The New 52

Well, I've made it to another milestone, turning 52 today.  I had a wonderful day, starting with Vicki joining me for my Tuesday yoga class, and ending with the two of us watching one of the last House M.D. episodes together on Netflix (just 3 to go, now).  In between those two thrills, I also got homemade brownies, a new hoodie and T-shirt, take-out fish & chips for dinner, another awesome viewing of The Avengers on Blu-Ray and even a Rangers win over the hated Islanders (which I could've watched on TV but opted for the movie instead).  I don't think the day could've been any better, really, thanks to my lovely wife.

This Year's SuperBowl Made Up For Last Year's

Last year's 'contest' between the Broncos and Seahawks was over well before halftime, with Seattle making Peyton Manning look like an amateur early and often (starting with a safety on the first snap of the game, if memory serves).  It was a snoozer that we gave up on early in the 3rd quarter.

This year's big show between Seattle (again) and New England was much, much better.  It came down to the final few seconds, looking like the Seahawks were going to take the lead with less than 30 seconds left.  Then Russell Wilson threw an interception in the end zone and Tom Brady got his 4th SuperBowl ring just when it seemed certain that he'd be denied.  The final two minutes of game time featured a couple of unbelievable plays, the latter of which was the pick made by Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler on that final Wilson throw.  On that same Seattle drive, however, Butler managed to break up a catch attempt by Jermaine Kearse, resulting in the ball bouncing around but somehow never quite hitting the ground before Kearse reached out and pulled it in while on his back.  It was one of the most unusual and impressive completions I've ever seen, particularly given the significance of it, in terms of setting (final minutes in a close SuperBowl), yardage (long) and the fact that a second New England defender had a chance to knock the ball away, but didn't.

All in all, this year's was one of the classic SuperBowls.  Therefore it deserved some classic commercials, and apparently it got at least one (besides the cool Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, of course):



Ah, Walter White... gone but certainly not forgotten!

As 2014 Ends, Let's Look Into The Future (Of Movies)

Specifically, I've been meaning, for awhile, to post a calendar of upcoming films that I'm looking forward to or am otherwise intrigued by.  These are mostly superhero flicks but with a few other types thrown in for good measure.

2015

May 1st - Avengers: Age of Ultron - This is probably my most eagerly-anticipated entry on this list, as Ultron has long been one of the scariest Avengers villains, and of course the first Joss Whedon-directed film was unbelievably cool.  The fact that they've retained all of the original characters and added Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Watch makes me very happy.  I sincerely hope not to be disappointed by the sequel, and for now I'm confidently placing my faith in Joss.

June 12th - Jurassic World - I want this to be good, even though the previous Jurassic offering was pretty crappy.  The original, on the other hand, like the book it was based on, was quite excellent.  I'll wait and see what the early reviews on this one are like before committing any cash to it.

July 1st - Terminator: Genisys - I'm a sucker for the Terminator franchise, having seen each of the films many times and sticking with the TV show right to the bitter end.  This film came about after the rights were sold off to the highest bidder, I believe, which makes it an interesting experiment, if nothing else.

July 17th - Ant Man - Marvel Studios can seem to do no wrong lately, as even Guardians of the Galaxy was much better than I'd expected.  I liked GotG well enough as I watched it, though I've yet to have any desire to see it again.  I expect Ant Man may fall into the same category, although anything with Evangeline Lily in it usually warrants a second look, so who knows.

August 7th - Fantastic Four - This is either going to be an utter train wreck or something quite... fantastic, I think.  It's a reboot, which isn't bad in and of itself considering how lackluster the two previous FF movies were.  However, I've read just enough about its setup and approach to cause me to scratch my head, as it doesn't appear to stick at all closely to what's been done in the 50+ years of comic stories.  If I had to put money down right now, I'd put it on train wreck.  Happy to be proven wrong, though.

December 18th - Star Wars: The Force Awakens - As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the prequels, I clearly don't have the highest standards (or expectations, at least) when it comes to Star Wars installments.  I personally consider The Empire Strikes Back to be the peak of the franchise, which seems to be a pretty common stance, but I also find the original Star Wars to be fairly blah.  Plus I remember well how excited the fans of the original trilogy were when the first trailer for The Phantom Menace debuted, and we all know how that worked out.  But having said all that, I'm mildly excited at the thought of a new Star Wars movie to take us out of 2015.

2016

March 4th - Prometheus 2 - I'd call the existence of this film and its release date both tentative at this point, because neither have been officially confirmed.  However, I really, really want to see Ridley Scott deliver a sequel to 2012's Prometheus.  While I readily acknowledge the many flaws in that feature, I'm not sure I could love it any more than I do!  Vicki and I went to the theatre to see it twice, something we almost never do.  And then we promptly watched it a third time as soon as the Blu Ray for it came out.  I think we may have even seen it again since then, which would make four viewings in just two-and-a-half years!  Like the video game Alien: Isolation which came out this year and became my obsession for awhile, Prometheus totally scratched the itch that I have for anything Alien-related, and did it very well.

March 25th - Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice - A film that pits Superman against Batman, with Wonder Woman somehow involved as well, and which is a lead in to the first ever Justice League feature?  My drool bucket runneth over!  I liked but didn't always love Man of Steel, so that's a bit worrisome considering that its director and star have carried over to this, but maybe Zack Snyder can rise to the occasion this time around.  And Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman, while raising a lot of eyebrows when it was announced, could end up being brilliant considering that Affleck is often a very good actor.  I'm frustrated that this film is still almost 15 months away, considering that it's been filming for ages already, but if taking their time adds to the quality of the final product, I'm all for it.  In terms of anticipation on my part, BvS is nearly as high as the 2nd Avengers flick.

May 6th - Captain America: Civil War - Did I mention my drool bucket was quickly filling up?  The second Cap film, The Winter Soldier, was mind-blowingly good and didn't have a bad scene or dull moment in it.  So any sequel with the same production crew is sure to grab my attention right out of the gate, and then adding Robert Downey, Jr to the mix is just incredible.  To think that just a few weeks after we get Batman fighting Superman on the big screen we're going to be similarly treated to Cap versus Iron Man, I sometimes wonder if this is all just a dream I'm having back in 1978.  I honestly wouldn't have believed, back then, that we'd ever get this many high quality treatments of superhero stories at the movie theatre.

May 22nd - X-Men: Apocalypse - The last two X-Men films, First Class and Days of Future Past, upped the ante on the franchise something crazy.  Each of them put the original three to shame, and I say that as someone who liked that first trilogy and thought the second part was especially good.  Therefore, my expectations are high on Brian Singer's next foray into mutant territory, even though I couldn't really care less about Apocalypse (the villain) as he was introduced into the comics after I'd stopped following anything X-related.

August 5th - Suicide Squad - The comic series by this name that started in the 80s and ran for several years was a real sleeper.  It didn't have any hype behind it and I actually ignored it for the longest time, until I started hearing some of the buzz around it.  When I finally checked it out, what I quickly realized was that the strange concept behind it - a secret government agency blackmails imprisoned supervillains into running potentially-suicidal missions for it by promising them their freedom if they succeed or instant death if they try to make their escape - was actually the secret to its appeal.  Many of the members of the team were third- or even fourth-tier villains, and therefore the writers could do virtually anything with them over the course of a story / mission.  The upcoming film, on the other hand, seems to be leaning toward bigger name villains - Lex Luthor, the Joker, Harley Quinn, for example - and that probably means there won't be quite as much freedom for the characters to be killed off, maimed, or otherwise damaged.  Still, with some of the interesting actors involved (including Jared Leto), I can see a lot of potential here.

November 4th - Doctor Strange - I've become a huge Benedict Cumberbatch fan following his three seasons (and counting) on Sherlock.  At this point, he pretty much walks on water as far as I'm concerned, so while he wouldn't have been my first thought for playing Stephen Strange, I can certainly see him pulling it off.  Strange is one of those characters who's always been hit-and-miss for me, as most comic writers who've tackled him haven't really known what to do with a Master of the Mystic Arts.  Given Marvel Studios' recent track record, though, I'll extend them the benefit of the doubt and assume that won't be the case with his big screen debut.

December ?? - Avatar 2 - I loved Avatar, so I welcome more magic from Canada's own James Cameron.  Bring it on, I say!

2017

June 23rd - Wonder Woman - Now we're two-and-a-half years into the future, and about all we really know about this feature film is that Gal Gadot will play the Amazonian warrior and Canadian Michelle MacLaren will direct her in it.  I guess we'll all have a much better idea where Warners plans to go with the character once Batman V Superman drops, but until then I'll remain cautiously optimistic that the greatest superheroine of all time will get good treatment at their hands.

July 28th - Thor: Ragnarok - With 2014's Sexiest Man Alive in the starring role, what's not to like about a third Thor movie?  (The ladies who get dragged to these things by their boyfriends and husbands deserve at least that much, don't they?)  The first two features were solidly entertaining fare, and that's what I expect from Ragnarok.  That title (meaning the end of the world for the Norse gods) certainly suggests that it could be the final installment, making room for other Marvel characters to get films.  I'm OK either way, personally.

November 3rd - The Black Panther - Speaking of new characters, T'Challa is an amazingly rich one to tell stories about, being an African prince, spending time as an Avengers, and having been married to Storm (of the X-Men) for awhile, to name but a few elements.  I have no idea which parts of his history they'll choose to explore in the screen version, but I look forward to finding out.

November 17th - Justice League Part 1 - A film so great, they had to... split it in half?  What the -?  Oh never mind, it's what all the cool kids are doing these days (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Hobbit, etc, etc, etc) so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  My initial reaction to this news, I'll admit, was excitement.  After all, getting two films has to be better than one, right?  More room to tell a more complete story, to focus on character development or just have more cool action scenes.  At least in theory.  I've dreamed of a big budget JLA film since I was a kid, and in a little less than three  years it looks like I'll finally get my wish.  Please please please don't blow it, Warners!

December ?? - Avatar 3 - Yes, assuming # 2 is good.

2018

March 23rd - The Flash - Doesn't he already have a TV show?  Oh wait, this is the completely different version that's in the Justice League movie, which shouldn't be at all confusing to fans.  Hmmm.  Reserving judgement on this because... it's still more than four years away, for crying out loud!

May 4th - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 - Again with the breaking the story up over two films!  Still, it's Avengers, and it'll probably rock!

July 6th - Captain Marvel - Not to be confused with the Captain Marvel who says Shazam! to change between Billy Batson and his superhero identity, this is Marvel Comics' current iteration: a strong female character who has a ton of potential.  I love seeing non-white and/or non-male heroes being developed, and both Black Panther and Captain Marvel (not to mention Wonder Woman from Warners) are great steps in that direction.

July 27th - Aquaman - Another Justice League spinoff, with more still to come.  They've cast one of the Game of Thrones actors for this role, and he was fine in GoT so... sure, let's see what he's got!  Done right, the king of the seven seas can be a fantastic vehicle for telling great stories.

November 2nd - The Inhumans - Fans of the SHIELD TV show have already seen the seeds being planted for this, I think, as the blue alien that Coulson and the rest have discovered is actually a Kree.  They're the alien race who created the Inhumans in the comics, you see, which is likely where that storyline is headed.  Rumour has it that the Inhumans basically replace the X-Men (or mutants in general) in the Marvel TV and film universe, since they can't use any of the mutant characters who 20th Century Fox currently own (in terms of cinematic rights).

December ?? - Avatar 4 - I'm sensing a pattern here, perhaps inspired by Peter Jackson and a little trilogy you may have heard of, called The Lord of the Rings...

2019

April 5th - Shazam - Hey, we were just talking about you!  My guess is that Warners will call the character 'Shazam' rather than 'Captain Marvel' in order to avoid confusion with the other one.  But they really shouldn't, as this Cap was Cap long before Marvel Comics even existed.  In the comics, Shazam was the old wizard who told Billy Batson to say his name (SHAZAM!) whenever he wanted to change between boy and superhero.  Anyway, I hope they don't blow this too badly.

May 3rd - Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 - I can hardly wait to see what kind of cliffhanger we were left with at the end of Part 1!

June 14th - Justice League Part 2 - Ditto, although this one at least comes out on a great date!

2020 (No, I'm not kidding!)

April 3rd - Cyborg - Another Justice League member, leaving only one more to go...

June 19th - Green Lantern - ... and here he is!  Not Ryan Reynolds this time around, thankfully, but probably Hal Jordan once again.  This means that all of the JL heroes will get their own chance to start or continue franchises... Wow.  That's a lot of faith in the brand, on the part of Warners.

Whew.

And this expansive list doesn't even touch on the upcoming Netflix series starring Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and them teaming up as the Defenders, nor any of the other TV shows, some of which have turned out be great.

Christmas Haul 2014

Vicki and I took it easy on the gifts this year, limiting ourselves to about 4 or 5 gifts each (which, believe it or not, is a major reduction over some of the excesses of past years).  Tammy's job is presently keeping her so busy that she couldn't get away to visit us during the season, as well, so that's added to the low-key atmosphere around Christmas 2014.

Having said that, though, I did receive several lovely presents from Vicki, including one that especially surprised and delighted me: the limited edition Breaking Bad "barrel" collection on Blu-Ray!  I had held off on picking that up because it's always been very pricey whenever I've seen it, but she managed to find it at a discount and I couldn't be happier. I'm very excited about watching the series all the way through again one of these days, and now I know that I can.

I also got several books that look interesting and a renewal of my PlayStation+ membership, which will make both Boneman and I happy.  Vicki has a couple new jigsaw puzzles to put together, some reading material and a pair of gift certificates to spend.  So we both made out very well indeed!

The Perils Of An All-Digital Movie Future

Here's an interesting article on how the movement from physical film to digital could be setting up a disaster for the movie industry in terms of archival.  It's quite the ironic turnabout, as digital was seen as the salvation from decaying film prints of the past.

I can relate to this personally as I was recently thinking about the VHS tape we have that contains home movies from the 90s, which I'd be hard pressed to watch right now as I'm not sure we have a working VCR.  I would guess, tho, that the explosion of people recording video on their phones over the past decade will likely lead to a cottage industry of format converting utilities, as there will be millions (billions?) of customers out there who desperately want to retain access to their children's music recitals, Christmas mornings and stupid human tricks.

The Latest On The Preacher TV Series

It seems like the project that will never happen: getting Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's amazing Preacher comic series adapted to either television or film.  There have been several aborted attempts, and it's still very much up in the air as to whether the latest one will fly, but at least now a pilot has been ordered for the proposed AMC series.  I still have my doubts that anyone can successfully translate the material out of its original medium and deal with the inevitable push back from religious types, but time will tell.

My love for Preacher is nearly boundless, and it's one of the very few long comic series (75 issues) that I've re-read multiple times.  It's also on my short list of comics that I won't be selling as long as I still own any comics.  That's how good it is.

Twin Peaks Returning From Oblivion

It seems somehow fitting that right after the 10th anniversary of Lost's debut on TV, we get this news that Twin Peaks, the original "full of potential but not really paying off its many mysteries" headscratcher is being brought back by its creator, David Lynch. 

Vicki and I initially heard about Twin Peaks a couple weeks after it launched (right around the time we got together) and were then lucky enough to catch re-runs of the episodes we'd missed.  To say we were hooked would be putting it mildly!  But the honeymoon (with the show, anyway) was somewhat short-lived, as the series seemed to promise so much while delivering so little.  I think we stuck with it to the end, but I can't say for sure as I don't recall how it wrapped up.  I'm certainly curious to see what Lynch will do with this opportunity to give us "answers and a satisfying conclusion."  I guess we'll have to wait to see what Canadian channel will pick it up, of course.

Another Ode To Lost, 10 Years Later

I'm still slowly making my way through this one, savouring every point that Andy Greenwald makes along the way, but this line in particular really spoke to me:

"What really rankles is that nothing ever took [Lost]'s place."

I feel the same frustration.  Despite there being lots of other great shows like Breaking Bad, The Bridge (original Swedish/Norwegian, not the crappy American one) and True Detective, to name but a few, I can't think of a single "genre" program that's recaptured the overwhelming sense of awe and wonder that Lost brought with its launch a decade ago.  Fringe looked promising at first but fizzled fast; Doctor Who has momentarily flashes of brilliance, at best; and those are among the best there's been over the past ten years.

I think it may soon be time to dive back in and re-watch Lost from start to finish, just like we said we were going to do after it wrapped up.  

10 Years After The Launch of Lost

Here's a nice reflection on the 10th anniversary of the debut of Lost by Jeff "Doc" Jensen.  I think we all owe a debt of thanks to that much-loved, somewhat-flawed series, as it really did prove that audiences will invest a lot of time and energy into a TV show if you make it worth their while.  Breaking Bad, for example, got great mileage out of that and ultimately, probably, paid its fans more handsomely for their efforts.

Amazing Open Letter To Ferguson Police Chief

David Simon, best known as the creator of the TV show, The Wire, has published an open letter to the police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, where for the past several days community members have been protesting the police shooting of a (black) unarmed young man, Michael Brown. It's a brilliant composition, calling out the decision of the police force to hide the identity of the shooter as the cowardly, hypocritical move that it is.

"If Ferguson police can’t protect one of their own — a fellow officer who is armed, who is allied with an entire department of armed comrades, who are themselves buttressed by their jurisdiction’s prosecutorial arm, who have the full weight of the law at hand in support of that officer — then how in hell are they going to protect me when I go down to the courthouse and testify?  How can they ask me, an ordinary citizen with no armament, alliance or authority, to stand up in open court and be identified?"

The whole thing deserves a read.

The Many Dimensions Of Robin Williams

I've been on an on-again, off-again fan of Robin Williams since I first saw him playing Mork the alien on Happy Days before spinning off into Mork & Mindy, way back in my adolescent days.  I loved him in Awakenings, Dead Poets Society and Goodwill Hunting, though at other times his schtick would completely take me out of a film.

Vicki and I were eating dinner at Crabby Joe's this week when I looked up and saw the TV screen showing CNN with the banner, "Breaking News: Robin Williams Dead at 63."  I actually said, "What the Hell?" to Vicki then, which was kind of cruel as she couldn't see what I was looking at.  Within minutes, of course, incredulity turned to realization and sadness, as usually happens in these situations.

In the wake of his death, we've learned all kinds of things that most of us would prefer to have never learned, such as the fact that one of the funniest people on the planet suffered from deep bouts of depression, and that his death was likely a suicide.  Maybe something good will come of it, though, as mental health is a topic that desperately needs to be discussed more and stigmatized less.

On a more positive note, I saw this wonderful article today, in which it's revealed that Mr. Williams required that all events and jobs that wanted to book him also commit to hiring a certain number of homeless people to work on it, as well.  Imagine that: a celebrity who made it a condition of his employment that some of the less fortunate members of society also benefit.  And considering that I've never heard this before now, I'm guessing he didn't exactly broadcast the fact, either.  Wow.  That's a good man for you.

Another Example Of Comcastic Customer Service

If you haven't already heard about Ryan Block (co-founder of Engadget) and his wife being harangued by a Comcrap service representative when they tried to cancel their service, please do so now!  Yes, the cable company has offered up an apology after the exchange went viral last week, but unfortunately for them, it's not nearly as unusual an occurrence as they'd have people believe.  And when I read how the annoying agent told Mr and Mrs Block they can always go to a Comcrap retail outlet to cancel their service, I wanted to punch somebody.  Too many bad memories of our recent visit to Hell!  I hate to admit it, but I'm slowly starting to realize why so many people pirate their shows instead of paying for a cable subscription... at least in the States.

Must See Theatre: Roller Derby Saved My Soul

Three years ago, Vicki and I took in Hamilton Fringe and one of our favourite of its shows was called Roller Derby Saved My Soul.  Its creator and star, Nancy Kenny, was a delight to watch as she brought the two female leads to life in the form of a pair of very different sisters.  Her script was full of pop culture references to Buffy, Xena, Wonder Woman and other iconic figures, and the physicality of Ms Kenny's performance was amazing... she actually does a good portion of the play on roller skates, motoring around the stage at a good clip as the story, and her derby skills, develop before our eyes.

This summer, Nancy has brought Roller Derby Saved My Soul to London, as well as several upcoming Fringe Festivals, including Toronto and Montreal.  I was fortunate enough to get a lunch date with her today so I could ask her a few questions about how the play came to be and what it's like to do a one-woman show on roller skates.  She told me she'd been inspired by seeing a one-man show back in 2009 and had decided, more or less on the spot, to write something of that sort for herself.  Not too long after that resolution she happened to see a newspaper article about a local roller derby league and was intrigued by what she read.  Several months of in-arena research and rough draft-writing later, Roller Derby Saved My Soul was born.

The play has been tweaked in some interesting ways since we saw it in 2011, but it's still the tale of Amy and June, two sisters with almost nothing in common.  And it continues to overflow with laugh-out-loud moments, powerful stunts and a terrific all-round performance by Ms. Kenny.  I was able to get out to see the new and updated version last week while Vicki was busy doing some volunteer work, and we're going to see it together later this week.  It's just that good!

And don't let the title fool you: while RDSMS celebrates the world of roller derby in its own funny way, you definitely don't have to be a fan of that sport to thoroughly enjoy Nancy Kenny's creation.  Everything you need to know about it comes out over the course of the hour, and (as Bill Cosby used to say), if you're not careful, you might just learn something while you're at it!

There are three performances of the show still to come this week before the tour moves on:

Tonight @ 8:30
Thu night @ 10:00
Fri night @  7:00

All of them are at the McManus Studio (downstairs at the Grand Theatre on Richmond) and tickets are $10 at the door, although you'll also need to spend $6 on a Fringe Button (also at the door) if it's your first Fringe show of the year (all the proceeds from the ticket sales go to the performers, so the button money pays for the venues and other expenses).  Even at $16 per person, this show will over-deliver, big-time, on the laughs and thrills, trust me.

Don't miss this opportunity to see a truly wonderful one-hour show!
 

John Oliver's Takedown Of The Climate Change "Debate"

I really miss John Oliver since he left The Daily Show to star in his own weekly comedy program, Last Week Tonight.  He clearly showed just how talented he was during Jon Stewart's summer-long sabbatical last year (to film a movie in Iran) so it's no wonder the British comic was given his own show shortly thereafter.

Anyway, in case you haven't seen it, Oliver did a hilarious bit on climate change and the false equivalency that most media reports give to both sides of the "debate" as to whether it's man-made or not.  If you haven't already seen what he did, you should definitely check it out.

Lost And The Operational Theme Problem

Here's a really good article by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, one of the people responsible for the much-missed Lost TV show, that sheds a lot of light on why some television programs work while others clearly don't.  I'd never looked at it in quite this way before, but it makes perfect sense to me: the characters on the show all have to be directed along the same "operational theme" axis in order to propel the episodes forward in a consistent and compelling manner.  It's the sort of thing that's obvious once it's pointed out to you, but maybe not before that.  And it's also very much in line with the kind of thinking that I put into each of my novels, though I've now got new insights on the topic to consider.

Big News: Colbert To Replace David Letterman On Late Show

As a one-time fan of David Letterman (back in his NBC days) and a big-time fan of Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report, today's news that the latter funnyman is taking over the former's spot on The Late Show is both exciting and worrisome.  Colbert's on-screen persona as a staunch conservative buffoon is, presumably, not the one taking over the hosting role on CBS.  It'll be the real Stephen Colbert, I would imagine, sitting behind the desk, rather than the satirical character he first developed on The Daily Show.  If so, it's exciting to think that we'll get to know the real man, but sad to consider losing the great figure he spent so many years perfecting.  I guess we'll have to wait and see just how it all plays out, though.

A Perfect Day In Toronto

On Monday of this week Vicki and I headed to Toronto for the day.  I had been asked to get a high resolution scan of my Watchmen page for inclusion in an upcoming over-sized hardcover book of Watchmen artwork being published by comic company IDW.  They periodically release "coffee table books" featuring original art that's of particular interest to fans, and Watchmen certainly qualifies in that category (it's often referred to as "the Citizen Kane of comic books").  The editor of the art book, Scott Dunbier, had put me in touch with Toronto comic artist J Bone, whose work I'd recently enjoyed in the Spirit/Rocketeer 4-issue miniseries from IDW, and who had a high-res scanner that I could use.  Since we were going to Toronto to get that done, we invited Tammy and Ryan to meet us for dinner later in the day, and just like that: we had a day-trip planned!

I wasn't sure what to expect when we got to the artist's apartment, as I'd never met him before or even read an interview with him.  Any concerns we had, though, were completely wiped away in the first few minutes of the visit.  J greeted us at the door with a huge smile and made us feel completely at home.  His apartment was amazing: walls of bookshelves filled with graphic novels, art books, movie DVDs, and action figures of all kinds.  In other words, our kind of place!  Before long, J and I were geeking out on various comic and movie topics, and then he and Vicki realized they had classic Sci Fi books in common, and off they went in that direction.  J turned out to be one of the nicest and friendliest comic pros we've ever met, and we've met a lot in Chicago and elsewhere over the years.

More than an hour after we got there, we all remembered we were supposed to be scanning some artwork, and so we got busy with that.  Then it was more chatting and swapping stories, and before we knew it, we'd taken up two hours of J's time and Tammy & Ryan were waiting for us at the nearby restaurant.  Oops...  It'd been way too much fun and neither of us wanted to leave, but we had other fun to get to and J had artwork to finish for a deadline.  Vicki thought to grab a photo before we took off, though:

And we didn't leave empty-handed, as J very kindly gave me the first 3 issues of his current Image series with James Robinson, The Saviors.  I've since read and enjoyed them very much, and will be picking up all of the future issues at the store as they come out.  Yay: yet another creator-owned Image title for me to happily support!

We capped the day off with a wonderful dinner at a pizza place Tammy recommended, getting to spend a couple of hours with two of our favourite people.  Lots more excellent, non-stop conversation ensued about work, movies, TV shows and whatever else came to mind.

And then we braved a couple of white-outs on the 403 and 401 before making it back here safely, much to Vicki's relief (I was the one driving and yet my knuckles weren't white).

Definitely one of our best days, thanks to J, Tammy & Ryan!

American Version Of Broadchurch Coming

As Bleeding Cool reports, an Americanization of the great British series Broadchurch is being filmed, with David Tennant reprising his dysfunctional cop role while Breaking Bad's Anna Gunn takes over as the female detective.  This version is apparently called Gracepoint, presumably the name of the small community where the murder takes place, as was the case with Broadchurch.  The original UK series was excellent, with only the revelation of the killer's identity and motivation at the very end being a little weak.  Tennant was outstanding in it, and of course I'm a huge fan of Anna Gunn and her years as Skyler White on Breaking Bad.  So this new miniseries looks extremely appealing, and one of the few compelling reasons for me to invest myself in a new Fox show in the fall.

P.S. Thanks to Tammy for encouraging Vicki, Emma and me to give Broadchurch a chance when it showed up on Showcase last year.

AMC May Yet Bring Us A Preacher TV Series

Anyone who's read the comic series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon knows just how amazing Preacher really is... And yet every attempt to bring it to the big or small screen has seemed cursed up to now.  Nevertheless, AMC is still trying to figure out a way to insert Jesse Custer and friends into its Breaking Bad-less TV lineup, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.  For those who think that The Walking Dead was the coolest concept to ever come out of a comic book, Preacher could easily blow that misconception out of the water if it were done right.  It's chock-full of colourful characters and unexpected plot twists that blew my mind when I was reading it in the 90s, and I'd dearly love to see how it works as a TV series.

Lou Reed, Neil Gaiman And The Art Of Interviewing

Following the news of Lou Reed's death over the weekend, there's been lots of conversation about the man, as usually happens when a celebrity dies.  My own 'relationship' with the singer is extremely limited, to put it mildly.  I enjoyed a few of his popular songs, including "Sweet Jane" by Reed and The Velvet Underground, which Tammy introduced me to several years ago (and which has been covered quite a few times over the past forty years).

By far the most interesting thing I've read out of this current flurry of Reed-mania is Neil Gaiman's interview with Lou from 1992.  I'm a firm believer that there's an art to conducting a good interview, and it's a skill that seems largely lacking among those who do the most interviews.  I used to love Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show style back in the 70s and 80s because he not only asked interesting questions of his guests, but he also went to the places that you wanted him to go, even if you didn't know it until it happened.  By the time Snyder was done with his subject, you understood the person (rather than the persona) in ways you never would had anyone else been asking the questions.

Neil's talk with Lou Reed is fascinating in a different way, though.  The article that precedes the interview provides the perfect scene-setting to allow you to understand how big a deal it was for the writer to land that gig, as well as to observe the slow, steady transformation that unfolds in the singer's attitude toward his interviewer.  You can track Reed's growing appreciation for the intelligence and insight behind the questions, and the openness that Gaiman elicits out of him in response is extraordinary for such a short conversation.

It's a weird confluence of coincidences that Neil Gaiman's return to Sandman debuts in two days (Sandman Overture) and I'd just suggested The Velvet Underground as the letters column name for the comic series, Velvet, that came out last Wednesday.  Everything ties together.