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Showing posts from 2022

The Big Guy Hits Two Big Milestones and Is Still Going Strong

 I have not at all hidden the fact that I am a huge Spider-Man fan and have been so since I can remember. Back in the early 80s we had Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and I remember loving the show. I was drawn to anything Spider-Man, so it was no surprise that the first super hero comics I started seriously collecting were the three Spidey titles of the time, starting with the dark crossover event that has come to be known as Kraven's Last Hunt (Even though that title was made inaccurate due to them not letting comic characters stay dead. That Kraven is dead again and I so hope they let him remain that way this time). And with only a few brief gaps due to comic not being in the budget (Being an adult can really suck at times) I have been picking up the Spidey comics for about 35 years now. This year Spider-Man the charter as well as Spidey's main title The Amazing Spider-Man, which really is the flagship title of Marvel Comics, hits two significant milestones this year. Spi

You Rarely Get This Great an Adaptation

 So this last Friday I spent the day sitting around doing nothing but watching TV and it was glorious. We watched the full season of Sandman, the long waited adaptation of Neil Gaiman's ground breaking, award winning comics series. I found Gaiman a little late, early 2000s, but since then I have loved most of what he has put his name on. He is a brilliant writer. He was also a very hands on producer with the show because it meant a lot to him which is why it took so long for an adaptation to happen. The show itself stays very true to the original comics, with some logical changes made that work with the concept being updated, as well as losing all direct references to the mainstream DC universe. At times the scenes feel very much as if they were taken straight out of the comics. There were some casting choices that got attacked as being 'woke' because they were not identical to what was in the comics, but after seeing the show, I very much believe it when Gaiman said they c

That is Just a Horrible Quote

Now I know I've seen it before and never gave it much thought, but today I saw the quote from G.K. Chesterton: “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” And I understand what this is trying to say, but it is actually a really bad quote and not what you want to teach children. Some of this may be my love for my characters Georgie and Armand, the two master mage, shape-shifting dragons who run an interdimensional hotel. They are dragons and they are awesome. In the first book I even have Georgie making a comment about how insulting a puppet show was that had a heroic knight slay the evil dragon. So my problem with the quote is that it seems to imply that all dragons are bad (A something kids should fear) and need to be killed. But even in fairy tales, dragons are not always the bad guys. Chesterton seems to be implying that all dragons are mindless, dangerous creatures that one

Life After The Hero's Journey

 For all those who have read previous posts here, you might have an idea that I kind of like Star Wars and might be something of a fan of the franchise. I was young enough when the first film hit that I do not remember a time before Star Wars and it seems as if I have always had Star Wars as part of y life.. I still have some of actual pieces of the bedroom set I got way back in the 70s, with a pillow case that is highly faded, packed away. Right now the big thing for Star Wars is the Kenobi series on Disney+, showing us what he was up to between the prequels and the classic trilogy. So far I have enjoyed the series myself. It is not perfect, as there have been a few times where it felt like we missed something, possibly to due to a cut scene. There have been a few times where they are messing with canon, although nothing as bad as what happened with the prequels. So far nothing big enough to upset me, as I know we have a few more episodes to go. Of course one of the main complaints co

That Was Just as Bad as it Gets. What the Hell Were They Thinking?

 I have been a fan of G.I.Joe since the rebirth of it back in the early 80s. My first G.I.Joe action figure was the original Snake-Eyes because I thought he looked really cool. The comics by Larry Hama was the first comic book series I collected, starting randomly with issue 12 titled 'Three Strikes for Snake-Eyes' and then regularly with issue 22 and I kept collecting the series all the way to the final issue. I watched the cartoon, but I remember never being that interested in it. The comics were so much better. The two live action films did not impress me at all. They were just so poorly done. They showed they had no idea what they were doing, especially when the tried to redo Snake-Eye's story, which they failed with big time. So when they announced they were going to do a live action Snake-Eyes movie to try and reboot the franchise, I was not expecting much at all. I had no faith and no real interest in seeing the film Found out it was streaming and decided to check to

We Would So Misuse Those Magical Keys

 I've talked about Locke and Key before. My son and I just rewatched the series, so of course we were talking about the possibility of what you could do with those keys. My son has a collection of the keys and we do often try to use them and are disappointed when they do nothing. But that might actually be a good thing. We would so use the keys in so many wrong ways. We figured the if one uses the Echo key and the Anywhere key, they would created an unkillable army, as echoes can only be destroyed by passing through the threshold of the Well House and there seems to be no limit to how many echoes can be active in the world. And the show right away showed us that if the echo leaves the Well House through the storage closest by using the Anywhere Key, they are free to roam the world. Then you have the Chain Key, which when used in the lock artifact you can create a chain that seems to have no limit. Wrap that chain around a building and then tighten up the chain, you can bring down t

Are Funko Pops the New Beeanie Babies?

O ver the last few years we have seen one of the biggest and most aggressive pop culture collectible lines ever find its way into the shelves of just about every store out there. The Funko Pop Figures really are everywhere right now. For those of you who are living under a rock, and you really would have to be hiding away to not be exposed to them, Funko Pop Figures are vinyl figurines with over-sized ‘cute’ heads that cover more pop culture franchises than can be kept track of. I’ve made the joke about how if they are not doing a franchise, just wait a few weeks and so far they keep proving me right. I would challenge you to go and find a list of their products, which keeps expanding, and look. There is a real good chance they have already put out figures for all your favorite franchises and if not, just wait.   I originally was not collecting any Pop Figures. As R2-D2 is one of the main characters I collect, I picked up one of the R2s they put out. The I went after a few other charac

The State of Star Wars as I See It

  I have not hidden that I am one of the fans who enjoyed the sequel trilogy. While the films are not perfect and I could do a whole post on my issues with them, I still enjoyed them and prefer them to the prequel films. I have also been enjoying everything that has been being put out on Disney +.   We just got The Book of Boba Fett, which was enjoyable for the most part. It really was the first time they worked on giving some real character development to Boba Fett and that was in may ways a huge deal. I felt the best part of the series was giving us the flashbacks of just what Boba went through after he apparent death in Return of the Jedi up to his reappearance in The Mandalorian. That was the story we needed to see. And of course there were many awesome elements tot eh show, which were regretfully hurt by poor story pacing, especially in the last episode with the grand final battle going on. With all the great concepts that were there, built up and gathered together, it should have

What Is Happening Here?

There is a truly unique phenomenon taking place right now. People are watching the full intro to a show for every episode of it, without the slightest desire to skip it. Now I know that might sound a bit weird, but think about it. No matter how much you might love the music for a show's opening, after a point with on-demand programming you generally skip the intro. You’ve seen it and heard the music, and care more about the show itself. Unless it is really short, most people just want to get to the program and hit the ‘skip intro’ button. But this one opening has changed all that. You want to watch the intro over and over again, never getting bored with it. You can ask anyone who has watched the show, as I have, and everyone is saying they do not ever skip that intro. The show is ‘Peacemaker’ on HBOMax. The show itself is something unique and out there, but it will be remembered first and foremost for its opening dance number. There is no way to describe the opening, you really do

Life's Been Busy

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Sorry about the lack of posts here. Life has been getting a little crazy. Here's a little promo teaser for an up coming project of mine: Check out my Amazon page if you haven't yet and see what I create. https://www.amazon.com/Ian-Brazee-Cannon/e/B006JD2YUG