richcsigs

Latest Posts by richcsigs

Well...

Lyra Valkeria makes her Wrestlemania 41 entrance.

Me: "Well, I have a new kink now..."

Wrestlemania 41 Night Two predictions

√ Woman's World Championship Triple Threat Match: (c) Iyo Sky defeats Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair. Iyo has been pretty much ignored by the other two competitors leading up to this match, which will continue during this match too. Iyo pins Rhea so the "Rhea can't beat Iyo" story can continue. Plus it also keeps the "Bianca has never been pinned or submitted at Wrestelmania" story going too.

√ Sin City Street Fight: Drew McIntyre defeats Damian Priest. The sad part is both of these guys desperately need a win. But I think Paul HHH has decided that Priest is not main event worthy and with this loss will be dropping back down to the mid card. If this match opens the night, then maybe Priest wins. But I don't think so.

√ Intercontinental Fatal Four-Way Match: Dominik Mysterio defeats (c) Bron Breaker, Penta & Finn Balor. It's time to move Dom up. He's still great on the mike and his in ring work has improved greatly. Either Dom pins Pinn Balor or Balor hits his move on Penta only for Dom to attack him and steal the pin. This leads to the break up of the Judgement Day and gets the title off of Bron without him losing so he can move up the card.

√ Randy Orton Open Challenge Match: Despite who his opponent is, Randy is taking the win here. The next PLE is taking place in St. Louis, Randy's hometown, so he'll be challenging the winner of Rhodes/Cena there. Rumor is his opponent will be the returning Rusev (thanks for the spoiler Big E) or maybe Solo Sikoa. I hope it's not Rusev. He should return on the RAM or SAM and certainly shouldn't take a loss in his return match.

√ Logan Paul defeats AJ Styles. Short and to the point, Logan hasn't won in quite a while and AJ, nearing the end of his career, can take the loss. My prediction for who's in the Prime bottle this year is Karrion Kross.

X Woman's World Tag Team Title Match: (c) Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez defeat Lyra Valkyria and a mystery partner (most likely Becky Lynch). I don't think Becky is coming back full time, which is why I'm picking the champs to retain. I suppose they could do a thing where Becky is just "filling in" for Bayley and then Bayley becomes the co-champion. But I think the champs win with Shenanigans which makes Aldis put the match on the SAM with a suddenly healed Bayley and they win them there.

√ Undisputed WWE Championship Match: John Cena beats (c) Cody Rhodes. This match will be loaded with shenanigans. But Cena winning is the much more interesting option. Then he takes on Randy at Backlash (in Randy's home town), then CM Punk at Money In The Bank (c'mon, this HAS to happen). I'll be honest, I have no idea what they'll do with Cody afterwords, but I'm intrigued to find out. Also, Cody got pretty boo'd on Smackdown by the Las Vegas crowd. Curious to see if that will continue tonight.

I predicted that, but then gave up on it.

A month ago, this was exactly how I thought the Punk/Reigns/Rollins match would end. But then the whole "You owe me a favor" stuff started. And they were pushing this possiblility on the pre-show so hard, I thought for sure there was no way it would happen. And then Punk got a vdeo package AND a band playing him to the ring and I was sure his victory was a given.

Umm... Gotta take my first answer?

Wrestlemania 41 Night One Predictions

√ World Heavyweight Championship match: Jay Uso defeats (c) Gunther.

Jay is hot right now and Gunther needs to lose the title so he can lose to Goldberg in his retirement match. I don't think Jay will hold it for long though.

√ Jade Cargill defeats Naomi.

Naomi's promos have been awesome, but of all the matches on this card, this one's a no brainer.

√ World Tag Team Title Match: New Day defeat (c) War Raiders.

I love the idea of Big E coming along and costing the New Day the match. But honestly, New Day needs this win. Plus, they will be quite entertaining as the champs. Maybe Big E can cost them the titles at SummerSlam.

√ United States Championship: Jacob Fatu defeats (c) L.A. Knight.

Pretty much the other given on this card. It's Fatu's time.

X Rey Mysterio Rey Fenix defeats El Grande Americano.

WWE announced about an hour ago that they've bought the AAA promotion. Yeah... There's no way El Grande is winning.

√ WWE Women's Championship: (c)Tiffany Straton defeats Charlotte Flair.

This is the hardest one for me. I mean, it's Charlotte Flair at Wrestlemania LOL. But I just have a feeling that WWE (Paul in particular) is just sick of her s**t. Plus, Tiffany is much more entertaining. So IMO, "It's Tiffy Time!"

X CM Punk defeats Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.

You need to send the crowd home happy tonight (cuz SPOILERS it won't happen tomorrow), and of the 3, Punk is the one to pick. Hayman will slide a chair into the ring and it'll end up between Punk & Reigns and that will factor into the victory.

Reading Pile Pt. 5

Astro City Volume 09: Through Open Doors One of my favorite series! I've loved it since it began in the '90s. This volume collects the 1st six issues from when the series moved from Image to DC/Vertigo. Contains what is probably my favorite Astro City story ("On The Sidelines"). Highly recommend. DC/Vertigo - Hardcover $24.99, Softcover $16.99

Booster Gold Volume 01: The Big Fall Collects the first 12 issues of the 1980s series. This was one of the first DC books I got into when I started collecting (mainly because it had just started) and I loved it then. Rereading it now... it's not that good. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. There a lot of great ideas in this series. It was one of the first comics to tackle the "super-hero as superstar" idea (in modern parlance, he'd probably be considered an influencer). But this is clearly a first effort by Dan Jurgans. There are hints of the writer he'll become though. Plus the art is good. DC Comics - Hardcover $39.99 (Out Of Print), Kindle $9.99

Jessica Jones: Pulse, The Complete* Collection When Alias (the comic) came to an end, Brian Bendis pretty much stated that he had told all of the stories he could under the Max label, mainly because there were characters Marvel wouldn't let him use in an "adult" book. The concept is, after having helped him find his adoptive daughter (during the Alias series), J. Jonah Jameson hires Jessica to be a consultant for a weekly supplement on super-heroes (called "The Pulse"). Since she's pregnant and needs the health insurance, she takes the job. * - While called "The Complete Collection", it is actually missing issue #10 which was a House Of M crossover issue and focused on Hawkeye and didn't have Jessica in it at all. It does include New Avengers (2005) Annual #1, the issue where Jessica & Luke get married. Marvel - Softcover $34.99 (Out of print), Kindle $8.99

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies: A Criminal Novelette I love the Brubaker/Phillips line of books ("Kill Or Be Killed" being my favorite), but this one didn't hit for me. Not bad, it just didn't grab me as their stories usually do. The story takes place in a rehab center. That is until Elle decides she's had enough of the place and convinces Skip to join her in escaping. The story then follows the two teens as they rob stores & fall in love. There is a nice twist ending though. Image - Hardcover $16.99, Softcover $12.99 (both out of print), Kindle $10.99

The Reading Pile Pt. 4

Lazarus: The Complete Hardcover Collection Volumes 1, 2 & 3 In the not too distant future, the 18 richest families of the world get together and divide up the world. Governments soon fall, and these families become the leaders of the world. People are broken down into three classes. Family (those who rule), Serf (those who have been chosen by the family to serve the family) and Waste (those who have no association with the family). As you can guess, most belong to the 3rd class. Along with their fighting units, each family has a Lazarus; a warrior specifically designed to be the ultimate fighter. They are strong, cunning and hard to kill. For the family Carlyle, this is Forever, the youngest daughter of the family and the series protagonist. This series is, quite easily, my favorite book of the past 15 years. Writer Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark really put their heart and soul into this series, which is evident if you get the hardcover collections with all the bonus "how we did it" material. Tons of research and discussion go into each issue. Rucka even went so far as to film himself and buddy for a fight scene that Lark could use for reference. Rucka originally said the story would take 125-150 issue to tell. Unfortunately, it looks like the series has died. The final volume (four) is due out in May, collecting the last 9 issues of the series to have come out, which finishes off the first major arc of the series. The last issue came out in 2022, literally one year after the previous issue, and that issue came out 8 months after the one before that. It's a shame, because it was a great book. Image Comics - 3 HC volumes (with the 4th due out in May) - Vol 1 $34.99, Vols 2 & 3 $39.99, Vol 4 $49.99. All still available. Also available in SC trades (with no behind the scenes items).

The Reading Pile Pt. 3

I'm now working exclusively on the graphic novels, as that pile has gotten waaaaaay too big.

Quantum & Woody: The Complete Series Omnibus I absolutely loved this series when it originally came out. There really wasn't anything like it out there, certainly not from a major publisher (and yes, at that time, Valiant/Acclaim was a major publisher). The book features an Odd Couple-style duo of "super-heroes", forced to be together. Each wears a control band that must be clanked together every 24 hours or they will die. Hilarity ensues. While there is a ton of humor, mainly in the different dynamic of the two characters and a bunch of fourth-wall breaking (the best being the 3 pages in the beginning of issue #4 where Quantum & Woody complain about all the graphic violence the book can get away with, but can't use naughty words), it can not be classified as a humor book, as there is many serious and dramatic situations throughout. The book stars Quantum as the Felix Unger of the group. He takes super-heroing earnestly. He's orderly and meticulous and serious. Woody, the Oscar Madison type, is his complete opposite. He doesn't take the super-hero lifestyle very seriously (the best being his insistence on taking elevators rather that climbing up & down the outside of buildings), is a slob and does everything chaotically. One of dynamics of the team is that Quantum & Woody are childhood friends who both grew up in rich, suburban Connecticut. Which is an issue for Quantum, who is African-American. The series, written and drawn by Christopher Priest and Mark "M.D." Bright (both of whom are also African-American) doesn't shy away from this. The biggest problem with the series is that there is a lot of "jokes" based on Quantum & Woody not being a gay couple. While this was okay-ish in the '90s, in the 2020s, it's just uncomfortable. It worse when at one point Woody goes on a 2 page rant about how all villains are secretly "in the closet" (though Woody doesn't use any terms that would be considered PC). Despite this, the series is still worth the read and I highly recommend it. Just... be prepared for the cringe. Valiant - HC cover price, $99.99 (Out of print) - Kindle, free with a Kindle Unlimited membership.

If a girl feels uncomfortable hanging out with you alone, and you get so offended by that, it makes you angry, she probably made the right choice.

More from the Reading Pile

Fortunately The Milk A fun children's story that can be enjoyed by all ages. Skottie Young's art works perfectly with the wild story (a dad tells the story of why it took him so long to go buy a bottle of milk). It's written by Neil Gaiman, so decide for yourself if you want to support it (I had already purchased it before all the news broke). Harper Collins Children - HC $19.99, SC $9.99

Wrestling Unmasked: Ripping the Mask off the Crime, Politics and Intrigue Beyond The Ring A collection of various articles from the British Wrestletalk Magazine from the early 2020s. They are well written and dive into the ugly history of the industry. If you're a long time wrestling fan like me (since the mid '80s), you probably know most of these stories already. But the articles are well written and in some cases personal. Worth picking up, especially if you are recent fan to the squared circle. Wrestletalk.com - ebook £6.99, print SC £14.99, also available from Amazon

Snarf Quest: The Book A graphic novel of the first story line of Larry Elmore's "Snarf Quest" comic from the back of Dragon magazine of the 1980s. It's entertainingly silly and goofy and doesn't take it's self seriously at all (it features a time traveling wizard, a robot that crash lands in front of Snarf and a dragon that thinks it's a duck). Also, it's Larry Elmore, so all of the women are beautiful and scantly clad, but at least they don't fall into the "damsel in distress" trope. A fun read. If you can find it cheap, snap it up. TSR Inc - Cover Price $9.95 (out of print)

Catching up on the reading pile

Since I'm stuck at home right now, I've made an effort to try to catch up on my reading pile.

Jack Reacher Book 1: The Killing Floor Being a big fan of the show, I decided to give the books a read. I have to say, I was disappointed. No Neagley and how stereo-typical "damsel in distress" Roscoe was were the two biggest disappointments. Also, the ending had a very "Super easy, barely an inconvenience" feel to it. I didn't hate it, mind you. And in fact I'll give the 2nd one a try. I'm chalking it up to it being a first/early work. Penguin Random House - $9.99

Mad's Greatest Artist: Seigio Aragones - Five Decades of his Finest Works One of my favorite artists & writers. His view on the world (especially in the "A Mad Look At..." series) often make me laugh. I'm sorry to hear that his health is not great these days and that his output has suffered because of it. This book is great and you should pick it up (if you can afford to). Running Press - Cover Price $29.95 (Out Of Print)

Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (The Graphic Album) Various writers and/or artists present stories based on songs from Tori's first album "Little Earthquakes", as well as songs that only appeared as "B-Sides" on singles. The book is beautiful and most of the stories are very good. There is a modern day problem though as her long time friend Neil Gaiman has one story and the epilogue, where he talks about his 30 year friendship with the artist. Still worth picking up though. Z2 Comics - $39.99

In the first-ever union of the Word of God and the Synthesizer, the Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals voted unanimously Monday to incorporate the lyrics of Yes into the New Testament. The resulting new Bible, the Revised Standard YesScriptures, will replace the Jerusalem Bible of 1966 as the standard accepted record and vehicle of divine revelation.

“Let us rejoice in this momentous occasion,” said Pope John Paul II in a special service at St. Peter’s. “And let no man be unmoved, remembering the words of Jesus: ’In and around the lake, mountains come out of the sky, and they stand there.’ Amen.”

Full Story

Joe Morello

TIME OUT! I called time out!

TIME OUT! I called time out!

Damn this is good.

Gav’s Tavern Hi, I hope you like this. It is different from what I usually do. Also it was a lot of work.

One for sorrow Two for joy Three for a girl Four for a boy Five for silver Six for gold Seven for a secret never to be told

Eight for a wish Nine for a kiss Ten for a chance you must not miss Eleven for a wasp Twelve for a bee Thirteen for a coffee Fourteen for tea

Fifteen for a pencil Sixteen for a pen Seventeen to hear these options once again

Eighteen for pepper Nineteen for salt Twenty for an accident in which you were not at fault

Twenty one for Jerry Twenty two for Tom Twenty three - where are all these magpies coming from?

Twenty five no seriously Thirty this is weird Forty eight from where have all these magpies suddenly appeared?

Sixty two stop counting Seventy just run Ninety nine the revolution of the magpies has begun

Two hundred no more sorrow Five hundred no more fears One thousand for how long the empire of the magpies will last in years

(John Finnemore)

Tales from comic book retail

*Dad & small child (SC) come in*

Dad: "Do you have Justice League Vs. Godzilla Vs. King Kong?" (yes, this is an actual comic out right now)

Me: "Sure do" *get up to show them where it is*

*As we''re walking over*

SC: "I love Godzilla! ROOOAAARR!"

Me: "I like him too. He's pretty cool."

SC: "I've got a Godzilla toy!"

Me: "Awesome! I don't have one."

SC: "Did you ask Santa for one?"

Me: "Aw man, I forgot to put that on my list."

SC: "Well, it's too late now. You'll have to wait until next year."

NOW it's truly classic Trek.

“Captain’s log, supplemental: the Enterprise has encountered an alien life form who has identified himself as ‘Ziggy’”

Things I need to remember. I don't know how many times I quit something quickly because I wasn't doing it perfect immediately.

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

About to see The Talking Heads, 57 feet high and 72 feet high!

STORY TIME:

I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car (OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!), she piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean (“Wooooosh” she says, making a wave gesture with her hand)

Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.

Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.

He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, bodily takes them out of her hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with a intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says “you need chocolate.” She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile.

He keeps asking her “why are you doing this?” She responds “Do you like Harry Potter?“ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.

Finally she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say:

“It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.”

The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: “My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.”

I’ve bagged up all her stuff and at this point am super awkward and feel like I should say something but I don’t know what. Then she turns to me and says: I wish I could have bangs like that but my darn hair is just too curly.“ And leaves.

And that is the story of the best customer I’ve ever had. Be kind to somebody today.

This is beautiful.

So incredible. 😍

I want this sooooo much.

This. Is my pride and joy. A gift for my dad, who played Zork with me when I was a kid, and with his dad when he was a kid. I designed this pattern myself and had a great time puzzling out how to hide the glow in the dark letters!

Pattern: “West of House” by me Fabric: 2x1 on 18ct Blue-Grey Aida Started: 11/27/2021 Finished: 12/25/2021

• An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.

• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

• A question mark walks into a bar?

• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

• A synonym strolls into a tavern.

• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

• A dyslexic walks into a bra.

• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony

- Jill Thomas Doyle