Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Movie Talk - Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Come on, Clark! Give us farmboys a good name! Ah heck, I’d get my butt trounced too…

Well, it has now come. The movie that everyone has been clamoring/fearing/”meh-ing” for has finally come to theaters. I didn’t think that My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 would be this sought after but… Oh wait.

All right, I’ll get down to business. I went to see Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Friday afternoon. I would have saw it the night before since I was off from work, but I didn’t need to see it on a full stomach. I actually missed a minute of the final fight in my viewing because I decided to drink a lot of water and Coke earlier that day. I’ve thought about giving it another watch but I think my first viewing’s enough for now. Besides, there a lot of other movies coming out this year that I may need to save a little cash for.

Since I did it with Man of Steel years ago, I’ll give a quick opinion here and save the somewhat spoiler-ish stuff for later. While it has some glaring flaws, I did enjoy this movie. The Trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) make this a watch for me. They all were pretty good, well-acted, and well-cast. The action scenes themselves were quite nice. The story was fine but pretty muddled and rushed at times. I liked the supporting characters. Lex Luthor did leave me a little mixed though. Overall, it does leave me wanting to see more from this universe especially when… other folk show up here.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Trade Tales! - Marvel Masterworks: Warlock Volume 1

I think it’s time to look at something a little different especially since Easter’s coming up. It isn’t every day that you read a comic about a golden-skinned Messiah wanna-be.  Seriously, if you thought Superman has Christ overtones, here’s a Marvel character who sort of lived the life. Originally named as “Him” (great job, Stan and Jack), Adam Warlock first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 as a genetically engineered being who left Earth. Later on, he appeared in a couple of issues of Thor looking like Rocky from Rocky Horror Picture Show. Afterwards, Roy Thomas and Gil Kane reintroduced the character in Marvel Premiere #1. He then got spun off into his own series, Warlock.

Thomas was a fan of the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, and essentially wanted to tell that story in the modern day using a lesser-known character. I knew of Adam Warlock from the event, Infinity Gauntlet, but I didn’t know about his origins nor his former Messiah-like life. I’ve heard more about him from a few podcasts especially one called Resurrections: An Adam Warlock and Thanos Podcast. I got curious about the character, so I tried to look for his early adventures. It took a while (this isn’t a well-known character), but I did find his Marvel Masterworks online. The first volume includes Marvel Premiere #1-2, Warlock #1-8, and Incredible Hulk #176-178.

Marvel Masterworks: Warlock Volume 1
Writers: Roy Thomas, Mike Friedrich, Gerry Conway, Rob Goulart, and Tony Isabella
Pencils: Gil Kane, John Buscema, Tom Sutton, Bob Brown, and Herb Trimpe
Inks: Dan Adkins, Tom Sutton, and Jack Abel
Editors: Stan Lee and Roy Thomas

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Trade Tales! - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 8: Cats and Kings

So… why did it take me almost a year to put this out? It’s simple, really. I misplaced the trade to this and couldn’t find it for a few months. I ended up finding it and that Sentry arc from New Avengers in my laptop bag… Sorry about that if you’re following my look at this series. I didn’t want to put it out without it in my hands, so I sat on this for a long while. It's funny since I was going to put this out when Daredevil Season 1 was released, but it looks like I get to put it out for Season 2.

Anyway, on to the look at this next volume of Ultimate Spider-Man! Cats and Kings has the usual Bendis/Bagely/Thibert team it has had since its beginning. It contains Ultimate Spider-Man #47-53. There isn’t much to say, so let’s see what trouble Peter can get into as the Kingpin returns!

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 8: Cats and Kings
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagely
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: Transparency Digital and J.D. Smith
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Random Thoughts #41 - Warmth Hath Cometh!

You'll understand below...

Well, it’s March and it’s finally warm. I can now run outside on the hard pavement. Yay, I guess. At least it isn’t so cold at night now. Work’s good as usual. Women are women. As for the political climate… well, when you have that guy who spews all sort of BS being popular, it makes one a little worried. Yeah, I’m not voting for Mr. “You’re Fired”. I think it’s time for some more of those random thoughts.

Bioware Junkie…
Yes, I must admit that I, ____________, am a Bioware junkie. I can’t help myself! They’ve produced great stories, great characters, and good gameplay! Luckily, it’s an addiction that isn’t crippling since I only play games on the weekend now. Plus, there’s the whole “it’s just a game” thing that I’ve always lived by.

In all seriousness, I’ve been having fun with some last-gen games for a while now. Back in 2012, I bought an old Xbox from a friend of mine who was going to Portugal for missionary work. Hey, it was for a good cause and the console only cost $30. I didn’t play it for a long time since I knew little about Xboxes and I had my PS3. There’s a game store in Columbia that has current-gen games and a lot of old school games. Since I really wanted play some games that I missed out on, I started to check out my Xbox again. There really wasn’t anything wrong with it other than some dust and somewhat crappy disc opener. I’ve got a few games like Jade Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, its sequel, and Half-Life 2. I have to say that’s it’s been good so far. I’ll probably talk about some of them here.

Movies
Well, we’re in that year of big movies. Here is a small list of things that I want to see:
  • Race – Yeah, I know it already came out. I’ve always liked the story of Jesse Owens and hearing that it’s on screen made me smile. I may wait for the DVD though. I’m not sure yet.
  • Deadpool – I know this one’s already out in theatres too. I’m not a fan of the character, but I have heard that it’s good. My sister saw it when it came out. I’ll probably wait on this one too.
  • Zootopia – I wasn’t interested in this until I heard the word of mouth. I may check this out on DVD though.
  • 10 Cloverfield Lane - I might see this one. I may just wait for the DVD though.
  • Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice – if you been paying attention to my recent posts, you can probably tell that I’m excited for the movie. I’m not letting my expectations go out of control though. I had to do this with Man of Steel which I did and still do enjoy. I recently watched MoS over the weekend and it’s still good even with its flaws.
  • Miles Ahead – I know nothing about jazz musician, Miles Davis. From what I’ve heard, he wasn't a nice guy. Still, Don Cheadle and Ewan McGregor are involved, so I might check this out.
  • Captain America: Civil War – As you could probably tell from my posts on the main event, I want see this movie. Hopefully, it’ll do well and be better than the comic was.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse – I may see this in theaters. It’s the X-Men after all. Besides, it’s finally including one really cool villain. I always wondered how Apocalypse would be played with in the movies. I even… well, I might write about some ideas I had for another X-Men trilogy one day.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows – I’m not sure about this one. I might see it out since I’m a TMNT fan, but I may skip it. Not sure yet.
  • Warcraft – Never played the games but if I hear good things about it, I might see it.
  • Independence Day: Resurgence – I’ll probably see this one. I still have the original somewhere at the house on VHS. I haven’t seen it in years though.
  • Jason Bourne – I might check this out. Not sure yet.
  • The Legend of Tarzan – I might check this out.
  • Ghostbusters – Hmmm… not sure. I’ll have to go with someone if I saw this.
  • Suicide Squad – I’ll probably see it in theatres especially if I hear good things about.
  • Doctor Strange – I may see this in theaters. I have to see how Ben The Cucumber Man does with the role.
  • Assassin’s Creed – I’ll probably see this. Besides, Michael Fassbender in it.
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – I’ll see this one in theaters. Even if it is a prequel, the cast looks really good.

Running a 5K?
I’m thinking about running a 5K this spring. Heck, I probably am going to run a 5K this spring. I haven’t registered yet since I’m not completely sure, but I have been trying to prepare myself. I’m not in the greatest shape but I do walk a lot and run/jog a bit. If anything, this give an excuse to get healthy. I really haven’t gained weight but I haven’t been losing much either which sucks. I do believe I could do this if I keep up with what I’ve been doing over the last few weeks. My main thing now is to keep up with running/jogging. I ain’t walking to the finish line.


Well, that’s all I got for today. I’m going to go back to taking it easy today. Peace and God Bless.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Tales From the Trade! - Superman/Batman: Finest Worlds - "Super/Bat"

Next up is probably the last Superman/Batman story I’ll look at for now. In 2003, DC started a new series called Superman/Batman and it featured the two heroes teaming up for adventures. Jeph Loeb and was the primary writer on the book until about its mid-20s. After he left the series, it kind of became a place for different writers to come and do their thing for a few issues. The book pretty much had rotating artists from its inception. Today’s trade, Finest Worlds, has Superman/Batman #50-56, but I’m only looking at their main arc, “Super/Bat.”

Today’s story arc comes from Superman/Batman #53-56. I might talk about the other issues at a later date. The writers are Mike Johnson and Michael Green. I know Michael Green was best known for writing on the TV show, Heroes, at the time. The two writers also worked on the rebooted Supergirl for a while when the New 52 started. The penciller for this arc is Rags Morales, the artist for Identity Crisis. He even had a stint on Action Comics during Grant Morrison’s stay there. The inker is John Dell.

Superman/Batman #53-56
Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson
Pencils: Rags Morales
Inks: John Dell
Colors: Nei Ruffino
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editors: Eddie Berganza and Adam Schlagman

Friday, March 4, 2016

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Justice League: New Frontier Special #1

Well, it’s about 3 weeks until Good Friday, the day when Jesus Christ died for our sins. Also, some little indie movie involving Batman, Superman, and justice is coming out. Since "Batman v. Superman: Green Eggs and Ham" is coming out soon, I wanted to look at a couple of stories that featured the duo doing their thing.

The one I’m looking at today is a little different and kind of matches the upcoming movie. When Justice League: New Frontier was being released, DC got with Darwyn Cooke (writer/artist of DC: New Frontier) and released a special one-off issue. It featured three stories from that universe Cooke set up in DC: New Frontier. For those who don’t know, DC: New Frontier was a miniseries that bridged the gap between DC’s Golden and Silver Ages. Cooke wrote all of the stories for the issue. He also did the art for the first story. Dave Bullock and Michael Cho handles the art for the second story. Finally, Jason Bone (J. Bone) handles the artwork for the last story.

Justice League: New Frontier Special #1
Writer: Darwyn Cooke
Pencils: Darwyn Cooke, Dave Bullock, and J. Bone
Inks: Darwyn Cooke, Michael Cho, and J. Bone
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Ian Slatter