Hello, dear reader. It sure has been awhile hasn't it? (And it's felt even longer.) Although, my musings and ruminations have been absent from this blog, my thoughts and intentions often come back to the possibility of writing something for this forum from time to time. I've actually had several posts brewing in my head recently, but alas there's no guarantee I'll ever get to them. You really have to strike while the iron is hot. (Does that cliche refer to blacksmithing or pressing your clothes?)
For example:
- I started to write a post comparing the Casino Royale novel with the film. I wrote one paragraph. Instead, I ended up re-reading the Ian Fleming James Bond novels for the first time in 37 years (since I was 13) and managed to get through Thunderball (the 9th one of the original 14), before getting stalled on The Spy Who Loved Me. I also read the British comic strip versions afterwards and re-watched the associated films.
- I'd like to discuss how cover variants have taken over the new comic market, largely surpassing the content of the books themselves.
- I finished watching the entire series of Dark Shadows (1225 episodes) in just under two years. I then re-read the two comic series by Dynamite, which I wanted to write about. One took place immediately after the show finished and the other was a slight reimagining of the classic 1795 storyline. I love Dark Shadows so much that I immediately started re-watching it from episode one (usually watching at least one a day) and just finished episode 50 yesterday.
- After I finished Dark Shadows, I decided to pick up my pencil and start drawing again (to fill the "extra" time in my schedule more productively). I largely gave up drawing in high school and stopped taking classes after 7th grade. So far progress has been very slow, but my Dick Blick order just arrived, so we'll see how it goes with better supplies. Actually, that's another reason for writing this blog post (during a sleepless time), since I've been frustrated creatively in the art endeavor, why not supplement it with some writing?
Anyway, enough background, let's get to the issue at hand:
I'm still getting a quite a number of hardcover or trade paperback collections of classic comic reading material, but I also come home with a large stack of new comics every Wednesday (from the excellent Cosmic Comix). Too many, truth be told. As alluded to above, some I get mainly for the covers. And in a rather new development, if an issue just isn't interesting enough to me, I may not even finish reading it. So, it's a pretty special issue or series that cuts through the "noise" and stands out as memorable or blog-worthy.
Writer: Dan Slott
"Sight Unseen" (8 pages):
I was super excited when the Fantastic Four came back again a couple of years ago, but I've got to admit, I stopped reading it consistently not long after the wedding of Ben and Alicia (#5). That didn't mean I stopped buying it though. I either got behind or was just not very interested in the storyline, but I checked in here and there. But I definitely started reading again for the Empyre tie-in issues, which makes this the fifth consecutive issue in a row.
I'm interested in going back and reading those issues I skipped, but let me be clear, this particular issue is a great "jumping-on" point for new readers. Beyond a little background that I'll briefly provide below, you don't need to read anything before this issue (more after the break).
