GRIFT

I am not sure what all the fuss about this new Lady Thor is about -- afterall, Tony Stark has been Fe-Male for years. I'll see myself out.

The time table for the X-Force movies, which had previously been rumored to be in the pipeline after Days of Future Past will now be pushed back. It is totally possible that it will be as a spinoff to this movie but for now the extra step of Apocalypse has changed the original plans.

Rob Liefield is saying the previous plans for X-Force have gone out the window.

I am also loving it. It is great having classic Fury at the center of a major arc.

I am a huge Fantastic Four fan but I really don't have high hopes for this movie. The casting of Jordon has little to do with it. ComicsAlliance hit the nail on the head when it come to the subject and if you have a problem with that casting you should check out this article which sums up my stance more elegantly than I can here. My real issue is that the best Fantastic Four stories aren't origin tales -- they are the stories that show a fully formed family reacting to the world of super heroes they live in. It is why the Incredibles will likely go down as the best "Fantastic Four" movie and why Jonathan Hickman's run on the book is so widely celebrated. His entire arc is built around the interplay of those relationships and the cosmic MacGuffins are all just window dressings that make exploring that interesting. Again, I will never understand Hollywood's obsession with origin films. I guess it is in the simplicity of the arc. Either way, it is hard for me to get excited about Fantastic Four -- Fast Times at Baxter Building High.

I am pretty sure the hockey organist for the USA vs Slovakia game just played "Personal Jesus" which is what the Slovakian's would need to turn this game around -- and that might not even work. I mean, they already have a Zdeno Chara.

The only thing I don't like about the new Gaurdians is that they ditched Star-Lord's awesome mask. It seems especially odd considering it appears to be the look they are using in the film. I can get down with the rest of the retro-redesign, the Pratt look, and him getting the element gun back but his mask was badass!

”Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” - Steve Earle "I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table." - Townes Van Zandt. Anyone who has been on this board for more than a cup of coffee has probably heard me talk about the music of Townes Van Zandt. His songs have accompanied me on many a weary road and have been a constant companion for my life's many highs, lows, and in betweens. In many ways, I think anyone who hears Townes and "gets it" becomes more than a fan -- you become a disciple and there is a missionary like instinct to share His with a capital 'H's works, which at times can be a frustrating enterprise. Due to a number of factors (covered in greater detail in the excellent film Be Here To Love Me) Townes had a great deal of trouble keeping his records in print and while others have had great success covering and reappropriating his music, Townes never really had a breakthrough single or album. As a result, he has one of the most intimidating and sprawling song books in all of modern music and it is not entirely uncommon for a song (or several songs) to appear in a number of incarnations from one studio album to the next. Below I have a sort of Starters Guide playlist I made for Spotify. This playlist is meant to be a comprehensive entry point for anyone who is interested in seeing why he has such an ardent cult following but it might be a fun follow for folks like Hobo and Skummy as well. Beyond having a fairly representative body of his work, each song I've included is what I consider the "definitive" recording or each. I have a few other lists like this for other artist that I might share if this is well received. http://open.spotify.com/user/1246011431/playlist/5NF36flkcOlOTheksOab1Z

It really is a shame, and yeah I get why they are making the move, but I hold out hope that this will all pass as a fad and we'll get Classic Fury back at some point. He is such a great figure in the history of Marvel, both as a viewpoint character who has been there for its entirety and individually. I think it would be an easier transition if New Fury had any sort of character other than uh, just being New Fury. He has been in capable hands in Secret Avengers but has really nothing to show for himself almost a year in. Instead of having a character with rich relationships to draw from and history that dates back to WW2 we just have a sort of milquetoast replacement who seems less like Nick Fury and more like the SHEILD agent who gets killed at the beginning of a Nick Fury story. HawkGuy might catch up to Hickman, but isn't even in the same league right now due to the scope of the runs. Fraction has a great 17 issues compared to Hickman's Fantastic Four: (#570–588, renumbered, 600–611) while simultaneously writing FF: (#1–23).

Hickman's run on Fantastic Four is probably the best run any writer has had on a Marvel book in years. It is Simonson on Thor levels of good and tells some great Doom stories -- but it does an exceptional job at writing Reed who I think is one of the harder characters for writers to get right, let alone make likable. I spent most of my Christmas break from work reading Hickman's other Marvel runs -- S.H.E.I.L.D. and Secret Warriors-- and beyond his meticulous plotting (he basically tells one story across all of his writing for Marvel) he has the all too important, and all too rare, ability to see what made these characters work in the first place and understands how to make those themes resonate 50 years later. There is a reason he was given Avengers after Fantastic Four and FF and why Marvel trusted a single writer to handle a line wide event like Infinity. Also, his run on Secret Warriors made me really sad that their aren't many Classic Fury stories being told. Classic Fury > *All other Fury's.

It beats WWE 12 where he was essentially yellow.

I've enjoyed the game but the character models are a worse than they were in WWE 13. Some of the characters are pretty spot on while others are just weirdly bulky and oddly colored.

With his diabetes he probably wouldn't be about to drop the requisite weight but I think he'd make a great established Reed Richards.

Tom Hanks wants to be in a comic book movie but no one has asked him to. What role would you like to see him as? http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/movienewsandreviews/news/?a=88609#bl5jTWOB0EIoV5gP.01

I find it a little weird but Coulson reminds me more of Nick Fury from the comics than cinematic Fury does. I know Jackson is portraying the Ultimate version that is based on him, but he still just comes across as Sam Jackson as Sam Jackson to me. We never really see him do all that much. I get that Fury works in large part from the shadows but the great Steranko stories that made him famous and made him into the super spy of Marvel are way more instep with Coulson. Coulson is the one who is a badass in the field, Coulson is the one who has romantic exploits with Peruvian lady warriors, and Coulson is the man gallivanting the globe with a flying car!

Random thought about S.H.I.E.L.D./The Avengers

Hmm -- No Usos is really the only big surprise to me. Those guys are challenging for the tag titles, have been around long enough, and seem like the type of fan favorites you'd want in a game so kids could get more attached to them. I wonder if they'll be DLC like last year.

I just wrapped this game up after being too busy to play for the better part of the last two weeks and I just need to say that this game will forever hold a special place in my heart for a moment where I realized Roddy Piper was manning the turret gun on the alien space tank I was driving. What a mad fever dream of a game this was.

GERMAN SUPLEX

Batman doesn't remember it so much as he is aware of it due to The Flash telling him the story and giving him a letter from his father. I might be mistaken but I think they theorized that those memories may fade with time.

A timeline of the many creative departures and differences DC has had in the last few years. http://guttersandpanels.com/gutters-and-panels/2013/3/23/the-new-52-timeline-of-departures