Spider-man: Blue is a goner

I’ve turned the last page of the last issue a few days ago and will be on reading other things… This story was less than transcending to me, maybe because I started reading with very high expectations… Well, not as high as before reading Superman for all seasons but high nevertheless.

In the last book, we finally get to know the identity of that “shadow” that had been lurking around since the beginning of the book, trying to help other villains (and there’s been a plethora of them) finishing off Spider-man. It also gave birth to one of the most pathetic attempt at drawing that character; that drawing reminded me of Village People for some reason.

The character also makes a strange mistake and abducts Harry Osborn instead of Peter Parker, based on the only reason that he borrowed some of Parker’s aftershave… It didn’t really make sense to me; I think he should have been confused between the two of them as Parker must be, after all, wearing HIS OWN aftershave as well… Or didn’t he shave on that day?

So after a rather disappointing last 2 books, I’m back in my “Wood Mood” and picked up my Local hard cover. One of my friends bought it for me while he was in Malaysia as bookstores over there seem to be selling comic books together with other books in English. It was really nice of him to carry this massive book back for me in his already packed suitcase.
I had set it aside for a while as I had read a few books written by Wood and wanted to read something else. I unpacked it a couple of nights ago, and let me tell you the book itself feels great. The hardcover looks and feels nice when holding the book in my hands, they had the clever idea NOT to include a dust jacket (god I hate those). The pages are oversized compared to the traditional comic books which makes reading the story a more submerging experience. I also enjoyed the extra weight and thickness of those pages as it adds a “quality feel” when flipping through the book… And nothing beats that “paper and ink” smell when opening a brand new book!

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
1970's Comics
Classics Illustrated Titles
Marvel A to L Titles
Romance Comics

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: AVENGERS

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

Some news from Hollywood

Variety is reporting Columbia Pictures is planning a second installment of Ghost Rider that would be written by David Goyer and starring Nicolas Cage (again...). For some reasons, sequels are generally worse than their first chapter, and the first Ghost Rider was really disappointing... Let's see if something better comes out of this.

A slightly better news from MTV News... Clive Owen has "heard from a very good source" that Sin City 2 may be put into production "some time next year". I kind of liked the first movie and I'm curious to know what the sequel will look like... It's supposedly going to be based on Sin City: A dame to kill for. Very exciting, and the second 300 movie is coming too!

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
Archie Titles
Marvel Civil War Titles
DC A to L Titles
War Titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: LITTLELULU

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

Comics value packs at Mycomicshop.com!!!

I’ve noticed that when browsing Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions. They’ve recently added a Value Pack section to their website where you can order 2 pounds of comics for USD6.95. That’s great value!

How does that work? Well, you choose one of the available themes, let’s say the Iron Man value pack, and Mycomicshop.com sends you 2 pounds of Iron Man comics… The only thing is you don’t get to pick which comics you’ll actually get, so don’t expect to be lucky and receive the very first issue of Fantastic Four or anything, but if you’re just looking to get some reading materials that’s a great way to discover new characters (by new I mean a character you don’t already know).

I think this is great news for us… I have not tried it yet but am planning on ordering some just for fun and see what I actually get.

For more information, check out Mycomicshop.com’s value packs page… I’ll also add a permanent link in the bargains section.

You’ve got mail

I’ve had been in the impossibility of checking my email inbox in the last few days as I was busy dealing with other things, work and a sick son being among them. When coming in this morning, I fired up my web browser to find out I had received some sweet email from Mycomicshop.com:

"You had 1 referred order in the time period 05/28/09 to 09/10/09 with a combined total (excluding tax and shipping) of $130.16. Since mycomicshop.com Credit is your selected payment method, you earned 15% of that subtotal, which is $19.52. You previously had $7.68 in mycomicshop.com credit earned from the Affiliate Program. Your new total is $27.20. This credit is now available for you to use at mycomicshop.com."

So I thought I’d thank the person who used the promotional codes posted on this blog to purchase his/her books…

I also thought about other things… Like this is not the first referred order I got, maybe the 4th one… So I know like at least 4 persons came to read this blog, but what about others? Are there other people who just pass by and read what I put up online? Until now, I had no real way to know that, and I thought those were probably the only 4 persons that actually found my blog… I became interested in knowing the traffic I had here and decided to subscribe to Statcounter.

Statcounter is a free service that helps people like me keep track of how many visitors they get over time. I have been using it for 2 or 3 days now, and surprisingly, I was pleased to see that I’ve had 29 visitors so far… Not too bad, I was thinking it was gonna stay flat for most of the time.

Now I wonder why no one is actually leaving any comment… That would be nice to get some kind of feedback, even if that would be only about the blog’s design or something…

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
Frank Miller Titles
Gold Key Titles
Marvel M to Z Titles
Superman Titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: MANIMAL

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

Still not sold

One statement in my last post was that I wasn’t really a Superman fan and that last book I read didn’t really made me want to become one… Well, I’m not much of a Spider-man fan either (not that I dislike him, I just didn’t really get into reading his stories) and once again, Spider-man: Blue fails at making me want to become one.

I’ve almost read the entire story (5 out of 6 issues) and honestly, I’m not really sold on that book… It seems Marvel tried the same concept they had over at DC when coming up with Superman for all seasons… Or maybe it was the other way around, whichever came first… So they hired the SAME TEAM who wrote that Superman’s summary, switched characters, and published a Spider-man summary.

Again, while it’s nice to not have to know anything about Spider-man’s universe or even comic books to be able to read and understand what is going on, it gets kind of frustrating to read “summaries”… It’s not particularly well done, and honestly, I don’t know why I feel that way, but it seems Tim Sale can’t draw a “punching” Spider-man… He’s there, facing the villain, and he throws a punch at him, but what should be more “dynamic” has a very static aspect and can’t really feel the impact… Does Spidey hit like a girl? Couple that with a so-so story and you get that book.
So while I still have to finish it, I still think it’s not really worth your money… I mean 5 out of 6 are “meh” so save some cash and some time and get a real book like Kraven’s last hunt if you’re looking for some Spider-man action. I think I should have stayed in my “Wood mood”, maybe I’ll pick up Local next as I’ve heard many good things about that one.

More news (or rumors?) on that Lobo movie

Superherohype.com just published an article stating that actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan "has his sights set on Lobo".

For those who don't really know who he is, he's the one who was impersonating The Comedian in Watchmen and he was pretty convincing... Could he be a good Lobo? Maybe...

I also tumbled on a Keith Giffen interview over at CBR. Have a look to know what take Giffen has on everything that's happening around Lobo right now.

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
Action/Adventure Titles
Conan Titles
Dell Titles
Marvel A to L Titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: DISNEY

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

And winter it was…

I finally found time to finish reading Superman for all seasons this week-end. At first, I quite enjoyed reading it as it was telling the story of Clark Kent before he actually became Superman or even moved to Metropolis. I got to know about Lana Lang who was his High School sweet heart and one of the first persons he told his secret (after his foster parents)… It also made me realize that Lois Lane was not his first romance (yeah I’ve never watched Smallville on TV or else I’d probably know that I guess…)

So one of the best things is that you do not need to know anything about Superman, or to have even heard of him before, to actually read the book and understand the story. It is addressed to anyone, fans and non fans included. I, myself, am not really a Superman fan, not because I dislike him but more because I never really got attracted by that character for some reason… But that was fine and I still could read the entire book without having a big question mark over my head after each panel.

On the flip side, the book didn’t make me want to become a Superman fan… The story was OK but didn’t really carry anything spectacular in it… It was just a basic “coming of age” story with all the expected stages: growing up, leaving home, get hurt, go back home to lick your wounds, realize something and leave home again (but stronger)… So yeah, not a bad story, it just doesn’t qualify as “sensational”… Also the art was just OK, I really hated those parts in the city… Too ugly.

So there you go, while it’s still a book I partially enjoyed reading I did not become a Superman diehard fan and was a bit disappointed by Jeph Loeb and Time Sale for once… Just to let you know, my first thought after finishing the book was “luckily I only paid 6 bucks for it…” I probably would have been pretty pissed if I had paid retail price (around USD15). I am now starting Spiderman: Blue which is another Loeb/Sale cooperation and hope it’ll be slightly (if not a lot) better.

A Lobo movie?

According to this article on CRB, Guy Ritchie, who's not only known for marrying (and divorcing) Madonna but also for his movies Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells, will be directing a movie based on Lobo in 2010. I've been waiting for this for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time, I really hope they don't f*ck it up.

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
Avengers Titles
Dark Horse Titles
DC M to Z Titles
Fantasy/ Sword & Sorcery Titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: ICKYTWERP

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!