As I was watching the new Eclipse trailer, out of sheer boredom and a hint of curiosity, I found myself wondering why in the world two super-powered boys would fight it out over a girl clad in American Apparel who’s a hell of a downer.

How is there an entire film series devoted to one girl’s delusional obsessions of a fairy tale ending with a born-again killer? Sparkely vampires want to kill you, strapping werewolf shape-shifters want to keep you safe.

Do these Edward fans have a death wish and a yearning for abandonment? Is Bella Swan so heavily marketed as mesmerizing that it erases the history of the brazen blonde that came before her?

A long time ago, otherwise known as the 90’s, there was a series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer where a feisty girl from the southland slayed Urban Outfitted demons. This legendary show paved the way for multi-tasking girls who cheer by day, slay by night, and every once in a while hook-up with a tormented blood sucker.

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Every month, I bring you dedicated readers my favorite TV shows of the moment. And while I love reporting on the latest and greatest in TV Land, what is also just as important to me are the dozens of shows that were canceled before their time.

Whether the ratings were bad or the shows were too expensive, many of TV’s best and brightest have been taken off the air before they have a chance to flourish. But while these shows had their untimely demise, these articles should hopefully resurrect them, at least in the form of you watching them and thinking they’re awesome.

Moonlight

So the reviews weren’t great and the show only lasted a season. But had Moonlight premiered a year or two later, it would have been a smash hit. Why? Because it’s all about vampires, and whether it’s TV, movies, or books, vampires are the hottest thing in media right now.  And while competing with HBO’s hit True Blood and CW’s mediocre The Vampire Diaries wouldn’t be easy, it would have at least stood a chance.

Canceled after 2008’s Writers Guild of America strike, Moonlight centered around Mick St. John, who turned vampire after being bitten by his bride on their wedding night. Years later he works as a P.I., protecting humans while hunting down the vampires who harm them. The show feels like a cross between Veronica Mars and Supernatural, while still being as focused on romance as the shows that have followed it.

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Rather than tell you what I think I should, I decided to come clean on this list. For instance, I am aware that A Serious Man might technically and artistically be a cut above some of these, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much. I’ll also preface this by saying since I was covering most of the main-stream movies this year, there were a lot of independent movies I didn’t see, so they may not appear on the list. The film title links to a review when applicable.

Up In The Air – Buoyed by a trio of fantastic actors, I found this movie to be utterly charming. Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno), the movie is touching, prescient, original, and funny. Vera Farmiga, George Clooney and Anna Kendrick all received Golden Globe acting nominations.  George Clooney’s depiction of a traveling man who keeps any type of human interaction at arm’s length is effortless, and is a joy to watch.

A Single Man – This film is still in limited release, so many people have not seen it, but I was absolutely blown away by designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut. He brings an artistic eye to the story of a gay man in 1962 who has recently lost a live-in companion. Heavy stuff, and Colin Firth gives a truly amazing performance that will break your heart.

Julianne is a stunning aging beauty who longs to have a relationship with the emotionally unavailable George. Universally relatable to anyone who has ever been in love, or experienced unrequited love. Seamlessly shifting from sepia, black and white, and color, the film is gorgeous. Beautifully scored by Abel Korzeniowsky as well.

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Happy Holidays everyone, and just in time for those holidays there are some excellent comics coming out this week.

From DC Comics, we have the constantly-getting-better Detective Comics. I swear to God, this book just gets better and better with every issue. If you’re not buying this book than you are missing out on one the most groundbreaking comics of the year.

From Image, we have the line of Image United comics. With art by the founding fathers of Image and written by Robert Kirkman, this is sure to be a collector’s dream.

I’m most looking forward to the new issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four, I think this book is in my early running for Best Continuing Series, if I was allowed to vote for the Eisners. Dale Eaglesham is off for two issues but I’m sure that it won’t slow down the brilliant writing that Hickman is doing with the characters.

I’ll also be checking out the spoilerific Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield book. Now that Steve Rogers is officially back, it’ll be intriguing to follow the reaction.

That’s all I’m getting this week. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read so let us know what you liked/didn’t like in the comments. Otherwise, check out the complete list at Midtown Comics.

Have a Happy Holiday!

Another slow week my wallet will appreciates so thanks to the comics publishers. From DC: I’m sorry, SPOILERS, but if you missed the last issue of Green Lantern Corps it’s your own fault because you missed Kyle Rayner’s death.  Yeah, Hal Jordan’s replacement died in a battle against the Black Lanterns, so this new issue is bound to be an emotional firecracker.

A personal favorite of mine is collected by IDW this month with the complete Rocketeer by Dave Stevens.  If you remember, a pretty decent movie came out several years back with Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connolly, and Alan Arkin featuring this character. It was favorite of mine when I was 10 years old and somewhere in my parent’s garage are the single issues Dave Stevens wrote and drew of the series. This week sees the release of the complete series collected, and it a beautiful spectacle to behold.

From Marvel, I’m looking at the Amazing Spider-Man issue where we are left guessing that these “Gauntlet” murders have been committed by the Sandman! Sandman is probably my favorite Spider-Man villain so I’m generally always on board for those issues. Other than that, I’m not getting anything else this week.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read so let us know what you liked/didn’t like in the comments. Otherwise, check out the complete list at Midtown Comics.

Happy reading!

The Brazilian “Wonder Twins” of comic art, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, give us their first Vertigo book in the form of Daytripper #1 this week. These guys have worked with top talents in the industry like Joss Whedon (Dark Horse’s Sugar Shock), Matt Fraction (Casanova), and Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy).

Here we have their first solo work in the tradition of Vertigo focusing on the small psychological things of daily life like “how does a down on his luck obituary writer get out of the shadow of his famous father?” Apparently the ending to the first issue is a twist for the fantastic, and not at all expected. I’d expect nothing less from these extremely creative guys. Anytime these guys come out with something new, I can’t snatch it from the stacks fast enough.

The rest of the week is fairly light.  The other book I’ll be getting is Invincible Iron Man, in which we finally come to figure out how Thor and Captain America “reboot” Tony Stark. I think I’ve exclaimed enough how much I love this book, and to say the least Fraction and Larocca have not slowed down at all.

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This week is a lighter week than last week, so I’m going to take this opportunity to talk about some of the books that came out last week that I didn’t get a chance to check out because of Thanksgiving. Which reminds me: comics do not come out today (Wednesday, Dec. 2) they come out tomorrow because of the holiday.

Last week the trade came out for one of the best miniseries that not a lot of people may know about. This book is Wildstorm’s The Winter Men by Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon. Lewis is responsible for the creation of Bulletproof Monk and this new book is incomparable. It involves the  development of a super soldier program in Cold War Russia to serve as a deterrent to America’s Superman. The trade came out last week, and if you can find it, you really cannot go wrong with this incredible book. It’s my pick of last week.

As for this week, we have Blackest Night Flash by Geoff Johns. I don’t know exactly why this book exists since the Flash is in the main Blackest Night book more than even Hal Jordan or other Green Lanterns, but I’m intrigued to see if this is different somehow. Other than that, I’m really only getting a couple more books.

Yesterday (December 1st) was Eisner award winning writer Matt Fraction’s birthday, and you can celebrate by buying the recent issue of Uncanny X-Men #518.  My second book of the week is the start of Marvel’s Siege with “The Cabal” by Brian Michael Bendis and art by the awesome Michael Lark. I think this event is going to be genuinely dynamite, and I can’t wait to get every damn issue of the book.

The other book is Hulk Winter Guard by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis, the brains behind the brilliant Zuda webcomic, High Moon. High Moon is a western supernatural story where a gun for hire hunts down supernaturals in the Wild West. There is just one hitch: this gun for hire, cut from a similar cloth to Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven, is also a werewolf. It’s awesome, trust me, go read.

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I’m particularly fired up for some brand new Adam Kubert art this week. The Kubert Brothers are probably my favorite comic artists working today, and this week we get Adam Kubert handling a Dan Slott Spider-Man issue, where our favorite web-slinger gets put on Norman Osborn’s List. This is probably the Must Buy of the week in my opinion, and there you have it.

Other good issues include the beginning of the Gauntlet story in Amazing Spider-Man. With Mark Waid writing and Paul Azaceta drawing the introduction, Joe Kelly and his I Kill Giants artist Niimura handle a Black Cat story.

From DC we get the penultimate issue of the Flash: Rebirth, with some incredible art from Ethan Van Sciver. At this point, with Blackest Night and everything else it seems like this book has kind of gone by the wayside and we know that Barry Allen is back and he is back to stay. So why stay with this book? Well, I feel like its still interesting to see how he comes back, plus all the Flashes together makes for some neat visuals.

Finally, an Indie book called Viking, written by one of the best comic writers that you may or may not know of, Ivan Brandon, takes on a viking crime book with artist Nic Klein. This is a beautifully dialogued, and gorgeously rendered book that is a feast for your eyes. Its easily the best put together comic on the market so I urge you all to try it out.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

This week I am personally fired up for the new Marvel series S.W.O.R.D. #1 by new Thor writer Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders. The last time I saw Sanders he did the Five Fists of Science with Matt Fraction that feels like it was a century ago. The series is a spinoff from Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men where we follow Agent Brand, Beast and Lockheed through the cosmos.

Following that is the new Doctor Strange spinoff, Strange by Mark Waid and Emma Rios. Being a nut for all things Deadpool, the latest issue of Amazing Spider-Man guest stars the Merc with a Mouth. But that’s not really why I’m buying the issue, its ’cause the awesome Eric Canete draws the issue.

For Matt, this week we have a Doc Savage special guest starring Batman. Written by the brilliant Brian Azzarello and drawn by Phil Noto, the Man of Bronze encounters the Dark Knight in non-period specific Manhattan.

A personal favorite of mine is the new Escapists trade paperback. This is a fairly old story, written by Lost’s Brian K. Vaughan and based on a Michael Chabon character. The Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon created a new character called the Escapist.

This comic is about the character being re-imagined by Cleveland indy comic creators.  Its a fun read about friendship and comic creator rights written by the superb Vaughan through Dark Horse comics. I can only give it my highest possible recommendation.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

This week we have at least one high quality comic from every publisher. From Image this week, I’m sad to see Rick Remender’s The End League go, but like all good things they must come to end. This time with brilliant art by some guy named Eric Canete and NYC Mech’s Andy MacDonald.

From DC Comics, I’m intrigued with the Great Ten spinoff series from Checkmate, with their spotlight in Final Crisis. This could make for an intriguing read.

From Marvel, we have the last issue of Captain America Rebirth in which we get an idea how Steve Rogers rejoins the universe. There is also the excellent new issue of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, which is about the most fun in a comic you can get. Also, check out the latest Deadpool book, this one is penned by Fred Van Lente, who I really liked the silent story he did in that Deadpool #900 issue. This one is Deadpool Team-Up with a descending order number starting out at #899. I’d really like to know what the reasoning behind that is, but whatever.

Additionally, there is the Spider-Man Short Halloween book featuring stories by Saturday Night Live stars, Seth Meyers and Bill Hader.  I’m sure this will be nothing if not a ton of fun, so check that out as well.

Finally, one of my favorite noir writers Charlie Huston returns to comics with his new miniseries featuring Deathlok! I’m not particularly fond of the character, but then again I wasn’t fond of Moon Knight either until Huston relaunched it in awesome fashion.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.