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?

The extremely important reason for the delay in my comics blogging

This game? This cute little "Look-at-me-aren't-I-so-precious-with-my-little-freaking-crayon,
I'm-probably-just-an-adorable-little-kids-game-I-bet-you can-beat-me-in-five-minutes-play-me-it'll -be-fun!?" GAME?
This is spawn of Satan.
This is what Pinhead plays on his days off.
This Game Is The Devil.
THE DEVIL!!!

Damn you, Level 11! Daaaaamn you!!!

Now, if you'd like to read something actually comic book related, I highly recommend these pages of Adam Warren and Rick May's Gen 13 #70, telling the story of Sarah Rainmaker coming out to her Uncle. Beautifully done issue, that. And I love the cloud details on the cover.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Remember folks - Easter isn't all about sitting on the laps of men in bunny costumes or finding dyed eggs on your lawn. There's a reason for the Season, gang! This day actually began because the Christian-type churches wanted to stomp out the ongoing Pagan fertility celebrations of Spring's return that were spread across a variety of cultures. Or something (cut me some slack, people - this isn't "Look Out! Here Comes a Comparative Religions Blog!").

And how did they do this? They spread the heartwarming tale of a lovable zombie named Jesus Christ. Sometimes by force, but always with love. Go to Scaffer The Darklord's MySpace Page and click on Night of The Living Christ to hear this beautiful story . . . Nerdcore-style.



But hey, remember folks, there's no such thing as a War On Easter.Sure, there were the occasional burning of heretics at the stake, but mostly? The only things that got warmed were people's hearts. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. And not many people realize this, but Spider-Man helped out too!



Yay, Spidey!

And now we have chocolate rabbits, big and bigger. More importantly, Easter gave birth to those most blessed of creatures, Peeps! Say what you want, I love these sweet, gentle creatures. Especially when they fight to the death:



I hope that all of you enjoy this special day, be it filled with making Marshmallow creatures Fight to the Death or a hearty feast. And enjoy the worship of whomever you hold dear - be it the sacrifice of a loving Zombie, a gentle Pagan celebration, or Buddha. Buddha really loves Easter, you know. He'll eat all your honey-baked ham if you don't watch him like a hawk. Your yams too. Seriously. I'm not even kidding. If you meet the Buddha on the road, don't invite Buddha to Easter Dinner. Dude's kind of a tool - unlike our resurrected ZJC, who also slays Vampires in his spare time:



Like, a LOT of Vampires, actually:



Go Jesus! Zombie defeats Vamipres FTW!

So mainly, the lesson here I'm trying to impart is this - Easter Kicks Ass!



And don't piss off the Easter Bunny.

ETA: Polite Dissent also loves Peeps and Comics - and like an Easter Mad Scientist, he's combined the two!

More Links than a Hyrule-Themed Smash Bros. Brawl

My Limerick Reviews will be delayed until tomorrow evening due to unavoidable Real Life Stuff but I thought I'd leave you all a boatload of interesting links to peruse in the meanwhile -



- With all the Two-Faced politicians out there lately, it's nice to have someone running for office that I can trust. Somebody who doesn't use a bunch of double talk and doesn't bow down to special interest coin. I am, of course, talking about Harvey Dent. This fine fellow is coming to my state this weekend. As I am totally in support of this upstanding D.A., I hope to get some snaps of me stumping for him and a crime-free Gotham City in the coming days.

- Always intelligent and intriguing, The Comics Journal also has an exhaustively comprehensive linkblog that goes by Journalista. The folks behind Journalista were kind enough to link to my recent discussion of Empowered. Thank you kindly, Journalista!
(Remember - if you don't see my link, you can just look for the post that begins with “I say: more penis on DC’s covers! More penis!”.)



- And let's not forget The Precocious Curmudgeon, whose kind words in response to mine sparked Journalista's interest in the first place. I'd also like to thank David P. Morgan for pointing everyone toward this fascinating link on the making of Adam Warren's Livewires from an editor's P.O.V. You know, Livewires? - a. k. a. one of the best Marvel mini-series you've never heard of? *sigh* Y'all should really try it out - it's only 8 bucks and there's a scene where Hydra tries to kill Nick Fury with beer.



Poor Livewires.




- If you're as big a fan of Greg Rucka as I am, I think you'll also enjoy this excerpt of an interview TCJ did with Rucka and Steve Lieber about their "Noir in Antarctica" tale, Whiteout. This is soon to be adapted into a movie with the young lady from Underworld. Good Lord, Rucka's a frighteningly large fellow.

I'm enough of a dork to remember when this was supposed to star Reese Witherspoon. Is it perverse of me that I'm still curious what she would have been like in the main role?

- Also, I have now found the location of the Coolest Movie Theatre on Earth. I may have to make the day-long drive to visit The Alamo Drafthouse just for the food alone, especially that 20 Beer Chili. Hell, any theater that serves Fat Tire is already given a thumbs up by yours truly.

- Evan Dorkin's blog reveals that he and his lovely family are writing an episode of the cheerfully surreal kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba! And if you haven't read the hilarious coming-of-age novel he illustrated the make-you-fall-down-laughing page breaks and cover for, I Love You, Beth Cooper - you, my friend? Are missing out.



And since we're all kids at heart, here's some videos from and relating to Yo Gabba Gabba! to brighten your day and/or quietly terrify you:

Biz Markie's Beat of the Day!
(HE! HE'S got what you NEED! But you SAY he's JUST A FRIEND! But you SAY he's JUST A FRIEND!)



Nathaniel Likes to Dance. He is The Best Dancer Ever.



Is Elijah Wood scarier here, teaching children how to become puppets, or as a cannibalistic Charlie Brown in Sin City?
You Decide!

Match It for Pratchett

On a serious note, the talented and charming author Terry Pratchett was recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. He's already given half a million dollars to charity to try and find a cure for the disease and is asking his fans to try and match his donation with whatever they can give - Match It For Pratchett.

Over at Written World, Ragnell has more information on this pledge drive and a very moving, personal story here.

I loved his work with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, and the first solo novel I ever read by him, Soul Man, remains one of the few books I've ever read that caught me completely flat-footed by how wonderful it was. If you can, please take the time to send a little something his way.

BONUS VIDEO CONTENT:

Terry Pratchett telling a slightly off-color joke in Berlin -

Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog

Apparently, Joss Whedon is doing a musical about a Supervillain named Dr. Horrible, who spends most of his time trying to work up the courage to talk to a pretty girl at the laundromat, in betwixt getting beat up a lot by a hero named Captain Hammer.

Neil Patrick Harris is Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion is Captain Hammer and The Guild's/Buffy's Felica Day is Penny.

While this is going to be Internet only from what I understand, I foresee a LOT of fun being had. :D

And for those of you still searching, please refer to this link, as I live to serve.

BONUS VIDEO CONTENT:

Animated Nathan Fillion is Vigilante on the JLU Animated -

And That's What Everyone's Talking 'Bout!

Lately, there seems to be an odd trend of Comics Bloggers demonstrating their love/awareness of pop hits.

Beaucoup Kevin has posted the new anime-style Britney Spears video.

Over at the Invincible Super-Blog, Chris Sims incites debate about exactly how much better the William Shatner cover of "Common People" is than the original, via the use of Archie Photoshop Excellence. Bonus points - I finally got to hear the original version of the song thanks to his linkage. Gotta say, I think I finally found something to put me to sleep in the wee hours. Thanks, Sims!

And not to be left out, Blog@Newsarama has revealed that the awesome and talented Gail Simone has created a 92-page, $12.99 comic that is entirely about . . . THIS:



What Blog@Newsarama fails to report is that other famous comics creators applied for the job and were turned down.

I hear Alan Moore was devastated that his take on the story was considered "too adult" by Miss Lavigne.

(See? Look how sad he is. Alan Moore is a Sad Panda)

Raina Telgemeier - who found out about the whole thing after Simone got the job - was quoted as saying the following:
"I'll [expletive deleted] gut you like a [expletive deleted] fish on Good Friday, Simone! Nobody works adorable pre-teens and teen American digest formats but ME, bitch! Stay off my [expletive deleted] turf or I'll [expletive deleted] you with a [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] until you bleed [expletive deleted]! [expletive deleted]!!!"

(I hear she's killed at least 20 men in cold blood. True story.)

Oh, and Grant Morrison's plot twist that Avril was both the Girlfriend who she stole from and the new Girlfriend herself was rejected as "too meta". Pity.

(They also hated the whole "The Boyfriend is Evil" twist. Philistines.)

ETA: If you dig around this carnival of fanpeople boggling and posting "WTF?!?", you can actually find Gail Simone's quotes on the "why" of this project. To sum up - "Outreach, outreach, outreach." Which is something I can totally get behind, 'natch.

A Knight Out East and One Bad Knight

ANIME BATMAN!

Here's a sneak peek of the upcoming anime film Batman: Gotham Knight that creates a bridge between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.



The writing cast alone - which includes Greg Rucka, Brian Azzarello, and David Goyer himself - would be impressive enough to get me interested but add to that Satoshi "Paprika" Kon being involved? Oh, yeah. I'm beyond THERE. I'm particularly fond of anime-style Scarecrow and damned intrigued by every single aspect of this.

How about y'all?

CRAPPY FANFIC BATMAN!

And if that wasn't enough Batman for you, may I direct you to this dramatic tale of Batman eating eggs. If you're as moved by this touching tale as I was, I think you'll enjoy this phonetically accurate dramatic read-along of Mr. Chimaera's opus. Or, if you're not much of a reader, you can just skip to the animated version:

An Important Public Service Announcement

*INSET K. D. Bryan in sensible sweater, sitting in a chair by a roaring fire.*

Hi, there. I'm K. D. Bryan.

There's a threat to online comics blogging happening today - a threat a lot of us refuse to admit exists. We don't talk about it because we're in denial about how dangerous it is. A lot of comics bloggers won't even admit that it's a problem, rationalizing it away as being "cool" or "fun". They'll say things like "Everyone does it!" and "We're just rocking out!" and the problem is this - they're right.

As you may have guessed, I'm talking today about GHRBS - Guitar Hero/Rock Band Syndrome.



GHRBS can happen to any Comics Blogger at any time. Some of our best and brightest comics bloggers have been afflicted with this disease. It's only from their brave examples that that I, too, can admit that I suffer from GHRBS.

*moment of silence*



Just last night I was up until 8 in the morning, socializing with people and learning to play the drums. At one point I was so far gone that I convinced myself I could sing, thanks to two lucky Expert scores on Roxanne and My Sharona. I was only able to stop myself after I foolishly tried to defeat stadium level crowds on Hard settings. How badly I failed, whether or not my band got a PR Firm or not (we totally did) - none of the details of how awesome any of this was matter, really, because it is this blog that suffers . . . like so many other Comics Blogs out there.

*shakes head ruefully*



*change setting to black background, zoom in on my talking head*

GHRBS can afflict anyone with a next-gen game console and an awesome taste in games. Even if a "friend" of yours is the only one suffering, you can be drawn in before you even know it, like a fly in a web. Studies show that GHRBS is a disease that afflicts one in 17 Comics Bloggers - resulting in socialization, being awesome, inflated egos and most terribly, an utter lack of comics blogging. If you are suffering from any of these syndromes, it's best to post about how much Joe Quesada or Dan DiDido make you angry immediately, before the urge to have a social life becomes overwhelming. GHRBS can lead to partying in a hardy manner, 4AM meals at Denny's, increased numbers of friendship with symptoms of good times, and - in extremely advanced cases - public karaoke.



Please, if you suffer from GHRBS, just remember the three S's to keep yourself blogging - Stay at Home, Stay Bitter and Stay Blogging. Otherwise, someone might just enjoy Countdown unironically - and nobody wants that. Nobody.

If any of you need more information on Guitar Hero Rock Band Syndrome or just want to share your life experiences with others, please leave a comment below. Remember, being informed is the first step to combating any awesome disease.


BONUS CONTENT - OTHER IMPORTANT PSA's!

Please, sir, may I have some Moore?

Ganked in part from Occasional Superheroine -






(yes, that's really him singing - at least if you believe Wikipedia)

Chocolate CAIN!

The always dapper and tasteful BeaucoupKevin has found some excellent film news. Apparently, they're making a movie out of the life of Cassandra "Batgirl" Cain!




(Go here if the above isn't working.)

Okay, so I'm a total liar. The movie is actually named Chocolate and has nothing to do whatsoever with Cassandra Cain. You know, except for the part where both her Mom and Dad are both deadly fighters and she grows up being able to fight like a ninja tornado.

Still, this? Equals AWESOME.

(And I apologize if the title of my post got that terrible song stuck in your head. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm actually very proud of how horrible that pun is. Whee!)

Y: The Last Hulk

Between severe insomnia and busy workdays at Teh Factory O' Suck, I've been slacking in my blogging. I can tell from my comments section how deeply upset and betrayed most of you feel and I apologize to you, my loyal fans.

I have, however, managed to create a fake preview for the final issue of Y: The Last Man involving a very new direction with a very large green man. Please go see it and enjoy my hard (okay, minimal) work!

Failing that, please enjoy this AMV of Jonathan "The Cake Is A Lie" Coulton's song Code Monkey that neatly encapsulates my battle with General Malaise (of the Insomnia Brigade):

Happy Trogday! So Speaks FIN FANG FOOM!!!

I know a lot of you are posting about Wonder Woman and Spider-Man and you know what? That's excellent of you. I applaud and thank you all.

But today, my friends, is Trogday - the day we celebrate the birth of Trogdor the Burninator. His legend is celebrated in song, games and even the final episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Still, this is a comics blog, not a Trogdor blog . . . so behold the best Dragon creature comics have created! Behold FIN FANG FOOM!*

*Please Note: K. D. Bryan has not actually read any comics with Fin Fang Foom in them besides Nextwave. This is okay because Nextwave is officially the only comic a person ever needs to have read in their entire lifetime.

Fin Fang Foom can see your SOUL


The Ladies LOVE Fin Fang Foom and Fin Fang Foom loves them right back - by putting them in his pants.


Fin Fang Foom is sometimes orange and bigger than Thor - LITERALLY


Fin Fang Foom breaks down borders between nations - ALSO LITERALLY


And best of all? Fin Fang Foom once saved Christmas. Suck on that, Puff the Magic Dragon.

Yes, Fin Fang Foom is immune to all things . . . save trash talking from Magneto!



Oh, and robots. Not so good against the robot guys. Or iron men, if you prefer.

Insomnia sometimes nets beautiful results

If you hunt around the music site of one Kelly Fenton, you'll find incredibly wonderful jazz pieces . . . based around recent DC Comic books (and other great stuff besides, including a kick-ass version of Blue Skies).

I'm especially fond of Infinite Crisis and Villains United I & II.

Various bits o Modern Art - Stan Lee style

100 artists created paintings to honor Stan Lee, with wild and wooly results. Go and enjoy my personal favorites, Magneto with Ducklings, Pulpy X-Men and Golfing Heroes. And bonus points for the Mr. Fantastic Kirby Homage, Dr. Strange Vs. The 50's and the impressive Scarlet Witch self-portrait.