Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

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In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.

Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.

The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.

The Artemis II mission continues to be a moving and powerful testament to human capability, with some amazing visuals, and some reassuring human touches like naming one of the newly discovered features on the dark side of the moon after the Commander's late wife, and also how to deal with MS Outlook running two instances when you only want one.

Back on Earth, the President of the USA celebrated Easter by using expletives on a social media post, whilst at the same time threatening what are legally war crimes against the civilian infrastructure of Iran, AND mocking Islam. Not a trifecta I had hoped to ever see.

And whilst my personal interest in football (soccer for American readers) remains negligible, I can respect fannish obsession, and this definitely qualifies!

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Well we have three months until the second season of live action Avatar The Last Airbender.
Be sure to mark the 25th of June on your calendars so you remember to do something else that day.
They released a behind the scenes video allowing us to see how disappointing Joo Dee, Professor Zei and Ursa look in live action.
Hey look it's that bit from The Chase, that part from City of Walls and Secrets, and the Blue Spirit attacking a guy which is either from Avatar Day or Lake Logai!

Been sick lately, but with the Easter holiday's I haven't missed as much work as I could have.

I happened to read Hard Time the comic by Steve Gerber about a teenage boy being sent to prison for a crime he is complicit in but not wholely responsible for, but thankfully he's got some latent psychic abilities.
I thought 'wow this is a densely plotted story which is clearly laying the ground work for years worth of stories it's a real shame it only lasted 19 issues.'
When I started reading volume two I wasn't quite sure how cut short it was, like maybe they only got seven issues to work with so they had to really compress things down but it still had a proper ending.
It soon became clear this wasn't going to be a tightly written seven, as it's actually a twelve issue series that got cancelled at the halfway point. Still at least they got one last issue to jump decades into the future and summarize what would have happened in the second part.

[iamrman]

This week’s comics ramblings:

Thor by Dan Jurgens and John Romita, Jr. Thor returns after the Onslaught incident and has to fight a bunch of edgelords calling themselves the Dark Gods. Also, he gets merged with another mortal. I’m sure that won’t get tiresome at all.

Thor by JMS and Olivier Coipel. Yes, I am reading three different Thor runs at once. I still get a kick out of Thor smiting a post-Civil War Iron Man good and proper. Then there is

Lady Loki. Still makes me feel funny in my tummy.

Thunderbolts. Still feels weird to see Zemo and not have him fall off something. What are the Thunderbolts up to any way? Zemo is dead. I think Jolt is still stuck on Counter Earth. I haven’t seen Atlas and Moonstone since War of the Realms. The last time I saw Songbird was in Al Ewing’s New Avengers, I think.

Werewolf By Night. I always preferred werewolves to vampires, so you would think I would like this over Tomb of Dracula and the like. I have already said enough about how I dislike Marv Wolfman’s work, so that should give you your answer.

X-Factor. J.M. DeMatteis writes some nonsense about a New Age guru trying to bring about world peace by causing the end of the world. I’m sure DeMatteis wrote the exact same story for Doctor Fate. Frankly, I’m only reading it for the Wolfsbane content. Also, Val Cooper has been replaced by a doppelganger and nobody has noticed/even cares.

Alpha Flight by Bill Mantlo. I have only ever read the John Byrne issues, so of course I snapped up the omnibus collecting the Mantlo issues. I always enjoyed Mantlo’s other work, so it is likely I will like his Alpha Flight too. (The less said about the needless Puck retcon, the better.)

Avengers. Moondragon mind controls a bunch of heroes into demanding Avengers membership. And she wonders why nobody likes her.

[cainofdreaming]

One would think Wolfman/Werewolf is a perfect fit.

[scorntx]

According to t'wiki, Jolt returned to Regular Earth during Secret Empire, got shrunk and knocked out and hasn't been seen since.
Songbird was last seen in a One World Under Doom tie-in (bleurgh) written by Kelly and Lanzing. So goodness knows how remotely in-character she was.
And Moonstone was part of a Big Villainous Blob in last year's The Thing.


To be fair, not caring seems an appropriate reaction to Val being replaced.
Whoever or whatever they may be, it couldn't be any worse than the real deal, even if it was a particularly unhinged Dire Wraith.

[iamrman]

I should know better than to ask these things. I always end up getting disappointed.

[scorntx]

Sorry.

[scorntx]

So apparently even when mankind is as far away from Earth as we've ever managed, we still cannot escape the scourge of MS Outlook.
Good to know.


Turns out all that talk about the new Nova not being cancelled was incredibly premature.
... just a little bit tremendously upset about that.
(Six issues? That can't be! Where's the rest of it?)

Reading Ultimate Endgame, finding myself oddly attached to this Deathlock.
Hoping nothing bad happens to her.
Well, nothing worse past already being a Borg.

Gave last week's Absolute Superman a read.
And I'm pretty sure Black Adam's origin is just Gorr the God-Butcher's backstory but with slightly different names.
Aaron!
(Phantom Stranger's there as well. ... ... she looks different without a hat.)

[iamrman]

It seems like Marvel cosmic stuff only ever lasts if your name is Bendis.

[scorntx]

Just odd, because it seemed like an ongoing. But if it was only ever meant to be a limited series, it chooses an odd way to end, where it seemed like it was going to keep going and them WHAM, series over.

It's got me all worried (well, more worried) for how long Imperial Guardians is going to last.

[mister_terrific]

I'm willing to give all the glitches on Artemis II a pass, given that this is pretty much a shakedown cruise, but Nasa Boy here is thrilled with the mission. Tried to watch the launch from my driveway, but it was too damn overcast here to see anything. That's okay, I watched it all live on YouTube.

I'm really amazed at the high-res videos of the command module--I remember the blurry, black-and-white shots from the Apollo days. And I'm looking forward to all the photos coming out. We may be at the cusp of a new era in space exploration--just keep Elon away from it all. The man wants to go to Mars, send him--one way.

My wife asked me yesterday about what was going with Firestorm, and I admitted I had no idea. I'm only buying 2-3 DC comics these days, and my interest in Batman is solely because Fraction is writing it. I will say I'm still loving Absolute Superman.

[thanekos]

Firestorm's getting a Jeff Lemire-written book this year, first issue this Wednesday - he sounds like he'll be continuing his obvious homage tendencies, so we'll probably get to see him do " 80s DC Gerry Conway ".

(Or John Ostrander.)

[mister_terrific]

When I first glanced at your reply, I thought it said "continuing his obvious homicidal tendencies". :)

[onsokumaru]

I'm overenjoyed that a dude in the Artemis Control Room had a Sailor Moon tie.
And even better, somebody (maybe him?) brought a Artemis (the cat) plush that was on screen when the distance record was broken.