Monday, October 27, 2008

Who we can expect to see in The Brave & The Bold.

Lifted from Newsarama, article found here: http://www.newsarama.com/tv/100827-Brave-Bold-Jelenic.html

Batman: The Brave & The Bold Cast

Warner Bros. issued an abbreviated list of characters that will be appearing on the show. Voice actors are listed whenever possible.

Batman/Bruce Wayne: Dietrich Bader
Aquaman: Jon DiMaggio
The Atom
Black Manta
Black Canary
Blue Beetle: Will Friedle
Booster Gold: Thomas Everett Scott
Bronze Tiger
Calendar Man: Jim Piddock
Cavalier: Greg Ellis
Clock King
Deadman
The Demon
Despero
Dr. Fate
Fire
Firestorm
The Flash
Gentleman Ghost
Gorilla Grodd
Green Arrow: James Arnold Taylor
Green Lantern Corp.
Guy Gardener: James Arnold Taylor
Jonah Hex
Huntress
Justice Society of America
Kamandi
Kanjar-Ro
Kite Man
Metamorpho
Ocean Master
Plastic Man: Tom Kenny
Red Tornado: Corey Burton
Skeets: Billy West
Sportsmaster
Adam Strange
Wildcat: R. Lee Ermey
Zebra Man

This show has Jonah Hex and a Wildcat voiced by R. Lee Emery. I am now officially stoked.

Stac

Friday, October 24, 2008

FOR ASGARD!

Got a lot on my plate right now, but reviews are on the way. By way of a peace offering, let me share something totally awesome:



Yes, yes, literary subtext and metaphor, Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth and all that B.A. English major jazz. . .if I were any proper Internet nerd I'd be kvetching about this detail and that. . .but come. On.

It's the Hulk.

It's Thor.

In Asgard.

Throwing down.

This is more metal than an Iced Earth, Manowar, and Dragonforce triple bill with special guest Slayer. And that, my friends, is pretty fucking metal.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Every day, in every way. . .


. . .the Watchmen movie looks just a little more utterly badass.

Stac

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

In lieu of absolutely nothing:

Captain Gravity and the Power of the Vril may well be the best trade paperback I've read all year. I was so afraid that the book wouldn't live up to anticipation wrought by it's cool cover and--quite frankly--badass title, but I'm burning through it at a heady clip and it is sheer, zesty, pulp fun of the best 1940s style. Get a copy if you're at all into pure fun and sheer joy.

'Remember: NOBODY ESCAPES THE LAW OF GRAVITY! '

Stac

Ps. A more detailed review will be provided later. I just. . .goddamn this book is awesome!

Monday, October 13, 2008

A Fine Canadian Turkey Day to you all.

Reviews are on the way for a wave of trades I've managed to get through this weekend, so I think the content wolves will be appeased by my business of late. I'm also thinking of putting some items together, such as a blend of motivational posters of the kind I put up on Saturday when the snark was strong upon me. There might-might-be some video content too, but I'm still a bit bashful for that sort of thing. We'll have to see.

Stac

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Because this is made of both joy and win:



Yeah, I know I posted this on my lj but it's too damn cool not to send everywhere.

Stac

The Cycle and thoughts on Fandom.

There are things you notice about yourself as you get older. Patterns of behavior that you come to expect, that you notice occuring consciously where once they simply took place on a level you couldn't recognize at the time. Over the years I've noticed something about my various passions for science fiction, fantasy, and horror and I found it interesting enough to try to set down and hash out a bit. There's also something new I'd like to touch on, but that'll be a topic for a later post.

I don't know about anyone else, but my fandom tends to move in a cycle. Sometimes I'll be way into Star Trek, and wax philosophical and at length about the various facets of Gene Roddenberry's space franchise to any in range who'll give me the time of day. Others I'll be really into Star Wars, and want nothing more than to discuss the intricacies of Jedi versus Sith philosophies and the zenlike inaccuracy of stormtrooper marksmanship. On still others I'll be into J. Michael Stracynski's epic saga of Babylon 5 and want to regale others with just how utterly awesome G'Kar was, and how Andreas Katsulas may have been the greatest actor on television period, leathery makeup or no. The latter case is especially apt these days as I'm on a huge B5 kick right now, watching the show from beginning to end and just drinking it in. Each time I watch it I think I come away with something different.

In reading I'm much the same. Sometimes I'll really want to delve into a good science fiction novel, maybe something epic like Herbert's Dune or Heinlein's Glory Road but I'm just as content opening the latest mass market Trek paperback if I think it's going to provide an escape. Sometimes I don't want the bells and whistles of SF, but read a (gasp!) contemporary novel. Taste is subjective and cyclical. And let's not even get started on my shifting taste in comics. We'd be here all day and into the night.

Am I alone in this pattern? I'm not too sure, but I hope not. I think you need to have a bit of variety in your passions and hobbies, if for no other reason than no one thing can sustain you over a long period of time. The people I've met through science fiction and fandom have all had other passions, other hobbies and pursuits that I think they move through much as I do through my own. I find it interesting that we often have these parallel tracks for our own pleasures, though we may define ourselves as one thing or another. It's interesting how that need for categorization seems to follow us from the world of the mundane, as if we need some kind of classification, some kind of label. Is that for our benefit, I wonder, or that of the world outside? I'm not sure. Maybe it's just some ingrained need in us for some form of heirarchy. Personally to me a fan is a fan is a fan, be you into superheroes, hard science fiction, or anthropormorphic art. As long as fun is being had, as long as you find others who share that passion and are peacable and friendly about it, there's no worries on this end.

I find the whole notion of fandom to just be fascinating in it's ability to create an almost instantaneous rapport between people. I was working the Red&White Club here in Calgary on Sunday with my brother, running a table and helping sell his wares when a couple of teenagers came to the booth. One was commenting quietly on the Spider-Man/Red Sonja trade we had for sale, so I opened up to the kid and dropped a few thoughts on Spider-Man. It was like throwing a switch. He instantly brightened and we had a good ten minute conversation about all things Spider-Man, X-Men, and Marvel in general. The kid went from shy and somewhat laconic to lit up and stoked, talking passionately and at length about his ideas for a fan script and the characters he'd created for it. He visited the booth a couple times after his purchase just to chat. It was amazingly cool, and a phenomenon that I never get enough of. We spend so much time concealing our fantasy lives from the real world that when we meet someone who gets it. . .oh, it's the sweetest feeling of all isn't it? Someone who understands, who shares our drive and our passion for the genre. At the end of the day I think that feeling of connection and community does a lot for us all personally.

I live for those kind of moments.

Stac