Go for the singing, stay for the comics
On Saturday, I was with the quartet in the San Jose area for the last big contest of the spring cycle. (We did pretty well by our meager standards. Without a doubt, our best performance on a contest stage. Thanks for asking.)
During a lull in the activities between the early afternoon quartet contest and the chorus competition in the evening, I went for a walking tour around the vicinity of the theater. Imagine my delight to find a comic book shop called Heroes right across the street! I poked around in their old comics bins for a while, then browsed the new releases racks until I found a few items that intrigued me enough to want to buy and read them:
Saturday evening's chorus competition marked the first time in my seven years of history with Bay Area Metro that I was in the audience while the chorus performed. Afterward, I was amazed (and frankly, more than a little touched) by the dozen or so people — most of whom I didn't know personally — who buttonholed me to find out why I wasn't onstage with the chorus, and to say how much they'd missed seeing my beaming mug in the front row. For my part, my hiatus was validated, as the chorus won the contest easily without my help.
I keep telling myself I'll go back to the chorus when I miss it. Saturday, seated in the audience, I discovered (to my mild surprise) that I don't miss it yet.
During a lull in the activities between the early afternoon quartet contest and the chorus competition in the evening, I went for a walking tour around the vicinity of the theater. Imagine my delight to find a comic book shop called Heroes right across the street! I poked around in their old comics bins for a while, then browsed the new releases racks until I found a few items that intrigued me enough to want to buy and read them:
- The second issue of the new Black Panther series by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr.
- Issue #2 of the delightfully retro Captain Gravity miniseries, featuring the sumptuous art of Sal Velluto and Bob Almond.
- The most-recent four-issue story in Captain America and the Falcon by one of my favorite comics writers, Christopher J. Priest.
- A recent four-issue Spider-Man story, to see how they're messing up my childhood hero anew this year.
- The first two issues in the newest seriocomic spinoff of Justice League.
- An issue of Frank Cho's Shanna the She-Devil, just to see what all the excitement is about.
Saturday evening's chorus competition marked the first time in my seven years of history with Bay Area Metro that I was in the audience while the chorus performed. Afterward, I was amazed (and frankly, more than a little touched) by the dozen or so people — most of whom I didn't know personally — who buttonholed me to find out why I wasn't onstage with the chorus, and to say how much they'd missed seeing my beaming mug in the front row. For my part, my hiatus was validated, as the chorus won the contest easily without my help.
I keep telling myself I'll go back to the chorus when I miss it. Saturday, seated in the audience, I discovered (to my mild surprise) that I don't miss it yet.
SwanShadow was randomly pounding the keyboard at 11:05 PM
2 insisted on sticking two cents in:
Well, I've already bailed on the Black Panther retool, even though JRJR might be my favorite artist currently working for Marvel. I still can't get over that Priest's BP run -one of the best in recent comics- never made a dent in the sales charts.
I read Black Panther #2 during a break in my workday today, Frinklin, and I enjoyed it pretty well. After two issues (I'd read #1 previously), I'm interested enough in the story Reggie Hudlin is telling to want to see where it will go. (I'm not enamored of Hudlin's approach to dialogue, though. He puts words and expressions in the mouths of his characters that seem incongruous with the people they are.)
Unlike you, I'm not a JRJR fan. I loved JRSR's Amazing Spider-Man work in the '60s (he's still the Spidey artist to me), but Junior has too much Image (and not enough of his dad) in his style for my taste. His line is too stark and angular for the Panther, IMHO.
I know JRJR got the job because he'll bring in the fanboys, but they really should have chosen someone for Black Panther whose approach is more fluid and lush. I really miss Sal Velluto and Bob Almond (I'm looking forward to reading the new Captain Gravity) almost as much as I miss Priest. And I miss Priest a lot.
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