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Startling Stories: The Thing – Night Falls On Yancy Street (2003) #2
Dorkin’s pacing is still excellent this issue, maybe even more than in the last one. And I guess this issue is somewhat better, even if Haspiel’s artwork fails to impress (he does a lot of superhero stuff in the second half and most of it falls flat). What’s troubling is Dorkin’s characterization of Ben. The… 📖
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Startling Stories: The Thing – Night Falls On Yancy Street (2003) #1
I’m not particularly literate in Fantastic Four, but even I have read this comic before. It’s Ben Grimm all upset about being the Thing so he hoofs it back to Yancy Street so he feels better about himself. It’s pretty much every Thing comic stereotype thrown into an issue, with the possible exception of a… 📖
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Neonomicon (2010) #4
It’s an imaginative conclusion and it’s… okay. It’s beneath Moore, sure, and I’m sorry he took such a—there’s no other word for it—fan-fic way out. But it’s okay. It doesn’t quite make having reread The Courtyard worth it but he comes really close with it. Moore kind of takes something one might think is completely… 📖
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Neonomicon (2010) #3
How delayed was this book? And it reads in three or four minutes? Here’s where Moore’s either going to go someplace interesting or he’s going to go the Avatar place…. This issue introduces this awesome possibility for the story, totally different than where the previous issue led it. And, of course, it could all just… 📖
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Neonomicon (2010) #2
Is Moore trying to prove some kind of point? It’s a little strange seeing Jacen Burrows do an actual Moore script, by the way. I’m used to far more finished artists. Anyway… this issue is split basically in two. The first half is Moore doing Lovecraftian fan-fiction. It turns out Neonomicon isn’t set in Lovecraft… 📖
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Neonomicon (2010) #1
Now, I think Moore said in an interview he did this comic to pay for some back taxes. It shows, but it’s Alan Moore writing a comic for a paycheck so it still has a good level of competency… if not imagination. About a quarter of the issue—which is mostly dialogue, as I guess Moore… 📖
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The Courtyard (2003) #2
Ah, I misremembered. I thought this issue ended with an insanely graphic scene. It doesn’t, it’s all implied… which means on the second reading (or whatever) it’s a lot less intense. There are three or four double-page spreads here, so I guess Burrows does get to do some work. It’s good he gets to do… 📖
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The Courtyard (2003) #1
Not having read Alan Moore’s original short story… I have to wonder if Antony Johnston added all the racial slurs to make The Courtyard seem more “authentic.” I’ve read the comic before (so I remember the big reveal)—I did not remember, however, the titular courtyard doesn’t even show up until the second issue—but it was… 📖
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Danny the Dog (2005, Louis Leterrier)
Danny the Dog is better than it should be–it’s not as good as it could have been, but it’s definitely better than it should be. The film finally gives Jet Li an appropriate English language role. Here, he can turn in a decent performance while doing his physical stuff. Li’s very likable (maybe because he’s… 📖
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Thank You Mask Man (1971, Jeff Hale)
I’m not even sure how to describe Thank You Mask Man. It’s a Lenny Bruce routine animated-it’s about the Lone Ranger and Tonto, which isn’t completely clear at the beginning. At the beginning, it’s more about the idea of a hero and the problem with him not accepting thanks for his actions. He’s too busy… 📖
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Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, Kevin Reynolds), the extended version
It’s sort of amazing how little personality Kevin Reynolds brings to Robin Hood. I suppose his direction is adequate, but his shots are absent any creativity. Of course, maybe the shots were very creative and then Michael Kamen’s score–a combining, for the most part, of his Die Hard and Lethal Weapon scores–came in and ruined… 📖
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Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004) #4
Reading this last issue, it’s like Willingham wanted to write himself into a corner so no one would ask for another Thessaly series. He just stops the series, sort of admitting defeat (or disinterest) on the last page. I suppose he foreshadows the ending earlier, when he’s got Thessaly freeing all her minions. These are… 📖
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Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004) #3
Okay, I clearly don’t have a clue what Willingham is going for here. The entire story is flashback, but framed by Thessaly telling Fetch her adventures while away from him. She was gone for six years (it seemed like a week to him) researching how she might slay the monster he’s inadvertently sicced on them.… 📖
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The Route V50 (2004, Stephen Frears)
It’s clearly an extended Volvo commercial starring Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Stephen Frears, but I also think The Route V50 is based on an essay someone wrote to accompany a book of photographs (photographed by someone else). A French someone and a French someone else. If that assumption is correct, it should be… 📖
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Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004) #2
Willingham and McManus do a lovely talking heads issue. It’s not entirely talking heads—McManus has a very complex two page spread, something he excels at—but it’s mostly a talking heads issue. What’s so strange about the issue is how little Willingham cares about presenting a big narrative, or even the impression of one. A lot… 📖
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Frankenstein Unbound (1990, Roger Corman)
After destroying the future trying to save the environment, scientist John Hurt goes into the past where he finds the events of Frankenstein (the novel) unfolding around him, with Mary Shelley (Bridget Fonda) witnessing Dr. Frankenstein’s descent into madness. Raul Julia’s an amazing Frankenstein, Nick Brimble’s an amazing monster. Hurt’s a tad passive but very… 📖
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Thessaly: Witch for Hire (2004) #1
Willingham is in very comfortable territory with this issue. It sort of resembles the first series, but with the charm factor increased. It doesn’t hurt the issue is set in Italy and McManus is fabulous at drawing scenery so the whole issue is lovely. And Willingham does come up with a good story for the… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #150
Seeing Kev Walker draw Iron Man is frightening. I think he based the armor off a toaster. But, once again, Walker’s able to integrate Parker’s odd fantasy elements—this issue, the majority of the action takes place in some idyllic countryside with talking frogs and such—and the issue works. Parker shows his cards here—he plots well… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #149
I see what Parker’s trying to do overall but it doesn’t work. He’s even left with a confusing end narration. The rest of the issue doesn’t have any narration so I’m not even sure who’s point of view the last page’s narration is from. I suppose I could have given it some thought, but Thunderbolts… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #148
I can’t believe it… I miss Kev Walker. Not for the whole issue, of course. Declan Shalvey does a fine job with all the lead-up stuff—Luke’s in New York because of the “Shadowland” crossover (which seems like it’s really lame). He calls in the team—in an abuse of his authority—to go look for a friend’s… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #147
Poor Parker… they stuck him with an Avengers Academy crossover. It’s set up like a “scared straight” thing for superheroes and it’s an idiotic idea. The story shows all the reasons it’s totally unbelievable anyone would willy-nilly stroll around the Raft. And having Hank Pym as a tour guide doesn’t sound safe. Parker uses John… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #146
Once again with the Walker art… he does fine during the battle scene, but when he’s doing anything else, it’s absolutely rancid. I’m not sure why, but during regular scenes, he draws Luke as mildly deformed, like one of the Un-Men. This issue again has the Thunderbolts fighting monsters. I wasn’t aware they were the… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #145
Okay, Parker’s getting the series on course here. It’s not perfect—Thunderbolts is still kind of a stupid idea (doesn’t DC have their own Thunderbolts series now too—or is it Suicide Squad again, which Thunderbolts ripped off)—but it’s a lot better. Walker continues to annoy, at least until they get to the big action sequence in… 📖
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Thunderbolts (2006) #144
Wow, if Thunderbolts is so unbelievably stupid with a good writer like Jeff Parker on it, what’s it like when it’s got some regular Marvel hack writing? It’s actually a good example of how a comic book has to visually flow together. When Baron Zemo shows up at the end, it just looks stupid. Sure,… 📖
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Black Widow (2004) #6
Well, there’s the finish. Morgan leaves it unsatisfactory—some of it—on purpose, but I wonder if he also needed a little more space. The issue ends with a tag announcing the sequel series, almost as though they knew they needed to promise more story…. There’s a somewhat lengthy fight scene this issue. It’s got some good… 📖
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Black Widow (2004) #5
Wow, what a downer. Morgan gives the issue, for its soft cliffhanger, an extremely depressing turn of events. Not the one I was worried about, but one I dislike maybe even worse. It comes after the big revelation issue. I mean, there’s some bridging stuff at the beginning, but most of the issue is spent… 📖
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Black Widow (2004) #4
So, for the first issue of the second half, Morgan’s changing it up again. He’s got Natasha in Russia, where she uncovers her past. It’s not the past she thought—I’m not even sure if it’s in continuity anymore—and the way Morgan does it makes the entire series feel like the first Black Widow comic ever.… 📖
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Black Widow (2004) #3
Morgan quickly makes up for any deficiencies in the last issue. It’s almost like he realized it, because this issue establishes Black Widow as being about gender issues. It turns out the bad guys are this freaky pharmaceutical company (probably using mutant gene in their face cream) and Natasha finding out about it. Along the… 📖
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Black Widow (2004) #2
With Parlov taking over the layouts, all of a sudden it reminds me of Ennis. Well, not really. Morgan does a fine job with Natasha—his brief first person narration works, instead of the usual, lengthy nonsense male writers do when writing first person narration for female characters—but the only other female character in the issue… 📖
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Black Widow (2004) #1
I’ve read this Black Widow series before, but it’s been so long I forgot Bill Sienkiewicz does the art. I remembered it was good, but I didn’t remember why it’s good. So it’s a nice surprise. Richard K. Morgan doesn’t have any Marvel Universe stuff here. It’s just a retired spy story so far—Natasha keeps… 📖
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Knight and Day (2010, James Mangold), the extended cut
Cameron Diaz only gets to be unbearably obnoxious–her usual persona–when Tom Cruise is off screen during Knight and Day, which, luckily, isn’t often. Amusingly, Cruise’s absence coincides with supporting cast member Maggie Grace’s principal scene and seeing her and Diaz together is chilling… Attack of the content-less blondes. Luckily, Cruise is around for most of… 📖
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Hardware Wars (1978, Ernie Fosselius)
The best thing about Hardware Wars, in terms of actual quality and imaginative creative impulse, is recasting Chewbacca as a brown version of the Cookie Monster (except here it’s the Wookie Monster). Director Fosselius introduces it sort of as a gag, but then develops it. The puppet gives costar Bob Knickerbocker (as the Han Solo… 📖