Holy craps, you guys...!

So listen, yesterday was a pretty awesome day. For one thing, COMICS! And we'll get back to that. But the other thing that was so awesome about yesterday was that I spent like 3 hours at Shannon's apartment with our dog, Seamus, and he was fan-freakin-tastic! Seriously though, I played with him for like an hour, and I'm pretty sure he's like a week away from learning how to play fetch with a tennis ball. I'm pretty pumped about that because that's the kind of stuff that I really want out of having a dog. Basically, for me, the benefits of getting a dog are as follows:

Companionship + SuperHyperFuntime + Fetch - poop = GET A CUSSING DOG!!!

On top of the SuperHyperFuntimes and almost Fetch stuff, he actually let me know when he had to go outside to use the restroom so I didn't have to yell at him the whole time I was there with him. Hooray for good days with puppy!

In other news, yesterday was Wednesday, today it is Thursday. I- I- I'm so excited. I'm so excited... about the fantastic comics I picked up yesterday. So let's dive right in.

Batman -- Written by Scott Snyder; Art by Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion

On the DC side of things this week, I think I found a winner. Batman #1 is one of my favorite picks since the New 52 reboot. Definitely a good part of what made this book so good was the fantastic writing of Scott Snyder, who also wrote the issue of Swamp Thing I read and reviewed last week, which I also highly praised. One of the things I loved so much about the writing of this issue is that it does such a good job of giving you all the detail you need to understand Bruce Wayne's/Batman's history in such a clever and natural way. Listen. In a single page, the creative team lets you know about all of the present and former Robins that have ever worked with Batman, lets you know what they're up to now, and throws in a joke about Alfred have higher security clearance than any of them. Awesome. Other than that, the story just got you really engaged and did a great job of establishing the status quo in Gotham where everything is going to crap but Batman is there to clean up the thugs and Bruce Wayne is there to throw money at it. Because that's how it works. In short this story shows us three things in order to get the Bat-Ball rolling: 1) Batman is a brooding, bad-a**, super-detective with some friends who are also pretty bad-a**; 2) Bruce Wayne has more money than he knows what to do with, so he figures that he might as well use it after all these years to try to make Gotham a better place; and 3) Alfred is still pretty boss. The comic also does a good job of setting up a nice big mystery for Batman to solve and really draws the reader on to want to pick up the next issue. I only read through this issue once, so I didn't have a super detailed look at the art, but so far it looks pretty great. There's a good balance of the darkness and depravity of Gotham without going too over the edge on making Batman look like he's going purely on 'roid-rage. Like I said, this is one of my favorites of the New 52, so go pick it up.

Invincible Iron Man #508 -- Written by Matt Fraction; Art by Frank D'Armata and Salvador Larroca

Moving on to the Marvel side of my picks this week, I'll start with Invincible Iron Man #508. Now, there's a lot going on in this book because it's tied into the whole "Fear Itself" event series, but let me simply say that this is just a solid comic book. Since the Fear Itself event kicked off in April, this series' set of tie-ins have been getting a lot of positive buzz. I didn't pick up most of the titles up until this point because I wasn't really wowed by issue #503 when I picked that up in the first part of April. But a couple weeks ago I decided to read through the intermittent issues since then and really liked what I saw. The best thing about this series right now is that the creative team is really putting Tony Stark/Iron Man through a major sort of faith crisis in that he's actually having to have some sort of faith. Taking a man who is totally reliant upon technology and reason and plopping him in the middle of a war between Asgardian deities that is bound to destroy Earth one way or another sort of makes one think theologically for some reason. Anyway. Great story going on here if you wanna get caught up on it. Not great if you're just trying to pick up something to try out, though.

Hulk Vs. Dracula #1 -- Written by Victor Gischler; Art by Ryan Stegman

Yeah. It's that awesome. I was actually very pleasantly surprised by this comic. I was really just expecting a bunch of vampire jokes and the uber-Fear-hammer-powered Hulk to just smash the crap out of everything, and that part was certainly delivered upon, but the book was a lot smarter than I thought it would be. The art was pleasant, not offensive or kitschy at all. And the story was fairly engaging. I'll probably pick up the subsequent issues just to finish the 3-issue mini-series, but I don't think it will be a chore to read them.


So that's it for this week, dear friends. I hope these comic reviews aren't totally turning you off to checking in occasionally. I'll eventually deliver on some of the other things I said this blog would be about when I restarted it in July. Until then, remember this: the Hulk may be fighting Dracula, but he has yet to surf a Dracula-bot all the way from Dracula's Moon base into a small Midwestern town. Top that, Marvel creators!!!

Leave lots of comments!!!

Every dog has his day

This weekend, the wonderful Shannon Pringle and I were visited by some dear friends of ours from our time in Yellowstone National Park last summer. They stayed at Shannon's apartment for the weekend, and while I was working on Saturday morning, they convinced her to go to the Atlanta Humane Society to look at puppies. Shannon and I have been looking into getting a dog for a little over a month now, so this wasn't a huge surprise, but when I got off work, I got a call from them telling me to come down to the Humane Society to look at a dog.

When I got there, I pretty much knew that the dog lying in Shannon's arms would be coming home with us. It only took about 45 minutes from the time I got there for us to finish up the adoption process and take our new puppy home. So now I proudly present the newest member of our little family.

Everyone, meet Seamus Took (Pringle/DeBord)! He is a 4-month old Beagle mix and He. Is. Awesome. So far he's been really great, though he still could use some work on figuring out when he's allowed to pee and what not. We got him a crate yesterday and he didn't hesitate before climbing in there and sleeping for like 6 hours. I guess that's been most of what he's done since he got home. Which has been good for us, so we actually have time to hang out without freaking out that he's chewing on something.

So life has been changing rapidly for us these days, but things are going really well. Thanks for reading. Updates on Seamus's growth and life with us will definitely be forthcoming.

I'm not quite dead yet...

So it's been like 2 months since my last post. My bad folks. I know you've all been wondering, "What could have happened?! Was Jordan consumed by some strange sort of hybrid bear-velociraptor cosmonaut from an alternate dimension?!" Well, fear not, gentle Readers, for not only was I not viciously eaten by aforementioned cosmonaut, but we have become close friends. Her name is Paulette. She loves to cook, watch foreign films about balloons, and travel through space and time in her specially designed Wiener Mobile.

In other news, today I am going to celebrate my blog's glorious return from silence and obscurity by actually delivering on one of the subjects which this blog was intended to cover. Namely, I will discussing a few of the comics I've picked up in recent weeks.

Of course, the biggest story in the comics industry at the moment is the recent reboot of DC Comics ENTIRE LINE of comics (new Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, etc. comics). This is a pretty big deal for comics readers and non-readers alike, since this move was intended both as a way to reenergize the line for long-time fans and to open things up for curious would-be readers. I've been reading Marvel comics pretty much exclusively since I started reading comics in April (especially Thor comics and some Spider-Man and Avengers stuff), but this event seemed like an appropriate opportunity to dive into another line of comics and see if DC had anything I would appreciate. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Action Comics #1 -- Written by Grant Morrison; Art by Rags Morales and Rick Bryant

Now, for one thing, the reboot has been such a huge deal for long-time readers because of comics like Action Comics, which, before the reboot, was one of the longest continuous running series EVER. Before the line relaunched a few weeks ago, Action Comics was well into the 900's! As you can tell, Action Comics is a Superman title, so having a relaunch of the series that introduced one of the most seminal and recognizable of all super-heroes is a fairly big deal. What is fantastic about this comic, however, is that the creative team didn't just pop out rehashed origin book. We're all familiar in some degree with Superman's origin story, especially if anybody has watched about 3 seconds of Smallville. So instead of saying, "Hey, this is where Superman came from, as if you didn't already know." Morrison et al actually gave the reader enough credit to assume he/she could INFER any changes to that origin story by inserting those types of changes in this story about Superman before he was the complete Superman we're all most familiar with. On that note, this story is about Superman's early career as a super-hero concerned more with social equality and the equal distribution of justice to rich and poor alike than he is about stopping giant meteors from crashing into the planet. So we have a bit of motivation for the character, but I think the greatest thing about this comic is that it promises serious growth for the character. We all know what Superman will be like some day, but in this series, we get to watch him become the hero we know. At this point, the best the young hero can do is leap tall buildings and show some exceptional levels of strength. Yet, in the comic, when he is required to try to stop a runaway train, he can't quite accomplish it. Now this may be more of my bias about the complete Superman, but I was never really interested in him before because he was basically a god. It's nearly impossible to defeat him. But this Superman gets overwhelmed by a train. I don't know, but this seems like a character that I want to see developed. Definitely a recommended comic for anyone interested.

Alright, well that was a ludicrously long review of a single comic, so for the rest, I'll just give quick blurbs. Send me a message if you'd like a more complete review of any of them and I might write them up as a separate post. Thanks for reading.

Batgirl #1 -- Written by Gail Simone; Art by Adrian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes

There were elements of this book that I liked, but there's a lot of history to this character that sort of gets brushed under the rug. Good art, but the dialogue and the captions were confusing at times.






Batman and Robin #1 -- Written by Peter J. Tomasi; Art by Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray

This was definitely one of my favorite books so far. Tomasi is taking Batman in a new direction concerning his memorialization of his parents, but there is still a lot of darkness in the book, especially with Robin, who is Bruce Wayne's son, Damian, in this comic. Damian has grown up under the tutelage of a man basically obsessed with death and justice, so one could understand that he would have a very dark, pragmatic outlook on life. On top of that, his dialogue makes him out to be a total wise-a**, which is pretty awesome. Great, great book with very good art and dialogue.

Batwoman #1 -- Written by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman; Art and cover by J.H. Williams III

This book honestly let me down a bit. The cover art and previews of the first few pages I had seen of the book in comics blogs looked really promising as far the art goes, but the artists sort of seemed to give up after a while and it dropped off. The dialogue was pretty good, but there were at least three scenes where Batwoman and her sidekick Plebe were changing into or out of their costumes, thus yielding several panels of side-boob. Not really what I'm looking for, thanks. As for the story, the villain looks really interesting, but I don't think it'll be enough to get more of my money. 

Swamp Thing #1 -- Written by Scott Snyder; Art and cover by Yanick Paquette

Ok, this book was absolutely brilliant. Snyder has done a great job of incorporating Swamp Thing, who was previously a sort of fringe character for the DC Universe, straight into the mix. The art of this book is really really interesting and fun, and coupled with the writing, makes for an entertaining, yet creepy book that perfectly embodies a sort of horror/superhero genre. Definitely going to be following this one.



Alright, that's all for today, kiddies. For more info on these comics and the rest of the new DC Comics line, go to the DC Comics website. For better informed reviews of some of these comics and general comics culture related news, go to ComicsAlliance.

Gravitas Victorious!

At last, Dear Reader(s), the herculean trial of finding a job has come to an end for our hero, i.e., myself. It took a strenuous month of job hunting through websites, location visits, dead-ends, and frustrations with the seemingly endless incompetence of the management of a certain bread company location, but at last Gravitas has found gainful employment.

To tell the tale of this triumphant hour, we must go back a week. Last week, I was going about my usual routine of doing some job hunting amidst my digital meanderings. I found a couple of new job openings through a job search site I've been using, including a Team Member position at Caribou Coffee (basically a Northern version of Starbucks, for all you that have not seen a Caribou in your area) and a Catering Driver position at Einstein Bros. Bagels. I believe I filled out these applications of Wednesday or Thursday of last week.

Finally, on Friday, I decided to visit a couple of stores I had applied at, just to make sure those locations were hiring and so that the managers might know me better and consider giving me an interview more seriously. I must attribute credit to Shannon for giving me the idea to do so.

Anyway, when I went in to Caribou, I spoke to the manager, and she said she had reviewed my application. She asked me to come in for an interview on Monday, 11 July. I went in for my interview full of a blend of optimism and sheer desperation. The interview went well, and together the manager and I achieved the milestone of figuring out that if I were one animal, I would be a dog! Yay!

Anyway. She told me I would hear back from her by Wednesday or Thursday, so the next couple of days were spent in nervous anticipation. Finally, yesterday I got an email Caribou offering me the job! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

And that, dear Reader(s), is the tale of how I got a job at Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. Also, this job will be baller because (1) they're paying me $8/hour; (2) I get a free half pound of coffee or tea a week as an employee; and (3) I get 30% off of everything in the store!

Thank you, friends, for bearing with me through this over long process of finding a job and then telling you about how I found a job. It's been a blasty blast. Now, I've used far too many exclamation marks in this post, so I think that's it for today.

To quote the slogan of my new employer by way of a farewell: "Life is short. Stay awake for it."

Patience...

First of all:  Boom! Two posts within 24 hours! Suck it interwebs, for Jordan DeBord's laziness truly can be overcome! Hazzah!

As for the point of this post, I came across an interesting little conundrum this evening as I settled in to the apartment for the night.

As many of you might have surmised, Atlanta--being in the Southeastern United States--is hotter than balls in mid-July! So, upon arriving at the apartment and putting away some stuff in my room, I decided I wanted a nice cool beverage from the refrigerator. I know you can already tell how difficult my life is from what I've described thus far, but bear in mind, dear Reader(s), things are about to get REAL!

So, I proceeded to my local icebox and withdrew the last bottled water from my assigned shelf. And what do I find?! Do I find the water to be cool and refreshing, ready to quench my thirst after a long day of driving to my girlfriend's apartment and taking a nap there for like an hour before watching That 70's Show and eating brownies she made for us?! NO! Instead, the water is frozen almost entirely throughout the bottle, and when I try to open it, what water remains unfrozen overflows out of the top!

What. The. Cuss.

Hopefully by this point, Reader(s), you have guessed that I'm not actually that disturbed by the fact that my water bottle is mostly frozen. But it does bring up an interesting point about what we members of a first world nation consider an issue. I don't intend to be all preachy and what not about how we're actually so fortunate and we need to consider what people in third world countries have to go through just to get a couple gallons of nasty polluted river water, but I wanted to ask you to consider what you are annoyed by in reference to the rest of the world next time you're coffee ends up burnt at Starbucks or your order at McDonald's gets messed up.

Thanks for reading.

Quick! To the Blogosphere!

Well, Reader(s), here we are in the last 13 minutes of this week, and since I promised in my "I'm going to actually start blogging now" post from earlier this week that I would post at least twice per week, I decided I ought to fulfill that plan. Of course, by the time I finish typing this post and publish it to the interwebs, it'll actually be about 10 minutes until the end of the week. Who knows where this will end?

Heck! If I typed long enough or had serious enough bloggers block, I might not even make my own self-imposed deadline. I have a pretty frequent problem of not meeting my own self-imposed deadlines (see the incident with the Modern Library's Top 10 Fiction Novels of the 20th Century - - Damn you, James Joyce and your enormous tome called Ulysses!!!)

Anyway, the witching hour approacheth! And I'm supposed to get up early tomorrow to lead worship at this church with Shannon. So for tonight and for the first of many 2+ post weeks,

Good night, Reader(s)! May your bookshelves be heavy are your assigned readings light!

(It is now 4 minutes till week's end.)

For the sake of posting...

It's been far too long since my last post, and I just read a couple of recent posts by friends of mine, so I figured I'd put something up here just so I could have something more recent than last Fall.

I suppose I ought to provide just a general life update, since it's been so long since my last post. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Palm Beach Atlantic this past May with a B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies. I'm now living in Atlanta, where I will begin seminary at McAfee School of Theology in the Fall. I will be going for a Master's in Divinity. Just to prevent any confusion, that is not a Master's in Divination, like what Prof. Trelawney teaches at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series, though I may learn a thing or two about Transfiguration. We'll see.

I don't know if I posted anything specifically about this in the past, but I'm currently dating Shannon Pringle. We've been together for a little over a year now, and things are going pretty awesome with us, especially since she'll probably be able to correct my Harry Potter references.

In other news, I'm currently in the throes of a hardcore job search, trying to pay rent and utilities. Yay for real life! I'm living with two other guys right now: Sam and Chris. They're both McAfee students too and so far they seem like really awesome guys.

In other other news, I've picked up a couple new hobbies in the last few months, most notably reading and collecting comic books. I've been reading online comics for a few years, but I started actually buying print comics in April. I'm pretty hooked, but I'm poor right now so I can't really afford to buy them right now which kinda sucks. Oh well. I'll just have to play catch up once I get a job. I think when I get more regular in my comic readings, I'll start posting reviews and such about some of my favorites.

Anyway, I'm going to try to write more frequently on here so there's a reason for people to read it occasionally. My posts will probably consist of random musings, goings-on in my life, comic reviews, more of my own artistic endeavors (poems and short stories probably), and cool pieces of art I happen upon in Gravitas' journey to dominate the internet.

I'll try to post once or twice a week so check back every now and again and see if there's anything you're interested in reading.

To quote a benediction I read in Tolkien's The Hobbit: "May your beards never grow thin."