Welcome to E.T. and friends!

E.T. Goes Retro, and something NOT-So-Nerdy??

2010-04-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, to quote Monty Python.

"And now for something, completely different!!"

I was thinking about to the old 45 records my parents used to own...one of them....what friggin' owned was

C.W. McCalls "Convoy!!"

That song OWNED!!

The Invincible Ironman #20 Review

2010-01-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Invincible Ironman #20: Stark Disassembled

As I saw Tony Stark lay there unconscious on the front cover, I felt the same way in the first 6 pages of the friggin' comic book. Dang, his living will put me to sleep a few times over. Of course, when I was nearing my bed time hour anyhow. So I could blame that, but it actually made me doze a little.

Then it got into the more interesting stuff. Trying to interpret Tony's repetitive dream. It didn't make sense, until maybe the very end until you could figure out what was chasing him and his "mock" colleagues during a dig. It looked as if he was attacking his own Stark Tech.

And Masque going against Norman O's wishes of not touching Tony anymore, I guess as a "lover betrayed" she will be going outside and finding some transparent "ghost" to take care of Tony Stark.

I'll make this review short, but it seems to more of a transition comic until the next series of books, so we'll see what happens.

It was rather ho-hum, so I have much to report about it here. Also, I think they used extra fluff at the end, because I thought, as I said, a short-lived transition story.

Until the next one!

Invincible Iron Man 19 Review

2010-01-05T14:36:00.000-08:00

It's Winter and I'm cold, but I'm reading Ironman 19! (20 is not shown here, sorry)

Invincible Ironman 19 & 20

Into the White
(Einstein on the Beach)

Well, the continuing saga of Normal Osborne pursuing Tony Stark has come to a close. Norman is right on the heels of Tony Stark in a desert somewhere, some poor underling (Mr. Walsh) is arrested in assisting Norman Osborne in the possible murder of his former employer. I'd hate to be him. All the while....the 3 “Charlie's Angels” of Tony Stark (Tony's Angels?), finish an escape attempt after Pepper Potts (of all people) breaks 2 of the other ladies, Maria Hill and the Black Widow, out of the Osborne facility.

I think I'll focus little more on the “little” guy. Mr. Walsh, a former Stark underling who feels a half-hearted obligation to help Norman O. pursue IronMan. Mr. Walsh, feels regretful during his stent of helping Norman follow Tony straight to his exact location when he gets a change of heart and attempts to lead Norman in the wrong direction (away from Stark), he probably knew he's get caught, because his supervisor was wondering what the heck he was doing, because it was blatantly obvious, and there was no WAY he could get away with it, but his heart got the best of him. I actually hope when this is all over with, Stark will take note of his accolades have retire him early giving a pension and then some. Hooray for the “Company Man”!

Anyhow, Norman and Walsh's boss catch onto this and have him arrested, cripes, why arrest him, just fire him? Anyway, Norman finally makes it to Starks location and plans on killing him, until Pepper decides to get access to the national press that Norman O. plans on killing Stark. As a result, media choppers decide to make their way out to Norman's location, just as Norman decides to kill Tony on national television, he changes his mind as camera's are watching him beating the crap out of Stark. Norman decides this is a bad idea, and this would look terrible in the eyes of the citizen he supposedly serves. He doesn't want his true colors known.

I was hoping this would the turning point in ending Norman's reign, but he makes a smart political move, and decides to let Tony Stark live. Good move Norman (So I guess his reign will continue, even though this is the conclusion of this series of comics).

So, Osborne transports Stark back to his complex and tries to find some way to extract the remaining information from his mind, the doctor who was working on Stark could not get an inkling of info because he was too far gone, Starke is practically a vegetable now. That being said, Norman O. considered him useless and told the overseeing doctor to pull the plug, however, Norman must abide by law because Tony Stark has a will that in case of his death or extreme illness, any such action must be approved by his own doctor, Dr. Don Blake.

I was thinking, who the heck is this guy? I Wiki'ed him and turns out apparently this guy is actually THOR in human form, humbled by his father Odin, because of his actions. Yeah, I haven't been that much of a Marvel follower, so sometimes you have to do your research.

I'm curious as to why he picked that guy, I can only ascertain that he wanted his contacts to be obscure as possible? Perhaps a mere mortal that's incognito would suffice? Who knows.

All in all, a pretty good comic, it kept me interested. I was attracted to the fact that Pepper Potts was more than just a mere Executive Assistant who:

1. Got in a cat fight with Masque over the love of her life.

2. Rescued 2 seasoned professional female killing machines from the Osborne complex (the only part that didn't impress me when they struck a fight pose when they encountered only scientist and lab techs, what was up with that?)

3. Pepper Potts had proven to be a passionate woman who has proven to be very self-sufficient, not to mention the suit "Rescue" which kind of fits her passive and nurturing personality. Her iron suit, being the passive/defensive piece of equipment that she wears suits her just fine (no pun intended).

Mr. Walsh, what will become of him when this is all over? I have no idea, he might be some dude no one cares about in the Marvel Universe and be forgetten, OR, they might make a hero out of him? That remains to be seen.

When will Norman's "Dark Reign" end, I don't know either. Personally, I'm getting tired of his presence in Tony's halls.

Anyhow, great comic read....the Saga continues in The Invincible Ironman #20: Stark Disassembled

Evil Tony Signature

2010-01-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

My New Evil Tony Signature for message boards....at least so far.....

Cain's Lair Candid Shots Week of Dec 13

2009-12-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

Well, here's another installment of interesting screen shots I had taken during this week of Cain's Lair (I think some of these might have been taking during Thanksgiving Holidays too, mixed in there.

Can you remember who YOU were and when were these taken? LOL

(I think the heavy was Apache at the time, notice he's runnin' his mouth on comms? LOL, he's about to be Pwned!!)

Pigworthy BEFORE.....

Pigworthy AFTER....(heck, he's PIG worthy alright, you can throw him in with the hogs at feedin' time after his destruction.)

Just a fiery mess...and my head went right along with it...that corners 100% congested at ALL times!

Well...there ya have it...not many, but some interesting screen shots.....wait....I think since we got a few hours before midnight on the 19th of Dec, I might log in to see who I can capture now.......

......Okay, I'm back....played Cain's Lair, got some more shots between 8-9pm E.S.T. Here we go....

Mary Tyler Morphine nails me with a Sniper shot....I like these Sniper Screen shots, makes you really FEEL as if you got home when it just ZOOMS in on him, ya know?? (Or is it a her....you know, with the name "Mary" and all?)

And then.....

The "Wanker" does it again, De Ja Vu! How 'bout you? This time on the Gorge map.

An AWESOME shot! This S.S. was taken RIGHT after we lost the match, and we were running and cowering for our lives, weapon-less, and a soldier nails me with a CRIT.! Then I realize, the soldier has eyes (or do the hills?).

A scoreboard shot

Anyhow, I hoped you enjoyed THIS week installment of

Candid Cain's Lair Shots!

Team Fortress 2 Screen Shots - Thanksgiving

2009-12-06T07:13:00.000-08:00

Cain's Lair Team Fortress 2 Thanksgiving Pictures!

Hi, I just took a few screen shots here and there of which I thought were good and had that "Smile you're on Candid Camera" way to it.

Esp. with the members of CLR.

Enjoy

Aaron Haaland Getting his Tat at "A Comic Shop"

2009-11-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

Nerds Can Contribute to the Credit Card Debt!

2009-11-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

This is a theory of mine, and don't take offense, I've been guilty of it as well. That longing for the latest video game or the latest nerdy item coming out at "midnight" at certain stores. The I "gotta have it" feeling that some of us impulse buyers have.

I know I could've saved a few bucks by waiting a few extra months for said item...but, I don't. BUT...I am trying to discipline myself.

I was reading the latest Facebook news on the Star Trek group. Saying that “Today is the release of the new Star Trek on Blu-Ray and DVD. (Yeah, I still have a DVD player, which kind of ties into this blog post)

Just a hypothetical situation here:

Dexter Poindexter hears about the new Playstation 4 that's coming out. The hype brought on by this new state-of-the art gaming system that allows you to see things in holographic 3-D and actually TOUCH images has got him in an perpetuating excitement that he and millions of other nerds can't seem to put a hold on.

He finds out the game will be available and SOLD at a local GameStop at Midnight. (According to Dexter, the stores re enablers of this situation as well). He grabs his camping gear and sleeping bag and camps out a week before the store opens. (By the way, he's not working now, so this gives him PLENTY of spare time to be there when the game first becomes available the night the doors open!! Isn't that great?!) Of course, everyone else gets the same idea and line up behind him.

That way, in the first few weeks the game system sells out, and of course next week, the GameStop store will have so many PS4's that their busting at the rafters.

People camping for the IPHONE!

For those who don't want to leave the house, they buy the new systems Ebay at 5 times the regular price, just so they can be the FIRST to have it! So the only thing you're paying extra for is probably bragging rights and/or just the satisfaction of having it as soon as possible. But what kind of reward is that? Just instant gratification that easily dies off as soon as it had sparked, right?

What is this obsession to having things when they FIRST come out? Several months down the road, this includes games, it'll probably be cut in price or be on sale. How about finding ways to save money in this recession?

Let's talk about movie openings, esp. of the nerdy variety. I knew of one guy, true story, that went to a movie he didn't like or didn't want to see, JUST so he could watch the new Lord of the Rings trailer, then he walked out of the theater and went home.

Yikes, talk about extreme there.

I'm sure some of us have been guilty of this at one time or another. But some really take it to extremes, even non-nerds do this regularly, and it's becoming epidemic, but I feel one can be financially responsible and still be nerdy.

People just need to learn to live without the “latest and greatest” or at least wait a few months until the hype dies down.

So let's all be frugal in these economic time!

Until next time, keep 'em nerdy!

Punisher Annual #1 Review

2009-11-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Don't stare too long at the Tie-Dyed Shirt!!

Welcome to the Punisher Annual #1 Review!

Okay, this issue was not for the faint of heart. This annual spins off from the ongoing Punisher series where the Hood leader resurrects dead villains that had been killed by the Punisher or so these villains were made to believe by The Hood.

That said, these guys have 30 days to kill Frank Castle or it's back to the grave to them a 2nd time.

I never liked stories where a character dies and comes back to life, and it's been done to death. But I guess in order to keep a story going, it can make things interesting I suppose by continually bringing old characters “anew”.

I've been following the regular Punisher by Remender since #1, and I have to say I am impressed, esp. liked the whole deal where Punisher tries to assassinate Norman Osborne and Sentry puts a stop to it, it was amazing how much Frank Castle was taking a beating (beating himself up) when just trying to avoid such a super hero and actually, for a mere mortal, was able to escape Sentry's clutches.

All that nice military training works even against super heros.
Eventually this landed him with the computer geek named Henry that started to help Frank out, which lead them to The Hood's hideout when they started the whole resurrection with the old villains as some kind of long winded method of keeping this story-line drawn out a little while longer.

I was kind of turned off by it. I don't like it when some comic books try to get into magic and crap in a plot. I like more believable plot lines. It's enough we have “Jason Returns” or “Michael Meyers Lives Again” related movies, we just don't need them in the comic books.
Anyhow, in The Punisher Annual #1, they decide to even continue said story in the friggin' annual....I wish they would've left that one alone.

Anyway, these to ladies/harpies Letha and Lascivious find a way to lure Frank Castle out from wherever he is by killing war veterans in a rather gruesome manner that I didn't are to look at, I mean, it's a comic book for cryin' out loud! A beautiful smashing a man's head getting brain matter on her pretty little outfit left a disturbing image for me....what is this Punisher MAX??
Eventually, down the road the Letha, Lascivious and Frank Castle run into Spider man. When Frank tries to kill these to ladies, Spider-Man, being the “just and honorable” super-hero that HE is....tries to stop Frank, considering Frank likes to kill first and ask questions later.

During this tassel, one of the ladies decide to influence Spidey in killing Frank Castle. When him and Spidey go at it, and Frank tries to circumvent Spiderman, and eventually escaping and reacquiring Letha and Lascivious, the latter lady (I still don't' know the difference between the two.

Bear with me, I'm trying to more or less “summarizing” these initial blogs), makes Spiderman “fall in love” with Frank with her own superhuman powers in a more or less, “Pepe Le Pew” kind of way, thus holding them both off until the two ladies make their escape. Frank, over time, has acquired technology used by other Marvel characters to help him in his job(s). In this case, he uses a “Doc Ock Arm” to put Spidey in submission while Frank C. gets a head start and trying to capture (and kill) the ladies who put an end to a Veteran intervention.

The story was “okay” but, I did enjoy the Spiderman and Punisher meet-up. I always enjoy that kind of thing. Especially when their stories rarely cross-over, but then again, cross-overs have always appealed to me.

Now it's back to reading the continuing saga of The Hood situation in the regular issues.
Hope you enjoyed the review, I have to apologize, I more or less rather flew through it because I was anxious at getting it up and at 'em! See you later when I review the next “Invincible Ironman” and the Rick Remender Punisher series!!

Review: Invincible Ironman 17 & 18

2009-10-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize ahead of time, for this review might be a little choppy while recalling parts of the story between now and #18, so I might even skip a few issues to "Cut to the Chase".

Well, considering I'm starting off on T.I.I a little late as far as reviewing this comic as of late for the past 18 months, I figured I'd get caught up on this series.

I have to say, I'm pretty darned impressed with this particular variant of Iron Man.

There's so many variants of the same superhero it gets irrating.

I.e. - The Amazing Spiderman, the Web of Spiderman, The Spectactor Spiderman....the Delicious SPiderman (made that one up)

It can make a comic collector confused you know, and has made me a lesser hardcore comic book collector....or perhaps even less nerdier?

Guess my level of nerdom isn't as high as I thought it was.

That being said, I try to pinpoint ONE comic book I can focus on.

I also like the way MARVEL likes to Re-Cap the story line (in case people just start buying the comic in the middle of the story, gotta love that!)

The Invincible Ironman - Apparently, this comic book kind of stems from the Ironman Movie, with the origins and such or somehow piggy back off the movie.

Anyhow, Tony stark has been booted out of his building and empire and now runs as a fugitive from "The Hammer", the company that overtook Tony's company, well, replaced actually.

"The Hammer" as run by Norman Osborne (imagine the Green Goblin being the good guy.....or is he really?) After seeing how The Hammer took over, the soldiers, staff and what not seemed to have turned into real bastages, treating people like crap (pistol whipping them like thugs) when seeking out the fugitive Tony stark. Norman's staff are starting to be less humane. Guess no citizens took notice yet when they decide to cheer that low-life into the offices of

Whatever happened to the clean cut method of cuffing people and just making them sweat it out in a waiting room?

Anyhow to get caught up, Tony Stark is currently half-brain dead, I thought it was kind of cool when they were displaying his email messages to his former staff people and you could see he was mispelling words in his emails, and indicated by his degrading mind.

Think our mind could be erased electronically just like a regular hard drive in real life? You can never tell these days.

........
Anyhow, Maria Hill is no better, and her collaborating with Black Widow seems to just be inconveniencing Black Widow with Maria's incompetence...poor girl, she can't help it, but Black Widow sympathizes with her with a chuck to the chin.

But, in Black Widow's defense, Maria almost stabbed her, I would have done the same thing.

They get captured by Hammer, and then Pepper Potts joins in the trifect of ladies trying to help Tony (makes me glad my name is Tony, I can only wish I had 3 ladies in my corner like he does, lol)

Then another lady in the picture, the kind of lady you don't want in the picture...."Masque", talk about a wack job, she's good at what she does, but would make terrible relationship material. Definably find the "Bunny in the Pot" kinda psycho.

Don't forget the poor flunkie staff person, Walsh, that used to work for Tony Stark that's probably going to have nightmares for the rest of his life for ratting out his former boss for Norman Osborne. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. I kind of like the fact they made an actual character out of a flunkie or 3rd string "stand-in" comic being.

I am wondering if they'll follow up on that guy, think he'll get a change of heart and defy Norman? Finally the little guy has a role in "The Invincible Ironman!"

Well, that's all I can think of to say for now....until next issue, I'll try to keep everyone posted!

I purchase my comics at HEAVY INK!

80's Movie Retro! WARGAMES

2009-06-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

I remember this movie with Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, the guy from 9 to 5 and the other guy from Northern Exposure (man, I know my actors, don't I? LOL)

The reason this particular movie sticks in my head, was because the first time I had seen it. And it wasn't at home or at the movie theater, but in Junior High!

Right, I guess you're wondering why we weren't getting an education instead, we're watching T.V. in school. I think it was due to an event the school wanted to put on for the students for fun. To get rid of the stress created by Jr. High challenges. Perhaps, it was to have us students relate to the "coming of age" that the movie also portrays a rebelious student and his "attitude" problem as he makes his way to the administrative office.

I wonder if he deliberately got in trouble for the sole purpose of stealing the school computers password.

Funny, how clerks back then didn't know the actual value of the secure nature of the password, and just wrote the passwords on a list in plain site for everyone to see. Of course, I guess they figured no one would have use for those passwords, or even know what it was actually for. As far as they knew, it could've been someone's grocery list.

I found it awesome to see someone in the movie playing the Coin-OP games I always played. (Galaga in his case)

Now, there's this part in the movie where he decides to have his computer autodial every phone number listing in the area until an actual computer from a gaming company picked up (you could tell, because you could hear some callers answer his computer with "hello?")

Now THAT'S a dedicated gamer!!

But, now that I'm older, I think back and wondered.

1. Did people at home have access to modem technology at that time period?

2. If they DID have that kind of technology, did computer companies actually have phone numbers for THEIR computers that not only answered, but ALLOWED outside calls to come in just so they could respond? I found that hard to buy. I'm wondering how these other computers even have their own dedicated phone number so kids like him are able to even dial them.

3. I laughed when the computer asked him, "Shall We Play A Game?" that he answered with "Global Thermal Nuclear War", back then, people didn't even USE acronyms. Wouldn't it have been EASIER to just say, "I want to play GTNW"??

Resistance of Girl Nerdom is FUTILE!

2009-06-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Resistance of Girl Nerdom is FUTILE!

(Indeed it was futile, and indeed I could not resist. Resistance is Buddhaful :)

A story on how I thought this all came to be.

To follow-up my retro blog entry about video games and their evolution since the 80's, I thought I would talk about the evolution of the “Nerdy Girl”.

Now, I am just talking from my OWN take/my OWN personal experience. Perhaps I was ignorant at that time in my life, but...as far as I know, there were no nerdy women. At least, as far as I knew. Correct me if I am wrong, but did they keep on the down low?

AS FAR AS I KNEW.....women didn't really read comic books, women didn't read/watched Sci-Fi, and women never played Pac-Man. (Perhaps they played Ms. Pac-man? Who knows). If they had been entertain themselves the way nerdy men did, they probably did it hiding or in secret. The women I knew of were mostly into girly-girl things like “My Little Pony”, "Punky Brewster" and “Care Bears”.

The stigma of “The Nerd” stuck with mostly men. Men with lack of social skills and probably didn't get out much. You had “The Nerd” and you had “The Jock". Well, this is probably how HOLLYWOOD portrayed us.

As displayed in such movies such as "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Can't Buy Me Love" (the latter which made a more significant impact on me revealing bologna of the system of classes and labels), nerds were also portrayed as the brainiacs of these flicks, solving problems, and possibly impressing the blonde ditzy girly-girl with his brains and perhaps thinking twice about the advantage of even dating a nerd. It's nice to have someone that can help you out academically.

Often times, the women in these movies are portrayed at the cheerleader type who dates the members of the football team. How cliche'd, right?

The beautiful people vs. the nerdy people. Define "nerdy" and "beautiful" after all , it's in the eye of the beholder.

Fast forward to the present. I'm not sure how this whole nerd thing with women caught on, but I think it actually evolved along with the rest of society's appreciation for diversity, so now it's cool for women to be nerdy, too.

Now we see women dressed in gorgeous costumes and looking very similar to their comic book counterparts. You have a potpourri of nerds of ALL types and sub-cultures actually. It's a big melting pot of nerdom! I love it!

To NOTE though, one thing I have noticed in the year 2009 at recent conventions. The age groups of nerds.

Female nerds, teen aged to college aged make-up the majority of female nerdom, fewer women in their mid to late 20's, and 30's and beyond...it's like finding the Loch Ness Monster,

Though, while men continue to age into their golden years as they always have in their love for their hobbies, women who reach a certain age seem to, stop? I could be wrong on this though, but this is my own personal demographic that I had come across. But that's just a small amount. Perhaps their priorities change? It's a big mystery.

The younger group seem more focused on the Anime' related niche' (there is an accent mark in niche' right?)

Anyhow....wait...this just in! Apparently, Screamer, a mid-to-late 30's woman has been sighted! Hold on a second...lemme bring 'er up .....

Yowsa! Watch we're you're pointin' Megatron!

Apparently she has been to BotCon and looks like she had made a recent blog that she'll be on mynerdgirl.com

She's armed with a mic and a cobra cape Looks like we'll see some footage there. Man, this nerd girl thing is getting me excited! It's nice to have common interests with such ladies. ;-)

Well, I think I'll endt his for this evening, had enough excitement for ONE night. From here on out, ladies keep doin' what you're doing, it is indeed appreciated. And Screamer, I hope those toys don't fall on you during the night. :-)

I have a feeling I'll be posting some more retro stuff, tid-bits and other follow-ups to my previous posts.

- E.T.

Movie Quote of the Post! (Take a Wild Guess!): "I'd buy THAT for a dollar!"

All The Retro, Where Did It Go? The Video Game Evolution

2009-05-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

I am a child of the 80's, back in the days of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Tempest, etc. Remember the Coin-Operated games?

Then the Atari came out, and it's "Clone" "Sears Video Arcade" (it has the extra black and white lever, yes a game console that had LEVERS on it....guess the first game consoles were "machines" not systems)

I had the Sears Video Arcade. I got it for Christmas. Prior to that, I would make a B-Line in Sears just to play the displays they had on.....display (sorry, late night and I don't feel like using a Thesaurus). They had two systems at the time...the Nintendo and the Sears Video Arcade, go figure it was in a Sears store.

When I got the system for Christmas, I got the game that came with it, some kind of Target Shooting game and of course "Space Invaders" (notice my over usage of quotes in my post)

Hit game for the Atari in the 80's? PITFALL!

I recall a friend showing me a trick by pausing the game just as the opening and closing mud pit was, well...closing to the point where it looked like a Chevrolet symbol, he'd pause it and express, "Chevo-leeeeeeet" actually, it was more like "Chevo-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!".

And what the heck was with that gosh awful digitized Tarzan yell, no wonder Pitfall Harry was alone in the Jungle, he'd scare them off as opposed to the "yells" well known function.

Ah, the good ol' days where I would play till my eyeballs fell out or my mom would tell me to go outside to play and get some fresh air.

Then came Atari Age Magazine

Then movies that came out that had some kind of video game mention in it, or a kid (such as the prodigy in Wargames) playing Galaga...and then....TRON. Movies that had kids playing video games in it...and back then....NERDS were pretty much outcasts.....basically, if you considered video games a "hobby", and football wasn't "your thing" there was something wrong with you.

But looking forward to being dropped off at the mall or arcade to play the new "Jungle Hunt" game was all I could think about, I was always trying to figure out what would happen if you got to the end of that game.

Also, there were a lack of women back then that just weren't into that kind of thing either.

Anyhow, fast forward to the future...the mid-90's

Hit Coin-Op game for the 90's:

Here they are in NO particular order!:

Killer Instinct

Mortal Kombat!

Street Fighter Series! (My favorite clip)

Hot CONSOLE game for the 90's (at least for me) I would have to say the Dragon Warrior Series, Megaman and Blaster Master

Man, I played these games all weekend, I didn't even care if they did not have saving point, I had to dedicate a full day to finish a game. (I think Dragon Warrior I could save though).

Anyways, to the point of the blog. (Didn't think I had one, didn't you? LOL)

Well, now that it's 2009, and there's a recession going on. The arcade I used to go to, is still there....the one thing I have noticed was the missing counter where the game room attendant you to be. Guess what, there's no game room attendant!! The place is being run like a laundry mat now. LOL Cutting costs man.

And the game rooms of these days are desolate, probably because of the current game systems out these days. I walked into the place, and the OLD games I used to play back in the 90's are STILL there! The screens faded though, just a relic of how things used to be.

I got nostalgic, and thought back to the days when the arcade would be PACKED on a Fri/Sat nights, us lined up taking turns playing the winner at the current fighting games, it was pretty wild and very social.

Now nothing but tumbleweeds in the place.

It's amazing how things have changed. That things aren't how they used to be. Guess people are staying in playing video games. Am I getting to be one of those old people that are complaining about how better video games were then than they are now? Well, I don't mean graphics and quality-wise, but the social aspect of it, it was cool to hang out at those places with friends and movies always depicted the same thing.

I think there used to be more movies in the 80's that either had some kind of video game theme to it, or at least had some kind of arcade on the set.

Remember "You Can't Do That on Television?" The skit "Blips Arcade" even then, video games mainstreamed into the environment itself.

Anyhow, that's enough nostalgia for now.

Talk to you later!

Help Minnie Minnie Vicious Win Kitten Koffin Zombies Pin-Up Contest!

2009-05-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Straight from the MySpace Page of Minnie Minnie Vicious

She announces:

Vote ONCE every 24 hours between NOW May 25th to June 5th!

I met this lovely young lass at a Comic Book convention, she's snuggly, beautiful, and full of personality!

Me and her snugglin

Me and Minnie met this very night the first time at a Convention After-party. I was just dancing my brains out, the whole "dance like no one's watching....." thing....but, I guess someone WAS watching. It was Minnie!

So get your votes going for this honey...you'll get FREE photos from her if you participate!

Straight from HER blog on MySpace:

Make me YOUR PinUp Calendar Girl!

But to do this...I need your help.

I am participating in the KittenKoffinZombies.Com PinUp Calendar Contest!
And I would really appreciate it if you can take a few mins to vote for me!The voting starts May 25th and ends June 6th - and you are open to vote ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS! :D

To vote, you must create an account, which is VERY quick and easy to do.

Just a User Name and Password. No big deal! Then you can go to the contest area (PinUp Contest) and place your vote!

There, you can also see a few photos of me as well as a quick bio. So take a moment to read that as well! :) Oh! Also, make sure that you have your popup blocker off, since when you click on voting, the lil voting screen pops up!

And if you are going to vote every day, please make sure you have 24 hours
in between each vote or it wont take your vote. Also, the site doesnt
warn you about this after you vote so make sure you keep track of it! I
do know that when you log in, it will say nothing under your username,
or it will say "it hasnt been 24 hours since your last vote" so take a
looksie before you do vote.... remember, your vote counts! :D

Also, (I know...another one) you can create an account per computer (ip address) it tracks this in the votes.

I know it seems like a lot but its not.

Just sign up, and vote once every 24 hours for me! Thanks!!!

You can click on this banner...

Also, feel free to copy and paste it around for me!!!

xox

Minnie Vicious

Ken's Birthday Night of Heroclixing!

2009-03-29T20:46:00.001-07:00

Okay, it's been a while since I posted on my Blog here. I figured I'd post my time at my friend's house.

Okay, first I came over and got a GREAT shot of the B-day Cake!

Later I got some footage of Ken's SUPERMAN Collection!

Some up close photos, very nice collection!

Then did...you guessed it some CLICKING!!

Great shot from the bottom up!

Play-by-Play is done in "Thanos Blue"

Okay, the story here, is that it's down to me and Thanos against Aries and Silver Surfer.
Aries later bases me, does a flurry attack and I think misses once, and nails me with the other, he had perplexed his damage (his white power) up 2 points, and had me down to my CCE click and just toughness. It was then my turn, I think did CCE on him doing 5 clicks of damage on him. I took him out. Then it was just me and Silver Surfer, we shot at teach other through hindering terrain, but after being blasted by Aries (god of war) who soften me up, Silver Surfer finished me off, but I have to say THANOS held his own throughout most of the game...even took out Earth 2 Superman with his Pyschic Blast ability!

We also watched "They Call Me Bruce" starring Bruce Campbell! It was a great and fun day!!

Blast From The Past

2009-03-17T19:43:00.001-07:00

Remember these cheesy 80's comic book ads? LOL

Heroclix Night at the Evil Tony Realm

2009-03-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well, since our comic shop closed down and with the "Heroclix Hiatus" among us. We take to our humble abodes to play Heroclix. I designated Saturday Night as Heroclix Night at my place. It was kind of funny, prior to my friends showing up, they mentioned that since the local comic shop closed, they started playing in the Cafe Court instead. LOL. Pretty cool way to improvise, right? There were apparently a good amount of people that showed too. Anyhow, when they arrived at my place, we decided to get out our thousand point teams. I started off as the host and of course had my "Heroclix King" chair, as I sat there pondering with my sweaty brow what move I should make with my favorite 1,000 point clix.

I could tell this was going to be no picnic for me, Thanos, Thor, Silver Surfer, and Stardust! As you can see here, you could see what kind of intimidating adversaries I was up against!

Here were the clix I was up against

Yikes, it was the "Tin Man!" Whatever shall I do??

Before we could go on, Ken had to perform some routine maintenance on Anti-Monitor. Needed to install the batteries to see his eyes "glow"!!

Now here was the "in-game" session of our 1,000 pt game

Later, after this game we played a "5 Favorites" game of Heroclix

Here were my 5

Ken's 5 Favs

Chris's 5 favs (Ares of DC rules!)

Chris's custom clix of his OWN creation. Characters from Smallville

Finally, just a great shot of my Thanos about to be pwned by Superman!

A Review of A Comic Shop's Article: A Shop of Ideas: Ideology Epilogue, and Call For Questions

2009-02-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

I read Aaron's article

A Shop of Ideas: Ideology Epilogue, and Call For Questions

I had read the portion where how some comic shop owners thought that monthlies would die off only be replaced by graphic novels. But who wants to wait for a while for a graphic novel to come out, right? We live in more of an impulsive society where the majority of people seem to have a "got to have it now" mentality. If you've ever been to a grocery store where they have gum, candies, and "The Star" surrounding your, it is set up so that a customer MIGHT just want to grab something JUST as they are about to leave the store. And such items are handy to grab.

Plus, I think a comic store could afford to wait months between issues, which would probably mean less money. It also helps to have multiple streams of income coming into such a business.

I'd be interested in the new ideas they have in store for promoting their other items.

I have also noticed the plethora of the technicalities listed in the comments sections of the terms "Trade Paperback" and "Graphic Novel"

I thought a graphic novel was a fancy term of a thicker, graphically and more enhanced version of a comic book. Typically it's just a longer story. Like a movie version of the Star Trek series.

But I think they're coining the term "Trade Paperback" due tot he fact that they are just combining monthlies into one thicker books for people who don't enjoy going out and buying comics on a monthly basis.

Some of us have HEROCLIX Collections

2009-02-19T18:02:00.001-08:00

Women have these..... LOL

Evil Tony Review on Punisher #1

2009-02-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

Evil Tony Gives Punisher #1 by Rick Remender a THUMBS UP!

Well, I had finished reading Punisher #1 Variant Cover Ed. and I have to say I was impressed. The artwork looked more realistic than "cartoony" as compared to other Punisher works.

It also got you into the mind of Frank Castle as the author did a play by play whilst being pursued by Sentry

I actually missed an opportunity to pay Rick Remender a visit (I have to force myself to keep from typing "remember"in leiu of his last name) at "A Comic Shop". He had been doing book signings for his new comic.

Since his Variant Ed. SOLD OUT. I was lucky enough to get a 2nd Printing of this comic.

I have to admire Frank Castle "The Punisher", he's able to evade even a rather powerful superhero (Sentry). Seems like Sentry was taking it easy on him. I guess one would have to, because your a superhero trying to apprehend someone with limited abilites. I suppose years of experience in the military is no match for Sentry.

When Castle tried to take the kill shot (the same way Norman Osborn took HIS killshot during the Secret Invasion), 4 miles away....my jaw about dropped when Sentry just grabbed the assassin's bullet with his thumb and forefinger and plucked it out of the air. Amazing. I almost thought it was a DC Comic first, thought I was reading Superman!

The graininess of the sketches of the characters really made everyone look rather ominious which is what I like about Remender's style. The whole story made you feel like you were experiencing with with Frank, almost in a first person perspective.

Anyhow, I think I might be stuck on this series. I'm anxious to find out how this story ends....the saga continues.....

(Image is property of Marvel Comics)

Nerdy News - Buy the number "867-5309"!

2009-02-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

Holy cow, look at this....you know the song "8-6-7-5-3-0-9"?!

Well, it's up for bid on Ebay. Look at what it's going for

Buy 867-5309 on EBAY!

It's up to

$400,100.00

Heroclix - I Won the RANDOM Prize

2009-02-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot! After the Jan 30th, 2009 tourny, I won the Random Prize Drawing

It's Kyle Rayner!

Heroclix - Colesium of Comics Venue - 1/31/2009

2009-01-31T07:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, remember when I said I took a Hiatus? Well, I guess that's why they call them "Hiatuses" because I got completely hammered during this event. lol.

It took at place at the Coliseum of Comics Orlando Fashion Square Mall

But it was all in good fun!

To RE-cap, this was my 1,000 Pt Team

I liked the way it was run though very creative.

Basically, you had a 1000 point team, then you had 2-200 point RESERVE teams. The ran like this per our judge Tyroclix (Click on his name, and you'll see the FULL Results, you can also click on the "Full Results" to get the "FULL results". lol)

TYPE: Constructed (Pyrrhic Victory 5)
INFO: 1000 point, + 2 200 point Reserve teams to come in if a player loses more than 100 points in a round, 30 points in Feats, 5 actions - all damage and KO's carry over throughout the tournament. Shock the Turtle in effect as well on any turn no figure is KO'd.

My 2- 200 pt RESERVE Heroclix teams were

1 - Ant-Man, Grim Reaper, and S.R. Quicksilver
2 - Karnak, Shang Chi, and Shang Chi

I got a total of SIX points. LOL. These guys were good though. I got taken out by the series of "Omacs" in the second round. And had a fledging reserve team left (Ant-man, Grim-Reaper, SR Quicksilver) - going up against Dream girl, Doctor Strange, and Green Lantern.

"Curses I was foiled by those crazy kids! And I would've one if it weren't for those pesky Perplexers!"

- Evil Tony

Evil Tony's Hero Clix Tournament - Coming Tomorrow!

2009-01-29T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been out of the loop playing Heroclix for a time now. But I will be taking a trip to Orlando.

The tournament setup.

1 - 1000 pt game

and apparently from the Heroclix Judge he wanted us to bring 2- 200 pt teams with us as well. I am assuming we're playing 2 games with 2-200 pt teams, is that right Tyroclix?

So I am looking forward to this. Even though this is last minute, I am ready to go with my teams!

I took a picture of the 1000 pt Team

Time: 6 pm
Place: Colesium of Comics at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, FL

(CoC's MySpace Page)

Been a long time, had to print out some old Players Abilities sheet. LOL

Anyhow looking forward to this, I can finally play some HEAVY hitters!

The Tale of Two Jokers Part II - Interview with Safire (Flames of Blue)

2009-01-26T20:17:00.000-08:00

I talked with this cutie in blue with the same lines of questions about The Joker Comparisons. She goes by the name of Safire.
She's able to shoot blue flames (natural gas?), fly and heal quickly.

www.myspace.com/safiremodel

E.T. How do you feel about Heath Ledger now being dead and not being able to play the joker anymore?

Safire: It's definitely a shame that Heath Ledger is gone. He was an excellent actor and his portrayal of the Joker was really well done.

E.T. If you thought the Dark Knight Joker was great, do you think anyone could do just as well performance-wise in the next Dark Knight?

Safire: While I'm sure there are other actors who could do a great job as the Joker, I'd prefer if they didn't bring back the character. There are plenty of other enemies that can be used in future Batman movies. Harley Quinn would've been cool to team up with the Joker, but with Ledger gone, I wouldn't do anything with either of those villains.

E.T. How does Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson; please compare and contrast.

Safire: What I liked about Ledger's Joker is that he played it so differently than Nicholson's Joker. Nicholson was really entertaining as the Joker, but was a lot less serious and had some great interactions with his underlings. Ledger seemed to be misunderstood and not diving into another Joker origin story (that would attempt to humanize him) was a great idea. It allowed him to just be a supervillain.

There you have it, straight from Safire! "Extinguishing crime one flame at a time!"

Don't Get Mad, Get Pwned!

2009-01-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, ever had that friend who, for some reason when physically nuts playing video games, be it in public at an arcade or at home playing on a game console?

I have, and sometimes it isn't pretty, lol. Back when I was about 18 or 19 years old, I hung out with this friend of mine who was a Street Fighter II Fanatic! He'd play it religiously and quit constantly.

When he would be getting slaughtered by the computer, he'd always blame it on the block function, you know the function where you pull BACK on the joystick to block an attack? Well, apparently it wasn't working for him, and finally, when again the block function would not work.

I swear I thought he was going through a seizure or something and all his veins in his forehead were about to explode. He would yell, (in a public place mind you....I think it was a in-mall drug Dollar General store,lol), obscenities and other colorful metaphors as he YANKED as hard as he could on the joystick pulling the machine about a foot or two.

He would say, "blankity blank, BLOCK.... BLOOOOCK you stupid..BLANK!!...BLOOOOOOOCK!!!!"

I would be thinking, "Man I don' t know this guy!" But this was my first experience seeing someone get mad at a video game.

Anyone care to share their experiences with people they know getting mad at video games?

Comment below if you have

The Tale of Two Jokers - Interview with Bobby Nash

2009-01-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

I just had the pleasure of conducting interviews of some people I know from MySpace and other internet personalities I have known for a while. Basically, I had posed some questions to the latest Dark Knight movie, asking certain personalities to compare and contrast the JOKER character and the actors that had played them.

Let me first start with Bobby Nash "Writer@Large!:

www.myspace.com/bobbynash

He is known for his titles "Evil Ways, Domino Lady and Lance Star. ( I take it the Rocketeer was your favorite movie, right Bobby? ;-))

Anyhow, I posed a few of these questions to Bobby (and later to other personalities) about his thoughts on the "Two Jokers". Here is what occured:

E.T. - How do you feel about Heath Ledger now being dead and not being able to play the joker anymore?

B.N. - I feel bad for the next actor who plays the role because of the inevitable comparisons that will happen. I enjoyed Heath's performance in the movie. He was a very talented actor.

E.T. - If you thought the Dark Knight Joker was great, do you think anyone could do just as well performance-wise in the next Dark Knight?

B.N. - Sure. I'm sure the comparisons will be there between both actor's performances, which is understandable. I'm just afraid that aspect would overshadow the film itself.

E.T. - How does Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson; please compare and contrast.

B.N. - Well, they both played the Joker in a Batman movie. The comparisons end there. Both of these movies were aiming for a different feel. Burton's Batman was a stylized approach where as Nolan's movie had more of the real world aspect. Different films, different times, different performances. I do like both of them in the role.

E.T. - Anything else you want to add, feel free. :-)

B.N. - While I like both Nicholson and Ledger in the role, my favorite actor to portray the Joker remains Mark Hamill.

E.T. - Oh man, I almost forgot about Mark Hamill! He did the cartoon Joker! He did a pretty darned good job. It was funny, because I did not realize he did the voice for the cartoon Joker until I saw him on a show that listed the Top (X) Villians or something of that nature (can't remember the title.) Because he did it in front of the viewers, and I was thinking, "Holy Cow! It was him?!" Amazing

Anyhow, thank you Bobby Nash for your answers. I'm sure Heath will be missed, and had probably disappointed a lot of other fans that he wouldn't be playing any FUTURE JOKERS.

The Two Jokers - Let Me Compare

2009-01-19T19:04:00.001-08:00

I'm going to give an opinion here about the recent Joker played by Heath Ledger vs. the older Jack Nicholson counter-part. I have to say, for a while I thought Joker er....Jack Nicholson was a good actor for The Joker. In fact, at that time, I thought they picked a good character for the Joker. Well, Jack Nicholson has always been one of those actors that played a good scary guy, ever since the days of "The Shining" which probably landed him in that kind of part. I mean, if you thinking "The Joker" played by Jack Nicholson, you're probably also thinking, "Yeah, 'The Shining'!"

The face of him in the shining compared to his face when he said, "Wait'll they get a load of me!"....uncanny and very well suited to the part.

At that point, I figured no one could compare to Jack Nicholson's part. Then Heath Ledger came around. I was thinking, "Holy cow! Totally Crazy!"

He played a perfect style of The Joker. The mannerisms, the nervous ticks (both facial and motor skills as well). Every time I saw him interact, he gave me this feeling of bugs crawling on my back, it was as if I was anticipating him attempting to do something almost Hannibal Lector-ish or even worse, but he never did because it wouldn't be suitable for that movie rating, but he DID give you that feeling he was about to do something atrocious.

I liked the way the butler Alfred described the personality of the Joker was pretty much dead on. Just did what he did for the sake of doing it, no motive behind what he did. It was more of a hobby to The Joker.

I like how he referred to Batman as in "Kill THE Batman"

All in all, Heath Ledger REALLY took the cake in this part, in fact, I think it'll be a major dissapointment to not see him anymore in any futre Dark Knight movies.

Over A Billion Plus ME Served!

2009-01-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I saw this McDonald's advertisement for their Double Cheesburg special value meal for $2.99. What a deal! I call it the "Recession Meal"!

With it you get a DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER!

Medium Fries!!

And a Medium Soft Drink (I got a SPRITE!! Mmmm!)

Marvel - Blast from the Past

2009-01-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

Can anyone tell me what this ad meant when it ran in the 80's? And what it was all about?

I need to get caught up! Thanks!

FUN with Iron Man DVD Case!

2009-01-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

I had taken these pictures back when the COOL Iron Man DVD came out and paid a few extra bucks for the "fancy" case.

Here is me capturing my EXCITMENT when opening the case and discovering the features and SECRETS within' Tony Starke's Mask

I'll try to do this in order

Here's me all happy and joyful at just having the the Marvel Ironman DVD in my hands!

Now, here's the kicker, I'm wondering, "HUH? How do I open this up?? Where is the DVD and if there IS indeed a DVD in there, how do I get to it?? Was this all just a hoax to get me to buy just a plastic casing of the Ironman Mask and NOTHING MORE?

Woooooooo!!!!! I figured it out! I was able to find out where Tony Starke's SECRET compartment in his mask to find the sensitive data with his movie within!

This ALSO doubles as a mask!! I decided to take a piece yarn and tie it to my face so I could walk around the neighborhood acting like I'm Tony Starke and singing "I AM IRON MAN!!" Yeah, kind of weird. But worth it!

All, in all I really enjoyed the movie, outtakes, documentaries and so on! This movie was awesome!

"A Dog's Breafast Review"

2009-01-13T15:26:00.001-08:00

Coming SOON! By Evil Tony

My Infiltration into Camp Hammond - Avengers Initiative #1

2009-01-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I have a recon photo of myself posing as a lab asst. at the Camp Hammond facility. See that clipboard looks like a lab bench sheet, but it's really me taking notes on that fateful day where MVP was blasted to bits by a piece of weaponry and laid to rest and hidden deep in the facility. I planned on taking my report to "Frontline".

My disguise allows me to appear as one of the "good guys". That's one of my amazing abilities. Nothing happened here today, Mr. Peter Gyrich? Want to make a bet? That's why they call me Evil Tony.

Computer Stuff in The Olden Days

2009-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

Look what I dug up, a portion of an old Best Buy ad, I guess this is when Best Buy first came about. Look at the unaffordable prices for computer hardware.

And good ol DUKE! LOL

Hard to believe, back in the day you could get an 8.4 gig hard drive for 300 bucks! lol (Question, and if anyone can answer this, how come they made hard drive memory storage in the decimals? Why not just round up or round down? Why have 8.4 and no 8? or Just 9 gig?

And look at the MMX Processor upgrade, that was something that you added on next to some slot next to the actual CPU, before MMX Processors came out as a whole!

That's funny, seems like Duke Nuke 'Em never made an actual sequel, well they tried...but not the one we wanted.

They're ACTION Figures not Dolls!

2009-01-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Ever have people make fun of you because they call your collectible action figures "dolls"? I see it on sitcoms all the time. Some nerdy character on the show would get all in a huff about it when his sports loving friends would call his action figures "dolls".

But hey, they could be worth something in the future, right? You never know. I am thinking my items won't be worth anything until I'm in my Golden Years and Joe Quesada will be the age Stan Lee is right now. lol.

By that time, what will comic books NOW be called when they've reached the "Golden Aged"? Would they have to come up with new categories of old comics? Anyways, that's another post (funny how I think of NEW posts when typing current ones.)

Anyhow, back to action figures, I was wondering if you would all like to post a pic or just tell us what your current FAVORITE action figure is in your collection.

Are they the small ones that kids typically tear out of packages on their birthdays and Christmas to play with in their backyards, and burying them not to be found again, or, if found, slung into a window by a lawn mower blade, or even worse, mangled by a lawn mower blade. Thus driving up the value of said figure.

Or, do you like the larger life-like ones? Like the 12 to 18-inch action figures?

Some of my favorites are...and this seems to be the MOST recent one, the Army of Darkness S Mart Ash

He's standing on top of that roll-away card while he's unloading into the modern day deadite

Then there's the Cult Classic Army of Darkness 7-inch Ash

With the cape and all.

I have the old McFarland Toy Ash where he talks to you, it's motion sensitive, one time it scared the daylights out of me, apparently I had company over and they were looking at it, and had left it ON without me knowing about it. I came in one night, was unlocking the door, and when I walked into the dark living room...then I hear "Alright......who want's some....who's next??!!"

It was sounded like an electronic whisper that nearly scared the heck out of me! My hair stood up on the back of my neck LITERALLY. I thought someone was IN my house!! Thing of it was...it was dark..so I could not look around to see what was making the sound....so I couldn't look over and go , "Oh, ha ha, it was just Ash doing that."

Nope, I creeped as slowly as possible on over to the light...turned it on....looked in the direction of where the "voice" came from. Then what was SAID finally registered, the Army of Darkness quote....I go, "Ooooh..." and realized what it was! LOL

Cam Test 2 All Angles (Well Most)

2009-01-11T19:49:00.000-08:00

Just doing my Web Cam test from angles

Testing My Webcam

2009-01-10T20:08:00.001-08:00

Testing 1....2.....3....

I can't seem to get any SOUND to work.

Army of Darkness Mantle Pieces

2009-01-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, some people have tiny little curio pieces on their mantles others have nautical equipment. I have Army of Darkness pieces on mine. Quite uncommon, but I am a fan of Army of Darkness and most things Bruce Campbell. (I tried watching burn notice....kind of a snooze fest, sorry Bruce. But hey, your known for your B-Movie acting, right?)

From my left (or your left) to my right (or your right).

1. The Sideshow Army of Darkness 12-inch figure
2. Evil Ash action figure
3. Photoshot of an Army of Darkness still with Ash's BOOMSTICK!
4. Autographed "Book of the Dead", aka - Necronomicon
Don't BELIEVE ME? I Have PROOF...PHOTOGRAPHIC proof! Right here

Me and Bruce Campbell, down here

You can SEE my book right there, Bruce Campbell is getting ready to sign it!

5. The Ash and the Pit Witch Action Figure

6. The Army of Darkness Lunchbox

I have acquired these while on my shopping spree. I tell you what, meeting Bruce Campbell was a great experience. But that's another blog post altogether. I have always been a fan of the obscure actors and movies.

Anyhow, feel free to enjoy my mantle collection!

Debating on getting a domain name or not

2009-01-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

I am considering a domain name for myself, but I might or might not do that depending on the popularity of this blog, so I'll wait and see.

Anyone think I should?

Evil T.

The Hero Initiative: The Hero Initiative is looking for a few good video crews!

2009-01-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

The Hero Initiative: The Hero Initiative is looking for a few good video crews!

The Marvel Universe Conundrum

2009-01-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

I figured I’d just start off 2009 not telling you about myself (in detail) about myself, but how I entered to explore the Marvel Universe and my puzzling experience with it. I’m not criticizing, but it can be an inconvenience if you’re not one to go out and “buy it all”!

Truthfully, I had just gotten back into comic books in the past couple of years. Prior to that it was only Jr. High was when I had an interest in Marvel Comics. The reason I had gotten back into them is that I wanted to expand my current “nerdiness” from just computer and video/computer gaming related activities to other ventures. Comic books had been my next venture along with a short bout with Heroclix and MTG (Magic the Gathering – still a complete newb at that game, lol)

Anyhow, I think the reason I stopped with the whole Marvel Universe world was because I kept getting tired of the variants of different comic book titles of the SAME character, ( I still find them trying to this very day, however had become more tolerant – perhaps the whole Marvel movies actually helped it along as well.).

In case you’re wondering what I mean, for example, titles such as (at least back in the 80’s when I gave up on collecting them) “The Sensational Spiderman”, “The Spectacular Spiderman”, “Peter Parker: Spiderman”, “The Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman”, etc, etc. I think at the time there were 3 running at the same time, and I think I stopped collecting it because it actually turned me off to making purchases of different variants of comics of the same character. It just didn’t make much sense to me. Guess I was too cheap as well. lol

This turned me off for a while, until I was able to tolerate it more in my adult life. I just collected what I thought was interesting to me personally. Whatever other variants I didn’t collect, I just used my imagination as to what is going on in those other variants. Are they just separate variants that are complete different stories kept apart from the other variants of the same character? Do they not follow the same timeline OR run parallel to each other?

For instance, I had been following the “Secret Invasion”, however this “Invasion” has also crept into the separate comics as well,”tie-ins” as you would call them. From what I’m gathering as I am reading them together, it seems you’re watching what’s going on from different perspectives. I read “The Punisher” for a short time during the “Death of Captain America” where the “Big News” on the Jumbo-tron of Cap’s death interrupted the Punisher’s story. I found that pretty interesting. Though you have to admit, there’d be “notes” in little squares at the bottoms of the corners with “*’s” indicating “As seen in Thor #15”, not sure that would have me running out to buy “Thor #15”, but it sheds some light on things.

I had never been that much of a fan to the point of collecting every tie-in, variant, and the like to get a closure of what’s going on with the Marvel Universe, but I do like it and what it has to offer. Plus if need me I can keep up with other dedicated fans should I ever have a question like, “Why did Wolverine kill that guy?” or “Where did Spiderman get his black costume?”.

Anyhow, hope this sheds some light about me in this New Year. Anyhow ttfn!

- Fin (Typical comic book ending)

E.T. – (a.k.a. – Evil Tony)