Truth Hurts

Welp, the surprise return of FOX's Tru Calling has left me somewhat wanting.

After a shaky start in season 1, I had actually grown to really like the show and was disappointed to hear that FOX would not be bringing it back - especially with Jane Espenson joining the writing/producing team. So, colour me excited when they announced the show would be returning with the first two episodes of the never aired season 2 tonight, followed over the next four weeks by the remainder of the shows they produced before giving it the axe (and justifying FOX selling the season 2 DVD set which I'm expecting to hear about any day now).

Happy as I was to see the show again, I have to say I got a little bored with it halfway through the first episode. Heck, I'm writing this while watching episode 2, so it can't be too gripping, right? I kind of feel like they've gone back to the beginning with the explaining and the restating of the show's premise and the character relationships. It took 6 or 7 episodes for me to get interested in the first season and, considering there is only 6 episodes of season 2, I'm hoping the viewing curve is less pronounced this time around.

Jane's episode will be coming up soon, so I'll comment again when that happens.

mike

Blackstronauts

Thanks to a post on John Rogers' Kung-Fu Monkey blog, I caught this very funny mockumentary on America's black astronauts in the early days of the space program.

Click on through and check it out. You won't be sorry.

mike

Lone Gunmen Comes to DVD

Mission: Impossible on Laughing Gas

This 3 disc set offers the complete series presented in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with English and Spanish Dolby Surround and subtitle options. Extra features include commentaries, a "Making of" documentary and original TV Spots. You will also find an episode from Season 9 of The X-Files titled Jump The Shark complete with commentary.

So, I just picked up my copy of the new Lone Gunmen DVD set and I have to say I am relatively pleased with it. Even though I'm about to bitch a little bit I do want to say that the video transfer, the bonus features and the packaging are all nicely done as FOX proves, once again, that their Home Video division knows far more about what they're doing than the network does.

Now, all other fun stuff aside, I was a little disappointed with the two-sided disc set-up. Since there are only 13 episodes in the series I figured it was going to be reminiscient of the recent Harsh Realm or Wonderfalls sets. They're your basic double-layer DVDs with artwork and the like packaged in slipcased THINpak cases. Seeing as Wonderfalls managed to put all of its episodes on three discs without the double-sided format, I thought that The Lone Gunmen would probably follow suit. I will grant you that the LG video quality is probably better as a result and the two-sided discs do save me some money, so I can understand, I'm just more comfortable with the other format as a consumer, and feel safer with it as a collector.

Also, as a special features junkie, I wish the set included some outtakes or deleted scenes (which they claim exist in at least two of the audio commentaries) , but to be fair, they do include several more commentaries for this 13 episodes series than any of the other Ten Thirteen DVD collections (heck, even Rob Bowman found some time to come out and do a joint commentary with the other writers/exec. producers).

Still, what's done is done and we really are just damn lucky to even have this series on DVD at all so my quibbling stops there.

I totally recommend the set and the show to anyone willing to give it a try.
In an interview just before LG was first broadcast Chris carter referred to it as "Mission: Impossible on laughing gas," and he wasn't too far off - not as depressing as Millenium, longer than Harsh Realm, and funner than The X-Files.

mike

Movie Meme

I've never done one of these memes before, and I wasn't asked to, but I saw this over on Johnny Bacardi's Blog and thought it might be fun...

There are some movies on the list which I've seen half or more of but ultimately gave up on, so I didn't bother hilighting any of those out of fairness. Also, there's one or two flicks that I checked off as seeing because I just rented them and they're on the shelf by the TV waiting to be put in, so I'm going to see them very, very soon, just haven't done it yet. The Hustler is a good example of that.

Also, like everybody else, I've added a few movies of my own to the list.

Anyway, on to the meme...

- BOLD movies you own in your personal video/DVD library
- ITALICS for movies you have seen
- Leave plain movies you haven't seen
- Pass it on to three people at the end


200 Motels (1971)
12 Angry Men (1957)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
28 Days Later (2002)
The 400 Blows (1959)
8 1/2 (1963)
Adaptation. (2002)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1939)
After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Alien (1979)
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection
Almost Famous
All About Eve (1950)
Amadeus (1984)
Amarcord (1974)
Amélie
American Beauty (1999)
The American President (1995)
American Splendor (2003)
The Animatrix (2003)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Apartment (1960)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apt Pupil (1998)
The Apu Trilogy (1959)
Around the Bend (2004)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
The Band Wagon (1953)
The Bank Dick (1940)
Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) (1983)
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Batman: The Movie (1966)
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Forever (1995)
Batman & Robin (1997)
The Battle of Algiers (1967)
Battle Royale (Batoru rowaiaru) (2000)
The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Beat the Devil (1954)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Being There (1979)
Belle de Jour (1967)
The Bicycle Thief (1949)
The Big Heat (1953)
The Big One (1997)
The Big Red One (1980)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Birds (1963)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Blowup (1966)
The Blue Kite (1993)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Bob le Flambeur (1955)
Body Heat (1981)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Bound (1996)
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Breathless (1960)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Kabinett des Doktor Caligari, Das) (1920)
Casablanca (1942)
Catch-22 (1970)
Chasing Amy (1997)
Children of Paradise (1945)
Chinatown (1974)
A Christmas Story (1983)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
Clerks (1994)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Color Purple (1985)
Comic Book Villains (2002)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
The Conversation (1974)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long) (2000)
Crumb (1994)
Damage (1992)
Daredevil (2003)
Day for Night (1973)
The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Decalogue (1988)
Detour (1945)
Die Hard (1988)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Don't Look Now (1974)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Dracula (1931)
Duck Soup (1933)
Dune (1984)
E.T - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
Easy Rider (1969)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Ed Wood (1994)
Elektra (2005)
The Elephant Man (1980)
El Norte (1983)
Eraserhead (1977)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Exorcist
The Exorcist III: Legion
Exorcist: The Beginning
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
Fanny and Alexander (1983)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Fargo (1996)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
F for Fake (Vérités et mensonges) (1976)
The Fifth Element (1997)
Fight Club (1999)
The Firemen's Ball (1968)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Floating Weeds (1959)
Four Rooms (1995)
Frida (2002)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
From Hell (2001)
Gates of Heaven (1978)
The General (1927)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Ghost World (2000)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
The Godfather (1972)
Goldfinger (1964)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
GoodFellas (1991)
Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Grand Illusion (1937)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Great Expectations (1946)
Great Expectations (1998)
Greed (1925)
Groundhog Day (1993)
The Hand (1981)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
The Hearts of Age (1934)
Hellboy (2004)
High Fidelity (2000)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
House of Games (1987)
The Hustler (1961)
Ikiru (1952)
In Cold Blood (1967)
The Incredibles (2004)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Jackie Brown (1997)
Jaws (1975)
JFK (1991)
Jules and Jim (1961)
Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)
Killing Zoe (1994)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
King Kong (1933)
L'Atalante (1934)
L'Avventura (1960)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
The Last Laugh (1924)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Late Spring (1972)
The Lathe of Heaven (1980)
Laura (1944)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Le Boucher / The Butcher (2003)
Le Samourai (1967)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
The Leopard (1963)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
The Lion King (1994)
Lolita (1962)
Lolita (1997)
Lost Highway (1997)
M (1931)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Mallrats (1995)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Manhattan (1979)
The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Mean Streets (1973)
Metropolis (1926)
Mon Oncle (1958)
Moonstruck (1987)
Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
The Music Room (1958)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
My Dinner With Andre (1981)
My Life to Live / Vivre sa Vie (1963)
My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
Nashville (1975)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Network (1976)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
Nights of Cabiria (1957)
The Ninth Configuration (1980)
Nosferatu (1922)
Notorious (1946)
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
On the Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Orpheus (1949)
Out of the Past (1947)
Pandora's Box (1928)
Paris, Texas (1984)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Patton (1970)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Persona (1966)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Pickpocket (1959)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Pinocchio (1940)
Pixote (1981)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Playtime (1967)
Pollock (2000)
Powder (1995)
The Producers (1968)
The Prophecy (1995)
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Raise the Red Lantern (1990)
Ran (1985)
Rashomon (1950)
Rear Window (1954)
Blue, White, Red (1994)
Red River (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Ref (1994)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Return to Glennascaul (Orson Welles' Ghost Story) (1951)
Return To Oz (1985)
Rififi (1954)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Roger & Me (1989)
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Ronin (1998)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Rules of the Game (1939)
Santa Sangre (1989)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Say Anything (1989)
Scarface (1983)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Schindler's List (1993)
Scrooge aka A Christmas Carol (1951)
The Searchers (1956)
Se7en (1995)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Shane (1953)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Solaris (1972)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Star Trek Generations (1994)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
Star Wars (1977)
The Straight Story (1999)
The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977)
The Stranger (1946)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Stroszek (1977)
A Sunday in the Country (1984)
Superman (1978)
Sunrise (1928)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Swing Time (1936)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
A Tale of Winter (1992)
The Tao of Steve (2000)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
The Thin Man (1934)
The Thing (1982)
The Third Man (1949)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Three Colors Trilogy (1994)
Three Women (1977)
Tokyo Story (1953)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Trial (Procès, Le) (1962)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
True Romance (1993)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Ugetsu (1953)
Umberto D (1952)
Un Chien Andalou (1928)
Unforgiven (1992)
The United States of Leland (2003)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2002)
The Up Documentaries (1985)
Vertigo (1958)
Victim (1961)
Walkabout (1971)
West Side Story (1961)
Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)
Wild at Heart (1990)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Wings of Desire (1988)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
A Woman's Tale (1992)
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl, Die) (1993)
Written on the Wind (1956)
X-Men (2000)
X-Men 2: X-Men United (X2) (2003)
xXx (2002)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984)
Yellow Submarine (1968)

JB had a book meme posted yesterday that looked like it might be fun, also. I might tackle that later today if I get a chance.

mike

Hunting for Bear

Richard Gibbs & Bear McCreary

I've just received e-mail confirmation that Bear McCreary, the man responsible for the music on the new Battlestar Galactica series, has agreed to do an interview with me this week or the next.

I'm really looking forward to talking to the guy. The score for BSG is unlike that of any other show on TV, I think. It's very interesting, somewhat unpredictable and I'm dying to ask about his choice of music at the end of episode 10, 'The Hand of God'. Great episode, strange Celtic music cue at the end.

Anyway, I guess I should start cooking up some questions for the guy and I'll kee you posted on where that piece will appear.

mike

A Little Less Crowded

CNN.com informs me that, Paul Hester, ex-drummer of Aussie band Crowded House, hung himself in a park in Southern Australia on Friday, March 25th. He has shocked many of his friends and loved ones (including ex-bandmates Nick Seymour and Neil Finn) who didn't see this coming, and is survived by his girlfreind and two children.

While I'm not totally shocked by the news, I am a bit surprised that it ended this way after years of being away from the band and the life that I believed was making him unhappy. Hester left the band in 1994 in the middle of their North American tour in order to be home with his family and relieve the stresses of touring. In an appearance on Much Music at the time, he appeared a little crusty, distant, unhappy and just a little drunk.

I guess he never really got over it.

Anyway, as a past fan of Crowded House, I felt that I should mention it here on the Blog.

mike

Best of the Bins 2

St. Swithins Day
Written by Grant Morrison
Illustrated by Paul Grist
(Oni Press)

Last week it was an enire series that I championed, this week a single issue.

St. Swithins Day, for those of you who may not know of it, was a four part story originally penned by Morrison to appear in the failed Trident anthology back in 1989. Almost ten years later, it saw print, collected in one volume, by Oni Press. If I remember correctly, it was one of the first books they published as a company along with some dreadful magazine sized book by Frank Miller and Simon Bisley.

Anyway, the story revolves around an unnamed male protagonist who is your average disaffected youth in Britain at the end of the '80s. He's on his way to London to shoot the Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher) hoping to commit one significant act in his otherwise uneventful and unimportant life that will actually affect people. He believes that there will be parties in the streets afterwards, and though he will surely die, it will be his name on the newscasts and in the newspapers the following day.

Paul Grist is the artist on the story and does a great job of communicating the sadness of the main character, and the overall blandness of the world he inhabits. Very simple lines, good uses of blacks and great characterizations make Morrison's story come alive, and it was likely no easy task. It's a very talky piece, with the main character thinking to himself almost throughout the whole story. You can probably count the panels with word balloons on one hand, and with no supporting characters to speak of, Grist is set with the task of communicating the emotional centre of the story through expressions and scenery.

If you're tired of Morrison's JLA or his other forays into the super-hero world, I would definitely recommend St. Swithins Day. It is a solid read that shows what Morrison can do without a 'widescreen' canvas to play in. No trippy science, no crazy twists, just straight solid character.

mike

Commentaries on Atlantis

I've just had it pointed out to me by my buddy Brad (he's like a font of good news these days, isn't he?) that SciFi.com has once again done something very cool with one of their websites.

Like the Battlestar Galactica site before it, the Stargate: Atlantis site has just been updated with audio commentaries for the final two episodes of the 1st season, 'The Siege' Parts 1 & 2. They are available as podcasts or as MP3 files that you can download to your hard drive.

No Deleted Scenes yet (only Galactica fans seem to be the recipients of that kind of fun), but one can only hope. With a second season starting this summer, though, it's a good bet that SciFi may continue this forward thinking trend guranteeing I'm going to be spending some quality time at their site.

Enjoy!

mike

My God, it's full of Stars

So, on April 9th, Stars will be in town as part of something called the Exclaim Tour, along with the bands Apostle Of Hustle and Montag. They're hitting a small local tavern called Amigo's and, having missed them once before in November (I think it was November), I'm totally chomping at the bit to go to this show. I haven't been able to buy my ticket yet, however, due to financial difficulties, so I'm crossing my fingers that the show doesn't sell out before I get a chance to grab one. Normally I wouldn't worry about it, but it is a small place, and they've been selling them for a few weeks so...time is of the essence, y'know?

Anyway, Set Yourself on Fire is, in my opinion, one of the best albums of the year (so far), and their previous effort, Heart, was equally phenomenal, so I'm dying to see them do their thing live.

Wish me luck!

mike

Who Culprit Smoked Out by BBC

For those of you who are following the 'drama', or caught my post on the subject a while ago, this article - courtesy of WENN - details how the BBC finally managed to crack down on the culprit responsible for leaking the premiere episode of the new Doctor Who to the file-sharing masses.

This might tarnish that nice and polite rep us Canadians have you all snowballed into believeing.

mike

Once Bitten...

Looks like one of the best werewolf movies of the last decade or so is getting a return engagement with the announcement of Dog Soldiers 2.

I really quite enjoyed the first film, so I'm going to be watching this sequel's development with cautious excitement. The original director is no longer involved with the 'series', so it could be a total cock up, or it could be another fun lycanthropic romp. I guess time will tell.

mike

Speak of the Devil or Pazuzu Was His Name-O

I am giddy with excitement over this news regarding the possible distribution, in cinemas, of the abandoned Paul Schrader helmed Exorcist prequel.

If I remember my pre-blogging history correctly, Morgan Creek deemed Schrader's version to be too cerebral and decided that the first version would not be commercial enough for them. Despite the investment in time and money, it was shelved in favour of hiring Renny harlin to reshoot the whole thing and hope for big returns.

Anyone who saw Exorcist: The Beginning knows what a deeply flawed movie it was - well intentioned, but oh so very flawed. Unlike Friedkin or Blatty's Exorcist films, it relied on obvious scares, gore and predictable fright beats. It was slow-moving and felt more cerebral when compared to comething like I Know What You Did Last Summer, but all-in-all was a derivative sequel.

And for those Exorcist: Legion naysayers out there, bear in mind that Morgan Creek fiddled with that version, too.

Now, I could be talking out of my ass here since I've never seen Schrader's version, but the actors all stand behind it, Blatty screened it and said he liked it, and the reviews before it got shelved, and since, have all been stellar (at least the ones I've seen, anyways). Here's hoping this one brings us back to what was so great about the first film.

You can watch the opening sequence of the movie here at the festival website, click here to download the trailer, and here for an interview with Schrader just before the Brussel's premiere. There was a great article done just before The Beginning was released, and I'll link to that too if I can find it again.

Enjoy!

Update: I managed to track down that article I was talking about earlier on. It's from the LA Weekly website and was written by Scott Foundas. Click here to check it out.

mike

Gettin' Buzzed With Loonatics Spoof

In response to my Loonatics post from yesterday, I was pointed to this flash animated spoof of the new Loonatics series by my friend Brad. It's not very worksafe, so bear that it mind when you view it.

mike

Say it aint so, WB!

Click here for an example of, if it aint broke, fiddle with it a bit and see what happens. If Warner Bros. thinks that, based on the current 'success' of their Looney Tunes characters in features and on TV, they need a bit of a facelift...maybe they should just stop making movies with live-action and animation blended in and just make a kick-ass Looney movie with these characters that everybody loves, young and old.

sigh

This has a head shake rating of 55 out of 10.

mike

Jane Espenson Article

Sticking with the somewhat Buffy-ish theme today, here's a nice little article by Jane Espenson, television writer extraordinaire (and not coincidentally the subject of several interviews conducted by me over the years), for the LA Times online. In it she talks about writing women characters for television and - like she says in the atrticle - while it won't necessarily change the world, for fans of Jane it's worth pointing out.

Cheers!

mike

Angel In June

As previously announced, a new Angel mini-series will be coming out from IDW and the release date is this June.

IGN has more on that ,here.

I wasn't initially excited by this news (even though I knew I'd be picking the durn thing up) because of its departure from the normally able hands of DHC who handle the Buffy franchise so adeptly, but after reading a bit more on the books, and seeing these great variant covers, I'm actually getting a little giddy.

I know Jeff Mariotte can write Angel in his sleep, so at least I know the character is in able hands (even though I would have loved to see some more Christopher Golden work in the Buffyverse). From what I've seen of the art by Messina, it looks good enough to carry whatever story Jeff has cooked up. I've seen worse artists doing Angel during it's run at Dark Horse, so...

If only they could get Karl Moline to take a crack at the vampire with a soul.

So anyway, bring it on, IDW. Let's see if you can make this franchise come alive and tide us fans over until the Buffy Animated or Spike TV movies come to pass!

mike

I Found My Thrills...

Here is an article that'll have to be run through babelfish before you can make head or tails of it - unless you can read French, of course. It's about the new Blueberry album, 'Dust', and Jean Giraud talks about doing what I believe is the last book in the cycle without collaborator, Jean-Michel Charlier.

It's a little tough to make out here and there. For some reason Babelfish has trouble getting all the pieces to translate properly, but it's interesting to see nonetheless. And with Giraud almost never making headlines over here, it's likely this is the only kind of coverage fans of his stuff - like me - will get the chance to see.

Now if I could only get some kind of update on his Moebius Strip animated film...

mike

Hey Kids, Comics!

This article in an Arizona paper claims that kids who don't read traditional 400 page text laden books will read comic books.

Gee, you think?

Why is this newsworthy? I mean, sure, it's nice for the medium to get a little positive press and a pat on the back that says, "yes, Virginia, comic books aren't going to melt your mind". I mean, really, comic books have always been an alternative to books, even for the cool kids who would never admit to reading them (or in fact did read them, just not the super-hero books). They would still pick up a horror comic if there was one ot be found, or a Calvin & Hobbes or something and kill some time. They're kids. Video games are just interactive cartoons, at heart. The technology has changed, not the impulses.

I think comic books would still appeal to, and be bought by, kids if the accessibility to the material was improved greatly. Prices are waay too high on individual issues and finding them is often very difficult for many people. This is one of the reason Manga is doing so well, but you all know that already.

In a recent post on his blog, Mark Cardwell talks about letting kids have access to stuff like the Ultimate line of books or the same kinds of stuff that got us all into the hobby because of their 'whoah!' factor. Morrison's Doom Patrol, Moore's Swamp Thing...these were books that were instrumental in keeping me into comic books, not Marvel Adventures.

I'll stop there. Nobody needs another 'fix the industry rant'. I guess every blogger does it at least once, right? Anyway, I got it out of my system.

mike

Back in the Middle

Looks like I'm back in the interview game. All pro bono (as has almost always been the case since the beginning) but I have some interesting chats lined up that I hope to take care of in the next week or so. One of them is with some trading card people so that's a new one for me. I've never spoken to anyone about cards before. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two in the process.

It also looks like I might have some sweet DHC related interviews coming up as well. They just have to get set up and then it's ready, steady, go.

Once I have some in the bag, I'm not really sure if I should be posting them here or on Meanwhile..., but I guess I'll sort that out later.

'Til next time...

mike

Best of the Bins

The X-Files
Written by Stefan Petrucha & John Rozum
Illustrated by Charles Adlard, Gordon Purcell, Jill Thompson & Alex Saviuk
(Topps Comics)

While I was a big fan and supporter of the X-Files television show, the comic book series never grabbed my attention until much later. I felt that anything the creative team on the comic book could do was something that could be easily replicated on the show, and more than likely done better than it could in comic form. And anything that wasn't directly approved by Carter just wasn't canon to me.

But eventually I cracked and picked up an issue that piqued my interest. The story was called 'Remote Control' and was about Remote Viewers and somebody's plan to kill a group of them who worked together on a project once. The three parter, wonderfully illustrated by Charles Adlard, showed me that the comic book was a surprisingly well done adaptation of the show. It remained true to the spirit of The X-Files and had found it's own voice and way of presenting stories.

From there I continued to pick up issues, particularly the first year of the series written by Stefan Petrucha. An X-Files nut himself, Petrucha brought his vast knowledge of the paranormal and Forteana to the series and crafted a complex and intricate 12 issue run that, at least in the beginning, didn't appear to have anything to do with each other. Much like the television show, some things didn't come together until you had almost all of the puzzle pieces to look at.

Petrucha and Rozum did a great job of juggling their stories within the regular X-Files continuity, often telling stories dealing with things that the television series would eventually tackle on it's own. At it's best, The X-Files comic series was great, virtually carrying the rest of the Topps Comics line on it's coat-tails and producing stories like the first, and only, X-Files graphic novel, 'Afterflight'. At it's worst, the series still managed to evoke a certain curiosity in the subject matter being dealt with, even though the story itself failed to entertain as it maybe should have.

In hindsight, The X-Files is a worthy counterpart to the television series which often looked down at it's four-colour counterpart, and a pretty decent read to boot. Issues should still be available, and robably at an affordable price with interest in The X-Files at something of a low.

mike

Everything Old Is New Again

Well, I've had a quiet yet stimulating afternoon of going through a few of my older interviews and prepping them to go up on Meanwhile... proper. It's a tedious job of going through old text files (I don't know what possessed me to archive them as .txt files), giving them the proper HTML once-over and inserting images in for the viewing pleasure of anyone who may stop by and see them.

I'm on a Stefan Petrucha kick right now, rereading his X-Files books and picking up his Meta-4 series for the first time (unfinished, though it may be), so I dug up an old interview I did with him back in '98. I've also gone back to the very beginning of my interviewing 'career' and polished up my very first interview which I conducted with Tom Grummett. It's kind of fun going back and finding out that you weren't a complete hack and maybe had an inkling of what you were doing when you started out.

Anyway, the whole thing has inspired(?) me to use Sundays for a regular feature I used to do back when Meanwhile... was a magazine. It was called Best of the Bins (is anybody using that name right now?) and focused on older or cancelled books that caught my attention. Seeing as how Sunday is a perfect lazy day where one can kick back and read old comics, I thought it only fitting to put the two together.

So, my next post will be a Best of the Bins post. Feel free to let me know what you think.

mike

Meanwhile...Maintenance

I went in and added some new links on the sidebar. Most of them won't be of any interest to you (at least, I think they won't) but as everybody knows, links on sidebars are mostly for the Blogger in question to track and give easy access to the sites he or she visits often, or on a regular basis.

I was comforted to add a couple of new movie links which now prove that comic book movies are not, in fact, all I watch. To be perfectly honest, I don't think there is a good solid drama that interests me that is coming out anytime soon (although Crash has possibilities), and the horror movies look like crap. As for comedies...well, there's Fever Pitch, but we've had that conversation.

I've also split up the comic links into three categories (or is that four?) for easier browsing.

That's all for now.

mike

Comic Book Cavalcade 4

Back again with a couple of quick reviews of some stuff that I've been reading...


Planetes Vol. 1 & 2 by Makoto Yukimura (Tokyopop, 2004)

I saw Vol. 2 in my local library on day and picked it up because of some kind words said about it on The Johnny Bacardi Show. I almost didn't because it was the second one, and who starts with the second book, but I figured I liekly wouldn't care for it, not being a big manga fan, so I took it home and ended up just devouring it in a sitting or two.

It was great stuff. Great characters, great plot, great pace and great art made for a great experience with this book that led me back to Vol. 1, and I await Vol. 3 as I write this review.

For me, Planetes is to manga what Cowboy Bebop was to anime. An entry point with high quality storytelling and a limited run. When you just have 4 Volumes to get through, or 26 episodes in the case of Bebop, it's a limited commitment that makes it less painful to take it out for a test drive, so to speak.

A gamble that really paid off. Planetes would get my highest rating if I actually had a rating system.


Rogue #7 by Tony Bedard & Karl Moline (Marvel Comics, 2005)

I made a pact years ago that I would purchase anything that had Karl Moline's name on it, so colour me surprised when I see this book sitting on the rack. I knew that Marvel had acquired just about everybody previously working for CrossGen, but I never saw Moline ending up at the House of Ideas for an extended period (he did that Daredevil 2099 with Kirkman a few months ago), never mind on a B-grade X-Book.

Still, it's painful for me to go any length of time without looking at his great layouts and characters, and having him team-up with former partner Tony Bedard could only lead to good things, right? They're a known quantity to me since I read the ill-fated Route 666, so it wasn't like I was throwing money away.

Well, I have to say that I was greatly amused to find our main character sitting in a roadside diner at the beginning of the book (a pretty common setting in Route 666). Whether they meant to or not, they played on my familiarity with it and I was hooked from the get-go (I'm such a sucker). The story, while slow (it is a classic Marvel-style 6-issue arc, to be collected soon, I'm sure) was a good set-up for events to come and definitely has me interested to see where things go from here. I've had something of a falling out with the X-Universe since the middle of Morrison's run, and with books like this and Astonishing, I'm finding myself getting slowly sucked back in (heck, I'm even checking out the Peter Milligan written adjectiveless X-Men now).

Definitely in it for the long haul, and based on more than just the beautiful art, so check it out if you have the time and cashola to spare.

mike

Do Wonders Never Cease

The Sci-Fi.com people must have read my earlier post cheering their use of their website for the distribution of deleted scenes and audio commentaries for the episodes currently airing on the Sci-Fi channel because they've gone and one-upped themselves yet again.

They're now offering the entire first episode, uncut and commercial free for viewing on the site as well.

I don't know if anybody else is pushing their show like this, but if there are other sites doing this, I'd love to know about it (that's a hint to comment if you are reading this and wanna throw me some links). As I said before, this is what the internet should be used for by these media folk. Embrace the damn information superhighway instead of trying to stomp it out like a brush fire.

Heck, I'd be tempted to support the show based solely on these efforts, but I do love BSG already so this is all icing on the cake for me.

Click on the link below to go to the official site and click through the matching banner on their main page to get to the episode.


mike

He Did It For His Kid

Nick Hornby has said in the past that the reason why he gives the ok to make movies from his books is because he takes all that development money they give him and he puts it in a bank acount for his autistic kid, to help him later in life. He knows that as a special needs kid he's going to have...well, special needs, and he can obviously make a good enough living off of his books, so...

I have to applaud that. I think what he's doing is a great idea, and with movies like High Fidelity and About a Boy to show for it, all the better.

After seeing this, however, I might have to rethink my stance on the subject.

I posted about this a while ago but have only just seen the trailer.

Ugh.

I guess every fan goes through this at some point. Maybe they'll do How To Be Good and not screw it up. There's a chance (Working Title, are you listening!?!?!).

mike

Constantine Music Video

I don't know if this is a new thing or not (I certainly haven't seen it before, but who am I to say) but I just stumbled across a music video from the Constantine soundtrack courtesy of apple.com. The song itself is nothing spectacular (the track is by A Perfect Circle) but it does have some nice uses of clips from the movie - the scenes of Rachel Weisz in the tub and in hell, primarily.

Anyway, as I am still undecided as to whether or not I think it is a good movie, it is indelibly imprinted into my brain. Like so many other films before it I'll have to watch and rewatch it, listen to the audio commentary, read the script or the novelisation...anything to gain a deeper understanding of the story that the filmmakers were trying to tell.

Having read the first chapter of the novelisation already, I can say that I've noticed many differences in the opening sequence alone (like the fact that the book version was better). I tell ya, this stuff is like heroin for my mind.

Or maybe I have cinematic OCD.

Ah well, the Constantine obsession continues and will likely do so until the DVD comes out with it's deleted scenes and other fun stuff. Not to mention the fact that Warner Bros. has already green lit a sequel based on the good numbers received by the first film which, I might add, is still playing in a first-run theatre locally.

'Nuff Said.

mike

Matthew Vaughn will direct X-Men 3

Caught this over at DVD Times. I haven't seen anyone else break this bit of news yet, so I figured I'd post it here.

Now I have to hit imdb to find out who the hell Vaughn is.

UPDATE: Oops, I guess it was AICN that broke the story in the first place. Props to the source!

mike

Elektra Not Total Shite

I should have posted this on the weekend, but I'm lazy, so you're getting it now.

Ignoring advice from peers and critics, I checked out the much maligned Elektra movie last Thursday at my local second run theatre. I originally had no intention of watching this movie. In fact, after the dismal Daredevil thetrical cut, I planned on avoiding this one like the plague. If I was never going to watch the latter, why would I ever bother with the former?

My answer came through a chance encounter with the Daredevil director's cut which made me rethink the franchise somewhat. Add to that the fact that one of my favourite directors, Rob Bowman, helmed the film, and I knew that, while I was still taking a chance with this movie, it's chances for not being total shit had increased tenfold. This was a flick that I would be watching in the theatre.

Elektra was no masterpiece, but this 97 minute 'action-adventure' movie does a surprisingly decent job of keeping those with reasonable expectations entertained. Like the theatrical cut of Daredevil, I thought the movie was too short (hoping there might be a director's cut of this baby floating out there in the ether awaiting a DVD release), and you feel like there was a studio decision made somewhere to keep the plot moving along at the expense of really good character moments, but there's still some in there for anyone willing to sit through the thing.

The story is pretty pedestrian but Jennifer Garner does a good job of playing the lead and competently carries this movie, although her supporting cast is really quite good in...well, supporting her. Colin Cunningham was great as Elektra's agent. He and Garner had a nice chemistry and they played off of each other well. Terrence Stamp was just great, doing that all-knowing calm sensei thing and being one of the shining lights in the movie. Goran Visnjic manages to keep his character from becoming wallpaper, despite being given so very little to do in the movie, and the gang of mystical thugs that The Hand sends after Elektra were fairly well done in my opinion as well.

The DVD comes out soon, if I'm not mistaken, and I have to say I'm disappointed by the features that they've announced. No audio commentary from Bowman (which makes two of his movies, now, to perpetrate this horrible, horrible crime) and some featurettes or some such nonsense. Even though Daredevil was shit, it still had a 2-Disc release with a nice package of features to go with it.

Ah well.

I liked it, will likely own the DVD and will stuff it up on the movie shelf (now overflowing) next to the Daredevil Director's Cut.

I should come up with a grading system for this kind of stuff.



mike

Revenge of the Sith Trailer Now Online

Woo!

This post'll be nowhere near as well written as Will Pfeiffer's on the subject, but it's late and I hadda throw my two cents into the pot. If you want clear and concise, go check out X-Ray Spex.

Anyways, after watching the trailer to the third episode in the Star Wars...ummm...sestology...I am actually pretty excited to see this movie. No, I think it's fair to say that I am really anticipating it, if I'm to be perfectly honest about it.

I kept hearing George say that this was going ot be the one. That if the other movies didn't appeal to you, this was going to be the one that tied it all together. After checking that trailer out, I'm persuaded to believe him (and I actually liked the previous two parts).

Anyway, it's well worth clicking over to see if you haven't seen it already.

mike

Galactica Bonus Features Online

I haven't really talked about how much I love the new Battlestar Galactica, but it's pretty much become my new favourite show over the last few months. I'm a fan of Ron Moore, so I'm not really surprised with how strong the show is, nor am I surprised that I love it so much. If you've ever read an interview with the guy, you'd see that he's a smart writer and he was a great writing influence on the Star Trek franchise.

In a funny way, I watched and loved the old Galactica as a kid, and I watch and love the new Galactica as an adult. There's a neat full-circleness to the whole affair and that kind of appeals to me, now that I think about it.

Anyway, I found out about a week ago that the website for Galactica has included deleted scenes from the episodes in the Episode section among the synopses. As a bonus features junkie, I thought this was absolutely brilliant for Sc-Fi to do and truly hope that it influences other sites for other shows to follow suit. This is what official websites are for, not just to show trailers and production numbers and ads for other shows on the network.

And to add some icing on that cake that is the deleted scenes, today I discovered that they have also included audio commentaries by Ron Moore for the most recent episodes, "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" and "The Hand of God". I'm just giddy with excitement over this development and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Insert girly squeal here.

I've just watched the first one and it was well done. Moore doesn't disappoint or bore the viewer with uninteresting minutia, and gives a nice outline of how the episode was conceived, fits into the overall season arc, and throws in a few anecdotes for good measure.

Sci-Fi, I love you!

mike

"Son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!"

I just caught wind of this bit over at Sci-Fi Wire, a story which was originally broken by The Latino Review.

Brando is back as Jor-El, or at least that's the way Singer wants it to be. It's an interesting prospect, and not the first time it has been done, but it begs the question, just how much material with Brando is there to utilise? I'm aware of the details regarding the lawsuit and the eventual hiring of Richard Lester to replace Richard Donner which led to the unfortunate cutting of scenes Donner had already shot, but I am unfamiliar with just what scenes were actually filmed.

Singer is a good...no, a great storyteller and director (no matter what Alan Cumming says) so I have confidence in him and his idea for the movie, but some of the stuff we're hearing just sounds...odd. Then again, we cringed at a lot of the X-Men rumours, too, and those movies turned out fine.

I'll leave you with an image I swiped from The Latino Review...


mike

Meanwhile... Music Musings

I've come into posession of a handful of new CDs courtesy of my local Public Library, and I thought I would post some musings on a few of them here for your amusement...

Pete Yorn - Music for the Morning After (Columbia, 2001)

After an initial listen to MFTMA I can say that I really quite like Yorn's songwriting but I find his vocal quality somewhat lacking. There's a laziness to the vocals that manages to somehow undermine the simple greatness of tracks like 'Black' or the fantastic 'Lose You'. He comes off so much stronger on tracks like 'For Nancy (cuz it already is)', 'Closet' and 'Sense', perhaps because the music is more aggressive and he steps up and brings a bit more punch to his performance. Still, guys like Elliott Smith (R.I.P.), Duncan Sheik, Cary Brothers and Micah Green - who are some of my favourite male singer/songwriters - all do a better job of it than Yorn does on this album. It's not a bad record, and it probably will get repeated listening, just not steady rotation like some others would.

Stand Out Tracks
'Closet'
'Lose You'
'EZ'


Lush - Split (4AD, 1993)

I got the desire to try these guys out when Steve Lamacq, of BBC Radio's Alt Rock show, referred to my wonderful Stars as a much mellower version of Lush. Well, anyone who sounds remotely like Stars is going to get the attention it deserves from me, so I sought them out, eventually landing their 1993 offering, Split.

Initially, I was going to trash this album but I've kind of had a change of heart after giving it a second listen to. I think I was listening to it originally with the intention of getting another Stars-like band out of the bargain, and that was a mistake. Once I got the gum out of my ears and really listened to Split I started to get it in a way I hadn't previously. Musically, Lush reminds me of bands like Cocteau Twins, The Cure and Medicine, putting across a dream-pop noise-rock vibe with grinding guitars, thumping and rhythmic bass lines, and wispy, ethereal vocals combined with reflective and sometimes melencholy lyrics. It's good stuff and I'm likely to seek out more of it when I can.

Stand Out Tracks
'Lit Up'
'Light from a Dead Star'
'Blackout'

That's it for my musical musings this time. I'll probably do another one of these as time and CDs permit.

mike

Who Leaked On 'Net

Looks like the power of the bootleg has reared it's anarchistic head again, this time in the form of a rogue episode of the BBC's new Dr. Who series. This article here has most of the skinny if you're interested.

The doctor is in.

mike

Halloween writer-producer dead at 54

As a big John Carpenter fan, I can't not mention the passing of collaborator and partner, Debra Hill. This article has little in the way of details regarding how or why she passed away, but it has a brief, but nice, retrospective of her career.

mike

One Last Swing at Constantine

I meant to post this link about a month ago, but never got around to it I guess. It goes to the UK website for Constantine and has some features not available on the US site.

I actually like the design and logo for the UK site waaay better than the one we have for North American audiences. There are some movie clips (if you haven't seen the film yet but are thinking about it) and other bits of internet junk that media junkies like me find infinitely fascinating, so if you're 'one of us', check it out.

Back to the Future with George Lucas

Found this article here where somebody from MTV managed to nail Lucas at one of the Oscar parties and grilled him on Revenge of the Sith and Indy 4.

I thought it was worth looking at.

mike

The Weekenders

Hey everybody...

Just a spot filler post here to say I've been pretty busy this weekend with kids birthday parties and what-not, so the expected comments (expected in my mind, likely not in yours) on Planetes Vol. 2, Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Samurai Champloo, the Cowboy Bebop remix and a few other things will have to wait 'til later. I'm bushed.

I have added a new link to the Soundtrack section of the sidebar, so click on through and check out keanemusic.com if you have a moment. Keane is the new member of the Meanwhile... Music Club and I've been listening to their debut album at least once a day now for about a week. Their stuff has really struck a chord, and their single, 'Everything Changes', which is described as a "sweeping, majestic ode to feeling lost when everyone else seems to know the score" is #1 with a bullet in the music chart that is my brain.

Anyways, catch you in the next post. Hope you had a decent weekend!

mike

Oh, Thank Heaven...

...Comics are back at the 7-11.

Well, they will be according to this news release out of Newsarama's bullpen.

This is good news to me if they don't manage to cock it up by mismanaging the thing. The books they've chosen may or may not work to bring in new readers as they hope (Marvel Adventures could be a miss but the Ultimate books could be a hit) since they're obviously trying to market them at kids and can't stick anything controversial on the stands.

Anyway, it's nice to see someone looking outside the Direct Distribution Market in regards to comic books (not graphic novels or trades) for a change. Let's hope this is step one in a grand renaissance of comic book distribution.

mike

Joe Sacco - Man on a Mission

Just caught wind of this Joe Sacco penned strip over at The Guardian courtesy of The Comics Reporter (Thanks, Tom!).

Check it out!

mike

Following Christopher Nolan

Alone in a Crowd
I watched Following by Christopher Nolan last night. A friend of mine is a fan of Nolan and he bought the DVD with me a few weeks ago, but waited to watch it until we could do it together.

Anyways, the movie is about 70 minutes long and is actually pretty well put together. For anyone who knows how Memento is structured, Nolan likes to use non-linear storytelling, but unlike many other filmmakers, he knows how to do it and do it well.

Following tells the story of a guy who has too much time on his hands, a voyeuristic nature and develops an interest in following people around (hence the name of the picture). He gets tangled up in a web (a small web, but a web nonetheless) of noirish intrigue, femme fatales and dangerous customers, and learns a thing or two about trust, compulsion and what we, as people, are capable of if pressed into a compromising situation.

It was a fun ride and Nolan never bored me with truly dull characters, nor did he try and hide his shortcomings by using flashy visuals or composition. It's all right there in front of you, like it or leave it.

I found the movie a bit inspiring, to be perfectly honest. As I've mentioned before, I've dabbled with no budget filmmaking and am cruising to try it again, and Following, in it's simplicity, kind of made me rethink the doubts I've been having about getting behind the camera again, or putting pen to paper.

It's not the amount of money you have, it's the caliber of poeple you're working with, the behind the scenes planning, scheduling and solid execution of it that makes it, not only worth doing, but a good film period.

I'm not trying to say that I'm as good as Chris Nolan, or that I'll be the next guy in line to do Batman Begins Again, but he's an economical filmmaker who's all about the storytelling, not just making pretty pictures. And if it works for him, I may have a snowballs chance in hell.

mike

Giffen Update at the Dispatch

I've just updated the Daily Dispatch with some new stuff. The official Keith Giffen Update for 03/01/05 was posted earlier today, as were some spoilers regarding some JLA: Classified covers that DC has posted on the "I Can't Believe it's not the Justice League" mini site. A bit of a surprise for me was a brief convo with Keith that I stumbled across, transcribed and posted where he basically outlines their pitch for doing The Defenders at Marvel. While the ideas he talks about may no longer be a part of their mini-series, they're fun to look at regardless.

Check it out if you dig Keith, Marc, Kevin, Joe or anyone else involved in the project. Or just click on through because you're feeling really supportive of me right now.

Cheers!

mike

The Jury is In

What is this, the 12th Law & Order series to debut on NBC since the show began 15 (yup, 15!!!!) years ago? Dick Wolf's crime drama universe is becoming as glutted as the infamous X-Universe from Marvel Comics.

I'm not even a casual viewer of any of the L&O shows, but it amazes me every time a new one comes out because it shows the kind of creative glut that the networks are currently in. Instead of trying out new shows and giving them more than four episodes or less to find their voice, the powers that be are more interested in creating brand name shows that have built in audiences. I can understand the logic there from a money point of view, but come on, NBC used to be a powerhouse on the tube and at this point I can only name three shows/franchises they have: ER, L&O and Scrubs.

In a recent interview for The Onion, Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator of the WB show, Gilmore Girls) was saying:

Now that there's so much cable, so many different outlets to go to—FX, Showtime, HBO—it's becoming a different world, because there are so many levels on which to compete. There's only one American Idol. That number is almost unheard of. You've got American Idol, you've got CSI, you've got a couple of those crazy, crazy numbers that everyone watches. But there aren't a lot of those anymore. It's really broken down into what demographic you serve, and if you hit your target.

I guess there's a parallel with the comic book indie market and the cable networks on TV. If you want more diversity, you can go to Oni, Fantagraphics, Image or a number of other publishers who are out there, trying new things and telling a broad spectrum of stories. Kind of like clicking the remote over to HBO (or MovieCentral in Canada) when you're tired of the new Law and Order show chronicalling the life of the guy who runs the tube steak cart outside the courthouse (just think of the cameos!!!) and seeing The Sopranos, Carnivale, Deadwood or Six Feet Under (and HBO isn't the only game in town for those kinds of shows, just the easiest to list off at the mo').

In the comic book world, you can buy Jarvis Unleashed #3 (of 6) or DC Discombobulated II #1 (of a 52 week event), or you can buy Little Star, Love and Rockets, Planetes, Planetary or Clyde Fans if you're looking for something different. Less people buy them and they cost more, but if it's diversity you want, you gotta pay a little extra, right?

I'm not even really trying to complain about the glut, because every now and then you get a decent product (even from a spin-off), I just find it sad, you know? TV experienced a sort of renaissance about 10 years ago where oddball shows were catching the attention of viewers all over the globe, now, we're watching the bottom line for the shareholders holding steady and that makes for stale drama.

mike

Goodbye B5?

Straczynski sounded pretty sure that the current B5 movie was dead in the water in this article here.

Strangely enough, thing I found most incredible about this is that I had no idea Joe actually owned the rights to B5. Good on ya, Joe!

I guess it's not a complete tragedy, though, since he's got Amazing Spider-Man to fall back on (is Jeremiah even still running?).

mike