Bored.

Robert Kirkman (Invinicble, The Walking Dead) is doing a Marvel Team-Up book with Scot Kolins (The Flash, Avengers). That should be cool, because it's not just going to be "Spider-Man and..." It should be outragous team-ups that make no sense like Silver Surfer and Wolverine or Daredevil and Thor. Or Black Widow and Black Panther (that would actually be kinda cool).

Here's what the cover art is:



Should be cool.

Damn. Usually when I look at my pile of comics for the week, there are one or two fantastic ones. About half of the rest are great to good, and the other okay (I'm in the process of dropping these "okay" books).

Amazing Spider-Man #510 by J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato, Jr. The second part of the first story in what I consider to be Straczynski's second "season" on the title (or maybe third). Great freakin' stuff.

Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. Featuring one of the coolest fights in recent memory and one hell of cliffhanger.

Avengers #500 by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch. Kicking off the Avengers Disassembled event in which three of the team's members die, and two other start to go crazy.

Planetary #20 by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. After a long wait, we finally see what happened to Jacob Greene on the spaceship so long ago.

Powers #2 by Brian Michael Bendis. Featuring the return of Retro Girl and Calista. Oh yeah, and Deena continues to kick even more ass than usual.

And the other stuff from yesterday was good too. I haven't read all of it, but I don't expect to be let down by any of it. I can't remember a week where so many books have been this good.

Thought I'd share.

And it goes a little something like this. I've been listening to alot of Jurassic 5 this week. More than normal. It's strange. Here's comics for this week: Amazing Spider-Man #510, because it's J. Michael Straczynski; Army of Darkness: Ashes to Ashes #1 (of 4), which should be fun; Astonishing X-Men #3, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday tear it up; Avengers #500, Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch keep stealing my money; Batgirl #54, which is always good; Batman #630, Judd Winick's last issue until November; A Cal McDonald Mystery: Last Train to Deadsville #3 (of 4), a Steve Niles mini-series; Catwoman #33, always excellent; Conan #6, always good; Excalibur #3, which I'm dropping at issue #4; Fantastic Four #516, the conclusion of a story-arc; Green Lantern #179, which is almost over; JLA #102, which is surprisingly good; Kinetic #5, which is also surprisingly good; Marvel Knights 4 #8, excellent; Mystique #17, continuing Sean McKeever's run on the book; Planetary #20, to which is say "yay;" Powerless #2 (of 6), which had a great first issue; Powers #2, more Bendis; Richard Dragon #3, which I hope gets better; Rogue #1, with Cliff Richards art; Singularity 7 #1, which I hope is really good; Sleeper: Season Two #2 (of 12), to which I give another "yay;" Superman #207, which looks pretty; Superman: Birthright #12 (of 12), concluding Mark Waid's mini-series; 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow # 5 (of 6), which might have to wait until next week; 24: One Shot, which, at seven dollars, is definatley waiting until next week; Ultimate Fantastic Four #9, another Warren Ellis book; Venom vs. Carnage #1 (of 4), I am such a zombie; and The Witching #2, which I'll give a few more issues.

I'm dropping a number of titles over the next few months, which should save me quite a bit of money. To spend on, you know, food and stuff. I feel dirty.

Some interesting news from San Diego I've cultivated from various websites:

-Judd Winick will be the new Batman writer after War Games.
-Matt Wagner is doing a 12-issue maxi-series called Batman: Dark Moon Rising.
-Andersen Gabrych is moving from Detective Comics to Batgirl in November with issue #58.
-Dave Lapham is the new writer for Detective Comics.
-Jeph Loeb is leaving Superman/Batman with issue #25.
-Warren Ellis is the new writer of Iron Man starting with issue #90.
-Ed Brubaker is the new writer of Captain America starting with issue #33.
-*The new Avengers title is called Young Avengers and it will be written by Allan Heinberg.
-A new Black Panther series is coming in 2005.
-A new Thunderbolts series is coming soon.
-Robert Kirkman is doing a new Marvel Team-Up book.
-Peter Milligan is the new writer of X-Men starting with issue #165.
-Pat Lee is doing an X-Men/Fantastic Four book.
-Talent Caldwell is the new artist of Spectacular Spider-Man.
-Runaways returns in January.
-Kurt Busiek will be the regular writer for JLA.
-Grant Morrison and Ed McGuiness are doing a book called JLA Classified.
-Joss Whedon is in talks to do Firefly comics with Dark Horse when Serenity comes out.

Some intersting stuff. I still wish I could have gone.

One of the many things I do while I should be working is make a presense on some message boards. There are two: the Fanboy Radio message board and Brian Michael Bendis's message board (there are some others I check but aren't involved in, namely Mark Millar's and Kevin Smith's boards). I'm on Bendis's yesterday, and everything seems fine. And I get to work this morning and check it out and the whole damn thing is gone.

So I look around and ask some people to decipher what happened. Basically some major threats were made about some of the members and details were given, and so Bendis shut the board down. He posted somewhere it might be for good, but I certainly hope not, because those are all a cool bunch of people over there.

There's a refugee board over at Aurora Network. If the real board doesn't come back up this will have to do.

I'll post a collective smattering of news from San Diego later.

About three months ago I had the opportunity to plan a trip to San Diego for this weekend, to go to the biggest comic convention in the United States. At the time not that many professional whom I wanted to meet were announced as attending, so I thought to myself I would save money and not spend a week traveling across the country for four days only to have to deal with a lot of smelly people in order to meet four or five people.

About two weeks ago all my favorite writers and artists announced they were going. Two weeks is not enough time to plan a trip from Texas to California. But gorramit I was tempted. Everybody is there: Brian Bendis, Peter David, Joss Whedon and the entire freakin' cast of Firefly, Scott Kurtz, Robert Kirkman. The list goes on. Although, Dale, who I was going ride with up there, ended up flying instead, which would have cost more money that I don't have. Oh well. There's Wizard World in Dallas in November (although only four people have been announced as attending: Jim Lee, Joe Casey, Barry Kitson, and Ethan Van Scriver, and I met Lee last year. I kidnapped him and stuck him in Blake's backpack as we stalked Alison Mack. It was fun). And there's also a small convention in Dallas in October that has Kurtz (I assume. He goes to all of them) and Kirkman that I'll go to, which should be fun. At least Dale got to go to San Diego to pimp his book, Jet City, which he's been working on for some time.

A large number of my friends are out of town for a while. Blake is in Boston for the Democratic National Convention. Paolo is in Dallas, as he comes home less and less. And Chris and Amanda are in California to see her mother (or father. I can't remember). Dale is also in California, although a different part.

I’m moving into the dorms here on campus with Chris and Raphael in about three months. My student loans are going to pay for most of it, and I can easily cover the rest if I stop buying so many comics. Of course, I had to make a list of the ones to drop and the reasons I’m dropping them in order to justify to myself why I should not read them. I soon realized they are all books that I won’t miss. I should do it more often, because it will save me about fifty dollars a month. The fact that I am moving out hit my mother a few days ago, and she compensates my unintentionally making me feel guilty. But this will be fun, and good for both of us. I’m getting more excited as the day gets closer.

Soon Chris shall began working on my comic, The Chosen (which might need a new title), which I’ve been working on for about eight months. This guy has an amazing talent at art, and I really want him to be the one to draw it (Blake was originally going to do it, but it seems my best friend has the ability to not do one thing for very long). I’ve been trying to educate him in the ways of comic books. I loaned him the essentials: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchman, and some more modern stuff: Brian Michael Bendis’s Daredevil and Steve Niles’s 30 Days of Night. I figure that they’re good started points if he’d ever get around to reading them. If this gets done it will be damn good. I’ve gained enough confidence as a writer to know this is good. I read about comics to know this is a good one. I know Chris has the ability to do this. It’s actually publishing that’ll be tricky, but we’ll worry about that when we get there.

Long post. I should get back to work. I’m glad it’s Friday.

I hate working fourty hours a week. It gets so monotonous. That's why I'm leaving at 2:00 today. Shake it up a little. San Diego Comic Con is this weekend, and I wish I had the ability to teleport vast distances and create sustainable shelter from a soda can and some twine. But there's Wizard World in Dallas later this year, which will have to do.

And it's Wednesday. Some good stuff this week: Adventures of Superman #630, continuing Greg Rucka's book; Birds of Prey #70, continuing a bi-weekly release schedule; Captain Marvel #25, the final issue; Daredevil #62, which is always really good; Ex Machina #2, which fast became one of my favorite books; Flash #212, which I might drop soon; Gotham Knights #55, which I also might drop soon aisde from massive crossover events; Hawkman #30, which also might get dropped; Justice League Elite #1 (of 12), which I'm really looking foward to; Kabuki #1, which I'm also looking foward to; Mary Jane #2, for the twelve-year-old girl inside of me; Outsiders #14, which is always good, and far better than its sister book Teen Titans; Robin #128, which is also always good; Spectacular Spider-Man #17, featuring the return of Humberto Ramos; Wolverine #17, which is good; Wonder Woman #206, which makes three Greg Rucka books this week; and X-Men #159, which is getting a new writer soon. There's some other stuff coming out this week that I can't justify buying, and I'm not until I get paid.

I'm moving into the dorms here on campus on August 18, a few days after my 21st birthday. I get paid well enough, I have been for about a year now, but I've spent alot of it on useless crap like the books mentioned above. They're not really crap, but I'm gonna have to cut back on alot of them, which is always hard for me to do. I figure if I drop five or six titles and don't pick up anything new unless it's written by certain people, I should be good.

Nothing interesting is going on.

Today I felt like crap so I stayed home from work because I felt like crap. I took some NyQuil and woke up around 2:00 feeling better. I still can't see straight, but I should be fine tomorrow. One of those quick flu things, I guess. I watched Predator and reorganized my comics because I got a new box yesterday. The count is up to sixteen long boxes and about 4,400 single issues that go back to around 1997. I think it's one of the more respectable collections, although I have a friend who has 47 long boxes. But he's been collecting since the 1970s, so perhaps that's normal. I'm curious where he keeps the damn things.

I can't type very well. Perhaps I will go to bed early.

Something to kill the time. I might get off of work early. Here's comics for this week: Action Comics #817, continuing Chuck Austen's run on the book; Bite Club #4 (of 6), continuing the vampire mini-series; Bloodhound #1, a new series from Dan Jolley; Captain America #29, Robert Kirkman's first issue; District X #3, continuing the mutant cop series; Fables #27, a stand-alone story; Fallen Angel #13, also a stand-alone story; Gotham Central #21, continuing a story featuring Harvey Bullock; Green Arrow #40, starting a new story arc; Identity Crisis #2 (of 7), continuing Brad Meltzer's kick ass mini-series; Identity Disc #2 (of 5), Marvel's answer to the aformentioned book, which isn't that bad; Incredible Hulk #74, concluding the current story arc; Iron Man #86, a first for me; JLA #101, starting Chuck Austen's six-issue arc; JSA #63, starting a new story arc; Marvel Knights 4 #7, concluding the current story; Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4, also concluding the current story; Nightwing #95, which is always good; The Pulse #4, Brian Michael Bendis's book; The Punisher #9, which I might drop soon; Superman/Batman #11, which is late; Teen Titans #13, starting a new story; and Ultimate X-Men #49, which concludes the current story.

Good week.

Relax, bitches. It's a celebration.

Just bored. Waiting for work to end, even though I really won't be doing anything afterwards.

This killed approximately 45 seconds of time.

Here's my tattoo:



And for anyone who's interested, my beard:

Daniel gave my back my computer on Wednesday and I couldn't be happier, except he forgot to put all my files back on there. Silly silly boy. Oh well, at least it's working again, and he has my eternal thanks.

For no real reason, here is a list of comics everyone should always read:

Powers - from Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Avon Oeming. Issue 1 of volume two was just released. Follows the story of homicide detective Christian Walker and Denna Pilgrim, part of a special team that deals with crimes involving powers. The end of volume one saw a psychotic high level power destory half the world, causing all powers to be outlawed. The good guys obeyed the law and went away, but the bad guys are still out there. Great for fans of cop shows like Homicide or The Shield.

Ultimate Spider-Man - from Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. A retelling of the Spider-Man mythos, updated for modern times. Issue 62 was just released, which is the middle of a story arc dealing with Carnage. There have been updates of the Green Goblin, the Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, Doctor Octopus, Venom, and now Carnage. Trades of most of the issues are avaliable. Great for people who haven't read comics since they were kids.

Astonishing X-Men - from Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. Part of Marvel's X-Men Reloaded event formulated to deal with the departure of Grant Morrison from the Marvel universe, they gave one of the best writers ever and one of the best artists ever their own book. Deals with the X-Men team working straight of out the mansion which includes Scott Summers (Cyclops), Emma Frost, Hank McCoy (Beast), Kitty Pride (Shadowcat), and Logan (Wolverine). Issues 2 was recently released and the first one shouldn't be hard to come by. Great for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Daredevil - from Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Going strong since issue 26, this creative team has reinvigorated the character who was once only a second stringer. Issue 60 was just released, which is the start of a new story arc. There are trade paperbacks and hardcovers that collect the run. Deals with the aftermath of Matt Murdock declaring himself the kingpin of Hell's Kitchen and the arrival of Natasha Romanov back in his life. Great for fans of crime stories and superhero fare.

Fallen Angel - from Peter David and David Lopez. David's oddly surreal series about a woman in the town of Bete Noir, where only lost souls go. Features a strong female lead character who never wears shoes and constantly sleeps with her arch-enemy. Issue 12 was released recently, along with a trade of the first six issues. Highly under-rated series. Oh, and Hitler runs a bar. Great for fans of weird ass movies by David Lynch like Fire Walk With Me and Mulholland Drive.

Gotham Central - from Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark. The stories of the major crimes unit in Gotham City, where the detectives constantly deal with criminals like the Joker and Two Face. Batman is only a shadow character. Issues 21 should come out next week. The currently storyline deals with a school bombing almost fifteen years ago, and what happened with disgraced detective Harvey Bullock. Fans of Homicide will love this series.

Green Arrow - from Judd Winick and Phil Hester. The fan favorite character supports one of the best books out there right now. Featuring a great supporting cast, Winick tells a fairly standard superhero story with his own great take on it. Issue 40 should be out next week, which starts a new storyarc dealing with the arrival of a new bad guy and cleaning up the mess left behind from the last big battle. Great for fans of Judd's other books like Green Lantern and Exiles, and superhero fans who might not read comics.

Ex Machina - from Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. Issue 1 was just released. Michael Hundred is the mayor of New York City, but years ago he used to be something else. A freak accident left him with the ability to talk to machinery, but the life of a hero was not for him. This was the best first issue of a series I've ever read. Fans of The West Wing will love this series.

Invincible - from Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. The best coming-of-age superhero story in a long time. A young man has developed superpowers. He can fly. He's strong. He's still in high school. His father is one of the greatest superheroes of all time. But what happens when he learns his whole life is a lie? When he learns the horrible truth about where his father comes from? Issue 13 was just released, with trades of the first two storyarcs avaliable. This is another great book for people who haven't read comics in a long time.

Y: The Last Man - from Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. What happens when every man on Earth dies from a mysterious virus except for one guy and his pet monkey? Well, this series answers that question. Great pacing, wonderful characters, and a great mystery are what make this series so wonderful. Issue 24 was just released, which is the start of a new story. There are trades of the first three stories avaliable. Great for fans of pretty much everything.

Runaways - from Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. While the first series ending at issue 18 (16 was just released), a second volume is going to start sometime soon. What if your parents were super villains? What would you do? This is the story of five kids who decide to fight back against them. There are two trades avaliable, and they are definatley worth checking out. Great storytelling and Vaughan's knack for cliffhangers make this series what it is. Great for fans of things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Sleeper - from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. The first volume of this was cancelled after twelve issues, but season two just started. The story follows a deep undercover agent as he infiltrates the largest superpowered criminal organization in the world. The only problem is his supervisor falls into a coma, and the only person who knows the truth about his true identity is suddenly gone. As he continues to fall deeper into this world of darkness, Holden finally gives in to this new life, and thus begins season two. Great for fans of cop shows, probably stuff like the short-lived Line of Fire and Undercover.

That's all. Those are my favorite books at the moment. I might do more later.

Cock.

Comics don't come in until Thursday, due to some people thinking that they need a three day weekend even when the actual holiday falls on a Sunday. That makes me a sad panda, but not a sad manda.I've never liked UPS anyways.

But here is what comes out tomorrow: Birds of Prey #69, beginning a new story arc; B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs #5 (of 5), concluding this mini-series; Captain America and the Falcon #5, starting a new story; Detective Comics #796, a stand-alone story; Exiles #49, another stand-alone story; Fantastic Four #515, continuing a story arc; Firestorm #3, concluding the first story; Hard Time #6, which is always good; The Monolith #6, which starting a new story with art by Tomm Coker; Powers, vol. 2 #1, starting a new volume; Scratch #2 (of 5), continuing Sam Kieth's mini-series; Supreme Power #11, continuing J. Michael Straczynski's awesome series; Swamp Thing #5, continuing the new Vertigo series; Thor #82, which is actually really good; Ultimate Spider-Man #62, contuing the Carnage story; Uncanny X-Men #446, featuring pretty Alan Davis art; Y: The Last Man #24, one of the best books out there right now.

Chris bought The Office the other day, so we'll probably be watching that tonight. It's something I really wanted to see and never had the money to go buy. I'm glad my friends are as impulsive as I am when it comes to weird purchases like that.

This is my fiftieth post.

I'm getting another tattoo on Wednesday. Here's what it should look like. Not the whole thing. Just that design at the top of the door, and it's actually from the book, notthat guy's artwork. The design is from Wolves of the Calla, and it means "Unfound." I think it looks cool. I'll try to get a picture to put up here at some point.

Monday's suck. I'm getting my tatoo on Wednesday, if all goes well. I didn't blow off my face last night, so I'm happy.

Coherent thoughts are for morons.