It's been a pretty nice Holiday season this year. While I still don't have my own place, still am stuck in school, still jobless, and such it's still nice. While I wish for all those things to happen, I can be patient. I have my family and I have a woman that loves me so much and I love her back in return. I'm finally at a spot where I am at least happy again.

I spent a wonderful week in Salt Lake City with Ingela, and it hurts that it's over. It doesn't seem fair that I finally have someone like her in my life but we're separated by such distance. I got to live with the last girl who turned out to not even really feel for me at all and was just using me for her own goals, yet I can't live with Ing just yet. Debts, and school and just not matching situations are blocking it. I hurt every second I'm away from her, and V-Day can't come soon enough. Come this next Summer might be the time at last I get to live with her. I like Sacramento and my family, but I also love it there in Utah where I can get a job and be with her. The job market is just crap here, and if I stay I'll be living at home for a good long time it seems. I'm ready to finally move on in my life. It's finally time to grow up and head out into the world. I've stalled long enough.

Got some great stuff for Christmas this year and I'm happy:

From Mom & Dad:
- New Desk chair (to replace the creaky old wooden chair that is about to break lol)
- Electric Shaver
- Ipod Docking Station
- Hangover DVD
- Spider-Man mini puzzle
- Hot Chocolate/Marshmallows/Bro

In my non resolution type resolutions (I refuse to just call them that cause then they usually get forgotten just like most people lol), one of the goals I have is to work long and hard on getting firmly back into the writing that I love so much. Be it fan fiction and some novel ideas I have, all will be worked hard at in this next year. These are just some of the projects that stand before me in the new fresh year:

- Darkhawk (Mini-series at Marvel Omega)
- Champions: A big change is coming for this title after issue #12 just about, where I return i tto the direction that I pitched for it and mentioned at the start. A big bad will be revealed that ties into Darkhawk, and will be a threat in the background for the team for times to come. A roster change, a wedding, death, betrayal, old enemies, new faces, old faces, and more crime than you can shake a fist at are to come.

- Invincible Iron Man: With issue #3 that has come out and #4 that is soon to come out the "Mind over Matter" arc comes to an end and the mystery of the new Iron Man begins. At the start of the year comes the aptly named arc "Who is Iron Man?" and leads up to some big revelations about the mastermind behind Tony's troubles, the new Iron Man, the new Iron Monger, secrets held by Rumiko and Pepper Potts, new enemies, old enemies, and just good old fashioned super heroics.

- Nova: With the third and final issue of the first arc comign close to completion at last the Human Rocket will be blasting back into space for all the space adventure you crave. With a new mission and new supporting cast, Richard Rider gets in way over his head. Gamora and her Graces, Blood Brothers, Star Lord, Skrulls, Kree, all new alien races, the Nova Corps... it's all there.

- Astonishing X-Men: Issue #4 will deal with Banshee, Kitty, and Longshot on their case of the mutant killer, bringing in a more recent foe of the X-Men. Then in Hulk Spectrum the Astonishing team meets the Red Hulk and big changes occur for the team. After that: The Neo, Children of the Vault, Mojo, and some big happenings for the entire X-Line are down the pipe line.

- Uncanny X-Men: Doug and I have lots of things planned for this title and the playground that a post Onslaught world offers up.

- Gravity: The newest hero in the Altered Visions playground continues to make his mark as he encounters new villains and new allies. A big new job that could spell disaster and ties him into the world at large within Altered Visions. Romance, diaster, good old fashioned villain butt kicking, and adventure await.

- Titans: The Titans have a final confrontation with Trigon and things will never be the same. The Injustice League and Darkside Club come calling. A new romance. New team members. New missions. New evils. Old evils. Fun, death, love, and all the usual come down on the heads of the former sidekicks. Starting with issue #15 back up stories in the vein of the past one in Titans Special 2009 will begin to appear. Each will focus upon one of the Titans members and be either in the past or present. First up is Cyborg for issue #15.

Along with the things I already have going I plan to finish the Starjammers mini for M2K, and have plans for another one down the line. I have many one shot and anthology issue ideas to bring out. A few other mini series I want to plan and plot and pitch. Three novel ideas to work on. A co-writing gig in the works for Marvel Anthology and many other things. 2010 will be a good year.

My favorite story this year: There are a lot of stories that I liked this year. Dino and Steve's run on Thunderbolts, Hunter's X-Force, All the X-Titles at Marvel Anthology and all the Initiatives that have started there as well, Everything else at Marvel Omega has been great this year, Everything I've read at M2K and Marvel Reborn and Altered Visions and JLU2001 as well. I'm very easy to please lol.

My best story this year: Umm that's a tough one. I don't usually think about that when it comes to my work. I guess probably the Titans Special, Nova #2, Starjammers Holiday Special, or Champions #7 would be one of the best one's.

Story most under appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Dunno, I think almost everything has it's fans and detractors. Just the way writing is.

Story I kind of wish I'd never written: Well I don't' wish I hadn't written it, but I wish I had fleshed out Champions #6 more to really delve into Darkhawk's addiction and fight to get past it.

Most fun story: Titans Special, only cause writing the past Teen Titans was so fun.

Most sexy story: None of mine were really sexy this year lol

Story with single sexiest moment: Again see above lol

Story with single sweetest moment: Hmm again that's a hard one. Didn't really write any really sweet stories yet this year.

Most unintentionally *telling* story: Champions #6

"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: None yet, but I have one coming next year that definitely might fit this. Well actually two or three big moments that might really be considered wrong or far in left field lol

Hardest story to write: Stajammers #3. The mini series has been stagnant since the beginning of the year cause I have a hard time figuring out how to continue on even though it's plotted. But it's my white whale to conqour in 2010

Easiest story to write: Champions #7, just belted that bad boy out in a few days.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most: Gradual change I guess. I have been pretty stagant with titles being just the typical super hero fare, which there is nothing wrong with that, but I am slowly working towards some big time changes to most of my titles that will skew them away from typical comic stories.

So about a year after everything went down with Batman in Final Crisis...Bruce Wayne is returning. April 2010, starts a six issue mini series with his return, that then leads into another status quo shattering event for the Bat family. So now with Bruce returning, Superman set to probably end up back on Earth after his event next year, Kyle dead, Barry back with Wally as back up again now, Arsenal possibly maimed for good, Connor Hawke vanished into limbo....the originals are almost all back into place while legacy characters take back seat again or vanish for good. It's funny that DC is touted as the company all about Legacy and introducing Legacy Characters, but then just like Marvel they bring them back over and over because it's too much of a risk to bet on keeping the old characters dead moneywise. Really there was no point to Bruce, Captain America, and others deaths in recent years as it's reversed barely any time later. Though at least Steve's death was for two years before they caved and brought him back. Bruce's grave isn't even cold yet...then again it did get ransacked by Black Lanterns....

Heroes For Hire #6: Since I've seen this issue from conception to completion in different parts and have given Hunter my feedback during reading's I'll keep this short lol. I loved seeing a part of Control's plans in action and thought Hunter handled the fight between Danny and Luke and the entry of the Livewires perfectly. I'd love to see him tackle the two buddies again at some point.

Exiles #1: Definitely my top pick issue of the update. Having read many different variations of Exiles in the fan fiction world over the years I've liked them all as each writer brings in a different flavor to them. This one was just great in that it used different characters than the one's we already associate with the dimension hopping team. Each character was fully realized and felt like a complete character even in just short couple paragraph scenes setting up their worlds. I could read an issue about almost any one of the main character's worlds easily an enjoy every bit. I concour with others that it's great to see Sandman in this new light, and Goblin is just awesome. Next to him the new Daredevil is my second favorite. The new Timebroker and the set up for their missions and why they are doing it was great. Seeing pretty much a team of non-mutants save one is a good start. With the giant multiverse there are so many characters to change up and expand upon that aren't mutants. Great first issue, can't wait for the second.

Amazing Fantasy #27: The only experience with reading the Guardians of the Galaxy I have is from the most recent series. I've never read the past series and know very little if anything about most of the characters besides those that have popped up someplace else recently. That being said I found this to be a very easy to get into tale about the old Guardians in a past moment of their continuity. Space heroes doing their thing and jumping in to help others while running into the type of situations that make the heads of Earth heroes hurt most times like the Celestials. Another great done in one title and can't wait to see what Travis brings to the site in ongoing form.


* Will be reviewing Tomb of Dracula once I catch up on all the issues this weekend, along with long delayed feed back on older issues so expect quite a bit of feedback from me in future days ahead.

Picked up the latest batch of reading from the library today. Got a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel to read that I hadn't picked up before. Also picked up a tone of TPB's to catch up on old reading. I got:

- Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool
- Batman: Death and the City
- Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come
- Star Wars Legacy: Volume 3 "Claws of the Dragon"
- Star Wars Legacy: Volume 4 "Alliance"
- Star Wars Legacy: Volume 5 "The Hidden Temple"
- The New Teen Titans: The Terror of Trigon
- Batman: Gotham Underground
- New X-Men: Childhood's End (re-reading this one, for inspiration for my X-Men RPG I run)
- Marvel Essential's Dazzler Volume 2

End of the long month road. There were lots of hit and miss days where the writing didn't come and I was exhausted beyond belief to even try. The last week led to a downturn as dealing with family in town for the holidays just either tired me too much or annoyed me just as much. I reached over half-way which is an accomplishment as it's much further than I ever got the last two years of trying.

I hail this all as a success because I managed to finish many issues that had been stalled, started new ones, revisited others that needed work, and just became productive once again.

Finished this month:
- Nova #2 (MO)
- M2K Holiday Story
- Gravity #2
- Friendly Neighborhood #2
- Darkhawk #1 (MO)

Almost Finished or Did Great Amount of Work:
- Starjammers #3
- Champions #8
- Invincible Iron Man #4
- Astonishing X-Men #4
- Hulk Spectrum
- Nova #3
- Titans #15

With my drive back and firmly in place I will be following this format each month now. Giving myself a target of word amount and going after it. I'm just glad to be writing once again and am enjoying almost everything I have on my plate. As mentioned before there are a few things that might become axed, and by mention above and the title font at the MO site you can see some like my Darkhawk mini for MO are going to thrive strong and add to my plate. The ideas have been flowing like crazy lately so you can expect a great many things out of me from a plethora of the sites I work at. I'll be working each day to map out what I plan to achieve. Right now I have a great amount of MO stuff planned with Champions continuing in a new direction, Darkhawk to compliment that series with a new direction for Chris and the next step for him, a couple of Amazing Fantasy and Bring on the Bad Guy issues to bridge other things in these two series, tons of awesome adventures for Nova, and big time annuals for each of my ongoing series for the next year that will blow the lid off of many things. So strap in and keep on reading as Scott is back at full power and ready to blast off.

Another day another couple thousand words. Today I knocked out quite a bit of my Hulk Spectrum issue and a bit more of Astonishing X-Men. Both are really fun, as they feature the same characters for the most part. Issue 4 of Astonishing picks up on plot threads from Dino's issues with Banshee, Kitty, and Longshot on the trail of the mystery of a dead body that might have to do with Mutants. It won't be the last of the three and perhaps others solving mysteries. The Hulk Spectrum issue will feature most of the rest of the team while focusing upon Jean/Scott and Vance/Angelica and the contrasting dynamics of their relationships as they come up against the Red Hulk, Hulk of Love!

The other night I mentioned about my new mini for Marvel Omega that I'm working on as well as the chance of some series meeting their possible ends from under my pen. I said I'd talka bout them the next day and then never wrote. So tonight I will. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is a title I undertook at Marvel Labs earlier this year. There were seven months between the first and second issue being released. I have plans for the title, but it's proving to be a burden to write and with the universe around it having moved so far ahead it seems almost stagnant compared to the rest. I haven't made a firm decision yet but it's close to the proverbial chopping block.

Another title is my Champions title for Marvel Reborn. I love writing my Iron Man there and Uncanny with Doug, but this title is so hard to write. I thought I could do the comedic turn on a team but it's proving harder than I thought. I will be finishing up my first arc and wrapping things up and perhaps it can then be a mini that either another person can pick up the team later or I myself might at another time. I also haven't made a firm decision about this one but it's just one of those titles thats nagging at me.

So far those are the only title. MO Champions at one time was but I was rejuvinated for that title with upcoming changes to cast, obscure villains proving to be a threat, the tie-in to the mini series, mysteries abounding concerning Night Thrasher's whereabouts, and many other things that will keep me on there for quite awhile. Nova is a title I will never be giving up on anytime soon as I have tons and tons of ideas that are never ending. The same goes for Gravity at AV, Titans at JLU, Iron Man and Uncanny at MR, and Astonishing X-Men at MA (as well as another title I may be scripting for another writer there). Starjammers for M2K has three more issues and I will be finishing those soon and then will be looking for other things to do there as I enjoy writing there just like all the places I write.

So a question tonight after all that status update lol. A few years ago Marvel decided to put Storm and Black Panther together in a marriage that sent many fans off. Is there a pairing that many might find controversial, or just one that seems to fit but has been ended or ignored by Marvel/DC that you would either like to see pursued in comics or would do in fan fiction?

With a huge folder full of recent weeks comics to catch up on as well as folder upon folder of back issues suggested by others I'm reading as well, I figured I'd start putting up some reviews of things. This will be probably a daily entry by me for the next few weeks or more as I catch up more and more on Marvel/DC history and classic runs I missed as well as the good and bad of recent times.

Uncanny #517:

It wasn't horrible, but it was messy plot wise. Things just don't connect and Fraction keeps drilling home that Cyke and Emma are apparently all that matters in the X-Men. The rest are just the foot soldiers that don't speak that much cept when they can play off one of the big two and just fight all the time. Getting a bit old. Since when do they need an all powerful telepath just to keep up the psi-link? And since when were the Cuckoos only powerful if they had the Phoenix force? Instead of trying to wake them their just gonna ditch them and get Emma back? I also don’t really see where the supposed story potential of the shard of Void in her head is so far. It's just made her bitchier and pretty useless for once.

It's also funny that Cyke basically says that without a telepath connecting them...their a useless team. Sucks to be them. Wonder how teams like the Avengers do it without Telepaths...oh or wait other versions of the X-teams over the years with no telepath at the time. Hmm must be flukes I suppose.

This is the perfect time really to show why Psylocke was needed back and could be used for something good. Team telepath. Not "Oh damn Emma is the greatest therefore we need her back. Forget Xavier, and Betsy and such. It's the Cyke and Emma show of course!"

It was nice to see more characters, though I wish we got more than just them throwing out one word or catchphrase type things and only fighting. While Rogue’s mixed power attack was cool, it doesn’t seem to mesh with Legacy, where she's still trying to come to grips with the change in her power but here suddenly she's super woman taking on all these powers at once. At the same time she told the kids she wasn’t out fighting with the others cause she didn’t really know her powers too well, then seconds later takes on like six powers at once. Just doesn't mesh. But then again when has Fraction really paid attention to other books.

Don’t even get me started on the art really. Sigh, and it seems Fraction is on even after Second Coming as of now. May just stop reading this title soon as it’s nothing but trash.

Hulk #17:

Why I figured there would be some more hint or revelation behind the Red She Hulk in this issue is beyond me. Loeb is building more and more mysteries that no one really cares about anymore. That and his Red Hulk seems to keep shifting character. First he was the all out bad guy against Banner but now he’s like an anti hero now who’s against his sponsors and Banner but not really while Samson is a true villain now…even though Red Hulk and others turned Samson that way…it’s all a jumbled mess that is just gone way past needing a revelation. Fall of the Hulks looks to be another mess as Loeb is a big part of it. Sigh, can we get good Hulk again? I’ll stick to reading the PAD Hulk issues suggested to me last week.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #5:

Finally read the issue...well not really read more like skimmed as most of it bored the hell out of me....and this is definitely not the Robinson of Starman and such. I just started reading the Starman series after reading the awesome series at JLU, and I really like it. This....this is just terrible.

Roy....it's sad when they decide they don't have a spot for a character they just kill them or maim them. This reads now like Robinson re-wrote most of it after he got the main JLA book gig to bring in all those weird characters he has on his roster. It reads nowhere like the mini/ongoing they solicited so long ago. Characters are just showing up for the hell of it now and really nothing at all has happened except maiming and angry bitching and more characters showing up and weird hook ups and the like. Batwoman was solicited as a member of this team...so just showing up on the monitor counts as a team member? *shrugs* So glad I don't waste money on this.

Justice Society of America #33:

Well that was predictable. I hate to say it but this went from a title I love to one that is only iffy at the moment. Perhaps with the spilt the main book will be good again, but we’ll see. Things were just anti-climatic and the revelations were telegraphed way back at the start almost. The story seemed to change over time just to fulfill the idea to switch the team to two separate ones. Just like Cry for Justice I’m wondering if the editorial decision to change something fundamental with the title caused the story to change, or the writers pitched one thing and ran a crazy idea by Editorial and once Editorial said yeah to the idea they totally changed the direction of the arc to match their new crazy idea. We’ll see how the new direction goes but I’m not impressed by the directions of any of the big Justice team books lately.

Justice League of America #39:

Robinson’s second offering of the week and just as disappointing as Justice Society and Cry For Justice. I’m starting to think that Editorial wanted the Blackest Night to change to a full universe event over John’s planned Green Lantern contained event just so they could have an excuse to kill off heroes in every single book since come the end of the event we know most will probably come back at the reversal. Or maybe stay dead. Who knows. But we lose another two Leaguers in this issue and it was just pathetic. Pretty much this serves as Robinson’s way to decimate and kill off the League he doesn’t want to make room for his own roster in a few issues. Then we get Dr. Light the original returned from the dead from the main mini in this issues eating the remains of Firestorm’s girlfriend who got turned to salt! First a rapist and now apparently god knows what in this act. What happened to the lighter and less gritty DC they promised after Infinite Crisis? If anything it’s getting even darker I’d say.

Once this was the holiday that I liked the most opposed to commercialistic Christmas. Then I got older and my family got more and more boring and drama fixated. Every gathering it's just more and more drama. More lying. More back stabbing. More talk about whichever person isn't there at the moment. I sit here today waiting for food to be ready, sitting alone in my room writing cause my family is annoying and boring me greatly. If only I could escape...

Another night, another almost 3,000 words. Most of that was spent on Astonishing X-Men #4 and the first issue of my new mini series for Marvel Omega. This mini series spins out of some of my recent issues at the site and is in my opinion the next logical step for one of those characters. Hunter gave it the thumbs up approval last night and I'm already almost done with the first issue. Once all four issues are done I'll begin putting up some teasers for it and have it ready to go up. That way it will come out monthly. The events in the mini will spiral into the second year of Champions and the big changes coming for that title.

I'm really cruising through issues during this month and with my goal to keep up a word count like this each month I should be able to keep churning out issues on a regular basis. I might be trimming a project or two off my to do list, not only to open more time but also because of severe writers block on them and just a lack of passion that I think means I should just walk away from such titles. More on those possible cut titles tomorrow night perhaps.

That leaves us with the night's question. If you worked for Marvel or DC and you were obligated by Editorial to turn in a pitch for either a mini series and ongoing with just one catch that the character or characters in the spotlight had to be very obscrure or D list, who would you choose? Have a particular direction in mind for them?

17878 / 50000 words. 36% done!

Another 2000 words knocked out today as I coulnd't help myself and delved into the first issue of a new mini series I'm working on for Marvel Omega, before I even finished the pitch for Hunter lol. The pitch will be done come morning and turned in but the mini won't see the light of day till I'm done with enough to keep up monthly updates on all the issues. I'm excited to be working with the character within the mini more. They've slowly become one of my favorites to write as I delve into them and into their back issues lately.

Speaking of back issues, that concerns my question tonight. I read a bit of comics as a kid mostly my mom's old X-Men and X-Men series 2 as well as more kid centric ones with occasional Avengers and West Coast Avengers issues. I didn't really start collecting till 2003 when I started college. That being said I've delved into many iconic back issues like Claremont run of Uncanny and many other old school things. What are some of the either best written or most iconic mini series or series or other such back issues you hold in high regard? Any you would suggest I delve into?

Just a small update on what I have done and what is up next on the writing queue:

Gravity #2
Nova #2
M2K Christmas Special
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2
Titans #15
Astonishing X-Men #4
Hulk Spectrum Red
Champions #8
Starjammers #3
Invincible Iron Man #4
Champions #3

15878 / 50000 words. 32% done!

Another almost 2000 words down today and now Nova #2 is in the can and sent to Hunter. So far that's about four fictions I finished so far doing this, which is way more than usual during a given month. Perhaps I can finally knock things out and stay on schedule by doing this each month. I also kicked into Champions #8 and Invincible Iron Man #4 to reach more words today. Around the having to clean the family house to bottom just cause Grandmother is coming for week visit (joy, just what I need critical grandmother judging my life again lol) I should have plenty of time to knock quite a few other issues out this weekend and bring my word count up much more.

For a question tonight: If you could write one fan fiction title you aren't right now, which would it be? Where would you write it at? If you have one in mind, what is a direction you would take it to set it far apart from other works with the character/characters?

13944 / 50000 words. 28% done!

Knocked out my contribution to the M2K Holiday Special which added almost 2000 words to my total. Then I worked on, but didn't finish quite yet, Nova #2&3 and Starjammers #3 to bring my total up another 4000 words almost. Chugging along so far. Getting way more fiction done and close to done than I expected. Might be throwing in a one shot or two for sites this month since I knocked the Stajammers one shout out in about less than an hour.

Tonight's question: If you could kill one character and resurrect one character, at any of the companies, who would they bed? And what would you do with the resurrected character that hasn't been done before to warrant the return?

7807 / 50000 words. 16% done!

Hit out 1773 words today and finished off Gravity #2 and turned it in. That is two issues I've finished so far for this month which is more than most months lately lol. After talking to Doug earlier, I decided to do something like this each month in a way. Give myself a goal of an amount of words to hit with my fan fiction and just write, to keep myself writing. Once I seem to not need it anymore then I'll just keep writing. But I need something to keep me going lately. I seem to fall on and off the writing bandwagon as of late.

In the spirit of Dave's questions, and the one's I asked the other nights: If you could write one title for one of the comic companies what would it be? Do you have a particular artist in mind for it? If a team title, who would be in it? Make your mark on a big time title, totally change it up or finally dig it out of whatever hole the companies might have put it in.

6034 / 50000 words. 12% done!

At last I'm back to writing and it feels good. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2 for Marvel Labs is at last done after seven months of sitting around. I also whipped through Gravity #2 today rounding out over 6000 words. FNSM is already sent in, and Gravity will be sent in come morning after I read through one more time. Next on the docket is Astonishing X-Men #4 and my Hulk Spectrum issue, then my M2K Christmas special which should help me get back into the groove for the regular Starjammers mini to finish there.

I don't have a exercise or real thinker question like Dave lol, but I do have a question or two for you. What are some seen as classic type books, or best sellers, or just good reads that you recommend? I finally got my library debt taken care of and can get books, and I realized during Jeopardy the other day that I'm and English major...and I haven't even touched a lot of the supposed classic literature and such. So I'm looking to expand my horizons so to speak.

Also a second question. What are some really stellar or fun to read or what not fan fiction series out there you might recommend? Be it your own or someone else's work you think more should read. I'm looking to get into more of the communities writings and will read and review any series that gets suggested.

Agents of Atlas vs X-Men #1: Now that is how an Uncanny issue should read. People were in character. The rotating cast worked more as the other non Cyclops, Emma, Beast, Pixie, etc type characters actually had good parts and good lines. They weren’t just background pictures to look at and go “Oh yeah Fraction used Nightcrawler by having him walk by and wave”. For once the damn Fraptions were not really annoying. They just got the point across without forced humor that was far from funny. Cyclops wasn’t a complete idiot in there either. He realized something was up with Jeffries and used that hunch to get the team to kick into action and check on it. Not like in Uncanny where he started a fight with Norman and caused the X-Men to flee to Utopia…then got there and basically said “I pulled this plan out of my ass and have no other plan for after….so…yeah guess we’re fucked”.

Parker, or Carey, or even Kyle and Yost or David…give Uncanny to someone else. Just anyone else. This is proof that even with a huge cast we can still have a kick ass issue of Uncanny if this formula was applied to the main title. And the art. I loved the art in here. Replace Greg Land now with this. No more porno shots and breast and ass shots galore that are not needed. No more orgasm faces. Just normal simple and good art. If this was Uncanny I would read it all the time.

Invincible Iron Man #19: When he’s not on Uncanny I can get into many of Fractions ideas. This title is one of them. Now while the arc was enjoyable in most parts it did drag on way too long. I’m a fan of somewhat longer stories but that one seemed to go on forever almost. There were a lot of good points like Pepper’s armor and the use of Maria Hill as more than just the bitchy foil to Tony or Nick Fury. Even the scenes between Madame Masque and Tony were good. Tony was redeemed in a way during this arc as he realized the mistakes he made and paid perhaps the ultimate price in order to make up for it and keep all the Super Hero identities out of Norman’s hands. This last issue made up for many of the slow one’s with the action and the fact that even almost brain dead Tony still came out on top. The entire goings on were a carefully orchestrated piece by Tony before he lost most of his faculties. The inclusion of Donald Blake as his personal physician that gets power of attorney over him was a nice one. I foresee much of what comes in next arc as what leads to the return of the power trinity during Siege. Nicely done issue, now if only Fraction could transfer this to Uncanny and make that awesome too.

Justice League of America #38: So after all the hype that Dc put out for Robinson taking over this title….got a lot of fizzle instead of bang for the buck. Instead of a big issue bringing his new league together we get a hectic issue with the last group dissolving to pieces. It’s becoming a trend in quite a few DC team titles as of late to have constantly shifting roosters either with the same writer or each time a writer changes. The new writer breaking apart or killing off some of the last group. This is no different. The problem here is this league was apparently brutalized in the last issues of Robinson’s Justice League mini that is so far behind it’s ridiculous. So now we have to wait and see why Plastic Man is the way he is and why Vixen is hurt. I for one don’t’ feel like waiting as Robinson’s Justice League mini has been boring and full of terrible characterization.

In this issue we get Despero attacking the team for seemingly no reason, that doesn’t look like it will be explained since next issue they join the Blackest Night fray. Thanks to some unseen power they are saved from all being totally brutalized. Even though a few are injured, this team that has fought big threats under the last few pens were taken down like rank amateurs in this current issue. A veritable nothing happens issue to be sure. I’ll give the series a chance to pick up with more of Robinson’s run, but with the cast he has coming being largely the old Teen Titans (while those that already made it on and earned a spot like Arsenal and others are now sidelined and relegated to limbo again) I’m not holding out great hope. DC really needs to get a solid team on this title and bring it to live up to being one of the flagship titles instead of just a stagnant title that only is part of every crossover.

Necrosha #1: One of the many mini events of the family of titles to come at Marvel started off with a bang. The build up for this event has been pretty interesting so far. Especially the fact that Kyle and Yost have been building to this for quite a long time now since New X-Men in fact. It’s rare nowadays to see such drawn out plans. Most writers come onto books do their few stories and then are off for the next creative team. So it’s a welcome surprise to see when writers actually seed plots and work towards them. The inclusion of X-Men Legacy and New Mutants into the event brings some other interesting events and personalities to be played with during the dead rising occurrences. The art is not my favorite when it comes to X-Force stories, but it actually lent itself to the creepy factor in this issue so kudos on that. I am curious to know when Sebastian killed Shinobi within the time since Decimation as he was listed as still powered like his father. Perhaps that will be an avenue traveled soon.

The back-up stories by Wells and Carey were just as good as the main first chapter. The interplay between Cypher and the Hellions was funny, as a throw back to older simpler times. It did seem out of place a bit after the more serious dead characters in the first chapter, but not too glaringly off. The return of Destiny is actually cool in a way. Sure her power didn’t really help and she didn’t do a lot, but after all these years of Rogue battling and dealing with her sinister parental figure, we will get to see the opposite with her other paternal figure that she had a somewhat smoother relationship with. The moment with Blindfold and Destiny was kind of funny since the younger one is almost the new generation version of the latter. So far Necrosha has my interest and I have faith in Kyle and Yost to keep it up in future issues.

Amazing Spider-Man #608-610: Overall a very weak storyline. Guggenheim said he was leaving Spider-Man with an act that he couldn’t top. Should have definitely thought that statement over. Re-hashing the clones and such could have been done so much more interestingly. This was just boring. Raptor was a cliché villain with the vengeance angle connected to Ben Reiley’s lost years. I don't have a lot to say on this arc as it did nothing really in the end except ruin Aunt Mays house a lot and bring back Kaine who then apparently killed the new villain Raptor. Pretty weak arc to end on for Guggeheim, and definitely one of the weakest of Brand New Day direction.

Just put down an order on Amazon for "Chasing The Dragon" and "Fallen" by Dino, and Volume One of "The Rook" by Barry Reese. They should be here next week sometime. Planning on picking up more books of my fellow writers in the community, so if you have suggestions let me know for sure.

Plans are moving forward for me to move back to Utah come January, so I can work on getting a job in a place where the Economy isn't as badly hit and finally be with my girlfriend long term. I'm also enrolled in the college there and plan to finally getting back on track to at last get my Bachelors Degree in English after almost seven years of college. I'm finally determined to stop being the typical messing around college kid, as well as not let the schools screw me over so much. Sure I can't help most of it as they have the power and I can't really fight it, but I will try harder to do better on my end.

I fell behind on my words for NaNoWriMo and my Fan Fiction catch up last night, but I already have 600 down tonight and will do about 2400 more to square me away for both nights. Switched over to working on Gravity #2 for Altered Visions, that was calling to me more than Starjammers was for the moment. Will return to the intergalactic pirates probably tomorrow night.

Still trying to catch up on the last few weeks of comics, as I fell way behind. Some are good, and some are bad of course. Dark Reign is getting better, but I am really ready for Seige to end it. Also just tired of Uncanny X-men. The title is getting progressively worse and it's a sad statement. They really need new writers. X-Force and X-Factor though continue to kick all kinds of ass. Necrosha and Blackest Night are both proving to be really great reads to me. Sure they both feature the dead rising, but they are as different after that as night and day. Kyle and Yost and Johns are doing a fantastic job there.

I'm starting to really get tired of the constant Swine Flu coverage. I know that it's a possible fatal disease like the regular flu can be. But jeez it's starting to get ridiculous. They're pumping it up as much as Bird Flu, SARS, Monkey Pox, and all the other diseases you hardly if ever hear about anymore. Funny that. Enough is enough.

Not the full amount for tonight, but damn close. That gets me almost half way through Starjammers #3 for M2K now. An issue I've been stuck on for almost the whole year. Cheers to more issues pimping up this month.