What Gronk Do?

Get Ready for Avengers VS X-Men, Coming April 2012

I'm posting this because it would have gone up at http://www.geeksofdoom.com but some other smarmy bastards beat me to the punch. So, this is what I would have posted about it.Also, I need to get back in the habit of posting here. I let this slip away, and I am sorry you poor neglected blog you.

On Reviewing, Part 1

I was struck by some thoughts on my own reviewing techniques tonight, and I just wanted to get some things down on paper and maybe get a discussion going, so feel free to chime in if you are so inclined.

If you don't know me, I review a fair amount of stuff over at Geeks of Doom, and when I review said stuff, I grade on a straight # out of five scale. By this I mean I don't use any half points, and my basic meaning of my score goes like this:

Advance Review: Blackhawks #1

When DC rolled out its plan to relaunch their entire universe and restart everything with a new #1 issue, the most surprising book I saw on the list was Blackhawks. I mean come on! Who wants to read a book about a mediocre hockey team?!?! It doesn't make any sense. I suppose Chicago is a big city, and the Blackhawks are a popular team, but how do you turn this into a comic? I was able to find out when I read this first issue.

The issue starts with Captain Toews assembling his team to fight the looming threat of the Cavity Creeps. The writer presents us a pretty large cast, and does a fair job of punching up their personalities from the bunch of useless hacks and divers that they are in real life. The characters in the book have to deal with being the weaker team in a larger organization, and they are constantly trying to make themselves think they are better than other teams, especially after they get fluke wins. What the writer can't do is make the characters, or "players" as they are referred to, seem like less than little crying douchebags. Most of them are written as unlikeable jerks and I never felt like they were an actual team, so much as a collection of individuals thrown together.

The whole story wraps up with an insane trip to the mall where the team fights Captain Kangaroo Pimp and his team of ninjas. At least this part is kind of exciting, and the art is well done. All in all, this isn't a very good book, and I don't think this is going to last very long. Maybe if the book changed focus to a different team, I would care more, but as of right now, I couldn't care less.

Wait a minute....you mean this book doesn't exist? The actual Blackhawks #1 is about a bunch of mercenaries in the DC universe? The story by Mike Costa looks pretty interesting, kind of a GI Joe of the DCU, and the art by Ken Lashley looks pretty good, and it's in stores today, Wednesday 9/28/11? Well then what the hell was I reading? Did I dream all that hockey stuff, and the Cavity Creeps? I really need to stop eating two extra large pizzas before bed. I always get the weirdest dream. You should hear about the dream I had where I had to track down Mike Tyson because he had stolen all my comics and was trying to sell them to former President Ike Eisenhower, who kept saying "Let's Get Busy". But that's a story for a different time...

The Reading Stack: Week 2

Okay, I know I've been absent this week. Ten hour days wipe out my brain. I'm back today, and I only have one more work day this week. So yay for me!

We're here to take this week look at my reading stack. And let's just say I didn't get much done. I read a bit in the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars hardcover, but that was it. The new section of the Reading Stack will be the addition pile. I didn't get any reading done this week, and I got the Daytripper trade this week. The big problem with Daytripper is that I read the series when it was coming out, and I know I'm going to have to be in a very specific mood to read it. I'm also adding a score to the weeks reading. It's real simple; I get a minus 1 for every book I buy and a plus 1 for every book that I finish. So; lets take a look at the run-down.

Currently in the middle of:
Secret Wars HC
Hellcity
One Soul

Added to the stack:
Daytripper

I'm not going to print the whole list of books on the stack again, you can read the first post in the series for the complete list. Since I got no titles finished this week, and added one book to the stack my score for the week is:

Score for the week: -1

I have my work cut out for me next week, as I am getting at least three trades this week. I have Friday off though, so hopefully I can get some work done on the stack.

Until, next week, Keep Reading!

The Reading Stack: The Beginning

This my become a Sisyphean effort, but I will now chronicle my efforts to eliminate the mighty stack of books that have piled up over several years. Literally. I have books that I bought three years ago but have not read yet. So, each week I will keep a list of the books that I add to the list, and hopefully the books I subtract from the list. So, today I present you THE ALPHA LIST!!! We start, with the list of books I am currently in the middle of.