TheRaySays

Fuck Nickelback. Fucking whiner. They're like emo without the Japanese-inspired fashion trappings. It's "working class emo" and that's the worst. No one gives a shit about your poor relationship with your daddy or the poverty that's now long behind you, you limp dick Mellencamp wannabe. There. Glad that's out of my system.

All Star Batman And Robin at least looks pretty, but yeah, not FM's best work. On the flip side, I like Tim Sale's art when it jibes with the text. I remember being specifically pissed about a scene in Long Halloween where a character describes a manner of death that seemed inconsistent with the art (2 in the back of the head vs. slit wrists in a bathtub seems to come to mind, it's been a looooong while since I read it). I wrongly perceived it as a clue and the end solution to the mystery ended up being WTF? It's been so long (since it first came out, actually) that I don't recall specifically WHY I hated it, but HOW vehemently.

I'll be the SECOND Teej has heard of. I have no use for Jeph Loeb Batman. I DID enjoy Superman for All Seasons and Catwoman: When in Rome made clever use of Tim Sale's sparse Euro art deco style at least, but I'm generally not a big Loeb fan. Frank Miller, on the other hand, is a golden god (who clearly should've ALSO rested on the 8th day when he created The Dark Knight Strikes Again, but that's the exception that proves the rule).

Seconded. Hell, I think I'll throw the Season One DVD in right now... I especially loved the Defenders tribute where Solomon Grundy = Hulk, Hawkgirl = Valkyrie, Dr. Fate = Dr. Strange, and Aquaman = Namor. Rob Zombie even voiced the Cthulhu knock-off. It was like a souffle of homage. (Y)

Next Avengers Trailer Okay. I hate everything about this, from the concept to the art style. Who is this for? I can't see kids getting into it and it's too kiddie for us old-timers. If they're trying to copy the style of Teen Titans Go!, aren't they a little late? Hasn't that already run its course?

If that's the case, and you already like Cap, I recommend you go all the way back to #1 of the current series and just catch up from there. It's been an awesome epic.

I think Harley Quinn works, especially if they have any cut dialogue of Heath Ledger as Joker. I mean, we don't actually have to SEE The Joker for his influence to be felt in the film. It'd be limiting, sure, but good acting can cover it. For example, Harley reads a poem The Joker composed during therapy. It's creepy and psychotic and a little uncomfortably funny. The other psychiatrists are aghast. Harley proclaims it beautiful. It remains true to the character as presented by Nolan and Ledger without needing Ledger to be physically present. Good writing, acting, and directing can make it work. Unfortunately, Harley just doesn't have the chops to be a marquee villainess. I see the third movie having a sort of rogues gallery effect with NO one major villain. Mayyyybe The Riddler as chief antagonist trying to solve the riddle of "Who is Batman", perhaps for the authorities since Batman's an outlaw now. I also think the gadgetry on display for The Dark Knight opens the door for a toned down Mr. Freeze. If he's a guy in a containment suit that can't survive at room temperature and has gadgets on par with Batman, it's a fair fight without being all cheezy with polar bears and penguins and shit like that. No one really calls "bullshit" on the tractor trailer full of liquid nitrogen in T2, do they? They could keep it on that level of action sci-fi.

I really can see Nolan using the roided up Bane as his next villain. The only problem is if Bane breaks Batman's back, what happens? Do we introduce an Azrael to step in for Act II? Will fans accept Bane as a threat if he DOESN'T break Batman's back? The name "Knightfall" even fits the trilogy they've set up. Maybe "Batman: Knightfall"... I think Josh Brolin would make a spectacular Deadshot. Not big enough to carry his own film, but as a hired gun, he'd be tremendous. I also have no problems with Phillip Seymour Hoffman making a cameo as the current take on Penguin. Batman will be working without the benefit of the Gotham PD in the next film, and it's likely he'll cultivate underworld informants and the like. The Penguin's been known to serve that role.

LOLz~! I really didn't think of it like that. I was trying to present a continuum, not three of a kind. I kind of didn't really present them in order. For the record, I consider Watchmen revolutionary. Changed the medium. Considered one of the great novels of the 20th century. The Dark Knight Returns changed the way the world looked at a character who'd grown tired and stale. DC's still riding that gravy train. Planet Hulk was a rollicking good time and found a fresh take on a simple character. I'd generally rank Brubaker's Captain America above Planet Hulk, but it suffers from 2 caveats: 1) It kinda panders to Cap fanboys. I don't think I would like it as much if I wasn't already a huge Cap fan and suffered thru so many shitty Cap stories. 2) It's not over. I think it unlikely that it'll finish on a sour note, but I still need to reserve my final judgement. Sure, the finish of Planet Hulk really just serves as a set-up for World War Hulk, but the story does have a discernible end and you can (and I did for the most part) stop reading there. I also echo the love for Detective. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone with even a passing interest in Batman. If you LIKE Batman, it's a must read. You should give up breakfast to buy Detective. Important note is that Dini has created such a style on Detective that he hasn't even written every arc, yet they all feel part of the same run. I really liked the "Siege" two-parter by Stuart Moore and "Triage" by Royal McGraw. In the world of story decompression, these are brilliant short stories with underlying subplots that continue through the run. In the hands of Brian Michael Bendis, we'd still be reading about The Riddler hiring a secretary... And Grant Morrison's Batman?... Not a fan, sadly.

Yeah, readers were much bigger loyalists back then. Lotsa Spidey fans didn't read Cap or X-Men and vice-versa and forget about Marvel fans reading DC. That was blasphemy! It was the first attempt at a mega crossover and was a huge success. Like all huge successes, it ended up sadly overrated and emulated ad infinitum. I think it still holds up on a nostalgia level and as a watershed moment, but would hardly put it amongst the ranks of Watchmen, Planet Hulk, or The Dark Knight Returns.

I hate this whole idea. Here's a thought... replace "dark" with "good". Warner Bros. needs to realize that the key to Batman's and Nolan's success isn't its "darkness," but it's dedication to quality. Superman should be awe-inspiring. I thought Hancock did a better job of making his feats superhuman than Superman Returns, and Hancock's a pretty half-assed movie overall. Trade Will Smith for Brandon "the Bulge" Routh, and you've got a "trainwreck." Superman Returns was much more concerned with giving Superman a son. Can't believe anyone thought that'd be a crowd-pleaser. I think a Superman movie could be done since it's a gimmick that's so well known. It's a modern myth. All you have to do is embrace the myth and tell it full force. There's no need to reinvent the goddamn wheel. You don't even need to convince the audience it's plausible. It's a man who flies and is super strong and invulnerable. "He's Superman" is all the justification a writer needs. I just wonder how many bad Superman films it'll take before the franchise is effectively dead to modern audiences. This might be their last chance...

I agree. That looks a lot of fun and somewhat similar to the beginning of the Joe Kelly/Ed McGuinness run, both in tone and art style. I want those panels where we see the world from Wade's off-kilter worldview. I DON'T want Wade stuffing firecrackers into Punisher's pants or any other Bugs Bunny-esque over-the-top nonsense. He's a hired gun, after all. A crazy hired gun, but he should still be somewhat good at what he does. He's not Madcap or The Joker. That's the problem I had with the way Way used him in Wolverine: Origins. Way Way... ?

I think part of the problem is the change in the way comics are read and packaged. When Watchmen came out, it was in monthly installments, and is structured to be read as such. Nowadays, most people burn through that shit in a weekend, even skipping over the "slow stuff" to see what happens next. Sadly, I think that takes away some of the power of the work, not that you have to ration it out over the course of a year, but even taking your time on a second read through, you'll find the pacing works better. The Tales of the Black Freighter were an interlude, but now it feels like "Get the fuck outta the way, I want more Rorschach!" Just an observation.

It's kind of scary how similar TGC and and MPH and my Avengers tastes are. Oh, and so this isn't so postwhorish, the 4th Simonson/Art Adams FF member was the grey Hulk. At least they knew how over-the-top they were being and had the masthead changed to "The World's Most Commercialist Comic Magazine". There are few runs from my youth that I absolutely COULD NOT miss and would ride my bicycle to the next county to get: Avengers from # 241 to about # 280. I just couldn't take Dr. Druid as leader. Captain America from Nomad in # 282 to the end of Cap-Wolf in # 407. Man I hated Cable back then. He was shoe-horned into everything. Fuck, that run covers 1983 til 1992, from riding my bicycle at 11 to driving home from college at 19. Ouch. Fantastic Four under Byrne from "Trial of Galactus" # 256 on through to Simonson, finally giving up during the She-Thing era # 317. Ugh. Oh, and what was worse? The WCW/ECW InVasion or Marvel's sodomization of the Ultraverse?

I'll miss him. He was always the only actor I could see reprising Jackie Gleason's Sheriff Buford T. Justice should they ever remake Smokey & The Bandit. He just did the "angry and exasperated" schtick so well.

Planet Hulk is worth all 4 volumes of Age of Apocalypse (and Age of Apocalypse ain't bad). It is the only story that got me to full on mark out for the Hulk. So what does Marvel do? They let Greg Pak have Jercules and relaunch Hulk with some shit-ball Red Hulk and Jeph Loeb writing some of the worst fanboy drek ever. And what happens? The Incredible Hercules ends up being a thoroughly enjoyable book. I don't think Pak gets enough credit and got slagged too harshly for the World War Hulk anticlimax. That felt like booking that was pushed upon him rather than a plotline he proposed.[/rant]

I used to have a VHS tape with Ronin and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels on it. Nearly wore it out. I always thought it was a great double bill with a mix of action, suspense, and comedy in all the right proportions.

"Get away from her you BITCH!" - Ripley I think Aliens has the greatest false finish in the history of filmmaking. Return of the King... not so much.

You're looking at Volume 1 and Volume 2. I found it to be surprisingly enjoyable, but it's a bit nerdcore and perhaps unapproachable for someone new to Batman comics. I'd say give them a shot and see what you think.

Hugh Laurie. FTW. Especially if you do the origin story in which Strange is a vain, self-absorbed prick as befitting a reknowned surgeon.

Yeah, I'm also not too keen on the fact that Swierczynski says in the interview that he's just discovered pulps while that pretty much drives practically all of Bru's recent work (based on an interview for the Ed Brubaker Captain America Omnibus). He's either going to employ the cliche hammer or abandon the pulp feel and go for more of a Kurosawa samurai vibe (like his "Lone Wolf and Cable"). I did chuckle that the CBR article cites his work on "Calbe". Brubaker and Fraction did a hell of a juggling act in Immortal. It's a white kung fu billionaire with alien origins. Only in comics do you come across crap like that and only really clever writing keeps it from being retarded. I'll give Swierczynski a chance, but only in hindsight. I'm not enough of a gambler to throw good money at his individual issues.

Have you saw the DVD collections that GIT corporation is putting out of the Marvel Collections? So far they've released all the issues of the following comics from their beginnings until December 2006 (Sometimes a little later...): Captain America Avengers Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer Iron Man The Hulk Ghost Rider Uncanny X-Men Ultimate X-Men The entire Civil War storyline...

1. Watchmen Trade Paperback 2. Preacher Vol. 1-9 Trade Paperbacks 3. Absolute Sandman Vol. 1-4 Hardcovers 4. Walking Dead Vol. 1 Deluxe Hardcover 5. Annihilation Vol. 1-3 Hardcovers Honorable Mentions: Various Sin City Trade Paperbacks (while highly influential, a bit uneven at times and very quick, almost too quick, reading) 100 Bullets Vol. 1-13 Trade Paperbacks (incomplete at this time, but likely to crack the top 5 once it finishes) Planet Hulk Hardcover