My own self

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

"Your country needs you!"
"I'm Canadian."

I originally had low expectations to this movie - X-men 3's fault, that - as it looked like it'd just be another "Hugh Jackman on posters and tons and tons and TONS of unnecessary mutants with flashy powers and so many plots that none of them have time to set themselves up before the movie's done"-thing, only a prequel to add to the lame. The trailers lifted my spirits only marginally - it seemed like a decent action movie, but not much else, and honestly, trailers tend to make movies look way better than they are, so if that's what the trailer made it look like...

Then people started seeing it, and huh, impressions started getting back to me that it was "okay", "rather good", "fun" and "worth the ticket". Adjusting my expectations up to thinking it would be what the trailer promised - good easy action - I went off to the cinema. Which I would have done any way, I'm a sucker for a comic book movie franchise, but I went off with higher expectations than I, er, expected. Meaning it's-going-to-be-completely-okay ones.

Well, it met those, and even went a little beyond them. As I suspected, this tragically hurts the good old X-men 1, seeing as Wolverine makes their brutish, quiet, brainless Sabretooth completely out of sync with the oddly compelling performance Liev Schreiber gives in the part in the prequel. And I do mean oddly, because this is a guy who acts and moves like he's a bear-panther hybrid and should by all rights feel like a much more cheesy Wolverine-rip-off. But no, he's actually very interesting, and brings a strong presence to his every scene. Kudos, Mr. Schreiber.

As for Wolverine himself, suffice to say it's the one thing I can never agree with Scrubs' Dr. Cox on, as I quite like Hugh Jackman. This movie is no exception. He gets a lot more to do here than in X1 and 3, though - as one should obviously expect.

My fears of a jungle of excessive mutants... is oddly placated. They are there by the scores, but they never pretend to have bigger parts then they do (unlike X3), and they never get in the way of the main plot (again, unlike X3). So, yeah, they could've limited themselves a bit more, but honestly, they didn't need to. Surprising, but impressive.

Other than Sabretooth and Wolverine, the big show stealer here is surprisingly not Gambit, who Marvel finally manages to put up on the big screen, but Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson aka Deadpool. Which is odd, as his appearances in the movie are short indeed. I hear rumours that this movie's success might spawn two further spin-offs, and that one of them would centre on Deadpool. His few scenes in Wolverine makes me think that could very well work. (The other spin-off would be a Wolverine 2, set in his Japan-years. Sounds like fun too. Sadly, I'm hearing little of their long-planned Magneto-movie, which would be worth at least three Wolverine-movies in my book. Here's to hoping, though!)

Speaking of Gambit... I'm torn. Taylor Kitsch wasn't bad or anything, but... the roguish charm just didn't really register, and where is the delightful French accent? Mostly, I felt they wasted an opportunity to make the character shine and sparkle. Too bad. A Gambit-spin-off would've been lovely, but I doubt they'll be able to make one based on this. Wasn't at all bad, but wasn't at all memorable either.

The plots - again, compared to X3 - are awesome, because there is only one. Which helps, like, tons. It allows them to focus on it, pump it for emotion when they should and for action when they can, and even makes room for a little twist or two along the way. The plot also ties (mostly) neatly into the X2-plots concerning Stryker, Wolverine and Weapon X, which is of course a huge help considering X2 is awesome. It also really helps justifying the "X-men Origins"-piece of the title - this really does feel like a prequel to the franchise just as much as it does a standalone Wolverine-movie.

All in all, I'm very pleased. It was funny, it was exciting, and it even had a few pretty emotional character moments. When your main complaint is that it made a flat and boring character in X-men 1 look out of continuity because he is cool and engaging here, you know you're holding a bad hand of flaws to point out. There's even an in-universe sort-of explanation for that, as Sabretooth's mutation supposedly makes him more feral and beastlike with every passing year (as is even hinted at in the movie, considering how his character develops). Also, no offense to Danny Huston, he does a fine job, but doing William Stryker after (and at the same time before) Brian Cox is a tough job, and the character doesn't have quite the impact here he did in X2, despite his large role and presence. Still, he's more than adequately interesting. And my only other nitpicks would spoil too much of the movie, so those you won't hear 'cept if you ask in the comments.

This movie certainly isn't a Great movie, but it just as certainly is very good and very entertaining for anyone who's remotely interested in this type of superhero action and/or would like a pretty solid dive into Wolverine's past that doesn't clash much with the existing movies. Several times it even adds to them.

8/10

Shuler Donner was happy to [...] shed a little light on things. "We have a script on Magneto which is actually sort of Magneto and Charles Xavier," she said. 'It's Eric and Charles in their early, early years."

Let's all cross our fingers that this is the movie they'll end up making - and that it'll get made. ANY movie about those two meeting, becoming friends, and, likely, parting ways, will automatically be better than the mess that was X3.



(In related adaptation-news, yesterday this was announced. Figured not all of you read my twittering.)

I must admit, I'm probably very unqualified to write a post on this story. Being part of the Ultimate-universe reboot of traditional Marvel characters, it's reinventing the story of DareDevil and Elektra - a famous, popular classic in the genre written by Frank Miller that I've never read.

For shame, I know.


Still, not having read the original, this miniseries written by Greg Rucka and with art by Salvador Larroca was decent enough. I was hardly blown away, but I don't require something to overwhelm me with awesome to say I like it. The story is about how the young Elektra experiences a spoiled, rich bully's reign of terror over her roommate and, since he doesn't seem to get to Elektra herself, her dad, and how she decides to take matters into her own sais.

Simultaneously, she starts dating the gifted, blind law-student Matthew Murdock. And his secret night-time-activities hold a differing code of ethics than Elektra's when it comes to the view of human life.

The story is a nicely crafted escalation of these different conflicts and relationships, culminating quite satisfactorily, and sending both main characters off in different directions - handily readying them for any upcoming stories with either or both Marvel could have in mind.

Elektra, indeed, has been seen elsewhere in the Ultimate Marvel Universe since, as she appeared as a much older girl in Ultimate Spider-man - as a cold-blooded assassin. A sequel to this story I'm now reviewing, called simply Ultimate Elektra, exists, but I haven't read it. Hopefully, it tells the story of how the idealistic girl of this story turned into the Elektra of USM.

The Hulk was kind of artsy and dark and weird, and though it had some cool moments it'll hardly go down in history as an example of a successful attempt at making a movie of a Marvel superhero. The Fantastic Fours sadly kind of put themselves on a more kid-movie sort of level, but they weren't as bad as everybody says they are. (Alright, maybe a little bit, but I'll maintain that the casting was pretty good) Elektra, however... And just when Daredevil stood a good chance to redeem himself through the impressingly improving director's cut. But, you know, Spider-man was a pretty darned good movie. And though Dafoe was sorely missed, Spider-man 2 was probably even better. X-men was rather unimpressively decent, but laid a fantastic foundation for the brilliant X-men 2. Both franchises kinda limped their way through the third installments, though Spidey did so remarkably well, but the point is, Marvel's really done some pretty darn good superhero-movies before. Heck, I even liked The Punisher, though I'll accept that while a decent movie it wasn't that good a portrayal of the character.


But this... this buggers those "decent attempts" up the arse, if you'll pardon my French, wipes the floor with Spider-man and gives even Spidey 2 and God Among Insects X-men 2 a run for their money. Even DC's Batman Begins should get a little uneasy seeing Downey Jr. donning his armor.


Because of THIS is the result when Marvel decides to finance their own movies, then I need to look into getting some kind of moviegoing discount card.



Iron Man is the kind of movie that had me go home feeling guilty that I hadn't gotten a premiere ticket to see it. It had Robert Downey Jr. in the main part, and I knew from the second I heard that that I was in store for something good. Now, I'm one of those losers who only really know the man from his relatively short run at Ally McBeal, but he made a strong and lasting impression on me there as one of the funniest and most charming characters the show had (and this was a show sporting the infamous duovirate of Cage & Fish) and I spent every episode the show had after he left hoping he'd come back on. And something in my head just clicked when I heard he was signed on as Tony Stark, instinctively I just knew he'd do a stellar job of portraying the guy who's probably my favourite Marvel character. (Yes, I have a thing for billionaire control-freak geniuses with eccentric alter egos, it's TV2's fault for airing Zorro every weekend when I grew up, let's move along?)

So, my favourite character played by an actor I felt unusually confident would do a good job - and from Jon Favreau, the guy who directed the very funny Elf and was hilarious as Foggy Nelson on Daredevil. Then came the mindblowingly awesome trailer. And suddenly, the movie was out, and people were going crazy praising it. Reviewers, people I knew, online acquaintences with very good tastes, fans of the comics and uninitiated alike. They were all jumping through hoops to tell me how much fun this movie was. It simply had to disappoint, and all that remained was hoping it only did so somewhat.

So, yeah, no, seems like someone decided they'd just skipped the hole conforming to reality-thing with this movie and in an astonishing feat of improbability worthy of Zaphod Beeblebrox, Iron Man lived up to the insane expectations and was all kinds of awesome.

Sure, the plot is rather predictable, particularily due to the very conventional and orthodox use of an overused badguy-formula without any real twists. (Though they do have some half-hearted attempts at throwing you off track) Also, the badguys of the movie are rather flat and uninteresting in their own rights.

It just doesn't matter though. This movie is solid through and through, and aside from whoever wrote the script and the fantastic dialogue, the main credit for that HAS to be given to Downey Jr.. Tony Stark is not just any ass, he's a brilliant ass, and watching this movie, you love him for it every single step of the way. You coo like a fanboy at his (often incredibly lame) jokes and chuckle merrily when he treats people like crap from the very first scene he's in - a scene, incidentally, that's somehow the best scene in the movie without ever making anything coming after it seem like a downer. Spider-man's constant quips were probably one of the more poorly treated aspects of the character in the movies, but that slight has not been done here. And it's even funnier than Spidey's quips, because Parker is too much of a goodguy to mock anybody but the badguys he fights. Stark has no such qualms. You might be the only person in the world mattering to him, and he'll still treat you like your very existance is basically there to convenience him and set up the occasional joke at your own expense.

Which brings me to Gwyneth Paltrow, who surprised me a lot in this movie by being very memorable in her portrayal of Mr. Stark's personal assistant Pepper. I've never disliked her in anything, but I also cannot remember every really noticing her that much. Here, she has a presence on screen that sticks with you, and while nothing bad is to be said about the other major cast members, she is probably the only one who manages to have a scene with Downey Jr. without his stealing it completely away.


All in all, a highly funny and vastly entertaining movie that, ironically, just feels like a set-up to something bigger once it is done. The sequel(s! please?) cannot come soon enough.

A weak 9,5/10


(The only problem is that after this, Dark Knight is kind of forced to look worse, isn't it...)

What cracks me up the most is how he nails the characters just like they're *supposed* to be.


http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mhr1Gb5sY "You've gone too far."

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRpPja3AMA I AM DOOOOOM!

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQBVVdL2Nw What if some popcorn just happen to fall into my hand?

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=11mKWmQjhS4 This is a pumpkin-bomb, man, I will END you!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NlLeCu63HCA "And I don't have herpes. Withdrawn. Withdrawn."

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GiBhLayXlwA "I WAS HERE FIRST!"

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NW6N2icB88s "I like your style."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fTFqBM7ZtNI "At least no-one mistook me for Shrek."

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=JUR8UJWvLPc&sdig=1 "You're ruining it!"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u-DpANYoLKQ "I like cats." "... Me too."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cDxgNjMTPIs "GOD!" "... Fine, I'm a DC, alright?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY5jVtn6eGA "Next."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut-1l1JQSQw&feature=related "I'm the Green Goblin and some douchebag punk is out there calling me happy-go-lucky?!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfvtY6XIK_w&feature=related "Thank God. You're okay."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2c8r6jgMQ "I'm 'cool'?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoeEe3tqeIQ "Pumpkin. Pumpkin! Pumpkin!"

DC has a history with this kind of bullshit - they've even made it into a plot-device of its own, horribly abused maybe, but still by now a (sadly) established part of the DC universe. But Marvel has no excuse to start doing this kind of insane retconning. Really. I can get quality comic books elsewhere. From people who actually cares about things like "character development" and, oh, say, "continuity".

Huh. This was not at all what I suspected. (There will be no spoilers here beyond a basic discussion of the premise of the how and the general direction the premise has been taken in the first eight episodes)



I did see it coming this being so much like Dead Like Me. By extension, I also expected it to remind me of Wonderfalls. What I did not see coming was that it'd also remind me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (There's even a Scooby-gang, of sorts) And what I certainly did not expect at all was finding this show to be a comedy show above all else.


So far, it's funny. It really is. It isn't particularily intelligent in its jokes, but it is also not particularily dumb, which makes it okay. In scenes where you'd expect the character(s) to react with fear, shock, joy, etc, they'll make a joke instead - so the focus is clearly on making the show funny first, dramatic second. They're succeeding, though, so I don't mind.

What this means, however, is that the drama-bits get pushed aside a lot. (And the action-bits gets maybe two scenes per episode, so this really isn't what you'd expect of a show about the Devil's personal bounty hunter.) While shows like "Battlestar Galactica" can set off with the heavy drama from square one, a show focusing this much on the lighter elements need time - see, for instance, Buffy, getting increasingly dark in seasons 2, 3, 5 and 6 - before the dramatic elements can unfold enough to really play out. This, to me, keeps the show from being briliant yet, but definitely allows for the potential to some day GET brilliant - maybe even some day this season.

Because, to my joy, they are putting out plot-points irrelevant for the individual episodes that all logic would dictate they will start picking up on later in the season and tie together into a (hopefully very interesting) season-plot. There's just no (to me, anyway) detectible pattern to them yet. They are, however, getting more prominent with almost every new episode.

So, the premise? (If you don't know it, yay you for sticking with this post for this long without knowing it!) As mentioned, this is a show about the Devil's bounty hunter. Yup. So you'd totally expect an action-show, that might or might not be good (read: might or might not have a big chunk of drama stirred in). But this is, as mentioned, a comedy. Once, however, that's getting increasingly black.

Because, people? The hero works for the Devil. There's more dramatic potential to moral conflicts in this basic premise than just about any other one-sentence premise I've heard for a tv-show. (The premise, in this, reminds me a lot of both Marvel's "Ghost Rider" and Image Comics' "Spawn", but is, obviously, far lighter) Whip in the juggling of a normal (shitty) life with his secret new job, and you've got another show in the tradition of Buffy, Smallville and even Wonderfalls, right?

Well, yeah. But with some interesting little changes. Like, for instance, the parents' role. Very different. Very different. And the fact that his powers, if you can call it that, as mentioned, come from, explicitly, the Devil. There's no room for moral leeway, here, our hero works for Hell. Deal with it.

Before I wrap this up, I should mention that the cast is very good. I think that I already by the second episode liked every single regular character and most supporting ones. And, of course, Ray Wise as the Devil himself is hilarious yet always somehow a little menacing. The rest of the cast is what makes the show great, but everything is really centred around the portrayal of the Enemy himself, and if he hadn't been this funnily done (and written, kudos to the writers for his dialogue!) the show would not have been interesting at all, no matter how well the rest of them did.


I'll be watching this with great optimism. If it just gets to keep on going for a while, this might end up being a very good show indeed.

I've done a lot of things I'm not especially proud of over the years, but somebody's got to be the world's Daddy.

- General Fury

Re-read this today, seemed like the thing to do, and wow, I'd forgotten, completely, how awesome that ending was. In point of fact, it was so awesome, Millar should just have skipped the last page. The second-to-last-one would've been even more powerful as the ending.


Nick Fury rules.

Billionaires don't get rich by being stupid, honey bun.

- Anthony Stark

These two volumes collecting the second run of "the Ultimates" (so, really, they're simply volume 3 and 4) are continuing Mark Millar's tendency to write stuff that's simply awesome. Ohyes. They really are. (There's a reason they got him to write "Civil War"...) This is his final run on the series, the helm will now be taken by Jeph Loeb, who's (in my meager experience) a far more variable writer than Millar but both matches and even outshines him the times he really hits the mark - so I'm hoping "the Ultimates" will keep on shining and not go the way of "Ultimate X-men". The art's very good too, the kind of realistic-but-pretty comic book art that I strongly prefer, huge props to Bryan Hitch.

YOU THINK TOO MUCH!

- The Hulk.

While the first run on the series was excellent, I actually like this second one even more. It's got horrible betrayal(s), excessive violence, Hawkeye rocking like only someone called "Hawkeye" can rock, Thor paraphrasing Jesus in every second line he has, the overly posh Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch sporting a disturbing relationship shown just subtly enough that it's charming and cute rather than nauseating, and it's got Iron Man.

Iron Man, who throws off these kind of lines as easily as other people tie their shoes:

I have to warn any terrorists down there that I might be utterly wasted, but I'm still an excellent shot.

Now, I might be biased, but after this and "Civil War" it's my firm opinion that Mark Millar should be chained to a chair writing "Iron Man" for the rest of his life the world's existence.

Anyone reading it after this rant, by the way, should be aware that it's in the second volume things truly get awesome, the first one is mainly a set up. But what a set up. Ooooh, what a set up.

I'm not saying anymore. People should just read this. The comic moved me and awed me both with tender, personal moments, horrible tragedies and action like nobody's business. It looks and feels as awesome as this kind of flashy multi-cast superhero comic books possibly can - I dare anyone to find me something better. (And I'd love to be proven wrong, too! )



Also. Any comic book with this line is a comic book any self-respecting Norwegian against membership in the EU is morally obligated to read:

Did you see my little clues? Did you see how clever I was? Norway's not even in the European Union!

- Loki, Norse God of Tricks and Mischief

Started out really good, I got high hopes that this one would be better than the first. Alas, halfway into the movie, it degenerated into a basic, plotless action-orgy and never came back.

More than anyone, including the new title character, this was the movie of the siblings Storm, and maybe especially Jessica Alba's Invisible Woman. Reed Richards got some focus through his obviously close relationship to her, but Ben Grimm was more or less nonexistant here. I could almost try some kind of "The Invisible Thing"-joke, but I think we should all be happy I won't.

The Silver Surfer's character was okay, but that was it. Galactus was a big scary threat, but without an accompanying personality that doesn't really do much that any run of the mill catastrophe-movie wouldn't give you.

Thank goodness for the return of Julian McMahon as Von Doom, by the way. As everything else, his character kind of disappeared halfway into the movie, and there was no form of conclusion to his character-arc or even his role in the plot, which is annoying, as he was the only interesting threat the movie had after the Surfer got niced down to a no-threat-level character by Susan. But he got almost nothing to do even in the part of the movie that WAS good, so... I hope he'll return for more screentime in a third one, 'cause this was just sad underuse of potential.

Everybody's acting-jobs were good, by the way. Not holding anything against any of the actors, I both liked and bought every central character of the movie. As with the first one, I can find no fault at all with the casting. But the script fell short. All in all this was an okay, entertaining spectacle of a movie which didn't blemish the record of the first one as it was just as mediocre, or possibly even more so.

5,5/10

"Bryan, 1812 was an exciting year. There was a war, a really cool overture, and I think that was when the last issue of Ultimates came out."


It's true, too, haven't seen an issue of that series in ages. *grumbles*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av6fWfmugds "It's just... everybody loves Batman..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvFjo5TTY6c&mode=related&search= Hulk-hug is in the cards!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytqV6GEHW24&mode=related&search= "Oooh."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0uMwUsa834&NR=1 Goblin Bloggin'!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VgLd26dxDRg Goblin Bloggin' encore!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rp2f2OcCpQ&mode=related&search= "What did you get?" "I got a ROCK."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azGhHh9mV_Q "Ahh, no it's fine, it's very original, it's good."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q_taep3ElI "Spidey. Mask."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohZB8ef0nVg "I can take'm! I can take'm!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuSI9akJ9_s "Supes?! You mean you're friends with that clown?!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnHHDzQ4Axw Villains edition!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=diIYOvGvmg4 Only way the Fantastic Four can win is if Batman doesn't show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRh9MFW9FU "A movie by David Goyer, who directed Batman Begins!" "And wrote Blade Trinity I believe." "... What?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDdGnuwXUIw "And that pocket?" "Meow-mix. ... It's personal."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3v0ZaZn23I "Hey, Lex?! Venom just puked over the balcony! I think it's moving!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv3KWBc3eV4 "Shi-!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNOUKZ0EdWk "He gets frikkin' Sam Jackson and I get DAVID HASSELHOFF!"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QXMSDrcABDk "I'm the Master of Magnetism!" "But I've got wood."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ekuznjH0JLI&feature=related "We're as close as two friends could possibly be without going over any boundaries which would be indicative of us being more than friends!"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DSsWVwFpNzs&feature=related "A date's a date, Norman, just roll with it."

Watch. I implore thee.

(Note that I haven't read any of the comics.)

What a piece of...


Sigh.


Plot: 3,5/10. Extraordinarily unoriginal, but otherwise okay, I guess. Illogical and fake-feeling end, though. Cop-out.
Acting: 3/10. Cage was... animated. If barely. A couple of decently played tertiary characters, like Mack and the camera-guy, and obviously the Caretaker, but otherwise... Not too good at all.
Special effects: 3/10. Other than the bike-stuff, which I don't care about at all, this was just sad. It looked so corny and cheesy it was to cry over. (It didn't look particularily fake, compared to most such movies, just really lame overall) Most fight-scenes looked good, though.
Characters: 2/10. Even the devil didn't have personality to speak of. Sigh. The camera-guy did, but he got so few scenes that hardly matters.
Dialogue: 4/10.

This could've been a mediocre movie. With another plot, it could even have been a good one. But no, they had to follow every clichè, make the villains stupid and unoriginal, etc, etc. Bah.

At least it had a guy with a burning skull. That's what I paid the ticket for, so I got my money's worth. ^^

3/10, 'cause it had decent scenes, especially action-wise, and Cage isn't all that bad. Also, burning skull.

I've not read it, but at some point, I'm going to - and I would be going to even if Joss wasn't taking over the title for a while, too, though I'd probably be in slightly less of a rush to do so - and I figured, you never know, maybe someone reading this poor excuse for a weblog has read it and can tell me a bit.

It's Vaughan, as far as I can gather, up 'til now with Joss taking over, and even though all I've read of him is his (compared to Millar and Bendis) mediocre run on the Ultimate X-men, I have great faith in that guy, 'cause I hear so much good about "Y: The Last Man", and his "Ex Machina" and "Pride of Baghdad" looks very interesting, too. And he's going to be on "Buffy season 8", I think he's writing the first arc after Joss there, so at some point, I'm going to be getting more into his work by default. ;P

Anywho, someone who's a couple of seconds to tell me a bit about Runaways? What I know:
It's about a group of children in the Marvel Universe finding out there parents are supervillains, running away from home, and forming some form of group trying to be superheroes to make up for their parents misdeeds. Sounds kinda cheesy, but also potentially extremely good, much like most great superhero-based comics tend to at first glance. They're also, obviously, discovering they have inherited powers. (I think)

That's what I know, approximately all of it I know. And I'm not really expecting anyone who reads this weblog to know more, but you never know. Feel free to use this post to tell me aout/pimp me/warn me about anything Vaughan, too, by the way, or comment on anything I bring up here in general. Or, you know, just spam. Comments are comments.

I like Iron Man. He's, to me, a modern Zorro. He's the man, I hereby postulate, Bruce Wayne could maybe have been if his parents hadn't been killed in front of him when he was ten.

But I've never really read any comics on just him.

So, Iron Man #14, I read yesterday. It's a tie-in to "Civil War", which I subscribe to, and thus, I get the choice on whether or not I want it at the shop I subscribe to comics at. And it was damned good. Obviously, I realize that's partly 'cause CW is such a strong concept, and Tony Stark being such a pivotal, if not THE pivotal, character to the entire arc. It's also, probably, partly 'cause this is a tie-in, they know people who otherwise wouldn't buy the series will buy it, and they make an extra effort to snare in new buyers.

But it still impressed me. I really like this character. He's sombre, but snarky, conflicted, but convinced and stalwart, friendly and likeable, yet highly manipulative, very shallow yet very caring... Tons of contrasts. I just like the guy.


Wondering if I should give his series a shot...

What is it with Loeb & Sale and melancholy?

Yet another great title by them, by the way. If you liked Superman: For All Seasons, DareDevil: Yellow or Spider-man: Blue, I'm thinking you'd like this one, too. I'm not too much of a Hulk-fan, but this one was good, no doubt about it. Not brilliant or anything, but definitely a high quality comic book.


So. I'll buy myself a graphic novel tomorrow. I was going to buy myself the first book of either Fables of Lucifer (and give up the dream of buying them all at once), but I now decided to wait a little longer. I'll definitely buy the third Superman & Batman-volume by Loeb, even if I've already read it and know it's not on par with the previous ones, it's still volume three of a decent title I own 1 and 2 of, I'm not giving up on it just 'cause of one mediocre one. I'll also buy at least one volume of Ultimate Spider-man, as I just bought the latest translated volume in Norwegian, and it said it'd be the "last for a while", probably meaning they're cancelling the title, so I'll just switch languages and buy the rest in English, one volume a month or so. That's two, probably enough, but I'm also considering "Pride of Bagdad". It just looks interesting. As does "The Fountain". And the one-volume complete "Bone"-thing. Never read "Bone", people keep telling me I should. Oh, and "Y: the last man", or whatever it's called, and I've considered the first volume of "Sin City", and, and, and, and...

Oh, we'll see.

Ultimate X-men Volume 14.

New guy behind the wheels. Nothing extraordinary, this, I have to admit, but still, worth the read. It picked up near the end and raised some good plot-points to build upon in future volumes. However, it wasn't especially epic, it wasn't especially moving, and it wasn't especially funny. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good, either. However, the bar has been set pretty damn high in this series, so... I didn't expect more than this anyway, really.

And tonight, I begin reading Watchmen.