Gorgeous day

Sorry but it was just such a gorgeous sunny day here, that I couldn't keep myself inside on it to read and write. That makes me a bad blogger I know, but perhaps a better person.

I did get to see the Budweiser Clydesdales(sp?), at a local mall. Complete with harness and carriage, and the rest. They are simply gorgeous animals, and I was surprised at how HUGE they were!

Comic wise I picked up ASTONISHING X-MEN #4 and


Kare First Love Vol. 1


Hot Gimmick Vol. 6

I'm also found myself wondering this about superhero comics. When does something become canon and when is something just add on?

I used to think that only the origin stories were "canon," yet as I've grown older I've seen other stories start to have as much importance to the character's history as their start.

For instance with Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy's death has apparently become a key element of Spider-Man's canon in comics. It apparently adds an extra bit of tragedy, and extra oomph of responsibility to Peter's life. Why else would the Ultimate Spider-Man series revisit that storyline as well?

I think for new readers, some unexpected things can become cannon. I started reading the Legion of Super-Heroes titles during the V.4 take on the series. One of the key characters of that version of the series was Ultra Boy. Who as a new reader, a key element of his canon seemed to be the loss of the love of his life Tinya "Phantom Girl" Wazzo.

I'd never read a story with either character before, so to me her death was a defining moment to making him who he was. And played a part in one of the most heart wrenching scenes I've ever seen in comics. When while meeting younger "clones" of themselves, he is stunned to come face to face with the younger version of Tinya.

That was just devastating to read, not in a shocking evocative way, but by powerful storytelling.

Yet when the book got rebooted, that element was left off for a good portion of the run. And when they did revisit the theme of him losing her, they eventually undid it making it a very unimportant part of the character. Which just seems off looking back on it now, because at the time I first read the original stories it seemed as defining moment for Ultra Boy as Uncle Ben's was to Peter.

Anyway sorry for jumping ship, but I will return tomorrow with more reviews and such.