Yeah, my scanner still works, why do you ask?

I had four days off and I'm still behind? Well, then, let's take a quick look at some stuff I picked up this week.

From the library, I read Marvel Universe vs. Punisher, an alternate-universe story wherein a routine mission for the Punisher releases a bioweapon that turns most of the MU's heroes and villains into cannibal sociopaths. As civilization crumbles and millions die, the Punisher, well, seems pretty much content to just continue his war, but with different targets. I don't know if that was supposed to be the takeaway on this one: Frank is only "happy" (and certainly not happy in any traditional sense) when he's at war, and the enemy doesn't really matter. Still, nice Gordon Parlov art; although there's a girl in this one that looks very much like one he drew in Fury MAX: My War Gone By.

At the Comic Book Shop, I lucked into a used copy of Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye volume 1: I had found a random issue or two of that book in the quarter bins, and was surprisingly won over. I'm usually only a casual TF fan, but writer James Roberts juggles a Legion of Super-Heroes sized cast, long-term plotting, and deadly seriousness and deadpan snark in the right amounts. The first chapter of this one, "The Death of Optimus Prime," is a bit of a misnomer and tonally seems like it belongs in another book, but sets up the series. After Cybertron reboots, thousands of Transformers return to their homeworld, and many of them are "NAILS," Non-Aligned Indigenous Lifeforms: neither Autobot nor Decepticon, and often more than a little resentful of both and their millions of years of war. While some of the Autobots want to stay (and do, in the sister book Robots in Disguise) Rodimus convinces a motley crew of 'bots to join him on the starship Lost Light and search for the ancient Knights of Cybertron. A quest I don't think they've made a lot of headway on to date, but still. A surprisingly fun book, and I may have to pick up another trade next week.

Since last week I mentioned getting that Babylon 5: Legends of the Rangers DVD after not having any; this week I found the fourth season of the series for like four bucks. And Skyfall, which I liked in the theater, and the Bruce Campbell (minor) classic My Name is Bruce, which even came with a tiny copy of the comic we saw a while back.

Probably should've watched some of these while I had some time off; but as usual for October, I'm watching as many horror movies as I can. Watched a lot of Mario Bava films, and the Collection (stupid, but not unwatchable) and just started VHS 2. We'll see how many more I can get in!



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A surprisingly salient recap, from an unusual place:

Man, I really want to go see the Evil Dead remake. And my girlfriend, well, not so much. Still might go today...

Today's pages recap both Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness (which I saw in the theater it's last week of release...over twenty years ago!) but comes from a somewhat unexpected place: the second issue of IDW's Danger Girl and the Army of Darkness crossover. Wow, 19 covers for 6 issues. What happens the first issue? I'm not a hundred percent sure, but this month Ash is not in a good place, as everyone he sees appears to be a Deadite. Which leads to him accidentally punching his girlfriend, flashing a girl scout troop, and beating up a good number of possibly innocent bystanders. (He sees everyone as Deadites, but it isn't clear if they attack him or anything...) Ash knows someone must have messed with that stupid Necronomicon again, but ends up tased down by the cops.

Meanwhile, the girls of Danger Girl, in various sexy outfits, have the Necronomicon; then see news footage of Ash's booking. They recognize him from the Necronomicon, but wrongly assume he couldn't be the same guy; perhaps a descendant, whom they might have to break out of jail...

I got this issue for under a buck, so I'm not sure where it went from there, but the recap was all right. Danger Girl and the Army of Darkness #2, written by Andy Hartnell, art by Chris Bolson.

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Obamacare, Schobamacare.

Some helpful advice for a good weekend from Bruce Campbell and the comic adaptation of My Name is Bruce; script by Milton Freewater, Jr; based on a screenplay by Mark Verheiden, art by Cliff Richards.

My Name is Bruce isn't Mr. Campbell's best film, but it's still a lot of fun. When a small Oregon town is threatened by a demon, a fanboy orchestrates the kidnapping of his idol, Bruce Campbell, to fight the monster. Campbell, playing himself as a self-important lout, plays along since he thinks it's a birthday gag; until he realizes the monster is real. Will Bruce man up and defeat the monster? Against his will and better judgment, probably.

Got this issue for ninety-nine cents a week or two back (three months ago...) need to keep an eye out for the DVD now. I know I saw it on SyFy...back when it was SciFi, now that I think about it. Where does the time go? (For that matter, I wrote this post, with the same dumb title, some time ago, but kept rescheduling it. I wish I could say this was planned...)


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Roughly translated, "Book eats your head."

Last week, I got the S-Mart Ash figure from Hot Topic--overpriced, I know, but I wasn't going to find it anywhere else. He's on top of the TV in the living room, valiantly trying to get some sugar from Planet Terror's Cherry. (Unfortunately, so far the light on the cart and the tip of Cherry's machine gun leg have both broken, since neither balanced really well.)

Finding Ash was a good excuse to watch Army of Darkness again: it was on regular TV a couple of months ago, and the Oldest and I watched it then. My archaic, sketchy VCR copy has the occasional swear; but probably nothing that kid doesn't hear on a daily basis...um, from his mom.

The Youngest was with us, having a cup of milk; until the scene where Ash finds three Necronomicons. When the fake book bit Ash, then started flapping around, Youngest's upper lip started to tremble, then he started to cry. "Book," he said tearfully. He doesn't talk a lot, so that might have been worth it, and he didn't mind a hug there either. Apparently, the Youngest is aware of his surroundings not enough to interact, but enough to be traumatized. Yay.

The Youngest got his autism diagnosis last week. This week, he's been drooling, bubbling spit out of his mouth, when he's been stressed; and he has been holding things with his fists instead of his fingers. The Wife and I are thankful he's not as bad off as he could be, but I'm worried he could be getting worse. Luckily, he doesn't appear to be scared of books now, though; and I went to his therapy today and he didn't do too badly.

In more cheerful news, I picked up the Real Gear Transformer, High Score 100, today. OAFE.net had a good write-up on him, and it's not the first time they've sold me on something. High Score could have been a hair bigger, though, since he makes my dainty little paws look like ham hocks.

Of course, he looked kinda small in the Oldest's mitts too. I should've tried for a photo with the Youngest, but that probably would've involved more chasing and a higher shutter speed than I was prepared for right now.
Then, while transforming High Score back and forth, my mind started wandering: Was he one of those Transformers that grew into a giant robot, then shrank in his alt-mode like Megatron; or was High Score only the size of a controller? What did he sound like? I imagined like a kung-fu master, only one that tried to teach lessons using Elevator Action and Rolling Thunder. And would he be really comfortable if you played games on him? I don't know that I'd be comfortable with that...that probably says more about me than I'd like. Read more!