Boulder

Me again, back for more recommendations having enjoyed both Winter Soldier and the first New Avengers book (Breakout). (Y)

1) Is it worthwhile continuing on with the New Avengers? Reviews on Amazon are mixed, but that's what you'd expect from Amazon. Since there are currently 11 or 12 books already, I figured it was probably best to ask now.

2) How about a Green Lantern recommendation? (my next random character of choice)

1) New Avengers is hit or miss, but for all intents and purposes, it was really Marvel's flagship book during the time it ran, so that's something to consider. The Secret Invasion tie-ins got tiresome, but that's way down the line. But hey, if you liked Breakout, pick up the next one and go on a case by case basis. I think "The Sentry" comes next, which is pretty decent.

2) Like Hewey said, start with Rebirth for Green Lantern and go from there. Like Brubaker on Captain America, most of what Johns has done for GL over the past 5 years has been one big, flowing story. Personally, I thought the peak was the Sinestro Corps War (which is around issues 21-25 of GL), but I'd stay start with Rebirth and go from there. It's a little tough to get into if you don't know any of the backstory (why Hal Jordan is the Spectre, for instance), but some research should clear it up and make it a satisfying read.

Definitely York. He was also in that Twilight Zone episode where he flips the coin and it lands on its side, so he can read people's minds.

Just so long as it involves Donovan Morgan, Christopher Daniels, and Ace Darling, I'll be happy.

Saw this last night and really loved it. Firstly, most of the criticisms I've heard regarding the movie are pretty invalid (one person complained that the girls are wandering in the woods for 15 minutes- that's not true at all. Another person said that it wasn't anatomically graphic enough- your mileage may vary, but I wasn't disappointed). Also, the movie had its funny moments, but it wasn't a comedy- the humor was generally supposed to be uncomfortable and it didn't demean the subject matter, being as how at it's core, it's a story of torture and imprisonment. The absolute best thing about the movie, though, was Dieter Laser. Honestly, his was one of the best performances I've ever seen in a horror movie, just so sick and vile and weird and disturbing. Totally different roles, but the only portrayal of similar quality that's even coming to mind is Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.

For Captain America, your best bet would be starting with the beginning of Ed Brubaker's run. There are two omnibus editions out collecting the bulk of it, and I'm sure it's also out in trade (start with the Winter Soldier book).

As far as Avengers, a good place to start is the beginning of New Avengers- I think that storyline was called "The Breakout", so that's probably the name of the trade.

I purchased the latest Vertigo Crime graphic novel, "Area 10" by Christos Gage and Chris Samnee. Ordinarily, I wouldn't spend $20 on a book after reading only a short preview, but the strength of the creative team and the quality of said preview pulled me in. I'm glad I picked it up because it was a compelling read with plenty of twists and turns that (to use a cliche) never took the easy way out as far as the plot progession went. Samnee's art always looks great, but it was really strong here- most of the book was done in a subdued, realistic style, but the scenes that bended reality, so to speak, were done really innovatively. It's definitely worth reading- if the price is off-putting, see if you can grab it from a library.

Bru is sticking with Captain America, and adding two new books: Secret Avengers and

Steve Rogers: Super Soldier

I love Bru's writing, but I am not sold on the last two concepts yet. Especially the character design work I have seen.

According to an interview up at Newsarama, Steve Rogers: Super Soldier is only a four-issue miniseries. Disappointing, as I'd read Brubaker-on-Rogers every month until the end of time.

Very psyched about the Secret Avengers line-up. One of my favorite writers is handling my two all-time favorite comic characters (Nova and Steve Rogers). Add on the fact that Beast and War Machine are also great, and I'm sold. It'll be interesting to see how such a motley team gets assembled, but I'll trust Brubaker to handle it well.

I would almost wager money that this is an advertisement for a sequel to Christos Gage's Spider-Man and the X-Men miniseries from last year. I remember hearing that they were doing another one, and Marvel does stuff like that a lot. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but that was the feeling I got when I saw the ad.

EDIT: And considering the ads that have come out in the past couple of days, I am apparently quite wrong.

Yeah, Second Coming was fun. I loved the balls-out, non-stop action of Messiah Complex and I'm expecting more of the same here. Given the weekly (or near weekly) release schedule, it should be a wild ride. Granted, I'm not that huge into Bastion, but I enjoyed the Cable series, so seeing its resolution should more than make up for it.

Yeah, he's been confirmed for the new New Avengers that starts in June.

Well, Bruce wasn't really ever meant to be dead. I don't remember Darkseid's exact words from Final Crisis #6, but he said something about putting Batman in a trap. If that wasn't enough, they showed he was lost in time two weeks later in Final Crisis #7. I don't really consider this a typical comic book death in that sense. As far as Bruce's role when he comes back, why jump to conclusions? Sure, someday he'll be Batman again, just like someday Steve Rogers will be Captain America again, but I don't see Grant Morrison immediately throwing away the interesting Dick/Damien dynamic he's established.

Yay on Bruce Wayne coming back, simply because it means more Morrison Batman stories. B & R #10 from a few weeks ago was sort of a prelude to the return of Bruce Wayne and dropped a bunch of clues about the upcoming mini. From the brief bits in the issue, it seems like a tightly plotted, dense story, which I really enjoy. I'm not a huge Batman fan, but when Morrison is writing Bruce Wayne I love the character.

I'm a little sad to see Dark Avengers go, as it's my favorite Bendis book, but Secret Avengers is likely to be better. Norman Osborn's been cool in DA, but it's nothing on Ellis's Thunderbolts characterization. In Ellis's second to last issue, Osborn goes on this rant for pages as he's changing into his Green Goblin costume that's one of the best monologues I've ever read in comics.

Top 10 in order. Pretty much the same as last night, except last time I forgot to put in Sleepy Hollow and had The Usual Suspects instead.

1. Batman Returns

2. American Beauty

3. The Dark Knight

4. Terminator 2

5. Sleepy Hollow

6. Boogie Nights

7. True Romance

8. Die Hard

9. Rambo

10. Halloween (1978)

Um, not to judge or anything, but did you mean Batman Begins?

Norman Osborn got the killshot in on the skrull queen at the end of Secret Invasion, so they decided that makes him a hero. He became director of HAMMER (the group that replaced SHIELD) and basically made it an organized crime outfit. Now he's starting to go nuts again and Loki's taken advantage of that, convincing him that Asgard doesn't belong in America. Osborn and HAMMER attack Asgard, but the Avengers are going to stop him. It's been kind of lame.

I enjoyed Benjamin Button quite a bit. I think my favorite aspect of the film is that the city of New Orleans is one of the main characters.

Jerry Springer isn't dumb at all- it's got a very tongue-in-cheek, consistent sense of humor that depends a great deal on audience interaction. It seems dumb, and much of the humor is crass, but if you watch an episode you'll see that the show doesn't take itself seriously at all, and therein lies the comedy.

I'm American, and I'm not embarrassed by Springer. If anyone out in the world thinks that the very-much-acting guests are indicative of all Americans, they're the ones who ought to be embarrassed. The guests aren't indicative of any more than 100, 150 million Americans, tops.

I've only seen a few episodes, but I really enjoyed them. Oddly enough, I never really like Seinfeld.

I have no idea how indicative the first two episodes are of the rest of the series, but I'd say stick with it.

I agree with the "Basterds" confusion. It was a good movie, don't get me wrong, but it was pretty far from Quentin Tarantino's best, and not in the same league as the other best picture nominees I saw.

I'll put my support behind Avatar for best picture, but I'll be happy so long as A Serious Man wins best original screenplay.

On Dark Avengers #13...

When I read the issue I wasn't nuts about it, but the more I thought about it, the more I didn't hate it. I'm not crazy about retconning Robert Reynolds into a drug addict who was just looking for a fix when he found the formula, but it has potential if the necessary character work is done (that is, Reynolds isn't a hero, but does the fact that he tried to be one count for something?). As far as the part where the Void says he's Galactus, I think people are taking that way too literally. I think the only connection is that both are avatars of death in the Marvel Universe, with power so great as to either be religiously derived or seemingly so. The link between the Void, Galactus, and the biblical angel of death is that all represent an inescapable hand of doom.

Wow, I had no idea there's going to be a Planet Hulk animated feature.

I saw the trailer a few months ago and it looked great. There was a debut event here in NYC (Matt Striker was actually the host), but I didn't go. Definitely looks worth a rental, though.

Yeah, I'm kind of stunned that Dark Horse didn't just release a "classified" solicit for Buffy's April issue. They even have an interview with editor Scott Allie up on CBR talking about the Twilight reveal in the fashion you'd expect to see after the issue hit.

I've been reading the Buffy comic in singles. It started off strong, but fell off around the late teens. Now they're on 30 or 31, and it's picked back up, but I find the lull killed a lot of the momentum for me.

Not sure if this is the place to put it, but I'm looking to read a good Punisher Story arc. Any reccomendations on what I should read?

Anything by Garth Ennis, most especially his Max run.