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Torn between two worlds

Digital comics are coming. Now granted I know that they're already here since I'm going to talk about that as well. What I mean by my original statement is that soon they're will be no print comics. And due to that I am torn on which side to choose. Printed media which I think is still valid and should continue on, or digital.

I find printed media so important because as I've been reading digital comics or watching movies on my computer or streamed through my Xbox I find I have less concern with the outcome of whatever it is I'm doing. If I'm reading a comic a truly wonderful splash page is lost on me and the entire comic even if it is wonderful is forgettable by the time I'm done reading. I think newspaper comics and newspapers are the same. I can read the comic or story online but theres something joyous about picking up a newspaper and pulling the comics out and then taking your time to pick at the one or two stories you may read. (I know not a strong case for the newspaper but I believe theres to much pointless news in the world and too many people reporting it.) The Sunday comics online are not nearly as enjoyable as the Sunday comics read in the living room or found and finished several weeks later. There's a lot to say about touch, and digital anything takes that away from us. The act of renting a movie is significantly different when you touch the disc you're going to watch. I think the reason VHS was so popular was because of the sound it made as you were touching it. Think about it, if some one rattled a VHS behind you right now you would know what it is and how it felt. There no of that with digital media.

So we come to the core of my dilemma... I love comics. I have far more than I should and I have never parted with one that I have purchased unlike a lot of comic readers. I don't like how much space they take up but I love having them to go back to or increase in valve depending on the issue. I love the rare gems that I've tracked down and found that no one knows about. I love the feel of the pages and the joy of going to get new comics every Wednesday. But I found myself really liking the digital comics. I have bought or downloaded for free at least 30 books on my PSP since the digital comic service launched in December/January. And I wait eagerly to download new issues every week and grow tired of only being able to download comics I already own. Granted they are great issues being released but I know that because I bought them 2 years ago when they were released. I have used my PSP more than ever since digital comics arrived on it. Since I bought it on its release day I have never had to charge the battery more than once in any given week. Now I'm constantly killing the battery from reading. I like that I can take it to work and read an issue on my lunch. I like that I can read the issue before after finishing the current issue. There are several things I like and don't like about both formats. The biggest thing I don't like about digital comics is that there is no set format. MP3's work because no mater where I buy the MP3 and no mater what device I listen to it on... it works. With my PSP comic or any of the several ipod comics they only work on the device that it was made for/ purchased on. So I don't actually own All Hail Megatron #1, I own the PSP version of it. If they come out with a PC version I will not own that version and will have to purchase it again. I know a lot of it has to due with formating and device capabilities but I'm having a hard time investing in digital comics when they're so many formats out there. What happens when the ipad (not buying it I hate apple products) and digital readers start coming out? Ebooks work because again, one format doesn't matter which device it works. So why are comics dropping the ball on this?

You vote with your wallet and frankly I've been voting for both. I think as long as the price for a digital comic is right I'll keep buying it so I can read on the go. (Trade marked!) But anything I've purchased on the PSP I will not buy in print or buy another version of it. Hopefully comic book companies stop focusing on how much money they're making for dumping things on the iphone or PSP and start thinking about how to avoid getting themselves in a format war that will have a lot of people throwing up there hands and heading back to the comic book store.

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No One Likes Comics Anymore

It seems to me that no one is interested in liking comics anymore, just hating them. I've gone to countless web sites ranging from big to small and all of them had one thing in common. If I were unfamiliar with comics and with the reviews in general I would not guess that the people reviewing comics were in fact fans of them. In fact I wonder if comics have stopped being fun for them. This is a discussion that my friend and I have almost with every new issue of Previews. (The monthly magazine released by Diamond listing all the comics available for purchase the next month) We literally ask each other if comics are fun anymore. The answer is yes, but we're in too deep. We're to close to the subject matter. It's like coaching your own kid, or being the boss of a friend at work; their always better to you than they may actually be. It may just be that the readers are all in fact tired of reading comics but that they can't stop themselves. It may be the nerd in them, or that conversation that arises when they meet someone knew for the first time and they say, "You read comics?" It's almost as if it's a nerd trophy. For some it might be the collector in them, wanting to finish a run of books no matter the storyline or art. Is that why I can't stop buying the ever sagging Ultimate Spider-Man? Or why I read DC books just for the fact that Batman and Superman are so commonly known? One thing all these reviews sites have in common is that they don't know how to score a book to save their life. On the larger sites that are getting paid by the publisher to write the review, they are overly peppy about the book and then give it inflated score. On smaller sites they destroy the book ripping into to every detail but then still give it a high score. But then it all depends on the reviewer.

It was eight years ago that I got into comics Hardcore, that is to say that I started going weekly. At first I didn't know the schedule they were released on I just bought everything I could afford to buy. In retrospect maybe that's why I enjoyed them more, I had to be selective with what I choose because I didn't have much money. Once I figured out the schedule of Wednesday releases I stopped wasting time and gas going in twice a week to see if anything new had come out. Before the trips to the comic shop I use to get all my comics from the grocery store Safeway, even as a teenager I would accompany my Mom to the store to get comics. Now on a weekly bases I buy on average 30 comics a week and my collection will be right around 10,000 issues by the end of the year. But why? In the last month there's probably only a couple of books that I've been excited for. Even my joy for Secret Invasion has been short lived. It seems that first issue wow me and third issues bore me.

The more I read peoples sites, the more I talk to people in comic shops it really just seems that people are tired with comics but to scared to quit. They don't want to give up that one nerd treasure and would rather complain about how bad it's gotten then to stop. Maybe that's why I still read X-Men and Superman. I tell myself I like the books but really I'm not reading anything that I haven't read before and done better. Occasionally theirs a book that comes along and changes everyones minds about comics, the Kingdom Comes, the Earth X's, the Planetary's, the Watchmen's and Sin City's. The books that every comic fan reads because someone else told them to, and when they finally did they fell in love with comics again. My problem is, where's the next one? Planetary is over and really shouldn't there be more than one in the last eight years? It seems to me I was late showing up to the party and all the good books have checked out.

Perhaps the next time you go to pick up a copy of Grant Morrison's Batman you'll ask yourself, "Am I getting this because I think it's good?" or are you getting it because of the name of the writer? or for the short lived death of Bruce Wayne? or because you've been buying it for years and remember liking it at one time? For me I've decided that since I can afford to buy everything, why not? Well because it isn't fun anymore.

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Nova # 12 - Nova's self is great!

When I started collecting comics, one of the first issue I read was Uncanny X-Men 312 and 313 which dealt with the Phalanx. Frankly the concept freaked me out. So when the Phalanx merged with Ultron, the idea made me metaphorically pee myself. I thought it was quite possibly the coolest thing I had heard. Now Annihilation Conquest has wrapped up and although I don't think it was as good as Annihilation itself was, I did like several things that it did and the characters that it effected.

Nova was one of those characters. When he caught the virus, I thought, "Well shit, he's dead!" Then after the annual which gave a look at his future and that he was going to have to fight the virus everyday for the rest of his life and he wouldn't always be able to be the bad ass that he currently is, bummed me the fuck out. I love to hate the Phalanx because they destroy everything in their path with no cure. It also made me realize just how much I liked this character and what's being done with him. I honestly don't think I could find five characters in comics that I care about right now, but I think Nova would be at the top or at least second on the list.

Thankfully issue Twelve came out (And yeah I stole the picture I already put my issue away and it gives Midtown some free press, so what!) With number Twelve, Nova was cured of the virus by the sacrifice of Warlock. Then Tylo (Warlock's protégé) kicks the crap out of his Dad or something and has a bunch of life spark to share. I gave out a rewarding sigh as Drax and Gamora (it's either Gamora or Gomora I can't remember and I'm lazy) are cured of their virus as well. Gamora didn't take it too well and that made me really, really love the book. Each week I buy about 30 comics and each week their might be one or two that I've got to read first. Thankfully Nova always comes out on time, because I've got to read it first. Guardians of the Galaxy is coming out soon and frankly I just can't wait.

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Marvel Knights - Logan, By: Brian K. Vaughan

Issue two you say? Well yes that's correct this is issue two that I'm reviewing because more than likely you didn't get to read issue one because it was under ordered and quite popular, or hey screw you I didn't feel like writing anything for issue one because I for one felt like nothing happened in the issue to warrant a review.

As for issue two though? Let's say the story takes a mighty leap forward from the first issue which was fine because the first issue was just laying the foundation that the next two issues would take place in. Vaughn also adds history to Logan's character (Even if Marvel can't make up their mind about whether or not Wolvie was in Germany, Russia or Japan during WWII) that adds a great deal of depth to the story. Even though the third issue is sure to be mostly fighting a seemingly unstoppable character, the issue should tie up the mini nicely and add yet another successful check mark on Marvel's Knight Line which has become mini series telling the stories in-between the events that made them the people they are. The art is also very fitting and the colorist does a great job of bringing the book to life. My comic shop guy said it best when he called the artist Frank Miller junior. I would definitely say that he's doing his best to homage Miller and Claremont's six issue series from the 80's. All in all it's a very good book but it would probably be easier to read and find in trade paper back form.

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Young X-Men - How the mutant population seems to grow when you start a new book!

Young X-Men... where to begin? I'd definitely say it's the best thing written by Guggenheim that I've read... is that saying much? Probably not. Also it was better than the last few issues of New X-Men (Before Messiah Complex) which were really crappy. The art is very good and if sales sink or the book gets enough support just because of the X-Men in the title, Marvel will probably pull him off the book and put some "up and comer" on it and pretty much make it unreadable.

I don't like Guggenheim writing "core" X-Character's like Cyclops and Wolverine. His Wolverine run sucked and was frankly just ridiculous, you should never have to rip-off your rip-off and no I'm not going to explain. Why after Messiah Complex does Cyclops have to be a shady mother fucker? Their making him worse then Professor X was and it wasn't until recently that they made PX a piece of shit. Even though I like what Brubaker is doing on Uncanny I still think that his PX is completly out of character. My original point is that Cyclops has not one, but two secret teams. There's X-Force (Not very good either, but again great art!) and now Young X's.

The first story line is already very lazy since it flashes between the past and the present narriated by Blindfold (Shitty name, shitty power!) and one of the youngin's is going to die... I hope it's Wolf Boy or whatever his dumb name is. Aside from fighting old X-Men villains which means that were once again going to be reading recycled story lines from a better writer, there's the fact that two of the members were in the process of killing someone when Cyclops showed up in the middle of the room offering, "Another way," but hey there's only 203 mutants to choose from, and with their rate of causality it'll be like 190 by the end of the year... wait how many died in Messiah? Like twelve? Well pretty soon Jubilee will have her own book again... huh? She's on the New Warriors team? Sigh... Marvel what are you doing some times...

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Secret Invasion - Because I Just Had To!

The Invasion is upon us and finally we can stop seeing "Who do you trust in the corner of every Marvel book, and can move on to seeing large head shots of Iron Man instead. So what is Secret Invasion? Well do you read comic books? Yes? Okay then I'm not going to explain it to you because you should already know and if you don't read Marvel... then you don't care any ways. If you by chance answered "No" to the above questions then I'll say that this book isn't for you and that really you should start reading a book two to three years in the making unless you just want to read a good story that will again change the face of the Marvel U yet again.

Since no one that's going to read this is here to hear what the story is about and that pretty much everyone is doing exactly what I did and asked someone who already read it if it was any good, I'll just get on with it and tell you!

It was a good start... it had some interesting reveals, but since all the cards were on the table I can't say I'm really going to be shocked or pissed off like some people may end up being. If anything the last few pages are what got my attention the most but I see Bendis following in Loeb's foot step's and ending the book with a cliffhanger that makes you want to read the very next page and then instantly stop caring about the nine that follow. I hope this isn't the case and the Loeb isn't ruining the few good writers that Marvel has. We'll have to see how this book plays out, it should be interesting to see if there are anymore Skrull reveals and if the Skrull Kill Krew will show up (I hope, I hope!) If anything after this book I'll be a little sad if we no longer have characters around that were once there. Like I said though, the books off to a good start but it's too early to tell if it's really that good. I'll say Four out of Five :)

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Bounce Lint and Freshness Roller

Quite simply this is the best lint roller made. Why? Because of the Freshness it adds to your clothes. No other Lint Roller has that going for it and since my girlfriend owns two cats and I own a lot of black shirts... well I use a lint roller a lot... probably a lot more than most people. Originally I was only able to find them at Target but recently I ran out and guess what Target didn't carry them anymore. After doing an online search I discovered that just about everyone else in the world was carrying them which made me happy since it's a great product. And screw those "pet" owner linter rollers they suck... I would know.

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Be Kind, Rewind... The Joy of Movies

By now most people probably understand the simpler concept behind Be Kind, Rewind and some have probably seen the controversy behind it too. But frankly I don't think that people get what the movie is really trying to say and obviously the trailer isn't going to give that to you otherwise you wouldn't see the movie.

For starters this movie doesn't take place during the VHS' hay days it takes place now in the DVD age. You should know the premise of the picture already so I'm not going to regurgitate the marketing for you that's the studio's job. I will say that this movie is more about making movies and taking chances making movies then anything else. The Hollywood that I and most people fell in love with no longer exists. There will never be another George Lucas who owns all his characters and the license for those character's because the studio's now know how much money that can make off of it. Be Kind, Rewind to me is more about making good movies, rather than expensive movies. Quality rather than quantity, which is severely lacking in movies today. People for some reason feel ripped off it there not sitting down for two hours eating candy and nachos.

In the movie the video store has all their movies they've made destroyed by studio lawyer's played by Sigourney Weaver and Paul Dinello (Jellyneck from Strangers with Candy). This inspires our video bootleggers to make their own movie. After all isn't that something a lot of people do as kids? First you want to make your favorite movie, then when it's not good enough you make your own. Really that's what I took from this film, yes it was funny as hell to watch them remake movies like Robocop and Ghostbusters and Rush Hour 2, but more importantly I took away a greater joy from this movie then I have in a long time. I didn't leave the theater feeling like they just wanted my money, I left feeling like they just wanted me to enjoy myself and it felt like when I would watch movies as a kid.

That's all I'll ruin of the movie for you since really I'm not even touching the surface of the subtext or other things like sense of community that's also going on in the film. When it opens nation wide I would recommend seeing it and making an opinion for yourself, you may hate it, you may feel like it just wanted your money, or you may leave the theater wondering when's the next time you'll leave the movies feeling so good about the money you spent?

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Questions and Ideas

So I'm creating this posting so that people with random questions have a place to post or if you're visiting my page and not finding the answer's you came here for perhaps my nerd brain can help. So feel free to post in the comment's and I'll try to get back to you in a timely manor. Also if you have anything you want to see reviewed then feel free to let me know. If I've already used the product or have read it, watched it, etc, etc, then I can post a review right away!

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Jenna Jameson's Shadow Hunter

Ah a comic review... how original right? Well it's not often anymore that I read a book and just have to write a review although Vinyl Underground is a very good book and probably worthy of a review.

So what's Shadow Hunter about? Nothing to original in fact it seems like it would fit perfectly with the rest of Top Cow's Universe and since that's where Christina Z cut her teeth it shouldn't be surprising. Basically our main character the hot blonde has always had these visions of Demon's and Angel's fighting, see goes and gets them checked out and earns money in the process. The doctor who looks like a guy in the book but is referred to as a woman (Perhaps an over site when sending the book to India to be drawn?) any way she/he gives... let's just call her Jenna she actually has some other "J" name but it doesn't really matter does it? The Doc gives her a trinket and now her visions are materializing... and trying to kill her. Christina Z is very good with the strong female lead and unlike in other Virgin Comics I didn't find my self just looking at the art because the story was so... grade school. I still was blown away by the story itself but it did interest me enough to want issue two.

The art on the other hand was fantastic! Mukesh Singh is extremely talented and I hope he gets put on other projects after this series is over. Not only were his penciling very detailed and sharp but his coloring was beautiful. Frankly I don't know how to describe how good the art was, just that I was blown away by it. The art makes the book worth picking up and the fact that the story doesn't suck is just a bonus. I'm sure that comic shops over ordered this book due to Jenna Jameson's name being on the cover so it should be hard to find an issue, and like I said it's worth it for the art alone.

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Juno - Yeah I Saw It!

To bad I'm not talking about the movie! So I recently bought a Zune... actually not recently but around the time I took a long break from posting is when I bought it and it has pretty much consumed every aspect of my life. Regardless I got the soundtrack off of the Zune Marketplace which I had to pay for even though I had a Zune pass, but to my delight it was a very good soundtrack. By good I mean the songs were actually in the movie rather than a soundtrack filled with new music from the latest bands or just the musical score *cough* I Am Legend *cough* what the hell were they thinking *cough* *cough* sorry that last one was real. But I did enjoy the movie and the soundtrack is just enjoyable as well. I do wish I that there were more people in my age group in attendance to the flix since it was mostly old people that didn't understand what Thundercats GO! meant. Ah it's so wonderful when a movie can sell tickets based on critic's opinions and by comparison to the last indie comedy that came before it... ah Hollywood, will your writers ever be invited back? Hurry up I've got a script to sell!

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