[Enoc1701]

Alternate Reality - Episode #270

The 2009 Year End Review!!!

What a year 2009 was! We had mega events like Blackest Night. We had awesome issues below the radar like Jonah Hex #50. We had mega movies like Watchmen, and video games like Batman: Arkham Asylum. So how do you process a whole years worth of stuff? How do you separate the good from the bad? Well good news, you don’t have to. Alternate Reality is here to the rescue. This episode we break down the best and worst of twelve categories ranging from comics to movies and games. Also we do our best and worst selections fro not only the year but the decade as well. Chris Partin (http://www.thecomicaddiction.com/) was on hand to help us decide what was the best of the best, and then the rest.

Enjoy!

Time Stamps h:mm:ss

0:00:00 – Cold Open
0:00:02 – Intro Music
0:01:05 – Intro
0:05:14 – In Stock Trades Advertisement

0:06:25 – 2009 Year End Review
0:10:20 – Best/Worst Series
0:23:57 – Best/Worst Event
0:30:53 – Best/Worst Single Issue
0:34:45 – Best/Worst Moment
0:39:41 – Best/Worst Writer
0:51:24 – Best/Worst Artist
0:58:10 – Best/Worst Hero
1:05:50 – Best/Worst Villain
1:14:33 – Best/Worst Movie
1:21:58 – Best/Worst TV Show
1:34:54 – Best/Worst DVD or Blue Ray
1:40:55 – Best/Worst Video Game

1:44:28 – Close
1:49:26 – Exit Music
1:50:30 – Audio Extra: X-Box Snobs


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[ljacone]

2009 will go down as one of the most intense and memorable years of my life -- fatherhood will do that to you. Comics this year were generally very strong, and were, as usual, my preferred reading choice for the small amount of time I get to actually read now!

I don't like dwelling on the negative when looking back on the year. So I'll run down my "Best" for each of the categories you guys did and hopefully we can keep the discussion going.

Best Series: Outsiders. Starting with the Batman and the Outsiders Special and running right through until the end of Tomasi and Pasarin's run, this has been classic superheroics in the DC style which I have been looking forward to each and every month. Here's hoping DiDio keeps it going. I haven't read any of the series you guys picked, although I am very tempted to check out Thor, and getting more tempted. So maybe that will be some trade paperback pickups for me.

Series of the decade? Iron Man, counting both the tail end of volume 3 and the reluanch under Ellis and then the Knaufs. Folks might try to sell you on Invincible Iron Man, but the senior title was superior to Fraction's effort in every way except sales.

Best New Series: The Shield, just barely beating out Doom Patrol. I added this one because I think it should be in there. The Shield gets a bad rep since everyone assumed that the Red Circle "sucked," when in fact this title (along with it's stablemate The Web) is everything that fans claim to be clamoring for: straightforward storytelling, brilliant art, new characters and heroes, and self-contained stories. Doom Patrol is the last best chance this feature has of a long revival, and the team of Giffen and Clark is perfect for them.

Best Event: Blackest Night. I think we're all in agreement here. Honorable mention would go to War of Kings! I agree with Worst Event as well... Death to "Plan C!" Long Live "Plan D!"

Best Single Issue: Tiny Titans #12, the Final Crisis tie-in. This was the greatest issue for me this year because not only was it utterly hilarious taken on it's own, but it also made a huge impact as a send up of Final Crisis, which while I supremely enjoyed that series, it deserved a send up. Honorable mentions: Captain America Theater of War: America First, Final Crisis #6, House of Mystery #13, Creepy #1, Outsiders #21.

Still need to check out Jonah Hex #50!

Best Moment: The Death of Batman in Final Crisis #6. I was downright floored when I turned the page to see the splash of Bats getting hit by the Omega Sanction! It was one of those "OH $#^@!" moments. Honorable mention: Deathstroke, Jericho, Raven, Ravager, and Trigon surfing (Tiny Titans #12), death of Hawkman and Hawkgirl (Blackest Night #1).

Best Writer: Geoff Johns. Between Flash: Rebirth, the JSA stuff from the early part of the year, Green Lantern, and Blackest Night, you cannot deny the quality and creativity of Johns in 2009.

Matt Fraction is an average writer at best, from what I have read. What's sad about Doom Patrol is that the book is wackier but still accessible under Giffen then it ever was under Morrison!

Best Artist: Dave Sim, for glamourpuss. There's a lot of anti-Sim hate on the Internet (personified by Gail Simone herself), but the photorealistic experimentation shown off by Sim in the pages of glamourpuss made his art my favorite for 2009. Honorable mention: Jim Starlin (Strange Adventures), Mike Grell (Warlord), Fernado Pasarin (Outsiders).

McGuiness's Hulk makes me want to pick the title up every single time I see it, so I see that as the sign of a great artist. Bagely has always had the goods and I am looking forward to him on JLA full-on. Artist of the decade? For me, either Bob Layton, Alan Davis, or Joe Kubert. (Can't beat the classics.) And Valentino is on there as well.

Best Hero: The Flash (Barry Allen). I hate to keep coming back to them, but between Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night, Barry Allen is kicking it and kicking it hard. Honorable mention: Sgt Rock (Lost Batallion), War Machine, Star-Lord, Anti-Venom, Comet.

I dig the new Batman quite a bit. Red Robin was awesome this year as well. Shellhead had a poor year under Fraction. But of the decade? It's Iron Man. Is there anyone else?

Best Villain: Synnar The Demiurge. The main problem I have with Starlin being done with DC for the time being means that we don't get more of Synnar! The Architect of all Creation leads a rebellion against the Creator and tries to overthrow God! What an absolutely brilliant concept! Plus I like to pick people that NO ONE ELSE will choose. Honorable mention: Zoom, Darkseid/Boss Dark Side, Emperor Vulcan.

Enoguh of Norman Osborn and The Hood! And someone else who had a bad showing was Madame Masque. Hey Fraction, go back and read the character before you try to write her, got it?

Best Movie: GI Joe: The Rise of COBRA. This was the movie I chose to go see in the theater this year and I do not regret it in any way. Just rewatched it on DVD and it still kicks butt. Honorable mention: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Watchmen, I Love You Man, Star Trek, Up, Monsters vs Aliens.

You guys ranking on GI Joe makes no sense to me. How was it atrocious? How was it in any, way, shape, or form atrocious but, I dunno, Revenge of the Fallen not? BTW, that wasn't a Neo-Viper who hit the ice floe and was screaming, it was either a normal or Elite Viper. Remember that there are only 20 Neo-Vipers total. And that's not apologizing, that's pure and simple logic, and they tell us that right on the screen.

The worst movie of the year is Revenge of the Fallen. It's in the running for worst movie of the decade. 2+ hours of absolute garbage, and people all over the world paid actual, real, CASH MONEY to see that trash. And lots and lots and lots of people paid actual, real, CASH MONEY to see this pile of crap that they KNEW was a pile of crap!

Best TV Show: Batman: The Brave And The Bold. Nothing else made me as excited as this series. Outrageous! You got issues if you don't like B:TB&TB. Yes, Jon, I am looking at you. Honorable mention: Smallville.

Special Mention for TV: Both Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space, and Disney's Prep & Landing were both superlative holiday specials which I hope end up being aired every year.

I don't watch Big Bang Theory or Burn Notice. No intention to start on either of them. Law & Order was excrutiatingly, mind-rippingly, soul-rendingly terrible this year. So was SVU. In fact, so were the episodes of Criminal Intent without Vincent D'Onofrio and Katherine Erbe. So just cancel the whole franchise at this point, since D'Onofrio and Erbe are both done with the show anyway.

"30 Rock or The Office without the comedy?" So, you mean... 30 Rock and The Office? All of those single-camera "comedy" shows are awful, and awfully unfunny.

Best show of the decade for me is Smallville. Its the only one which I get excited for each year and buy on DVD. I liked BSG when it started out but by the time it became the Iraq metaphor on New Caprica, I gave up on it, so I need to catch up on DVD. Justice League was THE SERIES when it was on.

Best DVD or Blue Ray: This one is tough as I have cut down on my DVD purchases a lot this year. I'm going to go with Star Trek, because the movie was awesome and the menus on the DVD were excellent. So there!

Best DVD of the decade?! The Suspiria Special Edition by Anchor Bay. Check it out, if you can find it. Suspiria is one of the greatest horror movies of all time, and this DVD is the perfect version of this film, and it has the soundtrack on board as well. Awesomesauce.

Best Video Game: I don't play a lot of video games, so I don't know how to answer this one. The best game I played this year was Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PS2. Fire Pro rules! If you have any interest in pro wrestling, this is the game to get, not any of the domestic games. You cannot beat the Fire Pro engine nor their Edit mode! Video game of the decade is Mario Advance! Super Mario Brothers 2 rocked hard, and in Advance form it's even more awesome. "I am the Great Wart! Mwuahaha!"

In review, 2009 was one heck of a year... here's to an even more heck of a 2010!

This post has been edited by ljacone: 25 January 2010 - 08:37 PM

[sandgrounder]

great show everyone, here's my personal choices!

Best Series- Justice League: Cry for Justice. Not everyone's cup of tea, I'll admit, but I love it. Fantastic art and an interesting story.
It's been made even more intriguing by the fact that we're now seeing what the Justice League is like post-Cry for Justice in the regular JLA title. It's become a bit like FlashForward: we know where they end up, now we have to see how.

Best Event-New Krypton By this, I'm not just referring to World of New Krypton but the overall story arc and the compete change in the status quo in the Superman Universe.

Best Single Issue- Green Lantern Corps 43 OMG-amazing. Guy struggling to prevent Kyles ring leaving him, then himself becoming a Red Lantern, Soranik trying to keep the black ring away from Kyle, all the black rings circling and then Kyle's return. Brilliant stuff.

Best Moment-Cry for Justice 5:Red Arrow-'Nuff said.

Best Writer-James Robinson I just like how he writes, simple as that!

Best Artist-Eddy Barrows A shame he wasn't on Action Comics longer.

Best Hero-Superman/Kal-EL We've seen how it isn't just having the powers that make him Superman, it's the way he acts and how he inspires others.

Best Villain-General Sam Lane Although Zod is obviously planning something, it's actually a human who is turning out to be the big bad guy in the New Krypton storyline. What makes him most dangerous is the fact that he believes that what he's doing is for the good of Earth.

Best Movie-Star Trek Just loved the 'Alternate Reality' twist

Best TV Show-Lost No question, though Paradox gets an honourable mention.

Best DVD or Blue Ray-Watchmen Never read the comic so had no expectations about the movie but thoroughly enjoyed it.

Best Video Game-Halo3 ODST Not a big gamer but really enjoy all the Halo games.

Personally, it's been a great comic-reading year as my eldest son, who's just turned 11, has really got into comics. He reads most of the comics i get (content-depending!) and it's fantastic to be able to talk to him about them. Sometimes he needs things explaining but sometimes he's ahead of me in predicting things! He's also picking up graphic novels from the library.

This post has been edited by sandgrounder: 12 January 2010 - 06:49 AM

[mguy1977]

Best Series Green Lantern Johns rocks so hard the party just dont stop
Worst Series Rulk DAMN YOU LOEB!!!!

Best Event Blackest Night
Worst Event Ultimatum

Best Single Issue Jonah Hex 50
Worst Single Issue Amazing Spider Man #611 BLEEP Deadpool just BLEEP him

Best Moment the end of Blackest Night #1 & January 20, 2009 W. hitting the road jack from the White House & Obama replacing W.'s sorry ass in the White House
Worst Moment reading Batman & Robin 4-6 due to the crappy art

Best Writer Geoff Johns the DC moneymaker
Worst Writer Tony Daniel BotC crap

Best Artist JH Williams III
Worst Artist Tony Daniel

Best Hero Green Lantern
Worst Hero Rulk

Best Villain Larfleeze "Mine!" from Agent Orange
Worst Villain Red Skull from Cap Reborn

Best/Worst Movie I wait for DVD so scroll down

Best TV Show Smallville (the show rocks)
Worst TV American Idol (Snoozeville)

Best DVD Watchmen
Worst DVD I avoid watching crap as much as possible in 2009 from DVD

Matthew

This post has been edited by mguy1977: 14 January 2010 - 04:18 AM

[ljacone]

Best Series- Justice League: Cry for Justice. Not everyone's cup of tea, I'll admit, but I love it. Fantastic art and an interesting story.
It's been made even more intriguing by the fact that we're now seeing what the Justice League is like post-Cry for Justice in the regular JLA title. It's become a bit like FlashForward: we know where they end up, now we have to see how.

Best Moment-Cry for Justice 5:Red Arrow-'Nuff said.

I wasn't going to read Cry For Justice initially, but I my brother ended up sending me issues #1 and #2 and I ended up reading it. I am glad I did, because I too am really enjoying this series. I know it's typical on the Net to bash this series, but I like this old school, psuedo-throwback type story. Definitely looking forward to the conclusion as well as what Robinson has in store for the Justice League ongoing title as well.

Best Villain-General Sam Lane Although Zod is obviously planning something, it's actually a human who is turning out to be the big bad guy in the New Krypton storyline. What makes him most dangerous is the fact that he believes that what he's doing is for the good of Earth.

There was a great bit in The Shield about Shield's commander, General Latham, essentially tearing down Lane and saying that he would not allow The Shield to be part of his agenda. This not only put over Latham but it put over Lane and his actions for the entire DCU.

Best Movie-Star Trek Just loved the 'Alternate Reality' twist

Best TV Show-Lost No question, though Paradox gets an honourable mention.

My wife, who refuses to watch Star Trek, watched the new one, and she loved it. That alone speaks to the universal appeal of this film and the timelessness of the characters and concept. Lost was improved again this season but thank Hashut it's almost over!

...

Best Event Blackest Night
Worst Event Ultimatum

Ultimatum evidently was pretty darn awful, but it did lead to Ultimate Comics: Armor Wars, which is pretty darn good!

Best Single Issue Jonah Hex 50
Worst Single Issue Amazing Spider Man #611 BLEEP Deadpool just BLEEP him

I thought it was my schtick to hate Deadpool, lol!

Best TV Show Smallville (the show rocks)
Worst TV American Idol (Snoozeville)

Matthew

Smallville has been very good this year. There was a lull in there around the time Supergirl showed up, but since they Doomsday arc and the current run with the Kandorians the show has regained it's top spot in my mental rankings as well for live action television.

[gabox82]

Wow, it took me forever to write back, huh? Actually, I was almost wondering whether or not I should send it to you guys as it is so late, but what the hey? Here we go!

Best Series: Jon’s pick was very good and I’m very inclined to go with him. I’ve always thought that Thor when handled right, was the best Marvel character, and under JMS, he was handled right. What I didn’t like about the title though was that it wasn’t always on time and that’s frustrating for a monthly. I also thought of books like Guardians of the Galaxy and R.E.B.E.L.S., but ultimately went with the book that gave me the most enjoyment and left me feeling completely satisfied after reading it: INCREDIBLE HERCULES! I was surprised with this book because I thought it was a just a marketing ploy as it first came out, but was very much surprised at how they handled Hercules and Cho’s characters and their relationship. The book shows Herc at his best, it’s filled with clever, smart ideas, cool guest appearances, great art and it’s plain FUN without being dumb.

Worst series: There were a couple of contenders for this category. A bunch of stinkers. First off I considered the whole Superman line, specifically Superman and Action Comics. This is mostly from the fact that they bored me to tears; that’s their biggest problem. Justice League was also bad, both story and art. The book had little to no direction, no reason to be read.
I have to go with Hulk as my worst series, though. Loeb is killing me. One could argue that the book is pretty to look at, but that art style doesn’t really do much for me and what is drawn just hurts me. Horrible book.

Best Event: This is a tough category. I didn’t think this year produced that many good events. I’d have to go with Marvel cosmic’s War of Kings. I enjoyed the characters in it and the story overall was pretty good, plus the reintegration of Darkhawk into continuity is great. The problem I had with this was the pacing; it seemed too rushed and didn’t give enough time to go into the repercussions of the events taking place. In fact, I wish this event had taken place a year or two in the future, to give time for other titles to tell their stories (Nova, Guardians basically) before jumping into another status quo. Also, the fact that this leads directly into another ‘event’ doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve loved everything Marvel cosmic, but I wish they would give it time to develop and tell stories without feeling the creators feeling the need to shake things up every other month.

Worst Event: Another category with a lot of possibilities. I’m not sure if Dark Reign is an event; it feels much more like an overall storyline or something like that. It’s being marketed as an event though, so that’s what I don’t like about it, it feels to scattered and imprecise to be a single story.
Flash Rebirth hasn’t been good. First of all, I’m against the idea of bringing back Barry. I’m a Wally guy, I hate to see him diminished in his role as Flash, specially being replaced by a boring old dude. Also, the idea of Zoom doing every nasty little thing in Barry’s life? Absurd!
Somebody mentioned Ultimatum and that was very bad (LOEB!!!).
Captain America Reborn was also a disappointment ; so Steve wasn’t dead at all and is now coming back but is doing some time travel in his mind before. Whatever.
To me, the worst event though is Blackest Night. I know EVERYBODY loves this, but I’m so sick and tired of it. I was excited at the idea of a war of light with all of the different colored corps, but the build-up to it was so long and over-extended that by the time it started, my excitement had diminished. To top it off, it turned out to be DC Zombies! Overall, the series has been a disappointing and is uninteresting.

Best Single Issue: Easiest category to pick: INCREDIBLE HERCULES # 136. Hands down, the best issue I read last year. This was the culmination of a storyline that had Hercules impersonate Thor after being tricked by the dark elf Malekith. In this particular issue Hercules (impersonated by the real Thor) challenges Thor-Herc to a fight in order to prevent the bad guy’s plan coming to fruition. This issue has it all: good art, great storytelling, fabulous and witty dialogue and even character development, where the essence and greatness of Hercules is defined by both Thor and the Warrior’s Three. Big fights! Big villains! Raunchiness! And best of all, it’s all a LOT of FUN.

Worst Single Issue: I could go with any of the Blackest Night issues, but that’s a bit of cop-out. Instead I’ll go with Flash Rebirth # 5, where we see why Zoom is the pettiest and most ridiculous of all villains (pushed Barry down the stairs when he was a kid? Jeez!).

Best Moment: The fight between “Thor” and “Hercules” in Incredible Hercules #136. I hadn’t enjoyed a book this much in ages.
A runner up was the ending of Boom’s “The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh” # 1. It’s a shocker if you read the previous Unknown mini.
Also enjoyed the reveal in Avatar’s “No Hero”:*the main character turns out to be a “bad” guy and is in league with the people killing off all of the “heroes”* Twisted, freaky and gory!

Worst Moment: Probably the entirety of Blackest Night # 1. At least the point where I realized that all the lead up to this pile of crap was Zombies. Ugh.

Best Writer: Tough one. I think I’ll go with Warren Ellis. He’s been one of the most prolific writers this year, coming out with books from multiple publishers and everything I’ve read of him, has been enjoyable. From Avatar, we have Gravel (one of my favorite series of the year, though the publishing was a bit erratic and took away points from the best series category), Anna Mercury, No Hero, Doctor Sleepless, Ignition City, Supergod, Frankenstein’s Womb. From Marvel, we have Astonishing X-Men, Ultimate Armor Wars. From Radical, Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead (well, he did work on it). He had a great year.
A runner-up would be Fred van Lente for Incredible Herc and Amazing Spiderman, mostly.
Oh, and Joe Kelly is also a great writer!


Worst Writer: Jeph Loeb!

Best Artist: JH Williams III blows my mind not only with his drawings, but also with his composition and the way he treats the page. Amazing!

Worst Artist: I’m leaning towards Ed Benes, but Greg Land is up there with me. I’m not much of a fan of the cheesecake in some books. It’s plain hard to take seriously a story or a book that has all of the girls doing ass shots towards the reader. For sexy women done 'right', I'll take Amanda Conner.

Best Hero Lots of people up for this. Hercules is definitely in consideration. He is fun, a bit goofy without being idiotic, has personality and charm. Thor also had a very strong year dealing everything Loki sent his way. Vril Dox has been great over at R.E.B.EL.S. Starlord and Nova have been showing definite improvements in their leadership abilities over at Marvel Cosmic. Ultimately, I give it to Gravel as the tough military-magician who has to take on a ton of twisted and demented magicians. It’ll be interesting to see how he deals with power and see whether or not he is also corrupted as his rivals have been.

Worst Hero: Damian-Robin. I’ve hated him from the beginning. He’s done nothing to make me change my mind. Kill him already.

Best Villain: Hera, over at Incredible Hercules. Her master plan is taking shape and it’s been a while in the making.

Worst Villain: toss up between Rulk and Superboy Prime. They’re both so annoying and irritating.

Best movie: I’m torn between District 9 and Zombieland. I enjoyed both films immensely though for different reasons. I loved the documentary feel of D9 but was a bit disappointed when it shifted into an all-out sci-fi action flick (good as it was). Zombieland on the other hand was FUN. Great cast, great humor. So Zombieland it is!

Worst movie: Avatar. I should say that this wasn’t a bad movie per-se, just that I was under whelmed. I didn’t know what to expect going into it, and the special effects were very good, but to me, SFX do not a good movie make. It was long, a bit boring, story wasn’t that new or interesting, characters were lame. Definitely overrated.

That’s it for now, how’s that?

[ljacone]

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on Blackest Night.

Best Event: This is a tough category. I didn’t think this year produced that many good events. I’d have to go with Marvel cosmic’s War of Kings. I enjoyed the characters in it and the story overall was pretty good, plus the reintegration of Darkhawk into continuity is great. The problem I had with this was the pacing; it seemed too rushed and didn’t give enough time to go into the repercussions of the events taking place. In fact, I wish this event had taken place a year or two in the future, to give time for other titles to tell their stories (Nova, Guardians basically) before jumping into another status quo. Also, the fact that this leads directly into another ‘event’ doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve loved everything Marvel cosmic, but I wish they would give it time to develop and tell stories without feeling the creators feeling the need to shake things up every other month.

One of the elements I really dug about War of Kings was that it specifically did not show us everything -- that the scope and scale of the war was so huge that there was no way to show it all. I do agree with you about the lead-in time. If DnA had run with their cosmic books for 24-30 months before launching the war, it would have been great and fertile ground for storytelling hooks. From there, the war could have lasted for 6 months like it did, and then transition into the current post-war period.

Worst Event: Another category with a lot of possibilities. I’m not sure if Dark Reign is an event; it feels much more like an overall storyline or something like that. It’s being marketed as an event though, so that’s what I don’t like about it, it feels to scattered and imprecise to be a single story.
Flash Rebirth hasn’t been good. First of all, I’m against the idea of bringing back Barry. I’m a Wally guy, I hate to see him diminished in his role as Flash, specially being replaced by a boring old dude. Also, the idea of Zoom doing every nasty little thing in Barry’s life? Absurd!

...
Worst Single Issue: I could go with any of the Blackest Night issues, but that’s a bit of cop-out. Instead I’ll go with Flash Rebirth # 5, where we see why Zoom is the pettiest and most ridiculous of all villains (pushed Barry down the stairs when he was a kid? Jeez!).

I don't get this argument, personally. And I am not talking about you personally, so please don't take it like that! But I started reading the Flash under Waid and Augustyn, so I am a "Wally guy" as well, but I never was disappointed that Barry Allen was going to return. Especially with Geoff Johns handling the return. I like Wally and Barry, and ally has had the mantle of The Flash for 20+ years at this point. Why not let Barry have a run again? Barry is not boring to me -- he was a product of his time. A police scientist as a superhero has a ton of potential. Factor in that as it stands right now that Johns has -- in three different books -- put over the concept that Wally is an equal to Barry, and I think that this is a great time to be a Flash fan.

As for Professor Zoom -- he's always been obsessed with hurting Barry Allen. This is just that obsession taken to it's zenith! He's petty and nasty and twisted. Clearly something has pushed him further over the edge, and between Rebirth and BN: Flash it seems that Johns has plans to expound on that.

Clearly Rebirth is a polarizing series given the amount of support on both sides of it. If nothing else I think we can agree that it is causing a lot of hew and cry in the Flash fanbase!

Best Hero Lots of people up for this. Hercules is definitely in consideration. He is fun, a bit goofy without being idiotic, has personality and charm. Thor also had a very strong year dealing everything Loki sent his way. Vril Dox has been great over at R.E.B.EL.S. Starlord and Nova have been showing definite improvements in their leadership abilities over at Marvel Cosmic. Ultimately, I give it to Gravel as the tough military-magician who has to take on a ton of twisted and demented magicians. It’ll be interesting to see how he deals with power and see whether or not he is also corrupted as his rivals have been.

Worst Hero: Damian-Robin. I’ve hated him from the beginning. He’s done nothing to make me change my mind. Kill him already.

Hercules is great fun over in Mighty Avengers, and he is a character I have long enjoyed. He fits that slighty bufoonish hero archetype so well that I hear it called the "Hercules archetype" all the time when people talk about other characters in that mold, such as Wonder Man or Aquaman from The Brave And The Bold.

While I have not read enough of Damien to have a full opinion, one could say that hating him is the point of the character, perhaps?

Worst movie: Avatar. I should say that this wasn’t a bad movie per-se, just that I was under whelmed. I didn’t know what to expect going into it, and the special effects were very good, but to me, SFX do not a good movie make. It was long, a bit boring, story wasn’t that new or interesting, characters were lame. Definitely overrated.

Still haven't bothered to see this one... don't think I will any time soon. As Cookie Monster once said "Whatever happen to good story?"

[gabox82]

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on Blackest Night.

One of the elements I really dug about War of Kings was that it specifically did not show us everything -- that the scope and scale of the war was so huge that there was no way to show it all. I do agree with you about the lead-in time. If DnA had run with their cosmic books for 24-30 months before launching the war, it would have been great and fertile ground for storytelling hooks. From there, the war could have lasted for 6 months like it did, and then transition into the current post-war period.

Right as the second Annihilation was starting, Marvel Cosmic was the best place in comics for me. It had great characters with a great story and an overall feeling that fresh and new ideas were coming. Currently, M.C. is still a very fun place, but I don't think its potential has been reached. The time period you suggest where DnA would've written unfettered to their heart's content is about what I had in mind. There just needs to be a bit of breathing room and a chance to explore story developments. Hopefully now we'll get a chance to see how the universe works with the current Inhumans-Kree-Shiar relationship before Vulcan shows up again or Maximus makes a play.

I don't get this argument, personally. And I am not talking about you personally, so please don't take it like that! But I started reading the Flash under Waid and Augustyn, so I am a "Wally guy" as well, but I never was disappointed that Barry Allen was going to return. Especially with Geoff Johns handling the return. I like Wally and Barry, and ally has had the mantle of The Flash for 20+ years at this point. Why not let Barry have a run again? Barry is not boring to me -- he was a product of his time. A police scientist as a superhero has a ton of potential. Factor in that as it stands right now that Johns has -- in three different books -- put over the concept that Wally is an equal to Barry, and I think that this is a great time to be a Flash fan.

But why bring him back at all? Barry's death was the only death that had stuck (death that mattered, at any rate). It was a reminder to the rest of the super hero community that they lead a dangerous life and that there are always risks that need to be taken to save others. He was a great tragic figure that has now been erased. I know that it's super-hero comics and things don't need to make complete sense, but wouldn't it be logical that every once in a while, at least during huge cataclysmic, universe ending struggles, someone actually dies? I would like to see death taken seriously. That's why I'm against cheap deaths and even more against cheap resurrections.
Also, bringing Barry back is a return of sorts to a time that I had thought (would've liked to think) were done with. Is DC's overall intent to bring back the Super Friends? To shift attention over to the way things were back in the Silver Age? I would like to see things change and evolve in my comic books stories. To me, this feels like going backwards.
Oh, and I'm pretty skeptical that Wally and Barry will be treated/seen as equals within the DCU and editorially. We'll see.

As for Professor Zoom -- he's always been obsessed with hurting Barry Allen. This is just that obsession taken to it's zenith! He's petty and nasty and twisted. Clearly something has pushed him further over the edge, and between Rebirth and BN: Flash it seems that Johns has plans to expound on that.
Clearly Rebirth is a polarizing series given the amount of support on both sides of it. If nothing else I think we can agree that it is causing a lot of hew and cry in the Flash fanbase!

I guess that Zoom's pettiness could be taken as obsession takes to its maximum level. To me, it seems more like something a 5 year old would do or better yet, something Superboy Prime would do. I take it as something childish and inane.
Rebirth is certainly making an impact within fans. Hopefully for the character, more readers are reacting with interest or curiosity as opposed to me, where I have dropped all Flash/Flash related titles and have no interest in following what comes next.

Hercules is great fun over in Mighty Avengers, and he is a character I have long enjoyed. He fits that slighty bufoonish hero archetype so well that I hear it called the "Hercules archetype" all the time when people talk about other characters in that mold, such as Wonder Man or Aquaman from The Brave And The Bold.

Herc is the bright spot in Mighty Avengers. I haven't really liked the series that much, but when he's there, he's great. You should check him out in his own title. There he still fits the "archetype" but is given a bit more depth, specially with how he relates with his supporting cast.

While I have not read enough of Damien to have a full opinion, one could say that hating him is the point of the character, perhaps?

I can see how characters are used and look to evoke a reaction out of readers, but I don't think it's a good thing when the mere presence of a character within a story or a book causes one to drop it. I could concede that Damian is a work in progress and that he will develop into a more mature character, but two things:
a) He is irritating to the point where I can't stand him. I'd rather wait for him to be a more palatable character and then come back.
I don't trust DC editorial. I wouldn't be surprised if in two years, Bruce is back with Dick as Robin again because Damian killed Tim. I don't know if going through the growth of the character will pay off.

Still haven't bothered to see this one... don't think I will any time soon. As Cookie Monster once said "Whatever happen to good story?"

I have been very surprised as to how positively people have reacted to this movie. I am the only one of my friends who has seen it, they don't give a rat's ass about it. Of people that I know that have seen it, the best response has been 'meh'. But you go online, you see the box office take, you read most critics' reviews and you'd think this is the best movie ever. I saw it once and don't regret having seen it, but have no interest in seeing it again.

Interesting discussions all around!