After our experiences with this show last year, I wasn’t really itching to return for this year’s Philadelphia Comic Con. In fact, I had all but forgotten about it until an opportunity presented itself for a quick trip on the last day of the show. I have to admit, attending Sunday morning was a really pleasant surprise and more than enough to merit a return in 2012.

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Attack the Block is a new British film written and directed by Joe Cornish and executive produced by Edgar Wright of Shawn of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs the World fame. The story pits teenage London street thugs against an alien invasion. The film made a lot of noise at festivals this Spring, which led to rumors that it would be released with subtitles in the United States due to concerns that Americans would not be able to deal with all the British slang featured in the dialogue. Thankfully, the version I saw was not subtitled and while I may not have understood every bit of dialogue I don’t think it hurt my appreciation of the film. I will mention that there was one Pokémon joke during the movie that I heard repeated aloud by probably five people because the person next to them had missed it the first time.

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I don’t know that this happens very often in Major League Baseball, but with a postponed game from April 16th that was made up yesterday afternoon and a day game today, the Philadelphia Phillies just won their fourth game in under 48 hours. Factoring in an hour and twenty-minute rain delay before the start of Tuesday’s game and the speedy two-hour and twenty-one minute game behind Cliff Lee today (a complete game shut out, by the way), the Phillies actually picked up four wins in forty-three hours and one minute.

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It’s been a crazy few weeks for DC Comics fans with the reveal that the current series Flashpoint would lead to a complete relaunch of the entire DC Universe in September as the company will be releasing new first issues for fifty-two titles. Interestingly, DC has promised a reimagined DCU featuring in many cases younger, more modern takes on their classic characters and a more diverse line overall in terms of both the ethnicity of their characters and the genres of books they publish. A previous attempt to comment on this news when very little was really known about the relaunch resulted in what amounted to a nasty letter to comic fans about their phony outrage and their tendency to rush to judge was out-of-date before I had typed the last word. As a result, I’ve recruited PTB to help keep the discussion grounded and offer his perspective as a non-DC fan.
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For the record, I hate this “mid-season finale / Summer break” business we’re getting with this season of Doctor Who. The only upside is that we’ll technically get two season premieres and two season finales. If the close of the season is anywhere near as exciting as A Good Man Goes to War, it will all be worth the wait.

Spoilers, deaths, births and revelations ahead.

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