The exciting paint-buying post, which is really about comics

Last night the whole family piled in the car and went to the hardware store to buy paint for the office. We have such good family fun! Oliver has been lobbying hard for Mace Windu purple; since I don't have particularly strong feelings about home decor or color options, we went with lavender (real purple would be much too dark in that room; it gets no direct sunlight). While the employee was mixing the color, my husband suggested we stroll down the mini-mall to the comic book store.

Like I'm gonna say no.

It's really a comics and collectibles store, so while Quin, Aidan, and Oliver looked at action figures I wandered the comic book section. I had half an idea to get another Hellblazer (origin for the movie Constantine), but they all have fancy titles, nothing obvious like Volume 1 or Volume 2, so I wasn't sure what would come next (an advantage of online shopping, you can always find out in two clicks of a mouse and never interrupt anyone doing their homework behind the counter).

Then I saw it. FRAY. I have heard of this Dark Horse limited run and always intended to track it down, but never quite remembered that I wanted to. And then there it was, a nice eight-issues-in-one-volume collection. The only one left. I think it was waiting for me.

For those not in the know, FRAY is a comic that Joss Whedon wrote about a vampire slayer in the future. I read all eight issues last night (my sleep schedule is so out of whack; it always takes a month for me to "spring forward" and usually even longer to "fall back". The government is evil. Wait, where was I?).

I would have dearly loved this comic when I was a teenager (I love it now, but you know what I mean). Back in those days I sought out all the woman-oriented Marvel titles - Dazzler, Firestar, Magik, Red Sonja - and while I liked them all in their own way, they were never quite there except for Kitty Pryde and Wolverine.

It's not just the writing in FRAY that is spot-on; the artwork is exceptional, particularly in regards to how the women are drawn. But that's apparently not a coincidence. As Joss says in the intro, "I had come to Dark Horse with one stipulation: No cheesecake. No giant silicone hooters, no standing with her butt out in that bizarrely uncomfortable soft-core pose so many artists seem to favor. None of those outfits that seem to casually - and constantly - reveal portions of thong. I wanted a real girl, with real posture, a slight figure (that's my classy way of saying "little boobs"), and most of all a distinctive face. A person."

At any rate, I was standing there in the comic store gazing longingly at my amazing find when Oliver comes up to me with a graphic novel of his own clutched tight to his chest. And he has a look on his face that says he knows he has to ask, but he also knows Mom is never going to refuse to make a comic book purchase. So he brought home Star Wars: Darth Maul. I'm not sure exactly what it is; he read it with dad at bedtime. Why he picked Quin I don't know; there was a lot of loud grumping on not knowing how to read comic books (Dude, top to bottom, left to right. If you can't tell which came first, they're probably meant to be simultaneous).

My son is already a comic geek. I'm so proud.