My Take On...

...Identity Crisis #5

Oookay, where to start?

First, I hated seeing Firestorm die. I always liked him, and as far as I'm concerned, this is a rip-off of Captain Atom dying in Kingdom Come.

Second, I like how Captain Boomerang's son has super-speed, meaning that Golden Glider isn't Owen's mother. Fine...but who the hell is it then? No, don't bother telling us here. Let me take the time to find out somewhere else.

Third, I understand why Meltzer tied Owen's life with Tim Drake's. But did Jack really have to die? I mean couldn't the point been made by having him injured (again) because of what Tim and Bruce do? I always thought it was cool for Tim to be the one Robin in history to have a surviving parent. But oh no! Let's kill him off and make Tim an orphan after all. I call Bullshit!

You would have thought that even if Tim opted out of having any of that fancy-shmancy Thangarian/Kryptonian/Apokoliptian/Martian security in his house, Bruce Wayne sure as hell would have done something to make damn sure Tim's father was safe! There is no way you could convince me otherwise. Not after Dick, not after Jason, and not after what happened to Bruce himself. Nu-uh! No fucking way! Buuuuuuuuuuuull-Shit!

My other WTF? moment has to be Tim's mask. Did anyone else notice his eyes this issue? Was it planned to remove the white eye coverings going forward? Was it just done here to show the emotion of Tim's ordeal? Either way - it's out of continuity and is therefore an imaginary story taking place in an alternate timeline on a different Earth that won't be created for another few years because 52 hasn't been written yet.

My Take On...

...Identity Crisis #4

Meltzer does a great job tying past events into this story. Here, Oliver makes a passing remark about Batgirl getting shot from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. He also touches the Blue Boy Scout joke very nicely.

I also like it when the cover of a given issue has meaning within the story, which is another nod to The Killing Joke. You never fully see Diana in the issue, but once you've read it, you understand the perspective from which you do see her on the cover. Sets the tone for Infinite Crisis in a way, doesn't it?

I must confess that I HATED Hal becoming the Spectre. I understand the need to shake things up and move things along in the DC 'verse and changing heroes' personas is one way to do that. But I didn't see the need to make Hal the Spectre. It takes away the special uniqueness that made him the greatest GL, like a movie franchise that ran too long.

Don't have any WTF? moments in this one, but I'd probably have one if I knew more about the villains shown this issue. Gotta get on those Who's Whos...

My Take On...

...Identity Crisis #3

This issue is the closest DC has ever gotten to Alan Moore's Watchmen up to this point. It took them what...seventeen years to get here?

Villains get smart, heroes go down, loved ones get killed.

And if there's anyone who hasn't read this story, the killer behind all of this is shown this issue. You just don't know it yet.

What we do learn: Captain Boomerang has a son, some heroes fight dirty and work hard to clean up the messes, and other heroes choose to turn a blind eye...or ear.

My WTF? moment has to be when Wally gets stabbed by Slade. I mean the blade goes right through him. Slade even twists it. Then Wally gets up and calmly lies to Clark and threatens Oliver? I know Wally can do a lot of things fast, but I didn't know healing was one of them. WTF?

Another great point of Meltzer's writing is that he leaves every issue on a cliffhanger, which most novelists and the best comic writers do. Beause nobody likes to be left hanging at issue's end...

My Take On...

...Identity Crisis #2

The plot thickens as we learn the secret everyone on the cover was hiding. There are more examples of using color and text to show who's talking. I especially like how they show when Ray's speaking.

This issue also explains Dr. Light's behavior for the past few decades.

Meltzer also shows the villains in an unusual way, how they think, behave and interact with one another.

My WTF moments:
I don't know much about Hawkman, but since when could he actually see Flash in motion?

I have GOT to review my Who's Who.

My Take On...

...Identity Crisis #1

This is the second issue I have read by writer Brad Meltzer. The first being The Justice League of America #0 given out on Free Comic Book Day a couple of years ago. Having read that, I recognized Meltzer's trick of time jumping within the story. I would expect at least a few readers to get confused by it their first time through.

I also read this after reading 52, so I knew some plot points there connected to this.

I love Meltzer's use of narration, and how letterer Ken Lopez and colorist Alex Sinclair use their tricks to let readers know who's narrating what.

My biggest drawback to this story was that I only knew about half the characters. Bolt? Looks like a Punisher wannabe to me. The bit about him facing either Firehawk or Flamebird went totally over my head. And what the heck's an Amazo?

All of the characters are written realistically, like they could be walking down the street. A refreshing view that has actually been done before (ahem*Marvel*ahem). The connections and references to previous stories was another nice touch (*ahem*).

The best panel is, of course, where Ralph finds Sue. The whole page actually. It doesn't matter if you've never read a DC comic, or any comic before for that matter - if that doesn't move you, you're a cold dead fish. Bringing the extra kick to the gut back again on the next page drives the whole feel of the book further home. Literally.

My only WTF moments are when Bolt gets shot. He's a teleporter, right? So why didn't he just 'port away from the bullets? WTF?

Also - when he does go down, there are lots of holes in the crate behind him, but none in the back of his coat. WTF?

And what would make Benjamin call for an ambulance? He was the one whose brother worked for the Penguin, and was the one more likely to be packing in the first place, right? WTF?

I really enjoyed this issue, and highly recommend it.

Do I need a title for this?

Working in retail, I have the pleasure of being surrounded by crazy during the most intense times of the year: Christmas, and Summer.

I try to relax by watching shows and/or movies (which I don't have much time for), reading (which I can barely stay awake to do) and spending time (I also don't have much time for) with family.

The closest I have come to accomplishing any of these is to watch things with my family about movies and/or books.

So far, The Rotten Tomatoes Show on current - via Hulu (and yes, I know about the coming fees) is the best.

They've stopped doing the haikus, which is a shame. They may not have been fun to hear, but the challenge to create them was.

I would love to submit a review for the $100.00 (I mean the fun) the site gives out for submissions...if I had the time to watch a movie and think up a review.

But hopefully, that is in my not-too-distant-future.

The most recent movie I've seen worth a damn is Star Trek - (thank you Netflix) - which I will review now, because I have some time before work rears its ugly head again.

I wanted desperately to get into the Star Trek movie franchise. I've seen most of them, and am a fan of ST:TNG, but only Bones from the original series really appealed to me...

...until now.

The special effects are great, but the story and the acting are the shit.

And the cast! Simon Pegg as Scotty? Never in a million years would I have made that call, but it works.

And Karl Urban, one of the best actors out of New Zealand, taking on Bones McCoy. Pure fun to watch.

This movie makes me want to buy the entire Star Trek DVD line. Every episode. Of every series. And every movie. Ever made. Starting with this one.

Needless to say this makes my wife nervous. Of course she's a fan of TOS and DS9, so she can't complain too much.

I also just read Identity Crisis, which shows just how behind I am in all things fun.

But that review's for another time...

My take on...

...The Crow

I’m not talking about the movies or television series. Those are set in different mediums that have their own issues with beating a (literally) dead character into the ground. I’m referring here to the comics.

I have the trade paperback published by Kitchen Sink Press that came out in 1994. It has all three of the Tundra books, the original appearance from Caliber Presents #1 and newer artwork by O’Barr. I’m not going to go into the details of the story; you can read about that here.

Eric’s traumatic journey strikes so many chords with me; I end up crying every time I read it. O’Barr went through some deep tragedy in his youth that had to be expressed. Eric, Shelly, Captain Hook (and of course T-Bird and the others) all came from that tragedy. In short, O’Barr created a story about pain and loss that needed to be told.

With this particular publication, you can compare O’Barr’s newer artwork with the older, and see how much he’s grown as an artist, which represents how much he has grown as a person living with grief.

So imagine my surprise when I look up The Crow on ComicVine.com and find four additional names.

To me, Eric is so connected with his creator that I have difficulty accepting the need for other Crow characters. I understand enough of the business side of comics to recognize the existence of ‘sequels’, and to be honest, they may be well written works that evoke strong feelings of retribution, vengeance or justice.

I wouldn’t know, because I haven’t read them.

I just don’t think they were necessary.

I believe everything that needed to be done with the character, O’Barr accomplished.

Another way to watch a DVD...

This is technically about movies, but it pertains specifically to the Iron Man DVD I just bought.

I have a decent collection of DVD's filling a bookshelf in our living room. My main purpose for buying discs, especially now as more and more movies become available online, are for the extras. Bells and Whistles are all I'm about with DVD's.

Commentaries, interviews, trivia, behind the scenes stuff, the making of.

I like to spend hours watching all the stuff provided an every disk, but I end up getting bored. Usually because it involves watching the same film repeatedly with the different commentaries.

I saw this film in the theatre, and rented it once after it came out. I love this movie, and have no regrets buying it. I just don't want to get bored.

So this time I'm going with a different approach.

I'm going to watch the extras first - before watching the movie.

We'll see what happens...

Comics are just like...

...Soap Operas

Honestly - Guiding Light, General Hospital, Uncanny X-Men, Justice League of America. They're all the same stuff.

Both comics and soaps deal with decades of continuity, have constantly changing writers, and suffer from both.

* Characters come back from the dead. Repeatedly. Even when their deaths were shown. Repeatedly.

* Story lines change midstream, giving fans lame endings, and lackluster conclusions.

* Actors replace actors playing the same role, artists replace artists drawing with extremely different styles.

* Fans of both have a stereotype.

I admit I'm making generalizations here. Many great comic stories have been told, and Soap Operas have been popular since they came out. But I never really saw the connection until recently.

Not judging, just saying.

Once upon a time...

This is my first post on my first Blog.

This is all new to me so if anyone is reading this, bear with me. To paraphrase Warren Beatty's Academy Awards speech many moons ago: "I'll get better."

This is where I plan to spatter on and on about comics, creators, and most importantly (to me at least) characters. If this goes well, I may create spin-offs about other things I like - music, movies, and television.



Quick facts about myself:

Born in 1971 (Dec.)

First exposure to super heroes was the Super Friends cartoon.

First comic book I remember reading was Marvel Graphic Novel #1 - Death of Captain Marvel.

Started buying comics (Marvel) in 1984, during the original Secret Wars and OHOTMU.

Became an official Marvel Zombie by '85. Blindly loyal and on a tight allowance, I only learned about DC through friends.

Was a big fan of Valiant when they came out.

Stopped reading comics around 1993 - the Spidey Clone Saga was the final nail.

I am still collecting, but mostly just the issues I missed when I was reading.



My goal with this blog is to get things out of my head. It's full enough as it is. My hope is that somebody reading these ramblings may share them, and respond with some of their own.

I owe a lot of thanks to Dave's Long Box, a blog I stumbled upon and read often.

And also my wife, who said to me one day: "Why don't you post your own blog?"

And so I am.

My job has an erratic schedule, so I can't guarantee consistency, but I really want to do this, so I can guarantee regularity. (Maybe I have that backwards?)