Captain America: Winter Soldier, an Advance Review!

Yeah, that's right, I haven't been here since I post one of my Avengers Classic panels waaaay back...

Two years have come and go, and in the meantime a lot of stuff has kept me from regularly writing on this blog that was intended as an outlet for my thoughts regarding, well, mostly everything!

This time around I want to share with you my thoughts - and my official review - on the latest Marvel Studios blockbuster (which I loved and my girl Natalia not that much...), Captain America: Winter Soldier.

This movie, although with an original script, is based on a story arc of the Captain America title from 2005-2006, "Winter Soldier", by Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting.

That arc broke an unwritten law in Comics. It brought back one character that along with only two others (Peter Parker's Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy) were supposed to stay dead forever, as they provided an explanation, a motivation, a reason for the lead heroes to be flawed and full with guilt.

It brought back Bucky, WWII Cap partner who died in comics in 1945. But he was seriously changed.

And as I'm not going to spoil the rest, you can read my Advance Review right here, where it was orignally posted, and as long as you're there feel free to check the rest of this amazing site, www.PsychoDriveIn.com.

This review has been reposted on the site I used to Social Media Manage, www.ComicsBulletin.com.

My thoughts on the movie? 5 stars out of 5. It is a movie worth seeing, whether you dig the spy, thriller, political intrigue or superhero genres. It has it all, and what's better, it feels true to the original source at every second of its more than 2 hours.

A great Captain America. One to be really excited about!

   

Avengers Classic Panels: Part 2

Okay, let's face it, it is a fact that, as part of the Holy Trinity along with Iron Man and Thor, Cap was the Avengers' heart while he was with them, so the least I can do is honor that by posting what I consider to be one classic and crucial moment for the Avengers and for Cap.

Today's Avengers' scene meant Captain America's return to the world after his 2nd World War exploits and subsequent disappearance, and suposed death after a fail mission against Zemo, on 1945. The job was perpetrated by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "The King" Kirby, with George Roussos on inks and Artie Simek on letters.

It takes place in Avengers #4, when the team (comprised by Thor, Giant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man) is coming back in their submarine after a tussle with Hulk and Namor and find something floating in the cold waters...something?

Or maybe someone?

The beginning...

Sam

I'm back! Or a look back at 2011

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I updated this blog! I've been meaning to do it for quite some time, but somehow I didn't!

As you can guess by now, I'm about to tell you about some of the reasons that kept me away from this beautiful blog. I'll sum it up in one small yet powerful word: Life.

Yes, life. More specifically, the radical change (which in many ways was the natural evolution of things, except I just couldn't see it) that took place in mine last year.

See, last year I was at a crossroads. I had been an Auditor at really big companies for what, the last 5 years or so? That involved a lot of travelling, and therefore, a lot of time away from home and my girl (who you already know if you follow this blog!). At the same time, my commitment as Columnist, Reviewer and Interviewer (boy!) for Comics Bulletin was increasing with each passing day.

Ok, this was a brief recap of my situation during the year 2010 and the beginning of 2011. However, there's one more important piece of the puzzle that I haven't mentioned. Social Media.

My interest in Social Media projects and the 2.0 world had been brewing since I worked on the Avengers Forever site as a Head Moderator and Website Initiatives developer. I loved that Online Community and loved prompting people to interact, open up discussions...that was fun, and gave me the chance to see the fruits of a Community Management work. Without me knowing, Social Media had piqued my curiosity for good.

So here we are, in 2012, after a year of change, of transition, of evolution, in both the personal and proffesional way.

And what's the Status? Ok, I'm deep into Social Media now, and as Comics Bulletin's Social Media Manager I've worked side by side with the e-zine's Publisher, Jason Sacks, to plan a Social Media Strategy, which fruits we have already seen, most notoriously on Comics Bulletin's Facebook Page and the revamped and adapted to the 2.0 site, which you should bookmark right away!

However, if you ask me to pinpoint a single milestone that this life change has brought, it's very simple: San Diego Comic Con 2011, more affectionaly known as SDCC.

SDCC was some crazy stuff, and not only gave me the chance to meet some of my Comics Bulletin peers, but to meet hundreds of pros of the Comics biz, and interviewing some of them, including the everloving father of Modern Marvel Comics, Stan "The Man" Lee.

But that one is for another post.

Thanks for reading, people, and keep on tuning this way!

Sam

Sunday Memories: When we were young

Yes guys & dolls, I know that this has nothing to do with Social Media, Community Management or Comics, but sometimes you just got to remember where you came from to understand where you are going! We took this pic when our long running relationship (8 years +) was just starting...Dude, we both look so young!

In my case, the answer to both is the same: My lovely girlfriend Natalia!

Have a great Sunday everyone! Love!

Sam

Exciting things are coming your way!

Hey everyone!

Today I wanted to give you a quick heads-up on some of the great stuff you'll be seeing around my blog in a few days!

- Mike Norton! Battlepug!

- Kickstarter! Reshoot!

- SDCC crazy coverage!

And a lot more wonderful stuff that I'm not ready to reveal just yet. So keep your eyes peeled, bookmark us and don't go away, because this July is going to be one hell of a ride!

Sam

Twitter, Comic Strips and Ducks

Today Twitter is bursting with some of the craziest quotes ever, thanks to the hashtag #replaceawordinafamousquotewithduck (I myself jumped on the duck wagon with one or two crazy tweets, I admit it) so I thought I was going to honor that fun hashtag in my blog by showing you people some examples of a long, running animated cartoon series about...well, you guessed that one right, ducks!

What the Duck is funny as hell. Fast, energetic and full of humor, this Comic Strip is just what the doctor ordered if Friday looks too distant! So, grab a chair, don't grab a drink because you would spill it all over, and...laugh! It's Duck time!

Poor duck, seeing Death face to...crotch? That must've been a tough one! It's never beautiful to see one of these ducks crying, but then again sometimes life's not that easy!

However, before the coming of Death there is life to struggle with, as this amazingly funny strip (one of my favorites of the animated comic strip) shows us!

And, just in case you were wondering whether or not to heed your friends' advice when they tell you to "duck"...wonder no more! And hey, if you hated homonyms before this one, I'm not about to ease your mind either...Sorry!

Hope you enjoyed this introduction to the crazy world of the What the Duck Comic Strip!

Til next time!

Sam

Twitter's just too darn complicated for you? Worry not!

According to @kellyhclay, Twitter has realized that the Facebook user's profile is a lower-tech or less tech-savvy than the Twitter ones, and to get more people onboard the Tweet-like-Crazy train, are studying the possibility of making Twitter much simpler and easy to use, by adding Facebook-like features (i.e.: instant reply without a lot of work behind it).

Here's the story so far:

"This is according to Mashable. A small percentage of Twitter users are now testing a feature that prompts users to @replies, or @mentions, to users directly from the users’ profile pages. Instead of hovering over a tweet to reveal the options to favorite, reply, and retweet, Twitter users may in the future simply just have to type their reply into an input field that’s below the profile information of the other user.

Mashable called this new feature similar to a Facebook message wall, but the difference is that the @reply won’t be featured on the other user’s Twitter stream. It doesn’t appear Twitter will act any differently than it does now, where your @reply tweets actually get featured in your own Twitter stream. The problem is for many new Twitter users, for whom which this new feature is probably designed for, won’t understand this. Hopefully the test of this new feature will either reveal this problem, or surprise us with a nice solution right from the start."

So what do you think of it? Want to give Twitter another try?

Sam

Twitter: Love & Hate Infographic

Today's post is a very interesting one! Ever wanted to take a quick glance at what topics Twitter, one of the most powerful Social Media tools, is built around?

Because after all, Twitter is all about conversations, sharing oppinions about what we love...and hate.

And here's where this Infographic by Neoformix , created through the vast scanning over 1,000,000 tweets with the words "love" and "hate" on them. This scanning was done all through 2010, wonder what it would look like in one year?

Avengers Classic Panels: Part 1

This is it! New section! Classic Avengers panels! I will be sharing with you people the panels that did make a difference, whether it be for the art or for the story, now carved into stone!

The last panel of Avengers #1, marked a difference for me and for the Comics Medium. Written by Stan "The Man" Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Dick Ayers and lettered by Sam Rosen, this issue is a must for any good comic-book lover.

This is the moment where our heroes decide to band together and form a team, after their combined skills and powers had defeated Loki, the Asgardian god of Mischief. Founding members, as you can see here, were: The Astonishing Ant-Man, the Wondrous Wasp, the Mighty Thor, the Invincible Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk!

The green goliath would leave at the end of the second issue, after a "misunderstanding" involving the Space Phantom, never to come back to the team, but that's another story...

As I said, I will be sharing with you some of the Avengers' most classic moments over the years, and obviously this had to be the first one! Enjoy!

Sam

Transformers: Dark of the Moon experience

Ok, so just came back from watching the latest Transformers movie, and though I had only seen the first Michael Bay movie from some years back, I have to admit I had a really fun and entertaining time with the Ultimate battle between Autobots and Decepticons.

Michael Bay has nailed the formula for these movies, and he won't let it go, because hey, after all, why break a toy that works perfectly?

This one's a fun ride, with lots and lots of fighting (between robots, non-trained humans, USArmy...), lots of destruction, twists, sacrifice, fun and some classic Michael Bay t&a, which basically just make you laugh.

Though at one point the movie could feel a bit long (when Samy enters a ravaged Chi-Town intent on facing the hordes of Decepticons and save the girl all by himself), the reappereance of a badass Optimus Prime saves it, and it is a merit to director Michael Bay and his Special Effects Studio the slick and smooth way in which both Autobots, Decepticons and US Army synch in a perfectly choreographed battle.

Don't really know about this movie's exact budget, but it must have been a nice effort on Producer's Steven Spielberg part. Every penny spent is worth it (and I watched it in 2-D!).

Some great actors like Frances McDormand (CIA top honcho), John Turturro (a classic in these Transformers movies) and a hysterical John Malkovich help to give the flick a different level than the average popcorn movie.

Shia Leboeuf, Spielberg's prodigal son, nails the classic hero-with-feet-of-clay who even in the third installment of the Transformers saga, gets poorly treated until, after a lot of fighting and shouting, he becomes the not-so-unexpected hero, and the Autobots best ally.

If you like big robots, massive destruction, and a nice dose of fun spread throughout it all, you'll likely enjoy this movie. After all, with the word Transformers on the title, you know what you're going to get...or don't you?

Sam

Hi People! Some First Words

Hey Everybody-

It's been a while since I took on the task of mantaining and updating a Blog, and though I had done so in the past for various reasons (my girlfriend included) my blogging hiatus had been going on for too long...

So now that I'm digging deep down into the Community Management/Social Media Management world, and have the opportunity to share my passion for the 9th art (Comics, fellas!!!) with the whole world, while at the same time getting to work on the Geeky Online Journalism field, I decided it was about time.

And I'm back. My purpose? To entertain & to be entertained with you, while at the same time sharing the stuff I've done on my Comics Journalism career over the years; as well as exchanging all kinds of tips on what makes a good Community Manager!

Oh, and I may occasionally drop a line or two about pugs, that lovable dog breed described as "multum en parvo". Yeah, I guess that's latin. On a first post.

Couldn't end on a higher note, so 'til next time!

Sam