Thursday, June 30, 2016

Gorgo, the comic

Actually, just the Ditko Gorgo comics are presented here, but it's a great collection of some of his more unknown work.  While the completist nerd in me would love all of the stories (how many more could there be, though, really) in the series, this is a pretty good representation of them.  Heck, I'd also love the Reptilicus/Reptisaurus stories as well, but that's something for another day, I reckon.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Gorgo trailer

I like this movie, but I can't say I am a huge fan of it. I think if I had seen it at a younger age I would love it now. I always wanted to, but alas, it never aired in my area growing up.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Agents of SHIELD

Much better than I was expecting, especially after all the fanboy nonsense about Daredevil, which I have found a chore to get through even three episodes.  It does help that these episodes are only 42 minutes long and they are filmed in the daytime.  Not nearly as grimdark as DD.  And at least they look like SHIELD agents, and the flying car has even made an appearance.  I love the references to the movies and other heroes and Agent Coulson (possible LMD?), just rocks.  I'm only about five issues, I mean episodes in and I really enjoy it.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Island of Lost Souls - Blondie

This was the band's last big success in the 80s, as they broke up shortly after this LP was released. I didn't care much for the song when it came out, as I preferred the "new wave" sound the had brought Blondie to the table. Wait, what disco song? But I understand that a band wants to expand it's musical sound.

Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Can't believe this movie is thirty years old now.  I was familiar with the now legendary Pee-Wee Herman Show special from HBO or whatever cable channel used to air it, which still is great fun now.  I wondered how this would translate to the big screen, and they did a great job of it, forgoing some elements from the special that would later make it back into the Saturday morning series, such as Jombi and the talking animals.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

The Lost World

Couldn't they have come up with a better title?

Daredevil

After all the nerdishness about this new show I'm slowing making it through the first season.  It's well acted and written, but still seems far more crime drama than superhero show.  I've never been a huge DD fan, though I do like the character.  I have never seen the Ben Affleck movie, but I do remember Rex Smith taking a turn as DD in the last Hulk movie.  I've heard how gritty and realistic this new version, so I was a bit askance at watching it.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Grumpy old Man

Dana Carvey did this sketch

Kaiju Panel at DCC 2016

Yesterday I attended Denver Comic Con for the first time.  I had been invited to attend a panel about Godzilla, Gamera and other kaiju/monsters in the future.  This was obviously due to my vast experience in the field (yes, I'm joking) but it really was a lot of fun,  And look how well attended this was!  That surprised me, since I think the giant monster fandom is rather small overall.  Of course I was also surprised at the Ultraman Comic panel I was on last year had a a full house attending as well, since that's an even smaller fandom, at least in this country.  It's nice to be proven wrong occasionally.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

"Welcome to the Jungle" by The Misfits

That is definitely a misleading title. One might think the actual Misfits covered the Guns N Roses song, but that's not the case. These are the cartoon Misfits who had much better music than their adversaries.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Invaders Classic v 4

So this is the final volume of the original run of the Invaders.  It's got some good stories in it, plus some good text pages.  I do wish they had included "What if...?" #4 instead of the 90s Invaders miniseries.  It's OK, but not once does anyone smile in those four issues.  Everyone, women included, are gritting their teeth.  It's laid out well, but the faces are all the same.  There's not much humor in the book, which makes it a pretty dreary mini-series, even if we get to the Aarkus, the original Vision, again.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Kamen Rider X - Setup and X Kick

Oh, there's a reason for this- I just got the Malayasian DVD set of this (all 35 episodes on two discs) and am enjoying it quite a bit, even with the somewhat dodgy English subs. Out of the first five shows this is the one I've seen least, so I am looking forward to it.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Jurassic Park

I reviewed this movie way back in xenorama #4, the dinosaur issue.

Avengers Assemble

Watched most of the first two seasons of this pseudo sequel to the Earth's Mightiest Heroes and I quite enjoy it, even if it's annoying that it's just not an exact continuation (cartoons don't have to resemble the movies all the time, so vexing).

Thursday, June 9, 2016

The Warriors (1979)

I saw this first in 1984, though I remember hearing about it when it was released.  It was considered very controversial at the time, since it was about gangs and set in present day New York.  Which is pretty ridiculous looking back now, because if it had been a western and had settlers fighting through different Native American tribes it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.  There's only one gun used in the entire movie.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The Resurrection of Jake the Snake (2015)

I'd been watching Jake's story for a while.  He was one of the first heels I ever appreciated as to how he could cause such a riot by speaking slightly above a whisper.  His ring psychology was right up there with Jerry Lawler- did those two ever feud? that might have been amazing- and he was a gifted performer as well.  He also was a troubled soul, and this funny and sometimes intense documentary shows it, no holds barred.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Denver Comic Con 2016

I have been asked to be on a panel this year at the Denver Comic Con  This will be pretty fun, as it's about kaiju, or as we call them, monsters.  I've got the plan of the panel, though it seems pretty ambitious for an hour or so- lots to talk about in a short amount of time.  It is geared to mostly upcoming projects, which means I may have a minority view about such things.  But we will see how it goes.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Harlock: Space Pirate

I first learned about Captain Harlock sometime in the late 70s.  Since finding concrete information about the character was next to impossible at that time in Longmont Colorado I naturally made up many of my own stories about him.  This happened a lot with Japanese creations, as who knew there would be such easy access to them later on in life?  It happened a lot.  Harlock had such a great look to him that I also invented my own space opera about pirates and illustrated them, or at least large storyboards.  It was fun and made me more creative overall.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Captain Hydra?

People still fall for gimmicks like this?  Superman dying, Capt getting shot, replaced or changing his ID. Batman and the broken back, Spider-man and... well, you name it- all these are cheap publicity stunts designed to get people talking.  They keep doing it since it works.  It lasts maybe a year, and then things all go back to normal.