Random Thoughts on The Expendables' Body Counts

I have unfortunately not gotten a chance to see The Expendables yet, but rest assured this situation will be rectified ASAP. I'm extremely proud this film out-did Eat Pray Love at the box office this past weekend and proved America still runs on testosterone (international readers, please let me know if your respective nations also use similar fuel).

This morning, Ryan sent me a link to Screen Rant's rad chart tallying up the body count notched by each Expendables principal in their prior roles (click this link and/or see below).

Some random thoughts after the pretty picture of manhood...

-I can't express how much I love that Dolph Lundgren's list starts with one kill from Rocky IV and that yes, it's that kill.

-Lundgren obviously scored a lot off his made-for-DVD movies most likely on his way to the top, but did he seriously off 41 people in Masters of the Universe? Far more than in two Universal Soldier flicks combined? Wow, no wonder I walked out of that movie scared as a kid (because apparently I was a little girl).

-Only Dolph Lundgren could still manage to kill two people in a movie called Jill The Ripper.

-Stallone killed somebody in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot? AMAZING!

-In the first Rambo, Sly killed one person. In the next two, he slaughtered 151 people. Rambo IV is also far and away the top single deadliest movie of anybody on the list with 81 kills. And despite this, he still barely gets half of Lundgren's total. He really did break him.

-Ryan and I were both impressed that Jet Li got third with comparatively so few movies, but also a bit surprised that the list was so short given how long he's been around. What we reckon is in a lot of movies he just didn't kill anybody because, as Ryan put it: "He just likes to hurt."

-Bruce Willis killed more people in Cop Out than in Pulp Fiction. Just let that marinate.

-John Cerilli on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin: "I'm surprised his career isn't on that list after The Condemned." (I never saw The Condemned myself, but having moderated a panel with SCSA and Vinnie Jones on it to promote the movie in Wizard World L.A. a few years back and nearly having my hand broken by a fist bump from Mr. Austin's giant smoking skull ring, I would never call it anything but a modern classic)

-I'm sure if they included Old Spice commercials, Terry Crews could do better.

-Randy Couture is obviously a huge p*ssy.

Captain America & Black Widow in The Nanny Diaries

A random thought struck me this morning that this totally happened:

Chris "Captain America" Evans played the male romantic interest for Scarlett Johansson in this 2007 kinda-romantic comedy that I totally saw because Megan wasn't feeling well and I wanted to cheer her up (and she really wanted to see it). I am now replaying as many scenes as I can remember in my head with Evans' character as Cap and ScarJo's as the Black Widow.

It occurs to me that now that more or less the entire Avengers cast is out there and it's a pretty diverse group of actors, this type of thing could become a regular occurence as I scan through the film archive of my brain, and that makes me somewhat excited. I am a man of simple pleasures.

Random Thoughts on the 2010 Emmy Nominations

The 2010 Emmy nominations hit today and I’ve got some random thoughts on them—hence the title of this post.

-Lost fans, I’d advise not holding your breath expecting your dearly departed show to be honored just because it was the last season or for its overall accomplishments. Fact of the matter is shows with such a heavy sci-fi/mysticism slant don’t tend to clean up at the Emmys in the Outstanding Drama category unless it’s a weak field, and it’s not a weak field. Breaking Bad, Dexter and Mad Men are still at the top of their game and while I dug a lot of what Lost has to offer in its final run, I don’t think this was their best season, so they’ll have to make do with the statue they got way back in 2005. I hope they get a nice highlight package, though!

-To continue on that line of thinking for a moment, sorry Sean T. Collins, but I don’t see Matthew Fox winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama; I think he acted his heart out and I certainly wouldn’t be upset if he did pull it out, but much like I said above, that’s some stiff competition with Jon Hamm, Bryan Cranston, Hugh Laurie and Michael C. Hall.

-And to finish the thought, I do hope and believe Terry O’Quinn will be honored for his phenomenal Lost work this season as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama. O’Quinn’s 180 turn from the traditional Locke to uber villain Smokey was just remarkable and displayed a range few actors could pull off so masterfully. I would say O’Quinn not being considered a Lead Actor is a bit of a crock, but at the same time, he’s got a way better shot against the likes of Martin Short and company, so I hope Lost’s “ride off into the sunset” moment comes in this category and a Locke-esque acceptance speech ties that final bow on the series.

-As an unabashed Glee fan, I still think it’s ridiculous that Glee got so many acting nominations. It’s a fun, well-produced and undeniably unique show of high quality, and there’s no doubt the cast is immensely talented, but I just don’t see how their performances, impressive though they are, can be held up against the likes of Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey and other people not on 30 Rock. It’s hard to articulate exactly why I feel this way without coming off like I’m slighting Lea Michelle or Matthew Morrison, but I just feel like playing so far over-the-top is entertaining and cool, but not award-worthy. Jane Lynch surely deserves her kudos as she has created a character, but the others are really just playing archetypes and singing incredibly well from my standpoint. In a perfect world there would be another category to recognize the merits of a show like Glee.

-I thought Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott was easily the most irritating and loathsome character on television this past year, and not in an impressive way, but in a “I want to turn off the TV” kind of way. His nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor to me is just the Academy sleepwalking and not having the guts to scratch him off the list after a bad year. At least they didn’t give Jeremy Piven another nomination. Carrell leaving The Office is going to be the best thing for both him and that show.

-Tina Fey was as great as ever on 30 Rock this year, but I think it would be really cool to see Amy Poehler grab that Lead Actress in a Comedy torch from her pal. Parks and Recreation just took such a quantum leap this year and I’m bummed it’s not up for Outstanding Comedy, but seeing Poehler get the win would be a nice consolation prize.

-I feel like I’m definitely at a handicap as far as picking winners by having never seen an episode of Modern Family.

-Finally: It’s long past time for Neil Patrick Harris to take this one home; America, let’s make it happen.

5 Random Wonder Woman Pictures

So hey, everyone and their sister-in-law (or at least MY sister-in-law, who's a Wonder Woman nut) already heard about Wonder Woman getting a new costume and origin. For the basic facts of the change, you can check out my interview with writer J. Michael Straczynski, and for a great reaction round up check out Robot 6.

I actually didn't think I had much to say about Jim Lee's design or the story surrounding it beyond "it looks all right I guess for something that won't probably last more than two years" and "JMS defines hit or miss for me, so we'll see," but after seeing all the blog reactions and people Tweet-a-booking about it and whatnot, I figured I'd share some random Wonder Woman pics that have crept across my browser.

1. OK, despite what I said about not having any real problems with the new design, it really doesn't hold a candle to the Jamie McKelvie one Shaun Manning reminded me existed this morning:


Seriously, I would buy him drawing that character in that book in a heartbeat. I've never understood why more comic artists don't tap actual fashion sense when designing characters and costume choices. Remember back in the day when Ian Churchill did Cable and everything Nate wore was straight out of classy British fashion mags? That was rad.

2. Heidi MacDonald's post of Wonder Woman covers throughout the years covered a lot of ground including the recent run of cheesecake-tastic images by Adam Hughes, but how she could have missed Hughes' WW masterpiece is beyond me:


I was actually an intern at DC when this cover came in, and if I recall correctly, Hughes created the piece by drawing the old school H.G. Peter homage and then stuffing that art under his recliner cushion to be sat on for a few weeks until it was worn enough to look time-damaged and then he slotted the modern Diana in.

3. I haven't read Wonder Woman #600, the issue where the new costume debuts, just yet so maybe I'm off base here, but when I saw this preview page on DC's The Source blog featuring WW and a roundup of DC superheroines...


...I thought to myself, "Damn, is that really what a lineup of the company's best and brightest female superheroes looks like?" And then I realized that no, it isn't. I'm not sure why Gail Simone didn't include, say, Catwoman, Black Canary, Huntress, Power Girl, Fire, Ice, etc. in the story. There might be an actual reason for it once I read the whole damn thing. But as it is, a bunch of the Teen Titans and Birds of Prey supporting characters really isn't packing quite the Oompf it should for me, you know?

4. Is there ever a reason NOT to link to Kate Beaton's Wonder Woman?


I think not. Also: you should really read the full strip.

5. Finally, after reading this post, MY best guess as to why DC has changed the costume is to cast Helen Mirren in a Wonder Woman movie:


Think about it: she's been around since the 1940s, and she's got great cans.

The Son of Satan gets around

Y'know, I hardly think this is a revelation or anything, but I haven't seen it commented on anywhere, it's fairly interesting and when you it out loud/write it out it sounds kind of insane: Daimon Hellstrom, aka Marvel's Son of Satan has been appearing fairly regularly five pretty high profile comic books over the last few months--and a more diverse group of titles you are unlikely to find...

-In New Avengers he was a red herring for the new Sorcerer Supreme and battled the Hood and Dormammu with the likes of Spider-Man and Captain America.

-In Marvel Zombies 4 he was done up in his full cape and pentagram regalia as a member of the Midnight Sons helping to fend off the zombie menace.

-In Marvel Divas he attempted to tempt his ex-wife, Hellcat, into an illicit reunion by offering to cure Firestar of her cancer.

-In Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire he's currently bald, pierced and aiding Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch against Zadkiel and the Anti-Christ.

-And finally, he just showed up in Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural to apparently stab Jericho Drumm in the back and deliver him to his daddy down below.

This may seem like a random string of facts just kinda strung together (and it is), but think about it: Son of Satan is the new Wolverine! Actually, even Wolverine didn't appear in a flagship book like New Avengers, an off-the-beaten-path horror series like Marvel Zombies 4 and friggin' Marvel Divas in the span of like four months!

Guys, that is nuts! Daimon Hellstrom is blowing up!

Honestly, I pretty much dig Son of Satan, so I'm not writing all this as a mocking or derogatory statement. He's one of those characters who I have never really read any of his solo adventures, but am familiar enough with his deal and taken enough with his various visuals that I've always had an interest in getting to know more about him, it's just never happened (there are many characters I feel this way about, and I actually hope to craft a longer entry about them in the near future). Gary Friedrich was onto something pretty wacky when he thought it would be a neat idea for the son of the devil to become a super hero mainly because it would piss off his old man; that's pretty rad and unique motivation on one hand, and on the other, totally relatable. And you gotta love that most of his costumes (when he's not just dressing like a goth) have some sort of corny devil horn motif and tridents everywhere.

Anyways, while I'm all for Son of Satan getting some exposure, it just seems nuts--in a wonderful way--to me that after decades of the guy being a C-list occasional guest star on the fringe of the Marvel Universe aside from that Hellstorm: Prince of Lies series that Warren Ellis wrote back in the 90's (and which confused everybody even further as to Daimon's tricky last name), suddenly and practically simultaneously Brian Michael Bendis, Fred Van Lente, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Jason Aaron and Rick Remender all thought it would be a good time for this dude to make his comeback. It's that kind of brilliant comic book phenomenon you love to see where after years of obscurity a character can just be everywhere overnight.

It also continues the kinda cool to me trend of the last five or six years where the lost Marvel creations of the 70's who were always forgotten between the stalwarts of the Silver Age and the new hotness from the 80's and 90's have found new shelf life through a generation of writers who grew up reading them. There was really this entire wave of really neat characters with great looks who debuted in books like Marvel Premiere or Marvel Spotlight and then either went onto limited success or settled into obscurity who are now tearing up the charts. Son of Satan may well be the latest example (and Deathlok could soon join him), but this is a club that also includes Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, the original Spider-Woman, Moon Knight, Nova, Adam Warlock and more.

It's also refreshing proof that no matter how many times you think the comics industry is eating its own tail as far as using the same characters time and time again, somebody is going to come along and either create something new or remember a character that hasn't been seen in years and set out to show why they made an impression on them to begin with.

The "downside" of "making it" in comics

I should warn and caution that what I'm going to semi-complain about here is likely to get an eyeroll from many of you, and not an undeserved one at that.

So I'm in Mystic, Connecticut for the weekend staying at Megan's parents' lovely home. As an added bonus, Mystic is only a stone's throw away from New London, where I went to college. I actually took the train here last night and thus got a nice whiff of nostalgia as I stepped out of the station and briefly glimpsed some of my old haunts. Specifically, I spotted my college comic book store, Sarge's Comics, and made a mental note that I had not been there in a couple years now.

Lo and behold, Megan and her mom took a trip to the site of our upcoming wedding today, leaving me alone at their house (her dad mysteriously disappeared) and looking for stuff to do. I figured why not borrow Megan's car and take the 10 minute trip down I-95 to Sarge's.

I once again rode the nostalgia wave into New London and nearly OD'ed on it once I stepped foot within Sarge's, which despite having shuffled some sections around and hired some new people out front still had that old familiarity of the place I redsicovered my love for comics in (and remains for my money the biggest, best, most extensive comic shop I've ever seen).

20 minutes of browsing later, I walked out empty-handed. And I gott be honest, folks: that bummed me out a little.

During those 20 minutes, I saw a lot of comics, trades and toys I thought about buying, but I didn't. To be fair, part of that was due to what I like to think is my growing maturity in a rough economy where I'm doing my best to limit my purchases, but a bigger part was there was not a single item I saw where I couldn't justify not getting it with "I can get this for free" or "I can borrow this from one of my comics-inclined friends."

Don't get me wrong, I still spend a lot of money on new comics each week (particularly for somebody who has that aforementioned access to free goods), but I've been noticing more and more as I hit up conventions and shops I don't get that frenzy for back issues or holy grails anymore.

Certainly this isn't really a bad situation to be in by any stretch of the imagination; even more than the fact that I can get comics by the busload for free by virtue of my career choice and good fortune, I dig that the amount of people I hang out with who actually have robust collections I can pilfer has increased to this point as it means I not only have access to that material, but friends with whom to discuss it.

(As an aside, I just remembered I should also mention that a vast chunk of stuff I didn't buy today consisted of trades I got to read while I was at Wizard, which is a fairly significant x-factor I didn't really figure into this rant)

Still, for the busload of stuff on the plus side, I definitely do miss that feeling of "Holy shit, there is sooooo much stuff here" accompanied by the knowledge I'd be unearthing some hidden gem and bringing it back to my dorm room (wow, that sounded both a little dirty and a little sad) I used to get when I walked into Sarge's. I gotta say I do admire Rickey in that if you read any of his con reports, you know that he still manages to find about eight billion cool little things to buy every time he goes to a show.

The moral of the story is this: of the countless awesome reasons you could have for getting into comics professionally, getting free stuff shouldn't be one of them.*

*I'm kidding; of course it should be.

Needs More Tombstone

Every Wednesday over on Marvel.com, we do a feature called Take 10 where we come up with top ten lists dealing with various categories related to Marvel. This week, the topic was Crime Lords, and in putting the list together, I had something of a surprising revelation: I think I'm a fan of Tombstone.

That's this guy...

Tombstone is a not too well-known but not exactly obscure Spider-Man who came on the scene back in the late 80's. He's basically a super-strong, super-tough albino badass who shows up every now and again as hired muscle then inevitably decides to take over himself. He was also sorta friends with Peter Parker's father-figure at the Daily Bugle, Robbie Robertson, when they were both in high school; by "friends," that means Robbie was nice to poor, outcast Lonnie Lincoln (aka the future Tombstone), and Lonnie repaid him by bullying him, extorting him, and later getting him sent to prison.

Not a nice guy.

Thing is, I don't think I've ever read a Tombstone story all the way through. The only one I can recall even scratching the surface of was an old Spectacular Spider-Man arc from around the time of the Clone Saga that Sal Buscema drew. I believe it was called "Death by Tombstone"?

Yes.

Two things Tombstone seems to always be doing: smiling and choking dudes. Seriously, if given the option between shooting Spider-Man in the face and choking the shit out of him, T-Stone is gonna choke that sucker. And his smile is absolutely creepy.

Still, I haven't read all that many Spider-Man comics in my life (relatively speaking; I've read plenty of Spider-Man comics, but there are a lot more I haven't read) and even fewer Tombstone comics. However, as a kid, I did see this.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series did an awesome job of bringing Tombstone to life and making him one scary motherfucker. Dorian Harewood did an incredible job voicing him with the perfect mix of menace and eerie self-confidence. And they really played up his connection with Robbie, which pushed a button with me, as he's one of those characters who is just always portrayed as being so nice, like the Kents, and seeing somebody be such a prick to him is kinda heartbreaking.
Also, this may sound dumb, but I had no idea Tombstone was black; I probably should have put two and two together given that he went to an predominantly black high school with Robbie, but I never did. I kinda dug the fact that you had Robbie and Lonnie, two inner city dudes, one straight as an arrow and one not at all, but both were well-spoken and articulate. That shouldn't be a rarity in this day and age or have been one in the 80's or 90's, but it's still always nice to see.

Last year, Spectacular Spider-Man debuted and carried on the tradition of excellent animated Tombstone, this incarnation an established big bad crime boss voiced by the great Kevin Michael Richardson.

So on the strength of a handful of covers, a few cartoon episodes, and only one or two actual comics, yeah, I'm pretty convinced Tombstone is a couple decent stories away from being a grade A villain. It's always nice to come across a character like that kinda randomly, and another reason I love my job.

A Semi-Rant About Getting Older as Society Gets Younger

I know we usually don't get too introspective here at the CKT, but indulge me if you will, because I'm curious to hear what other people think on this.

A few days ago, I did my standard Paragraph Movie Review for the movie Adventureland and it ended up getting more personal than those usually get for me. What hit me was how much the character of James Brennan, played by Jesse Eisenberg, reminded me of elements of myself in my younger years, and also how much the character of Em Lewin, played by Kristen Stewart, reminded me of an amalgam of girls I knew and had feelings for during that period. The movie made me very nostalgic, which at first added to my enjoyment of it (as I mentioned in that initial post), but in the subsequent days has led to a surprising amount of self-examination, most of it interesting, but some of it downright stressful.

First off, I can't deny the elephant in the room that is my brain: this movie made me feel kinda old. I'm only 27, but these characters reminded me of a time when I was about 10 years younger, and that's an odd and kinda uncomfortable situation. The thing I observed was how nostalgic I found myself for a period in my life that, to be honest, isn't generally one I look back fondly on. Today I've got a job I find great enjoyment in and a girl who I love more than anything--and we're getting married! So why would I be nostalgic for the days when I had no idea what I was going to do with my life and girls were a major source of anguish for me? It's a strange sensation, but polling my friends the last couple days, apparentl I'm not the only one who has gone through it.

The other big thing I took away from Adventureland was that it's weird to realize you've reached the point in your life where the actors in a coming of age movie are no longer older than you or even the same age, they're far younger. I remember being in high school, seeing movies like Dazed and Confused of Varsity Blues and even though ostensibly the characters were supposed to be the same age as my friends and I, they were clearly played by actors who were a few years older; there's a strange sort of comfort in that, in thinking "I will grow up to be that cool." On the flip side, the characters in Adventureland were only supposed to be five years younger than me, and in some cases, so were the actors, but in others (particularly in the case of Stewart), they were far younger. Not only does that have the danger of leaving you with the very different thought of, "Well, I guess I used to be that cool," but it also brings me to my next point...

As I mentioned, the character of Em reminds me of several girls who I felt strongly about at one time or another. Also worth noting: more than one person has pointed out that Kristen Stewart and my fiancee are not twins or anything, but they do share some resemblance. So I guess it's only natural that I'd be attracted to/fascinated by the character of Em...and that kinda creeps me out. Why? Because the character was supposed to be 22 and further because Kristen Stewart is only 19 years old.

Obviously it's not uncommon when you're watching a movie to develop a bit of a crush on a character featured therein even when you don't feel a particular personal connecttion to the story being told. My big example has always been that when I saw Almost Famous back in 2000, I was totally captivated by Penny Lane, played by Kate Hudson. I had a huge, embarassing crush on her (and on a related note was devastated when she didn't win the Oscar).

Now it has always weirded me out to be attracted in any way to a character in a movie or TV show or whatever, because I picture how the actress (or actor) in question probably would feel about it and imagine either bemusement or discomfort on their part. Yes, I overthink things sometimes. But with the Penny Lane thing (and most subsequent similar circumstances), I didn't feel that uncomfortable, because she was 20, only two years older than me, and also seemed much older. That seemed normal enough.

But crushing on a girl eight years younger than you? I'm not condemning it, but it feels weird to me, and it definitely makes me feel like I've passed some sort of weird landmark on my life's road I wasn't aware of. It maybe wouldn't bug me as much if even the character were a bit older (because again, it's the characters, not the actress), but I've got at least five years on Em too.

This got me thinking about the larger issue of how society in general today is different in regards to how quick people, and in particular, celebrities grow up. I'm not going to preach, because honestly I'm not so much disturbed by this development as I am fascinated. But it was interesting to talk to my old man and note that as he was approaching his late 20's, he wasn't bombarded by a society in which teenage celebrities (guys and girls alike) are promoted as sex symbols. It's an interesting generational thing. Certainly Shirley Temple (bad example because my dad isn't that old, but let's roll with it) never wore outfits like Miley Cyrus does. And hey, I'll go ahead and say it: Miley Cyrus is pretty hot, dude! And she is 16! And just to show I'm being equally opportunistic here, I'm sure there are plenty of chicks my age who think 21-year old Zac Efron is a piece of ass--and in my hetero opinion, they ain't wrong!

Anyways, it's undeniable that celebrities are being sexed up at a far younger age, and that makes it a strange time to be in your mid-to-late 20's, because we're a big chunk of the target demographic for movies like Superbad or TV shows like Gossip Girl and part of that means we're being asked to accept that kids a decade younger than us are sexually desirable. It's a weird place to be.

In the end, I still think Adventureland was a rad movie, but I'm honestly not sure I could see it again in the near future. The amount of soul-searching it has led me to do in regards to my feelings on both society and my place in it has been both exhausting and at times a bit depressing. I'm not gonna lie: the next time I'm flipping through Entertainment Weekly and see a picture of Kristen Stewart, I'm probably gonn feel a weird sort of shame-type deal, and it sucks that a work of fiction should have that sort of power over you. It speaks to the quality of said work, but it still kinda sucks. I'll also feel a bit dumb when I see an interview with her and remember she's still a kid.

The solace I have found is that many folks feel the same way I do. Oh, that and the fact that once I stop being retarded and pining for the days when I was getting drunk in my friends' backyard and awkwardly hoping a certain girl would notice me and instead remember that my life fucking rocks now, I feel a whole lot better.

And besides, the best-looking person male or female in Adventureland was still Ryan Reynolds, and m'man's 32.

Kidding aside though, writing this all out was actually pretty decent therapy. And I'm genuinely curious to hear what the rest of you think.

Back to talking comics after this, promise.

Remember the Ultraverse?

In 1993, Malibu Comics launched a new super hero line called the Ultraverse. This wasn't an uncommon practice at the time, as it came on the heels of Image and Valiant's success and occured around the same period that other upstart spandex imprints like Milestone, Comics Greatest World, Defiant (which I remember way more vividly than I think I should) and more were sprouting like weeds.

I was 11.

I've got an inherent fondness for the Ultraverse that really isn't reflected in the body of actual work I own from its brief history. In total, I think I've got maybe two issues of Prototpye, an issue of Prime and an issue of Mantra in addition to both of the bookends to the Break-Thru crossover, the Ultraverse Origins primer/secret files one-shot (with a Joe Quesada cover), and the Ultraforce/Avengers two-issue mini that basically ended Ultaverse v1.

However, I can name just about every character from the Ultraverse, distinctly recall what they looked like and give you a pretty decent overview of the big events. I used to love drawing Prototype and the Night Man, and the one and only time I tried to enter Wizard's Homemade Heroes custom action figure building contest, I got three quarters of the way through turning an old Thundercats toy into a bootleg Solitaire. Solitaire!

So what was the inherent appeal that with less than 10 actual physical comics in my possession I dug the Ultraverse so much?

Well, in retrospect, I attribute a big chunk of it to the fact that the Ultraverse had no high concept, it was just some very talented creators trying to do good super hero comics. Look, I dig ambitious themes and whatnot as much as the next guy, but I also want to hurl every time I hear about a new team book that is going to be "different than the rest because these guys are pro-active!" Dude, every new team book is pro-active for the first five issues and then becomes like very other team because writing about characters going out and actively looking for villains is tough.

But that's a tangent and a rant.

My point is, sometimes it's nice to just see comic book folks just trying to do good work with the basics as opposed to overdosing on pretense. At a time when you had multiple super hero universes that were supposed to be set in the "real world," or where all the characters were multicultural, or where there had to be a mystic tie-in to everything, it was refreshing to see a non-Marvel/DC set of super heroes who were just that: a set of super heroes. I look at something like CrossGen and appreciate the goals, but wonder if they didn't also get a bit too cute for their own good; the Ultraverse never felt like that.

Not only did the Ultraverse not shun the general idea of just doing super hero comics, in some cases it outright borrowed from the classic tropes but put neat twists on them that set what they were doing apart. There was definitely an element of the original Captain Marvel in Prime, but Kevin Green's teenage inexperience and often warped idealism led down some interesting paths that the Big Red Cheese never really explored. Likewise, Prototype was a fresh take on Iron Man where the armored hero was a hotshot kid who didn't realize he was getting played by the corporate types as opposed to the boss wearing the suit. Hardcase was Wonder Man but as the most successful hero in the world. Sludge owed something to Swamp Thing/Man-Thing, Freex was part X-Men or Doom Patrol, etc., but none of these characters were strict carbon copies.

And I can't really think of anything else quite like the original iteration of Mantra.

It was also cool that the Ultraverse branched out beyond Super Hero 101 with stuff like Sludge, or a detective book like Firearm, or a straight up horror comic like Rune.

The roster of talented creators who worked there didn't hurt either. Steve Gerber, Gerard Jones and Steve Englehart were among the founding fathers of the imprint. James Robinson had a significant role. Up-and-coming artists like Terry Dodson, Darick Robertson and Paul Pelletier were honing their craft. And as the movement gained steam, legendary creators like George Perez and Barry Windsor-Smith signed on to be a part of it.

Break-Thru was actually the beginning of my love affair with the art of George Perez, as I had never seen his work before and was, of course, blown away. What with it being 1993 and the height of Image and all, I had truly never seen anything quite like George Perez before.

I have to also give the Ultraverse a lot of credit for being extremely new reader-friendly. I started with Break-Thru, which featured every single character in the fledgling universe (which was still a couple dozen) and by the end of issue one, I totally felt like I had at least a decent grasp on who each of them were and why I should care. A nice job was done taking snapshots of every corner of the world being created and bringing the different players on stage just long enough to let you know their deal without derailing the story. The very next month, there was some sort of "Origins Month" deal which included the one-shot I mentioned. In fact, they may have done too good a job being new reader-friendly, because I felt so immediately acquainted with the characters that I didn't feel any particular urgency to go out and get the individual titles as I was getting enough out of the samplers and was content to wait it out for the next line-wide event.

But of course this was the mid-90's, and longevity was not a gift many companies outside the big boys were gifted with.

By 1994, Marvel had purchased the Ultraverse, and by 1995 or so, it was no more, as there was only so much cash to go around in a rapidly bursting industry and keeping the X-Men and Spider-Man afloat had to be a higher priority than making sure Prime and Ultraforce stayed in circulation.

So the Ultraverse had a brief but potent impact on comics and on me as a reader. I do regret a little that I never made more of an effort to get into those books full-on, but on the other hand, it probably saved me from a good chunk of disappointment as well. Maybe next convention it's time for me to conduct an overdue expedition to fill-in the gaps in my Prototype collection between and around the two issues I actually own once and for all.

Why I Swear So Much

I often get told by people who read my occasional blogging and follow me on Twitter that I swear a lot in my writing, and when pressed to explain these urges, my most frequent response comes out something like, "Well, I do it...uh...it's like...um...just fucking BECAUSE, Goddamnit!"

Luckily, today I got a little help in explaining myself in this great interview with "Get Your War On" cartoonist David Rees at CBR. Here's an exchange between Rees and interviewer Alex Dueben that really hit home:

It's fascinating to listen or read to people discuss your work because people talk about how funny it is, and the profanity is almost always mentioned, but no one mentions how emotionally fraught so much of it is.

I don't want people to think I'm using bad words just to piss them off or shock them or come across as a rebel or something like that. One of the reasons I decided to allow the Rude Mechs Theatre Company to adapt “GYWO” for the stage was because they seemed to understand that the profanity was masking feelings of despair and vulnerability -- it wasn't just about the shock value of the language. I think people often use profanity when they've run up against the limits of language. When they don't know how to express their emotions within the framework of acceptable language, they turn to profanity, which doesn't usually convey semantic information -- only information about the speaker's emotional state.

But also, I gotta say one of the reasons I put so much profanity in those early strips was because I thought the discourse/language after 9/11 was really weird and neutered and I wanted to cut through that. Profanity seemed efficient in that regard.

The profanity stands in extreme contrast to the very measured calm statements that used to issue from the Bush administration about mushroom clouds and weapons of mass destruction. Was that conscious or was it just a question of listening to that and not being able to avoid swearing?

The use of profanity in “GYWO” came out of my love of profanity -- I had already been making comics with absurd amounts of cursing (“My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable”). But also I wanted to cut through all the weird language we were hearing post-9/11. Everything seemed either very neutered and infantile ("The day America lost her innocence,") or witless and belligerent ("We will bring justice to the evildoers," or whatever Bush used to say to get everyone riled up). So I thought profanity was a simple way to cut through all the bullshit.

Now, obviously Rees' use of swears and my own don't match up all that strongly in general because he's writing about the heartbreaking reality that our world is slowly turning to shit around us and there's nothing we can do about it, and I'm writing about Batman or whatever...BUT I completely identify with him when it comes to having feelings of frustration (or even elation) butt up against your ability to speak in clear, concise sentences, sometimes the most effective option is a frenzied volley of curse words. I know that a lot of people will say my reliance of dropping the F-bomb belies a lack of solid vocabulary on my part, and yeah, there's a lot of truth in that argument.

Still, when I'm making my way through the mire of comic book superhero blogger-dom, the practice of so many to take their boyhood reading habits as high art whose every minute detail is worthy of melodramatic discourse just makes me want to take the fucking piss out of some shit, you know? And when I pop open a really fun, ridiculous comic and breath in all of its absurd, day glow glory, my immediate response falls somewhere in the range of "Holy shit! Look at these assholes go!" I think it gets my point across as well as any calm, measured approach will, but I'm really sorry if it turns some of you off. Feel free to tell me what you think, using any language you desire.

Above Image: The birth of a true classic. I'll miss it so after tomorrow. Relive the memories at http://www.mnftiu.cc/.

A Random Thought on How I Met Your Mother season one

For Christmas, Megan and I received, as requested, the first season of How I Met Your Mother on DVD (actually we received two copies, but that's neither here nor there). We've burned through the season in under a week and, as everybody who recommended it to us predicted, we love it.

I do however have one nit to pick and a question to go with.

(Ok, more like one and a half nits: I don't love Josh Radnor and find him a bit annoying and condescending, particularly early on, but he seems to improve with each episode, so I'm assuming this upwards momentum will continue and I'll dig him by mid-season two at latest)

The one criticism I have of the show and only thing that irks me a bit about it is how they shoot reactions to jokes. Every time a principal character tells a one-liner, the camera immediately cuts to another character smiling or chuckling. Now I could be wrong, because I haven't really watched sitcoms in forever, but I seem to recall this not generally being how it was done. I recall the camera staying on the person who told the joke, as they sell it, and the laugh track doing the rest. I would assume HIMYM does it the way they do it for "realism," since in "reality" people would react to a joke being told, but in real reality, if a joke is funny, people laugh at it for a decent while, not just the two seconds it takes for a reaction shot.

Is this the way jokes are shot on most sitcoms and I'm just not savvy though? Let me know.

Also, it's an extremely small problem with a very great show. See for yourself.