Put Harry Potter, Beverly Hills 90210, Bright Lights Big City, and Narnia in a blender, and you've got The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

I was really knocked out by the first two-thirds of the Magicians, where it takes on the subject of the Potter books--a coming of age story where a young man learns the mystic arts.  Quentin (the young protagonist) and his friends aren't as squeaky clean as the Potter crew.  They swear, smoke, crush on their instructors, drink cocktails and have sex, which gives you the feeling that this is happening right now over in Brakebills (the academy for the mystically gifted).  Grossman puts Quentin and his friends through five years of school by the time the novel is halfway over, and this compressed pace is a welcome relief from the Potter series.  The magic that is taught and wielded by the students is also quite different, as Quentin performs feats that Doctor Strange would envy during his final year.

Quentin hooks up with a clique of friends that he hangs around with post-graduation: Alice, Janet, Eliot, and Josh.  In addition there's Penny, a freakish loner who Quentin surpassed during the first year.  What do young people do after they graduate and become full flung Magicians?  It turns out when you can do anything and don't have to work, things can fall apart quickly, and that's where the Bright Lights Big City phase comes in. 

I reveled in Quentin's decadence, but after that section, the book hit a speed bump.  I wanted the rest of the novel to be that magical soap opera story set in the modern world.  Instead, Quentin makes a horrific mistake and drags his friends into Fillory, a magical world that resembles Narnia to a certain degree.  I wasn't that interested in Fillory, but I was never into Narnia either.  Grossman weaves the back-story of Fillory (there's a series of Fillory novels that Quentin has reread numerous times) throughout the Magicians, so you're prepared on the mythology before the gang arrives. 

One frustrating thing about the Fillory section is the inconsistent use of magic.  Quentin seems enormously powerful by the time he graduates from Brakebills.  In Fillory, he can barely summon a spell to save his life.  It can be explained away by the fact that magic in Fillory works differently, and Quentin had other problems since graduation.  It's still frustrating--especially when another character's power levels suddenly spike in order to save the day.

I still recommend reading the book, it's a lot of fun, a complete story all tied together, but Grossman leaves plenty of room for a sequel.  Which I would probably read as soon as it was published!  The most interesting element of the Fillory section is an inter-dimensional gateway plane that opens up portals to many different worlds.  I'd love to see Quentin travel to another world that doesn't resemble a famous fantasy series.

Here are some links to a three part interview that Lev Grossman did with Zack Smith from Newsarama, where he discusses a lot of scenes that were edited out of the book, and talks about comics as well.  Nuff said!

Newsarama The Magic of Lev Grossman, Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

As you can tell by my previous Metal Men post, I've been going through a set of old Amazing Heroes magazines from the 1980s.  This was one of our main sources of comics news, and they had some terrific covers.

Amazing Heroes #3 featured this Justice Society of America cover featuring both old and new generation.  Joe Staton, who drew the JSA in the revival of All-Star Comics, did this cover.  The classic Golden Age characters are in the foreground, but take note of the ones featured in the back.  The Earth-Two versions of Superman, Bruce Wayne, Power Girl, Robin, and Star Spangled Kid.

A couple of years later, the new generation--Infinity Inc--came along and booted the JSA out of the spotlight.  This cover by Mike Machlan and Jerry Ordway introduced us to Nuklon, Brain Wave Jr, Fury, Northwind, Obsidian, Silver Scarab, and Jade.  Along with familiar characters: Power Girl, Huntress, and Star Spangled Kid.  The interior content featured a nice interview with Roy Thomas and loads of information on the Earth-Two mythology.  Nuff said.

I'm a big Metal Men fan.  I've written about them extensively here, I've got a PVC set of the entire team, and I'm currently buying the Doom Patrol comic just to read the excellent MM backup series by Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire.

In going through a bunch of Amazing Heroes back issues, I came across this Metal Men cover by Terry Austin.  This appeared in AH #10, 1982.

Check out some of my other Metal Men articles:

• Metal Men 45: When Doctor Magnus Went Nuts with a Plutonium Man!
• Walt Simonson's Metal Men pinup for DC Super Calendar 1978
• Alan Davis' Metal Men on LSH cover
• Alex Ross' Metal Justice Men

Nuff said!

Damon Lindelof was in Golden Apple Comics a while ago to sign some Ultimate Hulk Vs Wolverine collections, and Jonah Weiland was right there with a camera.

The interview is quite substantial, 30 minutes long, and covers many topics: his Ultimate Hulk/Wolverine story, Stephen King's Dark Tower, ambitions to create his own comic universe, and of course, LOST.

I bought Borderlands (XBox 360) yesterday, popped in the disk at 11pm thinking I'd play an hour before going to sleep.  When I stopped it was 1:30am.

This game is irresistible if you loved the loot-gathering of Diablo and you get off on the kickback of a gun firing.  The enemy AI leaves something to be desired, but the gun combinations are terrific.  I got a pistol last night that fires incendiary bullets and a grenade mod that splits your grenade up into separate little mini-grenades.  This is only just the beginning, as I'm only at Level 7.

Jeff Gerstmann's review of Borderlands on Giant Bomb really convinced me that I would love this game.  I like to play games mostly on my own, and this game works well either single player or with friends.  A number of critics detail Borderlands good vs bad points, but only Gerstmann accurately described the crystal meth level of addiction that Borderlands can inspire.  Nuff said.

BTW, Fanboy Radio fans will be pleased to know that Oliver Tull is the voice of the Soldier character, delivering funny lines like "Now that's what I call a head shot!" Nuff said.

I love the high concept covers of old DC Comics.  These covers (by Neal Adams) were probably conceived before the actual story.  These two have Superman having identity problems.

Superman's Greatest Role: The President of Steel!  I predict his foreign policy would have been smashing.

Superman as Public Enemy #1!  Obviously suffering from multiple personality disorder.  Nuff said.

In 1983, Keith Giffen took on a daunting poster for DC Comics.  One that featured nearly every character (heroes, villains, substitutes) that had appeared in the Legion's entire history.  The picture above is only one-third of the entire image, taken from the right-hand side!  I cropped it to this side to show my favorite Legionnaires: Dawnstar, Wildfire, Star Boy, Karate Kid, Mon-El, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and Colossal Boy.

Here's the full poster, you can click on it to view the scan.  I remember buying this and pouring over the voluminous cast of characters.  It could have been blown up and used as wallpaper in order to see all the characters better.

Keith Giffen blew a gasket on this poster, as he said in an interview with Jon B. Cooke (for Jack Kirby Collector #29):  "What happened was I did this Legion poster, characters all over the place. And in drawing that Legion poster I totally burned myself out on the book. After the poster I just had to walk away."

Giffen's last regular Legion issue (as penciler) with co-creator Paul Levitz was in the Baxter Legion of Super-Heroes #2.  He would return to guide the Legion in their infamous "five year later" reboot.  Nuff said.

Here's a terrific Legion pinup by the Wildstorm crew on their Gelatometti blog.

This was a gift to departing publisher Paul Levitz.  The sign says "Welcome Home" as he is returning to writing the Legion in Adventure Comics.

This drawing brings back memories of the Levitz-Lightle Legion era, with Sensor Girl, Kismet, and Tellus featured prominently on top.  A great way to celebrate Levitz returning to these characters!  Nuff said.