I'm sorry but creators are making me die laughing today.

I don't know what's fucking flat out funnier today.

The fact that a post by Brian Wood on his website that I was commenting and he was replying on throughout the weekend was deleted, the idea that Tim Liebe is dissing David Mack's cover on White Tiger, or Tamora Pierce insanely simplified idea of the Yakuza and Marvel Superheroes.

Considering the hatchet job 4th Letter is going to give to White Tiger (rightfully so), I'm gonna have to go with Wood. I mean for Godsakes, this is Brian Wood censoring. Writer of Channel Zero.

Yeah. I'm still laughing my ass off.

Blogs with no Feedback are pretty much Masturbating.

I had a post on Angelwings blog, but I can't seem to find it now. I'm just gonna assume it was deleted. I was gonna post this on someone else's blog, but that's kind of messed up and this is some personal shit that has nothing to do with funnybookbabylon, so it can't go there. I'm just kind of pissed and I want this up somewhere so others can see it and tell me how wrong I am. I'm a stubborn guy who likes to hear what other people think. This is probably my most redeeming personality trait.

I'm kind of not sure what's the point anymore of people posting things on a public site if they do not want others to react to it. Either keep your site private or just don't post on the internet. Because I'm fucking sick of the whole let me take my ball home mentality, when someone gets sick of the discussion, that I see alot in the internet and in political discourse. This shit happens all the time on the subforum I post on something awful (BSS), that I now keep out of there more often than I want to.

I hate this idea that you can say whatever you want but not expect critiquing from others. If we applied this philosophy to anything else in the world, we wouldn't be able to fucking move ahead as a society. We would be stuck in some awful group think. People who go out there and challenge what others think end up changing the world. I understand people are afraid of being told they are wrong, but that's too bad. An opinion not worth defending is one not worth having.

The moment you make your opinion public to the outside world people have the right to call you on what they believe to be fallacies in your arguement. In the case of sexism and racism, this is one of the best ways that we get to help tell people that we think their behaviour is wrong. Our words are one of our most powerful tools. We use it to speak and interact with each other. It is the way that we achieve great things together.


Disclosure:

I come from a family whom faced a good deal of political persecution in our home country, having a family member imprisoned and tortured for a chunk of time. They left for America sometime afterwards, so I could be born someplace where free speech was considered important. I was always raised to believe that you should be allowed to say what you feel in response to others.

This is no where near the same. To suggest so is insulting to both my family and Angelwing. This is just a reason why this kind of think makes me rage hard inside. I just have to say that this type of attitude kind of really saddens me. I just wish people would open the channels of communications so we can try to resolve and change things instead of ineffectually critiquing them. We are much more powerful together than not.

Books I'm Reading this week

Buying -
Firestorm #27
X-men #188
If my store has Escapists #1, which I doubt it, i'll get that also.
Superman #654

Borrowing-
Iron Man #10
Civil War Frontline #3
Green Lantern #10
Thunderbolts #104

Flipping Through -
52 #10
Walking Dead #29
Green Arrow #64

Already Ordered Online -
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Vol 1 Super Crush TP Digest
Avengers Assemble Vol 3 HC

Red Headed Stepchild Review

It's Wednesday, so here is a review. If I have time, I'll throw some stuff up. Next stop on the list is the underappreciated Thunderbolts: How to Lose. This book was a five dollar special I picked up from the discount pile at Forbidden Planet and is one of my favorite books dollar by dollar.

Thunderbolts: How to Lose
Marvel Comics (November 2003)
Reprints: Thunderbolts 76-81
Written by: John Arcudi
Drawn by: Francisco Ruiz Velasco

Plot:
What if you're a former supervillain whose abilities make you the target of other, more powerful supervillains - as well as a pushover for defeat at the hands of superheroes? And what if you're trying to reform, to walk the straight-and-narrow path? Do you keep slaving away for minimum wage at a go-nowhere job, or do you make one last grab for fame - by busting heads? Daniel Axum, formerly the Battler, was beaten and sent to prison by Spider-Man. Now he's out, but he can't escape the feeling that he's watching the third strike in his last-chance life as it blows right by him - until opportunity springs from a dark choice. Does Axum, who did his time and is desperately trying to keep his life in order, stick to the straight and narrow, or is there something else?

Story:
This is the first piece of work I have read by Arcudi, and I have to say I greatly enjoy it. I wasn't reading Thunderbolts before this book but since this is a complete shift from its original premise, it didn't effect reading the book. You get to follow Axum as he makes some intresting decisions with his life and his powers. I loved how this book was not played off as a straight forward superhero book. There is no hero here or losers. Arcudi shows several characters making questionable choices that are not far from similar ones that people make in real life. The ending at first appears rushed, but when you look back at the story you can see why Danny makes that final choice.

Art:
The story allows for several action sequences that Velasco delivers. There is something about his hyper exaggerated style that looks great with shots of people with black eyes and puffy lips. It's a great juxtopization of violence and cartoony fun that makes this a great book.

This book gets alot of heat for being one of the handful of Thunderbolts trades but not being an actual Thunderbolts book. It's a shame, because this story stands on its own and if it had been called anything else, people would love it more.

Highly Recommended!

I'm a little late, but making it up with Quanity Pt 1

Today's first review is the second trade in Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run, "the Painting that ate Paris".

Doom Patrol: the Painting that ate Paris
Vertigo (DC Comics) - October 1, 2004
Reprints: Doom Patrol 26-34
Written by: Grant Morrison
Drawn by: Richard Case

Plot:
Just as the old Doom Patrol has yielded to its newer and even stranger incarnation, the old Brotherhood of Evil is no more - but what will rise to take its place? Only something that properly reflects the insanity of modern life can hope to fill its shoes - and that something is the Brotherhood of Dada! Mr. Nobody! Sleepwalk! The Fog! Frenzy! The Quiz! Together they will bring a reign of unreason to an unsuspecting world, harnessing the untapped powers of ideas and symbols to transform reality itself into absurdist theater - unless the reconstituted Doom Patrol can find a way to stop them. But will all of existence in danger of being reduced to a nonsensical punch line, can even the World's Strangest Heroes find a happy ending for this lethal farce?

Story:
I absolutely love the first arc. It's one of my favorite mergings of that "Morrison Weirdness" with sequential "superhero" storytelling. Even though I missed the first trade and I am traditionally used to the regular configuration of the Doom Patrol, I could follow along and I didn't mind the marginlization of what I felt was the "Doom Patrol" cast. Crazy Jane and Robotman had some spectacular moments. I hated the second arc alot, it just was too much weird, too fast, with little to no explanation for weird concept A or B. Maybe my familarity with
dadism helped me out with the first arc. I couldn't get into the moment at all, maybe that's what Morrison was going for, since some of the characters are confused as I am. The trade ends with the best Brain and Mallah story ever. It's also in continuity
Art:
Case's art is perfect for the first arc. It's beautifully disorienting for a story that attacks you from all sides. It changes styles gracefully and it has some great images of the Justice League.


I never ever got to reading "Crawling through the Wreckage" for some strange reason and specifically picked up this book since a) it was 50% off at Strand's bookstore and b) I really like Grant Morrison's runs on New X-Men and JLA. I really enjoyed the hell out of The Brotherhood of Dada enough to overlook the things I did not enjoy from from the second arc. Also the love story between Brain and Mallah is nearly worth the price of admission.


Recommended!

FIRST POST!

Starting off with what can be considered what of my favorite guilty pleasures, Here is a review of "Ultimate Adventures"

Ultimate Adventures: One Tin Soldier
Marvel - May 18, 2005
Reprints: Ultimate Adventures 1-6
Genre: Superhero
Written by: Ron Zimmerman
Drawn by: Duncan Fegredo

Plot:
Orphan and all-around Wise Ass, Hank Kipple, is the oldest kid in the Orphanage. No one wants to adopt a boy with such a rude mouth, even if he's insanely talented. Not until Billionaire and Former Orphan Jack Danner visits the orphanage. During a presentation Hank lets off one of his trade mark smart aleck remarks and draws the attention of Jack. Less than an hour later, he's informed that Jack has adopted him and he'll live in the lap of luxury. Hank's life at the mansion is still teneous as he has difficulty adjusting to his new family, which contains a sassy black butler, a crazy great-aunt who swears Jack's parents where murderer and their Asian Chaffeur. It isn't until he discovers the secret lair of Chicago hero Hawk-Owl on top of Jack's Mansion. This leads into a ultimatization of one of comicdom's most familar and favorite characters.

Story:
Ron Zimmerman wrote one of my favorite single issue Spider-man stories in Double Shot. He nails each of the Hawk-Owl Family characters well. Each character has funny lines and you genuninely want to know more about them. They come across as believable and fit well into the ultimatization of Batman. The story is a great read for the first 5 issues and then it decides to have a villian. This is the part of the trade where the story sours a bit. The villian and his sidekick just seem kind of blah. His motivation for his actions is also rather silly, considering how great Jack's motivation for doing the right thing is. However, the story isn't really about the villian, and he exists mostly to create a situation that cements the newly created family. It's something I'm prepared to overlook because it's a minor part of the book.


Art:
Fegerado's art was quiet good in X-Force, Enigma, and the Flowers for Rhino arc from Tangled web and in many places in this trade he hits the mark. His Hawk-Owl is drawn really well. He does a nice job on most of the Ultimates (who make a pop in half way through). His expressions help sell the emotions of the fantastic Characters Zimmerman creates. His storytelling is also top notch. There are several great one page panels in the book where the action flows fantastically. The work may not be everyones cup of tea, but in my opinion Fegerado delivers.

This book pretty much got six issues and was never heard of again. It's a shame since most of the characters in the Ultimate Universe are following pre-destined paths and relationships with other Ultimate characters. It was refreshing to see something totally new in the same sandbox.

Highly Recommended!

I seriously just started this thing so I could post my insane theory about how Superboy Prime is a repressed Homosexual.

Any more use I get out of this outside of that is insane.