#ben vc: MY WIFE | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fanfic-obsessed · 4 years ago

Text

Head trauma and Time travel

So in this episode of little change makes big impact we’re going to make a slight change to the scene where Klaus open the time travel briefcase. In this variation the hits to the head were just hard enough the Klaus had a moderate concussion when he opened the briefcase along with a pothole that jolted the bus.

The jolt causes Klaus to lose grip on briefcase just as he vanished, meaning that while he landed in 1968, the briefcase did not. The concussion combined with the time travel to cause amnesia. In fact he lost all of his conscious memories. His subconscious still remembers but the ability to access that information is spotty at best.

His wounds and sudden appearance already had the 173rd thinking that he was a POW. When he is asked for his name he answers with out a second thought and gives the one name that has been his for his entire life. The one name carved into his sense of self.

“My name is Number 4.“

This does nothing to dissuade the 173rd that he had been a POW, nor does the immediate confusion and his admission that he does not remember anything up to and including why he thinks his name is a number. It does however make them hesitant to bring the man who arrived in a flash of blue light, to the attention of their superiors. A man in their unit by the name of Robert Johnson, who reportedly had no one outside the 173rd had died in the attack. The Unit decided to slip Number 4 in as Robert. They felt that his name living on would be the best tribute they could offer their fallen comrade.

Now even though Klaus, now Robert, may not know the root of his many, many issues this does not mean they have gone away. This leaves him with two serious issues in the short term and at least one serious issue in the long term that he has no idea are about to smack him in the face.

Of the two short term problems, the most serious is that he is in the middle of withdrawal. And though it is obvious that he is coming off of something the various dealers in the unit are not willing to give him anything when they don’t know what he was fucked up with in the first place.

The other short term problem is that the nightmares don’t cease. He wakes with unfamiliar names spilling from his lips begging someone not die, others to leave him alone, to let him out. Please let him out.

Incidentally Dave and Klaus getting together was delayed by nearly two months because Dave believed that Ben was Klaus’s lover and didn’t want to have a little of Klaus only to lose him when his memories returned.

The longer term issue was, of course, the ghosts. Now the soldiers of the 173rd were not stupid. It did not take long for them to realize that their ‘Robert’s’ hallucinations gave him information that he could not have. Actual ghosts took a bit longer to believe but it still was fairly easily accept. Once they did they were even more glad that they had not reported their fired to the superiors. Because it was not hard to make the jump to human experimentation and it was not the VC that had that kind of medical training or equipment.

Without the briefcase, or even the knowledge that he was not supposed to be in the Vietnam war, life continued for Klaus(who now bore the nickname ‘Lucky’). The 173 became a dumping ground of misfits, people without family who made their family each other. Even the ones with family on the outside grew connected. When the war ended it 1973 the 173rd(both living and dead) decided they would find peace, together. A few parcels of land in farm country is easier to get if there are 15 people pitching in. Even the ones who had enlisted rather than be drafted were sick of fighting.

Fast forward 2 years, their little commune was thriving. Families have moved in, all with a connection to the 173rd. This is where Five drops Klaus’s siblings, in a flash of blue light trying to stop the apocalypse. Ben, though unseen by the rest, finds Klaus. No one is more relieved the Dave when Ben tells them he and Klaus are brothers. The ongoing bet of Klaus’s real name is won by the wife of their Sargent, who guessed Kevin. And the Hargreeves as a whole are flabbergasted when Klaus casually makes Ben visible and solid.

#tua prompts #tua klave #fanfiction prompt #the umbrella academy

26 notes · View notes

gokinjeespot · 5 years ago

Text

off the rack #1303

Monday, March 2, 2020

This is a public service announcement. You will be ticketed for parking on the street during a parking ban even though the snow has already been cleared from the roads. We got a ticket parked in front of our house last week because we couldn't get into our driveway after the grader left a big snow bank at the end of it. I hope to spare anyone from being dinged with what I think is an unfair fine.

Amazing Spider-Man: Daily Bugle #2 - Mat Johnson (writer) Mack Chater (art pages 1-12) Francesco Mobili (art pages 13-20) Dono Sanchez-Almara, Protobunker & Peter Pantazis (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I can't read the rest of this 5-issue mini. The art really bothered me this issue. It was hard to tell what was going on the first few pages and then seeing Peter Parker in civvies looking almost exactly like the bad guy confused me further. There are interesting mysteries about Spidey's webbing and a Wilson Fisk involvement with an explosion, but this story probably won't matter in the grand scheme of things, so I don't think I'll miss anything if I bail out here.

Punisher Soviet #4 - Garth Ennis (writer) Jacen Burrows (pencils) Guillermo Ortego (inks) Nolan Woodard (colours) Rob Steen (letters). Frank and Valery go after Konstantin by kidnapping his trophy wife. She's amenable to divorce by Punisher. Thank Garth for improving my mood.

Basketful of Heads #5 - Joe Hill (writer) Leomacs (art) Riccardo La Bella (additional pencils) Dave Stewart (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). Everything leading up to this issue has been circumstantial. Now the villain tells the complete story. I'm rooting for June to survive this mess.

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 - James Tynion IV (writer) Steve Epting & Javier Fernandez (art) Nick Filardi (colours) Travis Lanham (letters). Heh, it's the Joker who helps Lex beat the Batman Who Laughs. It looks like next issue's pulse pounding conclusion will be Lex and his super villains versus the Batman Who Laughs and his infected super heroes. It's been a while since the Main Man has been in a comic that I've read.

Avengers #31 - Jason Aaron (writer) Gerardo Zaffino, Geraldo Borges, Szymon Kudranski, Oscar Bazaldua, Robert Gill & Mattia De Iulis (art) Rachelle Rosenberg & Mattia De Iulis (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I haven't seen Tony Stark in a while so I assumed he was dead. Nope. He was zapped a million years into the past by the master manipulator Mephisto. The devil tries to get Tony's soul. This is a wonderful full issue of Iron Man and if Jason wrote an Iron Man book, I'd read it.

Amethyst #1 - Amy Reeder (story & art) Gabriela Downie (letters). I remember reading the original Amethyst book when it hit the racks in 1983 with the Ernie Colon art. It was fun and weird with a plucky heroine. This new Wonder Comics book has the appeal of having art by Amy Reeder who wowed me with her work on Madame Xanadu and Rocket Girl. Here she is writing as well and the art and story is tight and concise. This is a nice substitute for the dearly departed Naomi book.

Avengers of the Wastelands #2 - Ed Brisson (writer) Jonas Scharf (art) Neeraj Menon (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's the origin of Captain America of the Wastelands. His name is Grant. I think this is a great way to change tried and true Marvel characters to make them fresh and new. Having them fight an evil Doctor Doom is nice and simple. Four Avengers may become five but they have to contend with a super villain first.

Suicide Squad #3 - Tom Taylor (writer) Bruno Redondo (art) Adriano Lucas (colours) Wes Abbott (letters). The new Squad's first mission under Lok's leadership does not go according to plan. Neither are these super villains what they seem. This is why I read Tom Taylor books. Forget about any new Crises and DCeased and pick up this most excellent comic book for some straight up action and skulduggery.

Kill Lock #3 - Livio Ramondelli (story & art) Tom B. Long (letters). I get why the calligraphy font is used in the Wraith's word balloons but man, is it hard to read. This issue explains why The Kid is innocent and shouldn't be branded. The four droids find the one who can lead them to the Kill Lock's off switch but she betrays them. This universe of sentient robots is pretty cool.

Jessica Jones: Blind Spot #4 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Mattia De Iulis (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Each issue has started off with Jessica held captive by the bad guy. The end of this issue reveals who that is and how she was killed and resurrected. I am looking forward to the conclusion to see how she defeats the villain.

Batman Superman #7 - Joshua Williamson (writer) Nick Derington (art) Dave McCaig (colours) John J. Hill (letters). A new story starts here. Part 1 of "The Kandor Compromise" pits the World's Finest duo against Ra's Al Ghul and General Zod. One of the bad guys is working with the good guys. I got bored of the fight between Superman and Rogol Zaar so what happened to the city of Kandor was a surprise to me. I'm interested to see the final fate of the shrunken city.

Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost #1 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) Russell Dauterman (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). This mostly wordless $4.99 US one-shot will be a quick read but I read it twice just to soak in the beautiful art. The story starts with the discovery Storm's body and ends with a problem after Ororo is resurrected. This leads into a story where Jean, Emma, Logan and Scott will have to save Storm again.

Leviathan Dawn #1- Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) Josh Reed (letters). Leviathan succeeded in shutting down every spy agency and the leader has been revealed to be an ex-spy named Mark Shaw. The good guys are still trying to fight back but they're going to need help. Time for Kingsley Jacobs to start up Check Mate again. I like the players he's gathered. I'm looking forward to watching this game unfold.

Finger Guns #1 - Justin Richards (writer) Val Halvorson (art) Rebecca Nalty (colours) Taylor Esposito (letters). And now for something completely different. This new urban fantasy introduces two teenagers with a weird power. Wes discovers that when he shoots people with his left hand he can make them angry. Sadie can calm people down when she uses her right finger gun. They meet by accident at the mall and try to get a handle on their newfound powers. It's a cool concept and I wonder where these kids are going to end up.

Fantastic Four: Grimm Noir #1 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Ron Garney (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This one's all about Ben's bad dreams. I thought the bad guy was Nightmare but it's another one of those mystical villains that generally mess with Doctor Strange. I expected some sort of Mickey Spillane type story but there's no murder, just a pretty dame needing rescue. It's a nice character study of the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing.

Detective Comics #1020 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Brad Walker (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Two-Face is back and he's more bipolar than ever. This is what I like to see, an old villain presented in a slightly new way. We still have the scarred coin dictating how Harvey acts but there's a new twist with a cult of fanatics and the Church of the Two Strikes. I love how the first page hints at the return of the Court of Owls too.

Falcon & Winter Soldier #1 - Derek Landy (writer) Federico Vicentini (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This 5-issue team-up starts off with a heavily armed and armoured hit squad attacking Bucky Barnes in his home. The Winter Soldier emerges unscathed and hops his motorcycle to find out who sent the killers. Meanwhile Sam Wilson is searching for a missing vet. The two meet at a government agency office where all the staff are dead. Wanting to know who's doing all the killing has got me interested in reading the rest but when a preppy killer shows up and kicks both of the heroes asses I decided to put this mini on my "must read" list. The kid's name is the Natural. Picture a blonde Damian Wayne in a pair of Chuck Taylors.

The Amazing Spider-Man #40 - Nick Spencer (writer) Iban Coello & Ze Carlos (art) Brian Reber & Peter Pantazis (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The fight between Spider-Man and Chance had to do with a bet that Chance could get one of Spidey's web shooters. What bothered me was how easily that was done and Spider-Man's lack of urgency to get it back. There's a couple of foreshadowing scenes that will keep me reading however. One involves the Clairvoyant device and the other is who Norah Winters is working with.

X-Men #7 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) Leinil Francis Yu (art) Sunny Gho (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). This issue is dedicated to a new Mutant Ritual called the Crucible. It's a lot shorter than calling it the Arena of Death and Rebirth. It shows how mutants who have lost their powers can get them back. But first we have to endure a deep philosophical discussion between Cyclops and Nightcrawler. It's a real snoozer if you're an action fan.

Action Comics #1020 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Klaus Janson (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). I wish they would stop with the deceiving covers. It looks like Superman is trying to come between Lex Luthor and Leviathan but what actually happens inside is Superman fighting Lex and the Legion of Doom. If it weren't for Young Justice helping out I would have found this issue boring.

X-Men/Fantastic Four #2 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Terry Dodson (pencils) Rachel Dodson, Karl Story & Ransom Getty (inks) Laura Martin (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). There's a lot of heroes accusing heroes of shenanigans concerning the disappearance of Franklin and Valeria. They are actually guests of Doctor Doom. Victor wants to reverse what Reed did to his son and I want to know why. With the X-Men converging on Doom Island, good old Doc Doom is prepared for an attack.

X-Force #8 - Benjamin Percy (writer) Bazaldua (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Why did Oscar Bazaldua stop using his first name in the credits? Domino and Colossus attack the flesh factory making assassins using Neena's DNA. The organisation funding the flesh factory has a mysterious benefactor and I'm hanging around to find out who that is. I wish they would change either Sage or Jubilee's costume. I keep getting them confused.

1 note · View note

jediraised · 6 years ago

Text

aurumpulvis replied to your post: headcanon. ben is 5′1″

tol af Vestara: *holding Ben bridal style* i will protect

ben vc: you may be my gf and later wife but i will break up with you if you do that again

#aurumpulvis #not a jedi but a pretty badass future lawyer ( ooc )

1 note · View note

tomemyxmen2017-blog · 7 years ago

Text

The Best (and Worst) Free Comics of FCBD 2018

Of the fifty-two comics released for Free Comic Book Day 2018, there were an unsurprisingly high number of excellent comics in this year’s class. Here are my picks for the best of the best (with a few dishonorable mentions too) from the many choices available this year.

THE BEST

10. BERLIN by Jason Lutes (w, a, c). (Drawn & Quarterly).

Set in 1928 Germany, a journalist and an art student meet on a train to Berlin; when they arrive, the young student is surprised by what she sees, and the journalist must navigate a changing climate for the press. Narrated in part by the main characters’ writings (his reporting and her diary), this street-level view of Berlin prior to the rise of fascism is masterful and cinematic. Even in this preview, the sense of menace and dread to the events that are to come in the story permeates every page. Absolutely genius. Part of a series written over the past twenty years, this FCBD release promotes the hardcover omnibus of the series due for release in fall 2018.

9. STRANGERS IN PARADISE by Terry Moore (w, a). (Abstract Studios).

The issue opens with an exciting pickpocket scene in which Scott, a generic business type, has his phone and SIM card stolen. He later contacts his wife, Laura, to tell her that he’ll be late coming home and why, prompting Laura to stoically retrieve her run bag and leave home for good. The phone thief heads to Laura’s house to discover she’s already gone and runs into Scott; the thief reveals that “Laura” is actually Stephanie Kelly, a Parker girl caught up in treason and espionage. This is a dynamic, fully realized introduction to what seems like a fun and exciting story loaded with intelligent, powerful women kicking all kinds of ass.

8. ULTRA STREET FIGHTER II #1 by Ken Siu-Chong (w), Hanzo Steinbach (a), Marshall Dillon (l). (Udon).

Trying to shake off his dark side, Ken meets with Ryu to fight through his worst urges and achieve some balance in his life. The pair travel to Japan for some high-level meditation (and fighting, of course), but that only gets Ken so far. Later in San Francisco, Ken is surprised by an attack from Rufus, and during the battle, he learns to control his evil within. Although this comic attempts to apply drama to a fighting video game, the result is fun, colorful, ridiculous, and delightfully entertaining. What more could you want out of a Street Fighter comic?

7. SHADOWMAN by Andy Diggle (w), Stephen Segovia (w), Karl Bollers (e). (Valiant).

Alyssa and her guide Isiah explore the swamps of Louisiana at night, searching for the cause of cursed water that’s making locals sick. She encounters a monster, the Grinder of Bones, and tries to use magic to protect herself to no avail. She runs, and summons Papa Legba for guidance: in return, her friend Jack, now the Shadowman, appears from a portal to help her in her fight. With gorgeous artwork, beautiful coloring, and a plot like nothing else on the stands right now, this issue draws readers into this world so effortlessly that it’s hard to imagine someone reading this issue without being fully engrossed and wanting to pick up the whole series. Terrifically well-done.

6. THE GHOST IN THE SHELL by Max Gladstone (w), David Lopez (a), Nayoung Kim (color), Jodi Wynne (l), Alejandro Arbona (e), Ben Applegate (e). (Kodansha).

Major Kusanagi (aka Motoko) and Aramaki are intercepted by an American Ghost Force Squad while on a business trip to Shangai. After her arrest, Motoko dramatically escapes through the streets of Shangai and meets her old wartime enemy, Li; the pair must work together to save Aramaki and others. This issue, part of an upcoming anthology, is perhaps the most complete, cover-to-cover, issue released on FCBD. At a whopping forty-five pages, readers are treated to an entire story that is exceptional all on its own. This is a fabulous issue that will convert even the most stoic of non-believers into fans of this character and this series.

5. RELAY by Zac Thompson (w), Andy Clarke (a), Eric Bromberg (st), Donny Cates (st), Dan Brown (color), Charles Pritchett (l), Mike Marts (e). (Aftershock).

In this sci-fi story, a space traveler lands on a planet with an undeveloped population and offers them “the Relay,” a monolith that creates uniformity in technology and ideas. Is it intergalactic socialism, or will it be intergalactic fascism? The Relay seemingly destroys community identity and cultural heritage with a new sort of religion: ultimate fath in the monolith itself. This is an expertly paced and well-rendered metaphor that gives sci-fi fans something deeper to ponder.

4. MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS by Kyle Higgins (w), Ryan Parrott (w), Digo Galindo (a), Marcelo Costa (color), Ed Dukeshire (l), Dafna Pleban (e). (Boom!).

This one takes me back! Chosing to advertise its best-selling series, Boom! strategically used its FCBD option to bridge the gap between fans of the old TV show(s) and the current comics mythology, hoping to draw in readers who may have been overwhelmed by the thousands of different Power Ranger characters and their convoluted origin stories and missions. This issue is a straight-forward explanation of how the first episode of the original TV series connects to the comic storyline today, with some surprisingly awesome artwork and a shockingly murderous ending. The issue concedes its childish origins, but by the end, these aren’t your kids’ Power Rangers anymore!

3. AVENGERS by Jason Aaron (w), Sarah Pichelli (p, i), Elisabetta D’Amico (i), Justin Ponsor (color), Cory Petit (l), Tom Brevoort (e). (Marvel).

This issue, frankly, defied my expectations. As the official free preview to Marvel’s “Fresh Start,” there was a lot riding on this issue, the release of which coinciding with yet another reboot of the Avengers in the same week and a blockbuster weekend for the House of Ideas at the cinema a week prior. And it did not disappoint. In a direct follow-up to last year’s Marvel Legacy #1, Odin meets with Black Panther in the ruins of Asgard. Odin explains that he has fallen to Loki and his manipulation of a Celestial and requests that T’Challa kill Loki; he agrees. The story ends in another scene with Captain America and Thor reaching out to Tony Stark for a meeting between the three of them as a new Avengers era begins. Rather than using its FCBD offering to pump in half-assed action, Aaron instead tries to win new readers over with a well-told and interesting story setup. It is refreshing to see Marvel return to storytelling in its flagship series rather than resort to the redundant tropes of its recent past. Very well done.

2. JAMES BOND 007: VARGR by Warren Ellis (w), Jason Masters (a), Guy Major (color), Simon Bowland (l), Joseph Rybant (e). (Dynamite).

On a mission in Finland, 007 hunts down 008’s killer and exacts gruesome revenge. Later at MI6 Headquarters, M is assigned to take over 008’s case load, setting up a story that is simultaneously exhilirating for new readers and faithful in spirit to fans of the classic Bond. With darkly exquisite artwork throughout (particularly the Helsinki scene) and a character whose charm radiates off the page, it’s hard to imagine any comic fan not falling madly in love with this series. Originally published in 2016, this issue and the rest of the story is already available in trade.

1.BARRIER by Brian K. Vaughn (w), Marcos Martin (a, c), Muntsa Vincente. (Image).

No comic in this bunch left my jaw on the floor and mouth agape quite like this one. In this exquisite story, Liddy discovers signs of a Mexican cartel using her land, which happens to be on the Texas-Mexican border, as a throughway for drug trades and illegal immigration. In a parallel story, Oscar migrates from his home in Honduras to reach the U.S., crossing onto Liddy’s land in the middle of the night. She finds him and holds him at gunpoint suddenly the pair are interrupted. It’s a contemporary story involving gruesome violence, cartels, guns, and sci-fi. Half the issue is in Spanish (a language deficit won’t detract from your enjoyment of the issue), and the entire book – at an impressive fifty-three pages – is elegantly printed in landscape format. The artwork is phenomenal. The writing is incomparable. This is simply a perfect comic book from cover to cover. Frankly, I’m shocked it was available for FCBD as it’s well-worth a cover price. I recommend this enthusiastically, and I can’t wait to pick up the whole series this month. An exceptional beauty of a comic.

THE WORST

3. SHADOW ROADS by Cullen Bunn (w), Brian Hurtt (w), A.C. Zamudio (a), Carlos Zamudio (color), Crank! (l), Charlie Chu (e). (Oni Press).

In this deeply convoluted introduction presumptively set in the late nineteenth century, we meet Henry Grey, a Native American and a Cambridge man who visits the British Museum of Natural History’s new Native American exhibit with remorse and perhaps disgust. He meets an elder at the Museum who gives him a magical ceremonial dagger carved from bone that ultimately lights up. En route home, his train passes through a Crossroads where Abigail Redmayne and Kalfu intercept him and bring him to the New Mexico Territory. What causes this issue to fail – aside from the onslaught of new characters to learn and an unexplained mythology to understand – is that by the issue’s end, we are no closer to knowing why any of these events occur. Why does Abigail bring Henry to New Mexico? What is so special about Henry? What’s the point of the glowing dagger? While a free comic book should purposefully leave questions unresolved to entice readers to find their answers in subsequent issues, this romp is sadly too obscure and complicated to elicit any interest.

2. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN by Nick Spencer (w), Ryan Ottley (o), Cliff Rathburn (i), Laura Martin (color), VC’s Joe Caramagna (l), Nick Lowe (e). (Marvel).

Facing off against America’s greatest threat – the Manhattan real estate market – Peter Parker and his buddy Randy look for an apartment when they are interrupted by a fight with Boomerang, Electro, Rhino, and Big Wheel. After a quick costume change, Spider-Man battles them all until Kingpin intervenes. Despite the Mayor’s apparent gratitude for Spider-Man, Peter drops his professionalism instantly and leaves the scene. Later, Randy and Peter settle on a new three-bedroom apartment with a third roommate: Boomerang himself. From the ludicrous dialogue, the boring trope-laden plot, the cartoonish graphic design, and the overall neutering of Peter Parker’s character, this was a deep, deep disappointment for me that goes beyond this single issue; if this was meant to be an advertisement for the new Amazing Spider-Man series, I’m afraid it did more to turn me off than on. In addition, despite picking up all fifty-two free comics on FCBD, this issue is the only one with running ink and cheap printing errors. Oh, Marvel. Why do you do this to me?

1. TANK GIRL by Alan Martin (w), Brett Parson (a), Warwick Johnson-Cadwell (a), Jonathan Edwards (a), Brett Parson (l), Martin Eden (e). (Titan).

This was perhaps my fault for setting my expectations too high. Having never read a Tank Girl comic and only vaguely understanding her origins from nineties samples and the Lori Petty film, I was expecting a post-apocalyptic badass who breaks the fourth-wall and uses ingenuity, humor, grit, and charm to fight the Man. Instead, I got an insufferable cutsey-wootsey romp about a woman face-punching an adult man after he ruined her birthday big wheel when they were children. In between this awful plot’s progression, vignettes either drawn by a child or rendered to look like it had been drawn by child are too annoying to attempt to read. The only enjoyable bit of this comic was the cover by Jamie Hewlett, who should have done the interiors as well.

#comics marvel fcbd image dc valiant darkhorse boom

1 note · View note

shirlleycoyle · 4 years ago

Text

Silicon Valley Elite Discuss Journalists Having Too Much Power in Private App

During a conversation held Wednesday night on the invite-only Clubhouse app—an audio social network popular with venture capitalists and celebrities—entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan, several Andreessen Horowitz venture capitalists, and, for some reason, television personality Roland Martin spent at least an hour talking about how journalists have too much power to "cancel" people and wondering what they, the titans of Silicon Valley, could do about it.

The call shows how Silicon Valley millionaires, who have been coddled by the press and lauded as innovators and disruptors, fundamentally misunderstand the role of journalism the moment it turns a critical eye to their industry. It also suggests they’re eager to find new ways to hit back at what they see as unfavorable and unfair press coverage.

Motherboard obtained a recording of the conversation, which took place on Clubhouse, an app which as of late May had just 1,500 users. The app was valued at $100 million after a reported $12 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz, and requires an invite to join. In May, New York Times internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz wrote that the app is "where venture capitalists have gathered to mingle with one another while they are quarantined in their homes."

"Sometimes there is a tarot card reader critiquing a member’s Instagram account; sometimes it is a dating advice show; sometimes bored people sound off about anything that pops into their mind," she wrote.

On Wednesday night, the topic of conversation was Lorenz herself, who had been listening earlier in the conversation but left partway through. After she left, the participants began discussing whether Lorenz was playing "the woman card" when speaking out about her harassment following a Twitter altercation with Srinivasan.

"You can't fucking hit somebody, attack them and just say, 'Hey, I have ovaries and therefore, you can't fight back,'" Felicia Horowitz, founder of the Horowitz Family Foundation and wife of Andreessen Horowitz cofounder Ben Horowitz, said.

In recent days Lorenz, who criticized luggage startup Away co-CEO Steph Korey on Twitter Wednesday, has been harassed and impersonated on Twitter.

On the call, Srinivasan suggested that Lorenz—who earlier in the day had accused him on Twitter of "constantly trying to destroy my career on the internet and in private"—was overreacting and that she was perhaps scared of him, and that this was why she left the conversation that night on Clubhouse.

"Is Taylor afraid of a brown man on the street? Then she shouldn't be afraid of a brown man in Clubhouse," Srinivasan said. "I have literally done nothing other than one previous tweet. Number one, right? So the whole, you know, talking about tweeting as you know, harassment—completely illegitimate, completely wrong, completely fabricated and just false."

The audio chat had spiraled wildly out of control from a broader conversation earlier in the call about the state of journalism and what VCs should do to receive better coverage. Srinivasan, formerly a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, claimed that "the entire tech press was complicit in covering up the threat of COVID-19," and claimed that relying on the press is "outsourcing your information supply chain to folks who are disaligned with you," comparable to the United States having outsourced its medical supply chain. He proposed that the approaches to truth and accountability offered by GitHub, venture capital funding, and cryptocurrency all offer better models for journalism than "the East Coast model of 'Respect my authori-tay.'"

When asked for comment about the Clubhouse chat, Srinivasan screenshotted our request and tweeted about it.

"When it comes to our industry, there’s a really, really toxic dynamic that exists right now," Nait Jones, an Andreessen Horowitz VC, said on the call while speaking about recent reports about abuse in the tech industry. "Because those stories were so popular and drove so much traffic, they also created a market for more of those stories. They created a pressure on many reporters to find the next one of those stories inside of a fast growing tech company because those stories play very well on Twitter, especially around protecting vulnerable people."

(In 2020, the idea that fishing for “clicks” to drive ad revenue is a successful or even common business model is a fallacy. Publications that rely exclusively on advertising are failing at an astonishing rate; financially, many journalistic outlets are increasingly moving away from an ad-based revenue model driven by traffic, and instead focus on live events, subscriptions, optioning their articles to movie studios, and other models that rely on having a dedicated readership that trusts the publication).

"How can there be an accountability function that's implementable across all media that allows for that to happen, that pushback to happen without it being turned around and can become some toxic thing where all types of power dynamics are being used, and people have their weapons out," Jones said.

"Her employer should be saying, you cross the line with your editorial comments," Martin said, adding that "If I'm [Srinivasan], the argument that I would make to her bosses is you should be instructing your reporters not to be making editorial judgments about someone. Stick to reporting."

The exclusive users of Clubhouse on the call seemed to conceive of themselves as humble citizens preyed upon by corrupted elites cravenly lusting after money and power; this reached a bizarre apogee when Srinivasan boasted of standing up for the CEO of a scandal-plagued luggage brand, depicting her as all but powerless because of her relatively low Twitter follower count. The conversation essentially resembled a Gamergate chat, with people obsessing over minute drama and, at times, suggesting that Lorenz had crossed a line on Twitter and must be punished.

“Taylor is an excellent reporter doing incredibly relevant reporting for this moment. She, and all reporters, should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment,” Choire Sicha, editor of the NYTimes Styles desk, told Motherboard in an email.

Clubhouse founders Rothan Seth and Paul Davison didn't respond to a request for comment. Jones did not respond to a request for comment. Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment.

The conversation was set off by a series of exhausting, insidery events from the last two weeks. Some in the Silicon Valley set turned their sights on the Times after Scott Alexander, a psychiatrist who ran the philosophy blog SlateStarCodex, deleted the entire blog because he said the Times was going to "dox" him by publishing his real name in an upcoming story. (It is worth noting that Alexander has republished SlateStarCodex blogs in books using his full name.) This event resurfaced an ongoing and tedious discussion among venture capitalist types about journalism ethics, business models, and publishing incentives.

Wednesday, Korey, the co-CEO of Away, a direct to consumer luggage brand that was the subject of an expose in The Verge last year, published a series of Instagram Story posts in which she suggested that she was unfairly targeted by The Verge in part because she is a woman. She also said that journalists should be easier to sue, and suggested that the main thing driving journalism is "clicks." The Verge story focused on a culture of abuse at Away under Korey's leadership; workers there said they were prevented from taking vacation, were banned from emailing each other, and worked extremely long hours.

“The incentive isn’t to report what’s happening,” Korey wrote. “It’s to write things that will be shared by people on social media. And several of these digital-only outlets have nearly nonexistent editorial standards (especially the click baity-y ones, you know who they are). Side note: I could write a whole separate essay about how defamation lawsuits should be easier to pursue now that misrepresentation *is* the business model of some of these outlets.” (In the aftermath of The Verge's story, Korey announced she’d hired the well-known defamation firm Clare Locke LLP, which has made a business out of getting unflattering stories stalled or killed.)

While Korey’s Instagram comments were a supposed critique of the journalism industry, they looked at times a lot more like a claim that The Verge story was unfair or inaccurate in ways she didn’t actually address.

After Korey posted her stories on Instagram, a number of journalists commented on them, including Lorenz, who tweeted "Steph Korey, the disgraced former CEO of Away luggage company, is ranting on IG stories about the media. Her posts are incoherent and it’s disappointing to see a woman who ran a luggage brand perpetuate falsehoods like this abt an industry she clearly has 0 understanding of."

Lorenz's tweet was immediately tweeted about by several Silicon Valley venture capitalists, most notably Srinivasan, who eventually made a seven-tweet thread in which he suggested Lorenz, and journalists like her, are "sociopaths."

That same day, a self-described Taylor Lorenz "parody" Twitter account started retweeting Srinivasan and other tech investors and executives critical of her work. The account's bio also links to a website, also self-described as parody, which is dedicated to harassing Lorenz. (Twitter told Motherboard it deleted another account for impersonating Lorenz.)

Yesterday Lorenz called out Srinivasan on Twitter by tagging him and asked his friends, like Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz, to help end the conflict, which eventually continued on Clubhouse.

In Korey's analysis, exposing the conditions of workers is clickbait designed to attract eyeballs; she also argued that female founders were more likely to be attacked, especially by young female reporters. The story about Korey’s alleged misconduct was written by a young reporter named Zoe Schiffer. Korey added a few minutes later that she’d gotten word her comments were filtering through to Twitter, and wrote, in part, “I believe the overwhelming majority of young female reporters are truly excellent. It has been the case that the female-founder takedowns tend to be written by young women, but I do not think they represent the whole demographic whatsoever.”

Korey’s avid defenders in the Clubhouse conversation agreed with that analysis.

“The coverage seems to be so one-sided around the people running the companies,” one person on the call whom Motherboard could not immediately identify complained. “They're all abusers, they're all trying to get rich. It's just down, down, down. It's almost depressing to watch, as someone who's an advocate for building things. It's hard to watch the coverage, it's almost anti-building things …The whole entire DNA of Silicon Valley has been optimism from day one."

Articles like the Verge's investigation into Away do not appear out of thin air. People who work at tech companies—often burdened with non-disclosure agreements—take risks to discuss labor conditions at their company. At the time the Verge article was published, Korey apologized. Wednesday, she was suggesting she'd been unfairly targeted, and that "a few who are using the media platform they have access to further their careers by knowingly misrepresenting female founders for clicks & their own profile/fame."

"I spoke up for her because she had, you know, 8,000 followers, and she was being attacked by a New York Times reporter as a disgraced former CEO and she's actually still, you know, current co-CEO," Srinivasan said. "I believe in standing up for those people who don't have a voice, who cannot stand up for themselves."

Lost in the shuffle are the employees who say this apparently powerless CEO still presides over a broken company. Thursday afternoon, a coalition of Away employees emailed Away's leadership to say that "Steph's Comments Are Hurting Us."

We “have been hurt and left deflated by Steph Korey’s recent action on Instagram and Twitter," they wrote in the email, which was obtained by Motherboard and was acknowledged by Away's cofounder Jen Rubio. "We are writing to you as the employees of Away and asking that something is done to address the story that is building around Steph's Instagram and Twitter comments over the last several days.

Steph has been largely absent during this health pandemic, the company's layoffs and the civil unrest surrounding Black Lives Matter. This made sense. She was on mat leave and taking time to focus on her personal life over her professional one. This is why her social media activity over the last few days has been so surprising and frankly hurtful as employees of this company."

Korey and Away's cofounders did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update, 5:43 P.M. EST

In response to a request for comment from Motherboard, Away's vice president of communications and corporate affairs shared two screenshots. The first was an email from Jen Rubio, Away's co-founder, president, and Chief Brand Officer, addressed to the employees who had complained about Korey's comments. (The email comes from Rubio's email account; it's also cosigned by Stuart Haselden, the company's co-CEO).

Rubio wrote that Korey's comments "do not reflect or affect our current company priorities and the deep work we're doing about diversity, equity and inclusion." The email also stated that Stuart Haselden will take on the role of sole CEO at Away in 2020, and that Korey has updated her social media profiles to state that her views are her own.

In her own Slack response, Korey wrote: "I understand that I have a responsibility as co-founder and co-CEO to commit to using my personal platforms to support our priorities, not distract by them." She apologized to "anyone I hurt by shifting the focus away from these important cultural moments this past week," referring to the Black Lives Matter movement and the company's stated commitment to "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion," as Korey put it. Both statements say Away's priority is "becoming an anti-racist company."

Additional reporting by Tim Marchman and Samantha Cole.

This piece has been updated with comment from Away and to attribute a quote to a speaker on the Clubhouse call.

Silicon Valley Elite Discuss Journalists Having Too Much Power in Private App syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

0 notes

viralstation · 7 years ago

Text

Special Report: New York’s enterprise infrastructure ecosystem

New Post has been published on http://viralstation.org/special-report-new-yorks-enterprise-infrastructure-ecosystem/

Special Report: New York’s enterprise infrastructure ecosystem

New York City is a marvel of infrastructure planning and engineering. There are the visible landmarks — the Brooklyn Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Empire State Building — and also the invisible ones that run the city beneath its crowded streets, such as one of the world’s most complex water tunneling and reservoir systems. That infrastructure was built for the economy of the 20th century, a market that emphasized the manufacturing and trading of goods.

Infrastructure though has a very different meaning in the 21st century. The digital economy means we no longer measure the movement of products simply as tonnage on freight ships and trucks, but rather as bits and bytes flowing from data centers to devices. The shipping container once revolutionized 20th century global trade, and now containerization is revolutionizing the way we think about delivering applications to end users.

While New York has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state, to date it hasn’t been a global leader in startups compared to hotspots like the Bay Area, particularly in the sorts of enterprise and data infrastructure startups that undergird the internet revolution.

That situation is rapidly changing. Today, New York City has numerous unicorns targeting the enterprise, and a large number of up-and-coming winners like Datadog that are commanding substantial market share. But what is truly exciting — and different from past prognostications about the success of enterprise in New York — is that we are now seeing the rise of a generation of hundreds of startups that are deeply technical and deeply committed to building the future of enterprise infrastructure and applications.

Today, TechCrunch presents a special report on the state of enterprise startups in New York City. My colleague Ron Miller and I interviewed dozens of people, and we boiled down their thoughts and insights into this series of articles. We purposely brought out focus away from the pure SaaS application world, and instead tried to go deeper into the infrastructure and security startups that are increasingly powering and protecting our internet services.

This article provides an overview of the changing exit environment for startups in NYC, the rise of a set of mafias which are incubating startups, and the changing culture of customers and how that is assisting NYC startups with their competition out west.

We then have a series of profile pieces on early but burgeoning startups: DNS provider NS1, time series database Timescale, bare metal cloud Packet, data privacy BigID, cloud monitoring Datadog, and a trio of security startups: cybersecurity analytics Security Scorecard, graph-based security ops Uplevel Security, and decentralized authentication HYPR. Finally, we put together a gallery of enterprise startups we think are going to be making waves in the coming years.

No need to search for the exits anymore

One of the on-going criticisms of the New York City startup ecosystem has been its lack of exits. Despite being a technology epicenter and a hub for some of the world’s largest and richest companies, the actual track record of startups in the city has never measured up. That’s a massive problem, since exits aren’t just trophies to put on the wall. Rather, they’re the generators of wealth which can be transformed into the lifeblood for the next generation of startups.

The exit environment in New York has started to look much better in recent years though, particularly in the enterprise space over the past year. Yext, which manages online reputation for brands, debuted on the NYSE last year and now sits at a $1.28 billion market cap. MongoDB went public late last year, and is just shy of a $2 billion valuation. Flatiron Health, which applies data analytics to cancer research, was acquired by Roche for $1.9 billion two months ago. Moat, an ad measurement company, was purchased by Oracle for $850 million last year.

Those are some hefty exits over just a couple of months, but the real depth of the NYC ecosystem can be witnessed in the startups right behind them that are becoming market leaders. Those companies include AppNexus, Datadog, UiPath, Dataminr, Sprinklr, InVision, Digital Ocean, Percolate, Namely, Compass, Infor, Zeta Global, Greenhouse, WeWork and the list continues. Together, these companies have raised billion of dollars in venture capital funding according to Crunchbase.

What’s different for New York than in the past is that the city is no longer relying on one company as the leading light that will prove the worth of the rest of the ecosystem. As we interviewed investors and founders about what companies they thought were going to be the most notable in the years ahead, what was illuminating was just how little overlap there existed between their answers. There is truly a cohort of strong startups coming of age in the city, and that gives the ecosystem much more vitality than it has ever seen before.

These aren’t your Godfather’s mafias

New York is increasingly a mafia town, and that’s a good thing.

One of Silicon Valley’s biggest advantages has been the constant renewal of its startup talent. People join startups, learn the ropes from experienced founders, meet other talented employees, and eventually decide to spin out on their own and build their startup dreams. Some companies have become so well known for this pattern that the networks they have formed are known as mafias. The PayPal mafia is perhaps the most famous example, but there are many other companies in the Valley that have become boot camps for the next generation of founders.

New York may be more notorious for its occasionally violent, often Italian mafias, but today the city is also home to a growing network of startup mafias who are building companies and firms and powering the ecosystem.

Take Voxel. The company, which was formed in New York City in 1999, built enterprise hosting solutions for customers around the world. It was acquired by Internap in 2012, in an all-cash transaction valued at $30 million.

That’s a pretty small exit by startup standards, but despite its small size, it has created an entire generation of NYC enterprise startup founders. Voxel CEO and founder Raj Dutt ended up starting Grafana, an open source time series analytics platform. Voxel COO Zac Smith left to start Packet, and Voxel principal software architect Kris Beevers started NS1.

Another stylized example is Gilt Groupe. Security Scorecard founders Sam Kassoumeh and Aleksandr Yampolskiy met at Gilt when they became the first two hires for the security team there. Yampolskiy had never heard of the company before, but “my wife was apparently a customer, so maybe I would get some clothes discounts.” When Sam showed up at noon in a sweatshirt on his first day, “I was like, I am going to fire this guy,” he said.

In the end, the two got along, and they eventually left to found Security Scorecard, which has raised more than $62 million in venture capital according to Crunchbase from a long list of luminary Valley-based investors.

The examples are endless. Edward Chiu, the founder of Catalyst, learned customer success at Digital Ocean, and ended up realizing that the company’s internal tooling could be externalized as a startup. Liz Maida, the founder of Uplevel Security, learned her trade at internet traffic juggernaut Akamai, and has taken several of the product lessons she learned there to heart. Timber.io founders Zach Sherman and Ben Johnson met at SeatGeek, where they realized that logging could be made significantly better. The networks each of these bought along helped in building their startups.

Of course, all of these are anecdotes, and it is next to impossible to systematically analyze these movements. Yet, these patterns of entrepreneurs and investors have become much more visible in the ecosystem. Startup talent is increasingly begetting startup talent, spinning out and circulating their knowledge.

But beyond these clusters of individuals lie the glue that is holding the ecosystem together: Jonathan Lehr and his team at Work-Bench and Ed Sim and Eliot Durbin at Boldstart. All three of them made the bet years ago that New York City would become an epicenter of the enterprise infrastructure software industry. Now they are reaping the rewards of those bets.

Work-Bench is both a workspace and a fund, but its core value is the community that’s been built around it. Lehr founded the New York Enterprise Tech Meetup, which hosts at Work-Bench a monthly gathering of hundreds of participants in the enterprise space, from founders to customers.

He has also built up a wide network of potential customers across industries to accelerate the early sales of his startups. “We are not just sending intros, we can backchannel which can save a lot of time” for founders, Lehr said. For instance, if a customer can’t deploy an application for another year because of internal politics, Lehr can figure that out and tell his founders that information, saving them time on a sale that might not come to fruition.

For Sim at Boldstart, the message is much the same. When he first launched the seed fund with Durbin in 2010, people thought that “there aren’t going to be enough deals to be done,” he said. “We thought of it as an experiment,” and the two raised only $1 million to get started. Now the fund has raised its third vehicle of $47 million, and plays a convening in engaging West Coast VCs. “On the West Coast, what [founders] really want is access to customers,” Sim explained “and on the East Coast, they want access to West Coast VCs.” Those West Coast VCs are showing up in New York these days more and more. “Every week there are five different firms sitting in our office trying to figure out what is happening in New York.”

Startup ecosystems take off when there is a sufficient density of talent, a strong desire to help one another, and an open ambition to compete. New York City has never lacked the latter, but it has been missing out on a dense network of helpful and experienced startup hands. The rise of mafias centered on some of the city’s leading companies as well as the development of community hubs for support are adding the final ingredients for a world-class ecosystem.

How changing customer tastes rebuilt NYC’s startup ecosystem

In the classic text Regional Advantage, AnnaLee Saxenian analyzed the cultural differences between innovation on the East Coast, epitomized by Boston’s Route 128, and the culture of Silicon Valley. She found that the East Coast was stodgy, hierarchical, and centralized around large corporate behemoths like DEC and EMC. In contrast, the West Coast was nimble, networked, and decentralized, with little social hierarchy.

Silicon Valley was believed to be dead in the early 1990s, outcompeted by Asian tigers like Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea in manufacturing the chips that gave the region its name. The Valley was saved in just the nick of time by the opening of the internet to commercial activity, and the culture of the West Coast would prove perfectly attuned to the frenetic pace of innovation that followed. The Valley swept the internet economy, and many of the world’s most important tech companies are now located in the Bay Area.

That Silicon Valley innovation culture is now been exported around the world, and that is no less true walking around New York City startup neighborhoods like the Flatiron and Union Square. It’s not just the obvious sartorial changes that have made the city more relaxed and creative. It’s also the changing personality of the people who are successful here — the finance major is now the computer science graduate.

New York’s startup culture isn’t just a transplant of the Valley’s however, but rather an evolution of it. The pure excitement of tech that can be found at San Francisco meetups is much more muted here. Instead, there is a greater focus on investing in product design by listening to customers earlier and much more closely.

That’s only possible though because customers actually want to talk. The success of New York City’s enterprise startups rests in large part on the changing nature of purchasing at Fortune 500 companies.

Lehr of Work-Bench should know. Prior to starting the fund, he evaluated potential technology vendors at Morgan Stanley. “The adage that you don’t get fired for buying IBM had longed passed,” Lehr explained. Companies have vexing problems, and they are increasingly willing to experiment with startup technology if it has the potential to solve those issues.

The West Coast culture of flexible decision-making has entered the corporate world. CIOs used to have a vice grip on technology purchasing, but now leaders across the enterprise increasingly make their own independent decisions. Lehr said that “you now need to know, as a startup, nuanced different people in enterprise, and as a VC, to stay relevant, you don’t just want to know the CIO or CTO, but the 30 other people who have pain points” across a company.

Sim at Boldstart noted “The last thing heads of IT want is salespeople in front of them. You are not selling anything because they don’t want to buy anything.” Instead, “they are willing to work with startups if you have the right … service partnership mentality,” he said.

With customers increasingly engaged, proximity has become a major boon for startups in NYC. “In the early days before you are ready to scale, it is all about relationships in the enterprise,” Lehr explained. He described the thinking of customers today looking at buying from startups. “I can trust these people to get me promoted, and they are in New York, and they can give me feedback.”

I heard this point made from nearly every person I talked to. Roman Chwyl, a sales executive with experience at AWS, Google, and IBM, noted that when it comes to customers, “We can probably do six meetings a day up and down a subway line.” That thinking was mirrored by George Avetisov, the CEO of HYPR, who said that “All of our customers are in a 10 mile radius” because of the company’s focus on financial institutions.

That customer-centric view is what has made Datadog, which is now north of $100 million in annual recurring revenue, so competitive. Olivier Pomel, the CEO and founder, said that “Mostly what is interesting is that we’re not overwhelmed by the 5,000 startups around us” like in the Valley, and “what we hear is more clearly the message from the customers and the market.” He noted that “For most of the people at Datadog, their significant others are not in tech,” and that means reality doesn’t get distorted in the way it can on the West Coast.

While East Coast customers seem to have become more aggressive early-adopters, that view is not held universally. Kris Beevers, the founder and CEO of NS1, said that “the reality of our business through 2014 and 2015 is that I flew to California twice a month for sales meetings, and that is where the bulk of our customers come from.” As major West Coast companies signed on though, they ended up acting as lighthouse customers for more conservative companies on the East Coast.

Intense pain points can solve that hesitation. Ajay Kulkarni, the founder and CEO of time series database Timescale, noted that the company has customers in conservative industries because the database solves a critical production challenge for those businesses, namely the real-time processing of internet of things data. He also noted that selling to the West Coast is not necessarily easier. “I think the Bay Area is great for open source adoption, but a lot of Bay Area companies, they develop their own database tech, or they use an open source project and never pay for it,” he said.

Lehr also pointed to tech for tech’s sake as one of the increasing challenges for Silicon Valley-based enterprise companies. “In Silicon Valley, too many people start with the whiz bang tech, rather than the dirty word of use cases,” he said.

Some technology purists may complain that customers don’t know what they want until they see it. That may be true, and there is something to be said for disruptive innovation like Docker’s containers, which no one wanted for years and now everyone is excited about. But ultimately, customers buy software because it solves their problems, and they know those problems intimately. Mixing the nimble culture of Silicon Valley with a customer focus has allowed New York to start competing far more aggressively in enterprise infrastructure, and create a leading set of successful companies.

The future is still waiting to be built

New York has come a long way, but it does still have challenges. Unlike venture capitalists on the West Coast, VCs in NYC often face significantly less competition for deals, and that means they can take significantly longer to make a decision. Almost all founders I talked to griped that — with a handful of exceptions — local VCs just aren’t willing to write the first check into their companies. In fact, for Sim at Boldstart, that has become a rallying cry. He bought firstcheck.vc, which redirects to Boldstart’s domain.

Another challenge that is a bit more peculiar to the geography of the city is just how many sub-ecosystems exist. There are distinct Manhattan and Brooklyn startup communities that overlap far less than some might expect. While there are exceptions, the fintech, biotech, and adtech worlds also keep much to themselves. University ecosystems around Columbia, NYU, Cornell Tech, and Princeton also similarly stay in their own space. These fractures are not apparent at first glance, but few leaders in the community have been able to blur these demarcations.

Ironically, New York also has a lack of showmanship. To put it frankly, there is no Elon Musk or SpaceX that is a paragon of ambition and aspiration that drives the rest of the ecosystem to (literally) shoot for the stars. The city’s strength in enterprise tech is a strong bedrock for a durable startup ecosystem, but it is hard to turn the success of, say, an advertising analytics platform into a beacon for others to try their own fortunes in the startup world.

That’s a loss for the city today, but also the opening for the enterprising individual who wants to make it big. Sim at Boldstart said that “I feel like Rodney Dangerfield: we get no respect, and over the next few years, we will get the respect we deserve.” Ultimately, that’s the story of New York: scrappiness and hustle, and trying to build the future one piece of infrastructure at a time.

Read Original Article

#Boldstart Ventures #Enterprise #New York Enterprise #Silicon Valley #Startups #Technology

0 notes

abckidstvyara · 7 years ago

Link

No need to search for the exits anymore

These aren’t your Godfather’s mafias

New York is increasingly a mafia town, and that’s a good thing.

How changing customer tastes rebuilt NYC’s startup ecosystem

Lehr of Work-Bench should know. Prior to starting the incubator and fund, he evaluated potential technology vendors at Morgan Stanley. “The adage that you don’t get fired for buying IBM had longed passed,” Lehr explained. Companies have vexing problems, and they are increasingly willing to experiment with startup technology if it has the potential to solve those issues.

The future is still waiting to be built

0 notes

gokinjeespot · 5 years ago

Text

off the rack #1283

Monday, October 14, 2019

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to one and all. Thank-you for reading this. The Jee Gang gathered for a turkey dinner yesterday with the littlest 2-month-old Ashton being passed around like a hot potato because he was tired and cranky. His mom got him settled but you couldn't hear his tiny cries for the raucous noise from his cousins. The kids took over the larger formal dining room now that they outnumber us old folks. It was a nice big family affair.

Gwenpool Strikes Back #3 - Leah Williams (writer) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Gwenpool tries to save herself from cancellation by holding a "Contest of Champions" in this issue. Guest stars galore. This thing is so much fun.

Catwoman #16 - Joelle Jones (story & art) Laura Allred (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). I'm glad I checked the credits on this issue since I said that I was going to let this cat out after reading last issue. I will always read a book by Joelle Jones even though this one had me befuddled with some jumping back and forth in time and the added "Year of the Villain" thing. I am curious to find out Catwoman's decision.

Loki #4 - Daniel Kibblesmith (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (pencils) Oscar Bazaldua & Victor Olazaba (inks) David Curiel & Carlos Lopez (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I love a good trickster. Loki uses a good one to defeat Nightmare. I like this Loki.

Detective Comics #1013 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Doug Mahnke (pencils) Keith Champagne & Christian Alamy (inks) David Baron (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). It's Batman versus Mister Freeze as the super villain tries to resurrect his dead wife. Batman's flame thrower costume is a cosplayer's wet dream

Doctor Doom #1 - Christopher Cantwell (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This was a pleasant surprise. The art caught my eye but the story is really good too. There's no sign of the good guy Sorcerer Supreme from a while ago. Just good old fashioned arrogant Victor. He scoffed at a new technology to reverse global warming and is accused of being jealous of it because it was invented by Reed Richards and Tony Stark. When disaster strikes, Latveria is blamed and Doctor Doom sacrifices himself for his country. The mystery is who framed him and I will keep reading to find out.

Web of the Black Widow #2 - Jody Houser (writer) Stephen Mooney (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). What the!? Two Black Widows? Doctor Doom isn't the only one being framed for murder. I liked the clever cut-out on Nat's bathing suit.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Ze Carlos (art pages 1-8) Ig Guara (art pages 9-20) Dono Sanchez-Almara with Protobunker (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Miles must solve the super hero's dilemma of saving a family member or a stranger's life. His decision leads to a confrontation with the Prowler. Is it Uncle Aaron? I can't wait to find out.

White Fox #1 - Alyssa Wong (writer) Kevin Libranda & Geoffo (art) Israel Silva (colours)

VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Another Agent of Atlas super hero gets her origin story told. She's based on Korean folklore. It was very well done and almost makes me want to read the new team book. There's also a peek at the Future Avengers by Alyssa Wong (writer), Ale Garza (art), Dono Sanchez-Almara with Protobunker (colours) and VC's Joe Sabino (letters). They're an Asian version of the Young Avengers but these guys used to be Hydra agents in training. Read on if you're wondering what turned them into good guys.

Age of Conan Valeria #3 - Meredith Finch (writer) Aneke (art) Andy Troy (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I wish the art inside was a nice as the Jay Anacleto cover.

Marvel Action Spider-Man #9 - Delilah S. Dawson (writer) Fico Ossio (art) Ronda Pattison (colours) Shawn Lee (letters). The Black Cat gets caged as the kids finally work together and start to treat each other with respect. Next, things get even darker as Venom attacks.

Batman 100 Page Giant #1 - There are five superb stories in this $4.99 US one-shot and you'll feel like you just read five $3.99 comic books when you hit the last page. The only story that was disappointing was the Batwoman story mainly because she was fighting a lame villain named Lord Death Man. It was written by Steve Orlando, who has never impressed me. The other four stories more than make up for it though, especially Scott Snyder's lengthy contribution. This book is a steal at twice the price.

The Amazing Spider-Man #31 - Nick Spencer (writer) Ryan Ottley (pencils) Cliff Rathburn (inks) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). More hints are given to the secret identity of the super villain Kindred. Definitely related to Norman Osborn. That mystery is the only thing keeping me reading this book. As if the waters weren't muddy enough, the guy in the straight jacket isn't even Norman. I hope we don't get strung along too much longer because there will come a point where I say screw it, I don't care anymore.

Batman Universe #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Nick Derington (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Josh Reed & Tom Napolitano (letters). I don't mind this time traveling if it means that we see Batman and Green Lantern team up with Jonah Hex. The chase is on as Vandal Savage gets his hands on his prize. I know I've said that I don't like time travel and Vandal Savage, but this is a Bendis book and I'm a sucker.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #2 - Jody Houser (writer) Adriana Melo (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Gabriela Downie (letters). I think the Floronic Man chowed down on Swampthing and Ivy is next on his menu. Well, it's Harley to the rescue and the girls seek help from a fellow super villain to see what's wrong with Ivy. I'm reading this because it looks so pretty.

Powers of X #6 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) R.B. Silva & Pepe Larraz (art) Marte Gracia & David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The house is built and the power has been connected for a new X-verse. Jonathan Hickman has managed to make mutants relevant again for me. There are a half a dozen new mutant books coming out in the next six weeks starting with X-Men #1 hitting the racks October 16. I'll be reading them all to see how I feel about them but I can't imagine that they'll be all worthwhile.

Event Leviathan #5 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) Josh Reed (letters). I'm curious to find out who Leviathan is but it's not going to have a big impact on me since I'm not a huge DC fan. I'm sure DC fans might be able to suss out the secret given the Manhunter clue in this issue but I'm going to have to wait until next issue when all is revealed.

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1 - Kami Garcia (writer) Mico Suayan & Mike Mayhew (art) Richard Starkings of Comicraft (letters). I love new and different takes on iconic characters and this one is a killer. Harleen Quinzel is Doctor Harley Quinn, GCPD profiler, who is working a 5-year-old cold case of the murder of a hospital employee. Meanwhile there are other new murders landing on her desk. The writing is tight and the characterisations are vivid, helped by the beautiful art. Mico's black and white art chronicles the present while Mike's gorgeous colour art handles the flashbacks. DC's Black Label imprint is well worth checking out if you're a mature reader. This mystery not only looked good but made me feel good after I finished reading. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Contagion #2 - Ed Brisson (writer) Stephen Segovia (art) Veronica Gandini (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I know I said that I wasn't going to read any more of this 5-issue mini but this was on the racks with the awesome Power Man and Iron Fist cover so I snagged one after I finished reading all the others for the week. This issue was better thought out and the story flowed smoothly. Ben takes Sue, Reed and Johnny to Doctor Strange for help and the two of them go back to Yancy Street to contain the infectious bad guy. Danny and Luke are there helping the first responders and a couple of surprise super heroes show up too. The villain is briefly subdued but Doc Strange and Power Man succumb to the disease at the end. Uh-oh. The next issue teaser has Jessica Jones so that's reason enough for me to want to read it.

3 notes · View notes

gokinjeespot · 5 years ago

Text

off the rack #1288

Monday, November 18, 2019

Winter arrived early this year and is here to stay. I started a project yesterday going through our photo albums and labelling them to help when we want to look for a particular picture. I ended up scanning a bunch to send to friends and family to share in a bit of nostalgia. It was fun going down memory lane.

The Immortal Hulk #26 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Ruy Jose (inks) Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). So Bruce/Hulk has commandeered a Shadow Base site and has declared that he and his supporters are going to change the world. He spends a lot of time arguing with one potential ally while another ally listens in. Meanwhile the media paints Bruce as a terrorist and the far right go on the attack. I have an interest in current world affairs and this book reflects what is happening right now, which makes for a very interesting read. The Hulk isn't going to rampage willy nilly but has a specific target in mind.

Guardians of the Galaxy #11 - Donny Cates (writer) Cory Smith (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is a very quick read since it is mostly good guys fighting bad guys and setting up next issue's conclusion where someone saves the day.

Detective Comics #1015 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Doug Mahnke & Jose Luis (pencils) Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, Mark Irwin & Matt Santorelli (inks) David Baron (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Mister Freeze successfully resurrects his wife Nora and then throws her into the deep end of crime. I can't blame her for going off the deep end and kicking Victor to the curb. Meanwhile, Batman, Lucius and Alfred race to find a cure for the innocent victims that got frozen. Will Mister Freeze help? The art in this issue really stood out.

Event Leviathan #6 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Alex Maleev (art) Josh Reed (letters). The identity of Leviathan is revealed and it's no one that I know. You're going to have to Google Mark Shaw to learn more. I care more about what he and his minions are going to do next.

Runaways #27 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (pencils) Kris Anka & Walden Wong (inks) Dee Cunniffe & Jim Campbell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The kids don costumes and head out to fight crime with Doc Justice. Cosplayers are happy.

Punisher Soviet #1 - Garth Ennis (writer) Jacen Burrows (pencils) Guillermo Ortego (inks) Nolan Woodard (colours) Rob Steen (letters). Punisher fans rejoice. This is a top notch team telling a two-fisted tale of Frank versus the Russian mob. Throw in a copycat crime fighter and I'm hooked for the rest of this 6-issue mini. Welcome back Garth.

Elfquest Stargazer's Hunt #1 - Wendy and Richard Pini (story) Sonny Strait (art) Nate Piekos (letters). The more things change, the more Elfquest stays the same. I recognised these elves immediately and decided to see what's up with them since I was really into Cutter and Skywise from the very beginning going back forty years. We catch up with Skywise in this new story. He's got a young daughter now and lives in a peaceful fairy land called Starhome. If you like pure fantasy you should give this a try

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #3 - Jody Houser (writer) Adriana Melo (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Gabriela Downie (letters). The girls going to the Mad Hatter for help wasn't a good idea. Jervis almost manages to control them for his own nefarious purposes. Now they're on the road again to who knows where. I'm hitching along.

Black Cat Annual #1 - Jed MacKay (writer) Joey Vazquez (art: Felicia & Peter) Natacha Bustos (art: Bruno) Juan Gedeon (art: Dr. Korpse) Brian Reber (colours) Ferran Delgado (letters). This is three separate capers rolled into one big heist. Spider-Man and the Black Cat get married in order to facilitate the robbery. I liked how everything interconnected and how Peter was conned into helping. This is one annual worth picking up.

Catwoman #17 - Joelle Jones (story & art) Laura Allred (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Oh man, am I ever glad I didn't bench this book when Joelle went on hiatus. When she writes and draws a book the product is far superior than most. From the cover to the very last page this issue gave me shivers. We're resuming Selina's battle with the crazy Creel woman and Catwoman is going to have a little help from a friend. I can't wait to read the next issue.

Fallen Angels #1 - Bryan Hill (writer) Szymon Kudranski (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The four pages before the credits page absolutely captivated me and then the rest of the issue grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and didn't let go. I was wondering what the heck happened to Psylocke (real name Kwannon) after reading Excalibur #1 and here we have answers. She's leading a new team of mutants going after a very deadly villain by the name of Apoth. So far she's recruited Laura/X-23 and young Nathan/Cable. This title gets added to my "must read" list.

Far Sector #1 - N. K. Jemisin (writer) Jamal Campbell (art) Deron Bennett (letters). This new comic by the award winning science fiction and fantasy author introduces us to Green Lantern Mullein. She's investigating a murder in a city where three alien races co-existed peacefully until now. It's the first murder in 5 centuries in a city with 20 billion citizens. This book lost me right there with that unbelievable stat. The art is absolutely gorgeous but a rookie Green Lantern dealing with this crime is too far-fetched for me. If this were a regular detective in a regular city I might have continued reading. I just don't buy a green Green Lantern in an idyllic world.

The Dollhouse Family #1 - M. R. Carey (writer) Peter Gross (layouts) Vince Locke (finishes) Cris Peter (colours) Todd Klein (letters). This is one creepy comic book about a 19th Century dollhouse bequeathed to a little girl in England in the early eighties. There's magic involved when the girl can shrink and play with the dolls in the house. There's the mystery of where the dollhouse comes from. The creepy part is the Black Room in the house. This issue starts with a crash landing and ends with the punishment of an abusive husband. I am very intrigued.

Morbius #1 - Vita Ayala (writer) Marcelo Ferreira (pencils) Roberto Poggi (inks) Dono Sanchez-Almara (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Michael the living vampire is back on the racks and he's still trying to cure himself of his bloodlust. This starts off with a dumb costumed mad scientist villain followed by Morbius attacking the bad guy's henchmen all to abscond with the experimental serum that might cure him. They never establish what the bad guy's serum was going to do, which made the effect on Morbius predictable at the end of this issue. The only thing that might get me to read more is the hot blonde vampire hunter who shows up and the art in this was superb.

X-Men #2 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Gerry Alanguilan (inks) Sunny Gho (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Boy, Jonathan Hickman isn't coasting with these mutants. First (spoiler alert) he kills off a major character and now he's adding even more intrigue with a mating of Krakoa and another island. All mutants, good and not so good, were brought together on Krakoa but I always wondered when the not so good ones would start to do not so good things. Apocalypse steps to the fore here. I liked how Cyclops and his kids behaved during their mission to explore the new island.

The Batman's Grave #2 - Warren Ellis (writer) Bryan Hitch (art) Alex Sinclair (colours) Richard Starkings (letters). The art does most of the heavy lifting with nary a caption or word balloon in the first 12 pages. Bryan's pages looked great. Warren then weighs in with a summons for Batman from Commissioner Gordon using the Bat signal. A crooked lawyer has been murdered. I like when Batman plays detective.

Future Foundation #4 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Alti Firmansyah (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Can the kids keep evil Reed from getting a piece of the Miracle Man? Looks like it. But wait, there's more. Next issue's conclusion to this story should be just as exciting as this one.

Joker: Killer Smile #1 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Andrea Sorrentino (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Steve Wands (letters). I'm always willing to try a new book when I see Jeff Lemire's name in the credits because he usually manages to entertain me. I'm not a big fan of the clown prince of crime especially after the Joker became darker and started to kill people. This is the story of Doctor Ben Arnell, a psychologist trying to cure the Joker after the killer's most recent incarceration in Arkham Asylum. It's a story of mind games where a good man finds himself succumbing to the influence of evil. This is another good DC Black Label book worth reading.

1 note · View note

gokinjeespot · 6 years ago

Text

off the rack #1219

Monday, July 2, 2018

It's stinking hot out. I wanted to jump in the lake with the fishies yesterday. We drove downtown on Canada Day to spend time with friends and I lucked out on a parking space right in front of their house. The car in front of us pulled out shortly afterwards so I plunked myself down in that spot to hold it for another friend who was driving in from out of town. People were expecting issues with other drivers trolling for a parking space but in typically Canadian fashion, cars just slowly passed by as I was sitting there under my umbrella to shade myself from the hot sun. Only one car stopped, rolled down their window and asked if I was saving the parking space. I said "yep" and they drove off. I probably would have been shot if I did this in the capital city of another country on the fourth of July.

Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #2 - Jim Zub (writer) Thony Silas (art) Filipe Sobreiro (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I like this story. Kitty and her team skulking around Madripoor trying to find Wolverine while being hunted by Viper and her very, very bad girls is right in my wheelhouse. Unfortunately the art turns me right off. Unless Psylocke is a midget, how the heck is Logan taller than she is on page 2? All the women's faces are drawn the same with angular features and almond eyes. Even the different hair styles and clothes didn't help to distinguish them. There is a surprise appearance on the last page that's an attempt to keep readers invested in the story but it is not enough for me to read the rest of this mini.

Old Man Hawkeye #6 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Clint is like the flu. Whenever he shows up things go from bad to worse. I love this dangerous future Earth where the super villains are in control. Old Man Hawkeye seeking redemption is a great story but President Red Skull trying to kill Bullseye makes this book that much better.

Multiple Man #1 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Andy MacDonald (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Yeah, I thought he was dead too. That's why I pulled this off the rack to read. Jamie died during the Terrigen mists killing all the mutants crisis but they have found a way for one of his dupes to survive that made sense. Then they go and ruin it by having this surviving Jamie steal a time traveling device. I loved Jamie when he was leading X-Factor and was sad when they killed him off. This one is younger and they've tweaked his powers with a big twist on the last page. It just might be enough to get you to keep reading this 5-issue mini.

Batman: Harley Quinn vs. the Joker #1 - Tim Seeley (writer) Sami Basri (art) Otto Schmidt (epilogue art) Jessica Kholinne (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Prelude to the Wedding part 5. Way to screw up the timing DC. This should have hit the racks before Batman #48 and #49 because what happened in those issues involved what happens with the Joker in this one. I had a sense of disassociation when I saw the Joker in the church while reading Batman #48 three weeks ago and now I know why. This screw up will be forgiven if Batman #50 proves to be a good read when it hits the racks July 4. I loved how Harley is drawn in this, even though my least favourite version of her is the Joker infatuated court jester. SOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ the New York Times article about Batman #50 posted July 1.

Saga #53 - Fiona Staples (art) Brian K. Vaughn (writer) Fonografiks (letters). Holy crap in a hat. This is a must read issue if you're a Saga fan. There are major deaths in this issue and that's not including what Brian's doing with all the letters the book receives. If he thinks thoughts of mortality invade in your forties, wait until you get to your sixties.

Sentry #1 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Kim Jacinto (art) Rain Beredo (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Sentry World part 1. I remember thinking that this super hero was just Marvel's version of Superman when he first hit the racks in 2000 and that his arch enemy the Void was your basic generic super villain. Turns out it's more complicated than that. The Sentry's alter ego sacrificed a lot to save the world from the Void but now Robert Reynolds finds himself in a dangerous situation. Jeff Lemire has taken a character that I didn't much care for and given him a story that I very much want to read now in this 5-issue arc.

Detective Comics #983 - Bryan Hill (writer) Miguel Mendonca (pencils) Diana Egea (inks) Adriano Lucas (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). There's a new writer and he's starting off boldly by introducing a new Bat-villain and a new super hero to join Batman's team of Gotham City crime fighters. This new bad guy has no qualms about killing so things are going to get intense.

Amazing Spider-Man: Wakanda Forever #1 - Nnedi Okorafor (writer) Alberto Alburquerque (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This new book stars the fierce warrior women of Wakanda, the Dora Milaje. One of their member has turned super villain, calling herself Malice. When she threatens a neighbourhood in Brooklyn guess who just happens to be swinging by? So it's team up time and they fight with a classic Spider-Man super villain under water. When Malice surfaces again she's going after the Black Panthers ex-wife. If Storm's a target then you know that the X-Men will be involved. Look for X-Men: Wakanda Forever #1 to hit the racks July 25.

Silencer #6 - Dan Abnett (writer) Viktor Bogdanovic (art) Mike Spicer (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). Exit Strategy part 3 or death in a diner. Talia al Ghul and Hope fight through a horde of Leviathan killers during lunch. It was disappointing that Deathstroke wasn't in there. The two new super villains are cool. I am looking forward to seeing what Cradle and Grave are capable of.

Moon Knight #196 - Max Bemis (writer) Paul Davidson (art) Mat Lopes (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Kudos to Paul Davidson for the mad art for this psychedelic story. Now that Maurice and his crazy collective have been straight jacketed we can see where Marc and his many personalities take us next.

Man of Steel #5 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Adam Hughes (art) Jason Fabok (art pages 8 -11) Adam Hughes (colours) Alex Sinclair (colours pages 8 - 11) Josh Reed (letters). Superman's fight with the big bad Rogol Zaar does not go well. He's taken to the brink of doomsday. By the end of this issue we find out how Rogol Zaar is going to destroy the Earth. Meanwhile, more clues are given about what Lois and Jon have been up to. You might want to review recent Superman stories to understand what's happening.

Marvel 2-In-One #7 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Ramon K. Perez (art) Frederico Blee (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The truth about Doctor Rachna's duplicitousness comes out at last. Plus Johnny finally learns the truth about Sue and Reed. What a revolting development this is. I'm still enjoying this book very much as Chip has come up with interesting ways to keep Ben and Johnny scrambling.

Thor #2/708 - Jason Aaron (writer) Mike del Mundo (art) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I'm growing to appreciate the new art style and can see subtle expressions in the faces. Mike's use of colour really enhances the action on the page. Thor and Loki join up with some allies in Hel to fight Sindr and her fire hordes. I had forgotten that Hela was no longer the Queen of Hel (was that in the movie too?) and Balder the Brave was King of Hel now. The surprise appearance on the last page will make the throne room in Hel pretty crowded.

1 note · View note

gokinjeespot · 7 years ago

Text

off the rack #1203

Monday, March 5, 2018

Jee-Riz Comics and Appraisals had another successful Capital Trade Show yesterday at the Jim Durrell Arena on Walkley Road. Many thanks to Spider-Man super fan Jeremy for dropping by our table.

I'm not a movie buff so I didn't watch the Oscars last night. It's on our PVR so I'll get to it eventually. I read that someone mentioned Len Wein and John Romita Senior during the telecast so I look forward to seeing that in context. I still get excited whenever I see comic book references on TV.

Moon Knight #192 - Max Bemis (writer) Jacen Burrows (pencils) Guillermo Ortego (inks) Mat Lopes (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Crazy Runs in the Family part 5. This issue ends in an episode of Fantasy Island. The conflict between Ra and Khonshu is coming to a head, Marc's head. I'm not a big fan of psychological drama but I love Jacen Burrows's art so much that I can't stop reading.

The Terrifics #1 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Ivan Reis (pencils) Joe Prado (inks) Marcelo Maiolo (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). This is the fourth New Age of Heroes comic book to hit the racks and the one that I was most looking forward to because Plastic Man is on this team. The team is lead by smart guy Mr. Terrific and includes Metamorpho and Linnya Wazzo AKA Phantom Girl (thank-you Google). I loved Ivan Reis's art when he drew Green Lantern so I hope he does some spiffy things with the malleable Plastic Man. Jeff Lemire introduces this team quite nicely and the surprise guest on the last page made we want to continue reading.

Cal Exit #2 - Matteo Pizzolo (writer) Amancay Nahuelpan (art) Tyler Boss (colours) Jim Campbell (letters). It's hard to remember why I wanted to read this second issue since #1 hit the racks over 7 months ago. Now that I have gotten through this very dense comic book I find that I don't care for these characters or their gun happy world. Another thing I didn't like was the stark colours. The recent gun violence in real life has also influenced my decision to stop reading this as well.

Avengers #682 - Al Ewing, Jim Zub & Mark Waid (writers) Sean Izaakse (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 8. It's no coincidence that Hawkeye and Red Wolf are in this critical issue. Clint put the threat of Bruce Banner down for good but as we all know in comic books, death never lasts. Cosmic beings make anything possible. The colours on the first page nearly turned me off but it was only because David Curiel was trying to make the flashback scenes look old timey.

Mera: Queen of Atlantis #1 - Dan Abnett (writer) Lan Medina (pencils) Richard Friend (inks) Veronica Gandini (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). This 6-issue mini spins off of the current goings on in Aquaman. Mera is recuperating from her magic induced injuries on land and isn't as powerful as she used to be. One of her missions while healing is to try and assure the surface world that the war in Atlantis won't impact them. As much as I love green-eyed redheads, I just couldn't get too excited about this story. Mera's diplomatic mission can go on without me.

Hungry Ghosts #2 - Anthony Bourdain & Joel Rose (story) Leonardo Manco & Mateus Santolouco (art) Jose Villarrubia (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). These two creepy tales have a European flavour. One will be very foreign to North American readers and may turn their stomachs. The other is about supernatural creatures that would only scare children. Both would be good with a glass of Chianti.

All-New Wolverine #31 - Tom Taylor (writer) Marco Failla (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is a fun one issue team-up with Gabby and Deadpool. I like these little interludes between all the drama.

The Demon: Hell is Earth #4 - Andrew Constant (writer) Brad Walker (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Chris Sotomayor (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). The heroes continue their journey through Hell to try and keep Belial from creating a gateway to Earth. Many monsters will be mashed before the end.

Saga #49 - Fiona Staples (art) Brian K. Vaughn (writer) Fonografiks (letters). This might be the only comic book on the racks where the artist's name is listed first in the credits. Congratulations to Fiona on her marriage to Ben.

Spectacular Spider-Man #300 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Adam Kubert & Juan Frigeri (art) Jason Keith (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). There were some dumb things in this issue that turned me off this title again. The worst bit was at the end. It rhymes with crime gravel. Not even the back up story with the Black Cat by Chip Zdarsky, Goran Parlov and Giada Marchisio managed to cheer me up. Have fun whenever you end up Spidey.

Detective Comics #975 - James Tynion IV (writer) Alvaro Martinez (pencils) Raul Fernandez (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Unknown (letters). Batwoman is judged by a jury of her peers to see if she should be allowed to stay in the Bat-family. The path Kate chooses will be interesting to follow into the future.

Star Wars: Darth Vader #12 - Charles Soule (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Daniele Orlandini (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Vader deals with who is trying to kill him as only Vader can. I want to see how successful his terrorist tactics are.

Silencer #2 - Dan Abnett (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Sandra Hope (inks) Dean White & Arif Prianto (colours) Tom Napolitano (letters). Code of Honor part 2. Honor AKA the retired Underlife assassin Silencer survives the hit on her and Talia al Ghul. In her attempt to call off her old employers she finds out there is no honour among bad guys. If you like Hit-Girl or the Punisher, I think you'll like this new age hero.

Action Comics #998 - Dan Jurgens (writer) Will Conrad (art) Ivan Nunes (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Booster Shot conclusion. Superman and Booster Gold were on the verge of being executed by General Zod and his evil son, and wife with the Eradicator thrown in for good measure, last issue. This is where Dan Jurgens shows us how they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It is the definition of deus ex machina. To make matters worse, at least for me, the good guys return to the present to find a situation where a tragedy has just occurred. Guess how that's averted? Time travel sucks.

0 notes

gokinjeespot · 8 years ago

Text

off the rack #1155

Monday, March 13, 2017

I wonder how many workers screw up daylight savings time and are an hour late today? I hate being late for anything. I'm so obsessively early that it's annoying but I am reliable.

I cannot wait for it to get warm outside again. These cold snaps are getting to me more as I grow older. My mitochondria don't seem to functioning as well to keep me warm. The physiological changes of aging suck. I just might have to start wearing long johns with the flap in the back.

Man-Thing #1 - R. L. Stine (writer) German Peralta (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This new book certainly has a nostalgic feel to it as it harkens back to the horror comics of the 1980s. I was expecting the usual shtick of "whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch" but the swamp creature can talk now? I didn't see that coming. Doctor Ted Sallis regained his consciousness and speech (when did that happen?) but not his human body so he tries to make it as an actor. Yes, it was a "what the?" moment. I like seeing new takes on old characters but this one didn't work for me. There's a nifty little back-up story by R. L. Stine (writer) Daniel Johnson (art) Mat Lopes (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters) that was more entertaining than the creature feature. Too bad they didn't call this book Adventures Into Fear. That might have made us older fans less critical.

Detective Comics #952 - James Tynion IV (writer) Christian Duce & Fernando Blanco (art) Alex Sinclair, John Rauch & Allen Passalaqua (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). Part 2 of "League of Shadows" has Lady Shiva creating chaos in Gotham City and putting the Bat team down a few members. I don't know if the new piece of personal info about Orphan was common knowledge but it sure shocked me.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys #1 - Anthony Del Col (writer) Werther Dell'Edera (art) Stefano Simeone (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). "The Big Lie" is a murder mystery worthy of these iconic teenage sleuths and mature readers, many who may have read their adventures when they were younger. I never did so I am seeing these characters with fresh eyes. I get the feeling that this is similar to how the Archie gang has been updated and I like what they're doing over at Archie so I am sticking with this new version of Nancy, Frank and Joe.

Jessica Jones #6 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Michael Gaydos (art) Matt Hollingsworth (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). One mystery solved, another to go. But first Jess has to square things with Luke. This was a very satisfying end to the first story arc.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #16 - Robert Venditti (writer) Rafa Sandoval (pencils) Jordi Tarragona (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). What a fantastic fight that Guy Gardner has. I had Marvin Hamlisch's "The Entertainer" going in my head after reading Jessica Jones #6 because it reminded me of The Sting. Now I have the theme from Rocky stuck in my head. The art this issue was so very nice.

Josie and the Pussycats #5 - Marguerite Bennett & Cameron Deordio (writers) Audrey Mok (art) Kelly Fitzpatrick (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). Loved the cover by Asami Matsumura. Women sure talk about relationships a whole lot more than guys do.

All-New Wolverine #18 - Tom Taylor (writer) Nik Virella (art) Michael Garland (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). So that problem's solved. Laura figures out a way to get out from under Kimura's thumb. I hear the Logan movie didn't suck. I'm glad they introduced Laura/X-23 in that movie. I wish all the folks that went to see it would give this comic book a try. I've liked it since it started.

Wonder Woman #18 - Greg Rucka (writer) Bilquis Evely (pencils) Scott Hanna (inks) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). Part 2 of "Godwatch" explains why Cheetah hates Diana. Friendships play a very important part in this story.

Lady Killer 2 #4 - Joelle Jones (writer & artist) Michelle Madsen (colours) Crank! (letters). Josie and her husband find themselves in tight spots at work and I'm sure the clamps will get tighter in next issue's conclusion of this second story arc. There are a very few artists that write their own stuff that I really like and Joelle is one of them.

Old Man Logan #19 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Filipe Andrade (art) Jordan Boyd (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is Jeff's last story on this book. I'm going to miss him. He has made Logan interesting again. Jeff is setting it up for Logan to go back to the Wastelands to maybe change the fate of the place that he came from. We'll see if Logan actually makes it there next issue.

Spider-Man/Deadpool #15 - Joshua Corin (writer) Scott Koblish (art) Nick Filardi (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I wasn't going to read this issue because it's part of the "'Til Death Do Us…" crossover story where Deadpool fights with his demon wife Shiklah, but I'm glad I did. Josh threw in a few good pop culture references that made me smirk. Nothing laugh out loud funny but enough to make me have a good time reading. That's all I ask from a comic book. This means that I will read issue #16 too and I might even pick up Deadpool and the Mercs for Money #9 and #10 to read the other parts.

Star Wars Doctor Aphra #5 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Kev Walker (pencils) Marc Deering (inks) Antonio Fabela (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Aphra and her father find what they're looking for and it's her dad's archaeological dream come true. That dream may turn out to be a nightmare though. It's another exciting cliffhanger that makes you want to read the next issue as soon as it hits the racks on April 12.

Inhumans vs. X-Men 6 - Jeff Lemire & Charles Soule (writers) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Leinil Francis Yu & Gerry Alanguilan (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). That's all they wrote folks. The threat to mutants by the Terrigen cloud is neutralized at last. Inhumans and X-Men don't suffer any great losses. Some characters change and that's what I expected from this great big war. Let's not have another one for a while okay?

Kingpin #2 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Ben Torres (art) Jordan Boyd (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). This story is more about the writer that Wilson wants to hire than it is about the big Fisker. I love this version of the Kingpin though. Ben has modeled him after John Romita Sr. and Frank Miller's massive, powerful interpretations. The last few pages made me decide to continue reading.

0 notes

gokinjeespot · 8 years ago

Text

off the rack #1151

Monday, February 13, 2017

Ottawa got about 20 centimetres of snow in the last 24 hours. I heard the grader go by at about 2 AM and I was out there before 5 AM clearing the near meter high snow bank plugging our driveway so that Penny could leave. I should have been more careful. Forgot that it's the thirteenth. Went to throw a big shovelful of snow and my back seized so bad the pain put me on my knees. I was a little over half done then. Did the rest very slowly in a lot of pain and managed to get it all cleared away. Stupid back.

Kingpin #1 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Ben Torres (art) Jordan Boyd (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I almost didn't take this book off the rack to read because the Civil War II: Kingpin mini didn't thrill me. I'm glad I had a change of heart and read this. Here is a Wilson Fisk trying to change the public's perception of him as a brutal crime lord. Matthew makes him more like the sympathetic character that was on the first season of Netflix's Daredevil TV show. That portrayal by Vincent D'Onofrio was very convincing. There is a scene next to a town car in this issue that flashed me back to the show where the Kingpin kills someone with a car door. The other main character is a beautiful writer who Wilson wants to hire to write his biography. Ben's art is really good, and he drew Sarah in a red haute couture gown that made me weak in the knees. This is being added to my "must read" list.

Justice League of America #1 - Steve Orlando (writer) Ivan Reis (pencils) Joe Prado & Oclair Albert (inks) Marcelo Maiolo (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I almost didn't take this book off the rack to read because Steve did not impress me with the Monsters story in Batman and Detective recently. I gave him another chance and I'm sorry I did. I don't like this team that Batman is putting together. His reason for gathering these characters is to show that a team of super humans can protect the Earth just as well as the other League that has a couple of gods on it. I get that but Steve belabours the point. Some fans might think it's cool to have Killer Frost, Black Canary, Lobo, the Asian Atom, the Ray and Vixen on a team but I think it's a stunt to create conflict within this team for drama. I'm taking a pass on this for now.

Death Be Damned #1 - Ben Acker, Ben Blacker & Andrew Miller (writers) Hannah Christenson (art) Juan Useche (colours) Colin Bell (letters). The title should give you a clue to what this 4-issue mini is about. We're looking at some frontier folks what can't die. It's 1873 in Wyoming and a farmer's wife is looking for the men who killed her and her family. She doesn't realize that she can't be killed, but the undertaker finds out soon enough. This isn't simply a story of revenge however. There is some Native American Indian lore and rituals involved that makes for some spooky goings on. I found the art to be crude but serviceable so if you like old west ghost stories this may raise the hairs on your arms.

Ms. Marvel #15 - G. Willow Wilson (writer) Takeshi Miyazawa (art) Ian Herring (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This Troll villain just got a lot more interesting. Kamala thought she found the hacker that could expose her secret identity but she was wrong. I can't wait for the next issue.

Wonder Woman #16 - Greg Rucka (writer) Bilquis Evely (pencils) Bilquis Evely, Mark Morales, Andrew Hennessy & Raul Fernandez (inks) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) Jodi Wynne (letters). A new story starts this issue. "Godwatch" starts six months after Diana left Themyscira with a corporate C.E.O. being blackmailed by Gemini twins Phobos and Deimos. The C.E.O. Veronica Cale reminds me of the old Lex Luthor. Some high tech mind melding machine goes haywire and off we go.

Moonshine #5 - Brian Azzarello (writer) Eduardo Risso (art & colours) Cristian Rossi (colour assistant) Jared K. Fletcher (letters). There's a full moon. Let the werewolves out.

Black Widow # 11 - Chris Samnee & Mark Waid (writers) Chris Samnee (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). A S.H.I.E.L.D. facility is under attack by the Red Room Runts and Natasha makes it her mission to stop them and try to save the girls at the same time. There are some cool fights scenes in here.

Detective Comics #950 - James Tynion IV (writer) Marcio Takara (art) Dean White (colours) Marilyn Patrizio (letters). This giant sized anniversary issue starts off with the prologue to "League of Shadows" which features Cassandra Cain, my favourite Batgirl, who is now called Orphan. The last page made me happy we only have to wait two weeks before the next issue hits the racks. In "Higher Powers" by James Tynion IV (writer) Alvaro Martinez (pencils) Raul Fernandez (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Marilyn Patrizio (letters), Azrael and Batwing have a discussion about the power of faith and Jean-Paul's connection to the Order of Dumas. It ends with the activation of Ascalon and I'm itching to find out more about this new character. The final short by James Tynion IV (writer) Eddy Barrows (pencils) Eber Ferreira (inks) Adriano Lucas (colours) Marilyn Patrizio (letters), flashes back a few months ago to show Red Robin asking Batman what he's gearing everyone up for. This ties into what Batman is up to with his Justice League of America as well as his Detective Comics team. The big DC event of 2017 will be "Dark Days" so don't miss it.

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #4 - Kieron Gillen (writer) Kev Walker (pencils) Marc Deering (inks) Antonio Fabela (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). That was a quick read. Lots of explosions and storm troopers shooting and missing.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #14 - Robert Venditti (writer) Rafa Sandoval (pencils) Jordi Tarragona (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). This issue has one of my pet peeves about comic books. One of the covers has Hal yelling at a Blue Lantern "You crazy fool. Your abuse of blue power destroyed every person on Earth". So a fan would see that and think "I want to read that comic book", only to find that the story inside is totally different. I hate that. Plus it's Kevin Nowlan swiping a Gil Kane cover. It's not even original. This issue is still worth reading though. The Green Lantern Corps and the Sinestro Corps are joining forces so that's new. Kyle and Hal are sent on a mission by Ganthet and that's where the Blue Lantern comes in. Just ignore the hype.

Totally Awesome Hulk #16 - Greg Pak (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Nolan Woodward (colours) Cory Petit (letters). I like this impromptu team that Amadeus has found himself in. The alien invasion takes a turn for the worse as they are whisked away into space along with some civilians. If you know what Soylent Green is you'll know what the threat is.

Action Comics #973 - Dan Jurgens (writer) Patch Zircher & Stephen Segovia (pencils) Patch Zircher & Art Thibert (inks) Arif Prianto (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). I love a good mystery and now they are going to solve the one about the human Clark Kent. Part 1 of "Mild Mannered" has Lois Lane on the case. Meanwhile, Superman and Steel try to save Superwoman/Lana Lang's life. There's plenty going on to keep this book interesting.

Jessica Jones #5 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Michael Gaydos (art) Matt Hollingsworth (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Whoa, what an existential issue. I'm glad to see us getting back to the Alison Greene mystery woman storyline though.

Guardians of the Galaxy #17 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Richard Isanove (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Gamora grounded is an opportunity to show what she's got. Here she tries to break into the Triskelion to get at Thanos. She's sort of successful. I love the way Valerio draws Sasquatch.

Inhumans vs. X-Men #4 - Jeff Lemire & Charles Soule (writers) Javier Garron (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). So Gorgon isn't in a wheelchair anymore? One of the things I love about reading these massive crossover events is learning about characters that I don't read about all the time. This issue made me appreciate how Jeff and Charles take the time to use the names of each character and show their super powers. They also gave the unfamiliar characters (at least to me) personalities that made them more interesting. This came close to making me want to read Inhumans and X-Men comic books again. We know that both teams survive this was because they are already promoting new books for them so now I just want to find out how they all get along or don't.

All New Wolverine #17 - Tom Taylor (writer) Djibril Morissette-Phan (art) Michael Garland (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Did you see who's going to be in Hugh Jackman's last Wolverine movie? It's Laura Kinney/X-23, our girl right here. I'm actually excited right now. This issue tackles the problem of Laura's uncontrollable killing sprees brought on by a special pheromone. It's used when her enemies want her to eliminate their rivals. Kimura used it recently but Laura's friends arrived to save her from killing. I would have benched this book because of the art but Tom's writing made it possible for me to enjoy this issue anyways.

Unworthy Thor #4 - Jason Aaron (writer) Olivier Coipel with Kim Jacinto (present day art) Frazer Irving (Young Thor art) Esad Ribic (Worthy Thor art) Russell Dauterman (Unworthy Thor art) Matthew Wilson, Matt Milla & Frazer Irving (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I loved the flashbacks showing the Odinson's history with Mjolnir as he struggles to retrieve Jarnbjorn from the Collector's collection. I can't wait to see if Jason makes the Odinson worthy of wielding a hammer again.

1 note · View note