I recently had a birthday. I am now an elderly 27 year old PhD research scientist, and as such I find that my mind must be stimulated not only at work, but at home as well. So for my birthday I went to a comic book shop. As some of you may know, about six months ago Liz and I moved to Havre de Grace, Maryland for work. Turns out that HdG is in the dead center of a comic book dead zone. No real comic book shop to be found within 40 minutes drive (in fact, the two closest comic shops to me are diametrically opposed, each approximately 40 minutes drive away). As such, I decided to make the switch to an online comic retailer to get my books and save some $$$. Six months later I'm switching to a really nice store in Delaware. It's not really the fault of the online distributor (I used DCBS), I just hated the process and really miss going to a real comic shop. Ironically, my favorite online column, ReTales, published a piece about the advantage of "brick and mortar" comics retailers. I agree with basically every word he writes on this topic, so if you want to know why I switched you should read the piece. I actually suggest you read all his articles, because they are all really interesting. Anyway, in another month I will have made the bulk of the transition and will start picking up comics in Delaware, and couldn't be happier about it. More proof my wife is awesome: she doesn't mind the extra cost of the comics because she knows I'm happier. Also, there is a really good healthfood store with a big wheat-free selection right next door to the comic shop. Sometimes it's amazing how perfectly things work out.
The big news on my birthday was a surprise visit from Talia. As always, we had a lot of fun hanging out and I had Indian food for dinner for the first time in (I think) a year. Part of my what she got me were a few more heroes for my "Super Hero Squad" collection. I'm working on getting all the Avengers. My assembly of Avengers is getting pretty respectable.
The problem is that specific sets are hard to find, unless you are willing to pay Mafia money on eBay for them. Now I'm only missing the sets containing Ant-Man & Dr Strange, and Ms Marvel & Vision. I actually have a lot more of these things than are in the above picture (probably twice as many), but all the others are different Iron Man armors and some of them are at work. Yes, I have some at work. They go with my framed Tim Sale Captain America poster. (Is there anything MORE patriotic?) Talia also got me three more volumes of 100 Bullets, which I am completely addicted to after reading volume two.
Things to do. The weekend is disappearing before my eyes.
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