Follow the Leader

Now that I am on a somewhat human schedule I'm able to enjoy some of the finer things in life. Yesterday I watched the final season of Justice League Unlimited. For a show that was only passable in its infancy, this is one cartoon that absolutely hit strides once the format of the show changed and the league was expanded. They were also clever enough to use the established format that Buffy the Vampire Slayer really brought to mainstream attention - the season-long arc. Where the larger plot weaves in and out of different episodes with certain key episodes being given over to direct advancement of said plot. Naturally, Unlimited was always going to appeal to hardcore DC people because you pretty much see everyone that ever was from that universe - even Aztek!

I also watched the pilot episode for HBO's new show John From Cincinnati. At first I wasn't very drawn into this show but the second half of the episode leaves you scratching your head just enough to want more. From what I can tell so far it involves surfing, drugs and possibly superpowers. By the end of the episode I was left with just the vaguest memory of Twin Peaks. So far it doesn't have that level of kookiness, but it would certainly appear to be part of the ingredients. And since when did a television production company (HBO in this case) become a brand unto itself whereby I will pretty much try any program they have to offer? I really am becoming a sucker.

Two years ago I bought the entire first season of The Ultimates and Volume 1 of Ultimates 2. Yesterday, some 24 months later I bought and read Volume 2. I think some of the shine had worn off purely because I had waited 2 years for it. Enjoyable because of the way the series skirts reality, let's face it if the world had superheroes then it would probably all happen the way things played out in the Ultimates. Mark Millar's political leanings are obvious, as ever, and it's stunning that he is allowed to get away with the picture he paints of America and yet still sell to a very mainstream comics crowd. Very much like Michael Moore, I happen to agree with Millar politically on many things but I don't need it forced down my throat in such a way. I guess that's the price I pay for Bryan Hitch art.

Am still in report-writing mode. In fact I should be doing it this very second. It's hard to be diplomatic sometimes in these kinds of reports. You can't tell someone their child sucks because they may pull them from the school - not to mention the fact that I'm not that evil. But it's also difficult to tell them what they can do to address these issues in just two short paragraphs. So it's the old format. Tell them something good, tell them some bad things and then end with something good or a note of encouragement. Yes, after writing 50 of these my brain is officially fried. Tragically I still have 29 to go. Back to the drawing board...