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Man What?
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According to this link on Blastr (http://blastr.com/2010/07/darth-vader-actor-david-p.php) the actor that played Darth Vader in Star Wars and its two sequels, David Prowse has been banned from Star Wars related Conventions. Lucasfilm says it is because he has "burned too many bridges" with them. Having been to only one convention with him as a guest about two years ago he seemed like a nice older gentleman who complimented me on my choice of picture to have autographed. I don't know what he could have done to raise the ire of Lucasfilm, but this wins the MAN WHAT?! of the month. I also wonder what this means for his appearance at Dallas Comic-Con (not at all related to San Diego Comic-Con) at the end of August. It's not an official Star Wars convention like Celebration V that was last month, but as far as I know they still have him on the guest list.
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Grim was the right title for it.
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The Grim Hunt storyline in Amazing Spider-Man 634-637 wrapped up last month, and just as my snarky comment says above, Grim was the right term for it. From the get go I was not too happy with this storyline because of all the sacrifices that were taking place in a Rated: A book. I don't want to be the parent that has to explain to their eight year old child what was going on in this storyline. I was never too excited about Kraven the Hunter storylines in the Amazing Spider-Man book when I was younger and this one was not that good. Kraven killed himself during the Kraven's Last Hunt storyline back in the 1980's because he thought he had killed Spider-Man and could not live anymore because there was nothing left to hunt. In the Grim Hunt storyline, the Kravinoff family was hunting and killing the various links in the spyder's web that has Spider-Man in the center. They killed one of them in their quest to bring Kraven back from the dead. This story wove on for a long four issues that could have easily been condensed into three issues without the back-up story that was in all four issues. They even had this whole thing running through the last two issues that had animals wild as well as domesticated roaming the streets of New York and Mayor Jameson powerless to do anything about it. Everything is tied up with a nice bow at the end and the storyline has a satisfying ending, but I could have done without some of the gruesome details that they showed in the early issues, but overall I'm glad I stuck this one out.
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A Letter to Grant Morrison
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Dear Mr. Morrison,
I don't know what they slip into the fans' water at San Diego, but it seems like every fan seems to think that you are on the Alan Moore side of good writers. Guess what, I don't like Alan Moore either. It seems like all you British comics writers want to come to America and screw around with our heads through our comic books. If you want an example of a writer I hold in high regard, how about Larry Hama? He wrote most of the issues of the GI Joe comic back in the early 1980's to mid 1990's. He did not once try to play mind games with the reader in his books. He also wrote most of the file cards that were on the back of the action figures released here in the states so not only was he a comic book writer, but he also wrote for toys as well. He even had a bit part a couple of times on the television show M*A*S*H. Can you say you have been doing something besides comics Mr. Morrison? Personally if your shiny bald head and suity man self ever comes to Dallas, Texas, I'm going to meet you at the airport along with whoever I can round up and we're going to demand our money back for Final Crisis.
Mathew B.
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Are Mindscrews Becoming the Norm in Entertainment?
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My question for the month is; are mindscrews becoming more prevalent in entertainment? With the release of the movie Inception last month and everything that has been happening in entertainment with television shows like Lost having a non-ending, is it becoming the norm to get a non-ending? Personally I think we are slowly getting this way. It seems like ever since the television show Twin Peaks came out back in the early 1990's and its psychedelic dreams and log lady were brought to our attention, television shows have been looking to mess with our heads even more. The Matrix was really the first movie that came to my attention with this. I heard from people that it was so deep and philosophical I bought it at the same time as my first DVD player. I tried to watch it and took it out halfway though and have not tried to watch it since. I was so lost in trying to figure out the metaphysical subtext that I could not enjoy the movie. That and I was going through my first real mental health crisis around then and I did not want to get sucked into thinking that we were all part of some type of computer program. For me, mindscrews are no fun. Maybe because I am old fashioned and like to have everything wrapped up at the end of a story, but it seems like resolutions are not the norm anymore.
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Spider-Woman, did they cancel it?
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I have been going through the past few months of comics listings on Marvel Comics' web site and I have been unable to find a listing for the Spider-Woman series. In August Marvel is putting out a trade of the first four or five issues, but has the book been cancelled or is it on hiatus while they get a new creative team on it? Not that I had a lot vested in the book. I only picked up the first four issues and liked what I read, but not enough to put it on my pull list. I did a little digging and saw that the last issue they have listed on the site is #7 and it was released in March of this year. It did not say in the description that the issue was the last or not so I don't know what to think, but I would really like to know.
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Four printings, really?
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This month Marvel is putting out the Fourth Printing of their comic S.H.I.E.L.D. #1. Has this book really sold enough to justify three other printings other than the first? There is also a listing on their web site that S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 is going to a third printing this month. Again I must ask, is this issue of the book so popular that it requires two additional printings? I know that the Amazing Spider-Man issue with Obama on the cover went to something like six printings, but that was because America was swept up in Obama fever at the time and everyone wanted one. I know the Hawkeye and Mockingbird title has only gone to a second print of their first two issues and I can kind of see why that book is popular with a movie coming out for the Avengers in a couple of years, but I have no idea why S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to a fourth printing. My local store still has first printings of S.H.I.E.L.D. number's 1 and 2 and I know my local comic book store owner does not over order a lot of stuff like some places do. I think Marvel is just inflating the runs because they want to make it look like there is an artificial demand for the books.
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