Story

The town of Barrow Alaska goes without sunlight for 30 days every year. This natural phenomena is caused by living inside the arctic circle, a tough and unforgiving place. In an environment that harsh 30 days without sunlight is bad enough, but things are about to get worse.

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What I Thought

I got the impression that the book was going to be taking a look at comic fandom and the role that comics play in our lives. Possibly a look at comics as a replacement for the stories, myths and legends our ancestors clung to. Stories of inspiration, hope and even tragedy. I don’t know how I could have been more wrong.

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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.

 

 

 

You might remember my predictions about Heroes from a previous post I made. If not, here are the basics.

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”.