Take Some Time Out of Your Busy Day to Enjoy the Bounty of What the Internet Has Wrought
The fine people at Alfred Image Works have given us this 5 minute video short about Johnny Express, the best delivery service in the galaxy! And it’s just delightful. And more than a little dark.
I have long been a champion of the Internet and all it can provide. This is the kind of short you might see in front of the new Pixar movie. And that regular people, not Hollywood types, are cranking this stuff out and sharing it online is just the greatest feeling in the world. This video short is well worth your time.
Looks Like That Constantine Show is Happening Too!
I am generally pessimistic when it comes to movie and TV show adaptations of comics. Mostly because anybody can name-drop a famous property online just to get the publicity and the never mention it again. The Internet may claim that Power Rangers is going to get a movie reboot, but I won’t believe it until I see it. Likewise with all of these sequels to 20-year-old movies being announced. Or the apparently nine movies DC Comics has in some form of production. Heck, I still don’t think that World of Warcraft movie is going to come out, and they’ve almost finished filming.
But I guess it seems that Constantine TV show is going to be real. NBC put out a trailer this weekend.
I never read Hellblazer and I actually kind of liked the Keanu Reeves movie. So while I don’t have any particular interest in this show, I’ll probably watch it because of its roots. That’s the kind of geek I am. The trailer looks pretty cool, with its magic and specters and the like, but something about actor Matt Ryan as John Constantine doesn’t sit right with me. He seems too young to be this world-weary. And that outfit looks more like cosplay than something an actual person would wear. But I think he’s got the attitude down right.
So maybe it’ll be a good show!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/10/14
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that I am throwing in the towel of doing full, giant-sized reviews of All-New X-Factor. I got hit with a lot of work at the end of this week, including those reviews of Teen Titans and Ultimate Spider-Man, and I took a long hard look at All-New X-Factor and decided that I just didn’t care enough anymore. I started the long-form reviews for X-Factor because it was my favorite comic starring my favorite character, but it has since become a shadow of its former self.
So from now on, let’s welcome All-New X-Factor to our Hench-Sized Reviews! I hope it finds the place a nice fit.
Beyond that new issue, this week brought an avalanche of good comics, some of which I had to simply skip right over due to time constraints. I really want to get back to reviewing Black Widow, and She-Hulk was really good again, but this week I had to focus on the first chapters of Original Sin and Futures End, the new Big Event comics from Marvel and DC.
Neither one is all that great, quite frankly.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Magneto #3, though I have a feeling that some of the comics still on my pile waiting to be read might be a little better. Still, out of the stack I managed to get done in time for reviews, Magneto was pretty cool.
Plus he’s got that starring role coming up in X-Men: Days of Future Past. So I want to be on his good side.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Factor #7, Aquaman and the Others #2, Batman Eternal #5, Futures End #1, Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #2, Magneto #3 and Original Sin #1.
Review: Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1
About a year ago, for my friend’s wedding, I bought him his first Miles Morales comic (I also bought him a toaster that burns the Spider-Man logo into the middle of the bread, but that’s beside the point). I bought him the hardcover collected edition of Miles’ debut. My friend is a diehard Spider-Man fan, especially Ultimate Spider-Man. He’s also the kind of casual comic book reader who didn’t know in advance that Ultimate Peter Parker was going to die, and when it happened, he felt a real, emotional loss that still stings to this day. The dude loved Spider-Man.
Ultimate Spider-Man #1
He was hesitant to give Miles Morales a try, but he finally got around to reading the comic earlier this year. When he told me he liked it, I told him to keep reading, because it only gets better.
Miles Morales is back, and even though the comic has a new title and a new #1, I’m very happy to say that it’s business as usual for the Web-Slinger.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
Forget everything you know about Cataclsym…mostly. A few of the events from that story, like the death of Captain America and the disappearance of Miles’ dad, play into this new issue, but for the most part, people seem to have moved on from Galactus threatening to destroy the planet. Life goes on. Ultimate Spider-Man goes on, and for that I’m grateful. I said it all the time in the build-up to Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man is too damn good to get caught up in all that other nonsense. But at least when Bendis does get wrapped up into that stuff, he handles it with his standard aplomb.
Miles and the gang are back and up to their old tricks, the major events of the past few weeks barely even registering. Miles is still Spider-Man. He’s still dating Kate Bishop. Ganke is still hanging around. The only real change is that Miles’ dad has taken off. I thought Miles’ reveal to his father during Cataclysm was rushed, and a poor place to insert such an important moment, but it happened and we have to live with it now. And like I said, Bendis handles it superbly. He makes Jefferson’s abandonment a real sticking point for Miles. I’m confident Bendis will turn this into a quality storyline in the future.
Even though Marvel has slapped yet another mouthful of a title on this series, it remains the same Ultimate Spidey we know and love. Though I feel bad for my friend who’s going to have to wade through Cataclysm, Divided We Fall and any other Big Ultimate Events that I’ve forgotten about.
As Always, Man is the Real Animal
Check out the new trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes!
I really liked the first…um…the second..uh…the first installment of the second reboot of the original Planet of the Apes, there we go. So yeah, I’m pretty excited to see this new sequel. The effects look good. There’s less James Franco. Why not add another movie to my already growing list of summer blockbusters?
What say ye, movie and blog fans?
Henchman-4-Hire 