It is a normal part of my weekly comic reading habits to arrange my weekly purchases in order of what I guess to be least-to-most good. This way, my reading will be progressively enjoyable. I do this rather arbitrarily based on previous reading enjoyment, currently plots, and covers. This week, my order of comics was: Thunderbolts #133, Wolverine: Weapon X #3, Runawayys #11, Viking #2, Uncanny X-men #512, Detective Comics #854, Nova #26, Guardians of the Galaxy #15, Green Lantern #42, and Thor #602. In retrospect, I would have placed Runaways first on this list, as I haven’t read any of the previous run, and was excited too see that a new creative team was involved, especially one spearheaded by a woman, as I’ve enjoyed Immonen’s previous work on the Hellcat mini. I however, was eating a burrito for lunch, and thought it might be weird for people to see me reading quite seriously a comic full of scantily clad jailbait. So, I saved it until I returned home and read it on the toilet. Thunderbolts I have been enjoying, but was slightly turned off by the Deadpool story arc, as I don’t really care for Daniel Wray’s writing of Deadpool - I do, however enjoy how he is popping up throughout the Marvel universe, and bothering people from series to series (It is my new opinion that while the Marvel universe becomes a darker, grittier, more politically cynical environment, with villains in the role of previous Heroic Power, Deadpool is becoming more and more a Tradition comic book superhero). Moreover, Detective Comics is new to my purchases, since I was pretty excited about the new creative turn, curious about how they’d handle a female lead character, particularly a lesbian, and was blown away by the art while glancing at previews. Rucka is nothing to sneeze at, either. Nova and Guardians used to be in the opposite order, but Cosmo is currently the greatest character in all of Marvel. Thor has been at the end (most enjoyed) of the reading order spectrum for a long time now. Even though people complain that Thor, like Superman is over powered, the joy in the story-telling is in its subtlety, and Straczynski does a masterful job.
So, I guess I should start rambling about the actual comics now.
Thunderbolts #133:
This comic was beautifully done. What I enjoyed most about this issues were the individual scenes of conversation between the unique characters. Ghost and Black Widow, Ant-Man and Paladin, Osborn and Scourge…Each had interesting things to say, the stand out for the issue, for me at least was Ant-Man. He waxes poetic about the nature of superheroics, in an attempt to find a sense of security among the brutal warriors of the Thunderbolts with the help of a six-pack. His drunken nostalgia is an interesting reflection of the entire Marvel universe. No longer are we in the word of yesteryear, things are backwards and make little sense to those who have struggled to become the ideal that we, the reader, have idealized for so long. The scene with Moonsong is erriely reminiscent of the protests in Iran, as well. I really enjoy the art of this book. Though the tone is dark and violent, the faces are always beautifully expressive.
Wolverine: Weapon X #3:
Another surprise here. I’ve enjoyed Aaron’s series, but not loved it. I loved his issue of the main Wolverine series, “The Man in the Pit.” So, I was excited for this series. What I liked most about this issue was how successful the scenes were WITHOUT Wolverine. I was generally intrigued by the sub-plot of Ms. Garner’s corporate investigation, the introduction of the CEO, and the testimony before Congress. Wolverine is a very violent character, and Aaron gives him no mercy, or allowance for his popularity with the youth.
Runaways #11
I wasn’t a huge fan of the previous story arc, mostly for its art. So, as stated before, I was excited for the new team. This issue was solid, but not amazing in any regards. It had a bit of a build upclass=” that SOMEONE was going to die, but the end was a bit of a cop-out. As usual, Molly’s hats and dialog is the best part of the issue. The mystery behind the issue and its awesomely described, “vintage Cold War pop from our comrades in Kablamastan. Post-Party, pre-glasnost. Right on the blini-edgeski.” I want to find this music online somewhere. Also, it is the greatest fake name for a country in opposition to America since the original Transformers’ “Carbombia.”
Viking #2
If this book doesn’t win some sort of award for its art, I’ll be seriously disappointed. Every page is beautiful, and I love the large format (especially since it is still $2.99). Though I liked the first issue, I was still rather confused by it, what with all the names and characters and little back story to help explain any of it. However, this entire issue is saved by the last scene of the grandfather - the most epic thing I’ve read in a long, long time.
Uncanny X-men #512:
I haven’t been reading this for awhile. I started on #500 and stopped after 6 or so, but the cover drew me in on this one. Inside is a wonderful little steam-punk adventure of time-travel and biological investigation. What is neat is that Fraction uses all second and third string characters for this, and keeps it exciting and engaging nonetheless. The story is a neat little one-shot adventure, and is extra long to contain it all. See, Marvel? A comic for $3.99 that is actually extra long, and not full of useless backmatter. I don’t mind spending extra in that situation. The neat little twist at the end also made me smile.
Detective Comics #854:
Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Ever preview cover of this series has made my jaw drop, and the inside art is just as good. But, I’ve been really interested in this comic after reading the article about it on Advocate.com (http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid91896.asp). I was really interested on how DC would handle a serious lead female, and one who is a lesbian. Luckily they invested their top guns in the book. What fascinated me about this comic is that Batwoman is actually as scary as Batman. Her black, white and red appearance, and the panel on the opening splash page where we see a close-up on her teeth…ooo, shivers. There was a delicate scene of a breakup, and her sexuality isn’t heavy-handed. Alice is genuinely creepy, and we see Batwoman steadily holding a gun and firing it, something we would never see Batman do. And, again, a neat little short story at the end.
Nova #26:
First of all, the cover is very misleading. But, I’ve been partial to Nova since the first issue of this volume. Gottta admit, this issue is a LITTLE boring. Lots of word bubbles. This usually isn’t a complaint from me, but you expect a little bit more action when there is a war going on in outer space. There are some very emotional moments, and a lot of promise for the next issue.
Guardians of the Galaxy #15
It took awhile for this book to pick up. But, within the last 3-4 issues it has become one of my favorites. Yes, Cosmo the dog is my favorite character in Marvel, but the series is good enough without him. Lots of drama, and punching and plenty of steam to keep this series going, particularly with the last page. This book, much like the team in it, seems under-powered on appearance, but again and again proves its might.
Green Lantern #42:
Another misleading cover. A LOT of this issue in particular was very bothersome to me. Hal Jordan’s dialog was just plain irksome. “Did the same thing to my partner. Gave you a taste of what you hoped for. It was a…a mirage?! BAH!” What the hell is that trying to convey? The ellipses, the ?!. Ugh. It literally made my skin crawl. That, and Jordan’s comparing Larfleeze to Gonzo. Fuck you, Gonzo is awesome. Another thing that bothered me was the art. John Stewart looks different in every panel, including like a 14 year old in one panel. And there are random panels that look painted, where the rest is traditional art. These seem to serve no purpose in the book, because they aren’t standout in anyway, other than their contrast to the rest of the book. The fighting stops seemingly for no reason at all. The Oans are frustrating douchebags, and the epilogue was my favorite part of this book. Except for the fact that the Black Lantern corps’ lantern is in Space Sector 666. Fucking trite. Some of the inking and registration is inconsistent too. The logo on Hal’s chest is sometimes surrounded by black, and sometimes white. I don’t expect to see registration problems, fuzzy mis-layered inking, in one of DC’s top books. Usually this one is a favorite of mine, but not this week.
Thor #602:
This is pretty much my favorite Marvel title. Period. And it took a very interesting turn in plot with the last few issues. Thor banished from the kingdom, the Mjöllnir broken, Thor killing his kin, Loki and his puppet Balder…This are amiss in the kingdom of Asgard. It was delightul seeing Dr. Strange in the book, and the human character William is an interesting inclusion to the story, as well as a voice of reason. Thor’s been taken down a notch in power to his previous Walter Simonson level of “still pretty fucking powerful.” Thor has some love back in his life, (one thing I really love about Simonson’s Thor is that everyone is trying to get laid), and the last three panels are unsettling. Not the BEST issue of Thor, but it is introducing a lot of events to come.
So, my list is pretty inverted, as far as my favorites are concerned, though I don’t have a clear book of the week. I think it’d have to go down to a battle between Thunderbolts, and Detective Comics.
This year seems to be the Incredible/Horrible B-videogame awakening. What with DC’s most iconographic heroes somehow spilling into the ultra-violent world of Mortal Kombat (Link), this trend is equal parts alarming, baffling, and amazing.
Here is the trailer:
Now, I know what you are thinking. Why is he in the desert? Why is he killing a bunch of people? How did one of the worst games ever made get a sequal? How did 50 Cent get an action/adventure game?
Well, here is an answer to SOME of those questions (Link).
…what’s inspired the title is, 50 and G-Unit are putting on a sold-out performance somewhere in a fictional Middle Eastern setting. This is where the ‘blood on the sand’ comes in. They put on the performance; the people are pleased, but the concert promoter stiffs them and doesn’t give 50 and G-Unit their payment.
So, of course, 50 isn’t going to leave until he gets paid, so he hassles the concert promoter, [saying] if he doesn’t come up with the money now, there will be consequences. And instead, the promoter offers him a very valuable gift - something that’s valuable to this particular country - a diamond encrusted skull.
So 50 gets the skull, and as he’s about to leave this war-torn country, when they’re ambushed and the skull is taken. They escape the ambush, but they’re without the skull. So 50’s motivated to get what belongs to him. So basically, throughout the game, he’s trying to track these people down and find out who they are and why he was ambushed.
Here is what confuses me. Is the 50 Cent in this game supposed to represent the real 50 Cent? Or some kind of strange Earth Prime 50 Center where everything is different? Last time I checked, don’t international super stars book concerts through agents and managers? I assume that musicians on his level tend to get paid in advanced, or through some kind of electronic exchange, and not after a gig in cash. And, if for some reason they don’t get paid, don’t they have high-power lawyers to make someone’s life hell instead of guns?
On another note: Do Middle Eastern counties, often strict Muslim nations, celebrate the over-the-toppness of American Hip-Hop enough to draw a big enough venue for a concert for an international superstar? Isn’t the media in these nations so tightly controlled that a CD with enough vulgarities in it to earn a Parental Advisory wouldn’t even be let into their nation?
How did 50 Cent gain the experience to take down potentially military trained, possibly terrorist trained soldiers? Isn’t the fact that 50 Cent is so successful at doing this a little insulting to OUR military forces across the Middle East who put their actual lives on the line every day?
So, instead of getting paid, he gets a special treasure of the land. And it gets stolen. Is 50 Cent so materialistic that he has to kill for a treasure that has no value to him other than a form of payment? No nostalgia, or national or ethnic pride. When do musicians, who make the majority of their money from concerts and merchandise except items on barter for payment? If the skull is so important, can’t he get one made for him again with all of his previous millions?
This game makes my head hurt just thinking about it…and yet…I must play it.
As a presenter at this conference, and viewing Steven’s presentation, I can firmly say that Warren Ellis’s blog post attracted asian goth ladies from the surrounding area. Well, at least one. Well, at least one.
While my drunken word of mouth around town got nothing.
More on this conference later, after I fly back home.
Set to the song “Bridges” by Neurosis, this experimental music video explores the remains of Bethlehem Steel, which at one point was the worlds largest steel plant. Now slowly decaying and rusting. This film takes the viewer where few people have explored, inside the walls of this surreal steel mill. Great band!
I don’t know what is cooler, personally, the fact that J. gets noticably pissed when Letterman’s band tries to do an out of place solo in the song, so he completely destroys him moments later in an albeit sloppy but superb moment of rock and roll revenge, or the fact that Murph is standing at his drums the whole time just pound the fuck out of everything he sees.
Any metal video that is setup to inspire children into forming anti-authority mobs of zipper hoody wearing, mask toting badasses against the big brother of the corporate, consumer, and political worlds out of their control is automatically frustrating in my book. Especially since their form of protest just somehow turns into a street team promotional stunt for the very band that made the video in the first place (which in itself is a form of marketing).
What is strange is that this video has such a great review on youtube.
Let’s dissect this first scene. A Swedish metal band decides to film a video somewhere in the deserts of America, where magical flames shoot out from behind the drummer. A little emo boy stands downtrodden and walks home after getting made fun of all day at school. And enter Angela Gossow – who everyone shits bricks over because she is a woman singer in a metal band, but apparently no one has ever heard of Crysis. She brandishes a megaphone, emblazoned with what, at first glance, resembles an anarchy symbol, but has been skewed into a logo for the band (don’t forget to buy their records, kids!). The boy strips off his My Chemical Romance sweater in disgust.
A lot of metal bands lately have chosen to do videos focusing on anti-conformity messages. But, all these people are non-conforming by wearing band merchandise, talking on their cell phones which are probably covered under some sort of “family plan†and supporting a mediocre band. We get some glimpses of a big city, probably metaphorically referring to New York’s Wall Street, because the shot itself would have been too expensive, even if this video was funded by Hot Topic teeshirt sales.
We also get the first shots of the little group of corporate sponsored anarchists huddling around in shadowy warehouses spray painting a van and running around. Now, color me stupid, but I thought the whole van customizing scene died when the A-Team was canceled. The disgruntled teens drive across bridges, hop over objects, and run past shipping containers. They hack some PIN codes and spray paint some cameras.
In case you were trapped in the groove of the song, and haven’t noticed, no where do they show or mention what we are supposed to be rebelling against, and at no point are we even informed as to what is so bad to cause the people to form some sort of gang in the first place. I think the video infers that one of the teenage boys (yeah, I think they’ve all been boys at this point. Girls need not apply) hacked the satellite by entering a room and turning a dial (which doesn’t actually explain why the video was distorted to look like it was hacked before the people actually hacked the feed to display it). The band’s video (not the actual video we are watching, but the one of just them playing a song in a desert, without electricity to power their guitars and amps, let alone broadcast equipment for the feed in question) plays on jumbo screens for everyone to watch. Just in time for a bitchin’ guitar solo.
This band of brothers has succeeded, and walks away triumphantly, without their encumbering sweaters,
I remember when 1349 first came out, I was pretty excited over the deliberate aesthetic choice of the band to recreate an old school black metal feel - in sound, content, and wardrobe. And, with the legendary drummer Frost on board, what isn’t there to be kvlt about?
Well, that’s easy to say when you listen to the band, but once again, things just don’t translate into the cooperate world of the music video. I mean, why would a black metal band want a music video at all? Where is it going to air, MTV? I don’t want to say sell out, but you know…
About the video itself, it is an absolute dizzying affair to watch. With a jump cut every second of the video, nothing stays in focus or in frame. I think the director wanted to match the speed of the band itself, but you literally can’t see anything.
There also appears to be some sort of Asian nurse throughout the video, who they sometimes have a one second shot of, and who is sometimes holding a scalpel. But, I don’t think they ever show any flesh being sculpted - in fact, I think I saw more generic industrial equipment throughout the video than I did any sort of barbaric surgery.
Ravn also has some seriously cheeseball hair. What a curly haired fancy boy. His locks strewn about with a devil-may-care attitude, as he screams into the camera. Basically any video where I’m watching the singer looking at me is a bad video. The fourth wall cannot be broken.
But, for all the talk of Satan, and hailing from the regions of Norway, there certain aren’t any visual references to anything Satanic or Scandinavian. I think I saw someone turning up a volume dial at one point, not an old man in a wooden shack, surrounded by snow, slicing up bodies and forming new meat puppet abominations for him to have sex with. No flesh sculpting, no cutting instruments, no bodies, in fact. And with a closer visual relationship to Asian horror, the band loses and sort of cohesion to their music.
Welcome to Tim’s first in a series of weekly video posts with the theme: Bad Metal Videos.
Why Tuesday? Well, its one of my days off, for starters. Also, it makes things just a little bit less alliterative.
Pretty much all metal videos are bad. Period. I’m going to show you why.
While one cannot ignore the power of the pagan villagers rebelling against the insurgency of the Christians, one also cannot ignore the poorly synced vocals with Henri Sorvali trying desperatly to look cool on video. Personally, all videos where someone is looking into the camera bother me, but he’s trying so hard to sync up with what is being heard that it is almost painful.
Thor’s hammer hangs ominously in the background, while Nordic runes cover their amps. But personally, it looks like Styrofoam and masking tape. Granted, a Finnish viking metal probably can’t afford too much more than that. One guess as to what a Viking Metal band does spend their money on…
The fight scenes are little more than LARP fodder, with poor quality costumes, anachronistic haircuts, and a narrative that is basically a low-budget copy of the low budget video for Bathory’s One Rode to Asa Bay.
Also, I don’t think any of their instruments are plugged in.
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