. I may as well wait until the whole thing is done before trying to catch up. That was not the plan.
Although neither was almost a year between posts.
I am going to try to do better - dear non-existent readers.
Tom.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Monday, June 15, 2009
Novel Review
So, with the rest of my plans, they go south pretty quickly. I had planned to read a novel a month. Instead I think I've finished 2 maybe 3, can't even remember now.
But I did finish 13 Bullets by David Wellington.
The book is about Vampires, which are very en vogue right now. The vampires is this story though aren't the "pussy" vampires of Twilight, these are real monsters and are treated as such. This is something that I want from Vampires.
Also I want something that adds to the mythology - because let's face it Vampires have been done to death.
13 Bullets does this, in a pretty interesting way I think. In the book, vampires not only need to rest during the day. They die - every morning, and throughout the day regenerate/heal and come out at night stronger than ever and ready for the hunt.
This and a few other small things - like crosses only work on the original Vampires (when the Church was feared) newer Vampires are not effected add something to the story for me.
The ending wasn' t the greatest, but taking a wander around Chapter's one day and looking at other books that the author has written shows that 13 Bullets is part of a trilogy - unofficial or not - the 3 books all seem to have 2 of the same main characters. That would explain why the story just... ends. If I didn't know that the story would continue elsewhere than I maybe would have a lower opinion of the overall novel.
I would give it a 7 out of 10.
I know he has a zombie trilogy as well, I'll have to look into that one as well. Think I have found a new author to follow.
But I did finish 13 Bullets by David Wellington.
The book is about Vampires, which are very en vogue right now. The vampires is this story though aren't the "pussy" vampires of Twilight, these are real monsters and are treated as such. This is something that I want from Vampires.
Also I want something that adds to the mythology - because let's face it Vampires have been done to death.
13 Bullets does this, in a pretty interesting way I think. In the book, vampires not only need to rest during the day. They die - every morning, and throughout the day regenerate/heal and come out at night stronger than ever and ready for the hunt.
This and a few other small things - like crosses only work on the original Vampires (when the Church was feared) newer Vampires are not effected add something to the story for me.
The ending wasn' t the greatest, but taking a wander around Chapter's one day and looking at other books that the author has written shows that 13 Bullets is part of a trilogy - unofficial or not - the 3 books all seem to have 2 of the same main characters. That would explain why the story just... ends. If I didn't know that the story would continue elsewhere than I maybe would have a lower opinion of the overall novel.
I would give it a 7 out of 10.
I know he has a zombie trilogy as well, I'll have to look into that one as well. Think I have found a new author to follow.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Well, that didn't work out as planned
This thing was supposed to be published with a ton more regularity, but as I think I warned in my first post, I'm lazy and I procrastinate.
So this is the reafirmation of my original pledge to write more often.
We'll see how long this lasts.
Because of work commitments, I haven't been able to make it to the LCS for at least a month. The Beer Store is a harsh mistress, but I was able to make this past Saturday.
Dropped $140 on 36 books. I'm not going to list them all, but I will do a couple of reviews on the few books that I have read so far:
The Incredible Hercules #129: This was a book that I recently added to my pull list. It's an action/adventure/buddy-comedy. This issue was about Hercules and Cho going into Hades in search of Zeus. While on the way - through a Casino - we see cameos from some old or recently dead Marvel heroes/villians. They wait in the casino to try and win their chance to return to life, "they win more often than you think". I thought this was a great, fun way to explain why so many people in the Marvel Universe come back to life after dying. The rest of the story is build up for the upcoming arc, but the Casino of the recently deceased was worth the money alone. Great dialogue. A solid 7 out of 10.
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Short Halloween: I bought this issue solely for the writer's Seth Meyers and Bill Hader of SNL fame, the art from Kevin Maguire didn't hurt either. This issue wasn't bad, not great either, probably because we knew going in that this was only going to be a one-shot, so nothing earth shattering would happen, the status quo would not be shaken. The plot was just ok, kind of typical case of mistaken identity, with only a couple of chuckles. For first time comic writer's I would give Meyer's a Hader another try but hopefully not a 3.99 an issue. 5 out of 10.
The Mighty #5: This title just got really good in my mind. The first four issues were ok, but nothing really special, but with the latest issue, the plot seems to explode. A former Captain of Alpha Squad shows himself and tries to warn the New Captain of the potential dangers he faces. Alpha tracks down the whistle blower and kills him. That's plot point one. Later Alpha is shown to be experimenting on a human being! With this issue, this book has moved up the reading list. 8 out of 10.
That's it for now.
So this is the reafirmation of my original pledge to write more often.
We'll see how long this lasts.
Because of work commitments, I haven't been able to make it to the LCS for at least a month. The Beer Store is a harsh mistress, but I was able to make this past Saturday.
Dropped $140 on 36 books. I'm not going to list them all, but I will do a couple of reviews on the few books that I have read so far:
The Incredible Hercules #129: This was a book that I recently added to my pull list. It's an action/adventure/buddy-comedy. This issue was about Hercules and Cho going into Hades in search of Zeus. While on the way - through a Casino - we see cameos from some old or recently dead Marvel heroes/villians. They wait in the casino to try and win their chance to return to life, "they win more often than you think". I thought this was a great, fun way to explain why so many people in the Marvel Universe come back to life after dying. The rest of the story is build up for the upcoming arc, but the Casino of the recently deceased was worth the money alone. Great dialogue. A solid 7 out of 10.
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Short Halloween: I bought this issue solely for the writer's Seth Meyers and Bill Hader of SNL fame, the art from Kevin Maguire didn't hurt either. This issue wasn't bad, not great either, probably because we knew going in that this was only going to be a one-shot, so nothing earth shattering would happen, the status quo would not be shaken. The plot was just ok, kind of typical case of mistaken identity, with only a couple of chuckles. For first time comic writer's I would give Meyer's a Hader another try but hopefully not a 3.99 an issue. 5 out of 10.
The Mighty #5: This title just got really good in my mind. The first four issues were ok, but nothing really special, but with the latest issue, the plot seems to explode. A former Captain of Alpha Squad shows himself and tries to warn the New Captain of the potential dangers he faces. Alpha tracks down the whistle blower and kills him. That's plot point one. Later Alpha is shown to be experimenting on a human being! With this issue, this book has moved up the reading list. 8 out of 10.
That's it for now.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Pull List for a Long Time Ago
Really late with this. Small Week.
WAlking Dead #54
Action Comics #871
CAp BRit #7
Wolverine #69
Green Lantern Corps #30
Amazing Spider-Man #577
Ghostbusters: The Other Side #2
Dead of Night: Devil Slayer #3
Tom.
WAlking Dead #54
Action Comics #871
CAp BRit #7
Wolverine #69
Green Lantern Corps #30
Amazing Spider-Man #577
Ghostbusters: The Other Side #2
Dead of Night: Devil Slayer #3
Tom.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Pull List for Nov 5
Small week for me Yeah!
Marvel Zombies #2 - Realy surprised how good issue #1 was, hope it continues.
Zombie Tales #7 - More zombie goodness
Amazing Spider-Man #576
Invincible Iron Man - Hope this continues it's hot streak as well.
Adventure Comics Special: The Guardian #1 - Part of the New Krypton storyline, so it better be worth the money. Don't understand why it couldn't be told in the Superman books.
And that was it.
Tom.
Marvel Zombies #2 - Realy surprised how good issue #1 was, hope it continues.
Zombie Tales #7 - More zombie goodness
Amazing Spider-Man #576
Invincible Iron Man - Hope this continues it's hot streak as well.
Adventure Comics Special: The Guardian #1 - Part of the New Krypton storyline, so it better be worth the money. Don't understand why it couldn't be told in the Superman books.
And that was it.
Tom.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Movie Review/Rant - Zack & Miri
I used to be a huge Kevin Smith fan. Anything with his name on it was good enough for me to spend money on. his movies, comics - when they would come out, even his Evening With...DVD's.
But no more.
He's lost me.
He actually lost me years ago when he decided that his comic book work would take a very obvious backseat to his film work. I can partly understand choosing film over comics. The money in film is greater, but don't slap your comic book fans in the face. He was at the time the celebrity face of comics. He went on the Tonight Show for the sole purpose of promoting a Comic Book. His Spider-man/Black Cat 5 issue mini series that ended up taking him 3-4 years (not sure of the actual date) to finish. the final 2 issues never even hit the comic book stores, it was so late that Marvel just decided to put out the completed Trade. I tink last year EIC of Marvel Joe Quesada admitted that we won't ever see the second issue of the 2-part Daredevil: Target book.
He lost me with his movies as well. Most of his earlier stuff - like his claim to fame Clerks - doesn't really hold up for me anymore. I still like Dogma, Mallrats was ok, same with Chasing Amy and Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back. Clerks 2 was joke of the worst kind, and so was Jersey girl.
Right around the time of Jersey Girl, Smith was doing the media rounds for the film and he said that with Jay & Silent Bob that was it for his 'Jersey' characters. He was done with them and he was moving on. I give him credit for that, Jersey Girl was Smith's attempt at growing up. Good for him.
The movie flopped.
His response was to write another Clerks movie. Something that he swore he would never do. I lost respect for him right there as well.
With his new movie, Zack & Miri Make a Porno, I have to wonder how many more chances are we going to give him. This was predicted to be his big hit. The movie follows the now familiar Judd Apatow formula for R rated comedy success. The movie opened with less than 10 million in it's opening weekend.
The movie was known more for the 'provocative' title than anything else, when it came down to watchinhg the movie, it wasn't provocative or really all that edgy even. It was an "R" rated comedy that showed some female and male nudity and some simulated sex. But it was really the story of Seth Rogen's character and Elizabeth Banks' characters falling in love after 20 years of friendship. As with most Smith projects, there were some laughs and some funny situations, but that is about it. It wasn't really a great comedy and I think it has something to do with Smith's dialogue. When first getting into Smith's work the dialogue may seem edgy and smart and even in some cases 'real' sounding. But really in my opinion, it's not at all.
The dialogue can seem clunky as characters try and cram so many words into an argument that it zaps all comedy out of it and just sounds silly.
The movie trys to have heart because that is the way with all the new breed of 'raunch' comedies, but Apatow does it much better. In Zack & Miri the finale of the film just seems unrealistic and far fetched. Characters that have known each other and been best friends for 20 years, have been living with each other for years as well only fall in love after they script themselves to have a sex scene in their porno? Doesn't really make sense to me, doesn't really seem like a funny situation either.
I gave this movie a chance because of Seth Rogen. He can't have a hit all the time I guess. I'm officially done with Kevin Smith though.
Tom.
But no more.
He's lost me.
He actually lost me years ago when he decided that his comic book work would take a very obvious backseat to his film work. I can partly understand choosing film over comics. The money in film is greater, but don't slap your comic book fans in the face. He was at the time the celebrity face of comics. He went on the Tonight Show for the sole purpose of promoting a Comic Book. His Spider-man/Black Cat 5 issue mini series that ended up taking him 3-4 years (not sure of the actual date) to finish. the final 2 issues never even hit the comic book stores, it was so late that Marvel just decided to put out the completed Trade. I tink last year EIC of Marvel Joe Quesada admitted that we won't ever see the second issue of the 2-part Daredevil: Target book.
He lost me with his movies as well. Most of his earlier stuff - like his claim to fame Clerks - doesn't really hold up for me anymore. I still like Dogma, Mallrats was ok, same with Chasing Amy and Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back. Clerks 2 was joke of the worst kind, and so was Jersey girl.
Right around the time of Jersey Girl, Smith was doing the media rounds for the film and he said that with Jay & Silent Bob that was it for his 'Jersey' characters. He was done with them and he was moving on. I give him credit for that, Jersey Girl was Smith's attempt at growing up. Good for him.
The movie flopped.
His response was to write another Clerks movie. Something that he swore he would never do. I lost respect for him right there as well.
With his new movie, Zack & Miri Make a Porno, I have to wonder how many more chances are we going to give him. This was predicted to be his big hit. The movie follows the now familiar Judd Apatow formula for R rated comedy success. The movie opened with less than 10 million in it's opening weekend.
The movie was known more for the 'provocative' title than anything else, when it came down to watchinhg the movie, it wasn't provocative or really all that edgy even. It was an "R" rated comedy that showed some female and male nudity and some simulated sex. But it was really the story of Seth Rogen's character and Elizabeth Banks' characters falling in love after 20 years of friendship. As with most Smith projects, there were some laughs and some funny situations, but that is about it. It wasn't really a great comedy and I think it has something to do with Smith's dialogue. When first getting into Smith's work the dialogue may seem edgy and smart and even in some cases 'real' sounding. But really in my opinion, it's not at all.
The dialogue can seem clunky as characters try and cram so many words into an argument that it zaps all comedy out of it and just sounds silly.
The movie trys to have heart because that is the way with all the new breed of 'raunch' comedies, but Apatow does it much better. In Zack & Miri the finale of the film just seems unrealistic and far fetched. Characters that have known each other and been best friends for 20 years, have been living with each other for years as well only fall in love after they script themselves to have a sex scene in their porno? Doesn't really make sense to me, doesn't really seem like a funny situation either.
I gave this movie a chance because of Seth Rogen. He can't have a hit all the time I guess. I'm officially done with Kevin Smith though.
Tom.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Pull List for Oct 29/08
Here's what I grabbed today.
Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch - Mignola back as writer/artist for an issue. I usually only buy the one shots and 3 issue series of Hellboy, and wait for the Library Editions for the rest now.
Spike: After the Fall #4 - Thought this was only a 3 issue series, maybe one day I'll actually read it.
Amazing Spider-Man #575 - Still on board for the reboot.
Thor #11 - Really like the fact that this book hasn't been involved with the crossovers...yet.
Nova #18
Astounding Wolf-Man #9 - Really glad I only have one more issue to go on this one. Just fell flat for me.
Superman #681 - Part 2 of a storyline I'm really looking forward to.
Chuck #5 - One of my favourite shows - hope the comic doesn't suck.
The Boys #24
Spawn #185 - Change in direction, we'll see how it goes. Spawn was one of the first books I really followed on a month to month basis for the first 100 issues.
1985 #6 - The conclusion.
Amazing Spider Man Annual #1 - Supposedly a story about Jackpot.
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3 - Supposedly Peter gets laid.
No Hero #2
Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 - I'm picking up Green Lantern books now, so this falls into that category.
Tom.
Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch - Mignola back as writer/artist for an issue. I usually only buy the one shots and 3 issue series of Hellboy, and wait for the Library Editions for the rest now.
Spike: After the Fall #4 - Thought this was only a 3 issue series, maybe one day I'll actually read it.
Amazing Spider-Man #575 - Still on board for the reboot.
Thor #11 - Really like the fact that this book hasn't been involved with the crossovers...yet.
Nova #18
Astounding Wolf-Man #9 - Really glad I only have one more issue to go on this one. Just fell flat for me.
Superman #681 - Part 2 of a storyline I'm really looking forward to.
Chuck #5 - One of my favourite shows - hope the comic doesn't suck.
The Boys #24
Spawn #185 - Change in direction, we'll see how it goes. Spawn was one of the first books I really followed on a month to month basis for the first 100 issues.
1985 #6 - The conclusion.
Amazing Spider Man Annual #1 - Supposedly a story about Jackpot.
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3 - Supposedly Peter gets laid.
No Hero #2
Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 - I'm picking up Green Lantern books now, so this falls into that category.
Tom.
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