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Stan Lee's Annihilator

It seems that comic book god and all around good guy Stan Lee has a new project that he is developing as a film property. Annihilator is the latest creation by Lee and bring to the world the story of a man named Ming (yes, Ming) who is forced to choose between remaining in a Chinese prison or enlisting in some secret US super soldier program that would give him some sort of animal based super power. His pre-super soldier powers include "extreme resolve" and Qijong and martial arts training. Please excuse me for a second, I have to sit down. I just face palmed myself about twenty times really fast. Stan Lee's characters are some of the most popular and enduring ones on the planet. To imagine a world without Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Hulk is, well, unimaginable. But the last few creative attempts at character creation from Stan Lee have been far from successful. The mighty forgettable Mighty 7, the Who Wants to be a Superhero? based reality show winner Fat Momma, and the what-were-you-thinking Stripperella featuring the lung talents of Pamela Anderson. While Annihilator has decent talent on board like producer Barry Josephson (Bones, Wild Wild West, Enchanted) and writer Dan Gilroy (Real Steel, The Bourne Legacy) there's little hope that our friend Ming will become the next Peter Parker. I'll applaud ANY attempt to get more Asian male faces on screen (especially in a lead role!) but I'm going to have to chalk this one up to a step in the right direction as opposed to a watershed moment in Asian culture and certainly not one for Asian American culture. Lee should have just worked on a Amadeus Cho story line with a Hercules and Hulk tie-in. Now THAT I would go see. I will always love Stan Lee's core characters and will gladly support his new creations … as long as they're good.

So God Made an Asian

I don't normally post this early but I figured I may as well strike while the iron was hot.

This strip is a reaction to Ram Trucks' Superbowl ad based on the "So God Made a Farmer" speech by Paul Harvey. A lot of buzz going around about how it completely ignored the real demographics of farming and the hiring practices of farmers to keep costs down. But it actually made me think of ALL people who do things despite the challenges they face. Sure, farmers can be seen as good, heroic people and I'm sure a good number of them are. But Ram Trucks really missed an opportunity to include a wide range of people and fell into the comfort of nostalgia.

Don't Make Me Come Over There, China

A few months back when I was visiting my parents in NYC, we got into an expected conversation about all the recent problems facing Japan including the sudden and quickly escalating situation between China, Taiwan, Korea(s), Russia, and Japan. I had no idea what was going on and started to wonder why this isn't more top line news especially considering the potential for U.S. involvement.

It's a really strange territorial dispute that I'm still trying to make sense of. If you have any opinions on the matter I'd be curious to hear them.