Ken Aldred

Good actor, not sure about casting him as Richards.

Not again, I hope. It’d be boring.

Can’t see Pascal as Reed Richards.

Similar conclusion last year. Nice art, but a fairly weak story by Jeff Lemire’s standards.

Only just discovered that Marvel did two comic book mini-series featuring the PS4 version of Spider-Man, which has been incorporated into the official Marvel multiverse.

Hard to believe I forgot this one.

Many of the NM / M copies I bought in the early 90s were around VF / NM for back issues, NM or better for new comics. One or two of the back issue “NM / M” copies had corner crunches, but most of what I bought were $ 1 to $ 2 comics from their Specials section, and so they wouldn’t consider it worthwhile to grade by giving more than a quick glance at best, or simply have them picked from a bulk pile. Very patchy even then, but hardly nightmarishly bad, either.

Quite a readable title even to the end of the run; Moore, Veitch, Millar.

There were a lot of painted covers, that's true, in addition to Dave McKean's striking multimedia work on Sandman. Glenn Fabry, Simon Bisley, as examples.

Looks like a video game glitch. Mass Effect Andromeda.

Vertigo Comics didn't really tend to be gory. Unless Garth Ennis was involved. I wouldn't have thought the imprint would've been seen as that 'alternative', following on from the independent explosion of the 80s. A good source of comics that were a little different to the mainstream, super-hero slugfests, as the early-to-mid 90s medium was getting mired in a glut of tenth-rate, mindless drek. Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol and Invisibles, Hellblazer, Sandman and Sandman Mystery Theatre, Transmetropolitan, Shade the Changing Man. So much great stuff.

Make sure you add 1 to your year’s total so far, as you’re lagging behind a bit. More effort, please.

In the late 80s, when he was at DC, that would've been interesting to see as an extension of the style he used and work he did on the Hawk and Dove mini-series. Tonally, from your post, I suspect you think it would've been nightmare fuel, but, it might possibly actually have worked in those early days.

Source of one of Kirby's most bizarre creations; Paranex, The Fighting Fetus.

His first few issues of New Mutants are actually quite nice, and I can understand why I thought, in those early days, that he was a new, young artist with great potential, and an original and interesting style. I can still see that. But, very quickly, his artwork became a lot more basic, increasingly disproportioned, and reliant on blatant swipes, from the middle-to-end of that run. You might suspect that this short cutting and sloppiness was due to deadline pressures, but it would be stressful to go from unknown status to rising star, more or less overnight at his age.

His earliest work showed considerable promise. Hawk and Dove, the first few issues of New Mutants. When I look back at those, I can still see the potential.

The Twelve, and The Twelve :Spearhead one-shot prequel Being a big JSA fan, like our feline friend here, I wanted to do something similar, but without a direct crossover, and so I decided to read a Marvel equivalent. The story is often referred to as J Michael Straczynski’s attempt at doing Watchmen, but I think that’s a bit too critical, as to me it reads simply as a very good JSA-type book, featuring extremely obscure, Z-list Timely characters, rather than the JSA’s more A-list level, DC Golden Agers. An interesting range of characters, personalities, of problems adjusting when thrown into the modern age, with a murder mystery on top. Good stuff. 2023 total = 109

It's missing the option "Are you a nerd?" Likely because that would break the system.

Never seen it.

I have OCD. Always stressful with comics.

Great books. Also, I was only aware of canine distemper, and didn't know it applied to felines as well. A very educational post, in addition to some quality Golden Age.

Total chaos and disorganisation.

We agreed, that to make the topic more challenging, only domestic, household-type Felidae would be allowed.