Free Comic Book Day 2012: Saturday, May 5
Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday, May 5 – The day after The Avengers hits theaters (probably not a coincidence).
Go on down to your local comic shop. They’ll have tons of free stuff, and great sales.
Personally, I’m going to pick up my copies of the Star Wars/ Serenity and Buffy/ The Guild (Don’t judge if you’ve never seen Buffy. That show is magnificent).
Best of The Geek Whisperer (3 Year Blogiversary)
I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for three years (999 posts)! To celebrate, I skimmed through my archive for the first time in three years, and it brought back a lot of memories.
Join me on a brief and mildly narcissistic trip through some of my favorite blogging memories:
- Arguably my best post, at least from an academic perspective is Wonder Woman: The Super Secret & Kinky Origin of a Feminist Icon. Derived from a portion my undergraduate thesis, this post has been cited in a few academic papers, and according to my web analytics has been frequently referenced on some BDSM discussion boards. I am after-all here to educate and entertain.
- My most popular single day post dates back to April Fool’s Day 2010. I collaborated with a mystery designer to introduce the world to the iProbe; it’s still my favorite post.
- In one of TGW’s stranger episodes, guitar legend Peter Frampton stopped by to comment on a post after I berated him for a very disrespectful performance at The Stone Pony.
- When I first started The Geek Whisperer, I wanted to define the difference between geeks & nerds… But I found the task painfully difficult and subsequently spent two and a half years pondering the question before I wrote Geek vs. Nerd vs. Dork.
- And last but not least, I was (and still am) cited in a Wikipedia article on Firefly/ Serenity; my favorite scifi universe.
Never forget to practice safe computing.
Free Serenity Web Comic – “The Other Half”
The Firefly/ Serenity Verse is so beloved, yet it is only composed of 14 television episodes, a movie, and a few comics. Most of the science fantasy properties that have a massive and loyal following like Firefly are made up of dozens of episodes, movies, books, comics, video games and toys.
No, us browcoats are clearly drew the short straw. That’s why I get really excited when I discover even the smallest crumb of Firefly lore.
Somehow I had no idea that Joss Whedon created a single issue web comic for Dark Horse Comics to publish on their MySpace page.
The story is titled The Other Half. It’s scripted by Jim Krueger, drawn by Will Conrad, and it is up on Dark Horse’s MySpace page for free; no login required.
The Other Half is a short action sequence featuring Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Simon, and River escaping a mess of Reavers after you guessed it, a job didn’t go as planned.
The Good
The script is tight and the art is energetic. The story feels like the final act of a full episode, like you just started watching after the last commercial break.
The Not-So-Good
It’s not particularly deep, moving or funny, but it does inch the plot of the mythology forward just a tiny bit in its final pages.
The Bottom-line
If you love Firefly, it’s a steal $0.00 and well-worth five minutes of your time.
The Other Half (MySpace) (I can’t remember the last time I was on MySpace)
TGW Cited on Wikipedia
I just learned that someone cited me in a Wikipedia entry about Serenity/ Firefly comics. More specifically, my review of the recent graphic novel, Serenity: Shepherd’s Tale.
The passage I’m cited in reads:
Reviews of The Sheperd’s Tale were mixed. Sean Kleefield praised the storytelling, both its content and structuring, but reiterates previous comments that the comics are hard to comprehend without knowing the television series.[27] However, he opines that this may be a calculated decision to target the most likely market for the comic.[27] David Spira of The Geek Whisperer echoed Kleefield’s comments on the story while also praising the book’s artwork, but felt the comic’s release as an expensive hardcover was not justified by the content, and agreed that Book’s tale was “completely meaningless unless you are a Browncoat”.[28] The reviewer for Daemon’s Books found the recurring flashback structure confusing, and complained that the attitude of the Alliance towards Book in the episode “Safe” no longer made sense.[29] The goodtobeageek reviewer, Jessa Phillips, felt that the flashback structure was overused, and agrees with Spira’s comment on the value for money, but highly praises Chris Samnee’s artwork.[30] (Wikipedia)
I have no clue who wrote the entry, but I’m honored to be cited among a number of great reviewers.
This made my day. Hopefully no one edits it out for a while.
“Serenity: Shepherd’s Tale” Review
At the close of the Firefly series, there were two unanswered questions that drove viewers batty:
- What’s the deal with River’s genius/ craziness/ aptitude for slaughtering people?
- What’s Shepherd Book’s deal? What kind of holy-man can fight, shoot, and get priority medical attention from the Alliance?
The movie Serenity answered the questions about River, and tied a nice bow on the series.
The new graphic novel, Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale take you on a journey through Book’s past.
The Good
The script is tight, the art is expressive, and the characters are on-point.
The story was plotted by Firefly creator Joss Whedon, and the script was written by his brother Zack. Zack nailed the characters. Each of the original crew members have a few lines of dialoge (except for Inara).
Chris Samnee’s art is excellent for this story. I can’t imagine his style working for any other Serenity story, but in this instance it’s spot-on.
Book’s tale is compelling, entertaining, and carefully answers all of the questions the series raised without being too on-the-nose.
The Not So Good
It’s short. Really really short for the $15.00 cover price. I took my time reading and taking-in the art, and it was still a quick read.
The Ugly
This story is completely meaningless unless you are a Browncoat. If you don’t know what a Browncoat is, you aren’t one.
The Bottom-line
If you love the Verse, this is story is well worth reading.
Support your local comic shop, or be lazy and order from Amazon.
Ignore Stephen Baldwin, Restore Joss Whedon
This video was made in response to that ridiculous ”Restore Stephen Baldwin” video.
Avatar – A Visual Triumph and Rhetorical Flop
I finally saw Avatar. The flu, catching up with everything I missed while I had the flu, and then New Year’s kept me from seeing it.
This review is going to have some spoilers because so many people have seen it already, and I also don’t think that the plot is that essential to the movie experience.
The Visuals
Stunning.
I’ve never seen anything like it. The physical design and creation of Pandora, was executed brilliantly. Each plant and creature had a distinct look and physiology.
The battle scenes were amazing. I felt completely engaged and invested in the battles. I was saddened by each fallen Na’vi; the indigenous people, and “good guys” of the film.
The 3D shooting was never gimmicky. Not once.
From a visual standpoint, this is without rival, the prettiest movie I have ever seen.
But that’s where my praise ends.
The Story
I don’t need my fiction, music, video games, or any other artistic mediums to agree with my worldview, so when I say that I found the plot thin and disappointing, it’s not because I don’t agree with James Cameron’s politics and philosophies.
The movie was obviously anti-Bush (I can’t stand him), anti-capitalism (I’m all about capitalism), and very critical of America (America’s a good place, but it’s not beyond reproach). I couldn’t care less about any of it, other than it felt dated. I know that James started this movie some eight years ago, and it really showed.
Unobtanium
Unobtanium; the ultra rare, excessively valuable ore that the evil humans were mining on Pandora.
Seriously, unobtanium? Are you kidding me? They took the time to design every aspect of every plant and animal in this world, and they couldn’t take ten minutes to come up with a name that doesn’t sound like poo?
In Joss Whedon’s web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Dr. Horrible sought to steal a substance called “wonderflonium.” The difference between these two corny-ass names is that Joss & Co. did it to be funny, while James did it because “oil” was already taken, and he didn’t take the time to think of something that was even remotely believable.
We are told that unobtanium is worth 20 million (whatever unit of currency they use in this future) a kilo, and that’s supposed to be a ton of money. If that is the case, why does the corporate head-honcho have a big chunk just floating on his desk? Unobtanium alone broke my suspension of disbelief.
Paper-Thin Characters
They developed Jake Sully, Neytiri, and Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver is a natural bad-ass), but the other characters were caricatures; especially the hardened evil commanding officer, and the moronic corporate hack in charge.
These characters were so obtuse that I never once looked at them and saw a fully formed human, making decisions based on a personality. The reason is because they weren’t people, they were straw-men for capitalism and American policy placed on Pandora for the Na’vi to prove incorrect.
The Straw-Man Plot
The Na’vi represent a humanoid species that lives in almost total harmony with the world around them. The problem is that this is unachievable for humans, even though it’s clear that the movie is promoting this idea as the human ideal. The Na’vi live in a world that is designed for them. They can literally link to the animals, plants, and even each other. Humans have no such link. Birds have wings, fish have gills, humans have reason, engineering, and higher thinking. That is how we live and thrive. We have to adapt our environment to survive, we don’t work any other way.
That’s just one of the straw-man arguments that emerged from this. Add in the comparison between the human/ Na’vi war, and the War on Terror. Whether or not you support that war, the differences are staggering. The simple fact that the Na’vi aren’t led by brutal rapist, murdering, warmonger dictators is a big difference.
How Could it Have Been Better?
In Starship Troopers, the humans are actually the villains. It’s done so subtly that a lot of people don’t even notice it the first time. That movie makes a very similar point about human nature, and it does it without beating the audience over the head with a club.
Firefly and Serenity, are filled with absurdest philosophies about the nature of the Universe and God. However, there was always a counterbalance. Sheppard Book was a significant character and man of God.
It’s possible to get a point across without forcing it down the viewer’s throat, and that point is usually more poignant when the viewer comes to the conclusion on his/her own.
The Bottom-Line
I recommend you see this movie in IMAX, because if you aren’t watching it in IMAX 3D, you aren’t doing it right. The visuals are exceptional, and are well worth the price of admission. The plot is thin, and I found it annoying, but I am happy I experienced it.
That being said, there are people I deeply respect who fell in love with this movie, so maybe you’ll like it.
I don’t think I will watch Avatar again on Bluray or DVD.
