The Best Scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Drax looks out over the tranquil landscape and in an uncharacteristically calm manner states that it reminds him of taking his daughter to the lake.  Mantis wanting to share this happy memory that can calm the usually boisterous Drax, reaches out and touches his arm.  She then breaks down in tears. 

Drax was being played as comic relief in this movie to the point that you had forgotten his back story and may have felt that he had too.  It turns out that he hadn't and the revelation that such a happy memory is tinged with unbearable pain reveals a lot of depth about his character.  He failed his family.  They are dead because of him.  He may carry himself as a bumbling idiot but he is driven to make amends for  this failure.  Maybe to even prevent it from happening to others.  His boisterousness is possibly just him putting on a mask to hide the pain that he still feels inside. 

It would have been so easy for this scene to have been cut.  To leave Drax as just this lummox and comic relief.  We know from this scene that Drax remembers and that he will protect his new family to prevent what happened to his old family.  This scene says so much with very little dialog.  

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers - Volume 1 by Steve Gerber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers reprints the original mini series and cameo appearances from other titles from the 70s. This is a fun if somewhat corny book. Corny, mostly because it is so dated. It was a huge mistake of having a character from the 70's/80's era in the far future as a member of the team. This original version of the team has several members, most are post human inhabitants of other planets in our solar system. While it is fun imagining what these people would be like, it really makes the invasion look implausible. These few guys that are so tough are the exact genetic makeup of everyone else on their respective planets. Yet the Badoon march in and take over only to be forced out by a very small group. Doesn't make sense. Not to mention that they fly around in a mock up of the Enterprise that they have named the Captain America.

This book is wordy. It is about 20 issues of some of the wordiest comics you will read. not that this is either good or bad, it is and you should just be expecting it. Not great, but not horrible either. There is some good writing tucked away in several issues and some interesting ideas that seldom ever seem to get fully explored. The art is on par with other titles of the time and some of it is rather striking.

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Rocket Girl-comic review

Monday evening I recieved my copy of Rocket Girl numero uno in the mail. I had contributed to the kickstarter for this project and have been looking forward to it for the past few months. It is written by Brandon Montclare and art by Amy Reeder. This title is published on the Image imprint.

First off, the artwork is amazing. I really liked it. It was krisp, clean, and vibrant. For project updates they would release images from the book and they always looked like cover images. Every panel is done with that same quality.

The story was engaging but a little hard to follow sometimes as it divides itself between the future (2013) and the present (1986). The Future is a very futuristic and stylized 2013 with flying cars, jet packs, half Swedish/half Korean teenage girl police officers. DaYoung is sent back into 1986 to presumably stop her timeline from happening. Why? Well that isn't explained in the first issue.

Pretty good first issue, can't wait for #2.

Wolverine & Captain America (& Ms. Marvel, but she is a girl and doesn't deserve billing)

Wolverine & Captain America by Tom Derenick
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was a throw away plot with horrible art. My 9 and 12 year olds where even making fun of it. I mean look at that lady's poor baby. The artist also needs to think about consistancy. For example: One panel shows Wolverine taking fire from multiple different angles and the next panel shows the people shooting him were very close to each other. The panels also didn't tell the story very well, it jumps from action pose to action pose but a lot of the time you are left wondering how you got from one place to the next. I don't know who signed off on this or the leather jacket open at the top exposing wolverine's chest costume, but they need to work on quality control a bit more.

Oh, and so the writer doesn't feel left out. Why on Earth would you send a very important myster chip from the X-Mansion to the Avenger's Mansion on foot, by forge, unescorted? Nevermind how anyone other than the X-men even knew of its existance and no one even knew what the thing did so why would they want to steal it. You think something is important and others are actively seaking it do you A.) fly it over in the blackbird, B.) Gather up whatever strong mutants you have lying around and have them take it over, likely using vehicles, or C.) Give it to the mutant whose ability is to understand technology and have him walk from Westchester to Manhattan. I mean forge could have built a car out of a discarded walkman and a roller skate; why the heck is he walking?

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Weapon X

Wolverine: Weapon X by Barry Windsor-Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the adamantium origin story. It is kind of a sacred cow, but I just thought it pretty good. Wolverine spends most of the story in a tank and is actually never referred to as Wolverine in the story. What really detracts from the book is the layout. It is sometimes hard to tell which panels are supposed to be read first. Also, the dialague moves in a U shape in those panels. It took me a few panels to actually figure that out. The art was pretty good, but was somewhat inconsistant. One panel towards the front sticks out where Logan is in his car and he is just way too huge, unless it was a go cart. Logan himself seems to be the runt he is in some panels and hugely massive in others.

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Mutants Vs. Vampires NCCW

I picked up Mutants Vs Vampires thinking that  one of my favorite characters and her recent vampire transformation (Jubilee) would be in it.  She wasn't.  Major disappointment.  This is actually a bunch of one offs that surround the whole mutant vs vampire storyline. 

There were a couple of stories that were okay, but most were just filler.  The only thing that really made this story worth reading was a joke in the Rogue story with a vampire joking about how much she looked like Sooki from True Blood.  I love that it went there.  Art is all over the place as it is a bunch of one offs with a whole lot of different artists working on it. 

Overall, you can take this one or leave it.  None of the stories have any reall imput to the overall story.  There is no Jubilee so don't pick it up hoping to see her. 

Nineties BlogFest

Dave over at "Dave Wrote This" is hosting the 90s Blogfest today and we are participating.  So here are my entries for favorites of the the years 90-99.  I will list a book, movie, and maybe a bonus category. 

1990-Arnold rocked the theater in Total Recall.  A film that taught us that three is better than two and how to file for divorce.  I have been meaning to read Dan Simmons novel Hyperion for years.  I really need to and that makes my choice for the year.  Bonus goes to Back to the Future III for finishing the series strong

1991-  Orson Scott Card continues the Ender series with Xenocide.  Arnold promised us he would be back and he was with a vengence in Terminator 2.  I loved TV in 1991 and a gem that gets overlooked is the fox show Herman's Head. 

1992-  Vernor Vinge is now a household name (wait, he isn't, but in my house...Oh, I have a bunch of geeks in my house) anyway, this is the year that Vinge published Fire Upon the Deep.  In movies we suffered through Alien 3 and Lawnmower man, but get Universal Soldier as payment.  Huge X-men crossover with executionor's song where we find out cable has been cloned.  This was in order to double the number of pouches and therefore double Rob Leifeild's income.
 
1993-Sure Jurassic Park overshadowed them but, Army of Darkness and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm came out this year.  Kim Stanley Robinson was rocking the world with his mars series.  On TV we see the Saved by the Bell Graduation and The premier of Beavis and Butthead.

1994-  So, Street Fighter wasn't exactly what we were expecting.  But generations were gapped in the first next generation move Generations.  Generations.  Generetions.  No books really tickled my fancy this year, but maybe I am missing a good one let me know.  On TV, Babylon 5.  I didn't catch it until many years later, but wow, just wow.
 

1995-  AOA, that is right Age of Apocalypse.  Most crossovers suck, but Marvel showed us how to do it right as Bishop, a man displaced in time, explores a world where Charles Xavier is killed before he can form the X-Men.  Not to overshadow this at all, but Neal Stephenson had been working on his own masterpiece, Diamond Age.  Oh yeah and you might have heard of a little movie from Japan called Ghost in the Shell. 

1996- You may have missed my favorite movies this year because you were watching Vampirella and Leprachaun 4, but I liked Black Mask and Mars Attacks much better.  It isn't a book published in 1996 but I read The Hobbit, LOTR, and Watership Down for second times this year.  X-Files and Sliders were happening over on Fox. 

1997-Welcome to the world Buffy, I enjoy your show and your scooby gang.  Before it was a hit HBO show, George R. R. Martin was publishing a book with the title Game of Thrones.  In the movies, take your choice of Event Horizon, Fifth Element, and Gattaca, not to mention Starship Troopers. 

1998-Two sleeper hits from this year were Dark City and Soldier.  In books we get new Vinge and new Martin, unfortunately Martin did not keep this pace for future books.  Pokemon invaded America. 

1999- Yeah Galaxy Quest and Matrix, but I want to talk about Iron Giant, Existenz, and the 13th Floor.  What, you haven't seen any of these movies.  Do yourself a favor and have a way awesome party like it is 1999 movie party.  Check out Cryptomonomicon by Neal Stephenson while you are partying.  DS9 goes off the air but I wasn't watching because Farscape was rocking my world. 

This list makes me feel old.  Did I miss your faves or do you agree with mine?  Let me know in the comments. Be sure to sign up for my Scare Me! Blogfest happening on Halloween.  

Hisako/Armor - NCCW

Y: The Last Man- NCCW

Why not the last man, huh.  I have read the first two volumes of this graphic novel and it has my head spinning.  The implications of the story are huge.  I don’t think giving away the premise is a spoiler considering the title of the work.  Yorick is the only survivor of a plague that killed everything with a Y chromosome, seemingly instantaneously.  This of course caused all kinds of traffic and air accidents.  The world is flipped on its head. Yorick is the last man, but that doesn’t mean that he is safe. 

For a book about a world full of women, it does come across as a tad on the misogynistic side.  Women are unable to support the infrastructure.  There are a group of violent feminatzis that aren’t happy with even one man being alive.  The women all come across as incompetent, well except for that group in Ohio.  There are a couple of strong female characters, but even they seem to bend to Yorick’s will and leadership.  Is this the writer projecting, or is it a valid assessment of what would happen to society.  It seems like the series as a whole will be discussing this. 

They haven’t really talked about meat yet.  Pretty soon, it is going to be a world of vegan women. 

This one isn’t for the kiddies due to language and thematic, but my oldest picked it up and read it and liked it.  That is the problem with teaching kids to read.  They can read all the stuff you don’t want them to. 

Optic Nerve 12- NCCW

This graphic novel is made up of two very different stories.  The first is about a man that has created a topiary/staccato line of art work that he calls hortisculpture.  The story follows him as he pursues what he feels is art, but the rest of the world finds ugly.  It is also a tale of being a husband and father.    The second story was my favorite of the two.  It is called Amber Sweet and it is about a college student that finds she is being mistaken for the star of an adult website.  It looks at how this affects her schooling, career, and relationships.  It also has the catharsis of her meeting the actual Amber Sweet. 

A lot of readers don’t give the independents a shot.  So, I am saying go out and pick this one up.  It is good.  While the artwork is in a unique style it isn’t bad, but the characters feel like real people.  Let me know what you think. 

Vampirella-NCCW

It is the last New Comic Content Wednesday before Halloween.  Today's installment will be one of my favorite  horror inspired comic character; Vampirella.  As a teen there was a certain aspect of the character that drew me in.  The comic was first published by Warren Comics in 1969 and almost continually since.  I found the character in the Harris years.  It is currently published by Dynamite.  In the 90's there was a direct to video movie starring Talisa Soto.  Enjoy the pics.  

EC Comics- NCCW

Warning, this post has not been approved by the Comics Code Authority!  EC Comics made its money on horror comics and the comics code killed the company.  Below a some great covers from a few of their titles.

Dark Tower Comic- NCCW

Happy Birthday, Stephen King!  You are 64 years old today.  As it is Wednesday I will bring him into the new comic content fold with his Dark Tower Series.  I have not read the comics but I have read the first three books.  The art from the comic is gorgeous.  Below you will see some of these images.

Miss Martian-NCCW

After reading that issue of Teen Titans, Miss Martian has been on my mind a lot.  What is it with green girls that attract a guy.  Miss Martian has the added advantage of having red hair.  Sure Miss Martian is actually a white martian parading around in green face, but hopefully that gets retconned.

Sluggy Freelance- NCCW

The year was 1998.  I was in the Army on a Gateway computer chatting with someone on ICQ.  This person was from outside of Canberra Australia and they said (typed) the words that would come to have great impact on me.  The asked, "have you been to sluggy.com?"  At that point I had not.  I went and started at the first comic and waded through six months worth of comics that night.  I have been hooked ever since.  Pete Abrams is the creator and he has taken these offbeat characters a long way.  His art has improved and the stories have gotten deeper and more intertwined as the years have gone by.  It started out as pretty much a joke a day type comic, but at some point it looks as though Pete gave up hope or desire of newspaper sindication and just started telling his stories.  13-14 years of comics may sound overwelming but Pete has put together a new viewer's guide to help you out.  below is the first comic and the comic for the date of this posting.  I encourage you to check out site and start reading through some back log, you should know pretty quick if you are a sluggite or not. 

All American Heroes- NCCW

Since Monday was Independence Day in the United States. I thought I would show some all American comic characters. See if you can Identify them all.