Comic Book Review: D.C. Comics Comic Book Collection Listing- 8/14/07

Always liked D.C. because of the Super Friends cartoon as a kid.

My favorite hero was Green Lantern for some reason, I guess because his ring let you create almost anything as long as the color didn’t bother you.

I wish though that I kept my run of the Death and Return of Superman from this list since I had the whole storyline.

D.C. Listing / Issues

Action Comics 687
Adventures of Superman 501
Artemis: Requiem 1-6
Azrael Annual 1
Batgirl: Special 1
Batman 436-442, 457, 492, 497, 500
Batman: Arkham Asylum TPB
Batman: Haunted Knight TPB
Batman: In Darkest Knight TPB
Batman: Legend of the Dark Knight 16-20
Batman: Mad Love TPB
Batman: Sword of Azrael 1
Batman: Sword of Azrael TPB
Batman: The complete Frank Miller TPB
Batman: The Killing Joke TPB
Black Hawk 2, Missing: 1
Black Lightning 1
Black Orchid TPB
Cosmic Odyssey 1, Missing: 2, 3, 4
Crisis on Infinite Earths 1-12
D.C. Giant Four Star Spectacular 1
Darkstars 1, 2
Day of Judgement 2, 3, 5, Missing: 1, 4
Death: The high cost of living 1-3
Detective Comics 608
Dr. Fate 1987 mini-series 1, 3, 4
Dr. Fate 1989 Annual 1
The Helmet of Fate: Det. Chimp, Zauriel, Ibis, Sargon, Missing: 2
Essential Vertigo: Swamp Thing 12
Final Night 4
Final Night: Parallax 1
Firestorm: 1,3,4,5,18,20,24,25,26,27
Green Arrow (Vol. 2) 0, one million
Green Arrow 1995 Annual 7
Green Arrow: The longbow hunters 1-3
Green Lantern & Green Arrow (Reprints) 1-4, 6, Missing: 5
Green Lantern (Vol. 1) 90, 196
Green Lantern (Vol. 2) 1
Green Lantern (Vol. 3) 0, 46-56, 63, 64, 76, 81, 105, 106, 119, 200
Green Lantern and Silver Surfer TPB
Green Lantern: Dragon Lord 1-3
Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn 1-6
Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II 1-6
Green Lantern: Silver Age 1
Green Lantern: Special 2
Green Latern: Mosaic 1
Guy Gardner: Reborn 1-3
Guy Gardner: Warrior 18-21
Hawkman (Vol. 1) 13
Hawkman Special 1986 1
Hawkworld Mini Series 1-3
History of the D.C. Universe 1-2
Justice League America 0, 92
Justice League America 1996 Annual 10
Justice League of America (Vol. 1) 61
Justice League: The Nail 1-3
Kingdom Come 1-4
Legends of the D.C. Universe 1, 38
Man of Steel 22
New Teen Titans 60-61
New Teen Titans 1982 Annual 1
Omega Men 3
Resurrection Man 1
Return of Dr. Fate 1
Richard Dragon: Kung-Fu Fighter 1
Robin (Vol. 1) 1
Secret Files & Origins: Day of Judgement 1
Secret Origins 7, 24, 32, 38
Sergio Argones Destroys the D.C. Universe 1
Shade the Changing Man (Vol. 1) 1
Shazam: A new beginning 1-4
Starman (Vol. 2) 1
Superman 78
Superman: Distant Fires TPB
Superman: Man of Steel 1-4, 6, Missing: 5
Tales of the Green Lantern (Tangent) 1
Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual 2
Tales of the New Teen Titans 1-4
The Books of Magic TPB
The Flash (Vol. 3) 0, 91-94, 114-116
The Flash 1992 Annual 5
The Flash: Terminal Velocity TPB
The Golden Age TPB
The Kingdom 1-2
The Kingdom: Kid Flash 1
The Kingdom: Nightstar 1
The Kingdom: Offspring 1
The Kingdom: Planet Krypton 1
The Kingdom: Son of the Bat 1
The Ray (Vol. 2) 0, 1
The Ray Annual 1
The Ray: In a blaze of power 1-5, Missing: 6
The Spectre (Vol. 2) 0, 1-5, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 24, 25-28, 30-32, 35, 38, 39, 44-46, 48-52, 54, 56, 57, 62; Missing: 6, 7, 10-12, 14-17, 20-23, 29, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40-43, 47, 53, 55, 58-61
The Spectre 1995 Annual 1
Underworld Unleashed 1-2
Underworld Unleashed: Abyss- Hell’s Sentinel 1
Untold Legend of The Batman TPB
Valor 17
Vigilante: 2, Missing 1, 3-6
Wonder Woman 1995 Annual 4
Wonder Woman: Callenge of Artemis TPB
Wonder Woman: The Contest TPB
World’s Finest 1-2
Wrath of the Spectre 2
Zero Hour 0-4

Comic Book Review: Marvel Comics Comic Book Collection Listing- 8/14/07

I used to have a pretty good-sized Marvel collection, liked Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, and all the usual heroes. Apart from the X-Men though there was never really any storylines that I wanted to go back to so I sold the majority of them.

The only main titles I kept were the Todd McFarlane Spider-Man books since I just really liked his artwork on the series. The majority left of my Marvel collection is mostly trade paperbacks and reprints of Frank Miller’s Elektra series.

I used to have a pretty good-sized Marvel collection, liked Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, and all the usual heroes. Apart from the X-Men though there was never really any storylines that I wanted to go back to so I sold the majority of them.

The only main titles I kept were the Todd McFarlane Spider-Man books since I just really liked his artwork on the series. The majority left of my Marvel collection is mostly trade paperbacks and reprints of Frank Miller’s Elektra series.

Marvel Comics Listing Issues
Dark Hawk 1
Devil Dinosaur 1
Elektra (Vol. 1) 1
Elektra Saga (Reprint) 1-4
Elektra: Assassin 1-5
Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown 1-4
Infinity Gauntlet 1
Man-Thing (Vol. 1) 1
Marvel Illustrated Magazine
Marvels 1-4
Moon Knight (Vol. 2) 60
Morbius 1
Ruins 2
Spider-Man 1-8, 10-14
Spider-Man vs. Venom TPB
Spider-Man vs. Wolverine TPB
Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt TPB
Squadron Supreme 1-12
The Amazing Spider-Man 180, 198, 252, 298, 312, 318-325, 328, 361-363
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 18
The Defenders 1
The Incredible Hulk 372, 377, 393
The Last Avengers Story TPB
The Savage She-Hulk 1
Transformers Universe (Who’s Who) 1-4
Web of Spider-Man 1
What If: Elektra had lived (Vol. 1) 35
X-Factor 1
X-Men: Days of Future Past TPB
X-Men: The Asgardian Wars TPB

Golf Course Review: Lake Forest Golf & Practice Center, Lake Forest, CA- 8/12/07

Comments: The Lake Forest Golf & Practice Center raised their golf rates recently.

Early bird is now $11 instead of $9. Doesn’t seem like a lot, but for a dinky quick 9-hole course that takes less than an hour and is mostly Par 3s, $11 before 7:30 a.m. is too high as well as $12 for the late owl special, especially when there is always a wait on every hole. For the same price I’d rather go to Casta Del Sol in Mission Viejo and for $12 after 5p.m., get a full 19 holes with decent Par 4s and better location.


There’s a few golf hoppers at Lake Forest that just come to play without paying since there’s no marshall in the morning. Played behind a guy that was alone and he had his dog with him running around and playing two balls even when we were right behind him.


The only additional note is that the driving range has replaced a majority of their practice balls with new Nike practice balls. This is a long time in coming since the old practice balls looked liked that were not replaced in two years. The second level hitting area also has been closed to players who drive longer than 275 yards (irons on top deck only for those people) since I guess some balls have been going into the busy street or homes across the way.


Score: 2.5 out of 5. Prices should actually be lower for the length and challenge of the course. Too much traffic on weekends makes hurried plays.

Comic Book Review: Independent Publisher Comic Book Collection Listings- 8/14/07

I’ve decided to do an inventory of the comic books I’ve managed to hold on to. I used to have boxes and boxes of comic book collection amassed from jr. high through college.

I sold about 90% of them for almost nothing just because I needed room and the place I was moving into just didn’t have storage space. So I kept only the must-have series that I would keep going back to.

I now wish I kept a few additional collections, but thankfully publishers are now reprinting trade paperbacks (TPB) since that is my preferable reading material of choice.

Here is my collection from non-Marvel or D.C. comics titles. I used to have tons of Image and Valiant books, but gave those up fast when the marker went down in the late 90’s.

The main titles I will try and get are the Transformers (Dreamwave) and Robotech comics since I enjoy the artwork or continued storylines.

Independent Publisher Listings Issues
Bloodshot 1, 2
Eternal Warrior 1, 4, 5
G.I. Joe: Reborn TPB
Harbinger 0, 7-15, 24-25
Harbinger: Children of the eigth day TPB
Kabuki 1/2, 1-6
Kabuki: Circle of Blood TPB
Kabuki: Fan Edition 1
Kabuki: Masks of the Noh TPB
Macross II 1-10
Macross II: The Micron Conspiracy 3-5
Magnus Robot Fighter 5
Marshall Law: Kingdom of the Blind TPB
Rai 0, #1 companion
Robotech (Wildstorm) 0-6
Robotech: Invasion 1, 2
Robotech: Love & War 1, 2
Robotech: Sourcebook (Wildstorm) 1
Rocketeer Adventure Magazine 1-2
Shi: Fan Edition 1
Solar – Man of the Atom: Alpha and Omega TPB
Spawn 1
Star Wars: Dark Empire 1-6
Transformers (Vol. 2): War & Peace 1-6
Transformers (Vol. 3): More than meets the eye 1
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe (Devil’s Due) 4
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe (Dreamwave) 1
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe (Image) 4
Transformers: The Age of Wrath 1-3
Transformers: The War Within TPB
Transformers: The War Within- The Dark Ages 1
Unity 0-1
Voltron (Devil’s Due) 1
Wanted 1-6, dossier
Warrior Nun Areala: Book 1 1
Watchmen TPB
Wizard Magazine 11-16 & 100 most collec. comics


Movie Review: Alpha Dog- 8/8/07

Synopsis: Known as the wannabe-gangsta movie starring Justin Timberlake. This movie starts off showing a group of early 20-somethings hanging around a house where the leader of the posse, Lovegood, runs a drug and loan shark crew.

Lovegood and his crew are all mouth and posers with their tattoos and guns, but when brought up against tough thugs they run scared. A skinhead-type guy who runs duties for Lovegood ends up being short on cash to pay back and ends up getting into a fight with him. In retaliation for not getting paid, Lovegood and his posse kidnap the former-crew member’s younger brother.

Taking the brother to another location the posse try and figure out what to do with him since the older brother and police are on their tail. They befriend the younger brother and keep him well-off in another location partying and such. As the police are called in and the parents find out that Lovegood and friends are responsible for the kidnapping and face life in prison, the posse freak out and try and find a way out. Unfortunately instead of letting the boy go, they end up killing him and the posse end up going to jail and destroying their and their families’ lives.


Comments: Standard movie popcorn fair, nothing shown in the movie was overtly interesting and dragged for the first hour and five minutes, and character’s behavior changed half-way through the movie making the tough guys weaklings and the weaklings into badasses. There are faux-interview scenes intercut in the movie with the parents of the people and I think did not make the movie flow as well. One thing I did note was Justin Timberlake has a very high-pitched voice in his normal tone.


Score: 2.5 out of 4 Monster Stars. Nicely shot, but the weak script and character development hampered this film.

Movie Review: Disturbia- 8/7/07

Synopsis: Starring Shia LeBeouf (Greatest Game Ever Played, Holes, Transformers), this is a semi-remake of the classic Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grand “Rear Window” movie with a modern twist. Instead of a middle-aged man trapped in a wheelchair as he’s recuperating viewing his neighbors out his window, we get a troubled kid on house-arrest with an ankle monitor keeping him from leaving the vicinity of his house.

We start with see The Kid with his father on a fishing trip. Afterwards on the drive home they are in a car accident and the father dies. One year later the kid is having problems at school and ends up punching his Spanish teacher in class and thus gets placed on house arrest with an ankle monitor that will beep and notify the police if he leaves his home for more than a few seconds. The kid has a wise-cracking asian friend/side-kick. He is bored at home after his mom takes away his XBOX and t.v. privileges, so he ends up watching his neighbors though his binoculars throughout the day. Then new neighbors move in with an attractive teenage daughter the same age as the kid. After seeing reports on the news of a string of murders in Texas that is happening in the same town as the kid now, he suspects the male neighbor across the street of being a murderer. After courting the girl, both the kid, his friend and the girl start spying and trying to get details on the neighbors. They break into his car and home trying to get info. on missing women that have been killed. The kids gets in trouble for stalking the neighbor and the neighbor starts appearing frightening the kids.


As the movie nears the ending, the neighbor attack’s the kids’s mom, knocks out the sidekick and tries to kill the boy since he know’s their on to him. The girl tries and helps the boy who runs into the neighbor’s house and find a hidden underground surgery room and basement where bodies are found. He struggles with the killer and ends up killing him in the end. As the movie ends, the boy is let off early from his house arrest and he finally hooks up with the girl. The end.


Comments: Basic suspense-thriller movie, nothing too surprising. There was a good scene with the sidekick entering the neighbor’s garage to snoop on them, but the movie is a bit predictable. What saves the movie is Shia LeBeouf and his great timing as an actor and whit used in the comedic bits. Not as notable as the Hitchcock version, but as a quick movie to watch on a weeknight, this is pretty enjoyable.


Score: I give it 3.0 out of 5 Monster Stars for those looking for a cat-and-mouse type suspense thriller.

Movie Review: Pathfinder- 8/6/07

Synopsis: This movie is based on the oft-told legend of Vikings traveling to North America hundred of years prior to Europeans landing in the Americas. In this story a Viking expedition force lands in what seems to be the Carolinas cost of No. America and trample over the Native Americans.

The leader brings his then young son and gets him to try and kill a young native girl and the boy refuses, so the father whips the boy exclaiming, “You’re no son of mine” and abandons the boy behind when the raiding party head back to Europe. Later on a N.A. woman finds the boy and takes him back to her tribe to raise him as her own.

15 years later, the blond blue-eyed boy is now a man and his tribe seems mostly peaceful and dealing in fishing and hunting. He unfortunately cannot be a “Pathfinder,” which I think is like being the tribe’s next leader/shaman since he is not from a tribe and no one knows his history. Originally when he was brought in as a boy they thought he was a demon due to his skin, but then there was also a legend where a white-colored savior would come and help the tribe.


Soon another party of Vikings arrives and terrorizes the village and slaughters everyone except the Viking boy (V.B. from now on) since he was across the river. The Vikings are brutal and spare no one. V.B. escapes and tries to warn another nearby tribe to escape since the Vikings as too strong with their armor and steel weapons and would obliterate the N.A. with their wooden spears and arrows. V.B. along with another N.A. try and ambush the Vikings but are unsuccessful and end up having some of the warrior tribesmen killed while the other half of the village try and escape.


V.B. and his love-interest girl/healer from the second tribe are captured and piece-by-piece V.B. leads the Vikings in the search for the other tribe and he gets some Vikings killed by drowning them as the fall through ice and fall of mountain cliffs. After V.B. vanquishes the leader (who knew V.B.’s father), he marries the girl and they raise children and he is always on the lookout for potential threats of the “Dragon Men.”


Comments: The production values of the movie were stunning, The budget is noted at $38 million and the money was well spent on the location, studio shots and costumes of the Vikings. Great detailed was played out in what is mostly a wannabe-Conan movie. Battles are bloody and well-paced. A cross between The 13th Warrior and Conan movies is what I describe this film, I just wish the main star was a bit bigger since all the Vikings were large in the movie, and as an offspring he was average size making his battles seem one-sided when he was smaller then the well-armed opponents.


Score: Though 15 minutes too ling I thought, the movie is a good popcorn-flick and I give it 3.5 out of 5 Monster Stars for those looking for an old-school hack/slash action flick.

Golf Course Review: Aliso Viejo Golf Club, Aliso Viejo, CA- 7/26/07



Comments: Played the Aliso Viejo Golf Club in Aliso Viejo on Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m., the twilight rates were $27.00. After taking off to the first hole you will notice the long drive up past construction (cart rental is a must) since the course is being torn up due to a new housing project being built next to it. A formally 36 hole course, this 18 hole course is situated along a mountainside in Aliso Viejo, lots of hills to go up and down in. There are about 3 small lakes to navigate around during course of play.

The greens are in immaculate condition, very green and the rough is tall yet maintained. The rough swallowed up tons of balls from me since they were lush and overlapped each other. I would at times catch my ball rolling into the rough and as I walked towards it’s location I could not find it at all. There were many times my ball rolled not too far off the cart path, but the lushness of the rough ate all balls headed in it’s direction. The view from the tees was great, many views overlooking Orange County on a clear day. Mostly Par 4’s, there is a nice Par 3 hole, 157 yards straight down a hillside. Since we played an evening time there were only a handful of golfers on the course making it one of the more quieter games I’ve ever played.


The only downside to the course was we were given a bum golf cart causing us to pull the cart up hill for a few holes until the battery gave out and we had to wait for a replacement. The delay cost us at least two holes. We played about 12 holes in 3 hours and had to stop due to the receding sunlight. I only played this course since in a year it will be turned into a private club and the usual weekend rate of $75 is a bit to expensive I think since due to the construction they make you repeat a couple holes to make a full 18. But for $29 in the evening and low traffic on the course, the price is reasonable. A truly great location marred by high price and construction near the site. Oh, and the pro shop was pretty bad in service, no acknowledgement as we checked in and when we called the shop when our cart died, it sent me to voicemail. Only after calling back multiple times using different extensions did I get a hold of someone to send a replacement cart to us.


Score: 3.5 out of 5 (Based on twilight rate)

Golf Course Review: San Juan Hills Country Club, San Juan Capistrano, CA- 7/14/07



Comments: Played San Juan Hills Golf Course on 7/14/07. Although mentioned that this course is busy, it is not at bad as other courses I’ve been at. Was able to play the course in 5 hours, started at 3p.m., ended around 8p.m. Could’ve finished sooner, but there was a 3-some ahead of us who played the championship tees when they weren’t that good and slowed the pace of play.

Since it was after 2:30p.m., was able to get twilight walking rate for $32 and cart for $47. I walked for my foursome, I wouldn’t suggest this for the summer, this course is LONG and winds around the San Juan neighborhoods so you cross streets and underpasses. I was the only walker there, no wonder they make people cart it in the morning, and this place is all hills. The location is really nice, mostly along the hillside and views to the Mission. Some homes scatter along the course that you do have to watch out for. There’s a nice par 3 on top of a hill just above a lake that will try your accuracy and distance with a 7 iron. Lots of squirrels and bunnies abound.

One of the few course where you don’t find lost balls, if it’s lost in the bushes, it stays lost. The driving range is located across the street from the clubhouse, so park in the course area after the driving range. Good location for the price.

Score: 3.5 out of 5