Professor

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Mystery Date (#11-16) - More Civil War time comics. I am really not a fan of the red & gold. I do like the focus being on the supporting cast, rather than the three main characters. Spider-Man: House of M - I remember hearing somewhere that House of M was not kind to Spider-Man. I think this must have happened in the main book, as I got none of that here. Spectacular Spider-Man: The Final Curtain (#21, 22, 27 & Peter Parker Spider-Man #39-41) - Totally random collection that is way too wordy. I liked the poker game issue. Spider-Man/Fantastic Four: Silver Rage (#1-4) - The Good? Reminds me of an old Marvel Team-Up. The Bad? Reminds me of and old Marvel Team-Up. Look, I love MTU, but the best part of those were their (generally) one and done nature. This really didn't need to exist as a mini. Could have been done in an oversized one-shot or not made. Trades: 37 (219.5)

Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Trials & Tribulations (#35, 37 48-50) - Completely forgettable. I read this maybe five days ago and I only vaguely remembered anything. Marvel Knight Spider-Man: Down Among The Dead Men (#1-4) Marvel Knight Spider-Man: Venomous (#5-8) I enjoyed the fact that everything was not wrapped up in each trade, and that the story has enough for a trade, but let the overarching story go on longer. Sensational Spider-Man: Feral (#23-27) - I really like Clayton Crain. Although, having him do one issue, it does not flow well with the rest of the book. Sensational Spider-Man: Civil War (#28-34) - This was better than the Amazing Civil War stuff. I really liked the focus on the people around Peter (May, MJ, Black Cat, his student). I think reading these along with the Amazing issues would have made for a better overall experience. Also, another Clayton Crain issue. Trades: 33 (198.5)

Spectacular Spider-Man: Here, There Be Monsters (#11-14) - Picks up from where Quality of Life ends. So that was nice. But the Damion Scott art is just bad. The painted Paolo Rivera issue was a welcome one off tale. Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Edition - Amazing #529-531, #544-545, Friendly #24 & Sensational #41 - Library didn't have the One More Day trade so this took its place. Gotta say, I was not impressed. For the 'game changer', I was not engrossed in the story and was kinda skimming the last issue. Guess it doesn't help that I knew the punchline, but sometimes the delivery can overcome that fact. This was not one of those times. Trades: 28 (173.5)

It seems odd to me the the box set would be MMPR - Lost Galaxy. The straight narrative kinda ends with Space, and thus acts as more of a natural set break. Also, 18 seasons, break it into thirds, you get 6 seasons each. A minor quibble. Almost forgot, me wanty.

Spider-Man: Quality of Life - The digital art is so bad that no matter how good the story was (and it was below average), the book would have been horrid. Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure - Predictable from page one. Should have seen that one coming. Secret Invasion: The Amazing Spider-Man- Normally I wouldn't rag on a tie-in book. However, if Spider-Man's name is on the cover, I want Spider-Man. If you wanted to tell this Jackpot story, call it SI: Jackpot. Not hard. Trades: 26 (162.5)

Now the question becomes do I buy these as they are released, or wait until the box set comes out in five years?

Spider-Man: Back in Black Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Back in Black Collecting: Amazing Spider-Man #539-543 Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #17-23, A1 Sensational Spider-Man #35-40, A1 Spider-Man Family #1-2 My main problem is that these stories are not tied together very well. The tone set in Amazing is not followed thru in the rest of the books and that annoys. The only thing tying these together is that Peter is wearing the black costume. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the Clayton Crain and Salvador Larroca art. Trades: 23 (150.5)

I agree with Darryll on this. I wanted a fun movie. I got fun. Sure, the movie had a few issues (mainly pacing for me). However, I had fun and thus, my expectations were met.

What he said, but switch Marvel Team-Up for Marvel Two-in-One and Spider-Man for The Thing. Good times.

Amazing Spider-Man: The Life & Death of Spiders (#46-50) Happy Birthday (#57-58, 500-502) The Book of Ezekiel (#503-508) Skin Deep (#515-518) New Avengers (#519-524) Civil War (#532-538) Found that my (non)-local library had more of less a complete run of Amazing Spider-Man. I would say most of this has been average. Not a fan of the magical things that the first 3 trades dealt with. And since I knew the endgame of Civil War, it kinda lacks the punch that was intended. Now to deal with the other 20 trades sitting on the floor. Trades: 21 (128.5)

That made me remember, I just past the ninth anniversary of my last haircut. Good times. Furthermore, I don't think my dad has had a haircut since the 70s.

http://nothingsgonnastopmenow.com/

Power Rangers: Simply, this is my childhood. This was my show. It was on while I was waiting for the school bus and it was on shortly after I got off the bus. It was the only show I could never miss. I have been doing a re-watch. Currently I have watched the 1st six seasons (thru in Space). And you know what, it still makes me happy. I am sure there are others, but this popped to mind instantly and all I got at the moment.

Wolverine and The X-Men: I have mixed feelings about this. Mainly, I dislike time travel, and while Xavier is not exactly time traveling, it is close enough for me. I wouldn't mind two concurrent storylines that do not cross, but Xavier being able to 'mind time travel' just doesn't work for me. On the positive side, I like the roster of the team and some of the designs that they used. Enjoyable enough, but not something I think I will ever revisit.

Finally finished the AWA DVD set. That was boring. The documentary was good as usual, but the matches included in the set were horrible. Most had no finish, were joined in progress or were just flat out crap. Started the King of the Ring set. I saw my first Ahmed Johnson match. I was not disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlBcsC1v8wA&feature=related I cannot say that I have seen much of Randy Savage's promos, but that was awesome.

Being Elmo - Watched this based on nothing more than Stavros mentioning it was good. Elmo is perhaps my least favorite muppet, but this was a fantastic documentary. Like Mike, I loved the sort of 'paying it forward' with the kid at the end. I really liked the behind the scenes looks into the world Sesame Street, specially when Kevin was training the French(?) version of the show. The Backyard - This was horrible. A documentary about some dumbasses and backyard wrestling. Backyard wrestling can be done better (The Hardy's Omega promotion) than these kids doing incredibly stupid things to each other with barbed wire and fire. Also, it is really misleading of the film maker to promote Rob Van Dam (and his all of 5 minutes of screen time) as the star of the piece.

Boss at work give me a talking to today, about ten minutes before I leave. I'm not embracing the new direction enough or somesuch. Not really anything too heavy in reality. But, me being me, would have rather heard this to start the shift so I could 'do better' or whatever. Now I sit here and cannot get my mind off of it and probably will bug me all weekend. All weekend when I cannot do anything about it. Way to ruin my weekend.

I found an original April O'Neil action figure at the local Goodwill. I now have finished the original line of TMNT toys. That made my day. Helping my mom clean her basement and finding all the old TMNT packaging? And part of me wondering if the pizza points are still worth anything? That was really awesome. Seeing that I paid more for April today ($1.99) than my mom did on a brand new Leonardo ($1.88)? That was hilarious.

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of Mania. It just didn't feel like Wrestlemania for some reason. The Hell in a Cell was great. I'll admit, the Sweet Chin Music/Pedigree near fall had me. I thought Shawn & JR really helped this match tell the story it wanted to tell. Punk/Jericho was solid with a really good ending. I was not a fan of adding a stipulation right beforehand tho. Rock/Cena did not hold my interest. They didn't seem to click in my eyes. As for the WHC match, that pissed me off. However, to play devil's advocate, what do you cut? Rock/Cena & HHH/Taker got 40ish minutes (as they should). Punk/Jericho got 22ish. Kane/Orton & The 12 Man were around 10. Divas & Cody/Show were around 5. So, you look at what else could get cut. The rappers? Yeah, they added nothing, but it is Wrestlemania so you get a musical performance. That leaves Clay, Santino/Foley and the Flo Rida/Heath Slater skit (I never thought I would type that). Added together, that would be 10 minutes and leave the card being nothing but match, video package match, ect.

I'll be watching.

I think I am done watching sports with my friends. Well, that is a lie. I think I am done watching sports with my friends wife. I get that every fan watches in their own way. However, when your way is to yell about everything (good or bad), it annoys me. What annoys me even further is when you do this even while only semi watching the game (Can't not be on my phone for longer than 0.763 seconds or I might miss something). For instance, when you yell at the team for not giving the ball to a player on the bench for the last five minutes with foul trouble, that is an issue. Oh, and the 'oh so cute' way every foul in the game is a bad one? Shut the ever loving fuck up. And blaming the loss on her husband not wearing the right t-shirt is just insane. So instead of watching the last ten minutes of an exciting game, I reached my boiling point with this woman and just sat annoyed. Yeah, should have said something, but I didn't feel it was my place seeing as how I was a guest in her home.

Having watched slept on it, here are my thoughts on the iPPV. Judging this based on what the $1.99 price was set this out to be, I think the iPPV was a failure. I listened to an interview with Gabe Sapolsky about this show. The intent was to get more eyes on the product and, hopefully, entice people to buy future shows and DVDs. In that, I feel this failed. In no ways was the show bad, it was enjoyable overall. However, I think more could have been done to introduce people to the product. This felt like show #48643 rather than a jumping on point for people. I'm not saying that every character needs to be fully introduced (although the Johnny Gargano video package shown before the show and during intermission was pretty damn good.) Just take five minutes toward the beginning of the show to explain the stable aspect, the titles, perhaps even the ties to Evolve/Dragon Gate. The commentary was an issue post intermission. Not saying I was blown away beforehand, but adding Arik Cannon to the last two matches just took away from the in-ring action. Randomly, this was my first iPPV, and the stream froze three times and the audio un-synced for a few minutes. Sami Callihan and Masato Yoshino both did a good job of promoting the next show (which is today). However, the card, as of 11AM the day of the show, only has 3 matches announced. As a DGUSA show, I was entertained. I just feel like this is a missed opportunity for company.

Just a reminder for everybody, Dragon Gate USA is running an iPPV on Friday for $1.99. I have never seen a DGUSA show, but at that price, why they heck not? Link