Geek Speaking of Feeling the Thunderer

Geek Speak: Classic Game Distraction Tactics

Some of my comics flirt with being autobiographical. This one doesn't so much flirt as buys it dinner, takes it out dancing, then home for a nightcap where they fall into bed and make passionate, floor shaking, wall thumping love. Which is really long and colorful way to say, "this be a true story, folks."

I was in the kitchen working on something, which is hardly unusual, the kitchen is kind of like my man-cave. Some days it's where I go to get away and unwind. I don't think Mildly Sensational minds so much because my unwinding in the kitchen usually produces things like dinner, or dairy free vanilla custard (made with coconut cream instead of whole milk, it's awesome!) Over the holidays I even experimented with baking my custard in pumpkins.

All of which sounds way more exciting than, "I was in the kitchen doing dishes," which was more likely the case. As it turns out, feeding a family of four means there's a steady stream of dishes needing to be washed. I turned around to grab another dish of the stove and Mildly Sensational was standing there holding out our son, Moderately Amazing. She looked me in the eye and said in a perfect deadpan, "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this."

Those who've grown up playing video games probably get the reference right away, for others it might take some explaining.

Yes, that is a Miskatonic University shirt Mildly Sensational is wearing.

My favorite of the alternate covers

Comic Book Review: THOR!

Publisher: Marvel
Issue: 1 through 5
Price: $3.99 (Yikes)
Recommendation: Recommended

I will confess that prior to the relaunch of Thor late last year I had never read the comic, nor had I really ever wanted to. Big muscled blond guy in tight pants who happens to be a god defends the earth, which he calls Midgaard, by beating things up with a magic hammer. To me that's what Thor's stories always boiled down to...yawn. In the hands of the right team I know that he's had some good story lines, but overall I feel that, as a character, Thor has typically gotten lost in a field that is full of muscle-bound white dudes beating stuff up.

Ok, the Hulk is technically green, but stay with me.

When it was announced that Marvel would be trading in Thor's mighty thews and passing the hammer to a female lead I took notice. I'll admit to wrestling with whether or not to pick up the book at the risk of buying into what might or might not be a marketing stunt intended to boost a title with flagging sales. I mean, come on. It's comic books. They do crazy stuff all the time to try to sell more books. Those of us who read books in the 90's will remember rushing out to buy holographic foil print covers of X-Men because "they'll be worth something someday." I'm glad I ultimately decided to ignore that instinct and pick up the book.

While the writing doesn't exactly blow me away it's solid, with a good hook in the form of not immediately revealing the identity of the new hand that grips the hammer. The writers are obviously enjoying the dual nature of the new Thor as her inner monologue is that of a modern woman, while her speech is that of the Norse god(dess) of Thunder. As the story unfolds we're given bits and pieces of information that are clearly intended to lead up to a much larger event, but right now work well as standalone adventures to introduce us to the new Thor. What I like best about the writing so far is that Jason Aaron accomplishes something really difficult. He crafts a story such that the reader is drawn into the character of Thor as she learns about what it means to wield the hammer. Aaron places the reader in the character's boots as she questions her powers, tests their limits, and discovers that, for all practical purposes, she really has none. As it should be for a goddess.

I look at this and it still gives me goosebumps

While it doesn't have the fun cartoony quality of Ms. Marvel or the gorgeous colors, line work, and lighting of Death Vigil, I am really enjoying the artwork in Thor, provided by Russel Dauterman with colors by Matthew Wilson. They bring us into the world of the new Thor with classic comic book bravado. Their compositions accurately pace the action with relatively quiet moments feeling relatively static and confined, while action sequences feel chaotic and larger than life. Key moments are pulled off brilliantly, such as the first appearance of the new Thor after she has just picked up Mjolnir from the surface of the moon.

If I have criticisms, they're nit picky at best. If the woman holding the hammer is mortal, how did she get to the moon? The hammer goes to those who are worthy to wield it, but she picked it up as though it were already hers. How did she know she would be worthy? I feel like we should have reached a point by now that we could all accept that boob armor is impractical and looks ridiculous.

Really that's about it.

It would be impossible to write about this comic book without touching on some of the social commentary that has come up around it. The same cynical, misogynistic, knuckle-dragger who brought us GamerGate wrote what I will only call vile opinion piece on this book for the online news-ish outlet, Breitbart. I won't link to it here. You can find it pretty easily in a Google Search. Take my word for it. You are a better person for not having read it.

The decision to pass the hammer from "he of the thundering pectorals" to a female lead would at first appear to be fairly bland marketing gimmick to boost sales. After reading the book and thinking about it I believe that Marvel's decision is not only bold, but important. What makes this important is the thing that surprises me most about some of the reactions from fans and critics alike. I'm shocked that today, in 2015, we still have to come out and say that yes, in fact, a woman can be worthy of the might of a god. 

Geek Speaking the Game of Rimming the Pacific

Geek Speak: The Game

The first time we played this game is lost in the winding, trackless, uncharted recesses of my memory. How it works is this: I will grab the bottom edge of my shirt and walk into a room where my wife is on the computer, reading, or doing something on her phone. I'll cock an eyebrow and wait patiently for her to notice me, like a cat stalking that spot on the floor, you know the one, the spot only cats can see. When she sees me I wait a moment then I lift up my shirt and I give her my best big, goofy smile.

She will then cock an eyebrow at me as if to say, "Is that how it is, then? I accept your challenge." Then my wife will lift her shirt and we'll stand there grinning at each other for a moment. Just before it starts to feel awkward the shirts get dropped back into place and we go back to what we were doing as though it never happened.

I have no idea how this got started. It doesn't matter really. This game always works. It's always fun.

Pacific Rim: Weeks Later and I'm Still Smiling

Mildly Sensational and I have a hard time getting out to see movies, which is a well established fact of parenthood. Any set of parents will testify that getting out of the house for time together for a movie and dinner is really damn difficult after you have a kid, much less kids. Now that we are expecting our second we're put in kind of a funny place in that we have to arrange for someone to watch our daughter so that we can go out. This is to get her accustomed to being watched by other people so it's less of a shock when someone other than her parents is watching her overnight. 

The first time we arranged for someone to sit our daughter so we could go to a movie and out to dinner we went to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. That was in June around the same time as Father's day. Last month we arranged for our friends Gibbergeist and his wife to stay with Veronica and we took in Pacific Rim.

It's over a month later and I still smile when I think about it. Let's just say this up front, this movie is not American Beauty, nor is it any other Best Picture recipient you can name. This movie is one thing: giant sea monsters versus giant robots, and it is owns that shamelessly, even proudly! 

Honesty time, I freaking loved this movie. It has its flaws, and it has a couple of moments that were truly unnecessary, but the overall film was a fantastic and enjoyable surge of cinematic adrenaline. 

The thrust of the story is a war that is being fought with enormous extra-dimensional monsters who attack us from a rift deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. The giant monsters are called Kaiju, which is a Japanese word for "monster." To battle the Kaiju humanity pools its resources and develop Jagers, which is German for "hunters." The Jagers make use of a neural link between the machine and the pilot. The neural load is too much for a single pilot, so all Jagers have two whose minds are electronically linked. Through the link they move and fight as one person, and their movements drive those of the Jager. 

When the movie starts humanity is at a turning point in the war. After initial victories they've started to lose, and it's up to a small group of remaining Jagers from all over the world and their pilots to make humanities final stand, end the war, or die trying.

It's a simple plot, but the actors embrace it with gusto. The cast is an impressive grouping of international film and television stars including Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Idris Elba (Thor and Luther), Rinko Kikuchi, and Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy and Hellboy...oh, and he's the voice of the narrator at the beginning of all of the Fallout video games). 

Charlie Hunnam does a solid job carrying the film, but does seem at times to be out of his depth in scenes with Idris Elba. That's understandable. Idris Elba is an amazing actor, and he makes would could be a boring archetypal role something engaging and worthwhile. He delivers the movie's "Cripsian's Day Speech" (from Henry V) and he does so gloriously. Every one who's seen the trailers has seen a piece of this speech, "...today we are cancelling the apocalypse." There's more to it than that...see the movie...it's worth it. 

Rinko Kikuchi is charming as an eager rookie Jager pilot. She also serves as the movie's nominal love interest, but there's not much romance to be had in the film. In a way that's kind of refreshing. The filmmakers didn't bolt on some bullshit love story in a craven maneuver calculated to rope in female viewers. Rinko's character is unapologeticly tough, resourceful, and intelligent. She does play second fiddle to Charlie Hunnam which is a little unsatisfying as I would have liked to see this character given some more room to develop. 

The supporting cast is filled out with charming character actors who at times steal the movie, even from the great Idris Elba. 

There are some flaws with the movie. There are several plot holes that allow our heroes to escape an otherwise certain doom. Some scenes feel a little like filler between giant monster and robot battles. There are moments where performances come across a little flat. Again the cast does a solid job, so there aren't a lot of flat moments. 

My biggest complaints are in some unnecessary touches that completely removed me from the film. The biggest of which was the appearance of Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau. When his character is introduced it's on the eve of a major battle with Kaiju in the streets of...I think Shanghai. Hannibal Chau is built up as this major Chinese underworld figure dealing in black market merchandise. When the character is introduced Ron Perlman gets this major reveal with a fancy camera angle intended to accentuate how physically large he really is. The moment falls laughably flat. It should work. All of the elements are there, and yet, somehow, when we meet Hannibal Chau for the first time and it's Ron Perlman it just...fizzles. 

Perlman for his part delivers a fine performance, but seems uncomfortable in the role from time to time. Given how the character was built up and placed in a very specific setting I would have loved to see the role go to one of that region's major stars. It would have been great to  have Hannibal Chau turn around and it's Sammo Hung, or Sonny Chiba, or (best of all) Chow Yun Fat. 

The action of the movie is intense and it is underscored by a muscular soundtrack. Since seeing the movie the theme from Pacific Rim (covered here by LittleVMills) has become one of my favorite things to pull up in Spotify when I want to buckle down and focus on some menial task, like tracking my hours. From the first moment a Jager engages with a Kaiju the soundtrack thunders, and hammers, and plugs into your nervous system to keep you on the edge of your seat. It's great. I love it. 

On the whole Pacific Rim is a great action movie playing the part of a war movie where the combatants are monsters and robots. Not only would I watch this movie again, I'd pay the extortionist ticket prices to see it in the theater at least one, if not two or three, times. 

Verdict: Highly Recommended

Tiny Psylocke Gets Exposure

Tiny Heroes: Get Psylocked!

I wanted to do something a little different with the tiny heroes, and thought a good way to change things up would be to draw a tiny heroine. So far I've been drawing a lot of dudes from Marvel and DC. It's way past time for some girl power!

Psylocke has always been a favorite X-Person of mine. She has serious martial arts skills, her ability to focus her telepathic abilities into a "psychic knife" is...just...cool, and lest I forget to mention it, she's hot.

This is a character I would like to see treated really well in the books. Her use of telepathy is different from anyone else in all of the X-Books, and her seriously tormented background puts her somewhere in the Wolverine and Elektra range of psychologically broken. That could make for some really interesting conflict as she wrestles to come to terms with her past and tries to redefine who she wants to be.

Comic Book Review: Exposure 

Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment

Issue: 1
Price: Free on Comixology. Who cares how much it actually costs. Don't pay money for this.
Recommendation: Take a pile of them out in a field and build a fire pit. Burn them. Bury the ashes. Salt the earth where they are buried so nothing more can grow from their cremated remains.

At some point I was flipping through the free titles on Comixology, which I do quite a bit as I can't wrap my head around paying print edition cover prices for a digital copy. When I stumbled across this comic I don't know what compelled me to click on it so I could see more, although it might have something to do with the cover art.

I suppose I figured I'd check it out, probably find a book that embodied all the things I can't stand about mature titles, then flip away and forget I'd ever seen the thing. On one level it didn't disappoint, but it also presented vampires in an intriguing way. My interest aroused...just my interest people...I downloaded and read the book. It took a half an hour of my life that I will never get back.

This book absolutely represents almost every element of mature reader comics that make me want to grab the creators and shake them until their brains rattle while screaming, "How dare you pollute the art I love!"

This is where a spoilers warning would go, but I really don't give a shit. I don't want anyone to buy this thing.

The book is so bad I feel like I have to start with something good to say about it. Some of the writing manages to be compelling. The big plot point driving the first issue is a compelling idea that Roman Centurions who were responsible for nailing Christ to his cross were cursed to become vampires by spilling the blood of a divine innocent. That's pretty compelling on its own, but the writing goes on to briefly flirt with brilliance in its explanation of the classic vampire vulnerabilities. They can be killed by wooden stakes, because that represents the wood on which Jesus was hung. They're burned by holy water because that represents Christ's tears. My personal favorite is the explanation offered by the book for a vampire's weakness at dawn, and strength at dusk. Christ died on the cross at dusk, then rose at dawn on the third day. And therein the compliments end.

The book's title is "Exposure," which is setting the correct expectations right there on the cover. The story revolves around two women, both working for the same police department. One is a medical examiner and the other detective. It seems like the creators were trying for Rizzoli & Isles with vampires. What they accomplish is presenting the comic adaptation of a Cinemax original horror movie called Hot Cops 2: Vampire Nuns.

Much of what I will grudgingly call the story centers around vampire attacks on a convent. The convent must be the Sacred Order of the Magdalene's Holy Ta-Tas because all of the sisters are insanely hot under their habits, with the exception of the mother superior. The presence of the nuns is then elevated to fetishism when the main characters don habits to blend in. Not only do they not get to finish dressing before the convent is attacked, but the habits are damaged in the battle so they're fighting in a catholic nun's version of a micro-mini that conveniently shows off their fishnets. That's not a typo. They're wearing fishnets under a nun's habit.

When the main characters do engage in battle it seems like they must have unbreakable skin or something equally implausible. Vampire attacks that tear full grown men in half do nothing to them but tear off their shirts. Not their bras, mind, just their shirts. Which begs the question; if your skin is invulnerable to harm, why do you need a bra made of Kevlar?

Easily the most offensive thing about the book is the casual way it treats violence against women. It's either pointless and gratuitous, or it's a speedy way to get the main characters' kit off. Whatever the reason it's bizarre and offensive in the way that it's fetishized.

Overall the one or two good things in this book are not remotely enough to balance its failings. Don't make the mistake I did reading this thing. There are a lot of creators putting out there putting out much worthier work. To be fair, it looks like Red Giant Entertainment, the publisher of this book, has a few titles that would be worth a look.

Whew. Got that off my chest. It's an important lesson I think. Not every book out there is going to be good. Now I'm going to go re-read Saga. After that I need something genuinely great to restore my faith in comic books as a storytelling medium.

Geek Speaking Money Shots over Nowhere Men

Geek Speak:

The Reaction Money Shot

Whether she intended to or not Sam has taken Mark and Steve to a place from which they cannot return. The question remains, will they be better people for it? 

My wife had a fair amount of input into these comics, particularly regarding my drawing of Sam's breasts. It's a testament to how awesome my wife is that her input wasn't, "you really shouldn't do that, some people might be really offended." She could have, and she would have been justified. Let's be honest, this puts a toe over the line of sexism. My wife could have made that argument and I would either have had to shelve this entire mini-arc, or find some way out of the corner I'd painted myself into. Instead what she said was, "Wow. She has a huge rack."

Something to that effect, and she was right. My first pass at drawing Sam with her shirt up had her significantly larger in the chest region. My wife's comment was a good observation because the first pass at drawing her with her shirt up was inconsistent with how I'd drawn her with her shirt down. So Sam got a breast reduction. 

The guys' reaction in panel three is based on a doodle I did before bed a long time ago. I've been trying to find a way to work up to it ever since. I had a lot of fun drawing their reactions in panel three, and overall I'm pleased with the results. 

One more strip with these three, I think, then we'll take a break from these characters for a bit. 

Comic Book Review: Nowhere Men

Publisher: Image Comics
Issue: 1
Price: $2.99 (cover price) $2.39 (on Heavink.com where shipping is free). 

Recommendation: Highly recommended

I'm going to start this review by saying this is a bold book. It deals unflinchingly with high-concept themes such as morality and ethics as they apply to scientific pursuit, human experimentation be conducted in secret, and the overreach of corporate ambition when it places profit above humanity. These are huge, huge ideas and they are handled well by the creative team of writer Eric Stephenson, artist Nate Bellegarde, and colorist Jordie Bellaire. 

The beginning of the book is a kind of prelude to the story in the rest of the first issue. The book opens at some point in the past. Based on the clothing and hair we're led to believe it's in the late 70's or early 80's. This is followed by what looks like the curriculum vitae of the four characters on the first page a la Playboy interviews. This is a brilliant choice on the part of the creators as it lays out exactly who these men are without having to devote pages and pages to character development. This becomes important in very short order as we jump from "some time ago" to "years later" and the characters introduced on that first page are much older, and much has changed between them. 

We meet them after a crisis moment in which one of their projects has taken a serious turn for the worst, resulting in the deaths of two men. How they respond to the tragedy sets up one of the major themes of the book. At the same time Stephenson deftly weaves in exposition that sets the stage for events later in the story.

Stephenson's writing is spot on. The arc of the book is carefully crafted to establish the tension early on, then leaves the reader on cliffhanger that is nothing less than out of this world. His dialogue is natural and each character speaks in a voice so distinct, so painstakingly well crafted, that you can very nearly hear what their voices would sound like if they could speak. 

The artwork is equally well done. Each panel builds on the one before, and the team of Bellegarde and Bellaire have done an admirable job evoking the tension of Stephenson's words.  The line work is tight and, detailed, and disciplined. This tightly controlled quality makes it even more jarring when you're introduced to characters who've been subjected to the secret experimentation that is one of the books major themes. In a medium where the monstrous and spectacular are all but quotidian, it's a remarkable achievement when a creative team can shock the reader. Bellegarde and Bellaire do it, and make it look easy. 

If I have a criticism it is that the same tightly controlled quality that makes it possible for Bellegarde and Bellaire to surprise the reader also makes the book feel as though they are holding back. Bellegarde is obviously a more-than-capable illustrator, but a large number of panels throughout the book offer only spartan detail. This adds impact to the big reveals in the book, but it also makes the world feel as though it lacks depth or substance. Almost like actors playing out a scene against flats painted in solid colors. 

I'm somewhat guarded in my recommendation of this book partly because the last book I reviewed was Saga, a title that would skew the curve for anyone else, and partly because it seems like the creative team is holding back. Overall a very solid first issue, and I'll be picking up the other issues to see where this team is taking us. 

Note: The cover image above is used without permission. If you would like to support the title or acquire a copy of the book please purchase it from the online comic store, Heavy Ink (linked from the image). Better yet, get out of the house and go to a local comic store and support them by picking up the print versions.

Doodles and Strip Searching for Web Strippers

Doodles: I, Panda

I don't remember the precise circumstances, or how the whole thing got started, but I was at work one day and was eavesdropping on a conversation when someone dropped the phrase "iPanda." The conversation was entertaining, but I've utterly forgotten the context in which it came up. I do remember that one of my co-workers was really into the idea of an "iPanda" and thought the idea of a Panda with the Apple logon his chest was adorable. 

Between calls and emails that day I doodled out a quick panda with the iconic apple on his chest on a sticky note and put it on her desk. To preserve her dignity and the perception of her professionalism I will just say that her reaction was enthusiastic. 

After that I would occasionally put a new version of the iPanda on her desk. The one to the right here is one I don't think I ever gave her. It's a riff on Kung-Fu Panda that I called "iPanda Classic." 

Penny Arcade: Searching for "Strippers"

Images used without permission, please click the image above to visit the show's website. You won't be disappointed. 

I really can't wait to see how many hits I get based on that heading alone. 

Neither my wife nor I have ever been fans of reality television. Whether it's the over-wrought drama of the contestants, the contrived circumstances, or the plainly rehearsed "spontaneous" moments, there's always something that is just...grating about the whole thing. If were to put that in a twitter-friendly format it would say something like, "I have better things to do than watch hateful, narcissistic assholes be nasty to each other." 

With that said, both of us have been completely sucked in by Strip Search on Penny Arcade's website. For those who don't know (though I'm not sure anyone who reads this would fit that description) Penny Arcade is arguably the most successful webcomic online right now. It has been running since 1998 and maintaining a rock-solid three-strips-a-week schedule. Penny Arcade is drawn by Mike Krahulik and written by Jerry Holkins.

Both Krahulik and Holkins are huge fans of reality television. They started exploring the medium with their web-series "The Fourth Panel" which features them at work developing the comics that get posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Strip Search goes deeper in to the reality television format and brings to life something...wonderful. 

The concept of the show is straightforward enough, and familiar to those of us who remember watching "The Real World" in its first couple of seasons. All of the contestants share accommodations in a gorgeous and well appointed (and well-stocked) lakefront house somewhere in Seattle. Each episode features interviews with the contestants talking directly into the camera about the events of the day.

The show also brings in competitive aspects from shows like Survivor and The Bachelor, and each day two contestants must face an elimination round. One goes home, one goes back to the house, and the challenges continue the next day.

Krahulik and Holkins have assumed a cold, aloof, distant persona for the purposes of the show, presumably for dramatic effect. It comes off as a kind of a nerdy Bond-villain type vibe. To anyone who has watched "The Fourth Panel" or met them in person the contrast with who they really are is jarring. These are two of the nicest, most affable, most giving guys on the planet. Fortunately they frequently break character and you get to see them for the wonderful human beings they really are. 

At one point Krahulik even loses his temper when he has to send someone home at the end of an elimination round, and the work that is the basis for the decision is of such a high quality he can't bring himself to destroy it (in previous elimination rounds they destroyed the strip created by the losing contestant). In a moving moment he offers a testimonial to how much he likes the contestant's work and can't bring himself to destroy and instead hands it back for that person to keep; an invaluable memento of an amazing experience (and the fact that this contestant had already won a Wacom Cintiq HD probably didn't suck, either). 

The contestants are, for lack of something even more glowing to say about them, amazing. Each one is a fine artist in his or her own right and each of them is an established web cartoonist to a greater or lesser degree. In at least two cases (Erika Moen and Katie Rice) they already have an established fan base that even extends to some of their fellow contestants.  Artistic ability notwithstanding, these are people I'd like to hang out with on a regular basis. They are genial, open, friendly, and willing to share. It's a testament to their character that each time one of them is asked to nominate two others to go to eliminations it is an agonizing decision. 

The show works at another level that I'm sure some of those reading this will appreciate; it's a kind of peak behind the curtain into the what it takes to run a successful webcomic. I would even go so far as to call it a boot camp. in the first nine episodes the show has covered topics from ranging from working with a partner, to developing marketable merchandise, to managing your own PR through outlets like Twitter. The notes given to the contestants and the lessons learned in the process are things that are applicable to my own practice, as I develop it, and my be relevant to some of those reading this as well. 

One of the best things about the show, is the respect with which departing contestants are treated. When one of them is told "you are not the strip we're looking for" and asked to go wait in the car they are shortly joined by Krahulik and Holkins who offer sincere words of encouragement. No one leaves having had a bad experience. It is this sensitivity to their contestants and to their viewers that elevates this above the base sensationalism of other reality programs and makes something that is truly engaging and entertaining. 

Highly recommended. 

Geek Speak and the Nexus of Naked

Geek Speak: Naked

Here is something I've never done before; a direct continuation of a moment from one strip to the next. This even uses the same location. The challenge here was getting it to look ass close as possible to  the previous strip, so I used the previous strip as a reference. 

Mark and Steve still aren't getting it, and now Sam the extent to which her co-workers are completely clueless. There's nothing else to do really, so she gets to have a little fun at their expense. I really like this about Sam, she sasses them in the final panel, knowing that she's the only one in the conversation who gets the joke. 

Something really interesting is happening with Steve. Where Mark is almost always talking in sentences that are nearly too long for my word balloons, Steve only says a word or two. He's really turning into a man of few words, who speaks only enough to say what is necessary. That is going to be a lot of fun later.

Gadget Review: Google Nexus 7

I swore I would never do this. It was like a kind of mantra. "I will never buy a tablet." Then my birthday rolled around, and it looked like I was going to be able to go to WonderCon. I had some extra money, plus some very generous gift cards, so the price tag on a tablet suddenly seemed with in reach. I knew I didn't want an iPad or iPad mini. Both are terribly overpriced, the reviews of the iPad Mini have been mixed, and most of my day is spent in the Google ecosystem.

Since I knew that I was going to be getting an Android tablet I was quickly able to narrow my choices down to two devices, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7. I liked the Kindle Fire because I already own a Kindle e-reader, I'm an Amazon Prime subscriber (highly recommended, maybe I'll talk about that in another blog), and my wife and I have a friend who owns one and loves it like a shiny puppy with a gorilla glass face. The Google Nexus 7 I liked because its specs were better, it's manufactured by Asus, the same company that made my laptop; and it comes with a full-version of Android where the Nexus 7 is a flavor of Android developed by Amazon. Both devices were roughly equal on price, and both devices had virtually identical rankings in Consumer Reports. 

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7 are both outstanding devices, but I ultimately settled on the latter. I wanted it for its full access to the Google Play store, the full version of Android rather than the heavily customized version installed on the Kindle Fire HD, and full access to Google solutions like Drive, Calendar, and Gmail. I do so much work in those last three that not having access to them would have left me very disappointed in the Kindle Fire HD (I suppose until I had a co-worker root the thing and install the full version of Android). 

I bought the Google Nexus 7 with a Poetic Slilmline Portfolio case that features an auto-sleep/wake function. When the device arrived I immediately plugged it in and started it charging, but didn't turn it on. I don't think this matters anymore, but I show my age in some funny ways. Before now you never wanted to be charging something while it was turned on. When things charged you had to leave them alone and go do something else. In my day. Kids these days.

When I did eventually get to turn it on it came to life and displayed a loading screen for a short while before going to the home screen. There was a short tutorial briefly describing how to use the device, and then I was off to the races.

It does race. Under the hood the device is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-Core processor, which is a little misleading. The Tegra 3 features "four plus one" architecture which offers four full processor cores for HD video playback or for playing games, and a smaller single processor that's used when browsing the Internet, checking email, or reading an eBook. The single core uses considerably less power, so it extends battery life. The overall speed of the device is impressive. I actually prefer it for checking email to my office workstation. 

Storage is an area where the Nexus 7 both stands out from the rest, and falls short. It stands out from other devices because it offers up to 32 GB of storage in a very affordable package, if you get wifi only. The storage is extended if you store most of your documents and other files in the cloud using Google Drive. Where it falls short is the lack of a removable memory slot. The 32 GB of storage is nice, but it's not infinite. It would be nice to  be able to supplement that with another 32 GB on an SD or micro-SD memory card. 

Physically the Nexus 7 is an attractive device. Asus gave it a textured back, rounded corners, and a beveled body so the back curves to the edges. The screen is bright and clear and displays video and images gorgeously. The construction is solid. While this gives the device some heft, Asus was very smart in crafting a device that doesn't feel remotely cheap or "plasticy." It feels like it could take the small amount of punishment that regular use will cause and not suffer cosmetic or functional defects as a result. 

The Nexus 7 comes with Android 4.2 installed and gives full access to the Google Play store. Apps download and install quickly and I'm able to pay high-resolution, HD games with no performance problems. The Play Store has a wealth of apps and media content that offers something for everyone. Love books? Got it. Movie buff? Done. Audiophile? No problem. 

Overall the Google Nexus 7 is a great device. Though I once mocked tablet owners and swore I would never be one my self I find myself using it daily for everything from checking email, to looking at blog stats, to reading comic books, to studying for my project management professional certification. I have no problem recommending the Google Nexus 7 for anyone who is conscious of price, but doesn't want to compromise features.

The Google Nexus 7 sits in a happy place between price and performance. That's probably why they call it the "Nexus."