Saturday, January 10, 2009

Quick Hits 1/10/09

Yeah, so I've decided that I'll write a Quick Hits post on this blog about once a week, where I'll just babble incoherently for a while about comic books and occasionally other things that catch my fancy. But mainly comics. I mean, this is supposed to be a blog about comics, right? Why am I doing a post about a bunch of random things as opposed to posting reviews about the stuff I'm reading? Because I'm getting lazy, that's why! With that out of the way, onto this week's Quick Hits!

-Once again, I have to praise the "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" cartoon on the Cartoon Network. I really get a kick out of that cartoon! Usually, this show will get more than a few chuckles out of me during it's half-hour run. Just to let anyone who hasn't ever watched "B:tBatB" know, this show basically has Batman teaming up with another hero from the DC Universe and battling some villainous menace. This week it was Wildcat, last week it was Green Arrow, before that it was Blue Beetle, and Red Tornado was also in one episode. This series is nothing like the awesome "Batman: The Animated Series" from the 90's, and it's not trying to be, which is why it works for me. Where as B:tAS was a darker cartoon, from the episode content, to the animation itself, B:tBatB is a very lighthearted series that doesn't take itself too seriously. Think of B:tBatB as the offspring of the campy Batman live action series of the 1960's and the gritty Batman cartoon of the 1990's. This series isn't a complete comedy, but it has it's funny moments. Batman himself has a very dry wit, and will occasionally say/think things that will have me laughing out loud. Just in case you haven't watched this show yet, and are curious, it airs new episodes every Friday at 8:00 pm on Cartoon Network.

-Speaking of Batman, can you believe that I still haven't seen "The Dark Knight" yet? I must be the last Batman fan alive who hasn't watched this movie yet...

-Earlier today I was going through a few of my old West Coast Avengers comics and came across the old storyline, "Acts of Vengeance". This story was basically about Loki convincing a bunch of super-villains to form a secret group in order to strike at the Avengers and various other super-heroes... Hmm, that sure sounds kind of familiar... Whatever happened to the "House of Ideas"? Nowadays, it's more like the House of Bad Ideas... I better stop right there before I go off on another tear about Marvel and Brian Bendis again.

-The weather has sure been SUCKtacular here in my neck of the woods so far this winter... This week has really been pretty bad, with snow every night, and a full blown ice storm Wednesday night into Thursday. I REALLY hate ice. It's like a frigging ice skating rink outside my home! On top of all this crap, my county is under a winter storm warning for all day tomorrow into Sunday... Yay, just what I want, more snow... I can't wait until April!

-On the bright side, since my classes don't start until Tuesday January 20, I don't have to leave my place unless I want to. Maybe by then the weather will have changed for the better... HAHAHA! Yeah right!

-The last few nights I've been reading the DC comic series, "Hard Time". So far I've liked it. The premise is a 15 year old kid named Ethan Harrow and his friend get tired of being picked on by the popular kids at their school, so they decide to take guns to the school to scare their bullies. Well, Ethan's pal goes kind of crazy and starts to shoot at the other kids. Ethan winds up blasting a hole through his friend with some kind of powers he didn't know he had, which kills his friend. 5 kids wind up dying from the shooting, and Ethan winds up getting sentenced as an adult to 50 years, even though he hadn't shot anybody. The first 6 issues I've read have dealt with Ethan trying to survive in prison, while slowly beginning to realize that he has some kind of powers he never knew about. You have the various ethnic gangs, religious nutjobs, overworked prison guards, and shower room antics you would expect from a prison story here. The first 3 issues were better than issues 4-6, but overall, this series hasn't been that bad.

-I'm STILL waiting to get my hands on JSA #22! I really want to read that comic! I've been avoiding some of my favorite blogs, in an attempt to not spoil the end of this issue for myself. Hopefully, early next week, I'll finally receive this comic book.

-Speaking of next week, Final Crisis #6 comes out Wednesday. I've already placed my order in advance, and choose the rush delivery option, so by Thursday or Friday(hopefully), I'd have received/read that comic book. I can't remember the last time I've been looking so forward to a single comic book. FC #6 is supposed to reveal the final fate of Batman, and I for one am dying to see what Grant Morrison has in store for Bats. Just so everyone knows in advance, I WILL be avoiding all contact with the outside world starting Wednesday, and lasting until I read FC #6. I'm dead serious about this. I won't be reading any comic related blogs/websites, I won't be reading the newspaper, and I won't be watching the news. Hell, depending how paranoid I get, I might not go online at all. There is a reason for my slightly psychotic behavior here. 2 1/2 years ago, I was watching CNN(or Fox News, I don't remember which)and across the crawl on the bottom of the screen, it said that Captain America had been killed off in "Captain America"#25. The problem with that was that I hadn't READ Cap #25 yet! The f###ing news spoiled something that should have been a huge shock when I read it. I was so pissed off that I heard about Cap's death before I actually read the comic book. Well, this time that's NOT going to happen. NOTHING will spoil FC #6 for me!

Well, hopefully someone will enjoy reading this post as much as I've enjoyed putting it together. I can honestly say that I really and truly enjoy posting stuff to this blog, as well as reading a select few other blogs from like-minded folks(you know who you are!). As always, if you want to comment on anything I've posted, fire away, I'll be more than happy to respond. I really need a catchphrase to end this post if it's going to be a weekly thing...

4 comments:

  1. Just a quick note, if you happen to have any $1 movie theatres around you, I think the Dark Knight is still playing there. At least it is here. My point is, if you have the chance, you really should see this movie on the "big screen". It really is worth it. By the way, did you see the People's Choice Awards the other night? At the end of the show, the Dark Knight walked away with virtually every movie award they had.

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  2. Heh, everyone I've spoken to about this movie says I'm crazy to have not seen it yet. It really sounds like DK is one of the best comic movies of time. After checking, no theatres around me are still showing DK. Oh well, one day I'll watch this movie...

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  3. FYI...Dark Knight's going to be re-released into the theaters on Jan 23rd to gear up for its Oscar run. If you can catch it in an IMAX theater, I highly recommend it. It really does benefit from being seen on the biggest screen possible.

    And I hate snow too, however, I'm stuck in a house with two children who think snow is THE BEST THING EVER so I'm screwed.

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  4. Cool, maybe I'll catch this movie in theatres yet! The only problem is that school starts up again that week, so finding the time to catch DK could be tricky.

    Ah, I can still remember that thrill I'd feel when I was a kid and there was snow falling. Me and my sister would be outside playing in the snow all day. Now, I see snow in the forecast and I grimace... Boy, I feel old! At least I can still try to avoid the snow. It doesn't sound like you have that same luxury Jason!

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