Where I actually post a few reviews and the WPS

     
     








*I wont be writing up reviews of everything I read but I will post the reviews here when I have something to say about something I've read.


Currently Reading:
     As I'm always reading several things at once so when I do a reviews posts I'll also discuss books I'm reading.
     My reading patterns are always all over the place because there isn't really one type of book I like to read. For some reason that seems to drive other people crazy, you'd be surprised how many people who tell they find it strange finding out the varied lists of books I read.
     I get into moods of reading nothing but graphic novels because I can read a lot during a very short period of time. When reading prose I like to sit down a little, settle in to read a number of chapters at once so if I'm busy writing or for whatever reason I usually go into graphic novel reading mode.
     Plus I'm so fucking slow when reading prose. Really slow.
     Right now I'm in one of those moods but I'm also reading two prose books, one non-fiction{which is way not my norm} and the other is the first book of a series. {Just what I needed, another series to swim into.}

Drift by Rachel Maddow

*Rachel Maddow is one of the few political commentators on TV that I can listen to. I think it has a lot do with her out front intelligence and sly humor. But I think the main reason behind my love for Rachel Maddow is how she has this true love of American politics. It helps her dance through things that are probably making most of us want to Road Warrior people in traffic or take a Punisher approach to political masturbations in Washington. If you are interested in modern American politics and U.S. military history in general you really should read this book.

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson

*I had never even heard of this series or this book or the writer until a friend pointed me in its direction. I just started reading it so I don't have much to say about it so far but give me time, anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows I tend to talk for ages about just about anything. Ages, ages, and ages. I can go on and on and on.

I'm going to try to write at least a paragraph or two about books I read from now on.
   
     Wonder Woman: Odyssey Volume 2

     I came into reading this, the second part of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Wonder Woman, trying to have an open mind despite all the negative things I had heard about it when the monthly issues were coming out.
     What I found more than anything else from reading it was a feeling of bla. Bla. Bla. It's just ok. I love Wonder Woman and it had some nice action but...bla. Even all the things people got so upset about I was saying bla to.
     When they released the costume design I didn't like it much, way too late 80's early 90's comics for me, but costume changes never bug me that much. Hell with a character that's been around as long as Wonder Woman has she's had more costume changes than a model. The story just fell flat and seemed more than anything else a long way to go to get to a costume change and origin fuckery.
     I like J. Michael Straczynski. I love Babylon 5 and think his run on Spider-Man is one of the best ever for that character. Well, those last couple volumes sucked but I try to forget them but Wonder Woman Odyssey was so much talk with nothing happening and I don't really mean dialogue. The nothing of the changes and the nothing of the controversies. In story. In changes. In what a creative talented writer had to offer to a legendary character I came away just bla.
     Superman: Grounded Volume 1

     I really liked the idea behind this story and it has some good moments but I think if it had been fine tuned into a two issue story it might have been one of the best Superman stories ever. You could have handled Batman's involvement in that early scene on the JL satellite but no you had to have a "Batman" issue.
     This had too much filler and reminded me a lot of a old Doctor Who episode that had a great idea but they had to fill 5 episodes with a 2 or 3 episode story.
     And another thing that bothered me. J. Micael Straczynski didn't write this alone. If you're are going to put a writer's name above the title they should have written the whole book. I understand marketing but that pisses me off as a writer but comics have always played fuckballs when it comes to credits.
   *I already had someone on Goodreads ask me why I gave these Wonder Woman and Superman stories 3 stories when it seems like I didn't like them much. Well, I love the characters, the attempted ideas, and some moments of the stories and that's worth 3 stars to me. And if you're interested there is a link to my Goodreads page here on the right and down a bit, though the reviews are longer here.
     Ultimate Comics Captain America

     I have always liked the idea of there having been other Captain America's while Steve Rogers was frozen. I just think its a logical process a government in the Marvel Universe would take during different times of war in American history.
     Now this concept is hitting head the Ultimate Universe. This story hits as doing just what it was trying to do. It advances the character building of Captain America and puts big highlights on one of the better characters of the Ultimate Universe.
     Ron Garney has always been one of the best Cap artists in my opinion. I really should talk more artists when I do comic reviews because they can be make or brake for me when picking up a book.
     Captain America is my favorite Marvel character and has been for years. Back when I bought monthly issues I probably had more Marvel Cap issues than any other non-team book. I had everything from 100 to issues around 2004. All of those were donated to charity a while back though as I trimmed a ton of my individual comics. Small apartment living does that to comic collections.
     Star Wars Jedi Council: Acts Of War

     Worth a read if you are already a big fan of the franchise but it might not have much appeal to someone who isn't deep into the universe.








     I also read Y The Last Man: Vo.7 4 out of 5 stars {one of the best comic book series ever} and also Saga #3. Both of these I picked up at the 3rd Saturday of my local comic book shops Free Comic Book May celebration. Famous Faces And Funnies is a great store and if you are local to here in Melbourne Florida, check it out.


Here's some cool links:
     John Green talks about lockeroom issues with his team: Trouble in Paradise: The Miracle of Swindon Town #113
     My favorite comics reviews show: FFFIC Episode #45 
     I think anyone can enjoy a show that talks about being frozen Solos style, fake asses for spanking fun, and teaching geography through a zombie outbreak. 4 Points - Joel David Moore joins Alex Albrecht and Alison Haislip: Ep 3
     One of my favorite podcasts Geektress 145. And I tried to feed them my hatred of hardcovers. And no I'm not going to rant more on that here. That can wait until next week when DC releases another book I want first in HC. I still cry BULLSHIT but I might be the only person :(
     Can Mythbusters Destroy Pins? - All Star Bowling. We really need to go bowling soon.
     There are just so many really good webseries and Crash Course is one of my favorite educational series because you get the knowledge and you get the funny. Wait For It...The Mongols!: Crash Course World History #17
     This is cool.


Rants and screams:
     Sad news. I really enjoyed watching the WPS. I wish their had been some way they could have partnered with MLS the way the NBA does with the WNBA. I've watched more WPS than MLS and that's says a lot about what I think about the MLS and I might be wrong but I think the WPS closing down not only signals bad things for the WNBA but also the MLS. WPS closes it's doors
     Two Florida cities are on this? Probably because the place is so ass cracking hot and most of the people are asswhipes and that make it that you just would rather stay inside and read or if you go somewhere take a book so you don't have to ineract with other humans. America's Most Well Read Cities

    But what about the children's and their fragile little minds? Free Speech Advocates Score Victory in Utah

     Our government as a whole are condoning this type of hate speech from churches by allowing churches bigot celebrations to be tax free operations. This needs to end. These churches do nothing for the community and the country as a whole.  And I know a lot of churches are not saying things like this but are they coming out against this type of hate? Are they showing love to their fellow man and woman? Then you are justifying this speech by your silence.


     Need to start ending blog entries with things I know some people reading this will get their old panties up in a twist about and since I'm having lunch with a friend later here's something for you Tankgirl if you're reading this. And if you are wondering I found that video here on Jimmy Palmiotti's blogger.

Where I actually post a few reviews and the WPS

REVIEW: WONDER WOMAN - RISE OF THE OLYMPIAN

WONDER WOMAN: RISE OF THE OLYMPIAN

Writer, Gail Simone, Grant Morrison; Geoff Johns

Artist, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan; Bernard Chang

Published by DC Comics

I don't think anything Gail Simone could have written for Wonder Woman would have reached the level of fan anticipation for her becoming the writer on the series. Everyone for the longest time mentioned her writing the book every time they saw something negative with another writer taking the character.

I told myself the above as I checked this volume out from the library trying not to build this up in my head to a state of only finding disappointment. I'm trying to the same thinking about Neil Gaiman's upcoming episode for Doctor Who.

My only real problem with Rise Of The Olympian is the design of Genocide. I like everything from concept to the way she is written but the design looks like a generic 80's design. For a character that's suppose to be that big of an introduction to Wonder Woman's mythology they picked something that looks like some sort of plant character out of a Rob Liefeld early days image book. And green is not a good villain color.

Speaking of costume designs. I think the Gods stole their new threads from the Marvel character The Constructor. That really took me out of the story for a bit as the weird confused me. I hate when some weird confuses me because I love the weird, the weird is good...usually.

Now that design issues aside I really loved the artwork. The battles scenes were presented with tons of emotion and fury. You felt punches, you enjoyed the scenes shown to you. The drama and passion of the characters are right there for you.

I enjoyed this book in so many ways but it seemed to have so much crammed into it. The battles were cool, the drama build was exciting, the use of the wider DC Universe fit perfect, and you never go wrong with Gorilla Knights.

Also the variant covers for these issue are all poster worthy.

4 out of 5 Stars

(c)SYSTEM*PUBLISHING

BRIAN C. WILLIAMS

REVIEW: WONDER WOMAN - RISE OF THE OLYMPIAN

REVIEW: WONDER WOMAN - ENDS OF THE EARTH

WRITER: Gail Simone
ARTISTS: Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan; and Bernard Chang
COLORISTS: Brad Anderson and Kanila Tripp
LETTERS: Travis Lanham and Steve Wands

PUBLISHED BY DC COMICS

A really good action adventure collection of stories which crosses the human world and the worlds Wonder Woman inhabits in a combination of much enjoyment. Gail Simone is great at doing this and a core skill in telling a good superhero story in my opinion is this skill.

No matter if she's writing Wonder Woman, The Secret Six, or Birds Of Prey its so refreshing to have a writer who can blend all the facets of a comic book universe together with humor and raw energy. She can handle humor, horror, romance, and fuck it to the wall action. God when she decides to turn up any level within one of her stories it sure gets your attention.

Even with the great action my stand out favorite moments in this book are with the Gorilla Knights in the Wonder Woman The Movie story. Loved the main story because it got me thinking about George Perez's run on Wonder Woman. I think I shall pull Gods And Mortals off my DC bookcase. And that leads me to how much I love Gail Simone's run on this character. It sits right there nicely with the Perez run. 

3 OUT OF 5 STARS

(C)REVIEW BY BRIAN C. WILLIAMS

SYSTEM*PRODUCTIONS

REVIEW: WONDER WOMAN - ENDS OF THE EARTH

CHOCOLATE DRAGON

Here's a few quick star reviews of some stuff I read or watched in 2010. I'm going to try and get all up to date on my reviews in Jan so I can start from new in the new year.You can also find these at my GoodReads and LibraryThing accounts. I'm going to start posting reviews here and both of those places until I'm all caught up.

THE CHOCOLATE WAR
audio
2 out of 5 stars

PIRATE RADIO
dvd
3 out of 5 stars

BATMAN: DARK VICTORY
graphic novel
4 out of 5 stars

BATMAN: FALSE FACES
graphic novel
2 out of 5 stars

HULK: RED HULK
graphic novel
2 out of 5 stars

JLA: SALVATION RUN
graphic novel
3 out of 5 stars

THE AVENGERS: POWERLOSS
graphic novel
3 out of 5 stars

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
dvd
3 out of 5 stars

CHOCOLATE DRAGON

WONDER WOMAN: MISSION'S END

Written by Greg Rucka

Art by

 Rags Morales, Cliff Richards, David Lopez and various;

Cover by

J.G. Jones

This review is going to be full of spoilers; which I usually try to avoid but just to let you know...I'm letting you know.

I know a number of people had problems with Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, and The Omac Project but one thing I could never understand; which a lot of people had a problem with and the characters of Batman and Superman turned away their friendship with Wonder Woman over was her killing Maxwell Lord. So you would have rather she let him live after he told her under the influnce of the magic lasso that he would use Superman as a weapon of mass destrction? She's an Amazon warrior. She has never killed with ease but she saved lives in a very simple situation. It wasn't complicated to me. By them going after her they are basically saying her taking a moral stand is better than thousands of people dying by her not acting. Superman and Batman questioning her actions so strongly speak only of complete bullshit on their parts. Batman saying he is taking the high road with The Joker places blood on his hands every time The Joker kills and to say otherwise is also complete bullshit in my eyes. It's easy to say after the fact that things may have turned out differently if she hadn't killed Lord but she showed how much of a hero she truly is by making a hard choice during the split second she had to make that choice. That's what a hero does.

REVIEW BY WRITTEN BY BRIAN C. WILLIAMS

WONDER WOMAN: MISSION'S END

WONDER WOMAN: LAND OF THE DEAD

Written by Greg Rucka and Geoff Johns

Art by Rags Morales, Drew Johnson, Justiniano, Michael Bair, and others

Cover by J.G. Jones

Published by DC Comics

The further adventures of blind Wonder Woman sees a team up with The Flash, a trip to the underworld, Wonder Girl finding out who her father is, and maybe there is a traitor among Wonder Woman's allies?

A happy ending for a run of stories which have been pretty dark. Pretty good dark stories but still dark. With further appearances by The Cheeth, Zoom, and Hermes this collection is middle of the road but still very much worth the read for Wonder Woman and casual comics fans alike.

Sorry that review was even shorter than usual but I need to hit the bed sick. A librarian infected me..WITH KNOWLEDGE!...no, really, she got me sick and now I'm praying to the bathroom Gods.

REVIEW WRITTEN BY BRIAN C. WILLIAMS

WONDER WOMAN: LAND OF THE DEAD

WONDER WOMAN: EYES OF THE GORGON

Written by

Greg Rucka

Art by

Drew Johnson, James Raiz, Sean Phillips and Ray Snyder Cover by J.G. Jones

Published by

DC Comics

Because I wrote in my last review that Down To Earth would make a great Wonder Woman movie I have to start this review saying how Eyes Of The Gorgon would make a good sequal to that movie. The stakes are raised but so is the action, the action risen to an almost overboard level but I think that would work in a blockbuster summer movie.

I also enjoyed how in this trade collection the DC Universe and exspecially the Justice League and Batman were used in this story. I'm really enjoying Rucka's touch on the characters and how Wonder Woman's interests effect both of her worlds, the mortal and immortal realms.

WRITTEN BY BRIAN C. WILLIAMS

WONDER WOMAN: EYES OF THE GORGON

WONDER WOMAN: DOWN TO EARTH

Greg Rucka WRITER

Drew Johnson PENCILLER

Ray Snyder INKER

Richard & Tanya Horie; Trish Mulrihill COLORISTS

Todd Klein LETTER

CREATED BY

William Moulton Marston

PUBLISHED BY DC Comics

After picking up a number of Wonder Woman trades at one of our local libraries I found myself in a time of Wonder Woman reading starting with Down To Earth.

The first issue of this collection would make a great pre-credits seaquance for a movie and if we were talking about how to approach Wonder Woman movie in a movie as a whole Greg Rucka's run on the character wouldn't be that bad of a direction to go. I would have loved to have seen Joss Whedon do that movie but I guess we will have to live with him doing Avengers. I love Mr. Whedon's work but Avengers?

This collection has everything a blockbuster movie would need. It contains an underlined theme with Ares and the protesters going for sequals and has a big fight scene at the end. I recommend this trade and Rucka's Wonder Woman books as a whole. 3 out of 5 stars. I know, I don't always do stars for my reviews but most of the time my reviews don't really resemble a "review" that often either.

REVIEW WRITTEN BY BRIAN C. WILLIAMS

WONDER WOMAN: DOWN TO EARTH