Missy

Agreed on all counts. Tony has Arn Anderson and Dean Malenko right there to keep the locker room straight, along with Sting, Jericho, and Christopher Daniels. He need to lean on them to make sure grievances are sorted sorted out before they become whatever transpired between Punk and The Elite. Tony also to move Nick and Matt away from EVP roles. Yeah, they've been selfless when it comes to putting some teams over and helping push Hangman to a World Championship, the tag division has a smaller focus when the belts aren't on or being chased by them.

I genuinely don't think so. If it is, it was massively ill-advised, and smells of Russo-era WCW. The rep of the company has been damaged, it looks like Tony Khan can't manage his employees, the belt being hot-shotted tarnishes its previously pristine rep, and though it drew a lot of engagement on Twitter and eye on Dynamite last week, the short (and possibly long-term) effects aren't worth that. CM Punk is known to be exactly what he displayed at the press conference. That is a self-righteous prick who thinks he's the smartest man in the room. While it works for his character, it does not sit well backstage, and I think we saw a year's worth of frustration spew out in one moment.

Round about late June / early July I told HR I was maybe -- stress maybe -- thinking about adding Shana to my insurance at the start of August because her contract job was coming to a close. Never did I approve the change; I simply wanted to know if it could be done mid-year, and was giving them a heads up in case we decided to go that route. Well, apparently someone in HR (and there's only one person, so) took that to mean, yes, add Shana to Mike's insurance without double checking. When did I learn this? When my most recent check was short $200. After a week-plus of no answers, HR is blaming "the new system" for adding Shana to my policy, thus taking no responsibility and never once apologizing for the error or shorting me money while we're a one-income household.

Me: My PTO is off by two days. Can we go over that together? HR: Sure. Me: Two of my sick days were erroneously marked as vacation days. Here's the requests I filed. See here, I requested sick time, not vacation time. HR: We'll fix that this time. Next time make sure you mark them as sick days, not vacation days. Okay? Me: *points at document noting I did mark them as sick days* HR: That is correct. Make sure you get that right next time. Me:

Harsh but fair.

Deeply sad news. Her place in world history will forever be remembered.

The Shining

Goddamn it, this hit hard. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-62330478

Yup. After outing Peter but before he got into a studio, Jonah was doing his show from his basement.

I've been getting a lot of targeted ads on Twitter for female clothing. Nothing I would or could wear, but, I like it.

Finally saw Spider-Man: No Way Home, and while I enjoyed the hell out of it, it's another MCU movie that utterly breaks the universe and we're just supposed to go "lolowell ¯\_(ツ)_/¯." If the entire world has been made to forget Peter Parker ever existed: - How did Jonah go from basement YouTuber to studio star without exposing Spider-Man's identity? - How do Ned and MJ ever become friends without Peter as the middle man? - How does Happy meet May without being Peter's caretaker post Civil War? This isn't just making the world forget Peter is Spider-Man (which is bad enough), it's gaslighting his closest friends into believing their lives took different paths. It's actually kinda gross. The better reset should have been everyone forgetting Peter is Spider-Man, but if he tells even one person, the spell is undone. That would place massive stakes on future unmaskings. But, here we are.

President's daughter, IIRC.

Tim's treatment of Steph is super shitty, yet it made me want to see this story take place in a Tim ongoing -- if that makes sense. I wanted more meat on the bone; the break-up, the beginning of the ghosting, Tim's inner turmoil, him beginning to question his sexuality more and more, his "coworkers" starting to get all "WTF call Steph" on him, then his reconnecting with Bernard, and the rest we saw from there. The team did a solid job with what little space they had, but I'm always going to want longer Tim Drake stories.

Six-month check-in. Chris Claremont X-Men Books - Giant-Size X-Men #1 - X-Men / Uncanny X-Men #94-161 - X-Men Annual #3-5 - Classic X-Men #1-44 - Phoenix: The Untold Story - Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans - Iron Fist #14-15 - Marvel Team-Up #69-70, 89, 100 - Spider-Woman #37-38 - Avengers Annual #10 - Marvel Fanfare #1 My big reading project of the year was set to be finally digging into Chris Claremont’s X-Men run (and related issues), which what you see here. I took a breather after a month or so, because it was the only comic I was focused on and needed to step back for fear of overwhelming myself with too much X-Men. These aren’t always the best, but where Claremont is on fire, it is the best. The character work is groundbreaking, and it’s fascinating to see where some of the longer-running X-Men stories began. For instance, Jean and Logan is not a thing. At all. Yeah, he’s into her and gets super creepy at the start, but Jean absolutely puts Logan in his place and he backs the fuck off. Further, his so-called feud with Scott, at least at this point, is not a thing at all. It took a while, but Logan has come to accept Scott as the leader and as a friend. Everything with Piotr is just the best. Fantastic Four Books - Fantastic Four #30-175 - Fantastic Four Annual #2-6, 11 - Giant-Size Super-Stars / Fantastic Four #1-4 - Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure - Avengers #127 - Marvel Two-in-One #20 - Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 Summing up the bulk of the Lee / Kirby run, as well as those that came after in a forum post wouldn’t do anything justice, but this book hit an amazing run from the mid-30s to 70s. Like, absolutely epic comics. We also get Sue and Reed’s marriage, the birth of Franklin, their near divorce, my insistence Sue absolutely went to town on Namor’s cock while she and Reed were separated. We also see the formation and ending of Johnny and Crystal, as well the her marriage to Quicksilver, the introduction of Black Panther, some epic Doctor Doom stories, Galactus, and JFC this is just as goo as everyone says. Ric Grayson Books - Batman #54-55, 99-100 - Nightwing #50-77 - Nightwing Annual #2-3 - Batman: Pennyworth RIP - Red Hood: Outlaw #48 UGH! What started out weak slowly crept into “okay” territory, but ended with Dick regaining his memories via a magic crystal and the power of love. No. Thank. You. Defenders Books - Marvel Feature #1-3 - The Defenders #1-3 Felt like finally trying to get into this not-a-team comic, and it’s fine but not for me. It doesn’t have a voice at this point. Shadow War Books - Shadow War: Alpha - Batman #122-123 - Deathstroke Inc. #8-9 - Robin #13-14 - Shadow War Zone - Shadow War: Omega Deathstroke is framed for the murder of Ra’s al Ghul, triggering a war between global assassins. It’s actually fun. Martian Manhunter Solo Stories - Batman #78 (1940) - Detective Comics #225-236 I’m a long time J’onn J’onzz fan, so I thought I’d take a look at his solo stories in chronological order. After a year of stories, there’s no solid ground underneath the character. No recurring characters of note, no consistent use of his powers or type of story. They are all over the place here. Amazing Spider-Man #84: This was probably part of the Beyond storyline, which was fine for a little while. Batman / Superman: World's Finest #1-4 (2022): Simply amazing. Batman: Gotham Adventures #33: Bruce gets to see what life would be like if the bat never flew through is window. Strong stuff. DC Pride: Tim Drake Special: A collecting of Tim’s coming out as bi stories and one new tale. Would have liked a bit more, to tell the truth. Fantastic Four: Life Story #1-2: Not for me, as it skips way too many character moments for bigger beats. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 (2019): A strong start to a 14-issue run. Jonah Hex #6 (2006): More of a Spectre story, IIRC. Maniac of New York: The Bronx is Burning #1-4: A sequel to the Jason Takes Manhattan tribute, but very hard to read considering the recent school shooting. Marauders #1-27: Kitty leads a team of ass-kickers. Fun, but lost its way / focus by the end. Nightwing #88-93 (2016): Every panel is a joy. Reckoning War: Trial of The Watcher: Makes me want to read the eventual collection. Rima, the Jungle Girl #1-2: Wanted to try something new. Well, it’s from the 1970s, but new and different to me. Robin #10-12: These are exceptionally quick reads, and will be meatier in the trades. Showcase #6: Challengers of the Unknown, baby! Superman '78 #6: Made with pure love. Superman #125 (1939): Bonkers. Superman: Son of Kal-El #6-12: Consistently one of the best books out there. World's Finest Comics #146-147: Missed my boys. TOTAL January to June: 418

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Won't say too much for spoilers, but Cumberbatch and Olsen are both uninspiring. It's route horror movie material they're delivering. Xochitl Gomez isn't the best, but she's 16 and isn't given solid material, so I can easily overlook some of her choices and want to see more of her in the future.

Shana and I are making our way through the MCU, but not in any order. Recently we watched all four Avengers movies, the first two Captain America's, Doctor Strange and its sequel, we've got about 45 minutes left in Ant-Man. They mostly hold up, but Age of Ultron gets really wonky after a bit, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the very first MCU movie I would call downright terrible. It's all over the place, relies way too hard on fan service, begs us to care about Strange's failed relationship with Christine, uses a literal device to deliver the plot, assassinates Wanda, is filled to the brim with awful acting, the dialogue made us pause to facepalm multiple times, and while I don't care that it visually breaks the MCU mold I do care that it relies on lame tropes for scares and doesn't push anything forward. As a blessing, because the movies takes places in and acknowledges the multiverse, Marvel could (though they won't) say this whole movie wasn't following the "real" Doctor Strange and Wanda, but ones from another reality. Rock 'n' Roll High School and Phantom of the Paradise, but more on those soon.

For me it's only the films named Spider-Man, which includes Into the Spider-Verse and maybe, as Will said, the TV pilot.

Des, were you always into Trek, or is that something new? Can't recall you mentioning it before your recent SNW posts.

Remove that comma and we have a whole new movie franchise.

Both Dave Hebner and Tim White have passed away.

Mummy

Pinocchio, The Fugitive, Jurassic Park, Logan, Dirty Dancing

Tim Sale has passed away. He was 66.

That's the one.