Firespitter

There can be only one!!!! -T

http://screenrant.com/luke-cage-marvel-netflix-politics-black-lives-matter/ Will Luke Cage Be Marvels Most Political Show Yet? Unless the sequence depicted in these behind-the-scenes shots doesn’t actually make the final cut of the series, Luke Cage already is the most politically-charged production yet to be associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Ah! that's terrible attempt! But I bet the pic on ebay was tiny or hazy to help conceal the bad job. A very old graphic art trick. I did it on a similar transfer on a fake book box. You probably have all the materials do it sitting in your house right this very moment! I hope you negged the crud out of that scammer.

Hey! Cut that out! The last thing we need around here is people with level heads making sense!!!!! -Terry

IMO, terrible show. I'll be surprised if it lasts the season. He's the devil. This could have been entertaining if they made him a foil for humanity (tempting them and using his wiles to trick them into giving up their free will) but the smug Sherlock Holmes bit is tiresome and doesn't really make sense the way they lay it out. This could have been good if they made it like Bedazzled, where each episode he tries to lure/trick some down-on-their-luck schmoe into signing over their free will to him (give him a midget sidekick named Tattoo that's really a demon) and he gets thwarted or stumped by someone's selflessness or good will. All the while he goads people into doing "bad" stuff, which turns around bites him in the butt later in the episode. Make the devil a bit of a bumbler, or not. Could have been good shtick. These formula cop shows have run their course and with his powers of speed/strength/invulnerability/compulsion, each episode should only be 5 minutes long. Walk around asking anyone "Did you do it? If not, do you know who did?" They are compelled to tell him the truth, aaaand roll credits. Too many other good shows to waste a single grey cell on this one. -T

I agree. Excellent photos and documentation of Kraven and his travels. I'm sharing them with office folk. If Kraven is doing a tour of the great white north, I don't mind getting bumped down on the list. I've got a few office people excited about Kraven's visit to Washington D.C. So I'm farming out Ideas for places for him to visit. But I won't feel bad if you push me down the list for convenience sake or letting in some other overlooked member. -Terry

Booo!!! Take that negativity elsewhere. This looks good. And his costume seems to be getting a little better. (though I miss the all-black with the eyeless mask). -T

That's not a bad idea. If we did a Travels of Kraven charity drive for Jimmers we could probably get a pretty decent quantity of funds to help him out with medical bills. If nothing else, maybe we could get enough to buy him an AF15 (CGC 0.5) and once acquired; Tell him that the sooner he gets better the sooner he'll have it. (I know that motivate me to get better fast!)

I think it's a good idea to let Kraven see what prey awaits in the wild untamed expanses of the north. Of course if he goes all the way to Canada, I BETTER see at least one picture of him at a Tim Horton's. Or this could become an international incident. And I'm just spitballing here, but talking about how Kraven has become a positive thing. You know you could actually turn the "Travels of Kraven" into a real beneficial thing if we set up a donation system. Pictures of Kraven set-up on a website made to accept donations which could then go to some worth cause (breast cancer, st. Jude, comic-book-aholics). People could "sponser" Kraven to go to different cities in the US. The site could accept donations for the entertaining photos and stories explaining his oddball interactions with local monuments or collector statues. Even if it was a "each member on the list promises $X upon receipt of Kraven." in about a year, I bet there would conservatively be a thousand dollars that could be put to a good cause. It could even be a kickstarter. People have put money forth for crazier stuff. And any charity would love to have the money. The "Travels of Kraven" have been entertaining at times. Not just the photos, but the stories that go along with them. And if I knew nothing else about it, but saw a "If you are interested in seeing further adventures of Kraven, Click here to donate a paypal $1. It's tax deductible and goes to charity", I'd hit it without even thinking twice about it. Kraven could become a force for good that would give Spiderman a pause. -Terry

I'd like to be added to the list if Kraven hasn't had the Washington D.C. or Baltimore, MD "experience". Have him posing with my action figures/minis as well as the ideas I have for posing him shooting craps with some crack-heads downtown. Maybe catch a candid moment, drinking with politicians and game-hunting/NRA lobbyists, or lying unconscious in bed with a dead pro. -T

I got some comics at Books-A-Million today. I know you may find it sad that I am so happy about dollar comics. But out of the 70+ comics I bought this week, I'm the most joyful about these. I went there to get the Hellboy Winter Special Variant cover for my collection and picked up the others. The bottom row were all $1 comics and the top row were $1-$2 off cover (and I did NOT have to get a membership! they were just on sale!). I spent a hair under $20 for all of these (+ a rat queens #11) with tax. The ones labeled 50% off still came up $1. I think the Batman/TMNT #1, Rocketeer at War #1, Barb Wire #1, Rick & Morty #1 and Kanan #1 are all Fried Pie or at least BAM exclusive variants covers. This week, I also got an Iron man #9 (robot hulk) in Fine/VF condition for under $20 to replace my GD copy. And I was happy about that. But the BAM variants for a dollar had me skipping out of the store like a teenager. -T

Wonderful update! This really hit the spot. I'd been cravin' some Kraven. -T

How much did it weigh? Would it have fit in the $6.99 Flat-Rate Envelope? It weighed a hair over a pound. It was a GN in a comic box (1" thick?) It would not fit with the comic book box. It was about the size of a slab. Just thicker. But I didn't want to pull it out of the box and repackage it. I wanted to be done with the not-part-of-my-job-description-task-my-boss-likes-to-give-me. I wanted it boxed because if it got damaged in shipping, I'd have no way of replacing the book. And I'd have been on the hook for the value. Other options are academic now. -Terry

I've had it with the US Postal Service. I had to ship a book out for my boss a week ago (Maryland to California). It's the size of a small GN, so I used one of my comic book shippers to send it. The postal clerk asked if I wanted to send it parcel or priority. I asked "What about first class?" They said "That's not available." You have two choices; Parcel for $8.90 or Priority 3-day for $9.00" I paid for the priority. But that was THE STRAW. I've had it. I'm done shipping anything through the postal service. I don't sell my comics anyhow so it's not like it's affecting my livelihood. But if I trade or RAK, they are going through FedEx. If I'm paying fed-ex prices, I might as well get Fed Ex level of service. -Terry

This reminds me a bit of REAPER. A kid whose parents sell his soul to the devil; works at a home improvement warehouse, and is forced to moonlight as a bountyhunter of escaped souls of hell. And he has a couple of goofy sidekicks that are helpful only in a comedic sense. It was a great show. With this show coming up, I finally got to work on my storage book-safe for holding miniatures on my favorite board game (Mansions of Madness). The book box is quite a bit smaller than the original (I based mine on the Army of Darkness version, for which it bears a passing resemblance.) And it would make a great Halloween prop for a costume. I even could make a nice Ash hand out of one of my armor gauntlets (I don't have Bruce's awesome hair and jawline to pull off a costume like that, though.) I would just need to make-up an S-Mart smock and a name tag. I even have a toy shotgun.

It's the same contradictions that exist in the comic books. I'm sure the movie creators (or someone else involved in the production) notated the fact that Antman jumps up on a lot of people and stuff that wouldn't have supported a 180 lb. man. Just realize that this is Earth (no sub number) and the movies are Earth-199999. Our physics don't make sense there, but they make comic book sense. -Terry

These 5 minute vignettes are not appealing to me. I think the Young Justice, Batman the Animated series, Batman Beyond, ad JLA are a tough act to follow. And these are too short to even get into. Like following up a 7 course meal with horsed ovaries. -Terry

We are witnessing the birth of the Feige-averse. -T

Some of us are a bit OC(D), and very interested in the value tracking of the superhero movie trends week to week. In my mind, where people spend their money is more telling than some hipster who owns a ton of slabs but never read a comic book giving us his double-entendre/tongue in cheek/"expert" opinions on the quality of a movie they just saw. Bosco deserves a big thumbs up for going through the effort of doing a lot of work setting up the tracking and keeping current on it. It is a dollars to donuts view of how Antman, despite arguments that the opening weekend was poor compared to prognosticators, has made up for it over time. A real tortoise sans hare story. Maybe when it pulls out of theatres or it has hit foreign theatres, we can let it go then, when it has proven itself to be a respectable, yet slow moving money maker. And I find the graphs and spreadsheets are just as entertaining as any meme or animated gif I've seen on here. -Terry

Has anyone noticed the "warm-up" drawings Roc has been posting recently? He's really crushing it. https://twitter.com/JohnnyRocwell/with_replies I might have to pick-up a couple of his DC sketches for my friend. Has anyone heard what project(s) he's going to be working on in the future? because whatever it is/they are, It's going on my pull list. I wish he could get back on Rat Queens. Wiebe+Roc = success. -Terry

HA! Reminds me back in the 1990's, working for an internet company where all of us as employees had stock options. At one point (before the internet stocks all crashed in 2000 or so) the company stock had some sharp "bump" drop-offs and the CEO was sending out company emails telling everyone not to worry about it. It was just the stock market making some corrections. He told everyone to hold in there, and that this was a great opportunity to get more of the company stock at a lower price in addition to the freebie options. Turns out the CEO was the one selling off large chunks of his own options in the hundreds of thousand sums, and that was what was making the stock value drop in large bumps!! The total crash happened maybe a year or two later, but by that time, that guy was living on an island he owned in south America somewhere. Ah, good times! -Terry

I think the sequel talk is just grand standing and puffery. Or at most, it is Fox's way of saying "you're not getting FF back, Marvel. I don't care if I have to give my 10 year old son a flip-cam and have him film the sequel in my back yard with the family dog and stuffed animals as the actors. We're going to keep cranking out crapfests, if nothing else to rub salt in the wound." <- All evidence points to this latest movie is testimony of that exact intent. "We're Fox, and we can take horrible actors, and no plot combined with elements from Fast and the Furious and Dr. Who, and call it Fantastic Four, and watch Marvel marbles over it." Fox can't seriously think that they can build a good sequel off of this tar-pit of a foundation/origin movie. And if you are planning on doing ANOTHER reboot in 7-9 years, you will have completely lost any viewer confidence at that point. No one will go to another FF reboot. And no one will go to a succession staring these actors and/or this level of (mis)direction. I think Fox's announcement of a sequel is them stating their intent to hold on to the FF franchise completely out of spite. They may not throw any more money at the FF, but they will not let it go from their cold untalented uncreative dead hands either, unless Marvel is willing to pony up insane amounts of money (and why would they?). Fox will simply ride-out the contract with complete abandon to spite Marvel and their repeated successes. It will be their way of giving Marvel the finger for past transgressions (real or imagined). -Terry

It's this sort of consideration and selflessness that makes me really love these boards. You're my superhero, October! -Terry

Did this degrade into a "Comics I want/Comics I have acquired" thread? Because a lot of those comics don't feel like "Holy Grails". In fact a few, I think Comics To Astonish (one of my LCS) has on their display wall. If there's a comic I want but don't have, it's most likely because I can't afford it. Not that I have to go on a soul reaping pilgrimage or scour several hundred comic book shows to find it. Now that I think about it; I have been looking for another Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #1 variant cover (1/1000). It's been over a year since one popped-up on ebay. So, I sort of feel like King Pellinore trying to hunt to the questing beast. In fact - more copies of the "ultra rare" The Fury virgin cover (150 copies?) have come and gone on ebay in the past year. But I already have 5 copies off Wild Hunt 1B, so even this I don't really feel is a Holy Grail. -Terry

Feel better?