Author: Matthew Peterson

Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.

As someone who can take or leave Batman, I’m always fascinated by how much effort goes in to making him look super-cool in each new incarnation, making a very real case that, while he has no powers, he survives by Rule of Cool.  For some heroes, though, the opposite is true, as with ‘The Savage Dragon’ hero Powerhouse, who has superhuman powers on a Kryptonian level in return for the head of a chicken.  Regardless of his level of superhuman might, he tends to get no respect (because he has the head of a chicken, natch), leading us to today’s…

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DC

With the Green Lantern Corps gone, Hal Jordan is the only will-power-based warrior left in the universe. So, who’s been murdering Yellow Lanterns in deep space?  And what’s up in Coast City?  Your Major Spoilers review of Green Lantern #47 awaits!

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As a child, I thrilled to the adventures of the mighty G-Force: Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keyop!  Always five, acting as one! Except those weren’t their names at all, as I learned in college, and their adventures were considerably cooler and more adult in the original form, having been heavily bowdlerized during their adaptation for American audiences.  That led to some exploration of the movies and cartoons of other countries, including the well-done dub of Akira, the joke dub of Dynaman and loads of stuff with subtitles delivered in the original Japanese, Italian, Spanish and more.  One of the…

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‘Round the turn of the last century, I was enamored of a show called ‘Dead Like Me’, which embodied a very post-modern take on serial fiction. Telling the story of a group of undead schlubs, struggling to get by, while also being very dead and reaping the souls of the recently deceased is a very cool concept. It was also one that didn’t quite resonate in 2004 the way it does in 2015, leading to today’s post-it note query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) should really look into Bryan Fuller’s other shows sometime, asking: What favorite bits of pop-culture do you feel were most ahead of their time?

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DC

Gotham City has a Robin problem, and their answer is to criminalize Robin in all forms. This will probably end poorly…  Your Major Spoilers review of Robin War #1 awaits!

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For years, Amadeus Cho has been of the opinion that the Hulk is a mighty hero, not a terrible monster.  But, can he prove it to the world at large?  Your Major Spoilers review of Totally Awesome Hulk #1 awaits!

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As I prepare for a day at home with a sick eleven-year-old (most of my day will probably be ordering her to lie down and get off the internet), I find myself musing about the parenting examples set for us by our fictions.  Most of the time, babies are invisible (like how baby Judith on ‘The Walking Dead’ will disappear for episodes on end, only to reappear right before the next zombie attack) or aged up (like most soap opera kids, but also Cable.)  The idea of HAVING a baby makes for great drama, the idea of RAISING a baby…

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Lots of heroes go solo exclusively, others work exclusively in groups.  Some, like Batman and Luke Cage, prefer a single partner in their feats of derring-do. But what about those elusive three-person combos? Welcome to Ten Things!

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Knowing that ‘Super Troopers II’ is in production, I’m happily revisiting Broken Lizard’s catalogue, including the woefully underrated, wickedly on-point satire of slasher flicks, ‘Club Dread.’  (It’s worth the rental just to hear Jay Chandrasekhar’s British accent, though the real treat is seeing Kevin Heffernan’s turn as a gentle yogini, a 180 degree difference from Rod Farva.)  As one who grew up on the wares of Comedy Central, it’s hard not to rank them in my mind against other groups of funny folk, such as the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players or Exit 57.  (Funnier than one, not…

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With the penultimate episode of Series 9 this weekend (No Spoilers, but: HOLY %$@*, YOU GUYS!!), Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor has leapt past David Tennant and Jon Pertwee to engage Sixth Doctor Colin Baker for my second favorite Doctor of all time.  (Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor is still at the top, though a Season 10 as excellent as 9 has been might finally put that top spot in danger.)  Heck, if they can just avoid the romantic overtones with the next companion, I’ll be happy, which leads us to today’s SPOILER REDACTED query… The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) has…

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Recently, while perusing my many cable channels, I bumped into what I believe was an HBO ‘Young Comedians’ special, featuring standup by a very young Rob Schneider.  Seeing him onstage, actually BEING FUNNY, reminded me of just how far his skills have fallen in my estimation, especially since he was still remarkably entertaining well into his SNL stint.  (There’s a bit about the colloquial uses of the word “dude” that still makes me laugh every time.)  Of course, having the cache to do whatever he wanted really put the kibosh on my appreciation of his humor, leaving me wondering about…

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Here at Stately Spoilers Manor East (home of the 3 pound hamburger and chocolate-covered tater chips), it’s Thanksgiving Day, but that doesn’t meant that the MS-QOTD takes a day off.  Our previous discussion of Best X-Men (for the record, it goes Jubilee, Mimic, Rogue, Phoenix, Armor then the rest of ’em) was actually spurred by the upcoming Marvel limited series, reputedly featuring the “Worst X-Man ever”, a series that has a whole of work ahead of it if they want to be worse than Paulie “Omerta” Provenzano.  Openly homophobic, overtly combative to teammates and, perhaps worst of all, a two-dimensional…

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