2008 My Top 10 Graphic Novels of the Year

I think I've said over and over again, that I typically don't read regular books (although that's going to change this year). My second 2008 top ten list is a list of my top 10 graphic novels of the year. Maybe you don't read graphic novels, maybe you don't realize that a graphic novel is just a collection of comics that tell a complete story instead of individual comics that each tell a portion of the story. These are not your kids comics. Don't get them for your kids...fair wairning. Maybe none of this matters and you're just waiting for my top 10 list.

10. Star Wars: Dark Times. This graphic novel takes place during the time in the Star Wars universe when all of the Jedi are being hunted, but it doesn't focus on any of the main characters from the movie saga aside from Darth Vader. This is NOT Darth Vader's story...it is told from the perspective of original characters and is done very well.

9. Tales of the Starlight Drive-in by Michael San Giacomo. This book has 26 original stories by different writers and artists all revolving around the Starlight Drive-In, spanning more than a 50 years period from 1955 - 2008.

8. Proof by Alexander Grecian and Riley Rossmo. Proof brings the monsters of urban legends to life as Bigfoot BIGFOOT is a government agent working for a secret agency called The Lodge trying to locate cryptids (creatures like fairies, gnomes, and dinosaurs that exist but should not have been seen by humans). It's a fun and original story...the artwork is great too.

7. Ex Machina. Written by Brian K Vaughn, who appears higher up on this countdown with a different series. Ex Machina is what I read when I'm waiting for other comics to come out. It's a great series about a former superhero called The Great Machine, who is now president of the United States and is trying to run the country in the shadow of his former identity.

6. The Walking Dead. This is anything but "just a zombie book", although this is what it looks like at first glance. Read through the first book and you find that it's a story about what happens to people when the dead begin to rise. Sure there are zombies and people hunt them, but this is much more about people than anything else. This one gets a little gruesome and some subject matter could be disturbing, but it's worth the read if you can get through it.

5. Star Wars: Legacy. This is the best original Star Wars in years, taking place 125 years after Return of the Jedi and following the adventure of Cade Skywalker...a jedi that certainly does not follow in the footsteps of his ancestor Luke. It's an original story that feels very much like the original Star Wars trilogy in it's own right.

4. The Boys by Garth Ennis. The Boys is about a secret goverment agency that polices superheroes when they get "too powerful" or when they start to abuse their power as superheroes. The Boys has an ensemble cast, which makes it a wee bit difficult to learn about the characters and keep them straight, but this is why I stopped reading Rising Stars at the same time as this...both of them have a large cast of characters and I was mixing them up.

3. Fables by Bill Willingham. Apparently, Fables is SO good that they're making into a TV series. Not sure this is a great idea as I'd hate to see it ruin the graphic novel series. Fables is a story that surrounds the popular childhood Fables who have been removed from their fable lands by a powerful enemy by The Adversary (who I won't reveal) and have found themselves in a secret New York community. Other locations have been revealed along the way, but I also don't want to give anything away, just in case you read it.

2. Powers by Brian Bendis and Mike Oeming. Even though Brian Bendis writes the stories of the Powers series, I probably wouldn't have bought the first one if it weren't for Mike Oeming, the artist. I'd have to say that my favorite graphic novel artwork is the artwork found in this series. It's been a while since they've published a TPB...I'm patiently waiting for the 12th volume.

1. Y: The Last Man by Briak K Vaughn. Brian Vaughn finished up the Y: The Last Man series this year, which is why it's my favorite graphic novel series of the year. Pretty much all of the important questions raised throughout the series were answered. The very end was a little confusing, but it was technically irrelevant in the grand scheme of the complicated story.

Read any good comics or graphic novels that you think I should check out? Let me know!

2008 My Top Ten Favorite Movies of the Year

So here we are at the end of 2008. There were a lot of movies out this year as there are every year, but only a handful of them are ever any good. Obviously, depending on who you are, how old you are, and where you're from, you might like different movies than me...and these may not be the BEST movies of the year, but they are my favorite 10 picks on 2008, starting with #10.

10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I can't help but point out that much of this movie was loaded with the worst parts of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy...the stupid little CGI creatures all over the movie. Aside from that, I actually enjoyed KOTCS more than most people. Most people hated the alien storyline...I thought it was a unique chapter in the saga where other installments have failed. Harrison Ford did an admiriable job making us believe he was Indy again. They didn't just forget about Henry Jones Sr, even though Sean Connery is retired. Best of all, they didn't recast ANYONE and brought back most of the favorites. Good for them.

9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Smart. OK, so maybe it's not fair to have two items in one spot on a top ten list, but it's my top ten list so you have to deal. I don't typically find comedy movies all that funny anymore, and I didn't see either of these movies the the theater, but they both made me laugh out loud for different reasons.

8. The Incredible Hulk. Much better than the Ang Lee movie with a similar name, although DVD sellers tried to fool you into buying THAT version of The Hulk. Shame on them. Much more action this time around with a better story as well. Sure, the Hulk himself was still CGI, but seriously, what are you supposed to do?

7. Cloverfield. Was that this year? I think this was the first movie I saw in 2008 and although moments of it, shot with a handheld camera, induced a feeling of nausea...I loved it. A monster movie that focused on how a single group of people would react to a monster attack was fun to watch. Yes, I know, there's that one scene where the characters climb like 100 flights of stairs and don't get tired, but it's a movie. And no, I still would never climb those stairs hoping to rescue ANYONE, because I wouldn't make it up 10 flights...never mind 100. I don't believe anyone that says they would. If you stayed to the end of the credits, like I always do, you were treated to one final line of dialogue. Watch it again and find out what you missed.

6. The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Even though it was only in theaters for a week, I really enjoyed seeing where Mulder and Scully ended up so many years after the end of The X-Files television series. The movie was good and it was a standalone film. It was more enjoyable if you were a fan of The X-Files TV series, but you didn't have to know 9 years of mythology to see it. I feel like the only reason it wasn't in theaters longer, was because they knew it would kill in DVD sales if they didn't give people enough time to see it on the big screen.

5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Hellboy gets drunk with Abe Sapien. Loved it.

4. Wanted. This movie would have been higher on the list if it was the same exact story as the graphic novel. It was not. That's not to say it wasn't a great movie, but they basically took an idea and made it into something brand new for an American audience. Amercian audiences like happy endings. American audiences don't like the hero to be a bad guy. The book didn't do either of those things and the movie did.

3. Iron Man. I had doubts that Robert Downey Jr. was going to work in this movie as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. I remember Robert Downey Jr from before he was a drug addict when he played Jack Jericho in 1987's "The Pick Up Artist". He has come a long way from what I remember was a romantic comedy...I was impressed with Iron Man, and when I first saw the preview, I had no interest at all.

2. Rambo. It was the second movie I saw this year (I think), and immediately became my favorite Rambo movie of the entire series. We ALL made fun if Stallone for making a fourth Rambo movie, but apparently he waited to make sure he chose an excellent script. This version of Rambo was bloodier and gorier than the original Rambo trilogy which makes it difficult to watch in spots, but it also makes you chant Rambo's name when he's shredding the enemy. Did I say "shredding"? Yes...yes, I did.

1. The Dark Knight. There may be two Marvel Comics movies and a Dark Horse Comics movie in my countdown (for those keeping score, there's a Top Cow Comics movie here too), but number 1 is a DC Comics movie. The second movie in the rebooted Batman series was in fact, the best movie of the year. If you didn't like it, you either slept through it, or you just don't like Batman. Or maybe you slept with Batman and he didn't call you the next day...I don't know. As most people that enjoyed the movie would probably tell you...Heath Ledger's performance of The Joker, totally stole the show...and not just because he died at a young age prior to the release of the movie. I don't want to say that I don't care about that...but it has no impact on how good or bad his performance in the movie was. He WAS The Joker. Christian Bale did a fine job as well, I'm sure...afterall, you can't have a Batman movie without Batman...and he is the best Batman of all the Batman movies. So there you go. The best movie of the year.

You know what's not on this list, but should have been if it were done a bit differently. Star Wars: Clone Wars...I wanted to love it, but I only liked it. The Clone Wars in Star Wars history was built up over the years, starting with a mention in Star Wars Episode IV, and I'm not sure if it could ever live up to expectation. Points go to LucasFilms for trying to bring it to the screen, but they probably should have focused on the age group that remembers the original trilogy and let the kids grow into it.

As Far As I Know, I Can Read

For some time now, I've avoided buying and reading any book that is not a graphic novel. It's not that I can't read...I can; it's just that it takes me 6 months to finish one lousy novel because I tend to either read and reread every sentence OR I fall asleep whenever I start to get into a book. Throughout this year, although I have not purchased more than a book or two (which I still haven't read), I've continued making a list on Amazon of books I'd like to read some day. Before that list gets out of hand, I'm going to start reading them, and deleting the ones I don't really want to read anymore. So here's a few of the books I want to read.

1. Monster Nation and Monster Planet by David Wellington. I read Monster Island and learned that it was part one of a trilogy. I own Monster Nation, but haven't read it yet. And I can only assume that Monster Planet finishes off the series. A Zombie book series, party told in the point of view of one of the zombies. Am I going to have to go back and read the first one again. Damn it. :-)

2. Rollback by Robert J Sawyer. He's my favorite science fiction writer...I've actually read all of his prior novels with my favorite being the Neanderthal Trilogy.

3. Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson. I think he's the funniest late night talk show host now...how bad can his book be?

4. The Mocking Program by Alan Dean Foster. I read his most recent Lost and Found trilogy...as a matter of fact, it may have been the last fiction novel series I read. Loved it, but it seriously took me a year to read the three books.

5. Winkie by Clifford Chase. Come on...this story is told from the point of view of a teddy bear. I read Sock by Penn Gillette or Penn and Teller fame...a story told from the point of view of a Sock Monkey named Dickie and it was great. Made me want to read this one.

6. The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J Anderson. Who doesn't want to know why General Zod was so pissed off at Superman's dad Jorel in Superman II? This is THAT story. I should start this tomorrow since I already own it.

and finally

7. The City Not Long After by Pat Murphy. So I've never actually read a book by Pat Murphy, but I listened to her audiobook Adventures of Time and Space with Max Merriwell and it was a fun listen which basically feels like a cruise into the Bermuda Triangle with all the craziness that happens.

This is just the list I already have compiled...I haven't looked for books recently so there could be so many others. I want to have read all of the above books by the end of 2009 and maybe others as I find them. Sounds like a project!

What Mad Scientist Came Up With This Idea?

I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into the Shaws Supermarket near my house and saw this abomination of nature sitting in the produce section

I know it looks like a typical package of apples at first glance, but if you didn't notice the problem...take a closer look. What looks like a package of apples is actually a package of GRAPPLES. That's pronounced "gray" + "pell" for those that didn't see the little symbol above the A on the package. It's true...this is an apple that tastes like a grape. Tastes like a GRAPE. Why would anyone want this? If I want something that tastes like a grape...I'll eat grapes! If I buy something that looks like an apple, I expect it to taste like one. Never, have I gone into a store and said, "Gee...I think I feel like eating something with the flavor of grapes. Maybe I'll buy an apple".

Whose Idea was this? Was there some mad scientist with nothing to do...decided that building Frankenstein might be a bad idea and said to himself, "Self - I think you should f*ck with nature and create fruit that tastes like something it's not". Seriously, I think someone was bored. And if you're the guy (or girl) that invented this monstrosity...this isn't personal. I didn't even try the GRAPPLE...it could be delicious and I wish you all the best on selling your product. Maybe this writing has given it just the attention it needed to make someone curious enough to taste it. And if you do...I want to know what happens!

The Big Apple Pancake at Bickfords

Do you have a Bickfords restaurant near you or is that just a New England thing? Maybe it's just a Massachusetts thing...I'm not sure. Bickfords used to be similar to the International House of Pancackes (or IHOP for those that like abbreviations), or a Friendlys type place, or a Waffle House for those that might be in southern states. Now Bickfords tries to pass themselves off as a fancier breakfast place...which is OK...the food is actually quite good if you're looking for something homestyle cooked. Anyway...Bickfords is known for the Big Apple Pancake...which is basically this huge fried dough looking thing covered with apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon. When I say it's huge; it's huge. This is the BABY Apple Pancake:

I ordered the Big Apple Pancake this day, but the waitress thought it might be wise to tell me just how big the Big Apple Pancake might be and suggested the Baby Apple. I mean...look at it. This happened to me at another breakfast place as well when I wanted to order the 4 pancake stack...it was suggested that 2 might be enough. I should have listened. I didn't.

So the Baby Apple pancake was AWESOME by the way and everyone should try it if you haven't already. Are their restaurants near you that have this sort of specialty? Leave note of it in the comments for others to try.

Pizza in a Vending Machine

I should call this blog "I've Been Slacking" for the number of updates I've done lately, but I'm about to make it up to you. I'm going to go back a few months and post some things that I completely forgot about until now. I'll start with the most disgusting thing I've ever seen served in a vending machine...Tombstone Pizza.

To be fair, I've never tried Tombstone Pizza from a vending machine. I almost tried it, but I was warned away from it by this very nice nurse at the hospital where I saw this machine. She said, "That is disgusting, but at least you're in a hospital...which you'll need if you eat that awful awful stuff"...or something like that. Her exact words allude me right now as this was a few months ago.

How do they cook pizza in a vending machine, you might wonder. Yeah, so did I. As I understand it, there's a convection oven inside that cooks it fairly quickly. I didn't try it...sorry, I can't report on how it tastes. I like you guys, but not that much.

What's the most disgusting thing that you've ever seen in a vending machine? Post in comments!