Happy days

OK, so the sun is shining and the weather is awesome. It’s a perfect day in the neighborhood and in honor of that today I bring to you Five Things I’m Happy About Today:

1) American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest

I’ve been a bit behind on my reading due to work duties and starting an MBA program, so when I finally got out into the real world and my LCS, I found I had missed the debut of American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest a couple of weeks ago. OMG! A five-part spin off from the oh-so-delicious American Vampire series is better even than a new pair of shoes – and if you’d seen my closet lately, you’d realize that’s saying something.

It’s written by Scott Snyder, who has done such a wonderful job with American Vampire, (up for an Eisner this year) and illustrated by New Hampshire native Sean Murphy of Joe the Barbarian (the comic is also up for an Eisner this year), so I’m expecting great things when I sit down to read to read it later with – what else? – a nice, thick, red, robust Cabernet. In a big-ass glass.

2. Locke & Key Vol. 3

It’s coming out this week. Finally. I have been waiting forever for Volume 3 of this incredible Eisner-nominated Joe Hill-penned comic with beautiful art by Gabriel Rodriguez. I finished Volume 2 months ago, and with a couple of issues of the third story arc sold out at my comic book store, decided to wait for the TPB. It was a long wait, but one that I’m sure will be worth it. Marketing 500 may suffer this week; I’m going to have Locke & Key to read.

My recommendation for this one is what my local watering hole calls a Dirty Mary Martini – a dirty Martini with tomato juice and blue cheese-stuffed olives. They look a little like eyeballs. Perfect.

BTW: Hill tweeted today that the series is set for six books of six issues each: Welcome to Lovecraft, Head Games, Crown of Shadows, Keys to the Kingdom, Clockworks and Omega.

Also, his comic The Cape – based on a short story in 20th Century Ghosts - is up for an Eisner this year. Any chance there’s a new novel on the horizon, too?  That would make me a very, very happy girl.

3. Game of Thrones

Sean Bean aka Eddard Stark

I have been disconsolate since HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones concluded for the season (Oh, Sean Bean, we hardly knew ye) and not even the return of True Blood or making my husband refer to me as Khaleesi has been able to lift my spirits. Sure, I’m now reading the George R.R. Martin novel (Really? Two middle initials?), but the news this week that a comic adaptation of the first book is coming was just the sugar on my Corn Flakes. Bantam Books announced it will be published by Dynamite Entertainment – which also publishes one of my faves, The Boys. (In an ironic twist, The Boys is the kind of book I have to hide under my mattress so my child won’t find it. Is that so wrong?)

Look for Game of Thrones in September. It should go nicely with a good bottle of ale.

4. X-Men First Class

For the past few months it’s been all “Thor” this and “Green Lantern” that, but

James McAvoy aka Charles Xavier

the real star of the show is this X-Men prequel (with a hilarious cameo by Hugh Jackman).

James McAvoy. Michael Fassbender. Be still my aging heart. More importantly (or at least as importantly) an awesome story and cool version of X-Men origins, even if they aren’t really comic-accurate. It was still lots of fun and the opener to what’s expected to be a trilogy – that will conclude about the time I’m 50. Wait for me James McAvoy! By the time you’re my age, I’ll only be, um, 65-ish. We’ll share a yard of ale – just like in the movie. Then I’ll fall asleep.

5. My LCS is up for an Eisner Award

My LCS

Double Midnight Comics, my uber-awesome LCS, is up for a Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award at ComicCon. The award is presented annually to one comic book retailer. According to ComicsPro.org, “Since 1993, The Eisner Spirit Award has been presented to an individual

retailer performing an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large.”

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Good luck guys! Here’s to having another Thing to Be Happy About – with a glass of champagne.

Good grief!

I turned 48 yesterday, and as you might imagine at a time like this, I’ve got a lot on my mind as I journey through the midpoint of my life.

For instance, how will I send my son to college? Will I ever be able to retire? Will there be peace in my lifetime? Will I ever lose that Freshman 15? (Granted, it’s been 30 years since I was a freshman, but I remain hopeful.)

Also weighing heavily on my mind is Ben Grimm.

Ian went to DragonCon a few months ago and, nice guy that he is, brought me back a copy of Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. I. I wasn’t that up on the FF, but I loved the story and learning about their origins. Just one thing continues to nag at me and that’s Ben Grimm.

OK, just consider this: Reed, Sue and Johnny are playing with some serious physics stuff  — the kind you don’t learn in public high school — when Grimm comes to visit his old pal Reed. Through no fault of his, the whole project goes to hell and he ends up as Thing.

And that’s it. He’s Thing. Have you ever stopped to consider the injustice? Reed gets all elastic-like, but when he’s not a human piece of gum, he a relatively normal-looking guy. Johnny gets to go up in flames at will, but when he’s not a hottie of a whole different kind, he’s gets to be the good-looking rogue. And Sue gets to be invisible. Then, when she’s not invisible, she’s the nauseatingly cute-as-a-button girl next door.

Grimm gets superpowers too. And when he’s not a big, powerful, hulking pile of rocks, he’s … a big, powerful, hulking pile of rocks. He never gets to look like a normal guy again. It’s just so frustratingly unfair. And it has been bothering me ever since I finished that FF trade.

It kind of reminds me of the Charlie Brown episode from Halloween. You know the one:

So what do I take from all of this? Ben Grimm is the Charlie Brown of the superhero world. He’s the one who gets the rock. I’m just waiting for the issue when Sue invites him to kick a football.

And I, having a soft spot for the underdog, feel bad for Grimm, just as I do for Charlie Brown. Let’s face it. Charlie Brown is a downer as far as comics go.

Recently my LCS had 75 percent off back issues, so I bought a bunch of old, really cool, collectible Fantastic Fours at an excellent price. Really, it’s the least I could do for old Grimm.

An iPad iMpasse

Tax time has come and gone and the IRS was kind enough to give us back some of our hard-earned money this year in the form of a tax refund. My husband, being the swell guy he is, has suggested I take some of the refund to get the one thing my heart desires: an iPad.

The object of my desire

Hey some girls like diamonds; I like shiny things of a more mechanical nature. And the iPad is currently the shiniest thing on the block.

I want one.

Or do I?

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been poring over articles on the ‘Net in an effort to determine whether I should buy or wait. The husband says wait until the next generation. He’s an IT guy who believes in the sanctity of the PC and loathes Apple computers, dismissing them as “toys.” So I have to take his advice — even if in my heart I know it’s sound —with a grain of salt.

So I read. I read things like “Should I buy an iPad” (my score says absolutely); “Why I won’t buy an iPad (and think you shouldn’t, either)”; “I Bought an iPad and I Love It. Everyone Else Loves It, Too”; and “Apple iPad Review: 9 Worst Things About The Apple Tablet.”

I am conflicted.

So I break it down to pros and cons. Cons: No camera (meh, I don’t care), no Flash (could be a problem), no multitasking (is that a pro or a con?), no USB (that means buying an adapter that’s going to add to the price).

Pros: C’mon it’s an iPad for goodness sake!

And, of course, it has what is, from all I’ve read, a pretty awesome comic app. Which, at first seemed like a plus, but now I’m not so sure it is. Sure it’s a nice delivery vehicle for crisp, colorful pages and it’s probably great for the comic book publishers, but what is it going to do to comic book stores — you know, the comfortable, homey place with the nice people who help you out and let you browse all day long through racks and racks of comic books. The place where they order special orders issues for you, stock action figures, T-shirts and TPBs. At least that’s what my comic book store is like — I know not everyone is lucky enough to have the same experience. But those of us who do have a great store nearby have a very real interest in what the iPad does to the local comic shop.

These people have built a business from the ground up and it has to be a little scary for them to consider the possibilities the iPad holds. Free delivery, $1.99 comics. On the surface it sounds great, but there’s something it doesn’t offer me and that’s human interaction. I suppose that’s fine if you’re, like, agoraphobic or something, but it’s important to me. Every weekend my son and I head to Double Midnight Comics in Manchester, N.H.,  for our weekly comic book fix. My son is 16; he’s becoming an adult. He doesn’t have much time — nor should he — for his mom, but he makes the weekly trek with me, we get something to eat and we talk. It may only be for a couple of hours a week, but it’s a couple of hours a lot of parents aren’t able to get at this point in their kids’ lives. And it’s thanks to comics and our local shop. Can an iPad do that?

So will I buy an iPad? I still don’t know, but I do know that no matter how slick the comic book app is, I’m inclined not to buy into that part of it. I know, I’m probably swimming against the tide, but this is one time I’m choosing low-tech over high-tech.

ComicConjecture

I will hardly be able to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow I will attend my first comic convention – or comicon as it’s known – or in this case, Granitecon, which is the New Hampshire version, being held in Nashua. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. And, I’m absolutely full of questions, such as 1) What will it be like? 2) What will they have there? 3) Who will attend? 4) And what in God’s name will I wear?

To be honest, I already know the answer to most of these questions: I’ve been to model train shows, so I have some experience with geek counterculture, albeit of a different flavor. As Eisner Award-winning comic book writer Ian Boothby tweeted today from Emerald City ComicCon, “comicon is where the socially awkward meet the awkwardly social.” Trains shows are pretty much the same, so I have a general idea of what to expect – lots of geeks in a big room with a lot of shiny things to look at and buy. So that answers questions 1 and 2.

Who will attend? Atomic Robo Creators Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener, among others. And lots of geeks in a big room with lots of shiny things to look at and buy.

Question 4 is the toughest, since, never having been to a comicon before, I’m not sure what the appropriate attire might be. However, I can safely say that cosplay will not be part of the equation, despite the fact that admission is free for everyone in a costume. What the hell, I’m feeling reckless: I’ll just spring for the $3.

But no matter what the outfit, I see tomorrow as an important step, a kind of coming of age, if you will. Jewish girls have the bat mitzvah; Latina girls have the quinceañera. I have the comicon. And tomorrow, I will no longer be a geek girl; I will be a geek woman.

Let the fun begin.

A is for Astro City

This is the first of a series of blog entries chronicling my random comic book discoveries, because being new at thiswhole comic thing, there’s plenty for me to discover.

For the purposes of this particular feature, the choice of comic technically isn’t “random;” the method I’ll use to pick a comic each week will be based on the alphabet. Since this is the first one, I chose something random that started with the letter “A.”

Ian Clark, who is sort of my comic book Yoda (“Comics. Read you will.”), lent me Astro City ages ago and I just hadn’t got around to reading the two volumes. Hey, I’m a newbie; I have a lot of catching up to do and my paying job gets in the way of everything else for a good part of the week. But in good conscience, I can’t keep the two books much longer, so Astro City is a natural for my comic book discovery of the week beginning with “A”. So I guess it’s not really random at all, but at least I can finally get the books back to Ian.

Hey, I made up the rules; I can bend them. Deal with it.

* * *

There are eight million stories in the Naked City.

There are somewhat fewer in Astro City, but they’re still pretty damn awesome.

I mean, there’s a whole city here and it’s not just a city in name; it’s the kind of city you’d make up if you were a kid and you had lots of time and imagination. It’s got its own map, its own skyline and its own neighborhoods. The city and its inhabitants have a funky but familiar retro feel, that’s oddly comforting. It’s like our own world – just different.

Astro City has a whole roster of superheroes who live among the humans. It’s not like one of those comic book cities that have ONE measly superhero — there is a whole community of them — Samaritan, Silver Agent, Jack-in-the-Box, Winged Victory and more. Superheroes flock to this place like wedding guests to an open bar.

Of course, there are villains, too – The Enelsians, for instance, and my personal favorite, Shirak the Devourer with his legion of shark men who could have looked really silly, but instead pull off that whole half man/half shark thing with absolute perfection via the pen of Brent Anderson.

“Life in the Big City” starts with an introduction to Samaritan — just an average (yet ripped) 9-5 guy who saves the world in between assignments at his magazine fact-checking job. The volume also ends with Samaritan — in an unlikely romance. In between there are several episodes with their own story arcs, including one with a reporter who stumbles on a great story that may or may not make it to the press. Hey, as a journalist myself, I know the feeling: Find a bunch of shark men from another world, see them being fought by superheroes saying funthings like “these oversized sardines need to be put back in the can” and write a killer story – only to have to hand it in to some dumb-ass editor who nitpicks everything looking for a few so-called “facts” that can be verified. Apparently newspapers are the same in every world.

Ian told me Astro City was among his absolute favorites and I can see why. Kurt Busiek’s writing is smart and engrossing, the images are beautiful and the coloring delicious: I could hardly put “Confession” down. Within 24 hours after finishing it I had stopped by my local comic store and bought The third TPB in the series, “Family Album.”

So now I’ll be looking for something that starts with “B.” Any suggestions?

Geek-tastic!

“Jor-El, paging Mr. Jor-El. Please come to the service desk. Your son Kal-El is waiting for you …”

Seriously, I LOVE that someone is this enthusiastic about their hobby.

Two geek thumbs up.

Geek chic

Check this out: Barbie has gone geek!

After more than a half million votes, the newest career Barbie will be computer engineer Barbie.

Barbie, a bit of a dilettante, has had 124 careers before this. Even if it’s over 50 years, that can’t look good on a resume.

But will she be taken seriously with a pink computer?

According to Reuters, “Computer Engineer Barbie was designed with the help of the Society of Women Engineers, who hope she will inspire young women to enter the profession.”

Uh huh.

Reuters continues, ” ‘As a computer engineer, Barbie will show girls that women can design products that have an important and positive impact on people’s everyday lives,’ said Nora Lin, president of the Society of Women Engineers.”

Interesting that, when the votes were broken down, computer engineer Barbie won the popular vote, while the girls’ vote went to … news anchor Barbie? Is that what girls aspire to these days?

I guess with newspapers shedding jobs at an alarming rate, print journalist was probably out of the question – come to think of it, with the economy the way it is, perhaps unemployed Barbie would have been a big seller. She’d come with sweatpants, a television and a pint of ice cream. And a resume.

Computer engineer Barbie and news anchor Barbie represent careers 125 and 126 respectively, both part of Mattel’s Barbie “I can be…” series. They follow a long line of illustrious Barbie careers that include astronaut, Olympic athlete, rock star, president and race car driver, just to name a few, since Barbie seems to change careers as often as she changes clothes. In fact, unlike the rest of us, it seems changing clothes is the only thing she needs to do to get a new career.

I bet she doesn’t even have an updated resume.