Hip Hop Family Tree vol 2

Just a quick post here!


I just finished Hip Hop Family Tree vol. 2 by Ed Piskor and published by Fantagraphics.


This book covers the years of 1981to 1983, including such notable highs in hip-hop as The Furious Five's "The Message", Afrika Bambataa and Soul Sonic Force, and the break-out of Run-DMC. This made the book a little bit more approachable to me, as it discussed events and music I was already conscious of, but as the hip-hop world expands, the narrative was a little more spread out than the first books.


As with the previous book, this one is a delight. Many of the comics are available online at Boing Boing, but the over-sized graphic novel is a prize worth owning. If you haven't yet, you should check these out.

Movie: Wonder Woman

Just a quick post today. The wife and I watched the "Wonder Woman" animated feature on television last night. (Teletoon has been playing the DC animated movies on Sunday evenings as of late), and I wanted to drop a quick review.

It was good.

We both liked the movie, and I found that they did a good job of making Wonder Woman a character that was both approachable and tough, interesting and well-rounded. They then took this character and placed her in a plot that had good action, a few cool fights, and some humour to balance things out.

Wonder Woman is a character that is difficult to get right, (many have tried and failed) so I was interested in seeing how this movie would work. They stuck to canon as much as they could (though they did cut out Hippolyta's time with the Justice Society), and told a pretty good origin story for Diana. They also used Steve Trevor (WW's boyfriend from the golden age of comics) which was interesting, since no one knows about Steve Trevor, at least not in a Lois Lane/Mary Jane Watson kind of way.

Lastly, there was an odd amount of sexual humour and cheesecake in the movie. The wife and I both laughed at it, so it was actually funny, but I suppose the fact that it was there at all was strange and amusing.

In the end, the flick was fun action with a good grasp of the character. Watch it.

Marvel and Politics

Maybe you've heard about the SOPA and PIPA acts going through the US congress and senate. It is sort of a big deal, and it has the potential to really mess up the internet as we now know it. If you don't know anything about it, you should probably take a looks see. This document is a pretty good start.

There was a pretty big blackout of Wikipedia yesterday to highlight the issue. 24 hours without Wikipedia, and it did some good.

Internet writer and angry person Maddox was not thrilled with the effort. He wants people to do more, to really drive home the point.

This is a good thing. People should do more.

He lists a bunch of companies that publicly supported these terrible acts, and he suggests making them pay by refusing to support them. One name that popped for me, was of course Marvel.

I get why Marvel would be for laws that protect their copyright, but the problem I have is that they support this act; one that is flawed and vague and brutally open to kicking the little guy around.


It's kind of gross.

It also could be a poor business decision. Most fans don't really know that Marvel (amgonst other publishers) are pushing for these acts to pass into law, but they should. The fans should also know that they have the real power here. Marvel Publishing is a great target for a boycott, each issue selling, what, 100,000 issues at the best of times. A few thousand people can make a real dent in that revenue, if they were so inclined.


I do believe I am going to cancel my (not insignificant) pull list of Marvel comics today. I like me my open and crazy and free internet, and, at the very least, I can stop giving my money to some people who are inclined to fuck with that.

AVX: Stegman Variant - Cap Punches Cyke

Captain America is, inexplicably, one of my favorite characters. Cyclops is easily one of my least favorites. Captain America punching Cyclops on a cover makes me giggle like a little school girl. I feel like that bratty kid at the end of "The Karate Kid", and yelling "Do it, Cap! Yeeeeaaaah!"


The Marvel spiel:


Marvel Unveils AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 STEGMAN VARIANT!

This April, the biggest names in the industry pit the largest super hero franchises against one another for the biggest war in comics history in Avengers Vs. X-Men! To celebrate this blockbuster event, Marvel has your first look at the Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 Stegman Variant by red-hot artist Ryan Stegman! The Phoenix Force is headed towards Earth and Captain America is determined to prevent the destruction of the whole world by stopping it. But when word gets to the X-Men that the Phoenix is returning, Cyclops will do anything he can to save it…including going up against Earth’s Mightiest! But who is right? Will mutantkind be saved or will the world be annihilated? Don’t miss out on all the action in Avengers Vs. X-Men #1 in comic shops worldwide and on the Marvel Comics app this April!

Which team will reign supreme? Join the conversation on Twitter with #AvX!

For more on Avengers Vs. X-Men, please visit http://avx.marvel.com

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 (JAN120625)
AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 STEGMAN VARIANT (JAN120626)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, JASON AARON, MATT FRACTION, JONATHAN HICKMAN, ED BRUBAKER
Art by JOHN ROMITA JR.
Cover by JIM CHEUNG
Variant Cover by RYAN STEGMAN
FOC – 2/27/12, ON SALE – 4/3/12

Movie: The Woman In Black

I don't often get excited for horror movies, and especially not lately, but I caught the trailer for "The Woman in Black" on television the other day, and it looked pretty damned awesome.

This is the trailer:



I'm not a fan of the "torture porn" horror that has dominated the last decade or so. I like tha Saw movies, but stuff like Hostel just leaves me cold. This flick looks full on creepy with a few bits of action and jumps.

Then, I saw this faux-vintage poster:
It only serves to make me more excited for this film. Dan Radcliffe seems like a good call for this part, and turn of the 20th century settings just add to the awesomeness. I am looking forward to this one, which is coming out on February the 3rd.

Back, Plus TMNT

I miss writing about comic books. 5 months was too long to be away.

So I'm back.

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Five issues in, IDW's run with the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is, in my opinion, a hit.



Co-creater Kevin Eastman is on board, lend the book some of the cred it needs, as an 80's-90's property trying to make it in the comic shops. But more importantly, the book is good. Plain as that. The art by Dan Duncan is good. It's a bit sketchy, and bit on the dark side, but for a property that has its roots in the indy comic scene, it is totally appropriate.

Kevin Eastman is guiding Tom Waltz in creating a new origin for the Turtles, and they are blending a nice mix of tradition with modern sensibilities. The essentials are all there, of course; four turtles and a rat, mutagenic ooze, evil scientists, an ancient clan of ninja and a street kid with a hockey mask looking to get his licks in on the criminals in his neighborhood. Yet, the changes they've made help work the story into comfortable areas. For example, Raphael is separated from the turtles shortly after getting hit with the ooze, and mutates alone and on his own. They find him soon enough, but this little twist in the history help set up Raph as the outsider of the four. It works, and that's why I like the changes they've introduced.

Five issues in, and I'm digging just about everything about this book. It's worth a read.

4 Years

Hello friends,

After more than four years of blogging, I am putting "Underpants on the Outside" on indefinite hiatus.

It's been a blast. Really. This site has been through a lot, and I loved writing here. It's a little weird to see it stop, I must say. A little weird, and a little sad.

But!

But fret not. The reason I'm putting things around here on hold is because I'm moving over to a new, snazzy, website: "9to5".

I'm part of the founding crew, so you can be sure to see more of my comic book and movie posts, as always, along with a whole mess of other great stuff. Comic strips, pop culture, videos and podcasts. Bookmark it. Make it your home page. Visit every hour!

I'll see you there!