The Big Boy Scout

Of course I have to talk about SUPERMAN RETURNS. A thoroughly good Superhero flick, which has equal focus on the relationship between Lois and Clark as it does Luthor’s evil scheme. My heart started racing from the very start with the opening credits with the John Williams film, which I admit is kinda odd since I’ve never had too much of a soft spot for the Reeve films, while the first two were good, I wasn’t even born when they were released and only ever caught them on ITV. I have to admit, it’s been some years since I’ve seen. Also several FUCK YEAH moments when Supes was doing his thing.

On a down note I had a problem with a few of the characters, I always had a problem with Gene Hackman’s Luthor so Kevin Spacey’s didn’t rub me the right way, though he did do a better job than Hackman. Parker Posey’s character annoyed the crap out of me, I will never understand why they’ve had Luthor have someone like that hang around with him, an introduction of someone like Mercy would have been so much better. On the plus side I expected to hate James Marsters’ character from the moment he was introduced, and was pleasantly surprised that Singer and co made him a very likeable character who I’m going to feel very sorry for when he finds out the revelation that Clark and the viewer are shown at the end of the movie.

Also the flight scenes were a mixed bag, some were “Oh dear God that’s some terrible CGI”, others, well, lets just say, I believed a man could fly.

On a minor note, at San Diego Comic Con, Edgar Wright, director and co-writer of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead has been announced as the director of Marvel’s Ant Man. An interesting choice of character for a movie translation, but Wright picked and wrote it himself and the few ideas he mentioned at the Con sounded quite cool.

Another Vampire Slayer

It's been awhile since I've actually wrote about something sci-fi or comic book related and since that's the main point of this place I think it's about time.

So, the new Blade TV series. Thankfully continuing on from where Blade: Trinity finished, Blade's got a new partner and seems to be sticking to Detroit, now revealed to be his hometown. I'm not overly sure about the revealing of his real name and home town, I've no knowledge of the comic to know where they got this from, I only know what I've learnt from the films and the episodes of Spider-Man he appeared in. The name did seem a bit forced in, like they had decided that he had to have a proper name and just dumped a bit of dialogue in there to reveal it.

The new actor seems to be doing a good job of filling Wesley Snipes shoes, though he's nowhere near as cool at the minute and he does seem to hunch when he walks. Not sure if this is on purpose or just because he's not sure how to walk about with a sword strapped to his back. Whatever it is someone needs to teach him to stop it.

Also the whole premise for the ongoing story seems a bit... crap. I liked it when the girl was bitten, but thought we were going to get a replay of the (girl) from Blade 1 when Blade and Whistler stopped the transformation. Instead Blade gives her some of his serum and she gets her human mind back. To me this just seems wrong. It makes Blade having these abilities but being a good guy less unique, plus I thought the whole reason it worked for Blade was his half-breed nature. They give the explanation that it only works for her because she hasn't been turned for 24 hours, but I'm still not convinced.

Nightwing: All My Life

So I've decided to have a go at one of these music videos edited together with animation. Because its me it had to be Nightwing and Foo Fighters. Enjoy!

Cheered up and Inadequacies

Like Smith, I promised myself I'd not using this as a diary but felt I really needed to today.

Well I feel a whole lot better. I’ve been pretty down recently for various reasons and been trying various things to cheer me up, none of which have been working. It’s amazing what a quiet night in the pub will do for you. After the initial quick bitching session and catch up, we had a very long and very geeky conversation with both of us cracking the other up. We even managed to fit in a quick rant about women in. Thanks a lot mate ;)

Also figured I'd talk about why my comic has not been updating for over a month now. See in interviews with professionals they go on about how good a storyteller their artist is and how they pass on so much through the imagery. Due to a total lack of artistic talent I use sprites, so fixed camera angles and no real expression. Plus I don't make my own sprites, Alex makes them for me (which I am eternally grateful for), therefore I've got a set of sprites to pick from and if I do need a new one I have to give Alex a weeks warning. All in all these leads to a very frustrated writer. I'm not saying I've stopped. I needed a break, I reckon it should be back soon. I determined to get to the next few storylines where I've got people interested in doing guest arcs. In the very least I'll give me time to seethe over the inadequacies of my chosen format. Anyone fancy drawing it?

Finally an update

I feel I’ve been letting my geek responsibilities (not to mention my general blogging ones) down recently. Thing is, I’ve not had anything major to write about. Watched the odd Smallville and kept reading my comics, but nothings really got me angry. So I’ve figured I better start covering subjects that impressed me.

First up is Whedon’s X-Men. Late to the game but earlier this month I bought the first trade and it was amazing. I know many people have said it but I’m just adding my voice to the choir. Colossus and Kitty were fantastic and Wolverine acted like Wolverine, which actually made me realise how bad X3’s portrayal of him was. It felt like the X-men should do. If you’re an X-Men fan or a Whedon one and you haven’t already I urge you to go get it!

Second, we have Star Wars: Republic Commando books. I know I said I was barely touching the Star Wars books anymore but Republic Commando the game blew me away with how good it was and the first book got quite a good review so I picked it up (BTW, I never did pick up that other series based after New Jedi Order, hive minded insectoid Aliens = Rubbish!). The first book is a straight forward, behind enemy lines infiltration op the second a lot more in depth deep cover investigation. I’m amazed at how different to the other novels they feel. They read exactly like most Special Ops books I’ve read, only difference is it’s based in a sci-fi universe. This is something I’ve been crying out for ever since we got the Rogue Squadron books, and thank god we’ve got them. They’ve managed to restore some of my love for Star Wars.

Last, we have Civil War. Two issues in and it’s fantastic. Captain America is kicking so much arse and being cool about it, Spider-Man’s reveal shocked me, took me a few days to process that one. Personally I’m enjoying this far more than I did Infinite Crisis.