Donnie Van

Someone over at the Newsrama forums guessed it might be the corpse of Earth-2's Robin (remember, the adult Robin who was originally the sidekick to the Golden Age Batman of Earth-2). It certainly fits with all the "second Crisis" talk floating around, and it figures it would be Batman holding the corpse.

I think why I'd be okay with Grant doing it is because I don't think he'd fuck it up. John wouldn't be like a full-fledged team member complete with official Justice League membership ring and boxer shorts; it'd be like Kipling from Doom Patrol (who I believe Grant intended to be John in the first place, but couldn't get permission to use him).

I just thought it was an interesting addition to a dream Justice League roster. I never would have expected anyone anywhere to want Constantine as a member.

Right here.

I was following his "dream roster" for a bit. Even the bit about including Robot Man didn't make me do a doubletake.

But then I got to the last pick, and I realized this guy's a bit crazy.

Though he's right ... if it would have been Grant Morrison saying it, I'd probably be okay with it.

I voted Yes.

Now, I'm not saying the idea of a Hellblazer/Action Comics cross-over pleases me (quite the opposite, actually), but some inter-book continuity would be nice. Maybe a nod in some other book about what went down in London, or Zatanna making a comment during one of those painfully-cheesy Sentinels of Magic gatherings that "John would know what to do."

I've always thought of most of the Vertigo titles to still take place in the DCU, just like someone (Neil Gaiman, I think) said: "A long bus ride away from the DCU." (Obviously titles like Preacher, Transmet., and so on don't apply).

The idea of John being the guy who takes care of some of these problems that can't be solved by a quick punch to the face from Batman is one that appeals to me. I like the thought that the world of primary-color heroes and their super-computers and kid sidekicks never really know how close they've come to losing it all, and how they've narrowly been saved time and time again by some lowly street magician with a Jesus complex.

Or maybe I'm just making up excuses because I still think a Constantine/Uncle Sam team-up would be all kinds of awesome :D

I've been away for a bit ... tell me it's not too late to place an order :(

I had to compile a list recently of the 100 Least Enjoyable Movies, and Keanu was nowhere to be found on it (surprised me, too).

That's my Nice To Keanu bit.

I gave it a 9. What can I say? I really enjoyed 200, and all it's nods to past continuity.

The story didn't surprise me much. I think I'd piece the main jist of it from the solicitations of 200, 202, and how Rose has been trying to fuck with John's head. Still, it was filled with lots of fun things, the kind of stuff that makes the fanboy inside me all giddy.

The "past, present, and future" aspect of the artists was cool, but when I look at it, I really think I'm ready for "the future." Bring on the Manco!

I have to agree with Mark about 200 unfortunately not being as new-reader-friendly as it could have been. Carey was definitely aiming towards more the regular Hellblazer readers and hardcore Constantine fans rather than people just jumping aboard. Which is unfortunate, as I've basically been telling people for months that 200 promises to be a good jumping on point. I've already had one guy I recommended the book to complain to me how confusing it was :(

EDIT: Forgot to mention how much I hate the new logo. "John CONSTANTINE" ... whatever could have brought this on? -_-

Maybe a subsection could be added for other trades where John appears? Or maybe just the ones where he plays a large role in the action (like the later Swamp Thing ones, the Books Of Magic mini, etc.)?

I mean, whenever someone asks me what they should read to get into Hellblazer, I always recommend the Books Of Magic mini (in addition to other books, of course). It's a good introduction to John, and the bit with him and the evil mystics at Bewitched is a great scene.

I also enjoyed The 7th Guest and I loved American McGee's Alice:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

7th Guest ... that was the weird one in the haunted house, right? And there's a scary clown ghost in one of the rooms that says something like, "Want a balloon, little boy?"

Ugh. Scared the shit out of me when I rented it.

Unlabored Flawlessness. That's the final upgraded form of the wooden sword is it not. I must look into getting that then as I have a lot of essence to spend at the moment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh yeah. Personally, I think it's a great weapon, probably the most useful in the game. But for the sake of equal coverage, it should be noted some people disagree and think it's rather worthless.

It's pretty powerful on it's own, but when you drop down to a certain percentage, it's attack power increases tremendously. And when you absorb the maximum amount of essence and do the Ultimate Technique or whatever with it, I've seen it take up to nearly 50% off a boss' health bar.

Of course, all the upgrades come up to around 108,000 essence, but I thought it was worth it.

I've been out of video games for awhile. The last one I got really into was Ninja Gaiden (X-Box). I just worked up my essence until I could afford to get the Unlabored Flawlessness, and the game was cake from there.

I was gonna buy Donkey Konga, because it looked fun in a goofy kind of way, but then I found out each extra bongo controller costs somewhere around $35. Sure, I'll pay $105 on top of the original $50 so me and three friends can sit around and play fake drums -_-

Tales Of Symphonia (GCN) is sitting there on the ground next to my dresser. I'm trying to hold off opening it for a bit, as my cable's gonna be shut off for near a month (moving complications) and I'll need something to consume large amounts of my life.

I tried reading Teratologist by Edward Lee and Wrath James White, and it wound up being one of the few books I just couldn't plow through. There very well might have been a worthwhile message somewhere in there, but it gets lost in the over-abundant sex, gore, and defecation.

Since then, I sort of needed a nice non-fiction book, so I'm reading The Ultimate Filmmaker's Guide To Short Films: Making It Big In Shorts by Kim Adelman. Lots of great material and information, and just a bit on the bland side. So it's great :)

And now I can look at my desk and gaze upon the pile of books I should have had read by now but haven't:

- SPAM: A Biography by Carol Wyman

- My Life With The Spirits: The Adventures Of A Modern Magician by Lon Milo Duquette

- Virus Of The Mind by Richard Brodie

- Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

- "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures Of A Curious Character by Richard Feynman

Hello, boys and girls. My name is Donnie Van. I'm eighteen-years-old, born and raised in Montana, the state of the union where the cattle population outnumbers the human population almost half over again.

Rather than go to college after graduation, I decided to try my hand at being a disgustingly unemployed sponge, and so far, it's been quite nice, if a bit unsatisfying. Before falling into this pit, I was a dishwasher/cook at a steakhouse frequented by the messiest slobs in America.

I love movies of all kinds, particularly really awful ones. The one exception is movies with Steven Seagal. I've seen "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Robot Monster" and "Cat-Women From The Moon" and "Shark Attack 3: Megalodon" and "Starcrash" and all the other supposed worst movies ... and I still say "Half Past Dead" is the worst film ever made. I think it was the scene where Ja Rule is trying to teach Seagal how to say "ai-ight!" that pushed it over the top for me.

I'm an avid reader as well. I've read a good lot of books about how to make movies but have never mustered up the courage to try making my own yet. I have this great fear that I suffer from Ed Wood Syndrome, in that I'd think my film was just absolutely fucking brilliant, but everyone else would hate it and my name would be synonymous with shitty movies.

As far as comics go, I lean more towards the offbeat that mainstream superhero stuff. Hellblazer (duh), The Invisibles, Cerebus, Promethea, Flaming Carrot, and those really old Winsor's Little Nemo In Slumberland strips are some of my preferred titles. Though I should admit I do read JSA. There's something so great about old people battling evil.

Uncle Sam is, inexplicably enough, one of my favorite comic characters. It's not that I'm some sort of overzealous patriotic sap. I think his appeal is that he's just so damn cheesy that anything he shows up in is automatically better, if that makes any sense. Some day I'd like to plot a John Constantine/Uncle Sam cross-over.

Like everyone else these days, I write. Or try to, anyway. I'm currently working on a series of short stories about a zombie and his best friend who works as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator at a presidentially-themed amusement park.

I draw as well, although not very well. I can draw turtles and mushrooms and eightballs and axes and ducks. Anything other than that comes out looking like shit.

So that's me.