The Unholy Dragon

So the story there goes that Lee wanted to quit, but was talked into doing one more by the producers guilting him about the jobs that would be lost. When Lee read the script though, he said the dialogue was terrible and refused to speak a word of it. It was decided a mute Christopher Lee is better than no Christopher Lee and there you have it.

I read the whole Dark Phoenix Saga, give or take a couple issues, in X-Men Classics. The backups were so good.

It's not without flaws but it's Greg Pak, Pete Tomasi, and Gene Luen Yang so writing wise it's in good hands. I like that he's most physically vulnerable at the time his identity blows and Superman riding a motorcycle around the US in a tshirt and jeans is fun in its own right. But it's also put him in a genuinely interesting place for maybe the first time in the New 52. It's the most hyped I've been for non-Morrison Supes since...New Krypton? Infinite Crisis?

DC You is great so far. All the Palmiotti/Conner books are terrific, Green Arrow was really good, and for the first time since Morrison left I'm jazzed about Superman stuff. Batman is really good as well and the refreshing of that line continues well. Still have to read the first full issues of Prez and Dr.Fate but the previews ruled...lots to like. And finally VARIETY. Darkseid War started hot too. Anyone check out Hitch's JLA yet? I'm interested but $6 is steep (especially after the exchange as a Canadian right now) and I don't actually love Hitch's art.

It's a whole series? Dadgummit, now I've got something new to keep up with... First six issues only for Moore. After that it seems to go into rotating teams like the main book.

Arrow has about as much in common with any comics depiction of Green Arrow as Batman 66 does with Frank Miller's Batman. Some of the ideas and tropes are there but the characterization and even backstory are almost entirely different. It starts rough but ends up worthwhile. Also it's Buffy/Angel rules where the shows cross pollinate a lot and if you don't watch both there are definitely jumps that'll make less sense and some plot points are introduced in the opposite show (a major Flash reveal got dropped into an episode of Arrow for example). Still watchable and everything but yeah.

Good lord the newest issue of Invincible sets up some exciting stuff.

So hey wow that was a great PPV. Tag EC was a fun little spotfest, Divas title was a perfectly solid affair, then Cena/Owens was an unbelievable main event. It's a little weird it was only 90 minutes but hey. Good stuff. In all seriousness, I loved the first half of the show. Neville/Bo wasn't awful but outside the clever Schoolboy-to-outside spot was just kinda there. IC Title EC was just a mess, but given Henry is past his prime, the only great workers in there were Sheamus and Dolph and Sheamus is very much the type whose quality is measured by his opponents. Throw in the botches and the fact that it was 25 minutes and of course it was a mess. Rollins/Ambrose was hot and Ambrose did his level best to carry Rollins to something great. Finish killed a lot of the heat though and I'm not sure why they didn't just give Ambrose a two week reign given MitB is RIGHT THERE. But hey, Roman got a huge pop so his rehab is going well. He should be over again when they have him win MitB, beat Rollins at Summerslam, then beat Brock at Night of Champions. Seriously though, show was worth it for Cena/Owens alone. I'll be on a plane to Paris for my honeymoon when MitB airs and it's genuinely a little upsetting I won't be able to watch the rematch live. That's how good it was. Also, Package Tiger Fusion. Kevin Owens out-innovating Marufuji here.

Sort of. Hypertime for a period later condensed into the 52 universes with the keystone timelines each evolving into one of Morrison's Multiversity worlds. Basically the original Crisis was averted so instead of the push pull it was a stable drop which kept elements of each previous universe. I think. Convergence was probably the most fun I've had with a DC event book (not counting Multiversity) since Final Crisis.

The weird part was that the method of elimination was so random. There wasn't even any foreshadowing to clue you in that what they were proposing to do might actually work.

So for someone who basically thought Kamen Rider Fourze was the best thing ever, what's the best place to go? I'm going to peep Wizard and Gaim though I know different tones are to be expected. Thoughts on OOO and Drive thus far? Or other stuff worth checking out?

Personally I like the still of it passing Zanzibar, the highest profile strip club in Toronto.

Suicide Squad has been filming across the street from my friend's place for a few days now. The novelty has since worn off for her since they're loudly shooting until all hours but I still think it's pretty cool.

"I think I'll take Things Everyone Says Every Time The House Of Leaves Guy Publishes Any Other Book for $600, mister Trebek." Man, what happened to Mark Z? He published one hands-down stone-cold masterpiece which should go on to have a reputation as being one of the finest novels of the entire century, and since then has spent the rest of his career wasting our time with unreadable artsy-fartsy bullshit. In fairness, House of Leaves was basically super artsy fartsy bullshit that fell on the side of readable and I still know people who couldn't get through it. It's a book where the gimmicks carry it instead of sinking it, but repeat attempts to catch that fire were always going to lead to burned hands.

This. I really enjoy the larger-than-life feel of the show. The "sense of wonder" Matt talks about is what I hoped SHIELD would have more of. And i dig Barry as a character. No shades of gray, no ongoing torment over his backstory. Barry's probably the closest thing we'll get to a silver age comic adaptation. Most shows bring everything down to street level and go grim and gritty. I wish Warner Bros. would let Berlanti adapt Superman, because Barry is basically what I want from a Clark Kent/Superman story (though Smallville did a decent job in that regard). That said, as much as I enjoyed the final up until the cliffhanger, my head hurts if I try to think about it too much. Or at all, really. Does anyone actually understand Wells' plan. I did love it when Thawne is about to go home, only for Barry to come crashing through the windshield. Also, shouldn't The less said about the cliffhanger and science, the better. Though I did dig the closing shot, with Stein saying "it can't be stopped". to which Barry replies 'I have to try and immediately runs into the eye of the storm. Lotta good character moments in the finale. Joe and Iris somewhat reluctantly encouraging Barry to think of himself and save his mom was well-played, as was his decision when he got there. Though, I guess All in all, terrifically fun season. So basically

So uh.

generated a legit cheer from me. I loved the ending. I loved how it was a big emotional choice throughout the episode and how loose ends got tied. I liked the decisions and the sacrifices made. Most of all I loved just how batshit crazy it got.

I was just lamenting on Twitter yesterday that the trade collecting the 'second feature' of Manhunter in Streets of Gotham. Other recentish trades DC solicited but cancelled: - new printing of the first trade of Impulse - new printing of the second trade of Suicide Squad - Sparta USA (David Lapham Vertigo book) - the last trade of the most recent run on REBELS still hurts... Man. Sparta USA was one of Lapham's better books too. Weird as shit and halfway between Lapham's style and Jason Aaron's which fits since they were boardmates at the time. I miss Standard Attrition.

Well I mean, space radiation in the upper atmosphere isn't going to cut it in 2015. Honestly the whole MU has a problem with the characters' origins being REALLY oriented in 60s sci-fi. The FF especially need an update and I think that works better than a lot of alternatives.

Harley's newest series has but that's a marriage of talent and character I think. Deadpool's stuff sells consistently well no matter how much there is of it. Doesn't really crack the top 10 except for stunts but does well enough that it's always in play along with spinoffs. Lord knows what they do in digital But I'm under the impression Harley sells well in that market too.

The last few episodes of Arrow this season would have been improved by moving the flashbacks back an episode. It would have let us see Akio die around when Maseo described it in the present, shown Ollie the monster when his loyalty is still questionable, and shown Maseo and Katana's seperation in the past in sync with her killing him. Then they could have had no flashbacks in the finale and used the real estate to expand on any of the hundred fucking things happening. I still liked it but god the flashbacks felt so narratively out of sync it was infuriating. They need to not do them just to do them. The final Ollie/Ra's fight ruled it though. Loved how he used Ra's own swag against him in the end. Student becomes master and whatnot.

First Class was a mess of a film with the Xavier, Magneto, and Shaw stuff getting time and thus being great while everyone else is wasted. It also has really, really dodgy racial and gender politics with stuff like every woman wearing a super skimpy outfit in their introduction, killing the person of colour first (in a way that shouldn't have given his powers tbh) and so forth. I found the casual racism/sexism to be actively distracting on a level way beyond most films. And despite all of them being interesting and well played, none of the X-Men are well served. Days of Future Past fixes this by clearly focusing on a few characters and not being actively offensive in its treatment of women and people of colour. Still very white dudey but what isn't? Origins: Wolverine is way better than X3. X3 managed to be a boring action movie. Origins has a GOAT credits run, followed by some fun Weapon X stuff before getting bad. And even the bad is fun like him riding a motorcycle off a ramp to cut through a helicopter. Liev Schreiber is great. The movie is a mess but at least it's a compulsively watchable one with high points. The Wolverine is the best flick in the franchise. It takes the elements of a ronin story that work well with the character and ramps it up to a world with crazy powers. Rila Fukishima is the best and the actress who plays Mariko isn't bad either. You'd never realize it was either's first film. And shockingly good racial/gender politics. I even love the last stretch...

This sums it up. Deadpool (and to a lesser extent Harley) have caught on with the internet crowd through memes and the like. As such, while their comics receive a modest boost in sales, they're also absurdly popular with people who have probably never paid actual money for a comic but will pay to see their movies when they're out. The general popularity is way higher than basically anyone not Batman and arguably the established movie Avengers.

Yeah. That was Winick's good little four to five issue run writing Dick was. Azrael was pretty good and a surprisingly challenging book that went to some dark places. Unfortunately due to low orders the last trade didn't get produced so if you're reading that way you miss the prophecy payoff and jump to him being kind of a villain again back in Batman without much in the way of an explanation. It's hella frustrating that they didn't print that trade is what I'm saying. See also the final volume of Manhunter.