When

First; Joe Q would be asked to step down, but he'd be given the option to hang around as EIC for the Ultimate Universe. I love some of the things Joe Quesada has done, but it's time for a fresh perspective. He'd get a nice severance if he did decide to leave completely.
 
Second; less work for Brian Bendis. Again, I like Bendis, but he's been overexposed and I think he could use a break.
 
Third; Marvel Knights returns. More adult oriented titles, but not quite so bad as Maxx, featuring the grittier side of the Marvel Universe.
 
Fourth; a return to the status quo. I think we all need a breather for a while, and this would give our characters some time to stand on their own, no huge events for a while.
 
Fifth; extended runs on titles for creative teams. It drives me nuts when a title has a new writer/artist each week.
 
Sixth; Spider-Man goes back to being a monthly title. If there is an outcry for more Spidey books, Sensational and Friendly Neighborhood will be brought back.
 
Seventh; all Avengers teams will be combined and cut down into one team.
 
Eighth; I would explore using less expensive ink, lower grade paper (preferably 100% recycled), and adding more advertising to bring down costs of comics.
 
Ninth; the restriction on 'R' rated movies would be lifted. Punisher War Zone gets a sequel. The possibility of Moon Knight, and Thunderbolts movies get explored.
 
Tenth; the ban on smoking ends. Wolverine can once again enjoy a cigar.
 
There are probably a lot more things.

I'm not sure if being female is a requirement (so far it seems so, which could be made into a huge rant about sexism and gender roles but I'll save it,) but I'd probably have a violet ring. Otherwise I don't think any of the other corps would take me. Let's see, I guess in descending order, from how likely it would be for me to be allowed in a corps to least likely, it would probably break down as follows; blue, green, orange, red, yellow, black. I think that's all of 'em.

...someone writes a good story bringing them back. Who cares how long they are dead when we all know they'll be back eventually anyway? As long as the writing is good it doesn't matter to me, bring them back in the next issue for all I care.

Well, some people may know this already if they managed to catch my tweet about it a while back, but a few weeks ago I joined the Air Force. It was one of those decisions that when I was making it, signing the papers, taking the tests, and whatnot, it was kind of an out of body experience. I'm not sure if I regret making the decision or not, I've been having a sort of "early life crisis" for the past few years, and it seemed like it couldn't hurt things. I only wish I had thought of all of the ways it might hurt things before I signed up. I'm now technically serving part of my eight year contract with the government on the delayed entry program (DEP)  in the "inactive reserves" which basically means, well, I don't really have any idea exactly what it means. The delayed entry program, though, puts me on a waiting list until they can find an opening in one of the five jobs I selected (if you're interested, the jobs I'm waiting on are; intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems maintenance (electronics,) ICBM systems maintenance (mechanical,) ICBM facilities maintenance, nuclear weapons, and space systems technician. I figure that I may be tasked with the care of the most destructive weapons known to man, but since they'll probably never be used, I can keep a clear conscience.) Also when I signed up, I put down as my earliest day I'd be available as May 15, which means that now any day from today until April 23 next year (the day my DEP contract expires) I could be called and given my ship out date, at which point I'll be moving from Cape Cod to San Antonio where I'll spend a minimum of eight weeks in basic training, then off to my first school in Texas, Mississippi, or California.

So, I'm nervous as hell about this, it's put me a little "on edge" lately. Mostly I'm feeling a little sick over the fact that by the time I get out, I'll be thirty years old. I am hopeful too though. The Air Force will present me with many, many, opportunities to get my life back on track, and the jobs I picked leave me with a lot of days off, that hopefully I'll use to go back to school and finish my degree. We'll see how it all works out.

Tying this back into comics; being away from my local/any shop for eight weeks will be a real bummer for me. I have a pretty good sized pull list, and trusting someone else to pick up my books just makes me nervous. I know that there are other military types on the Vine though, and I was wondering how they coped? Did you have someone send you your comics from home, or did you (after you got the necessary liberties) seek out new comic shops wherever you were stationed?

Anyway, I just wanted to take the time to share what's going on. Expect a post in the hi/goodbye thread sometime down the line.

I change my icon at least a couple of times a month. I think I'm still trying to settle into a unique style, but get bored fairly easily.

My current icon "Saucer Boy" (the snowler-blader) is in memory of one of my childhood heroes who died recently, Shane McConkey. Shane was an extreme skier who died at age 39 in a ski-basing accident. He revolutionized the sport of skiing, taking to the hills in some of the most unique ways. I remember a powerbar ad he did in which he skied using the front and rear bumpers from an El Camino for his boards. His reaction was that he had a hard time catching an edge. His life awed and inspired many skiers of all different levels, and his death leaves a huge hole in the sport that no one else will ever be able to fill.

     Today (well, yesterday now) I awoke at around 2:00 a.m. feeling a little sick and still unsure whether I was up to putting in a full day of travel and adventure. I pulled myself out of bed and brushed my teeth, got dressed, and by 3:00 I was feeling a lot better and decided to hit the road. I quickly gathered up what few things I wanted to get signed, I picked Amazing Spider-Man #526 For Deodato (the issue of 'The Other' where Morlun eats Spidey's eye (I was hoping to get this one signed by J M Straczynski too, but he canceled so he could be in London for the BAFTA awards, he was nominated for his script of Changeling, I hope he wins/won,)) Amazing Spider-Man #568 for John Romita Jr ('New Ways to Die' book one,) and the last issue of Magneto: Testament for Greg Pak. By 3:30 I was out the door and on my way.
      It was way below freezing outside, the thermometer on my car read 7 degrees F by the time I reached the T station in Braintree, but I pushed onward, and after only a short wait, I was on the train and headed for Boston's South Station, and their bus terminal. As I waited for my bus to arrive I once again began to feel a little nervous about the journey. I hadn't yet ventured too far, and if I got on board the bus, there would be no turning back, not until 6:30 p.m. anyway. Steeling myself, I hopped aboard the bus destined for New York.
     The ride into the city was painless. We arrived at Penn Station at around 11:00 am. just about the exact time the bus company promised, and from Seventh Ave, I made my way up to 11th to the Javits center and Comic Con.
     Working off of only about three to four hours of sleep (including a short nap on the bus) the walk seemed long, and when I finally arrived I was horrified. Comic Con had been sold out for Saturday.
     Hundreds of miles of travel seemed to have been in vain, and I began to wander about the entrance to the Javits trying to think of what it was I would do next. Serendipitously, I had managed to over hear a conversation between a group of likewise dejected Comic Con hopefuls who were saying that the convention itself had been sold out, but apparently there were retailers who still had tickets to Saturday's show available, in particular, one I managed to catch a glimpse of on the bus ride in, Midtown Comics.
    While the group discussed whether or not to walk or take a cab, I began a forced march all the way back to 7th Ave, where I found Midtown Comics, managed to get my hands on a badge, and then walked back to the Javits once again, and this time was able to finally gain entrance into New York Comic Con.

     For the first hour or so I was completely overwhelmed. I wandered the hall aimlessly, trying to figure what to do first.Seeing that Lou Ferrigno was signing, I figured that getting his autograph for my brother in the Navy was a good place to begin. Unfortunately, because of my time spent in awe of the grand display of the show, I missed out on the Mike Deodato signing, and the John Romita Jr. Signing, but did manage to get to Greg Pak in time to have him sign my copy of Magneto Testament, which I will now proudly display, um, somewhere, and try to keep it from getting destroyed. I also bought a copy of the Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 trade paperback, signed by Brian Micheal Bendis for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and a few other signed comics and pieces of artwork by some people I didn't know.

     During the show, the costumes were out in full force, and I've got over 100 pictures of people dressed as characters from all kinds of different media. Near the end of the my day there the Marvel Comics booth held a costume contest, for which I used up every last bit of power in my camera, and sadly, wont be able to upload pics until I get some juice back in the thing. So check back in later today/tomorrow depending on timezone.

     Also at the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 booth, while they weren't putting passers by into the game, they were holding Superhero debates. I managed to get a video of a debate as to which hero would be harder to get a date for, the Thing, or the Sasquatch. I'll do my best to try and make that available too.

     Otherwise the convention was a great way to fill in some of my missing comics, I'm very close to having all of the JMS Spider-Man issues now, Grabbed a few issues of Earth X, and even snagged the first ever issue of New Warriors, just for essez and jeez.

     Here's all of the pictures I took yesterday, most are of Marvel's costume contest:

Gallery

So, I've been seriously considering heading to Comic Con in New York this time around, and I've been studying the logistics, and think I finally have the trip planned out.

Step 1) I have to wake up at around 3:00 a.m. on February 7 and hit the road from my home in Harwich, MA to Braintree, MA, where I will park my car for $7 at Braintree Station.
Step 2) I take the "T" (Boston's subway system is called the "T" for those who aren't in the know (and yes I realize that I could've saved time by just typing Boston subway) from Braintree Station on the red line at 5:15 a.m. for $2.00. I'll arrive at South Station in Boston at around 5:45.
Step 3) There's a bus leaving South station at 6:30 a.m. for New York's Penn Station for $10.25, it'll arrive in New York at around 10:45.
Step 4) Supposedly the Javits Center is a few blocks away from Penn Station. It'll cost me $45 to get in (more than the total cost of my traveling.) I'll have to try and remember how long it takes me to walk over there.
Step 5) The bus back to Boston from New York leaves at 6:30 p.m. I think this gives me plenty of time to see what I need to see at the con. For some reason the bus only costs $6.25 this time. I should arrive back at South Station at 11:00 p.m.
Step 6) Hop the "T" back to Braintree, hopefully I can catch the train at 11:08, but if I can't they run till 12:38 a.m. so it shouldn't be an issue (unless for some reason I arrive in South Station after then, which would be a horror show.) It'll cost another $2.
Step 7) I should get back to Braintree Station at 11:33 p.m., if everything goes perfectly. From there I'll hop in my car and head home, I'll probably get in at about 1:00 a.m. on February 8.

The cost of travel and parking will come to $33 when you factor in about a quarter of a tank of gas. Comic Con costs $45 to get in (cause I wont buy my ticket in advance, just in case.) Coming to $78 total. I'm sure I'll want to have some cash when I get there, but I also want to travel light, so I wont be making any insane purchases when I get there.

I was wondering if anyone else has any experience with Comic Con, and how much they spent there. Also I was wondering if anyone else is jumping through hoops to get there.

I don't know for sure if because I haven't picked up my comics yet this week, but it should be in my box because Amazing Spider-Man is on my regular pull list. I'm interested to see which cover I got though. I was surprised to see that during the "New Ways to Die" arc, they gave me mostly the variant covers, so with any luck I may get the prized "Obama cover." If I don't get the "Obama cover" I wont pay anything extra to get it, I don't buy the comics for him, I buy them for Spidey.