Weekly 5 #9

Thanks to various demands on my time due to work, school, and parenthood, my posting schedule here has been, to say the least, erratic. To say the most, it's been shitty. I'm trying to change that, and one of the ways I'm doing that is, temporarily at least, abandoning some of the traditional things I've done here. So, for example, for the foreseeable future, the Friday 5 will be the Weekly 5. I'll also be posting here as time (and my energy levels) allow. So let's get to it, shall we?


1. 52 #20: Man, things have been picking up over the last few weeks, haven't they? Black Adam getting married, Ralph heading off to (maybe) become Dr. Fate, Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire in Space Odyssey, Skeets-as-evil-manipulator? Oy vey! Anyway, our space-lost trio takes center stage this week, and let me say that the Emerald Head of Ekron is sheer genius! I'm also enjoying Lobo's battle against his own nature while maintaining his position as Bishop. Let's see where this goes, shall we?

2. Civil War #4: HOLY JABRONIS!! The blogosphere has been having a field day with this one all weekend, and there's no reason I shouldn't get in on it a little too. I have to agree that Reed seems wildly out of character throughout this series. Cloning Thor? Really? And then being surprised when it doesn't work. Oh, and nice drilling into his (its?) skull. Meanwhile, Captain America really does come off like some sort of zealot in his exchange with Nighthawk towards the end of the issue. And the man in the ski mask? I'm voting Punisher. I'm also riding this series out to the (bitter?) end. I'm enjoying it for the most part, and I'm willing to suspend some of my problems to see where the story goes.

3. Mrs. Z. reading comics: In the last few weeks, Mrs. Z. has plowed through She-Hulk: Single Green Female and Super-Human Law, the six volumes of Fables that I own (and has given me instructions to acquire the rest of the available volumes post-haste), True Story Swear to God: This One Goes Up to 11 and 100 Stories, and a couple volumes of Rucka's run on Wonder Woman. It only took 9 years, but I think I've finally got her hooked.

4. SDCC Memory #1: Kyle Baker has got to be one of the nicest fellows in the business. This is the second year I've chatted with him at his booth for a few minutes, and he always made me (and the other people I observed him interacting with over the course of the Con) feel like talking with me was the most important thing on his to do list. We talked about why he's been working in wordless strips with Nat Turner and The Bakers (A, he couldn't decide how to address the dialect problem, and B, which applies to The Bakers as well, they're easier to publish overseas, since there's no translation involved). The Bakers, by the way, is hilarious, especially if you've got kids of your own. Anyway, last year he did a sketch for the Starman book, and his comment was "People will think it's Plastic Man because of the goggles. Sorry about that!" Sure enough, my friend PJ asked if it was Plas. If I can get the scanner working, I'll get the rest of the sketch book scanned and posted.

5. M.A.S.H.: You know, this show is still funny, even though I've seen every episode 2-3 times each. Right now I'm watching the one where Potter has to celebrate yet another anniversary away from Mildred, so Radar tracks down a horse and gives it to him as an anniversary gift. I tend to enjoy the ones with Trapper and Colonel Blake more than the later ones, but they're pretty much all great. Just in case you didn't know, of course...