Tell Me, What's It All Mean?

On Writing (with Apologies to Stephen King)

2025-07-10T10:10:00.007-05:00

If you look at my last post, which a month later only 20 people have...and who are you people? What are you doing here? Do I know you? How did you find my blog, and why are you reading it?

Anyways, if you look at my last post, you'll see that I was broken up with a month ago. She's moved on EXTREMELY easily, while I'm slowly putting myself back together. I'm in therapy once a week, and I'm on anxiety medication that is helping ward off the REALLY bad times.

I've also started a breakup journal, and I've kind of rekindled my love of writing. With that in mind, as well as a prompting from my sister to put my pain to good use, I've started writing a memoir of sorts. It's not for anybody but me, but maybe I'll eventually share it with friends and family. It's not interesting enough to be an actual book. But I don't care.

I might also, if I can remember, upload other things I've written. I always meant to do that, when having a blog was actually a cool thing.

I'm Not Doing Well

2025-06-09T16:02:00.000-05:00

I'm not doing well right now.

I know nobody is reading this, so that's why I'm posting for the first time in five years. A lot has happened...in the world, not really to me. Nothing special.

Except for one thing. I met a woman.

I've been divorced since 2010 (okay, separated in early 2010, divorced in early 2011). Since then I've not done much dating. A little, here and there. Mostly first dates, with an occasional second. Almost 10 years ago I got into a "relationship" started off great but quickly fizzled...and it hurt. It wasn't healthy for either of us, and it took me WAY too long to see that. Apparently one of my flaws is that I will ignore red flags (some bright and shining, some muted and faint) and try and make something work until the other person ends things. That's what happened with my marriage. That's what happened with the relationship 10 years ago. And that's not necessarily what happened yesterday...but kind of.

And I'm not doing well.

We met online. Not on a dating app, but on Reddit. After talking with someone I had gone out with a handful of times, I was feeling down and lonely. The apps weren't really connecting me with anyone, and I thought what the hell, let's see what happens with Reddit. I made a post and put it in two r4r subreddits, one for people 30 and older and one for people 40 and older. I was honest and upfront with who I was and what I was looking for. Hey, I found a copy!

Not 100% feeling the Reddit personals vibe when just looking at the number of male posts as opposed to female, but there have to be SOME lurkers out there, right?
I'm a 47-year-old single father of three. I've had primary custody for the past 15 years, and I'm ALMOST an empty nester. I'm a comic book nerd, a craft beer lover, and a media junkie (TV/movies/music, not social). I'm pretty introverted, but come out of my shell A LOT with people I'm comfortable with.
I'm looking for someone without kids or who is already an empty nester (or pretty darn close), someone who enjoys sex, and someone who is liberal leaning. I've included a pic, so please reply with one of you. I'm not hung up on looks, but I won't deny that they're an important part of the overall package.
Ideally, I'm looking for a long-term relationship with somebody close to me, but I won't dismiss something more short term or just for fun, or even a long-distance FWB.
If you're even the slightest bit interested, please send a message or chat. We'll never know if we don't shoot our shots, right?

I ended up getting a good handful of messages...all from people far away. I answered a few of the messages, always upfront that I wasn't interested in a long-distance relationship, unless it was a FWB situation. And one person turned into that. We clicked pretty well, and we had a great time being spicy together. But she was prohibitively far away, so I kept searching for something local.

Then I got another message. This time from someone who was at least in the same state as me, even if she wasn't all that close. Her initial message? "Hi! As a fellow single, 40s, liberal in Tennessee, I thought I should respond to your post because obviously we should at least be friends, right?" I replied, we started a conversation, she shared a pic, and we clicked IMMEDIATELY...despite my stated deal breakers.

I wanted someone close, she was at least 2.5 hours away.
I am almost an empty nester, and wanted someone in a similar situation. She had two younger kids.

Yeah, not a lot of deal breakers, but in my mind they were pretty big.

But we kept talking. We exchanged gifs and memes. We started learning about each other and all the things we had in common. We exchanged real names after a day. I shared a cringy video I made during quarantine of me making a recipe from my grandfather's cookbook (just scroll down, you'll find it).

Two days after we first started messaging each other, we exchanged numbers and moved to texting.

A week and a half later, I was driving to Chattanooga to meet her for a lunch date...that ended up lasting eight hours. It was the best first date I had ever been on, and I had hoped it would be my last. We ate, we played pinball, we rode a trolley, we walked to a bar, and then it was dinner time. We Lyfted to a restaurant. Then we walked back to our cars, and before I drove back to Gallatin, we kissed. We kissed a LOT. When I got home that night, I texted her to let her know I was back safe and sound, we decided to call each other and talk. Two-and-a-half hours later, we moved to video chat. It was close to 4:30am before we forced ourselves to hang up and get some sleep...but not before we told each other we were in love. Yeah, a couple of crazy kids. I had never felt such an immediate connection to someone. A week and a half of talking and one date, and I already knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this woman.

We had nicknames for each other...I was Sugar Britches, and she was Sunshine. The Monday after our first date, I sent her a pic of a "prescription" that I wrote for her to give her boss, and that became a daily (for a month or so, at least) inside joke we had.

Two weeks later she drove to Gallatin and we spent the day together. We also decided that yes, we would try to make this work. We had a schedule of visitations and I altered my kid weekends to match hers, so we would have the same kid-free weekends. We would only get to see each other every other weekend, and we would alternate who drove where. It was fine, and it worked.

We texted every morning. We video called every night. We started having TV dates once a week where we would video call and watch a show together. We had crazy good sex. Like, literally, the best I've ever had...not that that is really saying much. From her initial message, not a day went by that we weren't communicating, and nothing ever felt forced. I had made up my mind that when my kids were all out of the house, I'd move to her. Quit my job of almost 25 years, sell my house, leave behind my parents (who moved down to Tennessee from Indiana to help make my life as a single father a little easier) and sister, and spend the rest of my life with a woman I loved and who loved me back. I had never felt so safe and wanted. I was happy for the first time, since...well, forever really. I had never had a happiness like this. It was different, and while I was scared to uproot my life, I was happy scared, excited scared.

We were making plans. Vacations, dates we wanted to go on, movies we wanted to see, places we wanted to go. She me my parents and sister, and I was going to meet her parents on our next weekend together. We had the restaurant all picked out. We met each other's friends. I wasn't going to meet her kids yet because they were young, but she met mine (and my ex-wife, and my son's girlfriend and HER parents), and they all got along AMAZINGLY. We were planning our futures.

And it went to shit in the blink of an eye. We had a disagreement. Something I thought was bigger than she did. I needed time to process something that had happened, and she decided we should just end everything. I was shocked. She was pretty matter-of-fact about it, stating that she saw me breaking up with her because of the disagreement, so she just did it first. I told her that's not how an adult argument works, that we talk about things and fix them. All I needed was time. I didn't want to end anything, I wanted to work on us and our relationship...and that made her pause. She decided she had been reacting to this based on past trauma and she needed time to think.

That was early in the morning. I spent the rest of the day in a haze, trying to keep busy so as not to think about the impending end of this...but I was also mentally preparing myself for the worst. I was nauseas, only having a small sandwich all day. I was fighting off panic attacks and breaking out into tears whenever I thought about her confirming the break up. I had a brief moment of joy at a comic book convention, running into my favorite musician and having a great talking with a comic book writing about an upcoming project. And then I cried on the way home.

I did yard work, I did laundry, I did the dishes, I messed with my comics, and I fixed my kids dinner. I turned on a standup special as the normal talk time was approaching. I needed to try and smile.

She texted, "Can you talk?" I said I could and asked if she wanted me to call. She did, so I did. She had bags under her eyes, and she wasn't smiling. We asked how the other was doing, both giving the same answer of not great. After quickly telling each other about our days, I just came out with it..."Are you breaking up with me?" And she said yes.

I hated it. I cried. She cried a little. But I had made the decision that I wasn't going to argue about it. I had made my case about wanted to work through the disagreement and come out the other side. She said she was "damaged" and knew that it was going to end up this way, either sooner or later; she said it would hurt much more later. I told her that I had learned not to fight a one-sided battle, that there was only heartache, pain, and grief if there was only one person trying to save a relationship.

And that was it, three days before our four-month anniversary. I cried myself to sleep. I woke up almost two hours before my alarm and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and worked out, crying. I cried in the shower. I cried on the drive to work, screaming when the road was clear.

And I am not doing well.

I boxed her stuff up at work. There was really only one thing that had to mailed, and that was a key to her apartment. She gave it to me the last weekend I was at her place. But there were a few other things I threw in. Her loufa and bar of soap. I had given her the toothbrush, a cheapo Kroger brand that I had a pack of for when the kids and I got sick and need to toss the ones we were using...so I threw that away. Two giant bottles of Kroger knock-off Tums that I bought for her to have at the house. And I included all of the "prescriptions" I wrote for her, as well as a print-out of our Reddit chat. I had planned on making a scrap book of our beginning and giving it to her on our anniversary. I wrote a letter explaining why I was including them, not to try to win her back or to be spiteful and show her how everything began, but to hopefully show her her worth. I wanted her to know what our relationship meant to me and how it changed me. I wanted to show her that she was capable of giving and receiving great love. I wanted to give her hope the same way she gave me hope four months ago.

I'd be lying if I said I never wanted to see her again. I'm not angry with her, I'm just sad and hurt. I hope she uses this time to heal herself, to find out who she is as a single woman. It was my understanding that she didn't like to be single, and that there wasn't much time between myself and her last relationship (not even a month?) or between that relationship and her divorce. I think it's healthy to be single and to really know who you are without someone else. I hope she continues with therapy. I REALLY hope she stops smoking.

I don't know if I would date her again. If she reaches out in a year or so after putting in the work, would we be friends? Would/could we start over? Would I want to risk it again? I don't know. It hasn't even been 24 hours that this ended, so I still have so much love in my heart for her. I know I'll never forget her, and I know she'll always have a piece of my heart.

I want to be happy. And I want her to be happy. I REALLY wanted us to be happy together, and I'm still shocked at how quickly this ended. But maybe I shouldn't be. It started quickly. Some might say too quickly. It burned hot and fast, and flame never flickered. So maybe the ending is a bit poetic?

I fucking hate poetry.

Grandpa Rosie's Recipes #2: Sausage Soup

2020-11-25T11:09:00.002-06:00

This recipe is pretty much all prep. The cooking is just to dump everything into a pot, and the pot does all the work for the following 90 minutes.

With the last recipe, I also made some homemade white bread. I didn't make anything new this time because I had a couple of leftover corn toasty muffins from a meal I made the previous week. Can anybody tell me what a corn toasty is? It was for a Rachel Ray recipe, and I couldn't tell what the difference was between these and cornbread. IS it different?

My cocktail with this recipe was a Wild Irish Rose, which I made with Jameson Black Barrel. This might be the smoothest whiskey I've ever had while still being very flavorful. I've had some smooth Canadian whiskeys, but those were not at all very flavorful. This is a bottle that could do some trouble on me. Using it with this drink however was just a waste of good booze. With the inclusion of the lemon juice and grenadine, you really loose any of the whiskey taste; those other two flavors fully take over.

As mentioned, this was a VERY simple recipe. Slice/chop/cut what needs to be sliced/chopped/cut, and combine it all. The recipe says to cook slowly for about "1 to 1 1/2 hours." I brought it to a boil then brought it down to medium heat and covered for 90 minutes.

This was SO good. The smoked sausage I bought had the slightest bit of a kick to it, and it really worked when combined with the other flavors. The recipe only made about half as much as the mushroom/sauerkraut recipe, so it's not quite enough to feed an army. There was enough for me to have for dinner and two lunches, and I gave some to my sister (check out her Instagram hashtag #treasuretrunkdiner) and parents, just about a serving each.

Rosie's Recipes #1: Mushroom Sauerkraut Soup

2020-11-17T10:40:00.002-06:00

Okay, so here's something new.

When I was in college a little more than two decades ago, my grandfather wrote and published a cookbook. In the years that have followed, I have only made two recipes from the book, and they were both made while I was in college. One turned out pretty well, the other...not so much. I ended up throwing away a soup pot because of it.

I don't remember ever cooking, or even wanting to cook, while I was growing up. I started in college when I got my own apartment and my first cookbook, the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. since then, I've really enjoyed it. Before Covid, every Sunday would be Cocktail & Cooking day. I'd fix a cocktail from a bartender's guide I've had since college, and my sister would come over and I'd fix a meal from a Rachel Ray cookbook.

Now I'm riffing on my Cocktail & Cooking. Once a week on a day when my kids are at their mom's, I'll be fixing a recipe from my grandpa's cookbook. I'm going to record it, and I'm going to do a write-up here, and we'll see what happens. Generally, I'll get right to the recipe and cooking. I hate all of the cooking blogs with all the random and needless "chatter" beforehand (which is exactly what I've done here). But this should be it for that. From now on, the only thing I'll be talking about in these will be the food.

So...here we go!

First up are the ingredients. The only thing I adjusted is the amount of onions. I'm not a huge fan, and I really think a little goes a long way, so I cut the quantity down from four onions to two. Since no type of onion was specified, I used what I had on hand and what WAS specified for a recipe I'll make later in the week: one yellow onion and one red onion.

With the mushrooms, I used a store-bought package of pre-sliced white button mushrooms. I already had these in the fridge from a meal from the previous week that I never made.

One problem I tend to constantly run into is not reading all of the instructions ahead of time. Had I done that this time, I would have cubed the spareribs before putting them in the put and covering them with water. Sigh.

When I first got the cookbook, my dad said it would be interesting to see how these recipes turned out since Grandpa never really measured anything out. He also probably didn't do much copy editing for this book, because there are two ingredients listed that are never mentioned past the ingredient list: the sugar and the vinegar. I ended up combining it with the gravy that was being made with the skillet drippings, flour, and water.

I enjoy having an adult beverage when I cook. I bought a bartender's guide while in college...or maybe it was when I was in my first post-college apartment before I got married...that I use to make random mixed drinks. It has forced me to try different drinks with different, and sometimes weird, liqueurs. The drink this time around was called a One Ireland. It was basically minty whiskey ice cream float. It wasn't great.

I made some white bread while the soup was constantly simmering. The recipe I used was from the aforementioned BH&G cook book. My timing was a little off in the preparation of the two things, but luckily this was just soup, and it just simmered for about an hour or so extra while the bread was in the oven.

Final thoughts? The bread was delicious, and I can't remember the last time I had warm, fresh-baked bread. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the soup. There was a sweetness I wasn't expecting, despite dumping in half-a-cup of sugar. I'd say that, if you actually want to taste some celery or mushrooms, toss some more in. I was basically tasting nothing but sauerkraut and super-tender spareribs. That's not a complaint at all, but it really seemed like the celery and mushrooms were unnecessary (and would really require a change in the name of the soup).

Here's a video I made. It's not good. I've learned some things, though. Mainly...nobody wants to see me talking about cooking. I'll play around with it for next time. We'll see what ends up working.

My Collections, Part 7: Starman (David Knight)

2018-09-27T14:52:00.000-05:00

Before James Robinson came along and rebooted and revitalized the Starman name, David Knight, oldest son of Golden Age Starman Ted Knight, appeared in exactly two comic books, both during Will Payton's series.

David was a dick in Payton's series, and he was kind of a dick at the beginning of Robinson's. To be fair, though, his little brother Jack didn't make things easy for him (do little brothers ever?). I kind of don't want to mention anything else about David for fear of spoiling the series, but c'mon, it's almost 25 years old. If you don't know that David gets murdered in the very first issue (which is actually the Zero Issue...don't get confused about it), then...crap, I guess I went and ruined it.

Like every Starman whom Robinson brought into the series, David grew as a person and a hero, and by the end of the series his death was even more poignant and important.

Yeah, David gets killed. Robinson did a great job of making us care about him right before killing him off at the end of the first issue. He had to do it, though, because we had to get Jack to take up the mantle and cosmic rod.

Have List

Blackest Night #6 (regular, variant, and sketch)
Starman Vol. 1 (1988 series) #26-27
Starman Vol. 2 (1994 series) #0, 3, 5, 7, 19, 36-37, 49, 64, 66, 75-77, 79, 81, Annual 2
Starman Secret Files #1
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #1 (Zero Hour UPC, Direct UPC)

Want List

Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns TPB, HC

Imgur album of David's appearances that I have.

2018-09-27T07:57:00.002-05:00

So I'm going through another one of those instances when I want to get the blog back up and running. As you might have noticed, I've already started, and I've got a schedule set up.

Mondays = movies
Tuesdays = music
Wednesdays = personal or miscellaneous
Thursdays = comics
Fridays = TV

Today is Tuesday, so that means it's music day (even though I DID just post yesterday's movie post).

And now today is Wednesday, and I'm already behind. These music posts are going to be tough, because I don't listen to a lot of new music. I do have some thoughts on what I want to do eventually, though. I plan on doing a post on cover songs, which ones are better than originals, which ones are pretty much the same, and which ones are laughably awful. I'd also like to do a post on what albums I consider to be perfect, meaning that I can play the whole thing from start to finish without wanting to skip a track.

Hey? Guess what? It's Thursday.

I need to be less busy. So, no music this week, and no personal post. Maybe I'll be able to get to the next Starman post today?

Sigh.

When It's Too Good To Be True...

2018-09-25T09:47:00.000-05:00

...it probably is.

It's been almost a year since I signed up for MoviePass. At the time, for only $9.95/month I was able to see one movie, ANY movie, every day of the month. There were no limits to how many times you could see a particular title. If it was playing in a theater and you hadn't seen a movie that day, then you could see whatever was playing.

Not much of 2018 had gone by before MoviePass made its first alteration on its plan: you can only use the service to a movie once. Now, for the regular viewer that's not really an issue. But with MoviePass I was able to see Thor: Ragnarok four times. I planned on seeing pretty much every comic book movie, especially Avengers: Infinity War, multiple times.

If you haven't read any of the MANY articles published about MoviePass's money problems starting around mid-July, well, I can't rehash everything here. I can only tell you what was happening from my point of view.

MoviePass wasn't letting anyone see any movies. They were hemorrhaging money to nobody's shock or surprise. I was seeing maybe eight movies on a good month, four on a normal one. At the theater I was going to, admission was around $12.50. So let's say on a good month I would have spent $100 at the theater. With MoviePass I was only spending $9.95, making each movie roughly $1.25. That's insane. And there were TONS of people taking full advantage of the service and seeing one movie every single day. That's $.33 per movie.

So nobody could see any movies, and that lasted for a couple of weeks. MoviePass had to borrow a little bit of money ($5 million if I recall correctly), and during that time there were rumblings of the whole system just crashing down. I wasn't initially pissed off because I knew deep down that something like this had to happen. There was just no way for this service to make money, and frankly I was surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

Rather than admitting defeat, the powers that be decided to retool the program instead of scrapping it altogether. When I quit the service (without being able to see a single movie the entire month of August), I think the plan was limited to three movies each month, no repeats, and some movies blacked out, for the same price of $9.95 per month. Is that a good deal? Sure. That's still less than the price of one ticket, even if I couldn't ultimately see EVERYTHING I wanted to see. But really, it's not what I was promised, and with school in full swing and not fully knowing which weekends I will or won't have my kids, this was really the perfect time for me to quit. Had it not been for the really crappy issues the service had in July and August, not to mention the absolutely non-existent customer service, I would consider signing back up once marching band and football season ends, but those were two very shady months.

I went back through my Facebook feed to find a couple of posts where I complained about the service.

"Last Friday I checked the app to see what my options were, and I saw two late showings for Mission Impossible (among a couple other offerings). I was stoked. When I checked again after getting home from work, EVERYTHING was gone. I checked on line and saw that it wasn't just me, but some people had some luck using it when they purchased their tickets early in the morning. So Saturday I checked, and EVERYTHING was available, all movies, all showtimes. I jumped in my car, went to the theater to get a matinee ticket for MI: Fallout, and by the time I pulled up the app in the parking lot (I literally live about 300 yards from the theater), Slenderman and one other movie were available.

I've re-cancelled my subscription (after having the original cancellation canceled by the new opt-in that I never opted in to), and my last day to use it will be the 25th of this month. I've got plans this weekend, but we'll see if it's functioning on the 24th and 25th, otherwise I gave them $10 for nothing this month."

For a little bit of clarity, in August, MoviePass was re-upping all current subscribers to the new 3-movie $9.95 plan. I cancelled my subscription in early-to-mid August after being absolutely fed up.

"Just got an email from the jackasses at MoviePass. They were thanking me for the opt in to their new plan. Uh...huh? I cancelled my subscription more than a week ago. What's that dumbasses at MoviePass? The opt-in (which I most definitely did NOT do) cancels the cancellation? It's like they went full-on shady villain during this past month, what with the blackouts a few weeks ago, then this past weekend with no movies at all being available, and now uncancelling subscribers' cancellations. SHAAAAAAAAADY."

Last I heard, I had at least one friend who still subscribed. For her, even with the restrictions it's still a good deal. More power to her. Like I said, I just don't have the time for it right now and I just don't trust them. Despite the deal, I won't give any amount of money to a place that has abused and taken advantage of my trust. I'm thankful of the movies I got to see which I would not have been able to afford before, but it was just too good to be true.

What I'm Watching in the 2018/2019 TV Season (with a LOT of asterisks)

2018-09-21T11:46:00.000-05:00

It took me forever to make this season's list. While I believe we're in a golden age of TV, it horribly difficult to plan how I'm going to watch these shows. I don't have cable, so I don't have a DVR that I can just set and and watch. I've got to keep up with everything I want to watch by adding them to their various network app watchlists, hope they don't mysteriously disappear (I'm looking at you, Hulu), and keep track with what episodes I have or haven't seen because sometimes I can't watch them right away.

So this is going to be a weird list. I'll start it off with the standard season list, go into the weird releases, then hit the random streaming stuff I want to get to. Because of the aforementioned breakdown of the conventional TV season, some of these programs have already started, or have just ended. Some won't start until sometime in 2019. Whatever. Enjoy!

Standard 2018-2019 TV Season (Thank you Wikipedia)

ABC
The Kids Are Alright
Splitting Up Together (review from the first season = meh)
The Rookie (I loves me some Nathan Fillion, so I'm really looking forward to this one)
Modern Family
Single Parents (Best quote from the trailer: "We're single parents. We don't volunteer. We just try and survive until a time in the day when it's appropriate to open wine." Amen, sister friend.
A Million Little Things (I am totally watching this because of James Roday)
Whiskey Cavalier
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The CW
Legends of Tomorrow
Arrow
Flash
Black Lightning
Supernatural
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Sueprgirl
iZombie

Fox
9-1-1
The Gifted
Bob's Burgers
Family Guy
The Passage
The Orville
Gotham
Cosmos

NBC
Manifest
This is Us
Superstore
The Good Place
I Feel Bad
Midnight, Texas
Abby's
The Blacklist
Good Girls
A.P. Bio
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Timeless

Cable Networks

AMC
Walking Dead
Fear the Walking Dead
Preacher
NOS4A2

Disney XD
Star vs. the Forces of Evil

IFC
Brockmire

TBS
Detour
Guest Book

TNT
Alienist

USA
The Sinner

Syfy
Nightflyers
Happy!
Krypton
Wynonna Earp

FX
What We Do in the Shadows
Legion
Mayans MC
American Horror Story
Atlanta
Better Things
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
You're the Worst
Archer

Freeform
Cloak and Dagger
Alone Together

Cartoon Network
Rick and Morty

AT&T Audience
Mr. Mercedes

Premium Cable Networks

Showtime
Billions
Homeland
I'm Dying Up Here
Shameless
SMILF
Kidding
City on a Hill
Black Monday

HBO
The Deuce
Ballers
Last Week Tonight
Barry
Crashing
Camping
Watchmen
Divorce
True Detective
Silicon Valley
New Pope
Game of Thrones
Big LIttle Lies
Veep

Starz
American Gods
Counterpart

Cinemax
C.B. Strike (yeah, this isn't new, but I just learned it's an adaption of J.K. Rowling's Corman Strike novels)
Outcast

Streaming

Hulu
Castle Rock
Future Man
Runaways
I Love You America
Into the Dark

Netflix
Atypical
Iron Fist
Punisher
Jessica Jones
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmit
Easy
Santa Clarita Diet
Glow
Friends from College
Lucifer
Designated Survivor
Stranger Things
The OA
Ozark
Haunting of Hill House
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Narcos: Mexico
Daredevil
Bojack Horseman
Castlevania
Big Mouth
Umbrella Academy
Black Mirror
Arrested Development

DC Universe
Doom Patrol
Swamp Thing
Stargirl

Amazon Prime
Jack Ryan
Man in the High Castle
Sneaky Pete
Homecoming
Marvelous Mrs. Mazel
Good Omens
Too Old to Die Young
Carnival Row

So, if you were brave enough to make it through this list, you'll notice that there are shows listed that have already come and gone. I included late summer/early fall shows. This whole thing was pretty nerve wracking for me. I had to take a nap after finishing it. Not really, naps make me cranky.

My Collections, Part 6: Starman (Will Payton)

2018-09-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

I don't think there's any better time to get back on the horse with my Starman collection than with the entry for Will Payton.

But first, a disclaimer of sorts. Two things have kept me from updating this Starman collection retrospective of mine. First, I dropped my external hard drive a while back, and it contained ALL of my digital pictures, including my comic cover pics and original artwork pics. I'm almost done retaking all of the cover pics, but I haven't done the artwork yet. Second, I've started selling off my "NEVER SELL OFF" comic collection, which consists solely of Joe Hill comics and Starman appearances. Because of that, I may have sold some of the comics I had when I began this little endeavor. I definitely haven't bought anything new. So we'll see how this ends up looking. I'll post pics of covers I have, and I'll still include my "Have List," but my "Want List" is now out of date, and I'll be totally scrapping it until I'm in a place to start rebuilding my collection. Right now I'm thinking it'll be five years or so? Who knows.

via GIPHY

So, my first exposure to the Will Payton Starman was through the Superman storyline, "Krisis of
the Krimson Kryptonite." First off, I get why they misspelled Krisis and Krimson, but there is NO WAY that spelling would fly today. Other than that, though, it's a good, quick story that ran through all three Superman titles of the time and quickly crossed over into Payton's 1988 Starman series. the gist of the storyline was that Lex Luthor used a piece of red kryptonite (supplied by Mr. Mxyzptlx) to make himself as strong as Superman, but the twist was instead of making Lex super human, it took away all of Superman's powers. Since Superman gets his powers from our sun charging his cells (or some scientific gobbledygook like that), Starman was brought in first to give Supes a super-charged dose of solar radiation (which should have killed him, right?) and then impersonating him (Will could alter his appearance somehow...I never actually read his entire series) until he could figure out a different solution when that failed. Honestly, Starman didn't really make an impression on me. The only time I actually bought an issue of his comic, it was a crossover from a bigger storyline (War of the Gods...it was War of the Gods).

Will ended up dying during Eclipso: The Darkness Within. Let's assume he died doing something heroic, saving the world and whatnot from Eclipso, because I can't remember what happened for the life of me. Yes, I could Google it, but I think we'd all rather be surprised, right? Will was probably only slightly less forgettable than Mikaal, who only appeared in one issue. Maybe the most important thing that happened in Will's series was the introduction of David Knight (last name sounds familiar, right?) and the rebranding of the Golden Age's Starman's nemesis The Mist into Nimbus. Yeah, that didn't stick.

If there were any die-hard Will Payton (testify in the comments if you're reading this!), I wonder what they thought about Will's return from the dead in Robinson's Starman series. Were they happy that he was back but upset because it was retconned that Will actually died in his first issue and was actually just Prince Gavyn with Will's essence? I'd probably be pissed.

In the New 52 post-Rebirth DC universe, there was no Starman...until this month's (Sept. 2018) issue of Justice League. Payton shows up, with Jack Knight's cosmic rod! Are we finally seeing the rebirth of the Starman dynasty? One can only hope.

Have List

Action Comics Vol. 1 (1938 series) #622, 644-645, 659, 675, Annual 3
Adventures of Superman #472, 482, Annual 4
Armageddon 2001 #1-2, 1 (2nd Print), 1 (3rd Print)
Blasters Special #1
Doom Patrol Vol. 2 (1987 series) #17
Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2
Firestorm the Nuclear Man #80-81
Green Lantern Vol. 3 (1990 series) Annual 1
Invasion #2-3
JLA in Crisis Secret Files #1
Justice League America #42, Annual 6
Justice League International Vol. 1 (1987 series) #24
Justice League Quarterly #5
New Titans Annual 7
Quasar #14
Starman Vol. 1 (1988 series) #1-45
Starman Vol. 2 (1994 series) #3, 36, 48, 58-60, 67, 71-73, 76
Starman Secret Files #1
Superman Vol. 2 (1987 series) #27, 50, 65-66, Annual 4
Superman: The Man of Steel #10, Annual 1
War of the Gods #1-4
Who's Who Update '88 #3
Wonder Woman Vol. 2 (1987 series) #61

Want List

Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes

Justice League Vol. 4 (2018 series) #7

Who's Who in the DC Universe #2

Aaaaaand once again I forgot to post the pic album. Here you go.

Starman (Will Payton)

Bumper Thumper Sounds SOOOO Much Cooler Than Fender Bender

2018-09-19T13:45:00.000-05:00

Late last month, I was involved in a bit of a fender bender. Parker called it a bumper thumper, because it tore up the front end pretty badly, although it was still driveable. Well, State Farm, based on the repair estimate from Abra Auto Body Repair of America (Gallatin) and their scientifically derived estimate of what the car was worth, decided that the car was totaled. So I was going to have to buy a freaking car. I was not happy.

Here are pictures of the damage.

This 2009 Toyota Camry was fifth and nicest car I've ever owned. It has 117,000 miles on it, and I was planning on putting another 100k+ on it, easily. And I had only had for a little more than 2 years.

I'm not a car guy. I don't know a lot about cars, not how to fix them or how they work or the differences in various makes and models. I know what I think looks nice and what doesn't, what's comfortable to me and what isn't, and what I want from a car and what I don't. So buying a car has really only ever been about functionality for me, and anything extra has been just that.

The first car I ever owned was a 1986 Volvo DL. It had A/C, a tape player, weird automatic looks (there wasn't a switch on the door...you just pushed down really hard on the driver's side lock and all the others would lock), and manual crank windows. My parents bought it new in '86, and I got it in '94 when I started driving. It was EXPENSIVE to maintain, but I loved it. I drove it my from 10th-12th grade, in Jasper, IN and Hendersonville, TN (that can of SPAM, man). It went to Cookeville, TN with me to college, where the A/C eventually crapped out on me. I drove it to my first job out of college, commuting from Cookeville to Nashville, until it just gave up.

This is the only picture I have readily available of the car. That's me on the right and my friend John. We were on our way to a week-long camp in Terre Haute, and we're standing behind the Volvo. Sorry to put this out there, John, but I DID already put it on Facebook. :D

So I needed a new car, and lo-and-behold my cousin was getting rid of hers. So I upgraded from the Volvo to a 1995 Acura Integra sedan. The A/C worked. It had an in-dash CD player. It had a sun roof. I LOVED this car. I bought it in...April? May?...of 2001 and drove it until it needed a repair, maybe the A/C in 2008 that was going to cost more than the car was worth by this point.

Here's a stock image of the car. This is not a picture of my car, but I think it's close. I might have a picture tucked away at home, possibly with all of my wedding pictures. Angie and I drove away from the reception in it after taking off the plastic wrap it had been wrapped in.

Edit on 9/20/18 at 8:27 a.m.: Found a pic of my car!

Between buying the Acrua and it's replacement, Angie and I bought a Toyota Corolla to replace whatever the hell she was driving. I think it was a 2002, no frills, and it was okay. Not terrific, but okay. It was small, but at the time I think Angie might not have even been pregnant with Parker yet. So we had no need for a full-size sedan yet. We bought it from the Beaman used lot in Nashville, and really the whole ordeal of buying it was a nightmare. We test drove a LOT of cars at a lot of different dealerships, and working out financing was ridiculous. I always joked that buying our first (only) house was easier, but it really WAS easier. This car stayed around until Angie left, and it left with her. I got to keep the next car.

Apparently I never have a reason to take pictures of my cars unless they get into wrecks. Here's the best pic I have of the Corolla. I was driving down a hill on Royal Parkway in Nashville when my car decided it wanted to hydroplane a little and run into a truck coming up the hill. Insurance didn't mind fixing this one.

So I ended up selling the Acura to a guy on Craigslist for cash, and then I bought my parents' 2001 Toyota Camry. I don't remember at what point in the year we bought it, but it was in 2008, so Bobby had already been born, or we were patiently waiting for him. Either way, we knew we needed the room that we wouldn't have from the Acura or the Corolla. This car was everything I needed it to be, and it's what stayed with me after the divorce. I had the kids the majority of the time, so I needed the bigger car. Everything that people say about the dependability of Toyotas is absolutely true, and I think I had 250k+ miles on it when the transmission finally crapped out in 2016.

Again, no good pics of the Camry. These two are the best you'll get. And as a bonus, in the 2nd pic is the car I'll buy next...the one next to mine, not the Mustang.

I ended up selling the car to the mechanic and buying my parents' 2009 Camry. I liked my previous Camry, and I liked this one. It was nice having something a smidge newer, and I want to say that it was a smidge bigger on the inside than the 2001. As with the other Camry, my parents took good care of this one, so I was planning on this one lasting me quite a while. Apparently quite a while was only two years and change, and now we're back to the present. So yeah, I had my little bumper thumper, and while the car was in the shop I was driving a Dodge Caravan from Enterprise. I liked it, the kids loved it, so I thought I'd look at some mini-vans. The only thing I saw in my price range was a 2006 Toyota Sienna at Ron Hibbard Toyota in Gallatin. I looked at it but wasn't thrilled. The salesman gave me some other options, but they were out of my price range. I looked at a couple of private sales, a BMW SUV that was woefully misrepresented and a Cadillac CTS that was decent but had some shaking issues, but for a few days I kept thinking about this Toyota Avalon the salesman at Hibbard had mentioned. I looked at it online, and yes, it was out of my price range, but it looked perfect. Sure, it wasn't mini-van big, but it was bigger than the Camry, and my kids weren't getting any smaller. The mileage was good, the pedigree was good, my parents had an Avalon that they liked, and I really did like Toyotas.

I went back to Hibbard on Monday, drove it, fell in love with it, and bought it. I was able to work out a great deal, and I ended up not having to finance it, which was a big thing for me. So I've got a new (to me) car now! I love it, the kids love it, and barring any more bumper thumpers, this car will hopefully see all the kids through high school.

After the ordeal of buying the Corolla, I was DREADING buying a car from a dealership, but really this whole process, from the wreck itself to driving the car off the lot yesterday, was easy and quick. I used the State Farm app to file my claim, the final check was processed pretty quickly, and I didn't have much paperwork to sign. I even got the new car on my insurance when I went to pick up the check, and my premium only went up $.30/year. That's 30 cents, not dollars. My dealings with Abra were fine. I've got to trust that their estimate was fair, but really, I was able to upgrade my car, so who cares? Everyone I talked with there was really nice. Enterprise was smooth with the rental, and they upgraded me to the mini-van after I pointed out the ant infestation in the extended cab pick-up I was supposed to have. And finally, the two guys I dealt with at Hibbard, Erik and Steve, were great. They offered alternatives to the Sienna when they could see I wasn't thrilled with it, but I never felt pressured. Plus, they really worked on getting me a price we were both happy with.

I forgot to mention what it is I ended up with. I'm now driving a 2006 Toyota Avalon Limited. It's three years older than the Camry that was "totaled," but it has almost 30,000 fewer miles. The interior feels HUGE, and the ride is so smooth. It's only ever had one owner and was bought, serviced, and traded back in to Hibbard. Like I said, I was very happy with it. If I remember, I'll take a picture of it tonight and post it.

Anybody want to buy some comic books?

2018-03-06T11:45:00.001-06:00

I've decided to see if anything can come of putting my FOR SALE list up here.

I've redone my list a bit and added a BUNCH of comics from my "keeper" collection. Had to do it. Everything is priced, and I AM willing to haggle on most things, especially if multiple items are being purchased. This list is up-to-date with current sales deleted and acquisitions added.

The issues grouped in like colors are sold as a set. The TPBs and HCs are all listed alphabetically with all the other comics. Other collectibles are listed at the end of the list. Sorry for any confusion. It all worked out wonderfully in my head.

Let me know if you're looking for anything in particular and let's see if we can help each other out. Here is a link to an Excel document. Pictures are available upon request. Feel free to make an offer, especially on multiple comics.

Link to the list on Dropbox.

Shipping is not included and will be based on total weight and location. Comment below for a shipping estimate (unless you're in Gallatin or Hendersonville, TN, then we can meet) as well as for requesting pics.

The Origin of Cupid

2018-01-29T13:45:00.000-06:00

My 11-year-old daughter wrote a story. It made me laugh, so I told her I'd put it on my blog. After she wrapped her head around me having a blog, she got very excited and said she'd write more stuff for me to post.

So this is probably going to turn into her blog.

Also, I'm going to type them as-is, mistakes and all.

Once upone a time, there was a baby. The baby had curly blone hair, a diper, and a pink bow and arrow with hearts on it. (He could also float).
One day, the baby saw a couple fighting. The baby thought sarcasticly, "Maybe if I shoot them with my bow and arrow they will get back together.
Accidentaly, the baby DID shoot them! Then, the two people fell in love again.
"Thank you, weird creepy floating baby that carries a bow and arrow of love! For this, I shall name you, "Cupid". People will now know this day as "Valentines Day!"
Cupid smiled big, and then pooped his diaper. "Oops," Cupid said, and then he floated all the way home.
From the on, when Cupid saw people fighting/arguing, he shot them.

The End

My Collections, Part 5: Starman (Prince Gavyn)

2017-10-17T09:27:00.002-05:00

This Starman was the last one introduced before I started reading comics. Once again, we've got another character calling themselves Starman, and there's absolutely no connection to Ted Knight. I was vaguely aware of him as a character before Robinson's series, but only in an off-handed way. He pretty much kept to himself, appearing for about a year as a feature in Adventure Comics, then he was "killed" during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Robinson did a WONDERFUL job of working Prince Gavyn's story into the overall Starman mythos, integrating the death of Gavyn into the birth of the Will Payton Starman...but we'll get to all that next time.

Gavyn was the 2nd Starman to be truly from the stars, but as opposed to Mikaal, there was actually an attempt to flesh him out. That said, his tenure was short-lived. As I stated earlier, he had year-long run in Adventure Comics, then he met his end in Crisis on Infinite Earths. A couple years later, we got a NEW Starman, and then a decade or so after that, Gavyn returned. I won't spoil how that happened; it's a great read.

Nobody did much with Gavyn after Robinson ended his series. It wasn't until DC was ramping up their Infinite Crisis mega-crossover that Gavyn was brought back into play. Rann and Thanagar were at war, and Gavyn's Throneworld was drawn into the fray. This played out through the Rann/Thanagar Holy War, then Jim Starlin, the writer of Holy War, kept the majority of this rag-tag group of heroes around for a Strange Adventures mini-series, where Gavyn was transformed into the new hero Fusion. I don't know what happened after that. Sorry.

Gavyn has yet to appear in DC's post-Flashpoint continuity, but Rebirth is doing a good job of bringing in heroes that were forgotten in New 52. As I keep saying, I'm hoping for SOME Starman to make his return.

Like with Mikaal, I only have two Gavyn sketch cards by Rob Retiano (one in the red suit and one in the blue), and a sketch from Derek Fridolfs.

I've also got some great pictures of my youngest kiddo as the red-suited Gavyn. I'll post pics when I talk about Jack, but just as a heads up, the whole fam damily dressed up as Starman characters to go to the 2014 Wizard World Nashville. It was awesome.

Have List

Adam Strange Special #1
Adventure Comics Vol. 1 (1938 series) #467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477
Crisis on Infinite Earths #10, Deluxe Edition
DC Comics Presents #36
Hawkman Vol. 4 (2002 series) #49
History of the DC Universe #2, TPB, HC
Infinite Crisis #1 (Lee Cover), 1 (Perez Cover), 1 (Sketch Cover), 4 (Lee Cover), 4 (Perez Cover), 4 (Sketch Cover), 6 (Lee Cover), 6 (Perez Cover), 6 (Sketch Cover), TPB
Rann/Thanagar Holy War #1, 1 (Variant), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Rann/Thanagar War #1, 1 (2nd Print), 2, 3, 4
Starman Vol. 2 (1994 series) #58, 59, 60, 71, 73, 76, Annual 1, Omnibus Vol. 2, 5, 6, Omnibus TPB Vol. 2, TPB Vol. 4, 8, 10
Starman Secret Files #1
Strange Adventures Vol. 3 (2009 series) #1, 1 (Variant), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Superman/Batman #32, 33
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #22

Want List

Adventure Comics Vol. 1 (1938 series) #478
Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute, HC, TPB
Infinite Crisis #1 (Lee Cover no UPC), HC
Justice League Unlimited #10
Rann/Thanagar Holy War TPB Vol. 1, 2
Rann/Thanagar War TPB
Starman Vol. 2 (1994 series) TPB Vol. 9
Strange Adventures Vol. 3 (2009 series) TPB

Sigh, there's always something I forget. Here are pics of the Prince Gavyn comics in my collection.

My Collections, Part 4: Starman (Mikaal Tomas) edited

2017-09-22T15:10:00.000-05:00

For the one or two people who are reading about my collections, I apologize for the tardiness in updates. I've been having some financial urgencies, I've since decided that I'm going to start opening up the majority of my Starman and Joe Hill collections for purchase, but all of my Jack Knight and Locke & Key stuff are staying with me.

That said, I'm going to continue with my blogs as if I've still got everything. I've actually sold very little, and most were issues I already blogged about in Ted Knight's entry. So I'm 99% sure that, at least for Mikaal, I've still got everything I say I've got.

Mikaal is strange and wonderful character, and his history is somewhat marvelous. He was first introduced in 1st Issue Special #12 in 1976. From what I understand, DC's copyright on the name Starman was about to run out, so they needed to get a character introduced...or something like that. I don't know why they just wouldn't do some more Ted Knight and JSA stories, but that's above my pay grade. So he was introduced...then he was abandoned and not seen again until James Robinson started his own Starman series. I would gladly argue with anyone about Mikaal's one-page appearance at the very end of issue #3 that gave us the first clue as to how deep Robinson's series would delve into the storied history of the name Starman, not just the Knight lineage.

Robinson took that one issue and crafted a wonderful history for this blue-skinned character. He gave him a full life with loves and enemies and struggles...lots of struggles. He also did something pretty awesome and a bit ahead of its time while staying under the radar. Robinson effortlessly and naturally gave us a wonderful gay superhero without being a stereotype. He and his partner Tony just WERE. There was no fuss, no spectacle, no "READ THIS COMIC BOOK BECAUSE SOMEBODY IS GAY." They were just characters on a natural progression, which is really how things should be.

After Robinson's Starman series ended, Mikaal was able to live a peaceful life for a bit...until Robinson took over writing duties on the Justice League and had Mikaal join up. Dude's had a rough go of things, and Robinson really didn't let up. Poor guy.

Mikaal, like the other Starmen before and after him, has not been reintroduced into the post-Flashpoint New 52 Universe. There is a slightly better chance of him or the rest of the Starmen showing up in the post-Rebirth multiverse now that some pre-Flashpoint continuities have been folded into some post-Flashpoint continuities.

Edited to ad: I forgot to mention the non-comic stuff I have featuring Mikaal.

Here are my current haves and needs for Mikaal. I don't know if any action figures of Mik were ever made. I don't have any, and I don't really recall any popping up during my brief eBay searches for action figures.

I do have some original art. Of course Mik is represented in my sketch card set by Rob Retiano. I've even got two versions of him, from his intro and from his later stint in the Justice League. I've also got a sketch of him from Derek Fridolfs. But that's it.

I also had to do another edit to include a link to the Imgur album. I kind of dropped the ball on this one. Going through the album, I realized that until recently I had the entirety of the Return of Bruce Wayne mini (regular covers), but I ended up selling that. I made a profit, and I don't think it'll be difficult at all to replace, and I bet I can get it for less than I paid. So, win-win?

Have List

1st Issue Special #1
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #3 (variant), 6 (variant), TPB
Brightest Day #15, 15 (variant), 16, 16 (variant), TPB v2
Justice League of America Vol. 2 (2006 series) #42, 43, 43 (variant), 44, 44 (variant), 45, 46, 46 (variant), 47, 47 (variant), 48, 48 (variant), 49, 49 (variant), 53, 53 (variant), 54, 54 (variant), 55, 55 (variant), 56, 56 (variant), 57, 57 (variant), 58, 58 (variant), 59, 59 (variant), 60, 60 (variant)
Justice League: Cry for Justice #1, 1 (variant), 1 (sideways), 2, 2 (2nd Print), 4, 5, 6, 7
Justice League: The Rise and Fall Special #1
Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal #2
Justice Leagues: Justice League of Aliens
Justice Society of America Vol. 3 (2007 series) #41, 41 (variant), 42, 42 (variant), 43
Starman Vol. 2 (1994 series) #3 (Signed by Tony Harris), 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 25, 27, 28, 29, 33, 35, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, 71, 73, 76, 80, TPB Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10
Starman Omnibus Vol. 1, 2, 3 (Signed by Drew Geraci), 4 (Signed by Drew Geraci, John Lucas), 5, 6, TPB 1, 2
Starman 80-Page Giant #1 (Signed by John Lucas, Drew Geraci)
Starman Secret Files #1
Starman/Congorilla #1
Supergirl Vol. 5 (2005 series) #65
Superman: War of the Supermen #4, 4 (variant)
Superman: War of the Supermen Double Feature #2
Superman/Batman Annual #5
Titans Vol. 2 (2008 series) #36, 38, Annual #1

Want List
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #3, 5, 5 (variant), 6, HC
Brightest Day HC v2, Omnibus
DC Universe: Origins TPB
Justice League of America Vol. 2 (2006 series) #42 (variant), 45 (variant)
Justice League: Cry for Justice TPB, HC
Justice League: The Rise and Fall Special #1 (variant)
Starman Vol. 2 (1994) TPB Vol. 5, 7, 9
Subway Presents: Justice League #3
Superman: War of the Supermen TPB, HC

What I'm Watching in the 2017/2018 TV Season (with a LOT of asterisks)

2017-09-21T15:11:00.002-05:00

After not doing a "What I'm Watching This Season" post for the past couple of years, I thought I'd give it another try this year. Previously, when I had cable and limitations, it was easy. I'd have a set schedule, plug in the shows I want to watch, and there you go. I could watch one show live, and depending on how long ago this was, I could record another show that aired at the same time, either on my VCR or later on my DVR.

Things have changed, though. I no longer have cable; I stream everything. This means that except for the rare occasion (HBO), I can't watch a show until the day after it airs. I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm also not limited by the constraints of a recording device. If I want to watch 10 shows that air at the same time, I can do that...because I don't watch them as they air. Because of that and with streaming and on-demand access and the standard fall-to-spring "season" gradually breaking down, it's more difficult to make a list.

So this is going to be a weird list. I'll start it off with the standard season list, go into the weird releases, then hit the random streaming stuff I want to get to. Because of the aforementioned breakdown of the conventional TV season, some of these programs have already started, or have just ended. Some won't start until sometime in 2018. Whatever. Enjoy!

Standard 2017-2018 TV Season (Thank you Wikipedia)

ABC
Modern Family
Designated Survivor
Inhumans (ComicBookMovie.com is already reporting that the show is cancelled before it even airs)
Agents of SHIELD
Splitting Up Together,
Alex, Inc.

NBC
This is Us
Blacklist
Superstore
The Good Place
Will & Grace (maybe...I gave up on this midway through the original series, not sure if I want to pick it back up)
Great News
Timeless
Rise (I like Jason Katims' previous stuff)
Reverie (I have no idea what it's about, but Sarah Shahi and Dennis Haysbert? Sold.)
Good Girls
Champions
A.P. Bio
Trial & Error

Fox
Ghosted
Family Guy
The Last Man on Earth
Bob's Burgers
Lucifer
The Gifted
The Mick
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Gotham
The Orville
The Exorcist
X-Files (I absolutely HATED the most recent season, but I like Anderson and Duchovny, so...)
New Girl

The CW
Supergirl
Flash
Legends of Tomorrow
Supernatural
Arrow
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Black Lightning
iZombie

ALL of the OTHER stuff:

AMC
The Walking Dead
Fear the Walking Dead
Preacher
Loaded

HBO
Ballers
Crashing
The Deuce
Divorce
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Room 104 (Very meh on this right now)
Silicon Valley
True Detective
Veep
Westworld
Sharp Objects
Barry

Syfy
Dark Matter
Wynonna Earp
Con Man

Netflix
Documentary Now!
Atypical
Gypsy
Friends from College
Narcos
Bloodline
Bojack Horseman
Arrested Development
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Sense8
Punisher
Black Mirror
Jessica Jones
Stranger Things
Santa Clarita Diet
13 Reasons Why

Hulu
Locke & Key
Welcome to Sweden
The Mindy Project
The Handmaid's Tale
Casual
The Path
Chance

Cartoon Network
Rick and Morty
Robot Chicken

FX
American Horror Story: Cult
You're the Worst
Better Things
Archer
Legion
Atlanta
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Starz
The Girlfriend Experience
American Gods
Ash vs. the Evil Dead

TBS
Angie Tribeca
The Detour
The Guest Book

Amazon
Comrade Detective
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan
Catastrophe
Sneaky Pete

Spike
The Mist

Cinemax
Outcast

DirecTV
Mr. Mercedes

TV Land
Teachers
The Jim Gaffigan Show

CBS shows I'll eventually watch once they're on something other than CBS's pay-to-watch app
Big Bang Theory (I'm a season or two behind)
Star Trek Discovery
SEAL Team
Elementary
The Odd Couple

Shows I eventually want to watch but I haven't even started yet, or I started but never finished:

Carnivale
The Comeback
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The 100
Six Fee Under
Treme
Better Call Saul
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Strain
Fargo
The Americans
Broad City
Gravity Falls
Stephen Universe
Star vs. the Forces of Evil
Continuum
Mad Men
Gracepoint
Broadchurch
Portlandia
Doctor Who
Orphan Black
Mr. Robot

My Collections, Part 3: Starman of 1951

2017-08-18T15:53:00.000-05:00

Not a lot to show here. The Starman of 1951 was a throwaway character in an early issue of Detective Comics (#247 from September 1957). Spoiler alert, it's an alternate hero Batman poses as...for some reason. I don't have this comic, although I'm always searching eBay for a complete, cheap issue.

During James Robinson's Starman series, he brought in ALL characters who have ever used the name Starman. Now, he couldn't actually bring in Batman as a former Starman, so he retconned the character into Dr. Mid-Nite posing as the character while...well, y'know, go read the comics. Seriously, it's worth it.

These are the few appearances and pieces of artwork I have. The art pieces are from sets mentioned in the last post.

My Collections, Part 2.2: Starman (Ted Knight) - The Stuff

2017-08-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

It wasn't until I started REALLY collecting Starman comics that I decided I was going to get ALL things Starman related. This includes toys, trading cards, prints, posters, miscellaneous collectibles, and original art.

One of the good things about collecting a character like Starman is that there isn't a ton of stuff out there to collect. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc....fuggedaboutit. With Starman, there's just enough stuff out there to make the hunt fun, but not enough to overwhelm me. And there aren't a lot of high-dollar items out there. Statues and original art will always be expensive, but the character just isn't sought after enough to make his action figures or trading cards all that sought after.

First up is my original art. This part of my collection started about 10 years ago. I was a member of an online graphic novel trading group called Sequential Swap. I was contacted by member Derek Fridolfs to see if I would be interested in trading for one of my books. He said he was an artist and would trade one of my books for a sketch of a character of my choosing. He showed me some samples of his art, which was a little cartoony but still good, so I jumped on the chance. I ended up getting six different Starman sketches from him, ultimately wanting him to do each character for me, but I never got around to having him finish the series. I'm pretty sure the first sketch (Jack Knight) was the only one I traded for, and I probably paid for all of the other, no more than $30 for each character.

The Fred Hembeck sketch is on a blank card the size of a trading card. I ran across this piece on eBay, where he was apparently selling a bunch of cards like this but with different characters. I picked it up for $10, which I thought was a bargain.

A couple years ago I looked at that uncompleted Derek Fridolfs project of Starman sketches and thought I need to try again (by this time Derek was really making a name for himself, and I assumed his sketch prices were going up), but one a somewhat smaller scale. I came across artist Rob Retiano through a Facebook group where we were both members. He posted some of his art and mentioned he was open for commissions, so I brought him my idea for the cards. One card for each person to ever take the mantle of Starman, as well as his arch nemesis (all three Mists) and The Shade. There were also two versions of Ted (in costume and when he was older) as well as two versions of Prince Gavyn, Mikaal, Will, and David (Blacked Night David was included). He drew and colored a total of 20 cards for me, and I couldn't have been happier with what I received.

The two Brett Jones pieces were done as a trade through a Facebook group, but I do not remember what I traded for the piece. He included the finished piece (with an interesting new color scheme) as well as a preliminary drawing he did to get warmed up for the final piece. He also included a signed copy of the first issue of his comic Radiation Day!

The splatter print was kind of a lark. I liked the idea of the pictures, but I ended up having a bit of buyers remorse. I wasn't paying for original art or a print of an original piece by the artist. I was basically paying for a piece from another artist that was recolored. When I asked the artist about his process, this is what he told me: "I paint these digitally in Photoshop with various brushes." When I brought up that the pictures greatly resemble works by other artists, he said, "I typically look at a reference photo so it is possible they resemble other work ... I'm not familiar with the artists though." I realized that this kind of work isn't my thing, but if it's yours, check the guy out. His Etsy store has been offline since April, but it says it'll be back.

I don't have anything illuminating to say about the trading cards or the action figures. They are what they are. Same with the cup, but I thought it was a neat find. 7-11 having superhero cups isn't all that surprising or exciting, but putting the Golden Age Starman on a cup? That seems pretty out there.

Here are the pics for the collection. Enjoy!

My Collections, Part 2.1: Starman (Ted Knight) - The Comics

2017-07-26T11:32:00.001-05:00

This is going to be the first image-heavy post. Rather than clutter up the actual post with a bunch of images that I can't rearrange all that well, I've decided to upload them to an Imgur album. Easy peasy. The link will be at the bottom of the post.

I don't really have much of a connection with Theodore "Ted" Knight, the original Starman. My love of Starman comes from Ted's son, Jack, and the series that follows his exploits. But because I love Jack, I love Starman, and because I love Starman, I love ALL the characters who have taken up the mantle and used the name, and that includes Ted.

This is going to be the most difficult character in which to collect. It's not that he has a ton of appearances, it's just that most of them, at the least his main appearances and not just when he appears in the background as a member of the JSA, are in the Golden Age. I'm looking at about 40 issues of Adventure Comics and about 15 issues of All-Star Comics. Even rough copies of these comics are going to cost me some serious scratch. These will probably be the last issues I'll end up acquiring, if I ever do.

Like I said, Ted isn't my go-to Starman, There is, however, one story that he's a part of that is amazing, and it's no coincidence that it's written by Jack's guiding hand, James Robertson. The Golden Age predates Robinson's Starman series, both in publication and setting. The series takes place following WWII, and the heroes of the time are adjusting to life after the war...The War? Do we capitalize it? Or is that only when we call it The Great War?

Anyways, the story is an Elseworlds series. If you're not familiar, that's the banner DC used to give their alternate reality stories: Batman: Red Rain and Gotham by Gaslight, Superman: Red Son, etc. They even devoted an entire year's annual to Elseworld stories. I REALLY want to talk about the story and what it's about, but even though the story is 24 years old, I don't want to spoil it. I CAN say, though, Ted's character (and he really is more Ted than Starman here) has some great characterization that Robinson actually brings over to his Starman series.

If you're a fan of the story, I just found this old webpage that has annotations on the series. I'm going to be diving into that sometime this week.

Besides The Golden Age, there are a few personal highlights of my Ted Knight collection. I've acquired some of the Silver Age Justice League issues, including the first appearance of the Silver Age Red Tornado. I was lucky enough to snag it for a good price right before it was announced he was going to be on the Supergirl TV show. I've also got the hard-to-find Golden Age and Starman uncorrected preview editions.

I can remember only three times when reading a comic book made me cry. The second time was Ultimate Peter Parker's funeral in Ultimate Fallout #1, when the little girl asked Aunt May if she was the one who made Peter breakfast. Oof, I'm almost tearing up just thinking about it. The third was issue #134 of Fables where Bigby Wolf is reunited with his child (I won't say which one or why they're being reunited...GO READ FABLES). It was beautiful and sad and happy and probably my favorite part of the series, and that is saying A LOT.

The first time I cried when reading a comic book, though, was the memorial service for Ted. The memories were spectacular, and somewhat simplistic art by Peter Snejberg perfectly captured the mood. With the Ultimate Fallout issue, I read it thinking about me surviving the death of one of my kids, and with Fables I read it thinking about having a reunion with one of them. With Starman issue #73, though, I imagined what kind of stories I'd be hearing about my own father if this were his memorial service. It's one thing for a writer to write...that's their job. But those who can put you in the scene and make you feel so many emotions...for an imaginary character...that's talent.

The Jack Knight I grew to love could not have happened without Ted. I don't say that in a snarky way to suggest that without his dad he wouldn't have been born, because duh. Robinson's Starman series was about family and legacy. There were eight different Starman beginning with Ted. There was a Starboy as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. There was a Stargirl. Without Ted, there wouldn't be this rich heritage. Don't believe me? Look at DC's rebooted line. There was no Golden Age of Heroes once DC introduced the New 52 universe in 2011. There was no Ted Knight/Starman (there MAY have been a Ted Knight, who knows, but there was no Golden Age Starman), so there was no Jack Knight/Starman. There was/is a Stargirl, but she had nothing to do with the Knight family and the Starman legacy, at least that we've been told. She still found her step-dad's cosmic belt and a cosmic rod, but as far as I know their creator has not been named. Maybe it was Ted?

I'm hoping that Ted is one of the characters brought back when the Justice Society eventually returns. C'mon, it's going to happen. I would have even been happy with a new Starman in the Earth 2 series, but that never happened. So we'll just have to keep looking to the future and see what DC has in store.

If I've done my research, and I believe I have, here are my two lists for Starman (Ted Knight), my Have List and my Want List:

Have List

52 #7, 27, 38
Action Comics Vol. 1 #663
Adventure Comics Vol. 1 #61 (Millennium Edition), 466
Adventure Comics Vol. 2 #1
All-American Comics Vol. 2 #1
All-Star Comics Vol. 1 #69-70, 74
All-Star Comics Vol. 2 #1-2
All-Star Comics Illustrated Index #1
All-Star Squadron #1-5, 7, 10, 15, 17-19, 24, 27, 30-31, 34, 38, 41-43, 47, 50-51, 53, 57-60, 64, Annual #2-3
America vs. the Justice Society #1-4, Trade Paperback
Armageddon: Inferno #3-4
Batman/Hellboy/Starman #1-2
Birds of Prey #4, 4 (White Lantern Variant)
Blackest Night: JSA #3, 3 (Variant)
Brave and the Bold Vol. 1 #61-62, 182
Countdown #20, 43, 46-47
Crisis on Infinite Earths #4, 9, 10, 12
Damage #12, 15
DC 2000 #1
DC Comics One Million #1
DC Comics Presents: Superman - Sole Survivor #1 (Signed by cover artist Kevin Nowlan)
DC Sampler #2
DC Universe Holiday Bash #2
DC Universe: Legacies #5
DC/Wildstorm: Dreamwar #2
DCU Heroes Secret Files and Origins #1
Final Crisis Secret Files and Origins #1 (Border Cover), 1 (Full Cover)
Final Night #2-3
Flash Vol. 2 Annual #3
Golden Age #1-4, Deluxe Hardcover, Preview, Trade Paperback
Golden Age Secret Files and Origins #1
Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #1 (Signed by Mark Bright), 3 (Signed by Mark Bright), 6
Green Lantern Secret Files #1 (Signed by Kevin Nowlan, Darryl Banks)
Green Lantern: Brightest Day, Blackest Night
Green Lantern: Fear Itself
Green Lantern/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness #1
Hellboy: Masks and Monsters Trade Paperback
History of the DC Universe #1-2, Trade Paperback, Hardcover
Infinite Crisis #2 (Jim Lee), 2 (George Perez)
Infinity Inc. #1-2, 8-9, 12, 20-21, 25, 27, 34, 48, Annual #1, 2
JLA: Incarnations #4
JLA: Year One #2, 4, 11, 12
JSA #1, 18, 56, 69 (Signed by Keith Champagne), 70-72
JSA: All-Stars Vol. 1 #4, 8
JSA Classified #20
JSA Secret Files and Origins #1 (Signed by Darryl Banks, Kevin Nowlan)
JSA: Strange Adventures #1-6, Trade Paperback
Justice League: Another Nail #3
Justice League of America Vol. 1 #30, 64, 73, 82-83, 101, 193, 207-208, 219-220, 231-232
Justice League: The Nail #1
Justice Society of America Vol. 1 #1-3, 5, 7
Justice Society of America Vol. 2 #1
Justice Society of America Vol. 3 #8, 8 (Variant), 25, 25 (Variant), 50, 50 (Variant)
Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special #1
Legends of the DC Universe #1
Manhunter Vol. 4 #13, 23
Martian Manhunter Vol. 2 #20
Red Tornado #1, 3
Sandman Mystery Theatre #38-40
Secret Origins Vol. 3 #7, 27, 50
Smash Comics Vol. 2 #1
Spectre Vol. 3 #20
Starman Vol. 1 #26-27
Starman Vol. 2 #0-4 (all signed by Tony Harris), 7, 9-13, 15-18, 20-22, 24-25, 27, 29-30, 32-35, 37, 39-53, 55-56, 61-72, 76-79, 1,000,000, Annual #1-2, Sins of the Father Trade Paperback
Starman 80-Page Giant #1 (Signed by John Lucas and Drew Geraci)
Starman Secret Files and Origins #1
Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0, 2, 4, 8-9
Superman Vol. 2 #226
Superman/Batman #41
Superman: Our Worlds at War Secret Files and Origins #1
Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert Hardcover
Thrilling Comics Vol. 2 #1
Vault of Michael Allred #4
Wanted, the World's Most Dangerous Villains #6
War of the Gods #2, 2 (Collector's Edition), Trade Paperback
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12, 22
Who's Who Update '87 #1
Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #231-232
World's Finest Comics #265
Young All-Stars #1, 3, 9, 20, 27
Zero Hour #1-3, Trade Paperback

Want List

Adventure Comics Vol. 1 #61-102, 462
All-Star Comics Vol. 1 #8-23
All-Star Comics Vol. 2 #1 (RRP Variant)
All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant #1
All-Star Squadron #20-22, 25, 28, 32-33, 35, 44-45, 50, 53, 60, Annual #3
Batman: Secret of the Batcave Trade Paperback
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 2 Hardcover and Trade Paperback
Convergence #8
Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 1, 2, 3, 6 Trade Paperbacks
Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups Vol. 1, 2 Trade Paperbacks
DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #DC-20
DC 2000 #2
DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics: Justice League Vol. 1 Trade Paperback
DC Comics One Million Trade Paperback, Omnibus Hardcover
DC Sneak Preview #1
DC Universe: Legacies #5 (Variant), Trade Paperback, Hardcover
DC Universe: Origins Trade Paperback
DC/Wildstorm: Dreamwar Trade Paperback
Fate #22
Final Crisis Companion
Final Night Trade Paperback
Golden Age Starman Archives Vol. 1-2 Hardcovers
JSA Presents: Green Lantern
Justice League of America Vol. 1 #29, 74, 100, 102, 209
Justice Society of America Vol. 1 #8
Justice Society of America Vol. 2 #9-10
Legionnaires Annual #3
Manhunter Vol. 4 Trial by Fire Trade Paperback, Origins Trade Paperback
Power of Shazam #35-36
Spectre Vol. 3 #62
Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #159
Wonder Woman 1972 Trade Paperback
Young All-Stars #14

Here's a link to pics of all of my Ted Knight/Starman comics.

My Collections, Part 1: The Beginning & Chronicle

2017-07-14T12:01:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to make a post highlighting my collection for some time, but I've been unsure of how to do it. I've already made a post about my Locke & Key collection, but it's grown since then so I want to update that.

So how do I go about presenting it? With Joe Hill, do I go by series? That's going to be another huge L&K post with other tinier posts. With Starman, do I break it down by the different Starmen, starting with Ted Knight?

Whatever I do, I've got to start somewhere. My collection is constantly growing, what with new Hill books and comics (even if they're only new collections or series based on his works if not written by him) coming out, and I'm still building my Starman back issue collection. If I keep waiting, I'll ALWAYS be waiting.

So fuck it, let's kick this bitch off with something small.

I don't know when he started working with me, and I don't know when he quit, and I don't know how long he was here. I've been with the same company for more than 16 years now, and everything just blends together. It's a swirl of friends and projects and bullshit.

But I digress.

There was a guy, his name was (and still is, if I'm being 100% factual) Jonthan Gibson. He was hired as a computer forensic analyst. I don't take to new people quickly, but we ended up bonding over nerdy things, eventually forming a good friendship.

When he was in school at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Jonathan, please forgive me if I get any detail wrong, and by all means feel free to correct me), he and artist Julie Collins self published three issues of a fantasy comic book called Chronicle.

One Friday during my lunch break I was visiting my friendly neighborhood local comic book store (LCBS from here on in) because they had posted on Facebook that they had purchased a box full of variant covers and they were priced to sell. I'm a completist, so when I'm collecting something, I'm collecting ALL of it, and that includes all types of variant covers and reprints. So I spent a little bit of time shuffling through the short box of comics, pulling out issues here and there, so I "needed," some I figured I could flip for profit (meh, I've been only slightly successful with that). Toward the end of the box I came across two black and white comics, no publisher mentioned anywhere on the cover. The title tickled something in my brain, so I pulled one of the comics out. There, right on the bottom, was my coworker's name. Out of all the comics I bought that day (and it was quite a few), these two, issues 0 and 1 (sadly, no #2), are by far my most valued (in sentiment if not monetary value).

I bought these books after Jonathan had moved on from ROCIC to greener pastures. However, I host a Game of Thrones season premiere viewing party every year that he attends. The first one I had after purchasing his comics, I brought them out and had him sign them for me. Just because he's my friend doesn't change the fact that I'm a collector at heart. I've since located Ms. Collins through social media, and I'm about to get in contact with her to see if she might have an extra copy of #2 lying around and/or if I could mail the two comics I have to her for her to sign.

Jonathan has kept up with Chronicle, transitioning it to a web comic. You can click on the links to visit the strip's webpage and Facebook page. The strip isn't his day job, so updates aren't 100% regular, but I recommend giving him a look and a follow.

So that's it for this first installment. I'll begin my Joe Hill collection with the next installment...but which series? Hmm, decisions decisions.

Deleted Posts

2016-12-14T10:42:00.000-06:00

I don't know if I have/had any regular readers of the blog. Going by the post-view numbers, I averaged around 50 views per post. I have no idea who any of you are. Friends? Relatives? Strangers who stumble on to the posts because of the songs I attach?

Anyways, if you're a regular, you might notice that almost all of the posts from this year were deleted. A couple of weeks ago a friend messaged me on Facebook and said she had stumbled across it and thought I should take a second look at what I had written, especially the more recent posts. So I did, and wow. Two things came to mind: 1) I sounded like an absolutely bat-shit crazy mother fucker, and 2) I threw a really great woman under the bus. I don't like deleting things I write (I DID save everything to a Word document so I can keep it all to myself), but I felt this was necessary. I did this for two reasons. The first was pure selfishness. Like I said, I sounded bat-shit crazy. Sure, it wasn't there in the first post, but you could actually see the evolution of it. My little breakdown was there for all the world to see. Eventually I'll want to be in a relationship again, and I swear if that person were to ever come across my craziness, that'd be it, game over, man.

The second reason was because I HAD thrown someone under a bus. I said some hurtful things because I was hurting. It wasn't right, and I was ashamed. The one post that I kept up because I thought I was being pretty insightful about myself, I edited it a smidge...no names.

So, what have I learned? If I want to write down feelings and shit, buy a fucking journal. Also, keep posting about my comic collection. That damned Locke & Key post has almost 400 views. That's huge for me. There's an update for that in the future.

Still throwing out videos and lyrics, I felt this was appropriate.

When I was young, I was so full of fear

I hid behind anger, held back the tears

It was me against the world, I was sure that I'd win

The world fought back, punished me for my sins

I felt so alone, so insecure, I blamed you instead and made sure I was heard

And they tried to warn me of my evil ways

But I couldn't hear what they had to say

I was wrong, self destruction's got me again

I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong

And I think about my loves, well I've had a few

I'm sorry that I hurt them, did I hurt you too

I took what I wanted, put my heart on the shelf

How can ya love me when you don't love yourself

It was me against the world, I was sure that I'd win

The world fought back, punished me for my sins

And they tried to warn me of my evil ways

But I couldn't hear what they had to say

I was wrong, self destruction's got me again

I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong

And I think about my loves, well I've had a few

I'm sorry that I hurt them, did I hurt you too

I took what I wanted, put my heart on the shelf

How can ya love me when you don't love yourself

I grew up fast, I grew up hard

something was wrong from the very start

I was fighting everybody, I was fighting everything

but the only one that I hurt was me

I got society's blood running down my face

Somebody help me get outta this place

How could someone's bad luck last so long

until I realized that I was wrong

I was wrong, self destruction's got me again

I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong

And I think about my loves, well I've had a few

I'm sorry that I hurt them, did I hurt you too

I took what I wanted, put my heart on the shelf

How can ya love me when you don't love yourself

I was wrong, self destruction's got me again

I was wrong, I realized now that I was wrong

And I think about my loves, well I've had a few

I'm sorry that I hurt them, did I hurt you too

I took what I wanted, put my heart on the shelf

How can ya love me when you don't love yourself

Bright Side

2016-02-12T11:51:00.001-06:00

We shared a lot of great music. I get to see Deadpool opening weekend. Drowning my sorrows at the Flying Saucer. When the grief passes I hope we can still be good friends...it started out that way. I realized that I can in fact love someone again, and that was a big question I had after my divorce. The romance within me did not in fact die. And as long as she's happy with herself and her life, that's really all that matters to me.

Edited to add: I've also got some fucking awesome friends.

Edited again to add: Due to the stress I've been under the past month or so I've lost a pretty decent amount of weight, and I really look better than I have in a long time. Double-edged sword?

Mindset Reset

2016-02-03T10:33:00.006-06:00

I did a LOT of thinking yesterday. A LOT. About who I am, what I'm doing, what I want, what kind of relationship I want, how I handle relationships, and who I want to have a relationship with.

I thought I had spent the last six years recovering from my separation and divorce by finding out who I am, but I've learned that what I've done is just packed that relationship person away until it was time to bring him out again. I jumped into this thing with both feet. When it started, I thought we were on the same page. After a couple weeks it was evident we were moving TOO fast, and she wanted to slow it down. That was fine with me, but I didn't really know how to do that. I had already fallen pretty damn hard for her, so it was difficult to apply my brakes and slow it down. How do you do that when you have such strong feelings for someone?

I didn't see what my sad attempts at slowing down were doing to her. In my blindness/hubris/selfishness, I thought her issues were only in dealing with her ex-boyfriend. I thought her leftover feelings combined with him stringing her along were causing her stress. I didn't see that, although I was adamant about not pressuring her into making any decisions, my constant BEING THERE through texting and social media was doing what I didn't want to do. I was pressuring her.

Earlier this week was her breaking point, I think, and it took that for me to fully see that, yep, my gung-ho attitude about this was as much of a factor as his lackadaisical attitude. Hence my deep introspection yesterday.

My life is not defined by my relationships. My relationships should ENHANCE my life. My relationship with my kids, my parents and sister, the rest of my family, my friends, and those I fall in love with...these relationships cannot control who I am, what I do, or how I think. They are here to build me up and fill me with love, but I'll never be completely full if I don't love myself. Yeah, that sounds way to New Agey for me, but it's true.

I let my kids get under my skin too much without stepping back and really appreciating them for who they are and how they're growing up. #1 is so fucking smart. I was a very above-average student, but I didn't apply myself, so I skated through everything. #1 soaks up knowledge wherever he can. He DOES things. He's got more going on as a 6th grader than I did in middle school and high school combined. He plays the saxophone because I did, and with less than a year under his belt, he's better than I was at his age (and I was pretty darn good). He's got a really good group of friends, and he loves being a Boy Scout. I fucking admire him so much. But he's also incredibly emotional, and I think that's what I see of me in him the most. He's quick to anger, especially at his younger brother (which, to be honest, is justified a lot of the time). Out of the three of them, he's the only who will ever remember his mom and me married. He had to grow up very fast when she left the four of us, and it just makes me sad.

#2 is so much a girl. She likes make-up (although I don't let her wear any yet), dresses, Barbies, babies...yeah, very much a girly girl. And that's not something I pushed, but she chose it, and I'm okay with it. I tried to get her into nerd stuff via comics and TV and movies, but she's not into it and that's fine...she's blazing her own path. She tried gymnastics and cheerleading for a few years, but that started to bore her. She's always loved music (there's my girl!) and singing, and after she showed me a song she wrote (holy shit, it was amazing for 9-year-old), her mom and I decided it was time to talk about music lessons. But we left it up to her. She was currently in Girl Scouts, and she ended up choosing singing and piano lessons over that. I cannot wait to she her grow as a musician. She has so much talent and heart that I just know she's going to do incredible things.

#3 probably has the most of me in him. He's energetic, but he also loves to spend tons of time on the computer (closely monitored by me, don't worry). He's not nerdy like me (that's all #1), but he's also crazy smart...but he doesn't do anything with it. He does his work, does it well, but beyond that he doesn't enjoy learning like his older brother does. He also changes gears pretty quickly. He did "ninja" class for almost a year before getting bored. He plays basketball, but he really has no idea what he's doing. He's in Cub Scouts, but I think he goes just to see friends and go camping every now and then. His emotions are always just under the surface too, but it's more about frustration and sadness as opposed to #1's anger. He tears up easily if he gets yelled at (which I tend to do more often than I should. That said, he is also the sweetest boy. He wakes up every morning with a smile. He's quick with hugs and kisses on the cheek. He is probably biggest headache causer out of the three, but sometimes he's the easiest to forgive.

Why do I let these wonderful kids get under my skin so much? Why do I get exasperated with them? They make my life better just by being here. When they're with their mother every other weekend, my house is quiet and still and lonely. I really don't know what to do with myself when they're gone. Then along comes *****.

***** is also a single mother with kids Bobby's age. Somehow, miraculously, when we started going out we discovered our kid-free weekends synced up. How perfect was that? The last two weekends we didn't see each other, though, and I kind of spiraled into a "what am I going to do with myself?" mode. There was smoking, and there was drinking. Looking back, I can see that my relationships with my kids and with ***** were dictating my attitude and feelings. They weren't there, so I couldn't be happy? Bullshit. That's just bullshit, and I'm just now realizing that. I cherish every second (despite headaches and tantrums and sibling spats) with these people I love, but just because they're not around doesn't mean I still can't be happy. I have friends. I have interests. I have hobbies. I have a house that has been neglected for far too long. I have OTHER THINGS.

My life is not defined by my relationships. ***** and I have been talking constantly since the beginning of October. For better or worse, that's when the relationship really started. But in that time, we've seen each other a total of five times. Only. Five. Times. Five times does not a boyfriend/girlfriend make. SHE knows that...it's just taken me this long to figure it out.

I'm still in love with her. I won't say that won't ever change, because things happen and it's very early in this messed up little relationship we have. But being in love with someone shouldn't make you or them sad. I honestly can't say with any certainty that we'll make it. I'd like to think we will, but as with all relationships, if it does end I know I'll be taking good things away from our time together, things about me that I've realized and can put to use (which I'm already starting to do) in my life and, hopefully, in future relationships. But right now I'm going to do whatever I can to make this work, and right now that means giving her space. I think I spoke on that in yesterday's post. I was pretty successful yesterday I think, and I hope it wasn't the cigarettes helping with that, because I crumpled up the remainder of my pack and threw them in a dumpster this morning (I did save ONE to have before starting work...hopefully my last one ever) so I can't rely on their calming effects anymore. They were just a crutch anyways. As far as communication with her goes, I'm mostly following her lead. I'll text in the morning with a "Have a good day!" and possibly send out a Snapchat if we're still trying to keep our streak going, but daytime contact will be instigated by her only (my decision). I'll text in the evening to see how her day was, and if she wants to continue texting or talking once the kids are in bed, then that's her call. If she doesn't text or Snapchat during the day, then that's no problem. She's got stuff to do, I've got stuff to do...and we've only been out five times. Her frequency of contact does not determine my happiness or who I am.

This was a pretty big revelation for me, so I guess this post ended up being a lot longer than I originally intended. If you read the whole thing, I appreciate it. If you're coming here for pop culture reviews, I apologize for the abrupt change in posting topics, all this is very therapeutic for me, and obviously it's helping. I wonder who IS reading this, though? Do I know you? If not, how did you stumble upon this? I know ***** used to read it, at least when I was going through my divorce and posting links on my Facebook page. She hasn't mentioned anything about it, so probably not?

Time to work. Thank you all for reading. Here's my favorite Paramore song, as a treat (lyrics copied below the video with the relevant ones bolded).

When I was younger

I saw my daddy cry

And curse at the wind

He broke his own heart

And I watched

As he tried to reassemble it

And my momma swore

That she would never let herself forget

And that was the day that I promised

I'd never sing of love

If it does not exist, but darlin'

You are, the only exception

Maybe I know, somewhere

Deep in my soul

That love never lasts

And we've got to find other ways

To make it alone

But keep a straight face

And I've always lived like this

Keeping a comfortable, distance

And up until now

I had sworn to myself that I'm content

With loneliness

Because none of it was ever worth the risk

But, you are, the only exception

You are, the only exception

I've got a tight grip on reality

But I can't let go of what's in front of me here

I know your leaving in the morning, when you wake up

Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream, oh

You are, the only exception

And I'm on my way to believing

Oh, and I'm on my way to believing.

My Locke & Key Obsession

2016-01-24T09:02:00.001-06:00

I'm quitting new comics. This Wednesday, when I go to Rick's Comic City in Donelson to get my last batch of new comics, I'm going to cancel my hold box. I don't know if my dwindling enjoyment is just a thing (I've quit a few other times in the past) or a product of the re-emerging depression, but I'm okay with it. I'm pretty excited about the money I'm going to save. I'm also attempting to sell my collection. I've done that one other time, and I learned some things from it. Primarily I learned that if I REALLY like a series or character, I shouldn't get rid of it.

This time I'm keeping a few boxes, and I'm going to be slowly adding to that collection. Starman is my guy. The James Robinson series in the '90s was AMAZING. So I'm keeping all of those books. But this post isn't about Starman, it's about Locke & Key.

The only reason I started reading Locke & Key was because I'm a huge Stephen King fan, and Joe Hill is King's son. At the time of its release, though, I was at the tail-end of my previous no-buying kick. I was, however, reading them online. I was hooked after the first one. When I got back into buying, this series of mini-series was the first thing I added to my pull list.

Over the past year or so, I've worked hard to track down the issues I've missed, along with variant covers, trade paperbacks, hardcover collections, special collected volumes, and collectibles. This post is just a way for me to show off something I'm really proud of.

Bleeding Cool #5, Doctor Who Classics #2, IDW 10th Anniversary Comic, and IDW Coming Attractions 2009 #1 -
These contain either short stories or previews of one of the L&K minis. I think all I need is the retro variant cover to Doctor Who Classics #2.

This is the first mini series. The only regular issue I'm missing is #1, and apparently there's a foil variant out there, but I've never seen it. I'm also missing the Deluxe Hardcover, the Signed Limited Hardcover, the slipcase for the hardcover set (I bought all my HCs separately through Amazon), and the 2008 SDCC Slipcase sets (three of them).

So, these pictures are going in alphabetical order, not publication order. These are ALL the issues of L&K: Alpha #1. I'm not missing a single thing.

These are the Wondercon variants for Alpha #1 and 2.

These are all the 2nd issue of Alpha. Again, I'm not missing an issue.

This is the complete Clockworks mini. The only issue I'm missing is the variant for issue #2.

This is Crown of Shadows. I'm only missing the variant covers for issues #3, 5, and 6. As a neat little aside, I've got a coworker who custom makes crowns and other items. I've shown her some pictures of the Crown of Shadows, and she's going to make me one, and hopefully I'll even be able to put the Shadow Key in it! I can't wait to post a picture when she's finished. Why don't you check out her Etsy page?

These are two one-shots: Grindhouse on top and Guide to the Known Keys on bottom. I'm missing two variant covers for GttKK, the convention variant and one with a red bar instead of a blue one in the top left corner. I think it's a 2nd print?

Here we have Head Games. I've got all the issues and variants, I'm just missing the signed limited hardcover, some black label hardcovers (I'll address those a little later), a blue label hardcover, and the Subterranean Press hardcover with dust jacket.

This is Keys to the Kingdom. I'm missing the variant covers for issues #2, 3, 4, and 5.

This is Omega. Looks like I've got all of these. :D

These are the Welcome to Lovecraft specials that reprinted the very first issue. I just got the half-key variant that's on the far right a few weeks ago.

Here's the Red Label hardcover for Head Games.

This is one of the Black Label hardcovers for Head Games. Mine includes an original sketch by Langdon Foss.

This is Gabriel Rodriguez's Artist's Edition Portfolio. There are eight (I think) prints inside of uninked pages from throughout the series. They're pretty neat to look at.

This is the IDW 10th Anniversary Slipcase. I know I already have the comic that comes with it, but I also wanted the book. Maybe one day I'll eventually open it and read it. :D

These are the three oversized hardcover collections of the first three mini-series. I don't know if IDW is planning on releasing the rest of the series like this.

Here we've got the oversized treasury edition of Crown of Shadows.

This is the first volume of the Master Edition. Each volume will collect two of the mini-series. The one on the right is the convention variant. I've already got Volume 2 preordered from Amazon.

There's a coloring book! I bought two of these, one to keep and one to actually color. It's hella detailed and kind of a bitch.

This is a slipcase that collects all of the standard variants for L&K: Alpha #2.

Deluxed Edition hardcovers for Welcome to Lovecraft and Head Games.

All of the standard hardcover volumes, as well as the convention exclusives for volumes 4 and 6 and the covers collection.

Trade paperback slipcase.

Odds and ends: L&K the Game as well as an extra key card that was a convention exclusive, some temporary tattoos, a bookmark advertising the audio book (bookmark for an audio book? whatevs), and a L&K themed weekend pass for the 2012 C2E2 convention.

The aforementioned audio book.

Framed poster for Crown of Shadows.

Framed poster for the audio book.

And finally, I'm pretty sure these are ALL of the keys produced by Israel Skelton and his Skelton Crew Studio. They've got some other stuff I'd eventually like to have, like a bust of Bode and some jewelry. Yeah, I'll even collect jewelry...hence calling it an obsession.

Oh Captain, My Captain

2014-08-12T07:56:00.001-05:00

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

The arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

But I with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

Tons of Comics Listed on eBay

2014-06-30T07:56:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure if anyone is still paying attention to this, but I thought I'd leave this little link here. I'm putting a bunch of comic books on eBay. Single issues all start at $.99, and listings with multiple comics will likely have prices less than $.99/book. All Buy It Now prices will be around half the book's value (as listed at www.comicspriceguide.com).

The summer is a rough time for a single father with three kids in daycare. Ugh. So if you need some comics, check out what I'm offering, and check back every day through the next week or so for new additions.

I've also got a few hardcover collections and trade paperbacks available.

My Comic Book Listings