Every day, I now get to stare at a Post-it note portrait created by my co-workers. Notice the resemblance?

Death in comics has become an annoyance. Both for the characters and the readers. There used to be this unwritten rule that death in comics was permanent in only three cases: Jason Todd (Robin II), Captain America’s sidekick Bucky, and Barry Allen (the Flash II). These were characters that were dead 20 years ago and that everyone generally agreed would stay dead indefinitely.

DC and Marvel have brought them all back to life in recent years. The end result being when a major character is killed at the end of one of the big two companies’ major events, readers at this point just shrug. Death has no weight in comics today. I’m not sure why we even bother pretending otherwise.

Which brings us to last week’s launch of the Flash #1, which was the debut of recently-back-from-the-dead Barry Allen’s new ongoing series. Barry has been back for awhile now having starred in two mini-series and playing a prominent role in the Blackest Night mega-event. Here’s a secret I’ve learned about him over the last year: he has NO character. He’s a bland guy who used to wear a bow-tie and was always late for everything. That’s it.

The recent Flash: Rebirth miniseries, which was plagued by delays, did nothing to establish his character, nor did the Blackest Night tie-in Flash mini-series. Writer Geoff Johns has done nothing to show us why Barry is so great that DC NEEDED to resurrect him. He had a great death and it should have been left alone.

On top of all of that, I should disclose that I harbor some resentment against this series based on the fact that it stole the creative team behind Adventure Comics after only six issues; a book that was really establishing itself as one of DC’s stronger offerings.

You may ask why I even bothered reading a book that I’m so clearly biased against…? Well DC promised me a little plastic toy Flash ring if I did.

And guess what! My store didn’t even have any. Jerks.

What’s that you ask? No, I’m not six years old.

So what did I think about Flash #1?

It kind of rocked. This book was pitched as superheroes meets CSI. It’s an interesting concept that is barely touched on in issue 1, but you can see the groundwork being laid out.

The real hero behind this book though is artist Francis Manapul. The sequence featuring Barry disassembling a car at super speed to keep it from killing some construction workers and a child is STUNNING. There’s also a page featuring the Rogues that looks like something out of a recent issue of J.H. Williams’ Detective Comics. Really strong stuff.

And the twist at the end, is a nice change of pace from the typical comic book death.

Unfortunately Barry Allen still has no personality, but I’ll give Johns a few more months to try to find it.

What could this possibly mean for the season finalé?

Photo by Olivier Vandeginste, originally published on Boston Globe.com.

This is another article about the iPad.  If you don’t like awesome stuff, stop reading.  If you refuse to use Apple products, you probably already stopped reading, but anyway… If you refuse to use Apple products you won’t get to enjoy this awesomeness, so you might as well not get your hopes up and move along.

Pete and I know we want an iPad.  We also know we don’t need one.  But maybe we DO need one.  I mean, it would almost be wrong for us to not buy the next greatest Apple product since Apple is responsible for our future baby-making.  Back on track – we know we want an iPad.  So we went to check it out.  See if it was really as awesome as they say.  We ended up playing games on it the entire time we were in the store.  My game of choice was Plants Vs. Zombies by PopCap.  I wouldn’t leave the store until I completed a level.  And since it was a version made for the iPad, it was AWESOME.

Knowing that we will eventually get an iPad, I was stubborn and said I would not download the app for my iPhone because it was a waste of money since I will need to re-buy it for the iPad.  (Look Mom, I am concerned about spending $3!)  Sorry, that didn’t last too long.  By 11pm that night I was in bed downloading the game to my iPhone.  I had to have it.

I just need to tell you that the game is super addictive and super awesome.  It is completely worth the $3.  There is definite strategy involved, and with “Achievements” there is absolute replay value after completing Adventure Mode successfully.  Replay value on a $3 game is clearly important.  Just like my first adventures into Gossip Girl, this game has kept me up far past exhaustion, because I just have to know what’s next!  And it isn’t just me, Pete beat adventure mode like a day after I downloaded it.  If you want to actually know anything about the game, let’s just say, the plants keep the zombies out of your house, and bacon is involved.

I feel this way about almost all PopCap games though.  Peggle on the xBox could have a whole separate post…. I never thought I would get into using my iPhone for games.  After one visit to the Apple Store, I KNOW I would be using the iPad for mostly gaming.  Games, and I think it would be ultra-handy for recipes in the kitchen.

So, like I said…this was really a post about the iPad.

I’ve been watching Doctor Who for almost 25 years.  One of my fondest memories is the exact moment I realized I had to know everything there was to know about the show. I’m going to write a whole lot here about what’s on my mind while we’re between seasons. Again, I want to warn anyone that might not want read any of this to turn away.  I’d hate to waste your time or spoil anything for you.  As a disclaimer, I just want to point out that I do not have any advanced knowledge of the future.

Read more of this article »