Some last minute Christmas thoughts

Well, I've still got a half hour's worth of Christmas left where I am, so just a few last things:

First - Check out my brother's Podcast Dumpster Tech where he and a few others discuss technology, video games, and etc. Only two shows are out so far so there's no excuse about not wanting to trudge through their backlog!

Second - Among the gifts I got for Christmas were several old comics that the aforementioned brother gave me, so I'll have even more material to make fun of in the coming year.

Third - I also got Action Philosophers (Yay!) and Amazons Attack (ACK!), which I intend to do a four-part video review on. I ALSO got Adobe Premiere Elements 7, so expect some better special effects and video quality in future reviews!

Fourth - The Doctor Who Christmas special ROCKED.

That's it from me! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! ‎ Read more!

Superman at Earth's End

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

Well, whatever it is, it certainly isn't Superman...



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Wherein I talk about a good comic

Admittedly, it's not a new video (working on it right now!), but here's something that surprised me this week: DC's Holiday special.

Considering the poor quality of last year's outing, I wasn't expecting much. Ho-ho-ho-boy was I surprised - this is REALLY GOOD. Every story is heartwarming and there's some serious surprises here. For one - an Aquaman story by DAN DIDIO and IAN CHURCHILL turned out to be good.

SERIOUSLY.

The first story is a cute little thing that describes Santa Claus' origins, which when you think about it, are surprisingly similar to another well-known fictional character...



That's followed up by the aforementioned Didio and Churchill story, wherein Aquaman saves the life of a pregnant woman and her husband from a crook looking for treasure. The artwork was leagues above Churchill's work on Titans (helped, I think, by the fact that no one wore a mask). Why Aquaman and why a pregnant woman? Well, let's see if you can spot the parallel they make:



Wow.

Then we follow up with Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen reciting Good King Wenceslas in painted glory. Anyone who knows me knows my favorite book is The Once and Future King and my favorite film is Camelot, so seeing knights and kings and the like in this fashion was just awesome.



And- hey, wait, is that Batman's shadow on the wall there? Dini, you sly bastard...

Tom Kelly and Mick Bertilorenzi offer up a hopeful message of peace for a single day in Gotham City - "A Day without Sirens." It's a campaign by citizens that for one day, no one has to call the police on an emergency. Gordon is pessimistic about its chances, but then throughout the day, the ONLY call that the police gets is to save a cat from a tree. Now, at midnight the 911 calls do start coming in again, but it's heartwarming to say the least, even if it's revealed in the end that Oracle was redirecting all the 911 calls from the police station and having Supergirl handle all the emergencies to renew hope in Gotham's police forces.

Plus Batman makes a funny.



Art Baltazar, Franco Aureliani, and Tim Levins make a simple little story that I have to say is forgettable, but at least it doesn't renew the Captain Boomerang/Robin stuff.



Isn't this like the third time Tim's gotten that costume?

We continue with a Blue Beetle story by J.C. Vaughn and Lee Garbett where we see a legacy of petty crooks who have been fighting the Blue Beetle in all his incarnations, but the latest wants his son to try at a better life. It's fairly forgettable, but again, a sweet gesture.



Amanda Mcmurray and Rafael Albuquerque feature a Huntress story where she fights an abusive father, gives some hope to a young kid, and also teaches him why calling something "retarded" is really lame. Again, forgettable but sweet, but also it's great to see another female author here. Anyone else familiar with her work? Speaking of, it seems like DC's using a lot of its lesser-known talent in this book, which I think is great.



Rex Ogle and Mike Dimotta come up with a great Titans story. Why is it great? It shows how you do teen angst while also being heartwarming and hopeful. Any chance this guy could be writing the team? The artwork's a little stylized, but the coloring makes it shine in several panels.

Also: Traci 13 and Jaime Reyes. WIN.



Alan Burnett and Kevin Maguire bring a JLA story where Red Arrow and Green Lantern bring the Shaggy Man to the JLA's Christmas party due to not wanting to miss it by spending hours filling out paper work. The Shaggy Man wakes up from his tranquilizers and he's warmed by the gift they give him.



I thought the Shaggy Man was a robot, though. How did they pump him full of tranquilizers?

Adam Schlagman and Rodolgo Migliari end the book with a Dr. Light story where she takes on Shimmer and Mammoth and manages to kick their asses single-handedly, with art that very much evokes Alex Ross. Just a gorgeous story and very well-written.



So, that's all from me. In case I don't say it when I post the next video, everyone have a Merry Christmas or respective holiday or just a good time doiing whatever you do.

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S.C.I.-Spy #1 (Plus an Introduction!)

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No, Mr. Bond, but I expect you to be more entertaining than this comic!"


NOTE: I make a joke about the solicitation in this recap, but as it turns out, the solicit I read online doesn't match the solicitation in the actual book and I didn't catch it until after the video was uploaded.



ALSO: An introduction to my video reviews, since I'M NOW OFFICIALLY PART OF THATGUYWITHTHEGLASSES.COM!



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US-1 #1

A realistic, hard-hitting exposé on the lives of truckers!


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Character Assassination

Sooo, I get my comics today and my shop put in a free ad into the bag, in this case for an upcoming Spider-Man storyline. By now people should know how I feel about the entire One More Day/Brand New Day fiasco, so I just had to laugh when I saw this:



Anyone else think that the marketing department did this on purpose? ‎ Read more!