Random Pics of the Month - March

Well, here's something I really don't do as much these days. Here are a few random pics for the month. All of them are a clue to what I'll be doing in the future.

Looks like we'll have to wait till 2016 to see this battle in the box office.

Data: Oh Sh-

Picard: Data! Don't fry your circuits over this! We faced the Borg, remember?

It's not every day where the audience is actually wanting the clones to shoot Jedi. Yes, SW: Clone Wars went there.

Graphic Novels - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6: Venom

Well, it's time to step back into the Ultimate Universe. As you can tell, by the cover, we are getting another one of Spider-Man's greatest foes: Venom. Venom isn't one of my favorite villains ever but he is one of Spidey's coolest villains. He's probably one of the most personal villains that Spider-Man ever faced in the regular universe. He also has the same abilities as Peter, so that's pretty cool. I always like it when a hero has a villain who is a skewed version of that hero. Superman has Bizarro, Batman has Ra's al Gul (think about it), and the Flash has the Reverse Flash. The creative team for this volume is still the same as it has been. So, let's what happens to Peter as he faces a piece of his past.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 6: Venom
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagely
Inks: Art Thibert and Rodney Ramos

SYNOPSIS

We start out with Peter in his basement being depressed about being dumped by MJ. After some more moping, he finds some family videos and some of his father’s work. He watches a video that has his parents, The Brocks (?!?!?), and his aunt and uncle. Aunt May tells Peter that Eddie, The Brocks’ son, is in the city attending one of the colleges. Knowing this, Peter heads to the college and meets up with his old family friend who is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps. Gwen even gets in with the little group. Sometime later, Eddie shows Peter a project their fathers were working on that’s supposed to be a cure for cancer: a bio-suit called Venom.

TV Talk - Avatar: The Last Airbender

This installment of TV Talk has been brought to you by the Fire Nation's Ember Island Players. Their rendition of Avatar is leagues better than the thing that Hollywood released back in 2010.

As you can probably tell by now, I’m not talking about James Cameron’s Avatar. While that movie was unoriginal, it was still better than the live-action version of the show I’m talking about today. I really don’t have much of a preamble, so let’s get to it.

Background

When Avatar first came on, I watched it but I wasn’t an avid watcher of the show. I was on and off during its duration since I was in college and didn’t know when it would air. I didn’t get to see much of the third season either. I don’t know if Nickelodeon had a love/hate relationship with that show or what. I was able to watch the last four episodes when they finally aired. After that, I tried to view the third season episodes online, but it wasn’t happening for a while. Then Netflix showed up and I was able to finally see it all. I also own the first season on DVD and will try to get the other two seasons.

For those who don’t know, the show takes place in its own world. This world is made up of four nations: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. In each nation, most of their people have the ability to control (bend) those elements. The Avatar is essentially the master of all four elements. When the Fire Nation rose up and decided to rule over everything, the Avatar disappeared. 100 years later, a brother and sister find the newest incarnation of the Avatar in a young Airbender named Aang. The show details Aang and his friends as they try to restore peace between the four nations. If my little summation doesn't do it for you, here's something that might.

Music Retrospective: Michael Jackson - Thriller

So, what can I say about Thriller? I mean, it is one of the best-selling albums of all time! It broke all sorts of records! It released seven singles! It won a crap ton of Grammys! Jackson wrote four songs on it! It… You know what? Just read Wikipedia if you want the stats on this. They look right to me!

Anyway, the album was released in 1982 and set the world on fire. This was the album that got me introduced to Michael Jackson. The record’s still at the house, but I don’t have anything to play it. I used to have the 2001 edition on CD, but I accidentally left it and some other CDs in a rental car one summer. I hope whoever found them is enjoying whatever was in there. I was able to copy my sister’s version of the album from her collection. Well, I ain’t got much else to say, so let’s get to the album itself.

Graphic Novels - Batman: The Black Glove HC

Some say that he is the one of the greatest comic book writers ever. Others say that he is a pretentious hack who comes up with weird story ideas. All they can agree on is this: the man has a name and his name is Grant Morrison.  Now, I personally fall in between those two camps. There are times where I like Morrison’s writing and  there are other times where his writing is pretty “Meh.” His Superman stuff is pretty good for the most part, but we’re not looking at Kal-El today. I will be talking about the hardcover version of Batman: The Black Glove. I actually bought this in Barnes and Noble over a year ago. I have wanted to read this run and I thought it might be a good buy.

This started Morrison’s long run with Batman and his supporting cast. Morrison does all of the writing. The pencillers and inkers are plenty. We have names like Andy Kubert, J.H. Williams III, and Tony Daniel on the book, so you know the artwork might be good. The issues are Batman #655-658, #663-669, and #672-675. Since this has 15 full issues and some are stand alone issues, this will be a long post. I won’t be too detailed with what happens. Besides, I know of a few blogs that try to explain the stuff in these issues. Yes, there are a few Morrison acolytes out there. 

Graphic Novels - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 5: Public Scrutiny

Well, it’s time to step back in to Spidey’s Ultimate Universe once again. I did say that I would be back soon with another one of these. Luckily, this trade was made to be a quickie. Public Scrutiny contains 5 issues from the Ultimate Spider-Man series. They are #28-#32. It seems weird, but there’s a reason why the trade’s so short. The next volume contains seven issues and is a long story arc. The creative team has remained unchanged. Bendis is still writing, Bagely is still drawing, and Thibert is still inking. With all of that said, let’s see Peter have a bad day.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 5: Public Scrutiny

Writer: Brian Michal Bendis

Penciller: Mark Bagely

Inker: Art Thibert