Tagged: review

Review: ‘Amulet Book Two: The Stonekeeper’s Castle’

Amulet Book Two: The Stonekeeper’s Castle

By Kazu Kibuishi
Scholastic/Graphix, 220 pages, $21.99 (hardcover) $9.99 (paperback)

Kazu Kibuishi is a talented animator and comic artist who has produced several graphic novel series, including [[[Flight, Daisy Kutter: The Last Train]]], and now [[[Amulet]]]. The first volume came out over a year ago and now Scholastic has released the second book in the run. This book could have benefitted from a previously page for new readers.

The story is familiar as Emily Hayes discovers a necklace and amulet with magical powers. In the first volume, she and her younger brother Navin have adjusted to living in their great-grandfather’s home with their recently widowed mother. The amulet speaks to her, warning of impending danger which immediately results in a ghastly creature swallowing their mother. The chase is on to rescue her and book one achieves that goal, but she is gravely ill.

Book two opens as evil forces conspire to hunt down the children and obtain the amulet, while they, in turn, seek a rare fruit to concoct a potion to save her life. Their journey brings them into close contact with many humans who have been slowly evolving into animal/human hybrids, part of a curse that threatens all humanity. As a result, no one blinks an eye when Leon Redbeard, a fox-like bounty hunter arrives in the nick of time. He proves to be not only plucky, but wise as he recognizes that Emily is The One who will save the planet from the creeping darkness.

The story moves quite well as we go from lush landscapes to foggy forests in search of enlightenment and safety. With a Japanese-tinged style and terrific use of color, Kibuishi invites us into a world that mixes magic with technology, where robots and talking mystic trees operate side-by-side. The story moves quickly and you find yourself turning the pages with increasing speed.

The problem, though, is that Kibuishi’s story is nowhere near as inventive as his artwork. He admits that he studied [[[The Empire Strikes Back]]] repeatedly while working on this second volume in a projected ten-volume series.  It certainly replicates the feel of a second chapter, complete with advancing the story, adding some new characters, and exploring the backstory. The characters and pacing feel familiar and just when things look their darkest, the expected rescue comes in a comforting manner but it also lack tension and surprise. Even the struggle between Emily and the seductive nature of the amulet resonates of Frodo and the One Ring.

Emily, Navin, Leon and even the evil Luger and Prince Trellis all show us nothing new and play their roles like stock players.

While Amulet is engaging and a fun read, it doesn’t surprise us at all or present any new looks at the relations between siblings, friends or even families. No doubt, even the 9-12 year olds this is aimed at will not necessarily feel compelled to read the next chapter.

Review: ‘Knights of the Lunch Table – The Dragon Players’

knights2-cover-2631535Knights of the Lunch Table: The Dragon Players

By Frank Cammuso
Scholastic/Graphix, 128 pages, $9.99

The pee wee population of Camelot Middle School is back in the second volume of the [[[Knights of the Lunch Table]]] from Frank Cammuso. The series, launched by Scholastic’s Graphix imprint last year, takes the broad strokes of the Arthurian legend and reimagines everything from a junior point of view. Our protagonist is Artie King and his two best friends are Percy and Wayne, all trying to survive the hostile environment that can be early adolescence.

While unrelated to Jolly R. Blackburn’s [[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]], Cammuso’s junior adventures are no less enjoyable. [[[The Dragon Players]]], now on sale, finds science teacher Mr. Merlyn easing Artie towards entering the robot dragon competition. While reluctant to participate, he agrees since Wayne owes Principal Dagger $300 for a new windshield and the competition’s prize just happens to be that exact amount.

With that as a launching point, we see a cleverly constructed plot that involves the students and the faculty. Along the way, the pitfalls of school life are clear with the boys being bullied by the enormous Joe and Artie struggles to survive in the house with his older sister Morgan.  The characters act their ages with their emotions ranging all over the place and in need of some wise counsel. Artie can get some tips from his magic locker, but it falls to Merlyn to gently point him in the direction of doing what is right, not what is easy.

Cammuso’s art and color make the main characters appear a little younger than they should be but he fills the pages with nice details and keeps things moving at a nice clip. The climax, at the competition, is a little rushed, but everything is neatly tidied up by the final page.

Scholastic recommends this for ages 7-10 and that sounds about right. The readers should find the characters fun and relatable while Cammuso’s story imparts some good lessons. These annual offerings are most welcome.

Review: ‘The Good Neighbors – Book Two: Kith’

]]]The Good Neighbors, Book Two: Kith]]]
By Holly Black and Ted Naifeh
Scholastic/Graphix, October 2009, $16.99

Trilogies can be tricky things to pull off successfully. Quite often, a single event is a surprise success and suddenly gets expanded into a trilogy. Why? Because it feels like an expanded version of the three-act structure that has a stranglehold on popular storytelling these days. Some trilogies should have remained a single event ([[[The Matrix]]]) while others have proven more successful (the original [[[Star Wars]]] trilogy).

Holly Black knows how to structure a trilogy. With artist Ted Naifeh, she returns to her original graphic novel series, [[[The Good Neighbors]]], and shows how to properly structure a three-part tale. In the course of 115 pages, we rejoin our characters but learn much more about their interrelationships and the world of magic that now threatens the modern world. The story continues, grows, and leaves you anxiously awaiting the final chapter.

Rue Silver learned in the first book that she was not really an ordinary teen but the product of a truly mixed marriage between her human father and her faerie mother. In book one, which we adored, we discovered that her mother was not really dead, but had returned to the faerie realm at the behest of Rue’s grandfather. Grandpa wants the town for himself and has been setting things in motion so after a key ceremony; the university town would be walled off from mortals and become a home to the faerie folk.

The stakes have grown in this book and a major sequence comes when Rue agrees to spend the night with her mother and grandfather in their realm. She learns of her heritage and discovers how similar and dissimilar the faerie are from humans. Her mother is far from warm, but wants Rue to stay with her, abandoning Thaddeus. Dad, meanwhile, learns his wife is not dead and breaks the news to the woman he had begun a romance with; a woman who has long loved Thaddeus and was Rue’s one true adult friend.

Rue’s circle of friends has come to accept the wild magic and existence of faeries, coming to Rue’s support. Throughout this chapter, though, new strains are placed on the bonds of friendship and some may not be emotionally strong enough to help when they’re needed the most.

Black’s writing is solid with the story being exceptionally well-paced. The characters have distinctive voices and personalities, which helps a lot. Naifeh’s art mixes fantasy and Goth in nice gray tones, helping differentiate the two worlds. On occasion some of the characters are hard to distinguish from one another but overall, his art goes a long way to enhance the story and keep readers turning the pages.

This all wraps up in the final volume, due next year, and one can hope it ends as strongly as it has started.

Review: ‘Superman/Batman: Public Enemies’

For the last 25-30 years, writers and artists have been having a wonderful time contrasting the differences between Superman and Batman. Prior to that, they were both happy-go-lucky super-heroes, brothers-in-arms with nary a problem twixt them. The team of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness really explored the dichotomy between the icons in[[[ Superman/Batman]]], the modern day version of [[[World’s Finest Comics]]]. Their opening story arc, “Public Enemies”, was a major turning point in the DCU, bringing down the curtain on one set of stories and kick starting threads that played out across the line for several years.

Any storyline that involved, could not possibly be well-adapted to an animated feature considering the lack of context most viewers would need to have. As a result, [[[Superman/Batman: Public Enemies]]] the direct-to-DVD release from Warner Premier, now on sale, had to make some modifications. Unfortunately, they were not all for the better.

On the plus side, there are some nice bits between [[[Superman]]] and Power Girl who is the only other character in the story to possess a personality. The story moves at a nice clip and showcases both heroes fairly well, It’s a true pleasure to have Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy voicing the major heroes with Clancy Brown back as the icy Lex Luthor. The animators also do a fine job taking McGuiness’ pumped up style and bringing it alive.

A major plus is that this continues a line of animated features based on today’s DC Comics, demonstrating that good characterization, good storytelling and mature themes can be presented in an entertaining manner for fans of all ages. Yes it’s violent and yes the attempts to destroy, kill and maim the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel aren’t positive themes, but good continues to triumph over evil, working up a sweat to do so.

WIth Luthor as president, it changes the playing field in the struggle between Lex and Superman. Suddenly, as Commander in Chief, he possesses even greater resources to call upon and even uses the Oval Office to sway public opinion. A kryptonite meteor coming to Earth? Must be affecting Superman so he can no longer be trusted. The changed dynamic means battling Luthor has to change, too, and that’s where the comic story works better than the film, which keeps things on the all-out-action level.

Loeb erred in many of the selections he made among the heroes and villains cobbled together to oppose the World’s Finest duo. For example, everyone knows Major Force is a murdering sociopath and the team should have rejected working alongside him. Starfire, an alien princess, and Katana are not American citizens and shouldn’t have answered President Luthor’s call. Similarly, when Captain Marvel shows up to duke it out, Superman brings up the wisdom of Solomon which should have counseled the good Captain to avoid this political mess. The animators also picked an overly broad collection of villains to arrive, controlled by Gorilla Grodd. They all got stopped way too easily, diminishing the threat any one of them possessed.

The movie feels big because of the cast and I wish there were more strong voices such as CCH Pounder’s Amanda Waller. It was probably a mistake for Alison Mack to be Power Girl because I kept thinking Chloe Sullivan.

The biggest oops was not having the Superman and Batman Families come to the heroes’ aid, demonstrating their contrasting styles. I’d have much preferred keeping it, ahem, all in the family, in lieu of the mindless slugfests at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Finally, there’s the notion that this genius Japanese kid was the only one on Earth able to construct a rocket able to stop the mammoth kryptonite meteor. Let’s see, there are various magicians, three [[[Green Lanterns]]], and so on. And in the film’s case, once the meteor is blown up, there’s nary a mention of what became of the now tiny chunks of kryptonite that were now hurtling towards Earth and other planets in the solar system. At least a line of dialogue should have covered that. At 67 minutes, there was definitely room to smooth over the story points.

Overall, though, this is a strong offering and fun to watch.

The extras on the Standard edition and the DVD include the usual assortment of trailers for other DCU videos, including the next one, [[[Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths]]], coming in 2010. The Blackest Night featurette also appears. “A Test of Minds: Superman and Batman” dos a nice job exploring the comic book relationship between the heroes while “Dinner with DC: With Special Guest Kevin Conroy” features the voice actor Voice Director Andrea Romano, Executive Producer Bruce Timm and DC’s overseer Gregory Noveck chatting the animation crew about adapting the film. Two Batman-featured episodes from Timm’s Superman: The Animated Series round out the disc. You have until September 30, 2010 to take advantage of the digital copy download, with no disc to aid you.

Review: ‘Star Trek: TOS’ Season 2 on Blu-ray

After a rocky first season that ended with the letter writing campaign to save [[[Star Trek]]] from cancellation, the second season opened in a horrible Friday night time slot but was a stronger series. Creator Gene Roddenberry continued to oversee everything as an Executive Producer but John Meredith Lucas took over as the line producer, aided by Roddenberry’s former secretary, D.C. Fontana becoming the script consultant. These changes made for a strong start as witnessed on [[[Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2]]], now out on Blu-ray from Paramount Home Video.

Things had started to gel for the series as the characters became more sharply defined and the writers began to tailor the by-play accordingly. The backstory grew stronger so it was clear what the United Federation of Planets was all about and that the starship Enterprise was truly exploring space and fought only when necessary.

The season opened with “Amok Time”, written by SF great Theodore Sturgeon and explored Vulcan and Spock’s place among his people. It’s a great opening but also one that acknowledged the rising popularity of the character and Leonard Nimoy, placing him ahead of star William Shatner.

Roddenberry and Lucas began exploring more of Spock’s backstory, starting with “Amok Time” but later in “Journey to Babel” which memorably introduced his parents. Fortunately, attention was paid to others, as well. Bowing to criticism from Pravda, the Russian navigator Pavel Chekov joined the crew, ending the rotating supernumerary opposite Helmsman Sulu. With George Takei’s work on [[[The Green Berets]] prolonged, Chekov got plenty of screen time, much to Takei’s regret and Walter Koenig’s delight.
(more…)

Review: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ on Blu-ray

wolverine-blu-ray-2243133X-Men Origins: Wolverine kicked off the summer season and much of the film review that follows originally appeared on my blog. This past week, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the movie on DVD and Blu-ray, both containing a digital copy as has become standard these days. Since his introduction in 1974 through 2000, people were fascinated by Wolverine. He was a feral, edgy character at a time few other costumed crime fighters were. There was a tragic element to him since he could not recall his past. Through the years, writers teased us with bits and pieces about him, letting us know he was long-lived and had gotten around. But, just where did this Canadian come from?

After the success of [[[X-Men]]] in 2000, it became apparent there would be other mutant movies and the issue of Logan’s origin was no doubt going to be addressed. In 2001, Bill Jemas said the time had come to tell the origin. Better Marvel control the origin elements rather than some unfamiliar screenwriter so in many ways, his miniseries, [[[Origin]]], was a pre-emptive strike. And maybe it was just time.

The Paul Jenkins version beat out several others and became the one Andy Kubert drew in his gorgeous style. This is now the origin, like it or not, that every licensee is obligated to follow. All of this sets the stage for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a solo project that invited movie audiences to see where Logan came from and how he had his skeleton covered in adamantium.

Good thing there was a roadmap to follow because the changes from the comic showed that in other hands, telling his origin could be disastrous. Far too little is spent setting up James Howlett’s life in Canada before his claws first popped out. The family dynamic is given such short shrift that it felt sketched rather than written. I was particularly bothered by the decision to make Howlett and Victor Creed brothers, an unnecessary and overused Hollywood trope.  Yes, Sabretooth is Wolverine’s great comic book nemesis but he had nothing to do with the origins and shoe-horning him here doesn’t fit.

We know they’re both mutants, both feral in nature, something not well explored by the script. The title sequence successfully shows us how they stayed together, reached adulthood and seemingly stopped aging, but continued to sate their natures by going from war to war. Why they left Canada for America is unexplained nor are we properly shown how they began drifting apart and why Victor relished fighting while James had more of a conscience.  Had the movie taken the opening montage and really delved into his origin, we would have had a more dramatic character-driven origin rather than this testosterone-fueled film overstuffed with extraneous mutants.

James and Victor wound up as part of mutant military brigade under the command of William Stryker. We get to see some mostly familiar mutants including Wade Wilson, whose jabbering was perfect. Anyway, James reached his limit with the squad’s brutality and walked on them, and his brother. In the intervening six years, he found a quiet job as a lumberjack along with the love of a good woman, Kayla Silverfox, until his past came back to haunt him.

Stryker has manipulated James so he agrees to undergo the transformation into a living weapon. A military reason for the Weapon X program as opposed to the evil scientific cabal is another Hollywood cliché that was irritating and Stryker as the mastermind never seemed smart enough or motivated enough to be a real threat.

Bonded to adamantium, James Howlett has now rejected his past, adopting the name Logan and the codename Wolverine (the animal name came from that other Hollywood touch, a story told by his lover in the scene before she is killed). Now seeking Creed, who killed Kayla under Stryker’s command, the second half of the film becomes a revenge tale. (more…)

Review: ‘Rose’

Rose
Jeff Smith & Charles Vess
Graphix, 140 pages, $10.99

Earlier this year, Scholastic’s Graphix imprint completed releasing the nine volumes comprising Jeff Smith’s delightful [[[Bone]]. The full-color books are ideal entry points into graphic novels or even fantasy literature. Now, the prequel, [[[Rose]]], is finally joining the library in a softcover color edition.

Rose is, of course, Gran’ma Ben, the strong, cow-racing elder figure introduced early in Smith’s saga. Her sister, Briar, is The Hooded One, an evil crone, but as we’re about to learn, they were once young and far more carefree.

Illustrated by Charles Vess, the story is very, very different from Bone, much more a cautionary tale and almost devoid of the humor that kept Bone such a great read. Instead, the book focuses on Rose and Briar, both in training to become leaders of Atheia. Rose is exceptionally strong but not at all focused, prone to distractions while Briar is disdainful of her more popular sister, insisting Rose will be the chosen one. When they journey to Old Man’s Cave for the final testing, the young women are drawn into the Lord of the Locusts’ attempt to achieve freedom from its stone prison.

Smith’s story works on many levels, starting with the relationship between the sisters, which rings true. The responsibilities that comes with being princesses weighs heavily on both and where Briar accepts them with solemnity, Rose struggles to follow her muse. Accompanied by her favorite dogs, with whom only she can converse, she seeks adventure wherever she goes. That includes the cave and the final testing, which turns out to be a struggle between Rose and a freed River Dragon, which now threatens the residents in the Northern Valley.

Rose has to make a promise early on and then live with the consequences of that obligation at story’s end and how it shapes her personality, which sets up the more familiar Grandma figure.

Vess, a highly celebrated fantasy illustrator, adapts his lush style to Smith’s world so the Red Dragon is a visual link to the Bone series. His color work is subtle and helps establish this as a related work.

There’s a reason Neil Gaiman said, “A magnificent prequel to Jeff Smith’s Bone, but it’s more than that – – it’s a beautifully painted meditation on magic, on the mistakes of youth and the little personal tragedies that grow to decide the fate of nations and to engulf the world.”

Unlike Bone, Rose is a bit more graphic in its violence and is probably not for the youngest of readers but is highly recommended to everyone else.

Review: ‘X-Men’ Animated DVDs Volumes 3-4

The [[[X-Men]]] animated episodes from the 1990s continue to be regarded as among the very best adaptation of comics to another medium. The ever-growing cast of mutants, menaces, and alternate timelines was certainly a rich source of material and much of it wound up making the transition from page to screen. Fox enjoyed terrific ratings and it helped push the X-Men from comic cult favorite to mainstream phenomenon. The five seasons were an important stepping stone in getting Marvel’s uncanny heroes from comics to the silver screen.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment this week released volumes three and four of the [[[X-Men – Marvel Comic Book Collection]]] offering up 29 more episodes. There remain enough left over for one more disc which has yet to be announced.

The first of these two-disc sets begins with the Savage Land two-parter and contains the four-part “[[[Dark Phoenix Saga]]]” while the second opens with the Proteus two-parter and also contains the “[[[Beyond Good and Evil]]]” four-part mess.

When the first two volumes were released earlier this year, I wrote, “The voice casting is atrocious and jarring on more than one occasion while the animation direction is lackluster. Too often the team arrives to fight someone and we see them move one at a time rather than in a coordinated team effort, leaving you to wonder what the rest were doing while each hero took a turn.”  Unfortunately, things did not improve with time and experience. Characters continue to stand pontificating while opponents politely waited for them to stop speaking before striking. The animators clearly couldn’t figure out how to integrate the dialogue and action smoothly so decided to take turns much to the stories’ detriment.

The collections contain the episodes in airdate order rather than the production order which results in some head scratching moments when the continuity doesn’t line-up. This is a real shame since BVHE had a chance to correct Fox’s error and give the fans a truly cool collection. Similarly, the discs come devoid of extras save trailers for other product.

The Dark Phoenix storyline deviates markedly from the comic so Jean’s corruption from the cosmic entity and Jason Wyngarde’s manipulation is far less subtle and rushed along. How the team reacts to her change and the ultimate resolution on the blue area of the Moon are closer to the comics but even so, Jean remains alive at the end and this doesn’t really work.

Nor does the “Beyond” storyline because like the comics of the day, it suffers from the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach, cramming in multiple timelines, multiple friends and foes and any shred of characterization is ignored in favor or running and blasting.

On the other hand, the episodes do get credit for attempting to keep the themes of alienation ever-present and tries to service each of the characters with personalities that were head and shoulders above the rest of animated fare from the era. It helps that so many of the storylines came from the comics so the efforts of Chris Claremont, Fabian Nicieza, Jim Lee, and others should be acknowledged. Nor did it hurt that Marvel’s EIC and former X-editor Bob Harras was a story consultant, which no doubt kept the scripts better than they could have been.

Still, I wish these were stronger efforts from character design to voice work to actual stories. They don’t hold up in the rewatching despite desperately hoping they’re as cool as viewers recall.

Review: Tom Baker Returns As The Doctor

Author Thomas Wolfe told us you can’t go home again. That certainly hasn’t stopped a lot of folks from trying.

After an absence of nearly 30 years, Tom Baker finally returned to the role of the Doctor in the five-part, six-hour BBC full-cast [[[Doctor Who]]] audio play, Hornet’s Nest. The first part, [[[The Stuff of Nightmares]]], was released in Britain earlier this month
and is available from www.audible.com and www.emusic.com.

Of course, Doctor Who fans are so hard to please they make
Star Trek fans look like they’ve had a Vulcan neck pinch. So how does the most long-lived and long-scarfed Doctor hold up after such a long layoff?

First, I should point out that the story, like Baker himself, is witty, charming, horrific, and over-the-top. If you don’t like that, you probably don’t like Baker. Here’s the high concept: taxidermied animals are reanimated with the implanting of origami-like brains infested with
malevolent hornets. Actually, it’s quite an effective horror story.

The Doctor recruits his old UNIT friend Mike Yates, reprising Richard Franklin’s role, by planting an ad in the local paper that
reads “Wanted: retired army Captain for light household duties and fireside
companionship. Must tolerate mild eccentricity and strong scientific advice.
Knowledge of Giant Maggots, Super Intelligent Spiders and Prehistoric Monsters a positive boon.” Both the Doctor and Captain Yates are obviously a lot older than they were when last seen, and the story takes place in contemporary time – Baker even notes it’s the 21st century. That makes Yates a pensioner, and the Doctor, well, a time-traveler.

It takes a lot of fine writing and even better acting to
pull off such a concept, but that’s what Doctor Who does at its best and that’s what happens here. My wife and I listened to the CD while driving from Connecticut to JFK airport in New York City, which is generally interminable but, this time, entertaining.

It turns out Tom Baker can indeed go home again. 

Review: ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Season 2 on DVD

1000097468dvdlef1-4703625When we first heard about The Big Bang Theory, we weren’t sure if geeks of all shapes and sizes were going to be ridiculed, mocked or used as comic foils. Fortunately, the producers came with a pedigree for smart, funny comedies, headed by Chuck Lorre ([[[Dharma & Greg]]]). His take was that if the media declared the geeks had won and were taking over, they were ripe for a sitcom, using their foibles and interests for fodder. Coupled with a cool theme song from the Barenaked Ladies, the show debuted to good reviews and middling ratings, good enough to get a second season.

We should all be thankful since the second season strongly builds on the characters and situations, deepening the quintet of friends and sharpening the humor. The four-disc second season set is being released today by Warner Home Video and is a Must Have for ComicMix readers.

For those unaware, the show features four geeks, all respected professionals in the field of physics who also embrace every geek interest under the sun, from Renaissance Faires to World of Warcraft to the Wednesday ritual of New Comics Day. Two, Sheldon and Leonard (hopefully a nod to the great sitcom producer Sheldon Leonard), share an apartment where the others – Howard Wolowitz and Rejesh Koothrappali – congregate with regularity. Living across the hall is aspiring actress Penny, who works as a waitress. Having a hot chick next door was a launching pad for much of the first season humor, especially as Leonard fell for her despite having nothing in common with her.

The second season’s 23 episodes allow the characters to grow and evolve with wonderfully humorous results. Good humor should stem from the characters and situations while working on multiple levels. You don’t have to know the science fiction shows referenced to understand how outlandish some of their rituals and comments are. Penny acts as the audience’s Point of View, showing her befuddlement. On the other hand, those of us in the know, get extra giggles from the attire, decorations or one-liners.

The first episode shows how comfortable they have grown with one another as Penny actually calls Sheldon a friend, putting them on a path towards the wonderful Christmas episode when he tries to over-prepare for a gift exchange and she gives him something beyond his expectations. The gentle ending is a highlight. Sheldon is actually coming to grips with having someone like Penny in his world and while he accepts her, doesn’t always approve of her “common” ways.

Penny has also grown, evidenced by “[[[The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition]]]” which shows how far she has come when another hot, more successful blonde moves into the building. On the other hand, the additional depth we see when she deeply wounds Howard in “[[[The Killer Robot Instability]]]” shows how some of these guys need to mature.

The show is helped by solid guest stars and recurring players such as Leslie (Sara Gilbert) who has dated Leonard and this year dates Howard and Christine Baranski as Leonard’s cutting, clueless mother. A geek highlight is when the four encounter Summer Glau on a train and its Raj, fueled with liquid courage, who actually connects with her.

All comics fans must see “[[[The Hofstadter Isotope]]]” for Penny’s first visit to a comic shop. And of course, here’s the introduction of the hand game “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”.

The season ended with the four guys off to the arctic for a three month research assignment with Penny coming to realize how much affection she actually has for Leonard, setting things up for the new season, debuting next Monday.

The box set comes with three nice features: a look at the contributions made by UCLA’s Prof. David Saltzberger to keep the science accurate; a look at how the characters have changed and grown with comments from the cast and crew; and a wonderful Gag Reel.

I deeply wish the show continued success and hope it reminds others how good, solid comedy can be structured, written, and performed. These shows stand up to repeated viewings thanks to the sharp writing and wonderful performances (kudos to Jim Parsons for his Emmy nod).

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks