Quick Review: Batman/Superman #12

What makes Batman/Superman work is Jeph Loeb's complete and utter grasp of characterization. He doesn't just write Batman and Superman perfectly, but he even brings out the best in this issue's guest stars Wonder Woman, Big Barda, and even the villanous Darkseid. In fact, it's Loeb's keen grasp of character that allows us to more easily accept his rather far fetched plot (Batman on Apokalips?). As for the plot, the action's good and there's a decent cliffhanger at the end. Definately curious about next issue.

Michael Turner's artwork is one of the purtiest in the industry. It's also one of the emptiest. His artwork lacks emotion, heart, motion, and any semblance of life. It's like being on Mars. The inking is great, capturing the multitude of clean, well assembled lines that make up Turner's art, and the coloring is easily among the best of any DC comic.

Quick Review: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Did I spell Tomorrow right?

First the bad. "Sky Captain" painfully lacks a sense of humor. The few jokes the film attempts fall flat, most noteably because of the utter lack of comic timing among the actors. Which is, of course, the second problem. Jude Law is no action hero (he's just so damn...unexciting), and Gwyneth Paltrow spends the whole movie being an annoying bitch. The supporting cast is actually more entertaining than the two leads (big thumbs up to Angelina Jolie, who somehow manages to look sexy in an eyepatch, and who adds an air of humor to the otherwise dry film). Lastly, the film has got serious pacing problems, lumbering between eye popping excitement to mind numbing plot exposition.

But.

Sky Captain is absolutely gorgeous. That can mostly be attributed to the fact that everything but the actors is CGI. As a result, the director is literally free to do whatever he wants with the envioronment. Because of this, Sky Captain would almost be more enjoyable as a series of framed stills in an art gallery. Having said that, I have to admit, when an action scene kicks in, it kicks in. There are definately some nail biters in this film. But the best part of the film is the various retro touches. The towering buildings, the Zepplin, Ray guns, and of course, those absolutely kick ass giant robots. The designwork is magnificent throughout.

So, in conclusion, "Sky Captain" is a gorgeously empty film.

Quick Review: Coffee and Cigarettes

"Coffee and Cigarettes" is a black and white movie that consists of a series of vignettes featuring two or three people at a time. Everyone sits around, drinks copious amounts of coffee, smokes a buttload of cigarettes, and try to make awkward conversation. And I do mean awkward conversation. Which is of course the point of it all, how we as a society find ways to numb ourselves to each other. How anything can become a drug/pain killer. Hell, I don't drink coffee or smoke cigarettes, but I still consume obscene amounts of soda and sugar. It's a meditation on man's dedicated disconnection to man.

Having said all of this, I gotta admit, most of the sequences are kinda boring, lame, or (and I'm sure this was intentional) repetitive. There are two really good bits though. In one scene, Kate Blanchett plays a pair of similiar looking cousins, one is a well to do actress, the other a hippy wanderer. Again, I am amazed at how skilled an actress Blanchett is, playing these two disperate personalities at essentially the same time. But the real reason that you and everyone else should rent "Coffee and Cigarettes" is for the sequence with the RZA, the GZA, and Bill Murray. It is Hi-larious. Bill Murray is the man, and he is totally on his game here. Also check out the deleted scene, which is extension of the aforementioned scene. Also very funny. Definately worth checking out, but not worth a buy.

Quick Review: The Suffering (XBox)

Crap. I knew this would happen. I rent one game, and then I rent another, and another, and another...

Anyway, the Suffering is an F'ed up little game where you play as a prison inmate on death row. Something happens, and all of a sudden the prison is under attack by weird monsters. Obviously, you want to get out of prison before you're sliced, shived, injected, electrocuted, shot, or ect. Not a bad game, but I'm glad I rented it, cause I'm pretty sure once you've played it through once there ain't much replay value. The graphics are solid, controls handle fairly well, and the sound is great. The real prize of the game are the kickin monster designs. Very Clive Barker, very cool.

Quick Notes on "The Station Agent"

"The Station Agent" is a low budget, indy film you may or may not have heard of. It's the quiet story of a train obsessed dwarf named Finn who inherits an old train station house in New Jersey. He makes some friends and begins to come out of his self imposed shell. That's pretty much the entire movie in a nutshell. What makes this movie important, and an utter must watch to boot, is that it serves as a textbook study in Subtle Characterization. Watch the film, I mean really watch it, and observe how the characters reveal themselves on screen. There's no forced plots or extensive monolouges. We get to slowly creep in and see what makes each of the main characters tick.

All in all, "The Station Agent" is a must watch for anyone into the subtle nuances of character. A little too quiet for me to warrant buying it though, especially on my current budget.

Quick Review: Star Wars Battlefront

I don't play alota video games. It's not because I don't enjoy them; it's because I get obessed and don't get any work done while I'm playing em. I don't wanna turn into Joe Maduiera. Well, I rented Star Wars Battlefront anyway. Screw it, gotta live sometime.

Battlefront places you knee deep into a warzone on one of the planets from the Star Wars Universe. You control a generic trooper from one of two sides (Rebels vs. Empire or Republic vs. them Droid thingies), and your goal is to capture strategic command posts in an effort to overwhelm the enemy. The action is fast and furious as AI controlled troops and vehicles run amok everywhere.

Overall, the game's pretty good. The fact that you can only play generic characters is a bummer, but the game compensates by giving you a ton of vehicles you can pilot. Hell, finally getting to drive an AT-AT is worth a rental. As far as specs go, the graphics are good, the controls are solid, but there's a bit of slow down when things get really hectic. In addition, piloting the starfighters is an utter bitch. I crashed alot.

All in all, a very fun Star Wars game. Probably not gonna buy it, but I'm enjoying the rental.

Quick Review: Ultimate Fantastic Four #11

Finally. I've been reading Ultimate FF for six issues now, and in those six issues nothing has actually happened. Don't get me wrong, the dialouge, characterization, and concepts have all rocked. But nothing cool has happened. Until now. Finally, in issue #11 we get the Fantastic Four vs. Doom. Now, I admit, I'm still a little annoyed at how Doom has changed in the Ultimate universe. Still, Warren Ellis manages to make Doom an interesting and incredibly dangerous villian all the same. I don't wanna give away too much, but I gotta say this is a great issue and a really solid payoff to the last five issues. In addition, the art is the best its ever been, and the color are also just about perfect. Big thumbs up.

Quick Review: Tom Strong #28

Allan Moore left "Tom Strong" about two issues ago. Now, I'm not saying the book has sucked since his departure, I'm just saying it now feels painfully forced. This issue definately has that problem, as writer Brian K. Vaughn attempts to write a self contained story about Tom's robot butler, Pnueman. The result is a mildly entertaining tale that doesn't go enough places to hold my overall interest. I think the main problem is that Moore would have covered the same amount of ground in fewer pages, and then would have wrote another short story to complement the main one. As it stands, I felt a little short changed content wise. The art is solid, but nothing to write home about. The inks vary in consistancy, and the colors are kinda bland. All in all, I miss Moore. Probably dropping this book.

The cows are hungry...for blood!

Fall is slowly, painfully creeping into southern Illinois. I always prefer warm weather, but the real pain in the ass that comes with fall is the brutal number fall does on my allergies. Even with the shots I've been taking I have days where I feel like I'm coming apart at the seems.

The Sparrow Strikes!

So, normally, I'm not one to get into trends. It's just never been my way to do what everyone else is doing. But I gotta say I'm getting a kick out of this new Poker trend. My crew and I play Texas Hold em on a fairly regular basis, and we've all gotten fairly good. I'm pretty mediocre at it myself. My main problems, besides my usual lack of luck, is that I tend to develop discernable patterns in my playstyle. I try to shake things up from time to time, but I suck at bluffing, and it's hard to bluff in our envioronment anyway.

The Wolves Sing at Dawn

So, to bring everybody up to speed, I have completed all of the artwork for the next issue of SDF, entitled "Strange Patterns". It will be a couple of weeks before I can afford to go to the printer, so don't expect copies of the book to be available until sometime in October or November.

In other news, work has already begun on the next issue, which I am tentatively calling "SDF: Perfect/Ugly". I've got a page or two penciled, as well as a small handful of finished pages.

Let's Start Out slow...

Right. So, I've decided to do this blog thing. Talk about surreal, this unceremonious dumping of my psyche into the ether leaves me more than a little uncomfortable. Oh well, best not to think about these things too much.

Honestly, the main reason I'm doing the blog thing is because I am a small press comic artist, and I plan on using the blog as additional content/promotion for my website www.torcpress.com. Still, an opportunity to commit grave misspellings in a public format also has potential.