Scout Attacks! week 6: From Junkie to JLA Member

Ack! This week's reviews are really late. Sorry. They were done in pieces and then I just completely forgot to post them. Also, this week's post is really long because I have a lot of commentary at the end. And I still don't have a regular title for my weekly comic reviews, which really bugs me, but I am sure means nothing to you.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #2: Yay! Giles is back! And Willow! I think that was Andrew in there too, but the likeness wasn't good at all. It was only his geek-speak that gave him away. It's pretty clear that the season long arc is going to be the whole thing with the military and the "frown turned upside down and turned upside down again," as Xander called it in the last issue. Whedon totally got me with Buffy's dream sequence. I was all "Wait! What?! With Xander?!" Then Xander's head fell off and Buffy got attacked by a stone dragon and I was like, "Oh, OK." Still, I have to wonder if that all is going to end up meaning something eventually. Looks like Xander's got another girl interested in him though, which I called in the last issue. I just hope Anya doesn't get completely forgotten. I don't know how I feel about the whole "kiss of true love" thing, but I cannot wait for the showdown between Willow and Amy and the obvious cameos by Angel and Spike. (Will they fight over Buffy once again, or will the finally admit their feelings for eachother?) I'm also looking forward to seeing what Amy's boyfriend looks like. Oh, and zombies. Did I mention there are zombies now? Yeah, Buffy rocks!

52 Week 48: I miss Vic Sage. Renee Montoya is a cool character, but he was cooler. I honestly think they could have spun a mini series at least out of The Question and Renee Montoya teaming up in this series. They were really entertaining. Since The Question's death, Renee's become a lot less entertaining, and I have a feeling that people are just going to resent her. Anyway, she officially becomes The Question in this issue, as she finally gets the faceless mask thing going on. Nightwing fights a tentacle monster. It's a good issue, but everything that happens is a foregone conclusion. Also, Black Adam is still being tortured and now they're auctioning him off. the Birds of Prey origin was really good.

Detective Comics #831: I love Harley Quinn. I should just get that out of the way from the start. I especially love Dini writing Harley Quinn. She's his baby and he takes good care of her. She is awesome in this issue. I love that it showed off her zaniness, but also her intelligence. She's tough too, and despite all the bad things she has done, she's also inherently very sweet at heart. I also love how empowered and independent she's become. It's wonderful to see that despite being reformed and having a better grip on her sanity, Harley is still so joyful and childlike. Her big flip (and I mean the literal kind) when she gets released from Arkham is priceless. This issue also shows off one of the interesting things about Batman. For all his darkness and cynicism, he has a genuine belief in reform, or at least a genuine desire to believe in reform.

Justice League of America #7: So the League is finally formed and they have a Hall and a Satellite. I do hope that in a later issue we get a bit of narration that reads "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice." Also, there's an odd Danger Room reference. (DC allows that sort of thing?) Actually, all the pop culture references are a bit weird, but overall, I really liked this issue. It had a lot of nice character stuff. And I learned that I really like Roy. I like him a lot. His joy at getting invited to be part of the team was infectious, and it was sweet to see how proud Dinah, Ollie and Hal were of him, especially after the whole "My ward is a junkie!" thing. (I just really like that cover. Comedy gold.) However, Red Arrow is the dorkiest name ever. Why on earth would anyone give up a genuinely cool name like Arsenal in favor or Red Arrow? I'm also not a fan of how Meltzer is developing the relationship between Roy and Hawkgirl. It's so heavy handed, and has been since Roy first saw her and said "Pretty bird." (Even I, with my limited DC knowledge said to myself upon reading that, "So I guess they're going to hook up and be the new Green Arrow and Black Canary. Boring.") I also loved how Black Lightning kept asking if Bruce designed everything and kept getting told "no," because Batman shouldn't do everything. However, he should have given them the penny. Finally, I love Dinah being the new chair person, and the resons given for why she'd be perfect for it. I guess DC really meant it when they said that Black Canary was ready to be more high profile. At least their putting their money where their mouth is with one of their female characters.

Superman #661: This was a fun little stand alone, but certainly not anything crucial. I didn't necessarily feel like I wasted my money, but I wouldn't have felt like I missed out on anything had I not bought it. It was pure Silver Age, from the art to the dialogue, to the word balloons on the cover, so it was kind of interesting to see that they aren't just bringing Silver Age elements back to the DCU, but they're willing to tell Silver Age stories as well. That's cool, but it could easily be taken too far. I thought Khyrana was a villain with potential (and it looks like we might be seeing her again) and I liked the interaction between all the characters.

Superman Confidential #4: I'm getting to this a week late, but it's still worth mentioning. I originally picked up this series purely for Tim Sale's art, which is absolutely gorgeous, but I am loving the story too. Darwyn Cooke writes these characters so well, and the concept continues to intrigue me. Most of the action in this issue centers around Superman getting his ass kicked, but it's all good because it's his first exposure to Kryptonite, even though no one knows that he's being exposed to Kryptonite yet. There's a lot of intrigue with Lex as well, which is cool. I can't wait to find out what the deal is with this sentient Kryptonite is. As for the last page, my money is on robot.

Runaways #25: It's obvious that, as great as Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan are, the change over from Vaughn and Alphona is going to be hard to adjust to. Everything is just slightly off. the characters' voices aren't exactly the same. This has to be what it was like to read the first Gerry Conway issue of Amazing Spider-Man after 100+ issues of Stan Lee, only maybe moreso, because as brilliant as Stan Lee was, Vaughn wrote his characters with a lot more consistency than Lee ever did. (It was easier for Vaughn, since he wrote a lot fewer issues and a lot fewer characters in general.) This is still a very good read though, and I am very excited for the next issue. There's some interesting conflict between the Runaways; Xavin continues to work his/her way into my heart; and Molly and Chase continue to be the best ever. However, since I work in lower Manhattan, I was completely distracted by the building they were breaking into and the surrounding area. I'm not entirely certain that the building they are standing on, when they are looking across at the building they are going to break into, is finished being built. Oh well, that's my nitpicky little complaint. Overall, despite some minor problems, I think this arc is going to rock, and I am excited to see how much trouble the Runaways get themselves into.

That's all for the reviews, now for a little rant. Here's a little something from Newsarama's latest New Joe Fridays:

Q: Mundungus 03-30-2007 01:34 AM

If Wilson Fisk is currently permanently expelled from U.S. soil according to the recent Daredevil arc, how is he operating as the Kingpin in the recent Runaways preview? I'll assume Runaways now takes place post-Civil War, so I'm a little befuddled by this. Especially if the Hood is soon to be taking a rise to power. Did someone not give Whedon the memo?

JQ: Joss definitely got the memo, Mundungus...and read it. Runaways is post-Civil War and in continuity. We talked it all over with Brubaker (who is a gentleman, a scholar and Kristin Bell’s #1 fantasy) and he was cool with it.

Here's how it works: just because you quit something doesn't mean that you're easily extricated from it. He's in NY wrapping up some loose ends that he had to deal with. It's only temporary. You'll see a reference to current DaredevilL continuity in Runaways #26. The Runaways have been on the run during the whole "Fisk in prison" stuff and contacted him through channels set up when their parents were in charge of the LA criminal underground. A lot of this will become clearer as the story goes on, true believer.

Fair enough. There's no point in complaining until after seeing whether it's adequately explained, although I can't help but think that this is where those editor's notes that used to be so prominent in comic books would come in handy. I've seen a few lately, like in a recent issue of Amazing Spider-Man, but I don't think it would kill them to put in a few more here and there as long as they don't go crazy and try and explain away everything in those little boxes. But like I said, fair enough. However, this is completely unacceptable:

Q: Spidey616 04-01-2007 12:34 AM

Hey Joe. As much as I love Brian Michael Bendis' take on the Avengers, especially with the first issues of this team division, I just have to say one criticism for New Avengers #28. With Spidey going "Back in Black" to reflect his new dark mindset, this character development seemed inconsistent with how Bendis portrayed Spider-Man, cracking jokes and being as loveable as he ever was. Juxtaposed with ASM #539, Spidey's breaking arms and bodies and not caring whether or not he kills someone. So what I'm trying to ask is if we'll be seeing more consistency with the character, and is this just the tip of the iceberg of Spidey's darker image?

JQ: Okay, to the source one more time!

Brian Bendis: JMS and I have always written different takes on the character. JMS has been putting him through the emotional wringer ever since I was able to get him on the Avengers. In JMS' stories there hasn't been as many opportunities for Spidey to be trash-talking fun loving web-head, those stories demand a more serious focus.

But in Avengers, being the perpetual loner finally on a team, with the group dynamic the way it is, there is more room for Spidey to be that Spidey. I know some think I think I'm writing Ultimate Spider-Man in the Avengers, but I'm just writing Spidey as the neurotic, trash talking, genuinely, funny, hopeful, web-head he is.

Once again I have to ask myself what the hell the editors at Marvel do that this sort of character inconsistency is considered OK. During previous Spider-Man storylines, like "The Other," I appreciated Bendis' take on the character in New Avengers precisely because it allowed for the character's humor to shine through and was a bit of a respite from the gloom and doom of Spidey's main title. However, it was obvious during those other story arcs that whatever was happening in New Avengers was not happening concurrently with the events of the various Spider-Man titles. Here, it is obvious that the issues Spidey is facing in his regular titles are very much still a reality for him in New Avengers. Simply put, if he is wearing his black costume because of what happened to Aunt May, and he is wearing the black costume in New Avengers, then Aunt May must still be in a coma and Spider-Man should absolutely not be behaving in the manner that Bendis is depicting him. Hell, I would argue he shouldn't even be wasting his time with the Avengers. If Marvel insists on producing such interconnected stories and having the same characters appear in every title, then there needs to be consistency between how the characters are depicted in the various titles, regardless of the writer of any given title's personal take on the character. If there isn't, than anything that happens to the character is largely meaningless since it won't be reflected across the board, thereby rendering the interconnectedness of the titles pointless. Now I have to seriously consider dropping New Avengers, despite the fact that, aside from the Spidey depiction, I am enjoying it quite a bit and it's the only place to get Luke Cage.

In a final bit of...well, it's not really ranting here, but whatever...the award for complete non-answer goes to JMS, for this:

Q: freedom fry 03-30-2007 09:47 PM

I have a question about Amazing Spider-Man #539. The issue states that Peter gave up the black costume because it represented a dark time in his life. And he didn't like the message it sent. Reading Amazing Spider-Man #300, I understood Peter to give up the black suit because Mary Jane was hurt by Venom and she was scared to see Peter in the same suit. Will this be addressed in coming issues of Amazing?

JQ: Let’s go to the source!

J. Michael Straczynski: Precisely, which is why I'm being careful in the writing to make sure she either never sees the black suit, or sees it only rarely. It's meant to intimidate others, not her, so he's being discreet about it. If that whole period didn't represent a dark time in Spidey's life, I can't imagine what would.

That's great, JMS! I appreciate that you're writing Peter as taking his wife's feelings into consideration. I really do, and I certainly hope that this means that you won't be using the black costume as a petty excuse to break Peter and MJ up (I can accept a break up if it's based on legitimate reasons, and that just wouldn't be, and frankly, at this point, you're going to have a pretty damn hard time coming up with one), but that doesn't have anything to do with the question asked. In Amazing Spider-Man #300, one reason is given for Peter giving up the black costume. In Amazing Spider-Man #539, a different reason is given. So what gives? I seriously have no idea why they bother with these sorts of questions if they aren't actually going to answer them. At least say, "I was trying to make the whole return of the black costume more plausible and less movie tie-in gimmicky. Changing some stuff was the best I could do. Sorry to those of you who didn't like it." That's an answer I could respect.

OK, finally we hit the good news portion of my weekly comic reviews post, though this one deffinitely falls more into good news/bad news. Aanyway, it was announced in the most recent DC Nation column that Sean McKeever will be taking over for Gail Simone on Birds of Prey. Now, that's potentially some very bad news, because Gail Simone is doing wonderful things on that title. However, it's good news for two reasons. The first is that, like Simone herself, I am optimistic that McKeever will be a good fit for the title because he can write women well. The second reason is that this news, along with Simone's comments that she was leaving BoP to work on her dream project, adds further credence to the rumors that she will be the new writer on Wonder Woman after Picoult, which is awesome because Wondy needs her. It is a shame that comics first all female writer/artist creative team is being broken up so soon though.

Happy Easter!

And in honor of the holiday...

Scout Attacks! week 5: Take That, Joe Quesada!

This is yet another week without that guy. You know which one, that guy I don't want to name, because then it wouldn't be a week without him. As a matter of fact, I didn't buy a single Marvel comic this week (hence this week's title). Unfortunately, I completely forgot to buy Superman Confidential. I inadvertently deprived myself of Tim Sale art. What was I thinking?

52 Week 47: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake and Diana not yet Prince all find themselves in Nanda Parbat this week. Apparently Bruce got his demons cut out of him and it didn't work out too well...or something. I'm not sure I really get it. Then there's a lot of stuff with Manheim trying to kill Batwoman again. I am so not interested in that. I don't think Batwoman has a personality beyond lip stick lesbian. And Nightwing's crush, or whatever, on her is just silly. It's just like, "Oooo...red head in a Bat costume. Me like." At the end of the issue, Wonder Woman learns that making mistakes is normal and human and that it has given her wisdom. On the last page, Bruce Wayne smiles. It's weird and I don't like it. The smiling, that is. The issue itself is OK, but not anything really special.

Action Comics #847: This is a fill in issue, but it's a pretty darn good one. It's a nice little story that illustrates just how heroic Superman actually is. Dwayne McDuffie does a great job of bringing emotion and meaning to what is essentially a meaningless little one-off story. The art helped a lot. Renato Guedes does some really beautiful things in this issue. The star drive on Superman's spaceship is gorgeous, and I absolutely love the way he draws Superman. I was going to comment on the colorist too, which I never do, but then I notice that that was Guedes too. Basically, if all this issue was was really pretty, I think it would have been worth picking up. I always welcome the pretty pictures. There's a decent story here too though, and McDuffie writes these characters really well.

Batman #664: This issue picks up right after Batman defeated all those ninja man bats and all that stuff with his son. It would have been a lot better if I remembered that stuff. There's a whole lot of stuff with murdered prostitutes and possible police corruption involved in that. Plus there's a really huge dressed up like Batman who beats the crap the real Batman and a lot of call backs to the cop from Morrison and Kubert's first issue who shot the Joker in the head while dressed as Batman. It's all kind of crazy, and no necessarily in the good, ninja man bat sort of way. It's interesting though and I'm looking forward to seeing where all this goes. There's some fun stuff too. I enjoyed Bruce Wayne's entire date with Jezebel, especially when he threw his ski pole at the paparazzi helicopter. The whole dead parents exchange at dinner was pretty random though, and Bruce saying "I got over it" may be the most unintentionally funny line of the week. Sure you did, Bruce. Equally random was Batman talking to the hookers when he was back in Gotham, but random in a good way. Apparently, he knows them all by name, and I would like to point out that that technically wasn't a "no" he gave the one who offered him a freebie, so much as a "not now."

The Brave and the Bold #1 and 2: I always want to call this title The Bold and the Beautiful. Anyway, I didn't buy this title at first, but I finally gave in to peer pressure and all the positive buzz. I'm glad I did. It's just good, old fashioned superheroing, and a lot of fun. That's something we haven't been getting too much of recently, and I'm always happy to see it. Some of the stuff in issue #2 between Green Lantern and Supergirl was a bit icky, but at least Kara came off less slutty and more like a normal teenager who has an inappropriate crush on an older guy. We've all been there. And points to the amazing George Perez for being able to make Kara look more adorable than slutty, despite the fact that she's still wearing that awful costume. I also like how the one team up flows into the next. I can't wait to see Batman and Blue Beetle. I don't know anything about Blue Beetle, but from the little bit we got of them together in #2, it looks like it should be interesting. I assume that in the next issue, we will also see who is going to be teaming up with Supergirl in issue #4. Someone's going to have to come and help her out, after all. I'm also really intrigued with this book that they're after. It seems like it might have something to do with the Crime Bible from 52. Good stuff.

Fables #59: Honestly, this issue just kind of bored me. I didn't really care about any of these questions, and as far as vignettes go, the little character stories featured at the end of the issues during the arc before the one with Bigby, Snow and the cubs (sorry I can't remember the name, and I'm too lazy to look it up) were much better. I would have preferred to see an entire issue of stories like that. I think the next arc is going to be about Fly Catcher. I'm looking forward to that.

Wonder Woman #6: Uhg. I grow more and more convinced that the editors at DC and Marvel do absolutely nothing. Over at Marvel, we have all the inconsistencies at the end of "Civil War," in addition the total inaccuracies over in Amazing Spider-Man (Aunt May's maiden name being Fitzgerald (poor Ben Reilly is totally forgotten by them, isn't he?) and Peter giving up the black costume because "it sent the wrong message" instead of because his wife begged him to), and here we get a Diana that bares absolutely no resemblance to the one we saw during Heinberg's run. Is this because Picoult is a best selling novelist and they don't want to criticize her work? I can't help but think it's just going to backfire horribly.

Anyway, I'm a fan of the return of Diana Prince. All that goddess stuff is what has always kept me away from Wonder Woman, but instead of focusing on the actual issues of identity, and the challenges of creating a persona separate from Wonder Woman while remaining true to herself, Picoult chose to focus on lame fish out of water gags that weren't funny and managed to make Diana look like an idiot. She even inadvertently managed to make Batman look stupid here, since in issue #2 we learned that he set up Diana's new identity and got her the job at Metahuman Affairs, yet here we learn that she has a blank resume and no credit cards. How do you set up a new identity without providing a background and credit history? Batman would think of those things. Hell, Diana would think of those things. The crying was really bad too. Would Batman or Superman cry because people don't like them or they're having a bad day? Well, Superman might (I've seen that guy cry because Batman wouldn't talk to him), but Batman wouldn't and neither should Wonder Woman. She's a freakin' Amazon. Let's have a little stoicism. Also, writers of all mediums need to stop using the Starbucks has weird names for its drink sizes joke. If you go into a Starbucks and order a small coffee, they will give you the equivalent of a small coffee and inform you that it's called a tall Americano. It's that easy.

Also, what is up with Nemesis? He's acting really whiny, not to mention like a total Wonder Woman fanboy. All the "you suck, I wish I could hang out with Wonder Woman" crap is just annoying. He reminds me of bad Lois Lane characterizations, or Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series, which is probably the point. It was fun there though, because at least there we got a sort of tongue in cheek acknowledgment that he was an idiot. Possibly the most annoying thing about this issue was Diana's repetitive inner monologue though. Does Picoult think comic book readers are idiots? Considering she has said in numerous interviews that her son is an avid comic book reader, and that she went to college with Jim Lee and is friends with him, one would think she would know better. Then again, I don't know her son, and Jim Lee is under the delusion that Frank Miller's writing is still good, so maybe she doesn't have any reason to know better. There were some OK moments, but they're not even worth a mention. I'll keep reading though, at least for now.

In addition to being another week without that guy, this is also another week where I have no happy comic book news to wrap things up with. What's up with that? However, we can all be happy about the fact that this Wednesday we are getting not one, but two Joss Whedon scripted comic books. It is going to be LEGENDARY!

On a final note, I'm trying to come up with a title for my weekly comic book reviews that I can use every week, instead of just giving it a random title, though I will still probably give it a subtitle of some sort related specifically to that week's comics. I want it to be something cool and fun though. Any suggestions?

Can We Please Rethink All These Remakes?

According to this Dark Horizons article (which I found via Kryptonsite), there is a new, and rather horrifying, addition to the ever growing ranks of 80s films. Apparently the youth of the 21st Century simply could not survive without a version of Teen Wolf to call their very own.

That's right. They're remaking Teen Wolf.

I'm not even that pissed about this. I just don't get it, and I don't get it on a lot of levels. As much as I loved the movie as a child - a love supported entirely by the universal appeal Michael J. Fox had to all little girls and the typical lack of taste associated with my age at the time and the decade - it's not a very good movie. It's actually a pretty bad movie. It's certainly a bad werewolf movie. He doesn't even kill anyone.

Now, I have long said that the best remakes are the ones that take movies with good ideas and bad executions, and do them better. The 2001 version of Ocean's 11 is a prime example of a great remake. The original film, could have been good, but aside from having the coolest cast ever (I'm talking the entire Rat Pack and then some), it has nothing much to offer. I don't even think I've ever been able to sit through the whole thing. The remake, on the other hand, has an equally high profile, if far less cool, cast, plus a fun and exciting script and a director at the top of his form. (I always find it ironic that the 2001 Ocean's 11 is what I always use as an example of a remake that should be made, while Ocean's 12 is always one of my examples of sequels that should never have been made.) Well, I would agree that Teen Wolf had a poor execution, but I'm not even sure it was a good idea. Even if it was a good idea, it's certainly not an original idea.

In case you don't remember, I'll give you a rundown of what Teen Wolf was about:

• Awkward and unpopular teen develops an ability that suddenly makes him popular
• Teen lets sudden popularity go to his head
• Teen becomes a total jerk and neglects his true friends for his current gang of hanger ons
• Teen learns valuable lessen, fights bully, reconnects with dorky unpopular friends and ditches his hot and popular girlfriend for the the cute and loyal best friend who has always had a crush on him.

I saw the 2000s' version of this movie. It's called Sky High, and it's actually really good. You should rent it. Not being a teenager anymore, I don't watch as many teen movies as I used to, but I'm willing to bet Sky High is the only movie from this generation with that exact same plot either. So why exactly do we need a remake of Teen Wolf? What exactly could be the appeal of such a movie in light of the fact that there are so many others like it?

Oh right, the Teen Wolf remake is going to be about a girl. That makes all the difference. I hope it stars Amanda Bynes, because I just don't think anyone else could pull of such a unique role. Except for maybe Hilary Duff, or Ashlee Simpson. It's deffinitely time for her to make her big screen debut. She might have trouble grasping the concept of ADR though, since it's pretty much the opposite of lipsynching.

It just seems to me that if they really wanted to do yet another variation on this theme, they could have done it without remaking yet another mediocre 80s film. Is everyone in Hollywood so creatively bankrupt that they couldn't come up with a different ability for this girl to develop? Couldn't she become psychic or turn into a gazelle or anything other than becoming a werewolf (or a witch, because that's been done too). I have to admit though, considering how much hair removal is associated with a girl's coming of age, the idea of a teenage girl that becomes popular because of some rather extreme hair growth amuses me to no end. Time to throw out those pink razors, girls.

On a sidenote, poor Tom Welling. Is he doomed to a film career that consists entirely of crappy remakes? That's too bad. Surely anyone who can manage to make Smallville's version of Clark Kent even remotely likeable (and Tom Welling's really had his work cut out for him the past couple of weeks) deserves better than this? He's not even the star of this one. Oh God, and I certainly hope they aren't going to try and pass him off as a teen. The nineteen or twenty he's supposed to be on Smallville is ridiculous enough. Seeing him in a high school would be enough to produce giggle fits.

Edited to add that it appears that the Tom Welling connection is just one of those vicious internet rumors. I'm relieved.

The Name's Plissken!

So, it's announced a while ago that a remake of Escape from New York is going to be made with 300's Gerard Butler as Snake Pliskin. Well, now I've found this Q&A with Kurt Russell on EW.com. Basically, Kurt's not happy about it, which I would normally dismiss as an overly developed sense of entitlement, and that's exactly what a lot of his comments are. After all, everyone's movies are getting remade. Why should his roles be sacred? And is he actually getting pissy over the fact that The Thing is being remade? The version of The Thing he was in was a remake. So yeah, get over yourself Kurt Russell. But also, you're absolutely right Kurt Russell.

That doesn't make much sense. Does it? Let me explain.

I don't really think that actors have much of a right to complain about their movies being remade. I certainly don't think that a guy who stared in the remake of The Poseiden Adventure has a right to complain about it. I think it sucks that so many remakes are being made, but if Hollywood will let Gus Van Sant do a crappy remake of Psycho, then I hardly think the works of John Carpenter should be off limits. However, certain roles simply cannot be recreated. Do you really think that any other actor could fill the shoes of Harrison Ford as Han Solo or Indiana Jones? And I know I would have absolutely no interest in the Evil Dead remake if we had not already been assured that there will be no character named Ash. Now, Kurt Russell is no Bruce Campbell, but he's absolutely right in that he is Snake Plisken. I love Gerard Butler - he's sexy and cool and talented and totally reminds me of Sean Connery - but, as hot as he might look in an eye patch, I am not going to see that movie. I'll wait until someone casts him in a remake of Outland or Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

Although, if the movie turns out to be really awesome, like the Dawn of the Dead remake that I refused to see and then saw and it was awesome, I will completely reverse my opinion on this.

So, what characters do you think couldn't possibly be recreated by different actors?

Scout Attacks! week 4: Hells Bells

This week's comic book post is 100% free of that guy who you know I don't like but whose name I won't mention because then this post wouldn't be 100% free of him.

52 Week 46: Mad scientists are fun, and whoever came up with the excellent idea of putting them all on an island should be given a raise or something. I have to assume that the writers are going somewhere with Veronica at this point, since Black Adam completely over looked her and she just wandered off. Considering the population of the island, the DCU could probably use a cool, femal mad scientist. It was also pretty sweet the way Morrow spent the whole issue bidding on-line and then took out Black Adam by himself, with a remote control. I feel bad for Black Adam though. I'm still rooting for him to kill 'em all. Also, Lex obviously just established reasonable doubt right before his arrest, which I think explains how he was found not guilty at the beginning of the "Up, Up and Away" Superman arc.

Birds of Prey #104: This was seriously fun. I think I'm going to have to get the Villains United and Secret Six trades. I'm really loving Barda too. The Huntress and Catman interaction was great too. I'm looking forward to more of that. When the first issue in an arc includes licking and meatball throwing, you just know things are going to be wild. The last page was apparently pretty major, but since I am new to the DCU, I have no clue about any of that. Someone's not dead any more, which is nice for her fans, and bad for people who hate it when comics bring people back to life. I just like good stories and characters. I wish I knew who the guy on the motorcycle was too. As much as I love this title, somethimes I get confused because I don't know the characters, but things tend to clear up pretty quickly, so I'm not bothered by it.

Detective Comics #830: I had completely forgotten that this was going to be the continuation of the story in #829 and not a Dini story. That probably says something right there. It was entertaining enough, but I would really like it if writers, and not just comic book writers but all writers, would just stop wrapping up their lame politically topical stories with trite lessons on how we should all just get along. Anyway, Batman saves the day, the Mad Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight falls to his death and cliched lessons that were taught better by Sesame Street ensue. Cool cover though. Next issue, we get Dini back, and he's bringing Harley Quinn with him. I knew he wouldn't have been able to do the entire run without her.

X-Men First Class #7: Man I love this book. Even this issue, which was probably my least favorite of them all, just put a huge smile on my face. I think this may have been the first issue that directly references events from the early comics, which is cool. Another nice touch was how every time anyone mentioned The Brotherhood of Mutants, Bobby would interject "Evil" at just the right point. As for the plot, it centers around Angel and Scarlet Witch and their ill fated romance, or rather ill conceived, since they are very obviously wrong for eachother. Anyone could tell you that a rich boy, like Warren, and an orphaned gypsy with a domineering brother, like Wanda, just aren't going to work out long term. Their both really pretty though, so their pairing makes perfect sense in that teenage sort of way. It's cute, but of course Pietro does not approve and a certain amount of chaos ensues and a playground gets destroyed. It's all OK in the end though, because Bobby saves the day by with snow and ice slides for everyone to play with. More comics should end like that.

Amazing Spider-Man #539: This is the book I've been waiting a long time for, as there's been so much hype for the return of the black costume being more than just a gimmick even though he's been wearing the black costume in all his other titles and nothing has changed in how Spider-Man is being written. Let me just say from the start that it is just a gimmick, and there are a few key points that make that so completely clear. There's just no way I can buy Peter simply hiding his black costume at the top of a building, and even if I could, I certainly cannot buy it being held there by his webbing for so long. That stuff only lasts for a couple of hours before it dissolves. Did Peter make special long-lasting web fluid just to stick the costume up there? It's just too huge a contrivance. As contrivances go though, it's pretty damn effective. I may not be able to buy the set up that allowed for Peter to put the black costume back on, but I certainly believe the motivation for it. That's the important thing though, and it's what is going to make this storyline work. Reading this issue, I was reminded of why I do really like Straczynski writing Spider-Man. While some of his stories have been downright terrible, and many are just forgettable, he just really gets this character. I think the only time I had a huge problem with his characterization was during the whole debate over whether to unmask or not, and that was mostly just because Gwen Stacy did not come up once. This is much more of the Peter I was expecting to see after Aunt May got shot. (Now we just have to get all the other writers to stop writing him as if nothing has happened.) I think Garney's art was especially good in this issue too. I love the cover, and I'm not even really a big fan of the black costume. (I'm a traditionalist.) The one thing I don't get is how they could name this whole event after an AC/DC song. Is that really a good way to get taken seriously? I wouldn't think so, but I figured I'd give it a try too.

That's all for this week. I don't have any happy news to finish up with this week, but I bought Justice League Unlimited season 2 and Batman Beyond season 3 on DVD today and finally got to see 300 today, so I'm pretty happy.

Scout Attacks! week 3: Iron Isn't Just His Suit, It's His Cross

Please tell me I don't have to explain that title. Sorry the reviews are late this time around, but I was doing other stuff. Also, I had to write them over the course of two nights.

Superman #660: I could have done without this issue. It was entertaining enough, but I certainly wouldn't have missed it if I had...uh...missed it. I didn't really like the art either. Also, the page where the Prankster dumped the money all over the city with his picture on it reminded me of the 1989 Batman movie. "I want my face on the $1 bill."

New Avengers #28: Luke Cage is awesome. Jessica Jones is even awesomer (it's totally a word). Even Wolverine knows this to be true. Speaking of whom, why is he even there? He's a mutant. This whole Registration Act thing doesn't apply to him. Dr. Strange is OK, but not nearly as awesome as he is in Brian K. Vaughn's Dr. Strange: the Oath. Spider-Woman is, sadly, kind of dumb in this issue, but I guess I can't blame her for wanting to believe her best friend. The pro-Regs pull the most despicable stunt to capture the New Avengers in this issue. Really. Explain to me how they are not evil. Also, the whole flashback to explain how they got out of America is still leaving a lot of questions unanswered. How did the New Avengers end up hanging out at Dr. Strange's house? How and why did Jessica Jones and the baby get back from Canada? Can someone explain to me, a person who is completely unfamiliar with Iron Fist, if this guy has a distinct personality? He traditionally hangs with Luke Cage, right? That means he has to be cool, but I'm not getting any sense of who he is here. Another problem is that despite the fact that black isn't just supposed to be Spider-Man's costume, it's his mood, he's being written exactly the same. I feel like he should be more angry. I don't mind the humor, because he's Spidey and he's going to mask the pain with humor. It's what he does, but I feel like that sense of anger should be coming across too. Also, where's MJ? I suppose she might be sitting at Aunt May's bedside (it would certainly be nice if someone were), but she's just as likely to get arrested as Peter is, if only as a way to get to Peter. I still think it would have been way better if, instead of this whole Aunt May getting shot thing, they did a story where Peter sent Aunt May and MJ to Canada to hang out with Jessica and the baby. I would have totally bought that Civil War tie-in mini series. It would have been like the Odd Couple, except with hot chicks instead of Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, a stern but loving Aunt character, and a baby. Hell, they should pitch that to NBC for a fall 2007 sit-com. My last little gripe is that, while I really like Leinil Yu's art, all his women look exactly the same. It doesn't help that three of them even have the same hair color. I think that an artists ability to draw distinctive looking women should be taken into account when choosing one for a team book, but then I guess Marvel would have to find new artists for both their Avengers titles.

52 Week 45: How pimpin' is that cover? JG Jones rocks! Is it just me, or does Bruno Manheim look like Josef Stalin? I should have scanned a picture and included it here, but I'm far too lazy. Just trust me. He looks like Josef Stalin. That just makes me think of the Josef Stalin from "The Tick vs. Arthur's Bank Account. "THUMBS UP FOR EVIL!" I hope at the end of 52, Manheim runs off with Tuun-La. This hasn't really been a review of the comic, has it? Oh well. I still say "Kill 'em all, Black Adam!"

Fables #28: I think this may have been one of my least favorite issues of Fables ever, not that that really means much, since I still really enjoyed it. It's just a bit underwhelming after that last, absolutely stellar, story arc. Also, sometimes I just feel like Bigby suffers a bit too much from Wolverine Syndrome. He's getting to be too cool. Too unbeatable. I think it's time for him to get his ass kicked, just so the readers don't get too secure in his supremacy at everything. I also think it's time for Snow to do something other than worry about Bigby and/or her cubs. (What? That's what they are.)

Wonder Woman #5: While I'm still pissed about how all the delays have screwed this book over, and that we're not getting the final part of the Heinberg/Dodson story, I'm really glad DCU manned up and gave us something here. I enjoyed the story quite a bit too. I know they're a comic book cliche, but I always enjoy stories about how a superhero can make a difference not just through their actions, but also through the example they set for others. If we are supposed to believe these characters are inspirational figures, then every once in a while that idea needs to be reaffirmed by actually showing them inspiring others. I loved seeing how Diana empowered those women. I'm a bit confused by the ending, since this was supposed to be a one-shot fill in story, but I like the moral complexity of the stories they are telling in this series. And we still got a Dodson cover, despite the fact that they didn't do the interior art. It's gorgeous.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #1: I'm going to try and post something a bit more in depth about this, so for now I will just leave it with my one word review: AWESOME!

Did you expect it to be anything else?

Civil War: The Confession: And now we return to the continuing adventures of Iron Fascist... I know I said I didn't want to ever buy another comic with him in it again, but I saw the preview pages for this and I wanted to see Captain America bitch him out. It made me very happy. Cap's characterization here was a bit too Ultimized, but I don't mind. Iron Fascist was being a total asshole. I do have to admit though, that when Bendis writes Tony Stark, I like him a lot more than in any of the other characterizations I have read during this whole thing. He's still the bad guy, but he's a sympathetic bad guy, like the way some authors write Magneto. He's wrong, but I get why he's doing it, and I can sympathize with what he must be feeling about this whole thing. (It's a good thing I read this before New Avengers though, because what him and the rest of the pro-Regs did in that issue really killed my sympathy.) Still, I'm sure the fact that Tony didn't take a drink through this whole thing would have been cold comfort to Cap, y'know, if Tony had mentioned it to Cap when he was alive. Something that did bother me was Iron Fascist's reiteration of Joe Quesada's standard party line that he knew he'd be the bad guy because everyone roots for the underdog. That's not why I think he's the bad guy. It's the Machiavellian tactics that make him the bad guy. Last I checked, heroes don't normally believe that the ends justify the means, and Tony admitting that it wasn't worth it now is completely meaningless unless he does something to make it right.

OK, as I do every week, I'd like to end on a positive note. X-Men First Class is going monthly in June! Believe it or not, this mini series has been my favorite X-book for the last few months. It's fun and refreshing, and it shows how wonderful those original characters were before crappy storylines ruined them. Jeff Parker won my heart when I read this article, where he said, "And frankly I want to show that Scott Summers is not a dick." (I know he's not a dick, Jeff, mostly because I pretend the Morrison run never happened. I'm pretty good at it too, until I see that Beast looks like a cat. Stupid Morrison!) Best of all, it has Marvel Girl! I miss Jean so much.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I'm not Irish, and I'm not even particularly fond of St. Patrick's Day, but I simply cannot let the day pass without watching The Quiet Man. Every time I watch it, I long to visit the Emerald Isle. It's one of my favorite films of all time, and in my opinion, it's probably the best performance that John Wayne ever gave. There's so much subtlety to it, and Shawn Thornton so completely different from any other character he ever played. It's also one of John Ford's finest films, which is saying a lot, since he has to be one of the greatest directors of all time. Maureen O'Hara is wonderful too - beautiful and strong. I think I like the supporting characters the best though. Whether they be yelling like Protestants or giving Shawn a branch to beat his wife with, they're all so funny and interesting, they make me wish I lived in Inishfree. Most importantly though, it features the best fight scene in film history:

Scout Attacks! week 2: Just Because I Haven't Read It, Doesn't Mean I Don't Have an Opinion On It

It's that time of the week again, comic book reviews from my pull list. YAY! You're excited right? And after that, I've got some assorted other comments. It was a light week. So, let's get to it. I'll start with the big one...

Captain America #25: OK, so I didn't actually read this one. My comic book shop was sold out by the time I got there. I tried to avoid spoilers until I was able to get my hands on a copy, but that proved impossible. This is why I hate when comic book stuff gets mainstream media attention. All those people who give me weird looks on the train for reading comics start thinking that something is going to be worth money and they buy up my damn comic books and plaster the events all over CNN.com. Look people, he's coming back. Still, I'm going to go on record as saying it sucks. I know what you're going for Marvel. Death of liberty, blah, blah, blah. I know I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. This is not why I read superhero comics!

Mighty Avengers #1: I didn't read this one either. I was going back and forth on buying it. I really wanted to see the return of thought bubbles. Honestly. That was why I wanted to read it. I think thought bubbles are cool. If I ever write a comic book, it's going to have thought bubbles. Finally, after deciding that I was in fact going to buy it, after reading several good reviews, I was about to pick it off the rack and then I saw Iron Man. I don't think I will ever be able to read a comic with that guy in it again.

Justice League of America #6: Wow! It's hard to believe it's been six issues already. Let me rephrase that. It's hard to believe that so little actually happened in this whole six issue story line. What were there? Three issues of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman sitting around a table gossiping about the other superheroes? It's not so much that I didn't enjoy it the storyline. I did. I just think it could have been told in three issues. As it is, for everything that happened, everything's back at zero, so the whole thing seemed kind of pointless anyway. I really felt sorry for Red Tornado though, so he at least has earned my good will for a while. I'm still not sold on the other characters, especially Vixen. She lost me in the first when she walked into a trap because The Question sent her a note and she though he wanted a date. That was just dumb. Since then she has mostly just confused me. I did appreciate that there was less of the characters calling eachother by their first names in this issue, but I think that was more for lack of characters actually addressing eachother. I wish Meltzer would cut back on the narration also. I hope he doesn't do that in his Buffy Season 8 storyline. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm fairly neutral on this book. I'll keep reading in the hopes for more cool Black Canary stuff.

Detective Comics #829: How come the fill in writer gets to break the stand alone story rule? Or did I miss something and did Dini finish his run? Anyway, this wasn't that great. I can't help but feel that stories like this are a bit misguided. It was OK though. The pacing was good and the tension pretty high. It was nice to know the context for Simone Bianchi's cover. Liquid explosives. Right. I never would have guessed that. It looks kind of...pornographic. Eh, that's pretty much the most interesting thing about this issue.

52 week 44: Page two and there's the half eaten corpse of the cripple kid. Nice. Then there's some really cool action. Well, first Sobek turns out to be one of those villains who won't shut up. Fortunately, Black Adam kills him. (were we supposed to feel bad for him when we saw the pain induced fear? Sense his humanity and therefore the wrongness of Black Adam killing him? Didn't work.) Then there's some really cool action. Black Adam takes out the Four Horsemen of Apokalips, but not before Isis gets taken out by Pestilence. I knew that was going to happen eventually, but I'm still disappointed. I really liked Isis. Anyway, before she dies, Isis reverses her anti-killing stance and tells Black Adam to avenge her and Osiris. Personally, I'm not one of those people who think that superheroes should be allowed to kill people, but when the bad guys are forming a crime based religion and are capable of starving out an entire country, then they go and kill Black Adam's newfound family, it's rather hard to argue against it. I'm totally on Black Adam's side in the upcoming World War III thing. I probably won't read it, but I'm still pulling for him. Kill 'em all, I say. Also, Rene Montoya gets handed The question mantle, but that's a foregone conclusion and not very interesting. Another amazing cover by JG Jones too. That's always worth pointing out.

I found this, which expresses something that I felt pretty strongly about from Civil War #7. I would just add that, coming after Tony Stark telling Maria Hill to get him coffee, I didn't take kindly to him calling (I can never remember this character's name) the mother of the kid who died at Stanford "sweetheart." It's jarring too, since it does seem so blatantly out of character for Tony. That doesn't make me hate him or this story, or Mark Millar's writing, any less though. I know I'm in the minority here, but I think Maria Hill is a great character. I don't like the things she does, or how she acts, but I think it was really interesting that she was a woman doing a man's job. She was acting the way she had too, and she didn't get any respect for it. The institutionalized sexism that she was up against was obvious, and I was disappointed that she willingly gave up her position in New Avengers #25. Now I think maybe it was Bendis' way of letting the character he created go out with some dignity. Too bad Millar took it away with one stupid line.

Newsarama has a report up on two panels from WonderCon: "Girls Kick Ass!" and "Gender and Genre." There was some pretty interesting stuff said, and I think Phil Jimenex especially made some interesting points. It makes me a bit upset that I have never read any of his stuff, especially on wonder Woman. That's what trades are for though, right?

Also from Newsarama, according to their report on the WonderCon '07: DCU: Great Expectations Panel, it looks like I am going to have to start reading Green Arrow soon, since Black Canary and Green Arrow are going to get engaged. I read somewhere else that the title of the book was going to change to Green Arrow and Black Canary, or something like that. I'm glad. Marvel should have done that for Storm when she married Black Panther. (Storm is the better known character, after all.) I just hope Judd Winick writes her well. He was at the "Girls Kick Ass!" panel, so I guess he at least cares about writing female characters well. Gail Simone mentioned in a recent interview that they asked her to co-write the series. That would have been awesome, but she didn't think she could do that and continue to write Birds of Prey. Obviously, someone needs to clone Gail Simone, or get some more women writing comic books. I'd be happy with either.

Also mentioned at that panel is Frank Miller's Holy Terror, Batman. They're actually letting him do his Batman vs. Osama Bin Laden story? Is Dan DiDio on crack? That was possibly the worst idea I had ever heard. (Well, it was the worst idea I had ever heard until Spider-Man: Reign #3 and Spidey's deadly sperm. Now the two ideas are duking it out for which is more offensive. Misogyny versus the degradation of the efforts of the men and women in America's armed forces. Who will win? It's tough to say, since Andrew Kaare threw the obvious image referencing of 9/11, but knowing Miller's penchant for making all women whores, it could go either way.) I'd like to think that comic book fans are better than that, and that they will avoid this like the plague. Then I remember that people are buying Spider-Man: Reign, All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Civil War, and any number of insulting books. I can't begin to tell you how ashamed I am of my hobby lately.

Wizard has a story about Buffy Season 8, where they talk to the writers of the first three arcs (Whedon, Brian K. Vaughn and Jeph Loeb) where Jeph Loeb shares this bit of information: "There were times I enjoyed 'Angel' more than I enjoyed 'Buffy.' That may just be a male thing; sometimes Joss’ feminist manifesto would get to me, whereas 'Angel' was just a big rollicking detective show with great characters." And this is why I can't get any really great female characters in comic books, people. I think that what Whedon did with his representation of women was great, and a real step in the right direction, but I would hardly call it a "feminist manifesto." I'd be disappointed, but then I remember that he spent years writing Lana Lang on Smallville.

Finally, since I always like to end on a happy note. I am really excited about the upcoming Superman: Doomsday and New Frontier animated direct to DVD movies. (I'm tired of finding the appropriate links, so you'll have to do that yourself.) Bruce Timm's involved, so I really don't think I'm going to be disappointed about them either. It is going to be a bit weird to hear new voices out of all the characters, though. I'll especially miss Kevin Conroy as Batman and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, but I do find the voice casting that has been announced already very interesting. With Adam Baldwin as Superman, James Marsters as Lex Luthor and David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan, it's clear that Timm's love of the Whedonverse carries on. Now if we could just get Bruce Timm and Joss Whedon to work on a project together, it would be the best thing ever.

Scout Attacks! week 1: Iron Man Is Everywhere and He's Out to Get You

For a while now I have been meaning to do a weekly commentary on the comic books I read. It hasn't happened for a variety of reasons, the first being my extreme laziness and the second being that I haven't been reading my comic books in a timely fashion. All that is going to change now, so here it goes:

Wolverine #51: It is unbelievable how bad this crap is. No, wait. Bad isn't the right word. It's boring. Jeph Loeb has managed to craft the single most boring Wolverine story I have ever read, and considering the fact that Wolverine is in practically every book that Marvel publishes, that is saying something. I'd also like to point out that here Wolverine can remember a ton of details from an attack Sabertooth made on the X-Men that he wasn't even there for, but in the last issue he couldn't seem to recall that Sabertooth didn't actually rape and murder Silver Fox because it was an implanted memory. She turned up, alive and well, and with a big ol' chip on her shoulder (only to be killed again, naturally), a fact that took me less than five minutes to confirm. (Check it out.) This is actually worse than the stuff that had me originally stop reading this title. In retrospect, Wolverine's powers of total regeneration don't seem that bad. Simone Bianchi's art is awful pretty though. I will give this book that. It's just not pretty enough for me to want to pick up #52.

52 Week 43: Dude! Was that necessary? Really? It's not that this week wasn't good. It was very good. I had started reading 52 because The Question was going to be a major player in it, but Black Adam's story has really been one of the big reasons why I continued reading it. I had never even heard of Black Adam before Infinite Crisis, yet I have really invested in his character, and his new family, Isis and Osiris. Osiris' death has by far been the most impactful on me of all the many deaths there have been in this series, and that includes The Question, the only character I came into the series with and prior knowledge of or interest in. However, the fact that Osiris died is not what I have a problem with, nor do I have a problem with the manner of his death. The fact that he was betrayed by his best friend, coupled with the fact that he was such an honestly good person, was what made it so heartbreaking. And Sobek's reveal as Famine, the fourth Horseman of Apokalips, was, while extremely shocking, actually something that seems heavily foreshadowed in retrospect. though the writers cleverly masked that foreshadowing by making it seem like Sobek's perpetual hunger was merely part of his schtick as comic relief talking alligator. I have a problem with two pages of Sobek graphically chomping away at a cripple kid. Not cool guys. Not cool at all. Also, really, really gross.

Eternals #7: Storywise, this miniseries has been all over the place, but I thought Gaiman pulled it back together and made the whole thing worthwhile here at the end. I actually look forward to seeing some of these characters turn up in the future, especially Ikaris. It doesn't matter though. The real reason why this miniseries was worthwhile was John Romita Jr.'s art. Amazing stuff. Makkari speeding through the Deviants. Ikaris touching down for a landing. He captures movement so well. I'm not the type of person who normally gushes about art, because I know nothing about it, but it's hard not to notice when it's this good. My major complaint is that I could have done without the Tony Stark appearance. Must his smarmy ass show up everywhere?

Action Comics #846: That's a hell of a lot of Kryptonians. Anybody else getting the feeling that this is going to be awesome? I read this stuff, and I wonder why I never started reading Superman comics before. After all, I'm also reading Superman and Superman Confidential now and think they're pretty great too. Then I remember that I have picked up Superman comics at several points in the past and thought they were boring. Clearly what was lacking was Zod. I just hope Supes doesn't get out of the Phantom Zone by getting a cheesy looking crystal from a chick named Raya. (It's actually pretty interesting to me how closely a lot of these ideas are to the events of Smallville's season 5 finale and season 6 premiere, except with much better execution.) There's also some nice Lois, Clark and Christopher moments in there. I loved Lois telling Christopher that he couldn't meet Batman until he was 16 and Wonder Woman until he was 18. Considering she doesn't know the kid all that well yet, I think it best to hold off both meetings until he's 21. I'm still not hugely impressed with Adam Kubert's art on this series. It just doesn't seem like a good fit for Superman. Maybe if the Kuberts switched. Put Andy on Action and Adam on Batman. I don't know.

Doctor Strange the Oath #5: I had no idea Dr. Strange was this cool? Or did Brian K. Vaughn make him this cool? I mean, I always liked Dr. Strange, but he's completely awesome in this series. All the characters and the relationships between them were so fully realized. This series had everything I could want in a superhero comic book: fun, excitement, some really amazing visuals, friendship, romance, heroics, an interesting and well developed plot, nobody getting eaten or being a fascist or complete idiot, and best of all, no Iron Man. And again, I don't normally gush about art, but Marcos Martin is great. I will definitely be looking for titles with his name on them in the future. I read that BKV said at his NYCC panel that he was supposed to do another Dr. Strange mini, but it's not going to happen because Bendis is using the character now. (He's a member of the new New Avengers.) That sucks. Dr. Strange sits out Civil War only to join the underground resistance movement? Dumb. Dr. Strange hangs out with Night Nurse and Wong and is just an all around arrogant badass? Awesome. Which would you rather read?

Runaways #24: This series is not going to be the same without Vaughn and Alphona. Vaughn has a real gift for creating these characters' voices. As for Alphona, other artists have filled in for him, but it's never quite the same. They went out on a high note though. There were so many great moments, that it's hard to really single anything out, but Molly and Victor's version of the Fastball Special was certainly a highlight. I'm even going defend the appearance of Iron Man at the end, because as the current ultimate authority figure of the Marvel Universe, there's no one better to send our Runaways back on the run. I also appreciated what they did with Xavin in the last couple of issues. I was one of those readers who had a problem with the character and his relationship with Karolina, but what they have shown us in the last two issues is that Xavin's just another confused kid. I thought the panel of Xavin lying on the ground, long hair, skrull chin, Human Torch arm and Thing leg, with Molly, the voice of reader unease, finally giving him/her her acceptance was the perfect way to punctuate what they had to say about this character. And a gender confused superhero? That's progressive. Finally, I loved how the story was brought full circle with Nico threatening to rip one of the teammates heart's out if he ever betrayed them, the fight against the Gibborim, and, of course, Alex on the final page quoting Pat Benetar. Vaughn and Alphona are going to be missed, but at least Whedon is a worthy successor and the preview pages for #25 look awesome.

Civil War Frontline #11: If I ever buy a big event comic crossover again, I want someone to kick me in the head. Repeatedly. It will have the same effect and won't cost me as much money. I thought Civil War #7 was awful, with it's bad political analogies, mischaracterizations, and just generally terrible dialogue. (That letter from Reed to Sue may have been worse than the one from Sue to Reed. I'm pretty sure that, smartest man in the world or not, Reed is still a human and not a robot. And the exchange between Reed and Spidey? Reed: "Amazing!" Spidey: "Spectacular!" Me: Vomit!) This may have made it worse. Joe Quesada and Mark Millar both insist that Tony Stark was sincere in the last pages of that issue, to me, he came off as anything but. If sincerity was what Millar was going for, he did a piss poor job. At best he was smarmy and arrogant. At worst, he was a blatantly evil, misogynistic fascist. (And it totally seemed like he was trying to get in the grieving widow's pants.) I've read a couple of reviews for Frontline and a few of them held it up as an attempt to somewhat redeem Tony. I don't agree. While it certainly supported his sincerity, he's still the bad guy. After a ton of build up, we learn the not at all surprising truth that Tony Stark was the traitor. Apparently, Tony Stark manipulated events to start the Civil War, built a big ass prison for criminals in the Negative Zone, but used the non-registered heroes as his guinea pigs, and instigated a war with Atlantis in order to up the registration's ranks. That's in addition to sicking a bunch of psychopathic criminals on his friends and creating a cyborg clone of Thor who blew a freaking hole in Goliath. Then, Ben Urich and Sally Floyd applaud Tony for making the tough choices, isolating himself from his friends and allies through his unpopular actions, and just generally being a hero because he did it all for the greater good. Essentially, it's complete and utter bullshit. Circumventing democracy and using Machiavellian tactics, even if it is with the best of intentions, does not make him a hero. It makes him a dictator.

Don't even get me started on Sally Floyd and her tirade at Captain America that he's out of touch with the American people because he doesn't know what MySpace is or who won the last American Idol. Do even the most shallow and ill-informed people really think that NASCAR is relevant to society as a whole, and if they do, are those really the people we want to be conforming our entire society to? People who make arguments that people are ill-qualified to make a political, moral or societal judgments because they aren't up to date on the latest pop culture phenomena should be beaten with sticks. And that's coming from someone who maintains a blog dedicated to popular culture proudly entitled "These Things Matter." Ben Urich is no better. A character I used to like and respect, who is supposedly a legitimate journalist, is willing to just sweep all of this under the rug. The worst part of all of this is that the Registration Act isn't actually solving anything. Bad guys are still going to attack. Cities are still going to get destroyed in the ensuing battle. Nothing is actually going to change because if any of Tony Stark, Reed Richards and Hank Pym's 100 ideas actually prove effective, there won't be any more stories to tell. It's idiotic and contrived. This is the worst kind of story telling and Millar and Quesada, and the other yahoos at Marvel actually think they have put something into the world that makes a statement about our society, and there may be people out there who believe that, but i can't believe that any of those people actually have any real understanding at all about the post-9/11 political climate. (Honestly, reading all of this has had me mentally defending the Bush administration and the Patriot Act as not being as bad as the policies the Pro-Reg side is enacting. I really don't like having to do that.) All they have accomplished is turning several key superheroes into irredeemable fascists and made every single person who read this piece of crap a little poorer of mind and a lot poorer of wallet.

Between this and Spider-Man: Reign #3, I've actually been thinking about giving up Marvel comics. It's not that Civil War was deeply offensive (like Reign was). It was just really bad, and if this is what is setting up the new status quo for the MU, I don't really know that I want to stick around for that. It's like all the changes they're making to Spidey. Everything's going to be so interconnected now too, that it's going to make it harder to be sellective in my reading. I'm already dropping my last X-Men title as soon as Astonishing ends. I haven't decided yet about New Avengers, but that will largely depend on whether I'm going to continue to read any Spider-Man books after "One Day More." It's hard to imagine me ever giving up Amazing Spider-Man, but right now it's looking likely that that will happen. I'm with Runaways for the long haul, even beyond Whedon's issues if they get a good writer and artist on it; I'll definitely read Young Avengers if that ever comes back; unless they kill off Steve Rodgers, I'll probably stick with Captain America as long as Brubacker does (though it seems like all this Civil War stuff is going to derail the really interesting stuff he was developing prior to all this); but they are going to have to tell some seriously good stories to keep me interested. This just isn't why I read superhero comics. I'll tell you one thing for sure though. I'm not looking forward to the Iron Man movie at all anymore. I'm totally sick of that guy.

Well, my rant is over. How about something more cheerful. I am seriously psyched about the announcement that there is going to be a new Spider-Man cartoon. I'm just bummed that I have to wait until 2008. Also, I hope it doesn't look like the Fantastic Four cartoon that's on the Cartoon Network.or that Iron Man animated movie. Hand drawn animation please.

Best Celebrity Endorsement Ever!

I cannot believe I am just finding out about this. If I were a guy, I would run out and buy all the Old Spice I could find, so I could be just like Bruce Campbell. Seriously. Behold the awesomeness!

They Better Not Have Fired Him Over the Invisible Jet

Joss Whedon just posted this over at Whedonesque:

SATIN TIGHTS NO LONGER. Joss will not be fighting for our rights after all.

You (hopefully) heard it here first: I'm no longer slated to make Wonder Woman. What? But how? My chest... so tight! Okay, stay calm and I'll explain as best I can. It's pretty complicated, so bear with me. I had a take on the film that, well, nobody liked. Hey, not that complicated.

Let me stress first that everybody at the studio and Silver Pictures were cool and professional. We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time. I don't think any of us expected it to this time, but it did. Everybody knows how long I was taking, what a struggle that script was, and though I felt good about what I was coming up with, it was never gonna be a simple slam-dunk. I like to think it rolled around the rim a little bit, but others may have differing views.

The worst thing that can happen in this scenario is that the studio just keeps hammering out changes and the writer falls into a horrible limbo of development. These guys had the clarity and grace to skip that part. So I'm a free man.

Well, sorta. There is that "Goners" movie I can finally finish polishing, and plenty of other things in the hopper I've wanted to pursue. I'm as relieved as I am disappointed, and both of those things lead to drink, so that's a plus. Truly, you may be hearing some interesting things brewing in the coming months. But all potential jets therein will be visible.

But most importantly, I never have to answer THAT question again!!!! And you don't have to link to every rumor site! Finally and forever: I never had an actress picked out, or even a consistant front-runner. I didn't have time to waste on casting when I was so busy air-balling on the script. (No! Rim! There was rim!) That's the greatest relief of all. I can do interviews again!

Thanks for your time. You are the people who make the world go 'round. Or, no, science does that.

-j.

ps All right, it was Cobie Smulders. Sorry, Cobes.

I doubt I have to say that I am disappointed. I'm not impartial. I get excited about anything that Whedon touches and rarely doubt his suitability for a project (even if I am a bit disappointed with how Astonishing X-Men is shaping up). If I am going to try to be impartial though, I still find this disappointing. Female characters have not fared well in comic book movies of late. The superheroines (Catwoman, Invisible Girl, Elektra) are either little more than eye candy, or just really poorly written. Even the love interests (Lois Lane, Mary Jane) are fairly insipid and fickle. Joss Whedon has proven himself to be one of the few creators in Hollywood who has proven adept at handling (super)heroines that appeal to women and men. I cannot even conceive of another writer or director who I would like to see on a project like this...perhaps J.J. Abrams, but considering his unfortunate take on Superman, I am not so sure. I seriously doubt there is a chance in hell Warner Brothers would put a woman on a project on this size, even if the good PR it would create might make it worthwhile from a marketing standpoint alone.

I obviously do not know, but given certain comments in his post, like "all potential jets therein are visible," I am going to hazard a guess that the studio wanted something more "realistic" than the approach Whedon wanted to take. However, with recent reports Warner Brothers has bought a spec script set during World War II (originally believed to have been done to eliminate potential lawsuits over possible similarities, a common practice), it's also possible that they wanted a more traditional take than Whedon's. Somehow, I don't really see Warner Brothers making a superhero period piece though. As much as I think Nazis are always a good idea, it does not seem as commercially viable as a modern approach. I do hope that we eventually get to hear what his plans for the character were, much like I hope to one day find out what Bryan Singer had planned for X-Men 3, at least so that if the movie sucks, I don't have to wonder what might have been.

An unexpected point of disappointment in all this comes from that fact that, while I had not given any thought to it before (even though I had read the rumors of her being in the running), I think Cobie Smulders could have made an awesome Wonder Woman. She is strong, tough, sweet, fresh, funny and just all around really talented. Plus, she already has experience with Superman and Lex Luthor and I don't think there is a single person out there who does not love Robin Sparkles.

Worst of all, I can only imagine that now we will have to wait even longer Wonder Woman to hit the big screen. They will have to find a new writer and director, unless they already have people lined up. I hope they don't put anything together too hastily, since that was done with Fantastic Four and X-Men: the Last Stand, and both those movies are horrible. I guess we will just have to wait and see, but for now I will just have to look forward to Goners.

Reason #153 Why Supernatural Rocks

Last season there was an episode of Supernatural called "Skin", in which a shapeshifter kills a bunch of people, narrowly escapes police capture after one murder attempt, and is killed by the Winchester boys. The police are left to believe that the perpetrator of the murders is dead, which is true. The problem is that the shapeshiter looks exactly like dean when he is seen by the police and when he is eventually dispatched by our heroes. At the time I thought it was a great episode (evil or not, I am never going to argue with getting twice the Jensen Ackles), and thought it would be awesome if Dean's apparent death, as well as the belief that he was a murderer, had consequences later on. However, I did not expect there to be any consequences, and was not upset by that. Shows like Supernatural never go back to deal with these things. Even Joss Whedon shows let stuff like that slide on occassion, and Whedonverse shows have some of the best continuity in the history of television. Maybe Veronica Mars, a show where almost everything that happens has significance later, would bring this development up again, but there was little chance that would happen on Supernatural, a show that is basically about pretty boys with guns and demons.

Color me surprised when Dean's status as deceased murder suspect got name-checked later in the first season. I was even more surprised this season when everything from the petty crimes they commit on a regular basis to Dean's supposed murders (and the fact that he is not dead) got Sam and Dean arrested. This last episode, "Night Shifter", blew me away though. Not only was it typically good, but we learned that the brothers Winchester now have the feds on their tail, which makes complete sense, since not only are they wanted for all sorts of things like impersonating federal agents and murder, but they also have now escaped police custody and crossed state lines. Not only are the Feds after them, but they know all sorts of stuff about their family history, and think John Winchester was some sort of militant nut, which, and I probably don't even have to say this, also makes perfect sense.

You'll pardon me if I seem overly excited about all this, but I watch a lot of genre shows, and I watch a lot of shows on the CW, and logic so rarely enters into how the world reacts to the actions of the characters on the show. Take Smallville for example, a show where the good guys are regularly breaking into buildings, engaging in some mighty illegal hacking, blowing up buildings, and just generally using their superpowers in front of random people and no one ever notices and none of the characters ever get in trouble. That's why consequences is reason #153 why Supernatural rocks. If you are curious about the other 152 reasonse, I'll just tell you that they include such things as the Impala, the classic rock soundtrack, Robert Johnson, all the very cool pop culture references, and various details about Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki's overrall prettines.

Some Actual Praise for Smallville

This is my first Smallville related post of the 2006 - 2007 television season. After last season and my numerous posts regarding the show, one may have wondered what happened. Did the show stop sucking? Did Scout finally decide to stop punishing herself with television shows that literally cause her pain? Has Scout finally decided that if she can't say anything nice, she shouldn't say anything at all? The answer to all those questions is, not remotely. (Especially that last one. What would be the point of maintaining this blog if I thought that?) Quite simply, I stopped caring. Lois Lane decided to become a journalist because of a barn door? Fine. Green Arrow had some crazy thugs kidnap Lex Luthor? Sure. Lex wants to marry Lana even though she told him she still loved Clark? I wouldn't expect anything different from this show. Jimmy Olsen is having sex with Chloe and there's whip cream involved? OK, that one's still kind of gross. The point is, I've reached a Zen-like state when it comes to this show's levels of bad. But last week's episode was good, and that shocked me.

Justice was, first and foremost, a lot of fun. I can't remember the last time I felt like Smallville was actually a show about a superhero. I guess it's just too bad that all the superheroes were guest stars who aren't sticking around. I wasn't so sure about Green Arrow when he first started this season, but he's really grown on me. Justin Hartley is charismatic and pretty and talented and I look forward to seeing a lot more of him on my television in the future. Then there was Bart, aka Impulse, who is fantastic. I loved him when he first showed up in season four's Run, and I loved him even more this time. Kyle Gallner, the actor who portrays Bart, has made guest appearances on roughly half the shows I watch this season and he deserves all the work. My biggest fear about this episode was that whenever I saw Bart, who was so adorable the first time around, I would only be able to think about Beaver Casablancas and how he blew up a bus and raped Veronica Mars. Not only did he make me forget all about that other role, with all the flirting he threw Chloe's way, I wasn't worried her at all. Cyborg and Aquaman were back too, though their parts were smaller. It was nice to see that Cyborg was more like his comic book self this time around and less like the Bionic Man. Aquaman's lines were blessedly minimal and mostly served to bring the gay, which is always fun (and given his last appearance on the show, that is his greatest superpower). Not that the show's only gay moments came from the fishy one and his naked swimming. The Sparks were in full display between Clark and Oliver and Clark and Bart as well.

More important than all the homoerotic subtext (and that is always enjoyable), this episode was fun because it was fast paced, and while there were no fight scenes, plenty of stuff happened. There was a lot of running for one thing, and of course, there were arrows. There was also Lex acting like a badass. Being free of the horrid pink parasite (Lana was blessedly absent for the entire episode) had a wonderful effect on his inner bad guy. Michael Rosenbaum plays evil deliciously well. His readings on lines like "And I want a ponytail. Disappointment abounds," are impeccable, and he has the perfect villain's swagger. When Lex is like this, Rosenbaum is totally bringing the sexy back. His speech to Lionel about torturing meteor freaks for truth and democracy was everything I have always wanted from Smallville's version of the character. John Glover too deserves kudos for his small but memorable appearance in this episode. Lionel's impromptu alibi for Clark, about Martha's pot roast and new potatoes, was priceless. I have to say too, because I always adore her, that I loved Chloe in this episode and I thought she was worked in rather nicely without her importance diminishing any of the superheroes. She got to be all cool and sassy too.

The only parts of this episode I didn't enjoy were the Oliver and Lois scenes. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with them, per se. As a matter of fact, I found Lois infinitely more tolerable than I usually do (the storyline with Oliver Queen/Justin Hartley really brought out the best in the character and the actress). It's just that those scenes really dragged in what was otherwise a fast and fun episode. The melodrama didn't seem to fit. I also had a bit of trouble buying into all there talk of love and regret. The Oliver Queen of the comics is an infamous ladies man, complete with illegitimate children (which made the whole no sex thing more than a bit ridiculous for me), but mostly, too much of the relationship was developed off screen for me to care.

My overriding feeling when coming out of this episode though was to wonder why it couldn't be like this all the time. Why must I sit through all the soap opera melodrama when I could be watching daring rescues and things exploding? I completely geeked out watching this proto-Justice League doing their slow-mo hero walk away from the explosion. (OK, and I also got a little distracted by how pretty Tom Welling is.) I want to geek out like that all the time. Heroes is a great show, my current favorite, but it doesn't have any of the comic book characters I love and there's not a costume in sight. Are costumes heroes and villains too much to ask for? If I can't have a Justice television series, I would settle for a a Green Arrow or Impulse series.

I'm a Little Heartbroken

There were a few things I planned to post blog entries about in the next few days, but I read something today that had to be commented on immediately. It was reported in Variety today that NBC will be cancelling Passions and adding another hour of The Today Show to their daytime line up in the fall, like the world needed more of Meredith Viera. I don't watch Passions anymore, but I feel this loss deeply. When Fox announced that The O.C. was being cancelled, I was sad. I have a lot of fond memories of the show, but I did voluntarily stop watching that show. With Passions, I can honestly say that I would still be watching today if it wasn't for the horrible truth that I am now an adult and had to get a job. On the rare occasions when I am home on a weekday, I still tune in.

I began watching Passions after its several mentions on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fans of Buffy may remember that it was Spike's favorite show. I naturally wondered what was so inherently funny about this show, and who this Timmy character was who was stuck in the well. I instantly fell in love. Created by James E. Reilly, the man who first brought demonic possession to daytime on Days of Our Lives (Marlena was possessed by a Succubus and it was awesome), Passions was the most cracktastic thing I had ever seen on television. All the traditional soap opera plotlines were carried out to the most extreme degree, and then topped off with witchcraft, incest, portals to hell, relationships that could destroy all the evil in the world if consummated, reincarnation, the dubious acting talents of Liza Huber, pacts with the devil, daytime television's first lesbian sex scene, a controversial Orangutan nurse with an active fantasy life named Precious, Bollywood musical numbers, and, really, so much more. Passions was a soap opera on acid, and it was fully aware of it's own ridiculousness. After the show ends in August, day time television may be a little more sane, but it will never be as fun again.

I end my tribute to Passions, with a tribute to what was by far the show's greatest contribution. While still great, Passions was never the same after the passing of Josh Ryan Evans, and the departure of the delightful living doll Timmy from all of our lives.

I raise a Mar-Timmy to you, Passions, in celebration of your insane and campy brilliance. Like the wonderful Timmy, you will be missed, and my sick days will be far less enjoyable.

I Can Destroy Planets

As you may or may not know, Dr. Doom is my greatest role model of supervillainy, but I can't really be disappointed with these results. I'm not going to go all Jean Grey and let my conscience get the better of me. I plan to revel in the Phoenix Force's power. Just try and stop me, you Shi'ar bastards!

Your results:
You are Dark Phoenix

Dark Phoenix 65% Magneto 59% Apocalypse 57% Mystique 49% Poison Ivy 47% Lex Luthor 47% Dr. Doom 45% The Joker 42% Venom 40% Juggernaut 37% Two-Face 37% Kingpin 33% Riddler 32% Catwoman 32% Green Goblin 29% Mr. Freeze 26%

A prime example of emotional extremes: Passion and fury incarnate.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...

Catching Up

I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I went a whole month without posting a new entry, but I honestly didn't have anything to say in December. It was a slow month and my mind was on things besides pop culture. (I didn't know it was possible either.) I thought about doing a review of Spider-Man: Reign #1, but my thoughts on it pretty much began and ended with "It's okay, but I already read Dark Knight Returns" and "GAH! Old people sex!" Since then I've expanded those thoughts to include speculation that it would be revealed that Mary Jane was raped and murdered. It's what Frank Miller would do. I bet the Black Cat has become a prostitute too, because Frank Miller loves whores. For good measure, an elderly Peter Parker punches out J. Jonah Jameson, who, one would assume, is roughly 200-years old for undisclosed reasons. This, I assume, is because Frank Miller would want Spider-Man to be an asshole. Sadly, it's not All Star Spider-Man, so we won't be subjected to the comedic gold of lines like "I'm the goddam Spider-Man!"

Then I thought about doing an entry on Spider-Man 3, and some of the new information that's surfaced, including the article in a recent Premier magazine (an article in which a fourth movie was all but confirmed and Raimi said he couldn't imagine doing Spider-Man without Tobey Maguire, which is just funny considering how quick the guy was to put in a call to Jake Gyllenhaal last time that looked like a possibility), but I already posted about the first trailer (convenient link). At this point, I'm mostly just anxious to see the movie. May cannot get here soon enough. I'm ridiculously excited about it, but I'm also afraid it's going to suck. Sam Raimi pretty much rules my world (and would even if the only movie he ever made was Evil Dead II), but can he possibly do justice to so many characters?

There was also this announcement, which I didn't say anything about for your own good. Nobody likes an overly emotional blogger, and Spidey, MJ and dear old Aunt May's future in regular continuity comics tends to make me a bit on edge lately. I wonder why. I will say one thing about it though. It seems odd complaining about the artist on this project, since it's Joe Quesada, but part of me would really rather see John Romita, Jr. doing it. He's pretty much the definitive Spider-Man artist of my lifetime, and if "One Day More" is going to be the capper on the era of Spider-Man comic books I grew up with, I would have liked him to be a part of it. Also, just in case I get so upset I have to stop reading Spider-Man comics, I'd like to see him draw the web head one more time before I say good-bye.

There were only two non-Spider-Man related, and therefore potentially safe and emotion free, items that tempted me to blog during December. The first was the Donner Cut of Superman II, which I have mixed feelings about and I will probably do a review of soon. The other was the announcement of which writers would be joining Joss Whedon on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 8 comic book, but how interesting would "Oh my GOD! Brian K Vaughn, Drew Goddard, Jane Espenson, and Doug Petrie! This is going to be so awesome!" be? Brain K. Vaughn is also joining the writing staff of Lost, thereby ensuring that I will be sticking around at least long enough to see an episode penned by him. Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in. That J.J. Abrams is mighty sneaky.

It's also worth noting that I read Occasional Superheroine's "Goodbye To Comics" in December, but that didn't so much inspire me to blog as much as it made me feel a little ill, very depressed, and kind of want to burn my copy of Identity Crisis.

Well, that was my December 2006. Hopefully 2007 will be awesome and there will be plenty of stuff to blog about, with this blog having a lot less bitterness and bitching and a lot more fun. I's unlikely though. I can always find something to bitch about. I do anticipate to be blogging more in the coming year. I already have several ideas, so hopefully I'll stop being so lazy. Happy 2007.

Not the Barry Manilow Song

I watched Daybreak, the Lost fill-in show on ABC, o Wednesday. It was OK, but I couldn't shake this feeling of familiarity, and it wasn't just because of the premise. Shouldn't this have been a Denzel Washington movie? Maybe Taye Diggs is making a bid at being Denzel-lite: the TV version. He's good looking enough, but he's going to have to start showing off some of that charisma that made an utterly generic show like Kevin Hill watchable for a full season.

Also, the show is completely wasting the considerable talents of Adam Baldwin. I sincerely hope that they put him to better use in the coming weeks, especially since the mere fact that he is on the show is going to keep me watching for its entire run.

Spider-Man 3 Trailer Thoughts

OK, there was a lot going on in this, and I am all excited and worried and this is going to be rambly and, well, here it goes...

Flint Marko did not kill Ben Parker. That's just wrong, and it smacks of John Byrne style revisionism and I don't think I like it. OK, now that I've gotten that over with, I can get on with everything else.

I had thought we were going to get a glimpse of Venom in this one, but if we did, I missed it. However, we did get a look Harry going all Green Goblin-lite and trying to get revenge on Spidey. I'm kind of glad he didn't actually become the Green Goblin with the suit and all. I had no desire to see that particular costume again. James Franco is so great as Harry Osborn, and I think that whole subplot will be amazing. I know it happened the comics, but I hope they don't kill him off. I guess that's exactly why they should kill him off though.

There was plenty of Sandman in the trailer, and aside from what I mentioned up top, it looked great. Thomas Haden Church looks perfect, and while I am happy about the aforementioned revisionism, I think the character stuff for Peter will be amazing. I'm still disappointed about how they are depicting the symbiote from what we have seen so far. It was much cooler in the comics, but maybe this is just part of the restrictions of live action. I don't know, and we still don't even have a hint of why the symbiote wants to bond with Peter.

Kirsten Dunst still sucks, but at least she didn't seem all passive aggressive, which I suppose is a side effect of being in on the whole Peter Parker is Spider-Man thing. I guess I still hold out hope that, while we can't stop Kirsten Dunst from being awful, the writing will start making the character resemble the Mary Jane we currently have in the comics (since we can't go back and re-do the whole evolution of the character). I love Mary Jane almost as much as I love Spidey and I just want her to be awesome. The addition of Gwen Stacy actually makes me wonder about Mary Jane's fate. I think she's either being introduced just to be killed off, or she's being introduced as a replacement love interest in case Kirsten Dunst doesn't want to do any more movies. As much as I don't like the films' portrayal of Mary Jane or Kirsten Dunst in the role, I think I would hate the latter option even more. What can I say? I've loved Mary Jane since I was a little girl and Gwen Stacy was just way too prone to hysterics for my taste.

Uh, I don't know. I've only watched it once so far. I'm sure I will have more thoughts after I have watched it a dozen more times. There's going to be so much going on in this one. It makes me nervous, especially after the X3 debacle.