The Hold Steady, Stay Positive

The Hold Steady, STAY POSITIVE (Vagrant Records)
While I’ve always respected Springsteen, aside from “Born to Run” (a perfect rock song), his music has always left me cold. Filling the void, Jersey stalwarts The Hold Steady’s pissed yet hopeful blast of punk Americana is rife with bold anthems that don’t evoke fist pumping or backwards ball caps.

The Dark Knight

THE DARK KNIGHT
At the risk of being hyperbolic (as well as redundant), a masterpiece. This movie works on every level, as a superhero movie, a crime drama and a complex character study, with spectacular visuals, mind-blowing action, a brilliant screenplay, an affecting score and across-the-board stellar performances. Finally, Bat-Perfection.
(for 1638 more words, see here)

Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard, The Dark Knight soundtrack

Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard, THE DARK KNIGHT original soundtrack
Listening to a soundtrack before seeing the movie isn’t exactly spoilerish, and the music’s quality doesn’t always correlate with its film’s. However… this score is absolutely incredible. There’s an epic, nightmarish, sweeping grandeur to it that creates a mood so palpable you can swear you’re in the heart of Gotham.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
I’m a huge defender of adaptations altering material to fit a new medium, but this sequel strays even farther from Mike Mignola’s comics’ beautifully realized Lovecraftian tone into an off-putting comedic fantasy (and I detest the parental turn of events). Another missed opportunity for a unique superhero / horror hybrid.

Ice Road Truckers season 2

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS Season 2
Basically, aside from the whiny bitching of Drew and Rick, the only drama this season comes from computer animated enactments of what COULD happen (but never does). With nobody going through the ice and no scenes of what happens after hours, this show is for truckophiles only.

Batman: Gotham Knight

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT
This septet of anime takes on Batman didn’t convert this non-fan of the genre. Kevin Conroy’s traditional Batman voice ill-fits these hyper-styllized Dark Knights. The writing is fine, and the Killer Croc and Deadshot segments looks nice, but ovearall this direct-to-DVD tie-in just feels like a botched experiment.

Monsterama

MONSTERAMA
This 15 minute documentary series is the best reason to DVR Monsters HD. In-depth features on such geek manna as Aurora model kits, Basil Gogos and Munsters memorabilia are beautifully lit and shot, making for amazing hi-def freeze frames. And it’s nice to see host Elvira getting work.

The Full Color Guide to Marvel Silver Age Collectibles

THE FULL COLOR GUIDE TO MARVEL SILVER AGE COLLECTIBLES by J. Ballman
The breadth of this tome is incredible, as are the hundreds of pictures of classic Marvel memorabilia, much of which I never knew existed. Unfortunately, the clunky page layout and awkward, unedited writing are endemic of the most amateurish fanzines. Ah, the perils of self publishing.

Underdog

UNDERDOG
Sometimes I don’t understand how something so ill-advised can make it from greenlighting to the screen without enough people saying “Hold on… this is HORRIBLE!” to put it into turnaround. I know that Hollywood product is usually just that, and this is certainly one of those horrid, loathsome cases.

Haunted

HAUNTED by Philippe Dupuy (Drawn & Quarterly)
For his first book sans partner Charles Berberian, French cartoonist Dupuy presents a more expressionistic vision, with rough, sketchy art delineating dreamlike tales of isolation, self-doubt and other fears sadly common to the human existence. Not as instantly gratifying (nor comforting) as his collaborations, but well worth the effort.

Legion of Super-Heroes: 1,050 Years of the Future

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: 1,050 YEARS OF THE FUTURE (DC Comics)
FINALLY! A DC anthology that gives historical context to the collected stories! The Legion’s history has been rebooted so many times that annotation was mandatory, but here’s hoping this sets a precedent for all their collected editions. Still, the tales are convoluted enough to baffle the uninitiated. For fanboys only.