Doug: I'm out of town for the weekend, at Homecoming at my sons' college. Sorry no updated brackets, but you'll notice I left the last polls up. I'll post the final brackets later in the week.
No question for you today -- to be honest, I'm still a little upset that for the second time, in what used to be a genuinely fun activity, it's not ended in the same spirit it started. This is not to run anyone off or chastise anyone; around here we certainly treasure the freedom of speech/opinion. But, I only wish all of our readers would come with the intent of playing nice -- with no personal or political agendas, just a good cup-of-coffee-and-conversation sort of place to hang out. It's a challenge sometimes to moderate the blog, when comments stray from the intended conversation of the day. The last thing we want to have to consider is censoring comments... Sadly, with the way the last polls ended (with the hijacking of the vote totals) and the lack of respect for mine and Karen's wishes in last Wednesday's Bracketology post, I wonder if we won't be doing this again for quite some time. Again, the Osmonds sang it... and that's really too bad.
All that being said, the past two weeks have been very lively comment-wise, and we certainly want to encourage all of our readers to exercise the right to express their opinions on our topics du jour. This is a community, after all.
In cheerier news, if vampires are cheery -- a couple of Dracula posts are coming your way at the beginning of the week, and Red Sonja under the influence of Frank Thorne will finish your work week. And in between, a query from our pal david_b prompts a fun conversation opportunity on Wednesday. Looking forward to it!
Enjoy your Sunday, and to those of you who will enjoy tomorrow's federal holiday (as my wife and I will), a tip of the cap, a hearty handshake, and a slap on the back! Those days are little treasures in life, aren't they? Be well.
18 comments:
Thanks much for the update, Doug, hope all goes well in your travels.
I for one have enjoyed the banter concerning the outfits for this brackets. In the past I've questioned the relevancy of 'best story' being voted on, purely for it's subjective nature, but this time out, the discussions been pretty lively and interesting. I love everyone's comments, far more insightful than my own (or my feeble attempts at humor...). As for the thread-hijaaking, eh, it's typically ignored ~ We eventually get back to the matters at hand..
(..'just take a scenic trip to get there'.......)
Kudo's to both you and Karen for providing just the right amount of moderating, but I typically in awe of what everyone else brings to the table on these subjects.
Thanks, David -- and as one of our many comment-stalwarts, we always know we can count on you.
Be ready to tell about your recent acquisitions on Wednesday, my friend!
Doug
That's a shame about a supposedly nice, fun contest getting hijacked by politics. That is one of the subjects I don't really care to discuss a lot, and whenever it happens on a message board (religion too, obviously) it tends to end badly. Anyway, thanks for running another great bracketology, though, to be honest, I'm a little surprised that Bats made it all the way to the final, though it is nice to see somebody from DC (too bad it wasn't Star Boy though) make it all the way to the finals. Looking at the results from the early rounds, I thought we might have an al Marvel Final Four.
Yeah, I missed that whole political back and forth last week - not sorry that I did now that I read it, either. Guys, can we just enjoy our common 70s & 80s geekiness? There are plenty of other blogs for that other stuff.
Regarding the final two costumes - I'm just going to assume that Spidey wins it. That is a win I can live with. I mean, it is a classic Steve Ditko design. But I gotta be honest: It's not a personal favorite.
I want to take the opportunity to thank Doug for keeping things running around here while I have been busy -several trips and visits from guests (we have one this weekend) have kept me busy and not posting as much as I'd like. But Doug has really been on top of things.
For the most part I think people tend to stay on subject here. There's only been a handful of occasions when we've felt the need to intercede. And for that I'm grateful!
Karen
Guys -- Just wanted to say that I'm a new-comer to this blog and it has quickly become one of my favorites. I don't comment very often, and I always ignore the people who are obviously being ignorant and need a life. Your fun articles are why I keep coming back - they help to keep me young!
That being said, here's why I voted Batman -- he simply always has the coolest stuff. I bet Peter Parker wishes he was bitten by a radioactive bat so he could have all that stuff too. I mean c'mon - who doesn't want a can of Shark Repellent on hand just in case???
Btw, Spiderman is really cool too, but I always liked the black-n-white costume before the whole Venom thing. I actually thought it was a good look for him. But he really needs a utility belt ... and a cape ;)
Wow, I just now realized last Wednesday's thread went on after I stopped paying attention and strayed into pointless (for this blog, anyway) territory. Nicely handled by the regulars, though.
Also interesting that tomorrow will be one of those rare times that both the US and Croatia have a holiday on the same date (it's independence day over here). I'll also be savoring the day off, especially since it's Sunday evening and I'm now at my second job. Bummer.
As for the brackets, if Spider-man does eventually win, I'll be happy, and I think it's fitting. I know it's a Silver Age design, but by the 1970s Spidey was definitely Marvel's flagship character and the face of the whole line. I know if anybody asked me who wore the best super-hero suit back then, I would have said Spider-man in a hearbeat.
I went for Batman on this final vote. Both costumes are good, but my reasoning is that Batman's costume gives artists more to play with. The big cape, the shadows, the length of ears--each artist can put his own stamp on Batman's look.
Spider-Man has the size of eyes and his web, but for me Batman wins out.
Also...no one nominated Jughead for the competition! What about his cool headgear! : )
Ohh, Jughead's headgear would have been a very respectable entrant in that previous thread--- good call.
But, rats--- I don't have a dog left in this race. Sooooo, I'm goin' with Spidey. Completely different, unconventional costume (at the time it was designed); I've always loved the full-face mask w/ the huge eyes; no cape. Really, my only knock on Spidey (and it's irked me forever)is that his colors are, like, "Wha-?" Hey, I love a colorful red & blue aesthetically-- but how in the world do you "Spider" out of that? I'm sure, though, that we've now reached the 50th anniversary of the particular quirk, eh?
HB
HB: Very good mention on the red-blue Spidey motif. The early Ditko coloring was red/black, so somewhere someone decided to soften the color contrast.
Edo's spot on regarding Marvel's Bronze flagship, absolutely correct for image marketing (Wasn't he the only Marvel character on a Crazy Foam canister, 'cept for the Hulk a year or so later)..?
Shout out to Mike for the 'shark-repellent' plug.
Wasn't that such a definitive moment for the Silver Age Batman (obviously from the '66 movie) that everyone remembers..?
I know folks still snicker and scoren at Dozer-Batman, but hey, it still demands our appreciation...: It broke ground in bringing sales numbers and new readers into comics by the droves.
As far as Batman goes, how does everyone like the ears? I prefer them long rather than the short stubby ones, even if a true bat doesn't really have ears like that. I think it makes him look more intimidating. I have seen them TOO long on occasion, tough.
And how about the chest symbol? Even though the yellow oval behind the bat symbol is probably inappropriate (not intimidating and makes him more visible in the dark) I still prefer it to the black bat on the gray chest. Maybe that's because it's what I grew up with.
BatMan has a cool look, although in real life that cape would be very impractical, more so for a hero who relies on wits and acrobatic feats than for one who relies primarily on sheer strength or magic, as with Superman, Thor or Dr. Strange. But of course, this is image-driven fantasy and so BatMan has to have that large cape that can take on whatever dramatic shape the artist wishes.
Regarding Spidey, that black costume also looked pretty cool, but I still have a nostalgic preference for the classic red/blue (or black) costume. Speaking of which, exactly how much work would it take to create such a costume from scratch, as young Peter Parker would have had to do? Even with Aunt May's sewing machine, that would have taken a lot of time-consuming work, especially with all that webbing!
That was one of the things I said in favor of Spidey's outfits - it's preactical. Speaking of capes, I love the bit in The Incredibles where they talk about superheroes who met their demise because their cape got caught on something.
Dbutler- like your reference to "The Incredibles". Great movie; and appropriate to this bracketology with all the reference in the film to costume design!
Tough call on the vote, but I must go with Spidey. His costume is such a perfect combination of showiness, mystery and utility. He looks dramatic just sitting on a ledge.
Been out of the loop lately between work and a local accident that knocked out Internet service this week. Seems to have been a busy week here! Just wanted to thank Karen and Doug once again for providing this great site, where friends debate with friends over enjoyable topics dear to us all. The 'real' world fills so much of our time; thankfully places like this provide a great respite...
Oh, we need an 'Incredibles' column one day soon. Totally forgot about the cape bit, very hilarious..
Reminds me of Nomad's theater fight in CA&F 180.
I love the Incredibles! I sure wish Pixar would make an Incredibles 2. OK, we'll add that to the to do list guys.
Incredibles! Yes! I third (or fourth) the motion.
By the way, I've been checking some other threads here that continued without my participation, and found this probably unintentionally hilarious, almost stream-of-consciousness comment in the "Best Jack Kirby Creation" post by some guy with the very manly moniker of "NINE9INCHE STUD" (I'm guessing the two nines indicate nine 9-inchers? Very C'thulhu...)
I liked their spoof of '60s cartoons, The Adventures of Mr Incredible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHPsL-XZfxM
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