Comic Splat - Rest of January

2nd Part to Spidey Story in 677.  Daredevil falls fro some bad luck!

Luke Cage's version of Avengers Assembe

My new favorite character, Iron Fist

Artist freedom shot

Was this on purpose?  Come on Citi Field with Yankee Stadium arches...Please!

Zoom Zoom

I agree with Smashing Hulk!

Experimental Haiku

                    n  l  i  g
                u                h
Sudden s                        t is born

Comic Splat - Week 4

Secret Avengers #21.1
Was this just a test?
The Captain get in trouble
Hawkeye takes over

Captain America and Bucky #626
Confusing old school
Replacement Bucky and Cap?
Adam Two and Traps

Justice League #5
Not much of a League
Darkseid issues his Justice
Batman plays the game...

Comic Splat - Week 3

Amazing Spider-Man #678
What a cliffhanger
Gosh, Madame Web is a Buff
Can Spider save World?

Avengers #21

The Avengers go down

What is that Hydra up to

Osborn taking over?

(Really was this shot necessary?)

Invincible Iron Man #512

Mandarin is back

Iron Man's foes are teaming

China is the target

(Note: Rank of Colonel is not three stars on the shoulder;)

Moon Knight #9

Moon Knight is a nut

Four heroes in just one man?

Serum, webs, and claws

Ultimate Spider-Man #6

Love the spider suit

Miles uncle is the Prowler?

Who is this Miss Brant?

William Gibson - Zero History

Book Three in William Gibson's Blue Ant or Big End Trilogy.  This trilogy really put Gibson back.  If I had to guess writing the books immediately following his Sprawl trilogy were difficult and were my least favorite.  With the Big End trilogy I really think he hit his stride again.  Read my impressions of Book Two here.  Pretty much the same thoughts.  I liked Spook Country the best.  The ideal of containers moving around the globe intrigued me.  This was about military clothing and a secret underground clothes designer was an intriguing idea but the chase and the bad guys were kind of silly.

As always the good quotes:

Page 57 - "He remembered Bigend saying they were a symptom of autoimmune disease, the state's protective mechanisms 'roiling up into something actively destructive, chromic; watchful eyes, eroding the healthy function of that which they ostensibly protected." - Gibson's view of London's ever expanding camera network...

Page 133 - "A cross between Grand Central and the atrium of the Brown Palace, Denver, structures aimed heroically into futures that had never really happened." - You know I have never been in the Brown Palace!

Page 207 "Soviet M-125-3MN Fialka cipher machine" - This thing existed.

Experimental Haiku

Portland 2012

Day One
Deschutes - New brews (Chainbreaker White IPA and Orange Cream Ale)
Powell's - Unbelievable as always
Movie - In Time ughhh awesome concept poorly conceived

Day Two
Mother's for breakfast
Nike Town updated concept - sweet
Keen socks
Beer at Bridgeport - Black Rain
Portland Restaurant yum
80s Video Dance Night at Lola's Room Crystal Hotel and Ballroom

Day Three
Nice run around river
Some writing at Powells
More beer at Deschutes
Massage (water jets!)
My Week with Marilyn

Day Four
Timbers
Bridgport
Writing at Wholefoods
Ace Hotel (?)
Jake's conversation

2011 Running Review

And that was 2011.  An apparent shift away from running and more time in the gym could be seen versus my previous seven years. Of course that average also included 2009 when I ran every day for a year.  Funny thing was that my 5K time improved in 2011 to 22:46 from 2010.  With some more specific type training (speed training and back to a good long run on Sunday - 60 minutes or more), I should get close to the 20:00 minute mark.  That would make me happy!

William Carlos Williams

This is just a beautiful poem....

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Birthday Haiku

Yearly birthday run Forty-one, the riverside route Cool, misting Portland

Comic Splat - Week 2

Amazing Spider-Man #677

A Marvel Team Up
Spider-Man and Daredevil
Black Cat adds the spice

Captain America #7

Super serum gone?
A seventies Mad Bomb is back?
Serpent Squad attacks

Secret Avengers #21

The Shadow Council
Ellis's awesome run is done
What comics should be

Wilfred Santiago - 21

"21 - The Story of Roberto Clemente" is a graphic novel about the life and times of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente who was tragically taken from the baseball world much too early.    Beautifully drawn and a decent look at the man's life.  Little disjointed and really the story is more about him then his life on the diamond.  Some decent looks at his baseball and that was the best part.  I would think illustrating a baseball game has to be very difficult but Santiago does a great job.  I hear that Japan has baseball manga...too bad we don't have that type of baseball writing here in the States.

Chris Claremont - Mile High Comics

Chris Claremont came to town today as a favor to Chuck at Mile High Comics.  On the personal Mount Rushmore of comic book heroes, Claremont holds a spot (along with Walt Simonson, Jim Lee, and Marc Silvestri).  An influential writer who basically saved the X-men from dying way back in their infancy, he built a series that today is a bloated mess (but that is another tale).  Looking at his bibliography, I was taken back by how much he wrote.  I got into comics around 1985 and at that time Claremont was mostly doing X-Comics.  Hard to believe he guided those Merry Mutants from issue #94 - 279.  In fact I asked him what his favorite arc was and he basically said his entire run which lasted from 1975 - 1991!  At 20 years old when he finished his run, I was barely keeping abreast of the comic world.  Following the history it is eye opening to see how his run ended on X-men was brutal.  In this blog post you can understand his anguish.  During my brief signing, I also asked who his favorite X-man was...not wanting to tip his hand...he immediately asked me who was mine.  No question it is Cyke.  Which Claremont sneakily then says, "I'll go with that."  He then turns to my son and asks him...thankfully he came up with an X-man in Wolverine.  This then set off Claremont on a long riff of the the overuse of the character.  Starting in the movie and expressing how he loved the opening scene when Rogue asks Wolverine if it hurts when is claws come out.  Wolverine responds by saying yes every time.  Claremont shows his love for character first in that the essence of Wolverine is what he does best hurts every time and Claremont hates all the character is always in fight mode thus essentially marginalizing the character.  A very generous man.  I was glad to have shaken his hand and have a brief flashback to the my high school days (that would have been issues 217 through 245).

Best Selling Comic Ever (Gate Fold) Signed by Claremont and Lee)

Tin Tin - The Movie

A marvelous little movie.  Hard to believe a Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg movie got so little love.  Hard to figure what the average movie goer really wants to see these days.  If I had to guess it is a bit difficult to make a move that straddles animation/computer generated vs real people.  That tweener movie like this just doesn't appeal to people.  They either want real people in a computer generated world or animated people in an animated world.  Not both.  

Plus I imagine while this was a boyhood fantasy to make this movie it probably didn't translate to boys today.  Boys today get their fantasy from video games like Halo and such so it would be hard to say a boy of today would really find Tin Tin all that exciting.  So really you end up with parents dragging their kids to movie they fondly remember in print and the kids have no clue.

In the end, good movie although some parts really could have been left on the floor (is it easy to cut millions of dollars of animation time?).  Interesting to see if more are given the green light...

Comic Splat - Week 1

Punisher #7


Crime fighter question?
Hero or vigilante...
Just the Punisher!

Haiku Wednesday

New Year, a fresh slate
Start those diets, make those goals
You'll Forget by March!

Rox Talk

With the flip of the calendar we move on from 2011 and turn our sights to 2012.  April 6 in Houston is only 93 days away.  60 days away from opening of Spring Training games.  Not much time for O'Dowd to work his magic and try to find a second and third basemen.  Hard to believe that this late we are still looking for infielders especially a second baseman.  Third I can understand as we are simply looking for a place holder but realistically since Matsui, we haven't had a day to day position player at second.  

Below are my scatter thoughts for 2012 in no particular order:

1)  Which Fowler will show up for the entire season?

2)  Will we have good Helton or bad Helton?

3)  Can the Tulo/CarGo dynamic duo hit on all cylinders this year?

4)  Will Cuddyer be worth the money?

5)  Who will step up from the youth movement (GenR^2)?

6)  Chacin be a number one?

7)  Betancourt continues his dominant end of the year performance in 2011?

8)  Will the lack of a second and third basemen hurt our chances this year?

9)  Will Nicasio be back?

10) Will De la Rosa be a force or tentative in his return?

11) Can Rox stay in the hunt until de la Rosa returns?

12) Have we see the last of Smith and EY Jr?

13) How will White and Pomeranz hold up in the Sophomore campaigns?

14) Can Tracy find the right buttons to push?

15) Can we be competitive in the NL West?

16) Everyone has a chance, can Rox play with expectations finally?

17) Can Rox return to dominance at home?

18) Will Giambi show his age or keep going long?

19) Who and what will be the X-Factor this year?

Happy New Year...Go Rox!