Too Long For Twitter

Three or so weeks this time. . .things have been good. And not so good, but the not so good is really not so bad.

For years now I've been getting this recurring pain in my feet, usually when the weather changes significantly. I've always attributed this to joint pain/arthritis from complications coming out of the many ankle injuries I've had from when I played volleyball. It turns out that I've been partly right all along--it has been an arthritis of sorts. The past two weeks I was suffering some incredible foot pain, often so bad that it made me physically ill as I tried to tough it out as I usually do. Eventually it grew so great that I decided to go to the emergency room right after work (at 2a.m.); my McMinion and buddy Lex did me a massive solid by coming with me (a solid that proved necessary once the pain meds they gave me in the e.r. made it quite impossible for me to drive). It turns out I suffer from gout. Look it up on Wikipedia. Foot still hurts, but being tended to properly and feels much better.

On the moving front. . .Denise and I eventually grew so frustrated and tired of the search that we decided to put the move off at least another year, waiting to see how other things pan out before making the ultimate decision as to when and where to move for the long term. The positive in this is that we then took the money we had saved for the move and did some much needed home refurbishing. It actually almost feels like we have a new home anyway.

This week has a trip to San Francisco that, while necessary, I'm really not looking all that forward to (and a pre-emptive massive thanks to our friends for both helping with childcare and the loan/swap of transportation. Neither of our cars have air conditioning and that alone would make the journey misery); with a repeat trip later in August.

Oh, and a quick shout out congratulations to one of my favorite people, Adrienne, for the birth of her second child!

That's enough brain dump for now.

I'm No Superman

It's been a very long time since I blogged in-depth about comics (long enough that I haven't even the wherewithal to search my archives in order to link back to the last time) so I thought I might toss some comic book nerdiness out there and gab about a few of the new releases I've read this week: reviews, rants, predictions, etc.

This Week in Comics:

Ultimates (vol. 2) #13: Really, I waited something like a year for this? The final issue of this felt a lot like waiting through all the false endings in Return of the King. Really, really. . .that was all? That? I really hope the new creative team coming on for volumes three and four will be a lot quicker with the productivity, that way if they prove that anti-climactic in their climaxes at least they'll be sex-quick instead of Russian Lit long.

New X-Men 37: This is my first new issue of this book since I dropped it from my reading list at issue 13. They've dangled the carrot of a Magik-Illyanna resurrection in front of my nose and I totally bit down. So, reading on I'm fairly completely lost as I don't know what's been going on, but I can still manage to "get" the issue's plot: Belasco discovers Illyanna lives again (thanks to Scarlet WItch and House of Drek), reclaims Limbo and kidnaps every kid at Illyanna's old hang-out the X-mansion because surely they know where she's at. And of course, as she's supposed to be dead, they don't know squat. For the first time in ages, a comic actually delivered on its promises and Magik pops on in, battle axe in hand (good, and oh so rare, of them to pay attention to continuity for once as her sword is in someone else's posession. Gotta retrieve that). The House of M resurrection recap at the beginning also suggests that all of the previously dead people Wanda brought back in House of Drek stayed alive after it, not just Hawkeye and now Magik (by my count, that means we may be seeing a Doug Ramsey or Pyro comic book resurrection too). However, as I expect comic let-downs, I expect that by the fourth and final chapter in this story arc, we'll discover this isn't Magik at all. At least then I can go back to not reading this book. Questions to answer: if this is Illyanna, is she one of the 198? If so, why didn't they find her sooner? Is she de-mutant powered? Is she #199? I'll be waiting and hopefully seeing.

Fallen Son: Captain America: Speaking of House of Drek and its crazy resurrections, herein we get the first post-resurrection meeting-slash-throw-down between Iron Cockbreath and Hawkeye. Of course, Hawkeye's a lot peeved about the state of affairs re: Captain America/Steve Rogers, and being previously dead himself expects a resurrection. Iron Putzpants instead tries to convince him to be the new Captain America. I actually really enjoyd this comic, most likely because of Hawkeye shoving the proverbial shield up Iron Fuckwad's aluminum siding. This issue convinces me that the "next Captain America"--if chosen by pro-reg factions--is going to be a total tow-the-line tool.

Justice League of America #8: I have a lot of questions about how the new multiverse is fucking up DC continuity again via the Legion. Are these Legionnaires the originals or yet another reboot? How do all of the various Legion incarnations and their intersects with Super-family members, Impulse/Flash, Starman etc. fit into the scheme of things? All I know is I'm really digging on seeing my Karate Kid again, and Dawnstar. So of course this will likely bot end well. Other enjoyment--the interlac. I enjoy being enough of a fanboy to be able to read the interlac. Craptastic: Wildfire refers to Infinite Crapfest as the middle Crisis, meaning we've another one to come (Countdown maybe?)

Y the Last Man #56: Alter continues to be a sadistic tool. Yorick is finally reunited with Beth. 355 pulls a vanishing act. All great. Only four more issues left and I'm going to miss it.

Until next time.