Day of Jubilee

As I mentioned before I am incredibly behind on my comics. I still am. At some point I’ll catch up, but I feel guilty reading new things until I catch up on the old. But yesterday was the Day of Jubilee. Nation X #2 starring my favorite member of the X-Men (and favorite Marvel character, and my third favorite comics character) came out. I had to go brave my LCBS.

Here’s the thing – I hate my LCBS. They don’t order for you unless you agree to sign up for a pull list and agree to give them three month’s notice before you cancel anything, and they’ll sell out of your box if someone gets there before you do. (To the person whose copy of Nation X #2 I bought, I’m sorry. I specifically asked them if they had any extra copies. I didn’t realize until after I’d paid that they’d taken it out of your box.) And because of the recession they don’t actually sell individual issues anymore unless you have a pull list.

I won’t sign up for a pull list with them, because I’m not leaving my credit card information and agreeing to their ridiculous terms, only to have them sell my books before I get there. And the thing is, they are so convenient. They’re really close to where I work. I just hate shopping there.

The other closest comic store is about 27 miles away, and you take back roads to get there mostly. (Well, not actually back roads. But it’s not a highway, and it’s fairly twisty.) With the ice storm we had I didn’t want to drive there. I actually like this store. If they weren’t 27 miles away I would get a pull list with them.

This blog post wasn’t actually supposed to be about me ranting about my comic shops, it was supposed to be me talking about how even with my hatred of reading things out of order, I went and got Jubilee anyway. And oh, what a glorious comic it was. I reviewed it on ifanboy, and I meant everything I said. This comic was pretty much everything I wanted. It was glorious. Jubilee remains my favorite.

Between that and the fact that Birds of Prey is coming back I am not worrying about Batgirl yesterday was my favorite comics day in a long time. Maybe I will catch up on my comics soon. While this good mood and being positive about comics lasts.

Snow day!

When I went home to New York over Christmas break, I caught the last flight up. Everything else was canceled because New York was expected to get two feet of snow. And we did – that night my town got covered with 22 inches. My mother, a teacher, still had to go to work on Monday.

I live in Georgia now, and last night we got an inch and a half. At six am I got woken up with the news that we were closed. This makes sense, I guess, since Georgia doesn’t have any plows or salt or sand. And nobody in Georgia knows how to drive in the snow.

But, on the bright side, I have a three day weekend. I am taking the time to do a best of the DCAU marathon. I started with “Legends” the episode of Justice League where they meet the Justice Society Guild. I think I’m going to watch “The Savage Time” next. And maybe do some writing, or catch up on my comics. Who knows?

Cutting down

I am so far behind on my comics it isn’t even funny. I’m still reading books from February. Staring at the list of comics I still have to read is depressing, and just makes me not want to read them.

People (Caroline, Jen, I’m looking at you) have been asking me forever why I keep reading them if I’m not enjoying them. I touched on it a bit yesterday – when you get in the habit of reading an entire line, it is really hard to stop.

Yesterday, I made a list of what comics are coming out that I actually enjoy reading and I look forward to. It’s not a very long list. (Batgirl, Tiny Titans, Detective Comics, Supergirl, Captain America, Iron Man, New Avengers, X-Factor, Incredible Hercules, Farscape, and Irredeemable. Okay, there are also a few other ones, but I don’t have my list with me) Then there are the books I consider essential and will read anyway (Titans. I know. I should stop. Various X-Books) And there are the books I read because all of my friends are reading them and I should be able to talk about them. (I am not going to list these.)

At some point I should just admit that I really don’t care about Hulk, or Ghost Rider, or well, a lot of other characters. Spider-Man. And because I’m always so behind, I never actually get to have the conversations with people.

So last night, I made a list. I cut down all the books I am just reading because I felt like I should, and I filed them away. The remaining list looks managable. It’s still longer than I’d like, but now that I’ve made the first step, I should probably be able to cut down even more.

My free time thanks me. Maybe I’ll even catch up one day. And hopefully just reading the ones I actually love will remind me why I read comics.

My LCBS

When I was 16, I worked in a comic book shop on Long Island. It was fabulous. I got hired for two reasons – my dad was the store’s best customer, and I knew more about comics than the manager. (The manager was the owner’s wife. She hated comics and pretty much everything about the store.)

For almost three years, I did a lot for the store, and not just with the comics. This was 2000 – 2002, so I ran the Showdown tournaments, and the Magic: TG tournaments. I provided the space (and played with) the D&D group before we opened on Sundays. I worked Thursday – Sunday, and it was pretty much the best high school job ever. My store didn’t just have Wednesday people – we had a pretty dedicated group that I would see every Thursday afternoon who knew that they could count on me to tell them what came out. Because the nicest thing about this job was that I got to read everything.

Some of my friends wonder exactly how I got into the habit of reading pretty much everything that DC and Marvel put out. That started with my dad. (His pull list read “All DC except Wonder Woman” and “All Marvel except for the X-Titles”.)  So for years (okay, starting when I was 11 or 12) I would just read everything when he was done with it. The comic book store just let me expand that a little bit. Also, keeping up to date with everything was expected of me – my boss really didn’t read anything, so I was the one who had to know what the upcoming events were, and to provide recs to customers and such.  And once you get into the habit of having to know everything, it is really hard to stop.

The job eventually ended(I moved away for college, and eventually the store closed down) but working in that store cemented my love of comics, and I will never find a LCBS that I love as much.

But on the bright side, at least I don’t have to watch the owner’s kids for free anymore while I’m working.

Ridiculous Crossovers

If you asked me what I loved about comics, immediately following “Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon” would be ridiculous crossovers. I love crossovers. I love guest appearances. Multiple generations of Titans teaming up to yell “Titans Together!” never fails to make me smile.

This extends into other media as well. I still watch Power Rangers (shut up, I know) and one of my favorite things is when Rangers from previous generations show up to offer advice or help beat an old villain. (The 15th anniversary special where the veteran team of Rangers shows up is pretty much my favorite thing ever.) I love the series 4 finale of Doctor Who when all of the Doctor’s companions from the RTD era show up. I plot ridiculous crossovers in my head, just because I can.  And this extends to more than in-universe crossovers, if given enough time I will come up with a justification to crossover anything.

Which, when I think of it, means I actually love the concept of the shared universe more than anything else. I really love the idea that all of my favorite characters could interact with each other. Dick Grayson and Toro should totally have known each other through circus gossip. Batman would make a great companion for the Doctor.

Really, I’m actually sure that I just wrote up this post to justify why I own two copies of Planet X.

So, what are your favorite ridiculous crossovers? In universe or the most ridiculous combination you can come up with.

New Year and things

So, I have this blog that I almost never update. And by almost never I mean I haven’t updated this since May. And really, the reason I don’t is that I have this deep and horrible fear that what I have to say just isn’t good enough, and that I am not good enough, and also there are billions of blogs out there anyway, so why I should I bother?

But then I also figure that maybe I should just get over myself and blog at least a little bit. So here is the state of me as we begin 2010. I am still horribly behind on my comics, and I am coming more and more to the realization that I just don’t actually care. I probably would care a lot more if I didn’t look at the pile of comics and wonder why I’m reading them, so I think this might be the year where I stop reading comics that I know I will hate (I’m looking at (Teen) Titans, Red Robin, and Green Arrow) and just read the ones that I know will fill me with joy (Batgirl! Tiny Titans!). This is probably a healthier attitude toward comics anyway.

My big resolution for this year is to actually try and review things that I read. Not just comics, but books. I read 289 books last year, and didn’t review any of them. So I’m going to try to do that.

Of course, I also claim that this is the year that I’m going to learn to cook, and also exercise three times a week, so who knows if I’ll actually keep up with these things. But I’m going to try.

Marvel 1602 – I have no idea what I was waiting for

When the Fantastic Fangirls came up with their challenge to try something new, I originally said I was going to try Cosmic Marvel. Unfortunately, the entire state of Georgia failed me, as not a single library had a copy of Annihilation. I then decided to try Strangers in Paradise. I read the first volume, and I liked it, but I only got the second trade today, so that will have to wait.

What I did read today and absolutely loved was 1602. 1602 is a book that I should have read a while ago – I have a fondness for AUs. I would read an entire series about the Justice Titans from the most recent Superman/Batman arc. I’ve read every single issue of Exiles. But I’d never read 1602.

There’s a reason for this – 1602 came out during that very brief time period when I wasn’t reading comics. I quit reading them for a while in late 2003, right before the first issue came out, and I didn’t start up again until 2007. So while I knew 1602 existed, I just never got around to it. And now I am kicking myself for that, because 1602 is pretty much everything I love.

There isn’t a lot that I can say about the book that hasn’t already been said – 1602 is pretty well loved. I think the book did a wonderful job re-imagining the characters and blending them with the time period. The artwork is beautiful. The story itself is incredible, but I expect nothing less from Neil Gaiman.

I would try to list my favorite parts but a) they would be spoilery and b) there are way too many. I’ll just say that Werner was totally my favorite. Nobody should really be surprised by this. And I would really like more from this universe, and apparently there are two sequels, both of which now have holds on them at the library.

Marvel Solicits

Well, it’s time for lunch, and I have the choice of going through my google reader or talking about solicits again, so I choose the solicits. (My google reader is getting scary. I’m never going to catch up. Ever.)

Apparently I chose a good time to actually start blogging. Because solicits. Yes.

DC Solicits!

Things I love – solicits. I like spoilers, I like speculation, and I like discussing things. I probably even like flailing about and worrying about what is going to happen to my favorites, because I’m going to do it anyway when the books come out, so I should probably prolong the experience.

So, thoughts on the DC July solicits! I mean, if I went to the trouble of getting this blog thing, I should probably actually use it, right?

Book Meme

Jen says that I should do this meme, and since I can’t just spam the comments on her blog, as I normally do with the Fantastic Fangirls, I guess I’ll just have to create one of my own. So hi. I’m Margot. I read a lot of books and a lot of comics, which I might occasionally talk about here.

1. What author do you own the most books by?

So, here’s the thing. I have a lot of books. Most of those books are still in boxes in New York, because when I moved to Georgia I only took what I could fit into my car, which meant I could only bring 4 boxes of books with me. The rest are in storage. Which meant that I left all of my Piers Anthony books in New York. Look, while most of my friends were reading Tammy Pierce or Mercedes Lackey when they were 12, I was reading Piers Anthony. This is my father’s fault.  And I have a very severe love/hate relationship with Piers Anthony. I think he’s an awful writer, and his id is always showing in a way that makes me want to throw things, yet I cannot stop reading the Xanth books. I have problems, okay?

2. What book do you own the most copies of?

If we’re counting all those books that are in storage, I have 4 versions of The Iliad and The Odyssey. But since those are 1,000 miles away, I’ll go with the fact that I have two copies of So You Want to Be A Wizard. Why do I have two copies down here? Because I let someone borrow a copy in college, never got it back, bought a new copy, and then got contacted out of the blue by this person to let me know that she’d found my copy and was mailing it back to me.

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

Dick Grayson. It isn’t that much of a secret. Also, Mr. Darcy. But who isn’t?

4. What book have you read more than any other?

Um. I cannot answer this. I reread books a LOT. I have books that are comfort reading of “I am having a bad day so I am going to sit here and read them because it will make my bad day suck less.” And I make it a point to reread certain passages of things at least once a year.
Probably the book I’ve read the most is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. This is just a guess, however. As I said, I re-read books a LOT.

5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

Probably the Chronicles of Narnia. If I was 12, I would tell you the Xanth books. It also might be the Star Wars expanded universe. Or possibly Bruce Coville’s My Teacher is an Alien series. Or possibly The Girl With The Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts. I desperately wanted her to grow up to join the X-Men.

6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?

I am not including comics in this. The answer might be the Twilight series, but I enjoy mocking them too much. I think the worst book I’ve read in the last year (okay, I think I read it in February of 2008, but close enough) was Tunnels, by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. I read it because I was working in the bookstore at the time, and the book was being promoted as the next Harry Potter, and somehow I managed to get through the entire thing, even though I complained loudly to anyone who would listen to me that all of the characters were flat, the world had horribly large plot holes, and also point of view does NOT WORK LIKE THAT.

I’m guessing that my capslock there probably does prove that I’m still angry about it. Heh.

Alternately, my answer is the most recent Piers Anthony book – Two to the Fifth. Early Piers Anthony looks sane by comparison, as this is the second Xanth book in a row where the main character has sex with twelve year olds. SERIOUSLY PIERS ANTHONY, STOP IT.

7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?

That is an unfair question. Um. Are we going by favorite or best? (I don’t have my list of books I’ve read in 2009 with me, which is already over 100 books. So I will instead go by my list of books read in 2008, which I do have saved in my email.) I discovered a lot of new series in 2008 – The Vorkosigan books, Honor Harrington, Lord Peter Wimsey, the Jules and Robin books… but I’ll go with Little Brother by Cory Doctorow as the best one I read.

8. If you could tell everyone reading this to read one book, what would it be?

I read a lot of YA, and my taste is weird, and I tend to not rec books to people because I’m always convinced they will hate it and then judge me. However, I happen to think that everyone should read at least one of the following: Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451.

9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

I hated James Joyce. You really have no idea how much.

10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

This is where everyone starts laughing at me for not really reading either, right?

11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?

Shakespeare. Although I love Paradise Lost.

12. Austen or Eliot?

Austen.

13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

The classics. I actually made it through undergrad without taking any English classes. (I took creative writing, but it is best not to discuss that.)

14. What is your favorite novel?

This is an unfair question and I refuse to answer it. Let us just say that if you happen to see a novel where there is a spunky young heroine who needs to overcome obstacles to save the day, I probably love it.

15. Play?

The Crucible. Or Much Ado About Nothing.

16. Poem?

I like Shel Silverstein a lot.

17. Essay?

Did you catch the part about gaps in my reading?

18. Short Story?

I tend to read novels, not short stories. There are some short story collections I like, but I can’t think of any right now.

19. Non Fiction

I really like histories of musicals. So I really enjoyed America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. I am also a dork.

20. Graphic Novel?

I read a lot of comics, and most of them I read in single issues. I read a lot of New Teen Titans in trade form, and since my love for the Wolfman-Perez era is very well established, let’s go with that.

21. Science Fiction?

Ender’s Game. I went through a phase in high school where I wasn’t actively looking for new books (shocker) and was just rereading things I’d already read or discussing Harry Potter endlessly. Then my dad gave me Ender’s Game and told me to read something new. And even though it was a classic at that point I hadn’t read it yet. I did, and then I went looking for more scifi.

21b. Fantasy?

The fact that this was left off this list made me sad, so I included it. I love Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey. I also love David Eddings. Shut up.

22. Who is your favorite writer?

Probably Tamora Pierce. Or Bruce Coville! I secretly want to grow up to be one of them. It would help if I would actually write something though.

23. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

STEPHENIE MEYER. Her books are JUST BAD. Why are they selling? NO, SERIOUSLY?

24. What are you reading right now?

The Graveyard Book, The Hunger Games, Essential X-Factor vol 1, and the Ten Cent Plague. (I would say ‘all the comics from the last month’ but I finally caught up.)

25. Best Memoir?

I tend not to read them. I read a lot of inspired teacher stories when I was in undergrad because I wanted to be a teacher, but now they just make me grumpy.

26. Best History?

This is where I have to admit I don’t have one, and clearly this proves why I was the worst history teacher ever. I don’t have one.

27. Best Mystery or Noir?

Lord Peter Wimsey! But I also like the Amelia Peabody series.