This is probably recommended reading for anyone who wondered why I was thoroughly annoyed with what the Guardians of the Galaxy movie looked like, and what it was missing.

I guess it's already pretty clear that Adam Warlock is my all time favourite comic character [closely followed by the Silver Surfer]. In fact most of what I've read of Marvel Cosmic throughout the years, has somehow been the result of following Adam Warlock's trail... this actually includes Guardians of the Galaxy.

Since Warlock's annihilation at the end of DnA's Guardians a few years ago, I've been waiting quite impatiently to see him surface again. During the Annihilators mini series, Magus managed to come back for a very short while, and then got captured and put back into the cocoon by the Annihilators. Not that I had any interest in seeing his slimy purple face anyway. And since then there was absolutely nothing, 'till now.

Recently Marvel released Jim Starlin's new "Thanos: Infinity Revelation", which somehow took me a while to hear about, but I had to read it since Thanos happens to be my favourite Villain. So I got myself the digital copy... and lo and behold, here comes Adam Warlock, hitching a ride back to existence with Thanos, no cocoon needed this time. =D You can imagine my utter excitement... YAY! Finally!!

To make things even better, the book is simply brilliant. Jim Starlin is the author who made Warlock into what it is, and he's done it again. This is basically the archetype of the story line that got me interested in Marvel Cosmic in the first place, a million years ago. And I must say I haven't seen the like of it for quite a long time.

The plot explores a situation in which the universe is re-created in 2 versions, one based upon the mind and soul of Warlock, and the other after Thanos. The story is very abstract, it's mostly self discovery for these two characters, and it's more a philosophy lesson than anything else. This, is why I love Adam Warlock in the first place. Oh, and then Silver Surfer makes an appearance too. How about that? Is this the perfect book or what?

As I wrote in the beginning, this is what you should look at if you're wondering what all the fuss was about when the Guardians of the Galaxy movie came out, disappointing many of the Cosmic fans. This is generally what we're looking for, and this is the sort of thing Guardians  has always offered, before the movie happened. An intelligent plot, meaningful ideas and characters, and a respectable amount of food for thought.

Of course now I'm totally in love, since last week I got my hands on the hard cover version of the book [as usual thanks to KABOOOM], and it even looks fantastic!! It's not very clear in the pictures I've posted here, but on the cover Thano's head is a glossy print while the rest of the page has a matte finish, giving you the feeling that Thanos is coming right at you from the depths of the abyss. ;)

And this is not the end of it, Jim Starlin is soon to release another one of the same "series", called "Infinity Relativity". I'm currently dying to read that one.

If you're living in the Zurich vicinity, you can pick up a copy of this at the KABOOOM comic book store.

And yes, if Warlock keeps looking 2 different ways to you for no apparent reason, it's not you, it's him.

Perfection. Everyone I love is in there!

Labels: Adam Warlock, Art, Authors, Books, Comics, Sci-Fi, Silver Surfer, Thanos

I recently picked up a copy of "The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" from my favourite comic book store [Kabooom, Zurich], and I must say I am thoroughly impressed. [And not just because Dolph Lundgren happens to have a picture with this. =D]

The book is a collection/documentation of, well, just about everything that there ever was to do with the He-Man universe.

The collection of illustrations in there, coming from all eras of He-Man, is just amazing.

All the maps are in there. There's maps of Eternia in various eras, a map of Preternia, a map of Subternia, and a map of their part of the universe.

Now this is really cool, there's a filmation cel in there with He-Man and Skeletor. =D [Yes, the actual cel is in a little pocket inside the book!]

And there's a ton of preliminary art work and sketches in there, including concepts that were never used. There's also a list of all the produced and unproduced toys, ideas for characters that were eventually dismissed [some of whom are actually quite interesting], and every bit of information there is to know about the creation and the evolution of this whole universe.

So yes, I really really love this. If you live in Zurich you can pick up a copy at the KABOOOM Comic Shop. Don't miss out! =)

Labels: Books, Comics, Entertainment, Motion Picture, Sci-Fi

Let me start by putting out the fires: I'm not about to say that this was a "bad" movie. How could I possibly say such a thing? It wouldn't be fair. The movie is in fact quite marvellous to watch! It was quite entertaining… as a stand-alone movie, a movie that  you would watch without any regard for the decades of Guardians comic-books and story arcs. If you don't know anything about what the story was, what the point of it was, what the philosophy of it was.. If you don't know anything about what Guardians of the Galaxy was supposed to be, then you're fine. Prepare for 1.5 hours of awesome entertainment!

Visually speaking, it's a pretty movie. I really love their visualization of "Nowhere". The make-up and costumes were pretty good. Special effects are great. There's a ton of nice fight scenes and explosions. ;) If you're into that sort of thing.

But then if you're like me, if you've waited forever and a half for a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and then you go and see this… then you're in something of a trouble.

Guardians and I.. well.. let's just say we have history. ;) For the longest time it was this peculiar set of story arcs out of Marvel's never so popular cosmic side. When you mentioned it to people, the reactions ranged from "What's that? I've never heard of that!" to "Oh right it's something to do with Avengers right?". Guardians of the Galaxy was this more or less ignored concept that every once in a while got picked up by one of Marvel's bolder writers, changed in various ways, published for a while and forgotten again. That is until 2007, when by some miracle, the geniuses of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning [alias DnA] got their hands on it.

When DnA started writing Guardians, it had been a while since anyone had paid any attention to the whole thing. Stalking Adam Warlock as I generally do, I landed on the Annihilation/Annihilation Conquest series and the new DnA Guardians. And hot damn, it took my breath away.

The DnA era was the true age of glory for the Guardians! The best possible characters were put together, and their parallel development was fantastically well done! These were, to me, the best written comics that ever came out of Marvel. DnA's Guardians with the ties to Nova, Silver Surfer and many other interesting characters, concepts and species, managed to bring Marvel cosmic back to life. And with that came attention.

I'm not sure exactly what happened but it looked like all of a sudden someone in Marvel came to the conclusion that some money could be made out of this! Guardians was taken from DnA, and handed to Bendis. A pop-culture writer who was in no way compatible with the mentality behind Guardians' story lines. By the time the production of a movie was announced, it was pretty obvious that there was no hope of DnA having anything to do with it. Heck, they weren't even consulted.

When I was told that the movie is not going to be all that much related to the new Bendis Guardians, I thought perhaps there would be a chance that the producers would follow in the lines of what made DnA's Guardians such a treasure. Trailers looked exciting enough, and I figured perhaps all isn't lost.

Well, no such luck.

The biggest issue with the movie is also the first one that slapped me in the face as the movie started. And that, is over simplification of the characters. You see, the whole fun of Guardians was that the characters were complex, odd, and unpredictable. Oh, and not a single one of them was made for team work.

Gamora doesn't do nice and friendly. She's just far more of a b**ch than has been portrayed here, and no, she would NEVER work for anyone least of all Ronan, that's just not in her character. Peter Quill is well aware of his own origins and heck, the idea of getting back at his own father eventually is one of the biggest factors in him becoming who he is. And he doesn't come from a space-pirate background, he comes from a freaky science background. And since when is Drax  a retard? This is Drax the destroyer, he was made to counteract Thanos in every possible way including intellectually. He's supposed to be cunning as hell. It makes me want to sit down and cry over what they've done to him. Rocket knows he's a Racoon. Heck his full name is ROCKET RACCOON gosh darn it! Oh and he would never in a million years get emotional over some idiot calling him a rodent. And since when is Ronan the Accuser this dishonorable psychopath? Are we talking about the same Ronan here? [Please refer to the last picture below.]

And then there was Groot. Oh, this was probably one of the few truly brilliant points of the movie. =) When I want to think positively about the movie, I generally think that this movie was just about Groot. Here was something really positive. I think Groot's character has never been so well developed, explored and realized as it has been in this movie. I looooved his looks, his movements, his eyes, how he beat people up, and most of all I loved the "We are Groot" scene. So yes, one for the plus.

But I'm afraid a single well developed character doesn't make up for the intellectual slaughter of the rest of them. These brilliant thought-provoking characters have been dumbed down to the point of annihilation! And well, characters that couldn't be dumbed down were simply left out.

The movie is full of dull auxiliary characters, while the brilliant central ones are missing. The few that are still there, are suffering serious cases of lobotomy. It felt like the producers simply couldn't handle anything that wasn't totally pop-culture compatible. The lack of these characters at what is supposed to be the formation of the group, leaves huge plot gaps. Without Mantis this group of anti-social delinquents wouldn't for a million years stick together. Without the influence of Warlock and then Richard Rider [the only Nova that ever really mattered], Gamora would simple not be interested in collaborating with anyone. And if you think she'd consent to go to her death after receiving a 2 minute pep talk from someone she's known for 2 days, think again. Without Martyr [and yes I'm going to keep calling her that 'cause that's her coolest version of her by far ] there is no Moondragon. And of course there's no trace of [any] Quasar anywhere to be seen.

Gamora, Rocket, Starlord, Warlock, Drax, Martyr

The dialogues are weak and shallow. It appears to me that the producers didn't really grasp the type of humour Guardians is supposed to have. The casting left a lot to be desired. Vin Diesel did a brilliant job with Groot. But the rest, as much as they are probably good actors, are just not what they should be for their roles. e.g.: As much as I am a fan of her previous performances, Zoe Saldana is just not right for Gamora, and Chris Pratt is totally not Peter Quill. At the risk of causing more fires, I'd say this movie should have had Joss Whedon and DnA at the helm, and a [mostly] British cast.

Now of course there are rumours going around already about more of the central characters making an appearance in the sequels. Given what I've seen so far, that actually worries me. I mean I'm sorry to say, but James Gunn directing Adam Warlock is looking rather unthinkable right now, and I wonder, who can they even cast for the role? This would require someone in the calibre of Alec Newman, Michael Sheen, or at least Sam Heughan [yes, I realise, Scottish – Welsh – Scottish.. wasn't  on purpose but it's not a surprise]. And something tells me that's not the kind of actor they would be adding to this cast. *sight*….

Ronan, Warlock, Martyr, Starlord. The dream team, Annihilation Conquest. And yes that's Ronan there.

So yes. I can watch the latest Captain America movie and be very happy with it, and write a very positive review of it. Because Captain America never had much of a plot till now. You see, I am all for changing the story, when it's in the direction of adding depth, making a point, creating food for thought. Captain America got smarter, Avengers got smarter, heck X-Men got smarter… But unfortunately Guardians of the Galaxy has been intellectually undermined, and this is simply unacceptable.

On the sarcastically positive side, after watching the movie, I feel that the Bendis comics are not altogether that bad. At least he's paying some respect to the existing plot-lines, and he's not lobotomizing the characters completely…

Labels: Comics, DnA, Entertainment, Marvel, Motion Picture, Reviews, Sci-Fi

I watched the movie a few weeks ago, but I didn't find the time to write anything about it and I constantly get the question of whether I've seen it and what I think of it.

So here it is: I LOVED IT! =D

Yes. you're hearing [well, reading] me right, it's an X-Men movie, and I LOVED it!

I've not been that big of a fan of the X-Men movies [or the X-Men universe in general] in the past. As I've mentioned before, the first 2 X-Men movies were far too shallow for me to even feel entertained. Last stand had something a tad more interesting about it, and then First Class finally thoroughly entertained me. But I must say "Days of Future Past" is really the first X-Men movie that I've enjoyed, really, more than mere entertainment.

For the first time an X-Men movie had a really well constructed, very interesting plot. The movie contained some pretty great sci-fi ideas, and well you have to admit, that cast could have made even complete nonsense look good. ;)

That being said, there were of course some huge logic holes in the plot. I mean I'm pretty sure I saw Charles Xavier get blown to pieces by a very evil Phoenix. And now he seems entirely alive. Of course given the end of Last Stand, the theory is that his consciousness got transferred [somehow?!] to his twin brother's body. Hmmm. So obviously the twin brother was suffering some sort of a physical problem as a result of which he was in a coma. And now Xavier just jumps into that body? And even if I were to accept that, then why is it that he's still in a flying chair? For what reason would the brother's body would have the exact same injury????

And then of course Magneto not only got back his lost powers, but seems to be doing extra-well too. And I could go on… And yet, I prefer to think that the holes in the plot are results of previous movies having problematic plots, not this one. ;)

Oh, and on a side-note, I have to mention that I'm growing quite fond of watching a movie in either Corso or Metropole in Zurich in some obscure hour when there's nobody else, and it's pretty much like private screening. ;)

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Marvel, Movies, Sci-Fi

Honestly I wasn't in such a hurry to see "Man of Steel". Superman movies and comics have always been mere light entertainment to me, and even though I have occasionally enjoyed watching a movie or reading a comic, I've never been a fan. Through the years I've felt a chronic lack of plot and character development in all things Superman. [Which basically sums up my relationship with 99% of DC's comics.]

So you can imagine my surprise, watching "Man of Steel" last night, and realizing in the middle of the movie that I was actually really enjoying it! Especially seeing the movie's less than great ratings and the plenty of dissatisfied reviews! [Then again I often seem to like what everyone else hates and vice versa!]

Yes, I really really liked this movie! Many important details were changed, characters were much better developed, and most importantly so much nonsense and absurdity has been eliminated! I mean surprise surprise, for once in my life a Superman movie actually makes rational sense!!!!

For once we actually see a proper, well pictured, back story. Which actually explained why everything happened the way it all happened. I really enjoyed the beginning part of the movie where Krypton has been quite nicely illustrated, and we finally get a better idea of what "the parents" were like and what the circumstances were. Or for that matter why Zod acts the way he does. Also the earthly parents of Clark Kent have been much better developed. Supeman's own character finally has some proper development with much less cheese involved. Oh, and for once, finally, someone has decided that Lois Lane should not be the idiotic, clueless, pointless, shame to all women, constantly in need of rescuing, aka the classical character. Thank you very much for that.

It's been said the movie will have a next instalment in 2015. I do look forward to seeing that.

By the way, come to think of it, it's interesting that the latest Batman movie was also the best I've ever seen, for pretty much all the same reasons! Looks like DC might have finally figured some things out… ;)  Maybe it's time I go back and check the comic books…...

Labels: Comics, DC Comics, Entertainment, Movies, Reviews, Sci-Fi

So during the weekend in between my notebooks and my tablet I managed to see just everything I cared to see from Comic-Con 2013 [and not really get anything else done! =P]. Aaaaaand it's been exciting.

J.J. Abrams' "Almost Human" series is going to be here in a few months, and I really can't wait to see it. The series is about Androids, and seems to have a very Asimov theme and feel to it. Oh, and Karl Urban is the main guy apparently. Enough said.

Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D", created by Joss Whedon, is also right around the corner. It turns out Agent Coulson is alive and kicking, which is an awesome surprise. can't wait for this one either.

As for panels and such, I think I'm now officially a much bigger fan of the Nerd HQ panels than the official Comic-Con ones. Nerd HQ panels are very very different, they're a lot less formal, a lot less directed and formatted and just a lot more fun to watch. This year's Nerd HQ panels were again awesome, and my favourite one was most likely the one with Tom Hiddleston, a.k.a. Loki. =) Here's that:

The Nerd HQ Doctor Who panel was also awesome. Honestly Steven Moffat [now known as Steven Fat] is absolutely hilarious:

And on the same channel you can find the panels with Joss Whedon, Richard Madden, 2 panels with Nathan Fillion and a whole bunch of other really cool one.

Thanks to some good friends I was also able to have a look at several of the official Con panels. I absolutely LOOOOOOOOOOVED Loki's appearance on the Marvel panel, that was just bloody awesome! =D  I also really enjoyed the X-Men panel, and of course the Doctor Who panel hosted by Greg Ferguson was quite entertaining. ;)

But of course I have to do a bit of ranting too. =P For one thing I don't know who gave permission to these people to produce another idiotic 300 movie. Unbelievably disappointing.

But the real disappointment is of course how Marvel seems to have picked up an axe to go after their own Cosmic story arcs altogether. I have been waiting for a "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie to happen for many many years. Now that it's finally going to happen, they have taken the writing from Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and handed it to Brian Michael Bendis, who really, really is NOT the writer for this. And of course James Gunn is directing…. right. And basically the same thing has happened to Nova… So now I wonder if this is really the end of Marvel Cosmic, or at least anything that was good about Marvel Cosmic… or will it somehow be rescued, I guess we just have to wait and see.

Labels: Books, Comic-Con, Comics, Entertainment, Motion Picture, Movies, Science, TV

About a year after all the buzz, and everyone [and most likely their dogs] having already watched "The Dark Knight Rises", Saturday night I finally managed to watch the movie. =D I had simply not found the time before, especially given that I've [please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me….] never really been that big of a fan of the Batman movies. Don't get me wrong, I've always had fun with the movies and the comics and heck, even the old TV series. =) I've just not really been a _fan_. At least, not till now.

The recent Batman movies [Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale] have been quite different from the older versions. There's now actually a plot, a real story, some fantastic character development. And now, with this latest movie, I'm actually a fan! For the first time in my life I've actually watched a Batman movie that I've really truly enjoyed enough to even feel like watching more than once. =D

Of course it also appears [at least so far] that this is going to be the last Nolan/Bale Batman movie, which is quite a shame. This has definitely been the best version of Batman so far, and I really would have liked to see more of it….

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Motion Picture, Movies, Sci-Fi

I do not like this one bit.

They're finally making a "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, after the comics pretty much getting annihilated and ignored in every possible way. Except they're not consulting the people who actually made the comics interesting, and the director that they seem to have selected [rumoured so far] isn't a favourite. Oh, and did I mention that they've left out some major characters like "Adam Warlock" and "Nova"? Meh.

"Abnett: These are Marvel's characters, and they will develop them as they see fit. Like I said, it's a huge compliment to us that they're doing that, but I think it's only fair to say that we haven't really been consulted in any way, shape or form. We wrote this stuff essentially as work-for-hire, and if Marvel came to us and said, "Would you like to consult on the movie?" that would be lovely. But for now, our interpretation is there on the page."

Read the full interview with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning here.

Labels: Comics, DnA, Entertainment, Motion Picture, Movies, Sci-Fi

Labels: Comic-Con, Comics, Entertainment, Fun

So Comic-Con 2012 was pretty cool in the way that there was more actual sci-fi and comic related exciting things to see, in comparison to the previous couple of years. I specially loved everything related to the Firefly 10 year anniversary. The panel for that was just brilliant.

One piece of news that I find myself particularly interested in is this one, about the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Check it out!

SDCC 2012: Guardians & Ant-Man Films on the Way | News | Marvel.com

Labels: Comic-Con, Comics, Entertainment, Fun

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Fringe, Literature, Sci-Fi

A couple of days ago on the train back from Zürich I finally read the recent Marvel woohoow, a.k.a. "Point One". This 1 shot issue consists of 7 pilot stories for Marvel's upcoming story arcs for 2011, only 1 of which was of particular interest to me. I was very excited when I found out there was going to be something related to "Nova" in there, and well, there was. The "Harbinger" chapter is about Nova... except, this is "A" Nova and not "the" Nova. This is some Nova from some possible alternate reality, with a lower rank than "the" Nova... and there's no reason to believe that this story will somehow bring back our Nova. Also, according to the list at the end of the issue, none of the immediate upcoming arcs actually include Nova, so as of yet we can't even have a solid idea as to where this alt-Nova is going to show up. And that, well, sucks. =P

To be honest [and to repeat what gzillion other people have said already] Marvel is doing a pretty huge injustice to their cosmic arcs and characters in general. They've killed Nova and Starlord, and well, Adam Warlock is nowhere to be found. They also cancelled "Guardians of the Galaxy" altogether which I believe was a huge mistake. So at the current state of things, once "Annihilators : Earthfall" is done, there are no more real cosmic arcs. In addition, it appears that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning [a.k.a. DnA] have absolutely no idea about what's happening with Nova which is horrible, seeing how they're the authors of the best of Marvel Cosmic. And of course whoever's writing FF, has managed to reset the Kree and Inhumans to their pre-Annihilation status which means all of the brilliant work of DnA and the rest of the authors of "Annihilation" and "Annihilation : Conquest" has simply vanished. So yes, a bloody load of injustice.

Anyhow, if any of you guys know anything more about what's happening with Marvel Cosmic, do let me know!

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Literature, Reviews

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Kool, Literature

Just finished reading "Silver Surfer: In Thy Name". A 4 volume comic series published during 2008. Totally loved it. Really really enjoyed the cynical theme of the story, very much reminding me of today's global politics. Totally recommended to anyone into Silver Surfer or superhero comics in general.

Labels: Comics, Literature, Marvel, Reading, Silver Surfer

And I just finished reading the last issue of Silver Surfer 2011, 5 issue comics. As it is often the case with Silver Surfer, it was poetic, painful, sad and pretty impressive. So yes, if you're a Silver Surfer fan in general, chances are you're going to enjoy this quite a bit. Oh, and don't forget to check out the recent 4 issue "Annihilators". That one's also pretty cool.

Also on my current reading list: The 2011 "Mighty Thor" mini-series, as well as "The Thanos Imperative" which unfortunately I never got a chance to read before. And yes, you're not imagining things, there is a pattern here. It's all story arcs featuring the Silver Surfer. What can I say, I'm obviously a fan. =P

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Marvel, Reading, Sci-Fi, Silver Surfer

Back when the Angel TV series got cancelled, the fans of the series [including myself] were pretty disappointed. But not long after that IDW publishing and Joss Whedon came together, and in 2007 the first episode of "Angel: After The Fall" comic series was released. Since then I've been following the comics quite eagerly. In some ways I found them even more entertaining the the TV series were... so yes, you could call me a big fan. The series also had a lot of very cool spin-offs and side stories, my favourite of which was probably the "Illyria: Haunted" series.

Now, after about 5 years of pure awesomeness, the series is over. Last night I read the very last episode of the After The Fall story line, and tonight [if I can somehow manage the time!] I'm going to read the end to "Spike", which is the very last spin-off of the series. So yes, no more After The Fall. That doesn't make me a very happy girl. =/

I should say that I'm certainly not disappointed. The After The Fall series had a great story line, and a pretty fitting end. Unlike the TV series ending, with the comic series you get that feeling of closure. Everything has been truly well explained and concluded. But still, I can't help but wish that there was more! =P

Mind you, this isn't the end of Angel comics altogether. The publishing rights are being passed on to [or more like back to] Dark Horse Comics, and they obviously have their own plans for it. In about a couple of months, Dark Horse is realising an "Angel Omnibus" containing whatever they published during the time the TV series was still running [before the fall era!]. After that, as far as I can see, they're starting an "Angel and Faith" mini series, which apparently takes place after the events of the Buffy Season 8 comics [Dark Horse's].

I haven't read the Buffy Season 8 comics yet, but I'm hoping to manage that sooner or later. And I'm looking forwards to Dark Horse's Angel series. On the cons side, Faith was never one of my favourite characters at all... so... meh. But oh well, I guess I can only wait and see how that'll turn out. 

On a bit of a different direction... in the entire After The Fall series, I found only 1 serious inconsistency, which is pretty interesting seeing how the episodes were written by so many different people. I sort of have a problem with the whole James turned Myresto Mor scenario. Anybody else find that weird? The James character was supposedly an angel for so long in the series, long enough to come across other angels as well as various representatives of the Powers That Be. So how did he suddenly turn out to be some sort of an evil demi-god? I mean, wouldn't other angels or even more importantly the big parents notice that he's just not one of the family?

I think I read somewhere that perhaps in a try to smoothen the situation, it was said that the Cordelia that came to Angel's help as he was dying, was not really Cordelia. But I think we all know that it was Cordelia. And heck, she wasn't the only one who would technically have easily been able to recognize James as a non-angel. But anyway... I try to think of Myresto as a new character altogether... and the plot was great enough to pretty much hide that little inconsistency.

I just hope that in the new Dark Horse Angel appearances, there's going to be room for Illyria and Spike, since they really are bloody fantastic characters and my favourites in the series. I also would really like to see what Connor may do with his new found powers, but I'm afraid we may never know, if the Dark Horse writers try to not make any references to the ATF series. That would be a huge disappointment, so I'm hoping they're not going to completely ignore everything that happened in ATF. 

Anyway... enough comic talk... time to get back to studying... =P

Labels: Comics, Entertainment, Fantasy, Literature, Reading, Supernatural

As most of you probably already know, I read a lot of comic books. Specially at times that I'm mentally busier than usual, I have a tendency of taking comic breaks in between things that means reading even more comics... Anyway.... Recently I've been devouring loads of BuffyVerse comics, mainly related to Angel and the gang, and I've officially finished all the [so far published] Angel + spin offs issues.

So then I started looking into other BuffyVerse material and accidentally I came across this 8 issue set by the name "Fray". Now, I just finished reading the last issue of Fray, and I wish to God there was more! =P

Created by Joss Whedon and set in the BuffyVerse, "Fray" is a mix of sci-fi and slayer stories. In a rather pessimistic view of a future world, when vampires and demons and slayers have long been forgotten, "Melaka Fray" is the fist slayer to be called after so many years. She has no knowledge of the past and no connection to her heritage, and she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a war that she knows nothing about....

It turns out that Fray is actually coming back in the rather recently published Buffy season 8 comics, which I have not read yet. So, I guess that's where I'm going next! Oh, and if you're into either comics, sci-fi, Joss Whedon stuff or vampire stories, you should totally check this out! =)

Labels: Comics, Literature, Sci-Fi

Last week when I was searching for information on one of the latest "Angel" comics issues, I came across the website called Comic Vine for what was not the first time. I figured since I keep bumping into the website, I may as well join and see if will do the job of "Last.fm for comics" for me.

So I joined Comic Vine and after using it for a few days, just as I was beginning to like the system [and considering becoming a paid member and inviting friends], I happened to come across a wiki page about a comic book that I had just read. The page was missing the "Plot Summery" section, so I figured I may as well be helpful and add the few lines. Now, for anyone who may not know... these type of plot summaries are like movie trailers. You see the same standard synopses on Wikipedia, Amazon, and many other websites related to comic books or books in general. And that's why you see the Wikipedia plot summaries [and many other pieces of info, for that matter] on pretty much every wiki page on Comic Vine. Also, lets keep in mind that the content on Wikipedia, according to the Wikipedia terms of use, are under the Creative Commons licence and free to re-distribute.

Anyhow.. I took the plot summery from Wikipedia, and added it to the wiki page on Comic Vine, and I did this for 2 issues of the same comic series. What happened next was somewhat unbelievable. I received a message from one of the administrators of the website, giving me what they were referring to as a "First and final warning", for PLAGIARISM!!! Oh, and to make things even more fun, the other one of the 2 summaries I had submitted at the same time and from the same source, was approved!!!

Well... you can probably imagine that as someone who's active in the research field as well as academia, I know only too well the definition of the word plagiarism, and you can also guess how much I don't appreciate being wrongly accused of it. I added a standard piece of information, a tag-line if you will, from a public domain source, to a wiki in a website which more than anything is a database of information regarding collections of work created by other people to start with. Information that is by definition not a property of Comic Vine, and is quite visibly coming from sources all over the web. I didn't claim to have created the book, the tag-line or anything else for that matter. My name is not printed under there, I'm not even breaking any copy-rights, and I'm most certainly neither getting paid nor marked for that work. All I did was sharing a public trailer. So, how in the heaven's name did they come up with plagiarism?!

That of course was the question I sent back to the moderator who had given me the warning. And that was the start of a rather pointless and circular conversation. The kind you usually get with the tech support of Rogers Inc. First I got a couple of 1 line responses without any form of a clear point, the sort that is designed to get rid of you as fast as possible. Then there was some very fuzzy explanation saying that the whole plagiarism issue may or may not [?] apply to the plot summery, but it does to some other [?] parts of the website. So the person in charge is not even certain as to where to apply a supposed rule of an ambiguous nature, but I do end up being insulted either way. After all I'm only a user, who cares about my respect anyway right? [Anybody else having Twine flash-backs? Well, we all know how that one ended..] Then I received a link, to a forum post by a moderator, saying "Don't Plagiarize"!! Well, 2 problems here:

1- Yes generally plagiarism is bad. It's one of those things you morally don't go about doing. So all good and fine with the article, but what does that have to do with my situation? Where is the plagiarism in what I did? Of course if someone writes a piece of literature somewhere on this website consisting of information from other sources, without citing, and taking full credit for themselves, then yes you have a case of plagiarism. But what does that have to with editing a wiki page on a service like this? How could you possibly commit plagiarism on what is, as I mentioned, a database of publicly available information on other people's creations?

2- If you're going to refer me to your website rules, should they not be a part of your Terms of Use? I mean, isn't that the whole point of a bleeding Terms of Use page? So does that mean, the random words of your moderators are the rule books of the website, and that I should be reading through every single forum post, to find out what your team of site-Gods would like me to do on your website? Well I'm sorry, but that is not happening. Some of us have a life outside of comic books.

So then, after a whole load of explaining myself, quoting website ToU and demanding a proper response from anyone who can, I received an - oh wow - more than one line response, explaining very politely how that's just the way it is, and letting me know that the reason I've been granted all the friendly unhelpfulness is that the person on the other side of the line is "very tired". At that point I really controlled myself not to write back "Do you want to compare schedules? Life? Usual amount of work?" So, I have been insulted, accused of something I haven't done, been responded to as if I was a proper idiot, have had my time wasted, and you tell me you are tired. How awesome is that?

That was the end of it. I really wasn't interested in continuing the conversation that would only have bought me more insult. And obviously I have lost all interest in using the service itself. I spoke with a couple of my comic enthusiast friends who let me know that they were already aware that the administration of the service in question suffers a bit of a God/celebrity complex, and I should have just asked them first. [Yes, perfect! =P] I've also been directed to another website for comics that is apparently run by a "nicer" crowd. We'll see how that goes. ;) I'm also very much interested in more suggestions on the topic and opinions in general... so ... comment away! =)

Update I

Xander has made an interesting point in the comments that a lot of people seem to be referring to, so I'm adding it here. It's somewhat dark, but it seems true.

"This god complex that you're mentioning, I'm thinking it has deeper roots into certain types of communities. It's not just something about this specific website. That's my opinion. What I'm trying to say is, unfortunately if you look into communities that are built around similar interests like comics or gaming (as you were saying earlier), you will always find too many people who suffer this sort of god complex. They make up a personality based on how awesome they are known to be in the community and live by that personality. Getting lost in the characters of comics or games, forgetting entirely that there are people out there, real people, who are making a difference in the real world. The actual super heroes.
The real ugly comes when one of these community superstars finds it fit to insult and dismiss one of those people who is making a difference in the real world. This seems to me like one of those times. Sorry love, but really, you should just ignore folks like that."

@Xander: Well, I most certainly don't see myself as anything like a superhero [ =)) ] but I do see your point, and I'm afraid I'm quite familiar with what you're pointing out here. I've had so many people tell me that they joined the "ABC" community or game or this or that just to have a simple good time, and they've ended up having to deal with something of a religious cult instead. "The air of elitism" as Char puts it, is something that I personally have a hard time dealing with.

I don't know if what happened here was exactly that... but it's not so unlikely since a good deal of attitude could easily be felt there.

Update II

Well, I must say that it was very nice to read from Comic Vine [refer to the comments] and it's good to see that they're paying attention. As I wrote in the comments, I'm not all that certain that my problem was only with a single administrator. I mean surely it would have been nice to have dealt with someone more interested in helping out, but if for instance what I did [or anything of the sort] really is considered plagiarism according to the regulations of that community, then my problem is more with the system rather than the person representing it. If words change definition and regulations become a full semester study, then I simply can't afford the time. This whole thing was supposed to be for recreational purposes to start with.....

My decision now is to not publish this article for the moment, and stick around quietly and see how things develop with Comic Vine. Meanwhile, I will be giving a try to other suggested services as well, and thanks for all your comments and suggestions.

Labels: Comics, Interest Networks, Internet, Reviews, Social Networks, Web

Wow... I just saw an article with the first set of detailed information and pictures related to the upcoming Tintin movie! Looks like it's going to be awesome! =D Apparently this is going to be the movie version of the "Secret of the Unicorn", which is one of my favourite Tintin adventures and the first one I ever read! =) I just can't wait to see the movie...

"With live action you’re going to have actors pretending to be Captain Haddock and Tintin,” says Peter Jackson. “You’d be casting people to look like them. It’s not really going to feel like the Tintin Hergé drew. It’s going to be somewhat different. With CGI we can bring Hergé’s world to life, keep the stylised caricatured faces, keep everything looking like Hergé’s artwork, but make it photo-real."

Check out the full article here!

Labels: Books, Comics, Literature, Motion Picture, Movies, Weeee =D

I guess for anyone who's into both robots and J.J. Abrams, this is definitely big news. And it's not all that new, so I don't even know how I didn't know about it already! =P A good friend of mine just sent me the link to an article, about J.J. Abrams latest movie project, called "Boilerplate". 

Supposedly, this movie is based on a graphic novel which is the story of world's first robot, and his adventures along side some interesting characters and mixing with certain historical events. Here's the article, check it out!

So now I'm very much looking forwards to seeing the movie. =) I think it will probably turn out to be pretty darn fantastic! Can't wait... can't wait.... =D

Labels: Books, Comics, Entertainment, Literature, Motion Picture, Movies, Robotics, Sci-Fi, Weeee =D