Happy Holidays

Phil Jimenez - One of my favorite Artists

http://alexhchung.tumblr.com/post/180606638231/new-x-men-by-phil-jimenez-amazing-spider-man-10

Avengers vs. X-Men: So Cool!

http://towritecomicsonherarms.tumblr.com/post/171339290381/gunshyghosts-x-nice

This Blog's Purport... Part 2

My brother, Dan, and I collected Neal Adams' Batman and Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics in the '70s. 

I focused on The New Teen Titans, X-Men, and The New Mutants during my high school years in the '80s... 

and I renewed my collecting in the mid-2000s with the major cross-over events for the Big Two (Marvel's House of M/Civil War and DC's 52/Countdown). 

And in between, there were HUGE gaps in my knowledge of comics (even the comics that I loved). 

Travels, Trolls, & Tropes janhaffley.blogspot.com

As I was helping my mother start her own blog last year, I set this one up to practice on and become familiar with the interface, in part so I could be of more service to her.

But, as I debated and discerned a focus for this blog, an audacious plan began to take root.

I would fill in all the blank spaces in my personal comic history by reading -- and then writing reviews/commentaries -- on the electronic issues forming my current collection (from DC, Marvel, and Independent publishers like Image and Dark Horse) -- ALL in chronological order.

I know. Crazy, right?! That's, like, thousands of comics now.

Who the hell would want to read that?

But in my crazy-making adventure-planning, I decided I would need an accurate and complete reading order to see what pursuing this plan would actually entail.

Twelve. Months. Later,

to be continued...

This Blog's Purport... Part 1

Being the unabashed nerd that I am, I had planned to dedicate this blog to all my nerdy interests, most especially comics.

However, my heady ambitions and my chronic ailments have colluded in delaying that mission somewhat as this is the first real post towards that end since this blog's inception.


Ah, well. So it goes.




I was quite the comic collector in my youth, but with the move to college and in an effort to be a "proper adult," I sold that physical collection for a paltry price (a decision I regret to this day).

Many moons later I was able to resume my comic collecting with re-newed access to many of my old favorites in a new electronic form: the PDF (Portable Document Format).

GIT (Graphic Imaging Technology), Corp put out a handful of DVD-ROMs collecting 40 years of various Marvel mags including all the majors: X-Men, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Avengers, and two of their universe-wide cross-over events: House of M and Civil War.

Menus for CIVIL WAR by Marvel, DVD-ROM by GIT, Corp.

That is one helluva boat-load of back issues in a few easily portable packages.

Covers for various DVD-ROM Collections of Marvel Comics by GIT, Corp.

And then in 2011 the comiXology app came along making new issues (as well as old ones) available from a variety of publishers and in multiple electronic formats (.PDF, Guided View, .CBZ) online.

Needless to say, serving my addiction to comics has never been easier.


Yet, despite my history as a collector, I have discovered that I am frightfully uniformed about comics outside of those I had read during my primary collecting years.


to be continued...

Danger Room Level Ragnarok

Ariela Kristantina, Sonia Oback

Day Two of Blogging: We're going to tackle basic design elements for mom's blog today and maybe hook her up with some business cards so she can advertise her online venture.

My mom is a planner. She has researched blogging and has several blog posts already planned out. I'm a "seat-of-my-pants" kind of blogger. I open a second tab and browse for pics and ideas (and look up spelling) while I've got my editor open.

Her blog will definitely be more coherent than my own. My unifying theme is comics, but I reserve the right to go off point... often... and substantially.