Shop class 1/30/08

Here are 5 comics out in shops today that are top on my stack.


Captain America #34
The debut of the brand new Cap. With Steve Rogers still dead (for now until someone makes a deal with the devil) there is a new man slinging the shield. Find out who in this issue! Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting continue their phenomenal run!





Y - The Last Man
Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra bring their Vertigo epic to a conclusion and after the shocking turn of events in the last issue I can't wait to see how this ends. Learn the final fates of Yorick, 355, Dr. Mann, Hero, Beth, Alter and all the rest as the last man makes what could be his last stand. If you have not had the absolute please of reading this series, go to the book store. The first nine volumes are ready for you to greedily consume!






Green Lantern #27
If Geoff Johns isn't writing the best Green Lantern stories in the history of DC Comics, I would love to know who wrote better.
Still feeling the effects from the Sinestro Corps War, the guardians unveil the next change in the re-written book of Oa - The Alpha Lanterns. Who are they? What are they? Does it matter? This book is consistently worth your $2.99 monthly.




Black Adam #6(of 6)

One of the most surprising mini-series of 2007 comes to a roaring conclusion by Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. Will Adam succeed in his plans to resurrect Isis or will the world governments finally get the chance to put the magic bullet in Adam's brain? I'm jacked for this!








Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #25

This will either be a big hit or a huge disaster.
Normally, KOTOR is one of my favorite comics to read and it's really written exceptionally. This issue, however, represents the first time Dark Horse will attempt to have an event crossover into all four of their Star Wars comics. What's the big deal about that you ask? Marvel and DC do it everyday you say? Well, consider that the 4 SW comics all take place during a different time period in the galaxy far far away and you have someting all together new and different. I have confidence in this idea, I only hope the execution meets up.

Now, go buy some comics. :)

W

Darth Bane - Rule of Two

Oh those sneaky Sith bastards!

I'm not sure I can properly express just how cool this two book (so far) series has been.

The examination of the Sith Order continues in Drew Karpyshym's follow up to 2006 hit 'Path of Destruction' with the the further adventures of Darth Bane and his new apprentice Darth Zannah as they delve deeper into the lost arts of the Sith and lay the ground work for their eventual rise to power. Oh and they even find time to whip some Jedi ass in the process.

What I find utterly fascinating in this book is watching Darth Bane plant the seeds of the fall of the Republic and the Jedi a thousand years before it happens. Think about that. He knows it won't happen it his lifetime, he doesn't care. It's not for his glory which he puts these wheels in motion but the glory of the Sith. These are the very seeds that sprout at the hands of Darth Sidious in the prequel era films that are so reviled by the majority of fans. Stealth, cunning, deception and above all, patience - these are the ways of the Sith.

Another interesting note from this book - I really hate the Jedi in it. I'm not sure if this is the intention of the author or not. The Jedi from this era just bother me, many of them smack of vanity and think little of what happens around them do to their direct influence. When the confrontation between the Jedi and Bane & Zannah, I am actively rooting for the bad guys to win. I spent the last 30-40 pages just hoping Bane would slice and dice the sanctimonious little pricks to pieces. Oh and so you know, when I play 'Knight of the Old Republic' I play as a good Jedi not an evil one.
Again, I'm not sure if this was the reaction the author had in mind or if I've allowed myself to get attached to the Sith. After all attachment does lead to the dark side.

So you can count me as someone who hopes that Mr. Karpyshym get the chance to further the chronicles of Darth Bane. Sure, the rule of two is in place but I can still like the guy can't I?

NHL All-Star weekend. Yup, they have uniforms and everything!

For those who may have forgotten, it was NHL All-Star weekend
and it was pretty darn entertaining.

My Washington Caps represented themselves well the whole weekend. On Saturday Nicklas Backstrom scored two goals and notched an assist during the young stars game and Alex Ovechkin won the all-new break-away challenge, a slam dunk style event for hockey players where they are judged on style by four judges. I was happy Ovie won, as he obviously was pretty creative in his attempts but I could help but think that scoring the goal should be part of the event too. I guess that's just bonus baby!

As for the actual game - Ovie bagged two goals to help the Eastern Conference win a very good game that came down to the wire. Boston's Marc Savard scored the game winner with 20.9 seconds left on the clock.

Ovechkin, in only his second all-star game, already has more goals scored at the event than any player who came before him. And with Backstrom's strong performance on Saturday it's only more proof that maybe the future is looking pretty bright for the Caps!

Cloverfield - There's a monster? I was busy trying to see straight.

J.J. Abrams is the man behind the hit secret agent series "Alias", the mystery island super hit "Lost" oh and "Felicity".

He is also the man who directed "Mission: Impossible III" and the man who has been trusted by Paramount to revive the near dead Star Trek franchise with a reimagining of the beloved (not by me) original crew.

And he's something of a marketing genius. If he's not the man who invented viral marketing he's something the man who took it to the next level. Here on the 'net' Lost alone has enough web sites with hoops to jump through designed to enrich your experience with the show. Or to just plain drive you insane.

He's done much the same with his latest effort as a producer. Except at first he went the opposite. The trailer debuted sometime in the summer if I remember correctly and it gained an immediate buzz. And fueling this buzz? The fact that there was zero information to be had about this movie. So the buzz continued to build as information was slowly trickled out to the eager online community. Until finally, the movie was released and we all got to see the spectacle of New York under siege by a creature from the ocean depths (maybe).

Directed by Matt Reeves and written by Drew Goddard this movie is a success on almost every level. So what level is it not a success on? Well, it's almost unwatchable. But not in the way you might be thinking that I mean.

The first person/ man on the street perspective of a monster attack on NYC is actually a brilliant idea. It's something that has rarely been done before and it sure as heck hasn't been done in nearly as fun a manner as this.
The problem, in my estimation, is the hand-held camcorder/man on the run camera work employed by one of the characters as he documents these events as he and his friends attempt to flee the city, but not until one of them finds the girl he's in love with so he can tell her how he feels (a whole 'nother ball of wax right there).
I spent more time during the movie fighting off a headache then being able to really sink my teeth into the idea of some kind of aqua-beast ravaging the big apple. And that's really a shame because this movie does so many things correctly in it's story that to be distracted by shoddy framing and piss-poor camera work get my blood in a boil.

I think there is a lot to enjoy about this film, but if you get motion sickness in the least I'd advise you to stay away until the dvd release.
I can only hope that if a sequel is in the works, which I'm not opposed to at all, and they decide to keep the documentary style perspective, again not opposed to in theory, perhaps they could find Morgan Spurlocke do set-up the steady cam and save me five bucks on the aspirin I'll need afterward.

And so you know, the monter's is very cool looking and the subway scene is fun if somewhat predictable.

Rambo IV - I am Master Chief!

I'm just going to say it - This movie kicks ten kinds of ass all the way into next week.
When you read a review of this movie by critics, you need to remember one thing, what they are viewing as a negative in this movie is a positive.

Sure, the story is a little on the light side. The character development is thin and we as an audience are not too surprised by the end result. But who the hell cares? It's the getting there thats all the fun.

My summery of the film is as follows - Julie Bentz, looking good btw, appeals to Sly's hidden away sense of decency to use his boat to take a group of missionaries up river into war torn Burma. After dropping them off bad, bad things happen and John Rambo goes to kill a whole lot of evil doers. And he does it in style.

Sure there is more to it than that but you need to see this film if you love action movies. I haven't seen a body count this high in a movie in well... possibly ever. The film hearkens back to a time when action movies dominated the box office, a time when Stallone was king. Times have changed, the movie industry has changed, Sly has changed. Nothing wrong with that really, but what makes the film work is this - Stallone has based the story on something that is real - Burma is a fucked up place and the atrocities that occur their are truly horrifying. By opening the film with news footage from the area you feel angry at what you see. Stallone takes that rage on focuses it through Rambo.

Sure, it's not a realistic way to end the reign of terror in that country, but wouldn't if be nice if it were?

I would be remiss if were not to also mention that the movie closes on a positive note and helps to provide some closure to a character who once dominated pop culture in the late 80's.

While this does seemingly bring the Rambo saga to conclusion, if Stallone does decide to go back to the well for another one, I can only hope it's as much fun as this one is.

Walking Dead Vol. 7 - The Calm Before

I'm not sure I've ever read a trade paperback collection more appropriately named than this volume of Walking Dead.

After the perverse and intense tone of the past two volumes this one is downright slow. But don't take that as a bad thing. Lots of important character and story development takes place. Robert Kirkman and Co. continue to explore humanity's more base emotions and what it takes to survive in a world that no longer works they way your used to.

Oh and there are plenty of zombies still running amok.

Some plot lines are brought to a head; Lori's pregnancy, Carol's feelings of isolation and betrayal, Dale's jealousy over Andrea and Tyreese's new friendship and hey, there is even a wedding. Not to mention a project the new doctor has in mind.

The series still manages to surprise better than most recent horror flicks and this one actually has some real depth to it. Robert Kirkman's study of society continues to turn in frighteningly realistic ways. The sense of foreboding in this volume is excellent, just as the group starts to feel comfortable the shit hits the fan on the last page to lead us right into the next volume, due to be released in April. I really don't want to wait that long.

In a world overrun with zombies the line between who are really the monsters continues to be blurred.

The best is back!

Charlie Joiner has been named the new WR's coach for the San Diego Chargers! How fucking sweet is that?

Read all about it here or here.

If you do not know who Charlie Joiner is than you are not a football fan and until you know the history of the game get the hell out of my face.

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

I bought this back in '06 when it first came out, as I do with all Star Wars books, and promptly threw it on my bookshelf with a mental note of 'later'. At the time I was in the midst of a severe Star Wars burnout and I needed a nice long break.

Flash forward to January of '07 and my love of S.W. is back in high gear, in no small part to this book.

I admit I was hesitant to read it at first. Sure Drew Karpyshym was lead writer of the excellent x-box game 'Knights of the Old Republic' but that doesn't mean he can write a book. Especially a book about a character who exists 1,000 years before any of the characters from the films are alive.

Further stacking the deck against him is in the authors thanks page before the novel begins. Karpyshym states that he 'drew heavily' from the "Jedi vs. Sith" comic series published by Dark Horse in 2001. This sent warning alarms off in my mind.

The Jedi vs. Sith comic was a complete mess that, at the time, made just about zero sense as the Jedi and Sith were both portrayed in ways that could only make you scratch your head and wonder just how all this made any sense based on what we have learned of both groups from the movies and the expanded universe novels and comics.

I dismissed the series as being gibberish and tried to erase it from my mind.

And then Karpyshym has to bring it back and throw it in my face.

Except for one thing - it was good. It was fucking GOOD.

This is basically the story of the man who will become Darth Bane, the visionary Sith lord who ushers in the new era of the Sith with his main philosophy - the Rule of Two, one to embody power; the other to crave it. Not only do we get an excellent origin story for a villain with a cool factor approaching Darth Vader but we learn how the Sith are shaped into what we see in the films. All this while incorporating, elaborating and just making sense of an abysmal comic book story. Thankfully Karpyshym doesn't feel the need to tell that part of the story from the perspective of the two bratty children who dominate the comic story.

This is the story of the Sith. But it's only the beginning - the Drew Karpyshym penned sequel - The Rule of Two, hit bookstores on December 26 '07. I'm reading that right now and will share my thoughts on it soon.

In the mean time, if you love Dark Lords, you'll love this book.

Because it's so rare, yet so sweet!

Kolzig was pretty bad in this game but stopped them when it counted most. Beating Pittsburgh is oh-so sweet!

Ovie and the boys continue to climb in the standings!

The Shield - Season 4

Obviously, I'm a little behind on things. The Shield is about to enter it's 7th (and final season) this spring on FX and here I am just getting around to finishing the 4th. I actually started watching this season over the summer and managed to get distracted with life halfway into it. Which is not the fault of the show show because in my estimation season 4 was simply incredible.

The addition of the very talented Glenn Close to the cast brought a whole new dynamic to this season of the show and provided a welcome (to me at least) change to the shows internal conflicts.
Sure it's fun to see Mackie and Aceveda butt heads with one another but at some point you need to change things up. As much as I loved the third season of the show, I just felt it was time to mix it up and with Aceveda moving up to City Council it gave him a whole new way to create confict with Mackie and the new Captain.

This season picks up a few months after the end of Season 3 with the strike team broken up over how things played out with the money train. Lem is off doing his thing, Shane has a new partner and tries to play things his way, Ronnie and Mackie are at the barn but have been unofficially blacklisted.
Enter newly appointed Captain Monica Rawling (Close) who has some bold new plans to shake up the criminals in Farmington. And while clashing at first, eventually Mackie and Rawling develop a trust and respect from each other and they are going to need it because the new king of the 19ers, Antwon Mitchell (Anthony Anderson in an excellent performance) is causing all sorts of trouble and he's just put Shane behind the 8 ball.

As the 13 episode season plays out you can really see how character driven this year was for the show. And just when you think things might work out for Mackie and the boys, something hits the fan which will have them under the magnifying glass for season 5.

Excellent acting across the board from Chiklis, Close, Martinez, Anderson and all the rest.

An excellent year for the show which has me all kinds of excited to start season 5 tonight. Several friends of mine say it's even better than 4. I'll let you know.

W

Sad News - The passing of Heath Ledger

This really isn't the way I wanted to start off my brand new blog but I do want to share my thoughts on the subject.

The death of Heath Ledger is sad news on many different levels. Sure, he was an actor who brought hours of entertainment to our lives and his talent will be missed and many will wonder at what heights he might have been able to achieve since he was just entering the prime of his career at 27 years old. The really sad part is his daughter growing up without him in her life.

I won't spend anymore time on this point because I do realize that there are lots of children who have lost one or more parents and why should Heath Ledgers daughter be any more special then the rest? Well, she's not, but Heath was someone who, whether we liked his films or not, entered our lives to some small degree. At the very least our sympathy is in order.

Thus far, it looks as if his death was accidental which makes it almost tragic. The autopsy is due to be completed later today where will will know better what happened.

Looking over Heath's resume on IMDB it's interesting to note that I haven't seen a Heath Ledger movie since "A Knight's Tale" in 2001. He has starred in twelve movies (10 released, 1 in post production and 1 filming) since then and I have never seen one of them. Even the one that earned him and Academy award nomination - "Brokeback Mountain."

However, it's the 11th entry on that list, a movie not yet released, that has many people very excited, myself included - The Dark Knight.

Obviously a cloud will hang over this picture from now until the end of time. But in what may turn out to be his final performace on screen (Terry Gillium has not commented about the project he was filming) Heath Ledger looks prepared to blow us genre fans into the back of the the movie theaters.

Director Christopher Nolan risked the ire of fanboys everywhere with his casting of Heath Ledger, but after seeing the trailer for this film, only the most nitpickey of the nitpickey would have any doubts about Heath's performance as one of the most iconic villains of any media - The Joker.

While it may not amount to much in the grand scheme of life, at least Heath Ledger will go out in a movie that will be #1 at the box office in what could turn out to be a performance that would show the world just how great a talent we have lost.

With sympathies,
Wicked