The A-Z of Women I Love - X Is For X (And Kind Of For Exene)

Comics In My Future

The big two comic companies, DC and Marvel, announced their June 2010 solicitations last week.  I love the third week of each month specifically for that reason.  I wanted to do this post last week when the announcements were made, but with all the house stuff going on, time has been more of a premium than ever before.  So here are a few things that caught my fancy in the solicitations.

SUPERMAN #700
On sale JUNE 23 • 56 pg, FC $4.99 US
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI, JAMES ROBINSON & DAN JURGENS • Art by EDDY BARROWS, BENARD CHANG, DAN JURGENS & J.P. MAYER • Cover by GARY FRANK  • 1:25 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant cover by Eduardo Risso • 1:75 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant black and white cover by Eduardo Risso
DC Comics proudly presents the 700th issue of SUPERMAN, a 56-page extravaganza full of tales celebrating the Man of Steel’s past, present and future! First up is a story by the man who actually killed Superman, Dan Jurgens! Then, James Robinson brings his epic run on the title to a close with a touching story featuring art by Benard Chang that brings Superman back to Earth after his time on New Krypton. Finally, we preview the exciting new SUPERMAN ongoing creative team as J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows provide a story that sets the stage for an explosive, all-new direction for The Man of Steel! (Seriously! Wait till you read this!)
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.


BATMAN #700
On sale JUNE 9 • 56 pg, FC, $4.99 US
Written by GRANT MORRISON • Art by TONY DANIEL, ANDY KUBERT & FRANK QUITELY
Cover by DAVID FINCH • 1:25 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant cover by MIKE MIGNOLA
1:75 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant black and white cover by MIKE MIGNOLA
Grant Morrison returns to BATMAN with this oversized special! And he’s brought an all-star roster of artists along with him including Andy Kubert, Tony Daniel and Frank Quitely to celebrate this milestone 700th issue featuring stories spotlighting each of the Batmen from different eras – Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne. You won’t want to miss this blockbuster story that paves the way for the return of Bruce Wayne and sports mind-boggling covers by superstars David Finch (BRIGHTEST DAY) and Mike Mignola (BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT, Hellboy)!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.

WONDER WOMAN #600
 On sale JUNE 30 • 56 pg, FC, $4.99 US
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI, GEOFF JOHNS, GAIL SIMONE & others Art by GEORGE PÉREZ, PHIL JIMENEZ, JOE MADUREIRA & others • Cover by GEORGE PÉREZ 
1:25 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant cover by ADAM HUGHES • 1:75 “DC 75th Anniversary” variant black and white cover by ADAM HUGHES
You’re invited to the gala celebration featuring WONDER WOMAN talent from the past and present to commemorate this landmark issue! Renumbered to reflect Wonder Woman’s starring role in 600 issues, this book features the industry’s top talent – including Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Gail Simone, Joe Madureira and more! Plus, readers won’t want to miss a chance to check out the exciting, all-new direction for the Wonder Woman universe as new ongoing writer J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN, BRAVE AND THE BOLD, Amazing Spider-Man) provides a story of his own!
Retailers please note: This issue ships with three covers. Please see Previews Order Form for more information.

DC's three flagship books all hit milestones in June.  Superman and Batman hit issue 700, while Wonder Woman hits #600.  Although I've dropped Wonder Woman as a monthly series in favor of the trade paperbacks, I'm definitely going to pick this one up.  I'm a sucker for big anniversary issues like this.

TEAM-UPS OF THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD HC
On sale AUGUST 11 • 176 pg, FC, $24.99 US
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Art and cover by JESUS SAIZ
The first seven issues of J. Michael Straczynski’s acclaimed run on THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD are collected from issues #27-33, featuring The Flash, The Blackhawks, Batman, Brother Power – The Geek, Green Lantern, Dr. Fate and more!

I read the first issue or two of Stracynski's Brave & The Bold before dropping it in favor of the trades.  This is his first one and I'm really looking forward to it.  The couple of issue I read of his were great fun.

BRIGHTEST DAY #3-4
Issue #3 on sale JUNE 2 • Issue #4 on sale JUNE 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Written by GEOFF JOHNS & PETER J. TOMASI • Art by IVAN REIS, PAT GLEASON, ARDIAN SYAF, SCOTT CLARK & JOE PRADO • Covers by DAVID FINCH
1:25 variant covers by IVAN REIS & OCLAIR ALBERT
If this is the BRIGHTEST DAY then what is Black Lantern Firestorm doing on our cover?!

This is the follow up to Blackest Night and I'm looking forward to this just as much as I'm loving Blackest Night.  Geoff Johns is my favorite writer right now and he knows the DC Universe and what to do with it.  I can't wait!!

POWER GIRL #13
On sale JUNE 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Written by JUDD WINICK
Art and cover by SAMI BASRI
Power Girl dives headfirst into the next chapter of her life on Earth with new series writer Judd Winick (JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST) and artist Sami Basri (THE SHIELD)! And what events will draw her to her former JLI teammates from JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST?

One of my favorite characters, but I'm a little worried about the new creative team.  Judd Winick is two writers all in one.  Half the stuff he writes is great fun and the other half proves that he has no idea how to write a decent comic book to save his life.  No middle ground with the man.  Here's hoping he knows who Power Girl is when he starts the book.

ADVENTURE COMICS #12
On sale JUNE 2 * 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Written by PAUL LEVITZ
Art by KEVIN SHARPE
Cover by SCOTT CLARK & DAVID BEATY
1:25 "DC 75th Anniversary" Variant cover by
LEE BERMEJO
Legion great Paul Levitz begins his ADVENTURE COMICS run by revisiting the Legion's past in this special story featuring one of Superboy's earliest adventures in the far future!

I love that the Legion of Super-Heroes is back in action and I love it even more that Paul Levitz is writing them again.  I hope the man still has it.  It's been years since his last regular stint on the book.

ZATANNA #2
On sale JUNE 23 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Written by PAUL DINI
Art by STEPHANE ROUX & KARL STORY
Cover by STEPHANE ROUX
1:10 Variant Cover by BRIAN BOLLAND
In dreams, you’re his! Zatanna’s attempt to intimidate Brother Night backfires when his servant, the nightmare imp Fuseli, attacks her where she’s most vulnerable – the landscape of her dreams! If he has his way, this sleeping beauty will never wake up...
Continuing the exciting new ongoing series from bestselling writer Paul Dini and acclaimed artist Stephane Roux!

Paul Dini.  Zatanna.  How could this be anything but fantastic?

MARVELMAN CLASSIC PRIMER #1
Written by JOHN RHETT THOMAS
Cover by JOE QUESADA
Variant by MICK ANGLO
MARVELMAN COMES TO MARVEL! Who is the mysterious Marvelman? The answer to that question is one of the most mysterious in comics lore. Created in 1954 by writer/artist Mick Anglo, the character enjoyed a long run in the British comics market as one of its most powerful heroes. A few decades later, the character was revived with a dark, moody, deconstructionist bent, and produced one of the most important works of comic art in the medium's history. But now, miracle of miracles, Marvel has stepped up to the plate to deliver on the promise of Anglo's incredible characters. The MARVELMAN PRIMER will help readers unfamiliar with that character get up to speed on the past, present and future of Marvelman stories. We'll check in with Mick Anglo, Neil Gaiman and others who contributed to this character’s history over the years. It was the news that swept the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con and the Marvelman Primer explains why! Featuring six all-new pinups of key Marvelman characters by superstar artists Mike Perkins, Doug Braithwaite, Miguel Angel Sepulveda, Jae Lee, Khoi Pham and Ben Oliver!

Marvelman (aka Miracleman) has been out of print for years.  It's finally back and about to start.  This one shot should be enough to reintroduce the character.  I'm looking forward to this, even though I'm pretty confident Marvel will fuck this one up royally.  Only time will tell.

The A-Z of Women I Love - W Is For Wendy (And Lisa, Too)

The A-Z of Women I Love - V Is For V V

The A-Z of Women I Love - U Is For Ute

The A-Z of Women I Love - T Is For Tina

You know, I intended on writing an entry on each of the women I've spotlighted in this series, but it just never happened.  Today, however, I'm making an exception.  I've posted here many, many times about Tina Turner.  Tina is my single favorite recording artist EVER.  I really can't put my finger on the exact reasons I connect with her. Every time I hear a Tina song, she still takes my breath away.  My heart beats just a little faster.  I think she's absolutely amazing.  She can sing the shit out of any song she's given.  I fell for Tina the second I heard "Let's Stay Together" way back in the early 80s.  Prior to that, all I knew is Tina was this washed up singer from the 60s and 70s and the fact that she was trying for a comeback was really funny to me.  For about five seconds, that is.

I've seen her in concert just three or four times, but each time she puts on one hell of a show.  For an old broad, she certainly has more energy than I ever had.  My favorite concert memory of her was the second time I saw her.  I had fourth row seats and during the last song of the encore, she bent down to shake hands as she was strutting off stage.  I bolted for the stage and I was the last hand she grabbed.  Queer story, but it made my whole night.

Exhaustion, Part Two

Stayed up too late last night.  Got up too early this morning.  Spent the entire day out and about looking at houses.  Twenty-two in total.  I'm completely housed out right now, and even though I've made that abundantly clear to Ken, he keeps calling me into his office to discuss houses.  I think I'm going to bed to read comics and shut out the world.  After all, we're going out to look at more tomorrow bright and early.

The A-Z of Women I Love - S Is For Syd

Exhaustion

This week has been one of the most exhausting weeks in recent history.  My ass has been dragging since I got up Sunday morning and it hasn't stopped yet.  Springing ahead was deadly this year and it's really no one's fault but my own.  You see, last weekend, Ken's bff and his partner came up to visit.  As will happen when you have visitors, I over ate.  I indulged in snacks and foods I could have avoided, but didn't.  Because of this, I knew I needed to get out and do some walking on Sunday like I normally do.  I was up too late Saturday night and still got up at 5:45am to walk.  And it was all downhill from there.

Also, we spent the week dealing with more house stuff.  The main issue was the estimate for things the inspector found and that the buyers wanted fixed.  It was a lot more draining emotionally than I thought it would be.  I'm sure a lot has to do with the lack of quality sleep I've had.  I find that when I'm already spent, things hit me much harder than they should.  To make a long story short, we negotiated back and forth with the repairs and came to what I believe was a mutually agreed upon solution.  I feel great that we've passed another hurdle on our way to being in a new home.

Next step, house hunting.  Tomorrow we have a very full day with our Realtor looking at houses.  I think we've got something like 22 or 23 on the list to see.  And there's talk about going back out on Sunday morning to see more.  I'm just hoping I can squeeze a nap in sometime on Sunday afternoon.

The A-Z of Women I Love - R Is For Rosanne

The A-Z of Women I Love - Q Is For Queen

The A-Z of Women I Love - P Is For Phranc

The A-Z of Women I Love - O Is For Olivia

The A-Z of Women I Love - N Is For Nena

The A-Z of Women I Love - M Is For Marit

Pictures

When the house went on the market, I never thought to send out links to the listing to friends.  It just never occurred to me that people would be curious.  In the last couple of days, I've had three different people tell me that they hunted down the listing to check out the pictures.  So that's as good an excuse to show off the "after" pictures as any.

Here's the house from the street.  I like this picture because you can't tell exactly how ugly the siding is.  I'm not a huge fan of the golden siding and if we didn't sell, we would have had the place resided into something I find a little more eye appealing.

 

The view of the back yard.  Again, I like this one because the trees being in full leaf hides the fact that on the other side of that back fence is Taco Bell.  It's a small back yard with a nice garden. 

Our front porch.  For the last six month or so, it's been full to the rafters with a lot of our stuff.  When we had the floors and the ceilings redone, most of our possessions lived out here.  It's all either back where it goes or living with others now and this is what the porch looks like now.  I really love spending lazy summer afternoons out here with a pile of comics, a frosty beverage, music and a cat on my lap.

Just inside the front door are the stairs to the second floor and a straight on look into the kitchen.

 The living room, complete with Brady Bunch era fireplace.

Next is the dining room.  Until about a month ago, we never used this as a dining room.  Rather, it was a second living room.  We don't really dine, so to speak, so to use the room as a dining room would have been a complete waste.  But to sell the house, we needed to get it back to it's original purpose.

 

Three different shots of the kitchen.  The eat in area is not original to the house.  A previous owner took the back porch and converted it to indoor space, adding on to the kitchen, adding a mud room and a second full bath.  Until two months ago, we had the ugliest linoleum down on the eat in kitchen floor.  Now it's tiled and looks like a million bucks. 

 

Ken's office.  This was the guest room, but when we finished the house up, we decided it made more sense for his old office to be staged as a guest room.

 Guest room.  Ken's old office.

Master bedroom, complete with kitty.

Although it's tiny, this is the master bath.  This is the first room we had finished.  Ken had it gutted and put back together while I was in Texas last summer as a complete surprise to me.

I don't have a picture of my office. I'll have to take one and post it.  I also need to dig and see if I have any decent "before" shots.

But that's what I just sold.

The A-Z of Women I Love - L Is For Lisa

House Update

I've really been debating about how much or little I want to say about the house situation right now.  Mostly because I'm afraid I'm going to jinx it if I say anything at all.  But here goes anyway.

The whole thing is not going any way that I imagined it would.  For instance, I was planning on having the house on the market for about five months before getting any interest in it.  I've got that number in my head because when I asked our realtor what the average turn over was, he said five months.  But we had a very successful open house last week and in the time between my last blog post Sunday evening and going to bed Sunday night, we sold the house.  Papers were signed before hitting the sack.  Can you believe it?  Now we're trying to figure out which way is up.  Original plan was to get an interim apartment before finding the perfect new house.  Looks like we're sticking to that because we're hoping to close the first week of May.  We need to get out there and start looking at places.  This week has been too much of a whirlwind to do anything.

Last week I decided I needed to take today off for a mental health day.  A day to lay around and do nothing.  Plans were botched when the house inspection was scheduled for today.  That meant getting up and getting out of the house by 9.  So much for sleeping in.  Luckily I spent most of the afternoon napping.  But it wasn't good sleep.  I'm still exhausted and don't think there will be a problem getting back to sleep tonight.

All my leisure time activities have been back burnered lately and I'm itching to get a chance to lose myself in them again.  Comics, tv, dvds.....  That kind of crap.  My dvr is filling up with stuff I haven't had time to watch.  The pile on my nightstand is growing.  So is the pile on top of the dvd player.  Soon, though.  Soon.  But not this weekend.  This weekend we're having houseguests for the first time in a thousand years.  Ken's bff and his bf are coming up to check out everything we've done with the house.  It's been a long time since they've seen it and want to see it.  That'll be fun.

I'm hoping for a weekend to do nothing but wear soft pants and lounge is in my future sometime soon.

The A-Z of Women I Love - K Is For Kirsty

The A-Z of Women I Love - J Is For Jill

The A-Z of Women I Love - I Is For India

Vacation

I'm in need of one.  I've managed to run myself ragged for months between work and the house and whatever bits of life I can squeeze in when I have a second.  Right now we have one definite vacation booked and a second one in the planning stages right now.  Our second cruise is the definite right now.  Planned for December, about the same time as we went last year.  Ken was gung ho about trying a different cruise line for our second to see how they compare.  The first was on Norwegian.  The upcoming is on Celebrity.  From everything I've read so far, I think I prefer Norwegian, but I won't know for sure until this trip.  We're doing things a little differently this time around.  Ken asked a couple people if they'd be interested in going with us, and to our surprise, both couples said "yes."  I believe both are already booked, as well.  This is going to turn out to be very interesting.  I've never really traveled with people before.  Sure, I stayed with friends last summer in Texas, but that's not traveling with, that's staying with.  I'm anxious to see how this pans out.  I do have a few things I want to do on the vacation and I hope being with people doesn't interfere, but it's a whole new me.  I'll roll with the punches and I'm going to have a good time regardless.

Since vacation is still so far away and the house being on the market, I don't know when I'm going to get any quality down time, so I took this Friday off from work.  I need a day where I can just veg out and do nothing.  Naturally, things don't always pan out when I make plans like this, so we'll have to see.

The A-Z of Women I Love - H Is For Hope

The A-Z of Women I Love - G Is For Garbage

Open House

So, this weekend.  I had an idea of what to expect for the weekend, from getting home from work on Friday until bedtime on Sunday.  Often, I'm pretty right on as to what to expect.  Occasionally, I'm so far off the mark, I wonder why I even tried to guess.  This weekend was someplace in the middle, though it was definitely a little closer to the "occasionally" than the "often."  

Here's what I envisioned.  Friday night I'd get home, we'd start cleaning and doing some of the last minute things we needed to do to be ready for Sunday's open house.  Saturday, we'd get up and start work right away.  We'd work all morning, finishing up sometime early afternoon leaving the rest of Saturday to decompress.  Sunday we'd get up, do a walk through to make sure we didn't miss anything, pack up the cats and head off to Trader Joe's in Hadley, Ma while the open house was going on.  We'd come home, find we have a buyer and celebrate.

Here's how the weekend went.  Friday night I did laundry.  That was it for chores.  Saturday I got up and started straight in on the work.  And worked.  And worked.  And worked.  And worked.  We started from the second we got up until well after dark.  I figure we put in a good 11 or 12 hours in total.  Sunday, I got up at 5:45 like normal, went for my walk, did grocery shopping and got home in time to put in another few hours of touch ups and stuff.  At 1, we packed up the cats and headed out.  Our plan to head to Trader Joe's fell through when we realized our open house was three hours long, not four.  The ride out there is about 90 minutes plus shopping time.  There was no way we were going to spend any extra time in the car with Lucy than we had to.  She cries non-stop in the car.  Instead we kept it local.  Which is probably a good thing because about 30 minutes into our travels, Lucy peed in her cat carrier.  Hurrah!  And about two hours in, Ollie vomited in his.  Twice we had to stop to clean out carriers.  We got home at 4 and found the open house actually went pretty well.  We had about 8 parties show up for it.  One of the parties arrived early, left to meet their agent (who was running her own open house) and came back to show her.  They're interested and I'm thrilled by that.  I'm hoping they want to make an offer.  If not, we have two showings lined up for the coming week so far.  There's interest in the house and that makes me happy.  Our open house comments were almost universally positive.  The one consistent negative comment was about our house's location.  As I've said before, our back yard abuts a Taco Bell.  Not the ideal neighbor for most, I think, but someone will find that a positive (I hope.)

Although this was a VERY trying weekend, I'm happy it's winding down and I feel pretty good about everything.  The house looks amazing, probably better than it's ever looked.  There is interest in the house and that makes me feel good.  And even though we still have more work to do, it's possible that I'll be getting at least part of my weekends back again.

The A-Z of Women I Love - F Is For Feist

The A-Z of Women I Love - E Is For Eddi

Another Friday Night

It's another Friday night and I should be doing something more productive than playing on the computer.  Tonight and tomorrow are it as far doing house stuff, for the most part.  The house is officially on the market right now and our first open house is on Sunday.  I'm doing much better than I thought I would be doing at this point.  Sure, I was kind of freaked out on Wednesday as we finalized the paperwork with the real estate agent, but I've been okay since.  Which is surprising because this is all new, unknown territory for me and I HATE THE UNKNOWN.  I'm scared to death of it.  

Anyway, tonight and tomorrow we need to do all the last minute stuff.  The rest of the house needs a good cleaning.  The front porch has to be reorganized from top to bottom.  Almost every room needs a little touch up paint here and there.  Funny.  As I'm typing this, Ken just walked in and handed me a two page list of things we need to do tomorrow.  I guess there's more than I was thinking. 

I say that I'm taking things much better than I expected, but I've noticed things I've been doing that I'm sure are a direct result of some underlying stress.  I've been eating crap like it's been going out of style.  Way more than I usually do.  I'm fearing for my weigh in on Sunday this week.  I've been doing so good for the longest stretch.  I'd hate to see me take a step or two back.

On Sunday, our real estate agent wants us to vacate the place during the open house (which is a given), but he also wants us to take the cats with us.  This is going to be fun.  Not.  We're going to be out of the house with them for four hours.  This wouldn't be so bad except Lucy is a crier.  She will cry from the second she goes into the carrier to the second she gets out of it.  Ollie barely meows at all, but when Lucy cries incessantly, it makes him start to mew, too.  I don't know how much I'm going to be able to take.  I'm hoping Lucy tires herself out after a little while.  We're going to take the cats on a road trip.  We'll see how that pans out.

I had a lot more to say about the week that's passed, but for the life of me, I can't seem to recall any of what else has been going on.  Pretty typical for me, I guess.  Especially lately.

The A-Z of Women I Love - D Is For Debbie

The A-Z of Women I Love - C Is For Cyndi

The A-Z of Women I Love - B Is For Blossom

The A-Z of Women I Love - A Is For Alison

March

 I can feel the winter starting to come to an end.  Today was evidence of that.  I'm hoping it was less of a tease and more of the way things are going to go.  When I left work tonight, it was 40 degrees.  Now I know that number will mean different things to different people.  To this person, this person or this person, 40 degrees isn't pretty.  But to this person, this person and this person, 40 degrees is a relief.  This winter has been cold and having a day in the 40s is a nice treat.  So nice, in fact, that I used it as an excuse to walk home from work.  I haven't done that since last fall.  Not being able to get outside and walk has really been taking a toll on me.  I try to keep up with my walking when I can, but it's not often enough.  This time of year it's limited to the crack of dawn on Sunday at the mall.  I try to get there before too many of the blue hairs get there.  I know we're still going to have some shitty weather between now and spring, but it's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.