News for the Week of April 23, 2008
Rick’s Writin’s
We all know that there are pros and cons to both sides of the married
(live in significant other) or single coin. One of the things that stinks
about being single is you have no one to pawn off half the household chores
on (or more if you can get away with it. WE know who that is don't we!).
As a result, unless you want to live in a weed infested, overgrown pigsty
(not as bad as it sounds), you have to do all the chores yourself. Mow
the lawn, do the dishes, do laundry, clean the bathroom, blah blah blah...
All this takes away from time I could be watching all those DVDs and TV
shows everybody thinks I should be watching, like Jericho or Young Indiana
Jones and it definitely cuts into comic reading time. I'm not crying and
I know I'm not alone here, but it would be nice to have someone else cook
dinner and clean the kitchen, or vacuum once in a while. Sports Talk:
Mariners are playing pretty well. The starting pitching is holding up
particularly Felix and Carlos Silva. I have a feeling that Eric Bedard
is going to start reminding me of Gil Meche, and we know how much I like
ol' Gil. The guy can't miss every other start, particularly on short notice.
Overall though, so far so good. The bats have been streaky, but better
than I thought they'd be. Sonics: For those of you hoping that the Sonics
can be saved, give it up and let that lying carpet bagging bastard take
his broken ass team out of here, but not before we sue his ass and the
NBA's from here to Kingdom Come, and put the NBA in such a bad situation
that they are forced to give us a team back. Obviously, we need to protect
the name Sonics, and our local politicians, who are almost as much to
blame, have to get it together and get a proper arena in place. There
are ways and funding to do it. We around here (politically) always wait
until its calamity time to do anything. What a stupid mode of operation,
but that's on us. We need to vote out the foot dragging knuckleheads that
allowed this situation to get where it is (Seattle City Council, you're
lucky I can't vote against you). Besides, I want an NHL Hockey team in
Seattle (Portland as well), and they need a place to play too.
Mucho, mucho comics this week with the big Countdown (#1) heading the
list. It's almost over, but just about to start...that's where we are
on DC's big 2008 event. Countdown is winding up its massive story and
setting up the Final Crisis!!! The transition will be in next week's DC
Universe #0, which will be a great issue for folks to catch up and join
in the fun if you haven't been following events. The issue will only be
50 cents! That's right two bits (did they ever call a single quarter one
bit?) Also, as part of the Countdown story, the New Gods of the Fourth
World have been dying, or being killed and the Death of the New Gods mini
(#8 of 8) wraps this week too. I'm curious about the up coming new Fifth
World, and wonder what will be different and how it will be set up, because
Jack Kirby sure isn't here to do it. Grant Morrison gets Batman ready
to launch into the Batman R.I.P. story with this week's Batman (#675).
The story doesn't start in this issue, but will have implications. I don't
think DC is going to kill off Batman, though they DO promise a big shake-up
at the very least. Mostly, I hope they don't do it because I don't want
Marvel Zombies running around saying "Copy Cat" due to the Captain
America death last year. I can see maybe acting like Batman's dead, but
I don't think you can actually kill off Batman, or Bruce Wayne, because
Bruce's money is so important in the DC Universe. I don't think you can
delegate that to Dick Grayson (Nightwing) and Tim Drake (Robin) who'd
inherit.
Star Wars fans get a bundle of goods this week as three titles arrive,
leaving me with my usual "Why can't they space them out" rant.
The first is Knights of the Old Republic (#27) which has part 3 Vector
cross-over story. Legacy (#22) and Dark Times (#10) round out the trio.
Marvel has a bunch of dueces, with two Ultimate titles: Spidey (#121)
and F.F. (#53), two Divided We Stand: Uncanny X-Men (#497) and X-Force
(#3), Hulk: issue #3 of Red Hulk and Hulk vs. Hercules: Titans Clash one
shot, and probably most important two Secret Invasion titles: Mighty Avengers
(#12) and Ms. Marvel (#26) The Skrulls are here....Oooohh scary. There's
a few other goodies too, like Thor (#8), Bird's of Prey (#117) and lastly
a White Picket Fences one shot that's actually a Double feature two story
book. This book has an odd sense of humor and I enjoyed the first mini
series, so I hope this one holds up.
Paula’s Picks
So, I didn’t start my running program. That really good Saturday
tricked me into thinking that running in 50 degree weather can’t
be that bad. And now? It’s snowing. You know, everyone keeps talking
about global warming and we need to do everything we can to stop it. Well,
good job people! You’ve actually reversed global warming! So, everyone
put your incandescent bulbs back in your lamps, put away your re-usable
grocery bags and drive your SUVs all you want until spring gets here.
I want to plant some tomatoes before August!
We’re getting in a whole bunch of reorders this week. It sounds
like a bunch of you know about the new Hellboy movie coming out this summer
(July 11th). We’re stocking up on our Hellboy and BPRD trade paperbacks
in preparation for the new movie. The last movie was fantastic and I’ve
really enjoyed the animated movies they’ve been coming out with.
I believe that out of all of the comic book movies that have been coming
out the past few years, Hellboy has brought in the most non-comic readers
into our shop. I figure part of the reason is that many people haven’t
heard of Hellboy and are curious to know more about the characters. Most
people know the basics of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Batman and Superman so
they don’t come in looking for more. I can’t wait to see how
non-comic book people feel about the Iron Man movie. I think it looks
pretty good.
Fables #72 comes out this week concluding the (too) short story about
Cinderella. She’s quickly becoming my favorite Fable! Other than
Paul Bunyan and those of you that have been reading Jack of Fables know
that I’m going to have to have some words with Bill Willingham at
Emerald City Comic Con.