Reconnecting with the World

As I strolled down the cereal aisle of my Local Grocery Shop yesterday, gallon of milk in one hand, basket full of lunch fixin's in the other, I had to pause for a moment. There, on the shelf, were at least three different boxes of cereal with promos for Star Trek swag on the front.

I placed my gallon of milk on the shelf to free up a hand, that I might further investigate this curious happenstance. With my attention turned elsewhere, I knew full well I might unwittingly abandon the hapless jug, but this risk was a necessity.

Star Trek t-shirts.

Star Trek flash drive wristbands.

Star Trek "beam-up" badges.

How quaint. They called them "beam-up" badges.

I almost bought a jumbo box of Froot Loops, right there on the spot.

Then I thought back to the Burger King promotional glasses as well as the action figures and model ships that were surely still occupying shelf space in toy stores nationwide. Shelf space that I, as a loyal fanboy, should be helping to free up.

Star Trek was alive. Everyone knew it, and the masses embraced it.

Once again, I had something in common with the world: We like Star Trek.

Maybe I'm not 100% on board with the new direction of the franchise. Maybe the next movie will bomb horrifically and make audiences wish they had gone to see Nemesis instead. Maybe they'll eventually return to the original continuity for more adventures, perhaps parallel adventures--like having new issues of Ultimate X-Men and Uncanny X-Men on the shelves at the same time.

So the future is a little uncertain. But the present is very clear: Star Trek lives, and it presents a choking hazard to ages 7 and under.

And that's good enough for me.

Some Thoughts on Recent Comics

So, after several weeks of not being able to read new comics, I finally had a little time this past weekend to take a couple of hours and make a dent in my comics pile. I was able to catch up on a few titles, and I figured I'd take the opportunity to talk a bit about the current State of My Comic Reading Habits.

Now I should mention that, while I do love super hero comics and I read many Marvel and DC titles, my favorite books are typically not the most mainstream in nature, even if they are published by the big companies. Books such as The Goon, House of Mystery, and Madame Xanadu are must-reads for me, and I put them ahead of reading most "major," current story lines.

Eric Powell's The Goon, of course, is my favorite book now and I'd bet that will always be the case. But, with The Goon on a minor hiatus as Powell preps new projects, it's a good time to take stock of what I'm actually enjoying, and what titles I might drop in the near future.

Might as well start with the Big Two. Marvel today publishes work by my favorite comics writer, Brian Bendis, and I am really digging their Dark Reign "non-event event" that's sweeping across the bulk of their books. On the other side of the street, I'm pretty jazzed about DC's upcoming Blackest Night event, captained by Geoff Johns.

So when it comes down to it, I'll likely still read the main Marvel books (New Avengers, Dark Avengers, Ms. Marvel) but I'll likely drop Mighty Avengers and some ancillary titles I was reading specifically for the tie-in, such as Secret Warriors. I'll enjoy Dark Reign by enjoying the stories I think are essential to getting the feeling for the event, but I won't buy the one-shots and the limited series that spin out of it.

And, with DC, I'll stick to the main Green Lantern Blackest Night series, and I probably won't venture too far out from there. I'll still check in with Batman, even if Bruce Wayne is still MIA, and I'll read Flash: Rebirth until that series wraps.

But, really, when it comes down to my need-to-read stories, I find that more and more I am leaning towards the Vertigo line of books. House of Mystery is in my current top five, and the new series The Unwritten is one of the more intriguing comics I've read in a while. As previously mentioned on this blog, I think that Madame Xanadu is a great book with stunning art.

And it's up for four Eisners, so someone else is reading it, too!

I'm reading and loving Warren Ellis' Ignition City series at Avatar, and Mark Waid's Irredeemable is straight up amazing. As is Boom's The Unwritten and Image's Dynamo 5.

I guess I just find it interesting that, while I really do think of myself as a Marvel/DC guy, when I take a close look at it, most of my books are from Dark Horse, or Image, or Avatar, or Boom! or Vertigo.

And I don't think it's something as simple as, "oh, my tastes are changing," because they're not. I guess maybe it's "event fatigue" and the fact that I just don't want to have to read twenty titles to understand one story.

And as I write this, I'm fearing there's not really going to be a point to today's post, and there's certainly not going to be a nice "Jerry's Final Thought" moment to put a bow on the discussion. More likely, it'll just end like The Sopran

Exfanding Review: Barry Ween!

Sometimes, for various and sundry (sundried?) reasons, I decide not to pay any attention whatsoever to my friends when they speak. If you were to know my friends, then you'd understand what it is that I mean. However, there are cases where even my friends have their moments and the things they say do, indeed, make sense.

Sometimes.

Such is the case here, as, finally, I picked up Judd Winick's Barry Ween comic series. Released two weeks ago in a compendium edition by Oni Press, The Big Book of Barry Ween, Boy Genius collects all of Winick's Barry Ween stories.

Barry Ween Barry Ween Barry Ween.

OK, I've now officially said "Barry Ween" more times than anyone else on the Internet. Ever.

AnyWeen, people have been trying to get me to pick up this series for years now, and I would always say something akin to, "yeah, sure, lemme run right out and grab that." I mean, it looked good and all, but I just had no real interest. And then I saw the big ol' compendium edition sitting at my LCS a couple of weeks ago.

And I figured, eh, the price is right.

So I bought the book, and fully expected to toss it on top of my "will read later" pile that is currently trying not to topple over from sheer height. Then, while waiting to leave for the BookExpo, I needed something to read and kill some time.

Since Barry was on top of the pile, I grabbed it and started in on the first story. And I started laughing immediately. Now, I should say that, despite Winick's kid-friendly art style, Barry Ween is most certainly NOT a kid's book.

In fact, it has some of the most creative swearing I have ever read in my life. And that's saying something. There's plenty of violence and adult themes, too, so don't read this to Junior before he goes to bed. Seriously.

That said, the humor was right up my alley and there are honestly several laugh-out-loud moments throughout the series.

Now, at this point in the review, there's a good chance that you might be asking, "who exactly is Barry Ween?" And, of course, as I am just plain awful at writing reviews, I really failed in that regard. You know, the whole "explaining things" part of the review.

So, here goes. Barry Ween is the smartest human being on Earth with his 350 I.Q. And he's ten years old. What does Barry Ween do? Well, anything he wants, really. And the book follows Barry (and his best friend Jeremy) on some crazy-as-all-get-out adventures. Like the time Barry turned Jeremy into a dinosaur. Or when they discovered Bigfoot. Or when the CIA captured Jeremy, thinking he was actually Barry.

Now, while comedy is certainly the targeted genre, Barry has its emotional moments, as well. The titular character is an outsider--there's just no one on Earth who could possibly match his intelligence. And as such, he plays the Lone Hero part quite well. And seeing very grown up emotions on the face of a very young child is downright powerful (and heartbreaking) stuff.

Below is the cover of the Oni Press compendium that just shipped. Oh, and, hey, if you don't wanna take my word for how great this book is, head on over to Oni's Web site, to this page, where you will find a FREE 28 page preview!

What are you waiting for? I said free!

Go! Now!

And enjoy the weekend.

Exfanding Review: Fanboys

We recently (and independently) watched the movie Fanboys. Considering this is a blog devoted to fanboys, fangirls, and fandoms, we figured it would make perfect sense to seize this opportunity to write a movie review, which is way easier than writing about fanboys, fangirls, and fandoms.

To give the illusion of any amount of effort and coordination going into this post, Alex and I will take turns interviewing each other about the film. See, now doesn't this look professional?


Nathaniel: For the benefit of anybody out of the loop: What is Fanboys about?

Alex: Well, basically it's the story of four girls who acquire a pair of magical jeans and...Wait. Sorry. That's not it. That's not it at all.

Fanboys is about five longtime friends who reunite on Halloween night, 1998. Their lives have gone off in different directions at this point, but the friends are all still big ol' dorks, and each have an undying love for Star Wars.

As it happens, the first prequel is just about a year away from opening in theaters, and the group is clearly excited about it. They were too young to see the original trilogy in theaters, so the thought of seeing the new movie on the big screen is almost too good to be true.

When they were kids, the group made plans to sneak into Skywalker Ranch, and one of the friends, Linus, proposes that they should fulfill this childhood plan, break into Skywalker, and steal a rough cut of the upcoming film.

Hilarity ensues.


Nathaniel: Why would anyone want to see this movie?

Alex: Well, first off, because there are no "magical jeans." That was actually a big selling point for me.

Also, I found this flick to be quite funny--though flat out stupid, at times--and I think it's good for quite a few laughs. Also, if you're a fan of The Wars, then it's pretty much a must-see as a great homage to all things Lucas.


Nathaniel: As someone who fails to meet any criteria for being a Star Wars or even a Star Trek fanboy (especially considering you hadn't even seen Star Wars until late last year), how much were you able to appreciate the movie?

Alex: The fat guy falls down a lot, and that was enough to make me happy.


Nathaniel: If you were to ever go to such crazy lengths for any one of your fandoms, which would it be, and what would you probably try to do?

Alex: Well, I dunno. I think I'm pretty self-aware when it comes to my geekier tendencies. For example, this past weekend at BookExpo, I saw Neil Gaiman eating french fries and talking to some friends.

There were no other fans around, and I think I could have easily went up to him and expressed my gratitude for his work, and even possibly asked him for an autograph. As I was thinking through what I would do, however, I realized that I was standing about ten feet away from him, most likely staring in his direction while I was thinking.

Which made me recoil in utter horror at how creepy I might have been, and I fled the scene.

So, long story short, the craziest length to which I would go for a fandom would most likely be to NOT run away from Neil Gaiman in abject terror.


Nathaniel: Any closing remarks?
Alex: Go see Fanboys. It's funny.


--

Alex: This movie's been in the works seemingly forever. What if any expectations did you have going in? Were they met?

Nathaniel: I saw a poster in a movie theatre somewhere; a parody of the 40-Year-Old Virgin poster, except the guy had a Darth Vader helmet on, if I recall. And I was told it was something along the lines of Trekkies, but for Star Wars.

I did a little teensy bit of reading about it, but really, I didn't have any expectations about it. I just thought, "Oh, a movie about Star Wars fans. This will be better than stapling my nostrils together tonight. I'll check it out." And indeed, it was better than stapling my nostrils together.


Alex: Did you find the fat guy funny?

Nathaniel: Oh, sure. Tommy Boy was hilarious!

Wait... Fanboys. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I'm not so keen on crude humor, so I could have done without some of his... shall we say... antics. I liked the energy he brought to his character, though, so even if I didn't always laugh, I still liked him throughout.


Alex: Did you fall in love in Kristen Bell?

Nathaniel: Who?


Alex: [*SPOILER ALERT*] Shatner: A force of good or evil?

Nathaniel: A force of good, to be sure. I'm not 100% sure how much he officially plays up his special guest appearances as himself (that is, is the Shatner we see making cameos the same Shatner that exists in real life, or is that persona grossly exaggerated?) but he was a welcome and necessary addition to the movie. With all that Star Wars/Star Trek rivalry, Shatner's appearance was inevitable. For that matter, I loved all the cameos, and was really pleased to see the diversity of geek fandoms that were covered.

You there! Reading this blog! Get more people to read Exfanding Your Horizons so that we can be popular enough to make cameos in geek movies!


Alex: Any closing thoughts?

Nathaniel: While I'm in no hurry to see it again, Fanboys was fun, funny, and it didn't overstay its welcome.

I was positively enthralled by all the geek references (to Star Wars and other fandoms), and I was simultaneously pleased and a little disturbed by how many of them I picked up on, regardless of how minor or obscure. In particular, one of the deleted scenes features a phenomenal Return of the Jedi reference that was so hilarious that I was still in stiches even after the scene had ended, and though my fellow viewers were laughing, too, it was my pleasure to inform them of what the reference was, at which point the scene became that much funnier.

I think it's also pretty telling that I scoffed at the movie once or twice because nearly every Star Wars trivia question they asked was way too easy for a true Star Wars fanboy. And I'm a Star Trek nerd.

Meanwhile, Alex is asking, "What's a Chewbacca, again?"



[Movie poster from www.wikipedia.org. Movie images from www.fanboys-themovie.com. That blast came from the Death Star. That thing's operational!]