Like Real Theatre, It's Only Enjoyable With Friends

I bought Foul Play off XBox Live Arcade months ago. It is the story of Baron Dashforth and Scampwick, fighting various supernatural horrors over a course of years, which are somehow connected to the disappearance of the Baron's father. I didn't get far enough to learn the no doubt awful truth.

The trick to the game is that we're seeing a reenactment of the story, done by the Baron and Scampwick as a play. Complete with a moving backdrop and actors and such. So the key is to win the many, many lengthy brawls you'll have with lots of enemies while taking as little damage as possible and chaining together cool combos. Because otherwise the audience gets bored/irritated and starts booing and throwing vegetables. So you die when you lose, but in the theatrical sense. If you can keep the audience into it, you can get a temporary boost to give you a hand.

My first go-round was with a visiting friend, and we had a pretty good time with it. Then I let sit for a month or two. When I tried to go back and pick up the story solo, the ridiculous number of foes wore me down quick. Especially when the battles start being timed, where you have to be this sub-boss in such and such a time or a bomb goes off. But there are like 20 minion enemies too, and they take an inordinate amount of punishment to keep down. Alone, it just isn't that much fun. The reward in relation to the amount of effort doesn't match up.

It might help if the computer would control Scampwick for you, so at least there would still be two of you. But if you play solo, Scampwick vanishes as soon as the fighting starts.

The art style is effective, and the music was solid. There are a few decent one-liners in there, mostly for Scampwick, your typical smart-mouthed youth with the Cockney accent.

So if you have someone to go co-op with, I'd recommend it. If you're the solitary sort like me, pass it by.

The Clones Went Down To Utah

Spider-Man: The Lost Years (by J.M. DeMatteis, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Christie Scheele, and Richard Starkings) was a mini-series released during the '90s Clone Saga detailing a particular part of the time Ben Reilly spent wandering the country after surviving the original Clone Saga. I thought it was going to cover a longer arc, show more brief snippets of his travels, but no. Ben drifts into Salt Lake City for awhile, meets a waitress with a secret named Janine, and the two fall in love. Ben starts consider staying around, and begins going out fighting crime at night.

Kaine's there, stalking Reilly, but meets and falls in love with tough cop named Louise Stockton. And for a while Kaine starts to think things can be better. So that shit can't last, and it doesn't, as Kaine ultimately commits a murder which ends up coming back to bite Peter Parker in the ass (right as he's mourning Aunt May no less).

DeMatteis is working on a theme about hope, with some characters having lost it, others wanting to lose it, and others trying to convince themselves they don't believe in it at all. Kaine bought in for a moment when he met Louise, but when things went south, he gave up. Part of the going south is his cellular degeneration kicking into overdrive, and that gives him a much more monstrous and tortured face. Janson goes real heavy on the inks, to the point that, combined with the wild hair Romita gives Kaine, you can barely discern his face.

You could argue whether Ben and Janine maintain hope. They opt not to trust that if they tell the police the truth things will work out alright, and it would seem things didn't end up working out somewhere down the line. They trusted in each other, but not in anyone else.

I've always thought of this as that time where Romita Jr. draws everyone really bulky, but here, it's more than everyone is wearing heavy clothes. Every shirt, coat, pair of pants has a ton of folds in it. I don't think it's set during winter, maybe early fall, but either Romita or Janson got too busy with the lines. Lot of shadows and darkness to the story, except for a few scenes during the day when Ben's working as a teaching assistant of spending time with Janine. Even at night though, the shadows recede from his face when he's with her, and the same is true for Kaine when he's around Louise, for a briefer stretch.

There are a few fight scenes, Romita keeps things up close, rarely pulls back. The panels are a tangle of fists and Kaine's hair and assorted rubble. They're personal affairs, the other people around aren't part of what's going on, because it's these few people struggling with themselves. Is Ben going to be the hero, even as he insists the power and responsibility thing has nothing to with him? Is Kaine going to give in entirely to his rage and hopelessness? There's nothing flashy, just basic, sold storytelling.


For as seemingly critical as Janine and Louise are to the two main characters, they don't get any internal monologue of their own. Even Louise's partner, Detective Jacob Raven, gets a lot of time devoted to his internal narration. That could be simply the story being told from the perspective of the survivors, but considering the two ladies' approaches to hope - one being afraid to, the other having simply abandoned the notion - and how they play off Ben and Kaine, it might have been nice to get some time with their thoughts. Even just as a contrast between what the guys are projecting onto them and whatever the reality may have been.

God, the Devil, and Bob 1.9 - Bob Gets Greedy

Plot: Money's a little tight in the Allman house. Perhaps Bob should go to the strip club less often. Or the bar. Still, it's hard to begrudge him taking Megan to enjoy a night of heckling the Chicago Blackhawks. Naturally, God has to show up and ruin everything by telling Bob to do some volunteer work. Bob comes home to the Devil in his chair, ready to tell him all charity work in a scam, and to leave his Palm Pilot behind. Which just so happens to have the scores for upcoming sporting events.

You see where this is going. Bob begins raking it in by gambling, and continues to not do charity work, to God's annoyance. When Donna finds out, she is. . . completely OK with it. She only hates his gambling when he's losing. Well it's about time that Donna gets a turn being a bad example. Why should Bob hog all the fun? The two take a trip to beautiful Windsor, Ontario, where Bob finally twigs to the idea perhaps the Devil has ulterior motives, like getting Bob's soul in exchange for all this help. So Bob smashes the Palm Pilot, thwarting the Devil.

Or not, because the Devil can obviously recreate the thing and leave it for Donna to find, so that she'll place a wager on the game that will clinch a playoff spot for the Red Wings. Which leaves Bob in the unenviable position of having to make sure the Red Wings lose. Which does provide him an opportunity for charity work, though it might be court-ordered, so I'm not sure that counts. God seemed cool with it.

Quote of the Episode: God - 'Oh, I've outwitted Bob Allman. You'll forgive me if I don't do an end zone dance.'

Smeck Smacks: 1 (20 overall).

Other: In addition to Smeck being forced to eat a clipboard for making the Devil do paperwork, there was an awkward moment where the two of them were watching Bob and Donna seal their fate, and Smeck misread the situation, and tried to snuggle up with the Devil. Very awkward, but at least no violence.

So Bob saves Donna by first running on the ice, then runs back into the stands and makes his way on top of the Jumbotron, unhooking it and causing it to crash into the ice. Which causes the Red Wings to forfeit, rather than have to finish the last 2 seconds of the game (that they were leading by three goals). Uh-huh.

One suspects the writers don't know a hell of a lot about sports. Which should have been obvious when they were trying to get us to feel like it was a big deal for the Red Wings to make the playoffs. One, it's hockey, more teams make the playoffs than don't, just like in the NBA. Big whoop. Two, they're the freaking Red Wings. Aren't they the NHL's version of the Lakers, or the Yankees? What, I'm supposed to feel bad they had a rough decade or something? Oh, boo-hoo, cry me a fucking river.

Bob ends up in jail, of course, and Donna neglects to use their remaining winnings to pay his bail. Then someone puts a hand on his shoulder, and Bob warns them he's not a considerate lover. The owner of the hand is God, who replies that he knows, he's heard Donna's prayers. Kicking a man while he's down, God? What am I saying, God's always kicking people when they're down.

Although we learned from Mike that Bob at one point resorted to selling his blood in a parking lot when he was sure he "couldn't lose". If you waited for a moment Bob wasn't down to make a joke about him, you'd never have a chance.

While they were in Canada, Bob takes some time to bet on a bizarre sport involving golf carts, polo mallets, and ham. I think it's basically polo for people who hate horses, but also don't like water. Or round objects. Could be interesting viewing at 2 a.m. if you were drunk.

Bob's volunteer work ends up being the guy at the dunk tank. Except, having apparently cost the Red Wings a playoff spot, everyone just throws the ball at Bob, rather than the target. Given Bob's cries of pain, they were doing pretty well, too. The Tigers should probably have some scouts there making contract offers.

What I Bought 10/25/2017

The first issue of the Atomic Robo mini-series was solicited for this month, did not appear. You'd think they could avoid that with a story that was already finished online, but apparently not. There were two other books for me this week, but I only found one. We'll get to the other next week.

Deadpool #288, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - It's a nice cover by David Lopez, but I think a metal arm that belonged to Cable should look bigger on Deadpool. Wade's much shorter and slimmer than Nate.

Deadpool ambushes Justice Peace after his team-up with Thor from Simonson's run, and uses Peace's head to get into TVA HQ. As he slaughters them, Cable tries to convince his guard to let him out. Which he does just in time for Wade to show up. But Cable is able to retake control of the metal arm, make it pummel Wade, then rip it off him. Then he shoots Wade in the head.

I'm going to be really annoyed when Cable doesn't really die at the end of this. They're going to pull some loophole bullshit. So frustrating. At least Cable will have to live with the knowledge of the awful things Wade did with that metal hand. I love that Wade, even having just gotten his ass beat without Cable lifting a finger, made sure to mention that. Hey Cable, can your future self tell you how long until you lose that image from your mind?

Also, I thought it was Cable's scarred eye that does the glowy thing, but Koblish and Filardi are depicting it as being the other one. Maybe they figured it wasn't fair the right eye got both the cool visuals, and gave lefty one instead. Or. . . it's Mirror Universe Cable! Ugh, best not give Marvel any ideas. We already have Cable and Stryfe (Evil Clone Cable) and Nate Grey (aka, Nice Refugee from Alternate Timeline Cable) may be running around somewhere. Marvel needs to be reducing the number of people with Summers or Grey genetics in their line, not expanding it.

The colors still seem excessively dark. It's a dark story, I grant you, but they could still ease off the dimmer switch. With Koblish throwing blood and bullets and body parts all over the place, a little light would make things easier to track. Still, the violence is entertaining. Deadpool throwing heads at people, stabbing a guy in the eye with a handgun when he runs out of bullets. And the whole time trying to make jokes about the lousy situation he's in and the choices he's making. Calling himself the Man with No Morals, or the Man Without Remorse. Neither is true, but he certainly wishes they were. It'd make things easier.

I have a hard time seeing Cable's threat as having much weight. He's going to kill Wade if he doesn't talk? Even if we assume Cable can actually kill him, and that he's willing to go through with it, that's not going to get him anywhere. Deadpool on a good day would welcome death, and Cable should know that. Unless Wade thinks Stryfe would kill Eleanor after Deadpool was gone, just on the principle of it. Or for the hell of it. Which I could see him doing.

Sketchtober Update - Almost There

As of yesterday, we're through Day 25. Which means I finished the XBox Top 5, and am moving into the PS2 list. With five systems worth of these behind me, there are certain trends emerging. There is always at least one, usually two, of the five that end up going poorly. The other three go reasonably well, if not perfectly, but there might be one that I'm really, really happy with. Day 5, definitely Day 7. I looked at it again a couple of nights ago and was actually happy with what I saw. Normally when I look at stuff I draw, I only see all the things I screwed up, which is exhausting.

Anyway, the N64. I mentioned last week, the first couple of nights went poorly. Things improved a bit Days 13-15, but nothing spectacular. I'm not showing you the Goldeneye sketch, it was not good.

Day 12, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Like I said, I can't draw horses. I really struggled trying to come up with an idea for this. Because every idea I thought of, I realized I already had a desktop wallpaper of it someone else did that looked way better than what I could manage. Dark Link fight? Got a wallpaper. Spin Attack? Got a wallpaper of that. Finally, I remembered the guy you give the Bunny mask to when you're a kid, who ends up being super-fast when you're an adult. And who does run with his head down like that. You can race him, although you don't see him running. He's waiting for you when you reach the finish, always a second ahead.

Day 13, Starfox 64. It was either the final battle with Andross, or something about the Starwolf fights. Drawing a giant brain and his mobile, laser-shooting eyes seemed less daunting than drawing a whole bunch of spaceships. I'm not good at mechanical stuff. For some reason, I tried doing the after-image effect for the Arwing. Went better than I expected. The real issue was I couldn't figure out how to depict the deflector shield the Arwing produces when you do a barrel roll. After a few trials, I settled on a sort of faint oval around it. It's not great, but it made more sense than any of the others.

Day 14, Super Smash Bros. Looking around online, now I'm not sure you could even fight Crazy Hand in this game. He may not have shown up until Melee. Whoops.  Too late now. The original idea was to do the picture as a split-screen of what you see. Each side was going to be from a perspective just behind one of the brothers shoulders. So, Luigi would be in the extreme foreground, then we'd see Mario's back and beyond the, Master Hand, and then do the same from behind Luigi. But I spent Saturday at Alex', so I had to do this and Day 15 in one day, and opted to simplify the hell out of it. Hmm, looking at it, things might have been starting to go off the rails. It's more than a little rushed, and I'm drawing smaller, which is what I default to when I'm feeling unsteady or rushed (the same's true of my handwriting, it naturally trends towards tiny).

Day 15, Resident Evil 2. Took me most of the day to figure out what to even draw. But that Tyrant was always a pain in the ass. I always remember him smashing through walls to get pursue me, although that only happened once. I think Claire's a little long in the torso, and I probably should angled her more. The Tyrant looks a little too casual, but he was one of those slow, relentless threats. You kill him, he gets back up and keeps coming after you. Not personal, just what he's designed to do. I do like the bullet impacts on him.

By the next time I do one of these, we'll be out of October. Will I be done with all 7 systems, though?

Starting 2018 With More of the Same

The solicitations for 2018 are out, and there's not a lot of new action for me.

Dark Horse is continuing the Empowered story, with her and Sistah Spooky in Hell, drawn by Carla Speed McNeil. I also saw a trade for a mini-series called Blackout that sounded kind of cool. That came out back in 2014, so I'm a little late to the party there.

The third issue of the new Tick series is solicited. I must have missed the solicit for the second issue. Giant Days is focusing on Ed, Copperhead is probably wrapping up the next arc, and Atomic Robo rolls on. All of that is fine and good, glad to have it.

At DC, Booster Gold is showing up in Action Comics, if that's something you're interested in. There's at least one person who reads this blog who might be. Along those lines, they're releasing a trade of the Green Lantern Corps series, from the '80s, apparently focusing on a certain Guy Gardner. Again, I suspect this will be of interest to certain segments of the audience.

That DC is doing mini-series for Snagglepuss and Ruff & Reddy is just bizarre to me. They also just recently finished one mini-series starring the Teen Titan Raven (which is being released in trade in this set of solicits), and they're starting another, 12-issue mini-series for her in January. Drawn by Pop Mhan, whose work I liked on some of the early 2000s Bat-books. Will that be enough to draw me in? Eh, maybe, I don't know.

Over at Marvel, they're releasing a 12-issue mini-series about the Hawkeye from Old Man Logan's timeline. Because that's something I wanted to be reminded exists. They're releasing a bunch of new mini-series, of which Rogue and Gambit is the only one I find interesting. I haven't read Kelly Thompson's comic work, but it seems to get good reviews, and Pere Perez' artwork is fine. I might give it a whirl. Marvel's also wheeling out some 4-month, 16-issue weekly stretch of Avengers, where all the various Avengers squads team up to save the world.

Which I have to admit sounds pretty cool in theory. And by Marvel's standards, keeping it to one title, but apparently involving all those books creative teams, is remarkably restrained. It could be a huge mess, but it might be worth checking out. In trade, after the the trade drops significantly in price.

Deadpool's trying to settle some scores before he gets killed. I would really like for Deadpool to get to kill HYDRA Captain America. I might even offer to buy all 16 issues of the Avengers event thing if they did it.

Guardians of the Galaxy is bringing back Adam Warlock. Again. Booooooooooo, booooooooooo, booo Adam Warlock, booooooo. Just leave him in those GNs they keep letting Starlin write so the rest of us can live in peace. In more bad news, Squirrel Girl is stuck on Earth in her book, and probably will not be teaming up with Beta Ray Bill to rescue Nancy. So bummed out. There was also an X-Men Annual of sorts to reunite the old Excalibur cast, but Alan Davis is only drawing the cover, so nerts to that. Marc Guggenheim's writing doesn't do a whole lot for me, anyway.

Looking at the month overall, publishers which aren't Marvel or DC should be, combined, just about even with Marvel. Wouldn't expect that to last, but it might be part of a trend.

Good Burger

Watching the first half of Good Burger on Netflix with Alex qualified as the high point of last Saturday. We were supposed to go to a convention in Lawrence, but the weather was going to be crap out there, so Alex suggested Oktoberfest with some other people instead. I should have trusted my instincts that a festival about beer was not the place for a non-drinker, but I thought I'd take a chance. Maybe there would be interesting crafts or cheap bratwursts or something. Hahahahahahahaha, no.

Moral of the story: Never take a chance on new experiences.

Anyway, Good Burger. A '90s movie that feels like an '80s movie, with its band of weirdos (including Abe Vigoda, was not expecting that) trying to save the local burger chain place from being run out of business by the nefarious national chain Mondo Burger. Also has the slowly building friendship between opposites with Ed (Kel Mitchell) and Dexter (Kenan Thompson). Also, via Ed, has a lot of humor that reminds me of what you might see on Adult Swim. Not in terms of profanity, but the randomness of his responses or reactions to things around him. So Dexter asks if they've met before, and Ed asks if Dexter's been to Australia. Dexter replies no, so does Ed, very disappointed. Or else he takes things extremely literally. Guy asks for burger with nothing on it, Ed gives him a bun, with nothing on it. Because a meat patty would be something, duh.

So it was dumb as hell, but I laughed a lot more than I expected I would. Only half of those laughs were at Sinbad's ridiculous outfits.

Brainstorming Cable's Death

Right before Deadpool trapped him with an MRI, then hacked off his arm, Cable said everyone had a plan to kill Deadpool, and we were going to see his. But let's face it, it would involve dismemberment, and then some combination of acid, concrete, and dumping the remains at the bottom of the ocean. That's everybody's plan to kill Deadpool, except for Marvel, who plan to do it by putting him in too many books and making everyone tired of him.

What I was wondering is, what the people's plans to kill Cable? We haven't seen the end of Wade's yet; I'm hoping it involves more than simply beheading or shooting him. Granting that those are Wade's two favorite ways kill people, he can be more creative than that.

I would suggest going back in time and simply making sure little Nathan Summers Askani Boyardee is never born. You'd think it'd be easy. All it involves is keeping Scott Summers from having sex, and how hard can that be, right? Based on X-Men history, turns out it's surprisingly difficult. Even without Mr. Sinister being the creepiest fan fiction writer ever ("I'm going to introduce a new character who looks just like Jean, but isn't, and Scott will fall in love and marry her and they'll have a baby, and then I'll abduct the baby!")

So that's out. How about a post-hypnotic command, something to exploit Cable's love of pouches? Force him to make sure everything is evenly distributed between all his pouches. What will he do when he has 37 bullets, and 15 bags of trail mix, but 117 pouches? While he's on a run to the store for more junk to even it out, you run him over with a car.

Put a reflective surface in front of him, see if he'll smash into it thinking it's Stryfe, and kill himself like birds do sometimes.

Tell him he loses all his guns in the divorce settlement with Wade and let grief do the rest.

See if you can convince Younger Cable that his older self has been turned to evil by showing him edited highlights, and let them go at it (preferably in a building you filled with explosives, just in case).

And so on.

What are your ideas for inventive ways to kill Cable?

God, The Devil, and Bob 1.8 - Lonely at the Top

Plot: God catches Bob nailing his neighbor's garage door shut, as payback for the neighbor's leaves landing in Bob's yard. Bob doesn't take kindly to God criticizing him, and implies God doesn't know what it's like for the Average Joe. So he has no one to blame but himself when god shows up at his job the next day as Arthur, from the Ypsilanti plant. Where he proceeds to piss off all Bob's coworkers by actually doing his job, rather than just screwing around all day.

Then he invites himself to Bob's for dinner, and uses his powers to override Donna's free will to let him stay the night. He does help Megan sort through some friendship issues. I thought the kids were the Devil's from ages 13-20.

Having ruined all other facets of Bob's life, God decides he wants to be on the company softball team. Too bad he sucks. But he's still able to convince Bob to let him bat in the biggest moment of the game, and then fails miserably. Having now guaranteed Bob will be murdered at work tomorrow for not pinch-hitting for his savior, God finally admits that he just wanted a chance to hang out with some people, like he used to do in the old days. Bob understands a little better, but still draws the line at letting God come in for dinner again.

Also, while all this was going on, the Devil first tried to commit acts of depravity. But without God trying to work against him, there was no challenge. So then he tried teaming up with Bob to get God to get back to work, and having failed at that, then decided to try and do good himself. His attempts at horticulture were. . . not so successful, depending on how you'd want to measure that.

Quote of the Episode: Devil - 'This is rock bottom Smeck. The Creator of the Universe is adjusting his cup.'

Smeck Smacks: 0 (18 overall).

Other: Eddie Harris in Major League once raised the question of whether Christ can hit a curveball. We may not know about him, but it isn't looking good for his dad.

Not a good look for God that he messed with Donna's free will twice. Especially considering that even the Devil, when he was trying to score with her while disguised as Bob last week, didn't do that. Even when Donna didn't do what he wanted, and he was reduced to pleading with her (unsuccessfully), he still didn't mess with her free will. And he's supposed to be the King of All Evil, although he really comes off more as a rebellious teen here. Once God isn't paying attention, he has no idea what to do with himself.

Anyway, between abusing his power to overstay his welcome, and cheating repeatedly at Chutes and Ladders, it's not hard to see why people stopped wanting him around. He also dropped a tree on Charlie, one of the guys at the factory, so he could play third base. Then tried to deny it. That's without even getting into what God admitted to Bob, that he used to come visit in the old days, but then he'd lose his temper over something and, well, there's a reason the phrase, "Go Old Testament on their asses" exists. God's like that guy who's OK until you get a few beers in him, then you gotta watch out or he does crazy shit. As Bob mentions to Donna when she comments on Arthur's peculiar sense of humor, ask Job.

When the Devil is trying to decide what unspeakable act he should commit while God's not minding the shop, Smeck uses the idea of Tony Danza on Broadway as an example. Via Google, I learn that is actually a thing that exists. I'm guessing it was horrible? I'm not the person qualified to judge, even if I were willing to view it.

The Devil did get the DH installed in the National League, which is truly his lowest moment.

Someone Didn't Listen To Their Future Self

Reading last week's Gwenpool, it feels like Gwen missed one of the points her Evil Future Self tried to teach her.

Future Gwen had two overarching, connected points. One, that the universe "wants" her to be a villain. That's what a person whose power is knowing all the secrets would be, she said, and when she tried not to be, she was punished by external forces*. Gwen's aware of that one, simply actively ignoring it in her attempt to get noticed by the Avengers.

But Future Gwen also demonstrated the pecking order of the universe, that she is not going to be allowed to kill Spider-Man, whether it's Miles or Peter. She tried, and after a few pages, it turned into some awful nightmare for Miles, but that's all. The idea being Gwen isn't important enough to be a major mover and shaker (if such a character even exists). No change she tries to inflict on a big-time character is likely to stick. She might be allowed to shave Rocket Raccoon, he might even spend a couple issues in his book being teased by Star-Lord and Groot for being hairless. But she's not taking one of his arms. Although talking raccoon with cybernetic limbs, hmm. . .

He could use Cable's arm once Deadpool's done with it.

Anyway, Future Gwen felt that if nothing she did mattered, she could and should do whatever she wanted. It would all be undone eventually anyway. Don't cry, Rick Jones, eventually a Steve Rogers who isn't a Nazi will emerge from the rubble. It meshed well with her belief the universe expects her to be a villain, as doing whatever she wanted translated to acts that harmed others.

Present Gwen doesn't seem too worried about that one. She's planning to audition for the Avengers by bringing down Dr. Doom, which ignores two things. One, that Doom is trying to be a good guy these days, an actual one, not his usual shtick of doing something horrible and claiming it's for a good cause. Two, odds are she's going to try the same stunt she pulled on Paste-Pot Pete, dump Doom into the gaps between panels.

Setting aside the legalities of that, and the fact that Doom isn't going to be as flummoxed as poor Pete was (Doom visits Hell regularly, after all), there's one other problem. Gwenpool isn't going to be allowed to take Dr. Doom off the table. Doom is one of the A-list guys at Marvel, even given the FF's somewhat bereft status. He has his own ongoing - written by Bendis, no less. Doom can lose fights to people below his weight class, but taking him out entirely is another matter. It's extremely unlikely the universe will allow it.

It is possible I'm not giving Gwen enough credit. She dumped Pete out of a panel into the space between, but there are other panels around, so there are presumably ways back out of that space. Or ways for Gwen to pop back in later and pick someone back up. Maybe she just wants Pete to think about his actions. Maybe she set all this up for him to fall into a panel that dumps him in jail. And she thinks the same idea will work on Doom. I still don't think it's going to work - Marvel isn't letting Doom get tossed in the pokey by Gwenpool - but she might have given this more thought than I think.

* Although that power should have become increasingly ineffective as her knowledge grew more outdated. What, an amoral future version of a character might not have been entirely truthful with their past self? The hell you say! Or it could be that her ability to move between panels gave her access to anywhere, so she could pick up new secrets whenever she wanted.

A Midpoint Sketchtober Update

The sketch I did the last time I checked in, did not go as hoped. Remarkable how I can draw a friggin' earthworm in a super-suit, but I can't draw a human throwing a baseball.The difficulty with people reared its head the next night, for Goldeneye, then the day after that, it was trouble with horses. The next couple of nights were decent rebounds.

I'm partway through the Gamecube Top 5 now, and it's going much the same as the others. I'm reasonably happy with the ideas I'm coming up with, the execution is another matter. Anyway, here's a selection from Days 6-10.

Day 6, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. I intended this to be like one of those comic covers where Peter Parker and Harry Osborn are fighting at the bottom of the cover, but dominating the rest are spectral forms of Spider-Man and Green Goblin in poses mirroring the civilian i.d.s. Somewhat undercut that by focusing more of the page on the Pink Ranger fighting the Putty Patrol, but to be fair, the idea only hit me halfway through. I was coming off the Mega Man 4 sketch, and I was feeling my oats. "I've got this, I'm going to handle this challenge like a boss!" Silly Calvin of two weeks ago.

Day 7, Sonic the Hedgehog. This is the Scrap Brain Zone, the last Zone before Robotnik's fortress. This was my favorite level, in large part because of the music. It comes after an underwater zone, which are always a pain in the ass in Sonic games. Nothing like being forced to worry about drowning, while also being forced to move really slowly. I didn't want to do a featureless oval for the up-close Sonic, but I probably should have left it at drawing just his face, rather than adding the arms and limbs. Still one of my better Sonics.

Day 8, Earthworm Jim. The Snot a Problem level, where you engage in a battle of bungee jumping with Major Mucus, the loser plummeting to his death in the jaws of the monster below. My favorite level, but also preceded by a pain-in-the-ass underwater level. The angle of Jim's body compared to his head is off, but I like the placement of the monster, and the spinning of Major Mucus. Besides, he's a worm in a super-suit, his movements and the suits can be independent of each other, right? Right.

Day 9, Batman Returns. I thought of drawing the Level 3 fight - Batman vs. a Giant Robot - would seem random. So the final boss fight it is. Batman versus the Penguin and his duck tank! Which I always solved by using all the specials I'd saved up to call the Bat Ski-boat and blast him to pieces. Just hit him with those until he died. Boo-ya! But I sure as hell ain't drawing that. Lucky if I can draw a damn duck tank.

And I'm not showing you Day 10. Majors Pro Baseball nearly broke me.

What I Bought 10/14/2017

I found one of the two comics I needed from earlier this month last weekend. Better than none. And this was the one I really wanted, so that works out well.

Giant Days #31, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (penciler), Liz Fleming and Irene Flores (inker), Whitney Cogar and Kieran Quigley (colorists), Jim Campbell (letterer) - However that picture was put upon on the wall, I'm certain McGraw would have been appalled.

Daisy is staying at Ingrid's to avoid Esther and Susan, so they enlist McGraw to try and speak with her. He, in turn, enlists Ed to keep an eye out for the Spanish, who he thinks are after him for breaking Emilia's heart. Certainly her very large brother is after him, and finds him right as Daisy's pool sharking is about to solve the electric bill problem, by parting some stupid rugby fans of money they didn't deserve anyway. She had to abandon the game to save McGraw and Ed, so instead, the rugby lads will waste it on beer and foods which will guarantee their premature deaths of cholesterol in their early 40s. Works for me. And Susan sold her scooter to pay the bill, so that problem is resolved.

There is still the issue of Daisy's friends hating her girlfriend, which is going to have to be dealt with. I'm somewhat concerned Ingrid thinks there has to be a choice. I feel like there a few things she could do to be less annoying, and then they'd be fine with her. Susan and Esther don't want Daisy to be sad, but Ingrid is an extremely rude houseguest. That should probably involve Susan and Esther speaking to Ingrid directly, but ha ha, that's not happening.

Allison consistently fills this comic with good one-liners and gags that make me chuckle. Ed's 'He seemed very, very relaxed about injuring you.' Ingrid's demand to know about it if Daisy saw Esther and Susan kiss (I would also like to know about it). Most pages end on some sort of joke, and more of them land than not, ably complemented by the efforts of all the members of the art team.

Which is a little bigger this month, with an extra inker and colorist each. I think I can see a small shift in a couple of places. One, at the point when Daisy, McGraw and Ed concoct their pool hustling scheme. Something is just a little off from the surrounding pages. The lines surrounding McGraw's face are lighter than normal, the lines under his eyes are gone, the his coloration is lighter. The figurework is a little simpler, especially noticeable in his facial hair. It's not bad, the expressions and body language are still intact, the humor still works.  It's just one of those slight differences you notice sometimes.

The rugby bros trying to pump each other up to test themselves against Daisy again is good for a grin. That panel showing how McGraw broke things off with Kylie is, well, horrifying, but Sarin and I'm assuming Fleming and Cogar make it work. Although Kylie appears to be reacting more to McGraw's tighty whities than his twinkly mustache. Either way, it's funny and horrifying.

Kung-Fu Panda 3

Po has to save the day from yet another threat emerging from the past, but he'll need to master using chi to do it. That requires understanding who he is, something that maybe his birth father could help him with, since Po hasn't had any chance to learn what being a panda is about.

I can't help feeling bad for Po. All these enemies he's had to deal with were someone else's problem originally, and they've passed the buck down the line to him. When Oogway loses to Kai at the start of the film (enabling Kai to escape the Spirit Realm), he says it was never his destiny to defeat Kai, that he passed that to another. Meaning Po.

The idea comes up a few times that no one remembers Kai. It's been 500 years, and even though he was once the great Master Oogway's best friend, he's barely a footnote. And that frustrates him, pisses him off. I wondered about him as a forgotten piece of the past, showing up while Po tries to connect with a part of himself he'd thought lost forever. Po tries to learn new thing, grow and adapt, but Kai sticks to the same things he was doing when Oogway originally defeated him.

Although they kind of covered that ground in the last film, with Po and Shen each trying to deal with traumas of their past. Shen was focused on settling scores and was destroyed, Po ultimately accepted what he learned and moved forward.

Still, Po wound up with two dads, which was sweet. The whole subplot where Mr. Ping fears he'll be shoved aside now that the birth father has miraculously shown up was handled well. Li isn't portrayed as some bad guy out to split Po and Mr. Ping apart, he simply wants to reconnect with the son he thought was gone. And eventually the two dads come to an understanding over that.

It was probably the ads I saw in the lead-up to the release of the film, but I expected Mei-Mei to play a larger role in the film. But she shows up partway in, flirts with and confuses Po immediately, and nothing is really developed beyond that. I'm not asking for a full-on romance subplot, but I thought she would get a little more focus. She got about as much as the toddler panda that wouldn't stop following Tigress around.

Which is one of the things I noticed watching, there were certain parts that felt half-formed. The bit I mentioned with Mei-Mei, and there was a scene with Crane and Mantis I thought was going to build to something. I guess it was more about Kai's increasing threat, but it's been rare in these movies that the Furious Five get much screen time when Po isn't around to hog the character development, so I thought it might mean something. The movie is only 90 minutes, so it isn't as though it was overly stuffed.

What I Bought 10/12/2017 - Part 2

I haven't done nearly as much with my scanner as I intended so far. Just no time. Maybe next month, when this sketching project is over. Also, I have no new comics coming out this week. Bummer.

Ms. Marvel #23, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Diego Olortegui (artist), Ian Herring (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - Someday I should try hanging out on top of a moving train, see what that's like. Answer, probably terrifying.

So a train is slowly out of control, and Kamala is trying to figure out what to do about it. And she has some company. The Red Dagger, who she met on her trip back to Karachi in issue 12, showed up in town. As did Kareem, the friend-in-law she met during that trip. Kamala's still not sure about herself after  decent section of the locals revealed they blame her for things that go wrong, so she's a little on edge, but also kind of blase. Like, I get stopping a train is difficult to do safely, but it almost feels like she uses it as a chance to take a trip through the countryside.

I was initially distressed to see yet another new artist on the book, but I like Diego Olortegui's work.  It's very expressive, and he's quite good at the little bits of humor. Nakia reaching across the aisle to gently wrench Mike's swooning gaze away from Kareem. Also, now that Kamala's powers are moving more in the direction of Mr. Fantastic's, Olortegui gets to play with that. Drawing Kamala flattening out to go under the bridge, then showing her only partially reinflated as they emerge from the other end. Kamala and Aamir's happy faces on page 2 looked a little strange. That might just be that Aamir's face doesn't look quite right. He's usually drawn with a much longer, thinner face and larger nose, none of which he has here. That might be something to work on going forward, but for the most part, everyone is still on model.

As always, Herring's colors help to maintain a consistent feel to the book. Even as the style shifts from artist to artist, he has those warm tones, the yellows and oranges that help it always feel like you're reading the same book.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #25, by Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Rico Renzi (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) -  How about you? You ready to follow Squirrel Girl into the jaws of death? Like it says on the cover, clearly, the answer is no.

Doreen must keep Ultron occupied and save Kraven while Nancy and Stefan rally the other programmers to devise a program that will occupy all Ultron's memory so he can't do anything else and they can reset him. Keeping Ultron occupied is difficult but fortunately, Kraven trained the dinosaurs to come when you whistle. You know how to whistle right?

I'll be curious to see if Ultron reappears down the line as a benevolent plant android, whatever that might look like. I am not convinced planting it in Maureen's garden is such a good idea, given the high probability, based on past experience, that Ultron will still choose to be evil.

Overall, a solid storyarc. Didn't overstay it's welcome. Got some dinosaurs, got some Ultron, Nancy flirted with the idea of a romance, but she and Stefan opted against it. Doreen got to wear a ridiculous Savage Land outfit, as you are often required to do when visiting the Savage Land. Squirrel Girl got to use her rarely used - for entirely valid reasons, including hygiene and not being the sort of person who enjoys stabbing people - knuckle spikes. That's not how I would have pictured them. I had figured there was one for each finger, like pointy brass knuckles. That's OK.

The part where Nancy repeated Superman's "world of cardboard" speech from the end of Justice League Unlimited was a bridge too far. I get it's supposed to be funny that Squirrel Girl is gonna really cut loose, and that what that means is. . . knuckle spikes. But it still felt cheap just ripping the dialogue off like that.

The panel of the dinosaurs tearing Ultron apart, done in the classic Looney Tunes "big cloud of dust obscuring most of the fight" style was really good. I'm going to guess Erica Henderson enjoys drawing dinosaurs. At least, I hope she does or this was a horrible storyline for North to inflict upon her.

I'm disappointed we didn't get to see DINOSAUR ULTRON, but also with laser eyes, jet feet, chainsaw hands, and x-ray vision. Guess I know what I'd ask Erica Henderson to draw if I ever had the opportunity to commission a sketch from her.

God, The Devil and Bob 1.7 - Bob Gets Committed

Plot: Bob is rescued from a night spent taking care of measles-ridden Andy by Donna, so that he can resume his planned trip to the strip club with Mike and Barry. But God is waiting in the parking lot with an assignment. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

God asks Bob to deface a billboard by writing "SMILE" on it. The highway patrolman is surprisingly understanding, until the Devil uses a homunculus to make Bob assault the cop. Bob's arguing in the back of the patrol car with "the Devil" gets him a trip to Grassy Knoll Asylum. While Bob tries to devise an escape with the help of the other patients, the Devil assumes Bob's identity. Two things go wrong for the King of All the is Evil: One, Donna is entirely resistant to his attempts to charm, command, plead her into sex. Two, the Devil is apparently not immune to measles. And during the course of Donna caring for "Bob", the Devil falls for her.

How's Bob going to get the Devil out of his bed? Maybe with a little help from the musical library of Tony Orlando.

Quote of the Episode: Smeck - 'This is so cool. Why don't we do this more often?' Devil - 'Because it's cheap, Smeck. We're better than this.'

Smeck Smacks: 1 (18 overall).

Other: Smeck likes Stratego, which I remember seeing ads for in '90s Marvel comics, but have never played. The ads featured would-be alien invaders who think it is the key to Earth's defenses. The alien infiltrator was so proud he'd brought it back to his bosses. Boy, will his face be red when it turns out Earth's defense strategy is, "argue among ourselves, maybe throws some nukes at the problem."

One of the patients, named Fred, introduces himself to Bob while dressed up as a doctor. The orderly arrives swiftly to take back the clipboard and lab coat. And a fish-shaped Jell-O mold. I'm not clear on why Fred had that, but I'm also not clear on why they made him give it up. Maybe the thought of making Jell-O brings him joy. Let Fred have his joy!

God brought the Devil a ficus while he was sick, which ended up with the Devil grumbling about wanting a plumeria. He did take it with him back to Hell. I can't imagine it'll do well in that dry climate.

Andy saw through the Devil's disguise immediately, although he believed Megan when she said Dad was a pod person, so he wasn't quite in target. Splashing Bob with the bucket of water mixed with chemicals was a good try, though.

The Devil wound up being right that God making Bob deface that billboard was just the opening move in a larger plan. The balloon Bob stole had a smiley face on it, and it briefly lands right on top of the billboard. Which makes people stop and notice and be happy. I'm confused by this world where cars stopping on the freeway to gawk at something on the side of the road doesn't prompt angry honking and profanity from the vehicles behind them.

The patients end up taking the balloon back to the hospital, which is good, I guess? The show doesn't pretend like they just magically got over their troubles because Bob let them come with him. Or that they aren't aware of the fact they have a condition? I'm not sure what Bernie's was, although he understood immediately when said the Devil was after his family.

It was nice that Bob, having returned home and driven the Devil out, immediately got suspicious when Donna mentioned he'd been in bed a lot recently. 'Cause then he started trying to figure out if she and "Bob" got up to anything, and Donna got to make a few cutting remarks in the direction of his sexual prowess and intelligence. I'm sure she'd been consciously holding back while he was under the weather.

What I Bought 10/12/2017 - Part 1

Got four of the five comics that came out this week. Maybe I'll find the other and Giant Days from last week over the weekend. As it is, this constitutes almost all of the Marvel comics I'm getting this month. So let's start with two characters setting off on dubious new paths.

Despicable Deadpool #287, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Scott Koblish (artist), Nick Filardi (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Wade, that is no way to treat your action figures.

Deadpool is trying to kill Cable, with a chainsaw. Little low-tech, but OK, still a solid old-school murder weapon. The fight progresses to a hospital, and Wade isn't doing so good until Cable mentions Captain America. At which point Wade immobilizes Cable with an MRI, and cuts off his bionic arm. Before he can finish things, the Time Variance Authority arrives to arrest Cable for eventually becoming Stryfe. Leaving Wade with no recourse but to cut off his own arm, attach Cable's in its place, and use the time machine in it to chase after them.

I mean, I'm sure there were other ways to accomplish that, but the removing limbs approach was what Wade opted for. Pretty effective way to show he's not messing around. I mean, he cut his husband's arm off, that's severe.

I thought there'd be a little more reluctance on both sides, but Duggan plays them as less close friends than I was used to when Nicieza wrote them. Like they've both just been waiting for a chance to resume hostilities. Still, the moment where Cable wants to know why was telling. Once again, Deadpool has managed to surprise him, this time by deciding to try and kill him. That Cable even cares, that he doesn't just assume it's for money, has to mean something.

Filardi needs to brighten the colors up. Everything is murky, and combined with Koblish's tendency to get creative in how he transitions from panel to panel (or differentiates one panel from another), there were a few times I got lost halfway through a page. Had to stop, back up, figure out what was happening. I like the transitions, the ways Koblish leads the eye - he uses the chainsaw to point to the next panel as it's swatted from Wade's grasp at one point - but sometimes, it's a little much.

Anyway, I am still entirely on board with this arc, even if I figure it will go about as well as Deadpool's attempt to kill Sabretooth 25 issues ago went.

Unbelievable Gwenpool #21, by Christopher Hastings (writer), Irene Strychalski (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - That is an incredibly horrible costume for Trapster, I don't care how intentional it is.

Gwen wants to be an Avenger, and is out fighting villains. Who she then takes into that space between the panels, and dumps them into the void. Which seems a lot like killing them, which should not get you a place on the Avengers, but after Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, whoever the fuck else these days, sure why not? But Gwen's after big game. She wants to take down Doom, ignoring the fact that a) she should understand that in the pecking order of the Marvel Universe, they ain't letting her kill Doom, and more importantly b) he's not a villain right now. Because things have kept happening in the Marvel Universe since Gwen arrived, and her knowledge is getting increasingly out of date.

I can't believe she did that to Paste-Pot Pete. We need villains who just come up with weird inventions to rob armored cars, Gwen! They're a vital break from all the mass murderers and world conquerors.

Sooner or later, Hastings was going to have to address that Gwen's knowledge of the Marvel U. is going to be less and less relevant the longer she's out of the loop. Which is perhaps why she's gained this new power to move through the gutters, the spaces between panels. Her old power was knowing everyone's secrets, but that's going to be less accurate going forward. This is her new thing, though she's still kinda of using it like a villain. Making people disappear into Limbo is not the action of a hero Gwen. Knives did that to people in Trigun, because he was a genocidal lunatic asshole. Don't be like Knives.

I was certain I'd seen Strychalski's art somewhere before, but I can't figure out where. So perhaps it's Rosenberg's coloring that makes it feel similar to some of the other artists that have worked on the book? There's not a lot of fighting to judge her action sequences by, but she has a knack for some expressive faces. The Doombot's barely contained eyeroll at her "incredible new moves" went really well with the dialogue in that panel. The look of terror on poor Pete's face. Farewell Pete. Now who will Deadpool trick/coerce into helping him?

Nothing But Explosions and Gun Fights. And Car Chases.

I'm going to step away from the 5-person team of fictional character approach somewhat this time around. Instead, we're going to take a bunch of gun-toting action stars and throw them up against each other. For the hell of it. One of those movies with a bunch of killers all running around trying to take out the same target and each other. Chaos ensues.

The Target: John Wick (Keanu Reeves, John Wick) - Who better these days to serve as the prize that brings everyone out? I still haven't seen the sequel, but I gather that John succeeded in pissing off still more people by the end of it. The kind of people who can find the very best and get them to come try to kill Mr. Wick.

I don't believe any of the people listed below will make the mistake of killing his dog, but we can't rule it out. In which case all bets are off as to how much stuff is going to get destroyed. But if he's being pursued by a relatively small number of experts, it might keep the body count down. Fewer hapless mooks being mowed down. I still expect many windows to be shot out and cars to be destroyed, naturally. It'll turn out the one who put the hit on Wick is a major store display window manufacturer.

A couple of the others could potentially be negotiated with, if Wick would provide information or simply stand down. I don't expect him to take that approach. At this stage, too many people have tried to kill him, and bothering to operate by any set of rules has only hamstrung him. So screw it, anybody who comes after him ends up in a bodybag if he's able to manage it.

The Reluctantly Unretired Hitman: Martin Blank (John Cusack, Grosse Pointe Blank) - Well, you had to figure somebody was going to object to Martin's actions at the end of the movie. The NSA, for killing their agents, some of the guys Grocer was getting together for his little consortium. Whoever wanted him to kill Minnie Driver's father. Point being, he wouldn't get to just walk away. They never do, right? So he can either try to protect his loved ones while going to war against his own faceless enemy with vast resources, or, he can go try and kill one really dangerous guy. I think he'd opt for the second choice. At least he has a clear picture of his target that way.

I expect Martin to try and kill Wick at a distance. Sniper rifles, maybe try dripping poison into his mouth while sleeping, though I can't see that working here. I would imagine Wick's a very light sleeper by this point. Maybe the classic remote controlled car packed with explosives trick. That's always a crowd pleaser, and good for prompting yet another chase sequence.

He won't be able to keep his distance forever, and we'll see what happens if Wick brings the fight up close and personal. Martin can be quite creative about using whatever is at hand. I would expect their fights to be silent. Martin isn't going to freely offer up an explanation to his target, and Wick isn't going to bother to ask. Martin is there to kill him, Wick is unwilling to die and is therefore going to try killing Martin instead. What's there to talk about, other than who they buy their suits from?

The Badass with a Past: Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White, Black Dynamite) - I'm admittedly struggling to decide how Black Dynamite ends up in this. Maybe the CIA approached him again, and convinced him Wick is a threat to the Community. Or maybe John passed through and had to fend off some attacks, and people were hurt or killed. I could see Black Dynamite starting with the cracker that brought that violence there, and using him as bait for the other people responsible.

Maybe he wants to chat with Wick because he thinks he has the inside scoop on some kung-fu treachery. Or I don't know, something, something, Jimmy Carter, handwave, peanuts, George Washington Carver's last will and testament, bullshit. It shouldn't be straightforward, but I do like the idea that Dynamite's not so much interested in killing John Wick (which he could of course do handily), as getting the people interested in Wick being dead. Black Dynamite is never satisfied with just beating up the low-level troublemakers, he's going to pursue the case all the way to the top.

So Dynamite keeps popping up to attack John, and John seemingly keeps making narrow escapes. But it's really a plan y Dynamite to run John into some other killer's trap, so Dynamite can get a clear shot at that guy instead. At some point, Wick's going to figure that out and try to turn things around. Which might only succeed in pissing Black Dynamite off. Which is bad news for everyone else. . .

The Unlucky Lawman: Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg, Hot Fuzz) - I considered John McClane, but that man deserves a break. According to the commentary on the DVD, Sgt. Angel got himself a taste for the high-octane, fire two guns while jumping through the air and going "Ahhhhh". Now he can have all of it he can handle. Pity they used up most of the arsenal they confiscated from that farmer.

Angel is going to spend much of the time reacting. Gunfights erupting in his town, him trying to find the responsible parties. Which wouldn't seem like much of a problem in a small English village, I would imagine these other guys would stand out, but they are professionals. Besides, he can't just go around arresting whatever scowling guy impeccably dressed all in black he sees. That would be profiling. Also, the funeral director would object, and they're probably going to need him,a s the mortality rate skyrockets. And Nicholas has to worry about protecting the community, which means not letting civilians get killed. Which limits his ability to go into hot pursuit.

I'm not sure how willing John will be to kill a cop, which might give Angel the chance to arrest him. Which is going to be the thing that really puts Angel at a disadvantage. The others won't be in this to take prisoners, but he will be, at least at the start. Also, relatively speaking, Nicolas Angel's a newbie when it comes to this stuff. All the others are old pros. Still, Wick is human, and if you can catch him when he's tired, or distracted, he can be captured. So Angel has a shot, if he can pick his spot. Of course, then he has to hold him, both keeping Wick from escaping, and any of the others from getting in at him.

The Wild Card: Chev Chelios (Jason Statham, Crank) - I guess it really has to be after Crank 2, since he was basically out commission/nearly dead in between the two. So he has his heart back, he doesn't have to electrocute himself periodically to keep the crappy artificial heart running. That's good news. But there's always got to be some sort of complication. Probably needs a lot of expensive meds after all this trauma and surgery and whatnot. Probably ordinary hits don't pay those bills fast enough. You need people who want John Wick's eyes or some freaky nonsense, and are willing to pay through the nose.

So Chelios might not need Wick dead. If John is willing to surrender his eyes, he can live. Or maybe he needs to capture him alive, at least long enough to remove the parts he needs. In the likely event Wick refuses to cooperate, Chelios is going to be the guy who gets a little wild. The guy who smashes a Brinks truck through a wall while John is in the midst of fighting some other killer and tries to run them both over. Hey, as long as the eyes are fine, the rest is irrelevant. If Black Dynamite tries that stunt with the helicopter with the magnet on it, Chev will probably just jump out of the truck and try to use John or the other killer as a cushion.

I figure Chev Chelios is not the sort of person who becomes more careful once they're aware of their mortality. Having survived what he has, having seemingly been dead at least twice, only to pop back to life, he just might not worry about it that much.

I wanted to throw Colonel Mortimer (Lee van Cleef, For a Few Dollars More) into the mix, but it felt like arguing he'd survived 150 years after the end of that movie was stretching things a bit. Though it's perhaps rude of me to tell the man he can't live a century and a half. Of course, you could toss any hardened killer or tough cop in that you wanted - I mean, this thing is devoid of Chow Yun Fat or Clint Eastwood - these were just the ones who came to mind for me.

And all this taking place in the English countryside would at least be a change of pace for most of these guys. They mostly operate in cities, the fresh air will do them good. Enjoy diving behind all those stone fences, and find all kind of secret passages inside of castles of manor houses. Then shoot at people from them.

Sketchtober Update

Made it through Day 10, which gets me through the Game Gear selections. Most of which went pretty well, although there is, as always, something that nags me about each one. An angle that's off, an appendage that isn't conveying what it needs to. The usual shit. Now it's on to the N64, where I have next to no idea what I'm going to do for most of these. Maybe I didn't think I'd make it this far.

The scanner showed up a week ahead of time, and I did say I would post some of the pieces. Day 1, Kirby's Adventure.

The Level 6 boss fight with Metal Knight. In retrospect, I regret two things. First, that I got too enamored of the game animation for Kirby's swing, which is that big crescent thing in the middle of the picture. A narrow arcing would have been better, and allowed for me to extend Metal Knight's sword to better convey the parry. Or, I could have been less hung up on the specifics of the fight and gone with my other idea, which was Kirby using the Mike power against him (basically, Kirby screeching into a microphone). That might have looked cooler. Maybe I'll try it later.

Days 2 and 3 didn't go as I hoped, so we're skipping to Day 4, Paperboy.

OK, that's not nearly enough obstacles for Thursday. It's more like Tuesday, Wednesday at worst. Scale is off, the Grim Reaper must be 20 feet tall compared to the guy with the jackhammer or the breakdancer. The Reaper not casting a shadow is intentional. I don't always remember to finish the shading, but it wasn't the case here. I thought it would emphasize its otherworldly nature. A looming shadow brought to life, not affected by the surrounding environment.

Day 5, Mega Man 4.

I don't know why the boss fight with Skull Man is the one I think of with this game. My success rate on even reaching him was maybe 60%. My winning percentage when I did get that far was considerably less than 60%. All because of that stupid skull force field he could produce. Guaranteed to turn any attack you launched into a harmlessly deflected bright orb. I made Mega Man's boots a little big, but I looked up stuff online and his upper legs are really small in comparison. I needed to finish shading on the legs. Well I need to do more shading on a lot of these. I really like how Skull Man turned out, but relative close-ups on face are one of the few things I can normally draw well.

I don't really have anything else to say, so until tomorrow.

Black Snow

Marcos and his wife Laura are left to handle the affairs of Marcos' father after his death. This includes burying his father's ashes next to one of Marcos' brothers, Juan, and finalizing the approval to sell a large plot of the family's land to some Canadian firm. All this falls to Marcos because his sister Sabrina is in a mental hospital, and his other brother, Salvador, has lived alone in a cabin on the plot of land to be sold for the last 30 years. Finalizing the sale is going to require going out there and confronting Salvador, as well as the past, something Marcos really doesn't want to do.

There is one surprise reveal that isn't much of a surprise, related to Juan's death and Salvador living out there. I'm sure you can guess. There are some other aspects to it, on the other hand, I didn't suspect. They make it much darker, and Salvador's fate that much sadder.

Everyone is telling half-truths, everyone is keeping secrets. Because it's easier, they don't have to confront unpleasant facts about themselves or the ones they care about. In Marcos' case, he may have been living the lies so long that he really believes them. It's hard to tell. He tries so hard to avoid the issues, and in light of things Laura learns, it's hard to take him at face value.

At the very end, after Laura's made a decision, the film ends with her looking directly at us. Which I didn't grasp the meaning of. She had done that a few minutes earlier, but it turned out she was seeing an image of Marcos as a younger man in her mind (the movie shows glimpses of the past frequently, and sometimes moves between past and present seamlessly). Is she seeing someone else, or asking us to keep the secret with her? Making us complicit? Man, that's bullshit.

The awkward nature of the conversations between Salvador and Marcos feels very real. Marcos trying to play for sympathy, rebuild some sort of connection with the brother he's basically forgotten, and Salvador not having any of it. It's obvious he just wants to do the task and wash his hands of it. The whole time you can see Salvador waiting for something from Marcos, and Marcos continuing to seemingly dance around it, feign ignorance or faulty memory. So Salvador makes it difficult on him. He responds a little better to Laura, who is genuinely interested in Salvador. He's her husband's brother, part of her new family. She wants to know about him, and learn more about Marcos as well. Her curiosity feeds into a growing doubt about Marcos as she sees new sides of him.

What I Bought 10/4/2017

Of the two books I was looking for that came out last week, the first issue of the new Tick series was not the one I expected the store to have. Really, I didn't expect it to have either book. One is better than none!

Tick 2017 #1, by Cullen Bunn and Jimmy Z (writers), Douglas Paszkiewicz (artist), Erika Rolbiecki (colorist), Jeff McClelland (writer, back-up story), Duane Redhead (artist, back-up story) - I've read Arsenic Lullaby often enough I recognize how Paszkiewicz draws heads, in that peculiar manner that makes them look kind of flattened front-to-back. Those ninjas should probably be more in a ready stance. They have to know it isn't gonna end well for the ones on the crane.

Tick and Arthur survive a combined assault from Murder Clowns and ninjas, but a shipping container is dropped on the Tick, and the combination of head trauma and all the pulverized sugary cereal unlocks repressed memories. As well as the ability to speak French and play piano. The next day, Arthur returns home from a food run and learns Tick's booked them a bus ride to the Canadian Rockies, in search of La Chambre Rouge, which is The Red Room, correct? Why couldn't it be German?

The back-up story is about a poor ninja who tries to bluff our heroes about the contents of a small case he's carrying. It ends with the Tick stealing his lunch, which doesn't seem very heroic. But the universe rights itself as the lunch contains circus peanuts, and neither of our heroes enjoy the horrible taste.

So we're going to explain the Tick's origin? This seems like one of those things that's only been hinted at for so long, the imagination of the each reader has come up with their own answer better than any someone else can devise. 'Course, there's no guarantee we'll get answers. The Tick may even be remembering someone else's memories. That seems like the kind of bizarre thing he'd do. I suppose the important part of the story will be the friends they make along the way. Or enemies, more likely.

 I enjoy Paszkiewicz' art, the little touches he adds. One of the clowns is pulling a ten-pin to use out of his mouth, like a reverse sword-swallower. The box on the wall in Arthur's room labeled "Emergency Wings". And he really captures Arthur's schlubby, nervous demeanor in the body language. The big fight scene that comprises much of the issue is fine; I don't think that's necessarily Paszkiewicz' strength as an artist, but he can get the job done. Knows when to draw back for a wider shot to give a sense of the number of foes, or go close-in for a bunch of narrow panels of the Tick dispatching enemies.

I kept expecting some sorts of punchlines. Reach the end of a page, here's a joke or a gag. Not really the case. Maybe if Paszkiewicz (one of these times I'll remember the "z" the first attempt) was writing it also. I'm curious to see how Bunn does, although I don't know the breakdown of labor on the writing between him and Jimmy, or how Paszkiewicz is involved in that side of things. I haven't been terribly impressed with the stuff I've read of Bunn's in the past, but it was all Marvel stuff, and much more serious in tone than this. So we'll see.

God, The Devil, and Bob 1.6 - God's Favorite

Plot: God is toying with plans for a new universe, and has gotten caught up in it enough to stand up the Devil for both handball and golf. So inconsiderate. Back in the realm of mortal concerns, Megan is complaining that the family never does anything together. However, Donna's attempts to promote family activities only draw Megan's scorn.

Bob has become convinced that as God's prophet, he is the recipient of good fortune. Like his toast landing butter side up. This belief gains strength when God casually refers to Bob as his special guy while visiting him in the shower. After surviving a mishap at work with a bolt gun and a smelter, Bob is certain he is indestructible. The Devil, dropping by to pump Bob for info on God's plans, pretends that Bob is correct about the position of "God's Favorite".

While a visit to Fun Freddie's Family Fun Center allows Megan and Donna to bond over gory arcade games and a shared hatred of forced family togetherness, it also gives Bob the chance to be extremely fortunate against a would-be mugger. Which convinces him to try skydiving. . . without a parachute. Which is when God finally steps in and helps Bob understand everyone is his "special guy", and Bob better hope the other divers parachutes can handle a hitchhiker.

Quote of the Episode: Bob - 'Wow, beer makes it worse. I don't want to live in a world where beer makes it worse.'

Smeck Smacks: 8 (17 overall). Again with the golf clubs. The Devil spends almost as much time on the golf course as Trump.

Other: So God's first pitch for a new universe is one with just four elements: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and cork. Bob's hung up on cork not being an element, but he has to understand, new universe. Cork can be an element there if it wants to.

His second pitch is a world made entirely of water, which, setting aside the Waterworld joke Bob makes, is the entire universe made of water, or is there only one planet in this entire universe? If he's focusing on just one planet, he probably is getting to caught up in details.

By the third pitch, which he's created a model of the Solar System for, God has eliminated France, and placed marsupials as the dominant species. Mankind is in the food chain somewhere.

The Devil, desperate to prove he should be included in the new universe, pitches Bob the idea of itchy lava as proof of his capacity for good ideas. I guess if he's talking about a universe where the sensations of burning and itching are now the same, he might be on to something.

I never had a party at one of those family fun center, Chuck E. Cheese's, whatever. I may have gone to someone else's party at one once. TV always portrays them as awful places. Garish color schemes and florescent lights, but still strangely dark. Everything is kind of rundown and greasy looking. I've seen some bowling alleys like that, you didn't want to touch anything.

Bob decided to skydive because Andy was inspired to try tightrope walking on the powerlines after Bob's deft disarming of the mugger. By skydiving, Bob was being responsible by doing his stupid risky crap where Andy wouldn't see it, you see. Parent of the Year, obviously.

This Is Mostly To Spur Me On

I wouldn't say I'm participating in Inktober exactly. For one thing, I'm not using a pen much, pencil is more my game. But I am trying to do some kind of a sketch every day, which is the general idea as I understood it.

My track is to start drawing, and then either hit a snag where I can't figure out how to draw what I want, or I finish the sketch, and all I see are the ways it isn't what I wanted. Then I lose hope and stop. I came up with something close to 20 sketches I wanted to do while stuck in this horrible week-long training back in January, and I've finished maybe 4 of them. So the "do a sketch every day" prompt seemed like a good push, especially now that I've publicly declared I'm doing it! You've all seen it, I can't take it back! There's only success or the abject admission of failure.

I've gone with the idea of doing a sketch for each video game in my Top 5 for each system. I got the idea from the Inktober sketch book I bought from Brian Rhodes at the 2016 Cape-Con, although he focused more on the games of his childhood. With seven systems, that's actually enough to get into November, but it could turn out I won't be able to decide on an idea for a game (I have no idea what I'll do for Phantom Dust, which would be the selection for the 22nd currently), and I'll need a stand-in. I'm trying to go with pictures that represent the game to me, usually some particular level or moment that is the strongest memory I have associated with it.

I recognize that isn't going to help much with that backlog I mentioned, but I'm hoping to figure a few things out that might help with those over the course of this month.

I figured I would work chronologically through the systems, so I started with the original Nintendo. Kirby's Adventure turned out pretty well, though I kind of wish I'd gone a different route. Not gotten so hung up on the specifics of the Level 6 boss fight with Meta-Knight. The Ninja Turtles 2 picture didn't go so well, needed to have a better sense of the layout before I started, but I just wing it on a lot of these things. The Super Dodgeball one was good in concept, and there's a couple of parts in particular I like, but the figurework is bad. Hands always seem to be too large. Paperboy actually turned out well, minus the perspective and scale being wonky. The Grim Reaper is probably 20 feet tall, given the distance and compared to other figures in the picture. Hell, it's an abstract concept personified, it can be as big as it wants, right? Right. The Mega Man 4 picture I'm almost entirely satisfied with, I just think Mega Man's posture needed to be a little more aggressive. On the other hand, him firing while leaping away from the bad guy is probably more representative of my playing style. I spent a lot of time on my heels in that game.

I'm going to try and do periodic updates on how things are going, as I move through each system. I did finally order a scanner, so if it arrives, and if I can get it to work, I may post some of the better results later in the month. In the meantime, Kelvin's doing a proper Inktober, which you can see here.

The Mediterranean Caper - Clive Cussler

Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt books were my jam in junior high and high school. These days, I only have two of them still on my shelves, and I think it's the two that belonged to my dad, so they're on a long-term loan.

So, in line with revisiting Clarke's Odyssey series for the first time in years, I thought I'd reread one of Cussler's books. It was pretty much like I remember them. Some creative action sequences, including an aerial dogfight early that was intriguing simply for the planes involve. Narrow escapes, dudes smoking cigarettes and drinking while exchanging pithy one-liners in the face of death. I remembered there were info dumps about some historical bit of trivia, or an explanation of the science behind something or the other that would be important later. I'd forgotten the books are like old detective stories in that there's always a point where someone has to stop and explain the solution to the mystery. That wasn't a big problem, though.

The treatment of women in the book, that was more troubling than I remember. I remembered that Pitt ends up sleeping with a different woman in basically every book (my father's description of him as Bond meets Indiana Jones comes to mind). I remembered the books having a strong male gaze (even if I hadn't heard of that term back when I was reading them originally). But the book trends strongly towards the "smack the dame until she sees sense," philosophy you see in John Wayne or Robert Mitchum movies, where "sense" is defined as doing whatever the guy thinks she should do (usually have sex with him). Every scene with Teri in it was unpleasant to read. I started skipping over them.

I think Cussler toned that stuff down in later books, but I'm not inclined to go track them down to find out. It's too bad, it was a fun, fast-paced adventure except for all that crap.

'Pitt could not help grinning. he relaxed, leaning back against the back rest, saying nothing. Then he turned and looked and Giordino and his eyes squinted. "What happened to you? Were you hit?"

Giordino gave Pitt a mocking, sorrowful look. "Who ever told you that you could loop a PBY?"

"It seemed like the thing to do at the time," said Pitt, a twinkle in his eye.

"Next time, warn the passengers. I bounced around the main cabin like a basketball."'

Daisy's Difficult Road

One thing in Giant Days that I'm curious to see play out, and that I forgot to mention in the review last Friday, is Daisy's discussion with her grandmother about her being a lesbian.

Daisy seems to be dreading it so much. She's been putting off telling her, to Ingrid's annoyance. Of course, Daisy didn't tell her Nana everything about how she celebrated her first birthday at university either. It isn't unusual for kids not to tell their parents everything they get up to at college, but I get the feeling Daisy hasn't kept many secrets from her grandma up to this point. I talked about a lot of things with my paternal grandmother for a lot of years. Then there was that point there started being things I didn't think I could discuss with her (although that was related to our really different ideas on religion more than anything else).

Daisy's worried her grandmother will not be OK with it, and since she's pretty much all the family Daisy has, that could be a crushing blow. I doubt it'll go that way; it doesn't really seem in keeping with the tone of the book. Characters can fall out among themselves, but not typically that seriously. Grandma disowning her/having a heart attack in shock would be on a different level from Susan and McGraw's on-again/off-again relationship drama, or Esther briefly deciding to give up on schooling.

Also, I can't remember Daisy ever mentioning anything about a grandpa, which makes me wonder if her grandmother hasn't had a few girlfriends of her own.

I'm not sure what effect the recent falling out with Esther and Susan is going to have, in terms of whether it pushes Daisy to have the discussion or not. They don't have a problem with Esther having a girlfriend. It's this particular girlfriend is either extremely selfish or just oblivious, depending on how charitable you feel. Daisy could certainly still feel that it's cost her two people she was close to, and be worried about losing yet another person that is important to her.

It also means she's lost two of her main pillars of support. If she has doubts, worries, they were the ones she could confide in. Maybe Ingrid can be that person, although that obliviousness could be a stumbling block. I'm not sure she'd recognize it was a difficult issue for Daisy, especially if she starts getting impatient.

The Stranger (2015)

I assume there are a lot of movies with that title, although IMDb only lists this and the 1946 one with Orson Welles and Edward G. Robinson, so I put the year up as well.

A guy with blood that can heal and an aversion to sunlight arrives in a town seeking a woman named Ana. He learns from a teen named Peter she's dead, then runs afoul of a drunk asshole, one who is protected by his cop father. Peter's attempts to help the man only drag him and his mother into a cycle of threats, torture, and attempted murder. The stranger's blood can heal you, but at a cost.

I was expecting something more like Storm of the Century, or Needful Things. Not precisely along those lines, but a more deliberately malevolent presence. Martin doesn't seek out the trouble, he doesn't really care what happens to him. It's other people who decide they just have to stab him, or try to save his life. He warns them not to mess with his blood, they don't listen. Then he has to try and clean up the mess.

There's a theme of what parents will sacrifice for their children. Ana ultimately gave her life to bring Peter into the world. Martin figures the best he can manage is to stay far away from Peter. Monica, the nurse who has actually raised Peter is doing her best, but is out of her depth once they're faced with people don't give a shit about how you "should" behave. The cop keeps protecting his worthless shitbag of a kid, even to the point of shooting people, or lighting them on fire to try and get information, in addition to generally abusing the authority of his position.

(Not a movie with a positive view of cops. They're either crooked as hell, mindless thugs, or the few that follow the rules are spineless, useless imbeciles.)

I did wonder if, at some point, this cop would decide he'd thrown away everything for this son who had accomplished nothing but hurting people for no good reason and decide enough's enough. But it's his kid, that's not going to happen. He figures any act on his part is justified for this kid. Which explains a lot about how the kid wound up a complete shithead, but I imagine that blindspot is common among parents.