Category: nerd stuff

Crisis on Infinite Convergences.

DC comics is planning yet another reboot of their entire Multiverse. This article talks about it a bit. 

I was around for their first foray into Multiversal Rebooting – the Crisis on Infinite Earths. This happened back in the late 1980s. It was an attempt to consolidate the roughly 1 million different “Earths” — or universes in a multiverse – into roughly one such universe. The notion was that DC comics continuity had become too complex for writers or readers to deal with.

If memory serves, this was a pretty cool mini series. Strike that. They killed off Barry Allen (the Flash). He saved the multiverse, but died in the process. That sucked. He was my favorite DC character. But other than that it wasn’t too bad. They seemed to still sort of honor the old continuity somewhat.

But of course more dimensions eventually appeared. Or that is my recollection. Barry died for nothing.

So in 2011 DC again rebooted their comics with this New 52 thing. Kind of like starting from scratch with characters you already know, but trying to modernize them a bit.

Yeah, I’ve written and bitched about his before.

I’ve written about how I hate the new flashy artwork and “Marvel-ization” of the DC universe.  I don’t like Superman wearing some kind of armor. WTF? He’s Superman, right? He doesn’t need Kryptonian armor to be his costume. Etc, etc, etc…lots of shit like that.

So now they are going to apparently but not for sure ditch the New 52 — to be replaced with what?

Here is my recommendation. Same as it was last time I wrote about this.

The only thing DC has done in many years that has been worth reading was the Kingdom Come graphic novel mini series. In this series they didn’t seek to modernize the characters. If anything, they went BACK. It was genius. They simply connected with the real essence of each character, portraying them as the modern gods they are intended to be.

That is where they should go.

The number of dimensions doesn’t matter. None of that matters. What matters is the core essence of what makes these characters great, and finding writers and artists who can connect with that. The rest of the creative staff can go write 50 more X-Men titles per month.

A fun time

This last weekend I drove down to my friend Mike’s house in Belton for some nerdish fun.

Drove down on Saturday afternoon to his exquisitely arranged compound, ate grilled burgers with him and his family, then we all watch Captain America: the Winter Solder the television machine. I still think it is the best the Marvel has done.

Then Sunday morning we got up and I followed them back up north the Waco (famous for being the home of Baylor University and in close proximity to David Koresh’s Branch Davidian Compound) and we attended HOT CON (Heart O’ Texas CON), a comics and fandom convention. It is a smaller con, which is fine. It was fun, low key, and had lots of cool stuff. I love going to stuff like that. Mike’s boys did a little cosplay — one was Green Arrow and the other was a gas mask wearing guy (not sure who the character was, but it was a great get-up).

Thanks to Mike and the familia for a great time.

More Nerd Stuff

I panicked a little today when I realized I hadn’t gone by Madness Comics & Games last week, and had thus risked missing out on the latest copy of Thor: God of Thunder.

In case you aren’t aware, that is the only comic I currently collect. It is 100% pure grade-A fuckin’-A AWESOME.  Great, great comic. Since it’s on issue 24 right now, it isn’t too late to go ahead and get the whole run, and I recommend that you do. The first ten or so — the first story arch called “the God Butcher” – has been compiled graphic novel style.

This particular title is more or less a stand alone comic. No cross over stuff with other Marvel titles, so it is simple to collect. There’s not a lot of stuff to remember, and it doesn’t require that you get 10 other Marvel comics every month to keep up. Great stories, great art.

Madness has all these great Doctor Who tshirts. Now my 13-year old nephew is a big Doctor Who fan, and I really wanted to get him this cool shirt that said “Save the Daleks”, with a line drawing of a Dalek. They didn’t have anything smaller than a size large, and mostly XL, XXL, and XXXL. Same story with the other shirts. Yep. Lots of giant shirts, but none for smaller people.

Draw your own conclusions there…in between slices of pizza and chocolate donuts and big bowl of chips.

I spent a little time in Madness today, checking it all out. I love seeing the gaming tables there, with miniature cities and battlefields and whatnot there, ready to play. I have never been into the “war games” — the ones with the battle fields and miniature armies and whatnot, but it looks fun.

Anyhooooo…after watching Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop for a few episodes, I ordered the game Qwirkle to play with my nephews and niece on an upcoming trip. It looked really fun, and it’s simple. Simple, but with strategy. I think it will be fun.

 

qwirkle