T-shirt #330 - Gotham City Athletic Department

T-shirt #330 -Gotham City Athletic Department

I am not engaging in any special content for Valentine's Day. Okay, that's a lie. My shirt is not Valentine's Day themed, and there is not much in the way of Valentine's content. But I will post a lovely Warren Ellis and his wife created last year about the true meaning of Valentine's Day. It's at the end of today's blog entry.

Okay, I am such a huge liar. One other thing. I wrote a story many years ago about a couple having an argument about Valentine's Day. The wrong-headed husband did not want to buy into the commercialism and insanity. He felt that he showed his wife that he loved her in many ways all the time, and he did not need to do anything unusual on Valentine's Day. She countered that the day is important to her, and so it should not matter if it's over commercialized because recognizing it is a sign that he truly loves her puts her wishes above his own highly debatable principles.

UPDATE 1403.13: This entry, like a few others, has gone long unfinished. When I fell behind in my pace to provide quality T-shirt-related content on the Internet, I eventually reached a stage in which I let go of the stress and pressure under which I was putting myself to provide substantial content each day. I mean, that's just crazy. So, now, almost a month later, I am finishing this post without too much excessive content.

ABOUT THE SHIRT

I was surprised as I went through my closet and discovered that I had not shared this shirt yet. Choosing this short provided a fortuitous occasion to both share another installment of WHY T-SHIRTS and this week's WEEKLY COMIC LIST. Plus, I had not yet shared my first comic book, which happened to feature Batman, and so that sharing follows.


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WHY T-SHIRTS EXPLANATORY BLURB
I am doing a series of snippets that will add up to a larger whole answering the "Why T-shirts?" or "What's with all the T-shirts?" question. I have also decided to include the previous items in an ever growing list, hence the "previous items" section next.
PREVIOUS ITEMS
#1: T-SHIRTS ARE COOL
#2: I BE BRANDED - CHOOSING TO ADVERTISE
#3: It's my tattoo
#4 PRIDE AND STATUS - "It's my thing."
#5 -  "LET ME GEEK FLAG FLY!!"
#6 - UNIFORM SHIRTS ARE COOL
#7. PROOF THAT I DID IT - SHIRTS FOR EVENTS
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TODAY'S ITEM - 

WHY T-SHIRTS #8. THE FICTIONAL REALITY - THIS T-SHIRT WOULD EXIST

I do not know who had the idea, but I love these shirts that look like a real product of the fictional world from which they draw their subject matter.

For example, "athletic department" shirts are common place in our world, and so they would be common place in a fictional world, such as Gotham City as well. I have featured shirts passing for Shield Agent, Smallville Athletics, Gotham Police Department SWAT, Daily Planet staffer, among many others.

This is the kind of branding I can get behind. There's a "cool" factor here, almost like an inside joke. Nudge, nudge: do you "get" my shirt? I like that feeling.

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MY FIRST COMIC BOOK

This is the comic book cover from the first comic book I ever owned, originally published in May of 1966. I was four years old and living in Traverse City.

I do not remember much about the story, and it would take me a long time to track down the actual issue in all the boxes; the issue itself is almost complete destroyed because it has been read so many times and handled by a small child (me).

It's a Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino issue. I wrote about Infantino during the earliest days of this blog (T-shirt #20) because he passed away. Since this is my first comic book, Infantino was the first comic book artist I knew.

I loved this issue to death, and the nature of this story with its tricky series of traps. A brilliant storyteller, Gardner Fox's work had a profound effect on my own sensibilities and ideas about story telling as a young person.

The Cluemaster is a very silly villain. I mean, why would you want to taunt the super hero trying to catch you by leaving CLUES. Well, unless you're crazy like a loon as most of Batman's villains are.

The again, what do you expect of a former GAME SHOW HOST turned villain.

I would keep an eye on Drew Carey if I were you.

MY FIRST COMIC BOOK - MY OLDEST BATMAN COMIC BOOK 

Detective Comics #351 - "The Cluemaster's Topsy-Turvy Crimes"

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WEEKLY COMICS LIST

It had to happen eventually. And maybe I decided to do it because I just wrote about it on Sunday February 9th. Or maybe it would have happened anyway. But The Walking Dead finally fell out of the top spot.

And it dropped TWO SLOTS?? Why you ask? It's funny that you would ask that because I am about to explain.

UPDATE 1403.13: Since I posted this entry a month ago, I have read most of these issues (all but the last three, which languish in the current back log). I just finished Fatale volume four two nights ago, but I had to re-read the first three volumes to make sense of the fourth (my memory is poor). I plan to review those books soon, though soon means sometimes past March 13th, which is the day I am writing these words and sending them back through time to this blog entry.

I am planning on a few very short comic book reviews after I share the list. Short so I can get this posted and get back to work. Actually, I am trying a new incentive to keep me working. Blog a little, grade a little, blog a little, grade a little. And so on.

These comics were all enjoyable. SHE-HULK  may be the greatest surprise in this list as I ranked it low and now, since I did not order it, I cannot get the second issue, which sold out.
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COMICS FOR 1402.12

Winter Soldier #001
Kick Ass 3 #6
The Walking Dead #121
Avengers #026
All New X-Men #23 (The Trial of Jean Grey part 3 of 5)
(From two weeks ago week) Thor God of Thunder #018
- + - + - - + - + - - + -  reading virtual mark as of today 1402.14 - - + - + - - + - + - - + - + - - + - + - - +
Thor God of Thunder #019.NOW (The Last Days of Midgard #1)

Superman and Wonder Woman #5
Superior Spider-Man #027.NOW (Goblin Nation #1)
Nightwing #28
Batgirl #28
Batman #28
Secret Avengers #015
X-Force #001
Red Sonja Special #1 ($1.00)
Justice League of America #12
She- Hulk #001
Legenderry #2
Astro City #9
Suicide Squad #28

BACK LOG

There's back log and then there's deep back log. I won't even try to tell you about the chasm, the deepest back log. Okay, maybe I will tell.
Anyway...

Great Pacific #13
Ten Grand #7

SPECIAL PURCHASE

Fatale: Book Four: Pray For Rain


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COMIC BOOK REVIEWS




COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR -35 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1402.14 - 15:00