Bento Review: Alice Cooper Volume One: Welcome To My Nightmare

I’ll give the folks at Comic Bento this much:  they routinely send me stuff I would normally never read.  It hasn’t always been worth it, but it happens.

Which would explain why I’d ever be writing a review for Alice Cooper.

Podcast Reaction: Thank Your Fellow Geek Edition

This week on the podcast, there was a lot of talk about box office stuff here and abroad.

Yawn.

Then there was a trivia game about addresses that led me to think Watson and I watched the same cartoons.

But in the middle of that was a Geek Mail from a friend of Watson’s thanking the show and the site for all the recommendations he’s gotten, so I’m gonna do something like that.

“Maze Runner” Director Moving On To Jotunheim

Not a scene from the source material, which is too bad.

So, YA movies are the big thing, and when they do well enough to earn a sequel, or at least the contract that got signed more or less suggests the studio is going to do a sequel anyway, but most likely the former, then sometimes the director will be in demand for other things.

That’s what happened for Maze Runner director Wes Ball, whose been tapped to direct something about the Norse gods.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #28: Madame Xanadu

Look! It’s an iconic hero!  No, it’s not Wonder Woman!

Once upon a time, many moons ago, the Gabbing Geeks held their first Watercooler discussion to talk about iconic characters who hadn’t gotten a movie yet or had one in development.  Jenny, for some reason, chose Madame Xanadu.

Now, I don’t know how Jenny defines “iconic”.  I would define it as a character that is so recognizable that even people outside the fan group recognize the character.  Superman is an iconic hero.  So is Batman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman.  Iron Man probably is thanks to Robert Downey Jr.  Other characters may be recognizable to people who are fans of comics in general, but not necessarily of the character itself.  Aquaman, the Flash, and Captain America probably all fit that group.

But Madame Xanadu?  Well, Jenny had offered to fill in a Misplaced Hero file during my vacation for this character, so Jenny believed that Madame Xanadu is somehow both misplaced and iconic…

Which is she?  Check after the cut.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Nineteen

No theme to this edition, just trying to catch up.  After the break I’ll look at Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1, Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #2, 1602: Witch Hunter Angela #1, 1602: Witch Hunter Angela #2, Inferno #2 and Inferno #3

Also, if you are like me and haven’t read all of Johnathon Hickman’s Avengers run leading up to Secret Wars, be sure to take Tom’s Road To Secret Wars course at gabbinggeekuniversity.com.  The reading materials are online here: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7.

And that course is a prerequisite to the other parts of this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Awesome Cosplay Of The Day: Sandman – DEATH & DELIRIUM

 

Death can be beautiful as you can see by the above cosplay by Dahlia Thomas. And it’s especially beautiful since she is almost a perfect image of Neil Gaiman’s character in Sandman. Not only did Dahlia replicate the mistress of the dark, she also took on Delirium (NSFW), which you can see after the break. Photos by David Love.

Original Sandman Art: DREAM, DEATH, & THE ENDLESS

If you haven’t explored the world of Neil Gaiman and his Sandman series which follows the story of Dream and his brothers & sisters (aka The Endless) through a twist of tales and adventures, then you need to stop reading this, and pick that up immediately. Not only is it a stunningly well written comic, but the characters are fascinating. The depth and beauty that each character beholds is hard to explain, but the art featured here by Yien Yip certainly conveys the differences that are described by Gaiman. From left to right we have: Delirium, Death, Destruction, Dream, Destiny, Desire, and Despair. After the break are more of Yien Yip’s “Endless” creations.

Slightly Misplaced Comics Hero Case File #21: Crazy Jane

Her name isn’t actually Jane, truth be told…

One of the most intriguing things DC Comics did after the original Crisis, though technically starting before it with Alan Moore’s phenomenal Swamp Thing run, was the creation of the Vertigo line for mature readers.  The initial Vertigo books were ostensibly set in the same universe as the rest of the DC line, so while it was unlikely, it was possible in the early years before it became its own imprint and even sometimes afterwards for DC and Vertigo heroes to meet up.  This era is what gave us excellent remakes on classic DC standbys, using old characters as building blocks for more thought-provoking, mature, or even barely related characters appearing in the aforementioned Moore’s Swamp Thing, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, and Peter Milligan’s Shade the Changing Man.  Most of these new writers were British imports, including a little known at the time Grant Morrison, who would use this line to springboard into mature revamps of Animal Man and The Doom Patrol.

While Morrison’s Animal Man was used as an early opportunity to explore the writer’s ideas on metacommentary in superhero comics and his burgeoning vegetarianism (seriously, in his last Animal Man issue, he appears as himself to tell the readers to consider joining PETA), Morrison’s Doom Patrol is remembered for being just plain weird.

And in the middle of that weirdness, there was Crazy Jane.

ICYMI-Pratchett’s Discworld: An Appreciation

Terry Pratchett. 1948-2015.

Neil Gaiman recently wrote an essay about his good friend and one-time collaborator, Terry Pratchett.  Gaiman’s thesis was that, no matter how much Pratchett looked like a jolly Santa Claus in photos, and he often did, he was actually not a jolly man.  He was an angry man, and it was this anger that drove his writing.

On the surface, this does not make much sense.  Pratchett’s work was often filled with silly comedy, where ineptitude was probably the true force of the universe, and confusion the rule.  If we take his Discworld works, a series with 41 individual novels (the last one due this summer), plus numerous short stories and even an atlas, how could anyone construe anger from this man?

In retrospect, though, it makes perfect sense.  Pratchett’s work was satirical.  Satire requires holding a mirror up to humanity and society, pointing out what’s wrong with the image in the mirror, and then hoping against hope that society decides to do better as a result.  I think a certain amount of anger is highly appropriate for anyone taking up such a task.

Awesome Cosplay Of The Day: DEATH (SANDMAN)

Calling ALL Sandman fans! Check it out! It’s DEATH – One of my all-time-favorite characters from the Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics! Redditor motherfuture describes herself as a huge Neil Gaiman fan, and Death is her favorite character. Well Motherfuture – we think you are the spitting image of Death, and we mean that in the most living way possible. See more Death after the break: