i get distracted easily

I've had an odd week so far.

If all goes according to plan, I should have a new car very quickly. I'm excited.

I've been on a rollercoaster with my plan on quitting certain vices. It's coming along, just not as easy as I like. Lacey helps.

For some reason I've been reading stuff about Jonestown. It's incredibly interesting and disturbing. There's audio out there of the actual deaths. Silly cults.

Guild Wars continues to impress and own my life at the moment.

Comics later today. And other things. War of the Worlds comes out today, which should be fun to see.

Things.

comics for this week

Lacey had her wisdom teeth pulled last Friday. I haven't gotten to see her since then, but she says she's doing well. We're going to try and go see Land of the Dead tonight. It should be grand.

Guild Wars owns my life in all ways. It's very cool because Lacey, Daniel, Travis, Greg, and Jade all have it and so we all get to play together. After trying out various characters, I'm settled with an elementalist/necromancer which is almost level 10. This character kind of started out as a joke, just to play about with, because it's a chick. But she's really powerful and bad ass. And far prettier than anyone else I've seen.

There are quite a few good comics coming out this week: Amazing Spider-Man #521, which has picked back up; Angel: The Curse #1 (of 5), to which I do a little dance of joy; Batgirl #65, which is excellent; Batman #641, which is also excellent; Batman Allies Secret Files 2005, because I'm a completist; City of Tomorrow #3 (of 6), which is really good; Fantastic Four #528, which continues J. Michael Straczynski's run; The Flash #223, which continues Rogue War; Green Lantern #2, which had an excellent first issue; JLA Classified #9, which I believe ends the classic Justice League story; The Losers #25, which I'm very behind on; The OMAC Project #3 (of 6), which is awesome; Outsiders #25, which is the last part of The Insiders; The Pact #3 (of 4), which is really fun; Planetary #23, which hardly ever comes out anymore; Runaways #5, to which I dance another dance of joy; Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight #3 (of 4), which is part of something grand; Shaun of the Dead #1 (of 4), which should be fun; Solo #5, which features Darwyn Cooke; Wonder Woman #217, which is very good; X-Men #172, which I'm hoping gets better; X-Men: Kitty Pride – Shadow and Flame #1 (of 5), which I'm looking forward to; and Young Avengers #5, which is one of the best new books out there.

And there are a bunch of excellent covers, more than I normally share:





I'm having trouble typing today, because you have to type in shorthand on games. Guild Wars continues to ruin my life. With it's excellent game play and hours of entertainment. Stupid game.

city of heroes is dead; long live guild wars

So quest for a new game has ended.

Daniel and Travis have been going on about Guild Wars. It's been getting great reviews for an online RPG, and the big plus is that you don't have to pay a monthly subscription fee. So I was up between renewing my City of Heroes account, or getting World of Warcraft or The Matrix Online, all of which not only cost $50 for the game, but cost $15 a month to play. Guild Wars is the same price for the game, but it is a bit of an experiment in that there is no monthly subscription fee. So I broke down and went and bought it. I really shouldn't have, but it's summer. I'm making money. It's something I wanted to do. Greg bought it. Best of all Lacey bought it. So now all my friends are on, and it should be grand. I played for a couple of hourse last night, and had a good time.

I was starting to have problems with City of Heroes. It's fun to start out with. It's fun to level up and get new powers every two levels. But once you hit about level 25 or so, it takes so long to level up that you have to play forever. And then you hit a level where you only gain a new power every three levels. I think I got up to level 38, and my character was pretty powerful. I liked playing. But I wanted to get to level 50. And it was going to take for freakin' ever. And the only way to level up was to play the same missions over and over and over. And over. It was just getting annoying, and I wasn't having fun anymore.

So... yeah. Guild Wars. It's cool.

sometimes i want to hit things

From the fine minds at the IMDB message boards. The Michael Moore message board, to be particular. This was actually reposted on Brian Bendis' message board, and I had to go search for it to make sure it wasn't someone's idea of something funny.

"President Bush would not be in the White House right now if God didn't want him there. President Bush was put in a position of leadership in order to wipe the devil's religion of off the face of the Earth, so that the Christian God can fill the world with His message of peace and love. President Bush has stated numerous times that he speakes with God in the Oval Office, he even asked God for military advice before the invasion of Iraq. Modern liberalism is the equivalent of atheism, liberals are in favor of killing babies, raising taxes, teaching evolution, and same sex marriage. Jesus is opposed to all of these horrible things."

I was scared. And then I laughed. Now I want to punch someone in the face. Because it would also be funny.

I thought I would share.

a-kon memories on a deadline (and comics)

I'm attempting to write up an A-kon report for the Fanboy Radio Newsletter. It needs to be in by the end of the day. It shouldn't be to hard to complete. I should have some pictures up on here within the next few days. They turned out very nice.

Nothing really interesting this weekend. I finally got to watch Into the West, and I rewatched the season finale of Lost with my mom. I'm also slowly getting caught up on CSI: New York, Enterprise, and Numb3rs. I really am a giant dork.

Here's comics for this Wednesday: Batman: Jekyll and Hyde #3 (of 6), which is excellent; Black Panther #5, which is interesting, if nothing else; Captain America #7, which is the first part of The Winter Soldier; Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy #4 (of 5), which is fun; Catwoman #44, which is Will Pfiefer's first issue; Conan #17, which is always metal; Daredevil: Redemption #5 (of 6), Dream Police, which should be grand; Fantastic Four: Foes #6 (of 6), which is fun; The Gift #12, which is nice; Hellboy: The Island #1 (of 2), to which I scream in happiness; House of M #2 (of 8), which will of course kick ass; Legion of Super-Heroes #7, which is a fun book; Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere #1 (of 9), which I'm looking forward to; New Avengers #6, which is the last part of the first story arc; Nightcrawler #7, which makes a welcomed return; Otherworld #4 (of 7), which is incredibly beautiful; Robin #139, which is always good; Rogue #12, which is the last issue; Spider-Man: House of M #1 (of 5), which should be interesting; Supreme Power #17, which is the next to last issue under the MAX title; Teen Titans #25, which continues The Inside; Ultimate Fantastic Four #20, which is the last part of Think Tank; Ultimate X-Men #60, which is always great; and Wolverine: Soultaker #5 (of 5), which is surprisingly good.

And, as always, some covers I steal from other websites:




All for now, I guess. I've been trying to post things of more substance other than what comics I'm getting this week, but it's hard. Not a lot really goes on with me. It should be a decent week. Hopefully, anyways. I get to go have lunch with Lacey in a few minutes, so that should be nice. And I'm down to only two or three little sticks of joy a day, which I'm surprised by. Hopefully soon I'll be down to none. There will be updates here, either way.

hey kids! it's mark hamill! (applause)

I finally figured out how to do titles in my stupid blog. It was so easy I now feel incredibly incompetent. Earlier today I set up of Live Journal account, just to see what all the fuss was about. I thought about using that for personal stuff and this for all my geek stuff. But it's horrible and not fun. This is so much better. And now it has titles.

Batman Begins is still in my head. If they do a second one, which I'm sure they will, it should be the Joker. And the Joker should be played my Mark Hamill. He was the voice of the Joker in the animated series of Batman back in the early 90s. Sure he's a bit older now, but with the make-up that would be necessary for the character would take away from the age factor.



Look at that and tell me he couldn't be the Joker.

So at work we've switched to this new system. My job included cataloguing new books, which basically means we check the information in our system, print out spine labels, stamp the books, and basically make them ready to be able to be checked out. This new system is slow, but it hasn't been that hard to adjust to working with it. The hard part is implementation. Downstairs in circulation they haven't switched over to this new system, and they won't for a few more weeks. So all the books that we catalogue are not in the system that normal people see until they go live. We have to keep them in one of the study rooms next to the office. There's a database that I've made in Excel with these book titles, and a corresponding number for each one. That was if someone request one of these books, we can easily find it and catalogue it in the old system so it can be checked out. But I have to put each and every book in this database. I've been doing this since Tuesday the 7th, and I just put in the 544th book. It's ridiculous. Thought I would share. Because of the bitching.

There's a lot of buzz around for Serenity. The entire cast wound up in on Entertainment Weekly's Must List for 2005, which links to a very nice article. I really hope this movie hits in big. Because it should. It's fantastic. Although I might just be saying that. But I'm not. It's an awesome movie. There's also this really nice picture featuring the cast.



On Wednesday, I get a rather large paycheck, the first from my summer work schedule of thirty-five hours a week instead of nineteen. So I get to pay off what I owe for my house. And there's comics. And I want to get a new game. Either World of Warcraft or The Matrix Online. I think I might be done with City of Heroes. I'm still not sure. But this makes me want to check out World of Warcraft. Because it's funny.

Ugh. The day isn't yet over.

I slept in this morning. Because it's summer. And I can. I thought I was sick because I was sweating profusly because someone in my apartment had turned the heater on 90 degrees. It's June. In west Texas. In the desert. It's not cold. Ever. I took a shower and felt better, but I was pissed off. And I think I have a bit of a virus.

Batman Begins is an excellent piece of cinema. Everything about it pretty much kicks lots and lots of ass. The casting alone is great, but Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman stand out more than anybody. Christain Bale and Liam Neeson are also excellent, of course. The execution of this film is spot on. From the death of Bruce's parents to his training to the eventual birth of Batman, it's all done incredibly well. This film borrows a lot of Frank Miller's Year One, which isn't a bad thing, and changes some things here and there. But it all works for the best. Best Batman film ever, though.

Not a lot else going on.

I thought this was funny.

For some reason this keeps popping into my head today:



Somehow it's Greg's fault.

I had a dream featuring Jerry Orbach last night:



It was very weird. I was hitchiking down the highway and a giant truck stopped and picked my up. Lennie Briscoe, not Jerry Orbach, was driving and we had a nice conversation as he took me to my destination. It was night and raining heavily. At one point he told me to stop drinking so much transmission fluid. Which is strange. Because I don't drink transmission fluid.

Well, that one time.

Now I feel the need to post pictures of cool television detectives:














Okay. That killed time. Comics.

I've decided to attempt to quit again. It's better because I kind of know what to expect. I've had two a day since Sunday. And only one this morning. It's going far better than last time, where I tried to just stop completely and went insane and slaughtered my entire family. It's all Lacey's fault. Although I needed to do it anyways.

The season finale of The Shield comes on tonight. I will watch it and enjoy it.

I continue to plow through the comics that I need to read. Here, of course, are my thoughts that nobody cares about. Because I have no taste and tend to like everything.

Action Comics #828 - I wasn't as impressed with this issue as the last one, but this book still surprises me in how much I'm enjoying it. I am not a fan of John Byrne, who is the new penciller of this book. But his artwork here has a different feel to it, and it's something that seems to fit with Gail Simone's writing. It's a new take meshed together with an old take, which produces a surprisingly interesting book.

Amazing Fantasy #9 - I wasn't going to pick this up. The first six issues that chronicled the origin of Fiona Avery's Arana character didn't do much for me (and I'm a fan of Fiona Avery). So this idea of a book with new characters didn't really intrigue me. But a friend of mine in my comic book store told me it was really good, and I decided to try out this story arc. And I'm really enjoying it. The dialogue is a little campy, but the story is a very cool S.H.I.E.L.D./super-spy/super-hero/14-year-old girl story that is very nicely plotted and illustrated. This is the type of character that could support her own book, which I'm hoping is the way it goes after this particular story.

City of Heroes #2 - I really want to like this. I love this game. And Top Cow can produce a beautiful comic. But the writing, even from someone like Mark Waid, comes up some short. This continually seems to be a problem with Top Cow books, though. They can have the best writers in the industry, and all that is produced is a mediocre book. The problem with this one, I think, is that it feels like there is much more information that we don't know. And I play the game. This book should be more the history of Paragon City rather than new adventures of characters in the game. Maybe when Troy Hickman comes on it might be different. I'll stick with it for a while, anyways.

Fables #38 - Homelands continues as Bill Willingham's excellent epic book continues. This is the kind of stuff I love. Boy Blue is a bad ass. We get our first (and possibly last) glimpse of the Emperor (if it really was him). This is what I love about creator-owned books like this. Nothing is for certain. Things can change at a moments notice. The entire tone and path of book can shift in a instant, and it can still be simply amazing.

JLA #115 - Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg's five-issue story arc begins, and they carry through with the plotlines introduced in Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, which is one of my favorite things ever. The only thing I didn't like about this was that it was to short. And some of the bad guys featured are so obscure that even I don't get the references. But the character moments are excellent. These two writers know how to do what they're doing. This is going to be one of the really cool things leading up to Infinite Crisis later this year.

Justice League Elite #12 (of 12) - the end of Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke's maxi-series about the darker branch of the Justice League. This should have gotten a lot more attention than it did, because it's really one of the better character books in a long time. There were a lot of great moments in this whole series, and I really hope that these characters see some kind continuation beyond ancillary roles in other DC books.

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15 - this is another book that I really want to like. This issue was better than the previous two, as the writer gets into the new characters he's introduced. The art still isn't my taste for a Spidey book, but it's slowly growing on me. There's not really much to say, as they're drawing this out as much as possible. It not bad, but not fantastic.

Son of Vulcan #1 (of 6) - this was nice. There's not a lot to say, really. Some of plot points were a bit cliche. But the art is really, really nice. This is very much a first issue, but I'm curious as to where this is going.

Superman #218 - I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, I really enjoy the writing and art from this book. On the other, the formula of the story is pretty much the same as the previous issue. Hopefully this won't become the same for each issue, because it only really works every once and a while. It's a good issue on it's own, but I hope every issue isn't like this.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #19 - the first part of a two-issue fill in story from Mike Carey and Jae Lee. I don't know a lot about the writer, but he does a good job bridging the gap between Warren Ellis and Mark Millar's runs on this book. Jae Lee's art is always absolutely beautiful. Lovely stuff, really, although I'm really looking forward to Mark Millar and Greg Land's run on this book.

The Walking Dead #19 - the fourth story arc starts as Rick and his gang try to hold their place in the prison. The best part about this series are the character moments, and this issue is no different. Rick's decision is justified in pretty much every area. It's something that anybody in his position would do. This series is one of the most constantly good books out there, and I always look forward to the next issue.

Fun times. I'm almost done with work. I need food. And other things that I'm not going to give into. Hopefully, anyways.

The Bendis board is down, as far as I can tell. Now I have nothing to do at work to waste time, and it makes me sad. I had a relatively uneventful weekend. I went and saw the newer The Amityville Horror at the cheap show, and is was quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. I won't even go into it. It's just plain bad.

I got quite a few comics read this weekend as people crowded in my room and watched incredibly girly anime. I wasn't in the mood for 14-year-old girl things, and made a big chunk in my pile of things to read. I felt like I accomplished something, only I know that nobody else cares.

Here's comics for this week: Adventures of Superman #641, which is excellent; The Authority: Revolution #9 (of 12), which kicks a lot of ass; Batman/Ra's Al Ghul: Year One #1 (of 2), which might be good; Birds of Prey #83, which is constantly good; Conan and the Jewels of Gwahlur #3 (of 3), which is fun; Daredevil #74, which is always good; Day of Vengeance #3 (of 6), which doesn't suck; Ex Machina #12, which is always excellent; Gambit #12, which is the last issue; Giant Size X-Men 3, which has a new Joss Whedon story; GLA #3 (of 4), which is fun; Gotham Knights #66, which continues to be incredibly underrated; Hawkman #41, which is also underrated; Hero Camp #2 (of 4), which had a nice first issue; JLA Classified #8, which is the next to last issue of I Can't Believe it's Not the Justice League; Manhunter #11, which I hope doesn't get cancelled anytime soon; Marvel Knights 4 #19, which is yet another underrated book; Powers #11, which is one of my favorites; Robocop #8 (of 9), which I had forgotten about; Seven Soldiers: Klarion the Witch Boy #2 (of 4), which should be interesting; Spider-Man: Breakout #3 (of 5), which is better than expected; Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill #6 (of 6), which concludes the metal; Trigger #7, which is the next to last issue; Uncanny X-Men #461, which I'm behind on; Vimanarama #3 (of 3), which is fun; and Wolverine #29, which has been excellent.

A good week, it looks like. Here are some of the better covers:




I need food.

The baton has been passed to me by Luke Hawkins. I will now answer the following questions truthfully and dutifully.

Total volume of music files on my computer...
7.01 GB

The last CD I bought was...
Weezer - Make Believe

Song playing right now...
Will the Circle Be Unbroken - June Carter Cash (from the Deadwood soundtrack)

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me...
Joe Purdy - Wash Away
Jurassic 5 - I am Somebody
Bad Religion - I Want to Conquer the World
Rancid - Journey to the End of the East Bay
The Roots - The Next Movement

The baton is passed to...
Jade Cothran, Amanda Land, and Travis Rogers

Fridays are nice. I went to bed early last night and got a full night's sleep, which was glorious. I even had time to watch The Shield and The Inside and read some comics.

Nothing really interesting is happening. Just life stuff. I'm slowly paying off my rent for the summer, which kind of takes away most of the extra money I'm earning, but I don't really mind. I still really want to get a second job, and I never get callbacks when I turn in an application. Only once have I been called back for an interview and I didn't get that job. I want to get this done now because when I start my student teaching in January, I'm going to have to quit this cushy job at the library. So, yeah... my planning ahead never really seems to work out.

Here are some comic thoughts:

Gotham Central #32 - a very cool stand alone issue that focuses on how other cops see the Major Crimes Unit. Not only other cops, but really really dirty cops. But not lovable dirty cops like Vic Mackey, just horrible people. The cover kind of gives away the end, but this is a very nice enjoyable issue.

Gravity #1 (of 5) - I was really looking forward to this. Sean McKeever is one of the most under-rated writers out there right now, I think. This came off a little odd. I didn't like it right off. The main character came off as just far to happy, and the college stereotypes got to me. But I liked it the more I thought about it. There's something here that I want to check out. I think the series as a whole will be something really nice.

Green Arrow #51 - a strange stand alone issue while Judd Winick is off doing Countdown stuff. It's a nice little story, although I don't really care for the art. I like the relationship that develops between Ollie and Anakry, and it's a fun issue.

New Warriors #1 (of 6) - I was looking forward to this too, because I love Skottie Young's artwork. This is a cool take on not only these characters (who I honestly don't know that much about), and reality television. It's a very nice first issue, with some nice elements and characterization.

Nightwing #109 - Devin Grayson continues her "Dick undercover in the mafia" storyline. I'm not sure how long exactly this is going to go on, but it looks like this is going to be a long term thing, judging from how long it's taking her to set up a lot of the supporting characters. I'm loving this book right now, though, and throwing Dick back in Gotham and have him meet with Black Mask is excellent. Very good stuff.

The Pulse #9 - the end of the tie-in to Secret War, which comes out before the last issue of Secret War. Michael Lark is such a great match for this book, and I love the character of Jessica Jones so much. There are so many great character moments in this book, especially with Logan and Danny. The relationships of these people are the best. It does ruin the end of Secret War a bit, but all we really know is that something happens to Nick Fury that causes him to leave. And we've already seen that in books like Astonishing X-Men and Captain America. The is a great issue, and makes me long for the last issue of Secret War.

The Rann/Thanagar War #2 (of 6) - the second part of this excellent mini-series isn't as good as the first one, but it's still very nice. We get Kyle kicking some ass and being cool, which is always good. There are some developments with the overall story arc, but we then miss the main characters of the book (Adam Strange, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl are only in it for a bit). We get a lot of time with the bag guys and the good guys we don't care about. Kyle is the best part here, of course, and I'm sure we'll be thrown back in as the series continues.

Ultimate Spider-Man #78 - an issue dealing with the fallout of Hobgoblin and Peter and Mary's breakup. Go teenage angst go. This is standard Bendis stuff, which I always like. I really don't like the guy who is introduced in this, and I hope he dies in a horrible fire. Other than that, an excellent issue.

All for now. I'll read some more tomorrow. I have so many great books to catch up on. I have all the stuff I'm behind on organized in a weird way, and I pulled out JLA so that I can get into Geoff Johns' and Allan Heinberg's arc, and The Punisher, because I'm about a year behind on that and I always enjoy it when I get around to reading it. I need to do the same with JSA, which I'm about three or four months behind on, and The Losers, which I'm about a year behind on as well. Summer is grand.

There is another Serenity screening on the 23rd. I didn't get tickets because Lacey couldn't go. And I really don't feel like driving anywhere anything again. Three out of town trips in three weeks might be fun, but the repercussions to your body are just hellish.

Two more hours of work. I want the week to be over.

I overslept again this morning. I think my sleep cycle is still a bit off from A-kon and the other bits of traveling I've been doing for the past month. But it was all worth it. Austin, Serenity, and A-kon. Life has been good lately. Somehow it's all Lacey's fault.

My City of Heroes account ran out. I need to get another time card, and I've been considering not getting another one and getting The Matrix Online instead. Or World of Warcraft. We'll see what happens.

Comics in a little bit. Happy dance ensues.

I've got to read a few of what came out last week. I'm so behind. I need to take a weekend and catch up as much as possible. I keep saying that and it never happens. So here are some thoughts on what I got to.

House of M #1 (of 8) - this book has had a lot of hype behind it. Not only is it being touted as the big Marvel event for this year, it is crossing over into a number of titles (Black Panther, Incredible Hulk) and spawning a few mini-series (Spider-Man, Iron Man, Fantastic Four). The basic plot stems out of Avengers Disassembled, where Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch) went crazy due to her mind-altering mutant powers and killed a few Avengers. At the end of the story, her father Magneto comes and takes her back to Genosha, his desolated mutant nation he is trying to rebuild with Charles Xavier. Since then, Xavier and Doctor Strange have been trying to heal her, both psychically and magically, but none of their methods have worked. So they have assembled both old and new Avengers along with the X-Men in order to discuss what to do with Wanda. As the groups both go to Genosha to see Wanda herself, they find her and Magneto both gone, and things suddenly start changing behind around them. Spider-Man wakes up with a completely different world around him. It's all good stuff. But I like Brian Bendis and what he does. This should be a fun ride if it's ever actually over with.

Incredible Hulk #81 - a beautiful stand-alone issue from Peter David and Jae Lee. Bruce Banner is in England and meets a woman he met in a previous life only minutes before she dies. It's beautifully written and illustrated, and this is an issue that shows both of these creators at the top of their game. Wonderful issue before we get kicked into a House of M tie-in.

Invincible #23 - a weird issue that focuses on one of my favorite ancillary characters from one of my favorite issues of this series. Robert Kirkman writes this issue as if it's an old Stan Lee Marvel comic, and it comes off as a lot of fun. We get a lot of information, and some hints as to where this series is going. It's still a fun book.

Marvel Team-Up #9 - another fun Robert Kirkman book. Daredevil and Luke Cage get caught up in the events of the previous two issues that have shown us Spider-Man, Moon Knight, the Punisher, and Blade. There are some funny bits with Luke and the absent pregnant Jessica Jones, and then we are thrown into another part of the city with Sleepwalker and Black Cat. It's very odd, because it's treated as two half issues. But it's all good. It's obvious that Kirkman is having a lot of fun with this book, and it shows through in every issue.

Villains United #2 (of 6) - we continue to see the odd group of the Secret Six, brought together by the unknown Mockingbird to battle Lex Luthor's massive group of super-villains. The writing and art is great in this, and I love that it ties into Brad Meltzer's Green Arrow run, but otherwise I have no idea where this is headed. Which is good. I like to be surprised.

Y: The Last Man #34 - Brian Vaughan continues this fantastic tale. This issue is a bit much for all of the things going on. We get stuff on the ship, on Australia's status since the plague, on 355 and Doctor Mann, and on Yorick's state of mind during all of this. It's a good issue all around as always, and I'm sad this both this and Ex Machina have a set ending in mind. Both of these books will go down as some of the greats years from now.

All for now. The Inside comes on tonight. I have high hopes for it. It's written by Tim Minear and David Fury (from Buffy, Angel, and Lost) and co-stars Adam Baldwin (the man they call Jayne). I'm going to make everybody watch it.

I'm still beaten from A-kon. It's still one of the best times of the year. Lots and lots of fun. I'm going to go get comics from last week after work today.

But here are the books coming out on Wednesday. I'm so glad I get paid tomorrow.

Action Comics #828, which continues Gail Simone and John Byrne's surprisingly good run; Army of Darkness: Shop Til You Drop Dead #3 (of 4), which is a fun book; City of Heroes #2, based on the game of which I need to go buy a time card; Fables #38, which continues Homelands and continues to show us just how cool Boy Blue is; Fathom #1, which is worth checking out; Gotham Central #32, which is still one of my favorite books; Gravity #1 (of 5), which I'm really looking forward to; Green Arrow #51, which is a stand-alone issue while Judd Winick takes a break; JLA #115, which is the first part of Crisis of Conscience; Justice League Elite #12 (of 12), which ends this excellent mini-series; Legends of the Dark Knight #192, which is the first part of Snow; Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #4 (of 5), which is really fun mini-series; Marvel Knights Spider-Man #15, which is somewhat interesting; Mary Jane: Homecoming #4 (of 4), which concludes my twelve year old girl book (it's actually really good; New Thunderbolts #9, which is a fun book; New Warriors #1 (of 6), which I'm looking forward to; Nightwing #109, which is in an excellent point; The Pulse #9, which is awesome; The Punisher #22, which I'm very behind on; The Rann/Thanagar War #2 (of 6), which kicks a lot of ass; The Stardust Kid #1 (of 5), which looks like it will be fun; Toxin #3 (of 6), which is beautiful; Ultimate Fantastic Four #19, which is the first part of a short Mike Carey and Jae Lee story; Ultimate Spider-Man #78, which is always good; X-Men #171, which is the first part of a new story; and X-Men: The End Book Two #4 (of 6), which I'm actually enjoying.

Wizard World Philly was this weekend, as well. There was some cool stuff announced:

-after DC's Infinite Crisis, all DC books are going to jump forward one year.
-a new X-title called New Excalibur from Chris Claremont and Michael Ryan is coming out later this year and features Nocture, Juggernaut, Dazzler, Sage, Pete Wisdom, and Captain Britain. I think this is completely awesome and has the potential to be a fantastic book.
-Chris Bachalo is the new artist of Uncanny X-Men.
-Colossus: Bloodline is a new mini-series by David Hine and Jorge Lucas is coming out later this year.
-issues 33-35 of Wolverine tie into House of M and is going to be written by Daniel Way.
-issues 69-82 of Exiles are going to be a type of World Tour type issues. Earth 616, the New Universe, the 2099 universe, the Squadron Supreme world, Future Imperfect, and Heroes Reborn are all going to be visited. Paul Pelletier is coming on as a penciller.
-J. Michael Straczynski's new book, The Book of Lost Souls is coming out from Icon later this year. Colleen Doran is doing the artwork.
-Adam Kubert and Andy Kubert are both moving to DC for the next three years.
-Richard Morgan and Sean Phillips are doing a new Black Widow book in September.
-The second She-Hulk (of which I got the trades of at A-kon) series will start in October. Dan Slott is also doing a Thing mini-series which should be really good.
-Cloak and Dagger are returning to Runaways.
-Bruce Jones is going a new Deadman series at Vertigo. It might be worth checking out, as it is supposed to totally reinvent the concept. And it's Vertigo.
-Garth Ennis is doing the next The Authority series.
-Brian Azzarello's western comic Loveless is coming before the end of the year.
-Peter David's fantastic Fallen Angel is moving to IDW in October.

That was most of the interesting news. Marvel always announces more stuff at these conventions.

Here are some covers for comics coming out this week. Super happy fun time.

A-kon smashing. Glorious glorious.

Aside from the large number of people I got to see, I feel infinitley better about myself. Anime fans are pretty much the bottom rung of the geek ladder. Not that I'm one to talk, but I'm not perpetually fourteen years old.

I didn't really buy anything anime related. I got a cool Link cell phone strap. A bag with Gr on it. Some Opie and Anthony stickers. Some Serenity keychains, postcards, mini-posters, and buttons. The Finding Serenity book (I really wanted to find a t-shirt, but there were none). The first four books of Transmetropolitan. The first five books of Preacher. The second volume of Runaways. The only two volumes of She-Hulk. My A-kon t-shirt in a weird orange/yellow color that should go well with the Alan-uniform of plad.

I should have pictures. I filled up two cameras. And there is a third that is lost somewhere, but it can't have gone far. It's somewhere, and will possibly turn up. I certainly hope so.

All for now. Bed is soon. And I need to watch the repeat of the season premiere of The 4400.

A-kon leaving immediate time.

Well, in about fifteen minutes, anyways.

I did something to my left arm this morning that rendered it completely numb. Feeling is slowly creeping back into it, but I'm typing this with one hand because I can't move my fingers. It's getting better slowly, but I've decided to take the day off of work, because I would just be processing books, which is exactly what I need.

Why can't my stupid body be normal? No, I have to have high blood pressure and an entire arm that just quits working sometimes.

A-kon is tomorrow. It will make everything better.