Agents of SHIELD, Episode 9 - Live Commentary

    Here's the archive of all the sarcasm and commentary I made on Twitter as the show played.

0:01: Labratory Accident Kills 4 - how often is THAT a headline in the Marvel Universe? 

0:01: Not @FeliciaDay, but an incredible simulation!

0:04:  Particle accelerator?  Am I watching #Arrow by accident?

0:04:  Magnets, yo!  How do they work?  

0:06: You get more with a tranq gun and a kind word than just a kind word.  

0:10:  I'm sure they rushed this episode with the particle accelerator so they could say #Arrow ripped them off.

0:16: Is it just me, or do the walls of the cell look like old-school TARDIS panelling? 

0:18: Sadly, there will be some explanation for this that does not require a phone call to #DrStrange. 

0:24: You know what the fans really want to see? Simmons using the same hologram interface Tony Stark did!  

0:27: I wonder how frequently The Bus crashing is going to be a thing? 

0:34: #AgentsofSHIELD! It's like #XFiles with... uh... er... it's like X-Files!  

0:36: Oh - put the believer in the light and the Atheist in the dark.  THAT'S subtle!   

0:40: @Sea_Bunker  If that room is so dang secure & protective how come their voices carry through it so easily?

0:41: The walls are made of Vibranium and allow sound to pass through them. #NoPrize #BS  

0:57: Yeah...  really not digging this episode.

Red Sonja #5 - A Review

Red Sonja #5 continues Gail Simone's redefinition of the legend of the She Devil of Hyrkania.  This chapter sees Sonja newly retrieved from exile with a promise of a cure for the illness that plagues her.  By the issue's end, she will once again face her former friend and fellow survivor of the arenas of Zamora - Dark Annisia!


The script features much of Simone's famous humor, such as Sonja's bodyguards continuing their efforts to create impressive titles for their mistress.  Yet there are also many mysteries that push the plot forward, continuing to hold the readers' interest despite this issue largely being set-up for the conclusion of the first story arc.  The final page offers a surprising revelation that demands an interesting explanation next month.


Walter Geovani's art continues to impress.  I felt he was one of the most underrated artists to work on the previous Red Sonja title.  It is good to see him sitting on the monthly title on a regular basis.  Hopefully this partnership will continue for a long time to come. 

Conan The Barbarian #22 - A Review

Conan The Barbarian #22 proves that any work - no matter how good - can be completely destroyed in translation by unskilled adapters.  If it weren't for the fact that this is the final arc on this book for this creative team, I'd consider dropping the title completely.  As it is, this issue inspired nothing within me save a desire to reread the old Roy Thomas Conan comics to see it retold properly.


Brian Wood does not adapt Robert E. Howard's original text - he butchers it, like Conan chopping his way through a horde of Stygians!  While the dialogue in this book does capture the basic gist of Howard's original story, much of the original passionate dialogue is gone.  For instance, Conan's famed musings on the nature of reality and how it matters little if life is an illusion so long as he is part of that illusion is cut completely.  Curiously the only text Wood leaves intact is the written descriptions of things that could be more clearly conveyed in the artwork.



Then again - considering artist Riccardo Burchielli - Wood may well have good reason to trust the text over the art.  Burchielli is not a bad artist but his sense of cinematography is odd.  Many is the conversation where we cannot see the characters talking, being instead treated to a far-shot of the ship or the surrounding environment.  When the characters do appear, they are often turned away from the reader - the better for Belit to flash her half-bared backside to the reader!

Five Ways The Doctor Can Survive If Matt Smith Is Really The Thirteenth Regeneration

WARNING: This article is highly speculative and dependent on some recent news and continuity. Do not read it if you have yet to see The Day Of The Doctor and wish to avoid SPOILERS!




SOURCE: The Mirror

Granting that The Mirror is not the most reputable source, the question raised by this article is a valid one.  And the math - by the reckoning of most Whovians - does add up.  If John Hurt's Doctor came between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston and the David Tennant Doctor did burn the energy for a regeneration during Journey's End then Matt Smith would indeed be The Doctor's Thirteenth incarnation.

So how can Peter Capaldi become The Doctor in The Time Of The Doctor then?  Of course we knew they'd find some way around the rules regarding Time Lord regeneration... but how?  With that in mind, here's five work-arounds I've come up with that would solve the problem.


1. The thirteen regeneration limit is a legal one.

While the mythology is firm on Time Lords being limited to a dozen regenerations, there is much to suggest the limit is a legal one controlled by The Time Lords rather than a physical one.  The High Council of The Time Lords offered The Master a new set of regenerations for his aid during The Five Doctors.  Further, The Trial of a Time Lord suggested it was legally possible for one Time Lord to sign their remaining regenerations over to another, as The Valeyard attempted to force The Sixth Doctor to do.

Therefore, with no Time Lords around to enforce their own limits, there's nothing to actually stop The Doctor from going on... assuming he found some way of absorbing the energy for a few more regenerations somewhere on his journeys.  One way this could have happened...


2. River's sacrifice in Let's Kill Hitler didn't just save his life - it gave him more lives.

It was said that River sacrificed all her regenerations to save The Doctor from the poison that killed his ability to regenerate.  What if she wound up doing a bit more than that?


3. As a result of The Night Of The Doctor, The Doctor's regeneration clock "reset".

In The Night Of The Doctor, we learn that the Paul McGann Doctor was left near-death following a spaceship crash onto the planet Karn - home of the Sisterhood of Karn, who protect the Sacred Flame that grants them (and The Time Lords) eternal life.  They prepared several elixirs for him that would allow him to decide what he would become when he regenerated.  Perhaps the elixir also gave him an entirely new set of regenerations?


4. The regeneration triggered by The Sisterhood of Karn was a 1-Up.

Another possibility is that the elixir The Sisterhood of Karn gave The Doctor functioned like an extra-life in a video game as well as a trigger for his next regeneration.  That would give him one extra life, which could become the Peter Capaldi Doctor.


5. "Maybe even the universe can't bear to be without the Doctor."

In The Curse of The Fatal Death, The Doctor was somehow able to regenerate after his apparent death from an energy blast that destroyed his ability to regenerate.  No explanation was given, save for the above phrase from his companion.  Granting that The Curse of The Fatal Death was a spoof episode, it was also written by Steven Moffat and that scene was played completely straight.


Are any of these guesses close?  Time will tell.  It always does.

Austin Comic Con - Part Three

Sailor Moon


Chell from Portal.


Captain Marvel, Bullseye and Elektra.


The Green Hornet and Kato.


The Fourth Doctor and Link.


Classic Star Trek crew.


Hit Girl.


Nightwing and Harley Quinn. He was much more excited about meeting Green Arrow than she was.
He also lamented that everyone kept calling him Batman. I was one of the few who recognized him!

Speaking of Harley, here's a nice dress inspired by Harley Quinn.


Steampunk Poison Ivy, The Greatest American Hero as a baby, Darth Vader as a Tween Girl and Grifter.
Somewhere, someone just had an idea on how to make this into a fan-fiction story.


I shall pose for your picture, for Doom likes the cut of your green cowl.
Then Doom will return to his quest for an ultra-rare Doctor Hooves variant figure!
It shall be mine! So swears Doom!


Ariel - here seen with a newly working pair of legs - was working at the booth for Silver Leaf Costumes.


No, Babydoll! Watch out for No Face!