George Carlin

So the great George Carlin died this week. I know I'm a bit late but here is what I have to say about that.

I loved comedians when I was a kid. It wasn't until I was in 6th grade or so that I discovered George Carlin. When I heard him and got what he was saying, I feel like that is the point in time when my sense of humor grew up. Prior to that I was listening to a lot of Bill Cosby, who I really respect as a comedian, but his stuff was geared to kids and people who have them. Kids got Cosby because they were still doing the things that he was talking about. Parents got him because they saw their kids doing that stuff. It was all about the kids.

Carlin was different. He was my gateway drug into the world of comedy for grown ups. It wasn't just the language. I had heard plenty of comics that used profanity in their acts before, Carlin was just different. He didn't say fuck and shit and goddammit just for the sake of those words being funny, he used that language because that is they way grown ups talk. There was no beating around the bush with Carlin. He had strong opinions and he was going to let you know what they were. If something made him angry he was going to let you know that it was some kind of motherfucking bullshit.

Carlin was my launching pad into the humor that I still love today. In all of the current comedians that I follow, his influence is incredibly evident. Every time I hear Patton Oswalt, or Lewis Black, or David Cross, I think of how they probably spent hours upon hours listening to George Carlin albums which were probably the inspiration for them getting into comedy in the first place.

Thanks to Carlin I was able to discover other comics like Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks. Guys who were pioneers in the world of observational humor. I don't mean bullshit did you ever notice blah blah blah Seinfeld style observational humor. No sir. I mean in your face what the fuck is wrong with the world we're all going straight to hell and that's the way it is observational humor.

So thank you Mr. Carlin. Thank you for helping me grow up. Thank you for helping my sense of humor mature. Thank you for all of the hours of entertainment. George Carlin will be missed, but at least he helped create a generation of genuinely funny comedians to follow in his footsteps.

Cool New Search Engine

Try this out. I like it and I'll have an actual review of it after I play around with it a little more.

Here it is

Wishful thinking Rob

That's what Rob thinks because he just, for whatever reason, can't bring himself to believe that Iron Man is a Skrull. Hero worship is a powerful thing I suppose. It all makes sense though, doesn't it? I mean who has done more to divide the heroes in the Marvel Universe than Iron Man lately. Divide and conquer anyone? He tore the fabric of the universe basically in 2 with the whole Civil War thing which puts the Skrulls in prime position to invade. It all makes sense to me.

Unless, and feel free to insert a giant drum roll here, Spider Man is a Skrull. That's right, Spider Man. He has played both sides of the Civil War coin and has worked pretty hard in his own right to divide the heroes. He may be the link to this whole thing. I know what you're thinking, Marvel wouldn't Skrull Spidey after the whole Spider Clone debacle would they? If you're thinking they wouldn't screw that up again I would like to welcome you to the world of Marvel Comics as you are obviously new here.

What if the Peter Parker we all know and love is a filthy, dirty, disgusting, Skrull? Wouldn't that set you on your collective asses?
I think it would.

Of course none of it matters as they are going to reboot the entire Marvel Universe anyway after Punisher shows up and kills everyone. Or maybe it's just coincidence that they are re-releasing the Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe one shot right before he gets involved in Secret Invasion.

No No No No No

iron man is not a skrull - i know you all disagree. i know it looked pretty clear that he was. but i'll be proven right on this one... (sob)

My Pull List for Wednesday

Ok here's the pull list for tomorrow.

All New Iron Manual

Captain Britian and MI: 13

Genext

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel 1985

Newuniversal: Shock Front

Punisher

Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four

Sky Doll

Wolverine: The Amazing Immortal Man & Other Bloody Tales

X-Men Origin: Colossus

and even a DC title Batman #676

I'll have reviews of these later in the week

Waldo's take on Iron Man

So I went to see Iron Man on Monday night. I went into it with, in all honesty, limited expectations. A few months ago I was so excited about this movie I thought I might quite literally explode. I didn't, and the more I saw of this movie the less excited I was about it. I tend to do that with movies.

While I expected a watchable but ultimately mediocre telling of an Iron Man story, that is not at all what was delivered. They fooled me, those sons of bitches fooled me. This is, as far as I'm concerned, the best comic book movie ever made. If this is how Marvel studios plans to handle their films then that is alright with me.

On the surface it's simple enough. A slight update to the Iron Man origin, this one taking place in Afghanistan, was not nearly as distracting as I thought it might be. From there on out you have a lot of Tony Stark developing his Iron Man technology and drinking. Oh and also screwing beautiful women.

This movie was quite daring though. It is almost 45 minutes into the film before you see Iron Man. That's right, no costume at all for 45 minutes. This is unheard of in a comic book movie. What they did in those 45 minutes is where the genius is. They did something else practically unheard of in a comic book film, they developed the Stark character and make you care about him for reasons other than the fact that he's Iron Man. They gave us Tony Stark, the supercool billionaire that you could imagine having a few drinks with and hanging out. They gave us Tony Stark, the guy who has more notches on his bedpost than you would ever have if you lived a million years, but he still unresolved feelings for Pepper that hint at a longing for normalcy and stability. This isn't just a guy with a badass suit that hand's villains their hats. No sir. This is a guy with feelings and emotions who likes to have fun and live life to its fullest. And before you start with telling me all about the emotional struggle that Batman has to deal with, please understand the difference here. Batman has 2 emotions, anger and sadness. He's an emo kid with all the cool toys. Iron Man is a much more richly crafted character when it comes to depth of the emotional spectrum. You kind of get the impression that half the reason he continued to enhance the Iron Man armor was because flying around in it was fun. Yeah sure you can use it to save the world but flying is awesome, and chicks dig it.

The truth is, the ultimate showdown with the evil villain in this movie was the least interesting part. Don't get me wrong it was visually appealing and fun but I liked everything else in the movie so much better. I kind of thought, "Ok get this out of the way and let's have more Tony Stark".

And I don't care what certain people on the blog say, Jeff Bridges was really good. I thought he did a good job of playing both sides of his character's treacherous coin. He was Tony's best confidant and was very believable. He was also the guy that wouldn't let anything get in the way of his quest for power, including Tony Stark. Excellent work Mr. Bridges.

All in all I thought Jon Favreau did a great job of giving us a story that was interesting and was deep and richly layered. Anyone can give you a superhero movie that just has a lot of explosions and fight scenes in it. Few have even tried to give you one that has emotion and character development, and none have succeeded like this one did.

Review of Iron Man ("FatDragon")

So the first blockbuster to come out this year happens to be another superhero movie. And everytime one comes out I hold my breath to see what kind of damage can be done to a childhood icon and usually it leaves me with a that horrible feeling you get when Christmas comes and Santa didnt bring you that Radio Flyer you have been wanting all year long.

Even still, when Christmas comes that hope always comes back. Ready to build you up and let you down. So I went into Iron man with a negative attitude. Not expecting much but a few cheap laughs, your 1-2-3 of how an overprivledged man becomes a hero and of course the build up to what he can and cannot do. Take all of that and add Robert Downey Jr. to it, and you have a real life Tony Stark (with a drug problem) who eventually goes from being your everyday corporate man to a........Iron man? With a heart of gold, or shall I say sharp metal barbs.

Anyway, the sell is convincing. The story moves along at a fast pace and you do not find yourself checking the time or wondering when the movie picks up. It starts off that way and kind of just becomes a roller coaster ride, with a great ending. The dialogue is very similar to all Downey movies. It almost appears as if the script was written for him and him alone. Nothing Oscar worthy but enough to make you wonder what he will say next. Especially in a PG-13 movie and still be funny. You do have some hokey comic relief parts and of course the trial and error of testing out a heroes new powers, but overall very good. Gwyneth Paltrow has never seemed attractive at all until I saw her in this movie. A very good Pro. Sadly, the only true Con to the film is Jeff Bridges. Why is he in the film? Who thought that would make sense? How old is he?

Nevertheless, its a must see for all comic book fans.