I found out a couple of weeks ago that my first foray into comics, ‘Breakfast’, is going to be reprinted this summer in NEGATIVE BURN #20 from Desperado Publishing.
(more…)
Combating bad 80’s with good 80’s…one rotten YouTube Rick Astley video at a time!
Have a good day.
Eks
This year at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida, 803 Studios releases the second issue of their annual anthology SEQUENTIAL SUICIDE. This year’s anthology, entitled ‘SLOP’, contains fourteen stories from the folks at 803 Studios as well a mixture of new creators seeking to make their mark in the comic book industry–including yours truly.
I created a trailer of sorts last night.
Ah, Steve…so much time spent, yet none of it accurately addressing the topic at hand…
“Where does one start when documenting how Marvel has gone beyond simple huckster-isms and into straight out lying to their customers?”—Kevin Huxford
Apparently, you’ve never been in sales of any kind, Kevin.
Marvel cared enough to offer an explanation—whether it’s completely accurate or not really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
Dear biased, win-at-all-costs, attain-your-goals-at-the-expense-of-others Ekstrom…if it isn’t completely accurate…and it is shared with full knowledge of its inaccuracy…it isn’t simply sales and marketing, but a full blown lie.
(more…)
“Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.”—Plato
This is the entertainment business, not the honesty business, Kevin. You and I are nothing but nodes which contribute to the propagation of this industry when you look at the bottom line. I do understand that in an ideal world no one would lie to anyone and that all of our farts would smell like lemon chiffon and Koben Kelly would get to bed down with Asia Argento every night but it doesn’t stop publishers from stopping the direction of a project or going against a promise—in effect changing their minds.
What Marvel did wasn’t lying–it was marketing their product.
(more…)
Troy here: Recent posts by contributor Kevin Huxford concerning issues surrounding the unmasking of Spider-Man and the subsequent fan reaction to “One More Day” and “Brand New Day” have spread into other sites, blogs, and forums. Over at Blog@Newsarama, a spirited debate began between Kevin and another Shotgun contributor, Steve Ekstrom. All parties involved thought that it would be more appropriate to move the discussion to a more formalized setting. Here.
The Rules, then:
1) Each contributor prepared an opening position statement regarding Marvel, the Unmasking, BND, etc.
2) Both opening positions appear in this post.
3) Due to a coin toss, Steve’s statement appears first, then Kevin’s. Subsequent posts will carry rebuttals and extensions.
4) The Debate, like fights at Fight Club, will go as long as it needs to.
5) And, for the record, Steve and Kevin’s opinions are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ShotgunReviews.com writers and management, Best Shots, Blog@Newsarama, or Newsarama.com.
Everyone good? Let’s go.
Vengeance is this Sunday, and they’re billing it as the night of champions… every match is a title match. Hopefully, they’re fighting over the actual belts and not the cheap foam ones they sell up in the souvenir stand. Sitting around the table this week are me, Birdsong, and Eks. The throw-out question this week was a multi-parter, with which I attached the official WWE draft scorecard:
Here is the official draft scorecard:
To Raw: Mr. Kennedy, King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Snitsky, Sandman, Jillian, Daivari, Brian Kendrick, Paul London, William Regal
To Smackdown: Ric Flair, Chris Masters, Great Khali, Torrie Wilson, Bob Holly, Victoria, Eugene
To ECW: Chris Benoit, Boogeyman, Viscera, Johnny Nitro, The Miz
So, now that the WWE draft is over, answer the following multi-part question:
1) Which wrestler(s) benefit the most from moving?
2) Which wrestler(s) benefit the least from moving?
3) Which wrestler(s) should have been moved but wasn’t and where would you send them?
I wasn’t sure of what to make out of HBO’s newest series, John from Cincinnati, when it premiered after the final episode of The Sopranos. However, by the end of the episode, I had all but forgotten about the really great sense of closure The Sopranos left me with–instead, ‘John from Cincinnati’ ripped my senses wide open.
Set in and around the Imperial Beach area of California, ‘John from Cincinnati’ is about the mysterious John Monad (Austin Nichols) and his interaction with the Yost family–a dysfunctional family with three generations of professional surfers. The family patriarch, Mitch (Bruce Greenwood), retired before his prime due to an injury, has become a purist surfer–having totally withdrawn from the professional eye. His son, Butchie (Brian Van Holt), possesses his father’s surfing prowess but has fallen prey to the lifestyle of a successful pro-surfer and become an addict holed up in a run down motel. Butchie’s son, Shaun (Greyson Fletcher), may be the most gifted surfer of the three generations of Yosts but neither his father nor his grandfather want him to fall peril to the rigors of being sponsored as a professional surfer. Enter matriarch Cissy Yost (Rebecca De Mornay), disappointed wife and mother, who seeks to help her grandson gain access to the wealth and prestige that both her husband and son lost.
There is an assortment of other odd characters like Meyer Dickinson (Willie Garson), a local lawyer and surf enthusiast; Ramon (Luis Guzman), who runs the motel Butchie “resides” in; and Bill (Ed O’Neill), a local retired policeman and senile friend of the Yost family. Luke Perry plays ‘Linc’–he’s a scout looking to sponsor Shaun. I’m sure his role will increase in later issues.
This episode is basically a back drop for the characters, their status quo, and a display of all the interconnected relationships and conflicts. John establishes contact with all the primary players. The Yosts struggle with Shaun’s gift and his impending desire to compete and seek out sponsors.
Granted, the title character is merely a background character that ties a number of the scenes together this episode but the family dynamic is an absolute hook for this series. Cissy Yost is that foxy blond surfer groupie 15 years past her expiration date–De Mornay is a great foil for Greenwood’s Mitch. Honestly, Van Holt as Butchie and O’Neill as Bill locked everything into place for me. Both of these guys are chaotic cogs in this bizarre, well oiled machine.
I couldn’t begin to classify this dense program. Here goes: Trippy Dysfunctional Zen-Surfing Melodramatic Magical Realism with a touch of Sci-Fi–try to catch this first episode if you can. It’s mind boggling, serious, and funny all at the same time.
I’m totally hooked. This show is totally capable of replacing The Sopranos.
Why is Kane on the poster for a PPV when he’s not on the card? Anyway, regardless, you know the cast of characters: me, Birdsong who owns Hulk Hogan underoos, Eks the Southerner, and Corey the even more Southerner. How y’all doin’?
Here’s the long, drawn-out opening question: Ken Kennedy lost his Money in the Bank shot due to injury, but after they turned it over to Edge (who subsequently was given the World Championship after Undertaker’s injury), they found out that Kennedy’s injury was not so severe, and even if it was, he would have returned in plenty of time for the build to Wrestlemania 24.
So… did WWE jump the gun by switching the Money in the Bank from Kennedy to Edge or did they do the right thing to get the right guy in there?
The answers were a lot more controversial from our panel than I expected.
I don’t know if this is any indication to how much interest TNA is generating with wrestling fans in general or if the card is just that weak, but our collective interest in this show on the Shotgun seems to be much lower than it was for Backlash last month. That leads into the opening question you’ll see below. Starring in this prognostication of sports entertainment are myself, Lyrical Lounge editor and lifelong Hulkamaniac Jonathan Birdsong, and reviewer and former booker for World 1 South AWA Steven Ekstrom.
The Russ: Here’s the opening question for this edition of the roundtable. Is TNA heading in the right direction to compete with WWE?
Finally! The Hulk has come back to this sorry mud ball of a planet that rejects him!
Hmm… and I think he’s pretty pissed–well, with a title like WORLD WAR HULK it leaves little room for speculation. Troy and I were fortunate enough to get our hands on advances of The Incredible Hulk #106 and the World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker. Here’s a link to the Best Shots Extra over at Newsarama reviewing both of these books with Spoiler-Free prowess.
Keep your eyes peeled over at Newsarama later this week, for not one but TWO interviews: one with Greg Pak looking back at Planet Hulk, and one with Gary Frank talking about returning to the Hulk just in time to smash everything in sight!
Fasten your seat belts and get ready for tomorrow–Hulk’s coming home.
With the Shotgun relaunch and after just coming off Wrestlemania, we thought it would be a great idea to bring all the wrestling minds on the site together, knock each other’s heads in, and come up with our PPV predictions for this Sunday’s WWE Backlash in Atlanta, GA. Starring in this prognostication of sports entertainment are myself, Lyrical Lounge editor and lifelong Hulkamaniac Jonathan Birdsong, fellow wrestling contributor Corey Henson, and reviewer and former booker for World 1 South AWA Steven Ekstrom.
How ironic that he’s wearing “prison jumpsuit orange” in that picture…
Here’s the coverage I promised last week on the Disco Inferno fiasco. Also, check out my WWE News and Notes from last week.
Stay tuned for the Rasslin’ Ring Roundtable PPV Preview later this week. Steven Eks, Jonathan Birdsong, Corey Henson, and I will go for the gusto and preview WWE Backlash this Sunday on pay-per-view. Let’s hope we can work in a joke about Sid Vicious stabbing Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors in there somewhere.
Seriously. Because it was garbage–predictably boring, linear garbage. I’ve been watching the WWE religiously since 1987. I’ve seen just about every Wrestlemania at the time of it’s broadcast. I have already starting planning my attendance to next year’s event in Orlando, Florida but I MAY NOT GO–not after last night. I’m going to run down the card with a “not so brief” analysis of the event.
Wrestlemania 23!
This is one of those movies that seems out of place in a spring line-up; Reign Over Me is a sensibly emotive drama about Charlie Fineman, played by Adam Sandler, who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome after losing his entire family during the events of 9/11. Don Cheadle plays Alan Johnson, Fineman’s college roommate–who also suffers from the pangs of complacency in his work environment and his home. Taking place in New York City, one serendipitous day, Johnson finds Fineman on his way home from work only to discover that Fineman is troubled. In the hopes of avoiding his own problems Johnson strikes out to save his former friend from the demons that haunt him.