elnino14

That's usually the first place I look, Yoda. Thanks to your site for turning me onto them by the way.

Anybody know where I can pick this up? Everywhere I look it seems to be that the first and fourth volume are out of print. I already own the first, got it from e-bay, but the prices on the fourth are ridiculous.

I don't have a lot of faith in them doing Deadpool correctly. I can imagine it being incredibly hokey. What about the other projects that Fox are looking into: Young X-men and rebooting Daredevil. Probably the most intriguing one to me is a reboot on Daredevil. Young X-men could go either way. THey have a couple different options in that they could go the whole X-Men first class route or the sequel route with the established young-ins (Iceman, Kitty, Angel, Colossus, Rogue).

I have just started Season 3 of The Wire and I love it. It's unbelievably good. The first two episodes usually set up the theme for that season and typically are slower but it starts banging out afterwards and hooks the viewer in. I try and pimp this show out to every one I know. I'm not doing appointment television this year. I can stand the pacing. With a week in between each episode. I'm officially waiting for dvds to be available from Netflix. Or in some cases (like Lost), for the show to be over.

Just wanted to say I read Sleeper Vol 1 (1-12) or Season 1, and it was fucking great. There was not one issue where I wasn't thoroughly entertained.

WFP Episode 03 had a great collection of episodes to review. You guys have really gotten good at your reviews/analysis, spending the right amount of time on each episode and providing some unique trivia and some unique insights to the episodes. I really enjoyed this batch. Never Too Late is awesome especially for Mob film geek like myself. I really liked that you guys pointed out that Batman didn't play a huge part in the episode but was still nonethless an instigator and instrumental in the change that starts to occur in Stromwell. Stromwell plays a great protagonist in this very deep episode showing the consequences of his actions as a mob boss and how it tortures his very soul. Yeah I've got Batman in my Basement sucks, and is pretty boring. Although I think you emphasized the negative aspects in that it is kid's taking care of Batman, and neglected the aspect of how the show continues to present Batman as human and vulnerable. Heart of Ice: You guys said everything that needs to be said, excellent episode. Cat and the Claw - this is probably the one I disagree with you two most, it's an above average episode, certainly not deserving of a two-parter. While the interaction between Bruce and Selena is interesting it is driven forward by an absolutely yawnful plot. Also, I think they didn't do nearly as good as a job to make me care about Selena Kyle outside of the fact that Bruce liked her. I'm not as high on this episode as you two were. See No Evil - I totally didn't pick up on the child molestation angle subtext, I knew something was creepy about the episode but I just couldn't put my finger on it until I listened to WFP. Although you did bring up that as kid's we don't pick up on that kind of stuff, but certainly I think the reason it was let on the air is because it does present an important message for kids: don't go off with strangers.

I think anything more than two villains is ludicrous. I felt Spider-man 3 was a decent movie and I actually really liked it but all the problems people have with it is there are way too many focuses. Theres a lot of good ideas, but Raimi would have been better served stretching these ideas over 2 movies than cramming everything in one film. A short rundown of ideas that were in Movie three: Introducing Gwen Stacy and Peter's love triangle Peter/MJ drama Symbiote Suit and Peter going Dark Eddie Brock and Venom's Origin (& Death) Green Goblin 2 (Harry Osborn) Sandman and whatever connection he had to Peter's father Now looking at that list, they're all great ideas. But the biggest problem was developing all of them coherently into one film. Now instead of developing them ALL coherently, Sam kind of made them side attractions to the Main Arc of the trilogy (the relationships of three friends Peter/MJ/Harry). People obviously didn't like this. I felt it was fine but certainly could have been a little more focused and a little less rushed. Eliminating one of the villains (either Venom or Sandman) would have made plenty of space to focus the film. As for Spidey 4, I don't think a reboot is necessarily in order where they erase everything that happened like the Incredible Hulk did. But certainly a new arc would be appropriate at this point in time. From rumors and the like, the most likely villain would be Lizard, but I've never been a fan of him or Carnage. Frankly, I'd love to see Kraven's Last Hunt adapted somewhere down the line but I wouldn't suggest it for this next film. I think Raimi has probably learned from the mistakes of the last film and will squeeze it back down to one villain (like the first two films) or maybe, just maybe, two but I hope he chooses the former rather than the latter. The less juggling the better in my opinion

I was going to create a thread like this when I finished the second episode but you beat me to it. Anyways, just finished listening to the second episode of World's Finest Podcast: Really good job guys. Don't know what to say, you provide some insights of a lot of things. I don't disagree with you guys too much on this batch. I didn't really like Underdwellers too much. For POV, I felt that the first half was rather excellent with the different point of views and the differences in the the three officer's views of themselves, Batman, and the situation but while the first half excelled the second half of the episode, done in real time was quite bland. I guess it's done to show contrast the three perspectives against the reality but it nonetheless it was still bland. Be a Clown was meh as well, even though I love the Joker. I actually like Be a Clown less than The Last Laugh but that's because I felt that the Last Laugh was more fun to watch maybe the kid brought it down a bit. The Forgotten or what I aliased as Cool Hand Bruce is an odd episode. I've read somewhere that the Producers are not fond of this episode even though the fans seem to be. It really is there to show how Bruce does without any of his gadgets and weapons. I really like what Mike said about even though Bruce has forgotten who he is, it doesn't change his core character and his desire to fight injustice. An intriguing episode, but I think the idea is more intriguing on paper than in execution. The Two-Face two-parter is absolutely awesome. Totally agree with James' score here. I think the plot, the psychological aspects, and the character work more than make up for whatever it lacks in animation. I understand that the scores are arbitrary but I would still like to hear more debate on this episode. I understand that you two have somewhat similar tastes but for an episode where the score varies so much, you guys are still too agreeable. Easily my favorite episode thus far. Will be back after I finish the next batch.

I've probably said this before, but I fucking love Sleeper. Its an awesome series, just Ed Brubaker at his very best. That makes me giddy.

Point Blank TPB by Ed Brubaker I wanted to read Sleeper but I found out that this is sort of a prequel and I have to admit it was pretty awesome. I really like the noir style and the whole book is pretty much a detective mystery. By the end it's an absolute headtrip. My biggest problem is that I wasn't familiar with some of the characters and the art made a few of them look alike. By the end I totally bought into the story that was being told and felt connected to the characters. This is my first exposure to Brubaker and I'm really interested in picking up more of hist stuff, I think he'd be great for Daredevil and after I finish the excellent Bendis run (I've only got the last two tpbs to go) I'm going to continue with Ed's and I also should look into his Capt America (not sure which of those two I should pick up first though, any thoughts?) Wolverine: 12 issue Millar run I really enjoy Millar's action blockbuster style, he does a good job making Wolverine really ruthless but I really felt it was way more interesting seeing "Enemy of the State" Wolvie than seeing "Agent of Shield" Wolvie. Still a fun run. Not nearly as much depth as he put in some of his Ultimate run to make it a good re-read though.

I know this was posted more than a year and a half ago, but I just listened to it yesterday after watching the first 5 episodes beforehand. I love this podcast. You guys don't spend a lot of time summarizing, have an abundant amount of knowledge of the show and the comics, and have some great insights and analysis that makes me want to watch the episodes over again. Your chemistry I'm sure will grow or adapt with time, I assume. As for the episodes themselves, like I said, I know it's been a LONG time since you looked over these episodes but I had a few responses to your insights, if I can remember them: Not as big of a fan of Leather Wings as either of you were. It's a decent episode, but I didn't think it was as good as either of you thought it was. Christmas with the Joker was pretty terrible. You mentioned the police dept's trust of Batman being inorganic as it went from really untrusting to complete trust in Nothing to Fear, I think it has something to do with Batman actually rescuing the PD in Christmas with the Joker with their lives being on the line and seeing Batman in action, rather than glimpses or merely after the fact witnesses. I felt Nothing to Fear was awesome and easily the best of the bunch. The Last Laugh was fun but I think Yoda felt that Joker had no purpose, I'm not a DC comic guy but isn't the Joker a supporter of anarchy, that's kind of what i felt in the Last Laugh. Totally agree with you on Pretty Poison, the first half is damn good the second half is bad, the episode felt like it was two different ones at time with the first half being ultra realistic with the second half being really comic booky and fantasy. I'll keep listening, is it alright if I keep bumping old threads, or is that not cool?

Nextwave Agents of H.A.T.E. vol 2 More of the same from the first vol except more sexual jokes and even more outrageous. Didn't think that was possible. Love the "Civil War?" cover to #11 as well, excellent. The first half grabs you because of the concept, it keeps you going because it's so damn funny and outrageous. Don't think it's everyones cup of tea and I'm sure some will say it's stupid, I felt that way on occasion, but at the same time, it's so stupid it's funny. It's like watching Street Fighter live action movie drunk, it's a car crash but all of a sudden it's a hilarious car crash.

Nextwave Agents of H.A.T.E. vol 1 So I read up the first six issues of this. It really is the definition of a stupid popcorn book, and that's exactly what Ellis is making it. It's a really fun book with lots of explosions, no character development, swearing, and lots of explosions. It's basically a Michael Bay movie on acid. I have to admit though, it's pretty damn funny. It's not funny in the way that X-Factor is funny where it's more clever, this book is funny in it's over-the-top-ness. The team dialogue is hilarious and the situations are absolutely laugh-out loud Evil Koala Bears of Death, ROBO-COP (kind of), Dragon in underpants (Fin Fang Foom). The series only went 12 issues, and it really does feel like it has a short shelf-life, I can't imagine a book like this being a long series.

Watched it, it was enjoyable enough. A lot of the jokes fell flat for me and while the hero's journey arc is very overt in Iron Man, I thought it was just way too subtle and it went over my head completely until my buddy explained it to me. As for the acting, Norton and Tyler had no chemistry, at all. They didn't click as actors together, and thus to me a lot of their scenes didn't click. Edward Norton did a decent job as Bruce, but it also seemed like he didn't have much to work with which makes me really intrigued to see the scenes they edited out of the film. The battle scenes are good fun and the CGI isn't quite as intruding as I thought it would be. I don't know the movie didn't click with me quite as much as it did with some others.

I'll be going to a showing tonight

I've read X-factor Visionaries Peter David vol 1-3 over the past few days. It's a blast. The early issues have some voice issues, where many of the characters don't really have a distinct voice and many of the lines could be interchangeable from character to character but by the second half of the first arc this is taken care of and Peter David hits his peak in the books about 6 issues in. Some of the jokes don't stand the test of time and of course the pop-culture references certainly date the book (although some of them are funny). By the second TPB, Peter David has some GREAT stories (including a three part Hulk crossover) as he balances the serious along with the humor and really delves into some interesting issues that involve morality. Some of the best jokes involve how ridiculous the villain line-ups are from Mr.Sinister's Nasty Boys, to Stryfe's henchman, to the Hell's Belle's. The characters all get their shining character defining moments and it's balanced pretty well. Probably the most interesting to me has been Rahne's "Wolfsbane" issues. It's been highly enjoyable ride and I'm definitely going to pick up vol 4 of this visionaries series along with the new series which from what little I've read is pretty good.

Looks like I get to watch From Russia With Love this weekend.

World War Hulk: HULK SMASH! I guess I'm the only one who actually liked this. It was fun, it did exactly what it was supposed to do: It delivered big battles between a REALLY ANGRY Hulk and a variety of superheroes while still continuing the theme of "What makes a real monster?" The only real complaint, outside of the lack of depth, is the reveal near the end which was a bit-anti climactic. The book does feel a little dumbed down as it does hammer the themes over and over again but it doesn't take away from it overall. I thought it was a really fun book to read, a lot of action, some big battles, and a continuation of themes that started in Planet Hulk. I thought it delivered, it certainly wasn't fantastic but it was fun. World War Hulk: X-men TPB So this TPB collects a bunch of World War Hulk Tie-ins, I actually read this first before the actual WWH book. There are some tie-ins here (X-men, Iron-Man) that are semi-interesting while others feel completely useless and cheap (Ant-man, in particular, but then I never liked that book). The X-men one was the most interesting to me because it's completely unexplained in the WWH book and it seems more important because of Xavier's place on the Initiative. It explains some unanswered questions to stay relevant but not intruding to the main book. The Iron Man tie-in looks deeper into Tony Stark's role and looks into his mentality, through the eyes of Dugan, and it's an interesting way to give sympathy to someone who's been such a controversial character lately (Tony Stark). I read that Planet Hulk and WWH events were part of a trilogy, what is the third part?

Planet Hulk You know I tried reading this a while back and I didn't enjoy it, the colors seemed bland and dull and the story wasn't very interesting to me (things usually seem this way on my computer). I was really wrong. Just finished it this morning in a hardcover my friend let me borrow (he loves the Hulk). I quite enjoyed it, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Hulk all that much. Pak was able to create a whole world, with it's own politics, it's own history, it's own species, and it's own mythology and insert Hulk into this world almost flawlessly. The art seemed much, much better this way (as usual), the story seemed much better as well. Although I'm still not a fan of Hulk the character, he was really represented well here, the concepts of what a real monster is (Issue #5 probably my favorite did this really well) was pretty awesome. And of course, lots and lots of smashing. In the end, I'm glad I read it but at the same time, I'm happy I didn't buy it too. Up Next, some World War Hulk Tie-ins (again borrowed from my friend).

I took a break (maybe permanently) from Fables. Thunderbolts: Faith In Monsters TPB vol.1 I never really read thunderbolts before, but this is awesome. Yeah they fight D-List superheros but the team dynamics are so much fun. The Penance character is really interesting to me. The constant three-way power struggle is so much fun. I don't know, I just really like this book, it feels like a pretty unique concept considering that some of these characters are absolutely insane. The plot is driven forward by the characters instead of the other way around. I hope this stays good because I'm definitely going to pick up the second TPB when it comes out.

I guess you may have misunderstood me a little bit. I wouldn't think it'd be a good idea to analyze every little bit of the film, you're right, it'd be long and lengthy. I just think having more of your thoughts and analysis and less of the "Then Bond did this...and then this happened..." summary might strengthen the podcast. Just so you understand my thought process, in the first show, you already preface that there are spoilers galore and that people should have already seen the films, so if they already have seen the films, they don't really need you telling them what happens as much as you do. I guess you give credit where credit is due. Ha! Totally didn't mean it like that. I always have this problem when I start listening to podcasts doesn't matter the origin of the hosts. Or maybe your personalities seem alike and that's why you sound alike. I don't know. Yeah, I just wanted to give feedback. If the majority like how you do the shows, Fuck me, not literally, and just keep being awesome. Although, I have a feeling that it's just growing pains and your shows will become tighter as the series go along. Sweetness. Good luck. As for discussing the movie itself, the death toll, completely disagree with you on the three blind mice in the cars. While I don't quite feel that it is a direct kill, it is indirect consequence of Bond outsmarting/outmaneuvering them in the car chase. The scene with Dent is one of the best in the film because it is the first time where Bond shows real darkness and cruelty. Also totally didn't catch the Bond could think that Honey Ryder put the spider on his bed idea, I actually think it would have been more tense if they never showed us Dr. No/Dent scene with the spider and would have teased Ryder's double-agent status more. Dr. No isn't a bad film and really there was a lot to like, the down-to-earth nature, the noir-ish spy elements, the murder mystery, but the movie does move a little slow and when it finally reaches Dr. No's lair, it kind of devolves into an over the top Bond movie.

Fables: mini-arc, a couple one-shots, and Arc 3 Storybook Love This book has been progressively getting better, yet I'm still not completely enveloped in the Fables world. I still don't think it's as awesome as many people say it is, but I'm not completely apathetic to it either. Overall, I found that I typically dislike any of the one-shots that explore the character's pass, they've been completely forgettable for me while the contemporary stories are more memorable. The characters are only starting to grow on me now, and frankly that's just way too long. I did enjoy Storybook Love more than any of the earlier arcs because of the interaction between White and Bigby is entertaining and the stakes seem to be higher than they were before.

Ok, so I am a pretty big Bond fan and listened to this today after re-watching Dr.No last night. It was a good podcast, but frankly, I didn't like the format, I felt the scene by scene coverage involves way too much summary and way too little analysis. Even though that's my only gripe, it did affect my enjoyment of the podcast greatly. I know almost nothing about podcasting, so I feel a little awkward about leaving gripes but that's the way I felt. On to other stuff, really love the little bits of trivia that I never knew (like Connery not being able to drive thus the blue/green screen effect). Some really good chemistry between you two, although I had a little problem telling who was who at times. You guys give some really good insights but the summary really made them feel so far between. Overall good first show and I look forward to hear more.

Fables: Arc 2 - Animal Farm This arc is, thankfully, much better than the first. Still not sure if I should stick with it or not, it just doesn't seem like my thing as I really feel disconnected from all of the characters. Nonetheless, I really liked the metaphorical ideas present in here with revolutionaries and segregation, except that the writing was incredibly biased against the "revolutionaries", and honestly it would have been 10x better if it was written from a more objective point of view. Honestly, while I can't agree with the hype of Starvos, I can see the intrigue and the interest of the world they have created, just not sure if it's a world I want to keep reading.

Fables: First arc So I read the first arc of Fables over the past couple days. Frankly I'm unimpressed. I fell asleep while reading both the second and third issues and that's never a good sign, especially when it's the middle of the day. I'm intrigued and the concept is a unique one, but the story was an emphatic meh.