ALL-STAR SUPERMAN PREVIEW

Greetings, Leaguers.

As you may have heard, writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely have teamed up to create an all-new Superman tale under a new banner for DC COmics "All-Star Superman". The All-Star refers to the creative team more than the actual cast of characters.

Originally the All-Star line was thought to compete directly with Marvel's Ultimate line, but this isn't really the case. Instead, DC is allowing top creators to write and draw the best possible DC stories without worrying about what's going on in the monthly titles.

All-Star Superman is coming soon, and Newsarama has a preview (which appeared already in Wizard this month, but what the heck...) which should give you a feel for what Quitely and Morrison will do with the Man of Steel.

Honestly, in issue 2 I'm sort of feeling as if All-Star Batman is going off the rails, but I think the five pages here more or less re-assure me that Morrison is going to make me happy with his crack at the Big Blue Boyscout.

Included in the Newsarama article is an interview from a while back on how Morrison became inspired in his take on The Man of Steel. Good stuff.

Read the article and check out the previews here.

Apparently, I'm some sort of communist.

Take the test and find out what kind of commie YOU are.

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat

To Take the test yourself, click here.

I apologize for the previously posted broken links. You should all just know, it was Randy who broke them. Not me. I was totally innocent.

So The League sort of took the day off from work.

I had thought Jamie had an appointment today, but it wasn't today, so, you know... no harm, no foul.

We woke late, finally getting up around 9:30, and went to IHOP to try to see what it's like to eat breakfast out without a thousand screaming kids surrounding you as they do on Saturdays and Sundays.

For some bizarre reason I had it in my head that "Roll Bounce" looked like a fun movie, so we went to a mid-day show.

Look, Roll Bounce just wasn't a very good movie, and if I wanted to get all film school 101 on you, I had some serious questions regarding the portrayal of women in the film. The movie also suffered from the age old problem of trying to cast either really good roller-skaters or people who could act. They decided to fall in the middle and cast people who could sort of skate and sort of act, giving you the worst of both worlds.

Steanso has suggested that he might guest blog on the film sub-genre of roller skating movies. Let's all cross our fingers and hope he steps up.

Now, here was the interesting bit. The theater was totally empty. I haven't been in an empty theater since 1985 or so when we went one sunny day to see Adventures in Babysitting. At some point during today's movie I wanted to get up and start running up and down the stairs flapping my arms or doing the robot. It was a Thursday at lunchtime and school is in session. Freaking nobody was around. Just Jamie and me and a whole heck of a lot of empty theater.

It was nice. We got to boo the bad previews and talk badly about the products advertised before the movie. So very liberating. It must be how most other people in Chandler/ Gilbert feel even when the theater is completely sold out.

I'll tell you this much, I now want to build a movie theater in my front room just so I can do the robot during the trailers.

I also got to catch up on my comic reading (JLA, JLA: Classified, Batman, Adventures of Superman all good reads. Not to mention the sort of ending to OMAC.). And the season debut of Smallville bowed. Kryptonians, the Phantom Zone, Fortress of Solitude and Brainiac all made appearances. Not all bad.

Anyway, that's my post for tonight.

And I AM NOT picking on Randy. I just think he's a really good dancer.

I'm not at work today, so I thought I'd pop in with a mid-day report.

I ran some variables through the mainframe here at League HQ, and here are the results:

What if Randy took on the mantle of The Dark Knight Detective?

click here for the answer

(use speakers for full effect)

The upcoming Superman film (due in July or so) is going to mean a lot of Superman product hitting the shelf. In addition to an onslaught of t-shirts, toys and Dr. Pepper cans, Warner Bros. may be releasing a "Director's Cut" of Superman II.

Quick background: Superman I and II were shot simultaneously by Richard Donner. However, do to a lot of disagreements, the producers of the films (the Salkinds) fired Donner before production was entirely complete on Superman II. They brought in television director Richard Lester who reshot scenes and re-worked certain parts of the film.

What I don't know, and I'm not sure anybody but Richard Donner knows, is what the original film was supposed to look like. While most folks like Superman II due to the action elements, in The League's opinion, Superman I is just a much better realized film. One wonders what a cohesive Superman I and II would have looked like.

According to an interview I read a few years ago with Jack O'Halloran (Non from Superman I and II), Lester was brought in to do everything quickly, cheaply, and not to care too much if the actors were going nuts. Reportedly using TV set-ups (such as multi-camera set-ups) and other short-cuts, Lester did little to endear himself to the returning cast.

Anyway...

According to the e-mail from Nathan Cone today:

From www.thedigitalbits.com:

Also today, there are online reports from various Superman-themed websites(including Superman Cinema ) that Warner Bros. and producer Ilya Salkind have finally negotiated a deal for the release of director Richard Donner's original unused footage from Superman II. This would allow for the creation of a long-awaited Superman II: Director's Cut that would be closer to the film Donner was crafting before the film was taken away from him by the studio back in 1979 and given to replacement director Richard Lester. Donner, as many of you know, also directed the original Superman: The Movie (the two films were shot, for the most part, simultaneously). The idea behind all of this, of course, is that Warner wants to release new DVD special editions of Superman II, Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in conjunction with the theatrical or DVD debut of Bryan Singer's currently in production Superman Returns. The new film is expected to hit theaters in June 2006.

Honestly, I always sort of assumed the Richard Donner cut was an urban myth. Like the guy who wakes up in the tub with his kidney missing, or Delaware.

You know The League will be watching closely as news develops.

I am now all iPod'd up and rolling. I still have twenty or so albums to put on iTunes, but the vast majority of what I wanted on the ol' iPod is now there. I also sold my crappy radio tuner and bought the far superior radio tuner from Monster. Not only does it work much better (no horrible 100K squealing), but it also has a nifty red light on it so my car looks much more future when I turn my car on.

Jim and Randy had each and separately suggested Arcade Fire's album "Funeral" to The League. The League is now in a mode where he has to have a minimum of three recommendations before he'll buy an album, and I think Randy's comments were number four, so I downloaded the album from iTunes. And, yeah, I know I'm totally late on this, but it's a darn skippy little record. Good recommendation, Leaguers. We're always open to suggestions on music. I may not actually buy what you recommend, but I will put the suggestion in the ol' Rolodex.

In the wake of Hurricane Rita, it sounds like Jim's place in Beaumont is okay. My folks are pretty much back to normal (for them) and Josh and Shannon's summer chateau, La Casa de Mil Monos Furiosos, survived largely intact. Sure, the hurricane may have been deflected by the oppressive heat wave currently resting on the Texas Coast, but people are still rejoicing that Galveston is not under four feet of water.

My comic reading is getting a little overwhelming in the swamp of excellent DC titles currently hitting the shelf. I am very far behind, and I have a Wonder Woman and Superman collection to dig into. Also, I sort of quit doing everything I normally do thanks to City of Heroes.

I more or less abandoned old StarSentry as he wasn't very much fun to play. I'm now playing a character by the name of "Commander Argos".

Commander Argos. Seriously.

I apologize. I just couldn't think up a good name to save my life.

Anyway, CA keeps getting killed, but it's all in good fun, I suppose. I "spoke" with a guy last night who had been playing for quite some time and kept trying to demonstrate to me how cool his character was. Apparently you CAN get a cape in this game, but you can't get it until you're on level 25. At level 30, you can be shiny. Which makes this game a cross between Dungeons & Dragons and Scientology. Upon review, the game is pretty Airwolf, and I'll probably play it for a while longer.

I think the League is officially no longer watching "Bones". We tried to watch last night, the first time I haven't watched the show in Closed Captions or while playing CoH, and, you know... I could probably spend a few paragraphs taking the show apart, but what's the point? I'm a big fan of the Deschanel sisters, but even I can take only so much poorly thought out characterization and forced tension. I understand that they're trying to mix both CSI-style procedural with soap in order to get people invested, but you need characters who are sort of interesting in order to pull that off. Two-dimensional walking cliches with poorly scripted banter don't really make me want to stick around.

After having wandered off in the middle of "Lost" last season, I have promised Jamie I will try to watch with her this year. As long as the show doesn't devolve into "the many problems of the tank-top model", I will try to stick around. Brother.

Tomorrow night Smallville Season 5 premiers, and while The League swore off the show at the end of last season, The League has heard that there is an entirely new writing team on-board. Well, let's see what happens. I think we have some Kryptonians or Daxamites in the season opener, Aquaman is making an appearance, and the Fortress of Solitude will play some role.

There's added pressure to make the show better with Superman Returns right around the corner, so we'll see. Also, I've heard that there's going to be lots of hot, teen sex this season, which, believe it or not, The League can do without. Perhaps one day The League shall write a lengthy post on why TV sex isn't a big draw for us, but today is not that day.

Anyway, this is a long enough post, right?

The End

MOST AIRWOLF POST EVER

Hey. You guys have probably long forgotten the idea of entering the word "Airwolf" into the lexicon as a synonym for "cool". As in "My new bike is totally Airwolf!"

Well, Dave over at Dave's Long Box is still fighting the good fight. Check out his detailed post on usage of "Airwolf".

read here

A list of many topics. Not all of them are comic related.

1. You know what's turning out to not be very good? The new Supergirl series from DC. I didn't have extraordinarily high expectations, but the series is now two issues in, and it's been pretty much nothing but screaming and punching for literally no reason. I have no idea where Jeph Loeb (whom I normally really like) is going with this, but so far, I'm not impressed.

2. Likewise with Allstar Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder by Frank Miller and Jim Lee. The art is good, and you can see some nice moments, but... Batman is oddly out of character and, again, in two issues, not a lot has happened. It's a leap of faith to ask people to keep reading a comic series. You can continue to read, hoping that there will be a nice payoff at the end of six or seven issues. I'm willing to give Miller a longer issue count than other people, but, c'mon...

3. The various Countdown to Infinite Crisis series are starting to wrap up, as well as the first few series of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory. Due to the nature of all of these series there's no conclusion or closure, and that's an odd feeling. The Countdown series are pouring into Infinite Crisis. Seven Soldiers is going to wrap up in a final, central issue, at which point I am sure I will have to reread everything so I will remember all the detail to figure out what the hell is going on.

That said, I've enjoyed all of the series thus far to varying degrees, but confess to a warm spot in my heart for OMAC, the Manhattan Guardian and possibly the new take on Mr. Miracle. I have an original printing of the 1970's-era Mr. Miracle #1, and it's a prized posession, so I sincerely hope the 2005 version is just as worthy in the end.

4. Well, my folks are okay. Here's a dispatch from my mom just a short while after the hurricane was scheduled to strike:

Well it is 7:40 and I pretended to be on Esther's Follies and danced for Dad outside the window while he is watching Sci Fi inside.

Huh. Well, it makes sense if you grew up there.

I talked to my folks just last night and they have power, water, cable TV and no damage. Where God has it in for me, He loves my folks.

I've suggested my dad try out some looting since all the neighbors are out, but he's concerned that the cops will catch him if he can't find the jewelry quickly enough after the silent alarm is triggered.

5. Loyal Leaguer Nathan Cone relied on the amazing web-surfing techniques of The League. Apparently he was stranded in St. Louis and scheduled to travel through Houston to get back to San Antonio. The League tried to help Nathan find an alternative flight, but no go. Don't worry, Leaguers, Nathan made it home. He left a message while I was out today and was on the tarmac back in the Alamo City.

6. Note to "creative" people writing scripts, books, etc... (and I say this after watching the trailer for Pride & Prejudice, so take this with a grain of salt as Jane Austen sells a lot of books and makes a lot of movies)

Opposites don't really attract.

People who hate each other at first rarely actually fall in love. Also, that's a really dumb thing to try to overcome. What frightens me is that I KNOW people who actually believe this message. They make life decisions based on cliches used in the titles of Paula Abdul/ MC Skat Cat songs.

The League's recommendation: you'll do a lot better trying to find someone you get along with from the beginning. This doesn't guarantee you won't get divorced, but, you know... Trying to make it with someone you initially loathed based upon what TV told you? It seems like it's probably a good sign things might get rocky again after you sober up.

7. There's a new movie by Rob Reiner starring Jennifer Aniston. Apparently, unable to get the Graduate 2 movie off the ground, Reiner decided that he was going to make a movie leeching off the goodwill The Graduate garners, but not including any of the original cast. The trailer seems to lend itself to that idiot cutesiness that so many romantic comedies have of which The Graduate was utterly devoid.

Something about the stunningly crass exploitation of The Graduate in the trailer made me want to start punching people. Sadly, Rob Reiner was not present.

Also, the entire trailer is people talking about multi-generational sex and sex in airplane bathrooms. They chose to show this before Corpse Bride, which was filled with about 65% children. I don't want to play thought-police, but, I mean, c'mon... Who wants to have to do the birds and the bees talk because Kevin Costner did Jennifer Aniston, her mom and her grandma?

Of course, I'd rather try to explain that than the logical inconsistencies in Waterworld.

8. Flightplan was pretty good. It's a nice, taut story without a lot of distraction. In short, if you liked Panic Room, you'll dig this one, too. The only downside to these movies, for The League, is that a second viewing rarely holds up. Once we know the ins-and-outs of the plot, well, it just doesn't have the same thrill. But, I did like this movie on first blush.

In related news, my crush on Jodie Foster enters year 15. And with those words, the Secret Service now has a file on me.

9. Corpse Bride is really cool to look at. I'm not sure if I liked it as much as A Nightmare Before Christmas, but it's pretty neat from a technical point of view.

10. Jim D is still stranded outside of Beaumont. Poor bastard. He's waiting it out in a hotel room until he's allowed to go home. Let's all send our best wishes to Jimbo.

11. An actor whom once played Jimmy Olsen in the Superman movies from the 1940's has died. RIP Tommy Bond.

read more here

12. Jim said he would "die" if I did not blog on this topic, so here it is. I didn't want to explain to Jim D. the third and Mrs. Dedman that I was responsible for their son's untimely demise.

I guess superheroes pretty much reflect the nature of their native culture. After all, Superman wasn't Truth, Justice and the Ugandan Way. It's always interesting to see what's being made in other lands, even if it doesn't make a lick of sense to you as an ugly American (and The League recognizes, that he probably is an ugly American). I've read up on some Brazilian superheroes, and you can't throw a rock without hitting Japanese comics.

As these superheroes are from the Arab world, the perspective of the heroes isn't what we'd all take for granted to see here in the US, without necessarily being propaganda. (And if you don't think Superman and Batman were used for propaganda...)

Anyway, check out the article.

The lack of blogging this week hasn't been due to any personal issues. It's been because I recently joined up with the MMORPG City of Heroes.

CoH is an online game in which you can create a superhero based upon a wide array of options provided by the game designers. There are probably a million combinations of clothing, hair, gender, masks, color, armor, etc... in an easy to toy with user interface.

The game, itself, has a nice learning curve. While parts of it can be frustratingly slow if you decide to repeat the steps in order to create a new character, each new phase does take time to learn, and the designers were smart enough to create a "learn by doing" environment.

The character creation process is a darn good bit of fun on its own. Levelling up is mildly thrilling as well as each time you can earn a new power and enhance the powers you have. All of this is intended to prep you for some adventures I haven't got to yet.

What have I learned? If you make a mostly naked hero girl as a joke, guys will try to talk to your mostly naked pixel mass. Nobody wants to talk to StarSentry, but Mistress Tanya was very popular on her first outing.

I'm doubly excited as CoH is not owned by Marvel or DC. BUT, in 2007, DC is going to release a DC comics based game along the same lines. This could mean environments would include Gotham, Metropolis, Themyscira, Atlantis and a dozen or so other DCU based locations I can think of.

Anyhoo, I'm off to go fight some crime. If you're playing, look for StarSentry. (I had about a dozen other names lined up, but they were all taken. Give me a break. StarSentry was the best I could do).

I'M OSCAR!!!! (dot com)

A new season of Arrested Development is upon us. If you aren't watching this show but have never seen it, get the DVD series. If you have seen the show but didn't like it, you officially are on The League's "enemies" list. If you missed the first episode this season, well, you're probably going to be hopelessly lost.

BUT, the show picked up this season where it left off last season and is still fresh as a daisy in spring in torrential rain.

And I still think Jessica Walters may be the funniest actor on television. She had me at the wink in the first episode.

To catch up on Monday's episode, go here where Oscar Bluth asks the classic all blogger's must eventually face:

What does it take to get people to read my f’ing blog?! What’s more interesting, an innocent man in prison blogging for his life or “Snuppy” the first cloned dog?

Dispatch from the Texas Coast

Run, Jim D! Run as fast as your legs will carry you!

In all seriousness, Jim has split Beaumont and my folks have split from Spring, TX. It's very scary stuff, indeed.

Rita is headed right at the expansive Texas coast, and the computer projections for Galveston don't look all that different than New Orleans if worst comes to worst. If you've never read about the hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, I highly recommend visiting this site.

I never voted for the guy, but Rick Perry was on CNN last night, and the man watched and learned during the Katrina debacle. That much is clear. Folks are getting bussed out of gulf cities and towns to hubs set up a few hours inland. Perry has 5000 National Guard troops on standby and some Texas Guard guys ready to mobilize. (I say guys, but I am sure it is comprised of dudes AND dames).

Honestly, I don't really know where my folks are at the moment. I can't get through, and that's sort of spooky. I assume they're perfectly safe, but that automated message from Verizon isn't terribly comforting.

Of course at the center of all this are the New Orleans refugees. It's tough to try to even imagine what they're going through.

Yeeaaarrggggghhhhhh!!!!!

In case ye furgot, maties! 'Tis Talk Like a Pirate Day, says I!

go here, me hearties.

special thanks to the scurvy dog, Nathan Cone, fer the reminder.

Yar.

Dispatch from Beaumont

So, a few weeks ago, Jim D. sent me another box of comics. After I had pleaded with him not to do so.

There's some good stuff in that box. Astonishing X-Men, some Avengers, some other comics which are worth picking up. We, here at League HQ, are not sure WHY Jim sends the comics, but he occasionally does send off a box. So, thanks, Jim, I guess... He's always looking out for me, even when I beg him not to.

The other day Jim called me at work.

Apparently Jim's local comic shop is an excellent shop, and Jim had called to impart the variety of knowledge which only a fellow comic geek finds ASTOUNDING.

"There's a copy of Avenger's #4 and X-Men #1 at my comic shop..."
"Oh my God."
"I got to hold them in my hand."
"You actually touched them?"
"Yeah."
We are such geeks. Such terrible geeks.

I've never even SEEN these comics. These are huge collectors' items, no matter what condition these comics are in. And while the comics weren't alas, in perfect condition, they were there. And, as I said, I ain't never even seen those comics.

Both are Stan Lee written. Both have art by Kirby. Both are part of the Marevl explosion of the early 1960's.



Avengers #4 isn't worth as much as Avengers #1, but it's worth more than #2 as it's the issue where the Avengers locate Captain America frozen in a block of ice in the Arctic Ocean. Shut up. That's prime comic mythology where I come from.



And X-Men #1? Well, it's X-Men #1. I think I'm cool as I have a torn copy of #32.

Look, we all have our own Maltese Falcon. If you want to take the metaphor up a notch, the Holy Grail of the comic world is Action Comics #1, but people like you or me can't afford Action Comics #1, even with a torn cover. It's a $100,000 comic book in good condition.

So you sort of have to take the trickle down effect and say "okay, what comic is my Maltese Falcon? I strongly suspect the Holy Grail will turn me to dust and I'll be told by that old knight guy that I have chosen poorly. So, the worst that can happen with this Falcon is a lot of people could get shot and dames are gonna turn on you... Is that a risk I'm willing to take?"

Before Jim had even gotten to the shop, someone had called in and wanted the X-Men #1. It went for $300 or so, which is about right for this comic in "good" condition (I will not get into the comic grading scale here, but, believe me, it exists). Not a bad turn around for a $0.12 investment. In Near Mint? The comic fetches a few thousand bucks, I think. So bag those comics, Loyal Leaguers.

However, the Avengers #4 had a partially torn cover and was selling for around $100. Not a bad price, and it will probably just continue to increase in value, even in poor condition. If I were a wealthier man, I might even have had Jim pick it up for me.

Jim did consider buying the comic, but was faced with that cold dread that most comic collectors feel creep into their skulls during any expensive purchase. "What the hell am I going to do with a $100 comic book?"

I have Mr. Miracle #1 in a frame at home. But that's how I roll. The frame cost more than the comic. The League isn't alone in his admiration for Mr. Miracle, but the fan base isn't shelling out huge bucks for a briefly lived series from the early 70's. But that's not the comic I'm looking for.

The League's Maltese Falcon?



Action Comics #252: First appearance of Supergirl and Metallo

I could, possibly, afford a beat up copy of this comic one day. I've just never seen it in person, and eBay sort of makes me itch, so I don't even know how close to getting the comic I'll ever be. Not a big deal. It gives me something to look for.

So, long time no blog.

It's truth day here at The League.

As mentioned to Steanso, I've been considering shutting down The League. It's a massive time sink, and it's not like I've been making any money doing this. My time in the evenings is fairly limited, and this is taking up an hour or so almost each night.

I also sort of feel I've come to the end of the rainbow regarding topics I feel juiced up enough to spend time writing about. I would never turn this into an all-comics blog as I think others do that very well, and I would just as soon turn folks onto the likes of Return to Comics and Dave's Long Box than try to keep up with what those guys are doing.

I had even spent some time last week trying to figure out how to go out with a bang, but nothing is coming to me. I don't want for The League to be something that gradually dies off. If I'm done, I want people to say "Wow, now THAT'S how you end a blog!" Sadly, nothing really came to me along those lines. I had seriously considered taking a picture of my ass and posting it with "The End" written on my butt, but that seemed sort of hostile upon further review.

The fact is, not much goes on in my day-to-day life, and that leaves me without a lot of content ideas. And for reasons I don't really want to get into, it's been a pretty tough summer, and all of that hasn't left me in much of a mood to blog when I do have time. I'm trying to make time, but, as I said before, I'm not always sure what I should be covering, so when I do get some time, sometimes the gods of blogger don't really make it clear what's supposed to be filling the space.

Every time I go through this, I just need to remind myself I don't actually have to blog. It's not a requirement. And that helps.

I have no idea how long I'll keep this up, but I have scrapped any plans to shut the joint down. I will probably be blogging less for a while until I get into a cycle where I feel like blogging more often. Could be tomorrow. Could be in a month or three.

As always, I appreciate the readership, and I really appreciate you guys stepping up to the plate and announcing your presence and tossing out some ideas. We'll see what we can get to. Anyway, Loyal Leaguers, I'm always happy to have each of you lounging about the blog.

I'm opening the lines for ideas.

Is anyone still reading this stupid thing?

Picking over the body: Bones

The Fall TV Season is upon us. Sort of.

Yesterday I watched the premier of Fox's new show "Bones", Fox's entry into the world of crime-scene investigation television drama.

Nanostalgia touches upon the plot of the show here, which we at The League found a bit gutsy for a pilot episode of an untested show. Notice we are not applauding the gutsiness of the plot choice, but we are taking note of the boldness of their call with so little else going for the program.

I don't watch the fictional crime scene investigation programs like CSI. There's something odd to me about police procedurals based around people standing around at 2:30 AM looking fresh as a daisy and making darkly wicked comments to one another over a dead hooker. I do confess to watching the occasional autopsy show on HBO, A&E or other cable channels as they use the magic of cable TV to solve and/ or reconstruct a crime. These scientists defy all expectations as being surprisingly unsexy, middle-aged dudes with thinnging hair and glasses. Usually they're not tortured souls looking for redemption.

The oddest bit about all of this, to The League, is how many people I meet who are so into the CSI sort of programming that becoming a forensics expert is their idea of the new James Bond.

My message: Dead people are disturbing to look at. If you're in a state that they need to call in a scientist before 8:00am to figure out what happened to make you that dead... buddy, you are not someone The League wants to be taking a peek at. Odds are, Barney Fife is not calling in a forensics expert to figure out the case of Mrs. Hunkel's missing wheel barrow. There's going to be somebody's mother, or brother, or child lying there on the ground with their blood all dried and sticky and some gaping holes in them where the life drained out.

Not every body is a stripper whose murder is going to implicate some big-wheel drug dealer and somehow help you clear some dirty little part of your tortured conscience. A lot of these are family arguments, or flashes of anger between people who've known each other for years that suddenly got out of control. But that's not compelling TV, I guess.

Fox's entry into the CSI-style programming has obviously been tweaked and notated to death by the network suits to fit their idea of what makes a good show. Any hint of originality was lost long ago, leaving only some goofy and unwelcome sci-fi elements behind. Our two heroes, Buffy's vampire boyfriend and Zooey Deschanel's fetching sister, each has a checkered and completely cliche-riddled past seemigly lifted from a 1950's era cop movie.

There's some awkward discussion of sex, seemingly jammed in to titillate, a team of scientist stereotypes pulled from 90's era big budget films like "Contact", and an X-Files Skinner clone, doomed to be demanding badges and then admitting our heroes were right and that he never should have given the case to that weasel, Johnson.

Knowing they're to spend a huge amount of time in Zooey Deschanel's fetching sister's lab, the lab is, apparently part of a shopping mall, hangar, or some other unexplained open air environment completely inappropriate for keeping corpses contaminant free. The team of crack scientists (none of which appear to be over the age of 28) have also created an amazing hologram projector (our sci-fi element) which can create a hologram based upon the bones our friend, Bones, has pieced together with Elmer's glue. What everyone else can do by looking at an image on a screen from a projector, these good folks have created in 3D, which, according to the show, everyone can see the face while they're standing behind the head of the hologram. And alter things like "flesh mass around the cheeks by 10%" at the touch of a button. That is some kick-ass processor on their hologram projector.

Even more amazing, the hologram projector can choreograph the movements EXACTLY as they occured during the murder. It's all sort of something you have to see to believe.

As for the just plain bad: We're repeatedly told Bones can't connect with people, just corpses, yet Bones goes on to spend 10 minutes telling anyone who will listen how she's cold and emotionless and can't connect. Note to writers and producers: Show, don't tell. By the end of the show, I couldn't wait for Ms. Chatterbox to quit connecting. Also, getting along with people doesn't mean telling them something you're not sure you should tell. Getting along with people at my work place means nodding and pretending like you care about what their kid said last night at the dinner table.

Look, this is Fox's idea of what CSI should be. Bones stars young, good looking people. There's some badly forced sexual tension between our two leads, and mostly nowhere to go with the show except to force it into the police procedural they promised in the ads. And while I've never watched CSI, from what I hear, this is pretty much William Petersen's character from CSI, only with big goo-goo eyes and boobies.

Fortunately for Fox, big goo-goo eyes and boobies are probably enough of a selling point for The League. We watchedThe X-Files on a similar principle for 7 years.

HOW I KNOW INFINITE CRISIS IS GOING TO ROCK MY SOCKS



pages from issue #1 of Infinite Crisis

From left to right:

Dr. Light, Dr. Polaris, Deathstroke, Black Adam, Psycho Pirate (yeah... Psycho Pirate!), Sinestro, Cheetah, Bizarro, Zoom

And all of these guys are being coordinated by: Luthor

Viva la Crisis!

Here's my mom with my grandparents hanging out in the summer.


Here's my Ma with Steanso and The League hanging out in the summer.

Pre-Halloween Halloween Contest

I THINK I know what The League is doing for this year's Halloween Contest, but you guys should have a say.

Any ideas for a Halloween contest?

For the last week Super Blog "Dave's Long Box" has been running the sort of series The League only dreams of running. The League is afeared to run this sort of series as he strongly suspects it would send the wrong message and rive away what tiny readership we already have.

For the past week, Dave has been running a series entitled "Boob War", exploring the innate silliness of the giddy objectification of women in spandex in comics. It's not quite as weird as you think.

Today Dave ran the final (and, dare I say, ultimate...?) "Boob War" post.

To read up on DC's own Power Girl, click here.

And, yes, it is sort of PG-13. Sensitive readers will not wish to click over.