Into the Longbox

I have no good reason for not talking about this show sooner. So I will spare you my life details, that's not what you're here for! Agatha All Along, the series no one asked for, but Marvel being Marvel, had a whole in their schedule that needed to be filled. Let me make an admission. I didn't really love Wandavision. So the fact we have a follow up to that didn't feel my heart with joy. Well let me tell you, I loved this series. I wish Marvel would make more like these. It was very straightforward, didn't rely on a bunch of CG that it didn't have the budget for and it had characters that you could love. The scope of the story remained contained and intimate, something I want from my TV shows. Not everything has to be world ending. I'm a Kathryn Hahn fan, so when this was announced, that's the only reason I paid attention. I was glad she got a bigger portion of the Marvel sandbox, even if for a minute. Also, this show coming out around Halloween is geniu...

Hello readers. In all this time I've been doing this blog, I don't think I've gone into a little about myself as a comic book reader. Well, today is the day! I think the reading habits of someone can give you an insight into their personality. Lemme tell you about some of my quirks or maybe you'll find them endearing traits. I dunno, YOU be the judge. Alright, really, how many comics DO you have? Let's say it's north of 15,000. Keep in mind, this is an accumulation of about 30 plus years of comic book collecting. I took a pause between 1998-2003 because I was in college and I thought I was over this comic book thing. I was wrong. Once I got a real job with disposable income, I hit comic book stores, conventions and eBay HARD. Then I became a reader that would buy every Wednesday and here we are.  Why don't you buy digital comics? This is one of the places where I'm more analog. I like the feel of a comic book, holding it and finding a nice place to read ...

After watching the X-Men: Animated series, I figured, "What the hell, I'll watch that Spider-Man: Animated Series from the same era." This decision was also supported by a blink and you'll miss it cameo of Spider-Man from X-Men '97. I read speculation that seeing Peter and Mary Jane meant that Peter had found "the real MJ." I read that and was like, "What are people talking about? I don't remember that at all." I think it was because by the time the late 90's came around, I had jumped off the bandwagon for that show. I can say now that I have watched all five seasons in it's entirety, I made the right call. For as much shit as I gave X-Men, that pales in comparison to this show. This show is remarkably bad. I'll get into my reasons for thinking that of course, but I didn't want to waste too much time before I got into my feelings on it. I will inevitably pull in comparisons to the X-Men show to prove my point.  One thing I ...

I'm just as surprised as you that I didn't see this movie, day one. I can explain that. Life stuff was happening and I couldn't find he time, so I had to wait a whole WEEK to finally see it. That is a lifetime in trying to avoid spoilers on the internet talking about the numerous amount of cameos in this movie. I finally did and let me tell you, I enjoyed it and thought it was great.* You may be thinking, he put a * , what does that mean? I put this as a qualifier because I'm going to be real about something. My level of enjoyment was raised because of the massive amount of meta commentary that was throughout the movie. Unfortunately, a lot of that is built on whether or not you have read comic books in the last twenty years as a more than a casual fan, kept up with all the studio nonsense behind all these characters, watched the first two Deadpool movies, Logan, both seasons of the Loki series, any of the X-Men movies and some of the other Fox/Marvel movies that you fo...

This year, 2024, I'm rolling out a new series of posts in this here blog. I'm not keeping up with it like I should and as a man in his mid-40's, I have lots of old man opinion on things. Why not channel that old man anger into my favorite thing...comic books! This is my chance to focus on something that I like or don't like in a single post. If you know me, it will be a vehicle for my incessant bitching about said topic. Maybe it will be entertaining, maybe it won't. We'll see if the State of the Union is really strong! The first thing I want to tackle is the Black Panther. Specifically within the comic books. He's been my favorite character for nearly 20 years now, so I've read practically every series he's starred in. I may not remember all of it, but I have a good enough sample size to have an informed opinion. Why am I talking about him right now? Simple. His comic book series have been mid to outright bad the past few years. If you read any of m...

Even after my blistering review of X-Men the Animated series , I was still excited for this show. I just didn't want it to be ANYTHING like the previous one that was fraught with so many issues. My feelings were relieved after the first episode, but then I thought, "Can they sustain this though?" The answer to that is an unequivocal yes. I will have specific thoughts at the last part of this review, but I wanted to give my quick thoughts on each episode. Episode 1 - "To Me, My X-Men"  - This episode went out of it's way to establish how a bitch-ass like Cyclops could lead the X-Men. He answered the call and I like how this show isn't trying to make you hate him like the previous one did. The action was top notch and did things in animation the old show could never dare to do. Peep Cyclops super hero landing and the team take downs of sentinels. The action here gives you hope that this show is not going to be playing around. Episode 2 - "Mutant Liber...

Like many of you, I grew up with the X-Men cartoon in the 90's. Well, technically I was 12 when the show started, but those were my formative nerd years. Surprisingly it was THIS show and not Batman: The Animated Series that was the full blown start of my relationship with comic books. I had dabbled before but it was X-Men that birthed the interests I still have to day. I saw the premier "Night of the Sentinels" in the US, just before we moved to Germany, where I lived for the majority of the show's run. I watched the first two seasons via the color coded VHS tapes I bought from the BX or by watching them on British cable. My relatives proved unreliable in recording me anything, so when we had a brief return to the US, I made sure to record a few episodes on tape. Those first two seasons, I watched multiple times and I can quote most of them and remember very specific musical cues and scenes. I was all in on this show and have nothing but fond memories. When Disney Pl...

If I had been on top of my shit, I would have had this out during Black History Month. But I don't, so I didn't. Don't let my tardiness take away from what I'm about to say about this show. For those that want to know what they're getting into, this will be a glowing review.  Before I get there, I feel it is important to mention how this show differs from the comic book series of the same name, which I also read avidly. In the book, Lunella Lafayette (Moon Girl) is borderline unlikeable with no redeeming qualities. She's a super genius, with all the personality quirks that comes with someone that is genius level. Egotistical, prickly, feeling no need to have any friendships. Throughout her series, she gets by without truly making friends and doesn't seem to have an arc where she improves. As much as I wanted to always recommend it, that made it a tough read. Thankfully, the show does away with that. Lunella is still a super genius, but she is trying to fit i...

My only regret about this show is that I didn't write about it immediately after watching. Unfortunately for me, that was a few weeks ago, so details are going to be hazy, so I'll speak in broad strokes.  First off, I liked it. It harkened back to the days of Netflix Marvel, when things were gritty and grimy and self contained. Those shows I felt gave us New York as one of the characters, displaying the different boroughs. Here, we spend most of our time in Oklahoma of all places and the setting also feels like a character. And like those Netflix series, I liked that you get time to breathe within that environment. UNLIKE those Netflix series, they didn't stretch this out into 13 episodes. They kept it a nice and tight five episodes. And most of those episodes weren't even close to an hour. Just another small thing I appreciate. Know your story and be concise.  I'll ignore how Marvel is trying to do mental gymnastics to back into having Kingpin and all of this tie i...

Let's carry on with Part II of my year in review. Now we get on to favorite writers, mini-series, events and favorite series and whatevers. Favorite Writer of 2023 Ryan North - Fantastic Four (Marvel)  - This was a toss up between Rainbow Rowell on She-Hulk and Ryan North. I went with Ryan because he's been having a great, inventive run on Fantastic Four. His writing has been very different than it was in the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. I figured he had range, but I didn't know it was like this. He is clearly a smart person, because this book has been infused with a lot of great science in how the Fantastic Four approaches problems and solve them. Everything this year was compelling, inventive takes on the characters as they tackle their issues. It sounds bad, but by removing the kids for the run so far (they got trapped in a building zapped one year into the future), he's been allowed to get back to the core of these characters to see why they mesh and what makes them ti...

This was certainly a year. I think the number of comics I buy in a year actually went down for the first time in a while. I have no explanation other than the obvious, I was just buying less. Why? The musical chairs of writers/artists on books and the slow output of creator owned projects left me with my normal pull list and I would MAYBE pick up a book or two outside of that. I also get behind on my comics all the time due to a kiddo, so I'm not in the shop every week grabbing what is new like I used to. I have definitely pulled away from DC, as they have reduced their output and nothing much interests me over there outside of the big three. And even then, I buy based on the creative team, not the character. Marvel is the same thing, but there is so much quantity, I have a lot more choices and I will take a little more risk. With all their movies, some characters got pushed more than others, for good or for bad. I didn't take good (any?) notes this year, so let's see how t...

I saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom last Thursday and I'm going to try and keep it short and sweet in this review. It's a bad movie, but it was also kinda fun. So I guess I liked it in the way that I like the Fast and Furious franchise. You have to turn your brain off because stuff will not make sense. Just drift away in the current. (See what I did there?) Otherwise, you will be UPSET. This movie is in a weird spot because we know that it doesn't count in the grand scheme of DC's future movie franchises. I guess they thought they could recoup some money, but honestly, they should have just put it on Max and called it a day.  They'll bury a Batgirl movie, but let this one see the light of day? Give me a break. We're not really told where this movie fits with his appearance in that Justice League movie. Its as if the two movies themselves are in different universes. We start off finding out that Aquaman and Mera (we'll get into her later) had a kid, Aquaman is...