Just the Ticket

Good afternoon, Ticketholders! For those of you wondering about the unusual nature of this post's title, it is a reference to the translation of the name Rumpelstiltskin, which itself is translated from Rumpelstilzchen, referring to a goblin of German lore that rattles or raps on gate posts and wooden planks as a means of inducing fright or annoyance. The origin of the name has less to do with the fairy tale it inspired than with a similarly behaving spirit that is more commonly known today by the name "poltergeist," a ghost that clatters and moves household objects. Fun, obscure facts, I've got them. On to the issue at hand. GFT #4: Rumpelstiltskin Knowing what I know now, this issue blew me away on so many levels. So, it starts with a girl named Milly (because the miller’s daughter, get it?) who is pregnant, and her selfish jock boyfriend Eric, who wants her to get an abortion or sell her baby to his friend Jimmy, who “knows this agency” (as of this second rea...

Good evening, Ticketholders! Last time, I summarized and commented on the very first two issues of Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales comic book series. This post will only feature the third issue, as per my newly adopted brevity policy. GFT #3: Hansel & Gretel This issue is very on-the-nose with its character names and framing scenario. A brother and sister named Hank and Gina run away from home and “chance” upon a ride with Sela Mathers, who relates to them “some lame story about two stupid kids who run away from home.” The intro panels of the Hansel & Gretel story are almost identical to its frame, with the exception being a difference in time period (e.g.: dress, language, technology). The story continues fairly true to the common knowledge version, with the twist being that the witch (or hag, depending on the regional telling) is named Sela. This seems to further confirm information from the two previous issues that Sela can send people into the fairy tales she tells...

Hello, Ticketholders! As previously related in Heroes Are Made  and the "Grimm News" issues of Cover Charge , I began reading the Grimm Fairy Tales  comics as research for a series of comic book characters I was designing in the Flash-based program, HeroMachine, and it quickly became an obsession. But at the time of my first reading, I went through it so quickly that many of the early issues seemed to amount to little more than filler episodes with unnamed characters, unresolved storylines, and, oh God, the typos! But now, the series has recently ended a 125-issue run and begun anew with a second volume (although the first “volume” has fifteen volumes of trade paperbacks, not including the special issues, spin-off series, and the last 25 issues of the first “volume,” subtitled “Arcane Acre,” have their own numbered set of trade volumes…so confusing), so I’m going back to the beginning to see if I can appreciate what I missed so many years ago. We begin with Grimm Fair...

I haven't posted anything new in almost a year and a half, and a lot has happened in that time that stalled me from keeping the Ticketverse current. Hastings, an awesome home entertainment chain that provided shoppers with coffee, sandwiches, CDs, DVDs for rental and sale, video games, and vinyl records, went out of business last year, staying alive long after Blockbuster Video and its brick-and-mortar rental competitors bit the big one. Hearing the phrase "Blockbuster Video went out of business" still pisses me off. It doesn't keep me from being a Netflix and Hulu subscriber, but it still pisses me off to think about how much I miss going into a video store or record store and rifling through their selection. I almost always walked out the door with less money in my pocket and something new (whether actually new or just new to me) in a bag swinging by my side, something I could hold in my hand, stare at on my shelf, listen to and appreciate--or criticize--as somethi...

Ticketmaster's Note:  I originally intended to post this some time in January or February of 2016, but the rapid pileup of project ideas and the time and energy available to accomplish them weren't matching up. I am still very proud of my blog and its long history of bringing spoiler-laden critical input to its readership, and hope to continue the tradition far into the future. Back to school, back to school. Gonna show the teacher that I'm not a fool.... Ummm...yeah. So, it's been a few months--again--since I posted anything in the Ticketverse. After succeeding enormously at keeping up with the Halloween countdown and failing miserably halfway through NaNoWriMo , I needed a winter break from writing. So I started reading and binge-watching TV instead. Since December, I have watched all seven seasons of  Castle  (a formulaic, usually predictable police procedural with an intriguing series-spanning whodunnit arc, likable characters, witty writing, and welcome nods t...