RIIIIIIIIIISE!!!!

I AM BACK! Did you miss me? Judging from the amount of comments to my last post, I would have to guess the answer would be, "No." That doesn't hurt my feelings though....much. Part of that was my fault...my Blackest Night. This blog doesn't need to be another review site or an oasis for snooty comic book geeks. Plots and Pictures should be a place that relates the events of comic books, movies, TV shows, or whatever cool stuff in a way that will make everyone enjoy those things more. So just like in the Green Lantern universe, the Blackest Night shall lead to the Brightest Day.

My absence from Plots and Pictures has almost been a year. That's a lot of time. I can't just dive right in to the new direction. I've got to get my feet wet first, which is absurd because I'm totally a dive-right-in person when swimming. Baby steps are for wusses. Despite that, I will be starting off slowly. How about a recap of my life in the near-year I've been away?

Since the theme of my new direction is Blackest Night / Brightest Day, I'll start with Green Lantern. Recently, I've caught up on the entire series, reading Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro Corps War, and Blackest Night all from start to finish. The War of Light is one of my favorite sagas in comic books and I fully plan to help you guys realize how cool it is. Expect a feature story in the weeks to come that you will no doubt fall in love with. Also, make sure you go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this weekend because the trailer for the Green Lantern movie is going to debut with it. I saw some clips already and it looks pretty cool. There's a Kilowog appearance!!!

Speaking of Harry Potter, I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios this summer. In a word it was, magical. Yeah, you all saw that coming, but that doesn't make it any less hilarious. Really though, the park was amazing. The two best roller coasters belong to Harry Potter and the atmosphere was just like watching the movies. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade looked spot-on, Olivander's reenacted the wand-matching scene from the first book, and the pumpkin juice and butterbeer were fantastic. Even the workers all had to do British accents. I had a particularly good time deciphering whose were real and whose were corny.

The trip to Hogwarts was so much fun that it inspired me to do something I swore I never would...read books. I know, I know. I'm a comic book guy. Books are for dorks. I agree, but the Harry Potter books are usually incredibly fun to read. There are some dead moments here and there, but as a whole I thoroughly enjoyed them and look forward to making snooty comments like "That's not how it happened in the book," when I go see the newest movie Thursday at midnight. Yeah, I'll be one of those guys waiting in that awesome line. Check back later this week for a post on that. Oh, and Snape is the man!!!

Another major development in my life is the premiere of the new TV series based on the comic book The Walking Dead. It is amazing, easily the best on TV right now. The show perfectly captures the tone set in the comic books and I love seeing all those crazy dilemmas the characters find themselves in. Should the black guy save the racist white guy? Will the hussie tell her husband she was sleeping with another man while she thought he was dead? You must watch. Sundays. AMC. 10:00. Be there.

What else is there? I played basketball with 14th overall pick in the '99 NBA draft, William Avery. That was cool. I fully intended to school him, but got ripped twice and was outscored by him. He cheated.

I finally read Bendis's run on Daredevil...the second volume at least. The first still sells for well over $100 on ebay and I can't spend that much on a book. Anyway, what I did read clearly showed that Bendis is actually capable of telling a compelling and emotional story. Who would have guessed. I loved it.

You know what? This has already turned into a huge post. I have no idea why, because my life really isn't worth that many words. Hopefully you made it through and if so, please leave some comments on how excited you are that my blog is back. That'll really help out the ol' ego. Also, if you liked this and want some quick hits and random thoughts, follow me on Twitter: @SoKoJohn

Read more!

Posts Are Now Easier to Read

For a while now, I've been afraid that my beautiful background may be interfering with your ability to clearly read the text in my posts (scroll down to see a few older posts where that might have been a problem). Recently a few loyal fans have confirmed those fears. My reviews are too important not to be seen, so I went to work to find an awesome solution. With the help of my Assistant Designer, Dan (AKA my brother), a solution was made. The border around my posts now is catchy without distracting from the content. You will definitely want to click "Read More" to read about and see our journey.

It was a long and arduous road, one most bloggers would not even have considered taking. But this is Plots and Pictures and Dan and I knew what had to be done. Immediately I threw ideas at him as he researched ways to implement them. Not all roads led to victory though. Blood was shed, fists hurled, and curses spouted as perfection escaped us. Then, on a cool October Sunday in the year of the Cow, glory was ours. Nothing so beautiful and stylish had ever been seen on a blog and all our hardships instantly became badges of honor. The journey may have been difficult, but our determination never wavered. Our combined power can be stopped by nothing. Take a look at the slide show below for a visual of the adventure - if you have the stomach for it.

Click on any picture to see a larger version of it.

Read more!

New Review Format

You fans have probably noticed that I have been slacking on the reviews lately. Instead of devoting hours of my time writing my usual in-depth reviews, I've decided to do some quick-hits. Basically, I'll be writing a few thoughts about why I liked or disliked the book and will leave off the analytical details of why my thoughts are what they are.

Along with each review, I will also include links to reviews from legitimate reviewers, such as IGN and Comic Book Resources. These will usually provide a little more detail to anyone who was enticed by my mini-review.

Additionally, I will be posting all my reviews together. Since they will no longer be so time-consuming, I will be able to write them all in one day and put them in a single post.

Hopefully with the extra free time I'll have because of this, I will be able to come up with more feature pieces. Also, with there being fewer posts, some of the more important ones will stay at the top of the homepage longer. Everyone knows the first post always gets read more.

I hope this new format will benefit myself and you loyal fans. If you have any suggestions or want me to go back to the previous one, just let me know. All comments are welcomed.

Read more!

Contributors

I've finally figured out a way to show all of the Plots and Pictures' contributors. When there is more than one contributor listed, Blogspot doesn't allow profiles to be seen in the sidebar. That's messed up, so I created a widget to display all the workers who strive to perfect this website.

In it, of course, you will see me. I created the site and have written everything in it. My picture has been changed recently, by popular demand. Apparently I don't look like my last picture any more.

The other person you see is my brother, Dan. He's responsible for a lot of the aesthetics of the site. When I need help figuring out how to write some code, Dan is the guy to figure it out. He's responsible for the scrolling comic books at the top of the page, the condensed posts on the home page, and probably a lot of other stuff that I am failing to mention. Right now he is working on something really cool and maybe it will be working soon.

Hopefully, more contributors will be added shortly. A buddy of mine might be writing the review for X-Factor, so of course he'll be part of the section when that happens. Until then, I guess Dan and I are the stars of the coolest site on the net.

Read more!