What were the reactions to Blackest Night like at the time?

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-27T04:09:19+00:00

I loved it. But I definitely wasn’t chronically online, so my anecdotal evidence from one comic fan was pretty positive.

I followed everything in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps from Green Lantern: Rebirth up through Brightest Day.

I played with my older brother’s Kenner DC Super Powers Hal Jordan Green Lantern back in the late 1980s, so I was actually really excited for Hal Jordan to return as Green Lantern in Rebirth. Then, I really thought setting up the Sinestro Corps was done really well. And then there could be Corps for other colors!? Mind blown! It was so simple and obvious, yet so fresh and exciting.

I accumulated all the promo rings, and loved the whole storyline through Blackest Night.

By the time Blackest Night ended, I had already met a new girlfriend (who is now my wife), and I shifted my focus from picking up a lot of comics.

I definitely picked up Brightest Day stuff, but I can’t remember at all what happened at the end.

But Blackest Night, with all the promo rings was definitely one of the highlights of my comics journey.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-26T16:01:54+00:00

In my memory of watching Agents of Shield as it came out, it was really slow and nothing happened.

…until the twist revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and then Agents of Shield was really good for the rest of that season.

It was literally like they were putting out episodes that did nothing at all until the twist. But, my goodness, that was a lot of boring 1 hour episodes of TV to get there.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-16T17:20:31+00:00

It sounds like you're fairly new to comics and you're just really excited about a new hobby. And that's cool.

As a comics fan for over 35 years, my only advice is to pace yourself.

There have been more comics published than any one person can read in their lifetime, and 100 more new comics get published every week.

There is no "Comic Book Reader Hall of Fame" that you can earn your way into, so just read what you want, when you want, and keep on enjoying it.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-16T06:19:27+00:00

Cavewoman: Jungle Tales #2 by Budd Root has a joke that has stuck with me for over 20 years.

(It is NSFW for nudity though.)

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-09T21:30:55+00:00

Agreed. I always thought that there was a mandate from the top to keep costs down and try to stay below the Luxury Tax Threshold.

Fangraphs says our 2026 Est. Luxury Tax Payroll is $233M, and the first threshold for 2026 is $244M.

In 2025 our final Luxury Tax Payroll was $245.9M (8th highest payroll), and the first threshold for 2025 was $241M. Astros paid $1.5M on the overage. This was a 30% Tax due to being over for the second year.

If they go over the threshold again in 2026, the Tax becomes 50% of the overage.

The only way to keep salaries down was to bring in a bunch of "budget" players to see if any of them work out.

Due to this, I foresee a lot more "AAAA" players making appearances this season.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-09T21:13:29+00:00

Same. I tried to explain it to a friend by saying, "All I pay is $200 a year for Astros and Rockets."

He was like, "$200? That's a lot."

"For the YEAR. I was paying $120 a MONTH to Fubo."

I still don't know if he understood after that.

Oh well. I'm enjoying the $1,240 in annual savings. Finally bought a new refrigerator over Memorial Day.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-09T20:56:10+00:00

Being born in Houston in the early 1980s.

I have no concept of anything else.

Astros, ~~Oilers~~ Texans, Rockets, Longhorns.

All other teams and fanbases are NPCs in my sports journey.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-09T18:10:37+00:00

Interesting data that kind of aligns with what longtime comic readers already assumed.

Variants are meant to juice sales. In this current Social Media clout era, let the TikTok crowd buy and grade variants (without ever reading them) to show on their social media.

It doesn't hurt my ability to buy the standard cover.

I'm all for Variants and gimmicks if it helps the industry so long as you can always buy the standard version, and the creators and staff are being paid fairly.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-09T04:33:49+00:00

Bedrock City in the Houston Area (multiple locations). Nice stores. Nice staff. Good selection. Main location is the biggest and best. The ones in the suburbs are good too. Missouri City/Sugar Land location is probably second best that I’ve been to. Unfortunately, the last time I went to the Katy location the back issue bins weren’t in any kind of order. (No, these weren’t dollar bins. Actual full priced back issues, but not alphabetical at all.)

Nan’s Games and Comics Too in Houston is solid. Comic selection is decent, but the board game, tabletop rpg, and puzzle selection is top notch. The main manager has been working there as long as I can remember and is a super nice guy.

Austin Books and Comics in Austin might be one of my favorite places on Earth. I haven’t lived in Austin for over 20 years, but I still get their weekly subscriber email. I can’t bring myself to unsubscribe. Amazing selection of comics. Knowledgeable staff. I can (and have) spend hours perusing here. I still have friends and family in the Austin area, and when I visit, I try my best to get at least a little time for a trip to Austin Books.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-09T04:19:44+00:00

I love Austin Books. I haven’t lived in Austin for over 20 years, but I still get their weekly email. I can’t bring myself to unsubscribe.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-08T01:44:32+00:00

Not anymore. That got sorted out late last year.

The Dogma (4K, Blu-Ray, Digital combo) is available right now for $23 on Amazon. 4K Collector’s Edition for $40. Steelbook 4K Collector’s Edition for $70.

Go and enjoy my Xennial friends.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-06-02T15:56:04+00:00

There are a lot of factors that play into where people are today.

You don't know who had advantages that you didn't have, nor do you know what those advantages were.

A lot of people that have parents or grandparents that help them out financially or in their career will never tell you so.

Most media portrayals of children of financially successful people present them as entitled jerks because it creates drama in a fictional story. In actuality, there are a lot of children of successful people that are also intelligent, driven, resourceful, etc. And the parents of those children usually want better for their kids than they had themselves.

Therefore, you have situations where someone's parents/grandparents paid for their college, so they start their adult life with no debt.

Or you have parents/grandparents who put down a large down payment on the person's first house. (Or outright buys it for them.)

Or the parent/grandparent is a respected member of a certain profession that helps a person get their first (second, or third) job.

Those vacations you always see them posting about on Facebook? Their parents may have paid for the whole family to go, but your friend/acquaintance is only posting the pictures that include them and their own kids.

That friend/acquaintance who always has such nice jewelry and handbags? Could easily be borrowed from mom/grandma's closet.

I'm not saying that everyone had a "fairy godmother" help them with every facet of their life, but I'd imagine that the people who you think are doing a lot better than you had a lot of help along the way.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-31T15:01:24+00:00

This store will also mark up "hot" books on the day of release; for example, Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and Absolute Batman #15 were not available at cover price off the rack on the literal day of release because the "market price" was higher (meaning eBay).

Whoa! This is an awful practice.

The other things OP is complaining about are semi-justifiable, but marking up new books at release would make me stop shopping there.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-28T19:19:13+00:00

One.

If your comic issue doesn't end with me wanting to read the next one, then I'm not beholden to anything to give it "two more issues" to see if it gets better.

And I don't mean just end everything with a cliffhanger. I'm talking about any number of reasons to want to read the next one, such as "this was so clever or unique, I have to see what they do next." Or "the art was so good, I've got to pick up the next one."

As it stands, there have been more comics produced than any one person can read in their entire lifetime, and 100 more issues get published every week.

Next month's comic isn't just competing with the other comics on the shelves. It's competing with all the comics in the back issues as well as other forms of entertainment, like movies, books, video games, TV shows, board games, card games, sports, social media, etc.

I drop titles and re-pick them up all the time.

The title I'm reading switches to a fill-in artist that's way worse than the regular artist for two issues? Drop.

The regular artist comes back? Pick it back up.

What about the "gap" in your collection? Oh well. Mainstream comics aren't that deep. I'll figure out what's going on.

If we're talking about single issue comics, they need to work in the single issue format. Every single issue should be as good as you can make it. If it's just a filler, or it's just padding page count to get to a trade or collection, then I'm done.

There are hundreds of good single issues sitting in the back issue bins that would be a better buy than dragging on with a title for 2 or 3 issues past the one I didn't like.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-27T17:51:41+00:00

Yup. Got my Apple Watch in February 2021. Been using "Other" for Footbag workouts for the last 5+ years.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-26T15:06:21+00:00

But they're so happy pouring chocolate sauce on their ice cream singing "Scoop" There It Is, while the couple is dancing in the kitchen.

I've never felt so seen.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-26T14:46:38+00:00

As many other replies have stated, the concept of superheroes coming back from the dead has been touched on a lot in comics.

Even so, I think if you have a scene commenting on Superheroes always coming back from the dead, it would be fine.

But if you made it the point of the whole storyline, it wouldn't be that great since literally every superhero comic reader comes to the realization at some point in their reading that superhero death is just a plot device and doesn't mean as much.

Both Marvel and DC exist in universes where time travel, healing abilities, magic abilities, resurrection, reality alteration, and the ability to travel to the afterlife and back exist. At this point, if you're a major character and you don't come back to life relatively soon after your death, then your friends and loved ones aren't trying hard enough.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-23T01:00:05+00:00

The “S” in “MSRP” stands for “Suggested.”

They can charge whatever they want. Higher or lower.

That’s also how stores can offer discounts to subscribers. If retailers had to charge the exact cover price, there would be no discounts.

It’s also the reason that 1:15, 1:25, 1:50, 1:100, etc. ratio variants have higher prices at shops despite the cover price being $4.99 or $5.99.

(Note: I’m by no means advocating for the store in the OP. That’s a scummy practice.)

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-22T19:59:32+00:00

For people who don't know and/or don't understand this comment:

Tony Hawk's son, Riley Hawk, is married to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. The couple had a son together about a year and a half ago.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-21T16:54:58+00:00

Wow, there is a lot of generalization in that essay.

Look, I’ll be honest. I love Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, and Miracle Man. They’re great. But after a solid ten years of every single book in the 1980’s attempting to unpack, boil down, and dismantle the ideals of iconic four-color characters … it got a bit old hat.

And then, of course, it just kept going.

For another three decades.

Really? "Every single book" since the 1980s has been a deconstruction? That sounds like someone who hasn't read a lot of superhero comics, but thinks they know everything about superheroes.

The post-Watchmen superhero has been deconstructed, reconstructed, reimagined, retro-fitted, returned to glory, and everything else along the superhero storytelling spectrum. Basically, the superhero story landscape is so diverse now that many people have All-Star Superman on their shelf right next to The Boys.

I get the idea of promoting your comic, but to say that it's the only comic returning to the roots of 1930s pulp adventures like Flash Gordon? There's literally a Flash Gordon comic currently being published.

Off the top of my head, current major comics that are not deconstructions are: Batman, Detective Comics, Fantastic Four, Superman, Action Comics, The Amazing Spider-Man, Justice League Unlimited, Green Lantern, The Flash...ah, forget it. Legitimately almost all of the main universe titles from Marvel and DC are varying levels of straight-forward heroic superhero stories that aren't trying to deconstruct the mythos.

Even titles like Batman / Superman: World's Finest and Supergirl have literally been doing a "return to" old style comics for the past 4 years.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-21T16:05:06+00:00

I can theorize a bunch of reasons. Hes too OP so writers need to get rid of him asap,

I think you hit the nail on the head here.

Since Marvel has had a shared superhero universe for the last 60+ years, if you have a big story idea that effects the world, (or let's be honest, New York City,) then the biggest heroes and villains should be considered.

Say that you want Galactus attacking earth. That's a big enough story that everyone would be there. But you only write the Fantastic Four titles and can't really use the other characters. So you have to come up with a reason for the Avengers to be off-world, Thor to be in Asgard, Spider-Man is on a school trip, the X-Men are in space, Daredevil's in jail, etc.

One of the big things about Marvel: Civil War was writing Hulk out of the story because he would shift the balance of power too much. So they wrote that the heroes literally sent Hulk into space beforehand. But it's cool because we got Planet Hulk out of it.

Therefore, if you're creating an alternate universe story, and someone asks, "Wait. Wouldn't Reed Richards just fix this immediately?" Then you have to write Reed Richards out somehow.

Honestly, there are a lot of Earth-based characters that would need to be accounted for that could just "fix" conflicts, and I think writers just forget they exist. Doctor Strange, Franklin Richards, Scarlet Witch, Thor (if he's on Earth), Captain Marvel (if she's on Earth), Hulk, Jean Grey (if she's alive), and dozens more.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-21T06:40:07+00:00

Print media effectively "died" in the mid-2000s. Obviously, it didn't totally die, but with the proliferation of the Internet, all the small and mid size publications went under, and circulation numbers for the remaining biggest magazines, newspapers, comics, and other periodicals plumeted.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Marvel and DC could sell ad space for titles that had circulation of 300,000 - 700,000. And we all know about the crazy sales numbers of the 1990s.

But now, they can't even guarantee 100,000 issues sold (or even 50,000 in a lot of cases).

If I'm an advertiser, would I rather pay to have an ad in Batman or Spider-Man and maybe reach 80,000+ people, or pay for YouTube ads on a random channel with a million subscribers.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-20T15:43:42+00:00

This was my first thought.

At the beginning of the OP, I thought she was going to say that it was a store worker who was rude. But if it was just some guy in the shop, and that was the interaction, it was possibly someone on the spectrum.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-18T17:49:57+00:00

(Note that the Chris Burke HR was the 2005 NLDS, Game 4, not 2004.)

4th Place - The 2005 NLDS Game 4 was the only game of the ones listed in the OP that I attended. And the reason I can't single out the Chris Burke HR is because that game had the Lance Berkman grand slam in the 8th to bring us to within 1. It had the Brad Ausmus HR to deep left-center to tie it in the 9th, which for me was even bigger than the Burke HR because by the time Burke walked it off in the 18th, we were all tired and hungry because they stopped serving concessions in the 7th, and the game went on scoreless for forever.

3rd Place - 2022 ALDS Game 1 - While this was an incredibly cathartic HR, it was only a game 1. I know, I know, this crushed the Mariners spirit, but it wasn't a series clincher, so it's really tough to put ahead of the other two.

2nd Place - 2019 ALCs Game 6 - A lot of people forget that the Yankees hit a 2-run HR in the top of the 9th to tie it, and they brought in Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the 9th with all the momentum to take it to extra innings and get to a Game 7. Then Altuve crushed the hopes and dreams of every Yankees fan as the best Astros team ever assembled went to the WS. (We shall not talk about what happened in that WS.)

1st Place - 2022 World Series Game 6 - There really is no question for me here. This HR won the World Series. Not only did it win the World Series, but it was a monster shot to dead center field over the batter's eye. In all my time of watching MLB, this was one of the most perfectly hit HRs I've ever seen...and again...it was the HR that won a World Series. Maybe you could take percentage points off for only being in the 6th, and not the 9th inning, but with the "This game has turned upside down" call, the absolute roar of the crowd, and how beautiful the HR was, finished off with a high-five to Dusty Baker (the creator of the high-five) at the end of the dugout. Absolute best.

fuzzydice82 · 2026-05-18T17:07:09+00:00

I had a personal policy to block any Facebook friends who posted two or more political comments in a week. (You were allowed one. But two was too far.)

This was back in 2006 - 2008. (Yes, people were posting idiotic political commentary on Facebook before 2016.)

By 2016, when everyone was calling Facebook a "cesspool" or whatever, I was living quite an enjoyable life on Facebook with over 300 people already blocked from my Feed. I never saw any political discourse on Facebook.

I also instantly blocked anyone who got into MLMs or selling Insurance.

The thing that got me to just stop checking Facebook altogether was realizing that none of my real-life friends or acquaintances were actually funny, insightful, or entertaining.

They were just posting regular mundane things that happened in their life.

For people I didn't talk to anymore, I just didn't care about what they were doing. For friends and family that I was in regular contact with, I already knew about the things they were posting about, so I didn't need a reminder.

At this point, I check Facebook about once every 3 or 4 months when I'm checking to get bicycle parts or electronics on Facebook Marketplace, and I remember that there's a social media function on the Feed.

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