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Not So Long Ago…

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(Editor’s Note: Spoiler Alert! This movie was awesome!)

My history with Star Wars is well documented. Perhaps not on this page, but all it takes is a single inquiry or comment and I will tell you all about it. What’s that? You want to hear all about it? Perhaps another time. Let’s just say that I am of a certain age and temperament that lends itself to minor obsession with the films. I’m not a costume guy, but I did attend a midnight showing of Episode III and I made Christine come with me to watch at least Episode IV when it was re-released into the theaters. She’s still “on the fence”, but I think she hates the movies and merely tolerates them like I do country music. You have to make sacrifices for the ones you love.

Since the boys have been born, much of my Star Wars experience has been of the Lego variety. They’ve seen some of the actual movies, but we’ve spared them the more intense Episode III and I despise everything about Episode II, so they might not have seen that one, either. News of Episode VII had me excited, then apprehensive because Disney and JJ Abrams (ugh), and finally back to a fevered pitch of fan boy enthusiasm that culminated in ordering tickets for the official premiere date for me, Liam, Aiden, and my father-in-law.

So, if Wil Wheaton is unofficial king of the nerds, does that make him queen? Nah, I suppose that's Felicia Day. Maybe he's the duke, but nobody even knows what a duke is. Jester, then. JJ Abrams is the jester of the nerd court.
So, if Wil Wheaton is unofficial king of the nerds, does that make him queen? Nah, I suppose that’s Felicia Day. Maybe he’s the duke, but nobody even knows what a duke is. Jester. JJ Abrams is the jester of nerd court.

I wasn’t sure how to structure this article, but I had a flash of inspiration and I”m going to go with a running journal starting on Thursday afternoon. That’s when the excitement really started to ramp up to nearly mythical levels.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

4:45 pm: While at tutoring, I got a text from my wife that read, “Dinner at my Moms at 5:30 pm.” Okay, cool, no problem. While dinner at her mother’s might not seem all that interesting or relevant to a story about Star Wars, I assure you it has a place. Stay tuned.

6:30 pm: Dinner was ham and au gratin potatoes. it was delicious and, you are right, has nothing to do with Star Wars. You just have to appreciate the little things in life.

Side note: I have not been as excited about the movie as expected. Maybe the grind of the end of the semester interfered. Perhaps, because we don’t have cable, I have been able to avoid the incessant advertising.

Yes, in case you don’t know, we are the annoying family without cable that uses that trait as one of our identifying characteristics. I found myself saying, “We don’t even have TV at home. Why are you arguing over TV?” to my 5 year old.

Well, after dinner, the hype machine finally got me. A commercial came on for Dodge (or ram or are they the same thing? Who cares, right?) with Star wars music in the background and I made a comment about buying the truck just because they put Star Wars on it. My father in law replied with, “They’ve been putting Star Wars on everything.” Sure enough, the next commercial was a tie-in, too. I have to admit that I got a kick out of that one, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESP8bPldl0

6:49 pm: After the commercial, I said, “Okay, that one was funny.” and my wife rolled her eyes. She had already been making side comments through and after dinner and I just had to ask her to stop. I don’t usually get defensive about my nerd love, but Star Wars is different. As I explained to her, I’ve been watching these movies since I was a kid and now I’m taking my own kids to see them. When she first said, “I love you.” I replied with, “I know.” I’m not a super Star Wars fan, but buried deep down, I am.

6:50 pm: To assuage my hurt feelings and pump the gas (or tug the steam whistle, but that sounds weird) of the hype train a little, I watch the trailer again. Now that I’m more familiar with the new characters, watching it gives me the ASMR something fierce. I watch it five times. Aiden joins me for one of the viewings.

7:15-10:30 pm: The hype is somewhat diminished by having to write a final. Tests are the absolute worst part of my job (I know #firstworldproblems) but they are a necessary evil.

10:30 pm: Speaking of necessary evil…Watching one of my favorite streamers on Twitch and someone comes with the chat with, “Just got home from Star Wars.” Immediately he is hit with the “No spoilers in this chat!!” by several users and a couple even ask for an unconditional ban “just in case”. Look, I get it….sort of. Your lives are so devoid of suspense and surprise that you live vicariously through movies and television. But, serious, the “No spoilers!” gestapo has gotten out of hand. The guy is simply trying to start a conversation about something he enjoyed and assumes that you enjoy as well. I, and one other, responded with, “Is it any good?” He said that he really enjoyed it and listed off the reasons without giving away any major plot points.

Don't worry. I'm not going to post spoilers just to spite people. I'm not a complete jerk. I just wanted to see how many people would scramble away after getting to this image. Okay, maybe I'm a bit of a jerk.
Don’t worry. I’m not going to post spoilers just to spite people. I’m not a complete jerk. I just wanted to see how many people would scramble away after getting to this image. Okay, maybe I’m a bit of a jerk.

10:45 pm: Shortly after, my cousin contacted me to compare notes. I told him that I had yet to see it and we also went on to discuss the movie without giving anything away. We talked at length, too, about a variety of subjects. We expressed a desire to see the movie more than once. He assured me that JJ Abrams did a good job, which I was still a bit worried about. We both lamented that our wives showed no interest in the movie. Having already seen the movie, he was particularly dismayed that his wife wasn’t there. We moved onto female representation and it sounds like they are trying to appeal more to women with this series.

As an aside, my feeling is that this film is about leaving the past behind and reinventing Star Wars for the future. I know, that sounds weird. But, I contend that the disastrous prequels were meant to be for the hard core fans, but Uncle George overcompensated and we got what we got.

Oh well, maybe the boys and I can wear her down over vacation and get her to see it with us. It is really something that I want to share with her. After I see it, maybe I can find an angle.

12:15 am: I joked with my cousin that I might not even sleep because I was so excited. That became a lie as I crashed on the couch watching Twitch.

Friday, December 18, 2015

6:15 am: Alarm goes off and today is the day! All I have to do is give two finals, one tutoring session, and I will be on my way to the theater. I’m excited, but I also think that I might have a cold coming on.

11:15 am: One final given and the tutoring session done and I need to go get some medicine and do Christmas shopping at the mall. I’m not looking forward to this at all. Oh, hey, what’s that? It’s a pretty cool looking R2D2 shirt that I can wear to strengthen my nerd cred. The shirt and lunch at my favorite Greek place made the “have to do”s all worth it.

I don't know if you can see from the picture, but it is the silhouette of R2D2 (okay, that's not a surprise) with iconic moments from the movies in each panel. Pretty awesome.
I don’t know if you can see from the picture, but it is the silhouette of R2D2 (okay, that’s not a surprise) with iconic moments from the movies in each panel. Pretty awesome.

2:15 pm: Last final is done! I’m so excited that I’m going to go out to the van and take a nap! I know, I know, all of this build up to the big day, it’s almost time, and that’s my response. I’m pretty sure that this cold is actually the flu. So, I curl up in the van for a short winter’s nap.

3:00 pm: Nap over! Let’s do this. I drive to Amherst, find my father-in-law’s truck, and park near him. I meet them all in the theater, post to my Facebook (because it’s not official unless it’s on social media), grab the tickets, they get popcorn and soda, and then we go stand in line for the movie. The half an hour wait in the theater for the movie to start is excruciating and made all the worse by the cheesy pre-show advertisements that they show. By the end of it, I scream, “Let’s go already!” Not one to get faked out, I also say, “Is it actually starting?” when the Lucasfilm logo comes onto the screen. Thankfully for me and those in the immediate vicinity who were sick of my whining, it was actually starting. The theater went black, the title came up, the theme song started, and applause began.

7:30 pm: The opening wasn’t the only applause worthy moment. I’m pretty sure that Aiden even got the theater going a couple of times when some of his favorite characters came onto the screen. I gave the movie a standing ovation. It wasn’t perfect, which goes without saying, but it was a very good movie. They paid homage to the past in the right way and they are definitely moving the franchise forward at the same time. As with many fans, I was a little down on Star Wars after the prequels and then the Disney sale, but everything has worked out well so far. Even though I’m pretty sure I know how Episode VIII and IX will continue the story, I’m still unbelievably excited to see both of them. We still have a good year and a half, so I guess the only course of action is to go see this one a couple of more times.

If you’re a fan, you’ve already seen and drew your own conclusions. If you’re not a fan, this is actually the perfect movie to get into the series. After you’ve done that, go back and watch the originals. If you still love Star Wars after that, avoid the prequels altogether, except for maybe Episode III and Episode I if you can stomach it. As always, May the Force be with you.

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Farewell Parks and Rec

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(Editor’s Note: We’re going to take a hiatus from games for this one. I’ve been meaning to do this article for a few months, but it got lost in the shuffle. Parks and Recreation was such a good show that I want to give it a proper send off. Don’t worry. The games will be back next week.)

(2nd Editor’s Note: I have been trying to break up my posts from appearing as a wall of text. Because of my respect for this fantastic show, I’m bringing back the wall for this article. TLDR: Parks and Rec is a very good show. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. You won’t be disappointed.)

When I last wrote a “Farewell” post, it was for The Walking Dead and it was because I just couldn’t handle the level of violence and misery offered by the show. I’m getting sensitive in my old age. American Horror Story suffered a similar fate after their love of shock seemed to trump any attempt at story. I never wrote an article about that show because (a) I don’t have the history with that show and (b) I didn’t have a web page at the time. My history with Parks and Rec is not as deep as Walking Dead, either, but it is significant.

I come not to bury Parks and Recreation. In fact, when I tuned into the most recent season a few months ago, I had no idea that it was the final season. Rather, I come to praise it as one of the most consistent shows ever. (Who knew that memorizing that speech would someday pay off? My 9th grade English teacher, that’s who!) I knew that sounds like damning with faint praise, but I’m not.

It wasn’t one of my favorite shows. I found it not because of a personal recommendation or overwhelming critical praise, but completely by accident. I think that it came up as one of the “Shows You May Like” or whatever Hulu calls it. I watched the first few episodes and just kept watching because it was always good. Other shows have ups and downs. That never happened with Parks and Rec. It just kept plugging along like the little engine that could. Again, I’m not doing such a great job of selling this. Admittedly, I’m a terrible salesman. Let me try again.

Initially I watched for the same reason that I suspect many watched. There are so many familiar faces in the show. Hey, she’s from SNL. That’s Pam’s boyfriend from The Office. No, not that one. The other one. The one that nobody liked because we were supposed to be all in on Jim and Pam. Speaking of, remember the whole Jim and Pam fight story line? Ups and downs, Man, ups and downs. Holy cow, is that Rob Lowe?

Eventually, I had watched enough for the other characters to become more recognizable. I didn’t like Tom much at first. He grew on me. I’m not sure if it was by design–though I suspect it was because the show never suffered from identity crisis, either–gradually Tom’s bravado became a thin veneer of armor to protect his soft and fuzzy heart of gold. Holy mixed metaphors, Batman! I saw myself in Tom’s story and I started to root for the guy. Even as he repeatedly hitched his wagon to John Ralphio (who is the closest to unwatchable as the show ever came and I never considered it), I looked forward to Tom’s scenes more and more with each passing episode.

My other alter ego on the show, April, appealed to me right away. Like Ton, she hid her true identity. Unlike Tom, but more like me, she used her acerbic wit to deflect any possible feelings. I instantly identified with her sarcasm as a defense mechanism. She was my first favorite character on the show.

Andy, who I mistakenly identified earlier as the they that everyone was supposed to hate on The Office to make them love Jim and Pam more, played such an iconic role that I have a tough time placing him in new roles. Similar to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who I will always identify as Buffy and vice versa. I always thought it was just because she was such a bad actor, but I’m having the same trouble with him. He played Starlord, one of my favorite comic book characters of all time and I still think of him as “Andy” and it even sometimes is “Andy” followed by a wide smile.

Donna was fine as “everybody’s sassy black lady friend”, Jerry was a bit tiresome as the fat, old, dumb white guy. Neither of them added enough to the show to be anything more than minor supporting characters, but they both fit into the roles well. Granted, they both became beloved, too, but at first they weren’t a reason to watch the show.

The main reason to watch the show, for me and others no doubt, was the incomparable Ron Swanson. Leslie might have been the main character of Parks and Rec, the other characters might have been the glue to keep the show together. None of that would have mattered without Ron. Put simply, Ron is Parks and Rec. Similar to Dwight, he represents everything the show stands for. There’s a reason that those two characters transcended to become memes and pop culture icons.

Other characters came and went as they do. The show continued being good and improved with each episode. I enjoyed the show so much that I branched off into another showbecause Hulu also recommended that one. I actually liked that show, Outsourced, better than Parks and Rec at first. I was clearly in the minority since it only lasted one season. Oh well, I guess I got my dad’s (I picked Betamax over VHS) talent when it comes to picking winners.

My collision course with this final season of Parks and Recreation marched onward to inevitability. Little did I know that it would happen so soon and so suddenly. Even as I watched, I thought that it was weird that they kept flashing forward to tell part of the story. It was a cool story telling device, but I never made the connection that they were doing it because we were saying good-bye to these characters. I learned through a podcast or the radio that it was the final season and then it hit hard.

I went back to watch the first couple of episodes again. If they were stopping the show, then I wanted to be able to experience the end with my undivided attention. I’m glad that I did. Each episodefocused on one character and what happened to them after the show ended. True to form, it treated all of the characters with respect and gave them all proper send offs. I don’t think that I disagreed with a single ending for any of the characters. I was wrong when they got closer and finally revealed Leslie’s, which is odd because I’m usually able to follow the clues better than that. Nevertheless, the episode was great and all of the others were, too. That’s also strange for me because I’m usually difficult to please when it comes to endings. The best of them was Ron and I was just waiting for them to screw that one up, but they didn’t.

All in all, I guess I could say that this was one of my favorite shows. I didn’t aggressively watch it like Breaking Bad. I didn’t look forward to it like Walking Dead. I didn’t share it with Christine as I’ve done with many other shows. But, I did watch it and I watched it consistently and I watched it to the end. Not only did I watch it to the end, but I enjoyed that ending more than anticipated or expected. It might not have been a great show, but it was a very good show. It was always very good and that consistency is rare to find. Thank you so much for the years of entertainment, Parks and Recreation. Television is so much worse in your absence.

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Free Comic Book Day 2015

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(Note: The first ones are free, Kid. After that, you gotta pay.)

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I’ve been under the impression that our family made Free Comic Book Day a tradition and that we’ve gone every year for the last couple of years. Now that I look at this picture of our first (and only recorded) visit, I realize that memory is, once again, the worst witness. That was at least two–and maybe even three–years ago. A visit to Facebook to check the time stamp confirms that we took a year off from the annual celebration of five finger discounts on the funny pages and I’m not sure why. It might have been birthday parties or something. It definitely was not the quality of comics. Those were actually very good and quite impressive for free.

We missed last year, as mentioned, but I put it on the calendar this year. I also reminded everyone for days leading up to the big event. Some of he story of how the actual day went are told in my previous post. If you can’t–or don’t want to–read the story right now, I’ll give the TL:DR version. We got stuck in parade traffic, got to the comic book store late, got our comics, and didn’t stay for anything else. I almost got suckered into buying a set of Dice Masters. Bound to happen eventually.

So, what about the books? I don’t know if it was just because we were late, but the selection seemed quite underwhelming this year. Maybe it is because I haven’t been collecting for at least a decade. I didn’t recognize many of the comics. The ones that I did know didn’t look that appealing. I mean, really, they’re doing Secret Wars again? Come on, have some originality. In the end, I got TMNT (to see if the hype is real), Divergence, and Secret Wars because I’m a fraud. The boys got Pokemon, Transformers, Sonic/Megaman, and Teen Titans/Scooby Doo. Truth be told, their comics look more interesting, so I’ll leave those for last.

divergenceFirst up is Divergence. This is some DC book that contains three separate stories about their most popular characters. I’m a little frustrated that they’re rebooting again, but it is also maybe a good idea. How much are comics now? $3 isn’t bad. I’m intrigued. Wait, they killed Batman? And Joker? What the hell is this? I agree with Gordon. This is dumb. A reboot is good because it gives a good place to get back in, but will I? The next story is about Superman. The first thing that I notice is that JRJR is now with DC. That seems odd. Lois gave up his secret identity? Maybe I do want to check this out. The Wonder Woman story is also good and I actually write Chris that I’m considering a return to the comic book store. If only the Marvel books are as good.

secret warsYeah, about that. They are not. Secret Wars is terrible. Ultimate End is awful. Inhumans is ridiculously inane. These are all previews and none of them make me want to buy the actual book. In what universe do we live that I’m more interested in DC books than Marvel? Clearly Marvel has given up on comics and prefers to exist in movies and television.

tmntThat brings us to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both Chris and I had strong things to say about Donatello being killed off in a recent story line, but this is actually a pretty good book right now. The only name that I recognize is Eastman, but that might actually be a good thing. I still think that it could have been done without killing Donatello. Still, I might pick up some of the trades to catch up on the story.

POK_201502FCBD2015SolicitationCover.inddNow, onto the books that the boys picked up. Liam read Pokemon as soon as we got back in the car. He called it weird and said that it didn’t follow the main story. It is one of the comics that reads backwards, but I don’t think that’s what he meant by weird. Many of the Pokemon comics are like that. I suspect that he meant the same thing with both statements. I haven’t read it yet, but I trust his judgement.

transformersThe Transformers comic is a full story one similar to the DC books that I read and they illustrate just how old I am. I only recognize Bumblebee, but I suppose that many of the characters are from the Transformers Prime. I’ve always meant to watch the show. Maybe this will be the introduction and reason that I need to start. There is also an interesting little introduction to Transformers vs. GI Joe. The book isn’t bad, but it’s definitely a kid book.

sonicBoth the Sonic/Megaman and Scooby-Doo/Teen Titans books follow the same format as the Transformers. They are full story introductions into the new stories that are coming during the summer. One thing that I notice is that there are multiple Sonic titles. They also blatantly plug a new video game, which is to be expected, I suppose. Megaman is much darker and more intense. Seems like it might be better for older kids and I’m somewhat interested to see how the comics and worlds will cross over. Finally, Scooby-Doo is much more like the older TV show that I remember than some of the more recent TV shows have been. That’s a good thing. I couldn’t even do Teen Titans. There was far too much happening in that book, color and insanity wise for my old brain.

scoobyIn closing, other than TMNT the adult books were disappointing. DC was better than Marvel, but that’s not saying much because Marvel were awful. The kid books were all full story, mostly decent, fun, and more interesting than the adult ones. I doubt that I’d enjoy any of them as a month to month. There is some glimmer of hope. They are doing what Chris and I thought they should do and trying to hook young fans into comic books. I don’t know how successful, but both boys have asked to read some of my old books. I also asked them if they wanted to start collecting comics and they both said yes. Once again, they failed to hook me enough to get me to start collecting, but I might invest in trades of TMNT, at least, so that’s something. Also, definitely going to sign up for Marvel Unlimited because they have another free month trial. I’m not fully back and I might never be. However, I’m at least partly still in, so there’s hope for us old guys, too.

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Unlimited Marvel?

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(Editor ‘s Note: TLDR, Shut up Marvel and take more of my money!)

We are not just about games here at 2 Guys Gaming. I used to be a comic book collector. Wait. That isn ‘t the right verb tense. I still have boxes of comics in my closet. My name is Shawn and I am a comic book collector ( ?Hi, Shawn. ?) currently on hiatus. I started collecting as a teenager, but got rid of that collection when I no longer wanted to move those boxes. I picked up the hobby again a few years ago after moving into our house because I knew that we wouldn ‘t be moving again for a long time. Also, several of the story lines at the time intrigued me. This was during the Infinite Crisis at DC and Civil War at Marvel, so they didn ‘t disappoint. The books became more and more expensive but the profit margins stayed more or less the same for local stores. After moving once for cheaper rent, our town store finally went under and I had no easy access to that particular paper drug.

I kept collecting The Walking Dead, Y: The Last Man, and some of the Ultimate Marvel titles for a couple of months. The Ultimates were the first to go, then inexplicably Y, and finally I gave up on The Walking Dead last year just when it is reaching its most popular. I know I sound like a hipster, and I just might be, but I like the original stuff better. The story is getting too depressing for me in my old age. With the habit finally kicked, like any addict, I was ripe for another. As our oldest son grew up, I noticed that he shared my affinity for video games so I told him about Pokemon. He started playing and immediately became a Pokekid. When I then told him that there was a card game, we started visiting that section of Wal*Mart and Target more often. During one of these trips, I saw that Magic cards were still a thing. Enter a new cardboard crack ( ?Hi, Shawn! ?) after I picked up a Deckbuilder ‘s toolkit. Most of my hobby budget has gone to Magic since giving up comic books.

The reasons for this are threefold. First, a new set of Magic cards are released only every few months instead of every week. Instead of spending 25-50 dollars per week, I ‘m only spending 100-150 about three times a year. Second, the cards are much smaller and easier to store. I have thousands of cards stored in boxes that take up the same room as only a couple hundred comics. They were much easier to sort into those boxes, too. While the comics remain in disarray, the cards are separated by color and card type. Third, I rarely read comic books more than once. All of those comics sitting in my closet are most likely fated to remain there until the estate sale. I am constantly changing decks and adding new cards, so even the ones in storage probably won ‘t stay there very long. If they do, they still have a chance to be played eventually. Fourth (1, 2, 3, 4? Bear with me, I ‘m only a mathematician), the cards have a more immediate and larger resale value than the comics as long as you play the market right. This article isn ‘t about Magic. This article isn ‘t about Magic. Sorry, many of my recent articles have been about Magic. There is a point to all of this. What is the point? Oh, right. Magic clearly became my hobby addiction of choice.

However, as an adult child, I never truly outgrow any of these frivolous endeavors. Therefore, when I received an email for a free (or discounted, I can ‘t remember) month of Marvel Unlimited, I took notice. I promptly forgot all about it and missed the promotion. Luckily, there are many free comics available on the app to get me hooked and spend my money. Let ‘s see what this app is all about.

The first thing I do is scroll to the free books to see what is available. I recognize most of them from when I last collected, but a few catch my eye like the first issue of Red Hulk. That was about the time that I stopped reading. There are also two versions of Guardians of the Galaxy, one from 2008 and one from 2013. Finally, I recognize and file away 1602. I saw the title when I collected, but never checked it out at the time. Nothing else interested me in the free bin this month. They have other titles like Deadpool, but I feel like Deadpool by himself might get old. I really liked his team up title with Cable, but that one isn ‘t free if they offer it at all. Still, those 4 books might be enough to get me to sign up for a membership for a month at least.

I picked Red Hulk as my first book to read. I ‘m not sure why I didn ‘t read it when it was released. Jeph Loeb is one of my favorite writers and a must read. I think that I was so enamored with the World War and Planet Hulk storylines that I didn ‘t think anything could top them at the time. Reading issue #1 of Red Hulk now, I was right. I never would have gotten past this issue back then. That ‘s not to say that it is bad. It isn ‘t. The story got me interested and left off with a cliff hanger that had me immediately wanting to read the next part. It just wasn ‘t on the same level as the other two stories and would have gotten an unfair comparison at the time. Now, though, I definitely want to read the next issue. Point #1 to Marvel Unlimited.

I went with the 2008 version of Guardians of the Galaxy for my second pick. Guardians used to be my favorite title when I was younger and I ‘m glad to see that it is getting love again. Marvel made what some would consider to be a niche story into one of the most fun movies that I ‘ve watched recently. Okay, let ‘s read some Guardians. Well, that ‘s disappointing. Not altogether surprising, but still disappointing. When I opened the app, it immediately informed me that it stopped working. This happens only about 20% of the time and the app always starts back up with no problem. It is a minor inconvenience, but it is real. I wouldn ‘t call this a full point deduction. I already don ‘t like paying for digital content, though, especially buggy digital content from a publisher as large as Marvel. One half point from Marvel.

(As an aside, what is this score that I ‘m keeping? What scale am I using? How do I know when enough points have accumulated to purchase the app? This whole enterprise feels very arbitrary. Oh well, what are we around here if not arbitrary. Onward and upward!)

As far as the content of the two Guardians titles goes, they both more or less follow the standard for Starlord and the gang. Similar to the movie, Marvel uses both first issues to introduce the team of mostly lesser known heroes. Yes, I just made another thinly veiled reference that I liked Guardians before they were cool. It ‘s already been established that I am a wannabe comic book hipster.

I enjoyed the 2008 version better than the 2013 version. Both books were good in their own ways. It ‘s just that the 2013 book was written by Brian Michael Bendis. I usually like his stuff. His writing style didn ‘t seem to fit the personality of the Guardians of the Galaxy very well. I didn ‘t recognize the 2008 writers name, but he wrote the comic in a much more fun style. Guardians of the Galaxy is ultimately about the absurd and the writers (I just checked and there were two. That ‘s usually bad news for comic books or movies) captured that spirit much better than Bendis.

I also just learned that Neil Gaiman wrote the last free comic that I want to read. Yes, I am way behind the times, but we already knew that. Almost everyone is a fan of Neil Gaiman, even if they don ‘t know, and I am no different. Well, I am different because I do know that I ‘m a fan. You get what I ‘m trying to say. Hopefully you do because I ‘m not entirely sure and I don ‘t think that either of us is ready to suffer yet another of my lengthy explanations. So, we understand one another? Yes? Good. Let ‘s move on. Arbitrary 3/4 of a point to Marvel. Current arbitrary score: 1 and 1/4

1602 takes several familiar tales, some based in fact and some based in fiction, and fuses them into a whole new and highly entertaining story. Marvel Knights has always been famous for those types of comics and this one is a good introduction into the MK style, especially for non comic book fans. Even if you are a comic fan, there is enough to keep you interested and entertained. I don ‘t know how the comics rotate into the free app, but this one is free right now. If you ‘re somehow like me and never read it, I recommend that you give it a chance. Arbitrary 7/8 of a point to Marvel. Current arbitrary score: 2 and 1/8

Well, more or less, four for four (That was awkward to type and I ‘m sure just as awkward to read. Please don ‘t try to read it out loud. I ‘m afraid of the potential consequences.) on the free comics. For the low, low price of 9.95 (or is it 9.99?), I can have access to the rest of the issues and thousands more. I know that the content is digital. I also know that I sound much older than I am by making that statement. Hey, kids, get off my lawn with your internets and iPods! At least it is good digital content and much cheaper than the alternative. Takes up a lot less room, too. That is not a small consideration for a pack rat like me. I ‘m going to do it. I ‘m going to sign up for the paid version of the app for a month and reassess at the end of my subscription. I didn’t get sued yesterday, so let’s try again today. Give me an excelsior!