Ken Aldred

Brave and Bold 101

I totally agree. That also includes the individuals out there who treat others’ well-being with total contempt. The level of anger, frustration and hostility I encountered was far beyond just rude. Same observation with the two very thoughtful people who coughed all over me in the same store earlier today, despite being fully aware by now of the possible consequences of that behaviour. I really despair.

On Monday morning I left the supermarket with my resupplies and was waiting for a taxi to arrive. Just as I was about to go over to get in, a motorcyclist mounted the pavement directly in front of me without slowing down, in order then to slam his brakes on and park at the store's cycle racks, missing me by a very, very small margin. Because I'm ordinarily a bit disconnected from what's going on around me due to autism and was focused on the taxi, I was completely unaware of his approach and could easily have moved an inch or two straight into his path and been mowed down. He just had an angry, 'screw-you' sort of look on his face and walked off. Sometimes animals can be far worse risks than viruses, although I suspect the latter has a higher IQ in this case. There's still the freak accident, Final Destination Effect in play during these difficult times.

Nicely spotted comic book connection there. I don’t mind Sal’s artwork at all. For me he’s associated with some very good Spider-Man stories during the 80s / 90s period, especially J M DeMatteis’ psychodramas.

There’s also the shift towards waiting for the digital trade, as I do, where you can quickly buy a run to read for a fraction of the price of the physical copies from an LCS. Still the diehards and speculators to account for.

By this stage, the symptoms, avoidance strategies and hygiene tips have been discussed so many times that such information is starting to get ingrained in memory and it’s not necessary to watch repetitive TV bulletins or read online articles for more than ten minutes or so a day. I simply monitor new restrictions, rationing, and assistance offered to vulnerable groups. Doesn’t take long. We understand the nature of the abyss, no need to keep obsessively, morbidly staring into it on a screen all day once you’re aware of the practicalities.

Yup. She was in a few Legion stories.

She was inducted into the Legion of Super-Heroes as Insect Queen later.

+1 For recent material, I'd recommend the Waid / Samnee run as well.

I'll second that. I collected 1 to 50 as well. Very consistently readable REH adaptations by Roy Thomas, great art from John Buscema, Neal Adams, Alfredo Alcala, Tony DeZuniga, Frank Brunner and a few others. Dark Horse's Conan is another good series to consider.

Very true. As in the music thread over in the Water Cooler, and one song I posted there with the title, 'Language is a Virus'. That is, online and TV articles provide easy access to conflicting, incendiary or inaccurate information which is widely disseminated in no time at all, a verbally-transmitted infection leading to so much extreme paranoia.

There might be a few more boardies joining the '1000 books in 2020' thread. Now more feasible. Don't overdo it though...

With the BBC there’s really no need to keep watching as it’s basically a series of repeating news bulletins, over and over again through the day. Not difficult to quickly get the gist of any developments and limit the strain.

I get overloaded with normal social situations, have OCD and spatial / distancing issues, even without the current pandemic complications. Most of my psychiatric support contacts recognise that extreme rumination about one or other factors that have disturbed me, a common trait in autism, makes the depressive effect spiral out of control, and after a phone chat, to try and find something to take my mind off the stressor, in my case, read some comics, play a non-violent video game, listen to some relaxing music (no Slipknot in these circumstances). And, I often visit or post on the boards as another more interactive, social form of distraction. So, that’s a constructive reason for staying on here in these worrying times.

It wasn’t bad at all here in my area of northern England until this Monday. I usually go to the supermarket when it opens at 7am, and for the first time there was obvious panicking and the expected items stripped from shelves. Still doable for about an hour with regard to social avoidance, but at around 8am it became a little bit too brutal to remain. Still possible to do my usual shop within the limited timeframe, albeit with a bit of flexibility around some products, but there was little sense being shown by the herd. For example, long-life milk six-packs gone, but individual cartons available nearby that work out over £1 cheaper for 6. Being autistic, I find the consistent calm and emptiness of the store ordinarily doable at this time of day, but it’s going to be a very difficult, somewhat feral and unpredictable excursion to need to undertake as is throughout the next few weeks. Nice to see you back.

Indie masterpiece Jimmy Corrigan, and... Jim Corrigan, The Spectre

Two Nightcrawlers as well, one hyphenated. Both at Marvel, though.

Ultraman - Japanese manga and DC Crime Syndicate Enchantress - Marvel and DC

Yup. He could stash industrial level quantities of roll in the Batcave, and be capable of delivering one or two to each inhabitant of Gotham. In fact, the cave is so large he could most likely supply the whole of Bludhaven as well.

No need to be so smug about his good fortune, though.

Yup. My favourite is Frank Robbins. A bit manic-looking.

Not too sure about the fat shaming of ‘Jumbo John Verpoorten’.

IIRC, there are Golden Age pedigrees with OW or worse typical page quality, CR-OW, such as the Crippen books, rather than the White page freshness of the Edgar Church copies.

A great, very considerate idea.

I wonder how many boardies phoned in their vote to end Jason Todd?