The Losers Trailer Looks Awesome...

Hell yeah, the trailer for The Losers came out today, and it looks like an awesomely fun flick. Check it out.

I'magunnagoseeitwhenit'sout.

Green Lantern Concept Art

Scooper Dustin Chisam sent in a link to Slashfilm showcasing some concept alien art from the new Green Lantern Movie. I'm digging me some Kilowog....

Aaaaaand just for funsies, here's that awesome fan-art of RR in GL duds. Looking good, Van. Lookin' good.

Thanks Dustin!

If anyone else wants their swag posted, just send it to aboutheroes@gmail.com and it'll find it's way up onto the site. Unless it's super-hero porn, then it just goes to my hard drive.

Strange #1

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Emma Rios

So for the first time in over a year, I willingly paid for a single from Marvel Comics. Only two reasons why I did this

1.) Waid (Flash) was writing it
2.) It was a Doctor Strange comic.

So, was this worth the close to 3.99 I paid for it? Almost.

The story starts out with a slight olde school insert from the old Doctor Strange comics whilest at the same time foreshadowing an event that looks to happen much later in the story (Stephen Strange looking as though he's being torturted) CUT TO ...a baseball game.

An angsty teen is twittering via her phone about having to sit thru said game, a fly ball she catches and throws back squarely into none other then Stephen Strange. The coincidence is of course not one as Stephen tries to get the girl to lead him to her Grandfather (the manager of the home team playing). Apparently the team is involved in some kind of deal with a demon and in losing the game all the souls in the arena essentially will get sucked into hell. Stephen is confronted by the dealer demon and you soon realize that Strange has become known as somewhat of a hack now, even in Demonic circles. There is more but, I don't wanna give the whole issue away.

The first issue of Strange is good but not great. Waid's storytelling an characterization is on point, the callback to the old Strange comic, the depiction of Stephen Strange as kinda a down and out master sorcerer, etc, etc, all of it is good...which leaves the artwork. Much of the artwork Rios does in this first issue is good and has a Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane / Miyazawa feel to it, until you get to the baseball game. Essentially at one part in the story Stephen Strange has to play in a baseball game with demons. In what should be some purely awesome panels of Strange rounding the bases I was left utterly confused about what the fuck was going on. Rios's depiction of the demon players was just too much or rather too busy as you had tentacles an the like flying every which way confusing me and likely every other reader on what actually was happening. I get it, their demons, they have tentacles and other weird appendages, you don't need to show ALL of them. You eventually figure out Strange is safe on home base only when the umpire says SAFE...and yeah...that's just not good. I am not trying to bash Rios here, she's a good artist, but those panels woulda benefited from a less is more strategy

Aside from the "too many tentacles" issue this first issue of Strange was interesting. I say wait for the trade to come out though and enjoy it then. With their being only 4 issues in this series and each costing 3.99 you might save more money reading this title that way.

B+

Episode 129 - Blackest Siege

This ep we talk about The Siege, Blackest Night, Spider-Man, and Doctor Who.

Episode 129 - Blackest Siege

West Coast About Heroes Episode 21: Will Morgan Freeman Make Batsuits For Jesus When He Dies?

X-Men is getting a reboot. Ghost Rider's getting a reboot. Fantastic Four is getting a reboot. There's been talk of Daredevil getting a reboot. Now Spidey's getting the ol' re-boot! So today we're talking about ponies. Wait, no, we're talking about reboots! Like 'em? Don't like 'em? Take a listen? (A little siege-talk at the end as well)

West
Coast About Heroes - Episode 21

We have a twitter account! For more frequent comic-oriented updates, follow us: TWEET. Also, feel free to email us: aboutheroes 'AT' gmail.com. And as promised...Tobey is ugly.

West Coast About Heroes Episode 20: No, That's Cool, You Can Be A D!@% About It...

We're Back!? But for how long? Stop complaining! It's a 2 hour long special edition! The gang catches up and discusses everything from Christmas gifts, Hate Haiku's, Blackest Night, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Volstagg, Siege, Avatar, all sorts of stuff. New write-in request! Send us some hypothetical questions ala "Who would win in a fight of "X" vs "X"?" and comic book character Haiku's. Any takers?

West
Coast About Heroes - Episode 20

We have a twitter account! For more frequent comic-oriented updates, follow us: TWEET (Feel free to check out our haiku contributor as well: SwimDMC). Also, feel free to email us: aboutheroes 'AT' gmail.com.

The Talisman #1 & 2

Writers: Stephen King & Peter Straub (Script - Robin Furth)
Artists: Nei Ruffino & Tony Shasteen:
Letterer: Bill Tortolini

So I got the first two issues of the Talisman back a week or so ago and they have been sitting in my pile, mocking me.

Originally I had tried listening to the audiobook version of King & Straub's "The Talisman" a year or so ago and I feel asleep I was soo bored by it. The comics apparently hit a better flow with me.

The initial story is set back around the 80s and centers around a boy and his mother. The two travel to an area of New Hampshire after the death of the father and more recently the boy's Uncle Tommy. Essentially the mother is driving there to escape another "evil uncle" whilest at the same time finding a place to fight the cancer that is slowly consuming her. The boy is all too aware of things going on around him and his inability to do anything about it. Eventually an old fellow named Speedy runs into Jack (the boy) and tells Jack that the daydreams he often has are not daydreams but in fact visions of another real world, wherein sorcerers, queens, etc all exist. Apparently his evil uncle in his reality is an evil wizard in the other reality and slowly taking over everything. Eventually Speedy tells the kid that he must go to this other reality and obtain "The Talisman" should he want to save everyone. The kid says his vague goodbye's to his mother, telling her he has to disappear for awhile and soon enough after Speedy sends the boy on his way to the other reality.

Ok so first and foremost, this is not one of those "symbolic" stories where everything is an analogy for what's happening in the boy's life and everything is simply a figment of the boy's imagination....all of this is actually happening. Now that I got that little tidbit out of the way, I'll say that from what I have read, these first two issues of "The Talisman" have been alright, and I didn't fall asleep completely while turning each page. I do have a problem with Jack's mother being ok with him disappearing for an indeterminate amount of time, not probing him with questions or arguing with her son, I mean ok...fantasy story and all yea but still...the mother is ok with her son just saying he's gonna vanish for awhile...seems to push believability there a bit but, I digress. The story again so far is ok, the inclusion of wizards and alternate realities is interesting and intriguing on it's own, especially when you realize it's not another one of those tired "EVERYTHING IS A METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING" stories. The story looks like it will have a slow burn though as being based off a large book there is still a lot of material left for the comic to cover, so your best off buying or borrowing a trade of this when it comes out if slow burns aren't your idea of fun. (There's a joke there but I'm not taking it). The actual text is pretty close to the original content, with descriptions handled decently by the artists.I am not a huge fan of the style but by the second issue I think it was starting to grow on me a little.

Final thought, if you like Stephen King, or even just fantasy try checking this title out. B+