Tuesday ; 18 July 2006
Two down, three left.

Today was a quiet day in Monkeyville the office.

Post-work was similarly quiet.

Both of those, added together, make for a good day.

Four-Color Coverage
This weekend, I picked up my shwag.  On the whole, it was a little disappointing, but there were a few highlights:

  • Brave New World #1 – DC is introducing a couple of new titles by way of this $1.00 (USD), 80 page offering.  Of the six stories that it presented, my curiosity was really only piqued by The Trials of Shazam, a kind of reboot for DC’s Captain Marvel (PDF file).  Oh, and what was up with the return of [SPOILER DELETED]?!  I thought that we’d seen that last of him/them/whatever years ago.  *sigh*
  • Teen Titans #37 – There was good interplay between the Titans (who don’t necessarily seem to like each other), Doom Patrol (who like/love each other… but seem to dislike everyone else) and the Brotherhood of Evil (they just hate everyone).  There was an interesting twist in the origin of one of the Brotherhood villains that I didn’t expect… but in retrospect, it just “fits.”  And the last three pages?  Didn’t exactly see that coming either.
  • Supergirl #7 – I’m not sure.  This seems to be losing some of its direction.  And steam.  Hopefully Issue #8 won’t feel like it’s floundering in shallow water.  Although, I will credit them with a surprise on the last page.
  • Green Lantern Corps #2 – Another disappointment.  That’s sad because this issue had a story with good potential… but it never transformed into something kinetic.  We’ll have to see about this title.
  • Green Lantern #12 – Geoff Johns.  *nod*  His writing is in good form.  A nice recap of who Hank Henshaw, the “cyborg Superman” is, why he hates Hal (and Superman, for that matter) and just about everyone else.  And… why not throw in (more than) a few disgruntled GLs who have a BIG mad on for Hal – he kind of tried to kill them or leave them for dead a few years back (They held a grudge.  Gee, imagine that.).  Shake well.  Serve chilled.
  • Fantastic Four #538 and Ultimate Fantastic Four #31 –  Both of these were good reads.  Solid stories, well told.  FF #538 was a “Civil War” tie-in issue… which I have mostly tried to avoid.  This was good, though.  It showed the frustration of a family on opposite sides of the registration issue and how each member’s responses affect the others.  UFF #31 continued the story of the zombie FF and their attempt to take over the world.  No, that’s not quite right.  “Infect the world and eat lots of tasty brains!”  Yeah, that’s more like it.  And it proved that Reed Richards, no matter what Earth he’s from – or the fact that he’s a zombie – is far from stupid.
  • OMAC #1 (of 8) – Good concept.  Lots of potential.  Just wasn’t there for me.  I might check out the trade paperback, if they collect the issues, but I don’t think that this will be a monthly pick.
  • Firestorm #27  – I’m a long-time Firestorm fan… but this is not your father’s Firestorm.  And that’s not a bad thing.  And who’s… that… other… Firestorm?  This was more of a between story arc filler, but there were enough dangling threads left to make it interesting.
  • Action Comics #840 – This was the end of the “Up, Up and Away” storyline that detailed Superman’s return after a year-long absence.  And the issue started off with a fist fight with Lex Luthor.  What?  What’s that you say?  That’s not a fair fight?  You’re right, it wasn’t – Superman had just been exposed to a large amount of Kryptonite… and was effectively powerless… but was still soldiering on.  The human angle helped make this issue good, as well.  From the Daily Planet newsroom to the construction workers in a battle-damaged part of town to the “Strict policy, sorry.  No signing body parts,” the actions, reactions and interactions of the citizens of Metropolis to the Man of Steel were great takes on what I can only assume would pass for day-to-day life in the DCU.
  • Superman #654 – This issue took a look at “a day in the life” of Clark Kent: Husband, reporter… and hero.  And, not just “any” day, but an anniversary, of sorts, for the Kents.  You might think “Oh, he’s Superman.  That should be a piece of cake,” but this particular day just wouldn’t relent.  One thing after another.  Or, in the words of the esteemed Mr. Kent:

    Mondays.

    You try and you try to get things to go smoothly, but somehow, Mondays always manage to smack you in the face.  No getting around it — it’s just the way that they are. 

    This particular Monday, though —

    It’s sort of an anniversary, for Lois and me, an important day for us.  We try do to something special every year to mark it.  This year, I wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed.

    But… Mondays.

    How many Mondays – how many “not-Mondays,” for that matter – have you had like that? Who hasn’t had “one of those days?”  Twenty-two pages later, though, just when you think that Tuesday can’t arrive quickly enough, there’s that one ray of light that makes it all worthwhile.  Kurt Busiek has taken a commonplace occurrence and/or feeling, placed a little bit of the fantastic into it, yet made it so that everyone – anyone – could relate to it.

  • 52: Weeks Nine and Ten – One hero born… while another hero’s heart breaks.  One woman learning what it means to be human and to trust… learning these lessons from a man with no face.  A reporter whose lost his edge and maybe his job… as a new hero arrives on the scene, much to the chagrin of another hero who’s trying to make a name – a bigger name – for himself.

    Ten weeks in and I can admit that I seem to have been wrong about this series.  It has chops.  The writing is, for the most part, good.  Yes, there were a few choppy parts, but it’s nice to be behind the scenes and fill in some of the gaps between Infinite Crisis and “One Year Later.”  And there are still forty-two weeks to go.  Hopefully, the staff will be able to maintain this momentum.

  • Uncanny X-Men #475 – Wow.  Ed Brubaker has done something with the X-Men that hasn’t been done in this title (Joss Whedon has done just fine in Astonishing X-Men, though) since Grant Morrison’s run: He’s turned it into something that makes you want to turn the pages.  You want to see what’s going to happen next.  And, guess what… It’s not always something that you’d expect to see, either.  Nor is it the same old X-Men lineup that has been around since Moses’ time.  Brubaker draws from a number of sources to bring readers a group that is different from “the norm” and who have different motivations for what they think, say and do.  This was not only a fine read, it was fun to read.

Stray Toasters

  • I must be coming down with something.  Why?  Because I logged out of City of Heroes early.  12:30 AM.  I think that it was mostly because the team that I was invited to join started off… poorly.  Very poorly.  As in, “We died in the first few minutes” poorly.  After a quick trip to the hospital and the welcome addition of five more players to the team, we finished the mission in fairly short order.  But, I think that by that time, the damage had been done –  I wasn’t enjoying the game as much I as usually do.  Oh well, another night…
  • How many songs reference Kathmandu?  I can only think of Going to Kathmandu and a line from A Passage to Bangkok.
  • “Don’t you know who I am…?!
  • Intrepid should be CoX-ready in the next day or two.
  • Dwayne McDuffie Takes Control of the game with Justice League Heroes
  • Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes
  • I like this cover
  • I saw the following picture while at Fazoli’s for lunch.
    I’m pretty sure that I know what they intended , but my translation was:  Almost the entire menu is free of trans-fats… but we’re not telling you which ones.  Try to stay calm in light of this new information.  Oh, and pick the trans fat-free version.  Good luck!”
  • TBMs.

And with that…

Namaste.