Paneled Goods: Batroc zee Leaper!

So who was that French speaking dude that Captain America mixes it up with in the opening scene of The Winter Soldier?  Why, that's Batroc zee Leaper!  A savate kickboxing mercenary who has been crossing paths with Cap since his introduction in 1966's Tales of Suspense # 75 from creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  Back then, Captain America and Iron Man weren't popular enough for their own titles so they shared Suspense with each getting 10-12 pages of paneled adventure.  In their first meeting, Batroc is hired to steal Inferno 42, a high explosive strong enough to melt the entire city.  But when a nameless female Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. makes off with it, Batroc and Cap team up to retrieve it before it goes boom boom.  Batroc's introduction would include many of his character trademarks like his vicious kicking skills, mustache twirling, French accent, purple and yellow bodysuit and penchant for teaming up with Cap when something nefarious comes up.  The price for his services?  A cool $1 million bucks.  Oui!

Also in my collection is a two parter from 1980's # 251 and 252 by the incredible Captain America duo Roger Stern and John Bryne.  The two only teamed up for 9 issues but provided one of Cap's most memorable runs where he faces Machine Smith, Baron Von Strucker, Dragon Man, Batroc, Mr. Hyde, Baron Blood and even find time to update his origin while introducing his New York City apartment neighbors and love interest Bernie Rosenthal.  Here, Batroc is hired to break villain Mr. Hyde out of prison for $5 million smackers.  But Batroc almost chokes on his champagne when he realizes the offer was a bluff as Hyde plans to hold New York City herself hostage with a commandeered oil tanker turned device of mass explosion.  Again, Cap and Batroc team up to take on a bigger threat with Bats seemingly escaping until Cap runs into his escape boat with a submarine.  Non!


Next in my collection was one of Captain America's most fun runs, 1989's #357 - 362 by Mark Gruenwald and Kieron Dwyer.  "The Bloodstone Hunt" starts off with Batroc's crew breaking into a museum to steal the skeleton of a former caveman turned monster hunter via a strange alien stone.  Working with international killers Machete and Zaran, Batroc's team has been hired by Baron Zemo to find the fragments of the Bloodstone in an attempt to bring his dead father back to life.  Here, Batroc is up to his usual antics: jump kicking fools in the face and hitting on the women.  He craves recognition but not a paycheck as this job is only paying $10k for the bones or $100k for each of the 5 stones.  Looks like the economy in the 80's wasn't so hot.  This is basically Cap's version of being Indiana Jones as he jets around the world with female sidekick Diamondback from the jungle to the desert to the far east fighting mummies, Mayans, Japanese cooks and more.  The bromance continues as Cap saves Batroc's crew from human sacrificing Mayans while Batroc returns the favor and warns Cap that a shark is about to take a bite out of his Star-Spangled behind.  Yeah, they fight sharks too, like gentlemen.  When Zaran wonders if Batroc has a soft spot for the Avenger, Bats flying jump kicks his ass and reminds Zaran to never accuse him of being anything but a ladies man.  Ces't la vie!

I'm Hot! I'm Big! Big-uh!

"It'll make you great, man.  You already big but you could be bigger.  

You know?  I'm big.  Imma be swole though. Walk sideways through doors."

Nothing like a little Pain & Gain to get you back in the mood for working out.  It's been nearly a year since the best movie of 2013 hit theaters and took in $50 million on it's way to cult movie status complete with a bare bones and Collector's Edition home video releases.  Mark Wahlberg scored a late summer hit, sharing the screen with Denzel Washington in 2 Guns before making an even bigger splash with the true events based Lone Survivor.  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson showed up for Fast & Furious 6 and WrestleMania while teasing the world with the in progress flick Hercules which just saw it's trailer hit.  In a bit of timing coincidence, Anthony Mackie is currently onscreen in mega hit Captain America:  The Winter Soldier which was written by Pain & Gain and Captain America:  The First Avenger's Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

To ease my way back into training after a pseudo week off where I stuffed my face with burgers, fries, pizza, fried chicken, Chinese food, subs and so much more I opted for a traditional Back and Triceps workout followed by cardio.  Still implementing a pyramid rep scheme to warm up, work and back off, I completed 5-7-10-12-7 of the following:

1) Deadlift - For lower back, forearms and quads.  Want to avoid back pain?  Train it!
2) Bench Dips - Pyramiding up and down but starting at 10 reps, then with a 25lb plate on my lap
3) Chin Up - Alternating grips each set
4) Dumbbell Extension - Behind the head, keeping elbows in tight, lowering as far as possible
5) Dumbbell Row - Alternated rowing close to the side of my lats with rowing wide to the outside to work different angles, these got my back, rear delts, biceps and forearms really pumped
6) Close Grip Push Up - I had used all my weights for heavy DB exercises so used different hand placement: close parallel, diamond and fingers facing in to burn out the tri's

This was followed by some Ab-Aerobics where I'd pedal and jump rope for 2 minutes each followed by some crunches, trunk twists and ab wheels.  This went on for 5 rounds while I watched Messrs Wahlberg, Johnson and Mackie blow shit up and get swole.

Cut the check!

Ask Me A Question: Joe

This past weekend, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica hosted a three night tribute to one Nicolas Coppola aka Nicolas Cage, the eccentric dramatic and comedic Academy Award winning actor turned tentpole action movie star turned What Not To Do With Millions of Dollars example turned internet meme sensation.  Bad Lieutenant and Adaptation were the weekend's first programs with Cage and director Werner Herzog appearing after the former. Tonight was a preview of Joe, a Southern Gothic Western or whatever they're calling these, from director David Gordon Green based on a novel by Larry Brown and adapted by Gary Hawkins.  Cage plays Joe, a former convict trying to keep a low profile in rural Texas who runs a tree poisoning business for a lumber company.  One day, 15 year old Gary (Tye Sheridan) approaches Joe and asks for a job.  Gary is hard working and trying to provide for his burnt out mother and mute sister because his father is a drunk, abusive loser.  Both Joe and Gary have run afoul of crazed local loudmouth Willie (Ronnie Blevins) and after some gritty coming of age, whiskey and Coke, dog fighting, whore housing, cop fighting and GMC truck fueled shenanigans, Joe must decide if he's going to give up his relatively peaceful existence or risk it all to help Gary.

I was only familiar with director Green's work on comedic fare like Eastbound and Down, Pineapple Express and The Sitter.  But his resume includes many low budget thrillers which Joe is more akin.  While it's a slow paced serious drama, there's also room for many laughs to keep you from feeling pummeled by the country ass, redneck, sad vagrant setting and characters.  Cage's Joe is a guy just trying to get by but hates when people try to tell him what to do, especially cops, which of course gets him into trouble.  His performance is excellent as he plays strong and stoic just as well as he does nurturing with his trademark zaniness mixed in.  Tye Sheridan also acquits himself nicely as the uneducated but motivated Gary trying to protect his family.  Non-actor Gary Poulter is fantastic as Gary's pitiful piece of shit dad Wade aka G-Daawg.  Hopefully this marks a new era for Cage following his financial woes and he can remind the public of what a talented actor he is.  I always thought his performance in Face/Off was overlooked in 1997.  Sure the movie was a big hit but go back and watch Cage's bi-polar turn as a crazy, globe trotting terrorist and as a sensitive, brooding father.  He excels as both.

After the film, director Green and Cage took to the stage for a Q & A session moderated by former Maxim and current Deadline.com reporter/critic Peter Hammond.

Origins:  The novel was written by one of Green's former college professors.  Green sent the script along with a letter to Cage who loved it and came on board.

Performances:  Cage didn't mention his outright troubles of the last few years but said he had reached a point where he had gone through a western kabuki, baroque, Andy Warhol style of acting and wanted to start fresh with an honest performance with no baggage.  He doesn't believe in over the top, you tell him what the top is and he'll tell you where he is.

Cage was all you'd expect him to be:  thoughtful, funny, articulate, intense, weirdcool, etc.  Watching him even when he wasn't speaking was interesting.  You could tell things were running full speed in his brain and when he spoke, it was like the flood gates opened.

Actors:  Green filled the film with many non-actors.  Poulter was found at a bus stop on his way back to Texas after a stint in a traveling circus.  One guy owned a local BBQ joint in Austin, another was Green's neighbor who plain "talked cool" while many others were found at the local Day Labor office.

Setting:  Green is from the south and loves all the bullshitters and storytellers therein.

Fame:  Cage feels imitation is the highest form of flattery but laments that movie stars are people who make mistakes too and that Brando and Bogart didn't have to worry about someone in a coffee shop videotaping them making a mistake that then becomes world news.  He gave a very honest and interesting answer to the question and then referenced the YouTube videos of him going crazy and reciting the A-B-C's, which I had been talking about all week.

Of course more was talked about but hey, get yourself a membership to the American Cinematheque or live in Los Angeles.

Then, as an added bonus, we spotted Avatar and Sabotage's Sam Worthington with some suit clad agent types exiting the theater.  I quickly told him I had seen Sabotage twice that week and it was awesome as we shook hands.  He was chill and very svelte.

So there you have it, an overall great night and perfect ending to my 6 movie week.  High phalanges to Lionsgate, The Aero, Gordon and Cage.

Here's the duo making the festival circuit:

Van Dammage: Family Tree

"I've got to go first to the family; first the son, then the daughter and then the father."

     Jean-Claude Van Damme on working his way to Kirk Douglas

When Jean-Claude Van Damme first arrived in Hollywood, he didn't speak the language or know anybody in the business.  Working 10 hours a day at jobs like laying carpet, delivering pizza and driving limousines while training 4 times a week, young JCVD toiled for years.  He would put his head shot on the window of cars in studio parking lots, deducing that the nice ones belonged to producers.  Van Damme would go to clubs, hoping to see a movie star.  Stallone tells a story of the young karate guy performing kicks and doing the splits outside his home before taking Van Damme to a bus station.  Van Damme has stated he wrote hundreds of letters to actors and producers he admired and the only one who responded was Kirk Douglas of Spartacus and being frigging Kirk Douglas fame.  Years later, Van Damme would team up with Douglas' son Michael on the production of Double Impact.

The Legend call in:

Grudgement Day: David Letterman

Did you hear David Letterman is retiring?  I even got an e-mail from Twitter about it...and I just turned off all notifications from them.  You know how some people just rub you the wrong way?  Like that scene in The Weatherman, where some random couple watching Nicolas Cage on television, the man says he doesn't like his face or name and thinks he's bullshit.  That's how I feel about Letterman.  I've never been much of a late night viewer, only catching highlights or YouTube clips of guests I like.  So the handful of interviews I've seen with Jean-Claude Van Damme or Arnold with Letterman, the host just always comes off like a smarmy prick.  Maybe that's his schtick but you can tell he is either jealous or thinks he's better/smarter than them which makes for extremely awkward exchanges and not a very good time.

Whereas Jay Leno, whom people like to give a hard time, always seems to be having fun on his show and with his guests.  He's not trying to play hardball with them, he's trying to entertain the audience in studio and at home.  Which to me, is the point of these kinds of programs, to get your daily news with a laugh while winding down from a long day.  Then there was Letterman's rant against Food Network host Rachael Ray and culinary based programming in general.  Something about how people are starving but who cares, let's watch a show about cupcakes.  As if his fucking existence and livelihood didn't thrive on the lavish and wasteful lifestyles of the rich and shameless.  Apparently Letterman likes to keep his charitable side a secret so I have no clue how much of his reported $14 million a year salary he spends on helping others or going to Africa to feed the hungry.  Oh yeah, then he admitted to having sex with female interns and staff members before apologizing in the midst of a blackmail attempt.  So hey, go fuck yourself, smart guy.

Looking good, Arnold:

Vernal Viewing: Captain America Double Feature

My local AMC hosted a Captain America double feature with The First Avenger and new sequel The Winter Soldier.  It started at 5:30 PM so there was just enough time to grab some grub and even better that we wouldn't be getting out at 2:30 AM.  With our event exclusive lanyards and posters secured, it was time to settle in for 2011's First Avenger.  I can't recall the last time I watched this was but it's always been my favorite film from Marvel and has much higher repeat viewing value than Iron Man, Iron Man Two, Thor, The Avengers, etc.  Watching it on the big screen, it still played in all it's rock'em, sock'em, World War Two, sci-fi tinged pulp action adventure glory that reminds us even the little guy can make a difference...as long as you have the will and a suped up, Olympian level body bestowed upon you via a top secret military experiment involving serums and vita-ray bombardment.  The flick moves fast, the jokes work and I totally forgot Tommy Lee Jones was in here and steals every scene.  The 3D effects were surprisingly noticeable this time around and people were still ducking in their seats when Cap's vibranium shield seemingly comes flying at you.

After a quick break, it was time for trailers.  So many trailers!  I think there were around 7, advertising summer fare like Amazing Spider-Man 2, Godzilla, Maleficent,  Guardians of the Galaxy and more.  Then it was time for The Winter Soldier, which has been garnering great word of mouth from early screenings and already opened to $75 million at the International Box Office.  Picking up some time after The Avengers, Steve Rogers aka Captain America is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in Washington, D.C. with his old pal Nick Fury (Not Laurence Fishburne's Samuel L. Jackson).  When Cap objects to Fury's hidden agenda of preparing punishment before the crime, things start rolling and all of a sudden we're not sure who to trust.  Throw in vicious mystery gunman The Winter Soldier,  Cap's longtime comic book partner Sam Wilson aka The Falcon (Pain & Gain's Anthony Mackie), The Black Widow (ScarJo), UFC champ Georges St. Pierre as Batroc "zee leeper!", then a few other mystery villains and you've got yourself a modern action thriller steeped in comic book lore for the masses.  Of course it's partially based on the recent run of Cap comics but I never got through those because the first issues I read were boring and the art was uninspiring.  It also seemed to take some inspiration from the 80's mini-series, Nick Fury VS S.H.I.E.L.D. where the stalwart chief and secret agent finds himself wounded, hunted and not knowing who's really after him and which of his trusted colleagues is who they really say they are.

Perfect Captain America candidate from the 70's Robert Redford shows up as Fury's superior in a nod to his work in Three Days of the Condor.  Harkening back to that era's political thrillers, the moral dilemma of government monitoring its citizens and how far is too far to protect the country, Winter Soldier's story is nothing groundbreaking but is superbly executed.  I thought Thor:  The Dark World was Marvel's most polished production to date with it's ornate set and costume design but Cap 2 definitely has the best action.  The fist and feeticuffs are snappy and well choreographed.  You get more intricate hand to hand combat with lots of flips, spins and visually interesting cues.  Directors Joe and Anthony Russo do a terrific job of showing us Steve's augmented strength as he's kicking dudes across the room, running through walls and getting smacked around but still coming back for more.  Car chases and shootouts are solidly staged and there's out of nowhere shocks and thrills throughout.  I could go on but hey, go see the Damme movie already.  I'm planning to revisit Captain America:  The Winter Soldier this Sunday in regular 2D as I honestly didn't notice much in the post conversion to 3D so it's not worth the surcharge of discomfort.  Apparently the flick did over $10 million in early screenings on Thursday night, putting it ahead of tent poles like Man of Steel, The Hobbit:  Desolation of Smaug, Thor 2 and recent YA franchise starter Divergent.

Vertical take off!

(Pre) Summer Cinema: Expendables III

If Arnold in Sabotage wasn't enough machismo for the week, Lionsgate is kicking down the door and driving up our T (testosterone, keep up), 90's style in preparation for this summer's Expendables III.  First they released 16 character posters showing off the new and old cast featuring Stallone, Statham, Li, etc plus new faces Rhonda Rousey, Kellan Lutz and Kelsey Grammer?  Along with fellow 90's juggernauts Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson.  Today, another teaser trailer touting the huge throwback cast hit the internets promising "one last ride" while totally aping the Fast and Furious font.

In this installment, Stallone's Expendables get into trouble with former colleague Conrad Stonebanks (a swole Mel Gibson) and enlist the help of a young group of mercenaries led by Hercules himself, Kellan Lutz.  From the early footage, director Patrick Hughes seems to be headed in the right direction as EX3 looks slick and exciting with a few huge explosions and violent set pieces waiting I'm sure.  Expendables II introduced an odd credit scheme as Jean-Claude Van Damme received an Also tag before With Willis And Schwarzenegger.  This time around, we get With Gibson, With Ford And Schwarzenegger.

See ya at the Comic-Con panel!

Workout of the Day: Batman(stiff) Neck & Locking Your Position

We've all woken up with a kink in our neck then had to deal with a painful, tight neck that hurts to move.  In my case, I always end up having to turn my whole body so I've deemed it Batman Neck because if you'll recall, the suits for Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale's first outing didn't allow any kind of swivel motion.  Batman Neck can occur for various reasons:  sleeping wrong, muscle strain, poor posture, stress, etc.  In my case, it was because I forgot to "lock my position" while working out.  What the heck does that mean?  Basically, Professor of Splitanomics Jean-Claude Van Damme believes you must have strict form while training.  Starting from your core, your spine should be aligned with your shoulders back, chest out and head up.  Once you are in position, you can do any kind of exercise whether it be lifting weights, running, etc and not hurt yourself because your body isn't scrunched up or hunched over.  All of your muscles and nerves are lined up and ready to go.

It's been a bit of a fat week for me because I've been training regularly and worked out while on vacation in Seattle.  If training is a lifestyle for you, there's no problem with eating a nice meal or having a drink because let's face it, I'm not making any money because of my body so I'm just doing some bare minimum workouts this week to not feel completely dumpy.

1)  Handstand Push Up - For the triceps and shoulders
2)  Chins - For back, biceps, forearms, shoulders and chest
3)  Dip - For chest, triceps and shoulders
4)  EZ Bar Curl Hanging Curl - With a straight, not rounded back, bend over and take the bar so your elbows are next to your knees, this puts more stress on your biceps and not your front delts

Followed by some forearms and ab work like hanging knee raises and trunk twists holding a towel in front of me instead of a bar across my back.  I employed a pyramid rep scheme to help me get warmed up then into some working sets.  So it looked like 5-7-10-10-12-10 while increasing the weight each set on curls and holding a dumbbell between my legs on the chins and dips.

While doing a set of Dips, I was looking down then for some reason looked up mid rep and KA-LACK, my neck cracked and immediately tightened up.  Since I didn't "lock my position" and lost focus, I put stress on my neck, my nerves got jumbled up and now my muscles tightened up.  At first I tried to relax and the stiffness subsided but by the time I got to work, Batman Neck.


To help fight the stiffness, there's a variety of remedies you can try such as:

- Massage, I find this works better if you're massaging your neck then still moving it around to help the nerves fire and loosen up
- Stretch, pull your chin to your chest, then back as far as you can, stop where you feel pain
- Cool, with ice or a cold pack, you can use a frozen vegetables if you have some
- Heat, the area with a hot shower, bath or towel

I also find lying down on a flat surface like your carpeted floor helps stretch and relax Batman Neck, it might be a little uncomfortable at first but eventually your body will relax and your muscles will loosen up.  To prevent Batman Neck, be sure to mind your posture while sitting at your desk or on the couch, strengthen your neck muscles through training, "lock your position" while working out and maintaining good form throughout.

The world and a public bathroom, is your gym:

Vernal Viewing: Sabotage

I've been looking forward to Sabotage for quite some time.  Writer/Director David Ayer has had a hand in some great flicks from Training Day to fucking classic Harsh Times to enjoyable cop thriller Street Kings to the surprisingly solid End of Watch.  He takes a reality based approach to the seemingly tired genres of cops and soldiers but delves into the nitty gritty of the highly trained, under cover agents that operate in the shadows of society's shitholes.  So when I heard Ayer was doing a movie with Arnold, I knew it would be something different that wouldn't try to recapture The King of Kings' former glory and would move him into a new direction. 

Sabotage follows John "Breacher" Warden (Ah-nuld), a living legend in the DEA's under cover unit who has taken down a top cartel leader but lost his family in a retaliatory kidnapping and double murder.  Now, Breacher is obsessed with taking down the bad guys and finding the man who killed his wife and son.  The movie starts with his team taking down a safe house with $200 million in cash sitting in the basement.  Breacher's team hides $10 million and blows up the rest but when they go to retrieve it, the money is gone and soon they are all under investigation by the DEA.  After being cleared of the charges, Breacher's team begins getting killed off one by one in extremely gruesome manners, attracting local Homicide detectives.  After that, it's a slow burn mystery thriller with bits of debauchery and tactical military style action placed throughout.

Hands down, this has to be Arnold's darkest, craziest, bloodiest, funniest, macho-ist, raunchiest, filthiest, bro-down of his career.  His turn as Breacher is more realistic than anything he's done in years, maybe ever.  As a highly trained, motivated leader and operator; Arnold's trademark physicality, sense of humor (an interrogation scene and a remark about 48% body fat had us laughing for 5 minutes) and penchant for cigars makes him badass with a touch of menace instead of a cartoon character.  The supporting cast is superb as well as you get a nearly unrecognizable Sam Worthington (Avatar) as Arnold's 2nd in command Monster, TV star and all of a sudden Arnold BFF Joe Manganiello's Grinder shows off his impressive size and gets one of the best/worst lines in the movie, Josh Holloway from TV's bullshit Lost puts in a funny/wise ass performance as Neck, Pacific Rim's Max Martini shows up as trouble maker Pyro, Terrence Howard plays smooth devil's advocate Sugar, World War Z's Mireille Enos convincingly plays an action and controlled substance junkie while real life military advisor Kevin Vance gives some honest credibility as Tripod.

Co-written by Skip Woods (A Good Day to Die Hard), Sabotage plays like an amplified version of Ayer's directorial debut, Harsh Times, where Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez basically drive around Los Angeles drinking and getting into trouble.  That "up to no good" vibe is cranked up here and every character is raw, every other word of dialog is "fuck" and there's booze, tits and guns galore.  Once Breacher's team starts getting killed off, the mystery is well done but when everything is revealed and we head into the final act, the movie can't top itself and seems to shift down gears.  Parts of the flick confused me, such as the inciting incident where Breacher's team steals the money then blows up the rest.  His superiors have a rough idea of how much was there from a parallel FBI investigation but if some of it burned up, how would they know what was missing?  And is the cartel upset that they blew up the money or that they might have stolen some?  Or both?


Sabotage comes on the heels of Arnold's comeback starring vehicle The Last Stand bombing at the box office then his team up with Stallone, Escape Plan, which did peanuts in America but cleaned up overseas.  Opening up this past weekend in a crowded market against Darren Aronofsky's Russell Crowe starrer Noah, defending YA champ Divergent and faith based God's Not Dead, Sabotage opened at # 7 with a pitiful $5.3 million take.  That makes it Arnold's worst opening since the early 80's behind titles like Raw Deal and Red Sonja.  Open Road Films, a relatively new distributer owned by AMC, has had trouble marketing their films in the past as The Killer Elite, The Grey and Sabotage are not your typical slam-bang action picture but instead are actually dramatic thrillers with action.  Props to them for trying to sell the movie on Ayer's past credits and the supporting cast but it just wasn't enough.  Arnold seemed to be everywhere to promote the film and while his internet videos rack up millions of views, that exposure isn't driving patrons to the theater, sadly.  A friend didn't want to see the movie after hearing it tanked but I told him to stop being a mainstream sheep of the masses.  He ended up joining us and having a blast while learning new life skills.

Listen all y'all its a Slap da Chop!

Hey Arnold: Who Are You?

"The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else.  I hate that."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Con-Man: Emerald City Comicon

In case you didn't know, Comic/Nerd/Pop Culture Conventions are hot shit.  San Diego Comic-Con welcomed tens of thousands for years before selling out Saturday in 2007.  Since then, it's been a mad rush to be one of the 130,000 attendees.  Local Los Angeles show Comikaze expected 10,000 goers at their inaugural show in 2011 but welcomed 35,000 on it's way to 50,000 attending in 2013.  Not to be outdone, Seattle's Emerald City Comicon has been running strong since 2003 where 2,500 fans showed up.  In 2008, the show moved to the Washington State Convention Center with a crowd of 10,000 and 2013's edition brought in a whopping 60,000 attendees.  The organizers have put together quite an event with Emerald City taking over the entire convention center as well as the local Cinerama movie house hosting flicks/Q&A's then an additional theater for podcasts and more events.  This would be my first year attending but I'd definitely come back again, albeit with much more preparation.

The Convention Center is smack dab in the middle of Downtown Seattle, there's shopping and eating for days nearby.  Things got confusing almost immediately as we didn't prep for the show much and did not realize it would take place over so much of the center.  I didn't see the usual table of flyers and programs nor was there any staff handing them out so I ended up grabbing a discarded one off the top of some cardboard boxes by the trash.  What we came to realize was that the exhibition floor was on one part of the 4th floor, continuing across a bridge to the other side AND on the 3rd floor beneath the North side.  Then all of the celebrity centric panels were on the 6th floor.  Only problem was, there was no direct route to travel between levels.  Escalators marked on the map did not exist in real life so you had to walk across a section, get on an escalator or two then walk somewhere else.  Talking to some veterans, they all let us know that the show had blown up year after year so that lead to some of the confusion.

Show wise, it was great.  A lot of exhibiters with some awesome swag ready for purchase.  Since we were flying, I had to be conscious of my buys since plane space would be a premium.  Besides, we're going to Wonder Con in our backyard soon so I'm pretty sure I can get most of the same stuff.  We ran into artist Tomas Overbai again, whom we met at Comikaze.  He had some new artwork for sale so we bought some postcards featuring Arnold, Nathan Fillion, Robocop and Jean Reno from The Professional.  At another booth I spotted the Thermal Vision Dutch from Predator action figure.  You know, where he's lit up like a rainbow the way a Predator sees him through his mask?  Turns out, the gentleman selling was from Cape and Cowl, a store in Fountain Valley, CA, 5 minutes from my family in Orange County.  We'd seen him at shows and in the store before, it's a sweet spot, check it out.  A few issues of Buckaroo Banzai later and we headed up to the 6th floor to check out the Main Stage where a reading of Empire Strikes Back was in session featuring various voice actors famous for their animated roles.  Next door was also the Celebrity signing area where Michael Biehn, Karl Urban, Ron Perlman, Eliza Dushku, Alan Tudyk and many more were meeting fans.  Expensive ass Richard Dean Anderson didn't have much of a line I saw.

My goal for the day was to secure birthday presents for two of my best friends.  If you're one of them, stop reading right now.  Basically, I hoped to get a sketch from Ed McGuiness but he was all booked up on commissions.  Down the row was former Udon Comics' Street Fighter artist Alvin Lee to save the day.  Lee was super cool and chatted it up with everybody in line while he cranked out full sketches of Dark Phoenix and X-23 with a My Little Pony motif.  Yeah, he didn't get it either and the guy who asked for it didn't know anything about My Little Pony but randomly had an issue of their comic with him.  Don't know what else to say.  While in a perfect world I would have commissioned a piece featuring the Hulk and Doc Samson or Guile and Ryu doing the Predator handshake, Mr. Lee was only doing headshots.  He did throw in a thumbs up for me though as an extra Happy Birthday to my friend.  Across the floor was former Filmation and Masters of the Universe artist Thomas Cook.  I hoped to get a sketch of He-Man for the other gift but Mr. Cook sketches at night and delivers the next day.  I had to settle for a print and birthday greeting.

If 3 show floors, a celebrity signing area and main stage weren't enough, Emerald City also included a Game of Thrones themed art gallery done by artists near and far on the 2nd floor.  Then even more was in the lobby as there was a Lego exhibit featuring renditions of the Batcave, Rivendell and child sized statues of the Avengers among many more.  After nearly 5 hours of checking out the show, we decided to skip out on any panels and hit the streets of Seattle to find some grub and booze.

See ya next year, Emerald City! 

Captain America Week: Life Choices

Captain America:  The Winter Soldier opens this Friday!  Of course, in a bid to make more money, studios are commonly releasing flicks on Thursday as "Sneak Peeks".  These used to play at midnight, then 10:00PM now you can see a new movie on Thursday at 7:30 or 8:00PM.  We're going to the double feature of Captain America:  The First Avenger followed by Winter Soldier.  To celebrate, I'm wearing a Captain America shirt everyday this week.  At first I fretted I wouldn't have enough but upon further inspection, yeah, I still have 8 Cap-centric shirts not even counting all of the Marvel and Avengers ones he's featured on.  I've had plenty more but if the shirt don't fit, you must acquit...and go find shirts that do fit.

Back in 2011, I won tickets to an early screening of First Avenger put on by Geek Chic Daily (since swallowed up by Nerdist) that took place in San Diego, during Comic-Con, with Chris Evans introducing the movie.  Not a bad pre-birthday present eh?  Unfortunately, even with those perfect circumstances, I didn't like Joe Johnston's (THE ROCKETEER!) First Avenger upon that initial viewing, the movie in my head from all my years of comic book reading and watching movies just couldn't make space for this.  But upon subsequent 2nd and 3rd theater outings, I put that version into a drawer and enjoyed the World War II set science fiction tinged action adventure for what it was.  Throw in his original triangle shield, the Red Skull, the Cosmic Cube, lots of fisticuffs, pulpy derring-do, Dum Dum Dugan and the Howling Commando's and hey, this movie is actually a pretty good time.

Evans does an excellent job of playing the bumbling yet driven Steve Rogers just looking to serve his country but is physically unfit for duty.  The scenes of "skinny" Steve are pretty impressive and employed a mix of body doubling and CGI to fool the audience into believing the buffed up Evans was a sickly, scrawny reject.  Seemingly always in shape, Evans kicked up a notch and gained some mass for Cap as the post Vita-Ray and Super Soldier Serum injection scene showed off a beefy new version of Steve Rogers.  To get in even better shape, Evans worked with the same trainer Daniel Craig had for his runs as James Bond.  Looking for a big, strong and lean with a realistic, functional and proportionate body, Evans did heavy weight/low reps of basic compound moves while incorporating bodyweight and plyometric moves to keep his heart rate up.

Word on the street is that Winter Soldier is going to be something special.  So special that Marvel has contracted directors Anthony and Joe Russo for part III.  Hopefully they don't go the route Jon Favreau did with Iron Man II and just give us more of what we liked and nothing new.  But this is the new Marvel and right now they're about the smartest guys in the room so we should be fine.

 

Behind the skinny: