Avengers...Umm..Get Together! No, That's Not It....

Two comics. Both feature Captain America. Both are among my faves. Both are a wee bit of a letdown.

But first....Avengers Rock It! (No, that's not it, either.)

THE NEW AVENGERS #17

"The Collective, Part Two"

Roll Call: Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, the Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage--Power Man!

This is the second part of what promises to be another world threatening type threat sort of thing. (I mean, I know it's the Avengers, but I was really grooving when they were just fighting ninjas in Tokyo a few months ago. I'm not in the mood for yet another glowy-eye Thing From Space story.) The latest horror from space has landed, and torn across Canada, killed Alpha Flight, and now it's up to the Avengers to save Cleveland. And by saving Cleveland, save us all.

I liked the bit at the beginning of the book, unconnected to the Collective threat. Apparently as a condition of his joining the Avengers, Luke Cage wanted things to be done differently. One of those differences is that on 'off-days' (apparently, the Avengers aren't allowed weekends), the team will go to a rough neighbourhood and scare the shit out of criminals--just by standing there. This time, they go to Detroit. I liked it. Nice Bendis writing, nice juxtatposition of the heroes with everyday people just trying to get by. So when the Collective threat arises, I just felt cheated.

So it wasn't bad, all in all--Deodato's art is a change from Finch's, but I can get used to it. (But why does Tony Stark seem to be standing in a control room when he''s in his Iron Man suit? Did I miss something?) Bendis takes Sentry (Marvel's answer to Superman) out of the story, and I'm not complaining. I think the character is just a dead end.

Oh, and Spidey wore his new red suit. Which I thought was a move up from the old black one, not being alien and all.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #16

"Collision Courses, Part One' (Brubaker/Perkins)

This story comes in after the superb Winter Soldier story, and there's the feeling that Brubaker has toned the action down a bit. But when a story starts with serial killers blowing away innocent bystanders in Kansas, I'm not sure that qualifies as 'toned down'.

The killers in question are Crossbones (he wears a skull ski mask, perhaps to remind himself what his crap name is in the morning) and Sin ( who looks like a stripper and just happens to be the Red Skull's daughter, which you would think would guarantee her a better catch than Crossbones. But maybe she's bad!). So Cap and SHIELD agent Sharon Carter head into the Mid-West to try and head them off. Which was my first problem with the book--if serial killers are slaughtering as many people as Crossbones and Skanky Sin, then wouldn't the F.B.I. or even the Army get involved? It just felt like Cap and Sharon were, y'know, just going to kinda wander out and take a boo.

Cap wonders about Bucky, why he hasn't sent a postcard, or even set up a MySpace account. (Okay, I made up the last two.) While checking out a small town, it turns out that Bucky had already been there and fought a robot. Which I didn't know were a problem in small towns. Or maybe only the small towns Bucky doesn't visit. This makes Cap so happy that he takes Sharon to bed. Which is kinda disturbing--he hears his 'son' is alive, so he bangs the hot secret agent beside him. Okay, now I understand. He was just looking for an excuse. I mean, Sharon is hot.

The story also involves AIM, who have to be the worst Marvel terrorist group ever: they look like beekeepers gone bad. So any story that features AIM is in trouble with me. Brubaker spins his magic with the dialogue, and the pre-bed chatter between Cap and Sharon rang true. The small town stuff--where you know things aren't as they seem, because they were burning Mayberry R.F.D tapes in the village square--okay, no they weren't, but they should have. So, yeah, a decent issue, but not the thrill ride we've seen in the past few months. Perhaps I would have liked it better if when Sharon jumps out of bed with her gun, she wasn't wearing a negligee. Because, honestly, Sharon don't do lace. She's hardcore. Everyone knows that.

Farewell, Little Buddy

Sony has decided to stop manufacturing the dear old Playstation One. A moment of silence, please.

(Sniff)

There.

To be honest, I was surprised that they were still slapping the little white boxes of wonder together. With the PS2 being backwards compatible with the old PS1 games, I thought Sony had just fazed them out. But that's why I have three dollars to my name right now and Sony executives can buy my entire street with their coffee money. They're smart and stuff.

And so here I sit, treasuring my old PS1 memories. Like most sad old fools, entranced by visual beauty and nonsensical story, I played a ton of Final Fantasy on the Playstation Numero Uno. I don't think I'll ever forget driving that motorcycle out in the desert in Final Fantasy VII, then realizing I had no idea where the fuck I was. More of my life was spent in Final Fantasy VIII--the horribly botched assassination attempt, the bad J-Pop singing, Squall's inability to commit, and the glorious coolness that was the gunblade.

Yet the game that really defined the Playstation One for me was...Silent Hill.

I played that game in my basement, with the lights off. It, to be honest, scared the living shit out of me. The creepy soundtrack, the fogbound city of Silent Hill, the way your radio began to scream when something was getting close, the midnight high school with the noises heard down the corridors...pure nightmare. But the absolute worst had nothing supernatural about it at all: it was just a common household appliance.

In the game, you enter a room to find a phone on a table. Outside, it's dark, and the room is barely illuminated. Out in the rest of the buildings, things move, groan, and lurk. You search the room, but don't find anything. So you go to leave the room, expecting to be attacked at any moment, go to open the door....and the phone rings.

I screamed.

Of course, I got the bad ending in Silent Hill. (Everyone dies.)I never went back to get the alleged 'good' ending, because one trip through the empty, abandoned streets of Silent Hill was enough. The game just creeped me out far too much to even consider playing a sequel.

So goodbye, Playstation One. You helped me scream like a little girl, and fall in love with big eyed Japanese women. You will always have a place of honour in my basement, where all good out of date game consoles go.

Goodbye, little buddy.

(Sniff.)

Wordsmithing

Sunny Sunday, which makes me wonder why we don't have moony Mondays. Spending the afternoon working on Cuddles. Since the majority of my writing income these days comes from columns and reviews, it's taking some dust blowing to get back to fiction writing. I'm at the halfway point with the story, with all the action to come. So far, it's just been set up and establishment of the locale--which is harder than I thought. Here, my time as a DM comes into help--as much as I sometimes think Dungeons and Dragons can be construed as a time waster, time I should spend writing, it does help. I've learned more about world building and narrative from that game than I've learned reading hours upon hours of fantasy fiction.

Speaking of which--ran our Saturday night game last night. It went okay. The adventure is finally out of the gnome enclave of Jzadirune, which I think the players were becoming a little tired with. They did well, though, everyone making it up to Third Level. Now, it's onto the Malachite Fortess, conveniantly located below Jzadirune. Funny how that works out.

Want to play video games today if time allows. Still trying to make my own Third Level in Morrowind--stuck in the floating city of Vivec, just hearing about the serial killer hiding down in the depths of the city. Like I'm taking him on at 2nd level. Find another sucker. Also picked up Xenosaga--an anime inspired space opera that seems all cut scenes filled with big eyed characters who remind me of escapees from Thunderbirds. The story, unfortunately, looks like one of those dreary examinations of identity, the soul in the machine, and when does something truly come alive. In short, it aspires to be deep. It even quotes Nietzche, so you know you're in trouble. Still, like a beautifully distant goth undergrad, seen sipping a coffee while reading Being and Nothingness, it looks damn good. I'll put up with it's first year philosophy for now.

After Too Many Years...

...an issue of Robin that didn't suck.

No review this time, other than to say this comic was a pure delight for me. I've always loved the character of Robin--probably because I know I don't have in it in me to become Batman. All that dedication, all that martial arts, all that there book larnin', all that grimacing--I couldn't do it. But I could have probably have become Robin. Or at least got the same mark as him in Comparative Literature back in high school. Which, to my befuddled mind, means I have every right to wear the mask and short pants.

(It's been said before, but it bears repeating: isn't it odd that while Batman dresses all in black and dark greys to hide in the shadows, making himself a hard target for any potential shooters, Robin stands out like neon sign? Just what is Batman saying? He hides, hard to shoot. Robin can be seen for six city blocks on a cloudy night to anyone with a .38. No wonder Batman has burned through two Robins so far...)

So, yes, old school Robin fan here. Like the new Earth-2 inspired costume. From what I can see, the major changes are a predominance of red and bye bye to the short sleeved look. The cape has more a feather, bird like motif than ever before. Me like.

And this story was just good, fun, and left me wanting the next issue now. Which isn't something I've been able to say about Robin in many, many years.

Sometimes It Doesn't Take

So I had my cat fixed. Five years ago. Imagine my horror about two months after his surgery when he turned to look at my kitchen cupboards, raised his tail, and sprayed.

"Sometimes it doesn't take," my vet said.

"Oh," I said.

Since I didn't have the heart to have Dexter go under the knife again, I've just learned to live with it. I just make sure he goes outside at least every three or four days, so he can grace a bush or passing squirrel. This has worked, more or less.

Except yesterday, when I turned from my computer. I had heard an odd sound, and wondered what it was. There, in front of my bookshelves, was Dexter, spraying merrily away.

"HEY!" I shouted.

Dexter looked up at me. Since I get angry about once a year with him, he had no idea what my problem was. I reached to grab him, but he just finished his business, happy as spraying cat can be. Consider that bookshelf marked, mofo, he seemed to be saying.

Half an hour of cleanup, disinfectant and scrubbing later, I just had to remind myself.

Sometimes in life, things just don't take.

One Year Later--Does It Have The Stones?

So let's see where I stand thus far with DC Comics' One Year Later books:

Firestorm--I liked.
Outsiders--Not bad, but not enough was revealed about the team. I mean, Thunder really took one for the cause of right this time. And in a way most heroes would never consider. Well, at least not until they've had a few drinks. Or ten.
Detective Comics--A breath of fresh air.
Superman--Good, but not terribly compelling.
Legion of Super-Heroes--okay, but not enough Supergirl.

Which brings us to what I think is the best OYL thus far:

CATWOMAN #53
'The Replacements, Part One'

If OYL was about change, then Catwoman brings it. In spades. And shovels. And any other gardening implement you'd care to use.

Now, the first big change is simply this: Catwoman is now a mother. She's had her baby, a little girl she calls 'Helena'. (This of course made the sad geek in me just howl with delight. Cuz, y'know, over on Earth-2, where Catwoman and Batman married? They had a daughter called Helena as well, and she grew up to be the Huntress. 'Course, here in the current or whatever in hell it's called DCU, the Huntress--also called Helena--isn't related to Batman at all. Okay, she is paid by him to be a Bird Of Prey, but...I digress. Sadly.)

The other big change is that there is now also a new Catwoman. One who is a little green, and makes mistakes. So change? It's here in spades.

Now, babies and offspring of heroes don't always survive in DC Comics. Sure, Speedy--I mean, Arsenal--has a daughter, and she's still around. But any children in the Batman side of things don't seem to hang around. There's the classic story Son of the Demon where Batman and Talia have a son, who is then adopted anonymously by some rich parents, but that story was retconned out of existence a few years ago. The Flash had two kids, and I think they're gone now as well. (I don't read The Flash, so maybe I'm wrong. It has happened before.) So will Helena survive?

I really hope she does. I like the idea of Catwoman being a mother, since it really changes the dynamic of the book. It also brings in a form of a dual parental role for her and Batman--who probably isn't the father, even with the booty stops we've seen in past issues--but has still given Helena a full university scholarship to the college of Selina's choice. Oh, that, and a giant teddy bear.

Now,there are other big changes here, but you really should just go and pick up the issue. Even with Pete Woods gone over to draw Superman, the new team of David and Alvaro Lopez are quite good, and Will Pfeiffer's scripts continue to go from strength to strength, making me uneasy that he'll be plucked up to an A-list book very soon.

Oh, and those Adam Hughes covers? Gorgeous. He really captures the beauty of Catwoman--despite who'se wearing the leather--and the beauty of a nightime city. Like I said, gorgeous on two fronts.

Up, Up, And Hopefully Away

Read two comics featuring Kryptonians. One featured kryptonite, one did not. Both featured Supergirl. I think this will be a theme in 2006

SUPERMAN #650--'Mortal Men'


Oh, for the love of all things marketing. This is One Year Later territory again, and this time we're in Metropolis. Here, we see a Metropolis that has not seen Superman in over a year, even though Clark Kent is actually still there. In fact, there not being a Superman seems to be working out for Clark--he can now focus on being a reporter, and he's now become the best in town. Maybe even better than that snoopy investigative reporter Lane. But why no Supes? And why is Supergirl handling all the bad asses? And why do I keep thinking of Superman 2?

Not a bad issue overall, but I'm not sure if I'm going to sign on for the other bazillion issues in this Up, Up And Away storyline. Pete Woods' art looks gorgeous ( as it did back on Catwoman), and the new creative team of Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns knows how to tell superhero tales--but I'm a little fatigued with Big Blue. I enjoy Supergirl, but that was because she used to be a bit of a fringe character, but I think that's going to change with 2006--and with the rumoured Legion of Superheroes cartoon. Still, some nice stuff here--Supergirl trying to reason with Kryptonite Man ('I'm only going to say this once, friend: Settle down. No more of this. I don't need it. You don't need it, and Metropolis REALLY doesn't need it.') was nice, as was the battle, using two panels to show the impact of Supergirl's punch. Worth your money, even if you aren't down with mortgaging your house to get the other issues.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES #16

Back in the Sixties, there was a book called Superboy and The Legion of Super-Heroes. This is now the Oughts, and we get a big kick of Nostalgia Juice with SuperGIRL and the Legion of Super-Heroes.

I haven't really warmed to this latest incarnation of the Legion. After sixteen issues, I'm still waiting for the book to start. Sure, we've had all the Legion touchstones thus far: romance (with more sex than ever before), death (bye bye Dream Girl) and galaxy threatening villians. But it hasn't had that sense of warmth and community that is the Legion. Everyone for the most part comes across as a smart ass, for one thing.

This issue, though, seemed to turn things around, if only a bit. We still have the Legion as well meaning thugs (here, they incite couch potatoes into leaving their homes to shout at them, wondering if the old farts realize the irony), and yet another planet threatening....well, That bit was handled nicely, as was cameras finding a blurry Superman shield in the speedwash of the object hurtling towards Earth. The Legion assembles to handle it, and it was refreshing to see things go wrong.

The issue ends with the arrival of Supergirl in the 31st century, and her words in the last panel are either meaningless or will explain an awful lot about this current Legion. I'm going with the former. Still, it is nice to have a Super back with the Legion that isn't a barely concealed homage (Kent Shakespeare or Laurel Gand).

Welcome to the Legion, Kara. Be warned: these guys are assholes.

Thunder Dunder Boom

Woke up to a crashing thunderstorm this morning. Which was a relief, since I was having a hell of a nightmare about being chased by zombies. I was running through an abandoned warehouse, chock a block with 28 Days Later version zombies, all trying to rip me into little tasty bits. I blame Urban Dead.

I have a few days off coming up, so I ordered a copy of Xenosaga , thinking I would spend a joyous, work free day lost in an RPG. I dutifully ordered from Amazon, who promised shipping in 24 hours. It would all work out great! But then I receive the dreaded email that says it won't ship until the next Ice Age. Well, next week, but it kinda screws my day off. Amazing I can complain about something like that, isn't it? It's Monday. It's a day made for bitching.

Our Dungeons and Dragons game went off okay Saturday night. The players have all dutifully made Third Level, and the game is beginning to ramp up the threats accordingly. Having a bit of a problem with one player rolling game unbalancing damage. This isn't down to cheating, but to an excess of enthusiasm. I've done my DM detective work, and I think the problem lies with his composite bow. He's adding his Strength bonus to his ranged attacks, which he shouldn't be doing with a simple composite. In order to add a Strength bonus, you have to pay a whack of gold to modify the bow--which he couldn't have done even with the extreme limit of his starting gold. And you've all fallen into comas, haven't you?

Thus the problem of DMing. Sometimes players make little mistakes, and you want to correct them so that the game isn't unbalanced--meaning that everyone plays an equal part, without one player just being a powerhouse. But there's always the danger of the player feeling picked upon, so I must tread carefully. I've been reading the Sunder rules very astutely lately, let's say.

Blah. Monday. It can go fuck itself as far I'm concerned. Hear that, Monday? Yeah, I'm talking to you!

I Have No Geek Sense And I Must Scream

I thought Half Life 2 was getting too bloody difficult. Turns out I'm supposed to still have a boat I lost about two hours previous. I've been running through rivers, past machine gun fire and heavy artillery assaults--on my feet. I'm supposed be whizzing past all this stuff in my handy dandy boat. Now I have to go back and start a few hours back. Sweet bugger!

Spent the morning working on tonight's Dungeons and Dragons game, listening to Rush. I mean, what else is there to listen to when devising death traps and finding motivations for gnolls? I also read a comic, so here is the inevitable review.

BIRDS OF PREY #92
"Progeny, Part One"


Okay, this is another Year One thing. Hold on!

BoP is easily one of my fave five books. I like to think it's because Gail Simone writes so well, but I also think a fair amount of it lies in the fact that this book features some of the most gorgeous female characters DC Comics has to offer. Huntress (my third favourite DC female character after Saturn Girl and Power Girl), Black Canary and Barbara (nee Batgirl) Gordon. I can't help it. I'm male.

In this issue, we find there have been some serious changes to the Birds. The biggest surprise is SPOILER! LOOK AWAY! LOOK AWAY NOW! is that Lady Shiva is now a team member. You remember Shiva? The greatest assassin in the DCU? Now she calls herself Jade Canary. But where is Black Canary, the third greatest martial artist in the DCU after Shiva herself and Cassandra Cain, who used to be Batgirl as well? Turns out she's training in the Far East in some horrifically brutal dojo. Shiva has made a 'promise' to Canary, which we assume means taking her place in the Birds while she trains. Shiva did offer to train Canary at one point, so this makes sense. This dojo--where Canary is beaten unconscious within twenty minutes of arriving--seems to be the place where Shiva herself trained. So, you know, it figures.

The story dealt with Crime Doctor defecting to the side of light while being pursued by other members of the Injustice Society--namely Killer Croc, the Ventriliquist, and Clayface. I'm assuming this is Gotham, which means the Birds have left Metropolis. Shiva and Huntress do their best to save a wounded Crime Doctor, hoping he survives long enough to give them the medical charts of the Injustice Society. And as the story ends, we learn there is another new member of the Birds, but we don't know who it is. She's apparently big on the whole stealth thing, don't you know.

A very good read. Gorgeous good girl art by Paulo Siqueira just makes this book irresistable to lovers of good fiction, martial arts women, and...well, that's enough, isn't it?

More Comics. Must Read Novels One Day

Picked up some more comics today. Some people go to a cheap bar after a bad day, throw back six or seven whiskey chasers, then end up in bed with with some woman with bad implants and a Pamela Anderson tattoo. Or is that just Pamela Anderson? Anyway, I buy comics. And here's what I bought.

FIRESTORM # 23

I don't think I've ever bought a Firestorm comic in my life. He's David's favourite character, which had nothing to do with me buying it, since David also likes Ragman. But I've heard good things about this book, so I said 'What the hell?". Gimme some of that Nuclear Man magic.

This book is yet another One Year Later thingamabob. This means that first time readers and long term readers can go WTF together. This issue had Firestorm helping at a nuclear test site that went bad very fast, saving Las Vegas from becoming a crispy nuclear cinder. If that's what it takes to knock C.S.I. off the air, then fine with me, but apparently Firestorm felt differently. Maybe he likes the show or something. No accounting for tastes. I mean, some people liked Jeph Loeb's work on Supergirl.

We also learn a bit more about Firestorm. Since he's a composite being (two people have to join together in some Firestorm-ish magic nuclear thing to become our hero, thus the whole composite thing), we learn who those two people currently are. The first is no suprise--it's still Jason Rusch, a young college student. But the other person is SPOILER! LOOK AWAY! Lorraine Reilly. Who's that, you say? Well, dear reader, that's Firehawk. And she's a senator now. And now when Lorraine and Jason are separated into two different people, they can't be more than a mile apart from one another. Or something really bad happens.

So it's not good when mysterious soldiers kidnap Jason and drive more than a mile away. The bad? It happens.

I was impressed with this book. Stuart Moore turned in a very fun and interesting script, and the art by Jamal Igle was gorgeous. Great colours as well. Well worth the $3. 50 Canadian.

But then there was.....

FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD SPIDER-MAN #5

You can't believe everything you read on the Interwebs. Maybe you've heard that. So I read a review that gave this Peter David scripted comic high praises, comparing it to the allegedly classic story, The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man.

Well, it ain't. It isn't a bad story, but it's not a classic. It's a solid Peter David script, with too loose art by Mike Wieringo. (Although Ringo does actually draw Spidey's mask with more of a Romita influence than that damnable Eyes Covering The Whole Mask mistake McFarlane thought was so cool nearly twenty years ago.)

The story deals with a woman who'se life keeps intersecting with Spider-Man's--from the time she was a teenager until her senior years in the future. As a teenager, attending the same high school as Peter Parker, she is there when Spider-Man fights the Vulture. Because Spider-Man was beneath the football stands when he appeared--directly beneath her and her short cheerleading skirt--she assumes he was there taking a peek. She writes about this in her blog--which freaked me out because the idea of there being blogs when Parker was still in high school makes me feel ancient.

She later runs into Spider-Man when she's in university, as he's fighting the Looter. (Crap villian alert!) Again, she thinks he's stalking her. As the years pass, she becomes so convinced of this that she takes out a restraining order against our hero. J. Jonah Jameson of course adores this, and invites her up to the paper, where Parker takes her picture.

The story ends with the girl now a senior citizen, living alone with cats. ( I mean, if you're an old woman, and you're alone, you have to have cats to satisfy the cliche factor.) She meets up with someone who was close to Parker, who tells her something a little shocking about the fate of our favourite wall crawler. The character in question--I thought--was portrayed as being perhaps a little too cruel to a woman obviously suffering from some form of mental illness, but David does make some very good points about victim psychology. But--and this is a problem with David's writing--he tries to wrap up things far too neatly, when perhaps a more jagged ending was called for.

So, not a bad story. Peter David is always a dependable writer, and his Star Trek novels are among my favourites. He has a deep love for the characters he writes, and that shines here as well. I just thought the ending was unnecessary. Had he simply kept this woman alone, and not brought in someone close to Parker at the end, using her to justify Spider-Man's heroism when no one reading the story had any doubts on that score, Web Log may have been the classic it aimed to be. People defining their lives by their brushes with famous characters happens far too often in this media choked society, and that's what I thought David was trying to say. Not that mentally ill people are to blame for their own problems.

Oh, I also picked up FELL #4. Have yet to read, though.

Let's look at them there comics, shall we? Let's see what I bought instead of topping off my RRSP.

Batman Annual #25--Okay, first of all, some moron blew the big surprise of this issue for me. Just how the hell did Jason Todd come back? How did he survive dying after the Joker caved in his head and sternum with a crowbar, then blew him up? A really good band-aid? A weekend in Skegness?


No--as the douchebag in my local comic book store let me know. He was the sort of blowhard who stands up at the cash register, and just runs his yap about all of the books he's bought, and about all of their big surprises, and he just won't shut the fuck up. So he blew it for me-Jason came back to life because post Crisis Superboy was punching reality.

Okay, I give comics a lot of leeway. A ton, in fact. But that's just stupid. Apparently, as the post Crisis Superboy was trapped in his little continuity prison, he pounded to get out, his blows making things right as they reverberated around the DC Universe. Among one of those things made right was Jason coming back to life. In his coffin. Which isn't right at all.

But after getting past that, the book was actually not bad. Writer Judd Winick cranks up the grim by having Jason dig his way out of his coffin, still suffering from the beating the Joker gave him. He then gives a very solid story for how Jason would come to be the Red Hood, and why he's so pissed at Batman. I mean, imagine you were killed and you came back to life to find your killer still alive--and being returned to safety (i.e. prison) by your father figure? Yeah, there would be a bit of peeved off-ed ness.

So a decent read. I just hope Jason is around for awhile.

Infinite Crisis #5--Terrible. Just terrible. IC was supposed to be the big thing for DC, the series that got us all excited and made comics magic again. It hasn't. This is becoming the Heaven's Gate of comics. As a reader of DC Comics for nearly 35 years, I still have no idea what's going on. A major disappointment. I weep with fanboy sadness.

Detective Comics #817--This is a One Year Later book, and y'know? I really liked it. Writer James Robinson and artist Leonard Kirk take us to Gotham a year after the events of Infinite Crisis to find Commissioner Gordon back in charge of the GCPD, Robin back with Batman, and the lighting of the Bat-Signal for the first time in a year. It had the feel of an old style Batman book, even with the slight differences: Robin's costume looks more like the Earth- 2 version than the newly designed one we saw from the (gasp!) Nineties. (And if you don't know what the Earth-2 Robin costume looks like, then you probably have sex regularly and don't spend all of your time living in imaginary worlds, so good for you!). There are hints a-plenty of bad things that happened in that oh-so-mysterious Year, and a tedious storyline about some dark figure returning to Gotham to set things right. Or something. Oh, and Two Face is good. Like that'll last.

Supergirl # 5--Greg Rucka takes over this book next issue, when I'll be adding it to my pull list. I thought I'd just check out Jeph Loeb's last issue. I've never been a fan of Loeb's work, and this didn't change my mind one iota. There was a story here somewhere about Supergirl facing her dark side, who of course dressed in black and looked like a slut. Is Supergirl really a good girl who went kinda bad because of Darkseid, or is she really bad and only pretends to be good? See what I mean? Boring as hell. Fortunately, the book ends, and Supergirl is herself. I guess. Loeb even says goodbye to Supergirl on the last page, which is so egotistical and just purely amateurish. Rucka has been called a writer who leaves no sign of his ego in his work, something that was very evident in his superb work on Wonder Woman. I think Kara Zor-El is finally going to be in good hands after this.

What Makes Life Great, Reason 512

Started watching this fine cinematic geek offering this morning. Godzilla Final Wars is everything a G-fan like myself adores. No messing about with anything as trivial and encumbering as story, but getting right down to monster mayhem and destruction straight off the bat. And tons of monsters as well! There were the expected ones, like Aguiliras and Rodan, but Manta? Who the hell remembers him? And King Caesar? Of all of Toho's monsters, he surely had to be the most ill advised. And even Baby Godzilla makes an appearance. It's the total G-fan package, man.

As usual, there is rumour this is the last Godzilla movie ever, but we've heard that before. The last few films have all been highly enjoyable, and even though they ain't pulling in Star Wars box office, they still do okay. And to end on a even geekier note: the teleportation effect mirrors the Toho opening light spectrum. Which is all shades of cool.

To me. Because I'm sad.

Speaking of sad, I scraped the bottom of my wallet this week after spending far too much on comics to pick up a Final Fantasy VII soundtrack at Neo-Tokyo. (Neo-Tokyo is London's best--and possibly only--anime store.) Their prices there are extremely reasonable, and I was able to pick up this gem for $18.50. There isn't a single word of English on it outside of the title, but the sound is amazing. It's beyond cool to drive home listening to the FF battle music.

To me. Because I'm really, really sad.

Working on Cuddles The Dalek today. Yeah, I know: why do fanfic when there is no money involved? But I promised I would do it, and the story is fun. David is sending over his notes on our next attempted comics project later tonight, so I'll go over that. We're both determined to break into comics this year, and hopefully we can.

Without saying too much, we've taken an old Seventies comic and updated it for the O.C. generation. It feels solid to me, and I think it could work. Regular readers of this blog won't have a hard time figuring out which comic it is. We'll see how it goes.

I haven't done a project with David since Conspiracy Theories, and it would be good to work with him again. I think he needs me.

Snow and Migraines...

...pretty much sum up my day. Spent all day trying to get stuff done at work, only to be interrupted to do other stuff, then being interrupted again....oh, and there was tons of snow to shovel. And of course a migraine decided to move in, with the nausea and the newfound ability for colours to actually hurt to look at. Came home, and then discovered CJBK forgot that today was Thursday, and that I was supposed to do Geek Corner. Bit of a disappointment. Good thing I do it for the love.

Still, some cool stuff did come about today. So here is Geek Corner for those who missed it. Kinda.

Picked up Outsiders #34. This was my first issue dealing with DC Comic's narrative experiment, where all of their books leap ahead 365 days from last month's storylines. It's being done with all DC Comics, necessitating that you pick up the mini-series 52 to see what you missed. Well, not sure if I'll be doing that, but this issue wasn't bad. It dealt with the Outsiders apparently fighting in an African civil war, with some discussion on the horrors of turning children soldiers into psycopathtic killing machines. As usual with Outsiders, it dealt with real world horrors while still giving us a superhero fix. The team is different in this brave new future: while Grace and Katana are still members, we now have Rex Mason as Metamorpho, with no explanation as to what happened with Shift. Captain Boomerang ( the super-speed one, not the dead one) is now also a member, Thunder has adopted some weird Seventies hairstyle and a costume reminsicent of her father's Black Lightning gear. Best of all? Nightwing is back leading the team, although Interweb rumour is hinting that this isn't Dick Grayson. It may even be Jason Todd. Oooh boy. Still, a good read.

Game wise, I was able to pick up Virtua Fighter 4 and Half Life 2 yesterday. Virtua looks amazing--I really like the training sessions, and the speed is impressive. I looked at Half Life last night and it gave me nightmares. Which is good. Will get to once I finish trudging through the saccaharrine and big eyes of Kingdom Hearts. Nice to see Wikipedia agrees with me.

Oh, Kotaku has a nice bit on waiting in line to buy the new Nintendo DS-Lite in Japan. Nice comparing it to the expected non-craze we'll see here in North America, even though the DS is quietly pounding the PSP into the ground.

Am off to shower and bed. Some days, I feel like I'm still fifteen trapped in a forty year old body. On days like today, I feel like I'm ninety in a body that is about ten years older than that. Where's my hot water bottle, peppermint Schnapps and Miss Marple mystery?