The Pull List #6

The Pull List is Nico’s ongoing recommendations for what to pick up at the comic shop this week.  Check back each week for the best of brand new releases.

Editor’s Note: This is supposed to be published on Wednesday, but David sucks this week.

DC Comics

Batman #21 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

By this point it really should be no secret that Scott Snyder has crafted some of the best Batman stories ever. He invented one of the greatest foes ever in the form of the Court of Owls, told a utterly horrific Joker story, and now he’s setting his sights on the past in the form of a year long arc being called “Batman: Year Zero”. Now, given that “Batman: Year One” by Frank Miller is one of the most revered Batman stories of all time, it’s possible that Snyder is setting himself up for failure. But if there’s one thing he has proved it’s that on some fundamental level, Snyder understands both Batman and Bruce Wayne, how they work, how they think, and what the nature of their relationship to their rogues is. Given that in last year’s Batman #0 Snyder teased the early days of the Joker as the Red Hood, and has already said that the Riddler will be playing a major role soon, I for one can’t wait to see what his version of the birth of Batman brings.

Poster Passion: Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan

The best Star Trek film of all time is Wrath of Khan.  This is an undeniable fact.  The reboot may be the best looking.  The Voyage Home may be the most fun.  But Wrath of Khan is the best overall film.  The story is fantastic.  Building upon one of the greatest episodes of the original series (Space Seed for those of you don’t know your episodes very well), we get to watch the violent return of the best villain in Star Trek history.  But you also get to watch Kirk deal with the fact that he’s getting older and what that means.  What do life and death mean to a man who’s spent most of his years travelling through space instead of building a home and a family.  Wrath of Khan is intelligent, fun, and action-packed.  And it had some really posters too.

 

The Pull List #5

The Pull List is Nico’s ongoing recommendations for what to pick up at the comic shop this week.  Check back each week for the best of brand new releases.

Image Comics

Five Weapons #4 by Jimmie Robinson

I think I’ve written about this series every month, but that’s ok, because it’s so fucking cool. Last issue, Tyler beat Rick the Stick, the head of the Staff Club, and competed against Darryl the Arrow in a race to win a date with Jade the Blade. Yes, all the club presidents have rhyming names, and that’s ok, because, despite being a story about a school for assassins, writer and artist Jimmie Robinson seems interested in, above all, simply having fun. Now, there are just two issues left of this awesome series, and so many questions left to answer. Will Tyler win a date with Jade? Will his secret be found out? How does Nat the Gat, President of the Gun Club, fit into the staff scheme to get Tyler kicked out? This has been one of Image’s best mini series this year, and every issue is worth checking out.

Films We’ve Watched: Valhalla Rising (2009)

“The whole movie was almost thought of as, ‘God, wouldn’t it be great to do one of those movies that you would show in the ’70’s at midnight?’ You know, a drug film, not where you take drugs and watch the movie, but where the movie becomes the drug.”

This is how director Nicolas Winding Refn described the conception of his 2009 film Valhalla Rising.  Telling the story of a mute Viking warrior named One Eye, Valhalla Rising is a brutal and poetic film that left me thinking for days after I watched it.  I considered what I had just experienced, the violence, the peaceful shots of the beautiful landscape, the religious aspects, and I was left feeling fulfilled.  That’s not something I would normally say after watching a movie.  Typically, I use descriptives like “awesome” and “visually stunning” and (if I’m being honest about my overuse of superlatives) “one of the best movies I’ve recently seen”.  And while I have been fulfilled by a film before (I think that’s one thing good art is supposed to do on some level), I can’t remember the last time I finished a movie and my initial reaction was one of fulfillment.  It was pretty great.

 

Happy Memorial Day!

 

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Hope you all get to enjoy some BBQ at some point.

– Lara and the Reel Boy

Films We’ve Watched: Evil Dead (2013)

The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness form one of the greatest trilogies of all time. They encapsulate a certain 80s zaniness, the bizarre and the baroque, full of blood and guts and, yes, sometimes real horror, but driven along with a wry wit all their own. With Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, you kind of know what you’re getting into. They’re technically horror movies, it’s true, but horror movies in the same sense that Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and Cabin in the Woods are horror movies. All have the same wink-wink nudge-nudge that lend the films a quality beyond your typical genre fair. They are gory, but it’s cartoonish gore, which fits in perfectly with the subversive, comedic tone they all have. I say subversive because without a doubt they all work as horror movies, but horror movies that go beyond the norm and bring genuinely fresh ideas to the table.

It has been 32 years since the original movie, and everything else under the sun has been rebooted or remade. We’ve had Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and now somebody has decided it was time for Evil Dead to rise again. The same trifecta of Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, and Robert Tapert, who went into the woods with $90,000 in their pockets and emerged with the first Evil Dead have grown up and now share a producer credit, while newcomer Fede Alvarez is given directing duties this time around.

Facial Hair Friday, #76: BEFORE YOU GO SEE BEFORE MIDNIGHT

Before Midnight is director Richard Linklater’s latest installment in his Before series starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.  If you’ve already seen Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, then you already know and love these characters.  In fact, you’ve probably been counting down the days till you get to see the next snapshot of their lives.  And if you’re part of the Lara and the Reel Boy, you’re excited to see what Ethan Hawke’s facial hair looks like too.  And if you’re one particular part of Lara and the Reel Boy, you got to see that up close and personal.

The Pull List #4

The Pull List is Nico’s ongoing recommendations for what to pick up at the comic shop this week.  Check back each week for the best of brand new releases.

Dark Horse Comics

Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells A Rat by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Kevin Nolan

Mike Mignola is perhaps best known for his epic (and still going) run on Hellboy, but he’s also down a lot more for Dark Horse, including a wonderfully bizarre pulp filled series starring Lobster Johnson. Don’t know who that is? That’s ok, because this month we are getting a one shot starring everybody’s favorite vigilante. The solicit says that somebody is killing bums in Skid Row, and you can guess that with Johnson on the case, somebody is going to get a lobster claw burned into their head (because fuck it, that’s why). But in all seriousness, it should be a great one shot and a nice introduction for people who may not know much about the world of Dark Horse’s BPRD.

Our Unbiased Opinion: Disability and Ability in Science Fiction

In my classroom this past semester, we’d been talking about Nancy Farmer’s The Ear, the Eye and the Arm, and I was really nervous about being observed for the first time – as a student I never had to deal with evaluations & I’ve literally never been in a teaching situation before now. My students were probably the best they’ve ever been this week though with thoughtful discussion and full engagement with the text. I am so glad they picked this week to make me look good (but really it’s all their doing).

The Pull List #3

DC Comics

Aquaman Vol. 1: “The Trench” TBP by Geoff Johns, art by Ivan Reis

A few years ago, Geoff Johns completely remade the Green Lantern mythology bringing Hal Jordan back and fleshing out the emotional spectrum. Now, with the New 52, he’s doing the same thing for Aquaman. Yes, the guy who’s superpowers include “can-talk-to-fish”, who has frequently been the butt of comic book jokes for years, got the Geoff Johns makeover and now Aquaman is one of the best books DC is putting out each month. Collected in this TPB is the new introduction to Aquaman and his partner Mera as they struggle against a threat from deep below the sea. But more than that, it is simply a fantastic new take on an old DC character, one that is full of moments that show how in the right hands any character, even Aquaman, can be powerful and conflicted and utterly relatable, and without a doubt one of the most badass characters in the new DC Universe.