day five

omg look teh coverz!!!

nick lowe: “we knew we wanted david finch as soon as we saw his killer x-men #200 cover (which rules!!!). so the idea of david doing all the messiah complex covers was a no-brainer. no one does drama like david. anyone and everyone he draws looks badass.

“and the variants have been cool, too. we haven’t shown too many of them (wanted to surprise all you lucky readers!). but getting covers from j. scott campbell, simone bianchi, jim cheung and marc silvestri just put the icing on the cake. check them out!”

wow, nick. enthusiastic much? we get the idea - show the art. who are we to argue with the editor of the x-books? enjoy!

boom. more kick ass art. more exclusive kick ass art. and we’re just on day five - omg look teh coverz!!!. be sure to check back next week when we take a closer look at the villains. if you’re good we’ll review the first issue. maybe.

* * * * *
from ign.

day four

a killer writing team

but marvel found a way around all that, and gave us something that’s more fun in some respects - they gave us an outline for the first three chapters of the event. before we get to that, we asked nick lowe to chat about why he’s so psyched about the writing team for this project. we also asked him to comment about how the writers worked together to get this project off the ground. then the outline - we promise.

nick lowe: “we couldn’t ask for a better team than the one we already had in place. we’ve got ed brubaker. he’s got to be the hottest rising star writer in the books. with a red hot runs on captain america and daredevil. he’s kicking ass with matt fraction on iron fist (the best book you’re not reading). and on the side he’s writing what might be the best crime comic ever, criminal. and when we’d started planning the crossover he was hip-deep in his ncanny work.“then there’s mike carey. e’s quietly become one of the most influential and prolific writers in the business over the last few years. he’s helming ultimate fantastic four, rocking ultimate vision, while writing novels (the devil you know, his latest has been shortlisted for the british fantasy awards), and writing some killer vertigo and minx books (re-gifters being my favorite). and at the beginning of messiah complex planning he’d started a run on x-men that had introduced some amazing new villains and put together the most brutal team of x-men i can remember. we were so impressed by mike’s x-men that we knew he was the guy to write the endangered species stories leading up to the big crossover. and he wowed us with that, too.“peter david is an institution. everyone knows his landmark run on hulk. everyone. he’s written more than i’ve ever read of anything. his first run on x-factor included one of the best single issues of any comic i’ve read (#87). and his new run on x-factor has everyone talking. x-factor was something that we wanted in the mix of messiah complex to add a whole other texture to the event. and Peter really brought it.

what’s that? blanked out portions? damn… the ign system must have screwed up again… you’ll probably just have to read the series to find out what’s in black.

and trust us. you don’t want to miss it.

we’ll be back tomorrow with the next day of our messiah complex coverage. to be honest… we’re not entirely sure what will show up in our inbox tomorrow. but we’re sure it’ll be worthwhile.

so there you have it! day four - the writing team. stay tuned for more!

* * * * *
from ign.

day three

a killer art team

we’ll admit it… we bit off a bit more than we should have today. reviewing and processing over thirty titles (not to mention even more individual reviews) is a daunting task. add in some previews and… wow, what a day. but we also promised you more of our “messiah complex” coverage, continuing our reasoning as to why this event is going to kick so much ass.

but we also have to get back to our reviews… what to do… oh! we know! you’ve heard how pictures are worth a thousand words. if we get editor nick lowe to talk about the art and then show off about a half dozen pictures, will that be good enough? we thought so. the following pieces of art are (clearly) unfinished and are from several upcoming titles including uncanny x-men #492, x-factor #25, x-men #205 and new x-men #41.

the crazy thing is we still have plenty more spectacular images to share with you in the days ahead.

so first let’s have lowe say a few words about the artists helming “messiah complex”. take it away, nick!

“first, we were amazingly lucky to get marc silvestri to sign on. he’s in the top 5 of best x-men artists ever! when he agreed to draw the one-shot, we jumped for joy! and he brought his a-game. my favorite moments are some archangel panels and a few of the marauders bits that he drew.billy tan has been rocking so hard on uncanny x-men and his art has grown with every page he drew. i can say, without a doubt, that the work he’s done on the crossover issues of uncanny are the best his art has ever looked. he is the king of the action for this crossover.

scot eaton has quickly become the x-office mvp. from knocking endangered species out of the park to the work he’s doing on x-factor, scot has also jumped into the stratosphere. people are going to be really surprised with his work on this book. humberto ramos has been alternating art chores on x-men for the last year, so it was a no-brainer to slide him over to the new x-men issues of messiah complex. the kids play big roles throughout the crossover, but the most meaningful parts are in the new x-men issues, so it was a great fit as no one draws better kids than humberto ramos.

so there you have it: day three - the art team. what better way to be convinced than to see the product rather than read about it?

* * * * *
from ign.

day two

a ’90s event done right

despite there being several very good events in the late ’80s and throughout the ’90s, the general reputation of anything related to the x-men during that era isn’t entirely positive. though fans will cite “age of apocalypse” as being well-executed, there are few that can logically support the onslaught saga. Or operation zero tolerance. or… well, you get the idea. remember maggot? he wasn’t even part of an event… actually, he probably was.

in any case, the point we’re making is that the stories back then were pretty absurd. marketing and “shock value” ruled the day, with little thought to cohesiveness or actual writing quality. that’s why ed brubaker’s thoughts on some of those past events made us smile so much. here’s the full quote from our chat with him:

“it’s funny because the guys, the editorial guys, were saying it’s like a ’90s X-Men crossover, one you haven’t seen since the ’90s - one of these big ‘x-men and tons of villains colliding’ things. and i was thinking, having not read most of the ’90s x-men and having to go back and read it since taking over uncanny, well let’s say that it’s a ’90s crossover done right. because as much as those things sold… like [marvel editor] nick lowe loves ‘executioner’s xong’ - which is actually ‘x-cutioner’s song‘ which is the first reason i hate it… i bought the book of it because nick said it had the feel we needed, and i was like, ‘no… no… we want a modern feel.’ nick loved that thing when he was like 12 or 13 years old or something. trying to read it as someone who hadn’t read any of the x-men comics, it was impenetrable. i had no idea who most of these characters were. stuff jumped around from issue to issue. i’m not trying to diss those guys - that was just the style of storytelling at the time.”

despite his love for the ’90s events, lowe agrees with brubaker, citing zero tolerance as being particularly difficult for him to tackle as a reader. “the main thing we’re lifting from a few of the ’90s events is the structure,” said lowe. “it’s telling one big linear story through four books. it’s the structure of stories like x-tinction agenda and x-cutioners song more than fatal attractions or onslaught (where books that were part of it like excalibur and x-factor told side stories that didn’t have core story beats). we aren’t doing the thing where ed is just telling the story from the uncanny books perspective or peter’s just telling the x-factor parts. some of the coolest parts of this story is when mike carey is writing madrox and layla. or when ed brubaker is writing dust, x-23 and neznho. or when peter is writing cyclops and xavier. or when craig and chris are writing rictor and warpath.

“another element that we’re using is the fun mixing and matching of characters that happened in the ’90s crossovers. there’s definitely some character shuffles that make these crossovers cool.

“one thing we’re trying to avoid is letting the story get over-complicated and lose its way. zero-tolerance did that for me. it just got over-complicated and i got completely lost as a reader. the story is remarkably simple and one of the things that axel alonso has brought to this crossover is constant call to focus the story. he is always here behind the scenes reminding people: the mutant [child] comes along and there are three camps: 1.) save the baby. 2.) exploit the baby. 3.) kill the baby. 4.) eat the baby. axel actually made me get that tattooed on my hand. right next to my maggot tat. we have to resurrect that guy. [editor's note: please, please don't.]

so with any luck the words of an editor and one of the writers will assuage your fears. despite the fact that this is an event, it is an event done correctly. it will be easy to follow while maintaining the insane pace of those epic ’90s events that picked you up and kept moving.

* * * * *
from ign.

day one

the first x-event in (nearly) ten years

this is easily one of the biggest selling points for us. we’ll admit it. we’re suckers for big, loud concepts. blockbuster movies, major console or game launches, comic book events… we eat it up. and there’s nothing like a bit of a wait to really make us anticipate something. the last true x-men event took place with the onslaught saga, nearly 10 years ago. since then we’ve had a couple minor elements in the mix, but most of them weren’t too grand in scale or were only partially related (house of m comes to mind).but there’s more to our reasoning than our susceptibility for marketing slogans. in the aftermath of so many events, marvel comics effectively stopped doing them altogether. when these big ticket concepts came back, mutants were avoided. after all these years, something sparked the need to return to this type of story. we turned to marvel’s editors for their thoughts on why it took so long to being events back to the x-men.

“we had a great inciting incident - simple as that,” said axel alonso. “[the incident] demanded the immediate attention of the entire mutant universe, and [its] scope presented the perfect opportunity to recalibrate the x-men universe in the simplest terms. this is a simple setup that ignites a complex set of responses.”

nick lowe followed alonso’s sentiments as well. “it wasn’t that we were waiting as much as it was that we didn’t have a story that needed to be this big,” said lowe. “sure, we had thought about doing it, but nothing needed to be a crossover. after m-day and the moratorium on mutant births hit, we knew we would come to this point. it’s such a big change, it needed to be a crossover.”

we followed up our initial question by asking about the development of the event. was there any apprehension about fans comparing this event to some of the infamous ones of the past, ones that might not be highly regarded? “it depends on which previous x-events you’re talking about,” said lowe. “i’d say it’s as exciting as the best of the past crossovers (in my book those are - mutant massacre, x-tinction agenda, fatal attractions, and age of apocalypse). it shakes the characters up, puts them in dire situations and involves a lot of fisticuffs. but what it’s got that most of the others lack is a clear story that it sticks to throughout. and i don’t mean to offend anyone who worked on crossovers in the past. i loved those things. x-cutioner’s song is one of my favorite x-stories ever. but there wasn’t always a clear story or clear motives for the characters.

“that’s what we have here: hope for mutantkind comes in the form of the first mutant-birth since m-day. it catalyzes the world for anyone who has strong opinions on mutantkind and forces them into 3 different camps: 1) protect the baby. 2) manipulate the baby. 3) kill the baby. 4) eat the baby. (minor spoiler: wolverine doesn’t eat the baby.) but the story is that simple. it’s not just people fighting because, well, they’ve always fought each other.”

with little apprehension about returning marvel’s mutants to a story style they made infamous, we had to ask if “messiah” actually evolved from a single-title plot. “we knew going in. the inciting incident of this event is simply too big to contain in one title,” clarified alonso. “the process was remarkable organic. going in, the only thing we weren’t sure about was whether x-factor would have a role in the story. we didn’t want them to be redundant. and they’re not.”

nick lowe agreed about the organic process. “when we went into the retreat, the story grew and characters fell into roles. we talked about what the main characters would do if this happened and let them lead the way. one of the biggest surprises was who stepped into the spotlight. we never expected rictor to take a big role, but it just made sense for his character. same with caliban. and gambit. we knew we wanted gambit to be in this, but his role grew more than i ever thought it would. he just became necessary to the story in ways that i couldn’t have predicted.”

* * * * *
from ign.

sad section:

01. have you ever really cried your heart out?
>> yes. i hate crying but i love that it’s cathartic for me.

02. have you ever cried yourself to sleep?
>> yes. it usually follows right?

03. have you ever cried on your friend’s shoulder?
>> yes. once in puerto galera sa sama ng loob.

04. do you cry when you get an injury?
>> when i was younger, yes. i’m terrified of blood so you can just imagine when i get boo-boos.

happy section:

01. are you a happy person?
>> normally yes. i’m suplado but i’m cheerful.

02. what makes you happy?
>> it doesn’t take much to make me smile - messages or greetings, chocolates, great conversations.

04. is being happy overrated?
>> nope.

05. can music make you happy?
>> music comforts me. howsabout that for an answer? it don’t think it ever made me “happy” but it calms me.

love section:

01. how many times have you had your heart broken?
>> i don’t keep track. lol. i’m very emotional so even the tiniest of things can break my heart.

02. anyone besides your friends/family ever said they loved you?
>> yep. dunno if it’s true though. lol.

03. have you ever told someone you loved them?
>> yes.

hate section:

01. who do you actually hate?
>> hate is such a strong word. greatly dislikes… hmmm. none at the moment.

02. fave you ever made a hit list?
>> no. i don’t have time for that.

03. are you a mean bully?
>> i can be given the right motivation.

05. have you ever been on a hit list?
>> probably yes. haha.

self-esteem section:

01. are you happy with yourself?
>> honestly no. but i have to contented right?

02. do you wish you could be someone else?
>> sometimes, but then again it won’t do me any good.

got this from her pensieve.

joss whedon.

he’s just another writer.

buffy the vampire slayer, a series that follows the life of buffy summers and her role as the chosen one who battles vampires, demons and other creatures of darkness (just a bit redundant, no?). i mean, do i need to elaborate on this? buffy (the tv series, not the girl) is influential to the point that having a strong female lead who’s struggling to maintain a normal life while dealing with the supernatural became a common theme for the more recent shows (i.e., charmed and the other show that lasted one season which features the supposed bringer of the apocalypse). it became the blueprint of what’s cool - the use of pop culture references in dialogues, the “-y” thingy to turn nouns into adjectives, and of course the kick-ass, witty lines.

the spin-off, angel who tells the tale of the original vampire-with-a-soul and his adventures with cordelia and wesley in the not-so-sunny side of los angeles, california. incidentally, it was noted on several occasions that the show performed better than its parent series. admittedly, i got bored around the end of the third season but it doesn’ t mean that the show’s popularity declined alongside my loss of interest.

currently, whedon is on his final arc for the award-winning marvel comicbook, astonishing x-men. in a span of seventeen issues, he managed to make a ground-breaking audience response to the title by producing a well-structured, well-written fresh take on established characters which is accessible to new readers and yet retains the respect of longtime fans.
his stories include the supposed mutant “cure” (closely resembling the last stand’s plot), colossus’s resurrection, the attack of the sentient danger room, the return of cassandra nova and the hellfire club (and yes, with the white queen herself) and gasp! cyclops minus his trademark ruby-quartz visor. okay, i sound like a comic geek already. but i have never been more thrilled since my last ride at the jungle log jam - i’m literally counting the days till the next issue. whedon’s got a seemingly-perfect grasp of his characters that he pens the dialogues with such precision that it projects their personalities right on. besides, the mere fact that his creations have had that much cultural impact speaks that he deserves the credit as much as the next writer.

of course there are loads more about him that i need not mention. actually i should but i’m just trying to cut this short. ultimately, the point i’m trying to convey is that one shouldn’t dismiss anything as “just another (insert appropriate term here)” just because you don’t feel his/her style. so no, he’s not just another writer.

he’s probably not the best, but (to quote a friend) he is damn good.

total number of tracks in itunes: 6,358

sort by song title
first song: the aaliyah song | boyz II men
last song: 80’s joint | kelis

sort by time
shortest track: PCD | the pussycat dolls [0:06]
longest song: 2006 medley | various artists [29:16]

sort by artist
first: mamma mia | a*teens
last: true to your heart | 98 degrees feat. stevie wonder

sort by album
first: no more | a1 [the a list]
last: no te olvides jamas | 360 grados [untitled album]

ten most played songs
> beautiful girls | jojo
> potential breakup song | aly & aj
> extraordinary | mandy moore
> nothing that you are | mandy moore
> gimme more | britney spears
> gardenia | mandy moore
> easy | paula deanda feat. bow wow
> all good things | mandy moore
> can’t you just adore her? | mandy moore
> could have been watching you | mandy moore

first five songs that come up on party shuffle
> until you loved me | the moffatts
> one night | cassie
> let’s get retarded | the black-eyed peas
> laundromat | nivea feat. r kelly
> what i’ve been looking for | ashley tisdale and lucas grabeel

number of search returns for:
sex: 44
love: 696
you: 1,326
death: 1
hate: 32
wish: 24

things you won’t care to ask… until now!

01. guilty pleasures?
double dutch ice cream, french fries, pop music

02. favorite bedtime item?
pillows

03. dream careers?
writer and/or record producer (if not a recording artist lol)

04. fantasy job?
super hero

05. if you’re not a “CFO-wannabe” you are?
a writer or a teacher or a record producer or an adventurer

06. queer turn-on?
smart and sensible people.

07. major turn-off?
mis-use (and abuse) of the “-ed”. hypocrites, and insensitive people

08. weird fetish?
hmm… none that i know of.

09. favorite conversation starter?
can i have a kiss?

10. pettiest thing you ever cried over?
i never cry for anything petty.

11. hard habit you’d like to break?
procrastinating

12. virtue you’d wish to have?
patience

13. what you think people should never settle for?
mediocrity. i should probably tell this to myself.

14. what people should know about your driving?
that i don’t even drive at all. and honestly, i’m scared.

15. if there is a “past life”, what is your theory?
that i was an angel. or something like that.

16. what makes you uncomfortable?
being stared at.

17. what for you is the biggest disappointment?
personally? not being/feeling loved.

18. when can you say that a person truly knows you?
when that person knows how to make me really smile even if there’s a raincloud looming overhead

19. what do you think defines a person’s character?
his perspective on god, his family, his friends and other people. in that order.

20. three things you’d let the person you like have?
my time, trust and lots of chocottes! lol.

21. happiness or contentment?
contentment, everything else follows.

ice cream is a solution for everything.

and for the sake of science, i had to feel all crappy and downtrodden to prove it right. my friend striker rosales recommended bananas. he said that it has this substance that induces the release of “happy” hormones. i took his banana split sundae and swapped it with my half-eaten rocky road blizzard. it wasn’t that yummy. that or i’m just not into bananas. so i took my blizzard back and resumed eating it while staring at the traffic below.

while waiting for striker to finish his sundae, my mind (and my mouth) started to wander and raised the following questions:

>> why do they have to build another freaking mall?
>> are all those condo units already occupied?
>> why can’t we just get a standard color for cabs?
>> what the hell is that woman wearing?

and why is that creepy hip-hop-hurray guy keeps on staring at us?

actually, the last question thrown was, why is it that sometimes the best and the perfect won’t make us happy.

striker just sat through the barrage and asked how am i feeling.

“crushed,” i said. “why do you think i crave for something sweet?“

he stood up and went back to dairy queen to order for another round.

* * * * *

sad to say though that like all good things, the effect of ice cream fades as soon as you take in the last spoon. you can always order another pint. but then you’ll just get fat.