Up is Down, Black is White: Rocket Raccoon 3rd Best-Selling Comic in 2014

Wow, I've got to check out this crazy new character in a #1 comic... this..  Spider-Man

People, according to ICv2, Rocket Raccoon #1 was the 3rd best selling comic of 2014.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Back around  January of 1987, a somehow-even-more awkward version of myself was lumbering around Austin Books & Comics and used Christmas money to purchase all four issues of the Rocket Raccoon limited series by Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola off a spinner rack.  By that evening, we were bona-fide Rocket fans.

A Smallville Man

Gerry and Randy were kind enough to each send me this video today.  It's a short, animated fan-film that does a great job of communicating what makes Superman tick.  Rather than weigh you down with a pre-amble, I suggest you go ahead and check it out.



As simple as such a film may be, it's shocking how difficult this sort of portrayal of Superman has become over the past two decades, be it in comics or movies or ten seasons of TV.

Hey, people coming here from that one website

Donald and I welcome you

I have no idea who "lizburbank" is or why she linked to this site.  But I am not Ariel Dorfman, and I wouldn't tell you how to read Donald Duck.  That's something you have to dig down deep inside and learn to do for yourself.

If it makes you feel better, I am definitely anti-fascist, too.  And I bet, if you asked, ol' Donald isn't much of a fan of fascism, either.

I don't even want to get into the porn sites that are linking here for reasons I cannot begin to fathom.  The pantsless fellow above is about the dirtiest thing you'll see here.

Here's something we haven't talked about yet - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Here's that new Avengers 2 Trailer



Looks pretty snazzy, and like Superman/ Batman better not bring a knife to this gunfight when the JLA forms here shortly.

Of the various Marvel movies, Avengers still isn't my favorite.  Doesn't have to be, because that's a lot of movies and I've liked all of them to some extent or other.  Even both versions of The Hulk (don't judge me).  So I'm not going to act like a goon and pretend for two seconds like I'm not pretty jazzed about this trailer and the ones that preceded it.

You may recall that I wasn't (and am not) much of an Avengers reader when it comes to the comics, so I don't have too many preconceived notions regarding Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  In fact, I'm still confused about what happened to Monica Rambeau - Captain Marvel as she was in the first Avengers comic I ever read (she had a rad power set).*

Anyway, this looks like a pretty crazy summer blockbuster.  It's interesting to watch the Marvel U gel and become something long known by comic fans but unknown in almost any other media.  And these Avengers movies that pull the whole thing together are a pretty great idea.

So, what have y'all been thinking when it comes to Avengers 2 and the Marvel Cinematic U?

*I may have a comic with her in it that's sitting on my coffee table that I just haven't read yet.  Is she in Mighty Avengers?

SW Watches: The Imitation Game (2014)

Like a lot of historical drama, a quick Google search of the lead characters in the film will more or less fill you in on the details that might comprise the story.  And, of course, it's likely you've heard of The Turing Test and Turing Machines.  I dunno.  Maybe if you work in needlepoint or dog grooming it doesn't come up as often, but it's at least a bit in the zeitgeist where I work.

The movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing and includes Keira Knghtley, Mark Strong and Charles Dance (among many others).  Alex Lawther plays a young Turing, and should get some sort of junior award for one of the best performances I've seen from a young actor in a decade.

iZombie to TV this March

Coming in March, the Chris Roberson/ Mike Allred comic "iZombie" is coming to the CW as a weekly TV show!



If the CW's success with The Flash and Arrow is any indication, this should be pretty good! I notice some significant changes to the comic's set-up, but the tone and basic idea are intact, at least in the trailer. And certainly Gwen's look is spot-on.  Although it does seem her name has been changed for the show.  Which...  huh.

Well, The Flash has changed a lot from any version of the comics, but it's still The Flash in spirit, so, you know...  I don't really get that bent out of shape about changes from comics to TV or movies the way I once might have, unless it seems like the moving picture version just sort of missed the point of the comic.  (cough... Man of Steel)

Here's to hoping the great world Roberson and Allred built makes it's way to the show.

SW Watches: A League of Their Own

There are going to be some short posts here, because there's not much to say about all of this, but I am going to document every movie I watch.

And that includes A League of Their Own, a movie that seems to run every Saturday on basic cable - somehow, somewhere.

As saccharine and formulaic as the movie is, it's also an important one.  It did a lot to discuss the transformation of women's roles in the US during World War II, and the strange way we deal with gender when it comes to sports (and it's pretty honest about the marketing of a League that wasn't what people were used to).

I'm not sure it's either the best performance by Geena Davis or Tom Hanks, but they're both pretty damn good and they go a long way to define the buddy-system that it never hurts to have at work (ask me about KP sometime.  She's pulled my bacon out of the fire for six years.).

SW Watches: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimenstion

We have a fairly recently instated rule at League HQ that Friday movies must be "fun".  It's the end of the work week for me, and Jamie's usually worn out by this point - so it's the kind of night when we'll put on something with more than two Amigos, but fewer than four.

But we've also run through the pile of lightweight comedies of late, and I dusted off a DVD I'd purchased probably ten years ago and put it in, and when the DVD menu came up, I learned:  Jamie had never seen The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.  Or, as most folks call it, Buckaroo Banzai.  

yes, all of these people are in this movie, and more...

I first saw the movie during its theatrical run.  The Admiral, being no dummy, drove us all the way across town to the one cinema showing the film.  As I recall, Steanso and I loved the thing, totally and with no hint of irony.  I had no idea it was a throwback to the Doc Savage concept of the super-human leader with his trusty band of do-gooders.  I just knew it had everything I wanted in a movie at the time.  A brilliant neurosurgeon/ particle physicist/ martial artist/ rock star hero (and what right thinking kid didn't want to be that in the mid-80's?).  Aliens.  Other Dimensions.  Space Ships.  Ellen Barkin.

What Else Have I Been Up To? TV, Part II

We started talking TV over here at Part I.

This here is Part II.

I also forgot to mention:

Fargo on FX, which I tuned in to out of morbid curiosity.  It seemed pretty ballsy to make a show that would have been compared to the astoundingly good feature film namesake, but I wound up feeling the show knocked it out of the park (even if the finale had some unsatisfactory moments).

And it gave us Allison Tolman, for which we should all be grateful.

Pretty sure she left her keys around here somewhere

Buy Tim's Shirt: Jurassic Galaxy

Tim Doyle - famed artist and maker of late night drunken promises - has created the shirt that should speak volumes to this audience.

Here's the graphic:

bask in its glory

here's what it looks like as a t-shirt that will make anyone look better and totally cover your muffin top: