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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 2, 2024 17:36:09 GMT -5
WKRP was and remains my favorite sitcom. Despite the outdated cultural references, it remains fresh and relevant thanks to the writing and one of the best ensemble casts in the history of American television.
Cei-U! "Booger!"
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 2, 2024 10:33:11 GMT -5
Realism is impossible in a super-hero series. What the creators should aim for is verisimilitude (at least if they're not aiming for some sort of surrealism), especially regarding the characters' emotions. It's my experience that if a story presents realistic emotions, the audience will accept even the most fantastical elements.
Cei-U! I summon the Tuesday morning ruminations!
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 2, 2024 10:25:41 GMT -5
You know what doesn't hold up? M*A*S*H. It was my favorite TV show for every one of its 11 seasons and now I find it utterly unwatchable. At first I thought it was the laugh track or the obviously indoor "outdoor" sets but I finally had to admit its a combination of the writing and the acting. It feels as artificial and unnatural as a Busby Berkley musical minus the entertainment value. It makes me sad.
Cei-U! I summon the tarnished classic!
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 1, 2024 18:50:45 GMT -5
Gar was my favorite character in NTT precisely because he was an overcompensating jerkwad and thus the only Titan who actually acted like a teenager.
Cei-U! I summon the adolescent angst!
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 1, 2024 12:11:53 GMT -5
The main problem with the New Universe line was that the suits in the executive suite were against it from the start, reluctantly greenlighting it primarily to placate Jim Shooter, and were happy to pull the plug on it first chance they got. The money was all in exploiting existing properties like Spider-Man and X-Men and in licensed titles like Transformers and G.I. Joe so they had zero interest in a line consisting entirely of new, untried characters and concepts. It was a miracle it lasted as long as it did and there was no chance of it surviving Shooter's canning. At least that's what I've been told.
Cei-U! I summon the doomed experiment!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 31, 2024 10:20:17 GMT -5
Did any characters, who predated Wolverine, have a healing factor (even if it was called something else)? At least one that I know of. When The Beast got his own series in Amazing Adventures, he gained the power of rapid healing at the same time he turned blue and furry. It eventually faded away.
Cei-U! I summon the fortune he saved on medical bills!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 30, 2024 23:45:01 GMT -5
JiM #112 was the second Thor comic I ever read ("Prisoner of the Reds" was the first) and my second exposure to The Hulk (Amazing Spider-Man #14 was the first). Is it any wonder 6-year-old Cei-U became a Marvel zombie?
Cei-U! I summon the clash of the titans!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 30, 2024 8:22:42 GMT -5
The Golden Age character The Bouncer, created by Robert Kanigher and E.C. Stoner, was a statue of Antaeus that came to life whenever its sculptor, a 20th century descendant of the real Antaeus, was in danger. It was published by Fox and thus it comes as no surprise that it was one of the worst comics to ever see print.
Cei-U! I summon the stony stinker!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 30, 2024 6:07:40 GMT -5
Tales of Asgard: The Secret of Sigurd!: Thor, Loki and Balder encounter a big bruiser named Sigurd who likes to wrestle everybody he meets on the trail. He's hard to beat because he just seems to get stronger and stronger as you fight him. Balder remembers that Sigurd is descended from earth sprite and draws strength from the ground. So Thor grabs him and throws Sigurd into outer space and he doesn't come back and they don't have to worry about him anymore. So I guess this is a thing that happened. I'll bet I've read this story at least fifty times over the years and it's only when I read your synopsis that I realized that Lee and Kirby (mostly Kirby) shamelessly ripped off the myth of Hercules and Antaeus for their plot. It doesn't make me enjoy it any less but...
Cei-U! I summon that moment of clarity!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 29, 2024 4:16:42 GMT -5
I know what you mean. I never went through the "girls are icky" phase. My first crush, or at least the earliest one I remember, was a teenage Bernadette Peters after seeing her on The Jimmy Dean Show. Some three decades later, I had a front row seat at a benefit concert she gave for the Olympia Arts Council, during which she stepped down from the stage and sang directly to me. Talk about your deferred gratification!
Cei-U! Now if I could just meet Shelley Fabares!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 28, 2024 13:37:44 GMT -5
One of the founders of the Direct Market and historian of the Comic Book Industry Bob Beerbohm, has passed away at 72. I just saw this over on Facebook. I never met Bob in person but he was very helpful to me as I was researching and writing my book. In his later years, he could be combative, even downright unpleasant, in asserting his views on various comics-related controversies but even his detractors couldn't deny the importance of his work in spotlighting the history of the medium prior to the development of the modern comic book in the early 1930s. His death is a profound loss to the world of comics history.
Cei-U! I summon the fallen giant!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 28, 2024 3:07:07 GMT -5
I like it in the pages of Strange Tales where Stan Lee clearly forgot that the FF's identities were public and had Johnny Storm desperately trying to prevent folks from learning that he was the Human Torch. For months! That's not quite what happened. It was Larry Lieber who scripted those first few Torch stories from minimal synopses provided by Stan. Lieber, having not read the actual FF comics (few pros read their employers' output in those days), assumed that Johnny had a secret ID like every other super-dude. Stan, who trusted his baby brother's writing prowess, didn't get around to reading those early stories for several months. Once he did, he quickly instructed Larry to correct his error. I heard the Lieber brothers talk about this at a ComicCon panel 20 years or so ago. Had Stan told the anecdote, I might have doubted its veracity but Larry had a much better memory and wasn't much interested in exaggerating his role in Marvel history.
Cei-U! I summon the filial faux pas!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 26, 2024 21:16:20 GMT -5
I've always thought that a comics line featuring popular childrens' book characters like Curious George, Madeleine, The Berenstain Bears, and the like with the right creatives and a good marketing plan could do very well... or has someone already done it and I missed it?
Cei-U! I summon a severely overlooked demographic!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 24, 2024 10:52:37 GMT -5
I have to confess, I don't ever notice who colors or letters comics. And I don't think I ever saw a difference in the finished product. Charlton comics were often lettered by "A. Machine".
...which was, quite literally, a machine. The pencil art was rolled into an oversized typewriter originally designed to handle blank cereal boxes (Charlton printed a lot more than comics) and some staffer or other would type all the captions and dialogue before the art was forwarded to the inker. It made the comics look even cheaper than the low-grade paper and slipshod printing did.
Cei-U! I summon the cut corners!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 24, 2024 8:39:25 GMT -5
I'm not going to make it today. A friend is coming over to help me repot some house plants.
Cei-U! Sorry!
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