Talking Comics: Infinite endings, why I'm a self-hating geek, Free Comic Book Day, and more

- At long, long last, Infinite Crisis, DC's big event that's been a few years in the making, is over. Well, sort of. There's still another year of the aftermath to explore, in the weekly 52 series. (And for what it's worth, I'm glad they decided to go with 52. For a long time, that was just the working title, and I wondered why they'd mess with perfection.)

Anyway, it was okay. Good, not great. Unfortunately, it's going to suffer by comparison to Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, which in my mind, is one of the most perfect comics ever produced. There were some nice moments, and a decent resolution to the whole thing, but I didn't get my high body count (I think a grand total of three or four characters were offed, and they were hardly important. Judomaster? Golden Eagle? Looker? Ugh.), nor did I really get the feeling that anything was really resolved. But it wasn't as bad or pointless as I'd feared, and there's a great Joker/Luthor moment at the end. So great, in fact, that I thought it made the whole exercise worth it.

- I saw four people carrying bags from Big Monkey Comics on the way home from work today. I always like it when that happens, though I'd never seen that many in one afternoon before. It kind of makes me feel like a member of a secret club or something. Unfortunately, there were no nods of recognition as we passed by one another with our bags, or a brief conversation on the Metro about what we'd bought, because I'm still a closet geek. I kept my bright yellow bag in my briefcase where no one could see it.

Most of my coworkers and casual acquaintances have no idea I read comics, because I make a point of not mentioning it. And the idea of being seen carrying comics in public (much less reading them) by total strangers still makes me feel uncomfortable. I'll probably expound on this at some point in the future, but for now, I'll just toss a salute to the people who weren't scared to be seen with their purchases.

- I'm not really big on comics licensed from movies or TV shows, but this might be worth picking up. It'll be nice if the series gets some decent promotion, as it might be one of those rare events that gets people inside a comic book store who have never been in one before.

- In the Sunday Source in last Sunday's Post, the Exotic Planterium & Collectorama in Alexandria got a nice mention. To be honest, it's been years since I've been there, and I'd completely forgotten it even existed, but it's a hell of a place. Plants, books, comics, and God knows what else, all crammed into a space about the size of my living room. You can barely walk around, much less look through everything available, but it's one of those really cool, really unique places that you can't help but dig. I might hit it up this weekend.

- Speaking of comics and this weekend, the annual Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday. I'll be blunt, I'm not wild about this year's line up of available titles, but I still think they're worth checking out if you find yourself near a comic book store. (If you're in Georgetown, you really have no excuse not to stop by, as you have two stores to chose from.) Here's the list of titles:

Archie Comics 65th Anniversary Bash -- Archie Comic Publications
Free Comic Book Day Bongo Comics Free- For All! -- Bongo Comics Group
Star Wars/Conan Flip-Book -- Dark Horse Comics
Justice League Unlimited # 1 -- DC Comics
GI Joe Sigma 6 #1 -- Devil's Due Publishing
Disney Comics Presents: Donald Duck -- Gemstone Publishing/Disney Comics
The Transformers/Beast Wars Special -- IDW Publishing
Future Shock -- Image Comics
X-Men/Runaways -- Marvel Comics
Tokyopop Sneak -- Tokyopop