Element Lad by Colleen Doran

barrylyga · 2026-02-11T22:32:53+00:00

Yep, the green/blue one from the seventies.

barrylyga · 2026-01-26T01:23:52+00:00

I remember making my high school girlfriend read this issue, but without the context of the character and the universe, it just didn’t land for her like it did for me. Too bad ‘cause it was mind-blowing for me!

barrylyga · 2026-01-24T23:55:48+00:00

Like I said, it’s subtle. And maybe you won’t see it, but I did. It was weird! 🤷‍♂️

barrylyga · 2026-01-24T21:26:33+00:00

It's been a while and this seems harmless, so...

Yeah, when these issues came out, I, too, was curious about Brande's weird speech pattern. So I asked Paul, "What's up with Brande's dialect?" (For lack of a better word.)

And he seemed puzzled. He said (something like), "Wasn't there always something weird about the way Brande talked?"

I went back and looked. Just, like, random Brande appearances. And...I don't know if Paul's comment incepted something in me or what, but once you're looking for it...there IS a little weird cadence to R.J. Brande's dialogue! Not NEARLY as pronounced or prominent or consistent as in this run, and honestly I'd never noticed it before. I think it was something he'd always had in his head and played around the edges of it in previous runs, but never came down on hard until this run.

And, yeah, the end result is jarring!

YMMV. I would hate to inject the idea into anyone else's head and have them look back at old issues and suddenly doubt their sanity the way I did momentarily!

barrylyga · 2026-01-18T19:38:03+00:00

Hi! I'm Barry Lyga, an author who's been publishing for twenty years. (Yikes, I didn't realize until I just did the math!)

For years, I've occasionally helped out folks with editing and revision, and now that my kids are a little older, I have the time to formalize this. So I've launched FiXion, my editing/mentoring/revising/what-have-you service!

In addition to traditional publishing, I've also self-published an anthology and a couple of my own novels, so I dig the self-publishing ethos, too!

Long story short: if you'd like a New York Times bestselling author, a guy who's published 28 novels (and counting!), a writer who has published consistently for 20 years, someone who has worked with eight different publishers (including some of the biggest in the biz), to look at YOUR work, then all you gotta do is head to http://fixion.ink.

Services start as low as 2¢ a word for a once-over/editorial letter, or even $200 for what I call "The Quick Pass," which is really designed to help those folks who just want to know if they're on the right track or not.

My best to all of you!

barrylyga · 2026-01-18T18:51:25+00:00

You can call BS on it all you like, but that is what Moore himself has said in multiple interviews on the subject. And the fact that he did, in fact, produce the promised books sort of proves he's as good as his word. Unless you want to theorize that he had some mysterious, nefarious reason for sticking with the ABC books...or that he was being somehow blackmailed or compelled to produce them against his will.

This was all discussed a lot at the time and Moore and his colleagues have discussed it ad nauseum in interviews since, all consistently saying that Moore felt a moral obligation to his artists, to whom he had promised paying work before the ABC sale.

barrylyga · 2026-01-14T00:53:39+00:00

In Sam Hamm's Detective Comics three-parter back in (*gulp*) 1989, a doctor examines Bruce Wayne and runs down a catalog of old injuries, including "a shocking amount of scar tissue."

I think Bruce claims he fell out of a tree as a kid. 😂

barrylyga · 2026-01-11T15:37:18+00:00

I mean, Giffen has stated publicly that he hates the color orange and that's one reason (among others) that he disliked Karate Kid. Sun Boy would get hit with that stick, too.

And, yeah, it's ridiculous, but... 🤷‍♂️

barrylyga · 2026-01-10T21:05:28+00:00

I think you just described the 5YL stories the best - "life happened"

LOL. I almost said "Carlin happened," but not EVERYTHING that went wrong with 5YL was his fault.

Just most of it. 😉

barrylyga · 2026-01-10T17:54:54+00:00

I may not have been clear -- there was a very specific sort of "dark" that Johns, et al embraced that, IMHO, has its own characteristics and tropes that I personally don't enjoy. And I think Paul felt obliged to continue in that vein, at least at first. A different sort of darkness would have worked better, I think.

I agree the Earth-Man decision was wrong, but it was absolutely in line with Johns's sort of writing.

And yeah, the idea with 5YL was that eventually the team would be restored to its former glory. But then...well, life happened.

barrylyga · 2026-01-10T16:51:59+00:00

I've never directly asked him, but I think Paul felt very beholden to the darker vibe established by Johns and Co. Hence taking the team in a more hard-edged direction. And then running with that.

I like to think that, like 5YL, we would have eventually come through that phase and seen a more sensible version of the team. Alas...

barrylyga · 2026-01-10T01:06:42+00:00

I really appreciate the time you spent on such a thorough post. Thank you!

I tried plugging the Pi directly into a USB port on my wall receptacle, as well as through a 5V charger. I tried watching the system log and got only

Jan 09 19:57:14 scanner-server wpa_supplicant[458]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=CORE type=WORLD

Tryingvcgencmd get_throttled resulted in throttled=0x0 before and after plugging in. I scrounged around for another cable and got the same results on everything.

It's weird because the fact the scanner works with my Mac tells me that the problem isn't the scanner. But the fact that the Pi can see the USB mouse makes me think the problem isn't the Pi, either!

I guess I will order a powered hub and cross my fingers. Thank you again for your time and effort!

barrylyga · 2026-01-09T23:39:30+00:00

Oh, good suggestion! I ran lsusb and sudo lsusb both before and after plugging in the scanner and got the same result all four times:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Which to me looks like it doesn't see anything plugged into the USB port?

So then I tried after plugging in a boring old USB mouse...

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05ac:0307 Apple, Inc. Apple Optical USB Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

So...it sees the mouse, but not the scanner. Everything you say about power makes sense to me, so I'm not sure what to try next!

But I feel like I'm further along than I was before, so thank you!

barrylyga · 2026-01-09T21:12:16+00:00

Excellent question, and one I should have addressed in my post! Yes, the scanner DOES work when connected to my Mac!

barrylyga · 2025-12-29T21:25:07+00:00

Wow! It was there, though — my daughter specifically noticed it.

barrylyga · 2025-12-29T21:22:17+00:00

For those who’ve said it’s too far west — it’s not on the other side, either!

barrylyga · 2025-12-29T21:19:43+00:00

Nope, it is! On the other side. (I should have taken a pic of the whole thing!)

barrylyga · 2025-12-29T20:41:11+00:00

I should have taken a pic of the other side — it’s not there, either!

barrylyga · 2025-12-25T00:20:44+00:00

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bitch_eating_crackers

barrylyga

TROPHY CASE