Let Me Get This Straight--Is DC's New Publishing Plan Genuis or Just Plain Stupid? Really, Which Way Will This Go?

Let me get this straight--and I'm just getting this information out having heard it briefly ago--in September after Flashpoint ends, DC is going to launch 52 new comics in the sense that every previous comic is canceled and possibly being re-started with a new #1 issue. That's 13 new comics a week. Also, we are getting all-new creative teams with, "three quarters of creative teams being shuffled around," and Superman may not longer be married and hooking up with Wonder Woman who also no longer has her hated continuity change that Straczynski did. Plus, Grant Morrison is going to write an in-continuity Superman book.

There also have the big deal of every single comic being day-and-date digital, which means that the exact same day you can buy it on comic stands, you can buy it for your computer/phone/tablet device. This is quite possibly the biggest creative and financial risk DC has ever taken and I kind of am impressed by their sheer gall, but I share the concerns that some have.

This could either be a huge success (I mean, they got USA Today to talk about it, so that's cool) or turn into a huge belly-flop that kills DC in the market with their new #1 books not selling as well as they hope, or changing continuity too much and pissing off enough fans that they lose more readers than they gain, or they just can't make up cash for that whole, "Keeping comics $2.99" deal they have going. Still, I sorta remember when Marvel was though of as the company that took big creative risks and was, "out-there," on the cutting edge. Now, we've got DC comics doing something huge and Marvel...has Nazi robots attacking Washington DC while various heroes and villains pick up hammers that make them super-powered in Fear Itself. No matter what happens, at least DC wins the risk-taking award.

Podcast Episode 8--Movies, Pricing Woes, and Batman Be Killing It!

In this episode the Hangover Part II, Crank 2: High Voltage, and Network are discussed as part of a movie segment. Then, my plan to stop reading the Avengers the book due to its $3.99 price is covered. Finally, "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne," along with, "Batman and Robin Volume 3: Batman and Robin Must Die!" are both reviewed whilst I gush about Grant Morrison. Also, I apologize for talking too closely to the microphone, causing my words with the letter "F" in them to freak-out the mic sometimes. This mistake shall be learned from. Otherwise, it's just over 30 minutes of goodness!

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Rant-Reviews--Four DC Comics With Three Good and One Being Surprisingly Terrible

It's an all-DC extravaganza, with T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #7 doing an great job telling two stories that unite, Detective Comics #877 working quite well, DC Universe Online Legends impressing, and Action Comics #901 doing the quickest dive in quality from a previous issue that I have ever seen. Well, they can't all be winners.

Movie Time--Crank 2: High Voltage

Crank 2: High Voltage
Some time ago I reviewed the first Crank movie and enjoyed it quite a bit. Well, I can say this tops it in sheer craziness and absurdity. Whether it is a fantasy scene of Jason Statham's character fighting his opponent as if they were big Godzilla monsters, or being knocked out and imagining he is a child on a talk show facing the fact he's a miserable person (which is actually a clever scene and one of the few times the movie examines the fact that our protagonist Chev Chelios really is kind of a terrible guy), this is an utterly insane flick.

Lest We Forget--Memorial Day.

It is Memorial Day, so I thought this would be a good time to take a moment out to recognize all our fallen soldiers who have given their lives in war. Without them our nation would not be what it is.

Mini-Run Review: S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6 And The "Infinity" One-Shot

S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6 And The "Infinity" One-Shot
The first issue of the second volume of this series is coming out soon so why not review this first run? Well, this is one strange comic. It almost seems like it could pretty much be some sort of alternate-universe tale any comic publisher did with its use of famous historical figures as members of a secret society--except for the fact that it does tie in two Marvel characters in the form of Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards, fathers of two famous Marvel characters. Other than those two however, this is one crazy comic that at first seems to read like a jumbled-mess but by the time I reached issue #6 actually made a bit of sense. Plus, Dustin Weaver turns in art that is utterly, incredibly, unbelievably, gorgeous.

Why I'm Not Reading Avengers After Fear Itself AKA Avengers Staying $3.99 With 22 Pages

Comic Book Resources does this thing where they talk with Marvel big-wig Tom Breevort and I usually skim the interview and look at the pretty art he brings, but don't read much. However, Bleeding Cool has pointed out something I missed, namely a fact about comic book pricing. You see, Marvel has this comic called the Avengers which has been 22 pages each issue but included this extra stuff called, "Oral History Of The Avengers", or something I didn't bother reading. The comic was $3.99 but I figured this was maybe because it had tacked on this extra stuff, and after it finished the comic would either go down in price or add something else more interesting, but not stay at $3.99 as Marvel would want to compete with DC and their new plan of keeping most sutff at $2.99 right? Well, I was wrong, Marvel is going to charge $3.99 for Avengers, 22 pages for a comic that I sort of enjoy but not enough that I am going to pay $3.99 for it. Therefore, once its tie-in with "Fear Itself" ends, I'm done with it too.

Now, I will be staying on New Avengers because I love me some Luke Cage, but even that is tenuous. Other $3.99 comics I will look at on a per-comic basis just as I do $2.99 comics--but keep in mind that if something is a dollar extra, I'm going to be quite a bit extra picky in my judgement of if I should be buying it. I enjoy Avengers enough to maybe pay $2.99 for it, but $3.99? I guess we are going to have to part ways.

This Is The Newest Rant--We/I Have A Tumblr Now.

This is The Newest Rant. There also is now a Newest Rant Tumblr account known as, "The Newest Rant Random Junk Depository." You may wonder why it exists when there is this perfectly fine blog. Well, think of it as a sister site. This blog is the well organized one with thoughtful posts, that is the one for random stuff to be dumped, be it images, music, or whatever else works. I will have a new segment there call Imirages which are the words images and mirages put together because I think that is fun. So yeah, this is the upper-part of the brain, all refined and smart, (NOW A DEAD LINK) is the lower part of the brain. Primal, scary, and raw. Plus it will probably get updated less.


The tumblr is dead, it was a misguided effort.

Movie Time--The Hangover Part II AKA Hangover 2

The Hangover Part II AKA Hangover 2
It doesn't always have to be a "Film Friday" segment for me to review a movie, and seeing as how I did do a Flashback Friday bit this week, I thought I would just add  a review of a movie I saw Saturday afternoon that I found very fun to the blog. I mean, the sequel to the very-popular, "The Hangover," couldn't possibly live up to the original, and some critics have been very harsh on it, but while not being as good as the original, I still enjoyed this very much.

I Really Hope This Is For Real

Isaiah Mustafa has always been vocal about how much he would love to play Luke Cage. Marvel has always been saying they would be interested in doing a Luke Cage movie but never seems to be going anywhere with it. Now suddenly this pops up on the internet:

God, I am very nonreligious but do believe you exist, and I pretty much only pray to you once every three years, but please, dear God please have this be something real or have it grow into something real and not just be a little joke teaser that Mustafa made with his money from doing the Old Spice ads--or even worse, something Old Spice helped fund. A Luke Cage movie with anyone as the lead would be awesome, and the Old Spice guy could even work as he kind of actually fits the role pretty well with his weird mixture of charm and strength. No one else on the internet knows what to make of this, hopefully it turns out to be something good.