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Topics - TordelBack

#21
Off Topic / Sprogs on YouTube
30 July, 2015, 06:47:00 PM
Bit of advice sought from other caregiver units here.

My eldest lad is 9, and seems to be under continual pressure from his mates to film/appear in YouTube videos. 'Everyone does it', we are told - and indeed several of his friends have unrestricted smartphones. I've put a blanket ban on it (seeing as you can't even have an account until 13, and that's with parental permission).  The boy is playing ball (for now), but he's always loved the Star Wars Lego homemade animations and various Minecraft channels, and I'm starting to feel I'm making him into an outsider. I've tried redirecting his energies into making animations and games in Scratch, but the urge to film his mates falling off skateboards is stronger.

I just see permanent records of childish stupidity and an open door into the depressive horrors of seeking validation from the cesspit of YouTube commenters and their foul hateful utterances. I know I can't shield him from the internet forever, but he's only 9, FFS!

Am I being a total Conservative Dad spoilsport from a bygone age? What have other parental units here done?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
#22
Off Topic / Pokemon, ochón ochón.
17 October, 2014, 08:41:25 PM
Well, it finally arrived, that day every father dreads.  My son has started hanging around with those kids - you know the ones, furtive, pallid, odd rectangular shapes concealed in their trackie pockets.  I mean, the soft version is one thing, the odd lost weekend spent alone in his bedroom, one ball after another, always wanting more.  But now the virtual isn't enough: he wants the hard gear.  And that means money.

So, does anyone here know about Pokemon cards?  He picked up a themed Pangoro (fight/dark) deck going cheap in the toy shop, and we've split that deck 30/30 for a few learning games, but obviously that doesn't really work when we're both playing half a theme.  So tomorrow, weather permitting, we're going looking for enough cards to have a real game.  What should we go for, assuming we want to play each other at home out of the one pool, and then he wants to play his mates at school?  Are there any particular starter sets, should we buy another themed deck, or just a handful of random boosters?  Are there any incompatibilities?

And one last question: why me?

#23
As I know far more of you than is reasonable are afflicted with some form of Scottishness, and some of those with the Glasgow variant of the condition, I have a request to make of your local -cough- wisdom.  I have a good friend who has just landed a multi-year contract in Glasgow, and is looking for somewhere to lay his head for a few months while he finds his bearings. So far he's finding online and employer resources... uncooperative.  Ideally a house-share with non-students, fairly accessible/transport linked to the Gilmourhill campus of the U of G, and equally ideally somewhere he isn't going to get beaten up too often for being Irish (I added that last bit).

In the unlikely event that anyone knows of such a paradise, that's great please let me know, but more practically does anyone have any advice about likely areas, local accommodation resources etc.?  As I say, this is for a good mate who has been a long time looking for a decent job, so I'm trying to assist as best I can.  Many thanks!
#24
Off Topic / Best tiff ever
08 May, 2014, 07:48:23 AM
Lactose-based iPod repairs, or The Days of Thin Ice, you decide.
#25
Off Topic / CBR Forums Purge
01 May, 2014, 01:00:35 PM
CBR earning a great deal of respect from me both for this move, and for the tone of the apology:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=52513

Good job everyone here is a fine upstanding citizen, eh?
#26
The estimable Padraig O Mealoid brings us these words of wisdom and art from the only facial-hair wearer that rivals Chris Hadfield in my unnatural affections:  http://slovobooks.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/last-alan-moore-interview/

I'll stand by my man this time. 

QuoteIf I had gone on to say, as I have on other occasions, that modern superheroes seem to mainly function as cowardice compensators for a number of their conflict-averse creators and readers, or that the origin of capes and masks as ubiquitous superhero accessories can be deduced from a close viewing of D.W. Griffiths' Birth of a Nation, then I hate to think what I might have been accused of.

(Not representative of the theme of the piece, just one more example of crystalised wit and precision prose).

Moore should be cloned, biochipped, frozen or transcribed into a Tron-like state so that his towering articulate brilliance is available to smack down future eras.
#27
Off Topic / Christmas salutations
25 December, 2013, 12:04:30 AM
A Mighty Thargmas to you all!  Hope boarders and their families have the best day possible, and many thanks to all for your pseudo-company over the past year: it's been helpful and enjoyable  Now if I can only get this last bit of sanding and painting done and get some sleep before the Oh Jovus O'Clock wakeup stampede...
#28
Film & TV / Thargmas Film Recommendations 2013
08 December, 2013, 09:36:22 AM
I love Christmas, me, but I also love distracting the kids from me and me from the kids.  Save me the trouble of thinking for myself, recommend me your favourite Christmas movies, in two categories:  kid-friendly and kid-unfriendly.  Obviously I include films that occur at Christmas in this (Die Hard, Home Alone, Gremlins etc.) in addition to ones that have Christmas as a core subject.

My ultimate Christmas movie remains Bad Santa, a film that combines the worst and best of humanity and the season in a simple film full of career-best flinch-inducing performances, topped off with a great soundtrack and a wonderfully happy ending.  But I'm not sharing that one with the kids.

In the family-friendly category it's Nightmare Before Christmas (sorry Steev) and Muppet Christmas Carol.  I also have a huge soft-spot for the original Miracle on 34th Street

Convince me to broaden my horizons.
#29
Classifieds / WANTED in Ireland: Progs 1750-1763
07 October, 2013, 04:39:23 PM
Having completed a fantastically enjoyable re-read up to the point where I was briefly forced to drop the Prog in late 2011, I've come to the conclusion that I can't live without these 14 missing weeks.  I've contemplated digital fills, but it just wouldn't be the same.

Given the ever-increasing horrors of international postage I'm really only looking to source them somewhere on the island of Ireland, where we could either arrange delivery or collection.  I'll try to stretch to a fair price.

Alternatively if anyone knows of shops or market stalls that have recentish Progs in abundance, please let me know!
#30
It's catch-up time again. 

Going back to the progstash to re-read Damnation Station proved disastrous.  It ran alongside Talented Mayor Ambrose, Mega-City Justice, Ichabod Azrael, Heroes be Damned, Zombo 2, Savage, Life and Death of Johnny Alpha... you get the picture.  Almost impossible to dip in to that lot for just one story, even one as good as this, so it took longer than it should have to write this. 

So, apologies for the delay, apologies for the length, and TOTAL SPOILERS AHOY, so for goodness' sake read the progs instead if you can get hold of 'em: it's a brilliant, brilliant series on every level.  If you can't be arsed reading my clumsy ramblings, just skip ahead to the TL;DR paragraph at the end.

Preamble thing:
In an interview published in Prog 1692 at the end of the 2010 run, Al Ewing reveals that his original pitch was 'Foreign Legion in space' with a European flavour, and a large cast who might die at any minute, inspired by the Peter Gillis' classic Strikeforce Morituri.  He also observes that the issues of propaganda and the political use of immigrants and refugees are to the fore, making it more serious than his usual stuff.  Along with the Legion Commander's frequent use of French, the diverse aliens in the story all speak a kind of faux esperanto, which is fun to attempt to translate and gives a terrific texure to the whole thing.

Unusually for the 2000AD these days, the 14 episode run is made up of a series of stories of varying length, something we've been discussing vigorously elsewhere.  For the record, it works.
 
To the dark and empty skies. (Progs 1677-1680, Al Ewing, Simon B Davis and Ellie deVille)
Looking to escape a Hollywood blacklist, Brett Grayle, the handsome gay Jewish American star of the 'Blake Bang' movies, becomes the first celebrity to embark on a 2 year tour of duty with the Host Auxiliary Legion on Earth Station One, known to its inhabitants as 'Damnation Station'. 

The Legion is a volunteer force that serves the Hosts, the 'rightful owners of our galaxy since before humans existed' as the government-controlled media has it, a time worryingly stated as being 'more than 6,000 years' ago, who take humanity's help in resisting 'invaders', immigrants from other galaxies, in lieu of rent for their tenancy of Earth.

On arrival at ES1 Brett is greeted by admin officer June Akiwara, and Grand-Pere, the grey-bearded bloodshot-eyed commander who imparts the Legion's Code of loyalty, to be broken on pain of death.  Brett is horrifed when deputy squad leader Joe Nowhere reveals that his 'Comm team' posting is not in fact to a cushy Communications post – but rather to a seven-man Commando team. 

Commando Team Four is made up of a five-man unit of Grand-Pere, black balding goateed Joe Nowhere, gung-ho hispanic Tura Vasquez, bearded gun-nut Reymont and now Brett, with shaggy-haired hippy Jim Bradbury (medic) and pink-haired asian June Akiwara (admin) remaining in support on their shuttle.

As team commander, Grand-Pere meets with the Host Supervisor of ES1, a typically horrid SBD-drawn humanoid head with too many teeth, attached to huge bulbous organic mass of sacks and tubes suspended from the roof, to voice concerns about plans for his team's next mission. 

The Host explains that humans are guests in the Hosts' galaxy, which under their laws of hospitality means they have incurred the debt of chu-ro, which they must repay with cho-ra, fighting against those aliens who are not guests.  The debt cycle of chu-ro and cho-ra is what ensures humanity's staus as guests and thus their survival, and the Hosts' technological and strategic assistance.  To refuse even a suicidal mission, as this one appears to be, would be for the Commander to incur a terrible debt of chu-ro.  Grand-Pere secures a scheduling adjustment to the mission to improve his team's chances, but at what cost?

Meanwhile on the target world, Recon-team member Estevez has been captured by the 30 or so alien immigrants camped there, and made to reveal the strike plans.  Dropping from orbit the commando team are met by missiles, and Brett finds himself splashing down alone in a swamp, where he panics and shoots and kills an alien, which turns out to have been a child of the species.  Captured by the child's parents, he is rescued by Reymont and a flippant Tura, but a jammed gun gets Reymont killed.  Grand-Pere sets explosives around the aliens' camp, who are revealed to be refugee families fleeing some galactic catastrophe to settle on an otherwise empty fertile world.  As the aliens and their children are blown-up and the surviving commandos head for home, Brett  realises why Earth Station One is called 'Damnation'. 

The feelings that you lack. (Prog 1681, Ewing, Boo Cook and EdV)
Reymont's Host-selected replacement is the sociopathic Jaeger, a Swiss member of the racist People's Party, initially assigned by Grand-Pere to a solo sweep of an airless moon in Quadrant 10 to keep him out of the way, where he nonetheless finds and executes a surrendering alien crash survivor.  Grand-Pere protests his appointment to the Host Supervisor, but is told that no action can be taken unless Jaeger breaks the Code of the Legion.  Meanwhile, medic Jim Bradbury is caring for Grand-Pere's predecessor, Commander Braddock, whose mind is somehow completely gone.  Bradbury warns Brett that these are the dangers of command in the Legion.

The sun always shines.  (Progs 1682-1684, Ewing, Boo and EdV)
Brett, Nowhere and Bradbury patrol a desert planet with multiple suns, searching for alien immigrants, while June and Jaeger monitor from the orbitting shuttle.  Fabulously-designed armadilloesque aliens ambush the patrol's hovercar, and Jaeger secretly closes off the ship's comms and ignores the groundteam's calls for help.  Brett is badly injured, and Joe Nowhere demonstrates extraordinary marksmanship before collapsing and playing dead with what he claims is the old (Johnny Alpha trademarked) slowed-heart trick, despatching the unwary aliens with a surprise attack from the rear.  Back at ES1, Brett is hospitalised, while a distraught June takes responsibility for the closed comms, and seeing herself as having broken the Code of the Legion cuts off her own finger in recompense, and Jaeger's deception appears to remain undetected.  Boo's art for this story is simply extraordinary.

A bone to be chewed. (Progs 1686-1687, Ewing, SBD and Annie Parkhouse)
The Host Supervisor berates Grand-Pere for leaving Jaeger (who G-P describes as 'un chien enrage', a mad dog) on the bench while Brett and June are out of action, and reveals that previous unit commander Braddock's mental state is a result of incurring to much chu-ro debt.   The team are to undertake a sweep of a Class 7 water world, where a single aquatic alien is believed to have taken up illegal residence.  Bradbury notes that they are now chasing a lone alien, when not too long ago they were tackling large camps.  Have they perhaps succeeded in clearing out the immigrants?

Grand-Pere, Nowhere and Jaegar take a hovercar to the storm-lashed world, where Jaeger pulls a gun on them, intending to kill the commander and his deputy and assume command of Team Four, so that he can work with the Hosts directly, rather than with the degenerates he sees the other Legionnaires as. 

Openly laughing at his insane wish to be Commander, Nowhere reveals that he knows that the objectionable Jaeger is being used by the Hosts to manipulate Grand-Pere into chu-ro debt, and has taken the precaution of disabling his gun.  Jeager draws a knife just as the alien leviathan attacks the hovercar, he stabs Grand-Pere, but G-P uses a grenade to blow them both up, along with the alien fish.  Bradbury in the shuttle picks up the now-Commander Nowhere.  SBD's depiction of the water world and the giant leech-mouthed alien fish is nothing short of spectacular.

Fellas, it's been good to know you. (Prog 1689, Ewing, Willsher, Blythe and Parkhouse)
Commander Nowhere reads from Baudelaire's poem 'The Man and the Sea" at Grand-Pere's funeral, and we learn that June has returned to duty, her breakdown caused by her failure at the desert world dredging up feelings of responsibility for the death of her own child, her original reason for her joining the legion.  Bradbury and Brett have become lovers, and as they lie in Brett's bed in the infirmary Bradbury outlines his theory that the Hosts use the Legion to select exceptional individuals to serve as Commanders,  who they can manipulate into chu-ro debt in order protect their Legionaire's lives, and then somehow feed off them in cho-ra repayment. Damned if you do, damned if you don't: Damnation Station.

Even heroes fail. (Progs 1690-1692, Ewing, SBD and EdV)
The fleet of Recon ships return to Earth Station One, bringing with them the hope that an absence of any detected aliens means it could all be over by Christmas.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ships turn out to be captured Trojan horses, and an alien suicide-bomber kills June and cripples the docking bay.  In the canteen Nowhere and Tura are eating with the commanders of Teams 2 and 3, when heavily armed alien squads start working through the station, killing Nowhere and the other commanders almost immediately, apparently making Tura the new Commander of Team 4: however despite being shot twice right in the heart, Nowhere somehow survives and recovers. 

Bradbury and Brett are still shacked up together the infirmary, where an alien incinerates former Commander Craddock in his bed, before Bradbury tells Brett that he's in love with him and positions himself between Brett and the invader.  Tura saves them at the last moment, and hands Bradbury the half-eaten burger she brought from the canteen.  Brett starts to tell Bradbury that he's only using him for sex, but in the middle of this confession Bradbury chokes on the secondhand burger and dies while the distraught bed-ridden Brett unable to help him, calling for help in a now deserted station. 

Newly 'promoted' Commander Crane of Team 1 reports to the Hosts.  All the station's admin and engineering staff are dead and Team 2 has been wiped out.  The Host Supervisor claims the aliens owe a 'black chu-ro', a terrible debt for abuse of their hospitality, and the fight must now be taken to the aliens' home galaxy.  Crane is enthusiastic about this new policy, but harbours doubts about Nowhere's support for it.

Meanwhile, a spookily black-eyed Joe Nowhere is bandaging two virtually bloodless bullet holes in the centre of his chest,  remarking 'that's right where their hearts are'. 

Quick wrap-up TL;DR bit:
As the first run ends, the only survivors of Commando Team Four are apparent undercover alien Commander Joe Nowhere, his nonchalantly violent deputy Tura Vasquez and the traumatised former movie star Brett Grayle.  The persecution organised by the Hosts has pushed the immigrant alien populations into making a strike against their exterminators, and with cho-ra on their side Earth Station One and its Legionnaires are now obliged to begin a retaliatory invasion of other galaxies, which appears to have been the Hosts' plan all along... 

When this is all done, I will be buying the TPB.

(With thanks to RAC for saving my bacon)



#31
General / A Brass Sun refresher: the story so far.
16 September, 2013, 12:16:25 PM
As a major fan of this story, I've written a quick summary of the first series of Brass Sun, in the hope that everyone can enjoy the new series to its fullest.  That said, there are massive spoilers in what follows, and I'd recommend tracking down the back progs and enjoying the story as it is meant to be read, rather than through the filter of my turgid prose.

Brass Sun: The Wheel of Worlds (Progs 1800-1811, Ian Edginton, I. N. J. Culbard and Ellie de Ville)

On the planet Hind Leg, the seasons grow ever colder.  Much is amiss in the lifesize clockwork orrery that is the Wheel of Worlds, and the Brass Sun that warms it has been slowly dimming over many centuries.

On wintry Hind Leg the cruel Archimandrite Sabin of the Orthodoxy of the Way of the Cog works to crush the growing heresy of the Blind Watchmaker, which holds that the Wheel of Worlds is not eternal as dogma insists, but was created and populated a million years ago, and its clockwork mechanism is now failing towards an inevitable apocalypse of cold and darkness.

Having abandoned the Orthodoxy after condemning his own heretical daughter to death, ex-Lord Bishop Cadwallader undertakes secret researches into neighbouring worlds of the orrery, their shared histories and their dying sun.  Through his forbidden telescope he has seen the civilisations of the nearby planets Back of Beyond and Afterthought die as the ice consumed them, and knows Hind Leg will soon follow.  He has formed a desperate plan to try to avert this end.

Passing all his research, and an ancient technological artefact called the Quaycard, to his grandaughter Wren, Cadwallader allows himself to be seized and brought to the Archimandrite, and certain death.  On her reindeer Idris, Wren rides to the City which encircles the giant vertical spindle or spar that connects Hind Leg to one arm of the orrery.

Here, heretics are burnt at the stake on the delicate Bridge of Sighs which connects the Archimandrite's palace to the orrery spar.  Cadwallader has prepared for this end by drinking an alchemical conncoction prior to his arrest, which explodes as he is consumed by the executioner's flames.  The explosion gives the watching Wren the chance to run across the bridge to the spar, but she is badly injured in the attempt, and is only saved when the collapse of the bridge takes the Archimandrite and his soldiers with it. 

Using the Quaycard, Wren completes the first part of her grandfather's plan by gaining access to the vast interior of the spar before she collapses from her wounds.

Waking in a hospital bed, Wren meets trainee-Engineman Conductor 17, sporting the monkish haircut and robe of the order of Prime Numbers.  He explains that she is now 'riding the rails', in the mass-transit system that once connected the many worlds of the giant orrery.  From the imposing steam-cyborg Station Master, Wren learns that each planet of the Wheel of Worlds was given part of a key, which when put together could be used to access the Brass Sun itself.  Centuries ago the long harmony between the diverse planets and their cultures collapsed into war, as a cartel of the worlds Plenitude, Hot Air and High Dudgeon tried to impose their economic will on the others.  The Prime Numbers shut down the interplanetary rail system to limit the spread of destruction, and a dark age of isolation followed. 

Now the light of the Brass Sun is failing, and the keys must be re-assembled so that it can be repaired.  Wren must accomplish her grandfather's mission with the help of the order, but the Station Master secretly views her as a primitive, and a disposable means to his own ends.

Conductor 17 accompanies Wren in a small pod that travels the rails to The Keep, a world entirely covered by a single giant palace, where they are to search its Library for information about the whereabouts of the keys.  Arriving in a vast Conservatory Wren and 17 are rescued from Scythes, mechanical assassins, by Helena, daughter of the Keep's ruler the Scarlet Duke, Radiant Taurus Simeon de Kype.  Passing themselves off as mechanics from a distant part of the palace, they are sent to the palace Forge supposedly to unravel the secrets of the destroyed Scythe robots.  Here they meet an elderly Conductor of the Prime Numbers, a lost emissary stranded in the Keep for decades. 

Assistance for their mission comes from the Duke's butler Ramkin, who appears to be sympathetic to their cause, but his subversive intentions actually lie in a very different direction:  the overthrow of the Scarlet Duke by his rival the Grand Dame, for which purpose the Scythe robots had been intended.  Now Ramkin plans to use Wren and 17 in his schemes.

Over the course of their adventure, the growing relationship between Wren and Conductor 17 is subtly depicted through body language, and eventually Wren gives a grateful 17 his first ever name, 'Septimus'. 

And here the first book ends.
#32
News / Ulysses Sweet to return?
24 May, 2013, 05:27:59 PM
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/05/24/grant-morrisons-ulysses-sweet-is-coming-back-without-grant-morrison/

Okay, it's from a notorious purveyor of twaddle, but it is intriguing!  A new 3Riller, maybe?   Here's hoping there's some clever Ennis/Helter Skelter/Troubled Souls dealing going on here, with Rebellion playing a brilliant game of brinksmanship that trades the rights to Maniac for Hire for reprint permission for Zenith...   ::)
#33
News / Rogue Trooper Miniatures Game from Mongoose!
06 December, 2012, 09:57:54 PM
 :o

Quote...the Rogue Trooper miniatures game will be appearing on Kickstarter, likely in the last week of January.

Based on another 2000AD comic strip, Rogue Trooper is the story of a Genetically-engineered Infantryman (GI) fighting on Nu Earth, a war-blasted but strategically vital world torn apart by the Southers and the Norts (who will you side with?). Battlefields are wreathed in the poison gas unleashed by millions of chemical weapons, while the high commands of both the Southers and the Norts engineer ever more devastating and vile secret weapons – the latter will very much be a feature of this game.

The rules themselves will be based on the popular Battlefield Evolution/Starship Troopers system, allowing you to fight anything from squad skirmishes (or just a single model, if you take Rogue himself), to platoon and company level clashes with battlefields filled with boobytraps, tanks and secret weapons.

This will be a truly vicious war, utterly appalling to those who fight it, on par with the worst of World War I trenches, but with the mobility of World War II, mixed with the technology of the far future. Thankfully, safely insulated from the terror and despair by our models and tabletop, you will be able to launch cunning strikes with elite infantry, bear the brunt of the enemy assault with the rest of your forces, and launch the deadliest secret weapons in a bid for final victory over Nu Earth!

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=123&t=54656&sid=14f20c0cd89821fc21b938b55bedb9c8

I was hoping for a Nemesis/ABC Warriors or Dante game myself, but this will do nicely in the meantime.
#34
Off Topic / Requiem Kickstarter
06 November, 2012, 10:14:41 PM
Requiem Vampire Knight game Kickstarter Indigogo. http://www.indiegogo.com/requiem-game?c=home.

Pat's posted about it on his Facebook, and Ledroit is providing some stuff for pledge levels.  Very ambitious funding target, best of luck to all concerned.

Maybe now is the time to push for a crowdfunded reprint of Block Mania or the Judge Dredd Boardgame!
#35
General / Judge Dredd Year One: City Fathers
16 August, 2012, 11:51:32 AM
If I've missed the Molcher post that flagged up this one, my apologies but by Grud this looks pretty sweet:

http://2000adonline.com/news/15-08-2012/judge_dredd_year_one_city_fathers/

I'm not really much of a one for novels of comics properties, but I think I'd like to read this.
#36
Spoilers for Dark Avengers/Thunderbolts 177!

The Thunderbolts' excellent time/dimension hopping romp leads them to[spoiler] Sector 11 of 'MondoCity', where a rather familiar-looking helmeted lawman sits astride a firey-tyred Lawmaster...  Apparently he's a future/alternate Luke Cage, but he's wearing those influences well - can't wait to see where this goes![/spoiler]  Lovely art from Kevin Walker and Declan Shalvey, always a book worth reading. 
#37
General / We Are Here...
26 June, 2012, 04:25:30 PM
Hurrah!  No need to talk to my non-scrot family and acquaintances anymore, all my make-believe friends are back! 

Tharg knows we need these little interruptions in supply to make us appreciate his works all the more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOmZimH00oo
#38
So here's the thing (and the Thing).

My wife has been helping out a friend with learning difficulties who is trying to sell his comics collection to pay off horrific credit card bills* (three not unconnected issues – and obviously there are questions to be asked about who is responsible for the situation in the first place).  It hasn't gone well, and now I've been drafted in as resident geek I can see why: they're mostly UK reprints.  I wouldn't like to tell you what he paid for some of them.

So anyway, here's a starter list of issues, there's plenty more.  All are mint, in bag and board.  Let me know if any of these would be of interest to any of you or your kids, and to what extent.  If there's any interest at all I'll revert to the man in question and we'll discuss it.  Thanks for your time.

DC:
Deadman Nos. 1-3 (DC 2002, Vance/Beroy/Green).

Panini UK Comics:
Batman Legends No. 1 (Panini 2003, Jim Lee cover).
Fantastic Four Adventures No. 1.  (100 pages, Panini 2005).
The Avengers United No. 1 (Panini 2001)
Avengers United Presents JLA Avengers Nos. 35-37, 41 (Panini 2004). 
The Mighty World of Marvel starring Daredevil and the Incredible Hulk No. 1 (Panini 2003).


*Not me.  This time.
#39
Other Reviews / Review of Leviathan on BoingBoing
26 April, 2012, 09:14:29 AM
Nice review of the Leviathan GN over on BoingBoing.  Should be worth a few downloads sales.

QuoteI was sorry main story wasn't longer than it is, because it hints at a many possibilities for other avenues to explore. But that's also a testament to the skill of the comic's creators, who were able to render an impressive sense of dimensionality and atmosphere in a 56-page story.

Was it really only 56 pages?  Blimey.

http://boingboing.net/2012/04/25/leviathan-graphic-novel-of-a.html
#40
Off Topic / Legoland Windsor: Hivemind advice sought.
24 February, 2012, 04:37:40 PM
Seeking hivemind advice!

I'm in the early stages of planning a family trip to Britain in late May, which will hopefully fulfill my eldest boy's desire to visit Legoland for his (6th) birthday, something he has been talking about non-stop for about 3 years now (I hope to also incorporate my own fantasy of introducing the kids to the dinosaur hall of the Natural History Museum in London). Bar some weekend camping trips in Wicklow and Galway, this'll be our first family holiday in 2 years, and it's going to be on a savagely tight budget and only 5 days total.  I know I'm in no position to be taking holidays from my life of scrounging, child-minding and casual work, but kids are only kids once and my loser-status has no obvious end in sight.

Should say I'm car-and-ferrying it because it works out about the same as plane-and-hire, and we can bring our own scabby provisions and possibly tent with us.  Also, I love ferries.

So, the current plan is to take the morning ferry Dublin to Holyhead (which the kids have never done, so that'll be an Irish rite of passage for them), drive down to Reading or Basingstoke over the course of the afternoon and evening with frequent stops, spend the night there and visit Legoland on Saturday, staying over in Reading again with the (free) option of a second day, or part thereof if the kids are still keen.  Combo hotel/park tickets seem by far the best deal, especially if you stay a decent distance from Windsor, which we would be.  After that, I was thinking of a train trip into London for a day, or possibly a nostalgic trip down to Bournemouth where the wife went to college and where I (uncoincidentally) lost my virginity, and then maybe a last night somewhere in north Wales to break the journey and poke at some familiar castles and beaches. 

I know plenty of you have been to Legoland, and I'd be very interested in hearing tips on getting the most out of it, and if anyone has stayed in hotels in the area/made use of combo deals.  Also, if anyone has done any (legal) tent camping within 30 miles or so of Windsor, or has suggestions of other contrasting things to do within that radius. None of this is unfamiliar ground to either the wife or me, we've both spent some time in Berkshire, Wiltshire, London and Wales, but it's become disturbingly important to me that I don't cock this up, at least.

I await your collective wisdom.