"Do They Know It's X-Mas Time at All?"

We're on something like month 21 of Pool 'n Kurt's Space Nonsense, although the time always compresses on these things. By this point, if I had missed a Super Bowl, a new Star Wars movie, and like two Christmases; I think I'd be a little irritable.

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"Kitchen."

Continued tomorrow! For some reason.

I don't know if this kitchen set will be back, if only because it's papercraft and a little fragile. (That and my folding on the faucet was godawful.) It was supposed to be 1/12 scale, but seems a little small for Marvel Legends girls. Still, you'd kind of assume Pool and Kurt's kitchen would be a nightmare; but I kind of like the idea that they're both either too uninterested or too lazy to really use it.
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In case the "Great Disaster" wasn't great enough for you:

I picked up most of this series for a buck an issue, but did have to order the last one: from 2013, Joe Kubert Presents #6, featuring stories and art from Joe Kubert, Henrik Jonsson, Sam Glanzman, and more. But my favorite this issue was a Kamandi eight-pager by Kubert and Brandon Vietti, "Devil's Play." It adds a couple new wrinkles to both Kamandi and the Great Disaster, as Kamandi here also works as a scientist, intent on discovering a cure to restore humanity's intelligence; and that there may have been even more to the Great Disaster than anyone could've possibly guessed. Namely, the involvement of the supernatural, personified by Etrigan the Demon!

This Etrigan seems full-on evil, and hints that maybe some force wanted the Great Disaster to happen. It's also a great-looking little story, and I wish it could be followed-up on.
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Soon thereafter, the JLA was replaced by non-union equivalents...

Y'know, I can't help but notice that Batman isn't on the picket line with his team. Green Arrow either. But they were both rich as hell, and probably would not have put up with that crap...

Anyway, a fun way to see if you really want something or not, is to not buy it immediately, then have to go completely out of your way later to see it's still there or not. Today, we lucked out and got this wooden print thing of Justice League of America #28, and a spare Funko Rocketeer. (The Rocketeer was marked down, and I had a five buck Toys R Us coupon.)

Another recent pickup? The recently collected Batman: the Doom that Came to Gotham, the 2000-2001 limited series written by Mike Mignola. I got the first issue eight years ago and just finally got to finish reading!
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Some movie or another coming out this weekend...

When the hell did I take these? Maybe June, when Baron Karza made a guest appearance? I have a little plastic container full of Palisades Micronauts reissues, but I've mentioned before, I swear every time I get them out, I lose another piece. Fortunately, there was a ton of pieces to start with...Karza's belly-button missile launcher may have sprung its spring, though.

I may or may not get to the Force Awakens this weekend...I kind of feel like I have to go, or avoid TV and the internet until I do. (Or at least stay off of Twitter, anyway.) Have a good weekend even if you aren't in the theaters!
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80-Page Thursdays: Vertigo Quarterly CMYK #2!

The last of the Vertigo Quarterlies that I have so far--and the last 80-pager I have for the time being--from 2014, Vertigo Quarterly CMYK #2, or "Magenta," with stories and art by Rachel Deering, Matteo Scalera, Carla Berrocal, Jody Houser, Rufus Dayglo, and more.

Full disclosure time: this was a $7.99 comic, and there's no way I would've paid that much for it. The only creators I recognized this issue were Peter Milligan and Tommy Lee Edwards: Milligan's "The Shoe in the Attic" was great, while I didn't think Edward's art on "Gloves" was too bad, the story didn't do it for me.

"Bone White, Blood Red" is a pleasant little horror short, and "Adrift" features a young woman dealing with grief with a Barbie-type doll, and is both charming and devastating. Rian Hughes writes and draws "Magenta is not a Color" which is a denser read in eight pages than nine out of ten entire comics that you see any given Wednesday. So, four good ones out of nine, and even the other five weren't awful; and getting the book for under two bucks? Have to say, that might push it up a letter grade!
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"Wristamajig."

Darn, I sometimes post these well in advance, so I forget to put any commentary in! Suffice to say, I had a small pile of tribbles--a few before, but some more with a goodly pile of Star Trek accessories I bought off eBay. As is often the case around here, a throwaway joke turns into a multi-week storyline...

If Advanced Idea Mechanics was a real evil organization, I'm sure at least some of their evil scientists would be nerdy enough to build their own monsters or robots or gadgets based on popular or cult sci-fi. In-universe, even though Marvel and Star Wars are owned by Disney; that may mean items based on Arkon IV or other Simon Williams movies.
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"Job Abandonment."

Best guess, but Lex has been with the Justice League for almost two years, but thanks to sliding schedules, crossovers, and multi-chapter epics; it feels like he's only been there for two, maybe three adventures? Versus the Crime Syndicate, the current Darkseid storyline, and, um...presumably, some others? Maybe?

If DC gave me Justice League to write--which would be the most crack-addled idea since, well, crack--my solemn pledge would be at least a year of single-issue stories. No crossovers. Because I'm sure I'd have the pull to be able to opt out of 'em, absolutely. Bonus round? Twelve issues without a hero vs. hero fight, at least in terms of fisticuffs. They would argue like there was no tomorrow, but save the punch-ups for actual villains.
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"Settle a Bet."

If you have Ross Stores in your area, some may have some fairly recent DC Collectibles figures, like the Simon Baz Green Lantern, or the Talon figure we see here with the Court of Owls mask. In fact, one store had two Talons, and it was sorely tempting to buy them both and have a little squad of them. There's also an Armored Lex Luthor figure down to like $25: he's a deluxe figure, pretty good-sized, and the smirkiest looking bastard I've ever seen. I held off on buying him so far (partially, because I just dropped $100 on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter, which was a pretty good deal for 14 new episodes!) but that figure was probably the idea for this one.
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I remember as a kid, reading a Star Trek reference book--probably a later edition of the Star Trek Concordance--with a footnote, to the effect of the writers had decided that the main crew, for their purposes, were all only children. I'm not sure if that was by editorial fiat or democratic decision; but they didn't want anyone pulling out that hackneyed old soap-opera plot of Spock's sister or Kirk's brother showing up--or worse, having to cast a guest-star as such. And they broke that rule in Star Trek V with Spock's half-brother, and look how that turned out.

You could um, actually that quite a bit: given the nigh-irresistible seven-year mating cycle of the Vulcan's pon farr, it would be weird if Spock didn't have any siblings. And Kirk's brother Sam appears in the episode Operation--Annihilate! but is killed before we see him. And Scott had a nephew in Wrath of Khan, his sister's son...anyone who makes any of these points is technically correct but a huge nerd and you have my permission to punch them in the arm as hard as you can. The larger point remains, generally it's better to avoid bringing in previously unseen and unmentioned siblings to generate a story.

Anyway, today we meet Conan's sister...oh, goddamnit...

From 1985, Savage Sword of Conan #119, "Homecoming" Written by Don Kraar, art by Ernie Chan. These stories were usually continuity-light, so Conan could be a pirate on the Vilayet sea one issue, and in his homeland of Cimmeria the next--for those of you who don't know your Hyborian Age, those locations are not close together. But this one introduces Conan's sister, Siobhan; and a different fate for Conan's parents than was used before--or since--killed by a rival clan, the Diarmiads. After saving Siobhan from a wild boar, Conan learns his parents' fate, and vows vengeance. Siobhan urges caution, and the Diarmiads can't just kill Conan outright, since it was the Feast of Crom, and forbidden for Cimmerian to kill Cimmerian on that day. (That doesn't really hold water: Conan and his people were uncomplicated barbarians, far too practical to hold to such a rule; and their god Crom was often described as utterly uncaring as to what happened to them.)

Conan introduces himself as "Amra," an old alias; but he knows he's not fooling anyone. During the feast, the Diarmiads toy with him by threatening Siobhan, and Conan is challenged to throw axes at her head. Which he does. Blindfolded. Maglocun, the chieftain, invites Conan to a hunt in his honor the next day, calling him out.

Siobhan tells Conan that Maglocun is charmed, and only their father's sword could kill him, but the Diarmiads had it beat into a plowshare. At the hunt, Conan is given a lame old nag and a nub of a sword, but Conan still remembers the lay of the land from his childhood, and turns the tables on the hunters. A dog manages to knock Conan off a cliff, but the Diarmiads aren't about to assume he's dead. Injured, Conan makes his way to his father's forge, and the next day two of his enslaved cousins deliver the plowshare, for Conan to reforge back into a sword. That night, the slaves turn on their captors, as Conan faces down Maglocun and his immediate family. They try to make it seem like Conan is outnumbered six to one, but c'mon, it's Conan: he probably could've killed every last one of them himself. I've joked before that Conan had killed more people than cancer at that point, but I don't think people got cancer back then. They died of Conan first.

Conan halves the simpering Maglocun with his father's sword: it's not clear if Maglocun was actually enchanted, or if Conan even believes it. He and the other Cimmerians are sometimes portrayed as superstitious. But he's practical, and even if the symbolism didn't appeal to him, Conan may simply figure it's just as easy to kill him that way. Siobhan dies shortly after the battle, having been whipped pretty soundly then getting stabbed while killing the Diarmiad's witch, Morag. Neither she nor the sword of Conan's dad are ever mentioned again, possibly because Conan isn't the sentimental type, or because this may or may not fit with your personal continuity for his stories. For me?...maybe.

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