Chris Braak's Blog, page 31

DC's New 52 Reviews: Deathstroke

I didn't find this one as offensively stupid as Suicide Squad, so don't expect a huge and furious rant about it, but I did have some (mostly one) major problem with Deathstroke #1 (by Kyle Higgins, art by Joe Bennett & Art Thibert).  It's a problem rooted in the spoiler, and I'll get to it [...]

I Speak TV: '2 and a Half Men' Absolutely Hates You

I've never been able to use the phrase "out of morbid curiosity" so sincerely as I was able to when answering the question shouted at asked to me by Braak, "Why are you watching the Two and a Half Men premier?" Like most people who aren't the sizable majority of people on Earth, I don't [...]

How Dumb Is Suicide Squad 1? SO DUMB

I wish I was the kind of decent human being who could just let sleeping piles of weevil-infested rat crap lie, but I am not that person.  I am an asshole, and that is why I am writing about Suicide Squad #1, written by Adam Glass and, like, fifteen artists.  (Actually, I guess just three: [...]

Netflix CEO Had Me, Then Lost Me, Then Kind of Had Me Again, Then Really Threw Me Off For a While

It's always nice to wake up to an apology email. Well, nice, and also a little disconcerting because I JUST woke up and what the hell happened in the last seven hours that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings feels the need to tell everyone he's sorry? Well, turns out he was sorry for that whole business [...]

The DC's New 52 Reviews: Frankenstein, Demon Knights and Animal Man

I've been hoping there'd be three new DC books each week to entice me, but then I saw the preview for Grifter. I think I'm getting the same feeling readers in the 50's might have gotten when they picked up the new Hawkman and realized it wasn't a reincarnated prince/archeologist, but an alien space-cop. In [...]

I Speak TV: 'Ringer,' NBC Comedies

Ringer You know that moment in a lot of later-season Buffy The Vampire Slayer episodes, where Sarah Michelle Gellar would get her serious face on and start brooding and you'd realize, "Oh, it's going to be one of THOSE episodes again, is it?" SMG trots that wide-eyed pout out a lot in the first half [...]

Additional Thoughts on Game of Thrones and Media CriticismThat's

I'm going to wax pretentious here for a little while, and I hope you'll bear with me.  There's going to be a lot of "this is what MY philosophy is," which I think is a kind of navel-gazey way of dealing with art in the best case scenario, and at worst is just a pretty [...]

Additional Thoughts on Game of Thrones and Media Criticism

I'm going to wax pretentious here for a little while, and I hope you'll bear with me.  There's going to be a lot of "this is what MY philosophy is," which I think is a kind of navel-gazey way of dealing with art in the best case scenario, and at worst is just a pretty [...]

Lady Sabre and the Ineffable Aether

You may remember this comic, from when it inspired me to write nearly ten thousand words on the subject of fictional swordplay.  I am very much in favor of it, generally, and I very much want to like it, but I can't.  And the reason that I can't is this: The pacing is all wrong. [...]

DC's New 52 Reviews: Batgirl, Stormwatch and Action Comics

This week, we're checking out two of the most generally anticipated (and quickly sold out) comics of DC's relaunch – Grant Morrison's young-Superman-adventures Action Comics, Gail Simone's opening argument for why Barbara Gordon is sans wheelchair in Batgirl, and finally Stormwatch, the first book integrating Wildstorm concepts into DC Proper. And what a mixed bag [...]