February '08 H-O-T Grade

1. AMERICAN VIRGIN #23 (Vertigo)

2. WOLVERINE #62 (Marvel)

3. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #119 (Marvel)

4. UMBRELLA ACADEMY APOCALYPSE SUITE #6 (Dark Horse)

5. CROSSING MIDNIGHT #16 (Vertigo)

6. GRAVEL #1 (Avatar)

7. X-MEN LEGACY #208 (Marvel)

8. FANTASTIC FOUR #554 (Marvel)

9. LOCKE & KEY #1 (IDW)

10. IMMORTAL IRON FIST ORSON RANDALL GREEN MIST DEATH (Marvel)

Lots of new entries this month, paired with some sad goodbyes. American Virgin and Umbrella Academy are wrapping up their runs (along with near top 10 misses Cable&Deadpool#50, and Gail Simone's last All-New Atom with #20). X-Men: Legacy is Mike Carey's new start on the ongoing title, and Fantastic Four #554 sees the debut of new creative team Millar with Hitch. Gravel was a usual impressive Warren Ellis debut, but none of these could overcome the sheer fun of Bendis' Ultimate treatment of Spidey& His Amazing Friends.
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Marvel Capsule Reviews Week 8 2008

A new (hopefully weekly) feature/challenge, where I'm reviewing ALL the books out in a week, at one paragraph maximum each. Let's see how long I last!

From Marvel, two weeks ago: someone dies in Brand New Day, Red Hulk Smash, Incredible Doped Herc, Mighty Avengers vs Doom, Runaways by Whedon, Spidey makes fun of Canadians, Deadpool Saves the Marvel Universe, two Order members bond in the biblical sense, Wolverine boinks Magneto's wife, but loses an arm and the Hulk has tea.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #551 (Mark Guggenheim / Salvador Larroca)

I'm digging this. Ignoring One More Day is a big factor in the enjoyment of course, and Harry's absence in the current act helps to no end. Spidey and new 'sidekick' Jackpot (who is not MJ despite the hints) finish off their battle with new baddie 'the Menace' in a shocking turn of events that's not given nearly enough room to breathe and is taken all too off-the-cuff by Spidey. Excitement, action, new villains, new supporting cast, quips and fun! Did we really need Mephisto to remember what made Spidey tick?

7/10



HULK #2 (Jeph Loeb / Ed McGuiness)

It's the second issue of a new Marvel ongoing, so the new contracts demand the title character to whoop Iron-Man's @$s so he can fill his monthly movie-tie-in quota. I defer you to exhibits: Sub-Mariner, Thor, Penance, Nova, etc. So Red Hulk shows up on the Helicarrier, smashes things around, battles Iron-Man and She-Hulk and of course crashes the whole ship down to ground (is that like the 5th time this year so far?). In the end Reddie escapes and tracks down Rick Jones who is -shock- the new Abomination, or rather 'the A-bomb' (insert your own A Team quip here). Jeph Loeb continues to ride back-seat on amazing wide-screen artists like McGuiness- who fills each splash page with huge staggering figures spitting out wannabe-Millar quips, cheesy one-liners or simply faux-swearing like so: $£*! Side compare with any Jeph Loeb Marvel comic the past few years to see the trend.

6/10


INCREDIBLE HERCULES #114 (Greg Pak / Fred Van Lente/ Khoi Pham)

Hercules is high on Hydra poison because of the newly (not-so) reformed half-brother Ares and rampaging around town with delusions of both his Ancient Greek adventures and his time with the Champions. Black Widow saves the day and has an honest real moment with our titular hero, while Wonder-Man provides humour relief and Amadeus Cho decides to travel down the most disconcerting of two roads. An engaging script which could have benefited from tidier art.

6/10



MIGHTY AVENGERS #9 (Brian Bendis / Mark Bagley/ Marko Djurdjevic)

MA has been the definition of page-waster from day one but it has now officially amped its game up by 1000x! The issue starts with a quaint time-travelling encounter between Doom and Morganna Le Fey in, drawn by Djurdjevic. The action quickly moves to the present with a double-page spread of the Avengers Quinjet reaching Latveria (keep in mind the last issue ended with a very similar double-page spread). The Quinjet crashes into the castle (is anyone keeping crash score between Quinjets and Helicarriers?), followed by THREE double-page spreads of the Avengers battling Doombots with absolutely no dialogue. Iron-Man enters the castle and encounters Doom, with two near identical splash pages showing the two armoured men in the familiar dueling stance exchanging repulsor blasts trying to overpower each other. The issue of course ends with Sentry butting in and turning the tide of battle, albeit with a Time Machine glitch dropping the men in Marvel's Silver Age. Out of 23 'story' pages, only 12 have more than two panels! Since this is is Bagley we're talking about, a trueblood sequential artist, this feels like a misdirected effort. And like any other issue of the series so far, we're presented with an interesting concept which is utterly failed by a conventional, hasty , and unoriginal execution.

2/10


RUNAWAYS #29 (Joss Whedon / Michael Ryan)

Whedon's penultimate chapter sees all the antagonizing factions coming together for final battle, while the possibility of Gert's return hangs in the air, and Ultron-Boy gets in the middle of a love square. Carolina and Xander kiss and make up leading to a jolting sequence between Molly and her new young friend. Whedon cleverly plays up the differences between the early 20th and 21st century, especially where it involves issues of race and sexual identity. Xavin finally becomes a rounded individual, while other relationships (are Nico and Roboto still dating?) get pushed on the wayside. It will certainly read better in a trade.

7.5/10



IMMORTAL IRON FIST SPECIAL: ORSON RANDALL AND THE GREEN MIST OF DEATH (Matt Fraction / Nick Dragotta & Mike Allred / Russ Heath / Lewis LaRosa / Mitch BreitWeiser)

Matt Fraction flies solo in a series of inter-connecting short stories by a variety of star artists, following John Aman's chase of Orson Randall and his Confederates of the Curious (including the father of present-day Iron Fist Danny Rand) from a cabaret Mystic show, to the Wild West with the Cowgirls from Hell, Dr Frankenstein's lab and finally France for a final goodbye with his sick father and a twist about the nature of the chase. A delightful one-shot with amusing little adventures that tie into and feed the current storyline in the ongoing title without being essential reading. What Fraction and Brubaker had done with Iron-Fist should become a textbook guide for reviving lame forgotten characters and making them a can't miss read.

8.5/10



THE ORDER #8 (Matt Fraction / Barry Kitson)

Mullholland is held captive by her old girlfriends, while Becky and Supernaut are forced to bond in a very naughty way to escape starvation and the deadly M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W.. It's all coming to a climax as the title soon gets canceled and it's all your fault for not paying attention! Let's hope Marvel wises up and releases a hardcover collection of these amazing issues.

8.5/10



ULTIMATE HUMAN #2 (Warren Ellis / Cary Nord)

Tony Stark manages to overcome the rampaging Banner with a re-application of a familiar remedy. They then sit down to have tea and discuss Super Soldier formulas and space voyages. Pete Wisdom excels in his new role as the Ultimate Leader, in an issue where the talk overshadows the action, although Cary Nord excels at both.

8/10




ULTIMATE X-MEN #91 (Robert Kirkman / Salvador Larroca)

Hold on, the torment is almost over. Kirkman brings in Apocalypse, once more completely missing the point of the Ultimate Universe. Apocalypse here is the reborn version of Vaughan's Ultimate Sinister with a vague agenda of destruction and a forgettable superheroic costume, followed closely by his henchmen: Onslaught and Stryfe. 'Less is More' mr Kirkman! You seem to have gotten things the wrong way around here. Only stand-out moment of the issue is Poccy breaking off Wolvie's arm (isn't Adamantium unbreakable by definition?) and hitting him with it; although that too was misrepresented in the final art and lost its oomph.

2/10


CABLE&DEADPOOL #50 (Fabian Nicieza / Reilly Brown)

Boy, this snuck up on everyone! The little title that noone thought would survive this long has reached its 50th (and final) issue, after slowly becoming the secret shame and joy of all Marvel fans by taking a humorous trek through the current dark and joyless Marvel Universe plateau. After months and months of silly team-ups (from Ka-Zar to the FF and Brother Voodoo), following Cable's 'death', Deadpool now goes for the Big Bang as all the Great Heroes of NY show up to help against the rampaging stampede of Alien Symbiote-infected dinosaurs through the city! Someone mail a copy to Bendis, this is how you deliver on a cool premise! The issue wraps up with a series of fun pin-ups and testimonials from the creator, editor and my bud Ben Morse. I hope Fabian gets a chance to write more of the Merc-with-a-mouth in the future as this is the best stuff of his career right here.

9.5/10



MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #21 (Marc Sumerak / Ig Guara)

Black Widow debuts in the MA title, going back to her basics: the Russian super-spy is sent to infiltrate the American team as they do battle against her secret ally, the Crimson Dynamo. Lots of action, clever quips and interaction between Spidey and the rest of the team. Another great done-in-one action piece in the Great Marvel tradition. Can someone send Bendis a copy of this one as well? While you're at it, someone find the DC editors and try to figure out how the Marvel Adventures editors can find such great untapped talent for their books, while Countdown has been struggling for a full year under fill-in artists of the caliber of the dreaded Tom Derenick and certain unnamed panty-shot artists with no eye for anatomy or storytelling.

7/10



THE ULTIMATES 3 #3 (Jeph Loeb / Joe Madureira)

Wolverine reminisces back to the days he was boinking Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's mom, while Loeb yet again spells out the siblings' little incestuous relationship (started as a sneaky hint from Millar who had better taste than to make such a big deal of it) for those of the readers who didn't get bored enough of the Ultimates' disgusted reactions in the last two issues. The team splits into two with a wide range of infiltrators and doppelgangers to fill out the measly plot. Joe Mad's art continues to suffer from the lack of a proper inker and the lazy panel structure in the scripts. So much for his big comeback. Lots of fluff and attempts for cheap impressions, without real backbone.

3/10
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Berserker Crack

Wolvie in the buff, slipping through Marvel's editorial cracks (pun intended). Enjoy.

Source: Joe Madureira, Ultimates 3 #3 (Marvel Comics)


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DC Capsule Reviews Week 8 2008

A new (hopefully weekly) feature/challenge, where we’re reviewing ALL the books out in a week, at one paragraph maximum each. Let’s see how long I last!

From DC last week: Ollie gets physical in leather and mud, Lady Blackhawk dons some kinky skin-tight lycra, Superman meets his medieval ancestor, the Flash Twins steal his cape, Brother Eye eats a planet, Catwoman is seeing double, Red Tornado gets some useful appendages and Robin fights his addiction.




BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #4 (Chuck Dixon / Julian Lopez)

Green Arrow joins the Outsiders igniting sparks with Leather-Fetish Bat-Girl and a down-and-dirty swamp tussle. Dixon's making this a can't miss title each month, as much as I came in prepared to hate due to the Blogosphere's homophobic wolf-crying for the first issue; I can't say I've noticed anything of the kind. Balanced characterization, consistent artist choices, great action, kick-ass casting. Whoduthunk it Katana could be a contender!

7/10




BIRDS OF PREY #115 (Sean McKeever / Nicola Scott)

Dare I say it? Under McKeever, this title has kept the same high standards of Gail's run and even improved (or more appropriately returned to the excitement and focus of Gail's first years on the job before she unwisely flooded the book with too many team members post-OYL). And has Nicola Scott finally mastered drawing Z without the lanky awkwardness? Huntress and Lady Blackhawk infiltrate Killer Shark's volcanic base (a baddie from Zinda's past) giving the girls a chance to bond while finally showing off Z's Mad Skillz after being so long under-appreciated as nothing more than the Birds' pilot. Meanwhile back at base Black Alice finally joins the official roster much to Misfit Bat-Girl's dismay, with the latter continuing her misguided 'I'm the only teen in this village' tantrums, building up to the inevitable Queen of All Ass-Slappings from mother-figure Oracle.

8/10


BRAVE AND THE BOLD #10 (Mark Waid / George Perez)

Damn has this title really lost focus. And I do mean really! Superman time-travels to team up with the Silent Knight (who?) against a silver dragon, while the original Teen Titans attend Aquaman's Royal Weddings and get told off for not allowing Aqualad (remember Wet-Yourself Boy from last week's POTW?) to come and play with the other Super-Kids. Two indifferent stories, sold as part of an equally indifferent over-arching story about some guy named Megistus. Can we please get back to Supergirl in biker leathers riding with Lobo's space-chopper? The only reason that could excuse the split focus of each issue (last one had three team-ups) is it gives a chance for the magnificently timeless George Perez to draw more of the DCU before the title gets canceled.

5/10


CATWOMAN #76 (Will Pfeiffer / David Lopez)

It takes Catwoman 17 pages to figure out she's on an alternate Earth-- after landing in a parallel Bat-city, kicking a gun-toting Batman's derrière, getting chased by Dini-esque police zeppelins and getting captured by a villainous second Catwoman. Honestly, after living through two Crises already, you'd think she would catch up faster. Even though the entire thought process is null and she's still stuck on a terribly thought-out and intrusive Salvation Run tie-in which actually succeeds in hurting sales by alienating the regular readers. Despite Lopez's stunning chase sequence, as far as alternate realities go (even fake ones) this is clearly a wash.

3/10


COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #10 (Paul Dini/ Justin Gray/ Jimmy Palmiotti/ Scott Kolins)

Everyone's finally on Apokolips, after 42 issues of inane build-up and vaguely thrilling individual odysseys. Mary Marvels up again, Harley and Holly get divine tricks of their own courtesy of the resurrected Marvel/Greek Pantheon and all three get set for the final show-down with Granny Goodness before someone beats them to the chase. Karate Kid gets the round-kick from the One Una (Wo)Man Army Corps and the Challengers hover around being ineffective as usual. Finally the Perturbed Piper cracks down in the hands of DeSaad and remixes the Anti-Life Equation into the Pop Hit to End All! Don't be reluctant to dive in the series now, you really haven't missed anything important; the writers have finally gotten their game right and the artists line-up for the last run is an impressive one, starting with Kolins this issue doing a remarkable job of channeling a bit of Kirby in just the right places!

5/10


JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #18 (Alan Burnett/Ed Benes and Dwayne McDuffie/Jon Boy Meyers)

The JLA gets in a political tiff with Checkmate over jurisdiction and the fate of their super-villain prisoners (SALVATION RUN tie-in alert), but in the end it's Vixen who stands alone against the new Suicide Squad in an okay-ish action sequence. It's a good thing the rest of the DCU is slowly catching up to SR, but I still fail to see the appeal or the long-term ramifications of this move to exile super-villains on a Secret Wars style planet. In the back-up story, Red Tornado gets a new body with a host of DC's brightest providing massive amounts of info-dump on his new status and capabilities. Just another day in the JLA mansion.

4/10


ROBIN #171 (Chuck Dixon / Chris Batista)

The book finally gets some much-needed stability with veteran scribe Dixon on board and Chris Batista replacing Freddie Williams as a better fit for the title's needs. Robin is trying to track down the newest girl vigilante in Gotham: Violet, by riding his Robin-Mobile (I kid you not) into town and attending a Gamblers' Anonymous meeting. Dixon is certainly trying, weaving a new supporting cast into Tim's life, trying to tie his crime-fighting with his partnership to Batman, his relationship and his school life. It doesn't mesh well just yet, but the good intentions are appreciated. Chris Batista impresses with both his growth in character design and his panel compositions, guiding the reader through the story effortlessly.

5/10

The Robin-Mobile

Chris Batista teaching Storytelling Master-Class with how sneakily he guides the reader’s eye across the page. Like the magicians say ‘follow the coin’

WILDSTORM REVELATIONS #4 (Scott Beatty & Christos Gage / Wes Craig)

The Wild Girls continue their formulaic trek around the Wildstorm Universe, once more trying to connect the different ends of the post-WorldStorm revamped company. Backlash gets ready for her big date with her estranged daddy, the original Backlash Marc Sleyton, with Savant and Nemesis running interference and carrying out their individual objectives. I wasn't familiar at all with the Backlash legacy, but the writers did a remarkable job of filling the reader in without it feeling too much like an info-dump. Revelations finally delivers on the long-awaited promise of a better Wildstorm, with cohesive writing, interesting stories with feeling and (finally) a new artist discovery in Wes Craig who has Future Superstar written all over him!

8/10


THE FLASH #237 (Keith Champagne / Koi Turnbull)

A fill-in breather acting as a change of guards between outgoing writer Mark Waid and incoming Tom Peyer. Linda takes the Flash Twins to Metropolis for training in the form of a scavenger hunt. The first item on the list? Superman's Cape! All that, and the Gail Simone adaptation of Dini's villain: Livewire. Lots of family fun, and energetic art in the vein of Duncan Rouleau. Worth a read, but nothing more than a stand-in.

5/10
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Caution: Fragile

Source: Jack Of Fables #20 (Vertigo Comics)

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... Comes Great Responsibility

Source: Amazing Spider-Man #551 (Marvel Comics)
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The Donna Troy Fan-Club

Membership of One. Club headquarters: Arkham Asylum



Harley Quinn, Source: Countdown To Final Crisis #10 (DC Comics)
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Revolution - Evolution - Love

Tricky :
Now that you got it right
Bring love and itll make it alright
Bring love and well take it tonite
Now that you got it right
Who wants the sinner
Coming round for dinner
Who needs effects
Who needs to pay for sex
When they drop the bomb?
Who will stay calm
Blood would spill
Who would you kill?
Ed kowalczyk :
Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
(has just begun)
Has just begun

Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
Has just begun

Hawkman :
Walking down the street with my little rude gun
Top of my gun pocket for fun
Block on my tongue
Top of my earth
Tip of my birth
Top of my earth
Tip of my breast
Top of my chest
Tip of my guess
Ive got the singles
I got the jingles
Bet you eat pringles with chris kringles
Walking on the road with my little rude gun

Ed kowalczyk :
Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
(has just begun)
Has just begun

Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
Has just begun

Tricky :
Stepping on the street with my little rude girl
Tip of my toes
Top of my world
Top of my earth
Top of my rock
Tip of my block
Now that you got it right
Bring love and Ill make it alright
Bring love and well take it tonite
Now that you got it right

Ed kowalczyk :
Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
(has just begun)
Has just begun

Hawkman :
She was born in the ghetto
Outside the bronx
In a project blocks
Where time stands still
It dont tick it dont tock
Top of my sun
Keep all my love
Top of my chest
Tip of my breast
Top of my earth
Walking on the road
With my soul in my hand
Tip on my toes
Top of my span

Ed kowalczyk :
Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
(revolution has just begun)
Has just begun

Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
Has just begun
Just begun
Just begun

Ed kowalczyk :
Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mind
This revolution
(has just begun)
Has just begun
Now that I understand this right
Let me take it to the mike
This revolution
(has just begun)
Has just begun
Now that youve got it right
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We are shiny happy Savage people

The King and Queen of Savage Land

Source: Marvel Comics Presents #6 (Marvel Comics)
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Panel of the Week Voting 19.02.08

Starman's sublime sci-fi musings dominated the charts last week with a 39% against the other four panels.

This week was ripe with potential and I had to shortlist a great deal of great contenders. The lucky five are:

CoolWebPoll

Panel A
Deadly Kiss of the Black Widow (Amazing Spider-Man #550)

Panel B
'Honey, I'm Pregnant' (Green Arrow/Black Canary#5)

Panel C
Original Sin (American Virgin #23)

Panel D
Johnny Storm and Johnny Storm-Hilton (Fantastic Four #554)

Panel E

One Super-Gorilla hitting another on the head with his lover's brains. Love! (Salvation Run #4)
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Tickle Me Emo

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Bat-Girl: Barbie Gordon

Tiny Titans #1 (DC Comics):


Mattel's newly announced Barbie line
Check the above page for Black Canary/leather biker Barbie, Supergirl Barbie and Wonder Woman Barbie
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New Avengers #23

This month in New Avengers:

the Street Avengers have been kicked out of their Swanky Sanctum Sanctorum (slash) Starbucks, and are now moving in one of Danny Rand's appartment.

Let's review the above page.

Spidey is in regular costume, so we can assume that this title has now caught up with Brand New Day (although it was said in there that Spidey hung up the webs for a month after OMD). That means noone on the team knows his secret identity, yet trust him enough to have him on the team during this highly distrusting period of Skrullness. Spidey currently lives with his Aunt May (who doesn't know his secret either), but still has a room in the Avengers Appartment (where he will probably have to sleep in his mask, seeing as noone knows his secret identity). Spidey also apparently now remembers House of M (where he was married to Gwen and had a kid), while he still doesn't remember he was ever married to MJ.

Wolverine also likes to slum it around with this group of people he hardly knows instead of hanging out in his comfy room in the X-Mansion where there actually is food. Unless all this NA crap took place after Messiah Complex and there is no mansion, but then that would place Wolvie off in Russia with his real friends, or in Afghanistan hunting down Mystique, or in Deep Space on the Planet Breakworld, or training a new team of feral mutants for black-ops.

In other words, in the current scheme of things there's no believable way for either of these solo characters to be in this 'team', consisting of... Power-Man and Iron-Fist with DD's ex girlfriend and Hawkeye.

Oh, and the deaf Echo continues having conversations with guys who either have their back turned on her or are wearing full-face masks.

I think this entire team should be revealed as Skrulls and get it all over with.

The other 20 pages of the issue feature a very slow-moving and faux-emotional scene as Luke Cage learns his wife has decided to register and move into Avengers mansion (because that one never gets attacked by super-villains and is so much safer than living in a normal appartment without other super-heroes.)
They spend a lot of panels looking at each other with hurt expressions, exchanging Bendisisms until the Mighty Avengers show up and retread ground that seems to be exhumed and recovered every second week. How can this be the same guy who is currently doing the best character stuff of his career on Ultimate Spider-man?

The only proper place for this issue is in the Recycling Tank.

2/10
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Green Arrow / Black Canary #5

Dedicated to my pal Matt 'Starman' Morrison.

We've invited Dr Mid-Nite as a forensics specialist to give us the autopsy on Green Arrow/Black Canary from DC Comics.

While the good Doctor consoles Dinah over her lost personality, Judd takes a long poignant look at Daddy-Son relationships in the DCU. Let's eavesdrop on Ollie and Batman:


Hmm, looks like some of the dialogue got smudged up.

Before anyone mistakes this parody for mean-spiritedness, I'll include an unaltered series of panels from later in the same issue.

Judd for the win!
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The X i -Factor #28

The newest issue of X-Factor, post-Messiah Complex.

The cast is getting back together after the tumultuous last few months. One of them is leaving, another is expecting someone new. And all of them get... iPhones?

It starts off as a quirky pop reference, as Siryn is confessing in a chapel

Innocent enough, a passing mention. To think some people take step from this to accuse Marvel of selling out to Big Bucks companies for intrusive product placement in their stories.



Hurm. I guess Peter David is either a big Apple geek or was asked to fill a certain iPhone quota this issue. Boy, I'd sure be pissed off if that happened. And if I was as crazy talented and known for my ironic meta commentary as PAD, I'd be inclined to slip in my opinion on this marketing strategy.



Product Placement as Product Destruction. -Applause-
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Shortbus, cos we all get it in the end

Justin Bond and the Hungry Marching Band - In the end

we all bear the scars
yes, we all feign a laugh
we all sigh in the dark
get cut off before we start

and as the first act begins
you realise they're all waiting
for a fall, for a flaw, for the end

there's a past stained with tears
could you talk to quiet my fears
could you pull me aside
just to acknowledge that i've tried

and as your last breath begins
contently take it in
cause we all get it in
the end

and as your last breath begins
you find your demon's your best friend
and we all get it in
the end

Source: Closing Scene - SHORTBUS
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