The one where he tries to go for brevity

Astonishing X-Men 25



Warren Ellis (Writer)   Simone  Bianchi (Artist)

After the lovingly retro 80's feel of Joss Whedons run on this book the one person that you'd expect to come in and deliberately shake things up and be contrary is Warren Ellis so it's a bit of a surprise that this feels similar just with his dialogue twitches rather than Joss'.
It's not a bad read and obviously there's time for a chain smoking Englishman in a trench coat to show up, it just feels a bit by the numbers as the X-Mens new San Francisco base is introduced.  Warrens recently ended run on Thunderbolts felt like he was having more fun writing about a bunch of bastards.
The art by Simone Bianchi is nice if a little muddy, this seems to be a problem common with pencils being directly scanned rather than inked although with the amount of work that obviously goes into them you have to wonder how he'll consistantly hit a monthly scedule.
It's early days obviously so 2 or 3 more issues to let the story develop and see if this is required buying like Nextwave.

Echo 4



Terry Moore (Writer/Artist)

It's been interesting to compare this book against the recently launced Rasl by Jeff Smith, Echo has felt like an alternative world version of Strangers in Paradise while Rasl is a complete change in direction from Bone and for that Echo has been the more satisfying read.
Combining a healthy level of soap opera dramatics and X Files/Heroes style mystery, the pace has been picking up in each issue.  This issue deals with a murder scene, more information on the organisation and test pilot involved with the mystery metal and a confrontation between Julie the main character and the army this is looking to be a nice change in pace from Strangers in Paradise.
I really enjoyed Strangers in Paradise but the recent annoucements about Moore taking over Runaways and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (to a lesser extent) had me a little worried about moving into the world of capes but this book has allayed those fears.

Walking Dead 50



Robert Kirkman (Writer)  Charlie Adlard (Artist)

Following on from the horrific events of the jail siege this book is currently taking a breather and keeping things simple.  Maybe having the conclusion of the siege fall into this landmark issue would have been more appropriate but this is a book that's never done the things that were expected of it.
With no real story in this issue as Carl tends to his sick father Rick it's left to Adlards art to carry the issue and he does a great job.  When he originally took over from Tony Moore the shift in style left me a bit disappointed but his storytelling ability has more than changed my mind, Adlard's an overlooked talent at the moment.

The Boys 20



Garth Ennis (Writer)  Darick Robertson (Artist)

Continuing The Legends history lesson to Hughie and the Homelanders stand off with The Butcher this book continues to impress.  After the initial ad campaign of more Preacher than Preacher this has moved past the gross out aspect and is now telling its story with the odd diversion into willys, puke and gore.
Ennis is moving things along smoothly while allowing the odd look into his favourite subject of the history of various wars without it feeling shoe horned in.  I've always had a soft spot for Darick Robertsons work since he was on New Warriors and he's only got better since then.  My only criticism would be that when he inks himself his work doesn't look quite as smooth as it should but that's a minor criticism of a well put together book.

GILFs

So I have a couple of things to talk about today, last night I went to see the newest Marvel film The Incredible Hulk. This is a re-booting of the character after the decidedly lukewarm reception that the 2003 Ang Lee film received. To be fair if you’re going to give a character with so many obvious psychological undercurrents then you have to expect a film maker like Lee to run with them. For me the main failing of that film was the garbled last 30 minutes or so, I thought I’d fallen asleep after Banner is captured and is confronted by a plainly batshit Nick Nolte as his father with the way the story seemed to jump 20 minutes.

So that brings me to the 2008 version, this time around the film is a lot more streamlined and trades on peoples memories of the Bill Bixby tv series, going as far as having the actors face appear on a tv screen and using THAT piece of piano music as part of the score at one point. Ed Norton takes over the role of Bruce Banner (as well as taking an uncredited pass at the screenplay) and gives a more sympathetic performance than Eric Banas’ in the previous film, small touches like putting Banner in several sizes too large trousers that are pulled up almost to his chest make him more endearing than the more conventionally good looking Bana.

As the film picks up Banner has been on the run from the army led by General Ross (played by a moustache totting William Hurt) and has made it to Brazil although it isn’t long before Ross along with a special forces operative called Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) are back on the trail and triggering the first Hulk transformation of the film and Banners return to the US to find a cure.

On the whole this is better than the standard summer blockbuster, the effects may veer into video game cut scene territory a little too much but the actual Hulk looks good throughout evoking the look of Dale Keowns art. Importantly the film doesn’t out stay its welcome, too often now films are dragged out to near 3 hour lengths when there’s obviously no need, Transformers and Spider-Man 3 were prime culprits of this and the less said about the life stealing experience that was Pirates of the Caribbean the better. Director Louis Letterier doesn’t overdo directorial ticks, he keeps things simple and moves the story along at a steady pace.

The performances are solid if unspectacular, Liv Tyler gets the thankless task of Banners best girl with her one moment of true character coming in a cute scene that shows why Puny Banner will never get a booty call. Tim Roths ‘roided up super soldier who eventually becomes a more legitimate but dull looking foe for the Hulk is good value and he looks like he’s having more fun working with CGI than Ewan McGregor managed in the 3 Star Wars prequels combined.

As in Iron Man there’s a cameo at the end of the film (thankfully not after 10 minutes of credits) to set up the eventual Avengers film, so far Marvel have kept these crossovers simple and are progressing the idea of a shared universe but it doesn’t take much for that to become overly convoluted and annoying for film goers who don’t see every Marvel film. Hopefully Marvel keep it this way.

The other thing I wanted to talk about was after going to the film I met a couple of friends to go and see The Bangles play. Although it seems like every band and it’s dog from the 80’s and early 90’s are reforming I have no problem at all with this revival, The Bangles put out some great records, especially Everything which came just prior to their break up. I didn't really know anything about the band when I borrowed Everything from the library when I was in university during 1995 but I fell in love with it. Every song felt effortless to like but they had the staying power to stand up to repeated listening, any album that contains this single can’t be faulted.

As shallow as it is (and I’m particularly shallow) I couldn’t help noticing how great the original members looked, Susanna Hoffs is 50 this year but could easily pass for 10 years younger and guitarist Vikki Peterson is definitely taking some fashion tips from Sheryl Crow. Musically they sounded very tight and although you’d expect that from a band on a greatest hits tour playing songs that they’ve been performing off and on for 20 years they weren’t overly polished, you could see that they were really having fun.

If a band’s going to get back together then I’d much rather see them in this environment than one of the regular revival tours in an enormo dome where you have the lead singer and an anonymous backing band trying to fit as many songs into 25 minutes as they can. You know they want a bit of money for a new pool but this way is a lot more fun.

Hello

Hi,

Thanks very much for dropping by and giving this a quick look, this'll basically be me just rambling on about the things that are currently interesting me. I'll apologise in advance for my poor taste that'll crop up on a regular basis, I've still got the mindset of a 15 year old so approach with caution.



So I guess I'll start off with the last big run of comics I've read. It's been just over a year since I've read Grant Morrisons run on Batman so I picked up from 663 (I think, the prose issue about the Joker basically) onwards. Normally I find Grant Morrison to be hard work, there are too many ideas being thrown at the wall and I lose track relatively quickly, that probably says more about me as a reader than it does him a writer, the less said about my attempts to read The Filth the better.
Anyway I've enjoyed his run on Batman a lot more than I thought I would, whether it's because I've read a years worth of floppies in a couple of days or he's writing down to me I've had fun seeing him take some of the older cheesy stories and use them in current continuity. Although there are big honking signposts like calling a character Jezebelle that could have been pulled back on this has been an interesting run and has pushed the character forward rather than the usual inertia that it faces.
The artwork has ranged from solid and competent to inspired, Tony Daniel is doing some good solid work and putting the book out on time but sometimes you can't help but wish for that little bit of magic JH Williams brings as he did in the International Superhero Club arc.

Moving on, I was really sad to hear about Stan Winston dying, he and his studio produced some stunning work over the years, I really regret not going to one of the signings he had at the San Diego Comic Con last year.



I remember there was a period in the mid 90's to early 90's where it seemed like every fantasy film that was released his team had worked on, one thing that stood out for me even then was that there was no crossover or repeating of ideas in the various characters they produced. Although his work on Aliens, Terminator, Jurassic Park and Predator was fantastic I have a big soft spot for the Monster Squad


Basically the Universal Monsters vs The Little Rascals there were some great tweests on the creature designs and the Gill Monster stands out for me especially.

Finally, a quick look at the new Slipknot masks that were revealed today.


There's a mix of tweaking the exsisting mask like Jim and Joeys and really going on one like Sid, Corey and Shawn. Combine the new looks with the 2 songs that have been released I'm really looking forward to the new album. Originally I hadn't really liked All Hope is Gone but it's really grown on me and it's cool to hear some black metal blast beats in the drumming, Psychosocial I need to hear a couple more times but I'm enjoying buying into some hype with this new record.

Anyway that's all for now, I'll try and be more coherent next time : )