JayT

There's also a substantially (uncut) longer version that was sold initially that's even better IMHO.

Agree with almost all of that, excluding I thought Enterprise got better. Even if not agreeing in show order, very much agree with most of the points. Voyager very much so has a great fundamental concept, especially if one is a fan that's really focused on the discover/exploration angle of Trek and your thoughts on DS9 being much more serial are valid - definitely a more of a practice in longform and developing storytelling.

100% agree, TV show was better than any Terminator movie they've put out this century! Jay Thought the show was great too.

hands down my favorite Marvel property. Love it.

Abrams's exact comment was that "Kylo Ren is not a Sith. He works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force." That doesn't explicitly say Snoke isn't a Sith. Either way he said this about a year after he told everyone that Benedict Cumberbatch wasn't Khan, so I can't tell anymore if he means what he says during the promotion of an upcoming film. Like I said, it's not just Abrams. The story group, specifically the creative executive of the Lucasfilm Story Group, has specifically stated neither Snoke or Kylo are Sith nor were there any in Episode 7 when asked after the movie was already out. The Khan thing had some actual content to the movie. In comparison, who cares if they ot Sith are not (especially after the film has been released)? It's a detail not worth lying about/covering up, know what I mean? It's not worth being a secret.

But the Sith such as Kylo or Snoke use the force, too, so huh? Neither Snoke or Kylo are Sith, tho both are force users so the thought still applies. I heard Abrams say that, but I never heard him explain it. The goals and usage of the force by Kylo seems identical to those of the Sith, so how is he not one? It's possible he only meant that he's not a Sith yet because he hasn't completed his training. Much in the same way that Yoda wasn't prepared to call Luke a Jedi as a way to urge him to complete his training before he faced Vader. It's not just Abrams it's also the Star Was story group (who oversee canon throughout the properties, including, especiall, the films) and in-canon novelizations. I know what you are saying if you are (or anyone is - and I'm not saying you are) a casual Star Wars fan but there have been many darkside users who aren't Sith and I feel people often feel like they are synonyms. For instance the inquisitors are Darkside users trained by Palpatine and/or Vader but are not Sith or ever would be. Who knows what the future holds but at this point we are explicitly told Kylo's master is not a Sith, but is a force user who has had other (at least one) apprentices. While Kylo certainly has some attachment to his grandfather it doesn't mean he is a Sith. Will something happen to Snoke, and Kylo follow his grandfather's path? Hell, maybe he views the Sith as weak, considering their defeat to the Jedi, we don't really know. What we currently know is that we've been told specifically both are darkside users, one a master, but are not part of the Sith. Sith are just one group of darkside users, they don't have a monopoly on the dark side just like Jedi don't the light.

But the Sith such as Kylo or Snoke use the force, too, so huh? Neither Snoke or Kylo are Sith, tho both are force users so the thought still applies. I'm optimistic about Thor Ragnarok being different.

No. Sith can be fallen Jedi, but not all Sith have to be Jedi. Jedi is not an umbrella term for people who have use of the Force, merley one path some have taken. For instance, neither Palpatine of Darth Maul were ever Jedi. For instance, it is specifically stated the Snoke isn't either, nor is Kylo at this point.

Do you expect war books to be better taken care of by guys in the military, or are they usually utterly destroyed from being read so much? Just curious on what you've seen. Not necessarily... I just like the synchronicity of it. If anything, I think the general consensus is that MJ books would be in worse condition than their stateside counterparts, since military folks are so itinerant. Speaking for myself, as a military kid, we moved ten times by the time I graduated high school. That can be rough on a comic collection. I think, as said, anytime someone moves a lot, especially overseas, the chances of damage are heightened but I'd suggest a couple things regarding their daily use and function. One, the vast majority of overseas servicemen, certainly before the Gulf War, were living in conditions just as good or better than statewide counterparts. I spent my entire life as a kid overseas as a military brat in several countries and are accommodations dwarfed what we'd ever see stateside. Obviously there are exceptions based on station but for the most part, we were living large in Italy, Germany, Japan etc even on enlisted pay in a single income family. 2nd, as it applies to DC and Marvel, and getting back to military brats, I wouldn't underestimate how many of these comics were bought by kids of serviceman and not just the servicemen themselves. These kids, like me, were very aware of protecting comics, had long boxes, boards and bags, and small (talking like hotel lobby stuff) comic convention hosted for Americans were not unusual. As I've said in previous posts about Mark Jeweler inserts and living overseas as a comic reader, all the kids I hung out with would regularly tear the inserts out before they bagged/boarded their comics. It could have been and probably was isolated but I vividly recall stacks of comics being gone thru and inserts torn out during this process. Also, when overseas or living on a U.S. base, young servicemen typically have, relative to their community, extra spending cash from not having to pay for basic food or living conditions. It's why the type of businesses around large bases tend to be similar and why young servicemen often have cars they probably shouldn't have if being more financially responsible - so I often saw young servicemen (who were older than me) taking great care of their comics, buying protective supplies etc. And remember, when moving these guys don't pay for it and get professional shippers to pack their stuff. They have endless supplies and money (not endless but rarely do they go above what they are allotted in weight to ship) to protect items. Just a fyi even tho I definitely acknowledge that in practice those that I find tend to average in less condition than their non MJ counterparts but conditions definitely exist where HG copies can be around.

Crossed a billion. That's a big number to start off the spinoff/anthology/"star wars story" films. They set the Box office record in 2016 before Dr. Strange or Rogue One even came out. They are okay on the filmmaking end.

I already said DS9's In the Pale Moonlight was I think by far the best Trek episode (and an xtra hat tip to the fun Trials and Tribble-ations) but if talking Next Generation I guess obvious choices like Inner Light, Chain of Command, and I always had a fondness for Clues, Lower Decks, and Survivors. There are a number of good ones when the show gets going. Regarding Villains, I always liked Moriarty.

Worf got so much better in DS9 IMHO.

I think later iterations would be characters like Seven of Nine in Voyager, T'Pol in Enterprise, and Sisko's role as emmisary, or Garak exile living among human, or stories like Bashir's origins in DS9. Not to mention Odo whose entire story is somewhat based on what he learns from Humanity.

I've had a few and never seen the notation of the 1st appearance. Also, I agree with Gatsby regarding Dr. Mirage. If that property ever hits it's Shadowman #5 (new VALIANT) specifically the Grampa variant that's most worth having. That said, fond memories of seeing that older VH1 cover on hot lists back in the 90s, always liked the cover.

I'm kind of optimistic about this, and in terms of excitement level of my nieces, it's unusually high considering none of them have ever heard of Archie, and from people my age, seems to be getting a lot of old Gossip Girl fans excited.

I think the most boring parts of DS9 for me, and admittedly this is a rather big element, was Bajor. I just didn't give a damn and it could have been any planet, any people, and made no difference to me. Because of this (for me) the Dominion War kind of pushes that aside, and as you say, becomes awesome. I will say this tho, the earlier seasons develop the characters that I actually care about that are in play during the Dominion War and I do think the relationships on DS9 add tension to the later seasons. Miles and Bashir, Bashir and Garak, everyone and Dax etc etc. I have a couple of big picture issues with DS9 but I file them under its a tv show. For instance I never understood how an installation so important, even before war, was so relatively undefended. I understand Star Fleet isn't a traditional military but in all intents and purposes it serves as one. It's basicialy potentially the most important Star Fleet location outside of earth due to the wormhole. The idea that it had basically no ships at its disposal and later only had one assigned to it (even tho it kicked ) was somewhat odd to me, especially since I lived most of my life abroad on military installations. That other powers could muster entire fleets while protecting other interests to DS9 and Star Fleet could not always baffled me. I kind of felt the same about Earth when the Borg attacked them in Next Generation but it hit me even more in DS9. Agree, in later seasons it became a show well worth saving.

I want to add, while I don't care for the original series one of my other fave episodes of DS9 (and thus Trek) revisits the original crew in "Trials and Tribble-ations" which I thought was pretty fantastic. It's so good. Just drops you in, escalates and caps off practically a season's worth of episodes. Sisko just knocks it of the park. SOOO good. Trek in my experience typically starts slow (like the first bit of next Gen is rough IMHO) and DS9's best starts churning a couple of seasons in. I remember when DS9 (and the other Treks) hit Netflix a few years back, was so excited to finally sit down and revisit DS9. It was always my favorite but where I lived it simply wasn't in syndication/rotation like the other versions were.

Hands down DS9 to me. Easily the best written, best acted, and best ensemble cast IMHO. I also think the best Trek episode ever is from DS9, In The Pale Moonlight. It's one of my favorite shows ever even though I feel the ending was a huge disservice. With any shows with this many episodes there are going to be lows but by in large I loved it. I'm not old enough to care about the original series, it has not aged well, and while maybe for its day it was as good as contemporaries were in terms of acting, but I think minus a couple of exceptions the acting is awful. I will say that the films are vastly better than the episodes too, though in saying that I don't love them either. they are just watchable. That said, I don't get what people see in Wrath of Khan minus that I find it hilarious in small bits where some I guess find it great, serious, and complex. I view the original series in the way I view something like Batman '66, which I understand holds a special place in people's heart, mostly perhaps due to a lack of options, but that show is unwatchable to me. Context needs to be given to older material but it does not effect what I actually like sitting down and watching. I like Next Generation well enough. I think this had an advantage of being on all the time during a time where still, there wasn't a whole lot out there if you were into SF, and then had enough episodes where they could run these almost constantly. Stewart is such a steady actor he makes everything at least almost watchable in the way Shatner does not for me. I also think it had both pronounced highs and lows, and a lot of the stuff with Wesley Crusher was awful. Still, all in all, a show that was pretty damn good, loved the cast, and had very high highs. It's very easy for me to see why people may love this iteration and I, for the most part, do too. I think Next Gen nails the finish in a way the others do not. Voyager just never interested me. There's certain elements that just fundamentally I railed against. One being I really disliked the Maquis from DS9. Don't get me wrong, I liked some of the episodes that revolved around them just because the cast of DS9 was so strong and it was so well written but they weren't my favorites and the dynamic of the mix was something that didn't appeal to me. I would have pushed them out of a hatch. I think the characters are weaker, I don't think it gets better, even though many friends of mine who cover SF point to many episodes in Voyager being among the strongest in Trek. I know Seven of Nine got a huge push later and seemed to be on a ton of magazines at the time because Jeri Ryan had it going on but it just never clicked with me. Enterprise has one of the worst intro songs ever. For a long time I took my first impression of the series and disliked it quite strongly but not too long ago I binged it, and I have to say this thing starts moving in its second season. As an aside, good lord, Jolene Blaylock is ridiculously good looking. Trek has had a number of attractive women in their shows but Blaylock oozes sexuality in this role in a way that contrasts with her role as a Vulcan. Again, by the time it ended, I felt like the finale was a disservice to the turn around the show made in quality, and by then, I was wanting more. I like Bakula a lot but I have to admit his casting was a but of a turnoff to me. I loved Quantum Leap to me, but he still looked exactly like the Quantum Leap guy and his performance didn't disassociate that from me. This new Trek they are working on. I was very excited for, but then it was announced as a prequel (), and lost Fuller as a showrunner (who is doing American Gods now). Lots of delays on this one and on an untested platform. So in short: DS9 one of the best SF shows ever for me and clearly the best Trek Next Gen a quality show that merits anyone's love for it. Enterprise gets better but could have lived without. Voyager I just don't get. Original series: pretty awful.

350 would be a profit but I don't think they would be thrilled at all. If the movie cost 130 million to make, remember that the theaters (after everything is said in done) get roughly 40% of the box office (even more overseas - tho that might not be a big chuck because it's possible it gets no China release, ala Deadpool). So it would take over 200 million to break even before advertising. Now, while we often talk about how cheap (relatively) Deadpool was to make, the advertising campaign if among the best ever. It would not be inconceivable for Wolverine to have close to $40-60 million in marketing. While a $50ish million profit sounds really great in almost any other metric that would make it WORSE than the last Wolverine movie which probably cleared 100 million and was deemed a failure. As an aside Antman cost the same amount to make (even after the huge delays) and made over $500 million. I think it would be thought of as a significant disappointment if it made $350 million, and at the very least would be the end of rated R movies featuring triple A characters not called Deadpool.

I have fond memories of Wizard (the actual magazine, I don't care about cons) as its height aligns with my own childhood, comics were most exciting to me when Wizard was a force and was an instant buy for me almost above any comic when it was released. It's weird that a magazine that can be, I think, properly described as comics internet pre-net was so bad at transitioning to the .com/digital era - looking back they seemed to have the right stuff for it, even (something I didn't enjoy) jumping into celebrity/film news which is more fruitful online. I think perhaps the mail section lived too long, and didn't age with its readers, and the same could be said with a bunch of section but in earlier iterations the hot comics/top 10 was gold to me, even though I was not and had not intention of selling comics - it was just fun. I suspect maybe less so for people that were already old at this time. There was a of fluff for sure but every now and then you'd get a killer piece, be it a indie highlight or something like an article I always remember about BIll Mantolo, which was heartbreaking and excellent. I'm not into Love and Rockets but also recall a real nice piece on it as well. As a business, unless he made an unrelated misstep Shamus had to come off big. Think about how much money the big indie comic creators of the early 90s made per issue (the Image founders etc - I think that for some given today's environment it's hard for people who weren't around to wrap their head around just how much money these guys were pocketing - legit getting rich in a short period of time) and now think about how much a magazine, at that price point, which had to have circulation like the top comics had to make. He paid for a cover just like comic creators/companies did, filled it up with a mostly unchanging price guide and fluff pieces (as much as I liked the top 10, someone could write that in an hour if they had to), and had access to everyone people wanted to read about - and unlike a lot of those comic creators that magazine was out almost every month. He was printing money and Wizard was everywhere I ever was overseas. You might not be able to find you favorite U.S. car or lifestyle magazine on a island in the Med, but Wizard was there every month. We often make fun of certain eras of comics and the comics sitting around unwanted in incredible volume (say like X-Force #1). Well, the people who actually made those comics made bank, comics aren't meant to be evergreen, they are periodcials and Wizards was the magazine of those comics. There certainly was a nefarious nature to Wizard as some describe above, they certainly were capable of and did steer the hobby in ways, but I think it's not much different than other magazines telling you what the hot shoe or car is going to be next fall and having them as investors or advertisers, and I'd file it under simply being an entertainment/hobby magazine at the top of its vertical. There are always external forces, advertisers, distributors etc, and unlike sport cards, comics doesn't have that actual on-field production moment of truth that effects value no matter how much you are or not pumped. Brien Taylor and Todd Van Poppel fell of fast . I never really had a problem with Wizard in the early days, the only time I really was like WTF was much later during that Cap#25 thing where I seem to recall (I hope I'm remembering this right, if not, please disregard!) they were loaded up with graded copies really early. Didn't pass the smell test but also, not too different than some here would gladly do too probably. The magazine did not age well tho in the time of digital distribution and not to knock anyone because I seem to recall a lot of the talent saying they weren't being allowed to do the content they thought would succeed, but it was a pretty awful late, but not different than most comic websites in that regard now. They should have use their advantages of branding and income and skipped the website aspect and went write into youtube/video, where during this kind of nerd boom people are doing pretty well. Okay, that went long, sorry. Mort of the Month poster, here.

You can just order it from Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

5 for $32 shipped Paypal already sent - thanks!

Really like the idea behind the Zendaya casting, re: The Fantastic Four, I don't think Michael B. Was an issue at all, the guy has been great in other films, including Creed right after and Chronicle before, which had to be a reason why they looked at him for FF (pairing him back again with Trank). Marvel has a lot of say in this Spidey film, and thus far they've earned the benefit of the doubt IMHO. Very excited for this iteration of Spidey, that appearance in Civil War reminded me why I once liked Spider-Man and used to buy all 3 of his titles at once as top shelf books.

I was really shocked at how much I enjoyed it.

Habitual with Shatner. People have bad days but there are enough stories, video, transcripts, 1st hand accounts, etc where we can conclude probably not that great of a guy to be around. I'm sure he can put on a good face and I'm sure he has plenty of friends but he seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way.