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You know, I will see this no matter how good or bad. It’s how I roll for the MM. Though honestly, I didn’t know Mighty was a subversive take on Superman in comic book form originally (though the 80s short lived reboot was superb).

In the in between time I busied myself by reading one novel, starting another, watching Lost, beginning The Wire, and downloading Red Alert 3 for my Mac from Direct2drive. ( d2d had a great sale on Mac games. I know, I know, there aren’t that many of them, but what is there is good. Plus, you Mac haters might shut your pie holes a little in April when Valve unleashes Steam for Mac.)

Anyway, here are a few micro reviews of what I have been doing:

Reads

In the past month I tore through Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. A description of the book posted on Amazon describes it as “a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands.” – Amazon

“a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. ”

Of course the novel ends up being more than that. Death becomes a character who reflects on humanity as fearsome and scary, and his job as a choir over-all.  Liesel Meminger though is a small gem and miracle amongst us in Death’s world. Liesel’s story ultimately says something about kindness and quiet dignity. Zusak’s oddly narrated story is endearing and reflective of something bigger so few of us are actually willing to look at – the pitiful degradations we put one another through, while missing the simple beauty and kindness of a few. The Book Thief is one of those top tier books I will probably read again and again.

I also started Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon and it is completely different. The book is a choir in the first few pages. I’m still waiting to be hooked. The depressed tone of interlinking plots of souls adrift Chaon maps out may be too much for end of the winter doldrums. I keep reading though.

Television

Lost:

Lies! All lies. Those damn ABC promos promising new reveals and new answers every episode are lies. I believed them for the first week or so too until each episode’s plot had me as baffled as shit and coming up with new theories every week. Honestly though, if everything were given away with still weeks left I guess having all the answers would be kind of ridiculous. But still.

Over-all I feel the series is particularly strong for an ending. I find the sideways storylines to be intriguing and a nice narrative bookend to the beginning of the series where pieces of the casts’ lives were revealed without any clear sense of where we as viewers might end up. The mix of outcomes in the parallel reality is intriguing. For some characters the situation would be so much better, for others bittersweet, and for some, like Charlie, horrible.

And what is happening on the island is insane. Some of my favorite characters are being drug through the coals, while others just remain annoying. Poor, poor Sayid. And how have producers and writers introduced even more new characters, given them enough background to let me engage them on some level, and then discard a few all within a short time span? Tight writing, editing, and directing I suppose.

Over-all, I am not disappointed yet with the grand swan song of one of my favorite series.

Archer

Archer is a first run animated spy agency spoof that appears on FX. The main story centers around a self-absorbed man of mystery named Sterling Archer and his baffoonish interaction with his equally self-centered mother, Malory Archer, who runs spy agency ISIS, ex-girlfriend and fellow spy Lana Kane, and comptroller Cyril Figgis.

The humor in the series is bawdy (there is usually one dead hooker/dead hooker joke per episode) and is able to maintain humor for its 20 or so minutes of airtime.

In some strange ways the show’s humor is  reminescent of Arrested Development with its timing and dialogue. This might have something to do with the fact that actress Jessica Walters voices mother Malory and was the matriarch of that other late, lamented series. Her Mallory character definitely treats her child the same way as Lucille Bluthe did her brood.

Luckily, for me anyway, FX announced it already ordered up a second season of the show. Lucky for everyone else, FX has a practice of re-airing episodes of their regular series on a consistent basis in order for everyone else to catch up.

The Wire

I am ashamed. This series aired from 2002-2008 and within that time frame I saw zero episodes. I heard raves, pleadings, and pledged to see this series, but was never willing to pony up the subscription to HBO. When seasons came out on DVD, they got pushed down my Netflix que. If there is a sacrifice I need to make to the great television gods for this, I willing do so. I was a fool not to heed the warnings of my friends and professional reviewers.

I am just now mid-way through season one. The show had me at the first five minutes. It is a tightly written drama with all of the cops-and-drug-dealer grit I can handle set in Baltimore. The dialogue has me speaking differently after each marathon viewing session. Pacing is phenomenal. The characters are engaging enough to hook me by episode two.

Of course, as I said, I should have doubted none of this since the show is created by David Simon, who also gave us Homicide: Life on the Street, another great little crime drama set in Baltimore, which was, up until The Wire, the best damn little crime drama in the last 20 years on television.

And finally, a show to look forward to:

Justified

Though the pilot has yet to air, I am curious about this show set in Harlan, KY. Being born and raised in the state what I gather from commercials is FX creators took the Dukes of Hazard, gave them bazookas a white supremist chip on their shoulders, and then brought a cowboy to town to clean things up. Besides locale, I find the concept intriguing enough to see it, because it seems to be an interesting mish-mash of genres (Western and crime). Also, lead actor Timothy Olyphant as Raylin Givins, the new sheriff in town, brings enough attitude to pull off a Clint Eastwood draw to make you want to see him kick ass.

In that character there is also a good chance for High Plains Drifter to meet Dirty Harry, since I expect Givins to bring some big city problems hinted at in the commercials to his small home town. Of course this might reflect more on the similarities of the character’s Eastwood played than any nuanced differences.

Anyway, I’m back in the saddle and will be back with more reflections as soon as I visit the local comic shop.

Honestly though, with the knowledge there will be at least two more appearances before David Tennant steps down as The Doctor and his new replacement, Matt Smith, steps in the peril was obviously little. Instead Planet of the Dead viewed as a light hearted love song, with perhaps subtle themes to the Doctor’s end being sown (The Doctor feels this might be planned). There was very little actual push towards the end until the final few moments of the episode.

Tennant’s Doctor does a nice job summarizing the major part of his character’s evolution and arch throughout the episode.

One scene deftly illustrates the nature of who The Doctor is when he points out that the most important things are the everyday ones like food, home, and people we love when trying to assure passengers on a bus that traveled to a barren planet through a wormhole that they will be okay. After receiving a cheeky response from Lady Christina de Souza, his stand in companion for the episode, about him being just all full of hope The Doctor hits the nail on the head.

“I live in hope,” he dead pan responds.

As the series progresses other small nuances of the 10th Doctor’s character quirks are brought to light as well. As we learn that a mindless alien horde has devoured the planet the Doctor and bus crew were sucked into, and that they are also the source of the wormhole that will lead the horde to Earth to devour it too, The Doctor, and Lady de Souza become quite animated. We see the familiar gleam of Tennant’s Doctor rising to the challenge of beating an almost unbeatable set of circumstances

“The worse it gets the more I love it,” The Doctor exclaims.

“Me too,” said Lady de Souza, played by the wonderfully sassy and strong Michelle Ryan.

Perhaps the saddest part of the whole series is the fact that Ryan was not able to become a more permanent fixture in the Who Universe. I fell in love with her interaction with Tennant almost immediately.

The episode ends with the help of some lovely secondary casts members such as Professor Malcom Taylor played by Lee Evans. Taylor is a professor on the Earth side of the rift who ultimately acts heroic by standing up to his superior in UNIT in waiting for the Doctor to come through before closing the wormhole. He is also ga-ga for the Doctor and hangs onto every little word the Doctor speaks to him through one of his “doctored” cell phones from the Planet of the Dead.

Malcom can also be viewed as a stand in for many fans of Tennant’s Doctor at the end of the episode, when finally meeting the Doctor in person all Taylor can do is grab him and say “I love you. I love you.”

After what appears to be a nice and tidy solution, with The Doctor receiving a huge round of applause and love the audience is reminded that Tennant’s end as The Doctor is near. Carmen, a clairvoyant psychic, tells The Doctor  an unnamed it travels back through the dark and that “he” will come with four knocks. This of course is setting up the 10th Doctor’s demise.

We still have one more Tennant/Doctor mini- movie to go with Waters of Mars before the final episode.

And looking ahead, some details were revealed on the ending of the 10th Doctor on Sunday, July 26 during the San Diego Comic-Con conclusion which Tennant and Russel T. Davies attended.

It seems that The Master will return to bridge between the 10th and 11th Doctor and that Timothy Dalton plays a mysterious role, possibly as another Time Lord? Ah, the speculation begins. And I must say, I’ve learned to love every version of the Doctor from my introduction to him played by Tom Baker in repeats of Doctor Who on my local PBS station as a child throughout the reboot. And Tennant himself reflected that sentiment too, according to the What’s Alan Watching? blog coverage of the SDCC panel.

“And I never forgot him, or loved him any less, but then Peter Davison came along, and within three weeks, I thought he was the best. I think that’s what makes the show go on forever.”

As the plot continues the emphasis on family, and need for it, becomes more apparent. Rhys is integrated into the Torchwood team as the group finds new digs and takes on creative approaches to furnishing it. The warm and fuzzies don’t last though, in a tongue and cheek way when Rhys realizes Jack knew before himself about Gwen’s pregnancy. He storms off with Gwen chasing, a metaphor for the strengths and trials of family life.

Ianto cements this by saying  ruefully to Jack, “All together, the old team.”

The humor and bonding continues for about the first half of the third day as a montage plays out of team Torchwood actually breaking laws.

“If they are going to treat us like criminals, lets be criminals,” Gwen says as they all go on a pick-pocket and grafting spree.

Another touching moment is played out between Jack and Ianto to soften Jack’s character for a stiff slap to what the viewer thinks they know of Jack later.

As Ianto muses about Jack’s immortality (and his own mortality) he concludes, “”You best make the best of it then.”

And, as the show progresses Jack really should have because his daughter and grandson we are introduced to in Day One are taken in by the government, who in turn give us some more backstory about Jack’s little family unit, and the 456 arrive.

What we can see of the 456 show them to be a grossly tentacled and slimy mess within their glass tank. Government squabbling and the inane behavior of elected politicians ensue, with an even more damning meta-commentary on the civil servants, as seen by Frobisher, who keep it going.

Basically, a lot of sweeping exposition and action that move the actual mystery forward take place in Day Three, compared to Day Two. Torchwood quite literally is reminded it operates outside the law, with a hint that this may not have always been so as is revealed with the introduction of Jack to Clem MacDonald, the sole boy to escape the 1965 event that introduced the British Empire to the 456.

We learn just how far Jack is willing to go for a mission, but why that mission was is still rather vague. In the end what we are left with is an episode, the center point for the whole mini-series that propels us forward. Into what we are not sure. What perhaps should have been the lowest point for the team, the destruction of Torchwood base has passed. The teams been reunited. They have their own space again. And it looks as if they are racing to save the universe with the helps of Lois and those with a conscious. And the very real theme of family, and what would a person do for it is emphasized family by the demands of the 456.

The question is, how much worse can it get for the team in two days?

(Is it wrong to admit that I don’t watch tons of television?)

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2

Green Lantern #44

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter HC

Wednesday Comics #3

I know there are a lot of great hero books out there, but I’ve decided to try to limit my big one to GL right now. As far as offbeat hero books are concerned, I’ve been told Ed Brubaker’s Incognito is a must.

This is perhaps the lamest question to ask, and I know there are a ton of podcasts out there that talk new comics each week, but which books should I absolutely be reading right now and why?

I’m not saying it doesn’t have the potential to be a good movie with Raimi at the helm (definitely skeptical though), it’s just hilarious that Hollywood is jumping over anything with geek culture.  We are taking over the world!

I loved Raimi’s first two Spidey movies and want to see Drag Me to Hell after hearing the horror flick was surprisingly better than its trailer made it appear. Plus, come on, he’s the legendary director of the Evil Dead series.

I’m sure a lot of fans of WoW will be stoked, but I have yet to see, or ever been excited to see a video game film adaptation since I was so disappointed with Street Fighter (<– a funny).  I don’t know why I have more of a problem with video game adaptations than comic books, but these movies so often smell of quick buck opportunism (not that comic book movies historically have not). Perhaps that is because Raimi hasn’t made this great one yet?

Technorati Tags: Raimi, WoW

“I’m loyal to nothing…except the Dream.”

– Captain America

Jumping straight into the destruction we are left with in Day One, Day two starts with Gwen Cooper deafened and evacuating the crater that was formerly Torchwood headquarters. The shear scope of destruction is established by wide shots, allowing the viewer to see just how epic this story is. Besides the occassional monster we’ve rarely seen destruction of this scale in the Torchwood universe (though blowing up buildings such as Whitehall is pretty regular in the new Doctor Who Universe.)

Almost immediately we’re given a tone for the night’s episode. Government agents sent for clean up attempt to kill Gwen immediately. She handles them with ease, takes their guns and winds up in a double handed gun shoot out with a sharp shooter while trying to make her escape (not bad for a pregnant woman).  The action from this point forward is taunt and littered with solid acting and some great dialogue.

The female government agent, Johnson, we meet at the end of season one begins the pursuit of Gwen almost immediately with the inadvertent help of PC Andy Davidson.

We get a hint of the humor under pressure presented when Gwen, cornered starts shooting at the vehicle Johnson and Davidson, whose not convinced Gwen is a terrorist as he’s been told.

“What kind of terrorist shoots the wheels?” Davidson asks.

“A clever one,” Johnson replies with deadpan delivery.

It is this play of words that keeps the plot moving as fast as the action. The rest of the episode is a good guys on the run scenerio  that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The idea of family also continues to play out between four prevelant camps in the episode. Those camps are the government players, including scenes with John Frobisher and the fear he has for his family, Gwen and Rhys who reunite after Gwen’s escape from Johnson and her agents, Ianto who receives help from his sister and brother-in-law, and definitely not last, Captain Jack, whose family is a culmination of all of the above.

It is Jack’s tale that is perhaps most harrowing, and if anyone has a beef to send them over the edge it would be him. We get to see just how true the fact is that he can never die and what that actually means. In relation to this a guard sums up best what Captain Jack has echoed about his condition in the past. He says, approximately, “If that’s living perhaps he should have remained dead.” In that moment Jack’s character is made immediately more sympathetic. What comes next for him is horrifying.

By the end of Day Two though the team of course is reunited through some great surprises and daring do and help from Lois Habiba, the government assistant with the inside track and conscious. She also echoes another common theme in the Doctor Who universe when she makes note that Torchwood appears to be neither good nor bad, that there are elements in our universe that transcend such simple moral dichotomies.

And unlike the day earlier there is only one new incident of children standing still, this time to announce the 456 will arrive, tomorrow. The  day ends with the government having deciphered transmitted plans for an environmental facility we can only assume is there to contain the 456 and having built it. Mr. Dekker is used to coyly make some illusions to other aliens seen in Cardiff, particularly the Sleveen <sp> who had a little bit of a gas problem in their episodes, in anticipation for their arrival by the audience.

Over-all epsisode two does well to move the action forward, if not necessarily advance plot points by quantum leaps. If we do get to meet the 456 in the pivot point of the mini-series the storyline should be fast and furious. And we still have Clem MacDonald roaming the streets, waiting to play his part.

.

action from the get go.

Well let me carry the bag. You want your trigger finger free don’t cha? Rhys Williams

“We’re the only family he’s got” Ianto’s brother in law

Body bag morgue of Jack Harkness, creepy

If you aren’t the bad guys, but you aren’t the good guys then who do I work for? Idea  that some things transcend traditional ideas of good or evil.

Torture of Jack unbelievable.