I’m interested in pretty much everything about comics, especially the old school stuff. When I got a copy of The Comic Book Makers for Christmas I was pretty excited. It gives you a glimpse behind the scenes of the early days of comic books. It’s written by Joe Simon, the creator of Captain America and writer/artist/editor for some true classics, with some extra material written by Jim Simon.
You Had To Be There
The early days of the comic book industry was filled with drama. If you think the stories in the comic books were wild, you should hear what the people making them got up to. There’s plenty of stories that will shock and amaze you.
This book was written by someone who was there for a few amazing stories himself. So you get to know the story from the inside. Even if you’re familiar with some of these, like I was, reading a first hand account of them puts things in a whole new light.
Covering All The Bases
The Comic Book Makers is filled with pictures and art. Covers from a wide range of comics, personal photos and even original character sketches of classic heroes.
I expected a few pictures. This book is filled with ‘em. First appearances of different characters, iconic images as well as books and characters that never quite made it big.
Seriously, I would have loved this as a comic art book, but it has more than that. There are pieces of non-comic art by Joe Simon and others. You get to see how truly talented these guys are.
On top of all that there are pictures of some of the legends of comics. The creators themselves hard at work making the magic come to life. Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and of course Joe Simon.
Verdict
If you’re a fan of comics you need to check out this book. Not only will it give you insight into what it takes to make comics, it’s darn entertaining. Much like the comic books discussed in this book, it’s filled with the unexpected.
I loved reading this book. I highly recommend it.
The second season of Heroes got off to a slow start. Not that it didn’t have great moments, but it slammed the breaks on last season. Once it got going it was awesome.
What follows is a status report on the Heroes and a summary of what happened.
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You might remember my predictions about Heroes from a previous post I made. If not, here are the basics.
Which one will be Takezo Kensei?
My predictions about Hiro.
My biggest theory has been both confirmed and busted. After seeing the end of last season I believed that Hiro would become Takezo Kensei. With his powers and his knowledge of the great samurai’s adventures it would be easy for him to do. Not to mention the fact the Future Hiro was scary good with a sword. That kind of expertise can only come from practice in battle. It would also explain the connection that Hiro seems to have with the sword and the Takezo Kensei legends.
My predictions about the man who calls himself Takezo Kensei.
If the gaijin decides to abandon the role of Kensei I believe he will become a villain. With his healing abilities he may be nearly immortal. It’s possible that he will live long enough to play a major role in the modern day struggle. He may even be the main villain. We haven’t really met the man that scares Molly so much, maybe it’s the man we know as Kensei.
I was right. Well, mostly. It turns out that Matt Parkman’s dad Maury is the Nightmare Man. He has the same mental abilities that Matt does, they’re just more developed. He was part of the Group of Twelve, just like Linderman, Kaito Nakamura and the Petrellis. There was someone else though. The man in charge. The man behind the recent murders of the older Heroes.
The gaijin known as Kensei.
It seems Kensei, now calling himself Adam Monroe, is the one who brought the old Heroes together. He was the one who convinced them to use their powers. He was also the one who eventually corrupted them and turned them. Linderman’s plans to “save” the world came from Adam. Linderman was only following in his footsteps.
Hiro is Kensei
Under the cherry blossoms where they first kissed Yaeko tells Hiro that he is Takezo Kensei. When he tells her that he must leave she tells him something else. She will make sure that the tales of Kensei are known. So that the little boy called Hiro Nakamura will have stories to help him sleep.
Hiro is Takezo Kensei and Adam Monroe is the main villain.
I waited until I saw the second episode to write this. Why? Because I still had a couple of questions from last season I was hoping to have answered. The second episode confirmed a couple of things for me and raised more questions. It may have also screwed up one of my favorite theories.
If you haven’t seen the first 2 episodes of Heroes season 2, there are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.
I’ll focus on the people who are still in the show. If you want to know what happened to the actors who played characters that got killed off, check out Dead But Not Forgotten on Watching Heroes.
Update: Now that the second season, volume 2, of Heroes is over you can find more info and theories in my post “Heroes Season 2 Recap and Theories, End of Volume 2“.
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I really need to stop reading RevolutionSF. I’m sure it’s a contributing factor for geeks with high blood pressure. Ah, who am I kidding? That wouldn’t help. It’s not RevSF’s fault, mostly. They’re just reporting the screw ups made in Hollywood.
This is the trailer for the new Iron Man movie.
Abandon all hope, all ye who buy a movie ticket.
Once again the people behind the Iron Man movie have screwed up. You may remember my rant on comic book movie casting. I had very little hope for Iron Man turning out well. The only hope I had was that the scenes in the Iron Man armor would be abundant and awesome. Now I have even less hope.
Why would they make trailers and commercials with stuff that’s not in the movie? That makes no sense. Sure it’ll make people want to see a movie. What happens when they find out it’s a trick? A lot of people will just skip it. Hollywood shoots itself in the foot like this and then wonders why fewer people are going to the movies. To quote Kelly Bundy, “The mind wobbles”.
Here’s a tip for filmmakers.
If you film something for the trailer that turns out to be unbelievably cool, put it in the movie. It’s bad enough when people see a movie and find out all the best parts were in the trailer. When you see a movie and all the best parts are in the trailer, but not the movie that’s even worse. That is what people outside of the movie industry call a “lie”. You might want to look that word up. You probably know it better as “promotion” or “marketing”.
I’ve tried to avoid comic book movie news. I’m a fan, why would I do that? Simple. I can’t cast the movies myself. There’s nothing I can do to change the minds of casting directors. It’s just better if I try to avoid any news about it. I just can’t seem to stay away though. I have to find out if the right choices are made and I have to prepare myself for the wrong choices.
Much like Newton’s third law of motion which states.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
There is a comic book movie law.
For every good casting choice, there is an equal and opposite bad casting choice.
For every Hugh Jackman cast as Wolverine, you have the opposing Halle Berry cast as Storm. I’m not saying these people are bad actors. They’re just not right for the part they’re cast in.
The most frustrating part is not knowing which side of the line a particular casting choice will fall. Most of the time you can’t tell which choices are inspired and which are just stupid until the movie comes out. Michael Keaton as Batman was inspired. George Clooney as Batman was horrible.
The universe must maintain balance.
There are some choices that are obviously right. Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier for example. I can still remember the swelling of giddy fanboy bliss when I read that news.
The equal and opposite reaction.
There are choices that are obviously wrong. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. I’m still not completely over the crushing depression of that news.
The only way I can console myself when I hear horrible news like that is to tell myself that at least an Iron Man movie is being made. When I hear about Heath Ledger playing The Joker, I focus on the fact that another Batman movie is being made. Bad casting or not, I’m glad more comic books are coming to the big screen.
Scary Go Round, by John Allison, is one of my favorite webcomics. Today he revealed a plot twist on par with any Jedi’s genealogy. I’m not going to spoil it for you by posting a link to today’s comic. I will post a link to the first one.
Scary Go Round puts a group of friends through strange adventures, often with a paranormal theme. It’s a lot of fun. I would imagine Scooby Doo would have been a lot like this if it had been made in England. Except most of the creepy crawlies here aren’t wearing masks.
If you haven’t read it, you should do yourself a favor and read through the archives. It’ll take you a little while, this comic has been around for several years. That’s a good thing, more comic goodness to enjoy. Oh, and don’t be frightened off by the art in the beginning. Like a lot of webcomics John improves his craft over time. He develops a very eye catching style over the course of Scary Go Round’s life.
I envy those of you who will be reading the Zombie Shelly story line for the first time.
Read Scary Go Round here.
Found a great site. It’s a comic blog, but the best part about it is the urban legends section. There is some great stuff there. I’ve been reading it off and on for a couple days now and I’m amazed at some of this stuff.
If you are now, or have ever been, a fan of comics you have to check this out.
Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed
Since I posted the Heroes Personality Test I thought I’d go ahead and post this one too. It’s kinda weird, I can see a resemblance between the two. I think Peter Parker and Micah Sanders would get along well.
Your results:
You are Spider-Man
| Spider-Man |
|
65% |
| Robin |
|
62% |
| Superman |
|
50% |
| Batman |
|
45% |
| Hulk |
|
45% |
| The Flash |
|
45% |
| Green Lantern |
|
45% |
| Catwoman |
|
45% |
| Iron Man |
|
40% |
| Supergirl |
|
37% |
| Wonder Woman |
|
37% |
|
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility. |
Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…
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