The Cool Kids Table

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Paragraph Movie Reviews: Friends With Kids

If you don't have plans to see this movie, you can check the spoilers here and then come back.

If I took one thing away from this movie (I took more than one thing away from it, but let's pretend), it's that Jennifer Westfeldt is an amazing talent on multiple levels. She's a fantastic actor as the female lead in the film, endowing her character, Julie, with an endearing ability to poke fun at her shortcomings in such a way that she only seems cooler as a result. She also wrote a fantastic screenplay that takes the very real, very raw topic of hitting that point where your peer group is starting to have kids and your life seems to be at a very different stage than theirs (hi) and mines it for a romantic comedy that tugs the heartstrings but doesn't come off cliched. She also directs a movie that she's in 75% of the time and produced it alongside her partner and co-star Jon Hamm to boot! Remarkable! And while Friends With Kids isn't perfect--I'd argue it accelerates too quick into the third act, though my wife disagrees--its flaws are few and far between; it's paced better slips into predictability and/or sappiness less than just about any other rom com I've seen in the last few years. I'd contend Adam Scott is the weaker member of the lead duo with Westfeldt as his Jason comes off doltish a bit more than I feel like he's intended, but he makes up for it by having chemistry with anything that moves and giving darn convincing arguments for his and Julie's choice to be best friends sharing a child. Maya Rudolph and Chris O'Dowd are charming as the fatigued couple with three kids still putting in the time to make it work, O'Dowd in particular. Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig melt into the background a bit playing serious as married parents on the verge of destruction, but when Hamm gets a chance to turn it on, he shows why he's practically untouchable in the craft of acting. Friends With Kids balances comedy with heart and throws in a lot to think about to boot; I think it will appeal to a wide range of folks, whether you're looking for a date movie, want to laugh or are in the midst of an existential crisis because all your buddies have settled down.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Paragraph Movie Reviews: Limitless

If you don't have plans to see this movie, you can check the spoilers here and then come back.

About 15 minutes in, I was concerned Limitless would be a movie that coasts on a decent premise--a super drug that unlocks 100% brain capacity--and the charm of Bradley Cooper, and while it does have its flaws, it's not lazy, picking up considerably once the story gets rolling. The plot is not the most linear (not that every plot needs to be, but this one has crazy elements that would have stood out more had the bulk been a bit more mundane), but it's not boring and the questions raised about the drug and the power structure behind everything keep things rolling even if it occasionally trips over the byzantine complexity it wants to have. I wish they would have delved deeper into the moral stuff (Is the person you become on the drug still you?), but it's not a glaring loss. The script doesn't produce a slew of memorable lines, but it gets the job done. The real standout element of the film is the visual effects, the way director Neil Burger uses things as simple as shifting the color palette to communicate use of the drug to pulling in gonzo effects to show thought process and movement; this was probably my favorite part of the movie. Bradley Cooper doesn't disappoint in his performance to the point it took me the whole length of the movie to realize his character isn't really the type I was sure I wanted to root for and by then the credits were rolling. Abbie Cornish is fairly awful as his love interest and Robert De Niro is a parody of himself as his mentor, but it's really the Bradley Cooper show, so it's not that important. The best of the supporting cast are Anna Friel from Pushing Daisies as his idealized ex-wife and especially Welsh actor Andrew Howard as a Russian thug who also gets on the drug. The movie probably didn't need to be an hour and 45 minutes, but again, it's not bad; I wouldn't go out of your way to track it down, but if the hooks intrigue you or you're a Bradley Cooper completist, I think you'll enjoy it.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Jean Grey Getting Married

(The title of this post is meant to play off that Anne Hathaway movie, Rachel Getting Married; I agree both that it would have worked more if this were about the wedding of Rachel Summers and just generally that I could have done better)

Comic-Con might be next week (not “might be,” it is…this could be one of those posts), but the weekend after that, my baby sister is getting married. First of all, this means I’m going to be really tired for about the next month. Real first of all, I’m so excited and happy for my sister and her husband-to-be. Second/third of all, the mash-up of these two events in my head of course leads me to think about great comic book weddings.

The godfather of super hero weddings was of course Mister Fantastic and The Invisible Girl, and it still holds up as a benchmark story as well as the template for zaniness-infused nuptials. I never read the Superman-Lois Lane wedding issue, or Spider-Man and Mary Jane’s for that matter. Though they might be my favorite comic book couple (might be), Wally West and Linda Park’s wedding was all about how they couldn’t really manage to have a wedding.

My close runner-up would be the fun Gary Frank-illustrated marriage of Rick Jones in the heart of Peter David’s run on Incredible Hulk, but ultimately elite comic book weddings whittle down to two big ones in my eyes: Donna Troy and Terry Long in Tales of the Teen Titans #50 and Cyclops and Jean Grey in X-Men #30. The former was sweet, well-written and featured gorgeous art from the masterful George Perez in his finest hour; the other took place when I was 12.

As long as I run this blog, childhood nostalgia will trump artistic genius eight times out of 10, so let’s run down the reasons the X-Men wedding was awesome.

-First off, she proposed to him. As they both referenced as it was happening, he had tried proposing to her years before, but she wasn’t feeling it, but then she turns it around and is like “When are you gonna put a ring on it, dude?” and what’s he gonna say? This is a man who married a clone of her years earlier without ever really questioning that they looked exactly the same (yes, he questioned it, but when it’s an exact duplicate of your dead girlfriend, there’s not really an “enough” to tack on the end there). There was a printing error in the issue of Uncanny X-Men where Jean proposed and her crucial “asking the question” word balloon was left blank, so they had to show the corrected version the next month in the letter column.

-Cyclops sent a wedding invitation to Cable, the son he had with the aforementioned clone and then sent to the future because he was dying only for him to later come back in time, now older than his dad and as a bad ass cyborg. I’m not sure how Cyclops found the address for X-Force’s secret outlaw Apache reservation or how security got lax enough for a wedding invitation to slip through the cracks, but I accepted it. Cable showed up at the X-Mansion, yelled at his dad for abandoning him, made a crack about whether he was supposed to be the ring bearer or what (for the record, that would have been amazing), then they fight the X-Cutioner, hug it out and all is well.

-There aren’t really any shenanigans at the wedding. Sabretooth is actually on school grounds as a prisoner and contemplates trying to mess everything up, then gets decked from behind and turns around to see “Don’t even think about it” carved in the snow, Wolverine’s implied cameo appearance (he was taking a break from the X-Men at the time after having his adamantium ripped out). I like that Logan was there but didn’t show his face on panel (it was like the equivalent of not being able to get a former cast member back for a big episode of a show except it’s comics so there was no real reason they couldn’t get him back…actually I really dug that the creative and editorial team resisted the urge to bring him back in after he’d only been gone five issues, so that was in fact pretty cool) and I also like that the issue is framed by a heartwarming letter he sent to Jean and an obnoxious one saying “Lighten up” that he sent to Professor X, but more that I believe they say or even show (it was near 20 years ago) that he sent one to Scott as well; what do you write to your arch romantic rival on the day he’s marrying the woman you both love exactly?

-They do both the bouquet and garter tosses; Rogue and Gambit make the respective catches, both by cheating, with her flying and him literally blowing up a good chunk of the wedding. At a friend’s wedding, I caught the garter and my best friend’s wife caught the bouquet and it was super awkward and I’ve never been to another wedding where the garter thing is done. Back to this wedding, the played-for-laughs neediness of the ladies against the full-on horn dog charge of Strong Guy and worst-X-Man-ever Forge was a stark contrast.

-There’s a really nice shot of Cable and Rachel Summers, Scott and Jean’s two time-tossed/alternate reality kids, sharing a tender moment during the ceremony. The vows are pretty sweet as well. There’s a lot of funny/goofy stuff in here, but it was also a genuinely good issue and a story worthy of this milestone in a decades-long romance story (Fabian Nicieza wrote it and Andy Kubert drew it, if you were wondering).

-Polaris complains to Havok that everybody keeps bugging her about when they’re going to get married. Anybody who had even casually observed their relationship through the years was just being cruel asking that. Of course they didn’t eventually try to get married, but she went crazy and started wearing a costume that was a cross between a bridezilla and Magneto.

-Lila Cheney provides the music (of course). Jokes are made about the first dance song that I didn't get in 1994 and don’t care about in 2012.

-After all the “guests who would care” leave Jean uses her telekinesis to dance with Professor X (he was in the wheelchair during this period). It’s a really nice ending to a really nice issue.

I will do my best to make sure my sister’s wedding has as many of these elements as possible, but I already know it’s going to be even better.

If anybody reading knows my sister, do pass on that I wrote her wedding would be better than a fictional one that took place in a 90’s X-Men comic and try to explain that it really was a compliment.

Monday, July 2, 2012

SDCC Stories: Fallen Angels & Fickle Fandom

As I prepare to depart for my fifth trip to San Diego’s Comic-Con International (fourth consecutive) next week, my mind wanders back to SDCCs past and the adventures therein. While each holds a special place in my heart, from the initial job-seeking odyssey back in 2004 alongside Tim Stevens to last year’s Marvel livestreaming tour de force, if I were put on the spot and asked to pick out a favorite, I believe 2010 would leap to the fore.

SDCC 2010 was really a tale of two shows for me when it came to after hours hijinx. Half the time I was led down the path of debauchery by this man…

…yes, reigning TNA World Tag Team champion Christopher Daniels, “Fallen Angel” and master of mischief. Some of my favorite SDCC memories period have spent in the company of my rasslin’ buddy, whether helping his conduct his “Fallen Angel Files” video interviews for Marvel.com (getting Travis Charest to cut a wrestling promo that fell somewhere between “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Popeye), meeting his rad family (his daughter Jerica was not only the most adorable host we ever had on Marvel.com, she also asked her dad if I was a wrestler too, causing him to point at my lack of biceps and laugh hysterically) or terrifying my poor wife by putting his buddy Curry Man on the phone to say hi. Chris is one of the most interesting and hilarious guys I know, but also a genuinely good fellow who I don’t get to see nearly often enough, so getting to hang out in sunny San Diego with my bud is a consistent highlight.

Of course the debauchery comes after the show floor closes and I find myself in his company at a party on the roof of PETCO Park and then back in Jeff Katz’s hotel room having a conversation with Shane Helms about how you market Captain America overseas and Samoa Joe congratulates Jill Thompson on her Eisner win (yes, this is the PG-rated version of that story with certain names omitted—Helms is a father now, after all!). There was also last year where Daniels, Eric Young and Kazarian tried to figure out how they could reasonably split my one free drinks bracelet between the three of them at the Marvel party, but I suppose jumping ahead to 2011 is cheating…although that really was the story.

Bottom line: Wander the streets of San Diego with Christopher Daniels and a good time will be had.

Good times were also had throughout 2010—and have happily continued—with my comic book SDCC “family” of Todd Nauck and his wife, Dawn, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Brad Walker and Tom Brennan. Todd and Dawn are two of my favorite people on the planet and probably in the top five as far as the nicest (I’m only saying top five because there are several million people I haven’t met yet), DnA are as wonderfully entertaining and friendly in life as they are brilliant in writing, and Brad is a joy with a smile as big as his artistic talent (I am a writer and this is how I compliment people). We spent many a rousing dinner, be it around Odin’s plinth (some long wooden table we found in a bar) or at the ritzy seafood place Mike McKone (another gem) invited us along to. I had hours of fun with this gang and then reported it all home to my jealous wife.

Oh yeah, and Tom Brennan was there too.

Ok, here’s the deal with Tom Brennan: He’s a co-worker and—I hope he’ll let me get away with this—friend of mine who I rag on a lot. To be fair, he has it coming to him. Ok, no he doesn’t. Tom is very funny and quick witted and for some reason lets me berate him with my brand of “humor” without eviscerating me in return. He’s also one of the hardest working, smartest editors at Marvel who never gets enough credit for his work (the Harvey-nominated Shame Itself, one of the most entertaining one-shots you will ever read, was birthed by Tom through sheer force of will, I believe).

Now let tell a story about Tom Brennan from SDCC 2010 (not the one where we waited in line to meet “Captain America: The First Avenger” director Joe Johnson because we wanted to get his autograph and I confided in Tom I wasn’t that familiar with his work and he told me that was ok because he wasn’t either then stabbed me in the back by waxing poetic about “The Rocketeer” for ten minutes leaving me to follow up with “Uh…good luck with the movie”—I won’t be telling that story).

Brennan and I are hanging out at the Marvel booth, doing crowd control or something (“crowd control” was what Tom and I would tell everybody we were doing when Tim Dillon was looking for us to do real work) when a group of young men approached us, the lead hooligan with rampant excitement in his eyes. “Oh my god, I am such a big fan of yours…” he began to Tom Brennan—yes, that Tom Brennan—before continuing with “…but which one are you?” A flattered but confused Brennanator asked for clarification of the previous statement, to which the lad responded with “Are you the one from X-Men or Smallville?”

At this point we realized this kid thought Tom was one of the Ashmore twins, Shawn and Aaron, an admittedly not too outlandish comparison that he claims he has gotten before.

Tom, an improvisational actor to the core, ran with it and said he was actually the lesser known third Ashmore triplet, Tom, and that he was promoting nothing in particular. The kid was a bit confused, but still quite excited to be meeting even a tangential famous person. Tom kept it up for another half minute or so before giving it up and admitting he was merely Tom Brennan, editor of Spider-Man.

Without even a pause for breath, the kid did a complete 180 that would have left most dizzy and begin tearing into Tom for One More Day.

Where can Tom Brennan be mistaken for an actor one second and castigated for being a comic book editor the next? Only in San Diego, gang.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Paragraph Movie Reviews: 21 Jump Street

If you don't have plans to see this movie, you can check the spoilers here and then come back.

The 2012 version of 21 Jump Street is a very self-aware movie that likes to poke fun at itself, its source material and genre conventions in general; in some spots, it's a little much (Nick Offerman's take down of Hollywood's tendency to remake old franchises is the perfect example as its way too on the nose and a tad too long), but 85% of the time it doesn't get in the way of a very fun movie (and the payoff for all the jokes about the lack of explosions is more than worth it). The surprise for me (one of them anyway) was that Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall's script wasn't just funny and full of R-rated humor (there was more than enough, though I found it oddly refreshing that the focus seemed to be more on cursing and violence than sex jokes; not sure what that says about me), it was clever in the way it tackled how youth culture has changed and the kids who would have been considered weird 10 years ago are now the in crowd; it was an effective way to keep things interesting and make more three-dimensional and sympathetic characters than you might expect from the hype or trailers. The other pleasant surprise (though not so much if you read any reviews or saw him on SNL) is how funny Channing Tatum is, fully willing to send up his good looks and perceived lack of intelligence for laughs, knowing how to milk raunchy lines or physical cues, and making his ex-jock bonehead a lovable protagonist who you both root for and feel bad for as he navigates a high school experience where he's now the outcast. Hill delivers a pretty typical Jonah Hill performance, but that's not a bad thing, and he's got great chemistry with Tatum (they clearly had fun making this movie and it shows). The movie has a murderer's row of a supporting cast, from Brie Larson and Dave Franco holding down the youth quotient, Ice Cube playing himself (not really, but more or less) as the guys' captain down at Jump Street, Jake Johnson and an unhinged Ellie Kemper along with Chris Parnell getting big laughs from small faculty parts, then Rob Riggle owning every second he's onscreen as the weirdo gym teacher (he seriously steals the show more than once). The cameos from Holly Robinson Peete, Peter DeLuise and of course Johnny Depp are clever--and there's that word again; 21 Jump Street is fun, funny, and much smarter than I would have imagined.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Five Comics Worth Reading: June 2012

EARTH 2
I’ve been really getting into “world building” series lately, i.e. books that may focus on a set cast but really are telling the story of an entire society and moving the camera around a lot to do so; I feel like Paul Levitz’ first Legion of Super-Heroes run was the template for these in modern super hero comics and some really good ones have cropped up lately, from Age of Apocalypse to the current volume of Ultimates to Earth 2 by James Robinson and Nicola Scott. It’s not surprising that this type of storytelling falls in Robinson’s wheelhouse, as his Starman featured a vast array of characters beyond Jack Knight who could easily carry their own stories at any given moment (and the setting itself was as much a star as any of them). The idea of alternate realities featuring familiar characters is a tried and true one I’m a big fan of, and with the New 52 basically making the entire DC Universe one of these to begin with, I somehow find the concept of Earth 2 almost refreshing and particularly palatable for an older fan like me; this is another new take, but one rooted in a tradition dating back decades (if that makes sense). Really it’s the characters that sell it, though, in particular Robinson’s new version of Jay Garrick as The Flash, an everyman dreamer who stumbles across destiny he never figured within his grasp and now has to cope with a battle way over his head; that’s my favorite kind of hero. There’s also coolness to seeing guys like Garrick or Alan Scott not as the grizzled warhorses we’ve come to know them as, but fresh faced rookies who still possess the intangibles of the characters I’ve dug. So between the cross-reality scope, the likable protagonists, the “you know them but you don’t” twists with guys like Mr. Terrific and Nicola Scott’s classic, colorful, oh-so comic book art, this new series has become a quick favorite of mine.

FAIREST
Speaking of world building, Fables is another title that typifies that expression, as Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham and company have spent over a decade now creating and letting flourish their vast storytelling tapestry across genres and through dozens of stories. While they still do a nice job over in that book of putting the characters first and foremost, there’s no denying they have to top the last arc a lot—and that’s a tall order—so Fairest is a nice spin-off in that it goes somewhat “old school” with more self-contained stories set across Fables continuity but specific focus on smaller adventures. I’m loving the first arc, where Willingham has gone back to the well on one of the things that has helped Fables endure and taken an “origin story”—in this case Sleeping Beauty’s—and found a quirky ground that’s more hardcore than the cartoons we’ve seen, more lighthearted than the gory original “fairy tales,” and with the kind of wit and high adventure that makes a comic book. It’s an escapist delight to follow familiar characters like Ali Baba with a thoroughly modern edge plus get more insight into established Fables folk like the Snow Queen. If I may toot a pal’s horn though, my friend Phil Jimenez’s art on this book is gorgeous on a jaw-dropping scale; he was born to draw the lush landscapes, intricate palaces and beautiful people of Fables. It’s a visual feast nicely abetted by the inks of another amigo, Andy Lanning, plus knockout colors by Andrew Dalhouse.

INCREDIBLE HULK
When I was growing up reading Incredible Hulk, it was in the midst of Peter David’s reign as writer, and while it was also action-packed, psychological and often pretty dark, it was a funny book, with The Hulk as a witty lead operating a monstrous physical entity. Jason Aaron’s current run on Hulk is also very action-packed, also fairly psychological and quite dark, but while it’s not always funny—it frequently is—it’s damn sure demonstrating that some stuff I don’t typically think of as “fun” quite well can be. The current “Stay Angry” arc has at its core a clever premise that both subverts the “typical” Hulk hierarchy and provides brilliant set-ups for any number of stories: Bruce Banner is now the deranged side of the equation and is up to some crazy—and as yet unrevealed—scheme that has him spending his time “at the wheel” positioning himself into crazy situations then getting pissed off enough to become The Hulk, who has to deal with said situation, hoping not to inadvertently do exactly what Banner wanted, and thus far failing each and every time. Hulk also has to (wait for it) stay angry or else he’ll revert to Banner, who will either screw him over further or get them both killed. It’s an elaborate yet elegant framework that Aaron jumps off and then kicks to 11 by cramming the craziest things he can think of into the stories; so far we’ve had Hulk teaming up with The Punisher to take down a Mexican drug lord who was either a dog mutated into a man or a man who mutated himself to be part dog—to put the cherry on top, Hulk has Punished shoot him in the face several times when he’s in danger of calming down—and Hulk under the sea fending off a horde of Atlanteans and sea monsters inebriated by seaweed juice and thinking they’re pirates. It’s the kind of off-the-wall stuff you’d expect to find in a book like, say, Preacher or something, but that perhaps works even better here because The Hulk is such a resilient force you can throw into nearly anything and have him believably survive as well as make a bigger mess of things. I applaud Aaron for thinking big on this story and for creating a new take on Hulk himself: an astutely rational but annoyed monster that has to clean up the messes he himself created for years being perpetrated by the unfettered alter ego who has had to endure the brunt of that action. Inspired art choices like Steve Dillon and Pasqual Ferry only make things better. And this week, Tom Raney draws Hulk fighting Russian bears in outer space!

NEW MUTANTS
Speaking of that Lanning guy—and I was back in the Fairest write-up—he also writes, and along with Dan Abnett, he’s penning one of our consistent favorites on the This Week in Marvel podcast, New Mutants. This series occupies a very unique place in not just the Marvel Universe, but really all of comics, there has always been the problem of what to do with teenage characters when they kind of grow up—or rather are replaced by a younger generation—but can’t fully because they’re not going to supplant the adult characters already in place. The peak members of the New Teen Titans cast were—and really still are for the most part—victims of this grey area and the original New Mutants seemed doomed to a similar fate after their X-Force run came to an end and teams like Generation X or the young students of New X-Men and Generation Hope took their place, but Zeb Wells started up a new series that played on their connection to one another being what made them truly compelling, and now DnA have carved their niche out even further. Beyond having a very specific mission statement of mopping up the X-Men’s “unfinished business” (locating mutants who have fallen through the cracks or hunting down bad guys that eluded capture), the New Mutants are comics’ quintessential twenty-somethings: no longer in school, but still unsure of their long-term goals and therefore clinging to one another for support and safety. They fight Asgardian death maidens—as seen in the excellent “Exiled” crossover with Journey Into Mystery—but they also live in an apartment together, trying to get jobs at the local diner so they don’t have to ask Cyclops for cash. Two of the very best recent issues of New Mutants have been ones with little to no action—namely Magma’s date with Mephisto and when Blink dragged the team out for a night on the town—but then you’ve also got creepy horror stories like the Ani-Mator trilogy or their Fear Itself sojourn into the depths of Hel; New Mutants can do it all. The cast is endearing, relatable and quirky; the soap opera is suitably complex without being overwhelming; the humor is both dry and cute. Also, the art on the book fits its one-of-a-kind nature well, whether it’s David Lopez depicting evil death metal bands or Leandro Fernandez imagining a techno-organic freakshow. I love Dani, Roberto, Amara, Doug, Warlock and Nate like they’re my pals, and this book is among the best anywhere right now.

SAGA
Yep, Brian K. Vaughan’s new comic book is awesome—I’m as shocked as anybody else. Seriously, BKV has a near flawless track record, and Saga has done nothing to harm that reputation. Going back one more time to that old world building theme that seems to have encompassed this post, I love that just as with Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina and even Runaways (though obviously that last one wasn’t as self-contained as the first two), Vaughan began demonstrating immediately via newborn baby Hazel being the narrator that he has the long game in mind for this one, and I really enjoy the little teases in that narration when we meet a new character hinting at events far down the line, as a creator being in for the long haul certainly encourages me to feel the same way. It’s not hard to invest in this series right from the start, as every character from foulmouthed star-crossed lovers Alana and Marko to bounty hunter The Will already have hidden depths I’m keen to discover, and the mash-up of romance and humor against a big ol’ sci-fi background is a tasty genre smorgasbord. Only a few issues in there have already been eye-grabbing visuals like people with television heads having sex and pre-pubescent ghosts missing their lower halves that Fiona Staples absolutely nails; she can do the beautiful and the epic as well as she does the gross and the laugh out loud, so that’s pretty darn swell. As a bonus, BKV is hilarious on the letters page which featured in one instance thus far fan art from none other than Rickey Purdin himself!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Art Attack: September 2012's Coolest Covers

-I've been hot and cold (mostly cold) on Superman's casual crusader look in Action Comics (not a big fan of the modern armor), but Ben Oliver really sells it. I think it works best with a painter or an artist who shoots for realism since it's basically the apparel you'd assume a super hero would wear in real life as far as being functional (or at least non-constricting) and cool. When Oliver draws it, I think "I'd wear that if I were a pro wrestler," which is high praise coming from me.

-Who's the Scarecrow in the Angel & Faith cover?

-How do you beat that Daredevil cover by Paolo Rivera? The man is a machine. How long did that take?! I'm constantly amazed by how driven Paolo is. When he was doing Mythos, his painting was the best in the business as far as I'm concerned, but he reinvented himself as a pencil artist and has been tweaking everything he does ever since. He could get away with just stark, gorgeous portraits of Daredevil each month, but he always goes that extra mile, whether it's a unique presentation such as the "snow devil," the braille in Doom's face plate, the "barbed wire radar" and now this. I was on a call this week where Chris Samnee praised Paolo's interpretation of Daredevil's powers as "the way it always should have been done and the way everybody will do it from now on." Just a genius (and newly engaged--sorry ladies!).

-I want a New 52 Flash figure designed by Francis Manapul. I also want to see him draw the entire Justice League.

-That movie style Goon is bad ass because it jumps out as being not what I expect from a Goon cover, but also so totally still the character and his essence.

-With DC's cover theme this month, Clayton Crain did a nice job making I, Vampire stick out by having his figure mist through the background rather than tearing it apart; the little things.

-Part of me misses the old iconic Shazam! look, but I wasn't such a devotee that I'm not energized by Gary Frank drawing him as a bad ass. He actually reminds me a bit more of Prime now, which has to be some kind of irony.

-John Tyler Christopher's New Mutants #49 cover is currently my desktop background at work. It kind of terrifies me every time I turn on my computer.

-I'm high on sweet, sweet nostalgia with Todd McFarlane paying homage to his own stuff on Spawn and Rob Liefeld doing up zombie Youngblood.

-No two David Yardin covers ever look the same even a little bit. I am frequently fooled into thinking X-Factor has a rotating stable of extremely talented cover artists, but it's just one gent with a lot of range and imagination.

ACTION COMICS #0 by Ben Oliver