Comics - THOR - In the Heartland.

3 Ass Monkey - Above Average

So Marvel brought Thor back from the dead a few months ago. I know this cause my mom has sent me 3 newspaper articles about it. "Why would she do that?" you ask. Cause it seems Thor has decided to purchase 200 acres of land outside of my home town of Oklahoma City. It seems he needed a new place to set up Asgard. Apparently the old one wasn't working so well for him as it was destroyed when he was killed a couple of years ago.

Issue 03 hit the stands this week. As with most new books, I thought I'd give it a few issues to see where it was headed. I've never been that big of a fan of Thor. I've always wanted to read the now classic Simonson arc, but I've never gotten around to it. This new series is brought to us by writer J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) and artist Olivier Coipel. Both of these guys are bringing their "A" game. I've liked most of JMS's work, with the exception of Spider-Man, and Coipel has a great style that really works well with the Norse God of Thunder. The first couple of issues start out a tad slow, granted there is lots of set up, but by the time you get to issue 03, shit really starts to hit the fan. Iron-Man desides to confront Thor. If you read Marvel's last BIG crossover event "Civil War", which I stupidly did, you'll know that Iron-Man (who is now a huge dick) is the head of Shield and that all people with superpowers now must register with the US Government. Oh and also while the world thought Thor was dead he and Reed Richards decided it was a good idea to make a clone of Thor to help rally people to their cause during Civil War. Believe it or not that did not go well, so now Thor is pissed.

Enter issue 03. Thor vs Iron-Man = Good times!!!!

I'll be grabbing the trade of this in a few months, as it's hooked me so far.

If you want to read issue 01 I've posted it. Check it out HERE. Hope you enjoy it. As always let me know what you think.

TV - Chuck & Journeyman

Chuck

2 Ass Monkey - Average

Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) is a socially awkward twenty-something who works as a computer expert at a "Geek Squad" inspired techbench at his local electronics retailer with his best friend, Morgan Santos (Joshua Gomez). Chuck's sister, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), is a doctor who is constantly looking out for his best interests and wants to help him find a girlfriend. On the night of his birthday party, Chuck receives an e-mail from his former Stanford University roommate, Bryce Larkin, who is now a CIA agent. When he opens it, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data, once only privy to the government of the United States, into his brain. Both the NSA and the CIA want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own, Major John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strzechowski), respectively, to retrieve the data. As Chuck experiences flashes of memory activated by certain subliminal triggers, he must use the knowledge he now possesses to help the government thwart assassins and international terrorists, thereby upending his previously uneventful life. Chuck's decision to keep his newfound occupation a secret from his family and friends and to live his life as normally as possible forces Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs. Read more HERE.

Okay 1st thing, Yvonne Strzechowski is HOT!!!!!. Damn. She is reason enough to watch this show. The plot is pretty stupid, but once you get past that it's kinda fun. There is nothing new under the sun here.... I kind of expected more considering it was developed by "OC" creator Josh Schwartz. However it does have a great cast. Sarah Lancaster, who was in last years "What about Brian", is great as Chuck's sister and our buddy Adam Baldwin, who we've all missed since "Firefly", plays a CIA tough. I'll keep tuning in as this could turn out to be a really fun show, but the pilot kind of left me under-welled.

But remember Yvonne Strzechowski is HOT!!!!!

So hot I'm giving her her own 4 ass monkey.


Journeyman

4 Ass Monkey - Excellent

Dan Vasser (Kevin McKidd) thought he had it all: a loving wife, a great son and a steady job. But life suddenly throws him a curve ball. Dan finds himself traveling into the past with a purpose — impacting people's lives for the better — and sometimes the worse. While doing so, Dan reconnects with Livia Beale (Moon Bloodgood), his ex-fiancée, whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash. Now armed with the knowledge of the present, will he be able to save her? What would that mean to his own future? And how would it change a man who thought he had it all. Read more HERE.

Okay now this is what I'm talking about. This is how you do a TV pilot. FUCK!!! There is noting like a good story that pulls you in right from the get go. I know a lot of folks are worried that this is "Quantum Leap" the next generation. Don't get me wrong the premisses are almost the same, but this is a great spin on the whole "man travels back in time" thing. The best part is that this show may even have BALLS. The one thing I hate about time travel stories is that everyone is always worried about fucking up their present timeline, I think this show may have the balls enough to break that stereotype. Another good as aspect to this show is there is no exposition. Dan Vasser doesn't know how or why he can go back in time, and neither do we, this makes the story that much more interesting.

Kevin McKidd is great as the lead. He has a whole Daniel Craig/James Bond vibe going on. He just throws himself into situations without thinking of the consequences. I have to say out off all the TV pilots I've seen over the last few years, nothing as grabbed me like this since "Alias". The sad part is we all know what happened to Alias. However I have high hopes and I'm looking forward to watching the mystery of the Journeyman unfold.

As always let me know what you think.

Monkey Asses

So I decided I need a rating system for my reviews. This is the best I could come up with .

Toys - Liberty League

I thought I'd give you folks a 1st glimpse of some toys we're putting together. They are based on heroes in the public domain. We're still working in the full line up, but here are some 1st passes at color thanks to our buddy KM.

Black Terror

Captain Future

Daredevil

Toys - Anyone in the mood for chess?

So I got my Sideshow Exclusive Star Wars Dejarik Holochess Set Expansion Pack in the mail yesterday. And I have to say I'm a little sad. Don't get me wrong it's a really nice piece and we'd never get this from Hasbro, but I kind of feel I was took. The damn thing was $60.00 with shipping. Again, it's a really nice well sculpted piece, the table is heavy and made of resin and the figures are die-cast metal. But I feel that this could have been done in plastic for 1/2 the price. I'm sure Sideshow would have made way less $$$, as the mark-up margins on this piece were pretty good I'm sure. But as the consumer I just feel I was robbed. Now I don't mind paying $60.00 plus for a articulated 12" figure from Sideshow. I think I'm getting something pretty special with some nice quality, but with this thing it's just a mold with no articulation, it could have been made out of anything. I would have been much happier with a plastic piece for 1/2 the price.

Michael Crawford has a more in-depth review of it HERE.

Toys - Adam Hughes + Wonder Woman + Action Figures = Good Times!!!

Quick update, We are FINALLY getting an Adam Hughes action figure. Wonder Woman will hit the shelves 1 year from now. I guess DC Direct is doing a whole line-up from their All-Star line of books.

From Wizard's website - All Star Superman, the inimitable Frank Quitely lends his style to two figures—Superman (duh) and Lois Lane as Superwoman. From the forthcoming All Star Wonder Woman, Adam Hughes delivers the ultimate statuesque Amazon princess. And from All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder (yup, that’s the full name), Jim Lee gets another Batman figure from DC Direct. An image wasn’t available at press time, but it’s Jim Lee Batman…use your imagination!

Go HERE to check them out.

TV - Look, I'm a feature-film Director and I directed a TV pilot.

I downloaded a few early sneak peaks of the fall TV season last week. "Pushing Daisies" & "Reaper". Both directed by feature-film Directors.

- "Pushing Daisies" - description from our buddies at wiki -

Pushing Daisies is a "forensic fairy tale" that focuses on Ned (Lee Pace), a piemaker with a mysterious ability to make the dead live again. The gift is not without its complications, however: if he touches this being a second time, they'll be dead permanently. If they live for more than 60 seconds, somebody else nearby will die. It's a gift that he puts in good use to help a private investigator friend, Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) and his childhood sweetheart, the once-dead Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (Anna Friel). Read more HERE.

This was a fun show, and very well stylized. Feature film Director Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men in Black", "Get Shorty") is an Executive Producer and also directed the 1st episode. And it really shows. It's got a funny and quirky pace to it and Lee Pace is really great as the lead. The only real problem is that I have no idea how they are going to make it interesting week after week. This is a really high concept show, but if you bottom line it I think it will be your run-of-the-mill comedy murder mystery show where Ned will help Emerson solves weird and wacky murder cases every week. It will be interesting to se how they develop a relationship between Ned and Chuck as they can never touch or she will die. The true test will be if the creators can keep that going while also staying true to the fairy tell elements in the pilot.

- "Reaper" - description from our buddies at wiki -

The story focus's on a young man named Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison). Throughout Sam's life, he always wondered why his Mom and Dad were so easy on him—whether it was sports, school, or career choices—and so hard on his brother, Keith to succeed. Because of it, Sam decides not to go to college, and takes a deadbeat job, wasting most of his time playing video games, wishing he could ask out his co-worker Andi (Missy Peregrym).

Everything changes in Sam's life once he turns 21 and finds out the reason his parents let him get by with the least possible effort was because they sold his soul to the devil before he was born. Satan (Ray Wise) explains to Sam that he must serve as his bounty hunter, tracking down souls that have escaped from Hell.

Sam is armed with "vessels" to collect the escaped souls, the first "vessel" being a Dirt Devil mini-vac. Sam finds that the work is dangerous and frightening, even with the goof ball help of his friends and fellow slackers, Bert "Sock" Wysocki (Tyler Labine), Ben (Rick Gonzalez ), and Sock's former girlfriend, Josie (Valarie Rae Miller). As bizarre as his life becomes, Sam feels good about his new found "mission", removing evil souls from the world and sending them back to where they belong. Along with his friends and his vessel of the week, Sam prepares to face his destiny as the "Reaper. Read more HERE.

Okay so "Reaper" was directed by Kevin Smith ("Clerks", "Chasing Amy") and given the material I can't say I'm too shocked. I wouldn't call Kevin Smith a stylized director by any stretch. Not that he did anything to hurt this show,it looks fine, however he didn't bring anything visually interesting to it either. This could have been directed by anyone, which is too damn bad cause there were some good opportunities for some great visuals in this show. I don't think I'd offend Kevin Smith by saying that, he knows his strongest asset is his writing and as far as the writing goes it's not too bad. Although he did not conceive the show, I'm sure he threw his 2 cents in just to spice up the script.

It's a fun show and depending on how that handle the escaped souls aspect of the show it could be really great. The pilot was 60 mins which was fine cause there was a lot of story that need to be told in the 1st episode, but this really needs to be a 30 min show, like Scrubs. An hour is gonna be way too long every week and will end up killing the show.

The stand outs in the cast are Ray Wise, from "Twin Peaks" fame, as Satan. He's creepy and funny at the same time. Also Tyler Labine as Sock is really funny. He was great in "Invasion" a few years ago and it's nice to see him on the screen again.


As always check these shows out and and let me know what you think.

Toys - You choose a LEGEND!!!!

Thanks to our buddies at Hasbro, WIZARD is running a new poll for one of my favorite lines of toys, MARVEL LEGENDS. You can vote for which figures you want to see and an exclusive at hasbrotoyshop.com. Now chances are we'll see ALL of these eventually, but Hasbro is basically letting us vote on which on we want to see as an exclusive. I'm voting for SILVER SAMURAI, it was a toss up between him and STORM. These 2 are original molds and most of the other figures although they are new characters the are just repaints/retools of older existing figure molds. I know that those are waaaay cheaper for Hasbro to produce, so as I said chances are we'll see them down the road at some point.

Anyway vote away.

TV - DAMAGES

Okay so I'm not really in to legal drama's and to be honest I'm not that into Glen Close. So there was not a whole lot here to get me to watch this. I was like even Ted Danson's taupe would get old at some point. However, my bother called and said I should check it out. As there is not a whole lot on the tube at the moment, cause the fall TV season doesn't start for a few weeks, I figured I'd give it a shot. I mean it's got to be better than Flash Gordon right? and I even gave that POS an hour of my life. Anyway, it turns out it's pretty good. Yes, it's a legal drama, but it's really just about one case and the characters involved. And thanks yet again to our friends at wikipedia I don't need to write a description. (I mean there are plenty of folks who write better than me so why do I need to do it.)

The story revolves around a ruthless high powered attorney Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her new young associate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), attempting to win a class-action lawsuit against the former CEO of a corporation, Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), on behalf of his former workers, by any means necessary.

The premiere episode begins with Ellen running through the streets of New York, visibly stained with blood on her hands and face, and in a state of shock. The police arrive and take her in for questioning, but she refuses to give any information; she simply demands to see a lawyer. Using a bloodied business card found on her with the words "I was warned" and her signature on the back of it, they contact someone who tried to employ her once, and clues start to unfold.

With that the show shifts to its main focus, a timeline six months in the past. It first introduces Patty Hewes, then details how Ellen came to be one of Patty's associates. Hewes is in the midst of a huge class-action lawsuit against Arthur Frobisher, and she is willing to do anything - and use anyone necessary - to win it.

The story shifts back and forth between two timelines, providing connecting details of the case and how it is intertwined between Hewes, Parsons and Frobisher. Read more HERE.

There are some really great performances, especially from Glenn Close (no big shock there) and the show does a really good job of grabbing you an pulling you in. Also it's, I believe, only 12 episodes so they don't have to drag out the story to a 22 season arc.

Comics - Comic art is cool !!!!

So as most of you know because I'm an obsessive compulsive I download like 15-20 comics a week. Out of those read about 4-5, time permitting. If I like what I'm reading I'll stop reading after the 1st issue and pick up the trade. Anyway, I was reading my usual 4-5 comics a week and came across an Iron Man book called "Iron Man - Enter The Mandarin". It's basically the Mandarin origin. It's off to a nice start, but what really pulled me into was the art by ERIC CANETE. This dude kicks all sorts of ass. I need to get him to do a Midnight Men sketch if he has time. Anyway check out his blog, it makes for a fun read.

Here we go again.......

So I've tried this before and failed miserably, but I figured "Hey it's the internet so let's do this dance again."

If your looking for a place to hear me discuss my boring personal life, this ain't it. I'll be discussing lots of cool other stuff like, Comics, Art, Toys, Movies and most importantly TV. As most of you know I'm a TV whore and I'll watch about anything as long as it's not reality TV, I hate that shit.

Also I feel it's only fair to tell you that I have horrible grammar and I can't spell worth a damn, so if you're gonna read this blog you better get over that real quick.

Anyway feel free to comment away, I always love the feedback.