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The Jackpot
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A Brief History Of Teen Superhero Comics, Part 4
It’s probably the most famous panel in 60s Marvel history. A gag, a cliffhanger, a revolution. A young woman standing in a doorway, smiling, in total amused confidence, at the boggle-eyed kid she’s[…]

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Time To Give Ourselves Into Strange Gods’ Hands
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And add another one to the “why on Earth didn’t I read this stuff before?” pile – Mike Mignola’s excellent and well-praised Hellboy. I skimmed the first ever miniseries half-heartedly on release, thought “Nazis, monsters, pfft” and that[…]

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Blimey Guv’nor It’s The Avengers Assemble #15AU Annotations Post
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This week Avengers Assemble #15AU came out, by Al Ewing (yes relation) and Butch Guice. The comic is, as Hazel has pointed out, the most British thing ever published (at least by Marvel) and it is absolutely rammed with references – some obviou[…]

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Cantos Stop Won’t Stop (1-5)
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Introduction
New series! Recently I have been suffering from insomnia, and to give a sense of routine to my bedtime (which should help) I’m trying to read a short amount before I go to bed every night. To get me into the swing of things I’m read[…]

Skylanders Reprise
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My earlier Skylanders post – about the parallels between the smash game’s Physical-Digital interfaces and the ongoing vinyl revival – was written without having actually played much of it. I heard the excitement of my two sons and &[…]

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Vinylanders
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Tree Rex. Eye Brawl. Scarlet Ninjini. If you’re the parent of a small boy there’s a good chance you know these names well: the ferocious cast of Skylanders, a computer-game-meets-action-figure franchise which has become my son’s first honest-to[…]

Time Considered As A Hastily Scrawled Set Of Notes On A Livejournal Beermat
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Doctor Who: The Bells Of St John
This one came off as a remix of a few previous companion-intro episodes. Disembodied intelligence and London landmark from Rose, whimsical Doctor and companion-as-kid backstory (well, sort of) from Eleventh Hour, and […]

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Mummification
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Young Avengers 2, by Jamie McKelvie and Kieron Gillen (post will contain SPOILERS)
Let’s think about pop and parents for a moment.
Pop from the 50s on may have been about the generation gap, but it was rarely about the generation gap. Parents showe[…]

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The Mincer: An Experiment In Gamification
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1. Take a large number of individual tracks.
2. Put the first 64 into a playlist.
3. Shuffle.
4. Play (no skipping allowed).
5. After two tracks, decide – as quickly as you can – which of the two you want to hear again.
6. Delete the othe[…]

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Journey Into Fear
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I asked a question on Twitter last night – what songs have actually scared you? – and it got a whole bunch of interesting replies.
So here they are. I haven’t gone through hunting YouTube/Spotify links because I was too lazy terrifi[…]

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