BC Refugees Blog

I've been briefly reviewing the new TV shows I've seen on Twitter (everything's brief on Twitter), but this one seemed like it belonged here. I'll be honest; these made-for-TV not-from-comics superhero things cause a visceral negative reaction in me. I'm not sure if it's embarrassment or what, but I've never seen "Heroes" and even watching "Smallville" has been hit or miss (though I have warmed up to it lately). But Greg Berlanti, who co-created two of my favorite shows ever ("Everwood" and "Eli Stone"), and comic writer Marc Guggenheim (who also was responsible for "Eli Stone") are involved so I had to give it a shot. I liked it. It's derivative for sure -- see the bullet in Chiklis' hand when he first discovers his powers -- but it was entertaining enough to overcome my bias. The family drama side is well done, as expected from the creator of "Everwood", and the process of learning abo...

I have not been this excited for a new comic in quite some time. In fact, there aren't many comics I've gotten this excited for ever. Tony Bedard's R.E.B.E.L.S. and Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol came close, I suppose. And there was definite excitement in the lead-ups to books like Chew, Final Crisis and The Archie Wedding. But they didn't compare to this. Why am I so excited? Because this is Ian Churchill, and he has a new style. I liked his "classic" style well enough, I suppose. It was like Jim Lee, but cleaner, and his work was a pretty good match for covers by artists like Michael Turner (making their Supergirl run look pretty good, even if the writing...was not my favorite.) But I wouldn't have considered Churchill a favorite artist of mine, not by a long shot. And then came his hand injury, and the revelation that his "classic" style had been requested by his editors, back when he first started out professionally. His original style ...

Great adventure shows are strong enough to sustain an occasional out-and-out comedy. Last night's episode of Man of Action's Generator Rex, "Operation: Wingman", was their attempt at an episode like "This Little Piggy" (Justice League Unlimited) or "Mxyzpixilated" (Superman: The Animated Series) and it was hysterical. I can't seem to find a writing credit online, and I've already deleted the episode from the DVR, but great job somebody! ( Edited to add: Duh, I didn't think to re-check the video after I added it below. The writing is credited to Eugene Son.) Unfortunately, Cartoon Network doesn't seem to have a rerun scheduled, so if you're interested these YouTube videos will have to do for now if they last. (And possibly there are other sources if you know where to look.) Edited Sunday to add: The videos below are dead, which I expected to happen. Rather than chasing links and updating this post continuously, if you go to Y...

Kevin Smith's Green Hornet HC Vol. 1: "Sins of the Father" : Dynamite has a metric ton of Green Hornet titles, but this is arguably their flagship title. It's based on Kevin Smith's unproduced Green Hornet screenplay, but he's minimally involved since he was already paid for his work. Coincidentally, it's similar to what we've seen of the actual upcoming movie so far, with the layabout son of the original Hornet discovering and taking over his father's crusade after his death. Smith has an ear for snappy dialogue which works well here, and it benefits from not relying on the crutches in his R-rated movies. The adaptation is by Phil Hester, one of the best in the business, and it's well drawn by Project Superpowers artist Jonathan Lau. The son is a brat, but that works for this story because it gives him room to grow. I like the idea of a female Kato, as I did when it was first done in 1989 , and the elder Kato is an interesting character too. I...

I’m going to be discussing only complete storylines here from now on, or at least large blocks of issues, now that almost everyone is either reading only trades or receiving mail-ordered issues on a delay. I’m considering briefly reviewing issues on my Twitter feed as I read them, so please follow jmetzner there if you’re interested in that. Amazing Spider-Man 635-637 “Grim Hunt”, parts 2-4: Any conclusion to a year-long storyline is bound to not quite live up to the anticipation, but Joe Kelly gets pretty close. It’s creepy and terrifying, and the ending works well for both Peter’s “family” and Kraven’s. Amazing Spider-Man 638-641 “One Moment In Time”: Speaking of anticipation, here’s the story with all the answers about the “Brand New Day” changes, from what Mary Jane said to Mephisto, to what happened on Peter & MJ’s wedding day, to how Spidey’s secret identity was erased from the world. By it’s nature, this kind of story has to be somewhat fussy and contrived in places t...

I was going to wait for Shane write about this first, but he's super busy. So, Darwin Cooke gave a brief, passionate convention interview at Fan Expo last weekend and caused controversy on some of the comics blogs. Y ou can watch the 1 minute video  here  and scroll down a little bit to see his follow-up comments. There's also some polite opinion about Cook's comments  here  and some not-so-polite comments  here . I encourage you to at least watch the video before reading my reactions below. Go ahead, I'll still be here when you get back. (The video is bleeped, but it and some of the reactions are arguably not safe for work.) I think what irked me about Cooke's comments was not the alleged disrespect to lesbians, which really isn't there if you watch the video instead of reading a transcript (although I maintain he should have been smart enough to know that using "lesbian" and "something decent" in the same sentence was going to come back a...

I try really hard not to be "link guy" on this blog, because I figure those of you who are interested are already following some or all of the news sites in the sidebar. However, the article below by Chris Sims at Comics Alliance (a site a little off the beaten track) is really well written and it crystallizes my own thoughts about the Batman characters recently so well that I had to share it with you: The Double-Batmen of 'Batman, Inc.': What Does It Mean for the Dark Knight?

As somebody who owns the original crossover on video, I had to love this news from  Comics Continuum : Scooby-Doo will appear in an episode of Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!," The Continuum has learned. The episode will be similar to the "Legends of the Dark Knight" episode of Batman: The Animated Series in that three different incarnations of Batman will be featured. Scooby will be featured in one of the three segments, along with a guest-star playing himself, as was often the case in the early Scooby cartoons. The episode is written by Paul Dini and directed by Ben Jones. Hopefully, they'll use the gang from "Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated" (pictured above), which is currently running on Cartoon Network and is actually quite good.

THE SIXTH GUN #3 (August 2010, Oni Press)  written by Cullen Bunn;  illustrated and lettered by Brian Hurtt           Perfect in every detail, THE SIXTH GUN deserves a bigger audience.  As long as it maintains this level of quality and entertainment value I’m going to write about every individual issue here.           Issue #3 is a very important piece of the storyline, as more essential details are revealed and events that writer Cullen Bunn has been building up to get the spotlight turned on them.           The power of the sixth gun that has bonded to Becky manifests itself first in her dreams and then whenever she holds or uses the gun for any length of time.  But it has more than one usage, as the concluding pages of the story reveal yet another ability.   Each gun has unique attributes and properties that tran...