Penny Arcade: The Halls Below

I just finished off the sixth volume of the Penny-Arcade collected editions, The Halls Below. This one collects the 2005 strips.

2005 was not the strongest year in PA to begin with. Switching publishers from Dark Horse to Del Rey was also a mistake, as the book itself just felt... cheaper as I was reading it. There was less insight to the strips, and there were these weird splash pages that really just seemed like filler. Add to the mix that the trade dress is different (so now they don't look like a nice, neat series all lined up on my bookcase), and I should probably have just given this book a pass.

It's a shame, too. Penny-Arcade is one of those comics that you really want to like, and want to like it all the time. Some times it delivers and delivers hard, but other times it is just uninspired and sort of blah. This volume, as I mentioned previously, does have the fantastic Skeletor strip, but in this case, visiting it on the web is more gratifying than holding it in your hands.

Gabe's art is very good throughout the book, though. That's worth noting. If nothing else, the strips are pretty to look at. I just think, that as a whole, I've enjoyed this edition the least so far, and I can't really recommend it. It's not like I get comps anymore, so I always feel bad when I go out and buy a book only to be disappointed as I finish it up. Ah well.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Saw it tonight, and I'll give you a more detailed review later.

I just wanted to say Scott had the most awesome collection of ringer tees.

Some of his t-shirts included:

SP Heart Smashing Pumpkins tee

Zero Smashing Pumpkins tee

Old CBC logo tee

Plumtree tee

Rockband "Bass" logo tee

SARS tee

Fantastic Four 4 1/2 tee (a la Franklin Richards)

I know I'm missing some. Can you help out?

Pilgrim Fist Arcade

I got around to reading the final Scott Pilgrim book. I haven't been to see the movie yet, but I will, probably sometime this week.

I really enjoyed the Scott Pilgrim Series, and I'm glad it ended and really told the complete story of Scott and Ramona Flowers. I just wish that there was some way to recover that feeling I had gotten while reading the first book, of just delighted surprise/ WTF?. The rest of the series was great, but it was a little like watching "Fight Club" for the second time, in that you just didn't have that dawning moment of something amazing happening.

The last book was a little padded out for me, as it was my opinion that Bryan Lee O'Malley used many more splash pages than he had previously. The first book, at least in my memory, was much denser materiel to read through than the last one.

In any case, Scott Pilgrim is now officially "a great series" and I look forward to seeing what O'Malley gets up to next. I always liked "Lost At Sea", so I think that he's not Just a one trick pony.

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I recently had my copies for the first 3 HC Iron Fist books returned to me, and I have been slowly rereading them. Usually just before bed, and maybe an issue at a time. But hot damn, do I love those books. It's a great kung fu action movie in comic form, and that in and of itself is very rare. I've had the 5th book on the shelf waiting for me, but I was putting it off until I could go over the first few books again.

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I have also been reading "Penny Arcade vol. 6" this week. I love Penny Arcade, but this book has been losing steam. Maybe 2005 was just a weak year for the guys. I think I bought this one just to own the Skeletor/Wikipedia strip.

I think that Tycho's commentary has also been weaker in this edition compared to the first five. That's a little sad to me. He's not been catty enough. Not wise and insightful enough.

Even the cover isn't as great as the other volumes. I'm bummed, because I want to love this book, but I can't.

The Goon: Animated

This just about made my day:

Get A Sneak Peek At The Goon Animated Movie

"The much-anticipated film, produced by David Fincher and Blur Studios and written by The Goon creator Eric Powell, stars Paul Giamatti as Franky and Clancy Brown as The Goon. No release date has been announced."

Amazing.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

I'm a big fan of the comic, and I didn't really know that this was in the pipeline, so I'm super-stoked to find out about this.

The move

I'm getting ready to move for the first time in 10 years.

This is awesome, and the new place is very sweet, and so is my lovely and talented girlfriend.

However, I have to move my comics.

They have been stowed away in long boxes in closets for a long time. In getting ready to move, I have taken them all out of the long boxes and stacked them up in the middle of the spare room. The pile big. It is heavy. It probably weighs more than a ton. In fact, I'm pretty certain that it does. I own more than a ton of comics.

I'm pretty awed by it, so I can only imagine the dismay my girlfriend has whenever she sees it, as she lives in a very spartan apartment, and I have...stuff.

The move is in two weeks. I've almost got my comics ready. Now to get on to the rest.

Scott Pilgrim Teaser Trailer

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked for this one to come out. Really one of my favorite comics of the past decade, and the movie has me pretty excited.

I was working a roller derby bout a few weeks ago, and one of the skaters for Killamazoo was named "Ramona D Flowers #7EXB". She told me I was the first person to get it.

Kick-Ass

Finally got around to seeing Kick-Ass.

I was hoping to write a big long description of it, but there's really not much to say. It was fun, action-oriented, hyper-violent, and the departures the film made from the comic book were for the best. I think it can be recommended to anyone who knows what they're getting into.

I did think the marketing may have led people to believe it was another "Spider-Man"-esque movie, so I'm sure there were some very shocked parents in the crowd. This movie is bloody and murder-filled. Imagine "300" but with guns and spandex and you start to get the idea.

Chloe Grace Moretz pretty much steals the show for this one as the foul-mouthed Hit-Girl, but everyone's talking about that. I guess that's what'll happen when you make a 10-year old commit a graphic multiple homicide while maintaining a filthy running commentary. Mark Strong was also pretty good as the big bad gang-boss, but that's also pretty much par for the course for him.

The soundtrack was pretty good too, well chosen to accent what's on the screen. Nothing fabulous, but enough to keep you amped up for the next fight.

No, this movie really is what it is, a very glossy shoot-em-up where kids rack up the boy count, so I feel I got what I paid for.