Bagging the 15K & New Comic Wednesday (Belated)

After some thought, I've decided to bag the Falls Road 15K next Sunday for a few reasons. To wit:

1. We haven't registered yet. So, not running the race won't cost us anything. Not the most important reason, but saving $60 on a race we don't want to run is non-trivial.
2. Both our training plans call for long runs greater than 9.3 miles (15K) next Sunday. A.'s plan calls for 10 miles, while I will try to drag myself 11 miles. So, we'd have had to run a good distance farther than the actual race.
3. No course map had been posted to the race's Active.com website. That meant that we had no idea what the course would be ahead of time. Not the end of the world, but if you're trying to plan to run an additional mile or more after the race, you need to know where the finish line is.
4. Our experience with these sorts of events is that they're typically not well organized beyond registration. The course may or may not be clearly marked and accurately measured. There will be water stations, but no way of knowing where (at what distance) on the course. While the fast runners will be at the front, no doubt, so will a bunch of slow joggers and walkers. Without clear instructions to pull their head out and get in the back of the pack, they'll block the other runners behind them.

Does that mean the race will be a miserable disaster? Definitely not. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. But it's just not for us. With just three weeks until the half marathon, neither of us wants to waste a Sunday morning running a race that's too short and too disorganized to benefit our training.

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 Obviously, today is not New Comic Wednesday. But yesterday was busy and I basically forgot to post, so there you go. Before getting to what I plan on purchasing this weekend, let me very quickly recap what I picked up last Saturday.

 

Manhattan Projects #6 - "Star City"

Image Comics

I haven't read this yet (probably tonight), but I was disappointed that this book got pushed back throughout August. As a result, they didn't release a MP book in August, so it feels like forever since I read it. I'm going to have to skim back through issue #5 to refresh my memory. But the book is outstanding, and I'm hoping the delays don't recur for #7 in October.

 

Batman #0

DC Comics

Like all the other "zero issues" coming out this month, this book puts a new spin on the origins of Batman. But what I most like is that you get to see bits and pieces of how other characters from the other Bat-books came to be. I very much liked that you were seeing the Bat-universe in its earlier stages; like the real universe maybe a half billion years after the Big Bang. I also really like the taste you get of the Red Hood Gang, given where the overall story is going in the book.**

 

Green Lantern #0

DC Comics

This zero issue got rave reviews all around, and I was intrigued by the first Arab American Lantern. The story is crisp; it moves along really well and I reached the end before I knew it. I'll have to go back and re-read it, no doubt. Simon Baz's character is going to be very interesting; I like that Green Lanterns aren't perfect when they're chosen and have to "grow into" the role, often the hard way. I'll definitely be picking up Green Lantern #13.

 

Star Wars: Blood Ties #1

Dark Horse Comics

This five-part series came out back in 2010, but I'm on a Star Wars comic collecting stint now, and found this at my local shop for $1.00. It's a good start to the series, and I'd say Boba Fett is one of my top Star Wars characters (I'm an Obi Wan man, myself). I'll be keeping my eyes open for the other four issues of this, of course, along with other series. I'm using this to get pumped for the Brian Wood Star Wars book coming out in January.

 

So this week, Alliance Comics is having their anniversary sale, and with A. gone all day Saturday at a rehearsal, I plan on going down and checking out what they've got. But I have two must-haves as well:

 

1. Walking Dead #102
2. Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison, Part 5 of 5

In addition, I'll rifle through their back issues a little more and see if I can turn up any other Star Wars books (at $1.00 each, it's not a huge hit to swoop in and get a bunch). If the price is right, I'd like to pick up Batman: Knightfall or Arkham Asylum or The Dark Knight Returns graphic novels.

 

 

 

**My sleeper prediction for the new story arc is that The Joker used to be the leader of the Red Hood Gang. He and Batman face off during some robbery at a chemical plant, the Red Hood leader gets knocked into a vat of chemicals by Batman, thus creating The Joker. You heard it here first.