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Skwirl posted:I'm sure they'll make another F4 movie at some point, and the smart thing to do would be to start it in media res and either skip the origin entirety or limit it to brief flashbacks. The only superhero with an origin that's interesting enough to be the backbone of a film is Spider-Man and even then they've done it twice and not that great despite perfect casting of Uncle Ben both times. The 20-30 minutes every superhero movie seems to spend on origin crap makes me think that every screenwriter needs to be forced to sit down and really absorb the first two pages of All Star Superman. Even for “no (public) name” superheroes, unless there’s a reason why the origin story is key, it can probably be compressed into a few minutes and scattered throughout the film. E.g., why would you need an origin story for, say, Namor? “Imperius Rex!”, king of Atlantis, wears a Speedo, tries to mack on Sue Storm, pretty straightforward. I wonder if the Black Panther movie is also an exception to the “origin story is unnecessary to the film and also not interesting” rule. And maybe Ant-Man too?
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Apr 18, 2018 03:09
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FMguru posted:One of my favorite literary theories divides characters and stories into two types: dramatic and iconic. I will take issue with one of your examples, though. Luke Skywalker is an iconic character, Yokel Farmboy with a Great Destiny. Sure, after his family is killed he stops whining about going to Toshi Station to pick up power converters, but when he blows up the Death Star, he’s still pretty much the same guy, just with a few new tricks up his sleeve, like helpful auditory hallucinations. Han Solo is the dramatic character in SW:ANH. He goes from the amoral smuggler looking out for number one, a guy who casually murders a threat and flips the bartender a coin “for the mess”, to a character who has assumed the mantle of self-sacrifice and has traded cynicism for trust and comraderie. I suppose the reason why these two modes work well together only for some superheroes is because the superhero’s origin must be directly tied to the first dramatic development of the character — with great power comes great responsibility (if Peter Parker didn’t have his powers when Uncle Ben was killed, there’d be no opportunity for growth) or atonement requires action (Tony Stark builds the Iron Man suit not only to free himself but as a first step toward correcting the mistake he realizes he’s been making again and again). And I don’t think an origin story for any character, no matter how obscure, needs to be overwrought or complex, though that will require simplifying the origin from that presented in the comics. Think about the JLU episode, “The Greatest Story Never Told.” Doesn’t Skeets showing a 15 second promo reel to bystanders do the job of explaining who Booster Gold is just as well as a 15 minute flashback or prelude about how this janitor wanted to become a hero, so he stole some tech from a museum and went back in time? Finally, one of the reasons why Black Panther’s origin story fit so well was not only because the challenge ritual was integral to the plot, but the slow revelation of details about the origins/family history of the characters heightened tension while making the story more coherent.
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Apr 18, 2018 06:30
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Doc Hawkins posted:This conversation has helped me realize Superman is just a sci-fi reboot of Tarzan. Mind blown
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Apr 18, 2018 14:27
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prefect posted:Did Umberto Eco ever write specifically about comic books? I'd read that. I don’t know of it specifically, but I wouldn’t be surprised considering that he wrote about American wax musea in Adventures in Hyperreality. Agreed on Batman’s origin and a few lines of dialog. In fact, that’s how the Batman ‘66 TV show handled it. Thought experiment: assume that half of Batman Begins wasn’t cribbed from Batman: Year One so the trappings of the story aren’t in the public conscious. Could a mass market Batman movie be made following the basic story of Year One? It’s an origin story but not an origin per se. Or would that fit into the dramatic + iconic mix discussed earlier? ETA: Android Blues posted:
Plus I think BTAS did an episode based on it but it wasn’t memorable enough to remember any specifics except Robin tying Bats up with a Batarang to keep him out of trouble. Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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Apr 18, 2018 16:26
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purple death ray posted:Year One is a fantastic story and would make a great movie, but it's not because of the Batman origin story it tells, it's the Jim Gordon story it tells. It's not actually a Batman story despite his name on the cover. I mostly agree and I’m abashed to not have thought about that when posting. (Though a couple of moments like Bruce’s initial recon disaster or the fire escape fight are great details to add to his origin story. At first, he basically is “wearing hockey pads”.)
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Apr 18, 2018 16:38
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Zaodai posted:
A belated  to you.
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Apr 19, 2018 21:32
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Ghostlight posted:You're both So basically it’s a higher-budget version of kosho from the Prisoner TV show?
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Apr 22, 2018 10:05
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Endless Mike posted:WW2 France was complicated to put it lightly. I honestly doubt your typical American GI at the time was going to know a whole lot about the specifics of what was going in other than "the French government decided to suck Hitler's cock rather than fight but there's also a bunch of Frenchmen fighting alongside us." Honest question — how well known in America (and the UK, etc.) were the struggles of the Maquis, the “Underground”, and other French resistance groups? My only historical source is Victory, the Sly Stallone WWII soccer movie where the French Underground gets him a fake passport, and it’s vague on the topic.
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Apr 27, 2018 00:24
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Shouldn’t have gone for the obscure reference mocking one of Stallone’s effortmovies when asking for information. I meant knowing about these things in a contempory sense. During WWII, were there newsreels played before movies extolling the valor of the scrappy never-say-die French partisans who’d never knuckle under to Fritz? That sort of thing.
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Apr 27, 2018 00:42
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Jerusalem posted:There was a really good issue in the regular Cap title a little after the Ultimates one, where he talks about his memories of working alongside the French Resistance and how much he admired their refusal to give up in the face of overwhelming odds and the literal occupation of their own country. ETA: Dammit, doesn’t work on craptastic image host I used because for some reason I can’t get into my imgur account on mobile. Open the pic as a new tab then click to embiggen, and I promise to use imgur or a real host from now on. And one of the best related jokes, from Nextwave: 
Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Apr 27, 2018 |
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Apr 27, 2018 03:31
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Ghostlight posted:
ArchRanger posted:Yes but he was Irish because certainly no American audience is going to buy a game with a French main character and hero. 
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Apr 27, 2018 04:03
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I would be surprised...
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JacquelineDempsey posted:The father? Alfred muthafuckin' Pennyworth. Seriously, the bit of lore about Alfred being a combat medic hints at a past that stretches far beyond the simple, unremarkable biography one expects of a rich family’s servant. Forget the panel about “Get out of my Batcave” from Injustice, even skip the admittedly cool Michael Caine black ops counter-insurgent hunting down evil Robin Hood story from The Dark Knight, just that this guy was a corpsman says a lot about him. TheCenturion posted:It looks like it should be out of an Airplane! style film, where she's hanging from a rope and shooting, and a guy walks up, snaps a photo with an old-timey giant flashbulb camera, ducks down out of frame, stands back up with that wanted poster, pastes it on the wall, and walks away, all during the roaring gun battle. ETA: “The Battle Doll?” I know it’s an artifact of the time but that’s just a lazy appellation. ETA 2: To contribute, some more WWII-related stuff. Not sure which is better, Fury smoking a cigar in his highly combustible oxygen-filled spacesuit, or Dum-Dum Dugan getting a helmet that fits over his bowler hat. 
Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Apr 27, 2018 |
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Apr 27, 2018 22:36
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Wheat Loaf posted:I found those pictures I was talking about : I haven’t taken the Super-Soldier serum so the only chances I get to compare myself to Jesus in a spoken monologue are when I help old ladies across the street or put an extra dollar bill as well as the coins I get back in change in the tip jar when I buy coffee.
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Apr 28, 2018 00:29
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funtax posted:Detective #578, art by Todd McFarlane. Wasn’t this part of the Batman: Year Two run (4 issues, IIRC)? Absolute trash, though it had one good idea: the antagonist’s character design, which was lifted for the Mask of the Phantasm animated movie. Year Two crapped over Batman: Year One so harshly that it took twenty-five years for someone to manage to take an even bigger, stinkier, runny-diarrheal poo poo on Year One. (Kevin Smith, I’m looking at you.) I’m sure Pym particles are at least part of the reason Clint is a mini-giant and I don’t really care about the rest of the explanation (unless it’s interesting or funny). What I do care about is why his costume is a mix between Captain Metropolis’s “night on the town” getup mixed with some overalls he won in a pumpkin-growin’ contest, capped off by one of those harnesses that claim to improve your posture. (The last might be part of Cap Metro’s chase figure’s outfit, though.)
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May 29, 2018 15:38
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Saint Freak posted:Also I'm gonna post his Kra-Van again because it's just so good. Anyone have something solid on the book he’s reading? I got “Apotheosis of Baselessness” but that’s sort of missing something unless there’s a Fake News(tm) joke there.
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May 29, 2018 20:51
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Chinston Wurchill posted:So do their outfits have removable crotch panels or what? I'm having trouble making sense of this. Already covered in Watchmen:  Among the top three screw-ups in the movie: shooting that scene as though Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II know what’s going on in the toilet. A humble request...could someone post the edit of the sequence that includes the following panel that uses the dialog from Dark Knight Returns, about 7 basic defenses from this position/something tells me to stop with the leg? It would be appreciated almost as much as Namor appreciates the subtle, fashion-forward design choices in the 2018 male Speedo low-cut mesh thong product line. 
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Jun 25, 2018 17:55
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“I need to interrogate these goons and find where Superman’s mom is. Oh, I know, I’ll magdump these two chain guns on the top of my car into that warehouse where they’re hiding. I’ve seen the A-Team. The blind fire of a large volume of high velocity armor piercing rounds fired into that building will merely disarm the thugs of their weapons and leave Martha unharmed, so I can then have a little real-life Arkham Asylum vidya game sequence for shits and giggles.” “I hate guns, but I’ll leave unlocked vehicles armed with military-grade weaponry lying around where my friends can find them by happenstance when they’d be convenient, like when I’m being choked out by Bane.” “Harvey, I won’t kill you, but y’know gravity’s one of the four fundamental forces of the universe, and my arm’s tired from stopping Joker falling to his death earlier. Whoopsie!” “I won’t kill these cops after me; they’re only doing their jobs. So I’ll just dump a cubic fuckload of anti-vehicular mines in an enclosed trafficway during a high-speed chase on Lower Walker Drive, and que sera, sera.” “Joker, I won’t shoot you, I’ll just fill the street where you’re standing with live Vulcan 20mm rounds and shoot these high-explosive missiles next to you to...ummm...because...I should...clear all the smoke and gas. [Unleashes hell.] Um, yeah, that’s the why I missed with an entire ground attack plane’s armament. That’s the ticket.”
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Jun 25, 2018 21:20
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purple death ray posted:If that last one is referencing Keaton's Batman he absolutely did not make excuses about murking fools Ending the derail (?) with a funny panel from Invincible. Background for the two people who haven’t read this: basically, Superman is married and has a teenaged son (who is out of the house for a while), just gotten back from a few months in an alien dimension, and he’s called in sick for the day to the Justice League.  I was actually trying to find The Immortal’s “What would we super-heroes do without space?” scene but couldn’t find it. Anyone have it at hand?
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Jun 26, 2018 01:45
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Avulsion, thanks for the panels. It was killing me I couldn’t find them flipping through my books and Google was useless. I also forgot about Biplane’s cameo reappearance.prefect posted:That first year's worth of Invincible was so damned good. Edit: Lurdiak posted:I never understood how anyone kept reading Invincible after the first time he punches someone and a bunch of gore flies out. Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Jun 26, 2018 |
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Jun 26, 2018 22:32
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Unkempt posted:
Second question: Are cadets issued their rugged chins as a mark of office upon graduation? Sorry, there’re few things I love more than dinosaurs getting punched but these kept distracting me. If the intent is to show Dredd as young, not sure they work well. e: TwoPair posted:Spider-Man in one panel e2, electric Boogaloo (I can’t stop): unruly posted:I think there are pills for that, Johnny. Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jun 29, 2018 |
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Jun 29, 2018 16:30
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ImpAtom posted:Did you demand pictures? Pictures of Spider-Man? Nice.
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Jun 30, 2018 03:40
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davebo posted:Supernirs
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Jul 1, 2018 18:25
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BioTech posted:This is exactly what happens in JLA Rock of Ages with Atom riding a flare shot by Green Arrow to get through Darkseid's forcefield. Nearly word for word. Apropos of nothing, like 75% of panels from Morrison’s JLA run could be in the badass panels thread, but occasionally it’s funny too (if you like Scotsmen making fun of their own stereotypes): 
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Jul 18, 2018 05:07
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Sorry, missed ‘villain’ in the question in my rush to make a cheap joke.
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Jul 19, 2018 18:28
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purple death ray posted:Sure, buddy, 99% of the time it's gonna be Spider-Man, but really, what's that other 1% worth? To know that when that big dragon in the boxing trunks comes back, you're going to be the only building left with intact windows? I can tell you I'd pay a lot for that kind of peace of mind. But don't let me pressure you, just read these pamphlets and think about it. You've got our number? Great. *Shot of children playing on a beautiful suburban lawn* *Housewife, attractive but not quite MILF age, looks at them smiling *Sounds of combat in the distance Housewife shouts, “Kids, get in here now.” Kids run inside and hide behind couch *Exterior: We see Luke Cage fighting Black Manta, and the fight gets closer (shut up, I couldn’t think of a Marvel black super villain, and it’s always black guys in these commercials) Housewife: “Behind the couch, now!” Black Manta lifts his trident and blasts Luke Cage through the window, and the shot freezes a second before he slams into the couch the kids are now behind. Shot rewinds, Black Manta blasts Luke Cage into the window, which he bounces off of. Housewife, hugging her children, smiles Narrator: “Peace of mind can be priceless.” Stark logo and 800 number appear on the screen.
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Jul 20, 2018 01:16
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TwoPair posted:Multiversity - The Society of Superheroes: Dr. Fate and friends are in a fight (it's another universe so don't ask why he has guns) Not as bad as '90s "Fate" where some dufus melted down the helmet and amulet to make throwing knives and was infected by some magical Lord of Order body shifting virus or whatever (and it was so dumb I'm not looking it up). I love Dr. Fate's Rocketeer cosplay outfit though.
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Aug 24, 2018 00:40
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wiegieman posted:Multiversity was all good, but the Thunderworld issue was probably the best comic I've read in the last five years. The accessibility of Sagan! The obscurity of Ising! The ego of Von Neuman! The archaicness of Aristotle! The gravitas of Newton! The delight of Archimedes!
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Aug 24, 2018 04:48
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Archyduchess posted:In terms of sweeping retcons that try to square Batman's origins with the pretty self-evident fact that being a bilionaire is full-stop a lovely and evil thing to be, I think "problematizing the Waynes" is less interesting than "reimagining Batman as not being rich." The problem with the latter is that even if Bruce's parents are revealed to be evil/corrupt/depraved/etc., we still have Bruce Wayne as the figure of the benign billionaire who knows what's best for everyone. It doesn't solve any of the character's central narrative problems.
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Feb 5, 2019 18:08
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Lobok posted:Gotham is really supposed to be Philly.
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Feb 6, 2019 22:48
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Animal-Mother posted:I'm sorry, but can anyone tell me what this is from? Next month's Marvel solicits: Moon Knight and Power Man are The Dunning Squad! 
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Feb 10, 2019 05:56
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Harley on sidekicks (Injustice vol 1 or Injustice Ground Zero, sorry, can't remember which):
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Feb 10, 2019 06:50
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Ghostlight posted:
 Also Luke doesn't care for your international law jibba-jabber, unlike some square supers:  (I think it's from the Supes vs. Spider-man. There's also a crossover showing Supes failing to catch Doom clumsily jogging down the block to the Latverian Embassy; not sure if this is the same story.)
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Feb 10, 2019 09:47
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Random Stranger posted:At least this time Doom had cash. It would have been better if Doom held up a Latverian bill (denomination doesn't matter; all of them carry Doom's visage). "What's this say? 'In Doom we trust.' I'm sorry Mr. Doom, but you can't use Monopoly money to prove your ID." Also I just read the first 5 trades of All-New Wolverine. Please pretend I posted like 75% of panels where Gabby says anything. All characters should indeed be asking "Where's Gabby?" whenever she's not on screen.
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Feb 10, 2019 19:28
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What the heck, three bits from ANW, and one doesn't even have Gabby in sight!   
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Feb 10, 2019 23:10
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Senior Woodchuck posted:The lesser known Superman & Spider-Man. It also contains a sequence I can't find online for the life of me, where Wonder Woman and Spidey, separately investigating Doom's hideout, run into one another, and Doom comes on the PA and says, "Well done, Spider-Man, my ally! Now kill her, and our plans will be complete!" and Wonder Woman completely falls for it.
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Feb 12, 2019 01:22
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Cleretic posted:But Wonder Woman can't use this logic, because in the DC universe it's much blurrier. The Joker exists, sure, and Lex Luthor tends to use green power armor when he wears any, but the Justice League includes Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter. Purple is bad. Mostly purple for Star Sapphire, Parasite, Despero. Purple & green for Joker & Luthor's costumes/armor, plus Brainiac, Riddler, Amazo. Purple & blue: Major Disaster. Yellow & purple: Sinestro Brown is a pretty good indicator of bad: Scarecrow, Cheetah, Floronic Man (too obvious?) But green is perfectly fine as a heroic color even with orange or yellow: Aquaman, Hawkpeople, and of course GL/GA/MM
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Feb 12, 2019 02:35
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Phy posted:And even then, there's got to have been more than one moment of "Of course I fought you, you're dressed in black and you act scary and your name is BAT MAN", right?  Invincible issue I don't know when (during the big dimension-hopping Angstrom Levy fight)
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Feb 12, 2019 04:55
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Push El Burrito posted:Wasn't the conversation he had with Spider-Man? And he called Luke Cage "Black Man" because of it? I never read it but I think the "conversation I already had once today" was with Spider-man. This is just a one panel throwaway gag.
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Feb 12, 2019 05:07
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Knormal posted:Huh. She doesn't look very aerodynamic to me, must be the boob eagle. It's Boobnoulli's Principle at work. e: OK that was a grade z joke so please take a Gabby panel as my penance: 
Admiralty Flag fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Feb 14, 2019 |
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Feb 14, 2019 07:00
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Love Herc with his obliques that have their own obliques. There's sort of an Iwo Jima hand situation there...somehow there are four "inside obliques" Vision is wearing bad HTML code No one told Wanda you have to wear shoes with leggings Hawkeye put laundry day off for too long but fortunately like DC's Flash he's got tons of his own merch Poser tracing is hard.
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Feb 20, 2019 02:20
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