Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I finally saw "Captain America: The Winter Solder" yesterday at West Boylston Cinemas. It was an awesome movie! There are still a few movies around that came out recently that I still want to see, but I'm glad I finally got to see this one!

(This image is from http://www.scifinow.co.uk/reviews/captain-america-the-winter-soldier-film-review/)

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I wasn't expecting SHIELD to have been influenced by Hydra secretly for years. We have spent numerous movies in the Marvel Universe believing SHIELD was completely a source for good, but there were some subtle clues towards the beginning that not everything in SHIELD was all it seemed. There were many good agents within SHIELD that were good, but they were never told the truth until it was almost too late. I find this very interesting and different from a good number of super hero movies. It has some spy aspects in it like Pixar's "The Incredibles." 

The Black Widow proved to be a more useful character to the plot in this movie (as well as in "The Avengers") around than in Iron Man 2. She wasn't just eye candy, and if she was ever a romantic interest for Captain America, it never really came to full fruition as they both seemed to have a playful friendship at times where she would try to hysterically try to convince Steve Rogers to got out with certain women.

I had already been spoiled that Bucky was the Winter Soldier, but I was confused about a few things until I saw the movie. I was wondering how he would have managed to jump through to this time frame like Captain America, but I should have guessed that he was in cryogenic stasis for some time as well. I was also wondering why he would want to fight Captain America, but they go with the classic wiped memory scenario. It has been done before, but I did like it in this case, as it pitted Captain America against his friend. I also liked the fight scenes these two shared even though they were few and far between. The Winter Soldier was a much better opponent than the Red Skull.

I'm a little confused at the mid credits scene after the movie. It appears from what I have read that Magneto's children "Quicksilver" & "The Scarlet Witch" are part of the Avengers story line which confuses me because I thought the X-Men plot line was going to remain separate. Ah well, if that's the case, I'm looking forward to the next few movies from Marvel!

Game of Thrones Comic

This week I made another funny comic. I didn't have enough time to color it in, but I might post it on my website again later with color and use it in t-shirt designs. I won't be able to sell it in my CafePress store, but I will sell it in my Kickstarter.

I thought it would be funny if Tony Stark a.k.a. "Iron Man" made an appearance in the Game of Thrones universe to save Eddard Stark from being executed.

The normal story line of Zheph Skyre shall resume next week.

Page 134 & Last Week's Comic

I finally finished coloring in page 134 of Zheph Skyre! I don't know why it has been taking me this long to finish these pages, but I'm just hoping to get up to speed on my own web comic series.

On this page Vanessa breaks Zheph out of his horror struck awe as the orc he incinerated falls apart. After that, they decide to run to Zheph's hideout. Unfortunately they have to fight off many orcs along the way across the city. It appears that they are both growing tired and have sustained many injuries as they make it to the last stretch to Zheph's underground home. Try to guess what Zheph throws into the crowd of orcs...

I had to add the panel of Zheph grabbing Vanessa's arm to improve the transition between the previous & next panel.

This past week's page was just a funny one. I incorporated a picture I took at the Worcester Art Museum of the Batman suit from the Tim Burton movie that Micheal Keaton wore. On this page Zheph and Vanessa are looking at the suit. Vanessa makes a comparison of Zheph to Batman, which Zheph finds hard to believe at first, but than accepts it. I find it funny.

I had to make this funny comic in order to give myself a chance to finish making the next page in the story line, and to color in pages 134 and 135. I am making another funny comic this week and then it will be back to the main plot.

A Song of Fire & Ice: Game of Thrones

I have just finished reading the first book of George R. R. Martin's beloved "A Song of Fire & Ice" series, "Game of Thrones."  I have not seen much of the HBO television series, but from what I had seen of it and heard from many people, I was at least very anxious to start reading the first book.  I am thoroughly impressed with this series so far!

(This image is from http://www.georgerrmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/GOTMTI2.jpg)

This series has so many interesting characters, both within the main cast and the side characters that only show up once in a while. Tyrion, Jon Snow, Arya, Daenerys and so many others have compelling personal histories and develop in interesting ways.

There are quite a few interesting aspects, for instance ice-like zombies that are held back in the north by a giant wall barely holding, dragons born into the world after supposedly being extinct for centuries through such ill mannered magical means, and various forms of bounds being forged and betrayals.

I think what draws a lot of people into this story is the fact that it is not like many stories people are now used to.  It is not simply a story of good triumphing over evil, as there are quite a few characters that have good qualities to them yet also have despicable qualities too.  Many times, it appears that the truly evil characters will win and many of the characters with noble intentions end up suffering and dying horribly.  A happy ending does not appear to be that clear on the horizon.  Even if there is a happy ending to this series, there will be so many scars left over from many of the horrific events that play out. This is not like many fantasy movies we see where there is a clear protagonist who we root for and wins out in the end. There is more of a brutal reality to this epic.

If there is anything people seem to complain about in this series, it is the pacing.  It appears that Daenerys will take forever to get over to the main continent and actually interact with the other characters in the storywith her dragons, King Joffrey has yet to have any sort of appropriate comeuppance for his despicable existence along with the rest of the Lannisters, and who knows when the ice zombies are going to break through the Black Wall.  I was surprised to find out that the author of this series, George R. R. Martin, is still working on another book in the series!  I'm not sure, but I believe the HBO series is on the fourth season & I think it might mean it is partly into the fourth book. There are already five books out each over 700 pages long each!  There is a ton to this story!