Y the Last Man

In honor of its appearance on the most recent episode of Lost, I am finally posting about Y the Last Man. I'm not sure why I haven't posted about it yet because it is simply awesome.

I don't like to ruin things for people so I'll try not to drop any spoilers in my quick review. The story revolves around Yorick Brown who finds himself to be the last man on earth after a strange "plague" has wiped out anything with a Y chromosome. Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand (who has also mysteriously survived despite also being a male) embark on a quest to find his girlfriend who is half a world away. When all the men suddenly die, society is plunged into chaos and the world becomes a very dangerous place for the last man. As the women begin to rebuild we see that things will never be the same. While most women try to return things to some kind of normalcy, others begin to unite and become militant, forming groups like the Daughters of the Amazon who try to take over by force. Yorick finds himself teamed up with Agent 355 who is a member of some secret government agency. She becomes his bodyguard and helps him navigate this strange new world. In their travels they also attempt to uncover the cause of the mysterious "plague" and try to determine if there is hope for the survival of the human race.

Y the Last Man is written by Brian K. Vaughan who is also a writer for Lost. He handles the material in a very serious way while still adding large doses of humor and action. The original series was released in 60 single comics but can now be found in 10 collected versions released by DC/Vertigo. I was really happily surprised when I started reading this story. It is hard to put down once you start.

LOST fans, here is a pic of the issue that Hurley had on the plane. He was reading the Spanish version of issue #15. I will have to go back and see if there is any specific connection to that issue and last week's Lost episode (316).

Friday Flashback Episode 6

This week I have two of my favorite cartoons of all time. It should be no surprise that they are based on comic books. There have been some really great super hero cartoons in more recent years like the X-men and Bat-man shows from the 90's or the current Justice League cartoon but these were the originals for me. I grew up with these shows and they had a huge influence in my becoming a comic collector.

Spider-Man and his amazing friends took a ridiculous amount of liberties with the source material, but who cares if it's fun. Right? Spider-Man, Firestar, and Ice-man all go to college together and live at Aunt May's house with her prissy dog Ms. Lion. At some point they had a giant computer network installed into Aunt May's house that appears when they move the trophy on the mantle. I guess that they hope Aunt May has some kind of phobia of trophies and will not go near it. Aside from his interactions with his Amazing Friends, Spider-man's(Peter Parker) story is pretty true to the comics. Nerdy student lives with Aunt, fights crime in his spare time. Sounds right. Ice-man(Bobby Drake) was one of the original members of the X-men but I guess he decided that he wasn't getting a good enough education at Xavier's School for Gifted Children and decided to enroll at Empire State. Firestar(Angelica Jones) was created specifically for the cartoon but later found her way into the comics. Her heat power involves the use of microwaves. The last unaired season documented Peter and Bobby's battle with radiation poisoning due to their years of interaction with Angelica. ABC Family still shows re-runs of Amazing Friends so check it out when you have some time.

A bunch of super good guys vs. a bunch of super bad guys. It doesn't get any better than that. Challenge of the Super-Friends is not the first Super Friends show but I think that it was the best. The original Super-Friends consisted of Super-Man, Wonder-Woman, Bat-Man, and Aqua-Man. They were joined by two cornball kids and their dog. Average at best. The new huge group of Super-Friends is joined by two super powered twins and their space monkey. Still unnecessary but better. The true stars of the show were the Legion-of-Doom. Thirteen major villains from the DC universe who decided that if the Heroes can join forces, they should too. One of the cool parts of the show was seeing villains pair off against someone who wasn't their arch-enemy. Watching Sinestro square off with Bat-Man or Bizarro take on Wonder-Woman was always really cool for me as a huge comic book fan. I've recently watched a bunch of these episodes on DVD and they hold up pretty well.

Friday the 13th

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th. That really doesn't mean a whole lot to me except for the fact that it is also the title of what is, in my opinion, the best horror movie franchise ever. This Friday is special because we will be getting another installment of the Jason Voorhees saga. The new release will be movie #12. Suck on that Freddy.

Friday the 13th has had some low points (I'm talking to you "A New Beginning" and "The New Blood"), but overall I have been very entertained by this collection of films. Jason is an absolute bad-ass killing machine. He doesn't try to mess with your mind, he tries to separate it from the rest of your body. This guy is pissed off and nothing can stop him. Not the endless waves of new camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, drowning, being shot, being burned, a harpoon to the eye, going to hell, being ejected into space, not even corny Freddy Kreuger. Get the idea? This dude is durable.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great horror movies out there. The Evil Dead series and Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies are just a couple of the standouts, but for me Jason is King. I have very high hopes for the new film which is titled simply "Friday the 13th". The people who made the Texas Chainsaw remake are involved and that was a really great new look at the original story. I don't think that this new film is a remake and I'm hoping that they have a few new twists to throw in to the usual Jason blood fest at good old Camp Crystal Lake. "Jason X" and "Freddy vs. Jason" were both pretty cool so I'm hoping that the bar has been raised and they keep these high standards for the new one.

Let me know if you think I'm crazy. Would Michael Myers kick Jason's ass? Do we need a Jason vs. Chucky showdown? Should Pumpkinhead have had more sequels? If Norman Bates and the Leprechaun joined forces could they take down all the Gremlins and the Ghoulies? Ok, maybe that last one is a bit far fetched.

Art is Classy!

For those of you that don't know, I'm a very classy guy. Fine wine, gourmet food, classical music, and modern art. I recently discovered this new artist and his work has passed the tests of my high standards and fine tastes.

Ok, I'm making myself sick. This is the art of my brother-in-law Max. He has made all kinds of cool things. Most of it involves animals, bugs, or skulls so you know it has to kick ass. He can do it all: draw, paint, sculpt. He's like the perfect artistic weapon. You can check out some of his work here on his website. Hopefully he'll add some more stuff soon. It's all pretty awesome.

Friday Flashback Episode 5

I love video games.
So obviously I should love video game cartoons right?
Well, kind of.





I did love Captain N the Game Master. I'm not sure if I would still love it but watching the opening brings back some good memories. Were there any greater villains than Mother Brain, Eggplant Wizard, and King Hippo? Well yeah, plenty, but those were the ones they chose so deal with it. Mega-Man, Kid Icarus, and Castlevania were all pretty bad-ass games so I guess they did a good job with the heroes. I always thought that Captain N was pretty lucky because the generic video game princess was way hotter than Peach or Zelda.......so he's got that going for him, which is nice.




If this video doesn't make you cringe, I don't know what will. The Super Mario Brothers' Super Show was an OK cartoon but the live action segments with Captain Lou Albano and Joe Flaherty are pure gold. Why are the super Italian brothers "dancing" to rap music? Is it just because they say brothers in the song? Hey man, that's racist. Anyway, the whole live action concept for this toon is a little sketchy, but that doesn't mean that I didn't still enjoy this show.

The Gang Laughs Their Asses Off

Ok, first things first. I am in no way taking credit for discovering "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" as the hidden gem that it is. I had, in fact, never seen an episode until 2 weeks ago. Had it not been for the prodding of several of my friends, I probably still would have never seen an episode.

That being said, this show kicks ass and I highly recommend that you also get on board.

If "The Young Ones" and "Cheers" got hammered drunk and hooked up, "It's Always Sunny" would be their bastard love child. The show starts off by telling the story of some guys who own a bar together called Paddy's Pub. For the most part, the humor comes from the fact that they are just pretty horrible people. As the show progresses and we get to know the characters, things get weirder and weirder. Charlie, Mac, Dennis, and Dennis' sister Sweet Dee don't even really seem to like each other all that much but they are inseparable. Paddy's Pub is the central location for the show but it is mostly a failure as a business and an excuse for the gang to drink constantly. The characters are all very self-centered, even when the gang starts doing something as a group it usually devolves into an every-man for himself situation. Their adventures take them all over the city of Philadelphia and anyone who knows the city will recognize a lot of the outside shots.

This is one of those shows that doesn't have a stand out star. Just when you think that Charlie is your favorite, Mac will crack you up, then out of nowhere Sweet Dee will do something ridiculous. The addition of Danny Devito in the second season was mainly to save the show from being cancelled by adding a big name but he could not have fit in more perfectly with the cast. This is Taxi Danny Devito, not Twins Danny Devito.

This is one of the funniest shows on TV. Seasons 1+2 and 3 are available on DVD and new episodes air on FX. So, buy the DVDs, watch episodes online, set your DVR to record it. Just watch it. That way when your friends are sitting around saying "Dude, remember when Charlie was Serpico and he had a package 4 the Mare?" you'll know what the hell they are talking about and you can have a good laugh too.

Unstuck in Time

I'm sorry about the delay in my posts but I have been stuck in a time loop trying to get an old bald guy and and a guy with permanent eyeliner to exchange a crappy gold compass without them knowing that it was really me who inserted it in the time line in the first place. So, while it may have seemed to you like I have not posted in 108 days, I was simply unstuck in time and looking for my constant. But I digress....and if you don't watch Lost, see below.

(My excuse for non-Lost fans. If the the above excuse seemed plausible, please disregard the following.)

I'm sorry about the delay in my posts but I found myself trapped in 1955. I would have been back sooner but I needed to get my mom and dad to kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance or, of course, I would cease to exist. Anyway, long story short, they kissed, lightning bolt, 1.21 jiggawatts. Now that I have Biff washing my cars, I will have have plenty of time to post.