Progress on walls

That's all raiding folks. No buying gems here. The next wall upgrade is 200k per section. Not looking forward to that grind. All this is prep for upgrading my TH to level 8. 

Clash of Clans

Clash of Clans is my new crack. It is a game that forces you to employ short and long term strategy. It also teaches patience unless you want to spend a ton of money. Right now I am upgrading walls. I'm taking all those golden squares and replacing them with stronger, purple ones. Because I have nothing better to post, I will post daily progress. 

Farming Resources

I found a new vice. 

Movie Review - Pacific Rim

If you haven't seen the movie, please be aware there are spoilers below.

From Wikipedia - Pacific Rim is a 2013 American science fiction film directed by Guillermo del Toro, written by del Toro and Travis Beacham, and starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Rob Kazinsky, Max Martini, and Ron Perlman. The film is set in the 2020s, when Earth is under attack by Kaiju, colossal monsters which have emerged from a portal on the ocean floor. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers: gigantic humanoid mecha, each controlled by two pilots whose minds are joined by a neural bridge. Focusing on the war's later days, the story follows Raleigh Becket, a washed-up Jaeger pilot called out of retirement and teamed with rookie pilot Mako Mori in a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kaiju.

Months ago when I saw a trailer for this I was jazzed as could be.  The more I saw of it and the closer I got the the release date that excitement decreased a bit.  I walked into the theater cautiously optimistic today.  Since I was not completely sure of the quality of the film I elected to see it in standard digital projection - non 3D.  Other options were 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D Experience.  For the money and the expectation of a good popcorn action movie, I'd say it was worth it.

The special effects were good, and if you came to see giant robots fight giant monsters, you were in luck.  The vast majority of the movie was action scenes.  Some of the ideas in the film were really interesting like the rocket assisted punching and the brain link for the robot pilots.

There were some things that kept this from being a great movie.  The back story was great and although this was a fantasy, I could see the earth coming up with something like this when faced with this kind of threat.

Because of all the action sequences the movie was very light on character development.  The movie really wanted you to care about the folks in the movie, but really didn't give you a reason to.  Some of the reactions and decisions of the Jaeger pilots were nonsense, such as waiting until being carried to space before using a weapon to save the robot and themselves.  That's like bringing a knife to a fight and only using it when all else fails, even though the fight is too the death.

The story is very predictable and embraces every sci-fi action stereotype there is.  If you asked me to describe who would like this, I would say if you liked Transformers and/or Starship Troopers you will get a kick out of this movie.  I did.

Rating 3 out of 5 Kaiju Skin Mites

Comic Review - Image Comics - Lazarus #1

In a dystopian near-future, government is a quaint concept, resources are coveted, and possession is 100% of the law. A handful of Families rule, jealously guarding what they have and exploiting the Waste who struggle to survive in their domains. Forever Carlyle defends her family's holdings through deception and force as their protector, their Lazarus. Shot dead defending the family home, Forever's day goes downhill from there....
by Image Comics

Greg Rucka and Michael Lark (Gotham Central, among many other titles) have produced a wonderful book.  This is easily the best book I've read so far in 2013.  They create a world where there are several powerful families and each has a protector or "Lazarus" that is trained and, as we quickly learn, darn near invulnerable.  

We open with the main character, Forever Carlyle, getting the ever living crap kicked out of her.  Ultimately she is shot several times and seemingly dies...oh yeah...spoiler alert.

Forever comes to after being unconscious for a couple of minutes and kills all three of her assailants.  They were breaking into a locker to get food.  The scene is a flashback and she is recounting it to her doctor.  She seems to question if the punishment fit the crime.  

As the book unfolds we learn that society is pretty divided into three levels: Family, Serfs, and Waste.  Altercations seem to revolve around a lack of food and family rivalries.  Justice is swift and harsh, dished out by the family Lazarus.  

The book could go all kinds of places.  The creators have shown in the past they don't need superheroes to write compelling stories.  We could have story arcs that follow each of the families and I cannot wait.   

September is Villains Months for DC Comics

September is proving to be a controversial month in the comics industry with DC Comics pushing a total of 53 special 3D covered "Villains" issues.  Touted as a celebration of the 2 year anniversary of the New 52, DC is asking their customers to shell out over 200 bucks if you want all of them in a month that is traditionally down for sales.  Personally I think the 3D covers look cool, but that is a lot of money.

See - Joker is laughing at you for considering this.

If you care to get a book that will actually be worth a damn, try Batman Black and White #1.  It is written by a few different writers and features a cover by Marc Silvestri.

Also look for the second Batman trade which is the City of Owls story arc.  Excellent writing and art by the team on that book.  You can still get Vol. 1 that collects the Court of Owls story to complement this book.

Personally I like the Injustice: Gods Among Us hardcover that will collect issues 1-6.  I love this story even if it is based on a video game.  

What's with All the Variant Comic Book Covers?

Call me a completest I guess, but I am a fan of variant comic book covers if they are sold at cover price.  I find myself shying away from a variant that cam out yesterday that is being pushed at $24.99.  Who the hell knows what a book will be worth less than 30 days after is is published?  I get that a book is worth what the market will bear...so in a sense we've created this monster...

Great article addressing this "problem"(?)

http://comicsbeat.com/a-growing-sense-of-concern-over-variant-covers/

Just as an example, here is the listing for Superman Unchained released tomorrow:

Superman Unchained #1 (Brett Booth & Norm Rapmund 75th Anniversary New 52 Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Bruce Timm 75th Anniversary 1930s Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund 75th Anniversary Superman Reborn Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Dan Jurgens Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Dave Johnson 75th Anniversary Golden Age Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Director's Cut Edition)

Superman Unchained #1 (Jerry Ordway 75th Anniversary Modern Age Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Jim Lee & Scott Williams Black & White Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Jim Lee & Scott Williams Regular Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Jose Luis Garcia Lopez 75th Anniversary Silver Age Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Lee Bermejo 75th Anniversary Lex Luthor Variant Cover)

Superman Unchained #1 (Neal Adams 75th Anniversary Bronze Age Variant Cover)

All but the "Regular Cover" are listed as "AR" for a price.  I tend the cringe when I see that as I can usually count on at least $7.99 a book and it only get more expensive from there.

Saga Returning in August

 

Give this comic a shot if you like Star Wars. It can be pretty graphic but the story is solid. 

Tomorrow is Comic Book Day!

Yes tomorrow thousands of comic book fans will feel like the Jerk when the new phone book arrives!  I likely have a box full of comics to get but here are my picks for tomorrow (and last week):

Detective Comics #21

Green Lantern #21

Green Lantern Ring

Injustice Gods Among Us #4

Injustice Gods Among Us #5

Wake #1

East Of West #3

Morning Glories #27

Ten Grand #1

Ten Grand #2

Age Of Ultron #9

Avengers #13

Captain America #7

Daredevil Dark Nights #1

Iron Man #11

Kick-Ass 3 #1

Thunderbolts #10

Wolverine Comic Reader #1

X-Men #1

Stan Lee Q&A - Philly Comic Con

Stan the Man!

The highlight of my Philadelphia Comic Con was the Q&A with Stan Lee.  Stan is co-created Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and many other Marvel characters, introducing complex characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. In addition, he headed the first major successful challenge to the industry's censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, and forced it to reform its policies. Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Stan's partner on stage came out first with two pointers:

1. Please be respectful.
2. Stan is deaf as can be and he would be repeating the questions after they were asked. 

The Q&A started and did not let up.  He must have answered 60 questions and looked genuinely happy doing it.

Three questions were worth remembering.  Stan let us know that Lobo was really the only DC character he thought was any good.  He wears the glasses because his wife thinks the fans expect them.  Finally, a guy asked him who his real life heroes were and he said his heroes were a bunch of guys we wouldn't know who were service men he knew.  He also though FDR was a great president and hero.  He didn't think there have been many presidents that good since.

Stan is 90.  Stan isn't going to be around much longer.  If you get a chance you must see him while you can.  If he is in Philly next year I will get his autograph...maybe more than one.  One day we won't have Stan Lee on earth and that will be a sad day.

Michael Rooker Q&A - Philly Comic Con

After walking the floor for a while on Friday I sat in line for an hour and got to listen to Merle from the Walking Dead - Michael Rooker.  He was really entertaining.  He really enjoyed that show and I learned that he is going to be in the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  He is also a fan on deet and according to him the Walking Dead was a bunch of folks playing in the woods.  He let us know that he was a big contributor to the way Merle died and it was important to him to do down fighting.  I was on the first row and really enjoyed it.

Philly Comic Con Cosplay

Deadpool vs. Punisher

Red Hood, Spawn, and a ninja?

This guy was committed to Spawn.  If he lifted his mask, he was disfigured under it.

Great costume...couldn't string together a sentence.

Boba Fett

Disturbing...but a nice guy

Kick Ass and some chick...

Robin!

Blue Lantern?

IDK....But cool.

Spiderman was fighting Sonic all day.  Then the scary clown walked up and everyone ran...

Philly Comic Con Day 1

Thursday I was lucky enough to go to my first Comic Convention - Wizard World Philly.  I attended on a press pass that I was given by The Best Damn Nerd Show.  I have been looking forward to this for months and I sure didn't know what to expect at all.  The Con opened at 3pm on Thursday and I arrived around 2:30 to pick up my press credentials.  After waiting in a loooong line until 3:15 they finally let us in and I was taken aback by the size of the convention floor.  John Cena was at the Con and his fans were out in full force.  The doors opened and within 10 minutes the line to get his autograph was enormous.

Waiting for Cena

I took about 90 minutes to walk the floor and look at all of the vendors and artists tables.  Having never been to a convention of this size it was a little overwhelming.  I had been told a few weeks prior that this convention was "not about comics anymore" I was surprised to find that I could literally buy any comic I wanted here.  If I had the cash I could have gotten caught up on any New 52 or Marvel Now book I wanted.  This brings me to Rule #1:  Bring more money than you will think you need.

Autographs and comics and art are expensive.  Looking back I should have plunked down the cash to buy a comic that Stan Lee wrote and gotten him to sign it.  More on Stan later...

It wasn't long until I came upon the Romper Zombies.  These little treasures are a collectible figure that features little kids as zombies.  If I remember correctly they are toys, working on an app, a video game, a movie treatment, and a TV pilot.  They had a huge space and for some reason had beauty queens splattered with blood handing out brochures.

I kept on walking around a soon come upon an icon of my youth. The 1966 batmobile.

Just as I was reaching for my wallet to get my picture taken in it I looked to the left and made my day.

My favorite movie of all time is Back to the Future and for a $20 donation to TeamFox, I got my picture sitting in it and all the pictures I wanted to take inside it.  I would have paid $50.

 The remainder of my afternoon was spend in a panel entitled "Drawing Cult-Classics to Fairy Tales to Old School Comics featuring Bob McLeod and Chrissie Zullo.  Bob was, of course, co-creator of The New Mutants and drew all kinds of books from the early 70's to today.  I learned a couple of things:

1. Bob McLeod didn't like any writers he worked with because they would have ad books full of word balloons.  He also drew heroes out of necessity and really wanted to work for MAD Magazine.
2. Chrissie wanted to be a Disney animator and got into comics by being persistent.

After the panel I went to the artists booths and found Bob basically ignored and I resolved to bring my Spiderman comics on Friday for him to sign.  I talked to Chrissie for a few minutes and ended up buying a couple of awesome prints. 

To be continued on Day 2!

Comics This Week - Week of 5/22/2013

It was a bigger than usual week this week in comics for me, as my shop - The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington, DE - was having a Memorial Day/ "Thanks for making FCBD so great" sale.  They had several boxes of nice books marked at $3 including a bunch of McFarlane Amazing Spiderman issues that I have been looking for.  I picked up the six in my list below.  One of my pull list requests is "All Image #1s" due to the fact that I have missed several valuable and legitimately good reads in the past.  This week that yielded "The Bounce" #1.  This book has a wrap around cover and opens with a splash of a guy taking a hit off a bong.  I can't see where it is going and did not enjoy it.  I give it 2 out of 7 "Ranting Fanboys" because the art is decent.

Batman Li'l Gotham two came out this week.  I like the humor in this one.  I originally started taking this from my 6 year old son, but I think I enjoy it more than him.

I bought all the current issues of two series this week: Wolverine Max, which, based off of the one issue I read is very serious in tone and a solid story.

I also caught up on Captain America.  I haven't read it yet but I am a sucker for John Romita, Jr.  I will likely take the book until he drops.  

The diamond in the rough this week is "Half Past Danger #1"  I don't know how I ended up with this as it is IDW and I traditionally don't take that publisher.  I am glad it was mistakenly given to me as it is a good book.  I would recommend it to non superhero fans.

Till next time....

How I Got Back Into Comics

I just recently got back into collecting comics. I had previously collected when I was in high school. I remember my best friend and I going to Collector's Corner in Springdale, Arkansas and we would spend our McDonald's paycheck and way too much time pestering the guy behind the counter. Todd McFarlane had rebooted Spiderman (before rebooting was really a term) and the comics industry was booming.  Polybags were in and comics were selling a million copies.

                        

Then I got out.  Dating kicked in and my comics gathered dust.  That was OK though because the industry was mass produced crap.  There were bright shining moments, but for the most part it was bad.  Image was created, and while it was a cool concept, it was totally derivative of the tired concepts Marvel and DC had been overusing for years.

Fast forward 20 years.  Its literally a new landscape.  Iron Man, Cap, Hulk, even Thor had movies and some even sequels.  Marvel was a Disney property and an Avengers movie was eminent.  While I was still not buying comics, I had to admit they were back.  Then it happened, The Walking Dead debuted as a a show and it was popular.  I was intrigued and started looking into reading the comics.  I literally read 100 issues in a week.  It was like nothing I had ever seen.  I learned that both Marvel and DC were less than 24 issues into new runs of their books and Image was legit.  I found a comic store within 10 minutes of my house, now in Philadelphia, PA.  It was a great store, Showcase Comics and Games, and they had a subscription service.  I frequented that store for a few weeks until I found The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington, DE.  Tax free and the people were outstanding.  I spent an hour talking to the owner one day and left with free comics and a sense that they cared whether I was a customer or not.  They won me over and my pull list was moved, even though they are 25 minutes from my house.  You can see my pull list as it will stand tomorrow.  I got carried away and had built it up to 33 titles I think with a very aggressive stance on buying variants.  Next week I'll attend the Philly Comic Con.  Can't wait.

The King Daddy of them all is returning to the big screen...