It's a prefix for a ship.  The Titanic was the RMS Titanic.
It doesn't have to sink to get the the title.

Maybe its more like one of those Carnival cruise ships: drifting with no power, passengers trapped aboard without food or air conditioning, feces flowing in the hallways, etc.

What would you say would be the impetus for such a change?  All Disney can do is hire different people.  Change production standards.  That sort of thing.  Since the books are printed the same way, and basically the same people are making these books as always, that doesn't seem a likely cause.  There's no such thing as a "make better comics" mandate.

Not saying this is what happened, but they could have given the Marvel editors a pep talk that being part of Disney is about making quality products and anyone that can't make quality products worthy of a premium price will be asked to get off the train.  Maybe it lights a fire under editors to take things a little more seriously and don't authorize "meh" storylines just because the fanboys will always buy a Spider-Man comic?  Maybe it limbers up a little more $$$$ for hiring artists?

Again, not saying this is what is happening, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.  Disney is a class company who is only interested in being the best (in a way that Time Warner is not....TW is just interested in profit, but I don't think TW is as interested in the premium market segment the way Disney is).

Was listening to this week's podcast and agreed with a lot of the discussion about how good the Marvel comics have been.  I too was ready to dump the WHOLE thing around the time that Marvel NOW got announced.....but as everyone said, the comics have been really good.

I wonder if part of the explanation could be the Disney influence.  I remember when Disney bought Marvel and everyone was talking about $3.99 books that I said that Disney's MO isn't to offer cheap products.....their MO is to offer premium products at premium prices.  I wonder if we're seeing that now.

Yeah....I saw someone ask Hickman on Twitter about it and he said, "Someday soon"

I'll watch it.  I'm a little concerned that it's on broadcast network since most broadcast network dramas stink.....but that's no reason not to try it.  I'd be happier if this was on FX.

Very exciting.

I dunno....I just can't get too worked up about it.  Kickstarter is a meritocracy, so people fund what they want to fund.

What are we supposed to do?  Have a Kickstarter that is only available to people with a net worth below $________?

I do think it's kinda silly that people back this, but people are kinda silly. 

Question: Is there some number of issues published before a collection of characters get stale? 

The reason I ask is that I'm thoroughly enjoying the IDW Transformers comics and would be enjoying the GI Joe comics almost that much if they're just fix the artwork.  At the same time, I'm finding ALL the Big 2 superhero comics to be totally played out.  That isn't to say that some of them aren't decent comics, but they just feel too recycled and rehashed to me.

It's easy to throw rocks and talk about how old the Big 2 characters are, but it isn't like Transformers or GI Joe or TMNT or the Valiant comics are new either.  Those are all 20-30 year old properties too.  But, they also haven't had 1000+ comic issues published in their story-history.

So, do you think there's a tipping point where characters just go over the edge?  Again, I'm not saying that means they suck for all time.  I think Snyder/Capullo Batman is great, but I also don't hang on every issue because it's just Batman.  And if you DO think that comics go over the edge, how many issues do you think it takes to squeeze all the blood from the stone?  300 issues?  400 issues?

I'd tend to say, "Yes....I do think they can be played out" and I think it probably happens in the 400 issue range.  After that, the characters are just chasing their own tails.

My goal is probably to reread a bunch of my custom bound comics.  It's funny....I bind these suckers because I swear I want to keep them forever and then I never reread the darn things. 

But, I just reread Daytripper from one of those bound volumes and it was even more glorious on the second reading than on the first.  I'm almost pissed that Ba and Moon are fussing around with BPRD comics instead of doing their own material. 

And I've started rereading I Kill Giants and that has also been as glorious as I remembered it being. 

Getting back to the original post, I DO want to reread my bound Uncanny X-Men issues.  My first comic off the rack was Uncanny #162 and I just devoured that stuff when I was a kid.  When I was in junior high and high school, I had this tradition (as much as you can have a tradition when you've done it like three times) that I'd count out the number of days remaining in the school year and then match that against the number of consecutive issues of Uncanny I had....then I'd read one issue every school night until the last day of school.  So....rereading those Uncanny issues now DOES remind me of the end of school.

Goodness....to have the "end of school" again.  We sometimes hire MBA interns in our office who are between their first and second year of the program.  They typically finish up their internship around Aug 1 and classes don't start until Aug 20 or so.  I always tease them to enjoy it because they probably won't have 3 weeks in a row off work until they retire.  I LOVE that moment when you see the flicker of hopefulness leave their eyes when they realize I am correct.  Oh hahahahaha..... 

Sigh.
First. He was speaking to a newborn.
Second. She (the mom) wasn't asking for conflict resolutions, just words of wisdom.
Third. This is what I meant by over thinking.
Fourth. He wasn't trying to solve a problem, he was trying to provide encouragement.

Fifth. Nothing in your previous statement displayed any degree of appreciation for the sentiment or the source. It was complete disdain. I respect your right to an opinion. You don't have to appreciate what Will Wheaton is saying. You don't have to agree with any part of it. However, just because you have an opinion doesn't mean you need to drag out the soapbox and go off, which is what you did. I've done the same thing at different times in my life too, and I've often regretted it later when I realized that's what I did. What bothers me in this instance is that based on the title of thread and the content of your post, you could have just not read the thread at all. It clearly isn't something you're interested in and it wasn't inviting debate.

I'm not proposing a solution, I'm not asking for an apology or an explanation, or trying to talk down to you. We've had a great many interactions here and I've benefited from many of them. I just thought you were way off base here and thought you'd want to know how your comment was being interpreted. It seemed out of place (contextually) and very negative.

Seriously....I did read it.  I just think it's dumb.  What kind of human asks Wil Wheaton to give their baby a few words?  That's bizarre and creepy. 

But....I do hear you.  I live with the full knowledge that I'm kinda an ass.  I honestly do sometimes wonder how I've managed to have so many lovely things in my life when I'm a snarky SOB 99% of the time.  I think I tend to get by on the goodwill of those people who are kinder than I am (honestly).

It's just a compulsion to point out when people are wrong (IMHO) even when there's no legit upside and I know that I'm zigging when everyone else is zagging. 

Thanks (seriously) for the reality jiggle.

Trust me folks....I did read the whole Wil Wheaton piece.  I get it and I agree with what he's trying to say.  He seems like a really decent dude who is a force for good in the universe.

The reason I react strongly to this stuff is that telling a kid that it's okay to love the things they love just isn't very helpful.  It isn't a zero, but it isn't helping them deal with the bully the next day at recess either.  That is a practical problem that cannot be solved by sentiment or B-list celebrities.  When faced with a lousy situation with someone else's horrible child, it doesn't do my kid ANY good to know that some adults think she is swell.  She has to have the wits to evaluate the situation and find a way through.  Yelling nerd pride doesn't get it done.  Can I adapt?  Can I change my patterns to avoid this cretin?  Can I retaliate? 

I DO appreciate the sentiment that Wil Wheaton makes.  I just don't think it's very helpful for much other than having a group hug. 

Sorry....I don't get this nonsense at all.  I'm not saying this is the attitude of anyone on this forum, but what is wrong with people that they need some minor celebrity to reassure them that it's okay to like what they like?  I just can't imagine what could be so screwed up in my life that I would seek assurance from Wil Wheaton and THEN be comforted by the fact that Wesley Crusher says it's all okay.  Seriously....WTF?

These things, whether they're coming from Wheaton or Patton Oswalt or whoever, always sound like "it gets better".

I also loathe how these pieces always have a flavor of complacency to them: "It's okay to be who you are.  You don't have to change."  We don't HAVE to change, but I don't think people should be satisfied being a nerd either.  Go learn something new, be nicer to your family, go read a new comic, go read Wikipedia about Roman history for 5 hours, go talk to a bum, learn to ride a motorcycle, learn a new sport, get yourself in better shape, improve your vocabulary, refresh that physics you learned in college and promptly forgot.....

Don't be happy being a nerd.  Just be you and always seek to be a better you!

Yes, yes, I did steal this from that wretched Bleeding Cool but thought it rather interesting...

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/29/the-extraordinary-demographic-of-alan-moore-and-kevin-oneill/

That is kinda interesting.  Of course, they may have heavily edited it, but still....it is nice to see the homogenous line that we've all seen so many times.  These folks look like normal humans.

I've heard the name, but don't think I've ever read an article on their site.  Why don't the writers just buy a URL and start a new site?  Or see if the wreckage of AOL will sell the existing URL for a reasonable fee?

I wanted to read this digitally.  I actually WAS at the LCS on Wednesday, but knew that I didn't want it in paper since not all of Millar's work needs to be memorialized in tangible form.  But, I did want to read it.....so over lunch, I fired up the iPad and it wasn't there.  I'm not making a separate trip to the LCS just to pick up a copy (and they didn't have that many on the shelf).

So, now he is taking his chances that I'll want to read a series in July that has no marketing buzz and seems to be averaging 4 stars around the web?

Just imagine the marketing push that they could roll out in July:

"COMING TO DIGITAL, 3 MONTHS AFTER EVERYONE ELSE READ IT.....THE GROUNDBREAKING SERIES THAT WAS HAILED AS "PRETTY GOOD" BY ______ REVIEWS AND "NOT THE WORST THING THAT MILLAR HAS EVER WRITTEN" BY ABC PRESS AND "3.5 STARS" BY @JB28ER ON TWITTER.  JUMP IN NOW BEFORE ISSUE #2 IS RELEASED IN DEAD TREE FORMAT, [BUT WE'LL MAKE YOU WAIT ANOTHER 3 MONTHS FOR THAT TOO!!!!]"

Can't say that I'm really looking to any of these.  I'm excited for WWZ, Star Trek, Elysium and a few others.

However, I am glad to see that nobody voted for RIPD.  I saw the trailer for that before Oblivion and man....that looks like 100% shit.  I can't believe it got released looking that way or that that trailer was the best they could do.  Why is anyone still spending money to produce a big budget Ryan Reynolds movie?

What I enjoy about the podcast are the hosts and the perspective they bring.  They're not a bunch of 20 year olds who are going through a transitional comic moment in their lives and will get disrupted by college/marriage/career.  The hosts are all grown men who have hit a stable point in their lives where they know what they like and know what they don't like. 

I also appreciate that none of the hosts are trying to score jobs in the industry whether it is with a publisher or as creative talent. 

Bean.....here's a question for you.  I'm been sending my books off for binding for years.  Only recently did I start going back to read any of these books again.  Kinda silly I guess.....to spend years and money on the problem never to read them again.....but oh well.....

I find the gutter loss to be distracting and I'm worried about forcing the pages apart too much and ruining the book.  Have you found any tips that would alleviate this problem?

Heh.....probably anyone who Marvel (a) unquestionably owns the rights to and doesn't have to worry about future Superman-style lawsuits and (b) still owns the movie rights to.

I'm still reading it.  I haven't been on since the beginning, but I've been on it for a pretty long time.  It isn't always good, but I've never come close to dropping off.

The below isn't really that much of a spoiler, but you know how finicky some people are.... 

I actually really like some of the elements Kirkman is playing with right now.  The new villain is actually just kinda a stand-in for the government.  He may seem like he's a bandit, but he's just charging taxes under threat of force and providing dubious services that the "citizens" may or may not desire.

There's even an interesting thing that popped up this week where the most complicit people seem to actually have their crap together (in terms of developing a real society that produces goods and services).  The people fighting for freedom are still rummaging through old Rite-Aids for expired pinto beans.....and bullets.