Friday, May 27, 2011

Thor Review & My Best to Worst of Marvel Movies.

3 words…Thor. Was. Awesome!!! That’s the short of it right there no more need to be said but I will anyway. Now I wouldn’t say it was 5 out of 5 stars (maybe 4) nor would I give it 2 thumbs way up or any of that jazz (but pretty close), but as the Marvel movies go, Iron Man being the top of the top and Ghost Rider being the one to forget I’d say Thor would be right there between Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2.

To give a bit of perspective here is my list of Marvel movies (that I’ve seen at least and as of right now). From Best to worst and not including any of the animated features, other Marvel imprints and made for T.V. movies.

Iron Man (2008)
Thor (2011)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
X-Men (2000)
X-Men 2 (2003)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Blade (1998)
Punisher: War Zone (2008)
X-Men 3 (2006)
Howard the Duck (1998)
The Punisher (1986)
Blade 2 (2002)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
The Punisher (2004)
Fantastic 4 (2005)
Hulk (2003)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Daredevil (2003)
Ghost Rider (2007)

Aaaaand there you have it my thoughts on Thor and my list of Marvel films from my favorite to my very least favorite…at least till Captain America: the First Avenger (which looks AMAZING!!!) which opens this year in July I think and the Avengers film which is supposed to be out in 20012 will change the top 10 I‘m sure maybe even the top 5.

My Problems With Brightest Day.

No matter what you do, unless you didn’t read it, you will be comparing the Brightest Day event in the DC comics Universe to Blackest Night, another event that happened just before…and that comparison will never be favorable for Brightest Day. Blackest Night, in my opinion, had some of the most compelling story telling to come out of the DCU in years. I can honestly say I got very sick of the multiple crisis that have been going on for the last few years & I just couldn’t care about 52 and all the whatever’s that surrounded that. Then there comes Blackest Night, characters back from the grave for a reason not just to inhabit the body of Jean Gray (sorry Marvel joke in a DCU rant), but actually having a reason to live again, some as Zombies that steal hearts…SWEEEEET!

But then, almost in an instant, to push aside all of this to the wayside in Brightest Day was almost a slight slap in the face. Now I’m not saying there wasn’t some wonderful gems here and there and some fun stuff going on in the DCU, I mean JLI Generation Lost was awesome, and I didn’t want it to end luckily we get an on going series out of this, but the rest of just kind of felt like a let down.

I’m telling you go back and reread Blackest Night and compare it to Brightest Day and see how very different they are in style, tone and pace and it just dose not compare. In Blackest Night I seriously anticipated each issue with fevered boyish glee . I found myself excited to see who lived and who died and who came back, I cared for characters I hadn’t felt anything for in years (cough cough Flash cough cough). I ended up though, not caring anymore for those same characters in Brightest Day, except for the redemption of Dead Man, Boston Brand. In Boston I found a well rounded character fulfilling a grand arch starting from his creation in 1967 and completely redeeming himself as a person on multiple levels and even finding love in the arms of Dove. In the end being put back right where he started from making his arch and redemption almost meaningless. Talk about a raw deal, I actually found myself getting really mad about that part., I mean here was this character who besides his appearance in Kingdom Come I really didn’t know too much about and in Blackest Night I started to wonder who this guy was and I did some research…turns out this guy was a real dick back in the day, much like a real person and then Brightest Day comes around and BAMM!!! See yeah later Boston Brand welcome back Dead Man…LAME!!!!

I kind of wax and wane on Green Arrow most of the time I could give a damn about him but in Brightest Day I didn’t care for Green Arrow at all. He seems compelling when surrounded by his “family”, Black Canary especially…to be honest I really didn’t care about anyone other then Dead Man, and maybe a little bit about Martian Manhunter, but then to suddenly introduce, seemingly out of nowhere, Swamp Thing? Really? Really? Why? I mean I get that Swamp Thing is connected to the Earth and supposedly the Earth is really important in the universe and all but isn’t the White Light of Life supposed to be important to all life in the universe and beyond, not just the Earth? It has to do with all of creation right? Which is a point I think was sorely missed here, and kind of glossed over in the Green Lantern titles (but there not done with that yet so maybe that’ll change).

I am looking forward to what’s on the horizon for the DCU and as I usually do I sort of teeter totter back & forth from Marvel to DC and in the last few years I’ve moved more and more into the DCU but with the end of Brightest Day, they have a lot to make up for if they want to keep me around. Who am I kidding I’m in for all of the Green Lantern titles, and JLI will be coming out soon…but John Constantine in the regular DCU? What is that all about?

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Christmas Gifts & a Happy New Year.


Hey all, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year and a joyous Non-Denominational Non-Religion Specific Gift Giving Holiday of your choice.

Now I'd like to show off some artwork I made for some family and friends.

This first one I did for my friend Susan. It's a print of the 10th Doctor (her favorite) from the BBC Television show Doctor Who, played by David Tenant from 2005 - 2010.



Next up is of the 4th doctor from 1974 - 1981 played by Tom Baker. I made this one for my Brother and Sister-in -law. The text is because this was my first Doctor Who that my brother introduced me to.



This print I did for my mom. She’s very much into angels so I made this one especially for her. It started out from a photo by Marcus J. Ranum and I just went from there.