12-9-06: I Really Must Stop Buying Comics
I was not intending to buy several more comics today. I really wasn't. I was really trying to save my money in order to buy Christmas gifts for my friends and family. But then I read through the comic books that arrived two days ago from Newkadia.com. Getting through these, I realized that I was out of comic book sleeves.
While at the comic book store, of course I had to look through the new issues. I was going to just buy sleeves and wait until next week when New X-Men comes out to look at comics, but I heard that Detective Comics #826 was out. This issue features my favorite villain, the Joker. It has also happened several times that I have gotten to my local comic book store and Detective Comics has been sold out. I did not want to take the chance with the Joker. I picked it up with seven other issues, expanding my comic collection to 745 issues. I really need to stop. However, this Joker issue was rather good, and my review of it is now up.
12-8-06: Transmetropolitan Love
A few weeks back I came across the site Newkadia.com, an online comic book store. Perusing their wares, I discovered that there were several comic issues in stock which I have been desiring to own for some time. On Monday I took the plunge and bought these comics.
Northstar gets drunk.
My primary reason for this purchase was issue #106 of Alpha Flight. I have been looking for this issue for several months, but neither my local comic book store nor MileHighComics.com had it in stock. This issue is where Northstar comes out as being gay, and is of vital interest in my Honors Thesis. Beyond this issue, however, I purchased six issues of Transmetropolitan. These were mostly the early issues that are hard to find and are abnormally expensive at Mile High Comics. (listed at around 17 dollars an issue!) I was not about to pay that exorbant amount, but found that Newkadia had them for 3 to 5 dollars apiece. That was far more reasonable to me, and so I quickly bought them up. Now I own every issue of Transmet except for the first two.
Now, you may be asking why am I so set on buying these comics less than a week after adding 66 issues to my collection? Well, I wasn't. But I figured that if I waited around until the end of the month when I get paid again, they would probably already be gone, and I would probably never be able to find them again. I thus bought these while they were available, and also partially to try out Newkadia.com. I am pretty satisfied with their service. It looks like I now have an alternative to MileHighComics.com when they are too expensive.
12-2-06: Comic Extravaganza!
My massive shipment of 66 comics came in early this week, and I have spent the last few days reading through them in a state that can only be described as bliss. This rapture was somewhat reduced by the fact I had two term papers to write (and by all rights should be working on my final paper as I type this), but suffered through the schoolwork and the Herculean task of reading 66 comics in three days.But I persevered, and have thus updated my Collection list once again. The influx of 66 comics pushes my collection to 724 issues! I had to buy yet another box to contain them all. There were several gems in this purchase. In addition to buying 27 issues of Alpha Flight and 28 issues of Batman, I obtained the 4 issue Northstar miniseries from 1994. This miniseries is clearly about Northstar being gay, only the writer was not allowed to actually say that, which makes for interesting storytelling. I also got Batman Family #10 from 1977, which featured the return of Batwoman. However, the true treasure of this purchase was the Hulk! #23.
This issue is also known as the Hulk gay rape issue. The reason is fairly self explanatory, for there is one scene where Bruce Banner almost gets raped by a group of gay men in the showers of the YMCA. My full thoughts on this issue are contained in the feature I wrote on it. While on the subject of comic related articles, I have been working on another Batman article. This one examines the relationship between Batman and the Joker, before discussing methods to make the Joker a good character once more.
11-27-06: Waiting For Comics
Just over a week ago, I ordered a massive amount of comic books from MileHighComics.com. I was specifically spurred to this action by hearing about a Thanksgiving week discount they were offering. A certain coupon code would take 40 percent off of the order. Yes, 40 percent. On that note, I ordered 67 comics, including 27 issues of Alpha Flight and 28 issues of Batman. The original price was around 70 dollars, but with the massive discount I only paid 43 dollars. I had to get above 40 dollars in order to get free shipping, and I refuse to pay for shipping since their warehouse is only about 10 miles from where I live.Perhaps due to an influx of orders during the Thanksgiving break, or possibly due to a few issues not actually being in stock at the warehouse, my order still has not arrived. It apparently shipped this morning, so I am expecting it sometime Wednesday. In order to pass the time while I waited, I ... bought more comics.
The trip to my local comic book store was not just about buying comics. I had to buy comic supplies as well, specifically more backboards (MHC does not include those) and another box (my seventh). I also accumulated six more comics, which I felt showed great restraint. This pushes my collection to 658 issues. But I did not just buy comics and comic supplies today. I also procrastinated on the three papers I have yet to write for my college classes. Instead, I played around with some more XHTML design tests. Test 12 and Test 13 are both now available.
Expect a massive comic update sometime around the end of this week.
11-10-06: Those Bloody Fairies
I went to the comic book store once more. Although it did not seem like too much time had passed since I visited last, I was spurred to go by the arrival of several comics which I have been salivating over. Specifically New X-Men #32 and the first issue of the Wisdom miniseries. I have followed the character of Pete Wisdom ever since his introduction ten years ago in Excalibur, and so have been eagerly anticipating this issue for several weeks. I quickly read through the first issue and have posted my review of it for your reading pleasure. Yes, it does deal with bloody fairies.New X-Men featured Victor, which always makes me happy. I have updated the Victor List accordingly. Among the other fifteen comics I bought, I found Batman: Harley Quinn, which introduces Harley's character into the normal Batman continuity. I have been looking for this issue for some time, but was previously looking in the wrong places. (turns out it is shelved under Batman, and not Harley Quinn) I also stocked up on some more Alpha Flight, and even found a few early-80s issues of Batman. All these comics pushes my collection to 652 issues.
11-3-06: 100% Certified Geek
Due to the presence of several term and research papers, I will freely admit that I have not done much (or anything) for this website for the past week or so. However, there is one great acomplishment that I have made just this afternoon: I achieved 100% completion of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas!Yes, I know the game is two years old. Yes, I know that I previously had a Horrible Experience getting it to play on my computer.
100 percent, muthafuckas!
If anything, that officially qualifies me as having way too much free time on my hands, which should be put to much better use on school projects. On that note, I am in the process of adding some content to LonelyGods, but it is nothing exciting, I assure you. Unless you think hyperlinked footnotes are exciting. I have been looking through old issues of Batman and World's Finest Comics for material to use, and have found several choice items. They might be featured somewhere on here or there in the future. I shall leave you with one of these, showcasing Batman's constant respect for women:
10-27-06: A Geeky Afternoon
I spent the day officially geeking out with one of my friends from school. We hit up the comic book store (of course) and I bought several more issues to add to my collection. Fifteen issues to be precise. Among these were six more issues of Alpha Flight, a couple issues of Fantastic Four with Doctor Doom being badass, and a couple early issues of Harley Quinn. The gems I found this time are issues four and five of Rawhide Kid from 2003. This is actually a five issue miniseries based on the character from the original 1955 Marvel series, only now he is gay.It is for this reason that I bought these issues, for this makes for good research material. What is fascinating here is that while the series is a somewhat campy western tale, it is from Marvel's MAX line, which is meant for adult readers only. Indeed, the covers of the two issues I have say in large print "Parental Advisory Explicit Content". However, there is nothing really explicit about the comics themselves. There is some violence, yes, but nothing more than I would normally expect from a story about a Western gunfighter. There is nothing explicit in the character being gay, either. The only mention of his homosexuality is through innuendo in a couple lines of dialogue, and is extremely easy to miss. Thus, the only reason this series is MAX is probably because he is advertised as a gay cowboy and the editors were paranoid of offending people. Fascinating.
Besides adding to my list of comics, I have done some other website work. I am beginning to write an article where I explore Batman's obsession of fighting criminals. It is rather rough and incomplete at this point, and is a little experimental. I intend to follow this article up with another exploring the relationship between Batman and the Joker. But that could take weeks to materialize, since I have several term papers to write for school.
10-14-06: Old Batman is Crack.
Since New X-Men came out last week, I have been meaning to go to the comic book store and stock up once again. I doubt it will happen this weekend, so I will most likely head down on Monday. Until then, I have had to assuage my thirst for comic goodness by looking through the old issues of Batman that I found in an Online Comic Book Archive. Although I discovered the site several month ago, I only now looked more into it, and realized that the first 318 issues of Batman are up there. This is extremely fortunate for me, because I now have access to half the materials I will be using for my Honors Thesis. It is a damn shame that Detective Comics is not up there, but I can learn to deal with that.Due to this archive, I have been downloading issues from the 1950s like mad. These are rather rare issues that I can not find literally anywhere else. There aren't even any reprinted collections! In addition to providing good source material for my Thesis, these issues are just hilariously bad. All the science fiction elements are so overwhelming and out of place. It is like a train wreck: I want to stop reading but can't.
But that is not to say that I did not accomplish anything on this website. My first (partial) review is up, this one concerning the Batman Secrets Miniseries from a few months ago. This series, although it had an interesting premise, is generally lackluster. I have also added in a new section, my Photo Restoration Portfolio. There are currently four examples of my breathtaking work displayed.
10-4-06: More Comics!
I have made yet another trip to the local comic book store. I was specifically looking for a few issues of Batman from the Hush storyline of 2003. Of course, I also ended up purchasing not only the specific issue I was after (#610), but also accumulated sixteen other comics throughout the course of the shopping experience. For those keeping count, this pushes my comic collection over the 600 mark, and I now have exactly 610 issues in my room. (A bit ironic, considering the issue I was after was number 610)In addition to the several new issues I purchased, I found two comic gems which I took home with me. Both of these are Batman issues, and both are from 1980 or earlier. Finding these two issues was particularly fortunate, for they feature Batgirl and Catwoman respectively, and they are always of interest to me. The first issue, #311 from May 1979, features Batman and Congresswoman Batgirl fighting against Doctor Phosphorus. Although the storyline is rather basic, it is notable due to the fact that Dr. Phosphorus will apparantly be returning in next month's issue of Detective Comics. The second issue, Batman #323, features Catwoman being framed for a crime she did not commit by the villain Catman. Sadly, this is not the issue where Batman wrestles a tiger. That is most likely #324. One or possibly both of these will be featured on this site in the next few days. I will also have a few reviews up of some of the current issues I bought.
10-2-06: New Design!
The new design I have been working on is now live! I have managed to import most of the content from my old design into this one, even though I did have to remove a few sections to fit this new theme. It is still rather early on, and so there is not much new content. I will be adding new features and articles in the near future, however.9-16-06:
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been steadily importing content from my old site onto this site. I have also been creating a couple of new sections and making content for them, as well. At this point nearly every section of the site should have at least something in it. It is nowhere near finished, but it is getting there.8-31-06:
I have been steadily adding content to this redesigned site. I have completed my Web Design Portfolio, and am rather proud of how that page turned out.8-21-06: New Website Designs
Even though today is the first day of school, I still found time to add in some additional website designs to my website portfolio. Included are several professional websites which I am currently working with, as well as a couple new mockups. All of these can be found in my Test Sites Page.8-16-06: Comic and Design Update
Over the past month I have purchased many comics, bringing my collection to a new grand total of 578 issues. Additionally, I have completed a third possible design for the redesign that I am contemplating. It can be found in my Test Sites Page.7-5-06: Another Website and Comic Update
I have bought still more comics, thus pushing my collection to 538 issues. Of course, I can say that some of this is legitimate research for my Honors Thesis. That is right. I will no longer be conquering the planet, and instead will be focusing on the treatment of minorities in superhero comic books. In order to help myself along with this goal, I have established another website, which I shall pimp out to you now. The website is Lonely Gods. I am still in the process of researching, so there is not very much at this point.6-12-06: Massive Update and Move
I finally decided to take the plunge and register my own domain name. As such, this site is now hosted on its own at http://www.cosdigital.com instead of the old MSCD servers. I did this specifically so my site will continue to exist after I graduate from college. I was also registering another domain for my Senior Honors Thesis, and decided to just get this one out of the way. Along the way, I decided to redesign my site a bit, which explains the new side menu and logo. At this point, some of the pages are not yet up, but everything under Site Content and Entertainment should be working fine.5-30-06: Web Test Update
Not much has been updated, but I did work on a couple section. The main one is that a new Web Design Test is up now, on my Design Tests Page. This latest one is my experimentation with a dynamic sliding menu design. Furthermore, I have accumulated still more comics, increasing my collection to 519 issues.5-5-06: Various Updates
I have made a number of updates over the last couple of days. The first being yet another trip to the comic book store, expanding my Comic Collection once more. I then made a number of small tweaks to my website code, correcting some of the HTML errors. You might not see it, but I feel better about it now. I then added in a new section, Internet Fun. This incorporates my previous Web Log Tests, as well as a new addition, Fun Google Search Results. I then updated my Scholarly Research Section, with two new papers I turned in for my classes last week.4-16-06: Research and Comic Update
I have not done very much over the past month, but I have managed to add in a few new items to my Scholarly Research page, so that there is now stuff besides my thesis proposal. These old papers of mine can be found on my Scholarly Research Page. Furthermore, I have been to the comic book store twice since my last update, and consequently my comic list has grown longer. The 501 issues can be found on my Comic Collecting Page.3-16-06: My Comic Collection (To the End)
By now, I have finished in cataloging all of the comics I own. Along the way I discovered that I own 483 comics, and I estimate that I have spent near a thousand dollars on them. ($527 on my debit card alone). Once more, this is for my personal reference more than anything else, but if anyone desires to view the massive list, it can be found on my Comic Collecting Page.3-15-06: My Comic Collection (Thus Far)
I have actually added some content to this site of mine. Currently I am in the process of cataloging all of the comics I own, since I collect comics as a hobby. I am not yet finished, but the list thus far is currently up. It is primarily for my own reference, but if you so desire, you may find it on my Comic Collecting Page.2-10-06: I am a Consumer Whore
And I think that is awesome. What happened is that I found the site Cafepress.com and opened a little virtual shop there. This allows me to create my own brand of clothing that fits my twisted and occasionally sociopathic personality. It is not very cheap, but every item bought means more money for me. So go buy something! Wretched Words virtual store.2-2-06: (some) Scholarly Research Now Online
There isn't much to it right now, but eventually I plan to make part of this site an archive where I can store some of my "scholarly" work. There is some content right now, but not much. It can be found under "site content" on the main menu or at the Scholarly Research Page.1-23-06: Web Log Tests Part III and Conclusion
It is finished. The Web Log Tests have been completed, with the final site, Myspace.com, being reviewed. The results and Final Conclusions are both available on the Web Log Test Pages.1-16-05: Web Log Tests Part II
The second portion of my web log tests is now live. The site I looked at in this installment was Livejournal.com. Does it match up to Blogger.com? Answers to this and other life affirming questions are located on my Web Log Test Pages.Oh yes, and I began another angry rant, this time about my Stereo Sound Cable Disaster.
1-11-06: Another Update
Another update, with more stuff. First off, I have added in another section to my Photo Editing Page. This time I tweaked a picture of a comic book character. I think the results are quite impressive. In addition to that, I have also began my Web Log Tests. I will continue on them whenever I feel like it, so do not expect too much right away.That is all.