With the August 3rd DVD release of the fourth and final season of NBC’s ‘Heroes‘, I’ve been forced to reminisce about the show that in many ways changed my life. Read the full story

On Friday, May 14th,  it was announced that the bastards at NBC pulled the plug on Heroes. NBC has been doing a lot of stupid things lately (don’t even get me started on the whole Conan bit…) so I suppose we can add this to their long list of fuck-ups.

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May is a wonderful month.  May 4th is the unofficial Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!), May 5th is another unofficial Star Wars Day (Revenge of the Fifth!), May 25th is Towel Day (I’m a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is!), and more!  What we’re here to talk about today, however, is Free Comic Book Day!

The first Saturday in May is always set aside as the official Free Comic Book Day.  On this day, comic stores around the world distribute free comic book issues provided by publishers.  This is a great way for independent comics to get exposure, and for mainstream comics to reconnect to their fanbase.  Also, it’s FREE COMICS.  I picked up the first issue of Irredeemable (see here and here) as well as some shitty Spider-Man comic, while Lindsey picked up an issue of Invincible Iron Man and a Shrek/Penguins of Madagascar double feature.  But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Our local comic store, Heroes, opened at 10am this past Saturday, with a line leading down the street.  We were not, however, left to fend off boredom on our own.

Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper from the 501st checking credentials.

Word of warning, though, for those who may think to stand up to the Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader…

Homie don't play that.

He doesn’t like it when you point out his character flaws.

-[insert I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING here]

Well over a year ago, I posted about the then-upcoming new series from Mark Waid titled Irredeemable.  The series started in April of 2009, but I didn’t get a chance to pick it up until this past weekend.  What happened this past weekend?  Free Comic Book Day happened.

While standing in line at Heroes here in Fresno, I started thinking to myself, “Hey, when we get in there, why not see if they have back issues of Irredeemable and pick up the first few issues?  After we pick up our free comics, of course.”  Well, as we stood in line and gazed upon the wall of free comics, examining the available titles, my eye reached none other than Irredeemable issue #1.  As soon as we got home, I dropped everything, emptied my pockets, jumped onto the couch, and started reading.

It was phenomenal.

I managed to get my hands on issues #2-12 and read through them all, and only became more and more enamored with the world Mark Waid has created for Irredeemable. I’ve read through these 12 issues three times, now, in the past six days, and I’ll probably read through it all again this weekend in anticipation of the release of the 13th issue this month.  The Plutonian’s transition from the world’s greatest hero to its greatest villain was phenomenal.  When the UN ambassador from Singapore had the audacity to lie to The Plutonian, he decided to create a fused layer of diamond in the middle of Singapore.  What’s that, you say?  Giving Singapore a giant diamond can’t be that evil?  No, I suppose you’re right.  Unless…well, unless you use that giant fused diamond as a way to spread your power in order to SINK SINGAPORE.  As in, push the landmass under sea level.

Check this series out.  I’m serious.

-[insert OH SHIT, SINGAPORE! here]

Lindsey and I both love comic books and nerd culture.  We were both born nerds, grew up as nerds, and will pass our nerdish traditions down to any little nerdlings we may have in the future as best we can.  As nerds, we also love little collectibles like statues, bobbleheads, figures, busts, etc.

This is a shelf on our center DVD bookshelf.  It contains most (but not all) of our comic and movie related items.  There are more at my mom’s house, and some in storage, but this is a good sampling of what we have:
From the left, in the front row we see a Spartan helmet from the movie 300, a Mighty Muggs version of Starscream, an Iron Man bust, a Superman bust from Superman Returns, a little R2D2, a barely visible Mario, and a Darth Vader.  In the back row, from the right, we can see a Galactus, Sentinel, Apocalypse, and finally one of a set of six statues from the Dark Phoenix Saga series, Storm.

But wait, there’s more!

Mario and Yoshi on the very top of the DVD bookshelf…

Bowser on top of the TV…

And the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything on top of the DVD bookshelf!

We have much more (such as a 16″ tall resin statue of Bruce Campbell as Ash from the Evil Dead movies), but not anywhere it can be seen.

Huh.  I just noticed that the “42″ picture has a picture of my grandmother holding me as a baby in the background.

-Because I said so

If you guys and gals love Heroes as much as Chris and I do, then this news will delight you immensely:

Not only do we know that September 21st is the premiere date for Redemption, but it will be a 2 hour episode!

Happy Monday!

- She Who Has The Last Word

Normally I don’t care about charities or fundraisers. It’s not because I’m a cold hearted bitch (maybe I am…) but because typically the money raised goes towards something entirely different than their cause.

Yesterday I was on Twitter (big shocker) and I saw some tweets made by Greg Grunberg. For those of you who don’t know who that is, he plays Matt Parkman on the popular and fantastic show Heroes that is on NBC. He is a blast to follow and really takes the time for his fans. It’s pretty commendable.

Greg was tweeting to his followers about a walk he is participating in March 28th in DC for Epilepsy. Sadly his son Jake suffers from it so him and the rest of his family, along with many others, are using this walk as a way to raise awareness and to help find a cure.

His cause struck a chord in me because while my daughter might not have epilepsy, she has had a seizure before. I will never forget the day either. She wasn’t even a year and a half old when it happened. I was at my job because I was supposed to meet the District Manager. I had recently been promoted to Assistant Manager and I can’t remember why I had to meet him but I just did. My daughter was sick with a cold and had a doctors appointment the same day. My Mom called me at work asking me if there was anything I wanted her to ask the doctor but I had nothing. She is really thorough so I knew she would cover it all. After getting off the phone with her she called back 5 minutes later in a panic.

She was getting ready to walk out the door when my daughter just dropped and had a seizure. She stopped breathing and my Mom had to do CPR on her. While on the phone with her she was a mess. I could hear that she was crying and she told me that Paramedics were on the way to take them to the hospital. Hearing those words come out of her mouth made my blood run cold. Never in my life had I been so afraid because my daughter is the reason I wake up every morning.

Luckily she was OK and after having to go through many traumatic tests over the next few weeks, the doctors told us that she was fine. They couldn’t find out why she had the seizure and she was able to resume her normal activities. To this day that was her only seizure and hopefully the last.

With all walks the teams ask for people to help sponsor them. While I wish we could have donated more, Chris and I gave $10.00 to help out. Even if you don’t know somebody with epilepsy please check it out.

If you live in the DC area and are available on the 28th go and walk with them. It is for a great cause and you will be helping a fantastic man find a cure for his son. What could be better than that?

For more information please go to :  Jake’s Crazy Brainwaves Team

From there you can choose to join the team or to donate. Another thing I loved is that they don’t have a minimum amount. If you can only afford to donate $1.00 then do so. If you can donate more, then that is an option as well. It’s super easy and you can use your debit/credit card right then and there.

Please spread the word and just think… $1.00 from you and your friends could help change lives forever.

(Those of you on Twitter can follow Greg here)

- She Who Has The Last Word