Babbling Point

You’ve heard `the media is the message`? It’s not really true anymore. Message is Media. Internet, YouTube, blogs, vlogs, camphones – this is really THE DAWN of human history, right? This is the moment when we start recording ALL of our moments. Asymmetrical media, viral, unmarketable and unstoppable. Our histories are broadcast instantly and remembered infinitely. Everything we do now will haunt us all the rest of our lives. And it’s my job to manage that history – to manage that message any way I can. Kate Kildare, Press Agent of the super-hero team The Order THE ORDER (Marvel Comics), written by Matt Fraction

THE INVINCIBLE PACMAN This is a panel from THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, illustrated by Salvador Larocca. Doesn't Tony Stark look a lot like Manny Pacquiao? In this current story arc written by Matt Fraction, Iron Man has been shown visiting the Philippines after terrorists killed the Triumph Division, a Filipino super-team. Maybe Manny and Tony switched places. Maybe one of them is a Skrull?

YOU KILLED MY MASTAH! NOW I KILL YOU! Well, that line isn’t really said in THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST: THE LAST IRON FIST STORY, but Danny Rand does say, “I know kung-fu! Hi-yaa!!!” TIIF:TLIFS (aka the really kick-ass Iron Fist story) written by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction with art by David Aja (and whole lot of other artists who do the flashback scenes) was something I finally got to read it over the weekend thanks to Ian “I’ve got Neil Gaiman’s home address and you don’t” Sta. Maria. I first got interested with this title when I heard Matt Fraction and John Siuntres talk about over at Word Balloon . Then I read rave reviews about it at the now-defunct Major Spoilers site. I was never really a fan of Iron Fist, but I do remember buying the last POWER MAN & IRON FIST comic book where Iron Fist died (and like all Marvel characters, they just won’t stay dead. Hey! Is that Captain America I see crawling out of his grave?) Well, that doesn’t matter. Readers who don’t know a thing abou...

IMMORTAL KOMBAT There are no decent comic book shops here in KL. (Well, they're not like Comic Quest, Comic Odyssey, and Druid’s Keep.) They do have enormous stores like Kinukoniya and Borders where they have a huge selection of graphic novels and an even larger section with manga. In their Chinatown, I found two stores / comic book libraries that had original manga and anime DVDs. Anyway, since I have no access to the single-monthly titles that come out, I’ve had to do with reading their summaries at: www.majorspoilers.com . (Yeah, I know I can probably down scans of comic books, but I don’t.) The site recently reviewed Matt Fraction’s THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST . Fraction’s work has been getting rave reviews from the likes of Brian Bendis and Warren Ellis, which takes a whole lot of restrain from buying the IRON FIST HARDCOVER TPB that I saw in the store recently. But check out these very, very cool villains from the latest issue. THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST will definitely be on my pull ...