u/PinMaximum1018

Just a reminder that the Philly Comix Fest is only a week away! I highly recommend it if you’ve never been (and even if you have). It’s like a somewhat smaller version of SPX in Bethesda.

Does anyone know who the special/featured guests are? Last year it was Charles Burns.

See you there!

Just a letting everyone know: Bad Idea, the documentary about Spain Rodriguez, is on Tubi. I've been looking to watch this for awhile and was never able to find a copy. Lo and behold, there it is. Haven't seen it yet so I can't vouch for the quality but how can you go wrong?

So an old dude in a brewery today told me he was watching Fox News, and the “smoking hot” news woman on there said her favorite band was the Brian Jonestown Massacre.

My brain can’t comprehend this. Can anyone verify? No idea when this allegedly occurred.

Good news, Everybody!

Which characters who were living in the 20th century are alive or have lived in the 30th century? Who is your favorite one? Personally, I'm going with 80's Business Guy.

I've been reading some Silver Age Iron Man comics, and was pleased to find one of my favorite EC artists working on them. Of course Wally Wood probably takes the cake, but which EC artist do you think did the best work for Marvel or DC in the 60s, 70s, etc? Any particular runs stand out?

I was just relistening to the revelations from the early Sirius days. Sal said something during his (which was about rubbing one out while his aunt took a dump) that Howard dropped out of the broadcast. He said it was to protect people, and that Sal said something really stupid/inappropriate. Did we ever find out what that was? Any guesses? Bye for now.

What streamers have been covering SDCC? Anyone stand out that you would recommend? It doesn't have to be exclusives or anything; just general coverage of what's going on each day?

I feel like this era, especially the 80s, is when lettering really blew up and began to become so much more than just relaying the writer's words. Here's some of my favorites:

Todd Klein: Obviously. The dude was extremely instrumental in redefining the role of the letterer and taking it to an artform. Even though he had been around for years, I'd say Sandman is where he really took it to the next level.

Stan Sakai: His delightful, cartoony style worked perfectly with Groo. The way it blended perfectly with the art was amazing. Can you imagine anyone else lettering Groo?

John Workman: He's the first of many letterers who did amazing work, but in my mind are kind of synonymous with one artist. Obviously, I'm speaking of Walt Simonson, but believe me it's not a complaint. The way Workman created thundering sound effects, usually in bold, lean all caps, really helped bring sound to a silent medium.

Bob Lappan and Tom Orzechowski: Both were also great, but once again in my mind are kind of "locked" to one main series/identity. Lappan had a very slightly quirk to his lettering, or maybe that was just pouring over from the high levels of quirk coming out of the rest of the creators. Either way, his letters on Justice League were phenomenal. Same with Orzechowski and X-Men; he was amazing on it. I'm sure they both did a lot more work, but that's what comes to mind.

For practical purposes I left out just about every indie artist and writer/artist "cartoonists." That leaves out phenomenal work by Pete Bagge, Ware, and even Frank Miller, whose lettering on Sin City was perfect.

Who were some of your favorites? How about throwing some praise up for these all too-often unsung artists?

Why isn't there a streaming service that lets us all enjoy the many wonderful panels at SDCC? I think a limited "Netflix style" service would be a wonderful idea. It breaks my heart that, through the years, so many legends of the artform have had such wonderful, informative interviews and conversations that will just be lost to time. I would gladly pay a respectable fee to be able to watch these panels from the comfort of my own home.

I would imagine the main argument against this are that it would affect ticket sales to the in-person event, but this does not seem likely to me. SDCC sells out every single year, usually before they announce even a single guest. There is clearly a demand; I doubt many folks would say "ehh screw it I'll just watch it at home." I have been fortunate enough to go to the con twice in my life, and I live on the East coast. If it was closer and more practical, I would definitely go every year. In fact, the revenue from a streaming service would fund the project even more, giving them the potential to attract even more guests and events, making it an even greater event.

Furthermore, since I'm speaking of primarily preserving this stuff for its historical content, I would be more than happy with a delay of a week or two, or even a few months, to keep the sanctity and "specialness" of being there in person. These certainly don't have to be streamed live; I'm thinking more of an archive that keeps the videos available year after year. If you want to be the first "in the know," this wouldn't affect that in any way.

Another argument would be copyright issues. Most of the panels are just conversations, so I don't see this being much of a problem. I'm not interested in seeing sneak peaks or previews of movies that will eventually be released anyway, so those panels can just be skipped. Watching a few seconds of Attack of the Clones or X-Men 2 all becomes a moot point a year later anyway.

The third, and most likely concern, would be that of technological logistics. There are dozens (probably actually hundreds) of panels to record, so that could seem overwhelming. But we are talking about the heart of the entertainment industry here; Comic Con itself is a dream come true spurred out by passionate fans, so this too could be overcome. Hell, I'd be happy with an iPhone recording from the back of the room. I'm pretty sure (on a much smaller scale) I could get together enough friends to record a similar event and just throw the raw videos up on a server for others to access.

My main impetus for this is to preserve this essential part of our pop culture history; it kills me to think of all the wonderful guests who have been there through the decades telling their stories and histories, all (or most) of which are now lost to time. If SDCC is too big for this to happen, how about some of the smaller cons? Baltimore Comic Con, Heroes, NYCC (still pretty big), and dozens of others have wonderful guests year after year. Maybe a consortium amongst them?

I say this as a passionate lover of the comics medium in all its forms, not in any way as a criticism of the con. I would absolutely love something like this to happen. Is this a pipe dream or could it ever actually work? And thanks very much to all the wonderful people who have kept this con going for decades.

There are still plenty of great artists and writers from this era, but who is still kicking a$$? Who had the best output so far in the 21st century?

I'm a huge Miller fan, and I love some of the stuff he's done more recently but some of it is just kinda, lackluster. For my money, Walt Simonson wins the title. I recently read his outstanding Orion run (which just makes it into the 21st century) and also his series Ragnarok, both of which blew me away. I think I actually liked both even better than his books from the 80s and 90s.

Who wins this award in your book? Someone who was doing great work in the 80s/90s, and still is today? It doesn't neccessarily have to be better than their work from that era; just curious as to who you think is still doing great work today.

I have had this device for about 3 years now, and it's constantly in use and still going strong. Do you play any ROMs on this device that were created in the "modern era"? Either homebrews or commercial releases, what's some new stuff that can freshen up my Miyoo beyond the obligatory ROM packs that we all have (and love)?