I hate to be a part of an ever-growing, and ever-annoying trend, but yes - I blog, therefore I tweet. All is not lost, however, since many, many comics writers and artists have found their way onto the Twitter highway. Have I missed any? Drop me a line to let me know. Click any of the links below to follow any of these writers/artists:
Agent M (Ryan Penagos, Marvel.com editor/writer)
I’m a Mark Bagley snob. I admit it. I just don’t care for the man’s art unless it’s on one specific book - Ultimate Spider-Man. This is strange, considering I didn’t think much of his work when he pencilled Amazing Spider-Man in the early 90s. There is something that happened to his pencils when he teamed up with Brian Michael Bendis that helped them transcend their overwhelming mediocrity and sameness. I think it has much to do with the quality of Bendis’ scripts and the fact that the cast of characters is primarily made up of teenagers. Bagley is able to capture youth extremely well, so his teen versions of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, etc, were exceptional. He has since moved on from Ultimate Spidey, and that’s a crying shame. As a result of his move, DC Comics has editorially decided that Bagley is the “it” penciller of the moment. I assume this is as a result of his recent work on Trinity, a series I gave up within the first ten issues. Trinity’s scripts were more problematic than the art (what has happened to Kurt Buseik???), but Bagley’s takes on DC’s big three left me distinctly underwhelmed.
Now, Mark Bagley has been handed one of DC’s flagship titles - the JLA. There’s a good side and a bad side to this move. The good side is that Bagley has been teamed with one of my favorite writers, James Robinson, so there’s the possibility that a new version of that old Bendis/Bagley chemistry can be ignited. The bad side is that I didn’t care for Bagley’s versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in Trinity, and I have no reason to believe they will significantly change for the JLA. I’ll give it a shot, at least to see what Robinson can do with the JLA. Maybe DC’s editors won’t handcuff his ideas like they did with Dwayne McDuffie.
There are two types of collectibles that I just don’t get (and probably never will). They are the bobblehead and the bust. Both are “B” words and both are completely unnecessary.
Let’s look at the bobblehead first. According to the aptly named Bobbleheads.com, this trinket of idiocy was first mentioned in print in 1842 and has seen its popularity ebb and flow over the years. Most frequently remembered as dogs or baseball players standing in the rear windows of 1960’s-era Chevy’s and Buicks, these yes-men of doom have now spread out into virtually every facet of our pop culture driven society. When I saw the Ozzy Osbourne bobblehead I finally knew for sure that the human race was winding down.
So what exactly do I hate about these big headed nodders? Just that. We already have the far superior Super-Deformed aesthetic thanks to those awesomely crazy Japanese so why must we also have bobbleheads? Why do they need to nod? Is anyone actually buying up all these SKUs of crap merchandise? Who exactly looks at a bobblehead in the package and mutters, “I must have that” under their beer-soaked breath? Why aren’t the cool SD figures good enough for Americans? WHY MUST WE BOBBLE?! I see absolutely no point to it. The central load bearing structure of the bobbleheads’ bodies mean that design aesthetics must be sacrificed for the bobble function. I say, NO MORE!
The other item that bugs the hell out of me is the bust and it’s angry cousin the mini bust. Want to know why these exist? Licensing agreements, my friends. When Lucasfilm sells Hasbro the rights to make action figures, they do so in an explicit contract. Then some yahoo over at Gentle Giant thinks he could make a better Ponda Baba (AKA Butt Face) sculpt so he decides that GG must make action figures too. Oh no, says LFL. You may not. Hasbro owns that right. So the minions at GG think and think and think and then probably drink a lot and eventually come up with the idea that they could get a different license if their figures had no legs! BRILLIANT, says LFL. Fork over the dough. Thus opens another portal to hell as figures end up buried to the waist in Geonosian rock and Star Wars fans by the thousands pay their hard-earned cash for the upper halves of characters they cherish.
Is there a case when a bust would be cool? Only if it’s in marble and on display in a rotunda of some sort. So far I’ve yet to see a film character worthy of that sort of adulation but I haven’t given up hope for Ah-nold just yet. We may eventually see the Austrian Republican immortalized in stone.
Look, just please stop buying these. It’s the only way we can discourage their manufacture. Sure, a few old Chinese women will have to move over to the Triumph dog toy production line, but it’s a small price to pay for the sanity of our great nation.
Via www.toybender.com :
Fans of the Marvel Universe line (me) may look forward to seeing or most likely not seeing Wave 4 revision one at their local toy shoppe. Not only does it offer some of the more popular characters in the line that you may have missed before, but there’s some nice newer ones as well. May I direct you toward the awesomeness that is Moon Knight? Sweet chickens in heat, I’m going to need to get my hands on him. I’ve always been a fan of Moon Knight, but not really a dedicated reader of his comics until a few years ago. Even if you don’t like the character or what they’ve done with him, you’ve got to love that sweet ass costume.
Other figures I am on the look out for include black Spider-Man as well as the Hand Ninja, both of which I’ve passed on already. Seriously, the combination of not having steady income and these things being around eight dollars makes these purchasing decisions a lot harder. I know I’m a repeating parrot on this issue, but seriously eight dollars is too damned much for a three inch piece of plastic. I’m guessing that army building is a bit on the decline these days due to price and the economy. Anyway, I’m glad that I still have a little time before good old Captain America classic version is available.
From www.afhub.com:
From Boardgame News:
Nominees for the 2009 Spiel des Jahres – Germany’s “Game of the Year” award – and Kinderspiel des Jahres have been announced by the respective juries for those awards. The nominees for Spiel des Jahres, with their designers and German publishers listed, are:
Unless Reiner Knizia takes home his second consecutive SdJ, having won in 2008 for Keltis (Kosmos), some designer (or designers) will be hoisting the big red poppel for the first time when the winners are announced on June 29. In a sign of how far the U.S. game industry has advanced in recent years, two of this year’s nominees – Dominion and Pandemic – were developed by, respectively, Rio Grande Games and Z-Man Games, then published by German partners.
The SdJ jury sometimes issues special awards to games that fit into particular categories, and two such games received awards in 2009: Space Alert, by Vlaada Chvatil (Czech Games Edition) in the category of “new game worlds” and Gift Trap, by Nick Kellet (Heidelberger Spieleverlag) for “party games.”
The nominees for the Kinderspiel des Jahres, again with their designers and German publishers listed, are:
In addition to announcing the nominees, the juries for the two awards also offer a list of recommended titles, games appropriate for families and children but games that don’t have the broad appeal or broad availability of the nominees. The SdJ recommended list consists of the following titles:
And the recommended list of games for children includes the following:
As mentioned earlier, the winners of the two awards will be announced on June 29, 2009. Congrats to all the nominees!
[From Nominees for the 2009 Spiel des Jahres & Kinderspiel des Jahres]
A lot of fans out there have been campaigning for genre superstar Nathan Fillion to fill the emerald boots of Green Lantern.
Well, Youtube wunderkind Jaron Pitts has taken one step further, with a truly awesome fan trailer, incorporating the Firefly alumnus as well as Kilowog, Tomar-Re, and the Guardians of Oa:
Now according to Pitts’ notes, he’s used clips from more than two dozen propertes, ranging from the Fountain to Iron Man to G.I. Joe, to make this awesome trailer. Talk about some awesome work, right? If you dig it, click the link above and rank him high!
[Link found at Loyal K*N*G]
[From Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern? Not as crazy as you’d think]
I’m stuck in the middle as far as this one is concerned. Once again, DC Comics is reaching out to their band of outcasts/misfits/freaks (just don’t call them MUTANTS!), The Doom Patrol. This time, writer Keith Giffen and artist Matthew Clark are taking a stab at the team that has proven difficult for many creative powers over the years. I’m inclined to give Giffen the benefit of the doubt, but so many have tried to twist this team around their collective fingers to no avail, it is certainly not an easy road he’s chosen to travel. On top of the many failures, anyone attempting a DP book has to contend with the ominous shadow of Grant Morrison looming over them, as Morrison’s take on the book can only be described as a masterwork.
So, here’s to the return of the Doom Patrol. May John Byrne never get near this book again.