Introduction

First, a few disclaimers for any new readers to the page. I ordered these comics in February, they got delivered the last week of May, and I wrote these articles into the first week in June. That is the process behind how I arrived at Independent Comics I Love May 2023. Secondly, the only non Marvel or DC comic I received this month was Spawn. So, I’m taking a look back at the TMNT Armageddon Game story finally to fill some space on the page.

In my previous article to return to the world of comic reviews, I wrote about Spawn, a silly Ric Flair one shot I ordered, and the most recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue. I wrote there that I needed to take some time to read through the story and give my thoughts. Well, somehow (Chris and I call it “just DCBS things”) I missed a few issues of the event and just ordered them on Midtown. Being Memorial Day weekend, I don’t expect them to fill the order until at least Tuesday. But, I wanted to give you something besides Spawn this month, so here goes.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Armageddon Game

Decent: It’s a talkie. While you don’t get the walls of text that Uncle Todd throws at us sometimes, there is a significant amount of dialogue and exposition. I read comics for the story, But, I don’t mind all the white bubbles. Also, the story makes you do your homework.I don’t know if it is exclusively because this is an introductory event or if they usually have the “* – check issue x for the story” in each issue. I just said to my wife, “This story is so good. Bummed that I haven’t kept up with the series the whole time.”

Good: After talking all kinds of shit about not being susceptible to nostalgia, I keep talking in all of these articles about how nostalgia grabs me every single time. The turtles are no different. Even though the lore is different and the tone is darker, I still recognized all of the characters in the books and it took me back to my time as a teenager myself watching them on Saturday morning. I mentioned previously that this is an introductory event. I know this because they do an incredible job of catching everyone up in the prologue series and filling in the gaps along the way.

Great: The story makes the wordiness of the book bearable for me. I breeze through each issue, devouring every single word before immediately moving on to the next issue. The story is well crafted and fast paced. They also potentially bit off more than they can chew with all of the moving pieces. However, I have the utmost confidence that they care enough about the characters to pull it all off. My other great follows from my minor critique above. I love getting lost in a lore rabbit hole, so I don’t mind a little homework to get caught up.

Spawn 341

Now that I already read one book in this series, I found this one much easier to follow. I still am not a fan of the heaven vs. hell angle of the Spawn mythos, but I like the character, so I’ll stick with it until they move on to something else, hopefully soon. I know it sounds weird to say that I don’t like the major storyline in the books. But, I prefer the earlier stories when Spawn worked as a hero and took care of more earthly matters. I know they’ll circle back around there eventually. I can be patient.

The Verdict

The actual independent comics I love May 2023 are only one book, Spawn. But, I also read the Armageddon Game issues I own for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I promise to finish the series for next month and write another review then.

Credits

Spawn 341: Rory McConville and Todd McFarlane, Writers and Carlo Barberi, Art

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (The Armageddon Game): Tom Waltz, Sophie Campbell, Erik Burnham, Paul Allor as writers and Fero Peniche, Pablo Tunica, Vincenzo Federici, Roi Mercado, Pablo Verdugo. Kevin Eastman, co-creator.

Introduction

As you can see, I themed the page for the Christmas holiday season. Right now, I plan to use this for December and January, but I might change my mind when Christmas is over as this is a very December focused theme right now. Eventually, I want to have a rotating theme for each month, so what better month to start with than January? Okay, with all of that being said, I also wanted to write one last thankful post for Nintendo and D&D Club.

I gave my notice the week of Thanksgiving at my current job. I start my new job next week. So, this is my last week in charge of the two clubs. Now is as good a time to look back, think about the positives from the clubs, and express thanks for the opportunities they provided. If this entry becomes too personal, I apologize. It’s been about a month since I wrote in any of my journals.

Thankful for Nintendo Club

This year, I started with several stipend positions already.. I continued running Dungeons and Dragons club for the high school and picked up the middle school club, too. I became a LINK leader. LINK is a nationwide club for high school seniors to essentially “adopt” high school freshmen and help them in the transition from middle school to high school. Later, I became STEM team leader (mostly by default) and was supposed to run an eSports team. That never materialized due to time constraints.

The point of all that is wrapped in the first sentence of the paragraph. I already picked up more than my share of extra work. So, when one of the students came to me with the question, “Mr. Lucas, will you do Nintendo Club?”, I went to the school activities director and asked, “Does nobody else work here?” Then, of course, because I’ve only recently started to consider my own physical and mental health above that of others, I said, “Yes.”

Like most extracurricular clubs, this one started out chaotic. Eventually, we settled into a regular group and set some boundaries for everyone to follow. Two groups asked to use my projector in the room, which then became strictly a Smash Bros. station. I enjoy the interaction between all of the students, even when they require intervention because start to get out of hand. Tough they asked me once or twice to play Smash Bros., I never played any of the games with the kids. I gave them my standard answer of, “I’m trash at that game.”

Given more time at the job, I planned several improvements to both my classes and the clubs. One thing I wanted was to purchase large screen monitors for the students to use in the club. Alas, an abrupt end always brings some measure of regret.

Thankful for D&D Club

I took over the high school D&D club two years ago in the aftermath of Covid. The faithful group of 4-6 met on a weekly basis with others popping in every now and then. I always laughed during their sessions, which became ever more absurd as time went on. It reminded me of the times in high school when my friends and I gathered in my friend Kenny’s or Damian’s basement and played ourselves.

The group grew after the immediate dangers of Covid faded. Last year, they increased to a regular group of about 8 with as many as twelve dropping in some weeks. Then, I took over for the middle school club and things exploded. I can’t take all of the credit for it. Stranger Things definitely increased interest in the game.

At any given time this year, there can be as many as five different groups running an adventure. I stepped in a couple of times to run a group for Curse of Strahd and then again this past week started a Dungeon of the Mad Mage adventure for a couple of kids who couldn’t find their way into one of the other groups.

The Verdict

While they took free time away, I am absolutely thankful for Nintendo and D&D club. Nintendo brought me joy and got me looking for my copy of Hades (I can’t find it and will end up ordering it again, I’m sure) and bringing home a Switch for the family to play. Dungeons and Dragons brought me fun and joy in the form of a game that I enjoyed as a kid. I will miss them both, but maybe I can get involved at my new school.

Introduction

Hey, guys. So, uh, what’s up? I know what you’re thinking. You walk out of our lives for 4 months and then just come back with a, “Hey, guys. So, uh, what’s up?” and expect us to put everything behind and read your 2022-2023 AFC Preview? What’s next? Your 2022-2023 NFC Preview. Well, forget it. It will take more than that to get us back in your good graces.

I get it. Plus, this latest comeback confuses you even more. The four months I disappeared are summer. Those are usually the months that I promise you that I will build momentum and keep the page alive through the beginning of the school year. And, yet, complete radio silence there and the return post during the insanity of the beginning of the school year.

Who knows? Maybe this Uno Reverse card of a relaunch (actual relaunch still pending) will be just the push I need to make this stupid page actually happen after all these years. It remains to be seen. For now, enjoy the 2022-2023 AFC Preview!

The Madness in my Method

I searched for an “NFL Schedule Simulator” and clicked on the first link that Google returned. I then used that app to try to figure out the result of each game. At first, I only picked the winner and loser. I, then, in the interest of journalistic integrity, inputted a score for each game. I wanted to be as accurate as possible if the page took into account scores for tiebreakers. It didn’t, but those are the lengths I’m willing to go in order to bring quality content to this page.

AFC East

Buffalo Bills ( 15-2): We write and read this already armed with the knowledge that the Bills absolutely demolished the Super Bowl champions in the Thursday season opener. Even so, I like this Bills team a lot. I started to jump on the bandwagon a couple of years ago and that playoff game last year against the Chiefs cemented my man crush.

New England Patriots (7-9-1): I picked the Steelers/Patriots game early in the season as a tie. I think the Steelers tied one game twice in the last five seasons. I think last year or the year before, they came within seconds of getting a second tie. I figured an early season game against the Pats offered the best chance for this year. Oh, you thought I would actually analyze this dumpster fire of a team? I’m just enjoying the slow decline of both Brady and the Pats.

Miami Dolphins (6-11): This one hurts. I like Tua. He won my heart when he came into relief in that National Championship game and threw that touchdown in overtime. Hell, my love for Tua extended out to become a fan of Alabama. That goes against everything I stand for as a fan. So, to watch him struggle so much in the NFL hurts. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see things ending well for him.

New York Jets (0-17): Goodness. I couldn’t find a single win for the Jets on their schedule? I even got to the point where I just made every terrible team vs. terrible team match up 17-14 and I didn’t even give them 17 in any of those games? Well, enjoy the undisputed first pick in the draft, Jets fans. Can’t wait to see who you boo next year before they’ve even played a down.

AFC West

Kansas City Chiefs (15-2): For the first half of the season, I picked the Chiefs to go undefeated. Not until their first game against the Chargers did I pick them to lose. That put the Chargers in first for much of the second half of the season until the Chiefs beat them in the second game. If all of that actually happens, it will be fun as hell to watch.

Los Angeles Chargers (15-2): Hey, I actually called them the LA Chargers the first time. Obviously, you can’t know if that’s true or not, but I don’t lie often and when I do, I admit it. It absolutely tickles me that Herbert and Mahomes set us up for a decade of amazing quarterback play in this division. Along with Allen and hopefully Pickett (I know, I know), the NFL is in good hands.

Las Vegas Raiders (8-9): Wow, I must be getting the hang of this NFL thing. I put the Chargers in LA and the Raiders in Las Vegas. Pretty damn amazing if I say so myself. Can you tell I’m stalling because I can’t figure out what to say about the Raiders? No, well, look over there!

Denver Broncos (5-12): “Quarter Billion Dollar Man”, Russell Wilson and I have the Broncos in last place in the division. I might be very wrong about this. Even Simmons and Sal showed some faith in the Broncos. If I am still active on this page in February, let’s revisit this pick at least.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens (15-2): Now that I look at this one, I may just have lost my mind. Sure, the Ravens find ways to win games every year, but 15-2? I need to go lie down.

Cincinnati Bengals (13-4): The Ravens 2 games better than the Bengals? On par with LA, KC, and Buffalo? I promise to still be active in February to come back and revisit this article. Cincinnati may have gotten lucky last year to make it to the Super Bowl, but they are good on both sides of the ball.

Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8-1): Chris and I talked a bit about the Steelers last week at the Red Sox game for his bachelor party. He mentioned something about Trubisky being the starter. Honestly, this year, that’s the right call. As it often is, our offensive line is abysmal and I don’t want them killing poor Kenny Pickett before he even gets a chance.

Cleveland Browns (4-13): I admit over the last two seasons to growing fond of the Browns. As a Steelers fan, I swore a blood oath in the womb to hate them, but I like Baker. Well, the blood oath is back on. They did Baker dirty and then signed “alleged” sexual assaulter Deshaun Watson.

AFC South

Indianapolis Colts (10-7): When I started the article, I was going to write something about the standings being top heavy. Granted, only the South serves as a counter example, but it only takes one to make the statement false. I advocate for sending this entire division to Europe and this year is no different.

Tennessee Titans (7-10): The Titans had the best record in the (National Football) league last year. There is bound to be a fall off, but it probably won’t be as drastic as this. Nevertheless, I only found 7 wins for the Titans this year.

Houston Texans (5-12) and Jacksonville Jaguars (3-14): I just can’t do this anymore. These two teams broke me. Time to wrap this article up.

The Verdict on 2022-2023 AFC Preview

Thanks for reading my 2022-2023 AFC Preview article. As of right now, I have no plans for keeping the page alive other than occasional NFL content, but I will take some time over the next couple of days to come up with some ideas.

Note: All teams and the single logo used on this web page are the property of the NFL. They are used without consent (written or otherwise), but only in good fun. If you’re feeling litigious, please refrain from throwing your vast legal resources at this small page that caters to my kids, Chris (Hi Chris!) and about 25 Russian bots (Hi Sergei!).

Introduction

Thank goodness for Minecraft: Builders and Biomes. I’ve been searching for a Minecraft tabletop roleplaying game for some time now. I found one a few years ago, but never got around to playing it because it seemed virtually unplayable when I looked through the booklet. And, so, the search continued

Why a Minecraft roleplaying game? Well, as you may have noticed if you are a regular reader of the page, I generally like to have a digital game and a tabletop game to review for each weekly theme. It goes back to the long defunct podcast which had a “Digital Playground” segment and a “On the Tabletop” segment.

I have been able to find other tabletop games for the other games that I’ve covered recently. Most notably, I was very impressed by the fan made Pokemon RPG that I looked at a few weeks ago. Also, WotC has done a good job with the MTG/D&D crossovers. But, Minecraft eluded me. Sure, the card game exists, but I think I’ve already covered that. If not, well, I guess I have something for a couple of weeks when I take a look at the Minecraft Dungeons update.

The Great

It’s Minecraft! – Well, not exactly. However, I couldn’t let one of these articles go by without going to my, well, go to, could I? And, with that being said, the game is as close to Minecraft as I imagine a Minecraft board game possibly could. As we were playing, I kept thinking to myself, “What are the core principles of Minecraft?” Mining, building, exploring. This game actually captures all three very nicely. Just thinking about it now has me excited and wanting to play again.

Fun – Isn’t this the reason that we play games in the first place? I honestly can’t think of another reason that makes sense. And, I can confirm that Minecraft Builders and Biomes was fun. Towards the end of the game, Quinn kept delaying the end through strategy. How, you ask? Well, without giving away too much, the end of the game is predetermined by the rules and one of the strategies is to extend the game in order to get more points. Also, at the end of the game, we both said how much we wanted to play it again.

The Good

Easy Set Up – The instructions are only 4 pages. That is including diagrams. We were up and playing within 10 minutes. It cannot be stressed how much I like a game that has an easy set up.

Quick Games – The games are quick, too. Once we were set up, we were finished with the game in a little less than an hour. The box says 30-60 minutes for a game, so that sounds like we had an average game. While I don’t care as much about the game going quickly, it was nice for last night since it was almost bedtime for Quinn.

The Decent

No Main Board – I would have preferred if they included a main game board for set up. As you play the game, it gets degraded and you may not always know whether you are moving too many steps in a turn. That’s a minor squabble though and one that I could easily remedy by making my own.

Maybe Too Quick – Again, I don’t care too much about the actual length of a game. Sometimes you want a sprint and sometimes you want a marathon. However, I did say earlier that Quinn was trying to extend the game. That might have been because he was delaying bedtime, but I think it was because he was having fun. I even found myself doing the same because I was enjoying the game so much.

The Verdict

If you’re looking for a fun and quick version of Minecraft away from technology, you definitely want to check out Minecraft Builders and Biomes. The game is fun. It feels like playing Minecraft. I would like to see how well it scales to more players, but that will come with time. See you in the Overworld!

-Biggest surprise of the season must be how good the Baltimore Ravens are.  I think most people figured that Lamar Jackson was going to be more of an average QB with a good season sprinkled in here and there.  Yup. Average. The guy has been unstoppable.  You can’t contain him, and even if your coverage is good, he uses his feet to either buy time until a receiver inevitably gets open, or he will just pick up the first down himself. I’m always surprised at how fast the ball comes out of his hands with minimal effort for 20-30-yard gains even when his feet aren’t planted.  I knew the Ravens defense was already good and with the offseason addition of Earl Thomas it got better.   It seems that after the blowout loss to Cleveland, they have been on the warpath.  I watched him destroy my beloved New England Patriots with relative ease and my gut says that when they meet in the Playoffs, they will do so again. 

-Well it finally happened; the Kansas City Chiefs defense is so damn bad that even the offense can’t bail them out anymore.  When is Andy Reid going to learn that you need a defense?  Not every game should be a sprint on the scoreboard.  They were my AFC pick to make the Super Bowl this year.  Wha..? I didn’t pick the Patriots?! More on that later.

-What the hell happened to the Rams?  One season after they made the Super Bowl and they look awful.  The offense just can’t get anything going and the defense isn’t good enough to keep them in games.  Goff looked like the next big thing last year and at this point looks like a very, very average QB. My working theory is that whoever faces the Patriots in the Super Bowl falls off the Max Kellerman trademarked “cliff” going forward.  Think about it! Rams? Suck. Falcons? Suck. Eagles? Kinda Suck. Seahawks? Well they slightly sucked for a couple of years after that horrific goal line call in the 2014 Super Bowl, but they are looking decent this year.  Maybe the curse wears off?

-I’m still shocked at Marcus Mariota being benched for Ryan Tannehill. Even more shocked that Tannehill is actually playing decently.  What happened to Mariota?! He was a world-beater in Oregon! I think sometimes that college-level talent doesn’t necessarily translate to the NFL. Don’t get me wrong, I still think he’s better than a lot of the QBs in the NFL, but he’s just not consistent.

-Buffalo Bills are for real.  Yeah.  Let that sink in.  Josh Allen is not a draft bust like I thought he would be.  In fact, for the most part, has been getting better and better as the season goes on. Even more surprising is the fact that they have a really good defense.  Only thing going against them is that they are in New England’s division so the most they can hope for is a Wild Card spot.

-San Francisco 49ers are also very much for real.  Jimmy G hasn’t always been stellar this season, but he’s done enough to keep me playing the “What If” game.  As in what if the Pats didn’t trade him for essentially nothing.  Yeah, I’m still crying over that. Also, the 49ers’ defense is ridiculous.  At only 1 loss this season, I can see how they are the NFC favorite to make the Super Bowl.   I don’t think so though…

-My Super Bowl pick?  Well as I stated above barring any injury to Lamar Jackson the Ravens will represent the AFC.  NFC? Well part of me thinks that the 49ers avenge their only loss this season to the Seahawks BUT I think Russell Wilson is just too clutch and the Seahawks knock the 49ers out of the Playoffs in what should be a close game.  Ravens vs Seahawks.  Ravens win 31-17.

-The New England Patriots Offense. Yikes.  I know a lot of people are blaming a very green receiver roster for the offensive issues this season but as much as it pains me to say it, Tom Brady is also responsible.  I can hear the cries of blasphemy from my fellow N.E fans already, but I do think it’s true.  It’s taking him longer to get the ball out of his hand and his accuracy seems to be off.  He’s missing a lot of easy throws on screen passes that he used to make with no problem.  And we’re talking a lot of missed throws in soft coverage.  His awareness in the pocket also seems to be an issue.  Ok, enough picking on Brady, the receivers also seem to have a ton of drops on what should be easy uncontested catches. Hopefully they find their rhythm in the next couple of games or they’re screwed.  While I think their #1 defense can continue to win games for them, that same defense struggled mightily against Baltimore. 

-Speaking of N.E’s defense, Stephon Gilmore is a beast.  Best cornerback in the league by far.  I knew he was insanely good, but to completely shut down Amari Cooper was mind-blowing.  0 catches.  To be fair Dallas should have won that game since Ezekiel Elliot finally had some momentum going and was picking up 5-6 yards per carry. But Jason Garrett is going to do Jason Garrett things like throw the ball on 3^rd and 1 against the best secondary in the league.  Jerry Jones really needs to grow a pair and get rid of the guy. 

-On the subject of good ol’ Jerry, during yesterday’s (Thanksgiving) game against Buffalo, I loved that every time Dallas completely crapped the bed, the camera would zoom in on the owner’s box to get his reaction.  It’s like the network wanted to either catch old man tears on film so very badly or they wanted him to hold up sign that read “Jason, if you can read this, you’re fired”. To be fair, it would have been understandable if he did either.  I missed it, but I heard that he literally did have tears in his eyes during an interview after the game.  Jason Garrett, you are a total dumpster fire of a coach and you also made Jerry cry. I couldn’t help but laugh when he goes for it on 4^th and 1 on the 19-yard line when it was a close game, but then when they are down 2 scores in the 3^rd quarter, he kicks the field goal.  What?!