Jumping in Headfirst

Y'know, I hear a lot of talk about comic books being a storytelling medium, and I guess it is. I mean, certainly in a technical sense it is, but practically? I.....really don't think so. Granted, you can certainly use it to tell any kind of story you want. It'll be cheap (compared to the cost of doing a movie or a television show, at least), and it'll come with pretty much NO limitations, not in censorship or in the sense of budgetary concerns. You'll never be told "you can't do that; its too expensive" in comics. (Not unless you're going to slap a REAL gold cover onto your comic, at least....) However, as many creators have noticed, unless you're doing superheroes, you're probably not going to be that successful in comics. Most people claim that's because people are just used to reading superheroes and don't want to change their habits, and that's true, but--let me offer another reason: Its because superheroes reall

Okay, one thing you don't know about me is that I can talk about one thing or be thinking about one thing, and then suddenly I'll end up on something that's seemingly unrelated. My mind works weird--I got it from my mother. The only person who understands what its like to think like that is my girlfriend Ehlana, who thinks in the same seemingly-but-not-really-erratic-way. (One of a long list of things we connect on.) Anyway, my friend and I were discussing good comic runs today and because of that I found myself looking at an old article by Christopher Priest discussing black characters and getting black readers into comic shops , and while I was reading it something hit me. I'm an anomaly. Well, that's not really anything new but nevertheless. I mean, by virtue of being myself I've managed to transform cousins my age and black friends I have into probably not agreeing with this...but really one look at a hip-hop forum or enough time spent around people w

I just can't end on a dark note. I mentioned in my last post that I miss when things were new, which is why I get SO excited when there's a new anime series starting because everything's new! So, first off, let's start with the list as a whole, found in this picture here: With that out of the way, let's begin. As always, in attempt to suck out some of the negativity that is usually found on these places, I'll only be mentioning the stuff I'm actually interested in. Hakushaku to Yosei Synopsis*: The story is set in 19th century England and centers on a “fairy doctor” named Lydia. Her life takes a 180-degrees turn when she meets a legendary blue knight count named Edgar and his crew. He hires her as an adviser during his quest to obtain a treasured sword that was supposed to be handed down to him by his family. Opinion: Okay, so admittedly I'm a little wary of this series. They mention hunting down swords and quests and I get excited, but then they show

Okay, this was supposed to be done two weeks ago, the last day of Comic-Con, but my computer froze up on me and I hadn't saved this so I lost it all. I was pretty annoyed (and sad) about it, so I didn't bother to rewrite it until just now. After all, I DO need my first entry for August. Anyways. I'm not much for conventions, of any type. And I know, I know. I'm a huge nerd so naturally I'm supposed to be interested in that, but meh. I just can't muster the energy to care about them. The only thing that does matter are the announcements that come from comic conventions concerning future projects. Now that I care about. And seeing as how the San Diego Comic-Con is the biggest comic convention of the year, there was plenty of stuff announced for me to get excited about. Which leads me to the point of this list--the top ten things announce at the SDCC I'm most excited about. 1) New Krypton - In October, two of my absolute favorite writers team up to cr

As I've stated several times in previous columns, I'm both a huge comic book fan and an even more huge DC fan. And as I made clear in the immediately previous entry, I'm also quite the video game fan. And like any other human being on the planet, I like the idea behind Reese's. In other words, when someone combines two great ideas to create an even greater one. (Fusion-HA! ... How many people even get that joke...?) In fact, a great deal of the games I've been interested in lately have been licensed property games coming from the anime or comic book world. The Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi series, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance....the list goes on and on. Sadly though, up until recently DC Comics has mostly refused to participate in the gaming world aside from a few games here and there with DC's single popular "anti-hero" character. (Its in parethesis because he's not really an anti-hero, but explaining that doesn'

As everyone (apparently except me, 'cause I had to look it up yesterday) interested in games knows, this week is the week of E3. Y'know, the week where all the big gaming developers get together and announce to the press (who announce to the public) all the big games for the upcoming year. This year, I managed to catch Sony's E3 presentation live on G4. (If I could, I'd make a Battleship joke here...) For those who DIDN'T see it...well, honestly? It sounded like damage control more than anything else. Sony's CEO spent more time telling us how awesome the Playstation brand-name is than he did showing us actual GAMES. On and on about how many units they've sold (we're not your board of directors, man), how "impossible" it is to make the games that are on the PS3 on ANY other system, and Sony's large number of exclusives. Which, actually, would be perfectly fine if Microsoft hadn't totally cockslapped them yesterday with the annou

Damn. Its summer already. I haven't even caught up on all the Spring shit I was trying to follow. Ugh. Oh well. Thankfully, by its nature, Summer (like Winter) is light on new stuff. ...Sorta. So! Having found a place that does anime summaries (in addition to snobbish like opinions for each anime), let's begin. Ikkitousen: Great Guardians Summary: First season introduction- Seven schools are constantly ‘at war’ with each other, and the students within - both male and female - have become skilled fighters and constantly battle with rival schools. Their lives and fates are guided by strange jewels that contain the spirits and destinies of warriors from the Sangokushi period. One girl, Sonsaku Hakufu, has recently moved to Japan and is apparently destined to unite the schools as her counterpart united seven countries long ago. But, like all heroes, there is a darker side to her fate, and as always there is a constant struggle by those around her to break the chains of

Another one of these things. I'm talkative for some reason. Oh well. Not sure how long this one will be. Could be standard length, could be three paragraphs. Let's find out! The idea for this one came when I was sitting watching an episode of M*A*S*H* the other day (What? Alan Alda was funny to me). It was one of the later episodes, and because my mind works weird, I suddenly recalled reading the show's Wiki article, where it mentioned how the later seasons usually consisted in some kind of message the main characters gave to an incoming "regular army" superior officer. Y'know, the importance of life, the effects a war has on those who aren't even in it--shit everyone should know, but somehow doesn't. And then, as I thought about it--hell, as I was watching the show itself--I realized it was right. But it was a pattern I'd never noticed until someone brought it up. That happens to me a lot. Don't get me wrong. I'm a very

If the exceedingly lengthy posts I did in prior months didn't tip you off to this, I'm a gigantic fan of comic books. And yet, aside from those two and a really crappy impression of a really excellent comic (Sinestro Corps War...and give me a break...I'm trying to develop a way to showcase shit I like without "reviewing" it), I've mostly just stuck to anime on this thing. I'm not sure why, I guess its because everyone I'm friends with is into anime (that's by design), but few people I know are into comic books. Still, the whole reason this exists is to show all sides of me instead of "filtering" it depending on the friend I'm talking to at the moment. And thus, for just a short bit, I'm going to focus on a comic book story that I'm hyped about for 2008. Truth to tell, for me its an excellent time to be a comic book fan. All my favorite writers are working on my favorite characters, and mostly, none of them have any inten

Yay! Its Spring! Wait...Spring kinda sucks. Yeah, everything's turning green, but I live in the South so shit's about to get incredibly warm and humid...soon to turn hot and humid. Which means sleepless nights, sweat-soaked clothes, and days where I feel like I'm about to pass out from the heat 'cause I don't use the AC in an attempt to "conserve energy". (Read: Save Money.) But the positive is that with the Spring comes many (hopefully) cool new anime to watch! Except I'm on dial-up so I have to limit myself to a scant few series...fuck. Why was I excited about Spring again? Ah well...nevertheless...here are my picks for the Spring season. Yes, the summaries are jacked, and I would link you to the place I got them from, but the original preview thing was taken down and commentaries were put in their place. ...That's what you come here for, so why would I send you somewhere else? Amatsuki - Date: April 5th Summary : Tokidoki is jus