Comic Haul week of July 23rd, 2024

New comics!

Harley Quinn #42

Nightwing #116

Hate Revisited #2

Action Comics #23.1 Cyborg Superman

So I went to Japan, as I said before, and the next few weeks will probably feature some of that content. Another Sick Panels staple, regional sandwiches. We went to Nihonbashi Philly in Tokyo. The chef there has traveled to Philly multiple times to research how to make the bread, cheese, and steak all from scratch. Surely the best cheesesteak I’ve ever had. There are a few things that I ate in Japan that I feel like I can never eat again because it was so good there. Takoyaki for example, so much better when it’s fresh. Cheesesteaks are always going to be unfairly compared to this one.

People have asked me what I felt about Japan, and the answer I’ve been giving them is that it’s everything you’d expect but also gives these Chick-Fil-A vibes. Everyone is nice to you but in a way where it feels more like training than genuine thought. Everyone says “thank you” the same way, it’s offputtingly fake. Lovely people, but living on the East Coast makes me expect more rawness from strangers. The chef at this cheesesteak place as well as his partner were the opposite of that. We talked about cheesesteaks, our favorite bakeries, which American beer is worth importing, real topics. This was the only conversation I had that felt genuine to me, like he was really listening to what I was saying. Obviously this isn’t a judgement on the Japanese, I don’t even know how to speak Japanese, just a fun and loving interaction that stood out from other interactions I had as a foreigner. To be clear, every single person I met in Japan was helpful, which is a lot better than simply polite.