Ken Aldred

Because they’re too powerful, few characters can match and have a chance of beating them, except Squirrel Girl, and stories involving them would quickly become boring as there is little tension or a sense of challenge, and a comic series wouldn’t have much of a chance of lasting very long. Overwhelming odds is one thing, impossible odds another. Where’s the thrill in stories where the protagonist can effortlessly defeat practically anything that’s thrown at them? The fight needs to be more grounded, feasible and / or relatable. This is why The Spectre works best when moderately powered rather than a cosmic force of nature where nothing is a real challenge to him, where he’s unstoppable, and similarly Doctor Fate at his peak. Both characters at times have been so overpowered that in JSA stories they’ve been limited as deus ex machina solutions rather than participants in the initial struggles. Sure, in the Fleisher / Ostrander stories The Spectre was very powerful, but not on the level of the abstract cosmic entities the OP is talking about, such as The Living Tribunal.

He was at the London LSCC convention in 2016, taking commissions for painted art just like those. A now sadly-neglected opportunity.

His Bronze Age inking was quite smooth, but much, much heavier in the second run of Avengers he did with Buscema in the Copper Age. Quite noticeable.

Tragic. One of my all-time favourite inkers, and my favourite over Neal Adams' pencils. Many prefer Giordano in that respect, but I loved Palmer's Bronze Age Avengers and X-Men work. Also, Tomb of Dracula with Gene Colan, and, well, he never failed to add synergistically to whatever pencil art he embellished. I was thinking again about how few of my Bronze Age icons are left now, focusing too much on writers and pencil artists, forgetting Palmer. A bad oversight, I'll admit.

Not on cinematography, apart from maybe the concert sequences, but it performs brilliantly in most aspects, which is impressive enough for a film with so much improvisation.

Pretty much why This is Spinal Tap is a near-flawless classic.

Ross was supposed to be rebooting Fantastic Four a few years ago, but that fell through. His version of The Thing there is vastly superior to Miller’s.

I expect a Goth bidding war.

90s influenced. Rob Liefeld pouches and bandoliers, and yes, no feet, cunningly hidden in water.

I got it. Sure Jimmers did too if he’s reading.

Ah yes, the snowstorm cover. A little-known influence on Alpha Flight 6.

The Endless don’t technically have a humanoid appearance, as seen when Morpheus interacts with Martian Manhunter in the comic book, where his appearance is very different and alien. Just something that the dominant sentient species of a world can relate to, same idea as with Galactus. Did Morpheus also look different in the Aboriginal sequence in the comic? Can’t remember. Point is, their default appearance isn’t set in stone as pasty Goths.

Great book, but I noticed you’ve Photoshopped the WTF out of the cover.

Channels can sound needy and desperate. Don’t recall ever doing that on a single YouTube video or song.

Sure I remember a large booth at the LSCC London conventions that sold imported American sweets, sorry, candy.

Sensible convention food to provide an energy boost if you're running out of steam after hours of hectic box diving and still have plenty to do. Quinoa would be less effective.

Interesting. Despite my comparison being pure guesstimating, I wasn’t that far out.

I agree. I don't follow the market trends anymore, but it could be possible for there to be similarity between a 9.8 Avengers 4 and a 0.5 Captain America Comics 1. I don't want to check up on the specifics of this as I'm certain the prices would shock me.

Boiler room mentality, similar to the frantic activity here a few years ago at the time of comics such as The Sixth Gun, over in the Moderns section. Which itself didn’t go too well in the end.

Wish I’d thought of that one.

When I started collecting comics it was very difficult to find information about back issues and hot new comics. The advantage compared to today was that at least I was protected from the kinds of hype and misinformation which now get spread by many of these supposed experts and investment geniuses. I imagine there's much more risk of fledgling collectors getting third degree burns as a result of buying in to it, getting quickly disillusioned and leaving for good. Unless, of course, there are those in the new generation who can match, or exceed, our resilience and commitment.

Byrne’s version was great. A much more refined look taken from that early period when it was more dinosaur hide than rocky plates…

Yup. One reason why I like the splash page from FF 6 that I posted.

One of the stock responses is ‘we ship like this all over the world and have had no problems or complaints’. So, often not worth further conflict, especially on a low cost item. Simpler not to repeat the transaction and find someone else.

I read it when it first appeared. I’ll stand by my impression that it was good but overrated. I remember going in a comic shop barely an hour after it had opened and the shelves had been stripped of the first issue. Luckily another store had one put away for me. Everyone acted as if it was god’s gift to comics, but it really wasn’t quite that good, and the speculation and dealer hoarding of it was at ridiculous levels, even for the early 90s. Thankfully, by 94 it had all crashed hard in that respect and was affordable; £3 rather than its manipulated peak of £100.