Entries from July 2006 ↓

The last few weeks, I’ve been pouring over the work of Ed Brubaker, current writer of Marvel’s Captain America, X-Men, and Daredevil. For at least a year, everyone I know who loves crime comics screams Brubaker’s name whenever they’re stuck listening to me complain about having nothing good to read. Sleeper, Gotham Central, Scenes of a Crime, and a few issues of Catwoman have sat untouched mostly because I had trouble getting into Point Blank, a noir prequel to Sleeper, that requires finishing in one sitting to truly appreciate what Brubaker was attempting to do with the circular plot structure.Fishing around on eBay, enabled me to get copies of Accidental Death and The Fall two stories that hark back to the noir traditions of David Goodis, James M. Cain, and Jim Thompson’s America and well worth the effort to track down.

Brubaker’s two most talked about current books at Marvel Captain America and Daredevil each comes with it’s own unique challenges and baggage. Captain America, an iconic masthead of Marvel’s comics for 60 years has always been a bland one dimensional poster boy. Brubaker breathed some life into Cap. by tearing open old wounds and twisting plot lines enough to give him more dimensions. Having never been a fan of Captain America myself, Brubaker’s injection of more espionage and corruption make Cap interesting enough to forgive the fact that he manages to take down scores of armed terrorists with only a shield with boomerang like qualities and his heightened strength.

Following Brian Bendis’ legendary five year shake-up of Daredevil, Brubaker and penciler Michael Lark’s hit the ground running, never missing a beat with their first arch “The Devil In Cell Block D”. Writers tend to be at their best when they’re putting their characters through hell and so far Brubaker’s take on Daredevil continues to surprise and tantalize with every issue.
Prime example—Daredevil #86, which page for page stands as twenty-two of the best pages I’ve read so far this year because of Brubaker’s obsession with putting Matt Murdock in the worst possible situation.
Later this October, Brubaker returns to more of a traditional crime comic with Criminal.

As Ed told Newsarama.com about Criminal, “So, you say, “Yeah, Daredevil’s okay, and I like Captain America, but I really dug Ed Brubaker’s crime stuff. In fact, the stuff he did when Sean Phillips illustrated, like in Sleeper... man, if only he’d do another book like that.”

That time has come. Brubaker and Phillips sound like they’re going to have a field day crafting a very distinct new entry into the crime genre and I can’t wait.

Download a preview of Criminal here.

An Indian man found out that the large growth in his belly wasn’t cancer but his dead twin. Called “Fetus in fetus”, the “parasite” twin grows as the man grew.

And, thankfully, we have video.

Aaron Sorkin, during a meeting of the Television Critics Association:

“I do think television is a terribly influential part of this country and when things that are very mean-spirited and voyeuristic go on TV, I think it’s bad crack in the schoolyard.”

He paused briefly, then asked: “Why did I use that word?”

• Stars of orignal Office to invade American workplace.
• Alla Shawkat on Arrested Development’s afterlife:

“Mitch actually recently told us that there is a good possibility for a movie, and that he’s talking to Ron Howard about it.“

• Bob Dylan to get ‘Bootlicious’?
• Trapped in the Closet: Banned South Park Lampoon Nominated for Emmy.

ABC is looking for a way to disable fast forward on your DVR.

“I’m not so sure that the whole issue really is one of commercial avoidance,” Shaw said. “It really is a matter of convenience—so you don’t miss your favorite show. And quite frankly, we’re just training a new generation of viewers to skip commercials because they can. I’m not sure that the driving reason to get a DVR in the first place is just to skip commercials. I don’t fundamentally believe that. People can understand in order to have convenience and on-demand (options), that you can’t skip commercials.”

Sounds like a good opportunity for cable companies to charge for a fast-forward feature.

Happy Trails to T.J. Ford.

You played a season and a half for the Bucks bringing speed and athleticism to the court but little else. While in Milwauke you may have only scratched the surface of your potential, but they need a point guard who can make decisons under pressure or at least a lay up when it matters.

Oh, and P.S.—my cable co-worker who you cancelled your installation with—after he finished all of the work only to find that you somehow switched to satellite because you found a better deal, still hopes you go fuck yourself.

Maybe the French-Canadians will impart some class on you.

Man Sues T-Wolves Eddie Griffin Claiming He Was Drunk, Masturbating When SUV Accident Occurs

Thank you Eddie Griffin. Because of your example, it’ll be that much harder to get children to multi-task.