(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 5 coverage on Chud.com)
A few weeks ago I watched a program on TLC about the teens Abigail and Brittany Hensel, conjoined twins living in Minnesota. The documentary provided interesting insight into these now teenaged girls’ every day lives, their personalities and their obvious obstacles. The purpose of the program was to demystify them and it successfully showcased them as normal teenaged girls in very abnormal circumstances. Hearing them discuss how they deal with their situation (which, though bizarre to us is completely normal to them) and even noticing what they choose to not talk about is fascinating and compelling watching, turning them from the initially captivating anomaly to actually interesting human beings.
Alone is the new Thai horror film from Shutter directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, about Pim, a woman who was once a conjoined twin, her sister having died in the separation process. Upon returning to Thailand with her husband, Wee, to care for her estranged mother, she begins to see horrific visions of her dead sister. That’s essentially the set-up, but not the story. Venturing further into it would be spoiler territory (but then again, it’s not like any astute observer would not figure this thing out half an hour into it).
31/10/2007
Alone
Wolfhound
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 5 coverage on Chud.com)
Russian cinema, from my few experiences with it, has undergone quite a transformation. Under old Communist rule and a nationalized film program, Russian film was proliferated by auteurs, their end results frequently long, plodding and introspective, since commenting on politics was truly not allowed. Since everything was paid for by the government, return on investment from the box office was never a concern, and this, compared to American cinema, freed them from having to create a lot of audience pandering pap and drivel. Tarkovsky is probably the best known of Russian directors, and while surely talented, I’ve always found his films a good remedy for insomnia (it took four efforts for me to make it all the way through Solaris).
In recent years, for obvious reasons, Russian directors have been more ambitious in terms of making commercially appealing movies, cinematic anti-depressants for a country still struggling to rediscover its place in a world that, not 30 years before, they were perhaps poised to lead. Most notable of these would be the ambitious Nightwatch trilogy, the first of modern Russian cinema to successfully achieve a big-budget American blockbuster aesthetic, and its first two films (Daywatch included) have reaped the rewards, both at home and internationally.
30/10/2007
Toronto After Dark Film Fest Coverage Review
(that’s supposed to read like “this is a review someone else did on my coverage of the TADFF” which is a convoluted mouthful)
10 days ago when I started covering the TADFF, my darling wife decided that if she wasn’t going to see me at all as I spent hours in a darkened room sitting on my ass, then she might as well go visit her folks. While there, she was keeping updated on my activities by reading the coverage I did over on CHUD (I didn’t ever have enough time to call her but a few text messages were bandied about.. oh the wonders of technologies and their influence on the modern relationship). While there she mentioned to her father what I was up to, and as a film buff himself he was curious about what was going on, and even more so to read what I have to say on the matter.
I pretended like that was cool when she told me, but to be honest I was a little intimidated. Her dad, my father-in-law, has a very well-defined entertainment palette, which overlaps my own in many respects, but having a much greater fondness and appreciation for classic cinema and less of a tolerance (I’m assuming, anyway) for kitsch and ironic cinema, which, let’s be honest, is what the bulk of horror cinema is these days. So yeah, it was fret worthy. I mean, what if he were to read what I wrote and think me a fool for wasting my time with crap, or even worse, that my musings on it weren’t worth the effort. Add another dozen or ten worries to that pile and that’s what was racing through my mind at the thought of him reading my daily recaps.
My wife’s father is in the entertainment industry, in a sense, an actor in smaller-theatre plays, a player in advertising for a long time, and doing plenty of voice work (probably best known for the voice of Canadian Tire “There’s a lot more to Canadian Tire than tires”), his opinion matters as both a new family member, as an entertainment junkie and as a professional. So, you can bet that when Aden sent me his response to it all that I sighed in relief before smiled a broad grin and choked back a tear.
although I have little knowledge of the subject, Graig’s words made it easy to understand and his sense of humour and personal situations added greatly to the material. they were fun to read.
You know, if I ever had a book that was a collection of reviews, that would definitely be my cover quote, attributed to “my father-in-law”. It explains everything about my style of reviewing, and Toast has often complimented me on my style, so I know I must have one… It’s really one of the most meaningful praises I’ve ever received.
The Tripper
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 4 coverage on Chud.com)
(d. David Arquette) Fortunately, not a documentary about the Three’s Company character (if John Ritter were still alive, do you think he’d be a cult icon like Shatner or the Burt?). Instead this is David Arquette’s directorial debut, a madcap comedy/slasher movie that’s really reaching for a Cheech & Chong meet Friday The Thirteenth vibe. But the main focus is keeping things light and trippy, with the kills being just another fun punctuation point on the whole thing.
Enlisting friends and casting some recognizable faces, the story begins in the 1960’s, where tree hugging was born, and where a forester needs work to provide medicine for his wife and the hippies impede his way. When he’s arrested for aggressive assault, his son goes psychotic and kills one of the hippies with a chainsaw (oh, the catharsis).
Fast forward 30 years in the future, and a skeezy looking Paul Reubens is a concert promoter waxing the hand of a small-town mayor to let a drug-infested concert called the Free Love Festival occur without any unnecessary law enforcement interventions. That unnecessary intervention would be from Buzz Hall, a mustachioed Thomas Jane portraying a straight laced cop with a sharp sense of comedic timing.
The Rebel
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 4 coverage on Chud.com)
Touted as one of Vietnam’s most expensive productions, the Rebel, like the Once Upon A Time In China series, Fearless or Legend of the Drunken Master, tells an action-packed story set within the confines of an specific period in its creator’s cultural history. In this case the scene is the French occupation of Vietnam in the early 20th century. While bringing advancements to the civilization like railroads and other such infrastructure, they’re also reaping most of the land’s rewards and unfairly dominating its people.
Cuong (Johnny Nguyen) is secret service, for lack of a better term: not a police officer, not military, but a protector of the French ruling class. Along with his buddy Sy (Dustin Nguyen) they think they have it all figured out. But to others, the lower and working class, they’re educated-in-France traitors. A grassroots resistance force manages to kill a few important French socialites, and in the process of stopping them, Cuong and Sy capture their leader’s daughter, Thuy (Than Van Ngo). Sy is promised a promotion by his half-brother should he capture the resistance leader, and takes cruel pains to try and extract his location from Thuy. Cuong, meanwhile, having just killed a teenaged rebel, isn’t so certain anymore which side is the right side and he helps Thuy escape.
site news
Comments are now working over at geekent’s Buy Nothing Year
(BNY will be taking over geekent.com come December, but you can preview it now, now, now!)
29/10/2007
Automaton Transfusion
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 3 Coverage on CHUD.com)
(d & w. Steven C. Miller) As stated in the Day 1 report, I’m pretty zombied out at this point. Unless you have something really new to contribute (or at least something exceptionally well done) then there’s no point to bother. This low-budget film, we were told in an introduction, is receiving some accolades and that it’s a definitely different zombie movie.
Lies. The opening sequence features a nice framing shot and a gag that does inspire promise for at least a gruesome time, and the credit sequence is well done, but within seconds of the main story starting I realize this is another stupid dead teenager movie. We’re treated to the requisite outcasts versus jocks set-up, being introduced to the loudmouth geek, the tough, unflappable black kid, and the handsome rebel who’s dating a cheerleader, much to the popular kids’ chagrin.
The Cos Co-motion
The annual Silver Snail costume gala/Hallowe’en geekout hit on Saturday and, just like last year, it was a good time had by some most all. It was a busy Saturday all-around, with Aden and myself having more than plenty to do before we could get suited up in our regal wear and hit Toronto as only two barely-known comic-book characters could.
My costume is deceptively simple and deceptively complex. The idea for the Phantom Stranger came back in July when Aden and I were shopping around for a wedding dress (she found one, I didn’t, btw) and I saw this huge honkin’ gold medallion at Le Chateau (fancyness for “The House”) and said to Aden “that would be perfect for a Phantom Stranger costume”.
Due to wedding madness, I kinda put the whole costume thing out of mind for a while, with the vague notion of going as Robin, since George (manager of the Snail) thought this toy looked like me, and I thought it would be funny, but, well, yeah, finding tiny green underwear isn’t that easy…
So anyway, I did a mild hunt for Phantom Stranger wear but you know what, finding a (cheap) 70’s blue suit from the thrift stores isn’t easy, also not easy only more so is finding a blue hat, and even more than that finding a blue cape. Some of our time in Thunder Bay, which really was the only down time I’ve had this month, was spent thrift store shopping, where I found the cape medallions ($1), the suit jacket ($4), white turtleneck ($7), the pants ($7) and the gloves ($2). I didn’t buy the medallion when I should have and I visited about 2 dozen other places looking for a replacement, but eventually found a Le Chateau that still had the original (and best) and bought it there ($25). The hat came from Kensington Market for $10, and the coup des gras, the white hairspray which gave the Phantom Stranger phantom dandruff all night cost an outrageous $10 (white hairspray was incredibly hard to come by on Saturday for some reason, so if you need white stuff next year, buy it early). The cape was actually home made, since it had to be. Capes are incredibly hard to find, and so yeah, I spent some time with chalk, scissors, some bristol board (comic book backboards to be specific), thread and a needle and made myself a cape.
The end result, deceptively simple in look (as in, it’s not spandex) but complex to put together:
Of course, I didn’t sell it *completely* with white contact lenses, but I’d say pretty authentic all things considered.
Aden’s costume was the current Mary Marvel iteration from Countdown which she was pretty keen on for two reasons: simplicity and that Mary Marvel is one of the few brown (not black) haired women in comics.
Her costume came together easy as pie. A trip to American Apparel, a few dresses tried on and it was practically over before it started. We had to buy some yellow fabric, and using the lightning bolt cut out of an old, old, old Captain Marvel t-shirt of mine found in Thunder Bay as a stencil, Aden cut out and stitched it to the uniform. She bought herself a new pair of boots, which happened to aide the costume and add a pair of black gloves, voila, it’s complete.
It was a devilishly windy evening, with a biting crispness that chilled instantly any exposed skin. Aden dressed warmly in her new winter jacket, although her knees remained vulnerable. I was dressed in four layers (undershirt, turtleneck, wool suit jacket, cape) so I was having no problems save the white temporary hair powder blowing out. In fact, I heartily enjoyed having a cape flap in the wind. It’s a fantastic sensation, feeling that drag from behind, or having the cloak whip around you in embrace, or flap off to the side like a flag. It’s so fucking cool, I can’t even explain. If I could get away with it, I’d wear cape every day. Jeans, t-shirt, cape. Trousers, button-down, tie, cape. Swimming trunks, flip-flops, cape (this isn’t Sparta). Awesome. Capes need to come back in style and stay there. As it stands, my $4 jacket is now a part of my regular wardrobe, and the rest of it’s going into the costume tickle trunk.
It was, in fact, my flowing cape which brought Aden and I to the attention of the CITY TV reporter trying to get a Hallowe’en festivities puff piece on Saturday. They saw me walking along, cape flapping in the wind and chased us down. Aden directed them around the corner to the Snail party where there’d be even more costumes, and that’s where they interviewed me, having me flap my cloak in front of their camera. It was all very geeky and I’m sure I came off like any old comic con freakshow in my interview, but I can’t find it on-line so, I guess I’ll never know.
The party was a good time as always, plenty of free food and giveaways, lots of gawking at all the other costumes (my favourite was the Friend Record from Size Small and Babs and Liza) and some big-time prizes (3rd place: $100 gift certificate, 2nd place: $300 gift certificate, 1st place $500 gift certificate). I was certain my authentic-looking Phantom Stranger would be worth one of the three… strictly on authenticity and obscurity scales. Alas, no, the prizes went to a good Clockwork Orange costume (although, really?), a rather clunky Killing Joke Barbara Gordon and Joker (points for creativity, I guess), and, okay, I’ll admit, a killer Dr. Strange costume rightly won the big prize, however the fact that Toby won the Snail staff contest last year with a Dr. Strange costume (Kody won this year with his Thor costume) did rankle me a bit. Alas, no dice for this McCracken, so I went home with my cool cape and my grumbles.
Aden and I have already decided, I think, on our costumes for next year:
Power Girl and Iron Fist…a play off of this comic
only subbing the black dude for this chick, our own DC/Marvel crossover: Maybe she’ll modify the outfit to be an amalgam of Power Girl and Power Man’s… that’d be hilarious.
Maybe I do IF more like this if I’m feeling bashful…
…but I’d probably get more points if I did the full -on collar and tattoo business.
So, for my last trick-or-treat… here’s a sideways shot 20 second video of Springfield Villain Montgomery Burns threading the needle.
oh, and more costume photos on Flickr)
28/10/2007
Audience of One
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 3 Coverage on CHUD.com)
(d. Mike Jacobs) A bit of a zing in the religious britches today as TADFF, co-presented with Hot Docs International Film Festival, brought the Canadian premiere of this jaw-dropping documentary about a Pentecostal Minister who one day receives a message from God telling him he has to make a movie… not just any movie, mind you, but the biggest blockbuster mankind has ever seen, a biblical sci-fi epic described as “Star Wars meets the Ten Commandments”.
Frighteningly real and hilarious, Audience of One follows Pastor Richard Gazowsky as he strives to make his God-dictated orders happen, and it’s one horrendously painful turn of events after another as he and his ministerial followers continue to believe that every setback (and in his case, everything is a setback) is a trial put in their way by God that must be overcome, or else Satan interfering in their grand plan.
Early on, before we understand exactly how religiously fanatical and delusional Gazowsky, his family and his followers are, there’s almost a sense listening to him speak with such passion and belief that he might actually be onto something, that he might somehow, with his faith, make a movie. Oh, there’s no doubt it’d be horrendous were it made, but there’s a sense that something might actually get done. We’re introduced to his congregation who have become set designers, wardrobe creators, effects people, cameramen, sound men, and the like all for the sake of this production, each and every one of them investing not just their time but their money into seeing this happen based on Gazowsky’s word. It’s only when we come to understand how few of them there are and how much of an actual film crew they’re missing that we realize it’s disaster all the way.
Blood Car
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 1 coverage on CHUD.com)
(d. Alex Orr w. Hugh Braselton) If you’ve ever watched Channel 101 (which birthed the teams responsible for Hot Rod and The Sarah Silverman Program) and liked what you saw, then Blood Car is going to greatly entertain you. It’s one of those left-of-center comedic concepts that will either make you laugh or leave you bewildered as to why other people are.
Introduced by a suited, mustachioed man, holding a chip bag, it’s explained that it’s the near future, gas is obsolete (hmm, with Aachi and Ssipak, it seems to be a theme today) and that society has changed… although most of those changes are left unexamined in the film. Instead it centers on the comedic plot of vegan primary school teacher Archie Andrews (Mike Brune) and his efforts to make an engine that will run off wheatgrass. Every day he ventures on his bicycle to an abandoned parking lot where two opposing shacks both manned by attractive women: the organic shack is run by Lorraine (former child star Anna Chlumsky, now looking very Lisa Loeb-ishly cute) who has a huge crush on Archie, and across the way is the slutty Denise (Katie Rowlett).
27/10/2007
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 1 coverage on CHUD.com)
(d. Uwe Boll, w. Doug Taylor) The biggest budget Boll has had yet (and the easiest he jokes, “if you have more money, it gets more relaxing” especially without having to coordinate fight scenes with a drunk Michael Madsen this time around) and the first to go over budget as a result of having to replace some horrible CGI (the major work done by the Orphanage, with over a dozen other vendors having a hand in it). Clocking in at 150 minutes and featuring at time over 800 extras, it’s certainly Boll’s most ambitious film, and from what I’ve seen of his work (and by his own claims) his best film by leaps.
I’m not at all familiar with the video game the movie is derived from, so I have no idea if the story maintains fealty with its source, but Boll has crafted a sword and sorcery film that, by no means, can live up to the calibre of Lord Of The Rings but actually is very reminiscent of the films of that genre from the 1980’s like Kull, Beastmaster, Ladyhawke and the like. Like those fondly remembered movies from many of our youths, this film would easily play to a younger crowd, teens and pre-teens, whose understanding of filmmaking, good scripts, and quality acting has not yet developed. I could actually see this being a beloved film by younger viewers, with a real fan status in ten or fifteen years the same way so many horrendous films of the 70’s and 80’s are beloved by us today.
26/10/2007
Aachi and Ssipak
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 1 coverage on CHUD.com)
(d. Jo Beom-jin, w. Beom-jin & Yeon-won Jeong) I honestly didn’t think I was going to like this film. Upon reading the write-up in the festival guide, I was in-fact certain of it. I mean, here’s a film set in the future where oil has completely disappeared, all fuels have, but it’s not a political film. Nope, it’s a film that has postulated another source of energy. Poop. Human feces. And in order to get it, the people in power have to give something back for the routine deposits made. In this case, juicybars. Every human in this future society has an electronic ring implanted in their anus upon birth so that their defecations can be monitored and the juicybars can be sent through the tubes to the appropriate lavatory.
Yeah, scatological humor is so easy, so base level, so… Wayans Brothers. I was almost certain this Korean anime was going to push for the offensive as much as possible, that it was going to be an animated Jackass, but dammit, it’s not. If you look at the synopsis, well, frankly, that’s just the starting point, that’s just setting the scene. The story only gets more bizarre from there, but there is an actual story, raucous though it is.
Planning that DVD money
Now, here’s the thing I was wondering… if I pre-buy something that doesn’t come out until 2008 can I still pick it up when it comes out. Also, if say I paid for a run of comics in advance, is that cheating.
The answer: yes.
Damn.
I’m making my own rules an disappointing myself. The thought came to me yesterday as I was trolling through HMV resisting the purchase of some 2 for $10 DVDs (mainly because I could only find one, The Omega Man, which I actually wanted) and balking at the $45 price tag on the Aquaman cartoon, when I noticed The Transformers movie came out this week (I honestly loved it) and want to own it, but don’t want to pay $25 for it (or $30 for the special edition) when I know it will be on the $2/30 pile in 6 months. So, if I put the $15 away now instead of buying the more expensive $30 version, and buy it when it’s cheaper, is it still cheating? It’s not the same as what I pose above, but it just spun out into those questions.
I still think, even though I’ll be saving more money if I do that, that it’s still a temptation to buying in the new year when I’m not supposed to. It’s still a cheat. And essentially if I’m not willing to pay the $30 now, will I actually still be eager to spend $15 in a year, and will it eventually wind up cheaper by 2009? Hmmm….
So, I have appx. $190 DVD dollars left… here’s what’s a possible vie for my attention:
The aforementioned Adventures of Aquaman cartoon - oh I know it’ll be bad, but how bad exactly? (Just released Appx. $45)
Metalocalypse - an Adult Swim cartoon I haven’t seen but it’s done by Home Movies’ Brendan Small, so I’m curious (Just released - about $33)
- The Best of the Colbert Report vol.1 - although it’s the sort of stuff that is of a timely nature so it may not have much longevity (Release date: Nov.6 - about $16… probably wind up on the 2/$30 shelf upon release)
- Sesame Street Old School, Vol. 2 (1975-1979) - everyone is enjoying the hell out of season one, so this is a definite purchase (Release date: Nov.6 - appx. $33 on Amazon)
- Lost Season 3 - I did actually catch all of this season as it aired, but with the long delay before season 4, it might be nice to revisit (Release Dec.11 - appx. $55)
-Day Watch - (Released October 30, about $30) or Day Watch/Night Watch 2-disc set for $32 (two bucks more for the first movie!)
-Ratatouille - (Released Nov.6, appx $25)
-Transformers - (Just released - appx $25)
- Superbad - (Dec.6 - appx $28)
What I won’t be buying
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 5 - Released Jan.29
UPDATE - Saturday, Oct. 27
Purchased 4 items off the 2/$30 rack - total $68.40
Thus my remaining amount is: $123.22
Ape Child
My stepson in a $7 (purchased from the Salvation Army in Thunder Bay) orangutan costume… with friends.
25/10/2007
content redundancy
the final write up I’ll be doing for the Toronto After Dark film festival is now on-line at CHUD. It’s a nice piece of wrap-up writing, with a personal bent I’m happy with. I think it summarizes both the good and bad experiences I’ve had surrounding festival, and the 6-day collection of writings are pretty hype altogether. If this were my full time job, to watch/read and review things, I think I’d be a happy man. Alas, there aren’t many of those kinds of full-time gigs around.
There will be redundant content from the fest on the sidebar for the next few weeks, as I reprint all the feature reviews (the reviews of short films won’t be posted, except I might amass a TADFF greatest short hits (or “shits”) so I have an easy reminder of the awesome shorts witnessed at the festival. I’ve found a new appreciation for the short film and (as I talk about in the Day 6 wrap-up) think there should be a greater avenue of exposure for short films (like a dedicated TV channel, with a top 20 weekly countdown show ala MuchMusic)) for those of you that didn’t bother with venturing over to the sewer.
Mulberry Street
(reprinted from Toronto After Dark Film Festival Day 1 coverage on CHUD.com)
(d. Jim Mickle, w. Mickle & Nick Damici) Set in the heart of New York’s Little Italy, Mulberry Street is a zombie flick that’s looking to the source while also trying to establish its own path, with mixed results.
I have to be honest and say, at this point, I’m pretty zombied out, from zombie movies, zombie comics, zombie parodies, zombie video games… I think it’s time to put this genre to bed for a little while, let it wake up fresh faced another day. As this year’s TADFF does have a heavy zombie-quotient, this opinion of mine will have to be shelved, but it’s likely to taint my reviews no matter what.
That said, Mulberry Street is a decent entrant into the genre, despite the many obstacles it has to overcome, namely unknown actors, a been-there/done-that story, and a small budget. But channelling every ounce of George Romero he can, director Jim Mickle manages to pull off an entertaining movie in sincerest homage to Night of the Living Dead.
The $250 DVD countdown
A few weeks ago I mentioned the big Amazon sale on various Warner Brothers and my wrestling with buying $252 worth of Babylon 5 DVDs. In the end I decided to pass (or rather, offered myself the option of buying them or spending a generous $250 on DVDs for the end of the year).
Well, I’ve finally bit into that two-fiddy, with the purchase of The IT Crowd - Season 2 and How To Start Your Own Country, both from the UK for play on my region-free player. It takes a $58.38 chunk out of my $250, which is mostly reasonable, especially considering how much I love the first season of the IT Crowd and how much I enjoy Danny Wallace’s books.
$191.62 remaining.
24/10/2007
Film Fatiguval
Flippin’ tired. So. Flippin’. Tired.
One more day. You can make it. One more day is all.
Day six. Day six is all that’s left.
One more day of work, followed by two shorts and two features, followed by two hours of reviewing and recapping and rambling on about the weather. Followed by sleep. Not enough sleep, but sleep still is worthy.
Though, yes, I’m enjoying this festival, even the not-so-good movies that I’ve seen, the vibe and atmosphere of it is pretty cool. Sitting in a packed theatre of Asian horror fans yesterday for Alone, a movie I found to be terribly predictable and a waste of it’s storytelling potential, I still enjoyed being there (even though I wanted to sleep) listening to the people that were actually getting freaked out by the film. Not all of us are studiers of storytelling, not all of us pay close attention to what we watch and what we enjoy, and that’s okay. There are few things I dislike so much that I get up on my high horse about other people (well not anymore… I’ve humbled myself about keeping my opinions in check), although I still wish people would pay attention to the really good stuff, but then not everyone wants to be challenged, not everyone can handle “different” or “new”.
I forgot what I was going on about. But anyway… it’ll soon be over and I can get back to insane amounts of comic book reviews over at the Raid (did you know we just brought on board three new and talented reviewers and they’re doing a kickass job? Did you? Well?).
Oh… and I kind of figured my reviews/coverage of Toronto After Dark would be speaking to a narrow audience at CHUD, since I’m not really that known a commodity there, nor do I play the same game as them in terms of humor (which, while funny borders on crass a lot of the time) and my experimentations in style (a few stabs at a prose narrative, which, frankly, have been going downhill since day 2 due to my fatigue)… but there’s some people reading them. More than here anyway. The forums are showing a few hundred views of the specific forum entry on each so that’s cool… if I had to guess I’d say a few hundred people overall are reading, but since most of these films aren’t in any sort of wide release or hit the appropriate festival circuit yet, not a lot of people have seen them or have much to say about them.
But there you go. And here I go..
One more thing, recap links:
Day 4
Day 5
22/10/2007
Buy Nothing Year Begins: January Comics I’m Not Buying
DC’s January Solicitations are live. Here’s what I want, or would normally get, but won’t (for at least a year):
TEEN TITANS: THE LOST ANNUAL - by classic TT writer Bob Haney (RIP) and illustrated by indie darlings Jay Stephens and Mike Allred. Allred was pretty upset when this was shelved a while back so it’s good to see it’s actually going to be printed (too bad Bob won’t see it though)
BOOSTER GOLD #6 - despite my noted apathy towards Dan Jurgens’ art, I’m actually quite enjoying this series. I hope it survives my BNY so that I can continue reading it when 2009 hits.
SUICIDE SQUAD: RAISE THE FLAG #5 - it’s killing me that I won’t be able to keep reading this
NIGHTWING #140 - a new team on Nightwing! Will it be any good? I have no idea and will continue to have no idea for a while… unless my belove wife and Nightwing buff gives it a shot.
BLUE BEETLE #23 - this is one of the best ongoing superhero series on the stands. I’m going to miss you, Blue.
GREEN LANTERN #27, GREEN LANTERN CORPS #20 - following the events of the Sinestro Corps War, I’m interested to see what direction GL is going to take. Alas, it’ll probably be disappointing and I’m better off not knowing as it’ll probably be forgotten about by the time I return to it anyway.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #17 - okay, I’ve been really disappointed in Dwayne McDuffie’s first storyline, but this has a really kickass Black Lightning cover.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #12 - I’m not actually sure I’ll miss this, especially with it’s unnecessary Kingdom Come affiliation.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #38 - Jim Shooter and the Legion… sigh… see you in trades in ‘09 mehopes.
METAL MEN #5 - same for you little metal dudes.
CATWOMAN: CATWOMAN’S DEAD TP… you too, Selina.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL HC - even though I’ve bought all these issues half a dozen times over, I’d totally buy the hell out of this again.
Y: THE LAST MAN #60 - (the last issue) okay I’m not buying this but Aden will… won’t you sweetie (WON’T YOU!)…
100 BULLETS #87 - by the time BNY is over it will be 1 issue shy of ending… weird. I also haven’t read the last 20 issues of it I’ve purchased… but then I DO have a year to catch up.
Marvel Solicits for January
ULTIMATE HUMAN #1 (of 4) - more Ultimates by Warren Ellis… yes please! Oh, crap.
ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #2 (of 4) - I really dug the first volume by Orson Scott Card. Guess I’ll just have to read it again and decide how much I like it.
SPIDER-MAN: WITH GREAT POWER… #1 (of 5) - by David (Stray Bullets) Lapham and Tony (Ex Machina, Starman) Harris? Nice. Thankfully I don’t care much for Spider-man, so I’m not *that* disappointed.
NOVA #10, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST #3 (of 6) - I gonna miss yew space epic.
FANTASTIC FOUR #553 - whoops. Though I was going to get to see McDuffie’s run to it’s completion. I guess not. Sigh.
WWH AFTERSMASH: DAMAGE CONTROL #1 (of 3) - McDuffie, back doing Damage Control. Holy flip, can’t believe I’m gonna miss that.
X-FACTOR #27 - I think the wife’s going to keep buying this. Phew.
MIA: TADFF day 3 post
Computers are acting up left right and center. The router seems to keep conking out, making the wifi pretty much useless after a few hours, and with compy 2001 out of commission it’s all just techno trouble at the NoYo.
Day Three of Toronto After Dark (which really, was more Toronto Mid-day) went a lot more smoothly than Day 2. Well, actually no. I was late to the Cutting Edge Fantasy short film showcase (missing the first half of the haunting The Drift) and I was again late to the Audience Of One screening (missing the first few minutes of the Monty Pythonesque Canadian short, Terror on the 3918), which is a shame because I missed bits of two awesome short films. But still it felt like a smoother day, as I managed to get some food in between films, and being late to two of my three screenings meant no line-ups.
Also encountering the Toronto Zombie Walk hordes outside the theatre after Audience Of One was fun, with a kewl setting sun shining brightly in the west and zombies chugging down free Red Bull and taking pictures of Lloyd Kaufmann… it was just a neat communal vibe. Meanwhile, the “SWAT” guys across the street nearly got ran over a couple of times as they dodged out into the street to pop some caps in a zombie’s head. Taking the cosplay a wee too far. Lightning bolt!
Tonight Vietnamese action and David Arquette directs his friend’s deaths at the hands and tools of a murderous Ronald Reagan.
Oh, and in case you missed them.. the links to my Day 1 and Day 2 wrap-ups from CHUD.com.
update
Day 3 has been uploaded for your reading (dis)pleasure.