Geek Stuff

So much stuff to catch up on. First up, GEEKTRESS launched weeks ago and I never posted to mention it. I suck. Go read. It's cool. Dane and Brenda have excellent recaps of Star Trek: the Original Series and Sarah Connor Chronicles respectively, and I highly recommend them. Dane's ST:TOS recaps especially. They are probably my favorite thing about the site.

Of course, Brenda, Rania and I are still doing the podcast thing. You can get the most recent episodes through the site too. If you listen to the podcast, and you like it, I highly encourage you to let us know. We are desperate for feedback. If you are so inclined, you can do so at PodOMatic , by email at comments[at]geektress.com, or by calling the voicemail number that Brenda gives in the podcast.

Speaking of podcasts, I have been listening to a bunch of comics ones, and I have fallen in love with Comic Book Queers. They are awesome and hilarious. And when I listened to their Jean vs. Emma podcast, I totally came out of it liking Emma. It only lasted until the next time I opened a comic book with her in it, but I am definitely more tolerant of her now. Considering my desperation for feedback, I should probably email them to tell them how much I love their podcast. Hmm...I'll look into that.

Comic Thoughts:

Uncanny X-Men: Schmoopy Scott and Emma kind of make me want to vomit, but aside from that, I'm digging what Brubaker is doing here. The Kurt/Piotr/Logan stuff is a hoot and the next issue looks like it is going to be trippy...and that's not just me using outdated slang like I am known to do. The art is gorgeous as well. Everyone looks smokin' hot. I wish there was another female carachter on the team though. Brubaker said Storm would be popping up now and then, so I guess that's something. Grrr...now I am even more pissed at Whedon for maybe, possibly killing Kitty off. I was totally serious in the podcast about never forgiving him. Never.

Buffy, Season 8: Issue #10 was like a sucker punch to the kidneys, and this one was just totally wow. I didn't even know I cared who was under that mask until that fake out (a perfectly Whedon moment, I might add). Damn you, Joss! I also think that Whedon is really finding his stride as far as scripting these characters for comics. In the first couple of issues, there was a problem with them not really sounding distinctive, which I chalked up to Whedon not being used to no being able to rely on actors to provide a unique voice, since it is not a problem he has on other comics. That's not a problem any more at all. Next up is a werewolf arc scripted by Godard. So cool! And I bet Oz will be back. Even better!

Nightwing: I have never read this comic before in my life, but I 100% approve of the character's new direction. As a matter of fact, the whole being the curator at the Cloisters thing is why I picked it up. (Well, that and seeing how beautifully Rags Morales renders NYC.) It may seem a bit improbable, but rich people pulling strings is pretty much how people get those jobs. I heartily approve of the new love interest too, since she's a history geek who is also a Mets fan. That's good people right there. Tomasi is also telling a pretty cool story in his first arc, but it's Dick's interaction with various members of the DCU, particularly Bruce Wayne, that has been the real treat so far. I am so loving this.

Manhunter: I just read Volume 4 and it was great. When is DC going to start publishing this book again? I was pretty content reading the trades, but I would be willing to switch to floppies just to support it. It is so good. Everyone run out and get the trades so DC will get the hint.

Birds of Prey: I'm pretty happy that Bedard is going to be the new writer on this title. His fill ins were great. I didn't hate McKeever's issues, and I'm sure given time, he would have improved, but Ii think Bedard is the right man for the job.

Trinity: Damn you DC for announcing a weekly comic I actually want to read. Bastards! This is so not going to be good for my wallet.

Spider-Man Family: According to the latest Lying in the Gutters, this title is going to become the place for married Spider-Man. This makes me happy. Not because I'm getting my Spider-Man back. He's still the ass who passive agressively forced his wife into doing the decision making on the Mephisto deal and then didn't say a word while she made some sort of side deal so that he could have a chance at happiness (jerk!). I miss Mary Jane. She's still awesome. I just hope they do it right. I have an idea in my head about what I want them to do with it, and I know I will be disappointed if they don't do it. Uhg! I am so going to be disappointed.

Spectacular Spider-Man: We've got episode descriptions for the premier episodes airing March 8th. It's nice that someone remembers Liz Allan.

That's it for now. I'll see you when I see you. Don't forget to visit Geektress.

Geeky Stuff I Bought This Weekend

In addition to the usual haul of comic books, I also got this stuff:

Awesome movie. I've seen it already, so I listened to 2 of the audio commentaries first. The only thing geekier than the Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg commentary is the Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino commentary. The Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg commentary talks about how Wright would direct Pegg to "Marvelize" his performance by exaggerating his eyebrows like a Ditko drawing and references Norman Osborne's widow's peak. I now have a crush on Edgar Wright.

Can you believe I did not have a copy of this on DVD? Clearly, my life was incomplete and that needed to be rectified.
I mostly bought this for Ollie, but the Ultra Humanite was an added bonus. I love him on JLU. The Supergirl figure is kind of lame though.

Isn't that the cutest little Cyclops you ever did see? I seem to be building up a collection of Cyclops figures. When I was looking for this picture, I found that there's a set with Wolverine and Phoenix. I have no interest in owning a Wolverine figure, but since they never seem to make Marvel Girl figures, I need the Phoenix one. It would make the perfect mascot for my car.

This is my favorite though:

She's so pretty. It was right above the Buffy comics in the shop and I just couldn't resist. Sometimes I think the guys at the comic book shop do that to me on purpose. I haven't decided whether or not to take her out of the box yet. (Yes, I do do that on occasion.)

Why "OMD" Makes No Fucking Sense

Apparently, the problem is that no one on the Marvel staff has seen the Gweneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors:

Close to two years ago at one of our creative summits, the seeds of that idea began to blossom. Those ideas were then taken and a two week long e-mail chain began where we started to throw around ideas until we got the story kind of where we wanted it to be. The guys involved in all of this from the beginning were Joe, Bendis, Millar, Loeb, Tom Brevoort, Axel Alonso and myself. It then all carried over to the next summit, at which Ed Brubaker and Dan Slott also had some stuff to add. It was at one of these summits that JMS said the methodology we were using was more akin to the movie "Sliding Doors" than "Back to the Future." Rather than a single incident not happening that causes a huge domino effect across the timeline, he explained it was more like one door that wasn't taken or opened that only changed the subtlest of things.

That's just not how I remember the movie at all. I'm pretty sure that the movie was about how one subtle little change to the timeline, like making it on one train instead of having to wait for the next, can have huge implications on your life, like ending up getting hit by a bus and dying, or not. And aside from the whole dead thing, everything in the two timelines was completely different. Also, that movie made sense. Really, I never would have thought that a writer's understanding of a fairly mediocre, though far better than "OMD," romantic melodrama would have such a huge effect on my superhero comics. Trippy.

This interview, part 2 of 5 with Quesada over at CBR, also reveals that I was totally right about them wanting to bring Gwen back. In a way I wish they had. It would have ensured this whole thing would get undone sooner rather than later.

Actually, bringing Gwen back might have made more sense, now that I think about it. It would have been like saying that it was the only way to ensure that Peter and MJ never got together was if Gwen hadn't died. Had Gwen not been dropped off a bridge, MJ wouldn't have been there to help him get over Gwen's death, and therefore would never have seen that there was more to MJ than just the ditzy party girl. (This would have also neatly stuck a pin in the idea that had Gwen lived, she and Peter would have lived happily ever after, which would have made me pretty happy and a lot of other readers I know.) It also would have opened up the potential for Norman Osborn never dying, thereby making it so Harry never went nuts, becoming the second Green Goblin, and ultimately dying from the serum. That means that it would make some amount of sense for Harry to have continued his druggie lifestyle, never marrying and having a son.

Instead, we inexplicably have a Harry Osborn who is a lush and has no wife, and apparently no child, both of which he obtained before Peter's marriage to MJ, and a bunch of friends who don't care enough about him to not let him drink when he has just come out of rehab. (Peter Parker: worst best friend ever!) Peter's also living with Aunt May, which he hasn't done since the early college years (aside from some brief periods where he and MJ were lacking in funds) and has his original webshooters back, both of which are also changes that had nothing to do with his marriage. And I still fail to see how either version does anything but negate 30 years of comic book history. Now I know what it must be like to be a life long Superman reader after each Crisis. It makes my head hurt. A lot. How does Superman retain any readers this way?

Also, in the interview, Quesada keeps mentioning the "science" that JMS wanted to use (which is apparently what necessitated all the rewrites), and I just really don't think that word means what he thinks it means. I am, however, willing to bet that JMS's version made sense, because while he has written some startlingly bad Spider-Man stories during his run, he has always written them well. Some ideas are just crap.

I would also like to point out that Quesada, for all the "the buck stops here" talk about the delays, spreads the blame for this story pretty widely around the Marvel offices, and I have subsequently lost some respect for Brubaker. I'm sure that will last until I read the issue of Captain America that came out on Friday. (Damn you, Brubaker, and your scary talent making it impossible to hold a grudge!) The fact that so many creators, albeit of varying levels of talent, talked about this for so long and it didn't occur to them that maybe the hero shouldn't be making deals with the devil just so he doesn't have to feel guilty, especially ones that amount to a mystical abortion, boggles the mind. I guess Marvel heroes can get by being good role models as long as they don't smoke. That's the important thing.

I wasn't going to post any more about "OMD," but now that I have opened the flood gates, more posts are sure to follow.