Green or White Lantern

Hmmm....

Looks kind of OK....pallette's a bit dark but kind of combines the animated Justice League's John Stewart design with Hal's current one. Apparently there will be some CGI enhancement, presumably a green energy field: or maybe they'll make his chest emblem, y'know, the lantern, green?

Speed Dating Meme

Right, while I commiserate that we're still a Tory local authority (though the Lib Dems beat Labour three to one), I'm nicking one of Rol's memes again: one day I shall have to devise my own when really bored...

1. What's your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

I've never read a Seuss book....

2. If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

The TARDIS would be cool as there's all those hidden rooms that could accomodate anything, plus you could go anywhere...

3. What's the longest you've gone without sleep?

I think about 5 or 6 days: I was on medication that kept my body wired so I couldn't sleep even though I wanted to...

4. What's your favorite Barry Manilow song?

I only know about three and the're all cheesier than Joss Whedon's dreams...I'd take Mandy over Copocabana as I can't think of any more...

5. Who's your favorite Muppet?

Ludo from Labyrinth....

6. What's the habit you're proudest of breaking?

I dunno...watching crap TV or buying comics out of laoyalty to the characters long after the titles become godawful?

7. What's your favorite website?

Don't really have one...

8. What's your favorite school supply?

Pleated netball skirts :)

9. Who's your favorite TV attorney?

The one off the Simpsons...

10. What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles?

90 miles back from Birmingham after the wedding of the year....

11. What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or junk shop?

As a kid, I went to a jumble sale and found a roll of old DC comics and traded them for a bunch of new Marvels...later on I realised one issue was the first appearance of Supergirl, d'oh!!

12. Where were you on September 11, 2001?

At work in a training session: we got called out to watch events live as we worked in newspaper distribution so as well as the horror of the event itself, we knew we were going to have a loony few days trying to get all the thousands of extra copies distributed...

13. What's your favorite tree?

Yygrassil

14. What's the most interesting biography you've read?

I've only read one (about Bill Hicks), so it'd have to be that...

15. What do you order when you eat Chinese food?

Chicken balls (no sweet 'n' sour sauce though), special fried rice and beef or pork chow mein or ho fun...there's nothing wrong with a bit of ho fun, I say....

16. What's the best costume you've ever worn?

I've only ever made one and that was crap, going to school once as a vicar...

17. What's your least favorite word?

Jordan

18. If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?

Inebriated---oh, I get you. Texas?

19. Who's your favorite bear?

Balloo...

20. Describe something that's happened to you for which you have no explanation.

Sadly, I can't think of any...there have been a few weird instances but nothing I could safely say there may not be other explanations for (but if not, I've had occasional prophetic dreams of really zero importance)

21. If you could travel anywhere in Africa, where would it be?

Some safari or nature reserve...

22. What did you have for lunch yesterday?

Oh, God, that long ago? Um...actually, I met my sister and the twins and went to McDonalds, which was the first time I've been there for lunch in three or four years of being in this job, despite it being 2 minutes walk away...

23. Where do you go for advice?

Wikipedia and Google...

24. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?

Dictionary....

25. Have you ever been snorkeling? Scuba diving?

Nope...

Comic Book Questionnaire

Following Rol's recent meme and my morning today catching up with various bits 'n' bobs, here are my responses to the comic questionnaire:


1. Did you read comics as a kid?

Comics were around even before I could read: my earliest memories are of early 70s black and white Marvel UK comics at my nan's house. No specific title comes to mind but I remember the inside cover ad for The Superheroes (where I first became intrigued by the uniformed original X-Men, especially Cyclops with the funky visor looking directly at the reader), the Planet of the Apes strip (the cyborg apes used to freak me out a bit) and some Dr Strange strip where he travels underwater to find some Lovecraftian type creature. My dad picked up the occasional US comic later on (I distictly recall an issue of Plop, Six Million Dollar Man and JLA) and my mum would pick me up the Star Wars weekly before I started getting pocket money from my nan and could buy my own comics in the late 70s...

2. Who bought you your first comic?

I suspect it was my grandad as he was artistic and always drew with/for me so it makes sense that he would introduce me to them as I liked drawing too...

3. Did you take any time away from comics? Why?

I gave up in the early 80s...my habits had cut back to just Rampage monthly for the Claremont/Byrne X-Men issues and once those issues stopped running and Cockrum took over again, I gave up (especially as the strip had transferred over to the awfully misprinted colour of the monthly Mighty World of Marvel)

4. What brought you back into comics?

Bored in physics, I began doodling Shang-Chi on the cover of my rough book and a classmate recognised him and we got talking about comics. We became friends as he updated me on big changes like Spider-Man now had a cool black costume and Robin was now Nightwing so I picked up a few issues out of interest and got hooked again.

5. Do you prefer getting comics monthly or in trades?

I'm a recent convert to trades: they look nicer, are unsullied by interrupting ads or cover copy and usually read better as a whole. On the minus side, sometimes they are bound so that you can't quite read the pages or see the art near the spine and I absolutely hate it if there is more than one artistic team in a collection so will usually still pick up individual issues if I'm only buying for the art. I get trades for the stories or preferabby story AND art.

6. Do you know the name of your Local Comic Shop (LCS)?

I don't have one, I'd have to go to (possibly Aylesbury or) London for my nearest comic shop but hit the comic shops in Birmingham 90 miles away from me once a month.

7. Does your LCS know your name?

They'd have a time, seeing as they're non-existent...

8. Do you own any old number 1 comics (must date before 1980)?

I've sold or passed on literally thousands of comics in the last ten years, paring my collection back to ever-more essentials as space dictates but I have hung on to a few older debut issues: Peter Parker #1, Nova #1, Star Wars #1 and Star Wars Annual #1. I have hardly any other pre-1980 issues and my oldest is Captain Marvel #16, the debut of the red and black outfit.

9. Do you own any original comic art?

I have a Starman page by Gary Erskine, a Cyclops page by Sean Phillips, a page with Vertigo characters (Robotman, Shade, Animal Man, Constantine, etc) by Duncan Fegredo and a Generation X page by Chris Bachalo, as well as sketches by Fabry, Granov, Nowlan, Mignola, Doran, Buckingham, Weston, Davis, Adlard, Fegredo, Erskine, Cassaday, Langridge and McKelvin

10. Do you bag and board your comics?

Most of my comics that are large runs are bagged with mutiple issues in one bag but I will bag individual issues. I rarely ever board, usually only if the issue is particularly flimsy or at risk of being creased due to tight boxing.

11. Where do you store your comics?

In my home! Most of mine are held in longboxes shoved under my bed or in a wardrobe, with a bunch of trades on a large bookshelf.

12. How many comics do you read right now, in either floppy or trade format?

I won't count sporadic things like A Distant Soil, Batwoman, Hellboy and Empowered so I'm following: Fables, Walking Dead, Ex Machina, The Stand, The Dark Tower and Locke and Key, with an eye out for Cinebook fare like Betelgeuse, Alpha, IR$ and Largo Winch.

13. What would be your number one, all-time desert island, favourite comic series?

For the length of time and devotion I gave to it, it should be Uncanny X-Men but if I was trapped on an island and had one series to read, it'd probably be the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI, Starman or Y: The Last Man for different reasons and I can't decide...

14. Do you follow comic creators on Twitter?

Nope.

15. Do you have a favourite comic creator?

Probably Adam Hughes: his work is stunning but he does so little!

16. Do you harbour any aspirations to create your own comics?

In an ideal world, yes.

17. Do you access comic news online, if so where?

Yes, on the internet.

Time to pick sides:Marvel or DC?

Marvel

Superman or Batman?

This is pretty hard actually. Bats probably has more depth but I generally find his stories, characters and creators dull and uninvolving. Supes can be hard to make work, but done well he can be great and a rare beam of hope so I'd probably gravitate more towards him.

Spider-Man or Wolverine?

Spidey, but Wolverine in the X-Men over the webhead.

Iron Fist or Luke Cage?

Iron Fist

Nick Fury normal or Nick Fury Sam Jackson?

I love Sam Jackson, he's one of my favourite actors and I love the fact that they got him to play a character visually referenced from him...but it's gotta be classic Nick Fury all the way...

Spandex or real life stories?

If given a strict choice, it'd be spandex but I can't accept superheroes outside of Marvel and DC generally. I hate everyday stories and like fantasy elements so I'd ideally like realistic fantasies: Y The Last Man or Ex Machina are good examples, where it's pretty much our world but the fantasy twists add an extra quality that elevates them beyond an average story. Eastenders, Coronation Street or Emmerdale may (try to) depict life but things like Buffy can comment on it via allegory and that makes the stories more powerful to me. Plus blasting powerblast from your hands is more interesting than digging down the back of the sofa to look for the keys that you're sure you left there half an hour ago but now can't find...

Golden Age or Silver Age or Modern Age?

Modern Age, with a cherry picking from the Silver Age...

Digital or paper?

Paper

Gotham or New York?

Noo Yoik! I've been there, it's great and as Gotham is based on the lower east side of Manhattan (with Metropolis based on the upper west), theoretically Gothan is from NY anyway...

Hero or villain?

Hero

Cape or no cape?

No cape

Cowl or domino mask?

Domino mask

Ooh, Medication That's What You Need

About a weak ago, I ran out of my medication and got some new ones yesterday...but found that I had a nice buzz yesterday, a slight woozy high. However, that blew into insomnia mixed with disturbed dreams when I could doze off, dizziness and extreme (read, violent) irritability today so a quick Wiki search reveals it's not a good idea to just stop the meds I'm on, even if it is by accident. Think I'll resume my course tomorrow as it's disturbing how swiftly I deteriorated without the gits.

The main result of my problem now seems to be apathy, I can't be arsed with next to anything. Above should be a pic of the girl in our office dressed as Hitgirl from Kick Ass, who she body doubled for (she had to decline body doubling for Chloe Moritz again for the new Martin Scorscese film due to work commitments). It may have earned me more free beer but it's a pretty ropey drawing I think and is the only thing I've really drawn (outside of office doodles) for months.

Talking of work, that continues to be a bugger and will no doubt get worse now my workmate has defected to another team in the office. Still, the two have us have managed to organise an office outing to see Iron Man 2, even if she did still belittle me for signing off my e-mail with "This e-mail was sponsored by Stark Industries"...

I've been filling my time with the odd bit of reading (managed to start and complete the Fables novel Peter and Max last weekend, which I quite enjoyed) and shouting at the TV for being full of rubbish. Heroes once used to be derivative but thrilling fun but now seems more lethargic than me, having absolutely zero ideas anymore. Lost is storming ahead to its finale with vigour and I quite like Matt Smith as the Doctor.

Tom Baker is my classic childhood Doctor, Peter Davison was the only Doctor whose entire run I managed to catch but David Tennant remains my favourite and probably the best Doctor. Matt Smith already has settled in well and I quite like his performance, although I think he falls a bit flat where it comes to the righteous indignation that Tennant pulled off so well and Ecclestone used as the only time to invoke real sincerity. Still, Karen Gillan is the most likable of the new companions and is quite fun, while I quite like the new Dalek redesign apart from the back section that sticks out awkwardly. The streamlining of the rest of the design looks great, even if the multicoloured designs do hark back to the slightly camp (smoke blowing!) daleks of the 60s Peter Cushing movies.

Comic wise, I'm picking up very little as there's very little of essential nature but I'm glad to see the return of the 12 characters at the climax of Blackest Night. Well, I don't see why they resurrected Osiris but not Tempest (seeing as they seem to be reviving the Aquafamily), Ralph & Sue, the Question, some of the JSA or Ted Kord (let's face it, everybody wants him back and if Max Lord is back, then that kinda cheapens Ted's needless death---and I suppose that Blue Beetle-shaped silhouette in the Justice League: Generation Lost cover art is probably Max) . Interesting development with Deadman though, bringing a new spin on the character after decades of being a c-lister at best.

As has been my habit recently, I'm off to watch some West Wing: what happened to Will? He started off being an unassuming character now is a complete git. He's like a fart in an elevator, just briefly popping up to piss off everybody off before buggering off and leaving everybody in a disgruntled mood...

Random Roundup Reprise

God, it's been a month since my last post! I've not been particularly busy with other things but my sense of apathy is pretty much creeping into most aspects of things, but here's a general update on some stuff...

Art: I've not drawn for myself or for simple pleasure since god knows when but I've managed to still have a trickle of work requests coming in. Above is a portrait of a work colleague's parents (and I have to draw another colleague as a Kick-Ass character!) as well as some preliminary logo designs for a new organisation. Lurking around the corner are a website ident and a pic of somebody's pets...

Film and TV: Although it's just been confirmed for a tenth season (and who'd have thought it would run that long when first announced?), we're still waiting for the 9th season of Smallville to arrive, leaving me with only Heroes to watch each week. Tone has been supplying me with West Wing boxsets to fill the void but now Lost has returned for it's final season, there's some joy to be found there at least...y'know, Matthew Fox has said that he knows what the series' final image will be, if it's Jack waking up as his plane lands and he says "Oh, I just had the weirdest dream", I won't be pleased..

I can't remember the last film I saw that really wowed me so I've also been buying some cheap anime and comic-related animated DVDs (Planet Hulk and Justice League: Crisis On Two) to fill Worlds) help fill the void in my watching habits. The best thing I've seen recently is an anime called The Girl Who Leapt Through Time...the title says it all but it's a nice character-based story that the Japanese handle so effortlessly.

Reading: I've barely made headway into Kevin Smith's latest book and haven't even started Sam & Max, the Fables novel, but have been making headway through Fahrenheit 451. I find Bradbury's use of poetic descriptions both interesting and annoying: sometimes he will sacrifice clarity for a turn of phrase so quite often I'm jarred by some of the passages. Nevertheless, I'm enjoying the book but not as much as I expected to.

Having just completed the Rocketeer Complete Collection deluxe edition, I'm now turning to the small stack of manga I have. Traditionally I've been put off by manga but have found that I prefer the character-based (presumably) girl's manga than the action packed boys manga. My three problems with manga are:

1. Sometimes a story goes on for volume after volume and I just don't have the time to invest in such prolonged serials.

2. Sometimes you can be frustrated if a series is not completely translated: for instance, I picked up a Dark Horse edition of a manga called Shadow Star from a bargain bin and surprisingly enjoyed it but when I Wikipedia'ed it, I found that Dark Horse only translated the first few volumes so that sours me against buying the rest as it'll never be completed.

3. There's so much manga, just sifting through the shelves to find a first volume with an art style I like and a premise I like can be damned near impossible.

As a result, I've been using Amazon alot and would recommend searching out Runaways and Buffy the Vampire Slayer cover artist Jo Chen's two-volume manga, The Other Side of the Mirror. I own but haven't read the second volume yet but Chen's elegant linework (as seen at the top of the post) is among the most attractive I've seen in manga and would love to find more.

Work: well, it pays the bills, dunnit?

The "You Friggin' DisGUST Me" Meme

Following Rol's meme strand and after a pissed off experience in the office today (that will NOT go unchallenged!), here are my bugbears:

Foods Which Disgust Me: Fish, cheese, curry (Indian food in general, even the deserts), garlic, garden peas, the tomato sauce in baked beans, ketchup, marmite, Branston's pickle, mashed potatoes and anything Sweet and Sour...

TV Shows I Loathe: Any Police Camera Action crap, property shows, anything connected to T4, bargain hunt shows, sport shows, soaps, the Hills, anything with Cilla Black, reality shows and Bodger and Badger...

Movie I Loathe: I was going to concur with Rol about Forrest Gump until I remembered the arthouse movie that I sat through in New York...I can't say I watched it all as I had to keep my eyes shut for the 15 minute live birth sequence. Not. Fun.

Music Genres I Loathe: R'n'B/HipHop/Rappy type crap, country and western (though of course there are exceptions to these selections), Foster and Allen style Oirish music, jazzjazzJAZZ and Boyband shite...

Magazine Which Annoys Me: Hmm... I only buy SFX and a TV listing mag and I'll say the latter annoys me, though really it's not the magazine's fault there's never anything decent on TV...

Makes Me Cranky At A Restaurant: Don't really do restaurants but probably poor service...

Makes Me Cranky In Public: Everybody else :)

Makes Me Cranky In General: I'm on medication and undergoing psychological treatment so we'll just skip over this or I'll be here all day :)

Pisses Me Off At Home: Intrusions from outside: arguing neighbours at nigh time, kids playing right under my front window, pissed up chavs hanging about outside, etc: F*** off away from me, gobshites!!

Pisses Me Off At Work: Customers

Celebrity I Hate: Jatie Price/Jordan. God, I want to punch him one :)

Music Artist I Hate: Can I say Cilla Black? If not, then Jennifer Lopez...I don't get the fascination...

I Couldn't Care Less About: Most things in life...but probably least of all why the chicken crossed the road...

Movie Star I Loathe: Ooohhh, who's movies do I generally avoid? Its a given anything starring Seagal, Van Damme or Jovovich is bound to be shite but I probably hate Robert Pattison the most, just his omnipresent face in the Twilight posters is enough to get my blood boiling...and I've only seen him in one film! (Neither of which being Twishite, BTW)

Politician You Hate: Well, is ther any one you DON'T? (Actually, I quite liked Bill Clinton...)

Beverage You Hate: Coffee (but I LURRRRRVE milkshakes!)

Back To The Future's Greatest Musical Legacy....

...isn't The Power of Love or the godawful McFly but this, from Marty's very own pal. We narrowly missed out on seeing Crispin Glover introduce one of his own movies in New York (and instead saw the grimmest film I've seen until the funfest that is The Road). Imagine what I could have seen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH6b_lSQst0