September ended and nobody woke me up?

Hey superfriends! Elias here. So It's mid-October and the first issues of the "new 52" have come and gone. I know, I know, where was the Starfire controversy post!? Where was the Catwoman post? What happened to the post on "cheesecake" in comics? What happened was I had a lot planned to write about the first month of issues (trends, controversy, analysis) but wow does time move fast! I had mid-terms at my University so I was thrown into a state of "keeping my head above water" so to speak. But hey, all is not lost, those posts will be filed away for later, now instead of me weighing in on all the past controversy (there is a tide), I'll just cough up some nice breath-defying opinions on the first month of me as a weekly comic reader!

Favorite Book of the Month goes to...

Batgirl

Not only was this issue packed with throwbacks to “The Killing Joke” (a favorite) which for obvious reasons was a HUGE character point for Barbara Gordon, this issue does something that I have seen very few comics do. Move. The art literally jumps off the page. I can just feel Barbara leaping off a roof and vaulting through a window, I'm experiencing the inertia with her as she goes from static to dynamic. As I was reading my eyes moved constantly from the text to the art to the text to the art, I felt Barbara's movements mirroring my eyes. I witnessed her unadulterated joy just from the simple act of moving, and it made me feel that joy.

It's something I have absolutely no doubt that was intentional, because, although I am a new reader I had known of Barbara in her Oracle days, and juxtaposed with that it seems clear that we're supposed to feel her sense of liberation, communicated to us from her free range of motion. It puts on an aesthetic of movement; it's genuinely fun to watch Barbara move around. Now, as I write that it immediately sounds kind of skeezy and creepy, but honestly, in much of the same way a Greek statue communicates motion, it's a beautiful thing to see. 

Amount to the same thing.

These two things...

Least Favorite Book of the Month...

Green Arrow

Ugh. Now this one hurts. I've been told that Green Arrow for a long stretch was a joke, he was a left-wing wise cracking billionaire who made jokes about liberalism while shooting his boxing glove arrows. This isn't the Green Arrow I got to know however. When being introduced to the character I was given Green Arrow: Year One by Andy Diggle and Quiver, a ten issue run by Kevin Smith. What I found in these titles wasn't a left leaning Robin Hood, but more of a less stressed Batman. What I mean is, Ollie wants to be happy, and being Green Arrow and cleaning up crime makes him happy. Ollie wants to have some fun and kick it with Black Canary. Ollie wants to be on the Justice League and save the world.  

But mostly Ollie wants to flaunt his "Daddy's home" eyes

I don't know exactly what was wrong with this new version of Ollie, but it just didn't sit right with me. Maybe it was the bland action, the vanilla villains (a female Goro who "terrorized Milan during fashion week"?), the flat one liners ("Multi-tasking is my specialty"?), or the fact that his five o'clock shadow was a pale comparison of what used to be. It just didn't excite me. Issue one summarized it best,

I got no time for losers

Biggest Surprise of the Month...

Supergirl

Here is an example of doing it right. What is it? Hell if I know, but it's doing it. I've never read a Supergirl comic before this so from context clues of earlier Superman comics, facts my friends told me, and a movie called Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, I have a cursory knowledge of details related to Supergirl. I'm told she's Superman's cousin, has some daddy issues, and for a time had to grapple with her powers. -But- Knowing next to nothing about Supergirl prior to this, if I know one thing after reading, it's that She. Is. A. Badass. There is a scene in which Supergirl is overwhelmed by her super hearing and is bombarded by a variety of dialogue from other DC titles happening concurrently. It was a simple, flavorful, and elegant way to tie together this universe DC is selling. Perhaps my favorite scene of the month showed up in this book, it's a snowy realization of waking up on a different planet separated from your loved ones and anything you ever found familiar. It's simple, it's powerful, it's heart-wrenching, and I really felt the loneliness inherent in being alien. When Superman comes in with the compassionate "Stop", I felt like a blanket had been laid over me, like my Dad had just told me "everything's gonna be alright". It was an incredible feeling I was not looking for when I started this, but here we are.
Wow, and I'm catching myself rambling, so until next time...

Take Care,
-Elias

Presenting: The Nerd Goggles Bloggers!

Hey-hey, Imaginary Readers!

Alex AKA Goggles here, & I thought I'd do something of a small breakdown of what's going on 'round these parts. I am but one lil nerdperson, & since I threw up the Nerd Goggles Bloggle a few months ago, I have been considering getting a few friends to post here along with me. Not only to take the content burden off of myself, but also to broaden the focus. As you've no doubt noticed (or haven't!) this blog has up til now been primarily about comic books. This is mostly because I have been deeply ingrained in comics after a year of not reading much. In recent months, however, between the DC New 52 thing, Marvel's Fear Itself event, & my own self-initiated decision to relapse back into reading X-Men books after six years clean, comics have overrun my day to day activities. So yeah, I've been posting a bunch about comics, when I posted at all. I also made the somewhat ill-advised decision to start up a blog thingie during an insanely busy & transitional phase of my non-internet life, which provided some conflict.

BUT NO MATTER. I'm more or less back on track, & think I'll be posting more regularly. Also, I hope to try to meet the goal of this blog a little more & post thoughts on non-comic items from time to time.

To this end, I have recruited some of my friends to hop online & occasionally post things here as well. My friend Will already posted a small intro earlier, & the others might as well. But I also figured it couldn't hurt to have a little bio post to give everyone a teeny chance to get acquainted via all the nerdy & non-nerdy things we love. SO! Without further ado:

The Nerd Goggle Bloggers & some stuff they love!

ALEX 
(Formerly known as simply 'Goggles')

Hobby/Passion: Writing, Reading, Stories in general.
Areas of Interest: Comics, Films, Novels: Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Drama/Crime/Adventure, Video Games, Tabletop Games, Webcomics, Da Internet, Music
Films: Jaws, Ghostbusters, Lord of the Rings, Swingers, Pulp Fiction
Novels: Neverwhere, Boneshaker, Harry Potter, The Time Traveler's Wife, All Other Neil Gaiman
TV Shows: Buffy, Mad Men, The Venture Brothers, Freaks & Geeks, Arrested Development, MST3K
Games: Mario games, Uncharted series, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, Pokemon, Mega Man, God of War
Bands: Sunset Rubdown, Of Montreal, The Beatles, The New Pornographers, Wolf Parade, Neko Case, Fiest, The Decemberists
Comics: Identity Crisis, Y: The Last Man, Geoff Johns' The Flash run, Robinson's Starman, FABLES 
Characters:  Spider-Man, Buffy Summers,  Batman, Yorick Brown, Cyclops, Black Canary, Emma Frost, Wally West
Comic Strips: Calvin & Hobbes, Shortpacked!, Questionable Content, Girls With Slingshots, Chainsawsuit, Penny Arcade, Dumbing of Age

ELIAS

(Alright rangers, let's get rangin')

Hobbies/Passion: RPG's, Shakespeare, Morality/Ethics
Areas of Interest: Video Games, Books, Movies, TV, MtG, escapism in general
Films: Reservoir Dogs; Synecdoche, New York; Goodfellas; The Royal Tenenbaums  
Novels: Slaughterhouse Five; A Song of Ice and Fire series; 1984; Winesburg, Ohio  
TV: Breaking Bad, Rescue Me, Game of Thrones, Frasier, The Office (US), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Battlestar Gallactica, Neon Genesis Evangelion  
Games: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Metal Gear Solid series, Pokemon series, Final Fantasy X (laughing scene and all), Halo series   
Bands: The Flaming Lips, Neutral Milk Hotel, Cold War Kids, Kanye West, David Bowie, Bright Eyes, Eminem  
Comics: FABLES, Matt Wagner's Trinity, Batman: Year One 
Characters: Walter White, Theon Greyjoy, Peter Campbell, Superman, Shinji Ikari, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Tony Tony Chopper   
Comic Strips: Baby Blues, Get Fuzzy, Calvin and Hobbes, XKCD, VGcats, Buttersafe


KIKI

Hobbies/Passion: People
Areas of Interest: Movies, Books, TV, Comics
Films: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mean Girls, Submarine, Red Dragon, Gone Baby Gone
Novels: Room, The Stand, Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird
TV: Buffy, Arrested Development, The Big Bang Theory, Freaks and Geeks, Gossip Girl
Games: Mario Kart Wii, Mario Party 8
Bands: Foster the People, The Beatles, Vampire Weekend, Taylor Swift, The Hush Sound
Comics: Batwoman, Batgirl, Animal Man, Spider-Man, Batman, Morning Glories, Fables
Characters: Spider-Man, Xander Harris, Ferris Bueller, Albus Dumbledore, Peggy Olsen
Comic Strips: Questionable Content, Girls With Slingshots


WILL

Hobbies/Passion: Reading and Gaming
Areas of Interest:Comic Books, Novels, Video Games (Both online and off), D&D,  MTG
Films: Rounders, Super 8, 30 Days of Night, 40 Year Old Virgin
Novels: Neverwhere, American Gods, Game of Thrones, His Majesty's Dragon
TV: Buffy, Angel, Scrubs, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Firefly
Games: Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, God of War, Gears of War, Uncharted, Elder Scrolls
Bands: Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Rise Against
Comics: Scott Snyder's Detective Comics run, Batman: No Man's Land, Ed Brubaker's stuff on Captain America
Characters: Wally West, Xander Harris, Bucky Barnes, Zatanna Zatara
Comic Strips: Penny Arcade, Questionable Content, Dumbing of Age
  

We're all so glad to meet you, internet, we hope this is the beginning of a beautiful something or other!
yayyyyyyy!

Greetings Sentients, Elias is here!

Hello all! My name is Elias and I'm here to join the Nerd Goggles team! What are my credentials you ask? Well, I'm a huge nerd so that should cover it right? Oh you want a resume? Okay well lemme just, find... okay I might have left that in my other pants. References? Hah! Oh internet, is that really what you want? It is... Oh. Well, look I could tell you all about how me and Bill Gates go golfing on Sundays, or how me and Steve Jobs (Stevie I call him) plan to go sailing across the undiscovered ocean looking for adventure, but I'd rather tell you how I'm going to dazzle your freaking mind off with incredible and insightful articles regarding nerd culture!

I'm into comics, games, movies, books, anime, music, art, theatre, farming, energy consumption, sociological experiments, philanthropy, stock market trading, anything that gets me closer to human mind control, etc (y'know, the usual). I'm crazy excited to get working with Kiki, Alex, and Will on some nerd culture stir-fry including but not limited to: commentaries, reviews, analysis, discussion, and maybe down the line our own movie directed by Martin Scorsese. I can't wait! So I hope you keep reading. Until then...

Take Care,

-Elias (setting the snarky bar high so as to casually duck underneath in the future.)