Things to do when you're home sick

Being home sick for the past two days (thank you bronchial infection!) has afforded me the chance to get caught up in my reading and DVD watching. On the recommendation of my friend and co-worker Jim, I went out and bought the first two Madame Xanadu TPBs.

Jim had raved about the beautiful Michael Kaluta art in the second volume, and as great as Kaluta's pencils were, I was even more impressed with the art in the first volume. Relative unknown Amy Reeder Hadley's pencils leapt off the page...simply gorgeous stuff!

I knew as soon as Jim told me Matt Wagner was the author, I would be hooked. Having recently completed the first seven volumes of Wagner's Sandman Mystery Theatre, I knew that Madame Xanadu would be brilliant. And it was. The fact that Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont made a guest appearance in the second volume, and that Death and Etrigan showed up in volume one didn't hurt either.

I also finally got around to watching Crisis on Two Earths, the latest offering from DC in their direct-to-dvd collection, and it was terrific. The voice talent involved in the project: Mark Harmon, Chris Noth, James Woods, Gina Torres and others, were also great in their respective roles.

The Crime Syndicate were portrayed in a new, fresh way, and I think it worked great. No spoilers here...go see it yourself! I was worried seeing Dwayne McDuffie's name attached, thinking that we'd be forced to endure John Stewart instead of Hal Jordan as the JLA's Green Lantern. Happily, for me at least, we got Hal in the movie.