North East Comic Con 2010

This past Sunday (6/27/10) was the North East Comic Con in Boston. As your probably guessing, I went and yes, I did enjoy myself. Mike McKone was the big guest (got him to sign New Avengers #64 and Punisher #1). There were mostly vendors, who had some surprisingly good deals. Picked up Fantastic Four #52 (first appearance of the Black Panther) and Spider-Woman #1 for only $10 each. Even the more rarer ones had some steep discounts (Daredevil #1, graded, was $125). Was easily my most enjoyable Comic Con experience even though it was a smaller venue than the recent Boston Comic Con. The people were much more friendly and were glad to help. They didn't have something I needed? They would point me to another vendor who they thought might have the issue I was looking for. How awesome is that ?!

Safe to say my hope in Comic Cons around Boston is renewed. Looking forward to the New England Comic Con in October

Superman #700

My apologies for not posting in a while (although it appears no one is following me so, my apology might be moot), working a ton and writing a ton will do that.

Ok, so Superman #700 came out this week. I am not a Superman fan. You would think that I could give a crap about this. Well, I decided to give the Man of Steel a chance this week. I must say I was blow away. Not by the first two stories, but by the final one. The "Grounded" prologue by J. Michael Straczynski was what sold me.

Little backstory. I started reading Spider-Man after the whole "OMD/BND" debacle. Specifically, "New Ways to Die." I liked the series (this is what got me started on comic books in general), and decided to look into the back catalog of my favorite Wed Head. JMS's writing is what got me hooked to comics. I still to this day can't figure out how people can bash his run on Spider-Man (people can't realize that OMD is Quesada's fault?). His writing just made me feel for every character that much more, be it hatred or love. His awesomeness in writing continued with the current volume of Thor.

Superman. Long looked at as THE most important character in comics, and maybe media in general. He's an American icon. But for some reason, I never connected with the guy. A superhero who is almost god like isn't interesting to me. He can only be hurt by one mineral? And his one weakness makes plots seem stale. I like my superheroes to be able to be hurt and recover from that damage. Looking at the recent Spider-Man arc "Shed" is great proof of that.

But the two together, JMS and Superman, has made me a believer. "Grounded" seems to do exactly what I would want in a character like Superman, make him relatable. While the beginning of the story felt a tad forced (come on, how did that woman get that close), the intent was there, and I can see Superman as a relatable character for the first time ever. I'm willing to give JMS the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a decision artistically that takes massive balls to do. It's been over two years sense OMD. All of you have to agree it was a good decision in the long run. Go JMS, and I'm looking forward to reading about Kal-El