Best of 2008 - Comics Part 2

Best miniseries - 1985 by Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards (Marvel) & The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba (Dark Horse)

With so many comics that were read in 2008, I was having a tough time remembering which mini-series I read this past year and after putting away my comics form the last 6 month in boxes, I stumbled across these 2 series that were really stood out as greatness.


1985 is a 6-issues miniseries from the mind of Mark Millar comes a story a bout a boy named Toby Goodman who is into comics especially the crossover of the time “Secret Wars” as he is on his way home, he encounters super-villains from the comic book world out in the real world and the story goes from there, the artwork from Edwards is simply breathtaking and very different from anything in comics right now.

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The Umbrella Academy is also a 6-issues from first-time writer Gerard Way (if that name sounds familiar, it is because he is the lead singer for the band My Chemical Romance) now usually when celebrities come to this medium the results are usually either very good ( Joss Whedon, Allan Heinberg) or very bad (Damon Lindelof) but Gerard looks like he is going to be one of the greats with Gabriel on art (Gabriel Ba and his brother Fabian Moon are one of my favorite artists) this mini-series is one of the best of 2008.



The story is about a group of heroes who are adopted at birth by Sir Reginald Hargreeves because they showed to have powers to become heroes. The series takes place in the present and in the past and it all comes to conclusion with the pending Apocalypse.




Best writer - Geoff Johns (JSA, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Etc)

"The man with the golden touch" Geoff johns has always been a great writer but it seems that this year he has surpassed everyone expectations, by writing everything from Superman, Green Lantern, The justice Society and even bringing real meaning to the Rogues, it seem like everything he write turns to gold.
Even thought he is leaving Action Comics & JSA in 2009, there is a big chance that Geoff Johns will still be my pick of best writer for 2009.





Best artist - Olivier Coipel (Thor)

Olivier artwork first stood out in the House of M mini-series but it is in Thor that his brilliance really shines.
Olivier is a french artist who signed a exclusive contract with Marvel comics in 2005 and has been drawing for them since.
In Thor not only does he capture the raw power of Thor, but he also capture the subtlety of Donald Blake, Thor alter ego.





Best Hero -Superman (Superman, Action Comics) & Batman (Batman, Detective Comics) DC Comics

This year both of this heroes went to some dramatic changes, Superman went from being the only kryptonian to being one of thousands with the "New Krypton" storyline.

While with Batman he went from dealing with the Black Glove, to having to see Catwoman have her heart literally taken out to sacrificing himself to stop Darkseid.
All year we have been given some of the best stories from these two characters in a long time and looks like 2009 will only get better.





Best Villain - Darkseid (DC Comics)

It's been a hell of a year for the New God with having to battle Jimmy Olsen on Countdown and having his heart ripped out by his Son, Orion.
But you can never keep a God down, having come back from near death take total control of the DC Universe with killing Batman being the icing of the cake.

Best of 2008 - Comics Part 1

With the new year here, I wanted to reflect on a great year for comics we had for 2008.
From the big companies like Marvel and DC comics to Indies, everyone brought out there best and this is a list of my very best of comics from 2008.




Best Series of 2008 - JSA (Justice Society of America)

Even though this current arc (Thy Kingdom Come) started in 2007 and the last issue finished on January 2, 2009, this was the book that I most looked forward to in 2008 by far.
This unofficial Sequel to Kingdom Come came from the seeds that were planted since the very first issue and had me wanting more. With great writing from Geoff Johns and some beautiful artwork from Dale Eaglesham and covers from Alex Ross, this was to me the best of 2008.





Best Single Issue - Joker's Asylum: Penguin by Written by Jason Aaron Art and cover by Jason Pearson(DC Comics)

Joker's Asylum was a fifth week event (meaning the comic comes out weekly for five week straight done by different creators)
To me not only was this the best issue of the series, but the best single issue of the year.
Aaron and Pearson gave us a compelling story of the penguin for his beginning to his current state all told from an outside perspective.
this story really elevates The Penguin to another level of villains.




Best New Series - Guardians of the Galaxy(Marvel), Terry Moore's Echo (Abstract)

Both of these series let me venture onto something that I had never read before, one is Sci-fi comics and the other is Terry moore.

Guardians of the galaxy written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning is a team of interstellar heroes that will be proactive in protecting the galaxy, rather than reacting to crises as they happen. The team consist of Star-Lord, Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Phyla-Vell(the new Quasar) and Rocket Raccoon. each character has bring something different to the story and your curious to find out what happens next.



Terry Moore's Echo written and drawn by Terry Moore is a story revolves around Julie, a young photographer who inadvertently comes across a government test facility which has an explosion that rains down on Julie covering her body with some kind of metal and the government wants it back.
Even though I'm reading both of Terry Moore's major works (Runaways and Spider-man loves Mary Jane) this is the best of all his current work.






Best Revamp - Amazing Spider-man (Marvel)

I'm a big enough man to admit when I was wrong and on this series I WAS WRONG. After the controversial and disappointing "One More Day" storyline, I thought this series would never make its promise of both good stories and having the book on time (book has gone to a 3 times a month schedule) but they have.
With great writers like Dan Slott, Bob Gale, Marc Guggenheim, Zeb Wells and others and amazing artists like Chris Bachalo, Phil Jimenez, Mike McKone, John Romita, Jr. and Marcos Martin this series has gotten a second chance at greatness.

This is part 1 with the second one coming in about a week.

How To Create Free Ringtones for IPhones.

So for my brother's birthday, My family and I decided to give him an Iphone and since I was adding him to my current phone line, I needed to upgrade my phone line so I got an Iphone as well

Once I activated my Iphone, I decided to see about getting some ringtones and I found out that not only do you have to pay for the song ($0.99) you also have to pay to create a ringtone ($0.99).
Well after searching around the internet, i came across several websites on how to create your own ringtones for free.

I also have several colleagues who own Iphones that didn't know this was possible so I created this cheat sheet to help them and anyone else who is interested in creating their own ringtones.

How to create ringtones for the Iphone

• Add the song to itunes.
  
• Right-click the song and select “Get info”
  
• Click the “Options” tab.
  
• Select the start time and end time (song can only be between 30 & 40 seconds long) and click ok.
  
• Right-click on the song again and select “Convert Selection to AAC”.
  
• Create a folder on the desktop called “Ringtones”.
  
• Copy the song and place it on the “Ringtones” folder.
  
• Go to the “Ringtones” folder and click Tools > Folder Options and click the “View” tab.
  
• Uncheck the box titled "Hide extensions for known file types".
  
• Right-click the song and select “Rename”, replace the "m4a" extension of your ringtone with "m4r".
  
• Confirm when the dialog asks if you really want to make the change.
  
• Double-click the ringtone or add the file to itunes.
  
• Sync your Iphone and select ringtone tab to select which ringtones you want.
  
• Done.
  
  Hope this can work out as best for you that it did for me.
  - Highlighted part you only have to do this one time.

Summer Reading Week 6

With the release date of volume 2 quickly approaching and the volume 1 hardcover out in a few days (Oct 22,2008), I properly introduce you to The Umbrella Academy.

The Umbrella Academy vol 1 : The Apocalypse Suite written by Gerald Way with art by Gabriel Ba' and Covers by James Jean

For those who is not familiar with the writer, his main occupation is lead singer of My Chemical Romance, but don't let that push you away if you are not a fan of his music.
With his first publish work, Way knock it out of the park, The story centers around a group of superheroes who are reunites after the death of their adoptive father who collected them shortly after birth and trained them to save the world from any threats.

The beautiful art is done by Gabriel Ba' who with his brother Fabian Moon are become big names in the comic industry and are by far one of my favorite artists
he just brings out the characters and puts us right in the action.



This series was a big surprised to everyone but it is a really great read, and just this past summer the umbrella academy was awarded an Eisner(which is an equivalent to an Oscars) for "Best Finite Series/Limited Series".

Summer Reading week 5

With Fall TV Schedule in full effect and old shows are coming back for new seasons I'm ecstatic to bring to you a continuation of a TV Series that may be better than the series that was on TV.

This week I introduce you to Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 8

Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 8 - The long Way Home written by Joss Whedon with art by Georges Jeanty

For fans of : Buffy(of course), Horror.

Written by the series creator Joss Whedon, The Long Way Home brings us in a 1 1/2 after season 7.
The story sets us up as Buffy and the rest of the crew are stationed in Scotland at a slayer training ground, with the world more dangerous the group has expanded to over 500 slayers.



the writers of the series really capture the tone and the voices of the each characters, and one would think that having to draw actors would be a breeze, but it is actually really hard but the artist Jeanty pulls it off beautifully.



If you were ever a fan of the show or you were interested but never got a chance to watch the show, I greatly recommend trying this out.

Summer Reading week 4

This week let's put a serious tone on our reading, coming out of one of my favorite independent comic companies, Onipress comes a book about espionage, political thrillers and personal struggles.

Queen and Country : The Definitive Collection Vol. 1
Written by Greg Rucka, Illustrated by Steve Rolston, Brian Hurtt, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Christine Norrie and Leandro Fernández.



Queen and Country : The Definitive Collection Vol. 2
Written by Greg Rucka, Illustrated by Jason Alexander, Carla Speed McNeil, and Mike Hawthorne.



For Fans of : James Bond, The West Wing

Now I have been a huge fan of Greg Rucka before reading these and I never thought of picking this up even after reading the two novels based on the main character.I have also heard on plenty of podcasts (Ifanboy, Around Comics, etc) that this was a great series and I could wait any longer to pick this up.

The series is centered on Tara Chace, an operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS or the "Secret intelligence Service" of United Kingdom, known as the Minders.
It shows us the ins and outs of the Agency with all the bureaucracy and politics and the occasional missions of the spy genre.

I recommend these books to anyone who is interested in a smart, exciting character like Tara and stories filled with action, adventure and intrigue.