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I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread on the various Adventure Time comics out there. When I go to the library, I can find trade paperbacks in the "juvenile" section. Like the series itself, the comics (from BOOM! Studios) aren't merely for kids . . . they can be as subversive as the show. I've found a lot of books . . . for instance, there have been three original trade paperbacks published so far: "Playing With Fire" features Flame Princess on a quest to save Finn's soul (pre-breakup, obviously), "Pixel Princesses" features LSP and B- and C-list princesses getting sucked into BMO, and "Seeing Red" takes Marcelline and Jake into the Nightosphere to retrieve her prized axe. "Candy Capers" is supposed to be about Peppermint Butler and Cinnamon Bun trying to find Finn & Jake, but it's mostly about teaming up Ooo's finest to fill the void (like Marcelline and Tree Trunks, for instance, and Ice King and Susan Strong). If you don't feel foolish looking through the kids' section of the library, you should give the books a look. And BOOM! puts out the series and various miniseries on the regular . . . in fact, one of them will feature Root Beer Guy and the Banana Guard Academy. And you can even find stuff from the world of Aaa, with Fiona and Cake, so there's something for the Rule 63 crowd (including a Flame Prince, unseen on TV).

Brad was cool back in the day, but he was a bit of a punk by the time he finally won a Challenge. Same with Derrick . . . Wee Dee went from being a cool guy to helping out the Axis of Ass (Evan, Johnny, Kenny) during The Ruins. ETA: I'm still holding out for Mike or Coral. Especially Coral, who always delivered the snark when she was on TV.

I hope it's okay to post about old school stories. I just saw one of the recently recovered stories on DVD. "The Web Of Fear" was okay . . . a bit long at six episodes, especially with one of them (no. 3) being a photo/soundtrack compilation. And if you hate subway systems, you are going to loathe all the underground action. You have to come in with an appreciation for such things as the Yeti, tertiary characters that need to be smacked (especially Driver Evans), and the general uselessness of Victoria. Also: Jamie in a kilt. Did he ever wear pants while traveling through time and space with the Doctor? On the bright side, you have the debut of Colonial Lethbridge-Stewart, before "The Invasion" and his promotion to Brigadier. John Levene puts on a Yeti get-up before creating his niche as UNIT's Sgt. Benton. There's Patrick Troughton doing some bang-up work as the Doctor. And the Great Intelligence is menacing enough even with lumbering henchmen in the Yeti. The ending left a return open, but he/it didn't return until "The Snowmen" in 2012. Word of warning: the DVD is bare bones . . . no commentary, no extras, and a trailer for the preceding "lost" story, "The Enemy Of The World." Anybody else watch "TWoF"?

It's always fun to see how stupid people can be, especially with the threat of getting drenched. Apparently, people from Australia speak Dutch. Who knew? It's another reason to hate Johnny. I'm happy with the elimination results . . . Camila sucks, so it's always fun to see her crash and burn. Jordan gets to match Johnny, and their inevitable clash draws closer.

Two from the penultimate episode of Agents of SHIELD:

Good episode, though it did follow the formula of slowly blowing up in the second act. And Ruckus managed to ruin Robert's life, which . . . damn, can't he get killed off? It gets to a point where you start wondering if you'd be willing to beat up a tuba player out of association. Anybody got an ETA s to when Stinkmeaner comes back from the dead? He always brings the funny.

Sucks that the Afghanimals tumbled out of the game, but I'm happy Dave & Conner are still in the game. I'm guessing that the Roadblock rules have been altered, but I don't smell a conspiracy. Better them winning than the moochers and freakin' "Brenchel." Yes, I laughed at their size-10 misfortunes, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Johnny can coast, though he has taken his lumps. Going into this season, his solo/dual win percentage was a healthy .355 (including going 4-for-9 in missions with both Tyler and Camila), and his endgame record is now 4-3. He has earned his stripes. I think Jordan got confused, and he wanted Johnny to prove his claim as the alpha male of the show. Once again, I'll be rooting for him, because Jordan's act isn't as stale as Johnny's. And if Jordan wants to keep flipping cards in order to face Johnny, like teasers have been showing, then more power to him.

Well, that sucked. I don't like Laurel, so watching her manhandle Jasmine wasn't fun. I definitely don't like Johnny, so watching him beat Isaac wasn't fun. And I don't care if Jordan underachieves . . . I still want him to knock Johnny on his ass. Johnny's act has gotten beyond stale, so it would be nice for him to go out of our lives forever.

Gummo . . . I don't think Kass is vile. She's just stupid, at least in terms of gameplay. In terms of the "Brains" tribe, the only one that's remaining for me is Spencer. Also, I don't think there's a "Fan Favorite" award anymore, so we can't give Tasha $100K, even if she deserved it for bringing class to a den of stupidity and classlessness.

Well, that sucked. Fuck Kass, and fuck Woo. Jellyfish have more spine than him. Alright, so voting off Tasha was the smart move. It was probably the one Probst would've wanted, since he told her that she was one off on the puzzle. But it still sucks. If Kass and Woo had onions, we could've gotten rid of a non-entity like Trish. But no, we'll be having her jawing with Kass in a bitch-on-bitch fight that I could probably care less about. Meanwhile, Tony can protect Trish with an idol in the next TC, while using the Diary Of A Mad Idol for himself. I know there will be one or two chances for him to leave (F4 and F3), but this result gives him options. And I hate Tony when he has options. Speaking of Tony . . . he isn't Russell Hantz, Kass, so shut your hole. Tony isn't interested in sabotage and salting the earth while taunting his enemies. I'm certain that if he loses and gets an invite back, he would adapt his strategy accordingly, and that he wouldn't cry like a punk upon defeat. I can hate Tony, but I can respect his gameplay. I can't say the same for Russell, and I really can't say the same about Kass. Reward Challenge . . . how funny is it that one "team" had members whose names started with "T"? And they all got votes to boot. I liked Woo doing a martial arts demonstration, and I really thought he'd grow a brain with Spencer. Looks like I was wrong. Damn jellyfish. Hope he has fun on the jury, because that's where he's ending up. Tasha . . . poor girl. The biggest downside is that Probst probably won't call on her at the Reunion. And even if she had won (which was a possibility), Probst would've spent two minutes on her, max. If she does get the spotlight, it'll probably be about some stupid shit involving J'Tia. You know what I'd like to see? Tony telling Kass that he's lying to her. I mean, if everything he says is a lie, how would Kass take that? I just want the shit-for-brains' ears to smoke from the paradox.

Once again . . . still pulling for them. I don't care if Dave's definition of "quality people" doesn't include Brendan & Rachel, because at the end of the day, they're Brendan & Rachel. I am concerned that Dave's Roadblock choices might backfire on him . . . on the other hand, there's only been one person to complete two Races (Eric Sanchez, a bigger butthole than D&C could ever fathom), so "Brenchel" could be doomed in the next leg.

I'm happy that Dave & Conner won the leg, but I was banking on a "sausagefest" finale with no women. For the finale, we'll have to deal with the Country Girls' ineptitude and/or Rachel whining and moaning. I guess we need better female Racers down the line. Anybody else feel the U-Turn was too powerful the way it was positioned? Phil might as well have eliminated Jet & Cord at that station. I'm still nervous for Dave & Conner. Didn't Zev & Justin win four legs before getting eliminated in the penultimate leg?

I'm willing to give the show a chance . . . but now I got this image in my head of Ruckus tap-dancing while wearing blackface. With this show the way it seems to be going now? That could actually happen.

Interesting to go behind the scenes at BMP's version of the "Dream Team" from Survivor to see a mission getting constructed. Also good to see LaToya and Aneesa, mostly since neither of them are Nia. Of course, we have to hear from Marky Mark . . . good thing he didn't beg to be in the next Challenge, like he did on the EW website.

At this point, I should just root for CT and Cohutta, and hope neither of them do anything stupid. My range with this season runs from "meh" to "God, shut UP, Zach!" And when did Jordan get so unpopular? I was against him for a bit, especially since he's "dating" Laurel, who enjoys sucking out people's souls . . . then I see him argue with Johnny in a teaser for next week. Now I'm all ready to root for him again, because Johnny always needs to get his ass kicked.

Anybody else think that the only person that could block Tony's win is Tony? Sadly, even if he loses, he'll probably be invited back to a future season.

Anybody else allergic to nuts? Thanks to Amy, I have a new fear . . . Mr. Peanut working the grill. Rest of the episode was good, though Scott Adsit's plastic surgeon felt out of place. Didn't need to see the morbidly obese cartoon meerkat with the bowel problems. Plus side: magician in bed! That's probably what sex with GOB Bluth is like.

Good Times was supposed to be an ironic title, wasn't it? God, this was a suck-filled episode. Could it be that McGruder was needed to keep things in check? Do I blame him for movie onto Black Jesus? Do I blame the writers for trying to do what they think AMc would do? I'm okay with changes in status quo, but Robert signing himself and his grandsons into glorified slavery is not something I want to see every week.

Once again, I'm not seeing the problem. A huge part of me hopes it comes down to bike-riding, where "Brenchel" struggles, and Dave & Conner whiz past them while laying down the horn. Maybe I'm being contrary for its own sake, maybe I'm against veteran reality pros outside their own program (please Bert & Elise, don't let a tool like "Johnny Bananas" infect your show), but that's how I feel. Dave & Conner have run a good race, and I don't see them winning as the end-all/be-all worst case scenario that forces viewers off the bandwagon.

Well, we won't know if the Cowboys would've bitched out Brenchel because they weren't on the train at that time. And from what I've heard, they've uttered a few discouraging words about their competition in their original tour of duty, so they're not exempt from being catty. And I can still remember how Ken & Gerard were making fun of Ian's berating of Teri during TAR3.

I'm still not getting why hating "Brenchel" is such a big deal. They're basically reality TV veterans at this point. If Ramber were to come back, I'd expect lots of mocking of them as well. Aside from the possibility of the Blondes pulling a "Beekman," I don't see any problems with the alliance.

I'm still rooting for them. I don't mind the "accidental alliance" and Dave getting his bitch on. I don't see what they're doing wrong, game-wise, and I don't like the team they're heaping hate upon ("Brenchel"). The biggest danger of the alliance would be that the Country Girls move on from the Cowboys and set their sights on Conner.

I'm okay with the alliance. "Brenchel" is a competitive team that rubs others the wrong way, and they were on Big Brother. Now, aside from being thankful they're not Dick & Daniele, why should I root for them? I can't . . . because in my mind, they suck. Loved how they knocked themselves to the back of the pack looking at the wrong bridge. I'm thinking it'll come down to a "sausagefest" finale: Afghanimals, Cowboys and O'Learys, with Dave & Conner winning. I don't see them winning as the drop-dead worst thing that could happen. If Brendan & Rachel win, he's gonna give her a baby. Now that's a scary thought.

While I don't consider Astro City to be "appointment reading" these days, I still think that it's a great deconstruction of the superhero genre. Most of the stories are gems in their own right. It's a pity that Kurt Busiek had so many health problems to hinder his book's progress. I've gotten two sketches from series artist Brent Anderson: Jack-In-The-Box and Junkman. Seeing how I've only seen Anderson twice, I've sought out other artists to sketch AC characters . . . Silver Agent, Winged Victory, Crackerjack, Hanged Man, Samaritan, and (so far) one-shot character American Chibi. Curious . . . is anybody here familiar with Kevin Nowlan? I'm not sure what to expect when he takes over art chores on the book.