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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 20, 2017 10:11:04 GMT -5
Saga trades are currently doing very well.
Marvel's Star Wars trades perhaps? There is a movie coming up plus they have some solid creative teams on them.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 20, 2017 8:52:21 GMT -5
Top Humble Bundle Continued:
Rest by Mark Powers, Shawn McManus, Marco Castiello and Abhishek Malsuni: Not bad, it's at least more what I wanted from this bundle than the previous things I discussed (barring Hine's Darkness). Apparently this started out at Devil's Due, a publisher I've had little contact with, but then moved to Top Cow. The setup is pretty simple: John's in a high-stress telemarketer job with no real prospects and his college friend Teddy shows up after they lost touch for years. Teddy is rich, succesful and a lot more healthier than before and reveals that he's part of a drug experiment for a drug that eliminates the need for sleep. An implant in their neck gives them the right dosage to eliminate all need for sleep while preventing any side-effects. Without having to sleep, John suddenly has far more time to do other things: he has more time for his job so he quickly rises in the ranks, studies languages, works out. Of course things go wrong, but I have to give Powers credit for at least pointing out that even if the drug worked perfectly, it would have serious consequences: one of the FDA inspectors points out that should the drug work, the demands for energy and food would drastically increase. I also appreciate that the artstyle is not the usual Top Cow housestyle (though Top Cow has become a bit more diverse than they used to be). Downsides: The way things go wrong are a bit too extreme for my taste; I wanted more time to explore the concept itself and the downsides of it, without the side-effects overwhelming the story.
Swing and Sugar: Not a trade, but two previews for upcoming Top Cow titles. Swing is a title by Hawkins, Jenni Chueng and Linda Sejic, Sugar by Hawkins, Jenni Cheung and Yishan Li. Sunstone must have done very well if Top Cow is releasing two romance comics that both seem to be inspired by it. Swing is about a girl going to college and falling in love with a teaching assistant. The icon for the series indicates a lot more romantical complexity than that. Sugar's preview is image only, no-text and seems to deal with a single waitress who is trying to find love. Interesting to see that Hawkins (who usually is very into science and sci-fi on his other titles) is writing both series together with his wife (Jenni). I'm not that big a fan of Hawkins (being from a science background, the flaws in his science pieces are probably more obvious to me), so I don't think this will hit the heights that Sunstone did for me (then again, Sejic's writing on Ravine was not spectacular either). I'm happy to see Top Cow (and mainstream comics in general) widening their scope again.
Symmetry by Matt Hawkins and Raffaele Ienco. Hawkins is a busy man, see all these titles he's written and he's also running Top Cow. Another hard sci-fi series and a concept that I find quite interesting: Artificial Intelligence has come so far, that humanity has decided to hand the reigns of the world to it so that human conflict can be eliminated. Each human receives an AI co-pilot to help guide their actions for the better of humanity. I'm a big fan of Iain Banks Culture-books, this is a more cynical take on such a society. Big difference is of course that in the Culture, humans are left free to do what they want as long as they don't endanger those around them (and the tech levels are quite a bit higher as well), so the point becomes more what do you do when you can do anything. The AI here has decided that things like love, diversity and creativity are a danger to peace and harmony, so from the start we already see that this is more a Brave New World (or similar titles) than the Culture. The story hits several expected points, but overal is different enough to be interesting. I said above I'm not a fan of Hawkins writing, but I enjoyed this one. I'm still deciding whether I liked the ending, but the points it makes are well made (it helps that Hawkins has his usual bits of information and sources at the end. For all my criticism of Hawkins, he's one of the few comic writers I know that accurately sources his comics.) Also he avoids going for easy answers, which I always appreciate. Last, minor comment: by contract I'm obligated to make a certain Monty Python joke whenever it occurs in comics, movies or TV: in the Serengeti, the main characters are attacked by a tiger, so ... "A tiger? in Africa?" Overall: I recommend it, it's two trades for the complete story. A sci-fi story inspired by several classics, but with enough twists that makes it relevant to our current world.
Upcoming: Think Tank, Wildfire, Witchblade Manga and the Generation IXth oneshots.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 19, 2017 8:35:02 GMT -5
Michael Cray #2 by Bryan Hill (writer) and N. Steven Harris (artist), Dexter Vines (Inker), Dearbhla Kelly (Colourist) and Simon Bowland (Letterer). Warren Ellis is credited as "based on a story by".
The Cover: I have the cover by Denys Cowyn, Bill Sienkiewicz and Steve Buccellatto. Cray is shooting with 2 handguns at an unseen attacker as two green arrows hit the wall behind him (so 3 guesses who the unseen attacker is)
Page 1-5: In a steampunk-world simulation, Cray fights with 3 people. It turns out to be test to see if they are on his team. Cray defeats them and points out their flaws, but still wants them for his team. The three members are all Wildstorm characters: Hector Morales: In the old Wildstorm universe, one of the members of DV8, codename Powerhaus. Hector's skin is darker here and he doesn't have his beard. Presumably he also lacks his superhuman powers (that goes for the other 2 as well). Leon Carver: Another former DV8 member, known as Frostbite. He used to be a black kid with blond hair (a side-effect of his powers, not a fashion decision), but he has normal black hair here. Frostbite could absorb and release heat. Victoria: No last name given, but Victoria Ngengi was a member of Stormwatch under the name Flint, so I make the assumption that this is her. Flint was superhumanly strong and durable and built like it, she is smaller and not as muscled here.
Page 6-7 Meeting with his doctor, she reveals that Cray's brain tumor is not a tumor, but his brain changing, presumably connected to his new powers. This also a callback to the original Wildstorm series, Cray's tumor there was a side-effect from the experiment that gave Team 7 their powers and his powers were triggered by it. I don't think his doctor, Shahi, is somebody we've seen before.
Page 8-10: Interestingly, Cray is captured and brought to the closed facility. Queen gives Cray a handgun to make the fight fair (the last time we saw Queen hunting somebody they were unarmed. Possible they had a weapon from the beginning though and lost it in an earlier encounter with Queen as by the time we see the hunt, the victim is already wounded.)
Page 17-19: During the fight, Cray touches Queen's arm, disintegrating it. A reference to Oliver Queen in the Dark Knight Returns (though it's a different arm this time)? It doesn't really matter, because Victoria takes Queen out with a sniper gun. Victoria now knows about Cray's powers.
Page 22: Trelane gives Cray a new target: a corrupt police officer named Barry Allen.
In short: Nice to see some DV8 characters again, even if they are different from their originals. So first Green Arrow, now Barry Allen. This series is intended to be 12 issues long, so I assume we're going through the whole Justice League? Like I said the last time, I hope there is a point to be made there.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 19, 2017 8:04:14 GMT -5
So as said yesterday:
Michael Cray #1 by Bryan Hill (writer) and N. Steven Harris (artist), Dexter Vines (Inker), Steve Buccellato (Colourist) and Simon Bowland (Letterer). Warren Ellis is credited as "based on a story by".
The Cover: I have the cover by Denys Cowyn, Bill Sienkiewicz (thank you internet for letting me spell Sienkiewicz correctly after years of practice) and Steve Buccellatto. We have a full body shot of adult Michael Cray holding a handgun with in the forefront child Michael Cray dressed in Superman pajamas reading comics. An American Flag and Black Panther poster are seen behind Cray. To the left we have a bridge (I believe the Golden Gate bridge (seeing the shape and the red colour). To the top right we have symbols that I don't recognise. Anybody else?
Page 1: We see images from Michael's past. Like I said in the regular Wildstorm reviews, Michael's background and race has changed from his previous incarnation. Where the old Michael Cray was a member of the Navy, following in the footsteps of his father, his father here is far more sceptical of the US and disagrees with his son's decision to join the Army. (The pictures of Cray in his time in the Army pre-IO, make me suspect that he's Army rather than Navy.
Page 4: Cray has joined the Executive Protection Services, seeing the tasks he will get in this and the next issue, it's obviously a cover for Skywatch, because his missions are a violation of the treaties between Skywatch and IO as explained by Marlowe in Wildstorm. A short recap for those only reading this series: Skywatch controls space and is allowed a presence on Earth, but has no say on Earth's politics. IO gets to rule the Earth, but is allowed only limited resources in space (some spy satellites and that's it). At this point, Christine Trelane, Skywatch's representative on Earth thinks that these treaties are still active, not knowing that Bendix, her superior, has discovered that IO has broken the treaties by stealing Skywatch technology and IO believes that Skywatch has broken these treaties by having a rogue BlackOps unit on Earth (which is interesting, because they are correct that Skywatch has an illegal Black Ops unit, the unit IO thinks is Skywatch (the wildCAT), is not allied to Skywatch at all.)
Page 5: Not much Wildstorm references this time, Cray is told by Trelane to pick 3 team members, but the list she gives him, is not shown. Cray's target is Oliver Queen (I guess everybody who comes to this board know who he is, but nevertheless). Oliver Queen is of course better known in the DC universe as the superhero Green Arrow. More on similarities/difference between his incarnation here and there later.
Page 7: Oliver Queen lives in San Francisco in this universe instead of his usual home of Star City (or New York when you go way back to the Golden Age version). He has a dream of being stranded on a deserted island. That part lines up with the DC version.
Page 11-12: And here's where the differences start: Queen deals drugs and guns to neighborhoods, then funds police efforts to strike hard at these neighborhoods.
Page 13-15: Queen buys off a woman he just slept with. DC Oliver Queen has a pretty bad history with women (in most of his incarnations), but this is far beyond that. In his closet he keeps his Arrow costume including bows, arrows and various other weaponry.
Page 16-22: The gentrification efforts are not enough for Cray to decide that Queen needs to be killed, so Trelane reveals something else: Queen has a private facility where he hunts people. Trelane may be lying, but we do see Queen hunting and killing an unarmed man in his private facility.
In short: no Wildstorm references here beyond the one we already had in the Wildstorm-series itself (Cray, Trelane, Skywatch, IO). The choice to use Oliver Queen as a villain is interesting (and as we'll see in issue #2 part of a theme), but the point is for the moment still unclear to me. Hope that they go somewhere with this. Not a fan of the artwork for this series.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 18, 2017 11:29:35 GMT -5
I'll think I'll be adding the Michael Cray issues as well here, because Cray's team he assembles in issue #2 are all Wildstorm characters. The art on the series is pretty bad though.
Re art on old Wildstorm: It really depends what issues you were looking at. The early issues with Jim Lee and his clones are pretty bad (not a fan of Lee's art myself). But later on we have Charest, Dustin Nguyen on Wildcats, Sean Philips on Wildcats and Sleeper. Colin Wilson on Point Blank. Ashley Wood on Automatic Kafka and many more.
Back to the current Wildstorm series with the good art:
The Wildstorm #9 by Warren Ellis (writer) and Jon Davis-Hunt (artist), Steve Buccellato (Colourist) and Simon Bowland (letterer).
The Cover: Angela Spica, unarmoured surrounded by pieces of technology coming from behind her.
Page 1-3: Emp shows Angie her new lab, a hidden wirehouse full of alien technology. There is a large robot/powered armour with the number 52 on it (a reference to DC's new 52?) The lab/warehouse is very large and can only be reached with Adrianna's teleportation. Angela stays behind, starting to study what that looks like a Flash Gordon raygun.
Page 4-6: Mitchell updates King on John Colt's mission last issue. John used the codename Wilson Flowers and all further data on him, including camera images were erased. King goes to Craven with an update on Cole Cash. Cash was involved with "Project Thunderbook". (The name of an anthology series in the old Wildstorm universe). Craven tells King that Thunderbook was a project of the previous IO Director: John Lynch. This is the first John Lynch is name-dropped and he was one of the major characters in the old Wildstorm universe. Mostly appearing in Gen13, where he was the team's mentor and Sleeper, where he was the director of IO. Lynch in turn is based on Marvel's Nick Fury (with a bit of Clint Eastwood thrown in). When Lynch (who is described as paranoid, which fits his previous incarnation as well) left IO, he destroyed all files on Thunderbook and members involved with the project committed suicide. During this conversation Craven is reading a book "Against the Day". (I assume it's the novel based by Thomas Pynchon). At the end Craven makes King confess what her team is doing (figuring out how to hack Skywatch) and tells her not to take action before talking to him first.
Page 7-17: John Colt reminisces a mission in the past. It looks like Japan in 17th or 18th Century. Colt, dressed as a Ronin, stops a cart and several guards attack him. In the fight, John does not hide his superhuman abilities this time and displays acts of superhuman strength, speed and agility. At the end of the fight, he takes from the cart what he came for: a cocoon-like piece of technology.
Page 18: Kenesha interrupts John. She comments on his taste for expensive alcohol and food and John reveals a bit more on Kheran culture: on Khera a person's name denotes his or her caste; the more syllabels, the lower the caste. Emp with 1 syllable is the highest caste. Kenesha with 3 syllables was a high-ranking class. John's Kheran name contained 8 syllables with a specific syllable (U) to denote that he was the lowest class. John's role is to carry out orders of the higher casts with no expectation of any rewards for himself. So John takes his time on Earth to enjoy all the luxuries he was not allowed on Khera. Kenesha reminds him that there was a high-ranking member of the expedition he did not mention: Zannah (with 2 syllables higher ranked that Savant and lower than Emp), somebody John has no fond memories off to see his reactions. So all of this, with the names and syllables defining rank is new: John Colt's Kheran name in the old Wildstorm was Yohn Kohl (so with 2 syllables he should have been a high ranking Kheran in this system). High-ranking Kherans on Earth where Emp, his brother Entropy, Majestros, S'ylton and Mythos. Zannah was Zealot's Kheran name. The fact that Zannah and Kenesha are of different caste seems to imply that they are no longer sisters, but that could be a wrong assumption on my part. The reaction of John and the way Kenesha talks about her, also seems to imply that Zannah and the other Kherans are not on good terms with each other.
Page 19 Zealot, replacing Christine Trelane, who is busy (presumably with her action in Michael Cray's solo-series) receives her orders from Lauren Pennington to keep an eye on IO's Analysis division, suspecting that they are on the exosuit (Angie) investigation just like Zealot is and that IO possesses stolen Skywatch hardware.
Page 20-21: King finds Mitchell outside the IO building and lectures him on the use of an app on his phone to call a cab. She refers to Paul Kirk, a fictional spy that Mitchell is a fan off. In the DC universe Paul Kirk is known as Manhunter. A bus arrives that has an add for Paul Kirk: Manhunter on it. So so far most of DC references are kinda weird so far: some refer to fiction within the universe (but changed from the fictional characters as we know them, some of them are actual people/organisations within the Wildstorm Universe (like Oliver Queen or Kord Industries, but again different from the versions that we know.)
Page 22: Angie uses some medical equipment to bandage the wound in her stomach and then grabs the ray-gun, telling herself that she needs to learn to shoot.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 18, 2017 6:01:05 GMT -5
So as said in the other thread, I bought the Top Cow Humble Bundle, mostly to get my hands on the Stjepan Sejic artwork in the titles I didn't have/read yet.
So mini-reviews of the few titles I've read so far (alphabetically and I skipped titles I read before):
Angelus: Sejic on art, it's his old style so less attention to facial expressions (which is one of its strongest points right now IMHO), but more highly detailed monsters and armour etc. I've read some of Marz/Sejic Witchblade and this spins out of that series. I only knew the Angelus from Ennis' The Darkness, but the story has gone on. The Angelus, one of the primal forces of the universe that controls light, has decided that its regular tactic of possessing a human and overruling their mind with its own hasn't really been successful in its fight with the Darkness and therefore its current host, Danielle, former owner of the Witchblade, has been given full control. Danielle decides that she has no interest in killing the Darkness (as its current host, Jackie Estacado, is kinda/sorta friend). The various angels created by the Angelus are bad at dealing with this and many start to rebel, so it's up to Danielle to take control. Kinda unclear how this whole thing fits with previous Witchblade/Darkness stories, it always seemed like the Angelus' warriors didn't have much of a free will themselves, but here they are openly rebelling and questioning the host. Might be just because this is the first time that the Angelus itself is not in the driving seat. Still weird how one of the angels can bond with another artefact (as I expect the angels themselves to be part of the Angelus). Overall not a bad story, not a great story. Main draw is Sejic's art and his art here is not as good in his more recent work or as in Sunstone, Death Vigil or Ravine.
Aphrodite IX: There are multiple trades in this bundle. I already read the Hawkins/Sejic series, so I didn't reread those for this. This is the Wohl/Finch series. I think? that the Wohl/Finch and the Hawkins/Sejic series are set in different continuities. Anyway it's quite a mess: Aphrodite, the titular android assassin, has no memory (a plot point that usually annoys me, like this time) and the opening narration is vague, especially as we don't have a frame of reference as to who's talking. Scenes are peppered with flashbacks and Aphrodite's memory resets after every mission (which I admit, is quite an asset if you want to hire an assassin), so the amnesia plot point doesn't even go away or is resolved. Also not a fan of Finch's art (is changing shape/clothes a part of her power set? Cause she changes outfits between panels that should take place less than a second apart), and the collections tendencies to put the various pin-ups all through the story instead of collected at the end also annoys me.
Berserker: Another series that didn't appeal to me. A horror series by Rick Loverd and Jeremy Haun, Berserker is about two young men, Farris, a former soldier and Aaron, a student/amateur wrestler. Both are descendants of the ancient Berserkers, a group of warriors that went into murderous trances where they were unstoppable killing machines that murdered everybody around them. Both have no idea what they are and have no control over their power. The remains of the Berserkers have split up in 2 secret groups and each of them has their own reasons to want to recruit the young men. The story ends on an obvious cliffhanger and I'm not sure if the series itself went on after that, but I'm not interested enough to find out. The fights are long and very bloody and the series that came to mind is Luther Strode, but Strode has better writing and art IMHO. With characters that are completely blind to who they attack and why, it's very hard to get emotionally invested in them, so I had no connection to the plot at all.
Cyberforce: I wanted to say I never read a Cyberforce issue (WildC.A.T.s was my Image X-Men copy, cause they had Moore, Charest and later on Casey, Phillips and Nguyen.), but it's not completely true I realised. I have an issue from Top Cow's pilot Season, where they did single issues with a creative team and the most successful would become an ongoing title. There was a Velocity one-shot by Joe Casey and Kevin Maguire (but the ongoing, if it ever came to be, didn't have those two on it, so as a pilot it was pretty useless). Anyway these are a complete reboot as far as I can tell and it's more a sci-fi comic than a superhero comic. The previous team of X-Men copies is mostly killed off within the first issue. Cyberdata, the evil company (aren't they nearly all in comics?) that created the cyborg protagonists, has created a supercomputer and all their calculations point to civilization being destroyed in the near future. Their two leaders (husband and wife) have each their own ideas how to go forward from that. One by exterminating the majority of humanity, the other by creating a new species that will replace humanity. All these cyborgs and supertechnology are hidden from the rest of humanity and most of the series is taking place in the present time, though it speeds up a lot in the final few issues. It's not a must-have series, but it's a competently written sci-fi/conspiracy book with a plot that works even though some things confuse me (one of the cast member is Aphrodite, but she is not the same Aphrodite as in the series above as far as I can tell, nor the same as the Aphrodite in the Hawkins/Sejic series.) I quite liked one scene where the nominal heroes have one of the directors at gunpoint and the director tries to prove his point by letting the super computer calculate the chances of his plan to save the world succeeding depending on various scenarios. The heroes immediately start to suggest scenarios where the director himself is killed and other scenarios that won't go well for him and it turns out that those scenarios are even better to saving the world compared to his plans. One weird art-thing that kept bugging me: Stryker, the Cable-clone, has three cybernetic right arms. (Weird, but that is the character's design and it's a pretty unique look, so I'll allow it.) When keeping a lower profile, he only has one right arm (I expect he's able to connect or disconnect those arms when necessary, so still making sense so far.) But there are various action scenes where he has 1-3 right arms depending on the panel he's in. Is this a superpower he has? Can he just grow and retract them as he finds necessary? It's like Aphrodite's clothing before. I can see those things changing between scenes, but not in mid-action.
Cyberforce/Hunter Killer: Mark Waid and Kenneth Rocafort create a ... by-the-numbers crossover story: two teams (Hunter Killer, which I didn't even know existed as a series till this Humble Bundle and Cyberforce, this time the old school X-Men copies) meet, have a fight due to misunderstanding before teaming up against a common threat. It's as boring as it sounds and I really expect more from Waid (never been his biggest fan, but this could have been written by any superhero writer on their first attempt). Kenneth Rocafort is a pretty good artist IMHO, though his insistence to draw every female character with perfectly spherical breasts is something that he should grow out off.
Darkness Rebirth v1-3: David Hine and Jeremy Haun reboot the series that was started by Garth Ennis, but there is an in-comic reason for the reboot. I liked this series; I read the original Darkness because Ennis was writing it and he just came from Hitman and Preacher. It was a mixture of dark comedy and anti-hero action. Hine went for more of a horror take for this and it works very well. At the end of the previous run/crossover with Witchblade and other titles, Hope, the daughter of Jackie Estacado (wielder of the Darkness) and Sara Pezzini (wielder of the Witchblade) turned out to be a threat to the universe just be existing. Faced with the choice between ending the universe or their daughter's life, Jackie turned against everybody else to save his daughter (Jackie having the moral high ground for once in his life, must have felt weird for him), using her power to recreate the universe. In this new world, Jackie is happily married to his childhood love, Jenny (who apparently was killed somewhere in the original Darkness series) and they have a daughter named Hope. By changing the universe, bringing Jenny back to life and replacing Hope's mother with Jenny, Jackie might have saved her life, but the damage he has done turns out to be far more than he ever imagine. The series ends on a cliffhanger, to be resolved in a mini-series by Hine and Sejic that never was. A bit of googling shows that it was resolved in an arc in Witchblade, so I might find those issues just to get a resolution to this. Haun's artwork here is so much better than in Berserker, even though Berserker was the newer series I think? The reason this series works, is because despite all his power, Jackie is desperately trying to keep things under control, but he has no idea what's happening all around him.
Hunter Killer: Waid and Silvestri do a mediocre-at-best superhero book. A supergenius has created superhumans named Ultrasapiens near the end of WWII, then most of them rebelled and fled to all corners of the world. A special group of superhumans and trained soldiers are sent to capture, control or kill the Ultrasapiens. This group is called Hunter Killer. I mean.. what are they expecting with that name? Even the most peaceful superhuman will not be in the most cooperative of mood if they find out that the group that is coming after them is called "Hunter Killer". The main character (new to the group) shares the reader's scepticism, so it's not as if Waid is unaware of the implications behind the name... but then the founder/leader of Hunter Killer is a guy dressed in completely white with blond hair who uses the name Morningstar (maybe I've read too much Lucifer and played too much Shin Megami Tensei video games, but that should set off all the alarms in your head). There turns out to be a "the world will be destroyed in X years" subplot, that was also in Cyberforce, though Cyberforce had some clever bits with it as said before. Here Waid tries to do something where various historical events of the past 70 years were all covers to prevent the end of the world. The interesting part is that the date of the end of the world shifts (the original one was in the early 60s), but is never completely averted only a few years or months are won every time. The characters are pretty boring though: obviously-evil Morningstar, newbie Ellis who hopes to do some good, Wolf, the mysterious superhuman that works against Hunter Killer, Sam Argent, whose only role seems to be to stand around, bark orders and look pretty. The only character I liked is Cloaker, a minor character with illusion powers whose job it is to keep all of Hunter Killers actions a secret from the general public with a sense of humour.
Upcoming (when I get around to actually reading them): Rest, Symmetry, Think Tank and Wildfire (plus some oneshots included in the bundle I didn't read before).
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 13, 2017 15:13:53 GMT -5
And he's actually been fired now according to Buzzfeed.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 13, 2017 13:25:08 GMT -5
They are slowly revealing the line-up so far (with the usual shadows of characters getting filled in): So far it's Jean, Nightcrawler, Namor, Gentle and Gaby (Laura's 'sister'). One of the shadows is obviously Wolverine (Laura), which makes sense with Tom Taylor writing, the other has a long braid, so .. Dani Moonstar? (update: Nope, it's a new character named Trinary)
Would quite like that line-up.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 12, 2017 12:39:34 GMT -5
Tom Taylor and Travis Charest (even if it's only covers) is a big draw for me, so I'll give it a shot.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 12, 2017 6:09:16 GMT -5
I said it on another discussion board, but deciding to not hire female creators for Superman/Wonder Woman titles because your editor is known to harass women is just about the most ass-backward solution I can think off.
At this point it's not just Berganza that was the problem, but the people covering for him as well.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 12, 2017 5:56:08 GMT -5
Likewise, it's a good comic, but the Fade-Out was so good (once it got going). I guess it's just not clicking with me (though the old pulp covers they do within the series are quite nice and something different from the team) and not getting tired with Brubaker/Phillips.
Wasn't around last week, cause I was on holiday in Vienna: beautiful city and for some weird reason it has a lot of comicbook stores (at least 10 within walking distance of the hotel I was staying... though walking distance is 1-2 hours for me on holidays). Most of them had only stuff in german, but there were 2 pretty good comic stores (Comic Treff and Runch! to give them a shoutout) with a lot of American stuff. Finally got to pick up a copy of Reinventing Comics.
Also picked up the Humble Bundle: already had the Bloodstain (not bad) and Sunstone (amazing) comics in it, but it has a lot of Sejic comics I hadn't read yet, plus some other sci-fi comics I didn't have the budget for at the time to check out.
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Post by Dizzy D on Nov 3, 2017 7:13:39 GMT -5
Apparently the show is ending because of the legal situation of the projected fan-film "Axanar". That production raised a million bucks, but was clearly no longer a mere fan film... It had become a commercial enterprise that was walking all over the IP rights of CBS and Paramount. This caused a lawsuit, which was settled early this year. Unfortunately for Star Trek Continues fans, the situation prompted CBS and Paramount to write up guidelines for any future fan film. They are as follows: 1- A Star Trek fan film film must be less than 15 minutes for a single self-contained story, or no more than 2 parts, not to exceed 30 minutes total. 2- The title cannot include the name “Star Trek.” 3- The film cannot use reproductions, recreations or clips from any Star Trek production. 4- Commercially-available Star Trek uniforms and props must be official merchandise and not bootleg items or imitations. 5- All creators and actors must be amateurs and work without compensation. They cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series or film. 6- Fan productions must be non-commercial: fund-raising cannot exceed $50,000. There can be no charge for viewing them. They cannot generate revenue online. They cannot be put on DVDs or Blu-ray disks. They cannot generate revenues in any way, period. 7- The film must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. 8- A long disclaimer must be added to the credits, the text of which is given by CBS and Paramount. 9- CBS and Paramount can pull the plug at any time. Although CBS and Paramount had no problem with STC as it was, these new guidelines clearly prevent further episodes. The last episodes will use up the rest of the money that was donated, and that will be that. There were only a few more episodes planned anyway, but it's still a shame that such a great, fan-based endeavour has to end early because of the overreach of a few entrepreneurs who don't quite grasp what intellectual property rights are. It's definitely one of the strictest protections I've ever seen, and part of me wonders if it would really hold up in court. I don't think it's that bad. Most companies would just go "No." and that's it. At least they allow for fanfilms. IANAL, but >1- A Star Trek fan film film must be less than 15 minutes for a single self-contained story, or no more than 2 parts, not to exceed 30 minutes total. Kinda arbitrary. >2- The title cannot include the name “Star Trek.” That one makes sense. Protection of trademark pretty much requires this of them. >3- The film cannot use reproductions, recreations or clips from any Star Trek production. Protection of copyright I guess? Makes sense to me. ~4- Commercially-available Star Trek uniforms and props must be official merchandise and not bootleg items or imitations. This one, I don't agree with (and I think that this one would be hard to enforce in court), but it's pretty clear why they want this. ~5- All creators and actors must be amateurs and work without compensation. They cannot be currently or previously employed on any Star Trek series or film. Another one I don't agree with (remembers the Dirty Laundry fan film that had Thomas Jane in it). If an actor wants to do this, just let them. >6- Fan productions must be non-commercial: fund-raising cannot exceed $50,000. There can be no charge for viewing them. They cannot generate revenue online. They cannot be put on DVDs or Blu-ray disks. They cannot generate revenues in any way, period. Fair enough. I think this is another requirement to protect your own trademark. > 7- The film must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Protecting their own IP again. >8- A long disclaimer must be added to the credits, the text of which is given by CBS and Paramount. Protecting their own IP again. >9- CBS and Paramount can pull the plug at any time. Wel.. obviously.
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 28, 2017 4:58:11 GMT -5
So two big titles this week:
The new Asterix: This time it's all about Italy. Asterix and Obelix take part in a grand chariot race throughout Italy, set up by a corrupt Senator who wants to prove how great Roman roads are (after embazzling all the funds given to him to maintain said roads). We get the usual stereotypes of all nations (though the portrayal of Africans in that classic 1940s style should not be a thing of our time.) and some of the expected jokes about Italians. They are a too on the nose though: we have references to Pavarotti (with a bit of singing just in case we didn't get it), a Mona Lisa (with comments about her smile, just in case we don't get it). Jokes about their flat cakes that taste very dry and could do with a little sauce (with comment that till the introduction of the tomato several centuries later, pizza's would remain unpopular, just in case we didn't get it). I'm stil applauding the creative team to follow in the footsteps of Goscinny and Uderzo and their issues are remarkably better than Uderzo efforts without Goscinny, but this one just asks for comparisons to Le Tour de Gaule (The Grand Banquet) and that one is just better, even if it isn't close to the better Asterix issues (still an early one that is finding its way). Also you don't need to explain every joke (example: Obelix, drunk on heavy Italian wine, commenting that a tower in the distance is leaning over is obvious, but works, because it's not further explained and I think everybody will get the reference.)
Une Aventure de Spirou par....
(well this is a tough one, usually I use the french title, cause it's the original title for Spirou. But this one was by a dutch writer/artist (Hanco Kolk) en came out first in dutch. In fact it hasn't appeared yet in France AFAIK. This is also gives us an interesting issue with numbering. On Spirou's website this is Issue #13, but issue #12 will come out next week according to all planning... and the cover has a number 14 in bold letters at the center of the cover. Back on topic)
Tulpen uit Istanboel (Tulips from Istanbul): Starting out in Rotterdam in the 1960s (and a bit of explanation about the jokes there. A lot of jokes are about the incredible speed buildings are build in the city. Rotterdam currently has a lot of large building projects going on that are going quite quickly, but the joke has a more bitter backstory. Rotterdam's center was flattened during World War II. Only 3 buildings in the center of the city remained standing, 900 people were killed, 85.000 people were homeless. In the 1960s most of the city was restored. This is also the reason the Rotterdam is the only dutch city with a large and functioning underground subway system; they had the opportunity cause the city had to be rebuilt from scratch.) The story quickly moves from there. It's the 1960s so it's the Cold War. Spirou and Fantasio have to help one of the Count's friends, a Russian professor, to escape to the West. All intelligence agencies of the world are interested in the Professor's knowledge. As a cover they use a stagecoach trip that reenacts the introduction of the first tulip to the Netherlands by a stagecoach trip. On the road they are followed and attacked by various spies, first and foremost a Russian Superspy who uses various contact lenzes to mentally affect the people who look into his eyes. In short: I love it. I love it with all my heart. It's not the best Une Aventure de Spirou par.. and it has its flaws (like Emile Bravo's Spirou had the bits with Spip.. though I think that was a larger flaw), but it's a lot of fun, the art is vibrant and the jokes click with me (Nationalism, Ho!).
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 25, 2017 10:16:57 GMT -5
I've just finished Volume 3 of I Hate Fairyland (with an issue by guest artist Dean Rankine, whose style looks a lot like John Kricfalusi) and Blood Stain volume 3.
I Hate Fairyland: Series trucks along, main draw is of course Skotty Young's art, but the story changes quite a bit as Gert tries to redeem herself (she's not exactly good at being a better person, but she's trying). Rankine illustrates a story focused on Gert's Jiminy Cricket Larry in a what-if Gert never existed story.
Blood Stain: It's a bit of an odd duck, following Linda's husband publishing model that was quite a success for him with Sunstone, Blood Stain was first released as a webcomic and then bundled into trades. The story is about Elly, jobless but with a chemical degree who out of desperation goes to work for dr. Vlad Stein. The first two trades had Stein coming over as a serial killer-in-waiting, but it's pretty clear by now that Stein is just not very socially aware.. or social at al. The comedy is pretty lowkey, smiles, not laughs at best and pacing is slow, slow, slow. (We're at the third trade and we're still on Elly's first few days of employment). Still the series has a charm to it that few other series have. I don't love it like Sunstone, but I like the series enough.
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 25, 2017 9:29:31 GMT -5
The first one: There is a 20% chance that Zeke's car won't start, there's a 30% chance that Zack's car won't start. So there's a 6% chance that neither car will start. So if they carpool, they will be there 94% of the time.
The second one: I've heard this one before, so I'm sitting this out.
The third one: I don't know cars, so sitting this one out to.
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