4.19.2010

C2E2: My Overview


It's a funny thing that happens when you are really looking forward to something for a long time. I find that I always build things up so much that it would be impossible for anything to match my level of excitement over something, especially with everything that's happened recently I found that I was projecting even more anticipation at how awesome C2E2 weekend was going to be. I had built it up in my mind so much, there was no possible way that it was going to match or surpass what I expected.

I was wrong. It was far better than I had ever imagined.

Yes, there was a lot of standing around in lines waiting to meet people. Yes, there was a large number of people that smelled as if they hadn't showered since the first day of Spring. And yes, there was an inordinate amount of people wearing spandex that should never be allowed to wear spandex. But that is all part of parcel of any and every comic-con, and honestly it's those little touches that makes cons so enjoyably bizarre and fun. But C2E2 stood out because of the atmosphere, the people, and most of all the quality of the show. I've been to numerous conventions before, almost all of them WizardWorld Chicagos from when I was a kid and that convention actually meant something and most recently last year's WizardWorld that was filled with wrestlers, bit players from Twilight, and the usual Star Wars actors that go to every con. I can unequivocally state that C2E2 was the best convention that I have ever been to by far. While there were some great news items announced at the con, which you can read about at a different comic book site, that wasn't waht made this the best con ever for me. And here's just a short list of the reasons why it was the best con:

-I got to meet 5 of my all-time favorite comic book artists and 3 of my absolute favorite comic book writers and now I have books signed by them that I will always treasure.

-I spent five minutes talking to the Marvel Editor-in-Chief about pizza, why I think Deep Dish is better than New York style, and where the best place to get pizza in the city is (Gino's East, if anyone is wondering).


-I got to ask a question at almost every panel I went to, and never felt like an idiot no matter how silly my question was (I was the one who asked where Captain Boomerang's fat went to after getting resurrected. I really want to know why he's suddenly skinny again!)

-I got to touch the original Batmobile.

-Ethan Van Sciver, one of my aforementioned favorite artists in comics, sketched a design for a tatoo that I'm going to get in the next year for free, and even gave me tips about what to do for the tatoo.

-I spent an inordinate amount of money, but it was all worth it for the seven pieces of signed art that will now adorn my apartment, not to mention my sweet ass Flash t-shirt.

-I got to talk to Alex Ross about living in Chicago and why it is awesome.

-I spent all day Saturday with my brother, and even though he had an allergy headache and I was exhausted and hungover most of the day, we still had an awesome time hanging out all day.

-While waiting in line for sometimes an hour or longer to meet people, I started a conversation with the strangers waiting in line with me and always had a fun and positive interaction with them as I realized that comic book fans are always friendly with each other, whether or not you like the same books as each other.

-I never had a bad time at any of the panels I went to, as there was always this fun, positive energy in the room, particularly at the Brightest Day and the Green Lantern/Flash panels but really at every one.

-Most importantly, I discovered that my hero and comic book writing legend Geoff Johns is an awesome guy.

First off, all three days Geoff signed at his own table and every single signing time there was a huge line despite him only being able to be there for an hour at a time. Friday and Saturday he also signed at the DC booth and again there were huge lines every time. On Sunday, the last day of the con, Geoff was only able to sign at his table because of the different panels that he had to be a part of. This was the day that I got my stuff signed by Geoff. Me and David got there at 10:15 for the 11:00 signing, and there was already a huge line that filled up an entire row. They had to stop people from getting in line almost a half hour before the signing was going to start, and even then it wasn't a guarantee that everybody was going to make it through the line. About a half hour/forty minutes into the signing I was a couple people away from the front when I heard one of the volunteers explain to Geoff Johns where they told people that there was no guarantee that they were going to get stuff signed by Geoff, and there was still a bit of a crowd past that point. At this point, Johns told the staff member that he didn't have to be anywhere until after 12:30, and that he was going to stay as long as he could to make sure no one waited in line for nothing. One of the chief architects of the DC Universe, a man recently promoted to be one of the head guys in DC Comics, was sacrificing for the sake of his fans.


Me and Mr. Johns

Then, at the Green Lantern/Flash panel, Geoff started it off by asking around at who was the youngest person in the audience, with a bunch of kids that were all around 11 or 12 years old. Johns gave out white rings to them (which you can't get in any stores for another three weeks) and he also gave them signed copies of different issues of Blackest Night. Just because they were kids who came to the panel. When one of the kids who got an issue asked him what happens next to Sinestro, Geoff brought the kid up on-stage and let him read an un-colorized version of Brightest Day #1 (again, not being released to stores for almost a month).

The panel itself was tons of fun, and even though there wasn't a ton of new info or spoilers, everyone had a great time and there was a real lively feel from everybody there. And then, at the very end of the panel, Johns sat in the room with the fans that hadn't had the opportunity to get their comics signed by him, and he signed some more comics books for still more fans. This may not sound remarkable, but think about it: this guy is one of the most prolific names in the medium and he's just spent the last three days signing thousands of comic books every day for free (I'm sure he gets paid for an appearance, I just mean is that was no charge to the fans for his signature or taking a picture with him), and then on the last day of a long weekend he goes out of his way to sign comics for the unlucky fans that got turned away because there were already so many people.

Geoff Johns didn't have to do any of this stuff, he could have just worked his signing schedule, appeared at the panel, shook hands with his fans and be done with it. But he didn't. He showed just how much he cares for his fans in one of the classiest appearances I've ever and possibly will ever see from the biggest writing superstar in comic books.

All too often when we meet our heroes we worry that we've built up this person that we've never met to an unrealistic level, where nothing that they could do would match that which you've projected onto them. In this case, I was lucky that I got to see mine doing the exact same things that got him to this level of popularity; going out of his way to please his fans and make sure that everyone goes home happy.

There were literally hundreds of reasons why I loved C2E2, but I only need two words to describe to you why this comic-con restored my faith in comic books and has inspired me to get out of the funk I'm in and get everything back on track and better than ever: Geoff Johns. It's a Brightest Day indeed.

4.13.2010

C2E2 This Weekend

I've been looking forward to this weekend for over 6 months now, but it is finally almost here. The debut of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo is Friday and it runs through to Sunday. With Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, Steve McNiven, Ethan Van Schiver, Peter Tomasi, Joe Quesada, Garth Ennis, and so many more all going to be in attendance. I'm still a couple weeks away from premiering the new Event Fatigue, but I'm still going to be talking about C2E2 and doing a wrap up of my experience and my review of the con next week. For this week, I'm still very busy getting ready to hit up the con and dealing with the mess that has become my personal life, so this might be the only post before the con. However, I really wanted to do a post about S.H.I.E.L.D #1 (which was one of my favorite first issues of a comic since Thunderbolts #1), so if I have some time tonight I'm going to do that. Hope you guys have a great week, and if you're going to C2E2 then send me a message, I'll be there everyday.

4.05.2010

Comic Books I Love

I gotta say that I'm in a much better mood today: the sun's shining, it's opening day, the White Sox won 6-0 against Cleveland, and I finally feel like the old Johnson luck is turning around again and things are going well for me. So, I thought I'd make up for the "Doom and Gloom" of my last post by talking about some comic books that are out now that I absolutely love. Because too often I think I focus on the bad aspects of comics, like the rediculous love affair with the Silver Age at the expense of some of my favorite characters, that I don't spotlight how good comics are. So let's take a minute and do that shall we? Here's some of my current fav's in no particular order:

Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors and Fantastic Four- I'm now a huge Hickman fan. This Wednesday marks the debut of his new ongoing series S.H.I.E.L.D and I couldn't be more excited for it. This guy can flat out write amazing stories that combine continuity with new ideas and layer in rich characters all the way through. Hickman writes possibly the best Nick Fury in comics, and his take on Mr. Fantastic in the first arc of FF was outstanding. Not to mention all of the great work he's done with the titular Secret Warriors, who are my favorite part of the book despite other people's objections to them. The most recent issue where J.T and Daisy go out to eat was just an incredible, sweet, and poignant moment that felt real. Do yourself a favor, if you love Marvel heroes than buy these two titles.

Rick Remender's Last Days of American Crime- The first issue of this just might be my favorite issue of any comic this year, as the deck is already stacked against our main character (no one would ever call him a hero) as he tries to pull one last great heist before a government signal prevents anyone from being able to commit crimes ever again. The art is great, in a gritty and twisted way much like the world itself.

Geoff Johns' Green Lantern- Say what you will about Blackest Night, and I'll have my review of the event as a whole up soon, but this title is consistently one of the best on the stands and now that it can go back to doing what it does best, I think it's really going to take off and soar. GL is always balls out outer space action with a likeable (surprisingly) Hal Jordan and it's got all of the usual Geoff Johns touches throughout. If you're like me, than you consider that a good thing.

Jason Aaron's Wolverine: Weapon X- This is just an amazingly fun and awesome comic book. Aaron is the master at crafting brutal and engaging characters and ideas that are so incredibly bizarre and twisted yet are so well-developed that you can't help but love them. The villains he's faced Wolverine with so far, especially Dr. Rutt, have all been top-notch and the stories themselves are fascinating. Plus, this is the first creator in a LONG time that just flat out gets Wolverine. I reccommend everyone read The List: Wolverine and see just how awesome Aaron is at creating Wolverine stories. You'll fall in love, I guarantee.

Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead- Who doesn't love zombies? And better than that, this series never lets up for a second, as no character is ever truly safe and you really witness the despair and hopelessness beset the survivors led by Rick Grimes. The most fascinating part of this comic is witnessing the slow death of the survivor's humanity as they give up every tenant of society in order to survive. It really is a chilling look at what this situation would do to someone.


Those are mine. I love these comics, and I shouldn't get too down about the state of my beloved medium if such terrific series are being produced.

4.01.2010

I'm Back

Hey guys. So I've clearly dropped the ball writing for my own blog that I started. It's been a couple weeks since I've posted anything, except for Pete's reviews going up last week. Now, I'm not the type to whine and complain about stuff in my life so I'm not going to. Shit happens to everybody and sooner or later every person gets knocked down in their life. The big difference between people is whether or not they can pick themselves back up and become stronger after getting knocked out. And that's what I intend to do.

Some things have happened to me recently in my personal life, almost none of them pleasant except for one potentially amazing thing, but also something happened to me that directly effects this blog: I've become disillusioned. With comic books in general, as honestly most of the books on my pull list I just flat out don't enjoy at all anymore. But, I also became disillusioned with this site, with my own blog, because I realized that I was trying to copy other people's sites and ideas and I wasn't concentrating on making my own stand out. The highlight of my year so far was getting my article on Dark Reign published at the Weekly Crisis, yet nothing I've written for my own site was anything like that article.

Let's start with the world of comic books though. My pull list up to a month ago was as follows: Dark Avengers, Siege, Blackest Night, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Secret Warriors. Out of those books, the only title that I really liked reading and really felt like I didn't waste my time or money on was Secret Warriors. Blame it on event fatigue (ha, that's the name of this... never mind), but I just flat out do not give two shits about either of the big events anymore, and thank god that Blackest Night is over with. But, Blackest Night #8 has left me completely at a loss as to why I bother reading comics. (SPOILERS FOR BLACKEST NIGHT #8) In this issue, there were several heroes and villains that were dead brought back to life at the end of the issue, including the male Hawk, the original Captain Boomerang, and the original Firestorm. Look, we all knew that Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and Hawkman/girl were all going to be coming back from the dead and I'm totally cool with that, killing J'onn was the dumbest move DC has made even though FC: Requiem was such a terrific issue. But I have a serious problem with Geoff Johns bringing characters back for no reason other than he loves using these characters and loves the Silver Age. Captain Boomerang had his story end in a great, touching way and we saw the mantle passed to his son Owen who had nothing but potential. But, Johns doesn't want to use Owen, he wants Digger so fuck the fans of Owen since they don't matter. Well you know what, I really liked Owen Harkness and I thought that he could've been a really terrific character and I loved his time on the Outsiders and the new Suicide Squad, but it doesn't matter since my opinion doesn't count. It's the same way that I can't read good stories anymore about my two favorite DC characters, Kyle Rayner and Wally West, because every comic is about how AWESOME Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are. That's what Blackest Night #8 boiled down to: Hal and Barry are awesome and save the day, and the Silver Age is the only viable age in the DCU. Now, I can read GL Corps for my Kyle fix, but in the Blackest Night mini (a Green Lantern event mind you) Kyle shows up a grand total of 10 pages in the entire 8 issues. Oh and Wally? He only shows up as Barry's second fiddle and doesn't have his own book or team anymore.

Frankly, the best comics I've read have been independent comics, some that don't have anything to do with superheroes, or the Rhino story-arc in Amazing Spider-man which I bought because I heard it was so great. So I've decided that I'm cutting the fat and severing all ties to shitty books that make me not want to read another comic. I'm not even going to bother finishing Siege or Dark Avengers, and you better believe I'm staying away from Bendis's Avengers books like the plague after the Heroic Age launches. Instead, I'm going to get the trade for Hickman's Fantastic Four and start buying the issues of that. I'm going to keep buying stuff like Last Days of American Crime and the Boys. I'm not just going to buy things because I've always bought them, and I'm going to make sure that when I buy comic books I buy them because I'll enjoy them and they'll make me happy damn it! And I'm going to buy Hickman' S.H.I.E.L.D book too, because that looks like the best freaking comic ever.

Now, as for this site. Don't worry, Event Fatigue will still be going and going strong, but I'm not going to be posting every day and will most likely only post once or twice a week. I'm going to put thought into my articles and write about concerns that I have with the comic book industry or pop culture or society in general. I'm going to write mostly opinion and editorial pieces about things that matter to me and things that I want to write about. And I'm going to start writing more plays and even a couple comic book scripts to further that part of my life. Peter will still be reviewing comics, but I'm doing away with most of the features for now, scaling everything back until I'm sure what I want to do. Sometimes you have to tear things down to build something up.

And that's what I'm doing, throughout my life. I'm commited to building the best things possible and to that end I first have to tear things down. But things will be better because of it. At least I hope so anyway.

3.25.2010

Event Fatigue Comic Book Reviews - 3/24

Hello Event Fatigue readers. Before I get into my reviews I need to air a grievance I have with a trend very popular in comics(at least the ones I buy anyways). The trend I’m referring to is hero X is fighting villain X and at some point the hero will make some sort of comment about the villain not making any clever quips. This happens in every New Avengers issue and most recently in an issue of Siege. I just can’t stand it, expecially in a situation like Siege, that is supposed to be a dire battle between good and evil. It’s ok not to use the same tired joke in an attempt at humor. On to the reviews.

3.19.2010

Malevolent March: Day 19

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


I've had what can only be considered the weirdest and most turbulent seven days of my entire life. And I'm beginning to think that I've only reached the tip of the iceberg and shit's about to get real crazy from here on out. One day, I'm going to write a play about this past week but until then I'm afraid I'm just going to have to keep all the insanity bottled up inside me. So, to make myself feel better while maintaining my foray into a month long segment, I present today: Dr. Horrible.

3.18.2010

Malevolent March: Day 18

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


If you ever enjoyed the TV series Heroes, than you probably only really enjoyed the first season or the second season. The big reason for this? In my opinion it's because since then the best villain and arguably one of the best parts of the whole show started to get really overexposed and outright annoying at certain parts. But, today I want to honor the good parts of this villain, the man who is mostly known only as Sylar.

3.17.2010

Malevolent March: Day 17 - Single Issue Spotlight

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


Today is going to be a special day, as you're getting two features for the price of one! Today was new comic book day, and far and away the best issue that came out this week centered around one of Spider-man's classic villains, The Rhino. Hit the jump for the issue review and the rundown of the Rhino!

3.16.2010

Malevolent March: Day 16

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!

Today I've going to focus on one of television's greatest villains. He strikes fear into the hearts of his adversaries and will stop at nothing to eliminate the Ventures. Today's villain is of course, The Monarch!

Links You Should Know - 3/16

Hey, it's 3/16! Happy Stone Cold Steve Austin Day everybody! And anyone who chuckled at that is a wrestling nerd like me. Anyways, dorkiness not withstanding, I want to share with you guys my new favorite website today. It's called Once Upon a Win, and it is filled with epic wins from the 80's and 90's - filled with to the brim with nostalgia for any child of the late 70's/80's. Personally, I get a huge kick out of this stuff and I long for those days, things seem a lot simpler back then they do now. Oh well, relive the memories with this site! It's awesome.


3.15.2010

Malevolent March: Day 15

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


Today's villain is a souless, ruthless automaton who only wants the destruction of all carbon based life-forms so he can replace us with robots patterned after himself and his own twisted family. He is one of the Avengers greatest villains, due in part to his being created by a founding member of the team. He is Ultron! Hit the jump.

3.14.2010

Malevolent March: Day 14

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!

Today, we're going to revisit another terrific villain from film, one where the performance earned an Academy Award for the performer. This was the performance that finally earned one of the most likeable and consistently great actor's in Hollywood his Best Actor Oscar. It's Denzel Washington's brilliant turn as Alonzo in Training Day. Hit the jump.

3.13.2010

Malevolent March: Day 13

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!

There are often times when the same villain will show up either in different films (like Hannibal Lecter, Jack the Ripper, etc.) or across different mediums (like vampires who are in books, televison, movies, comic books, etc). But there is one villain who appears in every medium and sooner or later rears it's ugly head to ruin the lives of our protagonists. Who is it? Who could be one of the worst villains in every medium? Who?! I'll tell you who. Hit the jump.

3.12.2010

Malevolent March: Day 12

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


Today, I'm going to shine a light on my favorite villain in the DC Universe. I know that I just did Sinestro recently, and as much as I love Sinestro (which is a lot) today's villain tops him. He's a normal guy who has a high-tech weapon, and a costume that is somehow rediculous and awesome at the same time. He's been a rogue to one of my least favorite DC characters and to one of my absolute most favorite characters ever, and every time he shows up (especially when written by Geoff Johns) than you can bet he's going to do something badass. Today's villain is Captain Cold.

3.11.2010

Malevolent March: Day 11

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


Aside from Stringer Bell, today's villain is quite possibly my favorite from television in recent years. Like some of the best villains (Sylar) this character burned bright but he burned fast, to the point that I worried if he would be able to be sustained as the villain for the show as long as it was on the air. He was, thanks mostly to the terrific performance of Robert Knaepper, who is now trying to single handedly save Heroes, and because, sadly, Prison Break did not last nearly long enough. So here's today's villain from that awesome show: Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell!

3.10.2010

Malevolent March: Day 10

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


If you just started reading comic books in the last year or so, then you would think that the Dark Avenger currently known as Hawkeye was the biggest pushover/punching bag in all of the Marvel Universe. But once, a long time ago it feels like, that man was once the most feared and badass assassain, the right hand man to the Kingpin back when that name actually meant something. Today's villain is one of my all-time favorites, Bullseye!

Links You Should Know - 3/10

So first off, I did watch the Oscars on Sunday. I was planning on writing about it, since it is one of the things that I look forward to during the year ever since I was a kid, but this year's Oscars was just... there. It wasn't as terrible as others have been, but it wasn't good or interesting and there were no real surprises especially since it seemed early on that The Hurt Locker was going to walk away with everything. I liked that movie and all, don't get me wrong, but I watched District 9 again last night and I remembered just how amazing the end of that movie is. That was an absolute triumph and I wish that this year wasn't just a 2 picture race since I felt Avatar and The Hurt Locker were 2 of the weakest (with the Blind Side being the weakest) of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture. That's basically all I would've said about the Oscars, but it would have been spread out over pages and pages of nonsense and stupid jokes if I had written a piece on the Oscars.

All that said, here's a hilarious cartoon my friend Bordson showed me at her Oscar party. I guess this comes from some guy was tripping on acid and commentating while his friends channel surfed, so they recorded it and animated what was going on. It's really freaking funny, and NSFW.

3.09.2010

Malevolent March: Day 9

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


Turning my attention back to comic books today, I'm going to be featuring probably my favorite villain in comics right now. He was once not only considered a hero, but one of the greatest heroes in the Universe. Now, his name strikes fear into the hearts of his own people. He started a powerful Corps and named it after himself, in an effort to ensure order and prevent Chaos from spreading throughout the universe. Let's here it for Sinestro!

3.08.2010

Malevolent March: Day 8

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


Today's villain is one of the best villains from one of the best shows in TV history. A cold and calculating man, he went from being a strong right hand man to running the biggest drug trade in Baltimore. Hit the jump for the villain!

3.07.2010

Malevolent March: Day 7

For the month of March, I'm going to try something new for the blog, so every day I am going to spotlight a different villain from comic books, movies, TV, etc. It's mostly going to be my all-time favorite villains, with some crazy random ones thrown in there for good measure, so check back every day to see the newest villain in Malevolent March!


With the Academy Awards tonight, I'm going to spotlight the villain who is more than a lock to win Best Supporting Actor, making it the third villain in 3 years (after Anton Chigurh and the Joker) to win that award. Today's villain is the Academy Award nominated performance by Christoph Waltz for Col. Hans Landa. Hit the jump for the villain.