Afternoon Rant-Reviews--Some DC, Boom, Image, and Other Indie Comics

As I spent the morning discussing Marvel comics, I thought it would make sense to now discuss some of the other varied stuff I've enjoyed/had to endure lately.

3 New Stories
Dash Shaw is a fabulous artist, and even if these three new stories are mostly just funny weird yarns it still is a pleasure to read them. As these are short tales you get nothing as expansive or insanely complex as his other works, but sometimes bite-sized chunks of an otherwise gigantic meal can be satisfying in their own way too.
4 out of 5 stars.

Storm Dogs #5
David Hine is a great writer and this mixture of sci-fi and police procedural is fascinating stuff which proves his skill. In the span of these five issues I care so much about these characters and really hope this sells well enough to get more "seasons" as it is stated by Hine he is eager to do. Plus, the book does a spectacular job asking questions that make you think, be it about sexuality and gender, or what it means to try and "save" a culture by basically destroying it (in this case that culture being all the native aliens our team encounters). Superb stuff even if all the plots being juggled can result in one needing to slow down and think about everything that is going on--but is it ever a bad thing if a comic actually makes you think?
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Green Arrow #20
I honestly did not read this series at all until I heard about it getting what was basically an entirely fresh start under Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, with them providing quality writing and beautiful art, respectively. Once I learned of this soft-reboot (that basically followed the Nu52 hard-reboot of the character, but whatever) I checked the comic out and was extremely impressed by the aforementioned writing and gorgeous drawing. I've been enjoying this series since and this issue was no exception. We get some conclusion to Oliver Queen's conflict with "Komodo" but clearly a lot of the story is still just beginning. Pick up that first Lemire & Sorrentino issue and give this a chance, you'll be glad you did--even if just for the amazing art.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Rogues #1
Ah, the debut issue of new publisher "Amigo Comics" pirates-tale (that actually features a cast from past comics, apparently). This is basically pure fan service with its violence and sex, but the comic's writer El Torres says in the back of the comic book that is kind of the whole point of what he is going for with this series--bringing back that feeling of 1990's excess. It helps that he has the spectacular Juan Jose Ryp on art as there has never been an attractive woman or spurt of blood Ryp would hesitate to draw the heck out of. That said, it is unfortunate that the art is the biggest selling-point of this book because Ryp is no longer doing it after this first issue. Still, it might be worth a glance along with the other upcoming releases from this new comic imprint.
3 out of 5 stars.

Parker VS Aliens #2
I picked both this and the first issue up at once because I have enjoyed watching writer Paul Scheer in his normal work as a comedian ("Human Giant" is one of the best comedy shows ever, for real). That said, while this comic does finally pick up some steam in the second issue I still found myself a bit bored by the plot, characters, and--worst of all considering Scheer wrote this--the jokes. We have the various cliches making up the crew of space deliverymen and the requisite mystery on a strange planet they set off to explore where things unsurprisingly go horribly wrong. It's just all so dull, which is quite unfortunate as I really was hoping for this book to be good. Oh well.
1.5 out of 5 stars.

Suicide Risk #1
Mike Carey returns to hero-styled comics! I enjoyed his work on (the older) "X-Men Legacy" and his contributions to the "Endangered Species" back-up/mini that a lot of folk hated but I loved was some of his best stuff too--not that "The Unwritten" is bad, I just kind of quit reading it when I moved almost two years ago and didn't bother to start picking it up again. Anyways, we've now got Carey writing this whole new world where it seems by having a special genetic marker you can pay to have something done to you that grants you superpowers. The problem is that most of the people with these superpowers seem to be villains, so being a hero is a...Suicide Risk (and now you see where that title came from). Carey faces the classic 1st-issue problem of trying to build up a new world and introduce us to our main character, a police officer named Leo. The thing is, Carey takes that problem head-on and does a pretty good job making us care about Leo and also be intrigued by this depressing universe where there are more bad-guys than good. I still am not quite sure what possesses Leo to try and gain powers at the end of the comic (I'm not spoiling anything, the solicit for this series said as much happens) as opposed to just shutting the dealers down, but perhaps as the issues continue things will become clear. A good return to super-heroes for Carey and I am eager to see what happens next.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Justice League of America #3
This is interesting enough, with its mystery of just what a secret society of super-villains could be up to. However, as it has already been basically revealed that all of that ties-in to the upcoming "Trinity War" cross-over I suppose I'm not too excited as what seemed like an interesting story-line is in fact just a lead-up to a big event (kind of like how that Bendis-penned "Moon Knight" series was a big 12-issue promo for "Age of Ultron"). Still, the book looks pretty snazzy, is written decently, and otherwise is an example of how a comic can be good enough to be better than average, without achieving anything resembling greatness.
3 out of 5 stars.

Between my morning-post full of Marvel comics and this afternoon one of a variety of stuff I would hope there is a comic I've discussed that you now know to go and pick-up, or one you are now aware you should avoid like the plague. Whatever the case, have a great rest of your day.

Morning Rant Reviews--Four Marvel Comics Of Varying Quality

I of course read a variety of comics, but I thought I would kick-off this morning with some reviews of Marvel comics (as I suppose that is a chunk of what I read) and follow-up in the afternoon with a smattering of other stuff.

Avengers Arena #9
From the start a lot of people were against this book. From the whole thing with it being fan-favorite teen-characters forced to kill each other making those aforementioned fans angry, to the idea that Marvel is no way in hell actually going to let these characters stay dead. Still, this has actually been a pretty good series, and even if it turns out none of these characters are actually killed (or come back to life really soon) this comic has at least done one thing I thought impossible--namely, made the villain, "Arcade" a bit less of a laughingstock (which was cleverly acknowledged and discussed in issue 7), so that's impressive. All of that said, this issue left a little to be desired with more instances of us getting a character's back-story than actually seeing all the conflict in the present. This wasn't bad by any means, however.
3 out of 5 stars.

Uncanny X-Force #4
We are on the fourth issue and I still have little-to-no clue what is going on. Apparently this comic is going to work on hand-waving away why Bishop was trying to kill Cable's adopted daughter, Hope, by throwing in mind-control or something. I find this annoying because pretty much none of the Marvel comics pointed out that Bishop was basically right about Hope as the Phoneix-force-infused X-Men almost destroyed the world and then she came close too during AVX before instead reigniting the mutant race. Doing this whole, "Oh, Bishop was just being made to act weird," story-line sort of ruins all that. Besides that matter though, we have a team that doesn't seem to gel together that well besides the rapport between Storm and Psylocke, and Fantomex is fun but as we don't fill the whole comic with him/her (there are 3 versions now, it's complicated) that can only go so far. At least the art is pretty to look at, but I'm basically underwhelmed by this comic.
2 out of 5 stars.

The Fearless Defenders #4
I like Cullen Bunn as a person, I do. I really enjoyed interviewing him, and I'm a fan of his work on those "Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe/Deadpool Killustrated" mini-series along with his writing on "Venom". All of that said, I'm still just not really digging this series. New character Annabelle Riggs is fun, as she provides a viewpoint like that of what a normal person would feel surrounded by all these heroes, but I just don't really care about all this Doom Maiden stuff no matter how big a threat it is made out to be (and it doesn't help that the villain, Caroline Le Fay, talks like a big baddie but seems to keep screwing up and acting like it doesn't matter)--and the whole "everything you know about this character is wrong!" twist for Valkyrie is another played out technique comics seem overly prone to using. I'll give this another issue or two to come around but right now...eh.
2 out of 5 stars.

X-Factor #256
How many times did I have to tell you people this was one of the best comics out there? I said as much from the earliest days of my blog, all the way to today. I guess I didn't say it enough though for it to matter though because now the series is ending (ostensibly on writer Peter David's terms, and I hope that is true). This issue marks the end of the "Hell on Earth War" story-line and now we'll be going into the book's last arc, appropriately titled, "The End." All of that said, this has been one of the best series ever and this issue helps continue to illustrate that point with a twist ending I would have never seen coming, accompanied by the usual strong plotting and witty dialogue David seems to write with ease. The series will be ending soon but I'll always remember it fondly...and hold out hope that maybe David is ending this series just so he can do something else really cool with all the characters. This is just an awesome issue of a spectacular comic, why do good things have to end?
5 out of 5 stars.

There you have it, come on back in the afternoon for more comic-y goodness.

A Review of "Gargoyle By Moonlight" Mixed With A Rant About The Hurdles of Continuity (and How It Avoids Them Successfully)

The gift and burden of continuity as illustrated by an indie comic
I've discussed the "Gargoyle By Moonlight" comic before (when talking about running into its creators at various comic conventions) but realize I have not actually ever reviewed it. I shall now correct that mistake and share my thoughts about this comic I was happy I bought as I feel it is quite fun.

One thing worth leading with is a question I often find myself faced with when reading super-hero comics that are independent and not a part of some large company. That question is, "What sets this apart from those hero titles at Marvel and DC?" After all, there are plenty of hero comics one can read from the "big two" and if a person wants heroes with a twist they can always turn to Image--plus Dark Horse is actually releasing more hero titles now too. Therefore, what makes this comic worthwhile compared to all those other titles? The fact that it has its own self-contained continuity, which is both a gift and a slight burden--plus that there is a lot of self-aware hilarity within the pages of "Gargoyle by Moonlight", are what makes this worth reading.

I mentioned Marvel and DC and while they do indeed have lots of heroes they suffer from so much continuity it can boggle the mind. You will pick up the first issue of a title but it actually features a character with years and years of back-story that can take forever just to get up to speed on. I'll have friends who see some of the super-hero movies that are popular right now and they'll ask me, "Hey David, I enjoyed that new [inset hero-movie name here] flick and was wondering where a good place to start would be if I want to read about that character/team, what do you recommend?" At this point I can only stare at them blankly and try to think of how in the hell I can get them into Avengers comics or Batman comics when the sheer volume of the stuff is insane. Generally I'll just end up recommending the more self-contained and/or alternate universe stuff as that requires less encyclopedic knowledge. They liked "Avengers"? Here, try "The Ultimates". A fan of the Nolan-directed Batman movies? Take this copy of "Batman: Year One".  Yes, continuity can be a good thing as it makes us feel like we really "know" these fictional characters thanks to all their stories, but its sheer metaphorical weight can be crushing to many folk. That's why "Gargoyle By Moonlight" is a good example of how to balance your continuity.

"Gargoyle By Moonlight" is one comic, a self-contained tale. It creates the perception of there being a continuity through references to past events, but it doesn't let all that bog it down. We don't have to worry about a six-issue series with the origin of Gary Doyle, we just are given a quick premier on how he ended up the way he is, and what he does as a Gargoyle at night (namely, fight crime and try to reverse the curse that makes him transform). Past events are referenced, but a reader doesn't have to seek out tons of back-issues to understand Gary, we get all we need to know from this issue. Also, in its self-contained nature this actually tells a complete tale without resorting to the aforementioned tendency mainstream comics have to be highly decompressed in their story-telling and stretch a plot out over months of issues. Doyle faces a villain who is powered by the sun (a clever counter to his nighttime-Gargoyle power) and defeats him. There is of course room left open for future stories, but everything is nice and clean in its encapsulating everything we should hope for in a comic within a single issue. Oh, plus this is a pretty funny read too.

"Gargoyle by Moonlight" both celebrates superheroes with its fun story of Gary Doyle fighting a villain, and also mocks them gently. There is a slightly sardonic sense of humor in Doyle talking about being a hero and facing all sorts of absurd conflicts. Often we'll have comics be utterly dry and rarely if ever address the absurdity they contain of these garishly outfitted individuals engaging in conflicts with one another. "Gargoyle By Moonlight" knows it has slightly silly situations and isn't afraid to address that fact--making this comic self-aware enough to be clever, but without outright breaking the 4th-wall as Deadpool does in his comics (a rare of example of comics being aware at their silliness to perhaps too great a degree).

Continuity can help one really feel immersed in the world of comics, but sometimes it is better to just have a really good self-contained story that can entertain you without doing hours of research on a character or team so you understand what's happening. "Gargoyle by Moonlight" is both nicely self-contained and self-aware to a point that what would maybe just be a good story is given that extra boost into being quite great. While it would be good fun to see the series continue, I hope if future issues are made they will strive to keep the focused nature of this first issue. It also helps that the artwork is quite well done, but it is the humorous writing that really drew me in along with the much-discussed self-contained aspect. I would recommend visiting the website for "Gargoyle by Moonlight" here at this link and purchasing a digital or physical copy of the comic. It's great fun, check it out.
4 out of 5 stars.

I Have Graduated With My MPH

I don't say too much about what I'm up to on the blog usually because most of my readers would probably rather have me insult a comic-book than share about my life. That said, I thought it was worth telling all of you that I am now done with graduate school and a proud holder of a Masters in Public Health as of Friday, May 17th, 2013. Here is a picture of me decked out in regalia with my girlfriend by my side:

I of course plan to continue working on my blog while I look for a job and after I acquire one, so don't worry about that. I just thought I would tell all of you what was up with me, and perhaps hope you might know of any good careers in the Saint Louis Metro-area. Now to resume regular posting about popular culture and all the ways it is wonderful and horrendous.

An Essay-Post on Sexuality and its Expression As Something Positive or Horrific Within Two Different Comics

Begin
I read two graphic novels that both dealt with one subject extensively, but with completely separate tones. That subject was of course the ever popular activity of sex. The completely different ways the books dealt with the topic of sex really struck me as interesting as they showed sexuality in such vastly different lights. The two books were Jess Fink's "Chester 5000 XYV" and Josh Simmon's "The Furry Trap".

Sexuality As A Pleasure

"Chester 5000 XYV" is a wordless tale which through its images is able to impart a story of love, longing, and happiness. A woman (whom the book identifies as "Priscilla" in the description even though a name is never said) has a husband (whom the website which continues the story past the book says is named "Robert") who wants her to be satisfied, but  is busy with all of his scientific inventions. To try and make everyone happy he creates a robot for her to have relations with--the titular Chester 5000 XYV. Things begin to go awry however when Priscilla and the robot fall in love. Robert becomes jealous and sells it to another woman, but Chester loves Priscilla too much to even touch the other female. After a confrontation between Robert and Chester--but then some apologies afterward--it is realized that Priscilla and Chester are meant for each other, and Robert and the lonely lady he sold the robot to are themselves in love. There is of course also a lot of sex in the book.

Seriously, in explicit detail we see Priscilla and her husband Robert, Priscilla and Chester, The  Robert and and the other woman, and there is a bit where Chester, Priscilla, and the lonely woman all are intimate with each other together. The only people who aren't intimate with each other in the book are Chester and the husband, which makes sense as if I were in a knock-down drag-out fight with someone over the woman I love I probably wouldn't want to have sex with them afterward, even if they apologized.

Despite the drama of Robert's jealousy and his conflict with Chester the book is very light-hearted and fun. Sex is shown as something to be excited about, enjoyed, and most importantly of all, something which should be fun! Not once in the book is sex treated as something sinful or wrong--remember, the husband isn't mad about Priscilla having sex with the robot, he is mad about them falling in love--but instead shown to be a wonderful thing. "Chester 5000 XYV" is the sort of erotic tale you can show someone without being embarrassed about because it isn't "dirty" in the same way pornography may make a person feel--this is fun, happy, and sex-positive. Don't get me wrong, this is book that is definitely only for adults, but it shows sex in a way more people should feel about it, not as something to be ashamed of, but something to enjoy! This makes it interesting how "The Furry Trap" is basically a complete 180 degrees from that.

Sexuality As A Nightmare

"The Furry Trap" collects a number of Josh Simmon's short comics he has done for various other publications or posted online. Not every entry in the book deals with sex, but enough do--and in a certain way--that a theme emerges about sexuality, namely, that it can be a scary, horrible thing. Some of those stories will now be looked at.

The first story is titled "In a Land of Magic" and starts out as a seemingly sweet tale about a male adventurer and a fairy-woman, before things get incredibly disturbing. You see, a wizard wants to kill them and the boy easily kills the wizard's dragon and paralyzes the wizard. Then the adventurer finds himself incredibly aroused by the fight and proceeds to rape the wizard in a way that is basically physically impossible, gruesome, and bloody. Afterward the "hero" declares how good has conquered over evil and his fairy girlfriend is clearly upset having witnessed all this, but he reassures her, "I love you." The whole thing made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and disturbed--which was clearly the point. In this story sexuality isn't something special shared between two consenting individuals, but a way the adventurer tortures his enemy. In this tale sex is a punishment, a violent act, and it sets the tone for the the rest of the stories in the book that deal with sexuality.

The story "Night of the Jibblers" is about these strange monsters that lurk out in the forest and eat people. Toward the end the protagonist of the story encounters a Jibbler touching itself to the fact that it and its fellow Jibblers are going to kill him. Again, sexuality as something related to violence, full of anger, and otherwise horrific.

The family of the story "Cockbone"

One of the longest stories in the collection has a name that says a lot, "Cockbone". It is about a nightmarish future of war and scarcity where a strange family of a mother and her sons survives on the little food they can find and engaging in oral sex with the son/brother, Cockbone, a well-meaning but slow-witted man. Apparently something within him gets people high for hours and helps them escape for a bit from the terrible world they live in. However, once Cockbone suffers an injury to his member everything falls apart and before the end of the story everyone meets an unfortunate end in their attempt to fix Cockbone's penis and make life bearable again. Clearly, in this tale you have a very unsettling incestuous relationship with the characters not really thinking they are engaging in sex so much as an activity that helps them get out of their terrible, even if only for a little while. Sex in this story isn't violent so much as it is something twisted into the realm of being immoral from this family taking advantage of their simple-minded sibling/child.

The Complexity of Sexuality
Here we have one book that upon finishing reading it you feel good and another where once you close the covers you feel upset. "Chester 5000 XYV" is a read that leaves you smiling from the thought that all the characters have found pleasure that is both erotic and emotional thanks to finding someone they care about. "The Furry Trap" is full of stories with no happy endings, only violence and terror, with sex serving as at best a temporary escape from misery and at worst as a tool of violence. I wouldn't say, "The Furry Trap" is sex-negative so much as it just shows the absolute worst aspects of sexuality and relationships while "Chester 5000 XYV" shows the best (besides the brief animosity between the husband, Robert, and Chester).

As these two comic works illustrate, sexuality holds many potential uses as a storytelling element, be it to impart a happy story or one that is highly disturbing. While both are interesting works I personally preferred Jess Fink's stuff because it was happy and fun, and in an era where sexuality is often treated as a dirty or "wrongful" thing it is good to see something sex-positive.

"Right State" Review

An Interesting View of the Present as Glimpsed in a Possible Future
"Right State" is an original hardcover from Vertigo that takes place in the relatively-close future of 2020 when the 2nd-ever black President faces the risk of being assassinated and an unlikely hero works to stop it.

The protagonist is Ted Akers, a conservative media pundit who says he is an independent but clearly "leans" right.  An ex-girlfriend of his who works for the President (whom is interestingly never named) asks Ted to help investigate a militia that it is suspected may post a threat to the President, and with Akers being a darling of the right-wing he makes the perfect undercover agent.

Writer of the comic Mat Johnson isn't really interested in prognosticating who this future President could be or what our world will look like a little under a decade from now so much as he is reflecting what society looks like today. We have a severely divided  nation, militias springing up everywhere (which the book makes mention of how they've been increasing ever since Obama was elected), and basically the country is one big wreck of people and politicians yelling at once another about how wrong the other side is.

Johnson does a good job at making Akers come off as a sympathetic character regardless of the reader's political views; while Aker may be pretty conservative and a hint xenophobic, he still is a caring individual toward others who wants his country to succeed regardless of who is in power. While Akers comes off well, a few of the characters seem a bit one-dimensional in being "good" or "bad". The main "villain" as it were is Ezekiel Dutton, a former Homeland Security agent who went rogue and joined a militia some time ago. However, he appears so little in the comic--instead being talked about highly by other characters--that when he does actually appear it is underwhelming compared to all the miraculous things we have heard about him. Whether this is intentional on Johnson's part to show that beloved "leaders" of groups rarely live up the hype or is just poor characterization I cannot say for sure. The main character is intriguing enough however that it is alright a few individuals in the book come off as lacking personality.

"Right State" is good read with a solid plot that only falters in how it makes some of its characters pretty bland. Enough good shines through the book though that I would definitely recommend it for a read. A paperback version will be coming out soon so it shouldn't cost too much either!
3.5 out of 5 stars.

"Jerry's Journal: Volume 1" Review

Jerry's Journal is a collection of short comic strips starring the titular bird, Jerry. Author Neil Fitzpatrick gives Jerry an equal amount of self-loathing and humor to make this a fun comic. Most of the short strips involve Jerry ruminating on life, death, and his distaste for himself. There isn't really a continuity to the strips but a theme of so-dark-its-funny runs through all the comics.

If Jerry were a person you knew, the odds are you would hate them. He's so negative, such a downer, and otherwise a sad little bird. However, as he is fictional you end up liking Jerry quite a bit and hoping maybe he will break out of misery--although if he did the comic wouldn't be nearly as funny.

Much of the strips are about death, which is probably one of the most depressing things there are, but Neil Fitzpatrick makes it humorous. The strip made me smile quite often even if I only burst out laughing on one strip. Namely, this one:

Jerry's Journal is a fun little read. It goes by quickly, but you you will probably re-read your favorite strips so that you can smile and/or giggle at the jokes again. You can buy issues of Jerry's Journal and other comic-goodness at Neil Fitzpatrick's website along with viewing other strips by him completely for free!
4 out of 5 stars.
Read more work and buy Neil's comics by going here.

A review copy of this book was provided by the creator.

My 700th Post! Also, Free Comic Book Day!

It is fitting that my blog which discusses comics so often reaches its 700th post on a Free Comic Book Day, and if you'll excuse some "navel-gazing" I'd like to reflect on how I/we got here.

This was me in October 2010 around when I started thinking about making a blog.

It is crazy to think how I started my blog back on that faithful day, December 3rd, 2010. Back then I was new at this whole "blogging" thing and while I wouldn't say my writing style has changed too much in the intervening 2+ years, I have gotten better at the act of blogging itself. My original blog-page was kind of a mess of images, would have too many posts on a page with "breaks" so you had to annoyingly click an article, and maybe got one or two viewers every couple of days. I wanted to share my thoughts with people who shared my interests though, and a blog seemed like the best way to do it so I kept typing along.

I wasn't discouraged by the low views and complete obscurity, however. I knew if I just kept posting I would get noticed, and slowly but surely I gained some more readers, started communicating with comics professionals and doing interviews with them,  and expanding out to various writing stints for other websites now and then. From that first time a comic creator contacted me a little after a month of my blog existing (John Arcudi to thank me for naming his graphic novel "A God Somewhere" as my favorite graphic novel of 2010--and it continues to be one of my favorite comics ever).

While I may have slowed down on the posting once I moved from Upstate New York out here to Saint Louis in the Fall of 2011, I like to think that despite less articles the effort I put into making longer and more in-depth pieces made up for the somewhat sporadic posting I still sometimes fall victim to.

As I said, it is just crazy how within the time of starting this blog I went from NY to STL, met the love of my love out here in Missouri, and now will be graduating with my Masters in Public Health this May 17th (which is also my sister's birthday, funnily enough). Some of the things I attempted on the web failed (Having a tumblr to go with the blog, doing a regular podcast with little more than myself rambling on), but through it all the blog itself remained a constant, chugging along and commenting on the world.

It is amazing how time flies when you're talking about comics, movies, music, television, the news, and whatever else one feels like yakking about it. I'm just lucky that there are at least some people out there who enjoy reading what I think--and whom I enjoy reading the thoughts of if they have a website or blog.

While my life will keep changing once I graduate and look for a job, get married, have kids, and all of that, one thing I hope will remain constant. Namely, that I'll have "The Newest Rant" and folk will continue to take pleasure in reading it.

Thanks for having read my blog whether this is your first time reading a post or your 700th, I hope to make many more--now go get yourself some free comics!

Film Friday: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 AKA Stellar Stuff
I saw Iron Man 3 this weekend and will try to offer a relatively spoiler-free review before having a small segment with spoiler-tastic thoughts. I think that makes sense seeing as how the movie has only been out in the US for less than 24 hours and you may want my opinion, but not want the flick revealed right away.

As this was a movie starring Robert Downey Junior you already know there was plenty of great acting on his part. Between the deadpan jokes, charm, and occasional dramatic moment or two, Downey is fantastic as Tony Stark, but as I said, you probably already knew that from his turn in the first two Iron Man movies and "The Avengers". Plenty of credit should be given to Gwyneth Paltrow for her work as  the energetic Pepper Potts however, along with Don Cheadle bringing impressive bravery to James Rhodes. Two actors new to the series do a bang-up job too. Ben Kinglsey is awesome as The Mandarin, with his growling voice and some surprisingly funny moments from his character too. Guy Pearce is also great as Aldrich Killian, bringing a level of pathos to his portrayal that works expertly.

As has been hinted, this really is a movie about putting Tony back-to-basics and in his cave from the first movie, so to speak. Instead of always seeing Stark with his fancy and over-the-top gadgets throughout the whole movie, there are times when we see the character at his most resourceful and creative. Also, the film draws from the comics expertly while not holding itself hostage to them. All Iron Man comic fans know who the Mandarin is, and lots of people are familiar with the, "Extremis" story-arc that the comic had, but this film takes those elements and makes something quite new with them. Comic fans also may recall Aldrich Killian as a smaller character in the "Extremis" arc but he is much more interesting in the film.

There are some twists and reveals in the movies I knew were going to happen as someone familiar with the comics, but a few things did genuinely surprise me which is always good. Between the great action scenes, funny jokes, and awesome acting, Iron Man 3 is a delight. It is maybe not as amazing as the first movie, but that was just such a revelation, it is better than the 2nd one (which I actually did like quite a bit unlike a fair amount of people) however. You should definitely see this if you were a fan of the earlier Iron Man movies or enjoyed "The Avengers" as this builds off of all of that expertly--both in terms of continuing to grow the Marvel movie-brand and as its own stand-alone film. Go see it and be impressed!
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Now My Random Thoughts That Involve Spoiling The Movie
I was quite impressed by how Marvel and the press managed to keep the big reveal that The Mandarin isn't the true bad-guy a relative secret. I've seen some discontent on the internet with the idea that The Mandarin is little more than a faux-terrorist persona cooked up by Guy Pearce's character, but it kind of works if you just think about it. The Mandarin when he was first created as a comic character was little more than a, "Yellow Peril," straw-man who existed to further the idea of outsiders coming into our nation and stealing our jobs, causing us harm, etc. While the character has evolved over time in the comics to be much more interesting and not a mere racial stereotype, taking that original idea is kind of genius. Aldrich knows that by making a sort of scary terrorist he can be sure he gets all the military-money he could ever need. That's some pretty smart writing.

"I'm not who/what you think."

I and my girlfriend thought it also was good how the movie put a focus on Stark's emotional damage as well as physical. As she pointed out, you see all these heroes go through craziness like aliens and seeing people die, and they act like it doesn't phase them, but you know it does. Therefore, it was good to see Stark behaving like a normal human and having some panic attacks and nightmares from those tough times in New York City during "The Avengers".

Was I the only one who thought the whole deal of making Happy Hogan/Jon Faverau gravely injured was a bit meta? With the film having a new director in the form of Shane Black but Faverau still on staff it almost was kind of a weird, "passing of the torch".

I also loved how after the credits we get it revealed to us just whom Stark has been telling his story to, none other than his science-buddy Bruce Banner/The Hulk played by the always-good-to-see Mark Ruffalo! I was very happy to see the movie kept the idea of them being good friends going, what with their both being geniuses who might have trouble relating to other people either because they can be kind of rude (Stark) or turn into a gigantic rage-beast (Banner).

All-in-all yeah, a pretty great movie.

Two Cool New Kickstarters--A Comic and a Game

Kicking it Starter-Style
I enjoy using Kickstarter although in the past few months I have had to basically stop funding things because I was spending way too much money on the website. However, I have made an exception to my, "Don't buy anything on Kickstarter" rule for two projects that are just looking awesome. Read on to hear about an interesting comic and fun-sounding game.

A Voice In The Dark Volume 2--Killing Game

Larime Taylor ran a successful Kickstarter for this first volume of this series which is out now digitally to backers with a printed trade coming soon. In a smart move by him there are tiers for this project that make it so those new to his series can get those earlier issues too in addition to these. Why should you back this though? Let's discuss.

When I saw Taylor list Warren Ellis' "Fell" as an inspiration for his first Kickstarted comic he immediately had my money. Then he discussed how it was a comic about a woman who was basically normal except for the fact she was a serial killer that had to hide that dark secret and his noir-ish story had me excited. Plus, it helped that the art is quite nice too.

I mention the art for two reasons: The first is that oftentimes independent comics can have pretty questionable art because even though the person doing the comics may be a great writer, if you aren't a huge-name having quality art can be too expensive. Taylor does his own art though and is good at it so that's a plus. The other reason I mention the art is that he does all the penciling, digital-inking, lettering, etc. by mouth. You heard me right, mouth. Taylor doesn't do his drawing-by-mouth as some sort of weird publicity-garnering stunt, it is because he has a disability that makes drawing by hand impossible. He hasn't let that stop him though so the very fact he can draw by mouth is impressive, and how it looks better than most independent comic-book art is just stellar too.

This 2nd volume of his comic will be published in physical form by a company Taylor cannot yet name, but those copies won't be out for some time and by getting this 2nd volume digitally you will be able to enjoy the story sooner and get some perks. Check out the Kickstarter for Volume 2 of his series here!

Stonehearth

A "sandbox (open world)" game where you build a village, fight creatures, and otherwise have fun exploring, plus it looks adorable with its Minecraft-inspired graphics? This sounds like it was made just for me!

Between the crafting, farming, and combat that this Kickstarter boasts, I am quite excited to give this a try. Plus, it will be fully moddable so people will have no trouble making the game even more fun with various alterations. I also enjoy games where I can build a city and having the ability to level-up characters whilst making the mini-metropolis of my dreams sounds like a gas.

You can get a digital copy of the game for only 15 dollars but pony up 30 smackers and you'll enjoy beta access and a cute cat companion. If you are a fan of city-building, strategy games, or survival simulations this should be right up your alley. I'm quite eager to play this! See all about Stonehearth at its Kickstarter page here.

Crowd-Funding, "For The Win!"
There you have it, two Kickstarter campaigns that I feel look worth supporting. If you know of any others that look cool please tell me as I'm always happy to talk about fun Kickstarters.