All-purpose, running Geek thread (formerly Battlestar Galactica thread)

Superior Spider-Man will be back for two issues in August and September (#32 and #33), which lead into the upcoming Spider-Verse event (something about a villain hunting down every version of Spider-Man ever in every dimension).

Here's the link. By the way, Newsarama is a pretty good source of what is coming up, though beware of spoilers.

http://www.newsarama.com/21110-marvel-announces-superior-spider-man-s-august-return.html

 

Agreed. I also thought they dragged it out too long.

 

Switching between comics threads on the News and Anything Goes board feels like we're in a yearlong DC crossover ourselves. I'm expecting 2006 Batman to jump in here warning me not to sign up for SportsJournalists.com.

But anyway, Rick, picking up a thought from JRoyal on the other thread about local comic book shops ... if you find one you like and go that route, they can be very helpful with ordering whatever you want. Most will even set up your subscription and set aside whatever books you want when they ship each week (new issues hit stores every Wednesday). Then you can pick them all up at the shop. Maybe not as convenient as mail order, but it seems a bit easier to negotiate.

If you do go the in-store route, though, just make sure you pick your books up in a timely manner. The store owner is basically on the hook for your subscription until you pay them for that issue. They lose a lot of money when people don't get their books on time, which can be the difference between success and failure for businesses like that. I think one of the reasons my local shop went out of business was people not picking up their new issues. The owners were often going through the pull boxes and finding issues three and four months old that folks hadn't been in to get. By that time, they were back issues which ended up getting sold by the pound to make space.
I was buying about seven or eight books a month, regularly, during my height. They didn't all come out the same week, so I went every two or three weeks or popped in when I was in the neighborhood. From the sound of it, the owners were pretty happy with me.

 

While I wait for the stuff I legitimately bought to show up, I've been torrenting stuff.

I'm halfway through the Civil War series, which I remember being not completely beloved by critics and fans but still considered pretty important. I'm completely enthralled.

 

Ok, DP'd in the Random Images thread, but I figure any decent geek thread needs a backyard Battlemech.

 

I dug Civil War. There are some great X-Men storylines over the last few years worth grabbing, too -- Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men, House of M, Messiah Complex. There are still a few I need to go back and read, too, like Riot at Xavier's.

Oh, and be sure to check out Magneto: Testament. It's one of the best things I've ever read.

 

This is one of the greatest things ever.

 

Messiah Complex was good, but I thought Second Coming was better. Astonishing was good, though I wasn't a big fan of the Cassandra Nova stuff.

Civil War had some strong parts and some that were not on that level. Captain America: The Winter Soldier drew on part of the storyline, including one of the movie's best moments.

 

Remember how Nicolas Cage was supposed to play Superman for Tim Burton in the late 1990s? Ever see those supposedly leaked photos of costume tests, photos that looked so bad that all of the Interweb fandom insisted they were fake?

Well, a guy is doing a Kickstarter to make a documentary on the weirdest comic book film to never get made: "Superman Lives." He posted a trailer on YouTube, and from a few clips of test footage he obtained ... those costume photos were real. He has interviews with Burton and Kevin Smith, plus a ton of crew members, including the costume designer. I still can't believe those photos were real. My mind was blown. I really hope the guy can finish the documentary and get it out there.

This is real.


So is this.


(From the video footage, it's clear that the weird neckline on the first isn't the neckline at all. It's a piece of cloth to keep Cage's chin or make up or whatever from smudging the costume. Now it makes sense.)

In a way, I'm sad this movie didn't get filmed. I'm sure a lot of purists would have hated it (I wouldn't have liked it on many levels probably), but it had the potential to be bizarre enough to be interested. Maybe it would have bombed and become a cult thing by now? Who knows. It was the late '90s, and and emo Superman might have worked back then. Hell if I know. Take a look for yourself.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Nt9fxWq5qg0

 

Forgot Second Coming. It was damn good. Ripped my heart out with the big death, though. My favorite character.

 

OK, yeah, Civil War petered out to a lame ending. Exactly what everyone said it did.

 

Get ready for a 10-part Doctor Who episode: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/doctor-who-showrunner-says-peter-721153?utm_source=facebook