Invincible, Issue #6

* Part 2 of 4 of the Eight of Enough storyline *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: Invincible, Issue #6! In the previous installment, Invincible fights a space cyclops who was just doing his job as a “champion evaluation officer”. He travels to planets and makes sure their defenders – champions – are up to the task. Earth isn’t on the list, unfortunately. The space cyclops was making a mistake for 15 years.

All in all, Mark stopped the space cyclops and impressed his dad. Dad was so impressed, in fact, that he’s a little bitter about it! So we’ll see some tension there, I’m sure.

Mark also stuck his penis in an electrical socket, but I won’t speak on that.


Invincible, Issue #6 [October, 2003]
Written by: Robert Kirkman

Invincible, Issue #6Mark and Dad are playing catch in the sky. Their backs are against each other, so the ball is actually orbiting the whole Earth with each throw! Knocking out airplanes in the process, too. Downing Malaysian planes, never to be seen again.

Dad talks about how he got suckered into getting pulled through a portal in the previous storyline. It amounts to this: “they” put a chip in his head which made him more vulnerable! Whoops! Thanks for sewing up a plot thread, sir.

But here’s what Dad really wants to talk about: Mark yelled “DAD!” as he was being pulled through the portal. This is some bad news, since they now know that you, Mark, are the Son of a Dad. It’s all over the news now in a few countries. No footage, just eyewitness accounts from hillbillies and toothless old farmers. Still, Mark may encounter some villains soon that will use him to get at Dad. Best be on your guard at all times.

Mark is waiting for his friend William so they can meet at Upstate University for an appointment (janitor job interview for the most pukey of residence halls).

Mark disrobes just as William knocks on his front door. William is wearing a shirt that says “Take it Brandon” which is the most anti-Joe Biden t-shirt on the market today. Time for these two lovebirds to take a trip to Upstate University, which is located downstate somewhere.

Invincible, Issue #6

Mustache rides are $15 dollars today, baby.

Now that Mark is gone for the day, Mom and Dad are gonna spend their afternoon fuckin’. Meanwhile, Mark’s superhero team are having a meeting without him atop a suspension bridge tower. Robot called the meeting to discuss his invitation to audition for the Guardians of the Globe, the most prestigious of superhero committees! Robot has been fighting crime for four years now with these loser teenagers and, although they’re dang good at it, maybe, it’s time to move on to “bigger” and “better” things.

“Oh Robot – that’s great!” says Atom Eve.

“Yeah man… well done!” says Rex Splode.

Robot continues talking about how great he is and how he will definitely get in. However, the Teen Team will now be disbanded! Robot cannot oversee two teams at once! Get the fuck out!

Robot’s team take turns giving the rusty pile of bolts a hug. I’m sure everything will be allllll right!

Elsewhere, in some fancy-pants mansion, a guy’s butler hands him an old-timey rotary phone on a silver platter. Over the phone to an unknown confidant, this guy rants about how he has been dropped from the Guardians of the Globe after losing his powers – his ability to eat ice cream without farting and shitting all over the place. “I need this suit…” he says, presumably talking about a super-suit with which he can be super again. “I’ve got to get back in the game… I’ve got to take back my life.”

But he has to wait two days, and that’s just plumb unacceptable! But he has to wait anyway. Like a dog.

Invincible, Issue #6

Take it from me, bud. Most of them are packin’ mace.

Mark and William arrive at the college, and they have ten minutes to get to a place and they don’t even know what place it’s supposed to be, let alone where it even is. William thinks it’s the admissions office, so they weave their way through sultry college girls in order to get there.

The two are meeting up with a Mrs. Thatcher, a big ol’ Margaret if I ever knew one. Thatcher’s assistant is a sneery, pouty kid who looks like he needs a face full of fist for breakfast. He asks if William prefers to go by Bill, and William says no, and then the kid gets all sneery and pouty about it. Like he needs a kick to the nards for lunch. William spends the next page whining about correcting people in this manner, which doesn’t seem at all relevant or important to anything going on. Not enough to devote a whole dadgum page to it, for criminy’s sake.

Back at Mark’s home, his parents just got done with a rousing session of unlubricated anal sex. They celebrate by doing more sex. Mom makes a thinly veiled premature ejaculation joke. We all laugh at Dad’s expense.

Now the boys are meeting up with Rick Sheridan, a jocky kid who will be showing them some of the residence halls! Drunk guys passed out in the hallways, extremely anti-Semitic epithets spraypainted on the walls, and RAs with backwards hats.

The day is over. Mark and William discuss their impressions with the place. Mark already decided to come to Upstate University anyway, but it’s pretty cool besides. William says “it’ll keep me off the street”, which is fairly good display of brimming self-esteem.

Mark and William hang out on a bench for a bit until a motherfucking skull robot blasts through the wall behind them.

Invincible, Issue #6

STOP, DROP, AND ROLL, BITCH! DO YOU HAVE EARS? THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

A security officer tries to meekly stop the skull robot, but he gets pushed out of the way. INVINCIBLE SHOWS UP OUT OF NOWHERE to be all like “hold it right there!” The robot grabs his neck and launches him in the sky. Well, I’ll tell you something, that there just pissed Invincible right off!

…but, once the throng of people gets out of the menace’s way, he just speeds away. Invincible supposes that he just needed to get through everyone to go somewhere. Anyway, crisis averted! Invincible goes away, and then Mark comes back to tell William that he was looking for someone to help. Nice try, bucko.

“Dude… why did you tell me you had superpowers?” William asks. Cat’s out of the bag now, fucker.

It’s evening now. Dad’s in the middle of fucking Mom when he hears the car door shut in the driveway. They get their clothes on and pretend to watch TV when Mark enters the house, but he’s wise to the deception. Mom’s shirt is on backwards. Now he knows they’ve been fucking for hours. “I’ll be upstairs until I move out,” Mark says.

Dad gets a call from his costume tailor, so he AS OMNI-MAN pays a visit with his son Mark AS INVINCIBLE in tow. The guy on the phone from earlier, the one that was like “waaaah, muh powers”? The tailor has been trying to make a suit that would restore his (Black Samson) powers. Well, the suit is gone. The suit is gone and now he’s going to get fired from his Guardians of the Globe contract! What’s a lowly tailor supposed to do now, huh?

Invincible, Issue #6

You can always plummet off of a bridge, my good man.

The tailor’s store isn’t common knowledge, he doesn’t deal with supervillains, and he was knocked out cold before he could see who it was. Chalk this one up to a total fucking failure on his part. It was probably Black Samson, though, since that guy was a sweaty mess over the phone at the thought of having to wait two days for his suit. I’m looking forward to Black Samson’s redemption arc in about 56 issues.

Finally, Atom Eve returns at night to the suspension bridge tower, the Teen Team’s secret meeting place, apparently. It’s quiet. Dark. She sees something she doesn’t like. She says “no” a lot. She cries. The comic is over.

Final Thoughts

Atom Eve saw the video of that obese shirtless guy eating the giant chocolate bunny in one sitting. Whoops! Scarred for life!

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5

* Part 5 of 7 of the Life and Times of Cindy Moon storyline *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5! In the previous installment, the Fantastic Four save the day! And by that I mean Reed Richards tells Cindy that she may have anxiety, and she gets anxious about it. She goes on a date with the Human Torch and has a good time. Black Cat is gonna go after Silk. And I’m going to refill by bowl of Cap’n Crunch. Everyone’s a winner today!


Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5 [August, 2015]
Written by: Robbie Thompson

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5

Harris Porter’s daughter plays with dolls while her babysitter is in the other room. Her name is “Mrs. Bump”, as in, bumped her head on the way down after being assaulted or killed in some way! “You takin’ a nap?” Daughter Porter asks the woman’s lifeless body as she pokes around the living room. Then she turns around and smiles at the assailant in the room. “Hello. Are you a kitty cat?”

Meanwhile, Cindy is at work during a slow news day. Ample time to snoop around the internet looking up traces of her missing family. “And even though I keep coming up empty…” she thinks. “…I have to keep trying.”

Flashback to Cindy and her brother Albert talking in one of their bedrooms.

“Cindy? I’m scared…”

“I know, Albert. I don’t know what’s happening. And it scares me, too. But mom thinks we can–”

“I’m scared of you,” Albert says, tears in his eyes. Cindy tries to reach out in a VERY CONSOLING MATTER, but he shrieks at her to not touch him. Just stay away! And don’t touch his stuff either, he doesn’t want to scrape web spooge off of his Nintendo Switch!

J. Jonah Jameson, aka Newspaper Hitler, snoops around Cindy’s computer and tells her to stop her Facebookin’. Then he realizes that he’s looking at records! Not just any records! Police records!

Cindy decides to tell the truth. “That’s… that’s my family. They’re missing.”

Jameson perks up!

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5

I know that you look like dogshit and you smell like a container of tongue depressors.

So Cindy spills the beans on everything that she has found out so far. I mean, besides that they ran away after she was bitten by a radioactive spider. Or that she was in a bunker for ten years. Or that she cavorts around in pajamas fighting crime. Other than that, everything.

Jameson is surprisingly empathetic. He even offers to help her using his NYPD connections! “It’s okay to get help, Cindy,” he says before telling her to get back to work. Next up! Some dude named Harris Porter’s babysitter got knocked out. Daughter missing. Let’s put this on the Fact Channel right away, this sounds like a fact to me!

Cindy recognizes the name, of course, and sets out to do her Silky thing. Thinking that Harris is still up to no dang good, she scopes out his apartment building. Police cars are out front, and… wait a minute… Silk-Sense… tingling… whuzzat! An armed man in the alley! No shit! Let’s go say hi!

And it’s a coked-up looking Harris Porter wearing his dragon costume. “This is all your fault,” he froths.

My fault? Pretty sure I didn’t kidnap your daughter.”

“There was a note. All they want is you.”

“Who wants me?”

“Black Cat.”

So it’s a ransom, then, is it? I’ll show her ransom! I’ll–

Silk needs to retrieve the Porter Kid from Black Cat personally, or else she’ll take a big dump in an envelope and mail it to you. And she’ll do this every single day.

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5

She’s not all you have! What about your collection of toast with Jesus’ face on them?

Cindy Silky Moon is on the case! No poop in the mail for her! “I’m not afraid,” she thinks. “I’m angry.”

Dragonclaw and Silk scope out the roof of Black Cat’s place and are certain they are walking into a trap. Luckily, our intrepid Spider-Man has been called to do all the heavy lifting! He prances around the roof a bit and tells Silk that he needs to talk to her for a hot minute.

“What is he doing here?” Spider-Man asks, eyeballing Dragonclaw.

“It’s his daughter that’s in trouble.”

So, yes, Dragonclaw “The Bad Guy” Magoo is involved, like it or not. And since it’s Spider-Man’s fault that Black Cat is bad now [Editor’s Note: See The Most Big, Beautiful, Amazing Spider-Man, Issue #401,339], he’ll help her help him help everyone!

As they chat, Dragonclaw takes it upon himself to crash through the roof and start taking down some motherfuckers. There are plenty of henchmen for these three to start beating up. Meanwhile, little Marie Porter is tied to a chair in a dark room. The girl is starstruck as Silk busts into the room and unties her. “That kitty cat is a butt,” Marie says. “You said it,” Silk responds.

Reunited at last, and it only took seventeen seconds! Harris and Marie share a hug… until…

Black Cat enters the room. Eek! “Sorry we’re late,” she says all sly and villainous. Silk orders her companions to leave, so now she’s all alone with Black Cat and about four other burly dudes wearing armored suits.

“What the hell is your problem?” Silk asks.

“You cost me money,” Black Cat answers. Oh, well, ok, so kidnap a child about it. Real mature.

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #5

You’re P-List at best, newbie.

Fight time! Black Cat’s henchmen fire soundwaves from their palms, rendering Silk incapacitated. I guess spidery-types are prone to sound sickness? “I hope you had your fun while it lasted, kid,” Black Cat sneers. “’Cause your time is–”

Then Black Cat gets blasted through the brick wall and out to the street. She doesn’t die. Even Shaq would be dead.

And then her henchmen’s suits start “ticking”. Then KABOOM. Shit blows up in the building. Black Cat’s out on the street going “Grrrr, you win again!” And that’s that.

Later, Silk wakes up strapped to an operating table. “Am I dead?” she thinks, slowly opening her eyes. “No. Not yet, anyway. What the crap happened?” All she remembers is that she was hurt by sound and then someone grabbed her and now she’s in some dude’s basement.

It’s Repairman. He who made Dragonclaw’s fancy Dragonsuit.

“You work for Black Cat…” Silk mutters.

“Oh, I don’t work for Black Cat… Cindy.” Repairman smiles very wryly. A little too wryly if you ask me. “I work for the people who have your family.”

Oh snap.

Final Thoughts

Cindy’s family sucked anyway. Good riddance. Find a new family.

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Tagline:
They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.

Wide Release Date:
February 15, 1985

Directed by:
John Hughes
Written by:
John Hughes
Produced by:
Ned Tanen, John Hughes

Starring:
Emilio Estevez
Anthony Michael Hall
Judd Nelson
Molly Ringwald
Ally Sheedy
Paul Gleason

The Breakfast Club

PREGAME THOUGHTS

I loved this movie when I was a teenager! But I’ll save a lot of that commentary for the discussion section. I don’t think I’ve watched The Breakfast Club since high school, so I’m looking forward to seeing it through the eyes of an adult. I hear I’ll empathize with Vice Principal Vernon now. I hope not, that guy was a total dick.


THE 400(ish)-WORD SYNOPSIS

Welcome to detention. I am your host, Vice Principal Richard “Dick” Vernon (Paul Gleason). Let’s see who we have here… ah, looks like that delinquent asshole John Bender (Judd Nelson) is back for more! We also have the snotty rich girl Claire (Molly Ringwald), the arrogant jock Andrew (Emilio Estevez), the complete fucking nerd Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), and the weirdo Invader Zim fan Allison (Ally Sheedy). You guys have eight hours to sit there in the library and do nothing. Try not to make friends along the way or I’ll be watching you.

The Breakfast Club

And no funny business, spaz.

Detention begins and Bender is a jerk already, being mean to everyone else like he has something to prove. This goes on for quite a bit of minutes. Eventually, Bender removes a screw to the library door which keeps it closed and them away from Vernon’s office viewpoint. The group sneaks off to grab marijuana from Bender’s locker while Vernon ambles around the school bored out of his mind since there’s no Internet in 1985. When the kids are blocked off by a hallway gate with no way back without getting caught, Bender decides to take one for the team and distract Vernon toward the gym. Bender’s punishment is to get locked in a closet. Eventually, Bender busts out through the ceiling tiles and makes his way back to the library.

At this point the true bonding begins! They eat lunch and smoke a little weed and start talking to each other with some modicum of respect for one another. Claire is in detention for ditching school to go shopping, and she faces intense peer pressure to stay popular in school. Bender is in detention for pulling a fire alarm, and he describes the broken home he comes from. Andrew put a bunch of duct tape on some kid’s hairy butt, and he faces intense pressure from his father to do well in sports. Brian is in detention for bringing a flare gun to school with the intention of committing suicide, and he faces intense pressure to succeed academically. Allison is in detention because she has nothing better to do on a Saturday, preferring to spend time away from home where she is ignored and neglected.

A tear-filled talk session occurs where the consensus is that they’ll all pretend to not know each other again come Monday, and they’ll all return to their cliques (or lack thereof). In the end, Bender and Claire kiss, Andrew and Allison kiss (after she gets a makeover), and Brian is stuck writing everyone’s essay and not getting a girl.

The movie ends with Judd Nelson’s iconic fist pump.

The Breakfast Club

YEAH ARSENIO! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!


TOM’S DISCUSSION CORNER

TOPIC 1 — General Movie Thoughts

I have a lot to say about The Breakfast Club! Earlier I mentioned empathizing with Vice Principal Vernon as an adult? I found it difficult to since he was an inappropriate jerk to the kids (especially Bender), even when he spilled his guts to Carl about his fear of being replaced by the next generation. The only I thing I felt bad for was that Vernon had no access to computers or the Internet to kill the time during his detention oversight. This is his every single Saturday. Bring a book or something, for Christ’s sake.

The Breakfast Club

Real classy, sir.

I was in high school between 2001-2005 in a semi-affluent and reasonably racially diverse Detroit suburb. As far as I experienced, there weren’t any real cliques to speak of. No one was castigated for stepping outside of their alleged station, whatever that meant for my school. I was in band and orchestra and it was full of stoners and assholes and jocks and nerds alike. I couldn’t relate with the school caste system aspect of the movie, which was ultimately the most important part with the lesson being that we’re all human beings struggling the same issues. And whether or not your own high school had a social hierarchy, THAT lesson was what anyone and everyone could relate with.

The Breakfast Club holds up well for a nearly 40-year-old movie about high school. The clothing and hairstyles aren’t even really dated, which was surprising. Some of the language and slang, however, was (“Eat my shorts”, “If I lose my temper, you’re totaled man”). And probably the worst line in the whole movie is Estevez’s “Two hits. Me hitting you. You hitting the floor.”

I found the big emotional scene with the five of them sitting in a circle on the corny side, particularly Anthony Michael Hall’s performance. All crying and shit. Lighten up. I always believe scenes like these are undermined by the movie format. One hour is not nearly enough time for the audience to believe that these kids formed a realistic bond over the course of their day, especially since the characters were on the hostile side to each other for so much of the movie’s runtime. Mostly Bender’s fault of course, but the others had their moments. On the other hand, try to find a away to expand The Breakfast Club into an eight-hour miniseries, with each episode representing an hour of detention, and maybe you’ll find believable bonding and character growth. What a boring show that would be, though. Hmmm.

The Breakfast Club

You can feel the love just radiating out of the movie screen, can’t you?

Then the ending, of course. Bender spends an entire Saturday berating, bullying, degrading, and treating Claire like complete dogshit and she wants to kiss him in the end? What the fuck is that? All of Brian’s new “friends” make him write the paper for them? Yeah, buddy, you sure got the respect you deserve there. And then there’s Ally Sheedy’s makeover…

TOPIC 2 — Ally Sheedy’s Makeover

My teenage crush on Ally Sheedy’s character extended to exactly one second before the makeover reveal and not a single second after. Almost the whole internet agrees with me on this point, so it’s not an unpopular out-of-the-blue contrarian statement. Here’s my take on the makeover controversy.

I’m with the consensus that it was bad! Let me begin by pointing out that there was nothing in the entire movie that hinted at any attraction or sexual tension between Estevez and Sheedy. Not until the moment she walked into the library all dolled up did he even blink in her direction. Not until the moment he blinked in her direction did Sheedy even seem to care whether or not Estevez knew she was alive. It’s really dumb.

I have nothing new to say about this that hasn’t already been said ad nauseam by the internet’s other neckbeards, but the whole message of the movie is that we’re all human beings going through similar struggles even if we appear to fall into separate categories on the outside. If it’s the inside that matters, then why does Sheedy need to change her outward appearance in order for a fucking man to find her appealing?

I’ll you why. Because it was 1985 and the ’80s sucked. Ally Sheedy looked way better before. The movie should’ve ended with her kicking Estevez in the dick and walking away, fist pumped in the air.

The Breakfast Club

Don’t try to change me, baby.


IMDb TRIVIA FUNHOUSE!

The scene in which all characters sit in a circle on the floor in the library and tell stories about why they were in detention was not scripted. Writer and director John Hughes told them all to ad-lib.
Only in 1985 does a story about bringing a gun to school result in a single Saturday detention. Pull that shit in 2024 America? Son, your ass will get lit up. By the gun you brought. By a good guy with your gun. And don’t you forget it god bless and amen.

Judd Nelson (John Bender) stayed in character off-camera, even bullying Molly Ringwald. John Hughes nearly fired him over this, but Paul Gleason (Richard Vernon) defended Nelson, saying that he was a good actor, and he was trying to get into character.
Maybe she deserved it! I don’t know! Believe all men!

Bender’s flinch when Vernon fakes a punch was genuine. Judd Nelson really thought Paul Gleason was going to hit him.
So what if he did? Would that have really been so bad? Well, you know what, Judd Nelson has the last laugh because Paul Gleason is fuckin’ dead!

The dandruff that Allison (Ally Sheedy) shakes onto her penciled drawing for snow, was achieved by sprinkling Parmesan cheese.
Delicious! In a deleted scene, Ally Sheedy shakes her hair again and spaghetti falls out of it.

Anthony Michael Hall (Brian Johnson) hit a growth spurt during production. According to Judd Nelson (John Bender), Hall was shorter than him at the start of production, but at the end of it, he was taller than him.
Man, detention was longer than I thought.

The Breakfast Club

Oh Emilio, you smell wonderful…

The switchblade used in the movie actually belonged to Judd Nelson (John Bender). He explained that he had it for protection purposes.
The ’80s were definitely a different time. You never know when a group of nine-year-olds are going to accost you for your 1984 Walkman with the Footloose soundtrack on cassette tape.

Judd Nelson (Bender) went to a laundromat in character. The looks he was giving to women there have caused a paranoid bystander to dial 911 on Nelson to have him reported to the police.
Oh, I get it! Judd Nelson is an asshole! Fantastic. No wonder John Hughes cut him loose and he had to play a sheriff in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.


IS IT WORTH A WATCH?

Definitely, although some parts are problematic by today’s standards. There’s a reason why this was voted one of the best high school movies of all time, and it was groundbreaking back in 1985 when teen movies were all boobs and butts and then more boobs. There are no boobs in this movie at all and people still love it! Take that for what it’s worth.

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #4

* Part 4 of 7 of the Life and Times of Cindy Moon storyline *

Welcome to Loneliness & Cheeseburgers Presents: Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #4! In the previous installment, Cindy Moon confronts Dragonclaw again and beats him up to smithereens, causing him to cry and moan and whine. His name is Harris Porter, and he’s just trying to make ends meet by doing odd jobs for Black Cat. She’s mean to Silk. Silk can’t beat her yet. But she will. Count on it.

Spider-Man is worried about Silk, so he forcibly enlisted the help of the friendly Fantastic Four! I’m all like “who cares” but I guess they’re going to help her. I guess they don’t have better things to do with their time right now. Like making me breakfast.


Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #4 [July, 2015]
Written by: Robbie Thompson

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #4

Dr. Reed “Look at How Smart I Am” Richards has Cindy doing some sort of virtual reality training thing. He’s wearing a headset and making her fight Galactus. She thinks this is pretty sweet.

Susan Storm chides Reed Richards for playing around with his gadgets, but Reed Richards is NOT playing around, woman! *slap* He’s working! *slap slap*

Silk splats Galactus with web spooge. She covers his face with it like a moneyshot. Johnny Storm gets horny while watching the fight.

After tying up Galactus’ legs and sending him falling to the ground, Silk gets light-headed and woozy. Later, she asks Richards if she was on an alternate Earth that was heavily radiated. Maybe radiation is the problem? Like, if Galactus was in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone then she would be really messed up, right? Richards doesn’t answer her question; merely asks how long she was in isolation. As if it were HIS BUSINESS. Cindy is onto him, asking what that has to do with fucking anything.

“Give or take… ten years.”

“I’m… I’m so sorry.”

Save it, nerd. Cindy still wants to know what he’s getting at, but Richards just says he ran every test in the book (even trepanation) and found nothing wrong with her (except her PMS, right fellas?). Maybe she has anxiety? Richards writes down the name of a psychiatrist that he wants Cindy to see post haste. Medicate the crazy out of you ASAP.

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #4

Ew.

It’s slobberin’ time, though, according to the big rock guy, so get your feedbag on. Johnny Storm tries to introduce himself to Cindy, one step closer to getting all up in her guts, but Peter Parker cuts him off immediately and asks her how she’s doing. She responds with a right hook to the jaw. Johnny gets that boner again.

“Who told you that you could tell anyone about my life?” Cindy points an accusing finger at the sad little spider boy. He was worried about her, that’s why. He just wanted to help. “Then you should have left me in that bunker,” she responds all scathingly. They stare each other down for a moment before Johnny horns on in again and invites Cindy to stay for breakfast. It’s slobberin’ time, don’t ya know?

She “politely” declines and starts walking out. Johnny asks her out on a date. She accepts right in front of Peter, the sad little spider boy. Peter frowns. He’s my favorite frowny character!

Silk swings across the city thinking about what Dr. “Can’t Read” Richards said about anxiety. Pffft, fuck anxiety. It’s not anxiety that’s the problem, it’s Black Cat. She keeps hissing, scaring the bejesus out of her. Making her too preoccupied at work to notice J. Jonah Jameson approaching behind her, telling her to stop working on a Saturday. She ain’t getting paid to work on a Saturday! And he notices the photo of Black Cat on Cindy’s computer. Fact Channel is already running a story on Black Cat! Stop wasting everyone’s time! Especially mine! Not Jameson. ME! The guy writing these words! Leave me alone!

Jameson walks away after telling Cindy to stop wasting her youth working on a Saturday. So she heads to the club to get her freak dance on. “See?” she thinks. “I’m fine. If I was anxious, I couldn’t dance. Right?”

The club is playing Girl Talk, lmao. Is this 2006? Cindy asks her work buddy Lola if she seems anxious to her. Lola is like “uh, maybe” and then like “you okay?”

The “you okay?” question triggers another fun flashback. Cindy’s parents knock on her door; they’re late for church. They open the door and find the aftermath of a bukkake session.

Silk (Vol. 1), Issue #4

Honey, get the paper towels.

Cindy’s dad starts, like, touching the stuff. “What is all this?” Cindy’s mom rushes over to her web-slinging daughter and tells her that it’s ok. Everything’s going to be ok! Except for the decade in a bunker stuff, plus the mysterious disappearance of her family. Besides that, though, at least it’s slobberin’ time.

Cindy answers Lola’s question. She just has a date tonight, is all. A little nervous. Lola says that he should be nervous, whoever this so-and-so is. He can’t handle that pussy, girlfriend! *high five*

The date is awkward. They don’t know what to say to each other at the restaurant except “hey, um” and “uh”. So they leave and start doing hero shit. “FLAME ON!” he yells while she swings from building to building. They discuss her run-in with Black Cat. Sorry that you ate it. Here’s the trick: her power is luck. Can’t beat luck, though, but you can out-speed luck. Try that. Thanks.

The two sit atop a steel girder at a construction site watching the sunrise.

“Your family… they seem pretty cool,” Cindy says.

“We do put the fun in dysfunctional.”

“Dr. Richards… how often is he wrong?”

“Reed is totally annoying and way boring. But… he’s also rarely wrong.”

Cindy thanks Johnny “Human Flamer” Storm and kisses him on the cheek. Rated PG. Then he lights up in arousal. Rated PG-13.

At the Repairman’s warehouse (the guy who fixed up Dragonclaw), he discusses with Black Cat some business. Some “let’s go get Silk” business.

Repairman made a whole bunch of really cool armor. Black Cat has a small army of really cool armored people. “Go get Silk,” Black Cat says.

Final Thoughts

Ain’t nothing gettin’ Silk except the Human Torch’s flaming penis. You can take that to the (spank) bank, son.

Exploring Planet KM-402

Alone Among the Stars is a solo journaling RPG where you are a solitary adventurer hopping from planet to planet exploring. Each planet has unique features for you to discover and record. Sounds like a blast, right? Well, I’ll try to make it interesting anyway.

My name is Captain Hulk Von Snootin, and I find myself traveling Sector X-78 of the Milky Way galaxy (where all the fuckin’ nerds are). While looking for space pussy, I find a beautiful green planet in the far distance that looks like Earth. I land on a continent shaped like Texas with a penis and realize right away that the air is made of hydrofluoric acid. Luckily I’m wearing my saran wrap face shield, keeping me safe from the harmful effects.

So begins my exploration.

Day 1
I set up camp on the summit of a 30,000 ft mountain where the air is frigid and unrelenting. While lounging around reading one of my many Kama Sutra books, a gentle mongoose-type creature sidles up next to me. I intend to share my can of Bush’s baked beans with the curious little fella, but he immediately bites me on the arm and scurries away. I swear to god it sounds like he was laughing at me. The son of a bitch really sunk his teeth into my bicep, so I take out my trusty first aid kit and spray the shit out of my wounds with disinfectant (it was my good fortune that my animal-like screaming was likely unheard by anyone this high up on the mountain). Four hours later, my arm is starting to turn a weird purplish-blue color. I fear that I may not live through the night.


Day 2
The wounds have turned a healthy pinkish-red color, so all is well. If I find that mongoose again I’m going to punt it like a football.

I’ve gotten used to the harsh climate of the mountain top, so I decide to stay up here another day. While moseying toward a strange, twisting, craggy river flowing down the mountain for a fresh supply of what I hope isn’t more hydrofluoric acid for my canteen, I notice a strange glowing, yellowish rock that’s about yea tall and about yea wide *motions with hands even though the thing is the size of a brontosaurus*. Upon closer inspection, the rock is covered with strange glyphs that I’m assuming is an alphabet from a mysterious language. What was the origin of this rock? Why is it glowing, and what do these strange symbols mean? I decide to table my curiosity for now, since the pulsing glow of the rock has already irradiated my fragile body and I fear my insides are melting.


Day 3
I haven’t eaten a fucking thing since I arrived on the planet, so I wisely decide to descend the mountain to find something edible like berries or a chocolate bunny. I follow the river down to the base of the mountain and suddenly spot someone — or something — that looks vaguely human drinking heartily from the river. Upon closer inspection, since I’m a disgusting looky-loo, the “person” appears to be a humanoid female. No hair, tan skin, bare breasts up the wazoo, and scraps of fabric that barely cover the… uhm… pubic, uh, region. She catches a glimpse of me and jumps back a step. I try my best to look non-threatening even though I’m carrying my giant gun and pointing it at her alarmingly. “Hello,” I say in my sultry baritone voice. “My name is Hulk Von Snootin. I’m an explorer from Planet Earth on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy. Do you have a name?”

“Glork,” she says. I tell her it’s a pretty name. “Say, can you follow me up the 30,000 foot mountain? There’s a strange glowing rock with some sort of twisty, wack-ass alien language written all over it. Can you help me figure out what that’s all about?

“Glork,” she days, and pretty soon I’m back at the strange rock. I witness with a hushed awe as she places her hand against the rock and falls into a deep trance. The rock stops glowing, the glyphs disappear, then she pushes me down to the ground, steals my wallet, and runs down the mountain. Fuck, man! I had my Dairy Queen punch card in there and I was one more punch away from a free Blizzard. What a bitch!


So, screw this! After an extremely unpleasant three days, I leave Planet KM-402. Good riddance!