So I bought a few back issues of Fables the other night to read, and am now truly sucked in. I've been picking up individual issues as they come out--I really get a kick out of the story. I ran back last week and told Gary (slight spoiler alert, run to the next paragraph if you're concerned) "Snow is pregnant with the Wolf's baby and Red Riding Hood just escaped the Adversary and wound up on the doorstep of Fabletown. Sound like a soap opera yet?"

One thing I'm getting a kick out of with Fables is the gentle twists on the stories--like the Beast who is having marriage problems with Beauty and occasionally starts to look Beast-like until they make up again... And Sleeping Beauty, who winds up putting the entire floor of Tiffany's to sleep when she pricks her finger on a brooch... It's fun.

And I just finished Preacher. Nine graphic novels, eight of which are the main story. Lots of people seem to like Preacher and I heard a lot about how good it was, how great the writing, how good the story, and when I read the first graphic novel I wasn't all that impressed...I mean, it was good, but it wasn't as good as everyone had been saying. I was thinking, oh well, it was overhyped. After a little while I picked up the second graphic novel. And that began this little whirlwind of reading for me, that only ended when I had finished the series. (That first one is pretty introductory--you have to know the people before the story can really take off...) I really enjoyed it. And it wasn't for the great writing, though the writing is good, or for the story, though the story isn't bad either, but for these incredible characters that I wound up wanting to know more about.

I was sad it was over. But I liked the ending.

Now we come to my latest addiction. Sigh. Hero-clix. Little collectible figures that you can play a relatively complex little game with. It's chess with super-heroes, except that different pieces can do wildly different things, and it all depends on your ability to utilize your pieces well. I'm not a board game girl for the most part, but there's something about this that combines just enough gaming, just enough strategy, and just enough fangirl appeal (you can try to make teams with some of your favorite superheroes--if you're not a purist about it you could have Catwoman on a team with Phoenix and say Psylocke, and maybe Kabuki, do a little girl's against the boys game...)

Each piece is give a point value, with some of the toughest characters having higher point values (for some characters there are rookie, intermediate, and advanced levels of the character, which affect the abilities and the point value). So if you're playing a 300 point game, each person could select characters totaling 300 points for their team. You could grab some kick butt single character that costs 200 points and then have two or three medium point characters, or you could field eight or nine intermediate characters and hope to win with numbers... Get a vague idea? With all the power and counter powers the game can get a little complicated, but it's not too bad once you get into it a little. There are DC, Marvel, and Indy hero-clix...you can have Marvel vs. DC games, or you can sort of mix and match to create neat little teams. I'm just getting into it, but it's fun. Sean and I are trying to get particular characters we really like, like the Fantastic Four. I'd really like to get Phoenix, but she's hard to get. (I ordered a few packs from the series she's in, we'll see if I luck out.) Eric and I are trying to get Gary to carry Hero-Clix at the store :)

So that's what I've been up to recently. Not terribly exciting, but fun. I'll entertain you kids more later.