Why I love Mister Miracle.

I've been reading the new Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Volume One hardcover that DC just recently put out. I have to admit something as a huge nerd. Up until this point all I had known about the Fourth World characters I got from the various Bruce Timm animated universe stories surrounding them. Having read the first volume of the book now, I can say that those stories do the characters justice, but there's just no substitute for the real thing.

This is Kirby at his best, and the reproduction of the artwork really makes the art shine. The color restoration is eye-popping and beautiful. All the colors are flat, and DC actually went with older style paper stock for the book. It's actually a good choice as I feel seeing these old school Kirby drawings on glossy paper would have looked kind of terrible. I can't pinpoint why though.

The design for the book itself is great. They use retro looking blow-ups of various panels from the comics, making the art appear aged and pixelated. Throughout the art for the book there are old blurbs stating "KIRBY'S HERE!" and other ads used at the time the series was launched to usher in the arrival of Jack to DC.

The stories are wonderful too. I loved Mister Miracle in particular. First of all, his outfit design seems to be pure Kirby boiled to it's most simple, and goddamn craziest looking elements. And yet it works. Also, how can you not love an escape artist superhero from space whose name just happens to be Scott Free? The fact that Kirby points this out very early on in the first MM story is just one of the many indicators that he's taking the superhero convention and turning it on his head. Years before many modern age creators attempted to do the same thing. At first you think it's just a simple story about a new superhero (with a snazzy outfit) fighting gangsters, but as things progress you see that Scott is just a small member of the pantheon of the New Gods. The context seems to build more and more with each episode. The second of which introduces Granny Goodness (she of Ed Asner voice fame), and we learn more about Scott's past and why he's such a great escape artist.

Of course, there is much, much more in this first volume, but I think I've rambled on about Mister Miracle enough on his own for now. I think I'll make this a sort of series where I highlight one or two of the characters in the stories for each post. So I don't blather so much (and to spread my writing ideas out more).

This will be more refined as it goes on. Right now it's just unfiltered crap. But it's fun for me to get it out. Even if no one is reading.

Also, this is how Vincent Price would listen to "Crazy":

Movies.

Let's start things off with two upcoming movies.

The first one is something I know I will love more than God Himself (if he were real...):



Now, I will be in San Diego for the Comic Con when this movie is released. Which means I will be seeing it in a theater packed with like minded obsessives. THEN, the next morning should be the annual Simpsons panel at the convention itself. My plan? Go to the panel with a shotgun in my mouth, ask staff members on the panel if they are planning a sequel. If they say "No" I will blow my brains out right there. I don't see a reason to live after this movie is released.

Now, here is a trailer for something I hate so much it actually makes me cry:



If you're wondering why I hate this so much all you need to do is read the book.

I am well aware that Fox will most likely pull this Simpsons trailer, and whatever nightmare abomination released Will Smith's Omega Man will pull that from YouTube as well.


Coming soon...talk about the new Fourth World Omnibus Vol. One.

Bloggity blog blog

Well, there was an apparent lack of blogs about movies, comics, cartoons and other pop culture crap on the internet. So, here I am.

This blog will mainly consist of myself commenting on trivial items in the world, culled from the present, past and possibly the future (![?]). I know you'll all love that.

I'll try to update this on the weekends and possibly on Wednesday nights. It's not like I don't have a lot of free time, so you might even see more frequent posts than that.

Join me, won't you?