Making the Shift

Month after month it is the same story.  Comic sales are down. Declining steadily over the years from the boom of the 90s, it seems like nothing has worked to do anything lasting to boost sales.  Toy tie-ins haven't boosted them.  Cartoons haven't either.  Big budget Hollywood movies have made movie studios millions, but that have never translated into any kind of lasting boost in actual comic sales.  Even the use of well-known writers has done little to make any meaningful impact and most of those writers have gone on record as saying that they made very little money doing it (just ask Joss Whedon).  And in the face of decreased sales, what have comic book companies done?  Increased prices and decreased new material page count in their monthly titles.  That has ended up driving more and more readers (this one included) to waiting for the trade reprint for a story and worry less about the collectability of something that nine times out of ten ends up being in a dollar bin three months after they come out.  And then there is digital.  It worries specialty stores and though sales have doubles over the past year, it is still a very small part of the market.  There is usually very little savings to the reader when it comes to issues not having to go through the printing process which is tauted as one the biggest reasons for the price hikes of issues over the years.  And don't get me started on the initial cost of going digital.  Good e-readers are not cheap.  So, where does that leave you or me the average reader?  Well, it puts us in a position to make a shift in how we get our monthly comic fix and it leaves the comic book companies at a crossroads as to how to handle their content.  I have put some thought into it and here are my ideas...for whatever good they will do anyone.

First: Is it time for comic book companies give up the monthly format?  Over the years long runs of comic books have become more the more scarce.  Fantastic Four is no more.  Uncanny X-Men is over soon.  Avengers, Hulk, Thor...over and over again we have seen long running Marvel series ending and being restarted with new number ones.  Soon, all of DC will be starting over from scratch too.  It is done to boost sales with a new #1, but over and over those titles tend to settle back into the numbers that they sold at before after the initial bump in revenue.  What is the point anymore?  Storylines are set up in five and six issues arcs now a days and sold that way when companies produce the collected trades.  Why not just produce one long story and release that as one cohesive collection, similar to what manga has been doing for a long time.  There could still be continuing adventures of your favorite characters, just broken up into chunks, which is the way they are presented these days anyway.  So many tie-ins to comic events are presented as mini-series, why not just put them all together as one unit?  They could still produce big limited collectors editions of things (similar to the Absolute collections that DC produces), but make just the straight series also available at a lower price point.  So many people wait for trades now a days, why not just cut out a step.  That way we would have had the complete Kevin Smith Bullseye series or gotten the entire Damon Lindelof Ultimate Wolverine/Hulk and not have to have waited better than a year before it was finally wrapped up.

Second: Good e-readers are too expensive.  There needs to be a company step up and make something easy to use and affordable for the masses to use when it comes to digital comics.  For a business that was founded on younger readers being the principal early adopters, young people don't typically have the money to spend on e-readers and if kids don't adopt technology that would be needed, digital comics may never take off the way they need to be.  There needs to be something cheap that works...otherwise digital comics are going to remain a fringe...at least for the foreseeable future.

Third: Digital comics are too expensive.  Over and over again we have been told that the printing cost of comics have driven up the price of the monthly copies, but then when it comes to digital copies, they are just as expensive as the paper ones.  That doesn't make sense.  I am all for people making money on the things that they produce, but give them something special and extra if they are paying full price for digital.  DVD style extras, behind the scenes, creator commentary...something.

Fourth: Finally...there are too many options for digital comics right now.  Since digital books make up such a small percentage of overall sales, there really hasn't been enough competition to drive one or two ways to digitally deliver comics to rise to the top.  Also, you have several different delivery options that have exclusive deals so you have to have several different apps to view all the comics you want and you have no unified way of dealing with your collection, which is annoying for collectors.  We are an OCD lot who like to have our collections in a certain way...if we can't get it all together in one way that makes sense, we won't bother.  It would be nice if there was at least one file type that would make it easier for you to get the comics you want and view them in the app that you want, no matter where you buy them from.

I know that this is just my opinion and it is totally up for debate, but I just feel that things need to change to keep a hobby that I love alive and thriving.  Hope this stirs you to think about what you would want out of comics.  Till next time, imaginary readers...

Tradio #2 - Ghost World

Today's Tradio is about the 1997 collected edition of Daniel Clowes' Ghost World - Now A Major Motion Picture!

The graphic novel collects the serialized strips produced by Clowes in his comic book series Eightball and tells the story of two friends as they begin young adulthood after high school.  Enid Coldslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer are two friends who are living pretty aimless lives after graduation and the series recounts their day-to-day happenings.  Hopping from one episode to another, we get the idea of how these two girls view the world.  Basically, they feel like the world is pretty stupid, that most people are pretty stupid, and they bounce from one thing to the next pretty pointlessly.  I won't give too much of the plot away (not that I am sure that is even possible), but they eat, they talk, they bitch, they fight, they move on.  The over-arching plot is basically just about these two pseudo-intellectual's friendship and how everything sucks. 

I didn't like it.  I liked the art and the sparce coloring did what it needed to do, but overall, I didn't like the characters and didn't feel for any of them.  They were too cool for the world and I never felt like I needed to care about any of them.  The only person I felt anything at all for was the minor character Josh, who both Enid and Rebecca use for their own purposes throughout the course of the story.  It is by far not the worst thing I have ever read and I can respect what Clowes was trying to do, but in the end, it wasn't for me. Short one this week.  Till next time...

AMERICA! EF-YEAH!

Captain America: The First Avenger = Awesome!  Not sure what else there is to say.  Well...maybe I can find a thing or two.  America!  Ef-Yeah!

First off...I am a comic book nerd.  I admit it and I think that most people that I know would agree with me.  The funny thing is that Captain America (and the Avengers as a whole for that matter) have never been one of my regular reads.  Other than an issue here or there that I would get in the comic packs that you could get from the J.C. Penney's Christmas catalog that my parents got me almost every year, I have never really read a lot.  I was an X-Men reader and there were more than enough related books there to keep most people busy.  That said, I always liked the character of the good Captain.  I have to say, Uncanny X-Men #268 that starred Wolverine and Captain America together (and drawn by the amazing Jim Lee) was always one of my favorite issues.  Cap demanded respect and got it from those around him.  You could tell from just that short story in a single issue that he was a leader and people followed his leadership easily.  That sense of respect is one of the things that I loved about the character and I thought would be one of the main things that movie would need to get across.  He is going to lead the Avengers a year from now, right?  Did the movie succeed?

Captain America is a great movie.  As far as the growing pantheon of Marvel comic book movies go, it is right up there with Thor, Iron Man, and X-Men: First Class in my mind.  It hits so many of the right beats and takes you on the journey of one man who just wants to serve his country and ends up saving it.  Steve Rogers, a scrawny kid from Brooklyn, just wants to go to Europe and serve his country during World War 2 and do his part.  I won't recount the entire movie, but he becomes a guinea pig, an icon, and a soldier (in that order).  The movie does a great job of moving Steve through these stages and developing him into a leader who you want to follow before it is all said and done.  It isn't a perfect movie.  It really should have spent at least a little time (a montage maybe) to show what all he was capable of after the super soldier serum was used on him.  You knew he was fast and strong, but nothing was really explained and that would have been nice for people who weren't totally familiar with the character.  Also, there seemed to be a lot of liberties taken with technology.  I know that Hydra was working on advanced tech, but there were some really big jumps that seem to have been made.  But in the end, it was Captain America and not Saving Private Ryan, so I am not too uptight about that...nor should you.  Oh and stick around after the complete credits...makes me want it to be next summer soooo badly!

As for the actors...well, they did great.  Hugo Weaving was menacing and had such an aire of badassery.  Tommy Lee Jones was...well, Tommy Lee Jones and that was perfect for his role.  Hayley Atwell was wonderful and beautiful.  Sebastian Stan was perfect in his role as Bucky and how his relationship with Steve gets turned upside down.  Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Tody Jones...there are just so many good performances.  Even a lot of bit parts were great and I honestly wanted to spend more time with the Howling Commandos.  Then there is Chris Evans.  He did really great and it honestly made me forget he was ever in those other Marvel movies.  He went from being the comic relief to the man you wanted to follow.  He owned it from beginning to end and looked amazing doing it.  Don't believe me?  Take a gander at Exhibit A:


Exhibit Flippin' A

 So, as you can tell, I liked it.  It was the summer comic book movie that my dad would have liked.  Really wish I could have had the opportunity to take him.

My Patronus is a Honey Badger!

Well...I finally got the opportunity to watch the final Harry Potter movie.  It was one of those movies that I wanted to see, but if I saw it without my wife, I would probably be served divorce papers soon after.  So, I finally got to see it and here are my impressions.


Do wizards not need to bathe?

How was it?  It was a good movie, but overall the Harry Potter movies have never really been "have to" viewing for me.  I know a lot of people have grown up with the books and they touch a cord with them on many levels.  Seeing him grow and mature and fulfilling his destiny have in many ways paralleled their own lives as they grew up and went from elementary school, to junior high, to high school, and beyond.  I am not one of those people.  That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the books.  Obviously they are special to a lot of people and I have never read them, so I am not about to trash something that I haven't read.  I will read them someday.  Books that are really worth their salt are like that.  They don't lose their relevance or impact over time.  So, I am sure I will eventually get around to putting my mind to reading them and pretty sure that they will be just as enjoyable then as they would be now.  Movies on the other hand, they are a little different in many ways.  Visual styles and techniques can change over time and improvements in video and sound quality can greatly affect what is on the screen - just ask George Lucas.  Where am I going with all this?  Well, Harry Potter and Deathly Hollows Part 2 is a good movie, but in many ways relies too much on two things: CGI and the amazing books for which it was based. 

Good actors acting in front of too many green screens with little to go by doesn't produce great cinema.  CGI can produce a lot of amazing set pieces and amazing battles, but without having characters that you can really connect to, they mean nothing.  I am not saying that this is the problem here.  There are lots of good actors in the movie, but most of the moments that you really connect with these characters felt like had happened in other movies and not with what was going on now.  I never felt like I had time to really care about a lot of characters and was too busy watching the pretty fights and magic.  I mean, you know who is good and evil, but a lot of the themes and plot points have been dragged over seven other movies and by the end, it just seemed like there was so much stuff that was missing or were presented as something that you already knew from reading the books that I felt confused more times than I like to admit.  This led into the other problem of relying too heavily on the books.  I am not saying that they should not follow the books, what I am saying is that it felt like there were parts that the director felt like you should already know from the books that didn't need to be explained.  Why did they interrogate the guy about the wands in the beginning?  Why didn't they use Bellatrix's wand to get into the bank as proof of who she was?  Why couldn't three powerful wizards open a locked gate in the town outside of Hogwarts? How did Hagrid end up in the woods? How did Harry come back from the dead? Why doesn't Voldemort have a nose (is that the part of him that Harry got as an infant)? Why did Snape and Harry's mom have the same patronus? Why didn't Harry hug Jenny after he killed Voldemort? Why didn't Harry fix the flippin' school with the most powerful wand ever made before he broke it? Was the nineteen year later thing really necessary?  I just felt lost too many times and the whole end game things felt overly complicated - which I am sure made a lot more sense in the context of a book. 

Don't get me wrong, I did like the movie.  Big and epic and fun...I just didn't connect with the characters like I wish I would have.  It seemed to wrap it all up and everything happened that needed to happen in order for there to be closure after the seven movies that came before it.  I think in the end, your enjoyment is colored by your familiarity with the material and your connection to the characters.  I have no doubt that someday I will eventually have some "ah-ha!" moments when I read the books and look back at the movies.  I really look forward to that.

Tradio #1 - Asterios Polyp

Welcome to my inaugural Tradio!  I know, I know...it sounds like it should be an audio podcast.  It may be someday...kind of why I picked the name.  Just kind of keeping an eye on the future. 

My first review is of a graphic novel that wasn't on my list of potential reads.  That was by design.  I wanted to present something that would be a little bit of a curve ball that not a lot of people may have read, but should really find and spend some time with. 

Asterios Polyp is a graphic novel published in 2009 that was both written and drawn by David Mazzucchelli.  If that name sounds familiar to some comic fans, that is the same Mazzucchelli who is famous for both his run on Daredevil with writers Denny O'Neil and Frank Miller and his spectacular work on Batman: Year One, again with Frank Miller.  If you haven't read Batman: Year One...well...you are missing out.  Mazzucchelli is a master of using motion and emotion in his steady, even pencils.  He was a perfect match for the dark and brooding crime-fighters of both Gotham City and Hell's Kitchen.  With Asterios Polyp you see no capes...no tights, but you see a very heart-felt story that ranks up there with any of Mazzucchelli's other, more well-known work. 

The graphic novel focuses on the life of a professor of architecture named, not surprisingly, Asterios Polyp.  Over the course of the book, we begin with an odd introduction to Asterios and his life is slowly and artfully explained through dream-sequences, flashbacks, and his current dealings as his life is thrown one curve ball after another.  This is no everyman story.  You won't always like Asterios.  You aren't suppose to.  But more than identifying with the titular character, you get to see the world through his experiences and how he interacts with those around him.  You will see his loves, his passions, his triumphs, and tragedies and in the end you will gain a greater understanding of a character who grows over the course of a relatively short amount of time.  You will love going on the journey with him.  The way Mazzucchelli conveys the plot of the story through both the running narrative and the use of his simple interplay between art and color are nothing short of a modern masterpiece.  His understanding of artistic form leads to the perfect use of the graphic novel medium to produce a work that just would not be able to function in any other form.  Even taking away the world balloons would hurt the overall narrative since the way he uses them is so integral to the overall way that the story is presented.  Quirky, yet relatable characters abound and in the end, you are smiling inside for the journey that Asterios has taken and the way in which Mazzucchelli got you there. 

Needless to say, I strongly recommend this work.  I borrowed this copy from the local library and I am sure that more than a few such institutions have it in their collection.  I would say, find a quiet night, pour yourself a warm cup of coffee, and snuggle in with Asterios Polyp.  You will enjoy the journey and once you start, you won't want to stop until you get to the stunning conclusion.  Till next time, imaginary readers.

Tradio #0 - The Beginning-ing

Well...been sick lately and haven't had the energy to post.  Been bad because I wanted to post something at least five times a week.  Been good in that it has given me some perspective and some time to think about what I wanted to do with this little blog of mine and some of the nerdiness that I want to post.  What I have come up with is that I have been slowly over the years accumulating quite the number of graphic novels and I thought to myself, what better way to get more out of them then to maybe do a weekly review of one of them.  Some weeks it will be a review of a original graphic novel or collected mini series.  Other weeks it will be the first volume of an ongoing series.  Just depends on what I am feeling like.  My plan is to look at it objectively and see if the overall arc works and relate whether, in the case of volumes from ongoing series, it does a good job making you want to keep reading.  I will try to keep the reviews spoiler-free so that I don't rob you from the enjoyment if you want to read one after I talk about it.  I also will be giving away ones that I am done with and don't really want to keep in my collection for one reason or another.  Here are some of the ones that I am considering:

Blankets
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152
Lost Girls
RASL: The Drift
Runaways: Pride and Joy
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
Pride of Baghdad
The Stand: Captain Trips
Punisher: Circle of Blood
From Hell
Elmer: a comic book
Dead @ 17: Compendium Edition
A Contract with God
Sin City: The Hard Goodbye
Box Office Poison
The Dark Tower: A Gunslinger Born
Fell: Feral City
Four Eyes: Forged in Flame
G.I.Joe: Cobra
Hack/Slash: My First Maniac
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction
I Kill Giants
Invincible: Family Matters
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
Judenhass
Marvel 1602
30 Days of Night
Stray Toasters
Origin
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume One
Irredeemable: Volume One
Marvels
Morning Glories: Volume One
The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank
Fear Agent: Re-Ignition
Chew: Taster's Choice
Mystery Society
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days
No Hero
Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street
Wolfskin
X-Force: New Beginnings
Atomic Robo: Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne
Skull Kickers: 100 Opas and a Dead Body
Sweet Tooth: Out of the Deep Woods
Proof: Goatsucker
Resurrection: The Insurgent Edition
The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye
Punisher Max: Kingpin
The Sixth Gun: Cold Dead Fingers
Starman: Sins of the Father
Marvel 1985
Criminal: Coward
Destroyer
Dynamo 5: Post-Nuclear Family
Taskmaster: Unthinkable
Crecy
iZombie: Dead to the World
Spider-Man: Reign
Wolverine: Old Man Logan
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted
The Crow
Crossed: Volume One
Scalped: Indian Country
Randon Acts of Violence
Preacher: Gone to Texas
The Roberts
The Pro
Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl
Y: The Last Man: Unmanned
Wolverine Weapon X: Adamantium Men
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Black Gas
Demo: Volume One
Daytripper
Casanova: Luxuria
Batman: Year One
Northlanders: Sven the Returned
New X-Men: E is for Extinction
X-Men: Magneto Testament
Batman: The Long Halloween
V For Vendetta
Watchmen
Kingdom Come
The Last Days of American Crime
Jinx
Sandman
The Complete Bone
Maus
Hard Boiled
300
Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes
Sea of Red: No Grave But the Sea
All Star Superman
Superman: Red Son
Black Hole

Shew...that just might keep me busy for a while.  Any other titles will be entertained and anything off the list that you want me to review sooner, I am more than willing to do...just drop me a line or leave me a comment. If you are a writer or artist or both with something you want me to review, feel free to send it to me.  If you are a shop that wants something reviewed to drum up sales...let me know.  Anyway...the first one will be up a little later this week, not sure which I will pick yet, so suggestions are welcome.  Talk to you soon, imaginary readers.

Downloadable Games

Hi, imaginary readers.  For someone who is suppose to be working through a ton of games this summer, I haven't been gaming a lot lately.  I just haven't been in the right mindset.  Some people can pick up and game and play an hour or two and then can move on...not me.  Once I start one, I want to finish it until the bitter end and get all I can out of it.  I think that's why sometimes big, disk games are sometimes daunting to me.  I have all three Assassin's Creed games and I have yet to jump in cause I know they will rule my life for a while once I start the first one.  Sometimes, it is just easier to jump into a shorter downloadable game because I know that I can devote a little bit of time, get a complete story, and have a ton of fun.

I have an XBox 360, so I can only talk of the XBox Arcade Games there, but over the years there has been a gradual shift from smaller, more puzzle type games Bejeweled and Bomberman Live and straight ports of older games like Joust and Contra to new complete adventure games like Shadow Complex and Limbo and upgraded classics like Bionic Commando Rearmed and Pacman CE.  Some of my favorites?  Why I thought you would never ask!

Puzzle Games
Pacman C.E.
Peggle
Hexic HD

Shooters
Heavy Weapon
Contra
Duke Nukem 3D

Adventure Games
Limbo
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Shadow Complex
Bionic Commando: Rearmed

Others
Plants Vs. Zombies
Carcassonne
Puzzle Quest

By all means, the list is not exhaustive.  There are a lot of good games out there to download and a lot that I have never played...just tried to narrow it down to ones I have played and loved.  You can't go wrong with these, the all get the PaleRiderOfDoom stamp of awesomeness!  Till next time, imaginary readers!

Five Video Game End Credit Songs That Make You Want To Keep Playing

I loves me a good video game and I do love a good end credit sequence with a good song.  I was thinking about some games I have played over the past few years and how that end song can keep you pumped and still want to keep playing.  Here are some from recent memory that made me want to get right back into the game in no particular order...

Alan Wake - Haunted by Poe

Such a good "haunting" song that ended an episode in Alan Wake and made you want to jump right back in for another round of craziness.  Really set the mood for the game and you knew you were playing something different.

Call of Duty: Black Ops - Won't Back Down by Eminem

Good song that grabbed you by the tenders and made you want to jump straight into the multiplayer after finishing the campaign.  Loved it!

Borderlands - No Heaven  by Champion

For a game whose "ending" was crap, this made you want to jump back in for more loot grabbin'.  Between the opening credit song by Cage the Elephant and this, it so set the tone for the game and helped solidify how cool this game is.

Portal - Still Alive by GLaDOS

Nothing that can be said that hasn't already elsewhere.  It is awesome and the followup from Portal 2 isn't too shabby either.

Rock Band - Pleasure (Pleasure) by Band Camero

Helped set this apart from all the cloned Guitar Hero games and you knew you were playing something special.

There are my picks.  Have any you would add?  Till next time, imaginary readers...

Ten Good Cover Songs Of Good Songs

Yeah, I know what I said...so deal with it, imaginary readers.  As long as I am pretty sure no one is reading this stuff, I can say what I want, right?  Wait...who am I asking?  Anyway, I thought I would do a list cause you know, all the cool kids are doing them these days.  Here are ten good cover songs of good songs that didn't really need the help in no particular order:

Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (are made of this) by The Eurythmics

It is so creepy and I like it!

A Perfect Circle - Imagine by John Lennon

Kind of amazing and wonderful...

Obadiah Parker - Hey Ya by OutKast

Was used on an episode of Scrubs and just sticks with you...

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground by Stevie Wonder

Reminds me how much I love RHCP and Stevie too...

Kittie - Run Like Hell by Pink Floyd

The girls from Kittie really scare me and I am ok with that...

The Cardigans - Iron Man by Black Sabbath

Iron Man as a lounge song...brilliant!

Smashing Pumpkins - Your All I've Got Tonight by The Cars

Who would have thunk it, but it works...

Heart - Rock & Roll by Led Zeppelin

They so own this song...almost like it better this way...almost...

Johnny Cash - Hurt by NIN

If one man ever deserved to cover this song, Johnny was the man...

Rage Against the Machine - Renegades of Funk by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force

So rocks...I miss Rage...

So there they are...thoughts?

The GOOD Super Hero Movie with "Green" in the Title

So, I finally got around to watching The Green Hornet and you know what, it is actually really good.  Funny and more badass than it has any right to be, the performances were solid and the movie didn't revolve around whether or not the CGI worked.

For me, the movie was fun and never really took itself too seriously but in the end delivered a solid story that overall didn't seem to be as long as it's nearly two hour length.  Seth Rogan does a great job, Cameron Diaz is very pretty and great, and Jay Chou is amazing as kind of a straight-man for a new age.  And then there is Adama!  And the young John Connor...who has seen much better days.  Oh and Christoph Waltz...come on...he is a great nemesis with his slow-burning, reserved omninous...ness...or something.  He was scary and I liked it.  Anyway, it was fun...the way a summer superhero movie should be...only it came out in January.  If you haven't seen it...put it in your Netflix queue...you will be glad you did.  Till next time...

Why I don't talk about music...

Cause I'm old...

Oh...you want more?  Well, I have a theory.  It seems like to me that they music that you love seems to get stuck somewhere in your 20s and doesn't seem to change all that much.  That's why old people like big band music...it is stuff from when they were young and alive.  For me, I guess it is hard rock, heavy metal, and grunge.  I never really have moved past any of that.  So, I guess that is why I definately won't be talking about music...it just isn't relevant or important or even interesting for that matter.  It's like your grand-dad talking about back in his day when you had to buy new needles for the record player...no one cares!  Anyway, have a great weekend, imaginary readers...

Print is dead! Long live print!

Well, a couple days off, vacationing with the family and I am back imaginary readers! I had some time to reflect and was looking through the most recent Previews.  With all the listings for the new DC reboot there are several were if you spend a little extra money, you can get the print copy and a digital copy for use on the mobile device of your choice.  It got me thinking...is this the beginning of the end finally for printed comic books? 



The beginning of the end?

 Honestly, I doubt it.  Though the technology is there and getting better and better all the time, I really think that the price is still the biggest problem.  Not only are the prices for individual issues just not at the price point in most instances where they need to be, the price of admission isn't there either with most comic-sized e-readers being way too expensive for the average comic reader.  I for one, have nothing other than a computer to read an e-comic on and at the moment, I would rather just read a printed copy.  For now, I would just as soon buy a trade at a discount than pay full price for every issue that that trade would contain.  I am sure that as interest grows that prices will need to come more in line with what people are willing to pay, but I for one have no interest in investing the money it would take so far.  And there is the fact that my trade shelf is pretty awesome!


So much awesome...and it is growing...

So, I guess time will tell if this really is the end of the paper printed word.  Should comic shops be worried?  Not yet, but in honor of the supposed death of the paper printed word, we will close by remembering many of the shops in the area that have gone on before.  Feel free to add ones that I have not, imaginary readers...
Paper Heroes
Red Rock (That guy always seemed soooo high)
Southern Star
Comic Connection (Lexington)
Comic Connection (Richmond)
Castle Comics
All those different shops that Ron Flickinger started and put out of business 'cause he is a dick...
The shop that I use to go to in Nicholasville...can not remember the name of it...
Plan B
Fun 4 Less
Monster Comics (Comics AND Tanning!)
Warlords (Man, I miss Keith)
And all the ones I have forgotten that have gone in and out over the years...

Till next time, imaginary readers...

What's in the Box?!?!

You know...I have been way too negative lately.  I need to talk about something awesome and full of positivity! And if there is one thing in my nerdiness that makes me giddy it is this little number:


Like my package?

What could this be?  Why it is my monthly shipment from Discount Comic Book Service! I love DCBS.  I can get anything I want from Previews and it is shipped with a flat shipping rate no matter how big my order right to my door and cheaper than if I went to my local comic shop...which is great, cause I live in a town with no local comic shop.  The cool thing about it is that I end up being able to buy more trades than I typically could in the course of a month and it has given me the opportunity to broaden my reading of comics into things I would not have normally picked up.  I have been able to try things like Sweet Tooth, Northlanders, The Roberts, Irredeemable, and Locke & Key that I never would have had the money to try before and that is definitely a great thing.  Is it a replacement for a good comic shop? Nope, not by a long shot.  Believe me, if I lived closer to the big city, I would definitely shop at Collectibles Etc...at least for my weekly floppy issues.  Anyway...once a month I get a big box chock full of fun and awesome.  What to know what I got this month?  Thought you would never ask!

The anticipation is killin' me!

They pack it really well...

A month of sweet comic goodness...

Well, we got a Previews with all the DC reboot crap (don't care...seriously), hardcover Dark Tower trade, trade paperbacks of Sweet Tooth, GI Joe: Cobra, Walking Dead, The Sixth Gun, and Proof, and monthly issues of Thunderbolts, Avenger Academy, X-Factor, and Gear of War (yeah...guilty pleasure of mine).  Not a bad haul and plenty to keep me busy over the next month until my next box comes (well this and working through the tome that is the Essential Man-Thing Vol. 1).  Anyway, you might want to give the DCBS site a look-see.  It is great and you can get some really great deals, especially on things your LCS might not carry. Tell 'em Patrick sent ya!  And they will be all like, "who?", but more to it, they will probably just be happy that you stopped by and said hey.  Till next time...

Heard Any Good Leonard Nimoy Jokes Lately?

So, it is my Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie review!  Was it awesome?  Was it amazing? Was it a waste of three hours? Well...none of the above...


Meet me on the dark side of moon, why dontcha?

Overall, it was an ok summer popcorn flick.  Typical Michael Bay movie.  Lots of explosions, a pointless, tacked-on love story, and more than a few gags that are meant to be funny, but end up falling flat.  I didn't love or hate it and it probably should have been the second movie (as my friend Justin pointed out) and not the third.  I don't want to give anything major away, but if you go, you will probably have a good time, just don't think about any of it too hard.  The main thing that stood out to me was Leonard Nimoy.  He was the voice of the powerful Sentinel Prime and lended an air of distinction to the role. 

Illogical...

Bearded robot...really?  At least he had no limp...

It bothered me how referential the movie was the Leonard Nimoy's Spock role with more than a couple references to it.  Bumblebee used a soundbite from The Wrath of Khan (I think), they showed an episode of the Star Trek TV show, and Sentinel Prime even had a take on Spock's "needs of the many..." speech.  It sooo took away from the movie and really cheapened the overall impact of the role because I kept thinking about Nimoy's Spock and not focusing on his as Sentinel Prime.  I mean, it was hard enough not thinking about his role as Galvatron (which really kind of revealed a major plot twist if I had put much thought to it) in the animated Transformers: The Movie. 


Meet the new boss...

Anyway, I guess my favorite part of the movie was something so small and yet so significant to my nerdiness that it made my geeky heart sing.  The appearance of Jesse Heiman in an office scene. 



Jesse Heiman: Superstar!

 I got all giddy and excited like no other part of the movie did.  That may say something about the movie overall.  See ya at the movies, kids!

A Little Ranting About Gamestop...

Video gaming was not that easy around these parts as I was growing up.  Living in the middle of BFE, there really were not a lot of options when it game to arcades or even buying video games for that matter.  I can though fondly remember going to Roses in Richmond and drooling over Sega Master System games and not so fondly remember being scared to look anyone in the eye at the Kentucky Arcade across the street. 

Going to the big city of Richmond was a huge deal for me back in those days and those trips were few and far between.  That said, on the off chance I actually got a new game, once it was yours - it was yours. You could maybe trade with a friend, but like I said - out in BFE - there wasn't a lot of that going on.  Over the years, I grew up (sort of) and moved away from a lot of gaming.  It was just hard to do for me.  I had a game system or two (who DIDN'T have an original Playstation, right?) and though I played some awesome stuff, it really wasn't until my wife bought me an Xbox 360 one Christmas that I didn't really get into gaming that can be considered "proper hardcore". It was quite the jump for me going from Metal Gear Solid all those years ago to Gears of War (which was my first new game).  Loved it and I was hooked again and for the first time, could actually play the games I wanted to play and boy did I.  So, as I approach 80K gamerscore, you can imagine that you rake up a lot of games in the library and anymore it just isn't practical to hang on to all of them.  Me being new to all this went to the one that most people go to...Gamestop.  On the surface it seems like a great concept.  You buy a game, play a game, trade it back to them, and buy another game.  That would be great it you didn't end up getting royally screwed on step three and sometimes even step four there.  I didn't much like paying full price for a game then selling it back for a quarter of the purchase price (if you are lucky and quick with the turn around).  Even their used games, which they push a lot are far from cheap ($5 off is not a good incentive in my mind).  I mean, I guess all that would be fine if you had a clue what you would actually be getting for a game going in, but it is a huge mystery that you never know until you are standing at the counter where you can either grab your games and walk out with nothing new or taking the little bit they offer and still handing over a wad of cash for something new (all the while grumbling under your breath works that I probably shouldn't type here). So...none of this is new to anyone I am sure, so why even rant about it? 

Well, a friend of mine who had been working at Gamestop for a very long time and was the only employee I would waste my time working with (would drive 20 minutes out of my way just to see him, even though I have a Gamestop in my town) was fired this week by the company.  They said his shop was in bad shape and they no longer needed him.   Truth was, he had worked with them a long time and made a lot of money compared to the typical Gamestop employee and has MS.  They wanted rid of him cause he couldn't work the type of schedule that the company often demands and it cost too much to keep him if he couldn't put in all the extra hours they demand.  I hope he sues and makes a mint off them.  I won't be going back.  I am tired of the whole way they treat customers and now, how they treat their employees.  They post huge earnings year after year and they treat everyone like crap.  I am out...done.  Will probably be using Best Buy from now on.  They don't give a lot of money either, but at least you know that going in since you can look up any game online and get a quote.  No more mystery or hidden conditions.  Just something to think about.  Have a great weekend all.

Greg Lantern!

Well, I finally got around to watching Green Lantern.  So on a nice Thursday night, me and some random, middle-aged woman decided to see the movie at the 9:45 showing and it was...a movie.  Now, I am an admitted comic book nerd - I wear it proudly - but I have never really read very much Green Lantern.  Really only some Neal Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow issues when I was going up.  So I am familiar with the main ideas and the concept, but other than that, I really don't know details when it comes to Green Lantern canon.  That said, I pretty much had to go into the movie with an open mind, though I had heard plenty of people weigh in on the subject of the movie. 

Those eyes are so creepy!

Though I won't get too much into the details of the movie, summing up how I feel...well, I didn't like it.  There is some cool CGI and the costumes weren't as annoying as I thought they would be, but overall as a movie, I didn't have that good of a time.  When you are looking at your watching during a 100 minute movie, there is definitely something wrong.  Plot holes you could fly Mogo through and too much whining basically turn a concept that could be really cool, into just an overall boring endevour.  There were some bright spots.  Mark Strong as Sinestro was really cool and he seemed to do a good job with character though his coda during the credits didn't seem to totally make a lot of sense.


Bad Ass!

 Also, I liked Peter Sarsgaard' s Hector Hammond.  Of all the characters in the movie, his personality and motivation were the most explored and understood, really.  You really got the feeling why he was acting the way he was and in the end, it was very unfortunate what they decided to do with his character.  My only gripe is that he looked like the older brother of Rocky from the movie Mask.

Exhibit A



Exhibit B



Anyway, the rest of the movie was a mess.  Parallax was crap...literally.  Looked like smoking, smoldering dookie attacking the city...but more on that in another post.  Blake Lively was pretty but was not right for the part.  Ryan Reynolds was...well...Ryan Reynolds.  Not necessarily a bad thing, just didn't seem to fit with the character.  Overall, just a lot of wasted potential for something that could have been a big money maker for DC and Warner Brothers.  Oh well, they don't need another successful movie franchise, right?  right?  Anyway...see you at the movies, kids!