Some Assembly Required

Avengers Assemble!

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers was a huge hit this weekend (I saw it twice) and rightfully so. I’m still letting it all soak in, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it is the best superhero movie ever made. I thought it was extremely entertaining and just a lot of fun. Everyone and …

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"I must contact the Mothership"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michael Bay Reboots and the Renaissance

Right now is a great time to be a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No, I ‘m serious. Yes, I heard about that Michael Bay thing. Everyone is already losing their minds, even Michelangelo himself. “Sodomizing” is a bit much. I think that we all need to take a step back. The script for …

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Swampy updates

There is some exciting news surrounding the various ‘Things’ (Swamp and Man) from DC and Marvel respectively. First up, Swamp Thing’s new look has been officially revealed on Buzzfeed.  I have to say, I think it looks pretty cool. I’m going to make a joke anyway, though, so here goes: He looks like James Hetfield …

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Blacklist Studios hit their goal!

Great news, the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the publication of a Robot 13 trade paperback was successful! Here is the update from the site: We hit our $7500 goal and with 10 days to spare! Thanks to everyone who backed this project at any level, the Robot 13 Trade is going to become …

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Help fund the Robot 13: Colossus! Trade Paperback on Kickstarter

Back in 2009, I reviewed Robot 13 and heaped glowing praise upon it. If you haven’t read it yet, and you can’t find the 3 issues of the first arc Colossus!, fear not. You still have a chance to atone for your sins. Creators Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford, the duo that make up Blacklist …

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Avengers Assemble!Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michael Bay Reboots and the RenaissanceSwampy updatesBlacklist Studios hit their goal!Help fund the Robot 13: Colossus! Trade Paperback on Kickstarter

May 07

Avengers Assemble!

Categories:

Movies

by Beta Ray Bill

Some Assembly Required

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers was a huge hit this weekend (I saw it twice) and rightfully so. I’m still letting it all soak in, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it is the best superhero movie ever made. I thought it was extremely entertaining and just a lot of fun.

Everyone and their brother is reviewing the awesome Avengers movie right now, so I won’t post a full review here. I just want to highlight a few of my favorite moments from the film and point out some of the things it did really well.

If you haven’t seen the movie, be warned SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Mar 21

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michael Bay Reboots and the Renaissance

Categories:

comics, Movies

by Beta Ray Bill

"I must contact the Mothership"

Right now is a great time to be a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No, I ‘m serious. Yes, I heard about that Michael Bay thing. Everyone is already losing their minds, even Michelangelo himself. “Sodomizing” is a bit much. I think that we all need to take a step back. The script for the upcoming movie isn’t even finished yet. I’m going to try to give you some perspective on the situation.

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Mar 16

Swampy updates

Categories:

Miscellaneous

by Beta Ray Bill

There is some exciting news surrounding the various ‘Things’ (Swamp and Man) from DC and Marvel respectively.

First up, Swamp Thing’s new look has been officially revealed on Buzzfeed.  I have to say, I think it looks pretty cool. I’m going to make a joke anyway, though, so here goes: He looks like James Hetfield of Metallica wearing a deer skull.  Jokes aside, I am digging Swamp Thing so far. My only complaint is that we haven’t really seen Swamp Thing yet because the set-up is still going on. I have to admit though that as a horror book, writer Scott Snyder is certainly delivering on the creep factor.

The bigger news has to do with Swampy’s Marvel cousin Man-Thing.  Marvel will publish a long lost Steve Gerber script as a mini-series titles Infernal Man-Thing.

From Marvel.com:

INFERNAL MAN-THING, a three-issue limited series beginning in June, will present the final Steve Gerber Man-Thing tale, a previously-unknown story that until recently remained only a wishful thought in the hearts and minds of his devotees. To illustrate such a landmark series, Marvel has brought in the equally-acclaimed Kevin Nowlan.

 

Gerber wrote Man-Thing in the mid 70′s. This is pretty exciting news for Gerber fans and Man-Thing fans. I’ll be looking forward to this series.

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Mar 08

Blacklist Studios hit their goal!

Categories:

comics, Previews

by Beta Ray Bill

Great news, the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the publication of a Robot 13 trade paperback was successful! Here is the update from the site:

We hit our $7500 goal and with 10 days to spare! Thanks to everyone who backed this project at any level, the Robot 13 Trade is going to become a reality! Please continue to spread the word about this project, because we really want to get copies of Robot 13 into the hands of as many people as possible. We really believe that Robot 13 is a great Comic book experience, and we have seen countless people fall in love with the book after reading it. That’s why we are constantly encouraging the $13 option for people who are curious about the book, because we believe when they hit that last page they will be ready for more.

Blacklist Studios is getting ready to announce the release of the next story Arc which will be called “Robot 13: GORGON!” and funding above the $7500 goal will help us get the series out that much sooner, as well as make sure that people will be able to get copies of the Robot 13 trade in the future.

Thank you all again!

Thomas Hall & Daniel Bradford

The next arc, according to that announcement, will be titled Robot 13: GORGON!, and I can’t wait to read it.

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Feb 15

Help fund the Robot 13: Colossus! Trade Paperback on Kickstarter

Categories:

collecting, comics

by Beta Ray Bill

Robot 13

Want to see more robots fighting mythological beasts? Me too!

Back in 2009, I reviewed Robot 13 and heaped glowing praise upon it. If you haven’t read it yet, and you can’t find the 3 issues of the first arc Colossus!, fear not. You still have a chance to atone for your sins. Creators Thomas Hall and Daniel Bradford, the duo that make up Blacklist Studios, are trying to raise money via Kickstarter to get it reprinted in trade paperback form. If you donate to the project, you’ll get a copy of the book (which is great, by the way) and, depending on your level of donation, get a bunch of really cool swag too. I urge you to take a look, as most of these levels are a really great deal, and you will also get the satisfaction of helping some great indie comic producers stay independent.

Included in the swag is a limited run glow-in-the-dark logo t-shirt, a signed copy of the Director’s Cut #1, buttons, mini figurines, and so much more. If you have a large wad of moolah burning a hole in your pocket, you could even have your likeness drawn into the next arc!

So hurry up and send some cash their way. You don’t want to be behind when the second story arc is released later this year!

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Feb 07

Hammered!: Action Comics #5 is good

Categories:

comics, Reviews

by Beta Ray Bill

As I said I would, I sat down to read Action Comics #5, with the fate of the world my subscription hanging in the balance. “This issue,” I told myself, “will determine whether or not I shall continue to read this title!” I opened the book, far off a thunderclap was heard, and verily I didst read the book.

Rocket maaaaaan!

It wasn’t quite that epic, but I liked it. Action Comics shall stay firmly upon my pull list! Yes, it was a retelling of the origin story. And this time, Morrison did it in a few more than 8 words, but he pulled it off. It was fairly concise, it introduced a few minor changes that will surely lead to some epic plot points in the future, and it did not undermine the character as JMS did with his crappy Earth One retelling. It also made me care about Jon and Martha Kent, who are dead in the current DC Universe as you may or may not know.

What I like the most, which surprised even myself, is the way the story is going to go about weaving in a lot of the classic Silver Age stuff in a modern way. I was less than excited by the new Steel and Metallo in issue #4 (especially the super-crappy backup by Sholly Fisch that could have just as easily been included in the comic proper and not been horrendous) and I find myself being very excited about the next issue that is promising some excellent Silver-Agey goodness. Morrison finally got there, it just took him 5 issues, and I’m glad I stuck with it. Morrison is not just telling the origin of Superman, he is telling the origin of DC’s heroes. My favorite character of the book was Kal-el’s spaceship. Just read it.

Now, just fix the look of Steel so he doesn’t look like an unpainted hammer-wielding version of X-O Manowar and we’ll be right on track.

4.5 out of 5 Hammers!

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Jan 14

DC Comics new logo, new New 52

Categories:

comics, Miscellaneous

by Beta Ray Bill

The New DC logo

And, we’re back.

How has the New 52 been treating you?

I’m down to 3 titles, Swamp Thing, Action Comics, and Batman. Scott Snyder has been absolutely killing it on Batman, and Greg Capullo’s art on the book has been quite a pleasant surprise. The tale Snyder is weaving in Swamp Thing has been creepy and disturbing, living up to the ‘Dark’ designation DC gave it. I imagine long time Swamp Thing fans are pleased with it as well, it builds on the old while pushing itself in a new direction.

Action is ok, I’ll have more on that later. The biggest problem I’m having with it is the same problem I had with Marvel’s Ultimate comics: it just doesn’t feel like my character. I keep wanting stories about the ‘real’ Superman.

The big news in DC land now is the cancellation of 6 titles after issue 8 in April, and they will be replaced by 6 new titles (maybe DC should just change its name to 52 comics). There is only one of the new 6 I am even remotely interested in, Earth 2, which will feature the JSA now back on Earth 2. (Which Earth our rebooted heroes currently reside n is still a mystery, is it not? If you know better let me know in the comments.) One of the titles being cancelled is Hawk and Dove, and before you get too excited, keep in mind that when you cancel one Rob Liefeld book, 3 more rise to take its place. The horror!

I’m sure you noticed the new DC logo at the top of this post. What is up with that? To me, it looks like a toilet. Terrible.  Here is a look back at DC’s past logos:

Current DC logo

This is current DC logo, which is fine. I never had a problem with this one, it was a nice modernization of the previous one. It looks good at the beginning of movies when the star/swoosh thing is animated.

This is the classic logo, used by DC from the mid-seventies until they updated it with the one above in the mid 2000′s. This one is my favorite, it’s the one I grew up with. Very simple, very effective. Also, it doesn’t look like a public toilet with the seat up.

Here are some of the older logos I found. Not sure a bunch of those older ones are so Superman-centric. Obviously, Superman is a big deal. Did they put those on other comics too?  This clearly shows the classic four-star logo is the best.

Now I’m going to read Action Comics #5. I’ve decided that this issue will be the make or break issue for me. I’ll let you know what I decide.

 

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Aug 23

Conan The Barbarian: What were you expecting?

Categories:

Movies

by Beta Ray Bill

I saw Conan The Barbarian (in 2D, thank you very much) this past Saturday. This was a rare case in which I did not read any reviews or talk to anyone who had seen it beforehand. I had seen the trailer and red-band trailer and that’s it. I was a blank slate heading in ( a condition that is all too rare in this nightmare cyber-punk future of Twitter).

Conan the Barbarian

I thought the movie was great. It was basically exactly what I was expecting; it was two hours of Conan fighting and killing stuff with his sword. One over-the-top action sequence after the next, with barely a moment to recover your senses in between.  Blood, gore, decapitations, partial nudity, and mayhem at a break-neck pace. So I was very surprised when I saw that reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 24%. What were they expecting?

Some reviews slammed Jason Momoa’s performance. I thought he did just fine with what he was given. I think the major problem with about 80% of the bad reviews are simply this: Conan The Barbarian (2011) is NOT Conan The Barbarian (1982). Sorry guys, Arnold wasn’t in this one, the story is different, the action is better, and the character is more true to Robert E. Howard’s original character. Deal with it. If you wanted to see Arnold’s movie, you should have stayed home and watched the DVD.

The best review I’ve read is Chris Sims’ (slightly spoilery) review over at Comicsalliance.com.  I’m mostly in agreement with Sims on this, great characters in an OK plot. The plot’s biggest flaw is that it builds up to something that never happens, instead opting for another (admittedly awesome) sword battle.

Basically, I thought it was hugely entertaining, nailed the characters, and incorporated some epic action sequences that were mind-blowingly awesome/gruesome.

4 hammers out of 5!

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Aug 11

Tanarus: New God of Thunder

Categories:

comics, Previews

by Beta Ray Bill

Marvel announced a new character that may be replacing Thor as the God of Thunder.

Here is my one word review: No.

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Jul 19

Avengers trailer!

Categories:

Miscellaneous

by Beta Ray Bill

Here it is, watch it before it gets taken down. The quality is absolutely horrible, but it is the official Avengers teaser trailer that plays after Captain America.

Avengers teaser trailer

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