Obligatory Starbuck Post
May 10Galactica is off the air for like eleventy billion months, yet I still find reasons to post about Katee/Starbuck. For instance, did you know that Katee plays characters named Sara(h) in her next two projects? Obviously, we are meant to be best friends. (Also, what is the deal with her being in Bionic Woman, but not actually being the Bionic Woman? Then again, I guess that scenario would mean no more Starbuck or way less Starbuck.)
Also, there is a really funny Scott Thompson quote about Katee/Starbuck in the latest issue of Geek Monthly, which just came out! It has Greg Grunberg dressed as a Stormtrooper on the cover and an article by me on the last page about using the word “frak” in public. Matt and Chris are both quoted. And page 28 has a piece featuring a certain Alert Pal. Any guesses? Chris, you know this one.
EDIT: Look, look! Here is a picture of Katee holding the very issue of Geek Monthly I was just talking about! Also, there is some stuff about her role in Bionic Woman. See how it all ties together?
30 Years of Star Wars…Eh.
May 09On May 25, Star Wars will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
To me, this milestone seems to be passing largely unheralded by the popular culture. I noted previously an upcoming History Channel special in which wags will wank re: the films. Star Wars nerds from around the globe will converge on Los Angeles soon for Star Wars Celebration IV, which I understand has degenerated into a far more disorganized and frustrating fan “gathering” since the last one I attended in 2002, which was itself quite the disorganized and frustrating event.
Anyway. I point all this out so we can remember to pencil in this date on our calendars, PDAs, Outlook, whatever. We oughta do SOMETHING.
I think I’ll try to force the wife to sit down and watch the original flick with me after the baby goes to bed. I’m not sure that’s her idea of a fantastic Friday night, or mine for that matter, but it’s the least I can do.
How will YOU celebrate?
Goodbye, 52.
May 04It was about 14 months ago that my curiosity from reading about Infinite Crisis brought me into a comic book store for the first time in years.
What kept me going in was 52. The second I learned about it, I knew I had to follow it–the prospect of a weekly comics series, written by two writers I already loved from previous comics collecting eras in my life and two of which were new to me, seemed incredibly fascinating.
(Also, I was staring down the birth of my first child, and it’s possible I was regressing juuuuuuust a bit in abject fear. But mostly, it was just fascination.)
Now we’ve reached the end of our journey, and everyone and their brother has chimed in on this final issue, so I may as well spit out my own ramblings as well.
52, I will miss you. Sure, Countdown will be here next week to satisfy my weekly comics jones, but it won’t quite be the same. With Countdown, there’s a precedent for what we can expect, at least in the sense that it’s a weekly book featuring B-, C-, and D-list characters in the spotlight.
With 52, it was all brand new. There was the “NASCAR factor,” as Keith Giffen called it, where we all watched the action out of a sadistic interest in being there when the machine fell apart, and the book missed an issue, or even worse, put out abject crap.
To be fair, there were definitely some weak moments on both the art and writing sides. There were also fun moments, shocking moments, exciting moments, mind-blowing moments, thoughtful moments, and even downright emotional moments. In short, it was everything we love about comics, tossed in a blender and deposited in our hands at four times the normal frequency.
And the ending was just about perfect in its way. Flawed, like just about every issue, but packed with enough strong moments to carry any bumpy spots.
More than anything else, issue #52 was packed with ambition. If 52 as a series and an idea has been about anything, it’s that–a way to expand the way comics stories are told, the tools available to tell them, and the readers’ awareness of the world(s) in which they are chronicled.
Ultimately, I think that’s what I will miss most about 52–the tightwire, nail-biting excitement of it every week. You never knew where it would go, even when you thought you did; you never knew if it would quite make it there, and you never knew what path it would take. It was the classic case of the journey being just as important as the destination, and just as enjoyable.
So thanks, 52 gang, for a great ride. It’s been real, it’s been fun, it’s been real fun.
Hot Cops!
May 03Here’s my Back Stage interview with the Hot Fuzz gang — Wright, Pegg and Frost. I don’t know why they cropped the online photo so it’s just Edgar’s cute mug, but rest assured that a pic of all three of them appeared in print and it was completely adorable.
Also, because I love you, here’s a racy little outtake.
First, whilst reading the article, make special note of the part where they talk about their imaginary coat of arms. Then read this, which came a bit later:
WWH: Smash All Puny Humans
May 02Today is the start of World War Hulk. The Initiative still isn’t over, but I’m relaxing my grip on it. It’s not Civil War – I don’t need to get them all. Really The Initiative is Marvel figuring out a way to brand what would normally be the downtime between major event story arcs.
And I realized something today, as I started reading the WWH books – I’m really looking forward to it. Civil War was a car crash – the idea of the heroes of the world fighting one another, allying themselves with the bad guys, etc. It was a good statement to make, a super-hero prism taking a look at the stuff happening in the politics of the real world, but while it was intriguing, while I had to slow down and take a look, it wasn’t what I’d call fun. And in the end, there’s only a small handful of heroes I’m that happy with as characters. Spider-man. Thing. Ummm. Punisher, sort of. Luke Cage, m’man. Most of the Mighty Avengers really – fight the power. And Omega Flight, but that’s kind of a knee-jerk thing. We’ll see where it ends up – the writer didn’t get the CSIS acronym right, so this may not go well.
And that’s about it. The rest can go to hell, as far as I care. Ooooh, wait. They are.
I’m really looking forward to WWH. After a year of watching our favorite heroes be shits, WWH is promising a bit of a cliche – the power fantasy. After a year of watching Marvel’s big heroes be pricks, I really can’t wait to watch a focused, non-Pantheon Hulk (ie a non-Banner brained Hulk) either beat some sense into or the shit out of every single one of them.
’nuff said.
