Deep Thoughts On Season Three of GoT

So Game of Thrones season three has come and gone and left the world reeling in the wake of the Red Wedding.  I’m not sure if I can think of any other TV event that has created such a stir (maybe J.R. getting killed in Dallas? But I was too young for that, and it turned out to be a lame dream in the end).

I am one of those snooty guys who read the books so I knew it was coming and I secretly couldn’t wait to see people’s reaction. I was also interested in seeing how they pulled it off. I have to admit, even knowing what to expect, it was still incredibly traumatic to watch. HBO pulled it off perfectly.  It was simply brutal in its violence and betrayal and to sit there watching Walder Frey enjoy it even makes it even worse. Having Robb’s pregnant wife be there getting stabbed in the belly was a painful twist that wasn’t even in the books (she doesn’t go to the wedding in the books) so there was something new for us who knew what was coming.

Season three (and book three) marks a huge turning point in the series. The Red Wedding breaks the Stark power and Robb’s death marks the death of any real chance of justice for Ned’s death. The Stark’ s played fair and lost, which is one reason the Red Wedding is so tragic. The nice guys really did finish last.

I remember during the season one Comic-con panel it was either David Benioff or D.B. Weiss that when asked about where they would like to take the series responded that they felt if they could get to one specific point they would be satisfied, even if the show was canceled after that. He said the initials for that point were “RW”. At the time I hadn’t read the books and me and my friends assumed it meant “Robb’s  Wedding” which was obviously wrong. Well, they reached that spot and the show is no danger of being canceled, seeing as how it is now HBO’s flagship show.

R.I.P. Robb

As for the rest of the cast, there is plenty ahead for them. Khalessi continues her rampage through the free cities but some very hard times are ahead. John Snow’s plot is starting to finally get interesting and he will take more prominence in the episodes to follow. We also finally get to see a little more of what may be in store for Brann. I do wish Sansa’s plot would go somewhere but even in the books she does little thus far.

Some fans wondered if the show will catch up to the books. I doubt it will and if it does it won’t be anytime soon.  Book six is half written and more importantly A LOT happens in book three. They can easily, and should, be able to get another season out of it. Which is good for us because it gives us that much more to watch, although I really wish they would do a fall and spring season or at least do more than ten episodes, but then again, I also wish Robb had lived and the Frey’s were all dead.

 

X-Men Goes All Female

If you follow comics at all, you will know that Marvel has recently released a new, all female X-Men title featuring Storm, Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey and Psylocke. Although I haven’t read it yet I personally like this idea and think it has a lot of potential. I  have always had a fondness for Jubilee from reading the old Wolverine issues back in the 80′s and 90′s and Psylocke is awesome (not to take away from the other characters). It’s a really strong cast of solid characters but rather then have me weighing in on it, I thought it would better to get a females perspective.  Fanboy Comics Senior Contributor Kristine Chester was kind enough to do an interview. Here are her thoughts.

1. What do you think of an all female X-men (why do they still call them men?) Is this good for advancing female characters or too gimmicky?

Kristine Chester: I’ve always felt more of an affinity with the women of the X-Men and not just because of their gender. These are some of the best characters to grace the pages of X-Men, Marvel, and superhero comics as a whole. This book is not trying to be a “gimmick,” it’s trying (and succeeding in my opinion) to be a solid X-Men story. If Wood had changed the title to X-Women it would have set the series up to be only a gimmick and would belittle these women’s roles as A-list members of the X-Men. The name may be a little outdated sure, but despite what the MC2 comics say, let’s face it, no one’s going to buy a comic called X-People.

As for whether it’s advancing female characters, I’d say so. Any comic that manages to have a strong women in the main cast is a good thing and X-Men has six! These six are all fantastic characters and as this first issue aptly demonstrates, their gender is merely one part of their identity. Were it an all male team I don’t think there would be any discussion of it as a gimmick or even anything worth mentioning. Why can’t we have an all women team that’s treated the same?

2. What did you think of the first issue?

KC: I liked it but there’s some room to improve. The cast is strong, it didn’t turn the all-women team into a joke or give it a contrived set-up, and the reveal at the end was great! This first issue drew on some aspects of X-Men history I wasn’t initially familiar with and required me to do a little bit of extra research, but I also kind of like that it’s being an X-Men books without apologies. This first issue is still largely setting up the story and some of the cast plays a minimal role. I think issue #2 is where we’re going to really see what this creative team and these characters are capable of.

3. Are their any females characters you would add or subtract from this group.

KC: Honestly the team is pretty much perfect how it is. I’ve had a fondness for each of these characters at one point or another. There is a great selection of X-Men throughout the years with someone who is going to appeal to just about everyone. I will admit that at some point I’d love to see X-23 come on for an arc. The character evolved beyond being a female Wolverine clone and I think she’s a fascinating character who can hold her own with this group.

4. It is hard to image any X-men title survive without Wolverine. X-23 got canceled and She-Hulk will be. So will this succeed? If so why? If not why not?

KC: Not that Wolverine is hurting for appearances in Marvel Comics. I think there’s a real hunger for strong, women characters in our comics, the problem’s been a dearth of women that have that universal appeal and can bring in those sales numbers. DC’s been all over the map on this, but Marvel is starting to make some real strides. I’m also a big fan of the ongoing Captain Marvel series, which has been doing fairly well, but as much as I love Carol Danvers, characters like Storm, Rogue, and Kitty Pryde are way more recognizable and have the best shot at hitting the sales numbers Marvel would like to hit. Whether it will succeed or not, I admit to being torn on the odds. I think the names X-Men and Brian Wood carry a lot of weight but I’ve had plenty of conversations with male comic book readers who are being turned away by the all female cast. How much this is hurting the sales numbers, I don’t know, but I really want it to succeed and I will be buying an issue every month to ensure it sticks around.

5. Personal favorite characters?

KC: I love it when we get to see aggressive female characters and Rogue’s sass, up-frontness, and her ability to punch things really hard have always appealed to me.  I first got started with the X-Men watching the old FOX 90s Saturday morning cartoon so even though she’s changed a lot over the years, becoming all vampirey and all, I’ll always have a fondness for Jubilee. Seeing that character more mature and being forced to be in charge of another life is particularly interesting and a focus I hope the book continues with. And of course there’s Storm, who is the perfect leader of this team, mohawk or not.

6. Anything else you want to add?

KC: I’d just like to say if you’d like to see more strong women characters in the lead in your Marvel comics, buy this book or if you’d like to read a solid, X-Men story without any of the larger universe plots interfering, buy this book. Though it’s still a ways away I will be writing up a review of the first six issues of X-Men after #6 releases, so if you’d like to see more of my thoughts regarding the series, check back in a few months to fanboycomics.net.

So there you have it. Good thoughts from Kristine Chester. Thanks for the interview and everyone check out Fanboy. You can follow Kristine on Twitter @12thKnight and Fanboy @FanboyComix

What Will S.H.I.E.L.D. Yield?

So if you are into nerd culture at all you have watched the trailer for FOX’s new show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which is a pain to type) produced by the great Joss Whedon. If you haven’t seen or heard about it then check your geek cred but here is the link.

First thought is that this show has a lot of potential to be really amazing. It’s more true to the original S.H.I.E.L.D. in that it isn’t using the hero’s from The Avengers but rather a new team that may or may not have super powers.  Most importantly they are bringing back the affable, mild mannered Agent Coulson to give the show a boost of recognizability. So I have high hopes for this show.

Okay in a nice momentary and embarrassing lapse of nerd cred, I for some reason thought this was on FOX. Hey I’m not to proud to admit a screw up (if I was I would be lying all the time!) Right-o then, it’s on Disney owned ABC, which means it should be good.

 

Dean Koontz At Wondercon

So yesterday I wrote about how I loved hearing from the creative types, like the writers and directors, talk about their work and mentioned that Neil Gaiman was one of my favorite panels ever. This leads to another panel I surprisingly, really enjoyed and that was Dean Koontz. As it turns out, he is coming to WonderCon in a few weeks.

At Comic-Con you have to get in line way early for a panel which means you often have to sit through panels you may or may not be interested in. So my brother and I, along with one of my friends, found ourselves arriving early and sitting through the Dean Koontz panel. None of us had read any work by Dean Koontz so we weren’t sure what to expect. As it turns out it was another fascinating panel. Dean fielded questions and talked for an hour about being a writer and about his work. He also gave advice for writers and listed several resources on his website writers may want to use.  All three of us found it really interesting and left wanting to read some of his stuff. Okay, I admit that I still haven’t read anything by him but I will probably be attending the panel at WonderCon. If you get the time you should too, you’ll enjoy it.

One Of My Favorite SDCC Panels

While I love the panels with all the famous celebrities, sometimes they can be a bit of a letdown.  Don’t get me wrong, some are epic, but for some reason it seems like the actors/actresses bring a lot to the table. The panels I have found the most interesting are the ones where you hear from the creative types behind it all such as the writers and directors. In my six years of Comic-Con one of the best panels I have ever been to was a Neil Gaiman panel.  So I was naturally thrilled to hear that he is returning to Comic-Con in 2013!

Neil could pack out Hall H or Ballroom 20 but it wasn’t one of those, it was the large room across the other half of the convention center.  Officially I think he was there for Beowolf, but he really didn’t talk that much about it. Instead he just spent an hour talking about writing, the industry, creativity and fielding all sorts of questions from the audience. It was a really fascinating panel.  Just listening to these guys experiences and how they think about things is pretty fascinating, especially if you are a creative type. Needless to say, I will be there as close to front and center as I can. He is one of those types that if you can invite any five people over to dinner he would be on that list. I am sure he will be talking about his new novel, The Ocean At the End of the Lane, but I can’t help but think he will mention the new Sandman he is working on as well.

Convention Schedule 2013

A new year of conventions is about to kick off! Where once we had just a few cons to attend, there are now many cons to cover- too many in fact. BabbleOn 5 would love to hit every one from East to West but sadly we can’t. Below is our tentative con schedule- the ones in RED are the cons we are going to cover for the site. Hope to see you around!

Amazing Arizona Comic-Con: Jan 25-27

Portland Comic Con/Wizard World: Feb 22-24

WonderCon Anaheim: March 29-31

C2E2: April 26-28

Long Beach Comic Expo: May 11

Phoenix Comicon: May 23-26

E3: June 11-13

Anime Expo: July 4-7

San Diego Comic-Con: July 18-21

Disney’s D23: Aug 9-11

DragonCon: Aug 30 – Sept 2

PAX: Aug 31 – Sept 2

Zombie Run: Sept 28 (not a Con but close enough)

New York Comic-Con: Oct 10-13

Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo: Nov 1-3

A Female Expendables?

The Female Expendables- With the success of the Expendables 1 and 2, plans for a female version of this movie are in the works. Gina Carano has been dubbed the lead actress but there are plenty of others to fill in. Here is my list of possibilities.

Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriquez, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton, Michelle Yeah and our favorite whipping girl, Summer Glau.

This has inspired us to come up with our own ideas for movie featuring different Hollywood stars.

The Dependables

Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford and Mr.T (he just turned 60.). Honorable mentions: Kevin Costner but he is 57.

The Expandables

John Goodman, Kevin James, Tom Arnold, Wayne Knight and Rosanne Bar and Kirstie Alley.

Honorable Mentions:  Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oprah Winfrey

The Exhumeables

John Wayne, Paul Newman, Rock Hudson, River Phoenix, Bruce Lee and Alec Guiness.

Honorable Mentions: Any other dead celebrity.

The Predictables

Katherine Heigl, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Bradley Cooper, Adam Sandler, Mathew McConaughey, Hugh Grant.

Honorable Mentions: Gerard Butler, Julia Roberts,

There you go gang. Anymore suggestions feel free to add them.

Darth Mickey?

Just when you thought the Star Wars title couldn’t get any more over marketed or dragged through the mud than it already is, leave it to George Lucas to find a way. George Lucas is selling Lucasfilm to Disney for 4 billion dollars. We repeat, Lucasfilm is being sold to Disney for 4 billion dollars. It gets worse.  Of course Disney will come out with a whole slew of TV shows, toys and theme park rides around the Star Wars name but what is worse is that they are hoping to release a new Star Wars feature film every two or three years. That’s right, one of the most highly esteemed and famous movies franchise of our youth is being turned into an endless series of films playing off its name. Is this going to be like the James Bond series? Just crank out a movie every two or three years? We hope not. It does leave us asking such questions like: Will Mickey join the dark side? Is Minnie secretly his sister? Will Jar Jar have his own ride at Disney? If you don’t believe me here is the link.

The Walking Dead, Running With Ratings

So Walking Dead premiered Sunday night to a record setting 10.9 million viewers for basic cable. I have been really hot and cold on this show. Season one was pretty good while the first part of season 2 bored me to tears. Season 2.5 was okay and saved itself in the end with Shane finally getting killed. So going into season three I didn’t know what to expect. I will say that the plot lines of the prison and the girl Michonne are two of my favorites so I had some hope in me. After watching it here is what I have to say.

It.Was.Awesome. I loved it. It was almost 60 minutes of action packed zombie slaying.  It was what I had been waiting for. Now I know not every episode can be this action packed but it did look the director just went and had fun with. If they follow anything close to the graphic novels there should be enough drama in the next few weeks to keep us glued. It gets a little crazy. It was nice to Rick finally grow a pair and Carl didn’t get on my nerves like he normally does. Regardless of what may come in the next weeks it is nice to know they are off to a solid start.

Is Looper, Super?

So by now you have probably heard a lot about the movie Looper. In short: Go.See.This. Movie. No spoilers here so I can’t say too much but here is the basic idea. Loopers are mob hitman who have people from the future sent back in time for them to execute them. In the future science and police technology is so good it almost impossible to hide bodies, so they send them back in time where there is no evidence of their existence.

Loopers get paid in silver bars. Loopers also know their days are numbered and eventually a future version of them will be sent back for them to kill. This is called closing the loop.  Don’t feel too bad for them though, they get a huge payday to live the rest of their lives as kings. It could be they have twenty, thirty or five year left, but they are going to enjoy it, until something goes wrong.

Suddenly loops are being closed at an alarming rate. Turns out a future mob boss is killing off all the loopers. So one day, the absurdly talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt is sent a hit to kill. It turns out it his future self, played by Bruce Willis. He hesitates a moment and Willis escapes and the rest of the game Gordon-Levitt is trying to find him and stop him.

That is the most I can tell you without spoilers. Willis is on a mission that turns out to be a lot darker then you would expect.  It is also a plot that you would never guess at either.  There were a few moments I thought the movie was about to become to slow but it never reaches that point. It always picks back up at just the right time.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is amazing imitating Bruce Willis. He has down that reserved, deliberate, smug, tough guy act that Willis is so well known for. There is one seen with Gordon-Levitt wearing an A-frame T-shirt that looks right out Die Hard. He was brilliant. There are a couple potentially violent and disturbing scenes. If you are squeamish you might want to look away.

One problem with time travel movies is that there are inevitably some crazy inconsistencies or probabilities that would pop up. Mind boggling possibilities that leave you thinking, “yes, but what about this or that alternate reality.” Looper does a good job of closing these loops. The time travel isn’t so out there that you lose track of the movie and for the most part the lines or reality make sense.

It is definitely one of the top movies of the year. I give it 4.5 Babbles.

Comikaze Comments

Deeps thoughts on Comikaze Expo

So another Comikaze Expo has come and gone, this one presented by the great Stan Lee himself. It was definitely a huge step up from last years. Here are few random thoughts:

- Comikaze has a lot of potential. In only its second year they did a much better job overall. Just having actual meeting rooms for the panels made a huge difference and having a convention floor instead of a parking garage was nice. They had a decent range of panels as well.

- I like the venders better than the ones at SDCC. Sometimes SDCC feels like a flea market. Comikaze had a lot of local companies plus a lot more unique and original products (as opposed to the myriad of junky action figure and T-shirt booths.)

- Seems like there was more people here this year. I don’t know final numbers but I would guess around 25,000 or so.

The Bad:

-Okay everyone has been ranting about this so it is a little repetitive but the ticket line was absurd. People were waiting two hours outside in the 90 degree weather! They absolutely have to speed this process up. That being said, after how bad it was this year I am sure they will.

While it will never be SDCC, Comikaze has potential and it was fun. I love cons. I love the creativity, the artist the costumes and panels. I think I might have a con  addiction, I am calling it Confluenza.

Comikaze Expo 2012

If you are into geeky stuff (who isn’t?) and going to be in the Los Angeles area this weekend (again who isn’t?) then you should come on out to the Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is being billed as the largest (i.e. only) pop culture convention in L.A. Now it’s second year Comikaze has grown. This year they are even adding a zombie run! So is the epicness of Comic-con has left you itching for more than this might just scratch it for a while. I enjoy the con environment. Even if it isn’t as huge as many others, I still enjoy the artist, the costumes and creativity. Anyway, come on out and support the movement, after all if Stan Lee is going to be there then you should to!