It’s time for another installment of This Week IN Comics!
Big Shiny Robot! has a weekly column in the Salt Lake City alt-weekly IN Magazine and every week we bring it to you on the site.
If you live in the greater Salt Lake area, you can pick up a copy of IN Magazine up from one of their ubiquitous newsstands, and we would highly suggest that you do.
You can read the online version of the story here.
This week, we talk about the comics equivalent of Leprechauns: Bat-mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk…
Welcome to the nineteenth issue of Convention Sketches!
We feature a convention sketch here every week. We’ve got a whole pile of our own, but we want to see yours, too. Email us convention sketches you want to show off and let us know what website you’d like credited for it. (bigshinyrobot(at)gmail.com)
This week, Sean Leslie from the Wednesday Warriors podcast sent in this great Punisher sketch by Mark Texeira.
The Hornet certainly has those racketeers on the run! Everyone is scrambling, and the Hornet and Kato are relentless! Why, even a collapsing bridge probably won’t be able to stop the Emerald Emancipator! Although, the people behind the rackets aren’t just going to give up, I’m sure they have something up their sleeves to give Britt Reid a run for his money! Guessing by this week’s title, there may be a bounty of some sort on the man. I’m on the edge of my seat, aren’t you? Let’s get the talky part out-of-the-way and jump straight into the action with Chapter 8 of The Green Hornet: Dead or Alive!
“Citadel Rescue” wraps up the Citadel Saga and the penultimate story arc in the third season of The Clone Wars. It’s obvious the writers are getting more and more ambitious with the scope of the storytelling, as this episode had simultaneous space and land battles with an emotional price to the action.
This episode might be my favorite of the three episodes and used all of the characters to the best of their abilities, not wasting a single one. Tarkin particularly seemed to fit and the notes of the Imperial March on their final handshake added an excellent gravitas to the foreshadowing of things to come.
I greatly enjoy the prison escape genre, particularly in the Star Wars universe, and this episode was no exception. Though I must say, I did find it incredibly humorous that the narrator (played by the always capable Tom Kane) spent almost a minute to explain the dire situation the characters were in and how urgently they were on the run and the episode immediately them taking a leisurely walk and then stopping to sit down and regroup. The juxtaposition of that seemed hilarious to me.
With our heroes on the run and the Separatist commander hot on their heels, the Jedi Council sends Plo Koon, Adi Gallia and Saesee Tiin to rendezvous with them once they’ve eluded capture. But things grow complicated for the rescue party when the Separatists heavily blockade the planet, intent on recapturing the escapees and torturing the vital information from them.
This episode came to an incredibly satisfying crescendo and I’m loathe to talk much about the emotional core of the episode because it’s very good and I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone. Though I will say on a different emotional level I was pleased to see the relationship between Ahsoka and Plo Koon grow. They had a very tender moment I enjoyed immensely.
As far as the action in the episode, I was very impressed. Sobeck, the Separatist commander, launched a double pronged assault against the Jedi starting with canine like hounds called anoobas and personally led an assault on a STAP. Now, I’ve always loved STAP’s. (Single Troop Aerial Transports.) The first toy I ever bought from the prequel era was the preview version of the STAP and I always felt they’d been under utilized in the films. Anakin has done some cool stuff with them in the show, but this was the first episode where I truly thought they were utilized to the best of their abilities. The Jedi (particularly Ahsoka, sporting both lightsabers) made this acrobatics show something truly special.
So with the STAPs and the anoobas bedeviling our heroes egress from the Citadel and the Separatist blockade making the space battle above truly spectacular, we’re privvy to an episode of The Clone Wars that reaches some of the shows highest heights and most complicated feats.
I can’t even begin to imagine how they’ll top this next week… Oh. Right. Chewbacca.
Sweet baby Skywalker, I can’t wait. But I also don’t want it to come. Because it will be over. And we won’t have new episodes for a long time…. a long time….
UPDATE: I’m reading that there are issues with EU wonks angry about Even Piell’s handling in this episode. To them I hope they can lighten up. This show is better than just about anything else in the EU. You can’t keep carrying this water for the EU. It’s expendable. They prove it every week.
Lucasfilm and Yahoo are running a promotion in advance of the April 1st season finale of The Clone Wars where kids can submit questions to Chewbacca and they will be answered on video on March 28th.
It seems pretty clear they’re looking for questions for Chewbacca, not Peter Mayhew. And the questions should be geared toward the Wookiee.
So if your kids have any questions, be sure to let them submit them!
Personally, I’ve always wanted to know why the Wookiee has no pants. I’d also be interested in knowing what it was he and Han had done to Lando prior to The Empire Strikes Back that Han was sure Lando had forgotten about.
The first question I am faced with after watching this trailer is: Will I be seeing an updated version of the truffle shuffle? There is no doubt Spielberg had a big ol’ hand in the making of this movie- and everything I’ve seen on it from day one has made it look like its a scary remake of E.T.
This particular trailer has now upgraded that to: Close Encounters of the Third Kind meets E.T. meets The Goonies. All of these things pointing in the same direction: BAD ASS! I will be there with my little kid shoes on- with the same expectation I had seeing any of those films…
You can find the original hi-res video over at twitvid. Or just watch it here!
Now… I will say- I’m not the biggest fan of J.J.’s direction with the kids- their performances come across subdued and teen angsty, as opposed to The Goonies who from frame one were bursting with what can only be described as child-like energy. But, to be fair- film makers could get away with a lot more in the 80’s than they can today… plus, they had to overcompensate with acting because special effects weren’t the king of the cinematic castle back then. That’s also NOT to say I didn’t see moments in the trailer that could lend themselves to that over the top reactionary acting one would hope for from a movie like this, but they were sort of drowned out in the editing.
The use of lens flare in all the none action related scenes actually works for me- it seems like it will help create a faux sense of pace and even emotion, but, if over used could really make the kids’ performances seem forced, and/or arbitrary.
Oh- and for some reason there’s a zombie at 1:54. (jokes- its a dude covered in blood- but the editing and the voice make it look like a zombie the first, second and third time you watch it… I don’t know if that was a purposeful decision, but it definitely adds to the mystique!)
The use of the E.T. sounding theme music didn’t hurt either… this is quite the well cut trailer, something J.J. Abrams has ALWAYS been good at- now let’s see if he can deliver like he did with Star Trek!
For those unfamiliar with the first volume of the Incredible Change-bots, go out and buy it now. Hell, if you are as lazy as I am, just go to TopShelf’s site and they’ll ship it to you. Much like the rest of Jeffrey Brown’s books, this series is incredibly funny.
Incredible Change-Bots 2 picks up four years later. Shootertron has lost his memory since the climactic fight in the previous volume. He stumbles upon an older couple on a farm. They take him in and raise him as one of their own. He even goes to High School and joins the football team, all the while keeping track of his experiences in his own personal diary.
Meanwhile the Awesomebots (along with some turncoat Fantasticons) have left Earth still searching for a new home. A lot of familiar faces aboard this ship, including my personal favorite Balls (an incredible changing golf cart). By some miscalcuations they crash land on Earth. Again.
Eventually Shootertron realizes who he is and wants to take over the United States government. Will the Awesomebots be able to stop him? Do they care? How will the Fantasticons react to being back on Earth and their former leader being alive?
Obviously to find out, you’re gonna need to pick this up. I loved this book. A dash of parody with a whole lot of nostalgia. Lots of great gags. The Incredible Change-bots Two comes out this month.
Ah, the video game tie-in book… They really vary in quality, most of them can be called, well, not great. When DC Comics solicited a comic book version of the hit PS3 game inFamous, I was understandable skeptical at first. Then I gave it some thought. inFamous the game wore its comic influences on its sleeve. It was in my opinion, well written and I am eagerly anticipating the sequel. Long story short, I am glad I did, for a few reasons, and I am happy to share them with you.
First off, the game shares the same storytelling style as the game, probably due to the fact that the writer, William Harms was the writer for both. Consistency is always a good thing when it comes to cross-media adaptation. Another strength the book has is that you don’t have to have played the game to follow the story of the comic. Everything is laid out for you, even the game’s major twist. You can come in fresh and know everything you need to know about Cole, the electricity-based protagonist, Empire City, and all of that good stuff.
The art by Eric Nguyen is ok. It isn’t bad by any means, but the gritty style that’s used is not my usual cup of tea. I would have much preferred the interiors to have been done by Doug Mahnke and Jorge Gonzales, who furnished the cover. The onlt real complaint I had about the book was while this issue does a great job in getting you up to speed, it doesn’t offer much for people who already know all of this due to playing the game. In all honesty, that is a really minor point, and there is a tidbit revealed in this issue that shows someone game players are used to as being on the forces of “good” may not be now or in fact may never have been so.
If you aren’t familiar with the story, here is a brief synopsis: Cole is a courier/delivery guy. He is given a package by the mysteriously Kessler who does shadowy genetic work for the government. He sends Cole a package to deliver to himself (in more ways than one). Cole does so and it turns out it is a bomb-like device called the RaySphere and Cole is at ground zero. After the explosion, Empire City is quarantined by the government, and there are many conspiracy theories as to why. Cole recovers from a coma to find he has lightning/electricity based powers. From there, Cole uses his newfound gifts to uncover the conspiracy behind the quarantine, and finds him face to face with Kessler, who has orchestrated all of this to make Cole a stronger hero for what lies ahead. What exactly lies ahead? Well friends, it isn’t pretty.
Of course there is more to it than that, but you’ll have to pick the book up to find out the details. It is definitely worth your time and money to do so!
inFamous #1 retails for $2.99 and is available now at your local comic shop.
Here’s your latest reason to hate NPR: When the latest R.E.M. album, “Collapse Into Now,” was released earlier this month, hosts, pundits, commentators and various hangers-on for the revered radio news source hyperbolically claimed it was the music set longtime fans of the band have desired for years.
Forget, if you can, that the band and its label had given NPR the rights to “stream” the full album on its site, and that the move made it look like NPR was, in essence, patting itself on the back for the seeming coup.
And forget, if you can, that NPR apparently forgot all about R.E.M.’s 2008 release, “Accelerate,” and the accompanying two-disc live set, “Live at the Olympia in Dublin: 39 Songs.” Both of these were assured returns-to-form that sated many an R.E.M. fans’ appetite for confident, jangly, hooky guitar/folk-pop.
Also forget that the NPR claims made a lot of R.E.M. aficionados sound like lifeless music dinosaurs who had nothing better to do with their time than await some sort of musical Second Coming.
Now for the good news part of our program: “Collapse Into Now” is a decent little R.E.M. album. There’s a lot to like in the dozen song selection. If nothing else, this and “Accelerate” show the band has left the poorly received “Around the Sun’s” gimmicky electronica and sound effects behind.
(The core trio of vocalist/lyricist Michael Stipe, guitarist/stringed instrument wiz Peter Buck and bass guitarist Mike continues to be augmented by co-producer Jacknife Lee, Ministry and Revolting Cocks skins pounder William Rieflin and multi-instrumentalist Scott McCaughey, of Young Fresh Fellows and various guitar-pop endeavors.)
Unlike “Accelerate,” which seemed to take its cues from the no-nonsense R.E.M. rockers “Fables of the Reconstruction” and “Lifes Rich Pageants” (sic), the songs here recall both the poppier relaxed rock aspects of “Out of Time” and “Automatic for the People.”
“All the Best” and its boastful “let’s show the kids how to do it” line, as well as both “Every Day is Yours to Win” and “That Someone is You” are all clear, anthemic winners.
But the whole collection is not without its share of clinkers. “Oh My Heart” may have that customary R.E.M. jangle, but its tune is stuck in neutral, with Stipe has written some less than inspired lyrical couplets for it. As for “Alligator_Aviator-Autopilot_Antimatter” … seriously, WTF?
Look, this is not all-time classic R.E.M. At this point in their career, we’re lucky just to get a solidly enjoyable album. Luckily, most of the musical quibbles here are minor ones. And besides, in a musical landscape ruled by Justin Biebers, Black Eyed Peas and American Idol competitors, we should just be grateful to still have R.E.M. So maybe NPR had it right all along …
Jerk-Bot is the robotic nom de plume of Utah-based movie reviewer and writer Jeff Michael Vice, who invites you to enjoy his other endeavors, for Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off review program, MSN’s Parallel Universe, X-96’s Radio From Hell, Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show.
So- the facebook page for X-Men: First Class just released two of the new teaser posters for their film and I just have to say… they are just awful.
No really- they are BAD:
Someone had a deadline and forgot about it until 3 o’clock that morning, hopped onto their computer and clicked the “learn how to photoshop” button… these were the results… How many millions of dollars are being spent on this film? So far EVERY image, official or not, that has been released of the film has made it look like it was made in my backyard with Li’l Stevie’s allowance. His dad has Photoshop and Premiere too!
The only thing they can do to salvage this mess is; on April 1- put up some PROFESSIONALLY designed posters, none of this cheap LiveTrace crap- and announce that these original releases were all just a big “April Fools” joke.