Feeling Wordy...

Hey, everyone! Sorry for my absence lately...School has kicked into high gear and I'm drowning in homework. Speaking of, here is a short essay I wrote about my the comic shop where I work. It's part of an assignment on Show Vs. Tell language in writing. Comments and critiques are welcome!

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All is quiet at Legend Comics on this sunny Thursday afternoon. The radio is silent, allowing the dull roar of Leavenworth Street traffic to radiate through the large bay windows. I enjoy working on Thursdays. They don't have the chaotic pace of a New Comic Wednesday, but there's enough going on that the day goes by without dragging. As I walk around the shop, my senses drink in the space around me.

The front of the store is a bit cluttered. A rack of family friendly comics sits at an angle, its contents in a disarray from the attention of eager children. As I organize the display, the brightly colored covers fight for attention. Betty and Veronica mingle with the Muppets while Sonic the Hedgehog tries to steal Billy Batson's spot in the front. Nearby, a broken Captain America and the Avengers arcade machine gathers dust. The monitor tube blew out months ago, so the cabinet sits silently, the artwork on its side panels painting a picture of the potential fun trapped within.

Next to the game, a series of black shelves are bracketed to the wall. The wiry metal platforms are lined with prose by authors that I've always wanted to read but never have. Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions call out to me. Hunter S. Thompson falls into place on the shelf below Ayn Rand. Classic pulp stories featuring Doc Savage and the Shadow share prominence with C.S. Lewis's complete Narnia epic.

A row of jet black bookcases lines the crimson wall. The shelves sag under the weight of the stories contained within the volumes. The spines weave a rainbow pattern of bright colors. Red bleeds into green bleeds into blue bleeds into yellow. The tales told in these pages represents decades of fiction and would take years to absorb.

In the rear corner of the store, near a rack of out of print, cult classic DVDs, sit two tables lined with boxes. Contained within are discounted comics –marked down due to poor condition or lack of commercial interest. The tables' legs bow in protest under the weight of the thousands of issues. The musty smell of old newsprint takes me back to a simpler time. My childhood is in these boxes.

On the opposite wall, the new comics section spans half the length of the store. More wire racks stretch across the area. New and recent releases, titles two months old or less, litter the shelves. The books are divided by company. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman keep to themselves while Captain America, Spider-Man, and the X-Men huddle together. The pamphlets shine in the light, beams from above reflecting off of their high gloss covers. They have no scent. The aroma I remember so fondly has been traded away in favor of slick paper and state of the art printing. Next to the new release wall rest a series of back issue bins. These massive containers house comics that have been removed from the wall to make way for new product. Each compartment is full to bursting with comics. The section needs to be expanded, but nearly every inch of the store is spoken for. I see this as a sign that Legend is starting to outgrow its current location.

On my way back to the store's entrance, I pass two glass cases. One case stores an array of vintage toys. G.I. Joe and Star Wars figures and vehicles lie locked away from the hands of excited children. The case makes the figures look more like museum pieces, rather than the beloved playthings they once were. The other case holds older, more valuable comics. These issues date back to the 1940s and 50s and have the same terrible, wonderful odor as the comics from my own youth. Many of these fragile things are as brittle as dry leaves due to decades of exposure to various environments. Similar comics fill a short wooden rack attached to the wall behind the glass display.

As I leave, I pass by two small tables. New graphic novels look up at me, begging to be taken home. I take a moment to straighten the books, restoring the tables' clean and orderly appearance. Before long, these books will be filed into the row of bookcases, leaving room for new titles. I ignore their pleas and head out the door. There will be time for reading later. For now, I have a paper to write.

What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging...

I've been working on a Jack Knight Starman painting! This is a digital version (still in progress) of said painting, and I'll share both version once they're finished. Click the image to embiggen!

Happy Valentimes Day!

Here is the first of what I hope to be many samples of my artwork. This is a scan of the painting I made for my special lady for Valentine's Day--acrylic paint on canvas board.

I Never Want To Stop Playing Mass Effect 2.

I bought the first Mass Effect game when it was released in 2007. For reasons that I have completely forgotten, I never progressed past the first mission, my poor Commander Shepard wandering the halls of the Citadel without my guidance. Two years passed, and I never entertained the notion of giving the game a second chance.

I didn't pay too much attention when the Hype Machine for Mass Effect 2 first fired up, but the multiple trailers, developer interviews, and Internet chatter slowly started to get to me. Then, I started seeing these ads in my comic books every week:

If you read this blog, then you've probably seen them. There are five different ads, each featuring a different character, and they've been running in the pages of nearly every DC comic for the past several weeks. Finally, I read the Joystiq.com review of the game, which hailed it as "the best game BioWare has ever made and the best action RPG in history." The bastards had me.

I'm psychologically incapable of jumping into a new entertainment franchise without starting at the beginning, so I borrowed the first Mass Effect from my friend Chris and started playing through it. I very quickly made my way past the point where I stalled two years ago, and spent the next two weeks immersing myself in the Mass Effect universe. This past Thursday, I sat in the ridiculous leather lawyer's chair that I use for my desk and played for six hours straight. I finished the game, put on some proper pants, and drove straight to Nebraska Furniture Mart to pick up the sequel. It was as though I had been ensorceled.

Many of the original Mass Effect's gameplay mechanics have either been completely overhauled or removed entirely. Your character's move from a standstill to taking cover to springing into action is seamless. The annoying weapon overheating has been replaced by a much less annoying ammo system. The talent tree has been boiled down to the essential abilities. I don't have to obsess over whether I should use the assault rifle that does 10% more damage but is 20% less accurate or the one that does 10% LESS damage but is 20% MORE accurate. As far as I'm concerned, everything "wrong" with the first game has been tweaked for the better. And the story... Good Lord, the story... There was an unexpected moment in the first FIVE MINUTES of the game that literally took my breath away, and it just got better from there.

I'm not too far into the game, and I'm probably still riding high from my Mass Effect 1 marathon, so I don't know if I'll still be as impressed when I'm 40+ hours in. Right now, though...I'm hooked. I only have a single complaint so far: the on-screen text is too small to read on my standard definition TV. There's really only one logical fix for that, right? Unfortunately, me buying a giant HD-TV is a very long way away.

If you are interested in video games at all, even if you didn't like the first installment in the franchise, you should buy this game. Soon. I made it through the game's prologue and haven't touched it since. I think not being able to play may actually be killing me. I guess what I'm trying to say, in my typical, long-winded way, is that Mass Effect 2 is probably something that you should make happen in your life.

(Dialogue Tree artwork copyright 2010 Penny Arcade)

The Losers

For those not in the know, The Losers was an excellent Vertigo series by Andy Diggle (Daredevil, Hellblazer) and Jock (Green Arrow: Year One, Detective Comics). The series is about a group of CIA operatives that are betrayed and left for dead by their handler and their quest to get revenge and reclaim their lives. The series is awesome, and I highly recommend it.

Somebody had the great idea to make a movie based on the series starring Johnny Storm and Lt. Uhura. I've been hearing about it for a while now, but had no idea how far along it was until I saw this:



I am very excited...

While I have you here...

So, I've been thinking about what form I want this blog to take... The reviews are fun, but (at least for now) take me forever to write, so I thought it would be nice to feature other nerdy content--stuff that I could post to keep the blog active when I don't have the seven hours to spare to write a single review.

I talked to a cartoonist pal of mine who uses his blog (http://bobcartoonaweek.blogspot.com/) to post artwork that's he's done. I'm an amateur (captial "A") cartoonist myself, and I thought that might be a fun idea. I'm always looking for constructive feedback, positive or negative, and I think putting my stuff out there to the entire Internets (as opposed to just posting stuff on Facebook), could be beneficial to my work in the long run. Of course, I wouldn't just be posting stuff to stroke my own ego. I'd open up discussions on the latest comic book news, and maybe throw some video game thoughts out there from time to time.

I've created a new e-mail address (aquamaniswatchingyou@gmail.com), and site comments are always enabled for every post. I guess what I'm looking for from you guys are any thoughts or suggestions you may have. Is there anything you'd like to see? Let me know what you think...and thanks for reading!

Review: Starman #81

STARMAN #81
WRITER: JAMES ROBINSON
LAYOUTS: FERNANDO DAGNINO
FINISHES: BILL SIENKIEWICZ
COLORIST: MATT HOLLINGSWORTH
COVER BY TONY HARRIS
DC COMICS $2.99




***WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY (WILL) DISCUSS PLOT ELEMENTS OF THE STARMAN SERIES. BUT REALLY...SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE READ IT BY NOW?! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.***

"There was a city. A glorious and singular place."

With a line that echoes the opening of the very first issue, James Robinson returns to the series that he concluded nearly a decade ago...and it is great.

Opal City is normally a pretty quiet place. Street crime isn't really a problem these days, and though there is the occasional superhuman attack, Opal has always had protectors to keep her safe. Opal's usual champion is away when a fallen member of the city's most famous crime fighting family is corrupted by a black ring. Only The Shade stands in the way of the Black Lantern's murderous rampage.

Starman #81 was arguably the most anticipated "resurrected" title tying into DC's Blackest Night crossover. I was apprehensive when it was announced that James Robinson would be bringing Starman back for an issue. Not because I thought Robinson wouldn't be able to "go home again," but because the idea of bringing back my favorite comic of all time just to take part in a crossover didn't sit well with me. I'm happy to report that, while this issue is definitely zombie superhero heavy, there's quite a bit for long-time Starman fans to latch on to.

The issue begins with a revisit to the tragic death of David Knight, who was killed barely a week into his career as Starman. Robinson's choice to use David as the Black Lantern is a wise one, as the alternative (Ted) would have just seemed wrong. David was never the most likable character (not in life, at least), so seeing a twisted version of him as the villain of the story is satisfying, rather than upsetting. We quickly move to the Starman Museum, for a rundown on life in Opal City. On these pages, Robinson gives us a quick update on the Starman cast--Jack Knight is still happily retired, Bobo Bennetti and the O'Dare family are still fighting the good fight, and people still don't know what to make of The Shade. There's a strange sequence showing the zombie David stealing a cosmic rod. This rod is never seen again--David is shown shooting energy from his hands, but never the stolen weapon. Now that I'm thinking about it, why didn't he just use his Black Lantern ring to recreate his weapon like every other resurrected character? This small speed bump aside, the rest of the issue is outstanding.

As the issue progresses, even during the battle between Shade and David, Robinson reveals the fates of his Starman supporting cast--The Shade's relationship with Hope. Mason and Charity happily married with a baby on the way. The supporting cast was one of things that set Starman a cut above other comics, and Robinson lets us know that the characters have been living on since the series ended.

For me, Robinson's writing style is so tied to Opal City and the Starman family, that it sometimes seems out of place in other titles. Robinson is right at home here, and his style just feels right. The art, however, feels very, very wrong. I'm not fond of Fernando Dagnino as an artist. Bill Sienkiewicz is a fantastic artist, but his style can be...difficult at times. With Dagnino on layouts and Sienkiewicz on finishes, the artists team up with pretty decent results. The problem is that the art does not feel right for a Starman book. Though there were guest artists from time to time, Starman had a pretty consistent artistic style--Tony Harris and Peter Snejbjerg crafted the look of Opal City and her citizens for the length of the series. The art in Starman #81, while well executed, just feels...off. I know "it feels wrong" is an unusual critical response, but I think long time Starman fans will understand where I'm coming from, even if they don't agree.

I would have been happy without a new issue of Starman. The series ended so perfectly that I was content knowing that Jack Knight and his friends found their happy endings. This issue was the return to these characters that I didn't know I wanted. Robinson has hinted that he will be working on more Shade stories in the coming year and I welcome them. Though I had a couple of problems with the issue, after reading Starman #81, I'm glad that James Robinson has more Opal City stories to tell.