Sunday, December 28, 2021

It's a Christmas Miracle! Watchmen (Might be) Dead, Long Live Watchmen!

Well, it's a little after Christmas, and I'm now sort of Hindu (long story), so let's call it a very late Diwali miracle! YAY!

Anyway, a variety of sources are now reporting that the Judge on the FOX vs. WB Watchmen distribution case, has ruled in favour of Fox. The Judge ruled that "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the 'Watchmen' motion picture." So it seems that while WB have filmed the movie, and were preparing to release it on March 3rd they currently do not have the right to distribute the movie.

It will probably all end p with WB handing a humongous amount of money to fox for their copyright interest. But, this one fan is hoping that Fox just say no, and decide to make their own, leaving Zakk Shynder's crap fest six foot under the dock and gasping for the precious little air remaining in the trash bag that encases it!

Why so harsh?? Have you seen 300? Have you seen his Dawn of the Dead remake? Did you know he is planning a sequel to 300? Seriously, this guy hasn't got an original bone in his body. He cares nothing for source material, what he like to do is take someone else's idea pour some stupid special effects all over it, remove all the storytelling elements, turn it up to 11, and just leave the smoking corpse behind for later generations to pick up and say, "Wow, Watchmen, this movie had some awesome bullet time action!"

I'll say this now, and mark my words: in five years time we are going to look back and ask ourselves how we didn't realise that Zack Snyder is to comic books what Uwe Boll is to Video games.

I know I sound like a bitter twisted cynic, but good comic-to-film adaptions are like gold dust. The franchises like X-men and Spider-man seem to work pretty well, but they are pretty much idiot proof, as they are so easily adaptable to new stories. But when you take a standalone, contained story like Watchmen and put it up there on the big screen, lots of internal monologue, and dialogue gets cut for the effects and explosions. It is inevitable, as that is what works on Hollywood blockbusters. Back story, plot threads, actually storytelling, these things do not work in a two hour adrenaline fest.

Why would we want to do this to Watchmen, people have hailed it for years as the greatest example of the comic book medium. Why can't we just keep it like that, it is a great comic, but it could make a crappy movie. There are probably a tonne of fanboys out there that want to see it made into a movie, just so that they can tell their "friends" that they read the book back in 1986, and marvel at how none of them have read it before it was a movie. Who cares! You live in your Mum's basement, and all your friends are Elves and Orcs on WoW!

Urgh! Sorry or the rant folks, it's been a while since I blogged, and I had a lot to get off my chest. Let me play you out with a nice (fake) Christmas message from Alan Moore as found on the blog of, Finnish illustrator, Jouni Koponen:




P.S. I should credit Neil Gaiman with finding the link, but I doubt he'll ever end up at my website :(

Sunday, December 14, 2021

Get a good job with good pay and you're okay

So said Pink Floyd in Money. Only, today... not so much. The World economy is in melt down, my new house's value has dropped, food costs more, etc. etc. etc.

Enough of this crap, how does this effect comic books???? Well, pretty bloody badly it seems, especially if you are a Canadian. This time last year it was $1C to $1US, however, it is now $0.8 to $1US. This mean that the same issue of Action Comics that cost me $2.99 a year ago now costs $3.75, while in the US they are still getting them for $2.99. That is a 75 cents mark up on EVERY comic. I guess it is time to cut back a bit. I love comics though, and I find it hard to whittle down my pull list. I have posted my pull-list of comics below, with those comics I am considering dropping marked in orange. At the bottom of the screen I have marked in red a bunch of comics which I just dropped last week. I need people to be harsh. If you look at the list and see something you think is pure crap, please tell me, I have a hard time deciding. My wallet (and wife) will thank you :)





Aardvark-Vanaheim
  • Glamourpuss
Abstract
  • Echo
Avtatar
  • Absolution
  • Anna Mercury
  • Crossed
  • Doktor Sleepless
  • Gravel
  • Neonomicon
  • No Hero
  • Wolfskin
Beserker
  • The Dead
  • Church of Hell
  • Maura
Cartoon Books
  • Rasl
Dark Horse
  • Hellboy
  • BPRD
  • End League
  • Fear Agent
  • Gigantic
  • The Goon
  • Umbrella Academy: Dallas
DC
  • Action Comics
  • All-Star Batman & Robin
  • Batman
  • Batman: Cacophony
  • Batman Gotham After Midnight
  • Blue Beetle
  • Brave and the Bold - I am going to see what happens after that Hine/Briathwaite arc, pretty sick of the concept, again!
  • Booster Gold
  • Detective Comics
  • Final Crisis (+ all Tie-ins)
  • Green Lantern
  • Justice League of America
  • Justice Society of America
  • Legion of Super Heroes - I thought Jim Shooter would help bring the excitement back, but this title is so dull it hurts, no wonder it is getting canceled again.
  • Manhunter - The series is getting canceled again, and frankly I've had enough
  • Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion
  • Simon Dark
  • Superman
  • The Spirit
  • Vigilante
DC (Vertigo)
  • 100 Bullets
  • Air
  • Army@Love
  • DMZ
  • Fables
  • Haunted Tank
  • Hellblazer
  • House of Mystery
  • Jack of Fables
  • Madame Xanadu
  • Northlanders
  • Sandman: The Dream Hunters
  • Scalped
  • Unknown Soldier
  • Young Liars - I still have no idea what is going on, if it doesn't get better soon, it is gone
DC (Wildstorm)
  • Authority
  • Ex Machina
  • Fringe
  • Stormwatch PhD - I've been buying it because of Ian Edington, but it is just dull
  • The Ferryman - This series sucks the big one
  • Top 10 Season Two
  • Wildcats - Another sucky World End title, yawn, nothing good is happening
  • X-Files
Desperado
  • The Actress and the Bishop
Dynamite
  • Black Terror
  • The Boys
  • The Death Defying Devil
  • Garth Ennis' Battlefields
  • Project Superpowers - (on hiatus between seasons)
Evil Twin Comics
  • Comic Book Comics - (Quarterly)
Fantagraphics
  • Castle Waiting
  • The Comics Journal
IDW
  • 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death
  • Criminal Macabre: Prisoner Cell Block 666
  • Doctor Who Classics
  • Doctor Who: The Forgotten
  • Legion of the Supernatural
  • The Presidents of the United States
  • Star Trek: Countdown
  • Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse: Down the Pub (one shot)
Image
  • Back to Broklyn
  • Charlatan Ball
  • Elephant Men
  • Fell
  • Godland
  • Gutsville
  • Invincible
  • Jack Staff
  • Madman
  • M Theory
  • Phonogram 2: Singles Club
  • Rock n' Roll (one shot)
  • Savage
  • Special Forces
  • Walking Dead
  • War Heroes
  • Young Blood
Radical Comics
  • City of Dust
Rebellion
  • 2000 A.D.
  • 2000 A.D. Extreme Edition
  • 2000 A.D. Prog 2009 (annual)
  • Judge Dredd Megazine
Rude Dude
  • Nexus - very infrequently released
Marvel
  • Astonishing X-Men
  • Avenger/Invaders
  • Captain America
  • Captain Britain and MI13
  • Daredevil
  • Dark Tower: Treachery
  • Ender's Game: Battle School
  • Ender's Shadow: Battle School
  • Fantastic Four
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Ghost Rider
  • Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch
  • Immortal Iron Fist
  • Incognito
  • Invincible Iron Man
  • Nova
  • New universal: Shockfront
  • Marvels: Eye of the Camera
  • Punisher
  • Punisher: Frank Castle (nee Max)
  • Punisher Max: X-Mas Special
  • Punisher War Journal
  • Punisher War Zone
  • Ruins
  • Runaways - Just bored of it, sorry Terry Moore
  • Secret Invasion: War of Kings
  • Thunderbolts
  • Thor: God Sized #1
  • Thor: Man of War
  • Uncanny X-Men
  • Wolverine
  • Wolverine: Manifest Destiny
  • X-Factor - I have to drop an X-title,
  • X-Force
  • X-Men: Kingbreaker
  • X-Men Legacy
  • X-Men Manifest Destiny - I was getting this for the Mike Carey penned story, but it is too costly to pay for just 8 pages of good story
Marvel (Icon)
  • Criminal
  • Kick-Ass
Oni
  • Wasteland
SLG
  • Ubu Bubu
Deleted:
  • The Stand: Captain Tripps
  • Batman Confidential
  • Captain action
  • Greatest Hits
  • The Flash
  • Ambush Bug: Year None
  • Tek Jansen
  • Savage Tales

Thursday, December 11, 2021

Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything. As you may know from reading my blog, my mother has been very sick, as she was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. I thought that it would be polite to update the blog to let people know how she was doing, in case any of you were concerned.

I think the last thing I mentioned was that she had been booked in for a CT scan after clouds were identified on an X-ray. Well, the CT scan basically confirmed what we already suspected, that she has small cell lung cancer. After having the CT she had a biopsy taken with a needle inserted under her shoulder blade, and into her lung. A procedure, which she informs me, was the most painful thing she has ever experienced, and she has had five children! After culturing the the tissue sample, the specialist informed her that the tumors were inoperable, and that she will have to undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy to try and reduce the size of the cells.

While all of this was happening she was still recovering from extreme anemia, and was on heavy pain killers, so she didn't really know what was going on. After the CT scan was investigated a little further, the Doctors discovered a few other little "surprises". Namely, that one of her lungs has completely stopped functioning, and that she has an inflamed lymph node in her abdomen that has been pressing on her renal artery, and causing the terrible back pain she has been experiencing lately. Due to the later, it also looks like one of her kidneys has now shut down.

This has been a very difficult time for all of us, and I am very proud of my dad for being so strong, and looking after my mum. He is in his 70s now, and has a bad heart problem, so he shouldn't be taking all of this on really. However, my siblings have been pretty annoying during this time. My sister, Anne-Marie, has been making me feel guilty for moving away, because basically, she doesn't want to take responsibility for them; the youngest of my brothers, Charles, is pretending that it isn't happening, because he lives in a fantasy land where nothing ever goes wrong in life; my second oldest brother, Richard, is a complete waste of space, as always; and finally, my oldest brother, James, and his wife, told me that I should come back to England as soon as I can, because Mum was going to die soon and I should say my goodbyes. This last scared the shit out of me. I was only in contact with them by email, and I asked a load of questions, which they never replied to. I know my Mum and Dad have a tendency to sugar coat things for me, because I am the youngest, so this sent me into a big panic, and I nearly laid down $4000 for a Christmas season flight back home. Then, all of a sudden, the Doctors decided that my mum was OK, and sent her home!!!! I have spoken to her everyday since she has been back, and she sounds a lot stronger than she did while in hospital, which I am very glad of. She is going back to the Hospital for her first dose of chemotherapy today, so we'll see how that goes, because she is already very weak from the anemia , and I dread to think what pumping poison into her veins will do.

I still plan to head back to the UK in January or February to see her. We are hoping she responds well to treatment, but the five year survival rate for small-cell lung cancer is only 17%, so I'm going to try and make the best of the time we still have with her.

Thanks for the well wishes that people have sent, they are very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Edward