RANT: Civil War Thoughts

Civil War is starting to piss me off. I'm warning you now that discussion of this week's releases, including ASM #535, Civil War Frontline #6 and others will follow. So read the rest of this post at your peril.
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Joe Quesada, Tom Brevoort, Mark Millar and a host of others have been saying for almost a year that Civil War would tell a balanced story. Both sides would be shown as principled, neither side would be 'the bad guys'. Well a little more than halfway throrugh the event and Marvel's braintrust has been revealed to be bold-faced liars.

Think I'm being too harsh? Here are some examples of just how badly the Pro-Registration side has been acting.

EXAMPLE - Amazing Spiderman 535. Reed Richards tells of a beloved uncle, a writer, called before Joesph McCarthy's HUAC committee. Reed's uncle refused to testify, was blacklisted and died a broken man soon after. Okay nothing too crazy there, until you see that Reed is using Uncle Fantastic to illustrate that nobody is above the law. So JMS' example of why you should respect the rule of law is an uncle that flipped McCarthy and HUAC the bird? Why not go whole hog and put him in the S.S. and show him "just following orders" as an example. There are literally dozens of examples I could have come up with to illustrate why you should comply with the law, and I'm not a professional writer. Why would JMS use what is clearly, other than the Nazi scenario I cited, the worst possible analogy imaginable? Because he isn't really interested in showing Iron Man's side in anything approaching a positive light.

EXAMPLE - Civil War 4, AMS 535 & Frontline 6. The Negative Zone prison. Tony gives Peter a tour of the facility and makes it very clear that the people there are there for the duration. Since the prison isn't on American soil you have no rights once you're there. Now for the moment I'm going to ignore the ham-fisted polemics about modern American policy here (that's a rant for a different day) and focus on the subtle details. In both instances where the Prison is shown, ASM and Frontline, several inmates are clearly identified. All are in small, dank cells with dirt floors and will remain there until they Register or die. All of them are characters we would, previously, called 'good-guys'. Why? Why not show some of the bad guys that refuse to register when we tour the prison? Because all of the really bad apples have been recruited into the new Thunderbolts. The Pro-Reg side has the 'good guys' sleeping on dirt floors, while simultaneously drafting the baddest of the bad into a Cape-Killer unit. Jenkis and Straczynski could have shown someone, say The Absorbing Man, that truly deserved to be incarcerated for life. Instead they only show heroes at the detention center. Why not just show Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic runnning over kittens while you're at it.

There are a ton of other examples I could make. But when you get right down to it every time Quesada or Millar or anyone else at Marvel tells the public that they give both sides equal shrift they are lying.

TV Reviews - Week of September 17th

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - Pilot - Aaron Sorkin's return to TV in this semi-autobiographical look at a fictional late-night TV sketch comedy show is classic Sorkin. The dialouge moves at light speed and the characters seem to be in constant motion. The characters are flawed and conflicted yet, after even one episode, they are also endearing. I'm not sure how long the novelty of seeing the inner workings of SNL-West will last, but for now this looks like a winner. 4/5

Smith - Pilot - I loves me some heist movies, but as I said in my Fall TV preview, that love doesn't necessarily translate to the small screen. Smith, while better than Thief or Heist, still didn't blow me away. The episode was presented in almost reverse chronological order, with the botched getaway shown at the start of the episode and the details leading up to that point filled in as the show progressed. While I usually like the Rashomon/Memento approach in this case it felt like time filler more than anything else. The performances are all top notch, and some of the characters seem likeable, but overall I felt 'meh'. 3/5

Jericho - Pilot - Of all the series concepts I read about this spring this was the one that excited me the most. The rural town of Jericho, Kansas suddenly loses all communications and when the residents look to the western sky they see a mushroom cloud where Denver should be. The townsfolk, convincingly rural without crossing over into hick territory, deal with the situation in a variety of ways, most of which feel realistic. I'm not sure what kind of legs this show has but the first episode was good enough to warrant another look. 3/5

My Name is Earl - Very Bad Things - I was originally worried when the producers said that Earl wouldn't revolve around the list as much this season. After this episode I'm not quite as worried anymore. Earl decides to take Joy's side in an argument for the first time ever, resulting in Joy stealing a truck fom the local furniture store. Earl and Joy spend a while trying to dispose of the truck before they discover that one of the store employees had been trapped in the truck the whole time. Earl was (maybe) the best new show of '05 and this episode continues the excellence. 4/5

The Hot List - Week of September 27th

I apologize for the lack of updates but apparently my phone line was attacked by a family of Gremlins hopped up on PCP.

DC
52 Week #21
Action Comics #843
American Way #8
Batman #657
Blue Beetle #7
Jack Of Fables #3
Justice League Of America #2
Ninja Scroll #1
Secret Six #4
Supergirl And The Legion Of Super-Heroes #22
Teen Titans #39
Trials Of SHAZAM #2
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #3

Image
Invincible #35

Marvel
Amazing Spider-Man #535
Cable Deadpool #32
Captain America #22
Civil War Front Line #6
Civil War Young Avengers & Runaways #3
Daredevil #89
Heroes For Hire #2
She-Hulk 2 #12
Ultimate Spider-Man #100
Ultimates 2 #12
X-Men #191

Holy crap thats a lot of books. The last few weeks have been absolutely insane comics-wise.

Blue Beetle has officially gone to 'wait for the trade' status, and its dangerously close to 'I'll read the reviews online' status.

Ninja Scrolls is one of my favorite animated movies of all time, but I'm just not sure how good it will be as a comic.

Civil War - Young Avengers/Runaways hasn't really added anything to the overall CW story yet, but its still been a fun read. Stefano Casseli's art has been a very pleasant surprise.

Be still my beating heart. Ultimates #12 is actually coming out this week?

Random Thoughts

The Patty Cockrum post on Blog@Newsarama is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Suspension of Disbelief if normally a good thing, but to get that wrapped up in a character (or characters) that neither she nor her husband created is just... I don't know. Sad? Creepy? Absurd?

52 took four of the top nine slots on the August sales charts, each selling over 116,000 copies. Wow. Did anyone at DC think this book would sell these kind of numbers?

Sony's keynote address at the Tokyo Game Show was apparently so dull and uninteresting that the bloggers and journalists in attendance began nodding off during the speech. Has Sony gotten anything right in the last year?

Filming has begun on Richard Matheson's I Am Legend in New York City. For some reason they're changing it from a lone, thoroughly average survivor living in the outskirts of a city, to a military man living alone in Manhattan. So instead of remaking I Am Legend they are actually remaking The Omega Man. Why? I Am Legend is a great story that would translate perfectly as a movie. Why change it so drastically? This is the third time its being made into a movie, and the third time its being drastically changed. Makes no sense.

Black Stone Cherry's self-titled album may be the best debut album I've hear in years. Great, blusey rock.

The trailer for Frank Miller's 300 is a must see.

"Tonight, we dine in Hell"

Review Time - Week of September 20th.

Astonishing X-Men #17 - We begin with Kitty cradling the newborn she has just given birth to. She is surrounded by the baby's father, Colossus, and the other X-Men. We jump forward and the baby is now a toddler. The X-Men come to take the baby away since it has some 'terrible power' and Colossus is forced to stop Kitty from fleeing. We jump forward another 18 months and Kitty, having escaped from custody, holds an axe phased into Peter's head to make him tell her where her son is: In a box in the basement.

Of course what we saw wasn't real. It was a psychic episode broadcast into Kitty's mind by The White Queen to make her breach The Manger. What's inside of The Manger? The body of Stuff, a shapeshifting member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard inhabited by the mind of Cassandra Nova, Xavier's evil , unborn twin sister. As Kitty is trying to get into The Manger the scene shifts to S.W.O.R.D. as they recieve word from their 'mole' inside the X-Mansion that Ord and Danger are only a few miles away from the mansion. Who is the Mole? Lockheed! Ord and Danger hit the mansion, inadvertently snapping Wolverine out of his trance in the process. Just as Cassandra is about to inhabit her new body, that of the now unconscious Kitty, The White Queen is shot in the back by a now visor-less and pistol-packing Cyclops.

Maybe I'm just a little slow on the uptake this week, but this issue was just a little confusing at times. I couldn't tell if Cassandra Nova or the classic White Queen was running the show and both Shaw and Negasonic were acting very...odd. I'm fairly sure that the strangeness was intentional, but it was nonetheless annoying. Otherwise this was a great read. Cassaday's work is masterful as always and Whedon peppers the book with great lines and moments. The page where Wolverine comes to his senses, aided by a can of beer, is both funny and masterful. I'm a little annoyed that the whole 'Ernst is Cassandra Nova being taught humanity' thing from Morrison's run is being disregarded, but since the story has been so good I'll let it slide.

Walking Dead #31 - Rick and Michionne are still the Governor's captives, but things in the town of Woodbury are not going well and things get worse when one of the town's 'gladiators' is killed by the other. This forces the Governor to enlist Michionne in his efforts to give the people their bread and circuses. Instead of keeping to the WWE-like script she immediately decapitates her opponent and kills biters that surround them. Rick, still held in the infirmary and short a hand, begins to bond with the Doctor and his attractive female nurse. Meanwhile Martinez, a guard who has become disgusted with the goings on in town, moves to help Rick escape from Woodbury.

Ahh, thats the Walking Dead I know and love. There just haven't been enough decapitations the past few issues for my tastes. The book has fallen into something of a rut ever since the survivors settled into the prison, but this issue feels more like one of the earlier issues where danger seemed omnipresent.

Quick Hits
Civil War #4 - Well the death everyone predicted came to pass. Everyone except for me that is, since I thought it was the too obvious choice.
Checkmate #6 - The Suicide Squad is back and of course one of them dies during the mission. The reason for bringing the mback, while convoluted, makes a lot of sense.
Moon Knight #5 - BADASS!

Looking Forward - Marvel's December Solicitations

The full solicits are up on CBR.

ULTIMATES 2 #13
Written by MARK MILLAR
Pencils & Wraparound Cover by BRYAN HITCH
"GRAND THEFT AMERICA"
The concluding chapter of the much-heralded Millar/Hitch tenure on Ultimates has finally arrived! All the running plot lines come to their cataclysmic end in these pages as the Team Supreme puts everything they've got into a grand finale that will take its place alongside the finest comics of the past decade. Alliances are made and relationships are severed in a tale you simply cannot miss. You have been warned! Part 7 (of 6)

Hahahahah!

CIVIL WAR: WAR CRIMES ONE-SHOT
Written By FRANK TIERI
Pencils by STAZ JOHNSON
Cover by SEAN SCOFFIELD
Wilson Fisk, the incarcerated ex-Kingpin of Crime, has a deal to propose to Iron Man: he'll use his underworld connections to help track down Captain America and his anti-Registration underground in exchange for consideration on his sentence. But can the Kingpin be trusted, or is he playing a deeper game? And how are the criminals of the Marvel Universe being forced to change the way they do business as a result of CIVIL WAR?

Sounds like one of the better ideas to spin out of Civil War so far

newuniversal #1
Written by WARREN ELLIS
Penciled by SALVADOR LARROCA
Planet Earth. Inhabited by six billion people. People leading ordinary lives, coping with everyday struggles. But on a night like any other, the Earth is rocked by the most startling celestial event ever witnessed by the human race. The White Event. And from its wake, a handful of humans emerge as something more.
Acclaimed writer Warren Ellis (NEXTWAVE) and superstar artist Salvador Larroca (X-MEN) bring you this new universe -
a universe witnessing superhuman power for the first time.

This sounds like something right up Ellis' alley. I can't wait for this book


NEXTWAVE: AGENTS OF H.A.T.E. #11
Written by WARREN ELLIS
Pencils and Cover by STUART IMMONEN
"NOT A CIVIL WAR TIE IN"
Freedom or safety? Secrets or celebrity? Iron Man or Captain America? WE DON'T CARE! What care we for freedom OR safety when there are things that need to be kicked and exploded! Yes, "explode" can now be used as a verb. DEAL WITH IT!

Cover of the month

X-MEN #194
Written by MIKE CAREY
Pencils & Cover by CHRIS BACHALO
"PRIMARY INFECTION" Part 1 (of 3)!
Having barely survived their first mission as a team, Rogue's squad immediately find themselves up against another new
mysterious threat! What does the man called Pan want with the X-Men, and what is he willing to do to get it?

Carey's run on Adjectiveless has been great so far, better than Brubaker's on Uncanny and close to Whedon's on Astonishing.

Looking Forward - DC's December Solicitations

DC's December solicits, on CBR.
BATMAN #660 & 661
Written by John Ostrander
Art by Tom Mandrake
Covers by Gregory Lauren

Ostrander is one of the underrated greats and it's good to see him back in the DCU. But this also means the Morrison's run is only one arc, and it seems like this title may go to rotating creative teams.
Update - Apparently Morrison is on Batman for as long as he wants to be, so this is a fill-in arc designed to give him and Kubert some leeway.

BIRDS OF PREY #101
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott & Doug Hazlewood
Cover by Stephane Roux
The new Birds of Prey pay a heavy price as one of their own becomes the target of a government sting designed to put Oracle out of business for good. Even with the added power of her new operatives, can Oracle prevent Manhunter's true identity from being exposed?

Well I guess the mystery of the new lineup isn't a big enough secret to protect in the solicits. The new line-up looks nice, although Huntress is conspiculously absent from the solicitation.

DCU INFINITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Written by Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Bill Willingham, Joe Kelly, Kelley Puckett, Keith Champagne and Ian Boothby
Art by Joe Bennett, John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Ale Garza, Giuseppe Camuncoli and David Lopez.
Cover by Howard Porter
Time to celebrate the holidays with the greatest heroes and rising stars of the DCU! Join Superman, Supergirl, Batwoman, Shazam, Green Lantern, Flash and Shadowpact as they spread the joy of the new season in their own special ways.
This giant sized 80-page Special features stories by Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Bill Willingham, Joe Kelly, Kelley Puckett, Keith Champagne and Ian Boothby and art by Joe Bennett, John Byrne, Jerry Ordway, Ale Garza, Giuseppe Camuncoli and David Lopez.
On sale December 6 o 80 pg, FC, $4.99 US

I love these 80 page anthologies, although they look a lot more attractive when they cost only $1.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7
Written by Keith Champagne
Art by Patrick Gleason & Prentis Rollins
Cover by Gleason & Wayne Faucher

Best cover this month.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Dale Eaglesham & Art Thibert
Cover by Alex Ross
Variant cover by Eaglesham
Determined to rebuild the Justice Society, founding members Green Lantern, Flash and Wildcat initiate an unprecedented recruitment program, tracking the bloodlines of heroes across the world and bringing in the new Starman, Damage, Liberty Belle and more!
But just as the Society welcomes the rookies into their ranks, an evil force sets out to destroy them. Meet new legacies, solve a mystery stretching into the far future, witness the return of the world's greatest hero, and watch another one fall - all in the pages of this fantastic new series!

I've really missed this book.

JUSTICE #9
Written by Jim Krueger & Alex Ross
Art by Doug Braithwaite & Ross
Cover by Ross
The breathaking miniseries by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Alex Ross continues with plenty of surprises! Black Adam! The Marvel Family! And the Justice League's plan to storm their adversaries' stronghold!

Pretty cover, although Black Adam's head is ginormous for some reason.

MYSTERY IN SPACE #4
Written by Jim Starlin Cover by Davis & Banning
Art by Shane Davis & Matt "Batt" Banning and Starlin & Al Milgrom
What happens when the woman who killed you returns to finish the job? Captain Comet finds out the hard way in a cold confrontation with the galaxy-crushing power of Lady Styx! Featuring the unexpected and terrifying return of The Darkstars! Plus, the enigmatic Weird finds deeper mysteries in his search for meaning!

DC is pushing Lady Styx as the big new super-threat. I hope she lives up to the hype.

Spoiler Warning for Tuesday & Wednesday

According to Lying in the Gutters something happens in Civil War#4 that is big enough to get play in the mainstream press. If you want to avoid spoilers be wary when browsing newspapers and news sites until you have Civel War in your hot little hands.

You have been warned!

RANT: On Lateness and LATENESS

A few intersting bits of comedy on Diamond's changed shipping dates report (via Newsarama)

WILDCATS #1 09/27/06 - 10/04/06

Now under normal circumstances a one week delay wouldn't bug me too much. But this is the first issue of a major relaunch of the Wildstorm line of books, and its coming out a full month late? I'm actually not surprised, after all WildCATS is written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Jim Lee, but that also means that DC shouldn't have been surprised either. Yet they solicited this title, a title that was announced at the beginning of the year and rumored for months before then, and with a straight face said "First week of September."

This is not a new problem for comics, but recently it seems to be spiraling out of control. The Great Civil War delay of '06. The 21 issues in 5 years Ultimates. The fill-in artists and unfinished splash page in Infinite Crisis. Young Avengers and Wonder Woman approaching quarterly schedules under Allan Heinberg's pen. Damon Lindelof's Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine 5 issue mini that may never end. I could go on and on.

Comic books are an art, not a science, I know this. But they are also a business, and by allowing books to come out 'when they are ready' the editors and publishers are allowing the inmates to run the asylum. To go back to WildCATS, DC knew that Lee, and to a lesser extent Morrison, are notoriously late, yet they still solicit their book when it obviously was not done. Why? Why not wait until at least the first 4-6 issues are totally finished before soliciting the book? I don't want the end product to be compromised by rushing scripts or bringing in fill-in artists, but the editorial staff has to be wiser when scheduling.

There are bright spots in this regard. Astonishing X-Men was plagued by delays for it's first 'season' so Marvel put it on hiatus for a few months, then brought it back on a bi-monthly schedule to start. It's now (apparently) back on a monthly schedule. They waited until they knew the book would be out on schedule before soliciting it. I still ended up waiting 8 weeks between issues, but at least it came out when promised, just like DC does with Justice. All I'm asking is for the comics companies to be honest with their fans, and to themselves, when they publicize their schedules.

The Hot List - Week of September 20th

DC
52 Week #20
Birds Of Prey #98
Checkmate #6
Flash The Fastest Man Alive #4
Robin #154
Shadowpact #5
Superman #656

Image
Walking Dead #31

Marvel
Astonishing X-Men #17
Civil War #4
Civil War X-Men #3
Exiles #86
Iron Man #12
Moon Knight #5
Nextwave Agents Of HATE #8
Runaways #20
Ultimate Fantastic Four #34
X-Factor #11

Hot damn but that's a mighty mountain of a pull list. I going to have to get cracking on that pyramid scheme to pay for all of this crap.

Bilson and DeMeo get one more issue of Flash to hook me before I bail. For a book subtitled "The Fastest Man Alive" it's pacing has been sloth-like

Astonishing X-Men moves to a monthly schedule and Angels begin to sing.

The long national tragedy is finally over as Civil War #4 finally sees the light of day.

New Lost Info With Video

Apparently the Lost alternate reality game has ended and the full set of clips is up on YouTube, including information on what the numbers actually are.

Enjoy!

For those of you like me that are too important to watch the video our friends at Cinescape have the rundown.

Review Time

52 #19: As recently as one month ago I was complaining about the pacing and the 'even numbered curse' on this book. Oh boy have things changed. All of the storylines seem to moving ahead at breakneck speed (well except for the Steel and Giant Hawkgirl storylines) with enough twists and turns to keep the message boards humming. Skeets (Skeets!) has become more interesting than anyone could've ever expected, and Archbishop Lobo is just inspired. I had reservations about this book when it was announced, but so far it has surpassed all expectations.

Fables #53: Ah, The Snow Queen. Such a bright happy soul :). Its interesting to note how similar Lumi's description of the four plagues matches Al Gore's vision of the future in An Inconvinent Truth. Rodney and Pinnochio's reservations about the plan could be the foreshadowing of a betrayal or it could be a red herring. I'm actually hoping for the latter. Joshua Middleton's back-up story "Porky-Pine Pie" feels like a lost Merrie Melodies short and was the perfect complement to a fairly dark story

New X-Men #30: I was worried when Kyle & Yost took over this book; I thought it would morph into X-23 and her Amazing Friends. After almost a year I can safely say that the New X-Men are in good hands. It feels a lot like an old-school New Mutants story; the kids steal the Blackbird to fight an enemy they should have no business facing, and hijinx ensue. Paco Medina's art fits the tone of the book like a glove.

Quick Hits

Green Lantern #13 - A good story with great art and lots of underlying mysteries. I'm glad DC isn't completely whitewashing Hal's history.
Annihilation #2 - Giffen does a very good job of juggling a bunch of unfamiliar characters in big crowd scenes.

LIST: Top 10 Action Movies of All Time

You know the drill. These are my favorite action movies, not necessarily the best action movies.

A note on genres. What I consider to be an action movie may be a little different than your definition. To me an action movie is one wholly dependant on it's action scenes; if you can remove the action scenes from a movie and it remains watchable then it's not, in my mind, an action movie but a hybrid. Star Wars isn't an action movie it's sci-fi/action, just like Gladiator is drama/action and Lord of the Rings is fantasy/action.

10 - Pirates of the Carribean(2003): I thought this was a ridiculous idea for a movie. It was an entire film based on a mediocre ride at Disneyland for God's sake! But it ended up being a great movie. Johnny Depp spends 2+ hours absolutely chewing the scenery as Captain Jack Sparrow and sailing through some great light-hearted, family friendly action sequences. And Keira Knightly in a corset.

9 - Kill Bill(2003-4): I consider Quentin Tarantino's love letter to 70's pop cinema to be one single film. Mostly so I don't have to choose between which movie had the better fight scenes. The action scenes in this epic are great not only on their own merits but also when taken as the homages they are meant to be by Tarantino.

8 - Enter the Dragon (1973): And we come to our first action movie Icon: Bruce Lee. A revolutionary movie form both an artistic and business perspcetive Enter the Dragon was the first Kung-Fu movie produced by an American studio and most Americans first exposure to the genre. A great movie that is taken to the next level by it's charismatic star. It also features cameos by future stars Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.

7 - Marked for Death (1990): Someone whose only exposure to Steven Seagal has come in the last 8-10 years may laugh at this selection, but back in the day he was the baddest of the badass. Chuck Norris had faded into television obscurity and Jean-Claude Van Damme was more of an exihibition martial artist, but Seagal seemed closer to the real deal than anyone else in film at the time. Marked for Death was in many ways a typical late 80's/early 90's action film: a little martial arts, a little gunplay, and an unambiguously evil nemesis, but somewhere along the way it managed to set itself apart from the herd and stand out as a great flick. Maybe it was Screwface, who was one of the great villains of all time, or the novelty of having a crime family that wasn't Italian, Chinese or Russian, but this is one fun movie.

6 - Commando (1985): Ahhhnoldd. Maybe the greatest action star of all time in a movie that has the greatest one-liner density of any known film. "Remember when I said I'd kill you last? I lied." and after impaling a man on a heating pipe "Why don't you let off some steam." It also features a young Alyssa Milano and Dan Hedaya sporting the worst Spanish accent this side of Al Pacino. It's cheesy, violent and oh so much fun.

5 - Terminator 2 - Judgement Day(1991): The movie that transformed Arnold from a star to an Icon. T2 featured some of the best effects in movie history alongside great action scenes from one of the masters: James Cameron. Loud, violent and innovative T2 is one of the all time greats.

4 - The Matrix(1999): I thought long and hard about whether this one qualified as an action movie. It has a better, more thought provoking story than any movie on the list, but if you take the action scenes out no one would every be able to sit through the whole story. Regarless of how it is classified The Matrix is still one of the most influential action movie of all time. The 'bullet time' effect, commonplace and pedestrian now, was revolutionary at the time and is still one of the best uses of the effect. A landmark film, even if the subsequent sequels were terrible.

3 - Drunken Master 2 (1994): This may be better known by it's American title - Legend of Drunken Master, but regardless of what its called this is the best martial arts movie of all time. Jackie Chan, another Icon, has done great work both before and since, but to me this will always be his Citizen Kane. The fight scenes have Chan's trademark wit and whimsy without being as goofy as, say Rush Hour. The fights are epic, sprawling and brutal, really words cannot properly convey how awesome this movie is.

2 - Die Hard 3(1995): I'm especially partial to this film since New York is my town and she gets a starring role in it. I have a deep, almost unnatural love for all of the Die Hard movies, but this one occupies a special place in my heart. Like all great movies this one is timeless, you can watch it at 15 or 50 and still have a great time.

1 - Raiders of the Lost Ark(1981): The apex of action cinema. There really is nothing bad that I could say about this movie. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's ode to movie cliffhangers of yore is simply one of the best movies, of any genre, of all time.

Honorable Mention: Die Hard 1(1988) & 2 (1990), Indiana Jones 2(1984) & 3(1989), Cliffhanger (1993), Spider-Man 1(2002) & 2(2004), True Lies (1994), Predator (1987), Rush Hour 1(1998) & 2(2001), The Running Man (1987), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Speed ()

Nintendo Wii Details Announced

The details from today's press conference in New York:

• The Wii will launch on Sunday, November 19th in North America and Saturday, December 2nd in Japan.
• The system will sell for $250 and come packaged with one Wiimote, one nunchuck attachment and a copy of Wii Sports.
• First Party games will cost $50. There will be 20 launch titles and 30 titles by the end of the year.
• It will NOT play DVD movies.
• Free online service, although none of the U.S. launch titles will be playable online. Web browsing available through a version of the Opera browser.
• Virtual Console will have 30 games available at launch. Prices will range from $5-$10.
• Extra Wiimotes will be $40, with nunchuck attachments and 'classic' controllers selling for $20
• Zelda - Twilight Princess will launch with the system, but Metroid has been delayed until 2007

Thoughts:
$250 with a pack-in game is a sweet deal, although $60 for an extra Wiimote-nunchuck combo is pretty steep.

No online games at launch is a bad sign.

$5 for NES games sounds a bit high until you realize that Microsoft is charging that for Pac-Man.

All in all this sounds like a great launch if they can deliver on anything close to what they have promised.

Review: Black Label Society - Shot to Hell

Black Label Society, fronted by the legendary Zakk Wylde, is the apex of modern Metal: melodic, haunting and heavy. Powerful, rhythmic and deep. BLS eschews the overproduced, pre-packaged trends in favor of three things most metal artists fear: depth, emotion and actual singing.

From the first whammy-barred chords of Concrete Jungle to the almost dirge-like Blood is Thicker than Water, Zakk shows why he is one of the few living souls to have earned the title Rock God. While Shot to Hell lacks the high intensity power ballads of previous BLS albums it more than makes up for it with haunting laments and musical range. Where 2003's Blessed Hellride felt like an album written for an arena tour, Shot to Hell fells like it was composed for an intimate club preformances. Like their namesake Scotch Black Label Society only gets better with age.

5 out of 5

A New DC vs. Capcom Fighting Game?

Oh. Hells. Yeah.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was a great goofy fighting game. Beloved Marvel characters fighting classic (and not so classic) Capcom characters, all set to one of the oddest soundtracks ever heard on a fighting game. Some "purists" derided it as a button masher; maybe because it was a button masher, but it was a fun button masher. Now this is just a rumor so I'm not getting my hopes up too much, but this could be great fun, especially if Capcom actually gets off their collective asses and makes a new fighting engine.

Original Simpsons Shorts Available for Download

(H/T Joel @ TV Squad)

For you youn'uns that didn't know; The Simpsons began life as shorts on the long defunct Tracey Ullman Show, which was one of the original shows on the fledgling Fox network.

Wow. Time has not been kind to these shorts. That said these are still fascinating just from a historical perspective, like watching Larry Fishburn on Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

The Hot List

DC COMICS
52 WEEK #19
AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #44
EX MACHINA #23
FABLES #53
FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #29
GREEN ARROW #66
GREEN LANTERN #13
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #4
JLA CLASSIFIED #27
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2 (OF 8)

IMAGE COMICS
TRUTH JUSTIN & AMERICAN WAY #4

MARVEL COMICS
ANNIHILATION #2 (OF 6)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
INCREDIBLE HULK #98
MS MARVEL #7
NEW X-MEN #30
THUNDERBOLTS #106
ULTIMATE X-MEN #74

After a few sketchy issues 52 is really starting to live up to it's promise. The cast is pretty large but I like, and root for, all of them. The art has also gotten better and more consistent as the weeks have progressed.

It's good to see DC is bringing back Green Lantern Quarterly...What? You mean it's not supposed to be quarterly? Oh.

None of the Annihilation minis grabbed me, but I was really into the first issue of the main series. I'm dying to see how they get around the last page of #1.

The Justice League by Alex Ross

Because it just looks cool.

Palmiotti & Gray Exclusive to DC.

It was announced at the Baltimore Con this weekend. While I'm happy for Jimmy and Justin, they are two good writers, I think this trent towards exclusive contracts is bad for the fans and maybe for the industry as a whole.

Ask yourself: Who is the highest profile writer that is NOT under an exclusive deal? Stuart Moore? Rick Remender? I like the work of the two men I just mentioned but when they are the two biggest names that work in both Big sandboxes something is off kilter with the industry.

LIST: Top 10 Horror Movies of All Time

As with all lists these are my 10 favorite horror movies, not necessarily the 10 best of all time.

10 - Blair Witch Project (1999): Some people absolutely hated this movie, but I really liked it. It was slow at times but I think it did a masterful job of building tension. As a city boy the fear of being lost, really and truly lost, hits clost to home. A movie like this was the perfect storm of concept, execution and viral marketing and likely will never be duplicated.

9 - Evil Dead (1981): Confession time. I saw Army of Darkness before I saw Evil Dead 1 or 2, so I went in thinking this would be a low budget version of it's sequel. Oh boy was I wrong. Evil Dead has a wicked sense of humor, but it's still a straight-up brutal horror movie. It gleefully soaks the viewer in blood and gore without ever tipping over into brutality.

8 - Se7en (1997): I've had actual arguments about whether Se7ev is a horror movie or not. To me any movie designed to scare that stars a monster can be considered a horror movie. To some friends a horror movie needs some element of the fantastic or supernatural; anything that lacks that element is a 'thriller'. Whether you consider Se7ev to be horror or a thriller it's still a great, scary movie. David Fincher's dystopic view of city life felt a little forced to me, but I can see how powerful it would be to someone that hadn't grown up in a major city.

7 - The Ring (2002): Yes this is the American remake version; I never saw the original Japanese version of Ringu. The individual elements of this movie may not be great, but they combine to form a very entertaing whole. And I love a good urban legend tale.

6 - Dawn of the Dead (1978): There are several Romero movies that I could have put on this list, but Dawn has always been my personal favorite. The combination of over-the-top gore and social commentary just blends perfectly here; the message is just subtle enough to enjoy it as just a zombie flick or as an indictment of our consumer culture.

5 - The Thing (1982): Like most of the great horror movies of all time John Carpenter's The Thing plays off primal, basic fears; in this case isolation. Everything in this movie reinforces the fact that they are alone in every sense of the word. Like almost every other film on this list the effects stand the test of time; Carpenter knew his limitations and worked around them instead of against them.

4 - Suspiria (1977): I had heard of Dario Argento but until about three years ago I had never actually seen one of his films. One night Suspiria was showing on IFC and I was blown away. The story is fairly basic but the visual execution is like nothing else I've ever seen. Most horror films reside in the gray - brown - black end of the visual spectrum, whereas Suspiria looks like the crayon box exploded. The palette used gives the whole movie a fantastic, dream-like quality that is to this day still pretty unique in the world of horror movies.

3 - Alien (1979): Another classic concept honed to perfection by a great director. Alien earns a place on this list, as well as the upcoming Sci-Fi list, because it was one of the first 'realistic' space movies. Gone were the transporters, friendly aliens and robots of ambiguous sexuality; in was a gritty, claustrophobic space craft that resembled a 19th century steamer more than the Enterprise. Like many of the legendary horror classics Alien scares you more with what you don't see, letting the imagination run wild with speculation. The chestbuster scene is still one of the most memorable in the history of cinema.

2 - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Little known fact: The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre wasn't very bloody. The teens were killed off in some brutal ways, but there was very little actual blood on-screen in the movie. This was, of course, the birth of the modern slasher flick, and it may be the best example of the sub-genre. This movie actually got better in my eyes after seeing the abysmal remake from a few years ago, which was paradoxically both gory as hell and completely neutered.

1 - The Exorcist (1973): The pinnacle of scary movies. There is almost no blood. The characters aren't confined to a small or unfamiliar place. No 'monster' is stalking the characters. The Exorcist manages to be the most terrifying movie ever comitted to film without any of the three major devices of a horror movie. The fear in this movie is more basic: a mother with a sick child whom modern science cannot even diagnose much less cure. The war between Fathers Damien & Merrin and The Demon is secondary to the fear one has when a loved one is ill and just won't get better.

Only three out of the top ten were produced after 1982, and only one in the 21st century.

Honorable Mention - Event Horizon (1997), Aliens (1988), Nightbreed (1990), Last House on the Left (1972), Silence of the Lambs (1992), Jaws (1976), Nightmare on Elm Street (1986), The Silent Hill games (not the movie!)

The Path to 9/11 and Freedom of Speech

I normally try to keep my political viewpoints on the back burner, if not out of sight, here on The Nerdly Arts, but this just has to be said.

This weekend ABC will be airing "The Path to 9/11". A furor erupted when Bill Clinton and members of his administration began to lobby ABC to change the film. Depending on which side of the political spectrum you inhabit Clinton was either trying to get factual errors in the film corrected or attempting to whitewash his administration's terrorism policies. Now I'm somewhat conservative to I tend to believe the latter; I think Clinton was trying to polish his legacy while paving the way for his wife's Presidential run in '08. While I think Clinton is wrong to lobby to change a movie he has every right to do so. The same thing with a group of Left wing bloggers who are organizing a 'google bombing' in protest; I think it's hypocritical and wrongheaded but it their perogative.

Then I read this. A letter from the Democratic leadership in the Senate basically threatening the broadcast licences of ABC and it's affiliates if they broadcast the movie. It may be the most overt act of extortion I've ever seen. Here are some relevant quotes

The Communications Act of 1934 provides your network with a free broadcast license predicated on the fundamental understanding of your principle obligation to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in serving the public interest. Nowhere is this public interest obligation more apparent than in the duty of broadcasters to serve the civic needs of a democracy by promoting an open and accurate discussion of political ideas and events.

Should Disney allow this programming to proceed as planned, the factual record, millions of viewers, countless schoolchildren, and the reputation of Disney as a corporation worthy of the trust of the American people and the United States Congress will be deeply damaged. We urge you, after full consideration of the facts, to uphold your responsibilities as a respected member of American society and as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves to cancel this factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

This is the legislative equivalent of walking up to a motorist, showing him a gun and saying "Give me your car." Threatening to take down an entire broadcast network if they don't conform to your political orthodoxy in such a public way is the most sickeningly corrupt act I've ever seen.

The Playstation Death Spiral

A year ago at this time I was telling a friend that Sony and it's Playstation 3 would absolutely win the next round of the console war, barring a major disaster or screw-up by Sony.

As of today Sony has officially screwed-up, and it is a spectacular disaster.

The news: The PS3 will not launch in Europe until Spring 2007. Sony also announced that there will be only 400K units for the North American launch and 100K units for the Japanese launch.

400,000 units means your chances of scoring a unit this year in the U.S. is only slightly better than the odds of winning the lottery. And Japan? There probably won't be one system per game store there. Disaster may be too mild a word for this.

BKV & Alphonia Leaving Runaways

From Newsarama:

There will be a more in-depth article about this soon, but it sounds like Marvel.com is posting an announcement today, and I wanted you guys to hear it first. Anyway, I'm not one for burying the lead, so...

After working together on the series for more than four years, Adrian Alphona and I will be leaving Runaways with Issue #24.

And no, this is absolutely not because of creative differences. I love editor Nick Lowe like a kid brother, and Joe Quesada and everone at Marvel have obviously been nothing short of insanely supportive of our little book since the first page of the first issue.

This was entirely my idea. While Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina have planned endings, I've always said that I hoped Runaways would last forever, long after I left the series. I never wanted Runaways to become a vanity book that was dependent on its original creators' involvement; I wanted our kids to be able to eventually run away from us, and find new life apart from their "parents."

I can say with a great deal of confidence that these next five issues are the pinnacle of the series, and Adrian and I decided that the best thing for the Runaways would be to hand them off to new creators on this high note, rather than risk overstaying our welcome until we ran ourselves--and the book--into the ground.

I love these characters more than you can possibly imagine, and I swear I wouldn't abandon them unless I knew for a fact that they were going to end up with the very best creative team possible. Marvel will be announcing that new team in about a week, and to say that you guys will be thrilled is probably an understatement.

As for Adrian and me, we've already started talking about possible new projects to work on together. I'd really like to take time to give birth to a few more creator-owned books, and I hope you Runners will follow us wherever we end up next.

No one thought Runaways would last six months, but after nearly forty issues and a few Eisner nominations, our sales are still going up (especially with the digest collections in bookstores), making our series one of the most successful comics starring all-new characters to be launched by any major company in recent memory. I'm extremely proud of the entire Runaways team, some of whom will definitely be sticking with our kids, and I'm so grateful to all the undyingly loyal readers out there, the best group of friends a comic book could hope for.

Keep running,
BKV [Ed- All emphasis mine]

Sad, sad news. Runaways is one of the best titles out there, and one of the few that is truly all-ages. It's also quite probably the most successful book starring wholly original characters in a very, very long time at either of the Big 2.

I think the quote about creator owned books is particularly telling. Now that he's leaving Runaways Vaughn will be exclusively on creator owned works, and one of those, Y: The Last Man is ending in less than a year. Maybe Mark Millar's comments about the exodus from comics to Hollywood was more prescient than I originally thought.

Random Thoughts

Man I cannot wat for the new TV shows to start. Rescue Me and Always Sunny... on FX and Eureka on SciFi have been good, but this summer TV season just seemed to go on forever.

Saints Row is a blast, but all I can think of while playing is "How awesome is Grand Theft Auto 4 going to be?" The dialouge in particular isn't bad, but it just seems a little off compared to San Andreas.

All-Star Batgirl? Does she really rate an All-Star treatment? To be perfectly honest I like Cassie Cain-Batgirl and Babs Gordon-Oracle more than I like Babs Gordon-Batgirl.

Every week there seems to be some piece of news that makes me want a PS3 even less. But looking at the sparse list of exclusive titles pretty much kills any desire I had for the system, even if I had $500-$600 to blow on it.

In 10 years will Civil War be known more for the story it's telling or the Great Marvel Delay of Aught-Six?

I like that Lost's creators, and ABC, took fan criticism of the show's erratic scheduling to heart, but a 13 week gap in the middle of a season is borderline ridiculous.

New Audioslave this week, new Black Label Society next week. The rock gods are smiling.

You know what movie should be remade? Clash of the Titans. It could be the next LotR if they get the right person to helm it.

I need a new book to read. Any suggestions? Something Sci-Fi but smart.

Fall TV Preview Part 2 - Returning Dramas

Part 2 of this series was supposed to be my top new comedies of the fall season.

Then I actually looked at the list of new comedies.

Not one new comedy looked good. Hell not one new comedy looked even remotely watchable.

So I junked it, and moved on to the next part: My Most Anticipated Returning Shows. Just like Part 1, I'm only covering Fall-debuting shows, so old favorites like 24 & The Shield will be covered in a few months.

Battlestar Galactica - SciFi Fridays @ 10
BSG may be the most complete show on television today. It serves up action, drama, tension and intrigue while still dealing with situations that very few shows would touch with a 10 foot pole. The acting, writing and effects are all top notch and none of the episodes feel like padding. You never get the feeling that things have been 'dumbed down' or 'sanitized' for mass consumption the way they are on most sci-fi shows.

Lost - ABC Wednesdays @ 9
Yeah some of the flashbacks last season felt like filler, and a few characters became down right annoying, but Lost is still the epitome of Appointment Television. The new season promises a whole new group of castaways to focus on (The Others) and even more mysteries to obsess over. This season's broadcast schedule, in which 6 episodes air to start the season and the remaining 18 episodes air without interruption beginning in January after a short hiatus, should make the show a little easier to follow.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Tuesdays @ 10
SVU is like the quiet, unspectacular veteran ballplayer that still always manages to put up great numbers. In the crowded world of procedural crime dramas it always manages to stand out.

The Unit - CBS Tuedsays @ 9
This show was such a great surprise last season. Between this and 24 I'm starting to believe that action shows may actually have a chance on network television once again.

The Hot List

DC
52 Week #18
All-New Atom #3
Detective Comics #823
Exterminators #9
Jonah Hex #11
Manifest Eternity #4
Mystery In Space #1
Outsiders #40
Y The Last Man #49

Marvel
Agents Of Atlas #2
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12
Uncanny X-Men #478
X-Men Phoenix Warsong #1

DC has done an admirable job revitalizing their oft neglected space-centric characters in the last year and Mystery in Space looks to continue the trend. It also continues the rebirth of the backup feature, which is a very good thing.

I loved Phoenix: Endsong so I'm very excited about the follow up, Phoenix: Warsong. Unfortunately since the events are occuring in a poorly promoted mini and not a main book it, in the end, won't amount to much of anything.

Omega Flight

The teaser image for Marvel's new Omega Flight series from the Toronto Comic Con. The book will be written by Michael Avon Oeming with art by Scott Kolins and launch after the end of Civil War so look for it in early 2009.

Review Time

Teen Titans #38 - The Titans attempt to find Raven brins them to Russia, where the former Titan Red Star is now Russia's premiere superhero. They eventually get sent to Beijing where we learn Raven suspects that one of the missing year Titans is a traitor. The guest penciller, Ferreria, seemed to be trying to hard to ape Tony Daniel's style and the end result was not very good. I'll be honest, maybe a third of the missing year Titans looked interesting, the others were just lame.

52 #17 - Another more or less single storyline issue as we follow our intrepid space castaways in their attempt to get home. Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange are beginning to crack under the stress of their situation when they are again caught by Devilance. Things actually get worse when Lobo shows up and promptly mounts Devilance's head on his own spear. The scene with Starfire 'negotiating' with Lobo in the vacuum of space was priceless. And Lobo's new look is great; he looks like the long lost member of Pantera. Bennett's art is much improved over his earlier issues.

X-Factor #10 - A traitor...revealed. I won't spoil who is the snake in the bosom, but it's not who you expected. They may be controlled or otherwise coerced, but either way it was a great reveal. Oh yeah, and Madrox, or one of his dupes, slept with both Siryn and Monet, so that means X-Factor investigations HQ is apparently located on Melrose Place.