More Returns

I had a gift certificate to our local comic shop that was burning a hole in my pocket so I decided to cash it in.

It has been a long time since I bought a comic. Even before the blog went into its latest hiatus (December 2008), I had already stopped buying monthly issues. Buying little booklets of glossy paper isn't too smart, you know? But, I had the gift certificate and I missed the head kicking.

The good

Daredevil made it to 500 issues! I got a back copy along with the latest issue 501. But, Matt Murdock know leads The Hand? That is kind of a neat twist, but didn't he already sell his soul when he was the brutal "new" Kingpin of NYC? We do have umpteen stories of him snapping and girlfriends dying, so it can't hurt to recycle this. Right? His new DD inspired Hand ninjas look awesome with little devil horns and long pony tails designed to mimic devil tails.



I may need to set aside the three bucks a month to keep reading DD. It is nice to come back to such big reveals and plenty of ninjas.

The Bad

When the hell did Immortal Iron Fist get canceled!? It was because I stopped buying issues, right Marvel? Well, times are tough and some of us didn't get a nice injection of Disney money earlier this year.

I picked up four issues of the Iron Fist tie-in series, The Immortal Weapons. It chronicles each of the champions from the other heavenly cities that Danny Rand, a.k.a Iron Fist, met during his adventures in the series. They are nice, but I really wanted to see Danny Rand punch some people out.



I have also read rumors that this is just a stand in while Marvel decides what to do with the main series. So, maybe it will come back. I hope. If not, then I will be down to just one comic a month since few other weekly series attract me. I just need to keep dueling with the other guy that keeps putting trade paper backs of Y: The Last Man on hold at the library.

Peace!

Powers

It had to happen. I had to try and talk about superpowers. Here are some snippets.

_______________________________

I think of the first beads of water to bubble up at the bottom of a boiling pot. Imagine that trembling, anxious fear all over your skin. The feeling comes from every pore, pouring out from the surface. Not a deep, gut feeling you feel inside your stomach. But, the pins and needles of blood rushing back to your limbs. Except this is all on fire. I am focusing energy and it is working!

I shaved my arms before trying this. The little ad at the back of Atomic Stories didn't say anything about shaving, but I thought it would help. This book was aimed at kids anyway. I don't remember my own arms from childhood, but they are certainly hairy now. Or used too, before I shaved. I read the rest of the ad for "Enchanted Defense for the Modern Age," but the little preview exercise doesn't tell you what to do with all this energy at the end of my fist. I hear my father in my head who was a technical writer that wrote, mostly, VCR manuals. "Instructions should never assume, son." I wonder what he would have to say about this. About how his pulp magazine actually worked and what to do with this missing information. I imagine lots of blown holes in the wall in mid 60's.

Unlike in the comics, the lights doesn't bulge out from my fist. Instead my arm shines in a shimmering iridescence, a peridot green that gets deeper at my fist. The ad never said anything about colors. There are no pictures at all! "Images are always helpful, son." My dad would rip this ad to shreds.

Neither does it say anything about my arm feeling heavy. Or that the joints of my elbow and knuckles tickle. I press my arm against a desk, it feels that cumbersome. The gypsum boars boils when my arm touches the top. The first layer bubbles up and peels away, exposing the sandy compressed particles of the interior. These then turn molten, burning and glowing like charcoal briquettes. I pull my arm away, but I don't remember the weight.

I drop to the floor and put my fist against the concrete of the basement floor. I hear a tiny "phoom" noise and then the crackle of splinters. The glow is gone, but under my fist I left a concrete divot in the floor. I am tired. Not just the arm, but my whole body. This feels like a gut feeling. Grabbing a softball from some scattered boxes I nestle it in the divot. A snug fit.
"All done, son."

__________________________

Recycling superhero! He exists! R3 gives the vilians something to watch out for. I saw him chasing a purse snatcher downtown. The snatcher had a good head start and R3 wears this sort-of armor made from bottle caps. It looked like the perp would get away, until R3 whipped out today's newspaper and touched it. Then, he somehow brought back all the recycled pulp that went into that. He reversed-recycled an entire paper just by touching it! And considering the Courier is printed on thin newsprint , the issue multiplied ten fold! A column of paper flew out from R3's fist. It shot down Second Street, each sheet leap frogging over the next and rammed straight into the back of the thief! Then R3 grabbed a soda can from his belt and turned into six little throwing stars! They flew fast and pinned the perp to the wooden scaffolding outside the Blue Street bus stop renovation. The local cops were then all over the perp. R3 dissappeared, riding his stack of paper up towards the rooftops. I tell my neighbors to recycle because it keeps our city safe.

___________________

Eh? Just playing. Peace!

Co-op of Justice #1

I realized that I had not written anything about the COOP OF JUSTICE since those initial line-up posts. So here is a little something, something.

Now, before we start, I hate doing this because it shows you are a weak storyteller. But, dammit, I am also not afraid to admit that!

Please understand this is all in jest and in good fun. So, I am sorry Dryden, but someone had to get the shaft. I mean, why do all these stories happen there?! As someone said on Craigslist, in defense of Dryden, "Crazy people live everywhere." Well, true, but, the damage has already been done. I'm not saying Dryden is the county's version of the Wild West, but if I am going to send my crime fighting team somewhere in Tompkins County, well, then, I only got a few options. Besides, this story is set on The Commons.

Onward...

_______________________

The July heat comes off from the cement surface of The Commons. I stay in my half-crouch atop the Bank of America building, eight stories above all the perps and civvies. The whole team is off in Dryden, because, well, it's Dryden and something is always happening there. Sitting here in the sun, I realize I have hung around those kids too long. Made me soft always having to bring Flutter always back to reality or keep Clancy from blasting into the Common Council meetings during each public comments section.

It feels nice to work alone. To have the entire heart of a great Central New York city under your care. I give back to this community every time we bring in a perp to Pete or Lauren, sometimes both. Just for the hell of it. I give back every time I teach the kids on the team something about a back-alley switchback or that Crazy Ivan I pulled in a commandeered IPD cruiser. I give back to the community every time that....

A SCREAM!

From down below, I hear a tussle in the Bernie Milton Pavilion. It's hot, but it's still early morning. To early for the goth-skater punks and the hackey-sack kids. I took one of those hackey-sacks in the solar plexuses once. I was getting over the flu and the kid caught me off guard. Flutter later told me the best hacky-sacks have small beads. They handle better. That one must have been a small-bead one. I still took the perp, even though Dawn had to pop in with her shape shifting at the end. It was a lesson for both of us.

I jump off from my half-crouch and unfurl the cable line from my belt. I swing it into the locust trees in front of me and send three dozen Starlings flying away in fear. I feel the rope. Nice and tight, around a heavy branch. Then I fly.

The IPD SWAT does some repelling from the building every year for Christmas. One of the guys dresses up like Santa Claus and scoots down delivering presents to kids. I got no problem with kids. Did a bunch of work with Make a Wish and GIAC. It's the "scooting" I hate. It's a quick drop from the building and since it's morning I don't have dodge the lunch time crowd under the trees.

I hit the Commons running and hear some whispers from behind me.
"Captain Gorges!"
"I thought he was only an urban legend!"
"Someone call the paper! NOW!"
I ignore them. I hope I don't appear callous, but I see the trouble. She isn't hard to miss.

FG-1000 has the tourist couple cornered. That android from Elmira has been ravaging the city since 1989. Screaming and yelling, she has all the time to complain and intimidate. I always found Dr. E's evil creating ingenious. Using the city's progressive label against it. She's everywhere. Every rally. Every pow-wow. Every discussion group and drum circle. FG-1000 is there. My portfolio for the IJ has dozens of pictures of her. She is usually holding a cardboard sign.

The android's voice carries clear and strong. It's a bit raspy, probably from lack of maintenance. The FG-1000 can't operate any vehicle besides a bike. And Dr. E knows never to show up in Tompkins County since "the incident."

"WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR WATER BOTTLES OUT IN THE SUN!?" The FG-1000 screams this to the tourist couple. The couple cowers in a corner of the pavilion, a Dasani bottle at their feet and in the sun. From their clothes, I can tell they are financially well, but don't want to show it. Some smart khaki shorts and polo shirts. Teva sandals over their feet. The husband has a ratty Boston College cap. The wife's polo is the BC colors. Probably some folks passing through looking at Cornell or the wineries. FG-1000's perfect prey.

"DON'T YOU KNOW WATER BOTTLES IN THE SUN CAUSES CARCINOGENS!?" She continues. "INSANE! MADNESS! PEOPLE!"

The wife speaks up. "Hey, why don't you mind your own business!?"

Bad idea. The FG-1000 is inflamed. "WHAT!? I LIVED IN THIS TOWN FOR 18 YEARS!"

Luckily, she can't see me in her state. I unfurl an escrima stick from my side holsters. Never had to use it against her, but then again, she has next to nothing in hand-to-hand training.

"Hey!" I scream. "Leave the nice folks alone, FG."

"WHAT!? YOU!? I DESERVE YOUR JOB! I SERVE ITHACA BEST. CORNELL DID THIS TO US. THEY BRING THE CRIMES WITH THE STUDENT'S DRUGS!"

She swings at me with her yellow bike helmet. This is a first. Dr. E. must have sent new protocols to her. However, she swings from the shoulder. Swings hard and clumsy. I dodge it easily. However, she keeps on coming. "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!"

I duck another helmet swipe, bending forward as I were picking up some change. Unsnapping the strap for my shield, I whip the old girl onto my wrists. The helmet strikes the face of the shield. A low thud fills the air around us. "NO STUDENTS ON COMMON COUNCIL!"

My shield is made of recycled-ceramics pulled from discarded terracotta pots and treated to be high-impact machine grade. It then has a thin layer of recovered plastic, designed to be ablative and diffuse the impact. I really wanted a shield made of metal, but some folks at Greenstar got a wind of it and protested. Some kid from IC was at the presentation, listing off air pollutants saved by going with the ceramics. They won. I deal.

FG-1000 follows through with her swipe and I come up to slap the helmet out of her hands. I just tap it, using the same strength I would if I were yawning. Just with a bit more grace. my shield just taps her in the chin, but it sends her reeling. FG-1000 is pear-shaped, a design I always assumed was poor. What did she keep down there? Speakers. She wobbles before hitting the pavement.

I turn to the tourist couple, who blast down the Commons Bank Alley. The wife turns her head back and smiles at me. Gives me a wave. The husband just pulls her farther away and closer to her car.

In the meantime, FG-1000 waddles away down the Commons. I am always surprised how fast she actually moves on those legs. A kid comes up to me and asks for my autograph.

"Are you really Captain Gorges?!"

I see FG-1000 jump on her bike. It's parked where the Commons Bug uses to be. They got rid of them when they made me. I kind of missed them today. She pedals away, but she screams, "NO MOPEDS IN CITY PARKING LOTS!"

But I also hear the kid say, "Excuse me, but are you really him?"

"Yeah," I say, grabbing his pen. I sign the autograph, "Captain Gorges. Giving back to the city."

________________________________

Peace!

First Time

Off-topic post. Comic books for everyone! Regular posts to return soon.

To the left! To the left! All these SPOILERS are coming in a blog to the left!

Please don't judge me for quoting Beyonce.

SPOILERS AWAY!

The last Wednesday of the month is one of my favorite days out of the whole 30-something day cycle. All my favorite comics come out on the last Wednesday and since I only buy five comics a month, due to budgetary reasons, the last Wednesday pretty much defines my monthly comics experience.

Today was an excellent Wednesday, on most counts. Daredevil and Iron Fist, at the hands of Ed Brubaker, were wonderful. I can't wait for Daredevil #100 in August! It's triple-friggin-sized! My first 100! WOO!

However, I also got another first today. My first, "WHY!?" moment.

This sucks.....


WHY!?

For those of you that didn't realize that was just a digital picture on my kitchen counter top, Kyle Rayner, my favorite Green Lantern, metamorphized into the evil Parallax. The same Parallax that a decade ago drove many a Hal Jordan fan raving mad. Superman went out in a blaze of glory. GL's become monsters. BAH! I guess it goes with the space cop thing.

I understand that this, the whole evil thing, must happen. Even a character like Kyle Rayner, who is only about thirteen years old, becomes stale without change. The initial "Whiz-bang" of a hero fades away if the only problems he/she faces is the "villain of the month." It's what defines the "modern age" of comics, and what sometimes can destroy it. Again, I refer to the original Parallax shenanigans. If you go too edgy, then you eventually fall off.

Kyle recently became a near god in the "Ion" storyline, and now he has fallen. It makes sense. I enjoy superhero comics where the good guy actually wins. I don't mind how we get there and I don't mind Pyrrhic victories, but I like for characters to come out on top. DC will probably kill off Kyle Rayner, which makes for another comic first for me. As a nerd, it feels like I'm growing up. And I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!!

Hopefully SallyP will get her thoughts up about the Sinestro Corps War soon and I can calm down a bit. Until then....FREAKING OUT!

Peace!

Eat it Joe Quesada!

SPIDER-RABBIT! SPIDER-RABBIT!

Does anything that a spider-rabbit can! And since such a thing really doesn't exist, that means that I can give it any powers I wish! OH YEAH! SPIDER-RABBIT FRIGGIN' YEAH!


Hops really high, shoots some webs, has carrot shaped shurikens, and his x-ray vision can even see through lead! Super-strength he has is spades and you better believe that he is litter trained! Breathes some fire and reactive evolution! OH YEAH! SPIDER-RABBIT FRIGGIN YEAH!

My comics budget remains pretty tight. It is good that I am keeping one of my new year's resolutions, at least. I try to stick to only six comics a month which at the usual $2.99 retail price means that I can get by on $20 dollars a month for comics. Most of the comics I buy are a core group I read every month no matter what: Daredevil, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, The New Avengers and The Immortal Iron Fist. With both Civil War and Ion all done with, I can find a new comic for the rotation slot! Hence, the Spider Rabbit post as I picked up Ultimate Spiderman #106.

There is no Ultimate Daredevil series. This fills me with a mixture of sadness and relief. Sadness because I would like to see young Matt Murdock going to NYU and beating on bad guys while still dressed in sweats. Relief because I would buy the damn thing like a sucker. They could kill Foggy Nelson ten times over and I would still come back for more!

Anyway, DD is limited to cameos in the Marvel Ultimate universe and in this Spidey issue he comes off as a premiere, and quite cocky, superhero. Spiderman's youth has always played a predominant role in any of his series. It makes sense for the adult attorney Matt Murdock/DD, to treat the kid as a hot shot rookie. However, I can now understand why people got so mad about Iron Man in Civil War.

In this issue, DD plans to get together a group of NYC heroes to kill the Kingpin of crime. Yes, kill. DD doesn't kill! He beats the crap out of people like no other, yes. He has frequent breakdowns that make him go into a sort of mini-berserker mode. But he doesn't kill! Well I guess Ultimate DD does. I think in the Ultimate universe you are either a silly little newbie or an edgy veteran. Don't get me wrong, Ultimate Spidey #106 is nice and so is the whole Ultimate Universe, but my limited exposure to it has convinced me of the aforementioned duality.

The arc is building up to something big and I will end it after this whole DD crossover is complete. Not much actual action here, but plenty of the "wiz bang" sheer delight factor I hear so much about this series. It is nice to have a handle on Spiderman without having to refer to 500 plus back issues.

I couldn't help but post about the final splash page. It's right out a sitcom. Peter Parker doesn't know how to break up with his ex-girlfriend Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat in the X-Men) and then she gets transferred to his school! HILARITY ENSUES! Or at least, that is what we hope for in the next issue.

Kitty Pryde is notable for a lot of reasons. Joss Whedon cites her as an influence for the character of Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And my understanding was that she was uber-popular when she was first introduced in the X-Men. She's in Weezer's "In the Garage" song! She is also notable for being a Jewish superhero. It's nice to have some diversity and nice that Kitty is proud of her heritage, but look at that last page! Do you see the size of that Star of David pendant!?

Click on the picture to Goliath-size it!
It is Fuccillo sized HUGE!

Is her Jewish heritage really critical to the Ultimate Shadowcat character? I haven't played in the Ultimate sandbox too much, but some of the Ultimate X-Men I have fails to play off that quality.

Until then I remain amazed at the HUGENESS!

PEACE!

An experiment

If you can access Facebook, well, then, do it. Do it, now! If you can not, then sign up for an account. It's like MySpace except less creepy. Anyway...

Do a group search for the phrase "Green Lantern."

The first group is actually something completely non-comics related, but the third, and biggest GL fan group is quite comics focused. However, the guy spelled the group name..."Green Lanter Corps."

ACK!

The guy who started the group eventually apologizes for the typo and says that the only way to fix it would be to delete the entire group (about 250 folks) and start again. He chooses to stay the courses with the typo.

I am not one to nitpick about typos. This blog is pretty much the typo breeding grounds. And I don't like to offend fellow fans. However, it does diminish the "oomph" of the group when the hero's name is spelled wrongs. Imagine if Batman swung into battle with a pigeon on his chest or if the Flash had a AAA battery on this suit? Exactly.


That is why I joined the second largest GL FB group. :P

In Defense of Civil War

Off-topic time, which means comics!

The wonderful thing about the comics blog-o-sphere is that you find one great blog and then you stumble across even better ones. There a lots of little guys trying to break into the serious comics blogging community (myself included), but we can't compare to the great ones. Check out my links page for some of my favorites, even though, the links have been kind of difficult lately. They appear to be broken, but after checking the code everything seems fine. Bah!

The entire comic blog-o-sphere seems to hate the latest Marvel crossover, Civil War. Really quick, the government decides that superheroes need to register and make their identities public if the heroes wish to continue stopping evil. If you decided to side with tradition, "the masks," or personal freedom then you are a criminal. This divides the superhero community in two and shenanigans break loose.

I like Civil War. There I said it. I think I might be one of the few blogs out there that is supportive of Civil War. Again with the Comics is another. Can you think of any other ones? It feels weird to defend Civil War as the comic book fans I know up here in CNY like it. Of course, that is only five guys versus the entire blog-verse!

I will admit that Civil War isn't the best. The political allegory is quite stilted (Trust me, I know a thing or two about stilted stories!) and while the writer, Mark Millar, promised that "no side was right," we all know that the anti-registration side is "right." It has friggin' Captain America on it! He always does the right thing! Meanwhile the pro-registration people have all been portrayed as cruel lapdogs, particularly Iron Man and Reed Richards.

Some say all politics is local. Maybe all Civil War reactions is local too. By local I mean close to your heart. I don't like Iron Man or Reed Richards very much. None of the pro-registration people really gets me going. However, my delightful Daredevil (along with Luke Cage and Iron Fist) are anti-registration. If Daredevil were out there chasing down fellow heroes with S.H.I.E.L.D. goombas then I too would be raving.

I also must admit that the entire event does fly in the face of 40, 50, even 60 years of Marvel continuity. Who knew Tony Stark would be such a jerk? How could they clone a god? Why would superheroes team up with super villians without some truly earth-shattering event happening? You know like Galactus showing up. I am still betting that one of the Watchers will swing down from space and intervene. He will do some crazy Watcher voodoo and set everything back.

Finally, I defend Civil War because I think it is a great idea in theory. Here is something that really could happen. We might not have mutant superheroes, but what if we did have a bunch of caped vigilantes? You know, mortals trained to the utmost perfection? We could have guys like Batman and Captain America, in theory. And the government could regulate them. I do believe that if superpowers were real then the government would have something to say about those with them. Hence, its a lovely idea that could have worked in a separate universe (by this I mean publisher) or even as an Elseworlds/What If? kind of title.

I am not afraid to say that I liked Civil War and eagerly await its conclusion out of pure excitement. It is not perfect, far from it, but I think it is neat.

Peace

In the Red States

I feel like Jim Anchower, but I am sorry that I have not blogged in a while. Not being in the office anymore it is hard to find downtime to blo...err...I mean...I never, EVER, blogged while at work! Got to keep myself straight for references to other jobs. Yes, but I have been busy as I am working extra shifts at my other job and pounding the pavement for other jobs.

Anyway today's post is an off topic one, which means....

DAREDEVIL TIME!

The local comic shop just had a winter sale and all back issues where 50% off! You could buy comics for the ye olde prices of $1.25! I have stuck to my New Year's resolution of sticking to just a few monthly titles, but this was a deal! I took 5/6th of a Daredevil miniseries called...

Daredevil Redemption

Consider yourself warned of spoliers, baby!

Written by David Hine and drawn by Michael "The kids never let me down for my last name" Gaydos, DD:R finds Matt Murdock/DD in the God-fearing regions of Redemption Valley, Alabama. A young boy has been brutally murdered and the local color immediately blames a trio of supposed Satanists lead by Joseph Flood. Joe's Flood, Emily, crosses the Mason-Dixon line in search of a real-live Atticus Finch. She finds Matt, who after a bit of setup, takes the case of the wrongfully accused boy to heart.

DD tries to save a boy in NYC from an abusive dad, only to have the boy tell him that DD just doesn't understand and the drunk dad is a good guy! Hence, the trip to Alabama. I guess that makes sense. Like the picutre, eh? Of course you don't! It is horrible! I added the glare box to describe exactly what is there...a big white spoltch of glare. I must admire the handsome wood paneling, however.


DD goes down to Dixie along with his legal intern Constance. Matt does not try to sleep with her, which is a first for him. Not that Matt is some lecherous fiend that throws himself at women. He can barely keep the ladies off of him, even with all that ninjitsu! If you want the details you can go read the thing for yourself. It has already been collected as a trade paperback, in case your comic shop does not have a 50% of EVERYTHING sale. Anyway...down in Redemption Valley we find out that Joe Flood really didn't do it and that the local God-fearing folks ain't that pious to begin with. Funny to see DD and Matt Murdock, the most Catholic of the Marvel heroes and one of the few I find openly religous, having to deal with the local evangelicals.

DD:R is a great story and for a story with no (Yes, you heard right) instances of DD kicking someone in the head it keeps you pretty excited. DD and the readers know Joe Flood really didn't do it, but Matt has to keep to his morals. The final issue has the first scene in comics that I have found heart-wrenching. My comics readership is young and fledgling, but we all need that first moment where the damn book stomps all over our heart! In a good way, of course! This was it...

As DD:R is set in the current Volume 2 run of DD, the story touches upon Matt's secret identity and how some NYC tabloids outed him as the vigilante Daredevil. I am still not too clear as to DD:R's time frame. The comic begins with a caption that reads "Seven Years Ago," but it all feels contemporary. I guess DD comes back to Redemption to witness Joseph Flood's execution and issues 1-5 are just flashbacks.

What an execution it is! With his super senses Matt can hear Joe Flood die and each of the chemicals shut down its intended part of the body. If anyone could attest as to exactly how humane lethal injection was then it would be Daredevil. However, this being comic books it would be just as easy to execute someone and bring them back with some Dr. Strange power or something. In any case, it is intense. Joe has heard of Matt's troubles all the way on death row and begs for him to bust him out of jail. The panels in yellow are hard to read as we know Matt has all the power to do that and should. He is a vigilante, but right now he is a lawyer and a honest one too boot! He isn't powerless to stop it. He chooses not to.

It would have been great to see Daredevil beat on some hill billies, but I guess I will have to make due with the various goombas, ninjas, and armored freaks that he beats down. I must admit I could not get issue 5 so maybe he kicked the crap out of some redneck there, but it seems like mostly court room stuff from the look of the "previously in DD:R!" from issue 6. In any case, DD:R is a nice little read that explores the conflict of Daredevil and Matt Murdock.

Peace!

The Villains!

The latest news is that over 28 ner-do well drug thugs have been arrested in Tompkins County! While the New York State Police are quick to take the credit, they know that deep from within that fire station in Cayuga Heights, the CO-OP OF JUSTICE was the real hero today! The public can only think of them as brief images and glimpses in the night. They cannot go public...yet. However, other villains have and now challenge Tompkins County with super crime! WHO ARE THEY!?

Local Color
Real Name: James Frankterw
Age: 53
Occupation: Incredibly frequent poster on the Ithaca Journal's message boards. Fry cook at Mano's. Greeter at Ithaca Wal-Mart, but only on Saturday's!
Powers: The uncanny ability to judge anyone who has "only" lived here twenty years. The ability to stay in the same county for decades on end. "Always" right. Massive personal arsenal of guns and memories of the good days before they let college student into town.
Story: While older than most super villains, Local Color has the power to end any argument by just blasting the opponent with his "Youratransplant" tactic. That or his incredible collection of guns, which are , of course, for personal protection only and his right as an American, damn it! Loves Tompkins County enough to want to build a wall around and keep all the transplants enough, but not enough to pay his taxes. His power is infinite and so is his general befuddlement factor.

Sk8PnkPeeps
Real Name: Various, lead by 26-year-old male named Thrash Rogan (pictured)
Age: Ranging from 18-30
Occupation: N/A, unemployed
Powers: Always surrounded by a cloud of cigarette smokee and body odor. Play a mean game of hackey-sack. Armed with large assortment of chains, paper clips, safety pins, and studded belts. Story: Already having taken over the Center Pavilion of the Ithaca Commons, Thrash Rogan leads his gang of petty thugs in an attempt to take over all the Commons so they can put their cigarette butts wherever they well please! When not trying to bum menthol Newports off each other, the Sk8PnkPeeps try to make up for the lack of racial diversity in Ithaca by trying really hard to be black. However, they fail at that, but not at being criminals that scowl at passerbys!

Frat Man
Real Name: Trevor Steaky
Occupation: Student at Cornell University, Kappa Sigma Thetha president.
Age: 21
Powers: Immune to alcohol poisoning. Can detect and identify any alcoholic substance as long as he taste 50 milligrams of it. Master of drunken boxing martial arts. Anything alcohol related he holds becomes charged with energy. Backed by his dad's trust fund.
Story: Trevor doesn't even know where he is half the time, but as long as dad's keep sending the money and those nerds over in Risley keep writing his papers for him, it's all a big party here in Ithaca! He can will his fraternal power into anything alcohol related object he touches, turning Beast beer cans into literal bombs! Anything he can't get out of is fixed by dad's hedge fund, but is it enough to stop the Co-Op!?

The Abby
Real Name: Amy Ashley Amy
Occupation: Student at Ithaca College, Herald of BIG BOX!
Age: 19
Powers: Flight. Super strength. Limited invulnerability. Energy beam projection. Astral projection.
Story: Imbued with the power BIG BOX, Amy Ashley Amy searches for new local business districts to quench her master's hunger. By day she knows nothing of her exploits and goes around IC wearing her North Face jacket, sweat pants, UGG boots, and aviator sunglasses with pride. But at night she has helped destroy such towns as Brockway, Ogdenville and Northhaverbrook! Is Ithaca next?!



BIG BOX!
Real Name: N/A
Occupation: Eater of local business, destroyer of trade unions, home of bargain deals!
Age: As old as greed itself.
Powers: Always overstocks and undersells! Immunity to psychic control! Price matching welcomed! Flight! Plenty of ample parking! Super strength! LOW PRICES! Invulnerability! A commitment to your community! Energy beam projection! Can insert exclamation points anywhere!
Story: Spawned in post WW2 America, Big Box is always hungry for more growth and more small businesses. Any business will do, but family owned ones spanning three generations do taste the best. His power is near infinite, feed by his enormous profits from his lesser hell-spawn forms. Only his heralds can look at him head-on as they contain a brief portion of his power. He overpowers entire municipalities and now he is looking at Tompkins County!


There you go, loyal fans! Those are the threats, but you have your heroes! PEACE!


Once again, this is all in pure fun. Any resemblances to Silver Surfer, Galactus, Bullseye, and/or Daredevil is celebratory. Also thanks to USA Today, Kate Winslet, and the Vermont Natural Resources Council for not suing. Particular thanks to the JTF for not suing as the look rather..."intense" and probably know Krav Maga. Damn it. Please don't sue! PEACE!

New Year's Resoultions: Early Edition

I am back! And I bet you are starving for a post, eh?! Of course you are! However, I am also short on material, so instead you get the resolution's post a bit earlier than usual!

Here are some of my resolutions for 2007 plus how likely I am to actually fulfill them.

1) Cut back, and I mean WAY BACK, on superhero comic book purchases. In fact, I want to limit myself to buying only a few monthlies and then like one to two trade paperbacks and/or graphic novels. To even further refine the resolution I will definitely stick to Daredevil, Iron Fist, Gen13, Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Corps. I will wrap up the whole Civil War poo-bah and the current Ion 12-issue series as well. Hence, I want to only spend about 25~30 bucks a month on monthlies and then maybe a 12~15 dollar trade paperback. To the non-comic book folks, this still seems like a lot (about $45~$50 a month), but to those in the comic world, it is actually a pretty minor monthly haul.

Possibility: Very high, actually. I enjoy certain characters the most, not just superheroes in general. I adore the whole comic book culture (best defined by the comic blog-o-sphere), but really only need to read those few titles I enjoy. The same thing happens in gaming. You hear me go on and on about GTA and how it is pretty much the pinnacle of digital creation, but not much about other games right? Yeah, exactly.

2) Get S-E-R-I-O-U-S about grad school. This means taking the GRE before the 2008 edition of this post rolls around and getting a list of potential schools going. i already have some and just picked upa nice edition of Poets and Writers that talks about MFA programs.

Possibility: Very high. I already have a list and now the first steps to take. Getting into an actual program will be the hard thing. Paying for it will be even harder!

3) Enter more writing contests.

Possibility: Medium-high. I think I will read more of the writing magazines like the aforementioned Poets and Writers, which always carry those contest listings.

4) Re-read a book for every new one I do read.

Possibility: Yeah, pretty much not gonna happen. I made this resolution last year and got no luck. I still read as much, hell even more, that last year, but it was mostly new stuff.

5) Drink at least one cup of green and/or red tea a day. Because apparently you never die if you do that. The Japanese do this and they have friggin' giant mechs defending them to ensure they never die.

Possibility: This one is also from last year, but I would say success is at medium potential. My current part-time job makes it much easier to get a hand on good teas.

6) Write and read more. Period.

Possibility: Medium-low. I try to do this all the time, but never feel it is close to the uber-amounts any teacher of the crafts tells you to do.

There you go folks! Enjoy that while something else comes your way. Peace!

The Co-op of Justice!

YES! What I believe to have been my best post EVER has returned! To those of you who saw it in it's original version, enjoy this remastered version. To those of you new to the site, well then, ENJOY!

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Even though Farmers Insurance Group of Companies and Best Places rated Ithaca the fifth safest small city in America, the anecdotal evidence was just too much! While Ithacans bravely faced such common ne'er do wells as punk college kids, transplants, and the Commons skater-goths, they now found themselves facing new and terrible threats! Ithaca, NY was being attacked by SUPER VILLAINS! All of Tompkins County was at threat too as they brigands often attacked in the city, only to run to the safety of the hills of Danby or Enfield.

However, these fiends must now face the new heroes of Tompkins County....

THE CO-OP OF JUSTICE

Captain Gorges
Real Name: John "I-Town" Lancer
Age: 30
Occupation: Photographer for the Ithaca Journal (previously), full-time superhero
Powers: At the peak of human physical/mental acumen. Master of six different forms of un-armed combat. Master tactician and leader. Indestructible shield.
Story: Local son, John Lancer, volunteered to be his beloved city's warrior and became Captain Gorges! Born and raised in Ithaca John graduated from Ithaca High School, got his BA in photography from Ithaca College, and then Masters in international affairs from Cornell. He then spent six years traveling the globe, chronicling his journeys in the Ithaca Journal's successful photo-journalism series, Ithaca and the World. However, when he heard of the "rise" in crime in Tompkins County, John felt powerless. The sheriff kept telling him he couldn't just run around the streets being a vigilante! So John volunteered for the dangerous I-Warrior program. There scientists from the Ithaca Brewing Company and the IPD created a super-soldier serum called cascabutttrecassenlight! The serum worked perfectly and made the ultimate human physique and mind. He is as strong, fast, and smart as a human can be without being considered super powered. However, evil agents from the dreaded city of Elmira attacked the secret chemical location and destroyed all the remaining vials of serum. When the cut down the scientists with their fusilades of gunfire, the formula was lost forever. However, John is still in Ithaca, leading the CO-OP of Justice against such villains like The Local, Big Box, and City Dude!

Red Onin
Real Name: Dawn Janson
Age: 20
Occupation: Student, RA at IC's Bogart Hall
Powers: Enhanced senses. Master ninja. Can shapeshift into a cloud of red smoke or a red panda. Carries the enchanted sword, "Enlightened Edge."
Story: A young Asian-American in Tompkins County that does not go to Cornell!? That is just one of the many deceptions that Red Onin uses to defeat her opponents and defend honor.
Her father knew that Dawn was destined to attend Ithaca College and, hence, trained her in the ninjitsu arts so she could best fend off drunks and guys asking why she doesn't go to Cornell. She has enhanced hearing, sight, and smell. She can hear those freshmen down the hall pop open Keystone cans from across the dorm building. She can also hear those cans of spray paint rattle and hiss before the paint hits the Dewitt Park WW2 memorial. This training also awakened her latent abilities to shape shift into a red panda (pictured) or some red smokeke. She is a master swords woman and warrior, often striking without even being noticed.

Duckshot
Real Name: Clancy Hart
Age: 32
Occupation: Brick layer for the Town of Danby
Powers: Crack shot. Can turn any object into a deadly projectile just through the flick of his wrists. Master bar room brawler. Extensive knowledge of conventional ballistics and explosive weaponry. Has a sweet truck, with a winch!
Story: Another local boy with a heart of gold and plenty of love for the TC, Clancy developed his uncanny shot through hunting trips with his father. There he learned to appreciate the beauty of TC and swore to protect it. A former sheriff's deputy who was dismissed for being just too effective, Duckshot has easy access to conventional firepower, which always helps when battling the armed thugs of the Ithaca Bloods and Crips. As long as he can get his hands on something, he is never without a weapon. While not superpowered, his resolve and sweet truck (with a winch!) have helped the Co-Op save the day many a time.

Flutter
Real Name: Sky Tanbrisio
Age: 19
Occupation: Professional volunteer (Fall Creek/Cinemapolis, Ten Thousands Villages, Green Star, TC SPCA, etc.)
Powers: Flight. Ability to manipulate light to create constructs, attack, and/or blind opponents.
Story: After following a strange butterfly into the woods while at Musefest, Sky stumbled upon an ancient glyph of alien origin. She touched it and gained the powers of the ancient astronauts! She is the teams only flyer, making her indispensable for scouting and interdiction. Following the credo of "Think Global, Act Local" she battles social injustice even though the violence leaves her conflicted inside. Her light constructs can take the form of whatever she wishes, but it's usually a butterfly, which is kind of silly, until your realize you just got stomped on by a lavender colored butterfly hologram.

Accolade
Real Name: N/A
Age: As ancient as creation itself
Occupation: Earth elemental
Powers: Ability to create fissures in earth/earth quake generation. Can control plants to do bidding. Super strength. Limited invulnerability.
Story: Jealous that the proposed White Eagle ecovillage in Danby would use geothermal power and, hence, be much more sustainable than them, the first Ecovillage of Ithaca summoned up an avatar to end the geologic activity under Danby. However, when a consensus could not be reached about which field to have the damn seance in, a rouge Ecovillager did the incantation himself. Thankfully his heart, while damn silly, was pure and the resulting creature was good, albeit free of EVI's control. Naming himself Accolade, the elementals power comes directly from the sacred ground of Tompkins County. The group's heavy hitter, Accolade usually smashes his way out of a problem. His only limitation is that his power grows weaker the farther he is from TC, making night time raids into Elmira difficult.

What adventures await them!? Find out here, on the Fear of the Blank Page, official spokesblog for the Co-Op Of Justice.


Disclaimer: I please do hope you realize this is all in good fun. Also, any resemblance to Captain America, Daredevil, Elektra, Bullseye, Hawkeye, Jubilee, Pixie, Vibe, Terra, Green Lantern, Dazzler, The Thing and any other DC/Marvel/comic book characters is done in pure admiration. They own all the rights to these characters and I just use them for fun. I don't make any money of this site. Please don't sue!
Particular thanks to the Lego Group, Doctari Safaris, Intergalactic Rose, Awesome Animals, Australia Plastic Surgery, for not sueing! Peace!

Off Topic Time

Yes, the first off topic post hear on the now amalgamated blog. Rest assure, it shall be good. Ok, well, maybe not good, but still, it shall be something.

I went on and on about how much I loved Daredevil in my previous blogs. Once I decided to come out of the comics closet I latched onto that one hero. I always liked my superheroes to only be a tad super powered. I think Spiderman is the most super powered a hero can get for me. And Daredevil is just cool. The entire red-suited look and the how he could be so brooding and intimidating, yet not defined by fear, like Batman. In fact, DD is "the man without fear." I haven't read any of the Frank Miller DD yet, which most consider the best and what defined the modern character. I do look forward to that, reading those back issues I mean.

The whole point of that love fest was that I tended to stick more with Marvel comics because of just the hint of super poweredness in their guys. Yes, they have guys like Thor and Dark Phoenix who can shatter stars or something but they don't have walking deus ex machina's like DC (I am talking about you Superman!). Of course, I had to respect the DC for their contributions to overall American culture (As much as I love DD, he is not an American icon like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc.).

You know how you always had like that one religious friend who would sometimes just get curious and want to go see what the other folks were believing. Or how you just have to break down one day and take a peek at some Ann Coulter articles? Yeah, curiosity.

Well, I might not like the sheer overpowered-ness I feel comes from DC and I might cringe at guys able to move planets, but I have to admit that I have given to one hero at the "Distinguished Competition."

Green Lantern

Yes, I understand the GL is pretty much the opposite of DD. You go from a guy who is just a ninja with super senses and a law degree to a dude (or series of dudes) with the most powerful weapon in the universe. I gave in to my GL curiosity by reading the landmark Green Lantern:Rebirth, where DC brings back the original GL (Hal Jordan) after they had killed them off in 1994 and replaced him with the (pictured above, Kyle Rayner). GL:R has been the only comic to date (and I will admit my actual reading of comics is fairly new) that really held me there. If these are supposed to be true stories worthy of inspiring and amazing us then this is the only one I have read so far. I couldn't put it down and re-read as soon as I had turned the last page of my handsome trade paperback. I really do hope to re-create that experience with other comics. To the non-comic oriented, think about the first time you saw your favorite movie. And I mean favorite movie. The kind of movie that made you want to rewind the damn thing and watch it all over again. With me, it was Fight Club. Or that album that you just had to listen too all over again. You can also imagine this with a song. For me, the album was the Beastie Boy's Hello Nasty and the song was Jimmy Eat World's "Disintegration." The book that you just had to talk to someone about or start reading all over again! For me, it was Ender's Game. If you haven't had experiences like that then I suggest you start absorbing more and more until you have those jaw droppers that make you want to devour the entire piece.

Why Kyle Rayner above instead of the iconic Hal Jordan? I guess I just like Kyle better. I also like those everyman heroes (ex. Spiderman) who get handed these powers. DD is kind of like that too, but I will spare you my analysis of his origins. I am reading the current GL run with Hal Jordan as the hero and he is cool, but Kyle just seems like the GL I would have grown up with if I had succumb to the comics bug earlier.

Ok, well, that's that. Two favorite heroes. There we go. Now, let's try to keep them at that. I am way to poor to be buying shit loads of monthlies. Seriously, wait for the New Year's Resolutions post for more of that.

Want something non-comics related. Well, here you go, but it's short...

Anyone who knows me also knows that I don't really believe in God. Not that I don't believe in something else beyond this plane, but that this all powerful being sitting up in the skies telling us what to do through old books and secret societies never seemed appealing. I won't be some wishy-washy kid and call myself agnostic or anything. I am an atheist in God, but a believer in the wonderful. I mention this because there are those rare times that I would like to believe that there is a God and a heaven and a hell, where people can either celebrate or suffer. This is one of those times.
Pinochet escaped humanity's judicial system long enough and it is comforting to think that in the afterlife he will meet the final judgment for his crimes. Like one reader on the BBC News site said, "The CIA, however, lives on..." So does Henry Kissinger. So does September 11th 1973.

Pinochet is not without his supporters. Many see him as a figure that saved Chile from communism and turned them into a vigorous Latin American state. Growing up, our front door neighbor was a political refugee from Chile who had fled the Pinochet coup. He certainly had no love for the man. Just as anti-communists say that Mao's Great Leap Forward and Stalin's controlled starvation of the Ukrainians can't justify the Great Leap Forward and rise of the Soviet Union, then the Pinochet supporters can't support their claims on the bones of 3,000 people. In fact, waging war on your own citizenry and murdering 3,000 of them should never justify a political action, be it from whatever angle of the spectrum.

There was a certain poetry to his death with today being International Human Rights Day. A BBC reader in Puerto Rico (Yay!) also pointed out that a giant rainbow crossed his/her part of San Juan when he/she heard of the death.

It's a shame he lived to 91 when men who created peace (like MLK Jr.) are gunned down in their middle age. Also a shame that he dies surrounded by his family.

Monster or hero? It depends on who is talking. Murderer? Well, of course he was! If there is a God, then maybe that is the last bit or irony here.

Peace!