Radiant Comics

I have a bunch of jumbled thoughts today. The first being about the TV show “The Sopranos”. Every time a season ends I hear people complain that the final show wasn’t that good because nothing happened. I point out that most of the “end of season” action happens in the second to last episode of the Sopranos. The last episode is reserved for follow up to the drama. That has been the pattern but a lot of folks don’t notice. History repeats.

Season ending cliffhangers for TV shows bother me in general. Why do they even exist? Is a cliffhanger supposed to get me to tune into next season’s opener? If I liked this season I’ll probably watch next season if there is a cliffhanger or not. Next season is always three or four months away so I don’t even remember what happened in last season’s cliffhanger anyway. It discourages me from watching repeats too. I know everything is just going to wind up in one big “too be continued” so I grow disinterested until it is actually continued. I like a season ender to wrap up a season. End it y’know.

I pulled out last year’s “Bigfoot” comic series from IDW to give it another read. It has art by Richard Corben. I was never a big fan of Corben’s work back in the 80’s but I never disliked it either. In his stories there were usually lots of naked people with really round body parts who were intent on doing each other harm. Not really my cup of tea but not bad either. Generally his work just left me cold. Not anymore. Corben is an absolute master storyteller now. I’m on board with everything he does. The first of his new work I saw was “Cage” from Marvel back in 2002. I didn’t like the writing by Azzarello and the story was a mess but it was masterfully told by Corben. Some comic book art looks good but when you read the comic the art fails to get the point across. The story just dies. Other comic book art comes alive as you read and it engulfs you in the story. This is storytelling. This is what Corben does so well. Check out “Bigfoot”. It is a horror book that will make you scared of this hairy legend who has been made into a not so frightening clown in so many other mediums. And Corben kills on it.

One more thing to add about last weeks video game blog. I never ever want to spend time in video games looking for a key to a door. I want that bit of hackneyed game play would go away. It’s always the same. My character is standing there strapped with every weapon imaginable including a gun that shoots A-bombs and can kill 900 bad guys at once but I can’t get through a locked door. I gotta go search for a key. Oh boy, what fun! I hate med kits too.

My bicycle helmet is an old fashioned thing (as bicycle helmets go). I got it about ten years ago and it was never as elegant or streamlined as today’s helmets. After a recent crash in which said helmet saved my noggin’ I decided to get a new one. The first thing I noticed while shopping online is that bike helmets have years. This year’s mode is full price, last year’s is discounted and the model from the year before was discounted even further. Who knew? What are they cars? I bought last year’s model. It is comfortable and allows a lot of air to flow through it. Though as I rode off on my bike I had to take the visor off of it. I couldn’t see. The visor was so low over my eyes I had to tilt my head way back to see forward. Who designed that thing? My Old helmet has no visor. Now my new one doesn’t either.

One last thing, I have finally found my limit when it comes to the price of a comic book. I have always been a purchaser of small press black and white comics which tend to be more expensive than mainstream Marvel and DC stuff so I’m no stranger to high prices. But four dollars for a 22 page comic is too high. The aforementioned “Bigfoot” comic cost that much and it was the last book I bought at that price. I notice a lot the new color small press books are coming out at $3.99 and I just can’t plunk down that much cash for one. $2.99 for black and white is fine $3.99 for color and I’m out of there. Ditch the color and drop the dollar is what I say.