Out for a Drive

I also got to use some aspects of my car I hadn't used yet, like the cup holders. That's right, my old car didn't have 'em. I'm also still trying to get used to having five gears, rather than four.

From there I drove northwards up Route 1, which is a nice, scenic route. Boy, there are a lot of beaches along the coast! (Uh... duh!) Unlike the beaches up north around Half Moon Bay, most of these are free to get into, although there's not a wealth of parking. But there's enough. I stopped at a beach not too far north of Santa Cruz and walked around for a while, Wandered a little too far into the surf - which featured waves as tall as I am - and got my shorts wet. That particular beach also had a creek from the hills emptying into it with a fairly steady but shallow flow of water, and I got to indulge my love of carving tunnels to re-route the running water. It was fun; I probably spent forty minutes walking around that beach.

It was pretty hot in the valley today, but it was cool by the ocean as usual. However, whereas it was dry inland, it was quite humid by the ocean, which I guess makes sense, although it seemed worse than usual.

I stopped at Pigeon Point which sports a 19th century lighthouse. I didn't do the guided tour, but I did walk all around the base. Strangely, there's a youth hostel right next to it, in what I guess are old buildings meant to house the lighthouse staff. I'm not sure if the lighthouse is still in use.

I stopped at Pescadero Beach, which is not really a beach per se as a rocky/sandy area where you can walk or have a picnic. The rocks are actually quite scenic, and there's a stretch which is covered in small (up to 12 inches long) rocks which have been rounded and smoothed through centuries of exposure to the water. Neat.

Then, north of San Gregorio - a stretch I've never driven along before - is an absolutely beautiful view of some smoothed bluffs overlooking the ocean. Lovely!

I stopped off at John's on the way home and showed off my car to him and his girlfriend Kim. They were suitably impressed, but they also weren't hungry enough to take my up on my suggestion of dinner, so I headed home.

I watched last night's premiere of the TV series Now and Again. I have no idea why it's titled that, as it stars a middle-aged man (initially played by John Goodman) who is killed in an accident and his brain is transplanted into the body of a government-created superman (Eric Close, whoever he is). He's presumably going to become a superheroic agent-type a la The Six Million Dollar Man, the catch being that he can't have any contact with anyone from his past life, including his wife and daughter.

The first episode, "Origins", is erratic. It has an arresting set-up of what I presume will be our hero's first case: An elderly Japanese gentleman releasing a fatal airborne virus in public places. Why's he doing it? What's his ultimate target? It's staged well enough to make me watch next week.

The origin of our hero, however, is pretty dull. He's an insurance agent who's passed over for promotion, and is greeted upon his reawakening by some rather nondescript scientist types who seem uninterested in telling him what he's really capable of, or what he'll be doing for them. There's an extensive side-plot involving his wife trying to collect his life insurance, which is pretty much a waste of time. I'm not sure how I'd like them to handle this, but this isn't it.

This episode doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be tragic, or ominous, or comedic. The series must get better quickly to keep me watching.

I haven't talked comic books in a while. Time to rectify that, I think:

• Day of Judgment #1-3, by Geoff Johns, Matt Smith, Chris Jones, and Steve Mitchell (DC): DC's latest big-crossover-mini-series (ultimately to span 5 issues) is about a fallen angel of heaven who gains the power of The Spectre, DC's omnipotent superhero, and aims to destroy the Earth. Our heroes must stop him, and go to Limbo to find a soul to take control of The Spectre. Smith's art is a sub-par Mike Mignola rip, and the story if basically of the "don't bother" variety, as its only reason for being is to set up a return of The Spectre to DC continuity (what, again?).

• Hellboy: Box Full of Evil, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse): Mignola's latest 2-issue presentation of his character is as good as the earlier stories. Hellboy is basically horror in the Lovecraftian vein, the distinction being that the phenomena are being investigated by Hellboy - pretty clearly a demon raised on Earth by humans - and his unusual cohorts in the government agency which investigates the paranormal. This yarn involves a minor demon who thinks Hellboy is a major demon whose power he can usurp. Mignola's art is excellent, as always (hard to believe this guy got his start on The Hulk and Alpha Flight all those years ago). If you like good horror, check out this or - better yet - the paperback collections of the earlier stories. (Start with Seed of Destruction.)

• JSA #1-4, by James Robinson, David Goyer, Stephen Sadowski, and Michael Bair (DC): The first story arc of the re-formed Golden Age team involves the reincarnation of Doctor Fate. If the identity of the new Fate is a little disappointing, he is at least much truer to the original character (mage-as-superhero with a streak of mysteriousness about him) than some of the more recent incarnations. The cast is too large for the characterizations to have much subtlety; hopefully that will be rectified, although characterization is not Robinson's strongest suit.

  Sadowski's layouts and pencils are nicely polished, although his characters tend to look nondescript, although some of this might be Bair's inks, as that description fits his solo work as well. Overall it's a nice-looking book which has potential. What it really lacks, I think, is a Power Girl-like character to give the team real drive, as in the 1970s JSA comics. Anyway, it's a worthwhile book to check out if you enjoy superhero yarns.

• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #4, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill (America's Best Comics): Yes, the latest issue is finally out, and involves our heroes (and anti-heroes) stealing something from Fu Manchu. It's basically a story with a bunch of fighting and what seems to be the set-up to the remaining two issues. In other words, a bridge between the first and second halves. Hopefully the final issues will not be delayed as long.

• Tomorrow Stories #1-3, by Alan Moore, et. al. (America's Best Comics): A big book of short stories by Moore, this is a grab-bag of some of Moore's weakest stuff. "Jack B. Quick" is a young boy living in America's heartland who does wild things like creating a solar system in his home town, and trying to stop light from exceeding the posted speed limit. Yes, it's a one-joke strip which gets tired quickly. "The First American" is a very lame superhero satire with a Captain America motif. "The Cobweb" is a space heroine the point of whose stories eludes me (Melinda Gebbe's art is interesting, however). And, "Greyshirt" is a sort of Shadow/Batman character which Moore uses to play around with storytelling style. The Will Eisner homage in #2 is worthwhile for Eisner fans. But overall this is astonishingly weak material and is easily skipped.

• WildC.A.T.S.: Gangwar trade paperback, by Alan Moore, Travis Charest, Mat Broome, and others (Wildstorm): The second half of Moore's run on WildC.A.T.S. from a few years ago (the first I guess is collected in a paperback called Homecoming, which is better than this volume). This story involves a criminal mastermind unleashing a war of superhumans in New York, and the WildC.A.T.S. heroes trying to stop it. It's erratic stuff, especially since there was a crossover story in the middle, but the last couple of issues, with Moore's portrayal of a super-intelligent and crafty arch-villain, is worthwhile.

• X-Men: Children of the Atom #1, by Joe Casey and Steve Rude (Marvel): This is my pick of the month. The story focuses on Professor Xavier and the original X-Men prior to X-Men #1: Cyclops and Iceman are outcasts, Angel undertakes a superhero career on his own, and Beast - in a clever stroke - is a high school football star. It's a very good story, and Rude's art takes it to the next, "gee I'm glad I bought this comic", level. If you can suspend your disbelief of the whole "superheroes-as-oppressed-minorities" schtick one more time, I suggest checking this out.