Movies to watch in 2016:

Batman vs Superman - Not holding out too much hope. I didn't really like Man of Steel and this looks like it's in the same mold.

Captain America: Civil War - Yes. 100% stoked for this. Looks great.

Ghostbusters - Why yes, I do think I will call.

Hail! Ceaser - Cohen brothers latest offering in the comedy mold.

Dad's Army - For pure nostalgia reasons.

Deadpool - Even though I'm not a big fan of the comic book.

Doctor Strange - Yes, I am a sucker for Marvel CU movies.

Free State of Jones - Mathew McConaughey in a Civil War drama about a white man that marries a slave.

Hateful Eight - Released in Australia in 2016.

Star trek Beyond - I actually missed the last one... Still haven't seen it.

Suicide Squad -

Kung Fu Panda 3 -

X-Men Apocalypse - You had me at Psylocke

Rougue One - Which is due out at the end of December, which is Star Wars time.

Movies for the Year

As well as reading comic books a lot I also watch a lot of movies. I usually try to go once a week. My tally for the year is twenty, so I failed completely there. Over once a month is good I suppose.

I will rate the movies out of five. Just so you know I always judge the movie on the context on which it is made. So while 'Creed' isn't the greatest slice of film making ever made it is a fantastic boxing movie.

I have tried to list them in the rough date order in which I saw them.

Ex Machina - 4/5. Domhall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac fight over a replica android. Beautifully shot and well acted, it was taught and delivered. I really liked this movie.

Mr. Holmes - 4/5. Ian McClellan is a very old (90+) Sherlock Holmes trying to write his memoirs and also bond with his house keepers son. Really well done.

Avengers: Age of Ultron - 4/5. The Avengers have to tackle a new menace, one that has come from an unlikely source. Well shot, packed with gags, great action sequences. They really did another great job on this one. Enjoyed it from start to finish.

Pitch Perfect 2 - 4/5. The Bellas are at the top of their game when it all goes wrong. Can they climb back up? Funny from start to finish and warm without getting schmaltzy PP2 was another fantastic movie I really loved.

Mad Max: Fury Road - 4/5. Adrenaline filled orgasm of dust and blood. Really loved this movie.

Spy - 3/5. Melissa McCarthy takes over from Jude Law in the spy business. Solid comedy throughout. Very enjoyable.

Sicario - 5/5. Taught thriller about America's response in the 'Drug Wars'. Gripping, edge of your seat violence. Never fails to make you feel in danger. My movie of the year.

Aloha - 2/5. Bradley Cooper is a milatary contractor with a mixed past trying to move forward in his life. Although this has some good point, overall this one left me flat and wondering what the point was?

San Andreas - 2/5. Dwayne Johnson is a rescue pilot in San Fransisco determined to save his family in the face of the greatest earthquake to hit the world. Large, noisy with seeming never ending waves of disaster. The film grew ever more cheesy as it went on.

It Follows - 4/5. Horror movie about a presence that tracks and kills young people. Shot around Detroit it's worth watching for the cinematography. I get lost in a lot of horror but this one worked. Worth a watch.

Jurassic World - 2.5/5. Chris Pratt warns against making super dinosaurs but nobody listens. Pratt is great and the action sequences are good too but overall I had to throw my brain out of the window to like it.

Minions 2.5/5 - Kevin, Stuart and Bob help their clan by seeking a new villain for them to work for. Family fun but without Gru, the jokes dragged for me and there was no centre to the film. Still it was fun in a lot of places.

Southpaw - 3/5. Jake Gyllenhaal is a boxer who loses his wife and his title. He fights to get one back. Good in a lot of sections there is a huge plot point that annoyed me for the rest of the film. The boxing was good but, without spoiling the film, the title is wrong. Worth watching for Forest Whitaker's turn.

Terminator: Genisys - 3/5. Emilia Clarke takes over as Sarah Conner and is helped by origional Terminator Arnold trying to defeat Skynet. Although this wasn't warmly recived it hit a lot of high points for me. Enjoyed it from start to finish.

Ant-Man - 4/5. Paul Rudd tries to rob Michael Douglas and end up becoming the titular hero. Yhis one hit my sweet spot and while not massive enough to be the best SH movie, it's my favourite of the year. Warm and heroic. Glad to hear Ant-Man will be in Civil War.

Fantastic Four - 1/5. Miles Teller leads his friends to become a super team after gaining mysterious powers. This started okay then changed movies 2/3 of the way through. Ended as a disaster. I hope Fox give up the FF license and let someone else try to make a movie with them.

Black Mass - 4/5. Johnny Depp with a wonderful turn as James 'Whitey' Bulger. Crime and corruption in Boston. Gripped me from start to finish, even though I knew the story pretty well.

Spectre - 3/5. Daniel Craig has his fourth outing as Bond in this follow on from Skyfall. Enjoyable through a lot of the film it does drop the ball on a few things. It seemed a logical end point for Craig as Bond but the word on the street is there will be a fifth follow up.

Creed - 4/5. Michael B Jordan is Adonis, Apollo Creed's illegitimate son. He teams with Sly's Rocky to become a pro boxer. Really enjoyed this. Avoided many of the traps of later Rocky movies and Sly was really good. maybe as good as the original.

Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens - 4/5. I finished the year with the most anticipated film. Disney's take on Star Wars. They included the original cast well and the new characters . The new guys are wonderful and made the movie for me. The plot is a re-hash of Episode 4 and I didn't like the 'Big Bad', which stopped it being perfect. Still, I've been 4 times already and I'm making plans for number five. So excited for the next movie.


 So best of the bunch was Sicario. Favourites were Ant-Man and Star Wars. It Follows was a left field choice worth checking out.

That's 2015 wrapped up. I'll try and run through what I'm looking forwards too in 2016.

Planned Reading for the Year

This isn't much of a plan and it's subject to change at a moments notice.

I am planning to get some supplies, dividers, short boxes and new long boxes, and do a big sort through on Australia Day.

(Which is on 26th January and celebrates Australian Federation in 1901 if you're interested)

Then I will lay out my planned reading for the year. I have a stack of TPB to read:

I have the following issues I'd like to get too:

X-Men volume 3 - I have the first few issues then a huge hole before I have the last few in the series. Not sure whether to finish collecting or read some of them first.

Avengers volume 1 - Which was the first book I started collecting waaay back in 1987. The obvious thing was to start with these issues.

I'll be looking to add to this list because right now it's a bit shit really. 

Reading List for 2016 - Current Books.

A Force

All new all different Avengers

All new X-men

Daredevil

Extraordinary x-men

Gotham Academy

Groo (Limited series)

He-Man

The Kitchen (Limited Series)

Low

New Avengers

Silk

Squadron Supreme

Uncanny Avengers

Uncanny X-men

Velvet

I also pick-up Rat Queens, Black Magick and Ringside, although I haven't placed them on my order as yet. I've also found New Wolverine isn't on my list either, which I need to rectify.

I dropped:

Amazing spider-man

Ultimates 

As I wasn't enjoying them.  

The List

This is not complete.


Marvel
Avengers vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4
Avengers Strikefile, Avengers Classic, Avengers Unplugged
Avengers West Coats
Vision and Scarlet Witch
Solo Avengers
New Avengers
Incredible Hulk
Captain America vol 1.
Mighty Thor
Iron Man
X-Men vol 1, vol 2.
Uncanny X-Men, Vol 1, vol 2
X-Force
X-Terminators
New Mutants
Clandestine
Excalibur
Classic X-Men
Generation X
X-Men 2099
New Excalibur
Exiles
Fantastic Four vs X-Men
Avengers vs X-Men
New X-Men
X-Man
Magneto
Wolverine
Cable
Spectacular Spider Man
Amazing Spider Man
Spider Man
Web of Spider Man
Spider Man 2099
Storm
Ultimate Spider Man
X-Factor
Marvel Tales Featuring Spider Man
Fantastic Four vol 1, vol 2
Silver Surfer Vol 2, vol 3
Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1, vol 2
What if?
Ghost Rider
Quasar
Daredevil
The 'Nam
Punisher
She-Hulk vol 2
Namor vol 1, vol 2
Deathlok
Alpha Flight
Groo
Uncanny Avengers
Amazing X-Men
All New X-Men
Thunderbolts
Moon Knight

DC
Superman
Man of Steel
Action Comics
Adventures of Superman
Catwoman
Batman
Detective Comics
Robin
Suicide Squad
Justice League vol 1, vol2, vol3
Justice League Europe
Doom Patrol vol 2, vol 3
Teen Titans vol 2
Tales of the Teen Titans
New Teen Titans
The Invisibles
The Filth
Tank Girl Apocolypse, The Oddessey
Watchmen
Hellblazer
Animal Man
Sandman
Superboy
Supergirl
Green Lantern

Dark Horse

The Mask
Tank Girl
Heartbreakers
Venus Wars
Star Wars
Aliens
Aliens vs Predator
Predator
Grendel Tales
Terminator
Dirty Pair
Ghost in the Shell
 Sin City
Next Men
Babe

Image

Freak Force
Gen 13
Youngblood
Cyber Force
Velvet
Shaman's Tears
Stryke Force
Pitt
Super Patriot
Tribe
Wild Cats
Shadowhawk
Brigade
Union
Deathblow
Supreme
Wildstar
Vogue
Wetworks
Black Ops
Bezerkers
New Men

Other Stuff

X-Files
Faust
Satans Six
Grimjack
Yeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Bio Booster Armour Guyver
Bloodfire
Fighting Fem
Vampirella
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
The life and time of Tom Landry
Fatale
Tomb Raider
Lady Death
Beautiful Killer
Pridence and Caution
Dark Dominion
Warriors of Plasm
Crying Freeman

This isn't everything and I will try and update it once I get time to sit down and re-sort everything I have.

Collecting Comic Books

Although I bought a fair few comic books by the time I was 14 I didn't really start 'collecting' until I found that rare of rare beasts in 1987 - the comic book store. Here they had all the issues of The Avengers BEFORE issue 262, when I started buying it every month. Once the plethora of books was open to me I really began to collect in earnest.

Collecting enabled me to put runs of books together (which always helps) and to find all the stories that I enjoyed. The second part I started to like, which is the 'troublesome' bit, was some of my issues accelerated quickly away from their 50 - 60 pence cover price.

These days I count collecting books as separate from 'Speculation', which cruelled collecting for a while in the late 90's.

I won't touch on the Speculation and Collecting that happened in the late 90's, that might be another topic, instead I'll touch on what I do as a collector, comic book care and what I collect and why.

First up is care. The two simple tenets are bag your books and store them upright.  You can buy both Mylar bags and comic book storage boxes from the comic book store. This will keep your books in as close to the purchase condition they can be bar very heavy reading. If you have older books or valuable ones sitting in amongst the others I do suggest a backing board, also available from the comic book store, to stop them bending. Obviously, store books in the box, with the lid on. I also throw some stuff into the box to deter silver fish - Check what it is before you do this though.

What do I collect and Why? Simply I collect books I have some interest in. My range is broad and I like the medium in a lot of formats. As well as super heroes and the usual formats I will read any comic strips and have collections of various examples of these as well.

In the main I collect Super books, mostly Marvel, and mostly of all Avengers and X-Men titles. I think this is mainly because I love the team dynamics and the interplay. Of course there are some fairly eclectic lines in the mix as well.

Different things can grab me; the art, the story. Something. It's rare for me not to give a book a chance and I've ended up with some obscure stuff in my boxes.

Also I like to collect things. I think it must be genetic. My paternal Grandfather collected model cars and records, my Dad collects model cars and odd auto memorabilia; pre- 1920's petrol cans and signs. I am into comics and it looks like my son will follow suit. He currently collects Lego. Comics can be cheap, fun plus you have something to read and look at. 

These days you can get your books slabbed and sealed. Now if you are buying comics that are worth $100+ a pop, I think it's sensible to seal them away in something so they never deteriorate. You can always buy the content in another format to read. I've never done this but you never know. If I get hold of a copy of Incredible Hulk 187, maybe I will?

I think the best way to collect older books is get the issues you are after off of eBay. Of course this means your collection will be 50% book, 50% postage.Still you will be getting what you are after.

Of course there's nothing finer than finding markets or stores with back issues, or an old book shop or charity shop and having a darn good rummage. This is my favourite way to look.

In summary collect because you love to do it.

If you are just interested in the stories your Local Comic Book Store should have a huge offering of trades, collections and graphic novels in a format that is easier to keep.

And there will probably never be a time like the 90's speculation boom again.

About Tags / Labels

About Tags / Labels

This post is just an overview of the tags (or labels, as blogger likes to call them) I will be using here.  If you don't care, you can skip it :)

I'm going to use three types of tags:

Info Tag
The vast majority of posts on this blog will be comic book reviews.  On the rare occasions - like this one - where I need to post something else, the post will have an "Info" tag.  These posts will still relate to the blog, they just won't be actual reviews.

Recommendation Tags

Every comic book review will have one (and only one) of the following three tags:

Recommended: I enjoyed the book, and recommend you seek it out and read it. I will try to qualify the recommendation as to why I like it and recommend it.

Qualified Recommendation: I enjoyed the book, or I saw some element of it that makes it worth reading, but I feel the film's appeal is limited in some way; most often because I think you really need to be a fan of a certain genre or sub-genre to get into this particular story.

Not Recommended: There probably are people who will enjoy this comic, but I was not one them, and I did not see other merits to recommend it.

Alphabetical Tags

Single letter tags from A-Z.  Every review will have one or more of these tags, based on the first word of the title, ignoring "The", "A" or "An".  So The Avengers has an "A" tag.

Books with names starting with a number will be tagged based on how the number is spelled.

Again, I swiped this format from my fellow blogger at Too Many DVDs

Mission Statement

Mission Statement

I bought my first comic book in October 1978 when I was 5, for 10p. It was Star Wars, which I had just watched at the movies and was obsessed with. In the back of the book was some filler strips. Somehow I ended up getting another batch of books, Power Man and Iron Fist, The Avengers, The Atom, from the newsagent to keep me company when I was sick. 

After the Star Wars book stopped (now named Return of the Jedi) I found another copy of The Avengers in another newsagent in 1986. The artwork of John Buscema leapt out at me and a real passion had developed.

I managed to amass a rather huge collection of books since those fateful days, through weekly collecting, huge massed purchases and gifts of no longer wanted books from friends. Indeed these days I will offer old books a home instead of letting them get junked.

So now I have managed to get to the point where I need to sit down and read a few thousand books to make sure I have read them all.

So this is my mission statement: to read through my massive back catalog of comic books.

I'm going to achieve that mission by taking batches of books, or trades or collections, reading them and then posting a review of the books here.

 
I will batch books up into collections of my own devising eg: John Byrne's run on FF, The Watchemen (which I only have in a collection), Thunderbolts Trade Paperback, 

or I will just lump what I have eg: Uncanny X-Men 220 - 275 (that's a lot of books).

I will try and let you know when and how I collected the books and give you a qualified review. I may touch on collecting books and my views on that. Heck, I might even stick up a review of some of the movies, as there is one or two floating about these days.

Note: Although I have reasonable English skills I am Dyslexic. The spelling on this site seems to be American, so I have no idea about some words. Apologies in advance.

Note: My 'idea' and the format is ripped whole-sale from this guys site:

Too Many DVDs
http://toomanydvds.blogspot.com.au/

Also note he gave me a HUGE batch of books I will be reviewing.