Day 765

Aka Wednesday 6^th March 2019

I did do some walking today, but forgot to use my app, so no real idea of far I walked, how many steps, etc. But I do know that by the time I got home my dogs were barking and I think I might take tomorrow off from long walking, just to give my feet a rest…

…and as a treat I picked up these New Comic Book Day gems:

…and the latest ‘Lego Star Wars Magazine’:

…I also read ‘Firefly’ #4, which concludes the first story arc and sets up the second arc nicely. Greg Pak (writer), Dan McDaid (illustrator), Anthony Fowler Jr. and Tin Lattie (inkers), Marcelo Costa (colours) and Jim Campbell (letterer) have created an issue (and arc) that feels very much like an unaired episode of the show. There’s plenty of action and shot-outs as half the gang ('Mal', 'Zoe', 'Kaylee', 'Simon' and 'River') arrive in the nick of time to recuse the other half of the gang ('Book', 'Jayne', 'Wash' and 'Inara') from the cultists who want to sacrifice them “for the glory of Ba’akalal!”. There are also so nice character moments, from the gang bickering amongst themselves about who said be sacrificed first, which also neatly shows their different personalities, to Mel (temporarily) bonding with Boss Moon through war trauma. 8/10.

…and ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Boom!)’ #2, which takes us further into the new world of 'Buffy', Slayer of the Vampyrs (as 'Andrew' would say or would he in this reboot?!?). I still feel weird reading this, as I’m (un)consciously comparing it with the original series, for example, when ‘Spike’ is introduced I couldn’t help but think back to his introduction on the TV show. Which is a slight shame as Jordie Bellaire (writer), Dan Mora (illustrator), Raul Angulo (colours) and Ed Dukeshire (letterer) have created a great comic, that takes the themes and bones of Buffy and puts them into the modern world with skill and verve. #2 takes things relatively slow, introducing 'Cordelia' and 'Spike', along with Buffy’s nightmares and a more fragile 'Xander', while building the larger world around these characters. 8/10.

…and some more of Faith Erin Hick’s ‘Comics Will Break Your Heart’, which is still great, although I do wonder want it would look like as a comic/illustrated…

…and I watched ‘Navy Seals’, which I remember seeing loads of ads for it, when it was released back in 1990, on comics, but I never saw it in the video shop and I was way too young to be able to see it in the cinema…and it is so ‘80’s it almost feels like it’s a modern day comedic take on ‘80’s action films…there’s plenty of gung-ho action, the team’s maverick ignoring the team leaders instructions at the drop of a hat, a black team member with everything to live for who dies, which enables the maverick to learn and grow and the fun team member dying so that we see how dangerous and tragic the live of a soldier can be…it kinda feels like a prequel to ‘Hot Shots! Part Deux’. 5/10 as a straight ahead film, 7/10 as a parody of action films.

…and I did the G2 Crossword:

…which continues the theme of struggling as I had to cheat on close to half the clues (nine out of 24). Although I’d argue that ‘controversial issue attracting public attention’ is a slightly misleading clue for ‘cause celebre’, as not all cause celebre’s are controversial. But that might be due to frustration at not being able to get the answers. Maybe I just need a jump start for the little grey cells. At least I learnt that ‘romaine’ is a ‘type of lettuce’, that ‘Merino’ are ‘sheep from Spain with a heavy quality fleece’, that the ‘Curlew’ is a ‘bird with a long curved bill’, that a ‘lathi’ is a ‘heavy iron-bound stick used for crowd control by police in India’ and that ‘Darby and Joan’ are a ‘devoted old married couple’.

…and some other crosswords/puzzles: