How About A Pointless Trailer For The Live-Action Kiki's Delivery Service? Done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfukYViB49c Hey it looks beautiful, but this could have been selling me cookware or baby formula. It's really vague and I'm basing that on the visuals alone; and while I don't understand Japanese at all, I'm pretty sure nothing said was going to blow my mind either way. Hopefully there will be a real trailer soon since they seem to be gearing up for the release.

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Goku vs. Superman Flipbook!

I love this stuff. Also I agree with the ending because the last people who weighed in on this battle only took Goku up to level 3 which is shit. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpvOwO6tyaM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbc--9ODVkc#t=85

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My Top Rack: Velvet Templeton

This week was a great one for Image, having a double sell-out for their #1 issues of Pretty Deadly and Velvet, both boasting female lead characters.  In this feature, I’ll be talking about the lead character in the latter, Velvet Templeton. I can’t hope to describe her or the concept of the book better than Steve did in his contribution to the group review, so I’ll just go ahead and quote him: “What if James Bond was killed in action and a badass Miss Moneypenny set off to avenge him?”  Throughout the issue we realize that nobody really knows who Velvet is.  She played all the X-operatives from ARC-7 as if they were fools.  They all had a secret thing with her, but why she did that will probably come in to play in later issues.  Ed Brubaker does a great job at giving us a bit of insight and backstory to Velvet while making the reader invested in the mystery of who she actually is.  The last few pages give us a glimpse at what she used to do before she became a secretary.  She renders Roberts’ men useless with ease even though she claims it’s harder than she remembers.  From cartwheeling out of M16-fire to karate-chopping a guy in the throat to flipping another onto a table, it’s all here.  The book ends with the mysterious line “My real life died a long time ago.”  I’m looking forward to seeing what Velvet’s life was and what will become of it now she was flung back into her old line of work-being in the field.

My Top Velvet Car

Review: Satellite Sam #4

Politics, closet homosexuality, and baseball this month on 'Satellite Sam', as the expansion ambitions for LaMonde start heating up. As per usual the mystery sort of takes a backseat to the studio drama, with little progress on the murder front for Micheal, though a burgeoning temptation might cause him future trouble. It's a factor of the slow pace that has gotten quite a few readers to check out but something that fails to bother me now that I've accepted it as being not critical to the story or my enjoyment. It might sound silly to say the murder mystery is unimportant to a comic book about a murder mystery, but Fraction has too much fun exploring his seedy little world to begrudge him this, and the book is plenty engaging without an investigation dominating the page count.

Micheal isn't a paticularly successful detective anyway, and perhaps isn't intended to be one, his playing investigator may having more to do with his own steady decline down his father's path. Regardless, I'm happy to tune in, a comic that's not for everyone but is good for quiet nights with a glass of bourbon.

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Score: 4/5

Writer: Matt Fraction Artist: Howard Chaykin Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 10/23/13

Review: Sex Criminals #2

One of the most fun things about issue one of 'Sex Criminals' was the book ending on a note where I had no idea what the rest of the series could be like. It was a tightly written issue, written almost more like a one-shot, so when it ended on the giant tease of things to come it left my brain puzzling on how Matt Fraction could make a whole series out of his premise. Well, issue two has arrived and it looks like that answer is yet to come, but it could matter less as it's a near perfect follow-up to a near perfect first issue. This is exceptional comic booking. It almost feels like a pity to go into any real detail about 'Sex Criminals' as it's something that needs to be experienced as a reader rather than something you get a sloppy picture of from Internet hype. I've been recommending it to my friends with the notation that they should learn as little about it as they can before picking it up, and so far it seems that most of my fellow geeks haven't heard of it to begin with, so a good start.

sexcrim02_coverIt's a book about sex, but despite Fraction and Zdarsky's cheeky 'giggle-about-boners' attempts at bathos, it's a really, really wonderful book about sex. It also weaves in isolation, gender, sexual culture, and the general terror of childhood. Issue one dealt with the sexual awakening of a young woman while issue two concerns the sexual awakening of a young man, and the contrast, summed up succinctly in the adolescent names the two characters name their supernatural post-coital intermission from the space-time continuum, is as hilariously insightful as it is tears in the eyes funny. There's a certain empathetic intimacy to Fraction's depiction of young sexual experience, both extremely personal and conversely widely relatable; it's impossible not to compare your own blind gross fumblings in that sticky era of your life when need was at its greatest and was paired with the complete absence of healthy perspectives to rely on.

In the second issue we get much more direct parody of America's bipolar sexual culture, venturing into an adult shop that is wall-to-wall dense with Fraction and Zdarsky's sick fun at the expense of the porn industry, more visually dense with throw-away humor than a panel of 'Transmetropolitan'. Despite the obvious extremes they go to, it rarely feels out-of-place because it's largely no more ridiculous than what is actually available in porno shops. While it does feel like tonal gear shifting, it still seems to tie in to the heart of the book; it isn't that Fraction feels the need to lampshade the sweaty hormonal lewdness of the book out of uncomfortablility with the subject matter but rather out of awareness that we culturally are uncomfortable. We don't take sex very seriously in mainstream fiction, tucking it in the art house or as a motivating factor for college sex comedy protagonists. Fraction is writing a comic very clearly about sex in relation to people and throws the wink-wink in to both recognize the inherit comedy in early sexual experience but also to identify that our shyness is what causes this tragically comedic cycle to continue. Fraction isn't afraid of sex, but it is a book the addresses the fear we have of it.

It's a book I'd love to hear a female perspective on, the male story of the second issue probably more than a little biographical in some parts for its writer. While the world of comic culture finds itself embroiled in debate over gender in comics and on the convention floor, here is a comic that is concerned with gender, is sexually aware, and above all, is deeply human. It's unlikely to start any dialogues in the Batman and Deadpool crowd, but it should. I may not know how Fraction plans to make a whole series out of this, but I can't wait to find out and hopefully soon you will too.

Score: 5/5

Writer: Matt Fraction Artist: Chip Zdarsky Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 10/23/13

Super Deformed Colossal Titan Is Adorable

Wow all of the Attack on Titan licensing deals must have gone through at the same time because there's been a slew of stuff this week alone. I'm telling you this is the next big ass franchise and it'll only be a matter of time before we see women's underwear with the Colossal Titan printed on it Evangelion style. In the meantime enjoy this cute little guy who I promise will not kick your teeth in and thus allow other Titans into your mouth to eat you from the inside out.

Trailer Time: Original TV Spot For Revenge of the Jedi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlDw3gHoSGM Man, you forget how bad all trailers were. I mean this fucking thing shows you practically every point in the movie. I bet some people's minds were blown when they saw Han un-frozen though! That would have sent me clamoring to the local cinema for sure!

"One ticket to Revenge of the Jedi please"

"You mean Return of the Jedi?"

"...What?"

"It's called "Return" now sir"

"Listen (checks gender of box office employee) madam, I just want to see Han Solo get out of the carbonite so whatever fucking movie that is"

That was all terrible sorry if you actually read any of it.

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Do Want: Sena At The Beach Resin Kit

While I'm more of a fan of Yozora than Sena aka "Meat", I still really dig this bathing suit design for her... and the show finds a few different ways to put her in the suit as well. The pre-painted kit costs way to much and again you're better off waiting for a specialty store or convention to find it. Just let your eyeballs soak in the Haganai goodness. 10248231a2-186x500

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This Goro Statue Will Remind You Who Wears Short-Shorts

Man, who knew that Goro had the body of an underwear model? No wonder he was picked to be the Netherrealm's champion. The statue stands at 24" tall and is set for a second quarter release in 2014. There was two versions of the statue with a ten-dollar difference, but the $460 dollar version sold out so you're left with the $450 version to purchase. You can check it out here, but I'm not really sure who would want this on their desk to stare at all day... or want to explain its presence on a book shelf when company came over. Although I'm thinking if you're dropping nearly $500 dollars on a Goro statue you probably don't really give a shit if people come over or not. PCS-Goro-Statue

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Trailer Time: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLWsK1ZFunA#t=136 To start with... yes this looks like a much better movie than the first one, but I'm not going to say that the story is very original. It's not. It's the typical heroes journey and all we can hope for is that the ride is worth it. Winter Soldier's arm looks like shit and in general he looks like he's wearing fake muscles. Also Evans isn't as bulky... not sure if that's good or bad. At any rate, it looks like a movie that's worth seeing though I'm sure I'll become tired of it now that it's in the can and Marvel/Disney is ready to market the hell out of it. Oh and the new suit is way fucking better. Now for the gifs!

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Review: Tomorrowland #4

I wish I could say that I liked this issue, but I didn’t. I mean we all knew where the story was going so it was more about the journey than the outcome of good over evil, but the journey runs out of steam in this issue. Do you know who Steve Aoki is? I hope so because he’s practically the star of this issue. The brothers unite and Mike is super evil. They begin using their creative powers to fight each other and for some reason we’re shown the illusion that the crowd sees over and over. This really hasn’t been the case for the other issues so it was strange that so much attention was brought to it. Of course it shows up later, but really it didn’t make or break the story any it just served as this weird element of the plot.

Tomorrowland_04_CoverThe story breaks its own rule which is interesting, but nothing comes of it because the series concludes. The brothers were never really that strong of characters, but it becomes painfully transparent when they’re reunited. The big creative battle at the end really lacked imagination and just ended up being people versus demons/monsters. Again the journey was nothing spectacular.

The art remains consistent, but really shows its shortcomings when too many male characters appear together. The cover is a prime example of this, but it’s like that a few more times in the issue as well. The coloring remains vibrant and beautiful as it has with every issue.

I wish I had more to say about this issue, but it was gift wrapped so much that it was just like, “yup that happened.” It’s also obvious that it’s set up for a sequel, but I’m not really sure what a sequel could do that would be different from what’s accomplished with this story. If you’ve been following the series then it’s worth a read, but I would have a hard time recommending the overall series for anyone to check out.

Score: 2/5

Writer: Paul Jenkins Artists: Alti Firmansyah and Beny Maulana of Stellar Labs Publisher: Titan Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 10/23/13

Review: Great Pacific #11

This is going to be a difficult review to write. I didn’t love this issue and I was waiting for some kind of big reveal. Well there is one or two, but nothing that blew my mind. Instead it felt like the series was just going through the motions and that was a bit of a bummer. Also there’s going to be a spoiler off the bat, but I’m only going to talk about the one throughout the course of the review. Chas was kidnapped in the last issue and it turns out it was by the guy that’s supposed to be helping him get into the UN. He has a dream like sequence as his head is dunked underwater and when it’s pulled up he hears a familiar voice talking to him. It’s Chukwu’s advisor that was sent to Chas. He tells him not to waste their time and than informs him that it was an honor negotiating with him before getting his brains blown out by a teenager. Meanwhile Alex is still pissed off with Chas and doesn’t even realize that he’s been snatched. He calls Zoe and I think the only point of the conversation is to reveal that Zoe is sleeping with the saboteur. It cuts to their side of things and it really makes you wonder what the hell is going on with Zoe. Is she on a side, does she have a side at all? If she’s security then she’s failed at keeping anything about her job out of the hands of her enemy and so really it just makes you wonder what the point of her character is anymore. She obviously doesn’t care about anything so why is she there and why should I care? I grew tired of her character especially considering she’s been useless this entire story arc.

greatpacific11_coverThe story is average. It doesn’t pull out any new tricks, but rather sticks with the formula the rest of this story arc has followed. I wasn’t shocked by the advisors death and the fact that I had to turn the page to really get the impact, actually lessened said impact. The reveals about the fish were pretty meh. It’s not like it came from left field and really the entire scene is awkward as well, but I don’t want to spoil everything. I needed more from this issue to keep me excited about the series, but instead it brought me down. I had a similar experience on the first arc and repeating that makes this story feel more like a chore than a treat.

The art is as good as always, but again the awkward page break and splash page for the advisor’s death was strange. There’s nudity in the issue, but it shies away from the violence that’s been in the series from the very beginning? It was just very weird and broke up the flow of the story. The art wasn’t in harmony with the narrative on this issue that’s for sure.

I almost didn’t review this issue because it was so stale, but I figured I would get my thoughts out so I could read the next issue with a clear head. Hopefully it wows me, but I’m beginning to think that it’s going to be very similar to the sixth issue just with something different standing in for the giant purple octopus. I know they can’t all be winners, but we can still hope can’t we? If you’re following the series you’ll probably want to finish the story arc and if you’re not then you might want to wait to see how this arc turns out.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Joe Harris Artist: Martin Morazzo Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 10/23/13