Weekend report 0009

March 3, 2019March 11, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

Somebody on Facebook said he finds Heroes in Crisis “frustrating.” He’s not the first one I know to dis Tom King’s new miniseries, and frankly, I don’t know what these people are complaining about. I think HIC is brilliant. Sure, some issues are better than the others, but overall I still think it’s doing great.

And then issue #6 happened, and I was like, WTF!

Sam Stone of Comic Book Resources has nothing but praise about the issue in his review, calling it an “interlude of sorts, both narratively and visually” and a “calm before the storm” as the nine-issue run heads into its final stretch. To me these are just fancy words to describe what I think the issue really is: a filler.

Perhaps Tom King and Clay Mann are really just prepping us for a big climax. Perhaps that’s how they roll. Still, after I closed issue #6, I couldn’t help but feel that somehow the story’s momentum was lost, and that the issue was a missed opportunity to go full bore on the murder mystery. Here’s hoping that the last three issues would be worth the lull.

In other news, started watching The Umbrella Academy on Netflix last Saturday. Whoa! Didn’t expect it to be this good. I feel guilty for not being familiar with the comics. I vow to rectify that oversight soon.

Lost my self-control again

January 31, 2019February 21, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

728766._sx1280_ql80_ttd_ The new Guardians of the Galaxy is off to a roaring start. Thanos is dead, but not really — you just can’t put a good villain down (just ask Juan Ponce Enrile). Meanwhile, en route to Knowhere, trouble finds Peter Quill and Groot, prompting Quill to form a new team of cosmic misfits. And then to spice things up, Thanos’ former cronies, the Black Order, sent on a mission here to retrieve the Mad Titan’s headless body, now serve a new master.

To me, this has all the makings of a future classic. Issue #2 can’t drop soon enough.

In other news: splurged on TPBs again today (damn you, Powerbooks, damn you to hell!). The plan was to check out the branch in Shangri-La Plaza Mall and spent P500 on two or three TPBs. Somewhere between plan and execution, however, something went wrong, because I ended up spending a little over P1,000 for eight TPBs. Indeed, when it comes to the things I like, me and self-control don’t get along well.

Now, not only my to-read pile has increased significantly, but I’m neck-deep in credit card debt, something that makes me uncomfortable. I’m reminded of a Charles Bukowski wisdom: “Find something you love and let it kill you.” Sometimes, it’s the boozers that make sense.

And with that, I say sayonara to January.

comics

Today I raised a finger to cost-cutting

January 29, 2019January 31, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

comics

Failed to read a single comic book today; instead, I scored a bunch. And I mean a BUNCH.

See, last night I got wind that Powerbooks is having a month-long clearance sale in several of its branches, so today I woke up with a mission to check it out. Went to Powerbooks in Trinoma after work and was stunned at how low the prices of the trade paperbacks had gone down. I mean, they were so fucking cheap Powerbooks was practically giving them away! So I said fuck you to cost-cutting and splurged.

I went home with a haul — 11 TPBs/HCs for the price of two. As a bonus, I got Kim Gordon’s autobiography, Girl in a Band, for only P117.50, down from P1,175.00. I think I was grinning from ear to ear even in my sleep.

comics · DC Comics · marvel

Daydreams of snow & winter

January 17, 2019January 22, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

kumiks

Got these as belated birthday gifts from an ex-workmate today. I’m not really comfortable receiving gifts, ditto giving them (not because I’m a selfish bastard but because I fear the recipient won’t like them), but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate such acts of generosity — especially if they’re in the form of cool back issues such as these.

Another highlight of the day: hanging out on our balcony in the gathering dusk, munching junk food and sipping canned pineapple juice. The cold weather made me embrace myself and brought to mind images of snow and winter in distant lands. Since the book I’m currently reading deals a lot about migration — the how’s and why’s and, more importantly, the how much — I thought, “Hmmm.” And it’s not only because of my curiosity about snow.

I was getting lonely, so I abandoned the fantasy, fixed myself 3-in-1 coffee, and watched the pilot episode of True Detective S03.

comics · marvel

Post-long weekend Monday blues

January 14, 2019January 17, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

clean-1 Whoa. Five comics in a day! The last three issues that completed the Jessica Jones: The Pulse TPB, and the first two issues of Dead Man Logan — the latter I read online because of cost-cutting measures (triggered by the knowledge that I spent a whooping P27,000 on pre-orders last year). I can always score the TPB, anyway. More economical that way.

Monday again. The thing with enjoying a long weekend is Monday comes not like a sudden rainfall on a sun-splashed afternoon, but a nasty knee to the groin. You leave the house limping. I trudged to work today on leaden shoes, once again wondering if there’s more to life than dealing with lonesome Monday mornings. Then I realized I was just being stupid and immature, and decided to leave the whining to those Facebook freaks who seem to have a knack for it.

At the office the first of my shift was busy — dominated by news about a supposed breach in passport data (fuck!) as well as dead honeymooners in Maldives — but the second one was a breeze, and I punched out a little over 4 p.m. Commuting was likewise hassle-free. At least there was that.

Had dinner again at my mom’s place.

comics · feelz · marvel

A day of disconnect

January 3, 2019January 11, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

clean Not even comic gods are infallible: Eight issues in and Skottie Young’s 2018 Deadpool run hits the proverbial bump in the road. Not a major one, but a bump nevertheless. I guess what I’m saying is I didn’t enjoy issue 8 as much as I enjoyed issues 1-7. Here’s hoping that issue 9 will be a rebound.

Or perhaps I was just too downhearted today to appreciate dear ‘ol Wade’s wisecracks.

Indeed, some days I feel like there’s a big gulf between me and the rest of humanity. I’d be in a room full of people — the office, for example — but I’d feel miles away from the nearest person. It’s an uncomfortable, if not sad feeling. And it makes the long hours seem longer.

So it’s no wonder that on my way home I blasted my ears with old-school metal. Grave, Dismember, Bolt Thrower — one can never go wrong with these death-obsessed gore freaks on days when you just want to smash rocks, if not faces.

comics

First for the year

January 2, 2019January 3, 2019 KarlLeave a comment

filbars

Pushed to Filbar’s in Megamall after work today for my first comic pickups for the year. Figured it was a good day for it as there were still fewer people out and therefore fewer vehicles on the streets — one of those extremely rare days when it can be said that commuting is a “breeze.” Reminded myself not to enjoy it too much.

Anyway, new comic books are in. Of the bunch I’m most excited to read Heroes in Crisis #4.

Back home I put my father cap on and helped the kiddo with her lessons. It was a difficult task as the subject was Math. Turned out passionate dislike for numbers and computation runs in the blood. Needless to say, I don’t think I did a pretty good job as a parent today. Fuck that shit.

Was actually feeling a bit sleepy today so I picked a rather aggressive jam: Metallica’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.