Comic Book Resources

Those guys in the videocast could really use a script. They don't quite have the personalities or vocabularies to be winging it.

Yeah, that's a fair point.

Heh. They actually did use a script. I'm not sure how much they did, but they actually talk about it when one of the guys blows his lines.

That podcast is very professionally done, but the reviews (for both comics and statues) are pretty lame. They concentrate on very superficial details and aren't a heck of a lot more than "yeah, these are pretty neat." That statue segment was painfully long in particular.

The news segment wasn't bad, though. (even if I was already familiar with all of it)

I love the idea of seeing live comic reviews/discussions.

But I wish people would learn that simply because you OWN a camera doesn't mean you belong IN FRONT of a camera.

The skinny newsguy with the glasses was the only one who has any business broadcasting anything.

SEAN

Well, no one wants to admit that they're boring, I guess.

"I love the idea of seeing live comic reviews/discussions.

But I wish people would learn that simply because you OWN a camera doesn’t mean you belong IN FRONT of a camera."

Give them some competition then - nothing improves if it's got no reason too.
Give them competition, and they'll have to step up.

The opening part could have done with some graphics/edits to spice it up.

"The skinny newsguy with the glasses was the only one who has any business broadcasting anything.

SEAN"

I thought he was odd - he spoke in the same pattern as the girls on 'The Naked News' do.
I kept expecting him to start unbuttoning, and that wasn't a nice sensation.

I think I'm one of the rare people that finds Jack Black grating to the point that I can't enjoy anything he's in. All the mugging and stupid voices just don't do it for me.

You're conservative, T. You're not supposed to like fun.

"Give them some competition then - nothing improves if it’s got no reason too. Give them competition, and they’ll have to step up."

Eh, maybe. I don't necessarily know that I belong in front of a camera either, but I've tried worse on a dare.

SEAN

Kind of a mixed feeling toward Variant Edition. It's a cool idea, and has some decent presentation for an online podcast, but it's not without its flaws. For starters, the 33-minute runtime is way too long, and could easily be trimmed down to a television-style 22-minutes. It also would be nice to see the show cover more than just mainstream superhero content. The only other comics covered were horror comics, and there's a lot more to the industry than tights and zombies.

I have to agree with Sean - I didn't feel that all of the hosts had enough on-screen personality to pull off their roles. It very much felt like the guys who run the comic shop deciding to make a show. As-is, it seems to mainly work on a fanboy-to-fanboy kind of level. Which is fine, I suppose, but it'd be cool to have a show like that could draw in a wider audience. Tighter editing would also help out here a lot, since some of the hosts tended to ramble on well past the point.

Interview with Brian K. Vaughan? Nice. The interviewer was clearly in fan mode, but to be fair, I would've been too. This was probably the best part of the show, despite the lower video quality. More interviews would be a good thing, because 30 minutes of dudes standing around a comic store talking at the camera? Not that interesting.

(Also, I didn't care for the news guy's editorializing regarding "Superman Returns". "Most comic fans" didn't care for it? Unless you've got a study or something to back that up, it just sounds like a particularly whiny forum comment, dude.)

Anyway, I'll lay off the criticisms. I honestly like the idea, and the presentation is pretty well-done. There is certainly room for improvement, but I totally respect the effort put into the show, and I'll make a note to check it out again sometime.

I think that's spot on, Bry, and it was basically what I was thinking, in the sense of "This show certainly had some issues, but just the idea is interesting enough to warrant a mention here."

So screechy, muggy and annoying = fun? Duly noted. I guess Rosie O'Donnell must be the funnest gal in town then!

Oh no you di-in't!!