Source: Comic Alliance

What’s wrong with this image?

In some self-important or self-aggrandizing move, Marvel has decided to create some story line involving Black Panther and immigration.  First off, it is 2011 and why is Marvel doing a story line about immigration?  I suspect this is some justification for trying to finish cutting T’Challa off from Wakanda.  First, they replace him with his sister and put him in the Fantastic Four, only to have him return to Wakanda and destroy it’s most valuable resource and source of Wakanda’s independence, strength, technology, and wealth by rendering Vibranium useless.  Now, he has taking over guardianship of Hell’s Kitchen from Daredevil.  I don’t read Daredevil, but isn’t it odd that the Black Panther, T’challa the King of Wakanda, and a religious figure in an independent country would become the guardian of a relatively small neighborhood in New York City?  The math doesn’t add up.

I read something somewhere that was really good, and I can’t take credit for it that sums it all up.

“The Black Panther habit is a religious/cultural symbol of Wakanda and as such, should not have emblems associated with another nation’s identity emblazoned all over it.  I doubt fans of Captain America would be too pleased if the same was done to the good Captain’s outfit; so why do Marvel seem to think it acceptable to frak with T’Challa’s garb in this manner?” (Majestik, CBRS Forums)

‘Nuff said.

Persons Unknown followed the story of seven people who were abducted and placed in a seemingly abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. They wake up in a hotel with no knowledge of how or why they are there. The hotel, the streets of the town, and the other buildings are all filled with cameras and microphones. During the first few weeks of their captivity, they are subjected to psychological and physical stresses (torture). They also try to escape several times without success since the town is surrounded by some sort of impassable microwave energy wall. Once, they actually make it through the wall only for all of them to pass out, possibly due to an implant, and awaken back in the town.

The secondary plot follows Mark Renbe, a journalist and the ex-husband of one of the abductees, Janet Cooper. Renbe is attempting to find Janet to not only investigate the unusual circumstances of her disappearance but to also reunite her with their daughter, Megan. Another subplot involves Joe Tucker who at first seems to be an abductee like the other six people but is later revealed to be an agent of “The Program,” those responsible for the abductions and what is going on in the town.

Now that I’ve explained the important plot details, let me explain why I think the show failed in the end. Initially, the show was advertised as a mini-series event and that “All will be answered” at the end of the summer. The only thing that the show didn’t do was to provide answers, or at least the answers for which I wanted answers. 1) How did they decide who to abduct? 2) What is the purpose of “The Program? It has to be more than just finding individuals who show great promise. 3) What is The Program? 4) What’s going to happen to Kate Damatto and Ambassador Fairchild? Those are just a few of the questions that I have. These questions wouldn’t be so bad if I knew that there was going to be another season.

I will commend the writers for creating a show with an original premise. The series finally was a well written episode, if they were setting up more seasons. Am I supposed to just assume that The Program continues on? Why not go out with a bang and have the characters that we (the audience) grew to care about escape and somehow expose The Program, or find a way back to their lives, or even make new lives, instead of being stuck in a loop. Usually, when a series or mini-series comes to an end, there is closure. Fans of this show, however few there may be, won’t have any closure. The conspiracy continues and the plight of our characters isn’t changed. It would be like Battlestar Galactica ending after Crossroads Part 2 with the revelation of who the hidden cylons are. Or it would be like Lost ending after the fifth season finale The Incident when Ben kills Jacob, Ilana opens the metal crate to reveal Locke’s body, and Juliet smashes the nuclear core and detonates the bomb. You can’t end a series that you know is coming to an end with a cliff hanger and not expect people to be a little perturbed.

Maybe it was a case of the writers not knowing how to end the show, but that’s ridiculous. You knew going in that it was going to end. There really isn’t any excuse. I might have been happy with just showing Joe and Mark in a new town starting the cycle over again, but you also show me our original abductees (minus Joe) in a hotel built into a ship out at sea in the middle of nowhere (incidentally the ship is named Almas Perdidias which translates into Lost Souls). They are then told “Welcome to Level 2,” by a now sinister looking Night Manager. What the hell is Level 2? Why didn’t they just scrap this group like the normally would do? If The Program is trying something new, what exactly are they trying? The writers seem to have no problem with raising even more questions.

Maybe I’m being too hard and literal. I actually did like the show, and if there were going to be more seasons, I would watch. But the ending bothered me. I dislike false closure on my TV shows. Maybe this’ll spawn comic books or webisodes, or even some decent fan fiction. One can only hope.

This is a person who understands how we view things around here.

You can find more of Andre at blacknerdcomedy.com.  You can also find him on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Pop Culture Shock

Pop Culture Shock posted a great article here about the plight of Dwayne McDuffie and the Milestone characters.  I am not going to go over the ins and outs of the events leading up to the subject of the article, but to summarize my understanding is that DC signed McDuffie to write for the JLA, and then handcuffed him by taking away the Big 3 (Supes, Bats, and WW) and then basically limiting him to the C,D and E team characters.  As part of DCs overall deal with McDuffie, they also acquired the Milestone line of characters, including Static.  Obviously, due to the popularity of Static, its apparent that the whole thing was to get control of Static for use in the DC universe.  EDIT: BTW-check out the Pop Culture Shock link because it has an interview with McDuffie about the whole ordeal.

I am pretty sure that DC’s committment to integrating the Milestone characters into the DC universe was a temporary ruse. It seems that DC is notorius for picking up popular characters and comic lines just so they can’t be used anywhere else.  So, here we have DC picking up Milestone and deciding not to use the characters at all, except for the one they wanted: Static (now appearing as a member of Teen Titans). The end result being that McDuffie can’t even use or license those characters to anyone else (Marvel), or use them in a relaunch of Milestone (not saying that was likely, but the time IMO is right). DC takes the characters and places them on the shelf.

Can’t say I’m not surprised to see McDuffie get screwed over by DC.  It isn’t like they were very welcoming from the get go.  I remember how hyped I was when Milestone first started.  Comic books for black people by black people.  Recently, I evengot copies of every single Milestone comic. It was revolutionary and those guys were ahead of their time.  It was also giving black artists and writers who weren’t getting gigs at Marvel and DC a place to showcase their talent and many careers were launched as a result.  At that time there wasn’t a lot of support for Milestone, and it didn’t stay around long enough.  But I think that now would be the ideal time for something like Milestone. 

With the success of Blade and Will Smith at the box office, the rise of the webcomics and iPhone comic viewers, and the future of comic distribution, I have no doubt that Milestone would have been successful on a relaunch.  I know that McDuffie & Friends hold these characters dear to their hearts (and wallets) and I know that they ultimately bear the responsibilty(DC probably gave them a boatload of money) for the fuckery that DC is perpetuating against them (just because I pay for the sex, doesn’t mean I want to get raped).  So, here’s to you DC, for showing your ass once again.

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I just read a article in the Washington Post about the disconnect between the mega hit movies  like “Iron Man” and the “Dark Knight Returns” and the monthly comic books.

Here’s my take on the whole situation the comic book characters have always transcended in popularity the medium which created them.   Everyone from a 9 year old boy to a 70 year grandmother knows about Superman or Spider-man.   Ask those same people if they have ever read a Superman comic book and the numbers will drop like a rock.     This isn’t a problem that’s exclusive to comic books.   Ask the average person on the street if they have heard of James Bond or ask that same group if they have ever seen any of the James Bond movies.   In both cases the vast majority will say yes.   Ask that same group if they have ever read the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming  that the movies are based on.  I have a hunch most people will say no.

The problem is that film or television is the prefered form of entertainment for most people not the written word.    That being the case comic books sales will never mirror the popularity of a movie with the same characters.    If you believe that they should at least see a trickle down effect then I agree with you.    Now, let me tell you why you dont even see the trickle.    Two reasons, the average person doesn’t know where to find a comic book and the comic industry is geared toward its current customer base (who have an investment in decades of continuity).  Publishers aren’t going to change their whole strategy to chase a few movies fans who may stumble into a comic shop.

Bobba Fett:  Thumbs up.  There is no cooler bounty hunter in all of fiction

Obama Themed Comics:  Thumbs up.  First black president.  ‘Nuff said.

Seaquest:  Thumbs up.  Great original sci fi series.  Something that hadn’t been done before or since.  The true last frontier on the planet.  The Oceans.
Knight Rider:  Thumbs Up for the original.  The stories were pretty good and KITT was more like a person and not a computer. 

Thumbs Down for the New version of  Knight Rider.  The show was an extended car commercial. 

World of Warcraft:  Thumbs Down.  Geeks sitting around on the computer all day in their underwear eating chips and drinking diet coke.  I’ll pass.

Let me start out with a rant why doesn’t anybody rerun DS9. You have seven seasons of a star trek show that hasn’t been syndicated to the point where I’m sick of seeing it like TNG.  That being said….

TV executives will tell that the best lead into a show is the show itself, which is why you see so many marathons.    I think the recently rebranded channel  needs to model themselves after a traditional network with different shows every night of the week or at least limit it to 1 episodes a night. Marathons are great in the short term but they burn through too many episodes in a very short period of time. Spread it out make the channel a habit. If I knew I could catch Babylon 5 at 8 PM, DS9 at 9 PM, and Sliders at 10  PM Monday – Thursday, they would have me hooked.

You could go 6 months before you had to repeat a show. You could rotate shows in and out when Sliders runs out of episodes let Highlander take its slot. Train me as viewer to watch to your network everyday

Friday would always be the night for any new shows (like Stargate Universe, Dr Who,  The Phantom, etc.)

Saturday would still be crappy movie night (I understand that they are cheap programming, so its necessary evil)

Sundays would consist of Wrestling and Reality shows (cheap programming that would pay for the other stuff)

They also need a entertainment tonight style show that would cover the genre that would air nightly at 7:00. It would show full trailers, rumors, comic book reviews, news of the day, and be a place for actors and directors to promote new stuff, DVD reviews. etc.

During the weekday I would rerun older shows like the Incredible Hulk, Buck Rogers, Lost in Space .

They also need to show old school cartoons like Super Friends on Sat Mornings

In a previous post, I said that Dualla was the 5th cylon.  I was wrong.  It has since been revealed that Ellen Tigh is the final cylon.  Point of fact, she was not even on my list of possible cylons.  I mean, how was I supposed to know that she would die and be resurrected?  Does it all make sense?  I don’t know.  She collaborated with the cylons on New Caprica.  Twice Saul has thought that she was dead.  However, I still hold out hope that there is something to Dualla.  I know she killed herself in “Sometimes a Good Notion” but that doesn’t mean she’s going to stay dead.  She was humming the song and she also seemed to have a connection to the doll that she found on Earth.  But back to Ellen.  Anyone who says that they saw it coming is lying.  But I will say that the whole story, or at least the part that has been revealed so far, by Anders is quite intriguing.  It raises many questions.  Who created the cylons that lived on Earth?  How did they come to leave Kobol and separate themselves from the other Tribes?  Were the skinjobs and the centurions created by the same person or people?

Next, I wanted to talk about the whole issue of Daniel, the seventh cylon.  Ellen Tigh talked about Daniel with John.  John corrupted Daniel and his whole line out of jealousy.  I think Daniel is Starbucks father.  I think Starbuck is a hybrid like  Hera.  At first I thought Starbuck was Daniel.  That somehow the corrupted  Daniels had survived and maybe the DNA corruption done by John  actually caused the Daniel line to change into a female, but that seems farfetched.  After watching “Someone to Watch Over Me” and seeing that Starbuck had “imagined” the piano player, it occurred to me that that could only be her father. 

Now, lets say that Daniel did not die when John destroyed or corrupted the line.  What if his programming survived John’s machinations and somehow  bouncing around everyone’s head.  I think he’s the Deus Ex Machina.  He’s in Baltar’s head.  He was giving Caprica Six and Roslin visions.  He played the song in the final five cylon’s head.  Think about it.  He has undone everything that John Cavil has tried to accomplish as it relates to the final five.  Who’s behind putting the song in the final five’s head?  It had to be Daniel.   Is it a coincidence that the visions stopped when Caprica Six got pregnant?  Could that have been Daniel trying to be reborn?  And visions return when the baby dies?  Who else could have been pushing Kara to help them find Earth?    When Kara was a child, in a flashback her father said that he too was an artist.  Ellen said that Daniel was an artist.  And now we know that he was also a musician.  It adds up to me.

Finally, I have a rant about that simp Tyrol.  Roslin told him not to listen to Boomer.  That she was basically a manipulative bitch.  And what happened?  She played on his feelings for her and she got Hera for Cavil, punked Helo, and beat Athena’s ass.  But is it really that possible that Tyrol could be so stupid. 

Why couldn’t they put John Wraith (Will.I.Am.) in the poster?

Everybody and their  momma has a best of list for 2008 so I figured i would add my $.02 .   

Best Film:   The Dark Knight Returns – half a billion in sales speaks for itself.   Ironman was a close second.

Best Comic:  Thor

Best Comic Mini Series/Event:    Black Panther: Secret Invasion -  Best mini of the year and the best quote ”This is what happens when you mess with Wakanda”  

Best Televison Show:   Terminator -  The Sarah Conner Chronicles -  I know the ratings aren’t where they should be but ratings aren”t equivalent to quality (Dancing with the Stars).    I think the move to Friday night will make a difference.   It will give all of you watching the highly over-rated “Chuck” a chance to watch.

Thats my take on 2008.    If you disagree your wrong,  if you agree your a genius (but I dont need to tell you that, because  you already know everything)

If you are regular comic buyer you probably have noticed that publishers are inching toward a $3.99 per issue price. That’s a 25% increase from the current price of $2.99. Yes, I know paper costs, artists, and writers all drive the production costs up. Inflation is something that happens to the cost of everything. My problem is that the cover prices seem to be rising faster than inflation.   I took some the average cover price for an Uncanny X-men comics from 1963 until 2008 and adjusted them for inflation.   The adjusted price is what it should cost in 2008 dollars if the price increases where based on strictly on inflation.  

YEAR	Cover Price	(2008 $)
1963	$        0.12	$                   0.85
1968	$        0.12	$                   0.74
1973	$        0.20	$                   0.97
1978	$        0.35	$                   1.16
1983	$        0.60	$                   1.30
1988	$        1.00	$                   1.67
1993	$        1.25	$                   2.20
1998	$        1.95	$                   2.58
2003	$        2.25	$                   2.64
2008	$        2.99	$                   2.99

 I started reading around comics around 1983,  which means it cost me around $.60 adjusted for inflation it would cost around $1.67, which isn’t too bad.    The problem is that they don’t cost $1.67 they cost $2.99.    Thats 44% more than it should cost.    I want to know why?   I would love to see the break down of who gets what percentage of the cover price.   Is it the labor costs(artist and writers), printing costs, distribution (the distributor, local comic shop) or is it the publisher driving the increase.  

 A soon to be $3.99 cover price is a pretty steep for 15 min of entertainment.    When you balance that against a movie which costs an average of $7.08 (it seems low but that the number) for a 1.5 to 2 hour movie or a video game that costs $50.00 (which seems steep but if you factor in 30 hours of play its a bargain), its easy to see why kids don’t care about comics.   Comics have lost their entertainment dollar value.   

	Time(hours)	Cost	Hourly rate
Comic	0.25	$    2.99	$    11.96
Movie	2	$    7.08	$      3.54
Video Game	20	$   50.00	$      2.50

If you take a closer look at the movie number you notice something real interesting the cost of a movie is pretty close to its 2008 adjusted value.   If you use the year 1983 as we did in the comic example a movie that cost $3.15 in 1983 adjusted for inflation is $6.82.   Thats a 4% difference from the actual cost.  Translation Movies are growing with inflation and  comics exceeding inflation.

Year	Ticket Price	Adj ($2008)
1963	$        0.86	$                6.06
1968	$        1.31	$                8.12
1973	$        1.77	$                8.60
1978	$        2.34	$                7.74
1983	$        3.15	$                6.82
1988	$        4.11	$                7.49
1993	$        4.14	$                6.18
1998	$        4.69	$                6.21
2003	$        6.03	$                7.07
2008	$        7.08	$                7.08

Whats does all this mean?  Nothing.  Its entertainment people will pay what its worth to them. Inflation and dollar values only matter when you arent enjoying the comics enough to justify the cost.   Goodbye 2.99 it was nice knowing you.

Okay, Dragon*Con isn’t in danger of dying, but there are things that I think need to change.  This was only my fifth time in attendance, and I am going to keep going; however, it’s frustrating to see things that I think could be changed to make it even better.  But let me first talk about what I think is right about the convention.

• The passion of most of the people who run the different tracks and participate in the panels is evident.
• The Main Track events are always full and entertaining.
• The ability to pull in stars for the Walk of Fame amazes me.
• Not making it hard for conarazzi (convention-paparazzi term coined by a fellow geek) to get shots of their favorite cosplay members.

Now, here is what I think is wrong and should be fixed:

• There is no way that this convention should be held in 4 hotels.  Imagine my displeasure when I had to walk all the way to the Sheraton for one panel, and then had to walk all the way back to they Hyatt for another.  It’s bad for people who have broader interest than just the Trek Track.  One of the more popular and well attended tracks was moved out to the boondocks.  Its great if you are a straight Trek fan and you don’t have to go to the other hotels too often.  Solution:  THE GEORGIA WOLRD CONGRESS CENTER.  They have enough room for the entire convention to be held in one place.  The explanation I heard about the reason why they don’t go their anymore concerns something that happened so long ago that the people involved probably can’t tell you what actually happened or they don’t work at the convention center anymore.  Either way, it makes sense to move it there.
• There are tracks that should be absorbed into other tracks.  For example, the X Track was popular when the X-Files was big and it was justified then.  Now, its just the place where they put the Lost panels.  I think that the American Sci-Fi Track should absorb what’s left of the X Track.  Also, I understand why there is a Science Track and a Space Track, but do they really pull enough people to justify it being in separate tracks over a 3 or 4 day period?
• Why can’t I buy Memberships from Ticket Master up until the event, or at least the week of the convention?  I decided to go just one day this year, Saturday.  Obviously, this is the busiest day for one day people and first timers, who probably never come back after waiting in line for 2 hours to get the one day pass and then miss 2 panels that they wanted to see, or don’t make it into that megapanel of their favorite tv show.  I went online Friday night thinking I could avoid the crowd bu getting my ticket online and going to the Ticketmaster line in registration which never has anyone waiting.  But to my dismay, I clicked on the Ticketmaster link and was directed to a page that could not be found.  But luckily I was able to get into the registration line at 7:15AM and only had to wait an hour after registration began at 8AM before I got registered and my day pass.
• Someone please save the Comic Track.  The first time I went to Dragon*Con there was a DC megapanel, and a Marvel panel that was packed.  DC announced some big events and had some big named artist and writers who brought with them first looks at cover and panel art.  Marvel had some of the most popular artists and writers in several different panels over the weekend.  That year the comic track was huge.  But its been downhill since.  Over the last few years we have had House of M, Hulk World, World War Hulk, Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Civil War, the Sinestro Corps Wars, and Secret Invasion.   And it seems like Marvel and DC has decided not to do any type of promotion or maybe those in charge of the Comic Track would rather just rest their laurels on getting artist to come do sketches and throwing Peter David on every panel they can.  That just won’t do.  Someone please save the Comic Track.

There are other things wrong, but these 4 main things would make the whole experience that much better for all of us.  I spent about 15 mins looking for a suggestion box and couldn’t find it.  Maybe the powers that be don’t won’t our input.

Sweet Christmas and I sometimes have discussions, some brief and some long, that can start out as rants and sometimes turn into all out debates.  We agree on some stuff, but you’d be surprised to learn that we can disagree on a lot of things.  So, we’ve decided to share some of these with our readers.  So here’s the first, our thoughts on the Battlestar Galactica Season Finale:

Fanboy Ramblings: The Fifth Cylon

June 20, 2008

Bedlam and Sweet Christmas

Sweet Christmas:  I know who the fifth Cylon is.

Bedlam:  Who?

Sweet Christmas:  It’s the ship. I stole that from Peter David.

Bedlam:  When I was watching the finale I thought, “its the ship its the ship!” And then I said that’s too easy. A friend asked me why can’t it be the ship since the Cylon ships are alive. I should have listened to her

Sweet Christmas:  I thought the finale was funny. I kept waiting for Charlton Heston to pop up and scream “Nooooooooo!!!”

Bedlam:  The finale was a joke.  I expected more.

Sweet Christmas:  I thought the finale was good because nobody has any idea on what’s going to happen next.

Bedlam:  You know it’s not coming back till late 2009. And they don’t even know who’s going to be available.  This is one show that really was hit by the writers’ strike.

Sweet Christmas:  That’s a long time

Bedlam:  What were Peter David’s reasons for thinking its the ship?

Sweet Christmas:

…it occurs to me there’s one candidate we haven’t considered:

The title character.

What if the Battlestar Galactica survived the attack because it was meant to? Because the ship itself is a Cylon?

PAD

That’s all he wrote

Bedlam:  A friend and I were thinking of the Viper that brought Starbuck back, not Galactica…

Sweet Christmas:  Ohhhh.

Bedlam:  Remember the Viper pointed the way. And the prophecy said that the final five would point the way to Earth.

Sweet Christmas:  How does D’Anna’s vision apply to both theories?

Bedlam:  As far as I can tell, it doesn’t.  But couldn’t you say that the ship was broadcasting the music?  It’s sort of the one thing that connects everyone.

Sweet Christmas:  That’s why I thought the ship idea was great but not plausible.

Check out this theory http://www.syfyportal.com/news425133.html.