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Way back in July, Marie and I ventured out to San Diego to attend Comic-Con. Turns out, we took tons of pictures and even promised to post some of them for friends. You’d think owning 5 cameras and having 2 computers on my desk would make moving pictures around trivial. You’d be wrong. Between procrastination and laziness, 4 months have elapsed and I’ve finally posted the SDCC pictures to Flickr.  Follow the links below to enjoy the pics.

(SDCC 2010 Part 1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/siraim/sets/72157625365144251/

(SDCC 2010 Part 2)  http://www.flickr.com/photos/siraim/sets/72157625490270652/

One of my biggest pet peeves on the internet is the shameless self-promotion that comes along with being the proud parent of someone or the proud owner of something.  I don’t have a problem with the occasional post about how great your new toy is or how wonderfully your child performed in the recent spelling bee.  I cringe when every single post is about them or it. Someone probably thinks I’m going to be a bad parent because in three weeks, I’m going to allow myself to still be me and I won’t post pictures of my newborn every 45 minutes. I will post the occasional picture or story.  I’m a private person and I tend to think my private life should stay that way.

That being said, apparently folks want to see the occasional picture of a new toy or a new kid.

I won’t post a picture of the iPad, but I will say the device is far cooler than I expected it to be. I ordered it because it was cool and because I saw potential. I am enamored by it because of the myriad things it can do extremely well. Reading books on the device is a great experience. Having all of my useful PDFs with me on a device that is comfortable to interact with and not as cumbersome as my MacBook Pro is a joy.  Being able to watch TRS, iFanboy or Diggnation on a plane with the iPad is a worth the price of admission. I don’t have to compromise my media consumption for portability.

I also bought a bunch of comics today and got myself a cool Flash ring with the purchase of Flash #1 by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapaul.  Gorgeous book. Great art. Can’t wait to read it.. and I got a cool ring to boot.

Finally, some of you may have figured out from my tweets or facebook status messages recently that I bought a Camaro. When I was 17, I wanted to buy a muscle car but decided to spend a year at DePaul University instead. Fast Forward 18 years and I’ve continued to want a muscle car.  I have the coolest wife in the world and one that fully supported me getting the car I really wanted. It may be that she wanted to use it to pick up chicks, I have no idea.  In any case, my 35 year old self is currently gloating to my 17 year old self. I bought the Camaro I wanted and am happy as hell to have it.  For those of you asking for pics, a few are included below. It’s got a black exterior and interior. A sun roof. and everything inside I’d want… with the exception of a v8 and all of the tickets that engine would bring with it.

After a recent twitter poll, I found out that I may not be built for getting sketches from artists at Cons. I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head, which is a good thing considering that I’m about to write a blog post about it.

First, getting a sketch would require standing in line. I’m particularly resistant to standing in line. I’ll do it at amusement parks because there is a definite payoff that I can understand. Waiting in line for It’s a Small World for Caitlin is worth the wait. She loves that ride and I see real value in the end result. Waiting in line for a pretzel? If the line is three people deep, maybe I’ll wait.

If I were to wait in line for a sketch, how much value would I really get out of the end result? I wouldn’t sell the sketch, so that value is negated. I’d probably set it on my bookshelf and never think about it again. There might be value in showing it off to my comic book reading friends. Let’s be honest though. Taking a picture of the sketch and posting it to twitter doesn’t really count as “showing it off” or validate twitter followers as “friends”. This potential value is negligible.

Second, I’d need something to request of various artists. Can I request Marvel characters from DC artists or vice versa? What do I ask indie artists? Can I ask everyone to draw Superman fighting a bear (it is Chicago after all and C2E2 will be a few hundred yards from Soldier Field). Do I ask everyone to draw Spider-Man fighting Hulk? I have no idea. Worrying about this makes me batty and is a good reason for me to avoid asking for sketches.

Finally, getting sketches requires patience. Beyond the frustration of waiting in line or the anxiety over what to request, I have to wait and return later to pick up the sketch book. That’s more of a commitment than I want to devote. What if I’m done with the con and want to go home, but can’t because my sketch book is sitting on an artists table waiting for the pickup time? I’d rather just leave.

So, rational or not, sketch booking isn’t for me. Not my cup of tea. I’ll live without personalized sketches. I’m completely ok with that. If I want something to frame or showoff, I’ll buy original art or original comic pages. I’ll survive.

I understand how computer glitches can cause major issues for online retailers and I am completely OK with said retailers taking actions to make sure they don’t get fleeced by a mistakenly posted price. That being said, when you cancel my order because of your mistake, please don’t send me an email that is written to seem like it’s coming from a compassionate human.

—-

Hello,

Our records indicate you recently ordered ‘Daredevil Omnibus, Vol. 1
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Omnibus, Vol. 2
The X-Men Omnibus, Vol. 1
Wolverine Omnibus, Vol. 1′. Unfortunately, due to a pricing error, we sold many more than expected. In fact, we completely sold out — we don’t have any in stock right now, and we’re not even sure if we’ll be able to get more.

As a result, we’ve had to cancel your order. I realize this is disappointing news, and I’m so sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

You may want to check our website from time to time to see if this item is available. If anyone is selling it, you’ll see a “More Buying Choices” box on the product detail page; if it’s not available from any sellers, you might see an “Order it used” or “Alert me” link. “Order it used” allows you to place a pre-order for the item in case another seller lists the item for sale later. “Alert me” allows you to sign up so we can e-mail you when Amazon has stock available for purchase.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news. We hope to see you again soon.

————-

“I’m sorry”? You’re a computer. You’re not sorry. You’re a computer. You simply canceled my order because of your issue with your pricing glitch. In the future, I’ll deal with InStockTrades (despite their search being beyond broken). BTW, it sucks that some people got the cheaper price. They should have cancelled all of the orders.. not just some of them.

I recently decided to jump on the bandwagon and catch up on Lost. 103 episodes over the course of 5 seasons are available on DVD. I’ve made it through about 37 episodes and I’ve come to the conclusion that Lost isn’t about a group of folks stranded on an island on which mysterious things keep happening. It’s a social experiment to see if viewers are willing to continue to watch even though very little happens.

And then.. the wheels came off in my brain.

I should have seen it coming. I know better than this. I am in love with a storytelling medium that specializes in telling stories in which nothing of substance happens to a number of extremely important characters. The connection between my love for comic books and Lost should have been more obvious. The cast/crew attend comic conventions (San Diego particularly), which I sloughed off as being pop culturish and just a way to boost publicity. The connection was made when I noticed the credits in the middle of the second season. Jeph Loeb is a producer. If I comb over the first 35 episodes or so, I’m sure I’ll find more comic book creator links.

My interest in Lost was waning after the first few episodes of Season 2. I didn’t care much. As soon as I made the mental link between comic books and Lost, I was back in. If I can suffer through Dark Reign and Norman Osborne, I can suffer through Lost never providing answers.

The story seems to be moved forward by filling in back story and making links between characters. 37 episodes in, I have no idea what Dharma is. I have no idea who is providing supplies to the bunker. I have no idea where this bunker gets power. Comic books move their stories along in the exact same way. Instead of changing a character in a real way, they shuffle the pieces around within the world around the character. Batman subtly changes over time, but he’s essentially the same brooding and determined kid that watched someone gun down his parents.

Through this lens, I’m completely OK with where Lost is going and I’m along for the ride. Hopefully I’ll catch up before the new season and can enjoy the ride in the final season in real time. Incidentally, catching up on Lost feels exactly like catching up on a comic. When I wanted to start reading Powers by Brian Michael Bendis, I went back to the start and picked up all the trade paperbacks. I read them as quickly as possible and had to fight the urge to ask wikipedia who certain characters were. I feel the same way watching Lost. The CIA officer that let Sayid go? He looks familiar and I think I saw him in the jungle. Wikipedia would tell me if I’m right, but I have to avoid the temptation.

So.. tonight I’ll probably finish most of season 2. Tomorrow night I’ll probably pick up season three on DVD. It’s an interesting ride and I can’t wait to catch up and start watching in issues.

I realize I’m still 12 years old.  I get it. As an adult, I’m supposed to avoid doing certain things because they’re childish.  I’m not supposed to play video games, watch cartoons, buy toys or read comics.  For all of the “adult” things I do in my life, the Maturity Police would probably arrest me for being too childish.  Of all the things I am not supposed to do, I think I derive the most joy from reading comics.

I’d dabbled in comics as a kid. I can’t ever remember buying comics in a store or spending much time perusing the spinner racks for the latest issues.  The stash I remember reading was given to me by neighbors on the millitary base I’d lived on in Puerto Rico. They were getting rid of things their dad didn’t want to ship to their new duty station.  The box of goodies contained a few random comics, most of which weren’t memorable.  The jewel of the box? The Frank Miller Wolverine origin story.  Looking back, I wish I had held onto those issues.  I had no idea what was in my hands then.

My brief fling with comic books ended when I lost track of that box of books.  They most likely disappeared when my family moved away in a similar set of circumstances.  I’m sure the kids next door enjoyed their free box of comics.  I didn’t read comics again for 20+ years. I bought into the mantra of the Maturity Police.  Comics were for kids and I desperately didn’t want to be a kid anymore.

I missed the Watchmen. I missed the rise of the collector craze in the 90s.  I missed out on the Daredevil wearing armor.  I missed the death of Superman. I missed the Dark Knight Returns.  I missed it all, because I knew comics were for kids.

A few years back, i truly grew up.  Life events threw me a curveball and I realized that I’d been coasting through life pretending to be an adult.  I braved the trade paperback section at the local mega-bookstore and picked up the first trade of Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. I loved every page of them.  Read from left to right, top to bottom..got it. I was fine.  Until the story spanned facing pages and then i’d occasionally get lost in the flow.  I reread quite a bit that week trying to make sense of the story from time to time.

From that point, I decided that I’d rather support a local comic shop instead of the mega-bookstore and happened to find a really great local shop.  It was well organized, well stocked and the owners were helpful and friendly.  I picked up the rest of the Ultimate Spider-Man trades and branched out a bit until I had some of the other Ultimate lines.  I picked up a number of different Batman books as I went along and enjoyed them as well. I also picked up Watchmen.  Reading through it the first time, as a novice reader, I was lost.  It was amazing but I was lost.  I’ve reread it once or twice since then and I’ve found it to be more enjoyable each time.

Once I was caught up on Ultimate Spider-Man in trade, it didn’t take long to move to the single issues.  I love the serialized nature of the stories and I love the anticipation of getting the next issue. In issues, I’d find myself dabbling more. Trying out an issue or three of things I couldn’t be sure I’d like.

My journey back into comics was an enjoyable one.  I fell in love with the story telling style. I fell in love with the diversity in the art. I fell in love discovering new comics.  One of my favorite things about the comic world is the diversity of the local comic book shops.  In my current job, I get the opportunity to see many different comic shops and I can enjoy the oddities and cultures of each.

In future posts, I’ll talk about the various series that I’ve found and enjoyed.  I’ll talk about the various comic shops I find.  I’ll expand upon my love of comics. After two years of absorbing comic culture and getting acclimated to the world of comics, I want to put my thoughts in order.

I’ve learned that being a grown up doesn’t mean eschewing things I find fun. I can live the life of an adult while still enjoying myself. I own my own home. I have put my personal life back in order. I have a great job that I have no intention of changing, which is a blog post on its own.

All that being said?  When I head out every Wednesday evening to find the local comic shop, I never say I’m going to get my comics.  I say simply that I’m going to get my ‘books’. I just feels more grown up.