Sunday, February 21, 2010

Rewriting, Missing Comics, A Basement Full Of Comic Boxes & The Pride Of Baghdad

*sigh*

Nothing is more frustrating than writing something out, and clicking the 'publish' button, only to have the system advise you that the post has not been uploaded, but has in fact been lost.

Let's try this again...

This weekend I had a visit from a friend who now resides in Ohio.  On Friday night we had a terrific steak (slightly overcooked.....my fault I admit) and some garlic mashed potatoes before inviting another friend over to join us (as well as one of my sons) for an evening of cards and a couple adult beverages. My friend decided to stay the night, before getting up late in the morning to prepare himself for a day at his mother's for her 65th birthday (Happy Birthday mom!) Just as he was heading out the door, I recalled that there was something I really had been meaning to ask him.

Did you bring my comics with you?

My comic orders are shipped to Ohio because it costs too much to have them shipped to Canada, and then Jason brings them with him when he comes up for work or for visit (in the summer I'll retrieve them myself! Road trips...) Unfortunately, the answer this time was 'no.' Jason had put the comic box on the floor by his bed, with the thinking being that he would have to trip on them in order to leave the room, and would be unable to forget them.  Turns out he was wrong about that last part.

Do I have to tell anyone how disappointing it is to think that you're about to see your first batch of new comic books in over thirty days, and then find out that it isn't going to happen?

The situation did lead me to spend some time carving through the racks and racks of comic boxes that are organized in my basement.  Normally I only get into the racks when I am going to spend some time in a car on a road trip, or I'm traveling and not expecting to be out on the town at night while I'm doing business in some lame city (like Sault Ste Marie.) The need to find something to read in the absence of new books though drove me to do it and I'm kind of glad that I did.

I never fail to stumble across something that I haven't read in a good long time, and yet my memories of it always seem to be that it is one of my favorite tales. This time was no different and I think I've uncovered a couple of gems that will be in consideration for the Top 10 list I'm going to be compiling as I work my way through the collection and draw out my favorite stories of all time.

This time I quickly came across The Pride Of Baghdad, a graphic novel penned by Ohio's own Brian K Vaughan (of fame for Ex-Machina and Y: The Last man, both of which I enjoyed.) The novel is unique, in my opinion, because it is loosely based on real events that took place during the American invasion of Baghdad, and is told completely from the perspective of a pride of lions which escaped from the zoo during the bombing of the city.  There is some very engaging about the way in which the story is told, and as always I love to read things which seem to have their own unique place in storytelling.

Have any of you read it?  

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