Day: March 14, 2024

The Week(s) in Comics (My Pull Lists for 3/6/24 & 3/13/24)

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Bruce

Oh the joys of being out of town… it means you have twice the comics to read when you come back!

I’m not sure which comics are from which week so I’m not even going to try to figure that out, but there were some awesome comics released!

While on my  trip I happened to stumble into a comic shop in Odense that was pretty amazing, it had a bit of everything, but it made me realize just how lost I am when it comes to European comics.  This hole in my knowledge base I intend to fix, but it will take time.  First place to start, there’s TinTin.   I’ve read some of Hergé’s masterpiece and even sat through the film.  Our first geocache, before Sue took over the ProfessorZoom caching name was “TinTin & Snowy” at a nearby dog park. It was archived at the beginning of 2024. 🙁

Faraos Cigarer as seen from my hotel room in Odense.
They weren’t open, but were running a game night so we snuck in here are cars from TinTin.
The LARP/Cosplay section of this amazing store… I just need a bigger suitcase (or two)

While I’d love to blabber on about my lack of knowledge when it comes to European comics Nothing Special Volume One – Through the Elder Woods the book came out while I was a away and I’d love to take a moment to blabber on about this amazing comic and all three volumes that hopefully will be coming out in paper form more sooner than later. First of all Katie Cook is amazing (amazingly amazing). Her style is cartoony (which I like) and she has been a standard at conventions for years. I have a cartoon of Hemi (bestest cat in the world) done by her and I own a few of her drawings and strips. Due to personal stuff she vanished for a couple years (starting around COVID and things piled on after that) and is now coming back. I found her at C2E2 years ago and started reading Gronk, her Webcomic at the time. When Webtoon started up they gave her the opportunity to tell another story in their format which is like having an infinite scroll. Nothing Special is the story of a teenage girl, Callie, who lives between worlds. Her father spends most of his time in a fairyland with magic and cools stuff, while she is in our world. It’s senior year and she stumbles upon DeClan who has carried a torch for her since kindergarten. They actually connect (over dead plants- it makes sense… really it does) and when her father goes missing on her birthday Callie heads out to find him with DeClan a perfectly “normal human boy” coming along to help. I don’t want to give too much away, but it is one of the stories from Webtoon that I followed religiously until towards the end of the third season, life got complicated for Katie and it took a hiatus. Having taken a hiatus (or two or three, myself I can’t complain). Nothing Special is especially funny, clever, and just a great read. If you don’t like it… we might need to discuss our friendship. 😉

This Week’s Comics Minus Nothing Special (see above):

Ultimate X-Men #1 – As the Ultimate Comics relaunches after the issues of the Maker in Ultimate Invasion & the stuff that followed it’s time to figure out what happened to the X-Men. We have Ultimate Spider-Man, which I enjoy. Ultimate Black Panther, which I don’t follow… I know I really should. Now Ultimate X-Men, which having not really followed and X-men comic since the last Ultimate X-Men and before that John Byrne and Chris Claremont were the creative team. I’m trying to piece it all together and it looks like this might take some time. The artwork is beautiful, and the story pasted with emotion, but I need to give it s few issues to figure out what is going on.

Love Everlasting #13 – We now get to see the first time the Cowboy had to deal with Joan… and it seems like its all part of a organized effort focused on Joan…but why?

Batman # 145 – Batman, Batman, Batman… Can you stop trying to confuse me? after that brief intermission, we are back dealing with Zur-En-Arrh the Batman personality that now is running Failsafe, the Batman robot Batman built for that moment when he might do something wrong, like kill. So mBatman is locked up with a joker who is physically incapacitated and Zur is going around cleaning up the city, and being a better Batman than Batman… When will Bat-Mite come back and save the day?!? What does Ace, the Bathound, think of all this?

Action Comics #1063 – Superman teams up with Bizarro Joker to solve the whole Bizarro problem… but at what cost? Can Superman trust the Joker? I can say, a “sane” joker is almost scarier than the crazy one.

Speed Force # 5 – Am I just getting old? Maybe it’s jet lag. Maybe it’s my lack on knowledge or interest in music… It looks like Wallace and Avery are figuring out what needs to be done to save the world of teenagers addicted to an app just as congress tries to outlaw TikTok (life imitates art?). SO how is the Speedforce, and Magic being used to create this (insert modern slang for crisis)? Can they stop it in time?

Wesley Dodds Sandman #6 – The conclusion 😢 of this adventure, will the Sandman be able to recover his notebook filled with formulas that in the wrong hands (the military) could create havoc across the world? Didn’t this guys learn anything from watching Oppenheimer? Ultimate weapons just lead to ultimater weapons that lead to ultimatest weapons, that lead to… you get the idea. Well, I guess if you are a weapon manufacturer all that matters is profits.

Spectacular Spider-Men #1 – SO Peter Parker and Miles Morales decide to take some time and just chill. every Wednesday meet at a coffee shop and talk over life as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. What could go wrong? If you’ve ever read a Spider-Man comic, you know the answer. Humberto Ramos is doing the art, so I had to buy it. I’m just hoping that I won’t get confused since I’m already reading a handful of Spider-Man titles that just got out of Gang War.

Captain America #7 – Has Captain America now become the Patriotic Sorcerer Supreme? int eh last arc he was fighting a demon that tried to cause problems in pre-WWII New York and now present day. So issue seven we get to deal with the repercussions of actions… by visiting The Front Door, a theater macabre or is that theatre… Spell check says they are both correct. then again is it macabre?

The Amazing Spider-Man #45 – So Gang War is over? Finally? What happens now? This is what could be called a “filler Issue” in which we set ourselves up for whatever comes next while tying up some loose ends fhat may have been forgotten over the past issues. Can we get MJ’s Aunt out of the asylum? What is going on with airplane mode around a ginormous green brain (did the Leader have a full lobotomy and no one told me?) And what about those not quite so mysterious fellows on the last page? I’m sure they are planning something nefarious like hijacking a truck load of Girl Scout cookies! Oh the horror! Oh the Thin Mints!

Batman First Knight Book One – Detective Comics #27 started things off for the Bat-Man. Bill Finger and Bob Kane created this character and comics at that time had multiple stories that were pretty quick reads, only a few pages. This takes us back to those simpler times, but expands the story with more details, and some stunning artwork. Missing is Alfred since he wasn’t in those early comics. The mystery- who is going around killing corrupt politicians (Oh, like our generation invented the concept of corrupt politicians- go watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). Then again there is something strange about the killers…

Dark Ride #11 – So we’ve established that We have an amusement park of horror run by a guy who made a deal with the devil. He’s done everything he can to not let the devil collect his soul… His son was last seen running into a ride to rescue his daughter. Now after much mayhem, there is a family ruin, I mean reunion, as a new ride is unveiled, a giant kaiju sized animatronic devil, who will be sacrificed? When will Mickey and a gang of lawyers come and save the day?

I Hate Fairyland #12 – A retelling of the Tale of the Billy Goats Gruff as only Scottie Young & Gert can do it…

Adventureman Ghost Lights #2 of 2 – Will Adventure get rescued and save the day? Will the ghosts win? What will the effects of the Super-serum be on Adventureman’s friends? Frankly, this is one of those series that you almost need to read the entire arc in one sitting. So much going on, but all of it amazing.

Sons of Star Trek #1 – Those of us old enough to remember there was a time when we were trying to figure out life, the universe, everything. We tried to decide our path and wouldn’t listen to any advice. As I look back on it and look at how my life worked out I can’t say I made a bad decision, although I’m sure I made a bunch. The thing is I like who I am, if I learned anything from ingesting decades of science fiction and loving time travel stories it’s that one change, no matter how minor could change things in a drastic way. (Watch It’s a Wonderful Life for an example. Gosh, I’m just full of Frank Capra references today) Here we have three sons of major Star Trek characters – Jake Sisko (Son of Captain Benjamin Sisko), Nog (Son of Grand Nagus Rom), and Alexander Rozhenko (Son of Worf, son of Mogh, House of Martok, son of Sergei, House of Rozhenko, Bane to the Duras Family, slayer of Gowron. maker of chamomile tea.) All are at a turning point. So who comes along to help them out but… Q or as he calls himself son of Q or QJ (for Q Jr.). Now these three are in an alternate universe where things are… different. Morn is in a Star Feet Uniform, Tuvix is still around as is Jadzia Dax… It looks like Mariner, and Shaw are also on the crew of this ship… I’m sure I’m missing others. I’m also very curious as to what series of events happened to create this alternate timeline. This is going to be either a train wreck or a wonderfully wild ride… I’m hoping for the latter.

No/One #8 – The plot thickens… and I need to go back and reread all the past issues. The gun used in the current string of murders has been tied to a past killing that was controversial… Gee a militant white supremacy social club (we wouldn’t want to call them a gang) has decided to take matters in their own hands… and No/One… <spoilers>

Fishflies #5 – It looks like we are getting to a conclusion, but, I could be wrong. Francis and bug have met a couple of nice old folks who are not shocked or surprised by seeing a giant bug with a little girl… shouldn’t this send up some red flags? Some research is being done at the library (why you should always support your local library- who knows when you might be researching similarities between events in the past). And our helpful police man who has been removed from duty decides to do the right thing… will he be too late?

The Seventh Happiest Place on Earth – Day 4 “Bork, bork, bork!”

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Bruce

Wednesday: Walked 8.24 miles

Today we had decided to take the train to Malmo, Sweden. Copenhagen is close and I had never been to the land of 50% of my ancestors. It started off a bit drizzly, but a little rain didn’t stop my Viking ancestors, so why should it stop me? As I have have said before caching and Adventure Labs are a nice way to discover an area. Besides it also allows Sue to color in another country on her geocaching map 🙄. Trying to figure things out in another language can be “fun” and by “fun” I mean stressful. Fortunately our hotel was across the street from the train station and the train went directly into Malmo. So once we were on the train, my fretting over did I mess this up and we are now going someplace else vanished.

We emerged from the station and checked the geocaching app to see what was around us. There were a few adventure lab stages to get us going and then we headed into the older part of town. One thing Sue and I have noticed is the amount of space dedicated to pedestrians. Yes, there are cars, but so much is pretty much for people walking or cyclists. We stopped into the Form/Design Center a museum focused on design in its many forms had a quick snack and then viewed a few exhibits…one focused on open spaces and how cities over the centuries have planned for it and are still planning for it. I hope that the Monument Circle area of Indianapolis becomes something like this.

One thing we try to do every trip abroad is to pick up one thing for the house. Sweden is known for Dala horses. Sue, having spent time in Sweden has a few, they are wooden and have a traditional painted pattern on them. I bring this up because in GUSTUS, the adjacent gallery, an artist had made their’s in clay and had glazed them in unique patterns. We decided to go ahead and buy one. (Sue has since named him “Mo”) I also bought a ceramic dragon… these are our first purchases of the trip outside of snacks. The drizzling stopped and we walked around a bit more this time around the old castle that had been turned into a prison, and now the art museum. Yes, this was part of an adventure lab. We then headed to the science and maritime museum. I discovered something interesting… I had no desire to go in. Yes, I love science & STEM stuff, it’s been a major part of my life for over 30 years but not being a teacher and having an overwhelming feeling that if I bought anything for anyone it would just get thrown in a box. So the majority of the day was just taking in Malmo, which was a great way to spend the day.

The view from our Hotel in Osterport. Yes, we were near the tracks
Bikes everywhere… What would happen in the U.S. if people actually could ride bikes everywhere, safely?
Cecil with his train ticket, ready to head into Sweden
The Author across from the train station getting a virtual geocache
Cecil enjoying the public art around Malmo.
Building renovation or are they just covering up a modern building and showing it they it used to look using “art”?
Public Art on the way from the Station
Cecil is wondering what a T.G.I> Fridays is doing here… he also was curious about the number of 7-Elevens,
Intersting at the lack of cars in most areas throughout our trip.
One of the squares in old town Malmo
THe view from our snack break.
Yes, I missed my cats.
Art at the Gustus Gallery. This one didn’t make it home with us.
Some of the other Ceramic options at the gallery,
Yes, it was a stage for an Adventure Lab.
The Science and Maritime Technology Museum (another Adventure Lab
Wandering around the old Castle/Prison/Art Museum
At the Art Museum,not wondering why Sweden is the seventh happiest place on earth.

We went back into the old town area for lunch, this has a bit of anxiety with it even though it really hasn’t play out poorly. We could have gone to the T.G.I. Fridays but instead ended up in a nice little place called “Ruth’s” you look at a menu in a foreign language that you have little or no experience with and I know I freeze. Fortunately I have discovered that most places everyone speaks a little English – because American’s haven’t, until recently felt the need to learn another language. Some still won’t 🙄 back to lunch- Sue had a wonderful salad and I decided to go with braised ox cheek with carrots, lentils and horseradish sauce. According to my last physical only half of what I ate will kill me, but as Ian Fleming would say “You only live twice.” I also had a local IPA since I’m on vacation, I’m an adult, and I’m no longer a teacher therefore needing to be a “moral exemplar.”

We heading back in the mid to late afternoon and decided to stop at the central train station to wander around the city center of Copenhagen a bit while it was still light out. One of the big tourist attractions is Tivoli Gardens which doesn’t open for about a month…. Sue had done more research on this area and knew near one of the entrances to Tivoli was… a LEGO Store. It wasn’t massive like some I’ve seen, but it did have a Mini Figure Factory, so I made a custom Mini Figure. When you do this you get to design the torso of a LEGO Mini Figure. It seems that most stores that have one also have some unique design exclusive to their store. Not all LEGO Stores have one, but this was a way for LEGO Stores to deal with “Kidult” Fans of LEGO who complained about going to stores in other cities and having nothing special to show for it except a stamp in their LEGO Passport. So I made one (and got a stamp or two in my LEGO Passport too). We then walked over to the city center. Took some pictures and picked up a few AL stages.

No Rollercoasters for Cecil! Tivoli was closed.
Still Trying to figure out exactly what kind of creature this is…
I call this “Social Media in America”
The author with H.C. Andersen, maybe someone lost in my family tree?
A bull fighting a seamster? I guess I have some research to do on what the story is behind this fountain.
People in Copenhagen have really long legs.
I think climate change is having an extreme impact on countries like Iceland…

One thing we decided while wandering was the need to return to Copenhagen for more than our brief stay. There was a lot we missed. I think Sue and I both decided while visiting Kronborg castle was nice, perhaps spending that time in Copenhagen would have been better… then again with it being the off season, it might have been for the best. Yes, we didn’t see “The Little Mermaid” and other iconic Copenhagen sites… which is why we want to return. “We headed back to the hotel and discussed the day, and what tomorrow might bring… basically What were we going to do tomorrow on our way back to Billund?

Note: Sue has decided that for long days of walking she isn’t enamored with cobblestones.