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Mar 24, 2023 11:10
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Mar 27, 2023 09:46
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ronya posted:It seemed for a while that Allison did not really know what to do with post-Blossom-Cooper Shauna Wickle While I like Shauna getting to have her own adventures, the Mystery Kids just clicked so well together as a team that having them drift apart is such a baffling creative decision. It doesn't help that by the last few storylines, Allison didn't seem like they had much interest in having Jack, Sonny and Linton do anything of note. I had such high hopes for Linton being more than just "the horny one" in the Wen-Tack storyline by making him guide the new batch of Mystery Kids, except he just noped out for no good reason.
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Mar 27, 2023 12:05
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Allison did like to subvert the Enid Blytonish "gang of mystery solvers" archetypes with allusions to how real childhood relationships evolve, and drifting apart is one of them. Very few people remain besties with their high school mates for long. You might have an epic meltdown and then reunion tour and renewed vows as you realize your friendship bracelets are slowly letting you down, but in the end one drifts apart with a whimper rather than a bang regardless. The problem, then, is how do you then write a narrative around that - WEN-TACK flirted with having a new generation of mystery solvers but the new lot were pulled out of a hat (a kid barbarian, really?) and I can't really blame Allison for not quite liking shifting the long arcs of Bad Machinery back to SGR zany slice-of-life. And the junior cast doesn't get around the problem of how to tell stories about the things 16/17yos get up to with believable character motivations whilst retaining that "for kids" label in the libraries.
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Mar 27, 2023 17:36
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Also I think John Allison ultimately enjoys writing stories about vivacious young women and the arc of his narratives always bends towards that goal.
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Mar 27, 2023 18:15
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The kid barbarian was one of the best parts of Wen-Tack.
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Mar 27, 2023 18:24
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::Little Claire intensifies::
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Mar 28, 2023 01:21
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 John A posted:Lottie is confident. Confident enough to wear an orange plaid suit. The world will be queuing up to provide needles for this balloon, but let her have her moment in the sun.
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Mar 29, 2023 03:28
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 John A posted:The outcome was never in doubt. Lottie has triumphed, her skills are undimmed. She’s allowed a little float.
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Mar 31, 2023 02:09
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now that they've achieved the tiniest success they are going to ditch lottie so fast it causes time dilation.
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Mar 31, 2023 04:10
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That orange suit is really strong.
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Mar 31, 2023 06:12
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 John A posted:Darkness gathers… any resemblance between The Waterman and pop impressario Pete Waterman is, of course, purely coincidental. But I did read Pete Waterman’s autobiography a few years ago, and never have I encountered so many fantastic boasts.
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Apr 4, 2023 17:05
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 John A posted:Is “chicken in a basket circuit” still a relevant term? I’m not sure that the circuit was in such rude health when I was a teen, let alone now. It was where stars of the fifties and sixties performed to dining audiences when their careers had lost their sparkle. Chicken still appears in baskets, of course. It’s more popular than ever, with Amelia Dimoldenberg just one of many jocund poultry advocates. Ironically, its star has never waned.
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Apr 4, 2023 17:06
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The Waterman is interestingly... fluid.
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Apr 4, 2023 18:05
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 John A posted:Here’s where the whole house of cards comes tumbling, inevitably, down.
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Apr 5, 2023 01:20
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Good panel work by Allison there
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Apr 5, 2023 12:17
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 And that's it for Solver. Poor Lottie. Next up is something new called "Kit + The Wolf", apparently?
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Apr 6, 2023 01:46
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There was no part of that story I actively disliked or disagreed with, but I really didn’t enjoy it very much. It was a bummer. It just feels like nobody gets any unalloyed wins anymore in the Allisonverse. Edit: I feel like part of this is the loss of the multi group dynamic: when you had more than three characters to follow, some could be on the upswing while others were on the downswing. Old Kentucky Shark fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Apr 6, 2023 |
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Apr 6, 2023 16:54
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The group dynamic works a lot better when anybody else in the group does anything. If you removed Glenn from the story and Lottie and Claire got an apartment together, what changes in any of the stories? And Nero just got almost irrevocably ejected from the group! Also a big wet fart that Claire and Glenn were almost 100% wrong on doubting Nero and Lottie supporting him as they succeeded wonderfully. I don't think they predicted the nefarious manager and Nero's betrayal outside of the very broadest "showbiz corrupts" sense. Allison's stuff is never bad but Solver was so much wheel spinning until this last story and it ends abruptly on a tragic little cliffhanger. This probably could've been the end of the second act. Just feels like a total loss of direction since the last BM story. He disowned Wenn-Tack which is odd since most fans will agree it was a good story that petered out near the end, dissolved the gang, made Charlotte give up mysteries and then get a job... uh, solving peoples mysterious problems. Lottie's lovable and all but time to move on until a good story comes to him.
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Apr 6, 2023 17:32
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Some new characters or something in this EXCITING just out now on-going: John A posted:Here, for the next seven weeks, I present a very special project. I think, partly, the problem with some of the aimlessness is revealed here. The author basically can't take a much needed break because with a Patreon you need to put out content constantly. That can affect quality. Still, this one sounds like it should be a fun time.
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Apr 7, 2023 12:02
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 John A posted:The X-Men are a bunch of lads who go to a school run by a bald fella who constantly sends them to their deaths. This story takes place around 1985-86.
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Apr 10, 2023 01:31
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I gotta be honest, I don't have high hopes for this story, considering how lackluster the Batman comic was
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Apr 10, 2023 03:49
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Powerful Katrinka posted:I gotta be honest, I don't have high hopes for this story, considering how lackluster the Batman comic was I don't know, the Batman one was weird in that it still starred his regular cast and Bruce was like a guest character. This at least seems to take place 100% in the Marvel universe.
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Apr 10, 2023 06:20
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The problem with the Batman comic was that it just unceremoniously ended.
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Apr 10, 2023 07:37
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The problem with the Batman comic was that Batman did something a caring hero would do: realize that he's too big for a small time themed villain. A drunk vandal with a hobby: are we going ten rounds in a multi-episode caper, or is this a single episode where the problem goes away when big fish superhero goes away? Comic heroes have the courage to fight, and rarely have the courage to avoid a fight they know they would win easily. "Realistically," Bruce Wayne can quietly rearrange his money and placate everyone. Realistically, an actual billionaire would make a big scene and never stop talking about how unfairly he has been treated.
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Apr 10, 2023 13:44
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I liked the Batman comic, including the ending. A chance for Daisy to shine, a bunch of snooker jokes that no one would ever made a comic about, a whimsical conclusion when Batman figures out he got gamed and let's go because there's no danger to anyone. I dunno what else to expect out of a Giant Days x Batman crossover. Anyway, this Wednesday is the release of the Shauna miniseries with Dark Horse. You can preorder here.
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Apr 10, 2023 14:36
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 John A posted:I have heard Kitty Pryde described as comics’ ultimate “Mary-Sue”. As the teenage every(wo)man character in comics that were made for kids, surely that’s what she was meant to be. As those comics were written by Chris Claremont, she inevitably also became some kind of ninja master after being haunted by a weird ghost samurai.
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Apr 11, 2023 10:07
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Apr 12, 2023 01:41
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I dunno, I feel like Logan would be the one into Springsteen. Kitty always felt more like she was into more traditional pop at this point. Like Badlands is basically Wolverine in a nutshell.
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Apr 12, 2023 18:30
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Apr 13, 2023 09:55
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I like the low stakes old fashioned plot. Deathstrike and her minions plan to kidnap a popstar!
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Apr 13, 2023 10:37
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I also like how late 70s/early 80s everything is.
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Apr 13, 2023 10:38
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 John A posted:The Reavers are a team of Australian punk pirates. I recall them from some comics I read in 1987, 1988 and 1990. They’re less Neighbours, more Home & Away. I can remember the names of two of them: Pretty Boy and Bonebreaker. After that… it gets a little foggy. But I did my best. One of them has a sort of skull death mask face. I did not include him in this story because I did not think he would be good at going undercover, unlike the one who is half tank.
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Apr 17, 2023 02:33
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 John A posted:I have no memory of Wolverine attending a stadium musical event in a comic, but then, I really haven’t read many X-Men comics that came out after 1993. All I know is: he probably shouldn’t do it on account of his heightened super-senses and general irascibility.
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Apr 19, 2023 10:10
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I appreciate how John Allison makes sure to depict Logan as this short and stocky guy with feral-looking teeth. Just seems like it's not quite as obvious when he's drawn in Marvel's usual style.
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Apr 19, 2023 12:23
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Apr 21, 2023 02:13
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Scott and Jean just right there
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Apr 21, 2023 06:13
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davidspackage posted:Scott and Jean just right there Would that be Madeline? This looks like the Paul Smith era.
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Apr 23, 2023 05:08
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 John A posted:People in films and TV are always wasting food. Have you noticed? So often, one bite and away it goes. When police buy a dog from a van then immediately have to pursue a criminal, leaving behind their lunch! Grisly. Shouldn’t be allowed. What crime is important enough to have to immediately discard your luncheon?
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Apr 24, 2023 02:01
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| # ? May 23, 2024 20:35 |
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 John A posted:Lady Deathstrike is a character from the X-Men comics distinguished by two characteristics: arbitrarily sized knife hands, and frontless jerkins. I chose not to draw the frontless jerkins.
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Apr 26, 2023 03:27
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