Go here for details. I’m still building the site, so if you get in now, you can get the first dibs and best deals.
Go here for details. I’m still building the site, so if you get in now, you can get the first dibs and best deals.
What do an insufferable former leader of The Avengers; a man-hating machine; a former X-(force)-member; Fin Fang Foom; a giant ape/Wolverine hybrid; Irving Forbush; a Go-Bot (kinda); a zombie Nick Fury wannabee; Shazam as a porn star; Elvis MODOKs; and Devil Dinosaur all have in common? They’re just a few of the wild, crazy, and terrific elements of Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen’s 2006-07 series Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.
One of the best things about being a comic book nerd is that there’s always something I missed, something new, fresh, and different. So when I saw the complete Nextwave available as an “Ultimate Collection,” I snapped it up. The book is a biting and hilarious parody of everything comic book: From The Ultimates to D.C. to Hellboy and everywhere in between. It rewards Marvel nerds by bringing in fringe characters like those mentioned above and many more (including one of my favorite Marvel creations: The Mindless Ones!), all wrapped up in an anti-corporate framework. It’s not giving anything away to say that the basic story features a team consisting of Monica Rambeau (the black female former Captain Marvel); Machine Man; mutant Tabitha “Boom Boom/Melter/Time Bomb” Smith (of New Mutants and X-Force); Elsa Bloodstone (daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone, from old Marvel monster books and FrankenCastle); and a new guy called “Captain [expletive deleted],” whose name is so offensive that Captain America beat the crap out of him for using it. The story is violent (but not gory), and completely self-aware.
I can’t recommend the book enough, if you like a good helping of satire with your superheroes. It won a bunch of awards, and it deserved them all.
See a great slideshow of some of Immonen’s brilliant double-splash pages here.
Tags: Comic books
I tried to warn you all back in March. The Dig’s new album, “Electric Toys,” is hot as hell. And now you, my readers, can find out first hand what I mean.
The band wants you to have a copy of their album, for the price of a comment (below), to help promote their U.S. tour.
Drop me a comment, be a U.S. resident, and watch your e-mail next weekend to find out if you’re a winner!
Tour dates, with The Clay People:
Oct 12 – Atlanta, GA – The Drunken Unicorn
Oct 13 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
Oct 14 – Washington, DC – Backstage @ Black Cat
Oct 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Kungfu Necktie
Oct 16 – New York, NY – The Mercury Lounge
Oct 17 – Cambridge, MA – T.T. The Bear’s
Oct 19 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
Oct 20 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
Oct 22 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounger
Oct 23 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Oct 25 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile Café
Oct 26 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge Patio
Oct 28 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom Of The Hill •••
Tags: Free Album!
Until September 13, 2010, the fine folks at Mighty Fine are offering to my readers 25% off any order! You have to mention the code “doomrainbow”–but it’s damn worth it. Check it:
I dug it so much, I got one for m’self. Also got a bunch of cool shirts for the fam . . . Like this Charlie Brown one . . .
The shirts are well made. I’ve washed ‘em twice already and no bleeding, no fading, no ruining the other clothes they were washed in. That’s always a big plus because so many internet T-Shirt places use cheap materials or decals.
The folks at we love fine were good and responsive, and the stuff came superfast. I’m highly recommending that you go check the site out.
Oh, and they’ve got a Galactus shirt.
I’ve never seen a Galactus shirt before.
My 9-year-old was psyched as hell. Remember: 25% off until 9/13, using the codeword
Tags: Comic books
The first cut off the second Xperiment, “Sparks When My Pen Starts” is pure hype–bragging lines about coloring outside of the lines, claims of being “here to upgrade rap and save the world later”–and it’s the perfect intro to this year’s model of Hollywood FLO$$. That’s “F L O dollar sign dollar sign/Because money’s always on my mind.”
You may remember my interview in January with Houston’s own Hollywood F.L.O.S.S. (Flawless Lawless Opposing Stagnant Situations)), or perhaps the fact that I picked his “Art of Fi$cal Intelligence” mixtape as the sixth best album of 2009. Well, this year is the year of FLOSS. He’s exploded, inundating the world with three mixtapes and an album out on iTunes titled “House of Dreams.” So the obvious question is: Can he sustain it? The answer is yes.
Let’s start with House of Dreams, since that’s a proper album. It’s got Hollywood’s hypeman flow, which you’d expect, but then there are innovations like the title track, in which he raps over bird whistles. That’s right, birds. Sweet gentle birds. This track is in direct juxtaposition to the majority of cuts on the record, which are mostly hard and aggressive. In fact, almost everything HF has put out this year hits hard. He’s punching listeners in the face, coming on with rugged aggression–more LL Cool J than backpacker. It’s a new sound for him, and like I said, it permeates all he’s doing this year. Both of his “Xperiment” mixtapes are riddled with his “tough” voice–he’s released two of them, in an attempt to “build my catalog and get out rough versions of ideas i had in my mind”–apparently taking lessons from Lil’ Wayne. But he’s damn good at it, and he’s careful not to lose track of his ability to flow smooth, on cuts like “To New Beginnings” and the drum-soul driven “When The World’s Against You.” FLOSS is clearly experimenting–not just on the two mixtapes, but on the House of Dreams album as well. He’s showing much broader range, using a wide variety of beats, tones, and rhythms, and generally selling himself on versatility.
Is every song in this avalanche of music good? I’m not sure it matters. Even FLOSS himself admits that the explosion of material in the two Xperiment mixtapes is completely unfiltered–”its up to you to pick which one you like or don’t like,” he says. And he’s clearly saved the best for his album–as he should have. Who else in rap can rhyme mannequin with Anakin (Skywalker)? Hollywood’s extensive vocabulary and verbal playfulness ensures he’s constantly surprising, firing rapidly, never repeating his rhymes and verses.
House of Dreams gets my recommendation, for sure. It wears its influences well, which include OutKast, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z . . . It’s smart, funny, wise and crisp. The Xperiment mixtapes are worth getting, but you’ll want to cull out about a third of the material. And that’s the 
point–you can make your own album!
Go to iTunes and buy House of Dreams. Support this artist, if you believe in hip hop’s future as being something other than copycat commercial trash.
THE BEST OF HOLLYWOOD F.L.O.$.$.
Art Or Fi$cal Intelligence. The title track from his first awesome mixtape, this song is an expression of his philosophy as well as his skill.
Art or Fi$cal Intelligence is five bucks at bandcamp, and it’s worth every goddamn dime. Believe that.
Sparks When My Pen Starts. From his X-Periment 2 mixtape, this is an example of HF’s edgier flow, where he breaks like a “rap antihistamine.” A great example of his creative word choices.
(Get the whole mixtape here.)
Daydreamin-Hollywood with Kidd the Great. Over the classic Lupe Fiasco joint, HF proves he’s not just a great producer (he makes most of his own music)–he can jack beats, too. From his “The Prequel”–the mixtape before his first proper album, House of Dreams.
(Get the whole mixtape here.)
House of Dreams. “The industry will crush your soul if you let it . . . Welcome to House of Dreams” The title track. A “come on come on” building cut. Superfly.
Get it on iTunes and support this fantastic new artist!
Tags: Free Album!, Hip Hop
Earwig knows how to kick off an album. “Trees,” an obvious single, is a slow/fast/slow/fast, building rockpop fistpumper that’s all hook and attitude. Earwig make music like it used to be in those buygone days of the 1990s. You know, shades of Soul Asylum, Nirvana, Muse, Dinosaur Jr. . . . Y’know why? ‘Cause they’re that Goddamn old! Their experience shows in their ability to craft solid rock songs, one after the other. And their street cred gets bonus points because they run their own label.
It’s seven bucks on bandcamp. Such a deal.
And even better, you can get the acoustic version of the album for free at bandcamp! Come on, man, support the artist!
Tags: Free Album!, Indie rock
It’s been a few weeks—I’ve been busy—so some of this may be old . . . But at least there’s a lot of it!
1. WALKING DEAD. Of course this is the lead story . . . AMC released a 4-minute trailer, and confirmed that the show will launch on Halloween for a special 90-minute episode directed by Frank Darabont, followed by 5 more episodes for the first “season.” (They’re already in pre-production for season 2.) If you’re not saying you can’t wait until Halloween, you are hereby forbidden to read my blog ever again.
2. SMALLVILLE. Buzz is starting about the September 24 debut of the final season of the [pretty good, then bad, then really good, then pretty good, then dull] series “Smallville,” which has been around long enough to wear out its welcome. The final season will be not-Superman-or-Superboy’s battle alongside Green Arrow and probably at least half a dozen others (not-Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, Hawkman, etc.) against Darkseid. Also, the incredibly hot prudish nudist Erica Durance (anybody who heard her interview with Howard Stern a few years ago knows what I mean), who plays Lois Lane, will also play Isis(?) this season. Oh, and Supergirl will be back. Could be good, but keeping Clark out of the tights has gone on too long. Folks are asking what to replace this series with? Howzabout Superman??? ‘Cause this show never had him.
3. ANT-MAN. Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim flick got a mixed reception (but I loved it!) and was a box office dud, but he’s still the only guy attached to an Ant-Man movie. Wright wants to make it a spy thriller. Really? Ant-Man (to me) is kind of a silly character. I only really liked him when he went inside Iron Man after Tony’s systems were fried during a battle with the Hulk (I think that was Iron Man #153, but I’m doing this off the top of my head) during the terrific Roger Stern days. (I did like Scott Lang’s appearances in the brilliant Brian 
Michael Bendis series, “Alias.”) Other than that, he’s a b-lister who should stay off the a-list. If they’re looking for lesser-known folks to get the spotlight, a Giant Man/Wasp movie would be more interesting, or more Blade flicks! Hell, I’d rather see a whole slew of guys: Power Man and Iron Fist, a Daredevil reboot, Moon Knight . .
4. IRON FIST. Marvel Studios hired Rich Wilkes (of the horrible “xXx” action film) to write a screenplay. Of course, we all know that “write a screenplay” rarely translates into a movie that human beings can actually see. But if the chi is with him, Danny Rand will be the first star of a Disney film about a Marvel character (the currently slated Marvel movies are all Marvel Studios productions, started before the merger).
5. DEADPOOL. You have to give it to Ryan Reynolds. Despite all indications to the contrary, he’s pushing to get the Deadpool movie made and talking it up constantly. As Rob Liefeld tweets, “There needs to be a &^%# Deadpool movie NOW!”
6. NEIL GAIMAN’S SANDMAN. Sandman, a most excellent comic book series under any criteria that ran from 1988-96 and was partly responsible for the creation of D.C.’s Vertigo imprint, may be coming to T.V. I know, you’ve heard that before (it was supposed to be coming to HBO), but now it looks like D.C.’s bigger sister, Warner Bros., sees a market on the CW—which is starving for material and is owned by (of course) Warner Bros. The odds, then, of the project actually reaching completion seem a lot greater.
7. BATMEN. If you were a fan of Batman: International (I wasn’t) then you may be excited by the news that when Bruce Wayne is done returning, he will wear the Batsuit. But Grayson will, too. Apparently, Batman is going to incorporate himself around the world—kind of like the Avengers: Initiative idea. Se, we’ll have Batman, Detective, Batman and Robin, Batman Inc., and Batman: The Dark Knight. Every month. Marvel should do this with Deadpool, since they can’t seem to publish enough of him every month, either.
8. DAREDEVIL AND GAMBIT. Looks like Gambit will be the new Daredevil. I’m not psyched about it, but my son is apeshit. Daredevil and Gambit are, respectfully, his two favorite heroes. So for him, this is like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup: Two great tastes that go great together. Daredevil will be ending at the end of the Shadowland arc in November with issue #512. Andy Diggle will return with Daredevil Reborn #1 in January. How much you wanna bet Daredevil Reborn” lasts about 13 issues, and then they go back to the regular numbering with #525? (Or later with #550?) Murdock will be back, that’s for sure. Reborn will feature the art of Davide Gianfelice, who is currently impressing the world on the indie ”Northlanders” series. Here’s the cover of “Reborn,” drawn by Jock:
And to close this out . . . Nuthin’ but:
Yeah, Brand New Day is ending and the book will drop to a twice-a-month schedule. As of now, I don’t think Marvel plans to fragment the Spider-Universe the way it was before BND by having half-a-dozen Spider Books each month (thank God), but major changes are afoot. I hope so, because BND is going out with an uncharacteristic whimper. The usually great series’ concluding arc “OMIT,” is not just silly, it’s lame and boring and doesn’t even seem to fit in with the overall BND story. Here’s some of the changes a’coming that I’ve heard:
- Spidey will get new tech.
- The next storyline, “Origin of the Species,” was originally called “The Sinister 666” as it features several classic Spider-Villains like a new Scorpion, Rhino, and Electro.
- Norman Osborn, Carnage and Spider Girl (a.k.a. Arana) will be getting their own titles, although Oz and Carnage’s will be miniseries. One will be Oz in prison, the other will be Spidey and Iron Man vs. Carnage. No announcement yet about creative teams.
Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Zombies
Bitches ain’t shit!
Tags: Hip Hop, Video of the day
“Someday soon you’ll be on fire/Ask me for a glass of water/I’ll say noooooo/Let that shit burn/And you’ll say/Please please please put me out/I promise not to do again/Whatever I did to you . . .” This is the opening line on the opening song (“Someday Soon”) of Harlem‘s Matador debut, “Hippies.” Does the title raise expectations of love and flowers, jangly peace songs about coming together? Well, these opening lines should force you to jettison any such prediction.
The music is garage rock. Think Nobunny, Iggy Pop, The Strokes, White Stripes . . . Power chords, all hooks, grimey production . . . Party grunge. The lyrics are silly and ironic, but witty–not corny. It would be easy for a band like to this get old quick, and the only problem with the album is that the songs do start to sound the same after a while. The duo, from Austin by way of Tucson, could stand to expand a little bit more into blues or balladry. “Cloud Pleaser” starts to go that way, but the thumping of guitar-vs.-drum takes away from any sensitivity the song might otherwise have had. Harlem are clearly not deep thinkers. (One of the best songs on the album is a jam-with-screams called “Stripper Sunset.”) But what they do well sounds like punk versions of 1960s girl groups songs. In all, Hippies is a lot of fun–and I can’t imagine that this band wouldn’t be good live. (I’ve heard they set things on fire.) And when they hit well, it’s like a soda bottle exploding up your nose. “Faces” bursts out of the starting gate at a breakneck pace and never lets up. The afore-mentioned “Someday Soon” cooks and boils. “Scare You” runs like a subway car blowing through a station without stopping, knocking the listener with a blast of warm, stanky air.
Yeah, this sounds like stuff you’ve heard before. But you probably aren’t used to hearing it done this well.
BONUS COVER BY ANOTHER BAND WITH HARLEM IN THEIR NAME
Y Control (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)-Harlem Shakes
Tags: Covers, indie punk, Indie rock
