You Want to Be a Superhero?
I am a reality TV junkie. I will be the first to admit it. I have a problem. So when I heard Sci-fi channel was having a reality show about superheroes, I was really geeked out. When I heard Stan Lee was involved with it, I got really, really geekd out.

I was finally able to watch the show yesterday and let me say it is pretty awesome. It is different than most other reality competitions. In Survivor / Amazing Race type, it is about athleticism, intelligence, and guile. In the shows like Top Chef and Project Runway, the focus is one skills and creativity. Here the show focuses on skills of a superhero, but since there are no superpowers in the real world, the show focuses on character traits, which was a new concept for me. Stan Lee plan to base his show on judging courage, character, honesty, integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion, resourcefulness.
Hopefully it will level the playing field for the non-athletic types.

The cast included Tobias Trost as Levity, Jonathan Finestone as Rotiart, Tonya Kay as Creature, Chris Watters as Major Victory, Steel Chambers as The Iron Enforcer, Mary Votava as Monkey Woman, Nell Wilson as Fat Momma, Darren Passarello as Nitro G, Chelsea Weld as Cell Phone Girl, Matthew Atherton as Feedback, E. Quincy Sloan as Tyveculus, and Tonatzin Mondragon as Lemuria.

The first episode was a hoot and with lots of patent Stan Lee’s comic twists. I enjoyed this episode and looking forward to the next. You Want to Be a Superhero? comes on Sci-fi channel Thursday 8PM central with multiple re-airing during the week… By the way I’m rooting for Fat Momma.

Another funny video:
Here is a funny commerical about cleaning. Found it on video google.

Grounded #2-6:
While I am waiting for my new shipment of comics to arrive with Civil War and OYL goodness, I have decided to thumb through some comics that I haven’t read. One of them was the series Image’s Grounded. I was putting off reading this comic because I was missing issue 1, but for some reason I decided to read them anyway.

The good news: Superheroes are real. The bad news: You're not one of them. When Jonathan is sent to a high school for super-powered teens, he's forced to abandon his dream of having powers and deal with the reality that he's the only kid without them.

Missing the first made it abit tricky to learn all the characters, but it was a great read. This comic has its moments with witty and inventive solutions. I also enjoy on Mark Sable’s take on the teenage superpowered beings. He understands that teenagers don’t want to take responsibility yet in life and want to enjoy life first. So in one scene in issue 3#, Jonathan is getting pounded by the hologram robbers and his classmates all flee instead of fighting. Jonathan gets upset and asked why they aren’t acting like heroes. The answer was quite shocking to Jonathan. They don’t want to be heroes. They rather dream up schemes to use their power to become rich and famous instead.

I love the art. It fits well with the comic and very stylish. But again the writing is what stands out in this series. I did not enjoy Wildstorm’s take on high school life with the Intimates. I know that there are different types of stories. Intimates is more of a slice of life piece and Grounded was more typical straight story. But so me the characters from Grounded were more appealing and interesting. Either way, I highly recommend this series in 6 floppies or trade…now I got to find someone with issue #1. RATINGS: STORY-9/10 ART-7/10

Casanova #1 and Paul Jenkins' Sidekick #1:
Osh-gosh-mc-gosh... look a review on a non- Marvel or DC floppy. I am going to some unfamiliar boundaries with reviewing a couple of new Image series: One with a hefty price tag and another with a wallet friendly one. Recently I was listening to a podcast from those guys at Around Comics and they were addressing the problems with rising prices of single issues and not able to try new comics because of it. People are more reluctant to buy new series because of the increasing price per issue of comics. It is an understandable fear. Why waste $4 on a comic that could suck? Here is going to the comic book store weekly really helps. When you go to your local comic store, you can thumb through the pages and sort of "try" the comic out, one of the big advantages of visiting your local store. So go visit you local comic store. Now back to your review…

Casanova #1: This comic has a cover price of $1.99, very wallet friendly, so I order it and guess what I like it.
Meet Casanova Quinn: scoundrel, thief and international man of leisure. The death of his twin sister ignites a cosmic blackmail scheme that forces Cass into the mind-bending life of a super-secret agent. Realities smash together, setting father against son, Us vs. Them and launching this slipstream sci-fi espionage epic!
Overall the art is fun and the lack of full color doesn’t hurt the comic one bit. The comic can be a little wordy and hard to follow, but the premise looks great and unique. If the cover price wasn’t 2 bucks I probably would have missed this little gem. I plan to pick up future issues and you should too. RATINGS: STORY- 7/10 ART- 8/10

Paul Jenkins’ Sidekick #1: Listed price is $3.50 and I almost passed on this one because of the price, but the cover art was appealing and I like Paul Jenkins’ work. So it was worth a go.
By day, he is mild-mannered pizza delivery boy, Eddie Edison. By night, he is also mild-mannered Eddie Edison…who just happens to be the alter ego of the Mister Excellent’s 20 something sidekick, Superior Boy. But the pay sucks. So Eddie settles upon an unlikely solution: He becomes a paid sidekick to three other superheroes, but soon finds out how hard it is to juggle the schedules of four super-powered morons.
This comic is actually fun and whimsical. It feels like a Three’s Company episode with superheroes. Art is good and fits with writing well. As for the story, it was good, but it worries me that Paul Jenkins might be dragging this story out with 5 issues when an one-shot might work better. RATINGS: STORY-7/10 ART- 7/10

Heroes: NBC
Okay, so I lied. It has been hellish recently for me. I have been relocated for a job and let me tell you moving in no fun. Busy with all of life over things has left this blog very neglected. Welll, thing are slowly settling down and hope to resume a normal schedule soon.

One of the new TV shows I am really sike to see it Heroes on NBC. It has recently got a lot of press during Comic-con this year. Newsarama has an excellent interview with writer Jeph Loeb. "Some people are born to be extraordinary," Loeb explained. "They thought they were like everyone else until they work with incredible abilities... Heroes chronicles the lives of these everyday people and the lives of others like them. People whose destiny just might be saving humankind!"

The trailer looks awesome and I can't wait to see more. Comic-con is going to be have a special screening. Lets hope that it is going to create the same buzz and excitement that Lost received 2 years ago.