The Unholy Dragon
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Posts posted by The Unholy Dragon
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I'm not far in yet (just past Deathstroke) but the variety of boss battles and the crime scene reconstruction are worth the money alone to me. Super pumped to face Shiva too.
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Goddammit Cartoon Network.I'm almost wondering if DC should just say fuck it and aim their next shows at the same target audience as their movies. Um, officially.
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Yeeeeeeeah, I'm a sucker for the PA formula, and this one looks to offer enough variation to satisfy me.
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So, I love how DC's announcement strategy was basically "BATMAN! WE PUBLISH BATMAN! SCOTT SNYDER DOING ALL THE BATMAN! WEEKLY BATMAN LEAD BY SNYDER! STEPHANIE BROWN BACK IN BATMAN! FRANK MILLER DOING BATMAN! DETECTIVE COMICS 27 TO CELEBRATE 75 YEARS OF BATMAN! MANAPUL AND BUCCELETTO ON DETECTIVE COMICS STARRING BATMAN! BATMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"I mean, Snyder's Batman is pretty easily the biggest hit of the New 52 from both a critical and commercial perspective. Batman's their biggest moneymaker and stacking the deck on the Bat-books will probably pay off well for them financially. The weekly Batman series sounds super cool, and the idea of doing it like a TV show with multiple writers working under a single 'showrunner' is a great concept in theory. Snyder being king of that kingdom works for me too. And the Flash has been one of their other big critical successes, so I'm looking forward to seeing that team on a character I care about (To clarify: Love the Flash, hate Barry). Detective 27 sounds AMAZING too. Basically it's just funny how their way of garnering positive press is just 100% "LOOK AT THESE AWESOME BATMAN BOOKS!" this time out. That and having Scott Snyder write all of it, because he's quickly becoming their new Geoff Johns with the bonus of being a better writer.
Nice of them to give Kyrax the moment for the Steph announcement though.
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You know, I still feel they should have used the Batman Beyond skin as an alt for Nightwing. Way closer size/style-wise.
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Somehow this fell to page 2. Bumping to get that interest up. In, btw. I'll have a pick ASAP.
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Yeah, I took a look but didn't see the thread. I think it got lost in the shuffle.
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Is HH live? Did I miss it AGAIN? *panic*
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Yeah. I mean, it's easy enough to get on Loeb for being an absolutely terrible writer for years now. Or for the hilarious failure to deliver more than a 0 issue for Captain America: White (though I'll admit that one could very well be a Tim Sale thing).
Sam Alexander being a proxy for Loeb's dead son isn't any weirder than Courtney Whitmore (Stargirl) being a proxy for Geoff Johns' dead sister. So let's not use that as a sticking point and instead go with every other reason Jeph Loeb is terrible in 2013.
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Man, I can't fathom somebody not enjoying Atomic Robo. Especially when you enjoy Hellboy, given that Robo is really basically science Hellboy with more quipping.
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So I worked out my October viewing schedule tonight, the better to open things up to my friends. A lot of franchise marathoning, and Halloween still isn't set in stone yet (we run an annual movie marathon, so I picked one already, going to pick a second, and then the third will be a group vote). Here's what I got (by date, with marathon days worked around my days off of Thurs/Fri/Sun).
1- Halloween (1979)
2- Friday the 13th (2009), Jason X
3- [.REC], [.REC2][.REC3]: Genesis
4- Death Bell, Ju-on
5- Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
6- Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth
7- Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
8- Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master
9- Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child
10- Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, New Nightmare, Freddy vs. Jason
11- Paranormal Activity 1-4
12- Sinister
13- Hellraiser: Bloodline, Hellraiser: Inferno, Hellraiser: Hellseeker
14- A Tale of Two Sisters
15- Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night
16- The Hole, Session 9
17- ABCs of Death, V/H/S, V/H/S/2
18- Carrie (2013)
19- Dead Silence
20- Hellraiser: Deader, Hellraiser: Hellworld, Hellraiser: Revelations
21- Martyrs
22- YellowBrickRoad
23- Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shock Treatment
24- Within the Woods, Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness
25- Evil Dead (2013), Evil Dead: The Musical, Army of Darkness (Director’s Cut)
26- Mama (short), Imprint
27- 1408, Grave Encounters, Mama
28- Audition
29- Hard Candy
30- The Midnight Meat Train, In the Mouth of Madness
31- Trick r Treat, ?, ?
Some things are favourites. Some are blank filling. Some are first time views. Thoughts on what to add, remove, etc.? With some explanation so I can decide whether to actually implement please.
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Infinite Kung Fu is just...the best.
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I did really like the storyline Alan Davis did near the end with Apocalypse and the Twelve. I think Davis tun was pretty underrated in general.
Yesssssss. They finally did a collection series of the Shattering/Twelve/Ages of Apocalypse stuff and it totally rules. I wish they'd collect some of the leadup too as the stuff between Zero Tolerance and the Twelve is both really good and does a lot to build that. A lot of late 90s X-Men is way better than it gets credit for being in general, honestly. Though considering Spider-man has the same thing, maybe it's just a late 90s Marvel thing.
But yeah, what makes Apocalypse so damn clever is that he's the rare mastermind who actually has a REASON not to throw down directly often. Too often it's just like "If this guy is THAT MUCH MORE POWERFUL then why bother with lackeys?" but Apocalypse believes in survival of the fittest and in testing people to prove them worthy...if he believes he's more or less the apex predator, then testing them against himself would always find them wanting. Creating levelled tests provides him something of a bar by which he can ensure the survivors are worthy without killing them himself (something he'd see as certain). He's not without pragmatism though, as he was totally willing to team up to murder someone like Stryfe or Onslaught who were powerful enough to kill everyone and break the system. Dude is all about making things work.Remender's done a pretty great turn with the Apocalypse mythos as well.
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After a second viewing of You're Next:
There is SO MUCH in the way of build for all the twists, but a lot of it banks on you not knowing what to look for. Stuff like Crispian looks concerned that Erin is going next door for milk. I took it as him being overprotective on first watch, but nope. He just doesn't want her to find the corpses and blow the whole deal. Awesome.
Still absolutely loved it.Insidious 2 is a really good build on the original too. Rather than the broad scope stuff, it tightens the focus to a couple ghosts and manages to make the Further scary as well as delivering some good real world terror as well. I need a second viewing though. I was sitting behind obnoxious teenagers on my first showing and there were definitely a couple points where people screamed so loudly en masse that I couldn't follow what was being said on screen. Really enjoyed it though and it really feels more like an extension of the first than a sequel.
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So, I came in at the ending of Miz-Fandango. Which basically means I missed everything I was dreading and got everything I wanted to see.Punk vs. Axel-Heyman was just...man, Axel is just SUCH a heat sink that it's amazing they managed to get that much from it. It's infuriating because he has so many of the tools to succeed that he's almost taunting us with how terrible and heatless he is. Punk treats him like the afterthought he is and gets set up to kill the guy who's big enough to be a payoff but not as protected as Brock. Eh, it works.Dolph vs. Ambrose was about as fun as a 10 minute singles match gets. Tag Title match was a blast too. The Shield were ON tonight and all their opponents were game. The main event just ruled. Orton's best showing in forever and the crowd was so into Bryan. The multi-Tope Suicidas was the best thing but the finishing sequence rocked it hard too.Great show from what I saw. I'll just act like everyone else should and pretend the rest didn't happen.
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We should just have contentious year/title discussions. I'm first in line when Cena's 2007 comes up as a GOAT discussion.
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Hell of a show live. First wrestling show I've been to since RoH's Northern Navigation back in 2007. Goldust-Orton and Amrbose-Bryan were just the best. Some solid stuff otherwise too.There was a guy in a Randy Savage outfit, so if you heard Savage chants? That's why. If you heard "Kill the Miz" chants, that was my section.Also, post-show Heyman/Axel had a match with Punk. Nothing match, but beforehand Heyman came out, said he was going to drop a pipe bomb about CM Punk, then sat cross legged in the middle of the ring and cut a promo. Part of which was "Since all you Canadians are godless heathens, you probably don't know that the Eleventh Commandment is 'Thou shalt not chant CM Punk'" Paul Heyman is the best.
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It was nice to see that You're Next! had a brain in it's head and it was pretty awesome to see Ti West get killed slasher style, but there were a couple of plot points that bothered me..
I knew by the time that the first body fell that the attack was probably an inside job and the movie just telegraphs FELIX IS THE LITTLE SHIT~! when he yammers on during the family panic that the killers are using a jammer to keep them from calling out on their cell phones. Why don't you just confess right there, dude?
It was smart to put a modern spin on the whole PHONES ARE DEAD gimmick in slasher movies that keeps the action encapuslated in one set piece, but why not just have a simple scene out in the forrest where you see a black-gloved hand flip the switch on some device and trust the audience to be smart enough (or at least indoctrinated enough into horror movies) to figure out that the killers are somehow jamming the cell phones?
Felix and Zee were suspect to begin with but there was no need to put them on the radar so early. However, I didn't see the other brother's involvment coming. That was surprising or at least I didn't want to believe he was in on the plot.
Also, why didn't the killers use that old fuck's house as a base of operations and clean up after themselves? I know their plan was to go all ILS and make it seem like a random bunch of hooligans were responsible, but couldn't you turn off the stereo and hide the fat guy's body until AFTER you killed the other family? The coincidental after effect of the record player luring the sister to the neighbor's house just in time for the obligatory find the bodies / meet your grisly demise scene was so slasher movie cliche that it was unbelievable.
Other than that, yeah, nice to see a smart slasher movie with a survivor girl that fucking rules.
Speaking of Ti West, the scene at dinner where Drake (actor / director / fellow Collective member Joe Swanberg) makes fun of Tariq's chosen profession (director of art films) was fucking great, but I was a little disappointed that Drake suggests that Tariq direct commercials. It would've been a better inside joke if Drake had suggested that Tariq direct horror movies.
RE: Spoilery stuff.
I think it was more to do with Felix babbling because he was clearly not super in control. It was also a good shorthand moment to show that the dude is into some fucked up stuff and his family clearly knows it. As for the lack of home base deal, I kinda felt that despite being reasonably proficient, the killers also had kind of a sick flair for the theatrical. Which is to say, they got too into the role. I see where you're coming from, but none of that stuff really bothered me honestly. If anything, the on-the-nose tip about it being an inside job should have been the early "So my family is REALLY FUCKING RICH NOW" line. In hindsight, that was some potent foreshadowing.
Other thing I love? Dad going off in 'get righteous vengeance' mode...only to get killed effortlessly because being mad doesn't make you any better at tracking and killing someone.
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Earth 2 has proven, JLA aside, JDR hasn't lost it. Could be real good.
Frankly, the last issue of his JLA run was close to brilliant as well. There were flashes of greatness throughout. It just never quite got there.
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HHH vs. Taz while both held World belts was fun, even though there's the subliminal message that WWF is greater than ECW. I mean, whatever; it gave Taz one of his few big post-'99 moments, and that's pretty cool.
I feel like we're the equivalent of those scientists that try to prove things like "Beer Goggles are real." We're gathering all this data, and at the end most everyone's going to go, "Yeah, Triple H had a good 2000."
I'd be interested in a thread that lists all the good quad-tear Haitch matches and compares them to, say, post-neck surgery Edge or something. I mean, it can't just be nepotism that kept Triple H in dominance mode throughout the '00s, right? Do other wrestlers (besides Bret) think he's good?
Well, what I heard was that Austin demanded to put him over in 01 because he felt he was the best wrestler in the company at the time (despite conventional logic having Austin win the blowoff to their feud), but I can't remember the source so who knows how valid that is? I suspect a lot of it comes down to him being one of the few major Attitude Era main event names not to retire in 02-03 as well as his tendancy to attend booking meetings and talk to Vince, as noted in his interview.
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They do, but they have exceptions where they make sense. Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Black Bolt and Medusa. I could go on. They keep the big franchise players like Spider-man and Wolverine single, but they allow characters to be married where it makes sense.DC's just like "Nope. Fuck it. No marriage ever forever for anyone." It's stubborn, ridiculous, and stupid.
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On one hand, the Armageddon Six Man was very good.On the other hand, it also had Austin, Rock, Angle, Taker, and Rikishi in there, so I don't know how much of that can be directly attributed to HHH.
A few of the non-bolded matches aren't so much 'bad' as 'not exceptional' as well, with some of them still in the ***1/2-**** range for those who like star ratings. Easily good enough to hang in the good-great range.He clearly had an amazing PPV year, as well as some standout TV matches that are remembered fondly. I know there's the TV argument but how many TV matches from 2000 do you remember from Rock? Benoit? Jericho? Anyone? PPV is easy because it's got the big stage and results on Wikipedia to reference. I don't know how many wrestlers who have more than a handful of universally remembered great TV matches 13 years later.I dunno. I kinda feel like I'd need an argument for someone with a better 2000 than HHH. And PPV-wise, there aren't many contenders in WWE.
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The Batwoman thing bugs me less than the Harley one frankly. I mean, the misresporting is arguably worse, but the Harley one is just...it's HARLEY! Her WHOLE EXISTENCE has been Looney Tunes violence against women, with her defining herself in relation to Joker and willingly playing the Judy to his Punch. She's not really a strong female character (though she's a great one) and her trying to off herself (or finding herself in ludicrously precarious situations) totally works. Yes, she's naked in one scene. That is because she's in a bath. People are usually naked in the bath. There's also a lot of "MEN ABUSING FICTIONAL WOMEN" talk, which ignores the fact that Amanda Conner is the co-writer. And they've stated a desire to have a Deadpool-esque tone with the book.It's just like...has the whole world gone fucking crazy?And frankly, making stupid arguments like these causes the valid criticisms to be dismissed.It's just...ugh. And I've had to say this three times on my Facebook in the last 24 hours. One of my friends commented that it's hilarious to see me getting madder each time it comes up.
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Yeah, if they wanted to go ahead and have Landau as Romana in the show itself, I'd be cool with that.
DC Comics omnibus thread
in READING & WRITING
Posted
Finally read the newest issue of Zero Year. I suspect this'll end up becoming my favourite origin take once it's all said and done.
That said, I find Year One wildly overrated (albeit still great) so ymmv.