A new year a new look...and other random things

Hello Readers!

As you can see I took some time today to update the overall look of The Comic Shop.  I hope the new page is fluid in use, and easy on the eyes.


First...

When I started writing this blog I had no idea what I was going to do with it.  A quick scan of my blogger history shows how many times I've started to write something, but give up when I struggled for content.  I do truly enjoy writing this blog and it is a joy for me.

With that it mind I want to extend the offer to any reader that I will publish guest editorials about any topic in the comics realm with no prior restraint.  Obviously I won't publish anything that is hate speech or anything like that, but within reason.  I really want to open up discussion, and what better way to do that than to open up the opportunity for counterpoints to my own editorials, or new points of view about issues in comics.

Any submissions should be made to johnnyleffler1116@gmail.com

Second...

If you haven't checked it out yet "Detective Comics #27" hit the shelves this week, and it is very cool.  At $8 it's a bit of a steep price, but it is well worth it.  It comes in tradepaperback form and has a collection of stories by a who's who of writers celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Dark Knight.

Third....

As reported by various media outlets "All Hail the King" the Marvel short attached to the home video release of "Thor: The Dark World" will not in fact feature Loki (Tom Hiddleston), but rather pick up the story of Trevor Slatterly/The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).  SPOILER DISCUSSION
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While I found the Mandarin twist in IM 3 to be a little less than riveting it does sound like a wonderful name for a mixed drink.  Ben Kingsley is too high of a profile actor to be regressed to playing a druggie, actor, dolt.  I can only hope that "All Hail the King" sets in motion events that will make Kingsley the right and truthful Mandarin for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  It is incredibly disheartening for Marvel/Disney to sign an actor of Kingsley's ilk and only use him as a punchline.  It is as disappointing as Hugo Weaving only signing on for one appearance as the Red Skull to this point, or the fact that they brought in Hollywood heavyweights like Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel to do voice-over work for "Guardians of the Galaxy".


Fourth.....(spoiler-ish)

Upon further review it appears that the Ultimate Universe is not going away after all, and will instead be rebooted as Ultimate Marvel NOW!  This is unfortunate for this blogger, because I had hoped to see Miles Morales in the Marvel 616.  We will have to put a pin in that idea for now.


Fifth.........

A leaked image from Marvel solicitations for April's books spoiled the return of "The Amazing Spider-man" to store shelves.  It looks like Otto's days running around in Pete's body are numbered at this point.  It will be interesting to see how Slott & Ramos weave the status changes during the "Superior Spider-man" run into the future for the fan-favorite Peter Parker. 

Sixth...and final

There are a LOT of rumors flying right now about the upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel right now.  In the last few days I have read several. 

The first is that Affleck's Batsuit will be similar in appearance to the artwork of Alex Ross (one could postulate Black leather cape/cowl and a gray bodysuit). 

The second is that Bryan Cranston is again being rumored to play Lex Luthor.  I for one would be all for this as I am an unabashed fan of "Breaking Bad" and Cranston's performance made that show an all-time favorite.

The third rumor is that Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons will share heritage with Kryptonians.  This one is a bit of a stretch, and will be hard to get by comic fans in general.  I can see story-wise how it would make sense so that Clark can learn more about the history of Krypton, and we know from the established continuity in "Man of Steel" that there were Kryptonian colonies on several different worlds.  I'll admit I'm not a fan of this idea, but I am trying my best to keep an open mind with all the news items associated with this film.  This will either be a dynamite success, or a dysfunctional shitshow.  I'm obviously pulling for the former, but the more I hear the more I'm inclined to anticipate the latter. 


Until next time...Happy Reading!