Ken Aldred

Powerman 5000 did a song called 'The Son of X-51', which I'd considered posting for this character, but it's a fairly weak track. So, I didn't.

I remember the story very well. Disturbed me a bit when I turned the page and saw that image in my newsstand copy, back in the 70s. That’s why I recalled it so easily. Very powerful artwork by Ramona Fradon there.

British understatement.

Yup. Much better this week.

House of Mystery 230 ? The Doomsday Yarn

I forgot that there's a coffee shop opened in town, which has some shelves of new comics at the front. The barista seems quite knowledgable about comics, and has a friendly attitude.

It is quite over-the-top. I’m not surprised, especially because it’s breaking the fourth wall and staring straight at you.

I suspected you might say that. I try to avoid videos with poor audio quality.

Nothing new opened here since 2004. The two are still in business but, as said, lots of diversification into action figures and gaming, and no back issue stock any more, apart from discounted, recent titles being cleared out.

I've changed it. A pity, because it was a HD-quality lyric video.

The Doctor's Tattooine adventure. Not a single original idea. Seen it all before. A lead with zero charisma and boring to watch.

It's a rare British variant with a pre-decimal 'Tap' stamp, near Robin's head !

The days when a comic shop employee would believe they were doing you a service by offering you multiple bagged copies of X-Force 1 so you didn’t miss out on the complete set of all the trading cards, plus one extra on the pile to open and read. I settled for one copy. Bad enough to make me avoid buying Youngblood 1, and so a happy ending of sorts, I suppose.

Complex and expensive crossovers are a major problem. Not just the cost, but the organisational factor of reading many different titles in the correct order to create a seamless continuity rather than confuse the storyline and possibly encounter spoilers, and, often expecting the reader to buy many issues with minute-to-zero impact on the main narrative. DC’s Forever Evil is a good, relatively recent example of this type of marketing overkill, especially its Villains Month.

Beezer, as in the comic, is another word I’ve never heard used. Apparently, thanks to Google, it used to mean ‘Excellent’. Perhaps it’s something spoken by the public school set, and so, as lowborn, proletarian, 21st Century scum, I would naturally be oblivious to its existence. Different circles.

Blimey! You’ve got to be ‘avin’ a larf !

I hope that's an appropriate emoticon in the previous post. I can empathise.

The only thing I could come up with was BBC iPlayer, but I don't think that's available in the US, sadly.

Also, dyspraxia is a common symptom of high-functioning autism / Asperger's Syndrome. I'm extremely clumsy. Introducing a character with these traits is also becoming a bit predictable and clichéd, either explicitly, or, as in this episode, stealthily.