Just for the record, I have not seen Battle Royale nor read Hunger Games, and I have no opinion about either of them.

Though I will admit, when I saw the trailer for Hunger Games (which I had never heard of before), the very first thing that went through my mind was, “Oh, look, it’s Battle Royale.” I’m just saying I didn’t dwell on it.

In fact, I briefly considered doing this strip about Chronicle and Akira. But then it turns out the writer of Chronicle freely admits to being heavily inspired by Akira, so there wasn’t even a mini-controversy to mine there.

Speaking of Chronicle, I finally saw it, after over a month of saying I’d get around to it.  And I liked it! I even enjoyed way they used the “found footage” conceit, which I normally hate. I won’t go into any spoilers, except to say that the ending is one of those that screams, “Please greenlight a sequel, we totally have an idea for it!” My girlfriend, who also enjoyed the movie, nonetheless rolled her eyes and expressed her disinterest in a sequel. The appeal, she argued, was not the universe the movie created, but the specific story that it told. Delving deeper into it is kind of beside the point.

Which, you might remember (if I’m deluded enough to believe anyone actually reads my ramblings), were my exact feelings about the Watchmen sequel. Do I know how to pick ’em, or what?

Quotable quotes from the world of comics:

“But Justice League as a story? As an actual comic? As something that should show us why the New 52 was something we should care about and pay attention to? To quote Chris Onstad, this thing fails with a focus and intensity normally seen only in success.”
Chris Sims, Comics Alliance