The Third Man

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Buffy The Animated Series. Wow, what could have been. Also, this will probably get yanked any second so watch the four minute pilot while you can.

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Cover for Superman/Batman #50. To paraphrase Captain Hammer, “The Bat is my penis.”

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You guys know Ultraman is awesome right? Of course you do. Well how about all eight Ultramen joining forces in one movie!? In Japan’s latest attempt to cause the largest kaiju-related nerdgasm on record, Great Decisive Battle!: The Super 8 Ultra Brothers is going to feature all eight Ultramen coming together to beat up monsters and aliens and stuff. Check out the trailer for some rubbery monsters making rubble.

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Comic-Con 08' Highlights

Someday I would actually like to say “Hey, I was there when they announced that!” but alas, this year I’m stuck geeking at home.

1) DC announcing that Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith will be writing Batman next year! Neil Gaiman’s story is called “What Ever Happened to The Caped Crusader?” which is a reference to the classic Superman story “What Ever Happened to The Man of Steel?” written by Alan Moore. Gaiman will be paired with Andy Kubert so this is a mini 1602 creative reunion of sorts. Kevin Smith’s story is called “Cacophony” and Smith has handed in the first two scripts already.

2) Geoff Johns will write his first screenplay for Smallville for an episode that will introduce Clark Kent to The Legion of Super-Heroes! For those who don’t know, the Legion of Super-Heroes is a group of super-powered teenagers from 1,000 years in the future who are inspired by the legend of Superman. I haven’t watched this show in years but I will defintely watch this episode.

3) Fables: Peter and Max. A new graphic novel that will answer what happened to Peter Piper of Pickled Pepper fame and his older brother Max, who grew up to become the Pied Piper. I’m so looking forward to this!

4) Superstar artist combo of Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba and Mike Mignola drawing BPRD 1947 (a spinoff from Hellboy 1946). HOLY SHIT!

5) The Watchmen and Terminator Salvation panels were mightily reassuring. However Zack Snyder does speak like a fucking retard (Kevin Smith: “Thank God your visuals are so good sir”). How someone seemingly so ineloquent and borderline illiterate can get a job making movies is beyond me. Oh, and McG sounds like a douche.

6) Awesomely fun panels for Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica.

7) Image United. It’s a major crossover mini-series that debuts next year that will be drawn by six of the artists who founded the publishing company 16 years ago: Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio, and Todd McFarlane. But what is really different about this jam session is that each artist will draw the characters he created, sometimes meaning one scene of the series will have six artists working on it. This is the most fucking ambitious thing I have ever heard of. I hope they can pull it off.

8) X-Men Infernus will debut next year which is a direct sequel to the X-Men: Inferno story from 20 years ago. Inferno is one of my favourite X-stories ever so I’m pretty psyched for this.

9) Kevin Smith and his foul mouth.

Comics round-up: Surprising lack of buzzworthy Marvel news this year. It’s been a little weird that the ancillary Secret Invasion titles have been way more interesting than the main book.I’ve not heard anything to reassure me that the main Secret Invasion story will get any better so I’m a little distressed.

Movies round-up: Watchmen footage apparently made several hundred geeks cream their pants simultaneously so that’s fucking awesome. Terminator and Wolverine stuff looks okay but I’m not even remotely closed to impressed.

TV round-up: The TV panels were fun but not very substantive. I heard the Supernatural panel showed the first 5 minutes of the new season which is apparently awesome I guess? But one should never take the words of gushing fangirls at face value.

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OMG I can’t believe how awesome the new Sesame Street season is going to be! Everyone knows about the Feist appearance but how all them guest stars in that promo? Neil Patrick Harris singing (non-supervillainy this time) about shoes, Will Arnett (in a magician’s costume!), Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Sandra Oh, Mike Rowe, Chandra Wilson, Tilly and the Wall, Lorena and Lorna Feijoo, Jenny McCarthy and so many many more that I’m just too lazy to list.

I’m just a little disappointed Tina Fey didn’t appear in the 30 Rock parody (30 Rocks) but she was already a pirate bookaneer last season so I guess that’s okay. Also, one important thing that Sesame Street will teach kids this season is that Jessica Alba cannot go anywhere without being hit on.

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Bush or Batman? Attribute the quote to either George W. Bush or the 1970s Adam West Batman. It’s harder than it sounds. The Daily Show also came up with a surprisingly much more difficult Rapper or Republican? game.

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Mad Men is back! This is one show that I don’t talk too much about and I feel really bad for it. It is one of the classiest shows I’ve ever seen and it doesn’t smack you over the head with anything. It’s one of those shows where after the episode ends you have nothing to geek over because it’s mostly devoid of plot, it’s just so intesely character-focused all the time. Which, is not a bad thing. Trust me, I watch a lot of TV and it is very rare to find a show not concerned with plot. Battlestar Galactica, The Wire and Lost, shows that I consider to be the best around, all have fine character development but they’re all plot-driven to a large extent. Mad Men’s leisurely pace gives me a breather from all that and just allows me to take in something slower and a little more nuanced.

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So, X-Files 2 was a massive letdown. It wasn’t the masterpiece I wanted it to be but I can’t say it was entirely bad either. Seeing this was like meeting a long lost friend. Plagued by awkward moments, you can’t seem to recapture the closeness but you walk away glad for having seen him again.

Of course any fan would just adore the continuity nods like the pencils in the ceiling or the passing mentions of former psychics Mulder has dealt with (Clyde Bruckman shout out!) but the wink-wink references just can’t carry the whole movie. The story was actually good but felt stretched. This would have been a serviceable episode but just fails to hold interest at feature length. Oh well, it was nice to see you again old friend.

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This girl is not Zooey Deschanel. Her name is Katy Perry and praise be, it seems there are two Zooeys in the world now. But seriously, she could be a twin right? The resemblence is insane. And btw notice me not going for the easy threesome joke? Go me!

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Five Favourite X-Files

In honor of the X-Files movie premiere tomorrow, I’ll quickly list my top 5 favourite X-Files episodes. They’re in no particular order.

Beyond the Sea: A fantasticly-done archetype reversal where it’s Scully who’s the one desperate to believe and its Mulder who’s the sceptic.

Je Souhaite: A snarky French genie teaches Mulder that the best wishes are the simplest.

The Post-Modern Prometheus: A lovely tale shot entirely in black and white about a monster looking for love and acceptance.

Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose: The episode that made “auto-erotic asphyxiation” a household term among all fans.

Jose Chung’s From Outer Space: The story’s unique Rashomon-esque structure and quirky humour makes this episode the enduring classic it is today.

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The July 21st episode of The Daily Show was the funniest both TDS or TCR has been in a very long time. Not coincidentally, this episode had the return of Ed Helms who came back to fanboy-out about Obama with the rest of Jon’s team.

Now I know most of the new correspondents on TDS don’t do it for the old-school fans, including myself, but this Wyatt Cenac guy is awesome! Check out his first field report here.

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During World War 2, the United States military issued little comic strips to servicemen in the Pacific entitled “How to spot a Jap.” These strips were included in the first edition of the “Pocket Guide To China” but for obvious reasons, were subsequently removed in later editions. Some offensive and yet still entirely giggle-worthy ways to spot a Jap include feet and pronounciation observations.

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Stuff not to bring up around Batman.

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CAPRICA TRAILER

Existentialism, religious fanaticism, class warfare, political upheaval, you know, the usual stuff.