Sneak Peek: New Frontier DVD

Over at IESB, they have a 10 minute promo video for the upcoming direct to DVD "New Frontier" offering from DC. As I love the comic, love the work of Darwin Cooke, and love cartoons, I must say I'm pretty amped for this DVD.

Showcase: The Haunted Tank

I'm reading through the Showcase The Haunted Tank lately, and I'm quite enjoying it. I just finished a short story that reprinted The Brave & the Bold #52 which crossed over the Haunted Tank, Johnny Cloud and Sgt. Rock. It was, simply put, awesome.

Spider-Man: One More Day

Well, I've just read the first issue of the "One More Day" arc in Spider-Man comics, and 22 pages in, I'm quite enamored of it.

This book has been promoted for a few months now, and with my recent return to Spidey comics, I've been looking forward to it, if albeit a hint of wariness. After having read the first issue though, I am now more optimistic for the story. JMS on writing has been with Peter Parker for a long time now, and he has rolled with all the punches, and Marvel's editor in chief Joe Quesada picks up the pencils again for this book, and delivers with some very dynamic work.

I don't want to get into too many spoilers, but it's nice to see Spider-Man show that he's a top-tier hero, and doesn't get pushed around easily, even by Iron Man.

Good stuff thus far, hope it continues being so.

Ah Shortpacked, again.

Buffy Season 8, Usagi Yojimbo and Spider-Man

I just finished reading the first arc of Buffy season 8 from Dark Horse, and I liked it well enough. I feel that the writing was quite good, and again than Joss Whedon has continued to develop as a comic book writer. I also like that the book is firmly rooted in continuity, and has continued with a quick-witted dialogue and fun. The art is passable, whith good renditions of characters, though at times, I found there to be a lack of dynamic action on the page. All in all, however, the book is a must read for Buffy fans.

Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo continues to be one of my favorite books every month. Every book is a little gift, in my opinion, and the characterization is always sharp and fresh. It is one of the great mysteries to me why this title continues to only appeal to a niche, when it is consistently excellent and has great re-readability. The recent arc has him poisoned and fighting through fever dreams, and maintains the high drama and grit and quality story telling I expect from Mr. Sakai every month.

I've also just recently started picking up Spider-Man again, catching the tail end of the "Back in Black" and leading into the "One More Day" arc. Following Civil War, I felt that I needed to mix up the Marvel books I was reading, dropping "Mighty Avengers" and with "Nextwave" getting canceled, I had some space to play with my pull list. Spidey seemed to be the character that had benefitted the most from the shakedown of Civil War, in term of storytelling" so I figured I'd give it a run. Amazing Spider-Man #542 has a black-costumed Spider-man hunting down the Kingpin in prison, only to unmask and give ol purple pants a humiliating beat-down in front of the crown of inmates. Peter's again in a situation where he's been pushed to his limits, and it's taken a turn for the darker. Especially nice work by penciller Ron Garney, who draws a very good fight scene.

That's all I got for now, but I expect to be making more regular postings again around here now that I've gotten a few technical issues sorted out.

Ah Shortpacked.

Top 10: Superhero movie moments

10.
The three kryptonians wade through White House security as if it were a fun passtime in Superman II. When Zod tries out the machinegun, it seems as if he's just curious to see how it works. Awesome.

9.
The opening "Bloodbath" scene from Blade. Vampires, techno music, blood and ashes. That scene alone spawned the next 2 sequels.

8.
The fighting climax between Batman, the Phantasm and the Joker at the end of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. The big reveal, the huge fight, Mark Hamill giving a great vocal performance as the Joker. I can picture the whole fight if I close my eyes.

7.
I'm gonna take one from the list link, the "Okay, put more." scene from Unbreakable. *shiver*. Best moment in an Origin story. Ever.

6.
Black-costumed Spiderman comes to settle the score with Harry Osborne. Not exactly the greatest movie ever, but the Peter-Harry relationship culminates wonderfully, and was the the only organic plot in the whole 3rd film.

5.
Cyclops: "Prove it!"
Wolverine: "You're a dick."
Cyclops: "Okay."
from X-Men.


4.
Also from X-Men, the standoff between Magneto and Xavier outside the train station has a great sequence of escalation. Mags wins out in the end, but possessing Sabretooth to threaten to rip out Magnus' throat was really cool.

3.
Another from the linked list, the "He's just a kid." scene from Spiderman 2. Added to that the "You'll have to get through me." scene right after it where they all stand up to Doc Ock on Spidey's behalf, only to be whacked out of the way as a afterthought.

2.
Elasti-Girl infiltrates Syndrome's base in the Incredibles. So cool, and it was a toss-up between that and the "no capes" flashback from the same movie, but there was more drama in the sneaking in.

1.
The Iron Giant grumbles out "Su-per-man" as he flies off to sacrifice himself and save the town. Lump in throat, tears welling, true hero stuff.


Honorable Mentions:

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!" - Batman: The Movie

Bullseye kills an old lady with a peanut. - Daredevil

The Beast meeting Leech for the first time and is just completely emotionally torn by how it made him feel. - X3