Meltdown (review)

After reading nothing but Marvel Comics in this collection imagine my surprise when I found an Image comic series in here! This 2-part comic is focused on a super hero with "heat" powers. From his birth to his death, it actually made for an interesting read.

As far as I can tell it doesn't take place in the "Image Super Hero" universe but in a world of its own.

I really enjoyed this comic and am surprised I've never heard of it before since I kept up with Image on and off back in the day and thought I would have heard about this by now.

This is one I can recommend if you're looking for something to read. Ok folks, that's all for this week. Have a good weekend!!

Silent War (review)

This "Event" comic focuses on the Inhumans and since I have no knowledge about who they are (I never watched the failed TV show from last year) I didn't know what to expect.

What I got was an adventure I could not figure out what the point was of the whole series. Perhaps for Inhuman fans this was an important event but to me it was mainly boring. Sad because all of the covers looks good and I was interested in reading it once I found it in my box.

Unfortunately this is another dud comic series for me.

Eternals (review)

The next series I read in my Marvel collection featured a story from Niel Gaiman of "Sandman" fame. I was looking forward to this story but found it incredibly boring as it spoke about the early days of earth and the aliens that created the first "god like" protectors of the planet.

This looks right up Gaiman's alley which is probably why he took the job, but overall this was a "yawn" from start to finish for me. None of the characters are interesting and the plot is the same old tired out one where these individuals have forgotten who they were and went back to leading normal human lives due to a cosmic change in the universe only to re-discover their origin and "save" the universe once again.

BOR-RING!

Not worth your time folks.

Annihilation (review)

The next Marvel series I read was Annihilation. To my guess it happens around the same time as "Civil War" was going on. These are all the "space" based heroes in the Marvel Universe who don't really spend much time on earth to be impacted from Civil War so I guess Marvel decided to give them their own "Big Event" comic.

The comic stars Nova, Quasar, Silver Super, Super Skrull along with a few members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. It had some pretty interesting things happen in it. Drax "kills" Thanos and I found out that Groot speak PERFECT english in the comic and even when his body "dies" and a new Groot takes his place....yet he has the conscience of a full grown adult, as you can see in the picture below.

Which makes me wonder why the movie changed all that.

Anyway, the story pales in comparison to Civil War but if you like any of the "space" characters from Marvel's Universe you may enjoy it.

Marvel Universe Handbooks

Another cool find in the Marvel collection I bought last year was the Handbooks, defining and breaking down each character in the comics. Their powers, background and achievements were all summarized within.

Though I only skimmed through each one I found it fun to think about how important these were to fans back in the day before the internet. I don't know if they still do this anymore but I think it would be pointless considering there's a database online that can do the exact same thing now.

Still, these throw backs to the old days is the main perk I get from reading this collection. Some of these books were published in an older time when such information was hard to get all in one place.

Charmed and delighted to have it as part of the collection.

Camel burger

I'm a sucker for trying something different whenever I go out. That's why when we pulled into a restaurant in Shreveport and I saw Camel on the menu, I knew what I had to do.

Oddly enough this is my 2nd time to have camel. The meat taste about the same but I think I prefer it in a burger. The other meat I wanted to try (that they offered) was beaver but they didn't have any in stock that day. (dang)

Megan and I will go back in a few weeks, maybe we'll try again then.

Have a great weekend folks!

X-Factor (Phase 3)

Imagine my surprise when opening the next box up and finding a continuation of X-Factor but this time with Peter David writing the entire run!!

Though not as good as his early stuff this one pretty solid over all.

David's humor is still in there the whole time. He even makes inside jokes about the comic business in general as shown below.

 

So what did I think overall? Fantastic series! X-Factor has been one of the most enjoyable comic series in my collection I've enjoyed the most. Any time Peter David's on the cover folks, it's worth you time!

Skills I wish I had

There comes a time when you wish you could just "do it yourself" and though in these days with YouTube and other online content, a lot of people are more easily handling issues that they normaly couldn't fix on their own. But not me.

It seems like every time my issue is the "exception" to the basic fix and I end up having to bring in an expert to do the job. So today I thought I'd mention a few trades I wish I had under my belt!

 Electrician

Recently I had an entire wire and outlet blow out that I had no idea how to fix so I hired someone to take care of it for me. I can replace light switches, screw in light bulbs and even installed a light fixture once but I wish I knew more.

 Gardener

My neighbor's a really good one. His yard looks amazing and he's growing fruit and veggies in his back yard as well. He even has a banana tree.....yeah, he's growing FREAKING BANANAS in his back yard! I wish I was that talented out side. I know how to mow, trim the hedges and spread weed and feed in my front lawn...that's about it.

 Handyman

After all that, I still wish I knew more about how to fix things around the house. I have friends I use to show me how to fix the washing machine....which I took apart pretty well but had no idea how to put it back again. My friends have shown me roofing tips (which is why a have a big black tar patch on my roof that looks like the Tar Baby from Song of the South, melted on the spot. I even installed a garbage disposal but forgot to punch open one of the drainage pipes when I did and ended up with back wash from the washer soon afterwards. I really need better skills around the house.

 Mechanic

This would save me tons. I really envy those who know their cars. I don't know anyone with enough knowledge to teach me and I'm too old to start an apprenticeship with a local mechanic but back in the day I wish I did because it would have helped me tons in the past!

Plumber

Though I haven't had many problems with pipes I wish I knew more just in case something bad happens. Whenever I've had clogs around the house I've been able to resolve them easily but I know the day will come when I really wish I knew more. Hopefully it won't come anytime soon!

Things I hate in church

Wow, what a title huh? Today I wanted to mention a few things of that I can't stand at church:

1) Slow singing

Sometimes the Hymns we sing are so slow I have to take 2 breathes just to finish one line. I usually just give up and let the hymn finish on it's own while I ponder how surprised people are going to be in heaven when they realize that singing a song that slow and sad is not how it was meant to be sung.

I think we'll be a bit quicker and happier while singing next to the pearly gates. At that moment, I'll happily deliver a polite "told you so" after the first verse.

2) The Communion "Race"

At our church the congregation sings a hymn while they pass out communion and the Elders (at least one of them) treats it as a race to get done before the hymn is over. Our first worship service showed sheer panic on the elders as they tried racing through the congregation in time but failing hugely and having to spend more time correcting mistakes then doing it properly.

In the past we've even had our row skipped as the Elders raced back to their seats in the front before the song ended. It looks a little funny to see the look of frustration on one Elders face every time he hears the song ending while attempting to force the congregation through "will power" to hurry up. I've pointed this out to Megan a couple of times who agrees with me, but in the end they shouldn't worry about such a trivial thing.

3) Lack of Hygiene

This doesn't happen anymore now that we're in out new church but back during our "joint" services when we crammed people into one tiny chapel I learned not everyone takes a daily shower and I had to be the one sitting net to them half the time.

Now that we're in a bigger church it's no longer an issue....however....I bet it's not solving the problem for those still refusing to bathe.

Ok, done with whining for today! 

Dark World: Dragon's Gate Rulebook

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Darkworld: Village of Fear Rulebook

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