Whedon Wednesday: My Buffy Valentine

One of the best parts of having some artistic abilities comes around birthdays or holidays. If I’m broke or I can’t find anything to buy, I can always draw or paint a gift for someone. Nine times out of ten, the recipient loves the homemade gift. And depending on the subject matter, occasionally there are tears of joy. While searching through an old sketchbook for this entry, I also found sketches of a Buffy Valentine’s Day card I made for a girlfriend. She may have been more Buffy-obsessed than even I was, so crafting a Buffy-themed card to go with her gift was a no-brainer. If you’re a Buffy/Angel fan, you may want to turn away now because this card is Spuffy-related.

Full page of sketches

Close-up on sketch of the card

 Before I gave her the card, I took a picture of it because I was rather proud of the end result. Now I’m wondering if there would be a market for Buffy-themed greeting cards on etsy.com.

The final card: colored pencil on red canson paper

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 24

Whedon Wednesday: Marvel meets the Whedonverse

Joss Whedon started filming THE AVENGERS this week and because of that, on their Twitter feed and on Facebook, Whedonesque asked what Marvel/Whedonverse crossovers would everyone like to see. Well, I thought of one… and then two… and then ten. Rather than just posting them in reply on Twitter or Facebook, I decided to post all my crossover ideas here. Some are definitely better than others.

1. ILLYRIA VS. DARK PHOENIX (Writer: Matt Fraction, Artist: Stuart Immonen): In a giant crossover event, two ancient deities battle it out while inhabiting the bodies of two skinny white women.

2. SERENITY/STARJAMMERS (Writer: Jonathan Hickman, Artist: Steve Epting): The crew of Serenity runs into Corsair and company in the middle of space. No bullets are exchanged, just tales of space pirating and smuggling.

3. SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP featuring BUFFY: THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (Writer: Dan Slott, Artist: Marcos Martin): The quippiest heroine in television history meets the quippiest hero in all of comicdom. At some point, Buffy asks Spidey, “is that you under that mask, Xander?”

4. JAYNE VS. THE PUNISHER: FOR THE LOVE OF VERA (Writer: Garth Ennis, Artist: Steve Dillon): Two men. One very special gun. Frank Castle wants Jayne’s beloved Vera and he’ll do anything to get his hands on it.

5. GUNN and IRON FIST: HEROES FOR HIRE (Writer: Ed Brubaker, Artist: Michael Lark): The new Power Man is super lame, so Iron Fist kicks his protege to the curb and recruits a new crime fighter to patrol the streets with. With a fist like unto a thing of iron and stakes carved from wood, Danny Rand and Charles Gunn are the new HEROES FOR HIRE.

6. JONATHAN & PUCK in TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE (Writer: Jeff Parker, Artist: Skottie Young): A giant battle ensues as two universes hang in the balance. When Buffy, the X-Men, Echo, the Avengers, Angel, the Fantastic Four, and Spike are all captured, the shortest heroes of both worlds, Jonathan and Alpha Flight’s Puck, come together to save the day.

7. ECHO & MOON KNIGHT in MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISASTER featuring guest-villainess TYPHOID MARY (Writer Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Alex Maleev): It’s utter bedlam when three individuals with multiple personalities meet up.  And with super-scribe Brian Bendis at the helm, how many of their personalities will talk like an old Jewish woman? Answer: ALL OF THEM!

8. X-FACTOR guest-starring ANGEL INVESTIGATIONS (Writer: Peter David, Artist: Mike Deodato): When X-Factor is hired to investigate a series of vampire attacks even Layla Miller doesn’t know how to stop it. So Jamie Madrox asks for a consultation from everyone’s favorite vampire with a soul, Angel.

9. WORLD TOUR with LORNE & DAZZLER (Writer: Kathryn Immonen, Artist: Greg Land): The talented team of demon and mutant tour the world, perform in front of millions, and solve crimes on the side.

10. WESLEY WYNDAM-PRYCE & BLADE: ROGUE DEMON HUNTERS (Writer: Mark Waid, Artist: Mark Bagley): What’s better than one Rogue Demon Hunter? Why, two of course!

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 17

Whedon Wednesday: Whedonverse Artwork

No one’s every questioned my Joss Whedon obsession before, but if they did, I’d just show them the pile of Whedonverse artwork I’ve done over the years. Only one of these was even done for a school project. The rest I did in my free time for fun. I’m going to post these in the chronological order of when I drew/painted them. Also, I’m posting everything I can find, so I will fully admit some of it isn’t all that hot. But I suppose the bad stuff will make the good stuff look even better by comparison.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL

I drew this one as an independent study in my junior year of high school. The school actually gave out Buffy book covers to all the students that year, it was awesome. This piece is less awesome than the book covers were. I was playing a lot with distortion that year. Griding up a person’s face and then playing with the size and shape of the grid’s squares on the paper to distort the person’s features. Here I did it with Sarah Michelle Gellar circa Buffy Season 2:

Buffy Distortion -- graphite

I didn’t work with acrylic paint at all in high school and on only a few occasions in college, so I would mostly play around with it in my free time. This next Spike piece, I believe I painted while I was still in college. I love working on cardboard. It gives you a great middle value to start with and, if you plan ahead, you don’t even need to buy it. Just save the cardboard sheets from your latest Amazon or Overstock order.

Spike -- acrylic paint and India ink on cardboard

I can’t remember how I came up with this next idea, but at some point I tied Indiana Jones fear of snakes to Anya’s fear of rabbits and this happened. I still love this piece.

Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Raider of the Lost Ark (white colored pencil and graphite on gray canson paper)

As an art major, going to college in Connecticut meant constant field trips into New York City to visit museums and galleries. On one such trip, I saw the work of an artist who’s name I’ll never remember, who quite unintentionally created some of the most beautiful artwork I had ever seen up to that point. The gallery had decided to display some of the artist’s unfinished art, work he had given up on. As a result, these pieces were a mix of oil painting and under-drawing, graphite sketches intertwined with vivid oil paints. I loved them so much, I decided I would try to do something similar. These next few are from that series, I liked them a lot more when I first painted them.

Spike -- acrylic paint and graphite on canvas

This next one is a disaster. The Spike one above came out pretty well (his hair is terrible though), so I got cocky and over ambitious. I think this piece has a very cool concept. Using the light exploding from Spike’s medallion to decided what would be left in graphite was a great idea, but my execution is an utter mess. The canvas was WAY too small to do this much detail work and I didn’t have nearly enough experience with acrylic paint at this point to come close to saving it.

Buffy Season 7 -- acrylic paint and graphite on canvas

The next one is an Illyria piece and I was getting better working with acrylic paint at this point. I just wish I had used the graphite/paint separation to tell more of a story rather than just blocking out random sections.

Illyria -- acrylic and white colored pencil on canvas

FIREFLY/SERENITY

This first one technically isn’t a FIREFLY or SERENITY piece. It’s Elektra from Marvel Comics, but I used a screen-capture of Morena Baccarin from an episode of FIREFLY for reference, so I’ll pretend it counts. I really like this one because there is a story element to it. Elektra is an assassin, so the image of her in all darkness minus the one box of light makes sense. She’s always hiding in shadows.

Elektra -- acrylic paint and white colored pencil

This next one is another favorite of mine. I used a very specific shot from the FIREFLY episode OBJECTS IN SPACE for reference here. I like this one so much I sent a copy to Summer Glau for her to sign. She was lovely enough to sign it and wrote a very nice note. Conte crayon is one of my favorite mediums to work in. It’s a form of charcoal, but it’s much easier to control and not nearly as messy.

River from the Firefly episode "Objects in Space" -- charcoal pencil and conte crayon

Before SERENITY’s release, there was an official SERENITY website where you could take part in challenges to earn points towards SERENITY merchandise. These next two were some of my entries to that website for those challenges. The first is a bumper-sticker, the second is a movie poster. I couldn’t find the original file for the second one, so I photographed the copy I framed (which is also signed by Summer Glau).

Browncoats Bumper-sticker (illustrations in conte crayon and charcoal pencil)

Serenity Poster (illustrations in conte crayon and charcoal)

That’s all I could find for now, but I know there’s more stuff somewhere. I may update this at a later date.

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 10

Whedon Wednesday: My 10 Favorite Buffy Episodes

Welcome to the first Whedon Wednesday. Today I’m picking out my 10 favorite Buffy episodes. Now these aren’t necessarily what I consider the 10 best episodes of the show (Season Five standout, The Body, is noticeably absent here), rather these are my favorite episodes, the ones I love watching over and over again. Here are my picks:

10. Fool For Love (Season 5, Writer: Doug Petrie): I’m a big Spike fan and, for my money, this is the best Spike-centric episode.  Buffy nearly gets killed by an otherwise unremarkable vampire. Needing to know how other slayers died, she turns to Spike to explain how he got the upper-hand on the two slayers he killed. This episode serves as Spike’s origin story. We learn where the nickname “William the Bloody” came from and why Drusilla turned him into a vampire.

9. The Wish (Season 3, Writer: Marti Noxon): I’m a bit obsessed with Anya and with alternate reality stories, so I have much love for this episode. In the previous episode, Cordelia learned Xander was cheating on her with Willow and, to add injury to insult, got a piece of rebar through her gut. A new girl at school, Anya, befriends Cordelia, Cordelia wishes Buffy never came to Sunnydale, Anya uses her Vengeance Demon powers and Cordelia’s wish is granted. The best part of this alternate reality Sunnydale are the vampire versions of Willow and Xander.

8. Band Candy (Season 3, Writer: Jane Espenson): “Kiss Rocks? Why would anyone want to kiss… oh wait, I get it.” Band Candy, was Espenson debut and she delivered one of the funniest episodes of the entire series. Ethan Rayne puts a magical whammy on Sunnydale High’s band candy and the adults of Sunnydale start acting like their former teenage selves. “Mom started borrowing my clothes. There should be an age limit on Lycra pants. And Dad, he just locked himself in the bathroom with old copies of Esquire.”

7. The Gift (Season 5, Writer: Joss Whedon): The Gift is the only season finale to make my list. By Season 5, Joss Whedon had the Big Bad final battle episode down to a science, every character gets a big moment. Spike tries, and fails, to save Dawn, Willow plays big gun as she knocks Glory for a loop and returns Tara to normal, Xander gets to use a wrecking ball, Giles kills Ben, and Buffy beats the snot out of Glory and then sacrifices herself to save the world and her sister. If this had been the Buffy series finale, it would’ve gone down in history as one of the greatest series finales of all-time.

6. Hush (Season 4, Writer: Joss Whedon): For a series centered around monsters, Buffy, surprisingly, rarely had a truly scary episode. Hush, however, has some moments of real horror. The villains of the episode, the Gentlemen, are beyond creepy and when they cut a college student’s heart out while he tries to scream for help, I think it qualifies as scary. Half this episode has no dialogue and it leads to some of my favorite visual gags in the history of the series. There are Giles’s hilarious and obscenely violent drawings on the overhead projector. Then Buffy mimes she’ll stab the Gentlemen, but without stake in hand, it resembles something else entirely.

5. Doppelgangland (Season 3, Writer: Joss Whedon): I already mentioned my favorite Spike-centric episode, well, this is my fave Willow-centric episode. Alyson Hannigan gets so much to work with here, getting to play human Willow, vampire Willow, and human Willow pretending to be vampire Willow.

4. When She Was Bad (Season 2, Writer: Joss Whedon): In 1997, the season 2 premiere cranked my teenage obsession with Sarah Michelle Gellar to 11. I mean the sexy dance with Xander in the Bronze? That was ridiculous. I love morally ambiguous Buffy. She’s a total bitch to her friends, she shoves a cross down the throat of vampire to get information, and she completely messes with Angel’s head.

3. Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered (Season 2, Writer: Marti Noxon): This is the episode I would use to convert skeptics into Buffy viewers. I actually got my high school biology teacher to allow us to watch this episode during bio lab at one point during junior year. BB&B is one of the first episodes of Buffy that didn’t focus primarily on the title character. Xander gets the A-story, and it’s pretty brilliant. Every awkward teenage boy hopes that one day all the hot girls at his high school will fall in love with him, but for Xander the reality of it is a little less fun (especially when Willow tries to murderize him with an axe).

2. Once More With Feeling (Season 6, Writer: Joss Whedon): “If my heart could beat, it would break my chest” is the greatest vampire pick-up line of all-time. I’ve listened to the soundtrack of OMWF so many times, it’s kind of embarrassing. The Buffy musical episode is the only reason I even purchased the Season 6 DVD set.

1. Selfless (Season 7, Writer: Drew Goddard): The night Selfless aired I swore Drew Goddard had to be a pseudonym for Joss Whedon. I had no idea why Joss would write under a false name on his own show, but it was the only way to explain how an episode this amazing could be penned by a first-time Buffy writer. Of course, later I learned Drew Goddard was an actual person and a pretty tremendous writer (after Buffy, he would work on Angel, Alias, Lost, and write the feature film Cloverfield).

Anya is my favorite Buffy character and Selfless finally put her front and center. The origin scenes with Olaf are so over-the-top and hilarious: “Hide you babies and your beadwork!” “The troll is doing an Olaf impression!” In the present, we get an appearance from my favorite recurring demon, D’Hoffryn: “It’s like somebody slaughtered an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.” We get a callback to the season 2 finale with the  “Do you remember giving me Willow’s message? ‘Kick his ass’?”/”I never said that.” exchange.  And we get to see the title character as a villain. Make no mistake, at the end of this episode when Buffy tries to kill Anya, Buffy’s the bad guy. They even dressed her all in black to make it abundantly clear. And I almost forgot, there’s a musical number too! (That song actually was written by Joss Whedon.)

So that’s my list, feel free to leave your top ten in the comments section.

Blog-A-Day Challenge: Day 3

Assembling Whedon’s Avengers

With Joss Whedon rumored, and then all but officially confirmed, to be director of the gigantic Marvel team-up flick, the Avengers, many sites have taken to providing their fantasy cast list. Most of these lists seem to involve casting former Whedonverse actors in every role because apparently Nathan Fillion has to be in every single Joss project from now on or something. So rather than just giving one pick for each role, I’ve chosen one Whedonverse actor and one non-Whedonverse actor for each role. Here are my picks:

ANT-MAN/GIANT-MAN/HANK PYM

DAVID TENNANT: After finishing his four-year run on Doctor Who, Tennant said he would love to work on an Avengers movie. And shockingly, he was actually referring to the Marvel Comics property and not the classic British TV series. On Doctor Who, he basically played the smartest man in the universe and playing Hank Pym is not all that different. Pym may not be the smartest man in the Marvel Universe but he’s certainly in the top five (feel free to provide your rankings for Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Pym, Bruce Banner, etc. in the comments section below). So Tennant has that genius-speak down. He had some super speed ramblings on Doctor Who that would even impress the Gilmore Girls, so delivering Whedon-speak shouldn’t be a problem. He can also do that blend of comedy and drama that Joss loves. And, frankly, not only do I want to see him work with Joss, I’d love to see him work with Edgar Wright on the Ant-man movie. 

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS (Whedon Alum: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog): NPH has already played two evil geniuses (first Doogie Howser and then Dr. Horrible), so now might be a good time to play a genius who doesn’t laugh maniacally. I think at this point in his career, it’s pretty clear Neil Patrick Harris can do just about anything.

THE WASP/JANET VAN DYNE

AMY ACKER (Whedon Alum: Angel, Dollhouse): For my money, Amy Acker is the most talented actor, male or female, to appear in a Whedon project. While I loved Fred (Acker’s character on Angel), it became clear Amy was being wasted in that role after Fred transformed into Illyria. Acker’s performance as Illyria was mind-blowing. Then she started the second season of Dollhouse delivering another brilliant performance as Dr. Claire Saunders after Claire’s discovered she’s not a “real” person. I’ll admit visually Amy might not exactly fit the part. She’s probably a little too tall. But acting-wise, the girl is a powerhouse and you need an actress who can share the screen with Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, and (probably) Edward Norton. I think Amy Acker can do that.

BREA GRANT: Now, where Amy Acker may not exactly look the part, Brea Grant, on the other hand, IS the Wasp. She’s 5′ 2″, she has the pixie-ish face, and she even has the short brown hair.  She’s already believably played someone with superpowers on Heroes and I think she’ll be able to handle Whedon’s trademark dialogue with ease.

HAWKEYE/CLINT BARTON

WALTON GOGGINS: I will admit this is definitely my wild card pick. Casting Walton Goggins as Hawkeye would come way out of left field, but hear me out. It’s been widely speculated that these Avengers will be largely based on Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s run on The Ultimates, and Hawkeye’s storyline in that book gets really dark. And Goggins can do dark, just look at his impressive work on The Shield. The guy is one of the most interesting actors out there. He can easily do the wise-cracking one-liners that Hawkeye is known for, but he can also deliver a really intense dramatic performance. Now if you’re looking at Clint Barton from the Marvel Universe proper, Goggins doesn’t remotely look the part. But if you use The Ultimates as reference, he shaves his head, he’ll be just fine.

JAMES MARSTERS (Whedon Alum: Buffy, Angel): I think it’s fair to say Hawkeye would be classified as a snarky bad-ass. And if you’re searching the Whedon catalogue for a snarky bad-ass, the first character to come to mind is going to be Spike (played by James Marsters). When I picture my favorite scene in the second volume of The Ultimates in which Hawkeye takes out a roomful of guards using his fingernails as projectiles, I can just see James Marsters tied down in that chair telling the one man he hasn’t killed, “Shouldn’t have left my fingernails in, dummy.”

So that’s my list. I can’t see Marvel including any more characters than that, but if you’re interested in hearing which Whedonverse vets I think should play Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, and a human Jarvis, I’d go with Enver Gjokaj, Summer Glau, and Anthony Stewart Head.

Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse: First Impression

For those who haven’t read any of the previous entries of my blog, I’m a big Joss Whedon fan, so I was super psyched to finally watch the premiere of his new show DOLLHOUSE last night. Here are my conveniently numbered first impressions:

1. I LOVE the supporting cast. Reed Diamond. Amy Acker. Olivia Williams. Harry Lennix. Tahmoh Penikett. All brilliant.

2. Even with giant scars across her face, Amy Acker is still one of the most beautiful women on the planet.

3. I’m already developing a huge man-crush on Tahmoh Penikett. He’s never been one of my favorite actors on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, but he was amazing in the DOLLHOUSE premiere. Did you see that flying knee? Impressive!

4. I’m really not sure if Eliza Dushku can handle the lead role. I think you need, like, a young Cate Blanchett for this kind of role. Someone who can play anything. I’m holding out hope though. Eliza did act circles around Sarah Michelle Gellar on BUFFY.

5. I thought the second half of the episode was much better than the first. Which makes me think once the status quo is established, the show could really take off.

6. I love the twisted nature of the concept. Moral ambiguity is fun!

7. The theme song and score are pretty awful. Which is surprising given how brilliantly the music was handled on Buffy and Firefly. Hearing the music from the final episode of Buffy when they’re fighting all the uber-vamps in the Hellmouth still gives me goosebumps. The Dollhouse score often sounds like something out of a Lifetime movie of the week.

8. I know Whedon said there wasn’t going to be BUFFY or FIREFLY-like humor, but there really was a lack of the funny here. I’m hoping for at least a few more laughs in future episodes. Something closer to ANGEL perhaps.

9. I love the serial elements that are being set up here. Tahmoh’s character’s search for the Dollhouse. The rogue (and presumably first) active, Alpha.

10. I can’t remember where I first said it (Facebook or Twitter), but I reassert the song Fox SHOULD be using in all the promos for the show is The Ting Tings’ THAT’S NOT MY NAME.
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Now for anyone who cares about rating the overnight numbers for DOLLHOUSE were as follows: 4.73 million viewers in the first half hour. 4.70 in the second.  2 million in the coveted 18-49 demographic (second place for the night). I choose to interpret the numbers optimistically:

1. DOLLHOUSE gained 1 million viewers over it’s lead-in, THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES.
2. These numbers DO NOT include DVR viewers. And given the show was on Friday night at 9 and it’s aiming at a younger audience than the CBS and ABC line-ups, I’m assuming there will be quite a few of those.
3.  It held onto its audience throughout the episode, losing only .3 million for the second half hour. Which suggests, at the very least, those viewers liked what they saw and will be back next week (and hopefully they’ll recommend it to their friends).
4.  It performed well in key demos. Second place in adults 18-49. Second place among adults 18-34. First place among men 18-34.
5. The premiere is currently the #1 most watched show on HULU and it’s in the top 10 downloads on iTUNES.

My Favorite Comic Books of 2008

If there is any “best of” list I feel eminently qualified to write, it’s the one for best comic book series of the year. There are a few rules about my list, mini-series are not included (sorry “Marvel 1985″) and it has to be a series I read in the single issues and not just in the collected trade format (sorry “Y: The Last Man”). If there’s a theme to my list, it’s that it features a bunch of Marvel characters I never cared about as a child. At various points in my childhood, I was obsessed with the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-man. The one corner of the Marvel universe I could never get into was the Avengers’ books. And now I’ve made a list that includes the big three of those Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. Here’s the list:

1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 8 (Writers: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard. Artists: Georges Jeanty, Karl Moline.): Feel free to scream, “Bias!” Yes, I’m a huge Buffy fan, but if you had ask me to make this list last year, Buffy would not have received the top spot. While the first year was pretty good, there were some growing pains in switching mediums in those first issues. This second year, however, has been near perfect. Goddard’s arc, “Wolves at the Gate”, bounced between hilarious and tragic with ease. And Whedon’s return to the world of future slayer Fray did not disappoint.

2. Captain America (W: Ed Brubaker. A: Steve Epting): Ed Brubaker has to be given credit just for writing a book called “Captain America” for so long without the title character appearing. This year ended the 30-plus issue story arc that started Brubaker’s run on the title and finally introduced us to the new Captain America, Bucky Barnes. Brubaker has a knack for taking absurd villains and turning them into credible threats. There’s actually a robotic bad guy with a television in his chest and a camera for his head. I never knew Cap had such a lame rogue’s gallery, but Brubaker makes it work.

3. Thunderbolts (W: Warren Ellis, Andy Diggle. A: Mike Dedato, Roberto De La Torre.): For the record, I’m choosing to ignore the disappointing Secret Invasion tie-in issues. Warren Ellis’ reboot of T’Bolts was a thing of brilliance. I know hardcore fans of the old Thunderbolts may not love the distortion of the original concept, but the idea of an Avengers-style team of villains worked perfectly in Ellis’ hands. With his noir style, Dedato, who I’m not a huge fan of normally, was the perfect artist for the book. Ellis’ decision to leave the book left me worried, but then Andy Diggle came on board and managed to deliver some of the darkest, most intense issues of the reborn series.

4. The Immortal Iron Fist (W: Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker, Duane Swiercynski. A: David Aja, Travel Foreman.): Here’s another book, like Thunderbolts, where there was a mid-year switch of creative teams and the quality of the book didn’t suffer. Before Brubaker and Fraction started this book, I didn’t have any feeling one way or the other about Iron Fist. After their first story arc, I painted him on my closet door. Duane Swiercynski took over the writing duties and with his first arc managed to continue the momentum started by Fraction and Brubaker. And then he wowed me with a futuristic Iron Fist issue which I’d list as one of my favorite single issues of any comic this year.

5. All-Star Superman/Astonishing X-Men (W: Grant Morrison. A: Frank Quitely. / W: Joss Whedon. A: John Cassaday.): This may totally be cheating, but I can’t give these books separate spots on this list. Combined, five issues of the two series were released in 2008. That being said, those five issues were insanely good. Morrison/Quitely and Whedon/Cassaday were two of the best creative teams over past few years (both their runs are now complete). They also seemed incapable of sticking to any kind of strict release schedule. While both books are brilliant, they couldn’t be more different in terms of structure. All-Star Superman consisted of a series of very elaborately plotted stand-alone stories. While Astonishing X-Men was basically a giant 25-issue story arc driven almost entirely by great character moments. Both series are available in beautiful hardcover formats now, go pick them up!

6. Thor (W: J.M. Stracynski, A: Oliver Coipel.): 2008 was the year of Thor. Not only did he star in this brilliant title, but he also appeared in a great series of one-shots by Matt Fraction. Growing up, I never understood the appeal of Thor. And I certainly didn’t get why a Norse god spoke like a character out of Shakespeare. But Stracynski decided to drop the ‘thou’s, recreated Asgard as a floating city in the Midwest, and transformed Loki into a woman. Stracynski is at his best when he’s creating a new world or recreating an existing one, and he does that perfectly here.

7. The Invincible Iron Man (W: Matt Fraction, A: Salvador Larroca.): More than any other book on this list, I’m recommending Iron Man exclusively based on the writing. I really dislike Larroca’s work here. If an artist is going to rely so heavily on photo reference, why not use reference of the actors from the hugely successful film featuring these characters? Larroca casting Nicole Kidman as Pepper Potts is just distracting. Fraction, however, wrote one of the best Iron Man stories ever in his first arc. And if you were a huge fan of the Iron Man movie, the first trade serves as a great introduction to the Iron Man comic books.

8. Criminal (W: Ed Brubaker, A: Sean Phillips.) If you like noir, this is a must read. Actually, if you like noir, you’re probably already reading it. But even if you’re not a big noir fan, it’s worth checking out. Currently the book is on hiatus while the creative team works on their pulp title INCOGNITO, so now is the perfect time to catch up by reading all the trades.

9. Captain Britain and MI:13 (W: Paul Cornell, A: Leonard Kirk.): I know Marvel publishes a ton of team books. So why should you read this one instead of one the 5 Avengers titles or 6 X-Men titles? Well, first it’s set in Britain, so you get cool British slang. Second, it features one of my favorite underused Marvel characters, Pete Wisdom. Third, it spun out of a huge crossover event (Secret Invasion) and managed not to suck. Fourth, the villains powers are all based in magic, so it has a very different feel than all those other Marvel team books. Fifth, it’s written by a television writer who can actually finish his scripts on time! And sixth, it’s just plain awesome.

10. The Boys (W: Garth Ennis, A: Darick Robertson.): Was is often juvenile? Yes. Did it often enter the realm of bad taste? Absolutely. But Ennis loves to deconstruct the super-hero genre and he does it with great success here with each and every issue. And that’s why The Boys makes my list; it’s like Watchmen with excessive violence and plenty of dick and fart jokes.

Honorable Mention: Ex Machina, Daredevil, Jonah Hex, Booster Gold, Action Comics, Wolverine: First Class

Sunday at New York Comic Con

Before I dive into my Sunday coverage there are a few things I forgot to mention about Saturday. During the Torchwood panel, when asked what her favorite American sci-fi/fantasy show was, Eve Myles answered “BUFFY” almost before the questioner completed the question. This received resounding applause from the audience. And it’s another reason I now love Eve Myles.

I also wanted to tell everyone I have officially mastered the art of line cutting. For years people have said to me, “Oh I didn’t see you there, Erik” or “Erik, why’d you sneak up on me like that?” As far as I can tell I just fade into the background well (like a thinner, less-muscly Batman). These powers served me greatly during Comic Con, as I was able to jump ahead in line for multiple panels. I wouldn’t have gotten into the Watchmen panel if I didn’t and I wouldn’t have had such a good seat at the Torchwood panel if I hadn’t. If you want to attempt to cut in line, here are some rules to follow: 

1. Look for a group of people chatting that aren’t paying attention to who’s ahead of them in line. Work your way in front of them. This is especially easy if the line hasn’t become anything resembling single file yet.

2. Look for tables covered with stickers or fliers next to the line into the panel. Walk over to the table, pretend you’re looking at the fliers. Soon enough you’ve magically become part of the line.

Not once did anyone call me on my line-cutting. Granted I’m 5’8″, weigh 135 lbs, and was dressed like a normal person. If you’re 6’4″, tip the scales at 3 bills, and are dressed like Optimus Prime, my line-cutting strategy probably won’t work as well for you.

Onto Sunday at Comic Con! I walked the show floor a bit when we got there. I picked up some posters (a Buffy one from Dark Horse included) and some free comics. Still no bookmarks (my inner librarian was frowning). I was very impressed by SEGA’s presence at event, they were showcasing all of their upcoming mature-rated Wii games. The Conduit, House of the Dead Overkill, and MadWorld we’re all there and playable. Sadly, I never got a chance to play any of them. Graphically, the Conduit looked AMAZING for a Wii game.  You can tell the guys who made Viewtiful Joe crafted MadWorld as the cel-shaded look is very similar (just devoid of color). Deadly Creatures was playable at the event too, but I really didn’t get a look at it. Overall, it gave you a great impression on how 3rd parties are ready to step up this year on Wii (finally!!!).

Dollhouse
The first panel I attended for the day was for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. I was not going to put my line cutting ability to the ultimate test, so I got in line fairly early this time. The panel was just Joss and Tahmoh Penikett. The moderator was Matt Roush from TV Guide. I have to say it was a weird panel. It was a theater full of people who love Joss Whedon but none of them had seen a full episode yet. Ten minutes of footage from the first episode was shown. It didn’t blow me away. I’m still not sold on Eliza Dushku as a strong lead character the way Joss is. Rewatching Buffy recently, I found Eliza’s performance to be brilliant, but I’m not seeing the same thing in the few Dollhouse clips scattered around the internet or in the 10 minutes I saw on Sunday. You can tell Tahmoh’s definitely going to fit in in the Whedonverse, he has that ability to jump from drama to humor. It was fairly evident at the panel. The program of events said we’d all get Dollhouse posters. That did not occur, but perhaps they gave them out at the door upon exiting. I, however, stuck around for the next panel in that theater.

FRINGE
Basically, the entire cast of Fringe was there. I think the observer was the only one not present. The moderator for this panel was AWFUL. He asked questions that were moronic compared to the normal audience queries. And he let the audience start asking questions way too late in the panel. I learned the guy who plays Walter Bishop is just about as crazy as his character. Joshua Jackson is great with the one-liners. Lance Reddick is apparently much more laid back than any of the characters he’s played on television recently.  At one point Josh Jackson recounted his trip to an NFC playoff game where he was in nosebleed seats, freezing his butt off, and he looked at the jumbo-tron and saw the observer (from Fringe) down on the sidelines. And asked himself, “What the hell, Fox!?” Jackson was visually dismayed (hanging his head) when the producer at the panel mentioned they had actually tried to work a deal to get the observer a seat close to the President during the Inauguration.

That was the last panel of the convention for me. I took one final trip around the convention floor and then headed home. I had a good time this year. It’s going to be a long wait until 2010′s NYCC, given it’s been moved to October.