Coming Full Circle on Comics

I do not know about you, but when I was a youngster, I always marvelously excited to go to the grocery store. Not only because I like filling my fat ass up with Twinkies, but a comic book store was next to the A&P grocery store. My love of comic books started then. This was a time when I was not even thinking about pussy. The only worries in those days were if I would get Tecmo Super Bowl to work on my NES and if I would get the Spider-Man holograph, I needed to complete the set. The art in The Amazing Spider-Man comic books made me salivate like the chicken nuggets with barbecue sauce. I may very well have spilled barbecue sauce in an old Punisher comic.

I remember being so meticulous about completing trading card collections. Somehow, I never brought that to comics when I was younger. I only looked for the dopest covers to deem a purchase necessary. Compulsions keep most people from just picking up anywhere. Thanks to the Marvel and DC Universe reboots, my compulsions are finally allowing me to get back into one of my childhood loves.

These reboots happened over a year ago, so I have some catching up to do. Comics are the cheapest of all media forms to get involved in. Most books range from $3-$6. Some cover variants are rarer, thus cost more. The new Avengers vs. X-Men have a few different cover variants, which cost run between $25 and $100. Action Comics from the 1940’s are selling for immense currency now. I do not know if this new reboot will cause a huge influx in price over the next 70 years. Then again with every entertainment medium (comics included) moving to the digital front soft-cover comics could possibly be even more valuable 70 years from now.

The love I had for comics faded when sports, chicks, hanging with friends, and video games stole my heart. I have always liked them, but the passion was gone. Now that I have two boys of my own, I am starting back up. I am ready to have some more wet dreams about Wonder Woman. The time has come for Hulk to bulk up some space in my nightstands.

Kevin Smith has been a huge inspiration for me to get back into comics. I have been reading his two Batman series Batman: Cacophony and Batman: The Widening Gyre. Part two of The Widening Gyre will be coming out hopefully in the near future. Smith’s childhood friend Walt Flanagan penned the pages of these comics with Kevin. It feels odd to admit I enjoy the artwork of the villains more than I do Batman. Onomatopoeia has to be one of my favorite villains of recent memory, and Walt nailed it. I stared at Cacophony for almost an hour the other night just looking at the artwork. As good as the art is in these series, one of my all-time favorite and most inspirational writers Kevin Smith worked his aural magic onto the pages in such a dick hardening way. Kevin and Walt are writing the final story of the old Batman lure with The Widening Gyre part two. I so hope they make Batman and Robin get married in a Chick-fil-a parking lot.

Avengers vs. X-Men and Batman are the two reboots I have started reading. Avengers vs. X-Men is only part of a 12 issue series, so there looks to be a ton of fighting coming up in the next few issues. Batman will probably go on forever, well at least until they decide to reboot into the “future age” of comics.

There are still just so many to get through, but I will try to hit all of the major ones to write about on here. I also never read Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight” miniseries when I was younger. I grew up in the late 80’s early 90’s, so I was only a child when those books came out. Now I can appreciate them, so I will dive into them. I will probably do a blog on each one of them. That is all for today, stay g33ked out.

Captain America, Iron Man 2, and The Dark Knight

In the past two days, I have watched Captain America for the first time, and Iron Man 2 and The Dark Knight again. All the movies are great, and I have been watching all of the Avengers prequels getting ready to see the Avengers. I know I should lose g33k cred having not seen it yet, but give me a break I have seen The Dark Knight Rises twice. My oldest son, Bray, and I will be seeing Spider-Man and then The Avengers soon. There will be more to come on The Avengers movie in the future. There are spoilers in this blog. Captain America and Iron Man 2 are both on Netflix right now, and if you have yet to see The Dark Knight then you probably are not reading my blog.

Captain America is the goofiest of the recent string of Comic Book movies, Chris Evans managed to pull it perfectly. My favorite part of the movie was when Dr. Erskine told Rogers his smallness would make him selfless, and wow Hollywood made that count at the end with his selfless act to crash the plane while he was still over the water. The funniest part was the end when Nick Fury tells him he slept for 70 years, and his biggest concern was about missing that date. Red Skull looked awesome in the movie too. The only bad thing I can say is that no major parts of this movie struck me in such a way that I would carry those memories on for a while. I also have no desire to keep watching it. I give Captain America 7.75 out of 10.

Iron Man 2 challenged Tony Stark in a way much different from the first. The first Iron Man Starks resolve was tested while he was in the cave. This time around, Stark had already announced himself as Iron Man, so he has everyone from Hammer's weapons to the congress trying to take Iron Man the very thing, which is keeping him alive. In this one Nick Fury gets involved much earlier than he did in Captain America (which he literally came in at the very end). Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. play a major role in helping Tony Stark realize his true potential. Fury motivated him by showing him something his father discovered, but did not have the technology. So of course, Tony Start rediscovered a new element with his super-cool technology. Stark uses this technology to save his own life, and to fight off a series of Hammer’s Iron Man-like drones. I give Iron Man 2 8.75 out of 10.

The Dark Knight is one of the defining Batman movies of all-time. Christopher Nolan treats the characters and especially the villains with such earnest respect. I find everything he does so believable. From Scarecrow's burlap sack, to the Joker's hair only being dyed green and using make-up, to Two Face's face looking so realistic spilling some of the shot he takes in the bar scene. The way The Dark Knight had me hyped so much for The Dark Knight Rises could easily be on of the reasons I think The Dark Knight Rises is my favorite movie of all-time. I just keep watching this movie repeatedly waiting for The Dark Knight Rises to hit the $3 Theater and then Blue-ray. I give The Dark Knight a whopping 9.75 out of 10.

It has been watching these movies again lately. I have also just started reading all of the Marvel Universe and DC Universe reboots lately. I will write a blog about the comics in a blog in the near future. What do you want me to write about? In addition, I am into interviewing some of you who have seen The Dark Knight Rises for quotes in an upcoming blog. If you want to be one of the people, I quote then spit something in the comments underneath and we will get to it. Stay connected and g33k on!

The Dark Knightmare Rises

I have been looking for a good time to start this blog. A moment in time where I am so effected and absolutely moved where I know its time. I thought this time was one week ago when I was getting excited for The Dark Knight Rises. A film I had been looking forward to for sometime. The film moved me in a way a picture had not done since I was a child. I spoke with a couple friends that night and we debated which was the best film of Nolan's Batman Trilogy. Most of the talk was between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. I told one of my friends I thought this new movie could be one of my favorites of all-time, and if I felt the same way in the morning I would start this blog.

The first thing I saw when I turned my computer on in the morning was about the shooting at a Midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. People just like me who were so excited for this movie they had to see it at the Midnight showing. James Holmes, a 24-year-old University of Colorado Grad student allegedly killed 12 and injured 58 in this terrifying example of what happens when people are not receiving the mental help they need. According to Freya Peterson of GlobalPost.com Holmes was "reportedly being treated by a psychiatrist (Dr. Lynn Fenton) who was part of the university's campus threat-assessment team." This means that the University of Colorado's grad student psychiatrist Dr. Fenton new Holmes had the potential to do something this evil. Later in Peterson's article i learned there is a possibility the young troubled man could have been planning a massacre like this for some time. A notebook describing brutal killings in great detail allegedly exists, and could have been in the hands of Fenton before the spree-killing even took place.

In the coming weeks more will surface as facts about that night. Only the people in that theater know for sure what happened. What I know now is that Holmes died his hair red, and went to Aurora to watch The Dark Knight Rises midnight showing like so many of us around the country. Some have said he was one of the first people in the theater which means he saw couples, elderly, kids, and families with small children dressed as Batman walk to their seats. Holmes probably knew who was going to kill before he even started shooting.

What made his night different is the next part where he went to his car which was parked right outside of the back door. He left the movie theater door ajar with a rock for easy re-entry. Holmes then suited up in what is told to be armor and a gas mask. Holmes then turned his psychotic fantasies into reality by throwing tear gas into the theater. Unfortunately for everyone there, smoke in the theater for a movie like this could easily have been part of the show. What happened next is unthinkable. Holmes took the four guns (a fully-automatic rifle, a shotgun, and two hand guns) he had with him and started shooting. With kids and all in the theater Holmes kept mowing down the movie-goers. The fully-automatic rifle Holmes brought with him jammed. We can all imagine how many more families could have been affected by this disaster had the rifle not jammed.

Christian Bale went to Aurora to be with the people affected by this tragedy. Bale went to the theater where there is a make-shift memorial. The hospital was another stop on Bale's journey through Aurora where he saw the injured fans and their families. Some of police and ambulance crews who were the first to arrive on scene were also at the hospital and saw Bale as well. Bale sets an amazing example to fight the balance of good and evil, even in real life.

I'm sure everyone wishes we could go back to the night this all happened to change it. I do. This night should have been one of joy, of happiness, and a chance for fans to unite. Batman fans need to come together now more than ever. I know people who are scared to go see this movie, because Holmes actions may spring more lunatics. I know in Spring Hill, Florida the Sheriff's Department is on sight at movie theaters all night on the weekends. Holmes actions were to scare us. To show Americans their own people are capable of something this dark.

What we need to show Holmes is that people like himself can be helped. We could have helped him. I know I would be there for a fan in need. All they would need to do is ask, and I'm sure fans would unite to show them they are not alone. Would you not do the same? We need to rise up, and not be scared to go see such an amazing movie. As a nation we have shown time and time again we can face adversity and rise up. After 9/11 the military had seen an extreme incline in recruits. What happened here is not on the same scale as 9/11, but this incident shows there are people right here in our country who want to hurt us. It is too late for Holmes, but some people like him can be helped.

I don't know about you, but I will see this movie several times. I will take my children to see it. So don't go see this movie just once. Watch it twice, and not just because it is a superb movie. Do it to stand up to people who are trying to scare us in society. We are better than to let some home grown terrorist scare us. I hope the families of this tragedy get the justice they deserve, and I hope Holmes can get the help he needs, and that he realizes how horribly mistaken he was. An act like this can never be forgiven or forgotten, but we can all grow from it.

For me, I almost did not start this blog because of what happened. I did not want to start something which would mean so much to me when people lost their lives. Why would I start a blog on the morning after such a tragedy occurred. However, a couple days ago while listening to Kevin Smith's podcast Fat Man on Batman something he said stuck with me. Such a tragedy like this should not scare us or keep us down but should inspire us. There are people like this in this world, and we can't always protect ourselves or our families from them. What we can teach our kids and ourselves though, is to "be a light (Smith describing the lesson he tought his daughter, Harley, before the Fat Man on Batman podcast)." Smith also said to be inspired. For anyone with any art ability to let this inspire them. If you can draw, draw. If you can sing, sing. If you can play music, play. If you can write, write. Smith is the only reason I stood up to the fear and wrote this. Let this inspire you too. Whatever you can do, do it. Do it proudly.

I will also write a spoilerific review of The Dark Knight Rises, but I had to say this first. The Dark Knight Rises is such an unbelievable experience. It is not even a movie. It is something much, much bigger. Everyone should discover the intimacy of this film with their loved ones. This movie is in my top-tier. The Dark Knight Rises easily could be my favorite movie of all-time.

I leave you with this. Will you let the darkness rise, or will you let The Dark Knight inside of you Rise to show Holmes and others like him we are not afraid?

Quotation from - Freya Peterson's article "Accused 'Batman' killer James Holmes was being treated by university psychiatrist, lawyers say."