Super Serial aims to dissect series of pop art — be it a filmography, discography or run of comics — by looking at its individual components.

In my review of Octopussy, I noted that a James Bond film cannot be satisfying without compelling villains and Bond Girls — that even a pretty good mission plot will stall without these notable characteristics. Tomorrow Never Dies, the eighteenth official film of the series, isn’t exactly the opposite of that, but even with memorable characters, the film leaves me a little cold.

From first-time-Bond director Roger Spottiswoode (who will always be immortalized for directing classics like Turner & Hooch and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot), this isn’t a particularly bad entry in the series, but too many things don’t add up. It doesn’t quite have the serious tone of the Dalton films, GoldenEye and what I expect to come, but it’s also not entertainingly campy like the Roger Moore films — it’s stuck in between somewhere (“mediocrity”?). Even though it’s only Pierce Brosnan’s second film of the series, it already feels like everyone is just going through the motions. That doesn’t bode well for the next two Brosnan films, which I’ve heard are much worse.

[Bond, James Bond]

Pierce Brosnan returns a little less like Connery and a little “moore” like Roger. Throughout the entire movie, he seems little more than a receptacle made for painful deliver of unfunny one-liners. This, of course, is only part his blame, as each of his jokes are set up on a tee and seen from a mile away. He isn’t quite as actionless as Moore became, but there are plenty of action setpieces with obvious use of stunt doubles.

[The Mission]

Tomorrow Never Dies features one of the more streamlined plots of the series — partially because it is one of the shortest movies. The past number of films started stretching into 130-140 minutes, with the extra time directly being plot. Here, though, after a particularly draggy post-credit scene, the film cruises by with a simple premise and fewer characters to clutter.

The main mission of the plot involves Bond stopping a media mogul from directly starting World War III. Unlike most other films, there isn’t as much of a specific threat, like a certain bomb going off or a certain satellite used as a weapon — instead, we only know what the villain is capable of and the lengths he’s willing to go. Like in many of the other films, though, it is a little ridiculous how early on Bond and MI6 know of the threat while not doing anything to really stop it. It’s only at the very end, just before the metaphorical bomb goes off, that Bond steps in to save the day. That is of course a necessity for an action film, but when the villain isn’t quite a formidable threat, it can be a bit silly.

This film also isn’t very concerned with location; it bucks the established trend of Bond travelling to new locales in each film. Toward the climax, Bond does end up in China (or was it Vietnam?) for a chase through very cliched streets, but a majority of the film takes place indoors or in nondescript spaces. I would assume this would make the film less interesting in some ways, but it actually cuts out a lot of the cheese factor that can happen with Bond on these site-seeing trips.

[The Villain]

Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) is among the weasliest of the Bond villains — an intellectual-philosopher type that seriously lacks any physical threat. More than any other villain, he is a representation of an idea — the fear of the media becoming too omnipresent and too powerful. In this case, not only will the media tell us what to think, but it will also cause the destruction it reports. Carver, incredibly insane, decides to start World War III to generate exclusive headlines, showing no concern for innocent lives. Unlike previous villains, he isn’t looking to kill everyone to start the world anew, or even necessarily for money, but more to be the best at his business. There is nothing scarier than a journalist without any ethics, right?

It shouldn’t be forgotten, though, that he is an entertaining character. As an overtly satiric take on media moguls, he gets to be overly absurd, a nice contrast to many of the ultra-serious baddies Bond encounters. Carver is portrayed through satire, which makes him stick out from the likes of Dr. No, Goldmember and Hugo Drax. He reminds me a lot of one my favorite cinema villains, Dick Jones from RoboCop — both are incredibly over-the-top and remarkably slimy but immensely fun to watch. To be good satire, the character has to be exaggerated while having just enough true-world recognizability, and the results work swimmingly.

In his introduction, we see the character strolling around his ridiculously high-tech media room (yes, one could call it a lair), interacting with a number of journalist lackeys on big LCD screens. The run-down of their work is pretty hilarious, but in a real-world context it would be incredibly scary — they talk about releasing software littered with bugs so consumers would have to constantly upgrade, and having the power to blackmail the president with secretly-taken photographs if he doesn’t sign a bill lowering cable rates (hey — that one doesn’t sound too bad!). Being a media mind, Carver plays like a living soundbite, with a number of memorable one-liners that shed light on his philosophy and the film’s satiric look at global media. A couple of zingers he gives: “There’s no news like bad news”; “words are the new weapons”; and “you’re just in time to help me finish writing the inaugural story, YOUR obituaries.”

[The Bond Girls]

Tomorrow Never Dies features two of the Bond Girl archetypes, but they are unique enough to stick out. First is Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher), the wife of Elliot Carver, who had long-ago affair with James. Paris is used throughout the film only as an object of sexual desire for Bond, and as the lover of the villain, she joins the many ranks of Bond Girls that are stuck in a situation they can’t control. While Carver is clearly insane, it isn’t quite as extraordinary that she would be with him, as she is only really seen as an object. Still, I see her coming across as quite cynical and sad — she keeps information from her husband that could threaten his life and her interactions with Bond feel like an escape from her regular life.

Keeping Bond’s true identity from her husband results in her death. This fulfills another trend we’ve seen time and again, with one Bond Girl (usually a love interest), being killed off mid-way through the film. Here, though, there is something incredibly unsatisfying about the situation. I feel this is partly because I liked her interactions with Bond — no one would consider Hatcher to be a great actress, but she had some genuine chemistry with Brosnan. It probably has more to do that we don’t see Paris killed on screen, or really have much indication that she has died, so any drama is zapped out. We realize her death at the same time as Bond, but he must be preoccupied with figuring out how to survive himself, so that’s what the viewer focuses on, as well. And the scene played directly after her death is broadly comical, so I don’t think that helps.

On the other hand, martial arts actress Michelle Yeoh plays Wai Lin, a Chinese spy and maybe the most kick-ass characters in the series. She is a stark contrast from Paris Carver, as an object of action — she is still sexy, but it’s in her athleticism that she attracts Bond. During the action scenes, she proves far more resourceful and quick-thinking than Bond, and though he is capable, he may not have made it out alive without her. It is pretty easy to realize how superior Yeoh is to most any other actor in the series — just take a look back at the martial arts sequences of The Man with the Golden Gun to see the stark contrast. The fight choreography isn’t at all extraordinary (all she really does it kick everyone in the same manner) and perhaps a keener martial arts eye wouldn’t be so impressed, but it was a step in the right direction.

Like all Bond films that came before it, Tomorrow Never Dies turns the rough action Bond Girl into another love interest in the end. Normally I am particularly distressed when this happens, and this is no exception. Still, I understand the attraction from Bond — who doesn’t love a kick-ass girl? The major problem is that it is far too forecasted, with Wai Lin telling Bond not to “get any ideas” in about every other line of her dialogue. We know it’s coming; you don’t have to be cute about it.

[The Gadgets]

The most interesting gadget in Tomorrow Never Dies, a remote control that powers Bond’s rental BMW, accounts for the most ridiculous action setpiece in the film. Although the gadget looks pretty cool on the screen, it’s beyond absurd that Bond would be able to use the device to the effectiveness he does. Most of Bond’s gadgets are fairly practical — weird, yes, but a laser watch or lighter grenade are easy to use and useful in multiple situations. It’s not just that Bond expertly maneuvers a high-speed car through a parking garage, but the simplistic remote seems to be able to give him unlimited access to a number of overly-specific weapons and devices.

More on the car: it’s equipped with a security system far beyond our technical capacities. Not only is it electrically charged, but can withstand sledgehammers, gun fire, etc. as if a sci-fi force field has enveloped it. Perhaps more amusing, why doesn’t Bond use this security while he’s being chased — why not make the car impervious to bullets while he’s in the car? Seems like that would make his job too easy, so they just skip over that possibility.

[The Song]

If there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I hate Sheryl Crow. “Tomorrow Never Dies,” though, is a pretty interesting song — but why does Sheryl Crow have to sing it? The title track is gloomy and darker than the run of pop songs we’ve gotten, which feels more appropriate for the tone of the film.

“It’s so deadly my dear
The power of wanting you near
Until that day,
Until the world falls away
Until you say there’ll be no more good-bye’s
I see it in your eyes,
Tomorrow never dies”

Even while I mostly dig the song, Sheryl Crow can’t seem to hit the correct notes during the chorus. I hate her so much.

[Random Thoughts]

- The pre-credits sequence features MI6 and the British government spying in on a Terrorist Arms Bazaar — I suppose it’s too classy to be called a flea market.

- During this scene, the military decides to fire missiles at the Bazaar, as many of the world’s most notorious terrorists are present (some sort of club). Turns out, though, that there are nuclear weapons on site which could blow up the world, so Bond has to save the day. Should they have been so surprised there were NUCLEAR WEAPONS at a TERRORIST SWAP MEET?

- Is there a more British-sounding name than Roger Spottiswoode? Trick question, he’s Canadian.

- This film features one of the coolest title sequences with really nice art direction. It made me hope that there were robots in the movie, though, so that was sad.

- Random Bond hook-up: why was the Danish woman offended by being called ‘little’? Is that a cultural thing?

- Nice work by the screenwriters slipping in a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” joke — so very timely.

- Ah, the days when GPS was a futuristic feature for an automobile.

- I feel sort of sad for men who are a foot taller than anyone else — is there any other job for them besides being a henchman?

- Instead of killing his associates on a whim, Carver fires them on a whim.

- A fun scene with Bond visiting Wai Lin’s Chinese set-up, filled with Chinese gadgets: a fan dart gun, dragon head flame thrower, etc. Too bad we didn’t get to meet the Chinese Q.

- It’s a little strange that a final crowd-rousing joke at the end is when M writes a headline for the death of Carver. Don’t you all realize that the government controlling the media is far scarier than a maniac controlling the media?

SERIAL, SUPER SERIAL will return in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

A few weeks ago Amnesty International released the massive 4-disc tribute album Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International. This record, which contains new or new-ish recordings of Dylan classics by artists as diverse as Adele, Ke$ha, Johnny Cash and My Chemical Romance, certainly does not skimp on talent. It also doesn’t skimp on time; this whole thing clocks in at over five hours long! And even though the artists represented here are varied enough to sustain your interest, it’s tough to slog through five hours straight of any one thing.

That being the case, I went ahead and put together what I consider my “best of” mix. I cut the original 73 songs down to 15 (plus one non-album bonus track I just had to include); the whole thing now fits on one CD of music instead of four. For me, this is a way to enjoy this album consistently without having to hear a bunch of stuff that just brings me down (although actual bad tracks over the four CDs are few and far between, but the Stings and Dave Matthews of Chimes of Freedom are enough to keep me away from many future total relistens).

I’ve also compiled these tracks into a Spotify mix for you to check out right here. If you like it, please consider actually buying the record (or go track-by-track) off Amazon MP3. Proceeds from the sale of the album go straight to Amnesty International, certainly a cause worth supporting.

Rebel Rikki’s Best of Chimes of Freedom

1. Patti Smith – Drifter’s Escape
2. The Gaslight Anthem – Changing of the Guard
3. Rise Against – Ballad of Hollis Brown
4. Ziggy Marley – Blowin’ in the Wind
5. Airborne Toxic Event – Boots of Spanish Leather
6. Silversun Pickups – Not Dark Yet
7. Thea Gilmore – I’ll Remember You
8. Steve Earle – One More Cup of Coffee
9. Ed Roland – Shelter from the Storm
10. Joan Baez – Seven Curses
11. Jack’s Mannequin – Mr. Tambourine Man
12. Adele – To Make You Feel My Love
13. Flogging Molly – The Times They Are A-Changin’
14. Diana Krall – Simple Twist of Fate
15. Jeff Beck & Seal – Like a Rolling Stone
16. Bruce Springsteen – Chimes of Freedom

(note: track #16 comes from a different record, but I couldn’t not include it. This tribute uses Dylan’s actual track instead of a cover, so I thought I’d pull Bruce’s cover instead, which was released on an EP also called Chimes of Freedom).

Did we miss any? What are your favorite tracks?

Super Serial aims to dissect series of pop art — be it a filmography, discography or run of comics — by looking at its individual components.

Perhaps best known for the N64 game that single-handedly lead to massive multi-shooter parties in dorm rooms across the country, Martin Campbell’s 1995 GoldenEye is the seventeenth official James Bond release, and a reboot of sorts. Coming a full six years after its predecessor, the film is certainly a fresh start, with a recasting of major characters and its taking place in a world with a much different geopolitical landscape. Still, it borders the tone the Dalton films set — with less emphasis on humor and more on balls-to-the-wall action.

Although the film uses a lot of the series’ trademark formulas, it opens in the past and then jumps ahead nine years to the present. In the opening scene Bond, along with 006 Alec Trevelyan, breaks into a Russian chemical plant — a scene which does a lot of work to identify the major villains and give the film extra context that we don’t normally see in the series. There are times when we learn a little about Bond’s past, but usually only in keeping with things we’ve already seen within the series. Here, though, the opening propels the rest of the film much more like a modern action film would. This subtle breaking of the formula is hopefully indicative of filmmakers taking more chances in the series — even if those risks don’t turn out, it will be more interesting to see after nearly 20 of these films.

Overall, GoldenEye is one of the more well-made films in the series, though it probably won’t be among my absolute most favorites. There is one aspect of the film that bumps it up at least a half-star for me: Judi Dench as M. In previous films, the briefing scenes with M have been the most dry, expository and needless sequences of the films. M is of course an integral part of the series, but he never had any qualifying traits other than being a government suit. Here, though, Dench gives a spectacular supporting performance and makes her scene the most compelling of the film.

Being the first Bond film without any aspects of an Ian Fleming novel, the screenwriters took a big chance in casting M as a woman. This change prompted them to give the character some depth and provide dramatic conflict in a film series that has very little of it. The conversation between Bond and M, where you find out that they don’t have much respect for each other, is brilliantly written and performed by both parties. There have been portrayals of Bond as a complete lackey and others where he stands up to orders, but we’ve never quite seen this amount of heat between the two. Being a woman, M now also provides a context of feminism to the series — when she calls Bond a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” it calls to attention something the audience has been thinking for 30 years, but has never been directly criticised within the films. I got a little tingly inside.

[Bond, James Bond]

As has become customary for the changes in Bond, GoldenEye introduces us to the new super-spy slowly, bathed in shadow and extreme close-ups. Pierce Brosnan is finally fully revealed as the actor who perhaps looks most like “Bond.” The actor is certainly considered one of the better Bonds, and this makes immediate sense — just looking at him in the role feels comfortable.

His portrayal fits two of the major Bond worlds better than anyone since Connery — he is incredibly chic and classic-looking, but he can be a legitimate action star when needed. The previous two actors could pull off one but not the other, and Lanzenby never really had either, so Brosnan in the role is a breath of fresh air. Although Brosnan isn’t the brooding, intense action man that we saw in Dalton, and he doesn’t quite have the same physicality as Connery, he pulls off all the action scenes realistically. More importantly, he looks great with a gun. The scenes where he simply stalks around corners in the film’s opening are more compelling than any action piece performed by Moore. If there is one thing that Brosnan doesn’t quite have, it’s a sense of humor — though I could make a strong case that that’s a sign of poor screenwriting rather than performance.

[The Mission]

In GoldenEye, Bond investigates an explosion at a satellite facility and must stop an unknown group from using a GoldenEye satellite to destroy London. This plot is fairly normal for a Bond film (with all its satellites and electromagnetic something or others), but there are two interesting touches we haven’t seen before. First, this plot takes place in a post-Soviet world. It’s all well-and-good to make the Red Communists the enemy, as they are obviously evil, but with implications of former Soviet officers continuing their mission it feels like a greater threat.

The second is Bond’s first link to the Nazis — an evil that seems obvious for the series but hasn’t yet been explored, perhaps because the series followed the novels too closely (no longer a problem) or because the tone was never quite right to introduce these real-world monsters. The main villain of the film is a Cossack looking for revenge for what the British have done to his people. I don’t know much about Cossacks, but they were tied to the Nazis during WWII — and our villain’s parents were refused entry into Britain and executed in Russia because of it.

For me, the far superior Bond plots have been ones that use real-world politics as their basis — they might not always be the most fun, but they are certainly the most fascinating (see: The Living Daylights). So, while the plot elements here may not be the best, I’m saved by taking real historical context to make fictional fears. Sure, none of the Bond films are realistic, but that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from realism.

[The Villain]

If you don’t like spoilers, don’t read this section, though I don’t think this is anything that hasn’t been spoiled 1000 times before (nor something that isn’t quite obvious to figure out while you’re watching the film).

Alec Trevelyan (played by Sean Bean) isn’t one of the more charismatic or memorable Bond villains in himself, but his type of villain is quite different from anything we’ve seen. In the opening sequence, we know Alec as 006, a secret-agent pal of Bond, who aids him on a mission in Russia. When things go terribly wrong, 006 is assassinated by the film’s other baddie, Colonel Ourumov. Or was he? We come to find out that this was a set-up, that Alec has really gone to the dark side, plotting revenge against Britain for the death of his Nazi-allied parents.

While no one will probably be surprised by the reveal of Alec’s villainy, the convention is interesting. The only other access we’ve had to other double-0 agents is for them to be killed and Bond to investigate their death. We also now have the precedent of Bond avenging the murders of loved ones, with last week’s film License to Kill. Instead, with Alec actually being a traitor, he’s one of the few villains who has personal ties to Bond and is out for vengeance.

Being a former MI6 agent now gone bad, Alec is held up as a mirror for Bond. He knows Bond better than any other villain —  how he works, what gets to him, etc. We also see him acting like a super spy, but in a distorted sort of way. When he’s captured Natalya, he tries to put the moves on her, much like Bond would do (and does), but since he’s a bad guy, the advances seem creepy. Finally, being a highly trained spy, he’s a villain that can provide a compelling showdown with Bond, and their hand-to-hand fight at the climax of the film is one of the better simple action scenes of the series.

[The Bond Girls]

We have two featured Bond Girls that fit the typical molds — the innocent girl caught up in the plot and the villainess. Natalya Simonova is a missile guidance programmer at a Russian station that’s blown up during the bad guy’s plot — she escapes only to be captured and thrust into the action. Like Pussy Galore and Stacey Sutton, she’s a Bond Girl that’s defined by a specific occupation close to the mission. Though casting a bombshell to be a computer programmer may be counter-intuitive, Natalya is much more believable than some of the previous Bond working girls. Moreover, though she is an innocent girl type, she has much more of a mean streak — she gets angry and combative with Bond without feeling like a shrew.

On the other hand, there is Famke Janssen’s Xenia Onatopp — the main henchwoman of Ourumov and Alec. She is most comparable with May Day and Fatima Blush, a fierce woman, oozing with sexuality but also incredibly dangerous. Janssen’s performance is pretty remarkable; whenever she’s on screen, you can’t take your eyes off of her. Her wild and adventurous state makes her feel more like a caged animal than a real person, though that works to her benefit. She reminds me a lot of the classic femme fatale, as she woos men in with her sexuality just before killing them — and literally killing them with sex. Her methods of murder are a little strange (she strangles men with her thighs), but the impact is felt. Even when Bond has had sexual relations with female villains, he’s never been quite as in danger during them.

[The Gadgets]

GoldenEye doesn’t use many new gadgets, though we see some classics re-used in the film. The major gadget that’s introduced is a “pen grenade,” which has a fuse set off when clicked three times. Even though the gadget seems as ridiculous as many other, the film finds a way to use it at the climax of the film in a nice way — putting it into the hands of an enemy who likes to click pens. The suspense used through the gadget builds nicely, even if the convention has been seen a lot in various ways (will he click it three times?!).

[The Song]

Tina Turner’s “GoldenEye” isn’t a particularly good song, but it is definitely a Bond song. We’ve been on a run of title tracks that can be completely separated from the film — seeing that a few of the previous entries have done well on pop charts speaks to that. Here, however, is a song that couldn’t exist in any other context, and it is memorable for that, even if it is quite bad.

“You’ll never know how I watched you
From the shadows as a child
You’ll never know how it feels to be so close
And be denied.
It’s a gold and honey trap
I’ve got for you tonight
Revenge it’s a kiss, this time I won’t miss
Now I’ve got you in my sight
With a GoldenEye, golden, GoldenEye”

It’s been a while since we’ve had a title track that has used elements of the James Bond theme, and that is definitely my favorite part of this one. As you can tell from the lyrics, there isn’t much else to like.

[Random Thoughts]

- After the title sequence, we see Bond on what I think is a date. Apparently Bond still goes on dates where he doesn’t mention he’s a super spy. I wonder if they met on match.com.

- This movie has a serious oral fixation — from the gun in a woman’s mouth during the title sequence to Onatopp puffing on a cigar.

- Doesn’t it feel a somehow incestuous now that Moneypenny is played by an actress whose last name is Bond?

- If you were named Onatopp, would you wholly embrace what you must have been constantly teased about when you were a kid?

- BOND FACT: This is the first Bond film that uses text to note the location — I guess St. Petersburg isn’t distinctive enough.

- I realize that many of these films are just car commercials, but Q laying out all the specs for Bond’s BMW seems a bit much.

- Q reminds Bond that he has a license to kill, but not a license to break traffic laws. I wonder how he would have to apply for that.

- Another weird choice in casting Joe Don Baker as the new CIA contact for Bond — wasn’t he just brutally murdered? This isn’t the first time that an actor played two different roles in two films, but this one is incredibly jarring.

- I think part of the audition process to play Bond is a chest hair inspection.

- Take note all you super-spies in training: If you don’t have a gadget handy when in need of an escape, a headbutt will usually do.

- I’m not used to seeing Sean Bean without him wielding a giant sword.

SERIAL, SUPER SERIAL will return in TOMORROW NEVER DIES

Over the past few years, there have been three subgenres and film styles that have been becoming increasingly popular: the fake-doc found footage film, the origin story and the super-hero existing in the real world film. Josh Trank’s Chronicle attempts to meld all three of these film subgenres together, and, for the most part, the individual pieces of this equation are as satisfactory as we’ve seen.

Chronicle follows three high school students who encounter a mysterious force which has given them incredible powers, such as the ability to manipulate objects with their minds and the ability to fly. The film uses the standard superhero origin story to show the progression of powers becoming stronger and making the decisions of how they should use them (in this particular instance, no superhero responsibility speeches are had, other than a few rules about not harming living things, etc.).

The most interesting idea in the film comes with Andrew, who is really our main focus of the film, a sad loner who stumbles upon his powers. We’ve seen many characters like him throughout comics and superhero films, Peter Parker as the main example. Like Peter, Andrew is bullied, doesn’t have a lot of friends and has a number of serious family problems. After Andrew has developed his incredible powers, he goes the rout we see in Spider-Man. Since the film’s a darker take on this story, though, Andrew quickly uses his newfound powers as a way to punish those in his way — and with a little freshman-level philosophy about survival of the fittest, to boot. In all, this is a more realistic take on a real-life world where super-human powers exist. Though the film doesn’t really delve into this idea, I can see subtext looking back at school shootings which mirror the situation in the film. I find the film a little troubling here, though, as it’s pretty easy to root for Andrew taking revenge, even when he is an obvious villain.

The most prominent subgenre Chronicle takes on is the found footage film — a stylistic imprint on cinema that has brought some of the worst films of the past few years, including the early favorite for worst film of 2012, The Devil Inside. The major problem many of these films has is not taking their filmmaking seriously. If you are going to establish the rules of having a found footage or fake documentary film, you have to stick to those rules. For example, a decent film, The Last Exorcism, previously the best example of the genre, sloppily breaks its rules by having multiple camera angles in a conversation scene when there is only one camera in the film. Chronicle does a great job keeping with the stylistic restraints of this genre — in some ways to genius effect, in other ways with a measure of cop out. Though the film doesn’t present itself from the future, looking back at these events (the film’s trailer does this, but the film doesn’t in so many actions), toward the final action scenes, we see perspectives from a number of different cameras out in the real world — security cameras, fake news footage, etc. Less cleverly, the film introduces another character, a young woman and love interest of our three protagonists, who films “everything” for her blog. She is little more than a device than to be able to capture other perspectives of the action, but I can excuse this for the filmmakers simply sticking to the rules of the genre.

The only reason I wasn’t totally blown away by Chronicle is its lackluster script. That’s not to say that the characters, overall story and dialogue aren’t well-written, but the film is incredibly predictable at every turn. Also, the movie wraps up a little too nicely — ending with one of the characters fulfilling a promise made to his friends. It is hard to make an argument for a film with this much potential trying to set up yet another franchise, but I think there is a lot of fertile ground that could have been plowed, such as: what was the real cause of these powers (the scene where the three boys come across the mysterious crater and discover something really interesting is COMPLETELY dropped)? Were others affected? If the film is successful, the studios may try to work in another sequel anyway, but since the film seems to shut itself off, any more films will come off completely as cash-grabs.

My biggest takes from Chronicle are that there is some life in the found footage genre, though it probably reaches its heights, and that Josh Trank is a filmmaker to look out for. With a pretty small budget and a young, inexperienced cast, Trank made a film with incredible visuals and a lot of interesting ideas (even if some of them didn’t totally play out). The acting was solid, the action and characters compelling. If the rumors prove to be true and Trank is off to helm a Fantastic Four reboot, I’ll be excited. He may just be able to bring a little more pathos to a film series that was the worst kind of superhero film fluff.

New Comics for February 8th, 2012

A weekly list of new comic books, graphic novels, trade paperbacks and toys hitting your favorite comic stores this week. Need to find a comic store near you? Use the Comic Shop Locator. See the full list, with my picks in red and other books of note in bold, after the jump!

MARVEL
Battle Scars #4
Black Panther Most Dangerous Man Alive #529
Captain America #8
Carnage USA #3
Daken Dark Wolverine #21
Deadpool #50
Deadpool #50 bradshaw variant cover
Incredible Hulk #5
Journey Into Mystery #634
New Mutants #37
Northanger Abbey #4
Powers #8
Punishermax #22
Scarlet Spider #2 volume 2
Secret Avengers #22
Secret Avengers #22 hardman variant cover
Venom #13.1
Wolverine and the X-Men #5
Wolverine and the X-Men Alpha and Omega #2
X-Men #24 2010 series

DC
Batgirl #6 volume 4
Batman and Robin #6
Batwoman #6
Batwoman #6 variant cover
Deathstroke #6 volume 2
Demon Knights #6
Frankenstein Agent of Shade #6
Green Lantern #6
Green Lantern #6 variant cover
Green Lantern #6 black & white variant cover
Grifter #6
Huntress #5
Legion Lost #6
Mister Terrific #6
Penguin Pain & Prejudice #5
Resurrection Man #6
Suicide Squad #6 volume 3
Superboy #6 volume 5

DC/VERTIGO
Northlanders #48
Unwritten #34
Vertigo 2012 Sampler

INDEPENDENT
Artifacts #14
Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #5
Berlin #18
Bionic Man #6
Bionic Man #6 variant cover
Bionic Man #6 virgin cover
Bionic Man #6 black & white cover
Blue Estate #9
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Freefall #6 jeanty variant cover
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Freefall #6 noto cover
Cavewoman Feeding Grounds #1
Cavewoman Feeding Grounds #1 nude edition
Conan the Barbarian #1 carnvale cover
Conan the Barbarian #1 cloonan cover
Dark Matter #2
Dean Koontz Nevermore #6
Dicks #1
Dicks #1 mature cover
Dicks #1 black & white cover
Doctor Who Classic Series IV #1
Dungeons & Dragons #15
Dungeons & Dragons #15 variant cover
Elric the Balance Lost #8 cover a
Elric the Balance Lost #8 cover b
Elric the Balance Lost #8 variant cover
Ferals #2
Ferals #2 gore cover
Ferals #2 wrap cover
Ferals #2 slash cover
Garth Ennis Ninjettes #1 cover a
Garth Ennis Ninjettes #1 cover b
Garth Ennis Ninjettes #1 virgin cover
Garth Ennis Ninjettes #1 black & white cover
Grimm Fairy Tales #67 cover a
Grimm Fairy Tales #67 cover b
Grimm Fairy Tales Myths & Legends #12 cover a
Grimm Fairy Tales Myths & Legends #12 cover b
Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Neverland Hook #3 cover a
Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Neverland Hook #3 cover b
Haunt #21
Kirby Genesis Silver Star #3 buckingham cover
Kirby Genesis Silver Star #3 lee cover
Kirby Genesis Silver Star #3 ross cover
Kirby Genesis Silver Star #3 10 copy virgin cover
Kirby Genesis Silver Star #3 25 copy virgin cover
Kirby Genesis Silver Star #3 black & white cover
Lady Death #14
Lady Death #14 sultry cover
Lady Death #14 wrap cover
Lady Death #14 art deco cover
Last of the Greats #5 cover a
Last of the Greats #5 cover b
Lobster Johnson the Burning Hand #2
Memorial #3
Memorial #3 variant cover
Murky World #1
Next Men Aftermath #40
Next Men Aftermath #40 variant cover
PC Cast House of Night #4
Red Sonja #63 geovani cover
Red Sonja #63 reis cover
Severed #7
Snake Eyes #10 cover a
Snake Eyes #10 cover b
Snake Eyes #10 variant cover
Spawn #216
Star Wars Agent of the Empire Iron Eclipse #3
Star Wars Crimson Empire III Empire Lost #4
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic War #2
Strain #3
Thief of Thieves #1
War Goddess #5
War Goddess #5 gore cover
War Goddess #5 wrap cover
War Goddess #5 art deco cover
War of the Independents #2
Warlord of Mars #14 df risque cover
Warlord of Mars #15 jusko cover
Warlord of Mars #15 sadowski cover
Warlord of Mars #15 red cover
Warlord of Mars #15 risque cover
Warlord of Mars Dejah Thoris #9 df risque cover
Zorro Rides Again #8

TRADES AND HARDCOVERS
American Splendor Life & Times of Havey Pekar GN
Archie Best of Dan Decarlo Treasury Edition
Art of Mass Effect Universe HC
Astonishing X-Men Children of Brood Premiere HC
Athos in America HC
Avengers Hawkeye Marksman Premiere HC
Avengers Origins TPB
Batman Time And The Batman TPB
Classics Illustrated HC volume 15 Call of the Wild
Comics On Trial SC volume 03 Kirby VS Disney Marvel
Daken Dark Wolverine Pride Comes Before Fall Premiere HC
Dotter of Her Fathers Eyes HC
Essential X-Factor TPB volume 04
Famous Monsters Movie Art Of Basil Gogogs SC new printing
Fantastic Four Season One Premiere HC
Fear Itself Hulk Premiere HC
Fear Itself Secret Avengers Premiere HC
Hack Slash Vol 10 Dead Celebrities TPB
IZombie TPB volume 03 Six Feet Under and Rising
Jinchalo GN
John Carter Warlord of Mars Omnibus HC variant edition
Jungle Book Campfire GN
King Conan the Scarlet Citadel TPB
Leonardo DaVinci Renaissance Man Campfire GN
MMW Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis TPB volume 02
Roy G Krenkal Savage Worlds SC
Showcase Presents Ghosts TPB volume 01
Spider-Man Chapter One TPB volume 02
Star Wars Long Time Ago Omnibus TPB volume 05
Star Wars Millennium Falcon Owners Workshop Manuel
Strange Case of Mr Hyde TPB
Superman The Black Ring Vol 1 TPB
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ongoing Vol 1 TPB
Torpedo HC volume 04

ALL AGES
Adventure Time #1 cover a
Adventure Time #1 cover b
Adventure Time #1 1:20 cover
Adventure Time #1 1:30 cover
All New Batman Brave and the Bold #16
Archie Double Digest #226
Betty & Veronica Double Digest #198
Kevin Keller #1
Kevin Keller #1 variant cover
Mega Man #10
Peanuts #2
Peanuts #2 variant cover
Richie Rich Valentines Special 2012 #1
SpongeBob Comics #7
Super Heroes #23

MAGAZINES
Cinema Retro #22
Comic Shop News
Doctor Who Special #30
Famous of Filmland #260
Illustrated Magazine #36
Star Wars Insider #131 previews exclusive edition

TOYS
DC Superhero Figurine Collection Magazine #70 Power Girl
Heroes of the DCU series 2 Swamp Thing Bust

Here at Nerdy Nothings, we try to keep on top of the world of nerd culture, identifying the comics, movies, music, etc. that drives the industry today. But we also realize that it’s important to honor those who have come before, who’ve reached the pinnacle of nerdom. So, Nerdy Nothings is ready to embark on an extensive project to find the elite in nerd culture: the Nerdy Nothings’ Hall of Fame.

The Nerdy Nothings’ Hall of Fame will identify the most important aspects of the nerd world — the properties, people and objects that transcend nerdiness to iconic status. And the best part, it will all be chosen by you!

Here are the very simple ground rules:

Vote by identifying your favorite things in nerd culture — the choices are endless. These can be comics, writers, films, TV shows, filmmakers, properties, bands, songs, albums, comedians, games, toys — whatever you love, whatever makes you nerdy, whatever you think deserves to be recognized as a pinnacle of nerd culture. And you can nominate AS MANY THINGS as you want — from one to infinity. So don’t be afraid of nominating the obvious and don’t feel like you’re “wasting” a vote on something more obscure or esoteric — if you think it belongs or deserves more attention (more importantly: if you love it), let us know about it!

Send an e-mail to grislygunnar@gmail.com with your list of nominees. For those you are particularly passionate about, write a small blurb explaining what makes them deserving of Hall of Fame status. Once we have all the nominees, the staff of Nerdy Nothings will choose the most popular for the inaugural class. Then, look forward to future posts, tribute features and related news on these important figures.

Help build the premiere collection of nerd icons! Happy voting!

If you want to know absolutely everything there is to know about the renowned comedy team the Marx Brothers, don’t waste your time anywhere other than Glenn Mitchell’s revised and expanded new edition of “The Marx Brothers Encyclopedia.”

To say this volume is extensive doesn’t quite do it justice. The author touches upon everything you’d need to know about the Brothers, including all of their films, unfinished projects, themes of their work, personal lives and professional acquaintances. Want to know what the Marx Brothers have to do with Frank Sinatra? Or where the family got their start in show-biz? How about an exhaustive amount of information on Groucho’s trademark mustache? It’s all there.

Personally, I found the write-ups on the major films of the Marx Brothers especially thorough — going into great depth on the synopses, awards and responses, and insights to the filmmaking. Given the format of the book, there isn’t a lot of critical reading, but it does provide a great overall review of their films.

Though there are only a few negatives, they are directly related to how the book is presented. While there are some good photos and production stills throughout, the book isn’t particularly fun to browse through. The presentation of the text reads much more like a formal textbook than a fun coffee table book, leaving this volume only for serious readers. There is a lot of information crammed into this encyclopedia (which is certainly great), but this leaves it feeling like a brick and not incredibly easy to navigate if you’re looking for a specific piece of information. In other words: made for fans, but maybe not so much for casual browsers.

I’m not sure what the problem is anymore. I’ve read a lot of Geoff Johns comics that I like a lot. I don’t have any strong feelings about Jim Lee’s art. I love the Justice League, I love the Fourth World, I love the idea of Cyborg being on the League.

But I do not love this comic. In fact, this comic is pretty awful.

I’ve been mostly down on Justice League since the beginning, but at least I could see the appeal. It has been, as I mentioned once before, a big dumb Michael Bay action movie, with all the slim characterization, bad dialogue, and big widescreen action sequences that would entail. But — and maybe I’m giving Michael Bay too much credit here — I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect even big dumb brain candy to make sense. And Justice League #5 does not make sense.

It starts off well enough, actually, with the League recovering from Darkseid’s appearance last issue. I like that the Flash is the only one left standing, and he and Superman have a nice sequence trying to outrace the Omega Effect. Darkseid comes off as suitably menacing, and a lot of that is due to his complete, stoic silence, and the heroes’ inability to even get near him. I didn’t even hate his redesign in this issue. Flash gets in a great moment of outsmarting the Omega Effect, though Superman doesn’t fare as well. Green Lantern’s brash egotism is the deepest and most consistent characterization we’ve gotten this whole story, and I like that Hal finally comes around to having some positive qualities in this issue –fearlessness, self-sacrifice — that still make sense given his status as a big-headed jerk.

But then Darkseid wipes the floor with him, continuing the theme of “Hal gets knocked down a peg” that started back in issue #1, and we are then treated to the dumbest scene in recent comics memory. The rest of the League vanishes suddenly and without warning, so Batman can express a little sympathy for Green Lantern. They are, after all, just normal guys with weapons, and that’s actually a fairly good detail to pick up on.

And then Batman unmasks. In fact, he unmasks so far that he peels off his bat-emblem, which apparently was just a decal to begin with. Batman unmasks, revealing what ought to be one of the most closely-guarded secrets in the DCU to a guy who has shown himself to be dense and mouthy to a fault, who already revealed that Batman has no powers to the rest of the League, who blurted out the Flash’s first name in issue #2, and he does it for no good reason.

Now, I know why Batman unmasks, it’s because he wants the Parademons to take him, because they’ve been capturing humans since issue #2. The only reason I actually know that is because I flipped back through the rest of the series, because in a comic where Superman finds it necessary to say “his [Darkseid's] beams are locked in on us,” in a series of panels that have already clearly shown that those beams are locked in, no one felt it necessary to remind the readers of a throwaway plot detail from three issues ago. The fact that the Parademons just took away Superman, who is not a normal human, makes Batman’s apparent reasoning here even more suspect. Hence, no good reason.

But before he leaves, Batman drops what may turn out to be the worst line of dialogue in 2012: “We need to stop playing baseball and start playing football. We need to be a team.”

I scarcely know where to begin. It may just be my personal preference not to see Batman using oblique sports metaphors, especially after he just explained the urgency of the situation, but it does seem a little out of character. That aside, I was under the impression that there were teams in baseball as well as football, and that the team aspect of baseball would be particularly salient when playing defense, as the League clearly is. But the absolute worst part of this line is that immediately after stressing the importance of teamwork, Batman leaves. He goes off on his own, telling Green Lantern to keep the team alive until he gets back — because Hal had been doing such a bang-up job until then — because apparently Batman’s idea of teamwork and leadership (he declared himself de facto leader last issue) is delegation and abdication.

So GL goes back to the rest of the team, and tries to repeat Batman’s pep talk, including the bit about football. This could be a great moment, maybe even a stunning bit of foresight on Batman’s part, since the team just gained a new member whose defining characteristic so far is that he loves football. Obviously, this is Cyborg’s time to shine!

Or it’s time for Green Lantern to suggest the same plan that Aquaman outlined at the beginning of last issue, and for Cyborg to continue expressing confusion about what happened to him.

If you squint, you can see the story that Geoff Johns is trying to tell. He’s trying to focus on character moments, on the rocky relationships between these powerhouse characters coming together for the first time amidst conflict and chaos. It’s just a shame that the two modes of characterization here are “jerk” (Aquaman, Batman), “doofus” (Wonder Woman, Superman, Cyborg), or “doofy jerk” (Green Lantern). Flash is about the most level-headed member of the team, and even most of his dialogue is bickering with Green Lantern. Johns is trying to do here what Giffen and DeMatteis did with their inaugural Justice League arc, or Meltzer with his in Justice League of America. The problem is with the other half of the story, involving the world-shattering threat from Darkseid. There’s a reason that Giffen and DeMatteis’s first villains were a group of terrorist suicide bombers, and Meltzer’s first villain was a table. Starting off with the world-ending threat requires that one or the other focal point gets shoved to one side.

This first arc of Justice League is beginning to feel a lot like “Hush,” and not just because of the Jim Lee art. There are a whole lot of concepts thrown in here — the origin of the Justice League, the origin of Cyborg, the introduction of the Fourth World characters, the first meetings of each of the individual Leaguers except Flash and Green Lantern, and so forth, but there’s not a whole lot of thought into making it all fit together in a coherent fashion. Now, Batman’s on Apokolips, in what should be the start of the second or third act, but there’s only one issue left to tell this story, and so the necessary next steps — finding Superman, learning what Darkseid’s deal is, getting the team back in one place, beating Darkseid and driving off the Parademons, at a bare minimum — are going to be rushed and anticlimactic. And so the inaugural arc of the flagship title, the book meant to introduce us to the new DCU and its foundational characters, becomes this poorly-paced story filled with unlikable people, only half of whom get anything resembling character development. Not exactly starting off on the right foot.

I don’t think I could finish this review without discussing the art, or the book’s status as the first issue in the entire New 52 to miss its scheduled ship date. I don’t want to lay the blame for that on Jim Lee’s shoulders, but he has a history of being less than punctual, and Geoff Johns’ other book is on-time. I don’t actually have much problem with Lee’s art; it’s generally pretty dynamic and well-rendered, and the scenes of Flash outracing Darkseid’s eye-beams is done quite well. There are definitely some problems, like characters who disappear for no discernible reason or the panels where Green Lantern’s whole face is cross-hatched. I can’t help but wonder if the book might have been on-time if Lee (or perhaps the staff of four inkers) just drew half as many lines.

That is, I suppose, the saving grace of this whole storyline. For all the sense it doesn’t make, for all the time it spends on retreading ground over and over, for all the time it feels like “Batman and Green Lantern and their Amazing Friends,” Jim Lee’s a pretty good artist, and the book looks pretty good as a result. I just wish that there was a pretty good story and pretty good characters to go along with it.

Super Serial aims to dissect series of pop art — be it a filmography, discography or run of comics — by looking at its individual components.

Bond’s filmmakers must have decided they liked the direction of The Living Daylights, because they ran with it for License to Kill. Cut out most of the humor and a lot of normal James Bond formula and this is what you’re left with.

License to Kill is by far the most somber, violent of the series. Most of its parallels come from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with similar dramatic tones, but everything is one-upped here. This film is ridiculously violent — we see women get shot, a man blow up like a balloon, people eaten by a shark, a man go through a shredder and lots and lots of blood. The MPAA rates it PG-13, but I don’t know how — well, probably just based on the reputation and popularity of the series. I would think if this was released today it would get a pretty hard R, but you never know with the ratings board.

It’s not just blood, though, as the themes of License to Kill also give it a harder edge. Way back in For Your Eyes Only, the theme of revenge was loosely covered, where Bond told Melina Havelock that she had nothing to gain by seeking vengeance. Well, throw that philosophy out the window as this film directly involves Bond out in pursuit of those responsible for the death of Felix Leiter and his new bride. We see a truly unhinged version of Bond, but the film tries to have it both ways — we see him set on killing his enemies, but doing so in a very “Bond” way through spy work and getting into their inner-circles.

Even though I should like a harder-edged take on Bond, License to Kill is not an enjoyable film. This is partly to do with the dramatic shifts in the film’s mood and storytelling — it feels like the screenwriters adapted a different spy novel and re-worked it for Bond. Mostly, though, it’s just a movie that I found relentlessly boring. After the opening scenes and the themes of the film were established, there was no momentum moving forward. Throw in some of the more forgettable villains and Bond Girls, and License to Kill is strictly for completeists.

[Bond, James Bond]

Timothy Dalton’s Bond is by far the most emotionally driven, no-holds-barred version of the character. After Felix is half-eaten by a shark (very graphically so), on his death bed, we see Bond crying for the first time in the series. He’s been through some rough stuff, not the least the brutal slaying of his wife (that continuity is kept here, as we’re reminded of her death at one point), but the character has never gotten so emotional as here. This leads to him being a man on a rampage. He is clearly on edge throughout the entire film, often angry and yelling at those trying to help him. It would have been interesting if the film commented more on his state and how that could affect his work, but it obviously wants nothing to do with that.

One small, interesting tidbit I noted was that Bond refuses a bribe of two million dollars to just go away and not kill everyone is sight. Although Bond is absolutely a man of high class and wealth, we never see him use or talk about money throughout the whole series. It doesn’t seem to be something that drives his character in any way — of course the film doesn’t touch upon this for obvious reasons, so I’m probably putting too much thought into it.

After only two films, this was Dalton’s last opportunity to play the role. It’s difficult to have a complete grasp of him with so little time, but I think he’s admirable, especially considering the direction the his films have gone. He probably gets a bit of a bad rap from most Bond fans, and I can agree that he probably didn’t have a lot more life in the series — I certainly don’t think he would have been able to keep sustaining the trajectory his films have gone. Another fresh start was probably for the better; both the Connery and the Moore runs had already run out of steam by the times previous switches were made, so it may have been a good thing that this happened before we got to another disastrous point. I’m really excited to see the Pierce Brosnan films, as these are the films that I could have been seeing while growing up.

[The Mission]

Like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, License to Kill is one of the only films that do not have an official mission. After Bond begins to investigate, M shows up in the Florida Keys to send him out for assignment. Refusing to leave, Bond is forced to resign and loses his license to kill — which seems to be a punishment which isn’t followed through on, as he kills a lot of people. Without his normal resources, Bond has to be more covert, with meetings in skanky looking bars and underhanded dealings. It may not have the same story beats as usual, but all in all you’re not missing much from the regular Bond mission, as he acts an awful lot like a spy when he’s not actually doing spy work. That criticism might not be totally fair, but I would think a mission driven by vengeance would be a little less formal in that way.

[The Villain]

At the center of Bond’s rage is Franz Sanchez, a South American drug lord who takes out Leiter and his wife to get the CIA off of his back. Apparently, the character was based on Colombian drug king Pablo Escobar, but I thought of another movie villain, Tony “Scarface” Montana.

In the Bond universe, Sanchez is most like Mr. Big of Live and Let Die, as they were both villains in the drug trade and seem much more like gang leaders than Bond supervillains — at least on the surface. Sanchez doesn’t go quite as far to conforming to Bond villain archetypes as Mr. Big, but he does have large compound (one may call it a lair) that inevitably comes into play toward the end of the film. Sanchez doesn’t have the world domination ambitions of most villains, though, he just wants to be rich and powerful. It certainly seems like Sanchez isn’t the kind of guy Bond would be dealing with if he didn’t just kill his best friend, and that makes sense.

Sanchez has a number of henchmen, probably the most of any film. None are incredibly notable, except for one — a very, very young Benicio Del Toro as Dario. As Sanchez’s main thug, he is incredibly cruel and violent and the one who does most of the dirty work. Even with limited screen time, Del Toro sticks out as a very talented performer.

[The Bond Girls]

There are two Bond girls in License to Kill, Lupe Lamora and Pam Bouvier — neither of which are among my favorites. Lupe is the girlfriend of Sanchez who inevitably falls for Bond, like all the villains’ girlfriends do. She has a hard exterior and a Latin temper, but falls quickly in love.

Pam is a former Army pilot and CIA informer who poses as Bond’s executive secretary to assist him in tracking down Sanchez. What could have been another sweet, romantic relationship is played for what I think is comedic effect, but Pam just feels like a bratty shrew that constantly argues with Bond. She is so out of place that even Q yells at her for causing trouble.

With these two women, the film tries to set up a love triangle that never really works out. Although many of the previous films have featured more than one Bond Girl and more than one sexual encounter for Bond, we haven’t really had a true love triangle, so this feels like a lost opportunity. By the end, Bond has to make a decision on which girl he wants to be with, though neither feel like a suitable suitor.

[The Gadgets]

License to Kill is maybe the least gadget-heavy film — which makes sense with Bond off assignment. There is a scene where Q shows off some unused gadgets, however; among them are an explosive alarm clock, explosive tooth paste and a camera whose flash is a laser beam.

[The Song]

It’s strange that with a harder edge, the song “License to Kill” runs in the completely opposite direction — a hard-to-listen-to R&B number by Gladys Knight (without the Pips). This is really the meekest song possible that could have a title “License to Kill.”

“Hey baby, thought you were the one who tried to run away.
Ohh, baby, wasn’t I the one who made you want to you?
Please don’t bet that you’ll ever escape me
Once I get my sights on you.

Got a license to kill (to kill)
And you know I’m going straight for your heart.
(Got a license to kill)
Got a license to kill (to kill)
Anyone who tries to tear us apart.
(Got a license to kill)
License to kill.”

During the closing credits, we get a different R&B song by Patti LaBelle, which is shockingly worse than the first.

[Random Thoughts]

- Hey, that bad guy is that dude from Twin Peaks. Cool.

- I think there is a rule in the Bond universe that you can’t go three films without a man-eating shark.

- We have yet another actor portraying Felix Leiter — this one an older man (seems much older than Dalton, despite their close friendship). Just more confusion.

- Nothing quite stings like getting smacked in the face with a fistful of shrimp. (Edit: Probably a Freudian slip, I first wrote “snacked in the face” — I’m hungry for some shrimp)

- When Bond resigns, this happens at the Hemingway House — probably just so Bond could make a “Farewell to Arms” joke when he’s turning over his gun.

- Bond straight-up shoots a dude with a harpoon gun. So much violence!

- Sanchez owns an iguana that sits on his shoulder. I was a little bit sad that it wasn’t man-eating.

- Strange cameo by Wayne Newton as a televangelist that has connections with Sanchez. I was actually surprised that he wasn’t completely terrible.

- Q’s idea of a vacation is to follow Bond. I’m starting to think that Q doesn’t have any other friends.

- I got a chuckle every time Dalton pronounced Lupe like “loopy”

- During the final action scene, Bond is driving a semi truck and he takes it up on two wheels to avoid a rocket. I’ve seen Bond drive before, so I’m not sure about this one.

- The last few films have all ended with “JAMES BOND WILL RETURN” without the name of the next film. This seems more like a threat than a hopeful promise.

- Wait… Felix Leither LIVED?! He was half-eaten by a shark for the Lord’s sake!

SERIAL, SUPER SERIAL will return in GOLDENEYE!

New Comics for February 1st, 2012

A weekly list of new comic books, graphic novels, trade paperbacks and toys hitting your favorite comic stores this week. Need to find a comic store near you? Use the Comic Shop Locator. See the full list, with my picks in red and other books of note in bold, after the jump!

MARVEL
Amazing Spider-Man #679
Avengers Academy #25
Avengers X-Sanction #3
Avengers X-Sanction #3 churchill variant cover
Avengers X-Sanction #3 yu variant cover
Carnage USA #1 second print
Defenders #3
Defenders #3 adam kubert variant cover
Fearless #8
Hulk #48
Punisher #8
The Twelve #9
Thor Deviants Saga #4
Twelve Must Have #1
Uncanny X-Force #21
Uncanny X-Men #6
Venom #13
Venom #13 variant cover
Venom #13 simonson sketch variant cover
Villains for Hire #3
Winter Soldier #1
Winter Soldier #1 dellotto variant cover
Winter Soldier #1 kubert variant cover
Winter Soldier #1 sketch variant cover
X-Club #3
X-Factor #231
Wolverine and X-Men #3 second print

DC
Action Comics #6
Action Comics #6 variant cover
Action Comics #6 black & white variant cover
Animal Man #6
Batwing #6
Detective Comics #6
Detective Comics #6 variant cover
Green Arrow #6 volume 5
Hawk and Dove #6
Justice League International #6 volume 2
Men Of War #6
Omac #6
Red Lanterns #6
Static Shock #6 volume 3
Stormwatch #6
Stormwatch #6 volume 5 variant cover
Supernatural #5
Swamp Thing #6 volume 4
Swamp Thing #6 volume 4 variant cover

DC/VERTIGO
I, Zombie #22
Sweet Tooth #30

INDEPENDENT
Alpha Girl #1
Anne Rice Servant of the Bones #6
Anne Rice Servant of the Bones #6 variant cover
Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #4 cover a
Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #4 cover b
Boys #63
Brimstone #7
Charmed #18
Crossed Psychopath #5 shark attack cover
Crossed Psychopath #7 auxiliary edition
Damaged #5
Dark Horse Presents #8 donaldson cover
Dark Horse Presents #8 fegredo cover
Doctor Who Vol 2 #14 cover a
Doctor Who Vol 2 #14 cover b
Doctor Who Vol 2 #14 variant cover
Fatale #1 second print
Fatale #2
Fathom vol 4 #4 cover a
Fathom vol 4 #4 cover b
GI Joe A Real American Hero #175 cover a
GI Joe A Real American Hero #175 cover b
GI Joe A Real American Hero #175 variant cover
GI Joe vol 2 #10 cover a
GI Joe vol 2 #10 cover b
GI Joe vol 2 #10 variant cover
Haunted City #2 cover a
Hellraiser #10 cover a
Hellraiser #10 cover b
Hellraiser #10 variant cover
Hellraiser Masterpieces #7
Infestation 2 Transformers #1 cover a
Infestation 2 Transformers #1 cover b
Infestation 2 Transformers #1 variant cover
Invincible #88
Irredeemable #34 cover a
Irredeemable #34 cover b
Jurassic Stike Force 5 #1 cover a
Jurassic Stike Force 5 #1 cover b
Kirby Genesis Captain Victory #3
Kirby Genesis Captain Victory #3 1:10 cover
Kirby Genesis Captain Victory #3 negative cover
Kirby Genesis Captain Victory #3 sketch cover
Kirby Genesis Captain Victory #3 virgin cover
Lady Death #10 auxiliary edition
Locke & Key Clockworks #4
Locke & Key Clockworks #4 variant cover
Lone Ranger #2 volume 2
Magic the Gathering #1
Magic the Gathering #1 1:10 cover
Magic the Gathering #1 1:20 cover
Penny for Your Soul False Prophet #3
Phazer War of the Independents #1
Reed Gunther #8
Robert Jordans Wheel of Time Eye of the World #20
Savage Dragon #178
Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi #0
Strange Talent of Luther Strode #5
Valen Outcast #3 cover a
Valen Outcast #3 cover b
Valen Outcast #3 1:10 cover
Valen Outcast #3 negative cover
Valen Outcast #3 sketch cover
Warlord of Mars Annual #1
Warriors of Mars #1
Warriors of Mars #1 negative cover
Warriors of Mars #1 virgin cover
Warriors of Mars #1 black & white cover

TRADES AND HARDCOVERS
Action Mystery Thrills Covers SC
American Vampire Vol 3 HC
Archie Archives HC volume 04
Art of Carbon Grey HC
Avengers Assemble TPB volume 02
Avengers Hawkeye TPB
Batman Gates Of Gotham TPB
Captain America and Bucky Life Of Bucky Barne PREM HC
Daredevil By Brubaker And Lark Ultimate Collection Book 1 TPB
Essential Fantastic Four TPB volume 06 new edition
Garth Ennis Jennifer Blood Vol 1 TPB
GI Joe volume 02 Ongoing TPB volume 02 Cobra Civil War
Green Arrow Salvation HC
Incredible Hulks Fall of Hulks HC
John Carter A Princess of Mars GN TPB
John Carter World of Mars GN TPB
John Romita Amazing Spider-Man Artist Edition HC
Life & Death of Fritz the Cat HC
Lil Depressed Boy Vol 2 TPB
Madman 20th Anniversary Monster HC
Rat Catcher TPB
Red Skull Incarnate TPB
Spider-man Anti-venom TPB
Superman Reign Of Doomsday HC
Vampirella TPB volume 02
Wally Wood Strange Worlds of Science Fiction Deluxe HC
Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Trivia Quiz Dr Who Companion TPB
Wormwood Gentleman Corpse TPB volume 02 Hurts When Peeing
Xombi TPB
Young Romance Best Simon & Kirby Comics HC

ALL AGES
Futurama Comics #59
Ice Age Iced In #1
Richie Rich Gems Winter Special One Shot
Scooby Doo Where Are You #18
Sergio Aragones Funnies #7
Simpsons Illustrated #1
Sonic Super Special Magazine #2
Sonic the Hedgehog #233
World of Archie Double Digest #14

MAGAZINES
Comic Shop News
Filmfax #129
Heavy Metal March 2012
Marvel Previews February 2012
Previews #281

TOYS
Ame Comi White Canary PVC Figure
Ame Comi Wonder Woman as Star Sapphire Figure
Chuck Norris 7 inch Talking Plush
Classic Marvel Characters #4 Daredevil
DC Batman Wacky Wobbler
DC Joker Wacky Wobbler
DC Superman Wacky Wobbler
DC Wonder Woman Wacky Wobbler
Marvel Mystique Bishoujo Statue
Marvel Select Colossus Action Figure
Super Mario 5 inch assortment