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Post by The Captain on Dec 4, 2022 17:56:11 GMT -5
Had some time on Black Friday to get out and do a little shopping for myself, so here are the fruits of my travels: 20% off cover price each: $3 TPBs on clearance: Two-part Two-Face story, for about $4.75 total after a 25% discount: Been on a Scalphunter kick lately. Paid about $12 total for these five books after a 25% discount: Lastly, some $1 bin CtB from later in the run (OK, technically #250 cost me $1.50)
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Post by The Captain on Dec 3, 2022 10:30:00 GMT -5
Just saw this as breaking news on ESPN-first major signing of the offseason Right-hander Jacob deGrom has signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, sources tell ESPN. Physical is passed. Deal is done. Includes conditional sixth-year option that would take total deal to $222 million. Full no-trade clause. A massive haul. -M I don’t understand this deal at all. DeGrom is 34, with a history of injuries, and the Rangers open the vaults to sign him through is age 39, possibly age 40, season. This right here is why my passion for baseball is almost gone. This is an absurd deal being made by a panicking, irrelevant team that thinks it can actually compete with Houston by making moves like this. It drives up the price for every FA, pushing them out of the reach of teams like the Pirates, who then become nothing more than a de facto development organization for the rest of the league.
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Post by The Captain on Dec 1, 2022 15:03:51 GMT -5
Posting this here so as not to disrupt the RIP Thread due to codystarbuck’s recent loss of his wife.
MLB HOFer Gaylord Perry passed away today at the age of 84. He was already old when I started following baseball back in 1979, so it feels like he should be so much older than he actually is.
I wonder if people are going to spit on his grave, as a weird tribute to the Master of the Spitball, or maybe they’ll just leave jars of Vaseline.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 27, 2022 21:11:59 GMT -5
thwhtguardian, finally got around to reading the Cap/Winter Soldier Special. It was fine for what it was, and I have to be honest when I say that I’m good with what they’re doing as long as they keep a certain crimson-masked Nazi out of the book. He’s long past his expiration date, and I can’t think of a good story involving him in years.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 24, 2022 6:31:05 GMT -5
Inched a little closer this weekend to completing my Jonah Hex series. Picked up issues #51 and #92, and while I probably overpaid a little for each of these, I haven't bought any classic comics in at least four months, so I had some money saved and figured that my want list is short enough that it wouldn't kill me to get what I wanted when I had the opportunity to do it. This leaves me just one more to go in the form of #91, which I can't remember the last time I saw one in the wild. I hate to go the eBay route, but if I don't find one in the next few months of my hunt, I may have to break down and just do it. I admire you fellas who only want to buy books that you find "in the wild". I guess you must live nearer a bunch of comic shops than I do or the comic shops near you are more reasonably priced than those in London. I'm pretty much eBay all the way these days when it comes to comics. The last time I was in a physical shop (about a year ago), I was shocked at the ridiculously extortionate prices being asked for even fairly common and not particularly sort after Bronze Age fodder. I kept thinking, "jeez, I've seen multiple copies of this book for way less than this on eBay." Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m spoiled by my options for comics shops. Here in Pittsburgh, I can get to at least a dozen good ones within a 45-minute drive, so on a lazy Saturday when I have nothing else going on, I can easily hit 4 of them in less than a couple of hours, and if I have the whole day to hunt, I could get to a half-dozen of them by making a relatively easy circuit around the city. Throw in another half-dozen or so if I expand my range to a 90-minute drive radius, as well as being able to get to another major city (Cleveland) within a couple of hours, then factor in a fairly thriving local comics convention and show scene, and I can almost always come across what I’m looking for with a bit of patience.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 22, 2022 21:42:51 GMT -5
I remember when "The Little Drummer Boy" was considered a new Christmas song, back in the early 60s. I'm guessing the Bowie-Crosby duet that incorporates "Drummer Boy" is no longer exactly a new song, either. But here's the world's most beautiful new Christmas song by far... Insulin hits and barf bags available as you leave. Also a chiropractor if you need to be remanipulated. That is probably one of the worst songs ever, not just Christmas-themed, but for the holidays, it’s down there with “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”, “Dominic the Donkey”, “Last Christmas”, “Wonderful Christmastime”, and “Hippopotamus for Christmas”, all of which are just flat-out abominations.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 22, 2022 10:49:07 GMT -5
That Wales/USA match was an intriguing one, I felt. I have torn loyalties. Wales is part of the UK. I’m in England, but want constituent nations to do well. But I do love US culture, people, etc. Honestly, it was like watching your two best friends compete for a trophy. Both played a very good game. If it’s England-USA in the final, though, sorry, dear Americans, love ya, but got to root for my home country! I’m an American and I was rooting HARD for Wales, as that is my retirement dream destination.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 22, 2022 7:21:10 GMT -5
Man, I really hate watching anything on the Foxsports channel and that seems to be where all the world cup games are shunted to. I watched the US/Wales match yesterday on Peacock, with the entire thing being broadcast in Spanish. The only thing I understood were the players’ names and the GOOOOOOOOOAL call when Gareth Bale slammed home the PK to knot the match at 1-1.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 21, 2022 20:20:06 GMT -5
Inched a little closer this weekend to completing my Jonah Hex series. Picked up issues #51 and #92, and while I probably overpaid a little for each of these, I haven't bought any classic comics in at least four months, so I had some money saved and figured that my want list is short enough that it wouldn't kill me to get what I wanted when I had the opportunity to do it.
This leaves me just one more to go in the form of #91, which I can't remember the last time I saw one in the wild. I hate to go the eBay route, but if I don't find one in the next few months of my hunt, I may have to break down and just do it.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 18, 2022 12:52:42 GMT -5
majestic and The Captain , did either of you pick up the Cap and Winter Soldier special? While I liked actually getting to learn who and what the circle was about...I don't know if it made the threat they pose in Sentinel of Liberty any more real. They're still head and shoulders above whatever is being done with White Wolf in Symbol of Truth but that's not saying much. It’s in my pull bag at my LCS, but I haven’t been able to make it up there to pick it up yet. Might be able to get there tomorrow, but if not, I’ll just let it sit there until next Wednesday when new books come out again.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 12, 2022 11:00:15 GMT -5
Saw this yesterday afternoon with my wife, daughters, and one of my younger daughter's friends who has become an honorary member of the family for when we go to see MCU films (I think this is the third or fourth in a row she's come to see with us). Not a huge crowd at 12:30 PM, but the theater had started showing it the previous evening at 8:00 PM and had started Friday morning at 9:30 AM and had three other showings already going when 12:30 rolled around. They addressed Chadwick Boseman's passing right off the bat, using the opening scene before the usual MCU fanfare to get that resolved and allow the movie to deal with the aftermath. It was a bold move to not tap-dance around it and just get to work. The movie shone in the quieter moments, particularly with Queen Ramonda and Shuri dealing with their emotions of their loss. However, the action sequences were very frenetic, making it difficult at times to keep track of what was going on as the cuts jumped from character to character and never letting you settle your eyes on what was going on for too long. Riri Williams' introduction was fine, and I liked her here much more than I did in the comics. It was a good idea to incorporate her into this story, as it made a lot of sense and gave her a peer in Shuri to interact with instead of someone like Tony Stark who might have been written as being threatened by her as a competitor. {Spoilers: Click to show} The usual opening fanfare was replaced by images of Chadwick Boseman with no music playing. You could have heard a pin drop in the theater, and afterwards, there was no cheering or clapping, just reverent silence for King T'Challa. It was incredibly moving.
They changed Namor's origin from Atlantean to Mayan and how he came to be a mutant. I felt it was well-done and explained his anger toward the surface world.
Attuma and Namora weren't given much to do other than fill strongman/strongwoman roles. Visually they looked great (Attuma's headdress, which was a hammerhead shark skull, was awesome in particular), but they were cyphers sadly.
Cool return of a BP 1 character among the Ancestors and the role that character played in this movie's climax.
One mid-credit scene that even I won't spoil here, but it explains quite a bit about the disappearance of and subsequent return of a character from BP 1.
No post-credits scene, so unless you like seeing the names of the Grips and all of the various people who did VFX, no need to stay.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 12, 2022 10:32:30 GMT -5
My comic collecting projects are fairly minor or pedestrian, like continuing to pick up issues that are on my "Wants List" and possibly investing in some UK comic magazine-sized storage bags and boards. There are a few series that I am actively trying to complete, such as the Bronze Age Jonah Hex series, and some smaller runs I'd like to finish, such as Steve Englehart's run on Dr. Strange. But that's pretty much it. Most of the "projects" that take my time and money are music-related, such as working to complete a set of NM original first pressing Beatles albums, and writing and demoing new songs for a follow-up album to my band The Kynd's forthcoming release in early 2023. Where are you at on your Jonah Hex series? That is the only classic series that I am actively trying to complete at this time, having just three issues to go (51, 91, and 92).
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Post by The Captain on Nov 12, 2022 10:30:20 GMT -5
Forward progress took a bit of a hit this week, but I am currently through the "A" titles in regard to getting key issues bagged and boarded. The week ahead looks more promising in terms of free time, so I am hoping to get through at least Doctor Strange and possibly into Fantastic Four before Thanksgiving, when I have a five-and-a-half-day weekend and can make some serious progress.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 6, 2022 12:23:50 GMT -5
He was one of those "old school" guys who crapped all over analytics because those were generated by guys who went to college and "who didn't play the game" like he did. Baseball was a LOT better with those "old school' guys. I can't even watch the game anymore. I can see that point of view, but as a person who works in a highly-data driven profession, I believe that ignoring analytics to go with "gut feelings" is foolish. Baker played during an age where many guys had off-season jobs because they weren't making millions of dollars. However, as a manager, he mishandled his company's assets because he refused to change with the times. Before him, Don Baylor (another old-school guy) ruined Kerry Wood, a job that Baker eventually finished off, because they treated him like pitchers were treated back in their day. I think there is a place for both in the game. Teams should be using analytics to drive decision-making at a high level, but they should also allow the managers to do their jobs provided the managers aren't operating in a manner completely inconsistent with what the analytics are pointing towards. Having pitchers throw 100+ pitches game in and game out is the surest path to having them destroy their arms, especially since the lowering of the mound in the late 1960s and the increased emphasis on batters taking more pitches due to focus on on-base percentage rather than batting average.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 6, 2022 10:29:01 GMT -5
Congrats to the Houston Astros winning the World Series, since they defeated the Phillthies and that's always a good thing, but I really had hoped that Dusty Baker never got a ring.
He was one of those "old school" guys who crapped all over analytics because those were generated by guys who went to college and "who didn't play the game" like he did. It was a travesty what he did to Mark Prior, burning out his arm by not managing pitch counts and just using him up. To note:
In 2003, Prior started 30 games and threw 100+ pitches in 26 of them. In his last six starts of that season, his lowest pitch count was 109, and he topped 124 in the rest of them, including three games over 130 pitches.
In 2004, Prior started 21 games and threw 100+ pitches in 10 of his final 11 games, including a high of 129 over 7.2 innings and 116 in just 6 innings; the only game where he didn't throw 100 pitches, he threw 89 in just 3 innings. Before that, he didn't top 100 pitches, but he had games where he threw 92 pitches in 5 innings, 99 pitches in 5 innings, 92 pitches in 4 innings, and 92 pitches in 4.1 innings.
In 2005, Prior started 27 games and threw 100+ pitches in 19 of them. He started the season throwing 92+ pitches in 8 straight games, when most teams are easing their pitchers into the year coming out of spring training. Prior had games of 106 in 6 innings, 107 pitches in 5 innings, 102 in 4.2 innings, 109 in 6.2 innings, 108 in 6 innings, 123 and 118 in 6 innings each in back to back games, 131 in 6.2 innings after those two, 122 in 6 innings, and 120 in 6 innings.
Prior pitched only 9 games for the Cubs in 2006 at the age of 25, then signed free agent contracts with San Diego (twice), Texas, New York Yankees, Boston, and Cincinnati over the course of the next 7 years, never throwing another pitch in the big leagues again.
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