FC: Legion of 3 Worlds #4

Ok, before you read any further, this post is just going to be a spoil for fans who haven't picked up Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #4.

The last issue ended with the long awaited return of Bart Allen. Fans of Allen will remember the terrible short lived series in which he became the Flash. Writer Geoff Johns completely turns it around in this issue.

As a fan of the old series Young Justice, I've always enjoyed Bart/Impulse as a character of comic relief. When he moved on to the Teen Titans and became Kid Flash, he was still a bit of a character, but didn't quite have the magic he did in the old books. Then when the Infinite Crisis came, and Bart became the Flash, he grew up and became emotional, serious, and honestly just very depressing.

In issue #4, Johns finally recaptures the magic of Bart Allen that I, as an avid Flash reader, haven't seen since the days of Young Justice. Bravo Mr. Johns, you've succeeded in making me geek out.

The bigger spoiler in this issue, fans might want to turn away now, is the return of Conner Kent. The events of Infinite Crisis had also taken the modern age Superboy from the fans. Instead of aging him and taking away his personality as writer's did with Bart Allen, they simply just killed off Conner Kent. This issue brings him back to his full glory. At this point I had my second geek out in the same 10 minutes. Well played Johns. Well played.

Albiet the wait for this issue was months behind, I assure you guys, it was well worth it. Next issue should be out in a month or so. Hopefully.

Special

After initially viewing the trailer, I thought this movie would be a comical satire of the recent plethora of comic book movies. And in some degree, I was right. But Special is much more than simply a superhero comedy. In fact, I'm surprised they even promoted it as such. Special is a dark depiction of one man's desire to be something that he thinks would make him stand out in the world.

Les Franken is an unappreciated meter maid who goes through life constantly being pushed around by others. He signs on for this experimental drug named Specioprin Hydrochloride that is designed to boost his self confidence. In some degree it does that. Les believes that the drug has given him super human powers and begins to use them to fight crime. What he doesn't know is that the drug is only giving him hallucinations. The story takes a drastic turn from comedy about ten to fifteen minutes into the movie. Michael Rapaport does a phenomenal job portraying Les' desire to be someone special. The last time I've ever seen something this intense was the last five minutes of Requiem for a Dream. The only difference is the last five minutes of Requiem is almost the entirety of Special. Special is a great and powerfully intense movie, but also carries alot of heart as well.

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This week's picture courtesy of Becca from Wink Studios Photography.

Rant of the Week

Hey guys. I don't want to sound like a dick, but when you go to the McDonalds on Grand and Valley and you ask for Ranch, be prepared to be charged extra. I get numerous customers asking for Ranch for their Chicken McNuggets and when I tell them I have to charge them a bit extra, I get glares and drama. I'm really sorry. I used to just hand them out, but I've gotten in trouble for it now. Ranch is only free with Chicken Selects. Chalk it up to the economy, but the people taking your orders aren't being jerks when they have to charge you for Ranch cups, they just don't want to get in trouble. Please be a little more sympathetic. If it was up to me, you guys can have all the Ranch you want. Also, next time you go to the drive-thru, and you hand the guy your money and he asks you how you are doing or to have a nice day. Please at least acknowledge that he's there. Don't just glare at him and drive off without a word. It's kinda mean. The sad thing is that in an eight hour shift, at least half of customers do that. A nice word here and there will totally make the drive thru guy's day.

-Pete

Ninja Turtles Movie and New Strip

Superherohype.com has reported that a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is in the works. Unlike the latest installment, TNMT, the new movie will once again be in live-action as was the first three movies. It story will follow their origins and be strongly based upon the original comic. Mirage Group will be setting the release date to 2011. They will use facial replacement technology to make the characters more expressive than they have been in the previous installments.

New Strip: "Go Big or Go Home."

Let the Right One In

Possible my most favorite movie of all time. The story is about a young boy, Oskar, who is marked as a social outcast by his peers. One day he meets a young girl named Eli. He finds out that she has moved into the house next door. The two quickly become friends as Oskar goes to school during the day and plays with Eli at night. However, he finds that mysterious murders are occurring around the town. They coincide with the time Eli moved in. As the mystery begins to unravel itself in front of Oskar as he finds out his new friend is a vampire and he must choose between his safety and leaving the only friend he's known.

The movie is almost a direct translation of the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, which I love. Although there were many parts cut out from the movie, the overall themes and spirit of the book was perfectly captured. I'd like to think of this movie as a mirror to Twilight. It's very dark, scary, and at times can be a bit too much. But it's also very uplifting in it's depiction of youth, friendship, and love. It's been announced that an American remake is in the works, but in my opinion, the Swedish version is perfect. American remakes kinda suck anyway. Except The Office, that was awesome.

Movie Ideas

Chosen

12-year-old Jodie Christianson was in an accident. He was standing directly under a bridge when I truck lost control and flew off. By all rights, he should have died that morning, but he walked away unscratched. As mysterious and miraculous events start unfolding around his life, Jodie is beginning to believe that he is Christ returned.

Mark Millar creates intriguing story about faith, hope, and family. Albeit controversial, Chosen poses the question: What would you do if you were Jesus Christ? As Jodie struggles to find his place in the world, he finds that being the reincarnation of Jesus isn't as great as he would imagine. As with most of my comic book reviews on here, there is a HUGE spoiler at the end of the series. This time I won't post it up since it's pretty big, but if you must know, either read the story or just email me for the ending.

Green Lantern Corps #35

The Green Lantern books are now starting the Blackest Night storyline first mentioned last year. In the previous issues, the Sinestro Corps find that they are not the only beings in the universe who aim to spread terror through their rings. There is now Atrocitus and his Red Lanterns. The story continues as Green Lantern's Sodam Yat and Arisia set out to save his homeworld of Daxam from Mongul and his faction of the Sinestro Corps. There isn't much development from the previous issue, save for one major plot twist on the final page of the book. If fans have been keeping up with both Green Lantern books, then they'll remember that a few months back in the main book, it was discovered that Sinestro has a daughter he's been hiding from everyone. SPOILER. You find out on the last page who she is. It's actually a pretty great story twist.

Return to Wonderland

I recently began reading the Return to Wonderland series by Grimm Fairy Tales and I must say it's a pretty refreshing take on the classic Lewis Carrol tale. And by refreshing, I mean really dark, macabre, and violent.

The story follows Carol Ann Liddle (nicknamed Calie, an anagram of Alice). Calie is the daughter of the Alice in the stories. The first series takes place decades after the original tale. Alice is now married with children. She is, however, mentally disturbed and almost always a vegetable. Through parallel events as her mother, Calie is sent to Wonderland. This Wonderland is not the one that her mother visited all those years ago however, it's gory, dark, and extremely evil.

The Wonderland stories has been broken into three series over the last few years. It began with Return to Wonderland, then Tales from Wonderland, and finally Beyond Wonderland. The series focuses on Calie's adventure through Wonderland as well as the history of the Liddle family. As the series progresses, the reader discovers backstories to the inhabitants of this magical realm (The Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter) and how the existence of such a place affects our reality.