The Brisbane River overflows, inundating the surrounding suburbs.

What has happened in some parts of Queensland has been described by authorities as an ‘inland tsunami’, with destructive torrents ripping through homes and businesses at over twenty kilometres per hour. The 70 towns and cities the flood has passed through have been described as ‘ghost towns’ and ‘war zones’. The official death toll rose to 13 people this morning, while 43 remain missing.

Thankfully my suburb and home has been spared. I was more than a little panicked about the creek that flows behind my townhouse, and around my entire apartment complex, but it seems to function as a rather effective stormwater drainage system, and so the water levels are only high when it is raining (which, mind you, it had been for two months without reprieve). Most excellently, I haven’t been able to go to work for the past two days and presumably for the rest of the week, as power and access to the Brisbane CBD has been cut off. That has afforded me a chance to catch up on some writing, some Red Dead Redemption, and even apply for a freelance gig at IGN AU.

My first order of business, though, is to finally fill you in on ‘The Burglary’. Yes, the thief was apprehended back in September and nine Wii games recovered initially, but by November the police had recovered all of my stolen consoles and games, which of course I was (and am) absolutely thrilled about. As I no longer need to rebuild my videogame collection, I have now re-purposed this site to donate to the Queensland Flood Appeal, which I would encourage you to seriously consider. The donation button to the left has been changed, and should now take you to the Queensland Flood Appeal website.

When I see images of flood-affected Australians pulling together to rebuild and help each other out, I am reminded of a song called The Great South Land. It goes a little something like this:

This is the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit

A land of red dust plains and summer rains

And to this sunburnt land, we will see a flood

And to this Great South Land, His Spirit comes

My goal is to review or write about a game in my collection at least once per week. I hope you enjoy this experiment in crimefighting!

For real. A couple facing foreclosure had their fortunes reversed when they found a copy of Action Comics #1 in their basement.

Action Comics #1 is better known as the first ever Superman comic, and the progenitor of the entire superhero genre. Needless to say, it is pretty much the most significant comic book of all time, and very, very valuable.

The anonymous family found the comic while packing up their home, due to a bank’s foreclosure proceedings. Fortunately, they knew better than to sell it at a garage sale, and contacted Stephen Fishler, co-owner of ComicConnect and Metropolis Collectibles in New York. Fishler is well familiar with the title, having brokered a copy of Action #1 for a record-breaking $1 million in February this year, only to break that record again with the sale of a second copy for $1.5 million in March. This particular copy will be displayed and officially graded at the San Diego Comic-Con, where Fishler expects it will garner a VG+ (‘Very Good’) rating. Fishler also expects the book to fetch upwards of $250,000 when it goes up for auction through ComicConnect.

The house in question had been in the family since the 1950s, and it will probably stay in their possession for a while longer, thanks to the Man of Steel.