Nova Phase

This weekend I was sent an advanced preview of the first two issue of Slave Labor’s comic Nova Phase.  I hadn’t heard anything about the book before I opened my email, so I didn't know what to expect.  Any book that lists Cowboy Bebop, The Rifleman, and Snatcher as influences immediately has my attention.  When I opened the files and started reading I wondered why this didn't exist earlier.  Nova Phase is a lot of fun. 

This isn’t a comic book, this is an extended cutscene from an early 90's video game and I mean that in the very best way possible.  Written by Matthew Ritter with art  by Adam Elbatimy Nova Phase mixes a space western story with retro video game style art.  It stars a bounty hunter who trusts too easily.  She gets involved with a rag tag group of adventures who are on the run from an evil army.  I've only read the first two issues but I’m hooked on the series.  If you grew up playing those early video games the style is going to hit you right in the nostalgia.  It’s too early for me to say how deep the story is going to get, but it has that madcap rollercoaster of action feel to it.  I called it fun earlier and I meant it.

The first two issues will be available on January 15^th through Comixology.  If you prefer the feel of paper between your fingertips the first two issues will be collected into one issue and will be on sale in February through the SLG website and Amazon.  The rest of the issues will be continue to be released first on Comixology and then collected into print.  

Princeless: Volume 2

The second series of Action Lab Comic’s Princeless is hitting comic book shelves.  I really enjoyed the first volume so I was excited to see the story continuing.  Years ago I was sitting at a friend’s house and having a couple drinks.  Her daughter was pretty young at the time and the friend commented how she wanted a series of fairy tales where the princess didn’t need a prince to do the rescuing.  That the princess was important enough to have adventures on her own.  When I read through the first volume of Princeless I thought back to that old conversation and just smiled.

Action Lab sent me the first issue of the new Princeless and I jumped at the chance to read it.  The story picks up right where the first volume left off.  I think the first issue recaps the prior adventures enough that a new reader wouldn’t be lost, but I’d recommend tracking down the other issues.  The humor and warmth are still there.  Writer Jeremy Whitley is fantastic at getting laughs out of fantasy archetypes.  The adventurers introduced in this issue are worth the price of admission; everything else is just a bonus.  Emily Martin provides the art this time around.  It’s a solid effort too, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I missed M. Goodwin’s pencils on this.

Check out Princeless for yourself, either at your local shop or at Action Lab’s own website.

Ehmm Theory

Action Lab Comic is creating a new line for their comics called “Action Lab: Danger Zone”.  The Danger Zone imprint will feature comics for Mature Readers only; so they can get more violent, gory, and strange than Action Lab’s normal line up.  The very first of those comics “Ehmm Theory” will be released in May, which means your local comic shop will still be able to preorder it for you if you’re interested.  So what is Ehmm Theory about? 

The cover gives you a pretty good idea that it’s going to be a bloody book but it doesn’t really prep you for how strange everything is going to get.  There is a lot of setup in the first issue and there are still a lot of questions that it leaves unanswered.  It’s one of those stories that as soon as you put down the first part you’re looking for the second part because you need to find out just what is going on. How strange is Ehmm Theory?  What I’m about to tell you only covers the first three pages, so while it is spoiler material I consider it pretty light.  A man with a talking kitten fights zombie circus midgets in a graveyard.  Personally that’s the kind of strange I can get into.

The story is by Brockton McKinney, Larkin Ford provides the art, and Jason Strutz is on the colors.  The art has a nice balance between realism and cartoon.  It works well; the kitten sidekick probably wouldn’t have worked as well if the artist had gone with a hyper-realistic style.  There are a couple panels where Ford and Strutz really let loose and it looks fantastic.  The pacing of the story is solid.  It’s one of those stories where learning what is really going on is part of the story; so I guess the best praise I can offer is that I can’t wait for the next issue just to see what is going to happen.

Again, Ehmm Theory will be out in May, so you still have time to tell your local shop you want a copy.  Remember pre-orders are incredibly important in the comic’s industry, especially when you’re dealing with a book outside the big two.  Action Lab Comics did provide That F’ing Monkey with a digital review copy.

A Quite Expected Journey

I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and feeling of death. So this is going to be short and sweet.

I saw "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" on Friday. It was quite enjoyable and did not feel drawn out at all. I have a feeling that the third flick will focus on the Battle of the Five Armies. A lot of the extra material in the film is taken from the LOTR appendices and the "prequal" story The Quest of Erebor.

I did not see it in 3D as my disdain for that format is well known. Therefor I can not comment on the 48 frames per second controversy.

I am off to self medicate and sleep so throw your opinions of the movie down in the comments or on our Facebook page. Also check out That F'ing Monkey Podcast and let me know what you think.

2-Headed Shark Attack

There are a lot of shark movies out there; to my knowledge there is only one movie with a 2-headed shark. Now I very strongly believe that sharks are not monsters and we really need to step up our conservation efforts to save them. That being said, I love a shark attack movie. Good, bad, or silly; I will watch them all. So months ago when I heard about 2-Headed Shark Attack I knew I had to see it. It took a little while for me to do so, the movie came out on Blu-Ray on January 31st. Honestly I knew I wanted to see it, I just wasn’t sure if it was worth 20 bucks. Thankfully this movie is currently on Netflix.

The movie centers on a Semester at Sea school group that is attacked by a 2-headed shark. At the start of the movie their ship, the Sea King, runs into a dead shark. The dead shark slams into the bottom of the boat and destroys the propellers. The 2-headed shark also is attacking the boat and manages to break the radio antenna. Honestly I re-watched this sequence a few times. What exactly is happening and why is very hard to figure out. End result is that the Sea King is stranded, taking on water, and has no way to contact the rest of the world.

The man in charge of the expedition is Professor Babish; who is played by Bachelor star and brother of Jerry O’Connell, Charlie O’Connell. The Professor wants to ferry all the kids over to the atoll while his co-captain and crew make repairs to the Sea King. His wife, played by Carmen Electra, doesn’t like the idea and plans to stay on the Sea King. Because of this, Carmen spends the first third of the movie sunbathing on the ship. Among the 15 students is Brooke Hogan.

We have to talk about the shark now. There are no grand science experiments or secret weapon testing in this one, the 2-headed shark is just a freak of nature that somehow survived in nature. Because it has two heads, it is also doubly sensitive electric current in the water. This is the reasoning for it attacking boat motors and things like that. It does not explain how it can eat 20+ people in an hour and still be hungry. The CGI is extremely un-even. Some shots are fairly well done; then there are times where the shark in the HotWheels commercial looks more realistic.

All of the things you would expect to happen here happen. The co-captain trying to make repairs to the boat is eaten. Three teens go “skinny dipping” and are eaten. They call it skinny dipping, but if you’re only topless can you really call it that? Actually almost everyone in this one gets eaten. The body count is pretty massive. The attacks are usually set up so the shark can kill two people at the same time; although there are a few times when one person is ripped apart by both heads.

So after all of that, how is it? This is an Asylum movie through and through; bad special effects, laughable premise, and bad actors. If you don’t like the Sci-Fi Channel’s original movies you aren’t going to like this. I had a good time with this one, mainly because it kept getting more and more absurd. This is a rental though, I can’t really say it is one I need to own. Grab it from Netflix and watch with some friends.

Replica Normandy Review

From looking at the articles on the site, there is no denying that I am a huge BioWare fan boy. I love their games. Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and we can’t forget Mass Effect. Mass Effect is something that consumes my thoughts. I become obsessive about the designs, the characters, the story, and the ships. It was heartbreaking to see the Normandy torn apart in the start of Mass Effect 2. I was cheering when the Normandy SR2 was revealed.

Because of these feelings I was very excited when Dark Horse announced that they were doing a replica of the Normandy SR2. I quickly pre-ordered and counted the days until it showed up at my local comic shop. With all of that setup you’re probably expecting a glowing review. I really give it one in good conscience though. Unless you are a crazed die hard, the replica just isn’t worth 35 dollars.

The Normandy measures just under seven inches in length. It is cast out of resin, so the details show through the mold, you just have to be careful it doesn’t take any dives off where ever you display it. It also comes with a display stand. The bad news is that the Normandy looks like I painted it. That is not a good thing. Seriously. The paint applications are sloppy and ugly. It really detracts from the model and makes it look cheap.

So in my opinion, the Normandy is a big letdown. I really wanted to love it. I was all ready to make ship noises and zoom it all over the house. Unfortunately it is the only replica available. Well there is another version of the Normandy, it’s identical to the one I bought but painted in the Cerberus color scheme. If you must have a Normandy on your shelf/desk/etc… this is sadly your only option.

UPDATE:  So after posting my review I see that "Antique" version of the Normandy has been solicited.  "This version is offered as a limited edition of 1,500 pieces, with a custom base treatment (not pictured) that is different from the regular edition."   It is retailing for 50 dollars  So now you can pay more for a model where they don't even bother to paint details.

No cute power ring pun

Well I saw Green Lantern on Friday, and must say it was not as bad as you have heard. It is not great mind you, but it is not bad. Also I saw it in 2D the only way to watch movies if you are over 12. I have already railed against 3D here, so I will leave it alone for now. Here is my review, with no spoilers.



First off, Ryan Reynolds is not comic book Hal. He is Ryan Reynolds playing a character that happens to be named Hal Jordan. I didn't not like him, he just should never have tried to be Hal.



Now on to the good. I really liked what they did with Parallax, it makes sense within the movie-verse without having to go deep into the mythology. It looked okay for the most part, although sometimes it just looked like a giant blob of CGI smoke. Once I let my nerd rage over Ryan fade I enjoyed him for the most part. I really liked the stuff on Oa and the training bits were quite awesome, if a little short. I got quite a chuckle when Hal got "Captain Americaed" (that is right I just used Captain America as a verb - suck it.) I was also in nerdvana picking out all the lanterns that popped up in cameo. (Hannu and Bzzd - hells yes! Little sad I did not see Morro but what ya gonna do?) The constructs were pretty cool to see in motion. The costumes were not as bad as the pictures suggest and they only go all ribbed and weird when Hal is exerting lots of will. Mark Strong as Sinestro was fucking great and he got way too little screen time. I am sure we will see more of him in the sequel.



The bad. There is no time to really have believable arch for any character. Hal seems to just change personalities mid stride. Carol is just a skirt. Tom "Pieface" is just a basic audience proxy does not even get named until later in the film. Hector Hammond just comes off as a prick and his motivation is just him being a jackass. It was also a really strange call to have Hammond as the villain under Parallax. They waste Amanda Waller as just a generic scientist instead of the total bad ass non powered human that stands toe to toe with Superman that she is. The combination of the earthbound and space scenes can't compare to "Thor" which handled the dichotomy in an amazing way. This just feels like they took two movies and smashed them together. The post credits scene really does not fit with how the character was acting in the main movie.

All in all I enjoyed the flick. It is a popcorn summer movie that almost hit the mark, but fell just short. It is worth seeing on the big screen for the space stuff alone. Turn off the comic nerd part of the brain and enjoy it for what it is.


Reading this week: "Battle for the Abyss" by Ben Counter (Busy this week not much time to read)

Quick Tron Legacy Review

Due to the fact that I am crazy busy at work this week, this post will just be a quick review of "Tron: Legacy". Tune in next week for a much better post...for now courage.

Much like the first Tron this sequel is more style than substance. The "story" if one can call it that is plodding and pretty much nonsensical. The real world scenes are really just "hey do you remember Sark?" and stuff along those lines. Once it gets into the Grid it looks fucking gorgeous, but then you get bogged down by the visuals and that feels like what the film makers were going for. No time is really spent with silly things like character development. All in all I would say to see it in the theater if you care about the 3-D elements (which work in this flick as it was shot in 3-D and not post converted) if that ain't your deal then wait until you can get it on Netflix.

Review: 9/11 heartbreaker

As seen in the comment field from this week’s Hangover Thursday; there was a request to review a short graphic novel. Up until this point at That F’ing Monkey we’ve mostly hyped about things we really like or complained about things we didn’t. There hasn’t been much actual reviewing. So I thought long and hard the other night on how to do reviews. At one point I was going to award up to five pint glasses as a score (like so and so gets 3 and a half pints out of 5). But I find reviews with scores or grades end up being skimmed down to the bottom to see how it rates. So instead I’m going to write about my thoughts and feelings when doing a review and leave behind any type of scoring system.

9/11 heartbreaker by Craig Staufenberg is a change of pace from the normal books talked about here. There are no swords, superheroes, or monkeys. In fact I was a little nervous by the title. Living in Florida, I understand the loss of life in 9/11 is a tragedy but I know a total of one person who was even in the state of NY at the time. I was worried that I might be a little too distant from the material for it to really have an impact.

I was wrong, it definitely has impact. In fact after I read it, I spent the rest of the night thinking about it. The story begins as the main character meets Peter at a karaoke bar. Peter tells her that he records young people’s memories of 9/11. That is the part of the plot you’re getting from me. Not because there is some grand twist you’ll never see coming, but because of how thought provoking the rest of the journey is. History, legacies, and personal memories become intertwined.

The art style is simple, yet manages to still be expressive. Sometimes there are backgrounds, other times the backgrounds consist of just solid colors. The panel layouts can be at times creative, but more importantly are always easy to follow. The text all appears to be handwritten. It makes the book feel like you are reading through someone’s journal. Peering in on the main character’s private thoughts makes the entire experience seem even more intimate.


In case it isn't obvious at this point, I really enjoyed the book.
Digital copies of 9/11 heartbreak are 2.99 and print copies are 4.99. The print copy is 28 pages. You can order either version from this link: http://memoryisfiction.com/?page_id=67
Check it out for yourself, come back, and let me know what you thought.  It may make you reevaluate the memories you hold on to.