
Volstagg: Norse-torious B.I.G.
On this day in 1996, Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed in the kneecaps at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit.
After reading Angel Annual No. 1, I’m sorry to say that I’ve lost my sympathy for the departing creative team of Lynch and Mooney. I really want to be tactful, but I also need to be truthful, and the truth is that the duo’s final Angel comic was just terrible on so many levels. The announcement on the back cover of a new direction for the book, spearheaded by Bill Willingham and Brian Denham, is not a slight to the outgoing team, but a promise to the readers that they will never have to endure such a mediocre effort again - that IDW takes the property seriously, and that they are going to to work to make Angel Season Six a comic worthy of the show’s legacy, like Dark Horse’s amazing Buffy Season Eight books. It’s a shame that Lynch and Mooney’s promising start unraveled so quickly, but it is heartening to see that IDW recognized that they had a problem and brought in top-shelf talent to set things straight.
Apologies to Mr. Lynch and Mr. Mooney, who showed a lot of potential early on, and may well return to Angel with quality stories one day. In the meantime, I am very happy to see my favorite vamp (Team Angel!) in the capable hands of Willingham and Denham, and after reading their excellent debut in issue #28 I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the series.
From The 4400, the most underrated genre show of the last decade. Unlike Dollhouse, you didn’t have to “give it time to develop”, or force yourself to try to enjoy it for fear of betraying your love for the creators. Like Joss’ best shows (everything but Dollhouse), the 4400 had you hooked from the very first episode. And unlike Battlestar Galactica, it was still going strong, improving with each episode, at the end of it’s fourth season.
And like Terminator Chronicles, it featured the awesome Summer Glau, but unlike the Terminator Chronicles, Glau’s presence was only one of the many reasons I tuned in each week.
And it was certainly the best thing to ever happen to the Bedroom Walls, who gained a boatload of fans when their excellent song “Do The Buildings and Cops Make You Smile?” was featured in the premiere episode of season 2. Sadly, that was pretty much the last we’ve heard from the group, who have presumably either been abducted by the future and given super powers, or “disappeared” by 4400-phobic Homeland Security agency NTAC.