Messages

Usborne books are among the greatest things in the world, so I would take serious note of their gamebooks.

USBORNE put up free PDFs of their 1980s computer books. I've just remembered I had quite a few of these.

I had the second of those two.

Some of my most treasured books are the Detective's Handbook (book club edition) and the three volumes of the Good Spy Guide. And then there's the Children's Book of Britain, anything illustrated by Colin King and Stephen Cartwright, the Supernatural Guides, the KnowHow Books of...

Regards,

Robin

S'right. Lone Wolf was a great story and world, but the books seldom offered much resistance.

In case you, or anyone else, are interested:

http://cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/lone-wolf-adventure-game/

20 quid for the core game is pretty good for an RPG these days.

Regards,

Robin

We're reasonably close to persuading the powers that be at Usborne to have a crack at the 'choose your own adventure' thing. Would you be inclined to buy this sort of thing for your little 'uns (if you have any), or is it original FF or nothing as far as you're concerned?

Speaking personally, I loved the FF books mostly for the art and the setting, and was slightly less taken with the actual mechanic of playing through the book. For some reason I loved the heck out of the first Asterix book, though - perhaps because it wasn't as difficult!

Usborne books are among the greatest things in the world, so I would take serious note of their gamebooks. That said, they'd need to have the same feel as the originals, which means getting the art, writing style and challenge right.

Personally, having to play though by the rules is a vital part of the books. It's the difficulty that keeps you replaying, rereading, trying new paths, discovering new locations, monsters and treasure. The early Lone Wolf books were probably better than FF, but I gave up on them as they progressed because I could play though them in a single reading with little challenge.

Regards,

Robin

(EDIT: Amusing that the thing that gets you to post, Robin, is, of all things, Paw Patrol!)

Well, I thought you were being a little unfair to Skye.

That said, your point about 50:50 gender ratio is so right it beggars belief that it has to be made at all. And given that gender identity is an issue far more complex than simply M/F, we've a hell of fucking way to go.

Regards,

Robin

Any parents who've watched Paw Patrol might recall how sole female pup Skye is small, pink, 'support', and mooned over by the other (all male) pups.

As a parent who has watched Paw Patrol, I'll point out that there is another female pup by the name of Everest, although she is a bit lilac.

As for Skye, she gets to fly a helicopter, has her own wings in her pup pack, and directly rescues a shitload of characters from danger.

I agree that Skye's pink outfit and helicopter is lazy beyond belief, but I've found that some girls gravitate towards it no matter what you do.

The real stereotyping is in the breeds of dogs, of course. The Dalmatian is the silly, gangly twit. The Bulldog operates plant. The German Shepherd is the police dog. The mongrel makes stuff from scrap. The Husky drives a snow plough and the Dingo is a tracker. The only bit of original thinking is with the chocolate lab, but I guess someone had to operate the powerboat.

Regards,

Robin

[spoiler]Steppenwolf - no me neither[/spoiler]

Ah, now I'd seen that name mentioned on youtube, but had assumed it was something to do with the soundtrack. Silly of me not to do my research.

Regards,

Robin

Who is the baddie meant to be?

Going by the helmet, I'm guessing it's Orion, Darkseid's son, although that doesn't really fit with the comics. Kalibak is a possibility, but that would be a radical redesign.

I was wondering if it could be Big Barda, who also has a winged helmet - I tried looking frame by frame for boobage, but couldn't spot any. There's a very brief and fuzzy glimpse of the face when Wonder Woman is fighting it, and it's possible its female.

Regards,

Robin

Dunno if anyone can remember the randomly generated albums thread of nearly a decade ago, but this is almost as good:

http://inspirobot.me/

Regards,

Robin

...you can discover new things everyday, and not every comment after a YouTube video is vile.

I was watching the grenade scene from Captain America, and someone mentioned Desmond Doss who I looked up in Wikipedia. You go read his Medal of Honor citation down the Wiki page. He was basically Dredd with a med-kit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss

The recent movie completely passed me by.

Regards,

Robin

Can't believe I've never seen those guys before.

For some of us of a certain age, this particular Top of the Pops performance is carved onto our souls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itTuhQhLFqk

Regards,

Robin

[Dredd]

Much to like this week, but unfortunately the old-school stylings of the Dredd don't quite convince.  The whole thing seemed like a contrivance to set up some McCarthy-drawn flying hot-rodding, which is a noble aim to be sure, but somewhere along the way it lost its way, distracting me with superfluous characters and an unlikely Dredd.  My compulsion to  compare with the equally-slight Riders on the Storm does it few favours.  But that's not to say I wouldn't like to see more from this team!

I liked it. Frankly, it made a pleasant change from all the procedurals, which in their own way are starting to become as old as Mega-City Craze of the Week.

I can see how the "This is mutie territory" line might have jarred for some, even many, but I can also see Dredd wanting to avoid stirring up trouble when he had other options. Also, he probably anticipated a race and just have wanted a go at driving the car.

Loved the cover, loved the colouring on the strip. I'd like to see McCarthy doing Dredd's like this a lot more often.

Regards,

Robin

Press the button, but only once:

http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Random

I got:

http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Diligence_Inducement

I'm quite happy with that.

Regards,

Robin

Rich Hall on Jeremy Clarkson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ci5qI5c_jI

Regards,

Robin

Peter Sallis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40165443

Regards,

Robin

I'm not sure how b/w sells on the continent, which is why I'm guessing later Slaine/ABC Warriors get hardbacks (as well as having pristine scans)

But yeah, Early Nemesis, Slaine and Strontium Dog could do with some nice HB presentations.

The continent is missing out!

I'd be kind of reluctant to shell out again for a complete set of Strontium Dog, but it's a reluctance I'd easily overcome! Same goes for ACE Trucking, Dante, and it would be good to see the Dredd epics in full size hardback like The Cursed Earth.

While I'm here, nice work on the Stont film.

Regards,

Robin