I'm trying to experiment with a new way of doing a comics-oriented blog. My latest experiment is a new blog called Giant-Size Marvel.
This new blog will be devoid of my various pseudonyms. It will (obviously from the name) feature material only about Marvel Comics, both old and new. And it will be more about artwork than my snarky comments. The images/scans will be quite large and you may even be able to use them as your desktop wallpaper. Drop on by and give me some feedback! Nuff said.
Ray Wise and Bret Harrison have reasons to smile. Reaper has been renewed for 13 more episodes! Sounds like we will have to wait until mid-season, but hopefully they will be killer episodes.
Link: Reaper producers interviewed on TV Guide about Season One Finale.
Link: Ken Marino (Tony the Demon) interview on Slice of SciFi podcast.
Here's a Slide widget I created almost a year ago but never posted here: my favorite Animal Man covers by Brian Bolland. Just covering the Morrison run...
Don't forget Gallery Photon! Nuff said.
Reaper is the only new show that I like from the 2007-2008 season. Earlier in the year, a lot of critics compared Reaper unfavorably to Chuck. They claimed that Reaper hewed too closely to a formula and that the characters plodded through each episode. But as much as I wanted to like Chuck, and as much as I do lust Yvonne Strahovski, Chuck is the show that seems to follow a dull recipe.
Reaper started off with a pattern in the early episodes, but I kept watching because I loved all the characters. The three main characters (Sam, Sock, and Ben) are modern-day slacker GhostBusters, hunting down the Devil's rejects from hell. Ray Wise is so damned likable as the Devil that you would love to hang out with him in a bar. The first few shows were variations on the pilot (directed by Kevin Smith) where Sam gets a briefing on the escaped soul from Hell, receives a goofy Vessel (click here for a complete list of Vessels), fumbles the initial encounter, but later recovers and finds a way to capture the soul. Sam lived at home with his parents, who sold his soul to the Devil before he was born. In one episode we watched as Sam's father burned a few key pages in the binding contract they made. This is a key plot point that will be further developed in the season finale on May 20th.
The writers started breaking down the formula mid-way through the season, and went even further after the writers strike. "Unseen" had the boys move out of their parents homes and into a nice bachelor pad. Their gay couple neighbors (played by Michael Ian Black and Ken Marino) spoil them silly with gourmet food and expensive alcohol. The plot thickened when Sam discovered that the neighbors are Demons, but good ones, trying to overthrow Satan. Later, Sam finds out that the Devil arranged for him to live in the condo for the purpose of spying on his rebellious employees. This is also playing out into the season finale.
Sam's stalled relationship with Andi (Missy Peregrym) was a disaster in the early episodes, nothing but longing looks and tender moments at the Work Bench. The Devil told Sam that she could never know his secret. Later, the Devil rescinded this edict, after saying that Sam owed him a big favor in return (the Demon rebellion). What would any woman do after she witnessed her boyfriend beheading a man and claiming that he worked for Satan? Run! Which is what Andi did, forcing Sock and Ben to tie her up and put her in the trunk of their car. Somehow it all worked out and Andi adjusted to Sam's new job. Until last week's episode, when an old boyfriend used Satanic powers to sway her away from Sam. I liked Missy Peregrym ever since I saw her on Heroes and she's grown on me even more in this show.
As the first season of Reaper is getting ready to conclude, the show looks like it has lots of potential. We've got a full fledged Scooby gang now that Andi has joined the crew. The Satanic support network just keeps growing; in "Greg, Schmeg" Jeff Kober (Dodger from China Beach) appeared as Dennis, a twitchy-hippie Demon who runs a storage facility for Satanic supplies. Sam is getting smarter about dealing with the Devil, figuring out how to nullify Greg's contract and advising others on how to stay away from Satan. These guys still fumble the ball when it comes to chasing down sinners, but it's a lot of goofy fun.
Looks like the CW is going to renew Reaper for a second season. I sure as Hell hope so. Nuff said.
Link: Krakoom, Bret Harrison's Official Site.
Link: Bret Harrison Inteview on EW about Season One finale.
Link: E Online reports that Reaper will be renewed for Season Two.
TSOYA. That's was the display on my XM Radio when I tuned into the channel 133, the PRI station. TSOYA? Sounds like a health food product.
No, it's an acronym for The Sound of Young America, hosted by "America's Radio Sweetheart", Jesse Thorn. I discovered this program a couple of months ago, where I was stunned to hear Thorn interviewing two cast members of The Wire, Andre Roya and Wendell Pierce (Bubbles and Bunk). After looking at the TSOYA archives, this podcast was immediately added to my Zune RSS feed. (Yes, I am of those lunatic Zuners.) Thorn hits my pop cultural G-Spot right on the money with guests like Chris Elliot, Nick Hornby, Ira Glass, Tony Millionaire, Austin Grossman, Elmore Leonard, Steven Wright, etc. One of my favorite interviews was done last year with Marty Krofft, the producer-creator behind HR Pufnstuff and a gaggle of other Saturday morning shows. Comics professionals pop into the podcast from time to time.
This interview with Evanier is really good. I've been pushed over the edge to buy Kirby: King of Comics
Link: Mark Evanier on TSOYA Podcast, discussing Kirby: King of Comics.
Link: Maximumfun.org, the home of TSOYA.
Link: Mark Evanier's Blog.
Pictures courtesy of LOST Easter Eggs.
This was a stellar episode. It's been a year since we saw Locke and Ben go into Jacob's cabin in Season Three. Every since this new season started, I kept waiting to see when Locke would return. Now that he's found the cabin, it just opens up more and more mysteries.
Christian and Claire are in Jacob's cabin. I expected Christian to be there, based on the freeze frames posted on LostEasterEggs back in January. When Claire disappeared in "Something Nice Back Home", I predicted that she would be in the cabin with Christian. Are Christian and Claire alive or dead? I think they are dead and somehow the island manifests the dead in order to speak with the living. I just cannot imagine Claire willingly leaving Aaron to Sawyer. Christian's situation is more complex. In the Season Three finale there was that famous scene in the future where Jack said, "Go and get my father...". In last week's Jack-centric episode, Christian appeared fleetingly before this mystery could be solved. I'm still betting that Christian is dead, but I think it is pretty cool that this ties back to an episode in Season One where Jack follows his father around the island. We thought Jack was hallucinating but now we know he wasn't. Gotta get the Season One DVD set and watch that one again.
Locke has been "chosen" by the island since his birth. I almost fell out of my chair when Richard Alpert showed up at the hospital where baby Locke was being incubated. Again, this ties back to Season Three, where Alpert gives Locke a suggestion to have Sawyer kill his father. I had the feeling that Alpert favored Locke over Ben and was trying to help him. Now we learn that Alpert has been trying to help Locke since he was born! Mittelos Bioscience is the company associated with Alpert; they recruited Juliet to do research on the island. All Lost fans have been wondering why Alpert seems to be ageless, appearing in the past as young as he is today. Is Alpert immortal, or is he using portals on the island to travel back/forth through time? As for Locke himself, is the process of being "chosen" resemble how the Dalai Lama is selected? It was eerily that Locke drew a picture of the smoke monster as a kid. I love the moment when Locke says to his teacher "Don't tell me what I can't do!"
Matthew Abaddon tells Locke he should "walkabout". If there's any character besides Alpert that I need to see more of, it is Matthew Abaddon. I was stunned to see him pushing Locke's wheelchair. How many of us thought he was going to dump Locke's paralyzed body over the stairwell? It seems like Abaddon has a connection to the island as well. Yet he apparently works for Widmore, having organized the Freighter expedition. Genius casting by hiring Lance Reddick from the Wire.
Keamy's device on his arm. What is that thing? I am betting that is a smaller, portable version of the sonar fence that kept the smoke monster away from the Others. Keamy is truly the Big Bad this season. He's just slaughtering people left and right to get back to the island. Did you notice that when Keamy pulls the secondary protocol out of the safe, it has a Dharma logo on the cover? Maybe Widmore backed the Dharma bums.
I can't wait to hear this episode discussed on my favorite LOST Podcasts:
Just thought of a weird LOST connection to Jack Kerouac. When I was in high school, I read Kerouac's books and was in that whole mindset of takin' off on the road and having adventures.
We've learned in Season Four that Ben uses the alias "Dean Moriarty" when he travels off the island. As many LOST bloggers have noted, Dean Moriarty was the alias used for Neal Cassady in the famous beat novel by Jack Kerouac , On the Road.
And just today, my ancient stony mind remembered my second favorite Kerouac book, The Dharma Bums. I liked this book because it took place in Northern California and one of the characters was based on Grass Valley poet Gary Snyder (Japhy Ryder), who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Kerouac also describes hearing Allen Ginsberg perform his famous poem HOWL (Wail in the book) in San Francisco.
Can't see any other LOST connection than the title, can you? Nuff said.
Let's not waste any time: as a videogame, LOST Via Domus completely sucks. I have learned this because I have played the game to 100% completion, not once, but twice, on two game consoles. Yet there may be a small minority of people out there who will enjoy playing the game. Crazy people. Like us.
Reading the previews about this game, I was very excited. The LOST writers contributed a lot of good things to the game, helping to create a brand new character, Eliot, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815 that we've never seen before. The main problem is that Eliot has amnesia and people are trying to kill him. This is really cool, because Eliot has his own flashbacks that you play through and his own mysteries that will be uncovered. He has connections to Locke and the Widmore/Hanso conspiracy. Eliot will explore many key areas of the island that we've seen in the first three seasons of LOST, from the Black Rock to the Hatch to the Others camp. Due to what he learns about the Hanso foundation, Eliot is driven to escape the island and triggers a wild ending that appears to be approved by Damon and Carlton (Lost's showrunners). Damon remarked on an ABC podcast that the Via Domus ending is not a dream sequence. It echoes some of the time-bending island aspects that we've seen in Season Four.
However, the game play really sucks in LOST and it won't be worth it for most people. Eliot really does not have very many moves in the game. He shoots a gun, very briefly, in 2 scenes toward the end. He runs through the jungle a lot. Eliot can interact with the famous LOST cast members (Jack, Locke, Ben, Juliet, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley), but only a few of them are voiced by the real actors. In order to barter for things like torches, lamps, guns, etc., Eliot has to collect stupid things like coconuts, papayas, and candy bars. There are many levels in the game that are extremely frustrating, such as navigating through waypoints in the forest and ducking into banyan trees whenever the smoke monsters is around. Navigating through dark caves, which you do twice, is also miserable, because there are no clues of where you need to go. In order to get through the flashbacks, Eliot has to take pictures with his camera, at exactly the right angle and the right moment in time.
I am such a die-hard LOST fan that I just had to play it as soon as possible. Gamefly had it readily available for the Playstation 3 and I received it a few days after it came out. It was frustrating, but with the help of an IGN strategy guide, I made it to the ending. Then I realized, this game may be one of the few that I can get 1000 achievement points on XBox 360. I rented it for that console and in a few hours did receive the magic 1000 point achievement of my dreams.
Bottom line: if you are not crazy, don't buy it. If you have to play it, then rent it. Nuff said.
LOST Via Domus ending on YouTube
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