Ask and ye shall receive

 

Last month, just on a whim, I did a Hero Spotlight on Lady Rawhide. In it I said I hope Dynamite gets their hands on her as she's just the type of character they excel at reviving. And sure enough I see on CBR today that Dynamite is doing just that. I'm really looking forward to this. The writer Eric Trautmann said about the book "I want to capture a sense of fun - this isn't a grim, gritty book.  It's pulpy, swashbuckling fun at heart." Issue one will be on sale in August.

Review of the Week: Superior Spider-man #10

If you haven't already, check out my reviews of issues 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6AU, 7, 8, and 9. So last issue Ock-Spidey apparently managed to destroy the last bits of Peter running around in his mind. I really didn't like last issue much and was hoping this issue would remind me why I was loving this series so much. This was pretty much a filler issue. Really all that happened is the Green Goblin is setting up an army of henchmen who have escaped Ock-Spidey's recent more aggressive crime fighting style and has hacked into Ock-Spidey's little Spider robots and now his men go unnoticed by them.

This wasn't a bad issue by any means, and I am looking forward to where things are going with the Goblin, but it was kind of a filler issue and really didn't manage to wash the unpleasant taste the last issue left out of my mouth.

What's on the radio: Can't Hold Us by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

After the rather odd and unique song that was Thrift Shop I never would have expected Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to follow up that monster his with something like Can't Hold Us. I mean it's just another dance in the club song. This song is so amazingly generic it's hard to believe who it's from.

Now mind you, this is a pretty damn good dance in the club song, in fact it's better than any of the other dozen or so similar songs currently on the charts. But still, this is from the Thrift Shop guys? Macklemore does have some pretty interesting rhymes in this song, but he speeds through them so fast they're hard to catch until you've heard it multiple times or looked up the lyrics. And it is a damn catchy and fun song, but like I said, this is from the Thrift Shop guys?

With this hit it looks like Macklemore has avoided the one hit wonder trap, but this song has also convinced me that he will probably never be able to repeat the success of his first hit, and if that's true it's kinda sad to peak so soon.

Linkara's recent hissy fit, and why I agree with him (mostly)

Comic book reviewer Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug recently made quite the stir with a video denouncing Adblock and those who use it. After watching it I thought "He's right, but damn what a douche."

Here's the deal with things like Adblock. Youtube, Blib, and many many other free sites you enjoy can't continue to exist without advertisements. He's right when he says that. But damn, this six minute whine fest was downright painful to watch. He talks about how this is his only job and he wouldn't have time to do this show and have a real job. You know what, in the current economy Lewis, I don't think a lot of people are going to be concerned you might not be able to keep reading comic books and bitching about them as your full time job. Boo fucking hoo my friend. Also, after lecturing his fans that blocking the ads is basically like stealing from him, he tells them if they don't like the ads just mute them and ignore them until they're over. Following your logic there buddy, isn't that kinda like stealing from your sponsors?

It's sad because the man has a real and valid point, but he undercuts it with his douchebagery. He should have simply said "Guys, if you block the ads, I don't get paid. So if you want this show to continue I need you to please watch the ads. I'm giving you 20 minutes of free entertainment, watching a 30 second ad is all I ask" Instead he decided to try and give us a sob story and it just didn't work.

Bechtloff Movie Night: Elektra (2005)

As I said in an earlier post, I liked the Daredevil movie. I know a lot of people hated it but I really thought most everything in that movie worked really well. In fact, in my mind, there was only one real problem with the Daredevil movie and that was Elektra. First of all Elektra isn't that interesting of a character. Karen Page would have made a better love interest and Typhoid Mary would have been a more interesting femme fatale in my mind. Plus Jennifer Garner is a pretty mediocre actress at best, and not nearly attractive enough to make up for it. I mean seriously, you could cut a roast on that woman's chin. So Hollywood, being the idiots that they often are, decided to take the thing that ruined the Daredevil movie and give it a movie of its own.

In the movie Elektra has been brought back to life with ninja magic, and now works as an assassin for hire. She gets hired to crash at a lake house and wait for her target to be announced. During the waiting period she befriends her neighbors, a man and his daughter. Turns out the man and his daughter are her targets but she ends up deciding to spare their lives and works to protect them from the evil ninja group the Hand. It turns out they want the daughter because she's a "treasure" like Elektra, with means she's a natural martial arts prodigy. The Hand sends it's group of freaks with magic powers after them and Elektra defeats them all. The girl is killed in the process, but don't worry she gets better thanks to ninja magic.

This movie is so unbelievably boring. Even once the action starts the fights are choreographed in a way that feels so stiff and predictable. Garner is a piss poor actress, but I don't think any actress could have gotten anything out of this script. Elektra probably shouldn't have even been in the Daredevil movie and definitely isn't a strong enough character to support her own movie. Also, this movie took Typhoid Mary, one of my favorite Marvel characters, and turned her into a ninja chick with poison breath. And it was lame as hell.

Of the last nearly 20 years Marvel has had a lot of movies. Ever since Blade Marvel has been dominating the comic book movie landscape. Of all those movies this is probably the single worst movie Marvel has put in the theaters. Only the Man-Thing movie was worse and at least they had the good sense to premier that mess on Sci-Fi Channel rather than give it a theatrical release. Elektra is a piece of absolute boring drivel. In short, this movie is bad and everyone involved should feel bad.

Bechtloff Movie Night: Star Trek: Into the Lens Flare. (2013)

My dad was a huge Star Trek fan, so I grew up watching TNG, reruns of the original series and the movies over and over again, and I even watched Voyager a lot through middle and high school, so I obviously developed quite an affinity for the franchise. Star Trek always seemed like the thinking man's sci fi to me. Star Wars was about monks who fight in space with magic powers, but Trek was about asking deep questions and exploring the complexities of when cultures collide. Sure it had low points but at its best it was an incredible mix of strong characters and high concept. And then J. J. Abrams came and pissed in its mouth.

The 2009 Star Trek was a damn mess. While I thought Zachary Quinto was a decent enough Spock, everyone else was a cartoon parody. And it was sooooo stupid. I loathed that movie. But a friend dragged me, pretty much against my will, to see this new one, Star Trek: Into Darkness.

So in this movie this asshole terrorist who we find out is the Khan of this universe blows up some shit on Earth and flees to the Klingon home world to hide out. So the universe-2 crew goes out to find him and then we start ripping off Wrath of Khan, all the while missing the point of the movie we're referencing, and I almost cry.

At one point I actually thought this wouldn't be as bad as the first. I see them wrestling with their orders to take Khan out rather than capture him and they talk about how he should get due process. But don't worry that bit of social commentary is quickly abandoned in favor of explosions and retarded action sequences and a rip off of the tragic end of Wrath of Khan only with Kirk in Spock's place. Before we even have time to feel a damn thing for Kirk we use Khan's magic blood to bring him back to life. Why rip off Wrath of Khan like that? Isn't the whole point of a reboot to do something different? I mean the last movie might have been stupid as hell but at least it didn't just rehash an older, far better movie. All seeing this does is remind me I could have just watched a DVD of Wrath of Khan.

After Kirk "dies" Spock screamed "Khan!" I swear I almost screamed at the damn movie and chucked my cherry Coke at the screen. It almost physically hurt me. Bite my ball sack Abrams. My friend captured my initial reaction the this coat hanger abortion to send to another friend. I was a bit upset.

Sonic and Mega Man post crossover plans.

The solicits for Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man are out for September and writer Ian Flynn talked about them over at Newsarama.

MEGA MAN #29
The biggest storyline in Mega Man comic history starts here! "BLACKOUT: Curse of Ra Moon" Part One: The world has shut down!  When the power of Ra Moon robs the Earth of all its technology, it’s up to Mega Man and a handful of Robot Masters to set things right. But just how can robots handle the force of a technological meltdown if they’re cut off from the ability to re-charge? Has Mega Man fallen right into Dr. Wily’s trap?  Or has Wily underestimated his mysterious new ally? Featuring all-new cover art from Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante, and variant cover by comics-superstar Dean Haspiel!
SCRIPT: Ian Flynn
ART: Mike Cavallaro, Gary Martin, John Workman, and Matt Herms
Cover by Patrick "SPAZ" Spaziante
Variant Cover by Dean Haspiel
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: 9/11
32-page, full color comic
$2.99 US.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #252
SONIC IS BACK and facing the HUGE consequences of the mega-hit Sonic/Mega Man crossover story arc in "At All Costs" Part Two! As the crossover crashed to a close, Sonic and Tails have returned to a world which is reeling from the cataclysmic effects of the Eggman/Wily genesis wave! The damage was severe, the threats have changed, and the mysteries are piling up! What has happened to Naugus in this new landscape? What is the final fate of Sally Acorn? Sonic and Tails are ready to tackle all the drama ahead of them—but first they must survive the wrath of the terrifying Tails Doll! Featuring new cover art from Sonic artist superstar Ben Bates and a special "SEGA" Variant!
SCRIPT: Ian Flynn
ART: Evan Stanley, Terry Austin, John Workman, and Matt Herms
Cover by Ben Bates
Variant Cover artwork provided by SEGA
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: 9/4
32-page, full color comic
$2.99 US.

The Mega Man story sounds pretty cool, it should be interesting to see Mega Man have to conserve his energy and really fight smarter rather than harder. The "final fate of Sally Acorn" bit in the Sonic solicit has me worried. I always worry that Sega would like Archie to get rid of the comic original characters in favor of some of the lamer ones from the games like Blaze, so I hope she isn't killed off. But maybe she just gets de-roboticized.