Apocalypso!

An hour to vote, yeesh! Note to self: do early voting next year!!

BUT, if you get a long line, wait in it anyway. You would at Disneyland, and voting is way more important!

What I don't get is the most recent polls that show like 4-5% of people are still "undecided"? Who ARE these people? Whichever side you are on, it seems like these are pretty clear choices -- are they just randomly marking things off once they get into the balloting area? I literally don't understand!

If I were King, I'd want to make participating in Democracy a requirement of citizenship. If you don't vote, your taxes get tripled or something. Of course, I'd also give a "None of the Above" choice, and if that wins, then there's a redo with none of the current candidates being allowed to run...

It might not work, but it sure would be more fun!

I received FALLOUT 3 on Friday, and every non-working hour that Ben is asleep (and I'm not) has been put there. It's not really a proper "Fallout" game for me, as I really liked the "tactical" combat of "Action Points" to move or shoot or heal or whatever, but the mixture of FPS and "VATS" in FO3 is really addictive and compelling. I've barely made it more than the first steps of the main quest, preferring to wander around and search for stuff, but I am having a really good time with it.

I actually had to start over on the 3rd day because I was a little too free with shooting, and ran out of ammo/money/supplies (plus I remaximized my stats), but now that I've got the hang of it, I'm cruising along the radioactive ruins of Washington DC with style and aplomb. So far, I'd give it an easy GOOD...

Oh, Comics? Fine...!

ASTONISHING X-MEN GHOST BOXES #1: Yikes, only 16 pages of comics content for $3.99? When Warren Ellis "self-publishes" FELL, it is only half the price. Ignoring the price (how?!?), the content was fine -- I was kind of unclear on the "616" section, as isn't that supposed to be "our" Marvel earth? But I thought the Steampunk "889" section was pretty fun. If you somehow got comics for free, this might be a low GOOD, but at $4, it's extremely EH. I've cut 60% from my order for issue #2, and I still suspect I will have way too many copies left over. My biggest fear is that this will cripple sales on "regular" AST X-Men...

FINAL CRISIS: RAGE OF THE RED LANTERNS: This would have been more satisfying had it not a) been billed as "Final Crisis" (since, if it is, I don't really see HOW), and b) didn't end on a "cliffhanger" of "now buy some other comics!" I rather liked the concept of the Red Ring's power replace the blood and heart of the bearer, and I very much liked the kitty Lantern, but otherwise I might have had too high expectations for this... and it didn't live up to them whatsoever. Very EH.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #26: The MOST AWESOME thing about this issue is that it introduces perhaps the most obscure DC character of all -- a character originally planned to run in the 1970s, but wisely canceled when Tony Isabella pointed out how misguided it was: The Brown Bomber. Read more about him right here.

When I got to that point in the story I just laughed and laughed and laughed (knowing the in-joke it references), so that was as much entertainment I've gotten from a comic in a long time.

The rest of the comic is fairly straightforward stuff, which, really, leaves the characters in the same place they started -- I was hoping for more of a change.

I also laughed a bit at the cover's "NOT AN ELSEWORLDS!" declaration.

So if you're crazy, like me, I can give it a GOOD, but if you're a normal reader, probably more of an OK.

DAYBREAK v3: I *think* that the latest volume of Brian Ralph's post-apocalypse comic is only available at the moment direct from Bodega, and I was *told* that they might not bother with distributing it through Diamond (nor are they available from Baker & Taylor). How this will yield even 50 stores in America selling it, I'm not entirely sure, and that's a real fucking shame, because I love this book. First person survival horror that's genuinely moving and scary. The best thing I read last week (and not just because I'm playing Fallout3, either), and it is really EXCELLENT.

ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY v19: Not sure why I liked this one much more than previous issues -- maybe because there's less distance in the storytelling? Opening with Rusty's fiction as though that were the main story was really wonderful, and just the right choice. VERY GOOD.

That's it for me: have to get ready for this week's comics...

What did YOU think?

-B