Comics, manga and other nerdilicious goodness!

Sugar Glider: the X-men may be uncanny, but this is proper canny!

2011-10-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Two of my fellow PaperJam Comics Collective members Gary Bainbridge and Daniel Clifford created a comic series called Sugar Glider, 2 issues and an extra comic of short stories from the Sugar Glider world.

So why did I choose to make a blog entry about Sugar Glider?

1. It's a very good comic.

2. Seldom do I have the chance as GEORDIE Green Lantern to share my enthusiasm for a comic set in NEWCASTLE, so it is an honour for me to do so.

Now I'm going to list what makes Sugar Glider a very comic.

1. The setting of Newcastle gives the story a good sense of realism. The bonus for Geordies is that they will have walked through various locations in the comic.

2. The idiosyncratic nature of the art.

3. The clarity of the writing and use of the Geordie accent/dialect.

4. A balanced mixture of daily life concerns and extraordinary situations.

5. A strong and engaging female protagonist.

6. The facial expressions of the characters convey a wide variety of emotions.

7. A great concept: a Geordie superhero.

8. A story filled with suspense, comedy, intrigue, family life, variety, detail and secret identities!

9. Issue 1 contains a newspaper article from the Sugar Glider universe!

10. Issue 2 comes with bonus fan art!

It's an impressive comic like. Divn't you agree man?

Aye it's proper mint leek. Alreet here's me approval. The day am ganna approve of Sugar Glider comics.

2000 AD Prog 1751 (Wednesday 14th September 2011)

2011-09-15T05:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while but I was finishing my third novella. I still have about 16,000 words to type (the writing is completely finished) but that's boring technical stuff.

Anyway I'm going to say what I thought about issue (prog) 1751 of the 2000 AD comic (or as they say, magazine).

In the order they were printed:

1. Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos Part 2: I hate not starting a story arc at the first chapter, episode etc but the last line of the "In this prog" inner cover page the last line sums it up well: "Now, East-Meg agents are plotting a strike against the city..."

"You're nicked sonny Jim"

As for the installment itself, I enjoyed it and plotwise the arc as a whole has potential. It's pretty much a Judge Dredd cold war analogy with intrigue, terrorism and possibly espionage along the line. Good stuff.

2. Ampney Crucis Investigates: The English Assassin Part 2: I really liked this story, it really appealed to me. It was very sci-fi in my opinion i.e. verging on a threat from the cosmos and the colour was striking in the right places.

"What do you mean I have to have a permit to do some sleuthing on a tentacled monstrosity?"

3. Indigo Prime: Everything and More Part 2: This one reminded me of my friend Paul's comic work as found here http://talesofthehollowearth.blogspot.com/ which has wonderful art but also lots of interesting descriptions of things.

"I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident!"

In Indigo Prime, I particularly liked the following usages of language.

"He has the delusion we're all fictional characters in a penny dreadful written by some mad demiurge from a higher dimension."

"Entropy reefs", "timelocked in stasis gel", "global sporewar", and "dreamfever decontamination".

"The summer of love gatecrashes the Winter Palace."

This week's Indigo Prime deserved the sole double paged spread in the issue of 2000 AD. Not only was it vivid but it really was a depiction of the cosmos, it had what I call beautiful chaos.

4. Angel Zero Part 1: To my relief, this is the first installment of Angel Zero. Watch out pardners there's a new backwater planet heroine who has entered the comic world, backstory dangerously approaching her.

"My good lady, do you know any decent local hunting spots?"

5. Low Life: The Deal Part 2: One of the things I like about the Judges of Megacity is their near omniprescence. Equally from this story I enjoyed the "trying to blend in with society" (and possibly the dregs/ underdogs of the Judges) as I shall describe it, of the so called "Wally Squad".

"Arrr! Thar be fish fingers! Or I may have found the One Piece"

And now over to Norman Osborn for his approval!

"Cheers Geordie Green Lantern. Whey today am ganna' approve of summat, but before that, the bloke above looks a bit shifty like. Before I continue I need to ensure our protection by summoning a special force. Whey aye it's the Uncanny X-men! There said it."

Hang on a minute Norms, have you been absorbing some of me geet mint Geordie accent like?

"Aye Geordie Green Lantern, an it might carry on if I am to make an approval for Sugar Glider Issues 1 and 2 soon, ye knaa."

Areet, but for now get on with your approvals will you?

"Aye. Theday I approve of two things, the proper class 2000 AD comic and the reet canny Tales of the Hollow Earth comic."

My ideal White Lantern Team

2011-05-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

This post is the final post in my Colour Colour/ Serious Lantern Corps series of blogs. I am glad to finally reach the end of it since it meant having to finding a lot of pictures but it was a fun experience (even if I am the only person who has read it if any have not :p). This final post in the series is about the White Lantern Corps Team I would build, based on characters who essentually represent life, in it's colourful glory!

Where Venom (right of image) represents death and decay, Anti-Venom (left of image) represents life and healing. He is not about the celebratory aspects of life but survival. He would make a good White Lantern for this trait.

Discworld's Nanny Ogg has more life and vitality to her than any other character I have ever encountered in anything, she is a marvellous character indeed. She is the spirit of the party, filled with kindness and energy.

Jiraiya- Naruto's sensei, what can I say? He writes, he fights, he drinks, he lusts, he lives! Jiraiyaseems to get the most out of life and is a character with more personality than most in the series. He's a hero too, but most remember him as a loveable goofball, filled with eccentric life!

A man of many lives The Doctor has therefore lived a lot. He must have experienced so much in his 900 odd years it's hard to comprehend how much memory capacity he must have. He goes through all the emotions humans go through, has suffered far more than we could possibly have because he has lived so much longer, yet the important part he has lived and enjoyed life for a long time so he would make a superb White Lantern. Also he has a scientific enthusiam and loveable eccentricity rarely held by many other characters.

I now pass this recording of life to you Norman Osborn!

My thanks to you Geordie Green Lantern! Today I approve of: life!

White White Lanterns

2011-05-26T08:09:00.001-07:00

This is the post about a team of White Lanterns I would buld based on characters who wear white.

Gandalf the White!

Glinda the Good!

Zelda the Pure!

Dagger the Dangerous!

Approvals with Norman!

Thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of White White Lanterns!

My ideal Black Lantern (Nekron Corps) Team

2011-05-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

This post is about the team I would assemble if I could make my own Black Lantern Corps, the corps of death.

Skeletor- because he has a skull for a head.

Cervantes from Soul Calibur is the coolest zombie pirate if you were to ask me.

Kenpachi- Bleach's most deadly Death god.

Pein from Naruto not only can take life away but he can also ressurect himself.

Time for you Mr. Osborn!

Many thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: death.

Black Black Lanterns

2011-05-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

This post is about Black Lanterns I would choose to form a team based on characters who wear the colour black.

The Black Ranger!

Cloak (as in the team Cloak and Dagger).

Ghost Rider!

The last word goes to Norman Osborn.

Thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Black Black Lanterns!

My ideal Pink Lantern (Star Sapphires) Team

2011-05-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

This is the team I think would be best suited to be wearers of the pink rings of love.

Sailor Moon is an embodiment of love. Love of her friends, love of food and sleeping in and being a bit of a brat, love of Tuxedo Kamen and so on. She is not afraid to sacrifice herself in the name of love.

Hinata is the most underrated character in Naruto, and I would say the most loving.

Maes Hughes: easily the best dad in Fullmetal Alchemist and a good husband.

Now for you Norman!
Thank you very much Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: love.

Pink Pink Lanterns

2011-05-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

These are the Pink Lanterns I choose based off characters associated with the colour pink.

The Pink Panther!

Chibi Sailor Moon!

Majin Buu!

Pink Ranger go!

The ultimate ladies' man in Bleach: Shunsui Kyoraku!

Never underestimate Kirby!

Now over to you Osborn!

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Pink Pink Lanterns!

My ideal Red Lantern Team

2011-05-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

This is the actual team I would have of Red Lanterns, the Lanterns of Rage.

Grimmjow from Bleach is nearly always pissed off and wanting to fight something so he would make a good Red Lantern if you ask me.

Ganondorf usually looks calm, even cocky until he snaps and goes in a furious rage. Then he will try to crush his enemy with full fury.

Yeah I would move away from She-Hulk right now, she's pissed off.

Guts from the Berserk manga isn't very reasonable when he is in a berserker mood.

If Wolverine ever says to you "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough", gods hope you are hard enough.

So, now for our regular guest: Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: rage.

Red Red Lanterns

2011-05-26T06:11:00.001-07:00

This post is about the Red Lantern team I would make based off characters linked to the colour red.

I am Iron Man!

Darth Maul- the most awesome Star Wars villain this side of Vadar.

Don't mess with Alucard, or he will down your rich red blood.

The leader of the Power Rangers, the Red Ranger is entitled to a pose.

Leave Hellboy's Pamcakes and he will leave you alone.

Your time to speak Norman!

Mmm Pamcakes. Sorry I got distracted there. Today I approve of Red Red Lanterns!

My ideal Purple Lantern (Indigo Tribe) Team

2011-05-26T05:50:00.000-07:00

This is the actual team I would put together to be members of the Indigo Tribe who represent compassion.

Piccolo would be a good Purple Lantern bacause he started off the reincarnation of evil then developed a soft spot for Gohan who he trained and as indicated in the picture above sacrificed his life for. He did seek power a little bit like most shonen heroes but he was always concerned with the welfar of his adopted home planet Earth.

Sailor Mercury is the voice of reason in Sailor Moon's Sailor Senshi, but I think she is also the most compassionate of the group. She's always worried about the welfare of the others and she is thoughtful as well as full of thought.

I put Yoshimitsu as a Purple Lantern because he is basically the Robin Hood of Soul Calibur and Tekken: concerned with the welfare of impoverished people of the world and prepared to fight injustice on their behalf, because of a desire to show compassion.

Red Haired Shanks from the world of One Piece would be a very good Purple Lantern in my opinion. Even though he is hugely important in the balance of power of the pirate world, he was prepared to sacrifice his life to save a little boy he barely knew.

Shiekh would be a good choice because she helps the hero when he is in trouble and needs an extra bit of assistance. She doesn't like to see him struggle more than he already has done.

Now it's your turn to speak Norms!

Haha, thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: compassion.

Purple Purple Lanterns

2011-05-26T05:35:00.001-07:00

This is my team of Purple Lanterns based off characters connected to the colour purple.

The ever regal Magneto!

Smile! Says the Joker.

Purple is magic, so speaketh The Dark Magician!

It is I, Yoshimitsu!

Shiekh, a musical warrior!

To you Mr. Osborn, what do you approve of today?

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Purple Purple Lanterns!

My ideal Orange Lantern (Larfleeze's Constructs) Team

2011-05-26T05:12:00.000-07:00

As far as I'm concerned the following characters would be ideal for an Orange Lantern team.

Kakuzu is probably the most greedy character in Naruto. He is obsessed with money, in fact that is his primary concern as an Akatsuki member. He basically kills solely for financial gain.

Fullmetal Alchemist's Greed is easily the best candidate I can think of to be one of Larfleeze's Constructs. He is greedy about everything, power, women, money, it's all good to him. Interestingly he isn't just greedy about things often seen in a bad light i.e excesses. He takes it a level further and evolves greed into a kind of protectiveness for those he loves.

Griffith is the main villain from the manga Berserk. He sacrificed his entire army just to gain the power of demon gods.

Apocaplypse was greedy in the standard villain wanting to take over the world way. It wasn't as personal as with Griffith which was rather horrific. Apocalypse stole powers of others to try and get world domination. He would be a good Orange Lantern Construct though.

Let's now see what Norman Osborn approves of today.

Thanks Geoordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: greed.

Orange Orange Lanterns

2011-05-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is dedicated to a team of Orange Lanterns I would form based purely off the affiliation with the colour orange that the following characters share.

Damon Gant from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourny!

Uzumaki Naruto!

Fruits Basket's Kyo Sohma!

Sonic's Tails!

The Thing!

Dexter!

Now to Norman.

Thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Orange Orange Lanterns!

My ideal Blue Lantern team

2011-05-26T04:34:00.000-07:00

This is my serious team of Blue Lanterns I would build.

Zelda's Link. His world is under the thumb of the powerful sorcerer Ganondorf but Link won't give in, he has the courage to face a fear filled world and fight it. He is the hero after all. The sages put their hopes in him and were wise to do so.

Dumbledore was the first person to tell Harry Potter that a thing will become less terrifying if its name is used. He appears and everything seems like it is going to be okay.

Sonic is the hope of Mobius, and the constant foiler of Robotnik's terrorist plots.

Mirai (Future) Trunks is the last hope of a fallen world, even though times were grim he fought on and believed a world could be saved, even if that world wasn't his own.

Vash the Stampede, a legend and a bearer of hope. If others can't beat the enemy he can be relied on to make things right again, and cheer people up with his donut eating antics!

Many a foe bigger and stronger than Spiderman has tried to crush his hopes and dreams only to have failed time and time again. No matter how big the opponent, Spiderman always seems to find a way to defeat them.

Now for Norman Osborn.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: hope.

Blue Blue Lanterns

2011-05-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

This is the Blue Lantern team I would make based purely off their association with the colour blue.

I'm sorry I couldn't resist. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Phoenix Wright!

Blue Ranger go!

X-men's Beast!

Go go Captain America!

Finish him subzero!

Now over to Norman Osborn.

Many thank yous Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Blue Blue Lanterns!

My ideal Yellow Lantern (Sinestro Corps) team

2011-05-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

This is the team of Yellow Lanterns I would actually assemble if I had a choice.

Frieza: He may not be the most powerful Dragonball character but he is a good candidate for the Yellow Ring. He goes round exterminating planets, terrorising and torturing their residents, he is an emperor of fear.

Sauron of Lord of The Rings fame represents terror because he not only scares the shit out of some of his opponents but also rules his minions by fear.

Deidara is pretty much a bishie suicide bomber, terrifying in both his conviction and nothing to lose approach. Fear is his art.

Ah good old Dr. Doom. He only wants people to fear him, and destroy Reed Richards of course. He will exterminate any who get in his way including innocent children.

Fear Darth Vadar! He shares with Dr. Doom an inhuman creepiness and a strong merciless streak, even against his own family.

Finally we have Batman, the only hero of my ideal Yellow Lantern team. Although clearly a good guy his philosophy and fighting style revolves around scaring the shit out of his enemies.

Now over to Mr. Osborn!

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: fear.

Yellow Yellow Lanterns

2011-05-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

This is the Yellow Lantern team I would make based off various characters linked to the colour yellow.

The Honey Monster

Mortal Kombat's Scorpion

Pikachu

The Yellow Ranger- obviously!

A strong sense of blue but there's more yellow in the costume- Wolverine!

Fleetway Comic version of Super Sonic- the better version than the Archie Comics' tame version.

Now over to Norman Osborn for his approval!

Many thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Yellow Yellow Lanterns!

My ideal Green Lantern Team

2011-05-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Green Green Lanterns have been decided, now for the team I would assemble based on characters who possess a lot of willpower.

Monkey D luffy. He may not be the most powerful character in One Piece, but he will become the pirate King by sheer willpower and charisma.

Roronoa Zolo: Luffy's right hand man and First Mate of the Going Sunny, the pirate ship of the Strawhats. Zolo is a damage sponge, no matter how injured he gets (and he is easily the most injured Strawhat) he gets up and keeps on fighting to protect his team and innocents from the navy and other pirates.

Son Goku. He is one of the most persistant characters in Dragonball, overcoming trials many couldn't and becoming stronger and surviving battles by sheer will. He became the most powerful character in the series, but at the beginning he had many enemies stronger than him.

Granny Weatherwax. No matter what happens she will not give in, she is feared partly because of her determination or willpower and really is a force to be respectful of.

The Scarlet Witch. If bending reality to your own whim doesn't make you a force of will I don't know what does.

I now present to you my regular guest: Mr. Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: willpower.

If I made a team of Green Green Lanterns!

2011-05-17T04:25:00.001-07:00

This blog post and the eight companion pieces that will follow will be about which characters I would select if I were to make a team of Green Lanterns based on a strong connection with the colour green, be it skin colour, outfits, hair colour, I suppose even things like the energy they fire etc. I will be working on a similar train of thought for the other Lantern teams, and of course I will have a twin for each team, the twin being a serious version based on the traits the rings represent. Without further ado here's the Green Green Lanterns!

The Green Ranger AKA the one who turned evil and the same actor came back as the White Ranger!

Ho ho ho Green Giant!

Elphaba Thropp, more commonly referred to as the Wicked Witch of Oz, although she wasn't as bad as she was made out to be.

Piccolo who in the Dragonball Z films was AKA Big Green!

She Hulk AKA Shulk or Shulkie!

Fear his green cape, Dr. Doom or outside evil Doctor Associations, Victor Von Doom!

Sailor Jupiter, the earth powered Sailor Senshi!

The wise and venerable Master Yoda!

Link, here to save you from Ganon!

Gon Freecs, the chirpy hunter!

Over to you Norman!

Thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Green Green Lanterns!

How Green Lanterns can overcome their weakness of yellow

2011-05-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Before Geoff Johns made an interesting use of why the Green Lanterns were weak against yellow, it seemed to me quite a silly weakness, laughable even. The original comics only said it was a "necessary impurity" and left the matter there. In this blog entry I will be outlining how the Green Lantern Hal Jordan overcame this weakness in the early comics.

DC Showcase Presents (Issue 22) Green Lantern: Stopping a yellow car: In the first adventure of Green Lantern way back in the '60s, before Green Lantern issue 1, a group of evil doers who assembled some sort of radiation gun were challenged by Hal Jordan. Coincidentally the evil doers had a yellow lamp in their apartment base. Excuse my Geordie pun: he was lamped.

When Hal recovered he chased after the fleeing ruffians who were escaping in a yellow car. The wheels however were black so Hal turned his emerald beams into ice picks which deflated the wheels. The criminals tried to run away but Hal caught them with beams shaped as lassos.

A similar thing happens in Showcase Presents (Issue 24). A rollercoaster car gets derailed, sending its passengers flying in the air. Hal wills spring constructs in place under the crashing car which alongside the passengers is saved.

In a second story of Showcase Presents (Issue 22), Green Lantern Hal Jordan encountered a yellow missile headed towards Coast City. Hal realises at the last minute (or to quote the issue "with split seconds to go") that the missile has a red tip. Hal traps the red tip and thus the whole missile in a green net he creates. The city, or possibly just a building or two (the exact potential of destruction wasn't stated) is saved. Hooray.

DC Showcase Presents (Issue 23) Green Lantern: The second Green Lantern adventure before his own comic featured Hal Jordan fighting a yellow pterodactyl. Forgetting the inability of his ring to work against yellow things Hal attempts to fire an emerald beam at the creature. This doesn't work so he tries to punch it on the nose to no avail. Hal then uses his Green Lantern ring to summon a giant hawk construct. He uses the hawk to lure the pterodactyl and its mates (friends to Americans reading this) into a cave which he seals off.

Green Lantern Issue 1: In the first proper Green Lantern issue, Hal has to fight a man in a yellow outfit. How does he beat him though? He uses his ring to create a small green arm which grabs ropes that bind his foe.

Green Lantern Issue 2: When good explanation is companion to the use of the yellow weakness, a Green Lantern story can seem cool and clever. In Green Lantern issue 2, Hal fights a man wielding yellow thunderbolts. In their first encounter Hal turns invisible so his foe won't know where to aim. Using this confusion "Green Lantern casts a power lasso over him" (quoted from the issue).

Unfortunately Hal notices his friend Telle-Teg, (who he was protecting from the man) was hurt. The man with the bolts AKA The Destroyer bolted (excuse my pun again non-British readers, it means ran away). When Hal caught up with The Destroyer, how did he then save the day? To quote from the issue once more: "From the power beam emerges a charging football player of huge bulk, to strike The Destroyer from behind before he can loose a bolt!"

Green Lantern Issue 3: Members of the Quardian people from the anti-matter universe of Qward stole Hal Jordan's Green Lantern Power Lamp. Each Green Lantern has a Power Lamp they must use to charge their rings when they have been in use for 24 hours, or need to be charged regardless after 24 hours, the continuity on this varies.

The Quardians put Hal's Power Lamp in a yellow dome. Hal spots a pin hole in the dome structure and sends a beam of his power through the hole transforming it into a hammer construct within, smashing the dome open. Fortunately for him, the Quardians hadn't thought far ahead enough to make sure the dome was yellow inside.

Green Lantern Issue 7: Hal Jordan allowed himself to be captured by Sinestro and a bunch of Quardians in exchange for the safety of the lives of 100,000 people. He was imprisoned in a yellow bubble until a clock hit a certain time. His captors calculated his ring would run out of power at that time so they released him.

Hal used his power to strike and pin down Sinestro. He swept the Quardians away with a green tidal wave. How did Hal screw up the calculations of the Quardians? To quote him in his explanation to Sinestro: "...My ring could not pierce your yellow bubble, but I discovered one thing that could get out-- the subparticles of carbon dioxide from my own breath! And what I did was use my green beam... To propel the invisible Co2 particles out of the bubble at the clock..."

Hal tells Sinestro his inner monologue before he was freed: "They don't suspect what I'm up to! But if I'm right, these particles I'm shooting at the clock will speed up its atomic mechanism-- and make it run fast!" He concludes his explanation to Sinestro: "So you see I still have plenty of power in my ring!"

Green Lantern Issue 9: This time Sinestro traps Hal Jordan in a cage construct created from his yellow lantern ring. I think this is the first example in a Green Lantern comic of the weakness of yellow being overcome due to manipulation of the language from the verbal command of how a construct is created. To put it simply: Sinestro used the cage command on the name Green Lantern, not Hal Jordan. Hal takes off his Green Lantern ring and outfit, thus can escape the cage.

Finally over to Norman Osborn for his approval.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: the colour yellow.

Geek references in my first novella

2011-04-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

Usually I don't mention my writing in my blog unless it deals with something geeky, even if it is only the context not the content that was geeky as was the case with my first blog entry, the Prometheus Bound post. True to my word this is about something geeky! In this case it is the geek influences and references in my first novella: Culiref. The novella isn't published but I completed it way back in 2007, the best year I have ever lived. My ex has the original handwritten copy of the novella but I have typed backups so she won't be stealing my work! Anyway my first novella was only geeky in terms of the inspirations behind it, something I didn't think much of at the time but I didn't have this blog then!

Without further ado here are those influences and references behind my first novella.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist: Without this manga I might not have chosen the Seven Sins as the adversaries of my first novella Culiref.

These are Arakawa's seven sins not mine. Mine Wear robes.

2. Harry Potter: I completed my first novella when I was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It has the same tone of increasing grimness towards the end, just before the protagonists save the day.

3. Naruto: The techniques under the umbrella of what I call Zodiac magic in the novella is very similar to the ninja magic used in the Naruto manga. Also my second protagonist of the novella is called Shikashinzo which means 'deer heart'. The shika part of the word is inspired by the Naruto character Shikamaru.

4. Dragonball: I clearly remember having Majin Buu in mind when I was writing the part of the novella when Sloth curls into an inpenetrable ball. The Culirefian Sasha was directly inspired in physique and temprament by the warrior in the Bardock tv special called Fasha, who some Dragonball fans including myself argue it is possible was Goku's biological mother. The muscle expansion of Hesus when he snaps is a homage to Trunks in the Cell saga, he isn't obviously bulky to start with then bulks up when he transforms into Ascended Super Saiyan.

5.The Avengers: The battle cry of the Culirefians "Culirefians Unite!" was a very conscious mirror to the Avenger's battle cry "Avengers Assemble!"

No I really couldn't resist. However this version of Norman Osborn isn't the same as my regular meme guest. I have no intention of changing my guest from Osborn.

6. His Dark Materials: The idea of an evil angel pretending to be a god.

And now over to Norman!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. I have never approved of Avengers, Dark or regular. Interesting to see an alternative version of me up there. He seems to be wearing some sort of armor. Wonder how he got that. Anyway, today I approve of geeky inspirations in writing.

Love of Lovecraft

2011-03-10T04:30:00.000-08:00

In order to fully understand one of the new gods in my novella mythology I had to read a little HP Lovecraft. Admittedly I didn't enjoy "The case of Charles Dexter Ward" which I found dry and dull. The overwhelming brilliance of the other stuff I read in "The Thing on the Doorstep and other stories" collection made me love his work. Here's a rundown of stories I read in that collection.

1. The Temple: This short story was great because it explored nautical madness and was very implicit about the horror that lay within.

2. Beyond the wall of sleep: The appeal of this short story for me came from its mixture of human repulsiveness and cosmic horror.

3. The Tomb: I liked this story because it dealt with how obsession can make one monstrous.

4. The White Ship: This was a very good story due to its interesting mix of gorgeous fantasy and a sense of tragic loss at the end.

5. The Quest of Iranon: This was probably my favourite story of the anthology. It combined fantasy, a naval journey but a sense of doom and foreboding.

6. The Music of Erich Zann: I enjoyed this one, it was quite disturbing. It reminded me of a description of the manga Adolf where a Jew who played a violin next to a Nazi officer was shot by the Nazi (called Adolf). Subsequently Adolf was haunted by the violin music in regular nightmares of guilt. OK Erich Zann was dealing with a sense of demonic in music rather than nightmares in music.

7. Under the Pyramids: Beautifully grotesque and macabre in the night time parts but interestingly historical in the daytime parts.

8. Pickman's model: Oddly I didn't mind the genealogical parts despite usually being bored by that kind of thing. The grotesqueness of the art and the hellishness was a good reflection of Pickman's trafficking with demonic forces.

9. At the Mountains of Madness: I skimmed or skipped the parts concerning geological detail because I have no interest in geology. Overall I loved this story though. It was especially interesting in my opinion due to the excellent explanation of the different abomination races/ sets of gods.

Now for our regular guest speaker/ proclaimer of approvals: Norman Osborn!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Eldritch Abominations.

DC top 3 reads of 2010

2011-03-10T03:58:00.000-08:00

In the chronological order I read them:

1. Rage of the Red lanterns: it was good to experience the pre-Blackest Night war from the eyes of the corps who were neither green or yellow. This was my first taste of the other corps, the second important entry for me into the Geoff Johns rebooting of the Green Lantern mythos, the first being Green Lantern Rebirth.

2. Agent Orange: Pretty much the same as above but this time from a corps with only one member, Larfleeze the avatar of greed.

3. Blackest Night: tales of the corps volume 1: Same as the two descriptions above but with a difference. This great volume focuses on the origin stories of several corps leaders.

Over to you Norman Osborn!

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Geoff Johns.

Marvel top 3 reads of 2010

2011-03-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

In no particular order:

1. Old Man Logan: The last time I was this impressed with a story centering on Wolverine was Kubert and Millar's "Origin". Even some of the better comics aside from these can be essentially Logan facing a torrent of enemies which he will proceed to take down until he is the only one left. This isn't a bad thing, it's true to his character. Old Man Logan goes beyond all that and focuses on a what if whereby Wolverine was the only surviving superhero living in a world of supervillains locked in a power struggle to become the supreme ruler of the world. It is what Marvel would call a "what if story" and DC would call an "Elseworlds tale". This adds additional appeal for me.

2. Planet Hulk and World War Hulk: Usually what I expect from the Hulk is very pulpy stuff, the kind of thing the layman thinks of when someone mentions comics. Typically of the Hulk I would expect him to smash property and public spaces up, war with the military complex and now and again fight with cosmic entities like The Silver Surfer and Thor. Greg Pak changed my perceptions a little and introduced me to a side of the Hulk I had never seen previously. This Hulk was smart, noble, courageous, loyal and just. He was a betrayed hero who through new shared battle experiences and the bond of captivity made new allies to fight alongside.

3. Spiderman: New Ways to Die: Before this it had been years since I had found a solo Spiderman title or story which I was able to really get into and enjoy. It reminded me of the united Spiderman and Venom, as seen in the Spiderman game for the Playstation, except this time it was a conflict of Spiderman and Anti-Venom against Venom. The twist being the former host of venom being the new host of anti-venom.

Now, over to Norman Osborn.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Warrior Hulk and the new and improved more psychotic Venom.

Preacher

2011-03-03T06:29:00.001-08:00

This completed comic series is good in so many different ways: religious themes, plot, characterization, collected human emotions, comedy, the wild west, the deep south and so much more.

It is both cosmic and small town at the same time. We get large scale cosmic conflict between potent entities but we also get squabbles on the local level in rural communities and inter-family disputes and rivalries.

The broad, literary inclusion of many elements which makes this series so great is enriched by a strong history, which although is partly fictional (in that the characters don't exist in real life), it encompasses a broad scale of time which adds further depth to the already strong narrative.

The billions of years of cosmic activity, the millions of years of Earth forming and growing, the thousands of years of humans surviving, the millenia of religious struggle and development, the centuries of social change, upheaval and evolution, the lifetime struggle of a family, the childhood and growing up of a man, the months and weeks searching for the highest being, the hours of desperate frenzied climax, the tender moments with his love.

All these intertwine a great yet finely detailed tapestry of a brilliantly written, detailed, artistic yet gritty and necessarily violent masterpiece.

Norman Osborn, it's your turn to speak, let there be voice brotha!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of the Saint of Killers.

Scott Pilgrim

2011-03-03T06:11:00.000-08:00

CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU HAVE READ SCOTT PILGRIM

I love this comic series even though I have only had the pleasure to read it once. I can't remember much in terms of describing beyond the basic plot and some of the main characters. I don't usually like things with a love story as core to the plot but it really worked with Scott Pilgrim. The idea of Scott having to fight Ramona's seven evil exes seemed unique to me although now that I think about it it does have a certain Ranma half air about it.

The fact that one of Ramona's exes was female intrigued and appealed to me, not in that way though! It added a certain feminist aesthetic and ideal to what is already a brilliant comic. Overall I love it because of what I have said above but also because it is funny, good looking (particularly the manga esque art), smart, contains various pop culture references including geeky aspects, it has adorable characters and a great juxtaposition of more unreal/fantasy elements with things we all feel in reality and realism with the way the characters live their daily lives.

Possibly the most awesome image from Scott Pilgrim, but there's a lot of awesomeness in this series.

Now over to Norman Osborn for his say.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of 1ups and the power of love!

Games I love which can be irritating: Part 3: Super Smash Brothers Melee and Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time

2011-02-23T01:33:00.000-08:00

Super Smash Brothers Melee

This is probably my favourite game aside from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but it can be terribly annoying. Admittedly it only really gets difficult when you try to complete the game 100 percent by getting all the trophies. The game has a very adaptable learning curve in that you can be crap and finish the game but you could be a master and still have a good challenge. The most frustrating aspect is the randomness of the game with item distribution but also how cheap and dirty the opponents can be, especially when they team up against you.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

As far as I'm concerned this is the greatest Zelda game of them all. It has excellent music, good graphics for the time, a good plot, interesting characters, great cutscenes, nice challenges and a sufficient amount of minigames and extra bits. It is not without flaws which any game no matter how good it is has. I hate water levels in games, OOT has a big and puzzling level like that. I hate the shadow temple even more since you can frequently die. It annoyed me how I could never get all the heart pieces (not that I needed them but still). Also I could never find the last 5 gold skulltullas.

This is what you get when you survive through the shadow temple...

Now it's that time of the blog where I pass you over to my guest Norman Osborn.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of The Hammer in Smash Brothers Melee and Biggeron's Sword.

Games which I love but which can be irritating: Part 2: Shinobi and Sonic

2011-02-21T05:17:00.000-08:00

Shinobi (Game Gear)

I never got far into this game but it was one of my favourites as a child, I think I mainly liked it because you could switch between different coloured ninja who had unique powers depending on their colour code. I guess I have liked colour coded heroes ever since I got into the power Rangers and Captain Scarlet, neither of which I am into anymore. I outgrew them but the colour coded aspect still remains, this was a major factor of me becoming a fan of Green Lantern comics when I read Geoff Johns' "Rebirth" arc.

Go go Power... oops I mean lantern Corps!

Anyway I digress. These ninja had different powers but you could only use their special powers so many times before you had to find a power up to restore your ninja magic meter, or whatever it was called. Sometimes it was difficult to work out which ninja to use in a situation but there were also times where you knew which ninja to use but don't switch in time so you fell into some bottomless cavern, acid pit or spikes. It was made even harder as was the case with other older games, the lack of a save point.

Sonic (Megadrive, Master System, Playstation 2, Gamecube, Nintendo DS)

The classic Sonic games are amongst my favourites. Generally with the classic four (1, 2, 3 and Sonic and Knuckles), the lack of savepoints was a problem, because with a bit of practice you could do it in stages even if you are crap like I was. Even without using the save function (a permanent save rather than just checkpoint saves) I was with practice able to get to the ending of the first Sonic game with all 6 chaos emeralds in one go without saving.

However I couldn't finish Sonic 2 or 3 at all never mind get all 7 Chaos Emeralds without saving. In Sonic 2 the chaos emeralds are harder to get the more you get. You need more rings in each progressive Chaos Emerald minigame. I managed to finish the first 3 Sonic games but even though I enjoyed Sonic and Knuckles I could never finish it. The levels were too long and the game got really hard at about the Egypt themed level.

And now over to my regular guest and his approvals: Norman Osborn!

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: colourful but deadly ninja and chaos emeralds.

Games I love which can be frustrating: Part 1: Pokemon Platinum and Metal Gear Solid

2011-02-07T03:03:00.000-08:00

There are computer games which we can love but even so some of these games can really frustrate us. Some of these frustrations can come from the difficulty of the game, but there are other factors such as some items being nearly impossible to attain, not having much health for the task, timed challenges and limits, a really annoying level or two, trouble finding the last few tokens and so on.

This blog entry is about computer games I love still or have cherished memories of but which have some frustrating parts. Here are games I loved or still love but have annoyed me in parts:

1. Pokemon Platinum (Nintendo DS)

When I last played a Pokemon game before I bought Platinum when I was in my final year of university, I was about 12 or 13 back in the days when Britain only had Pokemon Red and Blue and there were only 150 Pokemon to catch. Since then the total up to Platinum is around the 500 mark. This would be fair enough if you could "catch em' all" as they say, in the one game, but as far as I'm concerned Japan with the new Pokemon games has taken obsessive compulsive disorder to a new level, 2 levels in fact.

The first level of annoyance: You need to catch Pokemon in more than one game. Although this can be fun if you are bored, the frustration comes from the hours of levelling up in order to stand a chance of being able to get some of the more difficult monsters. For example it took me 40 hours of gaming to be able to reach and catch Mewtwo on Pokemon Fire Red for my Platinum team. Overall this level isn't too bad because Pokemon are available if you fork out the cash for Nintendo's "Pokemon Corporation" subsidiary, i.e. buy the other games.

The second and supreme level of annoyance: the so called "event Pokemon". Nintendo actually made it impossible to catch all the current Pokemon unless you fulfil the following conditions: A. you cheat somehow or B. go to one of the limited edition and expensive to get to events. I don't consider event Pokemon as part of the completion list.

2. Metal Gear Solid (Playstation)

My first annoyance for this game would be the damn stairs where you can't be stealthy, there weren't any health packs and the enemies shooting at you on the way up seemed nearly endless. I could never do this bit without the invincibility cheat in my disc.

The next annoyance was the battle with the sniper, where you had to lie on the ground to be able to aim properly, and you had to take some sort of drug, diazepam I think it was to keep yourself from shaking and aim your sniper rifle properly. If you were standing you would be shot from above but if you were lying down you still had a high chance of getting shot. Either way aiming was more difficult it usually was.

Now over to Mr. Osborn for his words of approval.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: catching them all and hiding in boxes.

Prometheus Bound

2010-06-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

For the PaperJam Comics Collective "Art and that" anthology my contribution to the comic was based on Gustave Moreau's "Prometheus Bound" painting. I had to replace the poem that I was going to use as my script because it was too long.

Here is the painting:

Here is the poem as I intended it to be originally:

The Grecian Gods can be childish,
smiting and smashing on a whim,
jealous furies amongst the worst,
but some become heavenly stars.

Prometheus made the humans,
but could not deliver the fire,
igniting spark of human life
but not warming deathly cold flesh.

He stole from Apollo’s carriage,
stole the heavenly fire of life,
his sacrifice for the humans
caused that God great personal strife.

The other Gods weren’t merciful
to their fellow Prometheus,
they bound him to sturdy cold chains,
releasing the eagle of Zeus.

So, bound with daily liver loss
Prometheus suffered for man,
a symbol for humanity,
hence Moreau's "Prometheus Bound". *

*My official poem ends with "the Greek God of fire and humans" but that wouldn't have went as well in the context of the anthology, even though I didn't get to use the entire poem only fragments where I could adapt them.

The odds are there will be at least 1 PaperJam Comics Collective member reading this, so I have this to say. What I have seen so far of the other Art and That pieces looks great. I'm really looking forward to seeing the other pieces in their entirety.

Now to my regular guest Norman Osborn.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Gods who have the balls to stand up to other Gods.

Goodbye Fullmetal Alchemist!

2010-06-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post but I'm back! According to my diary, the final chapter of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist was scanlated (scanned and translated) in English on the 10th of this June. Therefore I read the final chapter on that date.

Anyway this post will be solely dedicated to the masterpiece manga called FMA. The series ended as well as it began, and indeed as brilliantly as the journey in the middle.

What makes the series so good? This is a question you may ask me. My answer? Well it's a combination of factors really. First of all we have the story, which at it's core is deeply philosophical for shonen manga.

It deals with such themes as "don't play God" (trying to bring your mother back from death), the consequences and evil of war and genocide, the nature and purpose of human beings, the notion of truth and the soul amongst other aspects.

It does what shonen manga does best, conquers difficulties while keeping it's sprit up. There are challenges the many heroes face, but they always do it with absolute determination .

Shonen manga are typically created by males, FMA isn't and I'm convinced this helps make the series that bit different and therefore better than the average shonen title. Shonen typically sticks to well defined conventions. FMA plays the rules of the game, but Hiromu Arakawa adds brilliant feminine touches in her manga as shown here:

That montage wasn't in FMA but the picture of the big muscular sparkly guy there (Alex Lois Armstrong) certainly was. Arakawa tends to add little bits here in there that seem closer to shojo manga than shonen, but this enhances the manga overall as far as I'm concerned.

One of the greatest things about FMA if we move away from stylistic features or the story itself is the characters. The narrative itself is great, in that it is epic, funny and deep but it's made even better by a colourful cast of characters.

Unlike many shonen (say Naruto or Bleach) characters are strong irrespective of gender, the female characters are just as badass as the males.

Well that's a nice note to finish my part of this blog on, an image featuring my 2 favourite characters of the series, Olivia Armstrong and Izumi Curtis. Now, It's time for Osborn's approval, hit it Norms!

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Techniques passed down the Armstrong line for generations!

Dr Who meets Vincent Van Gogh

2010-06-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Beware do not read this until you have seen the 10th episode of the Matt Smith Dr. Who series.

Warning aside, I may now proceed. This has got to be my favourite episode of the series so far. As little as I know about art movements and artists outside of American and Japanese comics, I do like Van Gogh. His art was beautiful, but more than that he expressed his soul through his art, turning his own depression into a work of beauty.

This episode to some extent conveys that. The episode itself was quite touching in various parts, I really felt for Gogh when the had to kill that invisible alien beast. I really enjoyed watching this episode.

I thought this scene was particularly beautiful in the episode:

Now for my regular guest: Norman Osborn

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Sunflowers.

Bishonen clowns oh my!

2010-05-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to bother writing about Dr Who tonight because tonight is the conclusion of a two parter, and the last one I thought was merely ok so not worth writing about.

I have finished all of the comedy TV show Black Books and it was excellent. Not much more to say that that other than it being hilarious, I highly recommend it, especially if you are a fan of either/or both Bill Bailey and Dylan Moran.

My main focus today is the anime Yakitate Japan which for those who don't know, is an anime about bread. That might sound bland but it is not, it is one of the most entertaining anime I have ever seen, mainly because of the reaction shots of the characters as they eat superb quality bread.

The recent episodes I have watched (30-35) have been particularly interesting partly because it is the start of a tournament arc and partly because of this guy: Pierrot Bolneze.

He had a good backstory and is a fantastic character, mischevious yet fair. Filled with jest and energy he is fun to watch.

Now over to you Mr. Osborn!

I thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Bishonen clowns such as Pierrot Bolgneze from the anime Yakitate Japan, Hisoka from the anime and manga Hunter X Hunter and Maximilian Galactica from the legendary Phoenix Wright series of DS games.

PS: This is Max:

Here's Hisoka:

Fanart but still captures his essence!

Dr Who and vampires (The vampires of Venice)

2010-05-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

Warning: don't read this entry until you have seen the 6th episode of the Matt Smith Dr Who episodes

This episode has a nice real start, a romantic start. "Have I burst out of the wrong cake again?" Lol @ the goofy Doctor!

Venice may have been romantic in its time but it probably stank with those goats and stuff hanging around!

Owing Casanova a chicken is just the kind of thing I expect the Doctor to do heh.

The veiled women were suspicious from the start, even before 1 of them showed her vampire fangs. My Gods their voice unity is creepy. Vampires didn't strike me as conformist like.

This is excellent, Amy and the Doctor are actually getting excited at the prospect of the vampiric challenge.

Vampires surround the Doctor! So they weren't vampires after all. This is Dr Who there had to be something else about them! Their Queen had some sort of imagine inducer like Nightcrawler from the X-men, as seen here:

Impending doom and the Doctor climbs the tower, he saves the day! Woo!

"Tell me Doctor, can your conscience carry the weight of another dead race?" Powerful stuff, especially considering I had read the Dark Phoenix saga a few hours ago. Read Frank Miller's Wolverine also, just as brilliant!

With that I hand you to our regular guest. Hit it Normie!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Non-sparkly vampires

Captain batman eternal fable reborn

2010-05-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well apologies to those who read my blog for my delay since the last one, I have had my shitty dissertation to write and I've just finished the Satan essay! One more essay to go then I'm finished uni, which is becoming a rather scary thought.

Where do I start? Batman is probably a good place. I have been finding some splendid gems from the City library and other local libraries. Batman: Ego by Darwyn Cooke is the first of these gems I'm going to talk about today. It had a very noir feel to it but at the same time it felt like the old Batman cartoons so I really enjoyed that.

Next we have Batman: Arkham asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave Mc.Kean. I loved this one and it was as great as people said it was. The lightning guy was pretty cool, Joker was quite amusing and I enjoyed the appearance of Two Face, but Two face is probably my favourite Batman villain aside from the Joker.

Frank Miller's Daredevil Reborn was very enjoyable, I really felt sorry for Daredevil throughout and developed a strong hatred for the Kingpin. I just just disliked him before this, the ending was satifactory.

Jeff Loeb's The death of Captain America was a very good read, I'm trying to read as much as I can of the Marvel universe.

Gaiman and John Romita Jr's Eternals was very good. I loved how Gaiman was able to add his own things to Kirby's space Gods. Here's an image from the graphic novel:

A light using Goddess against a hoarde of demons? Always will attract my attention.

Finally I read Fables volume 7: Arabian Nights. It was absolutely brilliant but expected, Bill Willingham has a masterpiece creation on his hands! This volume deals with the Arabian Fables, Aladdin, Ali Baba, Djin etc.

Now I pass you on to out regular guest and his regular approvals.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Urahara using kido (shinigami magic).

Dr Who episode 2

2010-04-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Right, good evening readers! Today I'm going to have a special focus on the second episode of the new Dr Who episode 2.

A couple of minutes in and is slightly creepy with those horrible clown like grinning manaquin things. Some red hellish portal appears and a kid falls in it.

Finally we arrive back to the tardis with serene music and of course the wonderfully manic, eccentric doctor, this one the 11th incarnation played by Matt Smith.

I like the sky country idea, it reminds me of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series of books.

I sense a dystopian world theme, but I'm new to Dr. Who so I am prone to sounding like a noob about it. Such as asking my housemate why the Doctor doesn't lock the Tardis when he was away from it. He sensibly replied: because he does lock it. Ah makes sense.

I haven't absorbed some of the basic details yet. Being new to the series I'm still looking at it with a sense of fresh amazement, I hope that stays.

Wow a badass Red Riding Hood appeared, calling herself the Queen. Mint. Wait she is the Queen. Cool. I felt sorry for the star whale though.

And now over to my regular guest: Norman Osborn.

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: cosmic whales.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, Geordie colours are black and white"

2010-04-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

First, I have no interest in football. I really dislike the sport and the culture that surrounds it, especially when a city beautiful for a variety such as Newcastle is associated strongly with this culture as if that's all it has. We have 2 respectable universities, some great architecture if you just look above and around you, and various sources of entertainment and interest. We have at least 2 unique theatres, one more of a classical, traditional theatre i.e. the Theatre Royal and something of a more modern, contemporary style i.e. the Live Theatre. We also have some mint comic shops, which is more of the interest of this blog than the stuff posted above haha.

Good I've got that off my chest. I did start with a football reference which leads me to Pratchett's newest discworld book: unseen academicals. It is about football, but it is Discworld, so it is a good read. I really liked his portrayal of the orc in the story- gentle, kind, academic. Pratchett portays orcs like anyone else- good and bad, not necessarily the monsters they are described as. He does this in other books when he is introducing different races in his series such as trolls, dwarfs and vampires. Some of them are bastards and some of them are alright, just like humans.

Next on my blogging agenda is a manga series that has caught my attention recently, and is something I have been catching up to at a fairly fast pace. The manga is: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Now part of the reason I have been reading it at a fairly fast pace is because there is a LOT of it to read. In Japan it has been going since 1987 and with a few reasonable gaps here and there is still going. I found out it inspired both Shaman King and Yu-Gi-Oh, in that it deals with shonen (boy's manga) heroes who can summon personal spirits to aid them in battle, called Stands. It is full of action, it has charasmatic masculine characters, a good dose of humour and beautiful artwork, detailed to almost seinen level of manga art.

Jotaro Kujo and his Stand: Star Platinum

The manga weeklies (and for the sake of this week, released monthlies and bimonthlies- I'm looking at you Claymore and D.Gray-Man): SPOILER ALERT!

Fairy Tail: A nice chapter, putting our heroes in further danger against the Exceed cat race.

D.Gray-Man: The art was excellent as ever and I loved the mangastream scans. However I want the story to move onto more action as opposed to an entire chapter about the past in the next Jump issue. 2 months until the next chapter...

Claymore: Yagi really delivers a nice dose of demon arsekicking as usual. Priscilla finally goes abyss mode, so she now has MORE power to kill everyone including the good guys.

Bleach: I wonder when Aizen will perform his next hax move. Will it turn out Isshin is actually fighting and owning one of the good guys who Aizen has tricked him into thinking is him? Or is the action actually real this time? Kubo has been a pretty bad writer lately, overpowering his main villain and wasting chapters on things we think have happened but are actually part of an illusion. Gin reappeared, hooray! He told Aizen he wasn't sightseeing, I have an

Gin wasn't sightseeing, I reckon he wasn't by Aizen's side not because he thought Aizen could handle himself without his assistance, but because he was drinking a hot beverage with this guy:

This image not only expresses my view of who Gin was really with but is also a reply to Sosuke Aizen's constantly smug bastard face every single chapter of Bleach he appears in.

Naruto: The key passed on from Jiraiya is finally being given to Naruto, so in all likelihood Naruto will soon have the full power of the demon fox at his disposal. Hope that comes in handy against "hax eye" Uchihas in the future. Also the sage toad predicted Naruto would meet an octopus, which pretty much means Killerbee can't be caught by the new and possibly improved ZombieAkatsuki as half controlled by Kabuto(maru). Also, Tsunade is improving in health and regaining energy by binging food in a way Luffy would be proud of!

One Piece: There are many reasons I nickname this series "One Piece of Awesomeness". This week it is Captain Shanks. The Navy were murdering pirates, pirates were trying to murder the Navy and retrieve the body of their nakama Whitebeard. Shanks tells them to stop and BOTH sides instantly stop. That's how powerful he is. I knew he was powerful but doing that makes him and is crew even more awesome.

Hunter X Hunter: Pufu is getting closer to his death each week with his inadvertant treachery to King Meruem. Kilua is ready to take him down if Pufu enters his en circle. Here's hoping Togashi isn't going to go on hiatus for a while. A weak hope indeed.

Now I, Geordie Green Lantern am going to hand you over to Norman Osborn for the final word:

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern.

Today, I norman Osborn approve of Deadpool's Chimichanga, in association with Snicktbub