Comic Book Candy

As a self-professed Buffy addict and reluctant reader of Twilight, it was only a matter of time before I gave in to the multiple recommendation of trusted friends to watch CW's hit series The Vampire Diaries. Thanks to Netflix watch instantly, I've quickly made my way through the first two seasons and I'm enjoying the guilty-pleasure indulgence. I am hooked by the story of feuding Salvatore brothers Damon and Stefan as they vie for the affections of human teenager Elena. There are also witches, wolves, and evil doppelgangers to keep things interesting. My initial assumption about the series was that it was for pre-teens too young to watch True Blood and needing something to follow-up their Twilight binge, but I now appreciate the show for what it is: a love letter to the teen horror romance genre. The writers of the series have seen what was done before and have upped the teen high school dramatics to the max. One may mistake the obvious influences as proof of lacking orig...

So you know your girlfriend / best friend / co-worker reads comics and enjoys various nerd cultural phenomena, but you have no idea what to get them. Sound familiar? It's tough. These are the people that are most likely to buy themselves that highly sought after collectible. They know what they want, and that makes your job as gift giver a tough one. No fear! Here are some suggestions that will have your loved one feeling thankful and hopefully surprised. Enjoy more gift ideas after the jump! Star Trek: The Next Generation - Next Level Blu-Ray The box says it all: "A Taste of TNG in High Definition." This is a perfect gift for several reasons. It will not be released until January, so you know they won't have it, and it's something that not every Trekkie will get for themselves, but they will enjoy nonetheless. This sampler collection contains three classic episodes of Next Gen, the first to be re-mastered for blu-ray. Paramount will surely release a complete se...

It has been widely speculated how Marvel would respond to DC's New 52, especially with DC dominating media attention and market share in the last three months. Would they do a "revamp" of their line as well? Would they try to use their new parent company to gain a wider audience? Would they keep calm and carry on? We may now have our answer with recent announcements that Marvel is canceling several of their lowest selling series, yet offering just as many issues as last year.  Instead of offering a wider variety of titles to appeal to more readers, Marvel's (continued) strategy will focus on "double shipping" their flagship character titles each month, forcing loyal customers to spend more and make up for Marvel's loss in short term sales. As of late, I've found it hard to find the time to write about comics. I have been reading plenty, but few subjects seemed pressing enough to motivate me to make the time to voice my opinion. The month of October ...