Some New Mutant Love

Ya know I realised today that I haven't written about my love of The New Mutants in awhile. One of the things that brought this on was me finally getting a copy of The New Mutants: Classic Vol. 4 and chatting about it with a couple of people. So, in an attempt to rectify that, I figured I would do some of that today. First I would like to talk about how disappointing it was when they killed off Doug Ramsey. To me this was a wasted opportunity, he could have been one of the most effective mutants. After all his power is that he can understand all languages. Think about that for a minute. Besides, using it to translate and communicate with all the countries of the Earth and all the alien races of the Marvel Universe, he can also understand body languages (much like Batgirl before she learned to speak) of both humans and non-humans. But, he could also understand all computer languages. Just going with the computer and body language aspects would be like combining the skills of Oracle and Cassandra Cain into one character. Just doing that would have made him into one of the most badassed characters around, then you add in his powers as the best translator in the MU and you have one very powerful mutant.

Next I would like to talk about (again), how one of the things that separated the X-Men from other teams of superheroes and really made them stand out (at least for me). Was the Xavier School. As I've written on here before this is one of the worst parts of that whole House of M fiasco in my opinion. Without the school there isn't much difference between the X-Men and any of the other superhero teams and to keep this post on subject. I would like to add that one of the things that I really enjoyed back in the day about reading The New Mutants was the whole the junior varsity team vs. the varsity team rivalry between the new mutants and the X-Men, especially in the story arc of Kitty Pryde joining the New Mutants and how she felt like it was a demotion from her place on the X-Men.

Finally, I would like to spend a little time on how good this series was in its character work. From the first issue up until Rob Liefeld began working on the book you could really see the through line of the growth each character developed through out the series. From Sam becoming more comfortable as a leader to Rahne gaining more self confidence as well as becoming more comfortable in her own skin. Even the development in both Bobby and Danielle of learning to work with a team and each becoming less implusive in their actions. I could go on and on about all the things I love about this book. But, I think this is a good stopping point.

A Ranty Review

So, I finally broke down and watched the live action G.I. Joe and since seeing it I have been talking every one's ears off about how terrible this movies is. I figured I'd better write these things down here before I lose any friends or family members over my incessant nit picking of this movie. Now, It's true that I still enjoy the
80s cartoon, but I hardly call myself a die hard fan. I don't own any G.I.Joes and I've only read a handful of their comics... Still this movie was terrible and before you read ahead (just in case you haven't seen this terrible terrible movie). This review (rant) is chocked full of spoilers.

After watching I really believed that this was written as a futuristic military movie and during the second draft on of the producers thought that they could change a few names in the script slap the name G.I.Joe on it and they could collect more money and get it made easier. Watching this movie I could not find any choice the director made as being passable yet alone the correct choice. First there's the lame explanation of G.I.Joe that goes along with Duke and Ripcord's recruitment. this was so lame, I really wish more directors would get the advice Mike Baron gave me when I should him my comic book ideas. Show Don't Tell!!! They spent way to much time explain the concept of G.I. Joe when they could have saved so much time just dropping you in a la Star Wars and letting you discover this world as the plot unfolds rather than just using every military movie cliche to over explain everything. Next there's "The Baroness" whose so lame the cartoon version would pimp slap the taste out of her mouth if the two ever met.

This movie feels like the writers did absolutely zero research while making this movie. Zero. Probably the least offense is making Ripcord black. The flashbacks of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow I felt were better than the actual movie. The film makers completely ruined The Baroness, turning her for a hard as nails femme fatale who is ruthless and will betray anyone friend or foe to accomplish her goals. Into a weak brainwashed damsel in distress. Whom is rescued by her former boyfriend Duke. It's really sad that the cartoon is more brutal and has stronger characters in both the protagonists and antagonist than the movie. Seriously, the actually toned down The Baroness, Snake Eyes and Destro's origins. WTF! I repeat the toned down their origins.

Actually, compared to the 1987 movie, they toned down just about everything in this version. Now, I don't want to be one of those folks who trashes something without giving ways they could have made this a decent movie. Sadly, I feel if they would have done any of these and kept everything else the same this movie would be a keeper rather than I punishment not permitted by the Geneva Convention.

First, they could have had more Joes in the background, hell in the workout scene alone they could have had 8 or 10 non speaking extras that could be identified in some form or another. Like having a guy on the treadmill next to Scarlett with a large tattoo of the Marines emblem on his chest or a guy in a red football jersey grabbing some weights or a guy wearing a Union Calvary or a Red Socks hat picking up weights. I mean this is supposed to be an ultra elite branch of the military and they only have 5 members and one of them never leaves the office? LAME. They could have had Xamot and Tomax in a meeting with Destro just wearing business suits with Cobra tie pins and I would have been happy.

Another way is if they had not changed Snake Eyes and The Baroness' origins so much making them pansies compared to their animated doppelgangers. Hell, the girls from W.I.T.C.H. could win a tussle with these characters. The director and writer could have learned a lot if they would have approached this project the way J.J. Abrams approached Star Trek and, though I'm not much into Star Trek that movie actually made me rethink my beliefs about Abrams and his talents (or lack there of). This movie also has the problem of stealing its biggest piece of action from Team America and actually doing a worse job at it. Seriously, if you are thinking about finally seeing this movie go watch either G.I.Joe: The Movie (1987) or Team America and you will have a much more entertaining viewing experience. This movie should be used in film school as how not to make a movie and by that I don't mean as an adaption of another work or as reworking of an old franchise I mean a just a general movie. The professor and his students should have the writer(s) and director visit their classes (or attend them to learn what film making actual is) and have the students go over it scene by scene and tell them how off the mark they were in each one. I honestly believe these film makers should personally give back every dollar that this movie made to us poor saps that sat through it.

Shhhh... It's a Secret

Reading Kalinara's latest fun meme, got me to thinking about my favorite characters and to share with you fine folks about some of the secrets and/ or guilty pleasures I believe they have and enjoy. So, here ya go :)

Jubilee - Is way smarter than Kitty Pryde, but she hides it because she would rather play video games than reprogram the Danger Room.

Big Barda - Her favorite thing to do when no one is around is to play with Barbies.

Booster Gold - He has thought about trying out for American Idol, but doesn't think he has a good enough voice or that the audience has the proper respect for Blondie. His audition song would be Rapture.

Guy Gardener - Secretly wishes he could draw as well as Kyle.

Superman - would actually perfer being a farmer or a reporter rather than a superhero.

Bruce Wayne - His favorite band (though he would never admit it) is The Cardigans.

Alex Summer - Way better at crossword puzzles than his brother Scott.

Well, there you go there's my list of secrets that I think these characters are witholding from the general audience.Hope you enjoy it :)

Away My X-Men

Lately, I've been thinking about the X-Men and the different things I like about them. This train of thought then brought me to how much "House of M" really bugged me. Besides de-powering one of my favorite X-Men (the mighty and awesome Jubilee). It also really annoyed me how much they shrunk the mutant population. One of the things I dug about the X-Men pre-House of M was the variety in mutants and powers and how the different groups within the Xavier Institute. Of all the things I miss about the X-Men and their affiliated "X-Teams" the pre-House of M variety and the combinations that led to make my really miss those days. sadly, stories like House of M have become a trademark of Joe Quesada's editorial run at Marvel. After all who would of thought after this terrible story we would have the whole Civil War fiasco followed by Peter Parker selling his soul to the Devil and getting a divorce out of the deal. One the plus side it looks like they're finally undoing a couple of these stories and even though DC has been better at the major event promotions as of late. One of the things that really has been bugging me about both companies has been the whole Nothing Will Ever Be The Same!!! events. Of course, the main reason I'm not a fan of these events is because, the only thing that makes one of these events stick is wholey dependent on how good the story is. After all once another writer takes over a book (s)he is able to throw out the stuff they don't like while keeping the continuity they either like or were fans of back in the day and in teh end I guess, even us fans have the power to do that as well and in my X-Men Universe Jubes is still a mutant and the kids that starred in the X-Men Academy books are all still at the school and they all still live in New York state.

Even Buttmonkeys Have a Good Day

When I can (which is mainly when I remember too,lol). I enjoy watching Batman: The Brave and The Bold. So far, I've really enjoyed the show, I like it's light and fun tone and enjoy its pairings of Batman with wide swaths of the DCU. Through all of this the thing that most surprised me (especially, if you're a longtime reader. Hi Mom!) is that some of my favorite episodes are the ones with Aquaman in them. I have been enjoying their characterization of him quite a bit. The episode that really brought this to my attention was the one in which Aquaman is supposed to be on vacation with Mera and Arther Jr. and he keeps sneaking off to fight crime. Plus, it always brings a smile to my face when I hear his catchphrase, "Outrageous!!!" something about that just really tickles me in a happy place.

WOW! What a year

Although, the official anniversary of this blog isn't for anther couple of days. I figured I would post about it today. When I first started this blog, i didn't think it would go on for this long especially, since I set a rule for myself to post Monday thru Friday, and although I haven't been able to keep up that amount postings. I'm still enjoying the forum this gives me to talk about comics without watch the eyes of my friends glaze over. I still have no clear no long term plans for Monkey Knife Fight. However, I do plan on posting more than I have in the last few months and to keep this blog going as long as I have something to say about comics and other nerdy pursuits. I have really enjoyed this last year and the positive feedback I have received from writing on here. Hopefully, this year will have a lot less drama and I can stick to an at least semi-regular schedule when it comes to posting. Though, I have dropped the 5 day schedule permanently I will do my best to post more than once or twice a month. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who reads Monkey Knife Fight as well as the bloggers that have linked to me, especially, the guys that run Comics Make No Sense and Random Happenstance, I was a huge fan of their blogs before finally, getting up the courage to start my own and have my little ol' blog on their blog roll, feels me with pride. Thanks to everyone who has read these posts and to everyone who has left a comment and don't worry I will be returning to my mocking of Aquaman shortly (I haven't forgotten about doing so,lol). With all that said. On to a new year of Monkey Knife Fight....

Fool's Gold: A review

For my first post of the new year I thought I would try something different and try to write out a review for one of the books I have really enjoyed. I didn't really set out with any master plan but I just finished re-reading Fool's Gold by Amy Reeder Hadley and thought it would be fun to write up a review of it and hopefully get a couple of people to check it. But, before we get to the book itself I should probably give you my faithful readers a little bit of background on how I came to be in possession of this fine book. Last year I went to Comic Fest (for the first time) here in colorful Colorado and while I was there one of the the writer/artists I met was the creator of this tome, Amy Reeder Hadley. It was pretty cool, though I must confess I wasn't all that familiar with her work before meeting her and really the thing that really piqued my interest in her work was that she had her sketch book open for folks to come by and check out and when I got up to her table it was opened to some of the Sailor Moon sketches she had done and in high school I was a huge Sailor Moon fan, no matter which channel it moved to or what time it aired (even when it started airing here at 6 a.m.) I always tuned in and would be totally bummed if I missed an episode. So, back to the story I flipped through her Sailor Moon drawings and remarked on how much I used to love that series and after chatting for awhile I decided I needed to get some of her work, so I picked out a copy of the first book of her Fool's Gold series and she was nice enough to sign it and draw a neat little sketch for me in the inside cover. So, these facts along with her being a native Coloradan like myself made it extremely hard for me not to like this book upon my first reading of it and if you ever get the chance to meet her Amy Reeder Hadley is a total sweetheart. As you could probably tell by reading this so far I was quite biased in my first reading of this story. Well, since that time (nearly a year since then) a lot of things have gone on in my life some good, some bad, some completely awesome and some completely terrible and the other night as I was getting ready for bed and trying to find something to read before dozing off I figured I go with this story, and boy am I glad I did. Now I'm not really the target audience for this book seeing how I'm a 30 year old hetero male, rather than a teenage girl which is definitely the target audience of this manga. However, even through this second reading I still enjoyed the story quite a lot if not more. If you haven't read the story and I encourage you all to check it out. The story starts off with the main character Penny a fledgling fashion designer who is starting her sophomore year of high school and dealing with her best friend Katie dating a complete jerk whom cheats on her and how Penny keeps trying to get Katie to leave this tool. While reading about pyrite for her Geology class she stumbles upon a classification for the jerks she sees Katie and all the other girls in school fall for and it's during this Geology class the teacher asks for a volunteer to head up the Geology club. This gives Penny the idea to use the cover of the Geology club to get the girls of her school to stop chasing the jerks and look for nice guys to date. Now as a nice guy (and I'm not just that I have references)I enjoyed the idea of girls seeing through the slickness of the douchebags they usually go for(or atleast, did in high school)and seeking out the nice guys in school. Another thing I really loved about this story were the outfits Penny wears,she designs and makes all her own clothes and some of the designs Amy comes up with for the character are just so cool. Plus it doesn't hurt that she mostly wears dresses and if there is one thing I love more than anything else it is seeing a girl in a dress and speaking of the clothes the costumes Mrs. Hadley draws for the school Halloween dance, are just awesome. This story has just gotten better since I've read it again and after reading it the first time I went out and got a copy of Madame Xanadu which Mrs. Hadley also did the artwork for and the issue I picked up by sheer coincidence happened to be the last issue with Amy Hadley doing the artwork on before a new team took over the book. Well, I don't know if this is the best review you'll read for this book. But, I just wanted to share with you fine folks out there on the Internets and Interwebs how much I truly enjoyed reading this book and hopefully turning some of you on to Amy Reeder Hadley's talents as a writer and artist. Plus, I think I may have promised a little more in depth talk on this subject in my posts way back when I first commented on here about the fun time I had at Comic Fest all those months ago.

I'm dreaming of a geeky christmas

The other day I was watching the Justice League Unlimited episode "Kid's Stuff" if you haven't seen it I highly recommend giving it a watch. Anyways, while I was watching it I started thinking about how awesome it would be if they made a Justice League Kids cartoon akin to the Tiny Titans comics but starring the big seven of the Justice League. This could be such a great series. You've got a boy scout in Superboy, a kid with serious ADD in The Flash, the overly serious Batman (Batboy?) the bossy and powerful Wonder Girl, a geek Green Lantern and weird little J'onn J'onnz and the buttmonkey Aquaman (Aquaboy?). You could even have most of the plots being how the Legion of Doom is trying to control the neighborhood or bust up the Justice League's lemonade stand. Hilarity ensues.

Hopefully this won't be the last post of the year

Once again, I feel the need to apologize to the loyal few of you out there whom read my blog. I have been woefully neglectful of you these several months. Hopeful if god(s)'s willing. I will be posting on here regularly after the new year. I may have done a similar post to this on in the past. But, I feel it is time again to do a list of the Justice League I would have if I was writing the book. As some of you who have followed this blog for awhile may remember (or may not due to my sporadic posting) I am a big fan of lists. I enjoy creating reading them pairing them down. In short I am a big fan of lists and if no further delay here is my JLA team.

Superman - Even though I'm not a huge fan of Supes, in my mind there is no better leader in the DCU then the big blue boy scout.

Batman - He's Batman, he has a plan for everything. Hell, he's even got a badass singing voice (anyone remember way back when I posted that vid of him singing "Am I Blue"?)

Guy Gardner - Every JLA team needs a Green Lantern and since he's my favorite emerald guarding, he's on the team (ah the fun of nepotism).

Booster Gold - I really enjoyed his time with Bats and Guy back in the Justice League International books. As well as enjoying his current solo title and if nothing else he adds some good comic relief. Plus I kinda like the idea that with this team Kal-El could be a good role model for the goldster and help him become a true hero (in any time stream).

Stargirl - After all these years of having her being on the JSA roster and the superhero game become a bit old hat for her. I think it would be fun to move Courtney up to the majors with a spot on the League. Plus she could fill the Jubilee role on the team :)

Zatanna - I'm a big fan of Zatanna (as well as her costume,lol). Because of this and the fact that on a team like this you need someone who is able to handle the magic wielding foes the league occasionally goes up against she is a good person to have on the team (as long as she promises not to mind wipe her colleagues that is,lol)

Oracle - For while there she was the eyes and ears of Gotham City and I feel that her skills and computer suave would be ideal for use on the watchtower (yeah, in my book the watch tower also makes a comeback).

Wildcat - He's already taught most of these folks to fight anyways. Why not have the old, tough as nails hard fighting, hard drinking sonabitch that is Ted Grant on the team. Plus, it would be fun doing stories where he bitchslaps Lex Luthor or Mr. Freeze.

S.T.R.I.P.E. - All I got to say on this one is that he's a badass Mecha. He's on the team and if nothing else it would be fun seeing him and Stargirl interacting with the rest of the League as he tries to protect her and carry out his role as her step dad. While sitting next to Bats, Guy and, Booster.

So, there you have it my Justice League. Feel free to mock me for my choices. But, I think this team would really make for a fun and enjoyable book. i could even foresee Guy and Courtney becoming partners in crime not literally, but in getting some of the other teammates to loosen up (I'm looking at you Batman).

Something New

Every once in a while a ponder why I like the things I like. For instance in music I've come to the conclusion that the most important things in the equating of whether or not I like a song are how good the baselines are and how the beat moves me. A couple days a go I was pondering this question about the comics I read as well. I think the reason I get on these tracks of thought are because my tastes are fairly eclectic. So, I was thinking about what the common themes were in the comics I read and the answer I came up with were mainly fun, adventure, with a good soap opera in place. Which is probably the reason why lately I've been really enjoying reading the old issues of Bat Lash and The Spirit.

Wow! Two posts in one month?!?!

So, lately I've been reading the Showcase collections of The Unknown Soldier and Bat Lash and while reading them I started thinking about how awesome an Unknown Soldier movie would be. This Would make such a dope WWII movie. It has everything, a protagonist whom disguises himself to look like who ever he needs to be, Nazi punching, the pathos of a man who lost his face in battle. This could be the best WWII movie ever.



Seriously, just the tagline of "The right man in the right place can change the outcome." Put that on the movie poster with a darkened silhouette of the Unknown Soldiers bandaged up face and it would be just like printing money. Looking at Bat Lash however, I think his adventures would work better on television, despite it being a western I actually think a Bat Lash TV show would do really well, especially on USA. That channel would be perfect of the gentleman rogue whom trouble finds whenever he walks into a new town set up the series long story of him looking to exact revenge on the guys who killed his family and a girl and town of the week and you get ratings gold!



Well, those are me thoughts on a couple ideas for TV and movies.

Meet the new director of S.H.E.I.L.D.

With Nick Fury M.I.A. (again) and Disney aquirring Marvel. I now present you with the new S.H.E.I.L.D. Director...

Kim Possible