THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEW "Constantine"  by Mike Smith
SPLASH PAGE Looking Ahead To MegaCon: Mark Waid....Retiring Without the Ring....Movies....The Grammys  by Brandon Jones
MATT'S RAIL Masters of Horror Servers Issues....Congrats To Rod Stewart....Last Week For Rondo Voting....Next Week  by Matt Drinnenberg
MIKE'S RANT The Grammys....Four Favorite Words....Awards Time....Tear-Jerkers....Passing On....Oscar Night....Jaws: The Story, Part 6  by Mike Smith
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Looking ahead to MegaCon: Mark Waid

Fanboys can always sniff out one of their own and Mark Waid is certainly a fanboy. Renown for his “encyclopedic” knowledge of comics, Waid has brought us some of the best stories over the last decade. Turning less popular titles into hits (Impulse, Captain America), surprising us with twists and turns (Fantastic Four – see PCR # 174) or a historic epic (Kingdom Come –see PCR #101 for Drew Reiber’s comments) – Waid has always delivered.

He claims his first comic was Batman #180 and he’s been hooked ever since. Sound familiar? Yeah, me too.

In November the collected, hardcover Superman: Birthright was released. Fantastic! A historic look at Clark’s life, through Smallville, Metropolis, the Lex Luthor relationship, Lana, Lois – Waid delivers the goods.

I’m particularly fond of Waid’s work on JLA, particularly the “Tower of Babel” storyline. I find it hard to find creative spin on the “team” concepts and villains. If they are the world’s greatest heroes, then why is it so hard to take down a badguy? Again, Waid involves all of the characters, surprises and most of all, want more.

He’s also done Flash, Ka-Zar, The Avengers, Hunter-Killer, Ruse and oh yeah, he worked on one of those X-titles too. That’s quite the resume from quite the fanboy turned comic writer.

Remember the 90’s when comics were driven by the art not an actual story. Well, in an age where the stories are important again, Waid sits atop the heap of talented writers.

Retiring Without the Ring

Karl Malone and Reggie Miller will join the ranks of countless superstars who never won a championship ring: Patrick Ewing, Dan Marino, Charles Barkely, and most likely, Barry Bonds.

Malone leaves behind quite the legacy: two-time MVP and second all-time in scoring. In fact, if Mr. Jordan wasn’t playing in the same era, we’d probably still be seeing Mailman commercials as he chased Kareem for the scoring record.

For me, Malone’s career ended when he left the Utah Jazz to ride the coat tails of others to a ring. It didn’t work, he got nothing and now he’s ending his career.

Movies

Opie casts Hanks, no surprise. Ron Howard has cast Tom Hanks as Dr. Robert Langdon, in next summer’s “The Da Vinci Code”. I’d really like to see Ron actually work with some unknowns, or atleast, a less mainstream lead actor. The book has mass appeal, but a Hollywood’s water-downed changes will ruin this adaptation. Jean Reno will play the hard-nosed French cop – didn’t see that coming.

On the eve of “Constantine”, Dude, It was supposed to be called Hellblazer (yes, the DC/Vertigo comic book) but some thought is sounds too much like “Hellraiser” or the billboards will say “H-blazer” as they did for “Hellboy.”

Let’s review why I don’t have high hopes for this film.