Sunday, June 3, 2007

...though it certainly feels that way. Work has been crazy, wacky stressful. But in a good way, if you kow what I mean.

The temperature around these parts has been wonderful, right around the mid-80s. We have been spending a lot of time in the yard, working to make it look good. We have a wooded area in the back that had gotten overrun with weeds, dead leaves, and fallen branches, so we cleaned it all up, added a few bushes and flowers. It made the yard look bigger and definitely brighter and prettier. It has been a lot of work, mostly from the wife. She has worked wonders with the back yard.

I just finished Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. A very good book; very suspenseful. This was the source material for the movie Shooter, although a lot of things were changed. I think there is a chance to make a good movie out of the book. I'll have to give it a go and see what they did to it. One thing: Mark Wahlberg is the wrong for the titular character; he's too young for one thing, although I suspect this was fixed by shifting the timeline of events so he could be younger. Personally, Tommy Lee Jones would have been a good choice, but, hey, what do I know.

Somewhat inspired by Ward, I decided to listen to my CD collection in alphabetical order by artist, and then chronologically for each artist. I am going to skip any artist for which I have only Greatest Hits albums; only artist for which I have individual albums will make the rotation. I will be curious to see how long it will take to finish. I will occasionally update where I am in the list so you can mock and ridicule my taste in music. First up: AC/DC. I don't have the early Bon Scott albums; my first is Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap followed by a couple of albums from late 70s until Black In Black and the Brian Johnson era.

Finally, I will add a plug for my website DCU Reviews, because (really) that is why this blog exists.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Reviews of 18-APR-07

Reviews of most of the titles for 18-APR can be found at DCU Reviews!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Comics 18-APR-07

It is Wednesday so it must be time for this week's haul

52 WEEK #50 World War III or as I like to call it: Black adam goes nuts
AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #51 What is the deal with Garth?
BIRDS OF PREY #105 More Secret Six goodness
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #3 Blue Beetle goodness
FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #11 After a terrible start, things have been getting better
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8 This is the beginning of the JSA/JLA crossover
MANHUNTER #30 Un-cancelled for the second time. (Is un-cancelled a word?)
NIGHTWING ANNUAL #2 Supposedly this will answer a few questions
ROBIN #161
SHADOWPACT #12 Will Nightmaster die? Uh, no?
SPIRIT #5
SUPERMAN BATMAN #34 A new artist, a new story, plus the Metal Men
WORLD WAR III PART ONE A CALL TO ARMS
WORLD WAR III PART TWO THE VALIANT
WORLD WAR III PART THREE HELL IS FOR HEROES
WORLD WAR III PART FOUR UNITED WE STAND A four-part story to fill in the blanks. More like four issues to separate me from my money.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Comic Book Reviews: 7-March-2007

!!! SPOILER WARNING !!!

52 #44 - Another character created just for this series is killed off. At least the exposition of Sobek’s actions is kept to a minimum. And the fight with the Horseman was pretty good.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6 - Not a bad ending; I liked the way the team worked together, although Roy came across as being useless. I really think this will read better when collected.
THE ALL-NEW ATOM #9 -- Somehow the goofy aspects of this book get tossed aside for creepy. Still, it was good although I am uncomfortable with the tone of this book. I prefer goofy. To that end, we need more Head. Err, I mean the character. Jeez, that was just so wrong.
DETECTIVE COMICS #829 -- I liked Stuart Moore’s work when he wrote Firestorm and this isn’t a bad effort, but the whole “must protect secret” angle is tired and worn out and this effort lacks the oomph to make it work.
MANHUNTER #29 -- Taken as is, this was a good story; I like hwo all of the pieces are slowly coming together for the finale. But, man, DC better get the story of Everyman (who supposedly died in 52) straight.
NIGHTWING #130 -- I had trouble with this issue because the entire relationship between the bride and groom just made no sense. What was going on with the people and the energies and the whole concept of marriage?
OUTSIDERS #46 -- I really hope this is a specific reason why the ending to this story is being shuttled to the Annual. Otherwise, this is typical Winick material, which means I liked it.

Haven’t read as of yet:

HELMET OF FATE: ZAURIEL
SUPERMAN/BATMAN #32
UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #8 (OF 8)
WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #4

Monday, March 5, 2007

Convention Season

It is the beginng of convention season and with the events NY and SF in the can, here are a few bits and pieces of news:

Weekly comcis will continue with Countdown in May.

Manhunter has been saved and will continue as an ongoing.

Firestorm: The Nuclear Man will not be saved and will still be canceled.

Green Arrow has been canceled and will end with #75 (to be released in June). The series will end with Ollie proposing to Dinah. According to DiDio, their engagement (if she says yes) will have ramifications throughout the DCU.

The finale to "Who Is Wonder Woman" will appear in an Annual in September. DC really messed up her re-launch badly.

Possible Power Girl series. Batwoman will get more exposure.

In NY, DiDio stated that in the teaser image in all of the books right now, Red Robin is Jason Todd and The Flash is Barry Allen. In SF, DiDio backed off these comments which either means he goofed and is trying to cover his ass or the slip was intentional to create mystery and confusion. I am guessing it is the former.

There will be a Nightwing Annual, Outsiders Annual, the aforementioned WW Annual and apaprently a Green Arrow annual (for the wedding).

Saturday, March 3, 2007