The Comic Book Pile:Summer 2012

***Note***
This is an unpublished blog post from 2012. Not sure why I never posted it, it was interesting to see how much has changed in 6 years. I've inserted some updated comments.
- Chris Sept 25th 2018
_______________

2012: (2018)

I am currently blogging while on my vacation in Fairview, Alberta. The family and I are visiting my Grandparents-in-law. (Sadly we did not make our annual trip to Fairview in 2018)
We are having a blast as always. But onto the blogging:

 

As you no doubt know I am a huge comic book fan. I order most of my comics on line from a company out of Quebec called 'Comic Pull' (I no longer order comics through Comic Pull. I get my comic books digitally from comixology and I order trades from Amazon) . I also have a 'pull list' at the 'Comic King' comic book store in West Edmonton Mall (Which has now been closed for probably 2-3 years. The last owner was a bone head and not a comic book fan and had no clue how to stay in business. I really did not like him and I am glad to see his business fail, although I am sad to see no comic book store in the mall. I have a lot of fond memories of WEM Comic King as it was my first comic book store).

I read a lot of comics in a month so I've decided to do a quarterly update segment where I tell you what I feel is the best of what I read (I never kept up with that nor do I want to do that now...lol). Some titles will not change from month to month because my favourite titles are pretty solid, but I'll try and include something different. If your thinking about picking up some comic books to try I hope this segment will help. in my opinion this truly is a great time to be reading comics.  

 

Top 10 Comic Books (In my opinion)

 

1- Batman (DC). Best written and drawn book out there!! (Still good with Tom King currently writing it)

2- Invincible (Image). Created and written by Robert Kirkman (creator of 'The Walking Dead' comic and TV show) (Sadly this book ended earlier this year but still worth checking out)

3- Daredevil (Marvel). Written by the great Mark Waid. This book is a lot of fun. (Waid no longer writing and I stopped reading it)

4- Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics). Jonathan Hickman is a great writer and this is a fun thinking man's comic book. (Hickman no longer writing and it just relaunched with Dan Slott writing after a 3 year hiatus of the title. So far it is good) 

5- Earth Two (DC) Still a new title but this is a great read by James Robinson (Starman) (No longer being made)

6- FF (Marvel) This is the sister book to the Fantastic Four and is written by Hickman. Fun book. (No longer being made)

7- Saga (Image) Written by Brian K. Vaughan this is a cool sci-fi comic book. Romeo & Juliet-ish it is. (No longer reading. got very boring)

8- Justice League (DC) Written by Geoff Johns, art by the legend Jim Lee. The back up 'Shazam' story is great too. (No longer reading. Johns no longer writing)

9- Aquaman (DC) Written by Geoff Johns. This really is a fun book to read and yes it is Aquaman. (No longer reading. Johns no longer writing)

10- Flash (DC) I was a fan of the Flash but with the relaunch of the 'New 52' this book got really good. (No longer reading. Got boring and redundant in my opinion)

 

Mentions: Swamp Thing (DC)(No longer reading) , Secret (Image) (No longer being made), Action Comics (DC), Hulk (Marvel)(No longer reading) , Batman Incorporated (DC)(No longer being made) .

 

Trade I'm reading: Starman Omnibus 1, paperback from DC comics. Reprinting this series from the 90's written by James Robinson (Earth Two). this is a fun book to read. the art is not the best but it suits the story I think.

  

See you in the fall for more of 'The Comic Book Pile'!! (No you won't)
(But more blogging goodness next week as always!)

All-New 'Geek Fallout' episodes for your ears!!!

GF: The Comic Book Episodes #4 with Chris, Evan & CT

December 13th, 2013

In this all-new exciting episode Chris and Evan are joined by CT from the 'Nerd Lunch' and 'Pod, James Pod' podcasts. CT recounts his first time reading comics and how they have impacted him, his internship at Marvel Comics and visiting John Byrnes house. We discuss 'Arrow', we have some picks & pans and we review the 2013 Comic Book movies. 

We also do another 'Nerd Conversions' segment at the end of the episode where we discuss 'Doctor Who'. 

This podcast is a proud member of The Atomic Geeks Podcast Network 

Geek Fallout Walking Dead Season 4 Mid season wrap up

December 5th, 2013

Jeff and Chris along with Marc and Evan talk the first half of season 4 of The Walking Dead.  Is the show starting to show it's age? Are the writers getting lazy? Is Evan becoming more like that old guy who sits on his porch all day?

Geek Fallout is a member of the Atomic Geeks podcasting network

 

 

Geek Fallout Ep 38

December 1st, 2013

The gang is back again, Jeff, Chris, Evan and Marc go through a whole episode of geek news.  The boys finish off with a quick walking dead discussion leading up to next weeks mid season finale.

Welcome to the Wasteland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Weeks Assignment From The League: Robots!

This Weeks Assignment From The League Of Extraordinary Bloggers:

Danger! Danger! Danger! Pacific Rim has finally hit the theaters, and it seems like everyone is now an expert on giant monster-fighting robots. I thought it would be fun to talk about all the different mechanical wonders that have appeared in our pop culture. This week’s assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers…

–

Robots!

–

As you may or may not know I am a Co-Host of the ‘Geek Fallout’ podcast.  On the show we end every episode with a ‘Top 5’ countdown where we name off our favourite top 5 for a particular subject. For this blog post I am going to name off my top 5 favourite robots (or robot pairs) in pop culture, excluding androids and cyborgs: Pure Robots ONLY. So here is my list:

5- H.E.R.B.I.E. (From the 60’s ‘Fantastic Four’ cartoon, later added to the comic book continuity). As a kid I loved watching those old cartoons and as much as I missed having the Human Torch in the cartoon I did like that little flying robot that took his place. Apparently the animators were worried about kids lighting themselves on fire so that is why Herbie is on the team. He often played jokes on Ben Grimm which made me laugh, and every time I see him make an appearance in the comic I take notice.

4- Starscream (From the 80’s ‘Transfomers’ cartoon). I always liked Starscream best out of all the Decepticons. His high pitch screetchy voice, his hunger for power, his willingness to stab Megatron in the back when it suited him, all equalled a cool villain. Also as a vehicle he was a fighter jet. If I were to be a Decepticon I would want to be a fighter jet for sure.

3- V.I.N.CENT & Maximillion (from the Disney film ‘The Black Hole’). Vincent was the good floating robot that saves the day, voiced by the late great Roddy McDowell. Maximillion was the robot that scared me as a little kid. All he did was float around, never talking, with a glowing Cyclops eye and arms with spinning grinders that could kill anyone who was unfortunate enough to face the deadly Maximillion. But as I said earlier Vincent saves the day by ‘killing’ the evil Maximillion. These two robots were my favourite characters from that underrated iconic sci-fi film.

2- Optimus Prime (From the 80’s ‘Transfomers’ cartoon). As much as Starscream was my favourite Decepticon, Optimus was my favourite Auto-bot. He was a great leader, fought for the right things, and could transform into the coolest big rig ever conceived. As a kid (and maybe as an adult) I cried when he ‘died’ during the Transformers cartoon film. Then I cheered as he was resurrected towards the end of the series. I am not a fan of the current films but I think it is cool that they brought the original Optimus voice actor, Peter Cullen, to breath life again into this iconic character.

1-    Who else could be number 1 but R2D2 & C3PO from ‘Star Wars’. It was these 2 who really peaked my interest in robots. I have had the privilege to ‘meet’ R2D2 several times at conventions and every time I turn into a kid again. Apparently for about $10,000-15,000 you can build your own movie quality replica of Artoo, that can seemingly do most things the ‘real’ Artoo can, via remote control. If I were to win the lotto I think I might create my own Artoo…

Well that is all folks. Thanks for reading. Check out these other blogs associated with League of Extraordinary Bloggers…

www.coolandcollected.com

www.goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com

www.infinitehollywood.com

The Cavalcade Of Awesome at: http://blog.paxholley.net/

See you in the future…

The Comic Book Pile: Summer 2012

As you no doubt know I am a huge comic book fan. I order most of my comics on line from a company out of Quebec called 'Comic Pull'. I also have a 'pull list' at the 'Comic King' comic book store in West Edmonton Mall. I read a lot of comics in a month so I've decided to do a quarterly update segment where I tell you what I feel is the best of what I read. some titles will not change from month to month because my favourite titles are pretty solid, but I'll try and include something different. If your thinking about picking up some comic books to try I hope this segment will help. in my opinion this truly is a great time to be reading comics.  

 

Top 10 Comic Books (In my opinion)

 

1- Batman (DC). Best written and drawn book out there!!

2- Invincible (Image). Created and written by Robert Kirkman (creator of 'The Walking Dead' comic and TV show)

3- Daredevil (Marvel). Written by the great Mark Waid. This book is a lot of fun.

4- Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics). Jonathan Hickman is a great writer and this is a fun thinking man's comic book.

5- Earth Two (DC) Still a new title but this is a great read by James Robinson (Starman)

6- FF (Marvel) This is the sister book to the Fantastic Four and is written by Hickman. Fun book.

7- Saga (Image) Written by Brian K. Vaughan this is a cool sci-fi comic book. Romeo & Juliet-ish it is.

8- Justice League (DC) Written by Geoff Johns, art by the legend Jim Lee. The back up 'Shazam' story is great too.

9- Aquaman (DC) Written by Geoff Johns. This really is a fun book to read and yes it is Aquaman.

10- Flash (DC) I was a fan of the Flash but with the relaunch of the 'New 52' this book got really good.

 

Mentions: Swamp Thing (DC), Secret (Image), Action Comics (DC), Hulk (Marvel), Batman Incorporated (DC).

 

Trade I'm reading: Starman Omnibus 1, paperback from DC comics. Reprinting this series from the 90's written by James Robinson (Earth Two). this is a fun book to read. the art is not the best but it suits the story I think.

 

See you in the fall for 'The Comic Book Pile', but see you next week for more blogging goodness!

Beer Goggles: April 2012

As part of my 'Random Nerdness' Blog I have included a monthly update I am calling 'Beer Goggles' where I will share a brief outline on what I am drinking, reading, viewing and listening to for the month.

 

Beer: I just purchased some 'IPA' India Pale Ale from Calgary's 'Big Rock Brewing Company'. I also have some Rickards Red's that I am finishing. Although not a beer I have been enjoying 'Orangina' sparkling orange beverage. 

 

Comics & Books: My favourite comic book right now is 'Batman' written by Scott Snyder. His 'Court Of Owls' storyline is reaching new heights and is just getting better each and every month. I'm also enjoying Fantastic Four, FF and The Ultimates, all written by Jonathan Hickman. 

I bought several 'Star Trek: Titan' books at the Edmonton toy show last Sunday and I am very excited to read the further adventures of Captain Riker and the USS Titan. 

I'm also still reading 'The Great American Cereal Book'. Awesome history about breakfast cereals that Canadian consumers share with our American neighbours. 

Last month I bought and continue to read the 'Compendium' of the comic book series 'The Walking Dead'. In March I finished the first trade and I was blown away by what I read and saw. I loved it so much I went out and ordered the first Compendium of this comic series, and I will buy the second one when it is released. Robert Kirkman is perhaps one of the greatest comic book writers in history!

Viewing: I am watching season 2 of 'Game Of Thrones' on HBO and season 5 of 'Mad Men' on AMC. But I recently bought season 1 of  'Game Of Thrones' on Blue-Ray which I will be re-watching. I also bought the newest DC Universe animated movie 'Justice League: Doom', which I intend to watch shortly. Look for a future review on 'The Cola Dog' blog. 

'Commander' Shelby assisting me in this hard photo shoot. 

Listening: Having a long drive to work every workday I tend to do a lot of listening. 'The Atomic Geeks', 'Nerd Lunch' and 'Classic Film Jerks' are all great podcasts I love to listen to. Some other great podcasts I listen to are: 'iFanboy', 'Comic Geek Speak' and 'I Sell Comics'. I've also downloaded some great audiobooks I hope to crack open this month: 'Bradbury 13', radio-like drama's about some of Ray Bradbury's classic sci-fi tales. Also 'World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War'.

 

Well that is all for April's 'Beer Goggles'.

 

Cheers!