Free Comic Book Day!

This Saturday at your local comic book store, go get a free comic book or three! Did I mention they are free? It looks like there are some good selections this year; Avengers, a Blackest Night preview, and that's just from the Big Two. I'll be hanging out for most of the day at Charging Star Comics in Conklin, NY. If you are in the area, stop in, its like Christmas Part 2!


As you may know, X-men Origins: Wolverine opens this Friday. I am planning to see it, though I am not expecting much more than a big-budget, over-blown, Hollywood fight-fest. No doubt it will look and sound amazing, while the story will be a ridiculously contrived mangling of the Wolverine mythos in order to cram as many claw inspired fights into two hours as humanly (or mutantly?) possible.

In my experience, there are two types of X-men fans: the comic book reading fans who know the stories and don't like Gambit, and the fans who only saw the cartoon of the 90's and think Gambit is the greatest thing to come out of Louisiana since the Utah Jazz. Let's be clear, this movie is for the second set of fans. I only hope there are enough redeeming qualities for the fanboys to at least enjoy the movie and not be sick in their popcorn.

Newsrama has a concise retelling of Wolverine's origin story here, so print it out, take it to the movie with you, and then crumple it up about 3 seconds in when they screw everything up.
Actually, the Newsrama article has inspired me to further distill Wolverine into a haiku:

Dead wives, surrogate daughters,
No memory, claws,
Adamantium, SNIKT!, bub.


Comics I bought this week:

Batman: Battle for the Cowl - The Underground

Dark Avengers #4

Thunderbolts #131
This one is the conclusion of the 4 part crossover with Deadpool, and it was a hoot! If you missed out on it, watch for the trade. Deadpool is one of the most entertaining comics out there, though I'm still on the fence about the new 'Bolts team. The boost from DP certainly helped, I'm just afraid the current cast of nobodys will fail to hold my attention for very long. The old team (the current Dark Avengers) is much more interesting.

Megan Fox in Jonah Hex movie

First, the genius casting of Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex, and now this photo on Newsrama of Megan Fox in her, um, historically accurate outfit...yes, I will be seeing this film.

Mjolnir Watch '09

The watch continues!

Thor #601 hit this week, with a gorgeous cover by Marko Djurdjevic I might add. So let's investigate the current state of the mightiest weapon of all, Mjolnir!

If you remember, we last left Thor after he unwittingly killed his grandfather in battle which left Mjolnir in a sad, broken state:

This issue opens with Thor and Dr. Don Blake dealing with this fact. I appreciate that Straczynski takes the time to deal with this properly, and right out in the front of the story. Considering some of the chicanery with Mjolnir that has taken place in the recent past by other, shall we say, less concerned writers, ( I'm looking at you, Mr. Loeb) this is quite refreshing.

I'd say it is pretty bad, pal. Thor explains to Blake that this has happened before, but by the work of some kind of magic that was subsequently reversed. In this case, the hammer was broken by killing a god, which is unprecedented. How do you fix an enchanted hammer that was forged in the center of a star? Luckily for Blake, Mjolnir still works so that he and Thor can trade places, and Blake is careful to bring the pieces of his also broken stick (the mortal analog to Mjolnir) along with him.

Also in this issue, Loki's plan to move all of the inhabitants of Asgard to Latveria under the watchful eye of Doctor Doom come to fruition. I'm not sure where this is leading, but nowhere good, I'm sure of that.

Also, Doom admits he Wiki'd winkles.
All in all, a great read and a good direction for this story. I admit I have not been reading Straczynski's run on Thor until issue #600, but after this issue, I am going to go back and catch up with the trades. As Thor would say:


*cue AC/DC music*

Two Similar and Equally Awesome Things

First Awesome Thing:
Secret Invasion: Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill: Green of Eden

Yes, the title contains many awesome colons, and once you get past the cover, one finds the insides to contain even more awesomeness. Very good story by Keiron Gillen that moves Beta Ray Bill's story forward and gives him something to think about on the way to his upcoming showdown with Galactus. Plus, a simple equation for you: The Warriors Three + Super-Skrull Technology = ?

If you answered "Awesome," congrats, you are paying attention.

Second Awesome Thing:



This may be the greatest movie ever made. Once it comes out on DVD, this hypothesis will be confirmed.

Now consider the similarities of The Two Awesome Things:

Beta Ray Bill is an alien who gets his power from an ancient Norse god.

Outlander is about an alien that lands in ancient Norse times and fights other aliens that look like Dragons.

They are practically identitical!

Survival Guide: Zombies

Here is a link with some helpful hints at surviving the Zombie Apocalypse if you happen to find yourself in Washington, D.C. That's what I strive for with this blog, presenting helpful information everyone should know.

Wants and Needs

This may qualify as both:


Batman approved.

More great stuff

New trailer for Green Lantern: First Light animated movie. It looks awesome.

And this from the Fail Blog:

These should be required safety equipment for all public buildings.

Also, go check out Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin for his thoughts on Barry Allen coming back as The Flash. I agree, that of all characters, Barry Allen seems the least appropriate to bring back from the dead.

The debate on whether e-comics will replace print comics continues over at Newsrama, with news from Apple concerning subscriptions and the like. I don't really like the idea of paying Apple to read the latest issue of Thunderbolts, and the whole question about the electronic future of print media makes me feel old. We'll have to keep an eye on this.

Hot Links

Thor VS. Hippies!

Penny Arcade is funny.

Man shoots himself during Watchmen.

Marvel is letting us vote on their best covers ever as part of their 70th Anniversary. Go vote now and keep Amazing Spider-Man #583 off the list! (hint: Thor #337)

I didn't even know Aquaman was dead!

Pure, distilled awesome:

As seen in Previews...

All you need to know is the title...

WEREWOLVES VS. VAMPIRES ON THE MOON





Radness Alert!

Best enjoyed whilst listening to metal: