So Comic-Con is here and the floodgates of news are about to open. What is everyone looking forward to? I need all my pals on Twitter to tweet massive amounts of updates on all the latest. And when I say all my pals, I mean like two of you. You know who you are. I'm personally looking forward to the dumb quotes from Joey Q and Dan Didio. What idiotic thing can they say next?

Yesterday morning, the world witnessed an epic test of wills. An unexpected challenge from a surprising challenger that ultimately ended with a predictable result. Andy Roddick danced with the Devil and got burned for doing so. No one expected Andy to be there, and once he got there no expected him to do much of anything. Roger Federer on the cusp of breaking Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slam titles. The day belonged to him. A pushover opponent, a slight nuisance on his path to glory and history. Andy Roddick had a much different idea.

After reinventing himself, being in the best shape of his life and defeating Great Britain's own Andy Murray in a spectacular semi-final Andy Roddick found himself poised to play spoiler to Federer's coronation of greatest ever. And he almost did. It began quietly, Roddick takes the first set 7-5, a thin veil of hope is revealed. The second set is the one that we will all remember. 6-6 in the second set, Roddick takes a commanding lead in the tie break 6-2, but Federer was able to coming back and take the set 7-6. He would also take the 3rd set 7-6, Roddick isn't making it easy, but everyone expects him to fall in the 4th. Again, Roddick maybe showing some of that famous American arrogance comes back and dominates the 4th set 6-3. Hope is reignited. The 5th set is one for the ages, Federer begins serving and wins the first game, Roddick comes back and wins the second game. They go back and forth for 28 games when it's 14-14. Already a Grand Slam record for games played, it will take 2 more for Federer to become the greatest and for Andy Roddick to become the undeserving loser. Federer wins his 15th Grand Slam and breaks Pete Sampras' record. Arguably, the greatest ever. Andy Roddick played the best game of his life, yet it wasn't enough.

If it's any consolation, the 5th set was so powerful, he began to win the British crowd over as he held off Roger Federer game after game. To the point where they forgot that two days before this same man defeated their golden boy, the hope of Great Britain, they just stood there in awe of the spectacle they witnessed, a standing ovation for the American, a chant of his name, a curtain call for the man who left everything he had on the grass court but it just wasn't enough. Many speculate now what this loss does to Andy Roddick's confidence. To be so close, yet so far away. We can only hope that after a few days of reflection he is able to come out of this stronger, better and become the great tennis player everyone saw in him for all those years of underachievement. The sadness and pain in his eyes was unquestionable. Federer tries to console him. Comparing his loss to Rafael Nadal in last year's final. Roddick is quick to point out that he had won Wimbledon 5 times before that. A sarcastic grin, a look of completely bafflement to make such a comparison.

Cheeky American.

So I saw Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen a few days ago and been meaning to do a review for a while. So here we go. Warning: This will be pretty spoilery and revealing so you may want to wait to read this post. On the other hand, you don't watch Michael Bay movies for the story details so it might be safe.( More than meets the eye....not really. )

By Nick Lowe.


Gotta say, I hated it at first. Then, I started thinking about it and came to the conclusion that it would be perfect for an animated series. Pretty generic, but it fits. What do you guys think?

Link: MTV.com

Pretty fugly right? I've never been a huge Alex Ross for many reasons. His ego, his love of the Silver Age etc. His paintings have always been good. I can appreciate the man's work. He's even doing some more modern stuff lately so maybe he caught up with all of us here in 2009. But this Moon Knight cover is pretty terrible. The pose, the lighting, the coloring. Everything is off. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, "You wish you could draw like that." Yeah, I do, but I'm not a world renowned artist, which believe it or not he is. I just point this particular piece out because I've come to expect great work by Alex Ross. This isn't.


Also, lately I've been thinking a lot about Fantastic Four and their movie franchise. I have a plan to win the lottery, buy the rights from Fox and then sell them back to Marvel. Casting has been an issue too. I got ideas on casting, let me hear yours.

So I think we all know what Guitar Hero and Rock Band are at this point. These video games have taken the world by storm by allowing people of ages to immerse themselves in a world of music by playing fake guitars and drums. It's supposed to be fun, entertaining, and even allow people to find new music they never heard before. Widening horizons and such. Well, Jack White doesn't think so:

"It's depressing to have a label come and tell you that Guitar Hero is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music,"

and

"If you have to be in a video game to get in front of them, that's a little sad."

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin had slightly similar comments:

"You think of the drum part that John Bonham did on Led Zeppelin's first track on the first album, Good Times Bad Times," he said. "How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?"

These two are just the latest musicians and artists to take a shot at Guitar Hero and Rock Band. But why? Jack White says "it's sad" that kids are discovering his music through a video game. I ask the question, where else and why not? MTV isn't playing music videos, radio is all but dead. The internet is pretty much the only place to get music these days, and even then, there's so much of it online. What exactly is the issue that kids are possibly becoming White Stripes fans by playing their song on Guitar Hero? None that I can see of.

Sure, playing the Guitar Hero guitar isn't going to teach you squat about picking up a flying V or double neck guitar. But if it drives one kid out of 10, 20 or 100 to go out and pick up the real thing, isn't it worth it. At the end of the day, it's a game. Fact of the matter is, most of the acts featured in the game are popular already. That's why they're in the game to begin with, so the notion that anyone is discovering or experiencing your music through a video game is absurd to say the least.

Jimmy Page, I can respect his opinion. To this day, Led Zeppelin has not been featured in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game. The White Stripes will have a track featured in Guitar Hero 5. Have fun collecting that royalty check.

NME.com

Fraggle Rock comics?!!! Yes, it's true. Jim Henson Company and Archaia team up to bring a new generation of youngsters to Fraggle Rock. Who am I kidding, this is for that 30 year old guy who can't let go of the past. Someone cue up the Fraggle Rock theme. Also, it's funny to see that Boom! Studios owns the comic rights to The Muppets. So I must ask, where is my Muppet Babies comic?

Marvel continues it's never ending line of event comics with The List. Sidebar: Is it really an event if it never ends? The basis of "The List" is Norman Osborn being a douchebag and deciding to get rid of some heroes as part of a to do list he plans on taking on between lunch and being a homicidal maniac. I have problems with an event that was realized while Bendis and some other writers were playing Halo on Xbox Live. Either way, 8 one shots, probably over priced coming your way this summer. Here's Bendis talking about it.

I want to talk directly to Marvel about something. Can we please stop with the Marvel Zombies? The first one, great novelty, entertaining. The next 17, not so much. I think it's time we shoot this one in the head and lay it to rest for good.

Finally, akoyamiazaki recently asked the question "Who the hell is Rikki Barnes?" There might have been an exclamtion point somewhere, I forget. Anyway, simply put, Rikki Barnes is a relic of the past, a character from the dreaded 90's. Simply put, when Liefeld and Co, did Heroes Reborn, they made a whole new universe where Marvel characters were the same but different, Captain America lost his wings, grew boobs and Bucky was a girl named Rikki. Not like the Lake, but Rikki. We had all forgotten about her until Loeb and Liefeld decided people didn't have enough 90's nostalgia in their lives and did Onslaught Reborn a couple of years ago. It was a mini, that in true Loeb and Liefeld fashion took like 3 years to finish. Ultimately, I didn't read it but by the end of the comic, Rikki Barnes was transported into the 616 universe and was left there, waiting for someone to pick up the storyline. By all that is good in this world, Brubaker decided to pick it up and tie it into Captain America #600. Now, Rikki gets her own mini in Nomad: Girl Without a World by Sean McKeever.

I was recently checking out Rich Johnston's new blogsite bleedingcool.com and was wondering where all you guys go to read up on the latest comic book related gossip. Rich is pretty much a love him or hate him dude, but I like reading his stuff and whatever you say, he's right a lot of the time, or at least as much as he's wrong. Newsarama I visit due to force of habit. Really, I miss the old feel and look that site. As for CBR I am shocked that Hannibal Tabu is still allowed to review comics.

Rikki Barnes gets her own series by Sean McKeever. She will apparently go by Nomad now, which makes sense in the literal definition of the world. I wonder if the book will be called Nomad: Cleaning up the mess that was Onslaught Reborn. Seriously, how many people even read that, how many people even knew she was stuck in the 616?

Wednesday Comics by DC, whose buying? Other than some gorgeous artwork and the novelty, I don't see the hubbub* about it. I'll give it a chance but really, how much story can you get out on one page?


*Hubbub is an actual word apparently.