Wednesday, October 6, 2010

What Lies Beneath Vs. Witness


* = He's a Super Freak, Super Freak, HE'S SUPER FREAKY YEAH!

Three times in one week? That’s right it’s three consecutive days with a blog, now understand this one will most likely be short as I only have a few short things to talk about, but drink it in blog lovers, DRINK IT IN!

SO this morning I stumbled down to my bathroom, threw on my radio and was greeted to the PowerTrip crew on KFan informing me that Randy Moss is back with the Vikings! WHA! I’m still shocked. Randy Moss is back as a Viking, traded from the Patriots for a 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft. Moss’ contract is up after this season, but the rumor is they are negotiating a three-year extension. That's Randy “The Super Freak” Moss, The Baby Cheezus, Adrian Peterson, Shank-O, Percy Harvin, and then a returning Sydney Rice on offense, all the team is missing is an Offensive Line. Monday night will be a CRAZY game. Revis returning after Moss scorched him deep two plus weeks ago, with Revis then pulling up lame with a hamstring. The Vikings run defense against a re-invigorated Ladanian Tomlinson. The Baby Cheezus against one of the best defenses in football, on the road IN the new Meadowlands stadium. I’m sticking with my pick of the Jets, even though I’m loathing myself for doing it, but I think with Moss in the fold come the end of the year and the weakness of the NFC Central the Vikings win the Central and the Super Bowl against the Ravens.

After we moved most of the furniture last night, we still had to wait for some of the trim paint to ‘cure’; I spent some time on the computer last night. I was shocked and amazed to find someone had mashed the micro-episode/internet content of the new Avengers cartoon off of Marvel dot com. Let me just explain something to those that don’t know, I LOVE(s) ME SOME CARTOONS! Oh it’s true. I can think of very little that I love in the world more than a good cartoon, even better is a good superhero cartoon, AND even better than THAT is a good superhero TEAM cartoon. See I’ve been a bit letdown since Cartoon Network stopped Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, both of which may have been the high-water mark for the genre. Don’t get me wrong Wolverine & The X-Men was surprisingly good, all the Ben 10 shows have been really fun, I’m excited for Young Justice, and of course if you read this regularly you know that I believe in my heart of hearts that The Venture Brothers is the single greatest show on television. Ever. So I was skeptical. Hell, Marvel animation has given me a reason to be skeptical, have you seen Iron Man: Armored Adventures or the most recent Fantastic Four cartoon? It’s not good. Cartoon Network has Batman: The Brave & The Bold, which I love but is shown infrequently and out of order, and of course the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon of a few years ago was fantastic so it was cancelled. Oh and I discount Super Hero Squad, not because it’s bad, it isn’t, but just because it’s for little kids, and no matter what my maturity level may seem to be I’m not five. Suffice to say GREAT super hero cartoons have been hard to come by. There was a lot of trepidation going into starting that cartoon last night. Breath a sigh of relief True Believers, The Avengers is good. It’s really good in fact. Now I’m not completely sold on the animation style, it’s a bit choppy and inconsistent overall & the theme song is AWFUL, BUT the storytelling, the character work, the VILLAINS were spectacular. Let me break it down a bit further for the uninitiated. This is a throw back to the old school Avengers. You get Iron Man, Hulk, Ant Man, The Wasp, Thor, and some others. Oh who are those others you ask? Well we get Captain America, Hawkeye, The Black Widow, and then a huge amount of supporting cast members; James Rhodes, Pepper Pots, Bucky in a WWII flashback, The Black Panther, Nick Fury, General “Thunderbolt” Ross, Dr. Samson, Maria Hill, & Bobbi Morse. Unfortunately we get ‘black’ Nick Fury, on the good side it’s not Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury, but instead and African American version of good ole’ fashion 616 Nick Fury, which is a bit weird, but cool.

Also for those that don’t know James Rhodes is Warmachine & Bobbi Morse is Mockingbird. The story was sort of a lead-in as it was just assorted pieces driven around the different characters prior to the assembling of the actual Avengers. For the Hulk, it was Bruce Banner trying to track down Karl “Crusher” Creel, an escaped convict who just happens to be Gamma Radiation infused making him the Absorbing Man, the name adequately describes the powers I think. Fighting and SMASHING ensue. Thor is dealing with the Wrecking Crew and their attempt to steal some Stark Technology for a hidden benefactor, the God Of Thunder then has to speed off to Asgard to stop Loki from invading Asgard with Frost Giants as Odin prepares for the Odinsleep! There was a lot of Asgardian drama there, including a lot of Loki planning for the long term. We then get Ant Man confronting Ulysses Klaw while attempting to steal Vibranium from a remote S.H.E.I.L.D. outpost, while the Wasp deals with a rampaging Whirlwind. We see Nick Fury & Maria Hill stop the Grim Reaper from breaking an elderly Baron Von Strucker out of prison, oh and yes we get a massive dose of the Satan’s Claw as well! Iron Man has to stop a Hydra invasion force while also becoming acutely aware that both Hydra & S.H.E.I.L.D have stolen his technology. Captain America’s entire story is told through flashback as Kang The Conqueror studies Cap’s last adventure with Bucky at the end of the Second World War. See it turns out Cap living causes Kang's future to not exist, I smell throwdown! Oh by the way, they used Hydra as a replacement for the Nazi’s, which I thought was interesting, and a good choice. There is a LOT of Baron Strucker and the Red Skull in those scenes as well.

All the while Hawkeye & Black Widow are charged with capturing the Hulk, and there are some nefarious double-dealings going on as well. There were even references to the X-Men, Wolverine in the WWII flashbacks as a member of Nick Fury’s Howling Commandoes under his actual name of James Howlett, Black Widow’s time in the ‘Red Room’, and so many other insider comic stuff my head exploded! Last but CERTAINLY not least though was the incredible Black Panther stuff. We get Ulysses Klaw helping the Man Ape murder & dethrone T’Challa’s father as king of Wakanda, T’Challa becoming the new Black Panther, and preparing to regain his kingdom. It’s very Batman-esque, and that’s cool, because when the Black Panther works as a character he takes the best of Batman and mixes it with royalty.

DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!?

This show was fantastic just for all the comic book goodness on display. Villain wise we are treated to The Leader, the Red Skull, Mandrill, Arnim Zola playing friggin’ Pong, Graviton, the Abomination, Enchantress, The Executioner, Grey Gargoyle, and the Mad Thinker. Seriously, this touched ALL my Geek where it wanted to be touched. In fact I can’t wait to watch it again, I plan on putting it to disc and wearing that flippin’ disc OUT SON!

Breathe, breathe….

RANDOM CRAP!

- The living room is almost back together, I figure Friday night might be all right for fighting but for this nerd it’s going to be about painting Skeletons. I really think I can get all the Skellies done and maybe, MAYBE knock out the Carrion Crawlers as well.
- As hungry as I’ve been for Al Bakers and a plethora of chicken wings, I find myself craving both Chinese food &/or Sushi OR Pizza. Maybe I’m pregnant.
- I wish I could take an Odinsleep.
- I just listened to a Dirty ‘Sconie Packer fan just take a five minute shot about how this move for the Vikings means nothing. I’m thinking that that guy missed the last two Packer’s games. Listen the NFC North is up for grabs, the Bears, Vikes, & Packers ALL have issues. The difference is the Vikes addressed their issues, and their injured folks will heal. The Bears and Packers have glaring holes that don’t heal.
- I loves me some Banana Bread.

Well that just about does it for me, for the week, although I will try and do up something for Friday, but man, three blogs, three days it’s taxing…

I’m horribly taxed.

“Straight cash HOMEY!”


* = Jack Kirby wants to take you on a trip...

4 comments:

  1. I love how you mention your cravings in the blog as a wink to me for what I should cook/bake next. It's very informative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. C.,
    I do it so I won't forget...
    You know me, sometimes a conversation is like Brain Injury Theatre...

    ReplyDelete