T-shirt #229: Work shirt - Joe Phat

T-shirt #229: Work shirt - Joe Phat & "Don't bother me when I am writing" hat


See the hat? Seems pretty self-evident, but more on it farther below, but first my preamble to today's entry.

I write about comic books a lot. This is quite an under-statement. Once again pulling on stats, comic books have been the subject focus of 70 of my 229 entries so far. The majority of the entries in the comic book category are shirts with comic book art, but not in every case, as I use the category for any comic book content. Though it's the dominant subject of my blog, 70 of 229 is no where near half the blog. Top subject though it may be, there's still a lot of variety. In terms of subjects, sports, TV and movies, Ultimate, and music are the next largest subject categories, not counting things like logos, shirts by color, and gifts. I know you faithful readers tune in just for these blog re-caps, so there you go.

I add all of this content as preamble because yet again I have more comic book content, and I am featuring another comic book shirt. Today's shirt is my original Joe Phat shirt from the Mage series. I originally featured Joe Phat in T-shirt #140 in August. I bought a second Joe Phat because this one developed a hole, not that you can see it in the pictures. When I put the shirt on for the pictures, it got stuck on my huge nose, so I left it that way and took the shot. Trying to mix it up. Anyway, after its damage, I bought a new Joe Phat shirt and relegated this one to "work" shirt, not caring if it gets soiled (which so far it has not).

I also decided to feature the hat that my sister embroidered for me many years ago. I am wearing my Fantastic Four shirt today, so I left it on to get it more exposure. It's a new shirt and was featured in T-shirt #207. I want to dispel the notion that I wear a different shirt each day and that it is always the featured shirt. This is not true. And as I am loving my new FF shirt, it's getting worn frequently. So, the hat. I do not wear the hat much, but I have worn it in the past to indicate that I cannot be spoken to when I trek down to the kitchen (which in the West Gull Lake Drive house was down two flights of stairs) for coffee or water. The hat has always been on display in my office, ready to top off my head if I want to be left alone. Not sure if I would want to try this tactic with my wife. But I think it's a neat hat. Often, I am writing in my head, even when I am not actually typing, which is what makes the hat so useful and true.


Today's blog is dedicated to quickie reviews of recent comic book reads. I am not going to indulge in reviews that are too long, but I wanted to get some thoughts down as this is my purpose in life, apparently.

Oh, so back to the preamble. Comic books have become more important since I started the blog. Don't get me wrong. I have always loved my comic books. I have been an avid reader and purchaser (not sure if I am really a collector in the strictest sense) of comics all my life.

My purchasing of many main titles has been consistent and uninterrupted since around 1985. And though comics have always been a part of my life, they have taken on a new and special importance now that I am writing about them more often. Back in the mid-1990s, I wrote about comics in small press and in the Kalamazoo Gazette, where I penned a weekly column about comic books for two years. I think some of this content may have to make its way to the blog.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 

Read on at your own risk.

Anyway, I am rejuvenated in my attraction to comic books and how seriously I regard them than I have been in many years, simply because I feel that I must produce content about them, and I am deeply honored to learn that I have readers who actually read this content. With that in mind, here are some thoughts about some recent comic books in short (I hope) pithy sound bites of not enormous length.

Guardians of the Galaxy #008 (Bendis/Francavilla) - I raved about Francavilla's art in T-shirt #206 in my review of Afterlife with Archie, for which his art is perfectly suited. I do think his art is gorgeous, but it's not the right art for the Guardians of the Galaxy. He does a wonderful job with the art in his style, but there are so many better suited artists for this book that I am a bit puzzled as to why Francavilla was selected. I suspect Bendis manipulation. As for writer Brian Michael Bendis, this is not his best work. So far, I am under-whelmed, and issue eight is definitely one of the best in terms of characterization.


In part, the problems with this book are due to the team. The original Guardians had more engaging characters. These Guardians are not very interesting as a group (though individually they are).

X-Men: Battle for the Atom #2: (Aaron & various) - I am very disappointed in the wrap-up of this series. Originally, I reviewed the opening salvo of this series in what has become one of my most popular blog entries: T-shirt #176. I liked the premise, though it was a retread of the famous "Days of Future Past" storyline. But here, there were some interesting twists: intriguing X-Men from the future, three versions of Iceman (four if you count his current old and young self twice), Jean Grey in the Xorn helmet, and the imperative that the original X-Men MUST go back to the past, their time, to save the future.

The series has been worth reading, so much so that I picked up one of the X books I am not buying just to read the whole story. The art is a let down alone as Frank Cho drew the original capstone book. These artists are not bad. There's a whole bunch of them, which indicates to me that Cho failed a deadline and Marvel had to scramble to get this book out on time with whomever could be cobbled together.

But aside from the art let down, the story is not very good. The issue begins as the five bands of X-Men (two teams of future X-Men, Wolverine's current team, Cyclops' current team, and the original X-Men) all face off against a SHIELD Heli-Carrier and new SHIELD Sentinels. The story starts off well as one of the Beasts gets killed. There's a great splash page of the coming of a mammoth Sentinel. But then, the plot tries to do too much with too few pages. Significant story elements are rushed. There's more good character stuff, such as future Jean Grey blaming the Wolverine-Cyclops feud for the awful future she's from and suggesting they stop being stupid and work together, which is an excellent point.  But the death of this future Jean Grey is poorly handled and completely anti-climactic. The reason she is in the Xorn helmet is never fully established. The whole thing does not live up to the promise of the nine chapters and the massive cross-over that preceded it. The epilogues are equally rushed and abbreviated. A future son of Xavier and other "evil" mutants from the future are still loose in the present? And then, the capper is Kitty Pryde quitting the X-Men with no lead up or dramatic tension at all. What? This is nonsense. And like this is the first time someone has quit the X-Men. Whatever. Hardly a fitting climax. It's also boring. YAWN.

Kick-Ass Volume 3 #4 - (Millar/Romita, Jr.) - On the other hand, Kick Ass continues to be excellent in both writing and art. I am not one of the many crazed mutant zombie legions of Millar fans, but I do like his stuff (though I do not buy it all). This issue is excellent and a great next installment in the series. I can't wait for the rest. Wonderful stuff. If you like comics and are not reading Kick Ass, get to it. Ignore the movies. Read the books!

Superior Spider-Man #20 - I have done no investigation to learn the prevailing fan opinion of Doc Ock's mind in charge of Peter Parker/Spider-Man's body, but I have loved it so far. I appreciate Marvel's willingness to mix it up. Peter Parker had a good run of 50 years. Time to give someone else a try. We all know that Peter will be back in his own body eventually (actually by the end of the year), but the stories have been engaging anyway. In issue #20, either unaware of their history or not caring, the Doc Ock/Spider-Man punches out the Black Cat and leaves her for the police after one of her heists. There's also good development of the ongoing stories, including a mysterious coma patient who will have something to do with the return of Peter Parker. Most interesting is the culmination of Octavius/Parker losing his bid for a doctorate when someone claims he (seemingly Parker) plagiarized Otto Octavius!

Wonderful!!

The Trial of the Punisher (Two issue one shot) (Guggenheim/Yu/Suayan/Gho) - I have always liked the Punisher, and I owe Andrew at Fanfare for helping me obtain both issues. This story developed from Guggenheim asking a smart question: how come the Punisher has never been on trial? He has been in prison several times, but he has never been in a court room. The story developed from that excellent "what if" question. The story is tight and well written. The first issue was drawn by Leinil Francis Yu, whose scribbly art I usually do not like, though I think I just dislike him as an artist on the Avengers. With a comic like this one, Yu's art works very well and is beautiful. Mico Suayan draws issue two. Though his rendering of the Punisher's face looks nothing like the Punisher, the art is very good. I strongly recommend this two-issue series for lovers of the Punisher.

That's all for today. I am going to review more of my recent likes and dislikes tomorrow. Stay tuned.

- chris tower - 1311.05 - 9:10

T-shirt #228: Detroit Pistons Blue w-Red Ball Logo

T-shirt #228: Detroit Pistons Blue w-Red Ball Logo

Basketball season has begun, and my favorite team, the DETROIT PISTONS, are 2-1 on the young season after a nice home victory last night (Sunday, November 3rd) over the Boston Celtics. I watched the whole game, which I rarely do live, during my day of rest and self-care battery re-charge with the puppy (see yesterday's blog).

I would say basketball after Baseball (and not counting Ultimate) is my second favorite sport. I grew up watching a lot of basketball because my father likes it and played it. And, no, I do not deify it with a capital letter as I do with Baseball. AND, of course, I play fantasy basketball. I run two fantasy basketball leagues, and the second of the two had its draft yesterday. I am playing four leagues, which is fewer than usual for me. I played SIX Baseball leagues this year, counting the one in which I was shut out, and I am playing in seven football leagues (though setting lineups once a week is easier than daily). I am relatively happy with my basketball drafts as I drafted all but one team in a live draft. I am not happy with the team I let the Yahoo AI draft. It's terrible.

I am also kicking myself for not taking ANDRE DRUMMOND in any of my fantasy leagues as he is out to a hot start (see picture to the right). I stayed away from him due to his horrid free throw percentage from last year (37.1). It's worse this year, so far (20%). He's going to be a beast this year in all other facets of the game. Through just three games, granted a small sample, he's averaging 13 pts, 12 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks. In tandem with Greg Monroe (18.3 pts and 11.3 rebounds - a nightly double-double), this is one reason to get excited about the new look Pistons.

I know it's early in the season. But three games in, the Pistons are 2-1 and second in the Central behind undefeated Indiana. The Pistons almost made it 3-0 with a tough- fought road game against Memphis on Friday, which they lost 111-108 in overtime.

As for the rest of the NBA, Phillie is a surprise 3-0 as is Indiana (no surprise), Minnesota (I am not surprised, though some people are), and Houston. I love that the Miami Heat is already 2-2. Not that this means much.

In the west, watch out for Minnesota (already), Golden State, and Portland. Though Houston is going to be in it as is Oklahoma City. I am hoping that San Antonio buckles and does not make the playoffs. Here's my playoff picks for the West: Minnesota, Golden State, Portland, Houston, OK City, Clippers, Dallas, and the Lakers. In the east, I see Indiana, Miami, Phillie, Toronto, New York, Chicago, DETROIT, and though I am tempted to pick Orlando as a weird dark horse, I am picking Brooklyn.

I am excited about the Detroit Pistons this year.

Brandon Jennings looked great in his debut last night. Rodney Stuckey (see picture to the left) is a huge spark off the bench as is Kyle Singler. I like to see the Pistons keeping Jonas Jerebko in the rotation. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope looks good and is getting good minutes. And I love the starting five. Will Bynum has long been under-valued by the league, and he is an incredibly talented utility player. Chauncey Billups is rejuvenated in his return to the Pistons. So far, I have no complaints with the Josh Smith signing and as I mentioned the Monroe-Drummond tandem look great. I like Maurice Cheeks as a coach very much.


The PISTONS are back, baby. Oh yeah.

The Pistons play unbeaten Indiana tomorrow night, who I will unhesitatingly claim is the best team in the Eastern Conference (yes, better than Miami). If the Pistons can beat the Pacers at home (Detroit), it will be a clear signal that the new era of Pistons basketball has dawned.

I hope I have not jinxed them by making such a claim.

Here's my previous Pistons content:

T-shirt 114 - Detroit Pistons Championship 2004
This one, from July, discussed my growing excitement with the acquisition of Chauncey Billups, the summer draft results, and the addition of Josh Smith.

T-shirt #65: Dead T-shirt #2: Detroit Pistons
This one explained that Joe Dumars is my favorite basketball player of all time.

T-shirt #29: Detroit Pistons - the red logo shirt
In this entry, I lamented the end of the 2012-13 regular NBA season and gave a pretty lengthy fan love letter on my beloved Detroit Pistons.

Don't worry. I am not out of Pistons shirts yet. More to come on basketball and the Pistons. Stay Tuned.
Unless you don't like sports and then why are you reading this?

- chris tower - 1311.04 - 9:29

T-shirt #227: KUDL Black 2009 Patagonia-Lazy Sunday

T-shirt #227: KUDL Black 2009 Patagonia-Lazy Sunday

Comic books.

Leftovers.

Football.

Puppy.

Work done.

This is what my therapist calls "self care."

I do not get enough self care. I need to re-charge the batteries, or I am running on empty.

And when I put on this KUDL shirt after my shower, I had no idea that it was yet another KUDL shirt that I had not yet featured. Providence.

Relaxing after running a lot at Huckfest.

Two weeks ago when I tried to do self care, I found things to fill up my time, and ultimately, I only relaxed about thirty minutes and read two comic books.

This week = more.

Usually, I try to produce a blog entry of length and substance for Sunday as I have found that I have more readers on Sundays.

But today, I must re-charge.

See you tomorrow.

- chris tower - 1311.03 - 15:49

T-shirt #226 - Big Wood (yellow) shirt: HUCKFEST 2013

Huckfest 2001

T-shirt #226 - Big Wood (yellow) shirt: HUCKFEST 2013

Why hasn't this guy run out of T-shirts yet?

I know, you are saying to yourself: "you expect us to believe that you have 226 t-shirts in your closet?"

Well, the t-shirts are not all in the closet, but yes, I own MORE than 226 shirts.

I had taken pictures of myself in another shirt for today, and I wore it to Huckfest. I had planned to get pictures with friends while wearing the shirt and have many pictures of Huckfest to share. I may ultimately (heh) update this blog as we had a team photo taken, but I may not receive it until later.

Apparently, today's HUCKFEST was number sixteen, meaning the first one was in 1997. I have attended almost every single one. Our team won the first tournament. The weather was the worst Huckfest ever: 36 degrees, spitting sleet, and gale force winds 25-40 MPH. We were frozen solid, taking relief from the elements in the park club house (then in East Towne in Grand Rapids) and drinking scaldingly hot soup and beer. This tradition persists to this day: soup and beer. These are the main attractions of Huckfest.

These days Huckfest is held at John Walker Park just south of Grand Rapids and hosted by John Schwartz, though the last few years by Greg Kormelink, both seen in the photo above.

My Big Wood t-shirt is in a bag or a box somewhere. I still own it, and so I am not shy about sharing it as today's shirt. The Big Wood shirt came from a Master's team I played with at Regionals the year of the Huckfest pictured above: 2001. The masters team was mostly guys from Minnesota, and we did fairly well. I have no memory of whether the Huckfest team pictured above did well, though I suspect we won something as we are posing with the scoreboard, which I am holding.

Please also note my Buffy the Vampire Slayer hat.

Today's Huckfest was excellent. Many teams were in costume. The soup was delicious, and the weather cooperated.

Happy Saturday!

Now watching the Michigan-Michigan State game.

GO BLUE!

- chris tower - 1311.02 - 17:55

T-shirt #225: Death: you get what anyone gets; you get a lifetime

T-shirt #225: Death: you get what anyone gets; you get a lifetime

Good Friday.

Not THE Good Friday, but this Friday has been a good one. No specific reason for the overall goodness. In part, the goodness can be attributed to Grading Robot reducing the power levels of its production mode, which has caused a decrease in surface tension stress across the membrane of the landscape.

And I like re-reading Dune via the audio edition.

And I am looking forward to Ender's Game the film.

And tomorrow is HUCKFEST, which for those who do not know is an ultimate tournament in Grand Rapids.

And this is Death, for the second day in a row.

And I am leaving this unfinished for now...


Oh, yeah, and this was dinner. Goulash, my mother's recipe, and some kind of Chinese broccoli that I fried somehow.

 I will finish this tomorrow.

Noted 19:34 on 1311.01



Okay, I am back, Saturday morning and decided to leave the original text because it's kind of fun, at least it is for me.


Did I mention that the character on the t-shirt is called "Death"? Of course, I did.

See DEATH(DC Comics) at Wikipedia.

In this incarnation, Death is the creation of Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg, though the entire visualization of Death came from Dringenberg, and no, despite popular urban legends, she is no way based on Gaiman's friend Tori Amos.

Death is one of the "Endless," the family of anthropomorphic beings who are the main cast of Gaiman's Sandman comic book, one of whom is the eponymous title character. The Endless, whose names all start with the letter D, are the most powerful beings in the universe, more powerful than gods. The Endless family consists of Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium.

Though in Gaiman and Dringenberg's incarnation, Death originally appeared in The Sandman #8, the character achieved her most vivid and potentially best loved characterization with the art of Chris Bachalo in two limited series--Death: The High Cost of Living (1993) and Death: The Time of Your Life (1996)--one of which was published immediately after The Sandman ended its publication run. The Sandman had become wildly popular and had a huge cult following, fans rabid for more stories of the Endless gobbled up the book in droves. Death as has also appeared in other related books in the VERTIGO line from DC Comics, including Lucifer and The Books of Magic.

Here's a sampling of some fan ravings about one of the DEATH books: Pai Picks Blog.

The whole rabid fan reaction to The Sandman invokes my contrary and oppositional personality. When faced with too much pushing, too much popularity, something being "jammed down my throat" as Andrew at Fanfare said, I react by going the other way.

Let me start by saying that I like Neil Gaiman's work very much. I have actually corresponded with Neil, and I think he's a super guy and a very talented writer. So, let's just put that out there, shall we?

Yes, I can be critical of him as I was after finishing his new book The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which I reviewed in T-shirt #138.

I also addressed my feelings about The Sandman, somewhat, in T-shirt #160, which contains my list of comic book recommendations for non-comic book people.

It's not that I think The Sandman is a bad comic book. Not at all. It's a very good comic book, and one I enjoyed immensely.

BUT PLEASE, comic book fans need to stop making it the single go-to comic book recommended to non-comic book fans (often women). Even when it was first published in the 1990s, it was not the ONLY comic book that people (often women) who do not usually read comic books would read and like.

And today, with the large selection of both super-hero books and non-super-hero books to choose from, there is no reason to make The Sandman the single most recommended comic book. With our current wealth of comic books to choose from, as I hope I made clear in T-shirt #160, the recommendation should be tailored to the individual. Not everyone is going to LOVE The Sandman. Some readers may prefer Fables and others may prefer The Walking Dead.

With all of that said, I must say that I count Chris Bachalo among my current favorite artists and I may love the Death: The High Cost of Living (1993) and Death: The Time of Your Life (1996) books more than the regular Sandman comics.

There's always a weekly comics list, and it always happens on Friday. Though now that Ultimate is over, I could pick up comics on Wednesdays, though I probably won't.

It is sort of fitting that I featured Death today (and not just because of Halloween) and discussed The Sandman because a new Sandman comic book was released this week, a prelude to the seminal comic book series. I have two other Sandman shirts, so I will delegate future comments to those blog posts.

WEEKLY COMICS LIST

The list below is already somewhat of a cheat as I moved up Saga and brought forward the Tom Strong issue from last week. When I brought home my new stack those two comics were next up, since the next Saga came out this week, I moved up the previous issue and will read both and Tom Strong after Guardians.

Aquaman from last week was already discussed in Monday's Aquaman blog post (BTW, faithful, I figured out how to re-publish the post back in time thus solving the day-to-day dilemma I reported and once again having one post per day since March). Other than that comic, I would say the Lazarus was my next favorite from last week (or tied), and I plan to discuss it in more depth later, though not today.

From last week, I managed to get through almost the entire main stack, not counting the back log, with the exception of Great Pacific. Last night (Friday, which ws the day this was supposedly published but who's counting), I only managed the first two comics before I was too sleepy to continue. I tried to finish Spider-Man and failed.

COMICS FOR 1310.30

X-Men: Battle for the Atom #2
Kick Ass 3: #4
The Superior Spider-Man #020
Guardians of the Galaxy #008
Infinity part five of six
Avengers #22
Avengers AI #005
Saga #15
Aquaman Annual #1
Teen Titans Annual #1
Sandman Overture

Back Log

The Trial of the Punisher #002
Ultimate X-Men #33
Uncanny X-Force #013

SPECIAL PURCHASE

Marvel Comics in the 1960s By Pierre Comtois

- chris tower - originally 1311.01 at 19:34 - revised 1311.02 at 7:33

T-shirt #224: Death

T-shirt #224: Death

Welcome to my nightmare.

Deep in the mechanical trenches of woe and chthonic agony, Grading Robot wishes you a Happy Halloween.

And for once, a record low in text.

Today's t-shirt features Death of the Endless. Don't let her cute and cherubic face fool you. She will be the end of you. She will be the end of us all.

Now enjoy some more pictures and a few (very few compared to Monday) classic comic book monster covers.

BOO!

- chris tower - 1310.31 - 18:35

T-shirt #223: KUDL 2007 BLOOD Red

T-shirt #223: KUDL 2007 BLOOD Red

Today is another KUDL Wednesday. I found this shirt in my closet as yet one more KUDL shirt that I own that I have not yet featured. This shirt is from the 2007 season and is a cotton shirt. It's an original shirt, not the retro reprints we distribute at KUDL tonight.


Today's blog features a comic book adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's classic story "The Tell-Tale Heart" as adapted for comics in Creepy magazine published by Warren Publishing starting in 1964.

For a preview of some of tomorrow's content or for more Halloween-themed comic book material check out:


MONSTER MASH - MUMMIES

MONSTER MASH - WEREWOLVES

This story was presented by the blog, DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND, at this link:
THE TELL-TALE HEART.

Here's the text by The GROOVY AGENT about this story.

(Sidenote: I worked with Archie Goodwin when I worked an internship at Marvel Comics while in college.)

"One of the greatest crime/horror stories in all of literature is Edgar Allan Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart". This classic has been adapted into nearly every entertainment medium--more than once--and probably will continue to worm its way into the popular consciousness for...perhaps...ever. Here's a classic comicbook version by Archie Goodwin and Reed Crandall. These scans come from Comix International #4 (1976), but the story was first published in black and white in Creepy #3 in 1965" (Groovy Agent,  Diversions of the Groovy Kind Blog, Oct. 29, 2013).

ENJOY.

- chris tower - 1310.30 - 8:16