The Haul - February 6th, 2013

Two great things happened today.  First of all, today was the official start of my vacation.  Fellowship has been great, but being on service for the whole year can be a bit exhausting.  Putting that away response message on my work e-mail was one of the more satisfying things in a while.  No big plans for the vacation — work around the house, get beat up on by the kids, read some comics — but it will be nice to be woken up by a screaming infant or a tapping 3 year old instead of my alarm.   Whoa.  No it won’t.

The second great thing that happened today?

That’s right, the historic Winter Storm Nemo, which dumped about one and half feet of snow in my area.  The office shut down early yesterday so everyone could get home safely — a far cry from my residency days when the threat of bad weather would commit you to what amounted to a prison sentence, having to stay at the hospital until further notice.  The drive home was long, but not terrible, and for a while last night it seemed as if Nemo (the fish, the sea captain, or the early 1900s little boy in Slumberland) would be a lot of hype.  Well, color me completely wrong, because by this morning, things were COVERED.

Photo taken while panicking about how long it would take to shovel.  Arms already hurting…

Even though living on Long Island is not the greatest when it snows this much, there’s just something about a snow day (and, yes, even though I’m 30 years old, I still call it a snow day) that I really love.  I could do without all the shoveling (and today really cemented my need for a snowblower), but going outside and goofing around in the snow is just a blast.  The Boy, though, has mixed feelings about this.  Yesterday, he was very excited to, and I quote, “build a snowfamily and make snow angels”.  Today?  A bit of a different tale.

The Many Moods of a Snow Day

See?  We started off pretty strong, but the happiness was pretty short lived.  Jacob has inherited a lot of my OCD and, once his hands got wet, we spiraled downhill pretty fast.

“Daddy, why is there only one set of footprints?” “Well, son, because you forced me to carry you because you were too afraid of ‘getting snow in between your toes’.  Diva.”

The daredevil, the steamroller, the Juggernaut — AKA The Girl — has no problems with snow.  You know, if it was lava instead of snow, she probably would have jumped right in as well.  Doesn’t matter.  No fear, that kid.

 

I’ve realized that it’s a near-impossible feat to get a picture with the both of them looking at the camera at the same time.

And, for good measure, here’s a shot of the oldest child enjoying the SNOW DAY!

Unkempt mane blowing in the breeze…

As for me, my arms and chest are on fire from shoveling — time for the ritual hot chocolate reward!

IDW
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #3 -
My love affair with these dumb ponies continues for some strange reason, as I slip further into the darkness of Brony territory.  The gang gets back together, the main villain fills in the gap between her TV appearance and the past few issues, and all in all, it continues to be a pretty good adaptation of a very good TV show.  There, I said it.  Mail me my brony application already.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #18 -
The battle against Krang and his forces starts to escalate as the Turtles and the Neutrinos join forces in Dimension X!   There’s a lot of stuff in that sentence that I love about this comic, but talking about the Neutrinos always makes me think about the obvious:

There does happen to be a good deal of backstory here, most of which is told by Fugitoid, which I had already known from the Micro-series issue.  For those who have read that issue as well, it’s a bit repetitive.  Otherwise, this series continues to be a fun and exciting pick.

Image
Mudman #6 -
Paul Grist’s Mudman is back after a long hiatus (due to some illness in his family, as he explains in his ever-personal opening column) and picks back up pretty smoothly.  Honestly, you don’t need to know much of anything about what’s come before to enjoy this issue.  The basics are well laid out — Mudman is a doofy kid with amazing powers, he’s got a slacker friend who’s in over his head with his own problems — this issue is an easy first issue for a new reader.  Overall, it’s a simple formula and a VERY quick read (too quick), but it continues to be a fun one.  Hopefully Grist is able to stay on track and continue to put out issues on a regular schedule.

Vertigo
Fairest # 12 -
Rapunzel’s story in Japan continues here (only one more issue in this arc…), and if that parenthetical statement was any clue, I’m looking forward to the next story.  It is nice to see Bigby and Frau Totenkinder here, as well as Jack from before his own solo adventures, but something about this arc just isn’t sticking with me.

DC
Dial H # 9 -
I don’t know if the creators of this book are trying to out-weird themselves with each issue, but if that’s the case, they continue to succeed each time.  This issue continues to develop the new antagonist, the Centipede, as well as the relationship (romantic or otherwise) between the two main dial-holders, Roxie and Nelse.  It’s a real interesting story; each time it starts to touch on traditional super-heroics, the story darts in another direction.  I’m not a huge fan of the art, but the story is good enough to carry it through.

Detective Comics #17 -
Layman’s main story, focusing on a group of lunatics with a Joker fixation led by a MYSTERIOUS FIGURE, was pretty average and, ultimately, completely predictable.  Not that it was bad, just that if I can guess the twist, it wasn’t probably much of a twist.  More interesting was the backup story, really an epilogue of sorts to this arc, with a mild Outer Limits ending to cap it all off.  Detective still continues to be the second banana to Synder’s Batman title, but it’s still an above average book.

Worlds’ Finest #9 -
I know the man’s a legend, but I’m still not a fan of Perez’s (is that the gramatically correct way of tying that?) art.  The heavy inks on his stuff doesn’t really help the case either.  I really want to love this book — strong superheroic females kicking ass and making their way in a world they are not supposed to exist — but it just feels very generic.  The big cliffhanger at the end of this issue is seemingly going to readdress the disappearance of Michael Holt, AKA Mr. Terrific, who was jettisoned off to Earth 2 (the place and the book).  Maybe this will recenter this book, but if it spills into Power Girl gushing about her ex, I think my interest will wane pretty quickly.

Earth 2 #9 -
Talk about reinvention in the wake of this New 52.  If any title/concept has gotten completely revamped, it is certainly this group of characters, formerly the WWII heroes and father/grandfather figures, now have become young, fresh, and (with some exceptions – i.e. Flash) visually interesting.  This issue gives us Flash versus Sandman and Atom, a hardcore Hawkgirl, and the new Dr. Fate, all good stuff.  Robinson and Scott continue to put together a story that really takes its position outside of “continuity” as a bonus.

Animal Man #17 -
The big battle picks up steam and instead of focusing on Animal Man versus the deceased Justice League, Lemire gives us a pretty complete battle, showing multiple angles from different focuses.  You get a feel for the near hopelessness — the gruesome and amazing art from Steve Pugh doesn’t hurt — and the best part of Buddy’s character, his fatherhood, comes back by issue’s end in an obvious, but no less heartbreaking, way.

Ultimate Comics
Ultimate Spider-Man #20 -
Miles Morales continues to be the heir-apparent to Peter’s legacy, as this issue sees his family in grave danger, his technology fail at the worst time, and be nearly killed by the police, all while fighting a villain right outside of his home.  I guess that Ultimate Venom is just the symbiote with no host, but he comes off as pretty formidable, but pretty dumb.  It’s a solid issue from Bendis and Pichelli, who are just cruising along with this title.  My only complaint is the overuse of Miles’ spider sting, which can apparently get him out of any problem.

Marvel
Superior Spider-Man #3 -
Yeah.  That was good.  Octo-Man (slightly conveniently, admittedly) gets more opportunities to show that he’s slowly reforming as he takes on his old pal, The Vulture.  Carlie starts to wedge herself back into “Peter’s” life and slowly heads towards becoming the tool of reversal.  Even Ghost Peter, something that I haven’t liked, is expanded upon here and now is shown to traipse through Otto’s memories.  For a story that didn’t seem to have a lot of legs, Slott continues to deliver.

New Avengers #3 -
It’s another wordy Hickman book, setting up conflict between the members of the new Illuminati.  In place of the dead Professor X, Beast gets the call up to the big-boy ranks to take control of the Mind Gem.  It’s a convenient choice, setting the ever-escalating (and annoying) Beast up to be at odds with the destructive plans that Reed and T’Challa are setting up.  Though that’s not what happens.  In fact, it’s the opposite of what happens.  And in a confusing moment, the Illuminati pulls a Zatanna and mindwipes the dissenting Captain America.  It’s Iron Man v. Cap again and a strange out-of-character moment for many.

X-Factor #251 -
The big reason why all these huge devil gods are after the team is that whoever kills the 7 billionth person on Earth gets to rule over everything.  Conveniently, that person is Rahne’s son.

Really?  That’s the reason for all this?  A complete statistical chance?  Blah.

All-New X-Men #7 -
Two really good things in this issue.  First off, it’s the return of creepy, manipulative, yet sexy Mystique.  Bendis’ dialogue is REALLY convincing and, even with knowledge of Raven and her past, I found myself falling for her act.  She is being set up as the potential big bad, for now at least, and while her motivations may not be completely apparent yet, it’s a welcome addition to the title.  The second thing is a quick moment, but I thought a real beautiful one.  After going through his safety deposit box, Young Cyclops hands a copy of his wedding invite to a tearful Young Jean.  Yeah, I know I’m a big Cyclops/Jean relationship fan and all, but there was just something so nice about knowing that Scott keeps his wedding invitation in a secret, private place.  Maybe there’s hope for a reunion after all?…