We’re finally in the midst of some new episodes of Lost and there’s so much that still needs to be uncovered. Join me in this spoilerific thread.
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Just finished reading DC’s Countdown To Infinite Crisis and I’m left with the exact same feeling I had when I finished Identity Crisis. Man, them DC folk can write a mean comic when they want to. But do they need to rack up so many casualties when they do? Is it impossible for them to craft a big story without a murder victim? Would the quality of this issue or IC have been any less if it didn’t have a body count? They’ve done a great job bringing some characters back into the spotlight and making them relevant only to knock them off. It’s so frustrating to read a comic and be thrilled that a wasted character was finally getting some props again, only to get shot or strangled, or blasted with a blow torch. Although, the big surprise ending doesn’t really hold up for me. I mean, didn’t we do this before? Hard to explain without getting too spoiler-y, but I think there’s plenty of instances in my back issue boxes that would contradict some of the motivation and retconned history.

As the title implies, this comic basically jump starts several other big crossover events. Let’s hope there’s enough characters to survive all the carnage. Although, one thing didn’t suffer because of this comic: my wallet. All those pages and it only cost one dollar. That takes away some of the remorse. But not all.

“I’m a bug. A smart, curious and extremely handsome bug, but a bug none-the-less.”

The next comic book movie comes out this Friday. Bloggers are talking Sin City, Movie Blog is talking Sin City, and critics are talking Sin City. And so far, they are liking what they’re seeing.

I’m not too surprised that critics are liking this. They watch hundreds of movies a year, that when something different comes down the pike, most will probably give it more of chance just because it’s not the same old, same old. But how will America react to it? The only major competition being released is a female-oriented Barber Shop spin-off, so Sin City should be #1 at the box office. It’ll be interesting to see what your average movie-goer thinks of this unique-looking (at least at this stage) film.

And here’s a new look at another comic book movie down the line, Fantastic Four. This trailer’s new and improved, but I just don’t think this movie rises above the comic movie concept. As fancy as the special effects are, it still kinda looks generic.

And the Spidey 3 villain is the Sandman? I’m not impressed with this idea. Don’t get me wrong, I think Hayden-Church can do this role right, but I don’t think the time for this character is now. They have too much to wrap up without getting caught up with another scene-chewer.

“Behold the gaseous scent of Skeletor’s breakfast burito.”

Good news for fans of Hank and Dean, there will be a second season of Venture Brothers. (Yeah, I know I ripped off his entry title but no harm, no foul.) It’ll probably be a year before we see the new episodes but the news still thrills me to no end. The show is currently invading Canada and people are already impersonaing the characters at parties. It’s a high-quality show with a surprising amount of depth to it’s world that, at first glance, is a parody of the Hardy Boys or Johnny Quest. If you want to get caught up on the first season, Adult Swim is showing reruns on Sunday nights at 12:30. And I’m assuming we’ll see the first season on DVD, especially since I found a look at the DVD packaging, although still no official word on when we might see season 1 in stores.

“This is what I get for years of screwing with super science.”

It’s been a while since we rapped about the ol’ pigskin. I’ve been topical and discussed the big NCAA tournament. I’ve also gotten back into what was originally my usual topic on this blog, comics. But we knew this day would come where I would drift back towards football. But it’s been ten days since I’ve done that, so I feel like everyone’s refreshed and ready for some gridiron talk.

Maybe I shouldn’t pat myself on the back too much, things have been relatively quiet around the NFL. Well, quieter than the first part of the month. Team owners just met in Hawaii and there was discussion about possible rule changes. Here’s my take on what changes should have been made to the pass interference rule.

The NFL announced who would open up next season in the Thursday night opener: Patriots vs. Raiders. Could the Bengals get a Monday Night Football game? Will there even be Monday Night games? If so, who would air them? The NFL is holding out for sweeter primetime offers. I think they’re just trying to mix things up to lure in other networks and/or get the established networks to pony up a little more dough.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked mock drafts. I don’t think you’ll see me get crazy and post the Bengals’ results of sixty mock drafts on this site again anytime soon. Movable Type doesn’t work well like that. And if it can’t handle the results, how can it handle my reviews of the results? And without the review, what’s the point? So, I doubt you’ll see me try that again before the draft which is now less than a month away. Who knows, the Bengals might end up with one of the top 16 prospects. That would continue what some are calling the new Bengal Way.

Lots of NFL QBs in Europe right now, including the Bengals third-string guy. And is former Begnak Akili Smith stinking up another league?

Speaking of other leagues, the Cincinnati Marshals began their indoor season last night. I may just have to check out one of their games before their season, or franchise, is over.

“Some of us need our beauty sleep. Not everyone has your striking metrosexual good looks.”

You can find more covers like this one here and here at Something Awful.

I guess this is why comic book readers are going to hell. And these comics will be waiting for us.

“I, John Bear, Lacoche warrior, urinate in the river of your ancestors. That is the sound of my mighty urine flowing out from the heavens on your ancestors and their dinner guests.”

I have a hard time calling Batman: New Times a Fan Film. It’s one of those computer-animated movies that look like it was done with Legos. The closing credits are longer than most TV shows I watch. Also, the two main voice actors have spent years portraying the hero and villain. Mark Hammill has been the voice of the Joker for the past ten years on Batman: The Animated Series. And Batman’s voiced by Adam West. ‘Nuff said. But, I suppose I should probably at least make up some scores so you can see if it’s worth watching.

FF type: Story
Bruce Wayne leaves a dinner party to stop the Joker’s latest scheme.
11 minutes long

Production Quality: (4) I guess, technically, these aren’t Legos. Or Blockos. They’re C3. Anyone ever heard of those before? Well, it’s computer generated anyway, so I don’t think it matters. Either way, it looks good, in a blocky kind of way.

Performances: (5) Adam West and Mark Hammill deliver their usual performances. Courtney Thorne Smith was okay in her role. She’s not someone with a distinctive voice so I guess they just wanted a big name. I was surprised Dick Van Dyke made as good of a Commissioner Gordon as he did.

Fan quotient: (4) Most of the Batman lore touched on in this has been covered on TV or in the movies so I don’t think that would confuse anyone. This seems to fuse together some of the best features of the movies, TV shows, and comics. However, so many source materials have been merged together that it may be disorienting trying to figure out which Bat-rules apply.

Entertainment Value: (4) It’s pretty entertaining. I think most people would enjoy seeing it once, but it’s not something you have to go back to again and again.

FF obtainment: (4) I think this is the only place to see it.

Batman: New Times: 23 out of 25.

There’s no doubt this was pretty good. But I had a hard time figuring out whether or not they wanted me to take this seriously. First off, you’re using Lego people. Second off, you’ve got Adam West doing the voice instead of Kevin Conroy, who’s gruffer voice would be more befitting the dark tones that are present in the visuals. Still, I’m always thrilled to see Adam West get work so I guess I can’t complain too much.

A little more in the fan-created vein, here’s Napoleon Dynamite meets Halo 2. It’s kind of like Red vs. Blue meets Fun With Real Audio.

“Criminals are a cowardly, supserstitious lot.”

As everyone who’s filled out an NCAA bracket before knows, when the team you’ve chosen to win it all is eliminated in the first weekend, you’re done. It’s happened to me many times before and I always accepted it. But this time it doesn’t feel right. Normally, my champion going down is just one of many innacuracies on my bracket. But this year, other than those scrubs from Storrs, I’m still doing pretty well. I correctly guessed over half of the Sweet Sixteen. I’ve got six of my Elite Eight teams still left. Only one Final Four pick was bad. Unfortunately, bad doesn’t quite cover it.

The fallout continues from Saturday’s big game in the The Rivalry That Isn’t. The UC-Uk ratings were impressive and some feel that TV will make this game happen on a more regular basis. I understand that an annual event might be too much to ask for. And with UC’s new Big East schedule, we probably don’t need another elite opponent year-in and year-out. But it sure as hell better not be another 14 years before the Bearcats and Wildcats throw down again.

“Dude, you know we have a mission! Shrink rays. Trained Gorillas. Workable prototype jet-packs. And chicks, chicks, chicks. I know that’s the action *I* signed on for!”

Ever since I heard about the War of the Worlds movie by Steven Speilberg and Tom Cruise, I was wondering what would make it different than, say, Independence Day. Especially since it occupies the same subject matter and release date period that made ID4 such a big blockbuster. I mean, it’s an alien invasion movie set in modern day. What would seperate this attempt from President Bill Pullman’s movie? After getting a look-see at the War of the Worlds trailer, it’s not the same kind of alien invasion flick. It seems to match the tone and singule family focus of Signs, but with the mass destruction of ID4. Seems like a good combination. I guess there’s no truth to the rumor that I’m starting up now stating this movie is the sequel to E.T. and Tom Cruise is Elliot all grown up.

Speaking of little green (or grey) men, there’s an aliens exhibit in a Fort Myers museum. You going to that, Bacon?

And something that may or may not be tied into aliens, the Spidey 3 bad guy is Lowell? Who will Thomas Hayden Church play? Will he be Venom? Hobgoblin? Sandman? Hypno Hsulter? Could still be just a rumor or innacurate info. Just a couple days earlier, Black Cat was going to be in the third movie. Still, I think it would be foolish to bring in any major new devlopment for Tobey and Raimi’s last hurrah. They’ve done a good job setting up a lot of storylines that should come to a head in this movie. Let whoever takes over next deal with Venom and all the other new stuff you want to introduce.

“God! What kind of universe is it where a man can’t love his fake wife’s mother’s best friend?”

I’ve been hearing (and by hearing, I mean reading on blogs) that Runaways is one outstanding comic book. I didn’t get any of the first run, and a second volume is coming out now. Marvel’s attempts at teen-themed books (especially with a touch of manga) have pretty much stunk like Limburger lately so I didn’t even give the title a second thought when it hit the stands. But constant, repeated critical praise continued. That, and the fact that it’s written by Bryan K. Vaughan made me reconsider my whole poo-pooing stance. So, I figured I would give the title a try by picking up the trade paperback that collected the first six issues. That’s a pretty standard strategy for current comic readers. But, I could not! It was not available in the standard trade paperback form. It was only available in “digest” form. That’s another attempt by Marvel to get teens to pick up their comics. Although, I had no idea how cramming six comics into something the size of a TV Guide would make super heroes cool.

Not exactly the format I’m used to. Sure, I’ve seen these kind of books in the check-out line of the grocery store. But those were Archies and I haven’t read one of those since I had baby teeth. Well, I did get the Archie/Punisher crossover but doesn’t count. Anyway, I eventually got over my digest phobia and picked up the first edition. In my aging years, it was not difficult to read the comic, which was my biggest concern. It fit nicely in my back pocket so I could carry it around with me pretty easily. Overall, not a bad thing. I don’t know if I want all my comics collected in this fashion but I won’t let it stop me from getting a particular title in the future. I just hope they get these digests out into mainstream stores. Otherwise, you might as well crumple the comics up into a ball and it would bring in the same amount of new teen readers.

Oh, and the actual story inside this digest was very good, too.

“Our TV works. Why are you reading?”