Ken Aldred

Yup. I know what you mean. Being OCD, I would never buy a slab that's been in contact with a potentially dirty carpet. Completely spoils it for me. Seriously, though, couldn't be made much worse.

Fair point. Same as with Bob Kane. The fans know the fuller history and who actually created what, and disregard specious claims. Personally, Thomas created a fictitious metal, and that’s about it. Minor involvement in the evolution of the character.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 1 to 8 (2006 series) Well known for being political, but with certain aspects still relevant today. Actually quite a good, retro, team book story. 2024 total = 210

The start of Geoff Johns’ long, extremely consistent, and classic run.

Great post. A recrimination motivation is only addressing part of the spectrum. Sometimes, the individual might simply have had enough and sees no reason to continue with an appalling quality of life. That's personal experience, as my father had terminal emphysema, looked like an emaciated cancer patient, was housebound, couldn't care for himself, and killed himself in a very horrific way, which still gives me PTSD symptoms to this day. No note, no blaming anyone else, no transferral of responsibility, just abject, unremitting hopelessness. What I'm left with, though, is survivor's guilt, induced blame, that is, you wonder if you could've done far, far more to create a more comfortable, palliative environment, at the very least? In my father's case he didn't want to open up about his thoughts and be obstructed, and he only had a few months left at most, but, the level of ongoing, constant isolation and hopelessness he experienced must've been quite hellish. And, I totally agree, if anyone has that internal miasma to deal with, then reach out and talk about it. It's a cloud that needs to be dispelled not sustained, and I've seen it at its darkest.

I observe a lot of social ignorance in the neurotypical population. I'm not convinced the group's quite that superior. There's certainly far, far more of an innate, comfortable, instinctive ability to socially integrate which we lack to some degree, and that makes a big difference. Like anything, that ability can be interpreted as a grey area; caring and positive, or abusive and destructive. Superior? Hardly. That's flattery.

One mintier. It had to happen, sooner or later.

About ten years since I went there. It seemed to be mainly trade paperbacks and other collected editions.

10.2's are the future.

The small dose analogy is a good one. Quite often our symptoms can be dismissed as phenomena which are observed in neurotypicals as well, but the differentiation occurs when you look at the extreme, overwhelming intensity of the responses to environmental stressors; the unremitting overload, hyper-anxiety and severe burnout which is common in our group. The 'get over it' comment is irritating in the extreme, I agree. Regardless of the nature of a disability, physical or psychiatric - leave guilting out of it, if you wouldn't mind.

I agree with that paradigm, even though it's tragically delusional in this world, opposed by so many without remorse or conscience. Pragmatic nihilism, on my part. But, you try your best, in isolation, despite that.

I once tried ordering an item from Amazon US to be delivered to the UK, which got 'rejected' this way. It was much more expensive here.

Absolutely. I have Asperger's, depression, borderline mood fluctuation, ADD, OCD, trauma-related PTSD, and it should be obvious to others that a mixture of that intensity creates serious problems about remaining on an even keel. Except it's largely invisible, with little external indication, no clearly perceivable physical marker. I had no assistance whatsoever or diagnosis until I was 40 years old, and until then it felt like being trapped in an abyss. Given how much I get hammered down by my spectrum condition, and the very negative ideation induced by it, I can understand the overwhelming despair in a situation like this one. Certainly, at present, it's quite a struggle, and maybe miraculous I've made it through six decades. Mental illness tests resilience, the ability to work through the nihilism and manage to reach and experience another brighter day, and not all of us make it. It's horrendous to be in thrall to that.

I’ve never seen that before. Great cover.

Possibly a bit sedated today, as I completely forgot that he was on Iron Man during the period when he used the Silver Centurion armour, one of my favourite designs, and through into the classic Armor Wars storyline.

So, by my standards, in a country not known for obsession with comics, and paraphrasing what you said in your post, that’s actually quite a good situation. Back in the 70s, in England, I only knew one other person in the area who was just as hyped up as I was about the medium. And, there were many of us around, despite the cult-like, underground disconnection.

Sad news. Really good artist. Followed him on Green Lantern and Milestone’s Icon, through the 90s in particular.

Interesting book. Panini did a lot of British Marvel reprint comics as well.

I got quite a few of them from the Mile High dollar Specials sections, circa 1990.

With that miswrap it's clearly a gift grade.

What's that panel from? Looks like Graham Ingels, EC, but I don't recognise the story or issue. It's bugging me.

There's always a range of tolerance. Some people get more easily overwhelmed and deprived of hope, and there's the risk of a rash, spur-of-the-moment, fatal decision, rather than drawn-out premeditation.

A terrible burden, especially when many of these comics contain great story and art, despite that.

Davis also returned to the title later on, taking over writing as well, and those are good reads.

Good Lord! Choke! EC horror loved that expression. (Although it’s technically a crime comic homage.)