Anyways, it's been a while since i've last send in a rant. you'll have to forgive for that. it's just that i am a lazy-ass and i always am going 'i have to write something for the site' and something comes up and i end up not doing it (i get distracted easily). i'll have to see if the new year actually makes me dedicate more time to this. before getting on the theme of my column, i want to talk to you about dc/marvel's crossover 'jla/avengers.' i recieved it as a gift from my esteemed colleague and founder of elektrika as a gift for christmas. i gotta say, it's been worth the wait. almost 20 years in the making, and actually not coming out this year, this is one of the best stories i've ever read. i can only compare it to 'kingdom come' or 'marvels.' three issues into it and i can't wait for the last one to come out. i don't wanna give out too many details, but it was nice watching old characters in the story. characters that were originally going to appear the first time this story was conceived, or current characters in their old duds... a very nostalgic, yet trippy travel thru time. i strongly recommend that you pick this up (thit is, if you haven't, already).

Now, on to the subject. this, i will proclaim the year of the comic book movies. why? spider-man 2. blade 3. hellboy. the punisher. the punisher is perhaps, the weakest looking one of them all, but it can't worse then the one done with dolph lundgren in 1990, although this one isn't half bad. if you watch it now, it looks dated but it ain't torture to watch. anyways, john travolta will be the villian in the movie so that's always a good thing. for more info on the movie you can go to either one of the following sites: http://www.artisanent.com/ComingAttractions/Punisher.html and http://www.punisherthemovie.com/ (the movie's official site is pretty trippy!)

Hellboy, based on the mike mignola character of the same name, will be directed by guillermo del toro (blade 2, cronos, mimic, el espinazo del diablo). the guy have the eye and feel to give hellboy that creepy look. if someone can translate the look of mignola's art to the big screen, del toro is the only guy capable of doing so. i think the only hindrance that this movie has, if this can be considered a hindrance, is the fact that its main character will be portrayed by someone that might be considered non-marquee worthy. the man is ron perlman, who has worked previously with del toro in 'cronos' and 'blade 2' and his most memorable role was that of the beast in the now-defunct tv series 'beauty and the beast' with terminator gal linda hamilton. but, if both guillermo del toro and mike mignola thought that perlman was the best choice for hellboy... hey, who am i to argue, right? i too, think that he's taylor-made for the role. this link, http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/hellboy/index.html will take you to the sony pictures site of the movie. in there, you can go to the official site of the movie.

Blade Trinity, wirtten by david s. goyer, who wrote the previous two installments of the blade series as well as the magnificent sci-fi noir movie 'dark city,' will also direct it. this will mark his second time directing a film; his previous work as a director was a movie called 'zig zag' which started blade himself, wesley snipes. as a writer, i can't say that he has written a bad script. but writing a movie and directing a movie are two completely different things. it has a somewhat awkward cast; jessica biel (7th heaven tv series, the texas chainsaw massacre), ryan reynolds (two guys and a girl... tv series and national lampoon's van wilder) will star in the movie. oh, and wwe wrestler triple h will be in it too. that, for me, is the weakest point of the movie. it's bad enough i have to watch him go on and on monday nights on raw for free, now you're telling me i have to shell out five bucks to see him at the movies? ugh! the movie doesn't have an official site yet, but for more info on it, you can go to the official new line cinema site here: http://www.newline.com/movies/newreleases.shtml or check the links that are avaiable at google.com here: http://www.google.com.pr/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=blade+trinity

Spider-man 2. well... what can i say about it? secquels usually doesn't do that good business. of course, this will be the exception, and i predict that this movie will be the biggest grossing movie of 2004. hey, if the first one beat out 'attack of the clones,' i'm pretty sure it can do the same with whatever movie it gets played. go here( http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/sony/spiderman2/ ) for a teaser of the movie. go here ( http://www.spiderman.sonypictures.com/ ) for the official site of the movie.

Well, that's about it for me. if some comic book-based movies come to mind, i'll make sure to post it here. as an added bonus of my colunm, i'm going to post links that i think are pretty cool to check them out. the one belonging to this entry is http://www.coopstuff.com/ coop is an underground artist located in los angeles, who makes ad art as well as cover art for recordings to retro posters. the most common artwork i can think of him is the ad he did for altoids mint pills and covers for lords of acid and the mtv return of the rock compilation cd's. the look of his women are voluminous 50's vixens with big, long hair and potbellies (which i kinda dig, you know?) but don't take my word for that, go and check it out.

As always, feedback is really appreciated. peace out and have a good one. cheers.