Don't step in this week's pile of Reads! by Sean Stoltey

Debris #1 by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Riley Rossmo - Okay, so like Star Wars, this is a fantasy story wrapped in the trappings of Sci-Fi.  I'm not saying it's like Star Wars, it's not, I'm just trying to point out that machine monsters and big guns do not make something Sci-Fi.  Not much is really explained in the issue.  We are introduced to Maya, a young warrior, and her mentor Calista.  It's hard to tell if she is supposed to have special powers or if everyone can jump around and fight  like Maya.  Calista is the Protector of their village.  I guess it's supposed to be the far future, or is it another planet?  Honestly, that doesn't really seem to matter to the story.  I just expected a bit more back story to be filled in because this is not the first  issue of an ongoing book, it's a four issue mini-series.  So I guess it will all be filled in along the way?  Who knows.  They are protecting their village from some robotic (I'm guessing) beasties.  Apparently water has to be manufactured and this is the last of the human strongholds or some such.  This is a story that's been told many many times.  Which wouldn't be a problem if they were bringing something new to the table.  So far, that doesn't seem to be the case.  At the end of the issue our heroine sets off on a quest alone for some fabled thing that also isn't really explained.  Some of the dialogue is pretty clunky.  The art however is pretty good.  It looked great and I liked the coloring.  Some of the pages could have flowed better, but the line work was pretty good.  I can't really recommend it, but I think this is another book that might have been better served being produced as a graphic novel rather than a comic book.  Unfortunately as a stand alone chapter, this issue simply doesn't work.

Insufferable Week 12 by Mark Waid and Peter Krause - This week's installment was the quickest read of the bunch due to some action that ate up a few pages right at the start.  Even with that, this is still one of the more satisfying reads in comics.  Waid and Krause are building an ongoing story that is full of drama, thrills, humor and is changing the way comics can be produced and read.  The way the panels open up and shift and are revealed is perfect.  No more turning the page and having the reveal at the end of the page spoiled.  What you need to see is what you see.  You can scroll or click back and forth all you want, you are still in control of your reading, bu the creators now have very precise control over how it comes at you.  Marvel has been using the same techniques for their Infinite Comics issues of Avenger vs. X-Men and they are equally as impressive.  Now back to the review!  More reveals this week building up the animosity between Father and Son former super team Nocturnus and Gallahad.  Their interactions are always priceless, and this story is building towards something steadily and progressively week in and week out.  Waid has always been one of the best comic book writers in the business.  Now he is one of the best and leading everyone into the true potential of the digital comics frontier.  Pay attention, someday everyone's going to look back and say it started here.  Oh and by the way, it's free.  Every week at thrillbent.com.  And all the previous weeks are archived right there for you to read on the website.  You can download it, or just view it there on the site...for free.

So, I saw The Dark Knight Rises this week.  I can't say it was the amazing piece of perfection I was hoping for.  Maybe the bar was just set too high with The Dark Knight.  Maybe it's just the nature of trilogies.  Godfather: great.  Godfather II: amazing.  Godfather III: had some great stuff in it that was surrounded by some problematic bits.  And so goes DKR.  

There was a lot I did love. There's bit of a twist near the end for one character that pretty much made the movie for me. Anne Hathaway was great as Selina Kyle. Bane, one of my least favorite characters from the comics, I quite enjoyed and (no surprise) Tom Hardy was fantastic. The story tied very tightly into the first and second movies, which was great. It really creates a nice payoff for both stories. I also was having fun spotting all the people that I knew from various TV series. Huge movies like this usually get the best selection of actors even for the smaller roles. So I did a lot of: "Oh there's Owen from Torchwood! Hey, it's Franco from Rescue Me! Look! Quinn from Dexter!" However, the middle of the movie drags so much I wanted to check the credits to make sure the movie had been made by the same people as before (it had). There were also some bits of pretty ham-fisted dialogue that felt offensive in the context of the previous movies. Therein lies the problem of following up one of the greatest comic book adaptations of all time. You can't help but pale in comparison.

Again, there was a lot of stuff to like, but when I'm rolling my eyes while watching a Christopher Nolan movie there's something wrong. For a series that was so steeped in realism, despite being about a superhero, this just got very overblown and larger than life to a fairly ridiculous point. I wanted to love it, and at best I liked it. Maybe it will grow on me with repeat viewing, who knows. For now, it wasn't bad; and that's just not good enough.  A lot of people took issue with the ending, and honestly that didn't bother me all that much. It's not the choice I'd have made, and it doesn't jive with the Batman I've been reading for the last 30+ years, but I just told myself that this is movie Batman and let it go. If you are going to see it and there is an IMAX theater near you, that is definitely the way to go. They shot quite a bit of the movie in IMAX, much more than they did with The Dark Knight. It's worth the slightly higher ticket price for the visuals.

So, that's it for this week.  I'm thinking of doing reviews of past storylines.  Ones that are widely liked, or perhaps notorious for something that might be worth taking a look at.  In general I would try to do it with things I haven't read yet.  Thoughts?  Ideas? Suggestions?  Let me know.

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long. 

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com

JUDAS PRIEST: SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE SPECIAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

JUDAS PRIEST: SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE SPECIAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Release date: Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

A band that has been a vital part of rock history and an inspiration to countless fans and present artists- Judas Priest have spent 4 decades writing classic songs and putting on spectacular live shows. During this period, the band has sold in excess of 30 million albums, and played to countless millions of fans across the globe. In 1982, they released their eighth studio album SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE, containing their hugely successful “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, the single which proved that metal could get mainstream radio airplay in the US – leading the way for a whole generation of new metal bands.

To celebrate the 30 year anniversary of this epic release, Judas Priest presents SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE – SPECIAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, containing re-mastered original album plus bonus tracks, but also a live DVD from the 1983 US Festival show, filmed in San Bernadino, CA on May 29th 1983. The US Festival was intended to be a celebration of evolving technologies; a marriage of music, computers, television and people - organized by Steve Wozniak formerly of Apple Computer.

The SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE – SPECIAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Live DVD was filmed at the second, and what turned out to be last, US Festival in 1983. The Sunday was the Heavy Metal Day -"It was the day new wave died and rock n' roll took over". It set the single-day concert attendance record for the US with an estimated 375,000 people.

Judas Priest had this to say about this memorable day in metal history:

“On the day that we performed, we flew in by helicopter - and the first sight we saw was that of thousands of abandoned cars piled up around the crests of the hills that surrounded the festival arena, which as we went over took our breath away. For there below us, spread throughout hundreds of acres was a massive crowd – over three hundred thousand strong! The summer heat was raging and combined with the hot Santa Ana winds made for a scorching metal furnace on stage.”

CD track listing:

1. The Hellion                                       2. Electric Eye

3. Riding On The Wind                         4. Bloodstone

5. (Take These) Chains                        6. Pain And Pleasure

7. Screaming For Vengeance               8. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

9. Fever                                                10. Devil’s Child

 

Bonus tracks:

11. *Electric Eye (live)                                            12. *Riding on the Wind (live)

13. *You’ve Got Another Thing Coming (Live)        14. *Screaming For Vengeance (Live)

15. Devil’s Child (live)                                             16. Prisoner of Your Eyes

* Live from the San Antonio Civic Center, September 10th 1982

 

DVD: US Festival Show

1. Electric Eye                                             2. Riding On The Wind

3. Heading Out To The Highway                4. Metal Gods

5. Breaking The Law                                   6. Diamonds And Rust

7. Victim Of Changes                                  8. Living After Midnight

9. The Green Manalishi (with the two-pronged crown)

10. Screaming For Vengeance                    11. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

12. Hell Bent For Leather

 

Plus the set includes booklet featuring photos from Mark Weiss and sleeve notes written by Eddie Trunk (long -standing and well-respected US author, radio and television personality).

Since 1974, Judas Priest has been one of heavy metal’s most successful bands, issuing such all-time classic albums as BRITISH STEEL in 1980, SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE in 1982, DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH in 1984 and PAINKILLER in 1990 and such arena-rocking anthems as Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight, and You’ve Got Another Thing Coming. However, Priest’s influence goes far beyond their music - they were the first metal band to embrace the ‘leather and studs look’, a fashion that has since become synonymous with the musical genre. Additionally, Rob Halford’s powerful four-and-a-half octave vocal range and the twin guitar harmonies of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing have been emulated by countless metal bands in Priest’s wake.

For more info visit www.judaspriest.com

---

Technorati Tags: JUDAS,PRIEST,VENGEANCE,SPECIAL,ANNIVERSARY,EDITION,band,history,inspiration,artists,decades,songs,million,albums,millions,globe,studio,album,Another,radio,airplay,generation,bands,bonus,Festival,Bernadino,celebration,technologies,music,computers,television,Steve,Wozniak,Apple,Computer,Live,Heavy,Metal,concert,attendance,helicopter,cars,crests,hills,arena,breath,acres,Santa,furnace,Hellion,Electric,Wind,Take,Chains,Pain,Pleasure,Devil,Child,Prisoner,Eyes,Antonio,Civic,Center,September,Highway,Gods,Diamonds,Rust,Victim,Changes,Manalishi,Hell,Bent,Leather,Plus,booklet,photos,Mark,Weiss,sleeve,Eddie,Trunk,author,BRITISH,STEEL,DEFENDERS,FAITH,PAINKILLER,anthems,genre,Halford,harmonies,Glenn,Tipton

This Week's Stack by Sean Stoltey

Star Trek: TNG/Doctor Who Assimilation2 #3 - Scott & David Tipton w/Tony Lee, J.K. Woodward and the Sharp Brothers - What can I tell you about this series that I haven't brought up before?  If you watched Doctor Who in the 70's and 80's and were also a big fan of the the Original Series Star Trek, you are going to love this issue.  

Keeping with the subplot of the Doctor remembering things about the Trek universe while realizing that he didn't know them before, we are treated to an adventure with the original Trek cast along with the Tom Baker version of the Doctor.  Man oh man, was that cool.  The art is handled by a different team for this sequence and it really sets it apart from the rest of the book.  It definitely feels like a flashback of some kind.

There are not a lot of solutions found in this issue, mostly more questions raised.  It was kind of like watching an episode of LOST.  So, of course there is moment at the end of the "episode" that makes you really want to see the next issue.  Kudos, once again, to the whole team for doing a crossover that is actually entertaining AND in character.

Captain Marvel #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy - So Ms. Marvel is taking on the Captain Marvel name.  The irony being that when she left the Air Force, the character was a full Colonel.  This is a book that I really want to like, and I almost succeed.  I want to like it, because I agree with some folks out there that there are not enough female-driven comics in the mainstream.  I honestly don't blame the companies though.  As Spider-Man writer Dan Slott pointed out, it's a business and fans have to vote with their wallets.  The companies keep trying to push female solo books, they try to embrace diversity; but if the fans aren't buying it then they can't afford to publish it.  All that aside, it was an alright book.  There's some fun to be had here.  I hope that DeConnick plans to keep the fun tone going forward as that was the best part of the book.  It opens with Carol Danvers (Capt. Marvel) taking on the Absorbing Man with Captain America.  They make fairly short work of him, but the scene is used to highlight the fact that Cap sees Carol as an equal.  He is, in fact, the one that tells her she should stop being Ms. Marvel and become Captain Marvel.  

For a comic book that wasn't written by Robert Kirkman, there is a lot of inner-monologueing in the book.  Because of that, it is odd that we learn more about Carol through her interactions with other characters than we do in her inner monologue.  To be more accurate, there isn't much in  her monologue we couldn't have learned from some more action and dialogue.  I'm old school, I don't mind the inner monologue, but this one just didn't sit too well.  I just wanted her to stop talking to herself and hit more things.  Maybe the shortcoming is mine, I don't know.  Some new history and supporting cast are introduced.  At least it was mostly new to me as I hadn't read the Ms. Marvel series.  I've always liked the character, just haven't tried her solo yet.  

The art on the inside is not at all like the poppy colorful fun art on the cover.  Not to say Soy is all that bad, his style just doesn't immediately seem like a fit for this particular book.  There is one moment, a transition between pages where I almost felt like he had decided to redesign the costume one day and didn't feel like going back and fixing the other pages.  Mostly, though, I just felt like his darker, almost painterly style just didn't set well with the character or the story.  I think it could have popped a little more with a lighter, peppier tone to the art.  The issue sets up enough and shows enough promise for me to try a few issues, but it's going to have to set that hook pretty soon.

Revival #1 by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton - Closest I can come to a description is that Fargo, The Walking Dead and the X-Files had a baby.  It seems on a recent Christmas in the area of Rothschild, Wisconsin that a lot of dead people came back to life.  They aren't really zombies.  At least not in the "classical" sense.  The area has been quarantined and life is attempting to return to normal while the government figures out what exactly is going on.  There's a bit of behind the scenes at the police station, family drama, something spotted in the woods and then some good old fashioned violent mayhem and mystery.  Also, some pretty gross stuff involving teeth.  This one has some interesting characters, an intriguing plot and some good horror elements all thrown into the pot.  Our main character is Officer Dana Cypress, daughter of the police Chief and seemingly connected to every plot and subplot in the book.  She is a single mother and older sister and despite who her dad is, those two relationships seem like they are going to have the most connection to any answers that will be found.  As with a lot of my reviews, I don't want to delve to deep into this.  I want you to enjoy the discovery and the surprises.  This one is definitely worth picking up.  I will be doing so for the foreseeable future.

I'll try to be back for more this week.  Let me know what you guys are reading out there.

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long. 

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com

Oh my god...Not..something new!! an opinion by Sean Stoltey

"Look, it's Jean Grey!"

Hey woofers!  So as the Marvel event Avengers Versus X-Men strides into it's second half, we are starting to see a glimpse of what's to come afterward.  And again

, some very vocal folks are freaking out.  Last year DC Comics decided to do a complete wipe and reload on their continuity.  They felt the best way to entice new readers was to junk their old stories (this is nothing new for DC, to be fair) and start over with new "kewl" costume designs and total revamps...sorta.  I could go on at length about what went wrong with DCNu in my opinion, but that's not what today is about.  Nor am I trying to Monday Morning Quarterback Marvel's current and future creative decisions.  No, I am once again watching fandom's reaction and shaking my head.  

People have been screaming bloody murder and throwing text tantrums at Marvel over the return of Jean Grey.  "You better bring her back, we demand it!"  She's dead says Marvel, and for the foreseeable future she is staying that way.  So then the Phoenix-centric AvX comes around and now they want her back and Marvel is a bunch of hateful sadists because they have a new redhead that is not Jean in the middle of the story.  "You hate us, we are so maligned, we want our Jean back."  This is actually a toned down version of the sad, pathetic display I have seen playing out on the internet.  When I have tried to point out that these people are screaming and wailing and calling people names over a FICTIONAL DEAD PERSON, apparently I'm the asshole.  Go figure.  

So now this brings us up to the Marvel NOW! announcement.  Comic book solicitations having to hit three months ahead of publication, we are getting a glimpse of the post-AvX Marvel universe.  They are bringing Jean Grey back to comics.  Sure she's the teenage Jean Grey from the original X-Men comics, but it's Jean Grey alive and active in the current Marvel Universe.  You've been asking for Jean Grey back?  Here she is...do you think those folks were happy?  Of course not.  To be fair, some were just happy to have Jean back in any capacity.  Unfortunately, there is still a lot of "That's not what we wanted!  Give us OUR Jean back!"  

"How much do you love our awesome high collars?"
Said everyone but Wonder Woman.

Look, I am a passionate fan of comic books.  I get being upset because the books aren't going the way you'd like them too.  Actually I'm okay with them not going where I want them to, as long as the story is good.  When it's not, I stop reading the book.  Revolutionary, right?  If you don't like what's happening, stop reading it.  Stop buying the book.  If enough people stop buying the book, it will go away or get retooled.  Maybe even in a way you like.  Just to show that I practice what I preach, I was very upset about the idea of the DCNu.  I told the people around me that I thought it was a bad idea, BUT!  I also said I would give it a try and see if maybe I was wrong.  With a couple of exceptions, I feel like I was not wrong.  People who scream bloody murder over a creative decision make all of us fans look bad.  If there was a reasoned opinion expressed it might all be understandable.  Unfortunately, the internet isn't a place for reasoned opinion.  It doesn't get enough hits I guess.  There's a lot of vitriol out there, and it is almost always when a major change is coming.  Generally speaking, comic fans complain when the books just give us the same ol', same ol'.  They also complain when you try something new and different.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

So, here comes some major change over at Marvel.  Not even expressing my own opinion on the announcements so far, there is one thing about it that sticks out to me.  It feels very much as if it is a natural progression from the story that is currently being told.  They seem to be of the mind that if they are going to hype an event (like AvX) as being a (fictional) world changing story, well maybe the (fictional) world ought to have actually been changed by that story.  The complaint I had about DCNu, is that it felt like a marketing ploy.  Yes, they wrote a story to explain why everything was suddenly new.  However, it seemed like the change necessitated the story rather than the other way around.  Everything should serve the story, not the other way around.  In fact, I think I would have been much more accepting of it if they had just said "You know what?  Everything is ending in August and we're starting something new in September and we're not going to fleece you with an expensive mini-series and it's 327 tie-ins first.  We're just gonna sack up and do this."  It would have felt more honest.  Marvel isn't re-booting, but they are embracing the power of a #1 issue in this day and age.  I have to say, that's the part I like least about this Marvel NOW! launch.  I really hate that they are relaunching some books with new #1 issues that have been relaunched three or four times in the last 10-15 years.  I accept that it is the best way to market this change and get people interested, and you don't want to scare off the people who are curious after seeing the Avengers movie by making them feel that they missed something.  I just am a fan of legacy.  That's one of the things I liked best about DC before they threw out their history.  The idea that there was going to be an Action Comics #1,000 or an Avengers #600 was very appealing to me.  That we probably won't get either of those now is sad to me, but I certainly am not going to tell Dan DiDio or Tom Brevoort that they are sadists who are torturing me with their decisions.  I guess after over thrity years of reading my precious comics, I've gotten used to the fact that I'm not always going to like the next step in their evolution.  But I'll always give it a try.

So, what do you guys think of the stuff going on at DC and Marvel?  It really has helped me explore and embrace independent comics to lose some of my big two devotion over the years.  Lots of good stuff out there.  I'd love to hear some recommendations of non mainstream books to read and review.  Let me know!

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long. 

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com