This guy and i have met up a couple times to try to make these fan films. We keep getting cool fight footage... but never enough good stuff for story.

Anyway. Im the black guy.

I know i havent been very active on the Comicvine this year. Ive actually been pretty busy. runnin around and bein a student and... um... i think its pronounced "Acting"? i dont know. Some shit with scripts and a stage and sometimes cameras? i didnt get it either....

but really, i decided last year that i would do MORE with my acting this semester, and besides being cast in an actual "people pay to see this" play, i also did lights and crew work for other shows, acted in an end-of-semester-student-created bowl of epic to raise money for the department, and worked on a handful of short films with some film students. Im gonna link them bellow in order of most recent to latest, with the last being the first thing ive acted in since i started studying the medium (its from over a year ago, but hey! its first). So... there yah go. Enjoy my rise from shitty actor to slightly less shitty actor.

First up: Quest for the Commissary

Concept by ME, and Directed by myself and Danielle Evans (whos page the video is actually on)

Next: 12/12/12

Also my concept. Same directing team. Same day even...

Followed by: Supa Fight!

This one was actually written and performed by Myself and Christee Kee for a grade in a Theater Movement/Combat class. Danii was awesome enough to come film it for us. We nailed it cuz we both have a healthy respect for the super hero genre. Me moreso than her... but you know. What evs...

MUSICO!!!!!

The next two are adlibed songs. Seriously. Danii and i had worked together on two films together (its coming up soon) and we liked the cut of each others jibs. so she combined her actual music skills with my ability to spew words... and behold! (note: we actually made one more song called Commissary before the camera was involved. It was by far the best. the thing about me and random lyrics is they get progressively worse the longer i go. I put these two in actual order instead of descending so you could see how i went from being on top of my shit in the first one... to just kinda word vomiting the second. But i still cant wait to do more! :)

6th: GO BALLISTIC

This one is Danii's through and through. After we had already kinda worked together on someone else's film (next), Danii asked me and a couple members of the other cast if we wanted to be in the one she would be shooting the next week. You'll notice my fellow acting student Christee Kee, as well as Mr. Odell Smith (all 3 of us where in the aforementioned paying-patrons show, titled The Foreigner if you are interested in looking it up). The end result was rather hilarious.

Next to last: A HERO RISES (or how i talked with the girl of my dreams)

Written and Directed by Bryan Nelson (whos page this is posted on), this thing had my heart when i heard about it. A hopeless romantic, a cute girl, fights and explosions? No. This is not a Michael Bay Movie. This is a B-Roll production. LOL You will once again notice Christee and Odell, as well as Fern Wilson, a girl fresh into the department and already in a main-stage show (thats what those paying patron shows are called) (she's not in the Foreigner, but another one called Talking With. If you wanted to look it up). The fight scene between myself and Odell was adlibed entirely, because he and i can do that and we were running out of daylight.

And finally, over a year old but i dont care: AXE ME TO LOVE YOU.

Written by Adam Rodriguez (his page), this gem was filmed during a live free performance, and was part of an entire show written by stage writing students and performed by student actors. I was in 2 other scenes for this show, but i really like this one because it was my first time acting on stage in front of people... and it was in underwear. its just a very bright memory for me.

....and that's that. I know. I know this has very little to do with comcis. I admit, i mostly made this Blog so i wouldnt have to go searching for them in the future, as long as i keep track of one link. But i'd like to think part of me made it so i could shamelessly promote myself. yeah... i like that too.

Honestly, im just excited. its still a couple days to new years, and I've already been cast in another main-stage, AND i have another student film in the works (a Batman fanfic with the guy Adam above, who i did another Batman video with almost a year ago that we never got to finish), AND a film where i play a monster for like 10 seconds finishing up some time soon, AAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD about 3 other projects being ironed out with Danii.

Things are ok on the acting front. And i just wanted to share that with you, my fellow nerds.

had to share this. Lewis Black is the man!

In case you haven't heard, The CW may be picking up a Green Arrow tv show for its upcoming fall-spring season. While its not the biggest news (its just a pilot right now, and we have seen previous DC pilots never make it out of the water before), it is pretty exciting. The Oliver Queen character made an impression on fans of CW's Smallville, and with that show finished its fans are probably looking for something to fill the void. But will this really be a good idea, or just that? a place holder.

The popular (and possibly confirmed, im not sure) rumor about Green Arrow in Smallville was that CW could not get the rights for Batman on tv while Christopher Noland's movie franchise was still going, so they brought in the similar character of Green Arrow to fill the space. With only some minor tweeks to his character, GA was able to play most of the roles Bruce Wayne and Batman would have. Romantic interest to Lois (an idea made popular in the Batman/Superman animated movie and tv series of the 90's, and randomly throughout comics since). Financial benefactor for other heroes. Technological guru. Good friend and at times conflicting personality to Clark Kent.

.... but how close to Batman are they willing to make Green Arrow?

As comics readers, many of us see Batman and Green Arrow with glaring differences. Its personal dedication vs reluctant responsibility. The two have butted heads several times in comics, and its always been perfectly reasonable and almost expected. But it seems like non-readers and Hollywood types all see them as roughly the same character. The rich guy with the bat-toys vs the rich guy with the Arrow-toys. It has already been announced that this new Arrow show would be dark and edgy. What exactly does that mean? we already saw Green Arrow take on a "work voice" similar to Batmans, something he has never done or even considered in the comics. He also ended up pretty much putting the Justice League together, something his lonestar of a comics character would never do. So whats to stop the guys over at THE CW from giving GA an Arrow cave and an Arrow Mobile? A butler? Detective skills? An Arrow Signal? Are they going to make Merlin a crazy random killer like the Joker?

Gallery

As someone who was deeply distraught by the direction Smallville took after season 5, i already know i have a very biased and skeptical opinion of this new show. But how about you Green Arrow/Smallville fans out there? How much change is too much change? Towards the end, Smallville pretty much became a way to showcase (arguably) un-loyal tv adaptations of comics characters. Would you be ok if that continued in Arrow? And exactly how much can CW change Green Arrow before people start to see him as "Batman with Arrows"?

When Damian Wayne first showed up as the angry son of Batman, i was like "oh hey! This should be pretty cool!". He clashed with everybody, was a trained killer, and he WORE SPIKED KNUCKLES!

....and then he became Robin. And not because the previous (and best) Robin Tim Drake died or moved on, but out of pure Bat favoritism. Bruce Wayne's "this is my REAL son by blood and i never had to change his diapers so i love him" favoritism. What the heck? Since then, it has become apparent that while Damian Wayne is a grade a bowl of awesome sauce, hes also the WORST BATKID EVER!

In the past, the worst thing a batkid ever did was run off and get himself killed. Jason disobeyed batman and went head on against the Joker. Well, ok, i guess technically the worst thing he did was come back and attack the Bat-team, but that was after he sort of renounced them.

Seriously though, while working under the Bat, no one has ever done as much wrong as Damian has. He's brutally attacked Tim Drake, Undermined Dick and Alfred AND Stephanie at every turn, brutalized several villains beyond whats acceptable, disobeyed Batman several times, and recently (SPOILERS!!!!!) in Batman and Robin #7 hes killed a man .

Worst Ever. I cant wait for him to turn villain.

For all 5 of you who follow my blog (my counter says 88... but i know better), you may remember my two (count em! one and two) blogs expressing my concerns about the New 52. The blogs were a combination of my knee-jerk reactions and truly thought out hopes and fears. Well... September is here and gone, and i havent blogged in a while, so lets kick this off with some focus on the titles i was most looking forward to: the Youth Titles.

Static Shock

If you read back into my earlier blogs, this was one of the titles i was very much concerned about. The new tech look was never something in Statics range of capability, and it seemed he was getting a total re-haul, powers and history and all. Boy was i wrong. Static's title seems to be the one that played the most to my love and history of the character by pretty much keeping him exactly the same. The excuse for the new look and gear (a gift from Hardware, who has taken Vergil under his wing similar to the Spiderman/Ironman relationship from Civil War) works beautify in respects to both his and Hardware's characters. The only concern i have now is with the last page of issue one, which seems like an alteration of his powers. But if that all were looking at, this seems about perfect, and i think McDuffy wouldldnt hate it.

Blue Beetle

While Static's comic was a fear diminished, Blue Beetle was my hope shattered. The removal of his awesome origin (replaced by this rushed thing here), the full out thugging of his best friend Paco (who only joined a gang in the old continuity because he was depressed that he lost both his friends), and what seems to be the total liquidation of his parents backbone (they were super strong and wise in the old stuff, but here they are just plan afraid) is very upsetting. And the insight into the Scarab's past is interesting, but it changes the Reach from a group of weak-yet-intelligent planet drainers to a race of Conquerors. Its a subtle difference, but one that will drastically change the threat of their invasion. It will turn it from a slow undermining of our humanity to a quick destruction of the populace. Sigh... just like every other invading force.

Superboy

The absolute medium here is Superboy. My favorite character of all time. So of course, this one was most important to me. Surprisingly, it invoked the smallest emotional response of the lot.

This is in no way shape or form My Superboy. It seems like DC is trying to remove the "Dont call me SUPERBOY" Conner kent/Kon-El from existence, instead replacing him with this bland clone character. As a matter of fact, the new Superman seems to have adapted Conners old state of mind, being hot headed and angry and sharp witted... but thats something to save for the main titles blog.

Conner here has very little personality. While its obvious they plan on having him build one as the story progresses, i can hardly see him becoming the leather jacket wearing hero i know best. Its not all bad. They seem to have added emphasis to his TK abilities, and more than likely his personality will eventually mirror that of the t-shirt wearing Conner we saw before the revamp. Its a damn shame that the world is FINALLY going to know Superboy and Young Justice, but only as the TV shows incarnation, and not the more interesting comics one of most of my life. In the end, i just dont care that much. Excited to see where its headed, but not expecting much as i bottle my hatred for this pointless change.

The Fury of Firestorm

This is obviously an attempt to hit multiple markets at once. Black males and White. Ronnie fans and Jason fans. The resulting concept is interesting. The downside to it is that it simplified that animosity between the two main characters. Originally Ronnie hated that Jason was his replacement, and Jason hated that Ronnie's slacker ways had caused repeated unnecessary troubles and deaths. Add the struggle for the attention of the Professor (Stein? i cant remember), and the standard stress of being a hero, and there goes your feud.

Fury simplifies this to high school. Jock vs smart kid. Not as deep. Kinda generic.

The cool part of FoF comes from the idea of the Firestorm protocol. The idea that the firestorm power set is more or less the next step in nuclear physics, and is therefore capable of empowering multiple people is an exciting one. In this issue, it seems like Jason can use his intelligence to trans-mutate things, while Ronnie just blasts Raw power. When they do share a body, they become a firestorm/Hulk creature, which im sure is easier to control when they get along.

The fights against other firestorms will inevitably be more interesting since they will not be crippled with only half their powers, but the character driven part of the story will probably be lacking.

Teen Titans

Of course i end with the the teen team itself. My comics life is almost entirely owed to Young Justice. Tim and Conner are my all time favorite characters, and so creation of a super hero team around them was absolutely epic when i was younger.

Teen Titans... takes an immediate shit on Tim Drake by making him bitter and ashamed of his days as Robin. Apparently he was so upset with it that he quit and became more or less an Oracle/Anarky hybrid character. Apparently, the only thing that pulled him from this was the personal visit from N.O.W.H.E.R.E, the group that seems to be a emerging new "we have a plan for teen heroes" group. Their visit drove him to ran and save Cassie Sandsmark... who as far as i can tell is half her old character (when shes herself) and half belligerent and angry powerhouse (when shes wonder girl). It looks like there is also a bit of criminal crossover as a result, as Cassie was apparently driving a stolen car.

They also made Bart a moron, which was to be expected. Thats the easiest way to write him, and unless you have a real love for his brand of character, all you see is filler and comic relief when your trying to write his dialogue. Whatever. At some point some writer will show him respect, and everything will change just like before. It seems like this team of Titans will be more about having a diverse group to point to than building a similar team. And yeah... whatever.

come back later to check out my blogs about The Big Titles and The Other Stuff... and possibly a full overview of the new 52.

Not all shameless tie-in's suck. If i was forced at gun point to admit one thing i love about Marvel comics way of doing business, it would be that they know exactly how to make you interested in their product. 

  so this year was my FIRST SDCC, and it was epic. I noobed out and spent most of my time on the floor trying to catch swag give aways (which i managed to catch allot of btw), and only made it to about 6 panels all week. 
  One of the main things i was looking forward to when i first found out i was were the Wayne Casino DC poker chips. I was adimant on getting all of them, and through a combination of major luck and perseverance, i got all of them(and a couple spares)!
 .... and now im not sure what to do. I am not a collector. I only have about 3 comics in plastic, and all of the trades i have signed are purely so i can point and say "look what i did!"
  ... so what should i do with them? I see complete sets selling on Ebay for almost 200 dollars. Should i sell them? and If so, should i wait until the scramble has died down in a few weeks? or years?
 
i just know something stupid will happen to them if i just let them sit on my shelf. Any ideas?
 

Sara: "Who is he? Where does he come from? 
  Corey: "I Don't know, But everyone seeks him."
  Tony:"I think his name is like Charlie or something..."

   In the middle of most of this weeks DC comics was an inserted comic/advertisement. It is JLA/Subway #1 of 4... and its not very good.