ComicreaderX

Name: Shaun Behrens

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Reviews
ComicreaderX's Recent Comments
July 9, 2011 11:07 pm That is really pretty. DC could probably make a few dollars if they released a deluxe hardcover that also included the DVD, and maybe some interviews with Miller, Mazzucelli, et. al. They could probably do this with All Star Superman, New Frontier and a few I'm forgetting...
June 30, 2011 9:00 am Totally forgot about the spinner rack!! There were two grocery stores my Mom frequented/lived at, and while she shopped I would just sit down in front of the spinner rack and veg out. When it was time to check out, I could usually get one or two, and I was elated. I still remember, and have, an issue of Invincible Iron Man where Tony's suit is getting slagged by the Living Laser on the cover. Damn, those are some great memories! I've seen a few racks here and there in the last five or so years, but with the prices being what they are, those racks aren't moving any product. DC and other companies have to be willing to change prices to maintain revenue streams. Instead of charging me $16 or so for a TPB, sell it to me for $10, since you ar essentially wanting me to pay nearly full price for reprinted material. And again, my digital has to be cheaper than my paper copy to make me interested. I just hope that we readers aren't just pissing into a hurricane and that, good or bad, our purchasing power in the next 8-10 months is something the industry will look at.
June 30, 2011 1:22 am I don't want to seem to be the one bitch-slapping the bluebird of online happiness off it's day/date perch, but unless DC decides to drop prices of new comics online to under $2 and/or give people a Netflix-like unlimited opportunity to go through anything more than 60-days old from it's files, Didio and company may as well use the Titanic's business model for success. And even in the best of possible worlds, are there enough "potential" readers out there to pump some money into this medium of ours? As a parent and educator, I see some silver linings and some road blocks in gaining the types of numbers Didio must think are out there. (As a totally great and curious aside, my daughters have a plethora of pretty craptastic Barbie dvd's...and Barbie is thrown into damn near every crazy situation imaginable, short of Barbie's on the Point. You can tell the show runners/producers just decided that because it's Barbie, it will sell no matter what's going on. One of the early producers...Dan "The Man" Didio. No horseshit!) But I digress... Some of the silver linings include free comic book day(s) which can be very successful, if you can get the books into the hands of "potential" readers. I would love to see free comics given out at public libraries or at elementary, middle and high schools. Go where the readers ARE! Create a set of primer comics (and not the reboot comics, which I unfortunately think will descend into a hot ass mess within 6 months, although I hope I'm wrong) that can be redeemed through happy meals, web sites, cereal boxes, etc. Give away a few thousand tickets at NYCC, C2E2 and SDCC, to parents with kids, and students with ID's...then have a special meet and greet in one o the large assembly halls. Get a roadshow going and have people dressed up as THE DC heroes giving out comics through radio-based promotions. Of course, some of the roadblocks include an unwillingness, or misunderstanding on DC's part and how they can get the readers they need. Little ads at the end of a movie aren't going to help. Finally, DC should really invest in literacy programs across the United States and abroad. I really and truly learned to read and develop an incredible vocabulary because of comics. And they have to be cheaper...like drawing the line at $1.99. Three and four dollars for ten to fifteen minutes of entertainment just isn't cutting it. Pretty sure I overran my time, but thanks for letting me vent. Peace.
June 26, 2011 2:22 am Patton Oswalt (he of sheik-geek status) has a great article in a recent issue of WIRED where he writes about the victory of the geeks. We've essentially won the culture war, and have infiltrated others facets of everyday and mainstream life. The kids I teach think it's okay to "freak out with your geek out!" Several are well-versed in comicdom; and I have a large group of students who are scary-smart in their knowledge of, and appreciation for, manga/anime. The last thing any of us should be is bitter for the victory we have achieved and for those on our fringes who want "in." There's a reason "we're geek and we're proud." We're just smarter than everyone else. Snarky, I know, but we should really relish our time as the "establishment." Peace.
June 26, 2011 1:14 am Paul, thanks for sharing. Beautiful animation, fun little short. Cheers to Dave Stevens (R.I.P.) and John Banana! Peace.
June 18, 2011 4:20 pm Conor...lighten up. Sarcasm...something you might want to look up at 2 a.m. No shit it's a review. I'm pretty sure I wasn't straight up bitching about the length (insert penis joke if you must) of the review. Paul...it was a great, long review, 'nuff said. I do feel for you, because it appears that you were in a melancholy place while viewing GL. And before any of Paul's pit bulls jump me in the cyber-alley, I say that as someone who has also sat through my fair share of horrendous flicks. Your pain flows through bittersweetly in your words. What I was trying to get at, but apparently was not succeeding in, possibly to it being late at night/ early morning is this (follow along "spoons," because I'm not going to put down a lot here): my daughters liked it. While only knowing that Green Lantern is who he is, that Carol is pretty and will be Star Sapphire some day, and that Sinestro will betray the Corps, they liked it. As viewers that is all they brought to the table and the still liked it. There were things they didn't like and things I didn't like. And things we liked. And Paul, your review reads much better today. It's rock-solid. I think we both wanted better for GL. My daughters (2 out of 3) wanted to see GL with daddy and they liked it, so I guess I liked it, too. Peace.
June 18, 2011 2:15 am That was a review? Thought it was someone's thesis... Took two out of three daughters to it (the teenagers) and they thought it was fun. Fun! Took about ten words. Had they not liked it, that, too, would have probably taken about ten words. Although I have to tell you, Paul, anyone who can name-drop a baddie from Care Bears is doing something right...my daughters held me hostage one night and that damn Care Bear stare... Since brevity is the soul of wit: disappointed that three fairly regular comic book writers did so poorly in getting GL's story right...Hector Hammond could have been sole villain in movie with allusions to "the yellow"...more Lanterns with speaking parts...didn't Avatar show how to do aliens right?...Guardians were pretty freaking cool...could have done without Senator Robbins plot device...wassup with score music so similar to Superman's that my 11-year old noticed it...and a helicopter accident scene? Ugh...Blake Lively actually surprised me...she really did...Ryan Reynolds was fun but inconsistent...why is it that every hero has better Rouge's Gallery than Supes...could really go for my own ring and lantern!