TestosteRohne

Have a Star Trek 2 date in central tonight for 6, but will be bloodhounding a drink afterwards?

Well I'll be showing up like a bad penny.

Consistently the one comic I look forward to the most each month. This series actually has propelled Jason Aaron to the top of my buy list. I have to get on Scalped real soon.

 

Love the bits about Frank not being able to stand himself for what he has done wuth young Richard Fisk.

Loving the criminals responding to the Frank's perceived fallibility.

Quite possibly my favourite book every month.

You did not see yourself picking up Invincible vol. 3? Interesting.

To be fair if it wasn't you It would have been Jason.

 

Jason would have been funnier, all due respect. that was kinda funny but Jason would have brought it home. with a pizza.

I don't know I've met him, but there was no pizza...

I'm game for the "024", the one that never, to my mind, graced a cover.

And the "027/010", the Bingo Azzarello issue, now with a simple black background instead.

Good luck with the fundraising, sorry I couldn't come in person.

You did not see yourself picking up Invincible vol. 3? Interesting.

To be fair if it wasn't you It would have been Jason.

The Trailers good by me, even if the use of the music is a little off.

Whedon is completely the right guy for this type of ensemble project.

The trailer may be Stark heavy, but the film itself might not be.

Most of those Stark clips may have been from the same scene.

With no Daredevil in the picture, Elektra MAX is free to be the ultimate Deathwhore.

Avengers 1959 #1 by Howard Chaykin-I liked this, a lot. It was quite fun. Chaykin chooses some interesting choices from the Marvel Universe to make up his team of Cold War-era Avengers.

Wasn't it Bendis' baby first, selection wise?

Ade, you read the Frank-Miller-drop-kicks-Al-Queda thing yet?

I'm morbidly curious myself.

 

I'm not as blown away.

I picked it up on the strength of your ravings, the art is lovely, a nice amalgam of Stuart Imonen on form and Steve McNiven, but let's bear in the mind that it's only been two issues so far.

The demand of the monthly grind will change that.

This script sees Bendis excel at what he used to do, and there's a good degree of sincerity there, but I don't see a deep foundation for a new Spider-man let alone a new superhero.

So you don't like it because you think it won't maintain its current high standard?

Not quite.

However, I suppose I do for the most part digest and/or judge a comic book in retrospect as a six parter or some such.

Or in this case, there just wasn't enough bite in those first two issues to make me think otherwise.

It must be said that I enjoyed the first two issues but nowhere near the same level as say Unwritten, the recent issues of Daredevil even most of Aaron's output; all issues I hold as my favourite this year.

Again, art wise Ultimate Spiderman was lovely for all the reasons you mentioned, but I'm increasingly wary of the spread thin Bendis.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2: at the other end of the scale, an instant inclusion in my best-of-2011 list. The script is Bendis on top form; Sara Picelli's art is amazing, evoking such a sense of place, of city.

I'm not as blown away.

I picked it up on the strength of your ravings, the art is lovely, a nice amalgam of Stuart Imonen on form and Steve McNiven, but let's bear in the mind that it's only been two issues so far.

The demand of the monthly grind will change that.

This script sees Bendis excel at what he used to do, and there's a good degree of sincerity there, but I don't see a deep foundation for a new Spider-man let alone a new superhero.

I got that Frank Miller one

That Xerses thingy?

If you haven't read it, check out Essential Wolverine vol. 1 to see more of Claremont's Wolverine, only without any Miller.

It's a really good collection. The best Wolverine stories ever told, and actually a fun collection, with Peter David rounding out tthe remainder of the book.

Oooh I just might.

Mini wise, was Claremont trying to write like Miller or was it a case of vice versa?

Or did they just agree to a merged style?

Finally got to read Claremont and Miller on their Wolverine mini and J.M de Matteis' Spider-man: Kraven's Last Hunt.

Simply cracking stuff!

Homeless kicked off quite nicely. It was pretty awesome.

 

And yes, this IS getting to be a Daredevil story without Daredevil, so much so that I expected the unseen character near the end to be Foggy Nelson.

Liked the two homages to Born Again.

Hell Frank being homeless is practically Born Again too, i'd put money on final page of Homeless being a homage to that iconic full page finisher to Born Again.

Pissed myself at the "Not even a goddamn gun. Yo what you need man? A gun" exchange.

And Elektra method of not spilling a drop of blood was quite chilling.

I really hope Aaron is on this for the long haul.

Ultimate Ultimates #1 by Hickman-That didn't impress me.

I've noticed a trend in Hickman's work. When he started at Marvel, he was fresh and original, one of my favourite comic writers.

Now, I think he's just been doing too much work, as his comics read rushed and insubstantial.

What exactly was the plot of this issue?

Are the Ultimates just Marvel characters standing in for The Authority?

I basically got the impression that this was an Authority story.

Yeah can't say it did shit for me either.

It helps, although it really shouldn't, that Hickman's first issue on Hawkeye explains a hell of a lot and offers far more context.

It's apparent that they are meant to be read, which of course means "bought" together.

Even the first issue of Hawkeye appears to set up or narratively spill into the new Ultimate X-men quite a bit.

As you can see I enjoyed the Hawkeye issue far more, but you're completely right about the Authority angle.

Millar's first two Ultimates was really doing the same but the stitches and scaffolding weren't as stark.

Fair enough.

Rather than an I-liked-it-you-didn't I'd be interested as to why you didn't.

I throughly enjoyed the first 18 issues of Supreme Power, perhaps a little less guile and brio but it was up there with the Ultimates as a modernised Superhero team.

Franks' art was cracking throughout, was sorely missed on the 5 issue Hyperion follow up, but returned for the short lived Squadron Supreme.

What specificaly pissed me off, besides J.Mac lying to my face about the "creative break" , was that ultimately even though it was a remake of those classic 12 issues, he didn't seem to know where he was going at all.

His engaging The Twelve suffered from the same syndrome, again fizzling out uncompleted.

Additionally I've just finished his Superman Grounded run which started off quite strongly and as with the above appear to disappear with the writers disinterest.

I'm a fan of those tight, layered stories that appear upon completion to have been written backwards, this is/was evidently not Straczynki's approach.

Next week sees the conclusion of his Wonder Woman Odyssey, I can't say I have high hopes and if it weren't for his enjoyable tales in Brave and the Bold I might not have bothered.

So it's even worse than his godawful Squadron Supreme revamp stuff, then?

What was wrong with the revamp?

Aside from the "creative break" that never finished I enjoyed the first volume.

It seems the next arc will conclude the Punisher/Kingpin arc. I like the idea of a guerilla Punisher.

 

Last issue was great, even if predictable. Thing is, I still like Ennis' interpretation of Frank being a guy who used a personal tragedy as an excuse to do what he loved doing.

 

Do we know what happened to Bullseye?

Presumably dead, like DKR's Harvey Dent, but in a way that another writer could bring him back without ever being actually dead?

No it was not a huge reveal but still an integral part of the character.

It echoes quite nicely the scene from In the Beginning where Frank, merely days after his family loss viciously beats his neighbour for cheating on and/or leaving his wife.

Frank had some right to be angry then, and the scene was meant to be interpreted alternatively between Micro and Frank, but it never entirely clicked for me.

However Aaron's revelation completes this nicely, as Frank is punishing a man very much like himself, hence the extra sound and fury.

And as I said I like the old interpretation of Frank being the Punisher has a way to Punish himself.

Wonder where it will go from here?

Presumably a galvanised back to the basics guerilla Frank Castle on the comeback and Fisk hiring Elektra (Which will ultimately backfire) to deal with him.

So the big reveal wasn't that big, but still a nice character moment in itself.

And the old meaning or reading on the Punisher was unearthed and re-emphasised.

If plausibility (is that even a word?), in any context, were a prerequisite to enjoying a film then I'd imagine one would not enjoy many films at all.

I think Red's finer tuned version of plausibility works quite well.

I wholly subscribe to the execution-is-everything maxim, so if it as Mark suspects I may very well have a go.

Again the film's foregone conclusion, or at least my perception thereof is the real mood killing culprit.

Ergo prequels usually aren't my thing.

Slinker I made no such statement, in fact I was begging for the variation.

But hey a little originality does go a long way.

I may just go and watch Tree of Life again instead and suggest you do the same.

Best movie of the summer, hands down, is Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It is such a good film. It has some of the trappings and conveniences all summer blockbusters have but this is a smart movie that lays the foundation for a credible reboot to the Planet of the Apes franchise.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8D2NIGEJW8

Really? When I first saw the trailer, I thought the concept even stupider than zombie films. I mean, there are a sum total of 350.000 apes on earth. Even if this drug thing gives them all the intelligence of Albert Einstein and the combat prowess of Bruce Lee, how could they credibly be any sort of threat?

Exactly, and over here it suffers from being entirely encapsulated in it's lengthy trailer and furthermore doomed by it's prequel status for ultimately having a known ending.

It also reeks of a now warhorse like old hat allegory.

That said perhaps the filmmakers can insert an entire unknown and surprising third act.

I'm not sure I care enough to find out.