The Joys of Coffee

Was a time, not too long ago, that I'd given up on caffeine.

Despite a (somewhat crippling) addiction to the restorative powers of that wonderful, crystalline xanthine alkaloid (thanks, Wiki!), I decided that it was in my best interest to lay off the black stuff, and instead rely on the old-fashioned restorative powers of a beautiful morning to wake me up and get me through the day.

That worked, for a little while at least. And then I met Mr. 14 Hour Day. He was not so kind, let me tell you.

So I once again decided to make a change in my dietary habits and now I am happily caffeinated thanks to a double shot of espresso each morning. Sure, it's more than what I was consuming daily for the past couple of years, but a double shot a day is nowhere near the amount of caffeine that I would put away at the height of my Caffeine Haze.

Which is a long, roundabout way of me justifying my new coffee habit.

I know it's a slippery slope for me, but I truly plan to limit my caffeine consumption to just the double shot in the morning. I don't drink soda, or tea, and I don't eat chocolate or anything else that has caffeine in it, so it's really and truly just that morning fix.

Used to be, that morning fix was Part One in what would undoubtedly be a near-hourly exercise in self-caffeination. I'm determined to not let that happen again, as I was simply consuming too much of the good stuff.

By now, you're all wondering why in the world I've decided to use this space to talk about espresso. The answer to that is quite simple. It's Tuesday, and since last Thursday, I've woefully neglected my responsibilities on this blog.

Coffee, obviously, is on my mind. And if Nathaniel gets to write about pie...well, I get to write about coffee.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I purchased a new computer this weekend, and I am currently sitting outside doing some work on it. And, as I'm looking up at a rather large tree directly over my head, I can't help but wonder if the Apple Care Protection Plan I bought covers me against Dive-bombing Squirrel Attacks.

Meh. I'm sure it'll be fine...

Bad Blogger

One of the reasons I've been so...subdued...on the blog of late is because I simply haven't been able to sit down and do much of anything that even resembles the things we usually write about here at Exfanding.

For the most part, my television viewing is limited to wrestling and the occasional political talk show, as we are in an election year and I like to at least try to keep up with what's going on. I watch Game of Thrones on HBO every Sunday (the season finale was last night, actually), but I know lots of folks like watching that show on DVD, so I avoid writing about it here, even though I have really enjoyed both seasons.

My comics reading has dwindled to an all-time low; any free time I have has been devoted to researching printers and trying not to break the bank when it comes time to print my children's book or to reading (very slowly, might I add) the first and second installments of the Game of Thrones novels.

I haven't done much in the way of buying original comic book art, mostly because my time to surf the Internet has dwindled. I've pretty much been living my geek life vicariously through Nathaniel and his excellent posts about crafting adventures for D&D sessions.

I have gotten back into brewing some awesome espresso...this time at the office, as my Greatest Christmas Present Ever is now on my desk at work.

And, yes, I am very much back into drinking coffee, a vice that's been made necessary due to my...unusual...hours.

All this to say...I've been a bad blogger. And I'm sorry. But, hey, at least I only missed our self-imposed posting deadline by 54 minutes today!

Waiting for Wednesday, Volume 4, Issue 20

Ya know, I don’t think I ever really understood the term “my fever broke” until last night, when I alternated between being freezing cold—literally teeth-chatteringly cold—and ridiculously hot. I had a couple of very strange dreams, which someone later pointed out were likely fever dreams.

Again, another term that until last night meant very little to me.

One of those fever dream things was particularly interesting, as for a little while there, I pretty vividly dreamt that I was a character in Game of Thrones, warding off a Lannister attack while riding on the kingsroad on my way back to Winterfell.

Aside from demonstrating how utterly clueless I am about a wide variety of things, my fever-induced insomnia last night made me realize that apparently even my fever dreams are dorky, which made me laugh.

Which then made me swoon a bit before laying back down.

Anyway, after the weird dreaming and teeth-chattering coldness of the night, I actually started to feel human again sometime around 4:00 in the morning.

Not to fear, though, because not only did I make it to work this morning—I was even about an hour early. Probably because I was still shaking off the effects of whatever the heck plague I caught last night was.

All this is basically to say that I won’t be posting much today about comic books.

You know, because of the weird fever.

Saturday Serenity?

Okay, fine. So this is being written on a Saturday evening while I'm still at the office, waiting on...something. From someone. For...something. I forget.

It's been a long three weeks.

I gotta apologize, folks. I messed up today. I had zero time to post, and this is what happened.

I also apologize to Nathaniel, who has carried this blog for months now. I'm getting back to normal, though. I promise.

Just...bear with me for today.

Saturday Satire

Just a quick hello from behind my desk this afternoon.

I’m hunkered down for the weekend, working my way through my company’s busiest week (and weekend) of the year. At this point, there’s still an awful lot left to do, but the end is now in sight and I plan to get back to normal posting by Tuesday, or so.

Well, you know, about as normal as I’m capable of.

In the meantime, however, let’s talk comics. This past week, Avengers vs. X-Men, issue zero, hit shelves, and issue one ships this coming Wednesday.

AvX, as it's becoming known to us nerds, is supposed to be the Next Big Thing.

And, since I'm the one who officially decides such things (clearly), I'll say this: I read issue zero (at some point between buying it on Wednesday and right this moment), I liked it, and I think there's something intriguing about the book.

However, the last thing comics needs right now is an all-encompassing cross-over event. That said, comics really, really needs a meaningful event, and we need one now.

I will not pick up the tie-ins to AvX; I plan to read the main book and that's it. My hope is that Marvel puts the actual story of the event in its main event book. If that sentence sounds funny to you, then you obviously didn't follow The House of Ideas' last big event--Fear Itself.

For that story, most of the actual event occurred in places other than the main book.

I wasn't a big fan of that decision, and I pretty much stopped reading a whole mess of Marvel books out of complete apathy.

I'm hoping that AvX is the thing that pulls me back in.

As I said, issue zero was good, so I do have high hopes for the book. Will it be The Thing That Brings Me Back to Marvel? We'll have to wait and see. One thing's for certain, though--either way, I'll be writing about it here in the coming weeks and months.

So stay tuned...and cross your fingers.

Spring is...Springing

Last night I drove home pretty late. On a Thursday night in my town (and in most towns), that usually means the streets will be pretty busy, the bars and restaurants will be crowded, and really, there will be people in every direction.

That’s exactly what the scene was like last night; probably a little more so since the weather here has been so nice lately. It was great to see these things--indications that spring is on its way and winter will soon be behind us.

And, sure, like any typical night, there are idiots out who have had too much to drink, or are just naturally inclined to being idiots. But that’s just part of it all, and, really, if there’s not some jerk being too loud outside or inside a bar on a Thursday night, then the world isn’t spinning like it should.

Or something.

In any case, just seeing people out and about, having fun, was nice. Usually, I’m simply driving past all that, leaving the office way too late to even think about hanging out or doing anything even remotely...human.

But last night we had an office thing and I left work at a reasonable hour to make it there (almost) in time for its start, and I ended up sticking around for a while. And it was a lot of fun to get out and hang out and, frankly, act my age.

I'd like to say I'm planning on doing more of that, but I'm in my busy season and I don't envision much free time in the next few weeks.

So for now, at least, I'll take my one night out, even if there won't be another one for quite some time.

Saturday...I Think (Also, a Review)

Friday morning kind of bled into Friday night, and then all of a sudden it was Saturday morning. While I may still have been at work in the wee hours of today--and it's also possible that I forgot to eat both lunch and dinner during my epic Friday--I somehow feel pretty good today.

Maybe it's because the weather is turning warmer here at Exfanding HQ, or maybe it's because I'm a little delirious, or perhaps it's because Andy Pettitte is back with the New York Yankees and all is once again right with the world.

It could be any of those things, really.

And, while the Andy Thing is pretty great, I'm leaning towards delirium.

So hang on tight, Exfanders, because this post is likely to get bumpy. That is, if I can remember what I wanted to--oh, right!

Last night--uh I mean Thursday night, I read Avengers: Children's Crusade, a book I talked about really wanting to buy earlier in the week.

Well, turns out I didn't love the story as much as I had hoped and as I read along, it became more and more obvious that the shipping delay in the single issues took its toll on the mini-series as a whole.

Every issue started with a very anachronistic style of recap, because, I'm sure, there was such a long waiting period between issues.

I'm a new-school comics reader, and frankly I find things like that tiresome.

But what really irked me about the book was the way in which the ending was handled. Again, I'm going to blame this on the fractured shipping schedule because writer Allan Heinberg knows his craft, and he knows it well.

But he rushed the heck out of this ending.

So much so, in fact, that the major event of the book was glossed over and literally covered up with smiles and hugs.

Now, I won't spoil what went down, but I will say that I really didn't like the way it went down. And that pretty much ruined my overall enjoyment of the book. Which is a real shame since this story--and the fallout from it--plays a big part in Marvel's upcoming events.

Don't get me wrong, there were things that I loved about the book--Heinberg's snappy dialogue makes for quick, fun reading and his characterization of Captain America as being both funny and understanding towards the Young Avengers endears Cap to readers.

There's certainly a sense of fun early on in the series--and even though the characters literally face a world-destroying threat, there's that feeling of high adventure that's so sorely lacking from so many of the current comics.

But when the Big Moment happens at the story's end, and actually, in the buildup to that moment, all fun goes out the window. There's really no victory for the characters, and many of them come off very much like, well, frankly, insensitive, unfeeling shells of people.

Which is in stark contrast to the bursting-with-life portrayals of these characters earlier on. Throughout the book, they wear their emotions on their sleeves, but when the Big Emotional Thing happens?

A hug here, a grimace there.

And that's kind of how I felt about the book once I put it down--a shrug and a grimace.

And Then Thursday Happened

Oh, man. I'm getting bad at this.

Usually when I get tied up and have to post late, it’s at least somewhere around 11:00. Today, though. Jeez, sorry about that, guys. It’s been a crazy week, and I just haven’t had the time I’d like to be able to sit down and write out something worth reading.

I’m kinda out of sorts altogether today, as I got into a minor car accident last night that’s set my today into a tailspin of annoyance. Not to worry, though, I was only rear-ended and, while there was noticeable damage, I’m fine.

Typically, this is where things like car insurance come in handy.

And it would, totally, if I wasn’t scheduled to turn the car back into the dealer…oh, this afternoon. Yeah. Sometimes irony is hilariously ironic.

So, yeah. I’m a little out of my mind today with stupid stuff. Also, there’s been quite a bit of work to do over the last couple of weeks, so I’m busily…um…working. And when I’m not working? Sleep.

My life in a nutshell.

Again, sorry about today. No fears, though—Nathaniel has tomorrow covered.

Waiting for Wednesday, Volume 4, Issue 8

As Nathaniel mentioned yesterday, my posting has been rather sparse of late. This has mostly been due to the fact that I really don’t have much time to do…well, anything lately. I got in from work last night sometime after midnight, and as I hurriedly write this morning’s column, I realize that I should probably work on planning things out a bit better when it comes to posting.

To that point, Nathaniel’s idea of a new weekly column is a good one, I think, mostly for the reasons he laid out yesterday.

For my part, Waiting for Wednesday is always the easiest blog post to write on any given week, mostly because I’ve “shaped” it into something that can be anything, really. Sure, it started out with the sole purpose of previewing upcoming comic book releases, but as they tend to do, things changed.

Rather quickly, too, as I guess I’m just no good at following rules, even if they’re rules that I’ve set.

Today, as you might be able to tell being that this column is going up around 1:30, is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. No comics reviews, no nothing really. I didn't get out of work until after midnight, and I have a pretty good amount of work due in the not-so-distant future.

So, yeah. I apologize for making this brief and kinda pointless, but...um. I'll make it up to you?

But, Really, What Do I Know?

So, fine, maybe my prognostication skills need some improvement. Despite my predictions to the contrary, the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots last night to claim their second title of the Tom Coughlin-Eli Manning era.

Both those Super Bowl victories have come against the Patriots and their legendary quarterback, Tom Brady, and both victories came in nail-biting fashion with last-minute heroics from Eli and the Giants.

For my part, I managed to pretty much get everything wrong, as even my two Super Bowl Box Pools proved to be against me. Sure, they're completely random, but still.

I had a shot at winning one of them, when the Giants went for a two-point conversion with less than a minute to play. Had they executed the conversion, I would have won this, a Joker 1:4 Scale Museum Quality Statue, the final score prize offered by the pool at a local shop:
And, fine, I would have had absolutely nowhere to put this 19-inch Joker statue, but c'mon--it's awesome!

So the Pats shouldn't feel too bad--clearly, I was the biggest loser yesterday.

Super Sunday

So...there's a game on today. As excited as I am for the actual day and all its food and things, I really don't care about the game itself. See, I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan, so, naturally, I hate the Giants.

And, being a New York Yankees fan, I'm not allowed to root for any team located in Massachusetts.

So, yeah, I hate both teams.

Or, at least, I'm supposed to hate both teams. But it's impossible to hate a guy like Tom Brady, the quarterback of the New England Patriots who went through college and his earliest professional days as an underdog.

Yep, the best quarterback of my generation--and one of the greatest in NFL history--started his career as an underdog.

In college, at Michigan, Brady was seen as a run-of-the-mill passer, and everyone from the head coach down wanted to see the QB relegated to second-string so freshman phenom Drew Henson could have more playing time.

It's an interesting story, and one retold in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated.

Brady, as he's done his entire career, sucked it up, figured it out, and won the starting job. He learned to read and anticipate defenses better than anyone else in the college game, and he was able to translate those skills to what has become a legendary pro career.

Tonight he plays in his fifth Super Bowl. He's won three of the four he's previously appeared in, losing to the New York Giants in one of the most memorable games in many years.

That season, the Pats were undefeated going into the Super Bowl; they were clear-cut favorites and a shoo-in to win. Then, the impossible happened and the Giants pulled a win out of--well, you know where.

Maybe Brady just wasn't used to being the favorite. Maybe he wasn't comfortable in the role of Apollo Creed.

That night, Rocky won.

Tonight, though? Well, tonight I don't think I would bet against Brady, even though his Pats are once again (slightly) favored.

It's an interesting matchup, made especially compelling because of the teams' Super Bowl history. But the Giants beat the Pats before, and I just can't imagine Tom Brady allowing that to happen twice.

Before Before Watchmen, Some Thoughts

Since Nathaniel is busy um, Harry Pottering this weekend, I'll be in charge of the ol' blog. Good for me, not so good for clear-thinking individuals the world over.

Today's topic of conversation? What else? Before Watchmen.

DC's announcement this week that they will be publishing brand new prequels to the most critically acclaimed comics work of all time has the entire Internet ablaze with overreaction, under reaction, and, well, more overreaction.

Which has me thinking--with Internet fervor the way it is, would the original Watchmen have seen this kind of scrutiny when it was coming out had there been such a forum? What about Dark Knight Returns, for that matter? One of the most heralded Batman stories ever, seemingly loved by everyone who comes across it. Would Dark Knight have been blasted for its weird, old-guy version of Bruce Wayne?

I'm gonna bet it would have been.

So, fine, let's discredit the most vociferous of Internet hostilities towards Before Watchmen, because, frankly, who cares what a crazy person online has to say about anything? Personally, I think it's fine that DC has decided to go this route--looking at it from a strictly business perspective, it makes sense.

Watchmen is one of DC's most profitable properties; milking it for all it's worth is only natural, especially in the current publishing landscape. And if I know anything, I know the current publishing landscape. Publishers the world over are much more interested in the "safe bet" than they are in the new and the different.

That's one of the reasons I left the industry--safe bets are great for the short term, but in the long run it's the big, new ideas that make a difference. And, not to mention, fortunes.

But I can't fault DC for going back to the well here. Frankly, I'm shocked it took them this long to do it. Before Watchmen is going to make money--lots of it. Even the weaker books in the series will do well, just because comics fans can't help themselves. Even if they voice an opinion to the contrary, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the loudest critics of the series will be there to pick it up when it launches.

Why? Because we're comics fans; we have to know.

I'm interested in three or four of the titles, and I plan on giving them a shot. Do I wish maybe DC had gone another direction in their publishing plans? Sure; new titles with new characters doing new things would be great. But also risky.

Too risky for this current economy.

Further, I'd much rather see new creators emerge in the industry than have publishers continually go back to the (seemingly) 20 or so creators that generate the most product in comics today.

Part of the initial attraction of DC's New 52 was the promise that there would be new blood injected in lots of classic titles. I've said it before, but it's an evergreen argument: The comics industry is notorious for not allowing new members into the clubhouse.

We see it all the time, but it's hard to argue against going with a creator who has a proven track record of sales.

Like I said, this isn't restricted to comics--it's all over publishing, and television, and the movies. In comics, certain titles with certain creators have a known number of sales, even before the book is solicited. Like all publishers, projected numbers are the most important part in getting something green lit.

Sure, sometimes there's something so revolutionary that even the tightest suit in the room will agree to go forward, even if there's not the promise of a huge financial return. But for the most part, safe is best.

Unfortunately, though, years from now no one will be talking about the great business sense of publishers. However, they will still be talking about the editor who signed Harry Potter from an unknown woman with crazy ideas.

I wish it were the other way around, though. I wish we could all learn the names of all the editors who passed up that book when it came across their slush piles (you know, the ones they're too busy to read?).

On that note, I can just hear Frank Miller's Dark Knight pitch meeting, had it taken place two months ago rather than 20 years ago:

Editor: "So, um. Cool concept, Frank. But, can we make him look like Batman?"

Frank: "Meaning...?"

Editor: "Meaning, he's all...old...and stuff. Can't make toys of an old Batman, ya know."

Frank: "Good point. How about we make him really young, and really crazy? He can kidnap Robin and yell at him!"

Editor: "Brilliant!"

Frank: "Also, can there be dinosaurs?"

Editor: "Funny you should mention that..."

Toy Stories

Let's talk toys.

A strange (fragmented) sentence, coming from my keyboard? Perhaps. But just yesterday it dawned on me that, at my new job, I was actually encouraged to bring in toys--sorry, action figures--to make my desk look more "presentable."

It didn't sink in at the time how...awesome...that is.

See, working at a place where action figures are not only acceptable, but encouraged? Yeah, I never figured I'd get to a place like that.

But here I am, and I can honestly say it's pretty cool.

To every job I've held (which, at this point, that's several), I've brought a few constants--a copy of Shakespeare's Tragedies that i picked up at a library book sale, The Harvard Classics edition of Marlowe-Shakespeare and a beaten up copy of Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym--both from that same library sale.

There's also the two books on Abe Lincoln quotations and a cool little paperweight shaped like a pencil with the words, "Make Your Mark" engraved in it.

Those things come with me, always.

But the toys? Not so much. So now I'm gonna throw this out to all you Exfanders. I have a couple of toys displayed--wrestling figures from years ago, a new CM Punk figure that came out last month, and a mini-bust of Wolverine (oh, yeah, and many of my co-workers are way into comics, so that stuff is cool, too).

But I need more stuff. Any suggestions on what toys are cool, or what toys will look good?

Did Someone Say Comics?

Ya know, I’m just realizing that I haven’t written much about comics in a good long while.

I guess I’ve just been pretty wrapped up in the new job and as a result, I’ve been enmeshed in the world of professional wrestling. Which is okay, since Exfanding is a pop culture blog.

Also, Nathaniel once wrestled on the independent circuit back in the late '90s. Ring name? Grizzly Adams, Jr. Things started to spiral out of control for him, however, when he and his tag team partner (a bear, naturally) had a parting of ways.

Right. So.

Back in the Real World, I do feel remiss in not talking about my beloved funnybooks, but as I scramble to come up with a topic to talk about for today (that's not related to Nathaniel, bears, and indy wrestling in the 1990s), I'm realizing that I just haven't read that many comics in the past couple of weeks.

Which makes writing about them pretty difficult.

Now, I've certainly bought plenty of comics, sure, but they've all met the same, sad, floor-pile fate. And looking at that ever-growing, Lovecraftian pile of books on my floor gets on my nerves, let me tell you.

The whole stockpiling thing is a part of the comic fan buying cycle that has always confused--Why buy something if you're not going to read it, right? Call it obsessive dorkyness, call it insanity, call it whatever you want.

I do it, and it needs to stop.

So I've come to a conclusion--I need to start dialing back on the amount of books I'm buying, Big Time. Let's call this an official addendum to my New Year's resolutions.

I'll let you know how I make out.

Beat Me To It...

We've run a couple of posts about what our version of the Ideal Comic Book Shop would look like on the blog, mostly because such posts scratch two of our biggest itches--comics and telling people what's best for them (according to us).

Characteristics such as clean, well lit, and has a pleasant smell all rose to the top of our list of things our ideal shop would be or would have. Other than those (you'd think obvious, but not really) traits, we came up with a few extra goodies that we'd love to see in a shop.

For my tastes, adding coffee to comics sounds like the best thing ever. And so I wrote, way back when:

I think adding a personal touch to a store is important. It shows you care, and it allows you to stand out from the rest. For me, adding a coffee bar, a couch or two, and some original art would make my shop like a home.

Well, after reading about it on Bleeding Cool this morning in an article titled, "The Comic Shop That Merged With a Coffee Shop," Legend Comics in Omaha seems to be pretty much my ideal comic book shop.

It connects to a coffee shop, you see, so right there it has my attention.

What's more, though, it sounds like a very cool place to shop--they're doing a good job of building anticipation for the move with a teaser on their website, and they've generated some local press to get the word out.

I live nowhere near Omaha and have never visited Legend, but from the articles online, it looks like they'll have some pretty cool things to set their shop apart from other stores, like a massive selection of comics and graphic novels and even drive-thru and indoor movie screenings.

From photos online, it's easy to see that the store is well laid out, bright, and clean. it looks like a place I'd like to hang out in, as opposed to just stop by to grab some books and run. In fact, it looks like a place my non-comics-reading friends would enjoy, too.

And, of course, there will be coffee.

So, yeah. Legend beat me to creating that magical, wonderful comic shop vision I've had in my head all this time. That's okay, though. I'm not bitter.

What I am is interested--if anyone happens to be in the Omaha area and you've stopped by the shop, please drop me a line to let me know what you think. It looks like an awesome place and I'd love to hear your take!

Talk About a Random Sunday

Today's post is just a warning, of sorts, that my future posts are quite likely to take a more...random...turn.

For you see I now have the capability to blog from my phone.

Which means that I'll literally post about anything that pops into my mind, at any random moment in this Life of Alex.

You know, like when I'm waiting in the car on the drive-through ATM line. Or when I'm sitting in the Chinese restaurant, waiting for my take-out order.

Or when I'm watching the original Amityville Horror and I find myself wondering how James Brolin gets his beard so even.

Or how much Brolin looks like Christian Bale.

And then I start wondering about why I'm wondering about James Brolin's beard from 1979 and...well, you see what I mean about the random.

And I'm also willing to bet that you see what I mean about this being a warning of things to come.

Hang tight, Exfanders. Things are about to get a little weird.

A Wedding Themed Post. Also, Zombies.

I'm back today--both to the blog and to reality--after a Big Wedding Weekend. A very close friend got married on Sunday, and it was a great day, start to finish.

Actually, it was a great weekend overall, as even the rehearsal dinner on Saturday was top notch.

It's weird now that I can say I've known certain people for 20 years--it makes me feel old, but also kinda cool. You know, in an old, "I now think lame things are cool" kind of way.

Still, he and I played together pretty much from Little League through high school, and we even became acclaimed coaches at some point along the way. (My definition of "acclaimed" is probably different than yours.)

Anyway, I'm incredibly happy for the couple, and even though they don't read this blog (how dare they), I wish them the very best in their new life together.

Oh, and speaking of weddings. You need to go check out these wedding photos--officially the greatest of all time. And, no. This wasn't the wedding I attended.

Right. Time to go. I miss one day of work, and everything breaks in hilarious, horrifying ways. Back tomorrow with an all-kinda-the-same Waiting for Wednesday.

The Nature of Comics Fans

I woke up this morning without a clue as to what to post for today. So I went through my morning routine of running on the treadmill and lifting, all the while listening to a couple of podcasts from the venerable iFanboy crew.

Enjoyable as always, the iFanboy podcasts got me through my workout and made the whole waking-up-at-five-AM thing that much easier to swallow.

At the end of the second episode, one of the guys mentioned that the iFanboy site was in the process of being redesigned, and that the new site would be unveiled this week. Yesterday, actually.

So when I got into the office, I poured a cup of decaf, looked at the teeming pile of work on my desk and the ready-to-explode inbox on my screen, and I did what any rational human being would have done.

I went to the iFanboy website to check out the new look.

And I liked it. A lot, actually. It's spiffy and you can find things--two traits that I look for in a web page.

But then I noticed the comments section of a post that gave a nice recap of what, exactly, had changed on the site.

Big mistake, that.

I like the new site, but there are people who don't. And they're not afraid to let their (fake Internet monikers) tell you exactly what they hate, and why they hate it.

Though, I have to admit, the comments were nowhere near as mean-spirited as on other comics sites. They were, in fact, quite civil and constructive. Still, I stopped reading almost immediately, because I honestly don't care why someone else doesn't like something that I like.

But it got me thinking about comments sections, and comic book fans, in general.

As many of you know, the comments section on any comics/fan site can be...well, they can be nasty. And insane. And, sometimes, both.

Usually, though, the comments section is just mostly complaining.

I don't like this book. This creator is horrible. They've destroyed my beloved characters--again. I don't like change. I want more change. My foot hurts.

Just like the comic fan in the shop on Wednesday with nothing better to do than tell everyone why he would write a better Batman than Jeph Loeb, comics fans on the Internet are...*ahem*...passionate about their books.

But because it's the Internet, and there's that wondrous veil of anonymity, Internet fans tend to be less rational and more venomous than your Wednesday Warrior fanboy in the corner of the shop, yelling his views at whomever will listen.

Now, I know what you're thinking--crazy Internet fan is nothing new.

I know, I know. But like I said, I had no idea what to write about for today, and this popped into my head.

It's a faction of fandom that I will never, ever understand, and it never fails to utterly amaze me. I mean, I care about the characters, too, but if I don't like something, I just don't buy it.

Simple as that.

In my real job (you know, when I'm not fighting super villains), I'm an editor at a pretty big, very well respected trade publisher. Let me tell you, though. We get our fair share of raving phone calls and rambling emails.

Mostly about how we don't know what we're doing.

It's funny. The most critical calls and emails are never presented in a professional, courteous manner. And they typically end with a note about how our entire editorial staff should be laid off.

And presumably, be replaced by the angry caller/emailer.

Because, you see, he has this great idea about Batman and a giant chicken...

Alex Becomes the Walking Dead

My body hates me. It does. And it punishes me, constantly, for doing things to it.

My knees remind me, daily, of the decade-plus they spent squatting behind home plate, catching countless baseball games from Little League through college, and my right shoulder barks about years of being abused by the unnatural act of throwing a baseball.

The surgery I had on it during my (red-shirted) freshman year of college didn't do much in the way of alleviating any pain.

Other things hurt, too. Like the bulging disc I have in the lower right side of my back, and the pinched nerve in my neck, suffered during a jarring collision at home plate when I was in high school.

That one's actually on film, so ask me nicely next time you see me, and I might show it to you.

My jaw pops every time I eat a bagel, reminding me of the time I was hit with a low-90s fastball, in the face, during a college game while trying (and failing, obviously) to bunt a runner over to second base.

Recently, though, my body is angry with me for doing a whole new set of stupid things.

Things like sleeping only four or five hours a night, going for my daily treadmill run at 5:00 AM, and putting in way too many consecutive hours hunched over a keyboard in a very not ergonomic chair.

And this, after several years of not eating right and not exercising. Which, I know, was/is the cause of most of my aches and pains.

The knees are actually a lot better now that I've lost quite a bit of weight. I'm back down to my college playing weight--a little less, actually, because I had to put on some size to compete at that level back then.

So I'm healthier, in many ways.

But still, my body reminds me of all the extra hours of work and all of the missed hours of sleep. And it takes its revenge when I have a day off. Every time. Seriously.

I have not had a single vacation--be it a long weekend or an entire week off--where I didn't manage to get hilariously sick.

Take Christmas week, for example. Hilariously, pathetically ill.

And this past weekend, which was Memorial Day. I managed to be completely out of commission from Saturday through Monday. No sleep, either, as whatever was/is wrong with me also keeps me up at night.

When I went back in the office on Tuesday, I knew I should have taken an extra day to recover. So I planned to take Wednesday off.

And then some pages came in, and that became completely out of the question. So I planned to take Thursday off, which I did. You know, to relax and recuperate.

Which would have been fantastic, if not for a comical series of appointments that magically became scheduled to happen at home on Thursday. An endless line of exterminators, carpenters, mailmen, and Fed-Ex guys. Followed by, apparently, the entire neighborhood's decision to cut their lawns at the same time.

You know, right when I opened my window to enjoy the beautiful weather and lay down to sleep.

I know, I know. I shouldn't be complaining. And I'm not, really. I just think it's funny that I'm so bad at doing anything even the least bit relaxing and/or enjoyable lately.

I'm supposed to go away late next week--a bachelor's party in Las Vegas--and I know that whatever head cold/chest cold thing I have this week is just the preamble of the real cold that I'll have next week.

You'll see. It'll happen.

And I'll be here to write about it, with all of the expected Exfanding snark I can muster.

Weekend Doings (Or, There is No Try)

I'm writing this post up late Friday afternoon (evening, really), and while I crawl to the finish line of the race that has been this past week, I figured I'd mention a few things that I'm looking forward to attempting to do this weekend.

I say "attempting" because, you see, I am a bad geek. I still haven't seen Thor, and despite the fact that I really don't love the whole movie theater experience, I do want to see this flick in theaters.

I didn't go the first week, mostly because I wasn't anywhere near a movie theater, but also because I typically avoid opening nights like the plague.

But there's an X-Men movie that opens tonight, and I'm willing to bet the theater will be pretty crowded. So I'm not going to do that. Oh. Also, I'm still at work, and I plan to be here for quite some time.

So there's that whole problem.

I'm thinking about seeing Thor on Saturday (today, in your fancy future time), but I hear there's supposed to be some kind of apocalypse, though there's a bit of confusion as to what will cause said apocalypse.

Either way, maybe I'll just stay home and read.

Ah. But in order to be able to stay home and read, I need to actually be home. And I won't be, because I'll be out in a mall (hmmm...maybe I should learn something from George Romero), shopping for new clothes for an upcoming (and insanely expensive) trip.

And that should take up most of my day, as I also have to bomb into the office for some overtime reading/editing/teeth gnashing.

So that leaves Sunday. But I have a philosophy about Sundays, you see, and I have a thing about not doing anything on Sundays, other than lie down and watch things move on a screen in my living room.

Preferably baseball.

So Sunday's out, too.

Luckily, I have (half of a) blog, and I can live vicariously through all of our readers. Or the ones who comment on this (ridiculous excuse for a) post. So, please. Comment away, and tell me why you're (way) cooler than me.

And enjoy your apocalypse.

We'll be back tomorrow (or will we?) with more nonsense.

(Also, I totally spelled "apocalypse" right every time in this post without using the spell check. So at least I have that going for me.)