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The Saturday Comics: The Sandman: Overture

16 Nov

November 16, 2013

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Almost exactly 2 years ago, when DC started The New 52, I dropped comics. The final issue of Flashpoint was my last comic book from either company. Since then I bought only 2 trades, both of which reprinted stories from the 70’s and 80’s.

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The Batman arc on the left made my Top Ten Comics list, and the JLA/JSA/All-Star Squadron crossover narrowly missed the list.

Since then I have not missed comics. Oh, I haven’t completely given up. Last week I read the first two collections of Superior Spider-Man and I think it was great. I also read Batman: Court of Owls not long ago. So I did not totally give up comics but I need to point out that I did not buy any of those books. I read someone else’s copies.

However, I broke my oath this week. I went out and deliberately bought a new, single issue of a current comic. It was the first money I have spent, and the first weekly comic I have read, in 2 years.

The Sandman Overture by Neil Gaiman, returning to the character he made famous and the medium it was meant to be read in.

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What can I say? Neil Gaiman is a genius, and J.H, Williams is his perfect complement. I have been waiting for this comic since it was announced last year and I was not disappointed. This is only a mini-series, 6 issues, so it would be a small thing to collect the series and then go back to not dropping comics. However, I am going to wait for this in trade paperback (or better, hardcover.) I have the whole Sandman collection in trades and this belongs right next to it on the bookshelf.

And then no more comics.

Choose Your Own Allan Keyes Adventure

11 Nov

November 11, 2013

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I’m taking a creative writing class. It’s part of my self-improvement kick, and since I refuse to give up my rage, xenophobia or binge-eating, this was the least difficult option for me.

That said, since I’m a lazy man and this class is still in fact, too difficult for me, I’m going to try an experiment and crowd-source my short story. If you help me, I promise at some later date to actually show you the finished product.  So imagine yourself as a sophisticated reader (which you naturally are, you’re visiting this blog after all!) and tell us what you think….

Preferred Name for the Hero:

-Slickjack Bohannon

-Razor Horowitz

-Arnold Stallone

-Malvin van Brocklingham, III, Esq.

 

Preferred Name for the Villain:

-Rodney TechNine Johnson

-Cordova Montelban

-Whitey Supremacist

-Yakuza Shinobi

 

Preferred Name for the Love Interest:

-Dances on Poles (an American Indian gal)

-Electra Mankiller

-Pouty Busterton

-Sister Carlotta Savio Vega de la Renta de la Paz

– Gertrude Winklevitz

-Roger Manlove

snoopy-good-writing-is-hard-work 

Where The Story Takes Place:

-Peoria

-The slums of Greenwich, Connecticut

-A broom closet in a janitor’s storage room on the 46th floor of a skyscraper on Memorial Day

-An electrolysis shop on the wrong side of the tracks

-The first kosher hot dog stand in Saigon

-An endless void

 

What the Story is About:

-A touching love story of redemption between an aspiring Plushie and a Donnie Most imitator

-The world’s smartest bird travels back in time to learn the identity of the true inventor of “The Aristocrats” routine

-One desperate network executive tries to save his job by making a News Radio reunion happen, while a rival tries to prevent it – with murderous results

-A suave pig rancher pursues his dream of joining the most prestigious mariachi band in his hometown – Los Dudes Guapos

-An young orphan boy in Guandong Province grows up to be the most famous scat singer since Mel Torme, but faces the rejection of the local noodle wench

-Nothing. What did you do this morning? Ate breakfast and read a book. That’s what happens.

 

Supporting Characters (Pick any 5):

-A jaded prostitute with a heart of gold

-A gruff but secretly paternal Police Captain

-A chainsmoking conspiracy theorist

-A drunken bumbling sidekick that always saves the day

-A deadly rival – who becomes the hero’s best friend

-An overprotective mother

-An under-protective father

-An older male friend – who turns out to be the hero’s long lost daddy

-A disabled war buddy from the Grenada invasion

-Twin circus clowns (counts as three picks)

-An old mentor who’s lost his way

-The Ghost of President Warren G. Harding

-A Friendly Italian whale

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Surprise Plot Twist:

-Evil Twin!

-The butler didn’t do it……the maid did!

-The doctor was the patient’s mother

-The President turns out to be on the Mafia’s payroll

-Darth Vader already got to Bespin first (Hey, it worked for Lucas….)

-Zombie haberdashers

-Accidentally betrayed by those closest to him

-NWO SwerveTM

 

Proposed Titles:

-Full Moons and Pressed Hams

– Esta Historia es Increíblemente Estúpido

-Analstorm: The Bloodening

-The Whimsical Rampage of Dr. Horatio Neublizer

-Lil’ Penny the Cutest Brutalizer

-Star Wars Episode VII