Jimmy Olsen Can Only Put Up With So Much
This cartoon is probably much older than I realize, but I just saw it today, and it was quite funny. So I thought I’d share it with all you good people. These Tales of Metropolis shorts are the bee’s knees.
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/30/14
Happy Labor Day weekend to all my American readers! I hope, like me, you’re going to take full advantage of this long weekend. I actually managed to do the dishes all in one go yesterday! That’s real progress. But enough about my messy apartment, what about comics? It’s another solid week of solid titles, and this is actually kind of a momentous week. Both Marvel and DC are on the verge of some pretty big craziness this fall. For September, DC is going to do another one of those special anniversaries, taking all of their comics 5 years into the future. And Marvel is about to jump the Avengers 8 months ahead.
So you better believe Avengers #34 is on the read list this week. Does Jonathan Hickman leave me salivating for what’s to come? Or what about Geoff Johns’ Superman? Is he reinventing the Man of Steel like he did the Green Lantern Corps? Read ahead to find out. We’ve also got fun new entries from Silver Surfer, Red Lanterns and, surprisingly, Batman Eternal! I wrote this series off as crap not too many weeks ago, but the team behind Batman Eternal actually deliver an exciting issue for once – even though it still doesn’t make total sense! Let’s hope the energy sticks around.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Avengers #34 to apologize for me ever doubting Hickman – though I still think Infinity was a big pile of meh.
At least one of us has
If you’re so inclined, you can also check out my review of All-New X-Men #31 over at Word of the Nerd. That was definitely a good issue.
Comic Reviews: Avengers #34, Batman Eternal #21, Harley Quinn #10, Red Lanterns #34, Silver Surfer #5 and Superman #34.
An Arrow Casting and Recasting, But Not the Character We Actually Want
Arrow has been so busy casting new characters for the show that I’ve fallen behind in announcing all of them! Not that I’m required too. It’s not like Arrow is slipping me any money to be the geek blog that announces these castings. And it’s not like I have a secret source in Hollywood that gives me any scoops. Sometimes I just like talking about casting choices. For example, actor Matt Ward has been cast as Komodo, a brand new villain that I think first showed up in GA comics earlier this year. That’s pretty cool. And I think Manhunter, another superhero, was also cast a few weeks ago. It’s getting out of control!
Just announced today is Amy Gumenick cast as Cupid, a character introduced a few years ago, and created by Arrow executive producer Andrew Kreisberg.
Should be fun. I don’t know anything about either of them, but awesome nonetheless.
Also announced this week was the recasting of Katana. No longer will she be Devon Aoki from Sin City. Instead, Katana will be played by Rila Fukushima from The Wolverine.
That should also be pretty fun! I liked Rila in The Wolverine.
Unfortunately, despite this flurry of casting, the people at Arrow have yet to cast the one character we’re all dying to see. I’m speaking, of course, about the best new character introduced in the New 52 so far.
Drum roll, please.
Make it happen, Kreisberg!
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The Quieter Moments of Marvel
I mostly just love this video for the song – ‘Stay Alive’ by Jose Gonzalez. Someday I’ll have to share with you fine people how I mostly get my music from TV shows, movie trailers or commercials. There are so many songs on my playlist that came from the TV shows Scrubs and Chuck…At any rate, let’s give Gen Kim a hand for making this brilliant bit of fan love.
Review: Saga #22
This is gonna get good. Do you ever get that feeling reading a comic? Do you flip through the pages, read the dialogue, scan the pictures, and get that feeling in your gut that all of this is going somewhere and it’s gonna be awesome? I got that feeling reading Saga #22. The last few issues have been pretty low key, and I’ve rated them as such, but now writer Brian K. Vaughn is starting to move his chess pieces around the board. All the characters he’s introduced, all the plot lines he seeded, start swirling together in the new issue, and it’s rather exciting.
Saga #22
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but I think this Saga comic is gonna be pretty good.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
Vaughn and artist Fiona Staples had a lot to introduce coming into this new volume. They did a time jump, so there was a lot they had to get readers up to speed on in the universe before they could restart the story proper. I get that. Nothing wrong with that. But it made for a few issues that were just setting up the scenery. And it was depressing scenery. Can you believe that Vaughn and Staples are doing to Marko and Alana?! Man, what a drag. But in the end, there’s no denying that it’s going to be a great story, because that’s what these to do: they make great comics!
Things start to heat up in a bad way between Marko and Alana in this issue. We knew it was coming, and Vaugh just slaps us in the face with it. But they’re just the beginning. Were you, like I, wondering where all this crazy janitor stuff was going? Oh yeah, it’s going there. It’s going right there, and Vaughn is going to destroy us with it.
Well I say bring it on!
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
