Why do I do this to myself?

So, I started another blog. I know what your thinking. "But Derek, you haven't shown that you can keep up with the one you've got." Well, we don't cotton to that kind of pessimism around here.

The Brave and the Bold is something I'm really excited about. What it is, essentially, is a glorified gossip rag set in the DCU. Sites like The Diary of Ralph Dibny and The Daily Planet put the idea in my head. I figured we could do something like The Daily Planet's articles, but without the same restrictions and privledges of the people who write those.

I only plan on updating that blog once a week, so if you'd like to contribute, give me a ring. This is all in good fun, but I'd prefer people who can write reasonable well and have no problem staying in character.

... I just thought of something. Since my Blogger name is the same on both blogs, isn't this like having an alternate universe twin? I wonder which one of us is the evil one...?

Holy Crap!

Comments!

People are actually coming to my little corner of the internet? Maybe I ought to start providing content...

Maybe I should make that my New Year's resolution. Maybe it would keep me on task and lead to a more productive time online. Maybe it would stop me from greedily devouring every morsel of internet mind-candy and actually start adding something I can call my own.

Maybe it will just lead to a bunch of placeholder posts like videos of French people playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Stick Figure Theatre

Inspired by Rich Burlew's wonderful comic and Chris Sim's recent challenge, I whiled away one of my boring introductory classes making stick figure superheroes.

First up is the Question being a badass:



Next, Beast is trying to tell us something:



And finally, a question that's been bothering me:



What do you do during class?

Ascent into a Four-Colour World

I'd like to preface this with a thank you to Scipio Garling, Dave Campbell, and Chris Sims for sparking my long-dormant interest in comics and getting me to finally seek out and visit my local comic book store. Thanks, guys, for ensuring I never get laid again.

You see, I've always held a fascination with comics. I remember collecting Marvel cards as a kid and putting everything I had collected neatly into those plastic binders, leaving room for the cards I had not yet hunted down. I remember watching the X-Men cartoon every day after school and heaving great sighs of frustration every time that useless Jubilee was on the screen. I remember having long conversations about Batman's relationship with Robin. I loved the characters, the concepts, the stories.

But I never bought a comic.* As I grew up, I somehow managed to cobble together the stories from the cartoons and movies and the back of cards, but I never bought the comics. I was happy with the cartoons (especially Batman: the Animated Series). My persistent interest eventually led me to start playing City of Heroes, which I still play and which offered its own comic book. I did read that, but I just couldn't get into it.

It took the internet, the giving goddess of information, to lead me into the comic book realm. For the first time, any comic story was open to me. I spent days - full days - on Wikipedia, reading up on the histories of my favourite characters and discovering a wealth of characters I had never even heard of.

It was overwhelming.

Luckily, I also discovered a sub-society in the blogosphere dedicated solely to comics. Joy! Here were passionate, dedicated people leading me by the hand into a plane of existence I had thought beyond me so many years ago. They willingly shared their illogical loves, venomous hatreds, and insightful treatises to me (as part of a faceless audience, I mean).

How much longer could one hold out? I used a handy-dandy locator, found the shop closest to my house, and when Wednesday came along, took my first trip to my local comic book shop.

This could be the start of something big.

*This is actually not true. I used to be an avid reader of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic. I even had a subscription. ... what?

Continuing Education: Humean Work Ethic

In Ethics class today, we learned that "morality" is based solely on our passions. So during our ten minute break, I went home and played videogames.

It's not ditching; I consider it extra credit.

P.S. If anyone comments that I spelled "human" wrong, I will throttle you quite severely.

Obligatory Introduction

These seem to be the most awkward posts in the blogosphere. I'll try to keep this brief. My name is Derek, and I have a few reasons for starting this blog. First and foremost among them is that I need the practice. It takes me forever and a day to write anything longer than a grocery list, and I'm hoping that updating and maintaining a blog with kick some long defunct area of my brain into gear.

Another reason is my memory. I have not shortage of things to talk about, but I never write any of my thoughts down. I'm getting tired of having "a great idea" only to have it vanish into the ether because I fell asleep or got to work or saw something shiny. My hope is that I will be able to dump my musings onto the internet (with the rest of the garbage) and maybe some of you will enjoy reading them.

If you look on the right, you'll see a few of my favourite blogs. They range from insightful to funny to awesome to badass to politically charged. And one or two that everybody wants to call "friend". In some way, they have all inspired me to do this blog. I might never reach their level, but I can do my own thing as hard as I f***ing can and that's all anyone can ask of me. At least, that's what my old home room teacher used to say. Until he was fired to cussin' too much.

I'm a geek. I like video games and comic books and sci-fi shows and anime and fantasy books. Being a geek is about passion, and I am a man obsessed. I find no insult in the word "geek", and in fact, tend to use it to compliment my friends. Being a geek is nothing to be ashamed of, and I am out of the closet. Or rather, the basement. My posts will often revolve around the interests I listed above (reviews and musings and such), but I will also stray into topics like philosophy, politics, religion, et cetera.

I have a few theme posts planned. One will be Who Would Win Wednesday (W4) in which I will pit whoever I feel like against anyone I want, determine who would win and how, and describe whatever circumstances would be needed for the loser to come out victorious. I will post a new one every - you guessed it - Wednesday.

A less frequently recurring theme will be the My Hero posts. In these, I will pick a person who has inspired me. They don't have to be a real person. In fact, I'm willing to bet very few of them will be; real people are much less inspirational that fictitious ones. Whomever I chose, I'll say how they stirred me, why I admire them, ect. These may or may not be serious. It depends on who I pick, I suppose.

I haven't decided how I'll handle comic reviews. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I sometimes do so on accident. As of now, I'm thinking I'll just post quick reviews of the previous issue of titles coming out the upcoming Wednesday. That way I avoid spoiling anything, and I may drum up interest in a title that needs it or convince you guys to drop a title that sucks.

There will be many other themes to arise from this blog. I don't have any real plan, so we'll just have to see what sticks and what doesn't. I'll explain each new theme in its introductory post.

I will also be using this site as a dumping ground for any comics I draw or stories I write. These newfangled post tabs ought to be helpful for keeping track of those.

Well, I hope that intro gave you a good idea about what this blog will be about. Don't be afraid to delurk and comment. Any comments, even dissenting ones, are supremely welcome.