Into the Longbox

Well, nerds. The moment has finally arrived. The first real Star Wars film we've had in almost thirty years. Yes, this is me being completely dismissive to the prequels. Movies that maddeningly bludgeoned you into thinking they went from awful to, "Well, it was the best of the three I guess?". Was I super excited for this movie? You better believe it. I have enough anecdotal evidence that shows much of a fan I am. I grew up with the original trilogy. It's one of those movies where when I hear the score, I can pinpoint which scene in the movies it was used in. It's become that ingrained into me. Without going into too many plot details, I will explain what I loved about this new Star Wars movie. I can best describe it as a return to form. We are now back with characters we cherish and love. We also gain new characters that are amazingly fleshed out in the time that we are given. What I really appreciate is rather than showing you a character is good at somet...

Let me start off by saying that I hate myself a little for putting the full working title in this post. We get it Marvel, it's your show! Sorry, where was I? Oh right, I was going to talk about Jessica Jones, the latest Marvel TV show created exclusively for Netflix. This means I felt anticipation and an equal obligation to watch this show. Would it be a labor of love? Or would it be a drag like Agents of Shield. Sorry, I had to say it. Anyways, I'm not going to tell you right off the bat! I'm going to make you read my possibly long post. You have to earn it. ... Okay, Okay. Don't click away. I really liked this show. I didn't like it as much as Daredevil, but it's still really good. I just finished the series a few minutes ago, so I'm coming into this fresh without letting it marinate. I'll try to keep from going too stream of conscious on this. As I was watching I did have a few major points in my head. I will start with this. If you thou...

I realized we are a few months into the new season of TV shows and I have yet to talk about all the comic book based shows out there. I don't want to make this a long post, so I will just give some quick thoughts about the deep well of shows that are out there. Flash  - Continuing the fun of the first season.  They keep bringing in more villains from the DC Universe and are now already touching on Earth-2 stuff. Also, the core team is still very likeable. It remains one of my favorite shows. Arrow  - This show has already having a much stronger showing than what we saw in Season 3. The team is now a fully costumed, functioning unit. This show has already brought in other DC characters. We just had an episode with Constantine! There has also been a teasing of Mr. Terrific. I still do not like the Felicity/Oliver relationship. I never would have shipped that, but there's nothing I can do about it. Supergirl  - I covered my thoughts on this in a previous post . I ...

I know this is really late and I really don't want to turn this blog into my personal soap box, but sometimes things happen that I have to talk about. Surely by now, everyone has heard about the ridiculous movement to boycott Star Wars Episode VII. This is due to some labeling the movie as "anti-white genocide". Now I could go after the short mindedness of such a movement, but I'd rather go in another, more positive direction. I wanted to talk about why I love what this movie is doing and what we're seeing in Sci-Fi as a whole. When I was a kid, I would have loved to have an abundance of black sci-fi characters like I have seen over the past few years. The reason I hold on to Lando Calrissian so badly is because that was all I had. (And Billy Dee Williams is so cool). There are very few movies where a black character has an impact outside of being killed quickly or a walking stereotype. Although sparingly used, Lando is the good side of what we can see. Wi...

She doesn't need to turn around and see that fire. She knows it's there. I know it's been a while since I wrote on this blog and I have many other topics I want to cover. Right now though, I just watched the Supergirl pilot today (a day or two late) and I just feel the need to talk about it. Normally I would go into some brief, meandering tale about how I have always liked Supergirl, blah blah, blah. That would be a lie, so we'll skip all that and jump right in. I really liked this pilot and that surprises me. It was a lot of fun. First off, all the DC movies are edging towards super dark, so it's refreshing to have another show (like the Flash) that is more upbeat with heroes that EMBRACE their powers. Imagine that. How uncommon it's become for a super hero show to be about a super hero that likes what they do. Melissa Benoist is just so damn likeable as Supergirl/Kara Danvers. A super hero show only goes as far as it's leading character. Like th...

I know this is on the heels of me complaining about how expensive books are getting. I'm kind of a hypocrite okay? But there have been announcements that not only is there a new Black Panther comic coming, but a new Power Man and Iron Fist book as well?! It's like Marvel is writing to ME. I will give them credit because they have talked about trying to be more diverse with their creators. They are walking the walk. Let's turn this back to me, so I can gush about how excited I am about my three of my top five favorite marvel characters, as detailed in my previous post . I'll start with the top, Black Panther. With his appearance in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie and his upcoming solo movie, I knew it was only a matter of time before Black Panther would grace us with is own solo title. That is just the way Marvel works these days. Synergy between the comics and movies, sometimes to an annoying effect. Here it was an inevitability that I am happy that ...

There's a lot of other great news in the comic book industry that I want to touch on. Before I do that, I think it's time for me to have a little rant. I hate to sound like such an old man, but I was buying comics when they were about $1.00 to $1.50 per an issue. Then for a few years in the early 2000s, they stayed around $2.99. The past few years, $3.99 has been the norm and lately there have been issues that have snuck up to $4.99, $5.99 and $7.99. It feels like the industry is starting to settle on $4.99 per a book. I know this is such a first world problem, but hear me out. A hobby that I love is becoming more and more expensive. I will admit I've been insulated from this somewhat because I get a big discount from my local comic book store. This is because I'm a subscriber and pick up a lot of books per month. So for the past few years, I've enjoyed a nice discount. In a previous post, I mentioned how I have cut back my DC comic buying to the bone. I'v...

As I sat there at my desk, filling out a new subscription for my local comic book shop, I couldn't help but notice a trend. It's something that had been going on for months, but visually seeing this on my sheet really struck home the point to me. It's a trend I really don't see going away soon. Have I teased everyone long enough? I like the attention really, so I will make you wait for one more sentence. Okay, here goes. I'm barely buying any comic books from DC. When the "New 52" event started over four years ago that effectively rebooted the DC Universe, I was all in. I will admit that like most die-hard comic book fans, I complained these impending changes. Since I've been a fringe DC fan at best, I realized this was the best thing for me. It gave me a chance to start fresh. Through a deal at another comic store (not my home base), I got all the number one issues. This helped me decide what I liked and what I didn't like. I reviewed this on my...

The War of Stars! Wait, that's not right... Wow. It's been a long time since I wrote on here. And what brings me back? Star Wars! There's been some rumor that there is a new movie coming out later this year. Marvel/Disney knows this (as Disney owns the franchise) and in a move of a cash grab synergistic energy, they have released a lot of new comic books. What you may not realize is that these books have taken over the industry (sales wise) by storm. I won't go into details, but those books alone have made Marvel a top seller. So why do I bring this up? I happen to be one of those poor saps that got roped into these books hook, line and sinker. I'm a sucker for Star Wars. Dark Horse had a lot of great series a few years ago, so I can't even begin to explain why I ignored those and suddenly got super interested in these. What's that? There's a new movie coming out? Oh right. That explains it. That excitement has made me wax nostalgic for this fra...

Buy your copy today! I'm going to do something I haven't done on this blog yet. A book review! Before you get all excited and think I'm cultured, I'm sure you already saw the title of this post. Of course it's a book about comic books. I'll try to be as eloquent as possible, since we're taking care of serious business here. What we have here is an unauthorized look behind the history of Marvel Comics. This book is built on more than a hundred interviews the author, Sean Howe, had with many of the professionals that worked at Marvel Comics over the years. I was completely engrossed in this book, but as I was reading it I kept thinking whether I would recommend this book to my non-comic friends. I'm leaning slightly towards no. Let me explain why. The audience for this book is clearly fans of comic books. The majority of the stories hinge on your working knowledge of the creators with each turn of the page. There are ends of chapters that end with ...

I've thought about this for a while, but haven't written about it here. Since this is a comic book blog, I figured I would take a few moments to talk about my top five, favorite Marvel Characters. I know the Avengers are the hot thing now, but you won't see one traditional Avenger show up on my list. I've long since been a fan of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, so you will probably see that reflected in my list. So here we go, in descending order. 5. Power Man/Iron Fist - I know these are two distinct characters, but I think they have done just as much good together as they did apart. This is my favorite comic book, buddy cop team. You have a black guy (Power Man/Luke Cage) who is from the streets of Harlem and was experimented on in prison to gain super strength and steel hard skin. You have a white guy who was raised in the mystical city of K'un L'un where he became a partial arts master with a technique called the Iron Fist. These two characters could...

I promise you, I was not having some stroke when I wrote that title. That is actually what Marvel is calling their brand new initiative, which is pretty much a reboot of their whole universe, but not really. Confused? Think of it this way. It's a brand new marketing ploy to release a whole slew of new #1 issues, ala DC's New 52 from a few years ago. Admittedly, DC did the roll out a whole lot better. They were able to ship all 52 of their books in a month and on schedule. Marvel hasn't started yet, but all signs point to it not being that organized. With that being said, I am happy for this new shake-up of their universe. I am all about continuity, but I'm glad this is happening. Things were getting stale and this is a way to make things fresh. Essentially moving all the pieces around on the board. There are going to be a lot of books coming out and I am excited for maybe a third of those. I'm going to take a few minutes to talk about which books I'm ex...

I think it's time I finally took a moment to talk bout Marvel's Secret Wars event and all the subsequent spin off books. Jonathan Hickman's Magnum Opus of his Marvel run is playing out before our eyes. All of his Avengers work (which honestly left me cold) has culminated up to this point. The Secret Wars series itself has been really good. It's been in the classic tradition of mixing up the characters into groups that you don't normally see. There have been truly shocking moments. The spinoff books however have been mostly terrible. Here's the premise of this whole crossover in a nutshell. Reality has been destroyed by cosmic forces (isn't that always the way) and the Marvel Universe as we know it ceases to exist. Dr. Doom, who has become all powerful, saves bits and pieces of this reality and has cobbled it together into a place called "Battleworld" where he has affixed him self as a God. This has given Marvel a chance to mine all of our...

I give up. I give up trying to doubt Marvel with their movies right now. I thought Guardians of the Galaxy was an over reach when it was announced. I loved it so much it is in my top three favorite movies that Marvel has put out. When I they announced Ant-Man, I was like "Really? WHO is asking for an Ant-Man movie?!" and I thought this would be the one to due them in. I really liked this movie too. So what do I know. I can't doubt these guys anymore. Everything will come up roses for these guys. So let's talk about this movie. First off, I liked that the scale for this movie was small. (See what I did there?) By that I mean, there was not some evil villain that was trying to take over the world. You just had a d-bag business man doing bad things. At the end of the day, this was essentially a heist movie. That is about the best direction you could take with this character. Like most of my comic movie reviews, I'm not going to compare this to the source mat...

So in my previous post, I talked about my journey to Comic Con. Let me give you my account of my adventure there. I won't do this in chronological order or anything. The first important point I want to make is this: San Diego Comic Con has very little to do with Comic books, despite it's name. The convention center is massive, with gigantic booths, towering displays and tons and tons of vendors. Those that actually sell comic books is quite minute. For those that know me, I am a bargain hunter for comic books and everything else is secondary. To learn this first had was the most disappointing thing for me. The comic book panels themselves are not really full. The big halls are reserved for TV and movie events. Some comic book based, but this convention is more about pop culture in general. And video games. Video games had such a huge presence there. I was able to go to Nintendo, Xbox, Sony and Sega events to play games while I was there. Not that I'm complaining. ALSO, ...

Inside the Convention Center What's the point of having a blog about comic books if you don't talk about the single-biggest convention in the US? That's one of them rhetorical questions. I realized I have not posted in a while and I haven't said one word about this convention. To be honest, I didn't follow as closely as I have in years past. In my next post, I will do some quick thoughts on what has me excited coming out of that convention. Instead, I thought I would write about my experience going to comic-con in 2013. I had posted about this before, so if any of this is known to you, indulge me. Maybe I got funnier since the last time. Comic Con was a once in a life time experience. Something I can knock off the bucket list. By the end of this post, you will see why I probably do not feel compelled to ever do it again. Getting Tickets So anyone that has been to a big convention (Dragon Con, Otakon, PAX, etc.) knows what a pain it is to sometimes get tic...

Just a small portion of the Vendor's floor Another Heroes Con is in the book. This was my eleventh straight year going and my initial excitement for the event is always the same. The past three years (the two I had to drive) ended up being times I had something happen at the Con that served to frustrate me. Two years ago, the AC did not work and that led to a hot drive back home. Oh and to top things off, there was a huge traffic delay that got us there about two hours late. This year, there was the nearly hour long wait in the PRE-REGISTERED tickets line. Seriously, what's the point of buying tickets to avoid a line if you just end up in a line anyway?! People could walk off the street and buy a ticket and get in while we were waiting. If I hadn't already paid for my tickets, I would have got out of line and bought some tickets. However, it's not as bad as San Diego Comic was a few years ago. If I can stand in a line for three hours, I can stand in line for anyth...

Like the summer solstice, it's that special time in the summer. Heroes Con in Charlotte! Oh, I'm sorry, with a lead in like that you thought I would say something thought provoking? You should know me better than that. Anyways, this is that special time of  year for me where I catch up on a few years of comic books on the cheap. However, I want everyone to know it's more than that for me. Well, not really, but let's just pretend it is. Not everyone has been to a convention with me, so I thought I would use this post to reveal what I am typically like at a con. I've been to many cons (mostly repeats of this particular one), but I have developed a pattern that has me performing my tasks with a laser like efficiency that could probably put me in a more serious light than people are used to. So here I am, baring my soul. I have a list. Yes, every year I go to Heroes Con, I have a list of books that I'm looking for. When I first started, I had slips of paper....

I should have wrote about this sooner, but I saw something in a comic that I really enjoyed and it's such a small, innocuous thing. I was reading "Ultimate End" #1 from Marvel comics a few weeks ago. Marvel has a big event where they are smashing together the regular (616 as it is affectionately called) universe as we fans have known it for fifty plus years into the "Ultimate" universe, which was a re-imagining of the universe for the modern era. So right now there is a mish-mash of comic characters mingling with each other. Some of the characters are so similar, it's hard to tell which universe they belonged to. Then I noticed it. The font of the speech bubbles for the regular Marvel characters used bold, all caps font. The Ultimate characters used a more subdued font that uses proper case in the lettering. I thought this was such a cool little thing, that when I noticed it, I was surprised. At first I thought, "No way are they that clever.". ...

I realize I've talked about nothing but Marvel Comics since I started this blog. You must be thinking, "Why won't you talk about DC comics, you hater? It's Marvel this and Marvel that". Maybe you didn't say that, but I hear you anyway. That's why I'm going to talk about another company that's near and dear to my heart... Archie Comics! I'll spare my personal history with Archie Comics. All I will say is that they are my guilty pleasure and one of the first series of comics I got into when I was a kid. They are one of my go to reads when I'm feeling down. So I have an attachment that will always be there. Also, the answer to the eternal question is always Betty. You know what the question is, so don't act like you don't. Anyways, a company that has been around for seventy five years and has stories that have felt like they're seventy years too old have been one of the more daring, progressive companies out there. The cynic in...

This is the End...for NOW. With Fantastic Four #645, one of Marvel's longest running series comes to a tragic end. I won't get into all the business reasons because they are various and frustratingly stupid. They extend past the obligatory "The book doesn't sell good enough". Instead, I'd rather reflect on why I find it sad. Like my other posts, this may be a little long, but I will attempt to rein myself in. When I got into comic books in the early nineties, I was a huge X-men fan. That sustained me for years until I got to the point that my insatiable appetite for new comic books led me to the FF. I had watched their half-assed cartoon and knew the origin of the characters. I had even encountered them during the big events (Infinity War, Infinity Crusade) because they were always a crucial part. However, I never read their solo title. There was a big sale at my local comic book store and I used this as the opportunity to branch out. To say I got ...

Since writing my thoughts on Age of Ultron, there were a few more thoughts that have been rattling around in my brain that I forgot to mention in my long (sorry!) post. I'll keep this short and sweet. Below are just more of my musings on the film: They mentioned Wakanda and had Ulysses Klaw! These are direct references to the Black Panther, one of my favorite characters in all of comics. I squealed with girlish glee. Maybe it was where I was sitting, but the movie seemed dark. Yeah, maybe I was sitting too close. I loved all the cameos. Seeing War Machine have some good moments was awesome. They've done a good job of integrating this cinematic universe. You never know who will show up! (Stan Lee!!) Some of the shots got too cutesy. I liked the seamless scene (like it was done in one long take) of action in the first Avengers movie. That does not mean I wanted to see it two or three more times in this movie. Feels less special. Now that I know there was a lot edited out, a...

I've had a couple of days to cool down from watching Avengers: Age of Ultron. With that time for clarity, I can now reveal how I really feel. (Because I discussed it with my best friend first). I still think Age of Ultron is a very fun movie. I really liked it, but there are a few things I didn't care for. I know I've become cynical, but we have an embarrassment of riches with comic book based films. I don't have to force myself to like everything now. We'll start with what I really liked. This movie is one big spectacle. That's not a bad thing, it's just like the first Avengers film, ramped up to a 12. There is a LOT more action in this movie. In fact, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the movie is at least half action scenes. This movie really showcased Captain America's skill set. The last movie he was slighted, but not this time. I loved all the team up moves that were used. It was like a real life version of the "Marvel Ulti...