Just A Couple Things

Not much to talk about today, mainly because I've been goofing off and wasting my thoughts on the Penny Arcade forums and fan fiction. There's been lots and lots of talk since the Iowa caucuses, mainly concerning Obama's rise and Clinton's fall, but also about the merit's of Ron Paul's insanity. I've been caught up in the crossfire that's been going on regarding both, and it's been incredibly fun. I think, and the wife will probably agree with it, that a combination of my love of arguing and my need to be acknowledged as right means that I easily get going on internet forums.

That said, it's awesome that Obama's gotten a serious bump from his Iowa win, as much as 13% depending on the poll. Hearing potential New Hampshire voters, who are supposedly quite independent leaning, talk, you get the feeling that there's definitely much love for Obama up there. No amount of trying to characterize him as all talk and no action has made a difference, and even his unremarkable performance in Saturday's debate has slowed him down. Incidentally, wasn't it pretty hardcore seeing Edwards tag team with Obama to thoroughly anger Clinton? Anyway, if Iowa holds true for New Hampshire (and god knows it hasn't always), then this primary is going to have a huge turnout and most will end up in Obama's favor. I'm optimistic that they're going to make the right choice in the Granite State.

I'm going to cover this more on Wednesday in what will become a weekly post about the comics I read each week, but I wanted to say a little about my first comic of the week that arrived in the mail today. The comic in question is Amazing Spider-Man #546, the first issue in the "Brand New Day" series of stories and first in the now thrice-monthly title. A little background for your edification: Brand New Day (BND) is a "fresh slate" revamp of the Amazing Spider-Man book that follows closely on the heels of the One More Day (OMD) story that did the slate wiping. OMD hasn't been very well received, to put it mildly (seriously, check Newsarama.com or Comicbookresources.com for the outpouring of nerd hate). Some people were so mad that they swore off the book. Well, to those people I say "sucks to be you", because if the first issue is any indication, Spider-Man is going to be just awesome this year. It reminded me very much of the old Spidey I'd read of in old reprints from the 80s and 90s, and that is a very good thing in my book. Further, all of the creators on the book (and it really is a long list of A-list talent) got a chance to shine in the issue, giving hints of the fun to come over the next four months. For as bad as issue 545 was (and it really wasn't all that bad, but retcons can be hard to swallow), this issue was twice as good. I'm no longer cautiously optimistic about Brand New Day; I'm more a fan now than I was before today.