Missy

Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. 64 Pages of New Captain Marvel Adventures #1-3, Captain Marvel Adventures #4 America's Greatest Comics #1 Captain Marvel Story Book #1 (first half only) Master Comics #20-32 Special Edition Comics #1 Whiz Comics #1-25 Having never read any classic (RE: pre-DC) Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. stories, I had no idea what to expect going in. Having now read a decent chunk, I can say these are not at all what you would expect. They are vibrant and fun, yes, but so very violent and harsh. Grown men are constantly attempting to straight-up murder Billy, and they do not shy away from the harsher elements of World War II once Freddy is introduced. Death of Superman / Funeral for a Friend / Reign of the Supermen Action Comics #684-692, Annual #5 Adventures of Superman #497-505, Annual #5 Green Lantern #46 Justice League of America #69-70 Steel #1 Superboy #1 Supergirl and Team Luthor Superman #74-83, Annual #5 Superman: The Legacy of Superman Superman: The Man of Steel #18-26, Annual #2 It turns out I read all of this, save for a few issues and the annuals, contemporaneously. That surprised the hell out of me. As a tool to rejuvenate Superman and introduce new characters, such as Steel and Superboy, this is one of the best crossover events DC has ever produced. And that all comes down to the creative team building a supporting cast that is unrivaled to this day. This story lives and dies on how Clark’s friends react to the new void in their lives, and it is perfect. As a meta piece about how Superman doesn’t need to change with the times (RE: guns and armor), it could not be better. Even Superboy is toned down by the time his series starts, because he realizes Superman is something worth living up to. Prelude to Knightfall / Knightfall / Knightquest / KnightsEnd / Prodigal / Troika / Venom Batman #416, #484-510, 512-515 Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20, 59-63 Batman: Shadow of the Bat #16-30, 32-35 Batman: Sword of Azrael #1-4 Batman: Vengeance of Bane Batman: Vengeance of Bane II Catwoman #6-7, 12-13 Detective Comics #654-677, 679-682 Justice League Task Force #5-6 New Titans #55 Nightwing: Alfred’s Return Robin #0, 1-2, 7-14 Showcase ’93 #7-8 Showcase ’94 #7, 10 Besides Batman #500 and maybe one or two issues of Robin, I did not read a lick of this in 1993-1995. Thanks to Wizard, I knew what was going on, but it did not interest me in the slightest. Now that I’ve read it, I say its strongest pieces are everything around Knightquest: The Crusade. The chapters about Bruce failing to realize his mind and spirit are slipping as much as his body, and then him rebuilding himself to reclaim the Batman mantle, are the best. Next would be anything to do with Tim and Dick buddying up. Everything with Jean-Paul, however, I felt was the weakest. We know nothing about him, we learn nothing about him, and he has no supporting cast to play off of and / or worry about him. And, yeah, I get they were going for the lone wolf — they were trying to show Batman needs a support network despite what people think — but that isn’t explicit and makes those stories feel lacking. Wonder Woman All Star Comics #8 Sensation Comics #1-9 I had a hell of a lot of fun finally reading Wonder Woman’s earliest days. Others 80-Page Giant Magazine #14 - Lois settles down with Superman and Supergirl and she is damn near suicidal. Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #1-4 - This story needs to get moving. Batman #131 (2016) - Not at all for me. Batman Special (1984) - Michael Golden. All you need to know. Batman: One Bad Day - Ra’s al Ghul - Sometimes you want Ra’s al Ghul to win. Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #13-16 - Fun, as always, but I need to move past the Metamorpho story. Batman & The Joker: Deadly Duo #1-7 - The art is what you’re here for. Crossover #1 - A little too close to reality right now. DCeased: War of the Undead Gods #1-8 - A fine conclusion to the DCeased world, but it just sort of ends. Detective Comics #239-243 - Martian Manhunter stories. Detective Comics #935-947 - Batman rethinks his take on crimefighting, and basically creates a new team of Outsiders in these Rebirth stories. Ewoks #1 - This is the Marvel series based off the 1980s cartoon and damn was this silly fun. Firestorm #1-3 - The original miniseries is trying so hard to be Spider-Man, but it flips the script on the hero / bully dynamic. The bully is the nerd, while the hero is a jock. Flash #32 - I need to make an effort to get back into this series. Flash #790, 791 - One-Minute War is not for me. Green Arrow #1 (2023) - Return of [SPOILER]! Human Target #1-12 (2022) and Tales of The Human Target - This hinges on your appreciation for LA noir-style stories, and your willingness to accept the JLI-era characters being not good people. King Spawn #1-2, 20 - This one surprised me. The New Champion of Shazam! #1-4 - Hell! Yeah! Nightwing #102-105 (2016) - Still great. Prophet #1 (1993) - Because I’m stupid. The Question #1-3 (1987) - Of course this is great. Scarlet Witch #3 (2023) - Out. She's Josie #1-8 - Way more fun that I thought. SHAZAM! #1 - Perfect. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Ewoks - A mixture of stories that attempt to make you appreciate these little furballs. Superman #349 (1939) - This was a cute story where Superman meets friends and foes who are gender-swapped. Superman #2-3 (2023) - Gonna wait for this to be collected. Superman: Lost #1 - Not for me. The Untold Legend of The Batman #1-3 - A solid modernization of Batman’s origin. World’s Finest Comics #148-153 - Always great. Even when they’re not. Total: 451

Happy (almost belated) birthday!

Who are his living apprentices? Amanda died in III, Hoffman was trapped and left for dead in Saw 3D, and Logan was only seen in Jigsaw. I've yet to see Spiral.

Though it was never directly explained on-screen, the general idea is that she wasn't a practicing officer so she could wear whatever. This starts to change, however, in Season 5's "Disaster" where we learn she's actually a Lieutenant Commander. Not much more is said until Season 6's "Chain of Command," in which Captain Jellico orders Troi to wear a proper uniform, which she pretty much does from there on out. Lastly, in Season 7's "Thine Own Self" Troi takes the Bridge Officers Test to become a full Commander, thus completing a small storyline for Troi which gives Marina Sirtis more to do, elevates Troi above her original concept, and gets her out of the low-cut tops and dresses.

My perspective is that it was the strain that killed Luke. He had completely cut himself off from The Force for years, to the point he didn't even sense Han's murder. So the big, showy act to distract Ben was too much for his heart to take.

Poll added. They're sex workers.

Quest, Spider-Verse, Terminator, BTTF

To your point that this didn't need to be Arnold, that it could have been anyone, I agree. It's fondly remembered because "lol Arnie's with kids" and it came on the tail of Twins, but someone like Eddie Murphy or Robert De Niro could have easily slipped into the lead. However, with the aforementioned sexism, homophobia, and perverted jokes, one worries what "jokes" would have been added had the teacher been African American.

Thank you for the kind words! To be honest, this was the first time I've spoken about The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker pretty much anywhere because the toxic backlash to the films online (not here) made me keep my mouth shut and pushed me away from Star Wars fandom, so it was good to sit down with Ian and Dan to cover all the movies.

@dc20willsave, what was the other documentary you mentioned during the recording? I'd like to see that one too.

SPOILERS for Batman #134-135 (legacy #899-900) What are those means? Well. Before we get there, DC has allowed Bruce to age in recent years. As Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian age, so does Bruce. Even if it's not stated verbally, visually he's older. He's clearly a man in his 40s. Possibly mid-40s. Since DC will never let Bruce become as old as his Dark Knight Returns or Batman Beyond counterparts, they're going to have to course correct at some point. That will either mean "forgetting" Bruce is older, or de-aging him through in-universe means. And there's the connection. I'm wondering if at some point before Chip Zdarsky ends his run on Batman, he'll have Bruce take a dip in a Lazarus Pit. Not only would this serve to solve the spoiler-tagged problem, but it would allow DC to have a 30-year-old Batman all over again. (If not younger.) This path also allows the Robins and Batgirls to age without pushing Bruce into his 50s. Yeah, sure, it means Dick and Barbara, especially, would be older than Bruce, but a joke could be made out of it from time to time and it's not like in-universe science / magic hasn't been used to solve similar issues before. I just don't see any other way out of the spoiler-hidden issue, especially if it could be used to solve the aging one.

Empire

Rogue One hands down.

It's official! Endeavor, the parent company of UFC, has agreed to purchase WWE for $9.3 billion.

The Help, for sure.

I still cannot believe how much I enjoyed Head.

Sixty years old is too damn soon. The man was a presence.

Recently I discovered the law firm I work for has a client who used to own the pool hall I frequented from 1995-1997. The client sold it in 1999, so it's long been out of his hands, but it gave me one of those "Whoa! Small world!" moments.

Sorry for the late reply: what'd you think of our Cass portion?

Going in, I wasn't sure if we'd know the truth, but I'm glad we did because I don't want to feel tricked by the end. Plus, for me, it added more emotion to the show watching the Traitors have to deal with the emotional stress of removing people from the game.

Imran was done in by exactly that. He was cold to a fault, thus seen sideways, which is a shame. This almost did Fay in early too, but she became a good voice at the table and showed she wasn't a traitor.

BTTF, Singin, The Shining, Batman Begins Skipping the Les Mis / School of Rock one because it's been ages on both.

Legit, if I was in Wilf and Amanda's families, I'd be looking at them a little sideways for a few months. As much as I enjoyed it, however, you could see the mental health of the players declining. Sometimes rapidly. Once the truth about Alex and Tom came out to the group, Alex was absolutely done with the show. She said as much at one point, but you could just see it. She was was tired and pissed, her entire demeanor changed, she shut herself down during round tables, group discussions, and confessional moments. It also sucked that Tom revealed the truth to the group, yet she received more banishment votes in the very next round table. Alex took the brunt of that bombshell for no definable reason. Maddy frustrated me to no end. Even though she was right about Wilf, the way she hounded poor Aaron because he had a panic attack was bullshit. Never mind her lack of logic and willingness to jet down any rabbit hole, her treatment of Aaron was beyond gross. Theo and John surprised me the most. Both of them turned absolutely vile at points. John seemed fine at the start, but any time anyone looked in his direction, he would yell over them yet claim he was the victim. And Theo was willing to dish out accusations, but acted like his best friend spit in his face when his name was said. And hey, I get being sensitive. I so get it, but his brand was melodramatic. My heart exploded when Andrea revealed she's queer, because TV never ever ever shows elder queers. Along those lines, bless this show for showing multiple people across the queer spectrum, as well as people of different ages, sizes, and physical abilities. It could have used more racial diversity, though.

Has anyone else watched the UK version of The Traitors? Normally this isn't my kind of reality TV show, as I don't like backstabbing and mind games in real life. My typical speed is something like Bake Off or Project Runway, where you succeed or fail based on your skills during any particular challenge. But I heard a lot of good things about The Traitors, so I gave it a whirl. Holy crap is this intense. Suffice it to say this is a thread where spoilers might be written, so tread lightly if you're interested. This is exclusively about the UK version. If you want to discuss other flavors, please feel free to open additional threads.