The Bin – 4/16/10
The Bin – 4/16/10
Apr 16
Once, in ages past, four nerds banded together and vanquished the forces of darkness that lurched in squamous form across the countryside and skulked necrolently through the catacombs beneath our cities. When the threat had passed and the land was safe, they took Stuff They Liked, a bunch of Links and a Miscellany of other treasures and had them sealed away in…The Bin.
Legend foretold that the riches contained within would spill forth once again in a time of great need. A time…like today.
Stuff We Like This Week
Jeff: I often say that I’m not a Barry Allen fan. That’s not strictly true. I love his sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths – I read it as a very young boy and it affected my definition of heroism very deeply as a result. And you know that part in Infinite Crisis when Barry comes out of the Speed Force and tells his grandson Bart, “You’re never alone?” That may have choked me up a bit. But as a consequence of my age, Wally West has always been my Flash. As much as I love Bart Allen, I rankled when they made him grow up too fast needlessly. And Wally West has been pretty ill-treated of late, bust at least he and Linda and the twins are still alive and still Flashin’ it up.
But regardless of who’s wearing the mask, I love the Flash. He doesn’t brood like Batman. He’s not arrogant like Green Lantern and he’s not the ineffable god that Superman is. He’s a humble man who goes to work and loves his wife and wants to do good and enjoys doing it. The Flash is what Superman wants to be when he becomes Clark Kent. This week’s Flash #1 is perfect evidence of that. It is a fast, fun modern take on a Silver Age-y story and it is brimming with kinetic energy thanks to Francis Manapul’s pencils. The only other recent artist who’s made the Flash feel fast is Karl Kerschl, and Manapul’s open, anime-influenced-without-looking-like-anime style does exactly that and makes him a perfect fit for this book.
I fully admit to wearing my promotional Flash ring while reading it, too.
Matt: I’m wearing my promotional Flash ring right now too. It’s not on my finger.
(Too far? Probably so.)
As anyone following me on Twitter no doubt realizes, I am obsessed with the iPad. I really wanna get one, and in the absence of having one, I spend way too much time reading about it and listening to random podcasts about it. It’s also driven me to spend more time with the one piece of current Apple tech I do own, my iPhone 3GS. I know I’ve gushed before but shit it’s a miracle box to me. I’m able to basically plug myself into the interwebbe and conduct just about any business I want. For work, I have my RSS feeds set up in NetNewsWire (the free ad-supported version) and I can catch up on my reading, adding a star to articles I want to follow up on later. For fun, I have twitter all over this bastard; I can tweet material from Digg, Engadget, and other sources with a couple clicks. I can even post stuff to my Tumblr if I so choose, although it takes a few more steps. I’ve had nothing but shit luck with the WordPress app but if the urge really strikes, I can peck out actual content in Simplenote or even use Dragon Dictation to narrate my text into my phone. Jesus marimba, it’s amazing. Some may balk but most of the time I actually LIKE being so connected. And when I don’t, a single click of a button shuts it down so I can spend time with my family. I just need to remember their names cause I have been on a SERIOUS MyTown bender lately.
Chris: I’m pretty much done with the DC epics right now. Not that I have anything against it, but I’m not enjoying it, and if it’s going to go on and on and on, well… I have to get off at some point. Besides, I’m not sure how I feel about Life hiding in the center of Earth – like, what did it do during the billions of years it took for Earth to pull itself together? The idea of a Deadman coping with his continued existence as a ghost was played out, it was time to make it about an Ex-Deadman coping with his continued existence as a living dude? I’ll just get the cliffnotes later – or intuit it as I read stories later on, as all good comic readers should be able to do.
I’m having a lot of fun playing Lead and Gold, which I mentioned getting to play at GDC a couple of months back. It’s a straight up, Team Fortress-style gunfight in the old West and it’s a hoot.
And just to brag, my first two boxes of Brave and the Bold Clix? Ra’s Al Ghul, Mikron O’Jeneus, Kid Zoom, and Batman/Green Arrow twofer figure! Score!
Also, I realize I’m well behind the curve on this, but having just finished watching Deadwood Season 3, is it just me or was that a most disappointing series end?
Matt. I got to play Plants Versus Zombies on the iPad. It was glorious and you didn’t get to! Ha!
Link Stew
Mustache-obsessed David Wolkin shows off Chris Giarusso’s Mustache Galactus.
J.M. DeMatteis recalls working on the Spider-Man Clone Saga.
A short but sweet Frank Miller New Gods story gets the critical treatment from CBR’s Tim Callahan. He posts the story itself (four pages) on his Geniusboy Firemelon blog.
Chris’ pals Toren, Kevin, and Joe have started up a new podcast and I’m enjoying it, which is notable in that I can’t stand more podcasts. The premise is news, history, and science of all things awful. So far they’ve done Parasites, Sharks, and Radiation (with an actual doctor of radiation – it’s totally a real thing, look it up – as guest!) – The Caustic Soda Podcast!
Etc.
How did this cat get a fucking iPad and I don’t have one???
