Calgary Expo 2015 Wish List

I've had a blast each time I go to the annual Calgary Expo. They always have great guests and I've picked up great comics, beautiful pieces of art and gotten autographs from people who have inspired me and made both childhood and adulthood awesome.

Ever since the end of last year's Expo I kept thinking about who I would like to see attend next year. So, even though there's around eight months before the Expo and there's plenty of chance to make arrangements for these people to attend, these are people I would like to see at the 2015 Calgary Expo.

Kill The Batman...For A While Anyway

What is it about Batman that we love so much? For 75 years the Caped Crusader has been one of fiction's top good guys with his adventures leaping out of the pages of comics books and graphic novels and onto a live action series, video games, several animated series and two series of movies. There's no doubt that Batman is more popular than he was back in the 1930's. 

But at the same time, I think that we've become a little spoiled with Batman. Granted, I'm not talking about movies or comics, but more in the medium of animation. It's easier and more believable to do an animated series staring the Dark Knight than a live action probably would be. But sadly, I think there's been an overdose of Batman lately and we need to nip it in the bud. Take a look back over the past twenty years and see if you agree with me.

Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Over the past year, I've become a fan of Spider-Man and that's mostly due to one of the Web-head's co-creators, Steve Ditko. In fact, in the past year it's fair to say that I've become a bigger fan of Steve Ditko than I have of Spider-Man. 

Growing up, Spider-Man had his own cartoon series that I would occasionally watch but never got into. When I was in my teens I thought the first Toby Maguire movie was just...OK. It was a decent origin story but for the love of God, some of the dialogue was crap I roll my eyes at even when I was in grade four. 

The second one was pretty good but at the same time, I felt it was a bit overrated and was even shocked that Roger Ebert put it at #4 on his Best of 2004 list. And the third film...well, the problems of that movie will be coming up later on, don't worry.

I watched the first 'Amazing Spider-Man' a few months ago and...it was slightly OK. I didn't like how Peter Parker went from science nerd/photographer to hipster/skateboarder with just a dash of photography thrown in. But, it had potential and I plan to review that movie one day but let's focus on the movie I saw just a few hours ago: The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

Book Review-Zits: Shredded

No, the above image is not an artist's rendition of me. Stop asking!

Last May, I wrote a review of the book Zits: Chillax by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, based off the popular comic strip of the same name. If you're not going to go and read that review, let me sum it up for you: I really liked it. In fact, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman even liked my review because they featured it on their website. Not gonna lie, that was really cool.

Animation Observation: Batman The Animated Series-Christmas With the Joker

When you're a kid, nothing is more fun and exciting than Christmas. Hell, I'm an adult and as cynical and sarcastic as I can be at times, having Christmas day off to enjoy good food and relax is still something that makes me happy. And when I was six, nothing made me happier than Christmas and Batman. Combining the two can lead to...interesting results. One of them was 'Christmas With the Joker' from Batman: The Animated Series

 

More Christmas-Themed Entertainment

Two years ago, I made a list of TV specials and episodes that I considered to be my favourite to watch during the Christmas season. It was all in fun and the truth is that I really do enjoy all that stuff proving that I am forever going to be an eleven year old trapped in a man's body.

But recently I got to thinking if I had covered everything that enjoyed watching as a youth and as an adult. Thus, my list of More Christmas-Themed Entertainment

Animation Observation-Young Justice: Welcome to Happy Harbor

'Welcome to Happy Harbor' has the distinction of not only being the first episode to air after the two-part pilot but also for having the longest title in the whole series. After the action packed, mile a minute pace of 'Independence Day' and 'Fireworks', this episode is more relaxed and serves as a vehicle for us to understand some of the characters (Particularly the newly introduced Miss Martian) a bit better. Onto the review...

Animation Observation-Young Justice: Fireworks

In our last episode, our three young heroes decided to show their maturity by disobeying their mentors and getting themselves captured by Constable Odo. Oh and Superman has a clone who doesn't know how to play nice with others. Onto the review...

Animation Observation-Young Justice: Independence Day

Young Justice came into development when Sam Register of Warner Bros. Animation wanted a show based on the concept of a cross between the Teen Titans and Young Justice series of comics but didn't want it to be an adaptation of either. Brandon Vietti, an animation director who had just finished work on Batman: Under the Red Hood and Greg Weisman, creator of Gargoyles and producer of the acclaimed but short lived Spectacular Spider-Man were hired to produce but also included in the writing process.

The series takes place outside of what is known as the DC Animated Universe (DCAU) in which series like Batman, Superman and Justice League took place. Basically we were seeing characters done before but now being done in a new light. I don't want to dwell too much on the production of this show, so without further ado, let's start with the first episode, Independence Day.

Animation Observation

There's something about animation that always gets me excited. If it's animated and done really well, it can have my imagination going for days on end. I don't know why but I fondly remember the cartoons of my early youth more fondly than I do any other TV show, save for Star Trek.  

As I grew older, those shows stayed with me. I look back at Batman: The Animated Series and think, 'For a kid's show, it was really ahead of it's time.'

Review: Man of Steel

For a lot of kids, the first superhero they're exposed to growing up is Superman. When I was younger it was Batman but as I got to the age of six or seven, I really became interested in Superman. I'd read whatever comics my parents were nice enough to buy, even though I didn't always understand the continuity going on and when I was in grade two, me and the teacher wrote to the ABC network after he heard talk that Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was in danger of being cancelled. I was such a big fan of the show around that time that I even used to wear a home made Superman shirt to school once a week.

And for the record, the show stayed on the air several years after we mailed that letter. I don't know if we had any impact on it's remaining TV run or not but I still have the letter that ABC sent me in reply. I watched the Superman animated series that aired in the mid-nineties and while it never reached the popularity of...another animated series, I think it might actually be a bit underrated at times.

"Someone's playing Superman 64? I'll stop them!"