Best bets from the last few weeks: Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #2, The Sixth Gun #3 and Ghost Projekt #4. Oni is publishing some good stuff, huh?

Three Weeks Ago:

[Read the whole thing]]]> Haven’t felt like posting lately, so here’s three weeks of comics to catch up on.

Best bets from the last few weeks: Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #2, The Sixth Gun #3 and Ghost Projekt #4. Oni is publishing some good stuff, huh?

Three Weeks Ago:

• Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1, by Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasaron & Cam Smith (DC)
• Superman #702, by J. Michael Straczynski, Eddy Barrows & J.P. Mayer (DC)
• The Unwritten #16, by Mike Carey & Peter Gross (DC/Vertigo)
• Zatanna #4, by Paul Dini, Chad Hardin & Wayne Faucher (DC)
• Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #2 of 5, by Ed Brubaker & Dale Eaglesham (Marvel)
• A Skeleton Story #1, by Alessandro Rak & Andrea Scoppetta (GG Studio)
• The Sixsmiths #1, by J. Marc Schmidt & Jason Franks (SLG)

Two Weeks Ago:

• Batman Beyond #3 of 6, by Adam Beechen, Ryan Benjamin & John Stanisci (DC)
• Brightest Day #8, by Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Vicente Cifuentes, Rebecca Buchman & Mark Irwin (DC)
• DC Universe: Legacies #4 of 10, by Len Wein, Jose-Luis Garcia Lopez, Dave Gibbons, Scott Kolins & Joe Kubert (DC)
• Ex Machina #50, by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris (DC/Wildstorm)
• Fables #97, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha & Dan Green (DC/Vertigo)
• Green Lantern Corps #51, by Tony Bedard, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes (DC)
• Justice Society of America #42, by James Robinson, Mark Bagley & Norm Rapmund (DC)
• Power Girl #15, by Judd Winick & Sami Basri (DC)
• Chew #13, by John Layman & Rob Guillory (Image)
• The Sixth Gun #3, by Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt (Oni)

Last Week:

• Justice League of America #48, by James Robinson, Mark Bagley & Rob Hunter (DC)
• Legion of Super-Heroes #4, by Paul Levitz, Yildiray Cinar, Francis Portela & Wayne Faucher (DC)
• Madame Xanadu #26, by Matt Wagner & Chrissie Zullo (DC/Vertigo)
• Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2 of 6, by Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund (DC)
• Wonder Woman #602, by J. Michael Straczynski, Don Kramer & Eduardo Pansica (DC)
• Astonishing X-Men #35, by Warren Ellis, Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning (Marvel)
• Captain America #609, by Ed Brubaker, Jackson Guice & Rick Magyar (Marvel)
• Fantastic Four #582, by Jonathan Hickman, Nail Edwards & Scott Hanna (Marvel)
• Echo #24, by Terry Moore (Abstract Studio)
• Dynamo 5: Sins of the Father #3 of 5, by Jay Faerber & Júlio Brilha (Image)
• Invincible #74, by Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley & Cliff Rathburn (Image)
• Ghost Projekt #4 of 5, by Joe Harris & Steve Rolston & Dean Trippe (Oni)

Brian Vaughn & Tony Harris’ Ex Machina came to an end this month. It’s been one of those rarities, a long-running series published less than monthly (bimonthly, in this case), I believe because Harris isn’t quite able to keep up with a regular monthly schedule. (James Robinson wrote many of the “Times Past” episodes of Starman to give Harris time to catch up or get ahead, I understand.) The premise of the series is that Mitchell Hundred is the only man in the world with superpowers: A strange encounter in New York harbor gave him the ability to communicate with and command machines. He embarked on a brief and controversial career as a superhero, the “Great Machine”, until he saved one of the World Trade Towers from being destroyed on September 11. Retiring from adventuring, he is elected Mayor of New York City, where he has a controversial term as a populist leader who holds strong positions, always annoying the left or the right. Meanwhile, his two friends from his heroing days have different opinions about his new position (one becomes his bodyguard, the other thinks it’s a waste of his talents), and Mitch gradually learns about the origins of his powers. The series often felt at times like a mouthpiece for Vaughan’s political views. Actually I have no idea if they’re actually Vaughan’s own views or not, but they were by far the least interesting part of the series, repetitively presenting Mitch as the voice of reason while various people were freaking out around him about his positions. It got pretty dull pretty quickly. I always saw the political milieu as a mundane backdrop to the more interesting story, that being: Why did Mitch get his powers, and what did it mean? But Vaughan clearly didn’t see the series in the same way, as he spent most of the series dealing with the very mundane details of Mitch’s life and friendships, none of which are really deep enough or complex enough to be very compelling, and only one of which (with his bodyguard Bradbury) has a really rewarding payoff. So the more fantastic elements get shoved aside for most of the series, but completely take over the stage when they do come up. For example, the man who’s able to command animals. And then the explanations and drama over the last four issues. We do eventually learn the source of Mitch’s powers, but ultimately it’s kind of disappointing. I think my fundamental disappointment in Ex Machina is that it feels like it was a lot of text and noise, but not very much happened. Despite Mitch (and a handful of others) with fantastic powers, they don’t really change the world (or even New York City) very much. Indeed, Mitch’s tenure as Mayor doesn’t really change him very much, besides putting some of his friends and family in harm’s way. It doesn’t feel like he really grew or changed as a character or person. Vaughan’s other major work in comics is Y The Last Man, which is, by far, the superior series of the two. The characters are more engaging and more fully-realized, and despite characters with strong positions it rarely felt like the writer was preaching to us. The fantastic elements are omnipresent (since the premise is that every man on the planet save one has died), but serve to drive and inform the story, while still allowing plenty of space for drama and character development. Things happen, people go places, and change the world (and their lives) through their actions. And while there are some rough edges around the ending, it was on the whole moving and satisfying. Really, the polar opposite of Ex Machina in nearly every way. To be sure, Ex Machina had one major asset, that being Tony Harris’ always-outstanding artwork, which has grown and evolved, retaining his touch for realistic figures with a stylized veneer, while slowly shedding the awkward facial expressions and compositions. Harris is one of the better artists in comics today, and I look forward to seeing what he does next. But overall I have to say it’s been a disappointing series. It feels like it’s been playing out the string for the last couple of years, and I can’t really recommend to anyone to go back and read through it, because I don’t think you’ll find it rewarding. Pick up Y The Last Man instead, because it’s going to stay on my bookshelf, while this one’s probably going up on eBay. (As usual, Greg Burgas and I felt quite differently about this series.)

[Read the whole thing]]]> Since I recently introduced my cow-orker Sean to our Monday night Magic group, I decided to take him up on his suggestion to go with him for a Magic 2011 draft yesterday afternoon. Sean goes to Legends of Comics & Games, a store in Vallco Mall which somehow has survived and even thrived as that mall has come near to death and then slowly come back to life. (Oddly, the store seems to lack both a web site and a Facebook page.)

I’ve done drafts at a couple other places in the area, and this one seems like the friendliest and lowest-pressure among them, so I’ll probably go back just for that reason. It would be nice to draft once a month or so, if Debbi is willing to sacrifice part of a weekend every so often for me to go off and do so.

This week’s draft was Magic 2011, and it’s my first draft on about two years, since Shadowmoor. Despite visions of first-picking a Grave Titan, in fact my first pack was not very exciting, and I decided to take Corrupt and see if I could force mono-black. In fact, the black poured in from the right, and I did indeed end up mono-black, only taking other colors when there was no black left in a pack. My one big decision came in deciding whether to take a second Corrupt, or a Nantuko Shade. Others agreed it was a tough choice, and felt the Shade (which is what I took) was defensible because if I actually dropped it on turn 2 it would be hard for any decks to deal with. In fact as things played out Corrupt would have helped more, but that was purely situational.

My deck seemed so-so, in particular it felt light on creatures. But I did have a Demon of Death’s Gate, which I looked forward to playing. I also had a pair of Duress.

I won’t detail the games greatly; I lost my first match 1-2 against a blue/white deck; in the deciding game I double-mulliganed, got him on the ropes anyway, then stalled out and finally lost. The second match I won 2-1 in three lightning-fast games against a red/blue deck. My big lesson from the first two games was learning how effective Quag Sickness is in mono-black.

The third match was the most interesting, against a green/white deck which was nearly all creatures. So after the first game I sideboarded out Duress in favor of a pair of Deathmarks (woo-hoo!). We split the first two games, and played the decider. I got out three creatures, but he was starting to build up defense, so I played my Demon of Death’s Gate, which put him on a 2-turn clock. He winced, said he wasn’t sure how he’d get out of this, drew for his next turn – and Pacified my demon. Ugh. Then we each started building up creatures (I sacrificed my Demon to a Viscera Seer, hoping I could bring it back with Rise from the Grave), and were in a stalemate. I was at 5 life, he was at 11, and I started just drawing land. Oddly he decided not to attack – I think he could have won if he started applying pressure – and I observed that the dam was going to burst soon. As I was drawing, he remarked that I could draw the right removal and break the deadlock. I looked at my card and said, “Or I can Corrupt you for 12.” He put his head in his hand and we shook hands.

I was slightly amused that I was quite a bit older than most of the players – I played against two high schoolers and a 20-year-old. Though there were a couple of people older than me, there. It was also an object lesson in, well, financial means, since most of the younger folks were interested in trading cards (imagine that, trading trading cards!) whereas I tend to just buy most of the cards I want (except for the most expensive ones). Still, as with any game, once you sit down to play you’re on equal footing.

So I had a lot of fun, and won a free pack of M11 for my efforts. By the next time I draft, Scars of Mirrodin might be out, and that ought to be a completely different experience.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the film adaptation of the graphic novel series by Brian Lee O’Malley (first volume here), lived up to my hopes, being a good adaptation of the key parts of the series, while also being a hilarious and at-times touching film in

[Read the whole thing]]]> It had me at “An epic tale of epic epicness.”

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the film adaptation of the graphic novel series by Brian Lee O’Malley (first volume here), lived up to my hopes, being a good adaptation of the key parts of the series, while also being a hilarious and at-times touching film in its own right.

It’s not exactly an examination of slacker culture, or hipster culture, or any other culture, so much as the story of slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), bassist in a small-time band, who is recovering from a bad relationship by dating high school student Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), but who meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). As if that wasn’t enough, in order to date Ramona, Scott has to fight and defeat her seven evil exes.

Considering it condenses 6 graphic novels into a just-under-2-hour movie, Scott Pilgrim does a good job of staying faithful to the source material, especially the first (and best) volume, which takes up the first half-hour of the film. But whereas in the first book Scott seems almost heroic, albeit basically clueless, and then descends into being hapless and pathetic, the film is consistent as portraying him as a loser, a likable but hardly admirable protagonist.

None of that really matters, though, because what makes Scott Pilgrim worth seeing is that it’s frickin’ hilarious, and full of exciting and over-the-top fight scenes based on martial arts video games. Whereas in the comics the fights never quite seem fully-realized, in the film they have the extra impact that came in the fight scenes in Watchmen, while being at the polar opposite end of the ridiculousness spectrum from that film. It works much better here, since it’s all thrilling rather than troubling.

And the film is loaded with quotable lines, which have kept me giggling for two days since I saw the film.

The cast is superb, too. Okay, no one’s going to win an Oscar here, but Michael Cera is excellent as the earnest-yet-pathetic hero, Jason Schwartzman is appropriately creepy and smarmy as the ultimate evil ex in the film’s climax, seeming like an evil version of Austin Powers. Then there’s Brandon Routh (yes, from Superman Returns), made up almost unrecognizably as another evil ex. Chris Evans, the Human Torch from Fantastic Four, also does a turn as an ex. Ellen Wong steals a few scenes as Knives, especially when she’s dealing with being dumped by Scott. But special mention has to go to Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay roommate Wallace Wells, who practically steals every scene he appears in. If nothing else, I hope this film gets him some choice roles, because he’s earned them with his turn here. May Elizabeth Winstead is perhaps a little disappointing as Ramona, but her character seemed rather underwritten and passive, so she wasn’t given as much to work with (unfortunate since Ramona is a pretty string character at the beginning).

Really, between the script and the delivery, there’s just a lot of fun to be had in Scott Pilgrim. It doesn’t seem to have been doing well at the box office, so go see it soon if you’re interested, because it benefits from being seen on the big screen. Not that it really matters whether we get a sequel, because it’s complete unto itself. Check it out.

One thing I’ve been bad about doing with my bookcases is anchoring them to the wall, but this bookcase is 8 feet tall (including the extra shelf I bought), will hold a third of my comic book

[Read the whole thing]]]> Yesterday I finally got around to putting together an Ikea bookcase – that I bought over Memorial Day weekend.

One thing I’ve been bad about doing with my bookcases is anchoring them to the wall, but this bookcase is 8 feet tall (including the extra shelf I bought), will hold a third of my comic book collection, and will hover (ominously?) above our bed, so I really needed to anchor it, this being earthquake country and all. The thing is, having never anchored a bookcase, I wasn’t sure how much work it would be. So I’ve been intimidated by the project for all this time, while the bookcase stood unassembled, in its box, in the garage. (Why didn’t I put it together over the long weekend on which I bought it? Because I spent a big chunk of that weekend at work.)

It turns out none of it was a big deal, but it did take about 2-1/2 hours to finish the project. All together the project involved:

1. Carrying the bookcase upstairs – too big a job for one person, and actually it took Debbi and me a good 5 minutes to maneuver it up the stairs.
2. Assembling the bookcase. Really, this was the easiest part. I’ve assembled so many prefab bookcases in the last 20 years that I can almost do it in my sleep.
3. Unloading comic books from the first of the four six-foot bookcases they currently live in, and piling them on the bed. Then, realizing that I really need to unload the second bookcase, too.
4. Locating the wall studs and marking the spots to drill holes for the anchor straps.
5. Moving the old bookcases out of the way and putting the new bookcase in place.
6. Vacuuming where the old bookcases where, since it was pretty dusty back there.
7. Affixing the anchor straps to the wall. (Requires ladder.) Then attaching the straps (which are the velcro type) to the underside of the top shelf of the bookcase. Why the underside? Because the top of the top shelf is going to be a usable shelf itself, with comics on it, once the extension is attached, and I don’t want comics sitting on the straps.
8. Assembling the extension and attaching it to the bookcase.
9. Filling the bookcase with comics.
10. Since one eight-foot bookcase is not as capacious as two six-foot bookcases, carrying a small (three-foot) bookcase into the bedroom from the front room and fill it with the remaining comics.
11. Putting one of the two six-foot bookcases in the front room in place of the small bookcases.
12. Disassembling the other bookcases and dump it in the trash. (I inherited this bookcase when I bought the house. It’s not an Ikea bookcase, and is not as cleverly designed as Ikea bookcases. Ikea cases don’t have screws going all the way through the outer wood, whereas this one did, and had little wood-patterned stickies to cover up the screws.)
13. Cleaning up. In this project I used a bunch of stuff in my toolbox, a ladder, a ruler and a tape measure, a pencil, a studfinder, and the vacuum cleaner. Waste included the box the bookcase and extension came in, the box the earthquake straps came in, and various bits I didn’t need (Ikea often adds a few extra hardware parts, though which parts you get always seems random). Plus two glasses of water. Not to mention that I showered and changed clothes.

So, that’s one bookcase, and it looks great! Now I need to buy two more such bookcases, put them together to replace the remaining six-foot bookcases, and then throw away two (or maybe all three) of the old bookcases (we’re undecided whether we’ll put the three-foot bookcase back in the front room or leave a six-foot bookcase there). So that will be a project for the coming weeks. But now that I’ve done it once, hopefully the other two will be easier.

The ultimate result of all this, I hope, will be a little more extra room for comics (ultimately, the three new bookcases should replace 21 shelves of comics with 21 slightly-wider shelves), but more importantly converting lateral wall space into vertical wall space so that we can replace our aging queen-sized bed with a new king-sized bed.

Plus, of course, the new bookcases really do look a lot better than my 17-year-old ones that I bought from a furniture store in Madison, in different colors because they kept running out of the colors I wanted. Ikea really does things right.

By the way, comments about the number of comics books I own will be ignored.

[Read the whole thing]]]> First, a little background: Several weeks ago I was moved to a different team in my department. As with past such moves (and I’m unusual in this regard), I’m once again working on the same stuff, only on a new team and for a new manager. Additionally, the other half of our department, which moved off to another building a year and a half ago, has been reunited with us in our building (which is a different building from where we were when they left, but the point is that they’re back with us). So there are a whole bunch of different people in my work life, most of whom I knew before, but most of whom either weren’t really around or I didn’t interact with a lot.

And then there are some folks I didn’t really know before.

A couple weekends ago Debbi and I got together with one of these folks, Jacob, who’s a relatively new hire (earlier this year) on my new team, and his wife Lisa. We had breakfast together and then went to their house and played board games for the afternoon, which was fun. I told them about Subrata’s Wednesday night board gaming, which recently started up again, and this past Wednesday we met up to introduce them to the gaming crowd. It was a large night, so we split into two groups (I ended up getting crushed in my game, despite being the one who chose it). They played in the other group, had fun, and signed up for Subrata’s mailing list for gaming.

Then earlier this past week I went to lunch with the usual group at work, and another guy, Sean, tagged along. He’s in the group that moved to our building recently, and I know him a little because he’s interned with us in past years (he’s a full employee now). Well, it turns out that not only does he read comic books, but he also plays Magic. “How is it we don’t know each other better?” I asked him. “Probably because I’ve been in the other building for the last year and a half.” Well that makes sense. Anyway, I told him about our Monday night Magic game and it sounds like he might come on Monday. On the other hand, I might join him some Saturday for a Magic draft at the store he patronizes.

You’d think that working in a company full of geeks that I’d be surrounded by people I have lots of things in common with, but it mostly doesn’t seem to work out that way. My strongest interests are pretty specialized (and/or I make casual friends easily but find it difficult to make close friends, but that’s a different post), so this has been an unusual set of encounters.

[Read the whole thing]]]> Yesterday Debbi and I took a day off from work and had what Debbi called a “date day” – we drove out to a couple of spots in the Bay Area and had fun together. When Dad visited me last spring he and I went to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and I thought that would make a nice outing with Deb.

We started by driving down to the Original Pancake House in Cupertino, which has the advantage over the one we usually go to (in Los Altos) of having more seating, comfier seating, and a lot more parking. Though the parking didn’t come into play since the place was pretty quiet on, well, a Thursday morning.

Big Basin was much busier than when I went there with Dad (that’s the difference between April and August, I guess, even on a weekday). I think I’ve decided Big Basin is not quite as nice as Muir Woods (at last as far as the main scenic trail goes), but it’s still a fun little walk. Someday we might head back for one of the longer hikes.

After the park we drove down to Santa Cruz – eventually, since it turned out that Highway 9 was closed for the last few miles before Santa Cruz. The signage along the way didn’t (IMO) make it clear that it was actually completely closed – the mere presence of “detour” signs aren’t really persuasive since such signs are often put up long before and taken down long after the detour is relevant. At least the route was scenic before we had to turn around.

We did a little shopping in downtown Santa Cruz (always fun to drop in on Logos, not to mention the Pacific Cookie Company), and then headed down to the Beach Boardwalk where we walked along the beach, and out the wharf. It turned out that a landing along the wharf is currently hosting a group of sea lions, and you can get extremely close to them. I was standing about 4 feet above the lions when I took this shot:

After returning home we collapsed for a bit before heading downtown to have dinner and walk around Thursday Night Live. We don’t take many random days off, and as Debbi said it was nice to spend a day going around doing some fun things and not having any chores or errands to run. We’ll have to do it again sometime. But where to go?

[Read the whole thing]]]> I haven’t been much for updating lately, so this is actually last week’s comics. Time’s short, so I’ll just look at one book and send you on your way…

• Action Comics #891, by Paul Cornell, Pete Woods, Cafu, & Bit (DC)
• American Vampire #5, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King & Rafael Albuquerque (DC/Vertigo)
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #4 of 6, by Grant Morrison, George Jeanty & Walden Wong (DC)
• First Wave #3 of 6, by Brian Azzarello, Rags Morales, Rick Bryant & Bob Almond (DC)
• The Flash #4, by Geoff Johns & Francis Manapul (DC)
• Green Lantern #56, by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy (DC)
• Green Lantern Corps #50, by Tony Bedard, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes (DC)
• Justice League of America #47, by James Robinson, Mark Bagley & Rob Hunter (DC)
• Madame Xanadu #25, by Matt Wagner & Laurenn McCubbin (DC/Vertigo)
• Wonder Woman #601, by J. Michael Straczynski, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski (DC)
• Fantastic Four #581, by Jonathan Hickman, Neil Edwards & Paul Neary (Marvel)
• Incorruptible #8, by Mark Waid & Horacio Domingues (Boom)
• RASL #8, by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)
• Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor #4 of 5, by John Byrne (IDW)

J. Michael Straczynski’s first full issue of Wonder Woman is, well, not bad. It’s almost entirely retrospective, explaining how the Amazons’ island refuge was exposed when the goddess Aphrodite rescinded her blessing, and the island was invaded and conquered. Small groups of Amazons escaped, though Queen Hippolyta did not, and Diana was raised in the outside world, and charged with vengeance, but also with finding and rescuing her sisters from the people pursuing them (and her). She sets off in the second half to do just that, as a group are pinned down in Turkey. The most interesting development is that Straczynski is in fact setting this up as a “history has been changed” story, where Wonder Woman can no longer fly, and it’s implied that the leader of the men who destroyed the Amazons helped change history. Whether this will end up being a permanent change, or if things will return to normal but Diana will choose to retain her current outfit, remains to be seen. The issue unfortunately also features yet more of Straczynski’s quirks as a writer that annoy me. He’s set this up as a quest story (save the Amazons, save the world?), which doesn’t seem terribly imaginative. He also gives the oracle who relates the Amazon’s history to Diana some of her own annoying quirks, such as asking Diana if she’s “got any gum?” (a line he used in his best comics work to date, Midnight Nation, previously), and then self-consciously has the oracle observe that she’s tied to staying near a certain bridge, and that that’s a metaphor, an explanation which feels terribly forced. One must take the good with the bad, I suppose. Don Kramer’s art is pretty nifty, though: Polished and dynamic, helped considerably by Alex Sinclair’s colors in tone and texture. Overall, it’s an encouraging book, but not without its faults. But it’s a much better start than Straczynski’s first issue of Superman.

Some spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it:

The toys’ owner, Andy, is now 17

[Read the whole thing]]]> 11 years after the second film, Pixar gives us Toy Story 3. Although, as my Dad commented, the premise wears a little thin the third time around, it’s still quite a good film, thoughtful and clever, and also exciting and touching.

Some spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it:

The toys’ owner, Andy, is now 17 and about to head to college. Most of his toys have been given away or thrown out over the years, and he hasn’t played with the remainder in quite some time. Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) is trying to encourage everyone to deal with the eventuality of being stored in the attic, hopefully to someday be brought back to play with Andy’s own kids. But a series of mishaps result in the gang being donated to Sunnyvale Day Care. Encouraged by the warm welcome by the leader of the day care’s toys, Lots-o-Huggin Bear (Ned Beatty), the toys elect to remain, while Woody heads back to go to college with Andy.

But all is not well at the day care, as Lotso is a tyrant who puts the new toys in the preschoolers’ room, where they endure rough play from kids not old enough to appreciate them. Lotso and his people neutralize Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and imprison the others. Woody, meanwhile, gets lost and ends up in the home of a little girl, where he learns from her toys of the horrors of the day care, and resolves to rescue his friends and get back to Andy.

In hindsight it’s easy to see that the film’s writers had a starting point (“What happens to the toys when their owner grows up?”) and a happy ending point in mind for the film, but bridging the gap between the two is where the adventure comes in: What are some other fates that may befall the toys? We see plenty of possibilities along the way.

This film belongs almost entirely to Woody, even more than the first two: Woody is a little more mature than he was before, and he bears the weight of his collapsing world on his shoulders, but he’s still naive and not-too-bright, so although he always tries to do the right thing and “will never give up on you”, it can take him a while to see what the right thing really is. In a sense, the whole story is a mechanism to show Woody that there are better options for himself and his friends, and that although the road is hard, the journey is worthwhile.

It’s a much darker film than the first two, as from the outset it’s tinged with nostalgia and a sense of loss: If the first two films were about throwing our heroes out of their comfort zone, here their comfort zone is years behind them and they’re adrift, trying to grasp any sense of hope they can find. The story reaches its emotional bottom shortly before the big climax, and it’s as grim a scene as in any Pixar film I can recall, as the toys think they’ve reached the end of the line at a garbage dump. But when they get out of it, I laughed out loud at the audacity of it.

It’s an artfully-constructed film, with various details strewn around, Hitchcock-style, which are used later as plot devices. And for some of the supporting characters it’s a story of redemption – or lack thereof – as always revolving around the theme of sticking with your friends through good times a bad. Turning your back on your friends always leads to bad things. (On the one hand you’d think the toys wouldn’t have to keep learning this. On the other hand, it’s not like humans take these keep these lessons close to their hearts when faced with differences of opinion, either.) But for the toys who remember this lesson (sooner or later), it’s happy endings all around.

The ending is a true tear-jerker, but it should touch the heart of anyone who’s closed the book on a period of their life and looked back on it sadly.

The animation is, as always, stellar. They’ve especially got the movements of the humans down pat (I wonder how much of it is rotoscoped and how much is modeled from whole cloth).

Though not quite on the level of Up, it’s still a strong an satisfying film. Yes, it suffers a bit from being repetitive of the earlier films (the same lessons learned, the same get-back-to-Andy storyline), but the Pixar crew manage to make another interesting variation on the theme, and it’s all just so darned heartwarming that how can you really object to it?

“Hmm… that’s strange.”

There was a staple stuck in the tire, one prong jammed neatly into

[Read the whole thing]]]> My current schedule is to bike to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So Tuesday I went out to the bike to pump up my tires. I rotated the rear wheel to get the nozzle in the right place and…

“Hmm… that’s strange.”

There was a staple stuck in the tire, one prong jammed neatly into the tire. I pulled it out, and saw that the tire was flat. Was it flat before I pulled the staple out? I dunno, but even so I wasn’t going to bike to work with a staple in my tire and get a flat halfway in.

My thought process then went something like this:

1. I could change the tube myself, but I’m not very good at it. It’d probably take me about 20 minutes to change it.
2. Then I’d be getting into work pretty late (even by my lights), so I’d better drive.
3. If I drive, should I then change the tube myself tonight, or shall I be lazy and take the wheel to the shop and get it fixed?
4. I’m going to be lazy. Then I can have them check the tire to see if it’s still otherwise sound, too.
5. Of course, if I never change flats myself, then I’m never going to get any better at it.
6. Then again, I don’t really want to get so many flats that I get that much practice…

(I find changing the tube to be difficult mainly when trying to start getting the tire off, or finish putting it on; the tension is pretty strong, and I just don’t have the right technique or something, because I always stress my fingers at those points, and struggle with it until it finally pops out or pops back on. A pain in the ass, really.)

Two additional ironies: When I had my bike in to change a different flat a few weeks ago (due to the tire rupturing around the nozzle because I’d twisted the screw that holds the nozzle in place too far) he said my tires are pretty impenetrable. Apparently not completely impenetrable (maybe the staple just missed hitting the kevlar lining, or maybe biking on it drove it through). Second, we’d gone by the bike shop on Saturday to have the gears on Debbi’s bike adjusted; had I known about the staple then, I could have brought the wheel in at the same time.

Anyway, I took the wheel in after work on Tuesday and it was fixed in 15 minutes (so… maybe it would have taken me even longer to fix it myself?), and the wheel checked out. So I biked in again on Thursday and it help up like a champ. (And the wheel itself, which I had replaced last year with a beefier model because the spokes kept breaking, has done wonderfully this year, as well.)

bbum suggested that I get some slime-filled tubes for my bike. So I might try that. Although honestly I don’t get many flats these days, so it would just be an extra layer of insurance. But maybe.

Biking has otherwise been going well this year, aside from flat-tire mishaps and issues with getting ill or our late-season rains. I think I’ll easily eclipse my mileage from last year.

[Read the whole thing]]]> I’m happy because several of my friends at work have moved into my building, after having been working in another building for the last year and a half. Before they moved they were my regular lunch and coffee buds, so I’m very happy to have them back (even though I’ve recruited other folks in the meantime – this does mean we’re going to have large lunch outings!).

But I’m sad because one of those friends is leaving Apple next week, to head back to grad school.

But then I’m amused that another friend, who had a day off today, decided to get out of the house and ended up at the same beach that Debbi and I went to when we went to Half Moon Bay on Saturday: Cowell Ranch State Beach. What a coincidence! It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area and want a nice secluded beach. While walking from the parking area, look for the blue whale gate:

He mentions me as one of the journallers he read who inspired him to start writing back in the day.

[Read the whole thing]]]> My friend J.D. Roth on his life as a blogger. J.D. is one of the true blogging success stories – he’s made his living off his blog Get Rich Slowly for several years now.

He mentions me as one of the journallers he read who inspired him to start writing back in the day. In turn, his link inspired me to get my old archives back on-line this past weekend. I wonder how long it’ll take for Google to index them anew?

Seriously, anyone not picking up Casanova and Scarlet this week doesn’t want good comics.

Neither of these books had really been on my radar, but since I’ve developed a great deal of respect for Brubaker’s writing over the past year, his recommendation was enough to make me give them a

[Read the whole thing]]]> On Wednesday, comics writer Ed Brubaker tweeted:

Seriously, anyone not picking up Casanova and Scarlet this week doesn’t want good comics.

Neither of these books had really been on my radar, but since I’ve developed a great deal of respect for Brubaker’s writing over the past year, his recommendation was enough to make me give them a try. So what did I think? Read on…

• Batman and Robin #13, by Grant Morrison & Frazer Irving (DC)
• Brightest Day #5, by Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, Ivan Reis, Ardian J. Syaf, Joe Prada & Vicente Cifuentes (DC)
• Secret Six #23, by John Ostrander, R.B. Silva & Alexandre Palamaro (DC)
• Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #2 of 6, by Peter Hogan, Chris Sprouse & Karl Story (DC/Wildstorm)
• Casanova #1, by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Bá & Fábio Moon (Marvel/Icon)
• Fantastic Four Annual #32, by Joe Ahearne, Bryan Hitch & Andrew Currie (Marvel)
• Hercules: Twilight of a God #2 of 4, by Bob Layton & Ron Lim (Marvel)
• Scarlet #1, by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev (Marvel/Icon)
• Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1, by Ed Brubaker & Dale Eaglesham (Marvel)
• Irredeemable #15, by Mark Waid & Diego Barreto (Boom)
• The Boys #44, by Garth Ennis & Russ Braun (Dynamite)
• Hellboy: The Storm #1 of 3, by Mike Mignola & Duncan Fegredo (Dark Horse)

	The main thing I have to say about this week’s Batman and Robin is: Yaaaggggh! I can’t stand Frazer Irving’s artwork here! I like it even less here than in his issue of The Return of Bruce Wayne. The fake-looking expressions, the stiff coloring job (apparently also by Irving), the images of Dick Grayson and The Joker that barely look like them (how can you draw a Joker that barely looks like The Joker? Irving somehow manages it), the barely-rendered background. Greg Burgas loves his art, but then, this is far from the first time that I’ve been at the opposite end from him. Like Francis Manapul’s art on The Flash, Irving’s art may soon be a signal to me not to buy a comic. The story’s okay; Morrison brings back Professor Pyg from the first story, which suggests that he’s going to wrap up Dick’s tenure as Batman very soon. He also throws in a teaser about Bruce’s father coming back, having not really been killed, which is nearly impossible to credit, as the guy would have to be around 80 by now (not to mention that it would substantially undercut Batman’s backstory), so obviously there’s something else going on.
	Casanova ran as a comic from Image a few years ago, and it seems this series is a reprint of the earlier issues. The premise – as best I can figure it out – is that Casanova Quinn is the son of Cornelius Quinn, the Nick Fury-esque leader of the global spy agency E.M.P.I.R.E. Casanova’s sister, Zephyr, is E.M.P.I.R.E.’s top agent. Casanova, meanwhile, is a thief. The story opens with him on a mission, when Cornelius’ right-hand man, Buck McShane (who resembles Fury’s right-hand man Dum Dum Dugan), shows up to take Casanova down. The reason is that Zephyr has died. This leas to a confrontation between Casanova and his father, followed by an adventure in which Casanova takes down a crime lord in a mental duel, then gets recruited by Newman Zeno, the leader of the global crime organization W.A.S.T.E., ends up in a parallel timeline, and tries to pull off his original heist again. The story reads a lot like another series Gabriel Bá drew, The Umbrella Academy. It’s the sort of story I file under “madcap nonsensical adventure”. More precisely, the story seems to revel in its being just too darned clever, but doesn’t pay a whole lot of attention to actually making sense. Like Academy, Casanova starts off being intriguing and amusing, but Academy rather quickly devolved into a muddled mess, its storylines pointless and its characters uninteresting (and certainly not sympathetic). So the question is: Will Casanova manage to pull together, gain some focus, and work through some themes and characterizations in depth? Or will it, too, become a muddled mess? That it ostensibly emphasizes a single protagonist gives me hope that it will be the former. But the execution of the first issue makes me worry it will be the latter, and that I’ll stop caring pretty soon.
	Brian Michael Bendis’ mainstream comics writing drives me almost as crazy as does J. Michael Straczynski’s. Bendis’ Marvel work, especially his Avengers titles, are little more than a massive dose of navel-gazing continuity clutter, and his affectations in writing dialogue – emphasizing uncertainty and starts and stops while speaking – feel especially out-of-place in Marvel comics, especially titles like The Avengers. On the other hand, Bendis does have one genuine great series to his name, Powers, which is creator-owned, like his new title, Scarlet. The premise appears to be that the the main character sees the problems and corruption in society and decides to do something about it, sparking a revolution. This issue begins with her and her friends – as young adults – having an unfortunate encounter with a corrupt cop, and the cop kills her boyfriend and injures her. So that’s the spark that sets her off, and from the text page it sounds like the story will get bigger and bigger as it progresses. Scarlet isn’t some superpowered maniac, she’s just a normel person (albeit with some ridiculously big firearms). The first issue is a little annoying in that Scarlet spends most of it talking directly to the reader, and saying we’re going to help her change everything, an affectation that just seems cheesy – a simple first-person testimonial-style narrative would have worked better. But Bendis’ narratives are often full of affectations, so that just comes with the territory I guess. Otherwise the set-up isn’t bad. I’m not particularly blown away, and Scarlet isn’t a very interesting character, yet, but there’s some potential here. Unlike Casanova, which is all over the place, Scarlet stays in one place but doesn’t get very far. But hopefully that will change after another 2 or 3 issues. Alex Maleev’s art reminds me a lot of Tony Harris’, with its ultra-realistic poses and breakdowns, but stylized linework and finishes. The murky coloring job (also by Maleev?) doesn’t bring out the best in the lines, though, rather burying them under fairly bland tones. His figures and expressions are actually less peculiar than Harris’ tend to be (Harris’ faces sometimes feature some rather silly grimaces, while Maleev’s faces look much more genuine), it’s just disappointing that the whole doesn’t live up to the promise of its component parts. So there’s certainly some potential here. I’m hoping Bendis isn’t going to drag out the build-up of the storyline across a year or two, and rather goes for the jugular sooner rather than later. I’m not sure the book will hold my attention if it stays at this level for more than a few issues, unless the characters develop suddenly and dramatically (and, uh, unless we end up with more than one major character). I’ll give it a few issues and see how it shapes up.
	Ironically, Ed Brubaker’s comic out this week is better than either of the ones he touted in his tweet. It’s starting to amaze me how much Brubaker is able to plumb the depths of Captain America’s past, yet not seem like he’s going to the well too often. Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier has a stupid title, but the story itself is quite good. Steve Rogers, of course, was the original Captain America, but when he returned from death (or wherever it was he was, I haven’t read Captain America Reborn yet) he let Bucky Barnes keep the title (and the shield). Now Steve’s the leader of the Avengers and “America’s top law-enforcement agent”, which I guess means he’s on a par with the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. without all the paperwork. Of course, we can’t blame Brubaker for the convoluted backstory (well, mostly not), but you can boil it down to “superhuman government agent who’s just not Captain America anymore”. But the source of this story is that the grandson of the man who gave Steve his powers has apparently replicated the formula and is putting it on the market to the highest bidder, and Steve breaks into the hotel where the auction is supposed to take place to stop it. But not only have things already started to get out of control, but it turns out something rather different is going on – something Steve will have to figure out in the coming issues. It’s a pretty good set-up, and fits in perfectly with Brubaker’s other Cap stories. I keep thinking Dale Eaglesham’s art ought to be better than it is. His linework varies from nuanced (especially in his use of shadows) to strangely simplistic. His compositions are fine, but occasionally his figures seem stiff and overly posed. This was my impression when I first saw his work in Justice Society of America 3 years ago, but oddly I don’t think he’s advanced a lot on that time. His work here seems influenced by Jim Steranko, which is a good thing (and probably not a coincidence), but it’s still not entirely successful. The worst part of the comic, though, is that awful costume Steve’s been saddled with. It’s like Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. outfit fought Captain America’s costume, and both lost. But I can get past that.
	Being the fill-in artist for Darick Robertson is going to be a tough job for almost anyone, but the guys who have filled those shoes on The Boys haven’t really come close to reaching Robertson’s skills. To my surprise, though, not only for Russ Braun do a creditable job this week, but his style is so close to Robertson’s own that it’s hard to tell the difference, at least at first glance. Braun’s style is a little “shinier” than Robertson’s, and his characters are a bit more idealized, not having that Shawn McManus-esque quirkiness to their figures, but otherwise it’s really close. Quite a pleasant surprise. The story is kicking into a higher gear, as Butcher is having trouble trusting Wee Hughie, Hughie is still reeling from his encounter with Malchemical last issue, and Hughie’s girlfriend is about to drop the bomb on him. It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like all of Ennis’ set-up is going to start paying off.

[Read the whole thing]]]> We had a pretty lively weekend. Saturday we went over to our friends Chad & Camille’s place for their twin kids’ one-year birthday party. As I’ve been saying, one-year birthday parties are more for the parents than for the kids, though the kids seemed to enjoy it anyway. We knew everyone there (other than C&C’s nanny and her fiancé), and saw a few folks we hadn’t in a while.

We had another hot weekend – not a scorcher, but still warm – and C&C invited us back on Sunday to avail ourselves of their pool, which we were happy to take them up on. So we spent the afternoon there, and I got to entertain the kids some more. Kids love me. I like them as long as I can hand them back to their parents when I run out of steam with them.

Sunday evening we biked into Shoreline Park for the annual Independence Day fireworks, which is always fun. Dealing with the idiots on the paths and streets on the way out of the park isn’t so much fun, but this year they had people directing traffic at the main intersection on our way out, which made it easier. And we had our first-class location on the grass as usual, too.

Monday we both had off from work, and we had a fairly quiet day mostly at home, with a few excursions for lunch and coffee. We also picked up the fixings so I could make mocha chip ice cream, which I did. This batch turned out especially good, too! And the heat broke (which I’m sure all of you sweltering on the east coast are envious of), which made the day even nicer.

But I had a terrible time sleeping last night, and woke up not only groggy but also with a sore throat, so I decided it was prudent to stay home from work. I dozed some in the morning (Newton and Blackjack snoozed with me), had some lunch, and spent the afternoon on the couch finishing a book and re-watching chunks of the films of The Lord of the Rings.

Hopefully I will be all better tomorrow. There have been some nasty illnesses going around at work and I’m hoping I haven’t caught one of them. Though each person seems to have something different, so it’s probably my own special thing.

[Read the whole thing]]]> In addition to the usual roundup, note that the second of Fantagraphics’ hardcover collections of Prince Valiant came out this week. These are really lovely collections, a big upgrade on their softcover collections of the 90s, and well worth it for anyone who’s a fan of Hal Foster’s lovely artwork.

• Action Comics #890, by Paul Cornell & Pete Woods (DC)
• Batman Beyond #1 of 6, by Adam Beechen, Ryan Benjamin & John Stanisci (DC)
• The Flash #3, by Geoff Johns & Francis Manapul (DC)
• Green Lantern #55, by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy (DC)
• Justice League of America #46, by James Robinson, Mark Bagley, Rob Hunter & Norm Rapmund (DC)
• Justice Society of America #40, by Bill Willingham, Jesus Merino & Jesse Delperdang (DC)
• Madame Xanadu #24, by Matt Wagner & Marley Zarcone (DC/Vertigo)
• Wonder Woman #600, by Gail Simone, George Pérez & Scott Koblish, Amanda Conner, Louise Simonson, Eduardo Pansica & Bob Wiacek, Geoff Johns & Scott Kolins, and J. Michael Straczynski, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski (DC)
• Astonishing X-Men #34, by Warren Ellis, Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning (Marvel)
• Captain America #607, by Ed Brubaker, Mitch Breitweiser & Jackson Guice (Marvel)
• Prince Valiant vol 2 1939-1940 HC, by Hal Foster (Fantagraphics)
• Invincible #73, by Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley & Cliff Rathburn (Image)
• Ghost Projekt #3 of 5, by Joe Harris & Steve Rolston (Oni)
• Atomic Robo and the Curse of the Vampire Dimension #4 of 4, by Brian Clevinger & Scott Wegener (Red 5)

	Paul Cornell’s had an interesting career: Doctor Who episodes, science fiction novels, and now comic books, following up on his Captain Britain and MI-13 series for Marvel (which I haven’t read) with the beginning of a run on Action Comics. With J. Michael Straczynski monopolizing Superman in his own title, though, Cornell is focusing on Lex Luthor here in Action. Writing a story starring a bad guy can be hard, and Lex is about as bad as they come: He’s evolved from a brilliant, hateful, and emotional villain to a brilliant, hateful, code-and-calculating villain, who keeps his emotions bottled up, making his crimes (and moral lapses) all the more creepy. Cornell pulls off all this creepiness quite well, and even has a tricky little subplot involving Lois Lane witnessing Lex’s crimes. Lex’s motivation here is that he tasted the power of a power ring (the orange ring in Blackest Night) and he’s trying to figure out a way to get it back by researching the power of the vanished black rings. Lex always has ambitions a little higher and darker than anyone else in the DC universe. If there’s a downside to this issue it’s the reveal on the last page, which feels like an awkward shift into a different storyline than where the issue started. But Cornell might just be taking the story in a different direction than it first appeared. But overall his first issue is pretty nifty, so I’m looking forward to see where Cornell’s going with it. Oh, and Pete Woods’ art is terrific. Similar to that of Gary Frank back before Frank went ulta-realistic (and mostly stopped drawing backgrounds) with a hint of Tony Harris, he has a strong design and composition sense and clean linework. I’m not sure if I’ve seen his stuff before, but I like it a lot.
	For some reason DC has decided to revive the Batman Beyond franchise, which was primarily an animated series, and one which ended nearly ten years ago. Is the trademark about to expire or something? Well, after a Superman/Batman annual featuring the character a few weeks ago (written by Paul Levitz, it was pretty routine stuff), now there’s a 6-issue mini-series written by Adam Beechen (whose work I really only know from his – pretty good – Countdown to Adventure series a few years ago) and drawn by Ryan Benjamin and John Stanisci (neither of whom I’m familiar with). The story is a straight follow-up to the cartoon series, with characters such as Amanda Waller filling roles different from those in comic books. The story involves someone escaping from a high-tech laboratory and apparently killing the original Batman’s enemies. His successor, Terry McGinnis, tries to head him off, when he and Bruce Wayne find out what’s happening, and the issue ends with the revelation of the villain’s identity, indicating that a comic book villain is moving into the animated world. It works pretty well as a first issue, and is certainly enough that I’ll pick up the rest of the series. Seeing the animated characters drawn in a more realistic, comic book-like style is kind of weird; sometimes Benjamin manages to pull off the expressions that really make the characters who they are on the small screen, but other times they seem like someone else, actors playing the characters. It’s not entirely successful; look at the cover, for example, where McGinnis’ Batman has more muscle and definition than he ever had in the cartoon. I’m not sure what aesthetic they’re really going for here. It’s a good-looking book, but there’s a certain cognitive dissonance to it that makes it difficult for me to fully buy into it being a sequel to the cartoon.
	Wonder Woman #600 is another anthology issue with pin-ups, like Superman #700 was last week, which makes it feel rather less special as an anniversary issue. Unsurprisingly the best story in it is the one written by Gail Simone and drawn by the always-amazing George Pérez, even though the premise is yet another “let’s come up with a silly excuse for having every female superhero embark on an adventure together, without any of the men”. What really sells it, though, is that afterwards Diana heads out for the graduation of one of the supporting characters of her series when she was re-imagined by Pérez 20 years ago. Given that this issue is also re-imagining the character in a later story, this is a fine and touching coda to Wonder Woman’s current incarnation. (Pérez also draws a fantastic two-page poster with characters from throughout this run, almost worth the price of admission all by itself.) Amanda Conner writers and draws a short piece with Wonder Woman and Power Girl, which feels a little under-rendered for her usual work, and which is a cute little personal piece about PG’s home life. Louise Simonson writes a third story guest-starring Superman which is a straight adventure story (the art is by Eduardo Pansica whom I’m not familiar with, but it looks pretty nice; inker Bob Wiacek looks like he had a strong influence on it, though). Then Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins write the lead-in to J. Michael Straczynski’s re-imagining, in which the character is apparently broken down and reappears in her new guise, with a new backstory. The story is a fairly light lead-in to Straczynski’s run on the character, but is much better than his rather awful debut on Superman last week: Wonder Woman is now apparently a refugee from Paradise Island, along with the surviving Amazons, and it’s not clear who killed most of the Amazons or why, but apparently he’s still hunting her. The problem with the story is not that it’s bad, but that it doesn’t feel like Wonder Woman. It made sense when Tangent Comics turned characters completely on their head, but this Wonder Woman has so little connection to her past incarnations that I wonder why they even bothered. I like the theory at The Beat that “a lot of this seems to be a reboot aimed at getting a Wonder Woman movie closer to being made – actresses didn’t seem so thrilled about running around in a glorified swimsuit”. Which brings us to the new costume, which has engendered plenty of controversy. I don’t think it’s awful, although going from one largely-nonfunctional costume to another one seems rather silly (those tiny little jackets look pretty silly whenever I see anyone wearing one, and I’ve got to think that that V-shaped belt is going to hurt whenever she bends over). The costume is really just a visual indication of what I said about Straczynski’s comics writing last week: He goes so far out trying to do something new with the character that he loses (or shows that he never understood) what defined that character in the first place. To be sure, where Wonder Woman is concerned the definition has always been a little sketchy (considering her the third leg of DC’s top “trinity” of characters has always seemed rather silly, since she’s nowhere near as iconic as Superman or Batman; her powers are essentially that of a female Superman, and her character has been pulled in so many directions that it’s difficult to define who she is or what she stands for), but whatever she is, I don’t think this is it. Still, the story seems decent enough, which could make it a good read where Straczynski’s Superman looks like a disaster out of the gate. And while Don Kramer is no George Pérez in the art department, well, who is? So color my guardedly optimistic.
	This month’s Invincible is an interesting one for readers like me who appreciate unorthodox story structures: The main characters are entirely off-stage while the primary storyline (the war against the Viltrumites, the conquering race of supermen that Invincible’s father hails from) goes on. But the story itself – told in a series of vignettes – focuses mainly on Invincible’s father Omni-Man and his brother Oliver, who get to know each other while Invincible recovers from near-fatal injuries. Meanwhile, their allies think they’ve been killed, and the war begins without them. We see glimpses of how the war is going (sometimes well, sometimes poorly), but the focus is on the two men. It’s effective without being cloying, has Robert Kirkman’s trademark (and slightly twisted and grotesque) sense of humor, and feels like a calm before the storm without feeling like a wasted issue. All-in-all it shows what a versatile writer Kirkman is. It seems like every issue of Invincible is a little journey off the beaten path of standard superhero comics. That’s probably what makes it such a good series. (By the way, here’s something neat: Ryan Ottley’s cover for the issue in pencils, pencils and inks, and in final colored form.)

[Read the whole thing]]]> This morning I had a doctor’s appointment at 9:15 at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Since it usually takes me 15 minutes, tops, to drive to the main clinic from home, I left myself half an hour. This turned out to be not nearly enough time, as I hit pretty much every single light, encountered several stupid and/or slow drivers, got stuck at a light as a train went by, and got stuck at a backup going past the high school (taking the route the clinic’s map suggested I take – I shoulda stuck with my original plan). I got there a couple of minutes late. Fortunately, it didn’t make a different.

This was in fact a follow-up appointment to last year’s world’s shortest doctor’s visit to see a dermatologist. Happily, the mole she wanted to keep an eye on has not gotten any larger in the last year. I also asked her again what term she used for the large bump on my upper chest, which hurts a bit when I mash it (e.g., when scrubbing in the shower), and she said it’s either a large mole, or it’s a neurofibroma. She said she could cut it off, but that there’s no reason to unless it’s really bothering me. Which it isn’t, really – at least not to the point that I want to cut things off. I have another one on my lower back, although that one never hurts, so maybe it’s a mole. I dunno.

Anyway, the appointment took less than 15 minutes. She suggested I come in in another 2 or 3 years, so they’ll send me a reminder. Easy enough.

I always enjoy telling the staffers at PAMF that I used to work on the office software they use (when I worked for Epic Systems). I also enjoy looking at the screens when they’re typing to see how much has changed in the look-and-feel of the software since I worked there (in the 1990s); it always looks pretty much the same to me, although the staffer today said that they find it a little frustrating that the workflows change with each major release. Epic was a very firm Microsoft shop when I was there, and I wonder if they’ve been getting pressure to provide tools for iPhones and iPads.

The physical set-up of the terminal in the office I was in was pretty interesting; probably a bit of a pain to put together, but I bet it’s very functional for the staffers who have to type at it:

[Read the whole thing]]]> While, like any other working stiff, I can’t say I look forward to the beginning of the work-week with great relish, I realized today that there are things I like about Mondays when I get up in the morning:

1. At the end of the weekend I’ve usually caught up on my sleep so I’m not dragging when I wake up.
2. Coffee! I try to limit my caffeine intake somewhat, so I typically only make morning coffee on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. So Mondays I have coffee!
3. Monday is the day for the new column by Mark Rosewater, my favorite columnist at Daily MTG.
4. Similarly, Monday is Magic night with my friends!

Tuesday is a bit rougher, since not only have I been up later than usual Monday night playing Magic, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are my bike-to-work days. I like biking, but I can’t say I really look forward to it. Maybe the bike problems I’ve had the last couple of years have dampened my enthusiasm. (On the other hand, I’ve gone about 200 miles on my new, beefier rear wheel without any problems, so maybe they’re finally behind me!)

I will say that the first issue of Power Girl under the new creative team is about as good as the previous team, although I’m not fond of the coloring approach. The new Dynamo 5 series fits

[Read the whole thing]]]> A big week this time around, but I don’t have much time to write, so it’ll be short.

I will say that the first issue of Power Girl under the new creative team is about as good as the previous team, although I’m not fond of the coloring approach. The new Dynamo 5 series fits right in with the previous series, and is a good jumping-on point if you’d like to read about a group of heroes who each inherited a different power from their Superman-like father. Oh, and a new Girl Genius volume, which is always enjoyable, even if you’ve been reading the webcomic (as I have).

• American Vampire #4, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King & Rafael Albuquerque (DC)
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #3 of 6, by Grant Morrison, Yanick Paquette & Michel Lacombe (DC)
• Green Lantern Corps #49, by Tony Bedard, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes (DC)
• Legion of Super-Heroes #2, by Paul Levitz, Yildiray Cinar, Francis Portela & Wayne Faucher (DC)
• Power Girl #13, by Judd Winick & Sami Basri (DC)
• Superman #700, by James Robinson & Bernard Chang, Dan Jurgens, and J. Michael Straczynski, Eddy Barrows & J.P. Mayer (DC)
• Zatanna #2, by Paul Dini, Stephane Roux & Karl Story (DC)
• Fantastic Four #580, by Jonathan Hickman, Neil Edwards & Andrew Currie (Marvel)
• Criminal: The Sinners vol 5 TPB, by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips (Marvel/Icon)
• Powers #5, by Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming (Marvel/Icon)
• Girl Genius: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm vol 9 HC, by Phil Foglio & Kaja Foglio (Airship)
• Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard #2 of 4, by David Petersen, Alex Kain, Terry Moore, Lowell Francis & Gene Ha (Archaia)
• Incorruptible #7, by Mark Waid, Horacio Domingues & Juan Castro (Boom)
• Dynamo 5: Sins of the Father #1 of 5, by Jay Faerber & Júlio Brilha (Image)

Wow, I can’t remember the last time a comic destroyed my enthusiasm for a new creator’s run as has Superman #700. To be sure, this “anniversary” issue contains three stories, and the first two are okay. The first one seems to be the coda to James Robinson’s run on the book, which featured the Kryptonian city of Kandor, Superman leaving Earth to live with the Kryptonians when they settled on another world, and a war among the Kryptonians. I didn’t follow the story, and the notion of Superman leaving Earth like that made little sense to me. The story here features him returning and being reunited with Lois Lane (his wife, as you may recall), and it’s touching enough even though Supes’ reasons for leaving don’t really hold water. The second story is a cute little Dan Jurgens tale of years past, when Dick Grayson was a teenaged Robin and wasn’t yet allowed to go out on missions by himself. He does, of course, and Superman has to bail him out – in more ways than one. I like tales like this one, done well, as this one is. The third story is new writer J. Michael Straczynski’s first chapter of his ongoing Superman story, and Straczynski is pretty much being handed the keys to the kingdom: Superman will appear in Superman only, and Action Comics will focus on Lex Luthor. Considering the Man of Steel has commonly appeared in 2, 3, 4 or even more titles monthly for the last 20 years, this is a big deal. Unfortunately, Straczynski’s comics writing has been pretty shaky (his run on Thor over at Marvel was terrible, and he never completed one of his better comics of recent years, The Twelve, also at Marvel), and this first chapter is pretty bad: Superman holds a press conference regarding his involvement with the Kryptonians, is confronted by a woman whose husband died because Superman was off on another world and had no chance to save him (even if he could), and is apparently wracked with guilt over his actions. After talking with Batman and The Flash, Superman lands… and walks away. And yes, the title of the storyline is going to be “Grounded”. And boy, what a stupid, stupid idea. Many writers have tried to tackle the notion of Superman not being able to help everyone, not even being able to even try. 20 years ago, there was a great story when Superman was off-world (that’s right, this isn’t even the first time this has happened) about the Justice League going through all his Christmas mail at his mailbox, a touching story of holiday cheer yet also reminding us that Superman is still a man. And of course Kurt Busiek’s character Samaritan in Astro City is a Superman character who tries to help everyone, at the cost of living his own life. But the set-up for this story is contrived, and doesn’t resonate emotionally at all. Presumably Superman is “grounding” himself to gain a human perspective on the world, but come on, that’s just not something I can believe he’d do. Superman has bouts of shaken confidence, but he’s always had a strong sense of self, and comfort with his powers. This just doesn’t ring true. I appreciate that Straczynski tries to explore aspects of characters in ways that haven’t been done before, but as far as established characters go, he seems to consistently misunderstand what it is what embodied and drives that character. When working with his own creations he actually does this quite well, but when playing in someone else’s sandbox, he comes up with unusually contrived set-ups and changes the character’s essence in some unbelievable way. So this already looks like another disastrous superhero comic by Straczynski. He’s got about two issues to convince me that it’s something other than what it seems, or I’m out of here. And his track record in convincing me otherwise is not good.