My Pull List for July 27, 2011

Had a big day yesterday and was really looking forward to reading some of these, lots to read, but my wife decided to go hormonally bananas last night so I took an Ambien, hid in my office and fell asleep on my recliner. That sounded really sad typing it out.

Moving the fuck on.

If the name "Christos Gage" is under the part where it says "Writer". I buy it.

I don't think this ended up coming out yesterday, but totally worth waiting for...even with the creative team shakeup.

Nothing's really happened yet, Thor tripped out on some boomers, Aunt May slapped Marvel's Captain We Apologize For Being American & there's a big funeral. But what's missing? How is the Ultimate Universe without this character? What has his death had an effect on other than people's emotions? There has to be some kind of domino effect here...they've got 6 issues left we'll have to see.

Press The +1 Thing

I think I get extra internets if you press the +1 under each post.

Actually, I don't know what they do...but I'm sure it'll help me.  So go ahead and press it for me, I want to see what it does for traffic or my plan to enslave the world to be a more efficient blogger.

Plus, I'll post more boobies.

I'm willing to bet (see what I did there) that Mike Matusow lost on the river card somehow.

"Call My Bluff!"

After such presidential action (it ain't his first) I think this is a fitting picture of what the American public perceives 0bama to be at the moment.

I WANT A CREDIT CARD MOMMY, NOW!!!!!!!

The Great Uniter Alienator. 

Hat tip, ANDY'S PLACE. Go there if you want to read someone that truly knows how to "write" and "blog".

WTF Are You Going To Do About Netflix?

News Flash, Netflix suddenly went from "I can't believe what I'm getting for the price!" to "I can't believe how little I'm getting for the price" but announcing their change in services.

So, those of you that are customers what are you going to do?

Are you going to go DVD only?  I considered the streaming a luxury, and used it rarely.  But when I did I loved it.  To right from a game of Battlefield 2 to a movie without getting up or switching devices or changing inputs was awesome.  I depended on the DVDs in the mail for the real, "date-night" type weekend entertainment with my wife.

Now I have to choose.  Obviously Netflix wants people to go to the all streaming option which, in my opinion, sucks.  You can't get a full season of a show streaming.  For example: Netflix is offering a season of Show A for streaming, yet the last two episodes are labled "Disc Only".  You've seen it, I've seen it.

So unless they change that particular policy I see no way I can continue being their customer.

Well, what about the DVD only plan?  With talks of the USPS cutting their delivery down to 5 days a week, and even more rumors have them down to 3, even 1.  Let's say because of Netflix' change in policy I up my plan to 3 discs out at a time, and a year later the post office only delivers mail 3 days a week...where are my discs and where is my value?

Netflix, while I believe can do whatever they want...probably lost a lot of customers and I'm at about the 75% mark of leaving.  I just can't decide what to do.

At the very least, Netflix should have "grandfathered" in their long-standing customers like myself (who got them into such a powerful position to begin with) and moved forward with any pricing structure plans then.

Anyway, with reports of people getting screwed over by Netflix for "unreturned discs" (make sure that last disc you sent back has been marked as received on their website before closing your account) after they canceled their accounts, please follow this guide to ensure your safety when leaving Netflix. 

Amazing Spider-Man #665

There's hype that goes unmet. Green Lantern.

There's hype that never gets attention. The Rocketeer.

There's hype that is undeserved. Watchmen.

There's hype that transcends hype and becomes truth. Dan Slott's current run on Amazing Spider-Man.

Dan Slott's run on Amazing Spider-Man right now is the last in that list.  I come and go with ASM.  Sometimes it's on my pull list, sometimes it's not - it's never been steady.  For the last dozen issues or so it has been stunning what Slott is pulling off, and issue #665 was no exception.  Incredibly drawn by Stegman and Cammo this run is going to go down in history right up there with Miller in Daredevil, Gruenwald's Captain America, Ennis' Punisher and Peter David first X-Factor.

Go, now, buy the issues starting when Slott came on board. You owe it to yourself to support the hard work Slott is doing.  And 20 years from now you can say you were there when it all went down.  Because whatever this is leading up to is going to be fucking epic.  Epic I tell you.

This. Is. Sick. Writing.

New Batman Trailer - The Dark Knight Rises

It is my opinion that Christian Bale is one of the top 3 actors making movies today. Follow his career and the rich range of characters he's played is impressive. Public Enemies was awesome because of Bale, not Depp. Batman is the new LotR because of Bale and the Terminator franchise has been turned around because of Bale. I could watch Salvation, Batman Begins and the Dark Knight 100 times and never tire.

So, the new trailer was shown during the Hairy Pooter 44 release and reception has been incredible. I actually might go to the theater's to see this...the last movie I went to a theater to see was Avatar, huge fucking mistake, but before that, it was Return Of The King.  I just hate movie theaters:

Enjoy!

Funny Fox Commenter

I'm off to bury my Grandfather tomorrow.  While reading some news before leaving I wanted to post something because I'll be away for a few days (probably not, I'll probably post from the hotel room).

In this article about our idiot "president" playing chicken with the country, one commenter named, "shoveljob" lol, had one of the funniest posts I've seen in a while.

Obama-Peas-Prize Nominee in 57 States and Vetenarian Surgeon Dr. Sal Kohn Thwarts Liberal Terrorists

We caught up with Dr. Sal at his laboratory-cattle-ranch deep in the heart of Texas. Here's our exclusive interview:

Dr. Sal Kohn: "There is no cure for liberal-terrorists, but I can surgically modify any rabid liberal to see, think, and breathe a whole lot better than before. I do it by installing 2 glass windows - one in the umbilicus - and the other up the gluteus maximus - so these bastards can see America 360 degrees while their heads are up their proctological bulls-eye. These self-cleaning windows are fitted with telescopes, which allows mouth-foaming liberals to see the whole parade of disasters they have created due to THEIR-DESIGNED-MIS-EDUCATION-OF-AMERICA'S-YOUTH: poverty, violence, all acts of crime, and then: politicians to force-feed Americans with millions of laws, police forces, lawyers, court-houses, judges, concentration camps, corporate owned prisons and legal counterfeiting (uh, I mean the Federal-Reserve)".

Dr. Sal also inserts a radio antenna oxygen tube for gasping liberals to suck not only more air, but FOX-KNEWZ radio signals while they're sight-seeing up their derrières. The doctor further explains : "I've stopped their mouth foaming fits and seizures that was caused by hatefulness and a lack of oxygen. And this increased oxygen supply - mixed with manure methane and a laxative I use for cattle - causes the shakes and shoots their a$$e$ up in the sky like a Discovery space shuttle. And while these bastards are whooping it up out there, they've forgotten all about their COMMUNIST GRIP AND MONOPOLY ON THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TEACHERS' UNIONS, WHICH HAS SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED THE UNITED STATES MORE THAN ANY GROUP OF TERRORISTS - ANYWHERE"!

Thank-you liberal-terrorists! Thanks for "lettin' go" of legal mis-education!

Good stuff!  I invite that commenter to be a guest blogger here!  I'm sure he's a daily reader.

Because I Am Awesome

I'm awesome.

So awesome that I have an acquaintance in "the biz" that signs a lot of my books and is probably writing one of the best high end titles for Marvel right now.

The other day he had dropped a book off at a store for me to pick up the next time I was going to be stopping by.  So I stopped by the other day to pick it up and looked around their at their figures as I usually do.  This place kinda overprices stuff, but if it's a rare item I'm glad to buy it.

So I'm looking around in the toy enclave and I see this:

Ooops, wrong button...sorry. (Click for bigger boobage).

I see this:

Click for bigger awesomeage.

Pretty rare for an item this new to show up at this store...they usually buy stuff from people and sell it.  So I'm not sure who had sold this to them...they told me they got it from their distributor but I doubt that, given there's a Red Hulk in there in Piss Poor -1 condition for $12.99 that I can find at Target for $7.99.

Anyway, I bought it pretty quickly for around $20...and I know I'll end up seeing it at a Target or Toys R Us in a week or so for $13.99 or $11.99.  But I have been drooling over this three-pack since the day I saw it previewed.  There's a nice Original Avengers set that's out along with it...comes with the clunky old school Iron Man, Hulk, Wasp, Ant Man and Thor.  That set is pretty sweet but there is no way I'm passing up that Warpath for the Avengers pack.

Good thing these are going for a hot dollar on the Internets.

Dan Slott's Fridge

In case you live on the fucking moon or something, Dan Slott has been writing the hell out of Amazing Spider-Man lately.  It's pretty much already been chalked up to one of the greatest ASM runs in history.

The story is amazing, issue #665 was hyped and surpassed that hype and the anticipation for what's to come couldn't get any more intense.

So, with that said...here is his fridge.  I want to live in front of it and stare at it.

 

If you are not reading ASM...go back to when Slott came on board and read.  You will not be able to put the issues down and you'll even catch the master himself, Christos Gage, on a few issues.

Twitidiots

So, as of late I've been hanging out on Twitter. The comic community has a huge presence there and it's a great place to talk comics, read some insider news and just listen to some of the creators talk about their process.

However, sometimes celebrities get their stuff retweeted...and we all know celebrities are not known for their brilliant tweets. 

Obviously, celebrities are the touchstone by which all society is judged.  What they deem cool or awesome, or evil so goes the sheep.  (Where are all the war protests??)

They think they're amazing and insightful, especially musicians.  Idiots like the Kardashians and the Hiltons, who get paid to tweet (can you imagine?  what a fucked up society, no wonder Obama got elected...we are the American Idol version of a country). aren't nearly as inspired, savvy,. astute and adroit with their discriminating tastes.

The other day I saw this come across my htc Incredible's Plume feed:

My reply was originally, simply this:

But the more his idiocy stayed on me, the more I felt the need to lay into him:

 

And, then:

Finally:

And that's where I think I hit my mark.  I knew I was missing something vital.  I knew I hated this guy and his "band" more than the normal one hit wonders out there who marry other dim celebrities and named their children "Framer" or "StarMountain" or "Fluvium".

It's the fucking skinny jeans!  I seriously think a man walking around in those skinny jeans needs to be brought to a retraining facility and manned the fuck up.  Get a fucking haircut, too.

Maroon 5 and Adam Levine started that skinny jean shit and it hasn't gone away.

Fuck off Adam Levine, you Level 5 Maroon.

Mort! You Have Just Fucked With The Wrong Person

Via Fox And Friends. Some idiot thief decided upon B&E'ing a house owned by the wrong person (from his perspective) and the best person (from street justice's perspective).

Arturo Lozzi's Ghost Rider Variant Cover

Four words: Bad. Ass.

I'm excited to see Ghost Rider back in action.  Thanks!

Yes, MORE!

Via Bleeding Cool via |\/|$|\| (puke):

Meet Fili and Kili.  Two Dwarves from the upcoming The Hobbit movie.

Get the rest there.  I can't wait.

Netflix Goes From Awesome To Suckage Instantly

I just received an email from Netflix stating the following:

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming) for $7.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). You don't need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.

We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516.

–The Netflix Team

That's shit.  And is a shitty 60% price increase.

So, basically I can either stream or get DVDs.  That completely fucking blows.  There are tons and tons of times I use Netflix through my XBox to put a movie or a kid's show on...they have a huge array of children's shows for my son.

But I also love to get a new movie sent to me to keep as long as I want, bring to a friends house, bring to work with me and watch while I'm working etc...


I really thought there was something to be said for Netflix.  But I guess money talks and bullshit walks.  I'm all for free enterprise, but how about grandfathering in those that have been your customers since day 1?

Bite me, Netflix

My Pull List for July 06, 2011

Nice week, this. I'll be doing a lot of reading, for sure.

Blue Estate #4
The covers for this title are mind blowingly awesome, as is the story.


Chew #19. It's Chew, nuff said.


Fear Itself #4 (of 7). Probably the only snoozer here, this "event" is pretty uneventful.


Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 (of 3). Uncanny X-Force has been rocking it...and (along with Deadpool, is the only tie in I'm buying.


Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #4. There's a little too much Obama worship in this one, but enough Eric Powell awesomeness to keep me reading.


Jonah Hex #69. Oh how I will miss you.


Moon Knight #3. Even though he pretty much destroyed the Avengers franchise, Bendis is doing a great job with Moon Knight. Too long has Marc gone without good treatment, and title is bringing it.


Thunderbolts #160. I just love this book, it's that simple.

2011 Harvey Award Nominees Announced

Just spreading the word basically. Here's the rundown from CBR.

A few that caught my eye:

Best Inker
• Damian Couceiro, Hawks Of Outremer, Boom! Studios
• Steve Ellis, Box 13, comiXology & Red 5 Comics
• Gabriel Hardman, Agents Of Atlas, Marvel Comics
• Mark Morales, Thor, Marvel Comics
• Sal Regla, Magdalena, Top Cow

Best New Series
• American Vampire, Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque, Vertigo/DC Comics
• Echoes, Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rashan Ekedal, Top Cow
• Gutters, Lar Desouza, Ed Ryzoski and Ryan Sohmer, http://www.the-Gutters.com
• Kill Shakespeare, Anthony Del Col and Conor Mccreery, IDW
• Sixth Gun, Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt, Oni Press
• Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee, Marvel Comics

Most Promising New Talent
• Barry Deutsch, Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Amulet Books
• Comfort Love And Adam Withers, Rainbow In The Dark
• Chris Samnee, Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Marvel Comics
• Scott Snyder, American Vampire, Vertigo/DC Comics
• Nick Spencer, Morning Glories, Image Comics

Best Cover Artist
• Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit, IDW
• Jenny Frison, Angel, IDW
• Marcos Martin, Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Comics
• Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Dark Horse Comics
• Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin, DC Comics

Best Continuing Or Limited Series
• Chew, John Layman and Rob Guillory, Image Comics
• Daytripper, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, Vertigo/DC Comics
• Echo, Terry Moore, Abstract Studio
• Fantastic Four, Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham, Marvel Comics
• Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom # 1, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriquez, IDW
• Love And Rockets: Volume 3, Jaime And Gilbert Hernandez, Fantagraphics

One of my favorite Mignola covers of all time...

New Ultimate Spider-Man Is...

@BRIANMBENDIS
@bleedingcool

The Death of Spider-Man story line was great, and it raised a lot of questions.  One's already been answered, yes someone will "be" Spider-Man...but Peter Parker is dead dead.

While reading this article over at Bleeding Cool I think I have figured out who will be donning the Spider-Suit.  It seems that number 4 will be the issue we find out.

That's a clue right there, in my opinion.

Here's the cover:

Maybe I'm too much of a conspiracy theorist but I do know there are plans for someone to put the suit on and continue as Spider-Man.  Bendis seems to be making up for his destruction of the Avengers franchise by some amazing writing here and in the new Moon Knight series.

It's my guess that Johnny Storm, member of the Fantastic Four will be the new Spider-Man.  A great choice if you ask me.  Johnny and Peter have a history in the Ultimate Universe and, according to his bio at Comic Book DB:

Johnny dreamed about using his powers to be a super-hero like the Ultimates; however, his father insisted Johnny finish high school, which he was coerced into attending. He registered at a school in Queens, and made friends quickly, meeting Liz Allen, Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker, among others. When Johnny accidentally caught fire at a beach bonfire, he fled, returning only to ask Liz to meet with him so he could explain. Though Allen didn't show, Spider-Man did, and the two talked before cooperating to save people trapped in a burning building. Johnny's spirit was renewed by Spider-Man's contention that the drawbacks of super-powers are outweighed by the good they could do, and he shared with Spider-Man the name he would use when the team went public: the Human Torch.

My Haul For Today

Picked up some back issues and some other books I've been seeking for a while...

Firstly, Superman Forever #1.  This iconic cover embodies Superman in his purest form.  Alex Ross is a legend, and this cover needs to be on any top 10 covers of all time list.

 

I absolutely love that cover.

Also picked up a number of Daredevil back issues, so my collection is slowly but surely nearing completion.  I picked up issues:

47

73

92

100

122

123

124

143

144

148

156

168

Obviously a nice find, it's at about 6.5 condition, but I've been looking for a while.  So at least I have it until I can upgrade it.

266

193

341

342

343

355