Tuesday 21 December 2021

Speak Your Brain! Part XVII. Why are we here? Why???

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon
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The Steve Does Comics Megaphone
Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay
Wait!

What's that?

Upon the roof of my house?

It can only be the sound of Noddy Holder's reindeer. And I've already left mince pies out for Roy Wood - and for Cliff, his little helper.

It's true. The most magical time of the year shall soon be upon us.

But it is not yet that date.

Thus it is that today's topic of conversation could be about Christmas or it could be about anything.

That anything might be sport, art, films, books, music, fairy tales, fairy lights, fairy cakes, myth, moths, magic, murder, mystery, mayhem, sofas, sausages, eggs, whisky, broth, Garth Marenghi, Garth Brooks, Bruno Brookes, Bruno Mars, Mars Bars, flip-flops, flim-flam, see-saws, flowers, flours, bread bins, bin bags, body bags, bean bags, cola, pancakes, pizzas, sci-fi, Wi-Fi, Hi-Fi, horror, sewage, saunas, suet, Silurians, Sontarans, sins or sandcastles.

It can only mean one thing.

That it's time, once more, for the return of the internet's most talked-about feature.

The one in which I invite you the reader to decide upon the subject of the day.

Feel free to do so.

In the comments section below.

24 comments:

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I love SDC!

You love SDC!

2 questiions:

What keeps bringing you back here?

Recently reading about Soidey, Gonlin, and Gwen… did you ever wish in the 60s and 70s that your hero would do some real, physical, permanent damage to a villain? Is so, who would do what to whom?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Spidey, Goblin, Gwen… s.b. written above!

Anonymous said...

1.) What keeps bringing me back? Discovering that, for people whom I've never met in person, a comic that's of great significance to me, is also significant to them! This happens regularly, here.

2.) I'd like to have seen Captain Britain rearrange the face of Death's White Rider. But, as DWR was already a skeleton, wearing a cape/cowl, this wouldn't have made much difference!

Phillip

dangermash aka The Artistic Actuary said...

What keeps me coming back?

First, the weird thing about memory where you remember weird little details about something but forget other bits. But where different people remember different bits. And how you can combine all the bits to pieces a story together.

And, second, a comic-specific thing. It's a history lesson seeing all comics moving along together in parallel. We can get see trends over all the comics (like speech balloons on comics). And it's only when I see what a rut so many comics were going through that I understand why the new X-Men became so popular so quickly.

Dave S said...

1. The chance to hear other people's stories of the memories they have about comics. I already know all of my stories, after all, and this blog is somewhere that's always positive and welcoming. And, I get to bore you all with my not-always-chosen-for-logical-reasons Covers of the Week or Month.

2. Not exactly a hero doing damage to a villain, but I always wanted to see the Thing's rocks drop off one by one to reveal the normal Ben Grimm underneath.
Also, when I was a kid, one of things in comics that fascinated me most was when Ghost Rider's sleeve got torn and you could see the bone underneath. I was always curious as to what the rest of him would look like if different parts of his clothes were damaged.

I am very aware that I have basically just confessed to wanting to see two male superheroes naked, and can't really give you any explanation that wouldn't simply make me sound even more strange than I probably already do

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I love coming here for the comics, for sure. You cool cats remember way more that I do and, being generally younger, pique my curiosity to read other comics.

I also love the diversity!
- UK Song Charts, notably at Christmas! (Run Run Rudolph!)
- UK general trivia: politics, TV, geography. (How would I have known folks from York where flat caps and tend towards stealing dogs?)

I only read Thor from a distance. But for some reason, I really would have enjoyed Thor pounding Loki in the face with Mjonir, exploding it, and being done with Loki once and for all. Likewise, I would have enjoyed watching Spidey bound Green Goblin in web and toss him off the bridge, slowly watching him down. Ideally, while drowning, sharks taking big bites out of him. And of course, Joker became so odious that Bats would have pretty much done whatever: high voltage, TNT, dismemberment.

Steve W. said...

Thanks for the topic, Charlie.

The only thing that keeps bringing me back is that nothing would get posted if I didn't.

I never wished a hero would do serious damage to a villain, although I did always wonder why they never did.

Anonymous said...

1. I come to the world's greatest comic blog for Steve's perceptive aesthetic judgements and sharp commentary. Plus, he hasn't banned me from the comments yet.

2. I'd like to have seen Dr Doom properly sort out the FF. Well, Reed and that dweeb Johnny Storm (Ben and Sue were alright). It would have been great if he could have shut up the Silver Surfer for once and for all too while he was at it. And given that upper class Atlantean git Namor a good slap.

Also, as I suggested recently, Captain America's comic would have been much better in the 70s if he dumped the Falcon, and Leila Taylor became his partner instead. Captain Whitey & Militant Girl has a definite ring to it...

And Thundra should have got her own series once she joined that women wrestling team.

But anyway, time to stop before I start considering Dave's naked super-heroes category...

-sean

Anonymous said...

I like the balance Steve strikes between humour and nostalgia. I also enjoy the breadth of comments and how often they take off in a direction of their own. I think I’ve stated before that the UK centric posts and comments give me a sense of connection to a country I left many years ago. I appreciate this.


DW



Colin Jones said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Colin Jones said...

In this season of goodwill to all men we should seek to redeem a supervillain not cause him permanent injury so if Charlie doesn't mind, I'm going to add a festive question:

What is your all-time favourite Christmas song? You can only choose ONE.

Answer or ignore as you please.

Steve W. said...

Colin, my favourite Christmas song is Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody. For me, it isn't just a Christmas song. It is Christmas.

McSCOTTY said...

I enjoy this blog as the responses are always interesting and fun and veer from the initial comic book subject matter into some interesting and informative subjects. Also and in many ways more importantly, the folk replying are respectful and not right up their own bahookies on the subject matter of their choice. Steve himself is ok a as well I suppose 😊

As for super villains what amazes me was that the government never executed the likes of the Joker , Lex Luther etc. after all it’s the States, then again it is comics.

Favourite Christmas song: A tough one Colin, but for me it’s between Greg Lakes “I believe in Farther Christmas “ a wonderful multi - meaning song and Wizzards “I wish it could be Christmas every day” a great upbeat tune but a sentiment that I (or my bank balance) certainly do not agree with!

McSCOTTY said...

Colin, sorry you said just one song so I'll pick Wizzard as it reminds me of Christmas as a kid. What's yours?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Steve! It is heart warming to hear you love coming to SDC as do the rest of us! Merry Christmas!

Colin Jones said...

Paul, I'd have to agree with Steve and say Slade's 'Merry Xmas Everybody' mainly because I love the lyrics and especially the lines:

Does yer granny always tell ya
That the old songs are the best
Then she's up and rock 'n' rollin' with the rest :D

But I agree with you about the Greg Lake song, it's a masterpiece!

Dave S said...

Merry Xmas Everybody also contains a wonderfully bad pun on the lyrics: 'when you land upon your head then you've been Slade'.

I met Noddy Holder once. He was every bit as funny and friendly as you'd expect. Seems like a genuinely lovely guy :)

Anonymous said...

Hope everyone had a good solstice. I spent a pleasant morning at Stonehenge earlier - heres a live stream of the sun coming up:
www.livestream.com/watch?v=fd2GHhnI4Ys
Yeah, I'm not sure why the gathering was today and not yesterday, like at Bru na Boinne, but I guess thats a country that has to steal its stone circles for you.

Currently, my favourite festive song is 'Boris Johnson is Still a ******* ****'.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8dF_iSGp1o
Maybe the pleasing retro 70s vibe will help them get to the Christmas no. 1 spot this time round, now that even right-wing ****s seem to think he's useless (although somehow I doubt that will stop the English voting tory again at the next general election, after the party have replaced him with someone even dodgier...)

-sean

Anonymous said...

*Aaaargh, I really ballsed up that first link! Duh.
Heres the correct one (hopefully) -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd2GHhnI4Ys

-sean

Redartz said...

What keeps me coming back? The fine friendly banter. The informative humor, and the humorous information. The constant prospect of learning more fascinating tidbits about the UK and it's denizens. Aaaaaand so much more; hats off to Steve for maintaining such a fun and wide ranging community ( hurray for eclecticism!).

Charlie- I haven't really thought about any particular villains getting a good beat down. But there are certainly some who deserve banishment to limbo, if not a beating...

Favorite Christmas tune: I've always liked "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano; since I first heard it in Spanish class as a kid. Very festive and very catchy.

Steve W. said...

Thanks, Red.

And thanks, Sean, for the Stonehenge link.

And thanks to all of you for your contributions to the site over the years.

dangermash aka The Artistic Actuary said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dangermash aka The Artistic Actuary said...

I have two favourite Christmas songs.

First up, the Roy Wood/Wombles mashup https://youtu.be/OUpxBLbe9tE
Charlie might need to see The Wombles on their own first at https://youtu.be/DzAL9ELsFRw

And the other one is Stevie Riks - Do They Know It's. Christmas? https://youtu.be/afa_blHj8C4 I'd recommend covering the bottom of t(e screen when you watch it the first time - for some reason he's added captions. Save the captions for the second viewing.

Anonymous said...

I associate this song with Christmases past, because of the cartoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_OOLd0EJVc

Phillip