The NZA

That answers that....good, least De Niro has em for 2 of his finest flicks. Poitier....was that for "Guess who's coming to Dinner" or another one? As for Sorcese, i certainly hope he's got at least one under his belt by now.

Junker, lemme know when ya go, i didnt make it this weekend either. Need another good comic movie to hold me off 'till Spider-Man...

Uh....lotta movies to see when Netflix gets em. Washington's a great actor, but im surprised bout "Training Day"...guess ill see it before i comment, tho. I know Spiffy liked it. Are those lifetime achievement awards the academy's way of sayin "sorry we overlooked you a lot"? Im wonderin if De Niro ever got an Oscar (damn well better have), casue if not, theyve prolly got one of these for him just waitin in a storage unit somewhere.

...you're so right. I can't wait to grow up like you kids...hey, in the meantime, can I have your non-trade paperback (TPB henceforth) comics? :cowboy:'s gonna get some new boxes of Batman.

First, the man's paralyzed, and now he doesnt even get a vote? That's cold. "What do you people want, a little dance?! ..and don't think I don't see all you pretty-boys out there with my trendy tattoos of my logo."

I agree, just wish it'd come out more than once every 2 or 3 months! Ah, at least the man's got a good excuse - I hear there's supposed to be a movie deal goin down. Also, i loved last month's cover, been tryin to find an image of it online for a while now. Yahven - No votin for Bendis? You seemed to really go for Utlimate Spider-Man... Bacchus - Cmon, youve read that and New X-Men now, youve gotta have some say here.

OK, here's the rundown. Individual issues: +Great for collecting. Also feature contemporary things (read an old Marvel book & it has ads for "Return of the Jedi: Coming to a theatre near you", etc), but more importantly, the letters section can often feature the writers or artists' comments, as well as pin-ups & sketchs sometimes. -Only show up every 30 days or so, and often hard to find if not the current issue. In addition, jump on a hot series like Ultimate Spider-Man only a few months into it, and you could be payin out the ass. Trade paperbacks: +Easier to read, no messing with bags & boards. The story itself will ususally have a beginning & ending within the trade, and i personally like the forwards when theyre by cool people (ie, Frank Miller & Alan Moore do many forwards). Recently, theyve also been known to include alternate covers, extra artwork/sketches, etc. Preferred largely by "Vertigo people", serious fans of series' like Sandman also enjoy the hardback format some trades will get, makin it look more prestigous as well. -Sometimes overpriced & more expensive than the damn issues, nevermind that the storyline is possibly spoiled by the time you get your hands on it (i.e., Origin is lookin to be a badass trade, but i doubt many will read it without knowin who Wolverine is already). Besides, you know you want the issues.... Myself, an avid collector, i of course vote for the individual issues. While trades are great for re-reading & lending out, i guess im too much a fanboy to wait till the trades come out, so i opt to torture myself at 30-day intervals. But in defense of trades, the extras can be pretty nice: i recall Jumbie's hardcover Kingdom Come featured supplemental material, includin a significant addition to the series' ending ( ! ). So, where do the rest of ya stand?

Fair enough, im spendin too much on em a month over here as well, but no regrets: at least things're good lately. For those lookin to catch up later down the road tho, keep in mind that while Marvel is not takin back orders (meaning, if last month's issue sells out everywhere in miami, youre gonna need to go to Ebay, as comic vendors cant back order anymore in an attempt to raise the value of Marvel's books), Joe Quesada made up for this by ensuring the public that storylines which sell well will see Trade Paperbacks within a few month's time. Usually cheaper than the actual issues themselves, trades can often feature sketchwork & other such extras. Actually, that thought's just spawned another poll...

Well....i intend to keep the name for a bit, so nothin drastic there. However....if there's any fan fiction/mythology etc id say by all means toss it in here, if it gets big enough ill include it somehow in the title/description of this corner, toss Homer's name in somehow as well for storytellin. As for RPG and Metal Gear stuff, that still feels like Nintendorks material...you mean, plotline only stuff? Cause if so, then yeah that's prolly more appropriate for here. Ill figure it out as it comes tho, mean time keep ideas comin & feel free to post that kinda stuff here, just label it for spoilers. PS No one's gettin ranked on round here for grammar (so long as everyone understands whats bein said) but hey since ya broguht it up... PPS Keep hearin problems with the FTP...drop a line over in Stonehenge & let everyone know specifically what's wrong; if that thing fails, im gonna have a lotta red x's round here soon.

Nope. *cricket, cricket* Actually, Penny Arcade said it was badass...i just forgot bout it with all the City of Heroes talk. Cant burn you a copy, but Bacchus can, so drop him a line & lemme know how it is. PS haha Chiefy is a high-ping bastard.

There ya have it, folks. Hopefully, there'yll be a forthcomin review from Yahven if he ever gets to read that series (he's currently catchin up on Azarello's Hellblazer stuff). Like i said, X-Men hasnt been nearly this fun since Mark Waid started off "Age of Apocalypse" or the whole "Onslaught" thing. It seems each issue, a lil more shit hits the fan....since Origin finishes next month, this one's lookin to be the one i count the days until its out. Again, anyone round here wants to catch up on it, lemme know.

That shit was a fuckin blast. Party was a trip, film is shapin up to be really cool. Those who didnt make it (*coughYahvencough*), it really is a shame. Must train...for rematch with Mike. :plain: Anyway, good group o' folks too, good time was had by all, but i hope whoever jacked the liqour fuckin chokes on it.

I went into this one thinkin it would be shit. 2 hours of bad-girl action, like Jockavich Jackie-Chan kicking demon dogs....and as it turned out, i think it might be the 2nd best video game flick ive seen (not that that's sayin much). Gratuitous, fun violence that didnt pull any punches, fun ideas from the game makin their way over, and an ovrerall entertainin flick - not an oscar winner, but i was pleasently surprised.

Bout time Tom Petty got in, he's had it comin for years now. Id say names i thought worthy, but i dont know who's in and who's not, any links to a list?

Yeah, lots of folks seem to be bashin DK2....alright, its not as good as the original, but i dont think anyone expected that. I still say if it finishes at its current pace, itll be damn close, or at least a lot closer than we expected. Hey, i had an old thread here bout Dark Knight Strikes Again, where the fuck did it go? Cant find it anywhere....argh. Guess ill start a new one later.

Once again, votes before havin all the facts, blah blah blah... Im kinda with Chiefy here. I know Li's cool & can pull of some interestin shit, but of the older kung-fu flicks ive seen, Chan - back when he, like most, seemed to be in Bruce Lee's shadow, was one bad mofo. I like the slapstick comedy stuff he's done here in the states the last few years, but dont fool yourself; stunts aint his only thing. Chan's got a lotta cult fans of his old stuff, many films there a lot of us havent seen...Kee might be better here than me, at actually citing movies & such, but i says Jackie.

Neverwhere's tricky to find, :kitty:. As for my personal, id go with... **FUCKIN SPOILERS, BUT THEN YOURE AN ASS IF YOURE READIN THIS & HAVENT FINISHED SANDMAN ANYWAY** ...Season of Mists, where Lucifer screws over Morpheus with the most sought-after piece of interdimensional real-estate existing: the key to hell. "Its yours, but i doubt it shall bring you much pleasure at all..." Watch Gaiman bring in representatives of almost every known mythology & effortlessly weave them in with his own. It's a thing of beauty, and one of the more popular arcs - the Key to hell is an actual Vertigo prop, and the original hardcover of this book went upward of $200 on Ebay before bein reprinted. Good pick on Brief Lives, but I'm still with Mists.

Hmm...never thought of that, bein American i guess. There was a Justice League of Europe i think, didnt make too many waves as i recall....well, ya did have your invasion of brit writers not too far back, gotta count for somethin - many Ellis/Ennis characters are Brit, Irish, etc, but i was wonderin: Did anyone else read Action Comics # 775? One of the best Superman stories ive read, but it made the Authority/Anti-heroes out to be nothin more than murderous bastards...swear to god, i thought Warren Ellis was the lead villian. So how do you European folk feel bout this kinda thing? American heroes, stories largely in America, etc - only Vertigo writers seem to touch on Europe, and then largely 'cause they're European. Are writers limited to their respective geographic area, at least, most times?

Argh, ya know i meant Beast, ya dirty whore! Anyway, he looks like the Beast from "Beauty & The Beast" nowadays, fuckin funny shit. Team even pokes fun at his ass for it. Seems he's devolving, first he's ape-like, now a feline... Anyway, still your loss, KOS - at least pick up the trade if ya see it cheap.

Yet another fine book i missed out on for the first few story arcs, which Bacchus assures me is a good thing 'cause long as theyre not expensive, i can read em in a row...he might be onto somethin. Anyway, smaller team of Beast (who's mutated, ya gotta see it), Cyclops, Jean Gray/Phoenix, White Queen (from Hellfire Club & Generation X), lead by Proffessor X once again and of course featuin m'boy. So far, a new villian has been introduced who's fucked the team up almost as bad as the old "Age of Apocalypse" did, its a new form of evolution itself, really interestin shit. Id love to say more but hate to spoil it. Needless to say, the shit keeps hittin the fan in this one, and the book's finally doin things no writer before had the balls to pull off. Only a year or so into it, Morrisson plans on telling "The greatest Magneto story" later this year, and considerin the previous stories on that character, its big shoes to fill. This is one of the few i find myself checkin Marvel.com to see when the next issue's out....i cant say enough good things bout it, just that after a few issues into it, one gets the feel this is how the book shouldve been the last few years it sucked ass. On a side note, tho formerly perhaps the greatest X-Men/Wolverine writer, Chris Cleremont, way past his prime, now handles his own series called X-Treme X-Men, and the title tells it all. Its pretty much where the rest of the characters you like (Gambit, etc) have been shuffled off to, tho he's managed to kill Colossus, Psyclocke, possibly more over there...dont know, i dont fuckin read it. Sad to see such a great writer dukin it out with Stan Lee for "Least likely to put out somethin good these days". Anyway, be sure not to mix up these two: stay far away from X-Treme. Anyway, got the full run thus far on New X-Men, so those interested in readin it (that live nearby), lemme know.

After filing for bankrupcy, losin out on much of the massive commercial sucess of the X-Men flick, and numerous other shit moves, Marvel tried out a new line called "Marvel Knights", a darker corner with lesser-known characters & good writing and art. It took off....Kevin Smith, Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti's stint on Daredevil was the best the book'd seen since Frank Miller, hands down. The Inhumans, by Paul Jenkins (Origin) and Jae Lee (i forget what) was also a huge sucess; took an Eisener award i think. Books like Black Panther rose to the top 10 sales charts, a spot usually reserved for X-books. Sure, Moon Kinght and the first go at Punisher were weak, but later efforts on the latter brought Garth Ennis to the fold. Joe Quesada is assigned CEO of Marvel, who's been financially in the red for years. His task: get them in the black (breakin even, more or less). Takin Marvel Knights one step further, Quesada brings the hottest writers & artists he can get to bring about the Ultimate line of books, a "Marvel Knights" for the popular characters that no one's readin, really. One of the main ideas? Respect the characters' origins, but bring em up to date, and fuck continuity. "But this clashes with what Stan Lee said in issue # 37!"...fuck it, if its a good story, go with it. So dialogue master Brian Micheal Bendis Powers, Jinx[/b])ends up on their first book, [/b]Ultimate Spider-Man[/b], with my still-favorite spidey artist, Mark Bagley - ill show some of his stuff below. The book gets mentions on MTV's Total Request Live, NY Times, and various other spots. It's massive popularity causes its first issue to go upwards of $200, and that's in its first year of printing - a figure unheard of in the current state of comics. Not without reason, either - the book reads so naturally, its on issue 21 and spidey's fought maybe 3 people...the best part? You wont even fuckin notice. That's how solid the supporting cast/characterization is. Mark Milar (i believe he worked on Authority after Warren Ellis?) takes on Ultiamte X-Men with Adam Kubert, my favorite Wolverine artist. While takin some leaps with the characters that initally upset a few - includin our resident artisticcartoon - the book's come around after its first year, and I can honestly say the last 2 issues have been some of the most interestin X-stuff ive read in years. This one seems to get better each issue. Ultimate Team-Up, tho comin to a close soon (so Bendis has time for next fall's MTV animated Ultimate Spider-Man series, cant wait), is one of the best team-up books ive seen since Marvel Comics Presents had The Maxx & Epicurus's Sam Keith on it. The book can range from great storylines like a new, Sin City take on the Punisher to a giant parody of the Marvel Universe. It will be missed. Finally, only 2 issues out so far, The Ultimates is the new line of Avengers books, and is lookin great thus far: issue #1 had Captain America WWII scenes that felt like readin "Saving Private Ryan" at times. When asked why he didnt call it "Ultimate Avengers", Milar replied "Its been 30 years, i dont know what theyre avenging." Cant name the artist off the top o' my head, but he's good so far anyway. Next issue oughta be the new Thor, should be fun. The next in line is lookin to be an Ultimate Fantastic Four book, and while i dont think anyone could get me to read the comic equivalent of a superhero "Seventh Heaven" again, there's rumors of either Alan Moore (Watchmen, nuff said) or Grant Morrisson (New X-Men, JLA) writing it, so if its an even decent artist, ill give it a go - point being, thus far, the Ultimate universe (yeah i know, another cheezy adjective from the marketin scum, what can ya do) has done little wrong, and made formerly great books badass again. Ultimate Wolverine - Adam Kubert, #16 Ultimate Spidey - Mark Bagley, # 6 Ultimate Thor - Uh, hold on...Bryan Hitch, # 3 i think.

Maybe partially, but i says its mythology. Brigit & Mulan dig the dreaming, but A) Its too obscure and B) forum's got a title anyway. Maybe ill squeeze the dreamin in there sometime, but first things first: one of you ladies - includin Athena here if she ever shows up again - needs to do a post bout Sandman, what youve read so far, compare favorite story arcs, etc. Just be careful of spoilers...remember, there's two crowds here, largely: vertigo people and superhero people. Im just tryin to mege the two. Brigit here's entitled to be ignorant 'cause she's new to comics, but dammit KOS, i swear, superhero books arent what they once where. Writers like Strazinksy, Kevin Smith, Azarello, Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, hell even Garth and Frank Miller at times - all the people we love on non-superhero books - are runnin both ends these days. Neil Gaiman himself is gonna do a Marvel mini-series soon, there's still rumors that Marvel CEO Joe Quesada is workin on gettin Alan Moore back into the fray. Bottom line: I honeslty dont think superhero books have been this good, perhaps golden/silver age, in their time, but fuck, a number of them have really evolved. All im sayin: write off such a large genre like that, and it truly is your loss. It's the equivalent of the superhero folks sayin "fuck that weird vergio shit" and missin out on Hellblazer, Sandman, Preacher, etc. Tis a terrible thing to do...ill keep postin reviews & such, in hopes to spread the word.

I'm adding X-Force to my list. Hadnt follow Milligan before (from Vertigo's Shade: The Changing Man) and im one of the few people at comic cons who dont go for Mike Allered & his Madman, only read its first issue but i just didnt go for the style. Didnt mind when he did Oni Double-Feature with Kevin Smith's Bluntman & Chronic, but just didnt catch me. Anyway, X-Force is unlike any other X book there; while im still bigger on New X-Men these days, Force feels like hte first Vertigo book in Marvel. Its really somethin different. Finally got the last 10 or so issues from when the new creative team jumped on, highly recommended. A Wolverine guest star didnt hurt, either, as usual. So anyway, once again, those not readin some of these titles are missin out.

OK folks, tryin to round up more extras at the last second...be round my place bout 8pm tomorrow or so (i think) for a ride there, Junker can give directions to the site - it aint far. Come on down, support another deity & his first, possibly breakthrough film. It should be noted that M. Night Shyamalan, the director of "Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" featured his early, home-made films as extras on his last DVD, which i thought was cool - and he aint the first to do such a thing. This could be your chance to end up on some obscure DVD down the road, so dont miss out! PS There will be liqour.

Theyre both dead now i believe but even if the S was for their name, he was only in action comics for..i forget, not very long before bein in Superman # 1 and im pretty sure by then the S was for Super, so even if your storie's true, at least they got it right when it counted. Cmon, Siegal-Man? Shuster-Man? Where'd ya read that anyway?