Me Geek, You Geek

MGYG Podcast: The Making of the “Best Comic Book Review System”

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:12:00 PST

Bart and I were talking about our disdain for the American comic book scene recently and we realized we needed a better scoring system for reviewing comics.

A scoring system that could be as objective as possible (we’re still figuring out if this is possible) and score based so we can get a clear numerical picture of how good or bad a comic book is.

In Part One of this podcast we dive in and debate, in public, our thoughts on formulating our ideal scoring system.

We start with the category WRITING, our first of the four major categories of our scoring system.

So jump on in and take a listen to Part One by clicking on the link below or by subscribing and downloading the Me Geek, You Geek podcast on iTunes.

And since I love you and want to make your life easier, here’s a preview of our review system for the Writing category so you can follow along at home. Please remember, this review system is a work in progress so we’ll continue to debate until it’s just perfect.

WRITING:

* For the following 10 questions a possible score of 1, 0 or –1 is to be scored for each question. So after scoring there’s a possible score range of –10 to +10.

Plot:

Was the story worth telling or did it seem like a “filler” issue?
Was the plot cliche?
Was it an original plot or has it been done in it’s own title before?
Does the story seem to be predicated on “happenstance”?
Did the story influence your emotions?

Script:

How would you rate the pacing of the story?
How would you rate the action/or tension?
Was the dialogue accurate?
Is there a cliffhanger?
The “No Prize”: Is there anything major that adds or distracts from the story?

Go ahead, Download the Podcast! (iTunes)

Oh, and will somebody tell me what’s going on in Daredevil please?!?!?!?

Technorati Tags: Comic Book podcast,comic book reviews

Samuel L. Jackson: Secures a Ten Movie Deal with Marvel

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:33:00 PDT

Samuel L. has reportedly signed a ten movie deal with Marvel, according to contactmusic.com. That’s pretty cool if you ask me, that means we’ll see Sam in - wait…

WHAT?!?

A ten movie deal?

Okay, let’s run through this:

The First Avenger: Captain America. (1) A possible Iron Man 3. (2) Thor? (3) Avengers? (4) S.H.I.E.L.D? (5) Another Hulk film? (6) Captain America 2? (7) Thor 2? (8) Avengers 2 (9) A possible Black Widow spin off (OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE!) (10).

Okay, that’s ten. At first I was thinking 10 was a number that could not be met. But clearly it can be met (snicker). If all the stars align, all these movies get green lit and the bottom doesn’t fall out of a seemingly airtight comic book movie genre.

Sam is currently 62 years old. So by the time his tenth film comes around he’ll only be, what, 68 years old? I’m assuming minor bit parts in some of the films so he could kick out more than one a year.

By the time we get to Avengers 2 we’ll have Nick Fury with a eye patch and a walking cane. Woot!

Is it possible he’d show up in the possible Daredevil remake? I guess if can put him in Daredevil we can put him in the Ant-Man movie, etc.

What do you think about this news? Good for Marvel? Definitely good for Sam?

Technorati Tags: Samuel L. Jackson,Marvel Comics,Marvel,Iron Man,Captain America movie

Captain America #602: I'm So Disappointed Marvel!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:22:00 PST

Captain America #602 has caused quite a stir. In this one issues we’re given all the ingredients of a controversy: current events, politics, racism and one of the worst apologies (ahem…lie) I've ever heard.

The Story Synopsis: Nick Fury and James Barnes (Bucky, The Winter Soldier, Captain America with a gun, you know the one) look at footage of the crazy 1950s Captain America (William Burnside) who had his physical appearance changed along time ago to look exactly like Steve Rogers. Crazy Captain America has apparently set up shop in Boise Idaho and he’s still all crazy and bent on getting his country back…whatever that means. But, he’s crazy, so who knows what he wants.

Fury and Bucky are worried that the real Captain America, Steve Rogers, will go bananas when he sees that Crazy Captain America is back on the scene.

So Nick decides to send Bucky and The Falcon to clean up the mess. You with me so far?

The Controversy:

A "tea bag" reference in a recent Captain America comic book that has angered the Tea Party movement will be removed by Marvel Comics in future editions, the story's writer told FoxNews.com. – FoxNews.com

Shortly after this news report hit the apologies ensued:

BleedingCool.com did a good job of laying out the responses from Brubaker and Joe Quesada so I won’t repeat it here in detail. But it’s very obvious Brubaker and Quesada are trying to play this off as a mishap, an editorial mistake. Brubaker was quoted as saying:

“I don’t know who did it, probably someone who thought it was funny. I didn’t think so, personally. That’s the sign being changed to something more generic for the trade reprint, because I and my editor were both shocked to see it.”

Shocked? Really? Brubaker is clearly political and anti-Republican. Here are some of his tweets:

VA GOP leader tells workers to compare Obama to Osama because "both have friends who have bombed the Pentagon." Someone punch that guy. 10:46 AM Oct 12th, 2008 from web

So, apparently Judge John Roberts punked Obama and said the oath of office wrong. What a douche. 9:16 AM Jan 20th, 2009 from web

@joe_hill Yeah, I loved when they cut to Bush after Obama rejected everything he stood for. That was nice. 9:40 AM Jan 20th, 2009 from web in reply to joe_hill

Memo the everyone: Who cares if the GOP likes Obama's planst? They got us here with their ideology, more of that same thinking won't help. 1:36 PM Jan 26th, 2009 from web

Clearly there's a bias here. After reading these tweets there’s no way you should believe Brubaker was “shocked” to see what was written on the signs. Sure, maybe he was shocked that the signs were filled with it, as he did not write the signs, but as we will get to later in this post, the story that he wrote clearly lays out the same message.

Then it was Quesada’s turn. He explains the signs were left empty by the artist so Marvel had to rush to fill in the blank white signs with some text. And this is where Joe Q. throws his letterer under the bus, as told to CBR:

“The letterer in his rush to get the book out of the door but wanting to keep the signs believable, looked on the net and started pulling slogans from actual signs. That’s when he came upon this one. (CBR shows this sign) And used it in the scene and off it went to the printer. Unfortunately, to make the deadline, the work wasn’t double-checked thoroughly, and it was printed as is, which is where we as an editorial group screwed up. We spoke to the letterer, and he was mortified at his mistake and was truly sorry as he had no political agenda.”

Now, c’mon Quesada, let’s not say that Mr. Caramagna has “no political agenda”. It’s clear from reading his tweets he firmly has a political agenda.

And for your reading pleasure, here’s some samples of his Caramagna’s tweets:

What's the over/under on how many minutes it takes a Fox News pundit to blame Obama for the Ft. Hood shooting? 4:26 PM Nov 5th, 2009 from web

RT @alexirvine: "52% of GOP voters nationally think ACORN stole the election for Obama" http://bit.ly/3GiMtm - because Fox makes you stupid 9:56 AM Nov 19th, 2009 from TweetDeck

How can they say in the same breath that Obama has both "ruined the country" and "not done anything." How many mindless people just repeat?7:02 PM Jan 6th from TweetDeck

I'm now praying to baby Jesus in heaven that President Obama and his secret socialist agenda puts all of these people out of business.11:27 AM Jan 14th from TweetDeck

Now Obama's terrible because his response to the quake in Haiti was too fast. Gee, how predictable. Who takes the right seriously anymore?12:23 PM Jan 14th from TweetDeck

RT @BarackObama: This is it—the polls are open in MA. Your calls can help send Martha Coakley to the Senate: http://bit.ly/7-5#MASen Pls RT8:20 AM Jan 19th from TweetDeck

Hey, you guys who claim Obama is taking away your freedom? Looks like we just lost our country to the corporations:http://bit.ly/5c43MS12:14 PM Jan 21st from TweetDeck

Now, I’m not saying Mr. Caramagna can’t have his political beliefs. And I’m not saying he can’t spout them on his Twitter account and blog and still be a fine comic book letterer and artist. But damn Quesada, don’t throw him under the bus like you did and not have your facts right. No political agenda? C’mon!

Plus, I love how Joe says:

“…but ultimately the onus falls on me as E-i-C.”

…only after he has already blamed the letterer.

But as I said before, I don’t think the signs are the most controversial aspect of the story. So here’s what I think should really be torking people off.

The script!

We can assume the script was not changed by the letterer, right? And the script clearly labels all non-big-city, Republican supporters, protesting current politics, as racist.

So here we go, my thoughts on the script.

The story opens with local sheriff's department in Boise Idaho being attacked by the Crazy Captain America. The Sheriff’s vehicles are blown up, law enforcement officers lie critically injured and Crazy Cap says:

“All right, boys, pack it all up…we head for the compound now. And then we go get our country back.”

And not only that, but the title to this story is on this page and we see it’s called “Two Americas”. So we can assume this tale’s not going to be about bipartisanship and most likely we have a decisive and “politically agenda” orientated tale on our hands?

But this is superhero comics, so not too controversial so far but it's obvious things could go down hill from here.

The story jumps to two days later. Bucky and Fury decide they need to take crazy Captain America out. Sam (Falcon) and Bucky go together to take care of the situation.

Eventually they get to Boise Idaho and come upon a protest which Bucky proclaims:

"…some kind of anti-tax thing".

And then there's this:

Notice Bucky says:

“We’re not in New York anymore Sam.”

So apparently, if you don't live in New York you all hate the government? Okay. Thanks for clarifying that Brubaker and Marvel. (Oh yeah, and you too Disney).

But this ain't nothing yet. Because then this lovely panel hits:

Notice The Falcon says:

“I don’t exactly see a black man from Harlem fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks.”

Also in this shot you see the signs which have caused the controversy surrounding this issue. But again, I don’t believe the signs are the most offensive part of this story. To me, the most offensive part is how Marvel portrays readers who disagree with the writers/editorial teams political views, as racist.

But it gets even better (ahem…worse).

Bucky and Falcon come up with a plan to infiltrate these small city, conservative (sarcasm alert!) racists by having Falcon pose as an IRS agent trying to close down a local (read racist) bar while Bucky poses as a white trucker (read racist) who takes matters into his own hands by punching Falcons' lights out.

So, the main thing Marvel wants us to know: Apparently white people in small towns are so stupid and so racist they will cheer on a guy that just guaranteed a federal arrest and IRS audit for himself and the bar owner. All in the fun of hitting a black man with opposing views?

At this point in the comic it's very obvious the story Brubaker and Marvel Comics are telling.

Making matters worse, and here’s the most shocking part, after Bucky punches Falcon he then throws out his briefcase and yells:

"And don't forget your briefcase Obama!"

So now Marvel has attempted to label people in small towns who oppose current governmental changes as white people in small towns who are racist enough to punch anyone who has the same skin tone as President Obama?

Isn’t it racist to even write a script like this? To think that all black people are the same because they’re black? What kind of racist thoughts are going through Ed’s head anyway?

Joe Q. then goes on to say:

“…assumes that the people protesting in the streets are the Watchdogs, when in fact they are not, so this is an element that is taken out of context.”

Oh great! So that’s even worse! The white, small town racists are NOT actually a part of the Watchdog group? They’re just typical small town Americans? Joe…it was better when those “racists”, which your writer and editorial team clearly mark, were part of some crazy militant Watchdog group and not ordinary Americans!

But at the end of the day, this issue will rise up in price on the back lists and will increase demand for future issues. Any publicity, good or bad, is publicity right? And we all know how Bru loves controversies, he loves increasing his sales with publicity.

(And, is it entirely coincidental how this issue, and the controversy surrounding it, are hitting during Black History month? Hmmm…)

What do you all think?

P.S. And to think that my favorite run as a child was the highly political Ann Nocenti, “no nukes”, Daredevil run. Go figure…

Technorati Tags: Captain America #602,Ed Brubaker,Tea Baggers,Obama,Controversy

Marvel’s The Heroic Age: Comics Salvation?

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:57:00 PST

The creators at Marvel Comics said it themselves in their own press release:

“…dark age of despair…”

“…demoralizing downward spiral…”

Marvel Comics as a company seems to be realizing what most of us fans had realized about two years ago: Comic books have become depressing.

Over the last couple of years we, the huge comic book supporters, have found ourselves slowly detaching from comics. Sure, we kept buying the titles we collect, but we were finding piles collecting and to be honest, it felt like a chore to read through the stacks of comics.

This blog was also a victim of the depressing times of comics. We kept coming back to MGYG and thinking about what to write about. For a while it seemed we took pleasure in being critical of some of the dysfunction which was occurring in comics, but we could only be bitter for so long. It’s just not in us to always being harping on comic books. We wanted to give praise to comics, and reveled when we had a chance to do it (here, here, and here for example).

But we couldn’t get up to write about something that kept sucking.

But did comics suck? A point can be made that comics are doing better over the most recent years, both critically and financially. Truly we’ve had some of the best artists and writers together on books for long runs, something we haven’t seen consistently in decades. And truly, there’s been more mass media spotlight on comics then ever before.

So if it’s not comics sucking, it must be P.E.S.T. (Post Event Stress Disorder). Event, after event, after event, after event. They just kept coming. It was exhausting.

And if you don’t believe Marvel comics have been depressing and exhausting, then check out this video that nicely recaps everything that happened over the past several years.

Yeah. Event fatigue was definitely in play.

But then we read this article about Marvel’s new publishing scheme, simply titled: Heroic Age.

And it all came full circle for us.

The reason we, and many others, may have been retreating from comics for the last several years. And yes, we never truly left, but we definitely stood on the perimeter, looking in with our heads hanging low.

The reason: our heroes where no longer heroes.

Comics no longer dealt with heroics.

To think about why we all got in to comic books is to think about the true nature of who we are. We love morally heroic beings who are mostly always on the morally correct side of a problem. Who always put others first. Who are always victorious against the legion of evil that surrounds our four colored worlds.

Especially with Marvel heroes. Marvel heroes do all of the above but they still have personal flaws. Flaws that we all can relate to. Flaws our heroes always overcame. Flaws that made them more heroic for overcoming.

Over the past many years, since the onset of Bendisitis, our heroes have become more and more cynical. At first we all thought it was cool, something new, something refreshing. But as time went on we noticed the cynical hero stuck around.

Lost in the shuffle were the great heroic and optimistic writers of our times. The Kurt Busieks, the Mark Waids. The guys that made us love our heroes for what they were, heroes.

We set them aside for the edgier, sassier, writers. Bendis. Millar. Truly, they have their place, they’re great talents. But we thought we wanted more cynicism. We thought we wanted edgier stories. More death. More moral decay. And so it worsened…

We saw it in the Bendis/Millar letter columns and interviews. We saw it in Wizard magazine (er, pamphlet) interviews and other interviews. The cussing. The cynicism. The lack of heroics.

Sure it was edgy at first, but then it became tired. And so did the creative works. There was no break. No relief. No optimism.

No heroics.

But now I rest my hopes on a quote from Bendis himself, as told to USA Today and hope for a better tomorrow in our comics:

"The 'brand new day' of the Heroic Age presents a tonal shift to optimism, a world filled with hope but quite hellish villains," Bendis says. "The heroes realize it's a blue-sky world worth protecting."

A “blue-sky world worth protecting”? Ahhhhh…

Finally.

Thanks: A Day to Give It

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:38:00 PST

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Be it Marvel or DC.

And let’s give huge thanks to the new year almost upon us. It promises fewer major events in both universes.

True thanks indeed.

Now if we can just do something about Daredevil sucking so much. Hmmm. Do I have time to add that to my Christmas list Santa?

Oops. DC or Marvel. I get confused all the time.

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:05:00 PST

Saw this in a Christmas magazine. Can you spot the error?

Oops.

Death to Elektra voted second favorite comic book panel in Marvel Comics history!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:07:00 PDT

CBR recently took a vote for to the top 70 comic book panels that excited us the most over the last 70 years worth of comics at Marvel.

I’ve got to say, el Barto, that your stupid Fantastic Four just barely cracked the top 10 while my beloved Daredevil easily came in at #2.

(Actually, I don’t know if I agree with this pick, the death of Elektra at #2? Out of all the panels in the history of comics? Before the death of Captain America? Before the death of Gwen Stacy? Before the psychological collapse of D-Man and subsequent stealing of normal jewelry thinking it’s the Infinity Gems?)

But alas, the people spoke. And here’s the big number 2:

del.icio.us Tags: Elektra,Bullseye,Daredevil

Marvel Marvelman?!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:38:00 PDT

>>>> The following is a guest transmission from el Barto <<<<

>>>> Begin receiving…

“I just read that Marvel has acquired the rights to Marvelman (the Miracleman character that Alan Moore revamped for Eclipse Comics in the 1980's).”

That is awesome. I read an interview with Mick Anglo, Marvelman's creator, years ago. He's an English guy who in the 1960's made a living by buying old Captain Marvel (Shazam) comic rights then reprinting the stories in the UK. After DC bought the rights to Shazam they were no longer sold to Anglo so Anglo invented Marvelman (a Shazam rip-off character). Anglo would then read the American Shazam comics and change them around a little and rewrite them as "original" works and publish Marvelman.”

“Then Eclipse came along in the 80's. They really wanted something from Alan Moore to fill out their stable. Moore said "Yeah, I'll work with you. I really want to do a Marvelman revamp."

“Moore often read Marvelman when he was a kid and cites the character as one of the main reasons he got into comics. Eclipse rented the rights from Anglo, but in the US they could not publish the name "Marvelman" because Marvel comics threatened to sue.”

“So, Moore came up with the name Miracleman.”

“As you may know, the Eclipse Miracleman comics are highly sought after. The later issues are very hard to find.”

“Now Marvel owns the character outright. This leads to some interesting questions. The Sentry....can we finally kill him off? He's the most powerful force in the Marvel U, but he's half-dumb. He's been on the Avengers for a couple of years, but he never really does anything. I don't think anyone over at Marvel has any idea how to write a Superman-like character.”

“The Marvel U has been unique over the last 40 years because they're characters are so accessible to the common dude. They haven't had an all-powerful flagship character, so consequently we have a universe with 40+ years of history that doesn't have room for a character like this. What will happen?”

“Oh, and with comics sucking so much lately, does anyone really care about this announcement?”

– el Barto

>>>> End transmission.

Thanks Bart!

del.icio.us Tags: Miracleman,Marvelman,Marvel Comics,el Barto

Marvel acquired by Disney: My quick response.

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:51:00 PDT

My informant Bart called me today to break the news that Marvel Comics was being purchased by Disney to the tune of $4 billion dollars (damn I wish I would’ve bought stock in Marvel when they filed for bankruptcy).

As I drove in my car I was a little upset as it’s very easy for cynical fanboys like myself to begin predicting doom and gloom to come out of the “disneyfication” of our beloved Marvel heroes.

But I’ve regained my composure and dropped my cynicism after reading this on Marvel’s site:

“Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of…”

That’s when it hit me. “Family entertainment”. Yes! That’s what we’ve needed all along. A way to reach kids. A way to get more readers at a young age. A way to keep comics alive. Spidey and company basically just received billions of dollars of advertisement for free!

Yes!

I think this is brilliant. I can see it now. Right after Hannah Montana comes a Fantastic Four show (nods to Bart). And yes, I’m being serious here. What a way to again cater to kids.

I love it! I’m on board. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to watch “Spider-Man” on Disney with my kids instead of “Wizards of Waverly Place”.

And here’s hoping Disney tells Marvel writers (Bendis, I’m talking to you!) to stop throwing out the F-bombs when doing interviews. Nothing reinforces the “Seduction of the Innocent” claim quite like a bunch of F-bombs when talking about Spider-Man in Wizard.

What are your thoughts on this? Good or bad this merger is?

Technorati Tags: Marvel comics, Disney

Adorable Captain America, Wolverine and Iron Man on Little Big Planet!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:01:00 PDT

As a proud daddy who loves playing LBP with his daughter and a comic book geek for eternity, I have to say I was truly giddy when I saw that Marvel is licensing three (maybe more?) of their characters as purchasable “skins” for Little Big Planet.

Kotaku is reporting that Marvel Comics will be lending Captain America, Wolverine, and Iron Man to the LBP universe.

It makes sense that Iron Man and Wolverine are getting the LBP justice (Iron Man 2 is coming and Wolverine is Wolverine) but Cap usually doesn’t get this treatment.

So unless it has to deal with licensing and Spider-Man was tied up at the moment, it appears Captain America is about to make a splash! Could this be Captain America movie news? Or maybe just a reiteration of the play Cap is getting in his comic book, coming back from the dead and all that.

Hopefully, more characters will follow and some day I’ll be playing Daredevil on one of the more than 1 million (MILLION!) LBP levels.

Woot!

Here’s a glimpse of Captain America, Little-Big-Planet-ized:

Awww…ain’t he cute?!

In other Marvel video game news, it looks like Ultimate Alliance 2 is coming along rather nicely. Looking to get my hands on this little number too! In UA:2 I’m sure to get my Daredevil video game fix!

Technorati Tags: Little Big Planet,LPB,Captain America,Wolverine,Iron Man,Ultimate Alliance,Marvel Comics,Daredevil

del.icio.us Tags: Little Big Planet,LPB,Captain America,Wolverine,Iron Man,Ultimate Alliance,Marvel Comics,Daredevil

Please Bone me Jeff Smith!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:01:00 PDT

A very cool announcement came out this past week regarding new Bone stories from Jeff Smith!

In the article Jeff is quoted as saying,

“I always said I would find a way to draw more Bone stories, and now I have.”

Anyone who calls themselves a comic book fan has almost certainly read “Bone”. With 4.5 million books in print, it’s safe to say there’s an audience out there for these new books.

So good luck to you Mr. Smith! I eagerly anticipate the little Bones return!

For more information from the story make sure to click the link!

Technorati Tags: Jeff Smith,Bone

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Artist To Watch Alert: Luke Radl!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:25:00 PDT

Okay, every once in a while I come across an artist that simply blows me away with his or her work. You know, the kind of art that grabs you buy the sack and makes you sit up and take notice (apologies to the ladies).

Also, apologies to Luke since I haven’t run this post past him yet and am displaying many of his images here. So Luke, if you read this and are ticked off, well, come on over, kick my ass, and I will shake your hand and take the images down. Swear!

I came across Luke Radl’s site and had to click through each and every image he posted. I then had to check out his blog, read his posts, follow him on Twitter, you know, all the freaky, creepy social networking stuff we do these days.

But enough of my garbage, let’s let his art talk for itself.

This was the first piece that I saw of Luke’s. This is the piece that grabbed the sack and ended up taking the next 30 minutes of my life as I sifted through his site:

Love this strip. Cute with a little Joe Kubert inspiration? And yes, I am comparing him to Kubert.

Here’s a pic of some real life. Check out his versatility here. In the comic above he does Joe Kubert and Bill Watterson. Here he does photo realistic image.

You can never go wrong with Chewbacca! And I love his interpretation…

Some more versatility…

His sense of design and layout. Is anything better than seeing an artist’s sketch work? Nothing is more pure than roughs…

Some more creativity and design…

And the pièce de résistance. This is my new desktop wallpaper. I spent this morning writing a post on how traditional Superman needs to be. Ironic that I am writing the last post of the day and including the most iconic picture of Spider-Man I’ve ever seen.

Norman Rockwell eat your heart out…

Luke Radl: Website Blog Twitter Bio

del.icio.us Tags: Luke Radl

Warner Bros. still thinks Superman needs to be darker?

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:09:00 PDT

Oh no. Not this again. Warner Bros. is still on target to make the next Superman movie a darker, edgier version.

Yikes…

Do they seriously not get the Superman property? With Superman you have to go boy scout, you have to go pure, you have to go traditional. Stop telling me that people don’t want to watch a Superman movie with morals and a “good vs. evil attitude”. I don’t buy it. Didn’t they try this “edgy” version of Supes in the last movie?

“Superman Returns” gave us a real S.O.B. of a character when we find out he knocked up Lois and then took off. We see that he’s a really creepy dude when he’s spying on Lois all night. I mean that took the cake right there, what all 13 boys fantasize about, being able to see through walls in order to watch a gal you have a crush on, happens in a Superman movie!?

In “Superman Returns" we all rejoiced to see Superman saving a crashing airplane. We loved that scene! And then everything went down hill from there. With Superman taking a back seat to Lex Luther for the last half of the film and then the whole Kryptonite-makes-Superman-weak crap which has been played out so many times.

So, what does WB do? They talk about making him even edgier. Darker. Oh c’mon! What’s next for ol’ Supes, stealing children, killing people, drinking in a bar to get over an ex-girlfriend he knocked up? Oh wait, that happened in “Superman Returns.” Damn!

Give us what we really want. Give us Good vs. Evil. Give us Superman saving the day. Saving the day in Metropolis. Where people can see it happen, can see themselves being saved. Can cheer! Not out on some ice cap.

Give us romance, but traditional romance, don’t have any three ways with Lois and Lana (although that would be edgier). Give us a villain worth fighting. And by this I mean, if you want to go edgier and darker, have some bad sh!t happen in the beginning of the film. Have the villain kill lots of people. Stack up traditional Superman against today’s mentality of bad guys.

And have Superman get in to some power slugfests! I want to see him kicking ass, not on his knees for half the movie!

Just keep my Superman pure man!

Technorati Tags: Superman Returns,Superman,Brandon Routh,Warner Bros

del.icio.us Tags: Superman Returns,Superman,Brandon Routh,Warner Bros

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:23:00 PDT

Anyone checking this book out? It's fantastic. If you aren't, you should be. Go get it!

Me Geek, You Geek Exclusive! Greg Rucka’s “Whiteout” Movie Plane.

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:33:00 PDT

Now that the trailer to Greg Rucka’s “Whiteout” has leaked online I thought it’d be best to offer up some exclusive photos that Me Geek, You Geek’s own Mr. Bart took of the plane used in the movie.

Sure, it’s not like having exclusive photos of “Whiteout” star Kate Beckinsale drunk and scantly clad on my couch, but hey, we’re all comic book geeks, planes are exciting too.

Right?

The story goes like this. Bart travels to Canada. Bart’s parents, having worked in Canada in the past know some people. One of the bush pilots that flew into the camp leased his plane to the production company making “Whiteout”. So Bart has actually flown in the “Whiteout” plane.

Woot!

Or something…

And make sure to check out the trailer to the movie:

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I do have picture of Kate drunk and scantily clad on my couch. It was a crazy night….

Technorati Tags: Kate Beckinsale,Whiteout,Greg Rucka,Exclusive pictures

“I only killed him with the intention of bringing him back.”

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:54:00 PDT

Before I jump on my critical train let me say this. Comic books are a commodity, commodities to be sold, the people making the commodities need to make a living in order to continue making them. I favor capitalism like the next capitalistic pig!

So, when we think about comic book creators, it will do us justice to think of them as capitalists. No matter how they may say publicly that they do it for the “art” or the “love” or whatever it may be, they, like the rest of us, have to get paid in order to survive.

So let’s use ol’ Ed Brubaker as an example.

Ed has many projects and he’s done very well for himself commercially and I would assume financially. And to me, this is fantastic! Good for him! He’s multifaceted, working in comics, tv, film, and books. He deserves success.

For a writer of his status with that many projects, free press is fantastic! The more people read his name, the more people buy his book. It’s Advertising 101. The “Mere Exposure Effect”. The more you hear about something the more you like it. (I assume this is why some pop singers make it so big since quality usually isn’t the reason.)

So when Ed killed off Captain America it must have been great for him professionally. People in the media where spreading his name, reading him, quoting him, interviewing him. I assume that sales on all his published work shot up and I assume doors opened for him in tv and movie land. Again, fantastic!

But Ed, I have to tell you, even after saying all of this in your defense, can you at least try to hide how obvious it is that you’re hoping to strike gold for a second time on Captain America?

Ed was recently quoted by MTV as saying:

“There was never any thought on my side that we wouldn’t bring him back, so it’s not like there was ever a fight about it,” said Brubaker. “I only killed him with the intention of bringing him back.”

Ahem. Did you hear the little capitalist pigs squealing in there?

“I only killed him with the intention of bringing him back.”

SQUEAL!

Let me rewrite what he actually meant:

“I only killed him so I could make a ton of money off the event and I certainly had the intention of bringing him back so I could make even more money off him! Squeal!”

Dude, I’m happy with your success, but learn how to hide your intentions a bit better!

And for all you who will e-mail me saying I’m too cynical, this is a sarcastic blog.

Oh, and here’s the first review of Captain America #600 that I found.

Oh again, make sure to check out his “Angel of Death” series on Crackle.com. It’s free and all and is pretty crazy.

Technorati Tags: Ed Brubaker,Captain America,Captain America: Reborn,Angel of Death,Zoe Bell

Captain America: Reborn trailer.

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:13:00 PDT

Oh! First look at Steve now that he’s reborn!

Technorati Tags: Captain America: Reborn,Steve Rogers,Marvel Comics

More Obama in our comic books!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:45:00 PDT

Publishers continue to put President Obama in our comic books! Enough already!

Yep. That’s our President being portrayed in a comic book with Ash! A COMIC BOOK WITH ASH! A comic book titled “Ash Saves Obama!” Has this become ridiculous or what?

Mark my words, we’ll mock this in the future.

Technorati Tags: Obama,Comic Books,Ash

Steve Rogers is Back!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:02:00 PDT

SPOILERS!

Well, since you read the title already, I guess I warned you a little too late. But if you are interested at all in comics then you know this news by now, it’s not a secret.

Our good pal Steve Rogers is back baby!

As the day has gone on and I continue to read more about Captain America #600 and Captain America: Reborn, I actually am getting a little excited. If you read my earlier post from today, my excitement was tepid at best. But as I kept thinking about it I came to some conclusions which got me jiving to all of this:

This is some big sh*t. I mean, Captain America is coming back. Once you get past the big sigh over another resurrection in comic books, you realize, “Yeah, Cap is a big gun in comics….and he’s back!”
Steve Rogers is coming back and he’s gonna realize pretty soon after waking up that Bucky has taken over the mantel. How’s this gonna go over? Is he going to be honored? Horrified? Bucky is running around with the shield and a gun after all, something the Silver Age Cap did not do. So this will be an interesting interaction to be sure. There’s a lot of back story here. The last thing Ca knew, Bucky was the Winter Soldier. I have to give Brubaker credit on all the webs he’s created.
Cap coming back from 6 feet under is not a huge EVENT! Finally! And by event, I mean crossover. Of course it’s an event, but not an EVENT. No company wide crossover that will muddy the waters or water down other books. This is the way to do this. Old school baby, old school!
Bryan Hitch is drawing Captain America: Reborn. Stellar.
The time element is going to be all screwed up for ol’ Steve again. Sure he was frozen in a block of ice for a very long time, but now he’s been dead for a few years and the world has definitely changed in his absence. How will this impact the character even more than before? At least when he was around for his second stint at life we didn’t have comic book Presidents (yep!)
UPDATE 6.16.09: Also, wait until Captain America finds out about the Dark Avengers! Here’s hoping he comes back grumpy as hell and wants to set things straight. Would love to see a Osborn vs. Captain America right off the bat.

So from earlier this morning until right now I went from luke warm to rather excited. In fact, I’m gonna take my son on our first comic book excursion tonight to get an extra copy. He’s two, so it most likely won’t be memorable, but I’ll take pictures of the event…

In my earlier post I thought maybe Quesada was playing coy since he didn’t actually say Steve’s name, but since then he has. Seems there’s no curve ball heading our way.

Here’s his quote on CBR:

“He's baaaaaaaack. Steve Rogers is back. We told people it was going to be a big deal, at least story-wise, so now let's see how the rest of the world reacts. We've been planning this for quite a long time and [series writer] Ed Brubaker's been holding onto this for a very, very long time. Now all that's left for fans to see is exactly if it really happens, how it happens and what happens from that point on. There are a lot of Winter Soldier/Bucky/Captain America fans out there, so how this all works itself out is going to be fun to read.”

In the same article, Quesada being Quesada, also made this funny, yet truthful, quip regarding handling the press:

“I have infinite amount of respect for actors and directors who do that upon the release of a movie because it is hard work. Actually, let me take that back, working construction is hard work. It’s more like mind-numbing and tedious work.”

How true…

Now, the question remains, how does Steve-O come back?

Personally, I think Brubaker’s been reading some Me Geek, You Geek and is taking some of Bart’s advice:

…insane, but possible, theory that Steve Rogers will be brought back from the dead and it will be explained that he still has some werewolf blood in him from the Cap Wolf days.

That was a classic episode of dearly missed Me Geek, You Geek Talk Show.

Run out and get your copy of #600 and let me know your thoughts.

P.S. The critical person in me sees that Ed Brubaker sees the writing on the wall. A Captain America movie with Steve Rogers is in the process of being made. Trade paperback sales explode upon release of a movie. What a better time to bring Steve back then right now so there’s 2-3 trades out when the movie releases. Not saying it’s sleezy….just saying…

Technorati Tags: Captain America,Captain America: Reborn,Captain America #600,Marvel Comics

Captain America’s back. But is the interest back too?

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:44:00 PDT

I distinctly thought, as I sat in bed last night reading a Wizard magazine, (I need to be done with that magazine….but they keep coming to my house!) that it certainly has been a long time since I have posted on MGYG.

With another venture up and running (www.virtualtourney.com for all you interested. Hi mom!) I haven’t had a lot of time for anything outside VirtualTourney, my business and my family.

So I sat there thinking, again, how come the desire is gone from posting about comics? As you all know, it absolutely is not from me not having anything to say as I very rarely shut up.

But I did figure out that I really had nothing to say about comics. Or rather, there was nothing to say about comics. Everything in the the comic book universe seems so anti-climatic. So worn out. So, I don’t know, boring.

And I kid you not, I sat there thinking since I have a week of vacation I will really throw myself at MGYG again. I kid you not. I was excited about getting excited about comics again.

Then I read some of my RSS feeds this morning and WHAM!

Marvel came out and announced the plot behind Captain America: Reborn. And, while I won’t spoil it for you if you want to be surprised; it’s really not that inspiring.

But know this, the comic is being release early, this Monday, June 15th, breaking it’s original release date of this Wednesday.

Marvel is hoping to get the same publicity as they did for the death of Captain America. And I don’t blame them. They are, after all, a business first and foremost. But I doubt they will garner the same attraction as the death of Cap or, as many are comparing it to, the return of Superman.

Anyway, to the news story if you want to read it, they talk to Quesada who has some quotes. Now, if you go and read the story, make sure to read his quotes carefully, and see if you think he might be throwing a curve ball as well. There’s something very specific that he did NOT say.

Now, does this get me excited for comics again? Maybe a little. If what Quesada is saying can be taken at it’s face value then it will set up some interesting dynamics between characters if it happens.

But hey, comics haven’t given us a lot to be excited about in a while so I’m gonna try to check my attitude and walk in to this one excited and hoping for the best.

It’s not like we were disappointed with Civil War, Secret Invasion, Planet Hulk, Final Crisis, Trinity…oh wait…nevermind.

Make sure to check it out though and see if I was right about Quesada possibly throwing a curve ball at us.

What do you think about all of this? Excited? Bored? Looking for something new to come your way?

Technorati Tags: Captain America,Captain America: Reborn,Captain America #600,Marvel Comics

Interesting Theory: The Return of Captain America

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:35:00 PDT

Ran across this theory about what Marvel is up to regarding the upcoming Captain America “Reborn” story. The theory is we may looking at a new, black Captain America.

Lisa, the author, ties a lot of comic book and real world marketing together. It’s actually pretty compelling. Make sure to read the article for the full scoop.

But for the quick recap of the article she ties the release of the TPB of “Truth”, stories about Will Smith starring as Captain America, the teaser poster which is similar to the “Truth” cover and even the fact that we have our first black President of the United States (no, President Obama is still NOT out of MY COMICS!)

This theory is way better than Bart’s theory which states there was enough Cap Wolf remaining in Steve Rogers that he’s been able to remain alive a bit after he died…or something like that.

Technorati Tags: Captain America,Captain America: The Truth,Will Smith,Reborn

This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Wolverine!

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:12:00 PDT

My word! I just got done playing through the demo to “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” on my PS3. I can’t believe how violent it was! And no, I’m not going to preach from on high about how it’s too violent, it’s Wolverine for crying out loud, but wow….not often am I playing a game and find myself stunned from the violence factor.

For instance. Take this image…

At some point in the demo you come to a cliff and kill a bunch of bad dudes that are attacking you. And by kill I mean stabbing their necks, picking them up and throwing them down on to big spikes which are sticking out of the ground (how convenient!), decapitating them, and lunging at them, tackling them and clawing them to death.

Pretty much normal Wolverine fair.

But after you’re done with the bad dudes, the helicopter in the above image comes out of the canyon and starts spraying hot lead everywhere. One of the cool game physics gives you the ability to lock on to a target and lunge at the enemy, in this case the helicopter.

Good old Wolverine sticks his claws in to the nose the chopper and pulls himself up onto the nose so he’s looking in at the pilot. Pretty cool right. Then you start controlling the game again and start punching the hell out of the windshield, which was easy to do: square, square, square, square….

Here’s the kicker. After you break the windshield, Wolverine reaches in, grabs the pilot, pulls him out to the nose of the chopper and then lifts him up in to the blade twirling overhead, leaving Wolverine on the nose holding a headless body.

This ain’t your daddy’s Wolverine.

I remember playing all the classic X-Men games on the NES, the Genesis and even the more current systems and always walking away thinking how much of a pain in the butt it was to use Wolverine. He was kinda wussy. But decapitating folks in helicopter blades? Now that’s a pissed off Wolverine.

If you’re reading this and are thinking, “Hey, I’ve read this post before?”, you may be right. I also write the video game blog at VirtualTourney.com and posted in both places. Yep, I’m lazy….

P.S. Here’s hoping all your parents do your due diligence and not buy this game for your young ones!

Technorati Tags: xmen origins: wolverine,video games,marvel,wolverine

Typhoid Mary = Katee Sackhoff?

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Mon, 25 May 2009 06:26:00 PDT

Many of my favorite blogs have already posted this news coming from Golden Apple Comics about Katee Sackhoff going in and buying up all of Typhoid Mary related books.

But since Battlestar Galactic is one of my favorite shows and Katee was my favorite actor on the show, AND because MGYG needs Katee’s beautiful self on MGYG to brighten it up, I thought I’d do a post too.

If Katee gets the part she’d be a fantastic choice. Any of you who have watched BSG immediately know she can do sweet, real, tough, crazy and insanely insane, most of the time all in one episode. She has the acting chops and the action chops to go toe to toe with whoever is filling the Daredevil red.

This would be very exciting news to be sure. I’d be even happier if they planned a two movie deal and really explore Mary in the first as a love interest for Matt and then slowly deconstruct her over the film and have her appear as Typhoid in the second movie.

Then and only then would we get our Katee fix….

Technorati Tags: Katee Sackhoff,Daredevil Movie,Typhoid Mary

Wolverine. A.K.A Charles Barkley?

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:47:00 PDT

So I'm watching my Celtics play the Bulls last night in Game 3 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. This is my first love, followed closely by my love of comic books of course. But not often do both of my passions converge in to one. With one being jocky and one being geeky, it’s obviously why. But when it does happen, I make sure to make a note of it.

But while watching the game I was struck with the following commercial for the upcoming Wolverine movie.

Both of my worlds collided.

I love the line that Kenny makes: "Man, if you had Wolverine's claws you'd cut your arms off opening up a package of twinkies."

Classic.

It's also funny that Kenny is trying to argue that Gambit is tougher than Wolverine. Apparently whoever wrote that script has no clue. But hey, I can't argue.

Technorati Tags: Wolverine,Charles Barkley,Kenny Smith,Gambit

There's an Obama in my Comic Book.

jon@gorillapublishing.com (Me Geek, You Geek) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:47:00 PDT

I would like to offer this post as a call to all comic book publishers and comic book creators. Big and small. Indie and Main. And I guess even, Democrat and Republican.

KEEP OBAMA OUT OF MY COMIC BOOKS!

I recently had enough of the comic book universe's collective "obamagasm" when I opened up my mailbox and found the latest issue of Wizard magazine. On the front cover, again, is our POTUS. This is the May issue, Obama was elected in November, inaugurated in January...do we still need to have him on the cover of our comic book news magazine 5 months later?!

This specific issue of Wizard had a "Presidential Material" article (display case really) highlighting all of the merchandise, comics, and toys (yes toys....don't you want your Obama Paper Dolls?) that has come out since the election. And on the cover the line read: "The Obama's! Barack and Michelle Rule Comics, Toys and More!"

Yikes.

Now, I'm all for historical moments. I'm all for people expressing themselves in their art/creations/etc. But let's be honest here. This guy is the President of the United States! He's not the latest American Idol finalist. He's not the latest teen sensation (actually...the publishers wouldn't get away with doing this about anyone else since they would be sued for using their likeness). He's the President of the United States!

I would hope there would be some respect for the office, if not for the POTUS. For crying out loud, these are comic books!

So why are publishers using Obama in everything? Are they dedicated to his cause? Maybe. Are they overtaken by the historical moment? Possibly. Are they looking to ride on his coattails and make a pretty penny off his notoriety?

In the words of Obama's defeated opponent: "You betcha!"

Obama has been used in the Spider-Man comic that has sold about 18.5 trillion copies (I think we could bailout all failing companies in the USA with what issue #583 brought in). He's been used in two Savage Dragon issues. And Youngblood #8 (I wonder if Liefeld drew Barry's feet?). Plus there are many more that came out since the election ramped up and Obama was the front runner.

But it's ridiculous.

As written in Wizard magazine, the synopsis for Youngblood #8 goes a little something like this:

"In a backup story by Liefeld, Obama puts together a new Youngblood team while defending the White House as the Presidential Action Hero that he is!"

Presidential Action Hero.

Ugh.

So again, I plead with the comic community, please stop disrespecting the office and the position just to make a lousy buck.

And yes, I would be posting the same thing if McCain would have won and then had a double page spread in Wizard magazine and was showing up in comics. Cause I guarantee they would have showcased McCain in the exact same way.

Ha...I made a funny.

Technorati tags: Obama, Comic Books, Spider-Man, Savage Dragon, Youngblood