10 Awesome things (part 2)

Ok, continuing my by no means exhaustive and in-no-particular-order list of things of things I think are cool…

The West Wing

Quite simply the best television I’ve ever seen, and I watch alot of television. I got the West Wing box set for christmas, and am nearing the end of series 2. One of the quotes on the box says something like “this is the white house, if run with diginity, honour and courage”. Maybe its adding to my evident support for Barack Obama, but watching this show really does give me a better idea about what the real principles were that America was founded on, and a clearer view of that it has and has still to achieve.  From a television perspective its more awesome till – the ensemble cast is pretty much flawless, each actor or actress playing their part perfectly and leaving no doubt in your mind as to their casting. I once described the west wing to someone as a show about very smart people saying very smart things at very high speed, so here’s a small example to finish off http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FScv89J6rro

Sundays

I used to hate Sundays. They were these long, boring, drawn out days where nothing would happen. I’d pace my house or go a walk, but couldnt ever be satisfied that I’d done something. Sometimes I’d be feeling rough from the night before so not only was I bored, I felt ill or tired. This past while though, I’ve gained a new appreciation for Sunday. Sunday is the day before you go back to work, so its good that its long and drawn out. Sunday is a day where nothing happens, so you can do whatever you want. This afternoon I watched the Breakfast Club (surprisingly good film) with my little sister, and then watched the West Wing.  Now I’m writing a blog, and later tonight I imagine I’ll read or go to my friends’ house. Then I’ll sleep. Sundays are long, and nothing has to happen. Sundays are great.

The Fear, when applied correctly

The fear I’m talking about is the one just short of mortal and physical danger. Its your heart on the line, your dignity, your respect. Its the feeling you get before you talk in front of a large group of strangers (or a small group of friends. its the fear you get at job interviews. I always remember it as the feeling I got before asking out a girl I liked. Its horrible, really horrible, but damn if it doesnt feel good to beat it. Not one girl ever said yes, but it felt good anyway, knowing I’d sone something that I didnt have to, but totally had to. Its not the biggest fear in the world, and its not the hardest to overcome. Its the kind of fear you choose to feel when you choose to do something personally risky. This fear is good, and nothing to be frightened of.

Quinn

Quinn is a mate of mine. A good mate actually. Just as I could have easily filled this blog with ten amazing songs or peices of music, I could just as easily fill it with ten awesome people I know, but I’m just gonna go with Quinn for now. Quinn and I are pretty different in alot of ways.I’m tall with blonde hair and pretty quiet, Quinn is shorter with dark hair and is brilliant socially. We dont go out one on one very often, and seem to have pretty different outlooks. Quinn is one of the friendliest guys I know. He’s honest and does his best, and he’s a good friend. I hope I’m not too different from him.

Proud Geeks

Comics are cool. Anime and manga is cool. Cosplayer? Awesome. Trekkie? Go for it. Film fan? Foreign film fan? Lets talk. Book geek? Stamp collector? Trainspotter? Ornithologist? You all rule. Take whatever it is you love, and shout about it. Write about it. People will read it. Hell, you’re reading this, arent you?

10 Awesome Things (part one)

I read this articletoday on the Herald website.  They asked their colunists and photographers for one thing that they thought made life worth living, and came up with a list of 25 things that make life great. Here are a few of mine, with a bit of explanation. I’d love to read yours too, so feel free to comment with a few!

In no particular order…

Music

An easy, obvious one, I grant you. But there’s a reason its obvious and easy. I could probably do ten different paragraphs on ten awesome songs that that would be enough for this entry, but I’ll condense it as much as is possible.  I think i did a blog entry on music a long while ago, before I failed spectacularly at updating. I just spent the last half hour looking up old songs I loved when I was younger, and ones I didn’t care much for when I was younger but love now.  Alot of people will talk about songs as being like a trigger, but I think they’re more like a bullet. Once fired, a song will go through your mind till it finds just the right point, the right neuron to fire and synapse to stimulate. Some pass right through unspectacularly, taking only a few minutes your life and hearing with them. Others though, others get stuck. One might get stuck in your arm, you get tense and clench a fist out of excitement or anger, a crescendo or drumbeat making your blood flow. One might hit your leg and make you want to run or dance. Some get your right between the eyes and have you thinking for hours, throwaway lyrics multiply in your head like philosophical bacteria until you’ve gotten a new slant on life from a few seconds of a single track. More songs than enough will hit your heart.

To Kill a Mockingbird

I know, going from the blanket heading of  “music” to an individual book isnt very generous to music, but like I said, I did a blog post on it so it gets less screen time. This list will probably be odd in that regard. Anyway, this book floors me. Its like a manual on courage and conviction and decency. I’ll never forget reading the last page of part two. Atticus is explaining to his son why he sent him to wait on a mean old woman who had no kind words to say for him. The old woman was dying, and Atticus’ reason for sending his son to see her every day will stick in my memory till I die. Go read it.

Superman

Yeah, you knew it was coming, what of it? My liking for Superman is practically a joke about me. A cliche and around number 3 on the list of “obvious things to know about Stephen”, missing the number 1 spot of “his name is stephen” and number two of “he is tall”. Someone asked me once why I spent so much damn money on comics. She could see much better ways to spend that money. To her, what I had just spent was a new belt. To me though, it was a number of things. Escapism for one. Part three of six for another.  But more than anything, it was hope. Naive, childish, brilliant hope, and wonder, and the belief for a period of time that I was the equal of any challenge in the world. How this fictional character grew to have that effect on me, I couldnt tell you. Dont care to investigate it too much to be honest. I could go into details about the portrayal of the character in the current comics. The moral fortitude, the grace, the iron will. When it comes down to it though, the only thing that matters is this – He’s the good guy. The ultimate good guy. And he stops the badguys. So the John Williams theme tune makes me stand taller and I kinda want a cape.  I like my glasses. I might even think it’d be kinda cool to be a journalist. The coolest thing for me is that I just want to be one of the good guys.

Coffee

Another obvious one if you know me well enough. I do love my coffee. Although I start my day with it, I’ve never really found it perks me up. I can drink coffee and night and sleep like a baby. No, the best thing about coffee for me is that its an excuse. An excuse to meet friends, or sit back in a comfortable chair or read or watch TV. A delicious excuse I grant you, but it wouldnt taste as good without the extras. Venti latte, no stress, little bit of comic reading and half an hour to myself. Marvellous.

Writing

I dont mean the physical act of pencil to paper. That actually gives me cramp in my hand. No, I mean the process. The moments where the ideas go off like fireworks in a firework factory next to a timber yard. Whn what you were tying to think of just unfolds in your head like its always been there and you finally get the little lightbulb above your head like in cartoons. The moments that keep you smiling for the rest of the day, because you know you got that line justright. Even when I do have to note it down, pushing past the hand cramp, there’s something great in seeing it in front of you, ink on paper. The ideas in your head pulled out and tied down. This is closely followed by the gut wrenching terror of someone actually reading what you’ve written. Aft er that comes either relief or redraft and with the really good critics, you get both. I love writing and I dont do it enough. Hassle me about that ok?

Ok, thats five done! I’ll post again soon with another five, in a clever plot to make sure I update twice in quick succession. I have Matt to thank for that one (thanks Matt)

And again, please comment with some of your favourite things!

New York. Part one.

I was going to do this big blog on interconnectedness. How without even realising it, we’re always linking in the things we do to one another, things we’ve already said or written or done It was going to be huge, so huge in fact that I’m a bit scared of it, so lets leave it for now.

Instead, I’m going to talk about my trip to New York, (the reson why you’ve gone without a blog in so long…).

New York, is big. Its very big actually. New York is so big, that you cant see even half of it in, say, four and a bit days. And thats just Manhattan. We definatley tried though. Arriving at about 10:30pm, after our flight had been delayed by five hours, we were tired more than anything, but excited. We decided to hell with it, we were going site-seeing. Just a few blocks down and a few blocks across was the tallest building in New York, the Empire State Building. It was lit up perfectly, cinematically, and reminded us exactly why we’d just spent 14 hours travelling suspended 36000 feet in the air in a metal tube. There are two observation decks in the building – the 82nd floor, and the 102nd, and we didnt come all that way for second best. After about four elevators and one metal detector, we run into some english accents, and a security guard who tells us that the Empire State Building is a Glasgow Rangers building. Seems home follows us everywhere.

The view was…vast. I didnt just want eyes on the back of my head, I wanted them all around (at least to, say, my ears, the building itself stoped a 360 degree view) You could see everything if you looked for it. Statue of Liberty, Chrysler building, and the weird gap in the skyline where the tallest buildings used to be. We were up there for about an hour or an hour and a half, just looking. Us an about 70 other people of course, even at midnight the observation deck is crammed. Looking over one side, we saw directly on to a trendy bar where stood taking pictures of us, and being snapped in return.

102nd view

The way down was full of movie memorabilia – a clipboard from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a poster from King Kong, and row after row of plastic and glass model Statues of Liberty.

We werent 100% sure where we actually were. Two guys running on a mountain dew and a slice of pizza, “somewhere near the empire state building” at 12:30am. We just walked, and sooner or later hit 5th avenue. This bode well as our hotel was on 3rd avenue, it shouldnt be too far away, should it? Walking home gave us a few sights too. St Patrick’s cathedral, which looks amazingly creepy at night. Then my personal favourite, the statue of Atlas. I think i’d been watching the news too much, but I cant help but think of Atlas as the American people. Well meaning, almost all of them, doing their best, but for whatever reason they’re bent double trying to support the weight on their shoulders, one they didnt ask for specifically but wont let go of either. America and Americans are pretty villified over here, sometimes they do it to themselves. I cant help but think though that the average American is just like the average anyone else – trying to do their best, hoping they’re doing right. Not the people’s fault that their politicians arent as altruistic as they are. People get sick of America leading charges, but the next time a charge needs led, they’ll expect America to be up front. With great power comes great responsibility. (Amazing fantasy #15) and no one has more of both than the USA.

We eventually found our way “home”. The Pod Hotel. But I’ll blog on that next time. My first few hours there are quite enough for now.

With great power...(I love spiderman)

Yella’ bellied

As seems to be standard with my blog entries, I’ll start with an apology for not updating more regularly. The honest truth is that I’ve just been busy and havent had the chance! So without further ado…..

I’ll get this out of the way since i havent posted since I it was released – The Dark Knight. It was awesome. You know it was awesome, I know it was awesome, everyone knows. I cant say anything that hasnt been said already. Bravo. And please, encore.

I digress.

Head first. Thats the point I was getting to ironically. It seems to me nowadays thats its the only way to go. It may be my steady diet of superheroic fiction, reckless anime heroes, heroines and villains, but I cant shake the feeling that the only way to go forward isnt with my best foot, its with everything. At some point, I just got sick of sitting around and planning. “I’ll do it in two months and eight days, when event X happens”. of course, event X is postponed a little, and by the time it comes around its pretty much event Y now. Why bother? An old proverb says not to put off till tomorrow that which you can do today, and I finally got around to figuring out how right that is.

There’s something beautiful about seeing someone live every day without fear. Someone who can do and feel everything they want because they know that come what may, everything will work out for the best. it doesnt always of course, but at the time it sure feels like it will. You cross the bridge of negativity when you come to it, never before. I know people who have lived in other countries where they barely speak the language. People who have thrown themselves across the world and al the way back again. People who have made it on their own steam as far as they wanted to go,and are still looking farther. God help me I’m jealous. Gut twistingly, tear inducingly jealous.

I cant say whats in their heads. If they were scared, if they were calm. All I know is that scared or not, by the time push came to shove, they were without fear. Sure it may have hung around them, like a bad smell in the air, but it didnt stick. I hate how scared I get when I think of doing something big. The feeling I get when I do it though…there’s nothing quite like being your own personal hero for ten minutes. Even if that ten miniutes only comes along once every ten years or something.

I mention all this because I have a few ideas. Some that could stay ideas, and some that could mushroom into something bigger. Unfortunatley for me, I’m not fearless. But i think I can be brave.

tired thoughts

Ok, I’m a little tired and was up till stupid o’clock last night, so forgive me if this post rambles on a bit.

 

I don’t even know what I’m about to write about. I started putting on music on youtube that I’m probably too old for and would never let anyone know I listen to, and its gotten me thinking in that soap opera OC teen drama with a supercool soundtrack way.

 

It’s becoming a real struggle, by this, the third paragraph, not to make this into a nostalgia post. I did enough of those on livejournal and no one needs to hear it again. Instead, I think I’ll think about the music, and the drama.

 

There’s a reason that TV shows and films put so much effort into soundtracks. The right song at the right moment can have the most profound effects, raising emotion on subjects you thought long since resolved, or never even knew were there. It makes me wonder just what it is about music that can do that, underline a feeling or idea or emotion so incisively and powerfully. Although I suppose its not just music – a good book can do it, a favourite comic book even (All star superman issues 6 and 10), a work of art or a photograph. It strikes me that these things work really well in twos. I’ll champion comic books – American and Japanese and from anywhere in the world – till I die, an obvious marriage of words and pictures. The aforementioned TV use of music and moving pictures can work wonderfully and for some reason always surprises me. There are apparently a few comic book writers out there who see a strong link between comics and music, which is something I’ll need to read more about. Adding music to a comic, making it move, it feels like making it more like reality. Books go through it too, only with the added stage of storyboarding – a process I find suspiciously like a comic book. The book becomes a comic, which then becomes filmed. We read it, then we can see it, then we can see it in motion, the steps away from reality are becoming less and less. Of course, we watch our films and TV shows and know they aren’t real, and maybe that’s where the music comes in. We can suspend our disbelief over a bridge if we want, but we still know its not real. As much as we can connect with the emotions, they aren’t real emotions. Maybe the music helps. Its either a big neon sign saying “be sad here” and “smile at this” or it’s a two pronged attack, to make up for the lack of emotional kick that the medium just cant escape.

 

Last year in uni, my lecturer asked the class why we studied English. Why should a university put so much money into studying books? I always thought the obvious answer – its about communication. We try and get across our ideas and feelings and thoughts whatever way we can, whether we realise it or not. A raised eyebrow is as much communication as a written letter, sometimes moreso. Studying English was really just a study of communication, analysis of tone and structure and word choice, related to everything around it.

 

I’ve actually totally lost my train of thought and have no idea what I was going to say, so I’ll stop here save for some one word comics reviews…

 

 One Word Reviews – Comic Books

 

Ultimate Fantastic Four – Namor (Note: this one word should say it all)

 

Batman and the Outisders – Dropped

 

The Flash – Gorillas

 

Final Crisis – Rogue’s Revenge – Awesome.

Accelerate

As has been pointed out by my irritating if good intentioned friend, it has indeed been over a week since my last post proclaiming I’d try and update weekly. Sorry. It’ll probably happen again, but I hope its for good reasons, like this time.

I would have of course updated on Monday but I went directly from work to a small gig in Glasgow to see two excellent bands, The Andersens and the Starlets.Then I would have updated on Tuesday night, but I had a driving lesson for two hours, so that killed most of my evening. However, both gig and lesson were good for me and came equipped with the same message – Drive! Seems obvious enough, I know, especially with the driving lesson which gets that message home pretty powerfully, but bare with me.

Coming on second, the Starlets had alot to comepte with if they wanted to stand up to the Andersens, and they did very well, owing not least to the banter of frontman Biff Smith. He painted a picture familiar to me, of growing up in a small town and feeling utterly trapped there. All that changes, he says, when one of your friends learns how to drive, and all of a sudden you can go beyond the town borders as and when you please. The song he sang was called “we can drive”, and I daresay it made me want to join them.

The Andersens are from Japan, and were in a bar in Glasgow. Just made me realise how cool it’ll be when I’m from Scotland and sitting in a bar in Japan. The Andersens didn’t drive to get here, they flew.

One Word Reviews – Comic books

New Avengers 42 – Explainitory

Secret Invasion 4 – Promising

JSA 17 – Calm

Trinity 6 – Expositional

Ultimate origin 2 – Unnecessary

Final crisis: Requiem – Fitting

Action Comics 867 – Interesting

Booster Gold 1,000,000: Perfect

Return

Ok, so operation “good blog” didnt start off so well, but that doesnt mean it has to stop. I made this decision when I started this blog that it wouldnt have anything to do with my life, just a bunch of musings, reviews and general geek chat. Then the occasional thoughtful thing crept in, like my last post. Trying to keep my life out of my blog is entirely pointless. Even if I just write reviews, I’m still putting across my personality, my views and my outlook, even if its not to do with my life directly.

Everything to do with this blog so far has been entirely indicative of my personality. I started with the best of intentions, just wanted to talk about my favourite things, keep myself hidden away from it. Then I started to think a little more than I intended, and we got some posts on suicide. Then I let my life get in the way of this, and it fell by the wayside. I imagine if I hadnt been so against posting things about my life then this blog would have been peppered with posts.

So I am making a change. In alot of things, but lets just focus on the blog for a moment. I’ll still do reviews and the like, rant about my geekish peeves and the state of society, but the blog will probably not be as dedicated to the reviews as before unless in special cases. I’ll try and post every week on something, and maybe include a few paragraphs at the bottom of some reviews of comics or tv shows or manga or anime or whatever. The bulk of my blog, I hope, will be of substance. be it about my life or just life or just something, I’ll just do my best to make it interesting for you.

Here it goes then, blog take two. If it first you dont succeed…..

Comic Book Reviews – The Flash 238

                         

The Flash 238 – Tom Peyer (W) Freddie E Willaims III (A) Publisher – DC Comics  “Fast Money” Part one – Spin Zone

**********SPOILERS**********

Recap 

The West family are at home watching The Flash rescue people from an Earthquake in another city. Wally assures his son, Jai, that they’d never have an earthquake in Keystone City. The TV suddenly cuts off, prompting Wally to ask if they’d paid the bills that month. Yes, thats right. Even superheroes have money troubles. And now that Wally and Linda have kids (who should be 2 years old but are 8 and 10 due to superfast growing up stuff only found in superhero comics), money is more important than ever.

A new villain appears in Keystone City, calling himself  “Spin”, and its easy to see why. He seems to  be able to tap into the current social paranoia, and make it happen. Worried about that earthquake on TV?  Here’s one of your very own…

Before heading off to deal with the sudden earthquake in Keystone, Wally realises he cant take his super-powered kids on this one. He promised them they’d never have an earthquake, and he cant be seen to be wrong. Preoccupied with his money worries, Wally responds to quickly to a reporter’s question about why he’s so tense. Live on television, The Flash says he wishes he got paid to save lives.

The first Flash, Jay Garrick, speaks to Wally about his mistake in front of the press. The lightning bolt can never touch the dollar sign. Wally thinks Jay is over-reacting, but the press backlash is fierce, calling the Flash “the most awful human in the universe”

Searching for jobs online (I sympathise), Wally comes across a job advertisement directed at the Flash. He knows he shouldnt, but he has kids to feed, and takes the job offer. Just then, Spin attacks a football game, and the Flash races off to stop him.

 The battle with Spin begins, as the villain taps into a new public fear – The Flash wanting nothing but money – and compells Wally to rob the crowd. Now the Flash has all the money he’ll need, having filled his house with stolen money, ipods, credit cards….

The verdict

Better! As much as I love Mark Waid’s writing, his storyarc “The Wild Wests” didnt really do it for me, and I still dont agree with suiting up the super powered kids because they might die soon. Dont make it sooner! Anyway, Tom Peyer’s debut was a solid start, and a definate improvement over the previous story. Wally’s money worries are totally justified, and his line about how the Flash has never had kids to feed before makes you realise that very few – if any – mainstream superheroes have a full, functioning family to support. The temptation is always there for a superhero to use their powers for monetary gain and you hate to see it happen, but its easy to see how Wally could reply to the job directed at the Flash.

Better than the money worries though, was Wally’s concern for how his kids see him. Not wanting to bring Jai along to help out at the scene of the Earthquake was great. He didnt want to be fallible in front of his son. Its one thing having the public lose faith in you, but your family is quite another. Also, Wally’s own “father” figure, Jay Garrick, giving him a talking to about his media gaffe was great. Jay is not just the elder statesman of the Flash family, but of the DC Universe as a whole. He’s had to think about these things before, and just wants Wally – and the Flash legacy – to get the respect they deserve.

I like the new villain, Spin. Being able to tap into media panics and make them real is a pretty original power (how he has it, I dont know, but I’ll bet it has something to do with the alien lookin’ guy he has trapped in a secret room). Its just the kind of quirky idea Peyer is known for (see his Hourman series for more on that). What if he turned his power against, say, the public’s fear of Superman losing control? A potentially very powerful villain, I just hope he gets fleshed out more.

 William’s art is quite a change from the gritty art on Geoff John’s run, but it works well with the Wally’s kids in costume, like little super-deformed superheroes. Body language, facial expressions, all were perfect. The colours are solid and the action dynamic. One small gripe though is the lack of any indicator off speed when the flash is running towards the stadium. He just look slike a guy in a flash costume taking a jog….

All in all, a solid start for the Peyer/Williams team. I hope to see more original ideas, like Spin during the run, but with Peyer, I dont see that being a problem. I was considering dropping The Flash before this issue, but now I think it’ll be sticking around.

Quick Hits

Superman/Batman Annual 2 - Pitch perfect characterisations of these two icons at the beginning of their careers and friendship. Joe Kelly really knocked this one out of the park, showing exactly why Clark and Bruce, and their friendship, are the pillars of the DCU. Although I have to ask – why isnt Joe Kelly writing the main comic?

The Brave and the Bold – Issue 11: Superman and Ultraman are forced to work together by the Vowel Knight Mr Mixyespitilik. Yeah. Brave and the Bold continues to be “old school”, not least of all because of the art. Still, very entertaining, and the art is solid. And the last page is a doozy…

Batman and the Outsiders – Issue 5: An average issue from an average comic. Even the big reveal – which should have been HUGE, wasnt handled that well. The team was more badass with Nightwing instead of Batman. Weird.

Countdown to Final crisis: Week six. Still a mess. A better mess though, like the dishes being piled up for you before you wash them. No clue where its going apart from a Grant Morrison “crisis” event. That alone keeps me buying it.

 Justice Leage of America – Issue 19:  Not bad at all, mainly due to Benes’ art work. Also, how exactly can Wonder Woman know if a telepathic message came from the North? This comic should be bigger. Someone get me Geoff Johns….

You may have noticed that this week’s review was not about Bleach, as promised. I’ve decided to do a monthly Manga review instead, covering everything I read in that month’s Shonen Jump, and any other manga I happen to read. Hope you’re all still reading then!

S

Comic Book Reviews – Superman 674

                        

Superman 674 – Kurt Busiek (w) renato Guedes (A)  “Shadows Linger. Part one – Brighter Tomorrows

 ******SPOILERS***********

RECAP

Two superhumans are engaged in battle near a prison in Montana, unaware that superhumans aren’t supposed to be near that prison…..meanwhile, Clark Kent is showing Lois Lane and their foster son Chris their new home, complete with doorway to the fortress of Solitude.

 Later that day, we see Superman working on a cure for the lead poisoning that has struck  his friend Mon-el. Mon-el is a Daxamite, to whom lead is as deadly as kryptonite is to Superman. Due to the lead poisoning Mon-el must stay in the Phantom Zone where his physical condition is frozen, but he exists as a ghost. While working on the cure, Superman hears of the Priest Elders of Daxam, their control over the planet and its technology, and of how Mon-el disregarded their rulings.

Back at the Daily Planet, Clark is about to be chewed out by Perry White when he is stolen from the scene by Paragon. Paragon is an old JLA villain who can copy the powers of any Superhuman in the area, and had been released when the two superhumans at the start of the issue flew close enough for him to copy their powers. He uses his ability to track Superman and outmatches him, as his abilities not only copy someone else’s powers, but enhance them as well. Using his head and experience, Superman leads Paragon to the Fortress of Solitude and tricks him. By putting on the red sun watch he developed for his foster son, Superman can remove his own powers, therefore removing Paragon’s as well. Paragon realises he may be beaten, stranded powerless in the arctic.With proper villainous timing, the Elder Priests of Daxam arrive looking to execute Mon-El, and anyone who tries to stop them. Next issue – Paragon AND the Elder Priests of Daxam Vs Superman, PLUS a new Galactic Golem.

The Verdict

 I like Kurt Busiek. I love his take on Superman, he has the character down pat. But lately, his stories have been a little…dull. I wasnt a huge fan of his “insects on the moon” stuff, and for his penultimate issue on the series, I was expecting more. The first five or six pages are devoted to Clark and Lois’s new house, which all seems a bit pointless unless the doorway to the fortress of solitude will play a part in the resolution of the story. Even if it does, its an obvious set-up, and one that could have been achieved in a much smoother fashion if the “door” was put in place earlier in the series. Also, the villains. Paragon and the Elders of Daxam? I’m all for the revamping of old villains, but I hadn’t even heard of Paragon, and doubt I will again. However, Superman’s handling of Paragon and being overpowered was perfect – he uses his intellect instead of slugging it out. This is another example of Busiek’s perfect grasp of Superman as a character – if violence can  be avoided, avoid it. Also, I love seeing Superman work to help his friend, Mon-el. Its easy to forget that the likes of Mon-el are trapped in the phantom Zone, or that Kandor is still a shrunken city. Seeing Superman toil over a solution and not blowing stuff up is fantastic, and shows the depth of the character’s responsibility, and new story options. As next issue is Busiek’s last, I will continute to have high expectations. I know Busiek is a good writer, Camelot Falls had moments that were woozily fantastic. However, I know Busiek can fumble – the end of Camelot falls was a huge letdown. The optimist in me will believe that Busiek can pull it out of the hat. He has Paragon, a bunch of Daxamites and a new Galactic Golem to play with in his last issue, not to mention Superman’s slowly dying friend. Like I said, I know he’s a good writer, and even if the next issue isnt all it could be, I’ll still be sad to see Busiek leave the Super-books. When the conclusion comes out, I’ll be sure to review it, and give Busiek a proper send off.

Renato Guedes’ art in this issue was up to his usual standard – I especially liked his rendition of Hong Kong, even if the panel was a little small. Not the best artist in the business, but certainly not a bad artist. Wouldnt bother me in the slightest if he provided the art on Superman for the forseeable future.

Quick Hits

Booster Gold issue Zero – I’m a month behind on this comic, so you’ll have to forgive me. This issue was a little confusing, but its a time-travel comic so that’s to  be expected. Not quite the usual standard for this comic, but just to see Ted Kord standing beside Booster is worth the cover price ten times over.

Countdown To Final Crisis -  Week Seven. This is a great big mess of a comic, and I’ve been stupid enough to buy the 46 issues so far. And yes, I’ll be stupid enough to buy the last 6. For those who dont read DC Comics very often, I should explain something. Every year or so, DC seems to do an “event”, usually with “crisis” in the title. So for at least 6 months before that event takes place, you have a ton of tie-in comics. The last “event” comic was Infinite Crisis, and to be fair, it spawned “52″ a weekly series that was pretty much the best thing I’ve read in a long time. This new event has created “Countdown to Final Crisis”, a weekly series, you guessed it, counting down to the first issue of Final Crisis. So help me God, if Final Crisis isnt good….

Salvation Run. Issue five - As much fun as this comic can be, watching really nasty people be really nasty to one another, it only reminds me of Gail Simone’s Secret Six, which was ten times better with less than half the cast. Yet another Final Crisis tie in comic. Sigh. 

Next week’s reviews: Bleach, enter the Arrancars.

S

Chapter 1, in which introductions are made and intentions declared

Hi, thanks for checking out the blog. As this is the first one, I’m just going to introduce myself and then run through the format I hope to follow for each blog after this.

My name is Stephen, I’m 22 and live in Port Glasgow, Scotland. I’m between places right now. Uni is done, and something else hasnt started. I do admin work for an agency and write when I get the chance. I’m your general all-purpose geek – comic books, sci-fi, films and TV, anime and manga etc –  however, I function in society. I love my music, and have a weird thing about the sky.  I want to experience more than I have so far in a shorter space of time, and do it on my terms.

I’ll post at least once a week, with some reviews of things I’ve read, listened to or watched etc. This will be at least one comic  book every week, and anything else from music to films or tv shows, art etc. I’ll post at least once every fortnight on something that isnt review related. A digital display of some thought thats been rattling about in my head. Maybe I’ll rant about current events, or give an opinion on politics. Maybe I’ll say that dogs are worse than cats or that I really have a grudge against bees. I’ll say something I’ve thought of all by myself, and not just review something that I havent.  First review date will be within one week of today, and the first non-review blog withing two weeks of today.

I hope you’ll keep checking the blog and enjoy what you find here, and I’d love any comments you have on it. Dont be shy.

S