New Comic Wednesday!

Now that work has died down a bit, I have time to actually leave my desk during lunch and walk around, rather than staying chained up in the office all day, feverishly trying to keep my head above water.

So, I walked down to my local comic shop (~10 minute walk from my office) at lunch to pick up the new books from both this week and last that I missed. I'm going home tonight with:

1. Batman #13 - The much-anticipated return of The Joker! Can't wait.
2. Walking Dead #103 - After seeing a main character's head bashed to pieces, how are the survivors going to respond?
3. TWD Michonne Special Issue - The back story of how Michonne became the kitana-wielding badass she is in the comics.
4. Star Wars: Agent of Empire, Hard Targets #1 - Beginning a new arc that combines James Bond secret agents with Star Wars. High hopes for this one!
5. Green Lantern Annual #1 - Back story on the Third Army and the coming war with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Filling in the gaps for me.

A pretty good haul, for me. And we're getting close to the release of some really great new books in December and January:

December

• Avengers #1, the new book of the iconic superhero group, is set for release on December 5.
• Blackacre #1, a post-apocalyptic story about a retired soldier sent out into the blasted wilderness for a mission, comes out on the 5th as well.

January

• The new Star Wars book, set between Episodes IV and V, comes out in early January.
• The re-launch of Wolverine is slated for sometime in January.
• The re-launch of New Avengers is also slated for January.

So, it should be a very good couple of months for my comic habit, and that doesn't even count the one-offs I'll pick up along the way and check out. Should be awesome. There arw a couple of books like Nowhere Man #1 and Justice League of America, which I want to check out before adding them to my pull list, too.

New Yorker Article on Running (Really!)

Short post today. There are no new comics out this week that I'm looking to pick up, although I because I spent all day Saturday setting up our new desktop computer, I never made it to Alliance Comics. So, I'm hoping to make it down there this weekend at some point.

However, I will call your attention to an article from The New Yorker that ran a few weeks back. I've been meaning to post about it since then, but have either forgotten about it, or had other things I wanted to post first. The article discusses a middle-aged dentist and runner from Michigan, Kip Litton, who's become infamous over the last several years for running improbably fast marathon times around the country. As in, breaking three hours routinely and winning his age group. I say improbable because Litton nearly always starts his races well behind the starting gun (i.e. his chip time is much lower than the gun time because he doesn't start the race until the majority of runners have already started ahead of him). Couple that with statements from several age-group runners up, who said they never saw Litton along the course, nor were ever passed by him, and you have a small controversy brewing.

The article is fascinating because it not only delves into the evidence against Litton, but talks about his possible motivations. The author manages, after several tries, to interview Litton at a Wendy's in his hometown, and his responses deepen the mystery. It's a long article, but you'll get sucked in to it, I promise.

Is Kip Litton a Marathon Fraud? - by Mark Singer of The New Yorker

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.

 

New Comic Wednesday: Batman and Picard and Zombies

First, running: I had meant to get up and get my 3 miler in this morning, but I guess I turned my alarm off without realizing it, because when I awoke, it felt later than 6AM. And indeed, it was 7:10, which meant no run this morning. But, I may head out for an ultra-rare evening run to make up for the lapse. Or I may go to the gym and do it there, as further punishment for oversleeping.

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It's not often I actually get to the comic book store on Wednesday to snap up that week's latest new offerings. Usually, I hit Alliance Comics once every other Saturday or Sunday to pick up whatever new issues off my subscription list are waiting for me. I have to do this for a number of reasons:

1. While close by, driving from the apartment to Federal Hill on a Saturday afternoon is annoying. Parking is a pain and you're dodging hung over college kids stumbling out of doors for the first time at 1PM. Like I said, annoying.
2. If I went to the store every week, I'd be broke. I inevitably see something I want and risk impulse buying far too many issues.
3. A corollary to #2: spending that much money on comics would almost certainly incur spousal wrath. As most married men know or soon learn, a happy wife means a happy life. Words to live by. 

But this week was different. I had meant to go this past Saturday, but it just didn't happen. The logistics of my Saturday were such that I would not have been able to go to Alliance without doing serious backtracking or going out of my way. Despite driving an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, I hate backtracking and avoid it whenever possible. Moreover, while I had one new issue come out last week (8/8), I thought I had two coming today, so waiting made more sense anyway.  So, today at lunch I walked down to Alliance and picked up some reading for the rest of the week.

Batman #12

Source: DC Comics

I am unclear if this is the final entry in the Court of the Owls arc, or if it's the one-off between CoO and the Issue #0 installment that's supposed to come in September/October. As you can see from the cover, it doesn't say Court of Owls, but I had seen somewhere that this was supposed to be the wrap up for the story. I'm guessing this will be a stand alone issue with a little bit at the beginning about the Court and then a small lead in at the end with the new Joker story arc coming in October/November, which I can't wait to read.

Walking Dead #101

Source: Image Comics

It feels like it's been months since Walking Dead #100 came out, and I guess that makes sense. They really pushed hard to get to issue #100 right before CCI back in early July, which probably exhausted everyone. Then they actually went to CCI and did panels, autographings, interviews, etc. And even still, issue #100 came out the second week of July (I think), and it's only been a month. It just FEELS longer after two months of getting a TWD book every three weeks or so.

I typically re-read the previous issue of all the books I get before diving in to the newest issue, just to refresh my memory and get my narrative momentum up. I'll definitely do tat with TWD #100 and #101, too.

The Massive #3



Source: Dark Horse Comics

 The story concept for The Massive is compelling (check out the review of issue #1 from CBR for a run-down), and I really liked the art throughout most of the first two issues. But it has been plodding along a bit, with so many flashbacks interrupting the present-day action, the story has advanced very little. I'm hoping that changes in #3, which has gotten good reviews.

Star Trek 100-Page Spectacular Summer 2012



Source: IDW

 And a relatively last-minute purchase. I grew up watching Star Trek: TNG and caught wind of this book yesterday while perusing CBR in the evening. I have not really gotten in to the Star Trek comics, mainly because they tend to focus on the original series, or the recent re-make of the original series movies. And while there is a Star Trek: TNG/Dr. Who crossover book out there, I'm not a Dr. Who fan and the book has gotten only middling reviews. I'm waiting for Jonathan Hickman's new Star Wars comic coming in January and would consider something similar with a TNG book if one ever emerged.

Anyway, this is actually two stories in one: a TNG story and a Voyager story. I was never THAT in to Voyager (I'd rank them as TNG, Enterprise, DS9, Original Series, Voyager) but will always take a Star Trek story involving the Borg. I have high hopes for this and may look in to other IDW Star Trek books if this is really good.

Impromptu Tempo Run and Friday Misc.

My battle with myself over sleep schedules continued this week and impacted my running. I did well with getting enough sleep early in the week, but faltered on Wednesday night, going to bed after 11 PM with the intention of waking up at 6 for a run Thursday morning. Needless to say, it didn't happen. So, I needed to wake up this morning to make up for it.

Unfortunately, I awoke to a sky that was as dark as night...I got dressed and walked outside to see dark clouds rolling in overhead. I looked on the radar back inside and sure enough, a mass of heavy rain was moving in at 6:15 in the morning. I don't mind running in bad weather, so long as I don't start my run in bad weather. For instance, beginning a run with cloudiness that turns into rain a few miles in is no big deal. But it's demoralizing to begin a run when it's raining. By the time I did all that, it was nearly 6:30, so I decided t bag the outdoor run and hit the gym for a short tempo run. My 2 mile run got me finished about 7. Just in time to head back in pouring rain. Hooray! So, my tempo run was a little longer, as I ran home, getting soaked along the way.

An interesting side story: there were two people (one man, one woman) working out with a trainer while I was there. They were downstairs at first, but then ran up the stairs and did a jogging circuit around the gym. Then they came upstairs to the treadmills. At one point, they got on the treadmill and proceeded to run way faster than they were capable of running. The woman was beside me and I could tell she was going faster than her legs could carry her because her feet were pounding on the treadmill as the mill took her feet out from under her. Luckily, the trainer was there and slowed it down for her. Otherwise...well, you've seen the YouTube videos of people getting swept off treadmills.

This sort of thing continued for about 10 minutes and the woman would speed back up, only to start grunting, gasping, crying out and wailing until the trainer slowed it back down. Then she'd keep saying, "It's too hard! I can't do this!" and so forth as she walked to catch her breath. Then they chatted about preseason football and the Real Housewives show on Bravo. Then he'd speed her back up and the weird cycle would begin again. I kept thinking the woman would realize how much energy and breath she was wasting with the melodrama and chatting, but it never happened. Eventually, the shenanigans ended and they moved on to some other part of the gym.

Ain't nobody got time for that.

In other news, tomorrow is my bi-weekly comics run, and I'm looking forward to picking up this month's Batman issue, which has gotten strong reviews all around. I found the first trade paperback combining the first seven issues of the comic (this month is issue #12) at the local library, so I now only need to read issues #8 and #9 to be fully caught up. All the issues are strong, but I think issue #5 is perhaps one of my favorite comics ever. Full stop.

This weekend is Wizard's World in Chicago, which is their comic-con. Here is an interview with Greg Capullo (lead artist of Batman) from the Chicago Sun Times.

I'm also picking up The Massive #3. The jury is still out on this book, and the third issue will be pivotal in determining whether I continue to read the book or not. It got a good review on Comic Book Resources, but I feel they engage in grade inflation to maintain access to creators and artists, so I will see for myself.

New Comic Wednesday (No Running...Sorry)

As some of the nerdier of you may know, this past weekend was San Diego Comic-Con, alternatively known as Comic-Con International (CCI) or just plain Comic-Con. The last of these titles is actually a misnomer, as there are many comic conventions across this great land of ours (as well as around this pale blue dot we call Earth), all of which can be called "comic-con". But certainly, CCI is the biggest, taking over the entire San Diego convention center and selling 125K tickets within hours of offering them to the geeked out masses.

As you may also know, Wednesday is when new comics are released, although different comics come out throughout each month.

Since it's Wednesday, and I don't have anything particularly interesting to post where running is concerned, I thought I would drop a post about my own New Comics Wednesday. It's a bit long, so if you're looking for running stuff, it won't be in the paragraphs that follow. Sorry. it was a rest day.

Comic books are a deceptive hobby, because each book by itself is relatively low-cost at around $3.00 or $4.00 each. Some longer running and/or less well-known books can be even cheaper, at around $2.50. So it's very easy to get into a dozen books and end up spending $50 a month or more on new books alone. Then you have additional expenses if you collect other memorabilia associated with your favorite books like action figures, posters, clothing, toys, and trade paperbacks or graphic novels. This is where The Big Two (Marvel and DC Comics) make a lot of money, in addition to proceeds from their movies. Big franchises like Batman, Superman, etc are prime areas for this money suck.

So, I have a self-imposed maximum of five books on my "pull list" at any given time, with two or three additional slots for impulse buys. A pull list is simply a list of books which you buy every month, and is typically maintained by your local comic store. In my case, my local store, Alliance Comics in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, pulls my books and I stop in once every other week to get them. Right now, my pull list only has four books on it; I have one non-subscription book I'm trying out as well:

• Batman (DC Comics): My personal favorite superhero since I was a kid. I've really liked the New 52 reboot of the series with the recently-concluded Court of Owls story arc. The book is darker and more similar to the Christopher Nolan movies than the campier or more cartoonish earlier movies in the franchise (e.g. the Val Kilmer and George Clooney films). The writing is strong and the art is also very good. The Batman presented here is not perfect, and has become more conflicted about his place in Gotham over the last few issues. Now, with the Court of Owls done, DC announced at CCI that the new story arc beginning in the fall will bring back The Joker, which will be fantastic. Some of the ideas Scott Snyder, the writer for Batman (and who will be at Baltimore Comic-Con in Sept), has talked about for The Joker, are very compelling. A solid monthly pick up.





Cover from Batman #1, source: DC Comics



• Justice League (DC Comics): The second of my two Big Two superhero selections, and the most recent addition to my pull list. I have not been an historical JL fan, but the New 52 offered me a nice jumping on point and I've been pleased with the writing thus far. I've particularly liked the recent Journey of the Villain arc over the last two issues (the arc wraps up with the latest issue #11, which is out today). I prefer JL to Avengers for reasons I don't really know. I've yet to really get into reading a Marvel book, but that could change; I have an open mind. I'm sure Batman's presence on the JL team has something to do with my affinity. But I also enjoy the other characters and think the writers have done a good job of making them individual characters. The next few issues going into the end of 2012 are supposed to tackle how the JL goes from a bunch of individual heroes to a cohesive team that can oppose the new villain Graves. And Aquaman leads the way in this issue, I hear! Good stuff!



Cover from Justice League #1, source DC Comics







• The Walking Dead (Image): Arguably my favorite book for a litany of reasons. Up until two years ago, I had never heard of TWD, but ended up loving the AMC TV show. I was surprised to learn about the comic, and once I checked it out, I was hooked. The local library had all of the past issues, so I consumed those to catch up in the book. Last week issue #100 came out right before CCI to great fanfare. I read it this weekend and loved it. TWD is consistently great, both from a story and artistic standpoint. The story is of course a zombie apocalypse, but after 100 issues, creator Robert Kirkman has gone way beyond that to explore these survivors' lives, such as they are. The book is not for young children; there's lots of gore (even though the book is drawn in black and white, it's still messy) lots of f-bombs and other adult language/situations. But it's a wonderful read each month and I can't wait to see how Rick and the survivors make it out of the latest horror show they found themselves in at the end of issue 100.



Variant Cover from Walking Dead #100, source Image Comics



• Manhattan Projects (Image): This is the most surprising member of my pull list, as it came out of nowhere and is now one of my favorites. Like TWD, this is a creator-owned comic, in that the creator retains the rights to the intellectual property in contrast to Marvel and DC, where creators usually at least share ownership with the company. That's another post for another day, but suffice to say this model begets a lot more "out there" books and MP is no different. The premise is simple: what if the Manhattan Project had actually been a front for a government operation where the best minds in the world could work on projects even crazier than an atom bomb? We're talking contact with aliens, different dimensions, etc. The characters are all familiar: Robert Oppenheimer, Einstein, Richard Feynman, Enrico Fermi, etc. But nearly everything has a twist. Oppenheimer, the director of the projects, has multiple personalities (not all of which are good); Einstein is actually from a parallel universe and may not be a good guy; Feynman is actually quite normal actually; Fermi is actually a supergenius, super-old alien. Oh, and when FDR suffers an aneurysm (the book takes place in 1945), they put his consciousness into the first AI supercomputer environment. So, not your typical comic! But it's addictive for an amateur science nerd like me. And I got in with issue #1, so I hope it continues for a long time a la TWD.



Cover from Manhattan Projects #1, source: Image Comics



The fifth slot on my pull list remains empty for now. New books are released or announced all the time, so I won't suffer from a lack of contenders. At CCI, for instance, Image announced a dozen new books under development for release in the next several months; Dark Horse announced a new Star Wars comic book coming in January 2013; DC talked more about the next wave of New 52 series that will start to come out this fall and the New 52 "zero issues" coming out in October; and Marvel talked up its Marvel NOW! project, which is an end for several key series including Thor and The Incredible Iron Man, and the beginning of several new titles utilizing the X-Men and Avengers, among other characters. And obviously, new Thor and Iron Man books will come out in 2013, given all the hype around the movies, etc. So, plenty of material coming.

Finally, the one book I'm reading that's on a month-to-month basis is The Massive, from Dark Horse Comics. It's a story about an environmentalist group led by a former mercenary, who are on a ship, The Kapital, searching for its sister ship, The Massive, after a series of huge natural disasters have ravaged the planet. It's only on issue #2, but it's been OK thus far. A little slow, as the book goes back and forth between the present (in the story) and the past to explain the characters, the disasters, etc. I really like the art and colors in The Massive, so I hope it picks up in issue #3.



Cover from The Massive #1, source: Dark Horse Comics