'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Galactus
I'm going to do something a bit different this week, since I broke one
of my own rules when it comes to reading comic books: I read a story
before it was finished. For most of the time I have read comic books,
the stories have been of two kinds: Short stories that finish in an
issue (or less) or endless soap operas that go on and on for years. Then,
in the mid-90's, the market for trade paperback collections of comics
exploded and creators and editors started writing stories that would
work better as trade paperbacks, and had "story arcs" that lasted between
4 and 8 issues.
Now, most comics are written this way, with Marvel having all of their
new comics starting with 6 issue story arcs so that they can be put out
as a trade paperback, or starting lesser characters as 5 or 6 issue
mini-series. The first product line from Marvel that was explicitly made
to be written this way was their "Ultimate" line, which featured
updated versions of Spider-Man, the X-Men and other characters. The line has
been amazingly successful, and has done well at having updated versions
of these characters without the 40+ years of back story for new readers
to sift through.
The latest "big event" in this line has been a modern version of the
coming of Galactus. I really didn't want to like this story. I mean it.
The promotional stuff that came out looked bad, the interviews leading
up to it didn't interest me, and the fact that they were doing it in
three different mini-series made me think it would going to be three
issues of story spread out over fifteen issues of comic.
I was wrong.
I read Ultimate Nightmare and Ultimate Secret, the first two books in
the trilogy over the weekend when I was wondering if I should order the
third book and was blown away at how good it is. The story starts with
the Avengers and the X-Men both investigating a strange occurrence in a
former Soviet facility in Tanguska, Russia. From there, the story
barrels forward at a fast clip and feels more like a movie than a comic
book. The art has a gritty realism that makes the characters seem like
real people, rather than brightly colored icons and lends itself to a
feeling of dread that the story needs in order to work. Even thought it
is the first third of a story, it comes to a satisfactory conclusion and
works as a single story, while still wanting the reader to grab the
next book and continue with the story.
The second book in the trilogy has the Avengers and the Fantastic Four
dealing with an alien soldier who has been living on Earth for years
and has to do with the information discovered in the first book. In the
main Marvel Universe, there are bajillions of alien races, and they
have been around so long, no one reacts to the fact that aliens are on
Earth. This story has a great subplot of our current government's
paranoia and inability to grasp what a real threat because they are creating
their own problems, while still having a solid plot that keeps the sense
of dread started in the first book, and brings more information to the
table.
The best thing about this story is that it brings the reader along
skillfully, giving them information as the characters get it, and playing
against the information we already have from YEARS of bad Galactus
stories in the other Marvel comics. It restores the feeling that characters
are really in danger. We also get to know the characters, and it is a
great introduction to the Ultimate line of books. The comic has the
feel of a Big Summer Movie without falling into the endless cliches that
have plagues "end of the world is coming" stories. The super-heroics
are understated, and the story deals more with their reactions than
their powers.
Now, I have to wait for four months to get the end of the story, but
I'm glad I read these two books because they have me excited about the
story. The good thing about a trilogy is that you get a sense of
anticipation for each book as it comes out if it is done right, and this one
is done right. I give both books a five out of five.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website, www.solitairerose.com
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
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Bernard-Henri Lévy: A Letter to the American Left (thenation.com)
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Richard Waters: US group implants electronic tags in workers
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Never mind the usual puffery about what this month's Winter Olympics are all about. Sure, there's the beauty of sports, the spirit of friendly competition, the dedication of great athletes and all that. But the Winter Games are about a few other things as well: elitism, exclusion and the triumph of the world's sporting haves over its have nots.
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The White House Dictionary
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly cloudy & 20° cooler than yesterday.
No new flags.
Meets Finnish President
Conan O'Brien
"Late Night" jokester, Conan O'Brien, who ran a mock ad campaign endorsing the re-election of Finnish President Tarja Halonen - because of her strong resemblance to him, red hair and all - had a face-to-similar-face meeting with her Tuesday at the presidential palace in downtown Helsinki.
O'Brien handed the Nordic country's first female president a box of chocolates in the shape of a red heart as they posed for photographers before their 15-minute meeting. Halonen gave him Finnish troll dolls to take home.
The president's spokeswoman said Halonen had wanted to thank O'Brien for making Finland better known, and the two had agreed they "might, indeed, resemble each other."
Conan O'Brien
Tries to Regroup
Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is turning 16 this year, but the birthday for the organization that has used Madonna, R.E.M. and other music stars to get millions of young people involved in politics is shaping up to be anything but sweet.
The nonprofit group founded in Los Angeles in 1990 is $500,000 in debt and down to just two employees, from 20 in 2002, according to tax documents and Hans Riemer, the organization's political director.
Rock the Vote has been courting donors and hopes to make an announcement in about a month about its future, Riemer said.
Rock the Vote
Helping Solve Hunley Mystery
Patricia Cornwell
Best-selling crime author Patricia Cornwell will donate at least $500,000 to help researchers solve the mystery of the sinking of the Confederate submarine Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship.
"This is a crime scene and you are doing an autopsy on that submarine," Cornwell told The Associated Press Tuesday. "It's much like Jack the Ripper - you take the best modern science and apply it to a very old investigation and see if you can make the dead speak after all these years."
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Patricia Cornwell
Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)
Willie Nelson
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Willie Nelson
William Allen White Foundation National Citation
Gordon Parks
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Gordon Parks
'Friday 13th' - XI
Jason Voorhees
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Jason Voorhees
Former Prisoners Promote Film
'The Road to Guantanamo'
Two former Guantanamo Bay captives joined British director Michael Winterbottom on Tuesday to promote his semi-documentary film about their experience and call for closure of the U.S. detention center.
Asif Iqbal, Ruhel Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul were captured in Afghanistan in 2001, then released without charge in March 2004. "The Road to Guantanamo," one of 19 films competing at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, combines interviews with the men, news archive material and scenes recreating their experience in the facility on the island of Cuba.
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'The Road to Guantanamo'
Harvard Study Blasts Bush Education Policy
'No Child Left Behind'
Resident George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind education policy has in some cases benefited white middle-class children over blacks and other minorities in poorer regions, a Harvard University study showed on Tuesday.
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'No Child Left Behind'
Deny Breakup Report
Holmes - Cruise
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The Feb. 27 issue of the magazine, which will be on news stands Friday, says in a cover story that the public pair "plan to keep up the charade of their romance until after their baby's birth this spring."
A representative for the magazine said, "We stand 100 percent behind our story."
Holmes - Cruise
Involved in Car Crash
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty was bruised and cut on her thigh in a car crash that sent another motorist to the hospital, authorities and Doherty's publicist said Tuesday.
The 34-year-old actress was driving a Range Rover and making a left turn onto the Pacific Coast Highway on Monday when there was a collision with another vehicle, said Lt. Steve Wilson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Wilson said investigators listed Doherty as "the party most at fault," but her publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnik noted there were no citations.
Shannen Doherty
Reserve Deputy
Lou Ferrigno
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Lou Ferrigno, 54, who played the green-skinned monster on the CBS TV show from 1977 to 1982, was sworn in during a ceremony Monday night.
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Polish Paintings Declared Authentic
Rembrandt
A Dutch expert has confirmed that two paintings, part of Warsaw's royal palace collection, are authentic works by the famous 17th-century artist Rembrandt, a Polish art official said.
The conclusion reached by the expert, Ernst van den Wetering, puts an end to the uproar over whether they were genuine works by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), which art historians have been insisting on since 1969.
The Dutch expert made two visits to Warsaw and this week reached a positive conclusion that "they were indeed Rembrandt works," she said.
Rembrandt
Photos Up for Auction
Steichen & Stieglitz
"The Pond-Moonlight," by Edward Steichen, is part of a photograph collection that was to be auctioned by Sotheby's Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The photo, taken on Long Island in 1904, shows a pond in a wooded area, with light filtering through the trees and reflected in the water.
Pre-sale estimates by the auction house price it between $700,000 and $1 million, the highest estimate in the sale of about 140 pictures. If it sells for more than $822,400, it will set a record for a 20th-century photograph; if it sells for more than $1,248,000, it will become the highest-priced photograph ever auctioned.
Along with the Steichen photo, which measures a little over 16 inches by 19 inches, the auction also includes works by Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Outerbridge Jr., Edward Weston and Alvin Langdon Coburn. The Stieglitz works include photographs of his wife, artist Georgia O'Keeffe. A photo of her hands and another of her nude have pre-sale estimates of between $300,000 and $500,000.
Steichen & Stieglitz
Season to-Date Ratings
Syndicated Talk
Based on season to-date ratings through Jan. 22, 2006, here are the results for the 11 current first-run talk show strips in households, and key women 18-49 and women 25-54. Percent change for the nine established talkers versus the comparable year-ago period appear in parentheses.
-Households:
Oprah: 7.4 (- 3), Dr. Phil: 5.3 (- 1), Live With Regis & Kelly: 3.5 (- 1), Maury: 3.2 (no change), Ellen: 2.4 (+13), Jerry Springer: 2.3 (+ 1), Montel: 2.2 (-13), Martha: 1.8, Tyra Banks: 1.6, Tony Danza: 1.2 (-12), Starting Over: 1.1 (- 1)
-Women 18-49:
Oprah: 4.6 (- 4), Dr. Phil: 2.9 (- 9), Maury: 2.2 (+ 1), Live With Regis & Kelly: 1.7 (-13), Ellen: 1.5 (+12), Jerry Springer: 1.4 (+ 8), Montel: 1.3 (-15), Tyra Banks: 1.2, Martha: 0.9, Starting Over: 0.8 (- 7), Tony Danza: 0.5 (-13)
-Women 25-54:
Oprah: 5.2 (- 4), Dr. Phil: 3.4 (- 7), Maury: 2.1 (+ 5), Live With Regis & Kelly: 2.1 (- 6), Ellen: 1.7 (+24), Montel: 1.4 (-16), Jerry Springer: 1.3 (+ 4), Tyra Banks: 1.1, Martha: 1.0, Starting Over: 0.9 (-12), Tony Danza: 0.6 (-22)
Syndicated Talk
Basic Cable Networks
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Feb. 6-12. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "NASCAR Budweiser Shootout" (Sunday, 4:27 p.m.), TNT, 4.11 million homes, 6.15 million viewers.
2. AFC/NFC Pro Bowl (Sunday, 6 p.m.), ESPN, 4.07 million homes, 5.96 million viewers.
3. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 4.01 million homes, 5.67 million viewers.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.98 million homes, 5.83 million viewers.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.26 million homes, 4.48 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.15 million homes, 4.15 million viewers.
7. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.12 million homes, 4.22 million viewers.
8. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3 million homes, 3.89 million viewers.
9. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.99 million homes, 3.92 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.89 million homes, 3.68 million viewers.
11. "Bank of America NASCAR Pre-Race Special" (Sunday, 4 p.m.), TNT, 2.828 million homes, 3.88 million viewers.
12. "Drake & Josh" (Monday, 5:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.826 million homes, 3.87 million viewers.
13. Movie: "For One Night" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Lifetime, 2.80 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
14. "Law & Order: SVU" (Saturday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.79 million homes, 3.57 million viewers.
15. "Drake & Josh" (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.74 million homes, 3.54 million viewers.
Ratings
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Feb. 6-12. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses.
An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "American Idol-Tuesday," Fox, 31.2 million viewers.
2. (2) "American Idol-Wednesday," Fox, 28.7 million viewers.
3. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 27.4 million viewers.
4. (6) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 25.4 million viewers.
5. (4) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 23.5 million viewers.
6. (X) "Winter Olympics-Sunday," NBC, 23.24 million viewers.
7. (X) "Winter Olympics-Saturday," NBC, 23.23 million viewers.
8. (28) "House," Fox, 22.2 million viewers.
9. (X) "Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony," NBC, 22.2 million viewers.
10. (5) "Without a Trace," CBS, 20.3 million viewers.
11. (7) "Dancing with the Stars," ABC, 20.0 million viewers.
12. (11) "Survivor: Panama-Exile Island," CBS, 18.8 million viewers.
13. (14) "Lost," ABC, 18.73 million viewers.
14. (8) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 18.68 million viewers.
15. (X) "Grammy Awards," CBS, 17.0 million viewers.
16. (12) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 16.3 million viewers.
17. (12) "NCIS," CBS, 16.1 million viewers.
18. (20) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 15.9 million viewers.
19. (16) "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC, 15.2 million viewers.
20. (17) "Dancing with the Stars-Results," ABC, 14.6 million viewers.
Ratings
Andreas Katsulas
Andreas Katsulas, the character actor known to SF fans as G'Kar on Babylon 5 and a familiar face from Star Trek and other SF&F TV shows, died Feb. 13 of lung cancer in Los Angeles, his agent, Donna Massetti, confirmed to SCI FI Wire. He was 59.
Katsulas, a longtime resident of Los Angeles, played the Narn ambassador G'Kar for five years in the syndicated cult TV series Babylon 5, starting in 1993. He reprised the role in subsequent Babylon 5 telefilms.
Katsulas was also no stranger to Trek fans, playing Romulan Cmdr. Tomalak in Star Trek: The Next Generation. His last appearance in a Trek series was as a Vissian captain on an episode of Enterprise.
Born in St. Louis, Katsulas held a master's degree in theater from Indiana University, his official Web site said. After performing in plays in St. Louis, New York and Boston, he went on to film roles in such movies as Michael Cimino's The Sicilian, which brought him to Los Angeles, then in Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me and Blake Edward's Sunset.
Katsulas moved to Los Angeles permanently in 1986 and found scores of television and film parts in everything from TV's Alien Nation and Max Headroom to the big screen's The Fugitive, in which he played the infamous one-armed man, and Executive Decision opposite Kurt Russell and Steven Seagal.
Andreas Katsulas
Thanks, Adam!
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