Under the Red Hood, Thor, and a Legend Born?

While I don't find it terribly creative to title a blog entry after what I'm going to be writing, it certainly is effective. That said, I'm going to start off with the previously promised review of Under the Red Hood, the latest film from the DC animation department.

The film begins with an adaptation from the now-classic "Death in the Family" storyline where Joker beats Jason Todd with a crowbar and then leaves him to die in an exploding warehouse. They took out the part where Jason is looking for his mother and instead made a minor change in that the Joker was working with/for Ras Al Ghul.

Flashforward to modern day where Batman has continued on without a Robin (by the time Judd Winick's "Under the Hood" storyline came out, Tim Drake had been Robin for years, though this story might have taken place during one of his 'breaks' from the mantle) and a new player (the Red Hood) has set himself against both Batman and the current Gotham crimelord, Black Mask. The story continues as Batman tries to deduce the identity of the new, ultra-violent vigilante as well as keep Gotham safe from the Black Mask.

So, that's the short end of it, now for the review.

The Voice Cast: I'm a huge fan of Jensen Ackles, but I will admit I was a bit apprehensive after hearing his initial line-readings. That said, I think he did a pretty decent job with the role.

One area I was disappointed in was Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. NPH has become one of my favorite actors (after seeing him play "himself" in Harold & Kumar and then on to his role as Barney in HIMYM) and Nightwing might be my favorite DC character (he can kick ass like Batman, but he's not as broody), so I had high hopes for the character in UtRH. Unfortunately, NPH makes the attempt to sound "heroic" (think a kid playing the protagonist in the school play) and just comes off sounding goofy. It gets a little better when he's just Dick Grayson and his "Can you for once just say 'Let's get in the car...'" line was well-delivered.

Bruce Greenwood does a good job as Batman and his line about why he hasn't/couldn't kill the Joker was fantastic.

John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama) turns in a fine performance as the Joker. Although, I will say that he seems to switch between an evil Bender (well, more evil) and a Mark Hammil impersonation, but it is still good. My favorite line comes when Black Mask breaks him out of Arkham to do a job for him.

The story itself could have used more room to breathe, but it's forgivable because of it's 70-odd minute runtime. Something that could've been improved was Batman's reaction to Jason Todd's death. There are flashbacks to show that Batman was "softer" when Jason was around, but, honestly, it wasn't all that much of a difference. Other than that, the story moves along quickly, with minor changes from the comic.

SPOILER ALERT*************************

Ras Al Ghul himself puts Jason in the Lazarus pit, instead of Talia sneaking him in there. And it wasn't to heal his mind, it was to actually bring him back from the dead. In the comics, it was Superboy Prime punching against of his paradise dimension that brought Jason back to life. Seriously. I'm not making that up. So I actually prefer the movie's version to the comic's.

The animation/art is much like "Crisis on 2 Earths," which is good. My only complaint is how some of the characters looked unmasked, namely Nightwing and Red Hood.

Overall, this is probably one of my favorite DC Animated films so far, with my only gripes being a couple of spots where the voice acting needed better direction (both in terms of the actor's delivery and in the lines themselves) and a couple of story points (again, I get that it is a 70-something minute direct-to-DVD animated film, so stuff needs to get cut).

Now, to my next topic. Last week, Marvel unveiled footage from their upcoming 'Thor' film (for the first time, to the best of my knowledge) at one of its shows at San Diego Comic-Con. A couple of days ago, the trailer shown (approx. 5 minutes in length) leaked onto the internet. Hours later, Marvel had already unleashed the law to get it taken down. Luckily, I saw it before that happened. The only thing I can say is that it looks incredible. As a comic book purist, I question why Thor has leather biker pants, since the top half of the costume comes directly from JMS' recent reboot of the character and there are some story points that I question, but overall, I'm even more excited for this film. I think after watching it I said, "Holy f***. I want it. I want it, now."

My gripe is that Marvel has yet to officially release the trailer themselves. Why? It's not like it was rough, unfinished footage meant to only gauge fan reaction. This stuff looks as polished as any movie I have ever seen (one of the complaints is that it seems over-polished in its use of CG-enhancements). Why keep this from the general public. In most cases, when something like this is shown at a trade event (like Comic-Con or e3), the company releases it after a few days (so that the attendees of the show can feel like they got something special). But that isn't the case here. No. Marvel demanded the trailer be removed from all streaming-video/viral sites and have yet to make an announcement as to when we can expect the trailer from them.

Here's my request to Marvel: Please, let everyone bask in the glory that is the Odinson. It is awesome, and you have nothing to fear of retribution from fans (well, maybe the super, hardcore fans, but they always complain about something) and release the trailer.

This coming season of Smallville is supposedly going to be its last. I have mixed feelings about that. This is its 10th season, and that seems like a good, even number to go out on, but at the same time, I almost don't count seasons 5-7. They were just...bad. It was a perpetual circle of suck (mostly caused by Lana Lang) and I wasn't at all disappointed when Millar and Gough announced that they were leaving the show after 7. From there, the show picked up and improved (except for when Lana showed up for 5 or so eps in season 8). I credit the improvements with the fact that the new showrunners made an increased effort to move the show closer to the known Supes mythology. Sure, it still has its downs (mostly the final fight with Doomsday in season 8), but what show doesn't?

My point is, and I thank Scott with sending me this link, that, at San Diego, they had a trailer for season 10. While the qualty isn't very good, this gives us a taste of what's to come, and is much better than the season 10 trailer the CW has been showing (see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfA2vSwYeIc&feature=player_embedded)

I have a feeling most of this is going to turn out to be, as my brother called it, Coma-Clark, but still. Hot damn. The trailer shows the Superman costume and Clark flying while carrying the Daily Planet's globe back up to the top of the building, but again, this could just be the visions of a dying Clark. Also, Kara (Laura Vandervoot) will be in at least one episode as 'Supergirl' and, when asked if she will finally teach Clark to fly, the producers just smiled and said, "Funny you should ask that."

Rumor has it that Darkseid will be the final villain, but that Lex is supposed to appear sometime during the season as well.

If you wish to partake in our Smallville drinking game, the rules are as follows: take a drink anytime someone says the word 'justice,' or, in the expanded rules, anytime there is a reference to chess (particularly in reference to the Checkmate organization).

Since it's been awhile since I mentioned work (like, two whole blogs), I do have something say. They announced the employee of the month for July, and it's a manager. One, I don't think managers should be eligible (but since the ratio of employees to managers is 2:1, there's not a whole lot of choice there) and two, this particular manager...doesn't do anything! Now, I had heard from other employees that this particular person didn't do a whole lot, but could never really comment because I didn't really work enough hours to observe. But since I've been working 35-40 hours a week during the summer break, I've really noticed that yes, she doesn't do shit. In the past week, I've seen her ring up three customers, responded to two manager calls (one while she was on the phone gossiping about a former employee) and give the customer the wrong product and then denied doing it. That's about it. The rest of the time she spends wandering around or hiding in the manager's office.

Now, what really grinds my gears is that, when it was announced, the sales staff (as pitifully small as it is) all voiced complaints about the worthlessness of the employee to the manager on duty. Her response? We should grow up and start acting professional. What'd she spend the rest of her night doing? Bitching about another one of the managers and throwing chairs around our stockroom. Classy.

I should state, there is no criteria for Employee of the Month, just three people, of which the winner of July is one of, who get together in secret and whisper about who should get it. Seriously, that's how they pick. I was even there for it this month because I was in the breakroom while they met. So I guess it's not much of a secret meeting. It's not even that I didn't get it after having a stellar month or that it was probably my last month to get it, it's who got the title instead that really pisses me off.

Also, today is the last day to get Project Zero: BulletProof for free from Smashwords.com. Use coupon code GE48N at checkout to get it free. Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

Digital Distribution and Under the Red Hood

Today, I read an article over on IGN (read it here: http://gear.ign.com/articles/110/1108505p1.html) on how Sony is developing/has developed a new disc-based medium that could eventually replace the Blu-Ray disc as the highest capacity disc-based storage medium (I refuse to say it's the standard, as, even though I have and love my PS3, DVD movies still seem to see the biggest sales). In the article, Sony claims that the discs may hold up to one Terabyte of information, which would be approximately 20 times the capacity of Blu-Rays (there are some Blu-Ray discs that can hold 100 Gigabytes, though most I have seen are somewhere between 25 and 50). Now, I didn't think much of the article itself, just thought it was kind of neat the amount of data they'd be able to fit on one disc, but some of the comments caught my attention.

The one(s) that really got me were about digital distribution and the fall of physical discs. Most of these comments seem to be a single person, as the mannerisms in the posts were similar to the point where I would've pointed and cried foul had I taken the time to care enough to comment myself, but they (he) raised an interesting point. Will streaming video/downloading data ever replace physical media? I tend to believe no, it won't. And here's why:

1) Most consumers tend to feel a bit better about having something tangible they can hold onto in case something goes wrong. It's the same principle (pal?) behind my company's selling tactics for our Protection Plans. The consumer is much more likely to purchase something if there is something they can hold and take with them (in our case, it's a lil brochure with their contract number on it, but it still seems to placate the customer).

2) Networks aren't anywhere near setup for that kind of traffic. Sure, your cable, super-high speed internet is fine now for streaming a movie off netflix and you say, "So what? It's awesome!" Yes. It is. But all of that awesometastic movie streaming your doing? It uses bandwidth, something your internet provider would claim there is a limited amount of. So imagine if every single person in your neighborhood, your city, county, state, country, world was doing the same thing? Not to mention the fact that there're still areas that don't have high-speed internet access. And those people that want a tangible disc to hold in their hands? Some of those folks probably don't have/haven't heard of wireless networks in their homes.
I know, some of you are thinking, what kind of person is stupid enough to stream a high-def film over a wireless network, anyway? Running hundreds of feet of cable to every video game, computer, and internet-capable device in your home is where it's at. But, and most of you who have read this thus far, also know that there are companies that purport that their wireless routers/adapters are capable of handling that sort of task. But again I ask, what happens when you have a kid's PS3/360, your other kid's Wii, five laptops, two desktops, and a media server all on one connection? According to one customer (this is what he reported he had on one network, though I do have the feeling he was exaggerating), it doesn't handle it so well (the customer in question was in the store buying, and grumbling over, a new, close-to-$200 router (one of the simultaneous dual-band extreme range/speed Wireless N devices). Which leads me to my next point.

3) Cost of setup. Now, some people may have a shit-ton of cash to throw around to purchase the equipment necessary for this kind of thing. One person on the IGN boards said he had hundreds of movies on his two Terabyte external harddrive. Ok. Cool, I guess. But those cost between 150-200. Add in the cost for the high-speed internet, optional wireless networking, or if you want to use a decent PC, PS3, 360, or Wii to stream movies from, say, NetFlix (not sure if any of the systems even support Amazon's VOD) and you have a system that could cost anywhere from $200-there's no symbol for infinity but it's infinity. I know, that's a huge range, but everyone's setup is different and can drop in/out different components based on needs/wants. And that's not even getting into the cost of TVs. Some people haven't even made the jump to LCD/Plasma/LED/etc. (it's true, my parents have a pretty kickass 40" Sony tube-TV) and then there's the whole 3D-HD TVs.

So yeah, eventually digital storage and distribution will probably replace physical media, but based on the factors above, I don't think it's going to be anytime soon.

I was going to write up a review for the Under the Red Hood animated film (I implied pretty heavily in the title about it), but I need to get to bed. I have a long day of sweating my ass off at work ahead of me. I also need to get my ass in gear over editing 'Zero' and finishing the third book. If I don't finish book three by the end of the summer/year, it will have been the first time in four years I'd have gone a summer without writing a book. Now, if I could only get some of that published.

In an entirely unrelated to anything note: I bought a used copy of Uncharted 2 back in late March (or early April, can't remember exactly) and just got around to popping it in. After forty minutes of updating, the game doesn't work. I thought maybe it was smudged, since a lot of the games and movies I got from this retailer had a problem with that, but I cleaned the disc off and it still won't load. I get to the point where I start a game, it goes to the loading screen, and then it stops. I'm really disappointed. There aren't any scratches that I can see, but I still might try taking it to another store I frequent and see if they can't fix it for me (it's a longshot, since I didn't buy it there, but maybe they'll be nice).

Only FIVE days left to get Project Zero: BulletProof for free from Smashwords.com. Use coupon code GE48N at checkout to get it free.Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

Another one of those nights...

It's another one of those nights where I'm just too tired to think of anything to write. Rather than taking the same cheap way out, I'm going to try something new...ish. I think I saw it one an episode of Family Guy once. The positive sandwich. I'm going to say something positive, then negative, then something positive.

+ Joss Whedon was finally officially announced as the director for The Avengers. Since the movie seems to be on a tight schedule, it seems there is a fair chance that this will stick.

- A woman at work last night came in to buy networking equipment. One of our associates helped her and noted that she complained a lot that her coupons wouldn't work, so he said that there's an e-mail coupon going around that would work, so he prints it out and hands it to her.
The woman comes up to the register, where I've been scheduled for most of the week, and, before I'm even finished with the customer ahead of her, she starts yelling out her phone number. I have to assume it's for the loyalty card. Then she spends most of the first couple of minutes alternating between whistling and humming. Everytime I hear whistling, I always think of Red from That 70's Show, "You know what's the best part about whistling? You can STOP whistling." So at that point I was already pretty irritated with the customer. Like, I wanted to place a pane of glass in front of her, run up behind her, and do a knee drop into the back of her head, forcing her to go face first through the glass. But, I don't, since I'm such a nice guy.
I finish ringing her items through and scan the e-mail coupon the other employee gave her, and tell her the total. She says, "I have this coupon, too!"
Without skipping a beat, I reply, "That coupon isn't valid on any technology items."
With one of the most obnoxious smiles I have ever seen, she says, "Well, guess what. Your guy back there said it does..."
Again, without missing a beat, "Well, guess what. It doesn't matter what he said, it's not valid on any technology items."
Now, whenever that happens, there's one of two outcomes. The customer gets so pissed that I won't push the coupon through (on a lot of tech stuff, I couldn't even if I wanted to, which I didn't in this instance) and leave, or, they knew the coupon wasn't going to work so they grumble about how shitty we all are personally and they pay for their stuff and leave. It was the latter.
I didn't hear about the fact that the salesman had printed out the email coupon to be nice until after I called him up to the front (we have radios, but I think it's BS to call someone out over a public network like that) to tell him not to tell customers they can use those coupons on tech.
The only good thing about the whole ordeal was that it got her to stop whistling.
Then she came back today. Guess what she asked for?

+ After giving a customer a lot of help (as well as helpful suggestions on where to get product we don't carry, because we're an office supplies store, and what she was looking for wasn't office supplies), she turned to me and said, "You're amazing, you know that?"
Kind of weird, but ok, nice to get a compliment on a shitty day.

+/- A lot of things are being shown at Comic-Con. There, that covers the lot o' ya.

Also, one of the districts that I guest teach in is looking for permanent building subs...er...guest teachers. It'd only be a bit more money, but it'd be working everyday, which would be nice.

Also also (instead of PSS), some of my work is on a site for authors so they can get feedback and help from other authors (doesn't always work out that way, but hey, somethings better than nothing), and today I got a message from John Connor. Unfortunately, it did not contain anything about saving the future or going with him if I want to live.

inFAMOUS and my Hyundai Elantra

I've been playing through the PS3 game inFAMOUS lately, and for the most part, I've had a lot of fun. Blowing away baddies no matter which alignment you pick is a blast. There are, however, a few things that I hope SuckerPunch is considering when making the sequel.
#1 - Sticking to surfaces. For the most part, the developers did a good job of "if you ever thought to yourself 'I can climb that,' then you can climb it." But, a problem I've noticed is just moving from surface to surface, especially when the surfaces aren't quite on the same plane. Meaning, two surfaces are next to each other, connected, etc. and you think you can just run along, but you bump into the invisible wall that keeps you on the initial surface. Now, I don't dislike the invisible wall entirely, since it keeps me from falling to my death in some cases, but I hope SP does a better job in the next game of making me able to run onto near surfaces.

#2 - Glitches! There are two missions in particular that I experienced tonight that outright pissed me off. One was disabling the surveillance devices off a building. Not only is it a pain to find all 12 in some of the missions, but one placed the device between four windows, with none of them being close enough to just perch on and blast it. Instead, I had to jump around for about twenty minutes until I hung in the air long enough to be able to get it.
The second one was a mission that involve hunting down three baddies in a maze. Found the first two without much trouble, but I cannot for the life of me find the third. I tried going through the whole maze on the ground, on top of the shipping containers, randomly firing electro-blasts throughout the area to see if that would trigger a response, and nothing. I looked up the side-mission in question and discovered that this wasn't an uncommon occurence. One said to look around towards the beginning of the area to see if it had partially spawned inside a wall. Really? The thing can spawn in the wall? Awesome.

Other than that, most of the game has been fun. There's a lot of repetition, but because of the parkour and the way the city is laid out, it doesn't usually feel monotonous.


Onto the second item. I bought a 2010 Hyundai Elantra at the end of December 2009 (to take advantage of a tax break, and my previous vehicle was falling apart). I did a shit ton of research and test-drove a number of vehicles (mostly Toyotas) and finally decided to go with the '10 Hyundai Elantra SE. The exterior looked leagues beyond the '06 (or '07) model my brother has and the SE had a number of features at an attractive price that I was looking for (namely an MP3/iPod input jack), so I decided to go take a look and maybe test drive one. After I, and Kelly, drove it, we admitted it was the one, despite swearing off Elantras (including my new one, my family has owned 6, including the one that I was driving when I got into a near-fatal wreck in '03).
Aside from a few minor issues (the radio stations occasionally reset to the defaults and their was a 'breaking-in' period for the handling), the car has been a beast. I drove it through a monsoon averaging 65 mph without it hydroplaning or going anywhere but where I wanted it to go. Now, I live in Wisconsin. As such, I am subject to a variety of adverse weather. The last month it's been heavy thunderstorms and tornados.
After my day with Kelly (we ate at Famous Daves and saw Despicable Me (very adorable movie)), I drove her home and hit a couple of potholes and went through some puddles. I then noticed that a light had come on on the dashboard marked "ESC Off." I couldn't figure out how to get it to go off, so I looked it up right when I got home. I found out that this is for the Electronic Stabilization Control (still not entirely sure what it means or does, though I have a few solid guesses), and that hitting a pothole can screw up some sensor for it and cause the light to come on. This also can lead to a lack of acceleration and steering (since, from what I found, ESC kinda "takes over steering" when encountering bad road conditions), so that's bad.

So now I have to either take the vehicle in during a day off (I only have one during the week when the dealership would be open, and it requires an appointment...) or just live the light popping on every so often. Hopefully, the warranty covers this kind of stuff.

Also, I got curious as to what the redesign for the next model was going to look like. I found one shot of the interior (sexy as hell) and a number of the exterior. I applaud Hyundai for really focusing on styling lately, but dammit, I hate you for making me want it.

Only EIGHT days left to get Project Zero: BulletProof for free from Smashwords.com. Use coupon code GE48N at checkout to get it free.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

Crazy Shit that Happens to Me at Work

I'm exhausted from work (they really need more than single coverage per department) and am, therefor, too tired to think straight to come up with anything to discuss/rant about. So here's another edition of "Crazy shit that happens to me at work..."

1. If I haven't said before, I'll say it here. The first customer usually sets a presedence for the rest of my day. Unfortunately, nine times out of ten, that customer is a complete whackjob and/or asshole. I don't even remember what I had set out to do, probably some menial task that didn't really need to be done, when this customer stopped me. She didn't look that old to me, but who am I to judge how old someone looks? She said she's looking for an ear thingy. When I just looked at her like the crazy old woman she was, she said, "You know an ear...thingy." Like that was some sort of terminology that is regularly used. "You know (she said that a lot) a thing for your ear." Thanks. I didn't know what she was talking about until she very disrespectfully rearrange her nonsensical phrase to create a slightly different nonsensical phrase. She also said, "you know what I mean," quite a bit. When most customers say this, it's because, I think, deep down, even they don't know what they mean, so they're probably hoping that I do.

So she finally says she needs an ear thingy for her phone. So I ask her if she needs one for her cell phone or for her home phone. She doesn't know what a bluetooth device is, but a surprisingly large amount of people don't. Crazy, I know. So I show her a few corded headsets for cordless phone systems. After I start explaining how the cord gets plugged into a cordless handset, she stops me and says, "I don't know what that means." I ask her what part does she not understand? Turns out, she didn't know what cordless meant! Seriously? It's in the name. Cordless. Does not have cords.

So I show her a display model of one of the cordless phones we have and show her where the headset could plug into the phone. I continue to explain and I think I've used the term handset a few times and then she says again, "I don't know what that means! Handset, what is that?" It was much more beligerent sounding than I could convey in a blog. So I explain to her that a handset is the part of the phone where...*gasp* your hand goes! Hence the term handset. So I show her some other phones and she stops me again and asks what the difference between a cordless and corded phone. It was a serious question.

So after I'm done, she picks out a phone and a headset and leaves. How did an ear thingy turn into buying a new phone system?

2: This one is much shorter. We have a thing at work where we cycle through employees to act as door greeter, rather than have a dedicated employee for that. So I was the greeter and I smiled and said hello to a customer. She replied by pulling a plastic baggy containing an HP ink cartridge out of her purse and sticking it in my face. Seriously, it was about three inches from smacking me in the eye.
"I need this."
"Ok." I turn to lead her to the cartridges, which were in an aisle right behind where I was standing.
"It's an ink...cartriiiidddgggeee."
Thanks. Because without that, I would've thought she was carrying a Koala Bear around in her purse. Not like I wasn't standing in front of an aisle containing about two hundred different kinds of ink.
So without looking back at the woman, I ask, "Was that a #56?"
Her reply was to the effect of, "I don't know, I just pulled it out of my printer and stuck it in a baggy..."

Still haven't found more fun 'Zero' facts, but I am still looking. Might even check through old edits of the book to see if there is stuff I've cut out that I could post. Until then, stay classy retail customers. Stay Classy.

I'm Awesome!

So I found out that I was the #2 salesman in my store's district last week. I attribute it to two things. One, I'm awesome. And two, I've stopped giving a f***. Seriously, it was that simple. I think the turning point came when I realized that this is just a summer job for me now. No longer do I rely on it to do much other than sustain my bank account while I wait for the school year to start back up. It was a nice feeling. And it was a feeling that I've had for about the last two weeks, until I hurt myself at work. Now I need a tetanus shot.
Anyway, back to how awesome I am. I also found that customers actually respond positively if I'm a complete asshole to them. For example, a customer wanted to buy a monitor, so she starts saying that she needs a monitor, I cut her off, point to a random monitor, and tell her to buy it.
She asks, "what that one?" and I replied, "I don't know. I just randomly pointed to one." And then she bought it. True story.
So it's not even that my sales pitch is really that different, it's that my attitude changed. Also, the fact that I do go around and just tell people how awesome I am helped.


I am an avid comic book reader, a fact that I don't really try to hide. I would say that on some weeks, I read about twenty books. I'm just bringing this up because I might try to throw a comic book review or two into my posts every so often. Like right now:
Superman 701 - Written by JMS, this is the reason he went to DC. Wonder Woman seemed to be a complete afterthought for both him and the company. However, his first issue on Supes is the best I've read in a long time. And here's the kicker: absolutely nothing happens in this issue. Nothing. No fights with intergalactic warlords or the US Military or anything so humdrum that has been present for the last year or so. No. In this issue, he walks. He does fly once to prove to a reporter that he is indeed Superman and to talk to a person thinking of killing herself, but that's it.
The reason he walks? In the previous issues, a woman said that if Superman hadn't been so caught up in his New Krypton shit, then he would've been able to use his X-ray vision to see her husband's cancer and he could've been saved. Yeah. That was the setup for this arc. But this makes Supes realize he has become disconnected from the rest of the world, so he decides, in a very Forrest Gump-like fashion, that he's going to walk.
So he spends the rest of the issue just walking around, fixing people's problems for them, big or small.
And I liked it. Really liked it. After WW 600, I was ready to curse JMS's name, but not yet. Now I can't wait t see where Superman goes from here.


And, just because I can, here's another take on a recently wrapped event: X-Men: Second Coming & Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age-
The 'trilogy' of X-stories came to an end this past week with Second Coming #2 - The Finale. Honestly, this issue didn't do anything for the X-Men or for the story it was tying up. Most everything had been covered in the previous issue, but we did get to see Beast leave and Storm bitch out Cyke for X-Force. Really? I'm sick of comics doing this. The same thing happened when Wonder Woman snapped Maxwell Lord's neck and Ollie Queen put an arrow right between Prometheus' eyes in that the characters are all mortified that deadly force has been used, but really? Do any of the readers feel the same way? Most don't, if the readers I've talked to is any indication.
And, in the case of Storm, it's not exactly like her hands are clean. Isn't she the one who killed several Morlocks in order to retain leadership? Didn't she hold Marrow in her arms while holding Marrow's still beating heart in her hand? Yeah. Thought so.
And the new X-Force lineup is just weird.
And how many times did we need to see Cyke reach out to Hope only for her to yell at him for sending Cable into the future to help destroy the Nimrods/MasterMold? Or to have Magneto be the one to comfort her.

I did, however, think that X-Men the Heroic Age was pretty good. That actually wrapped things up and gave the X-Men a new direction (one, oddly enough, that was the direction Joss Whedon was pointing them in with the beginning of his Astonishing run) as well as kind of touched on some things, like the future of mutantkind. It also featured Cyclops hunting dinosaurs in the Savage Land with Steve Rogers. Awesome.

I need to search through my notes to find other fun facts for the Zero series, especially since only the first book is available right now, but I will put more in my posts as I come across them.

Until then, remember that you can still get my book for free on smashwords.com from now until August 1st. Use coupon code: GE48N at checkout to get it free.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

I'm a teacher during the school year. Right now I'm only what the school districts around me call a "guest teacher," or a teacher that fills in for their permanent teachers when this teacher calls in sick, has a meeting, etc. It's pretty much the same thing as a substitute, only more dignified. I don't mind this. I still get to interact with students and help shape their learning experience (by being awesome!), but that means that I need to keep a part-time job on the side.

I work retail. Yup. Retail. Now, you'll never find a better collection of scum and villainy than by looking at the average customer once they step into a retail store. I like to think that I'm not a total douche bag on a regular basis (other than by being my normal, smarmy, charming self), but I know I've lost my temper at employees before. I gotta figure it's because of the chain of screaming (look up the How I Met Your Mother episode "The Chain of Screaming" for an explanation), but I digress.

I bring this up because lately I've been keeping a list of the absolutely, insanely ridiculous things that happen to me on a regular basis now that I'm working more hours (because it's summer here, and there's no school for me to go guest teach). It's not for a book I'm working on. No, no. That would make sense, though. I'm keeping the lists because, after an eight+ hour shift at work my mind is so fried (we also don't have a working air conditioning unit where I work) that I can't remember anything that happend during the previous eight or so hours. Then, when I get home and my girlfriend asks me about what happened at work, I have nothing to tell her. Hence, the lists. Since I have the lists anyway, I figured I could share some of my experiences (and it also makes for good blog fodder when I just have nothing else to talk about). This happend to me about a week ago (the first day I started...the lists):

1: The weirdest customer of my day will also usually be the first, which sets a fun precedent for the rest of my work day. Today was no different. Today, the first customer that I dealt with brought in her laptop, saying there was something wrong with it and she wanted us to run a diagnosis to see what was wrong. I open the laptop and fire it up. It boots into a screen that says that Windows did not shut down normally and and then has a number of options. Anyone who has worked on computers has undoubtedly seen the screen in question.
So I ask the customer if she had installed anything recently, hardware or software-wise. She says she hasn't. After about forty minutes of questions and poking around at the settings, running what little tests Windows can perform without booting up (it can run quite a few, but they don't tell much), during which I noticed that the PC was branded as being installed with Vista, but the machine kept trying to load up XP Pro, so I asked if she had any Windows restore disks. She says the computer never came with them (a common occurence, especially by the time Vista came out). I point out the fact that Vista is supposed to be on the machine, but XP is what is on the machine now (it wasn't uncommon for people to load XP onto Vista machines and at one point Microsoft offered the Windows Rollback as an option to consumers), and she says she doesn't have the disk for that.
Finally, the customer confesses that it was an illegal copy of XP. Now, I can't say for sure that that is what screwed up her computer, but it didn't help. Especially since whoever put it on that laptop for her didn't make the partition for the OS restore. In case, say, the machine won't load into Windows. One of the tests also said there was at least one damaged sector on one of the memory sticks (sector 78, which I can't remember if that has any of the OS boot info on it) and I told her that it could be just that, and that we could take care of it for about $100 (40 for the memory install, plus we sell her system's memory for 59.99), but I had already convinced her it was the hack-job done on installing the XP OS.

2: As is evident from #1, I work with technology. Salesman, IT guy, that's all me. So I'm wandering around the computer area, and I stop to ask if a woman and her friend have any questions on the laptops. The woman, who we'll call 1, lights up with a smile. Now, I didn't write down exactly what she said, but it was somewhere along the lines of, "Why do the prices on all your services suck?" She then goes on for about 10 minutes on how our PC start up services, anti-virus subscriptions, protection plans (they aren't extended warranties. They're not. They actually do cover more than the manufacturer's warranty), etc. While she's doing this, she's adding up all the prices I give her in her head like she's some kind of math genius and somehow got the total of around $2,000. Now, me being an actually intelligent being capable of doing semi-basic arithmetic, actually added up the totals in my head (I did round to the nearest dollar, like any normal, not insane person would do). The approximate total of what she wanted: about $1,100. Still, that doubles the cost of the laptop she claimed to have wanted. Now, when we sell a computer, we aren't one of those places that practically force our tech service or PPPs on anyone. Well, I don't anyway. And nor does a customer have to buy ALL the services we offer.
If ya don't need the PPP, fine. Don't need us to stick the MS Office disk in your machine and take the ten minutes to install if for you? Fine.
So, as best as I can figure, this person was just waiting for someone to ask if she needed any help just so she could go off on her tangent about how she would buy the machine from us, but the services (and warranty) elsewhere.

#3: A customer called to ask why she had virii on her computer. I asked how she knew that she had a virus. Her computer told her she did. How and when did it tell you this, I ask. While she is surfing the web, she says. So a pop-up, I ask. Yes. It wants to run some kind of scan and there are bars and folders and things.
Did you push the start button?
No, should I?
No, that's a pop-up window to make you think you need to run a scan but it really puts malware and viruses on your computer.
So I should close it?
Yes.
It says that if I close it, that my computer may still be infected. Are you sure I should close it?
*Palm to face*
Yes ma'am.
So is that why it said Internet Explorer at the top of the window?
Yes.
Oh, ok. Bye.
Didn't even thank me for my help...

#4 I actually felt bad for this one. The customer had never heard the terms "Hardware" or "software" before.
And that's all I've got to say about that.

I've kept more of these lists over the past week, so I'll probably post more later.

Remember to see my previous post about getting a copy of my book, Project Zero: Bulletproof, for free, now through August 1st.

The Hulk smashes Predators and A New Promotion!

I'm going to start with the last part of the title first and work my way back from there.

From now until August 1st, you can download my first book, Project Zero: Bulletproof, for free from Smashwords.com. That's right, free! Just follow the link to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007, click that you want to purchase the book, then enter the code GE48N during checkout to receive the book for free! On Smashwords, there is a format for pretty much every ebook reading device including the Amazon Kindle and Sony eReader (the iPad format is separate, I believe) and they're all included in that one FREE purchase. That's kind of an oxymoron, but we'll ignore that part for now. The best part is, if I ever release an updated edition, then anyone who has already purchased the book (for FREE) will also receive the updated edition while keeping the older editions as well (it's like watching history rewrite itself).

So remember:
Step 1: go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007
Step 2:
Step 3: Use coupon code GE48N during checkout and enjoy your FREE copy of Project Zero: Bulletproof!


Item the second, as the title implies, I saw Predators this past weekend. In an effort to provide as spoiler-free a review as I can, I will provide two reviews.
Review 1: It was really good. Go see it.



Revew 2: *Spoilers may follow*
This is what a Predator film should be. There's some people, they're in a jungle (or urban jungle), and there is a big, badass monster alien warrior thing hunting them, setting traps, being awesome...
This film marks a return to the jungle, only the motley crew of murderers (both professional and casual here) soon discover it's not their jungle. The men (and woman) have been dropped into a jungle preserve for hunting the most dangerous animal of all...man. Under the leadership of a buff Adrian Brody doing his best to sound like Christian Bale's Batman (why is that the new default voice for badass? All that voice does is draw really bad jokes), the assortment of killers try their best at bonding under their shared circumstance. That is, being picked off one by one by intelligent humanoids bred for doing mostly one thing: killing shit.

And kill shit they do. I didn't hate the second AVP movie, but I am glad to see a return to form for the big guy(s) and *another SPOILER alert* the really big guys. And that is true all the way around this film. The story seems to be mostly filler with the aim of making the audience care just enough to feel anything when one of the characters get offed. And, in something that I felt was lacking in the AVP films, the kills are much more varied this time around.

It's true that this doesn't bring anything terribly new to the series (other than it's not on Earth...and well, you'll see) and most of the audience will be playing the "who's going to be the next to go" game, but it was a solid film in a series that, before now, most people looked at with disdain.

So, as I said in the spoiler-free review: go see it. Go see it now.



Last up: the news that Edward Norton will not be Bruce Banner in the Avengers film. A quick aside, though. Norton's agent mentions that the actor had lunch with Joss Whedon. Now, I love Whedon's work, and was giddy as a little giiiiiirrrrllll when he was announced to be in talks to direct the Avengers film. But, officially, that's as far as it went. Rumors and talks. No matter how hard I look, I cannot find an official statement from Marvel studios naming Whedon as director. Norton's agent implies it. Marvel implies it. Various Hollywood rags imply both this and that Joss is helping spruce up the Cap script (a movie, as I have previously written, I have great concerns about), but I cannot find an official announcement anywhere.

Back to my main point, though. I didn't dislike Norton as Banner in the '08 Hulk. I didn't love him, either. He just did a servicable job between episodes of Hulking out. I had heard rumors that he didn't always get his way on set and on story decisions and that this made him difficult to work with. I also heard some of the story ideas that were cut and I can't say that they would've made the film any better. It seemed that most of these ideas were more in line with the 70's Hulk show, which, other than the main character having the last name 'Banner' and that he would get angry and sometimes break things, didn't have a lot to do with the comic (or the Hulk).

Now, reading Kevin Feige's (Marvel Studios head exec...I think) comments on the whole deal, I only saw that the studio and Norton couldn't agree on terms for his appearance, so the decided to look elsewhere for Banner. I didn't think anything of it. Happens all the times in the film industry. How many times has a director, writer, actor, or even movie been announced only to be later dropped due to differences somewhere in the process?
Then Norton's agent opens his trap and well, just comes off as a douche. That is not the way to handle things for your client, Mr. Agent man. He claims that Marvel took a swipe at Norton in their statement (something I didn't see) and then goes on to "set the record straight." The whole thing is about two pages long. I couldn't even get through it all. Then...and then (I tell coworkers all the time: when do I ever tell a story that doesn't have multiple parts?) Eddie boy releases his own statement...of poorly written sorrow. Not sure what Norton was on when he wrote it, but it seems like a second grader could write better. Also, not a huge deal, but punctuation goes inside of the quote. Not outside.

The buzz is that Marvel wants and unknown. Hell, just get Bana back. He's not doing much right now, just being in a couple of comedies, and he has far more personality than Norton, anyway.

My hands hurt and my right pinky is going numb, so I'm going to knock off there. And that's why I put the promo code first. Those who couldn't make it through the whole blog won't miss out.


Project Zero Fun Fact #4: The original concept for the series was that it was going to be a globe-trotting superhero/super spy comedy. The more serious tone developed itself as the book was written.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

King James is on his way to Miami

Over the past, oh, month or so, I've mostly talked about comics and my own writing. People always say, write about what you know, and I know those things. Also, video games. I know video games (note, I didn't say 'I know about video games.' I know them. On a personal and intimate level). But this is the first time that I'll be touching on sports.

When I was a lad, I was a devoted follower of several professional sports teams. Namely, the Chicago Bulls, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Cubs and...well, those were really the only sports I followed, so that's about it. I'll still watch just about any NFL game that's on, but will only watch baseball if it's a Cubs game (even though I live in Southeast, WI, we still get WGN, the Chicago network that plays a number of games), but the NBA has fallen to the wayside. Why?

Before I answer that, let me just say this: LeBron James is a perfect example of why I don't follow professional basketball. In the 90s, while the Bulls were building a pair of mini-dynasties around Michael Jordan, the game still seemed to be about just that, the game. Now, it's about a bunch of whiny little brats who surround themselves with entourages (any NFL athlete can tell ya, be careful of who you include in your posse) made up of people only looking for handouts but somehow still hold sway over the player. LBJ is this to the extreme. He allowed his ego (the guy is a good player, don't get me wrong) to be so stroked by the people he surrounded himself with, these guys could tell him to do whatever they wanted.

Now, I come from Wisconsin, so I'm no stranger to a professional athlete tying up headlines in the news for weeks and months about if/where they'll play next season (yes, Favre, you actually get a reference. Don't let it go to your head), but what LBJ has done here is, beyond question, a shame and a blemish to the sport 'King' James claims to love. If he had, say, quietly announced that he wants to win a championship ring and that Cleveland, as much as he loves his home area, cannot support that endeavor, and just said that he's going to play for Miami next year, that'd be that. Instead, he draws it out, parades the fact that he's interviewing a bunch of organizations (a process, many have said, was unprofessional) in front of his hometown crowd, and then, in an hourlong show on ESPN, announces that he's leaving.

I don't think I'm making my point nearly as succintly as I'd like (see, I have the good graces to admit that), so I'm just going to leave it here: I don't know the terms of the deal he has made with the Miami Heat, but the next time he becomes a free agent, I hope he has matured to the point where he can ditch the Yes Men and the Puppet Masters and gracefully announce (if he's still got the goods to not just be traded off like a broken down piece of furniture) where he's going. A man should have more tact than that, and as a role model, he needs to be better than this.


Project Zero fun fact #3: For a brief period when coming up with twists to make the story more compelling, Rain was going to be revealed to be transgendered. This was abandoned because the editing needed to make this twist work was mindblowing.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

Marvel Animation

While I'm glad the big two (DC and Marvel) are finding success (I guess, anyway. Never really heard how these things were doing) with their animated endeavors, I came across an alleged quote from Marvel Animation president Eric Rollman (you can read the interview here: http://tinyurl.com/39zp9ry) that does make me a bit perturbed.

If you skipped the interview, or just skimmed through to get the gist of it, here's the short of it. Marvel, after its merger with Disney (or buyout from Disney? What did they end up calling it?) is doing awesome with its animated projects. It's going to launch a bunch of new shows, which I'll get to in a bit, but there was one little line that I latched onto. In the interview, Mr. Rollman says that Marvel "has fully funded its third 52-episode series."

Now, many would say? But Kellen, you love Marvel, you like quite a few of their animated series, why does this make you angry? Well, I'll tell you why. In 2008, 2009 in the US, a series aired called Wolverine and the X-Men. The animation style was very much like the previous X-Men cartoon, X-Men: Evolution, but the plot seemed to be geared towards a slightly older audience. The show was pretty good despite being another X-Media project centered on Wolverine and it was supposed to be picked up for a second season. Tidbits were released, including the fact that Nolan North would be returning to voice Deadpool (he provided the Merc with a Mouth's voice in the animated film, Hulk Vs. Wolverine, which serves as a prequel of sorts to WatXM), among other things.

However, months went by and there was no news on the show like when it might air, what additional characters we might see, etc. until it was announced that partway through production (how far into production this happened is anyone's guess) funding fell through to complete the rest of the season. I was disappointed, and confused, as I thought this was just a series that Marvel had produced itself and had contracted it out through whatever studio was doing it. Never once was it mentioned that it was cancelled because of the Disney merger or problems with the studio or NickToons refusing to pick up the second season (though the fact that the show had finished airing in the rest of the world before it aired half the season in the US didn't help. Nor did the fact that the show's release schedule was stretched over nine months for 22-episodes), so I have to take Marvel at its word.

And that is why I'm a bit angry over this whole animation business. Marvel couldn't provide the funding for a decent show, but it did find the cash to do yet another Spider-Man cartoon? Didn't they just do Spectacular Spider-Man? And doesn't the premise of Ultimate Spider-Man sound a lot like SSM? While I was never a fan of the art on Spectacular, I did hear good things about the stories.

Also mentioned in the article is news on other projects, such as a more adult oriented series entitled Marvel Knights. Whether this is going to focus on one specific character (or group of characters) or kind of encompass the whole Knights (a semi-frequently used) label wasn't discussed. Though the article did briefly mention possible characters we might see in this, and other, cartoons. Characters such as...Black Panther? Didn't they just make a, from what I heard, critically acclaimed BP show that never aired on TV? It's now available on iTunes and other download markets, so I'm going to try to give it a viewing sometime soon.

It just seems that Marvel really likes coming up and making these cartoons, but not supporting them.

Project Zero: Bulletproof fun fact #2: Project Zero: Bulletproof is actually the third title to be given to the first book in the 'Zero' series. Other working titles included I Was a Teenaged Superhero and Zero.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

Odds & Ends

As I think I said before (I'm too lazy to go back and check previous blogs. It happens. A lot), the original intent of the blog was to help promote/explore my writing. Since I've been busy just trying to stay afloat lately, that didn't really pan out. Well, to make up for it (if only to myself), here's a mini-entry on my writing process. Note, I said my writing process. Obviously, everyone is different, and that process is different for everyone. The things that I do won't work for everyone. Hell, they don't even work for me all the time.

I always try to write something everyday, even if it is something I never intend to publish or even finish. Seriously, up until the first Zero book, I never had finished a long-form story. I've written dozens, if not hundreds, of short stories and poems, but I had never completed a book. And following that determination of writing everyday is how that story was born. And trust me, plenty of scraps were left on the wayside as I wrote. Which leads me to my next point...

I'm no longer afraid of editing my own work. I used to hate, hate, hate editing my own stuff. In my mind, everything was gold and worth keeping. It wasn't until I started showing it around to people and, sadly, publishers, that I realized just how shitty some parts were. If there was something I wish I could've learned earlier it is how to self-edit.

My peers, friends, etc. are great at bouncing ideas off of. But not usually family. They usually kind of gloss over when I talk about my work, so I usually skip that route and go straight to someone who I know will give me more honest feedback. So if you have a lot of friends (or even one, really) who read, ask them to take a look. Also, make sure that they're honest with their criticsim and not just looking to fluff you. I mean your ego. Not a lot of work got done on 'Zero' until I found a couple of friends who read it for me.

I write everything in pen on actual paper first. I'm very bad at just sitting at a computer and being able to hammer out a story consistently. There's something very...organic about the feel of pen on paper, and the simile I use is that the words and ideas flow from my head like the ink from the pen. It's corny, I know that, but it works.

That's it for tonight. Like, I said, these things work for me. What works for me won't always work for you, so please, no one quote me as the end-all for writing (I know. Up until that point, everyone stood at the ready with their twitter feeds and their fingers ready to fly).

As a fun little extra, I will say something about Project Zero: Bulletproof that I haven't included in any of the versions floating around: The main character, Lance, was originally going to turn out to be gay, but I thought that had gotten kind of cliche. Yeah, think about that one for awhile.

Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007

Modernizing a Classic: Costume Changes Part 2

My second post (of hopefully only 2, unless one of the comic companies decides to start changing costumes willy-nilly on us) about how I view the changing of costumes in comic books (and now comic book related media). I'm specifically talking about the revealed concept art for Captain America. But Kellen, we l-o-v-e Cap's costume!!! It's teh awesomes!

This may be the only time I will ever say this, but if that was the first thing out of your mouth (or in your head) when you read that first paragraph, stop reading. Please. You're not going to like what comes next and I don't want to hear about it later. This was prompted by Brian Denham, a Marvel artist I follow on Twitter. Yes, I'm on Twitter, too. Yes, most of my posts are equally pointless. But back to the story. He posted an image he drew of what he called "World War II Cap." I followed the link and, lo and behold, it was an image done in the style of the movie's concept art. Now, I have a problem with this. One, nowhere on the DevArt page was it ever mentioned that this was based on said concept art. And two, all of the comments on said page were to the effect of "WWII Cap is teh BESTESTS EVAH!1!

For those of you who do not know, Cap was created in 1941...during World War II! What costume was he wearing then, you ask? Well, there it is on the right. Y'know what that looks like? What Captain America is wearing in the comics today (when Steve Rogers is Cap, Bucky Barnes' costume is much different).

My question is this: If Captain America wore that costume during World War II, how can someone today make a costume that is 'how he would've looked during World War II' when the costume was designed during World War II?

Not only that, but the material the costume appears to be made out of doesn't even seem like something that would've been around during WWII. It looks like a futuristic kevlar body armor that a cross between The Dark Knight and Robocop would've worn. Now, I'm told that this was done because this makes the costume more "realistic and practical." Then, when I try to point out that such materials wouldn't exist, the replies are, "It's a comic book movie, what do you expect?" This is from the same people. How? Does? That? Work?

My point, as long-winded as it is, is this: Captain America was created during World War II. He should be wearing what he wore during, you guessed it, WWII. If the creators want to update the outfit for after he gets thawed out in the Modern Era, fine. That's up to them. But they should not be saying that their costume is somehow more 'WWII-era' than the costume designed during that time period.

Changing Landscape of the Comic Book World

Tonight, I'm going to talk about Wonder Woman's new costume. It's been scrutinized to death, I know, but any jerk who claims himself a comic book fan has to weigh in on the change.
First off, if you have no clue what I'm talking about, go Google Wonder Woman and the recent news articles (yes, the change has garnered national attention) showcase the travesty in question.
Saw it? Good. Now, there were two possible reactions to this. One, you're a comic nerd like me and was spewing foam from the mouth while gnawing off your own hand to use as a projectile weapon against someone or two, you're not a comic fan and you think this would've been awesome...when it was the 90s and you were twelve.
Seriously, who approved this design? And who was asking for a change? Here's how I imagine the conversation at DC went down:
*Geoff Johns, Dan DiDio, and a bunch of DC Entertainment suits are sitting in a room*
GJ: "This year is WW's 69th anniversary..."
*sound of giggling from one man in the room*
GJ: "Mr. DiDio, if I can just continue..."
DD: "Heh, you said 69."
GJ: "Anywho...as I was saying, that means next year is WW's 70th anniversary."
DD:"Heh, 69."
GJ: "I think we really need to capitolize on this. Who do we have that's a big name for us and wasn't recently promoted to an executive level?"
*the suits in the room look at each other blankly, then back at Geoff Johns*
GJ: "Me? I can't write everything. I mean, Blackest Night wasn't even that good."
DD: "But people died! Which means it's AWESOME!"
GJ: "Sigh. Whatever, Dan. Who else do we have?"
SUIT: "We just got JMS to do Superman..."
GJ: "That could work. Does he want to do Wonder Woman?"
SUIT: "Not really."
DD: "Fantastic, now that that's settled..."
"We should change her costume!"
GJ: "What, Dan? Why?"
DD: "Because...because...we can!"
GJ: "Sigh. Ok, whatever, fine. It's not like it won't just get changed back in a year, anyway."
DD: "And redo her origins!"
GJ: "Again? Didn't we just do that with One Year Later?"
DD: "Maybe! But back to the costume: it should have a too-tight leather jacket (like Superboy from the 90s), and a top that kinda looks like the old one (like Superboy from the 90s), and tight black pants (like Superboy from the 90s) and fingerless gloves (like Superboy from the 90s)..."
GJ: "Ok, Dan, give me that picture of Superboy from the 90s"
*wrestles picture away, Dan DiDio is sad. Geoff Johns hands it back with another sigh*
GJ: "Fine. We'll just get Jim Lee to spruce it up or something..."

That went on much longer than I intended. Still, gotta figure that's how it went down.
Anyway, since I know most people didn't read through the whole thing, I'll sum it up. The design elements are very reminiscent of any character created or redone in the early to mid 1990s (especially, as I said repeatedly above, Superboy) and it seems like it's a gimmick to sell books and is a lead-in to the character's 70th anniversary, which is next year. I get the feeling that's all this is because when Superman had a big anniversary (I think it was for the 60th), DC gave him a redesign in year 59, but it was changed back the next year.
Also, I like J Michael however you spell his last name which is why he just abbreviates his name to 'JMS', but I don't think he was the best writer for his book. When a guy says that he wants to be "completely faithful to the character" and then he announces how he's going to change everything (because he can), then that might not be the best guy to write that book. Just sayin'. But yeah, The Odyssey, the first arc of WW with the new costume, kicked off with part 0 (that's a zero, yeah, they're back to doing those...) in Wonder Woman 600. Honestly, couldn't even make it through the ten or so pages that serve as the lead-in, so I'm thinking I'm done with Wonder Woman for awhile.

I will say this, with all the changes they are making to the character, I am interested to see how the rest of the DCU reacts. Of course, that's kind of what I said about Spider-Man and 'Brand New Day,' and the answer to that one was: they didn't react very much. The best thing to come of that was the possibility of Spidey hooking up with Ms. Marvel, which everyone but the writer who thought of it (Dan Reed, I believe) all but ignored it completely. But that's a rant for a different day.

I was going to go on about other costume redesigns, but I think I vented most of my gripes with costume changes in general into that rant. So, that's all for me tonight. Have a good one, and be careful not to cross paths with anyone wielding their own hand. They're dangerous.