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Post by tingramretro on Jan 31, 2017 4:59:58 GMT -5
Yeah, I would have liked to have seen Peter Capaldi stay on a bit longer, as he was good in the role. But with Moffat leaving he obviously felt the time was right to move on, which enables Chibnall to bring in his own man as Doctor #13. I wonder who it will be?  I just hope it's not another twenty-something. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 31, 2017 4:18:16 GMT -5
Peter Capaldi announced last night on Radio2 that he will be leaving Doctor Who at the end of this year, his last episode will be the Christmas Special. A shame, I'd hoped he'd stay at least another year...
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 30, 2017 14:15:01 GMT -5
I will always classify myself as a reader first and a collector second. With a few exceptions, I've been reading comics entirely digital for the past 2 years or so. It's taken a lot of getting used to, but I went through the same thing when I moved over to reading on Kindle from physical books.I woudn't be able to do that, either. A book should be a book as far as I'm concerned, not words on a screen. A book should feel and smell like a book, and be able to be handled. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 30, 2017 7:27:13 GMT -5
Bruce Lee was undoubtedly a talented man, but that quote leads me to the conclusion that he had a very shaky grasp of physics.
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 30, 2017 6:22:10 GMT -5
Trump is due to make a ceremonial state visit to the UK this year, where he will be granted an audience with the Queen. In response to the travel ban, more than one million British citizens have now signed a petition calling for his invitation to be rescinded. Parliament is expected to debate the matter today, and it's prompted a lot of discussion elsewhere, with the general view seeming to be that either allowing or disallowing the visit could be disastrous.
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 18:30:19 GMT -5
I love the JSA. I should love this story. But Paul Levitz ruined it for me forever with one deeply arrogant and insulting line in the opening caption box. Apparently, World War II-contrary to the beliefs of the whole of the rest of the planet-didn't really start unti 1941, when America got involved. Unbelievable. I guess my grandmother's family imagined everything up until 1941... |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 18:11:58 GMT -5
 Difficult, since this was my era and there are many issues that mean a lot to me. But this one cemented my love for my favourite superteam. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 13:08:46 GMT -5
Actually, mental or not, I quite like Hurricane. His costume's better than the Captain's, too. I'm probably one of the very few who actually prefers Brian's original "lion" costume over the "Union Jack Cannon-baller Suit" I like the original, but I think the Alan Davis redesign is just incredibly clever. Trimpe's design has elements that make it fairly clear what Brian represents (the lion, the wristbands, the upper section of the mask) but the Davis design, with the white leggings and cavalry boots reminiscent of a 19th century English soldier, the mask which is essentially a Union Jack with a section cut out to accommodate the mouth, and the chest symbol basically being the saltire flags of Scotland and Northern Ireland overlaid on each other, just say "Britain" to me much more explicitly. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 12:17:48 GMT -5
tingramretro On the Cover, underneath the Marvel Comics Group of the Invincible Red Skull - I noticed a No. 19 Week Ending Feb 16, 1977 ... did all Marvel Comics books printed in Great Britain has that printed. I never, ever noticed that until now!  Most of them, yes. The majority of Marvel UK's titles were published weekly until 1979, the notable exceptions being the monthly Rampage and Savage Sword of Conan. From '79 onwards, more monthly titles appeared, but the weeklies remained more common. And traditionally, they would display a week ending date rather than an on-sale date. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 11:42:29 GMT -5
 I always thought this was an interesting take on Galactus' costume. "And now we see the Galactus beachwear range, modelled here by Galan of Taa". |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 11:04:17 GMT -5
Captain Britain #19 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "Two Died With Honour!"  Our story resumes at St. Paul's Cathedral, where Nick Fury is brooding over two flag bedecked coffins while waiting for the memorial service for Captain's Britain and America to begin (eh? Have we missed something?) before launching into a convenient flashback sequence (ah, so we have!) Stuck in Radcliffe's two seater plane, held back by restraints, Fury dispatches his foe by tricking him into giving him a last smoke, then shooting him with a poison dart from his stogie designed by "Q-Branch" (eh? Wrong franchise, surely?) before activating the radio wih a well aimed kick and getting S.T.R.I.K.E Central to fly him home by remote control (handy). Naturally, S.T.R.I.K.E had no idea Radcliffe was a traitor, which is scant comfort to Fury, who takes out his frustrations on S.T.R.I.K.E Director Lance Hunter by...uh...knocking his bowler hat off (an aside: yes, Commander Lance Hunter is indeed the character who inspired the Lance Hunter of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV series, though the man introduced here, decked out in a bowler and, for some reason, a salmon pink suit, bears little resemblance to Phil Coulson's acerbic subordinate; fortunately, he will shortly don a slightly less jarring Nick Fury style jumpsuit, instead). Hunter remonstrates with Fury that squabbling among themselves is perhaps not terribly useful in the circumstances, with the Red Skull still out there, warning that "unless you and I can stop him, he may well succeed where Hitler failed". So, no pressure, then? Elsewhere, back at Thames University, Courtney Ross grieves for Captain Britain but is mocked by the ever insensitive Jacko Tanner who cannot understand her attachment to the masked man who saved her from Hurricane back in issue #5. This scene serves no real purpose except to remind us that Courtney and Jacko still exist, since they haven't been seen or mentioned since issue #8, but I guess it's nice that Friedrich hasn't abandoned them. Back on the Heli-carrier meanwhile, Fury's right hand man Dum Dum Dugan is watching what appears to be Captain Britain and Captain America sparring with each other, but when a confused Fury arrives, Dugan apologizes for the "dumb stunt", explaining that they are just Life Model Decoys he had made after the heroes died, hoping they could be used to rattle the Skull. Fury reflects sadly that there was no miracle escape for the heroes after all, and that they will have to continue the fight without them... A nice issue, focusing on the supporting cast and building some tension as we are left to wonder about the fate of our heroes (yeah, right-like they're really dead).
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 10:21:18 GMT -5
Captain Britain #18 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "S.H.I.E.L.D Strikes Out!"  As gas fills their cell, Captain America displays an uncharacteristically defeatist attitude, lamenting that the Skull has "finally beaten (him)", but Captain Britain has a last minute brainwave and activates his quarterstaff's force field...though seemingly too late, as both heroes slump to the floor. The Skull isn't going to let them die so easily, though; as they lose consciousness, he stops the gas (hang on, I thought we were told it was poisonous?) and cackles that when S.T.R.I.K.E bomb the Manor "they will know the horror of dying twice in the same day!" Why do villains always have to make everything needlessly complicated? Meanwhile, Nick Fury is getting some seriously bad vibes about S.T.R.I.K.E's Tod Radcliffe (who basically never stops trying to wind him up by going on about how far superior Britain is to America) but, having revived, Captain Britain generates some vibes of his own as, prompted by Captain America, he presses the heretofore ignored third button on his quarterstaff and unexpectedly causes a vibration wave to blow a hole in their cell wall (there's no real explanation given for how Captain America knew the staff had capabilities that Captain Britain was unaware of, and Captain Britain's rather lame declaration that he had never fully tested the staff out because he feared its power would be too much for him to handle makes absolutely no sense, but never mind). Our heroes catch up with the Skull in the basement just as he prepares to escape the forthcoming explosion (hold on-I thought the Skull was in London last time we saw him? How did he get there?) and a brief scuffle ensues, but it is halted by the Skull revealing that his agents are still holding Betsy and Jamie Braddock prisoner at an undisclosed location, and will kill them if they don't let him go (Betsy, listening in via the two way viewscreen, rather pathetically begs Brian not to let them die). Taking advantage of the Captain's indecision, the Skull teleports out (ah, so that's how he got there). Meanwhile, in the back seat of a two man plane outside, Nick Fury suddenly finds himself trapped as his pilot,Tod Radcliffe, orders the rest of their strike force (which Fury thought was just on "a recon mission") to launch missiles at Braddock Manor. As Fury indignantly bellows that he knew Radciffe couldn't be trusted (so why did he go along with him?) the Manor is destroyed by a rain of missiles, with our two embattled Captains apparently still inside it... OK, it's still holding my attention, but what was the point of the Skull having the Manor bombed if he wanted Dr. Braddock's computer? He does attempt to take some schematcs with him when he leaves, but doesn't seem to be holding them when he teleports out. It all seems a bit pointless...
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 9:36:39 GMT -5
Captain Britain #17 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "The Revenge of the Red Skull"  We resume our story with Captains Britain and America being literally leapt upon by a number of armed men who were apparently hiding in the trees. Captain Britain remarks that they "look like relics from the last war", which would seem to indicate a rather shaky grasp of history on his part, as Nazis in World War II did not traditionally wear green jumpsuits, masks, and huge red swastikas on their chests, and carry ray guns. Captain America, who has a bit of a gift for these things, immediately deduces (based on no evidence at all) that they are agents of the Red Skull, which is handy because it saves Gary Friedrich having to get us up to speed with a caption box. As our heroes dispatch the Nazis and continue on into Braddock Manor to investigate the demented computer (remember that?) the scene shifts to London, where some massively sterotypical Londoners who look like extras from My Fair Lady (thanks, Herb) are less than impressed by the arrival (on a "friendly visit") of the S.H.I.E.L.D Heli-carrier. Nick Fury is meeting with a condescending individual named Tod Radcliffe, "head honcho" of S.T.R.I.K.E (the Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies) which appears to be effectively a British version of S.H.I.E.L.D competing with it for the title of Most Desperate Acronym. Tod is clearly a wrong'un, as he has no respect for Fury, but we get only a brief glimpse of him before cutting inexplicably to "a seedy dockland pub" where an agent of the Red Skull is trying to recruit two elderly sailors to swell the ranks of his revolutionary army(!) As these two nitwits sign up to the cause at a full scale rally being held nearby (which nobody else seems to have noticed) the Skull muses on "how much I hate the British". Nice. At 10 Downing Street, Fury and Radcliffe are having a council of war with Prime Minister James Callaghan over the sudden resurgence of Nazism in the country (first I've heard of it) but we, the readers, are quickly given some info that Nick and the P.M are not privy to; Tod Radcliffe is an agent of the Red Skull!! Radcliffe's strike force, we are told, are due to destroy Braddock Manor within the hour (why they want to do this is not made entirely clear) but this is unlikely to be a problem for Captain Britain and Captain America, as they've just re-entered the Manor and walked into a cell filling with poison gas... Blimey, it's all moving at quite a pace, isn't it?
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 28, 2017 17:32:54 GMT -5
When you hit create post or reply, you will get a response box to type your message in. It will have a toolbar above it. One the right hand set of icons in the toolbar, the third icon is the insert picture button. When you hit it another box will pop up. Paste the url of the pic you want to include into the task box that popped up and click the insert image button and voila. If you are posting a pic from your own computer, you need to host it at a picture hosting site (like photobucket or something similar) as attachments are not allowed here as they eat up too much of the site's limited space. -M Must be my phone but I don't get those options The whole concept of posting from a phone still baffles me. I must be getting old. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 28, 2017 17:31:00 GMT -5
Technically not a costume but what about the different versions of Mrs. Grimm's big orange boy Benjamin? Do you prefer the original Kirby lumpy dinosaur hide look (more like mud/clay to me?) or more towards the scaled rock Kirby/Buscema/Byrne version or the insane pineapple headed with horns sprouting during the days of Englehart? Do you prefer our boy Ben with just blue trunks or with a full body suit or wrestling style open arms or just with trunks/leggings? With or without the stupid helmet? I loved the lumpy look. I also dug the Thing Suit that he had for a few issues in the 70's And had again for awhile in the 90s... |
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