Random Happenstance

I mentioned my unread pile the other day; which has actually grown since then, even though I did find and manage to read the new Gerald Way Doom Patrol...which...ah...I'm gonna give it another issue, but I'm thinking it's not for me, and it's put me off trying Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye. Part of it is, I've only read a smidge of Grant Morrison's version, and prefer a slightly less...abstract version of the team. I feel like an old man who's not "hep" for wanting or preferring a stodgy old traditional superhero book heavily seasoned with body horror and maybe just slightly less magical realism. Case in point, in Way's first issue, the main character has a cranky roommate, who reminded me of Squidward from Spongebob--the foil/butt of jokes, that isn't won over by the lead's infectious charm and annoying positivity--and was there for no reason but to be outright murdered by a singing telegram...I may have just talked myself out of trying the next issue. (I don't want to leave my comic shop on the hook for it, so I think I'm locked in for at least one more.)

Maybe if the next issue actually has the Doom Patrol in it, maybe even doing something. I was thinking about cobbling together that arcade machine from the first cover, though: might not happen, but maybe. (Art by Nick Derington.)

Anyway, it's still weird for me to have an unread pile, since for so many years if I bought a comic, it was read before the day was done. Moreover, I have two unread digital piles! I hadn't worked through all of Dark Horse's Humble Bundle, when along comes maybe the third Transformers Humble Bundle! It is absolutely worth dropping at least a dollar for upwards of fifty books, including four trades (!) of the staggeringly good More Than Meets the Eye, but you might as well go all in and get all of Tom Scioli's Transformers vs. G.I. Joe. I do prefer HM's DRM-free digital reads to Marvel Unlimited, where you have to be online; but I have so many unread books there too! Those are all redeemed digital copies, and if it's a book I'm reading regularly, I probably read the physical version; but I did get a lot of random books lately. (It really sucks to check a book and find its digital code expired like last month, though.)

Weirdest of all? I actually have unopened figures right now. I picked up the new DC Icons Batman for half-price; partly because I thought he would disappear if I didn't. And yet, he seems just a hair short for me, so I was weighing if I wanted to open and keep him, or do something else with him: sell him, keep him in package, give him away...don't ask for it, I might keep it! The same goes for some Star Wars Black figures I got cheap, old Han Solo and Ahsoka Tano.

Then there's a keeper that I need to find a spot for: DC Collectibles New Batman Adventures Roxy Rocket deluxe figure! Still, the MWC Toys review mentioned her rocket needs batteries, and I haven't grabbed those yet. Still, she was a steal; and having to clear a place for her isn't exactly the worst problem in the world.