I haven't been reading much lately. For as much as I've been reading comics at all, it's mostly been bigger works or series, to put off finishing something that will only be added to the list of stuff to write about; I don't want more stuff on the list before I take some of it off (by writing about it). I want to get this stuff done but I need motivation to make it a priority, so making obstacles for myself and working to get the stuff out of my way is a good way to get myself to do it. At the moment I've got a few more zines worth of stuff to write about, assuming I follow this format (and there's no reason I wouldn't), so I'm good for a while, though surely I'll start adding more to that list once I whittle it down. (What I really need to do is get drunk one afternoon and pump out another zine in one sitting. That works a lot better than it should.)
But even besides having a reason to not read stuff I can finish, there hasn't been a lot of reading going on here. I want reading to be on my daily schedule of living and doing things but it's also the easiest element to get pushed out. Whereas in most of my life I've made it a point to have some time in the day, usually just before I go to bed, to read, lately that time has been taken up by writing, e-mail, and creative projects, and I've been successful enough with those that I only want to keep going like that, and it's difficult to introduce reading among that when I could be producing more. Even when I'm not working and can stay up late, it's not imperative to make time for reading. The charge I get from writing and getting projects done is more than what I get from reading something that stands too great a chance at being forgettable. Last summer I did well with it, when I read most of the stuff below and in the next zine or so, but I've been away from that schedule for a while. (And I'm still reading, but it's usually magazines in the bathroom or listening to audiobooks, and you may argue that that holds no relation to actually reading.) I could be in a phase of my life when I'd rather create something than consume what someone else has done. And as the general assumption goes, most of that meant to be consumed is crap, and my time becomes increasingly more valuable than to give it to such. Maybe I just can't get excited enough to do it unless I'm knocking books off the shelf or the books I'm on are extraordinary (and at least one of the current ones is). I could come back around once I overcome the mental block I've made when I take care of some of this stuff. But it doesn't matter for the moment since I'll have plenty of grist for these zines. I'm good to keep writing even if it means less reading. Once again I disagree with Stephen King. But then, maybe noting it here means I can put a bow on this phase in my life and can get back on the horse to finally make reading a priority in life again.
REVIEWS
But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman. I read a lot of Klosterman’s magazines columns and articles, especially those in Spin (Google “klosterman chinese democracy spin” and “klosterman cobain”) and Esquire, the latter for which were out of place but filling their quota for quirkiness, so his books are an easy sell. Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs was a nice enough read, though at this point forgettable, being entertainment more than something particularly substantial and I might not have bothered with another one if I didn’t have a reason. But What If We Were Wrong came up in a selection of audiobooks and I needed to pick something or lose the credit, and the selection otherwise wasn’t great, so I dove in. At least I could listen to it even with divided attention, which would be more than it needed. It’s light pop-philosophy. No one needs more wind-bag philosophy -- even the greats weren’t necessary anywhere even remotely outside of academia (and even then you could take a better class to fulfill a requirement) but Klosterman puts a spin on it by updating it with contemporary arguments and popular references. After a while his name-dropping just feels like name-dropping, though he pulls from such a range that at least it can be lively. But the basis of philosophy is that anyone could be wrong, and if no one’s view is any better than any other, and it might not be correct, then it’s just people babbling on and on. So there’s not much reason to follow it, except for entertainment, and that’s where the pop- arena comes into play, but it can only carry it so far. When Klosterman digs deeper into his argument he also pulls further away from anything resembling fun and it becomes drudgery (even when listening to it). It’s enough to hold a lot of conversations together, hence binding them together in a book, but there’s also no reason to be talking about any of it, which is the greatest curse of philosophy as a study in the first place and this, whether intended as philosophy or not, lands as close to the middle of that as anything written in the modern day, whether it’s sugared up to go down easy or not. Klosterman might be saying a lot, and he might have better ideas than most, but none of this is going to change the world. Sex, Drugs worked best as a collection of columns but But What If is bound together by a central theme (namely, what if how we perceive right or wrong is so flawed that what we think is right now is wrong later?), so breaking it up into different angles fragments the argument and it becomes a bleary mess as it trudges along. Then it finally ends but only when it seems like he ran out of breath, since he probably could have kept going, even if was just more babbling. Klosterman is smart, and he can be clever (though less as he gets deeper into drier intellectual territory), and he makes it as easy to understand as possible, but it doesn't add up to much, even when it's supposed to.
But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman. I read a lot of Klosterman’s magazines columns and articles, especially those in Spin (Google “klosterman chinese democracy spin” and “klosterman cobain”) and Esquire, the latter for which were out of place but filling their quota for quirkiness, so his books are an easy sell. Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs was a nice enough read, though at this point forgettable, being entertainment more than something particularly substantial and I might not have bothered with another one if I didn’t have a reason. But What If We Were Wrong came up in a selection of audiobooks and I needed to pick something or lose the credit, and the selection otherwise wasn’t great, so I dove in. At least I could listen to it even with divided attention, which would be more than it needed. It’s light pop-philosophy. No one needs more wind-bag philosophy -- even the greats weren’t necessary anywhere even remotely outside of academia (and even then you could take a better class to fulfill a requirement) but Klosterman puts a spin on it by updating it with contemporary arguments and popular references. After a while his name-dropping just feels like name-dropping, though he pulls from such a range that at least it can be lively. But the basis of philosophy is that anyone could be wrong, and if no one’s view is any better than any other, and it might not be correct, then it’s just people babbling on and on. So there’s not much reason to follow it, except for entertainment, and that’s where the pop- arena comes into play, but it can only carry it so far. When Klosterman digs deeper into his argument he also pulls further away from anything resembling fun and it becomes drudgery (even when listening to it). It’s enough to hold a lot of conversations together, hence binding them together in a book, but there’s also no reason to be talking about any of it, which is the greatest curse of philosophy as a study in the first place and this, whether intended as philosophy or not, lands as close to the middle of that as anything written in the modern day, whether it’s sugared up to go down easy or not. Klosterman might be saying a lot, and he might have better ideas than most, but none of this is going to change the world. Sex, Drugs worked best as a collection of columns but But What If is bound together by a central theme (namely, what if how we perceive right or wrong is so flawed that what we think is right now is wrong later?), so breaking it up into different angles fragments the argument and it becomes a bleary mess as it trudges along. Then it finally ends but only when it seems like he ran out of breath, since he probably could have kept going, even if was just more babbling. Klosterman is smart, and he can be clever (though less as he gets deeper into drier intellectual territory), and he makes it as easy to understand as possible, but it doesn't add up to much, even when it's supposed to.
Klosterman reads the introduction in the audiobook and even admits that he got a British lady to read the rest because she sounds smarter. Which was wise, since Klosterman, all respect intended, sounds like a big nerd, lisp and all. He’s an intelligent guy but on voice alone he doesn’t do much to discount any stereotypes. The lady does, indeed, punch it up but it’s too easy to not buy that she has any idea what any of what she's saying really means. Listening to it makes it go down a lot easier -- I would have been pissed to have given this a year if I’d read it -- but it still drags, though that might be for the length as much as any philosophy text will feel like it’s taking forever.
Empowered (Dark Horse). Satire can be difficult to swallow sometimes. Especially in mainstream comics, where so much recycling and inbreeding seems like it’s its own self-satirization. Heck, I thought The Authority was a legit superhero book back when it was fresh. But Adam Warren’s Empowered is nothing but satire. Maybe it’s a spank book too, but it’s also satirizing that as well. Just a casual flip through the pages doesn’t show off much depth -- the point of the book is how the heroine gets more powerful when she becomes more scantily clad -- but actually reading it, if you can get that far, it gets some sly bits and sometimes even funny. If shallowness wasn’t a big part of its concept, it might even be ground-breaking at some points. But it’s also Warren turning in pages and a victory to get art from him. Luckily, he knows where his bread is buttered, but it’s also even farther into the point that it’s so much about half-naked babes that anything but is a real drag, so it can be noise when it's not about the heroine. The art, in black & white, is also proudly digitally unpolished, looking like it came straight from a bushel of burned-down pencils, which is refreshing when most comics these days look so dull and sterile. (Compare new issues to stuff just 10 years ago. It might as well be 40 years ago, and a shame that so often we’ve lost any spontaneous, rough approaches.) Warren doing the art is the central selling point, since the volumes with another artist become pointless (unless he’s going to get Adam Hughes to draw interiors). Warren makes his point before even getting past the cover, but since you can get the same thing out of a spank book or a satire of a spank book, it works equally well on whatever level. It’s a fun read, quick enough that it doesn’t grind, and shallow enough that you don’t have to give too much to it (unless you need some extra time in the bathroom with it).
Spider-Man: Reign (Marvel). Kaare Andrews seemed to quietly come out of nowhere to turn in some great art for Marvel, but enough to make a splash and to cause some anticipation over what he could with a project solely on his own, with writing & interior art. He turned in some great covers, but he could show off what he could really do by tackling Spider-Man, perhaps the greatest mainstream character. But it could also show how far he could fall from those expectations if it wasn't astounding. And Reign doesn't even rate as good. It's his own spin on Spider-Man, and while there's been worse, there's very little Andrews brings to the character and his immediate world. He wrenches the hero and mythos into a Dark Knight Returns world, so brazenly an attempt that he even names a news-caster Miller. It's almost a fantasy of how Frank Miller would have done Spider-Man during the Dark Knight era, assuming that Miller would never have challenged himself to do something more innovative after already conquering that realm (even the sequel(s) was a completely different thing, so the innovation that that DC project had is lost, this being yet another bad copy, a generation or two of influences after that Batman story was its own thing. It can be fun to imagine how it would work (or could have 25 years ago) but there's no reason to put it into practice. It's not a good Spider-Man story or anywhere near a good comic. Andrews' style is interesting but when he can't fit it into a good story, he might as well keep doing covers. I picked this up (at the library, for free) after hearing how great his Iron Fist was, and maybe that would have been the place to start. I liked his stuff -- or at least the idea of his stuff -- enough that I picked up some Renato Jones, issues, so there's hope that he's turned in a better project, without any limits of a mainstream publisher. But it wouldn't be a surprise if his work turns out to be all flash, something that could reach a fuller potential if he surrendered himself to be paired with a collaborator, especially a writer who could match his stuff with a story worth reading and not a dirty copy of something else.
They're Not Like Us, Vol 1: Black Holes for the Young (Image). There are worse crimes than ripping off the original New Mutants. It wasn't a fresh concept when Claremont did it, and in the time since it's been done enough to make anyone think that it's always been a trope. A team of superhuman kids who learn about growing up as they learn about their powers -- it's an evergreen idea that anyone could do a lot with. It's a bland foundation but it can be built again. And so it comes back again with They're Not Like Us, which has a mission statement right in the title. There aren't many surprises, but it sets up enough for more, and begins to push its boundaries more than Marvel comics were allowed to do, enough that this could be an assuring start. It doesn't state much of a direction but that could also refer to how long they intend to keep it going and that they'll get somewhere eventually. The star of the show is Simon Gane, an artist in a vein toward Paul Pope, and who can illustrate kids having a conversation with as much rough grace as super-powered activity. It would be interesting to see the guy apply his talents to anything, but that he's put stuff out that avoids rote super-heroics is commendable. He may not last as long as they intend the series to go, but it could be interesting to see where he moves to, after seeing where he takes this story.
Sgt. Rock: Hell and Hard Place (DC/Vertigo). It's a little-known fact that I have a secret history with war comics. It was my uncle who got me into comics when I was a little, little kid, and I gravitated toward his superhero comics, of which he only had a few, since he had a lot more war comics (and he's only four years older than me, not a grizzled vet or anything), but they were enough to get me going, for the love for comics if not for superheroes. His collection was a lot of random stuff, whatever was out, nothing that established a sustained story if it was more than one issue, but enough action and explosions. So I probably paged through a few of those, though they never held my interest for more than a page, but there were many drawn by Joe Kubert -- not that my uncle was necessarily a fan, but Kubert just happened to get a lot of work there (and drew what were easily the best ones) -- so I had a basis for his art, maybe before any other artist I became familiar with later. Between then and becoming an adult reader, I never went to war comics, even to rekindle some familiarity, and when I did it was purely out of nostalgia, but unless it had a really magnetic story or art, I drifted away without memory of it. However, it wouldn't be hard to get me to pick up anything written by Brian Azzarello, and he's a strong enough writer that he'll work a rough magic in whatever genre he chooses. So a complete, self-contained graphic novel is not a hard sell, with the assumption it will accompanied by an able artist, so it's almost a bonus that he did a book drawn by Kubert, though I'm sure he'd tell you it's Kubert first and then him. It's Kubert's swan song, one of his last projects before passing, but he does it with the same vitality and flair as anything he's done, if not with more technical prowess than in most of the rest of his career, while still having the same grit and intensity. It's almost impressionistic, with smooth lines that don't crowd or rush on a page. It's odd to say a war comic could be graceful but if anyone could do it, it's him. If Kubert plied his skills as a teacher later in his years (since, being an icon, he was still known as being an artist), the book is its own master class in how to draw a comic, with nuance and intensity and dirty elegance and a rugged beauty. The story is serviceable -- not to disparage it, though Azzarello has done more piercing work in longer stories -- but his story is just to give Kubert stuff to draw. Even better, it's Kubert working with Sgt. Rock -- the original -- so it's not like some random situation in a war comic, but reuniting Kubert with his best creation for one last ride. Azzarello would be the odd man out, a new jack among some stuff that's been around a while, but he fits in with a fitting tale to bring it all together. The thing reads like an anthology, with some short stories that meld together out of necessity, but it's just as well since it's a bunch of great stories as good as just one, in the deluxe format of a stately graphic novel, which it deserves. Azzarello has done stuff since, just like Kubert had done plenty of work, often thrilling and ground-breaking and as artful as anything, so it's a combination of generations of brilliant comics creators. But even if it's a shame that they couldn't ever do another project together, it was a good way for Kubert to go out, if he had to. Any legend would be so fortunate to have such a fitting send-off with an ability that never began to go downhill.
* All-New All-Different Point One #1 (Marvel). (According to the indicia, that's the actual title.) Marvel did these issues for a while, anthology books with a few pages to introduce a new series, usually tied into some event. Even if they were too connected to something else to be self-contained, it was a sampler that could lead to a new book to check out or a team to keep an eye on. A creative team should be able to be judged on a few pages before committing to much more. Of course, the book itself doesn't mean much if there's no promise to read the stuff it's spinning into. They even try to wrap it an umbrella story around it, in this case framing it with the story of the new Squadron Supreme, which is enough to get me there. But if those new series don't take off right away then most of them will disappear, making this to exist more as a promotional tool than a part of a story, much less its own, rendering it fairly useless. There's nothing wrong with some promotion but there's not much need to pick these up, which fans quickly figured out, which is probably why Marvel stopped doing them. You can usually find your way to a new series if it's deserving, and having to dig this up because it might be necessary to very minimally complete another story would be more trouble than it's worth. It's hard to say what else they could do with this idea, as they've already used the issues for the first appearance of a new character or event, and they're still not quite stories or an advance peek or reprint, but there have to be just better avenues of advertisement (like just making the comics good and letting word spread organically). This one clearly didn't help the retooled Squadron Supreme.
* Secret Avengers #29 (Marvel). Every once in a while there's a series with a pattern of issues that are self-contained in themselves and don't have to continue to get a whole story. It shouldn't be a big deal that a comic doesn't spill into another comic, but at least it happens, if rarely. I go to the comics shop once a week, and unless I'm at the one where I can get away with it, I need to buy at least one item, obliged to not be a page-flipping free-loader. I'd rather not pay $20 for a thin trade paperback to add to the ones on my endless bookshelves so I try to keep it at picking up a single issue, but I want to get the whole piece and not have to buy other stuff just to get a complete story for my money. Maybe the indies do well with done-in-ones but you'd be frustrated, like me, by how rarely Marvel or DC put out a complete story for under $5. To do so these days seems like experimental story-telling, as if it's been proven that a whole comics story can't be told in one issue. It used to be the case when every comic that came out was its own story, before bleeding continuity was the rambling standard instead of a rare, novel meeting, but there's more money in stringing it out and keeping the readers coming back to get the next part (the industry has been relying on feeding addicts in regular installments for longer than we've been alive). On top of that, anthologies don't sell and kids comics are usually for attention spans too short, at the other extreme. Even fewer are the self-contained issues that are actually worth getting but maybe every once in a while one of the big publishers throw something bite-sized but substantial out there, even it's just an experiment that shouldn't have to be an experiment. Warren Ellis wrote six issues of Secret Avengers -- usually a book mired in drawn-out stories since that's what such plot-driven books need, apparently -- and, being self-contained, exactly filled a need to purchase. It would have been a big deal, and a tempting purchase, even if he did the usual multi-part story. He did a superhero thing, yet another trip for someone who says they don't want to go there, and got a range of artists for the issues. Even if it didn't work, it was still a refreshing thing, and something I might have bought every month if they actually did that regularly (and if the comics shop didn't sell out of them). Of course they collected the issues into a trade, which defeats the purpose (at least for me), but maybe I'll buy that some other time when I need to pick up something and don't mind the hit on my wallet. As it is, since I'm still at the shop once a week, and frequently away from home, I continue my search for something for a few bucks that I can feasibly read in one sitting then go about the rest of my day that won't include seeking out the next part.
* Batman: Black & White #4 (DC). DC does some self-contained stories worth getting too, though wildly inconsistent in an anthology. Presenting short Batman stories by various creators in black & white boarders on genius, and they did well with this series, where it appeared, even worth buying a whole issue when it appeared as a back-up. It was better as a treat, as short stories collected in bigger volumes later on, rather than a meal, but considering they probably got a stack of these very quickly, they might as well use a series as a clearing house. And it's been a while, with a new generation of creators -- surely they've got a new crop they could put out. As with any anthology it's a mixed bag, but, seeing the creators they get, usually above the line overall, and, at worst a Batman story. Iffy quality aside, this is exactly the kind of comic I'd like to buy most weeks. If only they did it more often than whenever they felt like it. (And you know I supported the Vertigo anthologies, of which there were a lot more, and more regularly, but it's been a while for those, for as many ways as they tried to get them out.)
* All-New Guardians of the Galaxy: Free Comic Book Day (Marvel). I've usually passed on Free Comic Book Day since it's not always convenient to go into the shop on Free Comic Book Day -- especially since it's a Saturday and that means there will be people there -- but I like the idea of free comics. It's a great idea, until you realize that someone has to pay for those comics, and if it's not the publishers then it's the comics stores, and they're getting squeezed out as it is. And it's largely expected by their customers that they'll do it so they're stuck. Hopefully it actually does lead to getting more people into comics and snags new customers, but, assuming you can't always count on non-comics fans dropping by, for those who actually know about it, it's probably more about the usual customers getting something for free. My shop solves the problem by getting some but not a lot -- first come, first serve -- then when they run out they can at least say they had them at one point, then don't have to worry about it. As it was, I specifically asked for them to put aside this issue for me, maybe because I was trying to get the voice of Drax down when I was playing a GotG RPG, and when I thought I was going to get back into reading comics regularly again, and I loved the idea of getting to some single issues that weren't so important to a bigger story-line and all that, just reading to read. This was probably a good enough issue to jump on to something but ultimately disregard as a part of the next big story line and/or included in a collection (contributing to the trade's cover price just as much as any other page in it). And it also helped to not remember since that game went away shortly after that. I'm not sure if I ever got Drax down.
* Inhumans Prime (Marvel). Whether Marvel were trying to grow a new X-Men to make up for the brand they couldn't exploit in the movies, there's no reason they couldn't put the Inhumans corner of the universe to work to see where it goes. They made a strong push, maybe too hard, seeing how many books came out very quickly and how many of those series didn't last. It could have been wiser to start out easier, to see how it flies first before attempting a full-court press, as keeping up with that much material might have killed the enthusiasm from the few fans they had in the first place. At least they usually establish a hit before they flog it to death. It was also ridiculous to think they could top Jenkins & Lee's mini-series from the '90s, but even though they already had the Inhumans story that made any other unnecessary, there was no reason to not try to put them into action. Though if the comics were meant as a set-up for the TV show, it was a promise that was not kept with such a deplorable waste of time, effort, and space. It also might not have been wise to venture so far from the core characters that make up the group, eventually getting to a place where the intro page didn't have one recognizable character. They're good characters, while never being Lee & Kirby's best, but good as second-stringer characters, and there's no reason to think there wasn't any potential. They're the supporting characters from Coen bros. movies: probably good enough to carry their own projects until they try and inevitably buckle (though the Coens are wise enough to avoid doing so, while Marvel hasn't found an easy dollar they didn't like). These kinds of B-list heroes are best in smaller doses, and maybe they could have made something special by keeping it modest. As it was, there was this single issue that might have been a peak at what they were doing, except that it was just a role-call of the characters, as if showing them all off together could be a second-wind to keep the franchise going. The art was good enough for me to try it out, at least, even though I don't remember anything about it other than a double-page spread in the middle that showed a lot of characters that I didn't know and didn't ever feel compelled to figure out. There might be further, worthwhile Inhumans stories out there, but Marvel needs to let those come to them rather than pushing some out as making up for a mistake or some pissy revenge.
* Mockingbird #1 (Marvel). Such a great character, whether they were trying to capitalize on her exposure in their TV show (AoS) or because they throw every character at the wall every once in a while just to see what sticks. Though they couldn't get much out of her on the show or in the comic, since she disappeared not long after starting both, to show that maybe all she was good for was the potential of a new brand, easy enough to move from when she didn't catch on. But the character is cool enough that there could ever be hope she could support her own comic, though there wasn't much to latch on to with this. The cover is so good and captures her so well that it's crushing when the inside is nowhere close to it, and they wrench the character into such a different path that it's too easily divorced from what she was already and what had been so cool about her before this attempt. They tried spinning her into something with Spider-Man, too (an awkward romantic situation), and that didn't seem to work either. She seemed too easily to be dead for a while. Maybe she's better on a team if she has to go anywhere, instead of actually trying to make her work. Hopefully they'll give her another shot later on (both in comics or the TV or movies, just to give any reason for Adrianne Palicki to come around again).
* Hero Comics 2014 (IDW). The best thing about variant covers is that you can sometimes get out of buying something by J. Scott Campbell. I'm a sucker for anthology books, and this one is even for charity (even if I usually put my support behind the CBLDF). A review about an anthology is tricky since it's always a scatter-shot thing by nature but they're often interesting things since the creators can do what they want when it's not attached to anything, and someone is indebted to them just to get their work and name so they usually have free reign. What stuck in my memory was a quirky Dracula story by Mark Millar.
* Guardians Team-Up #9 (Marvel). This would have been a great self-contained, stand-alone issue to pick up on a week's visit to the shop but it came in a pack of random Marvel comics I got for cheap on Groupon and for some reason I don't recall, this one stood out. If I had paged through all the issues (which I didn't do since I knew a lot of them were stinkers) this one might have stood out even if I wasn't familiar with the Javier Pulido work, but it could have been his name being why I rescued it. He got to write the issue as well as drawing it, and it's a simple, straight-forward meeting of Star-Lord and Spider-Man. Nothing complicated, nothing fancy, just like the guy's confident, impeccable art. A wonderful issue (which I should give to the kid to whom I gave the rest of those issues).
* Avengers #0 (Marvel). See above about All-New All-Different Point One #1, trying to get into one of these once again. This one just had a peek at new Avengers books, which didn't last too long until they restarted them yet again.
* Local comic(s). I don't actually review every single thing I read. There are a number of comics I leave out, never because of quality but usually because it's by someone I know (the biggest amount of stuff I buy at conventions anymore) and I don't want my comments to be tainted by a relationship, or appear to be. Conflict of interest or something. And there are also comics I've gotten because the author is in front of me and I don't want to be a jerk by passing on buying their book when they're about to sign it for me. Sure, that's a manipulative move on their part, and they don't want me to have it enough that they'll give it to me for free (for which they would be paying for it themselves), but I also want to show support and it's usually just one issue. Sometimes I don't even know the person but even better to not start off knowing them by looking like a jerk. And if I don't know the book before I get it from them, maybe it's good. Though, in the cases of indie stuff without a bigger label than themselves (read: not good enough to get someone else to publish it), it's usually crap. Including one I got recently -- you could tell what it was from the cover -- but its significance is giving me a prompt to explain how I don't include local stuff by people I might know locally. And that book was bad enough to let disappear without mention. Anyone should be encouraged to create a comic if that's their dream, but you need to make something that anyone would want to spend money on, much less read, rather than appease your vanity. It's not even much of a story, but see me in person and I might tell you (in exchange for a free copy of your book) (and even though he actually put out more issues in his series, it would need someone to recognize it just to call it non-existent).
(The "Quick Bites" is a new feature for some of the single issues I get to. The original intention really was to have them be super-short reviews.)
My Biggest References For Superhero Comics* (roughly in chronological order):
1. The back-up story in Captain America #221.
2. Avengers Annual #10.
3. Crisis on Infinite Earths.
4. The original Secret Wars.
5. Byrne’s Man of Steel (especially #3).
6. Squadron Supreme (mini-series) (especially #12).
7. Legends.
8. Gruenwald's Captain America (especially pre-#350).
9. Ostrander’s Suicide Squad.
10. Giffen & DeMatteis’ Justice League (up to the Hughes issues).
11. Byrne’s West Coast Avengers.
(* There are other comics I may hold in greater esteem (Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, “Kraven’s Last Hunt”, Preacher, Sandman) but this is just for pure superhero-ness)
1. The back-up story in Captain America #221.
2. Avengers Annual #10.
3. Crisis on Infinite Earths.
4. The original Secret Wars.
5. Byrne’s Man of Steel (especially #3).
6. Squadron Supreme (mini-series) (especially #12).
7. Legends.
8. Gruenwald's Captain America (especially pre-#350).
9. Ostrander’s Suicide Squad.
10. Giffen & DeMatteis’ Justice League (up to the Hughes issues).
11. Byrne’s West Coast Avengers.
(* There are other comics I may hold in greater esteem (Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, “Kraven’s Last Hunt”, Preacher, Sandman) but this is just for pure superhero-ness)
Top Albums Of 2017 (In This Order):
10. Rainbow- Kesha.
9. Harry Styles- Harry Styles.
8. Whiteout Conditions- the New Pornographers.
7. 4:44- Jay-Z.
6. Slowdive- Slowdive.
5. Hot Thoughts- Spoon.
4. After Laughter- Paramore.
3. Out In The Storm- Waxahatchee.
2. Melodrama- Lorde.
1. Damn- Kendrick Lamar.
My Top Electric Six Songs Of All Time (In This Order):
20. "Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart"
19. "Hello! I See You"
18. "Roulette"
17. "Clusterfuck"
16. "Adam Levine"
15. "Escape From Ohio"
14. "Formula 409"
13. "Nuclear War (On The Dance Floor)"
12. "Devil Nights"
11. "I Invented The Night"
10. "Improper Dancing"
9. "Rock N' Roll Evacuation"
8. "I Buy The Drugs"
7. "Body Shot"
6. "Down At McDonnelzzz"
5. "Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother)"
4. "Dance Pattern"
3. "Dance Commander"*
2. "Danger! High Voltage"*
1. "Dance Epidemic"*
(* Played at my wedding.)
RAVES
Eating more modestly. I hate eating. Actually, I hate having to stop what I'm doing and take the time to make something and sit down and eat it (though I try to multitask another task with it, like reading or going through e-mail or editing). I've been snacking more, when I can eat while working (though that precludes having popcorn, which necessitates more active eating). I've realized recently that I usually eat the biggest meal possible so I can avoid stopping to eat again for as long as I can, as well as the hard-wired habit of three meals a day, but eating smaller portions takes less time and is sometimes less preparation, and eating less is healthier and helps avoid a lunch-coma. Lately for lunches I've been cutting leftovers in half and doing a lot of sandwiches, salads (which look like a lot but it goes quickly and doesn't linger), and a grilled-chicken/rice/beans/vegetables mix that does well with sriracha. It feels like a comfortable compromise, and probably something I should have done a long time ago. Dinners usually function the same as they usually are, though, and on weekends all bets are off, but every little bit can help. Update: Then intermittent fasting, which I'll mention later if it works.
My purse. No, not really a purse. A few years ago, a neighbor in my building was having a yard sale and he sold me a box full of airplane first-class amenities for ten bucks or so. It was two dozen or so pouches with travel-sized toothbrushes, toothpaste, sleep-masks, earplugs, comfy wool socks, and the like. It was just fun to go through all the stuff but every once in a while I'll pull out a few things that could work. The pouches in particular are useful. They might even be worth more than I paid on their own -- I've been looking for a dopp kit for under $25 for years now and may give in to getting a ladies' one if I give up keeping my toiletries in a reusable cloth sack meant to carry lunches. When I go places, local, not traveling, I carry my loose phone charger cord, which can be easy to forget (when I remember it in the first place). Then sometimes I need my phone battery and pens are harder to come by than they used to be. So I throw everything, along with some post-its, a Sharpie, and a deck of cards -- you know, the essentials -- in a pouch so everything is in one place and it's easy to carry. I keep mine in my car, since that's how I get around to places where I might need it. I've often envied ladies who get to carry around more stuff, so that their stuff is always there (I have an irrational fear of being caught unprepared (which you probably already know)), and for a while I was trying to get into the habit of always carrying around a backpack, but I found that I didn't really need to keep that much stuff with me in the first place. But keeping just a few of the essentials handy and in the same place is a good idea.
Trivia HQ. As if I wouldn't be on there. Every day as 6pm California time, and noon during the week. When you get on it, use the code marmarmarmarmar (that's five "mar"s).
That's okay for now. More next time, hopefully soon (maybe enough to get a couple in by the end of the year? I'm noting it just in case that might motivate me to actually do it).
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