Things I’m Geeking Out On – Top Ten Edition

There is so much going on in the geek circles this week that I’m just going to make this entirely a “Things I’m Geeking Out On” list. We’ll do it list style since we just did a list for Topless Robot this week on the new Daredevil series so my mind is in total Top Ten mode. (By the way, when you are done here, you can totally go read that over here – if you don’t mind spoilers, or have already seen it.)

Top Ten Things I’m Geeking Out On This Week

1. The new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer – I didn’t think I was THAT excited about it yesterday when everyone was losing their minds over it, but now that I’ve watched it a couple of times, it really is pretty exciting. I found myself excitedly chatting up to one of my co-workers after she mentioned her dog is named Mara Jade. Apparently none of her friends are cool because she didn’t know the new trailer had dropped, nor did she know Celebrations was happening RIGHT NOW, 20 minutes away from our office! (I live for moments like this, I really do.) Anyways, it does look like it’s going to be hella cool, so you win this round J.J.
2. Batman V Superman – Not in the sense that I’m excited about it, because I’m expecting it to be a hot mess at this point, but more in that I’ve been nerd raging about it since that insulting excuse for a teaser trailer dropped yesterday. Then the news that you had to get tickets to see the trailer in select theaters? After the giant pile of MEH that was Man of Steel, I feel like the Warner Bros marketing team needs to earn my excitement, not act like they are doing the fans a favor. I mean, COME ON, the movie was pushed back A YEAR. That can’t possibly be a good sign. (If this movie isn’t another Suckerpunch, I’ll be amazed.)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road – That new trailer is amazing. I cannot wait for this movie to be out. What a lovely day indeed.
4. Fast and Furious 7 – Two of my favorite categories of movies are car movies (see above) and caper movies – F&F is pretty much the best of both worlds. The only reason we haven’t seen this already is because of Daredevil, but that will be fixed on Saturday! I need my car chase fix!
5. Convergence: JLA – I was pretty skeptical of Convergence because I’m getting pretty tired of the seemingly endless DC comic crossover events, BUT give me the 90s versions of my favorite comic characters from my favorite era of comic collecting and I forgive surprisingly quick. In JLA, they doubled down and gave me not only some characters I’ve been really missing, like the green skinned Jade, Type A Speedster Jesse Quick, and Queen of the Sea Mara (Aquaman’s lady who is a force to be reckoned with herself), but gave us a girl power super group that I instantly fell in love with. If they turned this comic into a regular series I would lose my mind and subscribe in a heartbeat. The issue was pitch perfect – the art was beautiful, the ladies were tough, but also felt like real women, and the part where they taught some grabby dudes a lesson in manners was priceless. Also, a great reminder that DC has some pretty amazing super ladies BESIDES the way overdone Wonder Woman. In this case, we got Supergirl, Jesse Quick, Mara, Jade, and a very gothy take on Zatanna. This would be an amazing TV show – you hear me DC!?
6. Convergence: Superboy – Speaking of characters I really miss, the Convergence version of Superboy was a total throwback to my favorite Superboy; the one with the leather jacket and the 90s haircut and the attitude. Team Cadmus is also back and excellently written (and reminded me more than a little of another certain science team on some show called Flash. Coincidence?). I felt like I was reading a lost issue from the late 90s. It made me miss it. Can we get this version back, please?
7. Harley Quinn – Ok, I’m pretty much always geeking out on the Harley series, but this whole Team Harley storyline is pretty amazing. I love how the creators just single handedly exploded the number of female minority characters (and even added one possibly gay dude?) in the DCU. Also, those uniforms are like a gift to cosplayers everywhere. I want to see some cosplay group take this on. The humorous nods to Mad Max and 50 Shades of Grey via Harley and Ivy’s trip to the movies were also pretty delightful. Harley and Ivy’s BFF/FWB relationship has been pretty fun to watch play out.
8. Daredevil – I liked it. I didn’t LOVE it, like some people seem to. It was very well executed and surprisingly meaty for a superhero show. My takeaway quip was that it was the Breaking Bad of superhero TV Shows. That didn’t make it into the article, but that would be my one sentence summary. If you liked Breaking Bad, you will probably like Daredevil. If you did not (I wasn’t a huge fan), you might find it’s serious approach a little much. Although, in fairness, this is the show Gotham should have been. A hard hitting crime drama with occasional super hero elements. Why didn’t I love it then? I felt like the Kingpin was not handled very well – it seemed like Wesley was in charge of everything most of the show, with the Kingpin seeming more like an idealistic figure head he was indulging, and Wesley seemed way more evil than the Kingpin would ever be capable of. Also, it was just really… dark. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but it’s mainly a circumstantial evidence thing. See, we’ve binge watched A LOT of shows at this point. When something is really good, really grabs us – Battlestar Galactica, Lost, the first 5 seasons of the modern Doctor Who – you cannot drag us away from the TV. We will reschedule everything to squeeze in just one more episode. With Daredevil we found excuses to take frequent breaks, rarely able to sit through more than two episodes without suddenly needing to make a coffee run, go to the pool, or deciding to go out to dinner with friends. That’s not a great sign to me that I’m enjoying something. Would I watch a second season? Yes. Would I watch it all in one weekend again? Nope.
9. Witcher III: The Wild Hunt – I was not expecting to geek out on this one, but we watched the trailer last night and this video game looks AMAZING. I’ve been waiting for someone to give me a Skyrim sequel for years now, and while this isn’t exactly that, it looks pretty damn close. Close enough for me to be super excited to play it!
10. Community – I don’t know why it took me this long to watch this show, but I finally started it three weeks ago and… I’m already caught up. You see what I mean about devouring a show if I really like it? I think I literally watched all of Season 5 in one day. (Ok, it’s only 13 episodes at 22 minutes each, but still, I have a day job!) The show is really funny, and has that absurdist, pop culture aware sense of humor that I’ve loved since The Young Ones or The State, and currently love on Archer. If you are fan of either of those shows, or have ever been back to college as an adult (which I have), or just love geeky absurdist comedy that would make Weird Al proud, you should totally catch up on Hulu or Amazon, and then check out the new season happening on Yahoo.

90’s in 9

This week our angst over DC’s nerd rage inducing treatment of our favorite spooky comics characters has been released into the wilds of the internet via Topless Robot. Trying to slog through the latest disaster of a crossover made me yearn for the glory days of Vertigo, back when the idea of comics for a more mature audience was innovative and the Brits did it better than anyone else. (AKA the age when Gaiman, Ennis, and Morrison ruled the comic universe) This week I combine my nostalgic love for the great comic book writers of the 90s with my habit of retranslating everything cool into a potential top ten list pitch and bring you my in-no-particular-order list of vital trade paperbacks from the era you should go out and totally buy this week instead of that horrid “Forever Evil” crap.

1. Death – The High Cost of Living

Neil Gaiman is best known for Sandman, and that is also well worth checking out, but for a girl geek, this book was amazing. For a goth geek girl, even more so. Wise, powerful, funny, empathetic, and looking like Siouxie Sioux’s adorable younger sister, who didn’t wish Death was their best gal pal?

2. Preacher – Book One

From the amazingly twisted but thoughtful mind of Garth Ennis, Preacher is a must read for any adult fans of the show Supernatural, or just urban fantasy with a heavy dose of religious commentary. Jesse Custer is up with Sandman for great Vertigo protagonists that really challenged you to question everything while being highly entertaining. Its NC-17 level of mature content makes me wonder if we will ever see this one hit the small or big screen.

3. JLA – The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1

This is a hard pick. There were some wonderful trades for JLA during the 90s, not in small part due to Grant Morrison’s legendary run as writer, but also excellent stories like “The Nail”. But there is a reason Morrison’s run was so loved, and for your DC comic staples like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman this is the best place to start. This was the JLA being epic but fun, the way the JLA should be. (Also, the Hitman guest spot in the JLA recruitment issue is still one of my favorite panels ever.)

4. Lobo/Hitman – That Stupid Bastich

Lobo was one of the best characters to ever be introduced to the DCU – rude, crude, and a badass dude, Lobo was the anti-Superman. A shot of heavy metal into whatever book they had him guest starring in that week. Although he had his own title, Lobo seems to most commonly show up in everyone else’s stories, so it seems appropriate that my favorite take on him was in this brilliantly funny crossover with one of my other favorite DC anti-heroes, Hitman. This book covers pretty much everything you need to know about both characters, including Hitman’s colorful group of sidekicks. (And it’s Garth Ennis again. Because he is the king of twisted storytelling.)

5. The Maxx – Book 1

(Will also be available as The Maxx: Maxximized in June! Squee!)

Like many people, I was first introduced to The Maxx when MTV aired an animated series based on this surreal comic book about a young woman named Julie with some serious issues and her would be superhero The Maxx. Besides the protagonist’s name, I related to this book on so many levels, which is interesting when you consider the fever dream like nature of Sam Keith’s storytelling style. Like Sam Keith’s previous work on Sandman, the art style is as fluid and dreamy as the writing. It’s a modern day Alice in Wonderland with some serious Jungian overtones.

6. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac – Director’s Cut

You probably know Johnen Vasquez best as the gothtastic mastermind behind Hot Topic favorite Invader Zim. But before there was Zim there was Johnny (or just Nny), an angsty serial killer with some serious home decorating issues, prone to waxing philosophical in that way only angsty teenagers can. This is Zim with a R rating and a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. And the reason I occasionally think about getting a “Z?” tattoo.

7. Hellboy – Seed of Destruction

While the movies have been much fun, you are robbing yourself of Mike Mignolia’s witty writing and unique art style if you don’t pick up at least one of the Hellboy trades, and I can easily recommend you keep right on going. (Strange Places has my favorite comic panel of all time.) While the subject matter might be rooted firmly in the occult and folklore, the general feel of the books reminds me more of an old fashioned 1940s adventure story. Hellboy as a protagonist has more in common with Indiana Jones than his more anti-hero contemporaries, dishing out clever one liners as he carries on from one mythology inspired situation to the next.

8. Hellblazer – Dangerous Habits

The longest running title in Vertigo’s line up, I recommend you start with the first story from Garth Ennis. Besides being award winning and thought provoking, it will make you realize just how unacceptably awful that Keanu Reeves version really was. We can only hope the new Constantine TV show will do the comic more justice. In the meantime, here is John Constantine, in all his smoking, long coat wearing, occult dealing glory, as he was meant to be enjoyed and written by an actual Brit who knows a thing or two about characters struggling with Heaven and Hell and all the powers in between.

9. Transmetropolitan – Back on the Street

There really aren’t many names cooler than Spider Jerusalem. On that point alone I could tell Warren Ellis was going to make this a fun ride. But the character himself is also fantastic – a futuristic Hunter S. Thompson with a spider tattoo on his bald head and iconic sunglasses with mismatched lenses, it amazes me this book doesn’t get more pop culture attention. Like Doonesbury on acid, this was a comic for fans of political and social satire that doesn’t pull punches. Released into the world only a year before the infamous “W” would take office, it was surprisingly timely for being a comic set in the 23^rd century.