Wednesday, May 28, 2008

(Mildly Spoilery) Quick Notes on Recent Comics

- The new Serenity mini was fun but might have worked a little better as five issues instead of three. Oh, well. I got to see Preacher Book behead a robot and River hallucinate Delirium-style, so I consider my money well-spent. Your mileage may vary.

- Peter Parker, Paparazzi = CLASSY. Clearly, Brand New Day lets the writers tell all the Spider-Man stories that they couldn't tell back when Peter had a wife, scruples and intrinsic value as a human being.

- Avengers: The Initiative needs to stop being so surprisingly good all the time. It's making the other Marvel team books look bad. Seriously, New Warriors has locked itself in a bathroom stall and won't stop crying.

- If you're not reading The Twelve, you make The LookOut a Sad Panda.

- As far as taut, well-written superhero espionage stories go, that last issue of Checkmate was a pretty great half-an-Annual of The Incredible Hulk. I'm really looking forward to the Chimera/Abomination/Godzilla throwdown -
Oh.
Wait.

- Terry Moore's Echo is keeping my interest but I'm starting to get more of a "wait for the trade" feel from it with each passing issue. Still, cash-strapped as I am, I'll make sure to throw money at it and the other more indie comics on my list to make sure they keep going. Remember, if Helen Killer stops being published before they even hit their third issue, God will kill a bunch of adorable baby sloths. Specifically these Baby Sloths:

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor


Don't make God kill these Baby Sloths. Buy Helen Killer and Terry Moore's Echo. Drop one of your three Spider-Man titles if you have to but seriously - God doesn't make idle threats. Just ask the Egyptians, man. Dude's freakin' HARDCORE.

- And last but not least, while I have almost no idea what's going in Final Crisis (other than them killing off a favorite Leaguer of mine), I still continue to like it better than Secret Invasion.

Workstroke, the Terminated



Well, ladies and gents, we here at The Lookout now find ourselves amongst the Employment Challenged. This, quite understandably, will put a dent in any future comic book purchasing and reviewing. Never fear, as I can just rock things Dave's Long Box-style as I organize and start selling off my massive comics collection.

And I'm sure another great job is just around the corner. Right, Wonder Woman?



. . . you're not exactly filling me with hope here, Wondy. I could always try starting up my own small business. Those always turn out well, right?



Yes, well, moving on . . .

On the bright side, I'm not alone in my search through the Classifieds section. The ongoing recession - oh, pardon me, ECONOMIC DOWNTURN - has given me plenty of company in the job search market. Even Power Girl's feeling the pinch and is out there looking for gainful employment.



You'd think not paying for gas would save her some cash. I mean, honestly. Kay's even mentioned that her first choice of superpower is the ability to fly - just because it's so economically feasible. She's a very bitter, boring, pragmatic soul.

And hey, you know what? If Whedon can finally put the last issue of his Astonishing X-Men run out, I can sure as hell can manage to finish a post from February on Emma and Scott, now can't I? Not like we at The LookOut have a lot else to do this week besides checking out Craigslist and setting up an eBay account.

Believe me when I say this - all of you can continue to expect more of the random, not terribly consistent (in either timeliness or quality) posts you've come to know and tolerate from The LookOut!



*CUE APPLAUSE*

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Too . . . Much . . . AWESOME . . . Passing . . . Out!



Brian K. Vaughan is working on . . . wait for it . . . A RUNAWAYS MOVIE. Sure, I should probably not hold my breath and wait to see if they actually make the Simon Pegg Ant-Man film first, but dude! Holy crap! Casting call time - who do you all suggest for each of the original Runaways? Being totally out of the loop regarding teen actors, nobody's really jumping to mind yet. Percy Daggs III might make an interesting Alex Wilder - being so naturally likable - but he might be too old for the part now. Other than that, I'll have to give it some thought.

Also, you may have heard that a certain character is back from the dead in the pages of the Bat-Verse - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILER

Once again, I apologize for the lack of real posting but the month of May continues to be less than merry for me. I know I'm at Whedon-esque levels of delay here, which is ironic considering the whole Scott/Emma angle, but I hope to provide you all with actual content again soon. Thanks for your patience.
(Just consider this delay a veiled tribute to Dave's Long Box! Yeah, that's the ticket . . .)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Living Under A Red Sun


Bad day. In fact, it's been a looooooooooooong month, people. You know about the technical difficulties but I haven't even gone into the hacking cold, the freezer catching on fire (yes, you read that right) or the- ah, forget it. This isn't "Look Out! Here Comes an Emo Blog!"

While I don't have the energy to post at length about why Emma Frost is awesome, what I thought of this week's comics, which Avenger has the worst personal body odor or how the suits at Time Warner are being heartless jackasses - I do have one thing, my friends: LINKS!

Links to free comics and graphic novels to read! So please enjoy these with my humble apologies for the lack of actual content - 17 free graphic novels for your reading pleasure, most of which I haven't even read. I can definitely vouch for Fables, Y: The Last Man, Fell and Sandman. The others, I make no promises.

And if you care for something deeper and more thought-provoking to read, please read this 224-page graphic novel Shake Girl.

Now it is high time for this crazy thing called sleep I hear all the kids talking about. As I understand it, tomorrow is both another day and contains a point wherein the sun will come out, so let's just see how that goes.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

¡Viva Mexicanos En Los Libros Cómicos!



¡Hola, cada uno! No quisiera que el mes de mayo fuera cerca sin la celebración de Cinco De Mayo, al menos tardío (muy, MUY tardío).

Pensé de dar una revisión del Escarabajo Azul #26 pero realmente, así que mucha otra gente ha hecho así pues, yo se sentiría redundante en hacer tan. ¡Más, usted puede resumir la edición en una palabra - excelente! No cuido si usted odió el "truco supuesto" del tener caracteres Mexicanos en Español de discurso del Mexicano - si la imagen de Jamie que volaba a su abuela alrededor en el extremo del libro cómico no pudo hacerle mueca como un idiota, usted es interior muerto.

¡Así pues, en vez de pasear sobre cómo el Escarabajo Azul impresionante está en español, en lugar de otro enumeraré a mis Cinco Super Héroes Hispánicos Preferidos! ¡Ole!

Cinco - Victor Mancha de "Fugitivos"



¿Por qué Victor? Bien, para los arrancadores, él viola estereotipos siendo elegante al punto de ser un pedacito de un empollón, se refresca en una crisis y una mitad-robusteza. Lo encuentro inmenso el restaurar que hemos venido suficientemente lejos que, en un equipo de adolescentes californianos, el hothead con el switchblade es el individuo rubio blanco.

Más, hey, energías frescas de la robusteza y una referencia velada de Don Quijote! ¡Consiguió amar eso!


Cuatro - Echo / Ronin - Maya López.



Mientras que no estoy terrible encariñado con el origen familiar del crimen, la habilidad artística de David Mack hizo que ama este carácter. Sí, sé que ella es básicamente poco más que un Taskmaster de la muchacha, pero cuál es original sobre ella es su opción de la ropa. Al ingenio: ¡ELLA USA LA ROPA! ¡Armadura llena, incluso! ¿Cómo raro es eso para un superheroine del cómic? Sordo, schmeff, pienso que el uso de las opciones lógicas de la ropa la pone en una lista incluso más corta que ésta.

Tres
- Escarabajo Azul - Jamie Reyes



¡Como dicen en México - Duh! ¿Necesito realmente explicar cómo es impresionante Jamie Reyes? ¿Un adolescente mexicano elegante, responsable quién quiere ser dentista cuando él crece? Significo, me adelanto. Usted SABE es el Escarabajo Azul impresionante. Incluso no tengo que decirle ahora.

Para decirle la verdad, él me recuerda un poco de me detrás cuando era un adolescente - nerdy, respetuoso a las mujeres y a la datación totalmente una bruja del malo-asno. Ah, memorias.

Dos - Linterna Verde - Kyle Rayner



Usted puede ser que no sepa este pero Kyle Rayner es apenas como mí - Mitad-Mexicano, Mitad-Irlandés, El 100% Impresionante.

Herencia Irlandés-Mexicana a un lado, él soy siempre sido mi favorito GL, para su creatividad visual y tendencias dorky ocasionales. De hecho, Kyle Rayner es uno de tres héroes de la D.C. que me presentaron a los tebeos de la D.C. en general en los años 90 - pero es uno poste del S.A. de por sí.

Apenas deseo que él hubiera conseguido su anillo en alguna parte mejor que un callejón trasero al lado de un borracho. Oh, bien. Supongo que es mejor que un lavabo público.

Número Uno - Hombre-Araña 2099 - Miguel O'Hara.



¿Obscuro? Quizá. Pero déjeme dicen le, las señoras y los caballeros, este asno Irlandés-Mexicano ficticio de los retrocesos, y su origen didn' t tiene cualquier cosa hacer con las robustezas, los anillos extranjeros o los servicios públicos. Un genetista brillante, Miguel O'Hara consigue su DNA Irlandés-Mexicana combinada con la DNA de la araña, debido a un compañero de trabajo celoso que intenta matarlo. Consecuentemente, él debe pasar los restos de la vida que guardan a la compañía malvada que él trabaja para que de intentar lo capture y utilice su DNA como su " property" intelectual;. También, él hace totalmente el hombre araña 2099 del golpear-asno.

Debo admitir que no muchos de los caracteres de la Maravilla 2099 dejaron una impresión duradera. No obstante, pienso a Miguel O'Hara y su molde de apoyo merecen ser recordados. Él era inventivo, brillante y un combatiente de vez en cuando vicioso, que cavé. El más, hizo yo menciona su costume' ¿s a partir de un día de la celebración muerta? ¡Puntos de prima! (En una nota no-Mexicana, él también tiene un contestador automático olográfico del AI. Quiero un contestador automático olográfico, la maldición del AI él.)

Más importante, él era el primer super héroe mexicano en un cómico yo leyó que didn' las palabras al azar del grito de t de frases españolas o trilladas tienen gusto del " ¡Ay yi yi! " o " ¡Dios Mio! " (Estoy mirando le, Rictor y El Relámpago Vivo).

¡Tan levantemos un vidrio al Hombre-Araña 2099 y el resto de super héroes mexicanos no-stereotypical en tebeos! ¡Pueden de largo reinan!

¡Contenido del vídeo de la prima!




Things you can tell from this Video without knowing a word of Spanish:

- A man in a lion hair vest with a thick mustache smelling the tablecloth while looking for someone? Almost too creepy for a kids' show.

- Rich people are stupid.

- Spider-Man is kind of an asshole to anyone he dates.

- Highly paid biologists take the bus, even when somebody they love might be dying. Why? Because being eco-friendly is IMPORTANT, dammit.

- Knowing Spider-Man is a bad idea. Always, always avoid Spider-Man whenever possible.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Emma Frost and The X-Men, Part 2

Comp's still dying an ugly death but I seem to have figured out a way to jury-rig it to work for more than a few minutes at a time. Sadly, my Tech Head friend Jim is too SARS-infected for me to come near him and ask for help getting a copy of Linux to install. Do send him positive vibes, folks. Or money. I think he'd actually prefer money.

Still, screwed up as this comp is, I can't let something this awesome go unmentioned - ANIMATED EMMA FROST!

Which is to say, new Wolverine and The X-Men Trailer!



I know I already went kinda gaga about this a while back but that was when I thought A) this was just going to be some sort of Movie/X-Men: Evolution mash-up without knowing B) how much Emma Frost was going to be used. Clearly, I was wrong about a lot of things.

Dust! Mojo! Days of Freakin' Future Past, people! I don't even know who that goatee guy in the final X-Men group shot is and I DON'T CARE. This is an expansive, interesting take that's got my attention.

QUICK NOTES ON THINGS THAT WERE AWESOME:


- Emma's voice? Quite nicely done. Plus, the Astonishing uniform AND the diamond mutation? I'm in heaven. Plus, this whole new Rebound Scott/Unimpressed Emma interplay makes me smirk.

- Beast also sounds exactly like Beast should - which is to say, Kelsey Grammar-esque.

- MOJO! He and Arcade are honestly my favorite X-Men villains, simply because they guarantee a lot of hilarity and face-kicking.

- Days of Future Past used as Terminator-style motivation for Wolvie to lead the X-Men? Okay, I admit it - I'm in. I wasn't sold on the concept until just now but this? This intrigues me.

- HULK SMASH PUNY WOLVERINE!


QUICK NOTES ON THINGS THAT WERE NOT SO AWESOME:

- Teen Rogue. I don't like Teen Rogue. I've never liked Teen Rogue, no matter how awesome a job Anna Paquin did portraying her in the X-Films. Just - no thank you. The tragedy of Rogue having to have lived for so long without touching anybody loses something if she's just an whiny, emo teen. More importantly, I miss the big, badass Mississippi Marauder who loves flying around and punching people in the face a lot, cracking wise and calling people "Sugah" all the time-
. . . Yes, my 90's roots are showing.

- Teen Iceman. I don't like Teen . . . Fiiiiiiiine. *sighs* Bobby Drake is a teenager's name anyways. Let's be honest - it is kinda pathetic to go by Bobby once you get any older than 18.

- Evil Madrox army? Booooooooooo. Madrox should be snarky and fun, dammit.

- From what I can tell from this and the other promo that got taken down, Domino is now a villain and unusually . . . healthy. Neither of these, ah, developments please me.

- Avalanche's facial hair reminds me rather hilariously of Lawrence from Office Space. Makes me think that Blob will sound exactly like Milton and subsequently imagine a Magneto that sounds like Bill Lumbergh.
. . . God, now that I think about it, this actually belongs in the THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME column.

Your thoughts, gang?

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I can feel my mind going, Dave


So, as the astute amongst you might have guessed, my computer is dying. This is the reason for the long delay between my last post and now. Don't worry - I've got my fingers crossed that a reformatting and a brand-spankin' new Linux operating system will save me.

On top of this, my refrigerator caught fire this week. Yes. In the freezer section. I think Satan is possessing all my electrical appliances.

But putting all that aside, the worst news of recent memory is that Dave's Long Box has shut down for good. In memory, I present this crappy photoshop tribute (you try being awesome with a dying computer):



I plan on paying a more in-depth tribute to the James Remar-esque legend of Dave Campbell as soon as my computer stops dying horribly . . . in that most sincere form of theftflattery - imitation! A week of nothing but delving into my long boxes awaits you all!*

. . .

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

*You know, after I finish my Emma Frost/Cyclops posts, catch up on my haikus and most importantly, review Blue Beetle entirely in Spanish just to annoy that asshole Dave. No, not Dave's Long Box 'Dave' - that guy. Yeah.