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Post by The Captain on Jun 16, 2020 18:19:01 GMT -5
I think the mindset of 'I have to start at the beginning' is actually a big problem for Marvel and DC. IN today's streaming world. people my daughter's age (she's 20) and younger are absolutely horrified at the thought of watching a show or reading books out of order, and can't conceive of the concept of not having access to do so. To be honest, I'm 47 and I am also horrified at that thought. I literally read the first 64 issues of Daredevil, then stopped because I didn't own #s 65, 67 & 68, even though I owned the ENTIRE REST OF THE RUN. The idea that I might miss something critical or interesting or even just kind of cool bothers me to no end. Same with TV shows. If I can't see the entire series from the beginning, I won't watch it. Random episodes without context don't entertain me, but rather stress me out, because I always feel like there is something I'm not going to understand, and that kills my enjoyment of the experience.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 15, 2020 16:20:59 GMT -5
It's diversity simply for the sake of diversity...which I'm really getting sick of. It's just variety to goose interest. Have Rhodey be Iron Man for a while. Have Jane be Thor for a while. Have Falcon be Cap for a while. Have Wolverine be old for a while. Have Ororo be a kid for a while. Have Bruce Wayne not be Batman for a while. "Female version" is just another temporary scheme that can lead to a Grand Return for the other character, unless sales are so good as to justify making it permanent. How much spaghetti will stick to the wall? In the interest of humility, I have read the entire "Jane as Thor" run, and I was wrong. It was really good and made sense as a concept.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 15, 2020 10:41:51 GMT -5
On the heels of the anniversary of my first date with my wife 20 years ago, today is our 18th wedding anniversary. We were engaged within 11 months of our first meeting and set this date so that she would be finished with her Master's degree before we got married.
We planned the entire wedding ourselves on a relative shoestring budget (less than $8K, which was 1/4 of the amount her best friend spent on a SECOND wedding), as we wanted full creative control of the process without feeling obligated to do things that her or my parents wanted because they were footing any part of the bill. Mid-morning ceremony is the historic chapel of the church where I grew up, brunch reception (no bar, no DJ), and everyone was on their merry way by 3:00 PM.
While we got some additional photos taken, our wedding party got all of our gifts and stuff back to our apartment (she had moved in two weeks prior by herself, while I stayed at my parents following an ill-fated trip to California to look for a job in IT shortly after the dot-com bubble burst). We got home, ate some leftovers from the reception, and went to bed early because we had a 6:30 AM flight the following morning to St. Lucia for our honeymoon (courtesy of my mother, who wanted us to go somewhere nice to start our life together).
While things aren't always perfect, I'll take it over any other potential future that I could have imagined at the age of 26 when we first met. She's an incredible person in her own right, my partner in hijinks, and my best friend, and I have been incredibly blessed by her presence in my life, making me a better man than I ever thought I could be.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 14, 2020 8:12:59 GMT -5
"The seller refunded me," I hope you refunded the refunder. I felt bad about him taking a loss, so I did repay the 23.99. You're good people, my friend.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 12, 2020 14:38:35 GMT -5
Today is my 27th wedding anniversary. We met working at McDonald's as teenagers, got engaged when I was halfway through my military service, and here we still are. I love hearing this kind of story, when people meet young and make it work long-term. Out of all of the girls I dated in HS, only one of them would have still been "my type" by the time I graduated college, and I'm sure the converse would have been true as well.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 12, 2020 12:18:41 GMT -5
Oh, man, I just read his Iron Man run last month, and his Daredevil run is on my list of things to read in the next 18 months.
RIP.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 12, 2020 10:08:48 GMT -5
Skull the Slayer 1-8, Aug. '75 - Nov. '76. Writer & Artist: Damn near everyone at Marvel in the Bronze Age. It's 1975 and Marv Wolfman has just become EIC at Marvel. As such he has the power to green-light a book he's been sitting on for a long time, Skull the Slayer. The concept, while not anything we haven't seen before, has potential. A small group of people are pulled through the Bermuda Triangle to a lost world/other dimension/other world where they have to fight dinosaurs and survive. Wolfman did the first three issues, followed by an issue by Steve Englehart, with Bill Mantlo rounding out the final four issues. Along the way we got two pencilers (Steve Gan and Sal Buscema) and four inkers. The turnover clearly effected the book and possibly exacerbated its early demise. With the lack of continuity in the creative team it seems like a forgone conclusion that there would be a lack of continuity in the book. But even Wolfman couldn't keep straight what he was doing with the titular character going from being an Air Force pilot, to a member of the "Corps" to Army Special Forces in the space of three issues. The general idea of the book had worked for Burroughs and Doyle and would work for Mike Grell on Warlord. But it was not to be at Marvel with this property. Steven Gan's art was generally pretty good. And Sal did his normal yeoman work. So was it gone too soon? Lord no! I know there are a number of people here who have fond memories of this book. I did too. I bought issue #8 off the stands and was fairly enthralled. I can only think that others, like me, had not revisited this in a number of years. Because this book is a disaster saved only by decent art. None of the writers had a clue where they were going, what the rules of the world were, what made a book like this interesting. Add to that the fact that none of the lead characters were well written in any way. In a book with four main characters having two of them be complete assholes and two being complete ciphers is a bold move, but not one that pays off. I don't need to like the protagonist of my books...but it's probably best if I don't long for them to die. I'd happily feed Skull to the dinosaurs. And also Dr. Corey as well. Cancelling this book was a mercy killing that took about seven issues too long. Cannot agree with you more. A decent concept but executed horribly, this was an unmitigated disaster. I picked up all of the issues over the course of 8 months between 2015 and 2016, paying just under $20 for the run (including wasting $5.25 on #6, which I impulse-bought because it was the last issue I "needed" to complete the run). Read it once, will never read it again. Oddly, I saw the TPB of this series at Ollie's last year at some point for $4.99 and considered picking it up so that I could sell the issues but keep the story, and then thought "why the hell would I do that for something that was so bad?" I promptly put it down and never gave it another glance.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 11, 2020 20:02:05 GMT -5
Wonder Man “Stardust Miseries part two: Tonight’s the Night”Writer: Michael Higgins Pencils: Javier Saltares Inks: Ken Lopez Quality: B+ Kid-appropriate: Not even The story’s title and subtitle come from pop songs. Wonder Man gets a starring role in an action movie about the original Human Torch, and he’s got an appearance scheduled on the Johnny Carson show, where some goons show up to attack him. But he’s clearly under the spell of an actress who calls herself “Amora Lorelei.” He slept at her place last night and is eager to get back in bed with her as soon as possible. But weren’t Amora the Enchantress and Lorelei two different characters in Walt Simonson’s run on Thor? Maybe the rest of the story makes it clear. IRT the bolded part, Amora the Enchantress is Lorelei's older sister. Lorelei is usually portrayed as a red-head in the comics, whereas this woman is blonde, but having never read the story myself, I can't say for certain why the name "Amora Lorelei' was used here.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 11, 2020 9:42:15 GMT -5
Yeah, but Arizona is a dry heat... That just means we Arizonan's cook faster under the sun becoming jerky... And when the temp is up over 110 degrees I don't think it means anything if it is a wet or a dry heat. You either baste, roast, bake, fry or BBQ. There, I said it! Oh, I know it. I used to have to go to Bakersfield, CA in the middle of summer back when I worked in the natgas industry. That was never pleasant. Of course, I used to have to go to Houston on a regular basis for the same reason, and I spent many summer weeks in Memphis visiting my grandmother, and the humidity was unholy oppressive. End of the day, I'd prefer the dry heat. At least you can cool off, while the humidity mixed with sweat just makes you feel moist and gross.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 11, 2020 9:04:01 GMT -5
Same here in Texas.
but we don't have a Politics thread. . so won't point out what these States (and Florida, and Georgia) have in common.
Unrelenting hot weather. Yeah, but Arizona is a dry heat...
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Post by The Captain on Jun 11, 2020 9:03:01 GMT -5
On the short list of ways I've wondered if I could do, if I were at that place in life, jumping off a building is the absolute bottom of the list. There I said it. If you do this, there's literally no going back. You step off into the void and that is the end. Slit your wrist, then change your mind? Go grab a towel or bandage. Take too many pills? Make yourself vomit. Run your car into a bridge abutment? Swerve at the last moment. Jump off a high place? Praying for a miracle is about the only option.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 11, 2020 8:42:05 GMT -5
Let me say it: Arizona (and by association that means most states and countries) people are STUUUUUUUUUUPIIIIIIIID! 3 weeks into the Covid Self Isolation's restrictions lifted and folks believe the pandemic is over? 30% increase of positive cases in 3 weeks. Arizona now just under 30,000 TOTAL cases. Hospitals all maxed out in the PCU beds available and working on plans for how to convert other units for Covid care. 27% of new cases when questioned and reviewing show THEY DID NOT WEAR MASKS. All across Phoenix when I am out it seems like more than 1/2 of the public is out in large groups WITHOUT MASKS. Everything has now focused upon the George Floyd death to the point people have totally forgotten that Covid is still here and still killing. Please folks, keep your MASKS ON and BE SAFE! Allow you and your families further protection and stay home as much as you can with only necessary excursions out for groceries. Stop taking your bus load of kids unprotected into stores where the risk is going to be highest. Don't go out to the lakes or rivers where you DO NOT WHO is positive or negative and are more likely to end up being exposed from some idiot who has Covid and either doesn't know it or doesn't care. Far better to err on the side of overprotective than to not protect at all. Like they would always repeat on Hill Street Blues: LET'S BE SAFE OUT THERE... Same here in Texas.
but we don't have a Politics thread. . so won't point out what these States (and Florida, and Georgia) have in common.
What are four states that have never been in my kitchen?
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Post by The Captain on Jun 10, 2020 10:07:42 GMT -5
Completely agree! My wife and I recently watched it from start to finish, and we still quote it on a regular basis. The first two seasons are fantastic and then it wanes a bit each season after that, but there are still hilarious moments throughout.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 9, 2020 19:32:11 GMT -5
The Quest that I started in 2014 is finally Complete. Today I finally got Thor # 127 and that completes the entire Volume 1 Thor series from 126-502. I also Picked up 124 and 125 when it was Journey into Mystery. Congrats, my friend! Long time coming on this one, and a heck of an accomplishment.
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Post by The Captain on Jun 9, 2020 10:49:52 GMT -5
Thanks all! It's times like this that prove what an incredible community this is.
We visited the facility this morning. They will have a one-bedroom apartment available in early July, so we just need to get our mom down there to sign the paperwork and then start the process of getting her belongings out of the house. My sister ran into some folks from our parents' church who are residents there, so our mom would know some people going in. What a blessing!
As well, my wife has been my rock through all of this. She is supportive and there for me when I need it, and she backs off and gives me space when what I need is to take a nap, read some comics or just watch reruns of "Community". I could not get through life without her; she is simply an amazing woman.
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