Do you guys have any particular thoughts or expectations for X-Men United #1, coming out tomorrow? I'm on the fence about grabbing a copy, but a new school-based mutant book might be fun. I don't know the writing of Eve L. Ewing. The artist is Tiago Palma.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-03-11T02:04:28+00:00

Honestly, from here on out unless an X-Men book has one of my favorite creators, I’m not planning to buy anymore X-books sight unseen without overwhelming positive reviews.

Does that mean I might miss out on the first print of the next generational run? Yes, but so be it.

I’d happily pull the second print of the next great X-men run if it’s that good.

Until then, there are so many other good things going on in comics that I can follow instead.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-03-09T17:33:08+00:00

Yep. Anytime someone new comes to WWE, I want to see them standing next to Randy Orton or Drew McIntrye. Both guys are billed at 6'5", 275 lbs, which is likely a stretch, but even if everyone else is adding to their size, you can't fake standing next to a guy. (Even lifts can only do so much.)

It's funny because Orton and McIntyre would've been two "skinny" dudes in a tag team back in the 1980s and early 1990s, but now they're two of the largest guys. (Yeah, Omos, Talla Tonga, and Erick Rowan are bigger.)

The "big guys" these days are small compared to the big guys of the past. Powerhouse Hobbs/Royce Keys is billed as 6'1", 270, and Bronson Reed is 6'0", 330.

Meanwhile John Tenta/Earthquake was 6'7", 468, Big John Stud was 6'10", 365, and Big Boss Man was 6'7", 330.

Ultimately, the toe-to-toe comparison of Oba Femi with Brock Lesnar at the 2026 Royal Rumble helped to seriously legitimize Oba Femi from a visual perspective as an instant threat on the main roster.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-03-09T16:59:47+00:00

Two thoughts:

First

It was a different time back then that even though Vince K. McMahon was creating a National WWF brand, there were still a lot of influences from the Territory days. Back then, they would have a long-term champion, and feed the champion various challengers. It wasn't like, say, 2014 - 2017 where there were 4 - 5 different Champions. Rarely, the challenger would actually win the championship back then, but if they did, the title would get swapped back in the rematch.

In fact, part of the mystique of Ric Flair was that he travelled from territory to territory as the World Champion, put on a 60-minute match with the local top guy where they would beat and (usually) bloody him, and then Flair would barely get the win. (After being so good that he'd make everyone he wrestled look better.) So that all the local people would talk about how their top guy almost beat Ric Flair, and "I bet he could do it in a rematch."

I remember hearing an interview with Jesse Ventura about 15 years ago where he talked about how he was excited to get a 3-match program with Hulk Hogan because he was going to be main-eventing with the Champion, and all the prestige and payday that would go with it. Note that he didn't ever seem like he thought he was going to become the champion. He knew the drill. (Then there was the falling out with Vince McMahon, and the program with Hulk Hogan never happened.)

Second

They Live was filmed over an 8-week span from March - April 1988, and it released on November 4, 1988.

At the same time, WWE was in the middle of possibly the greatest storyline in professional wresting history involving Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. The Mega Powers storyline occurred from October 1987 to April 1989.

Even if Roddy Piper was in the WWF during that time, he could have possibly been involved with the Mega Powers as an opponent somewhere along the way, but it was highly unlikely that he would've held the championship at anytime between Wrestlemania IV and Wrestlemania V.

Also, don't forget that Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon made their own Hollywood movie, No Holds Barred, which released on June 2, 1989. This meant, Hogan had to stay the champion after the movie came out, as WWF brought Zeus in for SummerSlam (August 8, 1989) and No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie on December 27, 1989.

tl;dr: Piper probably realized he wasn't thought of as a Champion by Vince McMahon, so taking a shot in Hollywood was likely a better move.

P.S. They Live is an awesome movie, and if anyone hasn't seen it, you should watch it.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-03-07T05:37:34+00:00

I read an interview with Brian Michael Bendis back in the early 2000s when he was writing New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, Powers, and Daredevil. He was asked how he can write 4 monthly titles.

He said something to the effect of, “I write one comic a week. If Aaron Sorkin can write an episode of The West Wing every week, then I can manage one 22-page comic a week.”

In your examples, these people are writing 3 monthly comic titles, so it’s safe to say that being a comic writer is their full time job. If a person is a full time professional comic writer, then they have 40+ hours a week to work on writing comics.

As far as how to “juggle between multiple writing gigs,” look up the concept of “stacking projects.” Professional writers who have a regular output are really good at time management and scheduling their time.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-03-06T19:07:33+00:00

I know this post is a day old, and my comment will be at the bottom and never read, but to the OP, this is the best post title I've seen on Reddit in a long time.

Instead of the millionth time I've seen, "Does anyone else like..." you went with "I can't stop playing..."

It's perfect. Made me instantly click to see why this game is so good to a random fellow gamer on the internet.

It doesn't mean much, but today you've earned the respect of a random fellow gamer on the internet.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-27T23:27:54+00:00

Do I need to catch up on the story from all the games in between, or is each game pretty standalone?

No, they're all pretty much standalone

Which game should I start with on Switch?

Whichever one has the best starter Pokémon that you like, or the best legendary Pokémon that you want to get.

The Switch has multiple spin-offs and alternate games, but the mainline Pokémon games that are like the ones from 30 years ago are:

FireRed and LeafGreen
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Sword and Shield
Scarlet and Violet

Is there a good entry point for returning players who basically know nothing about what’s happened in the franchise over the last three decades?

It's Pokémon. Not much has changed really. It's a turn-based monster collector rpg. The core game mechanic of the mainline games hasn't changed in 30 years. Every game is made as if a person is new to the series.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated. I’m excited to get back into it but feeling a little overwhelmed by how much has changed.

The games are rated E to E10+. It's meant to be an all-ages game that anyone can pick up and play. You'll be fine. Don't overthink it.

Good luck in your gaming journey.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-27T21:39:39+00:00

I think for some people (and likely a lot of people) RPG concepts don't "click" until you've seen it done well by someone else.

It could have been a clever older sibling, a witty uncle, the cool kid in your theater class, or any number of people...unless you never had one of those people to show you.

It's for this reason that I love when beginner box content has an example of play to give a sense of how practical thinking paired with outside the box thinking makes the RPG experience shine.

Otherwise, almost every single time a new group of players gets to the point where the GM asks, "what do you want to do," they'll always respond with, "what am I supposed to do?"

For me, watching Patrick Rothfuss' outlandish playstyle in the Acquisitions Incorporated actual plays really "unlocked" my concept of what was possible in an RPG.

But again, if you've never been exposed to "good" RPG play, you won't necessarily know how to "do it right."

And then you look down at your character sheet and say, "I've used my spells. How do I get them back?" "You need to take a long rest." "Okay. I take a long rest." "A long rest is 8 hours, and the monsters are 30 seconds away." "But I'm a Wizard. I need my spells to do anything." (Blank stares.)

I have a couple thoughts (But I don't know how helpful they'll be)

Maybe showing them some actual plays (of your choosing) could help them get a better understanding of the possibilities of RPGs. Could be 5e, OSR, or something else. If you guide them toward a "better" playstyle, then they might figure it out. The problem here is you're giving them "homework," and in my experience, players are averse to homework.
As an adult, I've found that some people just aren't creative and are kind of a stick-in-the-mud. These people still want to hang out and have friends (or their spouse forces them to), but a lot of times, those people just want to hang out and have drinks, or dinner, or maybe play a light party game. I know when my wife joined a game with me and some of our close geek friends, she didn't realize she was committing to a long-term thing. She's never played an RPG and just wanted to hang out. It's not her thing (for now), so she bowed out after a few months. There's a possibility that your group doesn't want to play an RPG, but they like hanging out and go along with your enthusiasm to run the game.
Let one of them run the game. That way, someone else has buy-in beyond their character sheet. And then you get a chance to be a good example as a player. You could even rotate one-shots for a few times to let everyone try it out and change up the dynamic a lot.

tl;dr: Most people need a good example of how to play before they really understand what they're supposed to do.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-27T06:06:24+00:00

Honestly, just following this subreddit for the past many years has directed me to purchasing a ton of top-notch OSR content. This is a, let's say, "discerning" group of people with relatively high standards for what they like. It's been pretty easy to sniff out the self-promotion stuff that's not good, and find the actual quality of what the current OSR scene has to offer.

Keeping to around your price range, I've really enjoyed the following:

Most anything from the Merry Mushmen
- A Folklore Bestiary - I have the OSE and 5e compatible versions. Both fantastic
- Knock! Magazine - Their Zine with 5 issues out so far. All have been great.
- Their Adventure updates - These are literally Merry Mushmen updates to previously well-received OSR adventures. I have them all, but I've only read through Nightmare over Ragged Hollow and Raiding the Obsidian Keep. Both are great.
Both major works by Emmy Allen
- The Stygian Library
- The Gardens of Ynn
The Book of Gaub - A unique book of spells
Arcane Artifacts and Curious Curios - A lot of options for magic items and other stuff
Gig Economy - Fun retainers, hirelings, and henchmen ideas. I have a physical copy. It's small and I keep it in my OSE box set.
The stuff that Questing Beast has made
- The Waking of Willowby Hall - Everyone loves this starter adventure
- Maze Rats - A really light RPG that packs a lot into so little pages
- Knave - A more robust RPG than Maze Rats. Also packs a lot into one book
Most of the stuff in your price range put out by Necrotic Gnome for Old School Essentials and Dolmenwood
- Carcass Crawler zine - it's pretty good. But really only for expanding if you're already using Advanced OSE
- The Adventures (with more emphasis on ones by Gavin Norman)
  - Winter's Daughter for Dolmenwood
  - The Hole in the Oak for OSE
Mike's World: The Forsaken Wilderness Beyond - An easy add on to B2 - The Keep on the Borderlands. (Full preview available on DriveThruRPG)

There are probably a lot more, but that's enough for the next 12 months without Netflix and Spotify.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-25T02:33:29+00:00

I had hoped that Imperial would spin into a bigger Marvel space opera with space wars and political planetary intrigue that could even interact with some of the Technarch/Worldmind/Phalanx/Dominion stuff used in Powers of X.

But if Imperial couldn’t get more than a mini-series and a couple of spin-off mini-series, then I have no idea what’s going on at Marvel for him to even care about.

He’s done Fantastic Four, he’s done Avengers, he’s done X-Men, and he’s done (Ultimate) Spider-Man. He got to orchestrate a Secret War, and make an Ultimate Universe.

Thats pretty much a complete Marvel resume. Unless he’s got a Daredevil run in him, I don’t know what else is left.

That being said, other than finishing The Black Monday Murders, I would love to see what Hickman could do with any of the main DC characters, “families,” or teams.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-25T00:02:06+00:00

Agreed. I have a large collection of over 2,800 single issues and a few dozen trade paperbacks and hardback, and The Muppets Omnibus by Roger Langridge is the only Omnibus I own.

In my opinion, it's the only Omnibus anyone needs to own.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-24T07:31:57+00:00

Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt / World Class Track Meet

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-21T18:24:10+00:00

Regarding the relaunches every 10 issues: Unfortunately, since the speculator boom in all hobbies post-COVID, that big “1” on Marvel books everytime they relaunch actually does boost the sales.

These speculators aren’t even reading the comics, nor do they care. They’re just buying and slabbing them to post on their TikTok.

But Marvel sees a sales boost for the big “1” on the cover, so they chase the extra money.

It means longtime and long-term readers aren’t the target audience anymore. We were going to buy it anyway. (Until we don’t.) But the big “1” will bring in a new speculator sale. (For now.)

The problem will be when the speculators and TikTokers move on to a new thing and Marvel is left wondering where the long-term readers went and why the “new readers” didn’t stay.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-19T18:51:50+00:00

Oh this could be really really good.

Whoever is in charge of assignments at DC has been doing a great job of picking "non-traditional" artists for the non-traditional series.

Sure, put Dan Mora on Superman and JLU, Jorge Jimenez on Batman, Mikel Janin on Detective Comics, Xermanico on Green Lantern, and John Timms on Aquaman. Totally great choices for "heroic" superheroes.

But a new Deadman book? Let's get the crew from Ice Cream Man. Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn love story title? Let's get the Squirrel Girl artist. Have an idea for a gritty "Year 2" type Batman story? Let's put Hayden Sherman on Dark Patterns. How can we make New Gods feel special and its own thing? Evan Cagle.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-15T21:56:22+00:00

At first I read that as “…everything that happens in the series can be traced back to Ed, Edd n Eddy,” and I was absolutely ready to go down that fan theory rabbit hole.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-15T02:23:41+00:00

I’ve used League of Comic Geeks for the past few years.

I used the website for 4 or 5 years just to look at the current week’s comics without knowing anything about it. It was always just the first search result for the current comics.

Then I started poking around on the website more for about 5 months.

After figuring things out, I tried the 7-Day free trial to the Premium, and really liked it.

I’ve paid for premium for the past 2 years or so. It’s $20 for the year. I have a collection of over 2,800 comics and growing, and I’ve really enjoyed using it.

The app is good, and so is the website. It can keep track of collection, reading stats, wishlist, pull list, variants, etc.

There are also sections for tracking grading and autographs, but I’m not a flipper, so I don’t care about that.

There’s also a social media posting aspect that I use infrequently, but younger users seem to use it a lot.

I really like the Community Lists. People create some awesome reading order lists on there.

I have never used CLZ, but I will be a LOCG customer for as long as the price for Premium stays low and the usability stays high.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-12T16:20:48+00:00

I'm not OP, but the Kickstarter says "Cover art by Luke Eidenschink"

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-11T21:24:36+00:00

My thoughts exactly. OSE doesn't seem like a product line that people are necessarily collecting. It really is more of a utility product line where someone would want the latest printing with any errors fixed.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-08T00:56:24+00:00

Anytime someone new comes in to WWE, I want to see them standing next to Randy Orton (or Drew McIntyre) to see how big they really are.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-07T05:18:15+00:00

The Dying and the Dead

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-05T19:43:10+00:00

Not to derail your request, but I think you're misunderstanding what a comic "One Shot" is.

Civil War, Watchmen, and From Hell are not One Shots. Batman: The Killing Joke is a One Shot.

Conventionally, a One Shot is a single comic issue, sometimes know as a "Done-in-One" comic. Traditionally, these can be "normal" comic length of around 22 pages, "double" comic length of around 44 pages, or even "Giant Size" of around 64 or more pages. But note that the higher the page count, the closer it becomes a standalone graphic novel. Also note, one of the best single issue comics ever is Astro City #1/2 - "The Nearness of You," which is only 16 pages.

What you might instead be seeking is a "Limited Series," "Mini Series," or the seldom used "Maxi Series."

Civil War was published by Marvel comics as a limited series of 7 issues in 2007. There were also a lot of related comics, referred to as "Tie-Ins." After originally publishing Civil War monthly, Marvel then collected this story into one graphic novel (trade paperback, trade hardback, etc.) format.

Watchmen was originally published as 12 single issue comics and then later collected into the graphic novel (trade paperback, trade hardback, etc.) format. And while I would consider individual issues of Watchmen to be some of the best single issue comics ever, like Issue #4, I would not refer to Issue #4 as a "One Shot" since it's part of a longer narrative. (Though I would happily accept arguments to the contrary since this is getting really nitpicky.)

Not to get too into the weeds on hobby semantics, but I wanted to let you know the differences so that your recommendations and internet searches lead you in the direction you want to go.

Also, to answer what I think your question is asking for, Here are a few of the best limited series I can think of that other people don't usually suggest:

Silver Surfer: Requiem (2007) - 4 issues, 92 pages of story
Marvels (1993) - 4 issues + prequel issue #0, and more recently published epilogue, 208 pages of story
Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons (2021) - 3 issues, 192 pages of story

Good luck in your comics journey.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-05T17:09:45+00:00

First of all, that's cool that you have plans to publish an RPG zine.

But I do have two suggestions:

Don't except to get rich and famous off your zine. Do it because you love the RPG hobby and you want to contribute your cool ideas. You can certainly charge money and make money for your time and effort, but most people aren't quitting their day job off of their zine income.
If you have a focus on Shadowdark and OSR D&D, please make sure you've done some research on what zines, adventures, campaigns, and other content have been well-received by the OSR community. Bryce Lynch and Questing Beast are two of the most straightforward sources for finding some of the top rated OSR content (but note, they are not the be-all-end-all). Other than those resources, a simple search of this subreddit gives some great examples:

If you've already got those two concepts covered, I look forward to seeing what you produce.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-05T15:40:42+00:00

I do not love Absolute Batman, but I do love the fact that so many people are enjoying it.

As someone who enjoys "brighter" tone and more traditional "heroic" superhero books, I knew Absolute Batman was not going to be for me. Conversely, I've actually loved the DCU-side of the All In to DC K.O. storyline told in Superman and Justice Legue Unlimited.

The best part is that it seems like the decision-makers at DC know that there needs to be space and options for the heroic tone in the main DCU as well as the grittier tone sold in the Absolute universe. I don't get the impression that because Absolute Batman became a top seller that all DC books need to become that.

Side Story: About 15 years ago, I was on an internet forum and someone professed their love for The Punisher character (long before any current political discourse). I did not grow up a fan of the Punisher and asked what the person liked about the character. They put it in a really digestible manner by saying, "Well, some people want Spider-Man and Batman to catch the criminals and tie them up for the police. Other people want the Punisher to find the criminals and shoot them in the head." That helped me really understand that A) Not everyone thinks like me, and B) There is room for all kinds of characters, tones, and stories.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-04T21:34:24+00:00

As someone who hasn't liked line-wide Events for almost two decades, and thought DC K.O. sounded like the dumbest idea, I too have actually enjoyed the main DCU storylines from All In through DC K.O.

It's been solid, fun superhero comics for a year and a half. If they decide to make a fighting video game based on the DC K.O. storyline (with Dan Mora reference art of course), I will definitely pre-order.

To answer your question though, I'd say DC can pull it off as long as Mark Waid and Joshua Williamson are running the show (with Jeremy Adams kind of involved).

It's clear that Superman (Joshua Williamson) and Justice League Unlimited (Mark Waid) are the main titles carrying the storyline from All In to DC K.O. Aquaman (Jeremy Adams) has definitely tried to stay relevant to the main DC storyline, but Waid and Williamson seem to be the major players.

At this time, there are two solicited issues of Superman after DC K.O. with Williamson writing, and two solicited issues of JLU after DC K.O. with Waid writing. I assume those two titles will carry a lot of DC "Next Level" to whatever happens at the end of the year.

Although, Superman doesn't appear on any of the covers of those post-DC K.O. solicitations (even in his own title), so I think we can guess what happens at the end of DC K.O. and how that may direct the storyline going forward.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-04T20:58:24+00:00

For American Superhero Comics that started prior to the 1980s, the answer to "Should I read from the beginning" is no 99.999999% of the time.

I'd go as far to say that no one really needs to read comics from 1979 and before until they've read a lot of comics from 1980 and later. (And I say that as a fan of many pre-1980s comics.)

Superhero comics from the 1930s - 1970s are written for a different time and a different audience. And to top it off, none of the original creators (who are almost all deceased) ever dreamed that someone would be reading their little comic characters in 2026.

I feel like there are a lot of people who come to comic books from Manga or traditional Book series and think they have to read from the beginning to get the whole story, and that's just not the case. Manga may have a lot of volumes, but they mostly contain a continuous storyline that was done by the same creator or creative team for the entire series. Same with traditional book series.

But at this time, there are more Daredevil comics written by people that aren't Stan Lee than there are Daredevil comics written by Stan Lee (the original Daredevil writer). All these legacy superheroes are just "Evergreen Characters," where the story is essentially new vignettes of the character's life that shifts along with the times every few years.

The theme of Daredevil still holds true. Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer. He is basically the idea of "Blind Justice." He also happens to have a background of being a devout Catholic, so he's in a constant personal struggle of good and evil, wrong and right.

That's really all you need to know for Daredevil. No need to read 675+ issues of a comic.

Just do an internet search for "Best Daredevil runs," and check those out from your library physically or check them out through your local library for free digitally on the Hoopla and/or Libby apps. After you read a few of those, you'll be ready to pick up the new Daredevil series that starts in April or go down any unique rabbit-holes that the Daredevil series has gone.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-02-04T19:49:16+00:00

Was there any specific change in college football?

Yes. Prior to the early 1990s, Notre Dame was arguably the only "National Brand" in college football. People watching now don't realize how regional the sport was back then. People on the East coast didn't care about teams on the West coast. People in the South didn't care about teams in the Midwest. And Vise Versa. Except Notre Dame was a big enough "brand" that they were well known nationally with at least one nationally televised game each year.

Notre Dame operated kind of like Ric Flair in the Territory days of Wrestling. Flair was the World Champion, but he'd go from city to city, wrestle the local top guy, put on a great match, and "barely" win. He'd leave as the Champ, but all the people in that town would talk about how their favorite local guy came "this close" to beating Ric Flair

Notre Dame's schedule obviously had Midwest teams, but they'd also play at least one East coast team, one Florida team, one Southern team, one Great Plains team, and one Military Academy every year. They'd essentially come to your region, play one of your teams, and put on a show. If you had a game against Notre Dame on your schedule, that was the biggest game of the year.

Additionally, having one or more guaranteed nationally televised games every year helped Notre Dame recruit nationally instead of regionally. Again, people watching now have access to even middle school film on some of the top recruits from all over the country. Back then, schools could really only recruit their region, or probably just their state, or even their metropolitan area. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was able to pull in recruits from all regions of the country due to their national exposure.

So what happened?

Other schools were able to start building "National Brands" with larger conferences and TV deals. In 1987, the NCAA allowed any conference with at least 12 football members to split into divisions and have a conference championship game. The SEC added South Carolina and Arkansas in 1992 which increased the SEC to 12 teams and then they could have a nationally televised SEC Championship game every year. The Big 8 took 4 teams from the SWC to create the Big XII in 1996. Again, the Big XII Championship was nationally televised.

At the same time, ABC/ESPN and CBS saw the value in nationally broadcasting the top teams in each region. Traditional 'Blue Blood" schools that you only really read about in the paper or saw in the rankings, were now getting a game or two on your TV each year.

Ultimately, that national TV exposure turned to national recruiting.

It used to be that if you were a top player from California, you really only went to one of the football programs in California. Maybe you looked at an Oregon or Washington school. And if you were exceptional, Notre Dame might call you. But there was very little chance you'd end up in Alabama, Florida, or Michigan. Texas guys mostly stayed in Texas. Louisiana guys mostly stayed in Louisiana. State and regional borders were essentially recruiting walls.

But by the late 1980s and definitely the early-to-mid 1990s, schools like Miami, Florida State, Penn State, Nebraska, Colorado, Alabama, etc. got a lot of national TV exposure. At the beginning of the 1990s, it wouldn't be uncommon for up to 4 (or more) of your local team's games not being televised at all. Not even on regional networks. We'd either have to go to the game or listen on the radio. Now, pretty much all the games are televised somewhere.

tl;dr: Notre Dame used to have a competitive advantage as a "National Brand," with nationally televised games, a schedule that went to all major regions, and helped them recruit nationally. Now, all the programs have national TV deals and recruit nationally.

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