Spandex issue 5!

I haven’t posted much on here recently, so I thought I’d do a Spandex update!
Issue 5 is going well, I’ve been working hard on it and feel like I’m making good progress (check out a rough pencilled page above!). It’s going to be a lot of work, as always, but it should be ready for the Leeds Thought Bubble in November.
I will exclusively reveal that the issue is called ‘Big Secret Crisis’ and focuses on Liberty – but also features just about every superhero and villain in the Spandex universe! Liberty will be trying to find out what has happened to her team-mates, and we’ll also be finding out all about her origin.
If that isn’t exciting enough, the issue will come with a free trading card AND a free manga-style comic (ie, you read it back to front!) featuring my Japanese superteam, The J-Team! I’ll also be working on a set of postcards to be ready at Thought Bubble – I’m very excited about the designs! Plus, to celebrate the fact that Liberty is taking centre-stage, I will be launching LibARTy, featuring fun Liberty art from all sorts of contributors! (Please drop me a line at martrpeden@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to take part!)
I’ve also been beavering away on creating my own font, which will hopefully knock weeks of work off. It’s really tricky, and I’m not entirely sure it’s working, but we’ll give it a go. I really need to sort out how I letter, because it’s too time-consuming at the moment (I letter, scan it, and then tidy up every single letter in Photoshop, and it takes bloody ages). I’m also beavering away on the cover – as usual, my first idea didn’t pan out, and then I tried a couple of other things which didn’t pan out either – but I think I’m onto a winner now.
So it’s all go at Spandex Towers!! Stay tuned to spandexcomic.com for more details!

Smallville!

I need to get this off my chest...
I’m really enjoying Smallville at the moment!
:-O
Yes it’s true! Smallville is a funny old show, isn’t it? I watched most of the first five seasons, and it was very by-the-numbers and pedestrian, not exactly brian-taxing. I actually edited the official magazine for it, but stopped watching it when I left the magazine. There was just so much other stuff to watch!
However, a friend told me that he was watching it last year, so I felt less embarrassed, and I started watching it, and it’s actually not bad.
And then, the final season started on E4, and I stored them on my BT box to watch...and I really couldn’t be bothered...But I started watching and now I’m hooked!!!
Yes, it’s still quite lame – the dialogue can be hammy and the music is so dour – but the effects are amazing, and there’s a real pace to it now – more of an ongoing storyline.
It’s actually a real shame that no one has been watching it, because the show features its own takes on characters such as Deadshot, Darkseid and Suicide Squad. And Supergirl just returned, but she sounded like she was from Canada more than from Krypton...
So yes, Smallville is a bit lame and rubbish – but I think once you’ve accepted that, it’s quite watchable. I’m hooked!

X-Men Second Class

I saw X-Men First Class at a special preview the other week, and I - and pretty much the whole audience - seemed generally underwhelmed...
On the morning I was going to see it, my chum asked me if I was excited... To be honest, I wasn't! You see, I really hate the way they dick around with continuity in the X-Men movies. Yeah I know, it's a different set-up etc, but in my opinion, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And I wouldn't mind either, if some of the changes weren't so brainless and ill-considered (see below)
So now it's really surprising me that a lot of friends and people - and even comic fans - seem to be loving X-Men First Class... Really?? I think it's pretty insulting to comic fans, to be honest, the way they've pointlessly changed so many things.
Overall, I felt the movie dragged in places, felt like a Thunderbirds movie in other places, and in all the other places it was really uneven (c'mon, where did Emma go??). But this is supposed to be the start of a trilogy, so hopefully when its all found its feet, things will improve (let's face it, X-Men 1 was good but not amazing either. But I preferred that to this mess.)
Maybe the best way to look at it is to look at each character:
Prof X - stop putting your finger by the side of your head, it's really boring. And stop over-acting. I liked seeing how he lost the use of his legs - I wasn't expecting that - I was waiting for him to lose his hair!
Magneto - James Bond.
Mystique - She seemed to do a lot of screaming! What a wimp. C'mon, Raven's not a wimp! And why does she have to have those stupid scales?
Beast - very good, but a shame the transformation is spoiled by the trailer.
Darwin - was promising!
Angel - I quite liked her, altho her end fight got a bit monotonous. It'd be nice if the fact she's called Angel ties in with Warren Worthington.
Moira - A cool character... but aaargh! Why is she an American CIA agent? Why? She's a Scottish scientist in XMen 3. Och lordy! Moira will be spinning in her grave!
Emma - Oh January... You are very sexy, even if you don't have massive hooters, but put a little effort in hon! I mean in the comics, Emma is FIERCE, but here, she was just ...dull. And why confuse things with the diamond form thing? This could have been a true break-out role for some up-and-coming actress... And if this was Twilight, they'd probably change the actress for the next movie.
Shaw - Well yes, one of the best superhero movie villains ever, I reckon. However... Now don't all laugh at once... A) I didn't realise it was Kevin Bacon (there are so many lookalike actors these days and I feel a bit left behind!)... so B) I didn't realise Shaw was the Nazi guy... Yes, looking back there was that photo thing, but I guess I just zoned out... The whole moustache thing threw me... And at the end of the day, I wasn't particularly expecting Shaw (the guy I know from the comics) to have worked in a Nazi camp. I mean, why would he be?
Azazel - shit make-up, and over-use of the teleportation stuff. I mean, we wanted more of Nightcrawler's powers in X2, but I wanted less of Azazel.
Riptide - yes, that was Riptide! From the Marauders! But Mr Vaughn and Ms Goldman, how can you have a prominent character in a movie and not even say who he is, why he's there, and what he's doing? I gotta say, I think this movie's creators are over-rated. I sat twiddling my thumbs thru half of Kickass, but that just seems to be me.
Banshee - why can't he be Irish?
Havok - Please don't tell me he's gonna turn out to be Cyclops' FATHER...
The two special cameos - brilliant!
That's all I have to say...