Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Wednesday Comics for 30 April 2014



Batgirl Annual #2: This was an interesting team-up of sorts between Batgirl and Poison Ivy. Piggy-backing off an old Bird of Prey story (featuring my beloved Starling, so you know it's from a while ago), this issue had Babs becoming increasingly frustrated with Ivy, whose health deteriorated with the change in seasons (and who tried to kill the BoP). I'm not a huge Ivy fan, but I liked this characterization of her: she's plant-based, so it makes sense that her health would fade as the seasons change. I also loved getting to see pre-betrayal Starling and look forward to the day that whole mess gets retconned. It probably would've worked better as a BoP annual, but it was a nice break and insight into one of the DCU hero-villains with whom I'm less familiar. 

Batman Eternal #4: The best issue of this weekly yet! Of course, it's co-written by John Layman and pencilled by Dustin Nguyen, which probably explains my bias. Batgirl is not dealing with her father's imprisonment very well, which leads to a confrontation with Batman (she even punches him - twice!) and to her beating up Pyg's henchmen. I'm worried for Gordon; it doesn't seem like being locked in Blackgate with a bunch of criminals he put on there will lead to a long, happy life for him. More importantly, Stephanie is still on the run from her father and may have placed her trust in the wrong person. 

Batwoman Annual #1: This was awful. I usually love Batwoman, but this annual was a confusing mess. It apparently wrapped up events from six issues ago, but all it did was make me wonder what on earth was going on. The art was not as good as normal, either. Overall I just found this disappointing, especially compared with what I've been getting from this series. 

Chew #41: Chew is consistently the funniest, most innovative comic I read every month. This issue is no exception! Tony, Amelia, and Colby head to Vegas for an FDA convention. Tony gets called in to work a case...the morning after his drunken, Elvis-officiated wedding! I loved seeing Tony work this case with Amelia tagging along because he's evolved so much as a character. It's great to see him really step up into the hero role, but I worry about what Layman has in store for him. Guillory's art is great, as usual. I especially enjoyed this splash page:



That's a tattoo of Ian Malcolm on that unisaurus's belly. There are so many great visual jokes!

Flash Annual #3: The plot of this issue alternates between present-day Barry, who is still trying to recover from the aftermath of Forever Evil, and future Barry, who is trying fighting Gorilla Grodd and trying to come back in time to kill his past self. There were two different artists on this issue which was a nice visual cue to help differentiate between timelines. Story-wise, we're building to a Flash vs. Flash showdown, and we also get the New 52 Wally West!  

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #4: Another great issue! The gang teams up with some new faces to infiltrate a medical base and save some young women who (like River) were being used in experiments. We also check in on Zoe, who's still trapped on a prison planet but will probably get rescued by Mal and crew soon. Georges' art is beautiful - he manages to capture the actors perfectly without resulting to photorealism (which can be creepy and distracting). 

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

I'm a Geordi!


Which TNG character are you? Find out here!

Monday, April 28, 2014

Music Munday: Not Literally

Today's post is another geeky parody group: Not Literally. They take catchy pop songs and make them into anthems to Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Disney movies, Doctor Who, and tons more. Here are a few of my favorites:

"I Ship It" (aka, "The greatest ode to fandom EVER"):


"A Character I Used to Know" (spoilers for GoT):


"Through Time:"


"Walk of Shame:"


And the Hogwarts House Pride videos:

"We R Slytherins" (Slytherin, obvs; have I mentioned my weakness for Ke$ha?):


"Gryffindors:"


"Sorted This Way" (Hufflepuffs, represent!):


There's also a Ravenclaw video coming soon, which I'm really excited about.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Wednesday Comics for 23 April 2014



My reviews from last week were deleted (I was trying to post from my phone and forgot to save when I finished - trust, I won't make that mistake again!), so I'm skipping ahead to the books I got on April 23rd.

Aquaman #30: My shop didn't get any copies of this, unfortunately, but hopefully I'll get one next week.

Batman Eternal #3: The triumphant return of the sinkable Stephanie Brown! Her father, the Cluemaster, is trying to kill her and she realizes that he's probably involved in all the shady stuff going down. And the police have a totally new, totally corrupt commissioner whose philosophy about capes is that they need to sort out their own business...even if it means losing a few innocent citizens in the process. I love that the action is really starting to get going, but I'm mostly excited about seeing Steph in a book again. <3 

Danger Girl: May Day #1: This issue seemed really short. A cargo ship is invaded by a group of pirates. When the lifeless body of Natalia is brought on board, the pirate leader, April, decides to revive her. Natalia has no memories of her former life, but it looks like April is going to change that. This was a decent first issue, but by the time I got invested in it, it was over. 

Dead Boy Detectives #5: Charles and Edwin return home with Crystal, who has decided to set up a detective agency in her backyard. Edwin finds their first case immediately: a young girl and her maid are trapped, upside down, in a room in the house of the local crazy cat lady. I loved this because it's the first issue of a two-part story (I like breaking up longer arcs with shorter ones), it featured cats, and the rules of being a ghost get explained. 

Fathom: Kiani #2: Kiani doesn't trust Luzhin, but since he's also a Blue (and claims to know where her sister is), she pretends to trust him. I was honestly hoping for more of Kiani and Dante (I liked seeing her interact with a human - the hug is adorable!), but she's a soldier rather than a baby-sitter so I can understand the necessity. I don't understand why she agreed to work with Luzhin, though. He doesn't give her proof of Anika's life so much as show her the technology they used to locate her. And when he hooks her up to a bunch of equipment, her power levels spike and she blows up the entire complex. So, not a super-trustworthy guy.

The Flash #30: The Flash was one of my surprise favorites when the New 52 launched. I wasn't a big fan of the scarlet speedster in his previous incarnations, but the story and art of the new series blew me away and I was hooked. I was a little worried about having a new creative come on board, but I'm a big fan of Venditti and Jensen and have complete faith in where they're taking my now-beloved Barry. This issue focused on Barry getting checked out by the force psych in order to get cleared for active duty (having survived the Crime Syndicate...somehow...) interspersed with him leaving mid-evaluation to clean up the city and save people. It was a fun re-introduction to the story for new readers and gave us an intriguing new storyline in form of future Flash.

Soulfire #4: Mal gets jealous when an angel shows up to act as the beacon to the cult of Gabriel's Voice. P.J. and Benoist discover who's been trying to hurt them. Grace gets closer to her new friend Vanyss. All three storylines are heating up, and there's a pretty major twist in the final page that I probably should've seen coming. The art is gorgeous, as usual. I especially love the designs of Michael and Vanyss. 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

I'm Hanson!


Which 90s Pop Idol are you? Find out here!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Music Munday: Nirvana

Nirvana was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last week, and there were a few performances by contemporary artists to mark the occasion:

Joan Jett, "Smells Like Teen Spirit"


Annie Clark, "Lithium"


Lorde, "All Apologies"


Kim Gordon, "Aneurysm"

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

I'm a Willow!


Which Nerdy Sidekick are you? Find out here!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Music Munday: Coachella 2014


I haven't been to a music festival in years, and the concerts I frequent now tend to be small, acoustic, and in bars. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy some awesome live music from the comfort of my living room! Coachella was this past weekend, and thanks to the magic of YouTube and the Internet we can all experience the fun! (And save money on tickets, hotel, and airfare!)


First up, Atlanta's own Outkast, reunited:


Ellie Goulding:


The Pixies:


MGMT:


Muse:


Pharrell Williams:


Queens of the Stone Age:


There are dozens more available at YouTube thanks to buriedvoid.

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Wednesday Comics for 9 April 2014


This was a light week for me; I only picked up 5 books! (I have a copy of Lumberjanes waiting for me at Criminal Records when I go to Atlanta this weekend, too!) Next week is not looking as wallet-friendly...

Batgirl #30
Babs deals with the death of Dick Grayson by fighting an urban legend unwittingly unleashed by some drunk teenagers. It's equal parts horror movie and sad farewell, with a nod to the supernatural elements from the Silver storyline and an ending that foreshadows more trouble for Gotham. I'm not a fan of the horror genre, so this wasn't my favorite Batgirl issue. I also didn't buy the really subdued mourning Babs was doing over her recently horribly killed ex-boyfriend. On the other hand, it could be that in the New 52 Dick and Babs never had a romantic relationship. Either way, I expected more, especially after Babs's reaction to Damien's death. 

Batman Eternal #1
I'm a little (extremely) disappointed Stephanie Brown didn't show up. Batman and Gordon team up to fight Professor Pyg and Gordon inadvertently causes a fatal subway accident. The stuff with GCPD and all its crooked cops could be interesting, but I'm really just holding out for Steph. 

Captain Marvel #2
Carol is an Avenger in space! She meets up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and hijinks ensue. This was my first experience with the Guardians and it was pretty fun. I'm definitely looking forward to the movie (I suspect that's the reason for the crossover) and enjoyed getting to see Carol interact with Rocket. 

Side note: I'm loving all the pet-friendly Marvel comics! 

Nightcrawler #1
I love Nightcrawler, but I haven't been keeping up with the X-books. Apparently he died a while ago? But now he's back with no explanation. It's waved away as an "X-man thing." I'm not complaining: trying to explain HOW he came back would probably be annoyingly nonsensical. It's much better to just celebrate his return. The issue opens with Kurt adjusting to his new world at the Jean Grey School by fighting Logan in the Danger Room. He's been recruited by Storm to teach at the School, but that gets put on hold when he visits Amanda (and a bunch of chibi-Nightcrawlers he calls his bamfs, which really confused me). She gets attacked by a giant robot guy, and they decide to work together to figure out why. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much; my last experience with Claremont was Gen13 and was a huge disappointment. This first issue was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the art. The chibi-Nightcrawlers are especially delightful!

Lola XOXO #1
This was a surprise for me; I didn't realize it was coming out today, but my shop is pretty good about ordering all the Aspen titles for me. The art is gorgeous! The titular Lola is a young woman living in a post-apocalyptic America. She was separated from her parents as a child just before the attacks that turned America into a wasteland. After years of living in relative safety, she decides to strike out on her own and find her parents. Lola is impetuous and apparently able to fend for herself, so I'm looking forward to seeing where this series goes. Plus, the Siya Oum art! So pretty. 

Pick of the week goes to: Nightcrawler #1! Pretty much for this panel alone:


I'm a Lara!


Which strong female character are you? Find out here!

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

I'm a Lizzy! And also Anne?


Which Jane Austen heroine are you? Find out here!


Which Jane Austen hero is your soulmate? Find out here!