Some advice for DMs and players here âŚ
Q-Phone in the news
Linked within: The Runcible Phone: https://www.cnet.com/news/meet-a-smartphone-designed-to-look-like-a-pocket-watch/
Relevant for Aria and Summer but also generally interesting
Rewatching this tonight âŚ
Rick is clearly a Bull â passionate, a man of action, with a Love and a Rival that dog his entire story.
Evey is a Legacy, following her fatherâs scholarly path and motherâs heritage.
Jonathan was tougher. Iâm calling it Joined (with Evey), driven by and counter-scripting against their parental Legacy, a dark and shoddy scholar to Eveyâs over-zealous Librarian.
A wonderful, topical Spider-Man story.
Why is it all of my favorite Spider-Man stories lately havenât been made by Marvel?
EDIT: Forgot another good one by the artist of the other two (they do a lot of Spider-Man comics).
Lovely Twitter thread on how stoopid the person who wrote up the map and design for the city of âNew Orleansâ was with their design choices. Totally unbelievable.
Since today would have been Free Comic Book Day, I figured it only right to share some free comic trivia. To which, allow me to share this no context 1975 Charlton Comics (famous for their sci-fi and horror anthology books) Scooby Doo licensed comic book.
There is so much to unpack about this cover.
- Did the Witch rob the casino with the express purpose of just giving the money away to some kids and their dog or, upon seeing the Scooby Gang, knew full well what was going to happen and decided to preemptively bribe those meddling kids?
- Why is Daphne the only person who looks upset about this revelation? Is she upset about someone trying to upset the financial class structure by just giving away money (Daphne was the rich kid of the group⌠maybe Fred too, but thatâs why they were a couple).
- Why is the casino entrance done in an almost Disneyâs Aladdin-esk ideal of Middle Eastern architecture? Is that their theme? If so, they could have skimped on the door and made literally any additional creative flourishes to the building. I mean, the sign advertising it as a casino is smaller than the door entrance. Unless this is some underground casino, in which case why are they advertising?
- Also, how big is this witch? Unless that lady is chucking that money at the gang from across the parking lot, she isâstanding up straightâapproximately twice as tall as Shaggyâs head.
Feel free to add your own comments.
- The layout and blocking here is â crazy.
- The obligatory Scooby Doo image alongside the title unfortunately makes it look like itâs a Scooby-themed Casino. Which is odd, given the decor, unless the door is actually a fire hydrant shape, rather than an Arabian tower.
- Maybe the sign is small because it is a back or side door. Or maybe itâs not all that small, given that the witch seems to have flown through just the upper section, based on her contrail, making that portal awfully large. (If part of a larger complex, the sign could be specific for the casino entrance, as opposed to the hotel entrance, spa entrance, etc.; a large sign for the Shazzan Resort and Casino would be at the top of the structure.)
- Scooby looks like he is running away, but pivoting his head with joy as he sees the money, leading to a weird contortion of the body. Scooby is also, sitting, supposed to be nearly as tall as Daph and Velma, which is clearly not the case here.
- That witch has strong thighs and a great sense of balance, as she is holding herself upright on a broom with her legs only.
- How was the witch holding all those stacks of cash and coin? Itâs way too much for her hands. Was it up her sleeves? Or is it ⌠magic?
- The witch is actually the good guy here, robbing from the rich casinos and giving to the poor folk who happen to be hanging out by the casino door.
- Daph may be upset because she is arguably the only one who is actually focused on the witch, rather than the cash falling from the sky (we canât actually tell what Fred is looking at). Given how the team usually reacts to supernatural creatures, that makes sense.
Also, this issue is valued at $100, which is the zaniest thing yet.
I know Charlton Comics mostly for their super-heroes, which were canceled by the time this Scooby Doo came out, and were later acquired in 1983 by DC. Alan Moore wanted to use them in his Watchmen series, but DC decided to use them in the DCU (brought in via the original Crisis on Infinite Earths), so Moore just riffed off them for his Watchmen characters (Ozymandias [Peter CannonâThunderbolt], Nite Owl [Blue Beetle], The Comedian [Peacemaker], Doctor Manhattan [Capt. Atom], Silk Spectre [Nightshade], and Rorschach [The Question]).
And now Iâm imagining an Alan Moore rendition of the Scooby Gang âŚ
More Masks Twitter stuff. As always, probably not widely applicable (I know we do some of this stuff already) but there usually at least one thing in every list that, if it doesnât give you some profound revelation, at least sparks an idea for something else useful.
I liked number three: âVariant Coversâ
I kind of do too, but I think that also requires us ending with some time to spare instead of âOh crap, what time is it? Letâs wrap things up quickly now.â
I feel like Sync fighting is like watching a Charlie Chaplin movie.
Probably not terribly far off.