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Kill This Thread XXXIII

The following rules were established by Kent Shakespeare at the start of the first 24-hour version, adapted from the original rules by EDE:

The rules:

1. The Basic Idea: Post to this thread, if no one posts after you for 24 hours, you win!

2. Posts that are not direct responses to one of the five preceding posts are ineligible to win. The topic can drift, but no complete non-sequitors. Posts that are responses to non-sequitors are also ineligible to win. Posts that are responses to responses to non-sequitors, and response nses to those posts, etc., become eligible, however.

3. In the event that this thread is locked, there shall be no winner unless a new thread is started for the contest. Furthermore, any post that results in the banning of the poster shall also be ineligible to win.

4. So, more precisely, one wins if one makes a post, and then no one makes another post that's eligible to win for 24 hours.


Here's a history of our various felons, along with a few missed opportunities.....

I - walkwithcrowds (7-day version)
II - none
III - none
IV - Quislet, Esq
V - Rockhopper Lad (the first 24-hour version)
VI - Rockhopper Lad
VII - cleome
VIII - Rockhopper Lad
IX - Rockhopper Lad
X - none
XI - none
XII - none
XIII - Invisible Brainiac
XIV - Invisible Brainiac
XV - Invisible Brainiac
XVI - Invisible Brainiac
XVII - Invisible Brainiac
XVIII - cleome
XIX - cleome
XX - cleome
XXI - Jfposey
XXII - Invisible Brainiac
XXIII - jfposey
XIV - Invisible Brainiac
XV - PALADIN (eff YEAH!!!)
XVI- Quislet, Esq.
XVII - Invisible Brainiac
XVIII - none
XIX - none
XX - Quislet, Esq.
XXI - thoth lad
XXII - Ann Hebistand
XXIII - Quislet, Esq.
XXIV - Invisible Brainiac
XXV - Invisible Brainiac
XXVI - Quislet, Esq.
XXVII - thoth lad
XXVIII - Quislet, Esq.
XXIX - Eryk Davis Ester
XXX - Invisible Brainiac
XXXI - Invisible Brainiac
XXXII - Ann Hebistand

We should hire someone to do a "Best Of Dead Threads" thread.

Or at least, there should be a master directory of all the most fatal subjects. A Fatal 55, as it were.

We could do a "Best of Deadheads" thread, but I'm not sure if Legion world has any Deadheads (I have nothing against the Grateful Dead, but I've never liked their music and I found the parody of them on MST3K to be very accurate.)

From what I can tell being a deadhead is all about the ganja...

A artist pal of mine on another board is a HUGE MSTie and Deadhead and he loves the parody they did.

I'll sometimes turn on the Dead Hour on Portland's KBOO on Saturdays, because it's a long-running show and one of the few things still remaining of my very first year in this town.

Dead makes me think of Halloween. I was talking about it with a friend - and we were positing that we liked the idea of Halloween because it's a chance to pretend to be someone else for a change... putting on a mask also gives some psychological protection, helping reduce inhibitions.

I wonder if we'd create a singularity by dressing up as our alts while also having our alts dress up like us...

That plot idea has a lot of potential, Cleome!

I like it! As long as it does not wipe out reality.

What if, through judicious application of certain styles in hats and hosiery, we just wiped out the parts of reality which suck?

Ah, the Athramites. One of my favorite things about the Postboot!

Definitely one element of the postboot that I'm disappointed hasn't carried on into future versions.

Fix! Fix! Fix! And Lori Morning comes out looking like an overgrown 5-year old.

We can probably leave Lori in the postboot...

I don't mind at all

Would rather have Kinetix, XS, Gates, Kid Quantum II, Monstress, Shikari, Magno, Thunder, Gear...

Also Particon was pretty cool! and President Chu!

Here's a horrifying thought. The Horraz are the Dark Metal version of the Athramites! Gah! What a nightmare.

Please, Lord no more grim-dark reboots of things!

(The recent new Animaniacs cartoon where they meet a Pennywise stand-in doesn't count.)

Is the Animaniacs reboot good? I'm hearing negative word-of-mouth.

It's worth at least one watch. Some of it's hilarious. Some... merely meh.

At least it's not totally terrible.

Animaniacs has at least one Transformers six-degrees connection: Rob Paulsen did the voices of two of the Aerialbots, Air Raid and Slingshot.

I'm told I have a nice voice, but I cringe whenever I listen to a recording...

It's disappointing (from what I understand, at least) that the reboot only features the Warners and Pinky & the Brain. "Animaniacs", to me, refers to the whole cast of characters. I would've brought all of them back, as well, with the possible exception of Goodfeathers. With its being a spoof of/riff on Goodfellas, it was the main feature that feels like it belonged squarely to the original series' run. I personally would've brought it back, anyway.

Slappy is arguably the best character of the entire line-up, so her omission is possibly the worst, imo.

And why not create some new features to round out the new series and help make it stand out more if you don't want to bring back all the others? Sounds like the new creative team wasn't up to the challenge....

I assume the new series has some version of the classic theme song? Hard to imagine it without all the featured character references!

The theme song is more or less what it originally was, yeah.

I would've liked to see Slappy and Skippy return as well. I think I still have my plastic figure of them riding a motorcycle together, somewhere...

Here's the new opening on Youtube.

I agree that it seems like a shame to not use any other characters or create new ones.

The newer art seems... flatter? Less fluid? At least to me. I'm not an expert on animation, however.

One of the very best original-series Pinky and the Brain appearances was in their Disney homage: "The Brain's Apprentice." Just beautiful work. I suspect many people missed it because the show was on its way out at that time.

Slappy was hilarious!

The additional lyrics are pretty funny, but it is hella awkward going from "Meet Pinky & the Brain who want to rule the universe..." to jokes.

Though it sounds contradictory, I think the way they lampshaded the absence of the secondary characters in one of the sketches is both funny and clever. (Not saying which one, because I don't want to spoil it for you.)

Absence Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder fondue.

We had chocolate fondue with Guittard chocolate at Thanksgiving. Of course, there's only two of us so there was a whole jar's worth left. It makes a really good base for hot chocolate.

That sounds so yummy!

Mmmm chocolaaaaaate

Mmmmmmm....chocolate brownies!!!

Mmmmmmmmmm...chocolate fudge brownies!!!!

Mmmm.... dark chocolate fudge brownies with hot fudge and M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles on top!

I have a Better Homes & Gardens desserts cookbook from the 1950s which refers to sprinkles as "shot."

I wonder if anyone who wasn't writing cookbooks ever used that term.

Well, it makes the words, "Shots fired!" sound more...festive?

that makes me think of something else... tee hee

Heeeeeeyyyyy!!!

"Put a smile on your face..."

"If you notice sudden color changes to your shot, discontinue this medication immediately and consult your physician."

Watch your step...it's a shot in the dark!

Shirley Scott Trio: "A Shot In The Dark" (1964)

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjEis-kRWmI[/video]

When I see that song title, I think of the Ozzy Osbourne song.

I wish I could say it was intentional on my part!

I love that song! I've still got my VHS copy of The Ultimate Sin concert video!

One of my best friends is named Ozzy.

Ozzy Osbourne's birth name is John.

Ozzy is 72...only a year younger than my mom!

72 is such a nice elegant number. 12 x 6 !

Ozzy is a Sagittarius, as are my best friend and one of my favorite cousins.

Can't forget the scene in Mel Brooks' High Anxiety where he asks Madeline Kahn, "What's your sign?"

And her response is, "Sorry, but it's... unlisted."

I actually think that's the least funny movie of Brooks's 1970s prime. Shame, really, because if any director needed to be parodied, it was Alfred Hitchcock.

I'm really liking comedian Larry Dean. Been following his Facebook page, he has some good gems.

I just watched some clips of him on YouTube. He's very funny ("The coin says 50p, but it's actually 60p" made me LOL,) and he also has a certain boyish charm.

I don't think I've heard of him, but I'm too lazy to search him on Youtube, right now.

Here you go, my friend:

https://youtu.be/HXmIGvy0mxo

I love his impressions. He can do pretty good Australian and English accents. And of course, he makes fun of his own Scottish accent!

mr_cleome taught me the Yinzer (Pittsburgh) accent. Every once in a while I'll tune in Pittsburgh Dad on YouTube to try and keep in practice.

I would love to be able to do accents. I think I need to practice, though.

The opening couple of lines in this Scottish routine, got the guy through the round in a comedy competition I was listening to. Some swearing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_XdjK4HT8

Some say that swearing can be a sign of intelligence

Fucking hell, I must be a bloody genius!

I can't help myself when I meet someone with an interesting accent (typically someone I work with), I just have to (usually badly) mimic it back at them.

I've noticed the crack in our house foundation is much larger than it used to be, and I can't help worrying about that though obviously there's nothing to be done about it until after the holidays.

Sorry to hear that, cleome.

I am also having trouble with my leaking washing machine... but it's just the intake hose. It works - I just need to keep tightening it before every use.

There used to be a pretty good humor comic called Laundryland. Now all I can remember about it is Forg drawing in an ultra-loose version of the Moebius style and walk-ons by a cute black kitty.

Kitty! Here kitty kitty. My boss has a kitty that's always making appearances in zoom calls

My family is pushing hard for me to accept this stray cat they've been feeding. They want her to live inside, but I can't stand her! She's tearing up my window screens trying to get our attention. She's basically the most neurotic cat you can imagine. I value my sleep and peace of mind. If she makes me this anxious while living outside, I can't imagine my quality of life if she lives inside.

Sounds like she needs a lot of work. Possibly too much.

Sounds like a job for Jackson Galaxy.

Some of the "neurosis" might have to do with her not being fixed. Has she been looked at by a vet yet? That would be the first step.

There's also the equivalent of kitty or doggy prozac which can sometimes calm nervous animals. Worth talking to the vet about when you're there.

Also please please please whatever you do, DON'T declaw her. That's a terrible experience for cats and it can actually make bad behavior worse. It would be better to set up a nice cozy shelter for her outside than to bring her inside but with surgically mutilated paws.

"Ask Dr. Cleome" is brought to you by fresh lamb and turkey from the butcher at your local grocery. Cats love it! "MRRREOWR, give it to ME," is what cats say!

Yes, and here's my locally-grown role model, too:

http://www.drkindklaws.com/what-is-declawing.html

My wife took her to the vet last week to get a wound checked out. We're quarantining her for 2 weeks in the garage and then taking her back for a rabbies shot. My wife's planning to get her fixed after that at the pet shelter for around $40 vs. $200 at the vet.

That's great. Hopefully she'll heal up nicely and become a bit mellower, even if it takes time. (How soon may have to do with the age at which she's fixed? I think younger cats heal faster than older ones.)

Wonderful advice, cleome! you definitely know a lot about cats.

I don't know if everyone on Legion World knows we have a cat now. He's a beautiful black cat. He came with the name Lord Tennyson, which we kept. This is in addition to our dogs, Paul and Ringo.

That's wonderful news, Rocky! A hearty "MEOW" from me to Lord Tennyson.

The four-foots get super-enthused about McCartney's "Liverpool Oratorio," until they realize that Liverpool is a city name, and not a recipe.

I love liver.

Not me! YUCK!!!

A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace, and re-arrange your liver to the solid mental grace.

I WILL say, however, that there's a North Carolina meat by-product called "liver mush" or "liver pudding" that me and my family absolutely love! It's similar to a more widespread item called "scrapple", but while scrapple is absolutely bland on its own, liver mush has a great sausage-y taste that is nevertheless unique and delectable!

For reference, when I was a kid, my mom would fry some up for my friends and every single one of them loved it when they tried it! Lots of adults loved it, too!

Several years ago, I went through a phase of trying to find a way to include the word "pudding" in all of my posts.

It's the time of year to be talking about Christmas pudding too! And in January as we try to exercise off out stomach puddings after too much puddings.



I use the word pudding in many typed senses
Read how many puddings I manage to condense in the first post
In the second I'm trying to rhyme as many words I can find that sound like (pudding!)
In the last third post, titillating metaphors
examples?: I eat more puddings than Tenzil eats trifles

- what are you listening to crossover post...

Famine is looming around the world thanks to climate catastrophe. Adding this to my list of reasons to never diet again. I'll need every last teaspoon of my personal "pudding" to keep me going when it all goes to [redacted] seven years from now and there's no food left. My "thrifty genes" will permit me to outlast all the sleek, shapely ones... if they don't kill and eat me in a woozy, jealous rage first.




Anyway, gonna' fix some oatmeal with Scottish-style oats, AND butter AND AND maple syrup in about an hour if anyone's hungry.

That sounds delicious, Cleome, but I've still got some homemade sugar cookies to work through while they're still fresh.

You have my blessing. Not that it's needed.

I'm gonna' make some apple-berry pie later today.

My son made some chocolate chip cookies with some peppermint flavoring.

This confirms my longheld theory that Fickles is, in reality, Harley Quinn!

I don't think Fickle's a fan, puddin'.

I sort of liked Harley's early, pre-homicidal iteration. But, yeah, even then she was rather problematic.

I did, however, very much like EDE's joke.

Harley is one of the few newer characters in the DCU to have made a significant splash...

I'm struggling to think of a new-ish character who made it big without any connection to existing characters. does Cyborg count?

i've also heard about Naomi, but never read anything with her. and I don't know if she counts as "making it big"

Aztek was the last one to nearly break out I can remember. If Naomi got more than 10 issues then she's done better.

Naomi is Bendis's pet character, so the test will be if she outlasts him.

Though they are apparently developing a tv show for her. I read her mini-series, and I'm not sure how they think there's enough material there to base a show on, but whatever...

I guess if the canon (or history) is small and not complex, writers have a lot of leeway, which they may enjoy when working.

I think it's undeniable that Harley and Deadpool are the most significant characters to emerge in the past approximately 30 years from the Big Two. And Harley didn't even originate in the comics.

I think it's been apparent that modern writers are avoiding creating new, potentially break-out characters for those companies because they won't own the characters or get adequate compensation. James Tynion IV seems like he's bucking that trend in his current Batman run. I hope he knows what he's doing.....

Yet another things that stifles the Big 2. Reduced to endlessly move other peoples creations around, like pieces in a really poor board game.

Makes me think of Dylan Horrocks' Pickle and the Italian adage quoted by the keeper of the comics' library: "Behind every great fortune there is a great crime."

Both Harley and Deadpool are not unconnected to existing characters but they still make their own way.

What about characters with legacy roots but have made their own "individualness" standout? Kyle Rayner comes to mind although he may not be known outside of Green Lantern fans.

Perhaps a better example is Damian Wayne. While intricately tied to the Bat family (literally) he is pretty well known and even though he is the current Robin he has his own uniqueness.

I suppose Jon Kent is similar although he is likely unknown outside of Superman/Legion fans (and Damian fans) so hasn't made much of a splash yet.

I would guess the cast of the Young Justice cartoon are probably better known overall than Damian or Jon. Nowhere near Harley or Deadpool levels, though.

All of this made me think of Bill Mantlo again, and it's a relief to note that he got some compensation eventually for Rocket Raccoon making the jump to movies... after how badly he'd been served before.

Better late than never, but still much better on time than late.

Is Dylan Horrocks...um...endowed?

Tee hee hee.

Dunno'. Should I rejoin Twitter and ask him?

I suppose, for clarity, I should point out that Pickle was the monthly comic. The collected comics about the fictional lighthouse/library in a fictional small town are in a (totally fabulous and beautiful) collection called Hicksville.

Thanks for clarifying, Cleome.

Thanks, too, for being such a good sport about my awful puns.

I haven't the guts to make offal puns.

Do you have the balls to make phallic puns?

Nah, but I've the pluck to make chicken ones.

Mmmm...chicken...

It was just a few months ago that I learnt the astonishing fact that the most numerous bird on the planet is the chicken with an estimated population of 23.7 billion as of 2018.

Yeah, it's one of the great ironies that there are a lot of individual animals who never would have been born if they didn't happen to belong to a species that human beings happen to find tasty.

I detest factory farming, and if I lived alone. I'd probably be almost a vegetarian. (Of course, I'd also be poor as dirt, which would help along that along, too.) We definitely eat more vegetarian meals than we did ten years ago.

Eating more veggies was a big reason I was able to lose so much weight.

I fixed herbed tomato soup earlier this week. I love it so much but because my stomach's more acid-sensitive than it used to be, I can only eat a little bit at a time.

Next week: either lentil soup or squash soup. I haven't decided yet.

Squash soup I am craving...

I managed to get the veggies I wanted from the shop at noon today. Not often you can get them so late on a new years eve. Everyone usually descends on the stores first thing.

I'm not a vegetarian, but I like a vegetable soup or stew. I think I make a decent one, too, cheaply out of frozen and fresh ingredients of various veggies. I was surprised to see others make it and call it "vegetable" soup or stew and include chicken or some other meat. I wouldn't call it that with meat in it, for sure.

I remember when I was a kid, Campbell's had both "Vegetarian Vegetable" and "Vegetable Beef" soups. I think my favorite was the Gumbo, though. Which probably didn't resemble the real thing AT ALL. But hey... I was ten years old. What did I know?

Ahhhhh, Campbell's : "Add water..."

Because nothing tastes as nice as a tomato flavoured puddle.

I prefer mushroom and pumpkin myself.

Remember if you eat too much pumpkin, you turn into a princess at midnight. Not so much fun after every minute of your day is choreographed by a load of infighting hangers on. >stares ruefully at tiara after the last time<

I love the tradition of displaying pumpkins on the porch in Fall. But we don't have a porch. :sad:

I was thinking about it, and one reason I like Halloween is the whole putting on masks and being someone else thing... Ties back to being in the closet for so long. glad I removed myself from that environment.

I was surprised when the tradition of putting severed heads inside the pumpkins, for an extra scare, turned out to be a local thing for us...

Well, let's not lose our heads about it!

You know ol' thoth....always tryin' to get ahead of the game.

It's part of my bid to be head and shoulders above the competition. That and the stilts.

That's using your noggin.

Let's quit while we're a-head.

I win!

You might have won this one, but there's another game as it's a double header.

Double your pleasure, double your fun
With DoubleMint (DoubleMint) gum

Double the fun: What Bouncing Boy got when he married Duo Damsel!

Yep, I know no one in Legion fandom has speculated about that.....

I still mean to write that Rule 63 Bouncing Babe fanfic someday. (Pretty sure Triplicate Lad will look like the young Lyle Waggoner, too.)

My version of Bouncing Babe didn't make it past the comics code for some reason...

Reminds me that I've had to move my main art postings over to DeviantArt, and while sitting up this morning with a sinus attack, I got to report my first sighting of unscreened p0rn. I'm officially an old-timer there now.

(ipernity is having technical problems which won't allow anyone to upload new work, so for now... )

tsk! but at least we still get to see your art :-)

"unscreened" is not okay....so "screened" is?

Er....asking for a friend.

I wonder if cleome meant "censored". like, the naughty parts pixelated

Adult material over there is supposed to be "screened" as in blurred out. You have to click an "I approve" button to see the image in its original form. I only have a couple of images with "arty" full-on nudity. So I use that function for those, too. I mean, I'm only talking a cut-out of an ancient Greek statue or something similar, but better safe than sorry. What a shame it'd be to spend all that time getting my account set up over there, just to wake up tomorrow and find out I'd been banned.

As far as the okay-as-is sexy stuff goes, people over there seem to REALLY like pretty ladies at Colossal-Boy-size stomping on cities Kalju-Style, usually with bare feet. I dunno'. It is what it is.

I....might have to investigate this apparent phenomenon. Purely for informational purposes, you understand.

Which information are you most interested in? The Kaijus or the bare feet?

I prefer my giant women robotic and lesbian!

Would you settle for a flesh-and-blood bisexual woman who's almost six feet tall?

I could be convinced!

Do you think you'd be able to tolerate her obsession with early 90s Marvel?

Better than being with someone with an obsession with early '90s image. That's a lot of space steroids to guzzle to keep with her ideas of anatomy.

"Look at me, I eat junk food and drink Starbucks all day long - and cocktails all night long - and still have the physique of an underwear model!"

The key is to keep li'l mini-weights in all those pockets!

Mmmm... FROSTED mini-weights!!!



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I'll just show myself out.

ROTFLMAO

Cleome, your puns are as ridiculous sublime as mine!

Tee-hee!

"Ironically, death softens the blow of the pun." -- Joel Robinson, MST3K: Secret Agent Super-Dragon

Pins, pans, pens and puns. Oh, and pons.

Punim is Yiddish slang for face. Not to be confused with Purim, which is a Jewish holiday happening late next month.

"Punit" means to tear something, in Tagalog

To "rip" can also mean to tear something in English.

However, R.I.P. means something much different. But my younger son tends to pronounce that as "rip" , as well. I don't know if that's common with his generation. I don't remember any of my friends saying, for example, "rip, John Lennon" or what-not.

I guess I was ahead of my time, because I've always phoneticized stuff that way: RIP/rip, CIA/see-a, FBI/fubby, ROTFLMAO/rot-full-mah-oh, ETC/a-tick...

Renege is one word that tripped me up.

Renege/Rinnage/Ray-neej/Ren-a-gee...

Re-animage
Dragonmage
Ani-mage
Animaniacs
Brainiac

"The Brainiac" was the North American title of an old Mexican horror movie called "El Baron del terror" ("The Baron of Terror.") It was pretty gross for its time, because...

Could also have been called Maniac.

There's a scene in the first chapter of Bob Fingerman's Minimum Wage comic where the lead character's roommate is sampling cow brains. He's not sure if he likes them but feels compelled to keep eating them to make sure. Uh... waste not, want not, I guess.

This makes me think of the monkey brains scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

That movie, because of its violence and grossness, was partly responsible for the creation of the PG-13 rating. Gremlins had something to do with it, too.

The pre Hays code films offer a different look into what might have been in movies.

I've seen some of those drift by my YouTube suggestions once in a while. Alas, I have 0 attention span these days and can't commit to watching entire movies.

I'm the same, only watch movies at home, so if I get bored I can stop and do something else.

I watch, typically, 3-6 movies per year at the theater. These include Star Wars, MCU, DC movies and maybe the odd horror flick. In 2020, I saw zero movies this way for obvious reasons.

I have no plans to watch MCU Phase Four, which will launch in November with Eternals. I am, however, reading the new Eternals comic book maxi-series by Kieron Gillen & Esad Ribic. I was going to review the first issue in the Gym'lls forum, but I feel in my gut I should wait until at least after issue 3 or 4. That said, my initial impressions of issue 1 were more favorable than unfavorable.

I don't know what to expect of Eternals; it's certainly not a Marvel property I've ever been particularly fond of. I'll give it a shot since the MCU has been excellent overall, imo.

Isn't Black Widow the official beginning of the next phase, though? (Last I heard, May 2021 is the new release date.)

I honestly don't remember the Eternals at all. Though I do remember that one issue of Avengers where Black Widow was trying to get Spider Woman and Dazzler to stop bickering at a formal tea held by the Wasp.

Well, it's no secret I'm not a fan of Jack Kirby's "one-man-band" work from the 70s, which includes the original run of Eternals. But none of the revivals did anything for me, either.

Really, it's the way that Steve Epting & Bob Harras explored and expanded upon the Eternals mythos in their early 90s Avengers run, along with their memorable reinvention of Sersi, that makes me care about the Eternals at all.

Such potential. I'm still guardedly optimistic that Gillen is on the right track.

I remember being confused at how the Eternals were different from the Celestials

I skimmed the bottom line first and I thought it read "I'm still guardedly optimistic that Giffen is on the right track. I was all for pressing the Durlan Infiltration Panic Button on Fickles! Whew!

Thoth, LOL

Even Yera wouldn't dare mess with me.

Vi was far too forgiving!

Ain't that the truth!

For me, it's the Eternals and the Inhumans. Both Kirby creations with an "other"-ness that makes them hard to relate to, much like the New Gods.

Walter Simonson proved with the "Orion" series that the New Gods can work.

His comic book adaptation of *The Onion* wasn't nearly as successful, though.

He more than made up for it with his run on Thor.

Ya' know, the first comic book I became serious about collecting was Star Wars, when Simonson and Palmer worked on it.

So in a way, they are to blame for my continued presence on this board.

Substitute "thank" for "blame."

Yay! something to be grateful for

We got our Star Wars in weekly reprinted form, with the film adaptation stretching over a lot more issues, than the US version. My intro to the comic would have had Carmine Infantino on the art. I'd later buy Flash issues towards the end of that series, probably not realising the connection for a few issues. I did find Infantino's unique style takes a little bit to get back into, probably more later on oddly enough. One advantage of the Weekly comic were the back up strips reprinting tales of the watcher etc with artists like Howard Purcell. So, even if the main strip wasn't firing on all cylinders, there was something else that might work.

I re-read those old Marvel Star Wars comics a few years ago. Though they weren't really good Star Wars stories, they were often excellent and imaginative kitchz-y sci-fi.

An early adventure followed Lucas' example by ripping off homaging Kurisawa films by using the Seven Samurai. Decades later, we'd get Rogue One.

That whole saga was awesome and was followed by The Wheel saga, which may have been even better.

I peeked at a review, and Simonson drew one I did read, where a bounty hunter called Valence tracked Skywalker, but it was one of those earlier characters he found. Wiacek also on the art. I don't think of myself as much of a Simonsen fan, but that one stays in my mind. Valence's face crumbling away at the end. The captured Jaxxon, getting rescued.

I, on the other hand, love Simonson's art.

Honestly, I can't remember running into any detractors of Walt Simonson's art through the decades. That's somewhat surprising because it's so distinct and expressive. That usually attracts haters.

Simonson's art, to me, has a warmth and humanity lacking in a lot of other highly stylized artists. At the same time, he's incredibly innovative in design and layout -- he is Moebius, Tezuka, Toth, and Kirby all rolled into one. I don't see such a combination very often.

In his younger years, working with Palmer, his work had a "vintage" more realistic quality which I later came to associate with newspaper comics artists like Canniff. In his later years, he took on that more angular feel reminiscent of some of the guys A.H. cites. But in both phases he understood how to move the viewer seamlessly from panel to panel and from page to page. He never seemed to get hung up on drawing splash after splash just to show off what he could do technically. So, yeah... Aces with me either way.

Ray Palmer!

I know when to keep my yap shut. Occassionally.

You guys like him enough, and I've seen so little of his work, that I'd need to look at a lot more before having an opinion.

In a word: Thor.

Verily, I hast read but one parchment fable of Odinson. And I wasn't that bothered with it.

Actually, I fib. I've also not long read the very first couple of Thor appearances. I wasn't that taken with those either.

I might have a look for those Star Wars issues though.

Was it from Simonson's run?


Nor I. I'm not a big fan of anything by Marvel from the early 60s that isn't plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko.


Good start.

Thor brings out the best in many of the creators that have worked on his Marvel adventures. There are certainly exceptions, but I think all of the possibilities borne of Thor being of two different worlds tend to excite their imaginations. Kirby and Lee really laid a solid foundation for them.

Spidey has had a fairly high batting average with creators, as well. (I won't go into the gross mistreatments.) Whereas Thor inspires their imaginations, I think Spidey's creators are inspired by their deep love for the character.

I haven't liked all of Simonson's work but I thought his Beta Ray Bill story in Thor #337-340 was outstanding.

Cynthia Martin had the thankless job of following up Simonson on the Marvel Star Wars comic. She was pretty much his complete opposite, apart from also knowing a lot about how to compose a page to move your eyes where they ought to go. I liked her, too. (And damn but her Luke Skywalker was an absolute dreamboat.)

Cleome, I also like Cynthia Martin, for similar reasons to those which you listed. I've always wondered where her career might have gone if DC's War of the Gods event (which Cynthia was originally scheduled to contribute to substantially) hadn't been such an out-of-control disaster.

While I don't recall WotG being terribly memorable, I admit I'm curious as to why it was a "disaster".

The tie-ins didn't sync, the core mini-series went through a revolving door of artists, and the release schedule was in such disorder that it was impossible to follow coherently. As to the story itself, it was boring and cliche and wholly lacking the grandeur necessary to live up to its title, "War of the Gods."

Fair enough!

The glam-rock/power-pop band Enuff Z'Enuff had a really great look, but their music did nothing for me.

They were all dressed up with no place to go.

Except in people's imaginations, but then some people don't have any imagination...

^^There's a joke there about comic book creators I dislike, but I'm not touching it...

"Can't Touch This"--MC Hammer

When I woke up this morning, I imagined it was Saturday morning and that I didn't have to go to work.

Imagination causes more trouble than it's worth.

When I woke up, I thought it was Saturday until I read Cleome's post. Now I'm worried I'm just dreaming it's Saturday, and that I'll have to go to work.

The Days Of The Week is an on-point parody of late 20th Century soap operas and a recurring segment on SCTV.

One of my favorite sketches on SCTV featured Catherine O'Hara as Brooke Shields and Rick Moranis in full drag as Brooke's mother, Teri Shields.

Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy are both really good in Schitt's Creek as well.

I've heard good things about that show.

"Good Thing" was a follow-up single to Fine Young Cannibals' big hit "She Drives Me Crazy".

I love "Good Thing." It was deliberately supposed to sound like early-60s R&B, so Roland Gift's vocal was much less mannered than on other songs of theirs I've heard.

My brother is 15 years younger than me. When he was little and saw the video for "She Drives Me Crazy", he said of the lead singer, "That man doesn't smile a lot." That memory has stayed with me.

"The madder I am, the more I smile."

-- May Lou Williams (1910-1981)

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e8AOox_prE[/video]

("Willow Weep For Me," by Ann Ronnell. No recording year given)

"Smile," the Beach Boys' (really Brian Wilson's) intended follow-up to "Pet Sounds," was a troubled production that was neither completed nor released. Decades later, a more stable and sober Wilson released a newly-recorded version of more-or-less the same material under his own name.

I bought "Pet Sounds" last week, based on its reputation. Quite a sonic feast but the vocals for the Beach Boys, while technically perfect, always lack real warmth or nuance. Same is true on PS.

I'm more a Four Tops fan or Four Seasons fan myself.

Queen and Def Leppard for me.

Savage Garden, Walk the Moon for me.

Walking on the moon more than walk the moon for me.

Thoth, don't you mean "Ralking rawn rah roon?"

Uh, Is Fick suddenly possessed by Scooby Doo?

No, but Sting has always sounded like Scooby Doo.

Sometimes I think I'm the only Gen-Xer in the world who's always hated Scooby Doo.

Sometimes I think I'm the only Gen-Xer in the world who's always hated The Kids In the Hall.

Feeling like you're the only one in the world is a very stereotypically Gen X thing.

But THIS guy's not an X-er:

(Al Stewart: "Real And Unreal," 1988)

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1z_v3eGcqU[/video]

"Did you ever have the feeling you're the only person living in the world...?"

I've always liked Al Stewart's combination of pleasantly conversational vocals and smart lyrics.

Tee hee. Love these.


A few weeks back, I was explaining to a risk person, the importance of Scooby Doo in training staff from a young age against identity theft, fraud and money laundering.

Thank you, kind sir. And to quote Bugs Bunny: "I got a million of'em."

So I guess you're never gonna say, "Th-th-th-th-thbfbfbh-that's all folks!"

A million can be used up very quickly.

The Many Deaths of Luornu Durgo - by Danielle Foccart, Computo Press

"Not dead...getting better."

Only dead until the next reboot!

Since we talked about the Grateful Dead earlier, I though of the Dead Kennedys, the Dead Milkmen, and Dead Can Dance. What other musical acts have "Dead" in the name?

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

The Fierce and the Dead

You guys spin me right round, right round. I don't know if I'm Dead or Alive.

Deadmau5: The musician my cat dragged in.

Paul Rudd and Jimmy Fallon did an almost shot-for-shot recreation of that music video that Conjure Lass shared on FB a month or so ago. Paul tickles my funny bone anyway, but his impression of the singer had me in stitches!

[grumble]

Gonna' take this board back to its best days by finally figuring out how to nuke Facebook from orbit.

[shakes fist]

But first, a nap.

Paul Rudd is cute!

It'd be funny to hear Paul Rudd talk like Elmer Fudd.

There's a radio adaptation of It's A Wonderful Life in which Arthur Q. Bryan voices Clarence the Angel, which is hilarious because I just automatically picture Elmer Fudd.

Ah, the great old voice actors like Arthur Q. Bryan...I mean, every generation has its share of great voice actors, but when Radio was King, there was a special kind of magic.

I never knew that Elmer was voiced by someone other than Mel Blanc. A little research shows Mel did certain of Elmer's exclamations, cries, etc., but Bryan did all the meaningful voice work on the character during Elmer's most significant and recognizable era, including his singing in the classic "What's Opera, Doc?" I knew certain side characters like Witch Hazel had been voiced by others, but I always thought Mel was Elmer, along with most of the others. Thanks for that!

I've also never thought Sting sounded like Elmer Fudd, singing or otherwise.

I think I remember Stan Freberg (who voiced Pete Puma and one of the Gopher Twins) saying in his memoirs that Blanc wasn't very gracious about sharing the spotlight with other voice artists.

On the other hand, he did live in Oregon for a time, and I had a friend in college whose Dad called in a favor and had Blanc call his son on his birthday to sing him a birthday greeting as Porky Pig.

He doesn't sound like Elmer Fudd, he sounds like Scooby-Doo.

(Scooby's original voice actor, Don Messick, also voiced three of the original Transformers: Ratchet, Gears, and Scavenger.)

Alan Reed is another veteran radio actor whose voice is forever associated with a cartoon character. There are a staggering number of detective shows in which a random hotel manager or ship captain or something sounds exactly like Fred Flintstone!

Alan Reed's replacement as Fred Flintstone, Henry Corden, actually played Fred longer than Reed.

Reed played Fred from '61 until his death in '77.

Corden played Fred from '77 until his death in 2002.

IIRC, even before he took over the role full-time, Corden had already done a lot of Fred's singing.

Ooops! Got my wires crossed. Not seeing that, either, btw!

Now, if Scoob somehow has a weird reggae fixation, I could see it.....

Shaggy's knock-off from the Animaniacs' "Back In Style" cartoon:

"I like... fell on my beads, Maaaaan."

"Like.... wow!"

LOL

Just thinking of how Scoob would pronounce "reggae" makes my head hurt

What? You didn't see the episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies that guest-starred Bob Marley?!?!?!

(Wait--! I didn't either.... )

ROTFLMAO

If that cartoon had really been made, it would've been...a trip.

And the villain of that episode was the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Scoob and Shag have to decide which is stronger: fear or hunger!

Flying Spaghetti Monster vs. Flying Lemur...

WHO

WILL

WIN?!

Why, Joey the Lemur, of course!

Isn't Joey a kangaroo?

"Joey the Lemur" is a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 reference.



https://youtu.be/PGMz6r37Za4

That skit seems to be almost universally disliked by fans, but on the other hand it's positively Shakespearian compared to that dog of a film it's attached to. (And of course, in the actual film, it was a kinkajou and not a lemur.)

I think it says a lot about my contrary nature that I've always loved that skit.

(Also, Crow T. Robot actually uses the phrase "...go to the bathroom." How can I not love that?)

Bathroom, comfort room, toilet. Sometimes I get confused which to use which

It's not one of my favorites, but I'm not incensed by it or anything. On the other hand, I'd really like to reach back through time and space and drop an anvil on the "actor" in that movie who was for real physically assaulting a female co-star while they're pretending to flee the monsters. I think he literally shoved her face into a rock wall at one point. Jaggoff.

Jeez. That's horrible. I'd like to kick him in the balls with a steel-toed boot before you drop the anvil on him.

Not to minimize the awfulness, but I think sometimes it's possible to find out too much about what goes on behind-the-scenes in Hollywood.

I found that out the hard way a long time ago. There's so much I now wish I didn't know.

Stories like this anger me. Sigh. Humans can be very good, or very bad...

Yes. And Hollywood, unfortunately, tends to bring out the worst in people.

I don't think people need that much of a push to bring out the worst in themselves. And sometimes the best.

The Wikipedia page for Voyage Of The Viking Women (one of my absolute favorite pieces of MST3K fodder) used to have extensive testimonials from both cast and crew about how Roger Cormam's legendary penny-pinching put their lives in danger pretty much all the time during filming. Several near-death moments, and several actual injuries. One day I went back to the page and they'd all been scrubbed by either Corman himself or some fan or flunky. I think about that a lot.

I've always thought that Roger Corman western "The Gunslinger" was a very funny MST3K episode.

"What about our clothes?"

We don't always need clothes!

Wait. If Ibby's from Winath, what happened to his twin?!

Maybe Ibby is Mekt's long lost twin?

He seems a bit too even tempered for that, but you never know...

I have my moments

Winath... I can just imagine myself becoming nymphomanic-like living there lol

Mekt and Holt... eek!

I don't own too many of the comics from 5YL and beyond. I have a non-consecutive handful that I've found at yard sales and the like.


I've never really cared much for "normal" shopping. It's always been a thing I did because I had to, not a form of recreation. But damn it I do miss yard sales.

I also dislike shopping. I'm generally mission-oriented, I want to get it over with. Or window shopping, I just like to look. But I hate spending hours and hours choosing something.

I did most of my Christmas shopping on Amazon this year. Around 70-80% of it, anyway.

I did go out in person to shop, but it was just to buy mr_cleome a gift. I'd still like to send my Mom some mail-order treats. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I find vouchers and gift certificates make great gifts!

Yep. Easy to send. The recipient gets what they really want to have. Really almost no downside to it.

Customizability!

I had been combining shopping with getting in a certain number of outside steps each day. It turns out, just before the latest lockdown two shops on the route to the supermarket I go to had been hit with Covid. While the supermarket has remained open, I am rethinking my walking destination.

SONG BREAK!

$hopping!

I have to admit that I usually enjoy going to the pet shop.

So do I. I like watching the animals.

I also love playing with dogs

I like seeing the parakeets!

I like bunnies too!

I like bunnies with pancakes on their heads!

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Sir Mix-a-Lot likes big butts (and he cannot lie)!

Then it's settled. When I finally adopt a bunny rabbit, I shall name him Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Buy him a little hat and sunglasses to match the ones that Six Mix-a-Lot wore in the early 90s.

I am mixing salad dressing.

My favorite salad dressings are plain ol' French vinaigrette, followed closely by a lemon or lime dressing.

Anyone remember Burger King character Sir Shakes-A-Lot?

I don't, but I do like milkshakes. Not healthy, but tasty.

"Not healthy, but tasty" applies to many foods that make life a little easier to get through.

....hence the term "comfort food".

Doing a "Cattleman's" style pot roast tomorrow. Lots of onions & lots of pintos in there, too (with mustard, ginger, hot sauce, garlic, and bay leaf).

Hopefully I'll have time to throw together some whole-grain cornbread, too. Haven't made that even once yet this year.

Seems like the most appropriate movie to cue up with dinner would be "Blazing Saddles."

"He rode a blazing saddle
He wore a shining star
He made his blazing saddle
A terror wide and far

I now have a picture in my head of a man riding a fiery horse and yelling "ow! ow! ow!"

The headless horseman of sleepy hollow didn't claim any victims, as they could hear him approach on his blazing saddle.

For a guy without a head, he sure liked to eat beans.

Those Hessians won't let a little old thing like headlessness get between them and their love of beans!

Yeah, I think Ibby missed the exact "Blazing Saddles" entendre Fick was going for!

Yeah, I'm probably a few years too young and a few thousand miles too far for this reference

Fart jokes have universal appeal.

Like many fundamental things in the universe, they're a gas.

"But it really doesn't matter at all, no it really doesn't matter at all, life's a gas."

T-Rex leader Marc Bolan (1947-1977)

"Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me"

Oh, yes, Freddie Mercury -- another great 70s rock band frontman gone too soon.

Radio ga ga was on the other day. Never dates for me.

Same here, never dates. And, funnily enough, when I was a wee lass, I misheard the lyrics as,

"Paul Revere is Lady O'Hara"

Catholic upbringings can have weird results.

Although that was also true.

LOL

"Lady O, what's new? Lady O, someone still loves you."

O My Darling, O My Darling...

^^Which would appear to prove my theory that Ibby is, in fact, Huckleberry Hound.

Gosh, I ain't no mysterious, steely-eyed and silent-type stranger...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good,_the_Bad,_and_Huckleberry_Hound

Huckleberry's original voice actor, Charles "Daws" Butler, based the voice on a friend of his in-laws. He never did clarify whether or not this guy kept singing "Clementine" off-key.

I did some voice acting once for some friends' animated comedy short. They never completed the project, but at least we had fun. I was the perky Ally McBeal type trying to help a dude who was being railroaded for some minor offense or another. I got praise for how easy it was for me to reel off tons of legalese without stumbling over any words.

I learned early on to make my voice just a little deeper, to sound more adult.

I'll admit it: sometimes when I'm writing a fictional story, I'll do character voices out loud. Alan Moore says he did it when he was younger; I'm sure a lot of other writers have done it.

I'm terrible at creating new characters. I can do established characters quite a bit better.

Marvel and DC don't provide proper incentives for creating new characters.

Seems like when I was still posting to fan fiction dot net, there was real controversy about whether it serves a story well to create new major characters or not. My personal rule was that it was fun to do and useful if you wanted to have an outsider's perspective of the existing heroes. BUT I didn't want to have my OC's join the team. That's just where I personally drew the line.

There's also a fine balance, between original characters meshing with the existing ones; or stealing the spotlight.

Yes, it's important not to Harmonia Li your new favourite creation.

I'm not so sure how much Paul Levitz actually liked Harmonia, because I am convinced he was planning to reveal her to be the Time Trapper.

The fact that we never got the whole Glorith desplorping story is one of the things that annoys me the most about that run.

That's where the magic of fan-fiction comes in!

I'm not convinced that that specific Glorith was a desplorped original. I mean, I know retro-boot was supposed to be more or less the original Legion (or something approximate to it) up until near the end of Vol. 3, but I don't recall any of the Legionnaires going, "hmmm, 'Glorith', eh? Wonder if she has anything do with that chick that was turned into goo way back?" I think maybe she was a reimagined version of Glorith with the prior version retconned out. Hence, she wasn't desplorped because there was never a Glorith splorped in the first place!

Maybe the Retroboot retconned that original Glorith story out

The retroboot splorped it from the timestream.

Whether it was Paul's intention or not, I love the desplorping idea so much that I'd be willing to retcon our timeline to make it his plan all along!

Who else could be desplorped?

Proty I obviously, but it's not the only one...

Hmm... splorping involves being de-aged to a protoplasmic state. I'm not sure if Antareans, being naturally protoplasmic, can really be desplorped.

The age old question of can you splorp a splorp?

Which came first, the chicken or the splorp?

The chicken slorping in the egg yolk.

All life began in the primordial splorp.

That sound effect has disturbing connotations, but "SPROING!" has even more.

Do you think today's young thrill-seekers would pay to be splorped and then desplorped?

If only the Time Trapper had realized they would, he could have had such a lucrative splorping business and would have had no need to trouble the Legion!

Upon reflection, I feel that any word with only one vowel must be suspect. Obviously, all such words were created to rig game shows in unsustainable ways. How can they get back some of your winnings and keep the show on the air if there aren't at least a dozen vowels for you to purchase in every round of the game?

Maybe these words are from Poland... Still wondering how to pronounce names like Grzegorz...

When I was still living in New Jersey, my Polish landlady's last name was Pyrka.

Maybe we should call the next iteration "Splorp This Thread"?

Okay, but you're the one charged with doing the final mop-up and closing of the thread after it hits its 500th page.

You need to scrub well to get that goo AND smell out

Sounds like has personally witnessed the results of a splorping?

That would confirm my longheld theory that Ibby is, in reality, The Time Trapper!

...spoken like a guy trying to throw us off his trail!

"On The Trail" - Jon Hendricks, 1975


[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kvPev_C4r0[/video]

The real Time Trapper is casting aspersions on me!

When the trapper is casting asparagus on you, report him.

Those asparagus stalks hurt my head.

I asparagus!

It's supposed to make certain things taste different!

Those tiny pickled asparagus spears are really good.

Fish and asparagus = YUM

My brother had fish and asparagus for tea today.

I had berries.

I wish I had fish and asparagus today.

When I feel hungry but it's too early for a real "lunch" lunch, I enjoy bread and tuna fish.

I started buying the fancy tuna in a jar. Even though it's expensive for tuna, there's almost no water or oil in it, and it's still cheaper than ordering lunch out.

I just buy mine canned. But tuna with almost no water or oil sounds great!

Ahnold, when he accidentally buys canned salmon: "It's naht a tu-nah!"

Populist Louisiana senator John Neely Kennedy is apparently fond of using "eating tuna tartare" as an example of something out-of-touch elites do that ordinary folks don't. It seems a but iffy to me, but I don't have a fancy Oxford education like he does, so what do I know?

If it helps, I don't think I've ever had any tuna tartare.

I love it when someone with a six-figure income and benefits paid for by me calls me an elitist.

is this the new avocado toast? ugh. really dislike these out of touch people

What's funniest about the whole avocado toast thing is that "Mantequilla de pobre" (poor man's butter) is Spanish slang for avocado or guacamole.

The only ones who get tuna here are the cats, and they are pretty elite...

Cats always are

They worked in tandem today, to get me to do their bidding.

I spend more time than anyone should watching the live feeds for Tiny Kittens (Vancouver, B.C.) and Kitten Academy (Connecticut, USA).

I suppose there are worse vices out there, though.

It's better than crack.

But is it better than Cracked?

Some of the writers there would try to make their prose so fancy and edgy, that it would take all my energy and brainpower just to get to the end of a paragraph/

"Cracking:"

https://youtu.be/0uYm11HicI0

Suzanne from Tamaran

I've never eaten Coriander.

And I've never liked Kori'ander of Tamaran. Give me Donna, or even Raven, any time.

Should Doug Ramsey have pretended that his abilities only worked through snogging?

Would have backfired when they first met Warlock. Or Bird-Brain.

If he'd have become a cyborg after kissing Warlock, he'd be worth 2 titans!

Kinky! Even worse if Doug is dead (again)!

Well, I didn't kill him this time. I have witnesses ready to swear that I was stuck in traffic.

Louise Simonson, who *did* kill him, claims that most of the New Mutants fan mail was hateful towards Doug -- but then, after he was killed, suddenly all the fans loved him and started raging at Marvel. Go figure.

But were they the same fans?

That's what Louise claims.

I'm sure he's been brought back and probably killed off again since then. I'm sure that Wikipedia article is probably a wild ride!

But seriously, Doug should have remained a supporting character, even if he just had to be a mutant. The Douglocke stuff worked sometimes, however.

Weezie was a bit too bloodthirsty on NM, imo. And Bret Blevins...

Agreed on all counts. I'm particularly peeved that Blevins didn't leave until right *after* the Inferno tie-ins, which I consider by far the best (possibly even the only *good*) Weezie NM issues (don't hate me, Magik fans!)

I thought we were talking about Skids, aka Sally Blevins!

I am certain that Weezie already knew Bret Blevins long before he drew NM, and that she deliberately gave Skids the same last name.

As for Skids herself, I love her, especially her trademark blue beret!

EDIT: My memory is faulty. The beret was from her RED outfit, not the blue outfit.

I wasn't pleased that Illyana was de-aged at the conclusion of Inferno. (I think that's what the "don't hate me" is about.) I do admit it made a kind of poetic sense, given what up-aged her in the first place and the nature of the crossover. I do, however, feel that this and her subsequent death of the Legacy Virus was a waste of the character's enormous potential.

Obviously, she was later brought back, but the damage had been done, imo.

Before the New Mutants were launched, we got a lot of promises that they would be somewhat apart from the rest of the Marvel Universe, as a way to keep the book from feeling the creeping homogenization which came from endless crossovers and so on.

lol. That sure lasted a long time, didn't it?

I liked Doug but thought they undercut his effectiveness by demanding that he be classed as a mutant along with everyone else. Certainly he would've been more appropriate as a love interest for Kitty than Peter was.

I also liked the idea of Firestar and Cannonball being paired up, however briefly. I was probably the only fan who did.

Ha ha ha ha Who could ever forget the guest appearance by Team America? (And who wouldn't want to forget?)

I really felt for her when she lost Rusty! I think Skids remains criminally underused.

Skids has yet to make her mark in comics.

This isn't the Litter Box thread, Thoth.

Oops. My house training may need some work.

Training a house can be difficult!

It turned out that the Ewoks were pleased because they thought I'd offered them four trees as a headquarters.

I hope they don't keep us up all night with their singing again.

As a little kid, I couldn't understand why grown-ups didn't like the Ewoks.

As a grown-up, I do understand. It's downright weird how incongruous they are within the context of The Original Star Wars Trilogy.

They were definitely more than a bit odd!

Odd, certainly, but also childish. Juvenile. Definitely one of the reasons why George Lucas re-edited the first movie so that it looked like Han didn't shoot first, when in fact he did.

I like the basic idea of the Empire being taken down with the help of "primitive" forest dwellers, but, yeah, in practice the Ewoks became too cutesy.

The final battle against the Empire should've taken place on the planet of the Wookies! How awesome would that have been?

That was the original plan, and Lucas definitely should have stuck to it. Of course we did get a bit of that in Episode 3, but it would've worked much better in the context of the original trilogy. They could have even kept the Ewoks as another species on the Wookie homeworld.

With the Ewoks you get an ebb and flow of the rebellion's chances. With the Wookies there's less ebb and more flow...of blood as they rip off Stormtroopers arms on the way to an 18 certificate.

Ebb was one of the Elementals that tried to murder Mordru in the Reboot!

I love that Legion vs Mordru battle from the Postboot. Roger Stern & Jeff Moy both did outstanding work on it.

Wait, Roger Stern wrote for the Reboot/Postboot? I have got to start taking more notice of the credits!

Yeah, Stern replaced Mark Waid after several...underwhelming...issues tag-teamed by Tom McCraw & Tom Peyer. His first issue was the one where Shvaughn and Tenzil and Chuck and Lori protects the headquarters without anyone else's help. Stern and McCraw and Peyer all remained until DnA took over.

He's responsible for Sneckie!

Well, he did script her first appearance, but my understanding has always been that the idea was Peyer's.

Apparently the Sterns are huge snake fans.

From this interview:

I stand corrected.

But I do think his Mordru storyline alone compensates for Sneckie.

I think Stern's also a fan of "Cold Hearted" by Paula Abdul....

I bet I know what his favorite Nicki Minaj song is...

Snake is the name of a very popular rock band from Uruguay.

One of my favorite Blueswomen: Alice Stuart, also toured with a band named Snake in her younger years. I'm gonna' go out on a limb and assume it was a different group.

Roger Stern and John Byrne teamed up the Marvel villains Cobra and Mr. Hyde for one of their Captain America stories.

Dr. Jekyll walked off in a huff at being left out.

He got a taxi in a minute and a huff.

By huffing and puffing and threatening to.... ah....

Does The Hoff have huffs?

I was nicknamed "the Hoff" for a little while when I started at my current company 9 years ago. "There's the Hoff, saving us from drowning," my then-boss said.

That was a very nice thing of your then-boss to say, Lardy.

I had a really good boss at the first library where I worked. The reason I left had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with the library's location in the downtown business district.

It was...more than he probably ever realized. I was new to this company and had made a tremendous leap leaving the company I'd been with for 23 years to try this one. Though in the same industry and the same kind of position, it felt like a completely different world. People like him and others along the way made a big difference, even while there were others who had a negative influence.

That's a great story, Lardy.

One day Paladin will realise it was the speedos he wore to work every day, that got him the nickname.

This confirms my longheld theory that Germans love Paladin!

This confirms my longheld theory that Edie is secretly...Norm MacDonald!

Which goes along with my longheld theory that O.J. is a murderer!

Orange Juice is a murderer?!?!?

The pips get caught in your throat.

Someone has been swallowing dice? Or hobbits?

Or Gladys Knight's backup singers?!?! (Oboy, unintended image popping in there....)

?h my, that's a lot to swallow

No swallows around here. But this week, at the bird feeders, I saw finches, juncos, jays, starlings, a hummingbird, and a woodpecker.

Pigeons, ducks and seagulls here. All outside my living room window (it overlooks a canal).

Magpies, crows, doves and various little 'uns here.

We have magpies here too but they are a much different bird to the original English Magpie. Australian magpies, while having distinctive black and white colouring, are quite a bit larger, a bit smaller than a raven, and very territorial during breeding season. They have a habit of divebombing anyone near their nests and as a child I suffered a bleeding scalp more than once. Nevertheless I like seeing them around and they have a beautiful song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYEYc8Ge3nw

I used to draw a mini-comic (we traded them by mail pre-internet) starring a cartoon tern.

I recently saw someone trying to sell one of those comics on ebay for... uh, let's just say no one's heard of me or ever will. I sense the seller is doomed to disappointment.

Interesting. Also a compliment I guess?

No one ever figured out what kind of bird Woodstock was. I doubt even Charles Schulz knew for sure.

Easy! He's a sidekick bird!

Of the genus companionus caninus

Sidekick birds are highly prized for being easy to train!

If you use the same costume, you can easily replace your sidekick bird. Just ask Robin.

Just don't confuse your sidekick with your sidechick!

Er. thankfully the only sidechicks I'm interested in is the bucket of fried chicken and gravy next to my sofa...

Well, don't confuse your sidekick with that either!

One of the weirdest sidekicks was Sherman from the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show.

Mr. Peabody -- a dog -- owned HIM, a human boy, as a PET.

The sad truth is that Mr. Peabody....was a human trafficker!

Thankfully, he kept Sherman for himself!

James Sherman is one of a number of artists I'd have liked to have seen more work of.

Having grown up with comic books, I find that I like "classical" art better. Abstract does not do it for me.

Bill Sienkiewicz combined classical with abstract on the 1980s New Mutants stories ("Demon Bear" et al) he did with Chris Claremont.

I have no clue how to pronounce Bill's surname though

Sienkiewicz is pronounced "sin-KEV-itch."

I learned that only a few months ago, from my hero Steve Bissette.

Who's Who would have the pronounciation section on the inside cover. But I've never shaken pronouncing Darkseid as Dark seed.

I knew who Darkseid was, *years* before I ever read a superhero comic, thanks to the final two series of the Super Friends TV cartoon.

I'm guessing that's where I first encountered him as well. Certainly my view of the character has been shaped more by that than any other appearance.

My first encounter with Darkseid was in the GDS, each issue of which I bought right off the spinner rack! I'd never seen nor heard of him before his identity was revealed!

I might first have seen him in the Dillin/Perez drawn JLA/JSA crossover. That, and the GDS shaped my view of him. To the point it took a bit of getting used to Kirby's version.

The only comic book version of Darkseid that's really done it for me is the one from the Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans team-up.

I think I first saw Darkseid in the JLA/JSA crossover, but I don't honestly remember. I've moved too many times and have slept since then.

Ahhh, sleep. Nothing like a good night's sleep.

I've forgotten what that's like. Between my bladder and my sore shoulders (I'm a side-sleeper), sleep ain't what it used to be.

3:30am here, so not the best sleep tonight

Sorry to hear that, Lardy and Thoth. I do recall you both mentioning your sleeping problems in the past. I've had erratic sleep patterns all my life, but never as bad as what you guys are dealing with. Hugs.

Thanks Ann.

I think there was something across the street last night. 20 mins after I awoke, I heard a couple of voices, and a distant door. No idea what was going on.

sorry to hear about your sleep problems, Lardy and thoth. Wishing you better sleep soon.

Thanks Ibby. Having an early night tonight.

I'm sleeping well but still feeling far too drowsy in the daytime. I wonder if it's the new med I've been on since last month.

I've tended to take midday naps on my days off recently.

I had plenty of naps yestetday. Unfortunately, it was a reason not to fall asleep easily last night.

Was the same for me. Napped on the couch around 8pm-ish... woke up 1am, couldn't sleep until 3am...

I've gotten into the bad habit of dozing off before changing into sleepwear. It's partially El Sid's fault. Since it's still wintertime, if he sees one of the giant talking heat generators available, he immediately lies down on it. And then I don't have the heart to move him.

Our smallest dog was also the only one who would lie beside me the whole night, and not leave. She really loves cuddling.

Falling asleep to Lovecraft stories may not be the best idea I've had.

In my late teens and early twenties, I'd go on horror-movie all-nighters, then get in bed at sunrise. Good times.

I once watched 6 James Bond films in a row. After 4, they were just blurring. After 6, I didn't feel well. I've not seen a James Bond film since. Odd now I type it, but it really gave me a gut reaction to not see any more.

I actually do listen to classic Weird Tales stories on Youtube before bed quite a bit.

Doctor: So, EDE, tell me what seems to be the problem (looks at suddenly collapsing shelves and wishes he had other patients)
EDE: Well doc, my life has recently become ... well... eldritch...
Doctor: That's unusual (looks at cracks appearing in ceiling). How is this manifesting?
EDE: Well, part of the problem is telling people. It's indescribable.
Doctor: Well, all I can do is get the nurse to prescribe some sleeping pills. Oh nurse... (watches in horror as nurse passes suddenly non-Euclidean doorframe and disappears from dimension.)
EDE: It's like this all the time, Doc. Just one squamous day after another.
Doctor: (unable to respond due to tentacled horror dragging him off into shadows)

I try to avoid any kind of visual or aural stimulus for at least one hour before I go to bed. If I'm really bored, I'll read some prose.

Listening to someone read to me actually really helps to clear my mind at night.

I wonder if Edie's new feline acquaintance has had any effect on his sleep....

Sometimes I wish my condo board allowed tenants to have pets.

I do like when friends let me meet their pets

My best friend has two adorable cats, both of them girls.

A colleague just sent me a pic of the cat that she left behind while on assignment for a year.

There are very few animals cuter than cats.

I'm partial to parakeets, myself.

I prefer parakats!

Sometimes, I think Edie has, like, a jillion random comic panels saved in his brain and at the ready to respond to or rebut any given post on any given day!

He's a comic book Brainiac!

I need my ears tested.

I thought it was She's a maniac, maniac on the floor . But it's He's a Brainiac, Brainiac on the forum.

It can also be "She's a Brainiac"

You know EDE better than I.

I prefer Pakrat from Atari Force.

Well, I'm not going to tell EDE that. I'll let EDE continue to belive we didn't do all those "Which comic character would you dump forum posters for" polls.

I'm pretty sure the most appropriate thing for me to post at this point is this:

I don't know what that is exactly, so I'll assume it's appropriate?

That's Dart from Atari Force, in Who's Who, showing the fact that the entire left half of her body is covered in tattoos.

I think the tattoos are added after missions or kills. There's a spiffy Atari Force special with the details.

I must confess: I made the Atari Force reference because I didn't see that the posts continued for another page.

I really have to learn to look at the page count feature.

Remember kids: Skipping page counts always leads to nekkid pics of comic characters!

Which is a bad thing...um...

Atari Force was a great comic! <3

Yes, with great artwork from Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and, later, Eduardo Barreto.

(Thanks, Cleome.) <3

A Barreto issue was one of my early US comics. The one with the ants. There was an old computer game called Ant Attack around too.

Dreadstar also had an issue about giant ants.

Durant is an ant Pokemon.

As a certified dad-joke practitioner, I have to inquire: Does that mean there's an uncle Pokemon?

Duruncle

Duracula

Duracellcula - the endless hammer movies.

Durandurancula -- they have to be vampires to still be going so far past their sell-by date (and I'm a fan of a lot of Duran Duran stuff, including their 1992 comeback singles.)

Drinkcola - as it may refresh you on a warm summers day.

Drankcola, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Drivekoala - as they quite like seeing the sights.

Drivelkoala - tells you an endless story with no point

Kwicky Koala -- not as bad as most other Hanna Barbera cartoons from the late 70s/early 80s.

I still kind of like Mutley.

"Wake up there, Mutley!
You're dreaming again.
You're not Robin Hood,
And you're not Gunga Din.
You're not a brave knight,
Or a king who's been crowned.
You're just plain old Mutley
The snickering hound!"

One of my uncles laughs like Muttley. So all his siblings call him... Muttley.

I've always liked Muttley's laugh, and also his impish facial expressions.

The only upside of having bronchitis for weeks that one time: during my recovery, my laugh finally sounded like Mutley's without me even trying.

Now we just need someone screaming your name like Dick Dastardly would!

If only I knew more about the art and science of race car driving.

Or gadgetry, for all those cheating tricks the Wacky Racers had

I think I do have one collage with hunks of a 1950s V-8 Ford engine in it. If that counts.

Hunky engine parts!

Hee Hee!

(This collage does have some blink-and-you'll-miss-it nudity, hence the offsite link.)

Gasp! I want more!

beautiful collage as always, cleome

I must've blinked. Nothing that further research won't help with.

Research is always good. Yes. Research.

Winging it with an air of authority is even better.

And telling everyone about how IMPORTANT your research is.

You can see where a lot of self important super villains come from.

Their parents didn't hug them enough when they were little kids.

Doc Occs parents might have hugged him too much, hence the extra clingy new appendages.

The new appendages were for him to hug them back, I guess.

Real-life octopi are said to be very intelligent.

Pugsley Addams owned an octopus named Aristotle.

Octopi are quite smart. Have read a few stories of them escaping from aquariums unnoticed... eating fish in other aquariums... and coming back

Interestingly, the historical Aristotle believed that octopi weren't particularly smart, largely on the basis of the fact that they were unafraid of humans.

TYPICAL philosopher: acting all high and mighty just because he's a vertebrate.

That's what Gates said! Those smug vertebrates!

I think it'd be cool to hang out with Gates. Not sure how he'd feel about that, though.

As long as we listen to his opinions and ask intelligent questions, I think he'd be happy!

That proposed Legion Saturday morning cartoon, though... the one where they wanted him voiced by Lorenzo Music... I kind of had my doubts.

I struggle to think of an appropriate voice for Gates, myself!

Just so it's not Dennis Leary.

Hmmm... cynical....bitter...sarcastic.... have they considered someone British for the part?

One of my British colleagues has been moaning about the job forever. He would be perfect!

I think they should break with tradition and give him an accent like Archie Bunker instead.

I?ve seen episodes of a British show ?So Haunt Me?. The main character has a British/Jewish accent

I'm terrible with accents. I can often sort of recognize them, but tend to get confused.

There are so many YouTube channels now with how-tos for actors looking to get very specific accents right. You could spend months doing an immersion course in authentic accents if you suddenly ran out of other things to do.

Thanks cleome, I will check them out! Could be fun to do, especially with things still closed

Once you've mastered the Yinzer, you can pass yourself off as my super-young and traveled lost brother-in-law from another dimension.

I like watching the pimple popping and ear wax removal videos on YouTube.

I suppose it's better than watching someone unbox another damn Funko Pop.

Or watching people eat... you know, the YouTubers who make a living eating for an audience...

Wait. What? The folks who used to do Almost Live in the Nineties also had a sketch in the Oughts called "Watch Me Eat!" which was an obvious parody of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives , but I had no idea this could describe an actual channel. Or several.

I don't understand it myself

Someone told me there's an internet show "Hot Ones" based on celebrities eating spicy-hot chicken wings and filming them doing so. I remember seeing the same exact thing adapted somewhere for a game show.

Seems like a pretty thin concept.

I wonder how spicy those things are. That's the only thing I can think of that would make it entertaining for me.

Apparently, they use the spiciest sauces in the world. The celebrities are interviewed as they partake of increasingly spicy wings. And there have been A LOT of episodes.

(I base this on what I was told and the Wikipedia article. The concept doesn't interest me.)

I remember an Italian/Lebanese friend tasting wasabi for the first time. He ran out of the building.

I never did find that volume of the DC Comics Who's Who? that had Wasabi Woman in it. Too bad. She was one of my favorites.

They ran Who's Who pages in the annuals one year. Wasabi Woman was in Ambush Bug's along with Teriyaki Teen and Ms Miso.

No worries. Here is everything you need to know about her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YECW_iGcrSo

Two minutes in, this series is already better than any Godfrey Ho movie...

Godfrey Ho. What a typical Chinese diaspora type given name.

You haven't lived until you've sampled at least a few minutes of his immortal "Ninja Terminator" movie.

There's a reason fans call him "The Ed Wood of Hong Kong Cinema."

Thanks for the recommendation, cleome

I think this thread may have an unintended afterlife. Please check previous page and see if I'm correct that Ibby's "wasabi" post went over 24 hours without a response.....

I second that for a win.

I smell conspiracy.

But whatever. I got "Ninja Terminator" into it, and that's what really counts.

That was clearly the best post, and that's a win in itself.

Wasabi tends to do that...

If nobody's gonna' go ahead and lock this thing I'm just gonna' get out the karaoke gear and demand that the winner lead us all in a rousing version of "Don't Let It End" by Styx.



Or "Please Don't Go" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band could work, maybe...

I don't have the power to lock this thread here; all I have are the powers to: a) hyp-no-tize & b) en-er-gize.

Never a sentient disco ball [tm] or a dancing Imra avatar available when you need 'em the most.

Maybe Chaselon the Green Lantern can do it...

oh, and I'm gonna go ahead and lock this and make a new one k?