Sense8 Christmas Special and How J. Michael Straczynski Writes the Same Story Over and Over and Over....

J. Michael Straczynski writes the same damn story over and over and has been passing it off to us for years now. This one trick pony has been paid for selling us the same thing twice, and it makes me kind of mad. Instead of paying for this hack to re-tell his tired tale we could have gotten some other writer's view on things instead we get the exact same crap from the exact same guy. 

The story goes something like this. A magic power source creates a number of super powerful individuals who need to be organized together to fight some other wielders of this power who would do the unpowered people of earth harm. It's not a terrible premise. It is the basic plot of Highlander which spawned three films and a syndicated TV series. Not a terrible plot to rip off. 

The first time I came across J Mike's trick was Rising Stars. It was given to me by a friend when I was reading Supreme Power and was enjoying. Supreme Power tells a new version of the Squadron Supreme, DC hero allegories, origins. A modern world like our own with all it's flaws learns it has a Superman and Wonder Woman and how it deals with it, and how they deal with the world. Pretty good and always interesting to me. The hook of J Mike's version is an asteroid lands on earth and that spawns the appearance of a number of these new heroes. 

When I opened my loaner of Rising Stars I was shocked to read that a modern world like our own with all it's flaws becomes the home of a number of super powered individuals when an asteroid crashes into the planet. The similarities were pretty incredible. Here J Mike uses the "There Can Be Only One" trope from Highlander for his supers. 

Later J Mike came to Thor post Ragnarok with the Norse mythos members all missing. Thor learns that they are not gone but hidden in mortal form and he goes about re-powering them individually. So we have a modern world with all its flaws learns that gods and monsters are walking around among them and one powered individual who contacts each of these powered beings and by awakening them makes Asgard more powerful. Sound somewhat familiar?

Most recently I watched the Netflix series Sense8, I loved it. It's the story set in a modern world with all it's flaws and faults where a group of individuals gain super powers. As each member interacts with each other they become more powerful. Again basically the same plot as Rising Stars. 

JMS is not the first or only writer to re-use plots, and the crime is not a terrible one. The best part of these stories is how the characters react to the plot device, not really the plot device itself. That said however, a great story will offer BOTH great interactions AND an original plot device. I am eagerly awaiting season 2 of Sense8 and the Christmas Special. I do wish that someone would tell J. Michael Straczynski to stop using the same story premise over and over and over again.

I don't think I'm telling you anything new or profound when I say the first Guardians of the Galaxy was great. It looks like the second will follow in the same path. Witty quips, massive space violence and Groot are a delightful combination. Out of all the MCU movies GotG has been the most rewatchable. I'm eagerly awaiting this one, as Drax's straight man lines have cracked me up in both trailers.

Comic Shop Review: Tate's Comics Lauderhill, FL

Tate's Comics in Lauderhill is just about the most perfect comic store I have visited. The strip mall store is massive, taking up several store fronts. The outside signage is prominent and makes the location very easy to find. The main window display is so incredibly captivating it makes the store impossible to miss.

I swear these faces move

Geiger Meets Robocop

Once inside you are treated to a wide open space filled with comics and comic collectibles. Wide aisles of display cases and shelves are inviting to the customer, and encourage browsing. As I recall you come to statues first, then graphic novel shelves then finally comics in the back. The store makes the most of their very high ceilings with a number of eye-catching overhead displays. 

There is a ton of light inside the store and everything was very clean. The comics wall was well stocked with recent back issues, and there were several cases of back issues. I did not have the time to dig too much the day I visited. I do not recall seeing any dollar or discount bins which is the biggest strike against Tate's. My visit was 4 years ago now, and as I said it was a short one so it is possible I missed them, even still a store of this size must be able to put out accessibly priced books for the youngest readers and for those just wanting readers copies of random books. 

Comics This Way

Worth noting at the time of my visit was a loft space the sold locally crafted jewelry and knick-knacks. This is a great combination of concepts. It is always good when a store owner supports local creators of any type. The cross-over in artisan crafting and comic readers is probably higher than most would readily think. Upon reflection the connection seems obvious, and some stores sell local craft good, especially those with a direct comic link, but not as many as probably should.

The large store had a fair share of workers but I didn't feel pressure by a glut of customer service. A casual, but friendly greeting on the way in, and a friendly smile or two as I browsed about. At checkout thought I received my biggest surprise of the trip. The owner's father was working the till. In the conversation it came up I was from Baltimore, and it turns out he knows the owner of my regular comic shop. In fact the he had mentored my shop's owner when he first got started, small world.

Jim Jay Bullock and Charo were off for that weeks show

Lastly and a big bonus point for the shop, they have a store tee-shirt. The design, at left is, well fantastic. Cleverly named characters so as not to incur any copyright issues, and also provide some in jokes to those in the know. I wear the shirt often. 

Overall Tate's Comics, Toys, and More is a top notch and highly recommended store to shop. It still stands out as one of my favorites to have visited and whenever I get back to the Ft Lauderdale area I will definitely revisit. There are a good number of shops in the area and some are really close by, but I have the feeling Tate's would be my comic home if I was a resident. In addition to the comic store, and local gifts, they also have a large anime store which I did not visit. Anime is too big a genre for me to have made the leap into, although the comic/anime connection is long and well established it has never been my thing. Overall I give the store 9.5 of 10. It would be perfect, but for the lack of dollar bin which knocks it down a couple points, but the store tee (and custom patches) bring it back up. To sum up, Nobody has what Tate's has! ;) to any Baltimore readers.

Comic Shop Review: Green Shift Music & Comics Seminole Heights, Tampa, FL

Strip Malls 

Green Shift Music and Comics is old school. I can think of no better way to describe it. It's been a long time since I visited so I can't recall if the music or comics came first, but at some point back
in the day the combination of these two great tastes that taste great together was made, finding their home here along Nebraska Ave in Tampa, Fla.


The first thing to notice about the low slung, and at this point classic Florida sprawl style building is the custom paintings of musicians that line the building. Morrissey, Roy Orbison (replaced by Johnny Cash?), Hendrix (twice), and right next to the front door Frank Zappa.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced

Approaching the building can be a bit intimidating. The lone trailer on the lot is interesting but the lack of windows is somewhat uninviting. Adding to this is the rather extensive rules list posted on the door. So large is it that it obscures most of your view into the shop. Lost perhaps is the irony that Zappa would have walked in shirtless and barefoot, smoking, talking on his cellphone, and asking to pawn something after he used their bathroom if for no other reason than because he was told not to. Personally I don't mind these weird rules lists, because I don't give a crap about them, but they definitely set a tone.

Long Box Graveyard

Inside Green Shift is kind of dark, though not gloomy. There is a good selection of recent comics on the shelves. Packed in and neatly aligned they carry extra copies of most of the more popular comics of the month. There is a nice room of back issues with a fairly sizable collection. It seems they have a regular sale on older books which is nice. They are well stocked on trades, tchotchkes, and tees, but sadly no store tee.


The staff is ok, not particularly exemplary, but not offensive either . On my visit the man behind the counter was nice enough. He answered my questions about the shop, although I can't recall some of his answers. He did mention that the small new comic rack was the original 1980's comic rack. Otherwise, I don't recall him greeting me or making much small talk, this is neither good nor bad just middling in the impression area.

Blurry Racks of Things and Hidden Comics

Overall I can't give Green Shift a great rating. While it is fairly well-stocked in the new comic dept. it isn't fantastic. There are back issues, but they was not a great selection overall. The store is kind of claustrophobic, I was glad to be the lone shopper as more than a couple of people would have made the store hard to navigate. The plus-side is Green Shift represents the great merging of music and comics. This is a link that is not given enough credit, and often combo shops of this type allow one or the other to suffer neglect. Green Shift does an excellent job balancing their music and comics inventory. All of the comics come bagged and boarded which is nice in one sense, but shopping as I do I like to peak inside to see if 1. I already bought the issue and 2. I take a lot of flyers on stuff so a look at the interior art and writing helps me make decisions.

My Comic Shop Review Rating: 6 of 10  (Bumped up one for Zappa).

I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird

Jive Bunch of Turkeys

Are You Into Yoga?

I picked up the Hermes Press Phantom reprint issue at Free Comic Book Day this year. Always liked the Phantom in the newspapers, and the freebie didn't disappoint. Full of short two-fisted tales of jungle action the way The Phantom ought to be. When I got to the back cover ad for the new Hermes Press Phantom Series I got different surprise.

Diana Palmer, the woman on the right, is posed in a stereotypical ass out comics pose. What's alarming is the posture, which is pretty much not anatomically possible is incredibly over accentuated. What is great though is the look on the Phantom's face. He has a sort of "WTF?" disappointment as he wonders if he himself can get his wife to turn around like a normal person or if he could just disappear from the scene forever.

The picture is by Sean Joyce who will be drawing the new Hermes Press Phantom series.

Comic Shop Review: Vortex Comics, Milwaukee, WI

The entrance to the Vortex

There are a few different kinds of comic book stores. Some stores are about comics and games. Some are about comics and pop-culture. Some are just about new comics books and trades. Vortex Comics is just about comics, new and old.

Located in the west/southwest of Milwaukee's outskirts, Vortex occupies the bottom floor of an older and rather plain building. The building is beige, and on the day I visited with the expansive gray April skies, the train tracks near the street, and the flat land stretching out in front and behind me, the brightly colored posters and paintings in the windows added some much needed color and texture to the setting. 

JR surveys his domain

Inside the store is equally modest, but everything Vortex eschews in flash it makes up for in comics. New books are lined up in shelves along the walls. They keep several of the last months books available for none subscribers. The comics are divided by publisher, Marvel, DC, & independents. The books were in a sort of alphabetical order, but I couldn't quite tell how that alphabet ran along the shelves. Sometimes it went left to right across several shelves, sometimes just a single shelf, and I swear in one location they were alphabetical vertically. I sorted it out, and I had no trouble asking the very approachable and helpful shop owner JR.

Mike, pushing the rock

Aside from the new books the center of the store is dominated by a series of shelves that house several hundred long boxes of back issues. The upper section of bagged and boarded issues vary in price. I plugged some holes in my collection and completed my Secret Wars (III?) collection. The bottom two tiers are filled with dollar books, lots and lots of dollar books. I filled some more collection wholes, and based on the number of issues they had in the run I started a Morrison Doom Patrol collection.

The day I visited, and probably most everyday, the shop owner JR was running the till. Very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. He even offered to dig for other books I was looking for but didn't see while I was there and mail them to me, even though they may only be dollar books. JR's shop assistant Mike handled the Sisyphean task of restocking the collection bins. Pulling from the back stock and working from A-Z replacing books and noting where acquisitions need to be made, and by the time he reaches the end of the alphabet it's time to restart the beginning again.

Honestly, the organization of the back issues was pretty phenomenal. I've seen smaller collections in much larger state of disarray. This as much as anything showed the amount of love for the store, and the product. Both JR and Mike bantered politely, and the shop talk didn't delve into anything off-color. JR gave me a full tour and even a quick carpentry tutorial on how to build long box shelves of my own.

If I lived in the area there is little doubt that this would be my comic shop of choice. The stores focus is clear and the care given to the product is evident in that focus. Tons of back issues, plenty of new issues on the shelves. This may not be the shop for the casual fan but if you like comics it is the place for you.

Comic Shop Review: Lost Worlds of Wonder, Milwaukee, WI

Once again on the road hitting up the local comic shops. Why? Because I really like comics, and even though comics, unlike food or even clothes, are basically the same everywhere in the U.S.A. no two comic shops are alike. There is not a McDonalds or Wall-Mart of comics, thankfully. Each store is unique in its own way. Some are good, some are not so good. Lost World of Wonders is definitely in the good side of things.

Lost Worlds occupies a very large space in a strip mall in the west/southwest side of Milwaukee. It is one of the largest stores I have visited. It also sits next to the intriguingly named American Science & Surplus. Not visiting that shop is a regret I must live with, but time was running short on this expedition and I barely got to see all of Lost Worlds before dashing back to work.

Stuffed animals, models, games, and more 

The large space of Lost World is filled with a variety of comic associated items. Manga, Anime, RPGs, and statuettes fill about half the floor space. It is good for the shop to be diverse. It brings in a variety of sub-culture enthusiasts and fans who can peek into the realms of their brethren and may even find things the like there. 

A manga/anime section is particularly nice to see. These books are not so common in many stores but Barnes & Noble carries many of them and I worry they will beat out our Mom & Pop shops on their sales. Certainly stores like this will be better able to speak about their books than the average staffer at a B&N.

Star Wars Corner

This store also featured a pretty large Star Wars collectible section. All manner of figures, vehicles, games, and playsets lined the walls and several shelves. Again I'm not a collector, but I appreciate the genre. Seeing toys in a comic store is good. It means kids will be in the store. Kids who will hopefully buy comics. 

You might think that with all this other stuff Lost Worlds wouldn't have much room for the comics. Well you would be wrong.

As I said the space is huge. While half of the showroom floor is not comics the other half is very much full of comics. 

The new issues area is extensive. The shelves are well stocked with the last few months of books, all in neat rows for display. I'm having trouble recalling, but I believe they were in full alphabetical order. This is my favorite organization method. I filling my pull list without wasting time hunting down titles is the best. Surrounding the new books are well stocked shelves of trades, and in the front of the store are the back issue bins. 

Bags and boards lining up the older books in neat order. The boxes are a bit tight so flipping through them isn't possible, but they are orderly so finding what you know you want is a simple enough. Complimenting the clerk on the size of the collection I learned that I was seeing a small portion of what was available. This was amazing and disappointing. Amazing because I could see about 90 long boxes in cabinets in the store, disappointing because I couldn't flip through the larger collection. Even still Alex, the clerk, could find just about anything I was looking for and I certainly tested him with an uncommon request for Spectre vol.3 #38. Less then five minutes after asking for the issue it was in my hand with a smile. Paying $2.00 for a book I was hoping to spend only a dollar on was worth it for the ease of access. Pressing for a more modern back issue came up empty, but Alex said who could find it with more time. 

Quarter bins even!

Time was certainly an issue for me as well because I barely had a chance to delve into my favorite part of any comic shop, the dollar bins. Lost World has some nice looking dollar bins. Well stocked, many in bags and with boards the cheap comics section here is not the ugly monster child hidden in the root cellar. These are comics who just don't garner as much care as the first appearance of Sabertooth, but still deserve to be read and enjoyed. The best part of the dollar bins here is they also had fifty cent and quarter bins. It took a lot of effort not to dig into those twenty five cent books to start my daughters collection, but I only have so much room in my suitcase and I know I would over due it. At twenty five cents I could afford to over do it!

As a whole I was very pleased with Lost World of Wonders. The shop is clean very well lit and nicely apportioned between the pop genres. Comics took the majority of the space, but there a multitude of wonders here for the finding, not just a single wonder on a one trick planet. The comics are plentiful and in good order. There are plenty of back issues to peruse and apparently many many more that can be accessed by the staff for you. This is my chief complaint. I enjoy digging, and not having free rein of the entire collection is disappointing. 

The staff was friendly and helpful. It is worth noting the owner, Ari, is a woman. Since I started really paying attention to the stores I visit I have only found one other female owned store. I'm not saying they are unique  but they are atypical, and I think worth noting. The shop is now over twenty years old, opening in 93, I believe. I only saw on other interaction with a customer while I was there but it was very good. Books were recommended based on the customers interests, and placed in their hands. Seeing dollar bins is always a big plus and seeing quarter bins is bonkers great. Also there is a shop cat, which is fun too. 

Trump Portsmouth, NH

We have returned to the campaign trail, and once again I find myself in New Hampshire. With the Democratic field so small the story to be told is coming out of the Republican camps. While the number of cadidates has dwindled over the summer and fall there are still a number of strong contenders and early polls are tightening showing this race could go in many directions. Even third and fourth place finishers in Iowa and New Hampshire may be able to hold on past South Carolina and into Super Tuesday. I won't jump too far ahead though, as everyone still needs to get through the Granite State's "First in the Nation Primary."

Way back in 2013 I began covering Ted Cruz fundraising speeches in the White Mountains. Back then the story was Jeb Bush's Republican Ascendancy to the Nomination. Two years later the story is quite different. Jeb is in the cellar, and last season's joke candidate is this season's front runner. TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! is here to "Make America Great Again!"

Even as a member of the target audience, I don't see the appeal. Taking extreme stands is fine with me, but Trump feels too ridiculous. I sometimes wonder if he isn't a Democratic patsy. A sort of bizzaro Manchurian Candidate created to make Hilary appealing. Her campaign must see him as her best opponent by far.

Surely the Republican Party, once the hallmark of the unified message, is only tolerating him until they can sort out their own most electable guy or gal. They allow Trump to absorb the blows of the mainstream press, and keep the pressure off of their true #1. A classic D&D style brick character, not skillful or even strong but with hit points to spare while the wizard preps the spells.

The trouble with my theory is Trump is, as far as we know, doing very well. He is drawing a crowd and poll respondents are saying his name again and again. Time will tell, as election results and poll numbers have found themselves in oddly different corners of the room when the sun rises the day after election day. Could Trump be a paper tiger or is he the real mccoy?