So, my folks just gave me my high school yearbooks...

There's nothing to show you the trail of wreckage you and your peers have made out of your lives like sifting through the high school yearbook.  My folks are moving to Austin this fall, and so they are in the process of clearing out the old homestead back in Spring, TX.

The yearbook is full of faces and names I haven't thought about in the 18 years since me and good 'ol Klein Oak High parted ways.  Old friends, old flames, lovely well-wishes from people I don't remember, pictures of people who I don't recall, people who I only remember horrible and/ or embarrassing things about, etc...

But as this site is 90% comics and superheroes and 10% confessional, I thought I'd post a few photos.

Some context...

These are all from my Senior Year (Class of '93 RULES!!!!   WHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!).  That year I was in drama club where I did about three plays, I had a great little red '83 Honda Accord named The Badger, and had some pretty great friends, some of whom pop up here from time to time.  I did not post their pictures here, but totally would if they gave me permission.

The Drama Club thing is important, because it'll help explain a bit about why I popped up doing silly things.

I have carried my shame long enough, and now I share it with you.

Let's see here.  Dancing?  Check.  Gold hat?  Check.  Singing showtunes?  Check.  Wearing bootleg Jane's Addiction concert shirt?  Check.

A quick catch-up

It was a movie-riffic weekend. 

On Friday I saw Green Lantern.  Saturday was Troll Hunter.  Sunday was Super 8.  I think I liked Super 8 the best of the three, and all were fluffy summer faire. 

Friday I spent finally catching up on some sleep and reading.  Saturday...  well, who can account for it?  Saturday night was lazy, but Jamie wasn't feeling good and my foot is giving me issues again, so I needed to stay off of it. 

Today was Father's Day, and I did spend some time this weekend prepping my Father's Day post to The Admiral.  We met up Sunday for brunch up in North Austin, and had a lovely time. 

This evening we were supposed to meet up with Jamie's folks to take them to Super 8, but Jamie's folks were flying in from Mississippi and their plane was delayed in Dallas.  So...  we will need to tag up with Judy & Dick sometime this week.*  Judy & Dick were off seeing Judy's relation who turned 100 years this weekend.  100.  That is completely amazing.  When she was born, WWI hadn't yet happened.  The Civil War still had living veterans and widows.  She would have been in her 20's when the first issue of Superman hit the stands.  Mind-boggling.

I am ready for a weekend with less to do.  I haven't even made it to Barton Springs quite yet, and that is unprecedented.  I may even try to avoid going to the cinema next weekend. 

Hope you guys had a good one.

*An oddity of the Alamo, you buy your tickets ahead of time to guarantee seating.  So we didn't really have a choice and needed to go.

Kickstart a Horror Movie - become a producer, just like that!

Philly based comic guy Johnny Zito is trying to get his indie horror film Alpha Girls up and running. And I think you people can help.  But, no, you won't get a producer credit, so forget that dream right now.

Learn about the movie here or watch this video:



If you've never heard of Kickstarter, its a web-based service that helps artists crowd-fund their projects. Probably the most famous of these projects was the Robocop Statue that we all decided was a great idea for the city of Detroit.

If you'd like to Kickstart a movie and try your hand at being listed as a supporter/ producer/ whatever... sign up here.

I added a "Read More" feature

I've figured out from some comments that not everybody has noticed the "Read More" button that I've begun using.  If you're under the impression my posts have gotten a whole lot shorter of late... HA!

No.  I was aware that the length of posts made the front page hard to navigate, so I've added a "Read More" feature which will launch you off to the full article.  In a typical front page post, it'll be easy to find the "Read More" button.

Got that, Jason?

Yes, once you've clicked that button, the wonders of a typical Signal Watch post and the 1500 words I've spilled about why I (mistakenly) believe some random, idiotic superhero business is important will reveal themselves to you.

Anyway, we hope this will make your reading and browsing a bit easier.

A Father's Day Tribute to: The Admiral

The Admiral's icy gaze of disapproval.  Man, if I had a nickel...

Just look at the fella in the picture. Pity him, for he has endured no small amount of nonsense from yours truly.  Good guy, The Admiral.  Puts up with a lot.

Signal Watch Reads: Supergirl 65

Supergirl #65
Written by KELLY SUE DECONNICK
Art by CHRISCROSS and MARC DEERING
Cover by MAHMUD ASRAR & GUY MAJOR
Colors by BLOND
Letters by TRAVIS LANHAM
Wil Moss and Matt Idleson - Editors

As exciting as this image is, nothing like it happens in the actual comic

We're rolling into the final three issues of the current Supergirl series with current continuity and current costume I've never been crazy about (but I like the new one okay).  No matter how good or bad, its obvious this story is filler, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy what the creative team is trying to do.

This is the first issue for writer Kelly Sue DeConnick that I've read, but if you've been kicking around comics, likely you've see the work by ChrisCross elsewhere.  

"Troll Hunter" is a sort of adorable version of "Blair Witch"

When The Blair Witch Project debuted back in 1999, its not like people suddenly thought "oh, @#$%!  Witches are real!"  But the effect of the movie on a population of people who'd grown up slinging handy cams had a pretty intense effect.  Flashforward 12 years, a flopped sequel, innumerable knock-offs (Cloverfield, etc...) and a cottage industry of "reality" shows about people hunting ghosts in modestly aged homes, and....  anyway.

Signal Watch Watches: Green Lantern

So, okay.  Before I am accused of saying that Green Lantern is a good movie, just understand, we're not saying that.  But let's do a few things here.

1)  The fact that Green Lantern scored a 20% at Rottentomatoes is a pretty good acknowledgement that 4 of 5 people gave this movie an unfavorable review.  That doesn't mean they were wretching their guts out, but 80% of people who care enough about movies to write about them can all agree that, yeah, that could have been way better.  So lets get a handle on what that rating means.
2)  As someone who consumes a whole lotta superhero media, there are different scales of badness out there, and this movie is nowhere near, say, the un-aired JLA pilot in terms of being just unforgivebly bad.  As someone who has seen Santa with Muscles and watched Manos: The Hands of Fate three times, I will tell you when you've achieved true awfulness. 
3)  I don't know if people had high expectations for this movie or not, but there's a giddiness out there in the zeitgeist about wanting to dogpile on this movie that, and I'm not just saying this as a fan of the comics, but just from a movie-go'er's perspective, I'm not sure it deserves.
4)  The Green lantern mythology is somewhat convoluted even over 50-odd years of comics.  Cramming it into a movie was always going to be a trick.
5)  The CGI is actually quite good in this movie.  I don't know why it looked half-baked on TV and online.  But its pretty amazing, actually, in many parts of the movie.
6)  I can't imagine that 20-odd years of reading GL on an off hasn't given me something of a leg-up on understanding what the hell was going on.  So now you people know how I've felt in the last few Harry Potter movies.

This never happens in the movie

Signal Watch Watches: Green Lantern - Emerald Knights

This is not a review of the Green Lantern movie. I'm seeing that on Friday (today) at 4:15. Its supposedly horrid.

Last night I watched the straight-to-home-video Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, a feature length cartoon done at WB Animation by the core team that Bruce Timm built.

The film inherits character and set design from the feature cartoon Green Lantern: First Flight, a movie we discussed back at League of Melbotis, Volume 1.  Not all of the voice talent returns, and I have to say that I think the set design and illustrative quality is just much, much better this go-round.  And I'll get to that.

Emerald Knights follows in the tradition of the old over-sized Green Lantern Corps issues that would include short story back-ups, which used the fact that the Corps were 3600 strong, somewhat fungible and absolutely expendable to tell all kinds of stories from the tragic to the sublime.  If DC had a secret outlet for writers to try the sort of writing that happens in sci-fi anthologies or episodes of sci-fi shows like The Twilight Zone or Outer Limits that rely on a single episode to tell the story, it was in exploring different story matter than "Hal Jordan and friends save the day", and the pay off was that these back-up stories are better remembered today than what was actually happening in the main stories at the time.  And it gave a home to people like Alan Moore as he kicked around the DCU for a bit.

this is a thing which happens in the movie

This is going to become one of those dorm room poster things, isn't it?

Apparently this is a completely unstaged photo that was taken during the riot in Vancouver after Bruins beat Vancouver for the Stanley Cup. In fact, the photographer didn't even know what he had until his editor showed him the picture.

You Canadians. You can't even riot without it turning into something sweet.