Baseball and Upcoming Posts

Just wanted to talk a little a baseball seeing that a blockbuster trade went down involving my Dodgers just before the deadline. For those of you that aren't baseball fans, this won't concern you, but for those of you that are, I'd like to hear your opinion.

For those that don't know, Dodgers acquired ex-Boston slugger, Manny Ramirez, for four average (and easily replaceable) prospects; which went to Pittsburgh, but we won't get into the details. For the Dodgers I think this trade is a no-brainer, due to the fact that you get a reliable slugger for virtually nothing. Seeing that LA did not have to trade anybody out of their current line-up, you can hardly call Ramirez a "rental player" even though his contract expires at the end of this season. Though with Ramirez comes controversy, he should fit into the LA atmosphere; and as long as he produces, LA fans will have no problem learning to the love the long haired Dominican.

For Boston however, I think this was both a good and bad trade. First off the good: Through what the press has told us of Ramirez' relationship with the GM and ownership of the Red Sox, it is understandable that both sides would agree to call it quits. Similar to the situation with Shaq and the Lakers, its seems that Boston and Ramirez' relationship had run its course. There was no room left for either side to feel comfortable and neither side was willing to give up enough ground to compromise. In this respect the trade was most likely good for Boston since they acquired a descent player from the Pirates and were able to wash their plate clean from the stains that Manny had been leaving behind. However, Manny also brought a lot of food to Boston's plate, and by food I mean home runs and hits that win games. The way I see it, whatever hope Boston had at defeating the Angels in the post season (that's assuming that the Angels stay healthy) just walked out the door to LA. Without Manny's bat, I don't see the Sox going very far in the post season.

Tomorrow, I start what will become a regular weekly post on this blog. From August onwards, every Friday I will post in-depth reviews on the comics I recently purchased at the shop the prior Wednesday. Tomorrow's reviews will consist of Thor #10, Mighty Avengers # 16, Incredible Hercules # 119, and Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods # 1.

Saturday I will kick off another weekly post that will focus on a series or two of Sci Fi shows. The two that I will start reviewing are Stargate Atlantis: Season 5 and Eureka: Season 3.

In addition to those weekly blogs, I will be making three monthly posts.

The first will consist of an in depth and researched, but unpolished (which means I'm only gonna spend enough time for two drafts) essay on any of the subjects listed under this blogs title (Comics, Cartoons, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Hockey, F-1, and of course some Star Wars here and there).

The second will be a review of all the trades I have read for the month. To explain to you non-comic readers, a trade is just a collection of serialized comics bounded together in paper back. I also use the term 'trade' in place of 'graphic novel' for reasons that I will discuss later.

The third post will be a review of the book or books (but most likely just book) that I have read for the month.

Of course, I will blog on things that interest me from time to time, especially when hockey season starts rollin' come October.

That's all for now, and remember, feel free to comment on anything you like.

And remember,
Lucas made Bounty Hunters really cool in less than a thirty second movie clip.
What have you done lately?

Really Short Post on Comic Con

Well my friends, Comic Con 2008 is finally here, a holy crap is it crowded. Last year, to get my badge, it was a long but fairly quick walk up the escalator and to the badge pick-up area. This year there was a line that stretched the length of the convention center and wrapped around many times. But enough about long lines.

The con floor was fun. I got my exclusive minimate invaders set from diamond select toys. Filled in some gaps in my fantastic four collection. The best part of the night was meeting Chris Giarrusso and having him do a hellboy sketch for me. For those of you that don't know, Chris G is the man behind Mini Marvels. The first time I really ever came across him was his spoof on World War Hulk. I'll tell you more about it later.

Told you this was going to be short. I go to a lot of panels tomorrow, which should give me much more to write about. And I promise that I will commit myself to writing such wonderful and tantalizing topics and story development and the "Lone Negro" of Disney animation studios.

But for tonight, I'm as worn out as I can be -- And that was only after three hours! Hopefully I can survive the weekend by pacing myself; not buying a whole lot of heavy stuff in the morning that I have to lug around; and by seeing as many panels as I can.

Should be fun.

Until tomorrow night (and with the celebration of the funny books in mind),
May the farce be with you.

Sin City, Comic Con, and Clone Wars

Sin City
I know, it's pretty pathetic that a man that identifies himself as a comic book fan just got around to reading the first trade in the Sin City series. However, the Eisner Award winning comic by the comic book industry's front man, Frank Miller, delivered in every way possibly. For those of you who know me, (which is probably only the people who are reading this blog -- hopefully not, but probably so), I'm a pretty slow reader and like to pace myself through a story. In other words, I don't rush through my comics or my books, and don't usually read a 200 page trade in one sitting. However, Miller's art was so action packed that I kept turning the pages, my heart racing with every danger Marv faced. And I'm serious about that last part, I was so intrigued by this story that when my girlfriend asked me to look at a graphic design she was working on, I had to pull myself out of Marv's world, realize I was not witnessing an interrogation in a whore house, and go back to my real world. Such are the characters that Miller has created, that you can't help but be intrigued by even the smallest characters such as the priest who Marv confesses to.

One interesting point about the comic is that the story itself is not that gripping and interesting. Let me rephrase that. The story is fine and the world that Miller sets it in is wonderfully disgusting. But if not for the characters and Miller's keen mind for writing dialogue and Marv's thoughts (which is probably some of the best thought boxes I've ever come across), the story would be the normal stereotype about a dump city with corrupt police, religion, and authority.

With Miller's art, and again those wonderful thought boxes, I was thrown into a cadence that led me along to finishing the story quickly, but still slowing me down at times to reflect on what's just happened and what's about to. I suppose that is the greatest achievement of the first instalment of Sin City, in that it speeds up during the action sequences, making you turn the page ever faster, and then hits you with a portrait of Marv, both visually through the art and intellectually through the writing.

The only downside with Sin City is that not everyone will get to enjoy because the city is so disgusting and disturbing. For me that 'sin' factor is a plus, but some might find it hard to swallow.

So if you are a fan of Miller's, or a fan of violent crime stories (which Sin City really is -- a detective story where the detective is a 'no good' con) I highly recommend this trade.

Also, what's with the lizard on page 83.


San Diego Comic Con
Comic Con is around the corner and I will be providing a post of what I've seen (I say this because I'm probably only seeing ten percent of the con) Thursday through Saturday. The convention center is supposed to have free wi fi provided by the September movie Eagle Eyes, so hopefully on Friday I'll be able to hook up the laptop in the panel rooms and post directly from there. They only place they will not be providing free wi fi is on the exhibit floor, thank God. The last thing I want to deal with when rushing to a signing or a dealer on the floor is having to avoid tripping over some idiot who thought it would be a good time to blog right in the middle of the aisle.

And there should be plenty of people on the floor to trip over anyways, considering that the whole weekend, that is Wednesday night through Sunday evening is sold out. I recently read an article over at Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080717-GlanzeronSellOut.html), that has those in charge of comic con discussing why it is not a good thing that the con sold out. Also in the article that is of interest to any one who is annual participators of the con is the possibility that Comic Con may not always be held in San Diego. The article states that the con will continue to be in San Diego for at lest four more years (until 2012). By that time, the San Diego convention center should be done with their expansion and then the board will make a decision on whether to stay there or not.

Not really stating where else they would go, I would imagine they would stay in Southern California, or perhaps they would head up north to San Francisco where Wonder Con and APE are held. (Although I don't know how big San Francisco's con center is). Another obvious location would be LA. Living in LA, you would think that would be easier for me, but here's why I wouldn't want comic con in my city. First, if you think the traffic for comic con in San Diego is bad, try driving into downtown LA on weekdays where everyone is trying to get to work, and not to mention that there could be sporting events and concerts taking up parking during the evenings. Secondly, downtown San Diego offers much more than downtown LA. There's more restaurants, hotels, and overall things to do in the lamplight district. Plus, you're on the water. All LA offers is a still relatively shabby part of town.

So please Comic Con fans, if you want the convention to stay in San Diego let them know.

Clone Wars
So the new Star Wars feature film opens up in theaters on August 15. Many fans believe that this might be the very last time the famous sci fi series gets to be seen on the big screen. Oh, and it is computer animated.

While I'm not overly excited about this film, as I was with Hellboy 2 and Iron man, I will be seeing and providing a review on this blog.

The main reason I'm going to see the movie is not because I'm a Star Wars fan but because of a point that was brought up on the Force Cast. The film obviously is about the clone troopers during the Clone Wars and supposedly has a Band of Brothers feel to it. I don't mean the action or the violence, but rather that the audience gets to know the characters and how they bond with one another through war. According to sources, the director, Dave Filoni, was told by Lucas to make each of the clone troopers unique, having distinct personalities with different hair dues, scars, and tattoos.

For me, this is great news and I hope that this film proves to me that these clones, who later turn into the Empires' storm troopers, do in fact have individuality. The main problem I had with the newest trilogy was the fact that the Empire got its army from clones. To me and many other fans, this meant that the storm troopers were all alike and thus had similar beliefs in fighting for the Emperor they served. The reason this is a problem is that it makes the whole war way to simplified if the clones did not have individual choices in choosing to fight for the Empire or not. To make the dark forces effectively evil, you need to give those fighting for the empire a choice to be evil or not. Vader had a choice, and Luke did also. Hopefully now we'll understand that the clones also made those individual decisions to put on those white uniforms we all love so much.

Personally though, I can't blame Lucas or anyone else associated with Star Wars on how the prequel films changed the look of the storm troopers, because truthfully they really didn't. If anything is to blame, let's point the finger at episode four for even mentioning the clone wars. And if you are any level of Star Wars fan, you can't find any fault in the curiosity of Luke Skywalker. If not for that one line, the latest four Star Wars movies may have never been seen.

Well that is all for today. I probably forgot about half of what I intended to say, but then there is always room for improvement.

Fill free to comment on anything, and I mean anything (even if its on the joyous simplicity of Hungry Hippos).

And always remember,
Bounty hunters, we don't need that scum.
Oh but you do Admiral Piett.