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The F BombCast: July 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Episode 6: The eMANcipation COCKlamation

I know what you're all saying, "WTF a timely rundown?!" I know, I'm just as shocked as you all.

This episode is NOT for the weak of heart or the loose of rectum. For starters, Mr. Manning lets us in on some hairband fashion tips, THEN, in a call back to last week, let's us know how he would like for Thor (and that's Mike Deodato's Thor) to dominate him. Just make sure he wears a rubber, Mike. You don't need the god of thunder shooting lighting in your no-no hole.

More emails from the fans......well, fan. Thank you again to Rebecca O-H. One of ROH's questions this week asks the F-Bomb Boys how they proposed to their wives. All the sweetness and romance left a bad taste in my mouth (but, I'm a lonely curmudgeon).

After KISS-talk (don't ask me how they got there). This leads into Comic-Talk which starts with Mike's review of Top Cow's Pilot Season submission, Myth Noir. Mike also talks about his completion or at least near completion of his JLI collection, with his aquisition of Justice Extreme. T talks about the big IMAGE reveals coming out of SDCC. There's a discussion of the merits of Robert Kirkman and his characters (Invincible). Now, TJ is a HUGE DC whore and claims to be try to convert some of the Marvel Zombies out there. This week though, it appears that the tables are turning as ROH and Kevin convinced him to check out X-Men #500. Much love for the 2nd hardcover trade of Iron Fist. And boooooooo! for Howard Chaykin art.

Fucked up 5: Top 5 80's Action films

This is where the second half of the MAN-miration happens. The 80's was a decade whose action films are characterized by shirtless, oil-up, muscle-men. Mike gleefully points out a few examples in Lethal Weapon, such as Danny Glover in a hot tub, Mel Gibson's bare ass and a shirtless Gibson and Gary Busey wrestling in sprinklers. We've got a naked, glistening Dolph Lundgren in Punisher. Gay rapist bikers in Mad Max 2. An always oily and shirtless and sometimes nuuuuuuude Ahhhhhnold (Terminator, Predator, Commando). There's also the ever-tan, ever-toned Ricardo Montalban (KAAAAAAAAAAAHN!!!!!). Top Gun (so homoerotic I don't need to add anything). Other films ARE mentioned but other than Die Hard who cares (besides Die Hard would be an awesome name for an erectile dysfunction med and ED effects the penis).

FLASHBACK 1977

In Movies, we get two animated films (Wizards and Pete's Dragon), Smokey and the Bandit, Kentucky Fried Movie and the Gauntlet.

In Music, Mike continues the theme for this episode with "You made me believe in magic" by the Bay City Rollers. We get a little rock, a little funk, a little punk and a twosome from Boston. Mentions are made about the Dead, AC/DC, the Sex Pistols, Saturday Night Fever and Pink Floyd.

I shocked the crew with my TV choice for this year. Other picks include the Looove Boat (and you HAVE to sing the name fuckers) and Three's Company too. *This segment also features the Mike's singing talent.


Tickles and hugs,
Dave

Justice Society of America:To Infinity and Beyond


Geoff Johns is a funny guy. There are times when his fanboy nature is restrained (Green Lantern), present but subtle (Booster Gold) and then you have him at at his DC geek out free for all (JSA and Action Comics). This week's Justice Society Annual 1 is definately an example of latter.

Unlike alot of annuals this one actually ties into the current story arc in JSA in which GOG is granting everyone their fondest wish. Power Girl's, who is "last survivor of the multiverse" fondest wish is to go home. So poof she ends up back on Earth 2. Now here comes the part where anyone without a thorough understanding of silver and bronze age DC continuity is going to want to fling themselves off a tall building headfirst into a thumbtack. There are now 2 Justice Socities. The JSA that we know are the post-crisis "New Earth JSA" that resulted when Crisis on Infinite Earths streamlined the DCU. Power Girl was folded into the new continuity(forgetting her Earth 2 roots) but her Earth 2 cousin Superman was not he later died in Infinite Crisis but not before restoring Power Girl's memory of Earth 2 and with the help of Suprboy Prime the multiverse including Earth 2. Why I've gone crosseyed just writing that. Everyone take a five minute break.

Ok break over. Let me say right off the bat I loved this issue. The best thing about Johns is he can take elements from the Silver and Bronze Age and at least write the dialogue in a modern way while preserving the flavor. The JSA has always been my favorite super team even (sorry Becca) more than the X-Men. I remember reading All-Star Squadron back in the 80's so it is a big thrill for me to have Jerry Ordway (who drew that book) on pencils for this annual. Also I loved seeing the pre-crisis Infinity, Inc. as full fledged Justice Society (now Justice Society Infinity) members. Aside form the fact that Justice Society Infinity is perhaps an even dumber team name than Xtreme X-Men this was a real kick. Thats the best part of this issue its fun. It also corrects a problem that Johns has been evidencing in JSA of late. Too many characters. Johns is such a DC geek that it lately seems he's trying to cram as many charcaters as possible in one issue cause he's having such a blast. In This issue we get glimpses of the Earth 2 we knew and loved but its really Power Girl's and the Earth 2 Huntress's story. It also sets up some great potential for future issues.

If you are a DC newbie I advise staying away since you'll be totally confused. Old time fans however who might've drifted away from the JSA should pick this up. You'll feel like a kid again.

Later
Kevin

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wildcats:The Passion of the Christos

Some of you may have noticed that I am posting much more frequently lately. The reason for this is after ten years I have finally decided to give up smoking. They tell you to find a substitute so instead of smoking when I really start to nic fit I will blog.

With that being said today's review is Wildcats (vol 5)#1 from Wildstorm. This is the first of a number of relaunches Wildstorm is doing spinning out of their Number of the Beast miniseries. This issue as well as the upcoming relaunches of The Authority, and Stormwatch PHD will all carry the World's End Banner. Your writer is Christos Gage and pencils are by Neil (Welcome to Tranquility) Googe. First off if you haven't been paying attention to all the Wildstorm happenings lately you might be a little lost. I will try to avoid spoilers but basically this picks up after a massive cataclysm and the Wildcats are basically assisting the survivors. This is the classic team (minus Lord Emp) by the way plus recent additions Backlash, Nemesis and my personal favorite Ladytron.

The fact that its not very new reader accessible aside this was a good first issue. My favorite Wildcats runs were the Alan Moore and Joe Casey ones and this issue is not as good as those but Gage has a good handle on the characters and it was fairly entertaining. He did some grat stuff with Stormwatch PHD recently. His dialogue more often than not is more standard superhero as opposed to witty and edgy but it still works. Googe's art while good seems a little out of place here. His more light and cartoony pencils work well in Welcome to Tranquility but they seem a little off here. Carrie Strachan seem to be overcompensating for this fact by going very very dark with the coloring. This issue also contains a backup strip that will run in all of the World's End titles focusing on IO agent Lynch. Also written by Gage (art by Trevor Hairsine) I almost liked this more than the main story. I also wish Hairsine was pencilling the main story. The backup strip is more of a throwback to the covert ops/espionage stuff that was going on when Brubaker was writing Sleeper and this strip gives me hop we may see some of those characters again.

Minor complaints aside I am a huge fan of the Wildcats and this issue didn't disappoint. The wildcats are in competent hands with Gage. It has definately held my interest to see this series continue.

Later

Kevin

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Uncanny X-Men: Grab Yourself an Ice Cold Bru....baker

Today we come to the final run of our look back at 100 issues of Uncanny X-Men issues 475-499. With the departure of Chris Claremont Marvel decided to give their resident golden boy Mr. Ed Brubaker a shot at the Merry Mutants starting with issue 475. Brubaker was an inspired choice to take on the X-Men. After all with a resume that included Criminal, Sleeper, Daredevil and Captain America where could you go wrong. Not to mention the fact that while some fanboys did not like the massive retcon taht came out of his X-Men Deadly Genesis mini-series (more on that later) you couldn't argue with the fact that it was incredibly well written.

Speaking of Deadly Genesis Brubaker's first arc logically was a sequel of sorts to that story. Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire finds Professor X, Mravel Girl, Nightcrawler, Havok and Polaris with tag along Darwin rocketing into space to go after crazy Summers brother Gabriel aka Vulcan. Now first off there was alot to like about this arc. One it was happening around the same time as Civil War and at least with Uncanny focusing on the space opera for awhile there was a narrative conceit explaining why the flagship X- title was ignoring an issue that would clearly impact the X-Men. You had gorgeous pencils by Billy Tan and Brubaker started off well by having a guilt ridden Xavier being shunned by Cyclops assembling his team of misfits and given his shot at redemption by tracking down the Rogue Vulcan. This is where it goes off the rails a bit. One too damn long. You did not need twelve issues (475-486)of this. Decompressed storytelling works great for the story Brubaker is still (40 issues and counting) in Captain America. Not so much here. Especially since a few issues omitted the X-Men entirely and concentrated solely on Vulcan. Two the bad guy won and there was no closure. Pretty much Vulcan conquers the Shi'ar, Xavier leaves 3 men behind (but gets his powers back) and then nothing.

With that we have the Extremists arc (487-491) which was much better and gratefully shorter. Brubaker manages to adress the elephant in the room that was M-Day a little, reintroduces the Morlocks and sets up the Messiah Complex crossover. Furthermore he shows great foresight by teasing Magneto's return to relevance which Mike Carey would pick up in X-Men Legacy. You also had great art by Salvador Larocca.

I won't say much about Brubaker's contributions to Messiah Complex (492-494 + the one shot)since it was part of a crossover except that it illustrates what he can do when given the A list X-Men as opposed to the bozo squads.

Finally we have the recently completed Divided we Stand (495-499). The artists once again change as now Brubaker is joined by Mike Choi and Sonja Oback. It was an obvious filler story that had some good moments. Brubaker especially writes Scott and Emma as a couple quite well. You had some good fight scenes with Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Colussus in Russia and the dialogue was quite good. The whole point was to kill time before issue 500 and the big move to San Francisco but it was perfectly readable.

All in all Brubaker's 2 year solo run didn't exactly set the world on fire but he also didn't really alienate any one. Both Rise and Fall and The Extremists are out in trade and the Divided we Stand arc just wrapped. If you are a newbie I recommend bypassing Rise and Fall and starting with the Extremists its Brubaker's X-Men at its best.

Later

Kevin

Monday, July 28, 2008

Episode 5: The Return

Greetings……..(I think we need to come up with a name for F-BombCast listeners)….this week features the return of the Ying to TJ’s Yang, the Thing One to Tj’s Thing Two, Miiiiiiiiiiike Maaaaaannnniiiiiiing. Yes, back to pick the show back up after the deliciously sexy road bump that was Episode 4, where I filled in as second host, Mr Manning returns for 2 hours 20 minutes of podcast goodness. Right off the bat, we feature the return of CockTalk…..exactly! TJ reveals his deep seeded hatred of pretentious theater people and Mike and TJ discuss creative ways a father can help guard his daughter’s purity.

TJ goes on the attack, accusing Mike of being a Pollyanna and enjoying “everything.” In the midst of the conversation, which drifts from movies and pop culture to comics, we get another glimpse into the personalities of our two hosts.

Bonerific Trailers to check out btw:
Watchmen
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/
Terminator: Salvation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXnELk6pZVk

For the second week in a row the show gets an email. This one is care of TJ’s no. 1 fan, Rebecca O-H. Rebecca asks if the email could be read as either Gambit or Borat. The man of a thousand and one bad voices chooses to read it as sexy French man . *Aside, I know I forget to do the rundown till the last minute and I do forget that other ppl listen to the podcast, but I LOVE fangirls….in fact, the best lovin’ I’ve ever had came from a comic book chick. I’m sure I’ll talk about that more on the show at some point.

Rebecca poses some very interesting questions to the boys such as: 1) What comic book character would you turn gay for? (2) Have you ever checked out another guy’s package at the urinal?

Books mentioned in ComicTalk:
Hellboy: The Crooked Man #1 and a brief critique Hellboy 2.
Flash #242 and the upcoming Flash: Rebirth
Action Comics #862 (Mike starts plumping up thinking about it)
Guardians of the Galaxy #3
Conan the Sumerian #1

Mike's son makes a brief BRIEF appearance, blink and you'll miss it.....yes I know it's audio.

F'd Up Five this week is Top Five Fictional Characters you'd like to be (or something)
Highlights include Snoopy, Powergirl, James Bond, Lobo, the Flash (James makes a funny), Mr. Rourke, Major Nelson, Alex from a Clockwork Orange and the Joker

Let's do the Time Warp Agaiiiin:
This year is 1991.
Musically it features the deaths of Mr. Freddie Mercury and hair bands (mike sheds lil' metal tears) and TJ switches up the Gay pick/Straight pick with Black pick/White pick. Movies include T2, the Commitments, New Jack City, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves Fried Green Tomatoes, My Girl, Silence of the Lambs and I gush over Hudson Hawk. This is a shitty year for TV and I think we mentioned with the exception of the premiers of Ren & Stimpy and "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

And that's all I have to say about that.....

Dave

An Uncanny Sense of Deja Vu: The Claremont Years Take 3

Continuing our look back at the last 100 issues of Uncanny X-Men today we focus on the return of the man who pretty much defined the X-Men for legions of fans and wrote them longer than anyone else Mr. Chris Claremont. Following the unmitigated disaster that was Chuck Austen, Issue 444 saw Claremont return the book he made famous for the third time.

This was kind of interesting since back in 2000 Claremont had a very brief and poorly received return to both core X titles. However given the (unfairly)lukewarm response to Joe Casey and the aforementioned Chuck Austen debacle bringing back the man who pretty much started it all was not a bad idea. Claremont's third run was pretty much a continuation of what he had already been doing on X-Treme X-Men which aside from the horrfic title was actually quite good.

Issue 444 saw X-Treme X-Men cancelled and that book's core members transplanted over to Uncanny. Your core team was Storm, Psylocke, Sage, Cannonball, Bishop, Nightcrawler and Marvel Girl (Rachel Grey). Also jumping on at various points were Wolverine, Emma Frost and in the best plotline of Claremont's run X-23.

What can you say about Claremont? His bad points are well known (too much exposition, an unhealthy obsession with mind control and his Psylocke obsession is just creepy) but when he's on he's on. There was alot to like about these issues. Like I said bringing in X-23 was a good touch and the way he confronts Wolverine with a female more feral version of himself. The way Wolverine takes X-23 under his wing is even still being explored currently in X-Force. Claremont also addresses the effect of Cyclops new relationship with Emma Frost on his "daughter" Rachel and thats handled rather well when Rachel and Emma have a psychic battle similar to the one Emma and Jean had in Morrison's new X-Men.

This wasn't revolutionary stuff but it was welcome for the most part. The plotline of the X-Men being fully deputized mutant police as the Xtreme Sanctions Executive was carried over from Xtreme X-Men but it basically was ignored after awahile. Alot of it was stuff we'd seen before, the return of the Hellfire Club, an unnecessary visit to the Savage Land, the Sh'iar but it felt good. The best arc in my opinion was a House of M tie in setting up the New Excalibur series that gave us Claremont at his swashbuckling best but it was the best House of M tie in of that entire event. You also had Alan Davis on pencils which is never bad.

Don't get me wrong this wasn't a flawless run Claremont's standard dialogue tics are hard to ignore sometimes and the Sh'iar death commandos was a bubble brained idea. Also the final arc involving Psylocke's nutty brother was just palin stupid. Still all in all it was a welcome return for a time. Unfortunately Claremont became very ill towards the end of his run and Tony Bedard scripts from Claremont's plots for the last issues (471-474) and the Annual. Bottom line if you're a Claremont fan and you are enjoying his current run on New Exiles you should check these out I believe it is about 6 trades under the name Uncanny X-Men the Next Age.

Later
Kevin

Friday, July 25, 2008

Uncanny X-Turd: The Chuck Austen Years

Since this is an anniversary week of sorts I got a fabulous idea that's right folks THEME WEEK! I will be covering all of the creative teams on Uncanny X-Men from issue 400-499. Yesterday's review covered the unfairly criticized Joe Casey Run. Today we will cover the totally fairly criticized and eggregiously terrible Chuck Austen run.

So much has been written about how bad these years were that it would seem there is little left to say. Out of curiousity I recently picked up a good portion of the Austen run. You know how it is you hear all this negative stuff and you think to yourself "it can't be that bad" Its not. Its so much worse. Marvel actually kept Austen on this book for issues 410-443 just shy of three years worth. Here are some lowlights

Nightcrawler as the messiah of an anti-mutant satanic faction of the Catholic church complete with (swear to fucking god) evil disentegrating communion wafers.

The mother of all retcons in which Nightcrawler's father is revealed to be the demon Azrael who tries to escape hell by fathering children all over the world (I know what you're going to say TJ it sounds cool but trust me its not)

Polaris turns into a complete lunatic and Havok inexplicably dumps the love of his life for a slutty nurse with a mutant kid.

Those are just the plots rest assured the dialogue and charcterizations are equally atrocious. Austen thought all mutants were the same and would band togther simply because they were mutants. All of his women characters were either complete whores or nuts. Whats worse Austen had the colossal audacity to blame the fans for criticizing him. If you didn't like his work you either were too stupid to get it or not a true X-Men fan. Austen's behavior in interviews was so smug that he actually made Rob Liefeld look humble for God's sake.

Basically this was the worst period in X history that inexplicably lasted 3 years. After removing him from Uncanny with issue 443 Marvel actaully replaced Austen with Chris Claremont and dumped him over on New/adjectiveless X-Men as a fill in until recently departed Grant Morrison's successor could be found. This was actually a stroke of genius since fans would've hated anyone who dared follow Morrison immdediately. No problem we'll stick Chuck in there for nine issues and the fans will be so happy to see him go they'll throw the next guy a parade.

If you are curious then you can probably find some Austen stuff in 25 cent bins at any local comic show but be aware. Its like going to see an Ed Wood movie. You are in it purely to see how bad it is.

Later

Kevin

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Red Headed Stepchild: Joe Casey's X-Men

As we all know Uncanny X-Men 500 came out today. I believe TJ will be covering that over on thankgoditswednesday. As excited as I am that T finally bit the bullet and bought another X-book it got me thinking about Uncanny X-Men 400 and the author of that issue in particular Joe Casey.

Uncanny X-men was not quite the halfway point in Casey's brief run which was not very warmly received at the time. Considering what came after that howvever history has been much kinder to good ol' Joe. The funny thing about this was this was during a big shakeupperiod for Marvel's merry mutants. New EIC Joe Quesada had wanted to move the books away from the standard Calremont formula and shake things up so we had God himself Grant Morrison on New X-Men and Casey fresh off his acclaimed Wildcats run on Uncanny. Casey's run believe it or not gets the short end of the stick. It had some great art by the likes of Sean Phillips and Ashley Wood and for the most part it succeded in modernizing the Uncanny X-Men the same way Morrison was updating New X-Men. Your core team was Wolverine, Angel, Chanmber, Nightcrawler and Mutant prostitute Stacy X. I am apparently the only one who didn't mind Stacy X. The core theme of the X-Men helping a world that hates and fears them was all there and Casey's introductory arc was a great satire on tweeny pop in which Chamber is used to make a thinly disguised Britney Spears analog generate some street cred. The next arc dealing with Banshee creating a mutant paramilitary strike team was also quite good. For me the whole run had a more grown up feel and showed some willingness to stray from the same tired old Claremont type plots. There was some philosophy, some politics and plenty of good action.

Like I said history has been much kinder than critics at the time. This is in no small part due to the Tsunami of anti-talent that immediately followed Casey known as Chuck Austen. Casey was respectful enough of the fans to put his own stamp on the franchise without pissing all over the core themes. Austen took a gigantic dump on the franchise and unlike Casey deserves every negative thing that was ever said about his painful two and a half year run.

If you are so inclined pick up Casey's run. I think its only two trades Poptopia, and Rocktopia. You will not be disappointed.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Episode 4: Tranny Vacation

This week, Mr Manning has decided that spending time with his family is more important than all you faithful listeners. So instead of podcast gold, you get podcast bronze as I fill in for our intrepid co-pilot.

I was kind of nervous this week since I actually had to contribute 50% instead of the occasional zinger and after Episode three, I was hoping to bring back the funny. T and I talk about extended bowel moments, race, training your coworkers to leave you alone, my head exploding and just who is the "Billboard" (da DUH!!)?

*FBOMB Factoid: Pretzels and Peanut butter is a worse lunch than White Castle, which itself is much more depressing than filling a woman's mouth with throat yogurt.

Comic talk (and yes there is comic talk with just Dave) includes my review of Criminal Macabre #1. TJ talks the Invisibles TPB #3 and Y the Last Man #8 and also breaks the news the My Favorite Comic "Wormwood Gentleman Corpse" will be re-released in a new Deviant Edition. Also, just to shake things up, I even review a book...and BOOK book...Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko.

We have 2 count 'em 2 emails. The first comes from Sean (Hakkenden), BIG UPS Sean! The second comes to us from the tiny African nation of Burkina Faso. F-BombCast Worldwide.

At around the 40 minute mark it's Drunk Story time with Uncle Dave. This weeks story, "Dave and the Magic Attic."

The Douche-bag segment takes a strange turn when T tries to set me up to call his sweet baby girl an asshole and I somehow end up menacing her (COMPLETELY unintentional).

In the year 2002 quite possibly one of the shittier years in pop culture we've had to cover, TJ, Mike and I try to out-gay eachother with pics of Kylie Minogue, Pink and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The F'd up Five subject was the Top 5 Hardcore Bitches in Film. Much Love for Bad-ass bitches like Ellen Ripley, the Bride, Sarah Conner, deadly deadly little Miho, Mama Fratelli and Elenore Shaw (Angela Lansbury). Yes, Angela Lansbury...you just have to listen.


Keep on rocking in the free world,
Dave

Monday, July 14, 2008

In Defense of Judd Winick

Its been almost a month and the Judd Winick bashing from Heroes Con is still sticking in my craw. That and alot of the reviews I'm reading have convinced me that the man just isn't getting a fair shake. Today's post will therefore be me getting my Judd's back and and in general review of Green Arrow/Black Canary so far.

Let me say from the outset I am a Winick fan. His Batman stuff was quite enjoyable and I have enjoyed his take on the Green Arrow charcater. The biggest complaint seems to be with the tone of the series. Basically that the humorous quips and banter don't fit with what the series should be. Have any of you naysayers read anything by Joss Whedon or Keith Giffen or even Kevin Smith during his run? Same deal folks. Yes Connor getting shot was a dramatic event but darkening the series would not have worked. The overall issue where Connor was shot was dealt with appropriately. Green Arrow screaming "CLARK" from Paradise Island so loud that Superman hears him in Metropolis was classic. The reactions of the JLA to one of their teammates in pain was also far better than any of the Super Friendsesque garbage being written in JLA these days. The scene where Ollie cradles the brain dead Connor in his arms and says "Shhh Daddy's here son" is one of the most touching scenes I have ever read in a comic book.

The humor is sarcasm/pop culture reference which is my favorite. It may not be quite as witty as Whedon but it still works. The best thing about the book though is that it is a family book. Not family like Cosby show but the Green Arrow family. Ollie, Dinah, Mia, Roy and Connor are a family and that shows. Its not dark like a Batman book nor as hokey as some of the Superman titles but it works.

Bottom line, and this goes to my point from last week, its a book I look forward to each week. I would also be remiss if I did not give a shout out to Mike Norton for his terrifc pencils. Green Arrow may no longer be the uptight voice of the anti-establishment as much as he was during the Denny O'Neil years but he doesn't need to be anymore. Its smart and entertaining and that should be enough.

Later

Kevin

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Episode Three: Totally Nude Podcasting

Well, not exactly "nude" nude, just without any music beds. In this episode, we get back to basics with just Mike and TJ. Kevin and I both contribute by way of emails read by TJ "Mel Blanc" Tunnington and his many voices.

We begin this episode with a brief return to the literary. Mike and TJ discuss the merits and compare HP Lovecraft, Hemingway and F.Scott Fitzgerald. We also hear a tale of hallucinagenic defense of Mario Puzo's The Godfather.

Beverages this week: Mike = Landshark Lager from Margaritaville™ Brewing Co.
TJ = Iced T and leftovers from his Flying Dog sampler

*Bus Stop Trivia: Immigrant farm workers can bring chairs onto public buses to sit on when there are no seats available.

This is an episode of segways...magical segways...segway to segway to segway. Example: Drinking beer while eating to mexicans picking blueberries to immigrant workers bus riding rights to forced labor. Topics include in no particular order, forum etiquette, the dangers of dead air and potty-mouthed childrens' authors.

There is signifigant discussion on comics, highlighting Astonishing X-Men, Final Crisis and TJ's hope for the DC universe, Batman #678 and the Dresden Files.

The year is 1964......fuck it....just so you know, I'm listening to the show right now and I'm ahead of this segment and on the top 5 influential albums. If you're looking for the funny, stop listening now (well, maybe not, Kevin's pics are pretty funny). Between listening to TJ brutalize my words with his Bobby Brady voice and the story he told at the end, I have to stop now..........

Thursday, July 10, 2008

A Drop in the Bucket

This week I decided to drop two books from my pull list. That got me thinking two things: 1) How do we come up with a pull list and 2) when do we make the decision to drop a book. I found that the two go hand in hand. A very wise man told me that only books that you look forward to each month should be on your pull list. This is where the completist collector part of me and the fanboy conflict. When I gave it a serious look I found I was dropping money on books that I wasn't really enjoying simply because I felt I had to. I have since seen the error of my ways. To that end my two drops were

Cable

I really wanted to like this. I'm an X-Men nut and I really dug Messiah Complex so I was interested to see where they took the story. The answer. Nowhere. The first arc was 5 issues of Cable and Bishop chasing each other through post-apocalyptic New Jersey. Thats it. I'm all for decompressed storytelling but this arc moved at the pace of a special olympic marathon runner. The art by Ariel Olivetti was really annoying no one looks like that. I was ready to drop this after the second issue but I thought it was a part of the overall X-Men universe and I had to keep buying it. I have seen the error of my ways.

Iron Fist

Let me say first off I have been loving this book under Fraction,Brubaker and Aja. Honestly though I am a fan of the creative team not the character. Since they have departed as of the last issue I will be going with them. Interestingly enough the new head writer is Duane Swierncynski who also writes Cable. Since I don't particularly care for that book and am dropping it I see no reason to think I'd like him on this one. Also the preview art looks like in a word four color vomit.

Avengers Invaders

I haven't dropped it yet butits on the bubble. Jim Krueger while a competent storyteller is verbose to Chris Claremont levels of exposition and so far its been three issues of Capatin America calling everyone Nazis. I'm enjoying the Twelve and even Project Superpowers a hell of alot more. Krueger, Ross and Co. are getting one more issue to develop an actual point to this series or I'm jumping off.

Bottom line I am reevaulating my pull list criteria which will enhance my reading pleasure and hopefully save me a few bucks.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Episode Two: Oh, what do you do with a drunk podcaster

We are again lucky....NAH, Privledged....NAH! GRACED with yet another resounding opening from that Prince of August Verbage the Wordsmith Extroidinare, Michael Manning *applause *applause

Also present, the ever delicious, TJ Tunnington and myself your humble and ever tardy servant (also, part-time Master of Thunderball Snorkeling).

Right off the bat, we get to the drinkage. T, tempts fate (ref. to Saturday night at Heroes Con) by trying out the Flying Dogfish Head Sampler. Mr. Manning, keeping it local (to Vermont) with "X the Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale" (I feel more masculine just writing that!). For me? Well, I decide to bring some culture and polish with a little Monkey Bay wine.

Mike and I both fall pray to drunken bliss. Listen closely at 01:51:00 for a special treat. At least for the first twenty minutes, we're all still coherant and I tell a few stories about having clowns for parents....yes, CLOWNS...both of them.

- Comics, Comics, Comics:
We've got a gender bending Martian Manhunter, penis growing jungle queens,
Red Hulk smash!, RASL Rox!, a Peter David love-fest, midget hand fearing
Werewolves and TJ jumping off Captain America once and for all.

*It wouldn't be an F-BombCast if we didn't mention
our manhood's at least once:

Mike = Harvey
TJ = Mr. Happy
Dave(me) = My Friend

- Misc. Ramblings:
Dumps, Robin Willams is a hack, welfare, vaginettes
and chinese historic period movies

- Douchebags

Kevin: Shout out to a pot smoking delivery guy
Mike: The Discovery Channel for F*^king up his Monday Sex night
Dave: The loud group of "Stereotype" girls behind me in the theater during Wanted
TJ: Verizon Wireless and Wes Anderson fans

- F'd up five - Top 5 Deaths in Film

Kevin: Mr Orange in Res Dogs,Sonny Corleone GF,Bonnie&Clyde,a famous historian
from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Clarences dad in True Romance
Mike: Eric Childs in This is Spinal Tap, King Leonidas in 300, Toth in Raiders,
Crissie Watkins in Jaws, Boromir in fellowship of the ring
Dave: Arhur Charles Herbert Muncy adam Jarrett Monty Python MofL, Mo Green in the
Godfather, the Burly German from Raiders,CW from Jaws, 4 Girls in DeathProof
TJ: Decapitaion in Omen, "curbed" Guy in Am.History X, Mo green,
Dante in the alternate ending of Clerks*

*There was no robbery in the theatrical release at all.
I think we got it partly confused with Fast Times
at Ridgemont High

- The year was 1987

In the music, the Cutting Crew was making us swoon with "(I just) died in
your arms", Tawny Katain kept us company in the "Still of the night", Bono was
still cool in his "Joshua Tree" fort and Guns & Roses left us with an
"Appetite for Destruction"

The small screen saw the premieres of Star Trek: TNG, 21 Jump Street and
Married with Children.

Silver Screen favs include The last emporer, Running Man, Nightmare on
Elm Street 3, The Princess Bride and Wall Street.

- The show ends, mercifully at the 2:08:51, but the few minutes belong to
me. Basically, I highjack the show by laughing uncontrollably and
blurting out random body parts.

SO....that's it. Not nearly as comprehensive or witty as Ep.1 but not even Babe Ruth hit it out every time. Remember, to visit us on the forums and to check out the "Quotent Quotables" section and vote for your favorite quote from the previous week's show.


Keep it sleezy,
Dave

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Alice, I knew her well

Some of you may or may not know I am a paratransit driver for my local public transit system. I am not one of the circle jerks (my personal pet name for drivers that go around the same route all fucking day over and fucking over) I am a glorified taxi for the disabled, the elderly getting them to and from their medical appointments.

Alice is an elderly lady who has been on Dialysis for 12 years now....I have transported her for the past 3 years, twice on Tuesdays, Thursdays and during the winter on Saturdays. Today was the last day that I will bring her as the lung cancer has advanced so far that the doctors have basically told her that she is fucked and they can not do anything more for her. I have Alice on my bus for about 30 minutes each way so we talk and over the years we have talked about alot of stuff, from kids, family relations, shitty TV, shitty movies, weather (A popular subject in Vermont) and other sundry topics to numerous to name.

I was unaware of the results of her doctors visit on Saturday, and so Alice's daughter brought her out today and after I had gotten Alice on board (she is in a wheelchair) and folded up the lift, the daughter told me the news...she has maybe a month left but they as a family were pushing her to keep dialysizing. Dialysis is a very draining process ...literally. You are hooked up to a kidney machine for anywhere from 3 to 4 hours while your blood is cleaned....it is a very tiring and exhaustive process that has to be done 3 times a week.

The daughter left and I talked to Alice for about 15 minutes just sitting there wasting gas just talking. When I die I only hope that I have half of the dignity of Alice. She is worried about her family and her brother who will be the only one left out of 5 siblings and she is in alot of pain....if she takes enough Morphine for the pain, she is totally out of it or asleep, she wants to stop the dialysis and just get on with dying.

I brought her in and dropped her off and thought about it for the entire day. I picked her up and she was in lala land as the hospital had doped her up before kicking her out the door for the day. It was a quiet trip to her home as she pretty much snoozed the entire way. We arrived and I unloaded her and gave her a hug and told her I would miss her and took the daughter aside as the grandchildren pushed her back inside her home.

I told the daughter that she should stop pushing and just enjoy being with her mom for her remaining days.....I also pointed out how blessed she actually is because she will actually have the chance to say goodbye.....I never had that chance, as my mom died suddenly overnight.

I am going to miss you Alice

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:You can Go Home Again

Yes its two for one Wednesday here at the FBC. For anyone left who I did not alienate with my last post here's a nice little review. Today's review is Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 #16. Right off the bat let me say I'm a whore for certain authors (Morrison, Ellis, Brubaker) and last but not least Joss Whedon. With this issue/arc Whedon picks up the writing duties again taking over from Drew Goddard. This alleivates my Whedon withdrawl now that he has wrapped up Astonishing X-Men. I am usually not a fan of comic adaptations of licensed properties they very rarely capture the feel of the show/movie. This series however has been consistently excellent from the beginning. Whedon and co. (the writers rotate with each arc) truly make you believe that this could be the eighth season of the show. The narrative structure is very similar to what we came to expect over 7 seasons the dialogue fits the established personas of the show and the art by Georges Jeanty resists the urge to just copy the tv actors.

This issue was even better since Whedon teams Buffy up with Fray the Slayer he created exclusively for comics five years ago. Also back for this arc is Fray penciller Karl Moline. What can I say I loved it! The story flows nicely from the conclusion of the last arc, the dialogue is spot on and hilarious (Dawn is a minotaur) and the final page leaves you wanting more.

Bottom line this series continues to be on of the ones I consistently look forward to each month. Those of us who have missed Whedon on tv can rejoice that he has found yet another medium to conquer. If you are a fan of the show and not reading this shame on you go get the first two trades. If you are a comic fan and not reading this shame on you. If you are a minotaur and wish to complain about the depiction of your species send an e-mail to Dark Horse.

Later
Kevin

To Be or not To Be.... A Pretentious Blowhard

Ok folks TJ inspired me over on his other blog www.thankgoditswednesday.blogspot.com with a terrific rant on Wes Anderson's latest film The Darjeeling limited and why it sucked. Boy did it suck. Newsflash to Wes Anderson, the Coen Brothers and the rest of you East Coast snots no one either likes or quite frankly understands your movies. They just say they do so people will think they are "cultured" That got me thinking about recent trends in movies and TV and how they have sacrificed entertainment for the sake of being "bold" or "quirky" or god help me "revolutionary". I personally blame the Weinstein Brothers for starting the trend of "art house films" Can anyone name me any of the films that won Oscars this year? Whats that you say you haven't watched the Oscars in years. Good neither has anyone else. Why? No one is going to tune in to a telecast to watch a bunch of movies no one saw starring a bunch of people no one has heard of get honored. We don't make movies for movie fans anymore we make them for critics. There are execeptions but these days the movies people actually want to see are the ones uptight, eltist wannabes scoff at. Remember the good old days Star Wars, Psycho, The Godfather, Raiders of the Lost Ark. They were blockbusters and classics at the same time. We used to have Spielberg and Coppola now we have Michael Bay and Mc G.

Lets not get started on "comedy" either. Gone are the days of Monty Python, Mel Brooks, shit even Bill and Ted was funny. Now we have Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and the whole frat pack recycling the same dick and fart jokes year after year or we get art house crap that's not only not funny but depressing.

All is not lost. There are some truly gifted people out there who actually are worth the hype (I'm looking at you Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Aaron Sorkin, Quentin Tarantino)and on the comedy front Get Smart was probably the funniest movie I have seen in years. It was smart but not pretentious and yes there were dick and fart jokes but take note Messrs. Ferrell, Sandler, Myers and Stiller, its all about timing and not blowing your wad all at once. On the tv comedy front we've got hope in the form of anything on BBC America, Stewart and Colbert, and Californication. Please note if you have read this and said "but he left off IFC and the Sundance Channel" please slap yourself three times and then reread the first paragraph.

Here's hoping that the exceptions become the rule again. Thanks for calling and not reversing the charges.

Kevin