A Milestone Post, A Worthy Cause, An Important Day

Yesterday I noticed on my Blogger dashboard that my next post on this blog would be post number 500. I thought that such a milestone ought to be about something really important instead of the mostly trivial stuff I normally write about. I asked for suggestions on a Twitter/Facebook update. I got none. Fortunately, (insert name/title of your preferred deity or deities, or chalk it up to fate) provided inspiration today.

I had just gotten on the bus that runs along Frankford Avenue near my house. There was a bit of a commotion. The driver commented to another passenger about being stuck in the outer lane. There were a few cars and vans driving along the other lane, moving more slowly than the rest of the traffic. As the bus driver finally managed to pass the clog, I noticed two vehicles in particular -- with a red, white and blue motif and a lot of text, with one word in the largest font standing out: GUMPATHON. In between them was a man in what seemed to be a wheelchair/bicycle hybrid. His legs were still -- it was his arms "pedaling" the handlebars that powered his ride. Curious, I jumped out of the bus a minute later, ahead of the caravan, and captured some video. (You don't hear sound because of the YouTube sound issue I previously ranted about, so you can't hear the man give me a shout in response to my thumbs-up gesture as he passed.)



So, what is the Gumpathon?

My Week In Comics 6-23-10

Finally got to buy more than one book for a change, after a couple of weeks buying nothing or just one. So that made it sort of a big week, and then there's...

Superman 700: Whenever a book hits a milestone number the publishers like to make a big deal of it. Issue 100, 200, sometimes a 50th book is a big deal. Of course, there are some asterisks involved. While this is issue 700 of "Superman," there aren't actually 700 issues of the same series, all with the title "Superman." Back in 1987 the original "Superman" series was re-titled "Adventures of Superman" starting with issue 424, while a new "Superman" series was introduced, and started with issue 1. But in 2006 that series was canceled, and "Adventures of Superman" was given its old "Superman" name back, starting with issue 650.

Anyway, this is issue 700 and in the wake of the just-ended "War of the Supermen," you'd expect a really special issue. And it is, in that it's got extra pages and three stories. But