Martinex1: Only April fools would think we wouldn't be around for another week of Bronze Age gold here at BitBA! It is Sunday and we are back to kick off a week of conversation with news, previews, and a review.
If you have any ideas for posts or would like to contribute as a guest writer, please drop us a note at backinthebronzeage@gmail.com. Without further ado, let's get April kick started...
THIS PAST WEEK: There was much to enjoy this past week at Back In The Bronze Age!. If you are joining us for the first time check out the 150 posts- yes that is correct 150 previous posts- listed in the various sidebar topics. We've been on a roll covering everything from Columbo to comic covers to movie musicals over the past five months, so scroll through if you missed anything. We are always open to carry on a conversation that started weeks ago. More recently we have talked about John Romita's artful impact, the Munsters and the Addams Family, the Avengers' core seven, our first and worst jobs, comic conventions, logos for our favorite bands, and baseball cards. If it even touches the Bronze Age (or tickles our hearts) it can be found here. Please continue to join us because we are really just getting rolling!
COMING SOON: I am excited about this week. We really have some new and interesting topics in queue. Come back every day because we will be talking about everything from the masterful Gene Colan to cereal prize gold. Check us out if you have interests that range from Daredevil to forgotten animation. We will of course have an episode of Follow the Leader on Tuesday, so be ready for that impromptu conversation. And for the first time ever, we have a guest post scheduled for Wednesday with our friends from across the pond. UK comics will be the center of attention, so get ready to converse with the comic captains of Britain as they lead us through uncharted bronze history!
RECOMMENDATIONS: This is actually not a glowing recommendation of Last Bag of Groceries, but since it is a movie that has received relatively high praise I am curious what everybody thinks. Or was it just me who missed the point and missed the humor. The movie is the recently released and long awaited sequel to When Harry Met Sally. My wife and I have a monthly practice of going to the cinema and seeing a recent release and we particularly like more artsy films rather than the Hollywood fare. We don't usually see films of the repeat-the-joke sequel blockbuster variety, but since When Harry Met Sally is such a classic we thought we would give it a try just out of curiosity. We weren't sure exactly which way this film was headed, but decided to see it due to the reasonable acclaim it received (getting a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) Without delving too much into the plot, we read the reviews that claimed the movie was "funny and truthful about long lasting marriage." I found it neither. Billy Crystal played the role pretty much as he usually does with dry delivery and subtle bemusement. But the recasting of April Dizzard as Sally was distracting; she doesn't even look or act relatively like the Meg Ryan character. Melissa McCarthy and Jon Hamm as the neighbors were funny just once. And enough with the vomit already - once okay, seven (yes seven times) is way too much; twice would have been too much. I just don't get it. A total retread with a divorce and "I'll have what she's having," thrown in. A day late and a dollar short with this one. 1.25 Bronze Medallions.Cheers! Have a great weekend! Play ball!
14 comments:
Hi gang --
Two recommendations:
Beauty and the Beast is really good. I had a little misgiving about the ending... thought there was a bit too much terror/violence for little ones. Other than that, it was super. The musical bits were wonderful.
If you've never seen Rain, the tribute to the Beatles, make it a point if the show comes to your area. We saw them in Chicago last Wednesday and it was phenomenal. Five costume changes, 39 songs, fantastic A/V displays behind the band, and Sgt. Pepper's played all the way through in honor of the album's 50th anniversary. While it's not my favorite Beatles album, A Day in the Life was one of the true highlights of the show - While My Guitar Gently Weeps was the other. Very fun evening!
Doug
Two Recommendations:
1) To all you "cold war" soldiers, notably David_B from Milwaukee (it rhymes!)... the book "World War Z." It's been out for a good 10 years? Lot of references to Cold War techniques / strategies, notably the "the Fulda blankety-blanks," trying to fight off the zombie horde approaching NYC with Cold War techniques. I'm not so much into zombies but this book... well it's really more than that. There's strategy and tactics... And not the ridiculously absurd tactics posited in "The Zombie Survival Guide!"
2) Cafe Berlin - 5 out of 5 on Amazon. My old German neighbor (from back when I was fighting the Cold War) has been pestering me for a while to read this and I am. Went from mildly amusing to quite compelling in the first 60 pages. Very nicely translated into English and only a few hundred pages. I won't describe it for fear of turning folks away. Bes to read the stellar Amazon reviews.
Gents - C2E2 is around the corner. I was so hoping to hear your comic-reading recommendations. Also, I now realize Byrne had a looong run on Fantastic Four. My wife'll not be happy if I come home with another 100 comics! Please - can anyone recommend like 10 issues of his FF? OR any other "10-issue" types of runs that you still say "Wow! That was cool!" Help Charlie out! C'mon....!!!
Doug - Our family loves Beatles (my son and I saw McCartney in Milwaukee and then my son got front row at LaLa Palooza). Anyhow, the funny story is, Paul's playing at one end of LaLa on Saturday night and some huge rap artist simultaneously a few hundred yards away on the other. Paul is in the middle of Blackbird, solo, and you can hear rap-dude's thundering bass. Paul stops and says, "How can anyone listen to that sh*t???" The crowd lets out a big cheer and Paul goes back to playing, lol.
Charlie, that's a great story about Sir Paul.
And... Charlie, there's a series of trade paperbacks called Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne. At a con, I bet you'll be able to snag them in a $5 box. Here's a link to Amazon, which shows these paperbacks plus other cool stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Four-Visionaries-John-Byrne/dp/0785142703
Doug
Doug - Now that's a good thought, that! I can probably smuggle it in under my shirt too, lol! Just curious if, at that time, Marvel still had letter pages, and Stan's Soapbox, and such? I.e., would I be missing out on part of the Marvel experience, which is why I'm not 100% keen on Archives and Masterworks? Or, at that stage those items were no longer published so I might as well read the Visionaries works? (I know, I know... I'm very needy... LOL)
Charlie- just about any 10 issue run of Avengers between #100 and 200 would be worthwhile reading. And at a con, bargain boxes abound! And I personally recommend any Gerber books- especially Man-Thing and Defenders. I'll be looking for some of those, collected or singles. And while it is helpful to have a 'shopping list', it also is fun to just look around. Some of my favorite purchases at cons have been things bought on the spur of the moment. You'll never see a wider variety...
For suggestions, I made the mention a few weeks back on sidekick apparel, ie 'Why the darknight detective got even more popular with an oddly (and incongruently) dressed sidekick like Robin..?'
I made the point that no other (known) sidekicks had a more opposite-styled attire, including the more similarly-matching outfitted teams of Flash/Kid Flash, Green Arrow/Speedy, Sandman/Sandy, Cap and Bucky, Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, even Aquaman/Aqualad (to an extent).
Charlie, thanks for the nod, I've actually started buying up most of the old 'army field manuals' on the ol' Red Menace off eBay, which displays nicely with my 60s/70s GI Joe collection, actually topping at 56 troops right now. Still no dames though.. LOL
Speaking of, I just watched 'The Hunters' yesterday on DVD, great 1958 Korean War flick with Robert Mitchum and a very young Robert Wagner as a young hotshot pilot. Ahhh, those were the days.
Charlie, for a great 10 issue run, I'd go with a personal favorite with the Buscema/Sinnott FF run of 129-139, just the best team line-up with Medusa and Johnny's red version suit.
david_b, we will be having a sidekick conversation here at BitBA very soon and will include your question and commentary as part of the discussion. Watch for it.
CH 47 - regarding recommendations on Byrne's FF run - I really enjoyed issues 235 through 250. The whole run includes some great stuff, but these particular issues contain some real high points with an epic adventure on Ego the Living Planet, a Galactus melee, the Inhumans moving to the moon, the FF's 20th anniversary, the Frankie Raye story, and plenty of Doom. I think Byrne hit his stride with the team here and there was a lot of overlapping and intriguing storylines going on during that period.
Later issues included She-Hulk which was fun, but I think the classic FF under Byrne was classic in and of itself. Some iconic covers in that run as well.
Charlie, the only collections that contain letters pages are the Omnibus editions, which generally reprint a 40-issue run.
However, all of Stan's Soapbox columns are collected in a single trade paperback, which I have:
https://www.amazon.com/Stans-Soapbox-Collection-Stan-Lee/dp/0979760291/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491179361&sr=1-1&keywords=stan%27s+soapbox
Doug
Doug - Seriously?! A collection of Soapboxes? Did it also include the monthly description of each issue "The Mighty Marvel Checklist" or something like that?
David B - I did keep my "-10s" which are the 3" thick pilot manuals for the UH-1,CH-47, and UH-60. I also kept the field manual for the Infantry tactics from ROTC. (Never know when I'll have to set up a defensive perimeter against...?) I ditched the stuff from Tank / Cav school. Figured I would never come into possession of 50-ton battle tanks so why bother? And anyhow they replaced the M60s with M1s and M113s with Bradleys... Perhaps I should have kept if for nostalgia.
Me thinks I will go after some Avengers, Byrne's FF, and plug a few holes, at C2E2.
As an aside has anyone out there read "Johnny Red" from the 70s? UK comic...
Charlie -- The Stan book only contains the Soapboxes. A nice touch is that the author/editor inserts historical goings-on where context is necessary for Stan's writings.
Doug
I was in the 1st A.D. in Bavaria at the end of the Cold War, and I still have a bunch of crap from then, including a pair of "Matterhorn' lined cold-weather combat boots, paid eighty bucks for those suckers which would be well over a hundred today. A lotta money.
I don't think I could wear them anymore. Apparently even my feet got fatter.
I thought everything was gonna be okey-dokey after the Berlin wall fell down. Guess I was wrong.
We got one hopeful year out of it anyway.
M.P.
M.P.
I HAD a pair of those Matterhorn combat boots as well, around the same time. Made your feet sweat if it was above zero degrees out, but I loved 'em. Bought them at a PX in Germany around 1989. I believe I paid about the same price.
I was stationed in Giessen (under 5th Corps) until 1992.
While she denies it, I strongly suspect the former missus threw my old pair out, so I'd like to invest in another pair someday soon. :)
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