(Beyond that, License To Kill is my favourite - Dalton is my fave Bond - with You Only Live Twice and From Russia With Love coming up behind that. Lazenby is fine, but the clothing and sets are so tacky, and it's attempts at realism just make it seem more silly. Fave Moore, is either For Your Eyes Only - he's almost convincing in it, and the Maggie Thatcher ending is beautiful - or The Man With The Golden Gun - which is both hilarious and entertaining).

I liked Casino Royale just fine, actually loved everything through the torture scene, but I did thought it lost steam in the last act. Maybe it's that I simply didn't care for the romance, or that the climatic action scene was the weakest in the movie, but I have the feeling that it has more to do with the last act macguffin. Realism is fine, but there's something wrong with a Bond film that ends with everyone chasing a few million bucks.

It's so sad that the Bond fans way back in the day had such a hard-on for Sean Connery. It killed George Lazenby's film career. The only notable films he did after OHMSS were a couple of Emmanuelle films.

Anyhoo...

Doctor Strange is awesome. It's nice to see someone finally go back to all the visual craziness that fits so well with that character. Vaughn's also doing a great job of showing us Stephen's character with out being ham-fisted or trite.

thank you

I hate to say this, but I really liked that Superman/Shazam: First Thunder mini, despite Judd Winick's track record. It nailed a lot of what makes Captain Marvel (I will not call him "Shazam, dammit) work and is frequently gorgeous.

Also; are you new to American Splendor (with this mini, I mean)? Because, while I like what I've read of Pekar and appreciate what he does everything, I kind of feel like I've had my fill of it after having read that thick collection that came out in tandem with the movie a couple years back. I did just get the Quitter off of E-Bay, but that was more for Haspiel's work (and it was cheap). I don't deny that Pekar has skill, but I sort of feel the same way about his work that you do about newuniversal. Although 'Beto art on anything is pretty appealing, so maybe I've completely changed my mind about picking this up. Also, yes, I still read a fair amount of superhero comics and am not sick of them (at least not like I am of American Splendor), so I am a hypocrite. And, you know, my tastes could always change later and I might get in the mood to read more of Pekar's work. But for now, the very idea leaves me cold. I would appreciate if he brought his realistic, everyman sensibility to an Aquaman relaunch, though. I am killing comics.

Also, two; did you celebrate Fred Van Lente Day? Or are you just ignoring that whole, slightly creepy gag Cronin has going? I'm okay either way.

Newuniversal didn't have a bad start, but... it just had nothing to it to get me intrigued. Ellis can raise my eyebrow at nearly any other time, so why not now? It's gotta be the concept. Either that or the boring art by Larocca.