Watchmen: The Movie

The big star of this year's SDCC was absolutely the upcoming Watchmen film directed by Zach Snyder. If you saw The Dark Knight (which is most of America by now) you saw the trailer, and it sure does look purdy.

I must admit I was impressed with the teaser myself, particularly the way Dr. Manhattan was rendered. It looks great, the source material has an impeccable pedigree, and I trust Snyder to do the right thing on the whole. It's appropriate to be excited about the possibilities of The Watchmen, coming to a screen near you 3/6/2009.

But before we dump a a premature load, let's assess the bigger picture. In particular, let's remind ourselves of that old axiom from the wizened crazy bastard himself: Alan Moore. Alan has been very up front about his writing methods, and from an early stage he purposefully designed his work to be essentially unfilmable.

This is not a secret, it's been a source of debate for years. Attack of the Show covered ComicCon again this year, God bless them, and the first words out of Kevin Pereira's mouth when Snyder appeared for an interview was:

"I thought this was unfilmable? Sure looks like you got some footage to me!" I'm paraphrashing here. And the line was delivered with a good dollop of smugness. Snyder, to his credit, played along but with a good deal more respect.

I think the prevailing opinion at this point is that "The Unfilmable Watchmen" is a pretentious bit of nonsense propagated by an eccentric creator in love with his own genius. That opinion is incorrect. Let me explain.

First of all, what does it mean for a comic book to be "unfilmable"? I think we can at least agree that every medium has its own strengths and weaknesses. The novel, for instance, does really well with showing us the inner thoughts of characters. We're able to crawl inside people's minds and really see what they're experiencing emotionally and what silently motivates them. An author can describe this in great detail and it reads as satisfying. When it's done well, of course.

That sort of interior access is actually quite annoying on film. If you don't believe me, take a poll on how "Blade Runner" fans feel about the original cut of the film with the Harrison Ford voice-over. They HATE it. Inner thoughts and feelings don't translate on film very well, because it's visual. Filming a character thinking is essentially filming somebody doing nothing. And that's not very exciting.

On the flip side, film does things that text novels don't do quite as well. Oh, some hold to the idea that our imagination can produce more powerful imagery than anything you can put on film. Fine, I guess. In reality, film has a significant advantage of text when it comes to our favorite past times: sex and violence.



Would you rather see Uwe Boll's footage of Angelina Jolie's boobs or read William Shakespeare's description of them? Case closed.

The comic book medium has it's own set of unique strengths and weakenesses as well. It's a kind of novel/film hybrid. You get a good dose of visuals, although more stylized than a camera generally produces. You also get some text and at least the possibility of interior access. (although thought balloons have gone out of vogue)

I think comics greatest strenghths are A) The intellectual work the reader creates between panels to fill in the narrative. And B) The "static" nature of the visuals that can simulate dynamic motion, but simultaneously allows the reader to stop and study at their leisure. A movie basically demands that you follow along linearly at the director's pace. A comic book allows much greater user control and selective concentration.

So now that I've rambled on far too long about different mediums, what's the point? The point is that Alan Moore is a really smart guy, and he's dedicated his career to producing work that can either only be produced in comic form, or is rendered best in comic book form. And Watchmen is a part of the latter end of that equation.

Watchmen the comic book has a plot, and that plot can certainly be filmed. The question I would pose is: "Does Watchmen's greatness derive from its plot?" I think most students of the material would agree with me when I say that the answer to that question is an emphatic "no".

I'm not suggesting that Watchmen contains a shoddy plot. It works just fine. There is some legitimate drama in the "who killed the Comedian" mystery, and Ozymandias' scheme is epic, bizarre, and a lot of fun. But that's honestly not where the real juice is.



I think the most obvious example of why you can't film The Watchmen is issue # 5: "Fearful Symmetry". It's a virtuoso performance that can really only be appreciated in comic book form. To be brief the issue contains a series of visual and thematic mirror images. If you look at it front-to-back, you can watch the parrallels clearly. Greater minds than mine have annotated the issue extensively. There are hundreds of mirrors in play in varying complexity.

The magic is this, though: If you just sit down and read it straight through, it doesn't read clunky. All of those machinations produce a fluid narrative. It really is a remarkable achievement in storytelling.

And now I ask you: is Zach Snyder going to film fearful symmetry? How would you recognize it? When would you know to start looking for mirrors, and how would you know when the pair appeared in cinematic form? Would you know to attach significance to William Blake's "The Tyger" during that section of the film? (Moore pulled "fearful symmetry" from the poem as a thematic aid)

You can film a plot, but you can't film The Watchmen. And really, in 2008, why would you want to film a contemporary answer to 1980's Reaganite and Thatcherian politics? I guess it works as a period piece if you can remember what it was like in the 80s and want to revisit it.

It's a different world now. The themes and concerns of 1986 do not resonate in 2008. So what do you do? Change the themes and concerns like they did to V for Vendetta? I guess. But then, is that V? Will The Watchmen really be The Watchmen? I don't see how.

Don't mistake this analysis as a condemnation of the film. I'm not saying they shouldn't have made it. I'm not even saying that I'm not excited to see it. I find Rorschach to be one of the most compelling characters in comics history, and I can't wait to see Jackie Earle Haley's performance of that character. I think it will be rewarding to see that.

But at the same time, will the audience register that Rorschach is a post-modern take on the Golden age Question from Charlton? That's where the juice is. Will they recognize what a departure this nut job is from that innocent time and feel the pangs of what that "innocent" character would probably resemble in "real life"?

Of course not. We're in the post Watchmen, post Dark Knight (Miller, not Nolan) era. We expect our heroes to be psychopaths now. It's a bit of irony that because Watchmen created a different way of looking at comics, a modern audience can't really absorb the impact of it through this movie. It's become passe. You can film a plot, but you cannot film The Watchmen.

I'm not concerned that Watchmen the movie is going to be a travesty. I think it will be highly entertaining. My concern is that here we are in the Golden Age of comic book cinema, and now comes the most legendary of graphic novels. And I think that audiences are going to get to the end of the movie and say "this is the greatest example of the medium"?

Toward the end of the AOTS interview, Zach Snyder said "If the best I can do is make a 3 hour commercial for the comic, I'm happy with that." I hope that it does at least that, but most everything that made the book such an achievement will not be evident on the screen.

- Ryan

Review: The Goddamn Batman

Review: All-Star Batman & Robin HC

I think the lion's share of comics fans were in synch with me when I salivated over this announced All Star Batman & Robin title. Frank goddamn Miller. Jim goddamn Lee. How could this not be the single greatest book published in the last 20 years?

I think I was also in synch with an equally lionesque share of comics fans when I got done reading AS Batman # 1 and couldn't speak for an hour. "I'm the goddamn Batman?" What. The. Fuck.

I set that book down and didn't purchase another. I would occasionally read scattered reviews, and if you know me you know I was tracking order numbers. AS Batman maintained a consistent 100,000+ and I wondered to myself who was still buying the damn thing.

When the hardcover edition hit the stands, curiosity got the better of me and I had to check it out. I'm glad I did.

The HC edition presents the first 8 issues without commercial interruption in all of their over-the-top, irreverent beauty. That's right, I said beauty.

There are reasons not to like the book, but they are mainly reasons of bottled expectations and unrealistic demands. I think we were expecting something familiar with a little Sin City twist. Shame on us. We demanded that Miller produce the same old same old with a such a polish that it would still knock our cotton footwear off. Absurd.

What we got was the Goddamn Batman. And after reading the first eight issues straight through, I'm very pleased to meet him.

To me, this book has many layers, but I'm most interested in two of them - the character study Miller is creating, and the meta-commentary on comics he's planted. Let me explain.

Batman: The Character Study
I think the idea of Batman as slightly off his nut is well-trodden ground in "water cooler" talk, but it rarely gets played out in the floppies. At least not seriously. Yes, we recognize and the characters recognize that Bruce Wayne is obsessed with his mission to a level that is likely not healthy. But at the end of the day, we never question whether or not Batman is a hero.

In AS Batman, everybody questions this openly, and the answer is not traditional. Batman is bent. We get to see a good deal of Batman's internal dialogue from Miller, particularly as regards Robin. And what we see is slightly disturbing. Whatever else we might say about the story as it unfolds, the book has brass balls.

Meta Commentary
It isn't just Batman that's off, which brings me to the meta level. What Frank Miller is doing in this book is showing us how absurd most superhero storytelling is by stripping off the glossy sheen and showing us some "reality" within the fictional backdrop.

Look, this isn't unprecedented. (See Watchmen, 1986) But it is unusual, and it is entertaining. So Batman is bent. Batman is bent to the point where Robin is isolated in the Batcave and meant to eat rats to toughen him up. The Justice League is at odds with each other and not terribly competent.

This is not a world where the good guys know just what to do and say. The cops are corrupt, Green Lantern is a moron, Superman has no stones, and Wonder Woman is an ultra-aggressive bitch, and Black Canary picks pockets when she's done stomping thugs.

How about this meta gem from issue # 5:

"I leave the Batmobile parked in a back alley of Giordano and Adams. That's taking a chance--some loser with ideas might spot it and get himself electrocuted trying to steal it."

In case you didn't catch it, that's Miller giving everyone who's handled the character since the Neal Adams/Dick Giordano days (including himself?) a big fat middle finger.

What's fun about reading this title is that it is completely over-the-top fun and action while simultaneously demonstrating what a horrible farce that whole situation is.

Another positive is that this is the strongest I've ever seen the character Robin. Dick Grayson is not window dressing - he's a prodigy that Batman is in awe of. It takes Robin about six seconds to relieve Hal Jordan of his ring and deal some near lethal damage.

On the downside, Miller has gotten very in love with his short, staccato sentence structure. And he repeats EVERYTHING. Every character exhibits the phenomenon. It's irritating and unnecessary.

My final judgement is that All-Star Batman is certainly worth having in your collection if you're a comics fan at all. Maybe this isn't the Rolls Royce we foolishly clamored for in our hearts. But whatever she is...she definitely goes. Unbuckle your seat belt and enjoy the rest on its own terms.





Birds of Prey out on DVD as of Tuesday, July 15!



Once upon a time the WB put out a Birds of Prey series I would assume is loosely based on the DC comic that Gail Simone used to kick so much ass on. I say assume because I never watched the show - it was off the air before I ever knew it existed!

Ashley Scott plays the Huntress, in this mythos the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. Dina Meyer is Oracle/Barbara Gordon. Dinah Lance appears to be a psychic and not the Black Canary, played by Rachel Skarsten.

Not sure why this tanked after only 13 episodes, but I've already plunked down the cash and ordered it to find out...



It's Dark Knight Time!!!

As I type this, it's just after midnight on July 18, and I imagine a handful of fortunate nerds are seeing the first screenings of The Dark Knight locally.

I don't usually do openings, as the press of humanity is bad for my mental balance. And my mental balance is precarious enough as it is. Needless to say I will be taking this film in before long. Definitely at the IMAX in St. Michael. Oh yeah.

In a summer over-saturated with comic goodness, I still find myself anticipating this movie at an obscene level. Hard to imagine something that could top Iron Man - but this one just might do it.

Anybody out there seen the film or the Birds of Prey series? I'd love to read your comments. Otherwise, see you when we upload the next show!


Ryan

Chronic Insomnia has a Green Light!

As of May 31st, 2008 Ryan and I have a green light to start producing a show for Cable Access channel 19 or 20. This happens on the heels of our show reaching it's 1 year anniversary on MyPodcast.com. Almost 50 "Issues" have been released as of this writing and we intend on doing more Podcasts into the future to compliment our video show which we will do once a month.

The look of the show and the promos for the show are in the works. We have some photos to take and some other things to smooth out but all in all a lot of the ideas for the show are still locked in our brains someplace. Ryan and I will be sitting down a few times in the next month to figure out the shows agenda and content. The live action video show will be based somewhat on the show we already do, with a few of the segments carrying over.

Market Spotlight, Time Machine, Chronic News, Next Weeks Books (Next Months Books) and possibly Whore of the Week should continue is some fashion or another. We are looking into new segments like Preorder Previews or What's new at DCBS? We can show the actual website on air and show us shopping at the same time.

Events are unfolding to bring a live action video show to our audience sometime in early August with the show continuing through the rest of the year at a once a month pace. We would like to bring two shows a month to the network but with fear of content being subpar, we want to give our viewers our best each time. So that means for now we are going to keep the show at one hour per month of the best stuff we can do. All killer, no filler.

Keep coming back here for more updates as we know more ourselves. We'll see you on the small screen soon enough. Don't be frightened by our extremely white skin and slightly bloated faces that always seem to need a shave. We are harmless.

Michael

Coolest. Previews. Ever.

Hi there. This is Ryan Lee, reporting on some of the myriad treasures awaiting you in the June edition of Previews. Now, the Previews catalog is always packed to the gills with "must haves" for the discerning nerd. But this month is...special. It just is.

Let's take a look at some items you can (and probably should) order right now. Many of these are guaranteed bonafide money-makers. Let's begin!

Comics

Amazing Spider-Man # 569 - The ASM crew are doing something funky with Venom. Not sure what, exactly, but we're getting a new Spider-Villain here for sure. Marvel is being a little tight-lipped about the whole thing, but one gets the feeling this is one to have.

The BND books come out three per month, and a killer issue is bound to get lost in the shuffle. We may see increased orders from savvy retailers who are reading between the lines, but not enough to stop a potential juggernaut. And that's exactly what Venom is if they breathe new life into the character. I would order me one or five of these.

Worst case scenario you get a book written by Dan Slott. You could do worse.

Venom Dark Origin # 1 - A re-telling and ret-conning of of the symbiote-turned homicidal brain eater. It's appropriate to want to throw up at the prospect of yet another origin tossed into the trash heap.

It would be stupid to pass up an easy earner, though, just because you don't like the concept. I like this book as a short-term investment, although not as much as ASM 569. Shockingly, they didn't try to gouge $4.99 out of you for it, either. $2.99 gets you a revamped venom. Not bad.

Iron First: Origin of Danny Rand - Yes, they took Matty Fraction away from us and replaced him with that ridiculous hack Duane Swzzushishhizinksy. (I'm sorry, but try and read that Cable excrement without health repercussions - I dare you) Here's the last hurrah, though - a reprinting of Iron Fist's origins as detailed in Marvel Premiere 15-16, plus an original framing sequence by Fraction.


A nice way to get closure on what was a pretty darned good book as you kill it from your pull. Oh, and guaranteed to be under-ordered. $3.99 price point. Owie.

X-Files Special # 0 - Written by a co-writer of the new movie, Frank Spotnitz. Don't know if it ties into the film or not, nor do I care.


Licensed stuff in general are sound long-term buys, this sure to be ignored gem should pan out very nicely.

Hardcovers

Oh, my friend, you cannot believe what goodies they have tucked into Previews this month. Let's start out small and build up as we go:

Stranded Vol 1 Limited Edition HC - If you listen to the show, you know how much I like Virgin and can't quite understand why nobody is reading these books. Here we have a concept scripted by friggin' Mike Carey, and it's already in production for a Sci-Fi pilot.

Now, to say that Sci-fi originals kinda lack quality is like saying that Germans kinda like Hasselhoff. I get it, OK? But Carey should provide something that channel doesn't see very often - a real writer. (Battlestar Galactica, you're off the hook, but the rest of you...I'm looking at you, here)

Even if the show sucks giant squid balls, it's still going to produce a spike on a book that's limited to 1,000 copies. What's really sad there is that they didn't really need to provide an artificial cap on that book. No way were that many yahoos ordering it anyway. But you will, if you're smart.

Retail is $29.99, but you'll never pay that if you have an ounce of common sense. It will be available for 2/3 that price on deepdiscount.com or instocktrades. Slated for a August 20 release.

Hellboy Library Edition Vol 2 - Chained Coffin & Others - Listen, you already saw how gorgeous Volume 1 was, yes? Just get the whole series, please.

This book contains 15 Hellboy tales including The Right Hand of Doom. All in chronological order, all decked out in beautiful black.

Suggest retail is $49.95, but I paid $31 for my copy of volume 1. Just be smart about it. October 15 release.

Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite Limited Edition HC - Wow. A cult book gets a sweet looking HC with a limited run? Yeah, that works.

Extras here include an expanded sketchbook, commentary from the creators, and the FCBD short story. Honestly, that sounds pretty weak to me. It doesn't matter.

By this time next year, you'll be able to get double what you paid for this book. Which incidentally is fairly steep. Retail is $79.95, but don't be frightened and don't pay that much for it. You're smarter than that.





The Boys Definitive Edition HC - OH FUCK YEAH. Dynamite is reprinting issues 1-14 plus the complete original scripts for issue # 1. This, folks, is what we in the industry like to call cash money.

What's most important here is That Dynamite has stated that they are printing to order only. This is like a Planetary Absolute edition waiting to happen. It's a damn good book, a cult-powered book, and this is going to be the key get for all Boys fans. Order this if you like yourself. Suggested retail is $75.99.

But it gets better. Also available is a signed edition, also printed to orders. Suggested retail on this is $500! Too rich for my blood I'm afraid, but if you've got that lying in your couch I suggest you do it. You will NOT be able to find this on the secondary market. Period.

Toys and Such

Watchmen Stuff - Now available for pre-order are Watchmen figures and busts from DC Direct. I don't think I need to tell you the long term potential for those items. The four figures available to order now are Rorshach, Silk Spectre, Night Owl, and Ozymandias. Four more coming soon.

Retail on those figures are $19.99 and worth every penny of that. The busts go for $59.99, and none of this actually hits the shelves until January 2009.

Buffy Tarot Deck - This is a very nice little sleeper item. The original Vertigo tarot set released in the early 90s did very well in the secondary market, and I can see a similar kind of appeal here.

Paul Lee provides the art for the deck, which includes 78 cards and a 64 page instruction booklet. Retail on this is $14.99, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to believe this to be a $50 item in the not-too-distant future.

JLA Trophy Room Green Lantern Battery Prop - Without question the coolest thing I've ever seen in my twisted life. It's a GODDAMN GREEN LANTERN POWER BATTERY. It comes with a size 10 ring, and the lantern lights when you press the ring against the face of it.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! This gem hits the shelves January 21, 2009 and retails for $395. Of course it's worth that, dumb ass. Gah. I need to get rich, friends, so I can start creating the Ultimate Lair of Celibacy.

Until next time!

- Ryan

Locke & Load, Baby!

If you've been listening to the show, yol know that we've been pimping IDWs Locke & Key on Market Spotlight since January 8, 2008. (a month before the first issue shipped) This is the comics debut of critically acclaimed novelist Joe Hill, also known as Stephen King's kid.

Let's get right to the point - Locke & Key just went BOOM. Over the past seven days, Issue # 1 has been fetching $25-$50, and issues 2-3 have been spiking toward $15-$25 an issue. If you took our advice and ordered multiple copies of these books, you're sitting on a little pile of dynamite right now.

Hard to say how things will shake out since we're only at the birthing stages right now. Issue # 1 is king for the moment, but I'm not sure that it will stay that way. The print run on # 1 was 7,559 copies, and we now know that issue # 2 went down to 6,122 orders. No hard data on # 3 yet, but it certainly appears to be the most difficult issue of the series to find up for sale, even if it isn't commanding the bigger dollars yet.

Should you sell your copies now? In a word, fucking yes. The closest parallel we have for this book in my mind is the original 30 Days of Night mini. We're already approaching those figures on Locke & Key, so there is no good sense in getting greedy.

IDW has begun to reprint the issues, and you know there is a TPB coming. Both of those factors should bring prices back down to earth a bit.

I fully endorse buying any of the first three issues at double cover and dumping them immediately. And remember - IDW has been going back to press. If you want to sell for a profit, make sure you've got a first print in your hands. Open up the book and look at the small gobbledygook on the first page. Comics are more honest then people. They'll tell you right up front if their an original or not.

Incidentally, the real reason we're seeing this spike is that the print runs are microscopic and the story is bloody good. Hill has a real gift for dialogue, creating tension, and telling a story with a well-paced plan. It's comics done right.

- Ryan

The Chronic Iron Man Review

Because absolutely no one demanded it, you must now suffer a full review of the new Iron Man picture as experienced by me, the David Lee Roth of Podcasting. And we begin...

I must preface my review by placing the screening in it's social and medical context. I saw this film after eating a substantial amount of Mongolian stir-fry. It was prepared by a nationally ranked stir-fry champion sporting a moustache that was also elite. I believe that said moustache was probably the 5th most powerful in the continental United States, slightly behind Rollie Fingers but inching ahead of the waning Tom Selleck.

Please also understand that I had been afflicted with dysentery that day. My intestinal contents had already staged no less than three separate coups that day, and guerrilla Mongolian stir-fry rebels did indeed stage a fourth assault on my savaged arse about an hour into the movie. So I should have been in a less than receptive mood for this thing.

Let me tell you that Iron Man was goddamn awesome.

I think that the two greatest pitfalls of superhero cinema are A) getting caught up in slapping in any name brand talent regardless of the fit and B) getting caught up in comic book origin elements instead of telling a coherent, satisfying story. Iron Man side-stepped both land mines quite nicely, thank you very much.

Downey (probably to his detriment) was born to play this role. A good Tony Stark must be able to simultaneously exude a talented presence while also representing a stone pimp. Check and check. Paltrow brings a nice quiet dignity to Pepper, and Jeff "The Dude" Bridges was surprisingly effective at bringing a sense of underlying menace to Obadiah Stane, even while sharing pizza.

It's not enough to have name brand talent in your film. Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell are both plenty good at whatever it is they do. Being Daredevil and Bullseye just aint it. Marvel was smart enough to put round pegs in round holes. Thank you for that.

Apart from Spider-Man 2, I think that Iron Man provides the most satisfying story that any comic-born movie has produced yet. Maybe it's even better. Without ruining too many plot details, the film is essentially an updated but centrally faithful origin story from the earliest Tales to Astonish material plus a leap forward into a confrontation that happens around Iron Man 200.

What's important here is that all of the character moments happen organically inside of a coherent story that moves forward and makes consistent sense. It's a formula that's just wacky enough to work.

I think the X-Men films in particular get bogged down in proving that they recognize all the "cool" character traits they came from, and somewhere along the way forget to tell a story that feels satisfying. What I mean to say is - take away the special attraction a comic book reader has previously attached to the characters, and would you really want to watch any of those films? I wouldn't.

Iron Man can absolutely be enjoyed by just about anybody, whether they have picked up a comic book or not. Whether they have previously cared about Iron Man or not. What Marvel was smart enough to do here is to find a charismatic guy with flaws and then build an atonement story around it.

You love to watch him make an ass out of himself, because he does it with such skill. You love to watch him try to rise above all that nonsense, because it makes him human.

And in the meantime there are plenty of action sequences (that also make organic sense inside of the story) and the special effects are top notch, which is what you'd expect from ILM.

While I'm busy sucking people off here, let me add Jon Favreau to the list. I have to assume that many of the choices I've been lauding were his. Let's add the four-headed monster of Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway as well. This was the writing team, and I can't say enough about their pacing and dialogue.

As I type this, Iron Man has been in the theater for 6 days and has grossed $220 million worldwide. This is going straight into Marvel's pockets now that they're brewing their own films in-house. They really assembled a perfect storm here, and it will surprise some to recognize that this movie is going to earn more for the company than all of their comics for the year combined.

These results are going to have Marvel taking in far revenue than projected, as predicted in Market Spotlight a few months back. Had you taken the advice and bought up some MVL stock back then, you'd have taken a nice little ride from $28 to $33. If the Hulk film delivers similar numbers, expect that to spike even further.

More importantly, though, we must recognize the unique talents of Sarah Cahill, also known as "Hot Stewardess # 3". No truer title could have been chosen. She's the blonde hot stewardess, was Miss Minnesota in 2003, and was created in a lab dedicated to producing Hot Stewardesses in Waseca.

To recap, Iron Man gets five lumps of scrap Palladium out of five. See it. Love it. And pray that Hulk is even close to this good...

- Ryan

Who controls Gemini?

I have been waiting for this comic to come out since I started reading Dynamo 5. I really like Faerber as a storyteller and in this comic he doesn't disappoint. The dialog is pretty good and it's filled with intrigue and mystery. The artwork reminds me of Xombie reanimated but it doesn't detract from the storyline at all.

The first issue leaves a few unanswered questions so I can't get into much detail cause I don't really know a lot of them. From what I gathered a team of individuals actually activate and control a powerful super-hero named Gemini. It seems to be a hypnotic suggestion cause they constantly elude to him not remembering what he does during the night. One of the controllers, named 91, is assigned to controlling and watching Gemini. She has some new ideas on how to do this apparently.

Up until the point of the story in the comic we find out they only do nocturnal operations. However on this day there is a big mid-day scuffle that Gemini is needed for. With that he is activated while at lunch from his normal cubicle day to day job. He enters the fight and ends up saving a few other super-heroes that he apparently knows. One named Venture and another which is a very attractive female super which we don't quite get the name of. At least not that I can remember, I was too busy looking at her ass.

This unnamed female hero ends up hitting on Gemini big time and he seems to have no idea how to respond to her. He seems to be a in virgin territory when talking to women. I like this part of the story, it gives the character some realism. There are a few moments of comedy during this part where the controllers, who see through his eyes, get a close up vision of the womans breasts as Gemini stares at them. It's a good moment and adds levity to the situation that is about to transpire.

SPOILER ALERT! Don't read past this point if you want to read the comic and be surprised.

After saving his fellow Supers from a big mid-day battle, 91 is ordered to deactivate Gemini. She decides to watch him for a while instead. Gemini finds a small crime happening in an alleyway below the building he is standing on. Gemini goes down to stop the woman from being assaulted by this huge brute of a guy. As he pulls the giant man from the girl/woman he doesn't notice the large woman with the shotgun come out of a door in the alleyway. She is just trying to stop Gemini from hurting the man and 91 just wants to see what will happen is she lets Gemini do his own thing without controlling him.

That's a bad plan cause while she watches Gemini she sees a bright white light and the screen goes to static. As the reader of the comic we get to see that Gemini has just gotten his head blown off with the shotgun. So much for the star of the comic being alive? What the heck are they going to do now? It's a pretty shocking ending to this comic. I LOVED IT!

Artwork - 2.5 stars. It's an interesting look and definitely doesn't detract from the comic itself. I actually liked it after the tenth page or so and didn't even notice it.

Storyline - 4 stars. This isn't Thoreau or anything, but I think it's worth a read. Go out and grab it, at least it's not Marvel or DC. Amen brother!

Michael