Kelly Sue Action Figure, originally uploaded by Kelly Sue.

Laurenn brought me this momiji doll as a present. She calls it a Kelly Sue Action Figure–which makes me ridiculously happy.

KSAF now lives on my desk next to Ganesha and Superman. They are my totems.

Girls Night In

From Greg McElhatton at Read About Comics:

[Age of Heroes #3] opens with the strongest piece in the book, a story starring the three liaisons for the different Avengers teams. It’s a simple but fun premise from Kelly Sue DeConnick, having the Absorbing Man attack Avengers Mansion with only Maria Hill, Victoria Hand, and Sharon Carter prepared to stop him. DeConnick brings the readers through an entertaining chase, and at the same time plays off the three women’s similarities and differences.  This is probably the most interesting I’ve found Victoria Hand in particular, who finally has a reason for being slightly defensive when you see how Maria and Sharon treat her. (Victoria’s cold and stuffed-up-nose-accented dialogue are, for that matter, rather entertaining as well.) There’s even nice throwaway bits throughout the story, like the fact that with three Avengers teams there would have to be some sort of equipment-sharing deals going on to try and make everyone happy…

Full review in link.

• Literally everything Kathryn and Stuart Immonen do is cooler than anything the rest of us do.
• Marvel.com has posted a preview of Fraction’s first issue of Thor right here.  That’s Thor #615, if you want to pre-order it from your local comic shop.  (If you’re not a fan of your nearest shop or you just don’t like to leave your house any more than is necessary, Fraction and I always recommend Midtown Comics’ home delivery service.  You can even get them on the phone and they’ll walk you through the process.)
• Speaking of ordering comics, Casanova #2 is out from Icon on Wednesday.  Spread the word, please.
• Tom Spurgeon has posted a thorough and enjoyable SDCC Con Report in which he wonders, “Who wouldn’t want to pick up Iron Man or Casanova at least once after seeing Matt Fraction play a filthier-mouthed, comics-centric Spalding Gray?” (That’s on Tom’s EISNER AWARD-WINNING WEBSITE, ya’ll!  Congrats again, Tom.)
• Have you seen Enquirer Dharbin? ‘Cause it’s pretty astonishing. I’m just sayin’.

• Alisa and I stopped at Kate Spade on our way to see SALT Saturday night (SALT was awful, by the way. I’m convinced the test audiences doomed it and there’s a good cut floating around somewhere.  There were too many terrifically talented people involved for that movie to have been that bad.)  I fell in love with the bow ring and the Jocelyn shades.  I’m still greedily clinging to my birthday day money, but when I’m ready to spend, these are an option.

• Shaun White is coming to PDX for the Dew Tour.  DUDE.
• Hey, if I want to go see dance in Portland, where do you recommend I go?  Is there a local contemporary company I should follow?  A venue that hosts tours?  How’s the Oregon ballet?

• I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a performance called (I think) CARCASS that I saw in Austin years ago.  The choreographer was Llory Wilson.  I googled to see where she was and what she was up to and didn’t really come up with an answer, BUT–I did find that her troupe used to be called the “Tallulah Dance Company,” which pleased me greatly.

w00tstock San Diego 2010, originally uploaded by vissago.

vissago got some great shots of Fraction’s W00tstock presentation, including this one of his beloved yellow tigers.

The rest (part of a larger, really fantastic W00tstock set) are here.

Hey, soooo… this got announced:

Norman Osborn went from being maniacal super-villain the Green Goblin to the most powerful man in the Marvel Universe as the director of H.A.M.M.E.R. and Iron Patriot, leader of the Dark Avengers. Then he pushed his power a little too far during Siege, and ended up in The Raft, Marvel’s maximum-maximum security prison.

But being locked up isn’t going to stop someone like him, as readers will find out in five-issue miniseries Osborn, starting in November from writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Emma Rios, with covers by Ben Oliver. Osborn may be incarcerated with the worst of the worst, but it turns out they’re fans of his work.

Judging by the responses on Twitter, Fraction’s spotlight panel went swimmingly.  Henry went to a birthday party and ate some cake–and Tallulah hasn’t spit up on anyone yet.  So today’s been a pretty amazing day for us.

Protesting against idol worship of comic characters, originally uploaded by mhaithaca.

The Numbers

Okay, so according to Andy Khouri and Pat Loika, the WBCers DIDN’T STAY THE FULL TIME FOR WHICH THEY WERE SCHEDULED.  Consensus seems to be that they were there doing their thing for roughly 40 minutes and there were “3 or 4″ of them.

So.

Now it’s time to make good on our pledges.  Write the check or hit the big donation button and we can retire the hashtag.  (I’d encourage you to do it now if you can, so that you don’t forget, but if you’re actually at SDCC, I can see waiting until you get home.)  Don’t forget to put “Fred Phelps” on the memo line.

How much?

Whatever you can afford/think is appropriate.

We said we’d do $50 if they showed, plus $10/hr for however long they stayed.  (Clearly, I was expecting a little more enthusiasm from them for their cause.)  That’s what?  Roughly $57.50?  Fraction and I are gonna round up on principle and send $100 each to amfAR and maybe one other foundation.  But seriously, if you said you’d do $10/hr–there is no shame in a $7.50 donation if that’s what you’ve got to spare right now.  A gift is a gift.  The important part is following through on your word.

If you pledged $10 per person, it looks like you’re out forty bucks.  If you pledged time?  Put 40 minutes of volunteer work on your to do list.

I want to leave you with something I read about #godlovesbatman on Tom Spurgeon’s excellent Comics Reporter site:

…The thought is that you make their [the WBC's] appearance and all time spent during their appearance drive money going to a charity that they would likely not approve of. I’m going to make such a donation, and I’ll post the time here so you can maybe do so. I’ll also hope to find time and inspiration to pray for those people, because they seem very lost, and maybe you will, too. [Emphasis mine.]

I…I think I might have something in my eye, ya’ll.