Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

AXIOM’S EDGE HAS MOVED!!!!

September 11, 2009 at 4:01 pm | In News and Updates | Leave a Comment

The Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy site has moved to a new location: http://axiomsedge-scifi.com/wordpress/

Nothing much else is changing about us except the url and the look of the site to some extent. Other than that we will keep cranking out the same type of posts you have come to expect over the last two years and now we have a little bit more space to grow and hope to add some more new features in the coming months (stay tuned for more info).

So check us out at our new location and let us know what you think!

New url: http://axiomsedge-scifi.com/wordpress/

Fall and Winter Preview of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movies

We can pretty much count Summer over now, so it’s time to say goodbye to the “Blockbusters” like Star Trek, Transformers, and Harry Potter while we settle in and prepare for the more “thoughtful” movies to hit the big screen (that is, the movies that Hollywood executives figured would not make a ton of money during the Summer season). So gone are most of the sequels and remakes and now we finally get some original ideas. And there are quite a few decent entries heading our way in the next few months along with a few that still count as “Blockbusters” making their way to the list as well. Among the movies that we can look forward to are Zombieland with Woody Harrelson, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a CGI take on the character who got Anime started Astro Boy, the big screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, Roland Emmerich’s next big disaster flick 2012 (i.e., Earth vs. the Mayan Calendar), and of course James Cameron’s return to the directors chair with Avatar. Our Fall and Winter Preview covers all the movies we currently know about in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres on the schedule through December. So take a gander and get prepared to gnosh some popcorn in the coming months as the weather gets colder and the big screen gets a bit more imaginative.

Also, Check Out the Summer 2009 Box Office Winners and Losers

Ratings Results – Looking Back at the Final Results for Last Season

September 10, 2009 at 8:51 am | In John J. Joex, Ratings Results | Leave a Comment
Tags: Chuck, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour, Fringe, Ghost Whisperer, Heroes, Lost, Medium, Network Ratings, Reaper, Smallville, Supernatural

By John J. Joex

Will Dollhouse survive through a second season?

A new season is kicking off, so it’s time again for fans to start wringing their hands in anticipation as they watch the weekly ratings results and worry about the fates of their favorite shows. It’s also time for all of us all to start cursing the Nielsen ratings system again and insist that there must be a better way to determine the fate of the network shows. And who knows, after last season when we saw the unlikely renewals of shows like Chuck and Dollhouse, perhaps the networks are starting to consider other factors when deciding whether or not to keep a show around. But still, the Nielsens have the loudest voice (and a virtual monopoly), so we will keep watching their numbers while at the same time ruing their existence. So as the current season is just getting started, let’s take a quick look at the final ratings results from last season.

If you look at the final tally for the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows (available at this link), the most glaring thing you notice is that the show that ended the season ranked highest among the genre offerings is not on the Fall schedule. CBS’s The Eleventh Hour ended the season ranked 22nd out of over 200 shows and averaged over 12 million viewers per episode. But as I have noted multiple times over the last few months, the eye network is not where you want to be if you are a Science Fiction and Fantasy show. Ending in the Top 25 was not good enough for that network, so The Eleventh Hour got the boot.

Next on the list is ABC mainstay Lost, which ended up ranked 28th. That’s a notable drop for that show from the prior season where it ended in the Number 19 slot. But still it did well enough in the ratings and DVD sales to assure that it would return for its sixth and last season. After Lost, we find The Ghost Whisperer at the Number 34 slot. You may wonder why this survived when the higher ranked Eleventh Hour got kicked to the curb, but this is the one exception on CBS since it airs on Fridays (a night with lower ratings expectations) and almost always wins its timeslot. FOX’s Fringe follows at the Number 43 slot then we find Heroes at the Number 50 slot. That show took quite a tumble from the Number 21 slot where it ended after its second season. Still, NBC has been struggling of late so they decided to keep it around.

After that, most of the shows left in the rankings received an axe during or after the season. Medium, which landed on the 61st rung received its walking papers from NBC, but CBS snatched it up to pair it with The Ghost Whisperer this season. Chuck, which fell to the 73rd slot after finishing 63rd in its first season, managed to survive for another year, but like Heroes that is mostly because it resides on struggling NBC (and let’s give the show’s loyal, Subway-chomping fans some credit for making their voice heard as well).

Then you get to the bottom where you find Dollhouse and the CW’s offerings. Dollhouse, which ended up ranked 133rd and averaged a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic received the miracle renewal of the ages. The CW’s Smallville was next among genre shows at Number 155 and an average rating of 1.3 and Supernatural followed at Number 164 and an average rating of 1.1. The CW does not demand as high of an audience as the Big Four networks, so those shows survived (their numbers are also diluted some by extra repeat broadcasts factored into the average). Still, Reaper (174th) and Valentine (190th) slipped below that network’s tolerance levels and both ended up getting the axe.

You can see the final results for all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows from both the 2008-09 season and 2007-08 season at our Ratings Tracker page. And stay tuned this coming season as I provide weekly ratings updates along with my predictions on which shows are in danger of cancellation.

Before the new season begins, get caught up on the episodes you missed. Order the prior seasons of Supernatural, Fringe, Dollhouse, Heroes and more on DVD now!

Premiere Alert – Supernatural and Vampire Diaries Bow Tonight

September 10, 2009 at 6:31 am | In News and Updates, Paul S. White, Schedule | Leave a Comment
Tags: Eureka, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries

The wait is finally over! After four months we finally get to see Sam and Dean deal with their somewhat apocalyptic gaff that allowed Lucifer to escape from Hell. The Fall 2009 season of Science Fiction and Fantasy shows kicks off tonight with the premiere of Supernatural Season 5 and there will be plenty of fire and brimstone for the brothers to contend with in the upcoming weeks.

And just before Supernatural returns at 9 PM CST on the CW, freshman entry Vampire Diaries gets its premiere on the same network at 8 PM CST. This adaptation of L.J. Smith’s novel series looks like it will give us Twilight for the small screen and appears to be an ideal fit for the CW’s target demographic if young females.

Next week brings more Fall premieres and you can read about all of the shows that will bow during the first half of the season at our Fall 2009 Science Fiction and Fantasy Preview page.

And one more bit of news for Eureka fans. Matt Frewer’s character, Taggert, makes a return to the show tomorrow night after being absent all of Season 3. In the episode “Have an Ice Day”, the animal-expert Aussie returns to the fold and appears to bring the next Ice Age with him.

Also, check out our full Preview of all the Fall 2009 Science Fiction and Fantasy Show.

Summer 2009 Box Office Winners and Losers

September 9, 2009 at 2:04 pm | In Box Office Results, Paul S. White | 1 Comment
Tags: Science Fiction Movies

The Summer Blockbuster season is all but over as September eases in and the more “thoughtful” movies (that is, the ones that won’t make as much money) get a chance on the big screen. Theater owners are pretty happy with the final tally from the hot months, though, as the Summer movies brought in over $4 billion in revenue and increased receipts by 5% from the prior year. So now it’s time to take a look at how well Science Fiction and Fantasy movies performed at the Box Office this past season. (Full Article)

Weekend Box Office Results – Final Destination Wins Again

September 9, 2009 at 6:50 am | In Box Office Results, Paul S. White | Leave a Comment
Tags: Science Fiction Movies

According to the receipts, theaters did brisk business over the Labor Day weekend, though no one single picture dominated the theaters for the weekend. Deathly sequel Final Destination 4 repeated at the Number 1 slot brining in a Friday through Sunday total of $12.3 million. Sci Fi action/adventure flick Gamer debuted with $9 million, only managing to make it as high as Number 4. Not very good numbers for an opening weekend and with the Box office starting to slack off with the end of Summer, this one will have a hard time making much more of an impression. District 9 came in just after Gamer and took the Number 5 slot, while Halloween II slipped from the Number 3 slot it had last week to Number 6. G.I. Joe slid to the Number 8 slot and The Time Traveler’s Wife ended up at the Number 10 spot. Up continued its return to the Top 20 for a second week, though just barely, as it held on to the Number 20 slot.

Following are the results for all of the Science Fiction and Fantasy oriented movies in the Top 20 for the weekend of September 4-6:

Title / Box Office Rank (Rank Prior Week) / Weekend (Total) Draw
1) The Final Destination – Prior Wk: 1, Draw (Total): $12.37 MM ($47.51 MM)
4) Gamer – Prior Wk: New, Draw (Total): $9.16 MM ($9.16 MM)
5) District 9 – Prior Wk: 4, Draw (Total): $7.08 MM ($101.35 MM)
6) Halloween II (2009) – Prior Wk: 3, Draw (Total): $5.75 MM ($25.8 MM)
8) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – Prior Wk: 5, Draw (Total): $5.18 MM ($139.49 MM)
10) The Time Traveler’s Wife – Prior Wk: 7, Draw (Total): $4.33 MM ($54.67 MM)
11) Shorts – Prior Wk: 8, Draw (Total): $2.73 MM ($17.16 MM)
12) G-Force – Prior Wk: 10, Draw (Total): $2. MM ($114.63 MM)
14) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Prior Wk: 11, Draw (Total): $1.83 MM ($296.94 MM)
19) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Prior Wk: 20, Draw (Total): $.8 MM ($400.43 MM)
20) Up – Prior Wk: 19, Draw (Total): $.73 MM ($290.63 MM)

Source: Box Office Mojo

Previous Results – Number 1 is the Final Destination

Check out our Preview of the Fall and Winter Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movies.

Movie Review – Halloween II

September 8, 2009 at 9:46 am | In Movie Reviews, Sam Christopher | 8 Comments
Tags: Horror Movies

By Sam Chrisopher

Rating: ½ out of 5 Stars

Why?!? Why did Rob Zombie have to do this? I love the guy—well, in all fairness, I don’t really know him, but I love a lot of things in his public persona that I at least think I know. I love his music for the most part. I LOOOOOOVE the fact that he is a true horror fan. MTV Cribs… another lame offering from M-indless T-eleV-ision. The only one I ever watched (by choice) was the one of Zombie’s house, and I only watched that because of all the cool horror stuff I thought he’d have. And he does have a massive collection of old horror—something I find very commendable. I liked House of 1,000 Corpses, which I thought was weird and humorous enough to be enjoyable, but I thought The Devil’s Rejects was humorless and lame. The main characters in this sequel were just too cardboard for me to ever care what happened to them, and the situations (let me hit “Skinny Dude” with a board and I promise you he will not be getting up) were just too unbelievable and contrived.

Then he remade Halloween. He started with the stated intention of taking all the magic out of the story. In other words, he was going to make it basically a character study of a serial killer, nothing more. I wasn’t too thrilled with the sound of that but I thought I’d give it a shot. I actually liked the beginning of the film, and then most of the rest until Michael returned to Haddonfield. That was when the wheels came completely off. If there was no magic, how could Michael find his sister? How would he have the first clue where to look? Why was he following people all over the place? He followed one chick to where Laurie (his sister) was babysitting… then followed her all the way back to the house where she was babysitting so he could kill her there. And don’t get me started on the end of the picture. The last 15-20 minutes is some of the lamest stuff I’ve ever seen on film. Until now.

I hope I’ve made it clear above that I hate what I have to do here, but I have to be honest as well as fair. Tell you what, though, let me be fair first. I know that this is really a kind of riff on the original Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers but I have to give Zombie a little credit for trying something different. There’s not much that can be done in horror today that would be completely original, and as I said above this doesn’t fit that category. But he did at least attempt something creative with the film. It ended up being kind of Ed Wood-ian—there were points in this film where I firmly believed the next shot was going to be stock footage of a buffalo stampede, ala Glen or Glenda—but I do give credit for the attempt. The whole thing with Sherrie Moon Zombie in the white dress and the white horse just didn’t work out. And he did say he wanted to make it more violent than his first Halloween—I think he made that grade.

Now that I’ve handled the nicety: I really wanted to stand and scream at the screen how angry I was that I was wasting my time and money watching this dreck but I didn’t want to wake the two or three other people in the theater. This is the second week of release on a Friday night and I doubt there were ten people in that theater. There was a group in front of us: a heavily-tattooed man and woman with two kids who looked to be six or seven-years-old (what goes through a parent’s mind to bring little kids to a film like this?). They got up and left halfway through the movie. Starts off with Michael being loaded into the meat wagon… y’know, I don’t really want to relive this. I tried and tried, but this was like… like… well, I’m not sure what I can really compare it to. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen but it’s on the short list. I didn’t even like the music—other than Nights in White Satin. And Zombie just makes the most unsympathetic characters I’ve ever seen. Even in Halloween, I never cared about anyone in the film other than Michael’s mother and Danny Trejo’s character. Everyone else you either just want to fast-forward to the death scene or watch them die three or four times.

I know I haven’t said much about the actual story. If you really need that kind of thing: Michael Myers isn’t dead. He wanders around chasing his sister and slaughtering a slew of people we’re probably all better off without anyway. That’s pretty much all you need to know—except that those two sentences are much better than sitting through the twelve hour movie (or maybe it just felt that long). Matter of fact, the only thing I can think of this weekend that was worse than watching this awful movie was being told that they’ve already decided to make ANOTHER one: Halloween 3-D! YES!

You’ve been warned…

Countdown to Fall: A Few Spoilers for the Upcoming Shows

September 8, 2009 at 6:30 am | In John J. Joex, Previews | Leave a Comment
Tags: Dollhouse, Flash Forward, Fringe, Heroes, Supernatural

By John J. Joex

The Fall season for Science Fiction and Fantasy viewing kicks off this Thursday with the premieres of Vampire Diaries and the fifth season of Supernatural on the CW. So to whet your appetite for the upcoming season, I thought I would pass on a few spoilers for several of the upcoming shows. This is information that has been buzzing around the Internet of late so I thought I would bring some of it together here and provide a bit of teaser for what is to come for five of the most anticipated shows that will bow in the next couple of weeks.

Supernatural (Returns September 10th) – Last season’s finale left Sam and Dean on the verge of facing off with Satan himself. So will they go full tilt and bring us apocalypse on Earth in the coming season? According to series creator Eric Kripke, yes they will, though it will be on a “budget” since the show does not have a whole lot of money. He claims that during Season 5, the Winchester brothers will be kept quite busy trying to keep the escaped Lucifer from spreading his domain to Earth. The coming season will also focus on Sam and Dean repairing their relationship after the strain it endured in Season 4

Fringe (Returns September 17th) – As those who caught the season finale of Fringe know, Olivia crossed over into the parallel dimension and came face to face with William Bell (Leonard Nimoy). This season we will find out more about this parallel Earth (and no, King Silas is not ruling a modern day kingdom somewhere nearby). Many things are the same in this world such as Obama being president, but we already saw that the World Trade Center is still standing and we will also find out that John F. Kennedy is still alive. Plus, we will see the implications of that gravestone for Peter Bishop that we saw in the finale. It appears that the Walter Bishop from out Earth stole the Peter from the parallel dimension when he was still a child, and now he will have to face the consequences.

Dollhouse (Returns September 18th) – Many who watched Dollhouse last season felt that it got off to a shaky start and only begin to really pick up steam after about the fifth or sixth episode, and this was the result of FOX executives tinkering with the show. This year, though, FOX has promised to leave Joss Whedon alone and let him do his thing. Therefore, the series will dispense with stand alone episodes and start unfolding a story arc that follows directly from the last season’s finale but which will lead toward the future events suggested in episode “Epitaph One” available only on the Season 1 DVD set. They will deal with the implications of Alpha being on the loose and will also start to bring Sierra more to the forefront of the show. Boyd will still question the morality of the Dollhouse, but now that he is head of security, he is also responsible for keeping it running.

Heroes (Returns September 21st) – Sure, Heroes gets regularly derided for its drop-off in quality following its first season, but there is still much anticipation for its new season as it ranks in the Top 5 of our recent poll asking which shows viewers will definitely watch this Fall. We know from the way last season ended that the core group of characters will form a new version of The Company to keep tabs on people with abilities. They will also come into contact with a traveling carnival which also seeks out people with abilities and whose sinister ringleader is played by new cast member Robert Knepper (Prison Break). Also, we will get the obligatory character returning from the dead as Tracy (Ali Larter) comes back into the fold.

FlashForward (Debuts September 24th) – In this new series from ABC, everybody on the planet blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds during which time they have visions of future events. The series then deals with people trying to figure out what all this meant. According to the series creators, this future is six months ahead of the time of the blackouts (as opposed 21 years from to the book it was based on). They also say that by the end of Season 1, viewers will get the answers to what everybody saw because they planned out the entire season early on. They also claim to have enough additional storylines to carry the show for several more seasons, but wanted to provide some answers early on. There is no word on whether they planned for a thirteen or twenty two episode season, though.

Before the new season begins, get caught up on the episodes you missed. Order the prior seasons of Supernatural, Fringe, Dollhouse, Heroes and more on DVD now!

Weekly Update: Marvel to Become a Mickey Mouse Company?

September 7, 2009 at 7:00 am | In News and Updates, Paul S. White | Leave a Comment
Tags: Defying Gravity, Game of Thrones

Disney Buys Marvel: In a stunning development last week, Disney announced that they were buying Marvel Comics. The $4 billion deal will bring the home of such lucrative properties as Spider-Man, The X-Men, and the Fantastic Four into the fold of the entertainment giant. In part, the deal was made to attract more young males to Disney properties as that company already has had trouble holding onto that demographic. This will not affect pre-existing deals that Marvel has with companies like Sony and FOX for characters like Spider-Man and The X-Men, but once those deals expire, the Mouse House will probably extend exclusive ownership over those properties. In its vast entertainment empire, Disney also owns the Pixar animation studios and the ABC television network.

Lena Headly to Thrones: Work continues to progress on Game of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy book series, and they just announced the addition of Lena Headey to the show’s cast. Headey, recently off the cancelled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, will play Queen Cersei of House Lannister. Also set to star in the pilot are Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Peter Dinkladge. Thrones will most likely air sometime time in early 2010.

MTV Developing Teen Wolf Series: In yet another television adaptation of a movie franchise, MTV has ordered a pilot for a series based on the 1980’s Teen Wolf which starred Michael J. Fox. In that film, Fox played a high school student who finds out that he is a werewolf. According to an MTV executive, their spin on the concept will give us “a dramatic thriller with two best friends in the center who provide a great comedy element: They are two very relatable characters on the outer circles of popular cliques.” There’s no word at this point on a target airdate for the series.

Defying Gravity’s Voyage to be Cut Short? ABC’s Summer import series Defying Gravity has definitely not pulled stellar ratings so far with an average rating around 1.0 with adults 18-49. And with the fall premieres just around the corner its chances of completing its run looks slim. The show is currently on their schedule through September 13th (the show’s eighth episode). But the networks new offerings start to pop up the following week, with no indication that Defying Gravity will continue to air its remaining episodes once the Fall season kicks off. The show could get moved to Saturday nights to finish out its run, or they may just cut it completely from their schedule (like they did with Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone last Fall, though both of those got to air out their remaining episodes this past Summer). They may also chose to let the show wrap it its first (and likely only) season online like NBC did with The Listener this Summer.

Previous Update:

August 31st – Summer Glau Officially Joins Dollhouse, Defying Gravity in Trouble

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Quick Hits – Daring Mystery, Mystic Comics, The Irredeemable, The Mighty, and More

September 6, 2009 at 5:27 pm | In Comic Book Reviews, Quick Hits, Sam Christopher | Leave a Comment
Tags: Comics

A much lighter week than last…

First, there are two commemorative comics from Marvel this week. Daring Mystery Comics 7oth Anniversary Special #1 leads off with writer David Liss (first comics work for this author of six published novels), and artist Jason Armstrong (Doc Thunder, Legion of Superheroes) giving a modern take on The Phantom Reporter. In this story, PR is being interviewed by a modern-day reporter and relates his origin story in a tale that gives us all the two-fisted action of the best of the old pulps along with the three-dimensional storytelling of today. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed this story; I will say that this is the best of any of the new stories we’ve seen from any of these commemoratives. Mr. Liss has a style that is perfect for this type of character, by which I mean any “mystery man”. I would love to see him on, say, The Question or The Spider. Perhaps even Batman or Daredevil would be a good match for Mr. Liss’ storytelling talents. And now that I’ve slobbered over the writer I think it only fair to point out that Armstrong’s art is perfect for this story. The frenetic, off-kilter style provides just the right touch for a tale of the dark streets of the ‘40s. The backup feature, “The Phantom Reporter”, by ROE and Sam Cooper is from Daring Mystery Comics #3 in April 1940.

Next, we have Mystic Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1, which stars Timely’s version of The Spectre, the Vision. The new story here is written and drawn by Dave Lapham (Stray Bullets, Giant-Size Wolverine) and is a very good Lovecraftian story. This ‘40s version of the Vision is an extradimensional alien drawn to our world by a scientist who creates a portal, a doorway between two worlds (which also makes him a version of J’onn J’onzz, too). The Vision was evidently known as “The Destroyer of Evil” in his home dimension and takes up that mantle here as well. In this story, the aforementioned scientist is forced to open the portal again and a hallucinogenic mist creeps out along with a nightmarish creature bent on destroying our world. I think you can guess what happens next, the broad strokes anyway. While this story is not as good as the Daring Mystery tale from the previous paragraph, it is still an excellent representation of its source material. Lapham does a very good job of capturing the spirit of the ‘40s storylines without being bound by them. The backups here are both titled “The Vision” with only Jack Kirby on the credits (listing all the creators of a story wasn’t industry standard at the time of first run), from Marvel Mystery Comics nos. 13 and 16, from Nov. ’40 and Feb. ’41.

Finally! Finally, we see something get under Plutonian’s skin in Irredeemable #6. The beginning of this ish is interesting, in that it’s showing what appears to be a memory from Tony’s childhood, the end is interesting in that someone is showing him his past. And Charybdis appears to have struck a nerve. Especially given what the other “Superfriends” find in Tony’s “Fortress of Solitude”. I know I beat you over the head with this title every month but I just can’t say enough about the work that Mark Waid (Flash, 52) and Peter Krause (Power of Shazam, Grimjack) are doing here. I still think a being with Plutonian’s power is just playing cat and mouse with the heroes nut the series is so well thought out, so well written, that I don’t mind being strung along here. On the contrary, I can’t wait to see what these two have dreamt up for us next.

And in DC’s great good guy turned bad saga, Gabe takes Janet’s death (if that’s really what it was) very hard in The Mighty #8, even openly defying Alpha One. Or at least that’s what he wants Alpha to think is going on. Along the way here we find that Alpha’s origin story is just that—a story cooked up by the US Govt. to explain this “Superman” in our midst (in a cool touch, Alpha even tells Gabriel that he thought of coming out into the open after seeing a Superman comic in 1938). While there’s still something going on behind the scenes, I have to say that Alpha sure seems to be on the up and up. I’m starting to wonder if it’s not all these other people who are wrong, or—and this might be better—maybe there’s another Alpha. I know evil twins are a hackneyed plot device but on a world with only one superhero it’s as good as giving him a split personality. Still an interesting story being told by Peter J. Tomasi (Green Lantern Corps, Black Lanterns: Tales of the Corps) and Keith Champagne with that wonderful Chris Samnee (Black Lanterns: Tales of the Corps) artwork.

Then we have Justice League: Cry for Justice #3. Sorry, I know they’re trying mightily to make Prometheus into some fantastically powerful and ruthless villain but, no matter what they say or do, this clown will always feel like a revamp to me. In other words, this guy may turn out to be a great villain but that doesn’t make me think he’s not a dweeb here. More, I see no way a guy whose main power is that he can surf the internet at will can stand toe to toe with any of these heroes. He might last a couple minutes with GA or Atom, maybe catch GL off-guard and gain the upper hand for a minute or two, but Supergirl, Captain Marvel, Congorilla, or Starman just splatter in, like, milliseconds. I can only think of James Robinson’s (Starman, Action Comics) writing as very average here. From his awful scripting of Green Arrow—who goes from a stupid and tasteless sexual innuendo aimed at GL because Hal questioned Supergirl’s motives to talking to the Maid of Steel like she was a four-year-old in one panel—to his mishandling of the interrogation scene—I mean, anyone could see what was coming there after a couple panels—this just wasn’t his finest moment. I did love his categorizing of the Global Guardians as the bumbling jokes they are. The saddest part of this shoddy storytelling is that the great artwork of Mauro Cascioli (Trials of Shazam) is buried here. I do fully expect Robinson to do better, though; he’s just too good a writer not to.

And, finally we have Dynamite’s Thulsa Doom #1. This first installment of the greatest enemy of basically every Robert E. Howard creation at this point was all right. I think of it as nothing special, probably because I just don’t care much for what’s been done with the character since he co-opted and changed from the skull-faced necromancer that did battle with Kull the Conqueror to the Cult of the Snake archenemy of Conan the Barbarian for the film of the same name (probably because some stupid Hollywood exec couldn’t pronounce “Thoth-Amon”). If Arvid Nelson (Kull, X-Men Unlimited) wasn’t writing this I probably would have passed on it. Nelson is a great writer for Howard’s creations in comics right now, with a voice that is just the right pitch for these characters. Not to mention Lui Antonio’s (Terminator: Revolution) perfect art for this story.

Other comics:

Batman #690- Dick fights Clayface and his new partner Lyle the Super-Soldier, Pengy’s story takes a turn, and Two-face gets into the Batcave—wearing a very odd costume.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28- Great Andrew issue with the dork following everyone around with a video-camera. Faith and Buff have a nice scene (Buffy looking especially cool in her “The Count” t-shirt) and Buffy and Xander have a nice scene—until the end.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run #5- Yeah, yeah, yeah—still can’t see this clown being alive, much less ducking the JLA despite John Stewart’s attempt at explanation. Still, it is a damned entertaining story.

Magog #1- Not all that thrilled with this character in the first place and this did nothing to change my mind.

North 40 #3- Another terrific effort from Aaron Williams (Backward Compatible, Nodwick) and Fiona Staples (Done to Death, The Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor). What makes a party better? Zombies!

Supergirl Annual #1- Two very average stories. Remember the big deal that was made of Lucy Lane being killed as Superwoman? Forget it, she’s still alive.

Sweet Tooth #1- This story, written and drawn by Jeff Lemire (Lost Dogs, The Nobody), just isn’t something I care for. It may garner fans, I just won’t be one of them.

Teen Titans #74- Another Titan dies and we have yet another “new beginning” for the group. Also Ravager runs from guys in the snow.