300

This is the 300th post of Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy, originally titled: My Supposedly Interesting Thoughts!  Thanks for joining me for the stories, top 5s, statistics, digital trading cards, fantasy sports,
and more!  

The number 300 stands out to me in several ways, so bear with me on this tangent with the number 300.  First, it makes me think of bowling.  In college, I took a bowling course for 1 credit hour; I became a decent bowler as my average moved to 207.  Not bad, but it was far from the perfect bowling game score of 300.  

For the last several years, I have taken my summer reading group to a local summer camp where they have a paintball field.  Most of us had never played paintball let alone ever considered shooting anything at someone, but there we were, firing paintballs across a wooded battlefield.  Our paintball rate was quite slow at about 150 feet per second to reduce the pain and whelts that would appear on the skin after getting marked.  The universally accepted maximum safety velocity limit for paintball, however, is 300 feet per second. 

In 480 BC, a massive Persian army bottlenecked at Thermopylae, where brave Spartan soldiers, greatly outnumbered, held the pass.  The number of Spartan soldiers who held the pass was 300.  

An abundant number that is the sum of its proper divisor (568) is greater than the number itself is the number 300.  (I admit that I have no idea what any of that means and I hope I paraphrased the mathmatical rule properly.  But you get the idea)

Personally, the number 300 sits covetously in my mind. It is the issue number of the Amazing Spider-Man comic book that is THE bucket list issue for my collection.  I love the cover!  Spidey swings through a wall of "300s" in his black Spidey suite.  Tons of fun!  This book introduces a new villian who has become one of the most popular anti-heroes in Marvel lore, Venom.  The Amazing Spider-Man 300 is written by David Michelinie and Pencil and Inked by Todd McFarlane.  That combo says enough about the success of this milestone issue, but again, I want it for the unique, fun cover.  

Thank you for joining me for post 300 and my musings on the number 300.  Here is to another 300 posts and maybe it won't take almost 20 years.  Hey, after 300 posts, consider subscribing to Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  I wouldn't want you to miss another post!  

Top 5 Comics I Look Forward To Every Month

I did some looking back at my writing recently and I came across a post from September 2020.  Yep, as the world started to explore returning to work, school, and life, I was still reveling in the solitary times of reading comics.  I posted a Top 5 Comics that I look forward to Every Month in 2020, so I took a look at my list these days in 2024 to see how things have changed.  Take a look at the 2020 list here and see how some of my top comic choices have changed over four years.  

My Top 5 Comics I look forward to reading every month:  

5. Annihilation 2099 -  Marvel Comics - I discovered this book on the shelves of my LCS with issue 2 (shown left). I know the Annihilation story of many years ago; I know the 2099 story of even more years ago, so I thought this had potential with my mind just putting two things together.  It was even better than I thought it would be.  These are one-shot stories per issue.  I don't know where it is going (besides several enticing one-shots), but I look forward to who the next issue will feature and what villain will be introduced in 2099.  

4.  The Transformers - Image Comics -  I really enjoyed the 1980's Transformers cartoons, but just couldn't get behind the Transformers movies.  I just couldn't follow the transformations in the movies.  They went too fast, and that is what was cool about the Transformers, watching them transform!  Anyway, I saw that Image Comics released a Transformers line and have connected with other titles (G.I. Joe, and Void Rivals) through the Energon Universe.  I figured I'd give it a try and boy has this been fun!  If you are/were a fan of the Transformers, this book certainly has the feel of the original.  

3.  Conan the Barbarian - Titan Comics - I was visiting with Jim Zub on my podcast Teachers in the Dungeon when Conan the Barbarian came up.  My beef with so many Conan titles in the recent past is that Conan has so much back story and baggage, that I can't tell what the heck is happening.  Who are friends and who are foes?  Then, I came across Zub's Free Comic Book Day issue introducing Conan.  I told him that his writing, while interestingly complex, really simplified the story.  I know that doesn't seem to make much sense, but I could follow what Conan was doing and the story and characters were  clear.  This book is definitely worth picking up if you haven't yet.  

2.  Geiger - Image Comics - My friend Cory was recommending some of his favorite comics to me when he mentioned the book Geiger.  He named it as one of his favorite of the year.  So, I picked it up, and I couldn't agree more.  While still early in the series, it has had its ups and downs story-wise, but overall it is interesting and enjoyable.  It is a dark future and Geiger has become infected with radiation that he can "kind of" control.  But instead of using it for evil, he chooses it to help people.  He is dangerous, but he tries to be careful to not hurt anyone.  This is a worthwhile book to check out.  

 

1.  The Amazing Spider-Man - Marvel Comics - After looking at the 2020 list, it may seem obvious that this would be my choice.  It is no secret that I am a huge Spider-man fan, but this wasn't a no brainer choice as my number one book to look forward too. All of the books above went through my head as possible number ones.  This Spider-Man book has been most excellent for about a year and a half!  The art is phenomenal and the story exceptional.  One of my gripes over the years has been the constant recycling of the same villains, but for some reason, the "old" villains have felt new or maybe more developed in this book.  If you haven't checked  Spidey in a while or you've somehow never been a fan of the web-head, this might be the time to jump on.  Issue 1000 isn't that far away.  Okay, 50 issues away, but still that isn't too far away.  I can't wait to start experiencing the build up to that Amazing Milestone!  

Top 5 Comics I look forward to reading each month

This is a list that will change frequently, I am sure.  These are the Top 5 comics, both print and digital on Marvel Unlimited, that I look forward to reading each month.  

5. Star Wars (print) - cruising right along I am just enjoying it

4. Aero (Marvel Unlimited) - hanging on to see where this goes

3. Fallen Angel (Marvel Unlimited) - the X-titles are grabbing my attention

2. X-Force (Marvel Unlimited) - I've always enjoyed this title with Cable or without him

1. Amazing Spider-man - the build-up to issue 850 is captivating if not a little dark and scary

Obviously, these are all Marvel titles.  I have always been a Marvel guy, but not because I have anything against DC or any other company.  Marvel just seems to captivate me and always has.  In fact, an honorable mention would be IDW's Star Wars: Clone Wars title.  

What are you reading that has you looking forward to a visit to your Local Comic shop each month?  Leave a comment of your Top 5 or a few of your "can't wait to get your hands on" comic titles.  

Comics: the Good Old Days

Do you ever come across a comic or title or comic character that takes you down memory lane?  I didn't really start reading and collecting comic books until I was in college.  I know, those are the years where most discretionary money is spent on beer and pizza. A solid portion of the paycheck from my dorm, service job was spent on beer and pizza, I saved a bit to start collecting comics.  One of my best friends (and drinking buddies), Pete,  started this habit of collecting comics at the same time.  So we worked out a deal that I would purchase a certain list of titles and he would purchase a certain list of titles then we would read, swap and read, then give back.  It was a two-for-one deal story-wise.  Every Thursday, we would walk off the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois (yep, home of Jimmy Johns) and head to the local drug store where there was a rack of comics.  It was about a mile from campus, and there were some really snowy and cold days where we would trudge through the weather, but we never missed a Thursday.  Once there, we would pop a few quarters into the X-Men arcade game then rummage through the comic racks.  Month to month, there was pretty decent consistency with titles, so we were able to start putting together chronological stories.  Some months a title might sell out or the store wouldn't get certain issues, but it actually wasn't too bad.  The issue was the variety of titles.  The mainstream titles like Spider-man, Batman, Superman, and the X-Men were there but some of the smaller titles would be hit-and-miss or just not there at all.
Luck came our way when a couple of guys decided to try opening a comic shop in Charleston just a couple blocks from campus! Visits to Midgard Comics fed our addiction for more stories and more books.   Even though their website is woefully outdated today, I was in Charleston a couple months ago and the shop, to my delight, was still open.  I wish I had time to stop in, but I was in a hurry heading home from a board meeting for work.  Anyway, my friend and I would head over on Thursdays after classes to pick up our new books, then walk back to my apartment on 7th Street.  We would spend Thursday evenings eating Mac and Cheese or Domino's Pizza (courtesy of my apartment-mate who worked there), laying on the floor with the TV muted on whatever seasonal sport was on, and reading our books.  It is such a great memory for me because it was more than just the books, the art, and the characters.  It was the discussions and hanging out with friends.  It was debating what the cliffhanger endings were, and what we would see as the next book came out.  It was the agony of waiting 30 days for the answers.  It was all priceless and I long for those conversations today.
We generally read Marvel Comics.  I have always been more of a Marvel fan, but Pete was a huge fan of Batman, so I read some of the Batman titles.  Other than Batman, Pete read the X-Men, X-Factor, Avengers West Coast, and Wonder Man.  I have always enjoyed Spider-Man and reading the Amazing Spider-Man title launched me full-fledged into a fan of the webhead books: Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Web of Spider-Man.  Even though I wasn't a huge fan of the X-titles, I did enjoy Cable and X-Force.  But one day, Pete came in with a completely new comic that blew him away.  I was skeptical, so I didn't read it for a couple months, but then I couldn't resist any longer.  I picked up his new issues of Guardians of the Galaxy.  I fell in love.  Vance Astro, Starhawk, Charlie-27, Martinex, Aleta, Nikki, and the others drew me into this new 31st-century universe.  I loved the connections to the late 20th century with Vance and the introduction to new villians like Taserface and The Stark.  It is the Guardians of the Galaxy that always draws me back down memory lane.  Not the contemporary Guardians with Star-Lord, Rocket, and Groot, though I love them as well.  It is the "old" Guardians that flash my brain back to the 1990's, Charleston, Illinois, and my long-lost friend Pete.
I was at the public library browsing their graphic novel section a couple of weeks ago, and I came across the Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 compilation by Jim Valentino.  It collects "Guardians #1-7 and Annual #1; and material from Fantastic Four Annual #24, Thor Annual #16 and Silver Surfer Annual #4." (see Guardians cover above).  These are the characters and stories I discovered 20 some years ago.  I highly recommend this story!
Some other old stories and books that take me down memory lane are the Maximum Carnage story that crosses through the Spidey titles and the Operation: Galactic Storm crossover.  These are some awesome stories.

What comics take you back?  What are some of the great stories you remember?  They could be 2 years old or 20 or 40!  What characters lead you to your comic beginnings.  Where were you?  Where were you in life and who were the friends you shared those comics with?  Comment below and enjoy!