When I was reading through the old blog posts, I saw we spent a lot of time saying that this planned strip or that one would be late for various reasons. In re-launching the site I wanted to basically not do that.
I have three story lines planned for Lisa right now, and some artwork drawn for one of them. So the only reason for not having updates up is that there is quite a bit of work between planning a story, drawing it, and turning it into something that can be shown. Why haven’t I done all that work? Well, there’s the whole business about how poorly this business pays.
I have been working on getting myself on a paid/free work schedule, but was struck (literally) with a debilitating illness. During my weekly robot fighting training sessions, I got hit in the head with a boxing glove arrow. This knocked most of the calcium in my inner ear loose. The result has been a rousing bout of vertigo, punctuated by singing and dancing robots.
The singing might have been thunderstorms.
So, there will be updates, but I can only really work on them when the room isn’t spinning.
To simply say, “Joss Whedon is my master, now,” fails to encapsulate The Avengers, and omits the other people who made this one of those rare films which actually lives up to expectations.
My problems with the film are few, and trivial. Absent from the Avengers are original members Dr. Henry Pym, “Giant Man / Ant Man.” and his girlfriend, Janet van Dyne, “Wasp.” Instead, we have Black Widow and Hawkeye. But, when it comes to saving the world, Ant Man is ridiculous in a way that Jeremy Renner’s portrayal of the guy who brings a bow to a gun fight was believable. Unlike her part in Iron Man 2, here, Scarlett Johansson demonstrates that she can actually act. The 3 word version of this review relates to her throwing a leg-lock on the neck of the “luckiest stuntman, ever.”
I always forget how much I adore Captain America. Chris Evans portrays him flawlessly. I had my doubts about Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark… four years ago. I would have preferred Ed Norton’s Bruce Banner to Mark Ruffalo’s, but then I’d probably go to see Ed Norton read from a phone book. Thor is better in this film than in his own. Hemsworth is a good choice in both.
I really like Samuel L. Jackson, in almost anything, but I don’t quite “feel” him as SHIELD’s director, Nick Fury. For me, Nick Fury was still once Sergeant Fury, leader of the Howling Commandos, and the “other” Captain America. Jackson just doesn’t convey grizzled WW2 veteran turned cold war spy whose life has been so agonizingly prolonged by the super serum that he must now be a politician. Colbie Smulders (Robin “Sparkles” Scherbatsky in How I Met Your Mother) is not well demonstrated as an action heroine. But she isn’t really supposed to be. Maria Hill is a SHIELD agent, so she has a sort of professional directness that comes off a little stiff, but appropriate.
The prolonged action sequence which comprises the third act provides hope that Hollywood has finally remembered why the “steady cam” was invented. The Avengers manages to buck Hollywood action trends on most of my pet peeves. In the first scene, Loki shows up to steal the MacGuffin from gun-tottin’ soldiers ready to shoot. When they do, almost every bullet… HITS! Amidst the wildly chaotic battles, the cameraman is NOT getting thrashed by an off screen menace flailing the camera about like an epileptic in a strobe lit meth lab. Everything is on screen, in focus, and well lit. The actions, not the hyperactivity, thrills the audience.
Is summer over because The Avengers came out? Give me a break. The sun’s rays are perpendicular north of the equator, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spiderman still have release dates. Should you let summer go by without seeing The Avengers? Only, if you’re just waiting two and a half hours to see “Hurt Locker” use a boxing glove arrow.
(Because that’s Green Arrow from DC Comics.)
Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, and I found myself in a position to be selling comics to strangers.
Free Comic Book Day is a national “holiday” in which participating retailers can purchase, from participating comic publishers, through the largest North American comic distributor, reduced price, specially produced and marked editions of comic titles to give away.
As a publisher, we chose not to participate in Free Comic Book Day this year.
Our comic product is always free. We do not charge individual consumers anything for reading the comics we publish to the website. That’s not to say we don’t produce work for other publishers, who pay us, and will charge you to own a copy. Nor are we saying we won’t ever charge, because we will produce printed and three dimensional items which we will sell for money.
But the comics made directly available from us, as displayed on our website, are free to you to freely enjoy, or not.
You’re going to a private event with some close friends. When you get to the dining room, the door opens to reveal the man who wants you dead sitting at the head of the table.
You’ve been betrayed!
Do you:
A. Stand in shock as your betrayer explains his plot and why you are powerless to stop it, because he set off the super bomb that makes it look like Dr. Manhattan attacked New York, while you were busy flying to his castle in Antarctica.
B. Turn to run and warn others, accidentally uttering the name of the guy carrying your plan to defeat evil. Only to have the door slammed shut, before you get tossed around like a rag doll and imprisoned on top of Orthanc for a few months.
C. Accept the inevitability of death, and stand there while your former mafia associate shoots you in the face for killing Billy Batts, instead of making you a made man. Your last words being, “Aw no.”
D. Without hesitation, draw your blaster and start firing at the villain. Even though Darth Vader is immune, you continue shooting, scoring hits with every shot, until he uses the force to take your gun away from you.
George Lucas honestly expects me to believe that it is even within the realm of possibility that Greedo got a shot off? First? At the same time?
No, I’m afraid that I don’t buy it, not even as a result of post mortem muscle twitch!
Tags: Han F@#$ing Shot First B30t¢#es!
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