Dan

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Posts posted by Dan

  1. Pick It Up: Ska In The 90s: Exactly what it says on the tin. Lots and lots of talking heads detailing the history of a subculture that because popular for about three years if we're being EXTREMELY generous. Great story from the guys at KROQ detailing how they found No Doubt because they were looking for a band that sounded kinda like Sublime, but weren't an absolute fucking nightmare to deal with.

    Also, have no fear, Dan from 1997; Monique Powell is still pretty fucking hot.

  2. Doomsday Clock, Part 1 hardcover: collects Doomsday Clock #1-6.

    I mean, it's not terrible by any means, but... why is this a thing that exists? The Watchmen sequel no one asked for, it's much more superhero-focused than the HBO series and serves as a more linear extension of the original, but with more Batman in it. Geoff Johns is not Alan Moore. Gary Frank isn't Dave Gibbons either, but he isn't actively trying to be.

    I'll finish the story and there's virtually no chance this doesn't get podcasted at some point, because I mean it when I say it's not a bad comic in and of itself. I'm just not sure why we needed it.

  3. 8 hours ago, batguy10 said:

    This is explained in a document found on Peteypedia. In short, New Frontiersman was in fact printing excerpts of the journal: “ 'Rorschach’s Journal' sold thousands of copies of New Frontiersman, but for most people, it wasn’t apocalyptic revelation. At best, it was outrageous entertainment from an outrageous outlet." The editor could never verify the authenticity, so it never made it further than the die-hard believers. The entire document is worth a read however, there is more history filled in regarding this and multiple journals.

    One thing I enjoyed from the Peteypedia is the note that Seymour enjoyed a certain minor celebrity on the crank/Jerry Springer-type circuit as "guy who found Rorschach's journal".

  4. 8 hours ago, Stavros said:

    Re the uniforms, I believe the reason why Voyager went with the DS9 era outfits is they were made for higher definition TV.

    The old TNG suits apparently looked much ropier especially on film hence the 50/50 split in Generations where it's mainly extras in the old uniforms, but with Voyager the idea was they'd be able to trade stock with DS9 and keep costs down without remaking an entire stock of OG TNG style uniforms that didnt look as good.

    They worked it into the story a little with Sisko starting in the TNG uniform and transitioning once he was on the station, but for Voyager it was pretty much just a cost saving deal.

    That makes a lot of sense.

  5. JLA Year One: The Deluxe Edition: collects all twelve issues of the 1997 miniseries by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, and Barry Kitson.

    My worries this was not as good as I remembered are unfounded. This is still a terrific Silver Age JLA story. It does not include Secret Origins #32, which retold the story of how the League got together in post-Crisis continuity (i.e., swapping out Wonder Woman for Black Canary), which is a shame, as it was A) a very good issue of that book, and B) the direct opener of this series; Year One assumes you've read that Secret Origins and it will take a while to catch up if you haven't. However, in all this is a great story that pays loving tribute to 1960s DC while keeping its voice (mostly) modern, especially in its treatment of Aquaman, who is struggling to adapt to life on the surface (he has difficulty learning to read English as it makes no damn sense, keeps forgetting not to mumble since sound carries much further underwater, and is in general the weird guy in a room full of fairly weird guys). Barry Kitson's art is a lot more 90s than I remembered, but it was still a hell of a lot better than most of what was circulating at the time, and if nothing else is very expressive.

  6. On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 11:27 AM, Donomark said:

    Romita and Buscema were the house style for most of the characters in the 60s and 70s, right?

    Romita was the art director, but Buscema was the guy he and Stan wanted everyone to draw like.

    The Hawkman by Geoff Johns Omnibus: collects Hawkman vol. 4 (2002) #1-25, JSA #56-58, and Hawkman Secret Files.

    So this is when Johns tried his damnedest to clear things up by saying "you know what? They're all Carter Hall now." Overall not a bad run, and a surprisingly quick read. Rags Morales can be a little cartoony, and sometimes his anatomy is a little off, but he's an artist who can draw Hawkman very well, and that's in pretty short supply. Johns leans into the idea that Carter is a huge asshole and probably a little nuts, and drives home the idea that Hawkman's main attributes are A) has a mace and B) is willing to smear your insides all over the wall with it.

    Also, Kendra Saunders has been around for TWENTY YEARS, you guys.

  7. X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga Omnibus: collects Uncanny X-Men #97-105, #107-108, and #125-138, Phoenix: The Untold Story, Bizarre Adventures #27, What If? vol.1 #27, and a bunch of material from Classic X-Men.

    Technically, this probably should have been called The Phoenix Saga, as it collects the entirety of the Jean-as-Phoenix storyline, but this is what'll sell. I mean, it's 70s X-Men. You don't need me to tell you this is good. It's some of the best comics work Marvel ever put out. Eleven issues of Dave Cockrum, followed by fourteen of John Byrne at the absolute height of his powers. This collection also includes The Untold Story, which is what issue #137 was originally would have been before Jim Shooter refused to allow the story to end with Jean alive after having destroyed the planet of the asparagus people, along with a roundtable interview with Shooter, Claremont, Byrne, and Terry Austin, explaining the history of the story and why it was changed at the last minute. There's a story from the Bizarre Adventures magazine where Jean's sister comes to terms with finding out Jean is A) a mutant and B) dead by remembering that time they got kidnapped by Attuma and turned into water breathers. (Comics, everybody!) What If? #27 is probably the most famous issue of the original series, which explores the ramifications of Phoenix surviving the battle with the Shi'ar. It's... not very good. Overall, this is a vital collection; my copy had a major printing error that severely fucked up issue #138 (Jean's funeral and Scott's departure), accidentally reprinting several pages of the issue before and some pages of Classic, but I'm not seeing this online as being much of a thing, so I may just have gotten a bum copy.

    Captain Marvel: Ms. Marvel - A Hero Is Born Omnibus: collects Ms. Marvel #1-23, Marvel Team-Up #61-62 and #76-77, Defenders #57, Marvel Two-In-One #51, Avengers #200, Avengers Annual #10, Marvel Super-Heroes (the 1990 series) #10-11, Marvel Fanfare #24, and a few pages from various other Avengers issues. I.e., pretty much the entirety of Carol Danvers' career as Ms. Marvel the first time around.

    What started as a naked attempt to hop on the 70s Women's Lib train several years after it left the station (the corner box on the cover has the words "This Female Fights Back!" in tiny print, and original writer Gerry Conway, who will gladly today concede he had no idea what he was doing, presents the Adventures of A Strong Independent Woman Who Doesn't Hate Men, Exactly, But Can Kick Your Ass While Making 73 Cents On The Dollar) gets a lot better when Chris Claremont, a writer who actually does have very definite ideas about how a strong female character should be written, takes over early on. On other words, it becomes a perfectly serviceable B-or-C-level Bronze Age Marvel comic. Most of his overwhelming Claremontisms are missing, as he's more concerned about writing a fun adventure book, not a soap opera with Important Things to Say. The art is chiefly handled by Jim Mooney with Joe Sinnott on inks, so it looks nice enough (Mooney was the guy you got if John Romita Sr. didn't pick up his phone) for the bulk of the book, with a couple of fill-ins by Carmine Infantino. Towards the end, the panic is setting in, and they try everything they can think of (a new costume, streamlining the cast, a change of setting), but it becomes clear the book is out of steam and it gets cancelled mid-storyline. Mike Vosburg is the artist of the last few issues, and it's some of the worst artwork I've ever seen. Afterwards, Carol makes a handful of appearances here and there (the MTIO is excellent, and features very early Frank Miller artwork), before her original storyline wraps up in the pages of Avengers, and specifically Avengers #200, which is heralded quite justly as one of the worst comic books Marvel ever put out. It looks nice (the art is by George Perez, at the point where he was becoming very recognizably George Perez), but the story hinges on the fact that (CW)

    Carol is raped, forced to carry a child to term, and then falls in love and goes off to be with her grown-up baby who is also her rapist

    , presented by oblivious, tone-deaf creators who had no idea that there was anything wrong with any of that. Claremont came back for Avengers Annual #10 to explain why the Avengers, and the writers of #200, are stupid motherfuckers who are motherfucking stupid and JESUS CHRIST YOU GUYS; this is also the issue where Rogue, who up to this point only had the power to absorb powers and memories, holds onto Carol for too long and permanently takes her powers of flight, super strength, and invulnerability. (Michael Golden does the art here, and you either like him or you don't; I'm not especially keen on him.) After this, the collection skips over the whole time a powerless Carol hung out with the X-Men and eventually became Binary (presumably that's in Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol. 3), only to wrap up with a story from Marvel Fanfare that calls back to the MTIO poker game and she finds out for the first time that Mar-Vell had died while she was off-world, and now she's Binary and look out, outer space, here she comes. Overall, a pretty representative slice of Bronze Age Marvel, more historically interesting because of what's happened with Carol in the last ten years than anything else.

  8. 1 hour ago, The Master said:

    Giant-Size X-Men #1: My first time reading this classic tale. It was alright. My main takeaways are: Thunderbird and Sunfire are assholes. Banshee is a delight.

    That issue is really more important than it is actually great. It's an interesting historical document, but as an actual story it's... fine.

    I've been doing some reading myself, finally...

    Fantastic Four by Matt Fraction Omnibus: Collects Fantastic Four vol. 4 (the 2013 series) #1-16, FF vol. 2 #1-16, and a couple of one-shots.

    While I understand collecting these together as they were tied into each other (The FF goes away for a while (Fantastic Four) and leaves a new team in charge of the Future Foundation (FF), composed of Ant-Man, Medusa, the She-Hulk, and a new character called Ms. Thing who's basically "what if Taylor Swift got a hold of one of Ben's old Thing exoskeletons"), it's actually a jarring read as the tone of the two series could not possibly be more different. Fantastic Four is a fairly straightforward FF book with art by Mark Bagley, and it's quite good. FF, on the other hand, is drawn by Michael Allred, and it is awesome. It is pure Allred Silver-Agey wackiness from beginning to end and I loved every page of it.

    Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! #1-10: Post Marvel Divas Patsy, written by Kate Leth and drawn by Brittney Williams, it's adorable and fun.

    The Unstoppable Wasp vol. 1, #1-8: Nadia's setting up shop, becoming an American citizen, recruiting teenage girl supergeniuses for a think tank she's setting up, and generally being superhumanly cheerful all the time. Also very cute, even if "Nadia instantly wins over everyone she encounters" gets a little much after a bit. However, the back pages have interviews with real women in STEM who talk about how awesome science is and why girls should study and find careers in engineering, that that's amazing.

    Ant-Man and the Wasp #1-5: Mark Waid writes a surreal trip through the microverse with Scott and Nadia, made more awkward as Scott is literally the only person on the planet Nadia doesn't like. Gorgeous artwork by Javier Garron, Beautiful covers by David Nakayama, and Waid in goofy banter mode? I'm in.

  9. Back in April, they announced that David Harbour was signed for an undisclosed role in Black Widow.
    A month later, he confirms this at a London convention where he said,

    Spoiler

     

    "I'm glad this thing is joining the Marvel Universe".

    Naturally, that got everyone buzzing he was going to turn up as a pre-transformation Ben Grimm.

    Watching this new season of Stranger Things, I'm having difficulty finding anything wrong with that casting if it turns out to be close to real.

     

     

  10. 5 hours ago, The Master said:

    That's a good question. In truth, I'm not sure who knew and who didn't. Thinking about it, I'm not sure my mom knew (or knows now) that the place was mob-tied.

    The town in which I grew up is adjacent to Cicero, which was one of the most corrupt suburbs in the Chicagoland area. For historical reference, Cicero was Al Capone's base in the 1920s, and his political style lasted into the very early 21st century. Cicero's most famous Town President, Betty Loren-Maltese, stole over $10 million from the city. This type of dirty politics and mob corruption bled into the neighboring townships -- including my own.

    What I can say is that police definitely knew who owned the store. This was most evident in the rules that were placed upon me as an employee. Not only did I stock the shelves, clean the floors, operate the trash compactor and baler, I was also trained to run the butcher counter as well as the deli. When I cashiered, I could sell anything -- including lottery tickets and cigarettes. While this was illegal, no one batted an eye. Hell, I sold cigarettes to cops all the time. However, I was absolutely forbade from selling alcohol. If a 12-year-old was seen selling booze, the police would have no choice but to shut the place down.

    It's always wild when you look back and realize these things. The town I grew up in is about halfway between Boston and Providence, and when I was a kid the head of the Providence Mafia actually lived less than a mile from my house. As a result, there were a number of businesses in town that turned out to be mob-owned, although it was mostly kept relatively quiet (it wasn't until I was an adult that I found out a certain dry cleaner and a couple of restaurants were fronts), but it was well known that they owned what was one of the most successful strip clubs outside Boston's Combat Zone, right down the street from my high school.

    (Incidentally, having a club like that in your small town is a lot less awesome than you would think. Going in for the first time gets very awkward very quickly when you realize that dancer named Chantal is actually named Rachel and she was in your English class last year.)