Poodleface - Just Like That (feat Ric Flair)
January 11th, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Music, Wrestling | Tags: Poodleface, Ric Flair | No Comments »
Kaiba
January 9th, 2008 by Brack
Iwa ni Hana brings the knowledge on Yuasa Masaaki’s new TV show.
Everything looks in place for awesome to abound. Yay.
カイバ｜WOWOW ONLINE
Posted in Anime | Tags: Kaiba, Madhouse, Masaaki Yuasa | No Comments »
Rambling Pre-Emptive Thoughts About Spider-Man: Brand New Day
January 8th, 2008 by Brack
I saw this splash page that recaps the status quo of Spider-Man in the post-One More Day Marvel Universe and it got me thinking.
Now, the whole One More Day malarky doesn’t bother me too much as I’ve not read Spider-Man regularly since the Micheline/McFarlane era. So it’d be churlish to complain about changes to a comic I’ve not been a reader of. However, I am intending to read Brand New Day. I like Spider-Man (read the Spectacular Spider-Man Essentials last year, which is just getting to where I came in on the character via 80’s Spidey UK reprints), I like a lot of the writers involved and I like the format they are planning. I’m not too fussed about the supposed “retcons” implied by the ending of the OMD story, as I can see an easy way they can get round that (Mephisto has only altered the present not the past. This particularly makes sense as in Marvel, Time Travel Doesn’t Work Like That. The line about people remembering Spider-Man unmasking, but not who it was, suggests memories have been altered rather than the timeline).
Plus, and here’s the main thrust of post, the Bob Gale’s script on that splash feels very forward looking. The best way to deal with the OMD ending is to say, these are the changes, this is how everything is now, let’s move forward. The big mistake would be to do a series of surprise reveals of Things Aren’t What You Expect like the Harry reveal. It’s a rare chance for a superhero comic to sever itself from the approach of writing stories tied to past events. However, I don’t expect it to last…
In one of the Flaming Carrot collections it’s discussed how superhero stores are invariably tied heavily to the character’s origin. All of their actions are coloured by what made the hero a hero in the first place. To avoid this, Bob Burden made Flaming Carrot a hero without an origin (well… he read 5000 comics in one sitting), giving us a diverse range superhero stories that you wouldn’t find anywhere else. The best way to use a character’s origin in subsequent stories is to use it thematically, which various Spider-Man comics have used to great effect over the years. For instance, the villains that really resonate in Spider-Man are the ones that in someway reflect Spider-Man/Peter Parker himself. Venom, I think was the last Spider-Man villain that was successful - the suit and echoes of Peter in Eddie Brock resonated with Spider-Man. The attempt at recreating the success of Venom in Carnage fails, the character having resonance with Venom rather than Spider-Man. A psychotic serial killer with an alien suit isn’t a Spidey villain, a depressed, disgruntled, jealous journalist with Spider-Man’s OWN alien suit, that has resonance with the character, regardless how poorly the character might have been (over)used down the years.
The bad way to use an origin is to tamper with the origin, to generate cheap shocks by creating reveals that were never there in the original material. Such is the problem of inherent in corporate superhero comics. Eiichiro Oda can pull a reveal regarding the origin of an One Piece side character from 7 years ago and it will make sense, doesn’t feel cheap and gives the reader a genuine surprise. Mid-nineties Spider-Clones and 21st century spider totems feel tacky and disconnected from the original character.
In the case of long running characters I think it’s possible to amass a number of origin stories, namely those stories that made such an impact they noticeably changed the tone/types of stories you could tell with the character. I’d argue that as well as the radioactive spider/Uncle Ben origin story, the death of Gwen Stacy and the marriage to MJ are origins of a sort too. I can see arguments for the reveal of Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin as an origin too.
And so, the problem I can see them having with Brand New Day, is that One More Day is essentially yet another new origin story for someone to be tempted to use it as a theme for future stories (and I can see two potential ways they can already), and then, eventually, tamper with the events of the story. The fact that the story was so reviled gives it a sense of inevitability that we will see that Everything Was Not As It Seemed.
But for now, I can ignore that.
Slott, Gale and Guggenheim tend to write superhero stories I like to read.
And it’s Spider-Man, Spider-Man is cool.
Posted in Comics | Tags: Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | No Comments »
MAD MONDAY - MASAMI GOTO
January 7th, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Anime, MAD Monday | Tags: Masami Goto | No Comments »
YOHOHOHO~!
January 6th, 2008 by Brack
This is the ending to episode 337 of One Piece, so SPOILERS!
Really great work from Yūichi Nagashima. I love the way his voice veers all over the place. Earlier in the episode he uses a voice similar to Kyasharin’s to great effect. It’s not what I was expecting, but it works very well. The animation on the character was great too. The choice to focus on him tidying himself up before talking to Nami was inspired.
Posted in Anime | Tags: Brook, Luffy, Nami, One Piece, Sanji, Yuichi Nagashima | 1 Comment »
Can you see the ghost?
January 6th, 2008 by Brack
Posted in Stupidity | Tags: pac man, recycled content | No Comments »
Things that need to exist.
January 6th, 2008 by Brack
A Hello Kitty version of The Diary Of Anne Frank.
Posted in Stupidity | Tags: anne frank, hello kitty, recycled content, things that need to exist | No Comments »
This cat really looks non-plussed at the situation.
January 6th, 2008 by Brack
moar funny pictures
Posted in Stupidity | Tags: lolcats, recycled content | No Comments »
Hypothetical TV Shows
January 5th, 2008 by Brack
Cop And Fridge
An odd couple buddy show about a cop who doesn’t do things by the book and his new partner - an animated fridge.
Zombie Cop
An odd couple buddy show about a cop who doesn’t do things by the book and his new partner - the revived corpse of his old partner.
Hilarity ensues as he has stop the zombie cop from eating the evidence. Supporting cast includes the female desk sergeant who used to date the zombie before he died and a cannibal forensic scientist.
Ulrich Is Dead
A hidden camera show in which teenage Metallica fans are convinced that drummer Lars Ulrich has died.
Posted in Stupidity, TV | Tags: recycled content | No Comments »